390 I HE REIGN OF LAW. 



force from which this labour was not free — the 

 force of overpowering motive operating on the 

 Will of the labourers themselves. If one parent, 

 more careful than others of the welfare of his 

 children, and moved less exclusively by the de- 

 sire of gain, withdrew his children at an earlier 

 hour than others from Factory Work, his children 

 were liable to be dismissed and not employed at 

 all.* On the other hand, motives hardly less 

 powerful were in constant operation on the mas- 

 ters. The ceaseless, and increasing, and unre- 

 stricted competition amongst themselves, — the 

 eagerness with which human energies rush into 

 new openings for capital, for enterprise, and for 

 skill, — made them, as a class, insensible to the 

 frightful evils which were arising from that com- 

 petition for the means of subsistence which is the 

 impelling motive of labour. 



Nor were there wanting arguments founded 

 on the constancy of Natural Laws against any 

 attempt on the part of Legislative authority 

 to interfere with the "freedom" of individual 



This was very forcibly explained both by Sir Robert and by 

 his son Mr Peel, in the debate of Feb. 23, 181 8. 



