Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1840-09-24
iCoNcLUDED.

PIP. 262.
II lCoNcLUDED.
I " "The favored few may be enlighten
ed, cultivated and refined but the ma
ny are almost uniformly ignorah, hall
british, and shut out from nearly all tho
advantages society was Instituted by TN
: Creator 10 secure To lis members. Ih'
splendid palaces rise side by side will
the wretched novels Of the poor. The,
may be filled with every luxury for eve
! ry sense, wpung from the toll and swea
! Of the mass but their occupants, not
wIihslandIng their intelligence, refine
mcnt and hospitality, seem never to have
dreamed that the many were not made
for the express purpose Of ministerina
TO their pleasure aud OF their beDight-
ed minds dawns never the great doctrine
oi the Common brothc,hGnd oi tho race.
solnetI'ncs lost my patience, told a
Judge one day that ! would rather take
my chance at the last day, with those
he would hang, than with himself. The,
were victims at an order OF things they
had not created, and could not control
VI IIC was oilt VI VIC lttN bi'iiFi
! dcrs. Instead Of using the talents anC
, means % influence God had entrus'ct
to him, for the nelioration of that order
he exerted them merely to crush whom
socver should dare disclose ITS defect,
or seek To- remedy them.
Il have now returned home, and here,
| am sorry to say, ! find The germs Of
the same order, the same principles and
tendencies at work, and if resulting "a
yet in evils of less magnitude, 1t Is owing
to certain accidental causes, every day
becoming less and less active. The
lines OF distinction between the great
mass Of the people and the favored few,
are every day becoming broader and
more indellble. Labor is held III less
esteem than 1t was, and is not SO well
rewarded. Wages, perhaps, are nomi-
nalIy higher, the laborlng man may con
sumo more aud richer articles of food
aad clothing but if ! am not greatly
mIstg ken, he finds it more than proper
tronaIly more difficult to maintain his
former relative standing. Poverty keeps
pace with wealth, and not unlieqnently
outruns it. Poor men may indeed be-
come rich, and rich men poor but The
rich and poor still remain ; the perpetual
shifting Of individuals leaves the classes
as they were, neither lessening the num-
bers nor diminishing their evil conse-
quences. The evil does not consist ~
the, fact that these individuals rather
than those, constitute the rich or the
poor, but in the fact that there ure both
rich and poor"
7 On this statement Of the condition of
society, we have few remarks with
which we shall trouble our readers.
/ ln the first place, We demui as 10 the
facts here set forth. We utterly deny
that such is tn slate OF society ~ this
country that it ever has been, and It would
require II more verItable prophet than
Charles EIwood 10 convince US that II
ever would be. That there are Instance
OF individual oppression, of infamous
Perverslon OF justice, ol CALLING, un'n'ti-
gated poverty, and Of ruin OF character,
arising from the causes. no one Ia SO
foolish as to deny. But these are the
exceptions, instead Of the general rule (;
aud We will add, they are the rare and
uncommon exceptions. We have had,
during the course Of our short life, con-
siderable intercourse with the poor Of
two generations that is, tho poor as pa
rents, and the poor rs children. We
bear testimony IN full to the entire oppo-
site Of all that our author alleges. We
see the rich cover before the poor, as
often as the poor cover before the rich
We have never yet seen-we say It with
pride-we have never yet seen native
laboring American who did not feel lIn-
self every inch u man. And II our au-
thor has ever seen one on whose rights,
were he so disposed, he would dare 10
trampIe, he has been less fortunate ~
his society than we. We have been, to
q greater extent than many others, ac-
qualnted with young men who, with no
other reliance under God than their own
head and their own right hand, without
hereditary Influence or hackers ot any
kind, have committed themselves To the
current of active life. OF these, we
have never known single one to fail
lIOin uIly CHusc cNlcTlul W nltnse'l. We
have never known an outward force keep
II single man from rising. We have
never seen honest, vituous industry fail
Of It's reward, unless from some OF those
inscrutable dispensatlons Of Providence,
by which We are taught that
There's Divinity that shapes ends,
Rough hcw them ~ Ne Nill.'
We say it is So, aud more than th's,
we say that it is an insult To our coun-
try to deny 1t. We ask, could such
a state OF society as our author de-
scribcs, exist, and the yeomanry ct New
England not perceive II and redress u
Are the working men OF our land class
To he hulnbugged Would they for
moment endure calling tyranny, such
as Is here said TO bear sway over ihemi
They would consider such an assp ri"n
as personal insult. We speak what
we really believe, when We say that, pu,
aside partisan excitement, and the crui-
ioiion produced by political anInosliy,
aud no man would dare 10 collect The
working men of u town in New England,
aud tell them that they were oppressed
~ the manner Tint our. author here aud