The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-14 00:00:00

PRICE -.4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

considerations, and gaze upon the grand, the glo-
ries outlines of this mighty movement, or when,
closing his eyes to all petty, transitory matters, he
sought to penetrate the core of this great argu-
ment, he saw not the rivalries and jealousies of
parties and public men. These were the exhibi-
tions of human passions and interests, acting in
subserviency to a great providential end ; and
England saw the grandest, the most hopeful, the
most inspiring spectacle which this earth could
fuanish, in the regeneration of the Italian people.
(Great cheering.)

WIIAT A PATERNAL GOVERNMENT
HAS BONE FOR PARIS.

The most terrible feature of the present condition
of things in Paris is the poverty. Since 1848
nothing has been seen like it. if you take long
walks in Paris now, you will most likely be several
times accosted by decently-dressed people of both
sexes, but principally by elderly ladies, actually
begging ! I have seen this phenomenon perpetually
within the last three weeks. It is since the change
in the weather that it is most to be noticed; for with
bread, meat, and wine at the price they stand at
now, it is impossible for people with narrow means
to live. In each of the sad cases I mention the in-
dividuals belonged evidently to the better class of
society. Ten years ago 3,000 f. per annum enabled a
man and his wife to live with some small comforts,
employing a femme de menage to do the housework,
and even from time to time indulging in some very
modest pleasure, such as a day's :excursion to Ver-
sailles on a Sunday or fete-day, or (once or twice in
the year) perhaps a third or fourth rate place at one
of the theatres. Now the matter stands thus :—The
apartment for which was paid 200 f. now costs 500 f. or
600 f.; the taxes are nearly doubled; the boots—of
which the man uses plenty because they are made
of bad leather, and, if he has any employment, he
has long walks to take—the boots run away, at the
least, with another 100 f. ; his clothing costs him
£l5 at the lowest, for every article of it is dear and
bad, and his linen is worn out quickly, because,
soap being too dear, washing establishments resort
to the most destructive I rocesses for cleansing it.
Here, then, we have £5O or £6O gone before a man
in the position we state can stir out of his house, or
be capable of moving about to gain his livelihood.
Out of his £l2O a year there remains to him £6O or
£7O upon which to find food and firing, when bread
is at lf. the 41b. loaf; wine, formerly at 8 and 10
sous, is at 15 and 16; and meat, for the small con-
sumer, at 10d. and ls. a pound, and more; and when
the potatoes that used to cost him two sous now
cost him five, and the quantity of soup vegetables
he used to get for three sous costs him seven or
eight ! And, be it noted, here we ,have a yearly
sum of income which is by no means a lo w or com-
mon one; and we have not taken into account a
single article of expenditure for a woman ; whereas
men with £l2O a year, one may almost say, are in-
variably married men. If from this relatively high
income we revert to the canamon run of the incomes
of men of this stamp, we find them range from £5O
to £7O or £BO. How are they to live. One expres-
sion of mine requires explanation. I speak of the
dearness of meat for a " small consumer." For a
household that can afford to buy, per week, three or
four joints, and three or four breasts of mutton or veal,
with two or three pieces of soup beef, a butcher will
make an arrangement by which all meat shall have
the average price of, say 9d. a pound, but this only
touches the large consumer. The small one, who
purchases each day the pound or so of meat requi-
site for his food and that of his wife, if he has
one, pays for that small quantity at the highest
price • he will pay for veal, for instance
(or the better sort of beef or mutton) from 10d.
to 14d. a pound. If the class of men I have described
has (as is often the case) any writing to take away
from his bureau and finish at home, he must have
light, and lamp-oil is at 15 sous a pound; besides
which, after his insufficient food throughout the day,
this night labour in the cold, when his meagre fire
is burnt out, and when he dare not afford himself
the luxury of a bit of cold meat or a glass of wine to
prevent him from retiring for a broken sleep, which
does not refresh his shivering worn-out frame—this
night labour tells upon his health, and the first slight
illness prostrates him. Then utter ruin stares him
in the face, for one doctor's bill exhausts his means
of bare existence for three months. In these house-
holds there is nothing over for joy or grief. The
child that is born or the parent who dies is equally
a misfortune which cannot be met, and the employe
or the poor gentleman in Franee has not where-
withal to pay for one hour's healthy relaxation from
exhausting toil, or for the indulgence of one natural
sentiment.—London Review.