I studied the English Factory
legislation, and read Macaulay's speeches on the subject.
I became an earnest advocate for shortening the hours of labor
by legislation. That was then called the ten-hour system.
Later it has been called the eight-hour system. I made, in
1852, a speech in favor of reducing the time of labor in factories
to ten hours a day which, so far as I know, was the first
speech in any legislative body in this country on that subject.
My speech was received with great derision. The House, usually
very courteous and orderly, seemed unwilling to hear me through.
One worthy old farmer got up in his seat and said: "Isn't
the young man for Worcester going to let me get up in the
morning and milk my caouws."
When a member of the Senate in 1857, I was Chairman of the
Judiciary Committee. I made a very earnest and carefully
prepared speech against the asserted right of the jury to
judge of the law in criminal cases. It is a popular and specious
doctrine. But it never seemed to me to be sound. Among others,
there are two reasons against it, which seem to me conclusive,
and to which I have never seen a plausible answer.
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