The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDOW,-FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1841.

MEMOIR OF DR. BIRE BECK.

This eminent physician and estimable man,
whose death we announced yesterday morning,
deserves a more extended notice from us, than we
could then supply. The tribute of respect which
is due from the public will, we have no doubt,
in due time be cheerfully paid.
Dr. Birkbeck was born about 1776, at Settle,

Yorkshire, where his father was established as a
banker and manufacturer, and, where a branch
of the family still resides and carries on the same
business. After receiving the usual -rudiments
of education at a village in the . neighbourhood,
during which he displayed a strong inclination
for those mechanical pursuits to winch he after-
Wards became so devoted, it was determined by
his friends that he should embrace the medical
profession.
After studying first at Leeds, which then and
now boasts of several celebrated medical men,
he removed to London, where he had the good
fortune to become a pupil of the celebrated Dr.
Baillie, whose friendship he* retained until the
death of that illustrious man. Afterwards he
removed to complete his education to Edinburgh,
then in the zenith ,of its fame as a school of

medicine. Here also he had the happiness to
form a friendship with Brougham, Horner,
Jeffrey, Scott, and others of that race,
who were then beginning to blaze in the
northern capital, with a splendour such
as its past annals had not seen. But

while cultivating this brilliant society he did
not neglect his scientific pursuits, and in these he
had made such attainment that,bethre the twenty-
second year of his age, he was appointed Pro-
fessor of Natural Philosophy in the Andersonian
Institution of Glasgow.
It was while in this situation that Dr. Birk-
beck laid the basis of these Mechanics' Institu-
tions, in connection with which his name has
chiefly attracted present notice, and will engage
future remembrance. With liberality rarely
evinced in such quarters, he invited the mecha-
nics of the City to a gratuitous attendance on
his lectures ; and their grateful acknowledgments
of the benefit contributed to strengthen in him
the benevolent wish to improve the education of
the workmen, which he afterwards carried so

extensively into effect. It was about the year
1800 that this course of lectures on Natural Phi-
losophy and its application to the arts was
delivered.

But a few at first availed themselves of this
advantage. By degrees, however, the extraor-
dinary perspicuity of the teacher's method, the
judicious selection of his experiments, and the
natural attractions of his subject, to men whose
lives were spent in directing or witnessing opera-
tions, of which the principles were now first un-
folded to them by the Doctor, proved successful in
diffusing a general taste for the study and, about
the period when he left Glasgow for London,
nearly 700 men eagerly and constantly attended
this lecture.

Although this admirable Institution has ever
since flourished under the able and worthy suc-
cessors of Dr. Birkbeck, and although there are
other towns in Scotland, and even within a short
distance of Glasgow, possessing hundreds of arti-
sans, yet twenty years elapsed before the ex-
ample was followed. It was not, in fact,
till the year 1821, that Edinburgh followed
the example, and framed an institution called
the Edinburgh School of Art, on Dr. Birkbeck's
plan. During the firstyear of this institution nearly
600 attended the lectures, and the students were
of no less than forty-eight different trades.
Among the many liberal donations made to the
Edinburgh School of Arts, we feel delighted to
remark at the present moment, that the late
lamented Sir Francis Chantrey presented it, im-
mediately on its opening, with copies of his cele-
brated busts of Watt and Rennie, and one of
Dr.Frariklin, which now adorn the lecture-room.

After Dr. Birkbeck's removal to London,
where he acquired considerable practice as a
physician, and was necessarily much engaged in
his profession, he never lost the desire to con-
tribute to the improvement of his fellow-crea-
tures, and he occasionally delivered lectures at
the -London Institution and other Societies, on
those subjects in which he delighted. Whenl
the attention of the public in. London was
called, in the year 1823, by an address in the
Mechanics' Magazine, to the propriety of the
mechanics forming an Institution of their own,
Dr. Birkbeck was one of the first in the field to
give the project his support, and it was mainly
by the sanction of his name, by his exertions,
and his example, that the project was brought
to bear. He was well seconded by the en-
thusiasm of the people ; crowds of workmen
and many masters flocked to the meeting, which
was held on the 2d of December, 1523. The
impulse had been given at the right
moment, and complete success was the
result. The Mechanics' Institution was form-
ed so promptly, that it was opened in the
month of January, a chapel in Monkwell-street
buying been hired for the purpose. Dr. Birkbeck
delivered on the occasion an inaugural address,
remarkable for its elegance and its beautiful il-
lustrations of the advantages of intellectual pur-
suits. Lectures were almost immediately de-
livered on mechanics by Professor Millington,
of the London Institution, and on chemistry by
Mr. Phillips. In a short time the Institution
numbered between 1,200 and 1,300 members,
chiefly mechanics. They each contributed at
the rate of one pound per year, and crowded
nightly to the lectures after the toils of the day
were over, coming from a considerable distance,
to slake their thirst for knowledge presented in a
pleasing form. They then learnt
" How charming is divine philosophy,
Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose,"
and that learning, cherishing in all classes a
further desire for knowledge, will prove the
source of future improvement far surpassing all
that has yet been achieved by man.
. .

It was 'some time before the Institution ac-
quired its present locality in Southampton-build-
ings, Chancery-lane. At length, by Dr. Birk-
beck's pecuniary aid, who advanced about 3,0001.,
a house and ground were purchased, and a corn-
inodious theatre erected in the very heart of
the metropolis. Many eminent and good men
from the first promoted the success of the Insti-
tution by their purses and their time. His Royal
Highness the Duke of Sussex, Lord Brougham,
Sir Francis Burdett, were amongst its benefac-
tors. In Professor ,Millington, whose lectures
were quite models of plainess and perspicuity,
Dr. Birkbeck found a helpmate worthy of him-
self, with the advantage which he boasted off in
the lectures with honest pride, that he originally
belonged to the working classes himself. In all
his exertions Dr. Birkbeck was well seconded by
the zeal, devotedness, and excellent behaviour of
the working classes. We mention, to the honour of
the Institution, that during the 18 years it has now
been established, no serious division or dispute has
taken place in it, no secession or important
quarrel, though the great number of similar In-
stitutions which have since arisen, have lessened
somewhat the number of persons who now fre-
quent the parent Institution.
The spread of these seminaries of popular edu-
cation was rapid. At Manchester, Leeds, New-
castle, and other places, institutions were quickly
erected upon the Learned Doctor's plan. In
1825, the system had extended in every direction.
Newport, in the Isle of Wight, Liverpool, Bir-
mingham, Southwark, Spitalfields, Ashton-
under-Lyne, Brighton, all rapidly formed Me-
chanics' Institutions. Between fifty and sixty
Institutions of this kind, sprang up in that year,

making the whole at that time eiglity in number.
In 1827, such had been the spread of Dr. Birk-
beck's plan, that in the remote regions of Van
Diemen's Land a Mechanics' Istitute was

formed. Since that time, they have spread over
our own country, so that scarcely one town or
borough throughout the island, is without a hall
dedicated to the education of the people.
Nor were the benefits of such institutions con-
fined to England. Though at the Conservatoire
des Arts et Metiers at Paris lectures had pre-
viously been given on mechanical and political
philosophy, it was not till the London Mecha-
nics' Institution had set the example that courses
of instruction, expressly intended for mechanics,
were commenced at Paris by Baron Charles Du-
pin, at Metz, and even at Madrid. Few valu-
able schemes, in fact, have had a more rapid and
more general success than the schemes for
enabling working mechanics, by their own
means, to acquire a knowledge of the theory of
the many useful arts they practise.

We have already recorded the time of Dr.
Birkbeck's death. We have to add, that for
many years the Doctor had been afflicted with
an internal disease of the most distressing de-
scription, which did not, however, though of a
very painful character, prevent him following the
most active pursuits. Although he was wily
persuaded that the disease would terminate in
death, yet till within the last six or seven days
the near approach of dissolution was not antici-
pated by either himself or his friends—and he
had been able to receive patients so lately as this
day week.
Dr. Birkbeck, in addition to his Presidency
over the London Mechanics' Institution, was also
President of the Meteorological and Chemical
Societies, and of the Medical and Chirurgical
Society of London. He was also Honorary
Member of the Literary and Philosophical So-
ciety of Bristol, Leeds, and of many of the bene-
volent institutions with which the Metropolis
abounds.
As a
politician, Dr. Birkbeck belonged to the

Liberal party, but he never allowed politics to
interfere with his benevolence. On the creation
of the Borough of Finsbury, the representation
was offered to him, and we have reason to know,
had he not declined the offer, that he would
have been triumphantly elected.
He was in the 66th year of his age ; had been
twice married, and has left behind him a wife
and five children—three sons and two daughters
—one by the first wife, anti four by the second.
One of the remarkable traits in his character
was his great readiness to promote the success
of men whose inventions, however admirable,
were likely to fail for want of assistance. His
time and his services were ever at their com-
mand, and several of the most useful inventions
of the day were brought into notice by his exer-
tions. His literarS- labours, apart from his elo-
quent lectures, and inaugural discourses, at the
opening of a number of institutions, have not at-
tracted much notice ; but the translation of
Baron Dupin's Course of Mathematics was given
to the public under his auspices, and a noble
work " The Steam-Engine Theoretically and
Practically Displayed" begun, which commercial
convulsions and the great expense of the work
prevented from being completed.
Dr. Birkbeck was highly appreciated by a very
large circle of private friends, and was held in
the greatest esteem by the most eminent literary
and scientific men of the day. Few men have,
we believe, passed through a long and active life
who have had fewer enemies, and who have
brought it to a close, more honoured in public,
and more beloved in private.
Public meetings will,
we believe, be held to
consider what tokens of respect should be shown
to his memory, and, were his funeral a public
one, thousands would follow him to the grave.
What may be adopted is not for us to say, but
there is one eminent nobleman, for many years
the friend and associate of Dr. Birkbeck while
carrying through many
agood work, to whom
the public naturally turn for counsel and glea-
dership.

CHANTREY.
Va ! que nos villes remplies
De tes colosses radieux
Qu'a jamais to to multiplies
Dans un peuplo de demi-dieux,

CirANTRE'r ! whose classic art and plastic hand,
With sculptured imageries adorned the land ;
Who graced our cities, dignified each shade,
With forms in lineaments of light arrayed ;
Forms shadowed forth with loftiness of thought
Sublime, as if by inspiration caught ;
Forms which old age would journey far to see,
Led by their beauty irresistibly.

But chiefly beauteous, most endeared to us,
Designed as if in love felicitous,
Rise up those snow-white Apparitions fair—
Thy forms of CHILDHOOD ill the sunlit air !
Who can forget thy " Mother and her Child,"
That once drew tears from one lone woman mild?—
Thy infant Russell?—to her rose-soft breast,
Clasping her dove—young innocency's nest,
"While Art's most sweet, perfectionating grace
Crowns her young form, her forehead, and her face.
Yet—unconfined to sweet or winning skill—
'Mid shapes sublime thy chisel statelier still!
How, girt with grandeurs, powers, and fascinations,
Colossal rise thy mighty men-creations :
How beams with magnanimity serene
Thy hero's face—all-glorious to be seen—
WASHINGTON !—filling now a throne intense
Remote amid God's golden firmaments !
WORDSWORTH !. whose lips are hallowed with a spark
From seraph-altars—high Poesiarch !
SCOTT ! whose fine- brow, though long laid low in dust,
Still teems with thought, majestic in thy bust !
How nobly live—how eminently shine
These human wonders in.thy works divine !
Well may old England proud and plumed be
Creative, CHANTREY ! glorified by thee.

But Al while praise enchains the minstrel's string,
Dark wave the plumes, and deep the grave-bells ring ;
And pon3ps of funeral, with death's muffled tread
Bear thee amid the mansions of the dead.
As weeps the rose when dim with dewdrops pearled,
So weep for thee the bright-eyed of the world ;
Mourn fer:thy loss the poets, mourn the brave,
And star-erwned Science saddens o'er thy grave :
For thine tl.Chisel—thine the Skill alone—
Whose god-like art divinified the stone !
In whose proud marbles reigned the high decree
That dowered man with IMMORTALITY.

REGINA v. TRAVIS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin-I beg to inform you that I effected the
release of this ill-used party from Kirkdale yes-
terday.
This neighbourhood, and the whole of the
surrounding district who have been made ac-

(painted with the case through the report con-
tained in your valuable paper, rejoice with me
on the occasion, and are equally glad to find that
the committing, Magistrate, C. Royds, has failed
in his purpose.
No doubt is felt of his being acquitted when
tried at Liverpool.
If you think it worth your while to publish
the affidavits with the depositions they shall be
immediately furnished you.
Yours very respectfully,
JOHN HAMMERTON.
Ivy Cottage, Shaw, near Oldham, Dec. 1,1841.
[lt would be better to defer publishing the
affidavits, or any part of them, till the trial
comes on.]

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR—In giving the betting foi this last two
or three weeks, you always name William de
Fortibus as Mr. Clark's horse. Please to say in
your next, "Is lie sold, or is he still Lord West-
minster's property ? " I merely request this
favour, as it may cause a dispute regarding bets
made as to Scott's lot. By so doing you will
oblige, yours respectfully,
A CONSTANT READER.
Sheffield, Dec. 1, 1841.

IRELAND.
NEW MAGISTRACY OP DUBLIN.
DUBLIN, Noy. 30.—The commissions of the old Cor-
porate Magistrates expired this day ; and thus the last
remnant of the corrupt and infamous Corporation has
been legally extinguished.
I understand that Sir Edward Sugden has directed a
new commission for this city to issue, and that the list
will include twenty-six Magistrates. The necessary
official forms not having been yet gone through, I
cannot send you the list to-day. I have learned,
however, that it consists of nineteen Protestants
and seven Roman Catholics. Amongst the for-
mer are several of the ex-Aldermen of the old
Corporation, whose commissions have thus been re-
newed. All the Directors of the Bank of Ireland are in-
cluded in the list, and two of those gentlemen, Mr. John
M'Donnell and Mr. John Ennis, are Catholics, who,
however, keep aloof from politics. A portion of the new
Magistrates are selected from the new Town Council,
and a few Liberals are interspersed amongst the Tories.
T have heard the names of five Aldermen included in
the commission :—Sir John Power, Bart.; Sir E.
Borough, Bart. ; Kinahan, Peter Purcell, and G. Roe.
MORE JOBBING.—After Christmas two more of the
old Tory Judges will be induced to retire, to make way
for Messrs. West and Litton. Lord Dc Grey will fulfil
his compact with Mr. West.

THE SCOTTISH HOSPITAL.—In our account
of the proceedings at the anniversary festival of St. An-
drew, held on Tuesday for the benefit of the Scottish
Hospital, we made a remark on the dilatoriness of the
clerk, which had prevented our reporter from furnishing
a list of the contributors to the charity. From the great
number of names to be selected from upwards of 30
different lists of stewards, it was impossible to accom-
plish an extract in time so as to include the name of
every gentleman who had given donations above O. We
have therefore great pleasure in exculpating the clerk
from any imputation of negligence in the performance of
his duty.—Times.—[We willingly add our testimony to
this statement. The young man who acted as clerk
could not furnish the lists in the time required, and it
was not his fault, therefore, if they were omitted because
the reporter did not choose to wait for them.—ED. Sun.]
Two LIVES LOST.—This morning (Friday)
about six o'clock, the following melancholy accident befel
two young men, brothers, of the names of Matthew
Brock and William Thomas Brock, fishmongers, who re-
sided in the Fulham-road, Little Chelsea. It appears
that the two unfortunate young men had taken a boat
(as had been their constant practice for the last three
years) to go to Billingsgate-market, calling on their
way thither at llungerford ; they had proceeded down
the River as far as to nearly face Ranelagh old gardens,
when their boat came with great force against a barge,
which was lying in that part of the river, the concussion
of which caused the boat to turn over, and they were
both precipitated into the water. Their cries for help
brought a person to their assistance of the name of Bur-
nerd, who was proceeding at the time along the water-
side to his employment at Chelsea, but owing to the
darkness of the morning he was unsuccessful in saving
either, and they were both drowned.

, .
JUNCTION OF THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC
OCEANS.—The great natural advantages of Guatemala
is, the all but ready-made connexion of the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. The great lake of Nicaragua, having an
average depth of fifteen fathoms, is within sixteen miles
of the Pacific; the only known outlet of this inland sea
is, the river en Juan, navigable for craft drawing four
fent water, to the Atlantic Ocean, in despite of rapids,
andl
tpresent
capablelineon f ofo
navigationb commerceei ng ; i
improved
sitcamrcarried
forigehdon
t almostthe
passage of ships.
ibe said thatupon this remark-
ablenothing floats upon it. As soon, however, as a settled
country and stable Government can give security to
commerce and capitalists, it is easy to see that this water-
line will be the seat of an extensive transit trade ;
whether it will ever answer the full expectations of san-
guine men, and supersede Cape Horn, is, as regards coarse
and bulky commodities, very questionable.—American
Paper.

LORD DE GREY'S NEW MAGISTRATES.-
Of the 28 new Magistrates selected by Lord Grey for the
new Corporations of Dublin, Cork, and Limerick, 19 are
Protetsant, and 9 Catholic.

LITERATURE.

UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL. No. CLVIL
Lord Anson's Cruise in the China Seas is pur-
sued in this Month's Number, and we meet with
the spirited details of his capture of a richly laden
Spanish galleon, whose immense treasure of sil-
ver and merchandise was afterwards drawn
through London in thirty waggons. His gallant
ship, the Centurion, in which he performed this
and other exploits, was broken up, but her
" lion-head" was rescued. The history of this
relic of the ship, and Commodore that sailed
round the world, in its recent topographical mu-
tations, is curious :
This " lion-head " was first placed on a pedestal in the
yard of a little inn adjoining Goodwood Park, near Chi-
chester, with this inscription:—
Stay, traveller, awhile, and view
One who has travelled more than you:
Quite round the globe, through each degree,
Anson and I have ploughed the sea ;
Torrid and frigid zones have past
And—safe ashore arrived at last—
In ease with dignity appear,
He in the House of Lords, I here.
The late worthy Sea-King, William IV., accidentally
seeing this venerable relic, requested it of the Duke of
Richmond, and erected it at the head of the grand stair-
case at Windsor Castle, that most noble regal abode.
On this exaltation, the aid of the " triple-trino" was
again invoked, and thus ran the numbers:—
Such was this travelled lion's boast,
Contented with his humbler post,
While Anson sat in lordly state,
To hear his brother lords debate.
But travelled now to Windsor's dome,
The lion boasts a prouder home,
Which our brave Sailor-King affords,
Than Anson in the House of Lords.

It was, however, fated that the travels of this rampant
object were not yet at a close ; for an influential courtier
objecting that a monster standing sixteen feet high, was
unsuitable to the other palace videnda, his Majesty, re-
solving to place it where it would be undeniably in cha-
racterrsent it to the admirable sea-asylum at Greenwich,
where it appropriately decorates a department which,
since the transfer was made, has been called Anson's
Ward.

" The British Colonies considered as Military
Posts" argues the actual strength of the islands
in the West from their past history rather than
from their present establishment and position ;
among the Caribbees, Barbadoes, " the little
Britain of the West," is regarded by the writer
as the best colonial acquisition possessed by us
in these parts, for, ever since its first colonization,
constant communication and reciprocation of good
offices has been kept up with England, and as a
fort it holds a most prominent place. "Syria
during the Campaign against Mehemet Ali,"
exhibits the mountain range of Lebanon, re-
nowned of €ld for its viols and vines, happiness
and felicity, as now existing, under the remnant
of its few cedars, "in a more. wretched state than

any other part of Syria ;" "late intelligence, how-
ever," from that country, adds the writer, " now
proves that, for the future, neither Turk nor
Egyptian can successfully misrule there."

THE JOURNAL OF THE WORKING
CLASSES.
_ _

Mr. Painter, of the Strand, has commenced
the publication of The Journal of the Working
Classes in penny numbers. It is a production of
great pretence, based, as is avowed, on profit and
patriotism. It seeks the former by endeavour-
ing, through the help of subscribing gentry and
clergy, to undermine the present unstamped pub-
lications for the working classes, describing them
as "downright poisonous or very husky and
bad ;" and it displays the latter by an ill-dis-
guis ed attempt to reconcile the working classes
to a deteriorated condition, and to exalt the
merits and increase the rewards of the clergy.
It is somewhat tersely and at the same time
plainly written, but while it pretends to benefit
the working classes, its palpable object is to en-
slave them. Against such a publication it is our
duty to guard the people.
The first charge, of seeking profit by the help of
begging for aid and depreciating rivals, is proved
by the words we have already quoted, and by
the following lithographic circular :

THE JOURNALOFTHE ♦VORKING CLASSES.
Sin,—A perusal of the enclosed will explain the ob-
jects and designs of the " Journal of the Working
Classes," It is desirable that it should be circulated by
hundreds of thousands ; but this cannot be accom-
plished without the assistance of the nobility, gentry,
clergy, and the Editors of the periodical press. To
them, therefore, the conductors look for prompt help,
and then, doubtless, the result will be such as true
patriots and philanthropists must desire. The efforts of
the bad press must be met by the yet more zealous efforts
of the, cheap good press. The peace, happiness, pros-
perity, and established institutions of the country are now
at stake, and all will be essentially promoted by a gene-
ral circulation o f this Journal among the working and all
other classes.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
342, Strand. W. E. PAINTER.
The second and more important charge—that
it seeks to reconcile the working classes to a de-
teriorated condition, and exalts the merits, while
it proposes to increase the means of the parsons,
we shall endeavour to establish.

The third Number treats-of " The people,
and their duties in bad times," and in this we
find the following passage :
Secondly, it is the duty of " the people," in bad times,
as much as possible, and as far as may be, to economise.
We use this word kindly, and with the most friendly in-
tentions ; but we must speak out, or our Journal would
be useless. Now, let us give two examples of what
we mean.

A working man has been used, when in constant work,
and receiving tolerably good wages, to have a certain
quantity of bread far himself and family. Suddenly his
trade gets bad, his wages are awfully less, and he is em-
barrassed how to live. If the poor sufferer persists in
buying the same amount of bread as he did when pro-
sperous, he will spend all his money in bread. This will
dot do. Bread is undoubtedly the most wholesome and
strengthening food ; but when bread cannot be bought
in such large quantities as before, for the younger mem-
bers of the family, potatoes must be used as its substi-
tute. We know that the late Mr. Cobbett had a great
dislike to potatoes, and always wrote for bread and meat.
So would we too, if bread and meat could be obtained by
the poor in bad times ; but it is just because bread and
meat are always dear in bad times, that we say to the
people, in such times—let, at any rate, your children eat
more of potatoes. And it is a singular fact, but one to
the truth of which we can pledge ourselves, that every
year, in France, potatoes are eaten in greater quantities,
and increasingly liked and relished. About fort years
ago, potatoes, in France, were looked upon as food for
pigs ; but now the French eat potatoes in nearly twenty
different forms, cooking them in all imaginable ways, and
being fond of them in every one.
In the Fourth Number, entitled, " What is to
be done for the Moment," there occurs :
" These persons can do good on a large scale ; their
fortunes are sufficient to enable them to do so, and they
are peculiarly called on to inquire into the condition of
the poor. They can found schools ; erect district
churches ; establish dispensaries and lying-in charities ;
support orphan asylums ; provide institutions for found-
lings, for the blind, for the deaf and dumb, and for the
deformed and unhealthy. Thank God, they have done
all this in our own glorious land, but they have far
greater duties than even these to perform, and we shall
point out some of them. First, to become better ac-
quainted with the working classes ;_ secondly, to visit
them more frequently ; thirdly, to learn their statistics
—not merely of their numbers, but of their labour,
wages, food, children, and wants ; fourthly, to take
them out of the hands of bad instructors, and to give
them wise and useful books and other publications."
In the Fifth Number, in which the effect of po-
pulation on national prosperity is sadly misre-
presented, a 4• little man, dressed in black, with
a weak voice, but always listened to with atten
tion," meaning a parson, is made the vehicle of
much political wisdom, and, at the same time,
recommends emigration for the working people.
The recommendations first quoted would be
very well if they were coupled with another,
namely, to ascertain the cause of the bad times;
but while great care is taken to inculcate sub-
mission, and to fall back on potatoes when bread
is scarce, there is not one word said about the
duty of the people to inquire why the " times
are bad." They want bread. The Journal, in-
stead of informing them how they may get bread,
counsels them to eat potatoes. Before they fbl-
low such advice, they should ask why they want
bread? and if unsatisfied by such vague words
as " bad times," and " suddenly trade gets bad,"
as if these phenomena we're wholly inexplicable,
perfect miracles not to be inquired into nor ex-
plained, they should discover that it is because
bread is kept from them by certain pretended
benefactors, then it is their first duty to insist on
being allowed to have bread, or to put an end, if
they can, to the authority of those who persist in
withholding bread f'rom them. When trade is.
free if no bread can be got, it will be their duty
then to fall back on potatoes, and not before,
particularly while those who withhold bread
from them live on the fat of the land.
The Journal for the Working Glasses con-
tents itself with recommending submission to
deterioration, without an inquiry into the means
of improvement. In truth, its object is the hy-
pocritical one of beguiling the working classes,
by displaying a simulated desire to benefit
them into patience in their present condition
of severe slavery.
Accordingly the Journal is partial and unjust.
To take an instance :

Thus the selfish manufacturing teacher 'will declare,
without bluslqing. that Great Britain owes everything to
the looms and spinning jennies ; and the ignorant agri-
culturist teacher will insist that manufactures are
nothing, and that the soil of the country is exclusively
the source of its wealth and happiness. So sometimes
the manufacturing poor are induced to cry, " Down with
the farmers ;" and the agricultural poor to exclaim,
" Down with the manufacturers."

Down with forestallers we have heard, but
Down with the farmers, is a cry unknown to us.

• It has certainly never been countenanced, and
we believe , never uttered in the manufacturing
districts. Down with the manufacturers, so-
ciety can do without them, has been asserted in
grave Journals, and those same Journals have
falsely accused the manufacturers of wishing to
injure the flamers. They have converted their
fitlse accusation into au actual fact on the part
of the manufacturers, who have all along de-
clared that they ask fir justice, and they believe
that justice will be as beneficial to the flamers
as the manufacturers. This Journal of the
Working Classes is, therefore, a false book, it
is not based on truth, it is got up for a pm--
pose,—it is a hypocritical Journal, which seeks,
in the guise of a friend, to perpetuate the pre-
sent political degradation of the millons, and
render it permanent and greater. To the work-
inf.!: men we say, be warned against the insidious
poison.

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF AGRI

CULTURE. No. LV.
A large portion of this part is filled with an
account of the great meeting of the Highland
and Agricultural Society of Scotland, held at
Berwick-upon-Tweed this autumn. It was the
most memorable held in that part of the country,
and the Editor, therefore, has considered it only
an act of justice to make it a prominent feature
in the Journal. Besides this there are two valu-
able papers—one furnishing a history of insects
most injurious to vegetables and animals, and
the means best calculated to counteract their ra-
vages (a subject every way interesting to the
farmer), and the other is a statistical treatise on
the health of the labouring population of the dis-
trict of Kelso, in the county of Roxburgh. It
appears to have been compiled with great care,
and affords some most favourable results. Dr.
Wilson, the author, thus states his plan and
objects :

It is my intention, in the following observations, to
enter into an examination, as detailed as my materials
will permit, of what has been the state of health of the
labouring population of the town of Kelso and its adjoin-
ing district ; and for this purpose I have selected two
distinct and somewhat distant periods as the limits of my
inquiry. For the first period, I have chosen the ten
years from the close of the month of November, 1777,
till near the termination of 1787; so that the end of this
term is removed upwards of half a century from the time
at which I write. For the second period, I have selected
the ten years following the month of October, 1829
thus allowing, if I may so speak, a veil to rest over a
space of upwards of forty years, and lifting it up to re-
sume the inquiry at a time when a new generation has
come upon the scene, occupying the same locality, but
under circumstances which have, in many respects, un-
dergone a material change. Briefly to note the nature
of this change, to contrast the prevailing diseases of each
period, to mark the varying causes and rates of mor-
tality, and to estimate the comparative duration of life,
will form the principal objects of my investigations.
The article, though of great length, will be
read with interest by all those who are anxious
to better the condition of the agricultural popu-
lation.