The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-10-30

| by the offensive interference of these self
appointed champions. We think the sequel of
the adventure will be noted. 1t is there seen
that the fctional adventures of the insane
knight have been realized in all their conse-
quences by the enlightened philanthropy of the
| most powerful nation of Europe. The moral
of the adventure is, that all the consequences
OF foreign interference fall upon the unlucky
object in whose behalf the interference has been
made
1t may not be amisS, in further illustration of
the first observations of this article, to cite for
purposes OF comparison picture fthe condition
OF the wretched lower orders in that very coun-
try whose philanthropsts are so very unhappy
about the moral liabilities of others. Morality,
like charity, should begin at home; and SO long
as one such picture can be correctly drawn of
the condition of one street within the limits of
Great Bntan-as we are Of opinion that there
is ample employ for the energies and charitable
expenditures of all her philanthropists--we
think there is no obligation whatsoever to ex-
pend either money or effort to remove foreign
evils which do not compare in intensity.
Read this description by an English author;
connect with it, if the reader choose, ad
libitom, any description Of Ireland from LIE
yer, Lady Morgan, Mrs. Hall, Miss Edge
worth, or from the pages of that most graphic
census of its restitution, vice, and ignorance
So Ireland's Welcome to Stranger" Let the
reader then extend his researches into the mys-
teries and iniquities of metropolitan wretched
ness as they have been portrayed by Dickens
and Bulwer, or let him follow the herd who
have initiated them by describing for the pages
of a licentious literature localities in the per-
| sonal knowledge of which the writers as far
surpass Dickens and Bulwer as they fall short
of the purposes of moral reform which the lat
ter had at heart. Let this be done by the i'm
partial reader, and he will find that England
can have but little charity for expectation that
within the sound of church bells, within the
call of courts of justice, there is slavery more
! horrible than that which darkens with its gloom
the coast Of Guinea that the physical abomina-
tons of slave-ship are pure compared with
the moral leprosy which tester around the heart
of infancy, spreading over, and absorbing every
virtue with its foul incrustation. Let this COM
parison be made, and it will be found that St.
Giles has superior claims to ST. Jago, and
that instead of philanthropy ''ftting foreign
its enthusiastic professors can dine and sleep at
! home, and find full employment, during the
! term Of their natural lives, for every hour, for
every thought, for every penny which is now
wasted abroad in fruitless effort to overthrow
institutions which they cannot understand or
to correct errors for which they are not respon-
| sible
The following extract is from Acton Locke
a work recently published:
POETRY OF THE POOR
! 1t was FOUL chilly, foggy Saturday night From
/ the butchers and greengrocers' shops the gas
lights hared and tlckered, wild and CHASTITY, over
haggard groups of slipshod, dirty women, bar
! gaining for scraps OF stale meat and frostbitten
! vegetables, wrangling about short weight and bad
quality. Fish stalls and fruit stalls lined the edge
OF the greasy pavement, sending up odors as foul
! az the language of sellers and buyers. Blood
and sewer water crawled from under doors and
I out of spouts, and rocked down the cutters
among oflal, animal and vegetable in every stage
OF putrelaction. Foul vapors rose from cowsheds
and slaughter houses, and the doorways Of I'M
drained alleys where the inhahiants carried the filth
out their shoes from the back yard into the court
and from the court up into the main street; while
4 above, hanging like cliffs the streets-those
I narrow, Drawing torrents OF NTH, and poverty,
and sin-the houses with their teeming load of life
I were piled up into the dingy, choking night. a
/ CHASTITY, deaiening, sickenIng sight it was. Go.
| scented Bclgravian! and see what London is! and
/ then go to the library which God has given thee
one often fears in yau-and see what science Gays
/ this London might be!
He stopped suddenly before the entrance of a mis-
1 cradle alley
Look there's not soul down that yard butts
either beggar, drunkard, thief or warse Write
about that! Say how yc saw the mouth O. hell and
the iva pillars thereof at the entry-the pawnbro-
! kcr's shop o. one side, and the gin palace at the
other-twa nonstrous deevils, eating up men, md
women, and BARNS body and soul Look at the
jaws o. the monsters, how they open and open, and
! swallow in anither victim and anther. Write
| aboot that.
"what jaws, Mr. Mackayc?"
"Thcy taulding doors o. the gin shop, goose. Are
ma they mair dsmnablc man devouring idol than
ony red hot statue o. Moloch, wicker Cog magog,
| wherein thae aud Britons burnt their prisonersS
Look at thae barefooed, bare backed hizzies, with
their arms roun' the mems necks and their mouths
foil o. vitrio and beastly words Look at that Irish
woman pouring the gin down the babbie's throat.
Look that rah o. boy gaun out o. the pawnshop,
where bee been pledging the handkerchief he stole
the morning, into the gin shop, to buy beer poi
soncd WI grains o. paradise, and coccuus indicus,
and saut, and a damnable, maddening, thirst
breeding, lust breeding drugs. Look at that girl
that went in wi a shawl on her back and cam out
| wi'out anc. Drunkards frae the brcast'-harlots
frac the cradlei-damned before they re born, John
Calvin had an inking o. the truth there Pm most
driven to think, wi his rcprobation deevirs doc
/ trines."
:. "well-but-Mr. Mackayc, ] know nothing
about these poor creatures"
Then ye ought. What do yc ken ABBOTT the
Pacific, Which is maist 10 your busincss2-that
bare backed hizzics that play the harlot O. the
other side o. the varld, or tbesc-thcse thousands
o. bare backed hizzies that play the harlot o. your
ain slde-madc out o. your ain flcsh and bludc,"
We went on through back street or two, and
then into huge miserable house, which hun
dred years ago perhaps, had witnessed the luxury,
and rung TO the laughter, Of some one great fash
ionable family, alone there in their glory. Now
every room Of il held it's family, or its group Of
familes-a phalanstcry Of sll>the hends. Its grand
staircase, with the carved balustradcs rottng and
crumbling away pieccmeal, converted into com
mon sewer for all its inmates. Up, stair after
stair We went while walls Of children, and curses
Of men, steamed out upon tho hot sitting rush OF
air from every doorway, till, At the topmost sto-
~, VIC knocked at garnet door. We entered
Bare IL was Of furniture, comfortlcss, and frccz-
ing cold; but, with the exception Of the plaster
dropping from the roof, and the broken window,
patched with rags and paper, there was scrupu-
lOus neatncss about the whole, which contrastcd
strangely with the filth and soyenliness outside
. There was no bed in the room-no table. On
broken chair by the chimney sat miserable old
b Z 81. -. 4. 1