it be that you can see this, and forget that even such beings as these pay to you, by a law made by yourself for yourself, the half of every penny that they beg from some kind being but a little way less poor than themselves?

See that beautiful young duchess, so encompassed with the odour of refined aristocracy that, as she passes us like the flitting of a cloud, the very sense aches at her; she seems to disdain the very ground she walks upon, and, like the sensitive plant, to shudder and contract into herself at the very contiguity of the poor; although, mayhap, she has sometimes heard, in ner crimson velvet pew, that, eighteen hundred years ago, some one declared them to be her brethren and sisters. She will fly the very sight of these horrid wretches, and swear "a pretty oath by yea and nay," because her coach. man did not drive the other way, that her eyes might not be offended by the very look of these terrible creatures.

A word in your ear, madam; ay, in your ivory-turned ear, where hang those diamond drops. Why, these sparkling pendants were bought with money robbed from those same beggars. That glittering necklace," which Jews might kiss and infidels adore," believe it or not, is wrung from the hard hands of starving peasants, and every ring on those taper fingers

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY.

25

has famished a family of your fellow-creatures. Woman! bright, beautiful, and gentle! in all whose steps is grace, and in every gesture dignity and love! Woman! pure as beautiful; kind as dignified; virtuous and noble, with fair religion "emparadised in form of that sweet flesh," is it possible you do not know, and yet are we sure you do not, that every birthday dress has driven a sister to the streets, and that there is not a ball at Almack's which is given at a less cost than alone fills the brothel? "List, ye landsmen, all to me!" There are three half-naked urchins thrust out of their mother's house to steal for bread! that is your doing. There are ten thousand patients in the metropolis perishing of typhus, actually more fatal than the plague; every hospital is full, and private houses are turned into fever-wards to meet the exigencies of the case. The fever is the fruit of famine, and that famine is your doing.

There is an infant in a sweet sleep lying in a basket at the work-house door; the night is cold, and it hath sucked at its kind mother's breast until the want of food for two days hath brought her milk to its last thin drop. Merciful God! that hath taught us to address thee as our kind parent, and is it indeed possible VOL. II.-C

that the yearnings of a mother's heart can be stifled, and that she should no longer

"Know what 'tis to love the babe that milks her ?"

Yet there is no other way, for bread is high, and wages thereby small, and a family of dear little ones, that should be a blessing, if ever a blessing were, is a curse; for they have mouths, and their mouths are filled with sad cries because they cannot be filled with food. Will the landowners not "mark, learn, and inwardly digest?" Let them reflect in time, "ere the night cometh." Let them give with grace and good will what may at last be wrung from them with nothing of either. The people, like the sibyl, will come upon them every hour with harder terms, demanding more and offering less in exchange, until that mighty vox populi, which, when combined in majestic harmony, is truly vox Dei, will ascend to heaven and meet its response, return to earth, and teach the proud, when too late, that the "glory of his great house is departed."

I have the honour to be, dear sir,

Your humble servant,

C. EDWARDS LESTER.

LETTER TO THE HON. J. C. CALHOUN. 27

SIR,

To the Hon. John C. Calhoun.

WELL knowing that you never fail to be interested in anything that relates to the prosperity of the American people, I have thought you would pardon me for addressing you a letter on the probable influence of the commerce of British India upon the staple productions of the South. I know this is a question which more directly concerns the Southern States than the rest of the Union, but I trust I feel as deep an interest in that portion of the country as in any other. I desire to see the great states of the South, under a wise and humane policy, develop their mighty resources, and become, as they may, one of the fairest, most desirable, and opulent portions of the confederacy. So long as our Union continues, and may Heaven preserve it through all coming time, we cannot separate the interests of one part of it from those of another. While it subsists, no blow can fall upon an individual member of it without being felt by the whole body.

Perhaps there is no question now before the British people in which our country is so deeply concerned as the commerce and agriculture of the East Indies; none which will so direct

ly, powerfully, and permanently affect the whole of our Southern and Southwestern States. My attention has been turned to this subject for a considerable time with deep interest; and although I cannot admit the truth of all the statements which have been made, or feel the force of all the conclusions which have been adopted in regard to the India question, yet I am fully persuaded there is much in this matter worthy. the candid and careful investigation of the Southern States; much which our statesmen had better look to, when they can find leisure from the paramount duties of party squabbles and cabinet cabals. There is something in this East India business which, in my humble opinion, is of more consequence to the Republic than even the question whether or not it is in order for an honourable member to read Mr. Botts's letter to the keeper of a coffee-house, or whether President Tyler will in the end turn out a "Locofoco" or a "Federalist."

While I was in England I collected many facts in relation to this subject, and since my return I have been no careless observer of what has subsequently transpired. I feel desirous, therefore, to lay before my countrymen a few brief statements which seem to be of immediate concern to them.

I do not address you this letter, sir, because