On this page
-
Text (6)
-
82 . ®t>B %tM*t. fSATPHDAY ^
-
AN II N I V 11 'K N A Ii I, A \V. A i'AH...
-
CIVIL WAR. Violences multiply amongst us...
-
KlIII'MKNT OF I'AlU'Kll CHILDREN. Wisdom...
-
CHANCERY REFORM. The public meeting, ann...
-
SOCIAL REFORM. EPISTOLiE OBSCTJRORUM VIE...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Are We Going Backward? Adam Smith Remark...
condition of the people has greatly improved . The Scotsman recommends to the special attention of the agriculturists the following table , showing the number of . cattle , sheep , and other animals slaughtered in Glasgow during the three years ending in 1850 : — jg 4 s ^ lg 49 > lg 50 _ CKen 1 !> , 788 22 , 282 26 ; 200 Calv " s . 3 > 206 4 ' 204 4 ' 588 Sheep 69 > ° 82 ' 681 96 ll ° iambs ' . ' .: 43 , 658 49 , 817 54 . 400 pfgs . ;; 3 , 195 1 , 925 3 , 934 139 , 150 161 , 527 185 , 255 Now , we entirely agree with the Scotsman that this denotes a considerable improvement in the condition of the mass of the people during the last two years . But we wish to make a much wider comparison than this ; not for the purpose of testing the value of Free Trade , that question being now fairly settled , hut with a view to ascertain whether the condition of the poor is retrograding or improving . Fortunately , we are able to give ,
from Mr . Cleland ' s valuable statistical tables appended to the Glasgow Mortality Bills , and from Denholm's History of Glasgow , the consumption of animal food in that city for the years 1772 and 1822 ; so that we have only to compare the population at those two periods with what it is now , in order to ascertain whether the condition of the people has improved during the last eighty , years . In the first place , we may state that the population was , as nearly as can be estimated , in
1722 . 1822 . 1850 . 40 , 000 150 , 000 450 , 000 The consumption of animal food at the three several periods , so far as that can be ascertained from the number of cattle and other animals slaughtered , was as follows : — 1722 . 1822 . 1850 . Oxen 6 , 411 14 , 566 26 , 200 Calves 9 , 204 8 , 557 4 , 588 Sheep 23 , 110 57 , 520 96 , 104 Lambs 10 , 7 90 68 , 637 54 , 400 Pigs 89 6 , 539 3 , 934 49 , 604 155 , 809 185 , 226 Between 1772 and 1850 the number of inhabitants lias grown from 40 , 000 to 450 , 000 , an encrease of 1025 per cent . During the same period the number of oxen slaughtered annually for the supply of that large family , instead of keeping pace with its demands , has only grown from 0411 to 26 , 200 , an encrease of little more than 300 per cent . In 1772 the annual supply of butcher ' s meat
appears to have been equal to one carcase for each family of six persons . At present it is not equal to one carcase for every seventeen persons . In J 850 , a year of great commercial and manufacturing prosperity , and notwithstanding all our boasted progress , the annual supply has been reduced to less than one-half of what it was at the former period , after making a liberal allowance for the encreased weight of cattle at present , compared with what they were eighty years ago .
As regards sheep and lambs the falling off from -1772 to 1850 is not quije so great , hut the difference is not material . Comparing 1822 with 1 S 5 O the falling off in the consumption of mutton is very remarkable . In the former year there was more than one sheep for every three persons , last year there was little more than one for every live persona ; while the total number of lambs slaughtered , lor three timesthe number of inhabitants , had diminished from . ( is , ( j . ' { 7
to 54 , 400 , and that of pigs from (> 5 ; 5 < J to li'KM . The large- number of calves slaughtered in 1722 may be taken as evidence of the backward state of agriculture at that period . The fanners had not then learned the art of providing abundance of food for their cattle during winter , and , therefore , found it more profitable to kill a large proportion of the calves than to rear them . Taken altogether , however , the table is an instructive ; one , and well worthy the attention of all political
economists . We are anxious to draw the special attention of our northern contemporaries to the startling facts contained in it , in the hope that they may , perhaps , be able to give souk ; les . s gloomy explanation of the falling oil' m the consumption of food than the one we have ; rendered .
82 . ®T>B %Tm*T. Fsatphday ^
82 . ® t > B % tM * t . fSATPHDAY ^
An Ii N I V 11 'K N A Ii I, A \V. A I'Ah...
AN II N I V 11 'K N A Ii I , A \ V . A i'AHSKN < ii : it trying to jhjhh from a steamboat , to Ifungerford pier , three or four days ago , missed his footing and fell in . " A ( £ < : iit . lriimii tried to Mi row Mm huwiiiT , but , it . \ vnn too liciivy ; u mini on tin : |> irr U'ii'd with a rliiiiiny houtliooK to rench liin ) ,
Laws and regulations will never reach all possible and minute contingencies ; for that , there needs an influence that shall be present at all times and places . We heard an intelligent and not prejudiced Englishman complain the other day that Roman Catholic charities , works of benevolence , and duties , are all performed in the name of religion ; " they are always dragging in religion , " he said . This is inverting the process : from various causes which would need more time than difficulty to explain , religion does exercise a more living influence in Roman Catholic countries , and especially in the Roman Catholic country . The people there do more for the love of God and for the sake of Jesus Christ , in daily life , than is
but , in the first instance , he pushed it below the chains , and before he could get it above , as it was almost too heavy for him to lift , the poor man was out of his reach . I called to him frequently to throw the boathook into the water , but he would not , if he had there was still a chance , as the poor fellow kept tor near five minutes above water . No boat was near , and , the title running rapidly up , he was carried past the stone pier oi tne suspension bridg-e before he sank . . _„„» " Had there been a life-buoy , a grating , or a spare light rope , life ; in this instance , might have been saved Is there no bum any regulation to compel the owners of these vessels tohave some apparatus of this nature on board boats in which so many people travel , that , in case of accidents , there might be some chance of saving life 1 In this there was nothing at hand—had there been , this person might have been saved .
done amongst us for any one ' s sake , except the honest penny . Perhaps nothing shows more painfully the deadness of religious feeling amongst us than the indisposition to do good in an impersonal and unostentatious way . Men have not faith enough to cast their bread upon the waters .
Civil War. Violences Multiply Amongst Us...
CIVIL WAR . Violences multiply amongst us so fast that the fact ought to stimulate the inventive faculties of our intelligent tradesmen , or " competition" is disgraced from its boasted function . Highwaymen infest our great thoroughfare streets , burglars are growing common as rats ; yet we have no tempting wafer to abolish housebreakers like other bloodthirsty vermin ; and " life preservers" are the very things which highwaymen themselves use , improved to the most deadly degree . Really your honest peaceable man , who is not tired of life , seems to have no refuge or hiding-place but the
tomb . As men attacked by bears feign to be dead , might not merchants , bankers' clerks , and other preserved game , seek a temporary respite in the garb of mortality , and find a safe-conduct through London during business hours in the shape of a death ' s head surmounting a snowy kind of toga ? Perhaps whistling might be a safe habit , on the Horatian principle—" cantat vacuus "; which is based on the idea that thieves take musical gaiety for the outward and visible si ^ n of an inward empty pocket . Or your inventive tinman might encroach upon the province of the clothier , and supply a suit of complete armour , which would have the double convenience of warding off blows and keeping out rain .
It may be a question , however , whether this domestic predatory warfare does not invite the strict application of the Quaker principle , or , as it is now called , the Peace principle ; according to which , instead of resisting the belligerent highwayman by force , you should spontaneously offer your wares to him , on reciprocity terms . It is averred that you might rely on his at once falling into that free-trade view ; and by a perfectly amicable exchange of purse and life-preserver , you would promote the circulation of property , extend the blessings of civilization to the biirbarian , and be able to retrench , the expense of a liveried police .
Kliii'mknt Of I'Alu'kll Children. Wisdom...
KlIII'MKNT OF I'AlU'Kll CHILDREN . Wisdom an well as humanity guided the St . Marylebonc Hoard of Guardians in refusing to supply the . demand for pauper apprentices , who appear to be at a premium in the Bermuda market . Ht . Pancras has not been ao punctilious . When Mr . Burrows , a master mariner , applied to the Marylebone Board , last week , for a supply of boys and girls , and the Hoard enquired into the nature of his proceedings , he stated , in Helf-defcnce , that the St . Paneras Board had already allowed him to take out sixty . lie lands them in Bermuda at £ (! a head , including freight , bed , and board , and he apprentices them as domestic , servants until the auro of eighteen .
A guardian of St . Pancras assures the Morning i'ltroiiivle that the number of boyn and girls Kent out is only forty , that they have obtained good situations , and that " Koine " of the children arc well treated . But what of the rest ? If June Wilbred , a pauper servant not apprenticed , within nn omnibus ride of her own parish , was converted into a domestic slave , how cun the l'ancias guardian answer for every pauper sent to the HcrinudiiH ? —a . group tainted with convict , slavery , and not . unallied to tho West Indies .
It , is true that emigration for hnglish paupers will generally be the path to u greatly improved condition ; but . the youth of the emigrants , the wholesale manner of their emigration , in private hands , their pauper origin , and the apprenticeship , art ; circumstances of much suspicion ; and no process of thia kind should be suffered ,
however honest a man Mr . Burrows may be . All emigration , especially of children , should pass under the supervision of the responsible Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners .
Chancery Reform. The Public Meeting, Ann...
CHANCERY REFORM . The public meeting , announced in our advertising columns , to fortify the Chancery Reform Association in its active efforts , ought to be well attended . The Court of Chancery has enormous power : while it claims the superiority due to " equity" over " common law , " it has converted equity into a mystery , tyrannical by the help of its high pretensions , its Egyptian darkness-, its inquisitorial rights over person and property . There is a popular delusion that Chancery deals only with the rich ; but many a poor man knows better . The mystery must be torn open , and " equity" made something more than a noble name : the public has ample power to achieve the Reform , if it will use but the diligence needed to back those who are active in the work .
Social Reform. Epistolie Obsctjrorum Vie...
SOCIAL REFORM . EPISTOLiE OBSCTJRORUM VIEORUM . No . XXVI . — Edinburgh Review on English Socialism . To the Writer op the Article . Jan . 21 , 1851 . Sir , —Allow me to express to you the satisfaction which is felt generally by English Communists at the service which you have done by introducing the Edinburgh Review into the discussion of the Associative principle . The more so , since you have set an example of excellent spirit . You have recognized the importance of the enquiry , and you have treated writers on the opposite side with courtesy and with candour as to their motives . I could not , indeed , pretend to my brother Communists , or to the many who watch this discussion with so much interest , that you have given a fair account either of the doctrine or of the arguments by which the doctrine is supported ; but those slight dislogisms which tarnish your manner here and there , such as the reproach of " selfishness " against the Socialist writers , " feebleness of logical faculty , " and so forth , I regard as little foibles incidental to the ardour of a student familiar with early prejudices , but not with this subject . You mean to be fair and
honest . You also mean to be a close and logical reasoner ; and with that conviction I am surprised to find your argument weakened by an intermixture of very strong presumptions , such as the one that the Communists generally expect social changes not to be " mere slow improvements "; that they impute " all the miseries of the people" to " source—competition instead of combination "; that nearly all " cheapness " must " arise , " directly or indirectly " , " from the operation of the competitive element" : and that there is no alternative
for associated trades but competition with each other , or a fusion attended by " all the evils of monopoly . " In this last mistake I might retort your phrase that you take a " complacent satisfaction with a partial glimpse "; but , in truth , I do not impute to you any such contentment with half logic : I ascribe your mistake to want of familiarity in handling the subject , which has made you , whilo looking at a part , forget ' the correlatives of the whole . You will easily perceive , however , that you cannot have " monopoly" without property . Allow me to urge back upon you the passage which you address to Mr . Kingsley , because it is perfectly applicable to yourself , and it admirably expresses the spirit which you and I should both invoke : — " He has satisfied himself with a half comprehension of the subject , and appears to have shrunk from the intellectual effort which a thorough investigation would require . An enquiry so vast , so difficult , so momentous , -where a false doctrine or a false step may involve con-Hequenccs which will echo through all time , —demands no common qualities . It demands , primarily and preeminently , a close observation and humble imitation of the plans of Providence , as far us it , is given to man to discern them and to aid in their accomplishment ; it demands profound compassion , but profounder patience ; boundless sympathy with every form of suffering ,
combined with quiet r < solution in the application of the most searching probe ; an unshaken conviction that no great cardinal truth of science cun be discarded with impunity , or worshipped and followed without leading to ultimate and mighty good ; a firm faith that hoiumI principles will , in God ' s good time , however nlowly and through whatever tribulation , work out his merciful and happy endt »; and that no short cuts uiinanetioned by these principles such us huinun infirmity and natural impatience under suffering , either witnessed or endured , constantly tempting us to take—can lead ua one moment sooner to our goal ; and , finally , it demands nerve to wait , alike through the distresses of others or our own ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 25, 1851, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25011851/page/10/
-