624 Affairs in General. [Dec. 
are the victims of imprudence, though they cover it with the glory of 
patriotism ; and charity begins at home. This, though apparently a 
cold and churlish maxim, is a very wise one, and the wisdom of it is the 
more irrefragable and imperative in a country, where misery spreads 
among the natives to the sad and deplorable extent it does in ours— 
blurring and blotting the splendors which exorbitant and ostentatious 
wealth gathers round it, and flinging disgrace upon its rulers. We have 
no desire to check in any degree—just the contrary—the disposition to 
distribute ;> but we would remind the distributor, that mative misery has. 
the prior claim. 
_ The twenty, or fifty pounds given, to be blazoned: in advertisements, 
to foreigners, is, in numerous cases, just so much withheld from home 
distribution. It is a stain and a stigma upon a man to give, where 
poverty and want exist, for instance, on his own estates. The vehe- 
mence of the old Times, the great patron of the Spanish and Italian 
refugees, is quite importunate, and almost offensive, and especially by 
the grounds on which he frequently presses their claims of relief: 
They are gentlefolks—high-minded and high-spirited, many of them 
ennobled by a long line of illustrious ancestors—brought up to nothing 
—lapped in luxury, and cradled in indulgence—delicate in frame, and 
refined in sentiment—who cannot work, and ought not to work—who 
would sooner starve than beg, and die than dig—with abundance of 
similar nonsense. A most felicitous and novel mode of pleading a case 
of suffering, it must be allowed! We wish them a better advocate. 
The subscriptions come in but slowly, though the Z%mes prints all the. 
morcels of eloquence that usually accompany them. Here is a choice. 
specimen :— 
“* Respected Sir :—When the better feelings of our nature sanction the calf 
of the necessitated, and prompt the affluent to acts of humanity, how trans~ 
cendent is the conclusion !—it is nature that is acting upon the mind with alb 
the beauties of her inexpressible excellence. Under these considerations, L 
beg that your commendable spirit will appropriate this half-sovereign, though 
e 
trifling, to the alleviation of the distressed Spaniards.—Your’s, &c. 
«An AMERICAN.” 
But subscriptions of all kinds go on heavily, we perceive. The 
Tunnel, which required 100,000/. to enable it to proceed, stopped short at 
15,000/., and the Committee, in despair, have actually passed a vote to 
return the donations, and cancel the debentures. King’s College, which 
asked 100,000/, and actually got names for the full amount, and was 
tempted, by the extraordinary facility with which they were given, to 
beg another, has not been able to add 5,000/. to the sum during the 
whole of this month, with all the wealth, rank, and station of the country 
to back them ; and we now begin to augur ill of the result, and suspect 
they will soon be obliged to follow the example of the Tunnel-folks. 
The Church-building society, too, we observe, has met with frequent 
rebuffs—in one parish, not far from Cambridge, three farthings were col- 
lected. 
And as we have thus incidentally been led to mention this society, we 
cannot forbear a word or two on the spirit in which its recent collections 
have been pursued. Not content .with enforcing the necessity and the’ 
virtue of contributing to the building of churches, and collecting the 
fruits of pulpit eloquence at the church doors, the clergy, accompanied 
by the parochial officers, in many parishes have gone from house to house, 
