her. I address myself to honest men;
there are such here. I address myself to lofty intellects; there are
such here. I address myself to generous souls; there are such here. You
are fathers, sons, and brothers; therefore you are often touched. He
amongst you who has this morning watched the awaking of his little child
is a good man. Hearts are all alike. Humanity is nothing but a heart.
Between those who oppress and those who are oppressed there is but a
difference of place. Your feet tread on the heads of men. The fault is
not yours; it is that of the social Babel. The building is faulty, and
out of the perpendicular. One floor bears down the other. Listen, and I
will tell you what to do. Oh! as you are powerful, be brotherly; as you
are great, be tender. If you only knew what I have seen! Alas, what
gloom is there beneath! The people are in a dungeon. How many are
condemned who are innocent! No daylight, no air, no virtue! They are
without hope, and yet--there is the danger--they expect something.
Realize all this misery. There are beings who live in death. There are
little girls who at twelve begin by prostitution, and who end in old age
at twenty. As to the severities of the criminal code, they are fearful.
I speak somewhat at random, and do not pick my words. I say everything
that comes into my head. No later than yesterday I who stand here saw a
man lying in chains, naked, with stones piled on his chest, expire in
torture. Do you know of these things? No. If you knew what goes on, you
would not dare to be happy. Who of you have been to Newcastle-upon-Tyne?
There, in the mines, are men who chew coals to fill their stomachs and
deceive hunger. Look here! in Lancashire, Ribblechester has sunk, by
poverty, from a town to a village. I do not see that Prince George of
Denmark requires a hundred thousand pounds extra. I should prefer
receiving a poor sick man into the hospital, without compelling him to
pay his funeral expenses in advance. In Carnarvon, and at Strathmore, as
well as at Strathbickan, the exhaustion of the poor is horrible. At
Stratford they cannot drain the marsh for want of money. The
manufactories are shut up all over Lancashire. There is forced idleness
everywhere. Do you know that the herring fishers at Harlech eat grass
when the fishery fails? Do you know that at Burton-Lazars there are
still lepers confined, on whom they fire if they leave their tan houses!
At Ailesbury, a town of which one of you is