ABSTRACT
When Parliament re-assembled on the 2nd of February, there was no increased hopefulness in any quarter. The distress had deepened; the revenue returns indicated a lessened consumption of articles of popular comfort; and the agricultural interests were almost as depressed and alarmed as the manufacturing and commercial classes. There were not many men in the House, though there were too many men in the country, who were heard to say that it is the business of the government to find employment and food for the people; but there were men of opposite extremes in politics, who contended that it was the duty of government to regulate the interests of the poor, and determine the circumstances of their lives by law. In 1842, Lord Ashley had brought forward a Bill on behalf of a set of people who really appeared to have been neglected by all mankind, and whose case, when exposed by Lord Ashley, startled Parliament and the country.
