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Leader (1850-1860), 17th May 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 465, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      habitants ; but the next day the disease broke out virulently , and on the following day , the 11 th of September , a child died of cholera at No . 1 . By the 22 nd . of the same month , no less than seven persons in the terrace lost their lives by this fatal malady . "

      Now , what is the difficulty in dealing with this pestilential reservoir ? We know that it is not impossible to make an effectual cure ; we have a proof in the very same neighbourhood , under the same circumstances , in what was done with Camden-place : — " This place is situated in a district , for its size , as bad as the Potteries , in the same parish , and under the same board of guardians ; moreover it is removed but a short distance from the Potteries . During the year 1848 , it was occupied by a similar class of pigfatteners , and orders were obtained from the magistrate for their removal . These were acted on so

      effectually , that in November of that year , the whole of the people , thirty-two in number , with their animals quitted the place . During the first ten months of the same year , in a population of 508 , there were eight deaths ; after their removal , and the consequent cleansing of the street , with a population increased to 532 , in the corresponding ten months of 1849 there was but one death , although a most fatal epidemic had been superadded to the other ordinary causes of mortality . In comparing , therefore , the mortality of Camden-place cleansed , and uncleansed , with the Potteries , the account stands thus : " Camden-place , clean , 532 inhabitants , 1 death in ten „ dirty , 508 „ 8 „ [ months The Potteries 1000 „ 50 „ Thus there is no difficulty inherent in the case . But there is a difficulty in the circumstances . The ground on which the Potteries , or Piggeries , stand belongs , we believe , to more than one owner ; one is a clergyman , and of course be is anxious to abolish the nuisance ; but , say the Sanitary Association , " some of the worst parts of the district are the property of one of the guardians . " . That was written in 1850 . We might perhaps add something to the statement , but for the present we abstain . We will close with one remark—the Piggery is still there—thus far the spring has not been a very healthy one—summer is coming on .

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      TRESPASS AND PUNISHMENT . The Protectionists feel bound to afford amusement to the public in this great holiday year of 1861 . Since they amused the Town at Drury Lane , and for an entire day exhibited themselves gratis , the walls , hoardings , and public buildings of London have been covered with a strange inscription . People could not make it out ; the only plausible suggestion being that Bedlam had been turned loose , and the gastronomic ideas of the human race inverted . For weeks we have read with amazement strange specimens of Roman writing , which seemed to import a prevalent desire for " Free Trade and Starvation ! " But the mystery has been revealed . The eye of the police , which falls upon all things , of course fell upon James Gray and John Allen , who were apprehended in the act of inscribing the enigmatical phrase upon Blacklriar ' s-bridge by the light of the moon . In the presence of Mr . Alderman Wilson ( hey explained that " agent" had promised to pay them twopence a piece for these inscriptions , that he had not paid them yet , and that they painted at night because the children smeared their work if they did it by day . Such was their trespass . Their punishment was novel and exemplary : they were ordered to clean the bridge , or go to prison . Of course they cleaned ihe bridge . We said the mystery was revealed , but not entirely , for the " gent" who promises to pay , but does not pay , is still involved in congenial ob-Hcurity . Who can he be—that man of enlarged , we may say , gigantic revolutionary ideas ? Gunpowder Plot was a small conception compared to this . Guy FawkeH proposed to move , with a very forcible suasion , " that thellouHe do rise "; but to awake a neonlc to a constitutional insurrection , by

      pcmiading them that cheap bread and plenty ot it amount to starvation , that required the original genius of a " gent " . Again we ask who is this modern Machiavclli , in the shape , demeanour , and dress of a " gent" ? Is it Colonel Sibthorp , or Mr . G . F . YoungP or has the Association for the Protection of Native Industry condescended to " ~ perintend in person these mighty evolutions ? Who can nay ? Let Sir George Grey and Mr . Mayne look alive , for are there not " six KichmondH in the Held" ? It is somewhat singular that on the day after Mr . Alderman Wiloon hud adopted the principle

      of atonement in the case of these poor men , Mr . Hardwick should have had the courage to send Captain Paulet Henry Somerset of the Coldstream Guards to ruminate for ten days in the House of Correction . He could easily have paid , as he offered to pay , a fine to any amount ; but the magistrate judged rightly that , as he could not atone for the wrong he had done , he ought to suffer that form of the set punishment which was to him real castigation . A fine or an imprisonment would have been an intolerable punishment to James Gray and John Allen , both very poor men , and Mr . Alderman Wilson justly condemned them to a simple rectification of the damage they had done . Thus both cases are met by the obvious correctiveestoppage and reflection for the rich trespasser , atonement for the needy one ; and in both cases we see that rarity , strict , even-handed justice .

      Untitled Article

      THEOBY BEDUCED TO PRACTICE . Oub " moral" regulations break down at every turn . A leading object of the system upon which society is at present regulated is , not to organize and distribute labour so as to pro vide for the number of human beings at a given time , but to keep down the number of human beings to fit the existing arrangements of labour ; and sometimes the process assumes very horrible shapes . One is child murder . At an inquest on the body of an infant found in the Green-park , this week , Mr . Bedford , the Coroner , stated that cases of child murder are alarmingly frequent : "he believed , from circumstances that have come to his knowledge , that there is a connivance by persons who assist in disposing of new-born infants . " An organization to order these " unbidden guests" at " the board of Nature" to ' * begone" ! If these practical people were detected , it would probably be difficult to avoid hanging them ; and yet they are but instruments , aiding precautionary " chf cks " and diseases , to enforce a leading dogma of the old political oeconomy .

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      8 BI / F-SUPPORTING VILLAGE ASSOCIATION . Mat flowers in Exeter-hall this year ; and differ as we may with the theories of some folks , we heartily sympathise with the feelings that lead many to that strange theatre of diverse tongues . But iu no one of those gatherings do the clergy 6 eem so thoroughly in their vocation as in the discussion of that blessed principle in which the founder of their church was nurtured , and which is the starting point of the self-supporting village proposed by John Minter Morgan . The meeting of the Association is to be held on the 26 th inst . Great progress has

      been made since the last meeting ; many errors have been swept away , many differences of opinion have been sunk to their right subordination in agreement on the one great doctrine : as Walter Cooper said , the other night , Frederick Maurice and Robert Owen have shaken hands , the Christian Socialist , the Edinburgh Review , and the Leader have all joined in the discussion ; the Chartists have become Socialists , and Poor-law guardians throughout the country are groping their way to the divine principle of concert—which shall make the rich and th « poor partners without violence or spoliation .

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      WOMEN ' S BIGHTS IN NEW ENGLAND . Women met in Convention was a novel sight , even in America , where women act much more openly and directly upon public affairs than in Europe . It marks a stage in the progress of society . But they have done more than meet—they have printed , published , and extensively circulated their proceedings- The result of their deliberative labours we append , and we shall recur to this first record of a Women ' s Convention . The following resolutions it will be difficult to controvert upon principle : — « Resolved , —That political rights acknowledge no sex , and therefore the word ' male' should be stricken from every State Constitution . " Resolved , —That the laws of property as affecting married parties , demand a thorough revival , so that all rights may be equal between them ; that the wife may have , during life , an equal control over the property gained by their mutual toil and sacrifices , be heir to her husband precisely to the extent that he is heir to her , and entitled , at her death , to dispose by will of the name share of the joint property art he is . "

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      A i'Oim ; lak fallacy . In a letter to the Morning Post the Honorary Secretaries to the Committee of Safety for Uaynwater and Kensington assume " that the pedestrians in th « Gardens are as much entitled to consideration as the equestrians in Hyde-park . " As much ! Such is tho presumption of these Kensington people ! 11 ut tho uHHiiinption is one in which few persons " above" the condition of working men will agree . Who expects assent to it from the classes that enjoy tho privilege of supplying ? Ministers , heads of departments , Ac . ? What , for instance , would Lord S eymour answer to it ? liis conduct tells us !

      INTERESTING TO BUBGLAR 8 , PHILOSOPHERS , &C . Ovbb a paragraph about the gold dust robbery , the Morning Post places a paragraph from the Builder , minutely describing the safe in which the great diamond " Koh-i-noor , " or " Mountain of Light , " is kept at the Exposition . It was made by Mr . Chubb , who , to judge by the look of the safe , or rather cage , must have taken the Koh-i-noor for a poll parrot ! " A consideration of this charcoal-in-another-form , " observes the Builder , " and its assumed value , induces

      reflections on what constitutes wort A in the eyes of the world . ? " Well said , Builder . It is r emarkable that everybody is disappointed at the glasslike knob , about the size of a prolonged nutmeg , which is called " The Mountain of Light ; " few are disappointed at Kiss ' s Amazon , Osier ' s fountain , or the lace ; none with the whole scene . Destroy the diamond , and who would be inconsolable ? certainly not the wife of Albert : destroy the rest of the Crystal Palace , the Amazon group , or even that wonderful piece of Mechlin lace half finished , and who would not grieve ?

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      THE RAILWAY DICTIONARY I . Accident . A technical term for a proceeding common on railways . In all dialects of the Latinic tongues , Accident means something that befals , from causes not calculable to ordinary perception . According to the usage of the railway world it signifies a class of evolutions included in the customary routine of management , of which the causes are perfectly well known beforehand ; indeed , they form the subject of careful calculation . This technical use of the word is derived , as so many of our commercial phrases are , from Italy . In that country the most frightful imprecation that an angry man can utter to you is the single word , " Accidente I" which is taken to signify a wish that " sudden death " should befal you . It usually bears the same interpretation on the rail . " Accident'" is never included in the formal regulations issued by the directors to their servants , though it is implied in several ; nor do we believe that it is ever exactly appointed , but is left to probability ; which seldom fails . The railway people do not admit that they worship Shiva , the goddess of Destruction ; but they scarcely conceal their worship of the heathen Plutus , god of Wealth . The attention of Christian Missionary societies is about to be directed to this singular people .

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      May 17 , 1851 . ] JCf ) * & £ & * £ ? + 465

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      Is Government Necessary?—It is a mistake to assume that government must necessarily last for ever . The institution marks a certain stage of civilization—is natural to a peculiar phase of human development . It is not essential but incidental . As amongst the Bushmen we find a state antecedent to government , so may there be one in which it shall have become extinct . Already has it lost something of its importance . The time was when the history of a people was but the history of its government . It is otherwise now . The once universal despotism was but a manifestation of the extreme necessity of restraint . Feudalism , serfdom , slavery—all tyrannical institutions , are merely the most vigorous kinds of rule , springing out of , and necessary to , a bad state of man . The progress from these is in all cases the aame — less government . Constitutional forms mean this . Political freedom means this . Democracy means this . In societies , associations , joint-stock companies , we have new agencies occupying ( ielda filled in leas advanced times and countries by the state . With us the Legislature is dwarfed by newer and greater powers—is no longer master but slave . * Pressure from without' has come to be acknowledged as ultimate ruler . The triumph of the Anti-Corn-Law League is simply the most marked instance , yet , of the new style of government—that of opinion , overcoming the old style—that of force . It bids fair to become a trite remark that the lawmaker is but the servant of the thinker . — --Spencer '* Social Statics . A Hint to Sioht-shkhs . —Has the reader ever speculated on the extent of travelling there will be within , tho building before the entire exhibition can be seen ? We have heard it estimated at thirty miles , and we are convinced that the minimum must be twenty miles . Yes : following all the many passages , winding about the galleries , and seeing everything , will necessitate the perambulation of at least twenty miles . Think of that , all ye who purpose " running up to London for a day " to see the Exhibition . It cannot be done , for physical reasons ; and it cannot be done with any good , if tho physical reasons were not , from other causes which originate in tho very nature of the human intellect . Our appetite for admiration , for wonder , is an much limited as 1 B our appetite for food ; and , as with food , the richer and more luscious it is , the sooner it palls upon the palate , so the more worthy of admiration an object in tho sooner it exhausts our admiring faculty . After «» hour or two in sight-seeing the eye becomes weary ; it does not report any faithful image / of the thing »« ' » " » tho mind ; and what it does report , the mind cannot understand . Bodily lassitude ensues , and the rest of the spectacle be it what it may , in hurried over with no advantage to the heholder-with no justice to the producer of the sight to ho examined . Ilenoo , let no one imagine that the Great Exhibition can be hantily Hcen . No one can sec it thoroughly in lews than a week ; and many weeks would be required to understand and to appreciate all tho wonders that will bo there expoued . —Leigh Hunt's Journal .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 17, 1851, page 465, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1883/page/13/