have only to observe, that a good stout inundation of the Hawkesbury would be far less pernicious to the industry of the colony than such gross ignorance and absurdity as this order evinces. Young surgeons are examined in Surgeon's Hall on the methods of cutting off legs and arms before they are allowed to practise surgery. An examination on the principles of Adam Smith, and a license from Mr. Ricardo, seem to be almost a necessary preliminary for the appointment governors. We must give another specimen of Governor Macquarrie's acquaintance wirh the principles of political economy.

of

'General Orders.

oil taken in vessels belonging to the island of New. foundland, and considerably more than double of that which is payable on the same commodity taken in vessels belonging to the Bahama or Bermuda islands, or to the plantations in North America; while the duty which is levied on spermaceti oil, procured in vessels belonging to this colony, is five times the amount of that which is levied on vessels belonging to the above-mentioned places, and twenty times the amount of that which is levied on vessels belonging to Newfoundland. The injustice of this seems to us to be quite enormous. The statements are taken from Mr. Wentworth's book.

The inhabitants of New South Wales have no trial His excellency has observed, with much concern, that at by jury; the governor has not even a council to rethe present time of scarcity, most of the garden ground at-strain him. There is imposed in this country a very tached to the allotments, whereon different descriptions of persons build huts, are totally neglected, and no vegetable heavy duty on timber and coals exported; but for growing thereon-as such neglect in the occupiers, points which, says Mr. Wentworth, some hundred tons of them out as unfit to profit by such indulgence, those who do these valuable productions would have been sent annot put the garden ground attached to the allotments they nually to the Cape of Good Hope and India, since the occupy in cultivation, on or before the 10th day of July next, vessels which have been in the habit of trading bewill be disposed (except in cases wherein ground is held by tween those countries and the colony have always release), and more industrious persons put in possession of them, turned in ballast. The owners and consignees would as the present necessities of the settlement require every exertion being used to supply the wants of families, by the ground gladly have shipped cargoes of timber and coals, if attached to their dwellings being made as productive as possi- they could have derived the most minute profit from ble. By command of his excellency. G. BLAXWELL, Sec. the freight of them. Government House, Sydney, June 21st, 1806.”—O'Hara, p. 275. This compulsion to enjoy this despotic benevolence, is something quite new in the science of government. The sale of spirits was first of all monopolized by the government, and then let out to individuals, for the purpose of building an hospital. Upon this subject, Mr. Bennet observes,

The Australasians grow corn; and it is necessarily The food of the inhabitants of the East Indies is rice; the their staple. The Cape is their rival in the corn trade. voyage to Europe is too distant for so bulky an article as comm. The supply to the government stores furnished the cultivators of New South Wales with a market in the first instance, which is now become too insignificant for the great excess of the supply above the con'Heretofore all ardent spirits brought to the colony were sumption. Population goes on with immense rapidity; purchased by the government, and served out at fixed prices but while so much new and fertile land is before them, to the officers, civil and military, according to their ranks; the supply continues in the same proportion greater hence arose a discreditable and baneful trade on the part of than the demand. The most obvious method of affordthese officers, their wives and mistresses. The price of spirits ing a market for this redundant corn, is by encouraging at times was so high, that one and two guineas have been given distilleries within the colony; a measure repeatedly for a single bottle. The thirst after ardent spirits became a mania among the settlers: all the writers on the state of the pressed upon the government at home, but hitherto as colony, and all who have resided there, and have given testi- constantly refused. It is a measure of still greater nony concerning it, describe this rage and passion for drunk-importance to the colony, because its agriculture is enness as prevailing in all classes, and as being the principal foundation of all the crimes committed there. This extravagrant propensity to drunkenness was taken advantage of by the governor, to aid him in the building of the hospital. Mr. Went worth, the surgeon, Messrs. Riley and Blaxwell, obtained permission to enter a certain quantity of spirits; they were to pay a duty of five or seven shillings a gallon on the quantity they introduced, which duty was to be set apart for the erection of the hospital. To prevent any other spirits from being landed, a monopoly was given to these contractors. As soon as the agreement was signed, these gentlemen sent off to Rio Janeiro, the Mauritius, and the East Indies, for a large quantity of rum and arrack, which they could purchase at about the rate of 28. or 2s. 6d. per gallon, and disembarked it at Sydney. From there being but few houses that were before permitted to sell this poison, they abounded in every street; and such was the enormous consumption of spirits, that money was soon raised to build the hospital, which was finished in 1814. Mr. Marsden informs us, that in the small town of Paramatta thirteen houses were licenced to deal in spirits, though he should think that five at the utmost would be amply sufficient for the accommodation of the public.'-Bennet, pp. 77-79.

subjected to the effects both of severe drought and
extensive inundations, and the corn raised for the dis-
tillers would be a magazine in times of famine. A
recommendation to this effect was long since made by
a committee of the House of Commons; but, as it was
merely a measure for the increase of human comforts,
was stuffed into the improvement baskets, and forgot
ten. There has been in all governments a great deal
of absurd canting about the consumption of spirits.
We believe the best plan is to let people drink what
they like, and wear what they like; to make no sump-
tuary laws either for the belly or the back
first place, laws against rum and rum water are made
by men who can change a wet coat for a dry one
whenever they choose, and who do not often work up
to their knees in mud and water; and, in the next
place, if this stimulus did all the mischief it is thought
to do by the wise men of claret, its cheapness and
plenty would rather lessen than increase the avidity
with which it is at present sought for.

In the

The governors of Botany Bay have taken the liberty of imposing what taxes they deemed proper, without any other authority than their own; and it seemed very frivolous and vexatious not to allow this small effusion of despotism in so remote a corner of the globe: but it was noticed by the opposition in the House of Commons, and reluctantly confessed and given up by the administration. This great portion of the earth begins civil life with noble principles of freedom :-may God grant to its inhabitants that wisdom and courage which are necessary for the preservation of so great a good!

The whole coast of Botany Bay and Van Dieman's Land abounds with whales; and accordingly the duty levied upon train oil procured by the subjects in New South Wales, or imported there, is twenty times greater than that paid by the inhabitants of this country: the duty on spermaceti oil, imported, is sixty times greater. The duty levied on train oil, sperma. ceti, and head matter, procured by the inhabitants of Newfoundland, is only three times the amount of that which is levied on the same substance procured by British subjects residing in the United kingdom. The duty levied on oil procured by British subjects residing in the Bahama or Bermuda islands, or in the plantations Mr. Wentworth enumerates, among the evils to of North America, is only eight times the amount on which the colony is subjected, that clause in the last train oil, and twelve times the amount on spermaceti, settlement of the East India Company's charter, which of that which is levied on the same substances taken prevents vessels of less than three hundred tons burby British subjects within the United Kingdom. The then from navigating the Indian seas; a restriction duty, therefore, which is payable on train oil in vessels from which the Cape of Good Hope has been lately belonging to this colony is neariy seven times greater liberated, and which ought, in the same manner, to than that which is payable on the same description of be removed from New South Wales, where there can

not be for many years to come, sufficient capital to build vessels of so large a burthen.

"The disability,' says Mr. Wentworth, might be removed by a simple order in council. Whenever his majesty's government shall have freed the colonists from this useless and cruel prohibition, the following branches of commerce would then be open to them. First, they would be enabled to transport, in their own vessels, their coals, timbers, spars, flour, meat, &c. to the Cape of Good Hope, the Isle of France, Calcutta, and many other places in the Indian seas; in all of which, markets more or less extensive exist for those various other productions which the colony might furnish. Secondly, they would be enabled to carry direct to Canton the sandal wood, bêche la mer, dried seal skins, and, in fact, all the numerous productions which the surrounding seas and islands afford for the China market, and return freighted with cargoes of tea, milks, nankeens, &c.; all of which commodities are in great emand in the colony, and are at present altogether furnished by East India or American merchants, to the great detriment and dissatisfaction of the colonial. And, lastly, they would be enabled, in a short time, from the great increase of capital which these important privileges would of themselves occasion, as well as attract from other countries, to open the fur-trade with the north-west coast of America, and dispose of the cargoes procured in China-a trade which has hitherto been carried on by the Americans and Russians, although the colonists possess a local superiority for the prosecution of this valuable branch of commerce, which would insure them at least a successful competition with subjects of those two nations.-Wentworth, pp. 317, 318.

The means which Mr. Wentworth proposes for improving the condition of Botany Bay, are-trial by jury; colonial assemblies, with whom the right of taxation should rest; the establishment of distilleries, and the exclusion of foreign spirits; alteration of duties, so as to place New South Wales upon the same footing as other colonies; removal of the restriction to navigate the Indian seas in vessels of a small burthen; improvements in the courts of justice; encouragement for the growth of hemp, flax, tobacco, and wine; and if a colonial assembly cannot be granted, that there should be no taxation without the authority of parliament.

sonably be expected to advance the interests or the
colony without embroiling it with the mother-coun
try? Who has leisure, in such a state of affairs, to
attend such a parliament? Where wisdom and con-
duct are so rare, every man of character, we will ven-
ture to say, has, like strolling players in a barn, six
or seven important parts to perform. Mr. M'Arthur,
who, from his character and understanding, would
probably be among the first persons elected to the
colonial legislature, besides being a very spirited agri-
culturist, is, we have no doubt, justice of the peace,
curator and rector of a thousand plans, charities, and
associations, to which his presence is essentially ne-
cessary. If he could be cut into as many pieces as a
tree is into planks, all his subdivisions would be emi-
nently useful. When a member of Parliament, and
what is called a really respectable country gentleman,
sets off to attend his duty, in our Parliament, such
diminution of intelligence as is produced by his ab
sence, is, God knows, easily supplied; but in a colony
of 20,000 persons, it is impossible this should be the
case. Some time hence, the institution of a colonial
assembly will be a very wise and proper measure, and
so clearly called for, that the most profligate mem-
bers of administration will neither be able to ridicule
nor refuse it. At present we are afraid that a Botany
Bay parliament would give rise to jokes; and jokes
at present have a great agency in human affairs.
Mr. Bennet concerns himself with the settlement of
New Holland, as it is a school for criminals; and,
upon this subject, has written a very humane, en-
lightened, and vigorous pamphlet. The objections
made to this settlement by Mr. Bent are, in the first
place, its enormous expense. The colony of New
South Wales, from 1788 to 1815 in lusive, has cost
this country the enormous sum of 3, 5,9837. In the
evidence before, the transportation committee, the
annual expense of each convict, from 1791 to 1797, is
calculated at 337. 9s. 5ąd. per annum, ad the profits
of his labour are stated to be 201. The price paid for
the transport of convicts has been, on a average, 371
exclusive of food and clothing. It appears, however,
says Mr. Bennet, by an account laid before Parlia
ment, that in the year 1814, 109,7461. were paid for
the transport, feed, and clothing of 1018 convicts.
which will make the cost amount to about 1081. per
man. In 1812, the expenses of the celuy were
176,000l.; in 1813, 235,000l.; in 1814, 231,й.; but

In general, we agree with Mr. Wentworth in his
statement of evils, and in the remedies he has pro-
posed for them. Many of the restrictions upon the
commerce of New South Wales are so absurd that
they require only to be stated in Parliament to be cor-
rected. The fertility of the colony so far exceeds its
increase of population, and the difficulty of finding a
market for corn is so great-or rather the impossibi-
lity so clear-that the measure of encouraging domes-in 1815, they had fallen to 150,000l.
tic distilleries ought to be had recourse to. The
colony, with a soil fit for every thing, must, as Mr.
Wentworth proposes, grow other things besides corn,
and excite that market in the interior which it does
not enjoy from without. The want of demand, in.
deed, for the excess of corn, will soon effect this with-
out the intervention of goverment. Government, we
believe, have already given up the right of taxation
without the sanction of Parliament; and there is an
end, probably, by this time,to that grievance. A coun-
cil and a colonial secretary they have also expressed
their willingness to concede. Of trial by jury, and a co-
lonial assembly, we confess that we have great doubts.
At some future time they must come, and ought to
come. The only question is, is the colony fit for such
institutions at present? Are there a sufficient num-
ber of respectable persons to serve that office in the
various settlements? If the English law is be to fol-
lowed exactly, to compose a jury of twelve persons,
a pannel of forty-eight must be summoned. Could
forty-eight intelligent, unconvicted men, be found in
every settlement of New South Wales? or must they
not be fetched from great distances, at an enormous
expense and inconvenience? Is such an institution
calculated for so very young a colony? A good go-
vernment is an excellent thing; but it is not the first
in the order of human wants. The first want is to
subsist; the next to subsist in freedom and comfort;
first to live at all, then to live well. A parliament is
still a greater demand upon the wisdom and intelli.
gence and opulence of a colony, than trial by jury.
Among the twenty thousand inhabitants of New South
Wales, are there ten persons out of the employ of
government whose wisdom and prudence could rea-

The cruelty and neglect in the transportation of convicts have been very great-and in this way a punishment inflicted which it never was in the contemplation of law to enact. During the first eight years, according to Mr. Bennet's statements, onetenth of the convicts died on the passage; on the arrival of three of the ships, 200 sick were landed, 281 persons having died on board. These instances, however, of criminal inattention to the health of the convicts, no longer take place; and it is mentioned rather as an history of what is past, than a censure upon any existing evil.

In addition to the expense of Botany Bay, Mr. Bennet contends that it wants the very essence of punishment, terror; that the common people do not dread it; that instead of preventing crimes, it rather excites the people to their commission, by the hopes it affords of bettering their condition in a new country

"All those who have had an opportunity of witnessing the effect of this system of transportation agree in opinion, that it is no longer an object of dread-it has, in fact, generally ceased to be a punishment: true it is, to a father of a family, to the mother who leaves her children, this perpetual separa cruel blow, and, when I consider the merciless character of the tion from those whom they love and whom they support, is a law which inflicts it, a severe penalty; but by far the greater number of persons who suffer this punishment, regard it in quite a different light. Mr. Cotton, the ordinary of Newgate, informed the police committee last year, "that the generality of those who are transported consider it as a party of pleasure -as going out to see the world; they evince no penitence, no contrition, but seem to rejoice in the thing-many of them to court it. I have heard them, when the sentence of transportation has been passed by the recorder, return thanks for it, and seem overjoyed at their sentence the very last party that

went of, when they were put into the caravan, shouted and nuzzaed, and were very joyous; several of them called out to the keepers who were there in the yard, the first fine Sunday we will have a glorious kangaroo hunt at the Bay-seeming to anticipate a great deal of pleasure." He was asked if those persons were married or single, and his answer was, "by far the greater number of them unmarried. Some of them are anxious that their wives and children should follow them; others care nothing about either wives or children, and are glad to get rid of them."-Bennet, pp. 60,61.

authority, and to establish a regular police, under such a weight of accumulated and accumulating evils. I am as sensible as any man can be, that the difficulty of removing these evils will be very great; at the same time, their number and influence may be greatly lessened, if the abandoned male and female convicts are lodged in barracks, and placed under the eye of the police, and the number of licensed houses is reduced. Till something of this kind is done, all attempts of the magistrate, and the public administration of religion, will bo attended with little good. I have the honour to be your excellency's most obedient humble servant, SAMUEL MARSDEN'

It is a scandalous injustice in this colony, that per--Bennet, p, 104. sons transported for seven years, have no power of Thus much for Botany Bay. As a mere colony, it returning when that period is expired. A strong ac is too distant and expensive; and, in future, will of tive man may sometimes work his passage home; but course involve us in many of those just and necessary what is an old man or aged female to do? Suppose a` wars, which deprive Englishmen so rapidly of their convict were to be confined in prison for seven years, comforts, and make England scarcely worth living in. and then told he might get out if he could climb over If considered as a place of reform for criminals, its the walls, or break open the locks, what in general distance, expense, and the society to which it dooms would be his chance of liberation? But no lock nor dcors can be so secure a means of detention as the the objects of the experiment, are insuperable objec tions to it. It is in vain to say, that the honest people distance of Botany Bay. This is a downright trick in New South Wales will soon bear a greater propor and fraud in the administration of criminal justice. A tion to the rogues, and the contamination of bad poor wretch who is banished from his country for society will be less fatal. This only proves that it seven years, should be furnished with the means of returning to his country when these seven years are expired. If it is intended he should never return, his sentence should have been banishment for life.

may be a good place for reform hereafter, not that it is a good one now. One of the principal reasons for peopling Botany Bay at all, was, that it would be an admirable receptacle, and a school of reform, for our convicts. It turns out, that for the first half century it will make them worse than they were before, and that, after that period, they may probably begin to improve. A marsh, to be sure, may be drained and cultivated; but no man who has his choice, would select it in the mean time for his dwelling-place.

The three books are all books of merit. Mr. O'.

Hara's is a bookseller's compilation, done in a useful
mation on the present state of Botany Bay.
and pleasing manner.
The humanity, the exertions, and the genuine benevolence
of Mr. Bennet, are too well known to need our com-

Mr. Wentworth is full of infor
The

mendation.

The most serious charge against the colony, as a place for transportation, and an experiment in crimi nal justice, is the extreme profligacy of manners which prevails there, and the total want of reformation among the convicts. Upon this subject, except in the regular letters, officially varnished and filled with fraudulent beatitudes for the public eye, there is, and there can be, but one opinion. New South Wales is a sink of wickedness, in which the great majority of convicts of both sexes become infinitely more depraved than at the period of their arrival. How, as Mr. Bennet very justly observes, can it be otherwise? felon transported to the American plantations, became an insulated rogue among honest men. He lived for All persons who have a few guineas in their pocket, years in the family of some industrious planter, without seeing a picklock, or indulging in pleasant dia- are now running away from Mr. Nicholas Vansittart logues on the delicious burglaries of his youth. He to settle in every quarter of the globe. Upon the imperceptibly glided into honest habits, and lost not subject of emigration to Botany Bay, Mr. Wentworth observes, 1st, that any respectable person emigrating only the tact for pockets, but the wish to investigate to that colony, receives as much land gratis, as would their contents. But in Botany Bay, the felon, as soon as he gets out of the ship, mects with his ancient cost him 4007. in the United States; 2dly, he is allowtrull, with the footpad of his heart, the convict of his ed as many servants as he may require, at one-third affections, the man whose hand he has often met in of the wages paid for labour in America; 3dly, himthe same gentleman's pocket-the being whom he self and family are victualled at the expense of gov would choose from the whole world to take to the ernment for six months. He calculates that a man,-wife, and two children, with an allowance of five tons road, or to disentangle the locks of Bramah. It is for themselves and baggage, could emigrate to Botany Impossible that vice should not become more intense Bay for 1001., including every expense, provided a in such society. whole ship could be freighted; and that a single man These points are could be taken out thither for 301. worthy of serious attention to those who are shedding their country.

Upon the horrid state of morals now prevalent in Botany Bay, we would counsel our readers to cast their eyes upon the account given by Mr. Marsden, in a letter, dated July, 1815, to Governor Macquarrie. It is given at length in the appendix to Mr. Bennet's book. A more horrid picture of the state of any settlement was never penned. It carries with it an air of truth and sincerity, and is free from all enthusiastic

cant.

'I now appeal to your excellency,' (he says, at the conclusion of his letter,) whether, under such circumstances, any man of common feeling, possessed of the least spark of humanity or religion, who stood in the same official relation that I do to these people, as their spiritual pastor and magistrate, could enjoy one happy moment from the beginning to the end of the

week?

I humbly conceive that it is incompatible with the character and wish of the British nation, that her own exiles should be exposed to such privations and dangerous temptations, when she is daily feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, and receiving into her friendly, and I may add pious bosom, the stranger, whether savage or civilized, of every nation under heaven. There are, in the whole, nnder the two principal superintendents, Messrs. Rouse and Oakes, one hundred and eight men, and one hundred and fifty women, and several children; and nearly the whole of them have to find lodgings for themselves when they have performed their government tasks.

I trust that your excellency will be fully persuaded, that it is totally impossible for the magistrate to support his necessary

Account of the Proceedings of the Society for superseding the Necessity of Climbing Boys. Baldwin, &c. London, 1816. AN excellent and well-arranged dinner is a most pleas. ing occurrence, and a great triumph of civilized life. It is not only the descending morsel, and the envelop ing sauce-but the rank, wealth, wit, and beauty which surround the meats-the learned management of light and heat-the silent and rapid services of the attendants-the smiling and sedulous host, proffering guests and relishes-the exotic bottles-the embossed plate-the pleasant remarks-the handsome dressesthe cunning artifices in fruit and farina! The hour of dinner, in short, includes every thing of sensual and intellectual gratification which a great nation glories in producing.

In the midst of all this, who knows that the kitchen chimney caught fire half an hour before dirner!—and that a poor little wretch, of six or seven years old

was sent up in the midst of the flames to put it out? We would not, previous to reading this evidence, have formed a conception of the miseries of these poor wretches, or that there should exist, in a civilized country, a class of human beings destined to such extreme and varied distress. We, will give a short epitome of what is developed in the evidence before the two Houses of Parliament.

Boys are made chimney sweepers at the early age of five or six.

Little boys for small flues, is a common phrase in the cards left at the door by itinerant chimney sweepers. Flues made to ovens and coppers are often less than nine inches square; and it may be easily conceived, how slender the frame of that human body must be, which can force itself through such an aper

ture.

"What is the age of the youngest boys who have been employed in this trade, to your knowledge? About five years of age I know one now between five or six years old; it is the man's own son in the Strand: now there is another at Somer's Town, I think, said he was between four and five, or about five; Jack Hall, a little lad, takes him about.-Did you ever know any female children employed? Yes, I know one now. About two years ago there was a woman told me she had climbed scores of times, and there is one at Paddington now whose father taught her to climb: but I have often heard talk of them when I was apprentice, in different places.-What is the smallest-sized flue you have ever met with in the course of your experience? About eight inches by nine; these they are always obliged to climb in this posture (describing it), keeping the arms up straight; if they slip their arms down, they get jammed in; unless they get their arms close over their head they cannot climb.'-Lords' Minutes, No. 1. The following is a specimen of the manner in which they are taught this art of climbing chimneys:

p.

8.

Do you remember being taught to climb chimneys? Yes. What did you feel upon the first attempt to climb a chimney? The first chimney I went up, they told me there was some plumb-pudding and money up at the top of it, and that is the way they enticed me up; and when I got up, I would not let the other boy get from under me to get at it; I thought he would get it; I could not get up, and shoved the pot and half the chimney down into the yard. Did you experience any inconvenience to your knees, or your elbows? Yes, the skin was off my knees and elbows too, in climbing up the new chimneys they forced me up.-How did they force you up? When I got up, I cried out about my sore knees.-Were you beat or compelled to go up by any violent means? Yes, when I went to a narrow chimney, if I could not do it, I durst not go ome; when I used to come down, my master would beat me with the brush; and not only my master, but when we used to go with the journeymen, if we could not do it, they used to hit us three or four times with the brush.'-Lords' Minutes, No. 1. p. 5.

In practising the art of climbing, they are often crippled.

inside of a room? Yes, I have helped to break through into a kitchen chimney in a dining room.-Lords' Minutes, p. 34. To the same effect is the evidence of John Daniels

(Minutes, p. 100,) and of James Ludford (Lords' Minutes, p. 147.)

You have swept the Penitentiary? I have.-Did you ever know a boy stick in any of the chimneys there? Yes, I have that stuck? Two of them.-How long did they stick there? -Was it one of your boys? It was.-Was there one or two Was there any danger while they were in that situation? It Two hours. How were they got out? They were cut out was the core from the pargetting of the chimney, and the rubbish that the labourers had thrown down, that stopped them, and when they got it aside them, they could not pass.-They both stuck together? Yes.'-Lords' Minutes, p. 147.

One more instance we shall give from the evidence before the Commons.

'Have you heard of any accidents that have recently happened to climbing boys in the smail flues? Yes; I have often net with accidents myself when I was a boy; there was lately one in Mary-le-bone, where the boy lost his life in a flue, a boy of the name of Tinsey (his father was of the same trade); that boy I think was about eleven or twelve years old.-Was there a coroner's inquest sat on the body of that boy you mentioned? Yes, there was; he was an apprentice of a man of the name of Gay.-How many accidents do you recollect, which were attended with loss of life to the climbing boys? I have heard talk of many more than I know of; I never knew of more than three since I have been at the trade, but I have heard talk of many more.-Of twenty or thirty? I cannot say; I have been near losing my own life several times.'-Commons' Report, p. 53.

We come now to burning little chimney sweepers A large party are invited to dinner-a great display is to be made; and about an hour before dinner, there is an alarm that the kitchen chimney is on fire! It is impossible to put off the distinguished personages who are expected. It gets very late for the soup and fish-the cook is frantic-all eyes are turned upon the sable consolation of the master chimney sweeper-and up into the midst of the burning chimney is sent one of the miserable little infants of the brush! There is a positive prohibition of this practice, and an enactment of penalties in one of the acts of Parliament which respect chimney sweepers. But what matter acts of Parliament, when the pleasures of genteel people are concerned? Or what is a toasted child, compared to the agonies or the mistress of the house with a deranged dinner?

Is that usual? Yes, I have been burnt myself, and have got 'Did you ever know a boy get burnt up a chimney? Yes.the scars on my legs; a year ago I was up a chimney in Liquor Pond Street; I have been up more than forty chimneys where I have been burnt.-Did your master or the journeymen ever direct you to go up a chimney that was on fire? Yes, it is a general case. Do they compel you to go up a chimney that is on fire? Oh yes, it was the general practice for two of us to 'You talked of the pargetting to chimneys; are many chim-stop at home on Sunday to be ready in case of a chimney being a-fire. You say it is general to compel the boys to go up neys pargetted? There used to be more than are now; we chimneys on fire? Yes, boys get very ill-treated if they do used to have to go and sit all a-twist to parge them, according to the floors, to keep the smoke from coming out; then I could not go up.'-Lords' Minutes, p. 34. not strengthen my legs; and that is the reason that many are forced up one once, and, because I could not do it, I was taken Were you ever forced up a chimney on fire? Yes, I was cripples, from parging and stopping the holes.'-Lords' Min-home and well hided with a brush by the journeyman.-Have utes, No. 1. p. 17.

you frequently been burnt in ascending chimneys on fire? They are often stuck fast in a chimney, and, after mon in the trade with other boys? Yes, they are.—Ibid. p. Three times. Are such hardships as you have described comremaining there many hours, are cut out.

'Have you known, in the course of your practice, boys stick in chimneys at all? Yes, frequently. Did you ever know an instance of a boy being suffocated to death? No; I do not recollect any one at present, but I have assisted in taking boys out when they have been nearly exhausted.-Did you ever know an instance of its being necessary to break open a chimney to take the boy out? O yes.-Frequently? Monthly I might say; it is done with a cloak, if possible, that it should not be discovered: a master in general wishes it not to be known, and therefore speaks to the people belonging to the house not to mention it, for it was merely the boy's neglect; they oftey say it was the boy's neglect.-Why do they say that? The boy's climbing shirt is often very bad; the boy coming down, if the chimney be very narrow, and numbers of them are only nine inches, gets his shirt rumpled underneath him, and he has no power after he is fixed in that way (with his hand up.-Does a boy frequently stick in the chimney? Yes, I have known more instances of that the last twelvemonth than before.-Do you ever have to break open in the

100.

'What is the price for sending a boy up a chimney badly on fire? The price allowed is five shillings, but most of them charge half a guinea.-Is any part of that given to the boy? No, but very often the boy gets half a crown; and then the journeyman has half, and his mistress takes the other part to take care of against Sunday.-Have you never seen water thrown down from the top of a chimney when it is on fire? Yes.-Is not that generally done? Yes; I have seen that done twenty times, and the boy in the chimney; at the time when the boy has hallooed out, "It is so hot I cannot go any further;" and then the expression is, with an oath, "Stop, and I will heave a pail of water down."'-Ibid. p. 39.

Chimney sweepers are subject to a peculiar sort of cancer, which often brings them to premature death.

'He appeared perfectly willing to try the machines everywhere? I must say the man appeared perfectly willing; he had a fear that he and his family would be ruined by them, but I must say of him, that he is very different from ether

sweeps I have seen: he attends very much to his own busi-] ness; he was as black as any boy he had got, and unfortunately in the course of conversation he told me he had got a cancer; he was a fine healthy strong looking man; he told me he dreaded having an operation performed, but his father died of the same complaint, and his father was sweeper to King George the Second.'-Lords' Minutes, p. 84.

What is the nature of the particular diseases? The diseases that we particularly noticed, to which they were subject, were of a cancerous description. In what part? The scrotum, in particular, &c. Did you ever hear of cases of that description that were fatal? No, I do not think them as altogether being fatal, unless they will not submit to the operation; they have such a dread of the operation that they will not submit to it, and if they do not let it be perfectly removed they will be liable to the return of it. To what cause do you attribute that disease? I think it begins from a want of care: the scrotum being in so many folds or crevices, the soot lodges in them and creates an itching, and I conceive that, by scratching it and tearing it, the soot gets in and creates the irritability; which disease we know by the name of the chimney sweeper's cancer, and is always lectured upon separately as a distinct disease. Then the committee understands that the physicians who are entrusted with the care and management of those hospitals think that disease of such common occurrence, that it is necessary to make it a part of surgical education? Most assuredly; I remember Mr. Cline and Mr. Cooper were particular on that subject. Without an operation there is no cure? I conceive not; I conceive without the operation it is death; for cancers are of that nature that unless you extirpate them entirely they will never be cured.'-Commons' Rep. p. 60, 61.

In addition to the life they led as chimney sweepers, is superadded the occupation of nightmen.

(By a Lord.) Is it generally the custom that many masters are likewise nightmen? Yes; I forgot that circumstance, which is very grievous; I have been tied round the middle, and let down several privies, for the purpose of fetching watches, and such things; it is generally made the practice to take the smallest boy, to let him through the hole without taking up the seat, and to paddle about there until he finds it; they do not take a big boy, because it disturbs the seat.-Lords' Minutes, p. 38.

Not the least of their miseries, while their trial endures, is their exposure to cold. It will easily be believed that much money is not expended on the clothes of a poor boy stolen from his parents, or sold by them for a few shillings, and constantly occupied in dirty work. Yet the nature of their occupations renders chimney sweepers peculiarly susceptible of cold. And as chimneys must be swept very early, at four or five o'clock of a winter morning, the poor boys are shiver. ing at the door, and attempting by repeated ringings to rouse the profligate footman; but the more they ring the more the footman does not come.

yes.-Always? I never saw one go out with stockings;
'Do they not go out in the winter without stockings? Oh,
have known masters make their boys pull off their leggins,
and cut off the feet, to keep their feet warm when they have
chilblains.-Are chimney-sweepers' boys particuiarly subject
to chilblains? Yes; I believe it is owing to the weather: they
often go out at two or three in the morning, and their shoes
are generally very bad.-Do they go out at that hour at
Christmas? Yes; a man will have twenty jobs at four, and
twenty more at five or six.-Are chimneys generally swept
much about Christmas time? Yes; they are in general; it is
left to the Christmas week.-Do you suppose it is frequent
that, in the Christmas week, boys are out from three o'clock
in the morning to nine or ten? Yes, further than that; I have
known that a boy has been only in and out again directly all
day till five o'clock in the evening. Do you consider the
journeymen and masters treat those boys generally with
greater cruelty than other apprentices in other trades are
treated? They do, most horrid and shocking.'-Lords' Mi
nutes, p. 33.

The following is the reluctant evidence of a master. At what hour in the morning did your boys go out upon their employment? According to orders.-At any time? To be sure; suppose a nobleman wished to have his chimney done before four or five o'clock in the morning, it was done, or how were the servants to get their things done?-Supposing you had an order to attend at four o'clock in the month of December, you sent your boy? I was generally with him, or had a careful follower with him.-Do you think those early hours

The bed of these poor little wretches is often the beneficial for him? I do; and I have heard that "early to bed soot they have swept in the day.

'How are the boys generally lodged; where do they sleep at night? Some masters may be better than others, but I know I have slept on the soot that was gathered in the day myself. Where do boys generally sleep? Never on a bed; I never slept on a bed myself while I was apprentice.-Do they sleep in cellars? Yes, very often; I have slept in the cellar myself on the sacks I took out.-What had you to cover you? The same -Had you any pillow? No further than my breeches and jacket under my head.-How were you clothed? When I was apprentice we had a pair of leather breeches and a small flannel jacket.-Any shoes and stockings? Oh dear no; no stockings. Had you any other clothes for Sunday? Sometimes we had an old bit of a jacket, that we might wash out ourselves, and a shirt.'-Lords' Minutes, p. 40.

Girls are occasionally employed as chimney sweep

ers.

Another circumstance, which has not been mentioned to

and early to rise, is the way to be healthy, wealthy, and wise." -Did they always get in as soon as they knocked? No; it would be pleasant to the profession if they could.-How long did they wait? Till the servants please to rise.-How long might that be? According how heavy they were to sleep. How long was that? It is impossible to say; ten minutes at one house, and twenty at another.-Perhaps half an hour? We cannot see in the dark how the minutes go.-Do you think it aealthy to let them stand there twenty minutes at four o'clock in the morning in the winter time? He has a cloth to wrap himself in like a mantle, and keep himself warm.'Lords' Minutes, pp. 138, 139.

We must not forget sore eyes. Soot lodges on their eyelids, produces irritability, which requires friction; and the friction of dirty hands of course increases the disease. The greater proportion of chimney sweepers are in consequence blear-eyed. The boys are very small, but they are compelled to carry heavy loads of

soot.

the committee, is, that there are several little girls employed; there are two of the name of Morgan at Windsor, daughters 'Are you at all lame yourself? No: but I am "knappedof the chimney-sweeper who is employed to sweep the chim-kneed" with carrying heavy loads when I was an apprentice. neys of the Castle; another instance at Uxbridge, and at-That was the occasion of it? It was.-In general, are perBrighton, and at Whitechapel, (which was some years ago,) sons employed in your trade either stunted or knock-kneed by and at Hadley near Barnet, and Witham in Essex, and else- carrying heavy loads during their childhood? It is owing to where.-Commons' Report, p. 71. their masters a great deal; and when they climb a great deal it makes them weak.'-Commons' Report, p. 58.

Another peculiar danger to which chimney sweepers are exposed, is the rottenness of the pots at the top > of chimneys; for they must ascend to the very summit, and show their brushes above them, or there is no proof that the work is properly completed. These chimney-pots, from their exposed situation, are very subject to decay; and when the poor little wretch has worked his way up to the top, pot and boy give way together, and are both shivered to atoms. There are many instances of this in the evidence before both Houses. When they outgrow the power of going up a chimney, they are fit for nothing else. The miseries they have suffered lead to nothing. They are not only enormous, but unprofitable: having suffered, in what is called the happiest part of his life, every misery which an human being can suffer, they are then cast out to rob and steal, and given up to the

law.

In climbing a chimney, the great hold is by the knees and elbows. A young child of six or seven years old, working with knees and elbows against hard bricks, soon rubs off the skin from these bony projections, and is forced to climb high chimneys with raw and bloody knees and elbows.

'Are boys' knees and elbows rendered sore when they first begin to learn to climb? Yes, they are, and pieces out of them.-Is that almost generally the case? It is; there is not one out of twenty who is not; and they are sure to take the scars to their grave: I have some now.-Are they usually compelled to continue climbing wh le those sores are open? Yes; the way they use to make them hard is that way. learning to climb? Yes; but they consider in the business, Might not this severity be obviated by the use of pads in learning a boy, that he is never thoroughly learned until the boy's knees are hard after being sore; then they consider it necessary to put a pad on, from seeing the boy have bad knees;