England with Sketches of Society in the Metropolis (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1837 Excerpt: ... able the superior portion of the community to produce a greater impression on the inferior, by their collective force. In standing prejudices, they strike me as being worse than ourselves; but in passing impressions, greatly our superiors. For the last I have endeavoured to account, and I think the first may be ascribed to a system that is sustained by errors that it is not the interest of the more enlightened to remove, but which, instead of weakening in the ignorant, they rather encourage in themselves. LETTER XXIX. 'TO CAPTAIN B. COOPER, U. S. NAVY. Alien Office--Taking a Passage--Struggles for a Subsistence--Our Embarkation--Approach to HollandVDulch Wagons--Farewell to England. Having a long-standing engagement to be in Amsterdam early in June, we have been compelled to quit London, before the termination of the season. I could have wished to remain longer, but the force of things has moved heavier bodies. Quitting England is by no means as easy a matter for a foreigner as quitting almost any other European state. I was obliged to go first to the alien office, which is near Westminster Hall, and then proceed to the custom-house, a distance of several miles, in order to get the required permission. If all these forms are necessary, (and I shall not take it on myself to say they are not, ) it would save trouble could everything be done in the same office, or, at least, in the same building. My labours in obtaining the permit to embark, and in taking a passage, have taught me a secret in relation to the advantage we possess over the English in sailing ships. The excess of men causes all occupations to be crowded, and as each employe must have a livelihood out of his employment, he becomes a charge on the business. If an Englishman could live on a bit of ga...