like a corkscrew, you went a great distance and did not make much advance. When I came to the bottom of a hill, I saw a little girl, and I said to her, "My little girl, I've been trying to find out the church, and I can't find it: can you tell me where it is?" She looked up at me directly, and, in the dialect of that country, said, "Goo straight upkeep straight on-you must not turn, and you'll see it." Now I say to you, if you wish for success, take the advice of the little girl of Paulisperry. Let us see what it is: there must be elevation of purpose, "go straight up"-there must be perseverence in action, "keep straight on"-there must be consistency of conduct, "you must not turn"--and there will be clearness of vision, “you'll see it." Now I cannot forget, in conclusion, my professional habits. I treat you as a jury. We have not ladies on our juries in our courts of justice, but we have here, and it makes the decision more interesting. I am glad you have heard the witnesses-they are men of experience and men of integrity. The evidence is all one way it does not require summing up. You need not turn round to consult, but immediately pronounce your unanimous verdict in favour of the Metropolitan Drapers' Association. (The learned gentleman's humorous address elicited continual shouts of laughter, and he sat down amidst loud and general applause.)

THE HON. AND Rev. Baptist W. NOEL.-I congratulate you, Ladies and Gentlemen, that you have assembled here this evening, were it only to hear the speech which has just been finished, and to enjoy that innocent exhilaration of which that speech has been the source. It is no small privilege which any man enjoys to give half an hour's innocent delight to so many persons as are assembled here; and that honourable gentleman, who has just sat down, may rejoice in the reflection that gladdened Sir Walter Scott, that, if he had done nothing else, he had contributed to the innocent satisfaction of so many of his fellow-creatures, particularly when I remember that many of those whom I have the pleasure of addressing to-night are the very persons whose sufferings we have met to speak of whose depression we are endeavouring to alleviate, and to whom it is no small blessing to spend one evening like this in innocent gratification. I congratulate you, Ladies and Gentlemen, that you are presided over, on this occasion, by one who, having been born of illustrious rank, has accounted it a fair and worthy ornament to high birth to live usefully, and to secure the esteem of his contemporaries by toils more varied and more encouraging, but scarcely less arduous, than your own. I congratulate you, my Lord, likewise, that, after the other kind of eminence which you have laudably sought, you have likewise added to those laurels you already possessed, by placing yourself at the head of this great movement, which is calculated to accomplish, in some measure, one of the greatest objects for which humane men ought to live-that is, to endeavour to raise the depressed, and place in more favourable circumstances those who have had less advantages than yourself. What we have heard this evening may surely be enough to convince us, my Lord, that the task which this Association is endeavouring to achieve is one worthy of its best and most untiring energies. Let us never forget that thousands of our fellow-men in this metropolis are spending fourteen and fifteen hours daily in an impure atmosphere, toiling for objects that cannot encourage them to lie down at night in rooms as unwholesome as those in which they have toiled during the day, and that the effect of such labour is such, as has been described by one well qualified to judge, as is calculated to injure every function of the human frame. He has told us, in conjunction with others, who have had similar experience with his own, that under this system the blood suffers-the nerves suffer- the lungs suffer-the stomach suffers the brain suffers and he also showed us that the mind suffers-and the heart suffers, and man drags on a miserable existence for only half the natural term of his days, and then prematurely dies. It is that system which we are endeavouring to alter. These are the evils which it is our object to redress; and while the system of trade in our metropolis is destroying the happiness of so many, I, for one, should feel it a very worthy object to occupy our best attention, if it were only to alleviate the sufferings of those who are so engaged, and to communicate a larger portion of temporal enjoyment to them, for a Christian man ought not to be indifferent to the present welfare of his fellow-men. When I recollect how the Great Author of all good compassionates our simplest sorrows, I must feel that he who is anxious to guide his mind and conform his actions by the mandates of that Great Being, ought not to consider it a light matter that he should be able to alleviate, in the least degree, the present sufferings of his fellowmen, especially if those sufferings are caused by man, or are distinctly remediable by This world is sad enough already not gratuitously to make it sadder. We have no reason to lessen the little sum of human enjoyment which the fall has left us. Surely it ought to be the thought of all-of the public-of employers and of the assistants themselves, that all might lessen, by some little degree, the load which each brother has to bear, and increase the sources of human comfort which are yet within his reach. It were a saddening, but also a necessary and very useful examination, could it be shown distinctly, as I wish this Association had power to show, how many of these young

man.

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But let za remember that it is to the resins it is megos who are engaged as 284 NOTION DATE, she me time med is goe with that summing, vins diline to DE SIRET E que your own. You have BAK GELS & THE set of the four maten of your sisters in suffering, whose delicate frames we owe the pms the cfects of incessant toil; but let us ter er forvet that your viser vi jedt de wil persit them to be sacred the re effets as recule mrselves, have been I d me think the reice of the public med with success: tre are these aime or be benefited There are other trades bada you own a wild young men in sång ke pertracted to. You know the chemlats of this metropolis are exposed to the same eris as those of which you on pain; and there is a close entsection between the improvement of your own condition and that of those who are similarly stated. I feed. I cannot het einsider the question of your emancipation from unnecessary labour as a part of a much larger investigation, and a yet more important practical principle, which ought to be set in our day before the mind of every considerate and humane person. It is impossible for us to hear such brief notions as have been made this evening, of the state of another portion of the industrious class, without deep sympathy. tion has endeavoured to rescue women from employment which was felt to be disgraceful Look to those mines of England, in which, when legisla to our nature, they are still to be found, forced thither by poverty. The result, at least in part, of that humanely intended interposition, has been a decrease of the means of living, and they now put on the dresses of men, and labour as men, in these mines. It is this poverty-unalleviated poverty, in a large class of the community, which is depressing that class still lower: it is protracted and exhausting toil for inadequate wages, joined to incessant anxiety, which is depressing so many of our fellow-subjects; and a humane man should neither shut his eyes to the fact, nor fail to consider how these evils may be r-dressed. To me it seems still more solemn, and still more painful, when I remember the effect this poverty and sorrow are having upon the minds of each of these myriads. They are learning not to love the country in which they live, but to dislike its institutions, and hate itself. Can you teach the ox to love the slaughter-house, where it smells the scent of death? Can you teach the wretched to love the land in which they have no happiness, but seem placed only to die? Can you teach them to love the religion which seems connected with these institutions and to uphold them? And if not, then are the masses of our land, who are becoming daily more separated from all that should obtain their attachment, sinking into a condition which must render them a terror to our legis lators, and a blot upon the country. than sinning," but the circumstances in which they are placed. It is worthy of the I do not mean themselves, "more sinned against deepest consideration, how they may be better fed, more employed, guided to greater happiness, and then led up to the highest and holiest of all employments, the joyful contemplation of God's favours, thereby learning to love him whose blessing they enjoy. Now, in placing this matter thus prominently before you, I feel sure there is an indirect but most certain conjunction between the lamentable results I have been alluding to and the more immediate object of our present exertions. Possessing, in man's power to remedy those evils which are caused by man,feeling sure that if once the heart is right, and the head enlightened, the remedy will be found, I feel certain, as I do, a strong faith that if the attention of the community is once strongly directed to this object, so essential

to be examined, the good resulting will be spread far and wide, and the masses of our country may be raised in their condition, and enjoy those advantages which, as members of a civilized community, they have a right to expect from its arrangements. There is, my Lord, what I am persuaded your Lordship, in the course of a long experience, must uften have observed, a remarkable connexion between the distant results of any measure which may be carried, of good or evil; the evil leading often to some mischievous consequence its author never apprehended; while on the other hand, a measure, based on sound principles, has conducted to results no less unexpected, and which came with all the gladness of a great discovery when at length achieved. A further illustration of this truth will be witnessed in this metropolis, when we shall have the public attention directed to this object-how they may raise the condition of assistant drapers in this metropolis-how they can improve their physical condition, and give to them the comforts of knowledge, and the blessings of morality and religion? That very investigation will have prepared the public for devising the means by which all the suffering of the community may be alleviated, and every class may have its portion of that public benefit. If I am not wrong in combining these distant results with the immediate object before us, then let us observe what we are doing. Labour was ordained of God. It was indeed to punish man's transgression that the necessity of labour was inflicted upon him. But, with all the mercy of a parent, his Creator permitted it to be a solace and employment at the same time. He gave him also the disposition to recover the eminence he had lost; but labour, which ought to be honourable, has become through this system a source of evil and not of good. Labour ought to be engaged in with satisfaction; but you carry it on, Gentlemen, under the sense of pain. Labour ought to be productive of good, and you feel it to be the source of evil. Labour ought to brace the frame and strengthen the intellect; you feel it to be debilitating to the body, and destructive of the mind. Labour, by stimulating the intellect to higher employments, ought to be the source of honour to him who labours, and make him feel a greater man in the sight of his fellow-men; but when labour is so carried on that it impairs the mental faculties, deprives of all leisure for improvement, and dwarfs the mental capacity, then must the sufferer feel, with a debilitated body and weakened mind, that his labour has degraded him. He dare not look his fellowman, more happily circumstanced than himself, in the face as he should do, but is compelled to hang his head with shame from carrying on toils which degrade him.

Why, my Lord, men engaged in trade in this great country ought to be able to look the world in the face, and tell them that labour, in which they engage, strengthens them for every wholesome exertion, makes them better citizens, and better men. Now, I ask you, whether the assistant drapers of this city could look in the face of the tradesmen of other nations, where shops are earlier closed, and comfort more consulted, where their frames are more robust, their countenances more ruddy, and hearts more cheerful; whether sunken and depressed in spirit they could stand manfully before other men and rejoice in thinking, each one of them, am an Englishman. Trade, gentlemen, ought to be the glory of the country which most engages in it. Unlike the results of war, which only prospers by the sorrows of those opposed to each other, trade reaps its pacific victories by diffusing happiness to all. But trade, when it ruins the mental and physical faculties, becomes a monstrous curse instead of a blessing, and makes one question, whether the miseries war inflicts on those who seek its false glory are not even less than those which this fatal competition in trade inflicts. But if the objects I have stated are indeed the objects which this Association has in view, we have to ask ourselves, in this stage of our proceedings, what prospect we have of ultimate success?

There is much, Ladies and Gentlemen, which may encourage us in looking back through our short experience of the past. If we consider the steps already taken, it must be apparent that there is a current of public opinion setting in which, as your Lordship said, must ultimately prove irresistible; and if there be that perseverance, which the gentleman, who has just sat down, so effectively recommended, then will success crown your efforts. You have heard this evening how many public meetings have been held; you have heard of the many thousands of tracts which have been distributed; and let us remember that one very important practical question is this, that knowledge must precede action; and therefore, the first duty of those that think is to enlighten those who have not thought. To some of you, this question may have been so deeply interesting that it has led you to an examination of its details; but the world at large are not acquainted with its melancholy effects, and it is only by such statements as Dr. Lankester's that they can have data upon which to form sound conclusions; and those who have informed themselves should impart that information to others. To do so is a positive duty with which they must feel themselves to be charged. That duty we are discharging; we are endeavouring, by this meeting, to communicate that knowledge far and wide, which must lead every human person to the same conclusion as yourselves. There is no dread that wrong conclusions will be drawn, if only the evidence be allowed

now

to determine the result. The knowledge, thus communicated, has already chased away many prejudices, and in that dawn of information which has risen up, as respects this object, already have many of those prejudices been driven to their obscure retirement; and, depend upon it, as the dawn advances to full day, and public opinion beams upon this subject, not one single prejudice will dare to remain in the public gaze, but every invader of your time, and health, and comforts, and morals, will retire to his den of darkness, to appear no more for ever.

Let me state to you some of those effects which have already been accomplished in this interesting undertaking. Other towns have been seized with the same enthusiasm as yourselves; and meetings as large as this have been called, where numbers of influential persons have expressed their opinion against this noxious system. Effects also of a directly practical kind have become apparent in Liverpool. There is a decided tendency to short hours of labour. The banks close at one o'clock on Saturday, to give the day as a half-holiday to those engaged in their offices. Such an indulgence might reasonably be extended to assistants in other employments too. A few years ago, a Mr. Hodgson, an American merchant, took a prominent part in this question. The clerks in some mercantile houses then worked as late as assistant drapers do. It was thought, as many miscalculating employers think now, that this system could not be altered; but the question was agitated, and it was soon found that it was most easy to abridge the hours, and each American merchant was able to return to his house by six o'clock instead of eleven. But this only shows the temper which is now beginning to be produced in the community. It is the more immediate effect of your own exertions that the employers of Liverpool have agreed to close their shops at seven, and have liberated their young men previously kept to a much later hour. A large part of the draper's shops have now adopted the same period for closing, and seven o'clock is becoming the common hour at which the better class of shops are closed for the night. In this metropolis there was a friend of mine who wished to close the Stock Exchange on Saturdays, that the young men engaged in banks and elsewhere might have opportunities for recreation. He has now succeeded in that object, and those young men are liberated to seek enjoyment on Saturday afternoon, and thus can spend the Sabbath in quiet which before was devoted to pleasure. Since I came into this room, I have learned that the wholesale traders in the city have also agreed to close their warehouses at six o'clock regularly, in consequence of which the young men are much earlier released. At Manchester, the wholesale houses have agreed to allow Saturday as a half-holiday. All these are satisfactory proof that public opinion is beginning to enforce as a rule that, wherever it is practicable, the hours of labour should be abridged, and those engaged in them should be admitted to the advantages which other classes enjoy. And what is it that the drapers seek? Simply to be put on a level with the artizans of our country,-they are engaged but ten hours out of the twenty-four, and have the remainder of the day to themselves. Many of them are intelligent, well-read men,-men who are an honour to our country, not only for their skilfulness of hand, but for their practical understandings. And if those engaged in shops are of as gentle natures, and born as well, why are they to be doomed to be the only devoted class who are not to cultivate the intellect or refresh the heart? Well, then, if the steps we have already taken bode well for the future, let us ask what may be done from this day to lessen the remaining evils? It is an achievement at which every one must rejoice, and for which every devout mind is disposed to thank the Giver of all good, that in this, the very infancy of your exertions, the draper's shops have already at least abridged one hour for mental improvement,-one precious hour, which is abundantly able to repay all the exertions in which you have been engaged. That one valuable hour is the first instalment of your claims, and, if you only persevere, all you may legitimately ask-all which in the moderation of your views you do ask-will be yours. The resolution, which I have been requested to second, pledges this meeting to endeavour to secure the object aimed at, by abstaining from making evening purchases; and I agree that this is the ultimate and main effort to be made. But there is one other which should not be disregarded. There is an argument for employers as well as the public. It is this,—that if in any neighbourhood there are two shops, of which the one closes early and one keeps open late, the humane persons of that neighbourhood ought, if other things are equal, to prefer trading with that which closes early. Perhaps this may be thought by some a kind of persecution, or a means which honourable men would resist; but I am persuaded it does not appear so to any of those humane employers who crowd the platform, or any that appeared at your last meeting; and I think a few words will convince any one that it is what strict justice imperatively requires: for, in some neighbourhoods, if one shop closes early and the other late, the early shop either suffers loss by the arrangement, or it does not. If it does, then, that loss surely ought to be repaired by the justice and humanity of the community. But sometimes there is no such loss; and if there is no loss, then observe the inference,—that the shop which

still holds on in long hours does it in mere cruelty, and deserves on that hypothesis to be shunned just as the other deserves to be supported.

Now sometimes, Gentlemen, there is a competition in this country which is unreasonable. I am well aware that to many employers, who are upright and humane, there may be a vast temptation, which many, perhaps, in their circumstances might not have resisted -a temptation which the sight of their large families and the examination of their books may render almost insuperably great, to obtain, in this age of deadly competition, these small gains which may seem insignificant to some, but which are necessary to enable them to carry on their business at all. For all such cases, especially in the humbler neighbourhoods, we ought to make great allowances; but there is sometimes a competition more unreasonable sometimes a feeling of rivalry which may require to be reproved by some gentle coercion. Thus we have heard of two shopkeepers who felt this rivalry to be so keen and growing, that each determined to out-do the other in late hours; and so they went on from nine till ten, and from ten till eleven, and from eleven till twelve: even at this point neither would close, and the struggle of competition went on till at last these shopkeepers determined to keep open all night, and see whose assistants could longest undergo the fatigues entailed upon them by this noble emulation. Now, my Lord, I want to substitute for this emulation one precisely opposite. I have heard of one which is far healthier and better. I have heard of the owner of one of these establishments, and he is one of that class who is capable of defying the sour looks of those engaged in his employment, and having no voice of conscience, who could defy public opinion, and say he would have his right. I have heard of such an one-I hope there are but few-who, though" he feared not God nor regarded man,”—perhaps I ought not so to interpret his sentiments, the expression has escaped me in the earnestness of speech,-but one not moved by the gentler feelings who still, when he saw his neighbours close on one side and the other, at last said to himself, "This will not do," because he saw that his own affairs would suffer; and the competition of interests obliged that person to close his shop earlier, when every argument of humanity had failed to do so. Now change one competition for the other, and you have a beneficial in place of an injurious rivalry. Let it be seen by the direction public opinion takes, that those who close late are least deserving to be trusted by their customers, and we shall speedily fmd selfishness adopting the part of benevolence. Still, I do not know that the main point, after all, is to induce the public to abstain from making evening purchases. It was merrily said, and it was merrily responded to, this evening, that a good woman should not shop at night; and it is a sober and important truth, which should enter into the minds of all, that, at least from this day, those who can sympathize with the sufferings of others ought not to enter these shops after a certain hour in the evening. The richer classes can have no possible excuse for doing so; and I hold it to be discreditable to any woman of the richer classes, who, knowing the fact of this Association's existence, should engage in the practice of late shopping. But there are other classes not so circumstanced, and these are the wives and mothers of the working classes, servants, and young persons in various trades. To all these it is said to be convenient. But it must be apparent, upon a little consideration, that each of these classes ought to join with the others in resisting every temptation that convenience may suggest. Far better would it be, as the gentleman who preceded me said, that every wife and mother should be at her own fireside, and making home comfortable, instead of choosing the hours of darkness to make her purchases. Servants may, and they can do it with equal facility, shop during the hours of daylight-surely they may consider the necessities of so large a class. And as regards another class, the milliners and dress-makers, they must feel that when they are promoting your cause, they are advocating their own. No present convenience ought to induce them to lend their aid to those employers who are almost compelled to sacrifice their assistants to this evening trade. The upper classes have also an important duty to fulfil in this matter. How can they refuse their servants the opportunity of making their purchases by daylight, and yet pretend to humanity? It is easy for them to allow their domestic servants, and the servants might make it a matter of claim, to have an hour or two in the day for their own welfare as well as yours. But, Gentlemen, I cannot conceal it from myself, and would not hide it from you, that the remedy for all these evils is, after all, mainly in your own hands. I speak to those hundreds of young men I see crowding before me. In the first place, your support is necessary to that Committee who are engaged in the good work of reducing labour. Employed, like yourselves, for the greater part of the day in their usual avocations, they devote the remainder to your service, and are engaged sometimes till nine o'clock, sometimes till ten, and half-past, prosecuting a work common to you all. They need funds as well as personal effort, and who shall so naturally contribute as those who are to profit by the results? Be assured of this, your friends will be most encouraged in this holy work if you help yourselves, and show yourselves well aware of the advantages which increased leisure will confer. Then they will hopefully support you; but still more may you advance this cause by the wisdom of your