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    THE SLAUGHTER EN 7 COLLIERIES.

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    Mauch 10 , 1860 ] ¦ The &ei ^ r . Q ^ - ' St&urday'AtodySt '' , - %%%

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    " \ TTHATEVE . R may be the changes which , speculative opinion ¦ W' is destined to -undergo , it will redound to theeternal honour of the religion of : this generation , that it laboured with energy and success to effect the introduction of Christian principles into the relations of social life , that it has bravely defended the cause of the poor and desolate , and raised millions of low estate from a p osition of degradation to one which , . whatever ; its defects and calamities , is-illuminated by the ' sunlight , of - charity , and ' warmed by the genial rays of fraternal lore . We " have , indeed , a Herculean task before us , to redress the wrongs which bad laws , imperfect arrangements , the dominion : of ignorance and but

    the greed of gain inflict upon numerous portions of society ; no class , and " no individual , is beyond the reach of the active sympathy of philanthropic religionists ; and , even in the basest criminal , the mere fact of humanity is a sufficient tie to link him with the best and proudest' in-the land , and secure for him a readiness to consider how the means of reformation and happiness maybe placed within his reach . We have entirely passed out of that stage in which the ; misery of the poor could be viewed with complacency , and the task of ' GoVernment summed up in . the falsely conceived duty of keeping the masses in wretchedness and order , for the benefit of the luckily born and nurtured few . The great principle-to which Bentiea . }! , borrowing from Franklin ,

    devoted a laborious life to- expound , is now universally recognised ; and forms of polity arid methods of government stand acquitted or condemned in . proportion as they succeed or fail to promote the" greatest happiness of the greatest number , " and make the good old term " Commonwealth" literally applicable to our modern state . 3 ? or . a . time , political economy had to wajre war with uneducated and sentimental -benevolence ¦ ; .-but , although the science is still perverted by a few . into an engine for grinding the faces of the poor * the ruling . classes- are becoming better acquainted With its principles and its -limitations ,, and more able to make it the minister of beneficent progress , and not the coadjutor of the selfishness of capital for the oppression of

    the labouring class . . The doctrine of leaving adults to make precisel y what bargains thev plca- ' se , however unjust in principle and detrimental to the public interest , ' \ ias been beaten down by the inherent strength of holiest emotions , and the Legislature has again and again stopped ¦ i n . to secure the weaker . party against loss of health or infringement of rights to which ' he was exposed by the mere operation of commercial principles . In many cases such State aid should he regarded a . s provisional , and it ought to cease as soon as the protected persons are able to take care of theinselvr . s ; but there are certain axioms in strict conformity with the rules of common law that ought never to be placed in ¦¦ a beyance by any technical defect in legislative machinery , No one has a right to use his to others

    own liberty or employ his property so as injure ; and the doctrine that , " no injury . is done to him who consents , is utterly . inapplicable to tlic consent wrung from misery , or extorted ' from ig norance , and which consent , according to the rules of sound morals , ought never to hove boon given at all . There may be a doubt as to the best way of enforcing the duties of property upon the master bakers of London ; but when they carry on their trade in dark , dump , nnd fetid cellars , working their unhappy victims for unhonrd-of hours , nnd ruining 1 heir health to such an extent that medionl" examination rarely discovers a sound jourinsymau baker , no consent" on the part of the . sufferer ought to debar him from the right to redress ; and he is morally . ' as much entitled to damages for a shattered constitution , as he is legally , under Lord ' Cajipmelf / s Act , for broken limbs

    in a railway collision . No capitalist has a right to curry on his trade in n . Juggernaut fashion , and drive his car of wealth over the wangled bodies of the working Class ; and whenever a workmnn is killed or iinured because his employer neglects any known and reasonable means of rendering the occupation safe , he or his representatives nro entitled to a ulieai ) and easy method of obtaining pecuniary recompense fov the damage , that has been done . Trade would . not be iniurod by enforcing its moral obligations . When n inanufacliu ' e is unhealthy it is badly managed , and Jniwprolits might be made by the application ol greater science iiikI bettor sum . who to

    It is a monstrous ' wrong nnd cruelly , < Imt mm » luipjiou work in ignornntly managed ]) in'suits should Iohr hul thuir lives as a penalty for the employer * violations oi ch , mm » . l , physiological , or mechanical laws ; or Hint euoh « bu # incH » na digging cools should b < M'i « lit or te . n times as dangerous as the uvertugo pursuits of the , eonrmunity ; nearly nil tho extra chm ^ r being ho plain and palpable fault of tho capitalists , for whoso profit tho business is earned on . ¦ , v ,., i The terrific explosion which has just occurred at . Hi ndo may , at least , serve to call nttoutiou to Iho c onon . li ., pos Hi on ol the colliers a a elass , aud it is to bo hoped tlmt tho causes of

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    libel . Their counsel , Mr . Temple , argued that it was only a fair comment upon a public matter . The libelled Mr . Wilson was put into the box , his counsel well knowing that , as the defendants had not "justified , " he could not be cross-examined as to any bribery . Technically , the truth may be a libel . But when-the parties reversed their positions , the ' . Berwick counsel did not dare to tender Mr . Lamb for cross-examination , and so the story of the bribery is imcontradicted . Matthew Middlemass swore that Lamb had . paid Mm £ 3 , and told him to go and vote for Majouibasks . The three sovereigns Middlemass showed to Waite , one of Mr . Hodgson ' s supporters ; Mr . Lamb sat behind , his counsel and heard'this evidence ; and , as he did not offer to gainsay it , we are bound to believe it . The defence really offered was , ' that there was no proof when the wr it for the * election was received by the returning officer , nor when proclamation was made , or that the copy of the return was certified as . required by the Act ! Yet ,, if Mr . Lamb had been plaintiff on the previous day > he would have received damages for a libel ! The difficulties in proving bribery are multiplied by law . A private person bringing an action for the penalty , lays ^ himself open to the imputation of being " a common informer . " It is only a public association , having no personal interest in the result , that can undertake the disagreeable task of proving what Mr . Justice Hill very properly called . " a crime . " Security for costs has to be -given ; and if the association issues a report toits coiistituents ^ simply informing them of what lias been discovered , they must als ' o pay the . costs . of an action of libel ,.. Then witnesses-. disappear from the scene ; or beeome . strangely obtuse as to what really tdok place : Spite of all such impediments , Messrs . Coves , Reed , arid Gilmotie have triumphed , and have ; read not Berwick only , but every corrupt borough , and every corrupt elector , a lesson , in a ^ dose whic h they are prepared to repent at the Summer Assizes . ' . And it is only i . ii law that a cure for bribery , is to be found ; Public opinion can do nothing ; for if bribery be exposed , arid bribers published , it is a libel ; . if verbally reportwl from mouth to mouth , a slander . No other than the expensive process of a trial can . accomplish .-the purity of constituencies . Fortunately , Berwick is cared for ; but it is to he regretted that there is no impersonal agency in the neighbourhoods of Bcvcrley , Wakefield , Gloucester , and Dover . Associations , however , might-soon be established . A score of determined electors m . ip ; ht do more than twenty committees at Westminster . Tho -Northern Reform Union ' has pointed out the way of action ; it only requires to be resolutely followed . And so long as electors permit their neighbours' votes to be bought and sold , so long shall we have candidate ' s willing to buy ; and just so long shall we have candidates not worth having . But by the process of purgation' which the Union ] W discovered , we'destroy the vote of the briber as well ns tho bribed , and we reduce the unscrupulous partisan to a political nonentity . , It is impossible not to admire the unshrinking fortitude winch Mr . Co wen mid his colleagues . : have displayed . Ordinary men , not so much possessed by a disinterested purpose ,, would have shrunk from a shower of actions for libel . Regardless of inconvenience , local malevolence , and almost ruinous costs , they have struggled on to a victory ; their reward for which only can be a consciousness that tftefWxst proved that the . law can reach the political corruption which supposed itself safe from other than sentimental correction . Let Berwick beware . It has a local tradition , explanatory of its singular topographical sandwich position between England and Scotland , which runs as follows : " When the Devil took the Son of man into the mountain , and showed him all the kingdoms of the world at one timo , his Satanic majesty put his thumb upon Berwick , which opornl . ion excluded the borough from association withoithor of the kingdoms . " Wo do-hot momi "' to say that the political corruption of Berwick argues a closer connection With tho 1 ' rinoo of Darkness than , with the Deity of Mammon , but wo may rorairifl Berwick that a continuance in corruption may induce Parliament to dissolve the connection between tho Borough or Berwick and the Constitution of the realm . Certainly , if Middlesborouffh and Hortlepool enn establish their right to be represented , wo shall not bo puswlod where to look for a ( load city of tho North to be offered as ft sacrifice

    The Berwick electors were first heard , and ' a special jury of the county found that the Committee ' s report was a libel , but they only awarded one shilling damages to ; a Mr . Wilson . The Union consented that in the other' five cases verdicts for forty shillings to cany costs should be recorded . Next day , the action against one of the six for penalties was heard . A shockingly clear case of corruption was proved against Mr . ¦ 1 ) . ALamb , and the almost same jurymen ! found a verdict for the penalty of ^ 100 . The ' Northern . Beform Union pleaded that their report was no

    The Slaughter En 7 Collieries.

    THE SLAUGHTER EN COLLIERIES .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 10, 1860, page 227, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2337/page/7/