The Press. — London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 18, 1858. 890 adore their worst enemy ; ay ! even to the last— to the very moment when famine and pestilence swept them all away. Beware, then, we say to our Radical friends— beware, and avoid, as you would avoid a pesti lence, the blusterers on the hustings, who boast "of what they are going to do." Engage not in a foolish crusade for the destruction of those influences by which you are naturally affected. Property and rank must always carry some weight ; you cannot destroy it. Talent, knowledge, high character, education, real Christian benevo lence, ought always to exercise great moral power in every community. Seek not to overthrow them—for, if you try, and were to prove suc cessful, you would bitterly rue the day; for you must then surrender your interests to the keeping of men like 0 CoNNELL—the bitterest enemy of those whom he pretended to serve—the man whose blusterings on the hustings ended by con signing his followers to the agonies of starvation, and the horrors of an untimely grave. What an opportunity was here to work out on a large scale, and in living reality, the benevo lent idea of which the " model cottages " of 1851 were so beautifully suggestive ! But, alas, for the difference between Amory and practice ! The Commissioners, in their see for popular improve ment, forgot all about the improvement of the dwellings of the poor. They demolished the habitations of the sixty families of labouring poor, and left their evicted inmates to shift for themselves as best they might. What could they (lb ? They could only fall back upon other similar localities in their immediate vicinity, and by their immigration aggravate the many evils, physical, moral, and social, to which the overcrowded state of the metropolitan and suburban districts inhabited by the labouring classes has given rise. These facts are set forth in a petition, presented to the two Houses of Parliament in the course of the last session, and republished in THE PRESS of last week. But the wisdom of our senators was engaged in settling the weighty questions connected with our Indian empire, and we can scarcely wonder that the cries of the three hundred houseless souls from Gore-lane failed to attract their notice. So insignificant was the tale of their distress thought, that it did not even find its way into the official record of the proceedings of Parliament, nor did the re porters' gallery convey the echo of their com plaint to the public ear. But although Parliament was deaf and re porters were silent—although no Longfellow may embody in heroic hexameter the sorrows of some Evangeline of Gore-lane—the theme is one which must not be allowed to pass into oblivion alto gether. Nor is it only the razzia executed on their Kensington estate by the Commissioners of the " Great Exhibition" that claims public atten tion. They, indeed, having placed themselves in the forefront as leaders in the great work of the improvement of the masses, incur a larger amount of responsibility and reproach by such heedless and unfeeling disregard of the effect produced by their proceedings upon a poor population whom the power acquired by purchase had placed at their mercy. It is, however, but fair to them to add, that if they have failed to set the good example which might have been expected at their hands in consideration of the " model cottages " of 1851, they have only followed the evil example of most of the " public improvements " of the metropolis and its outlying districts. In what ever direction we bend our steps we see commo dious thoroughfares opened, new streets spring ing up, exhibiting rows of stately mansions, of comfortable houses, of handsome shops, with their fronts of plate glass, where formerly the ground was cumbered by piles of squalid and ruinous buildings, from which, through narrow, filthy lanes and alleys, the poor swarmed like bees from a hive. This looks like " improvement," no doubt. But let the inquiry be made what has become of the crowds of human beings who dwelt in those " improved" neighbourhoods, who filled, even to gorging, the hovels that have disappeared before the wand of architects and commissioners ; let the poor that have been summarily dislodged be followed into the dwellings where they have taken temporary shelter from the—to them terrible—tide of improvement " which is daily gaining upon them, and scenes will present them selves front which eye and mind turn away in horror and disgust. The sanctuary of the family turned into a common sty, the decencies of lite rendered impossible by the inevitable herding together of every age and sex, the very atmo sphere contaminated by fermenting masses of physical and moral corruption—such are on the dark side of life the unseen, the unsuspected, the unblest results of those showy improvements for the promotion of which we constitute Boards of Commissioners and pass Acts of Parliament ! And is there, then, no remedy for so crying an evil, no means of averting the social dangers likely to arise from its continuance and increase ? The remedy is an easy and an obvious one. It is suggested in the petition to which we have already referred. Let Parliament take care in every improvement " Bill to insert such clauses, and to frame such general enactments for the regulation of building operations in the metro polis and in other large towns, as shall render it -zompulsory upon every board, or company, or in dividual, before demolishing any dwellings in habited by the poorer classes, to provide, and that within a convenient distance from the scene of their labours, fresh accommodation f or , least an equal number, giving them the benefi t , at the same time, of all the a rc hi tectural improve ments adoptedin the construction of "model cottages " and modellodgmg-houses. While the management of public affairs was in the hands' those *ho arrogate to themselves exclusively the title of "friends of the people," such a suggestion might appear somewhat Utopian ; b u t since have a Government which deals, not in fine phrases, but in facts and deeds, there is good reason to hope that so important a feature in our social ecisoomy will no longer be treated with difference and neglect. DWELLENGS FOR THE POOR. WHO that in this age of wonders can carry back his recollection to the famous annul mirabilis and its Great Exhibition" does not remember opposite the principal entrance of the magnifi cent structure in Hyde-park two brick buildings of small dimensions and modest aspect, which, by their conspicuous yet unpretending presence, seemed to point a moral as great as the mighty show they confronted ? There was something striking in the thoughtful benevolence of the Princely suggestion, that whatever might be the achievements of commerce and industry, of art and science, displayed in the " Palace " over the way to the admiring gaze of all nations, there was a purpose far higher than the enjoyment of wealth and luxury by the few, to which those achievements ought to be made subservient—the happiness of the rawly. If the stupendous pile of iron and glass, with its glittering outside and its gorgeous interior, seemed to make too near an approach to the sentiment of the elated monarch on the banks of the Euphrates—" Is not this great " Babylon that I have built ?"—the "model cot tages " stood there as if to vindicate the age from the imputation of boastfulness and selfish, heart less pride : they seemed to say in language not to be mistaken, "In the midst of our wealth we remember the poor." Looking upon that practical demonstration of the humane tendencies, the truly Christian spirit, by which, happily, the mighty developments of human intellect and power put forth in our day are accompanied, who would have thought that, after all, those '• model cottages " would prove a cutting, though unintentional, satire upon the proceedings of the very Commissioners under whose auspices they were so appropriately created ? Such, however, we regret to say, is the uncomfortable, the unsatisfactory conclusion to which so promising a beginning has led. Having, by the financial success of their under taking, obtained the command of a large sum of money, the Commissioners resolved to invest it for the permanent support of objects akin to those of the " Great Exhibition." They purchased an estate, and forthwith entered upon a course of active operations in furtherance of their ambitious scheme. Kensington Gore, where the refined taste of the Prince of Exquisites had held its fastidious and exclusive court—where the more comprehensive, the immortal SOYER had cooked soups and cutlets, and brewed coffee and lemonade for the million—was henceforth to be a still more favoured spot, consecrated to the cause of advancing intelligence and of popular improve ment. In the progress of the transformation which, for this purpose, the locality had to undergo, the Commissioners stumbled upon a cluster of humble du ellings, wherein some sixty families, numbering in all about three hundred souls, found shelter, and pursued the various callings by w:tich the honest and industrious among the suburban poor are wont to eke out their subsistence. The hamlet of Gore-lane proved an inconvenient obstruc tion to the plans of " improvement " con templated by- the Commissioners: to have allowed its continued existence would have been a sad blot upon the Kensington-Gore estate; its removal became a matter of expediency, almost of necessity. POPERY IN IRELAND. IN an article which appeared in our columns last week we pointed out the signification and object of the recent displays of the Romanist hierarch, in Ireland. We also showed how, by the disap pearacnocuenotfry, that themil thelion psoofwdeer of thestituteßopampaisnh p Romanists from e that . hood had been most materially diminished. it has not only been diminished by having fewer under their control, but by having less influent over those who remain. A starving man is alwro a ready instrument for mischief; and men in , ' condition cannot entertain the same feelings loyalty to their rulers which those can who , surrounded by comfort and plenty. The destitute man will rarely turn a deaf ear to the sugges tions of those who tell him that his misery owing to the mismanagement of the Government and that if he could only change that, his position would be changed for the better. These, thou, were the kind of men with whom the priests the demagogues had to deal. It is so, however, no longer. Starvation is now unknown in land : the half-empty poorhouses prove clearly. The consequence is, that the labouring class of Irish Romanists is no longer so ready formerly to listen to the priest, and to do . bidding. The appeal, to secure his obedience, must now be made to his imagination, and not t his wants. Rome knows this very well, and -' therefore no longer seeks for a dema g ogue , O'CoNNELL, but for a Cardinal like VISEM,V. The superstitious fancies of the poor Romanist are to be excited and encouraged by gorgeou? apparel—by red stockings, and by golden crosses on gloves : these are displayed before him in order to dazzle his understanding, and to entrap into a reverential obedience to the mandates those whom he is taught to believe have power over his eternal life. We have no wish harshly to censure Rome these proceedings—she is only zealous in her t, cause ; but it behoves Protestants nevertheless remember, that the men who make these display} are the avowed and bitter enemies of their faith, and that, although it would be worse than to molest them in their proceedings, they may . met by antagonistic measures. Let the Papists have fair play, and let them do their wo rst, let the Protestants have fair play also, and them do their best. Now, we trust it will never be our lot t o see Ireland' an Administration based on the princil of Protestant ascendancy : we believe such Administration would prove highly injurious the Protestant cause. But what we want to in Ireland is a fearless enforcement of the and equal justice meted out to all, without respect to creed. We want to see this, and no doubt shall see it under the present Government Whether the law be wise or unwise, it is the ‘' of those who administer it to see that it is forced, for all connivance at its violation weakens the authority of those whose dutyy . it is to n_nrg the Ins , it out. Now, in the late proceedings Romanist Prelates have ostentatiously set the 1.. at titles. an According assumingdin gto are well aware that it would be extremely the t w o e t r h d e i T ig s e e l v f e thes te rArietot, n al_ difficult to bring home the offence to t he individual guilty of it, so as to bring h im under penalty; and since a failure in such a prosecut on would be a triumph to those who. arraigned, it would not be wise to begin But we think that there is a measure w' might be adopted, and which we ar c very re ought to have been adopted long ago, Got the Irish people would know that the Ur much law. This measure is very simple—so went did not shrink from the enforcement°of t at 'fit, that se- ridie Adel most the all I s of the e. se " i nt .ion testa We USW fine sent ood It vi our havi in- kno long seer one cou last sias Ject be 1 •chy lane sap- c a p car from flu( Test- ver But ille ewer be ence Ar ways and that me gs of sus( are lat itute ;ges- In ry is ati nent, vi! sition Os then, tit ; and di; ever, its Ire Oi - this Ri uring yc dy as an o his fence, sot to th d she like ca NAN. re ianist bi ;eons i/ rosses order tl I him ,es of if lower se for r own it ess to 'plays faith, is folly ay be (sings a 4 but ad let see in a aciple ch an Du 9 tO to see 1 e law, aspect bt we meat. duty is en- akens car le law [tonal ct, we emelY vidual r the were I one. w hich r sure iereby Kern - of thin chSO I