The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1850-01-31
DAVENPORT, SCOTT IOWA. THURSDAY, JANUARY 81 1850
FALSE SYMPATHY.

FALSE SYMPATHY.
We were exceedingly pained few days since
upon perusing newspaper article contrasting
j the poverty OF the sewing women Of London and
New York-she philanthropic emporiums o.
England and the United States. In the former
city the usual wages are II cents for making q
shirt and the poor seamstress to furnish her own
thread, needles and buttons! Wastcoats are
made for prices ranging from cents up TO 81
cents each. Even at these starving prices the
shopmen manage to cheat the poor women out
of large proportion Of their wages by returning
work upon their hands, and refusing 10 compen.
safe them for it if it have the least defect. Al
| these rates the best seamstresses earn from 622
cents to ssi.l0 per week. 1t must be remember
ed that in the city where these mserabl, attenu-
nted wages are paid, beef sells at from l6 to 60
cts. per pound, and other food in proportion. In
the purchase Of every mouthful they eat, every
candle they burn, and each bit Of clothing they
wear, these half-siarved women and girls con.
tribute their mite to that fund which goes to the
support of the Injuries of the throne. In New
York the prices are little better and food some
what cheaper, so that this miserable class ol
community, so long as they enjoy health to work
can manage to proong their wretched exs-
| tence.
In writing upon this subject the editor Of a
New York paper exclaims, "Row gladly would
thousands Of the sewing girls of London ex-
change places with the slave girls in our South
/ ~, or
would gladly avail themselves Of the same priv
ilegc. Yet all this misery and squalid want,
with heart-burnng shame is overlooked in a
| false sympathy for the slaves ofthe South. With
words that burn did Mr.. Clemens, of Alabama,
4 in comparison between the black slaves Of the
South and the white ones of the North, in re-
cent speech in the Senate, portray the crime,
destitution and wretchedness Of the latter
ssLook at homc,'' he says--but here is the ex-
tract:-Eb. GA7.
Mr.. CLEMENS said The Senator from New
York has spoken of his interference with the
subject OF slavery as recommendation and the
Senator from New Hampshire adds that Father
Matthew is not enough OF an aboliiions. for him.
Both Senators claim that this onicious nfermed-
ding with the property and the rights Of others
| is very praiseworslhy exhibition OF Christian
charity, and sympathy for the wrongs of the
slave. ! never doubted, sir. that snch were the
opinions of those gentlemen. Their acts for
years past have been too unequivocai to admit of
msconstruction. k ow that the crueities oil
the STAKEHOLDER, and the sutferings Of the down
trodden African, have formed the chief staple q
all their discouPses. Let me tell them that il
woud be well to look little at home. There
are at your own doors objects of charity enough
| b,,p ole hoe
il. There are at this moment, in all your great
cities, thousands of homeless wretches, destitute
Of food or raiment. and without thought or an
instinct that is not coiored BY crime. There are
hordes Of wretched females toiling bv day and
| by night for miserable pittance, which only
adds to the horrors of starvation by pro'ractino
the agonies of the sufferer There are bands OF
little children to whom beggary has descended
| as an inheritance, and for whom State prison
is welcome asylum. Misery in all its forms
poverty in all IFS rags-sickness and starvation
are around you; and vet, with miserable hy-
| pocrsv. yon must travel away TO the South. and
waste your synparhies upon population who
are better clothed, better fed, who work less and
live more happily, than four-ffihs of yourselves.
You compel poor factory girl to perform an
amount of labor which is not exacted from
/ healthy and robust men by the planters OF the
South-separate her from her friends and rela-
tlons-allow no one to visit her without iors.te1
pass from an overseer, and all the while thank God
that YOU are free from the curse Of African sia-
very. Nay, more YOU assume to be OF a better
and pnrer race. You unblushing.y assert, on
all occasions, that while the pistol and bowie
knife give law TO the South, you are in the con-
slant observance of moral and religious precepts
Sir, admit with regret tha. there are occa'
sional scenes Of violence among US. and that
sometimes we forget the value Of human life; but
our offences have always touch o. manliness
in them. There are no petty larcenies-no out
rares upon unprotected females-no midnight
assassinatons for money. When we stoop to
initiate brute creation, we take the lion, not the
lhyena, for our model. But, while make the
admission that we are not altogether tree from
crime, let me ask how stands the case with you
The city Of New York alone furnishes more
State prison convlcts than the whole fifteen
Southern States together. You tear down
churches; burn up converts, Inhabited by few
Helpless nuns; get up professions in honor OF 0
brutal prize-fghter and raise riots at the bd'
ding of worthless PLAYER, IN which scores o
lives are sacrificed, without dreaming that there
is anything in all this unbecomng the descend
ants Of the pilgrim fathers. Look at home,
say; correct your own iniquities, relieve you'
own sufferers, and then, YOU may prate OF tht
crime and misery which slavery engenders.
\ is A DIVORCED LADY A MISS OK MIS-
question is now the subject Of discussion in thu
northern papers, and eliciis as much discussion
as the famous one, twill saltpetre explode!''-
! we think it very easy OF solulion:-
Scarce is one question solved when they ask VI
another:
1t is now inquired by some,
Does lady ydiyorced--recollect she's mother
A Miss or a Mrs. become!
Now if you reflect you will find it quite plain,
The answer is easy to this;
A mother must always Mrs. remain,
i Unless she is sadly a-naiss.
[.N. Q. Rcayune.
COUNTERFEIT QUARTERs.--We have
\ been shown several counterfeit American
Quarter Dollars, so well executed that ev
cry body should be on their guard against