The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-12 00:00:00

suN, LONDON WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 12, 1859.

--- - -
THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS AT
BRADFORD.

BRADFORD, TUESDAY.
The third annual congress of the National Association for
the Promotion of Social Science was opened here yesterday.
The first meeting was held at Birmingham in 1857, under
the presidency of the veteran Lord Brougham, who may be
said to be the founder of the Association; and the second
at Liverpool, when Lord John Russell was elected president.
The Earl of Shaftesbury is the president for the current
year; the chiefs of the other departments being—Jurispru-
dence and Amendment of the Law, Vice-Chancellor Sir W.
Page Wood ; Education, the Right Hon. C. B. Adderley,
M.P. ; Punishment and Reformation, Mr. Monckton Milner,
MX. ; Public Health, the Right Hon. W. Cowper, M.P. ;
and Social Economy, Sir J. K. Shuttleworth.
The association has been recruited this year by a junction
with the International Association for Obtaining a Uniform
Decimal System of Measures, Weights, and Coins.
Lord Brougham, whose reception in Bradford is of the
hearty and genial description for which the East Riding is
famous, is the guest of Mr. Wickham, of Kirkless
The noble president is sojourning with Mr. Rand, of Brad-
ford. The attendance of members and associates is highly
aa!isfactory, and applications for tickets continue to be nu-

Merollg.
Lord BitOUGHA.II then delivered his annual address. The
noble and learned lord spoke as follows :—Ladies and gen-
tiernen,--In addressing you upon the present occasion of our
third meeting, there are so many subject which claim our
attention that a selection must be made of those most press-
ing for consideration, and these very far indeed from being
the only ones of great importance. This affixes one limit to
the choice of topics ; but another is prescribed by the maxim
of always looking forward, the maxim which must guide us

and all practical men—
" Thinking nought done while aught remains to do."
We are therefore bound chiefly to regard the things proposed
to complete what has already been begun, or the things
which have not yet been brought under our consideration.
Jt is impossible in any institution like ours that disappoint-
eat:nt should not arise from the comparative slowness of the
progress made in giving effect to the proposals offered, the
changes suggested. This arises in part from the hopes and
expectations of sanguine men. But it is chiefly owing to
the wide difference between proposing and executing.
" Proposal," as Lord Bacon said long ago, " has wings, but
execution leaden feet." In the course of our speculations
we meet no obstruction ; our plans are more or less theories.
We move forward at a rapid pace ; the world of action
flows slowly, its course broken by rocks, even its currents
often striking against the banks. It is ever moving, like
time, but at a pace so different from that of the speculative
reformer hurrying along the side, that it mocks his impa-
tience, and he is apt to think nothing done, nay even to
fancy that society is not merely stationary but retrograde,
because its rate of movement is so different from his own ;
just as when travelling with great speed along a river side,
it sometiiii
es appears stagnant and not to flow at all—nay,
even you are Ander the deception of its seeming to flow
backwards. But reasonable men are reconciled to the post-
ponement of the things they so anxiously desire by the re-
flection that all change to be Safe must be gradual ; and to
be an improvement must be the result of experience, the
great teacher, but the sovereign corrector, too, which not
only must preside over the formation of our plans,
guide us in their execution. Let us first cast an eye abroad
before dwelling upen our home concerns, and we find re,ason
to be satisfied even with the progress, begun at least, in
countries very far from heretofore moving even at the slow
rate complained of here. In the Russian empire our pro-
ceedings in this association have been watched with great
interest. The accounts of them both in 1857 and last year
have been most fully given in the St. Petersburg journals.
Our corresponding members in that country assure us of
the great attention given to them ; and we shall have
proofs of it in papers now communicated from thence. But
the Government has happily undertaken the great measure
of emancipating the serfs, conducting it upon sound and
moderate principles; and what might still less have been
expected, a greater freedom of discussion, upon all subjects,
has been allowed to the press. Surely we may well lament
that other countries which have no serfs to liberate, but
have a press to set free, show no such tendencies. Who
would have thought but a little while ago of the Russian
Government being held up to the French for imitation, and
the people for envy, in anything relating to public liberty.
Of Austria it may not be possible to speak in the same
terms. Yet an important step has been made even there
in favour of religious liberty. In those parts of her domi-
nions heretofore most oppressed by ecclesiastical tyranny
and bigotry, in their usual and natural alliance, it is under-
stood that the Protestants are now secured in the full en-
joyment of their rights It is most gratifying to observe
these indications of the progress which social science is
making in its most important branches. But we must now
bring our view homeward ; and first of all we are bound to
,acknowledge the kind terms in which the president of the
sister institution has, at its last meeting, referred to the
National Association. His royal highness presiding for the
year, in a most able address, distinguished by its learning
as well as by its sound sense, was pleased to express his
good wishes towards us, and confidence in the success of
our labours, and to intimate a desire (in which I am sure
we all most heartily join) that our endeavours may be
directed, as much as possible, to make our works answer to
our designation, giving our various inquiries a scientific
substance as well as form. And now, as there may be some
doubt about the order in which to take the subjects selected
for summary mention, let us, in deference to our noble
president, begin with the public health department,
which he so ably :superintended last year. At that
meeting it appointed a committee to consider the im-
portant subject of the means of preventing the adul-
teration of food; and the council made an elaborate re-
port, referring Mr. Scholefleld's bill to the committee,
which approved the bill, suggesting some material amend-
ments. It was, however, unfortunately dropped in the
Commons ; but the committee's report will be of great ser
vice to Mr. Scholefleld in preparing the measure for rein-
troduction. The same department took into its considera-
tion the unsatisfactory footing upon which the responsibi-
lity of Government, as well as that of the loon authorities,
for the sanitary state of the country, had been left by the
Public Health Act of 1857, and especially by the want of
system, which inevitably resulted from the act being only
temporary. The council entirely agreed in this view, and
presented an elaborate petition to both houses, through
Lord Shaftesbury and Lord J. Russell, setting forth in de-
tail the evils complained of, and strongly urging the making
the act permanent, with some few alterations. This appli-
cation to Parliament was attended with success, and the
Act of 1857 is now perpetual. Great progress has been
made in the investigation which was instituted as to the
effects of the qnarantine laws, and their proposed abroga-
tion. A sub-committee of the department was charged
with this subject. and queries in great detail were circu-
lated among our governors and consuls, the answers to
which furnish important information, as will be found in
the report about to be presented. In prosecuting this in-
quiry we have been greatly indebted to the Foreign and
Colonial Secretaries both of the present and the former
Government, as well as to the valuable papers read at our
last meeting. But the most remarkable papers in this
department at that meeting were unquestionably those of
Florence Nightingale, in which she communicated in a
most striking manner the results of her experience upon
the construction and economy of hospitals. The council,
papers,
had impressed with the importance of these
had them printed in a separate form and sent copies
to all the hospitals in the United Kingdom, and to
many medical officers. There is every reason to
believe that the best effects have followed from this
proceeding, and that this great benefactor to her suffering
fellow-creatures will not much longer have to lament, with a
feeling of shame, our free country being left behind those
under despotic Governments in this material branch of
sanitary policy. Let us'pause for a moment to declare that
the choicest notes warbled by the " solemn bird of night"
never sounded more sweet to vurgar ears than now sounds
to the philanthropist's the name consecrated to undying
fame by the wise beneficence and generous self-sacrifice of
her who bears it—a fame far less precious in her estimation
than the delightful reflection on pain assuaged and sorrow
averted. When we consider how many thousands of the
poor are unfortunately inhabitants of the workhouse, we at
once perceive the importance of its better regulation, both
as regards its economy, its arrangements, and the labour of
its inmates. But the tendency of the governors to exclude
the public, and to prevent a full examination of what goes
on within the walls, has keen found to prevent the improve-
ments which humane and well-informed persons have
'repeatedly urged. 'lwo most valuable papers from Miss
Louisa Twining were read at our meetings at Birming-
ham and in Liverpool ; and at the former an im-
portant discussion led to the appointment of a sub-com-
mittee on the proposition suggested by her experience
and full knowledge of the whole subject, namely, the for-
mation of workhouse visiting committees. This received
the entire approval of the Poor-law Board. The consequence
has been the institution of a system of regular visiting of
workhouses, especially of their schools and sick wards. It
would be difficult to narrate the importance of this reform,
or the merits of Miss Twining, whose time, and care, and
great abilities have long been devoted to thee'
subject. There
can be no doubt that the plan thus happily be
carried further, with the benefit of the suggestions will
wh beieh
have resulted from above a year'sam experience. The various
Thera. of the law require
subjects connected with the
a more detailed consideration tianncomemlimits of this address
upon by the
permit ; but they will be full
eminent person who presides over theeucommented
'department of juris-
• prudence. On one most important matter we
ber the able paper of Mr. Leone Levi, and the discussionsuaaretucm-
which it gave rise the year before last on Judicial zrat to
and a very beneficial effect has been produced by thatBtgs'
cess There has been to a certain extent a removal 8-f
the defect so often sump
lained of, and for which I have so
repeatedly pressed bills upon the Law Amendment Society
and the House of Lords. The position is of manifest truth,
that judicial legislation can never become an inductive
science until a record is kept in minute detail of all causes
tried *ind the results of the trial, so that the effects of each
change in the law may at once be seen A considerable hn-
provemeut, by an extension of the returns, has been ma to
under the able superintendence of Messrs. RedgTave and
f onblanque ; and the object of my resolutions, moved in
1856, and supported at our first meeting, has to a certaih
extent been attained. So that we may hope for such com-
plete and regular information upon this subject as has t.sig
been given in the French annual statement of the Ministers
of Public Justice, and that the principles which guide our
judicial legislation may better deserve the name of inductive
science. The bulk of the community, the working classes,
have much that concerns their comfoer. But a little
their improvement,
employers. The progress of
itthe middle
depends upon their
ine• knowledge naturally gives a greater
velasaluesesininthaecirci
acquiring
as refardhsatshemselves and those of late late years been turned
neitththera. Theirattention, -coo,
generally to the
great ceation of social science, and the cond!•
tion in all respects of those in their employ has occupied their
thoughts far more than in former times. But in nothing
have they more distinguished themselves, beth for good
*we and disinterested benevolence than.in the efforts made
besides a half-holiday,
Arestrict the hours of labour, giving

the entire benefit of the Sabbath rest. The grievous effects
of over-working on the health both of body and mind have
been strikingly shown upon the authority of medical men
and other experienced persons. It has also been satisfac-
torily proved that the sacrifice which employers make is
much over-rated ; that in many cases it amounts to nothing
(the work being better done, or the shop better attended by
those who are not exhausted) ; and in all cases the loss
might, by judicious arrangements, be avoided. It is highly
satisfactory to find that the early closing movement, which
began about 20 years ago, when it was confined to the
drapery business, soon after became general, so that now
there is in all branches of trade, and also in the public de
partments, a very great improvement. But we had a
description at our first meeting from Mr. Lilwall, in his
able and painfully interesting paper, of the dreadful condi-
tion of those worloing in some trades still unreformed ; and
it is devoutly to be hoped that the same considerate kind-
ness of employers may be extended to these. This is mani-
festly an evil to which, great as it is, the law cannot,
except perhaps in a very few instances and to a very
limited extent, apply a remedy.* It becomes the more ne-
-cessary to direct the attention of employers still further to
the subject, and to call upon them to communicate with
each other, and make such arrangements as the experience
of any may suggest for completing, with as little sacrifice
as possible, the good work already, much to their credit,
begun. Of a truth, what they have done is highly to be
praised, and their conduct is worthy of all acceptation ; nor
could we easilypoint to any work of philanthropy in our day
better entitled to public gratitude. It has, indeed, merits of
a peculiar kind ; for while other plans operate indirectly and
gradually, the benefits of this are direct and immediate. The
health, the instruction, the morals of the community, are
directly improved by the action applied—and improved at
once. The class, too, thus benefitted is the most important
of the children of toil—those in whose work the mind is
most employed. But it comprises, also, our artisans—
those whose talents and industry make England the great
capital of manufactures ; whose exquisite skill and admi-
rable dexterity bear the fame of our arts into every sea
that . ship can plough, teaching envy to the proudest of
our, and veneration to every tribe, however remote,
as soon as its existence becomes known. Of the wore
most
king
classes at large, if not the besetting sins, certainly
th
pernicious failings, areimprovidence and intemperance ; and
as there can be no greater evils than what proceed from
these sources, it is fortunate that a remedy can be applied
certainlyto mitigate, possiblyeven to effect an absolute cure.
The two failings are no doubt closely connected ; but it is
fit that they be considered apart, as in some material re-
spects they are not co-extensive, improvidence having the
wider scope and more general operation. It iswell said by Mr.
Erskine Clarke, in his very useful paper at the Congress of
1857, that " the great problem of social economy is how to
help the working people to keep themselves with their own
money" (in other words, to teach them provident
which habits)—
and the plan which he strongly presses, and Mr.
Akroyd, man able and important paper last year more fully
illustrated, is the establishment of penny savings banks.
The great step made 50 years ago, and which we owe to a
most wise and pious pastor of the Scotch Church, my re-
vered friend Dr. H. Duncan, was the institution of savings
banks which received all deposits of a shilling and upwards.
These very soon extended almost over the whole island. By
the last returns there have been deposited above £32,000,000
by 1,340,000 contributors. But in this, as in all other
institutions for promoting popular improvement, it has
been found that they do not at first reach the
class for whose benefit they are chiefly designed, but a
class somewhat above them ; and the proportion but
a
small deposits clearly showed the tendency of the humbler
classes to avail themselves of the banks as far as their rules
wBsasperforcest.sofoftanhe amount which wnhietchexheaseediusngt beve2n.
malleonwtie;nfedor
It thus became manifest that sums below ls. ought to be
ived, and Dr. Chalmers proposed the penny bank, which
TeCecompletely succeeded. Without the knowledge of his sug-
gestion and its success, the game thing was triered, and suc-
ceeded perfectly, at Birmingham? Halifax, Dby, Hull,
and many other places. In Birmingham, in 1856, 84,000
accounts were opened for sums of id. and upwards, £11,500
being paid in, of which £10,700 were drawn out, clearly
showing that the banks are used as they were intended, for
a temporary deposit, and for keeping the money till wanted,
but without the banks the pence would be squandered in.
providing eons() indulgence, probably drink. The great ob-
ject is teaching the working man to begin saving—once
beginning he will add to the little hoard, and when it reaches
a certain amount he will keep it, unless driven by bad
times, by disease, or other accident to encroach upon it.
But we may safely affirm that a most salutary change is
made in a man's habits, perhaps in his character, by his
beginning to save for whatever purpose, and that providence
in this one and very material particular will become the
habit generally of his mind. It is to be hoped that our at-
tention may be called during this meeting to the proposal
of Mr. Sikes, for applying money-order offices in the Post-
office department to the purposes of savings banks, or, pos•
sibly in some cases, as a substitute for them. Of intempe-
rance, the baneful effects need not be dwelt upon in de-
tail. It is the smallest part of the evil that at the very
least ten times as inch money is spent upon drink as
upon publications of ail kinds' newspapers included. The
learned and enlightened Recorder of Birminghara makes
this abundantly evident in his valtable charges to the grand
jury. But the far worst effects of this propensity in pro-
ducing disease both of body and mind, and in filling our
gaols with criminals and our workhouses with paupers, are
as dreadful as loudly to call for the application of repressive
measures. The connection of intoxication and of
drunken habits with crime is demonstrated in the clearest
manner—" Every one acquainted with criminal courts,"
says Mr.,Hill, "must admit the truth of what our judges
state day by day and year after year, that by far the materter
number of all offences committed have their origin
love of drink." The chaplain of Preston House of Correa.
tion, Mr. Clay, a name never to be pronounced without the
greatest respect for his truly virtuous and useful life, shews
that in Lancashire the proportion of offences traced dis-
tinctly to this cause was about 40 per cent. in years of full
employment and good wages, having been only 17 per cent.
in the years of distress, and this difference manifestly arose
from the facility of indulging dissipated propensities in the
prosperous times. In the United States we find a judge of
Maine, the strenuous adversary of absolute prohibition, yet
urging the necessity of restrictions upon the sale of liquors.
He declares that nine-tenths of all crimes attended withvio-
lence arise from intoxication. In another State, Rhode
Island, 60 per cent. of all offences appear to be caused by
drunkenness, and 20 per cent. of insane persons is the pro-
portion of those whose malady had this origin. That re-
pressive measuoes are loudly called for in this country it is
difficult to deny; but if there are objections to these, chiefly
from the public mind not being prepared for them, at least
we can cease to encourage intemperance by treating it as
venial, and by suffering pernicious customs to be continued
apparently for its protection. Not only do these greatly
err, but they are positively criminal, who treat the subject
lightly, and yet more to be condemned are those who re-
gard intemperance as an extenuation of guilt, of which it is
rather au aggravation. How much more criminal are per-
sons in authority who sometimes consider it in meting out
the inflictions of the police, or even of the penal law. But
those are not to be forgiven who indulge in light talk upon
that which is the fruitful parent of the worst offences, even
of murder itself. What shall we say than of customs being
maintained directly promoting intemperance,- and which
have neither antiquity to plead in their defence, nor any
necessity to require their continuance, nor even the fact of
their universality to allege in their favour ? The existence
of statute fairs is a disgrace to the police of this country.
In some of the most extensive and populous counties they
are unknown, and not the slightest inconvenience is expe-
rienced from the want of them. Wherever they are held
all- the best authorities among the magistrates and police-
officers are agreed in representing them as a great cause of
drunkenness and every species of immoral indulgence.
This important subject was fully treated by Mr. Nash
Stephenson at our last meeting, and the progress was de-
scribed of a remedy, by way of a substitute, in the registry
of farm servants, which many persons have of late desired
to see extended to all servants ; and a society has been
formed in London with this view. As it is clearly not
enough that we should cease to encourage intemperance,
and as positive repression is attended with great difficulty,
there is every reason to rejoice in the exertions which have
been made by individuals to apply a remedy, or at least a
palliative, by such proceedings as may be taken without le-
gislative aid. The formation of temperance associations has
been highly beneficial ; and these have spread over many
parts of the country. Not only have these bodies published
works admirably conducted, and several newspapers, besides
circulating cheap tracts to a vast amount—the Temperance
League 300,000 a week—but they encourage their members
to take the pledge, which, though often broken, is kept by
many. The services of the Grand Alliance, and of its able
and learned secretary, Mr. S. Pope, are truly above all
praise, A very important step was made in this direction
at the last meeting of the National Association. Mr. C.
Melly (to whose brother George's zealous and indefatigable
exertions at Liverpool our gratitude is most justly due) read
a paper describing the fountains which he had erected in
that town, with the happiest effect in lessening the prevail-
ing drunkenness. The council allowed a separate edition of
the tract, with the print of a fountain as a model to be pub-
lished ; and it was extensively distributed during the con-
gress. The effect has been to spread the establishment of
fountains over the whole country, so that there is hardly a
great town without one or more. It cannot be doubted that
the gratuitous supply of good water, at convenient places,
has a tendency to lessen intemperance by diminishing the
temptation, and preventing the resort to public-houses ;
and it is certain that the benefit thus derived has been en-
tirely owing to the services of the association. It may,
however, well be contended that these measures being only
in the nature of palliatives, the enormous mischief must be
attacked by more effectual operations ; and it is painful to
admit that we must reckon education itself as among pal-
liatives only. Its tendency to lesson criminal propensi-
ties by affording other occupations, as well as by strength-
ening right principles to divert from criminal sours() e,
is unquestionable. But there cannot be a greater fallacy
than to set ids effects in repressing crimes against that
of intemperance in producing them, and it is a
dangerous fallacy, for men rely upon the improvement in
character and its effect in controlling the passions as suffi-
cient to counteract the direct tendency of intemperance, and
they answer the call for repressive measures by bidding us
trust to education. The humanising influence of instruc-
tion in preventing offences attended with violence is pro-
verbial, and is admitted. We have a striking illustration
from the proportion of crimes committed with violence pro-
ceeding from drunkenness. The influence of education is
indirect and of gradual operation. The action of intem-
perance is direct and immediate. We may so far trust to
the improvement produced by the former as to expect from
it a diminution in the number of offences, but the latter adds
to their number and increases their malignity as certainly
andueasaetneuednus
tferratyfmoreemnaese ,
crimes,regimen
a wup
theirs
relyrtoaeer
trust
rrausfateepg
raging
to
ontergiph:ioenpeotu popular
niaan effectsrgs
tit
hhm that
perilousepot rfgoerdvoei
ueae a-t. t
wwet aneorutwehal would le
nobypoe:
as
should
euoae llullsduw
r o k e out,se trainingshould the
taken no
tl d e n e
againste,
itsbefore precaution
introduction. it beagle to arms is
a wise policy in any country ; and our insular
not exempt us from this duty. But he position does
counsellor who should bid us rely on the would be an unsafe
martial habits of
the people, and not repel invasion by our fleets,
with regularly disciplined troops. Intemperartee or
tirlfisc ~oet it
mon enemy, is attacks even persona a cultivated minds,
spreads havoc widely am,mg the multitudes of our luf •r
erm
orders ; and fills our workhouses and our gaols' To le
its force and contract its sphere, no moans mt be 'sic
aus spared
if we really mean to stay the progress of destitution and of
crime. The philanthropist has no more sacred duty than
to mitigate, if he cannot remove this enormous evil. Tho
lawgiver is imperatively bound to lend his aid, when it
Appears manifest that no palliatives can avail. Certainly
We have the example of the United States to prove that
repression is practicable, and their experience to guide us
tbward it, That no legislative interference can be contem-
plated until the public mind is prepared, we must admit.
Such was the course in America, and our palliative mea-
sures tend to afford the required preparation. The evil of
drunkenness had reached such a height, that in the state of
Maine, 35 years ago, associations to promote temperance
Were formed ; they spread through the country ; they in-
fluenced by degrees the whole community ; they induced

• The overworking dressmakers night and day, and of
bakers, has been mentioned by some as callinF, for and justi-
fying legislative interposition.

then aagl to refuse
States, having a
of riir
a law • . ..•os nus prohibition. Six other
stride'licences; and finally they obtained
populat. 'on of
same end, more or less rigor-
ouslyderable pr:Ogr vas tosearda the . .
sf intoxicating liquors ; and the
disco an -aging the sale these portions of the
seven and Sti-half millions, have made consi-
derable
greatest 1), .efits have resulted to ..
kttempt tote-
-Union. Bs2 t the most'important fact is the
peal the last in Maine, and its signal failure. Like an
jects in a cos uitry which, from the nature of the govern-
ment, and el te changes in the holders of all offices, is under
the influence •of perpetual canvass, this of temperance be-
came a parts • question, and governors were chosen and
-removed nix sa it. Four years ago its supporters were de-
feated, and es stringent licensing system was substituted in
its piece. pc T two years and upwards this plan was tried,
with every dis position of the authorities to favour its suc-
cese. Pauperism and crime, which under the prohibitory
lavd had been rt
Auced to an incredibly small amount, soon
renewed their •
devastations ; the public voice was raised
loudly and with
resolution was pi. tesed at the State Convention that the
rare concert against the licensing plan ; a
liquor law Flours. 1 no more be treated as a party question,
and the repeal
pealed. Another • effort was made to restore the repeal ;
inge- act was, without opposition, itself re-
but the resolution
which. stood unres ded„. and all attempts to get rid of
ess.' the State Convention was referred to,
the liquor law wei ,abandoned henceforth as hopeless.
The happy result h as been a continuance of the same
diminution both of
i
van perism and of crimes which had
followed upon the oriceit
ti enactment of the law. Upon
at isage in the history of social
that at least it affords proof of
sthciesnveeeryit
mreamyabrekaobblseenp,ea,
the experiment having been made, and successfully m, of
dealing rigorously with tle evil ; and if the same prepara-
tion of the public mind which led to the experiment being
tried and secured its succe. takes place in other countries,
the great example may then- 113 followed safely and success-
fully. Then the philanthropie would no longer complain
with the Recorder of BirminLeha m, that into whatever path
of benevolence we may strikes :the drink-demon starts up
before him and blocks his way, or, comparing what is cheer-
fully squandered upon the fuel of intemperance with what
is grudgingly bestowed upon th r means of mental improve-
ment, lament to find tenfold the price of food to the mind
paid for poison to the body; but would delight to hear our
poor, reclaimed from the worst ex messes, free from the yoke
of the cruel though perfidious tyrant, declare as they did
to the American missionary, that the law must have come
from heaven, for it was too, good te) be the work of man.*
In opening this national association. at Birmingham two
years ago I adverted to the intimate connection of the
sciences, natural, moral, and political, each with the other ;
but the reference was not sufficiently detailed to that topic,
equally fruitful and important, of inexhaustible fertility, of
paramount importance. There is no greater encouragement
than is thus afforded to the cultivation of every branch of
knowledge, the great teachers of mankind, the improvers of
science and of art, by their discoveries in the one, their in-
ventions in the other ; for they are thus taugbt to hope that
benefits may result from their labours far superior to any
which they had designed and expected toproduce. Let me
add that the same contemplations may afford the greatest
encouragement to our labours in this association. It is fit
that the illustration by examples formerly omitted should
now be supplied. But the instances are so numerous and so
varied that one hardly knows where to begin, and must
feel a difficulty where to end. A few only need be selected,
and such may be taken as show results that might be the
least expected from the particular steps made. When Gal-
vani observed the contortions of muscle in a dead frog,
or even when Volta gave an explanation of them, how little
mild it be foreseen that the discovery would lead not only
to the decomposition of bodies which had resisted all at-
tempts to ascertain their constituent parts, and make us ac-
quainted with substances wholly unlike any before known,
as metals that float in water and took fire on exposure to
the air; but, after having thus changed the face of chemi-
cal science, should also impress a new character upon the
moral, judicial, and political world I Yet this has unde-
niably been the result of the discovery made by Volta of au
influence passing under Galvani's name, by an error similar
to that which gives the name of Vespucci instead of Colum-
bus to the New World. The power of the magnetic tele-
graph extends to the comfort of families, the cure of diseases,
the transactions of business, the administration of justice,
the operations of government in all its branches, civil and
military, domestic and foreign • establishing an almost in-
stantaneous communieation7beiween the remotest regions.
But physical science has given its the means of personal in-
tercourse, as well as correspondence, with remote places.
Howlittle could Watt, when employed as a common me-
clung() to repair a model engine, foresee that from the happy
inventions which arose out of his deep reflection upon the
agencies submitted to his studies there would follow such a
change in our relations with the material world as now sets
winds, and tides, and currents at defiance, and excludes in
a great degree the consideration of space and time from our
calculations, and a yet greater revolution in our social sys-
tem. Little did he think that the work he was thus begin-
ning would, before another generation passed away, not
merely change the whole course of commercial dealings, the
communication of all countries one with another, and of all
men amongthenuselyes in each, but affect the whole policy of
nations ,their relations in peace, and their operations in war.
When he introduced into this oountry the happy invention
of Berthollet for bleaching by cholrates, little did either of
these great men (satisfied as they were with that important
step) forsee that, by the combination of the one with another,
such a victory over pain would be gained as should not
only afford relief in almost all cases, but change the whole
course of surgical operations P And now let it be added that
the process has lately been applied to save those insects
whose marvellous architecture affords the most striking of
all the proofs of Divine action, according to the Newtonian
doctrine of instincts. I can vouch for the entire success of
the experiment, having lately performed the operation.t
The security of ships and buildings by Sir W. Snow Harris's
lightning rods has saved many lives and much property.
Still more beneficial, because the risks from shipwreck are
far greater than those from lightning, has been Sir. David
Brewster's happy application of the science of which he is
so great a master, to tho construction of - the dioptic light-
house.-4 But let us observe how vast an improvement of
social life, and how valuable an addition to our power of
executing the law has been another optical discovery by
which we have made the sun our fellow-workman. It
would have been deemed a romance had any ono foretold
from observing the effect of light in discolouring certain
substances such a consummation as obtaining the most ac-
curate portraits in a second ; portraits, the minute accuracy
of which hours and days of the painter's labour could not
approach ; and the consequent power not only of preserving
the features of those most revered and beloved, but of pre-
venting the escape of criminals, tile commission of number-
less frauds, and the defeat of the injured in seeking the re-
covery of their rights. Nor let us forget the less important
benefit of improving both our manufactures and the public
taste by multiplying perfect copies of all the great pictures
in the world; so that for a few pence may be obtained the
exact duplicates of Raphael's cartoons, and every other re-
nowned masterpiece—an application of the art which we
owe to the liberal and discerning patronage of the Prince
Consort. My illustrious friend and colleague of the Insti-
tute, Arago, was so impressed with the vast importance of
photography in all its relations, that the last years of his
life were chiefly occupied with whatever belonged to this
subject. But the progress of geology, the discoveries re-
specting the strata whereof our globe is composed, and
the history of their formation, have led to a yet more un-
expected and far more sublime result than any we have
been surveying—a resource which is the source of the most
delightful contemplation. A period of time in the revolu-
tion of ages has been ascertained before our species existed,
and a succession of races discovered inhabitants of our earth
and of the ocean, all specifically different from any that we
now know to exist. The act of creationis thus demonstrated
from phenomena, independent of tradition, to have been
performed by the Almight and all-wise Creator ; the forma-
tion of man after His own image and at a period later than
that at which He formed other and less perfect creatures.
While the great discoveries of La Grange and La Place de-
duced from those of Newton exhibit the law by which the
system of the universe is maintained eternal in its present
state, all deviatione being necessarily confined within fixed
limits, the wonderful researches of Cuvier upon the struc-
ture of our planet have shown the origin of its inhabitants;
proved that at a remote period, though not far removed
from the era of history, one species did not exist, and thus
given conclusive evidence of the awful Being's power,
"whose temple is all space, whose altar, earth sea, skies,
and of His relation to ourselves; proving as clearly that we
are His creatures as if one had risen from the dead. But
from these more remote contemplations we must turn to
nearer objects, and objects not coming within the scope of
the caution which warns us against the optical delusion that
makes near things appear great; for the object now to be
regarded both touches us nearly, and is of vast diruenaions,
no less than our free constitution in its administration, the
rights and privileges which we enjoy under it, our whole
social system as connected with it and depending upon it,
and the perils to which it is exposed. There can be no
greater or happier exchange than that nation has made
which, replacing a despotic by a constitutional government
no longer lies at the:mercy of an arbitraryruler, is protected
by fixed laws, and exercises a control over the management
of its own affairs. The condition of a people subject to un-
limited power resembles that of an enslaved individual in
this, that all freedom of action is extinguished in the com-
munity as in the slave ; like Lim, it is actuated by mo-
tives exterior to itself; has no will of its own ; is not
merely sacrificed to the interests, but to the caprices of a
master, and can express no opinion nor give vent to any
feeling, or even utter a complaint without his leave. This
thraldom is not more detrimental to the well-being of the
people than degrading to their character ; and the debase-
ment of the subject extends to the tyrant, whom fincon-
trolled dominion renders more wanton and moreintolerable,
affording, however, this poor consolation to the sufferers,
that he is haunted himself by terrors greater than he inspires.
The unspeakable blessing of being delivered from a lot so
grievous forbids us to scrutinise too narrowly the means by
which the rescue has been effected, or to inquire too severely
into the manner in which the unwonted gift of freedom has
been enjoyed. The most stern and unscrupulous censor
would perhaps only condemn such excesses as might load to
the tyranny being restored. But thrice happy those nations
which have never known such alternations of enslavement
and emancipation, of subjection and license ; whose constitu-
tion, like ours, was never despotic, but grew up from a less
regular system of freedom to a more and IMOIO exactly defined
scheme of government, till it attained the form of monarchy
limited by law, precluded all oppression, whether of one or of
many by the union of the several branches of which it is com-
posed, and the different interests which are represented. And
if it be certain that under such a system alone can tyranny
of every kind be prevented, its gradual growth, if not its
great virtue, is certainly the cause of its excellence. Laws
are made, constituencies grow, at least if they are of any
value ; they have roots, they bear, they ripen, they endure.
Those that are fashioned resemble painted sticks planted in
the ground, as I have seen in other countries what were
called Trees of Liberty," they strike no root, bear no fruit,
swiftly decay, and ere long perish—" Nature, indeed," as
Bolingbroke says, beautifully translating a beautiful passage
of Lord Bacon, throws out altogether, and at once, the
whole system of every tree, and the rudiments of all its
parts, bitt she leaves the growth to time." Cherished by
the breeze, strengthened by the sun, expanded by the
shower.§ Such is the course of nature. But man must
work by another and a tentative process. Having to deal
with human beings, he possesses no gift of foresight ; he
provedintshe course hurtful,oremovingtig,es ;
must consult the past and take experience for his emiqe,
f
tthi e whatpr
. feltoc3e to s
ib:n
aelul
ym bslroowu,s.somßey_
,eaintdfogrraadsuoa.saloo its
npesruatfpeonndouedr s; •rsatle.emlyha:u,bteaeinnifnogrnailei3d,
adding what has been found wanting. changing whatr has
s

*
lIIII's Repression of Crime pp. 325, a, 130.—There has
not of ate years been so important an octillion made to cur
practical Jurisprudence and our social science as this werl-.
Mr. 11. relies for his statement of the comparative expendi-
ture upon drink and literature upon the high authority of
a distinguished benefactor to literature and
Csochaiarliesseileinneiegltt,

t 31r. Layarcl, of Dundee, turnished the instructions, haviii.•
himself made the experiment upon several beehives.
j Some absurd attempts have been made to represent Mr.
Fresnel as having anticipated Sir D. Brewster. He probably
was ignorant of what Sir D. Brewster had done long before,
and therefore his originality as the second inventor may be
admitted on that supposition. But Sir D. Brewster published
in 1812, Mr. Fresnel in 1822. As early as 1816 Sir D. Brewster
pressed upon the lighthouse engineer in Scotland the use of
his method.
§ "Mulcent sum, format sol, educat amber."

violent check ; and so little broken by forcible concussion
that all the permanent improvements have been, effected
peacefully, and-.only short-lived changes have been' the
work of force. • The distinguishing characteristic of our
constitution is not confined to the manner and process of its
formation. The felicity has, indeed, been inestimable of
our having obtained its blessings without paying the price
in Public calamities and crimes. But the acquisition we
have made is greatly increased in value by the manner of
making it. The structure is much better than if it had '
In fFarning a constitution; comfort and con-
been feOned in any other way. Even in providing a habita-
tion, as well as
venience may be better secured by altering and improving
a house 411eacly built and inhabited than by raising one on
an.entirely IMW plan, Tho rwiPilt the And the risk little,
the benefit great ; while others erect fine mansions wlitch
they dun' t care to use ; and -give rise to the proverb that
fools build houses for wise men to live in. So we feel the
utmost confidence in all the principal parts of our system
because they are the result of acts al experience and mutual
concessions where a conflict of opposing parties has arisen.
Thus, then, has been framed, and thus we possess, the Bri-
tish constitution—a combination of different interests and
p.rwere, at once providing against the encroachment of any
one, and against error in the action of the whole ; uniting
in itself the characteristic qualities of all other Governments
—regal, patrician, republican ; and endowed with their re-
spective virtues, borrowing vigour from monarchy, stability
from aristocracy, popular freedom from democracy. The
people possess by their representatives a voice in the ma-
nagement of their own affairs, a real control over the con-
duct of their rulers, and a sensible weight in the selection of
the public servants, The owners of property, the possessors
of rank, and the representatives of all kinds of personal emi-
nce, have a power and authority suMcient to check the
excesses of popular violence. The Sovereign can influence
the conduct of affairs as far as is compatible with the delibe-
rate will of the other branches of the Government. Above
all, the unspeakeable blessing of a pure and impartial admi-
nistration of justice is secured by the absolute independence
of the judges, and their exclusion from all share in party or
even in any political proceedings. The structure of the
constitution has been likened to a pyramid, of which the
broad base supporting the whole is formed of the people ; the
middle portion Is the aristocracy of rank, property, talents,
and acquirements ; and on the narrow summit rests the
Crown. The judicial power, pure and unsullied, calmly
exercised by men independent of all the other orders and
removed from ail faction, partaking neither of its fury nor
its delusions, forms a mighty zone which girds the pyramid
round about, connecting the loftier and narrower with the
humbler and broader layers, binding the whole compactly
together, and repressing the encroachments and smooth-
' ing the ruggedness of any of its parts. But the essen-
tial part •Cf the aristocratical element must never
be forgotten or overlooked Nothing else can protect
liberty from an arbitrary Sovereign, or from the more
• insupportable tyranny of the multitude, more insupportable
because pervading the whole community, while the single
• despot affects only certain classes. So deeply impressed with
this truth are some friends of liberty, advocates of popular
t government, that they deem a landed aristocracy the India-
_

pensable'condition of -a
free constitution. But Whether one
kind of aristocracy alone can prevent the usurpation both
of an individual and of the multitude, our mixed monarchy
is safe on either supposition. To admit that this great poli-
tical structure has imperfections, or that into its adminis-
tration abuses have found their way, is only to confess that
it is the work of man, and by men administered ; nor can
any rational admiration which it calls forth be for a moment
allowed to preclude further improvements, or to be urged as
a reason, against considering fully any proposal conceived in
a wise and reflecting spirit, and tending to amendment, not
to subversion., But we are to regard in the first place the
inestimable advantages which it at present secures to us,
even if no further improvement be effected ; and if none of
the existing administrative abuses be removed. Thus let it
be granted that the representation is defective, and that
classes are excluded whose admission is required both by
considerations of justice and by the public interests. Still
see what a prodigious benefit the existing state of things
confers upon the people in their rights and their interests
of every description. The business of the State is conducted
in public ; in public every matter is discussed by the two
houses ; and there is hardly any-restraint by law, certainly
none whatever in practice, upon the complete discussion
both at popular meetings and through the press. Then, be-
side the security of life, liberty, property, and reputation
under the law, there is this further protection from oppres-
sion or abuse of any kind to even the humblest person in
the community, that without his having recourse to
the law he can make his grievance known to Parliament
and to the public—a protection which almost always pre-
vents any cause of complaint. Contrast the security from
injury thus enjoyed by our fellow-citizens with the exposure
to oppression and injury of various kinds of which the in-
habitants of other countries complain—countries where
there is no Parliament, no public meetings, no press, or
what is worse than none, a fettered, partial, corrupt press
—and you will readily believe that the people of those
countries would be glad to exchange their fine climate, fer-
tile territory, and slight taxation, if they might with our
darker sky, reluctant soil, and heavy burdens, have a par-
liament and a public press which should make the sacrifice
of their lives and fortunes to the caprice of a ruler and the
malversation and oppression of his servants an impossibi-
lity. I have singled out the most remarkable practical
advantage of our situation; but lam fully aware of that
which was specified by the illustrious captain and states-
man whose loss we deplore each succeeding day, and to
what quarter soever we turn our eyes, whether to peace or
war, to foreign or domestic affairs. That great man was
wont to dwell upon this as a peculiar felicity of English
men, that with all the distinction of rank, the exclusive
privileges of some classes, the unequal distribution of poli-
tical power, there is no man so humbly born, nor in so un-
fortunate a condition, who may not rise by the exertion of
his industry and his talents to the highest station under
the Crown. This, then, is that mighty system of govern-
ment which bestows such unspeakable blessings upon our
country, and has truly been called the envy of the world.
It is melancholy to contemplate the perils that surround it,
and which have of late years been greatly upon the in-
crease—perils mainly arising from the conduct of those
for whose .highest interests it provides, and the conduct
even of those who share in the exercise of its functions.
Its open enemies abroad, its doubtful friends and con-
cealed adversaries among ourselves, regard this danger
with more or less of satisfaction ; they all consider con-
stitutional government, the scheme of representation,
as upon its trial. The ignorance,, the fickleness, the
intemperance in all its forms of the electoral body, is
dwelt upon with great exaggeration, and they rely
still more upon the corruption, probably exaggerated
also, of candidates as well as voters. Now, it is a
great, though a very coalmen error, when exaggeration
is found iu any charge, to suppose therefore that there
is no foundation for the charge. The parties accused
never fail to seize upon this ground of defence, and to,
often with success. But sober reflection must be applied
to sift the matter, and, when the subject is of great impor-
tepee, it is absolutely necessary to ascertain what portion
of the charge is groundless, how much remains probable,
and how much is proved. After making all deductions, it
is quite manifest that there prevails in very many town con-
stituencies an inveterate practice of bribery, whether direct
e n
nt hneo seller eal le
sfeserawgeesa
eases
beingoe
rsa
v‘d.ooottienerrgs,
or by shifts. In some boroughs money is given directly for
votes. In others, under pretence of purchasing some corn-
ea:
nebno eveeeno4orrfOcoon each side, all of whom re-
rrYninugmber being. so hired,
the candidates or their agents. Now
tlieedbituYylelrothtiemceasnditiedavtale'useaisgegintausv.
andtcoa oetr alleve heri
paymentmr triflingen
° moral r uaenn aswet
intents,rafornroPke ner,
and to all legal also, these are mere acts
of bribery, and the disguise attempted only adds to the
moral vfErnce, though the legal remains unaggrarated. It
is thus manifass that the franchise is regarded by a great
body of perscins not as a trust to be exercised for public pur-
poses, but as a private proporty to be used for individual
gain. Those persons, no doubt, are aware that this use of
it it is unlawful, and hence they who so act, and they who
seduce them, are conscious of an infraction of the law, and
a habit of doing unlawful things is thus widely produced,
to the great detriment of the public morals and leading to a
breach of other laws also. Nor is this all. Whoever takes
a bribe is liable on tendering his vote to have the bribery
oath administered. Such persons are aware of this. The
bribed voter, therefore, who goes to the poll knows that
the oath may be offered, and in 99 cases in 100 he is
prepared to take it—that is, to commit perjury. Even
can he be
not
atceonudietretedd of moral guilt? perjury is not committed,
A footpad goes out
to rob, armed with his pistol. If resisted he is resolved
to use it, or at any rate if recognised, he is prepared to
destroy the evidence against him, lie has upon his con-
science the moral guilt of murder, even if he escapes
being tempted to commit the crime. Can the voter who
takes a bribe be deemed less guilty of intended perjury than
the highwayman of intended murder? Those who offer
bribes ought to reflect how nearly they commit the crime of
subornation of perjury. From such crimes all men would
shrink, possibly oven from the lesser crime of bribery unac-
companied with the dreadful aggravation of false swearing.
But those are guilty of both the lesser and the aggravated
offence who employ an agent to bribe and supply him with
the means of bribery. It is said that they only give the
money to bo expended in a lawful manner; that they have
confidence in their agents; and that they even direct them
on no account to practise corruption. But the existence of
the practice in question is no notorious, and they can have no
reason to doubt the zeal, the activity, and the unscrupulous
nature of those they employ ; the jobbing attorney, as well
known for an electioneering agent as others of his craft are
known formoney;lertdingagents ; the publican, who bargain: s
that his house shall be used ; whose accounts, the bill of the
duo and the score of the other are paid without any scrutiny.
These things cloak from the candidate's eyes the particular
course pursued in spending his money, but that the corrupt
deeds have been done, he must be taken to know as well as
he knows how much they have cost him, and the state of
the poll which is the result. Let him not doubt, then, Lis
own criminality, or flatter himself that he has not spread
corruption among his fellow-creatures, sapped their morals,
produced fraud and falsehood, aye, even perjury, merely
because he has wilfully shut his eyes to the acts of those
by whom he has done the deed. Men, especially when en-
gaged in evil courses, are prone to discover differences ; and
self-love, the great source of the blindness, is i,tself quick-
sighted to descry nice distinctions that may screen from
the stern judge whom Providence has appointed in the
breast—distinctions which may leave the guilt doubtful by
concealing it from our own eyes. An ,Eastern talc which
most of 113 has read illustrates this. A tyrant was minded
to pit two of his family to death ; but even his relent.
lees nature recoiled from witnessing the murder he had
commanded, according to the accustomed solicism, as
Lord Bacon calls it, of arbitrary power, desiring the end
but disliking the means. The same repugnance was shared
by the officer entrusted with the commission of the crime;
and thinking he could divide the guilt by dividing the in-
strumentality, he employed one ignorant of the criminal
purpose. This unsuspected and unsuspicious agent wa's
taken to a cave where a rope that entered the ground was
made fast to an iron ring, and he was told to sever it with
a hatchet. On the blow being struck the rope instantly
disappeared with great force ; and being carried to a chain-
beraa the adjoining palace, he saw two persons who bad
been crushed to death by the descent of a marble canopy
under which they had been fast asleep, and which had
been suspended by the rope. The tyrant, and even his
officer, weuld have recoiled from the sight of the slaughter
whVi they gru,iled not to perpetrate, and of which they
a dagger into their victims,
and been sprinkled with their • '
werd:s.s guilty as if they had with their own hand plunged
blood. -With the full approval of the illustrious friend
whore I have already mentioned, I once referred to this
apolo,,ne in illr.stration of their guilt, who invested their
capital in slave-trading adventures, and who would have
shrunk back from the sight of horrors in that infernal
(rattle ; bat who were really as much guilty of piracy and
murder as the wretches actually engaged in it. These are
greater crimes th tu the propagation of immorality and per-
jury throughout the community; but the relation of the
peat
equally
utut
at
honest
olgf
suuatl and
guilty
r(o)o:uarpggeabei
tni
cots
nfe
eciasie
nds sametgohmjeuedg heperjurya:t
lesserhc;
oeamnl
committed
tioettffthe:edni
ref:
offence
jrourleesrthi
sayciieas
somewhat lesser, for I never shall forget the exclamation of
he
Williams, in conversation with Lord Denman and myself,
eyes only to Le surpassed by the sight of murder. On our
expressing a doubt whether he did not rate too high a de-
gree of guilt unhappily too often incurred ,but were it con-
" No," said he
" and that only increases my horror of it ;

fined to a single instance, what shall we say of his
crime who deliberately calls upon the Almighty Judge
of all the world to witness and to punish his false-
hood I?" What would this honest and learned judge have
felt on seeing scores of men who had already voted driven
up by the zeal of an unscrupulous election agent, and again
tendering, their votes with the solemn oath that they had
not polled before, and all for the purpose of gaining time
that expected voters might arrive before the close—the
books of the poll clerks making it certain that their second
votes could not be received ; or what would have been his
feelings had he seen the inhabitants of a town filled with
his old Yorkshire clients, generally and habitually selling
their votes for a price, and with their minds made up, after
having received it, to swear upon the gospels of God that
they nad got neither reward nor promise of reward, from
any person whatever. The effect of the prevailing corrup-
tion upon the upper classes, as well as- upon the humbler,
the candidate, as well as the voter, in spreading those prin-
ciples, and giving a lower moral tone generally, has been
noted. The tricks resorted to, and, among others, the want
of good faith, much more of high and delicate feelings of
honour which have recently been disclosed, clearly indicate
the extreme anxiety to obtain that which is equivalent to
political power. There seems no bound to this desire, no
labour which men will not undergo, no suffering they will
not endure to grasp it. A great poet has described the
honest arts by which men maystrive toreach this summit—
" Of genius emulous, to soara s high ;
With noble souls in noble acts to vie •
On worthy toils to see suns set and rise—
The strife is arduous, but the world's the prize."
But a vile, grovelling, unprincipled ambition, a thirst of
power at any price to be staked, despicable as it is, proves
equally uncontrolled in its victims—
" Whom neither fear of God, that devils binds,
Nor laws of man that commonweals contain,
Nor bounds of nature that wild beasts restrain,
Can keep from outrage and from doing wrong,'
Where they may hope a kingdom to obtain."
And we preposterously think to restrain such an appetite for
power by the mere risk of losing it, the chance of the pur-
suit being fruitless. The loss of the seat is all the penalty
that we denounce to deter the great malefactors. I speak
here from some experience of the inefficacy of such penal-
ties. While the African slave trade was only punished by
the forfeiture of the ships it mocked the law, because the
profits of a successful voyage covered the loss of many fail-
ures. The wrong-doer was content to run the risk in the
eager quest of great gain. So the candidate and his agents
in their eager desire of a seat will run the risk of defeat, and
encounter any cost in money. But when I made slave-
trading felony, the pirate who had cheerfully run all pecu-
niary hazards would not expose himself to be transported as
a felon, and the execrable traffic ceased. So it is clear that
candidates and tdeir agents, whom no dread of defeat or ex-
pense can restrain, will shrink from the hazard of an infa-
mous punishment when they see the tread-wheel as well as
the House of Commons at the end of the path which leads
from the hustings. It may be objected that the severity of
the infliction would preveat the execution of the law ' • and,
no doubt, as long as the enforcement of it is left to atribu-
nal like the Election Committee this result is to be appre-
hended. But how much longer are we to continue the only
nation which leaves the execution of its penal laws to pri-
vate individuals, inflicting upon the party injured by an
offence the additional injury of prosecuting the offender.
Instances continually occur of a criminal escaping because
ho is wealthy, and can pay the forfeiture of the party bound
over to prosecute. An individual who had committed for •
grry some years ago escaped in this way. A charge of
manslaughter was thus stopped on its way to the grand jury
very recently, because the culprit at one of the public
schools belonged to a distinguished family, whose feelings,
as well as the credit of the school, would have suffered if the
law took its course. An attempt to destroy a will by which
property of near a million in value had been devised away
from the testator's heir (bribes to any amount being offered
to obtain possession of the instrument) escaped altogether
through the mistaken tenderness of a professional man.
These instances are given, many more of which came before
As. Phillimore's committee. But no facts are required
to prove what the least reflection shows to be the in-
evitable tendency of this great defect in our criminal
procedure, subjecting the execution of the law to every
kind of accident, and protecting—even encouraging—cor-
rupt bargains in some cases, oppression in others. In no
instance is the defect more grievous than in that which
relates to electoral corruption ; for, unhappily, the offence
of bribery is treated too lightly both by parties and the
public. It seems to be taken for granted that all men
would bribe if they could ; the only shame is being found
out, and that sits very lightly. In a late newspaper discus-
sion of the subject, the comparison between drunkenness
and bribery in this respect was very ingeniously and very
soundly treated, and as crowds flock to see an actor play
the drunken man, so do they flock to an election committee,
to hear of a kitten sold for £5O, and a £2O bank-note found
in the teapot of a voter's wife. But serious, truly serious,
nay tragical, aro the consequences of the one fault and of
the other. They who laugh at the mimic exposure of in
temperance would be shocked to witness the real midnight
orgies of the gin palace ; and would perhaps shed tears over
the wretched house, forlorn wives, and starving children of
its frequenters. And they who have made themselves
merry at the committee, with the gibes of counsel, or the
tales of witnesses may shudder to reflect on the conse-
quences of electoral corruption, itself a grave offence, and
leading to dishonest courses that end in still greater delin-
quency. Nevertheless the fact is undeniable that the pre-
vailing insensibility tO this renders a provision, absolutely
necessary for securing the prosecution of such corruption,
if indeed we really and sincerely intend its extirpation.
That an improvement in the mode of dealing with election
committees would have a salutary effect, even without the
appointment of a pufilic prosecutor, may be admitted. There
cannot be the shadow of a reason why the House of Com-
mons should stand upon its privileges to exclude all inter-
ference after the important but wholly insufficient remedy
provided by the Grenville Act for the old and utterly in-
defensible course, and why they should not go a step
further, and make 'the tribunal one really deserving the
name of a court of justice, or, in other words, a tribunal
constituted of members all appointed without regard to
party, sitting not occasionally but permanently, well in-
formed in the law, acquainted with the rules of procedure,
competent to examine and to weigh evidence, guided
by the decisions of other courts, and pronouncing
its own in each case with the authority which may secure
its being followed in other cases. The illustrious statesman
to whom I have more than once referred engaged me to
work with him upon a plan the main principle of which he
suggested, when a bill came from the Commons for dealing
with charges of general corruption in boroughs, and it was
applicable to all proceedings upon private bills. When
moulded into shape, and after alterations and additions, it
was of this nature—a jury of twelve, selected from both
houses seven Commoners and five Lords, were to examine
the evidence, sitting under the presidency of a judge, and
to find a verdict which should be binding on all parties as to
the facts, and also upon both houses, who might enact on
those facts as they pleased. The proposal elaborated it its
'details was fully adopted by the committee to whom the bill
had been referred, and as thus amended, indeed totally
changed, it was reported to the house, and approved without
a dissenting voice. Tho Commons had no answer to offer,
thcyadmitted the merit of the alterations we had made, and
indeed highly approved of our plan. But as it had becon
a new bill rather than the original bill amended, they post-
poned the further proceeding to another session, and it has
unfortunately never been resumed, A few years after, when
it became necessary to change the whole course of proceed-
ing upon private bills, I proposed a set of standing orders
which wei-e referred to a select committee. The duke urged
nie to bring forward our plan of 1834 ; and on my express-
ing =apprehension that we should not carry it, m conse-
quence of the generality of the orders, they being applica-
ble to all cases, and not confined to those of boroughs
charged with corruption, as the bill of 1834 had been, he
said, " At least let us try it, there being no doubt of its su-
perior efficacy ; and if we are defeated we can retreat upon
your orders." We made the attempt, and were defeated
by a large majority in the committee; but we carried the
lesser plan through with some difficulty, and the house
adopted it without a dissentient voice. It forms the stand-
ing orders now in force, and, after much delay, the
Commons reluctantly adopted them, with some amend-
merits. Now, of course, a joint committee of the
two houses would not be applicable to election peti-
tions •, but the most important part of our plan, the commit-
tee sitting under the presidency of a judge, would be an im-
mense improvement upon the present system, and a still
greater would be the sending all the allegations of petitioners
*
and their adversaries to 'a permanent court of judg_es,rre-
.;
rer,vable, who should report to the house. With thei opi-
nions, the report to be binding as to the facts only. The
house would, in almost all cases, though not
_b ye
t
voluntarily y t
voluntarily accede to the opinion expressed. The institu-
tion of a public prosecutor would be the, consummation of
this p'an, for the extirpation of all corruption,
_bes in ides being
a very valuable addition to our criminal procedure
gene-
ral. But even without this important change, the' estab-
lishment of a tribunal such as has been described would
have a powerful effect in checking the corruption so much a
and so justly complained of. It is equally manifest that if
everything remains on its present footing, to all but the
and election con-
tests can only be carried on at a costl ruinous
!nest wealthy, if no means are afforded of securing condign
punishment to the practisers of corruption, and the only
risk incurred is the loss of a seat, the existing evil must
continue to eat into the vitals ofoura farce,constitution,to m
to render
the
what is in mockery called free election
House of Commons only by nt
accidents members the
intochoiceh
t ofe means thee a peo-
ple, of
to convert the election o
subverting the independence and destroying the morals of
their constituents, and raisetoby
a grave doubt whether the
country would not be injured an extension of the fran-
chise, if it did not beget a further doubt about the benefit
of the franchise as already enjoyed. It seems, indeed, but
too probable that the prevalence of corruption will be used
as a reason against granting elective rights with the at-
tached duties to those who are not at present allowed to
possess them. The adversaries of this extension dwell
much upon the ignorance of the great body of the people,
and not merely their imperfect education but their having
no habits of reflection and deliberation.' It is true they
would be unfit to be entrusted with a voice upon measures
(4' policy foreign or domestic. But p
who shall be deputed to represent themuon the question
in Parliament.
they might perhaps
.be trusted. There are, however, other
things besides their ignorance to be taken into the account,
and
a grave doubt arises whether men deserve the franchise
u,ho value it so little that they will not deprive themselves
el any indulgence in order to acquire it. If renting a £lO
house gives it, a man occupying a £6 house might have it
by saving 20d. a week in beer. It is but too certain that of
those who are loudest in their call for the right of voting,
a very great
number would refuse to pay this very small
pr ice to obtain it. But the disposition to regard the vote as
a thing which may be turned. to profit, in a word, as ona.
ferring the power of being bribed,. as enabling them to com-
mit a crime for
it T the lucre of gain, offers a still stronger reason
against granting
To imagine, as some reasoners do, that
clothing these men with the franchise will raise them in
their own estimation and in that of others, and impress
them with a sense of their importance as executing a great
public trust, is altogether too romantic a view for any prae-
tical inure to take. But it is certain that if corruption be
etfeetuaLy put down, the greatest obstacle to their admis-
s among the number of electors is removed. But while
the law continues so lamentably defective both in its sub-
s ;moo and upon procedure, there is some satisfaction in
fin ling that the leading men at one or two places, from a
sei s 3 of duty or the fear of disfranchisement, have been de-
vising- local measures for checking corrupt practices. Thus
at Bridgwater and at Norwich, vigilance committees have
been formed by members of the Town Council, and other
persons of authority, for the purposeof keeping strict watch
.ivsr their fellow townsmen in the electiens recently held.
Finite these praiseworthy proceedings something may be
hoped ; but the evil is too deep-rooted to be thus extirpated,
and it can hardly be doubted that in the places where °or-
ruption most prevail., and where the practice of it is of long
standing, leas facilities will be fosnd for adopting such a
course.
While sonic reasoners contend that the people
are disqualified for the exercise of the franchise, in other
words, for the possession of political power, by want of
information, and some would withhold it because of their
evil habits, there has been at all times,'but never so much
as of late years, a disposition in a large and important
body to assume power by acts, sometimes of doubtful lega-
lity, and always leading by their almost unavoidable con-
sequences to a breach of the law. I allude to combinations
for raising wages, accompanied with s ;volution. not to

work either for more than a certain time or for less than a
certain remuneration. If the proceeding is connected with
any plan of- preventing others from working, either by ac-
tual violence-or by threats, it is manifestly an offence and
severely punishable ; but, without any violence or menaces,
the raising a fund to keep one class idle by supporting them
when they refuse to work, except on the terms prescribed
by the body, terms to which their employers cannot or will
not yield, and the waylaying another class coming from
the country, offering to pay the journey back if they join in
the refusal, approaches very near an unlawful conspiracy ;
or, if it be not absolutely illegal, it is in the highest degree
oppressive to the employers, because it deprives them of
the ordinary advantages of competitien, placing the whole
relations of labour in a false and unnatural position. (Hear.)
That which regulates all prices, whether of commodities or
of labour, is the higgling of the market ; and there is a kind
of individual instinct by which dealers in labour, as well as
dealers in other things, adjust their demands. A com-
bined action of 100 or 1,000 substitutes for this individual
instinct a fixed rule, conceived without the least regard to
the rate ef supply and demand, to the circumstances of the
party offering and the party accepting or refusing, and en-
forces that rule in an arbitrary manner, and by no natural
appliances. The ,fallacy is enormous by which the la-
bourers, complaining of machinery as throwing hands out
of work, b
hold that they ought to share directly with the
employer in the gains which the machinery enables him to
make. They do share in those gains, but not directly.
The capital saved must always be employed in paying for
labour; and the machinery that saves labour in one line to
the capitalist enables him to employ more labour in
other lines •, the great probability being that he will em-
ploy it in the line to which he and his workmen are ac-
customed. (Hear, hear.) The combination of masters is
the inevitable consequence of the combination of men ; and,
as they have capital to draw upon, which is a far more cer-
tain and secure resource of supply than the contributions of
the men, such a conflict must always end in a great loss to
both parties, but dreadful to poor men, whose families suffer
severely in the meantime, and who, after they have been de-
feated, are sure to find a great diminution of employment
from the injury inflicted upon the masters. It is needless to
observe that the immediate tendency of such combinations
is the very reverse of the influence of the establishment of
guilds in the middle ages, which were the parents of skill in
all the arts. The inevitable effect of strikes is to level all
merit, to benefit the lazy and incapable at the expense of the
industrious and skilful, and to rob all concerned in them
for the profit of a few agitators and mob-seekers. (Hear.)
But though the employers have an unquestionable right to
combine in self-defence against the tyranny of their combined
workmen, and though they are secure of success in the end,
it is only to be gained by patience, at some sacrifice, and by
joint and prudent action. It is sure to be lost by any imita-
tion of the unjust and violent course pursued by the men ;
and it is most especially at a season of indiscreet and unscru-
pulous combination anon the latter, that the masters
ought more than ever to beware of encroaching upon the
just rights, and rather to give them more freedom, than to
curb them in any manner of way. It must be observed that
all the errors into which one of the parties fall, and which
are the cause of their unreasonable and unreasoning pro-
ceedings, and which furnish the enemies of an extended
franchise with the most powerful arguments, come from
ignorance. If care were taken to teach them the plain,
easily learnt and easily understood principles which of all
men they have the greatest interest in understanding—the
relation between prices, including that of labour and sup-
ply and demand, between capital and wages, between machi-
nery and profits as well of masters as of workmen—between
rights and, duties, between the enforcement of the law and
the interests of all—if these principles were ever pre-
sent to their minds, the course of conduct which
they oftentimes pursue to their own great detriment quite
es much as to the injury of others, would be next to impos-
sible. (Hear, hear.) But other branches of political know-
ledge highly important for them to possess should be added ;
nor is it doubtful that these can be taught just as easily as
reading, writing, or ciphering, with the little of geography
and history now given. An able and very useful paper was
read at our last year's meeting by Mr. Templar, showing
that those branches of knowledge were successfully taught
in the Manchester Model School, of which he is head mas-
ter, and Dr. Hodgson also urged the same improvement in an
excellent paper. The necessity of taking this course, if we
mean that education should be more than a name, has long
been strenuously inculcated by Mr. W. Ellis, whom it is
impossible to name without expressing a doubt whether the
soundness of his views or his noble genercsity in promoting
the great work of popular education is most to be admired.
It is with the most heartfelt satisfaction that I learn the
wise course pursued by the Education Committee of the
Privy Council. They have called upon this excellent person
to deliver lectures upon political economy to the working
classes, and I have the pleasure of announcing that his st
lecture is given this day. Some most important branches
of industry are, from these circumstances, exempt from
the possibility of the mischiefs, which, with the means of
preventing, we have been for a moment contemplating.
(Hear, hear.) Factory labour, from the relations between
master and men, can scarcely ever give rise to combina-
tions on the one part or en the other. But there is a most
serious evil to which it is exposed, and the moral influence
upon a great portion of those employed can never be too
closely watched, or, where necessary, too carefully counter-
acted. The effects of promiscuous association without due
superintendence are most unhappy upon the young of both
Sexes, but more especially upon females. The constant wages,
too, tempt married women to eke out their income by this
kind of work, and leave their children unattended to; these
children at a very early age are themselves drawn into
the same employ. The Legislature has interfered, not
more than enough, in restricting the hours of work where
the young are concerned, nor much more than was justifi-
able in certain cases of adult workmen. But the worst part
by far of the evil remains beyond the reach of legislation,
and a remedy for it has not been attempted, except in a
few individual instances. The good feeling and good sense
of master manufacturers can alone interpose to rescue the
numerous and important class, especially of the female
hands, from the contamination to which they are exposed,
and which is spreading the worst kinds of dissoluteness over
the working classes. Nor will all the care of the masters
suffice unless they are assisted by the generous and truly
rational co-operation of women in the middle and upper
classes of society, moved by pious zeal and acting upon a
well-considered plan, for the good of their fellow-creatures
in by far the most important of human concerns. (Hear.)
The Sisters of Charity in France bear comfort into the hos-
, pitals, they render invaluable help to the physician in dis-
arming disease of its pains, and lend a most valuable aid
to the pastor in disarming death of its terrors. They have
earned the united blessings of a people that hardly ever
agree in respect for any existing institution. They have
made their name revered by all. A worse disease than ever
filled the wards of hospitals, a moral plague, desolates the
haunts of our most gainful industry. Let the spectacle or
report of it call into existence a sisterhood that may meet
the enormous evil, to prevent which is far better and far
easier than to cure. The noble lord concluded amid loud
cheering, having occupied more than two hours in the
reading of the address.
Vice-Chancellor Sir W. P. WOOD then delivered a lec-
ture on Jurisprudence, after which the Association sepa-
rated into the various departments.

FROM THE GAZETTE OF LAST NIGH?

FOREIGN-OFFICE, SEPT. 30.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint Wil-
liam Waddilove, Esq., now British Vice-Consul at Ham-
burg, to be her Majesty's Consul at Hamburg.
WAR-OFFICE, PALL-MALL, OcT. 11.
MEMORANDUM.—The next examination of candidates
for direct appointments to the Army, will be held at the
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, on Monday the 21st of November
next, and following days.
ADMIRALTY, OCT. 7.

Corps of Royal Marines—FirEit Lieutenant Theophilus
Vaughton to be Captain, vice Dowell, appointed Instructor•
of. Musketry; Lieutenant Robert Patrick to be First Lien,
tenant, vice Jull, resigned.