Star.
London, England, 1816-11-27 00:00:00

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liuous, at long• ago we 'shot& have negotiated a
taion between, our poverty and your wealth; but
one word exclude's its from this—this conjunction is
restricted to parishes within the same county, and
London is a county 'within itself. Now, this is very
unfortunate, as it has been estimated that. much more
than' one half of our population work for masters
who reside in the City. Now, observe, my Lord,
how unequal a division takes place. You have the
man. and the labours of the mail, when he can work,
and we have him and his family when he cannot—
you have his strength, and we his infirmity—you his
health, and we his sickness—you his youth, and we
his age; intshort, you have the labourer, and we the
pauper—ryou have the profits of his labour, and we
the charges of his maintenance. But let not any
Gentleman imagine that we now ask for aid to our
parochial funds—no such misapplication will take
place. Whether this subscription be large or small,
it will still he the duty of the overseers to exact from
the househOlders every shilling that can be obtained.
But ! shall be asked, why do we not increase our
rates, and thus raise sufficient for the support of the
poor ? Because we cannot—because the majority of
those who pay the rates are themselies poor; and
perhaps there is no class More distressed, more the
objects of pity, than these householders. Great cons-
rniseration is due to those who have seen better
times—who, struggling against the waves that three:
ten 'tn overwhelm him, can hardly resist them.—,
,Great pity is also due to those who are obliged to,
support a respectable appearance, and to do so, are
obliged to curtail their food. These are our house-
holders, and experience has convinced vs, that with
these we have arrived at the maximorn of parochial
assessment that if we increase the rates, we lessen '
the amount tliey produce—that the only consequence
of such attempted advance is, that we are obliged to
strike their names rat: of the list of those Who pay
the'rates, and insert it in that of those who received
them. Observe, then, the hardship of our case—our
proximity to the City, which, being in another coun-
ty, deprives us of the benefit of the Poor Laws, while
that very proximity overloads us with poor—the
dearness of house-rent in the City, its cheapness in
the Fields, sends to us all that are too miserable to
reside amongst sou, and renders Spitalfields what in-
deed it is, a grand drain for the distresses of the Ca-
pital—a kind ot Metropolitan Workhouse, to which
all that is wretched resorts. Other causes also ope-
rate. The depression throughout the country de-
prives us of our in•st considerable market for the:ilk
manufacture. The exclusion fro:3 foreign markets,
but as this is a consequence of the peace, we do not
repine—we rej..ice to think that this, which causes
Our distress, causes also the ha ;pines; of others, and
subserves the general interests of humanity. But
there is one consequence of the peace which we can-
not survey with the same complacency—and I men-
tion it the more freely, because we are so highly ho.
flouted in one part ot our attendance this day (the I
Ladies)—tae introduction of silks of foreign manu-
facture. lam persuaded that the efforts and the in-
fluence of the exarnFle of this Meeting may check
this cruel practice; and I am also persuaded that no
female of our country would array herself in silks of
foreign manufacture, if she knew the groans and the
tears it occasioned in the deplorable recesses of our
district.—( Lord applause:.) These are the causes
w:tich produce a degree, an expanse of distress ut-
terly beyond eaupowees-t® describe. I could detain
you till midnight reading scenes of distress that we
have witnessed, but 1 hasten to a larger topic. We
all have been educaed in a belief that the necessity
of gcing to the workhouse is the last of human mis-
fortunes to the poor , and truly to resign their home,
even with its few endearments, their liberty, their
every hope of future independence and prosperity-.-
to separate child from parent, the wife from the hus-
band—to sep trate those branches from the same
stem, which have only entwined the more closely
under the wintry blast of misfortune (misfortune
often rivets more nearly the ties of natural and con-
jugal affection)—and to exchange for these the con-
straint and the fare of a workhouse, is truly heart..
rending'; yet such is the aggravated distress, that to
get into the workhouse is an object of great desire
with the poor—that we are actually canvassed for our
interest—and that the candidates for this Is bad emi-
nence," for the enviable distinction of residing in the
midst of rags and ruin, are most earnest in their intrea-
ties, that success in it is an object of congratulation.—
But let me not mislead you; you may imagine, from
this eagerness of the poor that our workhouse is pe-
culiar in its kind. Ido not deny that it is conducted
with every attention to cleanliness and comfort; but
to prove to you that it is not an abode of luxurious
entertainment or sumptuous accommodation, I must
tell you that at a late visit to it I found that three
persons slept in each bed, and that it is now necessary
to increase that number to four. My Lord, I feel
more and more that,- I cannot do justice to the
ties*. I wish i could prevail upon you to see it with
your own eyes. Come when you please, select al-
most your own street, almost your own house in that
street, your own room in that house, and I under-
take that in that room you will find a proof that our
picture is faint and feeble. Every where are to' be
seen scenes of ruin, hunger, and even death... Thee.,
sicians well acquainted with the district assure us that
our people are peculiarly subjected to disorders ori-
ginating in deficiency of food, and that at this time
multitudes ut children- are swept into an untimely
grave by disorders, of -.hick abstinence was the only'
cause, and for which loud would be the only titre.,
But this is not all, there ate scenes of deeper misery,
Hof darker Horror, scenes so sad, so dismal, so revolt-
ing, that did -not imperious duty demand the sacri-
fice of our feelings, I sbould gladly bury them in
eternal oblivion— scenes of actual starvation. On
Friday last I saw a man who was lately found among
some willows ,in our district. There were some re-
mains of life in him, but (I hardly know how to
convey so loathsome an image) the vermin of all
kinds had already seised upon him as their prey.—
He was found on a Saturday, and his own story
was that the last he recollected was sinking down
preceding Wednesday, overcome with
there on the
witeeiness and hattger. I asked him if he had a wife?
Sir,". said he, is thank GOD, I can suffer better
site wispy others, because I suffer alone." I could
tral you another instance, but I must throw a veil
aerie- them acmes. too sad even for description; and,
indeed, oar anacchedacs% does not consist so mach in
Ineivoiuil instance, as sr the aggregate, the humus.