ren to be admitted to work in them under fourteen years of age, which is, perhaps, the most rigid law on this subject in force; and the mill-owners are obliged to educate the children they employ. Education is there, as elsewhere in Switzerland, compulsory.

The Canton of Zurich ranks first, for the extent of its cotton spinning factories. No children under ten years of age are allowed to work in them, and Mr. Symons states that the clergy look very sharply after the enforcement of the law. The children may work twelve hours a day, but they must go to school at least half a day in the week.

VII. AUSTRIA.

The hours of factory labor in Austria are cruelly long, being frequently, in the factories in the interior, fifteen hours a day, exclusive of meal time, and not unfrequently, seventeen hours. The fate of the unhappy children has excited some animadversion, and the question of shortening the hours of work is occupying the attention of the Government. The law, at present is more attentive to their minds than it is to their bodies; for no child can be employed in a factory who has not been, and does not produce a certificate of having been, a certain number of sessions at school.

VIII. RUSSIA.

The Emperor, so early as in 1833, directed the Council of Manufactures to require of the owners of factories, that they should not debilitate the children by daily labor prolonged beyond just limits, and that they should do every thing in their power to obtain for all the children, and especially for those belonging to the inhabitants of Moscow, an education suitable to their sphere of life; either by the establishment of schools, or courses of instruction in the factories themselves, or by sending the children to other schools. The same department of the Council of Manufactures was likewise directed to see to the enforcement of these measures.

At a later period the Emperor, during his stay at Moscow, about the end of the year 1837, was pleased to issue a farther order, that the necessary steps should be taken to preserve as much as possible the children employed in factories from the contagion of vice, and to procure for them a religious education. For the purpose of accomplishing that salutary object, it is proposed to open in the seventeen parochial schools recently establised at Moscow, Sunday schools for these children, where they shall be instructed in religion, and taught to read, to write, and to draw; the two sexes separately; and to make it obligatory upon the manufacturers to see that the children they employ do attend these schools.

IX. FRANCE.

In 1820, the importance of protecting children from the consequences of premature and

excessive labor, attracted the attention of enlightened educators and statesmen in France. In 1828 and 1835, the Industrial Society of Mulhausen petitioned the government in reference to it. In 1837 the subject was taken up by the Minister of Commerce, who collected information by means of circulars from every part of the kingdom. The report prepared in his office, showed that children were employed as early as sir and seven years of age, and generally at eight and nine; and from twelve to sixteen hours a day; that they were subjected to night work; that their intellectual education, as well as health and morals, were shamefully neglected. In 1838, the Minister of Commerce pledged himself to bring forward a measure of relief and protection, which was finally presented to the Chamber of Peers on the 11th of January, 1840. This bill was referred to a committee, consisting, among others, of Baron Charles Dupin, the Baron de Gerando, and M. Cousin, the former Minister of Public Instruction. This committee devoted themselves to the work with great earnestness, and after much research agreed on a report. EXTRACTS from the Report to the Chamber of Peers, by the BARON CHARLES DUPIN, in the nume of the Committee appointed to examine the Bill relative to the labor of children in factories.

We beg leave to render an account of our examination of the Bill presented by the Government, for the purpose of protecting the children employed in the factories. No subject of greater importance could be submitted to the consideration of the friends of humanity.

dividuals who in every country are engaged in the same branch of industry; the competition, no less formidable, among nations producing the same descriptions of manufacture, and struggling to obtain some advantage, are the most general causes of that fatal tendency in the present day to prolong, beyond all just bounds, the duration of daily labor.

The vast competition that subsits among the in

That disposition is excited by additional motives, and becomes more dangerous in those establishments where production depends on agents whose strength is inexhaustible, and insensible to fatigue; such as the moving powers of water and steam. Thus, in manufactures, that progress which we admire so much on account of the ingenuity that has been displayed by the inventor, may lead to consequences the most fatal to health, and even to human life; the workmen becoming, in some degree, sacrifices to the great impelling powers we derive from inanimate nature.

If the immoderate thirst of gain leads some masters of manufacturing establishments to work their people to such an extent, that nature is no longer able to restore the strength lost in the labor exwhat must be the degree of enfeeblement into which pended by a full-grown and robust man, judge then young persons, and especially children, must fall, when they are subjected to the same unmeasured daily toil? What must be the consequence of such gendered by the occupation, premature and serious over-work? rapidly declining health, diseases eninfirmities. Such of the younger operatives as do not become victims to this barbarity, arrive at manhood with broken constitutions and enervated powers, and afflicted with complaints which prove for the most part incurable.

After a scrupulous examination of the facts proved in regard to a certain number of factories of great extent, belonging to wealthy proprietors, and em

Thus it appears from the above table, that in the same extent of territory, the ten manufacturing departments give three times as many licensed tradesmen, and pay nine times as much for licenses, as the ten departments which are chiefly agricultural. In addition to these results, there are other facts which we have collected from the latest proceedings of the Councils of Revision§ in the recruiting service.

In 10,000 young men, capable of supporting the fatigues of military service, the ten agricultural departments give only 4,029 infirm or deformed persons; while the ten departments which are chiefly manufacturing, give 9,930 infirm or deformed persons. These numbers are the averages of the ten departments; but we find in the department of The Marne 10,309 infirm or deformed. The Lower Seine 11,990 The Eure- 14,451

Such immense disproportions ought not to be looked upon with indifference by the legislature; they are proofs of deep and grievous wounds; they show that

Habitans industriels patentés. All persons following a handicraft trade, or engaged in any description of commerce, must take out a license before they can exercise their calling, and must pay the sum charged for the license, which varies according to the particular branch of industry. This impost consists of two parts: 1st, the principle, which is the sum originally fixed when the tax was first imposed; and, 2dly, the additions which have been made from time to time to the principal sum, for the purpose of raising a fund to meet certain charges connected with commerce.

A hectare is equal to rather more than two English acres. When the young men of 20 years of age, liable by law to military service, are examined, those are exempted who have diseases or deformities which render them unfit, or are below a certain height.

These councils are composed one half of the military and one half of the civil author.ties, the prefect of the department being the president. It is before this tribunal that all the young men of 20 years of age, liable by law to serve in thearmy, are one by one examined with the greatest care; and they decide whether the person is fit or not. The proceedings of this council are very important, and are conducted with great impartiality.

The exercise of a pretended right of selling, with out control or restraint the strength, the health, the very lives of their children, we would have the law deny, brand, and chastise, in the persons of the parents, who show themselves unworthy of the name. We do not think that this end can be accomplished by local and special regulations, transitory in their nature, and which may be revoked, and which would apply a restricted and tardy remedy to such offences -to such crimes. We must anticipate them by legislative enactments, which shall be general and permanent; which shall be at once provident and omnipotent.

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We recommend that protection should be extended to all children employed, 1st, in factories, works and workshops for spinning, or for weaving or printing fabrics, whatever the raw material may be.

2dly, To all factories, works, and workshops, where the mechanical moving power is inanimate, such as water, steam, &c., because those kinds of moving power not requiring any rest to recover their strength, there is a tendency to continue the labor beyond what human powers can bear.

3dly, To all factories, works, and workshops, employing a continued heat, such as glass works, potteries, &c.

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On this point [the limit, below which children ought not to be employed in daily and continuous labor,] we have endeavored, by every means in our power, to profit by the experience both of France and of other countries. In England, the lowest age is nine by the law of 1833. In Prussia, the same limits of nine and sixteen have been adopted for all descriptions of manufacture. In Austria, children are admitted at eight. Wepropose that no children shall be admissible under eight years of age.

Among none of the nations who are our rivals in manufactures it is permitted for young persons under sixteen to work, in ordinary cases, more than twelve out of the twenty-four hours. Those nations, however, might have been induced to exceed just limits, from the fear of allowing other nations who do not fix any limits, to have an advantage over them. But so far from being stopped in her humane course by such sordid considerations, Prussia, which placed herself at the head of the commercial union of Germany, did not fear to establish a duration of labor even two hours a day less than the highest limit fixed by the English law. With such facts before us, we could not, we thought, under any pretext, propose a higher maximum than twelve hours, as determined on by the latter power.

Another object of the highest importance is that of night-work, which in some places they are cruel enough to make continuous, even in the case of apprentices of nine, eight, and seven years of age. The English law protects, with a most praiseworthy severity, the young operatives against this evil, a species of work most dangerous both to health and morals; for it extends the protection to young per sons of eighteen years of age. We have contented

*The fearful consequences that arise from excessive labor in childhood and youth, may be judged of from the following facts:-In Normandy, for every 100 men strong enough to be passed as recruits for the army, there were rejected 170 young men of 20 years of age at Rouen, 200 at Elbeuf, and 500 at Bolbec, all manufacturing towns.-Speech of the Baron Ch. Dupin, Moniteur of March 7, 1840.

ourselves with proposing that habitual working in the night should not be allowed with young persons under sixteen, and that employing children under twelve years in the night should be absolutely prohibited.

With regard to those works in which a fire must necessarily be kept up night and day, we require, in the name of humanity, that they shall not employ in the night any workers under sixteen years of age.

We propose, as a positive enactment, that children and young persons shall not be allowed to work on the holydays prescribed by law.

We leave to be provided by royal ordinances, is sued in the form of regulations by the executive, such general measures as may from time to time be deemed necessary; in the first place, to secure a return to, and a maintenance of, correct conduct and public decency in the places where the people work; and, in the second place, to provide for the continuance of the secular and religious instruction of the children. We may, on this subject, bring forward as an example the factories in the United States of America, where large numbers of young persons of both sexes are brought together, without the occurrence of any of that deplorable immorality which has called forth so many complaints relative to the factories in Alsace, Picardy, French Flanders, and especially in Normandy.

In a discourse that was drawn up for the purpose of showing the relations subsisting between morals, education, and manufactures, a comparison has been made between the nineteen richest and chief manufacturing departments, and the sixty-nine other departments; from which it appears, that in the nineteen there are so many persons engaged in factories, works, and trade, that they pay seventeen millions of francs for their trading licenses; while the sixtynine pay no more than thirteen millions. But in the nineteen departments, the public prosecutions for crimes against the person have amounted to one for every 10,805 inhabitants, while in the sixty-nine they did not exceed one for every 13,137. In prosecutions for crimes against property, they have amounted, in the nineteen departments, to one for every 4792 inhabitants; while in the sixty-nine, they amounted to not more that one for every $608. It appears, therefore, that in those parts of the kingdom where mechanical trades prevail, and which are the principal seats of manufactures, and in which large numbers of children are employed, it is become a matter of vi al interest to bring back the working classes, by commencing with those of the most tender years, to principles of order and morality, to a respect for the security of persons and property, and to a reverence for the laws and for religion.

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It has been our desire to afford you the means of giving an additional proof to France, of the deep and unceasing interest for her prosperity which animates you, when the question before you is the passing of a law tending to improve the condition of your fellowcitizens, and to renderthe lot of the working classes more happy, by providing for their health, their education, and their morals; in a word, when the object is to add to those physical, intellectual, and religious possessions, which constitute the welfare, honor, and prosperity of a wise and powerful nation.

The above Report was presented to the Chamber on the 22d of February, 1840, and was taken into consideration a fortnight afterwards. A most animated and interesting discussion upon the bill took place in the Chamber, which began on the 4th of March, and was continued during six successive sittings.

The first and part of the second day's debates were upon the general principles of the law. The following extracts will show the

sentiments entertained by the principal speakers on the leading features of the measure:

THE DUKE DE PRASLIN. Some years ago, in this chamber, I had the honor to be named reporter of a committee appointed to inquire into the matter contained in a petition from the factory owners of Mulhausen, a town essentially manufacturing; and, although the object of the law on which we are now engaged be to check or put restraints upon the cupidity of people engaged in trade, I must, on this occasion, do them the justice to say, that many of the merchants and manufacturers of Mulhausen, the proprietors of very considerable establishments, did themselves desire to adopt some very sensible measures to prevent children working more than eight hours a day, including their meal times; and, at their own expense, they set up schools in their factories for the education of the children.* But these worthy men and true philanthropists were obliged to abandon their benevolent arrangements, for they could not induce others in the same trade to adopt them; and as the generality of the manufacturers worked the children four or five hours a day more than they did, they obtained a great advantage, so that the more humane persons would have been ruined by the competition. They presented a petition to this chamber, praying the government to pass a law to limit the ages and hours of work, and especially the latter. You see, therefore, that our manufacturers have been the first to ask for this law; and manufacturers in other parts of France have in like manner come forward in the cause of humanity and public morals.

THE COUNT CHOLLET.-Great exertions have been made to put an end to the traffic in black people, and most justly so; but ought we not to be quite as anxious to put down the traffic in white people? And can we otherwise designate that odious traffic so often carried on between unnatural parents and avaricious manufacturers, who extort from unhappy children a labor beyond their strength. I see no difference in the two descriptions of slave trade than this-that in the one the slave is sold; in the other, he is let out for hire.

THE BARON MOUNIER.--The most lamentable consequence of this overworking of children is not the direct injury done to their health, for the humanity of manufacturers, we must hope, would put a stop to that when such fatal consequences are apparent; but that which they can never put a stop to, is the annihilation of all moral sentiment, which indeed has no chance of ever being developed. When a child, in place of enjoying the sports of youth, or looking around on the works of creation and of human contrivance-in place of his senses and his reason being thus gradually brought forth, is obliged to repeat the whole day the same mechanical motions, and after that toilsome work, must seek the

*It is most gratifying on this occasion to be able to draw attention to the enlightened and generous efforts of some of the citizens of Mulhausen, a town self-created, almost in our own time, and which by the talents and exertions of its inhabitants has risen with a wonderful rapidity; a town where the daugh ters of the most wealthy of the manufacturers deem it a duty and a pleasure, to devote a portion of their time to the education of the female children of the working classes, and consider that, in so doing, they are maturing and completing their own education; a beautiful example of mutual instruction between opulence and indigence. The Industrial Society of Mulhausen, with the most praiseworthy perseverance, instituted an inquiry as to the measures which it would be most advisable for the legislature to adopt, in order to restrain within just limits the daily labor of the children and young persons employed in those very manufactures which constitute the wealth of that town.

Now the number of children between five and twelve years of age was 4,802,356; consequently, in 1837, there were only 1,719,029 children between these ages who did not attend the primary schools; and from that number is to be deducted that very considerable proportion of children who do not go to those schools, but are educated at home. This, gentlemen, is what has been accomplished in ten years; let us but advance at the same rate, and in ten years more, there will not be a child in this noble land which will not have received some education.

I beg leave to move, therefore, that these two clauses be struck out, and that the third clause in the article under consideration be thus modified:In place of saying that the masters of the factories shall enter in the certificate book the time that the child shall have attended the primary schols, which is imperative, I propose that he shall say, may have attended them, which will operate as a sort of premium on school attendance; for the young operative who can show that entry in his certificate book will be more readily engaged by other masters. This would be a reward or encouragement, but not an indispensable condition.

M. VILLEMAIN (the immediate predecessor of M. Cousin, as Minister of Public Instruction). The amendment proposed by the committee has no ob ject of laying down a principle, or of estabilshing a system; but it has doubtless appeared to the committee to be proper, that the power which they have been called upon to confer should, as a matter of prudence, be accompanied by certain conditions. The legislature, as the special guardian of every one in the state who is a minor, and incompetent to take care of himself, might in strictness forbid altogether the premature employment of children in manufactures; but it does not forbid, it only regulates their labor. Thus, among other provisions, dictated by humanity, may it not reasonably stipulate, that a moral and religious education shall be secured for the child? Do you see in that any imprudent establishment of a compulsory system in primary instruction? By no means: it is nothing more than a condition imposed by the law upon the exercise of a power conferred by the law. And for what purpose is it imposed? Because the power given to employ children may hold out a dangerous temptation to parents, and increase the chance of the neglect of all education, and of all moral training among the children of the poor. When a child remains under the parental roof, however humble it may be, provided an enlightened government shall have established a sufficient number of schools, that child will naturally be sent to school; it will benefit by the gratuitous instruction which the law provides, and which he has time to avail himself of. But when parents have it in their power to send their children to a factory from five o'clock in the morning, and to turn their little strength to profitable account, is it not possible that the desire of gain may be a motive with them to deprive them, as so much lost time, of that leisure which would enable them to obtain some useful instruction, and cultivate their young minds in some degree? Is it not then just that the law should interpose, and say :-" You may send your child to the factory, but on this condition, that he shall not be stupified, and that some portion of his time shall be reserved for his education." But it has been said that a precaution of this nature lowers education; that to be honored the school must be free. Consider, gentlemen, that while employed in the stupifying work and routine of the factory, this school, however humble, will to the child be a source of comfort, of relief, I might almost say of pleasure. Has not the poor child, after eight or ten hours' repetition of mechanical drudgery, need of some rest, when he may hear the name of God, listen to moral instruction, and have some moments of conscionsness that he is an intelligent being? In that point of view, I consider the right claimed by

the law, as proposed by the committee, to be incontestable. It is not, as has just been said, to impose a constraint upon the child in addition to his work, but to oblige the manufacturer to show consideration for the living creatures he employs.

THE BARON DE GERANDO. Ought the law which is intended to afford protection to the children of the working classes, to be confined to the protection of the bodily health, or should it be extended to the moral health also? Ought it to be a safeguard only to the physical powers of the child without regard to the more noble, moral, and intellectual powers? Ought we to confine ourselves to the care of preparing a generation which will supply able soldiers to the government; or ought we not also to keep in view the importance of preparing good and virtuous citizens for the state, and estimable men for society? These were the questions which we proposed for our consideration; and I now state openly and frankly, that the ruling sentiment in the committee was, that our object should be to improve not only the physical condition, but also, and more especially, the moral condition of the children of the working classes.

There are many things to be done to improve the moral condition of the working classes, but the first in point of order, that which will be most powerfully efficacious, unquestionably, is the improvement of education in that class of society.

But we are told that we wish to introduce the principle of compulsory education into the law; now as I have said that I will fully explain all our views, I will declare in the name of the committee, that the idea of compulsion never once entered into our minds.

I will not discuss the general principle; the distinguished individual who is at the head of the Ministry of Public Instruction, entertains the same opinion with myself, at least I hope he does, that it is a salutary principle. It exists in the United States, and in Switzerland, and I never heard any complaint of despotic rule, because parents are obliged to send their children to the primary schools. I could say much in favor of that principle: I could show that Article ccclxxxv. of the Civil Code imposes upon fathers of families the very obligation that we are now contending for, inasmuch as they are required to give their children the benefit of education. Again, it is said that we are introducing into the law a principle of inequality. Our opponents are so sincere men, their objections proceed from such a right motive, that I do not at all fear to meet them on this point. There is no inequality in the law we propose; it is no more than a provision for a special object; it is not a general principle that we wish to establish, but we wish to provide for a special case; and with your leave I will point out the principal reasons why children employed in factories form an exception, to meet which separate provisions must be made.

It is right to leave things to their natural course so long as there is no obstacle to impede it: we should never think of sending an engineer to examine the course of a river, unless something was obstructing its free passage. Now, what is the obstruction in this case? Why, that their working prevents the children from receiving instruction, and is an excuse to those who will not give them any. Parents send their children to the factories, to derive profit from them: they find it more convenient to receive wages for their labor, than to pay for their schooling; and, thus, the parent and the manufacturer have a common interest. This is an obstruction that we wish to remove.

There is another class of special circumstances which I should wish to explain to you, and I shall have need of all your indulgence in order that I may be rightly understood. Human labor is composed of two elements, material power and intellectual power. Now, what is, and what must always be, the tendency of human industry? is it not this,-to