The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-18 00:00:00

REGISTRATION.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
The Borough Registration of the Burgesses of North-
ampton has just terminated. There has been a great in-
crease in favour of the Liberals ; and had it not been for
the partiality of the Mayor (that Mr. Freeman whose dis-
graceful assertion respecting the Dissenters' meeting-houses
made him so notorious), there would have been a much
greater increase than there is. One decision affected the
claims of a great number of the Reformers ; and the Mayor
and one of the assessors, Mr. Marshall, a Tory shoemaker,
residing in Gold-street, when they found that their party
would he placed in a minority by it, actually decided against
their former decision ! The case was this :---A number of
persons resident in the town had their rates paid in compo-
sition by their landlords, but their names appeared in the
rate-books, and all of them were liable to the payment of
their rates, if their landlords failed in paying them. This
is proved by the landlords generally refusing to pay sines
the passinr, of the Corporation Reform Act ; but their
landlords h'ad.paid the sums for which they had compounded,
and the tenants had made up the full amount of their rates,
in order to vote on a church-rate question, and they now
claimed a right to vote as burgesses having paid all rates.
The first claim of this kind that came on was that of a
Tory, and. was taken suddenly„ The Mayor and assessors
immediately decided in favour of the claimant ; but when
these excellent judges saw. how their decision would work,
they reversed it, and a large number of claims were conse-
quently rejected. Mr. Hollis, one of the assessors, how-
ever, very strongly objected to this decision, and the Court
was generally indignant ; but our Mayor is not the man to
be moved by the objections of any one, and he willed that
the claimants-should be erased, though he took care to re-
tain the Tory on the list. The assessors at Leicester have,
on the contrary, decided that persons in this situation are
eligible, and their names are of course retained.
It is to be hoped that the termination of this man's ca-
reer as Chief Magistrate has nearly arrived. His conduct
would be discreditable to any person, but to one filling .his
office it is shameful. On Thursday last a respectable
tradesman was tried at the Borough Sessions as a receiver 1
of stolen goods. His previous character was irreproael:,_
able. There was not the slightest evidence against Shim,
more than that he had a sack of corn in his possession,
which he, as a carrier, had received to convey, to Woburn.
On this sack he had given half-a-crown, which he was to
receive again from the person to whom the corn was to be
delivered ; a practice not at all uncommon with country
carriers where they know all parties concerned. The Jury,
as was anticipated, immediately acquitted him. There was
not the slightest proof of guilt, more than his having the
sack, which he had never attempted to secrete. In about
half an hour afterwards the Mayor came in and asked the
Recorder what he had done with -. The Recorder re-
plied, that he was acquitted. " Acquitted !" said the
Mayor, " If you are going to acquit people in this way, we
shall have the town full of thieves. .-The man deserved to
be transported ; and, Sir,- you may depend upon it, that
wherever we can summarily convict we shall not trouble
you, for it is of no use sending prisoners to you, if you are
going to let them off in this manner." The Recorder,
knowing the gentleman he bad to deal with, made no reply,
and the Dogberry took himself off in high dudgeon.

REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.

LONDON.

MONDAY.--Mr. William Besto's claim to vote in respect,
of a warehouse in Wood-street was, after some opposition
on the part of Mr. ROWCROFT, admitted.

In the course of the examination, the par4h rate-book
having been produced in evidence, Mr. Rowcar,FT required
to be allowed to inspect it. Mr. Suits reciised his assent
to the request, and appealed to the .court whether there
was any thing in the Act which compelled overseers to show
their rate-books to any other person than the revising bar-
rister. For other parties to inspect the rate-books might be
productive of the utmost inconvenience.

Mr. ROWCROFT contended that the very wording of the
Act shoWed that the rate-books were to be open to the in-
spection, at pleasure, of counsel on either side, as well as to
the revising barrister. Besides, it was absurd to talk of the
rate-books as such very private documents when it was well
known that every parishioner had a right to inspect them.
Mr. CRAIG sa►d that his present view of the point was,
that the overseer was not compelled to exhibit his rate-
books to other than the revising barrister ; there was no
information, however, contained in the rate-books which the
overseer was not called upon to give if required of him.
The vote was then, after a short public examination,
allowed.

The rest of the day was occupied in the consideration of
two disputed claims, those of Mr. W. Clark and of Mr. God-
dard, in both of which the barristers' decision was postponed
till this day.

MIDDLESEX.
Yestin•day the Revising Barristers for the County of
Middlesex, Messrs. COVENTRY and KEENE, attended at
the Castle Tavern, Brentford, and disposed of the lists fp.;
the districts of Twickenham, Isleworth, Heston; Hanwell,
Perivale, Brentford, Acton, Greenford, Northhelt, and
Ealing.

Mr. Gregory and two other gentlemen attended as agents
in the Conservative interest, and Messrs. Coppock and
Davis for the Reformers.

The total number of votes objected to by the Reformers
was 2.5, of which they sustained 12, and by the Tories 35
(including the names placed on the church-door by the
overseers as parish clerk, but disowned by both parties) out
of which they sustained 15.

Mr. S. Dyer claimed a right to vote out of a rent-charge
of 41., which was paid to him for the last 33 years, in lieu
of a room over the porch of a church which had been taken
upon his entering office, for the purpose of certain repairs
which were considered to be necessary.
Mr. COPPOCK objected to the vote.
Mr. GREGORY, in support of the vote, called. Colonel
Clitherow, who stated that when he was hurrlwarden
he
recollected paying Dyer the 41. a year.
Mr. COPPOCK asked- Col. Clitherow if the payment he
referred to was not 'before the 137.-ssif"4 of the Reform Act,
and Col. Cli+.l.ferow replied Vag, it was many years before.
Mr. TA .EENE then rulel in the absence of all docu-
rP:entary evidence in proof of the claim, that it should be
expunged. -
An argument took place in the course of the day upon
the right of trustees to vote under particular circumstances ;
the case was deferred.

The contest appears to be carried on with great zeal by
the agents of both parties.

BOROUGH OF FINSBURY.
Messrs. JOHN TAMLYN and THOMAS FALCONER, the
Barristers appointed to revise the lists of voters for the bo-
rough of Finsbury, commenced their sittings yesterday
morning, at the White Conduit House.
Mr. FALCONER received the lists from the overseers of
the parishes of St. John and St. James, Clerkenwell. St.
Luke's, St. Mary, Islington, St. Mary, Stoke Newington,
Lincoln's Inn, and the Liberty of the Rolls.
Mr. Penfold appeared for the Conservatives ; and Mr.
M'Phail, the Secretary of the Finsbury Reform Club, for
the Radicals.

LINCOLN'S INN.
(Before Mr. FaLcoNga.)
There were three claims in the'lists of Iglalcoln's Inn,
and no objections.

Mr. James William Mills claimed to be registered in
respect to chambe:s in the Inn ; he '.iad removed from No.
20, Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane, about April
last. It was proved that the house in Southampton-build-
ir.gs was in the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and that
the rates had been paid. It was stated that the Inn was
extra parochial, and that the bencbers paid an annuity to
St. Andrew's, in lieu of poor and other rates.
Mr. FALCONER decided, after some discussion, that par-
ties ought to be prepared with the requisite proof, and as
there was no evidence of successive occupation, he must
disallow the claim.

Two gentlemen, named Duval and Keene, who had re-
moved into the Inn, claimed registration. Their claims
were supported by Mr. Penfold, and objected to by Mr.

The cases stood over for proof.
ST. LURE'S PARISH.
In this parish there were nineteen claims and four ob-
jections. Mr. Rowland Wilks, the vestry-clerk, produced
the list. Among the claims was a somewhat singular one.
Jan Gilbert claimed. He had been assessed for a horse
and a dog, and had not.paid the rates. He was not liable
for any other assessed taxes —Claim disallowed.
Edward Medley, baker, No. 'lO7, Old-street, claimed
the franchise. The investigation into this claim occupied
some time. He rented a shop and apartment of a person
named Bickers, for which he paid 201. a year, and had a
a separate. entrance. He had claimed to be registered ;
but the parish officers had not put him on the list, It
appeared that Bickers was rated, and had paid up to the
usual period.
Mr. r;AtcoNER, after a lengthened 6067, allowed the

claim.
'qr. Eugene Borhen and three other foreigners were ob-
jected to on thQ or•otmd that they were aliens, and incapa-
citated from voting,
'rile necessary qualification was proved.
Au Italian, named Persa, was called to. prove that the,
parties were aliens ; but he said he did not know them.
Mr. FALCONER disallowed the objection, observing that
it was always extremely difficult to prove the persons to be
aliens.
The Learned Gentleman then proceeded with the parish
of St. Mary Islington, and rose at four o'clock.

The Hon. Capt. Phipps, brother to Lord Mulgrave,
again spoken of as a candidate for the city of Lincoln.

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNAL

Mr. Leslie, of St. George's, Hanover-square, has
added a postscript to the pamphlet which we noticed
some days ago, in consequence of the observations we
made on his argument aLrainst giving poor-laws to Ire-
land. We stated that the lower orders are uniformly
found in a state of extreme destitution and demoraliza•
tion where there are no poor-lims ; and that wherever
poor-laws exist the population is orderly. Mr. Leslie
says, "I owe it to myself, to my argument, and to my
readers, to show that I am not so ignorant of the con-
dition of Europe, or even of America, connected with
the operation of the legal provision for the poor," as is
implied in our stricture that he was not sufficiently ac-
quainted with the actual condition of Europe. We
shall allow Mr. Leslie to state his own case in his own
way :

I shall take the countries of Europe in the orclec 'in
which the worthy writer in the Chronicle has placed, teem,
and from the most authentic documents, published uy the
authority of Parliament—from the valuable 'statistical
works of G. R. Porter, Esq. (the most recent of which,
just published, The Progress of the Nation. : Population
and Production,' should be in the hands of every one who
is anxious to promote the best interests, of his country),
from these authentic sources I preset;, facts to maintain all
the positions I have taken in the 'oreceding pages, and to
demonstrate that whenever a ro'Jr-law system is a part of
the domestic policy of the cont./try, no matter what may be
its political constitution, whe:tier it be monarchical or re-
publican—whether the rel;•gion be Catholic or Protestant—
whether labour abounds 'ar,(l is well remunerated, or the
very reverse be its cond;tion, one uniform and unvarying
result attends that CP.tal principle ; creating misery, which
it afterwards can ;either control nor mitigate.

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
" Ho.l.LA''.o.—Pauperism is rapidly increasing ; one in
every 'nine is a pauper. The poor colonies of Holland'
in, 'lB2O contained 1,475 persons ; in 1831 the number
',lad increased to 7,353—an increase ill ten years of 432
per cent. Orphans, foundlings and children abandoned,
maintained at the public expense in 1820 were in number
226 ; in 1831 they had increased to 2,297, or 916 per
cent. The number of beggars in Holland kept at the
public expense in 1822 was 300 ; in 1831, 2,406, being an
increase of 700 per cent. _ _

" North Netherlands.—The number of persons relieved
by the direction of the poor-house in 1822 was 174,802,
while in 1831 that number bad increased to 248,380, or 41

fond of farming, that he succeeded in raisinc, a field of
turnips, by proclaiming at the chapel-door, afrer they had
begun to be of a size for pulling, that he wished them all
taken up by the people ; and they, suspecting some
trick, kept away. The nuisance of squalid and im-
portunate beggars is complained of by all who visit
Ireland, as insupportable. A provision for the poor
would prevent the extreme destitution which is the
cause of outrage, and, by introducing order, would
favour the groWth of a middle class. Throughout
Prussia and the greater part of Germany (in parts of
Germany villenage still
prevails, and in others re-
strictions on marriage, which would not be tolerated
in free countries) there are provisions for the poor
substantially the same as ours. If Mr. Leslie will
look at several works of authority, as those of M.
Busch, for instance, he will see that before the people
of. Ilamburgh established that system which has
been so often commended, the poor were a com-
plete pest—that all sorts of contagious diseases
were generated—that punishment was a mockery.
In Norway the poorest man is even sumptuously
lodged, and a person in rags is not to be seen.
In Sweden and Denmark, though in a less degree,
the people are comfortable and well clad. In Swit-
zerland there are, no doubt, many poor ; but that
country is a model of industry and order. A Swiss
cottage has become proverbial for comfort. As to
Scotland, if Mr. Leslie had either seen that country,
or received accounts of it from any well-informed
person (for Dr. Chalmers has the faculty of imagining
facts), he would never have stated, that as often as
the Poor;law system " is called into operation, with
its machinery of compulsory assesoments and legal
claims upon it, then the misery which flaws from it is
instantaneously demonstrated." The Highlands is
the only part of the country where the poor are dis-
regarded, and there the condition of the lower orders
is hardly one whit better than in Ireland. They are
utter strangers to comfort and cleanliness ; their cabins
are hardly fit for pigs. The parts of Scotland where
the poor are provided for by compulsory assessment,
as Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, East Lothian, &c.,
are pointed at with pride by the natives of Scotland,
as models for high farming, and for the comfort
of the labouring classes. Indeed so superior are
the south-eastern districts to the rest of Scot-
land, that in offering prizes for neat cottages
they are excluded, as requiring no stimulus. If
Mr. Leslie were to ask one of the rich farmers
of that part of Scotland if he wished there were no
Poor-laws, he would laugh at him. Poor-laws are
the sheet-anchor of the capitalist who wishes to be
without fear for his property. We defy Mr. Leslie
to point out any one country of Europe in which
farmers live in good houses, the labourers live in com-
fortable cottages and have a clean and decent appear-
ance, in which capital is embarked freely in agricul-
ture, and an appearance of order every where prevails,
where there is not a provision for the poor. Poor-
laws are the foundation of social order. There
be no good police without them. They force the rich
toy look after the poor, if they do not wish to become
poor themselves. Mendicancy is of all ways of pro-
viding for the poor the most costly, whether we regard
the moral or the pecuniary waste it occasions. Mr.
Leslie looks only to the tax of poor-rates—he does
not see tbat mendicancy prevents the creation of pro-
perty. Abuses may creep into the administration of
poor-laws ; bat property is a hardy plant, and in self-
defence it will grapple with the abuses. But when
once a people are depraved by mendicancy, the very
magnitude of the evil and insufficiency of means to
meet it render recovery almost hopeless. Though, for
instance, poor-laws were introduced into Ireland, a
generation would at least elapse before that country
could be placed in a state of order.—Morning Chro-
nicle of Saturday.
TO the EDITOR of the MORNING CHRONICLE.
Sir—l think you will see the propriety of allowing me a
space in the Chronicle to-morrow for the following observa-
tions on your leading article on Saturday on the postscript to
my pamphlet on Poor-laws and Ireland.
You state these words, " We shall allow Mr. Leslie to
state his case in his own way." Nothing can be fairer
than that assertion ; but permit me to remind you that in
the quota.4ions you have omitted the most important parts
of the sectjon America, and the whole of the section
Ireland.
As to the portion relating to Scotland, you deny the
truth of my posi,'io'n,—" that as often as the Poor-law
system is called into operation, with its machinery of com-
pulsory assessments acrd legal claims upon it, then the mi-
sery which flows from it is instantaneously demonstrated."
You then proceed to state " that the parts of Scotland
where the poor are provided icr by compulsory assessments,
as Roxburghshire, Berwickshire; East Lothian, &c., are
pointed at with pride by the native; of Scotland as models
for high farming and jinr the comfort ofilie labouring classes.
Indeed, so superior are the south-eastern districts to the
rest of Scotland, that in offering prizes .rOl. neat cottages
they are excluded, as requiring no stimulus. t If Mr. Leslie
were to ask one of the rich farmers of that part of Scot-
land if he wished there were no Poor-laws, he wc.tald laugh
at him."

All this may read very well to persons ill-informed upon
the subject, and you have set it forth in such an authori-
tative manner, that the presumption is that your account
of that part of Scotland is correct, and that the cause (1
the comfort of the labouring classes is the compulsory as-
sessment.

In the discussion of the very grave and important ques-
tion which is the subject of my pamphlet " Poor Laws and
Ireland," I take my stand on facts, and the authority of
documents which cannot be impeached.

I will at once submit your statement about the south-
cdstern districts of Scotland to this test, and show you what
is at the present moment actually occurring to one of the
counties which you have selected.
" BERWICKSIIIRE.—On Tuesday, the 4th of the present
month of October, the Commissioners of Supply for Ber-
wickshire held a meeting, at which, on account of the alarm-
ing increase of pauperism, and the great expense upon the
county—the poor-rates only amount to .5,3501.—the fol-
lowing committee was immediately appointed on the sub-
ject :—Sir H. P. H. Campbell, M.P. ; Sir David Milne ;
Mr. Spottiswoode, of Spottiswoode ; Mr. Dickson, of Bil-
chester ; Mr. Home, of Gunsgreen ; Mr. Milne, advocate ;
Mr. Greig, of Eccles ; Mr. Roy, of Nenthorne ; the Hon.
General Maitland ; Mr. Turnbulk Mr. Turnbull, conve-
ner ; and three to be a quorum."
Such, then, is the fact in one of the counties of Scotland ;
and whether the rich farmers of Berwickshire would laugh
at Mr. Leslie or not as to his opinion of the poor-law sys-
tem, they could not by possibility alter that fact ; there is
the compulsow system of the poor-laws at work, demora-
lizing and degenerating the inhabitants of Berwickshire ;
the expenditure increasing, and a committee of the most
influential men in the county just appointed to consider as
to a remedy. _

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Conduit-street, Oct. 16. JOHN LESLIE.
The following are the parts of the postscript to which
Mr. Leslie alludes :
" AMERICA.—'There can be no doubt of the fact, that
labour exists to an almost unlimited extent in the United
States, nor can there be any doubt that the remuneration
for it is good. Now, notwithstanding these advantages,
that immense continent has, in some of her States, the
plague-spot of a poor-law system rapidly interfering with
industry, and extending itself over the surface of society.
" In Massachusetts, where a first-rate artisan can re-
ceive for his labour from 9s. to 12s. Gd., and an inferior
workman 6s. 9d. a day ! where the commonest labourers
receives per annum from .56/. .ss. to 671. 10s. ; and the
subsistence of the working classes is such, that ' there are
very few who do not eat meat, poultry, or fish, twice or
three times a day,'—there is, or was, a poor-law system.
" So early as 1639, the 43d of Elizabeth was trans-
planted to that State ; and in a very recent State docu-
ment, the Commissioners appointed by the House of Re-
presentatives trace to that Act THE PAUPER SIISTEM un-
der which we are now living.' In this valuable document
the rapid increase of pauperism is declared to be nearly
equal to the increase in England ; and further, that the
radical evil of the Act of the 43d of Elizabeth, which
provided for a compulsory support of the poor, and of the
order by the Court of the Colony and Province of Mas-
sachusetts Bay in 1639, was on the very principle of
the substitution of such a provision for them, for that
prhich God has himself made alike in the very constitution
GI human nature, and throughout the records of his re-
ve,sleil will. The provision fir the employment of the idle
beta we therefore, as a matter of course, a direct bounty upon
idlene.7 ; and idleness and vagrancy, in a large part of the
parent c ountry, have grown in a fearful proportion to the
poor-rates'
of that country.' And these American legis-
lators dell.
that the system of pool laws creates an in-
definite amovnt of artificial property, and through the
increase of th ig poverty, they lead to an indefinite increase
of abjectness, Intaery and crime.'
" The State of New York, and others of the United
St; rtes concur kr accounting for the moral leprosy with
which the poor-law' system is covering the land of America.
oi pudop.—Tiv Parliamentary returns exhibit the

followmg facts, as to the lands, the landowners, and the
agricultural labourers and their families :
" First as to the land.—A Parliamentary return of
1827 shows the number of acres in that country to be
19,441,944 ; of these 12,123,080 were cultivated, 4,900,000
were uncultivated, and 2,416,644 were unproiltable. Ano-
ther Parliamentary document shows that the cultivation

in iS36 has extended to 14,600,000 acres, the average
rant of which is I s. Gd. per Irish acre, equal to 14s. 2d.
per English acre.
" S,.eond as to the landowners.—The gross rental of
land in Ireland (exclusive of the towns), is not quite ten
millions per annum, from which is to be deducted tea per
rent. for defalcation and collecting the rents. A return
from the masters in Chancery shows the incumbrances on
that rental to be 3,000,000 per annum, leaving the net
rental at 6,000,000 per annum.
" Tli I RD.—The labourers and their families in Ireland
who look to agriculture, and to it only finr supporl,' are
neatly two-thirds of the whole population—say five millions.
" What is the popular outcry to remedy these alarming
evils, which arc evident on this simple statement of well-au-
thenticated facts ?—Pass a powr law—tax the land.
" Ir the net rental of the land in Ireland were taxed by
means of a Poor-law Act at five shillings in the pound, :pis/
by way of commencing the poor-law system, without any
deduction for the expense of collecting that tax, or any de-
falcation in the payment of it, it would produce 1,500,000/.
which being divided among the five millions of the Irish po-
pulation, comprised in the class agricultural labourers and
their families, it would just give each of them six shillings a
year, or not quite three-halfpence a week.
" But I say that if the legislature were even to pass a
Poor-law Act which would have the effect to send all the
proprietors of land and their families into exile, and to give
the whole net rental of the land in Ireland to the
agricul-
tural labourers and their families, that whole net rental
would then give only each of these poor persons twenty-
four shillings per annum, or not quite sixpence each per
week.
" It was upon the knowledge of such facts as these, that
I founded the argument and the suggestion in the preceding
pages, to relieve and improve the condition of Ireland.
From the common revenue, I am of opinion, she must re-
ceive the first means of relief ; the longer that is delayed
the more will be required, and the less effective will be its
application ; and until the facts I have produced, are over-
turned, I shall continue to agree in opinion with Dr. Adam
Clarke, that when Ireland gets the poor-laws with which
she is now threatened, the present rising sun of its prospe-
rity will sink below the horizon to rise no more."
We insert a letter from Mr. Leslie, to which we
have subjoined those parts of the postscript to his
pamphlet to which he says he attaches the most value.
As for the United States, it would be beside our pur-
pose to enter into any discussion with reference to a
country so differently circumstanced as Europe. There
have been abuses in the Eastern States as well as in
England, and these are well pointed out in the evi-
dence laid before Parliament by the Poor-law Com-
missioners. With regard to Ireland, there are, no
doubt, difficulties in the way of a poor-law from the
extent of the misery. Had poor-laws been enacted in
that country one hundred years ago, the destitution
would not now have reached so formidable a magni-
tude. But Mr. Leslie and other opponents of a poor-
law must bear in mind, that the poor are all at pro-
stmt subsisted out of the means of the country, and
subsisted, too, in the most oppressive and injurious
manner. The great evil of the existing system of
supplying the destitute is that it represses industry and
improvement. But if Mr. Leslie will look into Mr.
Revans's book, he will see that he has greatly exag-
gerated the difficulties to be encountered in providing
for the poor in Ireland. With respect to Mr.
Leslie's Scotch information, it is really worth no-
thing. " There," he says, "is the compulsory
system of the poor laws demoralizing and degene-
rating the inhabitants of Berwickshire." This is
worthy of Dr. Chalmers himself. In 1808, the
rental of the land of Berwickshire, according to Ker's
Agricultural Report was 230,0001. If we suppose
it the same now, 5,3501. would be about Gd. in the
pound. It is very proper in the landholders to en-
deavour, if possible, to prevent an increase of the bur-
den ; and Scotch landholders may be safely trusted
with their own interests. But will any man in his
senses say that sixpence in the pound ig an alarming
expenditure for so important an object as the mainte-
nance of the sick and disabled poor ? In 1808 the
expenditure on the poor, according to Ker, was
3,1141., but the population has since increased. In
1814 the rental of the lands, mines, and fisheries of
Scotland was 5,041,7791. The poor are better pro-
vided for in Berwickshire, and the other south-eastern
counties, than in the rest of Scotland, because the
standard of living is higher. But if we were to sup-
pose the poor- of Scotland provided for in the propor-
tion to the rental existing in Berwickshire, this would
only give 107,0001. for the poor of all Scotland. Sir
John Sinclair, in his General Report of the Agricul-
tural State and Political Circumstances of Scotland, vol.
iii. p. 228, observes that in East Lothian, Berwickshire,
and Roxburghshire, the farm-servants are more comfirt-
able than in other places ; and he adds, " Perhaps there
is nowhere to be met with more active, respectable,
and conscientious servants, more faithful to their

employers, and at the same time more attentive to
the interests of their own families, than this class.
itJot one instance occurs of any of these people soli-
citing' relief from the public, unless when by some
accident they are disabled from labour or overtaken
by the inh.,:mities of age." If Mr. Leslie had re-
flected for a mo:nent he would have seen that 5,3501.
is a very moderate sum to cover the inevitable casu-
alties of the populatiGn of a country of which tL
rental is 1-21 of that of ail Scotland. There is no
such thint; in any part of Scotland as the applicatioi;
of poor-rates to the maintenance of the able-bodied ;
and the degeneracy and demoralization of which Mr.
Leslie complains is the not suffering the aged and
sick poor to die in ditches and spread typhus, as in
Ireland. Demoralization applied to any agricultural
district in Scotland is an absurdity. In the county
to which Mr. Leslie alludes the late Sheriff-Sub-
stitute stated that during the whole time of his being
in office, nearly twenty years, a single agricultural
labourer had not been charged with a crime.
But all this is beside the question. What we
maintain is, that without a provision for the poor,
order cannot be preserved in any country, and that a
poor-law is, therefore, essential to a good system of
police. It is for the interest of those who possess pro-
perty that those who have none should not be aban-
doned to destitution. In any given number of people
there will be a certain amount of infirm, disabled, and
diseased persons who have no relations to provide for
them, and these must either be provided for by casual
charity or regular rates, or they must starve. In a
very simple state of society, casual chari,jr may, after a
sort, provide for the poor ; but to a country auvancing
in improvement, mendicancy is an intolerable nui,4aTte•
That country which leaves its poor to casual charity
must be in a low state of civilisation. We have to
combat two descriptions of opponents—those who
would give a stimulus to pauperism by rendering
paupers more comfortable than industrious labourers,
and those who, because abuses have crept into the
administration of poor-laws, would abandon the poor
to destitution and disease. Mr. Leslie is a clever ad-
ministrator ; and we believe his own parish, St. George's,
Hanover-squaro, has afforded a beneficial example to
other places. We regret that he should have afforded
the opponents of the new law a handle to prejudice
the people against it, by representing the advocates of
amended administration as opposed to all relief to the

poor.—Morning Chronicle.
The appearance of the present state of parties, as
contrasted with that of any former period since Lord
Melbourne's resumption of the reins of Government,
is truly encouraging to the friends of the Constitution.
On all sides we see one of two indications, neither of
which can
he
mistaken as to its political import—lst,
The established strength and well-grounded cot-Mace
of the Conservative party ; and, 2d, The wretched
squabbles and cotrespondino apprehension of the Whig-
Radical faction. This last beggarly assortment of
empty-head is manifestly bewildered—and, to use an
expressive phrase, wholly at a loss to know " which
way v
e to
every'turn.
possible of truly, y, after having already turned'
to e
political hideousness, it must be
a severe tax upon theirpw,o,nantec, i iangLeenauditey,
thy whichisnow theythe mtrn
aretil now
perplexed. ,
of the faction. In other words, this flock of black
sheep are bleating for a shepherd who may bring the
degenerate Whig Aristocrats and the desperate ltadi-
cal Democracy once more (in semblance at least)
within one and the same fold. For this purpose, the
Master of the Ministers will not do for many reasons.
However the Whits of biah-sounding, names may feel