The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-10-07 00:00:00

SATURDAY, OCT. 7, 1876

MR( CROSS ON OVER-CROWDED
DWELLINGS.

On Monday afternoon Mr. Cross, Home Secretary,
Was presented with the freedom of the City of Glasgow.
The meeting for the purpose was held in the City-hall,
tinder the presidency of the Lord Provost, and
there was a large attendance of the citizens. The
Lord Provost, in opening the proceedings, re-
ferred to thd services Mr. Cross had rendered the
entultry by the promotion of useful measures in Par-
liament, and concluded by calling on the Town Cleik
to read the extract minute of the Town Council.
The Town Clerk then read the minute in question,
conferring on Mr. Cross the rights and privileges of
citi7enship hi recognition of the energy, ability and
success with which, as Home Secretary, he has dealt
with important and delicate questions affecting the
rights, duties, and obligations of labour, the sanitary
condition of towns, and the reorganization of various
departments of public administration, SO as to secure
greater economy and increased efficiency.
The Lord Provost then presented Mr. Cross with the
certificate of citizenship.
Mr. Cross,who was received with prolonged applause,
then rose and addressed the meeting at considerable
length, In the course of his speech he said :
This, rny Lord Provost, is no Party question and no Party
meeting, and no Party word shall fall from me; but, in the
Midst of all the excitement which has been going on, it may
not be disadvantageous for one moment to turn aside from
all the excitement and agitation and take a calmer view of
Matters, which, nevertheless, are equally dear, and
,veety necessery for our welfare. (Cheers.) Sir, one of
,e'te great difficulties which a statesman holding the office
",^niell I have the honour to hold has to contend with is
bute—that he sees, not only so much wealth around him, but
1.12 Much vice, so much misery, and so much of every-
nieg that is degrading In all our great cities, that It is
"'Lough almost to make his heart fall when he begins to
attempt to do something to alleviate that vice and poverty.
11 "It, whatever his attempts may be, you may depend upon
it that, small as the efforts may be, small as the apparent
r2sults may be, ills only by patient continuance in doing
that which is right and just in these matters and by waiting
tor long years that he can hope to gain any permanent ad-
vantage. (Cheers.) Sir, there surely can be nothing truer
than this statement—that you never can hope to produce
[titbits of self-control among the great masses of the poorer
classes of our people unless you first induce them to have
tPelings of self-respect. And I will ask any one present in
ibis room if he will go, as I have done with some of those
gentlemen now sitting behind me, into all the narrow
c°,,rts and lanes of this great city and of other cities as
Well I will . ask him, when he comes out of these lanes
and alleys, to put to himself this one question and give it
an answer—" How can we expect self-respect in those who
lare compelled, as matters staud, to live in hovels and dens
ike these ?" (Cheers) My Lord Provost, I readily admit
„hat Glasgow in this instance has set a noble example.
I shall never forget the visit which I paid to Glasgow some
t,iwo or three ',ears ago, and the effect which that visit pro-
elee.ed uPon My mind; and the result is to be found in one
Measures that has been passed within the last few
Years, the effect of which we have not yet fully seen by
anO means, but which will, I believe, in time produce the
greatest change in that which is absolutely essential not
laerelY for the physical, but for the moral health of all
'he lower clause. Birmingham has taken the lead in the
ItrtYllll3 out of the Act. Birmingham has resolutely set its
ire to clear off the face of the earth all the rookeries that
feat that city--(Applause) —and in the course of eight or ten
'et or
ee perhaps it may be more,. Birmingham will have
;. an example, which, I am quite certain, will show the
ireeteet possible results not merely for the health or the
sande:less, but for the moral and spirituel welfare of all
;loose who inhabit that great town. (Applause.) Liverpool
41ell 3 PartlY taken the matter Up; London has also begun, as
taas other towns ; and from all I hear I expect that
te the„oollrite of the next cession there will be presented
eee'sarualnent a number of schemes from all the great
toe"`ree of population In our country, showing that they,
ole'. are determined to follow the example which
ha:g°w years ago so ably set. When the Bill to which I
already referred was in Parliament I was asked
DdtT▪ end over again, "Why don't you make the Act com-
ttoes°rY ? Why don't you insist upon those great corpora-
the; at Once clearing out all the rookeries." My answer
I e,-„waas given clearly, and I will give it now. It was that
heiT"'"Lt haa the greatest possible confidence in the
ot Rale the dignity, the high spirit, the high-mindedness
until'? corporations of this couatry (cheers), and that
thee ',was told by the corporations thenvelves that when
wo,',„oad the powers they would not use them, nothing
leit'dituL ever make me bring forward an Act of Path:t-
wist ell in the first instance, to comp 4 them to do that
Dlanet si knew they were ready to do without it. (Ap-
true ,e) But that Act cannot stay where ills, It is quite
ileelat, in the first instance, it was thought necessary to
Beie_ it to towns which had only 25,000 inhabitants. Why ?
ee,..e4hle in these very large towns it was absolutely neces-
d-4 to see that when the houses and rookeries were palled
other houses were built in their stead, so that the
tell: who were ejected from their homes were not led to
cite."' matters worse by crowding into other quarters of the
eee, That was a much more expensive process than simply,
u
L'eng down, and, therefore, in the large cities it was neces-
wi4rto Jnaist that houses should be built in smaller places,
lape eue;Peo,re was more space, and land was more easily got,
' tare trngs were cheaper to erect. It may not be neces-
propose such a stringent remedy again as I did in that
Parliament. De not think, when I say that houses
built, that you can expect that poor people who
desedueen driven out of the dwellins that have been pulled
eeee ewill
hic7.2een erected in their stead. They cannot afford it. If
of themselves actually go into the dwellings that
wodrdete to Pull down dwellings and put up bad ones, you
nothing. The actual result of such a course as has
baud owed in your own city is this, that if you
Deleon, etter houses they will be filled by a class of
there 3 i Who inhabited a lower class of houses
re ;
ed; wsli ba a lifting up from beginning to end. Every
ee, trt the city will be living in a better class of house; ths
P' e will be lifted up at least one standard of house higher
thcae which they have left. Sir, lilt was necessary, in
se e• r to encourage self-control, to produce ieltrespect, and
ity'
eatable these people to have homes of their own, it was
twoeleq,uallY necessary to guard against pauperizing them by
rnailts_"ng homes for them at a price too low and below the
dot
tet price, because, in my opinion, what you have to do is
you I°_ratse a man by force. I defy you to do that. What
(3, . _ ays to do is to teach a man to raise himself and to
"able hire t
hie, , o raise himself, and if you begin to pauperize
st7"s oY placing him in a house for which he cannot afford to
t,'ll4l3roeer rent and which you pay for him you are, in
hogecover— him this grievous injury from which tee never will
Sir, 1
have
are destroying his independence. (Cheers.)
%ha e said it was necessary that the homes of the people
tild be improved, and so far as I con, a ith God helping
toe, I will take care that it is done. (Rear, hear.)
_ feir. Cross then proceeded to remark—Bnt there is another
latter which has always struck me as equally necessary for the
Lucltspendence and for the growth of everything that is right
and high-minded and proper in the working classes of this
tedeet°,,YY. and that is, that in the exercise of their daily call-
Jo% they ahoUld not work under any sense of injustice or on-
law,tatt. Now, no one who has studied the history of the laws
e„....n0g to caatal and labour can possibly doubt, that in the
csaYoi which we find them they were simply the remnants
4_
elsi laws which had been pared down from time to
.
. _cf old laws which, it enacted at the present moment,
1d be blown to the winds at the first General Election
di4,40
11 ccurred. But it is very much harder to make a
„111 !sweep
esh laws ; and hence it was that these laws were
of these old relics, than to begin anew and
at ilt unle to time mended, and tinkered, and hammered
sorts of ways, when the fact was that they were
their creation, and until you swept them all away
n•
ould not make good laws. AB the result of consider-
;,:.,e forethought and considerable discussion, and by the
ointinent of a well-regulated Commission, I am happy
td 5Y that at the present day there can never be any feel-
I, g in the mind of any working man that he is not as able
Oder the laws of England to protect himself as his
In_atter is. (Cheers.) My Lord Provost, I said that any states-
in
considering all that had to be done in legislation,
he'Llt be patient and wait the results. I said that he saw
`4? llftle he could do' and it was only by removing
irtacles which existed, and by placing opportunities in
way of the working man, in order that he might
'`rall himself of them, that he could do that which he
/plated. As it is with the country, so is it with the in-
enduaL Do not believe for one moment that any person
comes before you with any scheme, however good it
rO be, for raising and uplifting these working men—do not
etteve for one moment that it can be carried out suddenly.
1 endeaattat be gone slowly, it must be done by degrees; the man
do it for himself. No man ever got rich in a moment,
.. le_nlan aver got wise in a moment, no man ever got
a ',road in a moment, and no man, if he has been
tkrad one, will ever become a good citizen in a moment.
, Bcoti"vase ) Bat you have advantages in England and
eeee. mol d now, which I venture to say no persons of your
407 e- V" had in the world before. Ido not believe that
th; ne can live under freer laws, and I do not believe that
. heserePendent man who is determined to work oat for
hie 'el a position which he sets before him, it he sticks to
lieette!'nt, will ever fail. (Applause.) I need not tell
the eti,en that the men anemia you who rise need not be
Ves4treraely clever ones. What you want is the penes--
Year n the patience, the day-by-day work, the year-by-
on. si'euerk, the never tiring at what you have set your mind
You ',,;7,1,, your mind upon one thing, and I answer for it that
tbee,,7,ssi do it. (Hear, hear.) But you cannot do two
tbaCiiii You Must set your mind upon one, and work at
earl d(7 You have accomplished it, and all the Legislature
taeaniit.‘ll.ll(l all that I can do will be to place in your way the
allich rag Yourself, arid to take away all hindrances
Oily
I dla Zkin
it by present legislation. But, my Lord Provos
oolne here to weary you at any length ; I would
rehid,aaY, because it is what I feel so deeply in my own
eettit that the one thing of all others which will aid in
the oe
gnthe working men estimation, in their own estation, and in
ev,,..
0-1-1-trY generally, and by which Ills in the power of
legttiattoe of them to help themselves far more than any
2tittdon n can do for them, is by forming a standard of
‘,„7ll,;.;iacTztvitso be saying
themselves and to each other, "If I
/ " "'Vela() more eh.
drunkard or an immoral man, I
aril al,dealings with you as a friend." (Cheers.)
toyn Ualned to say at is not many years ago since these in
citiclle Zrietiaasof wtheree eueject to all the reproaches which even
d a'n from the men you now see about the streets draw
si:`,4'll to the grerinie
y treation of pubaltiec of drunkenness. That has been put
at
Possible extent ; and how? By the
beie eau do the same. ;9
° t
co g
nioo. Among that class every one of
en my ow
effected in the largest poansibcloeundteyroefe, Lancashireandlwouid
easel It is
1, '11,41 those who want to see proper laws placed in their
...,
41,3(2' 14 ways to remember that suite as much depends upon
opiiil Own conduct upon their own formation of public
et% °,ll In their ow' /
te Z'ra„ rae or c n c ass, as on any laws which we can porn
a
Dle'-h tharry (cheers) ; and what you want is this—to
te,,ate ate __,, at there is something higher than himself to
,s,',?iii eud-VT•susrY. to bring out of him all that is mighty, and
Jsf. (ebee:to.!Ye_and lead him to live for something above him-
IVA the bees
) mY Lord Provost, as in the care of the individual,
oisve eof Ragland I trust, my lord, that so long as
anOthing to d •
ded b„ „_, 0 with public life, England will always
abr• ner 414 at which Is holy, and just, and right; that in
ot ?lad. the ~;.`221:1 all her conduct, whether at home or
to teseitdit e mciplea which guide her action will be those
th fat as eh/ and justice and truth; that she will always,
,_e feeble :cab, Lever fear the great, never fear to help
seloteet tiLasdol be reedy at all hazards and at all times to
"ters.) weak against the injustice of the strong. ([cud
"'"`

Trir
DURE OF ARGYLL ON EASTERN
AFFAIRS.
~Lne
.of Argyll has reprinted his Glasgow speech, with
"IDia What the Turks are, and how we have been
Elkted 112, and has prefixed to it the following preface,
xt
,‘"vetarY, September 30 :
tioa '441..be very rarely right to bring popnelst•agirta:
keaf ,“.near upon the forefgn policy of t.h oven
h"—etn--te IN°thh,g, in my opinion, could Justify any
aneh of either Rouse of ParlintnPnt in'jjPi
of th:VN;itation except a conviction that tde attitude
!..-istt,-,:-"!4istrY has been fundamentally wrong on some
134; o' justice and of the national honour. Such has
veret-n7i,.°PlaViction of the attitude of the present Go-
towards the Christian subjects of the Porte.
For°:64l:" attitude—in my opinion, not only n_ the
.tB. b,nt unjust—appeared in the conduct of e
(jret,„lgti. uffice under the same Minister during the
4he lailurrection in 1867. I then brought it under
444,notice of the lioumi of I.4:xds in a speech which
;'-'eu now republished. It pi oyes that in the follow-
°Dilate:eh, delivered at Glasgow, I have only reiterated
ell)re-41 which I have long entertained, and which I
hiv4-4f'd at a time when they could not possibly
row,. 4117 party significance whatever. The Bulgarian
I)Cacte—although only a horrible incident in a
~04 aeries of transactions—has at last awakened the
hair:Lel:lee of the country to truths which ought to
ale .".terl seen and felt before; and I deem it not only
141W:tate thing but a duty to take aivantage of so
the :table an opportunity of deepening and directing
convictions of the people. Those who keep
I)atte °D. such a question for fear of being accused of
the taotives are as blameable as those who, sharing
theiraazze convictions, yet hold their peace because
callea"na Party is in power. This speech has been
an indictment of the Government. And so it is.
be: first step to amendment is to see clearly what has
Irr°72g before. In this came everything was wrong