The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 1840.

CORN-LAWS AND POOR-LAWS.

We lately noticed that a petition had been
agreed to by the Board of Guardians of the Bol-
ton Union for the Abolition of the Corn-laws.
We have since seen a similar petition from the
Board of Guardians of the Bath Union, from which
we give the following extract :
" That whilst endeavouring to guard from imposition
the funds placed at their disposal, and to defend the
rate-payer from the unreasonable demands of able-
bodied persons who ought to earn their own living,
your petitioners are not unfrequently compelled to wit-
ness cases which involve them in considerable perplexity,
and to listen to statements of industrious persons, who,
in consequence of their large families, and of the high
price qf bread, find it difficult to provide for their daily
wants, even when in health and full employment.
That the long-continued dearness of provisions having
rendered it impossible to lay by for future contingen-
cies, they are, in the time of sickness or scarcity of
employment, absolutely reduced to dest;tution. Tha:
it appears to your petitioners, that the evil is not with-
out remedy ; inasmuch as the present high price of food
may be distinctly traced to the existing laws, which
prevent the importation of the wheat which is now so
plentiful in foreign parts, but which may not be purchased
by our suffering poor until it has risen to an enormous
price in the home market. That whilst the industrious
classes, by the instrumentality of the guardians, are
thrown upon their resources, the Corn-I.lws unjustly
diminish those resources ; the labourers' wages being the
same when bread is 10d. a loaf as when it was 6d. a
loaf ; so that a man who requires a loaf a day for his
family has now to pay six shillings for the same quantity
f bread for which he formerly paid three shillings. That
leaving out of consideration the effect of a scarcity of corn
upon other articles of food, the Corn-laws, by taking three
shillings a-week from the labourer, who, in agricultural
districts, earns only nine shillings a-week, do, in fact,
take from him the wages of two days, and oblige him to
work for one-third of his time without any remuneration
whatever. That the Corn .laws having been enacted as
a means of protecting the landed interest, and not for
purposes of public revenue, it follows that during two
days of the week the labourer works without wages for
that protected class which receives the sole profit of his
unrequited toil ; and that, for one-third of his time, the
labourer is under circumstances very similar to those of
the slave, with this disadvantage, that whilst the slave
has food and lodging in return for his services, the Eng-
lish labourer works two days out of every six without re-
ceiving any return at all." _ _

By the attention of the Editor of the Stqffordshire
Examiner we have received the copy of a similar
petition, which the Board of Guardians of the
Wolverhampton Union have agreed to, and which
we here insert

" To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain.
and Ireland'in Parliament assembled.
" The Humble. Petition of the Board of Guar-
dians of the Wolverhampton Union,
" Show•eth,--

" That your petitioners, in the execution of their
duty as Guardians of the Poor of a very extensive and
populous district, have found great distress to exist,
which does not appear to owe its origin either to habits
of indolence, improvidence, or intemperance, or to any
one of those causes which the Poor-law Amendment
Act was especially designed and adapted to remove.
" That your petitioners find the number of cases of
this descrip! ion to be greatly on the increase ; and
that they also find great difficulty in meeting them
either to their own satisfaction, or to the satisfaction of
the public.

‘ That it appears to your petitioners that the origin
of this class of destitution is to be traced to the high
price of the necessaries of life, which price is enhanced
by the law restricting the importation of foreign grain,
and to the continual fluctuations and present deficiency
in the demand for labour, occasioned by our inabiiity
under that law to exchange the products of our industry
for that of other nations.

" That, such being the case, it appears to your peti-
tioners that the Poor-law Amendment Act, which your
petitioners are engaged in working out, embodies princi-
ples which, however excellent in themselves, are neutra-
lized in their operation by the restricted supply of food
and the limited demand for labour.

" That, with respect to its very first object—the limi-
tation of pauperism—the statute is comparatively inef-
fectual ; inasmuch as a law which is equally imperative
multiplies pauperism much more rapidly and much more
surely than the Poor-law can limit it.
" That, with respect to its first principle—that of
making the poor feel that to be in the receipt of paro-
chial relief is to be in a state of dependency rather than
to be reciprocating a right—the law your petitioners are
working out is made to act unjustly to the people. It is
not justice to limit the supply of food, the demand for
labour, and the market for the result of industry, and at
the same time to declare that the inability to obtain that
which the law denies ought to be visited with degrada-
tion almost amounting to punishment.
" That your petitioners, taking this view, also deem
the non-allowance of out-door relief to the able-bodied
under the Poor-law to press with undue hardships on
the poor. They find it very difficult to refuse to alleviate
the stringency of a law, which, however inherently just,
is rendered unnecessarily oppressive and consequently
obnoxious by the operation of another statute.
" That, descending to considerations of detail, your
petitioners find it very difficult to carry out the principle
of the Poor-law to which they have already referred,
i
inasmuch as it is mpossible to reduce the condition of
the pauper, in diet and otherwise, below that of the la-
bourer out of doors.

" That your -petitioners, therefore, deem it right to
represent to your Honourable House the difficulties to
which they are subjected, the great and continuous in-
crease of pauperism, and the grievous oppressions to the
people caused by the Act restricting the supply of food ;
and believing, as they do, that the Poor-law cannot
operate justly, and that the full benefits to the public
designed byit cannot possibly accrue to them while corn
taxes exist, they humbly pray that your Honourable
House will immediately and totally repeal all duties on
foreign grain, so that the labourer, who is more especially
the subject of the Poor-law's stringent clauses, having a
fair market for his labour, and an unrestricted supply of
the necessaries of life, may not be reduced BY LAW
to that condition which necessitates his application for
relief under its provisions.
" And your petitioners will aver pray?'

This sets in a strong light the incompatibility of
the new Poor-law and the Corn-law, and if other
Boards of Guardians follow those laudable examples
the landlords will be compelled to give up either
the Poor-laws or the Corn-laws. There is now a
Bill going through Parliament to exempt work-
houses from the King's and county taxes. If that
be founded on a good principle, surely the food of
the pauper ought to he exempted from the landlord's
tax as well as the workhouse from the King's tax.
That the opulent and noble gentlemen of England
should add the smallest fraction of the smallest
coin of the realm to their revenue- by taxing the
food of the paupers, degrades them below the level
of the worst extortioners that ever cursed a degraded
and suffering people. What an outcry, a virtuous
outcry, was made against Clive and others, who,
by buying up rice in India, levied a tax on the.
miserable inhab►tants, and caused the death of
many ; but their conduct was absolutely virtuous
compared to that of our landlords, who levy a tax
on the paupers' food, and who starve nundreds and
thousands of their countrymen annually to death.
Were such conduct to escape unpunished, the justice
of Heaven would be called in question, and no man
would be entitled to believe in the moral government
of the universe.

HOUSEBREA K 1 NG.—(From a Correspondent.)
—On Sunday evening last, during the absence of Mr. Cook,
stonemason, of Greenwich, Kent, his house was broken into
and robbed of his cash-box, which was locked, but which con-
tained between nine and ten pounds in cash, together with all
the plate they could lay their hands on, amounting to the value
of 401. The thieves left a knife and a large piece of wood in
Mr. Cook's bed-room, and also a knife in every other room of
the house. No doubt they meant to do mischief to any one
that had been in the house. No traces of the thieves have
yet been discovered.
THE COUNTESS.—We are requested to state
that the new novel entitled " The Countess," by Theodore F.
Fay, Esq., author of " Norman Leslie," &c. kin 3 vols. post
Svo. ), is published this day, by Mr. Bentley, New Burlington-
ton-street, and can now be had at all the libraries. Mr. Bent-
ley has also just published the following new works of fiction :
1. " The Pathfinder," by J. Fennimore Cooper, Esq. 2.
" Cousin Geoffrey," Edited by Theodore Hook, Esq. 3.
" One Fault," by Mrs. Trollope. 4. " Fitzw iggins," by the
Author of " Sydenham.
DESPERATE ENCOUNTER.—On Saturday
night, or Sunday morning, the watch-dog belonging to Mr.
Carmichael, Hares' one, Dighty Water, was dreadfully mangled
by some miscreant—his skull being laid bare, a piece cut out
of his back, and a part of his tail cut off, apparently, with an
axe or some such weapon. From the marks in the snow in
the morning, a fierce struggle must have taken place, after
which the dog, as was supposed from traces of blood, had gone
to a well near by to drink, and was found in a hay stack nearly
dead. No property was carried off, although the time was well
chosen, as the greater part of the men employed on the place
go to their respective homes on Saturday night. The credit of
this preservation of property is no doubt entirely ow ing to the
bold resistance of the dog, which, we are happy to say, is get-
ting better.—Dundee Advertiser.
THE FROME FORGERY CASE.—On Monday
last, at Chandos House, William Canday, brother to the parties
of the same name, some time since committed for trial on a
charge of forging deeds and other documents, in the name of
the Marquis of Bath, &c., was brought before the Magistrates
on the suspicion of being implicated in the transaction. No
evidence was heard against him, but he made a Voluntary
statement that he saw part of the money paid by Mr. Whittin
ton, and was induced by his brother Thomas to affix hi signa-
tureg-
to the forgery. Under these circumstances he was com-
mitted for trial at the ensuing Somerset Assizes.—Bath
Chronicle.

THEWLA THER..--011 Sunday we had rain :
ye.terday the Nxind bas got roarglagazn to tbee;d quartr, norzh
cast. In the country the weather has been matt favourable for
the operations of the farmer.

CHINA.

We extract from the papers on China just pub-
lished by order of the House of Commons, the two
latest of Captain Elliot's despatches, which they
contain. Before stating their contents, we think
it right to observe that on the 31st of -August Lin
had strictly prohibited the natives to supply the
English with provisions of any kind. Notwith-
standing this we are inclined to think that the attack
on the junks, of which we do not recollect to have
before heard, narrated in 157, was quite unwar-
ranted, and that Captain Elliot widely departed
from the dignity of his station in going on such a
business. No. 159 states the circumstance which
led immediately to instituting the blockade of Can-
ton, which appears to have been the supposition
that the Chinese had taken possession of an Eng-
lish boat and her crew, which supposition was
totally unfounded. The two communications give
us a most unfavout able impression of Captain
Elliot's prudence and sagacity.

(No. 157.)
CAPTAIN ELLIOT TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.
(Received February 1, 1840.)
Ship Fort William, Hong Kong,
September 5, 1839.
My Lord,—l yesterday proceeded to how Lune, in
the cutter Louisa, distant about four miles from this
anchorage, where there were three large men-of war
junks, whose presence, I collected from the natives
about u►, prevented the regular supplies of food. I
was accompanied by the Pearl, a small armed vessel,
and Captain Smith of the Volage was so good as to
lend me the pinnace of his ship, and to go with me him-
self. But 1 can assure your Lordship, that though I
am responsible for causing the first shot to be fired, I
did not anticipate any conflict when we left, and went
accompanied solely for purposes of sufficient defence
against insult or attack.

The violent and vexatious measures heaped upon her
Majesty's officer and subjects will, I trust, serve to ex-
cuse those feelings of irritation which have betrayed me
into a measure that I am sensible, under less trying cir-
cumstances, would be difficult indeed of vindication.
But I proceed to state the circumstances as they took
place, leaving their most favourable construction to your
Lordship's unvarying kindness, and to that considera-
tion for my harassing situation which I am sure will be
extended to me by her Majesty's Government.
Upon our arrival at the station of the junks, which I
found anchored in a line a-head and close order, under
rather a formidable and well-manned battery, I brought
up abreast of them at about pistol-shot distance, and
despatched Mr. Gutzlaff in a small boat with two men
(perfectly unarmed) to the centre junk, taking her, from
her size and superior equipment, to be the vessel of the
commanding mandarin.
He carried in his hand the papers marked No. I and
No. 2, and the paper marked No. 3 are his notes of
what took place.
After five or six hours of delay and irritating evasion,
I sent a boat on shore to a distant part of the bay
with money to purchase supplies, which the people suc-
ceeded in doing, and were on the point of bringing
away, when some mandarin runners approached, and
obliged the natives to take back their provisions.
They returned to me with this intelligence, and
greatly provoked, 1 opened fire from the pinnace, the
cutter, and the other vessel, upon the three junks. It
was answered both from them and the battery, with a
spirit not at all unexpected by me, for I have already had
experience that the Chinese are much under-rated in
that respect. After a fire of almost half an hour against
this vastly superior force, we hauled off from the
failure of our ammunition ; for I have already said,
anticipating no serious results, we had not come in
prepared for them. It was evident, however, that the
junks had suffered considerably ; and, after a delay of
about three-quarters of an hour, they weighed and
made sail from under the protection of the battery, with
the obvious purpose of making their escape through an
adjacent outlet. By this time we had made cartridges,
and were in a state to renew the action, and, as
Captain Smith bad proceeded out to bring in her Ma-
jesty's ship, and wished the vessels to be prevented from
escaping, I bore up and engaged them again, and suc-
ceeded in beating them back to their former position.
In this affair, as in the preceding, I was very gallantly
supported by Mr. Reddie, the commander of the
Pearl ; but the superior sailing of the cutter cast the
task of sending back these three vessels upon that ves-
sel ; and I can have no doubt that the impression, that
such a force was more than enough to cope with three
of their war-junks will indispose the Commissioner to
revert to his menaced measures of attack against this
fleet. By this time the evening was closing in, and we
returned to join the Volage and the boats from the
fleet, then entering the bay for our support. During
the night I conferred with Captain Smith, and he ac-
ceded to my recommendation not to proceed in the
morning, and destroy the three junks ; and, above all,
not to land men for the purpose of attack upon the bat-
tery, a measure that would probably lead to the de-
struction of the neighbouring village, and great injury
and irritation of the .inhabitants. If her services had
been required for our support against a state of actual
attack, such considerations could not have prevailed ;
but it did not appear to me to be judicious, or indeed
becoming, to recommend the employment of her Ma-
jesty's ship in the destruction of three junks, already
most effectually checked by my own small vessel, with
the assistance of another scarcely larger. There had
been no act of aggression against her Majesty's ship,
and her active interference was unnecessary for the
support of the honour of the flag.
The impression that this heavy force was not to be
lightly used, and that there was no disposition to pro-
tract hostile measures, would be salutary : indeed, in
every respect it seemed to me to be our duty to confine
her services to defence against attack, agreeably to the
Commander-in-Chief's orders to himself, and despatch
to me. Concurring in this reasoning, he has returned
this morning to his former anchorage at Hong-Kong,
for the purpose of continuing our organization of de-
fence against the attacks of the Commissioner, so long
threatened, hut which I trust and believe the presence
of her Majesty's ship will avert. The only casualty I
have to report on this occasion, is a flesh wound in the
arm to Captain Douglas, of the ship Cambridge, in a
gallant attempt to carry one of the junks at the close
of the day ; and two of his boat's crew also wounded
rather more severely. I am greatly indebted to this
gentleman for his public spirit in purchasing, at his
own charge, at Singapore, on his way up, twenty-two
1811). guns, (hearing of our desperate condition at Can-
ton). And I have no doubt that the sight of this
imposing vessel, manned with a strong crew of Euro-
peans, has discouraged attempts upon this fleet for the
last two months. I should hope that her Majesty's
Government will be pleased to pay the expenses of this
ship during the time he has performed these very
saleable services in the absence of any ship of war,
and reimburse him for the expense of the guns, and
otherwise reward him as may seem right to your
Lordship. Meritorious public impulses and pecuniary
risks of this description will not be lost upon the
Queen's Government. And the ship is still perform-
ing the useful service of guarding one of the entrances
into this harbour, against the fire rafts, and war-
junks, with which we are menaced.
The inclosure. No. 4, is a paper I have circulated
on shore since the affair of yesterday.

I have, &c., -
(Signed) CHARLES ELLIOT,
Chief Superintendent.

(No. 159.)
CAPTAIN ELLIOT TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.
(Received Feb. 1., 1840.)
Ship Fort William, Hong Kong,
Sept. 23, 1839.

My Lord—On the evening of the day that I closed
my last despatch (Eith inst.), Mr. blacdonald, master of
the British armed schooner Pysche, at present taken
up for the service of her Majesty's Government, very
imprudently {eft the harbour without orders, in a boat
belonging to the ship Myram Dirom, taking with him
fifteen people to reconnoitre a passage in the immediate
vicinity of this anchorage, said to be occupied by a
force of war junks.

The absence of the boat was unaccountably and
culpably never reported to Captain Smith or myself,
and we neither of us knew she had left the fleet till
the evening of the next day (the 9th).
Casting attention upon the actual state of affairs,
your Lordship will conceive the intense anxiety this
circumstance occasioned us. No time was lost in des-
patching vessels in the direction in which the boat had
proceeded, under the command of the officers of the
Volage, with an interpreter ; rewards were offered to
the natives for information, and every effort was made to
ascertain her fate.
The search, however, was attended with no other
than a variety of reports, leading to the conclusion that
she had been cut off, and that the Europeans were
either killed, or taken up to the Bocca Tigris. This
state of excessive disquietude and uncertainty harrasscd
us till the evening of the 10th iastanr, and then in the
full persuasion that she had been cut off, I felt it be.
came me to recommend the most urgent measure in
m.
power, calculated to convince this Government that
the further detention or injury of her Majesty's subjects
under such circumstances was an act of war against her
Majesty.
I therefore addressed the accompanying letter to Cap.
a
tain Smith, of the Volage, and the Inclosures 4 and o
are that officer's reply, and his notice of blockade.
On the 18th we proceeded to Macao in her Ma-
jesty's ship, personally to communicate with the Go-
vernor concerning the situation of her Majesty's subjects
Bocce Tigris. We had scarcely left the harbour when
on board this fleet, and to proceed, if needful, to the
we fell in ,with an English ship coming over from Ma-
cao. communicating the unexpected and welcome infer-
t
tation that Mr. Macdonald and all his people sa
fe
on sa e
on board.
It appeared that a strong adverse tide had caught.
him in the narrow passage. He proposed to explore,
and having observed a considerable force in his rear, he

i judged it prudent to push on through the other outlet,
and fortunately succeeded in making his way to Macao
without molestation. There were no sails or provisions
in the boat ; and the exhausted condition of the people
accounts for the length of a passage, that had left us
' without hope that he could have proceeded to Macao.
I need hardly say. my Lord, that the measure of a
blockade never could have presented itself either to
Captnin Smith or myself, except under a conviction that
certain of her Majesty's subjects were actually in the
hands of the Government. The other circumstances ad-
-1 verted to in the notice were indeed in a strong degree
itrstificatory of it, but it was occasioned entirely by the
fact of Mr. Macdonald's disappearance, and the infor-
mation and belief that he and the other Europeans
had fallen into the hands of the Chinese authorities.

I am perfectly sensible your Lordship could never
countenance measures of such a nature upon the ground
of any concluded event, but with the firm belief that the
lives of her Majesty's subjects were at stake, I hope it
will be thought that I was justified in recommending
the only strong measure of a public and national cha-
racter in our power. And certainly, looking at the
general aspect of circumstances, it can be no matter of
surprise that I could not venture to pause beyond the
time that had already been spent in anxious teach,
fruitful of nothing but alarming report. Perhaps I may
remark here that it was intended to act upon the Go-
vernment by the suspension of all foreign trade ; without
which it is plain to me that the peace of this province
cannot be preserved, or the public emergencies met.
In the altered state of circumstances of these people's
safety, however, Captain Smith concurred with me, that
we were called upon to refrain from any measures of an
active nature, and with this impression, he issued the
accompanying notice.

I avail myself of this occasion to aff-;rd your Lord-
ship the satisfactory information that the earnestness of
my dispositions concerning the regular supply of provi-
sions, manifested by the affair at Kow Lime, has had
the effect of relaxing all rigour on that important point.
The natives a-c no longer impeded in the abundant sup-,
ply of the ships, at little above the usual rates, and the
❑otices with respect to the poisoning of the water have
been removed.

But, my Lord, that, and an event to-be reported in
another despatch, have, I cannot! doubt, mainly contri-
buted to induce the sober train of reflection in the mind
of the Commissioner, which enables me to hold out to
her Majesty's Government the hope, that we are upon
the eve of soma satisfactory temporary solution of actual
difficulties. I have, &c.

(Signed)

CHARLES ELLIOT,
Chief Superintendent.

THE ATMOSPHERE OF CITIES.

In the First Annual Report of the Registrar-
General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, an ap-
pendix appears, containing accurate statements of
the mortality of great towns. when compared with
that of country districts. Mr. Farr, the able pre-
parer of these statements, drew his calculations
from thirty-two metropolitan unions, and twenty-
four of the largest towns in England, including
Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, &c. ; while
on the other side he placed the counties of Corn-
wall, Devon, and others, containing nearly an equal
amount of population. The deaths in six months
from twelve principal classes of diseases, are con-
trasted in the foilowing.table

In London and 24 In rural districts,
other towns, con- ccntaining a po-
taining a popula- pulation of
tion of 3,553,000. 3,500,000.
Epidemic, endemic, and
contagious diseases 12,766 6,045
Sporadic Diseases 25,393 14,230

Of uncertain seat ...... 4,396 3,730
Age 2,924 3,102
Violent deaths 1,370 929
Not specified

Total 47,953 29,693
This table completely, establishes the general
fact of the increased mortality in large communi-
ties, and when the matter is still more closely in-
quired into, the immense share which the at-
mosphere has in causing this augmentation appears
with equal clearness. The classes of disease upon
which the difference between the mortality of towns
and country districts chiefly hinges, are precisely
those in which the air is most influential. In the
first three classes of disease, for example, marked
in the preceding table, the mortality is shown to
have been doubled by the concentration of the po-
pulation in cities, and the increase is not much less
as respects the diseases of the lungs. The deaths
from consumption and typhus, diseases that appear
to have a peculiar dependence on atmospheric in-
fluences, are stated by Mr. Farr to have hecn in-
creased in towns in the respective ratios of 39 and
221 per cent.
On the whole, the results of his observations
haie led Mr. Farr broadly to assert that the "source
of the higher mortality is in the insalubrity of the
atmosphere." Other causes certainly aid, how-
ever, in no inconsiderable degree, in bringing about
this general result. But if we think for a moment
of the usual effects produced by a dense population
on the . atmosphere, we shall find strong cause to
coincide with the opinion above expressed. Every
human being expires about 666 cubic.feet of air
daily, and the gas so expired, if it were collected
in a reservoir, would destroy any animal compelled
to inhale it, man himself among the number. Every
one will remember the horrible illustration of

this truth, afforded by the Black Hole catas-
trophe at Calcutta, where, out of one hundred
and forty-six human beings shut up at
night in a single dose room, only twenty-
three came out next morning alive. These persons
perished front being made to breathe the same air
over and over again. This single cause, then, it is
obvious, is in itself capable of producing the most
deleterious results. When we add to this the efflu-
via arising from putrifying substances, animal and
vegetable ; the emanations from streets, stanks, and
sewers ; the products of combustion, and the smoke
of fires, both of which are in themselves poison-
ous; with all the thousand noxious exhalations
which man's habits and occupations assemble
around him ; we shall find city air, in its unmiti-
gated impurity, to be a thing which people might
well fly from with terror and dismay. In the open
country, ail exhalations of this destructive nature
speedily nilx with the currents of the atmosphere,
and are diffused so as to be perfectly harmless.
But instead of one inhabitant to the square mile,
which is about the demity of the population in the
plains of Asia, " locate (says the Report already
quoted) 200,000 individuals upon a square mile,
as soldiers in a camp, and the poison will be con-
centrated 200,000 fold ; intersect the space in
every direction by 10,000 high walls, which ov'er-
hang the narrow streets, shut out the sunlight, and
intercept the movements of the atmosphere ; let the
rejected vegetables, the offal of slaughtered animals,
the filth produced in every way, decay in time houses
and courts, or stagnate in the wet streets ; bury the
dead in the midst of the living ; and the atmosphere
will be an active poison, which wiil destroy, as it
did in London formerly, and as it does in Constan-
tinople now, 5 (and a fractional part) per cent. of
the inhabitants annually, and generate, when the
temperature is high, recurring plagues, in which a
fourth part of the entire population will perish.
But notwithstanding all this formidable am ray of
anti-salubrious agencies, to which a city atmosphere
is exposed, observation and experience give us the
comforting assurance that health will be little more
impaired upon one than upon a hundred square
miles, if proper means (and those means are at
command) be employed for supplying the two limn-
dred thousand dwellers thereon with pure air, and fOl
removing the principal sources of poisonous exhala-
tions. To a certain extent, this is done in almost every
great city. Those parts of them, at least, which
are of modern construction, enjoy many provisions,
pointed out by experience, which obviate the ten-
dency to insalubrity in the atmosphere ; and the
beneficial consequences of these provisions appear
most strikingly, when the. state of health in these
quarters is compared with that in the old districts,
where the wide streets, the free household ventila-
tion, the plenteous supply of water, and the well-
constructed sewers, that form the essential sources
of advantage in the modern divisions, unfortu-
nately, do not exist. The mean annual mortality,
in a variety of the districts of London, is stated as
follows :

ANNUAL MAVIS AMONG 1,000 FEMALES IN
Whitechipel 39 Ken?itsgton 22
Shoreditch 32 St. Pancras 20
<-
B,:rmondser
I 8
Holborn 29 Camberwell

St. George, Southwark 27 Hackney................. 18
Strand
Stepney 24 square ..................
17
it is to be observed here, that some of the new
suburban districts are not less unhealthy than the
closest old ones. This has been dearly traced to
the undrained marshes and other similar nuisances
to which the comparative paucity of inhabitant
exposes the suburbs. But in every case, it raav
safely be averred, the mortality is in exact Drcopoz+
tion to the condition of the district as regards vGn
tilation and cleanliness.—Chambers'

VENING EDITION.

THE NO '-INTRUSION QUESTION;

(From the Abel-deal Herald.)
HUMBUCi DEFEATED IN PERTISIIIRE.—Three-fo.ftlik,
nay, we believe, nine-tenths, of the Liberals of this City
are heartily rejoiced at the reQult of the-contest in Peelle-
shirc—not that they have cooled in their attachment to
Reform—not that they admire the cheracter of Mr. Dalai,
rnond, the Tory candidate, er have ear dislike to the
merely political creed of his opponent, Mr. Stewere—but
simply because they would much rather be Tory-ridden then
Priest-ridden—much rather submit to the gentsnly
tyranny of Conservatism, than to the base, cruel,4lWl de-
grading despotism of a pharisaical, judaising clergy.
The Non-intrusionists have been beaten, soundly beaten,
on the field of their own choosing, too, and under cir-
cumstances mere favourable to them than they can ever
expect to see realized again. Perthshire has been the
head-quarters of their agitation for years hack—it
was there the rebellious elergv struck the first blow, and
there it was that they received the countenance and vented
the influence of the few leading. men who belong to their
faction. In Perthshire they are stronger than in any other
county in Scotland; and yet, in Perthshire, their i;-tterript
to return a Whig candidate—because he favoured il e r
views—ended in the return of the Tory candidate by a
majority son* hundreds greater than the majority of his
Tory predecessor I What does Mr. Fox llaWle reciek ,:ow
of the Non-intrusionists' influence—what, after ail their
big-mouthed boasting, do the poor, diseoinfited, dun-
doen rebels think of themselves ? Their " forte.eareoe,
power" of bellowing had, no doubt, persuaded the'er;seives
that they were a great party, and, indeed, the see-e they
made had almost frightened others into the betief that
there existed ignorance, folly, and bigotry eeet,e.e, is
Scotland, to yield them some support; but Perthsleie Lae
dissipated any delusion that prevailed. on the subject, atr,d
the hypocritical praters about a principle which they ee :bee
understand nor practise, are seen to be as weak in irCue
ence as they are deficient in honesty.
CONSEQUENCE OF A NON-INTRUSION ACT.—lsOoking at
the character of the men who now folio the mejerity of
the General Assembly—their puritanical noti'ons, and the:re
oft-repeated attempts to take cognizance of matters. purely .
secular—it is not uncharitable to presume that their neat
step, deer they had put down the patron, would be to alter
the standard of qualificatiod for Church membership.
As it is, the constituency created by the Veto Act is a
constituency that depends for its very existence on the
clergy and elders. But that dependence will be greatly
increased so soon as the self-styled Evangelicals acquire
complete domination. The clergy and elders emamme
and admit—the clergy and elders revise and may ex-
clude—the clergy and elders stand, in fact, in the
position at' once of registration courts and purgers of
the roll, with this immeasurable advantage in their La-
your, that they claim also the power of the Legisla-
ture, and raise the suffrage at will. For the election of
Members of Parliament, we have a fixed ten posed
qualification ; but for dissenting against a Clergyman, the
qualification may be as varied as the discipline that has
prevailed at different times in the Scottish Kirk. If a men
displease his clergyman, he may be cut off from the com-
municants' roll for walking on Sunday, for going to the
theatre, for attending a concert, for keeping colupany with
Papists, for being proprietor of a news-room that is open
on Sunday. or being a member of a steam-boat company
whose vessels sail en Saturday—for not saying a long
enough grace before meat, or for not having family wor-
ship with due regularity—for speaking ill of the Church
courts, or siding with the Court of Session. If the wild
party were all to turn tee-totallers—ewhich, however, is not
very likely, tippling being rather a favourite vice with
" the unco guid"--no man would be allowed to go to the
Lord's table who did not pledge himself to total abslinerece
except when there. Or, should they—which is not one
likely—adopt the notions of the Friends as to dress, all the
wearers of blue coats and clear buttons would be excom-
municated. But it is needless to multiply illustrations.
The reader must perceive that the wild clergy would noon
have power of making the Veto constituency just such a
constituency as would suit their purpose—just such a
constituency as would choose men ready and willing to
encroach on the secular power, and lay the liberties, the
peace, the prosperity, the happiness of the people under
the black hoof of priestly intolerance.
Will the people help them to do this ? or will the Go-
vernment stultify itself by asking the Legislature te•
sanction such a piece of clerical humbug and tesiekery as
the Veto Act?

(From the Scottish Pilot.)
TUE MINISTRY AND NON-INTRITSION.—II is now said
that the Cabinet feel their diflicukies so great in legis-
lating for the Veto Act, and have so little prospect of
gratifying parties whom they wish to please, that they will
defer any measure for this Session. We hope their former
friends, the Dissenters, whom they so cavalier!y cast
off, will yet come to their assistance by opening tide
eyes as to principles, and enlightening them as to facts.
We assure our country friends that we do not speck w:th-
eut warrant, when we proclaim to all interested in this
subject that the Governarent-Fthat is, the chiefv—:.rc not
only unpledged, but wait to see what is bhe f;'l girt. of tile
people. They are not ignorant of the worth of their cler'e%l
antagonists. However much they may seem to wait for the
dicta of right reverend fathers, the rustling of a Geneva.
cloak, or the fervid and brain-sick extravagances
Kirk presbyter, who has no savour of apostolic iii,.etit)n,
cause them no great alarm. Lord Grey once what
they all feel, " That is only the Kirk." Let th rople
of Scotland speak out, and send forth peiiti(
scribed by scores of thousands, for separation, de-
nouncingthe hurnhug and injustice of mere noti-rtl>ion...,

THE VOLUNTARY VERSION OF NON-INTEUSI, N
Wednesday next the Dissenters of Edinburgh mom to ir-
dicate distinctly, and declare in a manner not to he taisn,l-
prebended, what they think of the present demamis of tin
spiritual establishment of the Scotch kirk. We trust
they will forcibly, and with an emphasis that will prove re.
sistless, denounce the " relation of connectiat and
dendenee " between the Church and the Tivil power,
which cannot fail to produce a domination of the Church
over the State most hazardous to the liberties of the te,
jccts. There is no need to lisp opinions here, since the
Church and her revenue are State property,—the creaturc
of national legislation ; and since success, in the presets:
demands of clerical bigotry and arrogance, would entail
innumerable grievances on society, unhesitating. opposition
should be declared to those demands; while the only cure
for all such maladies as the present anomalous and ;ken-
tious rebellion of State-fed hirelings should be precisely
specified, in separation and religious equality. We hope
the bpeak cr s in Edinburgh will give tone and energy to
the subsequent provincial discussions which are sure to
follow. Members of Parliament, conductors of the
and the Government, require plain speakin and faithrul
dealing at this crisis of our liberties.
(From the Berwick Adveriiser.)

If Lord Melbourne is actually consuming with a holy
zeal in favour of •‘ spiritual independence"and the " rights
of the Christian people," and is prepared to lay down his
official existence in the cause, there is, of course, no more
to be said ; but if, by any chalice, the very slightest cal.
culation has been suffered to sway his eccision that by turn-
ing Vetoist he will gain a single vote, or conciliate big Noes.
intrusion opponents (and nine in ten of them are the rrczt
bitter and active of his cncmks), no man was ever mora
wretchedly duped and deluded.
i From the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle.)
A pretty job Mr. Dunlop has made of it—and instead.
of strengthening the theory put forth, that the people—
the electors—are all with these men of the pulpit act:
platform in their vagaries, the result has proved, with the
force of demonstration, that it is all the other way. Wo
hope the lesson will neither be lest nor forgotten, and mon
of all parties should scrupulously eschew any alliance with
these reverend charlatans. We know full well that At
every Scotch election that shall take ,place until the V%-..
toists get their quietus, these folks intend to intrude them-
selves with their ecclesiastical pretensions as a test prin-
ciple I