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We are sure that the country will heartily sympathise in the triumph of Mr. Sadler and Lord Ashley, in the House of Commons, last night. Lord Ashley's bill was read a second time without opposition—Lord Althorp confessing, at length, that he considered it necessary to put some restriction upon the labour of children. The bill is to be committed on Friday week, and Lord Althorp expressed his determination to have it carried through before the end of the session. Iu the progress of political affairs, few can present themselves more truly delightful than the contemplation of such a victory achieved by zeal and truth alone. At first, in defiance of rabble clamour, and, in the end, by* feebly aided by any popular expression, Mr. Sadler and Lord Ashley have nobly carried, for we may call it carried, a measure against which all the force of government was arrayed, and which oracles of the House of Commons—the whole college of political economists, openly discountenancedor resisted by treacherous acts—and they have carried it without clamour and without intimidation. We observe, indeed, some symptoms of a compromise in favour of barbarity. The children under 14 years of age are to be spared more than eight hours labour. So far is good —and so far, thanks to Mr. Sadler and Lord Ashley, always under Him who inspired and crowned with success their glorious enterprize, so far is gained. But why stop at 14 years of age? Is there to be no limitation of the hours of labour between the ages of 14 and 21? Are children of 14 and 15 and 16 years of age to be still left at the mercy or those mill-owners, with whom a reluctant legislature has found it impossible not to interfere for the purpose of interrupting systematic infanticide? The public must attend closely to this. We have no fears that Lord Ashley, in parliament, and his benevolent and eloquent precursor abroad, will neglect the interests of humanity, but the public must do its duty, or much of wickedness will be perpetrated, in defiance of all that can be done by Lord Ashley and Mr. Sadler. There is one thing the public must not Jose sight of—that the crimes which, having the power to prevent them, it does not prevent, become its own ; and that where these crimes are continuous, as in the case of the factory cruelties, guilt is measured by time.
Newspaper Details
London St James Chronicle and General Evening Post
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Jun 15, 1833
Page 4
Full Page
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USA 23 Aug 2023
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