The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-02-09 00:00:00

CON7'EMPORARY PRESS.

DISTR ESS OF THE SPITALFIELDS' WEAVERS.
(From the Morning Herald.)
Let the advocates of free trade, and the supporters of
the New Poor Law, turn to the details of the misery.
which now rages in Spitalfields !: The country, in which
such a fate as that which has overwhelmed the patient
and untiring silk-weavers of London is suffered to con-
tinue unrelieved, can have no pretension to be regarded
.as civilised—can have no pretension, at all events, to be
regarded as Christian.
Hundreds of the poor Spitalfields weavers work six-
teen, eighteen, and even twenty hours a day, not except-
ing Sunday ; and the average amount of their wages,
after deducting rent and fire, is twopence-halfpenny a-
,
day—and threepence on Sunday !
What says the Bishop of Norwich to a system which,
in order to " elevate the moral condition" of the poor,
compels the pour to work sixteen hours on Sundays ?
What say Joseph Hume and the Malthusian econo-
mists to a system which allotslwopence.balfpenny as the
reward of sixteen hours of " honest industry ?" IVill
Joseph tell us, what " economy" can do for men, whom
his blessed system robs and oppresses so grossly? Will
.Joseph tell us what are " the resources" upon which he
would, so benevolently, throw the recipients of twopence
halfpenny a-day ?
The sufferings-of the poor Spitalfields weavers would
surpass belief, if the reality of these sufferings could not
be proved-at any moment ! These unhappy men have
yet received no relief from the committee which has
pounced, F o unwarrantably, upon the funds subscribed
for their relief at the opera ball last year. Whether
they ever shall receive the benefit of these funds, would
seem to be doubtful.
Let our readers turn to the heart-rendinc, statements
of the poor Spitalfields victims of free trade—let them
mark the gentleness with which these miserable men en-
dure their lot; and contrast with the treatment awarded
to brawling Irish agitators, and Canadian rebels, the
treatment which starving Englishmen who refrain from
violations of the law receive. The Irish agitators rule
'the government; whilst the Canadian rebels send their
'paid emissary to beard both houses of parliament with
impudent and dishonest statements bearing upon fanci-
ful grievances. The starving English artisans are not
'listened to by the legislature. They are handed over to
the Malthusians, and told, in the absence of employthent,
to depend " on their own resources."

O'CONNELL AND THE IRISH POOR LAW BILL.
( From the Morning Herald.)
In the House of Commons, on Monday night, Mr.
O'Connell enjoyed the solitary distinction of opposing
the introduction of poor laws into lieland.
His statements on the subject were curious :
" Ile did not agree to a poor law further than affording re-
lief to the sick, the wounded, and hurt—those destitute per-
sons who, suffering from casualty, or present illness, could not
he tempted to augment their numbers by the prospect of re-
lief. To that extent, and that extent only, he should go for a
poor law."
But why should Mr. O'Connell sanction the principle
of relief to " the sick,: wounded, and hurt"—.while he
would deny relief to the able-bodied labourer who may
be unable to find employment? If the one class be not
entitled to parochial assistance, the other class is not !
The claims upon society, of the men who cannot find
work, are, at least, equally strong with the claims of the
men who cannot perform work. •Nay, as the destitution
of 'able-bodied men, from whom employment is with-
held, may entail upon society consequences more full of
peril than any consequencea that, can f 10.17 from the des-
titution of the sick and. aged, a• sense of social danger
might, surely, indicate the necessity of putting the able-
bodied victims of involuntary idleness, at least, upon a
level with the victims of disease !
But there is a risk, according to Mr. O'Connell, that
the .111)1e-bodied destitute may,- under the stimulus of a
parochial guarantee against starvation, " augment their
numbers" too rapidly ! But surely such a guarantke is
not necessary to secure an increase of population. The
hereditary bondsmen" have contrived to make them-
Selves " seven millions" without such a•guarantee; and
the longer such a guarantee shall be withheld, the more
rapidly: will " the bondsmen" multiply ! Under the
system, so slight a taste does the
present brutalising
Irish peasant exhibit for the appliances of civilisation,
that he will marry and rear children, without the slight-
est provision for maintaining his wife and children in
that degree of comfort which the peasantry of other
countries deem necessary. An honest system of poor
laws must give a new value to the Irish peasant's la-
bour—must give the labouter himself a social value
which he does not now possess—and must, by copse-
quence, exalt his estimate of the degree of comfort in-
dispensable to his wife and children. .The result of this
process must, in the nature of things, be a less rapid in-
crease of population in Ireland!
But Mr. O'Connell has
" Convinced himself that a poor country was never yet bene-
fitted by a poor law—he has convinced himself that Ireland is
too poor for a poor law."
What a shuffling antithesis-monger is this learned
gentleman!
At one time he deals in nothing but flourishes about
the riches of Ireland ! He prates ahout her. " green
fields and fertile valleys"—her matchless rivers and un-
equalled harbours. At another time, he may be found
declaring, that Ireland is "rich in labour," as well as in
all the best feelings of our nature ! Yet again, may
this babbler be found declaring, as he did on Monday
night, that " Ireland is too poor for a'poor law!"
A poor law is necessary for Ireland, in order to bring
Ireland's wealth " in labour" to bear upon Ireland's
wealth in " green fields and fertile valleys"—upon Ire-
land's wealth in rivers and harbours! Why is Ireland
the "poor" Ireland that O'Connell occasionally de
scribes—excepting that the peasantry of Ireland have
no portion in the natural wealth of the soil which gives
them birth ? An honest poor law will give them such a
portion. An honest poor law will give them a qualified
and limited property in the land which they cultivate,
and in all the wealth which they may create. An honest
poor law will elevate the Irish peasant above that fright-
ful state of-vassalage in which be holds life itself at the
pleasure of his landlord—and in which, by consequence;
his landlord permits him to retain, of the fruits of his
toil, the smallest pittance that can-, by possibility, suffice
for the maintenance of animal life. Every social sys-
tem, however, which allows little to the maintenance. of
animal life, ministers largely to the growth of the ani-
mal passions. The want of an honest system of poor
laws in Ireland not only causes the poverty of Ireland,
but generates in Ireland that spirit of social discordwhich, in its manifestations, converts one of the fairest
regions of the earth into a likeness of Pandemonium I
" Ireland is.too poor for a system of poor laws." In-
deed ! But, if poor laws can do no good to Ireland, will
Mr. O'Connell explain in what way a repeal of tithes is
to benefit the Irish poor? The tithes, if diverted from
their present destination, will go to the Irish landlords,-
not to the Irish peasantry ; -but poor laws- of an- honest
description will secure the means of existence to the pea-
santry at the expense of the class which has hitherto
battened upon rack-rents. !
Mr. O'Connell, besides, is given at times to babble
about,the mischiefa of absenteeism. • He would tax ab-
sentees! He would detain some portion of their wealth
in Ireland! An honest poor law will detain in Ireland
larger portion of Ireland's natural wealth—and detain
it in a more effective manner than any tax on absentees
ever will!
t
I rtnav be true, perhaps, that nothing which such a
man as Mr. O'Connell may say, is worthy of the notice
Which we have now bestowed upon his platitudes about
poor laws. We 'are anxious, however, to,note how com-
pletely Mr. O'Connell is the tool of the ambitious Ca-
tholic middle classes—how fervently he labours to pull
down the Protestant church and aristocracy—and how,
with still greater fervour, perhaps, he labours to keep
the Catholic peasantry in a state of debasement. The
Catholic middle classes would be sure to gain, by Mr.
O'Connell's success, in both directions !

PERTH GAOI, BaoxEN.—Late on Tuesday night, or early on
Wednesday morning. this gaol was broken, and nine prisoners
escaped. Some of them were confined on charges of a very
serious nature.—Scotch Paper.