The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-07 00:00:00

4tic,

LONDON :
WEDNESDAY. APRIL 7, 18411

4the House of Lords yesterday the Royal
Poe tit was given to the' East India Rum, the
ulation Act Amendment, and several other
t44B' A few petitions were presented; some
titd,t4 connected with late trials in Ireland were
of tt'tel.l. The Earl of CLARENDON gave notice
OV)„111 on the law of Principal and Factor,
the after Bill
and their Lordships adjourned to
j,;-(1 inst.
Pf4t_be Commons, a considerable quantity of
l'ttitr business was transacted, and a number of
4el4,were presented.
11111 st; 'ltymE moved for a number of papers to
Polth.4te the case of the Rajah of SATTARAH, but
ftery°lled presenting the RAJAH'S petition till
the holidays, because the English version
was not completed.
1211 e SPEAKER announced the receipt of a let-
th from Sir It. STOPPORD, acknowledging the
atiks of the House of Commons.
% the motion of Viscount PALMERSTON, and
et a brief conversation, the House was ordered
,Iliourn at its rising to the 20th inst.
li"e following notices were given for after the
41,41,43's :—Mr. W. S. O'BRIEN, an address on
N,'Oth inst. to carry into effect the Second Re-
of the Railway Commissioners (Ireland);
eGaOTE, a motion on the 22d relative to the
th,:; South Wales Land Fund.; Mr. HAWES, on
t 5 111;48t, the second reading of the Medical Re-
it), ; Mr. EWART, on the 20th, to open
Pp tilegen-park MUNTZ, a Committee
e Crimt'sinal Justice Bill—a clause to declare
ajd
the Birmingham Charter.
kAAsrePly to Mr. P. HOWARD, Viscount PAL-.
likelois said that the Portuguese Commission
hitletteferred the question of what should be con-
tithed binding contracts to the arbitrator, and
It 1e decided that question the Commissioners
14tiit to be of no use to invite claimants to send
I'4 claims.
reply to Mr. GOULBURN, Viscount PAL-
ktit:l°N stated that the whole of the papers re-
ttlyßatt o Syria would be laid on the table in a
4s.
to 4 EWART moved an Address tb the Crown
Nl.l)l3oint a Minister of Education, who should
thq-j Year lay before Parliament a statement of
e e°
ition and prospects of the education of
t~ovre°Ple. The Hon. Member pressed his mo-
krlp Y a number of statements relative to the
ttOb, kiCages which other departments derived
Shaving a responsible Minister—to what was
141 this head in other countries, in which, as
04,11.4nce and Prussia, periodical reports were
Rove Public, and relative to the state of educe,-
this and other countries. The Hon. Gen-
Nrlall hoped that our country would imitate
ee and Prussia ; and he was convinced that,
k4ille'rnoting education, they would promote
le'
and religion.
Ikt•tt,; a'BRIEN seconded the motion, and en-
the necessity of a Minister of Education
ii-erilaereq.uotations to show how ignorant the
)110111‘9r• GREY opposed the motion. He agreed
ige 4-I*. EWART as to its importance, and as to
isetective condition of education in England,
Iltaiege foresaw great diffiulty in carrying the
kr%hlto effect.
:14 • f'vvAnT consented to withdraw his motion,
:4 44,71 he would, at the proper time, move
`lstecC:tition to the paltry grant of 30,0001. now
'°l' educational purposes.
ttillrivtt moved for a Committee to inquire
'llllre present state of National Monuments
E`stininster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and
s,
il' tm
places, to consider of the best means
- Protection, and to facilitate the admis-
tk Pa. • W the
public to them. The Hon. Member
h ttat ,
tti, ea on the public advantage of opening
14sti laments to inspection, but postponed no-
t„kr,ll4. the Committee till after Easter.
`"111, -"cizirrivoN supported the motion, con-
t'`th • .
-1)1Q • at it would improve the taste of the
th if all the Cathedrals were thrown open
4 k,
titeet4BOUCHERE, not objecting to the motion,
Nt,red teid any lengthened discussion. He con-
lt every facility ought to be given to
. Pie t
have access to the public monu-
n
g
Ilaot, thetlot,
gm INGLIS exclaimed against opening
''4 e has to the public, over which he said the
4 d
ho,x,Y re 43 power. The Hon. Baronet pro-
to "kt. ITl.ds them as the property of the prlest-
tt:untini e inquired whether the Cartoons were
PI whittle Posed to a similar danger to that
411-4315tl ivefk they had recently escaped.
01urlr°RDETu replied that the Chief Com-
tbantlllatoli Woods and Forests had been to
nee or Court; and there was, he believed, no
et r• liti:aeh an accident again occurring.
'it, at the request of Viscount PAL-
Ott(1114' :.vitllcirCW his motion relative to the
I,f,t till
Dt4 , ToN state' after the recess. Viscount PAL-
CI that while the negotiations were
b)4B a
strong feeling
on the subject pre-

vailed both in England and America, a debate
might be attended with injurious consequences.
Tile Spicct Committee on Joint-Stock Banks
was no., inated, as was the Committee on Ex-

pirin,g• Laws. •
A Bill to continue the Arms' (Ireland) Acts

was brought in and read a first time. Tile South
Australian Bill was passed. The resolutions on
the Colonial Tariff were reported, and a Bill
brought in. Some other matters of routine were
carried through, and at Half-past Seven the
House adjourned to the 20th instant.

A pamphlet has recently been published at
Manchester by the Rev. R. PARKINSON, 8.D.,
Canon of Manchester, on the present condition
of the labouring poor, which contains some re-
marks that deserve much r:onsideration. For
example, he ascribes many of the misunderstand-
ings which now exist between masters and work-
men, givers and receivers, to their " ignorance of
each other." He says—
IGNORANCE OF EACH OTHER. This is the text. Most
men will at once allow it to be in a great measure true,
and to be one great impediment in the way of relieving
want and distress; but tew men who have not given their
minds distinctly to the consideration of the subject, are
fully aware of how profound is this ignorance in this great
town. The rich, as a class, know nothing cf each other;
the poor, as a class, know nothing of each other; and no
wonder then, that the rich should be at least as ignorant of
the poor, and the poor of the rich, as they are respec-
tively of the class to which they belong. I have said that
the rich are profoundly ignorant of each other ; and no one
who has not had an opportunity of mixing pretty ge-
nerally in society can be fully aware of the degree in
which this ignorance prevails.
Man are bound down to this place almost exclusively by
the tie of business: but business leads to seclusion from
general matters, to ignorance of those pursuing another
branch of trade—to rivalry or opposition with regard to
those engaged in our ovm. Then there are the differences
of religion, which split men into sects ; and the differences
of politics, which divide them into parties. From these,
and similar causes, it arises that, taken as a community,
there is probably no town in the world where men know
so little of each other, or where it is so difficult to arrive
at any accurate knowledge of what is the prevalent feel.ng
on any question, as it is in Manchester. Men constantly
breathe one atmosphere with those of similar tastes and
opinions with themselves; they hear repeated the echo of
their own voices till they fancy them to be those of the
public at large ; and they are filled with surprise when
some great crisis, ether commercial or political, arrives,
to find how profoundly ignorant they bad all along been of
that which seemed to them to be as clear as daylight. . .
Each has his theory in trade, in politics, in religion ; and
each, drawing a general conclusion as to his ability from
his undeniable success in his own particular department,
probably feels, if he would confess so much, that, give
him his own way, and he could reform and govern the
world I _ . .

I have mentioned the ignorance of the poor, with re-
gard to each other. It may seem to some that this is an
immaterial question, when the subject under discussion is
the best mode of discovering and relieving the distresses of
the poor. But whosoever draws this conclusion betrays
an utter ignorance of human nature, and the actual con.
dition and conduct of the poorer classes. The poor give
more to each other than the rich give to the poor. lem
confirmed in this assertion by the testimony of one of our
oldest, most learned, and most observant physicians,
whose humanity is as conspicuous as his learning and talent,
and who has °flea publicly declared that the experience of
nearly fifty years has convinced him that the aggregate
sum given in each year by the poor to each other
exceeds that c.intributed by the rich in the same period.
Nor is this surprising. The poor man naturally flees,
in the first instance, for assistanee to those nearest to him,
beat known to him, and the most likely, from feelings of
sympathy, to relieve his at the moment small, but pressing
necessity. Of course, those nearest and best known to
him are naturally persons in a somewhat similar condi:ion
of life with himself, and a fellow-feeling, together with
a painful forebodirg that such a state of destitution may
soon become their own, causes such appeals to be at
once listened to, according to the means, and often even
beyond the means of the givers. Hence a knowledge of
each other, atnong the poor, is absolutely necessary to pre-
vent them from being constantly imposed upon by others
very little poorer, and much less honest, than themselves. I
believe that imposture thrives especially amongst the poor.
They are much less able to detect it, and less suspicious of its
existence, than the rich. Hence it is that ignorance of
each other is the cause, not only that they often bestow a
portion of their own scanty pittance upon those who are
totally unworthy of it, but that they cherish in their own
bosoms a nest of idle or vicious outcasts, who prey upon
their very vitals, and find krefuge among them, through
their mistaken humanity, from the salutary control of
public opinion—nay, often from the bands of public justice.
Most other towns have been young before they became
old,—were villages before they became cities; had a time
of infancy, with all the parts and limbs in little of that
manhood to which they bate at last arrived: and their
growing and expanding was but the setting of those bones
and the strengthening of those sinews which existed in all
their symmetry, though not in all their strength and com-
pactness, in the earlier stages of the advancing common.
wealth. But no such account can be given of the rise and
progress of the vast community among which we live.
We have not grown, but accumulated ; we are not strati-
fied, we are but a conglomerate. We are but, as it were,
the debits %bleb the vast whirlpool of human affairs has
deposited here in one of its eddies, associated but not
united, contiguous but not connected. Hence, therefore,
irregularities and anomalies, which in other circumstances
would be intolerable,.are with us naturally to be expected,
and are the direct consequence of our peculiar condition.

That is rather a long but an instructive quota-
tion. Undoubtedly, what is true of Manchester,
is true of every other great town in the empire.
It is emphatically true of London, where a man
has his business established in one place and his
home surrounded only by domestic servants in
another. It is emphatically true of those who
live at the West-end, and those who live at the
East-end. It is true of Ministers of the Crown
and Members of Parliament, particularly Mem-
bers of the Upper House, who live in the midst
of clerks, servants, and parasites. They can
know nothing of the feelings, wants, and wishes
of the bulk of the people.
Above all, it is emphatically true of the Bishops
and other dignitaries of the Church, who begin
their public life with a particular theory of human
nature, which they swear to abide by, and into
accordance with which they struggle, through
their whole existence, to drill the community.
Every fact which contradicts their theory, they
try to suppress or pervert. Their whole minds
are artificial, which are prevented from ever be-
coming otherwise, by associating only with their
fellow-dignitaries, or with those who, by a species
of worship, nourish that one-sided arrogance
for which they are distinguished. When igno-
rance of one another prevails in the same town
amongst masters and amongst workmen, it is pre-
sumable that ,a similar kind of ignorance per-
vades all classes, and is, as the Rev. Mr. PAR-
KINSON says, the great cause of mistrust, aliena-
tion, and hostility. We know that it is eminently
the case in the different nations, and with men of
different religions, and hence the incessant and
mutual hostility between the English Protestants
and Irish Catholics.

It may be remarked, that the lower classes in
general, though now and then they imitate the
example of the upper classes, and try their hands
at a charter, or demand some sumptuary laws,
are sensible of their unacquaintedness with the
pursuits and avocations of the upper classes, and
do not propose to interfere with their amuse-
ments or their occupations, or to make laws
for them. They do not believe, apparently, that
society would be made happier and better by
moulding the upper classes after their own form
and fashion. But the upper classes are by no
means so forbearing towards their humbler bre-
thren. Not merely those amongst them- who
have seats in Parliament, but the great bulk of.
the classes above the day labourers, artisans, and
mechanics, continually suppose that they alone
are qualified to direct the pursuits and avoca-
tions of the humbler classes, and they continually
seek to interfere by means of laws with their
amusements and occupations. They must not go
to fairs, they must keep away from balls and
concerts, they must not walk forth on the Sab-
bath, they must not congregate in public-houses
after certain hours, they must not, under certain
circumstances, hold public meetings, and they
must in short walk in the world, not as they like,
but as their more opulent brethren command
them

If there be, however, such gross ignorance of
one another as Mr. PARKINSON describes, may we
not conj2cture that when it gets embodied into
laws, and enforced by the public will, it is one
of the many causes of the helplessness, destitu-
tion, and pauperism to which the humbler classes
are continually a prey ? They never can see or
know, in consequence of such a continual inter-
ference, which always steps betwixt them and
their fate, the natural causes on which their
well-being depends, and they consequently
cannot know effectually how to take care of them-
selves.

Take, for example, the present exertions, dic-
tated hype most beneficent spirit, which are
making lb improve the health of the working
classes. A few gentlemen, composing a Com-
mission, walk, perhaps for the first time in their
lives, into the alleys and closes in which the
poor dwell. The squalor is to, them in-
describably offensive. Handsful of snuff,