pists would have found them out; but because they are in England itself, under their very eye, their case is unheeded.
There is, however, one comfort, even to this unfortunate class of human beings, viz. that their sufferings will be but of short duration, and their deformities will not be any barrier to another and a happier state of existence.
LETTER III.
THE GENERAL CONDITION OF THE LABORING CLASSES.
For the last few years, the attention of the upper and middle class of society in England has been repeatedly and forcibly drawn to the increasing misery and destitution of the laboring classes. In the year 1842, the "Atlas" newspaper proposed to give a prize of £100, £50, and £25, for the 1st, 2d, and 3d best essays respectively, on the causes of, and remedies for the existing distress of the country. From the first of these essays, (which was afterwards made public,) and other sources which may be relied on, I am partly indebted for the following facts.
At former periods of our history we have heard complaints of national distress, and witnessed instances of national decay; but these have been occasioned by causes, and accompanied by symptoms, very different from those which characterize the present phase of social existence in England. For instance, invasion of foreign enemies, loss of national independence, decay of energy and martial spirit, domestic discord, religious persecu-
