The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-18 00:00:00

Pll2 SUN,

or control in any way, as to relief, but that such power
is left exclusively in the hands of the guardians.
" The West London Board of Guardians are by no
means desirous of possessing those powers, but if the
Legislature has thought fit to invest them with such,
and whilst it continues to do so, they also submit
that that law which gives and sustains to the magis-
trate all his power, ought to be as effective to main-
tain power given to any other source whatever, and if
magistrates or others would have the kindness to at-
tend the meetings of the guardians for the purpose of
witnessing whether there was any want of real at-
tention or humanity in the way in which they dis-
pense those powers, many of such guardians being
personally conversant with every grade and feature of
each me presented before them, those so attending
would at least be in a proper position to pass a judq-
ment upon their proceedings ; but without this it is
submitted any judgment, much more condemnation,
must be premature, and may be most unjust.
" Whilst the guardians set forth this to be the law,
they by no means wish to say that they in no case
can do wrong, or that in any case they shoull not be
desirous of justifying themselves before you or the
world for anything that they do. All they would
infer is this, that to be condemned for their conduct
before any inquiry is made into their motives or rea-
sons for it, is neither just nor likely to give proper
effect to that law which the Legislature has intrusted
them to enforce.
" The Board of Guardians feel how delicate it is

to speak of their oviin conduct; every man believes
himself to be right. They hope it will not be held
unbecoming of them, however, to express their con-
sciousness that on all occasions they have adminis-
tered their functions with the utmost humanity and
tenderness, having at all times regard to the character
and position of the parties coming before them,
matters which cannot come so well within the cogniz-
ance of your Honourable Court; and they, therefore,
invite every one of your Honourable Court, by alter-
nate attendances, in sections, or in such other manner
as you may think best, to attend and personally to
judge of the manner in which they perform their
duties as such guardians. If, after such attendances,
you deem them proper subjects of animadversion,
however they may lament it, they will at least have
the, satisfaction that 3,,,rigm...4 hoes Locu pa.acl upon
evidence, and by those, also, who have taken the pains
to investigate their motives.
" The Board of Guardians feel the greater neces-
sity for this communication to your Honourable
Court, from the alarming facts, that pauperism in the
East London Union has reached a height which is
perfectly appalling, and which was never before
known; that the burthen from rates is greater, and
i;, from quarter to quarter, from its large magnitude,
frightfully increasing the list of paupers ; that many
of those who by distress warrants are compelled to
contribute to the rates, are really destitute of the
comforts which the workhouse affords ; that one of
the parishes of the Union is at this time paying for
poor rate ss. in the pound ; and that the destitute class
of paupers, which, under the old law, were not a
burthen upon workhouses, are increasing to a degree
that is not only alarming as a statistical fact, but in
such a way as to prevent, in a great degree, all proper
regulation and discipline in the workhouse.
Your Honourable Court will perhaps be more
startled when informed, that in Bethnal-green, hither-
to considered one of the poorest districts, the in-door
poor (that is, poor in the workhouse), compared with
the population of the Union, is as 109 to every
10,000 ; that in St. Luke's, another poor district,
the in-door poor is as 127 to every 10,000; whilst
in the West London Union, the in-door poor is as
227 to every 10,000; in addition to this the West
London Union exceeds in amount the out-door relief
of the largest of these two other Unions.
" Such a state of things demands, to meet it, the
united energies of boards of guardians and magis-
trates, each assisting the other will all their power
and ability ; and the guardians, suggest that it must
be anything but a correction of this state, when your
Honourable Court, individually, as magistrates, in-
terfere with cases in order to disparage the motives of
those who have adjudicated upon them, and after they
have undergone the most serious inquiry and delibe-
ration.

" The Board of Guardians, many of them adminis-
trators of the law under the old system, and therefore
necessarily acquainted well with what it was, have no
doubt in expressing that the comforts of the poor
under the new system, as far at least as regards their
Union, are greater, and their necessities more libe-
rally dealt with, in every way, than was the case
under the old ; and besides this, and that is most
important, the education of the young is based upon
a system not only more costly, but in every respect
more efficient :—with these facts, well capable of
proof, it is hard to be held up as a public spectacle of
inhumanity and hardheartedness.
" The West London Guardians, conscious that
there must be some misapprehension in the minds of
your Hon. Court, as to their motives, character, and
conduct, do once more earnestly entreat that each and
every of your Worshipful Court will, before any
further condemnation of their proceedings in public
or private, condescend to visit the board at the weekly
meetings, and to judge for yourselves whether they
are unfeeling, inhuman, or oppressive, in any of their
proceedings, or whether, in the multifarious and
heavy duties with which they have to grapple, they
do not conduct their course so as rather to merit your
approbation, and that of good men in general, and to
deserve your entire support and concurrence.
" The West London Guardians, claiming for
themselves no infallibility, will then have not only
the sanction, but the advice of your Hon. Court, and
the result would be, that their decisions, instead of
meeting from you with ex post facto as well as extra-
judicial repudiation, which necessarily must impede
their effect and weaken their influence, would have
your additional weight and character to sustain and
enforce them."

The memorial was signed by Mr. Buckmaater, the
chairman, and seventeen other guardians of the union.
Aldeiman HUGHES HUGHES hoped that a paper of
such a description would not meet with a seconder in
the Court. It contained the expressions of a direct
interference with their judicial functions. He always
entertained the opinion that the principle of compel-
ling parties who were suffering from temporary dis-
tress to sell off their stock and betake themselves to a
union ought to be reprobated.--(Hear, hear.) For
his part he should not cease to deprecate a practice
so revolting to common feeling and common sense.
With respect to the sentiment as to the exertions and
humanity of the guardians, he really thought that it
savoured of the eulogistics which the gentlemen were
accustomed to make only amongst themselves.
Alderman COPELAND agreed with Alderman
Hughes Hughes that the paper was an insolent
interference with the duties of the Aldermen, and
nobody having seconded the reception of the memorial,
the subject was dropped, and_ he Court adjourned.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT
ROTHERIIITHE.
A very alarming fire, by which four children nar-
rowly escaped being burned to death, broke out last
night upon the premises belonging to Mr. William
Schild, a fancy bread and biscuit baker, carrying on
business at No. 38, Paradise-street, Rotherhithe. It
appears that the flames originated in one of the bed
rooms on the first floor, and that they were not per-
ceived until they had broken through the window.
Four children at that time were asleep in the apart-
ment, and had it not been for the presence of mind
and exertions of a woman, the whole of them must
have perished. As it was, the greatest difficulty was
experienced in getting the children through the
fl Imes. That having, however, been accomplished,
an attempt was made to get the flames under,
but unfortunately they had obtained too strong
a hold, and in the course of a few minutes
the fire had travelled from floor to floor, seizing upon
everything of a combustible character, when it at
length burst through the roof. This fact caused in-
telligence to be speedily communicated to the tire-
stations, and in a comparatively short period numer-
ous brigade engines, with Mr. Henderson, the foreman
of the district D arrived, and also Mr. Connorton,
with the West of England engine. When the firemen
arrived they found that the work of destruction had
extended to the house numbered 39 in the same street,
belonging to Mr. J. W. Goodwin, and also to that
in the tenure of Mrs. Sarah Harvey, No. 40. Not
a moment was lost in setting the engines to work,
and large columns of water were seittered on the
flames, but, notwithstanding, they continued to burn
most furiously, and it was not until half-past eleven
o'clock that the fire was considered safely extinguished
so that the engines could be sent back to their stations.
The damage done is very considerable, and is thus
returned by Mr. Superintendent Braidwood :—The
whole of the upper floors in Mr. Schild's premises
destroyed, the contents consumed, and the lower floor
severely damaged by water, &c.—uninsured. Mr.
Goodwin (next door)—About two-thirds of roof
durned off, and furniture and building severely
'imaged by water—uninsured. Mrs. S. Harvey
(No. 40)—Building and contents damaged by water
and fire. Mr. J. Smith (No. 41) —Similar damage
to building and content Thmas—Riglg (No. 37)--
Roof and side3f6r)ont
,fainaged by fire, Ste. E. J.
urniture considerablydamesed
Naylor (No.
by removal.

y,
apsrietsenta a
MRS. TaoL,,
._ e understand
piquant picture of
that, under the orE s Nnw IsTovEt. W
suggestive title
sur.dry phases of sociot
Mrs. Trollope's new novel of ' rnwn and Country,"
ago. The world's progress in
/
rapid as to cause many social chap ettsted some forty years
ees: latter times is so
in such a lapse of years. Progress etcrecePltible enough
teristics, and even
town and country life in England
forty years since thoses‘vt?iecallt eharac-
were far more str
i
marked
than in these railroad days. " Town and Country"iconng
tains, we believe, striking delineations of life in both;
a group of moss characteristic portraits from the now
almost extinct 'genuine yeoman class on the one hand,
and a racy tableau of the faded gallantry of the Prince
Regent and the revels of Culton Sous© ou Ow other.