The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1844.

On Wednesday last, a public meeting, at which
the Earl of RADNOR presided, was held at Highworth,
for the purpose of taking into consideration the dis-
tress of the working classes. At this meeting several
stern home truths were told, which appeared to make
a deep impression on all who heard them ; and it was
further remarkable, as showing the keen sense which
the labourers entertain of their present forlorn con-
dition ; their perfect consciousness that they are not
treated as they should be, by their superiors ; and the
exemplary patience with which, notwithstanding this
conviction, they bear their privations. Occasionally,
however, a bitter feeling of indignation was exhibited
by those of the humbler classes who attended the
meeting ; and when one of the speakers observed—
" The gentry ought to come forward and see to the poor;
if their horse or their foxhound was ill, the doctor
would be sent for, and the fine generous animal would be
cared for and physicked. But if men—men made in
the image of God, with wives and children, whose
cheeks met together from starvation—came to them,
they would not give them a bit of bread. They knew
that the people were starving, yet they would attend
to their horse or their dog, but they would do nothing
fur the honest, industrious working-man ;"—when,
we say, one of the speakers expressed himself in this
blunt, energetic manner, the indignant murmurs of
his hearers proved how strong was the conviction they
entertained of the truth and force of his remarks.
For our own part, however, we are by no means dis-
posed to go the extreme lengths of Mr. EDRIDGE.
We do not acknowledge the strict justice of his cen-
sures upon the gentry. We do not believe that the
poor are treated by them with such callous, insulting
indifference as he would have us sup-
pose ; their treatment, indeed, is far—very
tar from what it should be ; still it is
more considerate and kindly than it has been for
many years past ; and we think we can detect grow-
ing symptoms, on the part of the higher and middle
classes, of an earnest wish to ameliorate the condition
of the humbler orders, and raise them in the social
scale. The spirit that prevailed at the late agricul.
tural meetings—the favour shown to the allotmen

system by many of our great landowners--the
public subscriptions raised in some of our leading
provincial towns for the formation of public walks
and parks—and still more, the active stir now making
by that compact band of zealous social Reformers,
who call themselves " Young Englaad ;"—all these
are signs and tokens not to be mistaken, that the
nobility and gentry are at length awakening to
the necessity of improving the condition of the
ignorant and impoverished masses. The midnight
torch of Swing has, we suspect, assisted not a little to
bring them to a determinatiou in this matter. When
the farmer's hay-rick is in a blaze, the thing is be-
coming too serious for mere superficial considera-
tion ; it assumes a direct personal importance—nam
taa res agitur paries cum proximus ardet—and this,
no doubt, is one of the many causes that have in-
duced the upper classes to investigate the condition
of the misses, with a view to see what can be done
for their improvement. However, be the motives of
the former what they may, we hail their present
altered. tone as an omen of auspicious import; and
trust that the day is not far distant when the poor
and the oppressed shall no longer have occasion to