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32
be so for a London Parish. About Charing Cross we
have considerable open spaces, and the northern parts
about Long Acre are so very much elevated above the
level of the River, that where other causes of bad health
do not intervene the inhabitants arc healthy. The great
increase of mortality may be imputed partly to overcrowding;
all our courts and places where rent is low
are more crowded than ever, and latterly the charactcr
of the residents is not so good as it was; and I am
disposed to think that our increased mortality may
have been partly caused by increased immigration into
London of destitute people from the cotton districts,
&c.
We are all desirous that the status of our working
classes should be improved, but I fear all our efforts to
spread civilization will long be counteracted by the
great difficulty of lodging the families of a large portion
of the community, especially in London. Rents have
become so heavy that few labouring men can afford
more than one room; overcrowding in such rooms
must increase, and with it the fearful results of men,
women, girls and boys all sleeping in the same apartment.
Neither religion nor morality can increase
under the existing circumstances of our poorer classes.
It is almost returning to the habits of our barbarous
ancestors, or the untutored savages of Africa and
Australia; and while our eyes are daily afflicted with
the wretched objects of abject poverty in our streets,
we know on the other hand that the resources of the
country are on the increase, and the great increase of
wealth is obvious from the multiplication of luxurious
residences in the suburbs of all our towns and cities.
With the increase of wealth there is also evidence of
increased munificence in the holders of it to improve
the condition of their less fortunate brethren, and we
may hope that remedies will be found to check the
great evil of overcrowded tenements. I have been