It seems quite strange to read a letter with the
signature of Lord Sidney Godolphin Osborne. The aged philanthropist, now over eighty, writes to the Times (Tuesday, the. 18th inst.), tracing the Whitechapel murders and other horrors of the hour to overcrowding in the slums, and Mr. Barnett, a clergy- man of the widest experience, endorses his view. It is partly _true ; .but we must beware of regarding circumstance as in itself a justification for evil. Overcrowding does frightful mischief both to health and morals, but it does not of necessity destroy either. If it did, the world would perish, for it may be stated broadly that the rule of mankind is,—One family, one room. Three-fourths of the human race live in huts, and whole peoples so housed not only keep their health, but obey strict rules of morality. It is because the Englishman has substituted faith in respectability for faith in a divine law, that he suffers so terribly from any degradation in his surroundings.
Previous page
