New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-05-12
THE TRIBUNE.
PAST AND PRESENT: BY CARLYLE.
Il VOL 10; pcs; l2no)

We have not room nor spirit for a criticism on
this work if VIC had the admirers Of Car would
prefer that we let him speak rather than speak Tor
or of him, while the million will care for neither
Past and Present is q fearless and thorough ca
bibition Of the abyss of Social evils and miseres
in which the mass of the Human race especially
in Civilized Countries, and yet more espccaiis III
Great Britain. is now writhing-thc rccklessncss,
profiigacy and soth of the opuIcn' oiasseS ''lc
sclfshness. soulcssness and Mammon-WoEshlp Of
tho Middle Glasses the brutality. ignorance
ecnal;d vrctchcdncss and desperation OF the really
Poor-a,l are portrayed-nay, dagucrTotypcd, as
CARLYLE only could do it, The following passage
wiIl answer as specimen. He commences with
Procrn Of which the first chapter named Mi
das thus opens
.The condition of England, on which many
namphlcts arc now in the course OF publication,
and many thoughts unpublished are gong on IN
every reflective head is Justly regarded as one OF
the most orninorls and wthal one OF the srangest,
ever seen in this world England is full OF wealth,
Of multiiarious produce, supply for human want
in every kind yet England is dying of lnnnltlon.
With undated bounty the land OF England blooms
and crows; waving with yellow harvcsts thick
studded with workshops, industrial implements,
with fifteen millions OF workers, understood to bc
the strongest the cunnngeSt and the WllllngeSl
DIR earth cvcrhad; these men are here; the work
they have done, the fruit, they have realized is
here, abundant, cxubcrant on every hand o: us
and behold, some baeiul fiat as of Entertainment
has gone FORTH saying, Touch it not, We work
efs, We mastcr.workcrs, We naster-ldlcrs; none OF
you can touch it, no man OF YOU shall be the bet
ter for it /; this is enchanted fruit On the poor
workers such fat falls first, in its rudss shape;
but on the rich mastcr-workors too 1t falls neither
can The rich steridiers, nor any richest or high
est man escape, but all are like to be brought low
with ii, and made poor enough, in the money
sense or a far iataler one.
.'Of these successful skiiul workers some two
millions, it is now counted SIT in Warehouses,
Poor.law Prisons; or have 'out door relief flung
over the wall to tfcm,-thc woryhousc Bastille
beng filled to bursting. and the strong Poor-law
broken asumdcr by stronger They sit there.
these many months now ; their hope of deliver
anco Us yet small In warehouses, pleasantly so
named. because work cannot be done III them.
Twelve hundred thousand workers in England
alone; their cunning rlght-hand famed, lying idle
in their sorrowu bosom; their hopes, ontlooks,
share Of this fair world, shut in by narrow walls.
They SIT there, pent up, as IN a kind OF horrld en-
chantment glad to be imprisoned and enchant-
ed, that they may not perish starved. The PIC
tnresque Tourist, IN sunny autumn day, through
this bounteous realm of England, describes the Tn.
ion Workhouse on his path. Passing by the
'Workhouse of St. Ives in Huntingdonshirc on a
bright day last autumn says the picturesque
Tourist, saw sitting on wooden benches, in
front of their Bastillc and within their ringwall
and its ratings some half-hundred or moro of
these men. Tall robust figures, young mostly
or of middle age; of honest countenance, many
of them thoughtful and even intelligent-looklng
men, They sat there, near by one another; but
ina kind of torpor, especiallyln silence, which
was very striking In silence: for. alas, what
word was 10 be said ? An Earth all lying round,
crying, Come and till me, come and reap me; -
yet we here sit enchanted In the eyes and
'brows Of these men hung the gloomiest express
son, not OF anger but OF grief and shame and
manifold inartculate distress and WEAKNESS -
they returned my glance with a glance that
seemed to say, Do not look at us. We sit en-
chantcd here, we know not why. The Sun shines
and the Earth calls; and, by the governing Pow
'ers and lmpotcnces of this England, we are for
hidden to obey 1t is impossible they tell us"
There was something that reminded me of Dan
ties Hell in the look of all this; and rode swift
'iy away
Thir,y-sx pages arc given to such an exllibi-
ton of Social Ills, and certain supposed remedies
thercior-hc author disdaining all specifics or
nostrums and insisting that a trucr Manhood,
Consciousness of the presence and worth OF the
Soul, are mainly needed. In this we think he
talks blndly: for new Soul in Mana vivid
consciousness of his true relations his brethren,
the Universe and its Crca.or-will inevitably Gre
ate new and better circumstances truer and
more genial relation between Rich and Poor,
High and Low, I.aborer and Employer. \ new
Soul indeed is wantcd-but wanted TO iinpcl new
acts, new methods, as well as new aspirations.
Following this, we have The Ancient Monk a
chronicle kept bya simple brother of the monaS
teryofSt. Edmund in the Twelfth Century, which
through hundred pages is made most lorcihy to
illustrate the Present, and point the moral IN
tended The remainder of the volume, divided
INTO two books The Modern Worker and
Horoscope discusses the position and character
oil the Arstocracy, the Laborccs, Over goduc-
hon Corn. Laws, ETC., striving earnestly to evolve
an answer to the great problem of the aye. We
cannot say that his success in this department Is
eminent yet the work will do great good. 1t
will cause men to think and feel as does the au-
thor; and thence to perceive, which he as vet does
not clearly-We give u few farther extracts:
The Champion OF England, cased in iron or
TN, rides into Westminster Hail. being lifted
into his saddle with little assistance, and thcgc
asks, II III the four quarters OF the world, under
the cope of Heaven is any man or demon thai:
dare question the nigh, OF this hing Under the
cope OF Heaven no man makes Ineligible answer
Is sernral ,nc,, nnnht alrcaGr 10 ha..o .,oa..-