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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd February 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 14, CANDIDATES AND CONSCIENCES: OR, A TALE O...

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      now . The Court of Directors , however , took alarm at -what they designated the " demented * ambition of their servants , and forbade any further enlargement of their territories . This was in 1765 . A few years later , this same SooJAH-ooD-DowLAH hired an English brigade from Warren Hastings and his Coirncil , to enable him to execute liis schemes against the Rohillahs . In 1775 , he was sxicceeded by his son , Asoph-ood-Dowlah , the fourth of the family who held the viceroyalty , and the third to whom the vizierat had descended . The

      Calcutta Council , however , made him pay for a renewal of the treaty with his father , and compelled him to cede Benares and Ghazeepore , and to raise the monthly subsidy from £ 21 , 000 to . £ 26 , 000 , as the price of their recognition of his accession . Twenty-three years later Saadut Ali was likewise obliged to purchase the protection of the Grovernor-General on yet more arduous terms . He had to cede the fortress of Allahabad , with . £ 80 , 000 for the repair of its works , "besides ¦

      paying £ ! 50 , 000 on other pretexts , and to ra ^ se the annual subsidy to £ 760 , 000 for the maintenance of a force of 10 , 000 men . The IVEarqms of Welleslet , the next Governorgeneral , applied the screw with still greater severity . He not only insisted upon the disbandonment of a large portion of the Oude army , and the substitution of a strong British Contingent in its stead , but he also extorted the territorial cession of Rohilcund , in lieu of the payment of a subsidy ; these lands , even at

      that time , yielding more than £ 1 , 350 , 000 per annum . This treaty was signed in 1801 , and rendered the Nawab little better than a cipher in Ms own dominions . Saadut Ali died in 1816 , and was succeeded by his son , Ghazeeood- ^ een-Hyjd ^ r , to the unbounded satisfaction of the ^ Resident , and also of the Calcutta G-oyernmejit . { Three years later , the Nawab was iiistigated by Lord Hastings to assume the title 6 fKmg , and to renounce even nominal allegiance to the wretched puppet who represented tlie

      Great Mogul dynasty at Delhi . It was a childish policy , for the imperial power was long since effete , whereas under a really able ruler the kingdom of Oude might hare become a thorn in the side of the British possessions . However , each successive Icing has been weaker and worse 'than his predecessor , until at last the measure of their iniquities is full and overflowing . By the treaty of 1837

      , the right was specifically ceded to us of taking into our own hands the management of every misgoverned district . But the entire country is misgoverned , the people universally oppressed . The kingdom of Oude , therefore , is justly forfeited . And yet to avoid an idle clamour , we hesitate to adopt a measure that will eventually become an inevitable necessity . "We have now assumed the reins of

      Government . We have appointed a British officer as responsible minister . "We have taken all power out of the hands of the king , but we insult him with the semblance and insignia of royalty . Far more honest would it have been to have invited the people of Oude to elect for themselves , either to pass absolutely under British sway , or to bo left entirely to thornselves to settle their grievances with their own Sovereign in their own way . Half Erasures arc ever objectionable . They evince Weakness or vascillation , and require doublo the effort to complete them , which would have * M «» toe first instance .

      ^^ T Jh & La Eaoe M. [No. 306, Saturday,

      ^^ T JH & la EAOE M . [ No . 306 , Saturday ,

      Jaakkrlbw Martineau's Proudiionism. Uw<H...

      jaaKKRlBW MARTINEAU'S PROUDIIONISM . uw < hsla < exoS epeoially protects largo numbers who are collected . into factories . The moohxnory m the ** groat buildings mores with mime ^ e pci vrer wxd Tapidity , ho who puts tomeeM m tho way of it 8 beams is liable

      Jaakkrlbw Martineau's Proudiionism. Uw<H...

      to be crushed 0 or mauled , or killed * Factory owners have at times been reckless , either through cold-bloodedness or through penury ; people have been killed through the fault of their masters ; pity has "been excited , indignation aroused , Parliament invoked , and we have statutes to prevent mill-owners from letting their hands be killed . This led to the enforcement of the dormant Factory Acts of 1833 and 1844 , which remained unenforced for nine years . But in 1853 the factory inspectors brought under notice an " enormous amount" of accidents caused by contact with machinery , and hence a much more active intervention . Now

      Miss Marttneaxt incontinently assails the facts and the conclusions . " The iacts , " she cries , are enormous" only in their exaggeration ; the conclusions are entirely fallacious , and The whole , number of accidents from maabinery , in three years , was reported to be 11 , 716 , of which 3 , 434 were of a serious character . The serious ones are all that require any notice , as the others are of so slight a natui'e that they would not he noticed anywhere but-in a special registration like that provided by the Factory Act . For instance , 700 are cases of cut fingers . Any worker who rubs off a bit of skin from finger or thumb , or sustains the slightest cut which interferes with the spinning process for a single

      day , has the injury registered tinder the Acfc . Now , it should be observed that , of the whole number of accidents in three years , 128 tad occurred from shafts ; that is , about 42 in a year . Of the 128 , 35 resulted in death , or a fnaction above 11 in a year . In other words , the number of persons aflfected by the factory law beifag from 500 , 000 to . 600 , 000 , the proportion injured in any way by accident from fclais cause is ( assuming the lowest number of people ) about One in 12 , 000 ; and the proportion of deaths amemg them is about one in 45 , 000 . This is the proportion on the showing of the Inspectors ; and those who care to institute a comparison between the danger of this and other modes of occupation will find that in no other is the proportion of deaths so small .

      The coroners' reports show that , in the factory districts , the fatal accidents from carts and other agencies concerned in labour were 79 to 29 in factories ; and of the factory accidents , not five per cent , are owing to machinery . In the year preceding that in which the Inspectors made their appeal to Lord . Palmerston , there were 12 deaths from , factory machinery in the whole kingdom ; whereas the deaths frona . other accidents , in Manchester alone , were 531 . By as near a computation as can be made in the imperfect state of our statistics , the number of fatal accidents in the United Kingdom averages about 5 , 000 , of which 12 are cases of mill accidents from all kinds of factory machinery . *

      There might be some force in this argument if the counterfacts on which it is founded were not , as it now appears , utterly disproved and the figures " cooked ; " but we cannot take the case isolated from other questions that properly belong to the subject . It is true that when mills are well constructed , under the care of owners who have the conscientkmsness and the ' means for causing the

      machinery to be well made , the danger is minimised , and such owners require no compulsion from the law . We are not to presume , however , that other owners , less conscientious or less in command of means , would keop their machinery up to the standard of efficiency and safety , if there were not some check more immediate and potent than their own intelligence and prudence , or the indignation of their workpeople .

      There is , indeed , a much larger consideration . Miss Martinkau proposes to leave the settlement of injury between man and man . to the common law- —non-intervention . Tho principle is not to bo accepted without examination ; but at all events , if it is to be accepted , it must not bo on one side * " The Factory Controversy ; a wivmiug agnlnst meddling loginlation . By Harriet Marthxeau . Iaau < jd by tho National Association of Puobory Occupiers , 13 , Corporation-stroot , ManohoBtor . " —ThiB pamphlet is , in fuot , an article vory properly doolinod , on oooount of tho diatreasing violonco and vookloua abuao , tho miiliebrio impotentia of its tone , by tho WeUminstur Review . It has already z-oooivedl a crushing reply , written with admirable temper and oonoliiflivonosB , n \ Household Words .

      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ M ^^^^ V ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ MI ^^ H ^ B ^^^^^^ only . If the law is not to interfere between millowner and worker for the sake of tie worker , neither must it interfere for the sake of the owner . Let us see how tlie factory hands are "brought into the factory . Some of them were in their own persons , or in the persons of their parents , brought up from the rural districts by the agents of the State , under tlie stringent operations of the New Poor Law . They were brought for

      the purpose of reducing poor rates in the rural districts , wages in the factory districts ; They are lodged in . the middle of factor y labour by fate , and must accept that , mode of life which lies to their hand . They may be divided into four classes , — children , " young persons , " women , and men . The children are the slaves of their parents , they have no choice wh . etb . er they shall enter the factory or not ; they cannot leave it , if the machinery is unsafe for them . Their parents , whom the

      State empowers to use them as slaves , in too many cases feel no conscientious dxity to look after their life ox limb . Children , then , are not free agents , and the State has interfered to place them where they are ; is it to leave them unprotected ? The " young persons " are in somewhat the same predicament ; though , in fact , not under such complete bondage . The law would compel them , to obey th _ eir parents , but fact permits them , to do otherwise ; they can leave a

      mill where the machinery is unsafe , if they are prepared to throw themselves out of work , and to run . the risk of starvation . The women are almost as xnuch under bondage to their husbands as their children—they are not free agents . Even the men can only choose between such employment as the factories give , with circumstances as they are , or want of work , which is want of food . A man who is unemployed in this country is a vagrant ; he becomes amenable to the Poor-law : he can be

      put m prison . None of these persons , then , are free agents . If we do not admit the necessity of interference to protect them against dangerous machinery , we ought to abolish interference which compels them to be there . We ought to leave the child its free will ; to recognise the emancipation of young persons ; to tell women that they shall not expose

      themselves to the Juggernaut at the dictate of their husbands ; and with respect to the mt ; n , we ought to repeal those laws which restrain them from idleness , from combination , or from any other measures that they may take against the factory owner , short of directly invading liis life and property . If you invoke the doctrine of non-intervention , carry it out , and repeal ninety-nine hundredths of our statutes .

      But tho same rule applies outside tho walls of the factory . Admit the doctrine of nonintervention , and how large a portion of our compulsory statutes would fall to the ground ? Admit that the dictates of conscience , " enlightened self-interest , " affection , und other instructive or intellectual influences would suffice , and you must cut up , root and branch , the larger portion of our moral and political system . There is something to be said lor that side of tho question .

      Candidates And Consciences: Or, A Tale O...

      CANDIDATES AND CONSCIENCES : OR , A TALE OB A THICK . The rival powers of Cork-street and Grout ( Joorgostrcet , the Sanitary Ryfomm's ami the Ku ^ incui's , represented respectively by Mr . V . O . Ward itnd Mk Robert Stepheuson , have hftd , during tlic ]> nst weelc , a lierco encounter , in which Great ( Jt !<> rf ?« - strcet luis won a numorical victory , wliile Mr . Ward and liis friends- have achieved a mornl triumph . The matter in dispute was the cnginccrship <> f the Metropolitan Board of Works ; and tine < uicstion on which it turned was a question not ol engineering alt ill , but of personal integrity . The pnv-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 2, 1856, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02021856/page/14/