The Sun.
London, England, 1830-12-29 00:00:00

out the condition of life among the " lower
orders." The plebeian pauper must bear about
with him the badge. of his dependence. He
must solicit the public bounty through the 'churlish
authority of the overseers ; ho must work for the
public, if work can be found ; and, if the workhouse
be his home, he must feed on such fare as the con-
tractor provides, or take his portion with those
whom. the parishl authorities farm out to the best
bidder, who makes a luxurious livelihood by the
profit which he derives from the Subsistence of the
poor. If his settlement be litigated, he must appear
in a Court of .Justice, and prove his pauperism upon
his oath ; and for any of the ebullitions of his dis-
content against the provisions of the Statutes in
that case made and provided there is the cooling
process of the tread-mill and prison discipline.
From all such degrading regulations the aristocratic
pauper is perfectly free. Once admitted into the
paradise of the " Pension List," he may, like the
rich man in Scripture, say to his soul, " Soul, thou
hast much goods laid up for many years ; eat, drink,
and be merry." He need not thenceforth disquiet
himself about providing for the morrow. Whoever
tills the ground, he knows that the produce will
ripen for him—whoever puts the sickle into the
harvest, he knows that for him the sheaves shall be
gathered into the garner. His is a life of joyous
dependence, and of satisfied debasement.;—no badge
marks hiM out as the recipient of public bounty
amid the fluttering children of vanity and pleasure
—for him no surly overseer stands at the gate of the
temple of charity, to make him feel his abject situ-
ation by half-shutting it in his face;—he re-
ceives the public alms with the aid of one who
condescended to honour the giver by accept-
ing them, and, unconscious of a blush for the
dependence of his situation, hears about fantastic
notions of dignity and rank to " midnight revels
and the public show." This description, of comae,
does not apply to those pensioners who have per-
formed meritorious service of a public nature,. and
who are not otherwise provided for; such persons
receive not the public bounty, but a remuneration
for their honourable labours, to which they are well
entitled. Such names are, however, on the Pen-
sion List, " like angel visits, few and far between ;"
and, therefore, we are justified in saying that the
publication of this document is more calculated to
increase the poptilar irritation and discontent than
tiny thing which has obtained circulationt through the
Press in modern times. When the Irish Pension
List was under discussion in the Irish Parliament in
the year 1786, the celebrated Advocate, Curran,
then a Member of that Parliament, applied to it, in
a speech replete with the richness of his pecu-
liar humour, the following sarcastic observations,
which are equally applicable to the triple Pen-
sion List of the present day :—" This polyglot
of wealth, this museum of curiosities, the Pen-
sion List, embraces every link in the human
chain, every description of men, women, and
children, from the exalted excellence of a Hawke
'Or a Rodney, to the debased situation of the lady
who hurnbleth herself that she may be exalted. But
the lessons it inculcates form its greatest perfection;
it teacheth that sioth end vice may eat that bread
which virtue and honesty may starve for after they
had earned it. It teacheth the idle and dissolute to
look up for that support which they are too proud
to stoop and earn. It directs the minds of men to
a complete reliance upon the ruling power of the
Stice, which feeds the ravens of the Royal aviary,
that cry continually for food. It teaches them to
imitate those saints on the Pension List that are like
the fillies of the field—they toil not, neither do they
spin, and yet are arrayed like Solomon in all his
glory. In fine, it teaches a lesson which, indeed,
they might learn from Epictetus, that it is some-
times good not to be over-virtuous. It shows, in
proportion art embarrassments increase, the munifi-
cence of the Crown increases also—in proportion
as our clothes are rent, the Royal mantle is extended
over us." Titus, in a spirit of caustic pleasantry
did the genius of Comm characterise the Pension
List of that day, and accurately prefigure that which
excites the public surprise and indignation at present.
The animation of the portraiture may be ascribed
to his peculiar talent, but its severity is its truth.—
Horning Herald.
The Norwich Mercury, after alluding to a tt.iet-
ing of the magistrates of Norfolk, called by the
Lord Lieutenant, for the organization of a consta-
bulary force, observes—
" That circumstances but too well known, though not
sufficiently marked during their progression, have die-
severed all those we shell for once denominate the rural
classes. The landlord has separated himself widely from
his tenantry, the tenantry is sundered not less widely from
the labourer, arid all three from the church. What fol-
lows? Why, the labourer complains to his master that
he is oppressed beyond bearing; the master answers by
the declaration that he, too, is broken down by rent and
rates, that in the great majority of instances the labourers
were as much the instruments of preferring the complaints
of the farmer ai of their own. When called upon to aid
in the preservation of property, the labourers refused,
nearly to a man ; and when urged to come forward, the
farmers displayed reluctance or apprehension, and did so
only upon conditions ; those conditions are now in a state
rather of discussion than of fulfilment ; and thus those
tremendous gulfs which have for years been opening be-
tween class and class, and man and man, are at length
discovered and disclosed to universal observation. This is
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ;
and appalling enough it is, when considered in all the de-
tails and their consequences."
It is now exactly 35 years since John Reeves
published his series of Letters on the English Go-
.veretneet, a book that attracted much notice in its
day ; which sets out with declaring, " That Eng..
lishmen differed from the people of every other
country, in being animated with kind and generous
feelings towards each other."
" To say nothing (he observes) of the relative situation
of the Nobleman and the Gentleman (where the sameness
of education and habits of life will not suffer any essential
distinction of manners and sentiment), we scorn from the
very highest to the very lowest in the nation, to confess
that there is a native unalterable temper and constitution
of mind which belongs to us all in common ; we express
it by two short words (John Bull), that are at length be,
come endeared to us; expressing, as we all think, that
original indelible character of an Englishman ; which the
first Nobleman is proud to profess he enjoys, but enjoys
only in common with the meanest of his tradesmen, his
tenants, or his servants. This is a ri,ntiment that makes
nu love and respect one another. The want of this in
France, where the nobility and gentry hated or despised
those beneath them as a distinct race of men, was the
cause that they first placed barriers of separation, which
made an inequality that was invidious; and afterwards,
in their rage to cure the misehief of such a separation,
levelled all to an equality that is more detestable than their
former distinctions. This feeling of a congenial equality
among us is a philosophy that is the growth of this island,
Its riee is natural, nut forced; it is a philosophy that comes
from the heart, and not from the head."
Who would suppose that these two descriptions
apply to the some people`; that one generation
hardly separates the periods when they were respec-
tively written- ? If the description of John Reeves
be correct, that thirty-five years ago we were ho-
Hourably diatinguisheal among the nations, by the
kindliness of our feelings towards each other, the cor-
dial union of all mks and conditions, how happens
it that the distinguishing characteristic of English
society in the present dory is separation ? No one
will question the fidelity of the picture of English
society in the .217orwiels Mercuiy. There are tre-
mendous gulfsbetween class and class, and matt mind
man. The rich matt knows nothing of the ,e,p„i,
tion, or character, or habits of the greater part of
those willo live under his own roof. On the con-
' trary all who visit the Continent ore. struck with
the übsence of that een3lmine of classes which is
80, the characteristic of English society. About
the time when John Reeves published his Letters,
the people of every neighh9nrhuod in the country
know something of each ether. When a poor man,
or tiny of his family, were suffering under illness or
misfortune, the wife or daughters of the 'Squire
would visit the cottage, end .Conveyjn person,
wine or delicacies for the sufferers. These things,
if done at all now, are entrusted exclusively to
ttervatits No fashionable people would be seen
in or even near a cottage. .Daring this period, the