The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-FRIDAY.

On the motion for the house resolving itself into com-
mittee on the Factories Bill,
Mr. ROEBUCK moved as an amendment, "That it is
the opinion of this house that no interference with the
power of adult labourers in factories to make contracts
respecting the hours for which they shall be employed, be
sanctioned by this house." He contended that the fac-
tory labourer was better paid and did not work harder
than the agricultural and other labourers—indeed, the
worst feature of his condition was, its being meddled with
by the vice of legislation. He was anxious to emancipate
the labourer from the heavy weight of Lord Ashley's
humanity, and exceedingly regretted that Sir J. Graham
should have meddled with the question of interference.
Sir J. GRAHAM said that non-interference with adult
labour was the principle of the bill as well as of the ex-
isting law, and it only went to carry out the protection to
young persons, which was sanctioned by the legislature
in 1833. The only departure from the principle of the
existing law was its interference with adult female labour,
and this interference was sanctioned by the great majority
of the manufacturers as a check upon the unfair opera-
tions of competing manufacturers. Females working in
factories were entitled to protection, and he took his
stand upon the necessity of limiting their toil to a period
which their constitutions might enable them to sustain.
Lord HOWICK expressed his surprise that Sir J. Gra-
ham should call upon them to pass a bill which he admitted
to be a violation of principle. The bill before the house
was a feeble commencement, but it established the princi-
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medy them by throwing down all artificial restraints and
commercial monopolies.
Sir R. PEEL admitted that the moral and intellectual
improvement of the labouring population had been too
much neglected by the legislature, but he feared that if a
limitation to ten hours were adopted a struggle might fol-
low between wages and profits to the diminution of the
comforts of the labourer, and thus the only consequence
of an attempt to promote mortality by law would be the
defeat of their own object. The interference with female
labour was, no doubt, a departure from principle, but it
was justified by the beneficial effects which were likely to
flow from it.

Lord J. RUSSELL said he was opposed to the amend-
ment of Mr. Roebuck, but thought interference should
be limited to persons under 21 years of age, and that the
ten hours principle should be gradually arrived at.
Lord ASHLEY vindicated his former statements re-
spectirg labour in factories from imputations cast upon
them by Mr. Roebuck. He declined discussing the ten
hours principle until it should come regularly before the
house upon the motion of which he had given notice
upon the third reading of the bill.
Afer a few observations from Mr. C, Wood, Mr. Ains-
worth, Mr. Fielden, Mr. M. Philips, and Mr. Parker,
the house divided, and Mr. Roebuck's amendment was
negatived by a majority of 282 to 76.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of,
and the house adjourned.

FATHERS,GUARD YOUR DAUGHTERS FROM INFIDELS.
—The Times gives a long account of the secret history of
the capture, &c. of the parties convicted in the late will
forgery cases. The article concludes with the following
history of the two females implicated :—" The mother of
Mrs. Dorey and Mrs. Saunders was the daughter of an
aged soldier of the name of Crene, a pensioner at Fal-
mouth, and their father (Wm. Richards) was the steward
of a Lisbon government packet. On the proclamation of
peace, Mr. Richards went to Lisbon'to establish himself
there, but he soon afterward died in embarrassed circum-
stances in that city. The daughters had been brought up
as miliners, but on their father's death, the mother and
daughters opened a china shop at Falmouth, where they
remained a few years, when they removed to Biddlesham,
in Somersetshire, and at last to New Bond-street, Bath,
where they carried on the business of straw-bonnet
makers. In this street Sanders kept a fish shop, and thus
from the circumstance of neighbourhood, became ac-
quainted with Lydia, who played the part of Emma Slack,
and it is believed, led the unfortunate man, with the aid
of her sister, into all 'he mischief and misery, to the de-
tails of which the public have been so long accustomed.
Here, also, Mrs. Dorey, then Georgiana Richards, be-
came acquainted with Carlisle, on one of his visits to that
he
city, and to this cause, and to the blasphemous doctrines
of Carlisle, the whole of l
ruin." ascribe their total

FOREIGN AAD COLONIAL.

INDIA AND CHINA.
(From the Times.)

We have received by extraordinary express Calcutta pa-
pers of the 14th, and Bombay papers and correspondence
to the 13th of March inclusive, brought by the Bentinck,
which reached Suez on the 12th of April ; they were
brought to Marseilles from Alexandria direct by the
French steamer.
The latest dates brought by the Bentinck, which reach-
ed Suez on the 12th instant, are from Calcutta to the 14th,
and Bombay to the 13th March. The steamer Carnac
was despatched from Bombay on the evening of the 13th
to Ceylon, to meet the Bentinck, on her passage from Cal-
cutta to Suez.
The mails which had left London on the 6th of Febru-
ary had arrived at Bombay, but the letters were not to be
delivered until the following day. The most important
military news refers to the refusal of one Madras and two
Bengal regiments to proceed to Scinde on finding that
they were not to be allowed full batta.
Tere is nothing of importance from Lahore and Aff-
ghanistan, but it is supposed that these two states will
shortly come to open hostilities.
The Sesostris arrived at Bombay on the 10th of March
from China, which country she left on the 15th of Febru-
ary, having on board, amongst other passengers, Major-
General Sir James Schoedde. The town of Victoria was
quite healthy, and it was hoped that the ensuing summer
would not be so fatal as the last. Several daring attempts
at robbery had been made at Hong Kong. Sir H. Pot-
tinter had evinced an earnest desire to act up to the treaty
with China. Her Majesty's 55th Regiment was under
orders for immediate embarkation for England. Her
Majesty's ship Dido, Captain Keppel, left for Calcutta on
the 2d of February, having on board Lord Saltoun, late
Commander of the Forces, who arrived at Suez in the
Bentinck, and will proceed to England by the (Great) Li-
verpool. Little was doing in teas on account of the high
prices demanded.
The Governor-General arrived at Calcutta on the 28th
of February, and on the 29th published a most liberal
grant of batta to all the troops that were engaged in Gwa-
lior and in Scinde.
India in general is tranquil.
A letter from Calcutta, dated March 15, contains this
passage :—" Scinde is finally and for ever annexed to the
British possessions."
Malta letters of the 23d of April, received by this ex-
press, brings no news."