The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-09 00:00:00

Cbt um

LONDON :
TUESDAY 111011NING, AUGUST 9, 1842.

Thefollowin r brief, but impo: taut artiC'e, is cop'el

from the Manchester Chronicle, a Tory paper. It is
not liable, therefore, to the suspicion of having been
concocted by the Anti-Corn-law League, or any
Radical Association, to serve, vs the Tories say, a
factious and dishonest purpose :

THE CONSTITUENCY OF MANCHESTER.—The num-
ber of voters in the borough t,f Alanclo•ster for the pre-
sent year, will but little, if any, exceed 9,000, whilst
the numbers on the list for 1841 exceeded 10,000. This
decrease is no doubt attributable to the distressing
times, by which many have Leen rendered unable to pay
their rates. The number of removals has also, no doubt
from the same cause, greatly increased.

We beseech our readers to run over in their minds
the many miseries to which that statement is an
index. In a healthy state of society, and in a com-
munity so flourishing as Manchester erewhile was,
evcry year should witness a considerable increase in
comtbrtably-lodged householders, and consequently in
voters. The actual decrease does not, therefore, give

a complete idea of the deterioration of the condition
the people, unless the probable increase, during a

prosperous condition, be taken into consideration. In-
eluding that, we may infer, that during the last year,
one-ninth, at least, of the respectable portion of the
inhabitants of Manchester have become degraded,
have been unable to pay their rates, and have lost
that franchise which is the security for the political
rights of every citizen. Many of them have been
compelled, instead of rising to more spacious houses
and better accommodation, to fall back into crowded
dwellings of this description.
I have met," says Mr. Riddal Wood, as quoted in
the Report on the sanatory condition of the labouring
population," with upwards of forty persons sleeping in
the same room, married and single, including of course
children, and several young adult persons of both sexes.
In Manchester I could enumerate a variety of instances
in which I found much promiscuous mixture of the sexes
in the sleeping rooms. I may mention one :—A man,
his wife, and child sleeping in one bed, in another bed
two grown up females, and in the same room two young
men unmarried. I have met with instances of a matt,
his wife, and wife's sister sleeping in the same bed to-
g: then. I have known at least half a dozen cases in
Manchester in which that has been regularly practised,
the unmarried sister being an adult."
In a town where such practices are common, lead-
ing; to what the Rev. Dr. GILLY denominates " un-
utterable horrors," we find that a large portion of the
respectable population, and of course a still larger
portion of the population below them, have been in
the last year degraded and reduced to take up with
worse accomodation.

Making no attempt to conjecture what may be the
feelings and the sufferings of the larger and humbler
portion of the population, can there be a doubt that
nearly every one of the ,disfranchised voters, particu-
larly at a time when a vote is' highly prized, must
have felt a keen pang at losing his franchise ? The
inability to pay rates is, in truth, an indication of ex-
tensive mental suffering, as well as much physical
privation. The individual has a sense of degradation ;
he is no longer equal to his fellows ; he has ceased
almost to be a free man ; he has no part in making
those laws which bind him hand and foot, and if he
have not any sense of the dignity of a voter, and the
degradation which has fallen on him, the Legislature
could engage in no better work than to implant such
feelings, inspiring noble conduct, in his mind. But he
has',them ; he makes great exertions and submits to
greit privations that he may be equal to others ; and
the disfranchisement will be a great suffering to one-
ninth
of the respectable population of Manchester.
What does such a circumstance betoken as to phy-
sical discomfort? Before the electors of Manchester,
who are men of spirit, gave up their franchise, we are
-sure that they submitted to many privations and
mane hardships. 'They kept away from the tavern

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