The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-05 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

f HIS Der.—Morning, 6h. 15m.—Afternoon, 6h. 40m.
T )-31oRRow.-Morning, 7h. sm.—Afternoon, 7h. 361 n.

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294,

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCT. 5, 1867.

The most interesting event of the Church Congress

at Wolverhampton was the working men's meeting.
Great pains were taken that tickets should only be
given to the artisan and labouring class, and as

many as two thousand operatives were enabled to
come. The Bishop of LICHFIELD, the President of

the Congress, made an impressive address to them,
and declared that he saw before him as important a
class as any that existed, namely, that of the work-
ing men. Yet, he observed, in one sense they were
all working men, if they rightly understood their
duties as Christians ; unless they regarded their
mission in this light, it was difficult to say why
they had been sent into the world at all. The right
rev. president concluded his forcible remarks with
the solemn truth that all must work together,
heartily and thoroughly, in the " several
stations " in which GOD had placed them,
and work for mutual good, both temporal
and eternal. Sir J. NAPIER made some strong
appeals to those before them, and alluded to the
great things that had been done of late for working
men, and the opportunities afforded to them of
serving their country and being of use in their
generation. The working classes of England have
nnw, as he reminded them, the noblest opening that
has ever appeared to them. It is true that some
have declared they will abuse their advantages, and
destroy rather than build up. This, however, Sir
J. NAPIER denied, and added that he had stood by
the side of his venerable friend Lord BROUGHAM
when he addressed the working men, and he knew
the confidence the noble lord entertained of their
good sense, wisdom, and moderation. There is
now entrusted to their charge the very " Consti-
tution of this great and ancient land—a land which
has ever been the place of freedom and the guardian
of truth." The Bishop of OXFORD'S speech was
most admirable, and the best proof of its success was
that it gained the approbation of his audience most
completely. He reminded his hearers that one
thought must be paramount in the minds of all
Christians concerning the working classes, and it
was connected with the religion of Him whose name
we all delight to hear. When He came among us
He chose to be born among the ranks of working
men, and " out of the two and thirty years
that he spent upon the earth to work in that
reputed father's home for more than eight and
twenty of them—that of itself, if there were nothing
else, elevates at once manual labour and hard work
in this our preparatory condition as no other
thought on the earth can raise it." The observa-
tion of the right rev. prelate may be studied with
advantage by all classes of the community, and they
are especially appropriate just now when so much
occurs to create jealousy and discontent in many
quarters. The practical suggestions which result
from the inquiries and expressions of such meet-
ings are the most useful part of them, and this
speech we are advering to affords us a good
opportunity of considering them. As it is truly put
men require sympathy, not pity or admiration, and
this sentiment of all others the Christian church
should foster. In no place is it more called for
than in those parts where teeming multitudes

assemble to work in the great centres of human
industry. Many great drawbacks will present
themselves to the accomplishment of this desirable
work, and class is set against class by the competi-
tion of trade and the desire of gain, and in every
sense of the word such a feeling is injurious to all
who indulge in it. As the Bishop observed,
‘, There is no more dwarfing thing, there is no more
narrowing thing to the heart of a man, than to in-
&Lige iu those feelings of asperity and hostility
towards those who are separated from him by those
artificial and narrow bounds in the great deep of
humanity which the mere distinction of class pro-
duces." Those who rightly estimate their own
position in life will be relieved from this unhappy
feeling, be their rank or class what it may, and the
Christian religion of itself should guard against such
excesses, and guide into a better and brighter road.

As its eloquent exponent here reminds us there is a

great republican principle in the Christian Church;
it teaches quality because it teaches distinction ;
it is the " annihilator of little differences, because
the exalter of the mighty power of GOD." If these
considerations and reflections could sink deep into

the mind and influence the hearts of those who
belong to the working classes, it would be a great

thing for them and for all other classes 0

society. There is no reason why these great
practical lessons should not be learned, and

acted upon ; and those who can under.

stand so much of intricate matters belonging to
their several vocations could just as easily turn their
thoughts to the great questions relating to their own

welfare, and which will in some degree influence

them here and hereafter.

There is nothing degracl-

:ng in work; on the contrary, the conscientious

workman fulfils his mission, and, as we learn from

this comprehensive discourse, the man who knows
his work and does it rightly, even if it be

merely putting a pin's head to the top of a pin, is
doing the very thing that the Archangels in Heaven

are doing ; he is doing the work GOD net him to do.
One mistake that those who talk to the lower ranks

are apt to make was especially guarded against
by the Bishop of Oxford ; he did not speak as if

they specially required teaching more than their
superiors in worldly position. Wealth, as he said,
increases, instead of lessening, the temptations of
humanity, and no one has ever read in the gospel,
" How hardly shall they that are poor enter into the

kingdom of heaven ;" but it has been said of those
that have riches. We can earnestly commend this

speech to the notice of all who at the present time
take an interest in the great question of the pros-

THE SUN, LUND

perity. and progress of the working classes, the
mainstay and props of the welfare of the country,
and, ai Bugh, deserving of all respect.

Among the many exciting topics which country
members find time to discuss among their constitu-
ents at this season of the year we are glad to find
that some very important questions materially
affecting the welfare of the agricultural population
are not quite overlooked. Those who reside among
them are ;not always perhaps the best judges of
their actual condition. Long habit and prejudice
make them unwilling to countenance any change
in the old manner of carrying on affairs, and they
find it difficult to realise the full extent of griev-
ances to which they have always been accus-
tomed. The evils of the gang system, however,
seem to be pretty generally admitted, and we may
therefore hope that no serious opposition to a
thorough reform will be made. At the annual meet-
ing of the Marshlands Agricultural Society, held
near King's Lynn, some of these topics were brought
up. Sir W. BAGGE, M.P., one of the members for
the Western Division of the county, in reviewing
the work of the session, adverted to what had been
done in the past session. Something, he said, had
been done for their county with reference to the
gang system. Sir W. BAGGE said that he found
the Commissioners laid great stress on the want of
proper cottage accommodation ; and this is another
of those evils which people who have grown up
among them do not estimate at their right value.
Every family, said Mr. BAGGE, ought to have three
rooms ; and if cottages were built on this principle
we should have a perceptible improvement in the
morals and habits of the agricultural classes. If
men, women, and children are huddled together
in miserable hovels like so many pigs, it is
useless to expect that either teaching or example
will induce them to live like Christians. The
question is one of some difficulty, but so is every
question that has large and lasting results. A
certain amount of opposition must be expected from
those who have prospered under the old system,
and who fear that a change for the better will either
diminish their profits or increase their expenses.
Even at the meeting we have spoken of some
speakers protested against the interference of the
Legislature with the employment of young children
in the fields. At the same time there is a general
feeling respecting the evils of the gang system, and
we have very little doubt that a searching investiga-
tion will bring to light a good many facts concerning
the employment of young children, which will induce
those most averse to legislative interference to sanc-
tion a strict system of supervision. A good deal
has already been effected by the Act of last ses-
sion, and the clause which renders it necessary for
the drivers of the gangs to have a license at once
secures a better class of men and puts a check upon
any reckless abuse of their power. The lion. T.
DE GREY, the other member for West Norfolk, said
he was afraid some of the Commissioners who had
visited them knew less of the matter than they did
themselves, but the hon. gentleman forgot that the
Commissioners were sent there to elicit information,
not to give it. The great mischief of agricultural
labour is that so few residents in towns or cities
know anything about it. There is a vague idea,
indeed, that agricultural wages are very low, that
the cottage accommodation is scanty, and that
education is at a low ebb among the rural popu-
lation ; but very little is generally understood of the
wants and wishes and difficulties of the men
and women who live, as it were, in a different
world from the whirring of machines, the roar
of wheels, or the excitement of a seaport.
In consequence of this division of feeling the
grievances of the agricultural labourers are discussed
more as abstract questions of inequality than as
practical evils imperatively needing reform. Among
the many provoking consequences of the momen-

tous "leap in the dark," let us hope that we
shall be able to obtain a more direct insight into
the necessities of a large and deserving class, and
that they will be able to gain the hearing of Parlia-
ment without the inevitable intervention of those

whose interests and whose inclinations are often
opposed to their own.

The sudden cold weather, and the flight of the
swallows, warn us that winter is at hand. Prophets
of evil are already tantalising us with presages of
an early, a hard, and a long winter ; but we must
hope, in spite of the symptoms and indications
which they hare ready to convince the unwilling,
that matters may be more favourable than they
would have us believe. The experiences of last
year, the domestic miseries attendant on frozen gas
and water, and all the other discomforts of a long
frost, were not so agreeable as to make any
of us very anxious for a repetition of the
story. Graver causes, too, may well make
us hope that the winter of 1866-67 may find no
parallel in 1867-68. The long depression of trade
and business, the slackness of employment among
many classes, will render the winter months trying
enough in any case to many poor families. In the
lower depths of poverty winter pinches sharply, and
all the provisions of State and the exertions of
charity fail to relieve the full amount of suffering.
'We learn from the report just issued of the
Poor-Law Board that vagrancy is on the
increase, and that this troublesome alio

unsatisfactory class of paupers are lapidly
becoming masters of polc.cernen, guardians, and
every other authority which attempts to keep
them in check. The wierage number relieved each
night in January, 1x:)66, was 1,145 ; in January,
1867, it was 1,543; This may perhaps be accounted
for by the exr,essive cold of the latter month, but
there is so:nething very unsatisfactory in the regular
increase of these vagrants. The report calls par-
ticular attention to this point, and we expect that
some new means will have to be found for their
control as well as their relief.

THE MURDER IN BLOOMSBURY.—Edwin M‘Don-
, noll died yesterday afternoon, at University College Hos-
pital, from the effects of the injuries ho received on Satur-
day morning last. Ho was attended in his last moments
by his mother, who had been with him since Saturday last.
He had passed a bad night, and soon after 10 yesterday
morning ho changed decidedly for the worse, becoming
rapidly weaker and continuing to do so until his death,
which took place at 2.45 p.m. Yesterday, shortly after
1 o'clock, Colonel Marshall wont to the hospital and re-
mained with the unfortunate deceased, who was conscious
to the last. It is only an act. of justice to record the ex-
pression by the deceased of repeated thanks for the un-
bounded kindness of the authorities at the hospital, espe-
cially Mr. Edward Shoppee, the house surgeon.
AN IMPORTANT SANITARY REFORM has latAy
been carried out at St. Leonard's-on-Sea. Hitherto,
like most seaside places, St. Leonard's got rid of its sewage
by discharging it into the sea, from iron pipes fixed along
the beach, polluting both it and the sea, into which the re-
fuse from the town was all supposed to run. All those
" long dirty tubes" have been removed. An intercepting
sewer has been constructed, which commences at the St.
Leonard's archway, the boundary between Hastings and St.
Leonard's proper, or West St. Leonard's, which carries away
all the sewage until it reaches the western extremity of the
town. It is then received into a reservoir and is discharged
twice in the twenty-four hours, and by the strong current
of the ebb-tide is carried miles away to sea in tho direction
of Beachy-head. These plans, which are found to answer
perfectly, were designed for West St. Leonard's by Mr. J.
W. Bazalgette, the engineer to the Metropolitan Board of
Works. Added, therefore, to the attractions of St. Leo-
nard's for the autumn and winter, it can now claim peculiar
lvantag,,s for spring and summer. With its clean beach,
Ind the heat tempered by breezes from the ocean, owing
f.;) the close proximity of the town to its margin, few
watering places can boast of greater attractions for summer
and bathing.