THE MINING POPULATION.

 

THE case of women and children labouring in coal pits has been forced upon public attention, by the publication of three books of reports of commissioners appointed to inquire into the subject. Two of these books are exceedingly large, and all of them appear to be the work of men earnestly and honestly resolved to bring the truth to light, neither exaggerating nor extenuating any part of it. The disclosures made are extremely painful, exhibiting the condition of many of our fellow creatures as so miserable and degraded that the representation could not be credited if we were not prepared for it by what is known of some of the factories, and by the sad conviction which the experience of these factories must fasten upon every mind, the conviction, namely, that none are to be safely trusted with the care of their fellows where gain is the object, and human beings are the instruments.

Every one has a rude notion of coal-pits, though few are aware of the shape they take in the interior, as they branch off in pursuit of the capricious ramifications of the veins, or, as they are called "seams" of coal. These seams, however, are found of all sizes—some very large, which permit men to work, in raising and removing the coal, in an erect attitude, and to avail themselves of the service of horses and asses for the purpose of carriage ; but some of the seams are small, though still thought work the working ; and from these the coal must be extracted in a stooping, crouching, and even grovelling posture, continued through many hundreds of yards. It is in these smaller seams that women and children, down to the tender ages of seven, six, and even five years are employed. The nature of the employment may be understood,, from considering that the smaller seams in their whole width exceed very little, if at all, the width of an ordinary chimney flue, and that they incline or ascend in every variety of angle. The poor workers in these channels are therefore in a great measure employed as the climbing boys who used to sweep chimnies before the humanity of the legislature imposed restrictions upon that trade ; but the condition of the " seam-gropers" in collieries is much worse than that of chimney sweeps in many respects ; first, the seams are always wet and muddy ; secondly, the scams almost always dip, so as to render it necessary for the wretched creatures to work most commonly with their heads downward ; lastly, they have to drag a heavy load of from one to two hundred pounds weight, on a truck with-out wheels, and through mud, for the whole length of the seam, which frequently exceeds many hundred yards ; add to this a perfect darkness, and the close unwholesome air of a mine, it may be five hundred or a thousand feet below the surface—and here is a picture of physical suffering which it is impossible to exaggerate, even by the painful and degrading harness in which the sufferers are equipped—a chain passing round the waist between the thighs, and attached to the slide truck. It may be easily supposed that where so little account is made of physical suffering, much care is not bestowed upon the protection of morals ; and in fact, the most extraordinary guard of decency, clothing, itself is dispensed with. The men in some mines work altogether, and the women and girls nearly naked. The necessary result is what it is painful to contemplate, what it would be, if possible, more painful to describe. Such is a brief outline of the facts which the Bishop of Norwich last night brought under the notice of the House of Lords. Earl Fitzwilliam thought that he sufficiently replied to this shocking exposure by muttering some nonsense of the political economists about the danger of interference with the free market for labour, and by drawing into analogy the condition of agricultural labourers. The Marquis of Londonderry, in a better spirit, exonerated the collieries with which he is connected, and the collieries of the Tyne and the Wear generally, from being disgraced by such frightful cruelties. Lord Normanby supported Lord Fitzwilliam's politico-economical views, but both lords were sufficiently answered by the Earl Winchilsea and the Bishop of London, who vindicated the employers of agricultural labourers. Any vindication, however, must be quite unnecessary in the case. The condition of agricultural labourers is obvious to all ; they work in daylight, and above ground ; they are not buried from observation in mines, or shut up in factories ; and though their state may be far different from what could be wished, it is certain that no one who can get employment as an agricultural labourer—severe and ill-requited as such employment may be—will go into a mine or a factory. And, after all, to what does this line of argument, taken by Lords Fitzwilliam and Normanby, lead ? Is it not to this—that the labouring classes generally are not in the state in which they ought to be in a Christian country ?  " In a Christian country"—that is the distinctive phrase ; for it is only to its Christian character Great Britain owes it, that the blessings of Providence have not long since turned to poison, and destroyed the nation, by a still more horrid sacrifice of the happiness and morals of the poor than that which we have now to lament, and for which we trust to Providence reparation will be promptly made. We read that the Appian road cost 1000 lives a week to Rome, and we see that the slave-trade still carried on by half-Christian nations costs 1000 lives a day ; and so it would be in England if Christian witnesses, such as Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Sadler, Lord Ashley, and Mr. Oastler, did not rise up among us from time to time to direct the notice of a truly Christian people to the crimes and cruelties of which the insatiable thirst of gain is ever the prolific parent. Such men are mocked and vilified, but their works live after them, and bear fruits, rich beyond even what their sanguine benevolence presaged. We know not whether Mr. Sadler ever thought of the collieries, or knew anything about them, but we know with perfect certainty, for Lord Normanby has confessed it, that the factory inquiry, prosecuted by Mr. Sadler, and continued by Lord Ashley, it is, which has exposed the subterranean horrors of which we have had to speak, the subject is a distressing one, but in the light in which we have just regarded it, it is full of consolation. " Babylon has fallen—Rome " has fallen— therefore England must fall," say our enemies and rivals ; but we reply that Babylon and Rome were not Christian —they had not the principle of vitality which belongs to the religion of truth—the equal care for all, and the care for posterity. Christianity is our charter of national immortality, and immortal England will remain while she shall remain truly Christian. Christianity, even as worldly policy, has a depth far beyond man's wisdom; and in this assured conviction we fling away with utter scorn all the miserable analogies of unchristian nations, and all the arguments drawn from such analogies, and from the theories of unchristian men. We have as a nation much to undo of what we have been doing under the guidance of unchristian economists for the last thirty years. Lords Fitzwilliam and Normanby tells us, that the agricultural labourers are wretched —but the agricultural labourers are less wretched than miners, and miners are less wretched than factory labourers ; for the agricultural labourer will not, if he can help it, descend into a mine, nor the miner into a factory. Such, then, is the condition of the labouring classes—of those classes of whom it was said, not more than seven years ago, that they were about to consume all the estates of the country. No, it is not in this direction that aggression has moved, or ever will move ; the poor will never devour the wealth of the rich : the danger to be guarded against is that which we contemplate at this moment—the wealth of the rich devouring the very living of the poor ; and Christianity was given to us, among other uses, as a guard against this danger—a danger which, if allowed to advance, never fails to crush all classes in the end. Every advance to the wealth of any class, at the expense of the labouring class, is a step towards final ruin. We have made many such steps under the Malthusian influence during the last thirty years, and we must retrace them, or our destiny is fixed—retrace them not, however, violently, but with deliberation and steadiness, so as exactly to reverse the Malthusian and Benthamite theories; aye, and what is more, we will retrace them, for we are a Christian people. That is the sure ground of hope..

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Friday 11 November 1842, pag