384 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



the working of Natural Laws, and under no restric- 

 tions from Positive Institution. The millowners, 

 collected as Apprentices boys and girls, and 

 youths and men, and women, of all ages. In 

 very many cases no provision adequate, or even 

 decent, was provided for their accommodation. 

 The hours of labour were excessive. The cease- 

 less and untiring agency of machines kept no 

 reckoning of the exhaustion of human nerves. 

 The Factory system had not been many years 

 in operation when its effects were seen. A whole 

 generation were growing up under conditions of 

 physical degeneracy, of mental ignorance, and of 

 moral corruption. 



The first public man to bring it under the notice 

 of Parliament with a view to remedy, was, to his 

 immortal honour, a master manufacturer, to whom 

 the new industry had brought wealth, and power, 

 and station. In 1802 the elder Sir Robert Peel 

 was the first to introduce a bill to interfere by 

 law with the natural effects of unrestricted com- 

 petition in human labour. It is characteristic of 

 the slow progress of new ideas in the English 

 mind, and of its strong instinct to adopt no mea- 



