On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (8)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1842.
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
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.
Untitled Article
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO TBE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL CHARTER ASSOCIATION . Bsetures , —The duties 'which devolved upon us , as members of the National Convention , are terminated . The period is now approaching -when it becomes us , in accordance with the principles of the People ' s Charter , to resign into your hands that trust ¦ which you have reposed : n us , and which we have striven to the best of obt abiir . 7 to exercise to the satisfaction of our constituents aud the benefit of the common cause . We therefere direct your attention to the proper measures to be adopted for the election of a new Executive Committee .
THE BALLOT . Which shall take place throughout the nation in the week beginning "with Tuesday , the 7 th day of June , and ending on Tuesday , the 14 th day of June . Let it be jrirtiadarh observed , that each Iscality will choose for itself one day only for the ballot , out of the seven , so as to toTXinier . ee . all localities .
MODE OF BALLOTING . The fifth rule of our Association states , " That any person shall be admitted a meaber of this Association on taking a card cf membership . " Therefore no person ¦ will be eligible to vote for the officers of the Association unless they can produce a card of membership . The tub-secretary ahall grant to each person , producing a card of membership of the locality to "which he belongs , a voting car . ' ., on -which is written or printed the names ef all the candidates . The elector shall then , at his
own convenience , draw a pen through ail the names except tbe five for whom he votes , end the five names left standing en the card shall be considered as the persons -whom be thicks eligible to serve on the Executive . The sub-secretaries shall also be empowered to grant to absent , sick , or distant members their voting cards , and ifcctive their vote 3 in return , sealed up , through the post ifnee , or by other means , -which sealed votes are to be opened by the General Council , and deposited in a bcx provided for tha purpose , and to be called the ballot-bjx .
On the day of ballot each mb-Secretary Ehall act aj registrar , and toe General Couneil as scrutinisers of the ¦ votes . The Fuo-Secretaries , attended by the Genera ] G-. nncil , shall , on the day or evening appointed for the ballit by the majority , stand around the ballot-box , and proceed to call over the roll , eacA voter advancing when bis Tta-mp is califed , and dropping * his ballotting card into tbe ballot-box . On the conclusion of the ballot , tfce General Council -will proceed to the scrutiny .. They shall first count ths cards to see that the number corresponds with that on the rolL They shall , secondly , cast up esch card in succession , and the sub-Secretary shall put a mark opposite the naoie of each of the candidates reported as having been voted for . " Finally , they shall declare the result to the General Secretary , lesersing a copy for themselves .
On Tuesday , the 2 lsi of Jane , ct earlier , if possible , the nani'S of th * new Executive-will be announced ; seA on Friday , i - lEt of July , the new Executive will supersede the c ! . Brethren , we trust these directions will be strictly adhered to , and that Ell of yon will vie -with each other in exhibiting the proper spirit of Chartism during such an important practical application of our principle . All those places ia arrears for cards are particularly requested to discharge the same , and thereby enable the present Executive to leave cfEce without entailing any debts en the boots of their successors .
. Having full reliance in you , our - constituents , snpportinc us in the course we have advised , regarding the eltction , We remain , your faithful And devote ^ E . "presen-ative 3 , James Leach , P . M . M'DOUALL . ilOS-GAN WJLLlAMS . K . K . Philp . John Campbell .
Untitled Article
KEW FABRIC IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH . I beg respectfully to inform manufacturers , and all vho are inrtrested in the staple trade of this importan « clothing district , that I have . completed my process cf manufacturing cloths on a woven fabric , and that I shall exhibit specimens of the success cf my invention , on Friday , the irt of Jaiy next , in one of the Leeds Cloth HalLe , or in some large room convenient for the purpcee , c-f which , due notice -will be given through the medium of the Lec-ds Papers . On that occasion I will -undertake to prove that cloths made upon my new principle of felting on a
"Woven fabric , -will require , in one way or other , as much labour as cloths of the same quality require by the present mode ; they -will cost oat-tniiS less , and -will sell for one-third more , the quality tf wool in each instance being the same ; and such will be their utility for general purposes , and the demand'for them at home and abroad eo universal , that it will not be possible to overstock the market for twenty yeare to come . To those who are unacquainted with the nature of my process , the above statement may appear to eontain paradoxes beyond their comprehension , but I pledge myself to give sucb . explanations as shall ' cause" every Tmn -who hears me to be satisfied that those statements
are correct . I am anxious that the new manufacture should be carried on upon such a principle as will not grind the ¦ working tt"to down to the lowest possible point of existence , and in ths calculations upon which my statesent is based , I h 3 V 3 allowed sniSsient remuneration for the operative . Low wages for workmen , and small profits for masters -will ruin any cjnntry . By the new process , the msm may have good . wage 3 , cud the master good profits ; and unless I am much mistaken , such ¦ will be the popularity of its productions , and the consequent demand for them , that , in the space of a few months , few idle hands will be found in the streets .
The invention is secured to me by four patents , all of "which are necessary to make perfect cloths . I can make any quality , but at present I sball ctn&ne myself to the best that can be produced . During the last two years , I have spent upwards of £ 2 , 000 in patents and experiments to bring it to perfection , and the mental anxiety and bodily labourin devising plans , and raising money , ¦ fcc ., haa been more than my pen can describe . But for ail this , my invention will stand or fail by its own jut-ita ; aad , therefore , I take this method of challenging scrutiny and comparison . William Hisst . Leeds , May 23 , ! Si 2 .
Untitled Article
COPT . ) "May 21 , 1842 . " 2 dJL WllJ . lJ . 1 i HlBST , — " Dear Sib , —I hsve taken the liberty to write to you . hoping to fLsd you in good health , as it leaves me ax present—Urc-nS God foi it !
Untitled Article
" I have to tell you a little about felting , as I have th pleasure of receiving one of your handbills , recommending it to the manufacturers of England , saying yon have three patents for ifc , and that you have brought it to perfection , which I donbt not . for your partners and mine in England have not spirit to do it ; but I have brought it to perfection in France . We are manufacturing from three to four hundred yards pet day , and cannot supply one half our orders . " I am coming to Leeds some time this month , to
buy machinery , with a friend . I hope to find you and my partners in good spirits . One thing I know , if you had money I should not have left Leeds ; but yon was poor , and I was poor , and them that ought to have paid me £ 20 have lost £ 2 , 000 for it I am sorry to say it , bnfc it is true . I have found more friends by men that never saw me before tlian by them who ought to have supported me to bring the thing out I shall start in Leeds a factory on my own account , and defy all manufacturers of woollen cloth to compete with me . I can bring you samples of the most splendid articles ever seen . " If there is any gentleman in Leeds , or any person , who disbelieves it , let him come to France and see , and enquire for the Felting Company . " MR- Weight and Company , "At Quay a la Gore , Paris . "
Untitled Article
SLAVERY IN GREAT BRITAIN . EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN COAL MINES . It has often been our painfnl duty , as public journalists , to record facts affording proof " strong as Holy Writ , " that the boasted liberty of the British empire was a mere name . We knew that in the mills and factories of this degraded land , an amount of crime and misery existed which no Christian could contemplate without horror and dismay . We were also aware that a number of young persons , including females , were employed in our
various coal and iron mines , in which we knew they must of necessity be subjected to hardships and privations of no ordinary character . The disclosures , however , recently made , are of a character so horrible , and detail scenes of such horrible barbarity , a 3 would be beyond all belief , did not the evidence of their existence rest upon such unimpeachable authority as can neither be controverted or explained away . The first Report of the Commissioners appointed ' to inquire into the employment and condition of the ehildren of the poorer classes in mines and collieries , and the various
branches of trade and manufacture , in which numbers of children work togeSher , exclusive of those employed in mills and factories ; and to collect information as to the ages at which they are employed , the numbe r of h » urs they are engaged in work , the time aUowed each day for meals ; and as to the actual state , condition , and treatment of such children , and as to the effects of such employment , both with regard to their morals and their bodily health , '—has been laid before Parliament , and presents a picture of physica l misery , mental ignorance , and moral depravity to which , we believe , the history of no other Christian land can present a parallel . " This Commission had for its object no exclusive inquiry on the subject of labour : it has embraced , therefore , all occupations
in which children under thirteen years of age , and yeung persons between thirteen and eighteen years of age , are engaged . This first report comprehends only the condition of children in mines—and of that , only their physical condition , not the moral effects of such modes cf labour upon the classes of persons so engaged . This will form a portion of the second report , which will shortly appear , " and to the publication of which we shall look with intense interest , as throwing additional light upon the dreadful system under which we live . The report is very copious , and contains the evidence of persons of almost every rank and station . There can , in fact , be no doubt of tbe correctness of the various allegations contained in this important document .
The report says : — " The information , returned to us has been derived from different classes of -witnesses , such as the proprietors , agents , and managers of -works , the children and young persons engaged in different ' kinds of labour , the adult work-people , the parents of the children , medical men , teachers , ministers of religion , parochial officers connected with the administration of relief to the poor , public officers , and magistrates . These witnesses gave evidence as to the state of things in their own district , according to their own observation and experience ; and the main body of information collected , is derived from personal examinations , in the form of depositions , of these different classes of winassfsa . "
The evidence thus adduced affords to us the means of ascertaining the actual and appalling state of slavery to which onr population is reduced , in the mining districts of England , Wales , and Scotland . We learn here the very early period at which children are permitted to labour in mines ; children and adults of bothsexesindiscriminately ; their physical and mental deterioration—occasioned , first , by the labour in which they are engaged , and secondly , by the most disgusting associations ; the accidents to which they are exposed ; and the influence of these and other causes In combination , on their physical and moral state , is laid open by the labours of this Commission , as appointed under the Administration of Lord Melbourne , in the following arrangement and classification : —
" l . Ages at which children and young persons are employed in coal mines . —2 . Sex , employment of girls and -women in coal-mines . —3 . Number of children and young persons Bo ^ mpleyed . —4 . Hiring of children and youug persons . —5 . State of the place of work in coalminea . —6 . Nature of the employment—7 . Hours of work . — 8 . Night-work In coal-mines . —9 . Meal hours . — 10 . Holidays allowed to children and young persons employed . —11 . Treatment of children and young persons employed in coal-mines . —12 . Accidents to which such persons are exposed . —13 . Wages of ehildren and young persons so employed . —14 . Influence of empleyment in coal-mines on the physical condition of children and young persons . "
We shall at present confine our notice to the condition of persons employed ia the co&l mines . We last week selected a few cases from the report , bearing an especial relation to our own neighbourhood . To that article we beg most especially to call the attention of our readers , in connection with the additional facts we this day lay before them , and we think they will agree us that the force and power of the whole people should be called into instant activity for the effectuating of those social and political changes which in their practical operations would forbid this fearful system of home slavery any longer to exist . The employment of . children is arranged under the following heads : —
" 1 . Coal Mines . 2 . Ironstone Mines , and the Manufacture of Iron . 3 . Tin , Copper , Lead , and Zinc Mines , and the dressing and smelting of their ores . " Of these three—Coal mines are said to be " by far the most extensive ; to employ the greatest number of children and young persons ; to require different modes of -working according to the geological character of the country , which exert an important influence on the condition of tbe workers , and particularly of those of tender age . " We will first invite the attention of our readers to the physical condition of young people employed in coal mines .
Much haa been said , and properly said , in reference to the immense mas 3 of physical misery and constitutional decease engendered by our factory system . The evidence adduced before the Factory Commissioners , together with the naratives of Wm . Dodd and others , went to show that the employment of children of from eight to thirteen years of age , in mills and factories , was in thousands of instances productive of the most terrible results , occasioning curvature of the spine , distortion of the limbs , stiffness of the joint * , constitutional weakness , and general debility ; rendering them cripples for life , and generally terminating in premature dissolution . These facts were proved , were s-svorn to , by parents , magistrates , medical men , and & whole boet of other
Untitled Article
witnesses , upon which the legislature interfered and the present factory act became the law of the land . Bearing all this testimony in referenoe to the effects of infant labour iu mind , we call upon the country carefully and seriously to consider the following statements in reference to the same subject ' and which are selected from the present report . In the neighbourhood of Bradford and Halifax , in this county , [ children seem to be employed at the earliest age—for we find in the evidence of Mr . Sub-commissioner Scriven , touching " the Low Moor Company ' s Way House Pit" page 112 , sec 40 , that Josh . Gledhill , a ; banksman , says : —
" I began life a hurrier , when I was between five and Btx years of age . 1 was a hurrier till I was sixteen . I have three sons living ; one of them went into the pit with me when he was three yeara old , and commenced working regularly as a hurrier "when he was between five and six . [ This was at Flockton . ] 1 do not think 22 miles a-day too much for girls to hurry , if they are a pretty good age . I have got three girls who hurried ; they began hurrying at about six years of age . Two of them stopped about two months ago . They were stopped by the masters , Messrs . Hirst and Hardy . One girl left about two years ago , she was fourteen then , and master theught she was too old to work among boys . I cannot sign my name . *
" In the district of Oldhatn , in Lancashire , cases are recorded in which children have been regularly taken into the pits to work at four , and between four and five , and several at five and between five and six . •" In the mountain mines , ' says Mr . Secretary Fletcher , ' the most common age for boys to be taken in to labour , where the strata 1 b only thin , varyiDg from eighteen inches to two feet , they will go se early as six , five , or even four years of age . Some are so young that they go in their bed-gowns ; one little fellow whom I endeavoured to question , could not even articulate , although bis father , between whose legs he bid his little black face , as he stood before me , answered for him that he was seven years old . ' ( J . Fletcher , Esq . App . part 2 , p . 821 . )
Dr . Mitchell , also one of the Sub-Commissioners , ( Appendix , part 1 , page 33 and 4 , ) in speaking of Hill ' s lane Fit , Shropshire , belonging to the Madeley Wood Company , gives tbe following dialogue between a ground bailiff , and one of the charter masters who were accompanying him in his survey : — " I say , Jonas , ' Bald the grouni bailiff to one of the charter masters , ' there are very few children working in this mine ; I think we have none under ten or eleven . " The collier immediately said , ' Sir , my boy is only a little more than four . " In referring to the evidence given , relative to the neighbourhood of Leeds , we find in the evidence of Mr . Sub-Sommissioner Symons , App . part 1 , page 288 : Joseph Ellison , Esq ., of Birkenahaw , nsarBirstal , says : —
" I have been practically acquainted with collieries nearly all my life . I know it as a fact that a collier now living has taken a child of his own , who was only three years old , into a pit to hurry , and when the child was exhausted , it was carried home , stripped , and put to bed . This is a rare case , but I can prove it , if required , by undeniable evidence to have been a fact " John Ibbetson , also working at the same place , says : — " I have been forty-five years in tbe pits . I know a man , called Joseph Cawthey , who sent a child in at four years old ; and there are many who go in to thrust behind at that time , and many go at five and six ; the sooner they go in the sooner their constitution is mashed up . " ¦
James Ibbetson , collier at Mr . Harrison ' s pit , Gomersal , says : — . " There are three hurriera in the pit ; two are girls ; they are my sisters ; they hurry for me . The oldest id twelve and a half , the youngest ia between eight and nine . She has been working ever since Bhe was six years old . Sometimes when I bave got my stint , I csme out as I have done to-day , and leave them io to fill and hurry . ' < SymonB , p . 268 . ) The before-mentioned Joseph Gledhill states that he took his child into the pit at three years old ; it was made to follow him to the working * , there to hold the candle , and when exhausted with fatigue , was cradled upon the coals until his return at night . This child he took regularly to work at the age of five .
Mr . Sab-Commissioner Leifchild adds to thiB evidence , touching the pits of North Durham and Northumberland . He says : — "I visited the house of the parents of a little boy whom I saw keeping a door down Flatworth pit on the 20 th of May . It was about seven o ' clock on the Sunday evening , and tbe boy , Thomas Rober , was in bed asleep . His mother said he was aged about six years and seven months , and that he bad been down the pit about a month or six weeks . The boy was at school about three years old , and his father wished to make him a better scholar before he went down . Always put him to bed early , because be must
get up every working morning at three o ' clock , and he often rubs his eyes when he is -woke , and says be has only just been to sleep . He gets up at three a . m . and goes down the pit at four o ' clock a . m . He gets his dinner directly he gets home , at half-past four p . m . or a quarter to five p . m ., and then he washes himself , and goes to bed between six and seven , so that be will never be up more than two hours from the pit for eating , washing , and playing . When his son gets a little more hardened to the pit , his father means to send him to a night-school , and stop an hour off his sleep . Thomas generally goes down the pit in a corf with a good few boys in , and sometimes he goes on his father ' s knees . "
But we might go on to almost any conceiveable length in making extracts like these ; similar facts are recorded in reference to all the coal fields of the United Kingdom , exclusive of Ireland . And we ask , is a system so atrocious , so utterly abhorrent to every feeling of humanity and Christianity , to be tolerated or endured , while those who ought to be the guardians and the careful protectors of the rising generation are moving heaven and earth to relieve distress , and abolish slavery at the opposite extremity of the globe ?
But we must now turn to another feature of the picture . We want our readers to understand something as to the nature of the employment in which those young people are engaged . A great deal is said in the report abont "hurriers , " the meaning of which is thus explained : — " Hurriers , " says Mr . Scriven , in hia report , page 65 , " are children who draw loaded corves or waggons , weighing from two to five hundred weight , mounted
upon four cast iron wheels , of five inches diameter , without rails , from the headings to the main gates . In these seams this is done upon their hands and feet , having frequently no greater height from the floor to the ragged roof than sixteen , eighteen , or twenty inches . To accomplish their labour the more easily , they buckle ronnd their naked persons a broad leather Eitap , to which ia attached in front a ring , and about four feet of chain , terminating in a hook . "
In this horrible employment children , from five years old and upwards are engaged ; and thus , at the very time of life when the capabilities of the human frame to bear fatigue , are next to nothingwhen light , and air , and wholesome food , and plenty of exercise are required to perfeot the constitution , and prepare the structure for the endurance of future toil , every means is brought into operation by which weakness and disease can be engendered , and premature decay accelerated .
All this would be bad enough and repulsive enough if its hardships were inflicted only upon the male portion of the juvenile population . ThiB however is not the case ; girls as well as boys are subjected to it ; they are dressed in a common dress , and subjected , not only to the same kind but to the same amount of labour . Betty Harris , aged thirty-seFen , drawer in a coalpit , Little Boltou , Lancashire , says : — * ' I bave a belt round my waist , and a chain passing between my legs , and I go on my hands and feet The road is very steep , and we have to hold
by a rope , and , when there is no rope , by anything we . can catch hold of . There are six women aim about six boys and giilH in the pit I work in ; it is very hard -work for a woman . The pit la very wet where I work , and the water comes over our clogtops always , and I bave seen it up to my thighs . I am not so strong as I was , and I cannot stand my work so well as I used to do . I have drawn till I have had the skin off me ; the belt and chain is worse when we are in ihefamily-wajf . My feller ( husband ) has beaten me many a time for not being ready . I have known many a man beat his'drawer . "
The Sab-Commissioner states that instances of oppressively hard work performed by young females presented themselves at collieries near Barnsley . He says : — " The evidenceof Elizabeth Day , and of Ann and Elizibeth Eggley , is deserving of especial notice , the more so because I believe both the elder of these witnesses to be respectable and creditable , and both gave their evidence with much go * d feeling and propriety . The work of Elizabeth Day ie rendered more severe by her having
Untitled Article
to hurt ; put of the way up hill with loaded corves , a very unusual circumstance . The EggleyB are , however , doing the ordinary work of hurriers in their colliery . It is a large , well ventilated , and well-regulated one , bat owing to the stas of the corves , which weight 12 i cwt , it is work very far beyond the strength of females at any age , especially females of sixteen and eighteen yeara' old . After taking the evidence of the twoEggleys I saw them both at their work , and hurried their corves and also performed the work they had to do at the bank faces . I can not only corroborate their statements but have no hesitation in adding that were they galleyslaves their work could not be more oppressive , and I
believe would not in all probability be so much so . El rabeth Eggley , the younger , -who is not above fifteen , whilst doing what is called topping the corves , lifted a coal which must have weighed at least a hundred pounds . It measured thirty inches in length , and ten by seven inches in thickness . This she : lifted from the ground and placed on the top of tbe corve , above three feet and a half high ; She afterwards lifted a still larger one . The former one was lifted in the ordinay course of her work . This girl was work-Ing for her father , who was standing by at the time . " J . C . Symons , Esq ., Report , + 117 : App . Pt l ., p . 182 . )
•" Whilst I -was in the Hunshelf pitthe Bey . Mr . Bruce , of Wadsley , and the Rev . Mr . Nelson , of Rotherham , who accompanied me , and remained outside , saw -another girl of ten years of age , also dressed in boys' clothes , wha was employed in ? hurrying , ' and these gentlemen saw her at work . She was a nicelooking little child , but of course as black as a tinker , and with a little necklace round her throat . " These children have twenty-four corves a-day to
hurry out of this den , and consequently have fortyeight times to pass along the gate , which is about the siza of a tolerably large drain . I would beg particularly to call your attention to the evidence of tbe manager of this colliery , No . 33 , whose evidence repecting the number of girls employed by him was distinctly disproved by Harriet Morton , No . 38 , and intelligent girl , who seemed to feel the degradation of her lot so keenly that it was quite painful to take her evidence .
•• Harriet Morton— - ' I am nearly fifteen years old , and began to work in Webster ' s pit when I was going in ten . I ' ve always worked in Webster and Peace ' s pit ; I have hurried all the time ; I am the oldest girl there . There are seven regular hurriera , who are girls . There are six boys who hurry . Two of us are employed at each corvo both full and empty . When the corve is loaded , one of us is harnessed with a belt round the waist , and a chain cornea from the front of the belt , and passes betwixt our legs , and is hooked on to the corve , and we go along on < nr hands and feet , on allfours I do so myself , and a little boy pushes behind . We wear trousers always as wheu you saw us- '— ( J . C . Syraons , Esq . Evidence , No . 38 : App . I ., p . 233 , 1 . 66 . " After this the following will excite no surprise , though we hope it will be productive of genuine sympathy and active exertion .
" The stunted stature of the collier children arises , in the thin coal districts , from the height of the passages they have to traverse , being frequently n « t abovethirty inches in height ; and along these , children of both sexes either push or draw little waggons or corves , loaded with coals , weighing from two to three cwt . and running usually on rongh and uneven rail * , but sometimes drawn as sledges . In the very thin pits they are harnessed to the corves by means of a strap round the waist , and a chain passing through the legs ; thus they go along on all fours , like animals ; and this work is done by girls in trowsers , as well as boys , in the thin coal districts alike of Yorkshire , Lancashire , and the east of Scotlandi "
We suppose the reply to all we can say as to the inhumanity of this abominable system , will be , that the work cannot be done without it , and hence thas it is necessary . Let us see . First , let us inquire what the children themselves say aa to the effects of this kind of labour upon their own persons . James Pearce , twelve years old says : — " About a year and a half ago I took to the girdle and chain , I do not like it It hurts me . It rubs my skin off . I often feel pain . I have often had blisters on my side , but when I was more used to It It would not blister , but it
smarted very badly . * * * I crawled on hands and feet . I often knocked my back against the top of the pit , and it hurt it very sore . The legs ached very badly . When I came home at night I often sat down to rest me by the way , I was so tired . The work made me look much older than I was . I worked at this drawing with the girdle and chain for three or four months ; * * * many boys draw bo now . * * * A great many boys find that they are unable , and give over drawing with girdle and chain . ( Not many fall ill , says another witness , speaking of children condemned to the same kind In the West Riding . ) It Is very hard —very hard , Sir . '"
" Isaac Tipton , sixteen years of age . — ' next went to draw with the girdle and chain . I had a girdle round the middle , and a chain under my legs . It was very hard work . If I had a bit of time in the pit , I laid myself down on my back . We bad no time , unless something was the matter with the engine . . Long before night we were bo tired that we could hardly walk home sometimes . The girdle often makes blisters . I have had pieces like shillings and halfcrowns , with the skin cocking up , all full of water , and when I put on the girdle the blisters would break , and the girdle would stick ; and next day they would fill again . Thew blisters give very great pain . There Is no railway in the pits where they use the girdle and chain . In all the pits abont this part they use the girdle and chain . " *
•• Robert North . —I went into the pits at seven years of age , to assist to fill the skips . We cannot stop at what work we like , we are shifted . I drew about twelve months . When I drew with the girdle and chain the skin was broken , and the blood ran down . I durst not say anything . If we said anything , they , ( the 'butty' a kind of half-contractor , half-overseer and the reeve , who works under him , ) would take a stick and beat us . I have seen lads of nine drawing with the girdle and chain . I have seen them at six , but they were not able to draw the full day out- If they are put to do the work , they must do it or be beaten . "—( P . 68 . )
"Ann Hague . —I am turned of thirteen years old . I hurry the same as the last girl , in Webster ' s pit . I draw' the corve with a chain and belt There is a little girl , my sinter , who pushes behind . We have twenty-four corves to go in and out with every day . Sarah Moorhouse ' gets' well as hurries ; she gets and hurries eight corves a-day ; I don't like working in the pit so very well ; I would rather not do it Having to pull so hard in the pit makes me poorly sometimes . " Such is the testimony of the children themselves . Let us next see whether the plea of necessity is borne out by the testimony of adult witnesses . Here is a passage throwing soine light on the subject : —
"Matthew Fountain , under-ground steward at Darlaston Colliery , Yorkshire , belonging to Thomas Wilson , Esq —• My opinion decidedly is , that ¦ .. women and girls ought not to be admitted into pits , though they work as well as the boys . In my belief sexual Intercourse does take place , owing to the opportunities , and owing to lads and girls working together , and owing to some of the men working in banks apart , and having girls coming to them to fill the corves , and being alone together . The girls hurry for other men than their relations , and generally prefer it Altogether it Is a very demoralising practice having girls in pits . It is not proper for females at all . The girls are unfitted , by being at . pits , from learning to manage families . Many could not make a shirt' "
And here is another fact which evinces the nonnecessity for this kind of brutal labour . We find that in the other classes of mines very few children , if any , are employed underground , and where they are , attention is paid to their comfort and requirements . To which we may add , that in East Scotland— ' The Bub-commissloner states that the employment of females in the mines ia universally conceived to be so degrading that all other classes of operatives refuse intermarriage with the daughters of colliers who are wrought in the pits ; that is is a labour totally disproportloned to the female strength and sex ; that is altogether unnecessary ; and that it is wholly inconsistent with the proper discharge of the maternal duties , and with tho decent proprieties of domestic life . '
From all this , and much more which want of space prevents us from bringing within the compass of this article , we are warranted in coming to the conclusion that thousands of the rising generation are reduced to the condition of brute beasts ; made to labour , in fact , whore animals could not ; subjected to toil whioh has a direct tendency to shorten life without the smallest necessity . The fact that these atrocities are not practised in Irish collieries is another evidence that thoycan be dispensed with . And to this we may add , that in some places even in England ,
considerable amelioration haa taken place : much , however , remains to be done , and machinery ought here to be the substitute for this destructive , and , as we shall see presently , demoralising toil . Into this , its true legitimate field , machinery has not yet entered . A sub-Commissioner reports , that" in the course of his inquiry he has not been able to find any instance where machinery was substituted in the place of boyB in drawing coals for the thin beds of kthe mines . Some engineers have thought such a thing practicable , and othera riot- ^ -Cp . 69 . ) " Nobody can deny that it is high time to try tbe experiment .
Untitled Article
We will next inquire into the moral effects produced by this portion of our sooial economy . Thn 3 speaks the report , in reference to this part of the subject : — , - . . .. ¦ ¦ ¦¦'¦ ; ¦' '" ' ¦ ' - ' ¦ ' ; ¦¦ .: ¦ ¦ : ' - . "In some parts of Yorkshire the men work : completelynaked , r the ^ ^ girls working with ^^ them , as descr ibed and in both counties the immoralities described are abominable ;" Mr . Kennedy , one of the Lancashire commissioners } aays : — ¦ ¦¦' .. ¦ •¦• ; ¦ . . v . \ ¦ ; . ; . ' ' ; - . ' ¦;• .
"The moral condition of the colliers and their children , in this district , is decidedly amongst the lowest of any portion of Uie ¦ working classes . . * . " : * It appeared that out of 1 , 113 males , between thirteen and eighteen years of age , 23 9 per cent , can write their names ; that of 206 females of the same age , 1 * 3 per cent can write their names ; When the children have stated they could read an easy book , I have put them to the test , and , with very few exceptions , I have found that their attention was so completely absorbed in the mechanical process of deciphering the letters and spelling the -words , that they did not nnderstand the meaningiof a single sentence . " ' And he adds , —
" I found however , that the case was hopeless ; there were so fa * , either of colliers or their children , who had even received the first rudiments of education , that it was impossible to institute a comparison . The evidence , therefore , on this point is not so perfect as I could wish , bat I think it will be fonnd to go far to establish the position that want of education ia accompanied by a degraded moral sense , gross and brutalised habits , depravity , and crime . " , And here is the testimony of Mr . Waring , whoreporting on the mining district of Gloucestershire , says : — ' - .. : ¦ - . - , ¦ '¦ . : '¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦' ¦ ' ¦ , '¦ ¦
" An act of worship is nearly as strange to them , as to an Hottentot unenlightened by Christianity . Instruction they have no idea of , and if they had , the want of decent clothing would keep them from mingling with their better-provided yoke-fellows , at the Sunday school . " : - "In one colliery there are ninety-six boys , from nine to seventeen yeara old , of whom thirty-six attended no place of worship , and twenty-seven unable even to read . " And to this we may add the testimony of John Thornley , Esq ., one of her Majesty ' s Justices of the peace for the county of York : ¦—
"' I consider it to be a most awfully demoralising prictice . The youth of both sexes work of ten in a halfnaked state , and the passions aie excited before they arrive at puberty . Sexual intercourse decidedly frequently occurs in consequence . Cases of bastardy frequently also occur ; and I am decidedly of opinion that women brought up in this way lay aside all modesty , and scarcely know what it is but by name . '" Nor is this state of things at all to be wondered at . We are not surprised when we recollect that this horrible state of society in the mining districts , has existed unchecked , and uncontrolled , unknown , or even imagined perhaps for centuries . A contempowriting , writing on this horrible subject , says : —
" The parents , in the generality of instances , were as ignorant as the children . They had heard of God as a name to swear by , but nothing else . They-had never heard that thieving , drunkenness , nor the indiscriminate indulgence of their carnal passions , were Bins . How should they ; buried alive from infancy , and with none to teach them ? From the whole of the evidence taken it appears that the general age for bringing children into the pits Is from five to seven ; that they are kept there as many hours as men ; and that , In going to and returning from their work , they frequently fall into the ditches for want of sleep , being wholly overcome with drowsiness and fatigue . "
No wonder that these outcasts of society are as ignorant as they are vicious . No wonder that they are defective in the performance of their moral and relative duties , wi en they are utterly destitute of every particle of religious knowledge , and not even possessed , in very many instances , of the first rudiments of secular education . On this subject the report affords ample information . We select a few passages : — ' "Out of fifty collieries in Mr . Symon ' s district of YoTksblxe , containing 1 , 640 boyB , only 350 coald write their names . In seven collieries of 172 girls , 12 only could write their names . Even in the Sunday-scheols not forty-four per cent could read fairly , and not one quarter write .
"• ' With regard , ' be adds , « to the fruits of education , and with respect even to the common truihB of Christianity and facts of Scripture , I am confident that Uie majority are in a state of heathen Ignorance . The evidence of the children exhibits a picture of moral and mental darkness which must excite horror and grief in every Christian mind ; I can most conscientiously say that it is anything but an overdrawn one . Some are indeed better instructed , but of those who work in collieries there is not above one eut of three , or , at most , two out of five , wh © can answer the commonest questions relative either to scriptural or secular
knowledge . I unhesitatingly affirm that the mining children , as a body , are growing up in a state of absolute and appalling ignorance ; and I am sure that the evidence I herewith transmit , alike from all classes , —clergymen , magistrates , masters , men , and children , -will fully substantiate and justify the strength of the expressions which I have alone felt to be adequate to characterise the mental condition of this benighted community : That their moral condition is not equally bad I attribute to the hard work they are subject to , to their , close confinement when at work , and to their weariness when work is over , and which of ten renders rest the greatest luxury . '"
Mr . Scriven found , near Halifax , that in a number of small collieries , out of seventy-four children between six and thiiteen , only eleven could read ; and out of fifty between thirteen and eighteen , only nine could read and four write . The answers given by many of the children exhibit the grossest ignorance , numbers having no knowledge of a God , a Saviour , or even of the commoneBt facts . ' - ' , . Probably we shall be told that this ignorance is not the necessary consequence of employment in
mines , but originates in the criminal neglect of their parents , to avail themselves of the means of instruction in at least the first principles of religion and learning , provided in every part of the coantry , by means of national , paroohial , British , or Sunday Schools . Admitting this , to some extent , to be the case , we would ask how came these parents to be so criminally neg li gent , is it not to be traced immediately to the fact , that these parents themselves have been brought up in the mines , and in the same profound ignorance in which the ; axe training their offspring ?
In a petition presented to the House of Commons by Mr . Brotherton , from Edward William Binney ^ of Manchester , the petitioner says : "The disgusting nature of the employment of these poor creatures was bad enough in itself , but to hear the awful swearing , obscene conversation , and filthy spngB , would lead any persan to believe that he was in a land of savages , rather than in civjUisad England . " And he attributes the cause of this degradation , intellectual and moral , to females being allowed to work in mines , and states his belief that if females were not taken into the pits at a very early age , no after inducement could prevail upon them to enter a pit at all . We quote his own words : — . ¦ -..--
" That your petitioner Is convinced that the employment of females in coal mines is to be attributed to the early age at which children are Introduced to such places by their parents . The parents having spent most of their lives in mines , and being thoroughly accustomed to the scenes they witness , see no impropriety in them . The female children , brought down in early infancy , have no correct ideas of the dangers of a mine , the scenes of vice and wickednessa they witness , Or the disgusting and laborious . nature of their employment . If female children were never allowed to enter a mine under thirteen years of age your petitioner considers that no inducements could scarce prevail on them to even go down into a pit , much less persuade them to mix with the company , and follow the laborious and unseemly employment whioh they are there subjected to . ; . '¦ -v -. . '¦ ; " : '¦ ¦ - ¦ ' ¦ - , ¦ - '¦¦ ¦[ .. ¦'" " -.: , -: \
" That your petitioner has visited many of the collieries In Lancashire and Cheshire , and he finds the moral and intellectual condition of the working colliers In a much worse state where females are employed In mines than in those parts -where the proprietors will not allow them to work In thepits . Amidst the scenes before described are children , brought at the tender ages of eight and ten years . There they pass theii days until they become wives and mothers . Can such employments as they are engaged in , and sucb scenes as they continually witness , fit them to become good wives
and mothers ; and make the poor man's home comfortable ? Colliers are of ten accused of being an ignorant and disorderly body of men , without any inquiry being made as to the cause of their ignorance and disorderly conduct . What can any person expect from a poor boy sent down as your petitioner has before described ? He goes into . a deep mine at six years of age , into the scenes amidst which he passes hia days , until he marries a girl sent ; down into the grave at an early age like himself ; ptobably both husband and wife continue their employment in coalmines—it is . what they have been brought up to , and
Untitled Article
by which they are therefore . best enabled to obtain their livelihood . On coming out of the mine , after a hard day ' s work , the poor wife has little time a nd strength , even if she bad the knowledge , to clean the house and prepare those necessary refreshments whieh a hard-working man requires . The husband , too frequently makes so allowance for his wife ' s condition , but abuses her , neglects his home , and runs to the ale house , and there spends the greater part of thefar joint earnlnes . : \ - ¦ ' ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' ' ¦¦ / .-_ " :. ; , \ ¦• / . ' : : ;• ¦ . " :. , ¦ ¦¦ - ¦ ¦ ' ¦¦ ¦ ' - ' - ¦ : /
"That your petitioner is convinced that it is most desirable that many of the children from six to ten years ef age , now employed In mines , should he sent to school instead of passing their time amidst the dangers and darkness ot a mine , and witnessing the scenes before described ; but at the same time he does hot consider that there can be any great permanent improvement in the morals and condition ; of the working colliers so long as women are employed ia mines . "' ¦• ' ¦¦ .: . - •; " . " . ¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ : ¦ _ : - . ;¦ ' - . ¦ -. ' ¦ . ' . ¦¦ ' : ¦ ¦ ¦ ; ; ; - ' Some of the children , however , are sent to Sunday schools ^ arid here follows a tolerable specimen of the advantages they derive from snch " admirable" establishments . Morgan Lewis , nine years old , pnlleriip :
111 have never been at any day-school ; am * -sent-to Mr . Jones ' s Sunday-scheol to learn the Welsh letters ; cant say I know them yet I do not know what yoa mean by catechism or religion ; never was told about God . The sky is up above ; and no one ever told me about Jesus Christ ; cannot say what he is . " ; Sophia Lewis , twelve years old , labourer in the iron yard : ; . ' ¦ ¦ ¦ .. ..: * '¦ ¦ . . ¦ ¦ " . '¦'¦ ' ¦ . - . - * . ¦ : :.: * ; ' ;¦ ¦ *« We have never been to any day-school ; sister and I go to the Welsh Sunday-Bchc-ol , to learn the letters , ( can scarcely tell one letter from the other in the Welsh primer . ) Mr . Jones tells us that Je « us is our Lord , but does not know what he means by our Lord , nor who Is God . There may be commandments but I never heard of any . " V ¦ Edward Davis j about ten years old , hooker-on :
" Have not much time after work , as always wash . Never spoke any English ; father and mother speak Welsh , and so does Mr . Jones , the preacher , -whose Sunday-Bchool I go to . I can say the Welsh letters , for I have been two years at school . ( Net able to manage the letters—said D was G , and C the letter A . ) I dft not know anything about Gsd . " Richard Williams , aged nine years and threequarters , air-boy : " . I come at six In the morning , and leave at six or seven in the evening . I have nevet been to a dayschool ; I attend the Independent Sunday-school . Never heard of Jesus Christ . I don't know the Lord ' s Prayer . " ¦ ; ' . ¦ . ' ¦;¦ ' . . - ¦ ' . . ' ¦ ¦ . * . : : ¦ ¦[ - ; ' . ' ¦ ¦[ ' - . Evan John , aged thirteen years and a half , hauler : . ¦ ¦ ;¦ ¦ - ¦ ¦ ¦ . - ' : ¦ ¦¦¦ '¦ '"' ¦' . ¦• . : -
" I have been at the work about four years . Was four yeara at day-school ; it was a Welsh schooL God was the first man ; knows nothing of the commandments . " . /¦ ' . ' . " ;";; ¦ . ¦ : ' . * ;' .. . ''¦ . ¦ . ¦ .. . ' . . John George , aged fifteen , behinder : "I have been for eight or nine years at work as plate opener . I was for twelve months at a Welsh schoel ; Jesus Christ made me ; thinks Jesua Christ mad « God . " .. ; . . ' , ¦ ..-.- , , . - ; ,:- .,- ; : ¦;; , ¦ . -- - ; ,. :: , ¦ . - . ¦ ¦ ¦ . ¦ . Mary Paine , aged seventeen , unloader : " They never have told me anything of Jesus Christ , nor do I know who he is . " ^
Henrietta Frankland , aged eleven , drawex : " Sister Maria , ( thirteenyears old , aa well as myself have net been to school since at work ; I do not know whether God , made me , nor anything abont Jesus ; there are no commandments . " David Thomas , aged fifteen , in-filler : " Was atday-schoel , and learned the spelling ; there are Ten Commandments ; one say yon must not steal , and that Christ is God . Thinks Jesus Christ was born in Wales , and went to England : now goes to the Suuday-school of the Independents . *'
We wonder what those who are perpetually telling us of the deplorable ignorance of the heathen and the necessity for sending missionaries to convert them , will say to this . Perhaps they will shrug their shoulders and tell us , that Wales is , as yet , but partially enlightened by gospel truth , and that in illuminated England we should find no such deplorable ignorance . If this were true it would only prove that our advocates for conversion might find work enough to engage all their zeal , talent , and contributions in the Principality , and need not even cross the Channel to discover fitting objects for the exercise of their Christian benevolence .
But how stands the fact 1 Why just thus . Thaj in illuminated England matters are as bad or worse than in benighted Wales . In Mr . Scar * en ' s Report on the Collieries in Halifax , we find the following : Thomas Mitchell , aged 13 : " I never heatd of JeBOB ChrlBt ; I d < jnt know what yon mean by God ; I never heard of Adam , or know what you mean by Scriptures ; I have heard of a Bible , bat don't know what 'tis all about ; I do not know what would become of me hereafter if I am wicked ; I have never been told . If I tell a falsehood or lie , I tell a lie ; it may be good or bad , but I don't know the difference . " : : Anna Hoile , aged twelve :
"I never went to day-school , but I began for the first time to go to Sunday School yesterday ; I cannot read ; I have heard of God , and of Jesua Christ , but I can't tell who that was ; if I died a good girl I should go to heaven ; If I were bad , I should have to be burned in brimstone and fire ; they told me that at school yes terday ; I did not know it before . Father nor mother never reads to me at home ; they never go to church or chapel ; I never wept before . " ! Henry Jowett , aged eleven :-
" I never went to day-school long , but I went a little while before I came to the pit , and then I did not want to atop at Bchool , but I wanted to come to pit ; Igo to Sunday School ; they teach me a b , ab ; I do not know who God is—Jesus Christ is heaven . If I die a bad boy I do not know what will beceme of me ; I have heard of the devil—they used to tell me of him at the every-day school ; father does not goto church or chapel on Sundays ; he doeB nought but stop at home ; I go to chapelnow a Sundays ; 'tis not so long sin' I began « going . ; . . ' ' . .:: ¦ - ¦ ' . ¦ .. . ¦ ' . ; ,.. ¦' . ' ¦• ' " ; " . ¦ . \ ¦ ' . ' . ¦ These are the results of instruction in Sabbath Schools , the teachers and conductors of which would deem it a horrid crime to teach writing and other branches of practical education on the Lord ' s Day . : . .. . ¦ - ' ¦ ¦¦' ¦ ¦ ¦ .. ¦ ¦ . ;¦ ¦ ¦ - . _ ' , }¦ .: . .:- ¦ ' :.. : \ -. ¦ ::: ' ¦
We give the following as a specimen of the value which is attached to the importance of Sunday school instruction by at least one of our "respect " ablocapitaliBts " :- ^ " Mr . James Wilcox , a proprietor of mines , states ; - 'You have expressed some surprUe at ThomasMitchell not having heard of God . I judge ( he continues ) that there are very few colliers hereabout that have . There is a Sunday school in the village , at which some of taeci ge , but it does not advance them in learning much ; U keeps them from idleness en the Sunday , and doing mischief from beating the fields , and destroying hedges , but very few colliers care much about It . "
When masters only think it necessary that w struction should be imparted to young persons in their employ for the magnificent purpose of keeping them from doing mischief , beating the fieldSi and destroying hedges , it is no wonder that the Information imparted Bhould be of the mest worthless character . For our own . parts , we bate no hesitation in saying , that the sooner all such Sunday Schools are broken np the better-We had supposed that Sunday School instruction would at least point out to the Children the exiS "
tence of the Creator and Redeemer , and enfow 8 upon them the duties of moral obligation . In tbi 3 * however , it Beema we were mistaken . . The whol « world miy be ransacked for objects of chantj * Scores of missionaries , teachers , and schoohn * * 6118 must be sent forth to convert the heathen , and to instruct the children of the Hindoo and ¦ '¦ the . Hottentot . Bibles are to be multiplied , and * h e poor are to be required to purchase the word of life , even though unable to provide for themsel'e and families the common necessaries of life > ^
all this , as we are told for the purpose of removing ignorance and vice at home and ; abroad . And here iB the practical illustration of the value of all this ostentatious parade of benevolence and piety-Our own children , the children of our own soil ) on whom it is said Sunday School instruction confers such immeasurable benefits , are trained np in a state Of ignorance , compared with which the ignorance of pagan lands sinks into insignificance . One child , nine years of age , says , " I never was told about God—no one ever told me abouti Jesus Christ ; cannot say what he is . " Another , twelre years of age , says , " Mr . Jones tells us that Jeaus is our Lord , but does not know what he means by bur Lord , nor who is God . There may be cbmmandments , but I never heard of any * Another , ten years old , tells ue a I do not
Untitled Article
" The writer of the above letter came to me from the West ef England better than twelve months ago , pennyless ; I took pity on him , and relieved his wants , and employed him , at 30 s . per week . When he had got money and knowledge from me he set off to France , as the above letter proves . 11 Yours truly , " Wm- Hirst . "Leeds , May 25 , 1 S 42 . "
Untitled Article
A FEW WORDS ON PROPAGANDISE . AND ORGANIZATION . The spirit of Chartism is essentially oneof expansion and diffusion ; like the small seeds borne upon the winds of Heaven , our principles bear within them the germ of fructification , and wherever they fail , they cannot fail to take root , « id bring forth fruit . This is shown by the reception our agents , and lecturer ? , have met with ; in whatever part of the country , as yet , to which our missionaries have penetrated " , they have been invariably received , by their especial clients , the poor , with open arm ? , andthe truths which they have preached have been
eagerly imbibed by thornands in every part of the kingdom . Even the republican spirit of France , in its zsnitb , never made such great strides as Chartism las done during the last eight and forty months in Br itain ; the reason is plain . The propag&nde of the French was a propagande of the sword , ours is & propagande of truth , bearing light and intelligence . Bnt truth to be loved must be known as such ; Chartism must be preached to gain disciples , and the question is now , when ibe harvest is so great , and the labourers so few , aud when so many large and promUing districts lie open before as , the question is , where to begin .
Oar mission is with the sons of poverty and snffeririir ; from them we mtist gain converts and disciples . "W aerever oppression and tyranny exist on the part of xhe landlord , the master , and the manufacturer , there should our missionary bs ; not a strike of any exteDt should take place , not a despotic act should be perpetrated in any part of tbe country , without our taking advantage oi it to raise scorn and contempt inthemindsof the people against th ' . present accursed system . When maa suffers from wrong and oppression his mind is doubly open to conviction of the divine principles of truth and juttice . Look to Dudley and the neighbourhood ; see what Candy stud Cook have done there during tbe" late outbreaks . The nailors , ironworkers , and colliers of
that vast district , embracing the whole of South Staffordshire , and extending across Shropshire , nearly to Wales , are coming out in thousands for the Charter . That district , as I have before stated to the Executive , must demand our first care and attention . Then there i 3 the great colliery district src ^ Dd Wrexbam , Mold , and Hawarden , Id Flint ; the men employed in them are at present suffering great oppression ; we must be there ; a talented lecturer would bring out the whole district in a few ¦ weeks ; and then hurrah for the propagande in Denbigh and Merioneth ; Snowdon and Pliulimxnon would soon echo back to the Wrekin , the shout for the Charter ! The colliers of North Wales are
a most hardy , enthusiastic race of men , _ and woild mate efficient auxiliaries to ~ the Chartists of Glamorgan and Monmoutn , in extending the faith of democracy throughout the principality of Wales . Let the Executive look to Bilston , and = ay whether ¦ we have a better , more energetic , or truly Chartist town in our erganization ! what Bilston is , such inifiht be Mold and Wrexham . I trust these towns wiil occupy a prominent situation in the projected agitation of the Execntive . They will repay culture a hundred-fold , and open us a passage into the heart of Wales . In ray next , I shall pursue this subject further .
The Northern Star. Saturday, May 28, 1842.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , MAY 28 , 1842 .
Untitled Article
4 . [ THE NORTH EB N STAR . ^^^^— — — ¦— i ¦ — ~~ ~ - ™ '—¦'"— — - ¦ ¦ i . i . I ¦ ^^ - ^^ —»— .. .. i . _ . ' . ¦ . ¦¦ .. .. ¦ . _ . ' ¦ ¦ - -. ¦ .. . '¦¦¦ -. . ¦ ¦ . . . ¦ ¦ . . ¦ ¦ . . '¦¦¦ . - "¦¦ . " ¦ .., - . ' ¦ - '¦ -.- ¦ ..
-
-
Citation
-
Northern Star (1837-1852), May 28, 1842, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct432/page/4/
-