The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-11 00:00:00

to whom the plan of advancing loans is particularly
applicable. Upon the first view of the matter it may
appear so, but it would be a false conclusion. We
have had some experience of the loan system, and have
seen very decided advantages resulting from it, during
temporary depressions in the labour market, to the
sober and well-disposed workmen. But the framers of
the Bill have overlooked one important point, and this
is, that the causes which have driven the industrious
labourer to the relief fund, are not of a temporary na-
ture ; they have been long acting, are acting still, and
must be acting for a considerable period. It is an
absurdity to advance money, or clothing, or food, or
medicine to a man, in the expectation that the outlay is
to be repaid from his earning, unless we improve his
existing means of support, or find new channels for
his industry. But what says the Bill to these men ?
—" We will allow you 2s. or 4s. a week for a month,
because we understand that you really merit assistance.
After that time, nothing farther can be allowed to you,
as the evils of the system are so great that we must
check it ; meantime you must get work." This is the
language held by the Bill, but it is language at once
both unjust and imolitic—unjust because the man
has been striving body and soul to do that recommended
by the Commissioners, and has been unable to attain
his end ; and impolitic, because it must either force
him to emigrate, or drive him to desperation, as men
neither can nor will star Te.

If Government, as a rider to the Poor Law Amend-
ment Act, had laid down some scheme for absorbing
the superfluous industry of the country, or had it en-
larged the present channels of labour, the extinction of
out-door relief would have been hailed by every man as
a blessing. But it has done nothing of the sort. It
appears to have taken for granted, that the mass of
individuals now dependant on the poor-rates have be-
come dependant upon them solely through their own
improvidence, or through the mal-practices of over-
seers, vestries, and magistrates. Any man, however,
who has attended to the domestic condition of our
labouring poor, knows that such is not the fact. Even
granting that it were so, still time must -be given for a
return to a more healthy industrial condition ; and it is
worse than folly to imagine that any great social change
can be operated at the fiat of an Act of Parliament.
These are considerations which make us view this
portion of the Act with great anxiety ; but we firmly
believe that if it be temperately and judiciously con-
ducted, and at the same time aided by ground being
opened for the absorption of industry, great good will
be done. Such aid we are satisfied may be obtained,
and we purpose to resume our remarks to-morrow, in
order to point out in what way we conceive this may be
advantageously done.

We copy from the Dominica Observer of September
24th, an account of the awful calamity which has
lately visited that island. We need not repeat the
details, as we can add nothing to the force of the de-
scription which will be found in another part of our
paper. We are highly gratified with the spirit and
promptitude with which the Governor, Legislature,
and inhabitants of Barbadoes have come forward
for the relief of their unfortunate fellow colo-
nists. Surely some of our own charitable and
religious institutions, which have at heart the alleviation
of human misery, in whatever shape it may he mani-
fested, could not do a more praiseworthy deed than to
assist these unfortunate islanders. Benevolence has
ever many claims upon the heart and its purse,
but never we think a stronger, than the claim of the
poor inhabitants of Dominica, thus reduced by the
calamity of one night to the lowest pitch of human
destitution.

THE ANNUALS.

THE BIBLICAL KEEPSAKE.
John Muxray : London, 1835.

The engravings of this splendid. Annual have already
appeared in a periodical work entitled, " Illustrations
of the Bible,"—which we noticed from time to time as
it was published—but we are not sorry to meet with
them again in the present Annual, for they are exe-
cuted with superior ability by many of our most emi-
nent engravers, from designs supplied by Turner, Call-
cott, Roberts, Stanfield, and other first-rate painters.
" The Range of Lebanon from Bairout," which has
been drawn by Stanfield, from a sketch by the Hon.
Mr. Fitzmaurice, is a masterly production. The fore-
ground is composed of a vast reach of hilly plain, on
which stand one or two picturesque ruins, with here and
there a patch of verdure affording a scanty repast for
some camels which have apparently just halted with
their riders, after a toilsome march over the desert ; in
the intermediate distance is the sea, its surface en-
livened by a variety of large and small vessels ; and
far beyond, bounding the horizon, and lifting up their
sharp, naked summits into the sky, stand the moun-
tain range of the Lebanon, over which a hot, heavy,
atmosphere is brooding. The engraving is full of strik-
ing objects, brought together with considerable tact
and propriety. The view of " Babylon" is full of
Turner's most marked mannerisms,—especially as re-
spects the clouds, which are somewhat extravagant
and partake of caricature. As we have already no-
ticed the other engravings, we have no need here to
repeat our notice. The literary department is confined
exclusively to plain, technical descriptions of the illus-
trations. The volume is splendidly got up.