The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-19 00:00:00

The inclemency of the weather at the present
time very naturally suggests increased considera-
tion for the welfare of what is left of our gallant
army in the East. Knowing what sufferings
they have undergone, and aware of the depressing
influence of long-continued privation and expo-
sure on the constitutions of the strongest, we can-
not, as the bitter cold catches our breath and sets
our ears a tingling, but wonder how they bear
s'l^l' wmther- and ejaculate somethincr likes n
prayer for their deliverance. The little suffer-
ings and inconveniences we experience, protected
though we are against exposure and with the com-
forts of home in prospect in ease of illness, render
us more sensitively alive than we otherwise would
be to the condition of those who, with the strong-
est claims on public consideration, have to stand
for hours is the freezing cold of the trenches to
their arms or on piceinet. /fothing can be more
natural, nor more laudable, than sympathy like
this.

What we have to urge we are happy to think
need not interfere with its indulgence. Our fel-
low-countrymen, wherever they are, and of what-
ever calling they may be, have, in the hour of
distress, an irrefragable claim on our considera-
tion. The gallant soldier, however heroic, and
especially attractive of attention from the pride
and pomp of war, the perilous nature of his call-
ing, and the important issue at stake in the con-
flict in which he is engaged, does not require ex-
clusive consideration, and he would be the last to
claim it. He knows the race to which he be-
longs, the privations they have to undergo, their
fortitude, their endurance, and, above all, their
honest pride—that pride that, as it were, defies
fate, and will not humble itself to the workhouse
—too well for that.

As our readers know, for several weeks past
we have had, with but little intermission, down-
right winter weather in the metropolis-.-storm
after storm of snow, sleet, biting- winds, and the
intensest frost known for years, the thermo-
meter actually having sunk, on one occasion,
twenty-three degrees below freezing point.
During this period, we would ask, what has been
the condition of our artisans and the labouring
classes generally ! Of course there are certain
trades which cannot be pursued during the slight-
est frost, and these where the amount of pay
during the other portions of the year may suffice,
with management, to keep the artisan in tolerable
comfort till the spring sets in. Painters, brick-
-Iwyvr., Ana., may be numbered, in this ul. aq
though we fear the requisite forethought and self-
denial is too frequently wanting to admit of a
confident belief in the well-doing of all. The
classes of artisans and labourers to whose
condition we are more especially desirous to
call attention are those generally able
to find work all the year through, and who there-
fore are not prepared against an exceptional year.
Among these are watermen, lightermen, coal and
corn porters, labourers on the docks and wharves,
and every class of persons employed in loading,
unloading, or navigating craft on the Thames—
the greatest commercial river in the world. The
number of these now thrown out of employment
must be very large, and their necessities very great,
for we are afraid they have net been able to " lay
up against a rainy day." Here is an ample field
for the benevolent. In numbers of these men
the hatred of parish relief, and, above all, of the
workhouse, is intense ; they would die sooner
than have recourse to either. Men like these and
their families are just the sort of people who
should least willingly be let die. Their
manly pride should speak strongly and effec-
tually in their favour. They are the very
objects for private benevolence ; and if the
reader has an odd half-crown in his pocket,
and knows any deserving individual or family of
this sort, let him as unostentatiously as possible
transmit it, and repeat the process as soon as he
can. Has he any woollen or linen the worse for
wear. He cannot part with it in charity better than
at the present time. Let him consult his better
half, and between them they may succeed in
earning that choice reward, the blessing of
the high-spirited and industrious poor. Above
all, lot him not wait to be asked, Or play the Lord
•r Lady Bountiful. One half of a good deed is
in the way of doing it, and a train of good things
may follow from an act of charity considerately
done.

While, however, appealing to private benevo-
lence we would by no means exclude combined
effort. The necessity for relief we are disposed
to believe is great and wide-spread. Besides the
classes named, those engaged in agriculture are out
of employment, and many others it is needless to
specify. Combination may effect in the way of
relief what, without it, would be impossible ; all,
therefore, we would urge is, combine or not com-
bine, whatever you may bestow, let the feeliags of
the industrious poor be respected. To be an ob-
ject of charity is not necessarily to be an object
of contempt. The bands of society are, it should
be remembered, not so strong as to warrant the
neglect of any means whereby they may be
strengthened, and, among such means, a kindly
consideration shown for the working man in his
hour of trial is a very effective one, but only can
be so when the object feels himself respected.