The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-01-11 00:00:00

THE VAUXHALL DISTRICT

The tabular statement which• we inserted in our last
number, respecting this district, has attracted a great deal
of attention during the past week, both from clergy and laity.
Nearly all of our contemporaries have noticed the subject
also ; and, though sufficiently varied in many respects,
they have concurred heartily in their approval of the
statistical inquiry, and in recommending, vigorous efforts
to be made both by the public and by the minister of
the district. An article in the Albion of yesterday draws
public attention to the fact that similar inquiries, but less
varied and minute, go forward at intervals under the
direction of the Town Mission, the agents of the mission
or the Scripture readers conducting the inquiry. It is
stated that their accounts are in general singularly corro-
borative of those which Dr. Hume has given. We are
pleased to be made acquainted with these facts, and it is
gratifying to learn from time to time that individual
clergy, in every part of the town, undertake more limited
inquiries for similar purposes. This, however, is not
enough. There ought surely to be a more general ac-
count of the whole town arranged in ecclesiastical dis-
tricts, so that not two or three incumbents only, but that
every one would know every important fact respecting
the people under his care. It would be of extreme
interest to every religious denomination, for the Inde-
pendent, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic
would each learn where to find neglected members of his
.communion ; and the efforts both of Scripture readers
and of district visitors would be systematic and regular,
instead of at random and indefinite. The detailed list of
all the streets and courts, with the names of the families,
being put into the hands a the clergyman of the district,
and corrected from time to time for changes, he would be
able to direct his temporal and spiritual relief into the
proper channels.
We have just been perusing an important article in
Tait's Magazine for this month, entitled " Ragged
Churches ;" the idea being taken from what are rather in-
aptly denominated " Ragged Schools." The writer calcu-
lates that there is a large number, say 400,000, in England,
many grades below the ordinary labouring man, all of
them subsisting in some way upon society, but not one of
them knowing twenty-four hours before hand where he
can eat or sleep, and none of them ever learning good
habits. He says that if they were only separated from us
by thousands of miles, if they were subjects of the Queen
`,of Tahiti for example, there would be some sympathy for
them, and missionaries of acknowleged ability would be
sent out to teach them. They are not quite without
sympathy here, but it is casual and ill-directed. As for the
instruction being of a good quality, no man of experience
can dissent from the suggestion. It is too true that there
is a monopoly of good preaching, so to speak, by the rich;
they can pay for a better article, and while men of science
and distinguished linguists, familiar with the ways of
mankind, are ordained for foreign service, the poor at
home are often handed over to men who are sometimes
their own inferiors in intellect. A clerical friend charged
a poor woman with imposture a few days since, and was
about to send her begging letter to one of the newspapers
as a forgery, though signe by a scripture reader—of what
sect we do not know. On making inquiry, however, it
turned out to be genuine, though containing several vio-
lations of orthography. We are glad to find, however,
that in London, in Leeds, in Liverpool, and in the other
populous districts the new parishes are, in many instances,
undertaken by men of great ability and distinction. One
of the best known is Mr. David Laing, F.R.S., of Trinity,
St. Pancras London.
There is aslose connexion between the different columns
of a newspaper which many of our readers fail to notice.
One column reports the neglect of the poor in morals and
religion, and another reports the assizes or quarter ses-
sions. One paragraph notices fines for uncleanliness, or
is a letter from a correspondent ; another gives the num-
ber of deaths in a ward from the registrar's report. We
announce, in the faithful performance of our duty, in one
number of our paper, the lamentable destitution of the
people in one district of the town, and the same number
contains the reports of footpads and burglars, of additional
police, of violence and plunder. What has happened in
one district may happen with equal readiness in several ;
what has happened last week will occur again. Let us
neglect the people who are springing up in thousands on
every side of us, and the moral retribution is at hand.
There is a close connexion of cause and effect in these
matters, and it seems childish to say we must remove the
former if we would avoid the latter.
If we do not make provision for the people in one form
we must do it in another ; if we refuse to do it at one
time it will be exacted at another. To get rid of it is im-
possible. If we spare our pence to feed the hnngry boy,
we will lose shillings by his depredations. If we spare
shillings in his education, he will cost us pounds in provi-
ding additional police with sabres and horses, in providing
jailors, inspectors, watchmen,—in providing the convicts'
bed and board, or the felons' fetters at Kirkdale or the
Borough Prison. Be assured that it is a wise economy
to act in time ; for the formation of evil habits-destroys
the tendency to learn anything good or useful. The en-
joyment of plunder is to the thief what the taste of blood
is to the tiger : to wean him off the habit is all but an
impossibility. Besides, the first depredations are usually
committed under superintendence; so that to return to
virtuous habits, without the permission of the witness, is
impossible. Like Jonathan Wild, the aged thief holds
the youth in an iron chain by the few words, " You know
I could transport you." With facts and circumstances
like these constantly before us, we cannot feel lukewarm
or apathetic respecting the efforts to reclaim Vauxhall
district, or any similar portion of the town.