to find employment only ten would now do so. : The reader must judge of the weight of the above arguments, which afford a fine scope for the ingenuity of the expediencymonger and the casuist, as to whether the displacement of capital, and therefore of labour, might not lead to greater misery than that which is sought to be avoided :whether the shutting-up the small-seamed collieries, which are often the best coaland which, or some of them, can only be wrought by very young creatures-would not enhance the price of a commodity, on the due supply of which, it may be readily shown, the life of the community at large hinges more entirely than on anything save food. In a word, a fine mesh of tangled argument may be spun by any logical head imbued with Paley's principle of the greatest happiness to the greatest number' -a principle, by the way, which to see in its details demands an omniscient being, and to carry out an almighty one. We leave all this to the reader, who, to use another phrase of Paley's, can afford to keep a conscience.' We proceed to another point. The influence of man on his fellow-men may or may not be kindly; but that of the physical circumstances which surround the miner is quite appalling; and even through the stiff and bald detail of the Sub-commissioners there are touches of reality which transcend all imagination. 'The life of a collier,' says one of these gentlemen, is of great danger both for man and child-a collier is never safe after he is swung off to be let down the pit.' He is in danger, in the first place, from fire in its most frightful form, assuming a character which the sublime language of Milton can scarcely depict 'Floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire.' | some of the miners were swinging down into the pit: the force of the wind blew them back into the air. One or two fell on the bank, and were saved; but the rest were again precipitated into the shaft. The author of the History of Fossil Fuel' has given a minute account of a catastrophe, of which the main points are the following. In the forenoon of the 25th May, 1812, 121 men were in the Felling Colliery, when a terrible explosion was heard; a slight earthquake was felt half a mile round; a cloud of dust rose high into the air, and, borne away by a strong west wind, fell in thick showers at the distance of a mile and a half, causing a darkness like twilight over the village of Heworth. As soon as the explosion was heard, a crowd of the relations of the colliers rushed to the pit. The men worked the 'gin' with astonishing expedition, and, letting down the rope, rescued 32 persons, of whom three (boys) died in a few hours. An eye-witness, the Rev. M. Hodgson, says that the shrieks, wringing of hands, and howling were indescribable: they who had their friends restored to them seemed to suffer as much from excess of joy as they had lately done by grief. But these were the few. Several attempts were made to rescue those who did not appear within a few hours eight or nine bold men descended into the pit-bottom, but found that the entrance into the workings, or galleries, was impeded by an upright column of smoke, which convinced them that the mine was on fire. It was in vain that the 'viewers' assured the people that all hope was at an end; and that the only thing left was to extinguish the ignited coals by closing up the mine itself. Each proposition to this effect was met with yells of Murder!' from the kindred, followed by symptoms of determined resistance. Two or three days elapsed, while the widows and orphans never ceased to hover about the pit-mouth in the hope to hear some cry for succour― but all silent as death; and at length the shaft was permitted to be hermetically closed. It was re-opened on the Sth of July, on which day a great concourse assembled to witness this service of danger When the ventilation of a colliery has been allowed to become bad, a quantity of carburetted hydrogen gas accumulates in the 'wastes,' and ignites on the first approach of any light, save the blessed Davy-lamp: the whole mine is instantly filled with terrific flashes of lightning, the expanding fluid driving before it a roaring whirlwind of flaming air, some curious only, but the greater part which tears up everything-scorching some came, with streaming eyes and broken to a cinder, burying others under enormous hearts, to seek a father, a son, or husband rocks and fragments shaken from the roofs-constables were appointed to keep off and passages--and then, thundering up the shaft, wastes its volcanic fury in a thick discharge of dust, stones, and the mangled limbs of men and horses. One of these explosions took place at the moment that the crowd-and two surgeons were on the spot, in case of accidents. Eight men at a time descended, who remained four hours in, and eight hours out of the mine. When the first shift of men came up, a message we may be allowed to express a little surprise at the inconsistency of expending 150,0007. in sinking a shaft, paying enormous sums for machinery, and the furnishing and draining a mine-and though fully aware that the whole may be blown to pieces if a trap-door be left open five minutes'-yet confiding that risk to the care and good sense of children aged from five to seven years!!-(See Report, p. 147.) was sent for coffins; those which had been | manity part out of the question as a trifle, prepared were sent in cart-loads through the village of Low-Felling. As soon as the cart was seen, the women rushed out of their houses with shrieks which were heard to a great distance. The bodies were found most of them marked by fire-some scorched, and dry as mummies. In one place twenty were crammed in ghastly confusion-some torn to pieces-while others appeared unscathed, and in attitude as if overpowered by sleep. It was only by some article of clothing-a shoe-or by some token, as a tobacco-box-that many friends could recognise the corpse. A neat pyramid, nine feet high, bearing the names and ages of eighty-nine sufferers, is placed over one huge grave in Heworth chapelyard. One would think that the memory of one such catastrophe would suffice as a warning against all carelessness. The same book, however, gives a long succession of equally horrid events; and yet all the sub-commissioners were struck with the recklessness of the miners-one was obliged for his own preservation, to knock the Davy lamp out of the hands of his guide, who chose in a most suspicious place to trim it, by exposing the flame without the protecting wirework to the gas. Another, on whom probably a practical joke was played, seems to have been much horrified at the miners, who, by way of amusement, would inflate the mouth with a sufficient quantity to produce a steam, by contracting the lips, and setting fire to it, as from an Argand burner, to the great glee of others who looked on.' -Report, p. 137.) Another of these gentlemen was bid to walk with his candle exactly opposite his breast; for above him was a layer of wildfire, and below another of choke-damp, the intermediate stratum being alone respirable, the specific gravities of each determining its position. It is mostly in the northern mines that these gases abound in such quantities that nothing but the fullest ventilation could permit their being worked at all. Some of the mines of Scotland are, however, just sufficiently aired to prevent actual explosion-no thought being given to render the atmosphere incapable of producing chronic disease, and so shortening life. Perhaps the argumentum ad crumenam may have more weight than that ad hominem: it is proved that economy of material is much greater where the mine is thoroughly ventilated than where it is not, as there, in consequence of dampness, the wood work and machinery rot away in half the time.' On the same principle of sheer economy, leaving all the mere hu 'Dr. Walsh has thus described two of the less damp, those ministers of death, whose approach common harbingers of choke-damp, and fireis frequently as insidious as it is destructive. "At one time, an odour of the most fragrant kind is diffused through the mine, resembling scent of the sweetest flowers; and while the miner is inhaling the balmy gale, he is suddenly struck down and expires in the it comes in the form of a globe of air enmidst of his fancied enjoyment: at another, closed in a filmy case; and while he is gazing on the light and beautiful object floating along, and is tempted to take it in his hand, it suddenly explodes, and destroys him and his companions in an instant."-History of Fossil Fuel, p. 256. Another of the awful effects produced by the element is when the mine, that is the coal itself, takes fire. Once ignited, it will go on burning for years, nay, centuries-as witness Wednesbury in Stafford, or Dudley in Worcestershire, where Smoke may be seen distinctly issuing at more places than one, and it is stated that in one of the wells the water is sufficiently hot to be used for washing and culinary purposes. Smoke and steam issue from the crevices on both sides of the stones are felt warm, as also the steam issuthe road, and on holding the hand to the place ing. This part of the town is built over a pit, from which the good coal has been long extracted, and what is now on fire is the slack or small coal left behind. If a shaft were attempted to be opened the flames would burst forth.-(Dr. Mitchell, App. I., p. 4.) The combustion is generally spontaneous, but it may and has arisen through carelessness--or wilfulness, as in 1833 in one of Lord Fitzwilliam's collieries. Many of the mines not only have encroached on the penetralia of earth, but have been extended under the beds of rivers or of the ocean itself; and we find in our time not a few instances where the waters have broken loose and filled them. A catastrophe which occurred in consequence of a sudden irruption of water into the pits at East Ardsley, near Wakefield, in June, 1809, when ten individuals perished, has been made the subject of a Drama, by the Rev. J. Flumptre, B. D., Vicar of Great Gransden, Herts, entitled Kendrew, or the Coal Mine." The author 66 p. 145. says in his preface, that, “having visited a coal- | worked fifty years, and its excavations took mine, at the Heaton Colliery, near Newcastle, two hours and a half to be filled.-Report, in the summer of 1799, he adopted that as the foundation of his scenery; and endeavoured so to construct his piece, that, should it ever be per- in Irvine, while fishing in the Garnock, obIn June, 1833, Mr. Montgomery, banker formed, the audience might have an opportunity of having the interior of a coal-mine, to which served a gurgling motion in its current, we are indebted for so much comfort, as it were which, though first mistaken by him for presented and realized to them." It is not likely, salmon-leaps, soon led to the suspicion of however, that the drama was ever recited on the its true cause, and, accordingly the neighstage: the first act opens with a scene repre- bouring headsman of the mine was warned senting the top of the shaft, with the drawing-he, however, was at first slow to believemachinery, &c., and a pitman singing a song, of which the following is the first verse:- It will readily be conceived that the sound and appearance of an instantaneous rushing of a large body of water into the workings must be awful indeed to those engulphed therein--particularly when the lights are mostly or entirely extinguished! One of the earliest boyish impresan event of this nature, which occurred in a Yorkshire colliery in the beginning of the year 1805. The bottom of a large dam suddenly gave way, and poured its contents into the mine beneath: one of the colliers, recording the deliverance of himself and fellows in verse, the mediocrity of which was relieved by the real impressiveness of the occurrence, thus sang: sions which the writer retains is connected with ་ "It early in the morning was our troubles did begin; Near two o'clock, we understand, the waters rushed in: Then many waded in the deep in such a wretched plight, Their case it dreary was indeed--they had no kind of light! To hear the cries, and see the tears on this occasion shed, The tragic scene, it was enough to cause the But the all-seeing eye of God, from whom we -History of Fossil Fuel, pp. 250, 251 but the men below heard the gurgling of But there is a class of accidents far more frequent than these awful visitations of elemental agents. The descent into shafts is in the richer mines managed by steam machinery-in the less wealthy by the gin' or wheel worked by a horse-and in the poorest by a wheel worked by hand, such as that used in drawing water from wells. In all these the frightful accident has occurred of the load being 'wound over,' and the men pitched down the shaft. This happened in one instance from the little boy In Mr. Curwen's great pit at Working- whom the proprietors employ at 7s. a week ton, which was carried two miles under the-in order to save the additional 238., sea, it was observed by the men that the mine had been oozing salt water for some time, and some of them got away, but in the night, the single night' of the 28th July, 1837, the sea broke in, and none were ever found to tell how it happened. The bodies even were never recovered-and so the funeral service was read over the pitmouth. The spot where the water broke in was discernible in the sea by the blackness of the waves. The mine had been which would have to be paid to a man fit for such a duty-neglecting to stop the steam-engine in time, his attention being attracted by a mouse on the hearth!!'(Report, p. 144.) The motive of economy is that assigned in the Evidence; and it states the exact saving as above. Another class of accidents arise from carelessness and want of due inspection as to the ropes and tackle of descent. Then again the shaft, which should be well lined, is in the poorer mines but negligently pro- to prevent eight or ten tons of coal falling tected; and a small stone loosened from in any instant on him. Is it wonderful, its side, or flung from the pit-mouth, suf- then, that men living amid such constant fices, with the impetus of descent, to kill. dangers should be callous, or what appears The corves, which ought to be shedded callous to a sub-commissioner,-startled at over, are often open. The pit-mouths, three or four urchins jumping, with fearless which should be surrounded by a wall, so certainty of foot and eye, from the bank as to hinder people falling down them at into a corve about to descend;- -or that ocnight, are not unfrequently unguarded-not casionally some lad of an engine-keeper, so much from the fault of the proprietors, having been well thrashed by a hewer, as because the people will steal the bricks should so manage the machinery as to let for their own use. There are some painful his enemy in the corve drop with the velodescriptions scattered among the Reports city of descending lead down the shaft-of of deaths arising from falling in of the course with imminent risk of life from roofs, when economy tempts to remove the breakage of the rope to which the man pillars that have supported them. Some- clings? The minds of such people become times, after such operations, a very unex- familiarized with death, and the ever-repected mode of filling up these galleries curring accidents are speedily forgotten: takes place spontaneously-the floors are 'There would be more feeling a hundred pressed up towards the roof-or, as one of times,' says the Chief-Constable at Oldham, 'if the witnesses terms it, 'the earth is on the a policeman were to kill a dog in the streets move.' There are innumerable sources of than about killing a collier. They are quite an danger to the drivers, from accidents pecu- uneducated set of people, who go to cockpits, liar to them; and, finally, there is no peril and races, and fights, and many are gamblers common to any other adventurous profes- and drinkers. There are so many killed, that sion from which the miner is exempt. it becomes quite customary to expect such things. The historian of Fossil Fuel' has a note In a day or two's time even a man's wife and children seem to have forgotten it. The chiefest (p. 291) which we cannot but quote :talk is just at the moment, until the body gets collier!"'-(Report, p. 144.) home, and then people feel, "Oh, it is only a There is, indeed, no class of persons, sailors themselves not excepted, who have greater reason to live in constant readiness to encounter sudden death than the colliers who work in some of our deep and impure mines. The following is a striking illustration of the prevalence of pious sentiments under circumstances of excruciating trial:-In one of the Newcastle collieries, thirty-five men and forty-one boys died by suffocation, or were starved to death; one of the boys was found dead with a bible by his side, and a tin box such as colliers use; within the lid he had contrived to engrave with the point of a nail this last message to his parent and brother: "Fret not, my dear mother, for we are singing the praises of God while we have time. Mother, follow God, more than ever I did. Joseph, think of God, and be kind to poor mother."-p. 291. In Scotland there are no coroners to inVestigate the causes and modes of accidental deaths, and the instances known, yet neglected, are quite frightful. Mary Sneddon says—' Brother Robert was killed on the 21st January last. He was brought home, coffined, and buried in Bo'ness kirkyard. No one came to inquire how he was killed: they never do in this place.' Mr. James Hunter, overseer to Alloa colliery, states that the sheriff sometimes comes down. He did in the last case after the death of John Patteson, which was occasioned by being over-wound at the pit-head; he looked at the ropes and examined their strength, and then walked away, and no further noThe miners, while 'undergoing,' tap the tice was taken. This is the common pracseam with their picks, to ascertain if it rings tice.' (p. 150.) The commissioners re clear or sounds cracked. In doubtful cases mark two things-the great difficulty of Dr. Mitchell describes them as quitting obtaining from the surgeons any register their work, lighting their pipes, and holding of accidents; and the constant endeavour a consultation-others flying precipitately in the proprietors, managers, and overseers from the falling masses which would, and of mines to lay the blame on the foolhardioften do, crush them. They usually have ness of the miners. If a chain broke, and good warning of such catastrophes by the groaning of the earth,' but often enough neglect the awful voice. The hewer may be seen lying at full length cutting away; and though provided with all the timber ready at hand to prop up and render his work safe, neglecting the means which are half a dozen men were precipitated to the bottom of a shaft, they should have examined the rope or chain before they descended' is the excuse; which is about as just and valid as if in railway travelling it were considered the duty and business of the passengers to inspect the carriages and trains by which they are to be conveyed. I' are too tired to speak'-'fall asleep before In well regulated mines, however, it is the they can eat their suppers.' There are inespecial business of one person to inspect stances detailed where a curved spine and the head-gear. This should be the case in abscesses of the hip joint did not shield the all. A mining police is wanted. worker from labour-diseases which exhaustion and a wet mine would readily induce. (Report, p. 177.) At page 179, the witness says, 'I have often seen them lying on the floor fast asleep: then they fall asleep in the pit, and are killed by waggons running over them.' tem. With respect to the general effect of mining labour on the human frame, this Report states, in conclusion, that the work in a well regulated coal-mine is not only not injurious but healthful, developing and expanding the body into forms, which one of the sub-commissioners compares to the The first direct effect of over-work is exfinest models of ancient sculpture. In Staf- hibited in the extraordinary development fordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, of the muscles; those of the back stand and in great part of Yorkshire, the men are out like ropes.' The collier-boys were theredescribed as strong and powerful, living fore found greatly superior to those of other like fighting-cocks;' presenting in the callings in this respect. The immediate broad and stalwart frame of the swarthy col- consequence of development in one set of lier as he stalks home, all grime and muscle, organs is diminution in another; and hence, a striking contrast with the puny, pallid, with few exceptions, the colliers are destarveling, little weaver, with his dirty white scribed as a 'stunted race:' the exceptions apron and feminine look.'-(Report, p. 163.) are Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and IreWhatever the imagination may picture land. The third effect of over-work is as to the interior of a mine, the reality early decay of the organ over-worked-in turns out to be far from frightful, where the collier, therefore, of the muscular systhis speculation is conscientiously worked; that is to say, where the passages are sufficiently high not to keep the body bent, the 'After they are turned forty-five or fifty they air sufficiently pure to sustain health amid walk home from their work like cripples, stiffly the gigantic efforts the miner must make, the lowness of the gates induces a very bent stalking along, often leaning on sticks. Where the temperature salubrious, and all other posture, I have observed an inward curvature of appurtenances fit and matching. This is the spine; and chicken-breasted children are what a mine should be, and what many very common in low, thin coal-mines.'—(Report, ought to be, if the eye of public opinion and the hand of the law were directed aright. But this they are not; and so we have descriptions of people working in passages like drains: yet even here we should beware of drawing too broad conclusions true words may paint falsely. A person working twelve hours a-day up to his knees in wet and muck would speedily dieabove ground; but the uniform temperature of the mine, with even inefficient ventilation, removes very much of the dangers of what reads like constant exposure to wet. On the whole it is rather to the over-work than to anything else that most of the constitutional damages to the frame may be traced-although a bad atmosphere will of course largely complicate the result. Where the work is excessive, and beyond the physical powers, it retards puberty, shortens manhood, and brings on premature old age; and the instances are numerous of this exhausting labour in young children, who are too tired to do anything but sleep. One man remembers he has many a time dropt to sleep with the meat in his mouth.' Mothers say that their children come home so stiff and tired that they are obliged to lift them into bed' p. 185.) This decrepitude is common, however, to many other classes than miners: indeed any tribe of mechanics may be known by their forms as modified by their trade. Diseases of the heart and lungs are rife among colliers-the former as the result of over-action, the latter from that and the vitiated and heated air of certain mines. In East Lothian, Dr. Alison says, pulmonary disease begins between the ages of twenty and thirty, and gradually increasing, carries off the collier, if he be spared by other disorders. 'Want of proper ventilation is the cause: no part requires more looking to than East Lothian. The men die off like rotten sheep.' (Report, p. 189.) Another pulmonary disease, almost peculiar to colliers, is black-spit,' or 'spurious melanosis.' The symptoms are, according to Dr. Alison, emaciation, constant shortness of breath, quick pulse, occasional stitches, copious expectoration, mostly perfectly black, of the colour and consistence of blacking, a hacking cough. It is never cured.' (p. 190.) It is said there are no consumptive nor red-faced (apoplectic ?) colliers. The cheap-worked mines are cer• |