The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-05-03
CAMDEN. SOUTH-CAROIINA TUESDAY MORNING. NAY 8 E
Thc LOndOn Poor.

in the London Morning Herald presents gloo-
my picture of the condition of the laborng poor
in the capital of .Merrie England" God help
the poor -: -: - ~sF
What an exposition Of human folly in view
Of the sad facts contained in the suhIolned, 90
the grand preparations in honor of'Mrs Stowe
present to the world. Where in any Southern
State in the United States, can be found an
.Uncle Tom" in such destitution land misery
as the white subjects of Queen Victoria, and
The fenow-creatures and neighbers Of the Ouch
ess of Sutherland, mentioned in the following
sckening details. No more degrading exhbi.
Etionoffallen humanity, in our opinion, has been
madein this enlightened and christian age than
that afforded by the aristocratie furor now ex-
isting-i England in relation to q lying repre-.
sentation oflhe institution Of labor with US, and
ip the preparatory proceedings Of welcome to
the author Of the libellous fiction.
But there is no fiction in the subjoined; it is
peuned by those who know and daily witness
the scenes they depict, and neither "Uncle
Toms Cabin" nor "'key" can unfold such de
graduation, misery, and want:
"Not very far from the spot where We write
within no very great distance Of the residence
of many of our aristocracy, lies one of those
dark and gloomy Courts which all over Lon
don are thronged by the poor. 1t is not, we
believe, worse than hundreds Of others, but tits
. has been explored, and the humanity of those
who have visited its dismal chambers, we are
indebted for description of the. dwellings and
the daily life ofmyriads -four swarming popu.
lation. .-.e,....s 49,
The scourt" of which we write, Charlotte
buildings, off GRAY inn.lane,. contains fifteen
houses, and these Is houses give, each contain
| ing rooms, shelter, upon the lowest estimate,
i. 1000 persons. The description Of one Of these
houses is the description of all. Will our rec-
ders bear with US while we take them throughits
apartments as the, are described by an eye
witness We begin with the two rooms upon
the ground floor.
In the front room "there are no bedstcads,
chairs, or tables, few ragged cloths are dry:
ing before little fire in the CRATE, above the
mantel are looking glass, about three inches
high, and some torn prints of the crucifiSion,
! &c; in the cupboards, without doors, are pie
ces Of broken crocekry; kind Of bed in one
corner, with children asleep; the floor rotten
in many parts, the walls and ceiling sadly
cracked The rent is Is. Sd. per week, which
is called for every Monday, and must be paid
on Wednesday," -.
! We are not told who arc the inmates of this
! chamber, but the room Immediately behind it
'spresents a sad scene of distress the man, his
wife, and some children earn aliving by chop
ping iirewood; the man had been i'll and not
able 10 rig for two days; he was lying on
4 r. lehor
with an old black and ragged blanket; his skin
did not appear as if it had been washed for
weeks; he was very i'll, and evidently in state
of fever; his wife was almost equally dirty
awe have no wood,to chop was the imares-
sion of their ultimate distress. This room was
much dilapidated, and they had suffered great
" during the late severe weather, owing to the
broken condition Of the windows. The rent
was Is Cd. per week; the window overlooks n
back ward, the condition of which was shock
ing, -.
These it will be remembered, are not the
haunts of outcasts OF society, who live by plum
der. This wretched back room is the hiding
place of miserable couple, who, with their
children, attempt to earn, their bread by an
humble. an i'll requited, but all honest industry.
The expression of their worst disteress is, "We
have no wood to. chop"
aThe first foor," continues the writer, "both
back and front, was crowded with inhabitants.
The people acknowledged that fifteen persons
silent in the two little rooms last night; the walls
were cracked and dirty, and the ceiling con
/ stuntly falls upon the floor while the inmates
are taking their food One woman said that a
part of the cracked hearthstone from above had
fallen among the children. The rent of the
front room is 2s. 3d.; back, Is. 9d. Continuing
our wav up stairs. we found the state of the
staircase of the rooms worse and worse. In
the front room two pair, when our eyes had be-
come accustomed to the Rembrantish gloom,
we found fifteen persons!! Some had been sci.
ling onions, &c, in the streets, some begging,
one or two were seemingly brcklayers labor
ers, and others had been working at the carrion
heaps in the neighborhood."
The others presented the same dismal pic.
ture, with addition of holes in the roof, though
which the winds, and rains, and SHOWS, made
their way unoh the inmates of this wretched
tenement For these attics the rent was the
same as for the lower apartment-an anomaly y
accounted for by the fact that the landlord re
moves to the upper rooms those who may be a
shilling or so in arrear Orient" The annual
sum extortcd from these miserable beings for
the hire of this one house amounts to upwards
Of G4O!!-a rent infinitely greater, in proper
ton, than is paid for the noblest palaces of the
West.end.
1t is difficult to realize the appalling truth,
that in one small court of this great metroPo-
lis, one thousand human beings are at this mo-
ment thus existing. Multiply this number by
that of the similar receptacIes ofhuman misery
that surround us, and we MAJ venture to set,
against all the degradation of human nature