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    to theis ttainedthe is rich and ht to be...

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    THE LINDSAY LETTER, The " Memorials of t...

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    Priests. To Trade For The Public Benefit...

    of compulsion . The wish to sell is equal wish to buy , and each party to the bargain having for Iris object to induce the other to come in to Ins terms , tempts him by the offer of all possible advantages . Hence trade is mot only mutually beneficial it is founded and promoted by the desire of one , in benefiting himself , ' to benefit another . Accordingly , it is found that as trade is extensive the enjoyments of all are promoted . Production is rendered facile by division of labour ; there can be no division of ' labour without exchange , and it is o-reat as exchange is extensive . Where trade is extensive , the enjoyments of every individual are indefinitely greater than could be obtained by the individual without trade , even if society could exist without it ; and that which promotes the enjoyments of all cannot be meaner or more despicable than any other part of society . England is now the . greatest . 1 ratling nation of the world , and by her trade , far from depriving other people of a single enjoyment , supplies them with useful clothing and instruments , stimulates their industry to purchase . her productions , and spreads , a knowledge of her arts , her inventions , and her improvements over the globe . ' Her merchants trade only to benefit themselves , but the trade they have carried on with other individuals and countries— -a mutual exchange of benefits—has enriched all . The moralitv of trade is based on mutual service , and no ineniiavc , nor can have ,. amore ennobling motive for their general conduct . It would' be well if other businesses ¦ and other professions acted on a motive equally beneficial .

    To Theis Ttainedthe Is Rich And Ht To Be...

    to the Ho . 459 , j TAgyABT 8 , 1859 . ] THE DEADER . 51 * S ^ . 11 .. Tt

    The Lindsay Letter, The " Memorials Of T...

    THE LINDSAY LETTER , The " Memorials of the . Lindsays , " in its next edition , will require a fresh chapter : therein it will be told how in these latter days the lust Lord Lindsay , like a sort of-aristocratic David , went forth , unarmed and-uncommissioned ., ¦ to do battle with the Goliath of democracy ; how with puny hand he slung forth his feeble pebble ; and how the Manchester giant ought to have fallen , only he did not . We fear , indeed , that the Scotch Quixote will meet with but scant gratitude from his . self-constituted clients . Talleyrand , it is said , went to church to pray God to preserve him from his friends . The English aristocracy should-offer up supplications to be delivered from Lord Lindsav .

    In plain truth , the British peerage requires no defender- —they are strong in their position , strong in their prestige , strong , too , in their peculiar privileges . While they hayc got possession why should they trouble themselves about their title Y If they are weak in theory , they arc strong in fact . Let them be content with that . Whatever niav be the private opinion of Mr . Bright , the British public have no wish to deprive them of their authority . "When , however , we arc told that not only do the aristocracy rule us , but that it is right and meet they should so . rule ; that , in fact , thev

    arc invested with a kind of divine right of government , -why then the blood , plebeian though il be , of the Browns , Joneses , and Robinsons revolts against the supposition , and , in the name of common sense , they protest against the cant of birth . The theory of an aristocracy is a gmnd and a noble one . From tho days of " Plato , downwards , the ideal dream of philosophers has boon that of a state ruled by a collection of its best and wisest inhabitants . It is probable that this dream never has been realised in unynge or country- —it is possible that it never may bo realised save in the realms of

    Utopia or Prestor John—it is certain thai , it is not realised by the aristocracy of England . Will any man in his senses bo found to assert that , ns a body , the English peoragc . are distinguished by valour , or virtue , or wisdom superior to that of common incur Wo havo no wish to join in u tirade against a " bloatqd arisfcporaoy , " our scepticism , alas 1 is as negative as our faith * . The peerage exekos in our minds , neither indignation nor enlhueiusm . Even a Lindsay exorcises no peculiar influence- upon our

    is attained , the peerage is rich and ought to be rich ; the moment it ceases to be rich it becomes a sham and an imposture . We find , in consequence , that , as a class , the Peers possess the virtues and the failings of the rich . If they are not fond of exertion , they are not much given to interfere . If their learning is somewhat shallow , it is also pretty general ; and if their lives arc dissipated , they arc , at any rate , decently decorous . They , are ornamental if not useful . ' About their career there is a marvellous uniformity . They toil not , neither do they spin . Whether their resemblance to the lilies tion ¦ ii •' . ' _ J- ji _ „ * . « . *_« . I « - i .. ^ . U nM / 1 rf-Mini » li 4- ir \ \~ u *

    of the valley extends further is an . open ques . They sow their wild oats at college or m the Guards , and take their seats in the House of Lord ' s , marry heiresses and beget children , and are buried in the family vault , having fulfilled the whole duty of a Peer . It is told of an old Dean of Trinity College , Cambridge , that he was iu the'habit of translating the motto of that ancient institution , " Virtus vera nobilitas , " in a twofold manner , according to the rank of his auditor ; to the fellow-commoner he rendered it , Virtue is the only nobility ; to the sizar he paraphrased it by the . words , Nobility is

    the only virtue . Lord Lindsay has arrived at the conviction that these two versions arc substantially identical . His process of reasoning is concise , if not conclusive . Virtue is the only nobility . —virtue resides in the nobility alone—therefore , nobility is the only , virtue . To the question of Job , " Where shall wisdom be found , and where is the place of understanding ?' " Lord Lindsay has his answer pat and'reaSy—In the House of Lords , and amongst the aristocracy of England . Now , what are the real facts of the case ? " Amongst the whole five hundred members of the House of Lords , are there a

    dozen men of more than average intellect or . merit ? The . names of Brougham .,. Lyndhurst , Macaulay , Clyde , ¦ or ' St . Leonards , cannot be cited as cases in point . The architects of their own fortunes , they owe . their rank to no hereditary nobility of blood . Lord Ellenborough and Lord Canning , whatever may be their merits , have no claim to-. ancestral'dignity . Of the ' representatives . of our old families , who is there but Lord Derby whose talents render him superior to his rank ? Amongst the

    members of the aristocracy who grace the House of Commons with their presence , _ J Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell are about , the only men of eminent ability . The plain English of the matter is , that , the aristocracy contains about the same proportion of talent as any ¦ other equal number of educated Englishmen — neither more nor less . There , as elsewhere , stupidity is the rule , and ability the rare exception . Whatever may be the inward working of aristocratic blood , its outward manifestation is not discernible to the vulgar eye .

    We are disciples of the Shandeandoctrine , that every man should be allowed to ride his own hobbyhorse in peace . If the Lindsay hobby were as iunocuous as it is absurd , we should be the last to dismount , the rider . Unfortunately , the external capabilities of the dogma for evil arc in an inverse ratio to its internal merits . As long as this mysterious " blood and birth" worship is confined to antiquated dowagers , to sentimental novelists , and romantic youths , we can afford to let it pass unheeded . The votaries of a creed whose Bible is tho Red-book , whose prophets arc Bulwcr Lytton and Mrs . Gore , and whose hierarchy of saints is the

    STATE HOMES FOR THE HOMELESS . The attention , of the metropolis has been officially directed to the fact that it has within its bounds , especially about this season of the year , multitudes of homeless p oor . There is a place called the Field-lane Night Refuge for the Homeless Poof , an institution which opens its doors to the absolutely destitute , gives them at night a roof-under which to hide their heads , and supplies them , with a supper of bread—in so trie cases , with coffee added to it . It is a painful spectacle the interior of that buildingwhichas the night closes in , is filled with nTi nin . r \\ "JTT ? Ci "HVVTO rpTXTjV * OWmT 3 Vr T ? OC ?

    , , strange objects of misery ; aged men , drabbisli women , boys prematurely old , brickmakers , labourers out of work , sempstresses not out of work bat too poor to have a home , trampers , tumblers , human beings fading away with old age , carrying on a life of half idiocy , or losing life almost beforeit burns in the fever and consumption of bom disease . But the appalling assembly which munches its allotted loaf in hasty silence , joins in prayer with a touching decorum , aud crouches down for its night ' s rest under its allotted rug , has its foil . There is the same kind of crowd which comes too

    late , finds no room , and must spend the night in the streets whatever may be the weather ; and the Londoner who knows his own district at all hours of the night is familiar with the forms which assemble round doors of the Refuge in vain ;—those faint , limp , listless forms which are so dingy that they can scarcely be distinguished from the wall or the ' pavement . The numbers of this multitude have perhaps not been accurately ascertained , but that they are verv considerable we may learn from the collateral fact , that in the . vagrant wards of fifteen workhouses during the year ending on the 21 st of iven for

    May , 1 S 57 , 66 , 000 admissions were g a ni «; ht ' s lodging . In the same year , 5-4 , 600 were given at the . charitable refuge in Playhouse-yard-Some thousands ,, therefore , are wandering about London at ni g ht without a hoine . Amongst me peculiarities of the class ^ is the caprice with which it distributes itself . There isreaspn . to suppose that multitudes who are too much corrupted , or who are by nature too feeble in . mind and body to understand their true position in . life , come wandering up to London ia o rder to find some kind of fortune in things in general . They . go to no particular- district , but simply seek London-Yet thev distribute themselves with such inequality , " that , whereas some 13 , 000 will go to St . Leonard's , Shoreditch , or St . George the Martyrr 10 , 000 or 11 , 000 to St . Margaret ' s , Westminster ,. and St . Pancras , only 17 S go to poor Chelsea , only 31 S to wealthy Marylebone , more ; than 4000 towell-to-do Kensington , a little more than 1000 to , Bethnal-grecn . There are two incidents in this invasion , wmcli constitute very embarrassing difficulties . Theburdens we have seen fall with great inequality upon the various districts ., It would be diilicult to say that St . Leonard ' s , Shoreditch , does anything which should subject it to a larger burden thau Bethnal-grccn ; yet the burden it has , ami by the existing arrangement there is nothing that can equalise the pressure upon , the two districts . The other difficulty is still more perplexing . It maybe said that the poor should go to the workhouse , where there are vagrant wards ; if the poor feel ail invincible repugnance to seek shelter in a workhouse , it may be answered that they must overcome a sentiment not justified by their position . Besides , there is reason to suppose that if some who have

    goodlv host of carls , and dukes , and marquises , nrc not likely to revolutionise the world . The whole fabric , however , of our aristocratic system of government rests upon the tacit assumption that the aristocracy havo some peculiar and especial power of statesmanship . Once upset this fallacy , ouco look the truth in the face , ouco admit the plain , unsentimental fact that tho peerage are neither better nor worse , wiser nor more foolish , than ordinary men , that given tho wealth and position , a clover Jones would bq , marvellously like a clever Stanley , and at oneo tho folly of the system , by which tho

    government of the country is passed liko a shuttlecock from one lord to auothor , is exposed and condemned . It is on this ground aloiio that the Lindsay apology for tho aristocracy of England requires especial notice . Whatever Mr . BriglU ' s faults may he , he is strong enough to bear unmoved the woighi ; of Lord Lindsay ' s indignation . A " man of loUora " is not necessarily a man of parts . ' " Oh , that riiino enemy would write a bowk ! ' Such was tho prayer of Solomon . Tho member for Birmingham may paraphrase iho supplication by tho expression of hia earnest wish that Lord Lindsay may write daily to the ' Times , and that his loiters may Go inserted .

    been unfortunate and sunk down to tho lowest ? misery niav bo warranted by oertain old associations in shrinking from tho degrading inllucnc . es ot a workhouse , many sc 6 ut that refuge simply because they hato tho restraint , and love the opportunity ok pilfering or drinking , though they must indulge thoir tnsto in tho midst of mud and misery . lhero is , however , reason to apprehend that a part ot the ropugnauco which is felt by tho better portion pi the homeless classes , is ocoasionod by a -want ofc appropriate management in tho house Imtatocl by exasperating behaviour amongst the inmates , especially the casual poor , hardened by intercourse with many who scarcely doservo oompassion , not over highly paid , but docidedly overworked , tho ollloers of a parish workhouse grow somowlmt dull iu their bousq of compassion for the wrolohod , ana have scarcely tho timo or fooling loft to discriminate between the simply wrotchod and tho prouigato . Moreover , tho crowding of squalid and vockloss beings iu the samo ward with tho looblo and Iho iuollbnsivo , has tho oiled , of converting

    dogonomto feelings . Unromautio as tho confession may appoar , tho power of tho English aristocracy consists in tho simple I act that , as a body , they represent wealth . A poor Peer is an abomination ' in our eyes . The whole of our social system—the practice of entailstho rule of primogeniture—Iho custom of wealthy marriages , ot a Lindsay with a Loycl—avo all oalculatod to preserve tho horo , d , itary fortunes of the poevngo in one constant succession . The grout end

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 8, 1859, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08011859/page/19/