The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-12 00:00:00

derate compass. Nor will any one deny that the first'
step to such a result should be the compilation of
our existing statutes, subject by subject, with-
out material alteration. But what I maintain is,
that the mere enactment of such a compilation, un-
less Parliament were determined to go urther,—to
repeal what is obsolete, to supply wha is defective,
to condense what is dispersed, and to place in lucid
order what is obscure and confused—would be of
little advantage. So far most men will agree with
me. Then, to explain my meaning more fully, I
will refer to what has been done almost in our own
day in two foreign countries. At the beginning of
this century the First Consul of France had attained
the fame of a great military commander. In his
wonderful Italian campaign he had defeated the
most experienced Generals of Austria. He had
recently seized the reins of power, which had fallen
from the feeble hands of his predecessors. He had
subdued and tamed the remnants of the Jacobin
faction, which was still thirsting for blood. He had
opened the ports of France to the partisans of the
ancient monarchy, who were still panting for a re-
storation. It was his aim to restore peace to society,
to give to; religion her altars, to replace justice in her
sanctuary. In_the midst of these labours he deter-
mined to bestow on France a simple and enlightened
code of laws. For this purpose he assembled a coun-
cil in which the learned civilians of the days of
Louis XVI. sat by the side of the able lawyers of
the regicide convention. There, after his morning's
inspection of his troops, be would sit from 12 o'clock
at noon till 5 in the afternoon, never inattentive,
never weary, marking out clearly, without passion
and without prejudice, the best foundations on
which property, marriage, commerce—in short, all
the complicated relations of life and the security of
life itself were thereafter to repose. In discussion
the opinion of the ablest civilian and not that of
the military dictator generally prevailed. When
the work had been for some time proceeded with it
was sent to all the legal tribunals of France, with a
request that any remarks which the judges might
have to make should be transmitted to Paris. Thus
debated, discussed, draughted, corrected, augmented,
and revised, the Code Napoleon in its different por-
tions was published, at intervals extending over
seven years, as the law of France. Andnow, what
is the result ? The splendid victories of Napoleon,
the rush of armies, the roar of cannon, the masterly
decision, the instant obedience have passed away.
The pride of empire, the kings waiting in the ante-
chamber, the sway of a mighty will from Rome to
Hamburg, from the Manzawires to the Elbe, has
vanished as the baseless fabric of a vision. But the
transactions between man and man, the trial of the
offender, the adjudication of property throughout
the French empire, are still regulated, and probably
will long be regulated, by the statutes of the im-
mortal legislator. Let us take a more recent 'ex-
ample. Not many years ago the State of New
York determined to revise their laws. In 1827 the
revisors, John Duer, B. F. Butler, and John C.
Spencer, made their report to the Legislature. In
a note to each section which they proposed for
enactment they stated fully and clearly the then
existing defects of the law, and the manner in
which, in their opinion, the proposed section would
remedy such defects. Thus the Legislature had.
clearly before them-1. The existing law ;2. Its
presumed defects ; 3. The proposed remedy. The
result was so satisfactory that, in special
sessions summoned for that purpose, the
Legislature of the State of New York, adopt-
ing in most cases the opinions of the revisors,
consolidated their code of laws. The laws of Loui-
siana have been revised in a similar manner, with
the assistance of men of the highest reputation for
knowledge and ability. If we now proceed to con-
sider what has been done in this country, we shall
find from the days of Lord Chancellor Bacon to
those of Lord Chancellor Chelmsford the revision
and consolidation of the law has been a consumma-
tion devoutly to be wished. Five years ago the
enactment of a code was held. out to our expecta-
tions ; each year we were said. to be at the beginning
of the beginning ; three Administrations and four
sessions of Parliament have promised, undertaken,
and dropped the work. Is it not time that we should
set about the task in earnest ? I will venture to
say, that if four or five persons of competent quali-
fications were appointed as commissioners, they
would, in a few months, make an actual commence-
ment, and in a few years present to Parliament a
complete code, worthy of the country, simplifying
and improving our laws, on principles fit to be
adopted in an enlightened age, and founded on the
solid masonry of our ancient legislation. Nor can I
doubt that such a work would be sanctioned by
Parliament ; not indeed without debate, but with-
out serious delay. lam now about to speak of two
subjects, as examples of what I should wish to see ;
one the amendment of the law of real property, the
other the revision of the criminal law. Our law of
real property is involved in a maze of technical
difficulties. It has been truly said to be the most
abstruse branch of English jurisprudence. Of the
Code Napoleon, on the other hand, it has been said,
" In the civil law the regulations concerning the
enjoyment, alienation, and transmission of real
estate, comparatively speaking, are neither nume-
rous nor difficult to be understood, and in the Code
Napoleon they form a very small and perfectly in-
telligible portion of that immortal work. It is not
extravagant to say that the French law of real
estate may be sufficiently understood by a few days
of diligent study."* The revisors of the State of
New York have laboured to introduce simplicity
into their amended law of real property. They
have with this proposed that no disposition of real
property should extend. beyond the lives of two
persons living at the time of the creation of the
estate, who should. live to attain their majority.
This provision now forms part of the law of New
York. j- lam not saying we should adopt this pro-
vision ; it may act harshly in some instances—it
may sweep too widely in others. Lord St. Leonards,
however, whose " Handy Book of Real Property"
is a boon to the whole community, has expressed
his opinion that a young society ought not to be
entangled in the complications of our law of real
property.t But if so, why should an old society not
make an effort to be free from them ? I recommend
this important subject to the special consideration
of the department of jurisprudence. I proceed to
our criminal law. Our judicial statistics, it is well
known, are very incomplete. Indeed, we have
hitherto had no information of any value giving the
results of the proceedings of our civil courts. With
regard to criminal trials and their results we have,
indeed, valuable annual returns drawn up by a very
intelligent officer attached to the Home Depart-
ment—l mean Mr. S. Redgrave. From the returns
presented to Parliament I am about to quote the
results of the trials which have taken place on se-
veral subjects of criminal jurisdiction. Those are
the offences of-1, shooting at, stabbing, or wound-
ing ; 2, robbery ; 3, burglary ; 4, housebreaking ; 5,
larceny in a dwelling-house; 6, forgery, and utter-
ing forged instruments. The returns show the num-
bers convicted, sentenced to death, and executed
for these offences in one year in every 10 from 1817
to 1857, or in other words, the changes which have
taken place in 40 years. I give you the results :-
1817, 911 convicted, 911 sentenced to death, and 78
executed ; 1827, 1,113 convicted, 1,113 sentenced to
death, and 41 executed ; 1837, 1,061 convicted, 405
sentenced to death, and none executed; 1847, 1,498
18 sentenced to death, and none executed; 1857,
2,057 convicted, 21 sentenced to death, and none
executed. The population of Great Britain has in-
creased, from 1811 to 1851,in round numbers, from
12,000,000 to 21,000,000 ; and in England and
Wales from 10,000,000 to 18,000,000. You will per-
ceive that convictions have increased in a greater
proportion. Upon examining these returns more in
detail there is a .further result—namely, a great
increase in the crimes accompanied with personal
violence. Thus the number convicted of shooting
at, stabbing, or wounding has increased between
1817 and 1857 from 26 to 238, and of robbery from
154 to 378 ; while larceny in a dwelling-house has
only increased from 143 to 246. Burglary has in-
creased from 374 to 473 ; housebreaking from 152
to 568 ; forgery, &c., from 62 to 184. It would
be very desirable to have more complete informa-
tion on these several heads. It is very important
to ascertain whether the repeal of capital punish-
ment has led to greater readiness to prosecute on
the part of the injured, and greater readiness to
convict on the part of the juries, and, lastly, whe-
ther, and to what extent, crimehas reallyincreased.
Some information on these heads is, no doubt, to be
gathered from the criminal returns, but much more
remains behind which is not ascertained. There is
one conclusion, however, to which I think we must
all come. If high treason and murder are to be the
only offences for which capital execution is in ftiture
to take place, those crimes alone should have capi-
tal punishment affixed to them by law. The sen-
tence of death ought no longer to be a vain form,
somewhat lightening the penalty actually inflicted

* " Labois' Lau- of Real Property of the State of New
York, p. 120."
t Section 15. " The absolute power of alienation shall
not be suspended by any limitation or condition whatevt •
for a longer period than during the continuance of not more
than two lives in being at the creation of the estate, except
in the single case mentioned in the next section." Section
16. "A contingent remainder in fee may be created in a
prior remainder in fee, to take effect in the event that the
persons to whom the first remainder is limited, shall die
under the age of 20 years, or upon any other contingency,
by which the estate of such persons may be determined
before they attain their full age."—Revised Statutes of the
State of New York.—An Act Concerning the Acquisition,
&c., of Property, real and personal, &c., tit. 11, art. 1,
sections 15 and 16.

"onth7Oce:Lion of an intimation that an edition of
Sugdeu's Treatise on Powers' would be required in
America, Lord St. Leonards writes, I regretted at the time
that a new State should embarrass itself with our forms of
conveyancing, springing out of the doctrine of uses. "—Let-
ters to J. Humphreys, p. 56.

on the offences for which death is only the nominal
punishment. Leaving this consideration, a question
of the utmost consequence to society arises in the
present state of the law. The punishment of death
being nearly discontinued, and transportation to a
colony virtually abolished, it has become a necessity
for us to consume our own crime, and not to send
it forth to contaminate other parts of the world.
Hence it is a problem of the deepest interest to us
to ascertain in what manner the thousands of crimi-
nals whom we used to send to Australia can be
most effectually punished for the sake of example,
and most effectually reformed for their own sakes
and that of the community. Considering how re-
cently this problem has been submitted to us, and
how difficult is its solution, we may, I think, be
satisfied with the progress we have made.
Under an Act passed at the suggestion of
the Duke of Richmond more than 20 years ago
inspectors of prisons were appointed, of whom Col.
Jebb was the chief. Under a subsequent Act a
Board of Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland
was established, of which Board Captain Crofton
is the chairman, Col. Jebb has been for some years
intrusted with the charge of all the Government
prisons in England. He has made several very able
reports on the system he has pursued. Mr. Hill,
the recorder of Birmingham, read in the Town-hall
at our meeting of last year a most instructive paper
on the Irish system, in which he declared that the
question, " What shall we do with our convicts ?"
had been practically solved. There are, indeed,
some differences of opinion as to the results ob-
tained between Col. Jebb and Capt. Crofton. Leav-
ing them aside for a moment, it is sufficient for our
purpose to record the following net product of our
experiments :-1. When a person charged with a
criminal offence is sent to prison before -conviction
for safe custody, it is essential that he should be
kept separate, and not turned loose into a company
of notorious offenders to corrupt and be corrupted.
2. That after conviction the criminal should be con-
fined separately for a limited time in such a manner
that solitude, enforced sobriety, and the exercise of
industry as his sole resource against weariness, may
prepare him for a better course of life. It would be
unwise to transfer him at once in his subdued state
to a condition of freedom, when his very want of
energy would probably lead him back to crime.
3. After separate imprisonment the convicts in
England and Ireland have with the best effect been
removed to prisons whore each has a separate cell
for sleeping, but where the work is in common.. 4.
The board of directors in Ireland have introduced
a plan of intermediate prisons, where the best con-
ducted prisoners are relieved from military or police
guards. The convicts have, however, their appointed
work, their rations, and their gratuities. At this
period they are allowed to obtain by inquiry pro-
mises of employment on their discharge. When
these promises have been ascertained to be trust-
worthy the prisoner is set free, but for the unex-
pired period of his sentence he remains under the
supervision of the police. 5. The passage from one
class to another and the distribution of gratuities is
regulated by the number of marks obtained for
good behaviour. The principle of this plan was, I
believe, originally suggested by Captain
Maconochie. The general results of these sys-
tems of discipline are spoken of with much
satisfaction by those who have put them in force.
Col. Jebb thinks that 75 per cent. may be reformed.
He says, " Almost the whole of the men go back to
the parishes from which they came, and in a great
proportion of instamas they obtain employment.:
Capt. Crofton says—Wl am far from assuming that
the 75 per cent. draughted into the intermediate
prisons . . . . get their bread honestly, or are en-
deavouring to do so ; but I do know, and am pre-
pared at any moment to prove by police and per-
sonal reference, that the great majority are getting
their bread honestly, and frequently under circum-
stances of some considerable hardship, and that
included in this great majority are some of those
known to the police formerly as the most reckless
and daring burglars." This is a very encouraging
result. Nor is its value much diminished by the
knowledge that it has been obtained not merely by
the adoption of a sound system, but by the in-
creasing active exertions of those engaged in carry-
ing it into effect. It is true the officers employed
have not only been remarkably vigilant in watch-
ing the conduct of each man under confinement, but
they have also been singularly zealous-in procuring
employment from private persons for those who
have been liberated. Withless care and intelligence
it may be admitted the system would not have suc-
ceeded, but the same thing is true of the reformed
administration of the poor laws,7and of every de-
partment of Government which is well conducted.
We may surely presume that the country will al-
ways furnish men of ability and energy competent
to such a task. It must be left to our responsible
rulers to make their ability and energy a title for
employment. We may now look to the other part
of the system, the convicts who are to be the sub-
jects of this discipline. Among them will always be
found-1. Young persons who have been brought
up, or rather left to themselves, by vicious parents,
and who, without wickedness of character, have
adopted from habit a mode of life they saw preva-
lent around them. 2. The offspring of good parents
who, having a strong propensity to vice, have been
led astray, but who now, contrite and repentant, are
ready to say with the prodigal son, " Father I have
sinned before Heaven and before thee, and am no
more worthy to be called thy son." 3. Criminals
who are actually weary of the vicious life they have
led. Virtue appears monotonous to the young pro-
fligate, but vice is often far more monotonous to the
old offender. Criminal indulgence is to him no
longer a temptation, and nothing but want of effort
and energy to escape from confirmed habits and
begin anew keeps many a reprobate in the ruts of
his old road. It is this energy which a well-con-
trived course of prison discipline should supply.
Indeed, the treatment of a criminal is not very dif-
ferent from the treatment of a patient attacked by
fever. The first object is to subdue the fever ; the
next is, by strengthening the diet, to raise the sys-
tem again to a condition of sound health. There re-
mains, however, a further problem. Supposing with
Col. Jebb that 75 per cent., or, with Capt. Crofton
that a majority are induced to get their living ho
nestly, what is to be done with the irreclaimable
minority ? Admitting that this is a problem of
great difficulty, that difficulty is much lessened when
the ,whole body has been so sifted that the portion
of husk and refuse remaining is comparatively
small. Would it be too much to say in reference
to persons whom ,the law 50 years ago condemned
to the loss of their lives, that those lives should be
spent in public labour, and that no period should be
assigned for the remission of their punishment ?
This portion would, of course, consist of only the
irreclaimable few, but while the punishment would
reach few, the fear would extend to all. There is
another portion of our convicts separated from the
. whole body by their age. The maxim that militia
supplet cetatem, though long admitted by our law,
is not consistent with reason or humanity. It is
ascertained that 3-4ths of the criminals under 17
years of age are the children of bad parents. It
may be that the disposition of these children is, in
a majority of cases, quite as good as that of those
who are untainted with crime, and have never been
brought before the court of justice. Yet it is of
such as these that Miss Carpenter says, in 1856,
" Within three years a little boy of eight years old
was solemnly sentenced in open court to six years'
penal servitude for housebreaking ! A diminutive
girl of ten, and her brother, a couple of years
older, were placed at the bar of their country to
answer for the once capital crime of housebreak-
ing."* This subject has, however, for some time
attracted the attention of the Government and of
the public. In 1834 Mr. Goulburn, Home Secretary,
designed the prison of Parkhurst as a place of de-
tention and reformation for boys, who were to be
tmight, instructed in trade, or employed in agri-
culture, and sent to the colonies. Twenty years
afterwards an act of Parliament was passed estab-
lishing the reformatories which the benevolence of
individuals had founded as places of legal detention
for children and young persons under 17 years of
age, authorising that detention for a period not ex-
ceeding five years, and allowing a contribution of
ss. a week in aid of the sums collected from private
sources. It cannot be denied that the principle upon
which this act is founded is sound, nor can it be
said that success has not attended the efforts made by
the benevolence of individuals thus aided by the
State. Lord Stanley, whom I name with honour
and regard, addressing the National Reformatory
Union at Bristol in 1856, says, speaking of foreign
as well as home reformatories :

" At Mett.ray 85 per cent. by one account, 89 per
cent. by another, of the inmates sent out into the
world are doing well. These fats are taken from
the reports of 1855, when 900 youths had passed
through the institution. Of the 11 per cent. who
had relapsed (vagrancy being reckoned as a relapse
—without proof of actual crime), one-fourth or about
21 per cent. had recovered their lost position. At
Redhill, where 720 boys have been discharged since
the opening of the school in 1849, Mr. Turner states
that 70 per cent. have been reclaimed, adding that
of all who have left there, the emigrants have done
best, and that the proportion of relapses among
these is lower than among those who stay at home.
In the. Glasgow House of Refuge, out of 400, 85 per
cent. have been reclaimed."

By the Acts of 1857, of which the first was passed
through the House of Commons by Sir S. North-
cote and Mr. Adderley, and the second by Sir G.
Grey, magistrates were empowered to commit vag-
rant children to industrial schools for a term of
years, and counties and boroughs were enabled to
grant pecuniary aid to reformatory schools. In the
report of Mr. S. Turner, Inspector of Reformatories,

* Ist Report National Reformatory Meeting, 1856, p. 115,

I find it stated that the Reformatory Act has been
more extensively applied in Liverpool than else-
where, and that juvenile delinquency has in this
town been effectually diminished. This result is
attributed in a great degree to the exertions of the
Rev. Mr. Carter, Chaplain to the Borough Gaol of
Liverpool, who has been successful in calling upon
the parents of criminal children to contribute their
quota. There can be no doubt that this is one of
the best provisions of the act. In Scotland, by Mr.
Dunlop's Act, vagrant children are removed by the
magistrates to incluitrial schools, and it is stated
that in the town of Aberdeen especially the ab-
sence from the streets and lanes of disorderly and
neglected children is very striking. There are two
observations on this subject which I wish to
make before passing to a different field. The first is
that those- who have charge of the reformatories
ought to try various methods of awakening the
moral sense, and applying the physical energies and
buoyant animal spirits of the boys committed to
their charge. Uniformity, regularity, silence may
constrain permanently the minds of men ; these
methods in the case of younc, boys may be only
pressing down a spring whichb will rebound with
the more force when that pressure is removed. I
remember upon a visit which I paid to Mr. Fellen-
berg, at Hofwyl, that he carried me some miles into
the hills to see what he called his little Robinson
Crusoes. This was a large field, in which 10 or 12
boys were digging and preparing the ground for
seed; before this they had constructed for themselves
a wooden hut, where they had their meals and their
sleeping place. These boys, indeed, were not crimi-
nals, but the task set them was a good illustration
of the importance, in the eyes of their benevolent
and sagacious instructor, of some occupation that
shall rouse the invention at the same time that it
fatigues the body. I remember, also, at the juvenile
prison at Parkhurst, Captain Woolcombe, the first
governor of that establishment, showed me a boy
upon whom he said all instruction and exhortation
were thrown away until he perceived that the boy
was moved by music. This faculty was cultivated
and developed, and thence a way was found to soften
and mould his obdurate disposition. These instances
lead me to the other remark I have to make. Every
one must have observed the new influence which is
not being asserted or sought, but is falling to the
lot of women in swaying the destinies of the world.
It is not a share in directing the patronage of mi-
nisters, or guiding,the councils of kings, as in for-
mer times, but a portion in the formation and the
moulding of public opinion. For a great part of
our periodical literature, for much of that world of
fiction in which many live and nearly all take de-
light, we are indebted to the ethereal fancy, the
delicate perception, and the grace of expression
possessed by woman. It seems to me, and I am
confirmed in this opinion by the bright examples
of heroic benevolence we have seen of late years,
that if the young generation are to be an im-
provement upon their fathers—if sin is to have less
dominion and religion more power—if vice is to be
abashed and virtue to be honoured, it is to woman
that we must look for such a regeneration. I pass
to the subject of education. I will not waste your
time in examining and refuting the objections which
have been made to the general education of the
people. It may suffice for me to say that it is edu-
cation which enables the Scotch labourer's son to
compete with the most favoured of his contempora-
ries, to rise to the highest posts of dignity and
power, and to scale the loftiest eminences of science.
It is education which enables the United States of
America to proceed in their wonderful career, up-
held by the most popular institutions, without
serious disturbance of law and order. It is educa-
tion which in England has mainly prevented such
tumults as 40 years ago broke the peace and alarmed
the winds of this country. It is education which
has bound the mass of the people to the Throne by
the links of an enlightened loyalty. On the sub-
ject of education there appears to me to have been
a change somewhat similar to that which took place
many years ago on the subject of geology. At that
period geologists were divided into Neptunians or
Vulcanians, Wernerians or Hattonians, and hot
was the dispute regarding the best theory of the
formation of the crust of- the world. Some wise
men said, however, " Let us first investigate the
facts without troubling ourselves what theory they
may confirm or invalidate." This has now been
done for many years, and assuredly while contro-
versy has diminished, science has gained by the
change. In like manner popular or national edu-
cation has been a matter of warm contention among
sects and parties till the present year. Sir J. Pak-
ington, who presided in the Department of Educa-
tion last year, and who deserves the highest credit
for his labours on this subject, proposed in the late
session of Parliament, with the concurrence of the
best friends of the cause, that an address should be
presented to the Queen in favour of the appoint-
ment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the
present state of the education of all classes in Eng-
land and Wales. The late Government acceded to
this proposal, and the present has named commis-
sioners of high reputation and weight in the coun-
try, of whom the Duke of Newcastle is the presi-
dent. From this Commission we look for a fair
and impartial display of facts, upon the bearing of
which Parliament and the nation can decide. Opi-
nion is still in the gristle upon this subject. For
my own part, I confess that, anxious as I am for
the progress of education, I am quite willing to re-
nounce any desire to establish in this country the
system of France, Austria, or Prussia. The free-
dom of choice in our modes of popular instruction,
the noble fountains of literature, sacred and secular,
which are open to the youth thirsting for know-
ledge, the power to range over the writings of
Bacon and Shakspeare, and Milton and Addison,
' seem to me to make our national education,
imperfect and incomplete as it is, still far su-
perior to those continental models. I must not
omit to mention the great efforts which have
been recently made to improve the education of the
middle classes. The examinations instituted by
the University of Oxford do honour to that vene-
rable body. Nor ought we to pronounce hastily on
the result of the first of these examinations. It
seems to me apparent that at a time when not only
degrees and honours are attached to successful com-
petition, but the very entrance to the civil service
and the scientific part of the military service in
India is guarded by examiners, it is of the utmost
importance to understand rightly what the nature
of the prescribed inquiry is to be. I hope that
while all honour is paid to attainments, -while
quickness' and self-possession on the day of trial
have their due reward, the qualities of diligence,
and fidelity, and steadiness in a clerk, of a ready
perception and a prompt judgment in a soldier,
will not escape the judging eye of our chief exami-
ners. Even in awarding a degree much discrimina-
tion is required, and a failure in one branch of know-
ledge may be balanced by excellence in another.
Some severity at the commencement of such a system
is both to be expected and desired ; but I repeat,
the system itself must be carefully watched, and
the experiment must be often repeated before it
can be said that the strength of our new machinery
has been fully tested. On the question of public
health I find this statement in the Registrar-
General's report of the quarter ending the 30th of
' June, 1858 :

" Upon dividing the population into two por-
tions/(1) the 8,247,117 people living in rather close
proximity to each other, and (2) the 9,680,592
living much further apart, the result is that the
mortality in the dense districts was at the rate of
24.73, nearly 25 in 1,000 ; while in the other dis-
tricts, over which small towns and villages are
distributed, the mortality was at the rate of 19.68,
nearly 20 in 1,000 of the population."
Thus it appears that five persons more die every
year in every 1,000 of the 8,000,00 people living in
large towns than of the 9,500,000 people living in
the country. In other words, the excess of deaths
in the large towns is 40,000 a-year. When
we add to this result the fact that tempta-
tions to intoxication and to vice of every kind are
far more common in towns than 'in the country,
that the means of education are likewise in large
towns either less complete or less used, it is alarm-
ing to find by, another statement of the Registrar-
General that in England and Wales the town popu-
lation is increasing much more rapidly than the
population of the rest of the country. I suppose
every one will agreee that the tide of population
cannot be checked or diverted from its channel.
Yet we cannot deny the importance or the urgency
of the following questions :—Now in England and
Wales the town population is increasing much fas-
ter than the population of the rest of the country ;
and the question is, therefore, becoming every
day graver, how is the health of the nation to
be sustained in the midst of the new dangers
which millions of its people are encounter-
ing ? This question doubtless does not
.admit
of a perfectly satisfactory answer. Yet it is
encouraging to observe how on extraordinary
occasions vigilance in science has been re-
warded. I will take as my first example the instance
of Tynemouth during the visitation of cholera
in 1853. During the epidemic of 1848-9 Tyne-
mouth had lost from cholera and diarrhoea no less
than 463 persons ; but in the summer of. 1851, on
the petition of the Town Council, the Public Health
Act was put in force ; regulations for common lodg-
ing-houses and slaughter-houses were immediately,
adopted; new streets and homes were built in con-
formity with prescribed rules. In the autumn of
1852, when the return of cholera was considered
probable, an active inspection of the town was com-
menced by the Public Health Committee, the bye
courts and lanes cleansed, the gully grates trapped,
and local nuisances removed. On the report of the
first death from cholera at Newcastle in 1853 all
these measures were renewed and further precau-
tions adopted. 1,500 cartloads of manure were re-

moved in 14 days from the neighbourhood of human
habitations.' The consequence was that while New-
castle and Gateshead lost 'nearly 2,000 of their peo-
ple, there occurred at Tynemouth, eight miles dis-
tant, only fatal indigenous cases. This result was
accomplished at a cost of little more than £2OO.
While such has b€en the benefit of extra vigilance
and precaution, adopted for an emergency and
stimulated by fear of sudden calamity, there are
continually at work causes of pestilence destroying
their thousands and their ten thousands, which a
vigilant and intelligent local administration might
remove in many cases and mitigate in all. I will
now proceed to give another instance of the effect
of sanitary measures :—A London water company
distributed in 1848 very foul water. In the cholera
epidemic of 1848-9 there died 1,925 of those who
received their supplies of water from this company.
Between 1848 and 1853 the company improved the
quality of their water. In the cholera epidemic of
1853.4 the number of their customers who died
.was reduced to 611, or less than one-third of the
former mortality. In the meantime another water
company supplied water still fouler than at the
former period, and the mortality of those who used
their water was increased from 2,880 in 1848 to
3,476 in 1853 ; so that while the proportions in
10,000 persons in 1848 were 118 and 125 respec-
tively, those proportions were changed in 1853, the
former rose from 118 to 130, and the latter sunk
from 125 to 37. Nor can it be doubted that while
such are the consequences in cases of increased and
unusual mortality, the evils which occur daily and
yearly from the same causes are no less remarkable
though less remarked. Let us fix our attention,
therefore, a few moments on this permanent
action upon our population. The inhabitants of
the towns increase much faster than the inha-
bitants of the country, yet the mortality in towns
is so much greater than the whole mortality of
tie country, that while the deaths-rate in Eng-
land and Wales is 22.06 in 1,000, and the births-
rate is 34.82 in 1,000, the mortality in great
towns would, if not compensated from other
sources, speedily reduce the population of our
most flourishing cities. In London, which is the
healthiest of our large towns, the average rate
of deaths in seven years, ending with 1857, was
24.07 in 1,000. In Birmingham it was 26.79 ; in
Manchester, 31.48 ; in Liverpool, 32.73. In this
town of Liverpool the population, if unsupplied
from elsewhere, would in a single generation be
considerably reduced. Yet the deaths-rates show
some improvement ; in ten years, from 1841 to
1850, it was 36 per 1,000 ; it is stated for the last
seven years to have been under 33 per 1,000.
While this great mortality has been proceeding
almost unchecked, it has been ascertained that there
are means, simple in their nature, practicable in
application, moderate in their cost, which would
very Much lessen this frightful evil. By an Act of
last session (the Local Government Bill) towns and
corporations have it in their power to use these
means. Undue prejudice and false economy have
long delayed the adoption of the remedies pre-
scribed; these are—good supply of air and water,
cleanliness, prohibition of over crowding., removal
of noxious matter from the streets and houses. Pub-
lic taxes which interfered with these objects—the
tax on windows, the taxes on coals, on candles, and
on soap—have of late yearsbeen removed. Heavy in-
deed will be the responsibility of those who, having
the power to procure for themselves and their chil-
dren the conditions of health and strength, in place
of those of disease and death, refuse or hesitate to
adopt the remedies within their reach. I have
spoken of the different rates of mortality in town
and country. But this is only a part, and not the
strongest part of the case. Feebleness, chronic
disease, want of energy, mental and physical, re-
duce the tone, and I may say deprave the moral
character of our town population. The excitement
of drams, the stupor of intoxication, are sought
as a relief from the low spirits engendered in an
unhealthy atmosphere. Hence quarrelling, strife,
assaults, poverty, and neglect of education for the
ffspring of this degenerate race. Instead of healthy
parents and robust children fitted to continue from
generation to generation a mighty governing
people, we may see what Milton has so well
described,— _ _

" All maladies
Of ghastly. spasm, or racking tortures qualms
Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,
Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs."
And we may end with his sublime words—

" Despair
Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch
And over them triumphant Death his dart
Shook, but delayed to strike, tho' oft invoked
With vows, as their chief god and final hope."

There are some general considerations which may
here find their place. We can never expect to raise
Birmingham and. Manchester to the conditions of
life attained by the healthy parts of Northumber-
land or Sussex. If we enable the population of the
great towns to keep up their numbers, we shall
have done much. The increase must be supplied
by our healthy country villages. The higher
wages of the towns will always attract young men
as labourers and young women as servants or fac-
tory workers, to supply the demands of increasing
trade and commerce. Emigration at the same time
will drain off the more adventurous parts of our
people. Nor are there wanting in the New World
and at the Antipodes communities where industry
finds its reward, where the hearty meal and the
cordial welcome renew the hospitality, while a
representative assembly and a free press reflect the
liberty of the old country. Proceeding to the fifth
and last department, that of Social Economy, I
recommend to your consideration the important
subject of emigration, The conditions upon which
it can be successfully undertaken, the influence
which it has on the present, and is likely to have
on the future state of this nation, are topics which
require and will obtain the earliest inquiry of my
right hon. friend Sir J. Stephen, the able president
of the department. There is another subject con-
nected with emigration and other parts of social
economy which deserves the attention of this de-
partment. The conditions of industral success in
nations appear to vary from time to time, and to be
subject to periodical changes of great importance
for good or for evil. Thus we find. in the " Utopia"
of Sir Thomas More, and other works of his con-
temporaries, that the extension of trade and the
demand for meat in England produced a change of
cultivation which drove many families from their
dwellings. A similar change seems to have taken
place in the same century in Spain. In Scotland
the cessation of the religious disturbances caused by
the Stuarts, and the union with England, leid to a
complete revolution between the days of Fletcher of
Saltoun, and those of Robertson, the historian.
Lastly, in Ireland the social and political evils which
afflicted that country for a century seem to have
reached a crisis in 1848. The famine of 1847 was a
dispensation of Providence which the care of Govern-
ment could not avert, and could. only partially miti-
gate. There have been, however, measures of social
economy adopted by the Legislature, the effects
of which deserve impartial inquiry. One of these
measures was the introduction of a Poor Law, or,
in other words, provision for the starving and
punishment for the professional mendicant. An-
other measure was the Encumbered Estates Act
introduced by the present Master of the Rolls.
Both these measures naturally raised a good deal
of opposition at the time of their introduction.
My belief is, however, that, taken together, and
accompanied as they ought to be, and no doubt will
be, by a strict administration of justice, as great a
change for the better will take place in Ireland as
took place in Scotland between the accession of
William 111. and the close of the following century.
Of one thing we may be confident, that in natural
talents of all kinds, whether for poetry, eloquence,
and the arts of peace, or for the eventful vicissitudes
of war, no people exceed the natives of Ireland.
Happy would it be if that which has hitherto been
the reproach of the empire should become her pride
and her glory. A few words before I have done
on the general objects of our association. Our first
meeting took place under the presidency of Lord
Brougham, who unites in a singular degree the
largest views of political and social science with
the most laborious practical attention to all its de-
tails. While he can survey the whole field of
knowledge with the quick and pervading glance of
a master, he can work at the task before him with
the patient industry of an apprentice. I wish that
we may be able to imitate the spirit, if not attain
to this ability. We are not like some philosophers
of the last century, enamoured of an age of reason
which will never come to pass. Nor do we share
in the dreams of the philanthropists who ten years
ago imagined that if property, and. capital, and
competition were put down by authority, the human
race might sit down in happiness and contentment.
Our task is more humble, but, as we conceive, more
in accordance with tie decrees of our Divine Crea-
tor. To mankind is allotted labour as its portion
and perpetual inheritance. If any think that he
has nothing to do but to eat, drink, and be merry,
in that very night as fearful a doom may fall upon
upon him as upon the tyrant of old. If any sup-
pose, like the masters of the Roman empire, that
the sword has done its work, and that nothing re-
mains for them but luxurious enjoyment, that very
luxury may revenge the conquered world. If any
imagine that to 9lem belongs dominion, and that
they may indulge in contempt of the unlettered and
ill-fed multitude,that very multitude may overwhelm
them in bloody and. merciless retribution. It is
for us to work as truly as the man who forges the
iron bar, or the woman who works at the factory-
loom. It is for us to endeavour to improve the
laws by which the community is governed. It is
for us to show how education may be extended and
diffused. It is for us to examine and record. what
has been done for the reformation and punishment
of offenders. It is for us to confirm and animatd

the efforts which are being made to sustain the
public health, and thereby preserve for this country
her eminence as the home of a vigorous and inde-
pendent race. It is for us fo investigate the condi-
tions of the great problems of political economy,
which may often admit of ei:ceptions, but never of
refutations. In so doing we shall but consult the
welfare of the present and. future generations; in
so doing we shall follow the path traced out for us
by. Almighty Benevolence and Almighty Wisdom.
At the conclusion of this address, Lord J. Russell
moved, and Sir J. Pakington seconded, a vote of
thanks to Lord Brougham for his presidency dur-
ing the past year.

MURDER NEAR ROTHERIIAM.-RX-
TRAORDINARY STATEMENT BY THE
PRISONER.

On Saturday the inquest on the body of Sally
Hare, who had been murdered ET her sweetheart,
John Taylor Whitworth, was held at St. John's,
Laughton-en-le-Morthen, near Rotherham, before
Thomas Badger, Esq., coroner.
The first witness was the mother of the deceased,
who said that her daughter " Sally would have
been 18 years of age this very day."
Mrs. Cuthbert, wife of George Cuthbert, farmer,
St. John's, said the deceased was her servant. The
prisoner (Whitworth) came to her house on the
evening of the 30th of September to seethe deceased.
At nine o'clock at night the prisoner and the de-
ceased were together in the brewhouse, and witness
went and asked her if she had nearly done. In a
short time the deceased came into the house, and
witness asked her if the prisoner was going home.
Deceased said she did not wish him to go home, it
was so late, and then asked witness's permission to
sit with him till he was ready to start for home.
Witness said she did not like that, but she would
allow it for once. The deceased and the prisoner
sat by the kitchen fire and took their suppers
together. Witness went to bed about half-past
ten o'clock, and heard nothing more till about two
o'clock on the following morning, when the de-
ceased came running and screaming upstairs, say-
ing, "Oh master, Will has cut my throat; I'm
dying!" Witness got out of bed, and on getting near
deceased found her covered with blood, which was
streaming from her hands and a wound in the neck.
Witness's husband went for a policeman, and the
manservant was sent for a surgeon. The deceased
said that the prisoner had cut her throat. She was
without bonnet when she came in and her hair was
in great disorder.
Mr. George Cuthbert (husband to the last wit-
ness) corroborated the latter part of her evidence.
He had gone to bed at eight o'clock on the night in
question. He went, along with some of his neigh-
bours, to look for her bonnet, and found it and a
cap and other articles on the common, about 240
yards from the house. He traced blood all the way,
and near where the bonnet was found there were
marks of struggling.
Emanuel Turner corroborated Mr. Cuthbert's
evidence.

Henry Sargent, blacksmith, said he found a knife
on Sunday morning last, in John 'Hibert's field,
about five yards from the marks of blood and
struggling. It was open, and had some marks of
blood upon it. There was also some hair sticking
to it. •
Thomas Clarke, shepherd in the service of John
Vesey.Machin, Esq., of Gateford (in whose service
the prisoner was) said—On Friday the Ist instant,
I met the prisoner in a field belonging to my
master. I said to him, "Now, Jack, whre hast
thou been to ?" He said, " I believe I don't know
where I've been." I said, " What hast thou been
doing ?" and he replied, " I don't know, Clarke,
what I've been doing." I said, " What do these
police want thee for ?" and he asked, "Do they
want me ?" I said, " They were inquiring for
thee. What hast thou been doing ? Thou has cut
thy throat." He replied, " Yes, and the girl's too."
Witness took him to the farm, and as they were going
the prisoner asked him if he had seen the girl. I
replied, " I have not ;" and he said, " Clarke, what
am Itodo ?" When witness met with him he was
without a cap, and his hair was hanging over his
eyes r his clothes were very wet, and there was
blood upon his breast, which appeared to have come
from his own throat. His right jacket sleeve ap-
peared to have been washed up to the shoulder, and
the left one up to the elbow. About eight or nine
days before this the prisoner asked witness if sheep
salve and the stuff with which they " dipped" the
sheep were poison, and on being told that they
were he asked how much it would take to poison
anyone. On the morning of the 30th ult. the salve
tin and some salve were missing, as was also some
of the " dip."
John Copley, coachman, and William Holmes, in
the service of Mr. Machin, said the cap produced
was very like the one the prisoner usually wore.
Superintendent Cheadle received the prisoner in
charge at the Worksop police station, on the Ist
inst. He charged him with cutting and wounding,
with intent to murder (at that time the deceased
was alive), Sally Hare. He replied, "Ha ! I know
there is such a girl." The next day witness asked
him if the knife which was taken from him was
his, and he replied, " Yes ; but that's not the knife.
She got the knife away from me."
Superintendent Gillett—l accompanied the Hon.
and Rev. Wm. Howard, resident magistrate, on
the Ist inst., from Rotherham to the house of George
Cuthbert. We saw the deceased in bed in a room
there. She appeared to be very ill. Mr. Howard
spoke to her, told her that she was in great danger,
and that she might die in a few hours. He desired
her to tell the truth about her throat being cut,
then swore her, and took down the deposition
which. I hold in my hand. He took her statement
down in writing, and attached her mark to the
document, as she was unable to write in conse-
quence of the injuries on her fingers. Her statement
contained the following facts :—" The prisimer and
I have kept company for about three years. Last
night, the 30th of September, he came to see
me. My mistress went to bed, and left us up
together in the kitchen. My master went to bed
about eight o'clock. The prisoner and I sat quietly
together till about one o'clock, and no angry words
passed between us. About one o'clock he left the
house to start for home, and asked me to accompany
him a short distance. It was a beautiful starlight
night, and I consented. We left the house to-
gether, and got as far as the little common. He
then accused me of going with another young man,
whose name he did not mention. We had some
words about it, and he asked me to take poison.
He said, "If you will take some I will take some
too, and we can die together." I said I would not.
He said, "If you don't, I will kill you." I said,
" Though you do kill me I won't take any." Im-
mediately on leaving the house, and before he ac-
cused me of infidelity, he had attempted to take
improper liberties with me. I would not accede to
his proposals, and he then accused me of going with
another man. After I refused to take poison, he
got hold of me, threw me on the ground, put his
knee upon me, pulled out his knife, opened it, and
cut my throat. Before he cut me I implored him
not to kill me; but he put one hand on my mouth,
and with the other cut my throat. I got the knife
out of his hand, and managed to get up, but in the
struggle I cut my hands and fingers very much.
When I had got up he stabbed me in the throat
with the knife, and I got hold of his hair, threw
him backwards, and so managed to escape. When
I was on the ground, and endeavouring to rise, he
stamped upon my head with his foot two or three
times. I ran home ,bleeding all the way, and went
straight to my mistress's bedroom. I said that
Whitworth had murdered me. My mistress got
up, and endeavoured to stop the bleeding with some
cloths ; and I was put to bed, where I have been
ever since. This morning, continued the witness,
I went to the prisoner in the cell, at Rotherham,
and told him he must get washed, as he would have
to go with me to Laughton to attend the inquest on
Sally Hare, whose throat he was charged with
cutting. Hei made no reply ; but, on his way to
Laughton, said he should like to see her. I tcek
him, and he kissed her three times, and he wanted
to be left with her. He seemed to be very much
affected.
Mr. Latimer, of South Anston, surgeon, said that
he had attended the deceased. She had had her
throat cut, a cut on the chin, cuts on the thumb
and three fingers on the left hand, and also on the
the
h e attendedfoilolv
following
r day 11
forefinger of the right hand. The left side of her
head and
efsaciceaywaslasstw, swollen.
to onH
(Thursday) she died. Her throat was cut through
the windpipe, and also through the passage leading
into the stomach. The instrument by which the
injury had been inflicted had penetrated to the
vertebrae. He had no doubt death had resulted
from the wound in the throat. He thought that
the wound was a stab wound.

The prisoner, having been duly cautioned by the
coroner, said—The girl went out with me from the
house, and we went together as far as we had often
gone before, and then we stopped for a short time.
She asked me when I was going with her to the
feast at Tattershall Thorpe, and I said I thought
there was no good in my going there and that she
did not want me. She said if I did not care for
her she did not ,care for me. I said we have not
beein long together, but I hope to be comfortable.
We got to further words, and I told her I thought
she went with another man. She said before she
would tell me she would lose her life. I said. I did
not wish her to go with any one else while she
went with me. I then asked her if she would go
any further, and she said she would not. She said,
"We will part as we have always done before."
She then told me to sit down, and she would sit on
my knee. I sat down, with my feet in the hollow
of the ground, and §he sat on my knee. When she