The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-03-28
From Macaulay's History. 81
ENGLAND AS SHE WAS AND

ENGLAND AS sHE WAS AND
rs. ss5E5f &;
Is In one respect it must be admitted
that the progress Of civilization has lii-.
minished the physical comforts of a por-.
ton ofthe poorest class. = It has al
ready been mentioned that, before the
Revolution, many thousands of square
miles now inclosed and cultivated,
we're marsh, forest and heath. OF this
wild land much was BY law common,
and much of what was not common by
law was worth 50 little that the proprii-
etors suffered it to be common in fact.
In such a tract, squatters and trespas-
sers were tolerated to an extent now un-
known. The peasant who dwelt there
could at little or no charge, procure
occasionally some palatable addition to
his hard fare, and provide himself with
fuel forthe winter. He kept a flock
OF geese on what is now an orchard rich
with apple blossoms. He shared wild
fowl on the fen which has long since
been drained and divided into corn
fields and turnips. He cut turf among
the furze bushes on the moor which is
now meadow bright with clover and
renowned for butter and cheese. The
progress Of agriculture and the increase
of population necessarily deprived him
of these privileges. But against this
advantage q long list Of disadvantages
is to be set off. Of the blessings which
civilization and philosophy bring with
them q large proportion is common to
all ranks and would, if withdrawn, be
missed as painfully by the laborer as
by tile poor. The market place which
the rustic can now reach with his cart
in ON hour was a hundred and sixty
years ago q days journey from him.
The street which now affords to the ar
tizan, during the whole night, asecure,
convenient and brilliantly lighted
walk was q hundred years ago SO dark
after sunset, that he would not have
been able to see his hand; so ill paved
that he would have run constant risk of
breaking his neck, and so i'll watched
that he would have been in imminent
danger Of being knocked down and
plundered of his small earnings. Eve
ry bricklayer who falls from scaffold,
every sweeper of crossing who is run
over by carriage, now may have his
wounds dressed and his limbs set with
a skill such as hundred years ago all
the wealth Of q great lord like Ormond
or of merchant prince like Clayton,
could not have purchased. Some fright
full diseases have been extirpated BY
science md some have been banished
by police. The term Of human life has
been heightened over the whole king
dom and especially in the towns. The
year 1885 was not accounted sickly;
yet in the year 1856 more than one in
twenty three of the inhabitants of the
capital died. At present only one In
habitant of the capital in forty dies an
nually. The difference in salubrity be-
tween the London of the nineteenth
century and the London Of the seven
teenth century is very far greater than
the difference between London in an
ordinary season and London in the
cholera.
Still moro important is the benefit
which all orders of society, and espe-
cially tho lower orders, have derived
from the modifying of civilization on
the national character. The ground
work of the character of an individual
may be said to be the same when he is
a rude and thoughtless schoolboy and
and when he is refined and accomplish
ed man. 1t is pleasing to reflect that
the public mind of England has soften
ed while it has ripened, and that we
have in the course of ages, become, not
only wiser, but also a kinder people,
There is scarcely page of the history
or lighter literature of the seventeenth
century, which does not contain some
proof that our ancestors were less hu-
name than their posterity. The disci-
pline of workshops of schools, of private
families though not more efficient than
at present, was infinitely harsher..-
Masters, we'll born and bred, were in the
habit Of beating their servants. Peda-
gogues knew no way of imparting
knowledge but by beating their pupils.
Husbands, of decent station, were not
ashamed to beat their wives. The i'm
placability of hostile faction, was such
as we can scarcely conceive. Wings
were disposed to murmer because
Stafford was suffered to die without see
ing his bowels burned before his face.
AS little mercy was shown by the popu.