The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-13 00:00:00

Q I -It'll

ILONDON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1841.

A single eharity is grudged to the unfortunate
refugees from Poland. We regret this, deeply ; and,
above all, we regret to find that an influential portion
of the Press is directing its energies to the suppression
of the solitary effort made towards the support of
these patriotic exiles. According to some of our
Contemporaries, the annual ball at Guildhall is a
profligate expenditure of the popular benevolence.
They insist upon the necessity of illustrating the
national adage. They maintain that charity, like the
polyphonist, should be "at home ;" and that, unlike
the schoolmaster, it should never go " abroad." This
is surely a bitter return to the system of exclusive
ness.

It is an endeavour to render the effects n

Christianity national, instead of cosmopolite. It is
a melancholy step towards the localization of the
corporal works of mercy. For the sake of our cha-
racter as a people, for the sake of religion, for the
sake of humanity, we would raise our voice,
against this most deplorable and mistaken opposition
which is principally, if not entirely, directed against
the subscribers and the Committee of the Association
of the Friends of Poland. We would appeal to the
Public for a continuance of its support to this noble
institution, not o■ the score of some eccentric par-

tiality, not for the perpetuation of a poeti,:al and
romantic entertainment, not because we are, in any
degree, infatuated by the associations of an almost
historical masquerade or by the glamour of an heroic
sentiment. We persist that the charitable amuse-
ment which takes place, year after year, in Guildhall
is entitled to the aid of the population, not for any
idle or showy reasons of this character, but because
the proceeds of the Ball afford the principal means of
preserving a numerous body of unfortunates from the
horrors of despair at:d starvation.

On mature reflection we are satisfied that the dis

like entertained by our Contemporaries for the annual
recurrence of the Polish Ball arises altogether from
two extraordinary and most erroneous apprehensions.
They regard the refugees from Lithuania as men in
a voluntary state of banishment, who prefer to derive
a precarious subsistence from idleness in a foreign
country rather than create for themselves an honest
though scanty livelihood by industry in their father-
land. Beyond this the dissentient portion of the London
Press is in dread lest the aid afforded by our oiti-

zone towards a parcel of foreign paupers may cause a
sensible diminution in the alms bestowed upon our
own impoverished countrymen. To no other notions
whatever can we a+tribute the diatribes published in
some of the metropolitan journals against the Polish
Ball and the Polish Association. We are unwilling
to trace the antagonism of our brother journalists to
a less worthy origin. It is wholly beyond our com-
prehension that the great power exercised by the
Daily Newspaper should, from other motives than
these, be employed so energetically against a class of
foreigners who are unable in any manner to defend
themselves.
Viewing the matter, therefore, in this light, we
ratt
st
aacinu: ein
having
ar that both the
stimulated
eedou
r impressions
Contemporaries
we
tot
h e mentionedat.
can be m
ovreerayfmnu. highestt h
adne g
to
oe e
argue fall ae itohuast.
Nothing
can
neuti out of every three
hundred and
one single evening's amusement
five,
appreciable
manner tend to the diminutilL any
ye
our
or domestic charities. To prove the extravaganceshome
this notion it would be only necessary to enumerateitof
it
the various hospitals, almshouses, lying.in n
tions, asylums, and other eleemosynary establish-
mentsu which are scattered in such profusion through-
out the metropolis, and which are supported with
unflagging munificence, solely through the influence
of voluntary contributions. One masquerade con-
trasted with so many splendid edifices is assuredly an
atom contrasted with a sphere. And while the mi-
serable creatures, who are relieved in their destitu-
tion simply because they are unfortunate natives of
the British islands, are housed, and clothed, and
nursed, and protected in these institutions by thousands,
it is certainly not very generous for any members
of the English Press to complain because one annual
bull is given to preserve the Polish refugees from
famishing. And most especially are these complaints
ungenerous when it is remembered that the Poles
are here amongst us claiming our assistance, not
from choice, but by a dire necessity. If it is a fallacy
to dread the diminution of our national charities,
simply because a single entertainment is given on