New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-08-06
ENGLAND'S SHAME.
Shocking Stories from the Children I'm
the Brick Fields-Cruel Practices.

ENGLAND'S SHAME.
shocking Stories from the Children I'm
the Brick Fields-Cruel Practices.
london Letter to the New York World
| Seven years ago royal commission re-
| ported to Parliament that most horrible.
cruel, disgracetul and immoral practice ex.
| listed IN the prosecution of a certain branch
OF industry IN England, and that the vie
ums OF tins practice were young bows and
girls varying IN age from three and half
to seventeen years. A law, which could
have been passed in a single day, would
have put an end to this practice but Par
llament, acting on Mr.. John Bright's princi-
pie, that 1t was wrong to interfere with any
trade By legislation, shelved the report. and
for seven years more this horrible, cruel.
dlsgraceful and immoral practice has been
allowed to go on and to increase Last
night, however, another attempt was made
TO induce Parliament to do something in
the way OF rescuing these miserable slaves
from the tyranny which oppressed them.
Inc Earl OF Shaftesbury, in the House of
Lords, rose to move that an humble adj
dress should be presented to her majesty
praying Aer 10 take into consideration the
state OF the children in the brick fields
with view to their being brought under
the protection of the factories aet.n His
iordshlp said that these children were very
numerous, and stood most urgently in need
OF legislative protection. They were sub
Jected 10 almost incredible cruelty and
wrong. There were about 5000 brick Yards
in England, and nearly 10000 children and
young persons, varying ip age from three
and half 10 seventeen years. great por-
ton of whom were girls, were employed in
them, and made to work from fourteen TO
sixteen hours days. What! Babies three
and half years old, made to work sixteen
hours day Yes. But this was not the
worst of it. Here was the evidence of a
MI. smith, VINO, when child, had himself
worked in a brick field
When | was seven years old beoan my
bondage of toll and horror At nine wears
Of age my employment consisted in continu-
ally carry about forty pounds of elay on nv
head, and then not only | had TO carry
bricks on my head, almost without cessa-
ton, for thirteen hours day. Sometimes |
had to work all night at the kiln. Mr..
smith went on to describe the yard in
which several children nine or ten years of
age, OF both sexes, and in a halfnaked con-
ditien, were employed to carry damp CLAW
on their heads for thirteen hours daily. dur
ing which 1t was estimated that tbev
traversed distance of twenty miles. He
had produced lump of CLAW WEIGHING
forty-three pounds, which had been taken
OF the head OF child nine years old few ]
days previously, who had daily to walk
twelve and half miles, and during half of
mat distance to easrry the weight the lump
of clay produced. As to the physical effect
produced by such excessive Iabors. Mr..
Smith said: Il had child weighed very
recently, and | found that though about
eight years of age, it only weighed fifty-two
and half ponds. 1t was employed in car
rylng forty-three pounds OF clay on its |
head and the the average distance it walked |
daily was ntteen miles, and it worked |
seventy-three hours per week"
The moral consequences were such as |
might be expected. Ignorance and i'm
morality prevailed to fearful extent |
among the men. women and children thus |
employed" said Mr. Smith, and how |
can it be otherwisei All goodness and |
purity was stamped ont of them; and were |
l to relate what could be related of the |
moral consequences the whole country would |
become horrorstruck." master brick |
maker, whose evidence was on record. said |
much the same thing. He stated that 1.-THE
work in ordinary TIMES is exceedingly cruel. |
but when overwork is resorted to. il be. |
comes still worse, because the bows and |
girls, and men and women. were then |
less under the watehful eye of the master,
and sinful pleasures, loose songs and ex,
cesses TOO terrible to relate were. the conse- |
-r' |
But Lord SALISBURY had not been ron. |
tent to take the testimony of others. He |
went TO the brick fields himself, and thus |
related the fearful things he saw there:
As approached | saw in the distance /
what appeared to me to be eight or ten
pillars of clay, such as l supposed had been
erected to indicate the depth to which the /
clay had been excavated i walked ND to /
them, and to my astonishment found that |
they were human beings, but SO like the
ground on which the stood-their features
were SO indistinguished, their dress SO abso-
lutely covered with clay, their flesh so like |
their dress-that assure your lordships
that until approached them and saw them |
move firmly qelieyed that they were Jumps
of soil. When l came close they appeared
to be scared at the sight of any one not re-
embllng themselves, and ran away scream
ing as Ii something satanic had APP
preached l saw number of little +
children. three-parts naked, tottering
under their burden of wet clay which was I
dripping all down their shoulders and faces.
while some little girls were struggling along, |
holding in their shifts mass Of wet elay.
Moreover, the unhappy children were ex-
posed TO the most sudden transitions of cold
and heat. and, after carrying their burdens
Of wet clay in the open air. had to endure
,he heat of the kiln, which was so fierce
hat was not able to remain more than
me or two minutes Could anything more /
degrading, more hurtful to body and mind
De conceived! Could it be denied that they
lad brought down these men, women and
,nildren to a point of suffering and huinilia-
ion that made them lower in the scale
han the beasts In the feld2 No man could
Tisit such scenes who had in him the senti-
nents of a man or the feelings of Chris
ian without saying that it was disgrace
3 the country that they should be allowed
0 continue for a moment longer; and he
oped, after the appeal he now made,
bat not day would be allowed
. pass before her majesty was