The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-08-02 00:00:00

'ATESMA N.

they the result of the experiment which ha bad tried at,
New Lanark had been satisfactory with respect to profit.
It certainly was not customary for manufacturers to dis-
close the amount of their profits, but be had no hesitation
to state generally, that during the 24 years that the ester
blishment at Lanark bad existed, it had been so prosper-
ous. that after paying 5 prr cent. half-yearly on the ca-
pital, there had uniformly been a fair liberal profit left to
all the partners. He, perhaps, could not give a
stronger proof of the correctness of this statement than
by aasunng the meeting that his
,partners, who of
course were well acquainted with every thing relating
to the establishment, would have no objection to pur-
chase his share, besides giving bins a bonus for
selling oat. It was also material that the meeting
should be informed, that during the period that the es-
tablishment at New Lanark had been so prosperous, the
workmen laboured only 11 hours per day, whilst in other
manufactories they had been compelled to work 14, 15,
and in some instances 16 hours per day.—(Applause.)—
The worthy gentleman was about to sit down, when a
note was handed to him from the body of the meeting;
after having read which, he continued his address. He
was extremely happy that the note had been sent to him,
because it afforded him an opportunity of giving an ex-
planation to the circumstance to which it referred—
namely, a report of the committee for examining schools
which had been read in the presbytery of Lanark, and
which accused him of having prohibited the use of the
Scriptures in the school belonging to his society at La-
nark. That fact was quite unfounded. From the com-
mencement of the school it New Lanark, the Scriptures
bad been regularly read in it, and he had never enter-
tained the most distant idea of excluding them from the
establishment.—(Applause.) He wished to be clearly
understood on this point. He did not refrain from with-
drawing the Scriptures, because be was of opinion that
they ought to be read in the school; but because the
parents of the children wished them to be perused by
them, and he thought that rarents should be allowed to
bring up their children as they pleased. His own con-
viction was, that the Scriptures were not the book to put
into the hands of young people.—(Applause.) But a
respect for the consciences of others prevented him from
interfering on the subject.
A gentleman named WALKER wished to know, whether
Mr. Owen objected to the use of machinery?
Mr. Owew replied in the negative.
Mr. Mums then rose, and after apologising to the
Meeting, began, as be again took his seat, to read a very
long prepared speech, animadverting on something which
had fallen from some other speaker at the former Meet-
ing. Two or three times this Gentleman was called to
order, and at length obliged to stop. He had brought
a number of red pieces of wood with him, which he said
represented the population of the kingdom, and one
piece was the King, other pieces were the landed pro-
prietors, others the army and navy, and so on, but the
Meeting was too impatient to allow this gentleman to
proceed with his ingenious method of explaining moral
truths by little bits of wood, and was obliged to sit
down.

Mr. EVANS thought that joint stock communities,
such as Mr. Owen uished to establish, could not
legally exist, unless they. obtained from Parliament a
corporate character, giving them power to rue and to
be sued,

Mr. OWEN observed, that there were many ways in
which the difficulty which he anticipated wight be ob-
viated.

Mr, ROWCROPT and Mr. Bowie spoke in support of
the resolutions, and Mr. WILLS and Mr. LEE opposed
them. _

A gentleman, whose name we could not learn, suggest-
ed that the poor-rates might be advantageously devoted
to the establishment of societies on Mr. Owen's plan.
Mr. Oottinois merely rose for the purpose of entering
his protest, in the name of the paupers and labourers
of England, against the abominable trillings of the
meeting.
After a few words from Mr. Owen, the resolutions
were carried almost unanimously, only one person hold-
ing up his hand against them.
After passing a vote of thanks to Mr. Owen, the meet-
ing separated.
During Mr. Owen's speech, a roller painting of New
Lanark, upon a very large scale was exhibited, against
the wall, and occasionally referred to.