Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1863-04-27

..-1AN----A
nous sums are expended in behalf of the Lancashire
operatives but we know little Of the WOES which these
sums cannot cure The following passage from the
speech.of clergyman. at mass meeting oil inoensed
operatives, win assist US to clearer view OF the actual
condition of things in the British Empire
urho ort.door relief" says the Times, "from the
Canadians in the cotton districts is distributed to the
extent of fl5,7OO per week. Moreover, movement
Ike thar which has taken place at Staleybridge canHot
oven II II ought to be- hushed up, and, believe
onbt not even if it could be concealed The country
has right to know, and has deep interest in know
frg how this perilous experiment of keeping half mil
lion of abe-bodied working people upon aims is pro-
eeedng The proceedings at that Saleybiidge meeting
are much too important to be ignored This soup and
these shi,lngs, say'-thus spake the Rev. j. K Ste
phens to the destitute mutude-'are marks OF their
beneyoence as far as they go. But they do no; go
far They amount to veIy little, as every one here very
well knows. All, but what about the rensY YES What
about the renss l know what has been published in
the newspapers, and know what-has been said by
members of her Msjesty's Government and know what
the country has been led to believe. The impression is
that your masters have allowed you to live rent free.-
Is this the fact! know to the contrary Is there
man in this crowded room, living under any
one Of the masters throughout this popuous
district to whom single weeks rent hrs
ben given from the commencement OF the
distress until now do not kroT Of one.
Were not your e1acted from you-StOpped out of
your wages-up to tie very last moment you we're able
to pay them? They wac. And since you have ceased
10 paw the rent DO you not understand that 1t only
Stauds over against you, 20 be stopped out OF your
wages when work is resumedY You DO. have taken
great pains TO come at the truth on TINS important
point which the country has been so grossly de-
cfyed and have never yet been able to find scita
~ instance to show that any rent whatever has been
forgiven. But | tell you what l have found.
have found men who say that every farthing of
their Of rent will have to be paid, aud
that a natural coHsC queuce - they expect TO
be compelled to submit TO whatever reduction Of
wages the masters may choose TO propose 10
them" We may hope that this statement is not
true but all that there is truth III what
follows, and fear there is also great danger 10 such
language when held TO such audience, and when
distributed in penny pamphlets, which sold in tens
Of thousands in the streets. "You would not, con-
uues the Rev. Mr.. Stephens have needed this relief
to-day, but for reeessness of speculation which ought
to have existed You the innocent and help
less victims OF commercial policy which 1t was the
duty Of the Legislature to have restrained and checked
long since. Fos fve-and-twenty years l have warned
You Of the coming Of this fearful collapse Of your
staple trade Why, at this very moment the price Of
TIE goods you have sent to India, in such extrava
giant profusion is % per centum lower than they can
be bought at the Manchester Exchange. The
markets still glutted notwithstanding the partial
StOppage OF your mills for the last is months. You
workmen, at ali events not auswerabe for the idle
ness-the dleness which drives you to the parish and
the relief Board. Why, then, should they treat you
with all this dsrespect and cruelty? Why should you
be told that you have right what you must either
have or die Why should they brand the clothes you
must either wear or go naked: DO those garments De-
cong 10 yoH or to them Are YOU sefS, thieves or
vagabord that your wives and daughters cannot draw
on stocking, or tie petticoat or their new
born offspring, without blush Of shame when they
look at the Infamous brand that is stamped upon every
article of their apparel."
So the ''recklessness of speculation" is producing
trouble outside of tire Couederacy. That is more en-
couraging to vampires than consoling to ourselves
But it is not altogether unpleasant learn that John
p in all his selfish pride and Indifference to the an
guish Of the South is having his vals properly preyed
upon by beast of larger claws and ruthless TEN.
per than any fox Of Lacedemonis And we agree with
the Times in thinking that it is very hard that
persons whose nakedness is covered by charity should
be compelled 10 wear stamped clothes"-the word
lcnt" being printed them in large ndeible ink let
tiers TO prevent them from being pawned for GIN
1t is greyouS, too, that those paupers should
sometimes encounter 0verseers Of the Poor whose
language is but slightly favored with the milk Of
human kindness Nevertheless says the Times, dropping
its IRONY sit is to some extent the duty of relieving
committees make the subsistence upon aims rksome
and it is natural in the recipients to desire to make it
easy and respectable. They placed in position of
mutual anagonism, and these determinations of the
Staley bridge meeting arise from that position"
That the matter is too serious to be dismissed with
irony with dry generaizatiOns is evident from the
closing sentence of the article in the Times, which reads
thus:
The time is coming when, if trade does hot return
this congestion of population must be dispersed and
drawn Off to other industries or to other lands.