On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    B&qpm'al ^arltatnrnt.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    B&Qpm'al ^Arltatnrnt.

    B&qpm ' al ^ arltatnrnt .

    HOUSE OF LORDS—Fbidat , Feb . 24 . The Earl of JSjsto moved for returns respectii jg the present Btate of tbe navy . He required explana' ions as to "why there had been less ship-building last y jar than had Ijeen contemplated ,, and why a reduced ¦• / ote was to be taken for the present j-ear ? He Inquire & also the reasons of other reductions ? ! the 3 > uke of WELti >* GTOH doabted the propriety of launsbhig the infarmation asked for . The Earl of HiDDrsGioS -wished the F atI of Minto to postpone his questions , and cive not ! » s-for another evening , -when he wenld ba better prepar * d . The Earl ef Mikto then entered int- , -various details leBpecfing the pr «' ~ : condition of our dockyards , * c , BndmoTedfoT -.- : us relating to then-.

    TheZEirlu . j-DDiXGToa explain' d . that the reason ¦ wh y there -vr ; . * less ship-building ' &-. ^ year than had been contemplated , was ^ that it was deemed more economical to keep -vessels already built in good repair tha-n to build new ones . It had "been found impracticable In Woolwich Dockyard to hnild the number of steamers required , and the redr ^ eed estimates for the present year had been adepted "with great . reluctance , iufc it ns felt that owing to ti \« state of the finances , some reductions should fee adopted . He concluded Trith giving information in rep 3 y to the Earl of ilinto . iMKd ASHBCB . TOK expressed Mb regret that the information had been jnven .

    fee Poke of Weik . i : < gto ? j said he had given his xrpinion of the impropriety of furnishing the information , int his advice -was neglected , and the two Noble Lords , 3 n defence of their respective govtrnments , had pnb-3 ished to the whole -world information -which should "never have been communicated , and -which might prove : m $ Bchi 6 ¥ Ous to the country . After some further debate , in which Lords Minto and Baddiagton vindicated themselves , and the Sate of "Wellington remsxtea that he had always disconraged -such motions , the Earl of Minto -withdrew his motion , and the House adjourned .

    Monday , Fbbbtiabt 27 . lord Ca ^ JKjjeli flioTed for and obtained copies of lord Ellenborough ' s proclamations , and gaTe notice , on the part of the Marquis of Clanricarde , of a motion on She subject , on the 9 th of March . Lord JdOKTEAGLib at the request of the Dole of "" Wellington postponed'bis motion on the Cora Laws , on = aeceunt of the indisposition of the E vrl of Ripon . After forwarding some bills the House adjourned .

    Untitled Article

    HOUSE OF COMMONS—Thuxsiut , * Feb . 23 . fin a part of onr last week ' s impression we gave a Tery condensed and imperfect account of the proceedings in ihe House of-Commons on the snbject of Mi . Walter ' 3 motion , on the Kew Poor Law . On account of its great importance we give this week a more extended report , particularly of the speeches of Mr . Walter ana Mr , Ferrand . ]

    PKJSfGIPLES OF THE KEW POOR LAW . Hr . "Walter then rose , and commenced his speech fcy observing that be could have -wished that it had fallen to the lot of some abler or more eminent member to have brought forward tbe present subject , for if the abilities of him -who brought It forward -were to be ^ weighed or measured by the-vast consequences invelved , Jie feared that he should be found greatly deficient . If , indeed , he might have had his -wish indulged , he should &&vs desired her Majesty ' s ministers themselves to have taken a more humane and constitutional view of the question , for sircerelydid he wish them to pursue such measures as -would secure them the love of the people —he-meant of the people taken ia th& mass- ; and there * & * no one mf thod by -which they could so essentially

    Jiave endeared themselves to tbe Tast body of tbe -conntry it large as by demolishing , » hat he was sorry to « ayhad beta partially , and at second hand , their Work , namely—the 2 f ew Poor ~ La . -w . He -was too old So court ranch popularity himself , and readily -would -ie transfer -whatever he migbt hare attained to those -whose general co&ise of police he thought most calculated to appease the dissatisfaction and restore the prosperity of the country . He -would -ask 4 bem this -Question briefly—had there been any satisfaction , any igood temper , any adherence of the humbler , classes to their employers since this moat unfeeling la-w had been invented ? Had there been anything in fact in the 'Country but brooding discontent , erer ready to break out into open violence , or to avenge Itself by secret ' mischier ?

    Be said none . Here they -were in tbe Bin th year-since -de first movement against the © te Poor Lav of -the country originating -with one of the greatest sovereigns—a female , too—that tbe land " e * er knew ; the Ttxj object of whose soble policy it -was to sustain tbe great masses of the people against hereditary oppres-* on and aristocratic pside- ^ parcerc ss&aciis , -et -deiei-2 are .-xgxr $ > os ; and -trite , by trusting bext&lf and ber throne to the support at -ier people—not to family inifagn ce * or herds of retainers—s « t the -whole -world at < jefi&nee . That princlple-of her ' s the new la-w did not aeform , --did not restore , did not reinvigorate—bet « veised . It protected , -or affected t « protect , the . great landed interests first , and next the manafacturing interests , iy the oppression , by the very destruction of

    Hioae upon -whom those debated interests rested ; and t / f that attempt to destroy tia very basis of all human « waBty , he cfeuld t « H them that those msre elevated interests mast ^ nltxmstelj iisk . Every other foundation bni thxt of the people -was a sandy one . The Trinds of disaffection would blow—the tempest of popular fury would begin to xage—and down would come their stracture to the grooxtd . He had called this 2 few Poor La-wan invention , aad mch literally it was . It vss tbe nraal effort of legii&tun , when , through the lapse of time , old laws began to fail of their appliac ^ ion , to imp » re and adapt them anew—to cat off excrescences , and to invigorate the impaired parts—to restore , to reform ., bet not to con-Tnlse or destroj—( hs&r , hear . ) But what had

    been the course pursued in this most ominous afikir 1 A new invention , new to history as t& the people , was 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 but modern invention-was adopted , or rather niched from a more respectable institution—that of " guardians " . And « gnardisns "—what wees " guardians '" under this new act ? Mr . Sheridan had denned the office of a inmilPT protector , appointed , as be said , to exert over the uniappy Peruvians " snch gnardianship u the eagle afforded the lamb , covering while it devoured itsprey " —ihear , hear . ) Such , he had ever said , was the character of Qua sew x > oor law , asd he had since become

    possessed of a document which justified him in asserting that snch was the actual object of those -who brought it forward—ihear , hear . ) He would * now read to the House & passage from ihat report : — " That at any time after the passing of this act , the Board of Control shall have power , by an order , with such exception as shall ie thought necessary , to disallow the continnance of relief to the indigent , the aged , and the impotent , in mny other mode than in a workhouse , Tegnlated in such ssanner as by the aforesaid Board of Control shall be determined . The power of the Commissioners would be to reduce allowances , but not to enlarge them . After this has been accomplished , orders may be Bent forth directing that after such a day all out-door relief should be given partly in

    kindafter another period it should be wholly hi kinfi ; that after such another period it should be gradually dfamnished hi quantity , until that mode of relief was extinguished—( hear , hear . ) Frem the first the relief should fee altered in quality—( hear , hear , )—coarse irown bread being substituted for fine white ; and concurrently with these measures as to tbe 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 earliesfrreport placed in the hands of tbe late ministers , " and which the Right Hon . Gentleman had termed " confidential , " the authors being afraid , as hB { Mr . Walter ) verfly believed them to be , of sending it forth to general cognisance with their names attached . That confidential

    communication was followed by a report which was laid before the House , in which there was this passage : * ' As one barrier to the Increase of expenditure in tbe detailed management , the commissioners should be empowered to fix a maximum of the consumption per head within the workhouse , leaving to the local cfiieers the liberty of reducing it below the maximum , if they could safely do so" —{ hear , hear . ) "Do it safely ! ' * ow , Uiat he thought horrible enough ; but yet not so offensively glaring as the confidential communication itBelf . Prom that dark and mysterious source sprung the fiist avowed report oT the central board of poor-law eommissioners ; not of that existing body sometimes called the triumvirate , but of the eight commissioners — -toe Bishops of London and ChesterMrSturges

    , . ^ oume , Mr . Senior , and four other persons of less note -wac&nty—who vrere previously set to work te concoct SS ^ aw-i-Wh £ SiS ^ -s ^ sssaW ttWifflssssysrsLS 1 andrecoamendations , therrforef ^ f ^^ S ^

    spontte MBertedfact that it comprised meHTali If ^ Jv * S £ ^ ectly ^ P ^ jndieed-fhear , hW He could have wished that they had had some iataSi gtata 4 UV from hun Wcon ^ Hois T S ? S bdieTBd thatthere was not a member ^ of that comaS son whose miod was not made up , before a single witnea was examined , to recommend oi introduce

    someflnrjg of a mort Berere and oppressive character . Mr . Uowen , of Bridgewater , had pronounced this law a bni of indictment against all the poor of the country . The tms&aaotten sod , in their fint report , " the dnty of - t ' r

    Untitled Article

    supporting parents and chjldr < jn in old age a . d infirmity is so strongly enforced by onr Batnral feeliDgs , that it is often -well performed even among savages , and almost alwayB so in a nation deserving the name of civilized . We believe that England is the only European country in which it is neglected "—( hear , hear ) . . . "If the deficiencies of parental and filial affection are to be supplied by the parish , and the natural motives to the exercise of these virtues are thus to be withdrawn , it may be proper to endeavour to replace them , however imperfectly , by artificial stimulants , and to make fines , distress-warrants , or imprisonment -net as substitutes for gratitude 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

    afforded by both Houses of Parliament , -who thought it necessary to stimulate the natural affections here spoien of , not by pains and penalties , but by tbe large allowance ef £ 10 , 000 a-year for tbe trouble of visiting an billeted father once a week?—( hear , hear . ) Nuw , let the House contrast thi » character of the peopie so blackly drawn by tbe commissioners with other descriptions of the same people , and upon that snbject he had particular pleasure in quoting a passage from a letter of the Earl of Ripon to one of our colonial governors : — " The name of pauper" ( said vhat Noble Lord ) " by no means implies , as seems to have been supposed , a man nnable or unwilling to work—one -whose infirmity or -whose idleness would disqualify him from becoming an useful settler . On the contrary , the -whole of the

    married labonrers in many of the parishes cf the South of England may be correctly described * b paupers , inasmuch as the want of employment has depretsed -wages to a rate at -which it is impossible for a man , howeveT industrious , to maintain a family , without receiving parochial relief . * * It has fceeu found that the Idle and worthless paupers have freqaently been rendered so by the hopelessness of their situation ; and when enabled to find constant employment , at fair wages , a great change has almost invariably taken place in their conduct "—( hear , hear ) . Let the Housa cuntrast it , too , with the picture drawn , not so long since by theMeraber foT Shtffieldfrom his own experience of the English poor . That Honourable Member had told that House , that" one-third of the -working men in that town and neighbourhood were out of employ . A cr- at proportion of the remainder were employed only three

    days in tbe week , and in consequence tbe 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 the Honourable Member , if he had ransacked every storehouse of eloquence , have found werds better calcnlated to damage the New Poor Law in tbe estimation of every man of common hum-. mty than the plain sentence which he ( Mr . Walter ) had just read to them ? Men steeped in poverty , and misery to the very lips -were jet 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 kfep thTn off the parish . But it was not for this purpose that he adduced this passage . He wished now to ask , had these men earned the character which the commissioners

    had attempted to affix upon them ? Did they deserve to be legislated against in the manner the present bill legislated against them ? And s-ill more ought they to be subjected to that ever-increasing scale of crucify prescribed and laid down by the pr ivate report of the tight commissioners—that private report from -which the present bill , with its triumvirate at S ^ mrrset-house , originated—( hear , bear , hean * Hnw the principle of successive reports was carried out he had plenty of instances to lay before the Housa Take this , for example , from Cirencester ; the late member for that borough said , in bis place in that House , that " he was chairman of a board of guardians . Both in his own district , and in others -with which be waa acquainted , the measure had acquired an imtnei . se

    popnlarity . He thought the country was undrr the greatest obligation to . those -who had brousbt it forward . The bill worked well in the district with which he was connected . He hoped there would be no vital alteration of a measure -which bad worked to the entire satisfaction of tbe vast majority of the people . As to diet , the complaint -was that tbe inmates of tbe workhouse lived too weJl . " ( Hear , hear . ) He ( Mr . Walter ) held in bis band the dietary of the Cirencester Union , prescribed by the Poor-Law Cemmlssioners , in which there *? as net one ounce of fresh animal food from year ' s ecd to year ' s end—{ hear , hear . )—but only five ounces of salt bacon for the Sunday of each weekihear , hear , )—and that dietary , be it observed , the guardians could not go beyond , though they were to

    be indulged with the odious power of reducing it , " if they could safely do so . " ( Hear , hear . ) He could add many tales of similar cruelty on the part of boards of guardians . Host persons know the difficulty of dealing ^ ith bodies of men . A body corporate , in fact , had no soul The individuals might have their separate feelings , bet the whole body had nonesuch . ( Hear , hear . ) A man might be personally humane and charitable , but , when acting with others , this Christian feeling evaporated and vanished . He would mention one cise , which occurred not very long ago in his own immediate neighbourhood . He was not a treqaenter of boards of gnaxtliaas , baving no great respect for tbe institution itse . f . ( Hear , b « ar , hear . ) He ( Mr . Walter ) was , however , particularly

    requested to attend a meeting , for the purpose of endeavouring to obtain eut-door relitf for an unhappy and afflicted object , with a wife and fiv 4 children , who bad been ordered into the workhouse , but after a night ' s trial of his abode there , went out Dext morning . He < Mr . Walter ) bad-been desired to urgethis man ' s title to out-door relief before the board . The alleged ground of their refusal vu , that his wife had practised some imposition upon a benevolent lady , and therefore the husband and wbole family were to be punished . With some difficulty the husband was admitted to the board's presence , and he ( Mr . Walter ) then ascertained , by the acknowledgment of both the medical officers , that he laboured under an incurable pulmonary complaint . He produced a good character from & highly

    respectable master . On questioning him , a doubt arose in his ( Mr . Walter ' s ) mind whether the man ' s wife had really been guilty of the alleged Impropriety , and , to afford time for inquiry , a week's out-door allowance was accorded to him , and tbe board Was to meet in tbe week following . He iMt Walter ) received a moct complete and satisfactory answer from the lady whom the wom&n -Ras 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 his efforts to relieve ***)« family from tbe dreaded icfiieSon of the workhouse . That guardian was . if possible , more callous than the rest The first

    order must be maintained , because they had made it Into the wofkheose were the family again sent ,- though ultimately , after seme weeks' delay , out-door 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 jfchat if he went into the workhouse , there he would"fcertainly die ; if they had no consideration for the poor man himself , why should the inmates of the workhouse have their feelings harrowed up by the transportation of a dying man into the midst of them —( hear , heari ? But all his representations had been in vain ; the cry was , that having once given their order , it should not be rescinded . He lived only a few months afterwards , snd died in his own habitation , the guardian himself being

    called to his account first—( hear , hear . ) Was it to be borne thai against SBch treatment as thai the 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 caseswell-autbentieated cases , too—of ; unnatural severity inflicted by the operation of that law—( bear , hear ; He did not kno-w 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 to 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 it edoi at its beginning , but that zeal bad much cooled , as Well it might , and these offices 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 . Wh ^ , no tinman powers bf either body or mind could comprehend or carry all thst 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 Pool 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 be fint attacked that monstrous law , he estimated that the paper defences would soon reach up to their table . At present they would oyertop the chair . He

    had already got upon the English Poor Law upwards of 20 , 000 pages ; and it was 1 b vain to make an estimate of the Irish , since the first appendix to a report itself weigbed 9 | lbs . Considering : their bulk , no two porters could carry them , the English Poor Law papers weighing upwards of twelvB stone . The expense of printing them would support the poor of many parishes for he knew not how many years . But there was one high authority against him , to which he should not have ventured to allude , bad it not been frequently cited against him , and that authority he hoped that he should treat with proper respect When he beard the greatest hero of his age say , "I know something of Governors-General , and I know something of war and its dificult » e « also / 1 that man who should not bow to . Buch authority would be rash and indiscreet to tbe utmost extent of Indiscretion and rashness ; but he must

    Untitled Article

    humbly contend - ence of the internal affairs of this country which other men of humbler general talents might and must have had ; and that great man was not , therefore , such overpowering authority upon these subjects as upon those on which his capacious mind had been , he 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 never , as he contended In the present case , before the subject 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 hoWeth his tongue , and a loot , what he Bayeth , they extol it to the clouds ; but , if the poor man speak , they Bay , what fellow is this ? " Butif he ( Mr . Walter ) bad met with opposition en the one hand , he had likewise met with encouragement on tbe other , and that from the most honourable and excellent class of men—the clergy of the established church—a class , also , the individuals ef which , he would venture to assert , were , generally speaking , quite as competent to deliver their opinions on the subject before the House as the immortal Du ^ e was upon that of war ; for they lived with

    the poor , ' in the midst of them , much more even than he had been in the midst of his soldiers ; they knew their wants , moral and physical , and from that class of men he had also received the most useful information , as well as tbe 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 commisaien—( hear , bear ) . He would not , however , trouble the House with many of their statements , but , be must be allowed to read one from a gentleman inferior to nona in his sacred order in piety and intelligence , and who was well known to many Members of that House : —

    Knowing that yon 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 1 state to you the result of my own observation of that system , not in all nor many of its bearing * , but Bimply in ita moral action upon those who come under it . To uiyaelf this is a painful though voluntary task ; for it shows me the error of my own anticipations , aud reminds me of the fault of once defending as right what 1 now regret as wrong and pernicious .

    " Leaving , however , such personal considerations , let me briefly state to you the conviotiou to which 1 have come on the subject , and tbe reasons which have brought me to it My conviction is , that whatever may be the maladies under which our social sysitiHi is suffering in the labouring part of it , the present workhouse practice ib not their remedy ; it is rather under tbo promise of present relief , an aggravation of the disease . " I have seen the working of the system under , in many respects , favourable circumstances . 1 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 those who have been inmates of

    those bouses ; aud 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 . I only state to you what I know to be literally true , when I say that in union houses supposed to be administered as well as the system will permit , the work of demoralization has been going on in every ward except those of sickness and old aga Among the poor unhappy children , anioDg 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 cemprehend the recital of some of the most disgusting practices of licentiousness and many acts of crime .

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

    " It would require some experience , or considerable imagination , to comprehend tbe extent of this mischief . It is a never-ceasing agent of evil , leaving its infection behind , when its actual pretence 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 tbe tongue , or corrupt tbe heart " Now , to omit , for tho present , all other objections to this system—to say nothing about its trenching hard upon the feelings of humanity , or the laws of God— I would only ask two questions in regard to It Can tbe Iy gislature be justified in inflicting on tbe 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 of punishment ; but th « re the inmate bos brought the evil upon himself—ho has forfeited the protection of the laws of the country , and this is a part of the recompence of evil which he has reaped . But what has a poor family done—poor only because they are numerous , and their wages insufficient ?—what bave they dene that after having striven in vain to tupport themselves , and then come to claim the protection which the criminal has forfeited , they Bbouid be , in one respect , treated in the same manner with him ?—that they should be place < 1 where , whatever moral sense they have must 1 * b blunted and destroyed , and where their children will bear the lessons , if not witness the practice of pr Qfligacy ?

    " Another question I would ask . Is this the way to extirpate pauperism from tbe country ? If it be , we mutt u ulearn every maxim which connects prosperity , either on a large or narrow scale , with moral character . " But it 1 b m 't Whatever were the calculations or intentions of th e framera of this measure in other respecU , they appear to me to have overlooked its moral effects altog . Uher . Certain it is , that its practical effect is to underra ine the moral character and well- ; being of tbe poor , i ' ts action is all downwards . It has no tendency to raise the moral condition of tbe labouring classes ; it has a t direct tendency to degrade and deprave it ; and , if thi * be true , it Btands marked with the worst stigma that . ^ be placed upon any lawthat of demoralising thoi w upon whom it acts . " I oi u , dear Sir , «< With sincere respect , *• a Country clergyman . " To John Walter , Esq . Jn '•?•"

    Bat there was another arguu . ent 'wl" 1 wLich he wob plied , in favour of this most pai . "tf " Important measure . He was told that gentlemt-n wen * pledged to it . Upon that point he could give a decider' negative ; no gentleman , he affirmed , was Budged to lt - Gantlemen might , unhappily , at the first ori ^ ™ of thls system of mischief , not seeing what its const 'Quences might be , have been pledged to the introduce ; ° n of il : but dirt any man , at the time of its introi Inetf 011 . daringly pledge bimself to carry it through , h > iw « p rer ** * n » gb . t affect the people—however odious it TO ^ ght provehowever , in fact , it might subvert the * bole order of society ? All that , he said , had been ai ld wao beil ) 8

    produced . Was any man pledged then , or c ° » d be now plead that be waa pledged , to pen * 7 eca in tne infliction of such evils on the country ? To * b » ai was he—to whom could he be so bound ? To his i '• oaatryto the poor—to his conscience ? Or to his pa r * $ —h * friends—his political leaders ? Nay , more un won . ty ^' l' did he mean that , having given his vote ouca fo * ^ is monstrous evil , he was bound in consistency—bou ^ & care for his own reputation , to persevere in tho ** & •** course he had begnn ? Whatever was the case fee bade i ^^ man pause . He bade him retrace his steps . Let him l ° ^ speak of pledges given , or supposed to have been givei x when he was totally unable to look iDto futurity . I *

    any man had unhappily so involved himself , he ( Mr . Walter ) owned his difficulty , but did not doubt an to what was his duty . Facts—the facts of the last nine years—had cancelled his obligation . His vote was not , his own but his country ' s ; and his only honourable i retreat was in owning his mistake , and amending it . { He conjured , therefore , the Conservatives of the House to step forward to the conservation of England . Great j apprehensions had been expressed in that House and ' elsewhere of a certain league , to the practices of -whose ! leaders he was as much opposed as any man . But let ' gentlemen ask themselves how this league , now so menacing , first sprang up . He would tell ( hem : it was suggested by a preceding league against the poor of this

    country , whose diet was to be reduced in quantity and corrupted in quality . What a burst of indignation would bave been exqited in that House , as well as throughout the country , if any resolution against the negro population , of a character similar to this against our fellow-subjects here at home , should have been produced—that those blacks were first to have their daily food debased , and after that diminished—( hear , hear ) J Gentlemen bad been benevolent enough abroad ; let them look around them at home . If , as they had been told , they had elevated the condition of the negro slave to such a state of prosperity that be could now drive his gig and drink his Champagne , surely he was not asking too much when be called upon them to elevate the condition of the free white labourer and artisan of England , whom

    this law crushed to the earth—at least te afford him such subsistence as would preserve him from sinking under a gradual prostration of strength . If they could not give him his cottage and piece of land which the negroes ; had obtained , at least let them not insist on his selling everything that his hovel possesses in order to qualify him for being a tenant in their vast gaolsths union workhouses . If they could not give him Champagne , they could give him the cheap , the wholesome , the nutritious , tbe national beverage of our laud —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 composed and beneficially arranged , if gentlemen would in good earnest torn their thoughts to those subjects ,

    Untitled Article

    in straggles for political ascendancy . If it were said that such an object was desirable , but that it waa impossible to attain it , he would at onea 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 be , " it is common for tnen to say , that such and such things are perfectly right , very desirable—but that , unfortunately , they are not practicable . Oh no , Bir , no . These things which are not practicable are not desirable . There is nothing in 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 baa not given us the means to accomplish , both in the natural and moral world "—( obesrs ) . He ( Mr . Walter ) would not longer detain the House than by moving the resolutions . The folfowing are the resolutions moved by the Honourable Member : —

    11 1 . That in a document entitled , ' Measures submitted by the PoorLiw Commissioners to his Majesty ' s Ministers , ' appear tbe following passages : — , " ' That at any time after the passing of this act the Board of Control shall have power by an order , with such exception as shall be thought necessaiy , to disallow the continuance of relief to the indigent , the 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 such another period it should be gradually diminished in quantity , until that mode of relief was extinguished . From the first the relief should be altered in quality , coarse brown bread beiiij ; substituted for fine while ; and , concurrently with these 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 comtuita to the lowest endurable point , are shown by the subsequent orders and practice of tbe Poor Law Commissioners , to form the real though unavowed basis of the present system of Poor Law relief .

    " 3 That the suffering already caused by their partial enforcement , and tbe amount of out-door relief in f pita 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 check 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 as shall make it conformable to Christianity , sound policy , and the ancient constitution of the realm . " Mr . Fereand seconded the motion . The question having been put from tho Chair ,

    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 name 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 . La 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 tho Hon . Gentleman had asked him if he recollected

    these documents , and upon that occasion be said he did not , but since then he bad some indistinct recollection that some such document existed , and he thought he could inform the Houro how that was tho case . In 1832 , Lord Grey ' s Government appointed a Commission to inquire into tho condition of the labouring poor , with a view to amend the law , and the Hon . Member had mentioned to the Home the names of some of the most eminent individuals forming thai commission—the Bishops of London and Chester , Mr . Sturges Bourne and others , whose names were a sufficient guarantee to the House of the beneficent character of the Commission —( hear , hear . ) The Hon . Member had said that a particular document was of a confidential 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 . Graham believed it waa in the recollection of the House when he asserted that the Hon . Member had said he was in possession of a confidential communication —( hear , hoar ) . Now he ( Sir James Graham ) could 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 publio 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 Hou . Gentleman said that this document was never signed ; it was true , it was not denied by the Commibsioners . He believed that those heads 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 in the House during the last session , when the Poor Law , in all its bearings , was largely discussed . ( " No , " from Capt . Pechell ) . Why he thought every thing except the Gilbert

    Unions was settled to the satisfaction of the Gallant Captain . The Hon . Gentleman appeared to imagine that the House was 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 sido 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 —( hear , hear ) . The law was based on the policy of " feeding the hungry , and clothing tho naked ; " its tendency was to elevate the character of the labouring population ; the proportion of those relieved out of doors , as compared with thoso relieved within tho workhouse , was as six to one ; the law was , therefore , not opposed to Christianity or uound policy ; and ho would meet the first resolution by the previous question , and the others with a direct negative .

    j Mr . Wakley censured Sir James Graham for , attributing improper motives to Mr . Walter . It . now turned out that there was euoh a document , notwithstanding tho faint recollection of Sir James j Graham when the subject was first mentioned . Mr . Borthwick declared his opposition to the Poor Law , and supported the resolutions . : Mr . Aglionbt had supported 'tho New Poor Law when it was passed , and believed that its ' operations had been generally beneficial : but some

    8 > 'of its provisions were harsh , and had been harshly »• worked out , and therefore he would support the , ; resolutions , as a moans of declaring his opinion that ) | the law should be amended and improved . i j After a few explanatory observations from Mr . I Cripps , k Colonel Sfbthorpe declared his opinion that the ;; old system of Poor Law had been excellent , that it , -had only been mismanaged in a few instances , and * j Aat it would be better to return to it . 1 Stuart Wortley had pledged himself

    Mr . never td ik ' s constituents to vote for the repeal of the jl ' ' ear Law . Ho was opposed to many of its provigj les , and wished it to be improved , but he could no s £ ttiPP ° rt the resolutions . q ssiejal Johnson ' s great objection to the Poor Layy waa , that it put the people out of the pale of the co U £ bi * ution , and placed them under three individuals ' ^ -Sonwset House . Sir R &&' 33 ' Peel denied that tho principle of the amended ^ ^ was opposed to the acts of 34 th aud 43 rd Hiieabeth , or that it was more harsh in its provisions . . ^ " 9 ne illustrated by citing some of the provisions i * ' i&ese ; Acts , especially the power given by tho 43 rd ** . Elizabeth oror the children ol such parents as *< a& £ unable to maintain them . The lieu of the labour test

    Cvorkhouse te ^• an , was enacted by the 9 * & George I . ; and , therefore , it was neither a novel l wan unconstitutional principle . No great measure wo *« rer passed without having suggestions being eubmiu * « dftr the consideration of the Government ; and it w ? uW lead to much practical inconvenience if such confi deiitial communications , whether they had been adopu ^ . o ^ t as in the present instance , they had been rejected , were produced and publicly made use of . ** adduced the amounts paid for the relief of th « P ° » " showing that there waa more expended on tH eot * nan oa tne P ° of any other country , and after expressing his surprise at the course whioh Mr . A . ? Uonby had avowed he would adopt , commented so mewhat humorously on the arguments whioh had beei \ ased by Mr . Walter . He oonoluded by warning the lvousa againBt tamperi ina with the Poor Law .

    Lord John Manners would support the resolutions , as expressive of hia wish to . bare the support of the poor placed on Christian and constitutional principles . Mr . Mtrmz attributed the aversion of the people to tho 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 never be settled without a well-regulated sjetem of out-door relief .

    Untitled Article

    Mr . Ferrand said , that on rising to address the House upon a question on which be had long taken a deep interest , he begged in the first place to off * bis sincere thanks to the Hon . Memb « for Nottingham , for having brought ; to light what he ( Mr . Ferrand ) considered to be the foulest conspiracy ever entered into in the dark against th « rignts , liberties , and privileges of the poor . It was now twelve years 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 hia power , this law , and little did he then think that he should have the honour and the privilege of sitting beside bis Hon . Friend

    when he gave . ; aa he had that night given , the death blow to the Niaw Poor Law . He ( Mr . Fenaud ) deeply regretted the speech which the Right Hon . Baronet at the head o ! the Government had made that evening . He did not think that the Right Hon . Baronet bad acted fairly tb the Hon . and Learned Member for Cockennouth . \ The Right Hon . Baronet saw a rising spirit ot independence flowing into the Hoa . and Learned Member's breast—he saw that the Hon . and lioarned Member was actuated by no party spirit , and the Right Hon . Baronet was afraid lest the indepen denca the Honl and Learned Member had shown should become contagious on both sides of the House , and that if the feelings which actuated the Hon . and Learned Member to stand up in the independent

    manner he had 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 remarkB of tbe Right Hon . Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department towards the Hon . Member for Nottingham ? j The Right Hon . Baronet said this was a private document , only intended for the eyes of the late Govermenfc , of whioh he had been a member . He ( Mr . Ferraud ) wished the Right Hon . Baronet had remained oa that side bf tbe House ; if so , Conservative ptincipleB would nave stood much higher in the eyes of the people than they did at present —( hear , hrar , and a laugh ) . Thie 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 , fae found

    placed amongst his papers—he cast his eyes upon it , and said to himself , " N * w I will bring before the eyes of the people of England thi 3 monstrous system of oppression . " And how had the Right Hon . Bironet himself acted the other night , when he ( Mr . Ferrand ) moved for a return of two letters which emanated from certain manufacturers when the New Paor Law was under consideration , ' and on which they entered into au express and declared agreement with Mr . Chadwick , 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 the manufacturing districts of the North of England , it would enable them , the manufacturers , to reduce the price of labour in the ! north of Rajjlani , and to put a stop to the outbreaks for raising wages ? Mr . WaliJace—Who said that ?

    Mr . FerraiND . —The letters of Mr . Ashworth and Mr . Grat ;; they vrore in the first report of the Poor Liw Commissioners . The words he had often quoted before , and no one man had ever denied the truth of the quotation . Now ; at that very time a committee of the House was sitting to inquire into the then condition of the hand-loom 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 ? ' Why , he said they were private communications—that the first letter of Mr . Ashworth was on tbe 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 iHouee . Now , what was the difference between the conduct of the Rtgat Hon . Baronet in placing that letter , which be said was of a private nature , and nover intended to see daylight , on the table of the House ! and in that of his Hon . Friend the member for Nottingham , who , finding a paper which had been submitted to the Government , brought it before the House ? iThia was said by the Right Hon . Baronet to be a breach of confidence—he ( Mr . Ferrand ) maintained thete Was no breach of confidence except on the part of the Right Hon . Baronet himself . The Right Hon . Barouet had expressly stated , that the letter written by Mr . Ashworth to the Secretary of the

    Poor Law Commissioners was a private communication , and ! now be ( Mr . Ferrand ) 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 arjy necessity to keep back Mr . Greg's letter ? It was said not to b « on the file . Why was it not en the file ? Let the Government say at once that it would be inconvenient to produce lt because there were expressions in that letter which ought not to appear before the public . Such he ( Mr . Ferrand ) understood from tho Hon . Member for Oldham to bb the case , but 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 question of the working of the New Poor Law in the North of England . * And what had been its iffects there ? It happened that amongst the letters contained in the first report of tba Poor Liw Commissioners there was one from Mr . A ' sbworthin which be told Mr . Ch 3 dwlck that it would be desirable that 20 , 000 labourers should be seut from ! the south down to Stilybridge . Now , the inspector of factories for that district had , 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 stata at present of Stalybridge- ^ -the 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 he had taken in securing the election of Mr . P . Thompson at Manchester , had been made s Poor Law Commissioner , and who , in a pamphlet , had described tbe working ! population of Manchester and ita neighbourhood to be , at that moment , in a state of starvation —had induced tens of thousands of the population of the south to go Into tbe manufacturing districts of the north ? He ( Mr . Ferrand ) wished tbe manner in which these wretched poor bad been kidnapped and sold into a state of slavery , and brought to a speedy death , could be exposed to tbe house . Bat with respect to ' Stalybridge and its neighbourhood , he found the following statement made by Mr . Hnrner , tbe factory inspector , in his last report : — " The population of the three adjoining towns of Ashton ,

    Dukenfleld , and Stale } bridge included , with an area of a mile and a half radius from the most central part of tbe district , is considered to be not less than 55 . 000 ; and the proportion of tbe working population , that is , those below ; the rank of shopkeepers , has been estimated at eighty per cent in Ashton , ninety in Staleybridge , andj ninety-four in Dakenfleld . This denBe population has been brought together chiefly by the extension of the manufacture within a very Bhort period . The population of the borough of Ashton and townBhipofiDukenfleld together was , in 1821 , 14 318 ; in 1831 , 29 352 ; and in 1841 , 45 , 074 . I am unable to give the exact numbers for tbe whole district , because Staleybridgo is partly in lianuasbire 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 of the large number of the humbler classes has . been hitherto an object of solicitude , tbe following facts wifl show : —In tbe borough of Ashton , with a population of 25 . , there is no national sehool , no school of the British and Foreign School Society , nor any other public day-school for the children of tbe working classes . The same is the case at Staleybridge and Dukenfleld , with tbe slight exception I shall now ; 8 tate . I mentioned in the report above referred to that a national school had recently been built at Staleybridge , but , I regret to say , it is not yet in operation . " No * this Dr . Kiy , who , ' by the by , held also tbe 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 tbe slightest education . Now , was not this eometh'ng serious and alarming—namely , that for the purpose cf carrying out the New Poor Law it was necessary to absorb the population of the south into the north 1 Where did hen . members think tbe first outbreaks took place ? Why at Staleybridge , where there waa a population whose minds ; fmm their sufferings , were easily excited by men of deeper designs , but wbo had not tbe courage to show their faces , and who left their victims to appear at the bar of justice , and pass thence to transportation , wbila they slunk away into the dark . He maintained that the origin of

    tbe 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 by a fair price for their labour , if they had not been robbed of it onder 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 wade with respect to the treatment ' of children employed in a mill belonging to a cottOD-spinner in Lancashire . The hon . member said he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had told the House that that there were certain Poor Law unions where the overseers handed

    over the orphans nnder their care and protection to employers without inquiring into tbe mode of treatment to whioh they would be exposed . He ( Mr Ferrand ) had stated the circumstance upon 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 , be 1 ( Mr . Farrand ) knew very well that the hoar was not tat distant when he would receive an authority backed either by persons wbo bad beheld tfaosa scenes of cruelty , or who were prepared to prove every word which he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had uttered . No eoor . er had the speech of the Hen . Member for Manchester reached that ! town than tbe representatives of the working classes , | who advocated the Ten Hours Factory Bill , met and pasgad resolutions , which as they related

    Untitled Article

    to himself he would not now read . But he had received a letter from one of the body , Mr . Duherty which corroborated all he had said . Ho trusted tha House would allow him to read that letter . Year after year these poor girls were kept in a state of slavery ; but at last human nature could bear it no longer , they burst from the chains of the manufacturer , and ran away to their parents . And what was their punishment ? " He ( Mr . Doherty ) aaw the room in which these girls were confined : the light was completely 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 confinement of Esther Price , several of her

    fellowapprentices mitigated the rigour of her pnnishment , by putting in through the crevices of tbe wainscoting which separated this room from the adjoining apart , rnent portions of their own rations , as well as cloaks &c , to cover her by night On the Friday afternoon the matron died , and the remains lay in the next room to that in which tbe poor girl was confined . When she beard this , she was driven almost frantic with fright On the following day , when refreshments were brought ber , she rushed out of the room , and told the person having her in charge that she would not , undbr any circumstances , pass another night in that apartment Tbe man said , ' Well , Esther , if you pledge yourself not to be seen , I shall say nothing about it but you know , if yon are seen , it is as

    much as my place is worth . " These children were placed in that man ' s power under , the operation of tbe New Poor Law . It was from the union workhouses that this man was supplied with these apprentices , and be would ask tbe Right Hon . Baronet whether , in a civilized country , tbe people of England 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 know ' ledge , it did not immediately take steps to pat a stop to such proceedings ? There was another Instance of ill-treatment of tbe poor which he bad alluded to the other evening when he had 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 Bent from the Skipton Union workhouse to a man named Threlfall , amillowner at Halifax . He bad 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 millownar ? The Right Hon . Baronet had replied that there was no statement or correspondence whatever in the office of the Poor Law Commissioners on this subject , After that , he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had asked him if be would cause an inquiry to ba made in the office of Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there waa any such communication , as to him , in his high office , the poor must look for protection if their rights and privileges were invaded . That Right Hon Bironet had informed him that there

    was not any suob communication . With the permission of th 8 House he would read a statement connected with the transportation of these people from the 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 was Sfeip . ton Union workhouse from which the hands were brought to ThrelfalTs mill . The precise number cannot now be ascertained , but , as far as I can learn , there would be about twenty ; four of those were so tame that they could not walk between Skipton and Addiogham , a distance only of six miles , so they were brought in Threlfall's tax cart ; also one was very much deranged in her mental faculties , TheBe were all females . The name of the poor idiot was Hannsh 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 f * r 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 tiie poor creatures conveyed like subjects for dissection , from the union workhouse to the factory to be experimented upon by tbe manufacturers . These facts are well known to many in Addingbam ; but , if you , Sir , do not thing them sufficiently authenticated to warrant an exposure in tbe Senate House of Britain , I hope you will at least make the world acquainted with those facts which hare been proved before you in a court of justice . Alice Morrill is bo far convalescent aa to be able partially to

    resume her employment" Now , here he would aalt what chance there was for protection for these poor people ? Tbe father of Alice Morrill declined to make any statement , as he was an overlooker in Mr . Thielfall's mill . There was arother instance of the cruelties practised under this Now Poor Law , and it discovered tbe Becret motives that had influenced the first proposers of this law—of the Ashworthsand theQregs , when they wrote their letters and did their utmost to urge forward the law , and to get into their districts tbe population of the south to beat down the wages of the labourers , of theli own workpeople . The workpeople of Mr . Threlfall were so badly paid , and so ill-used and over-worked , that they had struck for wages ; and 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 tbe wages be chose to give him . Tne Hon . Members for Bolton and Manchester bad warned the house against his statement&unless authenticated . -They had insinuated , aa usual , that it would be desirable that tbe House and the country should not listen to wnat be ( Mr . Ferrandi said , unless it were fully proved befere the House . He iMr . Ferrand ) little thonght that on tbe following morning the report of the Eaetory Inspectors would be placed in his bands . 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 Eapland . When the Secretary

    of State for the Home Department cbided you for having used the expression monsters in human shape , you 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 duty to inquire whether the guardians of the Skipton Union had placed in the power of thismana . facturer twenty hands for bis 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 the inspectors of factories for the halfyear ending the 31 st of December , 1842 . It was rather long , but be trusted the House would bear with it —( hear , hear ); and he would ask the Housa to rescue the masses of the people from the

    oppression and plunder inflicted upon them , for their barden was too heavy to be borne . This was the report of Mr . Saunders , and was dated the 25 tfi of January , 1843-the last report , "I was about to prepare mj report for the last quarter in the early part of tne month , when I received notice of one of the mast gross and oppressive violations of the law , during tbeiweeK ending the 25 th ultimo , that has occurred to my lpiowledge since the Factory Act was passed . Tfliainflneea me to delay my report , in order to wait the result of a careful investigation of tbe circumstancea relating » that offence , and the adjudication of any c ° P la'na which might be preferred against the offenders , ina investigation was very efficiently conducted by » & Bakerthe superintendent" He would here beg lewe

    , to bear his testimony to the conduct of M * . Bake * , tor he ( Mr . Ferrand ) never saw a man sondnct mmseii with more justice to the parties concerned . 'Ana i regret to say the wilful and deliberate overworking oi varions young persons , botb boys and girls , bttt . |" J tbe latter , between the ages of fourteen or eighteen was clearly established . This occurred at a mm ai Addingham , in Yorkshire , which has only been occupied a few months , in cotton spinning , by theiW ™ Messrs . Ssed and Co .. of which a Mr . William TMe" ^ is the managing partner . The mill was at worK . Bom six o ' clock an Thursday morning , the 22 nd ult ., uniu twelve o'clock the same night , which ( allowing w » hours for meal time ) was an employment for suree idbsb

    hours of the several persons detained between periods , some of them being under eighteen years oi age . This was , however , comparatively a « u s £ * offence to what followed . The mill commenced wowing again the next morning , Friday , the 23 rd »/ " ~ the machinery continued running from that _ time , with only short intervals for meala , < w ™ s the whole of Friday night , tbe whole of B « ur * day , and until three o ' clock on Sunoay morning ( Christmas Diy ) , a period of forty-five no "" . Now , these twenty paupers were placed in tb 8 P ° * e [ this " monster in human shape , " and he a 8 * 60 / " ! , Right Hon . Baronet would he make an inquiry ¦ mi * this statement ? He ( Sir J-. Graham ) must , or pw £ Kimoolf in fha nn . ! tiAn tn . ha m \\ rA Oil tO KSlgU DM

    office . " There can be no doubt but that some oi uj hands under eighteen years of age were present sums the whole of this excessively long period ; bnt ™» point was not proved in tbe cases selected '" " ^^ secution , because it was necessary , in order to _ oo more than one penalty , to lay distinct informations i the wrong employment of different young personsi i each separate day . It was , however , proved , teat g «_ of fourteen had been kept to work from seven oc «*» on Friday evening , the 23 d , during all the mgM . «" next day , and through Saturday night , until t&ree * T . on Sunday , tbe 25 th , —a period of thirty-two now * . the same persons having been worked on the P" ™ * day ( Thursday ) till twelve at night , and again' I 0 JP " of the Friday afternoon . Such conduct t ° war ^!^ and tender females , who cannot be deemed free a « eu . » merited , in my opinion , the heaviest penalties ^ the law imposed for such offences : and I felt „;« £ jaatifled in sanctioning Mr . Baker ' s arrangsment w «» (• nmnlninta fn Himh n mnnnnr na to afford tne "" O

    trates an opportunity of awarding ¦ punisnuien « some degree commensurate with the offence , offenders were convicted on seven different » ° I 0 "T tions , six of which the magistrates deemed so s 3 " ^" to demand severally the full penalty of £ 26 ; Jf'L ' l other offence was punished by a payment of £ % "{ he would call the attention of the Right Hon . Barony the Secretary of State for the Home DeP ^ ' ^ i , . what was now doingby this millowner . He wasB )* s to avoid these penalties ; he was getting np ^ a pew * to the Right Hon . Baronet to be relieved fcomflg and that petition hsd been already signed by one w gistrate who was a part-owner cf that mill . b « i Fanand , knew that Mr . Threlfall would apply »? J to the Right Hon . Baronet He ( Mr . Venanih JJ » that so far as money could make this monster V ^} bis atrocities , he must pay the whole amount oi u » ( Continued in eur Seventh page . )

    Untitled Article

    that his Grace had not had that experirather than employ their whole time THE NORTHERN STAR . ? ml t . httt . h !« ArA /» . « had nnt Y \ aA tViof mmrl . rntVipr than fimnlnv thutr TOhfiln timp

• 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-ncseproduct969/page/6/