Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-07-15
Conn III mutations.
LETTER FROM JOSEPH BARKER. NO. III

life, during my soj0urn here in England. ! have
thus far spent the greater part of my time, since
landed in England, at Bctley, the birthplace Of
my wife, and the home of her mother and sisters
1t is Il small township, containing but q Thousand
acres and about a thousand people. 1t is situated
on the extreme bounds of North Staffordshire, and
and is separated from Cheshire by a small stream
1t has its old parish church, with its pilcd-uJ
graveyard a Methodist and a Primitive Method
list chapel and seven public houscs,-four al
Wrinehill and three at Betley propcr,-whcre the
people can drink themselves drunk. 1t used to be
market town, and is SO still in name; but its mar
ket has gone down, and most of its fairs have long
since ceased to be attended. One has been latcl,
revived. 1t is quite in tho country, and there i,
no other market town nearer than Nantwich or
the north, seven miles Of, and Newcastle under
Lyme on the south, eight miles off. The Stafford
shire Potteries, enc Of the most remarkable collcc
tons OF manufacturing towns in England are abou'
ten miles off, on the south or southeast. The so
ciety is much the same as most other small country
towns in England. There is, first, the Squire and
his family, who live in a large, aristocratical house
cut Off from the village by high walls, high hedges
and plantations of trees, and fronted BY lawns
ponds, gardens, and a park. 1t bears something
of the same relation to the village that the old
baronial castles did to the neighborhood around
and the Squire and his family bear a lWc of the
relation to the VILLAGERS that the old baronial
families did to the farmers and their scrfs. 1t is
the shadow of the past. There is, next, another
large, aristocratical house, near the centre of the
town. too Gear tbs side of the road to be wholly
hid from passers by called Betley court. This, too
was the residence of a Baronet, Sir Thomas FLEET
cher, some time ago, and is still the residence of n
Squire and of a portion Of the ancient family. 1t
is surrounded with trees, which are called the
Wilderness, and connected with it are fields and
gardens, but no park or pond. About q quarter of
mile from the centre Of the village, on the west,
is q small lake, covering forty or fifty acres, per-
haps, called Bctlcy Nicer. Two hundred rods be-
yond the Nicer runs The railroad, connecting Liver
pool and Manchester with Birmingham and London
About one mile south of the village arc the
remains of Healey Castle, placed on the brow of a
high rock, steep and precipitous in front, bnt on II
level with the fields behind. A deep moat sur
rounds the back part, dug out of the solid rock,
and it seems likely that the front was formerly
secured BY a natural lake, and the steepness Of the
rock. The country around Detley is rolling, and
presents many beautiful views. From the hills,
you can see for twenty or thirty miles in different
directions. You see Now Cap and Beetson Cas-
tie, and tie black, bleak hills about tbcm,-both
in Cheshire, but forty miles apart and in another
direction, you get n beautiful view of Shropshire,
The land is generally rich, and the country is So
~feathered with trees and its beautiful green hedges
that it is difficult to imagine more beautiful pic.
lures than it offers to your view. MANY of the
houses are white, and the buildings on the farms
are in good repair, and The land is in a high state
of cultivation. The village is one of the PROTEST
country villages in England, and the country
round is as beautiful. 1t was not without reason
that a part of the township was called Par
adise, though | sec no reason why the name should
have been withheld from the rest of the township.
for it is all, so far as the outward appearance goes,
one beautiful garden.
The houses are Of all sizes, from the Hall and
the Court down TO the hut with a single room,
built of mud, or b~oulders, or conglomeratc, and
thatched with straw. But almost every house has
its little garden, with it's vegetables, flowers and
fruit trees, and the lowest, least, and oldest of
them has a'kind of beauty which you look in vain
for in America. The people, like their houses.
are OF all ranks, from the Squire down to the pau
per. Some are mechanics, some are shopkeepers,
some are publicans, some are farmers, and some
few arc what are here called genllefolks-peoplc
with no occupation, but living on incomes derived
from property. There is no equality. The two
squirearchal families and the parsons visit each
other; but they visit no one else in the town, and
no one else in the town visits them. Members of
the VOL big families may call on the poorer families,
in the way of condesccnsion, or to give helm in
time of sickness, or to collect the gossip of the
neighborhood. but they never meet with them on
terms of equality. Yen might just as reasonably
expect the heavens to fall, as to expect the upper to
meet or greet even the wcalthicst families in town
on terms of equality. They do not even see YOU
when they meet you in the street or on the way.
One is SO short-sightcd that she can see no one,
sac says; though it is likely she means no more
than that she can not see any. one less than
a squire or state priest. The sllopkeepers and
gentry are about as much above the poor laborinp
classes us the family oil the squirrels above them; and
they have not much more intercourse with the Door
than the families of the upper two have with them.
ivy opium ~ W. WV tf luT Inpn, or
lived in their families, or nursed their children.
when they meet them in the street and some of
them, more noble and less naughty thar the rest
will shake hands with them, and show q real in
terest in their welfare but as for meeting them ms
their equals, either in private parties or in public
places, it is another matter. Nehher class would
ever dream of such II thing. Difference and sub
mission are so habitual 10 the poor, and assurance
and precedence so habitual to the rich, that thew
seem to 10th parties to be natural. They are, in
fact, part Of their religion. They are taught them
in the schools and in the churches. The poor are
taught by their catechisms, that to behave them
selves lotcly and ,ecerenhy to all their Letters, or to
who are richer or seem to be richer; than them
selves, is enjoired by God in the ten command
ments, This is part of the explanation given in
the catechism aud homilics of the Church of Eng
land, of the commandment, Honor thy father and
fhv nothar' tnothor dutv ,,b;ob IL a.taI.-.