The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-10
Enslish Labor

TRI-WEEKLY, S 90
WEEKLY, 2 90
Hngllsh Labor.
I.edru Rollins scork on England I'hompson,
The Aboliti0nisf, DC.
The Democratic Review for March, contains
a very spirited review of Ledru Rollins "De-
cline of England" The work Is one which is
especially interesting at the present time, to
American readers on more than one account.
The writer in the Democratic Review observes
in the course of his remarks
"One OF the men to whom the destiny of the
Union is committed has eulogizcd the English
system as the perfection Of all social govern
ment There is the workshop of the world
there is the heart of wealth, commerce, and
power This is not the crude sentiment of
Mr.. Corwint it is canon Of public faith with
the party who now govern our country For it
they puff and pray, and become sanctmonous
and lie. 1t is the Shibboleth of their worship,
the corpus to their State craft, and the limit to
their capacity. Twice the Union was periled by
it before, and now again it disputes the pre-
dominance in the cauldron OF cant and fanati-
cism, which menace similar result. Let us
have workshops; workshops in Illinois work
shops by the Columbia; workshops on the Blue
Mountains; workshops on the Alleghanes
where no matter at what cost, no matter how
much to the detrimcnt of other interests
Workshops, workshops Let us, in word, be
Anglo Saxon-Anglo Saxon in language, in
blood, in race, in customs, in feelings in heart,
in furnaces, in belows-blowing, in spinning
jennies Grind! grind grind Let the world
go round, be the hinges of the engine oiled,
and the cogs kept in lmberorder. In the bowels
OF the earth let manhood and womanhood in
barbarous nudity be bound down to perpetual
toll, perpetual Ignorance, and perpetual beastl-
ness Main, distort, cripple, dwarf the young
and the old, soul and body /; but make money
create for yourself the heart of wealth, COM
merce and power;" initiate England Do; but
oh! if you have hearts elevated one degree
above sordidness, look you at the dark, damnns
pictures presented in this book
Geo. Thompson, the English NJ p who i,
now engaged in this country in enlightenins
Americans on their duty as pertaining to South
ern slayery-who declared that "There isn't
rod of earth on the globe that is not more sane
tilted by the spirit of liberty than republican
America! Nothing Is contraband in his countr-
but truth and honesty"-represents the distrc
in London known as the "Tower Hamlets."-
Rollin gives us the following view of portion
Of his constituents, taken from the report of
commissioner appointed to investigate in thos,
regions of seeming affluence alluded to-
/" The docks Of London" he says, "are,. il
truth, the focus of metropolitan wealth. The
cranes creak under the weight of the valuable
merchandise they uphold The storehouses over
flow with goods ranged as so much pure gold >
{" If these riches, from their immensely, appear
sublime, assuredly the wretchedness which ex.
lists with them is no less SO; for never did hu.
man brains conceive anything equal lit. From
the quays and magazines pass into the courts
and alleys by which they are surrounded, and
your feelings will not be less narrowed by theil
nakedness, than your wonder is excited by the
superhuity of the others.
"Every morning thither throng thousands o
men to seek, by hard labor, their daily bread
But if over night the east wind has been luled
these thousands will become dependent on tn
air, like the Chameleon. Their own and thei
as the wind itself. For them the weather-coc
is an index Of suffering or well-being for tn
day.
Speaking Of the countless crowd Of mer
bankrupt in every pursuit, embracing persons i
every condition of life, who rush to the dock
gates on mornings, he says:
AS soon as you see this multitude precipi
tate itself like torrent, you may be certain tn,
stewards are arrived Here commences the
crush, the strife, the straining to catch The eye
of him on whose word depends the obtaining OF
work. How could the aspect of these fierce
poor creatures be ever forgotten, engaging in
deadly strife with one another for day, or even
an hours work, and strife fierce in proportion
to the universally of the knowledge that sew
eral hundreds must remain unprovded for"
Subjoined will be found n more detailed pie
ture of the daily and nightly life of that hungry
mass of men, partly drawn by themselves. The
reporter proceeds:
"a guide well acquainted thereabouts, con-
Quoted me to one of the most thronged lodging
the dimensions of small barn, and constructed
as rudely. The walls were without plaster, and
the tiles scarcely Swallowed the interior. The
rain came through it like sieve. Around the
room was ranged long and dirty table, mt
which were seated some twenty unfortunates,
covered with rags.
81 had half days work to-day at the docks,
said one. Yesterday whole day. On Monday
a half day.
at goes hard with us, said another, who have
no lodgings but the street, although beds in this
house cost only two pence.
ITO the reporters inquiry what they did FOL
food, he said:
al have been two whole days without eating
anything.
"And |, said another, who skulked in a corner
with his chin sunk on his chest, have spent
three days without tasting morsel.
"Ah winter is a terrible time for us, sighed
young man, no more than seventeen years Of
age.
taking one year with another, added grown
up young man, ! have worked now nearly
eleven years in the docks we can earn no more
than five shillings week. Often very often,
we are three or four weeks without earning a
single penny and in winter moreover
"But, said the reporter you can meantime get
something to do elsewhere
Yes, sometimes we earn two or three pence
near Billingsgate Without this we should have
nothing to lodge us, and should walk about and
die of hunger.
"That is what | must do tonight, said he
who sat in the corner with his head on his breast
Sand |, too, and ], too, repeated n second anc
athird.
"Ihave had two or three hard crusts to-day
said the solitary one in the corner