The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-19 00:00:00

BATAS AND WAS

THE L
(From the Times;
The meeting at the Mansion-house on We""!..``
WSISO
for promoting the establishment of baths arm
houses for the labouring classes, will, we can n,..'re"
little doubt, lead to beneficial consequences to the
poor far beyond the limits of the metropolis. The
scheme, which received so cordial an approbation from
that meeting, has the advantage of being eminently
practical, and, as experience has already shown, de-
cidedly practicable. There is a vile notion enter-
tained by some that "the poor love dirt." A fouler
slander on the poor was aster perpetrated. The poor
endure dirt, they exist under the misery ;A' dirt; but
they do so in those situations, and, av a g,-.(!eral rule,
in those situations alone, in which dirt is. ulevitable•
Step into a cottage in the country, where OA tenant
is in the receipt of wages sufficient for his respo.e:4l2le
maintenance, and what is the first thing that gctrik-es
the eve ? The furniture may be scanty, the accom-
modation may be of the homeliest order ; but there
an air of cleanliness over everything, which will be?
sought for in vain in the habitations of far richer men.
in large towns. The rural poor, in general, love
cleanliness. They put up with dirt, when they do so,
because they cannot help it ; and it is not till years of
hard necessity have made them forget the delight of
being clean in the anxious daily care of seeking how
they :may gain the means of bare existence, that dirt,
rendered less offensive to them by long suffering,
comes to be disregarded. The rich, when they pro—
fess their belief that "the poor love dirt," entirely
forget why they themselves are so much cleaner.
Your fastidious fine gentleman, with his ample supply
of the finest linen, and the most luxurious applialaces
of the bath and the toilet, with the necessity up'ou
him from his position in society of being scru-
pulously clean, and habitually regarding the slightest
want of cleanliness as tarnishing his social reputation,
finds his daily ablutions to be equally a duty and a
pleasure. But condemn him for a single twelvemonth
to hardships in any way approaching those under
which many of the labouring classes constantly suffer,
and how great would not be the change of at any
rate his outward man! Take, for instance, the
House of Lords, probably the cleanest assemblage
of men which could be found ; condemn them to
cold water and no soap, and to wash all their own
clothes with their own hands in their own
drawing-rooms fur a single twelvemonth, and how
would they look at its termination ? Isabella-
colour would, we suspect, become fashionable for
shirt fronts, and white would yield to drab of
divers shades. Can there be any doubt .on
this point? Can any one man, whether peer of
commoner, maintain that he, or any other in his
station in life, would make any approach to
his present cleanliness under the state of things
which we have suggested ? The belief that he could
do so, however good his will might be, would be
preposterously absurd. We do not go so far as to assert
that the rich would, under such circumstances, love
dirt; but any man of plain common sense must see
that they would learn to bear a far greater amount
of it than they can now conceive it possible to era-
dure. The necessity which, amidst a choice of evils,
compels dirt to be put up with, must be admitted by
all
htheutsope
srboebb
aea
ibnmi
gl
iot
resorted
snooi
rit)t. oertdthaent
tot p crbooypn
os itsdieleder al
bathstaiborol
ui
rni
an es
ng dt i
,aa,
sat
sis
eng
hs:
Our attention has been called by a correspondent to
,th
leo
vperdoiprrti
;"e of y
but,
ut, exposingexcept
as
regardst e fallacy
tthose
s e thatwho s
e they
ac-
quaintance with the poor is simply theoretical, we
should think more than we have said on the subject a
waste of words.

That old habits of tolerance of dirt can easily be
broken ; that men whose whole day is devoted to
slaving for meat and drink, and who can scarcely find
a spare copper once a-month for anything like an
indulgence, will throng to the proposed baths from
admiration of cleanliness in the abstract; or, that the
evil consequences of long neglect of the poor by the
rich can suddenly be remedied, we do not believe,
and we should be far from readily anticipating; but
that it is the duty of the rich, whose luxuries are the
result of the poor men's needs, to make every effort
towards mitigating the wretchedness under which
they pine, we strenuously maintain ; and because we
entertain a confident expectation that no endeavour
to benefit them, which proceeds on an accurate ac-
quaintance with their wants, and is reasonably calcu-
lated to meet them, can fail of producing some good,
we give our suffrage in favour of the establishment
of the proposed baths and washhouses. But let not
the gentlemen who are engaged .in promoting their
establishment flatter themselves that they are doing
anything worth a name for the very abject poor. So
long as the belly is pinched, the condition of the skin
is a matter of mere secondary importance. The man
who is half-starved will not give up twopennyworth
of potatoes for the sake of a warm bath. The family
which has nothing but rags to cover, and, perhaps,
scarcely cover their nakedness, will give little trouble
to what the Committee call " washhouses," but for
which we think they would do well to substitute the
far less equivocal, and equally well-known name,
" laundries." By degrees, but working downwards
in the scale of society, the practice of bathing may
extend. At first, we can have little doubt, the baths
will be resorted to principally by mechanics whose
wages allow them to indulge in some trifling super-
fluities. Still, to such men, pent up in the midst of a
large city, and deprived of many of the facilities for
cleanliness which can be enjoyed by the country, a
cheap warm bath once or twice a-week will be a
great comfort; and, even if no others should avail
themselves of the establishment, for their sakes it
would be worth founding.
The " laundries," as we beg permission to call them,
may afford temptation to a more numerous class.
The cost of firing for a washing day, and the trouble,
and frequently the expense of obtaining the needful
supply of water—to the rich perhaps apparently
light, but to the poor really heavy evils; but, above
all, the constant serious inconvenience, and, according
to the reports on the health of the poor, often the
danger to health occasioned by all the processes of
washing being performed in the one close room in
which the poor man's family too frequently dwell—
these distresses will, in all probability, send a far
larger proportion of poor women to the laundries
than of men, women, and children, to the baths. Even
at the small and inconvenient establishment in Liver-
pool it appears that more than 305,000 articles of
clothing and domestic use have been washed in the
course of the year; and the applicants at that esta-
blishment arc so much increasing that another is about
to be formed in a different quarter of the town.
We augur well from the spirit with which the
matter has been taken up in the City. There was
something far better in the meeting on IVednesday
than we can find in the run of meetings for consider-
ing the condition of the poor which have been held
in the country. There was no talk of driving the poor
to emigration with a bell- wether of " a clever farmer's
son" at their head. Instead of telling them to go to
Canada and wash in Lake Erie, it was determined
that means should be provided by the rich for enabling
the poor to wash and make themselves more comfort-
able at home, and a handsome subscription was imme-
diately set on foot. Cheques for ten and twenty gui-
neas were immediately handed in by bankers, mer-
chants, clergymen, aldermen, and common council-
men, instead of wordy resolutions by magistrates, de-
puty-lieutenants, and sporting country gentlemen.
The City meeting was held for doing, and not for mere
palaver, and we. shall rejoice to see the example set
by men of business widely followed out of London by
those who have equal means and more time at their
command. For the erection of the four baths and
laundries which the Committee propose to establish ill
the metropolis—three in Middlesex and one on thy
Surrey side of the Thames—large funds will of course
be required, but we cannot anticipate that any diffi-
culty will be found in raising them.
\Vhy should not the Fleet Prison be converted into
one ? The street is of such ample width there that
the opposite residents would not be exposed to any
perceptible annoyance, and the gift of such a building
would greatly facilitate the progress of the scheme.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE AI ANCIIESTEIt AN ri
LEEDS RAILWAY.—On Friday an inquest was held
before Mr. Chapman, at the Atlas Hotel, Oxford-
road, Manchester, on the body of James Carse,
map dealer, of Mount Pleasant, Rochdale, whoqe
death resulted from the injuries received on the Old-
ham branch of the Manchester and Leeds Railway.
It appeared from the evidence of Elizabeth, _wife of
William Leigh, hatter, of Rochdale, that she and Cane
and were going to Rochdale, but on the arrival of
even-
ing,
ct obnw jaus nac
inr,d
laarssse,
ao
sp eanlee dt
rtahbao
got into a railway. train at Oldham, , on IVednesday.doorthe
t roafi
was slackening its pace, and tried to get out, when his
n
foot slipped, and be fell across the rail. The off-wheel
theat c a therri
of the succeeding waggon passed over the unfortunate
rrs
doiafy: }eine
ilagv eihet
snbt
aubtteehde diedstuhraavtbi sod-e due
t.
man's thighs, and he was removed to the Manchester infir-
ness
mary
t iTnibeeoj fu
rt yh efoaue idd ceanNtre radnide tthe
fault was entirely his own. Thejury found verdict of
r haaei
fr.)ip'n
aj''sui injury
enovnehl
n)a, tfoil an
el ITo heciuu.
cfaeualstedwaws'aesnitnirelil()l,uboirsaotv.tvini
"Accidental death."—Manchester Courier.

A splendid brown horse, rising 5 years old, las
been purchased from Mr. Joseph Clay, of this town, by
Mr. Reynolds, groom to her Majesty the Queen
Dowager, by orders of Earl Howe, her Majesty's Cham-
berlain. This beautiful animal is intended by her Ma-
jesty as a present to his Royal Highness the Duke of
Saxe Weimar, and was yesterday sent off to Wit!ey
Court, Worcestershire, for her Majesty's inspection
previous to its being forwarded to Germany.—Shrewsbury
Chronicle.

The rate in Christ Church, Blackfriars, has been
carried by a majority of 129.
EASTERN UNION RAILWAY.—The works on this
line have been commenced at Great Bentley; where
there are about 100 men at work, the operations extend•
ing to nearly a mile.—Su elk Chronicle.
A block of porphyry, weighing upwards of
50,000 lbs., has been taken from the quarries at Morl3ix,
to be used for the sarcophagus of the Emperor Napoleon.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
YROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—Louis Philippe has left the shOres of
England amidst storm and tempest, but bearing with
him the cordial good wishes of the English nation.
Siveral reflections naturally arise out of this visit
to our shores of, indisputably, the most remarkable
amongst the Sovereigns of Europe. The advan-
tages of peace between the two nations is a point
hardly susceptible of additional demonstration, yet
this moral is pointed in an emphatic manner,
when a powerful and intelligent Monarch not
only proclaims • such to be his personal con-
viction, but practically enforces it by his visit to our
Sovereign, and the abstraction of a week from his
multifarious avocations in his own country. It
could never be doubted that such an event would call
forth the bitter hostility of the Opposition press at
Paris, and causes would be at work to produce this
result. The King's presence here as the apostle
of conciliation and good-will between France
and England, provokes, naturally, the antago-
nism of a faction which trades on the excite-
ment of hostile feeling between these countries ;
and this is doubled by the leading member of the
Cabinet being the associate and witness of the Mo-
arch's polite attention to English deputations and
English topics of interest. This blind rage has made
the journals in question lose their accustomed bril-
liancy and point. Never have heavier articles been
penned than those which have appeared in the Op-
position journals of Paris, relative to the King's vi.
sit to this country ; and we are bound, in fairness,
to admit that this quality is not usual. We feel
no respect for, or sympathy with, the journals in
question, yet it is idle to deny that their articles are
often ingenious, and sometimes brilliant ; there is
abundant talent perverted to faction for its object, and
using oaluenny and falsehood as its means. The King
conductedb himself, while in this country, just as might
be expected from a knowledge of his character. Full
no doubt, of bonhonzmie and unaffected kindness in
the domestic circle of our amiable Sovereign, on all
occasions in which he was brought into the presence
of representatives of English feeling, he expressed
with dignity and cordiality, yet not without a certain
appeal to effect inseparable from kingship, his wish
for the preservation of peace and good-will between
the two countries. Much has been said, by a weekly
Contemporary, on the good effects to Sovereigns them-
selves of such friendly intercourse. We are far from
dissenting from this, but we would rather dwell at
present on its influence on national feeling here and
in France. As to the first, no great change has
been wrought, because .the English people were
prepared to honour and respect the guest of
their Queen, as an able and intelligent ruler
of the first continental monarchy, and a firm
friend to peace; yet, still, a visit like that which has
just taken place, revives and concentrates these pre-
viously existing sentiments. We shall not easily
forget that a Monarch whose reputation is so essen-
tially European has been amongst us, declaring in
emphatic terms, his good-will towards our Sovereign
and nation. And to the numberless private circles,
of all ranks and degrees, which converge into the
large mass we call society, either by personal view
or the recitals of our journals, the King of
the French, from a distant abstraction, has be-
come a familiar idea. As to our neighbours them-
:elves, if the visit of their Sovereign has roused in a
section (and we believe a great minority) of that
nation still deeper towards us, may we not
hope it will have the counterbalancing influence
of exciting amongst the more intelligent and libe-
ral, a wish to co-operate more zealously than
before in seconding the desire of their Monarch
to preserve the peace of Europe—a desire em-
bodying the common interests of both countries ?
And surely the interchange of courtesy that
his so cordially taken place between brave and dis-
tinguished officers in the naval service of both coon-
t;ies, cannot but aid this consummation. Now that
this distinguished Monarch has left our shores, and
the mind dwells more minutely on the peculiarities
of his individual career, the sight of this vigorous
wan of 72, so full of energy of body and mind,
brings home to each one the great moral of the em-
ployment of time. How much work, in every sense
of the word, does the King of the rench personally
go through ! Even his night journeys, his replies
to deputations, the ground he has traversed, the num-
ber of persons he has seen, remind us that he is in con-
stant training for any demand on his energies. We
indeel, reflect, not without a feeling of pride,
that no nation is more capable of steady and even in-
tenie application than our own. From the highest
greeics of professional existence to the lowest of mecha-
nical labour, the English people are ready to do their
ork, and do it right well. -Even those who have no
professional avocation display an energy, even in their
nusemente, which astoeishes foreigners. But no
where can be found an existence more ceaselessly
'tufted ahout great interests than that of Louis
I'hlippe, and in this light he has the strongest claim
ea the sympathies and tastes of our nation. No
indeed, can now be found the dilettanti Kings
l Queens that of old slumbered on the throne,
I Le an eftetern idol in its tem,le. War, revolution,
isrctistilde tide of public opinion, have replaced
t iesn by a widely different race—and the world has
,ined not a little by the change; for instead of war
b leg the only vent for the misplaced energies of
reyelw, they are now exerted in diffusing the bless-
iege of peace, by the development of industry and
ce.nmeree. The quietest monarchs now look about
thse), and .bo their work ; and foremost in this rank,
e contest in age, and perhaps in the necessity imposed
by his position of unceasing application to business, is
e who received on Tuesday the adieus of the English
people at Dover.
STINDARI).—There is, we believe, no longer
a ly question of fee fact that the Whigs are at this
eennent engaged in negotiating the terms of a new
coalition with Mr. O'Connell, of which their adhe-
s ei to Federalism is to form the basis. The Irish
Whigs, Stharman Crawford and Lord Charlemont
in :hided, are slid to be taking the initiative in
the. matter ; and a formal announcement of
t h second compact with the repeal con-
vict, will, it is understood, make its appear-
ao:ce in a few days. It cannot be doubted
Veit the intriguers of Lichfield House will, with a few
exceptions, become parties to an arrangement, be its
terms what they may, which may seem to offer them
the remotest prospect of a return to office. We are
assured, indeed, that the English Whigs had pro-
posed to throw themselves on Mr. O'Connell's mercy,
an 1 accept whatever conditions he might be disposed
to offer them, even before the reversal of hisjudgment,
an I we are induced to believe that the objects and
progress of the negotiation were well known to Lords
Denman, Cottenham, and Campbell, several months
eg e It cannot be denied that the condition of the
peer Whigs at the present moment is pitiable beyond
all comparison with any previous stage of their de-
c. lence. The finances of the country are improving
with a rapidity which has exceeded the most san-
guine anticipattons of their successors; the chance
it a war with France is either wholly extinguished
or rendered so remote as to offer them no hope
or relief from such a contingency ; trade and coin-
ePree have recovered from the depression into which
Wilig measures had plunged them ; and even the
Anti-Corn-Law League, that ultima spas of their
cae!cered and deeply mortified faction, is all but
extinct. In addition to these calamities, Ireland
is more tranquil than it has been at any single
period during the last ten years ; and the
ceief conspirator having had his claws trimmed
and his incisors drawn, is reduced to the painfnl
necessity of adopting a comparative decency of
maener and language, as foreign as it must be
repugnant to his nature. What alternative, there-
toee, under such a complication of misfortunes, have
the Whigs left to them? Beside, has not their patron
t iken off the brand of " base, bloody, and brutal,"
which he hal affixed to their names, and deolared
his gratitude to them for their indirect exertions in
his behalf during the last session of Parliament ?
Deee he not owe them his present "moral triumph ?"
Are they not his gaol deliverers ? Finally, have
they not sunk to the lowest stage of destitution, whe-
ther of character or influence—to that condition which
renders them fitting objects for the eleemosynary
aid they now seek at his hands—for the sake
cf earning his patronage ? Let no man condemn
this last and most desperate expedient for keeping
their heads above water who has not maturely
considered the extenuating circumstances of
their case. Like begging-letter impostors who
having exhausted • the charity of every name
upon their lists save one, that one the property
of a knave who has invaded their trade
and anticipated them in their impostures, have
nothing for it but to receive the rogue into their firm
upon his own terms, and practice their future
chicaneries in his company ; content with such
hard fare (and hungry dogs, says the proverb, will
eat dirty pudding) as he may cast among them
Isom his wallet. This is no imaginative picture
?f the present condition of this once formida-
t) te body who, after having been accustomed to carry
311 their " thimble rigs" on their own account, are
reduced to the painful
alike
of having to divide
the profits of their ingenuity with a sharper who is
).rebty sure to
ik i
appropriate to himself the lion's
ehere. Bankrupts
n character and influence,
expedient t
bunted from expedient, and beaten
en their own arena by
what
incomparably
nore expert than themselves,winwhtprospect had
they of being able to earn an hoonnenstelilivh?
When such dexterous knaves as Mr. O'Connell
is
IVll.g friends combine, the nuisance is no doubt
/urmidable one ; but such alliances are rarely
entered into without imposing the necessity for in-
creased vigilance on the honester portion of the corn-
nullity. in the letter destined, of course, as the pre-
'ace to the announcement of the coalition in question,
grid is which the Battle of Waterloo is described
" the mere triumph of physical force, corn-
dined with military organisation—a bloody

brutal scene, much of the glories of which depended
r upon chance and accident,' Mr. O'Connell is more
gracious in his concessions to them than they could
have anticipated. And they, in their turn, have pro-
mised to send detachments from their b dy into va-
rious parts of England for the purpose of beating up
for recruits to his cause. Mr. O'Connell's chief
reliance is said to be on that section of the Pro-
testants of Ireland who are supposed to be discon-
tented with the Government, who are prepared, it
is affirmed, to avenge themselves upon Sir Robert
Peel,) ;1 ru;ning the " repeal conspiracy." We have
not bee 't 'ade acquainted officially with the specific
grievances they allege ; but if the rumour be
well founded, that any considerable number of
them intend to volunteer their adhesion to Mr.
O'Connell, we can only express our belief that they
will realise to its fullest extent the truth of the
old proverb, that it is no sign of a man's wisdom
for him to cut off his nose in order to be revenged
upon his face. They have had too much experience
of the value of Mr. O'Connell's promises to place am
faith in them, and inasmuch as he refers to past ex-
perience, they must know perfectly well that every
syllable he advances is untrue.