Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-31

HER POVERTY AND RrClzEs-HER
PALACES AND H0vEI.s - THE
PREyTEEGED FEw-THE ToIzsNG
MANY.

Iettfe OF her INSTITUTIONS, everything relating
90 the condition Of other peoples and ether
governments has peculiar interest. Sad
as may be the picture at home, when con.
trasted with the happy days that have past
or with what American institutions might
be, we know OF no other country, all things
considered, that promises any greater
amount of general good to the masses Of the
people than they may hope to find in our
own.
OLD ENGLAND, December %, 1903.
The most striking contrasts Of wealth and
poverty, knowledge and ignorance, refine
ment and coarseness, virtue and vice, happi-
ness and misery, may be seen among the
people of Great Britain and Ireland, and
between the extremes,
Wide as the poles asunder.''
there is such variety Of shades as would
puzzle the most accomplished word painter
to dtlineate. Equality of condition is a
| tigment of the imagination, which has never
| yet been seen except in the dreams of Etopian
| theorists, and we may always expect to see
natures law of variety exempliiied in this
respect as in others but the most inveterate
optimist, who would take the trouble to
travel over this famous land and
see the condition of its people, would be
compelled to acknowledge that there is
| grievous wrong somewhere, though il might
| puzzle him to point it out and TO prescribe
the remedy. There is most assaredly a
radical evil somewhere, which has thus far
baffled the skill Of statesmen and phiioso-
pliers, and which fills thoughtful observers
with the most painful apprehensions. Hthe
negro question is the bete noir of the United
State the same may be said of millions of
the most degraded classes of these thickly
populated islands. ea b
The wealth of the country is wonderful,
and it is increasing at an unprecedented
| rate but it is in the possession chiefly Of
| the ancient aristocracy and the modern
manufacturers, traders and merchant princes
who have eclipsed the fame of all the
traders of the olden times. The palaces Of
the nobility Of the merchant princes in Lon
| don and the provinces abound in wealth, and
some of them are inestimabie galleries Of
art. Their occupants freely acknowledge
that the most wretched and debased occu-
| pant of howell in the fever-dens Of Lon
don, Liverpool or Manchester, or Of hut
| in the country, is man and a brother; but,
alas, what vast difference there is in the
condition of the two classes of Englishmen
One man in London owns mile square Of
streets and houses, while thousands Of others
have not a place to lay their heads. Anoth-
er in the country owns a farm of twenty
three thousand acres, while thousands upon
thousands of laborers have to be crowded
together in cottages, which are so small as
to render deceDcy and morality almost i'm
possible.
In the Duke of Richmonds palace, we see
an extensive hall covered with yellow silk
and pictures in the richest and most costly
tapestry. The table services are of silver
and gold and the most elegant porcelain; the
ladies of the house spent six years in adorn-
ing grotto and the aviary is supplied with
every variety of rare and elegant birds. The
Duke of Deyonshire's palace, at Chatsworth,
is well known to American tourists as one
of the most magnificent in England. Dr.
William w. Parker, Of your city, who Wis
tied it in 1854, says: "Near the mansion is
'rockery,' as it is called, consisting of arti-
fetal cliffs, caves, deep and narrow passages,
&C. In going through one of these detiles
ahead of my guide, l was suddenly arrested
by an immense rock covered with moss, and
| commenced to climb over it; but Judge my
surprise when the young man placed his
hand gently upon it, to find it rotate with
the most perfect ease, and thus permitting
us to pass. This assemblage of rocks cost
six hundred thousand dollars. Think of
that could but regret that this sum had
not been appropriated to the erection of
noble college, with rich endowment, for
the poor youth Of the land"
A better appropriation than this--as col
leges are quiet plentiful in Great Britain
would be to the amelioration of the condi-
ton of the suffering poor, who need food
and raiment and comfortable homes, and
whose whole life is a constant struggle to
keep the wolf from their doors. The glass
conservatory at Chatsworth, which gave the
first idea of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham,
is 3S7 feet in length, liz in breadth, and 81
in height; it has 10000 square feet Of glass,
and is warmed by seven miles of pipe con-
tanning hot water. The arboretum is de-
signed to contain a specimen of every tree
that grows. One plant was obtained from
India by special messenger. and is valued
at $4,000 Chatsworth contains $500
acres, and the Duke also owns $4,000 acres
in the the county of Derbyshire. The Duke
of Richmond has 10000 acres at Goodwood,
and 100000 at Gordon Castle. The Mar
quis of Breadalbane rides out of his
house on his own land 100 miles in a straight
line to the sea. The Duke of Sutherland,
besides his estates in England, has land in
Scotland stretching across the country from
sea to sea. The Duke of Norfolk's park in
Sussex is fifteen miles in circumference.
These immense estates are not diminish
ing, but growing larger, a. the great estates
are frequently enlarged by the absorption Of
the smaller ones. In 1885 the soil of Eng
land was owned by 100000 proprietors and
corporations, and in 1892 by $1,000. Mr.. |
Bright, who is strongly suspected of wishing
to overthrow the monarchy and establish a
republic, has more than once asserted before |
his constituents in birmingham, and in
other places, that in England "the land is
not free" and that this is the only civilized
country in the world where the landed pro-
prietors are becoming less numerous
In Ireland, too, the estates Of landowners
are very large, the Duke of Leicester own
ing 10000 acres, the Earl of Ormong 100,-
600, and the Marquis Of Sligo 50,0G0 but / |
am not prepared to say that in this part Of |
the United Kingdom the landowners are
becoming fewer. Ii is affirmed by the
English radicals that this great accumula-
ton Of land by few individuals is owing |
to the laws Of primogeniture, to which much |
Of the misery of the lower classes is as
cribed, and in support Of this position it is |
alleged that in France, where there is no |
such Law, there are 5,500,00o landed propri- |
etors, 100000 of whom are peasant pro-
prietors. And it is also affirmed that France |
and other countries in which the land is d. |
yided among smaller proprietors, do not ex-
hibit those sinks of extreme poverty and |
misery which may be seen in ireland. do |
not wish to indorse this opinion, nor TO ex- |
press any opinion on the subject, but merely |
to state the facts as find them-but must |
express my conviction that state Of things |
ike this cannot continue to exist mnch long
er. If change does not come peacefully. !
il must inevitably come by violent hands as |
it was in France in the days Of her first rev.
ofution, when the rallying cry Of the down. /
trodden millions was "Glserre aar CI.atoaar,
pair Gur Chaumieresi :" II will be well for /
England, and for the world, II by timely
changes such catastrophe should be averted |
A. a redistribution by revolutionary violence |
Of the immense wealth Of this country.
Ii is not an easy matter to state conciseiy /
the condition Of English agricultural labor
err, as there are 80 many different modes Of |
remunerating them, and "A there is also
much difference in the expense Of living in
different sections ofthe country and seasons
Of the year. in some counties beer and CT