The Express.
London, England, 1847-08-19 00:00:00

ENGLISH CONSTITUENCIES.

ELECTORAL DISTRICTEL—Sir,—In your paper of
to-day (Tuesday), there are set forth some curious anomalies
ander parts of the ab3ve heading, and as the subject is in.
terekting and one deserving to be kept before the attention
of the political public, I enclose you the foll.iwing anahtie
extracted from a very useful little annual called the C.
plete Suffrage Almanack,"—the table appeared in the volume
for 1814; some increase may have taken place in the sm.
ber of electors now on the registers, owing to the agitation
of the league, and of course the population has Jammed;
but in the main the facts and comparisons still apply: Lis
the following which Includes a few Irish constituenaes
- - - - -

Borough. trl Per, rt.
lawn.
flarrth.t 2.. 3.T30
Calm: l.. &AO .. la
PA.Olburtos 1.. Sp
1.. 6.321 .. IQ
Itemte l.. 4,412 22
Thetford .. 3441.. le
We-tLury 1.. 4.424 .. 22
Tat i,ock .. 6.425.. 22
Lo-bunr 1
I.ortarlingbaa .. 3,1 M .. 12
mass maa
mas I.. BL
•
1 .: as
Kim& 1.. VW .. Tl
Ab
Ausbwer 3 4,431
12mb227..
TA. O ns
chipperamm 6106..
Dart. 114224 243.. 221
Droitssich ll .. ate .. $
X narlohoro` l..
Lyme Rains I.. 3.1
T0ta1.... 32 3.12.512 1 Total 32 172.221
Here we see, on the principle of calculation adopiti by
your correspondent, Mr. Lockhart, that while even see of
the 32 members in the left-hand column is returned b 74,695
electors (excluding fractions), each of those representing
places in the right-hand column, has the honour of represent.
mg such a majority of 210 electors as he found attainable.
Again we find that the average number of electors in cache(
the 15 cities and boroughs is the left hand column, six.
4,685, is within one-third of the total number of electors is
the 27 boroughs in the right-hand column, viz. 6,913: Ind
that the gross number of electors in the left-hand column is
within one-sixth of the gross population in the right-hand
column, while in the former case the representation is at the
rate of one member fur a population of 97,097 ; in the °dm
it is one for 5,424.
" The above," says the authority to which I have referred,
"would give rise to almost endless comparison; bat we
shall confine ourselves to the most glaring anomalies. It
inesa4s7s:
anthedn,arisit
.?7
obor.r,oigmlisp,lewteiltyh
naeupopt:.l:tijo.nthe:
legislature the voice of all the most important towns in the
kingdom, possessing an aggregate population of 3,129,513,w
one-eighth of the entire inhabitants of Great Britain. Thee
few insignificant boroughs are invented with 18 times the
amount of power, calculated according to population (sad
the proportion of adult males is in nearly the same mini,
that is enjoyed by the cities and towns on the other side. It
is a no less startling fact, that there are eight single en.
stituencies, each returning but two representatives, when
outnumber the aggregate constitituencies of the whole 21
boroughs returning 32 members, while three of them mare
than double the number. It would take more than 82 cos

Smote.. of r=
Finahury .... 2 .. 266.013 .. 12.974
London (City) 4 .. 151,702 .. 19.064
blaryLbone.. 2 .. 937,465 .. 11.1216
Hamlet/1 2 .. 411..730 .. 13,661
Wmarningter . 2 .. 219.930 .. 14.164
Southwark .. 2 .. 142,611 .. 8.841
Lambeth .... 2 .. 167.412 .. 6,647
143=4: : : r;g:63676 : 14,970
ShefllelLod 4
.... 2 .. 109,307 .. 4.461
Birmingham . 2 .. 181,110 .. 4.619
Ilri.tol ...... 2 .. 123,188 .. 16.878
E.lmburgh .. 2 .. 132:47 .. ANA
I.Ba.goW .... 2.. 255.650 .. LOU

Mituencres such as that of Harwich, which returns two
members, to equal that of Liverpool, returning the sue
number. As will be seen presently, 110,000 electors rata
upwards of 140 members ; in the case before us, 149,111
electors return but 32.
" In England, Wales, and Scotland, which return NI
[now 590 excluding Sudbury] members, 67 of the coati
tuencies number less than 546rsons, 145 less than 1,0311,
and 209 less than 2,000. A gig, nearly one-half
representatives of cities and roughs of England, WM"
and Scotland, are returned by 100,000 constituents. Nail
this all. We find that, in the United Kingdom, 232 mese
bers represent about 220,000 ; and thus it may fairly be M.
culated that, out of the 658 [656] members of the Home d
Commons, 330 of them—or a clear majority—ars retinal
by less than 300,000 persons. The destinies of this *matey,
therefore, are actually confided to the bands of abridge
third of the electoral body.
Still further to illustrate the inequality of our prod
system of representation, we subjoin a few more fikA Ina
the Manchester Times, founded on parliamentary mum:
' In manufacturing Lancashire there is one mewl's', for eney
51,000 of the population; in agricultural Rutland theme
one member for every 9,000; in agricultural D.:metals
there is one for every 11,000 of the population. The etillY
of Buckingham, with 146,529 inhabitants, sends 11 IN.
tiers ; Manchester and Salford, with 300,000 inhabitants.
send 3 members. Four English counties, with 690,000
ia-
habitants, send 51 members. All Scotland, with four Lillie
the number of inhabitants, sends only 53.' "
I have not left myself space, nor I fear you et 100
readers patience, to enter into a justification of the emel
heading attached to this letter; but I conclude IMMO
catalogue of anomalies by stating my conviction, IMAM
most salutary improvement which could be made in lb&
tribution of the representation on the basis of the peal
suffrages, would be the entire fusion of counties with.
and boroughs in the matter of elections; retain**
county and borough qualifications in the new distrielslllo
out distinction, as was the case before the Reform MRS
is now in both towns and counties, where persons vote its
same booth under different qualifications. I act=
would be difficult to devise a system more
entail ruinous contests on the candidates, or the entamall
of the constituencies, than the present form of OM
county and town elections in the county, epreldig fOO
a wide district bodies of electors who should be billllo
together to hear the candidates, led discuss their mil 0
say nothing of going to the poll, while in the towns mill
imaginary line is drawn round the suburbs, the lea If
which as a boundary is shifting every month—the WM
toe unreasonable to bear inquiry, and to electoral Mena
we must come at last.-6. SMITH, Lineal'

EDUCATION AND CRIME.
It may be remembered by ouch of our readers N
are interested in these important subjects, that at the needs(
of the British Association, held at Southampton last yest,W
Is.leison communicated same important calculationsan4 dike
none on the influence of education en crime in &glad se!
Wales, during the interval between the years 1834 and lb
We have been favoured with a continuation of thatusse
which we now lay before our readers. On the falew
occasion it was shown that of a variety of eleinN
tested and supposed to exercise some material Wigan
on crime, not one was found subject to any definite law,
manifesting any direct control on the increase or dune
of crime, excepting education.
If the term education be held to signify the cultures ife
ration of the moral character, it is evident that its immolate
and essential inflaenee is to destroy crime. In fVt, NA
sense, education and freedom from crime must births per
Lion to each other of cause and effect ; and, thereby, elf,
education is at. a maximum, crime must of neireeN
be at a minimum, so that if the term be viewed in the 1114
no statistical evidence would bed priori namely to 01r,
the problem proposed, but if the term education be Use gt
its ordinary acceptation, and merely imply inbaNNet d
then becomes a fit and important question, to detersfs
whether education, in this limited sense, has say
finance on the development of crime. The ear es.",_
able test of education in this country is „I'
niched by the records of the registiaripmerel, *
•T,
show the proportion of the persons marrpel
who are incapable to write their names in tier mot
registers. By following out this test, it wee food. that
taking these districts of the kingdom in which the red°
proportion could write their names, crime was Asir! si
ant. below the average of the whole country ;
districts in which the least proportion could olio *II
names, crime was 13 per cent. above the average. 5401.1
relined*
it should he argued that in the two groups now
the difference in the amount of crime may be einag.lo •
influence of some other element than limply idatatisa
far as instruction,
at still
sustille furtherbje hadaullyeytailibeen thinevedisdad.facts"
to
IIt!
fairly said, that a high state of education is always
awr.:
accompanied with a reduced rate of crime, and fiat r,
state of education carries with it en increased
crime; spat
but it still remains to be determined whether in
difference may not arise f hrough the agency of some fr.
element. It may be held that a high state d
Mee
tion is generally the concomitant of wealth or
advanced position in the social scale of ,
and hence the reduced rate of crime ; ..r;
a low state of education is bully associated IP,
peculiar grade of employments and manufactures, subset
t,
marked fluctuations in prosperity, exposing these Niger:
them to deprivation, temptation, and vice, and thus du%
increasing the amount of crime, which is falsely

I

have &rhea from went of edneation, inatoad of the poverty
and &des wedding with it.
AZ ervallowt via is be "lade with a vise
te &Wahl' then yawed Ipso. so that the
video canalise sal Sisk% vete date esedoes, sad
ilea the tosaaaadiles empais lima were as melt se m-
ob eleesestaiked is regard le aseedietarey is
woad is is regard to weiddi—ia dr* tire die
Pre kola sash other only in die degree of lertmetisa
et adaretkeres that so far as etatiadael Is ere at repeat
&nogg* the tee aside= or deers eiespired, wen, with
the of adefietion, placed dery the mare
siiielszollipolitiesl conditions of society ; and the following
is ea absurd st the resale arrived at :

BMW el Qua.
okewmebeirm the
~.....__,.°t lag' DiMarenee
Groupe of Counties gluing the re- 1.1" cad Wales per ~,,,,t. I.
salts for the lisle sex only. .8 a favour of
411.1 Miusation..
§
h 2
a
bnateet unanufeetarlng - 48.4 + 16.4 32.0
pi sgenultural
Manufacturing interest 331 per
seal. &twee the average...
Agricultural interest 20 per cent
above the average
Moteseurind and altemitnrW
interests nearly equal + 15.8 —9.3 25.1
Grantee wealth -2 -- 29.4 38.6
Least wealth.
Counties of least education
Ditto meat education

The last column of the preceding abstract shows the dif-
ference per cent. in the rate of crime in the badly educated
sections of each group over that which prevails in the better
educated sections of the same group ; and it must be re-
garded as a powerful argument in favour of even the
small degree of education or instruction here recognised,
that note single instance has appeared in which a marked,
and, generally, a most strikinf difference, averaging above
2i per cent., does not show itself in favour of the better
educated districts. All the other combinations and arrange-
ments reads to determine the active element in the increase
and decrease of crime were unsuccessful, and produced no
satisfactory result; in fact, they did not lead to the dis-
covery of any condition or circumstance of life which
was peculiar to one district more than another ; but
as soon as the educational test is introduced, it
immediately analyses groups and districts, which before
showed the most contradictory results, into a uniform and
regular series. It is thus evi.lent that so far as the test now
applied is available, that snore conclusive evidence could not
be hoped for of the influence of education on the diminution
of crime.
This test, however, being derived from &source partly lode
pendent of the criminals themselves, has led to a similar
analysis of an educational test derived from the criminal
population. The Home•ofce returns show for each year
the number of criminals who can neither read nor write,
who can read and write imperfectly, who can read and write
well, and who have a superior education. During the
years 1812-4, there were of the male sex in England and
Wales

21,779 a 31.3 per cent, of
nor wries all the criminals, who could neither read
41.610 or 39.8 per cent., who could reed and write imperfectly.
5,909 or 8.5 per ant., who could read and write well, and
3011 or 0.4 per cent, of aaperior education.

69,616
1,92 i whom instruction wu not aocertnined.

71,540
It is thus curious to observe that, while the proportion of
suite criminals who could neither read nor write was 31.3
per cent., the ratio of males unable to sign their marriage
ngisten was nearly 33 per cent.; and it might hence be in-
(erred that, from the small difference in those two ratios,
that education could have no very important effect
ID either decreasing or augmenting the number of
criminals, but it should be borne in mind that although 33
per cent- is the average for all England and Wales, there are
PM districts in which the proportion is as low as 12 and 14
per cent., and others in which it is as high as 60 and 51 per
mat. for the male sex ; but as it has also been hitherto
shown that no reliance can be placed on the mere gross or
the average results so given, it is imperatively neeessary to
separate the whole into groups in which the influence of
wealth, manufactures, and agriculture is common ; in fact,
into groups differing in respect of education only, so as to
furnish a proper argument for er against the iotluence which
education, under the present test, may have on the amount of
crime. Au analysis on thisbasis was made of all the counties in
England and Wales, and • series of tables ;resented contain-
ing the results arrived at, from which it appeared that—
taking parallel groups of counties in which the amount of
crime is from 0.15 per cent. above and below the average of
the whole kingdom, 15-30 and 30 and upwards, above and
below the average, that the difference of criminals unable
t either read or write was respectively 6 9 per amt.,
2.2 per cent., and 3 3 per cent. greater in the counties hav-
ing an exceu of crime. On the other hand, the proportion
who can read and write imperfectly show a corresponding
increase in favour of the groups with a low avenge of crime,
the differences being 3.7 per cent., 7.7 per cent., and 5•2 per
amt. respectively.
For the total of the counties in which 1 Above the Below the
crime is average. avenge.
The per tentage who eon neither read nor 32.4 23.0
writediff. 4.4 per cent.
The per restage that can read and writs j 58.2 63.8
Imperfectly Is
Thus far it would seem that the evidence furnished by
criminals themselves would go to show that even the small
amount of instruction here recognised has a material in-
fluence in the development of crime. Were the investiga-
tion carried no further we should be forced to conclude that
since the meet criminal districts show a higher ratio of un-
instructed persons among the criminal population, and
the least criminal districts • leas proportion, who are
wholly destitute of the rudest elements of education,
that the immediate inference is, that even this small
degree of instruction tends to the repression of crime. Unless,
however, that this analysis were carried beyond its present
limits, it may be objected, as in the firmer paper, that the
peculiar results here produced may arise from some other
cause than education, and that differences of manufactures,
of agriculture, of wealth, or of position in the social scale of
society, existing in combination with the degree of crime
already noticed, may be the real and active agent in pro-
ducing the peculiar results attributed to education. In order
to we how far the facts of the cue would support this view
of the question, an elaborate series of tables returning the
results of a more refined analysis was presented, of which the
following is a brief extract :

.
9
3L '
p r§
r RW 4 = >
:E. 1
§ Ai :a
'0; K. 0
11l 1
I
.4- C. 4

r P