The Express.
London, England, 1848-09-26 00:00:00

Ithe Crimelso.

Media,
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will be ark spew of ta• arta Wept.
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up ow lbeeeestwg of the Se= Opt.
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be wain up eels araits of Ss lid OIL
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made vp w Os owning =the elk OIL
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=MUM lad* Flaneloss la, will be =ado up tbe
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rms. AI" Ws. ,Maas-goer, and China. "is Sontliarar-
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TO 001UMPONDWITS.
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LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPT. 26.

111

- - - - - - -
Tax progress of mankind during the last century
has at least accomplished one result : it hu rendered
war no longer dependent upon the ambition, the
pique, or the caprices of individuals, and has trans-
ferred the power and the will of the momentous re-
solve of peace or war to the people at large. The
days are gone when a tottering minister, an
offended court mistress, or even the ambition
of a monarch, could involve a country in hostilities.
Nations must now be consulted, popular sussiss
secured, and public opinion more than the wisdom of
cabinet commits mast sway the policy which draws
the sword or presents the olive branch.
The time, therefore, has arrived when philanthro-
pists may come forward to enlighten the world and its
mueerien the subject of theirgrest and enduring interest
in pease. When the Abbe de Sr. Maas undertook
that task in the last century, he could address merely
pelmet and their statesmen, philosophers and their
coterie: his dostrincs never, in fact, reached the ear
of the really large and interested public, and there-
fore they fell profitless, and were accounted dreams.
It is otherwise now : with the exception of Ramis,
war is a question for the forum, not for the palace, to
decide.
Such meetings, therefore, es that of the philanthro-
pists and political men who constituted the Pesos
Congr.as at Brussels en opportune, and may
be productive of expellent effect. In the way of sa•
lightening and instructing they Gannet be too active;
and if they send the sehoobasster abroad as the
instrument of their propaganda, they will make
7,o7itizealous converts from the multitudes. who still
p war as the source of exeiessauts el glory,
and of greateess. We think, however Mat bane
Di LA BAGIA was wise in IMISIMIIIMtp dim le
confine themselves to the didactic indeed *gaga
the election of delegates and the families et mother
emigre" amidst the multitude el Es that
have bsen proposed or collated = The
worthy Spaniard had probably learned in Pen-
insula to despair' of the unanimity or authority of
representative assemblies. He broached these ideas
in rather rude fashion; but there was some truth in
the Don's remarks, and we regret that he did not
show temper enough to induce the Congress to listen
to him.
We most own that we put more trust in the deve-
lopment of free trade, and the consequent union
and good understanding between the industrial
dames of all nations, as well as in the exliesien
of enlightened and humane principles superseding
savage antipathies and prejudices—we put man
trust in this gradual improvementof publics s
end feelings than in anything that di and
statesmen--espeoially the present elms d Ors-can
achieve with treaties, or modification@ of Mendes.
Some propose the insertion of an Wand= gauss in
every treaty—.n excellent whisk Mr. COBDEN
enlarges into the peopaeTthat governments shall be
induced to stipulate the reforms of 161 future dif-
ferences, springing even tad of old treaties, to
arbitration.
The ides is a just one. But it would be more just,
and more Nenerally welcome, were Europe in a
normal, a fur, and definitive state of division. Russia
lords by force of arms over the greater portion of
Poland, the chief and central country of the Seta-
vonic race. Prussia and Austria are, both of them,
congregations of provinces, ill united, absurdly
marked out. The government of each fads, that its

authority at least over certain of its dominions, is a
Tendon of force, not of right. Go, talk to the
statesmen of such empires of a universal system of
either arbitration or disarmament, and they will turn
away in distaste and incredulity.
A state of things is fast approaching, however,
when sash proposals will be otherwise entertained.
Were Germany, like France, constituted in one great
federation—wen Italy left to its natiooality—were
Russia ecialleed to its natural limits—result to which
progress is daily making, and making too in peaoe—
then, indeed, we might hope for a system of arbi-
tration and fixed international law. There is still,
however, much to be done, to be tau ht, to be
accomplished. And not the least object to be
aimed at and accomplished is to establish
the doetriae and the truth, that the greet and desired
changes in the divisions and the nationalities, and the
final righting of Europe, can be effected in each
country by the efforts of that country ; and that
foreign intervention and invasion, and war, always
fail by overshooting or falling short of the mark.
The great guarantee of peace, however, lies in the
augmented prevalence of the middle class. Visit any
country where the:. class is fully developed, and has
its just influence, and a congress of peace
will there be well Wended, popular, and powerful.
Go to a land of peasants and. proprietors, and the
veer pearuits, the clan most sure to suffer by war,
will still be excited and carried away by its tempta-
tion. In those countries, not only wilt international
war be hazarded, but civil war. It is the lower class
and the upper claw, that pat trust in physical force.
Look to Ireland, whete ascendancy reigns by the
bayonet, and where repeal would dethrone it
with the pike. As long as Ireland, or
Rums* or Spain, or any country contains
but the two extreme awns, them countries will be
defiant and warlike, aid will indulge in the expen-
sive luxury of standing armies, either to defy others
or coerce themselves. Whilst in England, France,
and Germany the anti-military spirit is progressing
at a owed aid with • lone which will soon compel
the statesmen of those countries to abandon their old
armed cap-a-pied policy, for one more in accot dance
with the advanced ideas ants economy of the times.

Is dealing with poor-law statistics, the main point
to be kept in view—the tact which is above all others
indicative of the general condition of the people—is
the proportion which the number of paupers relieved
bears to the entire population. The amount of pros
rate levied er expended in any particular year may be
affected by various musts, such as extraordinary
charges and obligations incurred in rrevione years ;
but the number actually relieved is a sure test of the
audition of the people in that year. The result of
an examination of this kind is peculiarly un-
favourable to the y‘ ar 1846-7. The total num-
ber of persons in England and Wales who were
relieved in that year amounted to 1,721,350,
being in the proportion of 101 for every 1,000 in the
estimated population; and exceeding by more than I
half a million the number relieved in 1839-40. A
portion of this increase is, no doubt, attributable to
the influx of Irish poor, and a still larger portion to
the distress which the failure of the potato crop in-
ted on that claps of our own population who had I
previously been but one degree removed from pauper-
ism. Making all allowance for these unusual die.
turbing causes, it is most disheartening to observe
that, with the exception of a brief period when the
coastracticm of railways created an extraordinary de-
emed ter labour, the proportion of oar pauper popu-
, lathe to the entire community has been
siesday and rapidly on the increase during
tat • last ten years. In 1839-40, the proportion of I
peepers relieved was 77 per 1,000 of the population:
la 1843 it rase to 93 per 1,000: subsequently it de-
owed to 79 per 1,000; and lastly, in 1846-7, it
roes to the unexampled proportion of 101 per 1,000,
or more than one-tenth of oar population I It may be
asserted indeed that a portion of these flue:tuitions are
attributable to variations in the strictness with which
the Poor-law Commissioners enforced obedience to
their rules. We apprehend, however, that from the
year 1840 to the appointment of the new baud, the
system pursued by, the Poor-law Commissioners was
tolerably uuiform in its effects; and that their caprices
and occasional concessions to public obloquy, cannot
have materially influenced the increase to which we
allude, and of which the following is a tabular state-
ment :
.IPopultAlos foil g

LLwbd

Eaceived
la-doer

Reeefted
=Now
resat.