ct was an extraordinary jumble of
legislation: they had an act of Elizabeth which required a party to take
a certain oath, and if he refused he was guilty of high-treason; but
by the subsequent act they provided that if he took another oath, and a
much milder one, he was free: yet if a man professing the Roman Catholic
religion did not take either of the oaths, he would be guilty of
high-treason, and liable to all the penalties which attached to that
crime. The only "non-content" to this measure in the house of lords
was the Bishop of London: and he only opposed it because government had
taken it up at the eleventh hour, and without consulting the hierarchy.
The second reading was moved in the house of commons on the 5th of
August by Sir Robert Peel, who took occasion to explain that it did
not do away with any security which had been taken for the established
church by the act passed in 1829 for the relief of Roman Catholics; the
acts to be repealed were mere dead letters, encumbering and discrediting
the statute-book. Mr. Hawes requested to know whether, if obsolete
statutes of a similar nature were to be found on the statute-book,
applicable to the same or other denominations of Christians, government
would be prepared to frame a measure for repealing them. Sir Robert Peel
replied that he would not make any pledge upon the subject; but if there
were any statutes which compelled a conscientious dissenter from the
church of England, upon a heavy penalty, to attend divine service in
that church, he could see no objection to its being erased from the
statute-book. The bill then passed, and received the royal assent.

RESTRICTIONS ON LABOUR IN FACTORIES, ETC.

On the 5th of February Sir James Graham introduced a bill for
the regulation of labour in factories. In explaining the proposed
enactments, he said, that with respect to age, it was resolved that
the term "child" should be defined to mean children between nine and
thirteen, instead of eight and thirteen. Such children were not to be
employed for more than six hours and a half each day, and were not to
be employed in the forenoon and afternoon of the same day. In the
existing law, "young persons" were defined to be persons between the
ages of thirteen and eighteen: he did not wish any alteration in this
respect; but he should propose that such young persons should not be
employed in any silk, cotton, wool, or flax manufactory, for any portion
of the twenty-fou