The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1845-07-26
ENGLISH DESTlTUTlON.


ENGLISH DESTlTUTION.
In D'Israeli's new book, "Sy bill, or
the Two Nations" there are some
frightful pictures of want and destitu-
ton, the relation of which we could
not credit, If we did not find them es-
tabished by authoritative statements.
We subjoin IN extract from "Sybil."
"The situation OF the rural town Of
Marney was one of the most delightful
easily to be imagined. In a spreading
dale, contiguous to the margin OF clear
and lively stream, surrounded by mead
ows and gardens, snd backed by lofty
hills, undulating and richly wooded, the
traveller, on the opposite heights o.
the dale, would often stop to admire
the merry prospect, that recalled to
him the traditional epithet of his coun-
try.
"Beautiful illusion For behind that
laughing landscape, penury and disease
fed upon The vitaIs of a miserable pop
ulation!
"The contrast between the interior
of the town and its external aspect was
as striking as it was full Of pain. With
the exception of the dull high street,
which had the usual characteristic Of
small agricultural market-town, some
sombre mansions, dingy inn, and a
petty bourse, Marney mainly consisted
.o( a variety of narrow and crowded
lanes, formed by cottages built of rub
BILE, or unhewn stones, without cement,
aud from age or badness of the materi-
al, looked as If they could scarcely hold
together. The gaping chinks admitted
every blast; the leaning chimneys had
lost halftheir original helght;the rotten
rafters were evidently misplaced, while
in many instances the thatch, yawning
in some parts to admit the wind and
wet, and in all utterly unfit for its orig
inal purpose Of giving protection from
the weather, looked more like the top
of dunghill than cottage. Before
the doors of these dwellings, and often
surrounding them, ran open drains full
of animal and vegetable refuse, decom-
posing into disease, or sometimes in
their imperfect course filling foul pits,
or spreading into stagnant pools, while
a concentrated solution Of every spe-
cies Of dissoIving filth was allowed to
soak through, and thoroughly impreg-
nate the walls and ground adjoining.
"These wretched tenments seldom
consisted Of more than two rooms, in
one Of which the whole family, howev-
er numerous, were obliged to sleep,
without distinction of age, or sex, or
suffering. With the water streaming
down the walls, the light distinguished
through the roof, with no hearth even
in winter, the virtuous mother in the
sacred pangs of childbirth, gives forth
another victim to our thoughtless civil
ization; surrounded by three genera
tions, whose inevitable presence is
more painful t.an her suflerlngs in that
hour of travail; while the father of her
coming child, in another corner of the
sordid chamber, lies stricken by that
tvphus which his communicating dwell
ling has breathed into his veins, and for
whose next prey is perhaps destined
his newborn child. These swarming
walls had neither windows nor doors
sufficient to keep out the weather, or
r.
admit the sun, or supply the means of
ventilation; the humid and putrid roof
of thatch, exhaling malaria like all 9th
err decaying vegetable matter. The
dwelling rooms were neither boarded
nor paved; and whether it were that
some were situated in low and damp
places, occasionally flooded by the riv-
er, and usually much below the level of
the road, or that the springs, as was Of
ten the case, would burst through the
mud floor, the ground was at no time
better than so much clay, while some
times you might see little channels
cut from the centre under the door
ways to cary off the water, the door
itself removed from its hinges; a rest
ing place for infancy in its deluged
home. These novels were in many
instances. not provided with the COM
monest convenience of the rudest pol
ice; contiguous to every door might be
observed the dung-heap, on which eve-
ry kind of filth was accumulated, for the
purpose Of being disposed Of for man.
ure; so that, when the poor man opened
his narrow habitation in the hope of re-
freshing il with the breeze OF summer.
he was met with mixture of gases
from reeking dung-hIlls.