MINISTRY AT WARRINGTON. [Chap. IV. 



at one meeting, and in a few weeks speak on the other side ! " 

 When the amendment was put, "the ignorant audience seemed 

 scarcely to understand the routine of business, and were in 

 doubt on which side they were to vote. Several cried out, 

 ' Which is Carpenter's side ? 3 They knew they were to vote 

 against him. At length they were instructed in their work : 

 and the motion for delaying the work of reform — i.e., for 

 continuing the reign of fever, sickness, and premature death 

 — was carried by an overwhelming majority." 



. Philip printed a report of these proceedings in his little 

 monthly publication, " The Helper ; " and in subsequent num- 

 bers he gave in full his own address, only a small part of 

 which he had been able to deliver, and other statements on 

 the same side. Even at this distance of time, his powerful 

 appeal seems full of life. He spoke with the authority of 

 knowledge ; adduced facts which there was no disputing ; 

 described the disgusting and dangerous condition of more than 

 five hundred cottages, the property of requisitionists ; and 

 showed conclusively how much waste of money, as well as of 

 health, arose from neglect. (" When shall we learn how cheap 

 it is to use our money, and how dear to waste it ?") He ends 

 by saying, " Does this meeting mean to tell me that the work 

 ing classes do not desire the Act ? If it be so, then I say that 

 this is the last evidence of their degradation ; that we have lef 

 them in such ignorance that they care not for their bodies 

 much less for their souls ; and that their senses are so blunted 

 with constant exposure to the evil, that at last they have ceased 

 to be sensible of it : — like the American negroes, whose 

 greatest mark of degradation is when they know not and desire 

 not freedom. Fellow ratepayers ! I * have no difficulty in 

 coming to a vote to-night. I see a plain Christian duty ; and I 

 care not to ask what the cost to me may be. Whatever it be 

 I would pay it cheerfully. So long as I have money I should 

 be ashamed to spend it on my own gratification, and refuse it 

 to the very life of my brethren. . . . Your vote to-night will 



* Some of those who had yielded to the popular clamour had expressed 

 reluctance and difficulty in their altered course. 



