means, to get the opportunity to attempt to superintend" or domineer. 66 Some of the most emphatic and unmistakeable constitutional principles of England, bear upon this important subject, - a subject to which, happily, much attention is now being given, and to which more will continue to be given. Sufficient opportunities will afford themselves to us of illustrating these principles and their application in future numbers. They affect no less the mode of the administration of the law (the jury system, summary jurisdiction, coroners, crown-appointed justices, &c.) than they do the management of affairs touching local common welfare. Two of them, enough for the present purpose, may be thus stated: "Every man knows best how to manage his own affairs; and it is his right and duty so to manage them;-points which apply equally to associated groups of men, in reference to all the affairs which concern them as individual groups. "In no matters relating either to individuals or to associated groups can any one person, or any clique, whether nearer or remoter, have the right to dictate, either to the individual or to the group." Unable, in the present article, either to enter on the proofs or give illustrations of the application of these principles, we cannot do better than close by quoting the pregnant words of a statesman, than whom no man could pronounce an opinion in favour of local self-government and against the evils of centralization more impartially. He conducted the affairs of a great empire through the machinery of centralization, and found it fail him. Guizot thus reiterates, thirty years after he he had first said it, having in the meantime tested its truth by practice,-the value of local nature is as much opposed to that of the child as night is to day. Under her new circumstances, however, little Ellen's sweet disposition wins for her many friends; and when, at length, we part with her, the interest that has been created in our breasts by her vicissitudes, and the manner in which she has encountered them, is gratified by a picture of her real happiness, founded on worldly comforts and human sympathies, but far more upon hopes of the "life everlasting." The incidents are purely of a domestic character, and therefore generally tame enough; and the work owes its principal attraction to the graphic powers of the authoress in dealing with familiar subjects. There is little of originality in the portraiture of the characters, although the groupings are new, and the individuals are placed in positions and subjected to trials different from those occupied and undergone by their counterparts, who have been introduced to us by other writers. For example: in the career of Ellen we frequently fancy that we are renewing our acquaintance with Dickens' precociously-grave and intelligent Nell, and Mrs. Stowe's pious and and illustrated by some beautiful specimens of spiritual Eva. The work is elegantly got up, the wood-cutting art. We subjoin a few passages as specimens of the style of the authoress : MOTHER AND DAUGHTER.-"When evening came, they were again left to themselves. Captain Montgomery was away, which was indeed the case most of the time; friends had taken their departure; the curtains were down, the lamp lit, the little room looked cozy and comfortable; the servant had brought the tea-things and withdrawn, and the mother and daughter were happily alone. Mrs. Montgomery knew that such occasions were numbered, and fast drawing to an end, and she felt each one to be very preshaded, and her eyes fixed upon her little daughter, who was preparing the tea. She watched her, with thoughts and feelings not to be spoken, as the little figure went back and forward between the table and the fire; and the light shining full upon her busy face, shewed that Ellen's whole soul was in her beloved duty. Tears would fall as she looked, and were not wiped away; but when Ellen, I think,' said Alice, we shall see the glimmer of Mrs' Van Brunt's friendly candle by-and-bye.' But more uneasily and more keenly now she strove to see that glimmer through the darkness; strove till the darkness seemed to press painfully upon her eyeballs, and she almost doubted her being able to see any light, if light there were; it was all black, thick darkness still. She began to question anxiously with herself which side of the house was Mrs. Van Brunt's ordinary sitting-room-whether she should see the light from it before or after passing the house; and now her glance was directed often behind her, that they In vain she looked forward or back; it was all one; no cheering glimmer of lamp or candle greeted her straining eyes. Hurriedly now, from time to time the comforting words were spoken to Ellen; for to pursue the long stretch of way that led onward from Mrs. Van Brunt's to Miss Fortune's would be a very serious matter;- Alice wanted comfort herself. Shall we get there soon, do you think, her painfully over the deepening snow. Miss Alice?' said poor Ellen, whose wearied feet carried The tone of voice went to Alice's heart. 'I don't know, my darling, I hope so,' she answered; but it was spoken rather patiently than cheerfully. Almost immediately Ellen exclaimed, in a might be sure in any case of not missing the desired haven. totally different tone, 'There's a light, but it isn't a candleit is moving about-what is it? What is it, Miss Alice?' They stopped and looked. A light there certainly was, dimly seen, moving at some little distance from the fence, on the opposite side of the road. All of a sudden it disappeared. 'What is it?' whispered Ellen, fearfully. I don't know, my love, yet, wait. They waited several life, what can it have done with itself?-there it is again! minutes. What could it be?' said Ellen. It was certainly a light; I saw it as plainly as I ever saw anything in my going the other way! Alice waited no longer, but screamed out Who's there? But the light paid no attention to her it travelled on. cry; 'Halloo!' called Alice again, as loud as she could. Halloo!' answered a rough deep voice. The light suddenly stopped. That s he! that's he!' exclaimed Ellen in an ecstacy, and almost dancing, I know it-its Mr. Van Brunt! its Mr. Van Brunt! Oh, Miss Alice! Struggling between crying and laughing, Ellen could not stand it, but give way to a good fit of crying." As we have unreservedly spoken of the merits of "The Wide, Wide World" we shall, with equal self-government as shown in England, and the cious. She now lay on her couch, with her face partially candour, "hint a fault" which appears insepara mischiefs of centralization, as shewn in France. * "On the Continent, centralization has resulted from an absolute power which has broken up and absorbed all local powers. In England, on the other hand, local powers have subsisted after a thousand vicissitudes, while they have increasingly regulated and defined their own action. A This cir we central government has emanated from them by degrees; it has progressively formed and extended itself. cumstance has been the principal cause of the establishment of a free government in England. "When we study the institutions of France shall perceive one great revolution almost entirely destroyed every vestige of our ancient local institutions, and led to the centralization of all power. We now suffer from the excess of this system; and, having returned to just sentiments of practical liberty [this was written long before 1850, though re-published again by Guizot himself since that date, we are desirous (that is, it is essential) to restore to localities the life of which they have been deprived, and to resuscitate local institutions." It can only be lamented that M. Guizot did not use the means and opportunities which he had within his grasp, to help in doing that of which he saw the necessity so clearly. The re-publication, since his fall, of these opinions, is the most emphatic confession of his own errors, as a practical statesman, that it was possible to make. The lesson and the confession ought not to be lost on England, nor on those among us who sneer at "Vestry-lization," or who would arrogate the functions or the capacity to "superintend" local government. * "History of the Origin of Representative Government in Europe." Lew Books. [Works intended for notice in this journal may be forwarded to Messrs. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane, addressed "To the Editor of The Constitutional."] THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD. BY ELIZABETH WETHERELL. Routledge and Co. The story of a life fated to go early into "the wide, wide world," and meet "Fortune's buffets and rewards," receiving the first with a resigned having finished her work, brought with a satisfied face the little tray of tea and toast to her mother, there was no longer any sign of them left. Mrs. Montgomery rose, with her usual kind smile, to shew her gratitude by honouring, as far as possible, what Ellen had provided." TREADING ON A FLOWER." Presently her ear caught, as she thought, the voice of Mrs. Dunscombe saying, in rather an under tone, but laughing, too, 'What a figure she does cut in that outlandish bonnet.'" Ellen had no particular reason to think she was (meant, and yet she did think so. She remained quite still, but with mixed colour and quickened breathing, waited to hear what would come next. Nothing came at first, and she was beginning to think, perhaps, she had been mistaken, when she plainly heard Margaret Dunscombe say, in a loud whisper-Mamma, I wish you could contrive some way to keep her in the cabin- can't you? She looks so odd in that queer sunbonnet kind of a thing that any body would think she had come out of the woods; and no gloves too:- I should not like to have the Miss M'Arthurs think she belonged to us; - now can't you Mamma?' If a thunderbolt had fallen at Ellen's feet, the shock would hardly have been greater. The lightning of passion shot through every vein. And it was not passion only; there was much feeling and wounded pride; and the sorrow, of which her heart was full enough before, now wakened afresh. The child was beside herself. One wild wish for a hiding place was the most pressing thought, to be where her tears could burst and her heart could break unseen. She slid off her bench, and rushed through the crowd to the red curtain that cut off the far end of the saloon; and from there down to the cabin bottom-people were everywhere. At last she spied a nook where she could be completely hidden. It was in the far back end of the boat, just under the stairs by which she had come down. No body was sitting on three or four large mahogany steps that ran round that end of the cabin, and sloped up to the little cabin window; and creeping beneath the stairs, and seating herself on the lowest of these steps the poor child found that she was quite screened, and out of sight of every human creature. It was time, indeed: her heart had been almost bursting with passion and pain, and now the pent-up tempest broke forth with a fury that racked her little frame from head to foot; and the more because she strove to stifle every sound of it as much as possible. very bitterness of sorrow, without any softening thought to allay it, and sharpened and made more bitter with mortification, and a passionate sense of unkindness and wrong. And through it all, now constantly in her heart, the poor It was the ble from the writings of a class of American writers; and which, indeed, is not confined to the literature of our transatlantic cousins. We allude to the unseasonable introduction of scriptural phrases and the most sacred considerations in the affairs of every-day life. This mistake-to call it by a mild term-pervades "Uncle Tom's Cabin." We do not believe that it can do aught but mischief; for serious people do not apply for consolation to romances of any description; and those who are careless or hardened will sneer at the solemn passages as the worst of cant. The same defect in the mind of Mrs. Wetherell has caused her to disfigure her work by other errors. instance, Ellen is asked by her hospitable guardian to take a biscuit and a glass of wine. She "munches the biscuit," but she shrinks with loathing, and "the blood rushes up to her temples," at the bare idea of "tasting" the wine, although we are nowhere told that she had taken the pledge from Father Mathew, during his visit to the States. Then Ellen is called upon to make three earnest promises; one of which is— For "Read no novels." "I never do, John, I knew you did not like it, and I have taken good care to keep out of the way of them." Not to speak of the absurdity of exacting such a promise in a work of fiction, does it not betray a lack of confidence in the principles of the heroine? THE LADY OF THE LAKE. BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh. It would be "wasteful and ridiculous excess," at this time of day, to vindicate the claim which this noble poem asserts to a place among the works of our best British poets; and we only introduce it for the purpose of expressing our admiration of the splendid style in which the We know that present edition has been got up. whether he be covered with rags or cloth of gold, the spell of the Wizard is equally potent; but we have the jewel in a casquet worthy of its brilliancy. spirit, and the other with a thankfulness which is child was reaching forth longing arms towards her far-off confess to a liking for the latter garb. Here we the result of religious culture. In consequence of the failure of a law-suit by Mr. Montgomery --for even in "The Model Republic" the ruin of people is accomplished, now and then, as effectually as in "Old England," by litigationhe is compelled to quit New York for Europe, leaving his young daughter, Ellen, to the care of an Aunt Emerson, whose hard, ungenial mother, and calling, in secret, on her beloved. name. Oh, with painful care groping their way, they pushed on HORRORS OF A SNOW STORM.-"Slowly and patiently, through the snow and the thick night. Alice could feel the earnestness of Ellen's grasp upon her clothes. and Goodwin, Bath. A story with a purpose, as its name indicates, well written and attractively illustrated. DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. HE NATIONAL POOR-LAW ASSOCIATION has METROPOLITAN COMMITTEE. The Lord Bishop of Ripon. Joseph Kay, Esq., B.A. George Bowyer, Esq., M.P. James Clay, Esq., M.P. William Ewart, Esq., M.P. J. Heywood, Esq., M.P. F.R.S. P. 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PHE COMMERCIAL JOURNAL AND FAMILY HERALD, a Liberal Newspaper, extensively circulated throughout the Four Provinces of Ireland, and published every SATURDAY Morning simultaneously in the Cit es of Dublin, Belfast, and Cork. The present number of copies issued each week, exceeds Six Thousand Seven Hundred. HENRY SHAW, Proprietor. To Advertisers, anxions to extend their trade to Ireland, to Ship Owners, shippers, Emigration Agents, and all parties anxious to extend the area of their Mercantile operations, no better medium could be selected for communicating with the Irish industrial public, than this Journal. The circulation given above does not convey a just idea of the number of hands into which it passes, as from the literary matter which it contains.- it carries with it an attraction which may be said, at the very least, to add a five-fold increase to its circulation. To Irishmen resident in England, glad to see at a glance the week's end what is doing in the "Old Country," we would recommend our domestic summary. If they will subscribe for our paper, the cheapest in the United Kingdom, they will have in addition the Foreign and English news of the week; and besides a weekly literary sheet, which in point of merit, is at least, on a level with the current Magazine Literature, one of its most attractive features being a story continued from week to week, by a wellknown Irish literateur, L. A. Berwick. There is one circumstance which should strongly recommend this Journal as a Family Newspaper, namely, its entire freedom from all the details of crime which unfornately form the contents of so many weekly papers. quarterly, payable in advance.. Proprietor, 40, Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin. IN THE PRESS. THE CONDITION AND EDUCATION OF POOR CHILDREN IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN TOWNS. By Joseph Kay, M.A., Barrister-at-Law. Published by the Manchester Statistical Society. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longman. Poor Law Circular. Under the superintendence of the Executive Committee of "THE NATIONAL POOR LAW ASSOCIATION" (established to promote the substitution of productive labour for idleness and useless tests), who are responsible for this department of the Publication exclusively. Communications to be addressed to the Secretaries of the Association, 1, Elm Court, Temple, London, and 7, Norfolk-street, Manchester. THE LEEDS BOARD OF GUARDIANS. LABOUR TESTS. THERE is a confusion of ideas on the part of the Leeds Board in reference to a very important part of Poor Law administration; and as the same confusion exists elsewhere than at Leeds, we shall be excused for offering a few remarks upon the subject. Upon the re-election of Mr. Baines, as member for Leeds, rendered necessary by his accepting the Chairmanship of the Poor Law Board, in the place of Sir John Trollope, the guardians of the Leeds Union took the opportunity of addressing Mr. Baines upon the subject of the late "Order." Mr. Baines, like a skilful diplomatist, combined in his reply courteousness and obscurity. It may be gathered, however, from what he said, that the article principally objected to by the Leeds guardians (No. 6, requiring labour to be provided for the able-bodied out-door poor) will not be materially altered. With what reason or propriety, indeed, it could be withdrawn, considering the arguments founded by the Commissioners upon the letter of the 43d Elizabeth, and the spirit of all the subsequent enactments, we can hardly see. The following is the passage from the address, relating to article No. 6: "While acknowledging that it is desirable, and taking credit for it having been the practice of this Board to impose a task of work as a test of destitution, in the case of persons who are repeated applicants for relief, the guardians respectfully beg to represent that there are many cases in which respectable and industrious labourers are compelled, by the sudden want of employment, especially in manufac turing districts, to apply for parochial aid; and they think it desirable that the regulations on that behalf should be so altered as to relieve the guardians from the necessity of imposing upon all alike this same rigorous test." The Chairman, Mr. Thomas Newsham, in introducing the subject of the memorial, observed :"That article (No. 6) was exceedingly oppressive on a deserving class of men, aud deprived the guardians of all discretionary power. In Leeds there was a large number of men-cloth dressers, dyers, and others-who were dependent for employment upon the purchases of merchants; and who were occasionally thro en out of employment for a week, perhaps, or more. There were bricklayers and bricklayers' labourers, who were sometimes, by inclement weather, deprived of em ployment for a short period. In these cases the guardians had given casual relief, with permission to seek employ, which was generally very soon obtained. Upon both these classes it was a great injustice to inflict the labour test by sending them to sweep the streets; and looking from the pamper to the ratepayer, it was positively very wrong, as, when once a man caste amongst his fellow-workmen, became reckless, and continued a pauper." Felt himself degraded by being sent to sweep the streets, he lost We beg our readers' particular attention to the singular assumption apparent throughout these extracts. Neither the Frohibitory Order nor the accompanying instructional letter say one word of labour "as a test of destitution." But the Leeds Board and its chairman argue throughout as if the order prescribed this and nothing else. They shew, indeed, as we have always contended, that the sweeping of streets, oakum picking, or any other foul or degrading occupation, imposed upon applicants mainly to deter them from applying for reli f, is cruel, demoralizing, and costly. But by whom were the Leeds Poard invited to impose such "tests" upon "deserving labourers," or upon anybody else? Not by the Poor Law Beard. Its chairman, indeed, alarmed by the agitation against his "order," certainly did suggest the employment of sweeping streets. But he did so, obviously, rather to meet objections, than as a substantive recommendation. Of what use, it may be asked, is "test" of destitution, when the destitution is known, as it is in the case of the "deserving labourers" alluded to by Mr. Newsham? The order requires that persons whose applications for relief have been complied with shall then be set to a work, in order to return in usefulness to the pub- digging holes and filling up again, and their mainlic that, or part of that, which such relief may ab- tenance be paid for by the ratepayers. The money stract from the public resources. But what the of the ratepayers goes to buy potatoes for the pauLeeds guardians do,-and so many other Boards of pers, instead of being laid out on some branch of Guardians unfortunately, do not,-object to impose industry or other for their own behoof; so that to upon the deserving, is something very different. industry in the aggregate, exclusive of the rateIt is not labour intended to be performed, but labour payers, there is no difference. But there is this intended to be refused. They charge the Com- most substantial difference-that the ratepayer missioners with prescribing degrading conditions, gets nothing, instead of something, for his money. which the industrious and deserving labourer The ratepayer, therefore, as it needed no conjuror will sooner starve than comply with, but which to tell, loses the difference. And this is the way the idle and profligate will, not minding the in which the maintenance of paupers is a loss to degradation accept; whereas the instructional the country-viz., by the taking the amount from letter shews that they must have intended the re- the ratepayers, through the intervention of their verse, namely, labour such as that prescribed by getting nothing for their money, though to inthe old statutes, by Bacon and by Bentham,-dustry in the aggregate, exclusive of them, there labour which none but the idle and incorrigi- is a balance. ble would refuse, and by which the industrious may benefit both the public and himself, and his children may be prevented from becoming, as upon the present system they often must, paupers, or worse. Neither the word nor the idea of "labour test" occurs in any statute, old or recent; and the attempt to identify this with the true notion of labour, sanctioned equally by law, humanity, and common sense, we cannot help characterizing as either a very gross fallacy, or a somewhat remarkable misapprehension. COLONEL THOMPSON ON “PAUPER" LABOUR. We have been gratified by receiving the following communication from the veteran Political Economist and father of Free Trade, Colonel T. Perronet Thompson. We think that, after reading this letter, the most "high and dry" elève of the "Manchester School" will allow that, besides being based upon the most humane and Christian view of our duty towards the poor, the system advocated by the Poor Law Association is borne out by the strictest Political Economy. We shall welcome further communications from Colonel Thompson upon some others of the subjects upon which he is so well qualified to speak. 66 TO THE EDITOR OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL." "If this is true, the dread of allowing paupers to do anything that may produce an income, is a superstition. And it is a superstition which is only another form of the superstition of Protection, consisting in regarding the outcry of the parties who feel their profits interfered with, without regarding the facts that there are other and equal parties whose profits are raised in the same degree; and that the further result of the scheme is to be, that a third set are to give their money for nothing. If this is so, it is a point that must be stuck to, and carried inch by inch; for the expense of all the paupers in England and Ireland is not to be gratuitously thrown upon the ratepayers for a blunder or a whim. "In these days of Free Trade, this is a question which ought to be worked out to the utmost, and will be." If you think this worth insertion after what has already appeared, it is entirely at your service. RELIEF IN KIND. missioners on the 25th of August, there appeared In the "order" issued by the Poor law Comthe following instruction with regard to the distribution of relief in kind: Whenever the guardians shall allow relief to any indigent poor person out of the workhouse, one-third at least of such relief allowed to any person who shall be indigent and helpless from age, sickness, accident, or bodily or mental infirmity, or who shall be a widow having a child or children dependent on her, incapable of working, and one-half at least of the relief allowed to any able-bodied person, other than such widow as aforesaid, shall be given in articles of food or SIR,-Though I cannot hope to add substantially many scandalous evils-the earnings of the ratepayers being notoriously squandered in beer-shops and public-houses-that when the "order" appeared, it was deemed necessary to make an attempt to carry it out. How this has been done will be learned by a perusal of the following extract from a local journal, the Guardian:- lieve, been celebrated for displaying any marked The Manchester guardians have never, we beTuesday, 8th July, 1851.-" A curious and im- under their management; but the plan they had anxiety to ameliorate the condition of the poor portant question was raised by the motion of the so long pursued, contrary to the spirit if not the member for Tipperary, for facilitating the emletter of the Poor-law Amendment Act, of giving ployment of the inmates of workhouses in repro-relief to claimants in money, was followed by so ductive labour,' which, in these days of free trade, ought not to be left undecided. Ought the inmates of workhouses to be employed in the way by which most money can be raised; or ought they as to a greater or less extent is the present practice, to be employed in breaking stones which nobody wants to use, or digging holes and filling them up again, with the mere intention of making their lives uneasy? The argument for the last is, that if their produce is sold, it interferes with the reward of labour, Now sift this, and see if it is anything but the fallacy of Protection in another form. Suppose the inmates of the workhouse grow cauliflowers, which may be put for something it is not convenient or economical they should consume themselves. The cauliflowers are added to those in the market, and thereby produce some effect in lowering the price of cauliflowers, and diminishing the reward of cauliflower-growers. But the very sum produced is expended on potatoes, thereby, in an equal degree, tending to raise the price of potatoes, and increase the reward of potato-growers. The thing is, therefore, in this respect, as broad as it is long. And, next, for the consequences of stopping this exchange of cauliflowers for potatoes, and decreeing that the papers shall be employed in We must premise that each applicant to the relieving officers, receives a card-white, if a "settled case;" pink, if "non-settled;" and green, if "Irish "--showing the district in which he or she resides, and the number by which the case is entered in the township books. Another ticket is also given to each applicant, stating the amount to which "relief in kind" is to be given. These serve as orders for provisions, which may be presented at the industrial estab lishment on any day; although, as a general rule, business is only done on four days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday being the most brisk. On entering the establishment, the paupers are sent into the lower storey, and take their seats in due rotation, in the night room of the male tramps; and to prevent confusion, they are afterwards drafted off in batches of six, who are removed to the lobby, and thence allowed to proceed upstairs to the first floor. Here a room formerly used as a clothes store has been fitted up, as a provision shop--we know no more suitable term, much as some may be disgusted at the notion of the guardians becoming retail shopkeepers. The articles kept in stock (very largely too) are the following:-Bread, meal, tea, coffee, sugar, soap, candles, sugo, and rice, all fairly enough within the descriptions "food," or "other articles of absolute necessity." Entering the "shop," the pauper finds himself at a desk, at which a clerk is seated, the said clerk being busily engaged in filling up forms containing the names of the different articles, with the money value in each which the panper desires to receive, taking care of course that the total does not exceed the amount inscribed upon the second of the tickets before described. A "Manchester case" thus laid out Is. on Thursday morning:-Tea, 3d.; coffee, 2d.; sugar, 4d.; candles, 3d. Not a bad investment, either, for an elderly woman, during the winter months-" candles, 3d." clearly indicating long evenings. The form, so filled up is presented at an adjoining counter, pres ded over by a man and a woman, who rapidly supply all "orders," and the business is kept up continuously for some hours, without the least noise or bustle. Tea, coffee, sugar, and soap, are kept in packages of different values--a single pennyworth of any of the articles in stock may be had, with the exception of bread, which is supplied in 4lb. loaves only. At the present time, about 800 persons present orders on each of the four days; and last week, the value of the provisions supplied, amounted to £111. The amount is expected to be somewhat increased, as old cases are brought under the operation of the order At first, there was a great run upon sugar, but that has declined, and soap is now in the most constant demand: a hopeful sign this, for all sanitary reformers, whose efforts the guardians may be indirectly helping to a very great extent. Last week, 6 cwt. of soap were given out; and it would be a curious thing to know to what extent the consumption of each pauper, or his family, the list from which choice has to be made. One thing is certain, that for a given sum, the paupers obtian a greater quantity and a better quality of any article they may select, than they would from the small huxters' shops to which they have hitherto been in the habit of resorting. Tea is asked for to a much greater extent than coffee; and oatmeal seems to be highly approved of. In the matter of bread, a great boon is bestowed, the purity of the article being guaranteed by the grinding of flour, &c. on the premises. The testimony of all concerned in the management of this experiment, and the express ons of thankfulness of all but the most worthless class of paupers, combine to show that this experiment is working well, both for ratepayers and the poor. was increased, by the presence of the name of the article in ITS FRUITS. THE NON-PRODUCTIVE SYSTEM: the support of the poor. Would felicitations upon our national prosperity be uttered by Royal lips, if an impost of 16s. in the pound upon the entire rental of the kingdom were placed for the purpose of sustaining the poor within our gates ?" But this is the state of Ireland-an integral part of the United Kingdom! ACCOMPANIED by the absurd and arbitrary restrictions imposed by the Statute, or by functionaries who interpret it to suit their own views, the Irish Poor Law is, in many districts, a curse rather than a blessing. The peasantry have sunk to a "lower depth" than, in the judgment of statesmen and travellers, it was thought possible for humanity to reach. The farmers have fled in despair from the country, and the land has been confiscated. There are exemptions to this dismal state of things, it is true; but these are only presented in quarters, where the representative guardians of the poor have had the sagacity and the courage to disregard the edicts that have been issued against the industrial training and employment of persons relieved. In such cases, not only has the immediate pressure upon the ratepayers been mitigated, by enabling the destitute to contribute to their own support; but the community has reaped a permanent advantage by the newly-acquired means of the poor to become self-dependent members of society. Those Unions, however, which have had the misfortune to delegate their management to ignorant, bigoted, or supine guardians, have been visited with severe punishment. In order to illustrate these observations, we shall place, side by side, two cases, and ask the reader to LOOK UPON THIS PICTURE! A PROSPEROUS UNION.-The master of the Thurles workhouse sent to the Manchester Poor Law Conference very voluminous details of the in dustrial operations under his management, for the period commencing the 25th March, 1850, and ending 29th Sep tember, 1852. The cost of the raw materials, teach ng, and every other outlay, are placed against the results produced, and the profit is set down at £2,972 7s. 94d. These accounts are accompanied by a letter from the master, from which the following is an extract:-"Previons to March, 1850, very little was done in the way of employment, and hence it house was one of the most AND ON THIS! A DESTITUTE UNION.-A public meeting was held at Kilfenora, in the county of Clare, on Sunday last. was resolved that the taxa It tion of the Union had, during the past two years AMOUNTED TO 16S. IN THE POUND on the valuation, and that this state mismanagement and WANT of things was attributable to OF INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT. The meeting then resolved that the conduct of the late vice guardians [persons ap pointed by the Government to supersede the elected guardians] in connection with the auxiliary workhouses, is de serving our heavy animadversions, for having inflicted upon this Un'on, in the past, bitant claims, now made for repairs, amounting to over £7,000; and we respectfully missioners, we are entitled to relief from further contribution to an enormous expenditure, entirely traceable to was that the Thurles work- exorbitant rents and exor of the workhouses in Ire- submit to the Poor Law Com pline and management of any land. At the period alluded to, the average number of cases brought before the sessions court here might be set down at six weekly, while at officials of their own appoint ment. The Manchester Guardian is in raptures with the picture it has drawn, although it would not be difficult to suggest considerations that are calculated to throw a shade over it. Our contemporary has been in the habit of characterising the productive employment of the destitute poor who receive relief as savouring of communism; but surely the incidents above described are much more obnoxious to the imputation. 800 persons, many of them able-bodied, and the greater part of them competent to do something towards their own support-in the daily receipt of provisions supplied by the industry of the general public, and for which assistance they neither give nor are asked to give any service or equivalent in return! Why, if this mode of allocating the public money be not as bad as any system of communism that was ever hatched under the cap of a Red-Repub-insubordinate in its discilican, we are unable to say what can answer the description. According to the system pursued in unions, where self-supporting plans have been established, one great object is to protect the property of the community, instead of plundering it; for while the claimant takes a portion from the the present time they do not general stock, he is expected, to the utmost of his average more than one; the power, and he is furnished with the means, to renumber of desertions, and other acts of insubordination, place it by his labour. We suppose we must, for such as offences against the some time yet, continue to express our astonish- workhouse rules, might be ment that any difficulty should be felt in adopting set down at an average of 20 the mode which recommends itself by common cases weekly; at the present time they do not exceed two. Ont of the weaving sense and common justice. The Editor of the department four persons have been trained, and are now inGuardian, too, was some time ago afflicted with dependent members of society; out of the shoemaking dethe impression that productive labour in work-partment thirty-four boys have been taken, with similar houses was calculated to interfere with that abprospects; tailoring department, 32; carpentry, 4; bakery 5; crochet and sewed muslin room, 45; and such is the demand stract impossibility "independent labour;" but we for skilled labour, that applications are daily pouring in, presume his mental vision has now been cleared; particularly for tailors and shoemakers, until none have for certainly the establishment by public funds of een left to supply the wants of the house but the unskilled, who will, by-and-bye, be able to relieve themselves from a large "provision shop," where, "for a given their present dependent condition! Add to the above that sum," a "greater quantity and a better quality of eight others have been taken out, and employed as clerks any article" can be obtained, may be shown by his servants, &c I have taken the trouble to ascertain how long those persons have been in the house, and find it to have peculiar mode of argument, seriously to damage the been 4 1-3rd years on an average, so that they must have interests of tradesmen; and according to politico-cost the Union £2,210, at £4 per head yearly, an expense economic reasoning (erroniously so called), the evil would be aggravated by the "purity of the article being guaranteed by the grinding of flour, &c. on the premises." The grinding of flour" is productive employment--although of the rudest and most primitive kind-and is carried on in the Manchester Workhouse. As therefore the stock fallacy of the anti-productionists has been driven from its strongest hold, and productive labour at length admitted, we trust the ratepayers of Manchester will call upon their representatives to receive and act upon, without reserve, the principle advocated by the National Poor-law Association. trades. which would be still going on if they had not been put to In preparing his estimate for a new rate, a few days ago, the clerk found that no rate would be required for clothing for the next year, though heretofore this item cost 16s. per head, per year; so that, by this means, 1,600 times 16s. will be saved, which was heretofore drawn out of the pockets of the industrious portion of the community."" The Thurles Union is in a prosperous state, with a surplus placed to its credit at the bank. The Kilfenora Union, and others similarly managed, are either ruined or on the verge of bankruptcy. Could any other result be expected? In this busy and prosperous country we think it no light thing to be called upon to pay 3s. or 4s. in the pound towards We believe that a better spirit is beginning to enter into the councils of the administration of the Poor Law, both here and in the sister kingdoma spirit which, if the necessary "pressure from without" be applied, will, ere long, dictate the general enforcement of useful and productive labour in all our Unions. The "Prohibitory Order" of the 25th of August last, although partly withdrawn or modified, still retains its direction as to outdoor labour, though neutralized by Sir John Trollope's absurd suggestion of stone-breaking We trust that the Right and sweeping streets. Hon. M. T. BAINES, to whom the reins of office have been restored, will proceed, but with a little more judgment and celerity, in the same course. WORKHOUSE INDUSTRY.-OBSTACLES OVERCOME. On Monday, the 10th instant, at a meeting of the parent Board of Irish Manufacturers, held in Dublin, some interesting details were supplied, of the progress that has been made in various unions, in the training of youths and pauperized adults to habits of industry, and in finding employment for them out of the workhouse. Messrs M Reynells and Morgan, manufacturers, Belfast, having offered to employ 500 instructed workhouse boys, enlightened guardians in several districts have been stimulated to teach the lads under their care the art of weaving. The guardians of the Enniscorthy Union reported as follows:-"That there are twenty-two boys at present in the house, who have been taught the art of weaving, and many others left the house and are now working at their trades outside. That twelve of the twenty-two are capable of tackling and weaving a piece of linen, woollen, or cotton from beginning to end, and the remaining ten can weave tolerably; and that the guardians are most desirous of having those boys employed." A further communication was received from the guardians, stating that they had subsequently learned that they could not legally charge their expenses on the rates; expressing their regret that such a difficulty should prevent the advancement of a large number of children, and suggesting that some proposition be put forward which might be supported by the boards of guardians in order to procure an alteration in the tion among themselves, and forwarded to Belfast law. Ultimately the guardians raised a subscriptwo of their boys, as samples, and it is satisfactory to learn that they are doing well, and are comfortably housed. [It is worthy of notice, en passant, that while in England, the work house, as a general rule, is the last place to which an employer would apply for procuring a male or female servant--the degrading system of idleness and task-work rendering the inmates worse than useless-the Irish workhouses, in which discipline and industry prevail are eagerly consulted for workmen and domestics.] The chairman, Dr. Ryan, gave a detailed account of the results of industry in the South Dublin workhouse. "Fifty boys are employed learning the art of weaving and fabricating the articles required for the use of the house. Fourteen aged weavers are engaged assisting and instructing, as also a master weaver superintending; there have been within the last month produced by these 180 yards of materials, comprising tweeds, frieze, linen, calico, &c., and in that period 234 blankets were also made. Dr. Ryan then directed the attention of the meeting to several advertisements that appeared from workhouses in want of articles for the use of the house. The first was the Listowel Union, who required a large quantity of Bengal striped calico, ginghams, checks, and mens' and boys' caps. The next was the Portumna Union, requiring supplies of almost every article used by the paupers, comprising shoes, jackets, caps, blankets, &c. And he wanted to know how are the inmates employed? |