Analysis of the description of Manchester from Journeys to England and Ireland by Alexis de Tocqueville

Journeys to England and Ireland is an account by the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville about his travel in these two countries in 1835.

When he describes Manchester, he starts portraying the environment around the city. It is immediately underlined the richness in water of the area, where several rivers and canals flow between some little hills. The natural environment, which is connoted by positive adjectives and adverbs (slowly, tranquil, lazy), clashes with the harsh description of the human additions to the environment (“capricious creative force”, “no trace of the continuous action of government”). As a consequence, the reader may think that Tocqueville’s attitude towards the effects of the industrialisation will be a negative one.

Indeed, at the beginning of the second paragraph, when Tocqueville describes the factories which rise on the top of the hills, he remarks their excessive height, which appears as something unnatural (“their six stories tower up”, “huge enclosures”). The description of the nearby houses is even more negative, since they are defined “wretched” and “scattered haphazard”, thus underlining the great contrast between the beautiful and regular nature and the chaotic and ugly quarters. Then the writer depicts the condition of the roads connecting the central parts of the city to the outskirts where the industries rise; according to Tocqueville, the roads show “every sign of hurried and unfinished work”. As a matter of fact, they appear muddy, full of debris and covered with puddles, but what’s more important, Tocqueville thinks they are the most evident proof of the mentality of the population: while people “look for gold”, they “mistrust all the niceties of life”, that is, while they produce riches by working in the factories, they do not use this wealth to improve their living conditions. Tocqueville clearly blames the people who are responsible for this degradation: for him, Manchester could be “a medieval town with the marvels of the 19^th century”, but he believes that the new century has only brought poverty and despair. He continues describing the poor hovels of the workmen, and, with a sad sarcasm, he states that these people may define themselves lucky, because there are others who live in small damp cellars below the ground, often overcrowded.

The miserable conditions of the inhabitants are well described in the 3^rd and 4^th paragraph: the rivers are all colours except transparent, houses are built on the ruins of collapsed ones, a pall of smoke covers the sun and the deafening noise of steam engines and furnaces can be heard everywhere. The desolating landscape is strictly connected to social injustices: “here is the slave, there is the master”, “there is the wealth of some, here the poverty of the most”. In addition, there is no happiness in the city, since everyone hurries in the streets and people’s appearance is “sombre and harsh”.

In the last chapters Tocqueville attacks the conception of industrialisation and capitalism in Manchester; according to him, if the Industrial Revolution had been a controlled transformation, if there had been “the directing power of society”, instead of “the individual powers of man”, Manchester could have prospered gaining all the positive aspects of the Revolution. In other words, he thinks that the lack of central action by the government and the unrestricted power of private individuals (the factory owners) in building and directing the industries has only brought riches for a few people, causing poverty in the rest of the population. Thus, though in an indirect way, Tocqueville criticizes free market capitalism, suggesting a stricter control on industries (a position very similar to the one shown by Riccardo Bellofiore in his article).

Finally, in the last paragraph he summarizes the contradictions of the city: Manchester is a “foul drain” which fertilizes the world; it is a place where the best and the worst of civilization is reached; a “miracle” which is obtained at the cost of turning man “into a savage”.