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Northern Star (1837-1852), 20th April 1850, Edition 2 of 3, Page 7, MONDAY, April 15. HOUSE OF LORDS.—On the...

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      Indictment For X.X1uhtinu Ivluflax 151 L...

      , 0 ^ Zt DTJBL 1 C-JAEBTING . ON JIHI ] i 50 LAB OUR QUESriOrl . - „ . atine of the inhabitants of Brighton * P # „ A ^ w » H « n - «« tt ? evenb ? of Tuegbdiin iu ^ < for tbe purpose of discussing ^ . 2 ° rtlBt question of the rights of labour ^ » ll-i ® P ° , . , ; nn of the journeymen bakers and for ^ i ; Ss ™ « pport < , f a biii ^ intro - i » *« Lrluunent hy Lord Robert Grosyenor , ^ ^ £ oa of Big ht work in the baking is tlie m * - ' }; on 0 f Mr . Nunn ( master baker , ) se-On tbe nw ^^ j Se CreUl y t 0 the Journeymen MBSed hy * " " „ \ ifr . Oastlsr was unanimous !?

      jee rs' ^ the chair . On taking the chair , ^ " iwratleman was greeted with hearty tbe vai « . j es nerf ^ Factory Chiidren / cheers as »¦ - iacards calling the meeting , A fter r , ^ . -Inhabitants of Brighton—rou Mr . ^'''^ osen ' me as your chairman—you have j , aT e r . o * c" to presi ^ a over the deliberations of S ppoia . ed otf ^ tnoug htful assembly , cocgregated tnis BDiB ^ * o j discussing a question of most for the P * *~ c £ > j need not assure you that I am a vrfnl r 3 Por -j Dy this mark of your confidence , deeplj [ iB ? h g responsibility of the office with which *** 1 ' j ! . p « has chanjed me . Let your motto be , 5 i . Vhr * * "M ? ast that which is good . ' No iprt Te *» ^ ' with meddling with that which one t Irflonsto us . Kings and p easants , and fl oes n * me ^ ate pade , are alike interested in eKlT ' station , " we Slanc = eJ 68 over the this g ^* J * nation" of Eumpe , or stretch them ^ TwEinns beyond the Atlantic , we see the orer /„« and the people intently striving to uak iuc ui

      »* ..-. ereat enigma- w are nguvs S 0 1 ? Ho * shall they he secured ? Many very rfe en calling themselves philosophers , fancied Sibad se « led that mighty question herein Engt $ Th e * ignorant as they truly are , perscaded ^ ipi ws snd their confiding dupes , that the way & em *!\ £ comfort and well-being of the indus-S w ^ eh thej ha ve effected ! By opening the Virion of the world , in our own market , they SSded in cheapening the price of every { i » dity , flowering the wages and pro-£ of all who are engaged in then" production and ult ? Listen

      Sbution And what is the res , 7 Ihe Chancellor of the Escluquer , who , , hile h e finds the exchequer oveiflowwig ¦»«¦ « - * rts increasing , feels ihe rottenness of the ^ e ntv of which he boasts ; and . dreading L consequences of that Tery cheapness which it las been the obj ect of his school of statesmen and nhilosophers to create , casts about for hope from any oaarter , and at last he thinks he perceives it , m a ntum » h' « ner P rice 3 - H" fond , y ho « es ' , ow luicfs ' will not lon « continue . Read , in the increase of crime and destitution , the result of that cheapness which is fast reducing English society to bubris ffl . Do 1 exaggerate ? Turn over the columns of jour daily papers - , read those long and ekqaen t letters in the * Morning Chronicle , ' headed * Lsl » nr and the Poor / You will there find con-Irafltion of the sad truth I have enunciated .

      Linkage / ads to describe the miseries it would pournay , figures and words may state the facts , but fte heart-rending horrors consequent on such apjalfiiiE facia can only be imagined by those who cfcs % investigate tbe moral and social foulness prodnsdby excessive but ill-requited labour in creating , wealth , but cheapness ; Strange that the ame organ , while famishing such incontestable proof of the total failure of the cheap ph losophers , should still applaud their schemes , and urge for a ill further extension of the very principles whose partial operations have produced such almost unithat the

      versal hav . oc . Does any one think picture of English society is not really so bad as the ' Morning Chronicle' represents ? Turn next to the leading journal , the Times , * and therein , in terrific , but Kinase and impressive language , read the sad chancier of English society . Read the descrip tion of oor once happy father-land . And , mark well , his are not the words of passion , enthusiasm , or excitement , spoken in the heat of debate , or to serve a party or a passing purpose . Tbe Editor of the 'Timet , ' while calmly penning that which he feiew every civilised people could read and ponder , thus describes the present condition of society in

      England : — 'The p rison is a palace hy the side of the cottage . The murderer is comfortable , and the children , perhaps , of his victim suffering all kinds of wretchedness . The gaol has lost its terrors . The village labourer cannot get half so much of the housing , the clothing , the fredinj , the teaching-, and tie comforting of his wife and family , as the state hrishes oa lie single person of a miscreant whose ssl : claim to its attention is some atrocious crime !' —( the'Times'March 2 Stb , 1850 . ) Such is our mfional character , heralded by the 'Times' to every civilised nauoa on earth ! What state of barbarism

      can surpass our own : We lavish our premiums and reward ? on murderers and miscreants , while we rob tte village labourer of his rightful wages ! AftttaU . Txeateio proud , arrogant , and self-ahfii cieBt , that ire boast of our Christianity and emJisation — nay , ive dare to profess ourselves the missionaries of both ! Thus adding to all our other crimes the sin of national hypocrisy . ¥ > 11 not Heathen nations answer us out of the book we would persuade them is the Tford of God— ' Ye hypocrites , cast first the beam out of your own eyes , and then shall ye see clearly 5

      to pull out the mote that is in our eyes ? Wiil not ihe untutored savage retort— ' Physicians , heal yourselvesr The Editor of the ' Times' adds , ' All thst we can hope is , that we may gain a little by the Hjerience of each year ; and to that we will add oar own fervent desire that the British public and teplatuie would direct their efforts more to the cimparatirely easy work of retaining in employment , confer ? , and duly , those whom otherwise it will be almost impossible to reform . ' Passing strange it is

      *» ihe same mind suagests no better method W securing the desired object than a still further increase of that very competition which has brought in its * afce such destructive cheapness , such demoralising health ! Another remedy being the transportation nf the industrious to distant climes ! Is it not high feme for yon , the common people , to betake your-Elves to thoughtfulness on this most important question , seeing that the learned—the philosophers— are at ihtir wits' end ? It is . For that purpose you

      are met here to-night . Toa are anxious to retain in employment , comfort , and duty' those who are now Employed , and to find means of employing those who me now unwilling idler ? . Yon , too , must be golded by * experience . ' The' experience' of every age and of every nation proves that rational labour pgood for man and for nations—that when pursued ^ rationally , excessively , labour is destructive of its 8 Kn value , and becomes the parent of physical , men . hIj and moral evils . * Experience' teaches mankind to labour , that they may lire— -not to live that Ihey ? ay labour excessively at internals , and at others rot Jjj idleness . Experience' teaches the labourers and "j ? Sorercors that there are enjoyments to be

      obtamtd in hfe from which the sons of industry may M » ith safety be debarred . To secure those en-JVmeuts to the industrious , ' experience' teaches ™ t the la »? s must restrain the griping hand of ava £ <* . and protect the labourer from the iron hoof o ' hB remorseless taskmaster ! Our business to-aigbt j ? k Promote that object . Tbe truth is . my friends , tcose who are employed in England are too long at work ; each man is doing the work of two , and thus « e IS CGffimittifig the double crime of wasting his own streng th for a mere nominal return and robbing "B nei ghbour of his right to labour . Malthns , the 5 **? ' Free-trade and anti-population philosopher , ^ a i nstincts that were sound and natural ; he could

      « e the dreadful evils of over-toiling . His heart »| gested an alteration , but his head forbade ! The Philosopher was wrong , the instinct of nature was ^ ht Hear hi s heart thus speaking : — ' I have ~ ays thought and felt , that many among the la" ^ nng classes of this country- work too bard for *& health , happicess , and intellectual improvettei it ; and , if a greater degree of rehxation from ^ J ^ e toil could be given ihero , with a tolerably " * prospect of its being employed in innocent dements and useful instruction '—thus far the

      ™* niters the sentiments of his heart ; but the PajKKopher now steps in with the head , and raises t ^ Sobuas , which nature or truth never created . * Puilosopher says— « I should consider it as Tery C 3 £ ¥ ypBrchased , br the sacrifice of a portion of tn J atHmaUea ! th a * populousness . ' The nntu-»« ed man sees that it is wrong to sacrifice « health , S ^ iV * inS ^ ctnal improvement' to ' too vsa nori ' — « S £ 7 ere toH ; > bat tne educated pWIosofion * ^ TO ed that » a greater degree of relaxation I r UJt 0 € cessa « ly involve'the sacrifice of a peril Yf tbe nat 5 n « al wealth and populousness 1 'J 2 f "" ° S bi & , indeed , made him mad , else he wid have known , that to do right , is always the iS ^ fra 8 8 r « atne 58 . Let that truthnever he [ Tr'kd from your minds . There ntrer can be as S ? 6 * ays rf fatice and truth . Bight newr ** teget wrong . Agito , the philosopher canno

      Indictment For X.X1uhtinu Ivluflax 151 L...

      perceive that governments are for the well-regulating of societies . And he adds— ' But , without a simultaneous resolution of aU the labouring classes to work fewer hours in the day , the individual who ventured so to limit his exertions would , necessarily , re * duce himself to comparative want and wretchedness . ' —( MaUhus ' s 'Principles of Political Economy , ' c . vii . s . 9 . ) The' unanimous resolution' here spoken of could never be attained . The strife to attain it would engender many strikes , and , knowing as I do the dreadful evils consequent on stakes

      , I never can recommend them . We must not forget that oar principal object to-night is to consider the case of one section of our people , viz ., the journeymen bakers of London . Those men are engaged in the most useful and most necessary ; employment of preparing the daily bread of the millions who inhabit our great metropolis . Now , if any employment ought to be comfortable and profitable , it is theirs . What is the fact ? They are yery . poorly rewarded in wages ; they are doomed to an excessive—to a killing toil . They number about 12 , 000 ; one-fourth of them

      generally unemployed , out of work . The regular hours of those in employment are , on Sundays from ei ght or nine a . m . to one to three p . m . On Sunday night they enter on their week ' s work , at eleven o ' clock ,, till five or six on Monday evening ; resuming work again at eleven at night , and so on , through the week , their wages being abnut 18 s . Foreigners and boys now compete with them , and their condition is deteriorating . Hear one man ' s tale—Iliare just left my place , at Mr . , High Holborn , where I bare been Using for fourteen months , and I have been compelled to leave , for I could stand it no longer , f « r during the whole of that time I have : warked twenty hours

      each day out of the twenty-four . My inates round me know I am not afraid of work , hut of all the hard places 1 ever had that one beat them . Had I not left my place I HlUSt hare sunk under it- 1 have lived at — — - in Barbican , and you all ( addressing his club mates ) know whata kUling place that is , but the one I have just left beats that hollow . " We used there to get abont an hour to our meals in the course of the day , because everything was timed , but we couldn't in the other ; we used to go straight at it until we left off . We used to hake abont fifty sacks of flour into bread a week ; above one-half of that we had to carry to chandlers ' -shops on boards on our- heads , another portion to private customers in baskets on our backs , the remainder being sold in the shop .

      For all this labour he received 18 s . per week , and what bread and fiSur he wanted to consume , which may be reckoned about 2 s a week more . Talk about serfs and s ' aves , indeed ! Reason about the miseries of savage life , and the blessings of civilisation ! There cannot be in human nature , a class more sinned against than these wretched men ! Health they cannot have . Domestic , social , or personal enjoyments they are debarred from ? Does Christianity demand their worship of the true God ? They have no time—no strength ; they are Helots , slaves to Mammon , in tbe . metropolis of a nation boasting of its liberty , civilisation , and

      Christianity ! Th' -y minister to the sustenance of others , by their own self-sacrifice . Have we any statesmen left ? If we have , I demand of them , how long is this brutality to be allowed by law ? Ah ! hut they are adults—free agents ! Indeed ! The statesman who says those men are free agents , knows nothing of society . But if they " were , what then ? Have they a right to sacrifice health and life ? Have those 8000 in employment a right thus to keep out the remaining 4000 from any employment ? Philosophy , I know , says yes ! But , reason , nature , sound policy , common sense humanity and Christianity , answer—Ho . A thousand times—No '

      Resolutions condemnatory of the existing cruel system , and in support of Lord Robert Grosvenor ' s bill , and a petition to the House of Commons in its favour , to be signed by the chairman on behalf of the meeting , to be presented hy Cflpt . Peehell , and supported hy " Lord Alfred Hervey ( the members for Brighton . ) were unanimously adopted . Messrs . Wells , Mock ford , Read , Cabel , Nunn , Kydd , and others , addressed the meeting , condemning nightwork and long hours of labour . Some opposition was attempted , but the parties did not move any amendments ; eventuall y joining in support of the resolutions . Mr . Read made an impressive speech , full of details and important

      facts ; informing the meeting of tbe strong opposition of Mr . Cobden to the Bakers' Bill in parliament . ' Mr . Cobden , the great csptain of the Free-Traders , ' said Mr . Read , ' was pleased to tell the House of Commons that the London bakers needed no protection ! He , the pretended friend of the working classes , thus proving his . determination to grant them no relief . He ( Mr . R ^ an ) would ask whether weie the London bakers or Mr . Cobden tbe best judges ? He liked the old saying , ' Mind your own business ; ' and- if Free-trade orators would speak only on subjects which they understood , they would talk less and be more thought of . Mr . Cobden often boasted that he was the iriend of the working classes , but his friendship

      for them was mere thin air—so etbenal that when you tried to analyse it , you discovered it was only words ; words , sound , and nothing else J but bis friendship for the great capitalists was strong and influential , marked by deeds , following bis words . Soon the English labourers would find out their true friends—among them Mr . Cobden would not b " . discovered . ' Mr . Kydd ' s speech was full of powerful reasoning and eloquent appeals to tbe head and the heart . He demolished the crude theory of enlightened philosophy and free action , ' and proved , that on mutual dependence alore could national security be bnilt , that dependence being cemented by the mutual interchange of the produce of each other ' s labour among the people of each—in contradiction to every country .

      After a vote of thanks to 'the Chairman the meeting broke up . Many persons thronged round Mr . Oasiler to shake bands with the' old veteran ;' these marks of kindness were evidentl y appreciated by the « Old King . ' The proceedings of this important meeting were remarkable for calmness and dispassionate reasoning . It was impossible to witness so numerous an assemblage , composed principally of working men , reasoning on so important a subject as ' the rights of labour , ' without observing that the seeds of a great industrial movement ' have been sown , and that soon tbe harvest will be reaped .

      Apeil 20, 1850. • The Northern Star* ' _...

      apeil 20 , 1850 . THE NORTHERN STAR * ' _ _____ ? ^^^^^^~^^^^ l . * ' ~*^* -- ¦ - ., —¦ ¦¦— ¦ - ^^^^^^**^>^ ^ ^ **^*^* M *™»* WM * W ^ MMM ^ MMiM ^^ MM ^^ MM * « MlM ^^^ M ^ WM * Mi ^*» W » ' *^ M ** " * M *^*^*»^*^»^' M ^****''** ' ^™*" , »^> ^*^*^^^ l ^

      The Government J?L&S Fob The Botiai Of T...

      The Government J ? l & s fob the Botiai of the Deid . —Under the authority of the proposed bill " To make better provision for the interment of the dead in and near the metropolis , " it is intended to create a new burial district , to include all London , Westminster , and the borough of Southwaik . The divisions will be—the Holborn division : St- Giles-in-the-Fields , St . George , Bloomsbury , St . Andrew ' s , Holborn , and St ; George the Martyr ; the liberty of Hatton-garden , Saffron-hill , and Elyrents ; the parishes of St . Pancras , St . John , Hampstead , St . 3 darylebone , Paddington , and tho precincts of the Savoy . —The Finsbury division : The parish of St . Luke , the liberty of Glasshouse-yard , the parishes of St . Sepulchre , of St . James , Clerkenwell , St . Mary , Is'ington , St . Mary , Stoko

      JCewington , and the Charter House . —The Tower division : The parishes of St . Mary , " vThitechapel , Christchurch , St . Leonard , Shoreditch , the liberty Of ISTorton Folgate , the parishes of St . John , Hackney , St . Matthew , Betbnal-green , the Hamlets of Mile End Old Town and Mile End New Town , the parishes of St . Mary , Stratford-le bow , Bromley , St . Leonard , All Saints , Poplar , St . Anne , Limehouse , the Hamlet of llatcliffe , the Parishes of St . Paul , ShadwelJ , St . George-in-the-East , St . John , Wapping , the Liberty of East Smithfield , the Precinct of St . Catherine , the Liberty of her Majesty ' s Tower of London . —The Kensington Division : The Parishes of Kensington , St . Luke , Chelsea , Fuiham , the Hamlet of Hammersmith , the Parishes of

      Chiswick , Ealing , Acton . —The Brentford Division : The Township of Sew Brentford . —Extra Parochial Places : Lincoln ' s Inn , Gray ' s Inn , Staple ' s Inn , that part of Furnival's Inn in the County of Middlesex , Ely-place . —Kent : The Parishes of St . Paul , Deptford . St . Bicbolas , . Deptford , Greenwich , Woolwich , Charlton , Plumstead . —Surrey : The parishes of Barnes , Battersea , Bermondsey , CamberweU , Clapham , Lambeth , Xewington , Putney , Botherhitbe , Streatham , Tooting , Wandsworth , Christchurch , ClinkLibert y , the Hamlet of Hatcbam in the parish of Deptford . It is also intended to give powers to purchase certain cemeteries , to be named in one of the schedules of the act , such as " The General Cemetery for the Interment of the Dead in the Neighbourhood of the Metropolis " ( Kensall Green ) , " The South Metropolitan {

      Norwood ) , " The London Cemetery Company , " " The West of London and Westminster" ( Brampton ) " Stepney , " " Victoria Pari , " and " Abney Park " Cemeteries . These and the grounds to he purchased for extramural interments are to be placed under the direction of the Board of Health ., The staff of the board to be slightly increased for the purposes of this act , which will require an additional member of the hoard , an assistant-secretary , and a treasurer , for the special purposes mentioned . These offices respectively to be limited in like manner , and for tbe same term as the board is at present instituted . They are to purchase and lay out grounds , and to appoint chaplains , subject to the approval of the Bishop of London . A portion of each burialground is to be ' left unconsecrated and a chapel built thereon , where persona areito be buried at the request of their surviving relatives .

      The Government J?L&S Fob The Botiai Of T...

      Tfil CONDITION OF ENGLAND QUHSTION ^ ¦ -- - - ( Cende & aed from the JUrning ehronide . )

      LIFE IN LEEDS . The east and north-east districts of Leeds are , perhaps , the worst . A short walk from the Briggate , in the direction in which Deansgate branches off from the main entry , , will conduct the'visitor into a perfect wilderness of foulness . Conceive acre on acre of little streets , ran up without attention to p lan or health—acre on acra of-closely-built and thickly-peopled ground , wifchoufc a paving-stone upon the surface , or an inch of sewer beneatn , deep trodden-churned sloughs of mud forming the only thoroughfares—here and there an open space , used not exactly as the common cess-pool , but as the common cess-yard of the : vicinity—in its centre , ash-pits employed for dirtier

      purposes than containing ashes—privies often ruinous , almost horribly foul—pi g-sties very commonly left pro tempore , untenanted , because their usual inmates have been turned out to prey upon the garbage of the neighbourhood . Conceive streets , and courts , and yards , which a scavenger never appears to have entered since King John incorporated Leeds , and which , in fact , give the idea of a town built in a slimy bog . Conceive such a surface drenched with the liquid slops which each family flings out daily and nightly before their own threshold , -and further fouled by the malpractices of children , for which the parents , and not the children ; deserve shame and punishment . Conceive , is short , a whole district to which tho above description rigidly and truthfully applies , and you will , I am sorry to say , have a fair idea of what at present constitutes a large

      proportion of the operative part of . Leeds . I have seen here and there in Bradford spots very nearly , and in Halifax spots quite as bad ; but . here it is no spot—the foulness over large sections of the town , particularl y towards the suburbs , constitutes the very face and essence of things . I have plodded by the half hour through streets in which the undisturbed mud lay in wreaths from wall to wall , and across open spaces , overlooked by houses all round , in which the pigs , wandering from the central oasis , seemed to be roaming through what was only a large sty . Indeed , pigs seem to be the natural inhabitants of such places . I think they are more common in some parts of Leeds than dogs and cats are in others ; and wherever they abound , wherever the population is filthiest , there are the houses the smallest , the rooms the closest , and the most overcrowded . One characteristic of such localities is a

      curious and significant one . Before almost every house-door there lies , of course until the pig comes upon the deposit , a little heap of boiled-out tea leaves . Although all the domestic refuse is flun g out , you hardly ever see bones , but the tea-pot is evidently in operation at every meal . Here and there , I ought to add , the visitor will , even in the midst of such scenes as I have tried to sketch , come upon a cluster or a row of houses better than ordinary , and through the almost invariably open doors of which he will see some indications of domestic comfort ; but such buildings are the exceptions—and , exceptions as they , are , they rise out of the Same slough of mud and filth , and command the same ugly sights as their neighbours . There is , I

      believe , a Nuisance Committee in Leeds . 1 inquired whether they were aware of even the most flagrant of all these sanitary enormities . Had their atten-. tion , for instance , been ever drawn to , the practice of keeping pigs , or rather ' of letting the p igs keep themselves , in crowded neighbourhoods ? " Yes , " I was answered , by a gentleman much interested in the subiect— " Yes , I have reported these things over , and over again , until I was sick and tired of reporting ; but , you see , nothing has been done . " Three of the ordinary trades ef the Irish in Leeds are rag-picking—such as I have described it in Batley , near Dewsbury— -untwisting old ropes , and mat-making . Men and women g enerally work at the latter employment ; but the women almost invariably hawk the produce about for sale . I visited two cellars in one of the Irish streets , in each of whiehl found a man and woman preparing

      mats . A sentence of description will suffice for both apartments . They might be about seven feet square , littered with old bagging , Russia mats , old ropes , and shavings—furnished with ricketty deal tables , and two or three chairs more or less dilapidated , and a bed , in one case , spread on a low frame , in the other , rolled up in a corner . The cooking apparatus , in both cases , consisted of a single pot . Miserable as these abodes are , they were clearly . superior to the Irish cellars in Manchester and Oldham . The people in the second cellar were rather better off than those in the first , because the wife had a " good connexion" in the mat-selling business , and could more generally realise fair prices for her wares . In both instances the people gave me every information about their trade , and I subjoin the , substance of their statements , which in the main arreted ..- "

      "We m :: ketwo sorts of mats , rope mats , which are the best sort , and stitched mats . Both of these mats are principally made of a stuff called ' dewit . '" This dewit was a substance like long clusters of coarse hemp . " We buy it for 3 s . a stone . We then dye it brown with catechu ; we dyo it by boilin < r a stone of it with ljd . worth of catechu , and then we rinse it out with clean water and a little alum , and hang it up to dry . " The side of each room was clothed with clusters of the stuff in question . " We have next to get ropes for the rope mats , and old sacking and shavings and twine

      for the . stitched mats . The ropes cost about Is . 3 d . per stone . The old bagging comes to about lid . per mat , and . the twine and Russia matting to a trifle more . We use shavings when we can get them for nothing . To make a good-sized rope-mat , like what we sell for a gentleman ' s door , takes six or seven pounds of rope , and from a pound to a pound and a half of dewit . We generally count , working up the waste of one with another , that lClbs . of dewit will make three rope mats . Stitched mats do not take more than half that quantity , but they require , besides the sacking , twine and garden mats . "

      The rope mats are made upon the principle of weaving . The strands of untwisted ropes are stretched across a frame , exactly . like warps , and then the workman , passing a stronger rope in the manner of a wcof across them , binds into the twisted cordlocks of the dewit , which forms the superficies of the mat . In the stitched sort the dewit is fastened by coarse needlework to the sacking . One of the mat workers I saw was an old man . He could , he said , once have made-four or five rope mats a day . Kow he could not make more in a week . The stitched sort required a day to make two , and another day was generally requisite to sell them . The woman in the first cellar stated , in regard to the sale , as follows i— " I sell the mats we make here , and it ' s very hard work—much

      harder than making them , and very uncertain . The prices I get depend mostly altogether upon whether it ' s poor houses or rich houses I sell at . There is no regular price for the mats . I take what I can get , and if we ' re very hard up I take' very little . I get as little as 4 d . and Cd . for each of the stitched mats , and as little as Is . or Is . 2 d . for the rope mats . The last day I was out selling , I went four miles into the country with four mats , three of the cheap sort , and one of the best . I walked all day . Sold two , and brought home ' two . I sold the dear one and one of the cheap ones , and had only lod . for both . The time before that , I went out at seven in the morning , and never broke my fast . That day I sold three of the bag sort for Is . 7 d . "

      I visited several cellars and wretched dwellings in the vicinity , inhabited by the Irish and the lowest class of English labourers , male and female , many of whom were engaged in , the miserable occupation of unpicking old ropes , so as to prepare the oakum for being ground up again arid wrought into shoddy , canvas and sacking . " This species of labour is so unutterably wretched that it can onl y exist as eking out the pittance procured by the industry of the principal supports of the family . The first woman upon whom I lighted , and who professed to follow this miserable trade , I found ill in bed . It was indeed a squalid household — the floor , dirty stone—the mean furniture , scantyand broken—the smashed window panes stuffed with rags — and an

      emaciated woman , ghastl y as death , lying shivering on a flock bed on the floor , covered principally with a dress and a faded shawl . She told me that she could earn just 4 d . by unpicking , a stone of ordinary ropeb , and that she was too weak . to pick more than three stones aweek . The family lived principally on parish relief . She did not mean , to say that a better hand than she was could not make more by opening ropes . She could not work at it longer than from eight o ' clock in the m ? rning until four o ' clock in the afternoon .. It was a terribly , dusty work ! The house would bo all covered with dust , the labour was awfully iard upon the fingers , particularly when the ropes were " green . " For this kind of work , however , she was paid-a penny a stone additional .

      I was anxious to see the process actually going on , and presently I came upon a household in which , poor as were its physical attributes , the moral debasement and apathy which it disclosed were still more terrible . In a , bare , stone-paved room , a principal part of the furniture of which consisted of tubs and apparatus for washing , sat three young children cowering over , a spark of fire , and slowly and painfully tearing tough ropes to pieces with their weak , bony , little fingers . An intelligent girl , about eight or niiie years of age , seemed to have the control of the other children , who were younger , and for whom she spoke , labouring away all the time . I ought to observe that I was accompanied by a rclieving-officer , and that tho father of the family had been receiving parish relief for seven years : " Where ' s your mother ?"— " Gone out to trv to get some washing to do , " i i '' . here ' , y ° w fatherV — "In the Fleecethat s a public-house . Ah , mother told him ho had

      The Government J?L&S Fob The Botiai Of T...

      better ^ not go ' to-day , fo ' r ^ ybu ( * to the relievingoffiaer ) would ; be very likely to come round , but he wouldn't stayv '' " What does your father do ? " — " Sweeps the streets , sometimes . ' - " But < toe ? no . £ he hel p you to pick these ropes ?" , — "No ; he wouldn ' t do that . He makes vs do that . " • ' ¦¦ ' ¦ ' ' " " What do you got for picking ?"— " Fourpence a stone , but I give it all to my mother . " "Do you go to school ?" _ " , Only on Sundays . 1 must work , you know .. I can't read yet . But my little brother goes to school on week days . Parson

      pays tor him , only sometimes' they keep him at home to help in picking . He can't read either . " And is not the other little boy your brother ?"—« Oh no ; he only coines in to help us to pick . " "Do you like picking ?" - " No , because it makes me poorly . The dust gets into in ' y eye ' s and down my throat , and makes mo cough . Sometimes , too , it makes me sick . I can ' t keep at tho work very long at a time because of that . " " You say you give all you earn to your mother , does she never let you haVe a penny for yourself . ? " .. . The poor child hung down her head , hesitated , and then stammere d out— " sometimes , "

      " And what do you do with it ? " — "I buys bread . " In another house , very close to the last , I found three children ' left alone , but in idleness . The place was a mass of filth . .. The scanty furniture , broken and flung carelessly about— the unmade bed a chaos of brown rags — cracked and handleless cups , smeared with coffee grounds , on the floor—amid unemptied slops , and beside a large brown dish , full of fermenting dough , upon which dust and ashes were rapidly settling as it stood at the fireside . The uncleaned window and the dini lig ht of a winter ' s afternoon made the place so dark , that it was with difficulty I made ' out these details . There were here three little savages of children — their hair , tangled in filth-clotted masses , hanging over their grimy faces . Their clothes were mere bunches of rags , kept together by strings . A wri ggle of their shoulders , and they would be free from all such incumbrances in a

      moment . . I asked them if they ever Went to school?—" Never . " " Canyon tell your letters ? " — A mere stolid stare of ignorance . "How old are you ? " I asked the eldest girl . — "Don't know . " " Do you know what is the Queen ' s name ?""tfo . " " Did you ever hear of anybody called the Queen ?'•' — "No . "

      " Where were you born ?"— " Don't know . " The relieving officer said he believed all the family were Irish . " Did you ever hear of a place called Ireland ?""NO . " ^ " Or of a place called England ?*'— " No . " " Or of a place called Yorkshire ?"— " No . " . " Do you know the name of thie town ?" After a pause , this question was answered . The eldest girl did know that she lived in Leeds ; and this knowledge , with the exception of matters belonging to the daily , routine of existence , seemed positively to be the only piece of information in the possession of the family . In two other houses , in both of which the inmates were receiving parish

      relief , the ignorance was almost equal . None of the children knew the Queen ' s name . In each of these instances I must observe that the reason of these families being upon the parish was simply a temporary stoppage of the . husband ' s employment in a mill . In neither case could the mother read . I was struck during the course of my rambles in the Irish quarters in Leeds at the frequency with with pictures of the " Liberator" hung upon the walls . Wherever the cottage or the . cellar was fithiest and meanest — where potatoes to be eaten and rags to be picked lay mingled upon the floorthe features of Mr . O'Connell looked blandly down upon the squalor ; and , in one . or . two instances , , 1 found his effigy supported by a repeal map of Ireland—the south and west coloured a vivid green ,

      and the " Black North" tinted to a sable corresponding with the title . A number of the cases of poverty which I was taken to see , were those of wives with four or five children , deserted by their husbands . Others were the sad ones of old working men who had outlived their capability for labour . One of these individuals lived certainly in tho blankest poverty I over saw . In his room there was a bed ,. not worth , I should suppose , eighteenpence as old rags , and one solitary broken chair . The floor was sinking , and the laths showed in great patches , plasterless and bare . The occupant was an unshorn , little , old man . He said , "I have nothing to do . I want to work , but they say I am too old . The parish pays Is . a week for the rent of this room , I live on bread and

      water . " Then why . did you leave the workhouse ? " said the relieving officer . "Because I wanted my freedom , " said the old man , sitting down on his one broken chair . The sentiment must have been strong to survive amid such misery . He had been a weaver , but had not flung a shuttle for nearly a dozen years . He had walked well ni gh through Yorkshire trying for work , and got none ; Since he had been out of employment as a weaver , he had been a bricklayer ' s

      labourer , and bad earned as much as 17 s . a week , but now he was too old for that , too old for anything . But he would not go into the house . No ; he would have his freedom and his bread and cold water . Another man , who would bo . in a similar p osition were it not for the kindness of his family , observed to me— " They say I ' m past : work . I'm ¦ ot . I could work yet—only a little , perhaps—but I could work . But things have come to that pass in this land , that lads and lasses have men's work . "

      In the course of my wanderings through Leeds , I encountered two or three women engaged in a rather curious trade , a description of which I am not able to { rive with technical accuracy , though I can easily make clear the object in view . Like most occupations , the cloth trade has its share of tricks , one of which consists in passing off an inferior for a superior kind of cloth by some legerdemain practised in the dying process . The deception , were it not for the ingenious device I saw being practised , would , however , I was told , be exposed at once by the peculiar action of the dye upon the selvage of the cloth . The object , therefore , is to dye the cloth without dyeing the selvage upon its borders , and for this purpose tne piece is delivered to a woman , , who " selves" it—that is to say , who rolls up the

      selvage into a circular cylinder all round the cloth , and then covers it with a sort of envelope , tightly stitched , and perfectly water-proof . The whole is then plunged into the dye-vat , and after being duly taken out and dried , the sewing is unpicked , and the selvage unrolled precisely in its original state , The women employed in . this adroit trickery have about lOd . per piece for sowing up the selvage , and 2 d . per piece for unpicking it after the cloth comes from the dyers ' hands , A good work-woman will earn from 5 s . to Cs . a week ; but tho work is seldom regular . One of the women engaged in it had been " playing" for three weeks before she got the piece upon which I found her labouring . The parish , of course , is in the meantime supporting her and her sick child .

      The London Embroidery Trade. I Found The...

      THE LONDON EMBROIDERY TRADE . I found the good woman with her young children in their bedgowns about her ready dressed for bed . It was late in the evening when . I visited her . She was the type of the better kind of labourer ' s wifethe mother , housewife , and workwoman all in one ! . The cheeks of the children were red and shiny with recent scrubbing . In her arms she held an infant , and by her side sat a good-looking boy in the'dress of a parish-school . By the ' fire sat her husband ,, a swarthy , big-boned man . I told them the object of my visit . and was instantly welcoriiod to their hearth ; In answer-to questions they told mo as follows : — " I do the embroidery . I can work , any part of the embroidery work , no matter what it is . I don't

      suppose any one ' s doing good at the embroidorv , for gracious knows where it ? s gone to . Then th ' ere ' s the : tapestry , tha t ' s gone altogether , That was what I learnt . We used to serve seven years at birr business . I embroider' the policemen ' s collars and the railway guards' collars , and sometimes silk work —Is . to Is . 3 d . the dress , what I used to have 5 s . and 6 s . for , and more than thai . Why , they are paying now 2 s . 6 d . for cardinals , that I ' ve had 16 s . for . ' I do the East India work for the Calcutta police ; and the Liverpool police , and the Isle of Man police . I work lor the Pcnitentinrv ' , and the Model Prison . They are the officers' coats , and indeed I d p for all the prisons that wear ornaments . I work for her Majesty ' s yachts . I havoallmv

      wort irom the contractor for the embroidery . He takes it from the clothier . The clothier knows nothing about our business ; he gives it to the oinbroiderer , who gives it to me . There are no chambermasters th . it I know of in our business . The contractor takes a very good shaking exit of it before we has it , . I get 6 s . and 7 s . a dozen for Metropolitan police dress-coat collars . Icari'dofive a day , but ' wo generally reckon four an average day s work of twelve hours . I can earn about 12 s . a week at it . Indeed I can do more if I . can get it . I hjivc earned 29 s . a week at it , but that was by getting up at four in the mornincr and workinir'till

      ten at night ; and besides , the work was much better paid for then . Then the collars was paid 8 a . to 9 s . a dozen—that was about five year ago . The other police are about the same ; the railway and City both . Tho railway guards are according to the letters upon them . We are paid 4 d . a dozen for the large letters , I could do about four dozen and it half a day . As they pay for that work no w , a woman can ' t earn more than 2 s . 2 d . to about 2 s . Cd . a ' day ; but I've sat and earned 6 s . a day at it , and that was for the small- letters on the cap-hands of the railway guards , and only having 2 dV a band then . For the Calcutta police I sratfid . a colar , or from

      The London Embroidery Trade. I Found The...

      6 s . to 7 s . a dozen . The Calcutta police are iust the same work ' , as the iMetropolitan . I do } usc as many , of one as the other . It's a white duck collar worked with blue cord . Tho Liverpool police has tbe bird called the liver , with a branch of olive in Its mouth , and a single strap and number worked in white cord upon blue . Everything : used is worsted . It ' s been argued we work with white cotton cord , but that ' s a mistake . They ' re 6 s . a dozen , and take about the same as the Metropolitan and . the Isle of Man police . The ornament of that is the same as the Isle of Man halfpenny—three legs , boots and spurs . The price is the same as the Metropolitan , us , a dozen . I never knew them more , and they take about the same . The Penitentiary is a small ring , something similar to the

      Fire Brigade . It ' s a small ring , aud the number inside of it . They are 2 d . a piece , to the best of my recollection . I can do about twelve of them a day . The Model Prison have oak leaves and acorns , with a coronet , in the ring . The ' re worked in buff upon blue . Those I m paid double for , lis . and 12 s . a dozen . But then there ' s a deal more work in them . The oak leaves and acorns requires a good deal of shaping . When they were first done they were 18 s , a dozen , and that was about five or six years ago . The Metropolitan Police , when they first camo up , were 16 d . to 18 d . a collar , and not done half so well as they are now . De . ir me , ' there was no shape in them scarcely . Tho Fire Brigade is so badly paid— -I think they offered me 1 H a

      collar—that I couldn ' t work at them at all . There s the Isle of Wight work—that ' s the entrance to thq prison gate ; we have to form all the stones , ami " the brick-work over the arch . They aro 9 d . each . I ' ve had them three or four times , but I never had a great many . Wo can earn about the same at that as at any other of the work . Some things I have to do are black cord worked upon blue , but I don't know what they are for ; they ' re a small coronet in a ring . We work for the Irish police as well . It is the same as the Metropolitan , without either figure or letter . They put metal in them when they get there . Then there's all sorts of crests that we work you know—coats of arms and such like . Thoy are mostly small orders , and don t

      run abovo fifty . We work for the Thames Police , — that ' s the anchor , and like the Metropolitan . At all . kinds of work about 2 s . to 2 s . 6 d . is what I can earn a day , working twelve hours , or 12 s . to 15 s . a week . There ' s very few hands in our business , and we can't think what ' s become of the work . I never had ap iece of work returned in my life , and I ' m generally reckoned a very good hand at the business . There can't be more than 200 persons working at it . We likewise do the soldiers ' grenades on tbe collars of their coats . The general pay of them is 6 s . a hundred ,. but I have never done any under 8 s . 4 d ., because I wouldn't work upon scarlet cloth unless I had full price . I could do about 160 a week . I ' ve worked at the embroidery and tanestry ever

      since I was thirteen years old . " A little while ago there was the embroidering of the gentlemen ' s ' stocks ; they was worked upon the hand , and the hand embroidery has ruined the frame embroidery altogether . At thesoldid very well ; I could make £ 1 a week at them easy . I ' ve got a frame nearly half as long as this room , that 1 suppose I' shall never want again . You see here ' s one of the frames—its tied : up , and no use . I ' ve got three more , and had them all full . The cause of the stock work falling off was this : a man got a quantity of the girls out ef the workhouse , and put a few tidy hands ; to superintend the business . There was a great deal of laughing and Joking about that man , for he was a butcher by trade , and the idea of

      his starting in the embroidery line tickled every one . He took ' em down to Cambridge-heath ; and cut down the prices so low that fifty of us was forced to leave the business at once . Tho butcher made a failure of it , and the whole establishment was broke up , and that was the ruin of the hand embroidery . Then there was another cheap hand , the son of a party in thetcade . He undcrmimicd his father . He went to the warehouses and offered to do the work for less than half price , and ruined it altogether . I believe he made a failure too . Besides these , another was going to have all the work . You see-there was a good bit of money made at it then . This party sent me a shawl , a very well drawn thing . It was honestly worth 4 s . 6 d . or 5 s .

      to do . 1 had had more money for the same . When I took it in , ho had the impudence to offer mo Is . lid . for it . Well , this one made a failure of it too , and 1 have heard that his wife now is trying to pick up a bit of work anywhere . The military embroidery was very good about three years ago . I had a great deal of it , so that I could have supported myself and four or five children very comfortable on it . I could always keep four frames full , and now I ' ve nothing at all to do . Last Saturday week I look 6 s . 10 d ., and that was earnt in a fortnight , and so on about the same for many months . ¦ My weekly earnings for the whole of this year hasn't been more than 2 s ., take one week with another , and three years ago I used to make 15 s . tolGs . 'a ' week regular , and that with perfect ease . As for the ' gold hands , ' I know one that

      could sit and earn 10 s . a day , and I don't think she knows what it is to see a bit of work now . I don ' t know what really has become of the work lately . All the embroidery hands are earning a mere trifle —3 s .: one week and , then 2 s . —and many has called on me to linow what's the cause of it , because they know I generally used to be bo full . Three times last week I sent that little boy for work , and they said , ' send in next week , ' Where they ' re a doing the work , or how they're a-doing it , I can't tell . Whether they ' re doing it in their houses or not , by young g irls , I can't say ; but there must be something like that , for you see as the new clothes comes round there ' s the work to be done , and some one must do it . Perhaps they ' re a-doing it in the prisons , for there ' s many a trade been cut up in that way ; but it ' s a sad pity , for it was a very pretty , tasty , and clean business . "

      I now made my way to a garter-maker , and found an old maiden woman engaged at the business . Her rosm exhibited the utmost order and neatness . Not an article but whatwas in its proper place , and all was scrupulously clean . On tho window-sill , which was as white as snow , stood a row of geraniums and cactuses in pots , brilliant with redlead . The nose of the bellows was polished quite bright , and over the mantel-piece was a piece of antiquated embroidery in a gilt frame . The dress of tho old maid was quite as tidy . She wore an old green stuff gown , without a speck upon it , and a little red' silk handkerchief tied round her neck . Her statement was as follows : — " I make up the garters . They give me the

      India rubber web and I stitch the straps and the buckles On . : I have 7 d . a dozen pair for what I mostly . dp . That is the lowest price I get . The highest price I get is Is . 7 d . a dozen . If I could get sufficient I could do two dozen pair of the 7 d . ones a day , but' they havn't got it for me to do ; and of the Is . 7 d . I couldn't do more than a dozen . M y usuaUirao of working is from eight in the morning till nine at night . The Is . 7 d . . ones aregoing to he lowered . They told me last time I was at the warehouse'that they were obliged to sell so cheap they couldn't afford to pay that price any longer . I said I hoped they would consider ol it , but I would be glad to take what they could afford to give me , as I had nothing else to depend upon . In the day , at

      the commonest work , I can earn Is . 2 d ., and at the best ' Is . , 7 d ., but then I have silk to find , and that costs me 6 d . a dozen for Is . 7 d . ones , and lid . a dozen for the 7 d . ones . I think I burn half apound of candles extra when I am at work . I have to lig ht ' nvy candles sooner , and I sit ' up longer wheh' 1 am at work than when I'm not . Half a pound of candles is 2 $ ., so that I can make clear , working at . the 7 d . garters , 10 * d . a day ; and at tho Is . 7 d . I can get Is . Oid . clear in the same time . When I am full employed all the week at the commonest kind I couldn ' t make twelve dozen a week , because I should have to do for myself , and ' washand cleans I make two dozen for one day-Htd do that Tmust sit close , and hardly have

      time to getmy meals , and I couldn ' t go on so all the week through . I might ,. if I could get it to do , but thoy haven't got trade enough for it , to do ten dozen I say in the week , and ten dozen at 7 d . comes to 6 s . lOd . ; then there ' s the deduction for the silk , which is ljd . a dozen , and that ' s Is . 3 d ., and the extra candles 2 Jd ., in all Is . 5 Jd to be taken from 5 s . 10 d ., and this leaves 4 s . 4 id . as my clejar earnings for the week at the commonest kind of . work . 'Of the Is . 7 d . I think I could do about fivejdozen in the week , though I ' m often for months atid don't 'have any of that kind to do , and five dozen at Is . 7 d , comes to 7 s . lid ., afTd then there ' s Gd- a dozen to be deducted . I have to find this si'k for them , she said , producing a small trayfull

      of little 'cushions' of silk wherewith to join the clasp to tho slide .. Then deducting the silk for five dozen at Gd . —that is 2 s . Cd . from 7 s lid ., there will be 5 s . 5 d ., and this , with 2 * d . less for candles , will leave 5 s 2 Jd . clear for my week ' s work at the best kind of work to bo had in the trade . I think , taking one kind of work with another , I could earn 5 s . a week , clear of all expenses , if I could get it . I pay 2 s . a week rent , and am obliged to be verv hear , I was fifty-nine last August , and have nothing to look forward to but the workhouse , unless the Goldsmiths' Company will do something for me . That is all I have to look forward to . I have not the energy I used to have , nor tho soirits

      —oh , dear , no . I am single , and my father was a ' silversmith . He has been dead about sixteen years , and mother ten . I had no rent to pay while thoy were alive . My father was a working silversmith , and had tho pension from tho Goldsmiths ' Company before he died , and he had the City pension as well ; and mother and mo worked at tho . brace , work . These were his things . I had no brothers nor sisters , and they came to meafter his and mother ' s death . I've been obliged to part with sonic because I was in need of money ; and , indeed , I only see now the ' prospect of parting with them all . I can't maintain myself a great while longer by my work , I ' m certain , and then I have , nothing left but to' live on them , as long as they will last , and after all to end' my days m tho workhouse .

      The London Embroidery Trade. I Found The...

      It ' s impossible for me to save a farthing . I can barelv five oh what I get . Indeed , the" anxiety of my life at present , having my living-to get , and to get my rent up , is such that I certainly would do anything 1 could to avoid it , but stilll have such , a struggle to live and pay my . way that I ' m tired of it . lhavo been upon my own hands about ten years , that is , ever since my mother ' s death . Father was afflicted with rheumatic gout for fourteen years before his death , and all I earned then went to him . I have nothing in pawn , and I owe no rent , nor any money in the neig hbourhood . All I know is , i ' ve worked hard all , my life , ami been unable to get anything more than would barely keen me . As for nnt . tino- hv nnvth ' me out of

      it for my old age , it was ridiculous to think : 6 d . a day is all I have had to find mo in coals , clones , and food for these ten years past . I find it very irksome that I should bo forced to be a pauper in my old age , but it is impossible for me to have done otherwise than I have . I have cut and contrived every way to get a decent living out of the little I got , but how even that little is beginning to fail me . I ' ve had my mother ' s clothes , you see , and they ' ve lasted me pretty well , and 1 haven't had much to buy that way . I am quite alone in the world . If a place in some almshouse could be got for me that would be a real blessing indeed — worth more to me than all the money in the : world . " ( To be Continued . )

      Smptrfal $ Aruamwt

      Smptrfal $ aruamwt

      Monday, April 15. House Of Lords.—On The...

      MONDAY , April 15 . HOUSE OF LORDS . —On the motion of Earl Gket , the Exchequer-bills Bill and the Brick Duties Bill passed through committee . HOUSE OF COMMONS ^—Indecent Dress . —Mr . Hujie presented a petition from the inhabitants of Stirling , complaining of the indecent dress of the Highland soldiers . ( A laugh . ) The petitioners represented that in the course of the last nineteen months , during which a regiment of Highlanders had boon stationed at Stirling Castle , they ( the

      petitioners ) had been obliged to witness many painful spectacles . ( Roars of laughter . ) The petitioners further alleged that the manner in which the bodies of the soldiers were exposed to the inclemency of tha weather was injurious to their health ( laughter , renewed ) , and that , as a compensation for their scant clothing , the men received an additional premium from the public of £ 15 s . On the score of economy , therefore , no less than of delicacy ; the petitioners called upon the house to take the matter into their serious consideration . ( Laughter . )

      Tub Lord-Lieutenabcy of Ireland . —Lord John Russell gave notice that , on the Gth of May , ho should move for leave to bring in a bill for the abo « lition of the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland , and for the appointment of a fourth Secretary ot State . Stamp Duties BiLL . —The order of the day for going into committee on the Stamp Duties . Bill being read , The Chancellor of the Exchequer went into a short statement to the effect that great numbers o £ objections and suggestions had been made to and upon the details of the bill , and that alterations had been made which met ninety-nine out of a

      hundred of the difficulties thus raised . There was , he said , no increase of taxation by this bill affecting the great mass of business , though tho adoption of the ad valorem principle did not affect transa ctions of high value . Mr . ; Goulborn expressed a very unfavourable opinion of the ad valorem principle , which he said would be most injurious to the landed interest . In certain cases a payment which was now £ 25 would be raised to £ 700 . He thought it would drive people to the bill market , to which in fairness the same principle ought to be extended , but the mercantile man would never submit to it . The result of the

      bill would be embarrassment to the honeet , and , evasion by the ingenious . Mr . Mullings objected to the system of discouraging the raising money on mortgage . Mr . Roundell Palmer called attention to the operation of tho bill on the transactions of building societies . Mr . Hume did not think that the country would object to the ad valorem principle , having hitherto had to complain of large transactions being lightly taxed in comparison with small ones .

      Mr . Henley thought the Chancellor of the Exchequer ought to satisfy the house whether the £ 300 , 000 of revenue which he proposed to give up would not be in great measure repaid by this new arrangement of stamps , which bore very hard upon the agricultural interest . He complained of tha bill being unduly hurried forward . Mr . Sadlhr also objected to the hurrying forward a measure of so vast importance and complication , and he spoke at some length against various details . The house then went into committee . The Chancellor of the Exchequer briefly answered the objections of preceding speakers , again asserting ftie fairness of the ad valorem principle , and stating that , from information supplied by the Commissioners of Stamps , he had no doubt that the loss to the revenue would be about £ 350 , 000 .

      though it was impossible to say whether , in years to come , that loss might diminish . Mr . Disraeli charged the government with falsifying the statement made when the Budget was produced , and with taxing the greater proprietors to relieve the smaller ones . There existed , in fact , a sum of £ 350 , 000 in the Exchequer , which was at the service of any gentleman who might have a plan ready for the remission of any taxation . A prolonged discussion followed , in which Mr , Bright and other members urged delay , in order to obtain the opinion of the country upon the measure , Mr . Bright , in particular , asserting that thegcneral impression was that it increased taxation . Lord John Russell resisted the proposal for post- ' ponement , declaring that delay would be most in *

      convenient . Sir Henry WiLLOuGnBy , on the item eharsing a duty of 2 s . 6 d . on bonds for sums under £ 50 , moved an amendment reducing the duty to Is . After considerable discussion , The Committee divided , when the numbers were- * For the amendment ... ... 164 Against it 135 Majority against Government —29 The division was received with very loud cheering . The Chancellor of tho Exchequer said , alter this decision , which involved a principle applicable to mortgages and other parts of the measure , he wished to have time to consider what course the government should take ; and , Upon his motion , the Chairman reported progress , and obtained leave to sit again on Monday next .

      On the next order , for tho second reading of tha Securities for Advances ( Ireland ) Bill . Mr . Stuart moved the adjournment of the discussion until the house should be in possession of wore information on the subject . He asked the Solicitor-General for Ireland three questions ; - * First , how many sales had been made under tha Act for the Sale of Encumbered Estates ? Secondly , how the orders had been made by the commissiocers under which sales had not been effected ? and thirdly , whether any one had offered to buy estates under the terms of the present bill ? The Solicitor-General for Ireland complained warmly of the discourtesy of asking such questions without notice ; but as regarded the first ifiquiry , he said that there had been either seven or ten sales , but referred Mr . Stuart to the newspapers ; and that as to the other questions inquiry was necessary . .

      The question whether the bill should bo pro * ceeded with that evening or not was debated for sometime . The Solicitor-General at length consented to postpone the second reading until Thursday . In moving the second reading of the Medical Charities ( Ireland ) Bill , Sir W . Somerville stated the nature of the remedies which it provided for the vices and evils of tho existing system . Sir D . Norbeys objected to the principle of tha bill , namelv , the creation of a separate Central Board for the superintendence of medical-charities . _ After a short discussion , the bill was read a second time pro forma , in order that it should undergo amendment . Tho Indemnity Bill went through committee .

      Interment or the Dead . —Sir , G . Grey then , rose , pursuant to notice , to move for leave to brine in a bill for the better interment of the dead in and near the metropolis . The house was aware that by an act passed towards the close of last session , the 32 th and 13 tli of Victoria , c . III ., power was given to the Board of Health to inquire into the state of the burial-grounds in the metropolis , and in various large towns of tho kingdom , and if the result of that inquiry should show intramural burials were prejudicial to the public health , to devise an in > proved mode of interment . In pursuance of thig power , and of the duty so imposed on the Board of Health , the board instituted extensive inquiries into the State of the burial-gr ounds in and near the metropolis , and in certain towns of the United

      Kingdom ; and , as a result of their inquiries drew up a scheme , embodied in their . report laid some weeks since on the table of the house , having reference to tho metropolis and its immediate nei ghbourhood . The board considered the subject in two points of view : —first , the effect of the existing system of burials on the public health ; and , secondly , ijg effect in relation to the decency and Bolemnity of the ceremony of interment . At that time o f night ho would not state nt any length the nature or purport of the evidence collected by the board , arid which formed tho basis of the report , The report itself attracted much public attention ,, and ho presumed that its contents wore known to thehouse » He would therefore only ( . vead ono -passage , which exhibited * summary of that evidence : — - " From the replies to queries issued hy the 6 eneral Board of flsaltb , it appears thatthe aiunber of publig aniprivatj

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), April 20, 1850, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_20041850/page/7/