REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. EDITED BY GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS, AUTHOR OF THE FIRST AND SECOND SERIES OF " THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON," « THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT OF LONDON," & c. & c. No. 20.— Vol. 1.] SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1850. [ PRICE ONE PENNY. MR. ERNEST JONES. MB. ERNEST JONES is of Welsh origin, and descended from a long and aristocratic line of ancestors; he is the son of Colonel Jones, and godson of the old King of Hanover. That crowned despot has more reason to be proud of his godson than Mr. Jones can have of pos- sessing such a godfather. Truly, it were difficult to find two such extremes, such clashing and opposing elements as constitute the political creed of the royal godfather and that of his imprisoned namesake. The former has spent two- thirds of a century in upholding with all the power that fortuitous birth placed within his reach, the tyrannical and enormous abuses, the hereditary but absurd privileges, the wicked and preposterous delusions, maintained, enjoyed, and propagated for ages by those whose interest mainly consisted in circumscribing the freedom of a nation aud centralising all power, emolu- ment, and dignity in a small but unscrupulous faction. The age of this man has been prolonged much beyond the average span of human life, and in a worldly view his career has been smooth, calm, and prosperous; he has enjoyed in abundance the luxuries of life; but he has never produced the value of a blade of grass; he has invariably and strenuously opposed any advance in the social or political condition of that people which for eighty years has supplied him with treasures, palaces, and all those royal appurtenances so much coveted; and now, though tottering on the verge of the grave, yet would this man still stretch forth his palsied arjn to strike a last and faint blow at the liberty of the world! Such a being is the godfather and the king; but to such a creature the godson and the patriot pre- sents a lively and cheering contrast. Mr. Ernest Jones was educated in Germany, and is a proficient scholar in the German language; he is the author of several very clever poems; amongst others, one entitled, " My Life," evinces genius of no common order. But as a politician, as a reformer, as a Char- tist, as a patriot, and as a prisoner, the name of Ernest Jones will ever be held dear by the oppressed masses of his fellow countrymen. As an orator, whose impas- sioned words could arouse the dormant energies of a people crushed beneath a system of dark oppression 1 that had ground them to the dust for centuries, and as one whose powerful intellect and unsurpassed energy has been cruelly sacrificed and immured within the walls of j a political dungeon for nearly two years, owing to an enthusiastic advocacy of those glorious principles con- ' tained in the Peoples' Charter, Mr. Jones's name and example will furnish a bright subject for the pages of democratic literature. It is now about four years ago since he joined the Chartist movement, and it is doubt- less well known to every reader of this sketch in how very short a time he became one of its most popular orators; those who may have listened to him cannot fail to remember the effect he produced when concen- trating the whole ardour, force, and fire of his energetic soul in the development of any grand and engrossing idea. Mr. Jones was a barrister by profession, and would no doubt have risen to a high standing at the bar bad his genius but obtained a fair and unfettered opportu- nity in the arena of Westminster Hall. At the general election of 1847, in conjunction with Mr. Miall, the sub- ject of this sketch contested the borough of Halifax, as the Radical and Chartist candidates, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Charles Wood, and another gen- tleman. The liberals were however defeated, and some few months afterwards Mr. Ernest Jones represented a constituency in a far more honest and intellectual as- semblage than that of St. Stephen's,— the National Con- vention, held in John Street, in the year 1848. When the glorious French insurrection of February had been crowned with success; when the Provisional Government was exercising the power delegated by the people ; when Lamartine was the idol of a too generous and too cre- dulous nation, and whilst the democracy of other coun- tries, believing in tbe genuineness of his coalition with Ledru- Rollin, Louis Blanc, & c., whose names were held sacred by the oppressed millions of Europe, poured in addresses of felicitation to the weak and traitorous statesman, Ernest Jones repaired with others to Paris as a deputation from the democracy of England. On his return from thence that de- sire for freedom, awakened in the breast of every being worthy the denomination of " man," by the stirring and magnificent events upon the continent, was increased and fostered by the glowing descriptions and the magnificent picture of a nation shaking rudely off the dominion of a wicked king, and confiding the government of its people to the hands of simple citi- zens, pourtrayed by Mr. Jones, in his usual soul- stirring strain of impassioned eloquence. Its effect was electric ; 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. the English people had for many years been more or less apathetic to their own interests and rights: to all appearance they were hugging the chains that enslaved them; but now they arose in tiieir majesty, might, and number, displaying such a tremendous and gigantic power that could, if called into action, crush for ever the usurpations created by centuries of tyranny, spolia- tion, and wrong. Mr. Ernest Jones was one of the most active members at the Chartist Convention, and took a very prominent part in its proceedings; he accompanied the grand de- monstration which tool; place on Konnington Common on that memorable 10th of April, when the people were goaded on by insult and injury to expose themselves by one act which might bo construed into a defiance of that force collected by the government, to be murdered — unarmed and unprepared— by the bayonets, sabres, and muskets of their fellow- countrymen. Such a calamity did not ensue; and the 10th of April, to the regret of many thirsting for the people's blood, passed away in tranquillity and without slaughter. " Wo have often - wondered whether Lord John Russell and his colleagues ever read the duties of a soldier thus defined by the illustrious General Foy. " The army," he said, " with its back to the interior of the country, and its face to the enemy, owes implicit obedience, submission, and compliance to the orders of its superior officers : it should neither question nor dispute their authority ; but, when brought face to face with his fellow- citizen, the soldier has a right to reflect, judge, and determine for himself." As we before stated, the 10th of April passed away in peace; but government had marked out many victims upon whom they intended to pounce; for, although the people had escaped the murderous weapons prepared for them, it was intended they should pay a penalty in the persons of their leaders for the audacity they had dared display in meeting to petition for a redress of their long endured grievances. Some amongst those who figured prominently in the Chartist agitation es- caped the trap cunningly laid for them; but others were hunted, tracked, and dogged until they were handed over to the tender mercies of Sir John Jervis, her Ma- jesty's Attorney- General. Ernest Jones, as is well known, was arrested, tried, and condemned, under the " Gag- ging Act." The usual amount of deeply fabricated evidence was adduced; policemen were ready to swear anything; the jury had made up their minds beforehand to convict; and the judge was prepared to sentence. Of course Mr. Jones was convicted, and his lordship, on passing a sentence of two years' imprisonment, re- marked, that his case was one of peculiar aggravation; " being a man of education, and a barrister by profes- sion, he was well acquainted with the law, and no excuse could be offered for viplating it." According to such narrow reasoning a barrister must entertain no opinion of his own, but become a mere perambulating statute- book. The term of this cruel incarceration is drawing to a close, and in a few months Mr. Ernest Jones will again be free, we trust, with unimpaired en'ergy, although, we regret to state, his health has suffered severely by the merciless confinement and rigorous discipline to which he has been subjected. Thrust from his profession, in reality for the political doctrines he advocated, but under the shallow pretence of giving advice and holding consultations gratis— an enormous offence in the eyes of the big- wig barristers, and one they seldom or never commit— Mr. Ernest Jones will doubtless find, on release from his impri- sonment, such a fair and ample field for the exercise of his political knowledge and literary qualifications, as will amply compensate him for the loss of his wig and gown. The time will come when those manifold and splendid qualities, as yet scarcely developed or known, which constitute in Ernest Jones the elements for forming a statesman, a patriot, and an orator, will not only be appreciated, but, we trust, called into full ac- tivity; and may a long life of renown, happiness, and prosperity compensate for a cruel period of imprison- ment and hardship suffered in a good and holy cause— that of the People. THE CHARTIST AGITATION. THE resuscitated movement in favour of the Charter is daily and hourly gaining ground. In all the cities and principal towns of Great Britain the staunch friends of the cause are rallying around their old standard and are evincing a glorious determination to do their duty. The banner is once more flung' forth to the breeze; and the People, if true to themselves, will soon be as free as the air whieh their flag thus woos. The new combination of the Provisional Committee promises to work well; and it is the resolution of its members to adopt a firm and vigorous policy. They will not only take the necessary steps to conduct the agitation for the Charter to a successful issue along the paths of peace and order; but they will likewise adopt measures to inculcate the necessity and point out the nature of those social reforms whieh must be proclaimed simul- taneously with the demand for political justice. The Charter alone would be comparatively of little avail: it would give political rights; but something more is needed. The whole social system is corrupt and rotten to its very core; and poverty, mendicity, and crime will never disappear from the land until the very framework of society be remodelled. Of these truths the members of the Provisional Committee are well aware; and that knowledge is suggestive of their duties as well as indicative of their experience iu the important task of fulfilling them. An announcement in the advertising columns of the Instructor informs the public that an Office has been taken for the business of the National Charter Asso- ciation. The Provisional Committee is unpaid: but its Secretary, who will be in frequent attendance at head- quarters, must receive a salary for his services. At the commencement this remuneration will necessarily be small; and all the details of the administration will be conducted with a view to the strictest economy. But still there are expenses which must be met every Saturday night: the People's work will be done cheaply, but cannot be done for nothing. The rent of the Office, the salary of the Secretary, the printing that is requisite, ths cost of public meetings,— in fine, all the little lia- bilities contingent to the administrative procedure,— these must be regularly and punctually settled. The cause is the People's own; and the People are thorefore called upon to support it. A good spirit must be shown at once in taking out the cards of membership: theso may be had from the General Secretary by the local committees upon terms of limited credit; — but the proceeds should be sent up to head- quarters as soon and as frequently as possible. If the local com- mittees were only to bestir themselves properly, the cards of membership should alone produce a sufficiency of money to carry on the Association, without actual donations towards a fund for the purpose of aiding the movement. At the same time, where the pecuniary means of individuals will allow them to make sueh do- nations, apart from the mere enrolment of membership, the tribute will necessarily be received as a proof of earnest zeal and staunch sincerity in the furtherance of the good cause. It must likewise be observed that the greater the sup- port the Provisional Committee may experience, the more energetic will the movement be rendered and the sooner will its triumph be ensured. If properly aided by funds, such an agitation may be got up as will indeed convince the Ministry, the Aristocracy, and the Legis- lature, that the People are anxious to become possessed of their rights and privileges. It therefore behoves every man who loves Democracy and who advocates the Chartist principles, to contribute his mite; and the re- sult is immediately brought within the range of pro- phecy. The members of the Provisional Committee are full of hope and confidence. They have taken upon themselves a task which engages much of their time, makes certain demands upon their purse, and involves a considerable amount of personal responsibility. This position they have accepted in the full trust that they will be ade- quately supported. It would be a most ignominious spectacle to behold the new movement perish through sheer inanition : for such a catastrophe would indeed warrant tbe Prime Minister to take his stand upon the assertion that the People are indifferent to their rights. That assertion is now a calumny, a falsehood, and an insult: let the Chartists beware how they suffer it to be- come a truth which the organs and instruments of a selfish Aristocacy may proclaim with ail the triumph of a characteristic insolence. What, then, must be done? Every man who reads this article, should be ready to give the response,— aye, and answer it in a practical manner. If he be desirous of obtaining the Charter let him contribute his mite to that fund by aid of which the movement can alone be conducted. Let him at once take out his card of mem- bership; and when he has received it, let him show it to his friends, his neighbours, and fellow- workmen, and enjoin them to " go and do likewise." If at the end of a year,— when the Parliament assembles in 1851,— the Chartist register could prove to the House of Commons that many thousands of men had enrolled themselves as members of the Association, the argument would be a hundred- fold more cogent than all the petitions which might be poured into the Legislative Assembly with the same object in view. The register, if well filled with the names of paying members, would afford a far more practical proof of the anxiety and determination of the People to obtain their rights, than could possibly be given by memorials to which signatures may be forged, or by public meetings at which cheering may be ascribed to an evanescent enthusiasm. Now, then — or never! If the present movement should fail through want of funds, the People will de- serve to remain serfs and slaves; and they will have no right to complain hereafter. Wages may be better at present than they have recently been— employment may be more general than it lately was,— but these cir- cumstances should not be permitted to engender apathy. On tho contrary, it is precisely at the moment when individuals can afford to pay a shilling for the Chartist cause, that the shilling should be paid. Let no man say, " Oh! there will be enough to give contributions without meP' It is this reliance upon others doing what each one ought to do, that often ruins a good cause. There are too many who reason in that complaisant style; and thus, while each fancies he is singular in adopting sueh an excuse for failing to do his duty, others are pursuing the same irrational and reprehensible course. No man, then, should trust to others to do what he himself is bound to perform or assist in: everyone should look upon his own individual endeavour as something too important to be lost to the aggregate amount of work that is to be done. If there be apathy in struggling to obtain those rights which are now denied, there will be indifference in making use of them when they shall have been obtained;— and no individual is so unimportant an item in the great social mass as to allow a good cause to lose his succour and his support. " What, then, must be done?" I again ask. The reply is ready at hand, and easily comprehended. Local Committees must exert all their energy; and individual Chartists must manifest all their zeal. Each man should look upon his own effort as if the whole cause depended upon it: each democrat must regard his own individual assistance as if the movement could not possibly be carried on without it. If such a spirit could be arbused — if such a feeling could be excited— the day of triumph would be approximated so closely as to promise a speedy reward for any temporary sacrifice in the shape of money, time, or trouble. And now let mo. remind the working- classes that the attainment of tho Charter is not a mere question of acquiring certain abstract rights and privileges : it is not a simple consideration of becoming endowed with the franchise. If it were only this, it would be possible to understand the existence of apathy in many quarters with regard to the Charter. But it is a something far more important than the mere fact of exercising politi- cal rights : it is a wages' question— a labour question— a social improvement question. Tho enactment of the People's Charter as the law of the land, Will lead to the adoption of measures calculated to place the indus- trious classes in a comfortable, prosperous, and happy condition. Those measures will give the workers and toilers a fair share of all that they produce : those mea- sures will banish pauperism, extinguish crime, and crush oppression ;— those measures will make men's homes happy, and cause smiles to supersede the traces of care and famine upon the countenances of their wives and little ones. This is what the Charter will do :— and now I ask whether it be not worth struggling for ? But I will put a still more practical question,— a question which I will address to every working- man in- dividually. And this is the question :—" Is the Charter worth a shilling to you ?" Look at your present posi- tion— and see what it may become under the operation of the Charter : look at your present wages— and see to what an amount they may be raised under good in- stitutions ;— look at your wife and children, as they now are with their pale faces, their scant clothing, their want of education, and their fears for the future— and see how happy they may be rendered under a wise, beneficent, and enlightened system of government. Look at all this, I say— and then tell me whether you will give a shilling ( even though you may be scarcely able to afford it at the moment) to obtain the People's Charter. Well, your answer is in the affirmative: you can give no other response. As a man— as a husband — and as a father,— as a member of society, and as one wishing well to the cause of progress and having at heart the interests of your fellow creatures,-— in all these capacities you could not say " No'' to the question which I have put to you. Then show your sincerity,— you, as an individual, by paying this shilling in aid of the movement which is set on foot to obtain for you that Charter wherein all your hopes and chances of earthly happiness are centred. GEORGE. W. M. REYNOLDS. LAY 0Y THE FAMINE. THE IRISH HUSBAND TO HIS WIFE. BRIGHT was your blue eye, Kathleen, Smooth > yaa your sunny brow, On that fair morn, my Kathleen, When you breathed your bridal vow. Joy wove his choicest treasures round us; Peace came with all her smiling train; Mirth in her magic circle bound us, Whence fled the phantoms Grief and Pain. Few years have passed, my Kathleen, Since you breathed your bridal vow, Hope smiling o'er us, Kathleen— O God, to see you now 1 To see your blue eye waning, waning, To see your brow so seamed with pain, To see gaunt Hunger's red tooth draining. The life- blood from each throbbing vein! Fair was our first- born, Kathleen, As it hung upon your breast: Oh! weep not, weep not, Kathleen, Why mourn its speedy rest ? And tell me not its smiles would lighten The pangs that revel through this heart; Say, how could smiles its young cheek brighten While Famine struck with venomed dart! Our last, our youngest, Kathleen— Forgive this struggling tear— Its sinking cries, my Kathleen, Ring ever on my ear. O God, to hear its plaintive wailing, To see your look of dark despair, When the mother's fountain failing, Its lips convulsive drank but air! Rest on this bosom, Kathleen— All, save your love, is fled; Ha! what— my wife 1 my Kathleen ! Fiend, Tempter, she's NOT dead! Stare not with those eyes so blindly, Fan me with thy gentle breath, Speak! even coldly or unkindly— Kathleen, Kathleen, is this Death ? — The Dublin University Magazine. CHARTISM.— Government persecution in various quarters has given temporary checks to the popular cause. But the necessity for its going forward is as great as. ever. If it does not do so, it must go backward; for the adversary is there, with nothing of a change of mind; and policy and duty alike point to improving every advantage which has been ever gained. Up with the banner of the Charter, then; and no surrender! TAXATION.— Englishmen have at length discovered that the expenditure of the country " has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished ;" that it is not necessary for them to be bowed down by an annually augmenting load of taxa- tion in order to enjoy the blessings of good government; and that either tax- consuiners must be checked, or the tax- payers will be ruined. No one cau accuse them ot" precipitancy in taking up such a position. They have yielded to every demand made upon them with a patience which excites one's wonder ; and even now they are moved to resistance chiefly from their inability to submit to further exactions.— lieformer's Alman- ack. 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. TIIE PEOPLE'S CHASTES. [ TO THE EDITOR. OF THE " INSTRUCTOR." j MY DEAR SIFT,— I am much grieved to hear the way in which even intelligent men talk about the People's Charter. They seem to think that this People's Charter is an ideal absurdity, something not to be realised, only fitted for the mentally insane and theunwisely enthusiastic; a kind of ragged' philosophy, not suited for well- to- do men and educated professionals. The document called the People's Charter is a well considered, well arranged, and carefully digested bill for the amendment of the represen- tation of the country. There is neither fire- faggot, rapine, nor destruction in any clause of it; and if any man of inquiring mind will calmly consider it with relation to the science of government, I rather- think such an inquirer will become a Chartist. I will not now argue as to a man's natural rights, but content myself with a simple view of responsibility. Parliaments are either responsible or irresponsible to those whom they govern; if they be irresponsible of course tbe people are a nonentity; if they be responsible, to whom can they be responsible if not to the entire people, whose interests they effect and whose taxes they consume? What claim can any class, as a distinct and separate class ( apart from the majority of their fellow- citizens), have equal, in point'of reason and validity, to a representation ofthe whole male'adult'population? " The Chartfsts are not respectable," is the next asser- tion. Is truth tff twor kinds ? Is there such a thing as respectable. trufh and disrespectable truth; good- looking truth and bad- lot> king truth ? ' All this cry about re- spectability is unworthy of reasonable men. If the princi- ples of the People's Charter be rational and fitted for the wants of man, adopt such principles as your political creed, and proclaim them broadly among the sons of men: leave all subterfuge for the weak and cunning. Silly per- sons and tricksters alone need such weapons. In all ages this cry of respectability has been dangerous- It was thus that Wallace, Hampden, Sydney, Tell, and Washington, were persecuted and forsaken,— persecuted by governing knaves and forsaken by timid men. It was thus that Galileo was forced before his " superiors," and obliged to deny what he knew to be true. It was ven thus that the Jews cried crucify him ! crucify him ! How little of self- sacrifice, can men have if they refuse to recognise truth and be guided by reason, because of a love for a little distinction, or a fear of the ignorant sneers of their less informed and more prejudiced fellow- citizens! The great fathers of the world's progress and improvement knew no such mean trafficking, no such unworthy cow- ardice ; if they had, we would have been still slumbering in the cradle of ignorance. " The Charter goes a little too far." For whom, let me ask?. Can truth'go too far for honest men ? The Charter does go a littlfe too' far for pensioners, placemen, and interested persons; a little too far, I grant you, for cor- ruption, fraud, robbery, and theft; but not even a " little" too far for honest men and good citizens. Let sensible and plain men make laws nttetl for themselves; and if thieves and burglars will not reform and be obedient, banish them one and all to a penal settlement. Old institutions " like old buildings are impaired, bv age, and to repair them is' a coStly experiment. Better begin at the foundation and efect a' new and. substantial edifice, solid at the basis, and erefcted for a distinct anij clearly understood purpose. The institutions of the p^ st have been for the fetV; in'future, constitutions and laws must exist for the many. Even our statesmen have been " heaven born," and have not even stooped to consider the, interests of men. Theology, law, and physic, al! require years of study; but hitherto the delicate art of govern- ing men has required no study. The son of a lord is a lord at his father's death— a peer and a heaven- appojnted ruler; and the only duty of tbe governed is to obey their rulers: a master- absurdity which reason and resolution would not tolerate for an hour. Why are we thus deceived, betrayed, and insulted ? Must it ever be so? Answer that question, men of Eng- land,— men of all classes who have a regard for the welfare of mankind, Read, I beseech you, that document called the People's Charter before you condemn Chartism; and when you have read it, reasoned on it, and resolved thereon, be truthful, leave half measures for half men. Sooner or later democracy must rule the world. Let the strife between the past and the present come to a close as soon as possible. Accelerate the cause of right and make liberty, equality, and fraternity more than words. Chartism is not destruction, revolution, blood, and death; it is reason, reform, right, and truth; and if pretending aristocrats and vile despots stand in the way of its success, let the nation's voice exclaim to all such,— begone, we have no need of you! A STUDENT. THE ARX3T0CBACT: ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND DECAY. WE will now proceed to show the ingenious method by which those self- legalised spoliators — the Aristocracy, plundered the people. In thp reign of William III, a Ihnd tax, or more properly speaking a property tax, was levied on rental and on personal property, bringing in I, 174,927£, being more than a quarter of the revenue. This looked well on the part of the Aristocracy, who, first, by their bargain with Charles II, released them- selves from those feudal services which with the crown lands nearly formed the national reveru % then shifting their own lawful burthens upon the people's excise, and next getting the crown lands from William, afterwards came forward and to all appearance paid one quarter of the nation's expenses. But like all their doings this was a mere juggle; for the tax of four shillings ip the pound being levied on " the true yearly value orVeaJ'property;" and twenty- four shillings in the hundred pounds, or- four shillings per pound on six pounds, that being then legal interest for money ; the Aristocracy with their usual cun- ning contrived to obtain credit for paying one- fourth of the national revenue from their landed properties, whilst, in fact, the amount was mostly contributed by the whole population. The words of the act run thus, " thatthe tax s'aali be levied on lands, according to the full yearly value thereof, without any respect had to present rents reserved for the same, if such rents have been reserved upon such lands, estates made, for which any fine or income hafh been paid or reserved," etc. Four shillings iu the pound on the whole yearly rack- rent was evidently intended to be paid. Another act passed in the reign of William III, frustrated the clearly- defined intentions of the original act, that the tax was applicable to theyea/ rly value thereof, and for more than a century, notwithstanding the enormously decreased value of money, the immense in- crease of taxatidn upon every article of. Ufe, and the grow- ing value of their land, the tax upon it was continued to be levied, not according to the present value of money, land, or labour, but precisely as it stood in the time of William III. All other taxes had been increased in a proportionate degree to the amount of wealth in the country, to the expenditure of the state, to the growing value of property, etc.; but, forsooth the landed possessions ofthe Aristocracy were to be exempted from the pressure of the times, and were for ever to escape the burthens im- posed upon the uecessaries of the people 1 The Custom- house duties in William Ill's time amounted to about one million ^ ne hundred and fifty thousand pounds, these, a century later, mounted up to eleven millions; the Excise which, io the reign of William averaged one million and fifty thousand pounds annually; in the reign of George III, a hundred years after, increased to fifteen millions; other taxes making up the revenue which, under William, were less than eight hundred thousand pounds, sprang up a century later to nearly thirteen millions; yet, with this surprising increase upon the taxation of the ne- cessaries of life, drawn from the industrial, productive classes, the lazy bloated landowners, all influential in the Houses of Lords and Commons laid on corn, and other laws injurious to the masses, merely for the purpose of keep- ing up their excessive rents, whilst the tax levied on then- lands remained unincreased and unaltered! But this was not all; an act almost unparalleled for its audacity in the legislation of a country, was, by means of corrupt influence in the House of Commons ana the predominating sway at that time enjoyed by the House of Lords, perpetrated to the national prejudice. The landed Aristocracy of Eng- land, witnessing.' the enormous " increase in the real value of property,' h'ovv rapidly the taxation was mounting, and how heavily it fell upon the humbler orders,— a taxation imposed to support the war, proclaimed solely by the no- bility of this country to suit their own selfish purposes, against the glorious revolutionists of France,— the landed Aristocracy of England, to protect their own purses, im- pudently passed an act in the year 1? SS, fixing the amount of the land tax for ever at the same sum as col- lected in the time of William III ! And now what was the result of this iniquitous measure ? After the country had been plunged into injurious'wars by the mal- administration of its aristocratic governments ; after it had submitted to the heaviest taxation, " and con- tracted a ruinous debt to uphold the doctrines, dogmas, and prejudices of its nobility; behold how cleverly and cunningly they contrived to screen their own landed pos- sessions from the burthens imposed upon the people through, their selfish and Quixotic crusades ? In 1839, a year often referred back'to by landed monopolists, we find the revenue of the United Kingdom thus standing:— Customs ... . 23,210,881 Excise .... 15,493,310 Stamps .... 7,428,060 Post Office .... 2,457,216 Taxes ... , . 2,722,434 Miscellaneous ... 701,215 Land Tax ,. 1,184,830 # 53,- 07,946 By this table1 we see, that notwithstanding the increase of our revenue and expenses, from about five millions yearly in the time of Wiliam III, to ten times that amount in the reign of William IV, ' land, ' which was taxed to pay nearly one quarter of the revenue in the reign of the former, some forty years'aftenvards, Only con- tributed about a thirty- seventh part! Land, the great and legitimate source of taxation, by justice the common property of a people, was hot only filched from us by the Aristocracy, but by means of their1 self- legislation, escaped the burthens that fell so h'eavflV, " so" distressingly, on the people. Such atrocious selfishness, siich monstrous rapa-' city, such iniquitous spoliation', hits never b'egn " tolerated, or even attempted, in the most despotic monarchies of Earope; but we, loyal and good- natured Englishmen, submit to the most glaring extortion, because, forsooth, it is the law ! Without reflecting that those who made the laws were selfish, interested, and avaricious men, either usurpers of the soil themselves, or the submissive minions of ermined Spoliators; we submit to be plundered because the process has been legalised by the depredators them- selves. Even in the empires of despotic Russia and Austria, the taxes raised upon the land is more than half of the national revenue, whilst in France it is considerably more. Such is one ainongst the many flagrant robberies perpetrated under" the usual canting whine of the sacred- ness and privileges of hereditary rights and property. The church is another of the richest, the most profitable, and the ' least troublesome of the spoils enjoyed by the Aristocracy. Kings, lords, and bishops, have by turn so appropriated the revenues of the church that at present they are entirely divested from their originally intended purpose,— principally the maintenance Of the poor,— and are now converted by the Aristocracy into a source of maintaining an undue and prejudicial influence over'the minds'of the people; serving to pe& siofi and Support in ... <_-• - j- 1, - luxury, idleness, and vice, bloated bishops, pluralists, and scented seioHS of the Aristocracy. Ten millions per annum form a pleasant little item in the catalogue of regal, noble, but laivftd plunder. The Crown, or rather the Aris- tocratic ministers of the Crown, have one thousand one hundred and thirty- eight livings in their gift; these are invariably filled with pauper sprigs of nobility, or given away for political considerations. Nearly seven thousand livings are in the gift or under the immediate control of the Aristocracy! Livings, remember, many of which, endowed by charitable persons expressly for the benefit of the poor, have been gradually sucked info the vortex of crowned, mitred, and coronetted rapacity. The Duke of Bedford, alone, possessed the patronage of twenty- seven livings! the Duke of Beaufort twenty- fiv^ l the Duke of Buckingham did of thirteen! and his Grape of Rutland twenty- nine 1 These, however, are only a few of the er- mined cormorants who have fastened . upon the soil which nature intended for the common use of man, and besides have grasped the proceeds of intended charity. As we proceed farther on to anatomise the scandalous jobs in our religious establishments, we shall then expose the whole list of titled church- mongers and voracious marauders. The scandalous manner by which perfectly incompetent men were raised to the peerage and quartered upon the public during tbe reigns of George III and his, hopeful son, is so generally known iu these more enlightened days as to be universally deprecated. Miserable sycophants, utterly destitute of ability, were thrust into the Upper House, pensioned upon the people, and became part of our hereditary legislature. One of the most impudent transactions of a graceless king was thrusting one Nicho- las Vansittart into the peerage, and calling him Lord ' Bexley, with a pension of three thousand pounds per annum as a, retired Chancellor of the Exchequer. This venerable nobleman is still alive, and a great patron of Exeter Hall with its saintly gatherings ; he is greater at a bible society than ever ho was at financial arithmetic: but nevertheless, by serving the purposes of the Aristo- cracy, his errors were not only overlooked but actually rewarded iu a princely fashion. Nicholas Vansittart was first appointed a " Commissioner of Scotch Herrings,'' there being at the commencement of the present century a great scarcity of that palatable fish; whilst in this situation he fawned upon the rich, and upheld their vested privileges to such good purpose that, when Ad- dington came into office he appointed Vansittart a Sec- retary of the Treasury; in that subordinate position, although quite out of his depth, he managed so to ingra- tiate himself and toady to the Aristocracy, that when Lord Liverpool became Prime Minister, Nicholas being made Chancellor of the Exchequer, the following- series of blunders ensued, thus amusingly described by Cob- bett: " Curious progress 1 beginning with the curing of Scotch herrings and ending in a peerage! Curious lite- rary progress! beginning with a pamphlet expressing fears that the National Debt would be paid off too soon, and ending with the singing of hymns ! But Van had merits as a statesman, to be sure. Yes, that he had ; for in 1811 he proposed a resolution, which the, six hundred and fifty- eight adopted, stating that ' a One pound note and a shilling were equal in value to a guinea in gold.' In 1819 he supported Peel's bill and the doctrines on which it was founded, and which declared that the one pound note had only heen worth fourteen shillings in gdld in 1811. In 1822 Van brought in a bill, which was passed, to issue small notes again, in violation of the bill of 1819. This was Van's last and greatest act of all, for it produced the terrible panic of 1825 and 1826, which has bean ruining families, undermining property, and producing unspeakable misery from that day to this! Devil take ( lie king, I say, then, if he had not made Van a peer! Jjelther Jonathan Wild nor any of his de- scendants'avar merited a halter better than Van merited a peerage. But what is'most curious in the history of Van is, that while. a nation, whose money matters Van held the management of, was growing poor, Van was growing rich !" But miserable incompetence was not tlie only failing of this sycophantic, crawling dullard ; gross neglect was preferred and proven against him, for in the year 1819 the government actuary represented to Mr. Vansittart, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, that a weekly loss was su'i'ered by the country of eight thousand pounds, arising from an erroneous calculation in the payment of government annuities. The courtly financier treated this communication with Aristocratic indifference, and the nation suffered fo very nearly a million of money; he, in 1823, was however elevated to the peerage as Baron Bexley, with a pension on the Consolidated Fund of three thousand per annum. His lordship has thus drawn about eight thousand pounds from ' the people as are-! ward for the distinguished services we have recapitu- lated. This nobleman is but one amongst hundreds of similar created tools of the Aristocracy who contrived to elevate themselves by the oppression and wholesale plun- der of a people. ALPHA. ( 7* 0 he continued in our next.) DEMOCRACY.— Elastic democracy is heli- proof. But I look at the glorious Englishman, with his iron backbone and his heart of steel, and dauntless Industry, and see that he is driven viper- like from his native soil. And so the lovely Englishwoman— type of Shakspeare's heroines— model whence Milton drew his Heaven- shed. ding and showering Eve— foroed to brave ocean's storms and broil her Saxion ivory- and- rose under a vertical sun! O shame of the nine,, teenth century!— An American. TRANSUOSXANTIATION. — The following passage frohi Averrqes was, quoted by John Garet to prove the doctrine of Transubstantiation: « I liavo travelled over the world and made inquiries into the tenets and practice qf different rer ligious sects, and think that of the Christians most ridiculous, for they make a feast of the deity whom they adore."— Lord Jeffrey. 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. MINISTERIAL PATRONAGE. MOST people are well acquainted with the fact that the members of the English cabinet derive from their official station salaries amply commensurate with the upholding of their official dignity; that those gentlemen, in the discharge of the multitudinous duties which throng upon them, do not forget, so far as they are personally con- cerned, the application of the well- known precept, that " the labourer is worthy of his hire;" that, in the pleni- tude of those pure and patriotic motives which urge them to combat fiercely in the arena of parliamentary warfare, for the acquisition and retention of power, they are by no means insensible to the charms of that " filthy lucre " which exercises so potent an influence upon the less elevated spirits which inhabit the plebeian clay. I will not say,— away with thoughts so foul!— that gold is the motive principle which urges the ornaments of England's aristocracy to seek the possession of place and power; still, one may, perhaps, be allowed to hint that, in some instances at least, the salary attached to offices is regarded in the light of a welcome set- off against the taunts, reproaches, and vexations experi- enced by its recipient at the hands of an ever- watchful opposition! And surely, considering the patriotism and purity of motives which distinguish our rules, few of the inhabitants of this country,— so liberally governed, so lightly taxed, so renowned for its prosperity, its peaceful tendencies, its equality of citizenship,— few, I say, will venture to express the opinion, that our Cabinet Ministers are overpaid for the tremendous sacrifices of health, comfort, time,— aye, and often of temper, which they so willingly make to the promotion of the public » ood! True, hundreds, in the place of thousands, might be an ample remuneration for the ser- vices rendered by some among them. But what of that? this unquestioning liberality but serves to show the gratitude of an enlightened and contented people! But, passing by prime ministers, secretaries of state, ambassadors, governors of colonies, and all the " greatest among the great," who prey upon the vitals ofthe nation, who gather ease and luxury from the misery of the masses, let us glance at the smaller govermental salaries, those crumbs which fall from the ministers' table,— which the Greys and Russells are enabled to distribute among their relatives or political supporters, the loaves and fishes devoured by the small fry among nation suckers, snatched from the mouths of starving thou- sands to pamper the luxury and indolence of the patri- cian- born or the political apostate. The First Lord of the Treasury ( 5,000!.) has so much work that he is compelled— or finds it conve- nient— to have the assistance ef three junior . lords, each of whom pockets to the amount of 1,200?. an- nually of the people's money; and then these three junior lords, in their turn, are so over- worked, or so useless, that they are compelled to have the assistance of two joint secretaries, whose services are rewarded by a ealary of 2,5001. Then these joint secretaries, finding the work too much even for them, have the assistance of a chief clerk, who gets 2,2502.; one who gets 1,2002, and a third, acting also as auditor, who gets 1,2322. per annum. These three chief clerks require the ser- vices of an assistant clerk, whose salary is 1,050?.; and then there is a clerk to the Treasury Colonial Depart- ment, who receives 1,200?. a- year. Here are ten indi- viduals, one of whom we presume to do a little, but the majority of whom probably do nothing of any good to the nation at large, running away with no less than 15,5322. of the people's pence; so that the pickings which belong to the treasury are " crumbs of comfort" to their receivers, but crumbs enjoyed at the cost of poverty and sulfering. At the Home Office the first under- secretary gets 2,000?. a- year, and the second under- secretary - 1,5001.; while two chief clerks receive each over 1,400?., in ad- dition to a host of minor clerks, whose pay is not quite so liberal. In the Ordnance Department the Master- General's salary is 3,0002. He looks after a surveyor- general, who is paid 1,200?. for looking after the secretary, who receives a yearly salary of 1,400?. The secretary has a clerk, paid 1,200?. a- year; and then comes the store- keeper, whose crumbs are of the same value. Thus, exclusive of minor and working clerks, the Home Office gives to four individuals over 6,3002. annually; and the Ordnance Department gives to five individuals,— all of course hard- worked and industrious men, who sometimes arrive at their posts as early as ten in the morning, and leave occasionally as late as four in the afternoon,— 8,0002., a sum which no aristo- crat in his senses can think equivalent to the value of his rendered services, but which plebeians may be ex- cused for terming an enormous waste of their toil- earned money. In the Board of Trade the crumbs appear to fall from the ministers' table less abundantly. The vice- president receives 2,0002., and the secretary 1,5002. How much minor clerks and officials consume deponent sayeth not; doubtless quite as much as they deserve. In the Admiralty, again, the ministerial crumbs fall thick and fast. Four junior lords pocket each 10002. a- year ; the first secretary 2,0002., the third 1,500?.; the chief clerk gets 1,100?., and the hydrographer 1,3142. Seven nation- suckers here consume nearly 10,0002. a- year of the public taxes, and probably think themselves badly paid after all. In the Foreign Department two under- secretaries re- ceive each an annual salary of 1,5002., and two chief clerks between them about 2,400?. per annum. Iu the Colonial Department, the first under- secretary is paid 2,0002. a- year; the second, 1,5002.; two chief clerks receive respectively 1,3002. and 1,2252.; while an agent- general of Crown Colonies is paid 1,3002. In the " Woods and Forests, one junior commissioner pockets annually 1,4502.; another, 1,2002. yearly. In the Board of Control, two secretaries receive each 3,0001, by way of annual salary; but not being sufficient for the work of the department, they are assisted ( in fleeeing the people) by an assistant- secretary, at 1,2002. a year. The Master of the Mint is paid a salary of 2,0002.; the clerk of council devours crumbs to the amount of upwards of 4,0002. a- year; the clerk of council in ordinary receives 1,2002; three commissioners of Tithe Commutation are paid each 2,000?.; the Accountant- General of the Navy condescends to accept an annual gift from the people's purse of 1,3002; the Examiner of Army Accounts, 1,200?.; secretary to the India Board, 1,5002.; senior clerk to the same is contented with 1,0502.; the senior clerk to the Secretary of State, 1,4942.; counsel for drawing up Government Bills ( so well drawn up that a clever law- yer can drive a " coach and six" through the majority of them) is paid 1,500?.; the secretary to English Post- office, 2,0002.; secretary to Irish Post- office, 1,2002.; secretary to National Debt Office, 1,8002.; while the Ecclesiastical Commission gives its secretary 1,2782. By- the- bye, this Ecclesiastical Commission is as great a fraud upon the public as any existing in the construc- tion of our governmental machine. How many individuals pocket their annual 2,0002., by virtue of belonging to it, we do not now remember; but their name is legion, and includes, we believe, that of Lord John Russell, the Prime Minister of England. But our basket of crumbs is not yet full; it is heavy, no doubt, but there is room left for more political apos- tacy and family connexion, who have other sources of emolument to look to beside those we have enumerated, in the shape of Boards of Customs, Excise, Stamps and Taxes, Audits, & c. In the Customs, no less than four officials receive salaries of 2,0002. each; [ one receives 1,700?.; five receive 1,500?. each; two about 1,4002.; nine 1,2002.; one, 1,1002.; and two, 1,0002. In the whole, twenty- four individuals, belonging^ to the smaller fry of nation- suckers, pocket no less annually than 34,0761, of the pence of the poor; or nearly 1,5002. each, which seems to be about the sum considered remunerative for the minors among tax- eaters. In the Excise, the highest salary is to the solicitor, who receives annually 2,5002.; two other individuals receive 2,000?.; three, 1,5002.; seven are paid 1,2002. each; and one official receives 1,0662. Fourteen individuals, in all, receive annually 20,4662., within a shade of 1,5002. each. In the Stamps and Taxes, there are two salaries of about 2,0002.; one about 1,8002.; one about 1,6002.; one, 1,5002.; two about 1,3002.; and four about 1,0002. In all, eleven officials, taking among them, 15,5102. a- year from the profits of toil and industry, a near approach to the previous averages of I, 5002. In the Board of Audit, nine officials, hardly so well paid, demand, in salaries, an annual amount of II, 0422. No doubt they consider themselves ill- used in being paid less than their brethren of the other Boards, but it would probably puzzle them were they desired to show how they earn even that which they do receive. An average exceeding 1,2002. is by no means to be despised, . v. Such are some of the crumbs which fall continually from the ministers' table; trifles, not worth ministerial retention, but looking well and doing good service, as ministerial patronage. Is any man, with votes at his command, or political influence, poor, let him come to the ministers' table and " his food shall be given him, and his water, or rather wine, shall be sure." He shall gather up the crumbs at his pleasure. Let him come to the market, and his price shall be paid liberally. If mi- nisters have Kttle money of their own at command, they have plenty of the people's, and are not accustomed to stick at trifles. So be not bashful, Sir Simon Thickpate, M. P. for Sellemall; don't be bashful, my dear sir; change your seat in the Commons, cross over to the ministerial side of the house, and your needy cousins shall grow fat at the national expense. Introduce them to ministers, and they will only be too happy to serve you. They will say to one, " Go thou into the Customs, at 1,2002. a- year;" to another, " Go thou into the Excise, upon the same terms;" to a third, " If you have got so many needy relatives, Sir Simon, pick thy place, and we will put thee into it straightway; if there be no vacancy we will superannuate some aged gentleman of forty to make room for thee." So push your wit, Sir Simon Thickpate, M. P. for Sellemall, and let your family fatten upon the crumbs which fall from the ministers' table! True, there may be little principle in such a course, and your poorer neighbours may grumble; but never heed them; let them grumble and be— starved! And as for principle, who ever heard of an M. P. who cared about that? Do any of our readers question the existence of the race of Sir Simon Thickpates? We imagine not. Do any of them think the existence of that race necessary to the well- being of the nation? We imagine not. Do any of them think that the government offices need to be crowded with the overpaid officials whom we have enumerated? We imagine not. For every man with the slightest knowledge of matters of business must feel convinced that the business of our government offices might be done by fewer persons, and more competent than are many of those individuals, who now loiter away some six hours daily in Somerset House, Whitehall, or Downing Street, at, perhaps, not more than a fifth of the sum which it now costs the people. Shabby we con- fess ourselves to be, in grumbling at such trifles; the enjoyment of an average income from the taxes of about 1,5002. a- year, by some few hundreds of individuals. Shabby, yes, very shabby; but we cannot help thinking that a tithe of the amount would be an ample remune- ration for the services of our aristocratic officials, and quite as much as should be wrung, for their aggrandise- ment, from the impoverishment of the people. We think that in government offices, salaries should not exceed those which are paid in respectable mercantile establish- ments; that the number of officials should be propor- tioned to the work which requires to be done; and that the crumbs which fall from the minister's table, which now go to fatten corruption and uphold patrician indolence, should go back whence they came, into the possession of the toiling, so many of whom are destitute and starving. Speak out, ye toilers, speak out! calmly but firmly, like men df soul and sinew; demand political rights, and when you obtain them, set men at the minis- ters' table who will put the taxation, which springs from your labour, to good and righteous uses, so that° the Sir Simon Thickpates shall no longer quarter their con- nexions upon the public money, and grow fat upon your misery. WAT TILER. FRIGHTFUL INCREASE OF GOVERN- MENT EXTRAVAGANCE. So far as the national finances are concerned, no reign has been more disastrous and deplorable than that of Queen Victoria. The awfully growing magnitude of the national expenditure wiU be placed in the most striking light by giving its amount for one year in a time of peace during each reign, since the accession of the House of Hanover. The following are the net sums, which are exclusive of the interest on the national debt. George I about . George II George III ( 1792) George IV ( 1827) , William IV ( 1835) Victoria ( 1847) £ 2,583,000 2,766,000 7,670,109 21,650,790 15,908,112 26,361,417 If we add to the last of these sums 4,727,4652., the cost of collecting the revenue— an amount equal to the entire taxation of the United States— and 28,141,531?., the interest on the national debt, it will give, as the total amount of expenditure in the year ending January 5th, 1848, 59,230,4132. In addition to this, the poor's- rates amount to about 6,000,0002., and the various local taxes to some 5,000,0002. more; so that, to say nothing of the amount of national property in the hands ofthe state church, we are paying upwards of 70,000,0002. annually for the purposes of government! During the reign of William IV, the cry for retrench- ment became too strong to be resisted, and, accord- ingly, from 1828 to 1836, we find a progressive dimi- nution annually ( with but one considerable exception), amounting in the last- named year to above 7,500,000?. Public vigilance was then relaxed, and, as the result, the expenditure again increased, and has continued to do so, year by year, until the present time. This will be seen from the following statement of the expenditure for each year from 1836 to 1848:— Gross expenditure for year ending January 5, 1836 .... £ 48,787,638 " 1837 .... 50,819,305 " 1838 .... 51,319,113 " 1839 .... 51,720,748 " 1840 .... 53,440,287 " 1841 .... 53,444,053 " 1842 .... 54,465,318 " 1843 .... 55,223,873 " 1844 .... 55,501,739 " 1845 .... 55,103,645 " 1846 .... 53,873,063 " 1847 .... 55,583,025 « 1848 .... 59,230,413 It thus appears that in twelve years, during which we have continued to enjoy uninterrupted peace, the expenditure has increased nearly 10,500,0002.— an in- crease of 4,000,0002. having taken place in the last three years alone; that the 7,500,000 saved twenty years ago have again been swallowed up, with an addition of 3,000,0002. beside ! THE IRISH INFORMERS OF 1798.— The informer was let loose among the people, and hounded on his prey. Let me digress for a moment to trace the character of this tribe. The informer is rarely selected from the stupid and ignorant por- tion of society. He is generally a person of tact and clever- ness, who has risen from some anonymous source— some beggar's brat on bulk begot, who desires to realise a fortune by a compact with hell. Some of the ' 98 informers were con- nected with the press. Reynolds was a smart man, and could write a flippant article enough, and possessed so vast a fund of audacious plausibility that he could clasp your hand the day before he sold you. Newell was possessed of some ac- complishments, and could string sentences together with a jerking knack, which was somewhat notable, and even form rhymes, I have been told, though the metre, doubtless, was not the most perfect. They were keen- nosed hounds, who swallowed blood till they were gorged to the vomit. Their crime was progressive. They generally commenced as dis- honest politicians— endeavoured to raise themselves by ruin- ing their fellows, and confined themselves to swindling, forgery, lying, and boasting, and such like minor offences. They soon graduated in blood, and having taken one scalp they hungered for it after like starving tigers. They trafficked in the lives of their fellow- men with as much unconcern as if their trade was in breadstufls or dry goods. They generally, after betraying all, attempted movements for their country, emigrated with the people's money to foreign lands, and pursued the same trade with larger capital. They induced some minor rascals to countenance their acts, and relied on the remnant of cha- racter of the latter to shield themselves. There was one thing more characteristic of them than their avarice and vanity, and only one— that was cowardice. The traitor is ever a coward— and stabs in the dark. Placed before a man, he hides behind the asgis of law, and snivels there. But rarely did they proceed with impunity to the end. God pal- sied their murderous arms at last, and consigned them to that hell which had long an open account with their souls. May Christ, who died for man, protect the gallant and the true and raise his cross between those vampyres and their victims. — Irishman. OBSERVE !— History is a romance that is believed; ro- mance, a history that is not believed. 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. A NEW HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER XVIII. RICHARD III. RICHARD the crook- backed, the cunning, dissembling, child- murdering tyrant as we have him universally re- presented to us, becomes the subject of this chapter. He was born in 1450, and was the youngest son of Richard Duke of York. On the accession of his brother, Edward IV, he was made Duke of Gloucester. His vast abilities, his bravery, his comprehension of the duties of government, proved to be of the greatest value to that monarch, and though there was a taint of ferocity in the character of his family which did not leave him immaculate, yet if we see upon what shallow or absurd grounds the accusations against Richard rest, he will be found to be far less guilty than unfortunate in meeting with so much undeserved obloquy. He appears to have been a man whose mind was in advance of his age, so that everything he did was misconstrued. He is said to have had a hand in the slaughter of Prince Edward, after the battle of Tewkesbury, to have murdered Henry VI, and the two young princes in the Tower, beside a long litany of other atrocities, far too numerous to mention. We wish the reader to remark the words, " it is said," and only said,— that is, it was rumoured abroad, that the several parties named, died deaths of violence, and as it suited the temper of the times to saddle these, without any proofs being offered, upon Richard's shoulder, he has had the full benefit of them, in addition to being the gratuitous parent of all the great crimes of the period. In 1473, he married Ann the widow of the very prince he is accused of having murdered, who was a daughter of the great House of Warwick. Now, if there was the shadow of truth in the gross attempt to implicate him in that catastrophe, we can only say the widow surrendered her sentiments of disgust and horror with great ease, that her transition of sentiment must have left her admi- rably destitute ofa sense of injury. The House of War- wick was as powerful as the house of Gloucester, and we apprehend that it was not out of absolute fear that the widow married the so- called murderer. The probabilities are so much against the truth of these things asserted of Richard, that we can give them no credit whatever. Why should he have enjoyed an immunity from the punish- ment of his crimes that crowned monarchs could not obtain 1 It must not be forgotten, that sometimes men will take immense trouble to create evidence to support a favourite conjecture,— to sustain a prejudice. Clarence had married the other daughter, and a family quarrel which arose regarding the division of the property, was aggravated by the grasping and avaricious nature of Clarence, till they became open enemies. In the pre- vious reign, Clarence was brought to trial, and executed, and Richard can only be looked upon as having acted in his capacity of Protector and not as judge or execu- tioner. Towards the close of Edward IV's reign, after a treaty had been made with the Duke of Albany, brother to the King of Scotland, which treaty was broken, Gloucester, attended by the duke, led an army into Scotland, and taking Berwick, went as far as Edinburgh, and by force of arms compelled the Scots to surrender up as the con- ditions of a peace, the castle and town of Berwick. In 1483, he became protector, and caused his nephew Edward, whose reign furnished the subject of the last chapter, to be proclaimed, and was one of the first to swear fealty to him. The events which took place, until Richard himself was declared king on the 27th of June, 1483, have been already detailed to the reader, and we will not weary him by repetition. There is, however, a subject connected with this portion of the history which must not be passed over without notice. Richard has been accused of murdering both Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower. In the succeeding reign, a young pretender to the throne, Perkin Warbeck by name, started up, and either was, or falsely represented himself to be, the Duke of York, who had escaped death by a miracle. It seems also to have be- come impossible to assert or deny that this person was what he asserted himself to be. Neither chronicler nor historian speak decisively as to the truth. The par tizans of Perkin Warbeck, and they were many and noble, had no doubt as to the matter, and the opposing party, namely, Henry VII ( the Earl of Richmond) and his ad- herents, refused to give the slightest credence to the more than plausible story. The corollary, however, deducible from this fact is, that the accusation against Richard stands upon no better ground than that of conjecture. The reasons why he should have put them out of his path by any means, sup- posing him to be the demon deformity, he is asserted so strongly to embody, are clear; but it is a general rule with mankind that, at the least, if a man be accused of criminal act, and a doubt should be thrown upon the truth of such accusation, he is entitled to the benefit of that doubt. If, therefore, this doubt exists with regard to one party, why not extend it, so far as the wilful perpetration of the crime went, to the other ? We cannot assert, with any show of certainty, that Richard did not kill, or caused to be killed— the young King Edward ; but the plots, con. spiracies, and brutal ferocity of Buckingham and others, prove that they may have been with as much show of reason the agents of the deed, as that he may have died peaceably in his bed. We have no doubt whatever, that Richard's title was strictly true and legitimate, whatever were the means by which he obtained the crown. Let us see, then, what his first acts were upon his ac- cession. It has ever been the custom to reward those through whom benefits are derived. Former kings re- warded their nobles, and have not been reproached for it. In Richard, this seems to have been considered as another proof of his guilt. Thomas Lord Howard, he made Duke of Norfolk; and his son, he made Earl of Surrey. Lord Lovel was made a viscount. Even Lord Stanley, who had conspired against his authority when he was Protector, received his liberty, and was elected steward of the house- hold. This man, who was doubly a traitor to Richard, is a proof of his clemency and magnanimity. As for Buck- ingham, the wealth, the honours that showered upon him in boundless profusion, only prove the truth of that aphorism uttered by Montesquieu, that " it is a great thing to make ingrates." The greater the gift, the greater the vileness of the receiver. This noble was an example of cupidity, treachery, and thanklessness, beyond almost any parallel in history. The perfidy of his conduct reflects the princely munificence of the king in the strongest pos- sible manner. The commencement of Richard's reign seems singu- larly clear of blood. It is not marked by any of those ferocious retaliations which so grimly characterise the reigns of sovereigns more popular, more legitimate, more merciful ! Scarcely was he seated on his throne, than Buckingham, who was loaded to repletion, and yet dis satisfied, began to conspire against him, and by a singular inconsistency, easily enough, however, to be compre- hended in such a man, sought to overthrow tbe very fabric he had been at such pains to uprear. Perhaps he expected, while keeping already that which Richard so lavishly gave him, to add to his imperial revenues from the gift of some other sovereign whom his influence could put on the throne. When it is stated his claim was a gigantic imposture, that it rested on unproven allegations, and that his title was not acknowleged by the national assemblies, the whole amounts to very little, and his title is not in the slightest degree injured. The reply to this latter is, there was not the time. The very men, on whom he trusted, were the first to betray him, and though in defending Richard's claim, we say but little indeed in favour of monarchy, it is only that justice may be done, and that according to the text of the histories which lie before us. The Lancastrians for so long a time flung into the shade, beholding the pretended friends of the House of York thus ready to barter their faith and blow their oaths of fealty to the wind, began to take heart again, and gradually to organize themselves into secret societies, where the sole object of their discussions were to dethrone Richard and place the Earl of Richmond on the throne. Buckingham being connected by blood with the Lan- castrians, was not only induced to take an active part in the conspiracy, but appears to have been ubiquitously suggestive in the whole affair for which busy mar- plot- ting he paid the penalty with his head. The Earl of Richmond, the first of the Tudors, and son of the widow of Henry V, was at this time detained at the court of the Duke of Brittany. As his mother had again re- married, and as she and her husband had died childless, he was thus the heir to an immense for- tune. Possessed in this manner of the sinews of war, he was likely to prove a formidable claimant. He was in- vited to come and take the crown of England, and finally he did so. In order to cement opposing interests as much as possible, it was proposed to contract a marriage between Richmond and the princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King Edward. The bishop of Ely, by means of the Queen- Dowager's physician, had this proposal carried to her, at the sanctuary, and it seemed to promise so fairly to bring back to her some portions of her lost state that, overcoming her repugnance to the Lancastrians, she gave her consent to the union. She borrowed money in the City and sent it over to Richmond as a supply in hand, re- quiring him by oath to observe the terms of the proposal. This plan, excellent as it was, was counteracted by the audacity and foresight of Richard, who by his boldness made a whimsical embroglio, or intricate and conflicting chaos of the whole. He levied troops in the north, and summoned Buckingham to appear at court. He only began to take up arms, and begin a rising in Wales. Heavy rains and fearful weather destroyed all his plans, by preventing him from crossing the Severn. He was deserted by his followers. Treachery was repaid by treachery. The duke confided in a servant, and was betrayed. He was no sooner taken, than he was executed without trial, which indeed was scarcely necessary. By a few master- strokes of policy and boldness Richard was in every quarter triumphant, and the incipient re- bellion was quashed. He summoned a parliament ( in 1484) at the very first interval of leisure afforded him. This parliament acknowledged his right to the crown, and made his son Edward, Prince of Wales. Richard, on this occasion, let it be remembered it was the only occa- sion ever afforded him, to quote the words of the historian, " passed some popular laws, particularly one against the late practice of extorting money on pretence of benevo- lence .'" This tyrant, this murderer, this colossal crimi- nal as he is so literally made out to be, dispensed to the people one of the greatest blessings they had enjoyed for hundreds of years. He mitigated the rigours of monar- chical tyranny in this one act alone to an extent, the value of which it may be difficult to ascertain. " All the other measures of the king tended to the same object." Surely from this we may infer that the devil is not so black as he is painted. But this great hit was in proposing to marry the prin- cess Elizabeth ( destined for Richmond, sworn to him fathoms deep), and th is by consent of the Queen- Dowager who accused him of murdering her sons! Either the queen was worse than Richard, or Richard was the very type of injured innocence. Richard must have been gifted with the eloquence of Melesegenes ( Homer), for the queen left the sanctuary and placed herself and her daughter in his hands. For a woman, gifted with such powers of mind as herself, if all she asserted of him had merely a shadow of truth in their matter, she must have been deserving of a page in Erasmus' praise of folly. His first wife was dead ( also said to have been poisoned by him, a dreamy conjecture of about as much value as all the former ones). The closeness of family relationship, which was little hindrance in those dark days, could he easily got over by a dispen- sation from the Pope, and the marriage was in rapid pro- gress. Is it possible, however, we ask, that a mother could thus give a daughter to the arms of a man whom she accused of murdering her sons, unless tbe whole was a tissue of falsehood from beginning to end ? In the meanwhile the English exiles who were in Brittany, flocked to the standard of Richmond, now filled with the desire of possessing the crown, and of rescuing liiff promised bride from the very grasp of Richard ; and as the minister of Charles VIII gave him countenance and assistance, he was at last enabled to land in England in 1485. The place of his debarkation was Milford Haven, because having but 2,000 men with him he con- templated the aid of the Welsh. Richard, who was not sleeping in self- security, had gathered bis forces to Nottingham as a central rallying point. Richard was des- tined to meet with more than one ungrateful return for the extensive favours he had in so many cases granted, and bis greatest doubts were now of Lord Stanley, whose life had been forfeited to him, and the king only depended upon liis keeping faith by holding his son as a hostage in his hands. His suspicions were not without good grounds, for the temporizing noble at the first opportunity passed over to the other side. On the 22nd of August, 1485, the two leaders brought their men face to face on the field of Boswortb, lying contiguous to the good city of Leicester. Henry headed six thousand men, and Richard double the number, which is by the way no proof of his being unpopular; but Stanley had seven thousand of them, which makes the actual fighting amount to less than Richmond's. This temporizing vagabond, who stood by to watch with great interest the fortunes of the day, as little heeding the cries of pain, and the groans of death, and the ghastly sight of bleeding gashes and deadly stabs, when he was assured that the battle was regularly begun, and hard, unequivocal blows descending in earnest, suddenly declared for Richmond, and thus put twelve thousand men against about five. This " barren rascal," who dis played such " great precaution and abilities," was guilty of an act of almost contemptible larceny, that a starv- ing proletaire would be ashamed of. The battle went against Richard, who fought like a paladin, and cut down the warlike giants of the day as though he were decapitating poppies in a corn- field, and the sole aim of his exertions appear to have been made in order to reach Richmond himself. It is very edifying to read the chronicle of Richard III as told by Shaks- pere and Colley Cibber, particularly in the latter part where he rages like a Turk, and annihilates all the Rich- monds that he meets. The truth of history is very ma- terially connected with these things. Richard fell fighting. The unconquerable obstinacy, the miraculous strength, the clear- sightedness of his plans and orders, the unequalled courage— in fact every splendid quality belonging to the man, were lost with him : amid- a heap of the slain who had fallen beneath his arms, he was surrounded with the myrmidons of Lord Stanley, and slain like a wolf driven to bay. Thus perished a man whose talents belonged to the highest order, whose genius was as brilliant as it was original and inventive. Thus perished one of the men who might have been a world's wonder had the oppor tunity been allowed him: overpowered by numbers lie was slain at the very moment when his powerful arms had struck down the standard- bearer, when within the reach of the Tudor leader. His death was the signal for a total defeat. His body, found on the field after the battle, was stripped naked, flung across a horse, carried to Leicester, and buried in the churchyard of the Grey Friars. Richard was thirty- five years of age when he fell, and had reigned but two years and two months. If we had no other reason for believing that Richard would have been one of the best and wisest kings that ever governed England, the hatred, the obloquy with which he was pursued, the treachery of those around him, and the in- dignity of his burial, would be sufficient to make us be- lieve that he was a superior man in every respect. As this chapter is the close of an epoch, we cannot di better than conclude with the words of Hume, as they form a summary of the difficulties which naturally arose against the accuracy of historical knowledge and correct data :— " Thus have we pursued the history of England through a series of many barbarous ages, till we have at last reached the dawn of civility and science, and have the prospect both of greater certainty in our historical narra- tions, and of being able to present to the reader a spec- tacle more worthy of his attention. The want of certainty, however, and of circumstances, is not alike to be com- plained of throughout every period of this long narration. This island possesses many ancient historians of good credit, as well as many historical monuments; and it is rare, that the annals of so uncultivated a people, as were the English as well as the other European nations, after the decline of Roman learning, have been transmitted to posterity so complete, and with so little mixture of false- hood and of fable. This advantage vie owe entirely to the clergy of the church of Rome, who, founding their authority on their superior knowledge, pre- served the precious literature of antiquity from a total extinction; and under shelter of their numerous privi- leges and immunities, acquired a security by means of the superstition which they would in vain have claimed from the justice and humanity of those turbulent and licentious ages. Nor is the spectacle altogether unenter- taining and uninstructive which the history of those times presents to us. The view of human manners, in all their variety of appearances, is both profitable and agreeable ; and if the aspect in some periods seems horrid and deformed, we may thence learn to cherish with the greater anxiety that science and civility which has so close a connexion with virtue and humanity, and which, as it is a sovereign antidote against superstition, is also the most effectual remedy against vice and disorders of every kind." EDWIN ROBERTS. 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PHASES OF HUMAN SLAVERY: HOW IT CAME INTO THE WORLD, AND HOW IT SHALL BE MADE TO GO OUT. LETTER XVI. In Letter XV, we introduced our readers to the slave- trade system, as carried on in Western Africa. We doubt if ancient or modern times could furnish a parallel to that system for atrocity, cupidity, and hypocrisy. It combines the horrors of war, commerce, and diplomacy. The cupidity of commerce demands victims— an an- nual supply of victims to be immolated in the plantations of South America. To procure these victims, the Brazilian and Portuguese merchants, & c. have formed treaties with barbarous princes in Africa, who maintain regular armies for the purpose of capturing the natives of that country and selling them as slaves to the said merchants. France and England profess to have a treaty for the suppression of this infamous traffic, and are at the expense of maintaining enormous fleets on the African seas to prevent it;— in England alone we have paid many millions of pounds sterling under pre- tence of suppressing this trade. We have done so, too, in the name of humanity ( for, up to this hour, not a member of either House of Parliament has had the probity to confess our real motives); and no mean lau- rels have been won by our Wilberforces, Clarksons, & c. & c.> for the supposed share they have had in bring- ing about our anti- slavery treaties and expeditions. To keep up the value of West India sugar and West India estates, by cutting off the supply of hands from our Brazilian rivals, was never admitted amongst our ac- tuating motives. It was never once acknowledged that our naval armaments on the African coast had the same origin sis our differential duties in favour of West India produce— namely, our desire to bolster up our West India " Interest," by giving an artificial stimulus to their trade, and a corresponding artificial value to their plantations and investments. Oh! no: this would be to speak truth— than which nothing is more unparlia- mentary. The high ground of humanity, and the. still higher ground of Christian duty, were the grounds upon, which we have always professed to take our stand as a nation against negro slavery. Yet, with all these pompous pretensions, what a sorry figure we cut as a. Christian, liberty- loving people, in Mr. Cruikshank's Report of his mission to the King of Dahomey. Here is a petty royal barbarian disposing of some 9,000 slaves annually, for the sake of the revenues he derives from the traffic. Great Britain has a fort in his dominions, called the fort of Whydah, from which she could annihilate him and his army ia a day, and she has a fleet upon his coasts whieh costs ten times the annual sum wbich would be required to buy a cessation of the traffic. Yet she will neither conquer not buy— she will neither annihilate- the savage slave - hunter, nor offer, him more than a pension of 2,000 dollars to com- pensate him for a trade which yields him upwards of 300,0002. dollars, besides other advantages. And there are fools in England who really believe our government wishes to abolish the slave- trade! In Letter XV, we gave, in Mr. Cruikshank's own words, the result of his mission to the King of Dahomey. The object of that mission was io get his sable majesty to agree to a treaty with Lieutenant- Governor Winniett ( her Majesty's representative in those parts) by which lie should bind himself to co- operate with our govern- ment in suppressing the slave- trade within his dominions he receiving in compensation a pension of 2,000 dol- lars a- year, and the prospect of certain commercial advantages to accrue to him from another and more legitimate trade, which he was told the British govern- ment would help him to establish in the room of the slave- trade. These terms were so minifestly out of proportion to the end desired, that Mr. Cruikshank hesitates not to say,—" I could not but feel that a repe- tition of my paltry offer, of an annual subsidy of 2,000 dollars, would only clothe me with ridicule." As to the promised commercial advantages, they were so entirely visionary, that no man, who reads the missionary's re- port, can- for a moment suppose that our government ivas in earnest in the business. A show of anti- slavery izeal was all the government intended;— the rest was diplomatic hypocrisy. • But as this mission presents us with something more i ihan a new phase of human slavery— as it exhibits the workings of kingcraft and slavery in their rudest forms, ; ogether with the workings of modern commercialism and diplomacy as developed by " civilization"—- we must not dismiss it without allowing the King of Dahomey to state his own case, and to defend his system in his own way. It i3 too instructive a chapter in the history of modern slavery not to warrant this privilege at our hands. It will be seen in what right- royal style his Majesty of Dahomey asserts his homicidal and liberti- cidal claims, and what little cififerenee there is, after all, between a savage, slave- hunting nigger- king in Africa and the more polished savages— his royal brethren— who govern civilized Europe. The sum and substance of his sable majesty's objections to the treaty were as follows:— He had chiefs ( an aristocracy) whose interests he was , bound to consult These chiefs had long and serious consultations with him upon the slave- trade, and they had come to the conclusion that " his government could not be carried on without it!" ' The pomp or state he was obliged to maintain was great; his army was expensive; the ceremonies, and customs, and court pageantries handed down to him by his ancestors, and which must be observed annually, entailed upon hUp.-- a vast royal expenditure. These must not be aboIisHfe' ?? and the money to defray their cost must be had froi- some source. The form of his government could not be changed— innovations were dangerous— and particularly so in his dominions. To attempt the suppression of slave- hunting might cause a revolution, which would deprive him of his throne, aud plunge his kingdom into a state of anarchy. He was desirous— very desirous— to acquire the friendship of England. He loved and admired the English character. Nothing delighted him so much as to see an Englishman in his country. He honoured Englishmen above all other men, and the friendship of England before all things else; and he would honour and prize them still more if they would help him to get more slaves, and keep them safe when he got them, till he could sell them to advantage. In short, there was nothing that he preferred to England and Englishmen, except slave- hunting and the revenues accruing from it. He himself and his army were ready at all times to fight our gracious queen's enemies, and to do anything the English government would ask him to do, but give up the slave- trade or offend his chiefs— the aristocracy of his court. No other trade but that ia slaves was known to his people, nor could they easily be made to relish any other. Palm oil, it was true, had engaged the attention of some; but it was a slow method of making, money, and brought only a small amount of duties into his coffers. He and his chiefs could never get on with such slow methods of getting money. The plauting of coffee and cotton had been suggested to him, but this was slower still. He and his chiefs must have money, and they must have it by tbe surest, and shortest methods. Before he' could make money by coffee or- cotton the coffee and cotton trees would have to grow. His chiefs would never wait for the trees to grow; he himself could not wait; for they would be in their graves before the money could come in this way. Besides, what was be to do for money while the trees were growing? who would pay his troops, or buy arms and clothing for them? who would buy dresses for his numerous wives? who would give him supplies of cow- ries, of rum, of powder, of muskets, and of cloth to perform his annual ceremonies? He held his power by an observance of the time- honoured customs of his forefathers, and he would forfeit it, and entail upon himself a life full of shame and a death full of misery, if he neglected them. It would be to discard the wisdom of his ancestors. It was the slave- trade that made him terrible to his enemies, and loved, honoured, and re- spected by his people. How could he give it up? what could be put ia its place? It had been the ruling prin- ciple of aetioa with himself and his subjects from their earliest childhood. Their thoughts, their habits, their discipline, their education, and mode of life had been formed with reference to this all- engrosing occupation. Even the very songs with which the mother stilled her crying infant told of triumph over foes reduced to slavery. Could he, by signing this treaty, change the sentiments and habits of a whole people? It could not be: only a long, very long series of years could bring about such a change. He and his chiefs must have other advantages greater than those from the slave- trade be- fore they could abandon that trade for any other, Thesa advantages must not be ideal, or prospective, or con- tingent; they must be real and immediate; they must appear in the solid shape of increased riches— a larger annual income of money,— and a corresponding greater command of the luxuries and other good things of life. In detailing the King of Dahomey's argument, we quote almost literally the missionary's report. We have not inserted a line to alter the sense. We have only condensed or abridged. Thus far the royal nigger spoke only of his own government. But it is clear, from what followed, that he understood something of our govern- ment as well as his own. Following up his reasonings on the necessity of maintaining his army, his state, his ceremonies, the customs of his ancestors, & c., he at once, put a poser to Mr. Cruikshank by a sort of argumen- tum acl hominem, applied to our precious concern at Westminster: " Does not your own government in Eng- land," said he, " cost a great deal of money? Are not its expenses very great, and will it not have the money where it can get it? Would it suddenly give up the principal source of its revenue without some equivalent provision for defraying its expenses? He could not believe so. He was sure it would not. And how could it expect him to do what it would not do itself? Why should his government beggar itself more than the English government? The sum offered him by Lieu- tenant- Governor Winniett ( 2,000 dollars) would not pay his expenses for a week. And even did the English government offer him a sum equivalent to his present revenues, he would still be at a loss how to so employ his people's energies as to prevent them being turned against himself and his chiefs. With their warlike habits they would be for killing or capturing some- bodies, and it was better to keep them killing and cap- turing for the slave- trade than risk their turning their arms against himself. To Mr. Cruikshank, who, as an agent of the British government, naturally sympathises with the cravings which all extravagant governments have for money, these arguments of the King of Dahomey appeared quite unanswerable. Indeed, to him they were so. He was completely dumb- foundered. He found himself, to use a trite expression, in a " false position." He was asking the King of Dahomey to do what he well knew his own government would not do in similar circumstances. He was asking him to sacrifice the present for a precarious future— to give up an existing certain traffic, yielding upwards of 300,000 dollars ( with sundry other advan- tages) for a prospective one, which might never come, and for a beggarly stipend of 2,000 dollars. With what fhce could he tax the Kiug of Dahomey and his nigger aristocracy with extravagance and cruelty when he thought of the royal and aristocratic freaks played by his own government at home? The costly and bloody wars with France and America to suppress republi- t aanism— the extravagant pomps and ceremonies of our ourt— the costly paraphernalia of our monarchy and - ,' ureh— the lavish expenditure on our military and naval armaments — the prodigious sums worse than squandered upon ambassadors, attaches, placemen, pen- sioners, sinecurists, mistresses, & c.,— not a word had poor Cruikshank to say for his government that the black king could not have refuted at once. As to the cruelty of slave- hunting, he might well allege that it was not more cruel than to shoot Chinamen, and burn their cities iu order to force Anglo- Indian opium down their throats, or to force an import trade upon them, whieh, in time, must make beggars of their manufacturers, and convulse their empire with an insur- gent population, driven mad by loss of employment and bread. Mr. Cruikiliank might, indeed, enlarge upon the wickedness of tearing men from their homes and selling them as slaves for distant lands. But the King of Dahomey might reply, that the captured slaves he sold were better off in Brazil, than tbe Irish peasantry ejected from the laud of their birth; and that even those who died ia the " middle passage," fared no worse than the million poor Irish given up to plague, pestilence, and famine, in 1846- 7. He might say more— he might, with justice, tax our cruisers on the coast of Africa with having more to do in causing the horrors of the " middle passage," than his own government; seeing that he only captured and sold the slaves, whereas the occa- sional throwing of them overboard, and the suffocating them in close cabins with the hatches down, was the work of Brazilian and Portuguese merchants, — often too, of American and English traders; and that to escape the pursuit of our cruisers is the excuse usually pleaded for these barbarities. The King of Dahomey might also retort, that he and his chiefs treat the slaves in their own service far better than millions of British and Irish subjects aro treated by their masters here; that they are better fed, more cared for, and less over- worked than the workers for our slop- shops, than the needle- women of London, for instance; or the unfortunate tailors who work for the " sweaters;" or than the labourers of Wilts and Dorset; or than the hand- loom weavers of Wigan and Carlisle,; or than one- half of the agricultural population of Ireland. Mr. Cruikshank's own evidence goes to show this. To do our missionary justice, he dexterously enough evaded such topics as might suggest a comparison of the two systems— that of his own government, and that of the King of Dahomey. A few commonplaces and homilies upon slavery were, of course, indulged in to save appearances; but they were faintly and reservedly urged. The commercial, not the moral, side of the question was. the burden of his song; it was upon this he took his stand. He told him, for instance, that upon the Gold Coast, where we had forts, and where the slave- trade used to be carried on as vigorously as at Whydah, there had now been no traffic of that, kind for the last thirty years, and that the natives were now getting rich and happy by legitimate trade. It ia curious to note the impression made upon the royal savage by this argument, and the sagacity with which he at once made manifest how little the interests of royalty and aris- tocracy comport, wiLh popular interests. No riches for my people 1" he exclaimed. " Porto Nuovo, Agudo, Badajoz, and other towns on the coast, once belonged to me aud paid their tribute as regularly as Whydah. Ships now go there and trade with them. Factories are established for the purchase of palm oil, and the result is that these people are becoming rich, and. set my autho- rity at defiance. True, they pay me a nominal duty to prevent war, but I am cheated by them. I wish the En- glish government to prevent ships from trading there, and to remove the factories, that I may recover my lost authority. It is the English factory at Badajoz which has witlijield me from attacking that town ; for I would not injure the subjects of the Queen of England," & c. In this brief apostrophe we have the history of slavery, as it were, epitomised. Weakness is its very essence, ana therefore the philosophy of all tyranny reduces itself to this,— to keep people poor and ignorant that they may be weak. The Kiug of Dahomey, igno- rant as lie is, knows just enough to know that an igno- rant and impoverished people must ever remain slaves. His first care, therefore, is to keep his people poor and ignorant of every art and industry by which they might get rich. In this, too, he is no worse than the landed and com- mercial aristocracy of our own country— of all countries. To keep the great mass of the people poor and ignorant is, at this, moment, the main care and business of every government iu Europe— of the British government in particular. Hence the Stamp, and Security, and Excise laws by which our press is fettered and made a monopoly of for the upper and middle classes; hence the hideous fact, lhat less than one two- hundredth part of our entire revenue is allotted to education, whilst the major part of the available revenue is appropriated to army, navy, and ordnance establishments; which, we need not say, are kept up to keep the people down, weak, and poor. Hence our agrarian and monetary laws which accumulate all our lands and money in the hands of the idle few, whilst the millions who produce all the country's riches are without land, without money, and without the pos- sibility o? obtaining either. But enough of the King of Dahomey. The lesson he has given us will not, we trust, be without its effect. At all events, he lias brought us a step nearer towards the main end of this inquiry, which is to show how human slavery, in its every form, is to be made to go out of the world. A NATIONAL REI ORMEE. ( To be continued in our next) A WARNING.— LetForward " be the motto of England; let " Reform" be blazoned on her time- honoured banner;' or Victoria's dynasty may yet have to seek an exile beside the descendants of the pilgrim fathers o'er the western wave.— Central and Southern Europe ( a work just published by Longman, Paternoster Row). 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. NATIONAL EDUCATION, THE PRO- POSED MEASURE OE MR. FOX. No member of the House of Commons was so likely to do justice to the great question of National Education as Mr. Pox. Himself, one of the people, and bound to them by eveTy link that could render sympathy available for legisla- tion," we did hope for a broad aud comprehensive develop- ment of wants and of means to supply wants. So far we have not been mistaken. Mr. Fox in his plaee in the House of Commons on Tuesday, February the 26th, openedthe question in a masterly manner. First, as regards ournational wants- only " one in thirteen ( all kinds of schools being included in the calculation), was the English average of education, while that education, as now administered, had little influ- ence upon the progress of crime." A lamentable amount of ignorance! This estimate refers to the rising generation. What must be the condition of the adult, the grown up men and women who constitute English society ? It is with us no great question what is the relative proportion between the numbers of educated persons in this and other countries. The question is, are we as a people as well educated as it is desirable we should be ? We cer- tainly are not. Ignorance may be satisfactory to those wbo desire that the masses of the people should only be the mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, but must be extremely unsatisfactory to those who look forward to a gradual but sure extension of civil and constitutional rights. The necessity of ignorance is now seldom contended for; on the contrary, the word progress ia on everybody's lips, so much so, that we sometimes think that this progress is only a progress of words ; sure we are that it cannot be a progress - of deeds without a very extended system of secular educa- tion. Mr. Fox's motion for leave to bring in a bill to promote the secular education of the people, has been favourably re- ceived by the House of Commons. Sir Harry Inglis, repre- sentee of the wisdom, piety, and toleration of tiie Univer- sity of Oxford, voted against the introduction of the bill because he, Sir Harry Inglis's idea of education was a- train- ing which had reference to mail's eternal destinies. Pious Sir Harry ! the morals of Oxford are safe in your keeping. Mother church is faithfully represented. Look after the eter- nal destinies, but do not trouble about things earthly. Things of this earth are earthly ; leave them to the priests, and no doubt they will be safe in keeping. Only prepare for the future. John the husbandman, work hard all the week, put the parson's horse in the gig on Sunday, doff your every- day hat, put ou your Sunday smock, walk on foot to church, sit in a cold draught near the door, put your hand to your hat to every well- coated man you meet, make your children curtsey to the squire's children as they ride ou palfreys through the parish. Do all these things, John, and do not grumble, because your weekly earnings are only nine shillings, and no doubt you will be well prepared for the future, educated to the satisfaction of Sir Harry Inglis. Those who talk so much about religious education, and de- precate secular education, have for many years been in the habit of circulating tracts, small pious stories about death- bed repentance, anu such iike, winch tracts are seldom read. They contain no healthy nutriment lor tne minus of up- grown men, and are taken in and returned by the cottagers to the tract distributors as part of their duties. These tracts are seldom read, and when read are so silly and uninteresting as to render a re- perusal impossible. Sir Harry Inglis and the sanctified Mr. Plumptre, as well as all pious rectors, curates, and others who feel an interest in such matters, may rest as- sured that such religious teaching is a waste of time and money, and that it would be of service to the state that their pious intentions received a more healthy direction, Mr. Fox too fully comprehends the state of parties to un- dervalue religion or religious training, and after reading his admirable speech, plain, simple people must wonder why Sir Harry Jnglis and Air. Plumptre could raise an objection; but the fact is bigotry has always a voice at hand to declaim against toleration. Bigotry, unrelenting bigotry dare not listen to reason, and yield to the conviction ; if it did so— its character would be changed, aud it would remain bigotry no longer. Yield to reason! No. That would heresy indeed. Damn the heretics and betrueto your colors,— be consistent— Bull- headed consistency that never sees the necessity of change but staunchly declares as the present is so must the future be— is a rock obstructing the waters for a time to be broken and splintered by their force. Mr. Fox puts religion in its proper place. " Religious instruction was the most important that could be received, yet, to make that available, a certain amount of secular instruction must be combined with it, or it became " mere words;" and he showed, from gaol statistics, that the majority of criminals have received that nominal education of which the repetition of the " Lord's Prayer " was the test. The bill he proposed provided that there should be a govern- ment examination into the educational deficiency of each district in England, and that the inhabitants should be invited to supply that deficiency, by providing the means of adding to the numbers in existing schools, and by instituting free schools in which no religious system should be taught, except by desire of the parents. Where a locality refused the invita- tion, government shoulJ interfere, and compel it to do its duty. One of the advantages of this plan would be, that the sturdy independence of the lower class, which revolted against " charities," and objected to theological dogmas, would be won over to education. He said that, according to a Lan- cashire estimate, a rate of 4$< 1, in the pound would provide schools all over England, against which should be set the ex- pected diminution in criminal expenditure. After dwelling upon the necessity of raising the standard of the teacher, of whom he believed it was true that nascilur, nonfit, he hoped that his bill might be laid on the table Of the house, and be considered by the country, when thousands upon thousands of children were growing up in savageness and crime." What more, we ask, could the most sincerely religious wish for ? If the parents of children desire that religious instructi on be given, it may be given ; but if they do not desire that religious instruction be imparted the education shall be purely secular. Can secular education lead to infidelity? If so, religion must be founded in error. But who over heard of an orthodox and hetrodox arithmetic, a church established and a dissenting geometry ? And who shall judge of the education children shall receive if their own parents may not? According to Mr. Fox's bill, the vexed question of religion would rest entirely in the hands of the parents whose children were edu- cated at such public schools, and the best results would flow from such an arrangement; the children of Catholics, Protes- tants, and free- thinkers would in all probability be educated together, and men learn to love each other for the doing of virtuoss deeds, and not to quarrel with and hate eaeh other because of a difference of theological opinion. The church, with her great wealth, and the dissenters with their public spirit and untiring energy, have nothing to fear from the suc- cess of such a measure. Besides, who can lose, if humanity and brotherhood gain 1 The duties of government were never more clearly defined than in Mr. Fox's Educational Bill: it proceeds upon the understanding that education is necessary,— nay, indispensable, and, therefore proposes a government examination into the deficiency in each district, which deficiency the inhabitants of each district are to be called upon to remedy: if they fail in doing their duty, then property shall be rated, and the rates applied for educational purposes. In those districts in which the inhabitants voluntarily perform their duty, no rate by order of government would take place. All the educational resources now existing would be rendered available, and such additional resources, he found as were necessary for a full and proper education of the entire people without regard to sect or party. Not the least important part of Mr. Fox's intentions is the necessity of raising the standard of the teacher; this is neces sary in all senses. Tbe statistical societies of London and Manchester have shown how unworthy of the name of educa- tion is the kind of training common in the majority of those schools at which the children of the working classes receive " a little learning," and which schools are often kept as private speculations by persons " whose only qualification for this employment seems to be their unfitness for every other." Such school- masters are uuvariably in humble circum- stances, and their own want of education is often a barrier to their instructing others. The mere learning of words is not education. Tiie garrulous, but truth- telling Montaigne says in one of his essays,—" To what use serves learning if th understanding be away?" Would to God that, for the sake of justice, our courts of judicature were as well furnished with understanding and conscience as they are with know- ledge. " We do not study how to live but how to dispute." Whereas we are not to tie learnings to the soul, but to work and incorporate them together: not to tincture it therewith only, but to give it a thorough and perfect dye; and if it will not take colour, and meliorate its imperfect state, it were, without doubt, much better to let it alone. Not going all the way with the old Frenchman, we never- theless think that he hints ac an important element of a good education, viz., a well exercised understanding. We have known many professional schoolmasters wbo were really illi- terate, and we have also known others who were really learned, but could not suit their learning to the capacities of their pupils, and who, from the want of success in their profession, felt disgusted and became careless. No point is more essen- tial to success than a well- disciplined teacher ; one who is not only capable of planting in knowledge, but is also capable of developing the mental faculties of children and young persons. John Locke, in his " Thoughts " concerning education, throws out some valuable hints on the training of children and the duties of teachers, which a want of space alone prevents lis from quoting. That Mr. Fox's Educational Bill will be met with opposition, is what he no doubt confidently expects; and one of our ob- jects m writing is to call the attention of our readers to its importance, so that if toleration and bigotry muat again strug- gle, tbey will' be alive to the contest. The question of education is one of the most important questions of those times, and is closely related to all future improvements. We do not agree with those who say education can do everything; but we do say that it will aid the people in accomplishing many things which must be accomplished sooner or later. It is admitted on all hands that the rule of democracy is at band. Thomas Carlyle, in one of his ", L itter- day Pamphlets," confesses " that democracy is the inevitable and universal fact of these days." We would no more fear an ignorant de- mocracy than we would an ignorant oligarchy ; but we would prefer an intelligent democracy to either. Under the rule of a democracy, the intelligence of a people is a nation's strength. Under a despotism, the ignorance of the people is the strength of the ruler. Had our neighbours the French been wisely intelligent, Europe would now have been much advanced in free institutions and peaceful legislation. The more we study this question the more clearly we see the advantages that will flow from advanced education aud increased intelligence. The working classes are behind no class in natural capabilities; their truthful instincts often put self- styled philosophers to the blush ; their close connexion with the actual facts of life ren- der them acute and practical, and only let them rise in the scale of knowledge by placing the means of education within their reach ; and we are much mistaken if they do not rule the destinies of England to the true advantages of the common- wealth. Referring to the past, and relating to the future, Mr Porter, in his " Progress of the Nation," thus writes:— " Under the circumstance that have attended our course during the present century, the increase of population among the instructed classes has certainly gone forward in at least as great a proportion as the increase among the other classes ; yet, except in rare instances, referable to want of individual prudence, we do not see that any fall- baclc into the ranks of pauperism, while, on the other hand, thousands have advanced in worldly ranks, themselves or their immediate descendants occupying, in many cases, the very highest stations in the land. What is it but education that has imparted to them this power of sustaining themselves and their families in the struggle amid so many competitors ?" Mr. Porter proceeds to argue that, if the educated among us have found room for their ex- ertions without sinking in the social scale, an extension of edu- cational means would do much to remedy the cry of surplus population, and continues, " The view here offered of the social benefits to be derived by the nation at large from the general spread of intelligence is no new doctrine. It was well said by the Bishop of Chester ( Dr. Sumner) in his records of the creation,—" Of all obstacles to improvement, ignorance is the most formidable, because the only true secret of assisting the poor, is to make them agents in bettering their own con- dition, and to supply them not with a temporary stimulus, but with a permanent energy. As fast as the standard of intelli- gence is raised, the poor become more able to co- operate in any plan proposed for their advantage, and more likely to listen to any reasonable suggestion, and more able to under- stand, and therefore more willing to pursue it. Hence it fol- lows, that when gross ignorance is once removed, and right principles are introduced, a great advantage has been already gained against squalid poverty. Many avenues to an im- proved condition are opened to one whose faculties are enlarged and exercised; he sees his own interest more clearly, he pur sues it more steadily, and he does not study immediate grati- fication at the expense of bitter and late repentance, or mort- gage the labour of his future life without an adequate return, Indigence, therefore, will rarely be found in company with good education." The lengthened quotation which we have given will, we are sure, repay perusal ; and although Mr. Porter and Dr. Sumner mayperhaps have over- rated the advantages of edu- cation among the better educated classes, there runs throughout their remarks a deep substratum of truth. We would remark, however, that society as at present constituted, too often re- wards cunning, and ruins simplicity. A more universal intel- ligence would tend to a different result. If increased educa- tion was only to make us more skilful in the practice of " cheat, and be cheated," to enable us to be more deep in craft, and more successful in legal frauds, we should much fear the success cf the bill of Mr. Fox, or the plans of any other ad- vanced reformer. But we anticipate a different result Among a really intelligent people, railway jobbing, legal extortion- political and theological quackeries, and all other plans a: schemings for deceiving the many, would in the end peris: . We look around us anil see all sorts of wrongs, and but a very inadequate comprehension of how these wrongs can be put to rights, and if increased intelligence will not help to solve the problem, we know not what means can be adopted. We have tried increased producing power which has given us plethoric wealth on ihe one side, and hungry poverty on the other, let us try increased education, and see what will follow in the way of increased distribution. Mr. Porter gives us many interesting facts, showing tbe close connexion between educational and moral progress. The poor Icelander, whose unfortunate natural position we are so apt to deplore, turns his long winter nights to a profitable account, and that which we think a natural misfortune leads to most fortunate results. EveTy family is educated, every house a school and reading- room. Crimes among tbem are hardly known. The house of correction at Reickiavich, the capital of the island, after having stood empty for years, was at length converted iuto a residence for the governor by whom it iias since been occupied." Ignorance, poverty, and crime, are closely finked together, and it seems an insane proceeding to minimize education and maximize crime. We may not be able, by any extension of education, to follow tile example o£ the simple Icelanders and turn our gaols and penitentiaries to dwelling- houses ; but let us, at least, teach men a knowledge of duties before we punish them for a violation of laws. Let the distinction between the criminal in the dock and the judge on the bencb, be a more rational one than a mere distinction in the means of acquiring knowledge. It was well remarked the other day by a leading journalist, that the writings of Milton, Shakspere and even the simple lays of Goldsmith were sealed books to the English peasantry. We may add that in Christian England, thousands of men and women cannot even read " the Lord's Prayer." Such ignorance is. truly deplorable; but it would be useless to deplore, if we did not strive to amend. Mr. Fox proposes to amend: he has some noble examples before him. Great and good men, who have not only mourned over evil, but have striven to work with a view of leaving the world better than they found it. The question of national education is the question of no party or sect, but lays at tbe root of all permanent improvement, and is closely associated with political, social, aad moral reform. We, for those reasons, wish it success. GRACCHUS. PRISON DISCIPLINE.— NO. VI. THE total absence of all proper classification of prisoners, upon which must rest all the chances of their improvement, will be best shown by a reference to authentic documents, the sta- tistics and the reports of the Government Inspector of Prisons. My remarks will, for the present, be confined to the discipline of Coldbath Fields' House of Correction. It is stated in the report for 1847, that there were confined,— Felons, male 32- 3 ; female, 155. Misdemeanants: male, 195; female, 48. Rogues and Vagabonds, 72. Soldiers, 92. Under the Vagrant Act, 35 females. These were distributed throughout the wards, according to the established system of classification adopted in the prison, but which is never made to include any of the essential peculiarities of the case, or of the character of the individual, but is limited to the age and the offence for which the prisoner happens to be confined. So that among the mis- demeanants may be found many of the most determined and • hardened felons in the country, against whom, in the parti- cular case for which they are imprisoned, it may have been impossible to prove the capital charge, or they may have been summarily convicted for merely a drunken row or a common assault. The great and manifest evils flowing from this want of proper classification is shown by the consequences referred to in the report, where we fiud it s: ated, in allusion to the work- house offenders, that " some of them had been sent to prison ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, or even fourteen times, who seemed to be utterly destitute and untaught, and whose conduct in the prison was indecent, violent, and outrageous in an unparalleled degree. The evils inseparable from ward association were increased by the misconduct of some of the females of the above class, so that special measures were obliged to be re- sorted to in regard to them." The governor's journal affords us some information on this point: the following entry occurs :— " November 23rd.— In consequence of the frequent disorders occasioned by the association in the same wards of various female prisoners, committed as refractory paupers from the workhouse, the governor has directed, that two of them should be confined, one in the fourth, the other in the second felon's yard." This will appear, no doubt, a rather strange method of proceeding, to reform a refractory female workhouse offender,— to remove her into the society of felons. It is gene- rally admitted that precept and example, especially the iattar, is calculated to form or modify the humau character. Act:. ag upon this generally received notion, what would be deemed the best method of reforming a refractory misdemeanant ? Cer- tainly not sending the patient, or prisoner, into the society of more depraved and vicious companions, and compelling her to associate with them. Now, whether the governor's object was to punish or reform the offender, surely he must have known t/ ie method he adopted could not, by any possibility, accomplish either object. The women who were " indecent,, violent, and outrageous," would find it no punishment to be placed in the companionship of others as bad as themselves ; and, as before shown, it was impossible that sucha proceeding- could have any reformatory effect upon them. To show tbe utter inefficiency of the present arrangements to Ofirry out effectively the system which the legislature and th' prison authorities have themselves thought necessary to b, enforced, I need only state that in the spacious wotk- • ooms of the prison may be seen the hoary- headed criminal of sixty, who may have passed his life in crime, side by side, with a youth of eighteen, or perhaps younger, probably hii first offence. In this room there are from 300 to 400 of all 356 • REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. Bges to be seen,— aye, and one may say of all degrees of guilt, Bitting side by side in sullen and dogged silence, watched by three or four gaolers straining their optic powers to the ut- most to detect a smile, nod, or wink, or even the turn of the head of any of the flock of criminals under their charge — for these offences, or the least infraction cf the silent system, they are visited with what is called disciplinary punishment. The frequent instances of which, for these kind of offences, are shown by the public documents relat- ing to the prison. Whatever department we may turn our eyes to, ne find the evils of the system often producing the most fatal results. The wardens and officers are harassed watching and punishing the prisoners; the prisoners' only recreation is deceiving the officers, and so effectually do they succeed, tbat notwithstanding the assumed maintainance of the " silent system," abundant facilities exist for the pri- soners to impart to one another the most. corrupting prin- ciples and counsel. If during the day the present arrangements are harassing to the warders, and tend to irate the prisoners, and to continually expose them to the temptation of violating the prison regulations, we shall find the evils of the system more distinctly manifest if we turn to the dormi- tories of the prison. At", the period we are now speaking of in Cold Bath Fields, there were 451 prisoners, male and female, distributed in twenty- seven sleeping- rooms, or dormi- tories, some of which were of the following dimensions, and were occupied nightly by the stated number of prisoners. One room thirty- seven feet long by seven feet wide, con- tained thirty- seven inmates, auother twenty- four feet by twenty- three, thirty- one prisoners ; another twenty- five feet by twenty- three feet, thirty prisoners, and so ou in proportion. Of course to keep up the show of preventing communication between the prisoners, a warder sits up to watch in the dormitory; the facility afforded for the in- fraction of tbe rules during the night by prisoners, and warders and their sub- officers, will be made sufficiently evi- dent by an extract or two from the prison books. The fol- lowing entries are most illustrative of the working of a sys- tem which can only be sustained by such harassing and continual watching oa the part of those employed in carrying it out. The first extract I shall make is dated, " March 30th, 1843," and we there find as follows:—" The matron repre- sented that two prisoners, on their being reported for talk- ing in dormitory of the second yard, accused the night officer of sleeping for the greater part of the two last nights, aud that one of the prisoners got out of bed and aroused her; tbe whole of the prisoners in the dormitory were examined, and. most of them confirmed the statement, adding that much conversation had taken place." On the 14th of June, 184- 3, we find an officer had been fined for sleeping while on night duty in the dormitory, the same man had been fined no less than thirteen times for simi- lar offences. On the 2nd of July, 1844, two female warders • were fined for repeatedly sleeping whilst on duly. On the 10th of December, 1844, a female sub- warder was reported for sleeping on the night- watch, who had been fined ten times before for ihe like offence. These are facts, and must, I should think, without any comment, prove the necessity of some change in the system of the Prison Dis- cipline of the country. That these infractions are not unfrequent, may be shown by the number of punishments which take place, and their severity which shows the difficulties the authorities find in maintaining order and decency in their prisons. Among them we find enumerated " hand- cuffs and other irons, whip- ping, dark cells, solitary cells, stoppage of diet," & c. The Inspectors in their last report says, " We noticed among other indications, that the the prisoners turned their heads and looked about ( a monstrous offence) much more than used formerly to be case." ' Tis but one step from the sub- lime to the ridiculous: only imagine the Government In- spectors noticing " that the prisoners turned their heads and looked about," and can any one imagine for a moment that if it were possible to prevent prisoners turning their heads and looking about, that by doing so they would be re- formed or made better members of society. It would be unnecessary to enlarge upon what i3 here stated; but for the sake of showing that the evils above pointed out, exist in the other prisons of the metropolis. I shall confine my remarks to a short notice of the West- minster Bridewell. I may remark that this prison is looked upon asa pattern one, both for discipline audconstruction. On the latter point at least there ought to be something found satisfactory. ' Tis one of the most recently erected prisons; extraordinary attention was bestowed upon its general ar- rangement; several of the most influential members of the Prison Discipline Society, gave their aid to accomplish the proposed object, viz., the erection of a prison where a sys- tem of classification, which was then deemed a panacea iu the treatmeut of criminals, could be carried out; but which classification, with all the advantages afforded by its suppor- ters, has so signally failed in realizing any of the contem- plated results. The building of this prison afforded a splendid oppor- tunity to the parties interested for carrying out their adopted views. The general arrangements, yards, day- rooms, cells, and dormitories, ' were all constructed and arranged expressly with the intention of facilitating this object. The cost of this gaol was about 200,0002., an amount which, when we consider relatively to the number of pri- soners it is calculated to contain, was surely sufficient to have enabled the authorities and architects under their di- rection, to have produced a building that would have suf- ficed for a time without alterations. The gaol is calculated to hold 800 prisoners, to which, at the above cost of build- ing, gives about 250/. as the expense for providing— house- room, if we may so call it, for each person, or as much as 800 good houses would cost building. Notwithstanding this extravagant outlay, continual alterations are being made : this I can speak of from my own personal observations; and I confidently venture to say that if those who pay the money do not, in some way, put a stop to the mania for improve- ments, or, at any rate, alterations, that in a very short time, nothing will be left of this " pattern gaol" but the shell and the governor's apartments. And it is a most extraordinary fact, that it is only when an expensive alteration is nearly completed, that the discovery is made of its not beiug adapted to the purpose intended. Ten or a dozen cells, which have been originally separated by massive walls, and the entrance of the light and air almost excluded, are all at once knocked into large room, windows without bars put in, to make a fine large work- room. When completed, it is found impossible to use it for that purpose, being at the top of the building, or for some other cause; then ' tis forthwith fitted up as a dormitory for some 120 prisoners to sleep in; then a discovery is made that it does not answer for tbat, and it is agaiu unfitted aud used by about half tbe number it is ca- pable of containing. Neither the original designers nor any of the present enlightened and benevolent magistrates have seeu the necessity of introducing any artificial warmth into the prisoner's cells or dormitories. The consequence is that every prisoner, no matter what may be his offence or what his constitution, if, unfortunately, sent to this Pattern Pri- son in autumn, spring, or winter, is morally sure to contract a rheumatism or some other diseases which will last him his life. At these seasons of tbe year such is the frightful damp- ness of the place, that for days or even weeks the wet runs down the walls of the passages, staircases, or cells, and has often dropped ou me from the roof of my sleeping cell; and although this fact is known to all in the prison, I have heard some of the superior officers and authorities of the prison express their surprise. When I have mentioned it to them, some assured me I was mistaken; that it was considered a very dry place; and one presuming on my position as a pri- soner, dared to tell me I had stated a falsehood by repre- senting the sleeping cells as damp. The same evening when locked up I pointed out to the warder who shut me up for the night tbe wet trickling down the walls and dropping from the roof of the cell. Upon the moral discipline, unfortunately, there is no more cause for gratulation than in the merely physical arrange- ment. Upon this subject the inspector's remarks: " The silent system is enforced only in the House of Correction,— part of the prison. In the gaol the prisoners are left together by themselves in the day- rooms or yards, and the only super- vision to which they are subjected, consists in such as can be exercised by a warder stationed in the room or at the door. The prisoners in these yards are wholly unemployed, and as conversation cannot be prohibited, so long as it is carried on without noise; it is obvious under such circum- stances, moral contamination must take place, the old and the young, the hardened aud the less guilty, being necessarily mixed The semi- circular department of this prison, with the radial yards, day- rooms, and cells, were intended to be devoted to the different classes of offenders, such as the vagrants* yard, deserters, pawners, cases of bastardy, 8rc. All this is super- scribed on stone tablets; but I believe not one yard in the entire prison is at the present moment occupied by the class of offenders indicated by the superscriptions, which only serve now as mementos of past blundering. Had it been found possible or advisable to maintain this species of classifi- cation, it is quite evident that so long as an uninterrupted com- munication was allowed among the prisoners, the worst con- sequences only could follow. In the vagrant yard, for in- stance, we might look to find beggars, suspicious characters, gamblers, reputed thieves, many often previously convicted of felony, and returned transports. How irrational to call the huddling of such an heterogenous mass of enormity into one yard and day- room, and to call it a system of classification. Much of the moral evil perpetuated under this plan for many years has been put an end to by sending the majority of un- tried prisoners to the House of Detention, where they are kept separate, or at least till they are fully committed, when many are exposed to the contaminating influences previously de- scribed still existing in Newgate and other metropolitan pri sons. It has been wisely said that were such imperfect clas- sification of the prisoners is allowed to exist, that no means can possibly be adopted as a preventative of the inevitable moral contamination which takes place between the " first time" committed prisoner and the hardened offender. W. J. VERNON. ( To be continued in our next.) POLITICAL MEETINGS IN THE COUNTRY. MB. FEARGUS O'CONNOR, M. P., and MR. G. W. M. REY- NOLDS, will attend the following forthcoming meetings ;— BRADFORD, Sunday Evening, March 17th. HALIFAX, Monday Evening, March I8th, SHEFFIELD, Tuesday Evening, March 19th. SOUTH LONDON CHARTIST HALL. milE WORKING MAN'S SCIENTIFIC INSTITU- J- TION holds a meeting every Sunday Morning at Eleven o'clock. The Members of the Chartist Society meet every Sunday Afternoon at Three o'Clock, for general business and to enrol members. ON SUNDAY EVENING, MARCH 17th, AT HALF- PAST SEVEN O'CLOCK, Mr. W. BAKER will deliver a Lecture on the Thirty- New Articles of the Church of England. On Sunday, March 24th, at Half- past Two, the next Quarterly Meeting of Shareholders will take place. NowReady, beautifully Illustrated, price One Penny, No. 11 of THE DAYS OF HOGARTH; OR, THE MYSTERIES OF OLD LONDON. BY GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS. This work has been pronounced one of the best of Mr. Reynolds's tales, and is illustrated by faithful wood- cut repre- sentations of all Hogarth's best pictures. It is issued in Weekly Penny Numbers and Monthly Sixpenny Parts, uniform witb " The Mysteries of the Court of London," & c. London: Published, for the Proprietor, by John Dicks, 7 Wellington Street, North, Strand THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE FUND FOR THE WIDOWS OF SHARP AND WILLIAMS. The EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE beg to give notice that they propose to hold A TEA- MEETING, ( TO BE FOLLOWED BY A PUBLIC MEETING,) AT THE NATIONAL HALL, H0LB0RN, ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 10TH. Tea- Tickets One Shilling Each : Admission to the Public Meeting, Body ofthe Hall, 2 d., Gallery, 3 d. Tickets may be had of J. J. Ferdinando, Secretary, 18, New Tyssen Street, Bethnal Green; at Reynolds's Miscellany Office, 7, Wellington Street North, Strand; at the National Hall, Holborn; and of all the Members of the Executive Committee. 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