tion, and in all by the Stat. of Carlisle, (Ed. I. a.d. 1306), to be expended to the honor of God, and in support of His poor. When those institutions were suppressed, and their property distributed among the courtiers of that wicked monarch, Henry the Eighth, the helpless, and indigent, the aged, and the young, were at once deprived of all provision. All that the authorities of that time devised were severe, and stringent, measures directed against the numerous mendicants by whom the country then began to be infested. Thus, from the great error of that time came the incalculable amount of human misery, and suffering, which followed, and so long continued; until, at last, from the necessity of removing the great pressure of the evil, the wrong was righted, or alleviated, by better laws, and regulations.

But, though the relief of pauperism is now an acknowledged duty of our Government, it must be admitted. that, the prevention is much more so.

Towards this end much further progress will never be made, until the laborers be left in the full, and free, possession of the wages of their labor, without any deduction therefrom by direct, or indirect, taxation on their labor, or on the necessaries, and comforts, of life which that labor ought to procure for them.

By this means, to a great extent, pauperism, and its innumerable attendant evils, may be prevented; but, by any other means this end will never be attained. As long as it is intended that the greatest part of mankind should live by their own labor, it will be essential for the peace, and comfort, and happiness, of all, that this principle should be fully acknowledged, and carried out. All other attempts must end in disappointment, if not in aggravation of the evils.

All attempts to keep off the evils by Education, or Moral Training, through Schools, or Reformatories, are only vain delusions, and idle mockeries.

Notwithstanding all these, the Work-houses of the Parish Unions, and the public Prisons, will be continually enlarging, and extending, and will always be filled.

They will always help to fill each other, for the cause which fills them both will always be in operation, and always enlarging, and extending, and that cause ispauperism.

And it is thus that those who are answerable for the wrong which they have not righted, will be made to suffer with their victims.

And this they are beginning to see.

There is now, in the higher classes, a sort of mania about the education of the poor.

But what is the benefit of education where the first principles inculcated by nature are neglected?

It is here that "Social Science so much paraded in our day, should commence. To make Christians, and Moralists, we must first give them the means of decent subsistence. Without this all philosophy is but an impracticable theory, a vain delusion.

It is in vain that we boast of our wealth, unless we place some barrier to the extent of our pauperism.

It is in vain that we parade our moral theories of edu cation and improvement of the people, unless we acknowledge, by our acts, the first principles of truth, and justice.

It is in vain to attempt to lift the lower classes out of their degradation, unless their wrongs be righted.

The poorer classes, notwithstanding they are the most degraded, pay the highest amount of rent for their wretched accommodation, and also the highest prices for all their miserable means of subsistence.

It is this notorious, and disgraceful, fact which is so disreputable to the wealthy classes, and which stamps the national stigma upon the British name, of injustice, and cruel wrong, to all the working classes of the British

People; and it does seem as if modern Socialism has spread because of the silence of all but Socialists concerning the remedy.

It was mainly this notorious, and disgraceful, fact which, 200 years ago, drove the Representatives of the People to carry their "Grand Remonstrance" to the foot of the Throne; and, ultimately, involved this country in the horrors of a civil war, and brought the head of our traitor King to the block. No one was more eager against that Remonstrance, or fought every stage of it with more impassioned resistance, than Sir John Culpeper; yet it was he who, at the meeting of the Long Parliament had spoken that memorable speech against monopolies, and projectors, which now, 200 years later, is no less applicable to the universality of British Taxation.

Here are the words, copied from the record of those days :

"It is a nest of wasps, or swarm of vermin, which have overrun the land-I mean the monopolers, and polers of the people. Like the frogs of Egypt, they have gotten the possession of our dwellings, and we have scarce a room free from them. They sup in our cup, they dip in our dish, they sit by our fire. We find them in the dye-fat, the wash-bowl, and the powdering tub. They share with the butter in his box. They have marked, and sealed us, from head to foot. Mr. Speaker, they will not bate us a pin. We may not buy our own clothes without their brokage."

To illustrate the operation of some of these monopolies, a striking passage may also be taken from a speech of the Patriot Pym, in which he undertook to show that the gain of the King was wonderfully disproportioned to the loss of the subject. And here it is :

"In France, not long since, upon a survey of the King's revenue, it was found that two parts in three never

came to the King's purse, but were diverted to the profit of the officers, and ministers, of the Crown; and it was thought a very good service, and reformation, to reduce two parts to the King, leaving still a third part to the instruments that were employed about getting it in. It may well be doubted if the King have the like, or worse success in England. For instance, he hath reserved upon the monopoly of wines thirty thousand pounds' rent a year; the vintner pays 40s. a tun, which comes to ninety thousand pounds; the price upon the subject by retail is increased two pence a quart, which comes to eight pounds a tun, and for forty-five thousand tuns brought in yearly, amounts to three hundred and sixty thousand pounds; which is three hundred and thirty thousand pounds loss to the kingdom, above the king's rent!"

This was the commentary of the Patriot Pym on indirect taxation 200 years ago: what a commentary it is on our system of the present day!

SAVINGS BANKS, BENEFIT CLUBS, FRIENDLY, AND LOAN, SOCIETIES. As some remarks, in the foregoing pages, may be thought, by many, to be too disparaging of Savings Banks, Benefit Clubs, and Friendly Societies, these few further remarks, on the same subject, are made to correct any such impression.

In a recently published Blue Book Report, by Mr. Tidd Pratt, on Friendly Societies, are to be found some very significant facts.

It appears that the total number of these Societies enrolled and certified since the passing of the first Friendly Society Act, in 1793, to the 31st December 1858,-is 28,550, of which 6,850 have ceased to exist;that, in the year 1858, Notices of Dissolution have been

received from 58 Societies, and from many more since. that date. The causes of this extensive decay are deserving of notice, and are thus described in the Report:

"The causes of Dissolution arise generally from the claims made on the funds by pensioners-the insufficiency of contributions to meet the payments, particularly those relating to superannuation, there being no principle of regulating the contributions according to the ages of the members, the same amount being paid in most instances for each member irrespective of age -the granting sick pay during life-that no account of the fund kept for each benefit is distinctly kept,-that the funds are not invested pursuant to the provisions of the Friendly Society Act, but are deposited at interest in the hands of Bankers, Brewers, Publicans, Loan Societies, Benefit Building Societies, and upon securities by which considerable loss is very often sustained if the money is attempted to be called in, not to mention, in many instances, the insolvency of the party to whom the money has been lent-and that no regular audit or examination of the assets and liabilities of the society is made."

Taking the number of these Societies, now existing, to be 20,000, and, probably, they still number 21,000 or upwards, it may be assumed that, with these causes of decay, they will in every year rapidly diminish in number.

All of these Societies, without a single exception, rest upon a false foundation, and most of them are frauduently conducted.

This statement is not made without regret; nor would t have been made at all, but with a view to point out something much better, for the benefit of the classes by whom these mis-called "Friendly Societies" are suported.

But, to proceed with some of the remarkable facts