Mr. Samuel Fielden, of Todmorden, is a little horrified at
the confidence with which Lord Beaconsfield is credited in some quarters with one of the chief shares in that beneficent Factory legis- lation in which Mr. Fielden's father took so leading a part, and in a letter to the Times of this day week he complains of the tendency of the recent deputation to Lord Beaconsfield to exclude his father from his fair share of the credit of what used to be called "Mr. Fielden's Act," and of the absorption by Lord Beacons- field of so disproportionate a share of the credit of that legislation. Mr. Fielden is doing a filial part in combating for the honour of his father's memory, but he must not forget that, in rela- tion to human fame at least, the same law holds good as in relation to human property,—" To him that bath shall be given, and from him that bath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Lord Beaconsfield is a great man, and he will have more credit for helping to remove one of the people's miseries by the slightest push from his little finger than the late Mr. Fielden, who probably did nothing else that was in any high degree memorable, will get for labouring with his whole force for many years to remove the grievances of the factory operatives.
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