Let me repeat in other words what I have just said. The labouring classes, under the existing condition of things, have acquired more wealth in a given time than the most sanguine Socialist of fifty years ago could have promised them; and this increased wealth has found its way into their pockets owing to causes that are in actual operation round us. These causes, therefore, should be studied for two reasons: firstly, in order that we may avoid hindering their operation; secondly, in order that we may, if possible, accelerate it; and I shall presently point out, as briefly, but as clearly as I can, what the general character of these causes is. [Sidenote ◆1 It is true that there are notorious facts that may make the superficial or excitable observer doubt the reality of this great progress of the labouring classes.] ◆¹ But before doing this,—before considering the cause of this progress,—I must for a moment longer dwell and insist upon the reality of it; because unhappily there are certain notorious facts which constantly obtrude themselves on the observation of everybody, and which tend to make many people deny, or at least doubt it. These facts are as follows. [Sidenote ◆1 But when these facts—viz. facts relating to the very poor—are reduced to their true proportions,] Speaking in round numbers, there exists in this country to-day a population consisting of about _seven hundred thousand_ families, or _three million_ persons, whose means of subsistence are either insufficient, or barely sufficient, or precarious, and the conditions of whose life generally are either hard or degrading, or both. A considerable portion of them may, without any sentimental exaggeration, be called miserable; and all of them may be called more or less unfortunate. There is, further, this observation to be made. People who are in want of the bare necessaries of life can hardly be worse off absolutely at one period than another; but if, whilst their own poverty remains the same, the riches of other classes increase, they do, in a certain sense, become worse off relatively. The common statement, therefore, that the poor are getting constantly poorer is, in this relative sense, true of a certain part of the population; and that part is now nearly equal in numbers to the entire population of the country at the time of the Norman Conquest. Such being the case, it is of course obvious that persons who, for purposes of either benevolence or agitation, are concerned to discover want, misfortune, and misery, find it easier to do so now than at any former period. London alone possesses an unfortunate class which is probably as large as the whole population of Glasgow; and an endless procession of rags and tatters might be marched into Hyde Park to demonstrate every Sunday. But if the unfortunate class in London is as large as the whole population of Glasgow, we must not forget that the population of London is greater