The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-05-05 00:00:00

(From the Jourseal de P3rie.l

The different corps who are to compose tae (-merry tznitaire (in
Portugal) have already reached the province of Alentejo, where
this cordon is to be formed. _

The following document, published by the Archbishop
of BEtteNfox, with a recommendation to the faithful in
his diocese to join the association, and to adopt its spirit
and its practice, is of so much importance, that we need
make no apology for submitting it to our readers at length.
The existence of such an Association for four years, with
such considerable funds at its disposal, deserves great at-
tention, even should we admit that it has not yet reached
the height which the following article indicates. Different
associations for the same purpose have been instituted
under various titles in several parts of France, in parti-
cular at Strasburgh, where THARIN, the Bishop. since
appointed to superintend the education of the presumptive
heir of the crown of France, formed one on the Ist Dec.
1825, under the title of the " Association of Good Works
for the Diocese of Strasburg')."

REGULATIONS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PRO-
PAGATION OF THE FAITH.

SECTiON 1.-ESTABLISHMENT AND OBJECT OF THE ASSO-
CIATION.

ART. 1. A pious Association is founded in France, to take the
title of the " Association for the Propagation of the Faith."
2. It has for its object to increase the number of true Catholics,
aiding, by nil the means in its power, the Missionaries charged
with spreading the light of the Faith among foreign nations in bath
hemispheres.
3. It is composed of the Faithful of both sexes, whose Christian
conduct is such as will call down the blessing of God upon their
undertaking.

SECTION IL-DIVISION AND ADMINISTRATION Or ME AS-

SOCIATION.

4. The Association is formed into Divisions, Centuries, and
Sections.

R. Ten Members forms Section, ten Sections a Century, ten
Centuries a Division.

A. The Association is directed by a Superior Council established
at Paris, by two Central Councils (the one at Paris for the North
of France, the other at Lyons for the South), by fleneral Councils
established in every metropolitan city, and by Particular Councils
in each diocese.

7. Every Division, every Century, and every Section, has a
Chief.

11. The Chiefs of the Divisions are named by the General Councils.
They have a right to be Al embers of the Particular Council of their
diocese. They correspond, on the one hand, with that Council, and
on the other, with the Chiefs of their Centuries.
9. The Chiefs of Centuries are appointed by the Chiefs of their
divisions. They correspond, on the one hand, with the Chiefs of
their divisions, and oa the other, with the Wets of their Sections.

10. The Chiefs of Sections see appointed by the Chiefs of their
Centuries, and cotrespond with them. Each of them has to see the
31emhers replaced who form a part of his section.
ii. The Chief of every Division, Century, and Section, keeps
exact list of the ten persons dependent on his adminiottation, and
communicates it to hit superiors, whenever they recfaht it.
12. The Division% Centuries, or Sections, un sever assembLe tu•
gether in one•bnd y.

SECTION TIT.-MEANS 01 TOE ASSOCIATION.
13. The principal means upon which the Association tassels it 1
hopes of suweeas are prayers entrain's

. ,
14. To obtain the blessing of God upon the Association, and
upon missions in genera), every member is invited to repeat eerie
day a Paler and sn Are. It will be sofficient,..fbr that purpose.
to apply to this intention, and once for all, the Pakr and the Alt
of his morning and evening prayers. He will join to it this WU,-
cation—" St. Francis Xavier, pray for us."
15. Ihe Association chooses, as more particular seasons for
prayers and thanksgivings, the anniversary of the Finding of the
floly Cross, the day on which the Association was founded ■t
Lyons, via., the 3d May, 1822, and the day (34 December) con-
secrated to St. Franils Xavier, whom it recognises as its patron,
A mass will be celebrated on that day for the scenes of the work
in all cities In which Councils are established.
IC. Every Associate gives as alms in behalf of the minions.
5 centimes CPI.) per week.

. .
17. The Chiefs of Sections collect the porticort from the members
of their aeetioes, and deposit the proceeds, on the first Sundity of
every month, in the hands of their Chiefs of ("mimics, eachClllolllf
e Section being responsible for ten portion.. s
18. The Chiefs of Centuries poy in the coarse of the month Ile
the Chiefs of their Divisions the sums which they have received 60110
the Chiefs of their Sections.

19. The Chiefs of Divisions give In their acconnts at the earliest
arseinbly of the districts of which they form a part.

20. The Superior Council distributes the revenue. it apportion
it according to the wants of the different missions.

The adjourned discussion on the discretionary power
which Ministers claim for a time to be limited, of suffer-
ing, under certain restrictions, the importation of foreirn
corn, was postponed last night in the House of Commons
in an ustexpected manner. It was postponed until this
evening on the motion of Mr. W. Wvio.;, dm; reason be
assigred being the etrsence of Mr. CA NN I NG. The House
then entertained Mr. Hums's motion on the state of the
natio!% Mr. Hums made a speech of three hours and a
half long, and was most triumphantly answered by the
CtiaNCELLOft of the EXCHEQUER. 'We have no room to
say more than that the motion was negatite4 on a division
of Be to SI.

It has ever been, and shall still continue td be, our
practice never injudiciously or unnecessarily, still lets lian-
tonly, to increase or even to keep alive by useless repetitions
of facts, merely varied in terms, or according to the several
views of different narrators, any subject which may tend to
create individual pain, or promote public panic. It is for
this reason, however much we may be blamed fur it, that we
have abstained from inserting (as most of our contempora-
ries have done) the one thousand and one versions of.the
breaking of looms in Lancashire; and we have reason to
congratulate ourselves on the course we have adopted, Bro-
il% that the provincial papers themselves are at variance
on the subject, the many accusing the few that their ac-
counts of the recent disturbances have been grossly exagge-
rated in many parts. Oar accounta of the almost instants-
ons return to tranquillity have been proved to be true,
not only by the authentic intelligence from the MS.,
onlarturing districts, but by the declaration of the
Heine Secretary at the meeting for their relief. Still
it is our duty to notice a report which prevailed last
night, that on Tuesday evening, after dusk, a power-loons
factory in Oxfohl4oad, ltrabchester, was attacked by the
rabble, hut it was most manfully and vigorously defendeil
' by the persons belonging to the establishment, who being
furnished with fire-arms, resisted all attempts of the mob
to break into the factory and demolish the property. It
was added that one of the rioters was killed on the spot,
and another so severely 'rounded that he !lied a short time
after in the hospital. The report concluded by saying alit
the military came op and dispersed the mob, but without
any further bloodshed. We have every reason to believe
that this report is unfounded, and We need not say what
, pleasure such an assurance gives us. In the fitst place.
we have seen latent from Manchester, which seem (le r
they ate not distinctly dated) to come down considerably later
than the accounts of these supposed transactions on Mon-
day. In the next place, we made inquiries at a late hour
last night, and were informed that no express had arrived
'to Government athatever, much less one giving the
melancholy accounts we have alluded to. Besides,
we know that a strong detachment of the Gth Dra-
goon Guards, on the route to Sheffield, men and horses all
fresh and capable of a much longer march, had any
manifestations of riot required it, stopped yesterday about
eleven o'clock at Islington, and were quartered there for
the night. Now, though there bas as yet been no rioting at
Sheffield, it is not to be supposed that Government would
have suffered them to delay their march, had there been
any farther tumult in the adjoining districts.

Nothing is more injurious in politics, and indeed in alt
departments of human knowledge, than those general prin-
ciples which are supported by sects and parties as abse-
lutely and unconditionally true, to the exclusion of all
other views and considerations. In nothing is this more
observable at the present day, than in the popular doc-
trines of free trade and the evils of excessive population.
That free trade in general is desirable, and that a popu-
lation exceeding the means of subbirtence is injurious, are
truisms which cannot be denied, and which no statesman
could be justified in neglecting ; and they are at present
so generally admitted, that it is of more importance to point
out the abatements which it is necessary to make in
these general principles, than to insist upon the principles
themselves,

These reflections have been suggested to us, by observing
the causes which are assigned by different parties for the
distress 'which at present undoubtedly pervades most parts
of this country. The principal of these causes may be re-
duced to two :—First, to the policy of our Government with
regard to trade ; and secondly, to excessive production, u
the natural consequence of excessive population. To these
general heads all the assignable causes of the actual dis-
tress may easily be reduced.
With regard to the commercial regulations of the coma.
try, there are two points on which the conduct of Govern-
ment has been blamed by the advocates of the exploded
doctrines of political economy, viz.:—the encouragement

of mechanism, and the adoption of liberal principles in the
import trade ; and there are, too, the banking system and
corn laws, in which they are accused of not carrying the
principles of free trade to the full extent of which they are
supposed to be capable.

- - .
It is not necessary to go to much length in showing the
folly of the popular clamour against improvements in me.
chanism. If such improvements ultimately tended to in.
crease the wealth of the few at the expense of the many—
if no provisions existed in our present institutions for the
gradual distribution °Cale general wealth among all closes
of society—these improvements would beam great evils, re-

doubtediy, u they are by some asserted to be. But

wealth, in whatever hands it is placed, must eventually
benefit all classes ; for it cannot be enjoyed without em-
ploying the labour of every class of the community.
Wealth produces luxury, and luxury distributes that wealth
among the poor, which would otherwise be accumulated
in the hands of the rich. But the immediate consequences
of the introduction of machinery will not, in the end, be
confined to great capitalists. It is a general, but a false
notion, that speculations or manufactures carried on upon
a large scale, are more titan proportionably productive, be-
cause the great capitalist has it in his power to employ me-
thods, and construct machines, which the more contracted
'Waling, of inferior capitalists could neither admit in the
first instance, nor render ultimately profitable. This rea-
soning is inaccurate, for there is no machine on a large
MA which may not be constructed on a small, with a
proportionate diminution of expense ; and, in all proba-
bility, the improvements in machinery—generally under-
stood, as they soon must be, in consequence of the diffusion
of knowledge—win, in the end, become immediately bene-
ficial to the operative classes themselves, and be employed
by them in producing larger quantities of manufactured
goods, to be disposed of on their own account, to the whole-
sale dealers. This has already been the case with
many machines which are now become common. The
invention of the water and wind mill must, in the
beginning, have thrown a great number of people, formerly
engaged in grinding corn, out of employment for a season ;
but its ultimate result, in the early stage of society in
which it had its origin, must have been, in the first place,
to raise the respectability of the miller; and in the next,
by leaving hands disposable for the purpose! of agriculture,
to augment the produce of the country, then but partially
cultivated; and thus to increase the employment of the
iniiler to such an extent as would again throw a number of
buds into this branch, canal to those who had obtained
their living by it before the improvements took place.
The effect of machinery would be more obvious in a coun-
try like the United States, where the produce of the soil
is exactly in proportion to the hands employed in its culti-
vation ; but we shall endeavour to shew, in the sequel,
that the capabilitits of agricultural production, even in this
cat:ntry, are still susceptible, by the application of addi-
tional skill and labour, of very considerable extension and
improvement. For these reasons, we would point out the
adoption of machines on a small scale as one of the best
methods of snaking mechanical improvements immeel:ately
bc'eficial to the operative classes. If such a system were
in general practice—whether in consequence of the natural
progress of knowledge among the working classes, or from
any encouragement which the more opulent might afford,
whether to enable them to procure such machines, or to
f!rd a market for their goods when manufactured—it would
have the effect, if not of allaying the prejudice against
machinery, at least of diverting that prejudice from the
present opulent, and, as they are called, overgrown masters,
t- those of the workmen who might be enabled to use
Inc smaller machinery before the rest of their fellow-
labourers could, from idleness or dissipation, find the
mans of doing so. Still the profits of the masters
would not be attend by such a measure, as they would
have even then to find markets for the work of the
operatives.

Another mode in which the mechanical improvements in
a country may be merle available to the small capitalist, is
by uniting them in Companies. If mechanics continue
to mike such advances in knowledge as they have lately
done, mercantile associations may undoubtedly be formed
by them, in order to partake in those profits which are
tiow, as they think, monopolized by their employers.
In the discussions on the law of primogeniture in France,
it was mentioned, that many of the small properties in that
country, which might have been divided by the French
LAW of succession, often continued, by common consent, to
remain undivided, when it was found injurious to parcel
them out among the co-heirs. If such associations be
fouod useful in that country, there is no reason why small
farmers and °slier. should not form unions here of the
same sort, at least in so far as to join their capitals. Such
acsoci adons, if made betw.,en men of different employ-
would have a farther adviutage of securing to all
of them a full occupation in supplying their different co-
partners with the produce of their various labours. In the
present state of thipgv, some masters as well as workmen
bastion much employment, others too little; but as all
must live
•by their labour, the general rate of profit is not
*Actilated, on what the fully occupied could alEtrd to sell,
Lit suoh as enablu those who are hut partially employed
t) sperm themselves, with their families and establish-
in rats. 'f hut the labour which many are capable of ex-
con% ii.not ?tally, called into action, and is at the same
tispAßsid,for by the consumer in the shape of an increased'
rgla oar, profits. This is one of those unseen causes of dis-
tress and high ptices which operate far more extensively
than the Corn Laws, or any legislative enactments what
ever. Nine-tenths of the traders and shopkeepers of Lon-
don have less than half the business which they could
manage with their present establiehments, if they could
procure it. If none were employed in a business but
those who are fully occupied, it is obvious that goods
esuld be sold at half the present profits.
. The next point to which we proposal to call the atten-
tion of our readers was the late change in our commercial
polity ; but as we have formerly detailed our sentiments
on this subject, we shall not now enlarge; are shall
simply restate the substance of ore opinion—which was,
that freedom of trade, as a general principle, was not only
a right of the subject, but a principle of sound policy in
the Government; though we also maintained that this
freedom was as compatible with certain regulations, as
eerit liberty is with penal laws ; and we laid it down as a
principle, that trade ought to be free in all CMS, when the
use of this freedom would not produce consequences in-
jurious to the public interest.
On the Banking System, with regard to which, as well
as the Corn Laws, Government is accused of acting on
principles directly the reverse of those which are so ob-
nolious to the " operative" weavers anti others, so much
hes lately been said, that it is scarcely necessary at present
to add any oliservations on the subject. If the general in-
town require the prohibition 4 small notes, the interests
of one clan: or portion of the empire must not be allowed
to stand in competition with the general conveni,nec.
The mole enlightened opponents of GovvroTnent have
divertCd their attention from mechanism, free trade, and
cash payments, which they are famed to acknowledge to
be untenable ground, and have taken their stand on the
Cora Laws, on which they have come to a tacit agreement
to Aix the whnie odium of those unavoidable, awl even
summary evils, wl ich are in fact in igreat degree the con-
setiebres of MeasUTelk which they have themselves si
permed. We shall now endeavour to show that the repeal
of. the Corn Laws is at least a measure on which Govern-
ment ought, to pause, and that there are grave subjects
of consideration to induce it to continue the restrictions on
iatipOrtition; at least for a certain period, air under eireutti-
aseuperof extreme distress, such as those which unhappily
argot the manufacturing districts at present. Tile most
ipta muse of alarm,as to the rep al of the Corn Law%
would be the fear of becoming dependent'on foreign ooun-

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