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

ON EASTER MONDAY. APRIL 12,

Will be repeated_the New Comedy, in Five Acts, entitled

LONDON ASSURANCE.

Sir Harcourt Courtly, Bart., Mr. W. Farren ; Max Hark-
away, Mr. Bartley; Mr. Charles Courtly, Mr. Anderson;
Mr. Adolphus Spanker, Mr. Keeley; Mr. Dazzle, Mr. C.
Mathews; Mark Meddle, Mr. Harley; Grace Harka:ray,
Madame Vestris; Lady Gay Spanker, Mrs. Nisbett ; Mrs.
Pert. Mrs. Humbr.

Atter which will be produced, a Grand Romantic Fairy Ex-
travaganza, entitled
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Principal Characters by Mr. W. Mr. Harley, Mr.
J. Bland, Mr. Gilbert and Miss Ballin, Harrison,lliss Fairbrothar,
Master and Miss Marshal-, 11iss Rainforth, Miss Grant, Miss
Lee, and Madame Yestris.

boors tc t e evened at half-past Six—the performances to
co T'atenrB at Se7en o'Clock.

Dress Boxes 7s. ; Second Price, 3s. 6d.; First and Second
(-ircles, ss. ; Second Price, 2s. 6d. ; Pit, 3s. ; Second Price-
2s. ; Gallery Is.
Tickets an.l places for the Boxes to be taken of Mr. Grogan
at the Box-office, from Ten till Four, where Season Tickets
m .ty oe had upon application.
Private Boat.. to be had so'els of Mr. Ands sws, bookseller,
New Bond-street.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
If " Fair Play" will favour us with his name and address,

we may publish his letter.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS DAY.
%1 ruing 30 minutes after 2 i Evening ..... minutes after 2

LONDON
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 1841.1

In the House of Lords yesterday the Royal
Assent was given to the East India Rum, the
Population Act Amendment, and several other
Bills. A few petitions were presented; some
returns connected with late trials in Ireland were
ordered.

The Earl of CLARENDON gave notice of a Bill
on the law of Principal and Factor, after Easter,
and their Lordships adjourned to the 22d. inst.
In the Commons, a considerable quantity of
private business was transacted, and a number of
petitions were presented.

Mr. IfuntE moved for a number of papers to
illustrate the case of the Rajah of SArrAnAn, but
postponed presenting the RAJAH'S petition till
after the holidays, because the English version
of it was not completed,

The SPEAKER fr_inounced the receipt of a let-
ter from Sir R. STOPFORD, acknowledging the
thanks of tte House of Commons.

On the motion of Viscount PALMERSTON, and
after a brief conversation, the House was ordered
to adjourn at its rising to the 20th inst.
The following notices were given for after the
holidays :—Mr. W. S. O'BRIEN, an address on
the 29th inst. to carry into effect the Second Re-
port of the Railway Commissioners (Ireland) ;
Mr. GROTE, a motion on the 22d relative to the
New South Wales Land Fund; Mr. HAWES, on
the 21st, the second reading of the Medical Re-
form Bill ; Mr. EWART, on the 20th, to open
the Regent's-park; and Mr. MUNTZ, a Committee
on the Criminal Justice Bill—a clause to declare
valid the Birmingham Charter.
In reply to Mr. P. HOWARD, Viscount PAL-
MERSTON said that the Portuguese Commission
had referred the question of what should be con-
sidered binding contracts to the arbitrator, and
till he decided that question the Commissioners
felt it to be of no use to invite claimants to send
in their claims.

In reply to Mr. GOULBURN, Viscount PAL-
-ITERSTON stated that the whole of the papers re-
lative to Syria would be laid on the table in a
few days.

Mr. EWART moved an Address to the Crown
to appoint a Minister of Education, who should
very year lay before Parliament a statement of
the condition and prospects of the education of
the people. The Hon. Member pressed his mo-
tion by a number of statements relative to the
advantages which other departments derived
from having a responsible Minister—to what was
Alone on this head in other countries, in which, as
in France and Prussia, periodical reports were
made public, and relative to the state of educa.
.ion in this and other countries. The Hon. Gen-
tleman hoped that our country would imitate
Trance and Prussia ; and he was convinced that,
by promoting education, they would promote.
morality and religion.
Mr. O'BRIEN seconded the motion, and en-
forced the necessity of a Minister of Education
by some quotations to show how ignorant the
people are.
Sir G. GREY opposed the motion. He agreed
with Mr. EWART as to its importance, and as to
the defective condition of education in England,
but he foresaw great diffiulty in carrying the
project into effect.
Mr. EWART consented to withdraw his motion,
but said he would, at the proper time, move
an. additition to the paltry grant of 30,0001. now
voted for educational purposes.
Mr. HUME moved for a Committee to inquire
into the present state of National Monuments
in. Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and
other public places, to consider of the best means
for their protection, and to facilitate the admis-
ton of the public to them. The Hon. Member
expatiated on the public advantage of opening
the monuments to inspection, but postponed no-
minating the Committee till after Easter.
Mr. MACKINNON supported the motion, Con-
ceiving that it would improve the taste of the
people if all the Cathedrals were thrown open
to them.

Mr. LABouctitßE, not objecting to the motion,
deprecated any lengthened discussion. He con-
:,idered that every facility ought to be given to
he people to have access to the public moan-
inants.

Sir ROBERT INGLIS exclaimed against opening
Cathedrals to the public, over which he said the
Rouse had no power. The Hon. Baronet pro-
bably regards them as the property of, the priest-
hood. He inquired whether the Cartoons were
to continue exposed to a similar danger to that
from which they had recently escaped.
Lord MORPETH replied that the Chief Com..

missioner of Woods and Forests had been to
HariMtv t; ,and there was, he believed, no
chap of ‘s.gell an: Zcid.ent again occurring.
jloifil4F4.ltti:"-the. request of Viscount PA
t9L3(;:riTidrew 'hi's motion relative to the
• • t 4 recess. Viscount PAL
; • s )414,r0i Atatedz.tLat while the negotiations were
pending; as a strong feeling on the subject pre-
vailed both in England and America, a debate
might be attended with injurious consequences.
The Select Committee on Joint. Stock Banks

was nominated, as was the Committee on Ex-

piring Laws.
A Bill to continue the Arms' (Ireland) Acts
was brought in and read a first time. The 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 afp
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 consideration. 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 few 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 of each other;
the poor, as a class, know nothing of each other; end no
wonder there 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-
floridly in society can be fully aware of the degree in
which this ignorance prevails.
Men sire 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—te rivalry or opposition with regard to
those engaged in our onn. 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 feeling
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
pubic at large; and they are filled with surprise when
some great crisis, e thcr 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 be could refcrm and gcvern the
world I
I have mentioned the ignorance of the poor, with re-
gird 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 cf the poorer classes. The poor give
more to each other than the rich give to the poor. lam
confirmed in this assertion by the testimony of one of our
oldest, most learnt d, and most observant physicians,
whose humanity is as conspicuous as his learning mid ta!enr,
and who has of ea puiliely cl,clared that the experience of
nearly fifty years has convinced him that the eggs, gate
sum given in each year by the poor to each other
exceeds that csntributed by the rich in the Caine petied.
Nor is this surprising. The poor man naturally fl
.-
in the first instance, fur assistance to those neares•. to
best known to him, and the most likely, fesito feeli t ngs
of
him
sympathy, to relieve his at the moment.
amen,
pressing
bu
necessity. Of course, those nee
him are naturally persons.
41 somewhat similar condition
in L,est and best known to
of Inc with himself, 8-.. a a fellow-feeling, together with
thst seas a state of destitution may
a painful forebodir:.
soon become reek own, causes such appeals to be at
once list-sned to, Recording to the means, and often even
bei;ond the means of the givers. Hence a knowledge of
each other, among the poor, is absolutely necessary to pre.
vent them from lejne,s, 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, mad find a refuge among them, through
their mistaken humanity, from the salutary control of
public opinion nay, often from the hands of public justice.
Most other towns have been young before they became
old,—were villages before they became cities ; bad a time
of infancy, with all the parts and limbs in little of that
manhood to which they base 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 corn.
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 wore,
the debris which 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•
wades all classes, and is, as the Rev. Mr. PAR.

KTNSON 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 werely 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 plays, 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
t
circumstances, hold public meetings, and they
tnho as they like,
command
butren must
aisn
theirs ort walknmore
inoptlulleenwtorblrde,
them..

If there be, however, such gross ignorance of
one another as Mr. PARKINSON describes, may we

not conj?cture that when it gets embodied into
laws, an 1 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 by the most beneficent spirit, which are
making to 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,
or powe,f;al aromatic perfumes, sf.arcel,,
them firmlal,.tlllb."'ley urce thcii*
way to a Sick bed, and find painful disease

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