The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-13 00:00:00

illantiam •(*int

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1844:

A meeting of the Association for Promoting the
Health of Towns was held on Wednesday in Exeter
Hail. At this meeting men of all parties were present,
Whigs, Tories, and Radicals ; and Sir R. INGLIS and
Mr. SHEIL, though wide as the poles asunder on
most public questions, yet vied with each other in
the heartiness with which they supported the impor-
tant objects which the Association has at heart. But
indeed there was not an individual present who did
not speak as if his heart were in the cause which he
was advocating ; and we do hope and believe that this
Exeter Hall meeting--far different in its tone from
the falsely-styled religious ones so often held
there prove the commencement of a spirited
and comprehensive practical movement for improving
the condition of the humbler classes of society, that
will at no remote period effect quite a revolutionary
&Inge in the thoughts, habits, and feelings of the
classes in question. At present there is no gainsay-
ing the fact that vast masses of them are in the very
lowest state of physical and moral degradation, and
this abject state has for the last ten years and upwards
been slowly and surely on the increase. While the
commercial resources of the country have been more
anl more developed, and the comforts and luxuries of
the upper and middle orders have been multiplied in
proportion, no improvement has reached the lower
classes, who have been left to carry on, from day
to day, the painful and difficult struggle for
the bare necessaries of existence, with scarcely
any aid from those who should have been their friends
and guardians, and have devoted a portion of their
own superfluous means to better their condition. The
last returns of the Income-tax show a prodigious in-
crease in the pecuniary resources of the middle classes,
but the published reports of the destitute state of the
poor too plainly demonstrate that they have in no re-
spect been bettered thereby. Even the crumbs that
fall from DIVES' table have not yet fallen to the
share of LAZARUS, But, thank Heaven, society
seems at length to be roused to a full consciousness
of the evils with which it is beset. A kindlier
and more generous tone of feeling than has
ever yet been exhibited towards the poor is
now springing up in the hearts of their superiors
in station ; and the latter will benefit not less than
the former by this improved state of feeling. The
allotment system—the proposals for public walks and
parks, and public bathing-housei, together with many
other projected remedial measures that do not just
now occur to us—all these are signs and tokens -un-
equivocally that an excellent spirit is at work in the
right direction. But, though individuals may do
much, when formed into institutions and associations,
towards ameliorating the condition of the destitute
poor, yet the evil cannot be fully remedied with-
out the powerful aid of the Legislature. Govern-
menth must come promptly forward and testify
arey itsas
muchacts that the humble operative and labourer
the objects of its friendly and provident
consideration as the wealthy-iis anufacturer or the
aristocratic landowner.
One offirst effortst should
poor
with
it h
be directed to furnishing theeducation,
eacmweans ofh
obtaining a cheap, rational. practical
as may in some degree—as education always does--
compensate them for the want of fortune and eon-