JUSTICE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 INDUSTRIOUS CLASSES; 
 
 [THE CAUSES OF COMMERCIAL DISTRESS AND POLITICAL 
 DISCONTENT CONSIDERED, 
 
 AND SUITABLE REMEDIES SUGGESTED. 
 
 REV. THOMAS SPENCER, M.A., 
 
 I.ATE FELLOW OK ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 CHARLES GILPIN, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET, WITHOUT; 
 AND SAMUEL GIBBS, 5, UNION STREET, BATH 
 
 1848. 
 
 No. 20. 
 
JUSTICE TO THE INDUSTIilOUS CLASSES. 
 
 Since the publication of a tract entitled " What David did : a Reply 
 to the Queen’s Letterin the year 1843, the writer has been a 
 silent but attentive.observer of passing events. On his return from 
 the United States, in March, 1846, after a six months' tour, he was 
 about to commit to the press the opinions he had formed of the men 
 and institutions of that interesting country; but his health having 
 suffered from too much public speaking, he postponed the task, and 
 has waited for the time when ability and opportunity might enable 
 him again to address the public. This time has arrived. The 
 recent resignation of a benefice which he had held nearly twenty-two 
 years, and the gradualimprovement of his health have given the ability; 
 —the shaking of nations abroad, the commercial distress and political 
 ■discontent at home, have given the fitting opportunity. The signs 
 of the times are too portentous to allow any man to be silent who 
 believes that he can point out a way to secure peace and prosperity, 
 more efficacious than the terrors of military force or the bribe of 
 charitable funds. 
 
 The writer’s experience in the discharge of his clerical duties 
 whilst residing at Hinton Charterhouse, and in his capacity of 
 Guardian for that village in the Bath Union during ten yeais, has 
 led him to mark the causes now in operation which produce 
 drunkenness, pauperism, and crime, the gross amount of which is 
 concealed from the casual observer in enormous workhouses, gaols, 
 and lunatic asylums, until the increasing millions of drunkards, 
 paupers, and tliieves, have become a source of danger to the com¬ 
 munity. It is vain to attempt much longer to smother the 
 voice of d ; scontent by pretended charity at the expense of the nearly 
 ruined ratepayer. Men were intended for a nobler purpose than to 
 bo dependant, upon public bounty, or to be made comfortable in gaols 
 and workhouses. 
 
 ; The existing evils cannot fairly be ascribed to the beloved Sove¬ 
 reign who reigns over this empire ; and it is only just to acknow¬ 
 ledge that many endeavours to diminish them have been made by 
 the governments of Sir It. Peel and Lord J. Russell. They arc 
 chiefly to be ascribed to the unjust legislation of past generations, 
 which has involved the country in debt, placed fetters and taxes upon 
 industry, and blinded the eyes of the people by a system of false 
 charity at the cost of that industry; the bulk of the poor rates being 
 paid liy farmers, tradesmen, and operatives; nnd nearly one half by 
 persons inhabiting houses under £10 a-year. It was once tnought 
 
medical men of small practice, and all who are waiting for a com¬ 
 mission, who, finding the public the easiest master and the taxes the 
 best pay, under the stimulus of anticipated office prepare articles, 
 manufacture statistics, and get up appeals which, to credulous 
 ignorance and to morbid sentimentality, are absolutely irresistible t 
 and which, by the apparently spontaneous and candid nature of the 
 statements, sometimes captivate for a time men of acknowledged good 
 sense into the belief that a strong case has been made out for legis¬ 
 lative action. Associations are forthwith formed ; subscriptions- 
 collected; lecturers appointed; startling facts accumulate; audiences 
 are excited cr alarmed; there never was so urgent a duty; there 
 never was so great a danger; people’s sympathies are roused; 
 petitions are signed; members of parliament arc written to; and the 
 legislature is urgently moved to take the matter in hand, and to 
 accomplish the proposed object. Governments, for the sake of peace 
 
they gained the object, and that they never would be satisfied until 
 they did gain it. And have they been satisfied ?—Let the Chartist 
 convention ; the speeches of the delegates from the manufacturing 
 districts; the Kennington common attempts at revolution; the 
 turbulent language of trades unions, answer that! 
 
 The concession had its effect: the effect which the concession of 
 an imbecile parent to the demands of a spoiled child, in granting a 
 thing previously refused and known to be hurtful. It had the effect 
 of destroying all respect for the governing power, and regarding it 
 as a thing easily to be managed by pitiful cries and blustering 
 threats. It has also had its effect as a lesson in national education. 
 It.has confirmed the people in that most dangerous of all opinions 
 that the improvement of their own condition rests, not upon their 
 own diligence and forethought, but upon the government, who 
 could alter the distribution of property, fix the hours of work 
 and the wages of labour. Instead, therefore, of relying upon their 
 own industry, and curtailing their own expenditure till the return 
 of brisker trade, they relied upon the success of past agitation, 
 and determined again to try what effect increased intimida¬ 
 tion might have. They proceeded yet further; having gained a 
 triumph oVer a Parliament which was elected by the middle classes, 
 and aiming at still greater infringement of the rights of property, 
 they attempted to subvert the present order of things, in order to 
 obtain a House of Commons still more subservient to mob dictation. 
 By speeches called political, but,*in plain English, murderous, they 
 excited the people to sedition; and having formed a union with the 
 blood-thirsty portion of Irish repealers at a public meeting at Man¬ 
 chester ; and having bound themselves by a solemn oath to defend 
 each other, they concocted a procession, and elected a convention, 
 as much representing the honest portion of industrious men as a 
 mite represents the cheese in which it has obtained a lodgment; in 
 fact, representing, with few exceptions, only the savage part of 
 society. These delegates spouted forth their crude theories, and 
 gave vent to their malignant feelings, in the hope that the London 
 populace would be sufficiently excited by their inflammatory lan¬ 
 guage to get up an insurrection similar to that which had recently 
 come off in Paris; and they flattered themselves that their pro¬ 
 cession would be the means of. upsetting the government. By 
 letting loose upon the metropolis those thousands of vagabonds who 
 live hy plunder and every species of vice, they believed they 
 could put an end to social order, and they were willing to take 
 their chance of whatever might turn up in the universal confusion. 
 
 The plot, however, did not succeed ; there were millions of men 
 in England who desired reform, but they had some regard to justice 
 and peace. This movement which pretended to be English, by its 
 pike and dagger speeches and by its foolish counsels, stood openly 
 revealed as Irish in its origin and progress; and only English so far 
 
as past legislation had led the operatives to believe that a display of 
 force might compel the government to provide work and wages, and 
 food and enjoyment. The kind of legislation which the physical 
 force section of the English chartists and the Irish repealers would 
 have, is not that which would protect the properly of all and the 
 rights of all; hut that which would obtain from the capitalist the 
 proceeds of past industry, and share it amongst those who have been 
 too idle to earn or too self-indulgent to save their earnings. The 
 men of blood neither understood nor cared for the charter. Had 
 they been certain that the adoption of that charter would have been 
 followed by peace and good order, they would have rejected it. 
 Under any form of good government honest industry will prosper, 
 nnd idleness will clothe a man with rags. The destiny of man is 
 labour; and his prosperity usually depends upon himself alone. 
 Bad men may think that by civil commotions they may obtain ' 
 greater enjoyment; but there is a power above all earthly govern¬ 
 ments which has proclaimed a very' different result“ Say ye to 
 the righteous, that it shall he well with him: for they shall eat of . 
 the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked; it shall he ill 
 with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” Isa. 3, 
 10. When men of intelligence and peace came forward some years 
 ago to assist the working classes in obtaining the leading points of 
 the charter, these physical force men, under their favourite leader, 
 were the chief opponents of the movement, and by their clamour 
 interrupted the friends of liberal principles, and prevented them 
 from speaking. The cry for the charter, when coming from a mob 
 or from a violent party in a convention, means a national overthrow, 
 and themselves the provisional government. Offer them the charter 
 on condition that they work for their living, and in the sweat of their 
 face eat their own bread, and they would not accept the gift. Let 
 legislators rest assured, that every deviation from rectitude, by seek¬ 
 ing favour with the pretended leaders of the multitude at the expense 
 of justice to any order of the community, will bring its own reward; 
 and in the threats of invasion of the House of Commons by 300,000 
 men, which invasion nothing but the precautions and firm attitude 
 of the authorities prevented, let them read the natural results of 
 such unworthy attempts to interfere with the rights of private 
 property. 
 
 2. Railway'Legislation .—One of the greatest benefits conferred by 
 modern science has been the introduction of railways; which have 
 been as useful as the discovery of thousands of square miles of rich 
 land in the midst of us. They not only save time and expense in 
 the conveyance of passengers and goods, thereby adding to the 
 ■length of human life and diminishing the cost of living, but they 
 opened a new field for workers in earth, stone, wood, and iron; 
 they gave fresh scope to talent, and offered to capital at home that • 
 remunerative investment which it had begun to seek in foreign lands. 
 
4. Public Health Legislation .—The art of manufacturing commis¬ 
 sions and places has long since been discovered by medical men. The 
 more talented portion of that profession obtain an honourable income 
 from private practice; but there are hundreds who are ever on the 
 look out for opportunities of fastening themselves upon the public 
 rates and taxes, and of securing to themselves as close a union with 
 the state as that which, without benefit to either pat ty, the Church 
 of'England now enjoys. To this end they keep up a perpetual 
 alarm, tlnough the public press, by details of coroners’ inquests, 
 rumours of epidemics, predictions of returning cholera, and cruelties 
 in parish workhouses. They not unfrequently usurp the character 
 of poor man's friend, encourage persons to apply for parochial relief 
 who would not otherwise have thought of becoming chargeable to 
 their fellow men ; they seek popularity amongst the inmates of work¬ 
 houses and prisons by ordering wine and porter and all kinds of 
 luxuiies which, though common to the rich, are seldom attained to 
 by the rate payers in general. Under the operation of this system 
 many offices have been created in our day with which our fathers 
 were not burthened; and when all places are full, arid no more 
 
10 
 
 of union workhouses, and gaols, they work the public press for the 
 extension of medical office and medical pay. Who has not witnessed 
 with astonishment the display of zeal respecting ventilation, drain¬ 
 ings, pestilential air, and the confinement at the public cost of every 
 woman with her first child, the last proposal being introduced into 
 parliament by Lord Ashley, as the crowning act of a course of old 
 womanish philanthropy in the steady pursuit of a policy which would 
 destroy the manhood of Great Britain and render Englishmen help¬ 
 less, dependent, and childish. 
 
 It is almost enough to bring public meetings into contempt when 
 we see the zeal with which paid lecturers have been delivering 
 lectures, writing articles in all the papers to which they can get 
 access, getting up petitions, and then observe the new commis¬ 
 sions created expressly for the parties who employed them. Already 
 parliament is called upon to confer upon the Health of Towns 
 Commission powers of the most arbitrary kind. An organization 
 cunningly devised for the taking from the people the few matters 
 over which they still exercise some control is proposed. It 
 remains to be seen whether the dangerous system of centralization, 
 which places the affairs of the people in the management of central 
 boards, is any longer to be sanctioned. If so, it will require innume¬ 
 rable officers, entail unbounded expense, and will be followed by an 
 ultimate confession of total failure, and a demand for a more com¬ 
 prehensive and more costly scheme. If the advocates of public 
 health legislation are sincere, how is it that they have not shewn 
 their zeal in matters within their reach ? He that has been faithful 
 in little, will be also faithful in much; but these men have connived 
 at the continuance of the window tax,-—a tax on air, and light, and 
 health, and ventilation. Lord Ashley declared to his constituents 
 at Bath his disapprobation of this tax, and yet when the time came 
 when a vigorous opposition would have ensured its repeal, he voted 
 for its continuance. These men have also passed by the shameful 
 condition of the barracks of our soldiers, which being under the 
 direct control of the government, could at any time be ventilated and 
 regulated; whereas at present the married soldiers and their wives, 
 and the single men, are crowded together in the same sleeping room, 
 and exhibit greater offences against decency than those which are 
 usually met with in the houses of the poor. It is clearly, therefore, 
 not from simple philanthropy, but from the love of power, place, and 
 pay, that this movement has been carried on. 
 
 5. Ecclesiastical Legislation .—The British taxing machine has 
 been most effectually worked for the increase of ecclesiastical endow¬ 
 ments. Whilst Dissenters have been contending about much 
 smaller items in church rates, those offices which should have been 
 provided for out of church property have been steadily advancing in 
 their claims upon the poor rate. The six hundred Poor Law Unions 
 in. England and Wales, the new gaols, and other institutions, have 
 
11 
 
 been adding probably 1000 to the number of the stipendiary clergy 
 deriving a maintenance from rates and taxes, and not from church 
 endowments. The cost of the Chapel of the Bath Union Workhouse, 
 which is more than £1(100, and a chaplain’s salary of £100 a-year, 
 and all the expenses attending the performance of divine service and 
 the administration of the sacraments, are defrayed, not from church 
 property, but from an increased taxation of the people in the form of 
 an unobserved charge upon the poor rates. We have a rich church 
 establishment, yet certain papers and periodicals contain perpetual 
 appeals to public sympathy respecting the spiritual destitution of the 
 people. Can any one doubt the need of some new arrangement of 
 the enormous revenues of the church rather than of fresh acquisitions 
 of wealth. Of the present income of the Church probably hot a 
 third part ever reaches the clergy who do the work. We have 
 lately seen thousands of pounds added to the incomes of the bishops, 
 and still more for their palaces, yet at the death of a prelate no one 
 is astonished to learn that he has left to his relatives £120,000. 
 
 Certainly many new churches have been erected ; but these 
 were erected not out of church property, but by additional subscrip¬ 
 tions from the people. The poor, however, are not there, nor will 
 you find one tenth of the working classes in all the churches of a 
 town put together. Working men of sound sense cannot be drawn 
 by sermons upon baptismal regeneration, nor even by the exclusive 
 preaching of doctrines, however sound, when the fruit-bearing, prac¬ 
 tical part is omitted. The favourite temple of the working man is- 
 too frequently the beer shop or gin palace; and if he is to be 
 induced to take his seat in the parish church as a sincere professor 
 of Christ’s holy gospel, there must first be men like I’aul who- 
 will reason with him concerning righteousness, temperance, and 
 judgment to come; and who will teach him his duties and his 
 rights both as a man. and a citizen, that he may be throughly 
 furnished unto all good works. Sermons read with solemn slow¬ 
 ness about forms, ceremonies, or abstruse theories, send the working 
 man to sleep, and a sense of shame keeps him from returning. He 
 requires stirring -appeals to his conscience, and faithful warnings 
 against his besetting sins of indolence, intemperance, and a helpless 
 reliance upon the property of others for support. His manly spirit 
 should be roused; his love of independence quickened; and his 
 duty to God and to his neighbour plainly set forth. Instead of 
 being led to trust in a parish, or to seek gifts of money, soup, coals, 
 blankets, or a letter of recommendation to the Board of Guardians, 
 he would learn something better than the infidel trash which sanc¬ 
 tions the robbery of one man for the degradation of another:. he 
 would be taught " not to covet nor desire other men's goods; but 
 to learn and labour truly to get his own living, and to do his duty 
 in that state of life into which it has pleased God to call him.” 
 
 6.. Irish Poor Law _It was by the energetic working of the 
 
IH'lti 
 
-13 
 
 of sight, and the hardships of industrious men in England were over¬ 
 looked, because it was thought they might still be taxed a little more- 
 without being goaded to rebellion, whereas to expect industry aud 
 self-help from the Irish was out of the question. The money was 
 granted, some of it found its way into the pockets of paid officers; 
 much of it was converted into sources of fraud, jobbing, drunkenness; 
 and Ireland has been no more prosperous, no more diligent, no more 
 contented, and less thankful tium ever. This unjust perversion of 
 the powers of the legislature has produced its natural result. The 
 minds of the Irish are more than ever fixed upon this country for 
 support; their mendicant, habits have been confirmed; and believing 
 that a country which could send them so much money must have an 
 inexhaustible treasury, they come over by thousands; and now they 
 cover the land, nqt to work but to beg, and only quitting a place 
 when they discover that work will be required for money. Nor are 
 they who stay at home at ail .better. With English money they 
 purchase pikes and rifles; in the hope of another shower of gold 
 they utter words of murder and sedition, and yet during the year of 
 Ireland’s distress the people were able to spend eight millions sterling 
 
 There were also circumstances connected with the obtaining of 
 the Irish Poor Law which were strikingly dishonest. Two commis¬ 
 sions were appointed, of eacli of which the enlightened Archbishop 
 WhateU-y was a member, and these successively reported against 
 the adoption of a poor law. The interested advocates, however, 
 were bent upon having it; and they sent over Mr. Nicholi, one 
 of tlie English poor law commissioners, to investigate the matter. 
 After a six weeks’ tour, lie made a report so decidedly in favour of a 
 poor law as to enable the government to obtain it from parliament. 
 It might have caused the agitators for charity as a remedy for Irish 
 rags and Irish sedition to he more modest in their assertions had 
 they known that similar statements of misery and crime might he 
 made of the Irish not only in Liverpool and in St. Giles’s, hut 
 throughout the United States of America, where they are the only 
 people usually seen in rags, and where they form seven out of ten 
 of the inmates of the gaols and poorhouses; where also they are 
 mixed up with every savage fight among gangs of workmen, and ill 
 every dangerous excitement at political elections. So serious, 
 indeed, has been the grievance, as to compel native Americans to 
 form societies for the obtaining of a law preventing foreigners from 
 voting until they have been twenty-one years in the country; which 
 law they declare lias chiefly for its object to exclude the Irish 
 emigrants, from whom alone they consider the republic to be in 
 danger. 
 
 7. The English Poor Law .—In the dark ages of the English 
 church, the master vice which destroyed more souls than the profli¬ 
 gacy of the monks was the wholesale mendicancy caused by their 
 
ite chanty. Crowds of lazy beggars besieged the convent 
 ng for their daily meals from the leavings of the well fed 
 fhis giving of alms was seen of men, and in the applause 
 and- the dissolute it bad its reward. But monkish charity 
 enlightened enough to know nor sincere enough to care 
 corrupted the recipients. When our Divine-Master saw 
 lose extreme hunger he had relieved return in the hope of 
 lanqnet, he dismissed them with a rebuke. When the 
 eld the thousands assembled around the monasteries of 
 a, they encouraged them as a source of popularity and of 
 Notwithstanding, this strength, however, Henry the 8tli 
 ae monasteries, but unfortunately without any regard to 
 nterests of these beggars. They were suddenly deprived 
 lydays and their feasts; but the convent estates which 
 provided land for their maintenance and restored them 
 jus habits, were bestowed upon the king’s favourites. 
 
 to he obtained, shall be taki 
 with' the letter V, and adju 
 who shall demand him ; t 
 
 we hnd a statute m the year 1572 beginning with this preamble: 
 “ That all parts of this realm of England be presently with logo 
 vagabonds, and sturdy beggars exceedingly pestered, by meo 
 whereof daily happenetli horrible murders, thefts, and other gri 
 
15 
 
 mus that in 1553, in the reign of Queen Mary, “ the dwellings of 
 the common people had no chimney to let out the smoke; the flooring 
 was nothing but the bare ground; their beds consisted of straw, 
 among which was an accumulation of filth and refuse, with a block 
 of wood for a pillow; and their food was rye, barley, and oats.” 
 With such facts wc are prepared for the statement of Harrison that 
 “ in the reign of Henry the 8th, a space of thirty years, 72,000 thieves 
 were put to death; and that in the reign of Elizabeth three or 
 four hundred were hanged every year; and that every part of the 
 kingdom was infested by idle vagabonds and robbers, who, refusing 
 to labour, lived by plundering the peaceable inhabitants.” 
 
 It was under such circumstances that the poor law of the 43rd of 
 Elizabeth was passed; not as is now pretended, out of kindness, but 
 to get rid of a nuisance; not as a provision for the destitute, but as 
 a penal enactment to compel idle persons to remain in their own 
 parishes, and to compel overseers to set them to work. This penal 
 character of the law continued till the reign of George the third ; 
 and indeed within the memory of man it was considered a disgrace 
 to apply to a parish. They, therefore, who speak of the merciful 
 poor law of Elizabeth, and charge modem legislation with treating 
 poverty as a crime, have reversed the order of events. It was left 
 to modern times to convert a system of setting to work rogues and 
 vagabonds into a system of weekly pensions. The framers of the law 
 of the 43rd of Elizabeth little suspected that a measure which was 
 intended to prevent a few thousand vagabonds from living upon 
 society by occasional plunder, would in the 19th century find still more 
 thieves and more charitable institutions for the relief of distress, and 
 at the same time, several millions of paupers living upon their neigh¬ 
 bours by permanent allowances, taken by force of law, from the 
 industrious. The poor law of Elizabeth punished idleness; that of 
 the present century rewards it. It was during the war that this 
 change took place. It was found difficult to obtain men fast enough 
 to replace those who were killed in battle; and it was thought by 
 Mr. Pitt that if relief were given to the poor at their own houses, 
 and an additional allowance were made for every child, it would 
 encourage early marriages and a rapid increase of the population. 
 In fact, there was no more benevolence in Mr. Pitt’s proposals to 
 change the law than there had been in its original enactment. More 
 men were wanted to shoot and to be shot at; and in order to accom¬ 
 plish this, about the year 1795, the poor law was changed from its 
 original purpose and offered relief in an inviting form. Mr. Pitt 
 advised that the disgrace which had hitherto been attached to the 
 idea of applying to a parish should be done away; and the magis¬ 
 trates were not slow to carry out the idea. It was under this 
 stimulus that pauperism and poor rates really commenced their 
 career, and gradually undermined the manly spirit of the English 
 labourer. Prior to the year 1700 there were but few persons charge- 
 
able to the poor rates; and those rates, one hundred years ago, 
 were only a tenth part of the sum which is now required. The 
 following table of poor rates in England and Wales, derived from 
 parliamentary returns, will show that the increase has taken place 
 since the beginning of the reign of George the third :— 
 
 £690,0 i 
 
 
 1 1785 
 
 10 l £2,004,0 
 
 ,000 | £4,2118,000 1 j 
 
 The amount, which had progressed rapidly during the reign of 
 George the third, continued to increase during the peace which fol¬ 
 lowed, so that by the year 1S30 the poor rales amounted to nearly 
 £8,000,000. At that time the labouring classes, especially in the 
 southern counties, in which this system of relief had been most encou¬ 
 raged by the magistrates, were fast descending to pauperism; and the 
 paupers were -becoming more vicious and insolent. The inventions 
 of Watt and Arkwright enabled this country to raise money for the 
 war, and to bear its burden of poor rates; but there is a limit even 
 to the wealth-creating power of machinery, and the most flourishing 
 manufacturer will sink under an overwhelming load of pauperism. 
 An alteration in the poor law was essential for the salvation of the 
 country from universal ruin. A few simple enactments would have 
 sufficed. The chief requirements were to take •from magistrates the 
 power of ordering relief; to abolish the law of settlement; and in 
 every parish to commit to a vestry, annually chosen by the ratepayers, 
 all applications for relief. A central board was desirable for a few 
 years in order to investigate parochial abuses and to suggest the most 
 approved modes of parochial management. But the new poor law 
 was introduced into the world by men who were too much enamoured 
 of a system of centralisation; who after destroying all former vested 
 interests fastened upon the country a tremendous staff of clerks, 
 relieving officers, masters of workhouses, medical officers, chaplains, I 
 &c. At first the new system produced a great reform. Thousands 
 of idle paupers went, to work, believing that their day of idleness was 
 over; but soon finding their mistake they returned to their former 
 habits, and pauperism became more rampant than ever. The poor 
 rates were at first reduced to little more than £4,000,000, but they 
 soon began to increase, and last year’s return was more than 
 £6,000,000, and that which is shortly to he expected will probably be 
 nearly £7,000,000. 
 
 The continuance of the poor law commission for fifteen years) 
 instead of five years, and the increase of expenditure in workhouses and 
 in out of door relief, have arisen from the action of the press upon 
 parliament. Poor law commissioners were exposed to much odium; 
 and when persecuted for attempting to carry out the intciitions of the 
 law were not always supported by government; in consequence of 
 which they relaxed their rules, gave up sound.priuciples, and intro¬ 
 duced so many exceptions into all their original orders as to destroy 
 their efficacy. . The expense of the commission increased as its utility 
 
decreased; and the management of their own affairs was gradually 
 taken from the people and placed in the central board. 
 
 8. The Scotch Poor Law. —Efforts to deceive the public by means 
 
 of the press have not unfrequently been made respecting pauperism in 
 Scotland. Statistics of the poverty and misery of Glasgow have been 
 paraded before the public eye; and the scenes of wretchedness have 
 been ascribed to the absence of a poor law like that of England. Yet 
 similar scenes have been witnessed in Liverpool, with its thousands 
 of wretched cellars, although it had a poor law. The agitators for 
 paid officers in Scotland and more power to tax the Scotch, kept out 
 of sight the real cause of poverty. Ardent spirits made their poor ; 
 ragged and destitute. Could parish pay prevent this effect ? Would j 
 it not rather increase it ? Has Glasgow been improved by the more 
 liberal allowance to the poor of late years ? Let the recent riots 
 answer that. Glasgow is poor! yet Glasgow last year spent one 
 million sterling in intoxicating drinks 1 Is charitable aid the remedy 
 for such a state of things ? Why not stop the leak, rather than 
 compel all hands to continue at the pumps ? Of 30,000 houses in 
 Glasgow 3,000 are devoted to the sale of intoxicating liquors; a 
 proportion probably not to be equalled in the .world. It has also 
 been ascertained that at least 30,000 persons, or a tenth part of the 
 population, go to bed drunk' every Saturday night. There were 
 25,000 commitments for drunkenness and disorderly conduct during 
 the year; and of these 10,000 were women. Nor is it uncommon, 
 for the police to convey to the station-house in wheel harrows thirty 
 or forty persons in a state of beastly intoxication. In Aberdeen las: 
 year 2,000 men and 5,000 women were taken out of the streets in i 
 state of drunkenness; and at one time 45 women were huddled togd 
 ther in a small cell in the police office. Yet the rabble of Aberdeei 
 have recently attempted to form themselves into an armed nationa 
 guard against some supposed oppressors. If each of them wouh 1 
 keep guard against the despotic sway of his own evil habits it woul 
 prove more efficacious. There is an enemy about to invade th' 
 drunkards of Aberdeen ; and he approaches with his weapons. Hi 
 advance is thus described“ So shall thy poverty come as one thi 
 travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.” Prov. 24, 34. Again: 
 such an enemy Birmingham guns are powerless. . j 
 
 9. Government Education.— An agitation is perpetually kept up fi 
 the increase of grants of public money for the purposes of nation;] 
 education. Nothing is said of the rich endowments for this purpojj 
 already existing, which were intended for the education of the masse] 
 but which are devoted to the exclusive use of a few. Notwithstani! 
 ing the past results of endowments, more money, more inspectoil 
 
why retain the duty on paper, and the penny stamp on newspapers ’( 
 When Messrs. Chambers were engaged in providing useful know¬ 
 ledge for the working classes, by means of cheap publications, the 
 sum which they ought to have retained as the remuneration for their 
 trouble was taken from them by the Excise as duty upon paper. 
 Many persons are now endeavouring to enlighten the people through 
 cheap periodicals; but in order to supply them at the cost of a penny 
 they are obliged to publish them at Jersey, or the Isle of Man, by 
 which they avoid the penny stamp, which thus operates as a tax 
 upon knowledge. In the United .States men can purchase their daily 
 paper for a halfpenny; and until there is the same facility in this 
 country for furnishing the people with cheap periodicals, the masses 
 will be left to works of infidelity, atheism, and sedition. 
 
 Is it then too much to say that in adding to the taxes of the coun¬ 
 try for all these puqioses, governments have reversed the divine 
 intention in their origin ? They were intended to be a “ terror to evil 
 doers,” but they have interfered with trade, and robbed the wages 
 fund until they have become a terror to honest men. They ought to 
 be a “ praise to them that do well,” but their sympathy has been on 
 behalf of the idle, the drunken, and the improvident, until several 
 millions of the people have been permitted to live upon the rest, and 
 to enjoy greater comforts than the labouring classes can procure 
 for themselves. In order that a labouring man with a wife and five 
 children may .have the same food and clothing as the inmates of 
 workhouses or gaols, he must have, not 9s. a-week as at present, but 
 21s. a-week. It is true that the magistrate “ beareth not the sword 
 n vain,” hut he smiteth therewith the humble tradesman and mecha- 
 lic, and demands his last five shillings in payment of a poor rate, or, 
 n case of inability to pay, seizes his goods; whereas for crime the 
 iword is laid aside, and the felon laughs at the policeman, jokes with 
 .he magistrate on the bench, and would rather have imprisonment for a 
 nonth than for a fortnight, and for three months than either. If the 
 iffence be not sufficient to deserve this, he will break a costly pane of 
 ;lass as the price of admission to that comfortable boarding house. 
 iVhen the provisional government of France sought popularity with 
 he mob by undertaking to find employment or food for every working 
 aan, their conduct was justly condemned on this side of the channel. 
 Il righteous indignation was expressed when the rest of Paris and all 
 be rest of France were set at nought, in order to keep in good 
 umour 200,000 men by the farce of public work, or the bribe of 
 ublic charity. How welcome would have been the tidings in this 
 nmtry, had the provisional government at once declared free trade 
 ith all the world, and no more legislative interference with any man’s 
 ssiness 1 How noble an example to all' nations if they had declared 
 fat henceforth government should afford to all citizens a guarantee 
 security, and sense of security; and should confine itself to the 
 ipartinl administration of justice, and the preservation of order 1 A 
 
c. sii' vettsst 
 
 there will they stop ? When they have emptied the public treasury, 
 and exhausted^ national resources, how will they meet.the: disapr 
 nninted exceptions of the men whom they have encouiaged to trust, 
 FupuWic money for support? Public charities invariably create mor^ 
 
 llth iSs upon. It is possible that the press which has exposed 
 tttrl rf See may lend its powerful aid to the adoption of a. 
 more sound policy in England. Amongst the masterly articles which 
 have appeared in the limes newspaper there is one which would 
 render essential service were it applied to the over-legislation of our 
 own country. The Times , of April 7, thus reasons upon the conduct 
 
 Sstem tlU have overthrown. These are the lies placarded on A 
 hi 5 novTbefore'^usVhandbi^of tel^entWed the ■ Bulletin k\ 
 
 lated^" as'we" understand, C *by e hi- S l‘ e ^ rl1 R°>" in for ^e purpose o: 
 
 «— '^TlTJSissn El-ZS 
 
 read I X4 laid to the charge of existing law; 
 of a poor man’s lot, heightened by inflammaton 
 all the™ s «“ s f ,. ? c]asses are told that ‘henceforth society wil 
 
 pxceorional and transitory power, whose very form and existence at 
 
 if**? a-falSriS m .1 
 
 and these frauds are put forward by men who. know vj 
 rongAuffirfthe.pLn* crisis already is, and w«l.; 
 
legislature to give them the power to sell a portion of their estates, at j 
 least sufficient for the duty and the expenses attending the sale. This I 
 necessity may fairly lead to an enquiry into the present state of the 
 laws of pi imogeniuire and entail. In legislating for the poor it lias 
 been justly asserted that the labouring man ought to be thrown upon 
 his own resources; that he ought to depend upon his own diligence, 
 sobrhty, forethought, and economy; and that if a man chooses to ' 
 marry, and have children, he is bound to support those children.. 
 These two principles, however, which are the essence of social order,' 
 are altogether opposed to the infidel principles of modern charity! 
 which does all in its power to thwart those arrangements of the divine' 
 government which bring upon a man, even in this life, the consequences 
 of his own actions. The grand rules both of natural and revealed! 
 religion are, “ If a man will not work neither shall he eatand “ the 
 idle soul shall suffer hunger.” Modern infidelity declares that whether 
 a man work or not he must he fed. Has a man a family ? Infidel 
 charity says,.—Give him an allowance for every child; whereas the' 
 rule of the divine government is, “ If a man provide not for his own, 1 
 especially for those of his own house, he lias denied the faith and is 1 
 worse than an infidel.” It is the duty of all men to relieve sickness 
 and distress by voluntary acts of kindness, and for this part of theit 
 moral obligation they are responsible to that Almighty Being wire 
 has placed them in this state of probation, and who will call W: 
 
account every Dives for the neglect of the unavoidable distress of a 
 Lazarus at his gate; but it formed no part of the intentions of the 
 Creator that there should he a pauper class living in idleness upon 
 the earnings of an industrious class. Man, created originally in the 
 divine image, and still possessing many fragments of that image, is 
 too dignified a being to be made dependant upon the charity of his 
 fellow man for support. To attempt to keep him quiet, as you would 
 quiet a hungry dog by throwing him a hone, is first to degrade him, 
 next to render him helpless, then to make him discontented, and ulti¬ 
 mately to render him dangerous to society which has taught him that 
 he has a right to a share of all the good things he sees around him, 
 and has left him leisure to consider what that share ought to be, and 
 whether he and others who live at the public cost might not, by a 
 desperate effort, obtain a much larger share of these good things. In 
 fact, the modem poor man's friend, the advocate of compulsory 
 : charity at the expense of industry, is the real tyrant of our day, and 
 '• the greatest enemy to the human race. The principle of self suf- 
 : port can alone make good citizens. This principle, however, must 
 i not be of partial application; it must have free course through all the 
 I ranks of society. The rich and the great, crowned heads and noble 
 i families, ministers of religion, and members of every profession should 
 i willingly, if possible, and if not, by compulsion, provide for their own 
 I sons and daughters; and public opinion should inform them, with its 
 : thousand tongues, that, whatever be their religious creed, whatever 
 i their hereditary descent, and whatever their charitable deeds, if they 
 i neglect this, they have denied the faith and are worse than infidels. 
 
 How desirable, then, that those laws of entail and primogeniture 
 : : should be repealed, which provide bountifully for the eldest son, and 
 : J leave the other sons and daughters to be provided for by offices in 
 { the army, navy, or church, obtained by the undue influence of the 
 eldest son. Nothing is more offensive to the British public than this 
 } state pauperism. Nothing is more frequently spoken of wherever 
 { two or three working men meet together. Nothing is more fre- 
 f quently held up to odium by our enlightened brethren across the 
 i Atlantic. If men of energy can raise themselves from nothing to 
 P stations of rank and dignity, how much more may the heir to a noble 
 l name and to the largest share of a great estate, he able by his own 
 ! moral energy to preserve his elevated position, and to possess as 
 | much wealth and power as it is safe for the country or beneficial to 
 himself that he should possess. All artificial props contrived to 
 i keep up a worthless being, in spite of his demerits, only tend to.exalt 
 ; folly and to bring the aristocracy into contempt. 
 
 . 3. Direct Taxation. —Having shewn the justice of a legacy duty to 
 i be paid at the decease of all owners of property, and that some pro- 
 f vision ought to he made by heads of families for all their sons and 
 * daughters, it may next be considered by what means each person 
 > during his life time shall pay to the state for the protection of his 
 
23 
 
 person and the quiet enjoyment of his rights. The right principle 
 of payments, whether voluntary or by legal enactment, is that 
 every man should pay in proportion to his ability; and in order to 
 counteract the bias which a man may have, even imperceptibly, in 
 favour of his own interests, the legislator, in laying on of .taxes, 
 should legislate rather against himself than for himself. In no case 
 is the apostolic maxim more necessary, “ Look not every man on his 
 own things, but every man also on the things of others;" and an 
 honourable man will renounce the unworthy policy which has com¬ 
 pelled an overseer to rate at £60 or £100 a-year a splendid mansion 
 which the owner would not let for several hundreds a-year. The 
 Christian religion enjoins as follows: “ As every man hath received 
 the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards 
 of the manifold grace of God. If any man minister, let him do it of 
 the ability which God giveth.” 1 Pet. iv. 11. The payment of taxe3 
 is a religious obligation, and is to he done for conscience sake. “ Ren¬ 
 der unto Ctesar the things which are Ctesar’s;” that is, see that your 
 portion of taxes to the state bears the same relation towards the 
 whole amount of taxes as your property bears to the whole property 
 of the nation. To pay less than your share is to cause others to pay 
 more than their share, and is therefore to rob your fellow men. It is 
 a question of conscience, and the rule of conscience is this: “ If there 
 be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, 
 and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not other men 
 be eased, and ye burdened: but by an equality that your abundance 
 may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a 
 supply for your want, that there may be equality.” 2 Cor. viii. 12. 
 Which just rule of conscience is set forth as a guide to all men of 
 principle in the offertory of the Church of England: “ If thou hast 
 much, give plenteously; if thou hast little, do thy diligence gladly to 
 give of that little: for so gatherest thou thyself a good reward in’the 
 day of necessity.” According to these injunctions, every man ought 
 to pay towards the expenses of government; and, every man according 
 to his ability. There never was a finer specimen of Christiaiv 
 legislation than when Sir R. Peel repealed the duties upon articles of 
 daily use amongst the people, and placed a moderate tax upon pro¬ 
 perty ; and the astonishing success of the measures which would 
 already have enabled the country to meet its expenditure, had 
 not that expenditure been most improperly increased, ought to encou¬ 
 rage every government to adopt the system of direct taxation; not 
 indeed to meet the increased expenditure which ought at once to, be 
 reduced to a reasonable standard, but as the best means of raising 
 the ordinary revenue of the country. The system has answered well 
 in the United States, where the separate states raise their whqle 
 revenue by direct taxation. 
 
 When taxation is direct, not only does every one pay according to 
 his ability, but he knows what he pays. Indirect taxation takes from 
 
>ay the same amount of duty upon their tea,; 
 ipon their respective incomes is very differi 
 nan’s being a mere trifle, that of the poor it 
 n his expenditure. Whilst with the rich mi 
 ideration whether a direct tax of 7d. in the 
 
 oo much, the tax upon tea to the poor ma 
 round upon the sum spent iv 
 ivery 20s. spent in his coffee there is a dut 
 leer 4s., in tobacco lGs., in spirits 14s., so th 
 nflict a tax of 10s. in the pound, or 50 per 
 he working man, at least in the mamifactu 
 tyle of living is much higher than that of t 
 rhosc simple fare consists generally of brea 
 iccasionai slice of bacon or of cheese. In 
 njustice appears the disgraceful fact that thi: 
 ;iven the State a direct interest in the pi 
 ine third of the revenue is derived from I 
 rom the habit of passing their time in house: 
 he government, which, in the British Isle 
 lersons to sell the liquors which instigate 
 hem to poverty. Do we desire the iienllli 
 mprovement of working men? Mow muc 
 emove the taxes from the necessaries of 
 he springs of industry, and the obstacles out 
 md at once to take off the window tax, t 
 rapers, and to repeal half the unties on tea, 
 ireparing for their total abolition, after i 
 aw. Tlie deficiency might be made up by a 
 hat arising from trade and professions be: 
 round, or 24 per cent., and that on realise 
 round, or 5 per cent. If this did not prod 
 reduce the expenditure of the government 
 the tax upon all income arising from realise' 
 i-year to 2s. in the pound, or ten per cent. 
 
 4. Emigration and Crown Lands. —Inste; 
 the surplus- population to distant colonies 
 frequently suffer hardships from deficicni 
 suitable dispersion, and in which they have b 
 to subsist upon the charity of the mother co 
 if government would leave emigration to 
 parties who desire to quit their native I 
 by government are still to a great extent 
 description of the late Rev. Sydney Smith, i 
 are Dreserved as colonies for the sake of tl 
 
instead of conveying the people, at great cost, and with doubtful 
 results, to distant lauds. They afford, also, an opportunity to give a 
 fair trial to self-supnnrtimr principles. Onlv let them sell the New 
 Forest to the ntendie'rs of temperance Societies, as a joint stock com¬ 
 pany ; and l;t the legislature grant a charter, requiring the forfeiture 
 of the possessions of every person who should attempt to sell intoxi¬ 
 cating liquors within its boundaries; and let it enact tint there shall 
 be no law of settlement, no rates or taxes, except an income tax; 
 leaving religion and charity free, and pcrmiHng every religious 
 denomination and every philanthropic institution “to take care of its 
 own poor, and they wouid soon know t he real* dignity of the labouring 
 classes, and would he astonished at the progress of Saxon energy, 
 guided by Christian principles. 
 
 5. The Prevention of the Slave Trade .—However desirable it may 
 be to take cognisance of evils all over the globe, yet, when the 
 interference of Farliunont is at the cost of justice, it is only doing 
 evil that good may come; even supposing good effects to be really 
 produced, lint when it is found that after spending millions of 
 British money, only harm has been accomplished, it is high time to 
 cease from this attempt to superintend the affairs of the whole earth. 
 The province of government is to protect the persons and property of 
 the people subject to its sway; and as far as possible to preserve 
 peace at home and abroad, that men and nations may trade freely and 
 without fear. It is for this purpose that men consent to be taxed, 
 and that certain funds are placed at the disposal of the Government, 
 which is only a trustee of public money for certain definite uses. 
 
25 
 
 Whenever, therefore, governments collect an unnecessary amount of 
 taxes from the people and apply to other purposes the sums collected 
 under that solemn trust, it is nothing less than a public robbery. 
 Such is the expenditure now going on for the support of an armed 
 force on the coast of Africa; and its effects have been as injurious as 
 that appropriation of public money has been unprincipled. The slave 
 trade is undiminished, and the horrors of the passage are greater 
 than at any previous period. 
 
 ' 6. Self supporting Workhouses, Gaols, and Industrial Schools .— 
 There is no greater inducement to an idle life than the comforts pro¬ 
 vided in workhouses and gaols, so superior to those enjoyed in the 
 cottages of labouring men. Men may talk or write about starvation 
 in workhouses, but they are guilty of falsehood if they know any 
 
 • thing of the manner of living in these establishments; and if they do 
 ; not, their abuse is as contemptible as it is deceitful. Such abuse has 
 ' done much to encourage the worst passions of the most worthless 
 j portion of society at home; and has greatly tended to prejudice foreign 
 ! nations against this country, as they take these descriptions of cruelty 
 
 in their most literal sense, and have no means of ascertaining that the 
 1 mode of life so condemned is superior to that enjoyed by three-fourths 
 | of their own population. If an American demagogue wished to 
 ‘ excite the hatred of the citizens against the English in the hope of 
 : a war respecting the Oregon territory, at the stormy debates on which 
 1 subject, at Washington, the writer of this was present for ten days 
 ' together, he desired no better argument to bring the aristocracy of 
 England into contempt than the articles contained in certain English 
 newspapers, on the cruelties of the new Poor Law, enacted and supported 
 1 by that aristocracy; neither the speaker nor his hearers having the 
 5 means of knowing that those articles were gross exaggerations and 
 ' usually the very reverse of the facts. Whatever may have been the 
 , Cause, the fact is certain, that these houses are centres of attraction to 
 j the idle and dissolute.' Only one circumstance prevents a tenfold 
 ! demand for admittance into them,—the gin shop is not there;—men 
 ! are not licensed to get drunk on the premises ! It is, however, a 
 . question of justice, whether the sober and industrious ratepayer 
 j ought to be liable to this heavy charge; and whether a system cannot 
 : be devised which shall enable these idle persons to pay their own 
 ' expenses so long as they chose to reside in these places. With 
 very few exceptions, all the inmates of a workhouse or prison will 
 1 confess that their own idle and drunken habits have brought them 
 
 • there:—they had been so disorderly that no one would employ them; 
 —they had gone into debt till no one would trust them;—they had 
 
 ■ pawned their goods for drink till there remained nothing to pawn. 
 
 They had done this knowing that if the worst came to the worst they 
 ' had a home in the workhouse, and after such a wicked life they were 
 not at all ashamed, neither could they blush, but they demand a 
 hoioe in which they take refuge, and there, perhaps, for twenty yearn 
 
they reside at the expense of those who have been industrious and 
 self-denying. It cannot, however, be right that they who hava 
 already injured society by their bad habits shall be allowed still 
 further to injure society by living as long as they please at its cost. 
 It cannot be right that the felon who has already caused loss to his 
 neighbours by his felony, and much expense by his being takenand tried, 
 should still further rob those neighbours by living at their cost. As 
 to his being placed under the means of reformation it is a mere 
 delusion. His daily life is at variance with the laws of his Maker; 
 he is eating the bread of his fellow men; and if there were ten 
 chaplains in every prison and workhouse, their labours, with some rare 
 exceptions, would be thrown away. A reformed inmate, who will 
 still continue to be reformed when he has returned to the atmosphere 
 of beer shops and gin shops, is a being yet to be discovered. 
 
 A salutary check would be imposed if the inmates of workhouses 
 and gaols had to depend upon their own labour for their own support. 
 At the prison of Auburn, in the stale of New York, arrangements of 
 this kind are made; and the writer has seen the prisoners at work at 
 their respective trades under the superintendence of persons who have 
 taken from government a contract for this purpose. One of these 
 contractors was a well knowu master cutler from Sheffield, who after 
 striving as a member of the Auti-Corn-Law League for the repeal of 
 the Corn Laws, in order that he might export his articles of cutlery 
 to the United States, had given up all hope of success, and gone over 
 to America, there to introduce the art of making these articles on the 
 spot. In this way the prisoners were made not only to pay their 
 own expenses, but to provide something towards the revenue of the 
 state, and a small fund for their own use on the expiration of their 
 term of imprisonment. A similar system might be introduced into 
 workhouses for able-bodied men and women, for boys and girls, and 
 for vagrants. This latter class was formerly punished by law, but 
 under the name of tramps, it has been found easier to reward them 
 by food and lodging in the workhouse, in consequence of which their 
 numbers are rapidly increasing. At the workhouse of the Bath 
 Union, 30, 40, or even 50 in one night have sometimes demanded 
 admission; and, if not instantly admitted, they will threaten to 
 smash the windows. Here they get a supper, a night’s lodging, and 
 a breakfast the next morning; and after a slight amount of stone 
 breaking, which, through their idleness and insubordination costs more 
 for its superintendence than any profit that can be derived therefrom, 
 they depart, and take their journey towards the next workhouse, 
 begging- or stealing by the way. In this way they make the tour of 
 the whole kingdom at the public cost; and as three-fourths of them 
 are found to be Irish, and the remainder the worst specimens of 
 English, they become the means of circulating bad feelings and 
 rebellious sentiments throughout the land. An effectual' remedy 
 would be found in only expending so much upon a workhouse or 
 
prison as the inmates by their industry had earned. Not a penny 
 should be taken from the industrious to feed the idle. Separate 
 asylums might be provided for the infirm aud for young children at 
 the public charge. 
 
 7. The Extension of the Suffrage .—Many persons have recently had 
 their attention drawn to the state of the representation; and in their 
 alarm they display an anxiety to concede every demand. Demands, 
 however, though reasonable in themselves, if conceded to the threat 
 of the pike and the dagger, would be attended with the most disastrous 
 results, aud would offer a premium to riot and anarchy. Displays of 
 physical force are not the exponents of the good sense of the people 
 at large. The demagogue leads his followers by the hope of plunder, 
 whereas the middle classes and the vast majority of the working 
 classes desire only to he peaceably and justly governed. They have 
 
cheap newspapers by the removal of the stamp duty.” One of 
 these points, annual parliaments, was consented to by the writer in 
 
 deference to some excellent friends with whom he acted. His own 
 
 opinion has always been in favour of parliaments of three years’, or 
 certainly not less than two years’ duration, which last is the period 
 for which the congress of the United States is elected. 
 
 The exercise of these rights requires a sober, honest, and enlightened 
 people. Drunkenness and violence not only unfit men for the 
 possession of the franchise, but they cause'the orderly portion of the 
 community to regard it with dread. It was on this account that in 
 the second part of the pamphlet “ How to get them,” his recom¬ 
 mendations were contained under the following heads :—“ By deserv¬ 
 ing litem," and “ tty enlisting public opinion in their favour ■’ and, 
 that in order to accomplish the latter object “ they must shew by the 
 moral means which they use in seeking the suffrage that they will use 
 none but moral means when they have it ■’ “ They should divest them¬ 
 selves of that ardent desire for law making which has been so conspi¬ 
 cuous;’’ “In their speeches and writings they should display a deep 
 sense of public justice.” Since that time the subject of universal 
 suffrage has been to him one of seiious thought; and when in the 
 United States, it was one of his chief objects to ascertain from intel¬ 
 ligent men how far it could he safely introduced into England. He 
 found that all liberal men wei e of opinion that it might ultimately be 
 introduced ; hut that all agreed that since the propetty and institutions 
 of this country had grown up under the limited suffrage, a sudden 
 change to universal suffrage would produce irretrievable confusion 
 and destroy public credit. The question was then put whether it 
 would he safe to introduce into the British House of Commons a 
 small number of members, elected by the votes of all the inhabitants 
 of a district. The answer was that it would be both safe and desi- 
 ! ra'ole. It is, therefore, suggested to those who seek justice and good 
 : order to consider whether in tilling up the places in the present par- 
 ; liamcnt, which shall be vacant by death, the issue of a writ might 
 I not be accompanied by a direction to the returning officer of the 
 j district to invite the votes of all persons of twenty-one years of age, 
 j not being criminals'or paupers, who have resided in such district for 
 ; the space of six months. By this means the nation at large would be 
 enabled to form an opinion as to the kind of representatives that would 
 be chosen, and to decide whether such system might he extended to 
 a larger number, and at the next general election, to all the members. 
 It is probable that in some instances the people would make an inju¬ 
 dicious selection, hut they would be in the way of learning by their 
 mistakes. Men never learn the rights of property so well as when 
 they have a little property of their own. They do not learn to swim 
 till they are actually in the water. Nor can they acquire the art of 
 selecting a suitable person to represent them in parliament till a few 
 trials and failures have taught them not to rely upon flattering 
 
30 
 
 speeches and large promises, but on the consistent conduct of upright 
 men. The noisy declaimer is ready to promise plenty of money 
 j and plenty of food, but he is less likely to bring about either of them 
 than the man who boldly inculcates diligence and self-reliance. In 
 the school of experience the people will learn that the denouncer of 
 ' class legislation will sometimes legislate only for his own class:—that 
 he who has exposed the profligate expenditure of governments may 
 himself squander the whole contents of the treasury t—that the orator 
 . who has captivated large audiences by his eloquent defence of annual 
 ; parliaments, may, when seated in parliament, be the first to propose 
 ; that the sitting of that assembly shall be permanent. But because too 
 ' many of the working classes have placed implicit reliance on dis¬ 
 honest and violent men, it does not therefore follow that the working 
 | classes should not have votes. It only shews that before they trust 
 j the concerns of the country in the hands of an unknown assembly, 
 
 , it would be to tbeir advantage as well as to the satisfaction of the 
 j rest of the community, that they should try their skill in the election 
 i of a portion of that assembly. Such practice would be given by the 
 , proposed method of filling up the vacancies caused by death. 
 
 ] If the legislature would forthwith give this power, the choice of the 
 j people would be found to be more judicious than timid persons are apt ; 
 J to imagine; and this would be the case whether the country should j 
 prefer that the trial were made by complete suffrage or by household [ 
 , suffrage, including lodgers. It is to be kept in mind that extended j 
 , suffrage does not exclude the present voters. Men of property 
 •’ would still have weight. Men of intelligence would still have influ- 
 | ence. And to counterbalance the ignorant and intemperate there 
 , would be a highly valuable addition of young men of every profes- 
 ] sion, clerks, warehousemen, journeymen, and shopmen, most of whom j 
 , would be found on the side of good order. It may be thought that 
 , the extension of the suffrage rvould lead to an extension of pauper- 
 i ism, whereas it would lead to the reverse. It is the wealthy, and not 
 , the industrious classes who pauperise the idle and improvident. 
 
 ] However ready the indolence of human nature may be to be pacified 
 I for a time, by charitable aid, yet, the good sense of working men tells 
 , them that their only real friends are the advocates of justice; and 
 . that philanthropic legislation is but the price paid for the continuance 
 , of oppressive laws. At the late election for Bath, the working classes 
 i had their choice between Lord Ashley, who would give relief to them 
 t as paupers, but deny them votes as men; and Mr. Roebuck, who 
 ] offered no charitable aid, but claimed for them their rights; who 
 . wanted not to keep them quiet in poverty, but to see them rise to 
 , independence; who promised no help but that which would enable 
 s them to help themselves;—and they declared themselves in favour of 
 t Mr. Roebuck* who, if the voice of industry could have decided the 
 
election, would have taken his seat in the House of Commons, as the 
 representative of Bath. 
 
 8. Church Reform .—On this subject the author must refer to his 
 former publications, as want of space will only permit him to offer one 
 suggestion, as a step in the right direction. On the death of a pre¬ 
 late, instead of filling up the vacancy, let the title and functions of a 
 ‘bishop be conferred upon the archdeacons of the diocese, who, with 
 the rural deans, already perform the chief work of clerical superin- 
 ■tendance. The wealth and power of prelacy cannot much longer be 
 permitted. Of the undue exercise of this power, the writer cannot 
 ■speak personally; as, during an incumbency of twenty-two years, he 
 has experienced nothing but courteous treatment from the successive 
 Bishops of Bath and Wells; and although he has at various times 
 ■expressed his sentiments on ecclesiastical matters, there has been no 
 attempt on tbeir pan to interfere with his freedom of speech or of 
 writing. But it is a fact beyond dispute that, at least in one diocese, 
 the clergy are subject to a charter of tyranny whose despotic sway 
 ■if exercised over paupers or felons instead of over the clergy, would 
 ■rouse public indignation in every part of the empire. However 
 venerable the character, and however judicious the conduct, of the 
 ■other prelates, the existence of such arbitrary' power is inconsistent 
 with the spirit of this enlightened age; is contrary to all sound views 
 ■of Christian liberty; is a denial of the right of private judgment, 
 and a contradiction of the sixth article of the Church of England, 
 which declares that “ whatsoever is not read in the Holy Scriptures, 
 •nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it 
 should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought necessary to 
 salvation.” 
 
 9. A Constitution and Supreme Court .—Complete suffrage may 
 lead to salutary reforms in church and state; or to the destruc¬ 
 tion of both. One course alone can prevent danger, and it is 
 marked out in the prayer for members of parliament, presciibed 
 by the Church of England;—“ That all things may be so ordered 
 and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest 
 toundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, reli¬ 
 gion and piety may be established among us for all generations.” 
 •Let our rulers restore the church to iis apostolic simplicity and 
 practical utility; let them remove the temptation to dangerous 
 legislation, by doing justice to the industrious classes; let them 
 at once Impose a legacy duty upon land; abolish the laws of 
 primogeniture and entail; arrange an equitable system of direct tax¬ 
 ation ; sell the crown lands; establish self-supporting gaols and work- 
 houses ; and make judicious arrangements for the extension of the 
 suffrage. Having done this, let them provide for future safety, bv 
 preparing a Constitution, which, like that of the United States, 
 shall define the powers of the legislature. At present, there is no 
 British constitution. At any time the legislature can make changes