Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-12-23
a WEEK LATER.

striking contrast in any thing than in the conditions
OF the two portions known, in London parlance, as
the Hest End and the East End. A description OF
the one would serve TO indicate the other, for all
that the West End is the East is ,lot and uice Uersa
The Inquirer, weekly religious journal, says:
sin the West spacious parks noble squares and streets
in the East narrow Streets penup courts and alleys In the
West reigns Stiffness which is only broken times by the
roll Of stately carriages in the East the hustle and
camor and noise of nean traders Of every description strv
ing 10 sell their petty wares, prevail from early morning to
most midnight. In the West the study of the inhabitants is
how to kill time in the East weary toll is pursued from ff
teen to eighteen hours out Of every for scany
support compulsory ideness and still scanty sup
port form the fate Of thousands The dwellings in the West
capacious and often gorgeous aodng space for many
times their occupants in the East il is find
half score Of persons nhabing the apartment which
serves for Kitchen paro sleeping ROOM and every other do
mesc purpose Nor need say that the dress of the peo
pie Of the West and the East are in the extremes of quantity
and quality the former consisting Of weocked wardrobes
and stores added by evechansng fashions the latter
barely sufficient for decency and rarely for comfort In the
West every thing that the body wants. fances that wants.
instantly supplied if it be procured for moneys in the
East thousands of persons want the of life and
tens Of thousands the comforts and sickness and disease
transfer their victims daily from the narrow room to- the mar
and the West is not great that which is exhibited above
ground"
A long and wearisome walk in the dirty streets
of this great metropolis, and several hours nhala-
ton Off murky atmosphere, redoent Of many other
things besides perfumes added to the disagreeable
and sometimes dangerous consequences of the reck-
less rushing by of the busy crowds on the slippery
pavements, and who impinge upon whoever is in
the least ntheir road, without regard to either age
or sex, form combination of disagreeables which
must be seen and felt to be comprehended. You
look in vain in the crowded streets here for that
urbanity and courtesy which you almost invariably
find in New York and other Of your American CT
ties, in which, if, through the pressure of crowd
or accident, any one brushes your elbow you are
almost sure to have an apology made. But here
you receive blow on your right elbow whilst you
are endearoring- TO avoid an impeachment on your
left, which turns you half round, and often causes
you to stumble-you have scarcely room to fall
and the party thus annoying you has probably serv-
ed halt tozen other persons in the same rough
manner before you recover you position, and thinks,
probably knows not, that he has in the least ncom-
NODDED any one. | once mentioned this roughness
an fra'asitt of the Londoners TO friend he replied
that the greater part of the people in the streets had
not time to be polite that they were all bent upon
some objee, all pushing their way to some point or
other, which they had only limited time to attain
and that they did not intend to be rude, but were
only going straightforward about their business and
thought every body else was doing the same; and
If they we've told they had rudely pushed against
any one, they would probably be surprised and al
lege that the complaining party had pushed against
them. This is very likely the real state of the case
for no one would intentionally and deliberately in
suit or incommode a person who was perfect
stranger to lin, and it is no very wild assertion to
make that nne-tenths of the persons who pass each
other in Cheapside or Cornhill do not recolec see
ing each other before, and may never see each other
again. For my own part, can truly assert that,
although have traversed these crowded thorough
fares almost daily for two years, have not, to the
best of my recollection, met the same person
twice, unless it be the police and the postmen.
But there is greater nuisance than even these
annoyances of dirt, and fog and crowds and that is
the misery and degradation which assaiI you at every
step, to the destruction of every comfortable sensa-
ton, and sense Of mingled pity and disgust caus-
ing you TO rebel against the order of things which
has thus brought such masses of human beings to-
geher, to tester in dirt, vice. poverty, and starva-
ton. These are the annoyances of a rambe in the
East, or city end of the metropolis. walk in the
West End is free from the dirt and the crowd, and
much of the mass of street pauperism which trouble
you in the East. Even here you have, however
from November to April, excepting at intervals
few and far between" TO breathe a polluted at
mosphere, and TO live in fog and smoke. Nor do
the splendor Of the equipages, the gay apparel of
the passers by, the spacious and costly edfces, and
all the other appendages of wealth, make amends,
by showing the comfort and the luxuries of hun
dreds, for the misery and want and vice of thou.
sands. But it may be asked how is this to be
avoided, unless by the establishment of some of the
plans Of the French Communists or Socialists. We
are certainly no advocates for any of these nos
trums, because we consider them as founded upon
wrong principles, and, could they be adopted, they
would not remove the evils Of which we are COM
planning unless by the substitution of still greater
ones. We have no plan of our own to remedy this
great, this almost only pressing grievance which
pervades English society. We can only lament
its existence, and wish that the wise and powerful
men of the land would undertake its cure.
To such degree has mendcity increased in the
suburbs Of London, through the means which have
been taken to suppress it in the city, that it is alb
solutely distressing 10 sit by your own reside on
account Of the piteous objects that place themselves
before your windows, exhibiting every mark of
wretchedness and wo, and whose tones and looks
reveal the extreme Of human suffering. Much of
this may be assumed no doubt, with too many,
begging is trade, and good trade, realizing more
than can be earned by honest industry; yet reduce
the number Of beggars by every reasonable amount
r.