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    COAL MINERS AND THE INSPECTION BILL.

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    valuable from the statistics which accompany it , and which bring at once before the mind the work we have to do and the distribution of the resources at our disposal . Our Colonies amount to two and a-half times the area of Europe , and must , as he says , t > e defended by our fleet , which must also constitute the first line of defence of the islands on which we live . But that fleet ought not to be essential to our safety , for , with the admirable means of conveyance and concentration afforded by our railways ; we ought to be certain of being able to meet any army that could be landed with an overwhelming force . Colonel Kennedy tells us the " relative scales of population and commercial activity existing under the protection of the respective flags would justify a British naval force more than fivefold that of France , and threefold that of

    Kussia , or twice their aggregate amount , The administrative duties of the British Government to its widely-spread pupulation justify a land force equal to twice the aggregate force of France and Kussia ; yet the actual amount of British troops of the line is under one-fifth of the united forces of those two States , and onetenth of what the comparison with them would justify . " A large proportion of the soldiers ' of any despotism must be regarded as intended to keep down its own subjects ; but there is a mighty balance left which no one can doubt are kept up with a view to

    aggressive designs , and we are a long way from possessing an adequate counterpoise . Colonel Kennedy proposes a naval reserve of 60 , 000 men , and the division of the country into districts ( according to a map which he appends ) for , the organization of the volunteer land force that we have described . The militia system involves a large sacrifice of productive industry ; but if Colonel Kennedy be right , which we think is indisputable , enough military training to render them efficient can be acquired by volunteers during their spare time , and without interfering with their ordinary avocations , all that is required being that when the population is thinly scattered smaller bodies shall be required to meet . It so happens ^ thair our people are . very condistricts could furnish

    veniently located , and that ^ adjacent easily the men required for their common defence . In London , part : of MJddlesex r Surrey , andJCent ,= one-fifth of the adulL males would furnish 118 , 000 men . The south-eastern division , with jieadquarters at Portsmouth , would , at the same calculation , give . 81 , 000 men , and so forth . Now it is" Tciear that much smaller numbers than these , combined with the . regular forces , which the railways could easily transport avouIcI be more than equal to any army likely to be landed upon our shores . With respect to railway conveyance , ' . the , . Colonel estimates that trains could be despatched from London , or other centre , every quarter of an hour , and that 3 , 000 men could be despatched by each train , which , would give 72 , 000 men by one line of

    railway iu twenty-fW hours . ,, With ' - this power of concentration and locomotion , we are not surprised to find so good an authority in perfect accord with our often-repeated opinions upon the great fortification job which occupies the attention of Government . The Colonel declares "England is precisely the country where fortresses would be least applicable . They would lock up our valuable but too scanty troops , who would be required to operate actively in the field against their foe wherever he may present himself , and lamentable indeed will be our case if we ' ever give an enemy time to sit down before xv British fortress . " The fortress scheme is nothing but a painful evidence of mistrust , and those who wish to tax the people to the extent of ten or twenty millions to build these strongholds , -desire to extrnct from them ' that enormous sum as a substitute

    for that volunteer system which is the only constitutional means of ensuring the safety of a great country where liberty prevails .

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    to any word;—and until some Johnson or some Latham comes forward to show the general rule or natural development of law , it will follow in the same way in social science , that the terms are indefinite , and ^ consequently , much misunderstood . Both philology and political economy , in their strict natural arid scientific principles , are eternally uniform in their laws;— -it is man ' s notions and perceptions that vary . In this way we perceive that the men calling themselves political economists do not strictly deserve that term , and are not acting 1 according to its true principles . It is common among the class alluded to , to decry and to assert it is not the province of Government to interfere with or to attempt to regulate arrangements for the interests and operations of capital and

    labour . It is popular to assert , if these be left to oscillate freely , they will regulate themselves , so as best to advance the whole interests of humanity . Against this opinion the whole testimony of human history invariably witnesses . Where there is no law affecting the relation of interests , society cannot exist . The accidental or naturally strong triumph over and torture the weak until they die out . Without going back into fabulous ages , we will instance the conduct of the Spanish towards the weaker but more gvirtuous and humane Mexican Indians as a telling case in point . We say , therefore , to ignore the influence of law , or to affirm that each in the battle of interests should first look to his own , not regarding that of others ;—or , in other words , " to buy iu

    the cheapest , and sell in the dearest markets , ' is not true economy . And although an advanced school of politicians will tell us selfinterest , when enlightened , will see its true interest , and so will regard the welUbeing of others in order to advance its own , we reply , all history is against the fact . The very condition of such selfishness being prevalent renders the perception of enlightenment almost impossible , and certainly tends to destroy the very opportunity for such philosophy being proved . The Spanish did not see that killing the Indians by excessive mining would be killing the goose which yielded them the gold ; and when they either decimated ) the millions , or Jso infuriated by oppression as to drive them to madness ( for Indians , like miners , are bub still

    human ) , it was too late to avail themselves of the knowledge such results might have taught . We could enlarge upon the mental blindness arid moral obliquity the / Spanish practices naturally involved , and trace how the love of gold and injustice has le&—nay , compelled—the Spanish to become the poorest and most wretchedly governed people in Europe . The _ sarne game in principle , differing but in external circumstances , is still playing in the slave states in America , and it is even now blighting the vigour and sapping the strength of the otherwise young and flourishing republic . Yet all these things were done , and doubtless were well defended by the political economists of the day , Slavery is so . defended , and * tthird

    weexpect to hear on the 13 th of June , the day fixed for he reading of the Mines Inspection Bill , the same old , one-sided , and therefore unjust and unscientific arguments used . In these arguments self , and the rights of capital and the few , will be advocated against the mass and the ultimate benefit of all concerned . We have now before us the bill of the Government , the suggestions of the operative miners for its amendment , and another--bill , as proposed by the master miners themselves , for the object , in each case , *^ re | jlTlating ^ tfirwT ^^^ general regulations enforced by Government , is now an undisputed condition . We say now undisputed , but it should not be forgotten , on the Drincioles of political economy , that the master miners objected

    altogether , and opposed inch by inch , the necessity or right ot any such regulation . Of course they used the usual arguments , and declared that capital would be driven from the trade , and that both they and the operatives , in consequence , would be ruined : and when the Commission of . Inquiry proved beyond doubt that women and children were worked in coal mines in conditions disgraceful to humanity , and shocking even to our artificial conventionalities , the results of feeling were stigmatised ' . as " maudlin" and " sentimental , " and the supporters of amelioration were nicknamed " humanitarians . " Well , the maudlin sentimentahsm of the humanitarians prevailed—and we hope it will do so for some tune to come—and the Inspection Billpassed . Strange to say , the coal trade is not ruined ; stranger yet , it has from that tune-flourished in a condition and to a profit unparalleled to the capitalists ! We result

    /^ ARLYLE defined political economy as- "Me and science . V- > The question has frequently been asked by students not versed in practical life , " Why should political economy , and its Jaws , excite so repulsive and unsatisfactory a fueling among those who receive the teachings of other sciences with satisfaction and delightP" To us the solution of the question is very simple . Xhe fact is , that the doctrines called scientific , are not truly so , — being either one-sided facts or short-sighted and premature inferences from temporary and passing events . The general and permanent doctrine ofphenomena , based upon accurate ^^ « 6 phio experience , will and must accord with the constitution ot human nnLiirA . and will alwavs commend itself and its philosophy to

    all enlightened judgments , and to all sympathetic hearts . Wo may fairly infer that all doctrines against which our humane instincts rebel are not true , and , therefore , are not the teachings , of true science . As a case in point , wo once more revert to the proposed Mines Inspection Bill , nponwhioh , though j seemingly of little public importance , thero exists the real fundamental differences upon which the economic doctrinaires and the humanitarians so strongly disagree . In the early stages of philology , it is the fashion for the time being that constitutes the right ot any meaning

    said strange , but it is not exactly strange , because tho same followed the operation of the Factories Act , which act , being esta ^ Wished in direct opposition to the teachings and prophecies of the economists , gave wealth instead of ruin to the factory owners . It having been proved by experience that the Mines Inspection liill decidedly advantaged the capitalist—as will all measures advancing the true interests of humanity—it is strange that these very men should still bo found ( true to . their prejudices ) opposing an extension of the act , found necessary in tho workings for the advancement _ oi the very object for which it was first promoted , lho Inspection Act was deemed but an experiment , and was passed as suolr tor « . „ .. » , t ., : * rmiouinl OnvAriimrtnt have uroDoseu aaclifive In its renewaltiovernmeni nave propuauu ««

    uiyears . , tional clauses , chiefly to make their former act . work better ; the only really new principle involved is to introduce' a c ause which may tend to ensure tho education of children ot roineis so employed . Government lays down , that " boys betwixt ten and twelve years of ago maybe employed , in a colliery qn the condition of , first , receiving a certificate from a . competent school-« & : & * £ & 5 ^ ff % zi art jJJ that betwixt the hours of nine in the morning and live in the atter-

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    June 2 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 517

    Coal Miners And The Inspection Bill.

    COAL MINERS AND THE INSPECTION BILL .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 2, 1860, page 517, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2350/page/9/