13S

COAL MINES OF

lessen their extent by the discovery of a pre-ventive.

tc And yet how frequently it occurs, as inthis instance, that while philosophical bene-volence is secretly planning for the good ofsociety, local prejudices and private interestare accumulating an almost insurmountablebarrier of obstacles and objections, to retardtheir progress.

t( But surely the fatal effects produced bythis dangerous principle have now assumedtoo terrific and bold a feature, not to claim theattention of the legislature, which alone canensure their remedy, and sanction the intro-duction of such means as are best calculatedto guard against accident, and secure the livesof many hundred subjects and fellow creatures—I mean the legislative authority, which,whilst it wisely regulates the preservation ofall public and individual rights throughout thenation, will not, I trust, heedlessly wave itsprotection over the shafts of a mine, withoutdescending to its more obscure caverns, andsecuring to its occupiers, all the care and atten-tion of a generous and benevolent government.

“ It is necessary to consider that the conti-nuation of the risk attending upon the badstate of the mines, and the not adopting some