The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-18 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT
IN GREAT BRITAIN.

The means of internal commuication in Great Bri-
tain are probably superior to those enjoyed by any other I
country. Our high roads, which, during the first half
of last century were execrable, have been signally im-
proved since the close of the American war ; and
since the general introduction of the practice of Mac-
adamising, they may be confidently pronounced to be
the very best in Europe. With the exception of Hol-
land and Belgium, no country is better supplied with
canals ; and by these means, and the aid afforded by our
numerous navigable rivers,tbe conveyance of the bulkiest
Articles has been rendered both easy and cheap. Rail-
roads seem now, however, to be likely to supersede
most other methods of conveyance, in so far at least as
the transit of passengers, and of the lighter and more
valuable species of goods, are concerned ; and the won-
derful speed with which lengthened trains of carriages
are impelled by locomotive engines along these roads
is among the most valuable and astonish
faci ing results
litatinof modern modern science and discovery. By
yelling to a degree that could not a few years ago
have been conceived possible ; rendering all the
great markets of the empire easily accessible to the
products of the remotest districts, obliterating local
prejudices and customs, reducing the country to a ho-
mogenous mass, and producing everywhere a spirit of
emulation and competition, our improved means of com-
munication arc exercising an influence of the most pow-
erful kind, and which cannot be too highly appreciated.
Still, however, it has been doubted whether these extra-
ordinary improvements in the arts, and the vast exten-
sion of commerce, has conferred any real and important
advantage on the bulk of our people. That they have
added prodigiously to the field of employment is certain,
but it has been contended that the increase of population,
and consequently of the demand for labour, has been
equal, or nearly so, to the increase of employment ; that
the condition of the people has not been materially
improved ; and that their command over the necessaries,
conveniences, and enjoyments of life has not been aug-
mented in anything like the degree in which their numbers
have increased. There is really, however, no truth in
these representations. The condition of the great bulk of
the people of Britain, and particularly of the labouring
classes, has been signally and indeed astonishingly ire-
proved since the middle of last century. The greatest
possible ameliorations have been effected in the interval
in the diet, dress, and lodging of all classes. Towards
the middle of the last century, about half the people of
England were consumers of barley, rye, and oat bread ;
whereas at present not one tenth part of the population
use any bread unless made of wheat. The ennsureption
of butchers' meat, as compared with the population. has
also doubled or more in the interval ; and the extra-
ordinary increase in the consumption of tea, sugar, cof-
fee, and such like articles, is too well known to require
being pointed out. The improvements that have been
made in clothing and lodging are, if possible, still more
remarkable. Linen shirts, that were formerly luxuries,
used only by the richer classes, are now worn by every-
body ; and the old, coarse, comfortless home-made
cloths have been wholely superseded by the better and
cheaper products of the factories. The cheapness, to
specify one instance, and extraordinary abundance of
cotton fabrics have given the poorest females the means
of greater comfort, neatness, and display in dress, than
were enjoyed by the highest classes in the first half of
last century. And any one who compares the old
farm houses and cottages, or the old narrow streets and
lanes in any one of our great towns, with the farm
houses, cottages, and town lodgings for the poor, built
within the last fifty and still more the last thirty years,
will at once be sensible of a vest improvement. Es-
sential as glass windows may now appear, in the six-
teenth century they were luxuries, all but unknown, in
the castles of the principal nobility in England ; and in
Scotland, in the early part of the last century, glass was
seldom seen in the windows of the first class of country
houses, and never in cottages. The latter were then
almost universally destitute even of chimneys ! But the
liberal ese of these and of glass is not the only circum-
stance in which modern hous s excel those built pre-
viously to the American nar. The former arc in all
respects superior. They arc constructed on a larger
scale the apartments are more spacious and lofty ; they
are better ventilated ; and are supplied with water to an
extent of which our ancestors had no idea. It is, in
fact, to the better construction of houses, the greater
width of streets, and, above all, to the abundant supply
of water, end the effective system of under-ground drain-
age that now exists, that the entire lreedorp of our
great towns from epidemic diseases, and the wonderful
improvement in the health of the inhabitants, are
mainly to be ascribed. Signal as the spread of improve-
ment has been everywhere throughout Great Britain,
since 17e0, it has been greatest in Scotland. This, no
doubt, has been principally owing to the fact of Scot-
land being previously in a comparatively backward
state. But its progress since the epoch referred to, or
rather since the close of the American war, has been
all but unprecedented ; and, if at all, bas only been
surpassed by the progress made by Kentucky and one
or two more of the American States. In Ireland, we
regret to say, improvement has been much less rapid
than in any part of Great Britain ; but even there a
considerable advance has been made ; and the fair pre-
sumption seems to be, now that the civil disabilities
under which the Catholics laboured have been re-
moved, that improvement will proceed with an accele-
rated pace. If any thing more than has been already
stated were required to establish the
.astonishing im-
provement is the condition of the people of Great
Britain during the last fifty years, it would be evinced
by the decrease that has taken place in the rate of
mortality since 1760 and 1770. The extreme limit of
human life assigned by the Psalmist has not, indeed,
been extended ; but a much larger proportion of those
born arrive at or approach to that limit than formerly.
The probable life of a male annuitant, five years of
age (a picked life), at the commencement of last cen-
tury, has been found to 39.03 years ; whereas it ap-
pears that the probable life of a male of five years of
age, taken at an average of the mass of the popula-
tion, from 1813 to 1830, was not less than 49.80, or
nearly eleven years greater than the former ! This ex-
traordinary improvement must, ns doubt, be ascribed to
a variety of causes; partly to the drainage of bogs and
marshes, by which agues and marsh fevers have been
entirely banished from many districts ; partly to im-
provements in the diet, dress, lodgings, and other
accommodations of the mass of the people ; partly to
the greater prevalence of cleanliness ; and partly, and
since 1800 chiefly perhaps, to discoveries in medical
science, and the extirpation of the small-pox. But,
however explained, this and the facts mentioned above
show conclusively that the beneficial influence of the
extraordinary improvements in arts and sciences made
during the last slxty or seventy years has not been coun-
tervailed by the increase of population, and that it has
not been confined to the upper and middle classes. On
the contrary, these improvements have been especially
beneficial to the labourers. The latter are at this mo-
ment incomparably better fed, better clothed, and better
lodged, than at any former period of our history ; and,
in point of fact,- daily enjoy, and reckon as indispensable,
a great number of articles of convenience and luxury
that formerly could rarely be obtained even by the
richest lords.—M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary.

THIRTEEN STACKS BURNT —One of the most I
destructive fires that every occured in this part of the
county, broke out on Saturday last at noo. , upon the farm
of Mr. Dixon, of Waddington Heath, near Lincoln. The
fire was observed by one of the se: :ants to issue from a
seed stack, and in a quarter of an hour the whole of the
stacks ie the yard (thireen in number) were on fire. All
the cattle were got out, bet a vast quantity of poultry were
completely roasted, and served as a dainty meat for those
who had come to render assistance at the fire. A building
containing about 5001. worth of wool was entirely con-
sumed, but fortunately not before it was emptied of its con-
tents. The large quantity of new thrashed barley that was
in the
barn was got out with great diffieulLy, such being
the intense heat from the burning mass that persons
were much scorched. The wind blew very strongly
from the westward. Mr. Dixon' e w understand, is in-
sured in the York and Yorkshire Fire Office. How
the fire originated is not at
l present known, and it is feared
will never be satisfact, ascertained. The stacks de-
stroyed consisted of cue rl'arYge clover stack, two small hay
stacks, and the rest corn. The whole of the agricultural
implements also were con'. sumed.—Boston Herald.
We are authorised to contradict in the most
positive terms the report circulated at Paris that Count
D Orsay had any participation
Looisor
Napoleon
whatever of
the enterprise of Prince offer?
friendship
dasth 1
pE 0
forul gthhee.
Although entertaining the wwaransieaPt
hoin:
cutter ignorance of
Prince Louis, Count D'Oemy
his pr)jects, the Prince never
regrets,
them
to him, a si!ence Count D'Orsay now
have used every means in his
Louis from embarking in such an expedition. dissuadeiiad Prince )
Power tgorets" he wouli
Count 1
D'Orsay taken the least part in this unfortunate affair he I
would have passed over in silence the reports cn the sub
ject a- Paris, originating, no doubt, in his being known to
be one of the most enthusiastic admirers of the Emperor
Napoleon, and to have lived in habits of intimacy with
nearly all the family. The friendship between rtince
Leu's and Count D'Or=ey is of ancient date; and gladly
would Count D'Orsay have given what he considers would
be the most sincere proof of his attachment, had an oppor-
tunity been afforded him, by advising the Prince against
the rash enterprise.—Morning Post.
The Earl of Falfgall is confined to his apart-
meets, at Crawley's Hotel, Albernarle.street, from the
effects of the severe aecident his Lordship met with on
Monday, whilst tr eve Iliii e on the Eastern Counties
Railway, H... Lordship i3 fr • f severe con-
-1.., su ,ering from a
tptkilk of the knee. The Ladies Emily and Augusta
to than eßtiobeill Lordship's daughters, whom he was escorting
their educatinon
Catholic Convent near Chelmsford, to finish
, were also passengers in the train, but es-
caped unhurt.
Mr. Tomlinson seized
a fit at the bettin, , of Manchester, was sel with
on Wednesday evening, Doncaster, abut half-past nine
could be obtained, w::::!, and, before medical assistance
- corpse
Seventeen of the - •
onpoitical prisoners of
made their escapeDoilllens
last, by a subterraneous '
passage communicating frOtrandaY
them
oh the Prison to
the chemin de s uncle,
the envir'onesre
Eight offhe
of Amiens,
almost immt _
diately recaptured in
Arniens' and the
police are in active pursuit of the ethers.

PACIFIC STEAM NAVIGATION
COMPANY, incorporated by Royal Charter, 1840.
Notice is hereby given—That the Proprietors of this Com-
pany are requested to pay the FOURTH INSTALMENT of
5/. per Share on their respective
on Shares, to CHARLES Sir CH
PRICE, Bart. and Co., London, or before the 24th inst.
By Order of the Court of Directors,
WILLIAM R. C. KENDALL, Sec.
5, Barge-yard, Bueklersbury, Sept. 9, 1840.