have sometimes occurred for months together at factories, involving children and young persons, replies, that to convince him that it could be endured without great injury, would require evidence unbiassed and cumulative, and of several consentient witnesses; and that, after all, he would wish for the evidence of his own sight and touch. Sir William Bliggard, we perceive, on being asked a somewhat similar question, answers," Horribly so." From such labour, and from labour not nearly approaching it in continuance, such as is common in factories, Dr Blundell would expect dyspeptic symptoms, and all its consequences; nervous diseases; stunted growth; languors; lassitude; general debility; and a recourse to unusual stimulants to rid the mind of its distressing feel. ings. "I look," says he, " upon the factory towns as nurseries of feeble bodies and fretful minds."

The evidence of Dr Farre is at once a medical and a moral lecture; nor is it possible to peruse it without loving and venerating the man. To the usual questions about air and exercise, with due intervals for rest and meals, he says all that need or can be said in one line-" they are so essential that without them medical treatment is unavailing ;" and then he says solemnly-" Man can do no more than he is allowed or permitted to do by nature, and in attempting to transgress the bounds Providence has pointed out to him, he abridges his life in the exact proportion in which he transgresses the laws of nature and the Divine command." There is to us something sublime in its simplicity, in the following answer to the question, if twelve-hours-a-day labour be as much as the human constitution can sustain without injury?" It depends upon the kind and degree of exertion; for the human being is the creature of a day, and it is possible for the most athletic man, under the highest conflicts of body or mind, and especially of both, to exhaust in one hour the whole of his nervous energy provided for that day, so as to be reduced, even in that short space of time, to a state of extreme torpor, confounded with apoplexy, resembling, and sometimes terminating in death. The injury is in pro

portion to the exhaustion of the sensorial power. Let me take the life of a day to make myself clearly understood. It consists of alternate action and repose; and repose is not sufficient without sleep. The alternation of the day and the night is a beautiful provision in the order of Providence for the healing of man, so that the night repairs the waste of the day, and he is thereby fitted for the labour of the ensuing day. If he attempt to live two days in one, or to give only one night and two days' labour, he abridges his life in. the same, or rather in a greater proportion-for as his days are, so will be his years."

Dr Farre was in his youth engaged in medical practice in the West Indies-in the island of Barbadoes. He informs us, that there the labour of children and very young persons consisted in exercising them in gathering in the green crops for the stock-not in digging or carrying manure. Such long continued labour as that by which the children in our factories are enslaved, would not have been credited in Barbadoes. The employment of the Negro children was used only as a training for health and future occupation. Perhaps the selfishness of the owners saved them from sacrifice. Be it so. Here the selfishness of the employers sends them to sacrifice. Dr Farre boldly speaks the truth—“ In English factories every thing which is valuable in manhood, is sacrificed to an inferior advantage in childhood. You purchase your advantage at the price of infanticide; the profit thus gained is death to the child." Political Economy, he urges, ought not to be suffered to trench on Vital Economy. The voice of the profession would maintain that truth, and never assent to life being balanced against health. That the life is more than the meat, is a divine maxim, which we are bound to obey. The vigour of the animal life depends upon the perfection of the blood, and the balance preserved between the pulmonary and aortic circulation; but in the aortic circulation, there is also a balance between the arterial and the venous systems, and the heart is the regulating organ of the whole. If the arterial circulation be too much exhausted, an accumulation takes

place on the venous side-the blood is deteriorated, and organic diseases are produced, which abridge life. But there is another, and a higher effect, for man is to be considered as something vastly better than an animal; and the effect of diminishing the power of the heart and arteries, by over-labour in a confined atmosphere, is to deteriorate the blood, and thus to excite, in the animal part of the mind, gloomy and discontented trains of thought, which disturb and destroy human happiness, and lead to habits of over-stimulation. The reflecting or spiritual mind gradually becomes debased; and unless education interpose to meet the difficulties of the case, the being is necessarily ruined, both for the present and for future life. Ventilation, exercise, and diminished exertion in the Factories, are therefore the most obvious means of doing so, joined to the change of ideas resulting from an education adapted to the spiritual nature of man. Dr Farne therefore views remission of the hours of labour imposed upon children and young persons in Factories, not only as a benefit, but as a duty; and emphatically adds, that, speaking not only as a physician, a Christian, and a parent, but also from the common sympathies of a man, the State is bound to afford it.

The sentiments and opinions of Mr Surgeon Green, of St Thomas's Hospital, are equally excellent. They do honour to his head and heart. He denounces the system which demands uniform, long-continued, unintermitted, and therefore wearisome, though perhaps "light" work, from children (or adults), without air or exerciseand with meals hurried and often scanty. He draws a frightful picture of the maladies that must be engendered by such a kind of life-and fears, that this country will have much to answer for in permitting the growth of that system of employing children in Factories. They should not be suffered to become "victims of avarice." We do not believe that there is a medical man of any character in Britain, who would hesitate one moment to declare his belief, that the average labour, the year through, for a fullgrown, strong, and healthy man, ought not to exceed twelve hours,

VOL. XXXIII. NO. CCVI.

meals included. From nine to twelve, Mr Green thinks six hours in the twenty-four enough; and that from twelve upwards, the hours should be gradually increased to the maximum. All the eminent medical men, whose evidence is given in the report, are of one opinion respecting infant labour. Eight hours' work, eight hours' sleep, and eight hours' recreation, is the allotment of the twenty-four, which seems most agreeable to nature to some of them, for adults. But to the great majority of employers of all kinds of labour, such a humane division of the day must seem very preposterous; for as man was born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards, so, according to their creed, was he born to labour, as the sweat drops downwards. Are not the poor the "working classes?" Then let them work-work-work. If they are to rest hours and hours on week-days, pray, what is the use of the Sabbath? Work is the Chief End and whole Duty of Man.

Nobody dreams, that in Britain labour can now be apportioned to men, women, and children, according to the laws of nature. We are in a most unnatural state. But we ought, nevertheless, to remember that there are laws of nature; and sometimes in extremity even to consult them, that nature may not, seeing we have flung off our allegiance, abdicate the throne, and leave us to grope our groaning way through the empire of Chaos and old Night.

It is a general rule without exception, that all writers are blockheads who sign themselves Vindex. The Vindex of the Halifax and Huddersfield Express, is the First Blockhead of his year. There has been much said, says he, "about the length of the hours of labour. I will, for the information of the public, lay before you an account of the customs of our manufacturing neighbours of both continents. In the States of New York, Ohio, Jersey, Pennsylvania, and generally through the United States of America, the hours of labour in mills are from sunrise to sunset. The bell rings at three o'clock A. M., the mill begins to run at four, and continues till eleven A. M. ; they rest two hours during the heat of the day, (which they do not in Halifax or Huddersfield,) and run from one P.M.,

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to seven P.M. or thirteen hours per day. In the winter half-year, they commence at half-past five A. M., and run till twelve o'clock; dinner one hour, and run from one P. M. to half-past seven P.M. i.e. thirteen hours and a-half per day." Very well-they run too long, and probably too fast-and what does all this running prove as to the right time and ratio of running? But Vindex thinks he has gained a great victory over something, and thus brays the Ass of the Express. "This is the routine in the land of liberty and equality, the chosen land of freedom and independence, where personal and public liberty are enjoyed in a perhaps greater extent than in any other nation of the world." Is he sarcastic on Jonathan? No! he is as serious as a chamberpot-as Mr Twiss. In "the chosen land of freedom and independence," men work from sunrise to sunset, thirteen hours all summer, and half an hour longer all winter-and therefore it is right. Does he not see, that by his own statement they are steam-driven slaves?

In Germany, the Netherlands, and France, again, he says "they run from five A. M. till eight P. M., with one hour interval-fourteen hours per day. They receive their wages every fortnight, on Saturday afternoon, when they stop at five P. M.; but on the alternate Saturdays they work up the three hours, and actually run till ten o'clock at night. This, let it be noted, is seventeen hours' labour for that day."

Yes! let it be noted. We hope we suspect-that it is not true. If it be, who set them running seventeen hours every alternate Saturday? and who desires not that they should stop? They beat the "routine in the land of liberty and equality" all to sticks.

"A manufacturer," who last year published a letter to Sir John Cam Hobhouse, is a queer Friend of the Poor. 66 Necessity demands it of them," he says, "and necessity seldom gives any other reasons for its orders." "The labouring classes," he continues, "know this truth instinctively. They are seriously impressed with it from childhood; they know it in manhood by experience; and they think it not a hardship to labour, but a hardship

and an imputation on their characters to be idle. It is a reproach among the respectable of the lower classes to live without visible occupation, which is at once an imputation upon their honesty, and a slur upon their character. When, however, I come to reduce these aspirations and benevolent wishes to practice, and when I come to consider the practical consequences of such a measure, even in its most modified application, upon those whom it proposes to benefit, I find such philanthropy as this quite unfit for daily wear a mere closet system of philosophy-a dreamy abstraction-and as mistaken and galling a kindness as it would be to clothe the working classes in purple velvet, or brocade, and regale them with the elegancies of high life, amidst the calls of want, and the cries of poverty." Does a "man live without visible employment" who is seen working in a Factory ten hours a-day? Would it be

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a serious imputation on his character" to be seen constantly so occupied? An "imputation on his honesty?" A Bill to secure ten hours' labour, "a dreamy abstraction!" "A mistaken and galling kindness," to equalize the labour in Factories with all labour out of them! Check shirt, canvass trowsers, and no stockings-for such will continue to be their dress-likened "to purple velvet and brocade!" The man's name must be Vindex.

What a set of lazy, idle, disreputable, dishonest fellows are masons, bricklayers, and carpenters! The wonder is, how any house is ever seen rising from the foundation. The average of actual agricultural work is not, through the year, nine hours. In harvest time, it is, no doubt, long and severe; and sorely wearied often are men, women, and children. "A manufacturer" is facetious on the clod-hoppers. All argument, he says, founded on "country air, a temperature of 60 degrees, south aspect, dry feet, brawny limbs, and rosy cheeks, is, to say the least of it, a most lame and impotent conclusion.'" Agricultural labourers, such as drainers and ditchers, stand on very weak ground when priding themselves on " their dry feet;" but on very strong, when pointing to their brawny limbs. "The

here and there and especially among the Factories. It would be well were all capitalists like Dr Kaye's friend, Mr Thomas Ashton of Hyde, of whose establishment we perceive Mr Green (surgeon) also speaks in terms of the highest praise, in his evidence before the Committee. But we respect Dr Kaye's character, and we admire his talents,and shall enrich our Article with an extract from his Pamphlet. He thinks that the evils affecting the workingclasses in Manchester, so far from being the necessary results of the manufactory system,furnish evidence of a disease which impairs its energies, if it does not threaten its vitality. The increase of the manufacturing establishments, and the conse quent colonization of the district, have been exceedingly more rapid than the growth of its civic establishments. And he then dwells forcibly on the immigration of Irish as one chief source of the demoralization, and consequent physical depression of the people. It is one; and nobody has shewn that so well as Mr Sadler. But when Dr Kaye says, "that, some years ago, the internal arrangements of mills (now so much improved,) as regarded temperature, ventilation, cleanliness, and the proper separation of the sexes, were such as to be extremely objectionable"-we stop. That is indeed blinking the Bill. Setting aside, however, for the present, the differences of opinion as to the causes of the condition of the manufacturing population of Manchester, we thank Dr Kaye for the following powerful picture:

human frame and constitution will become," he says, "acclimated" to any thing; and, no doubt, they will; but though there may "be health in the factory, as well as the field," it has been proved that there is not so much. It is cruel to tell little boys and girls that they will be "acclimated" to any thing; and then shut them up for fourteen or fifteen hours a-day in a sort of oven. Such treat ment is more philosophical than Christian. Lest" justice should degenerate into cruelty," it has been enacted, that no convict condemned to hard labour shall work above ten hours a day. And we have heard of benevolent individuals busying themselves about the hulks, though there the actual labour is in summer considerably less than ten, and in winter than eight hours; and healthy hulking fellows they are in consequence; nor, in our opinion, would it be amiss to add to their labour the hours that, under Mr Sadler's Bill-or my Lord Ashley's-will be taken from that of honest men, women, and children in the Factories.

We have read a Pamphlet by Dr James Phillip Kaye, on the Moral and Physical Condition of the Working Classes employed in the Cotton Manufacture in Manchester. It is rather too formally written, and rather too dogmatic. The writer, moreover, is a Political Economist, and all for Free Trade. He is of opinion, "that those political speculators (Mr Sadler among the number) who propose a serious reduction of the hours of labour, unpreceded by the relief of commercial burdens, and unaccompanied by the introduction of a general system of education, appear to be deluded by a theoretical chimera." We have perhaps written enough already to shew, that it would be more correct to say, that they are "alarmed by a practical chimera”— namely, the Factory System. A general system of education would appear, at present, to be your only true delusive "theoretical chimera." Is it not too absurd to propose to delay the correction or removal of a positive and particular evil before your eyes, till a blessing shall be realized, now floating at a distance before your imagination? A general system of education indeed! Let us first have some education on a small scale

ings, by the familiar and grateful arts which are their constant food, and without which nourishment they perish. An apathy benumbs his spirit. Too frequently the father, enjoying perfect health, and with ample opportunities of employment, is supported in idleness on the earnings of his oppressed children; and on the other hand, when age and decrepitude cripple the energies of the parents, their adult children abandon them to the scanty maintenance derived from parochial relief.

"That religious observances are exceedingly neglected, we have had constant opportunities of ascertaining, in the performance of our duty as Physician to the Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary, which frequently conducted us to the houses of the poor on Sunday. With rare exceptions, the adults of the vast population of 84,147, contained in Districts Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, spend Sunday either in supine sloth, in sensuality, or in listless inactivity. A certain portion only of the labouring classes enjoy even healthful recreation on that day, and a very small number frequent the places of worship.

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the subjects of that ever flourishing branch domestic medicine; we should be compelled to admit that not fewer, perhaps, than three-fourths of the inhabitants of Manchester annually are, or fancy they are, under the necessity of submitting to medical treatment.'

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Having enumerated so many causes of physical depression, perhaps the most direct proof of the extent to which the effect coexists in natural alliance with poverty, may be derived from the records of the medical charities of the town. During the year preceding July, 183121,196 patients were treated at the Royal Infirmary-472 at the House of Recovery-3163 at the Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary, of which (subtracting one-sixth as belonging to the township of Ardwick) 2636 were inhabitants of Manchester-perhaps 2000 at the Workhouse Dispensary, and 1500 at the Children's, making a total of 28,804, without including the Lock Hospital and the Eye Institution. If to this sum,' says Mr Roberton, engaged in making a similar calculation, we were further to add the incomparably greater amount of all ranks visited or advised as private patients by the whole body (not a small one) of professional men; those prescribed for by chemists and druggists, scarcely of inferior pretension; and by herb doctors and quacks; those who swallow patent medicines; and, lastly,

"

Ingenious deductions, by Mr Roberton, from facts contained in the records of the Lying-in-Hospital of Manchester, prove, in a different manner, the extreme dependence of the poor on the charitable institutions of the town. The average annual number of births, (deducted from a comparison of the last four years,) attended by the officers of the Lying-in Charity, is four thou sand three hundred; and the number of births to the population may be assumed as one in twenty-eight inhabitants. This annual average of births, therefore, represents a popu lation of 124,400, and assuming that of Manchester and the environs to be 230,000, more than one-half of its inhabitants are, therefore, either so destitute or so degraded, as to require the assistance of public charity in bringing their offspring into the world.

“The children thus adopted by the public, are often neglected by their parents. The early age at which girls are admitted into the factories, prevents their acquiring much knowledge of domestic economy; and, even supposing them to have had accidental opportunities of making this acquisition, the extent to which women are employed in the mills, does not, even after marriage, permit the general application of its principles. The infant is the victim of the system; it has not lived long, ere it is abandoned to the care of a hireling or neighbour, whilst its mother pursues her accustomed toil. Sometimes a little girl has the charge of the child, or even of two or three collected from neighbouring houses. Thus abandoned to one whose sympathies are not interested in its welfare, or whose time is too often also occupied in household drudgery, the child is ill-fed, dirty, ill-clothed, exposed to cold and neglect; and, in consequence, more than one-half of the offspring of the poor (as may be proved by the bills of mortality of the town) die before they have com