Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-10
THE WONDERS OF LONDON.

L know not any greater marvel IN modern
or English civilization (said Lord Carnar-
Won at recent meeting of the Cutters
Company of London) than the picture
which London presents. look to the
vast accumulation of wealth, and remem-
Der that when old Marshal Butcher rode
through the streets of London after the
Battle OF Waterloo lie said it was the finest
town he had ever seen to plumber and to
loot; and since his day London has
become not only the great shop, but
the great counting house of the world.
look at its splendid buildings,
not only in the city, for in the
West End we are beginning to rival
you. see them rising on every side, the
work not merely of municipal magnifi-
cence, but also of private enterprise.
look to its population, and | see the popu-
lation not of town, but of great coun-
try-a population equal almost to that of
Scotland, and l venture to say, with all
respect to Scotland, nearly as intelligent.
Laughter l remember in one of the
interesting essays written now some years
ago by the great philosopher and historian,
Mr.. Hume, he hazards the conjecture that
no great town will probably ever exceed
700, 900 inhabitants, and he then goes on
to illustrate this by quoting the cases of
Paris, Constantinople and London. Well,
very few years comparatively since Mr.
Hume's time, and we have a population
that is very nearly 10000 00 | look and
| ask, was there ever so wonderful sight
as the order and the perfect security for
life and property which is maintained in
this great place? You have criminal
classes all around you-men who are pro-
fessionally engaged in breaking the
law; yet a mere handful of police is
sufficient to maintain the peace. You have a
Court and a Legislature resident in this
great metropolis, and yet your Parliament
sits in undisturbed security. Paris-we all
admire her quickness her wit; her attrac-
tions-fnds that her Parliament could not
sit within her walls, and even the wise
founders of the United States Constitution
recognized the necessity of placing their
Parliament at Washington rather than at
New York. And if you were to look still
further and contemplate for one moment
the marvellous provisions which exist for
the continual feeding and nurture of the
people of this vast district, you would
acknowledge that there is hardly any,
SbiuS III VIC hlstOlg VI hOuCih SlNliLdbiou
which is more remarkable You live in
Rome, and catch Roman fever you live
in ConstantiAople, and third of the city
is burnt between the time you go to bed
and the time you get up. You live in that
great center of civilization, Paris, and in
one twelvemonth you have two sieges,
famine, and civil war. In the great towns
OF America you hear tales of municipal
corruption which makes your hair stand
on end. In London we have wonderful
picture, with many shades, some dark
and some bright, but on the whole picture
which represents the attainment of great
ends-a great administrative government
on the one hand, and also a spontaneous
government which springs out of the free
will, and energy, and capacity of self
governing nation, which, no doubt, con-
stantly commits grave faults and betrays
great failings, but which in the end, l be-
lieve, is the best machinery that has ever
been devised for human success and human
happiness.