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    3EmpmaI 33arltam-?nt

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    Ht 3 USE OF LOKDS-Fbidat , Feb . 24 . The Earl of NlXTO moved for returns respecting the present state of the navy . He required explanations as to -why there had been less ship-building last year than had been contemplated , and-why a reduced Tote -was to "be taken for the present year ? He inquired also the reasons of other redactions ? The Duke of Wkliesgiox doubted the propriety of furnishing the infsrmaiion asked for . The Eirl of Hxddisgtos -wished the Earl of Minto to postpone his questions , and zive notice for another erenine ,-when he weald be better prepared . details

    The Earl ef Histo then entered into Tanous respecting the pr ^ ~ t condition of our dockyards , &c , i sad mo-red for r- -i . -na relating to them . j Tb » Birl vf - - » . d » i : 'GTQ : i explained , that the reason j ¦ why tliere - ^ less ship-bnilding liii yea ? than kad j been eoBtenpistad , -was , thai it -was deemed more j economical to keep vessels already built in good repair tfrim io build now one ? . It had been found impracticable in Woolwich Dockyard to bnild the number c / steamers required , and the reduced estisatos for t ' ie present year lad been adopted with great reluctan ce , bnt It was felt thaV owing to the state of thejfinan tea , some reductions should be adopted . Ha concluded ¦ with giving information in reply to the Bsrl of It' Jnto . lord AsKBfKTos expressed his legretthat t ' aeiniormation had been given .

    The Date of 19 eiii 3 GI » s said he had given his -opinion < £ the impropriety of funnshras the information , bnt his advice was neglected , and the two Noble Lords , in defence of their respective governments , had pnblished -to the whole worM information which should never have been communicatedj and which might prove ndscHsrous to the country . After some fnrther debate , in-wMch Lords Minto and Haddmgton vindicated themselves , and the Bake of Wellington remarked 'that he 'bsd always discouraged snctf motions , the Earl of id into withdrew his motion , an&She Souse adjourned .

    Mokklt , Fbbbtjlrt 27 . T-ord Campbbia moved for and obtained copies of Lord Ellenborough ' s proclamations , and gave notice , on ths part of the Mxrquis of-Clcnricaide , of a motion on the subject , on the Sin of March . 'Lord MosiEAGi ^ , at the request of the Bake ol Wellington postponed his motion on the Com Laws , on recount of the indisposition of the E jI of Ripon . After forwarding some bills the House adjourned .

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    HOUSE OF COMMONS—Thcbsdat , Feb . 23 ¦ £ In a part of ocr lasi vreek ' s impression we gave a very condensed and imperfect account of the proceeding in the Hosse of Commons on the Eubject of Mr . ^ Welter ' s motion on the New Poor Law . On aecwmt of its great importance we give this week a more extended report , particularly of ihe-speeshes of Mr . Walter and Mr Ferrand . ]

    PRINCIPLES OF T £ 3 XEW POOR LAW . Mr . Waiteb . then rose , ani commenced his speech by observing that he coaM have wished that it had falipn to lhe lot of some aiier or more eminent member to have brought forward tire present subject , for if the abilities of him who brosgjit it forward were to be weighed or measured by t&e »? ast consequences invel ^ ed , lie feared that he ahould befound greatly deficient . If , indeed , he might have-hadhk wish indulged , he should --fc&ve desired her Majesty * &Ekiister 8 themselves to have taken a more husane and --oonstitntional view of tbe -question , for siDcecely-did-he ^ pish them to punue soch measures as would aecnre them the love of the people ¦— . he meant of the people taken in the mass ; and there * ras no one me thod by which- _ iey could bo essentially

    save endeared themselves to tfie vasi body of the -cenntry at large as by demelishing , what he was sorry to say had been partially , and at second hand , their work , namely—the Sew Pooriaw . He was too old to fcourt much popularity himself , and readily would kectransfer whatever he might iave attained to those whose general course of polio 1 * he tbonght most calcaiated to appease the < IifiEitM&c&m and xeBtore the prosperity of the country . He ^ oald ask them this ^ aeaficn briefly—had there been asy satisfaction , any £ « xLrietnper , any adherence of the humbler classes to their . esiployen since this sost unfeeling law bad been invented ? Had there been anything in fact in the eouatay but brooding discontent , ever ready to break out into opes violence , or to avenge itself by * eerei mischief ?

    He fiaid-aoae . Here they were in tike sinth ' year since the first movement igainst the -old Poor Law of the country originating with one of the greatest sovereigns—a -female , too—that the land ever knew ; the ' TEry object « f whose noble policy it was to sustain the ' great masses of the people against herf-diiary oppres- ' Eon and aristocratic pride—porcere sutgectii , el dtbel- ' lare superioij and who , by trusting herself and her ' throne to the sapport of her people—not to family in- ilnencsB or herds of retainers—s * t the whole world at ' defiance . That principle ot her ' a the new jaw did not reform , did not restore , did not reinvjgorate—but reversed . It protected , or affected t * protect , the \ great landed interests first , and next the manufacturing ¦ interests , by the oppraaon , by the very destruction of

    those Bpon wb 9 m those tlevated Interests rested ; and by that attempi to destroy the very basis of all human society , he csuld tell them that those msre elevated interests must ultimately sink . Every other foan- ' dation hut that of the " people was a sandy one . The ¦ , winds of disaffection would blow— -the tempest of ' popular fnry would begin to rage—and dovn would ' come their structure to the ground . He had called this \ Kew Poor Law an invention , and such liierally it was . ; It was ihs usual effort of legislation , when , through J the lapse of time , old laws began to fail of their appli- ' ac'ion , to improve and adapt them anew—to cutoff excrescences , and to invigorate the impaired ! psrta—to restore , to reform , bnt not to con- i ¦ mlse or destroy —( hear , hear . ) But ' what had ) -been the course pursued in this most ominous « ff * ir ?

    Anew invention , new to history as to the people , was j struck cut Principles and details , men and machinery , ; were alike displaced . That class of men who acted as ' parochial officers of their parishes , and as jurors in their courts of law , were cast aside . A term of bnt modern > invention was adopted , -or rather filched from a more respectable institution—that of " . guardians " . And " gnardianB "—what were " guardians" under EM « new act ? Mr . Sheridan had defined the office of a similar protector , appointed , as he said , to exert over the unhappy Pernvians " such guardianship as the eagle afforded the lamb , covering while it -devoured its prey " —{ hear , hear . } Such , he had ever said , was the character of this new poor law , and he had since become possessed of a document which justified him in asserting

    that such wss the actual object of those who brought It forward —[ hear , hear . ) He would now read to the Souse a passage from that report : — " That at any time after the passing or this act , the Board of . Control shall have power , by an order , with such exception as shall ie thought necessary , to disallow the continuance of lelief to the indigent , the aged , and the impotent , in any " other mode than in a workhouse , regulated in such manner aa by the aforesaid Board of Control * h * V be determined . The power of the Commissioners irould be to reduce allowances , but not to enlarge them . After this has been accomplished , orders may be sent forth directing that after such a day all ont-door relief should be given partly in kind ;

    after another period it should be wholly in kind ; that after such another period , it should be gradually diminished in quantity , until that mode of relief was extinguished—ihear , hear . ) Frem the first the relief should Se altered in quality —( hear , hear , )—coarse im > wa bread being substituted for fine white ; and concurrently with these measures as to the out-door poor , a gradual reduction should be made in the diet of the in-doorpoor , and strict regulations enforced" —( hear , bear . ) These were the words of the earliest report placed in the hands of the late ministers , and which the Right Hon . Gentleman had termed " confidential , " the authors being afraid , as he ( Mr . Walter ) verily believed them to be , of sending it forth to general cognizance with their names attached ; That confidential

    communication was followed by axeport which was laid before the House , in which there was this passage : 11 As one barrier to the increase of expenditure in the detailed management , the commissioners should be empowered to fix a maTimnm of the consumption per head within the workhouse , leaving to the local ofneera Ihe liberty of reducing it below the TnrrriTTmTn , if -they could safely do sd "—{ hear , hear . ) "Bo it safely !" Jfow , that ha thought horrible enough ; but yet not so offensively glaring as the confidential communication itself . Pxora that dark and mysterious source sprung the first avowed report of the central board of poor-law commissioners ; not of that existing body sometimes called the triumvirate , but of the eight commissioners

    —¦""? -Buhopa of London and Chester , Mr . Sturges ^ urne , Mr . Senior , and four other persons of less note SLw *™ Previously * et to " work to concoct ttXSS ^ V ' ^ ^ aaagement of the poor . In Si meS ^ . W ^ bedde 8 ^^^ ^ es whteh he giSSS ^ K ! gaaSffiy ^ rg Sat had been made respecting the treatment n f ^

    Horace , la tbeir first kidnapj& tBnd subsequent teomfariim to the West-Indies in ^ ferSSfSS TO ; laiamthe fabrication of this central commission ^ ttea » ertedl ^ hat it comprised men of all S ^ 7 t ° " ""^ f * W ^ y ^ Pfgndiceg—fhear , hear ) He ^ atavewjaheUfiat aieycaa imi some natural prejudice * sming from humane considerations j bnt he Jjeliered that there was not a member of that commis-Bjonwhose mind was not made up , before , a Bingle wits » bwb » examined , to recommend or introduce aomething of a most severe aad oppressive character . Mr . Bo wen , of Bridge water , had pronounced this law a bni of indictment against all ihe poor of the country . The eommiBionets Baid , in tbeir first report , " the duty of

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    supporting parents a J ( j children in oJd age a : d infirmity is so strongly enforr ^ d by our natwal feeUngs , that it is often well perforrr £ ^ ^ yen amoog savages , and almost always so in a ns AQn deserviog the name of civilised . We believe that £ C f land is tbe only European country in which it is » jeglected 33—^ bear , hear ) . . . " If the deficiencies o f parental and . filial affection are to be supplied by < . h « parish , Tu » d the natural motives to the exercise of those virtues are thus to be withdrawn , it may be prr jp ^ g v > endeavour to replace them , however imperfect' ^ by artificial stimulants , and to make fines , distress- - warrants , -or imprisonment act as substitutes for grat jtude or love . " While the lower classes of people were * thus libelled , did no recollection occur to those -who libelled them of a great example once

    afforr" jed by both Houses of Parliament , who thought it r . scessary to stimulate the natural affections here spo jcen-ef , not by pains and penalties , but by the large all dwaoce ef ^ £ 19 , 000 a-year for the trouble of visiting si "! sfSkJted father once a week ?—( bear , hear . ) Now , ! fit tbe Hoobb contrast Utii character of the people bo blackly drawn by the commissioners with other descriptions of tbe -same people , and upon that snbject be had particular pleasure in quoting a pas&ags from a letter of the Earl of Ripon to one of our colonial governors : — " The name of pauper" ( said \ hat Noble Lord ) " by no means implies , as seems to have been supposed , a Btan-UDsble or unwilling to work—one whose infirmity or whose idleness would disqualify him from becoming &n usefal settler . On the contrary , the whole of the

    married labourers in many of the parishes of the South of England may be correctly described as paupers , inasmuch as the want of employment has depre&sbd wages to a rate at which it is impossible for a maB , however industrious , to maintain a family , without receiving parochial relief . * * It has been found that the idle and worthless paupers have frequently been rendered bo by the hopelessness of their situation ; and whes enabled to find constant employment , at fair wages , a great change has almost invariably taken place in tbeir conduct "—( hear , hear ) . Let tbe House contrast it , too , -with the picture drawn , not so long since by the Member fur Sheffield from his own experience of tbe English poor . That Honourable Member had told that House , that" one-third of tbe working men in that

    town and neighbc . urb . ood were out of employ . A grt at proportion of the remainder were employed only three days in the week , and in consequence the greatest distress prevailed . Those at work subscribed something from their wretched pittance to relieve the distress and keep off the parish others who had no work at all "—< hear , hear ) . Could tbe Honourable Member , if he bad ransacked every storehouse of eloquence , have found werds bttter calculated to damage the New Poor Law in the estimation of every nsan of common " lumanity than the plain sentence which he ( Mr . Walter ) had just read to them ? Men steeped in poverty and misery to the very lips were ) et so impressed with the horrors of imprisonment in the workhouse , that rather than their starving brethren should undergo them , they made

    their little pittance less , by subscribing to keep them a £ the parish . Bui it was not for this purpose that he adduced this passage . He wished now to a 8 k , bad these men earned the character which the commissioners had attempted to affix upon them ? Did they deserve to be legislated against in the manner tbe present bill legislated against them ? And s' . ill more , ought they to be subjected to that ever-increasing Bcale of cruelty prescribed and laid down by the private report of the eight commissioners—that private report from which the present bill , with its triumvirate at Somerset-house , originated—( hear , hear , hear «? How the principle of successive reports was carried out be had plenty of instances to lay before the House . Take thk , for example , from Cirencester ; the late member

    for that borough said , in his place in that House , that " he was chairman of a board of guardians . Both in his own district , and in others with which he was acquainted , tbe measure had acquired an immense popularity . He thought tbe country was under the greatest obligation to thote who had brought it forward . The bill worked well in the district with which be was connected . He hoped there would be no vital Alteration of a measure which had worked to tbe entire satisfaction of the vast majority of the people . As to diet , the complaint was that the inmates of tbe workhoase lived toe welL" ( Hear , hear . ) He iMr . Walter ) held in his -hand the dietary ol the Cirencester Union , prescribed by the Poor-Law Gt > mmlssionera , in which tbfcTe was not one ounce of fresh , animal food from

    ye&TB end to year ' s end—( hear , hear . )—but only n ? e ounces -of salt btcon for the Snnday of each week—( hear , hear . )—and that dietary , be it observed , the £ nardiani could not go beyond , though they were to be indulged with % ha odious power of reducing it , " if they could safely do so . " ( Hear , hear . ) He could add niany tale * of similar cruelty on the part of boards of gmrdiacs . Most peHons knoiT the difficulty of dealing with bodies -of men . A body corporate , in fact , had no sobL Tbe individuals might have tbeir separate feelings , but the whole body h ad none such . ( Hear , hear . ) A m&a might be persona Uy humane and charitable , bat , * rben acting with o Ultra , this Christian feeling evaporated and vanished . He would mention one mse , which occurred not ver y long ago in his

    own immediate neighbourhood , jie was not a frequeuter of boards of guardians , having no great respect for the institution itse f . ( t ' -e&r , bear , hear . ) He ( Mr . Walter ) was , however , particularly requested to attend a meeting , for the pi trpose of endeavouring to obtain eut-door relief for i ^ unhappy and j filleted object , with a wife and five chil dren , who had been ordtred into the workhouse , bnt * fter a night ' s trial of his abode there , went ont ntxt i corning . He ( Mr . Walter ) had been desired to urge this i nan ' s title to out-door relief before the board . The allegt 3 ground of their refusal waa , that his wife had practise ^ some imposition upon a benevolent lady , and the tfore the husband and whole family were to be punished . With some difficulty the husband was admitu 'd to tbe

    board ' s presence , and he ( Mr . Walter ) then asci ttained , by the acknowledgment of both tbe medical . ' fficers , that he laboured under an incurable pulmonar . ' complaint . He produced a good character from a i ijjWy respectable master . On questioning him , a doubt vose in bis ( Mr . Walter * *) mind whether the man ' s wi / e bad really been guilty of the alleged impropriety , and , t 0 afford time for inquiry , a week ' s cut-door allowance * " *" accorded to him , and tbe board was to meet in U " week following . He iMr . Walter ) received a mos * complete and satisfactory answer from the lady whom the woman vas supposed to have defrauded , assuring ' him that no such circumstances had taken place ; and , ¦ fortified with this denial , he went to the next board meeting , in full confidence that the guardian of the '

    parish who had brought forward the false charge would at least aid bis efforts to relieve this family from the dreaded infliction of the workhouse . That guardian was , if possible , more callous than the rest The first order must be maintained , because they bad made it Into the workheuBe were the family again sent ; though ultimately , after same weeks * delay , outdoor relief was afforded . It was in vain to urge to these guardians that even if the poor man had been guilty of the offence of having an indiscreet wife , he was not to blame , and that if he went into the workhouse , there he would certainly die ; if they had no consideration for the poor man himself , why should tbe inmates of the workhouse have their feelings harrowed up by the transportation of a dying man into the midst of them —( hear , heart ? But

    all his representations had been in vain ; the cry was , that haviug once given their order , it should not be rescinded . He lived only a few months afterwards , and died in his own habitation , the guardian himself being called to his account first—( hear , hear . ) Was it to be borne that against ssch treatment as that tbe poor man should have no court of appeal , save only that of the triumvirate of Somerset House , in which the harshest principles of the whole system were represented and concentrated ? It were endless to repeat all the eases well-authenticated cases , too—of unnatural severity inflicted by the operation of that law —( bear , hear ) He did not know a single crime that had not been multiplied through that operation , or a single suffering which humanity was heir to that had not been

    aggravated and multiplied also through that law—( hear . ) Further than that assertion , which he could substantiate by the most irrefragable evidence , he would not at present trouble the House , but pass to another practical difficulty , which , let them enact the law as unanimously as they pleased , they would never be able te overcome . How long would they get guardians to perform such labourious duties , and at a distance from their own homes of perhaps fifteen or twenty miles ? Indeed , at that moment , he knew a parish in which the parishioners were obliged to club a sum of money to pay the guardian they depute only five miles distant The office was there held to be anything but honourable or respectable . Lords an £ country gentlemen might endeavomr to give

    ii edai at its beginning , but that zeal had much cooled , as well it might , and these orices were left to be performed by those who could ill brook to throw away their time for nothing . He had alluded , when this most unfortunate bill was passed , to the manner in which they would be overwhelmed by reports , amendment acts , acts explanatory , with every trash of that description . Why , no human powers of either body or mind could comprehend or carry all that had been written and printed , at the expence of this deluded country , in support of that measure , by its prime agents —{ hear , hear ) . They were erecting a Nelson monument of vast altitude . They might also erect a Poor Law monument of equal height , though of more corruptible materials , of the reports of those Commissioners . They sought to destroy their enemies , not as Oliver Cromwell said , with paper bullets , but with paper bulwarks and artificial mountains . At the time that he first attacked that monstrous law , he estimated

    that the paper defences would soon reach up to their table . At present they would orertop the chair . He had already got npon tke English Poor Law upwards of 20 , 000 pages ; and it was is Tain to make an estimate of the Irish , since the first appendix to a report itself weighed fljlbs . Considering their bulk , no two porters could cany them , the English Poor Law papers weighing upwards of twelve stone . The expense of printing them would support the poor of many parishes for h <» knew hot tow many years . But there was one high authority against him , to which be should not have ventured to allude , had it not been frequently cited against him , and that authority he hoped that he should treat with proper respect When he heard the greatest here of his age say , "I know something of Governora-General , and I know something of war and its dificultfes also , " that man who should not bow to such authority would be rash and indiscreet to tbe utmost extent of indiscretion and rashness ; but he must

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    humbly contend that his Grace bad not had that experience of the internal affairs of thia country which other men of humbler general talents might and must have aid ; and that great man was not , therefore , such overpowering authority apon these subjects as upon those on which his capacious mind had been , be might almost say , exclusively employed . But there was one fatality always attending the errors of great men , if such they were—that they carried an overwhelming weight with them , which the mistakes of others were not liable to . Would , indeed , that their opinions were always enunciated with proportionate caution , and sever , as he contended in the present case , before the eubject could have been fully examined and considered . They were informed in the Divine records of their

    religion , that " when a great man speaketh every man boldeth his tongue , and a look , what he sayeth , they extol it to the clonds ; bat , if the pooc man apeak , they Bay , what fellow is this ? " But if he { Mr . Walter ) had met with opposition en the one hand , he had likewise met with encouragement on the other , and that from the most honourable and excellent class of men—the clergy of the established church—a class , also , the individuals of which , he would venture to assert , ware , generally speaking , quite as competent to deliver their opinions on the subject before the House as the immortal DuVe was upon that of war ; for they lived with

    the poor , in the midst of them , much more even tbau he had been in the midst of bis soldiers ; they knew their wants , moral and physical , and from that class of men he had also received tbe most UBeful information , as well as the most strenuous and undaunted support , though means were insidiously taken at first to prevent their interference by inserting the names of two prelates in the original central commission —( hear , hear ) . He would not , however , trouble the House with many of their statements , but , he must' be allowed to read one from a gentleman inferior to none in his sacred order in piety and intelligence , and who was well known to many Members of that House : —

    " Knowing that you are about again to bring before the House of Commons the workhouse system as administered under the present Poor Law , I think it may not be without some use , if I state to yon the result of my own observation of that system , not in all nor many of its bearings , but simply in its moral action upon those who come under it . To vyself this is a painful though voluntary task ; for it shows me the error of my own anticipations , and reminds me of the fault of once defending as right what I now regret ob wrong and pernicious .

    " Leaving , however , such personal considerations , let me britfiy state to you the conviction to which I have come on the subject , and tbe reasons which have brought me to it My conviction is , i that whatever may be the maladies under which our social system is suffering in the labouring part of it , the present workhouse practice is not their remedy ; it is rather under the promise of present relief , an aggravation of the diseasa " I have seen the working of the Bystera under , In many respects , favourable circumstances . I have marked its effects with all the clearness I could by personal observation in union houses , especially in one with which I have been nearly connected , and by personal inquiry among thoae who bave been inmates of

    those houses ; and the result of both observation and inquiry has been the same . It is a demoralizing system , tending to connect poverty with licentiousness , and to generate pauperism and crime . 1 only atato to you what I know to be literally true , when I say that in union houses supposed to be administered ss well as the system will permit , tbe work of demoralization has been going on in every ward except those of sickness and old age- Among the poor unhappy children , among the adults of either sex , among the able bodied , this propagation of evil has gone on . To particularise and classify its forms would be a revolting task . It would comprehend tbe recital of some of the most disgusting practices of licentiousness and many acts of crime .

    Persons well known to me bave avowed , that many as were tho temptations to sin without those wails , those within were far more mischievous and dangerous . The danger arises from the constant infusion of fresh and varied incentives to vice , by thoBe evil communications which , in the world at large , are kept in check and weakened in power by many cauBes . The day of entering those walls takes , even from the man of fair , character , much of the honourable sense of Bhame which he bad before ; and the bad man enters them to disdain , and ridicule , and hate all moral influence—to teach mischief , to make tbe tongue and ear and mind familiar frith those sins in the practice of which be has attained to the greatest proficiency .

    " It would require some experience , or considerable imagination , to comprehend the extent of thia mischief . It is a never-ceasing agent of evil , leaving its infection behind , when its actual presence is gone . A ward comparatively clear of it to-day may to-morrow , with a fresh incentive , break out into every abomination that can pollute the tongue , or corrupt the heart . " Now , to omit , for the present , all other objections to this system—to say nothing about its trenching bard upon the feelings of humanity , or the laws of Gto 4— I would only ask two questions in regard to it Can the Legislature be justified in inflicting on the poor a moral evil that , apart from such legislation , has no necessary connection with poverty ? We know that in the correction of crime this is done through necessity ; but

    that it is crime , not poverty , that is to be dealt with . The prison will always be a school of moral evil , as well as a place ot punishment ; but there the inmate has brought the evil upon himself—ho has forfeited the protection of tbe laws of tbe country , and this is a part of the recompence of evi ! -which bo has reaped . Bat what has a poor family done—poor only because they are numerous , and their wages insufficient ?—what have they done that , after having striven In valu to support themselves , and then come to claim the protection which the criminal has forfeited , they should be , in one respect , treated in the same manner with him ?—that they should be placed where , whatever moral sense they have must be blunted and destroyed , and where their children will hear the lessons , if not witness the practice of profligacy ? »¦

    " Another question I would ask . la tbis the way to extirpate pauperism from tbe country ? If it be , we mmt nnlearn every maxim which connects proapenty , either on a large or narrow scale , with moral I character . ' " But it is not Whatever were the calculations or intentions of the framers of this measure in other espeete , they appear to me to have overlooked its b torsi affects altogether . Certain it is , that its practical tl T tct fa to undermine the moral character and wellbei ug of the poor . Its action is all downwards . It baa no \ endeoey to raise tbe moral condition of the labouring t laMes i it has a direct tendency to degrade and depra ** s it > and , if this be true , it stands marked with the Wi < rIt stigma that can be placed upon any law —• that of denoOjxliBiDg those upon whom it acts . " I am , dear Sir , " Wilh sincere respect , " A Coukthy Clergyman . "ToJohn . Walter , Esq . M . P . "

    But there v < as another argument with which he was p . 'ied , in favo > v of tbis most painful important measure . He was told tl ^ gentlemen were pledged to it . Upon that point he cc ^ S ** a decided negative ; no gentlei man , he affimu * d » ^ a * pledged to it . Gentlemen might , unhappily . * t t&e first origin of this system of mischief , not seei « g w k * t it" consequences might be , have been pledged * ° ^ ° introduction of it ; but ( fid any man , at the i ^^ * & itB introduction , daringly pledge himself to ca . T i < : ibrongh . however it might affect the people—ho fever odious it might provehowever , in fact , it ru ^ t subvert the whole order of society . ' All that , he ¦ ftid # ** ad Deen and wa 0 bein S produced . Was any n . « pledged then , or could he now plead that he was hedged , to persevere Id the To whom

    infliction of such evils on t . ^ country ? was he—to whom could he be so bound ? To his countryto the poor—to his conscien ««? Or to his party—hia friends—his political leaders ? . Vay , more unworthy still , did he mean that , having given ^ vo ^ ° once * ^ is monstrous evil , he was bound in consistency—bound ip care for his own reputation , to p ersevei-e in the fatal course he had begun ? Whatever was t ^ 6 es ^ Q ke bade that manpanse . He bade him retrace his "tops . Let him not speak of pledges given , or Bupposed i ° ha * 3 been given , when he was totally unable to look l ' ot » &turity . If any man bad unhappily so involved b unseli , he ( Mr . Walter ) owned his difficulty , but did not « doebt as to what was hia daty . Facts—the facts of * he last nine years—had cancelled his obligation . HU * ot « w&a not

    his own but his country ' s ; and bis only honourable retreat was in owning his mistake , and am ending it . He conjured , therefore , the Conservatives of I be House to step forward to the conservation of England . Great apprehensions had been expressed in that Hob * e and j elsewhere of a certain league , to the practices of vnose ' leaders he was as much opposed as any man . But . let gentlemen ask themselves how this league , now 80 1 menacing , first sprang up . He would tell them : it v > ' suggested by a preceding league against the poor of th . ' country , whose diet was to be reduced in quantity ana ' corrupted in quality . What a burst of indignation would have been excited in that House , as well as throughout the country , if any resolution against the , negro population , of a character similar to this against 1

    our fellow-subjects here at home , should bave been produced—that those blacks were first to have their daily food debased , and after that diminished—( hear , hear )! Gentlemen bad been benevolent enough abroad ; let them look around them at home . If , as they had been told , they bad elevated the condition of the negro slave to such a state of prosperity that be could now drive bis gig and drink hiB Champagne , surely he was not asking too much when be called upon them to elevate the condition of the free white labourer and artinn of England , whom this law crushed to the earth—at least t » afford him such subsistence as would preserve him from sinking

    under a gradual prostration of strength . If they could not give him bis cottage and piece of land which tbe negroes bad obtained , at least let them not insist on hia selling everything that his hovel possesses in order to qualify him for being a tenant in their vast gaolstin union workhouses . If they could not give him Champagne , they could give him the cheap , the wholesome , the nutritious , tbe national beverage of our land —beer . It was not , perhaps , too late yet to retrace their steps . He felt strongly convinced also , that not only that , bit all the other great subjects of contention , which kept the country in a ferment , might be coinposed and beneficially arranged , if gentlemen would in good earnest turn tbeir thoughts to those subjects ,

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    rather than employ their whole time iu struggles for political ascendancy . If it were Baid that such an object was desirable , but that it was impossible to attain it , be would at onee reply that he acknowledged no such impossibility with respect to objects that were rational . He recollected a happy maxim of Mr . Burke upon the subject : — "I know , ' said he , ?• it is common for men to say , that such and such things are perfectly right , very desirable—but thai , unfortunately , they are not practicable . Oh no , air , no . These things , which are not practicable are not desirable . There is nothing iu , the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding and a welldirected pursuit . There is nothing that Ged has judged good for us that he has not given us the means to accomplish , both in the natural and moral world "—( cheers ) . He ( Mr . Walter ) would not longer detain the House than by moving the resolutions . Tbe folfowing are the resolutions moved by the Honourable Member : —

    " l . That in a document entitled , ' Measures submitted by the Poor-Law Commissioners to bis Majesty ' s Ministers , ' appear the following passages : — " ' That at any time after the passing of this act the Board of Control ahall have power by an order , with such exception as shall be thought necessary , to disallow tbe continuance of relief to the indigent , tbe aged , and the impotent , in any other mode than in a workhouse , regulated in such a manner as by the aforesaid Board of Control shall be determined . ' «< The power of the Commissioners would be to reduce allowances , but not to enlarge . '

    " ' After this has been accomplished , orders may be sent forth directing that after such a day all out-door relief should be given partly in kind ; after another period it should be wholly in kind ; that after Buch another period it should be gradually diminished in quantify , until that mode of relief was extinguished . From the first the relief should be altered in quality , coarse brown bread being substituted for fine white ; and , concurrently with theBe measures as to the out-door poor , a gradual reduction should be made in the diet of the in-door poor , and strict regulations enforced . ' " 2 . That these recommendations , applicable alike to every class of the poor , and enjoining an indiscriminate reduction of their physical comfoits to the lowest endurable point , are shown by the subsequent orders aiid practice of tbe Poor Law Commissioners , to form the real though unavowed basis of the present system of Poor Law relief .

    " 3 . That the Buffering already caused by tbeir partial enforcement , and the amount of out-door relief in Bpit « of them still administered , show their provisions to have been at one cruel and impracticable . " 4 . That the attempted substitution of punishment for legal relief has more and more tended to imitate and dishearten the poor , to chock industry , to increase crime , and to encourage various kinds of tyranny , without even the proposed compensation of reducing the expenses of the rate-payers . " 5 . That this house think it , therefore , expedient to demand such a reconstruction of the existing system aa shall make it conformable to Christianity , sound policy , a . nd the aneient constitution of the realm . " Mr . Fehiund seconded the motion .

    The question having been put from tho Chair , I Mr . Walter again rose . Hon . Members had asked him where he got certain information from to which he had alluded . He had received it from a person who requested that his came might not be personally given . Sir J . Graham was in hopes , when the Hon . Member rose for the second time , that he was about to supply a most important omission , in his speech he had made an omission that was somewhat startling ; he had read extracts from a document which he had declared to be confidential , and when he rose a second time he ( Sir James Graham ) was in hopes he was going to show how he became possessed of it , but nothing was less satisfactory than his explanation . Upon a former occasion the Hon . Gentleman had asked him if he recollected

    these documents , and upon that occasion be said he did not , but since then he had some indistinct recollection that some such document existed , and he thought he could inform the House how that was the case . In 1832 , Lord Grey ' s Government appointed a Commission to inquire into the condition of the labouring pour , with a view to amend the law , and the Hon . Member had mentioned to the House the names of some of the most eminent individuals forming that commission—the Bishops of London and Chester , Mr . Sturges Bourne aud others , whose names were a sufficient guarantee to the House of the beneficent character of the Commission —( hoar , hear . ) The Hon . Member had said that a particular document was of a cor fidential nature—that it emanated from the Commission , and was submitted to Lord Grey ' s Cabinet .

    Mr . Walter observed that he had not said so , but the Right Hon . Bart . had . Sir J . Qiuham believed it was in the recollection of the House when he asserted that the Hon . Member had said he was in possession of a confidential communication —( hear , hear ) . Now he ( Sir James Graham ) conld tell the House the precise circumstances under which that document came into the Hon . Member ' s possession—( hear , hear ) . He had understood tho Hon . Gentleman to say that it was a confidential communication ; but whether he said so or not it was certain that it was confidential . This Commission having prosecuted their inquiry , made their report , which was laid before them and the public after that report was printed , in order to bring the

    subject in a more tangible form under the consideration of Lord Grey ' s Government , certain heads or referenda were prepared from the report . The Hon . Gentleman said that this document was never signed ; it was true , it was not denied by the Commissioners . He believed that those Ik ads were prepared by the professional gentlemen employed by the Commissioners in drawing up their report . He believed those heads were not known to the Commissioners , but were drawn up by the professional gentlemen merely for the consideration of the Government . He ( Sir J . G . ) was told that of this document not more than twenty copies were printed . The Hon . Gentleman was very unfortunate in not having been present iu the House during the last session , when the Poor Law , in ail its bearings , was largely discussed . ( " No , " from Capt . Pechell ) . Why he thought every thine except the Gilbert

    Unions was settled to the satisfaction of the Gallant Captain . The Hon . Gentleman appeared to imagine that the Houbo wa . s pledged to the Poor law . He ( Sir James Graham ) did not rest at all on any opinions which had been announced by the Hon . Gentlemen on either side of that House , he was willing to rest the measure upon their practical knowledge and experience of the bad and good in the working of the system —( hoar , hear ) . The law was based on the policy of " feeding the hungry , and clothing the naked ; " its tendency was to elevate the character of the labouring population ; the proportion of those relieved out of doors , as compared with those relieved within the workhouse , was as six to one ; the law was , therefore , not opposed to Christianity or bound policy ; and he would meet the first resolutioniby the previous question , and the others with a direct negative .

    Mr . Wakley censured Sir James Graham for attributing improper motives to Mr . Walter . It now turned out that there was such a document , notwithstanding the faint recollection of Sir James Graham when the subject was first mentioned . Mr . BoRTHwicK declared his opposition to the Poor Law , and supported the resolutions . Mr . Ao'Lionbt had supported the New Poor Law when it was passed , and believed that its operations had been generally beneficial : but some of its provisions were harsh , and had been harshly worked out , and therefore he would support the resolutions , as a means of declaring his opinion that the law should be amended and improved . After a few explanatory observations from Mr . Cripps ,

    Colonel Sibthorpe declared his opinion that the old system of Poor Law had been excellent , that it had only been mismanaged in a few instances , and that it would be better to return to it . Mr . Stuart Wortley had never pledged himself to Irs constituents to vote for the repeal of the Poor Law . lie was opposed to many of its provisions , and wished it to be improved , but he could not support the resolutions . Geneial Johnson ' s great objection to the Poor Law was , that it put the people out of the pale of the constitution , and placed them under three individuals at Somerset House .

    | Sir Robert Peel denied that the principle of the I amended Poor Law was opposed to the acts of 34 th and 43 rd Elizabeth , or that it was more harsh in its provisions . This he illustrated by citing some of the provisions of these Acts , especially the power given 1 by tho 43 rd of Elizabeth over the children of such parents as were unable to maintain them . The ^ vorkhouse test , in lieu of the labour test , was enaL tfid by the 9 th George I . ; and , therefore , it was nev rher a novel nor ah unconstitutional principle . No « t measure was ever passed witbouthavingsugges tions i ^ eing submitted for the consideration of the Governm « W |> San £ t ifc would lead to much practical inconvenienct 'uf each confidential oommunications , whether they had been adopted , or , as in the present inhad been and

    ' stance , th » V rejected , were produced I publicly mi . de use of . He adduced the amounts paid for the relief of the poor , as showing that there was more expended on them than on the poor of any other country , and after expressing his surprise at the course whiou '* Mr . Aglionby had avowed he would adopt , comn . wtfid somewhat humorously on the arguments which' h&d been used by Mr . Walter . He concluded by wanting the House against tampering with the Poor Law . Lord John Manners would support the resolutions , as expressive ot his tvieh to nave the support \ of the poor placed on Christian and constitutional i principles . i Mr . Muniz attributed the aversion of the peoj pie to the poor law , as one cause of the late

    insurrections . Sir Walter James objected to the motion of Mr . Walter . But the question of the Poor Law would 1 never be settled without a well-regulated 83 stem of I out-door relief .

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    Mr . Ferrand ' said , that on rising to address the House npon a question ob which he bad long taken-a deep interest , be begged in the flrat place to off = > r hia sincere thanks tojthe Hon . Membar for Nottingham for having brought to light what he ( Mr . Ferrand ) considered to be the foulest conspiracy ever entered into in the dark against tho rights , liberties , and privileges ot the poor . It was now twelve yeara ago since he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had first taken part in public affairs , and on this question he | had often received advice from the public speeches of the Hon . Member , which bad cheered him on in the course he had pursued in opposing , by every constitutional means in hie power , this law , and little did he then think that he should have the honour and the privilege of sitting beside his Hon . Friend

    when he gave , as he had that night given , the death blow to the New Poor taw . He ( Mr . Ferrand ) deeply regretted the speech which the Right Hon . Baronet at the head of the } Government had made that evening . He did not think that the Right Hon . Baronet had acted fairly to ithe Hon . and Learned Member for Cooker mouth . The Right Hon . Baronet saw a rising spirit of independence flowing into the Hoa . and Learned Member ' s breast—he saw that the Hon . and Learned Member was actuated by no party spirit , find the Right Hon . ; Baronet was afraid lest the indepen dence the Hon . and Learned Member had shown should become contagious on both aides of the House , and that if the feelings which actuated the Hon . and Learned Member to stand up in the independent

    manner he had j done should be acted upon on both sides , the Government would be in a minority on the present occasion , —( hear , hear . ) But what had been the remarks of the Right Hon . Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department towards the Hon . Member for Nottingham ? The Right Hon . Baronet said this was a private document , only intended for tke eyes of the late Guvermenfc , of jwhlch he had been a member . He ( Mr . Ferrand ) wished the Right Hon . Baronet had remained on that side of the House ; if so , Conservative principle * would have stood much higher in the eyes of the people thai they did at present—( hear , hear ,, and a laugh ) . The Right Hon . Baronet had taunted his his Hon . Friend the Member for Nottingham with a breach of confidence . He ( Mr . Ferrand ) contended that his Hon . Friend had only discharged a public duty . He had found out ' and dragged to light a document which , without any breach of confidence on his part , he found

    placed amongst his papers—he cast his eyes upon it , and said to himself , " Now I will bring before the eyes of the people of England this monstrous system of oppression . " And how had the Right Hon . Bironet himself acted the other night , wben he ( Mr . Ferrand ) moved for a return of two letters which emanated from certain manufacturers when the New Poor Law was under consideration , land on which they entered into an express and declared agreement with Mr . Chad wick , the secretary to the Poor Law Commissioners , that if they only framed the New Poor Law in such a manner as to throw a large' portion of tbe working classes of the south into the ! north—that if they were able "to absorb" the surplus population of the south into tho manufacturing districts of the North of England , it would enable them , the manufacturers , to reduce the price of labour in the ( north of F . Bglan . l , and to put a stop to the outbreaks ! for raising wages ? Mr . Wallace—Who said that ?

    Mr . Ferrand . —The letters of Mr . Ashworth and Mr . Greg ; they were in the first report of the Poor Law Commissioners . The words he had often quoted before , and no one nian had ever denied the truth of the quotation . Now , at that very time a committee ot the House was sitting to inquire into the then condition of the hand-looni weavers , and it was proved before that committee that the hand-loom weavers were then struggling for existence upon ten farthings a-day . But what had the Right Hon . Baronet said with respeot to these two letters ? I Why , he said they were private communications—that the first letter of Mr . Ashworth was 011 the file of the Poor Law Commissioners , but that the letter of Mr . Greg could not be found . They were , he added , private communications , which were never

    intended to see daylight , but that he had no objection to produce Mr . Ashworth ' s letter and lay it on the table of the House . Now , what was the difference between the conduct of the Right Hon . Baronet in placing that letter , which he said was of a private nature , and never intended to see daylight , on the table of the House , and in that of his Hon . Friend the member ior Nottingham , who , finding a paper which had been submitted to the Government , brought' it before the House ? I This was said by the Right Hon . Baronet to be a breach of confidence—he ( Mr . Ferrand ) maintained there was no breach of confidence except on the part of the Right Hon . Baronet himself . The Right Hon . Baronet had expressly stated , that the letter written by Mr . Ashworth to the Secretary of the

    Poor Law Commissioners was a private communication , and ; bow he ( Mr . Ferraod ) begged to ask the Right Honourable Baronet the First Lord of the Treasury ( who had always shown an earnest anxiety to prevent the slightest attempt , to conceal public documents ) if there was any necessity to keep back Mr . Greg ' s letter ? It was said not to be on the file . Why was it not en the file ? Let the Government say at once that it would be inconvenient to produce it because there were expressions in that letter which ought ! not to appear before the public . Such he ( Mr . Ferrand ) understood from the Hon . Member for Oldh-im to be tbe case , bat at all events it was the duty of the Government to make a strict and searching inquiry as to the reasons and means used to prevent the

    production of that letter . He now came to the qaestion of the working of the New Poor Law in the North of England . And what had been its iffscts there ? is happened that amongst tbe letters contained in the first report of tha Poor Lsw Commissioners there was one from Mr . Ashworth In which he told Mr . Chadwick that it would be desirable that 20 , 000 labourers should be sent from the south down to Stalybridge . Now , the inspector of factories for that district bad , within tbe last few days , forwarded his report to Her Majesty ' s Secretary of State for the Home Department , and in it what did they find there proved to be the state at present of Stalybridge-i-tbe district into which Mr . Chadwick , with the consent and at the request of those cottonspinners , and through the agency of Dr . Kay—who , for

    the part be had taken in securing the election of Mr . P . Thompson a ' t Manchester , had been made a Poor Law Commissioner , and who , in a pamphlet , had described the working population of Manchester and its neighbourhood to be , at that moment , io a stale of starvation —had induced tens ef thousands of the population of the south to go into the manufacturing districts of the north ? He ( Mr . Ferrand ) wished the manner in which these wretched poor had been kidnapped and sold into a state of j slavery , and brought to a speedy death , could be ' exposed to the house . But with respect to . Stalybridge and its neighbourhood , he found the following statement made by Mr . Hnrner , thefaotory inspector , in his last report : — " Tbe population of the three adjoining towns of Ash ton ,

    Dukenneld , and S tale j bridge included , with an area of a mile and a half radius from the most central part of the district , is considered to be not less than 55 . 000 ; and the proportion of the working population , that is , those below the rank of shopkeepers , has been estimated at eighty per cent in Ashton , ninety in Staleybridge , and ninety-four in Dakenueld . This dense population has been brought together chiefly by the extension of tbe manufacture within a very short period . The population of the borough of Ashton and township of Dukenfield together was , in 1821 , 14 . 318 ; in 1831 , 29 , 352 ; and in 1841 , 45 , 074 . 1 am un .-tb ' e to give tbe exact numbers for tbe whole district , because Staleybridge is partly in Lancashire and partly in Cheshire , but the increase there has probably been in a similar ratio . ' * Now . he asked the House to listen to

    what followed : — " How little the moral and religious improvement ot the large number of the humbler classes has f been hitherto an object of solicitude , the following facts will show : —In the borough of Ashton , with a population of 25 . , there is no national school , no school of the British and Foreign School Society , nor any other public day-school for the children of the ; working classes . The same is the case at Staleybridge and Dakenfield , with the slight exception I shall now state . I mentioned in the report above referred to j that a national school had recently been built at Staleybridge , bnt , I regret to say , it is not yet in operation . " No «? this Dr . Kiy , who , by the by , held also the situation of secretary to the Education Board , was the agent employed by Mr . Chadwick and the

    Poor-Law Commissioners to carry down 20 , 000 southern labourers to | a place where there was not an atom of chance of their receiving the slightest education . Now , was not tbis something serious and alarming—namely , that for the purpose of carrying out the New Poor Law it was necessary to absorb the population of the south into the north ? Where did hen . members think the first outbreaks took place ? Why at Staleybridge , where there was a population whose minds , from their sufferings , were easily excited by men of deeper designs , but who had not the courage to show their faces , and who left their victims to appear at the bar of justice , and pass thence to transportation , while they slunk away into the darfe . He maintained that the origin ot the outbreak was the iniquitous , atrocious , bloodthirsty

    Poor Law . But for that law the population of the north of England would not have had their market for labour entrenched upon by the introduction of tens of thousands of the masses of the south , —and they would have had some chance of earning a subsistence Jby a fair prioe for their labour , if they had not been robbed of it under the operation of the New Poor Law . - He found the other evening that the hon . member for Manchester thought proper to deny some statements he ( Mr . Ferrand ; had ; made with respect to the treatment of children employed in a milt belonging to a cotton-spinner in Lancashire . The hon . member said he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had told tbe House that that there were certain Poor Law unions where . the overseers banded over tbe orphans under their care and protection to

    employers without inquiring into the mode of treatment to which they would be exposed . He ( Mr Ferrand ) had stated the circumstance apon an authority on which he knew be could place reliance—he had learned it from persons of { Unquestionable veracity ; and , although the matter had ] been denied by the Hon . Member for Manchester , he ( Mr . Farrand ) knew very well that the hour was not far distant when he would receive an authority backed either by persons who had beheld tfaoso scenes of cruelty , or who were prepared to prove every word which he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had uttered ^ No sooner bad the speech of the Hen . Member for Manchester reached that town than the representatives of the working classes , who advocated the Ten Hours Factory Bill , met apd paBasd resolutions , which as they related

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    to himself he would not now read . Bat he ha < i received a letter from one of the body , Mr DuherhT which corroborated all he had said . He trusted th * House would allow him to read that letter Year after year these poor girls were kept in a state of slavervbutat last human nature could bear it no loDger the * burst from the chains of the manufacturer and ran away to their parents . And what was their punish ment ? " He ( Mr . Doherty ) saw the room in which these girls were confined : the light was complete !* excluded ; they were not allowed either fire , light or bed , and their usual allowance of food was consider ably diminished . Their hair was cut off , and their confinement lasted for several days . Daring the con flnement of Esther Price , several of her

    fellowapprenticcs mitigated the rigour of her punishment bv putting in through the crevices of the waioscotinz which separated this room from the adjoining apart ! ment portions of their own rations , as well as cloaks < fec , to cover her by night On the Friday afternoon the matron died , and the remains lay in the next rooa to that in which the poor girl was confined . When she heard this , she was driven almost frantic with fright Ou the following day , when refreshments were brought her , she rushed out of the room , and told the person having her in charge that she would not , under any circumstances , pass another night to that apartment . The man said , ' Well , Esther , if you pJedge yourself not to be seen , I shall say nothing' about it but you know , if you are seen , it is as

    much as my place is worth . " These chil . dren were placed in that man ' s power under the operation of the New Poor Law . It was from the union workhouses that this man was supplied with these apprentices , and he would ask tbe Right Hbn . Baronet whether , in a civilized country , the people of Englaad would long allow these things to exist , and whether the working classes owed allegiance to the Government , if , on those circumstances being brought to its knowledge , it did not immediately take steps to put a stop to such proceedings ? There was another instance of ill-treatment of the poor which he had alluded to tJia other evening when he bad moved for certain returns relative to the operation of the New Poor Law . He had stated that in the month of May , 1842 . there were

    a number of people sent from the Skipton Union workhouse to a man named Threlfall , a millowner at Halifax , He had asked the Right Hon . Baronet the Secretary of State for the Home department if there was any communication extant between the Poor Law Commissioners and that millownsr ? The Right Hon . Baronet had replied that there was no statement or correspondence whatever in the office of the Poor Law Commissionerg on this subject , After that , he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had asked him if he would cause an inquiry to be nude in the office of Secretary of'State for the Home Department whether there was any snch communication , as to him , in his high omce , the poor must look for protection if their rights and privileges were invaded . That Right Hon Baronet had informed him that there

    was not any such communication . With the permission of the House he would read a statement connected with the transportation of these people from tbe Skipton Union workhouse to this mill : — " Sir , —I thank you for the attention you have paid to the subject of my letter , and for your communication . It waa Skip , ton Union workhouse from which the hands were brought to Threlfall ' s mill . The precise number cinnot now be ascertained , but , as far as I can learn , there would be about twenty ; four of those were £ 0 lame that they could not walk between Skipton and Addingham , a distance only of aix milea , bo they were brought in Threlfall ' s tax cart ; also one was very much deranged in her mental faculties , These were all females . The name of the poor idiot was Hannah Cockshot . I regret

    that I am unable to , give you the names of the four cripples . One of them , whose name is Elizibeth Townend , was so lame , that she was unfit for any employment , much less to stand twelve hours a-day in a factory . After her day ' s work she was scarcely able to walk to her lodgings . Thus are tke poor creatures conveyed like subjects for dissection , from the union workhouse to the factory to be experimented upon by the manufacturers . These facts are well known to many in Addingham ; but , if you , Sir , do not think them sufficiently authenticated to warrant an exposure in the Senate House of Britain , I hope you will at least make the world acquainted with those facts which have been proved before you in a court of justice . Alice Morrill is so far convalescent as to be able partially to resume her employment . " Now , here he would asi

    what chance there waa for protection for these pool people ? The father of Alice Morrill deelined to make any statement , as he was an overlooker in Mr . Tiirelfall ' 8 mill . There was another instance of the cruelties practised under this New Poor Law , and it discovered tbe secret motives that had influenced the first pro * posers of this law—of the Ashworths and the Gregs , when they wrote their letters and did tbeir utmost to urge forward tbe law , and to get into their districts the population of the south to teat down the wages of the labourers , ef their own workpeople . The workpeople of Mr . Threlfall were so badly paid , and so ill-used and over-worked , that they had struck for wages ; aud for the purpose of enabling him to carry on his mill , he applied to the

    Skipton workhouse , whence were forwarded to him twenty hands ; and these poor people were obliged to work for the wages he chose to give him . The Son . Members for Bo ! ton and Manchester had warned tha house against his statements unless authenticated . They had insinuated , as usual , that it would be desirable that the House and the country should not listen to whit he ( Mr . Ferrand ) said , unless it were fully proved befere the House . He ( Mr . Ferrand ) little thought that on the following morning the report of the Faetory topee * tors would be placed in his hands . Since then Hon . Members of that House had gone to him , and said , — " Why you understated the conduct of the manufacturers in the North of England . When the Secretary of State for the Home Department cbided you for having

    used the expression monsters in human shape , yon did not to the extent you were justified express your abhorrence of their conduct . " He would ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department , whether he felt it his «! uty to inquire whether the guardians of the Skipton Union had placed in the power of this manufacturer twenty hands for his mill , three or four of whom were cripples unable to walk , and one of them an idiot ? He was about to read an extract from the report of tho inspectors of factories for the halfyear ending the 31 st ot Dscember , 1842 , It was rather long , but he trusted the House would bear with it—( hear , hear ); and he would a « k the Honse to rescue the masses of the people from the oppression and plunder inflicted upon them , for their

    burden was too heavy to be borne . This was the report of Mr . Saunders , and was dated the 25 th of January , 1843—the last report , "I was about to prepare my report for the last quarter in the early part of tho month , when I received notice of one of the m ast gross and oppressive violations of the law , during the week ending the 25 th ultimo , that has occurred to my knowledge since the Factory Act was passed . This induced me to delay my report , iu order te wait the result of s careful investigation of the rircumsiSaces relate ^ h > that offence , aud the adjudication of any complaints which might be prefened against the offenders . The investigation was very efficiently conducted by Mr . Baker , the superintendent" He would here beg lea « to bear his testimony to the conduct of Mr . Baker , for he ( Mr . Ferrand ) never saw a man conduct himseli with more justice to the parties concerned . " And I » T * W ** U 1 U 1 U 1 U 0 V 1 VV UV VUU gf »•• « f » w- ——¦— — » ot

    regret to &iy the wilful and deliberate overworking various young persons , both boys and girls , but chiefly the latter , between the ages of fourteen or eighteeI ? was clearly establiahed . This occurred afc fl mill af Addingham , in Yorkshire , which has only been occupied a few months , in cotton spinning , by the firm ol Messrs . S ; ed and Co ., of which a Mr . William Tfarelfa " is the managing partner . The mill was at work from six o ' clock an Thursday morning , the 22 nd ult , ontil twelve o ' clock the same night , which ( allowing two hours for meal time ) was an employment for sixteen hours ot the several persona detained between those periods , some of them being under eighteen years ol aga This was , however , comparatively * aligns offence to what followed . The mill commenced wo « - ing again the next morning , Friday , the 23 * a > . anas the machinery continued running from that time , with only short intervals for meals , oWBg

    the whole of Friday night , tbe whole of *» " * day , and until three o ' clock on *™™* . morning ( Christmas Day ) , a period of forty-five b <* s * Now , these twenty paupers were placed in the poj * ?^ this " monster in human shape , " and he ^™ . ~ Right Hon . Baronet would he make an inquiry vswthis statement ? Hd ( Sir J . Graham ) must , or paw himself in the position to be called on to rssigriw ofiice . " There can be no doubt but that some or . iiw hands under eighteen years of age were present daring the whole of this excessively long period ; oat k »» point was not proved in the cases selected for tne ^ V secution , because it was necessary , in order to od » more than one penalty , to lay distinct informations •« the wrong employment of different young P *" ^ . Boirh sonnmfa iiair Ik was . however . DrOVed , tDas gu _

    of fourteen had been kept to work from seven ocka * on Friday evening , the 23 d , during all the nigw , » next day , and through Saturday night , until tMW *«; on Sunday , the 25 » h .-a period of thirty-two . hourj . the same persons having been worked on the P ™™ day ( Thursday ) till twelve at night , and agam forpan of the Friday afternoon . Such conduct towards ^ ouu 6 and tender females , who cannot be deemed free ag « » merited , in my opinion , the heaviest penalties mmthe law imposed for such offences ; and I felt- myse " justified ia sanctioning Mr . Baker ' s ^ ° ^? 1 ? liS rnmnlainta In such a manner as to afford the m » s

    trates an opportunity of awarding V ^ T ^ Jl some degree commensurate with to % offB ™ . ™ . offenders were convicted on seven ^^ ^^ tions , six of which the magistrates ; deemed £ ** £ > to demand severally the full penalty of £ 26 ; «* £ * other offence was punhhed . by a pay » entof £ 5 . _»* he would call tbe attention of the R . ght Hon . Baw « g the Secretary of State for the Home Department w what wm now doing by this mUlowoer . He wa £ gng fa , avoid ttesapenalties ; he wu < getting * p » P" **" to the Right Hon . Baronet to be relieved flow f J £ fes-Hr ^ r's s ? g . * s ( Continued in our Seventh page J

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• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), March 4, 1843, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct640/page/6/