Star.
London, England, 1819-08-02 00:00:00

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

MONDAY, AU(.UST 2, 1819.
THE I UN DS.

PRICE Of STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE O.CI.CEK
3 per Cent. lteauced 71;11
3 per Cent. Consols 71a
4 Der Cent. 90t
5 per Cent. Navy 10-111;
India Stock—lndia Bonds 11s. pre.
Exchequer Bills (21) Is. 2s. pre.
Onmuirn 41 3i 44 pre.
Consols for Acct. 71i ;lit.

In another crtlumn we insert a.Procl:unation by
Iris Royal Highness the•PitiNcE Racer, %%Lich ap-
peared in the London Gazette of Saturday, occasioned
by the proceedings of the discontented in the dis-
turbed Districts. Let us hope that it will have a
salutary influence on the misled multitude, who too
easily allow themselves to be excited by clamorous
itinerant orators. The Proclamation has no reference
whatever to the distress arising from the want of em-
ployment : this distress was recognized by Parliament
before the prorogation, and, we ckubt not, occupies
the serious attention of Government ; but political
meetings, endangering the public peace, are not the
way to produce employment—at least of that kind
which will furnish bread to the unemployed. On the
contrary, they are only calculated to alarm capitalists
of every description, and the effect of such alarm
always has been, and ever will be, to cau.e a with-
drawing of capital horn circulation and a proportio-
nal decrease of employment for the wcrking classes.
The real distress, however, that prevails in the
Manufacturing Districts calls for the serious attention
of the opulent and of every one qualified to point out
proper remedies for the existing evils. These are, the
want of present means to supply the cravings of Na-
ture—and well-digested plans for securing to the

workmen, when employed, a proper remuneration,
On both of these we shall offer some remarks.
We know that many among the Higher Ranks
have not only the means but the inclination to afford
relief to the suffering. Ilas there ever been a proper
call made in vain upon the humanity of the opulent
in this kingdom ? Never. Witeess the numerous
hospital;, Asylums, Public Charities, Schools, Mis-
sionary and Bible Societies, supported by public
subscription: witness the Patriotic Fund ; the sub-
scriptions for Soup houses in years of scarcity ; for
the relatives of our Waterloo heroes; for the sufferers
by the fire at Newfoundland; for the famishing inha-
bitants of the Scilly Islands : witness the aids afford-
ed even to foreigners—the Russian subscription, that
for the Portuguese, that for the inhabitants of Leipsic,
and that for Germany generally, when exhausted by
the ravages of war. We might enumerate others, but
these will suffice to establish our general proposition,
that there is no Want of either ability or will in the
opulent to relieve the distresses of suffering humanity.
Why then has so little been done on the present'
occasion? Was there ever a louder, a more urgent
call on the benevolent and wealth), than at the pre-
sent moment ? There never was. Are we surprised
then that nothing effectual has yet been attempted?
We are; but not so much as some people, when we
recollect the treatment that was experienced by some 1
of the higher ranks about two years ago, when a num-
ber of them, with the willing aid of several of the Royal
Dukes, stepped forward to patronize a Fund for the
distress that then prevailed among certain descriptions
of workmen, from want of employment.' They were
vilified, abused, treated with contempt and scorn! By
whom? By those whom they sought to relieve?—
~;o,
no ; but by the Ultra Reformers, who quarrelled
with the form of the Resolutions then proposed, be-
cause they ascribed part of the pressure of the distress
to circumstances induced by a change from a state
of war to a state of peace ; though the fact was ab-
solutely true as to the makers and founders of iron,
who were then the most distressed ; for all demand
had awed for cannons, guns, balls, &c. &c. the
making of which had given employment to great
cumbers of workmen.—llaving driven from their
object those who were willing and able to labour in
the field of benevolence, did these brawlers for correct
and true-Resolutions do any thing themselves to re-
lieve the suffererers—to yield them a compensation
for the boon they had thus averted from the. famish-
ing ?—But enough of this.
Have the dispositions of the individuals who were
defeated in their well-meant purpose to relieve the
suffering since changed ? No, by no means. They
are as ready as ever. Let the experiment be tried.
Let a Public Meeting be called in the City, and let
that numerous and respectable class which fills up
the middle link between our highest and our lower
orders lend their. hearty aid to the measure.—
Let the purpose OF the meeting be purely the cause
of Humanity—no politics of any kind to be intruded.
Let.this be avowed as a fixed object; and if, in spite
of this, any fiery demagogues attempt to disturb the
meeting, the misled multitude will then see who arel
their real friends: they will . see the real character of
these men ; and they will avoid the counsels of those
who.' (gold they with words, and clothe them
. ,
uitkeiressions If pity, Instead' of giving them the
thin-044 Art needful. . •
From the proposed Meeting let a recommendation