The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-14 00:00:00

,PIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—The project for the establishment of
baths and washhouses for the labouring poor is now
so far advanced, and so extensively supported, that
the completion of the undertaking may be reasonably
anticipated. We have, however, reason to believe
that the ideas prevalent among those who have so
honourably distinguished themseves in the promotion
of this project, as to the precise manner in which they
are to effect their object, or even as to the nature
of the obstacles they may probably have to con-
tend with, are yet exceedingly undefined. They
propose to put themselves in direct and imme-
diate communication with a class of persons with
whose habits and notions they most probably pos-
sess a very imperfect acquaintance. The daily life of
the poor and the destitute in our courts and alleys is
as little—perhaps less—known to those whose names
appear most prominent in the list of subscribers
to this benevolent scheme than the habits of the
aborigines of New Zealand or Labrador. Tact
and intelligence, in addition to an untiring spirit
of philanthropy must be employed to make the
means of cleanliness, about to be offered to the
poor, available for good, to an extent in any degree
commensurate with the expectations of those who
have taken so warm an interest in furnishing them.
It is not enough that the means be there. We
must also have, in those for whose use they are in-
tended, a disposition to use them. One of the most
constant results of a life of poverty in a large city
s an indifference to personal cleanliness. Such
an indifference is, we believe, at this mo-
ment, almost universal among the poor and
labouring classes of London. It would, indeed,
be surprising if it were otherwise. In the first
place cleanliness is scarcely compatible with the
miserable domestic arrangements, and the priva-
tion of light, air, and water, to which the poor el
a city are always, more or less, closely habituated.
Their occupations also, which, with the industrious,
fill up nearly the whole of their waking hours gene-
rally oppose a barrier to the cultivation of a taste
for cleanliness. If it could be supposed that there
is in man, as there seems to be in some of the
lower animals, a natural tendency to be clean,
we might perhaps depend upon its displaying
itself whenever the obstacles to its indulgence
might be removed. But experience and observation
show that this is not so. Where food and warmth are
scarce, there is, on the contrary, a strong tendency to
shun cleanliness, as a positive infliction. There is an
old Scottish proverb—"the clartier the cosier"—which
recent researches in animal physiology have stamped
with the authority of a scientific truth. It is found that
men who are insufficiently fed and clothed are lite-
rally not fitted to bear cleanliness. It augments the
rapidity of the process by which the vitality of the body
is in a constant course of reduction, and renders an in-
creased supply of food and warmth essential to its
preservation in a state of tolerable comfort. These,
we apprehend, are causes which will greatly reduce
the numbers of those who are expected to take advan-
tage of the establishment of the proposed baths and
washhouses for the improvement of their personal habits.
There are also other circumstances worthy of careful
consideration in reference to any attempt to make such
an establishment generally useful. Among those of the
poorer classes who may be least affected by the causes
we have already enumerated, we may expect to find
many whose desire for cleanliness is one of the rem-
nants of a mode of life adopted in a station from
which they have been reduced. But in dealing with
this class we have to encounter another obstacle, and
one less likely to be readily obviated than any of
those yet referred to. Such persons will usually be
found to cherish strong objections to the receipt
of public bounty in any form. The preservation
of any portion of the habits and feelings of a
station from which they have sunk, is generally
accompanied by an unwillingness to acknowledge the
depth of their fall. They cling to all that remains
of the past, as something distinguishing them from
those by whom they are surrounded. And the same
course of feeling too commonly urges them to
reject everything which, however beneficial in
itself, might seem to place them upon a common
level with those who have no such remem-
brances to give dignity to the present, or to cast the
light of hope over the future. These are undoubtedly
the very persons to whom the benefits of the scheme
would be most acceptable, could they be accepted
without a sacrifice of the feelings which tend to make
them so. They form, probably, a large majority of
those who, in the present condition of the poor, will
recognise the value of the proffered advantages ; but
we fear they will also be found, in reference to this and
all similer schemes of public benevolence, most difficult
to reach and to relieve. There is much in the nature
and object of the plan alluded to, which must secure
to it the warm approval and hearty co-operation cf
every intelligent and humane observer of the state of
the poor in this country. It reflects the highest ho-
nour upon all concerned in its formation and pro-
motion. But, with our best wishes for its success,
we cannot but mingle some portion of anxiety.
Should this effort fail, its failure will long be found an
obstacle in the way of any similar scheme. We
should be sorry to see any movement, resulting from
the awakened attention to the manifold miseries of
the poor, frustrated by a want of care in con-
ducting it to a definite and beneficial result. And
there is probably no subject upon which the want of
accurate information is more general, or less appa-
rent, than upon the actual state of the lower classes
of society. Our past indifference to their sufferings
has indeed only one excuse—our ignorance. The
first motive to a change of our conduct has been fur-
nished by a partial removal of that ignorance. We
already see enough to discover our error ; but we fear
it will be neces,,ary to push our knowledge much be-
yond its present extent, before we shall be in a fit
condition to amend it.
STANDARD.—The rapid decline of the repeal
rent for some weeks past appears to have filled the
arch-mendicant with unfeigned alarm, and to have
induced him to break
,the " sagacious pause in direct
agitation," which he had prescribed for himself.
The daily subsiding fanaticism of his followers, and
the dissensions which have arisen among them, have
imposed upon him the necessity of reviving, route
qui route, the expiring agitation. Another motive.
hardly less cogent, has doubtless had something to do
with his decision. Next Sunday will be tribute day,
and unless he makes some show of not having alto-
gether abandoned his trade, he seems likely to have
a Flemish account from the " begging brothers"
of his order. Influenced by these very sufficient
rE asons for bestirring himself, he has, in a long
and wordy letter to the Repeal Assoiciation, an-
nounced his intention to be present at the Concilia •
tion Hall on the 25th instant, and to bring for-
ward two subjects of " great vital importance."
The first (rzsum teneatis) is his " proposal
to impeach the persons principally concerned in the
late monster prosecution," and to procure the aid
of the people of Great Britain in enforcing in
Parliament the necessity of such impeachment.
This little interlude will of course involve a sub-
scription, the alpha and omega of all his speculations.
But his grand object is the organisation of the
Preservative Society of 300, who will be re-
quired to subscribe 1001. a-piece, for the doubtful
honour of rendering themselves liable to prosecu-.
tion ; and who will form a sort of provisional par_
liament until a repeal House of Commons be
elected. It is confessed that the legal (lifficui_
ties which must attend such a scheme arse great,
and that, if these cannot be satisfactorily overcome,
it will proceed no further than the deposit of
the " sum and front" of the speculation—the
collection of the cash. Ifere, then, is something
with which to amuse the repeAtlers until the
25th. With regard to repeal O'Connell plainly
intimates that if the substitute he has proposed
does not yield him a little more profit than it has
hitherto done, he will fall. back on his oreo.'eel idea.
He admits, moreover, that the fede7e. experiment
has, so far, proved unsuccessful ; for Protestant
gentlemen of rank, talent, and patriotism, have
not flocked to its standard in the numbers that
might have been expected. Mr. Grey Porter had, to
be sure, promised to enlighten his countrymen
on the subject, but the mountain is still in labour.
Mr. Sharman Crawford has treated us with an
outline of the benefits which federalism is to
realise for its adherents, but with all this there have
been no public meetings, no agitation, and worst of
all, no subscriptions. Such a state of things can-
Riot, of course, be tolerated any longer. Mr. O'Con-
nell has accordingly come forward to inti-
mate to his countrymen that federalism is but a
name for another sort of agitation, which
will not only eventually give them " simple
repeal but something more." Ile ascribes the present
failure of the movement to \Vhig disaffection from
its ranks, and reprobates the conduct of the Tory
press in having ascribed to him an intention to
coalesce with them ; whilst he admits that they had
" countenanced every effort of his to procure a de-
claration from the federalists," with the view, of
course, of taking a part in the speculation. We were,
therefore, not so far wrong when we expressed our belief
that a coalition was in course of negotiation, and
would have been effected had not Mr. O'Connell
demanded exorbitant terms as the price of his ad-
hesion. Looking at these disappointments and
modifications, he proposes to consider federalism
asr merely an interlude of the grand drama of
epeal• With these opinions, and with an eye
to some defections from the
especially to that cause, and more
o f Mr. Duffy and his newspaper
fellow-labourers, he proposes that federalism shall
no longer be one of Cabinet questions, but shall
be thrown open. booking
to the unprofitable results
of the compromise, he
trawexesses his determination
not to be content with anythingof short of the repeal
reftohe Irish House of
of the union, the restoration
Lo,r6, the reconstruction
Irish House of Commons
andrm principles) of
its investment
• •
Wit 4 tale the power it enjoyed' (and abused) before

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