The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-14 00:00:00

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

The following is a copy of a circular addressed by the
Rev. John Sinclair, M.A., Secretary of the National
Society, to the Managers of Schools aided by Public
Grants through the Lords of the Treasury, and there-
fore not liable to inspection :

" National Society's Office, Sanctuary,
Westminster, Aug. 12, 11330.
" Reverend Sir—l have thr honour to inform you
that, in consequence of communications between the
Lord President of the Council and his Grace the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, the Committee of Council have
laid before Parliament the following Minute, preparatory
to the vote for Education thin year :
" ' 1. That before any person is recommended to the
Queen in Council to be appointed to inspect schools
receiving aid from the public, the promoters of which
state themselves to be in connection with the Na-
tional Society, or the Church of England, the Arch-
bishops of Canterbury and York be consulted by the
Committee of the Privy Council, each with regard to
his own province, and that they be at liberty to sug.
gest any person or persons for the office of inspector,
and that no person be appointed without their con-
currence.
" ' 2, That the inspectors of such schools shall be ap-
pointed during pleasure ; and that it shall be in the
power of each Archbishop at all times, with regard to
his own province, to withdraw his concurrence in such
appointment, whereupon the authority of the inspector
shall cease, and a fresh appointment shall take place.
"' 3. That the instructions to the inspectors, with
regard to religious instruction, shall be framed by the
Archbishops, and form part of the general instructions
to the inspectors of such schools, and that the general
instructions shall be communicated to the Archbishops
before they are finally sanctioned.
" ' That each inspector shall at the same time that he
presents any report relating to the said schools to the
Cotetnittee of the Privy Council, transmit a duplicate
thereof to the Archbishops, and shall also send a copy
to the Bishop of the diocese in which the school issiy-
Cas
si-
tuate, for his information.
,
~ ,4, Teat the grants of money be in proportion to
the number of children educated, and the amount of
money raised by private contribution ; with the power
tw)fhich will making
be
"' 5. That a minute te embracing
these points be laid
before Parliament..'
exceptionsstateci
in tot
hecertain
annual
returns to Parliament. tl.e grounds of

Highness Prince—Albert, who pos-
sesses,
many accomplishments, a very sound
p4inting, is exceedingly taken with our Eng-
lish school of landscape, and on Wednesday last sent for
Mr. J. W. Allen, whom he has commissioned to paint an-
other landscape.
BRITISII STEAMERS ON THE NILE.—The
Oriental Steam Company have purchased the iron steamer
Dahlia, which is on the point of starting from England to
ply on the Nile, under license of the Pacha, to convey the
East India mails and passengers through Egypt.
THE CRors.--A friend who travelled from Ne-
wcastle to Edinburgh on Monday, says_" The state of the
crops in Northumberland, Berwickshire, and East- Lothian,
is nearly the same. .
n
A few fields of barley are ready for
actoa f have
wag made an immense progress
d warm sunny weather. If this
iglle be
squaregeneral in these counties in yard of corn was lodged,
thebehind
eh; i
then
dhe barley;
wha
tsickle,
ean many more are within a fortnight of being
at in
some part is coloured. but is a good deal
oats are everywhere green. All the
Westmor and, and Northumberland,
was cttcropshhourenreit
ne
hig
nalwuyotecohharvest Not
rt hi t
ney n, ,
near its close, and the crop about an
) average."—Scotsman.
ts a
sndayswill
though heavy bowers have ifallen since the ear was filled.
In
ItC uisninbeortl, weand believe, generally known why pub-
licans have the chequers painted on their door-posts. The
following anecdote will, however, show it ;—The arms of
the Earl of. Warren and Surrey were the chequers. This
family being allied to William the Conqueror, had from
him the exclusive power of granting licenses for selling
malt liquor, and to enable their agents to collect the con-
sideration money more readily, the door-pints were painted
with their arms, which practice has been handed down to
the present day.
This privilege is said to have been exer-
t
i cised by their descendants, the Earls of Arundel, as late
as the reign of Philip and Mary.

THE CONDITION OF T;::f; POOR.

(From the Somersetshire Gazette.)
" The tale of misery.' related in this journal a few
weeks ago, has created quite a sensation. It has been
copied into almost eery newspaper published in Great
Britain, and has been the text of leading articles in-
numerable, from the thunder of the great Times. to the
mewing of an obscure Scotch print. As usual, it has
been turned to very opposite purposes, according to the
preconceived views of the writers. The Times and its
followers wielded it against the Poor-law ; The Sun
and the other Anti-Corn-law papers quoted it as an

argument against the Corn-laws.
But not only has the public press interested itself in
this case, but private individuals in remote parts of the
country have written to ascertain more of the facts, and
some have directed relief to be given. At home, atten-
tion has been directed to it, and private friends
inquiries
whether correspondents have besieged us with
whether all be true that we stated—if the case had not
been over-coloured :—figures have been produced to
us showing the amount received by the family in ques-
tion from the parish at various periods ; which were,
doubtless, correct, but did not meet the case : some
have insinuated doubts as to the character and habits
of a man who could not earn enough to maintain his
family, and we have been reminded that:we (that is, the
Editor of this paper) were guardian for the parish to
which the family belonged at the time when we first
discovered their miserable plight. And, finally, a few
have told us, by way of making the case lighter, that
this is not one of peculiar hardship, but that hundreds
of others are quite as badly off.
All this is perfectly true, and it is because these facts
can co-exist with the condition we have described, that
we are glad public attention has been called to the case,
as illustrating thepresent condition of the labourers, and
the presence of some bad laws somewhere, which could
not only create so unnatural a state of things, but for-
bid a remedy being applied to them. But before we
proceed further with comment, we must justify our ori-
ginal statement, which has been questioned by some.
Of course there is nu other evidence procurable than
that of the sufferers, and as none know what sufferings
are endured by the family so well as the mother, we
have taken her statement of the case from her own lips,
merely meting it into a readable form.
Ann Woodbury, wife of John Woodbury, says—My
husband is a labourer ; in November last 1 had five
children living, the eldest was 16, the second 12, the
third seven, the fourth 6, the fifth 3 years ; my hus-
band lost one finger and part of another about seven
years ago, and about fourteen weeks before that he lost
his left eye whilst cracking stones ; in November he
was confined to his house by a fall in which he broke
his ribs and injured his shoulder, and then he was seized
with inflammation of the eyes—he had been laid up
nearly nine months ; the eldest girl was laid up in con-
sumption for three months, when she died ; in Decem-
ber my husband got a little better and went to work on
the road cracking stones ; he earned about four or five
shillings a-week ; I was near my confinement and un-
able to earn anything ; we had 2s. Gd. a•week and ta o
loaves from the parish ; I could not get the eldest girl
into work, and was obliged to send her to crack stones
on the road to prevent our starving ; we got no assis-
tance at that time from societies, but got some broth or
broken victuals sometimes. When Mr. Cox first found
us out our income was this—my husband and two
children earned together, by cracking stones, about
ss. per week ; his health was so bad he could not work
at it regularly and in all weathers; the parish allowed us
2s. 6d: and two loaves ; six of us were to be maintained
and clothed with this ; our rent was Is. 6d. per
week, I bought half-a-dozen of bread at 9d. per loaf,
which costs 65., and some oatmeal ; was obliged to
let my rent run behind as I had no means of paying
it ; bought bread as being more nourishing than pota-
toes ; bought about a quarter of a peck or sometimes
half a peck of potatoes in a week, which cost 3id. or
7d. ; had a halfpenny worth of milk every day ; bought
halt a hundred of coal at 6d. and picked sticks for fire ;
Miss Pattens used to give me a jug of broth every
Thursday morning ; had no money to buy tea, but we
drank water in which burnt bread was soaked ; had no
money to buy clothes, and was obliged to pawn what I
had before ; the children never had a bellyful, even of
dry bread, they always craved for more ; the children
had water coloured with milk and dry bread for break-
fast, sometimes potatoes, and sometimes dry bread for
dinner, and oatmeal for supper; nevergot butchers meat ;
now and then I bought some roasting fat to fry the
potatoes with ; never got enough to eat myself, nor did
my husband ; we never got a drop of ale nor conld we
afford to buy tea ; was obliged to go in debt for several
things and to pawn all but what we stood upright in ;
many a time I have trembled for want of sufficient food,
and have been fit to drop going upstairs ; the children's
growth was stopped for want of food ; was much bet-
ter off when bread was lower. The children had no
change of clothes, I used to wash and mend their things
after they went to bed, and have staid up many a Satur-
day night to do it ; was not able to send them to a Sunday
school or to church b cause they had nothing deunt
to wear : my husband and myself have been unable to
go to church or chapel for the same reason. Since we
have been married, my husband has been a very sober
and industrious man ; he has borne a good character;
he worked for nearly seven years before he lost his eye
for Mr. Fowler, mason ; he had never been had before
the Magistrates for any offence ; it was i-npossible,
with the present prices of provisions, to maintain six
persons on 7s. 6d. per week and two loaves ; a great
many times list winter my poor children cried for bread,
and I had none to give them.
When I was confined, in January last, I had Is. and
a loaf per week extra for four weeks; my husband
was then laid up, and unable to earn anything ; my se-
cond daughter had. then got work in the factory, and
earned fitteen-pence per week ; the weather was so
very wet, that the children could not crack stones as
before. At that time (viz. during January, the
month of my confinement), our income was ss.
and five loaves from the parish, and Is. 3d. earned
by the child ; but she was not well, and some
weeks she earned only 6d.; a benevolent society al-
lowed me Is. per week, and sometimes Is 6d.,altogether
7s. 3d. and five loaves to maintain seven of us. In ad-
dition to the expenses stated above, was obliged to pay
a woman to do for the family ; was obliged to have a
fire for the baby all day and part of the night, and coal
cost Is. per week, and then had half an ounce of tea
per week for myself, which cost 31d., and bought
three quarters of a pound of sugar a week at Gd. for
the baby ; during this time we bought only four or five
loaves of bread per week.
Our house consists of only two rooms ; we all sleep
in the same bed-room ; my husband aad myself sleep
in one bed and the little boy sleeps at our feet in the
same bed ; all the rest of the children sleep
in the other bed, which is very small ; they have no
night-clothes : they had nothing in the winter to cover
them but on old sheet and an old blanket not worth

twopence.
When my husband was able to work again he went
as mason's tender and had 9s. per week ; we then re-
ceivc'l nothing from the parish Our income then was
—husband's earnings 95., child's ditto Is. 3d. It was
spent in this manner—
Seven loaves of bread .. . 5 3
Half a bag of potatoes
Coal, half a hundred 0 6
Milk, per week
1 oz. of tea 0 4
Soap, /Ib., candles, ilb
4
Roasting fat or suet

9 111
leaving only 'Bid. per week for rent, clothes, and sun*
dries ; the only assistance during this time (viz., in the
months of April, May, and June) we received was some
broken victuals occasionally from one gentleman's house.
This was our condition when we had no illness and my
husband was earning full wages ; we could not then pay
rent or buy clothes. In June we got a place for the
eldest girl, and this relieved us a little.
In the beginning of July the four children at home
were taken ill in the measles ; all lay in one room,
three in the same bed; the parish then allowed us
two loaves but no money ; was obliged to take the
eldest girl from her place to nurse the rest ; the parish
doctor, Mr. Norris, attended them and was very kind
and attentive ; we had run in debt in the winter, and the
persons we owed money to pressed for it ; we had pinched
to pay them, and when the sickness came the girl who
worked at the fietory was laid up, and we lost her earn-
ings. Before I applied to Mr. Cox again for assistance
we had not food enough, and no money to buy potatoes,
so I bought two quarts of horse beans, at Mr. Kings-
bury's, paying 2d. per quart for them, and boiled them in
water and eat them with salt without bread, but gave
the children a slice of bread after it ; this lasted us for
two days. Soon after they were taken with the mea
sles ; I then applied to a gentleman, who gave me some
food and money ; one of the children died, two got bet-
ter, and the boy was very ill ; we took him from the bed
where his sister was dying, and laid him on the table
down stairs ; the corpse was then put on a chest and
the sick children put back into the bed. The parish
allowed us nothing but a coffin to bury it, no money at all,
and only the two loaves as before ; the children are now
better, but not able to work yet ; they are weak because
they have not proper food to support them. At this,
time we have only the Os. per week my husband earnss
and the two loaves allowed by the parish, and with this
six of us are to be maintained and clothed. But since
our case has been talked about some gentlemen have
relieved us.
Except as regards the sickness we have had, our ease
is not worse than others ; all the labourers I know who
have families are most as bad off as ourselves ; you may
depend upon it, Sir, they have not food enough to keep
themselves in health.
Now from this a great deal is to be learned.. Here
we have a particular description of the.condition of the
family at three different periods. first,—when the
parent was ill and they existed wholly upon the parish
allowance. Secondly,—when all were well and the
father and one child were earning full wages. Thirdly,—
when the father was in full work, but all the children
were ill.
The first thing that must strike every reader is, that