The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-16 00:00:00

POOLL LAWS.

The evils resulting from the mat-administration
of these laws are too familiar to the House and to
the country to require enumeration. On this sub-
ject the Committee refer to their report of lag year.
In adverting to that Report,the Committee have
thought it their duty to consider whether the motal
degradation of the labourer might not be in future
prevented by some change in the law.

Sound opinions on the Poor Laws have been
pretty general since the Reports of the Committee-
which sat upon that subject in 1817-18 ; and it is
hoped that vigilance, order, and economy have been
gradually making progress in the management of
parishes. -In many instances the activity and vigi-
lance of a single individual have put an end to all
the evils arising from the abuse of the law in a par-
ticular district. At the same time, the vestries and
overseers have had to struggle against Untoward
cir-
cumstances, which have, no doubt, retarded the be-
nefits that might otherwise have been expected from
improved opinions and improved practice. Still
your Committee think they are justified in regarding
the year 1817 as a period at which the evils, arising
partly from the abuse of the Poor Laws, and partly
from the loose phraseology of the laws themselves,
had reached their height, and a turn was made in
favour of a froro enlightened, and ultimately more
humane system. Changes in so complicated end
inveterate a disease can, however, be only introduced
gradually ; And it behoves your Honourable House,
as a body, and all individuals in stations of authority
or influence, to watch for every opportunity both of
amending the law and its administration.
Some of the alterations suggested by tire Commit-
tee of 1817 were in the nature of experiments; and
where they have proved successful the principle
might be carried further. Others failed in their
progress through the other House of Parliament, but
might, upon better consideration, be now adopted.
Others, in fine, were deferred, because the great
fluctuations in prices of the tune at which the Com-
mittee sat, made any extensive change inexpedient.
But whenever legislation upon the question of Corn,
of Currency, and the Financial System of the State
shall be for the most part settled, it will be more
easy to adapt sound general principles to the exist-
in,: system of the Poor Laws.
'With these remarks your Committee desire to re-
fer the House to some passages of the Report of
1817, which come within one or other of the cases
mentioned above. The first is a suggestion with
regard to Parochial or District Schools for Education.
" Your Committee recommended most earnestly
a more faithful execution of the existing law, by the
establishment of schools for the above purposes;
and they believe such institutions would be in all re-
spects more beneficial, if the children were lodged
where they would be employed sad maintained ; for
in extensive parishes the daily attendance of the
younger class would be impracticable; and where
proper proper establishments for these purposes shall
adopted to the satisfaction of two Justlicries,er‘tioe
shall certify the same,
parishes for this
given on account of such''ciliteifldrseh
maintained. And if
age to be there instructed and _
Elizabeth, aided
it should be found that the 4:3d of
lay the 9th George 1., has not
f providedits own
liajoll beo longer
bfit
suliicient
'newts for the accomplishment o_.purpose,
has been
end."- A Bill for this purpos
the House of Lords. I fad it passed into a law,
your Committee are convinced its eifeeti, would have
children as
been beneficial.
The next is a remark which has not yet been'
acted upon, that " it might be expedient to make
new powers should be given, to
the ditty of the Surveyor of the Highways more
available to the Overseer, for the purpose of pro-
viding employmeet." Its some parts of the country
a power of this kind is much wanted.
The third is a proposal of a more general and ex-
tensive hind. While, as your Committee trust
and
believe, attention and judgment, as well es the ex-

cess of the evil itself, are doing much in some of those
parts of the country where the management of the
poor had been the worst, there is a continual ten-
dency in some other parts to fall into a bad system,
and, for the sake of sonic temporary advantage, to
give entrance to an evil of which the injurious con-
sequences are not foreseen. For this reason tha
following passage well deserves attention :
" With the view of providing such a check may
as
lay the foundation for a better system, it may he
worth the most serious consideration, whether a pro-
' vision of various local Acts, by which the assess-
ment itself was limited for the time to come, might
not be applied to all other parishes or districts.
Your Committee are not aware that such a provi-
sion would be less practicable as applied generally
wouldls determinationspro bably heerinilms
,conerrleiescientffignegefitt,otilniaell
than locally; and it would obviously not only operate
in aid of any other cheek to expenditure which
might be desired, but would necessitate a degree of
economysc
such
careful
a whichnd
than any detailed regulations which could be pre•
scribed by particular interests, and render necessary
cnoonttroihnulyteindil.
properest object of relief asologusld;
mate-
rially to put an end to numberless
the bad administration of the Poor Laws.' The
cheek, indeed, which is proposed, is perfectly con-
dslialsTbuwt'ititatitkeesnthatelmireseoht:es, are compelled to limit
their expenditure according to their means; and the
money raised for the poor being strictly a tax, is in
capable of unlimited extenslon,
thanwl-1 foreegni aaptpetr h d
lie purposes
edegrtiorzle relieve
of
yetthhee
State."ne ces of the peer,
If this suggesticm were adopted, some limitations,
or rather, relaxations, would be necessary ; whether
those pointed out in the Report are the best would
be matter for subsequent deliberation.
Among the recommendations of the Committee
which were adopted by Parliament, was one limiting
the power of a single Magistrate to grant relief.
Your Committee are inclined to think that the power
might be still further restrained, and that, where a
Select Vestry has decided, there should be no ap-
peal, except to two Magistrates in Petty Sessions.
Another suggestion adopted by Parliament was,
that of allowing parishes to hold a certain quantity
of land; but the quantity was limited to 30 acres ;
it might, the Committee are of opinion, be safely ex-
tended to a larger quantity, provided the cultivation
be confined to manual labour.
The Committee believe that a more vigilant at-
tention has been paid to this subject of late years by
parish authorities : and that, could the present bur-
den be lightened, even for a time, they would gene-
rally be prepared to act on a system of less improvi-
dence for the future.

(TO DX CONTINUED.)

- - -
CASE OF SPECTRAL ILLUSION.

The following very distinct and interesting
narrative was read to the London Phrenoloffr.,ical
Society, and kindly co.ninunicated to us, for
insertion in the Phrenological Journal, by its
learned Author, a Member of the English
Bar :
~ In December, 2823, A. was confined to
his bed by inflammation on the chest, and was
supposed by his medical attendant to be in con-
siderable danger. One 'night, while unable to
sleep from. pain and fever, he saw sitting in a
chair, on the left side of his bed, a female figure,
which he immediately recognized to be that of a
young lady who died about two years before.
His first feeling was surprise, and perhaps a little
alarm ; his second, that he was suffering from
delirium. With this impression he put his
head under the bed clothes, and after trying in
vain to sleep, as a test of the soundness of his
mind, he went through a long and complicated
process of metaphysical reasoning. He then
peeped out, and saw the figure in the same situa-
tion and position. He had a fire, but would
not allow a candle or nurse in the room. A
stick was kept by his side, to knock for the nurse
when he required her attendance. Being too
weak to move his body, he endeavoured to touch
the figure with a stick ; but, on a real object
being put upon the chair, the imaginary one dis-
appeared, and was not visible again that night.
" The next day he thought of little but the
vision, and expected its return without alarm,
and with some pleasure. He was not disap-
pointed. It took the same place as before, and
he employed himself in observations. .When he
shut his eyes or turned his head, he ceased to
see the figure ; by interposing his hand he could
hide part of it ; and it was shown like any mere
material substance, by the rays of the fire which
fell upon, and were reflected from it. As the
fire declined it became less perceptible ; and as
it went out, invisible. A similar appearance
took place on several other nights, but it kccanw
less perceptible, and its visits less frequent, as the
patient recovered from the fever.
his
prav -s
led.
" He says that the impressions on his mind,
were always pleasing, as the spectre looked at
him with calmness and regard. He never sup-
posed it real; but was unable to account for it
know-
ledge.
on,a2llyn
ptlhiieloasoupuhiniicanlopfrinlcBip2lses within,
A.:s
health
perfectly restored, and he had been free from a4r
waking vision for nearly eighteen months. So .
me
circumstances occurred which produced in him
great mental excitement. One morning 'lee
dreamed of the figure,
n 1 •
itch stood by his side
in an angry posture, and asked for a locket n hieli
he usually wore. He awoke, and saw it at the
toilet, with the locket in its hand. He rushed out
of bed, and it instantly disappeared. During
the next six weeks its visits were incessant, and
the sensations which they produced were inva-
riably horrible. Some years before he had at-
tended the dissection of a woman in a state of
rapid decomposition. Though much disgusted
at the time, the subject had been long forgotten ;
cured while several persona were. lk the same
by moving pmition. Thotwit
well, his pulse was hard, and generally from 90
but it was recalled by the union of its putrescent
body with the
not confined to the night,
MOM. They
the winter; but lie
to 100.
spectre's features. The visits were
but frequently oe-
were.repeated at intervals during
was able toget '
or sitting in an erect
~ A. is a person of good
rary habits. I have not the
rid of them
education and lite-
rary slightest doubt of
his veracity. He Inever supposed the appear-
ances above mentioned other than illusions. He
has always had a
propensity towards the super-
natural, without any belief in it ; and he ascribes
these effects f ' •
o mac/in:Awn to the perusal of the
Tales'of IV don er, and other ghost stories, when
a boy. He 'll
W 1 not allow me to lay before the
Society an account of his head, as connected with
this statement, as he would not like to be called
a dealer in the marvellous. I may, however, say,
that ideality is large, and the reflective faculties
logical Jo? •
very good. —Edinburgh Phreno „ .

mill-Wright and engineer iu
nished snuff-box, made from
---=----- , ~. ,
NATURAL CITRIOSITY.—TIICre IS in the pos
wthsissi°cuityoT
the wood of an elm tree. On the buck of this snuff-h.'
there is the figure of a lion couchant, entirely formed b.-
the arrangement of the grain and fibres of the wood, and'
which has not received the smallest assistance froia art.
It is o di.uinct, that if shewn to a child who knows the
picture of a lion in a my hook, it would tell in a Minute
aMver.ryA Ls*ru. t
ill
layei
what scut of an animal it is. It is certainly a eurtthity
of no ordinary kind,— Greenock Advertiser.

PROCESSION OF THE GRAND SIGNIOR
TO THE AIOSQUE OF SULTAN ACHDIET•

(EXTRACTED FROM A PRIVATE LITTER.)
CONSTANTINOPLE, AUG. 4.
I must give you a sketch of the. Suhail going to
the mosque of the Sultan
Achsnet, whicho isp,
tpheart-
haps, the finest exhibition: of Oriental pm
can be Witnessed in this country. It his been the
season, of the " Courban Bairam," a festival very
gay among the Turks, to celebrate the arrival of the
pilgrims of Mecca. It is announced by the roar of
artillery at midnight ; the minarets of the mosques
are illuminated, and the whole city has the most
imposing effect. At three in the morning the
Baron and myself went across the water, and at day-
break the procession began ; the avenues, for a great
distance, were lined with the new troops, and on
the outside was a line of the Asiatic troops, and the
first that I had seen, and looking as fierce as scimi-
tar and turban could make them. The different
officers of the palace began their march, the Bostangi
Bachi and Bachis innumerable, in the richest cos-
. tames, and with the finest Arab horses, splendidly
caparisoned. Then came the Ministers of the Court
and the Divan, the Kiaya Bey, the Terfterdar, the
Beylikchij, the Reis Effendi, &c., &c., their horses
led by numerous slaves—the gravity f their march,
and the glittering pageantry of the procession,
afforded a most amusing contrast ; then came the
Grand Vizier, with almost royal pomp, since he as-
similates somewhat to his Imperial Lord ; he was
surrounded by numerous slaves, thronging him so
closely, that I could scarcely see his horse or his
head; instead of a turban, he wore a white conical
cap very high; his pellase was superb ; his grave
countenance, and long beard, very amusing. When
this wonder was all over, and we had gaped in as
much of it as possible, the band struck up a slow
and solemn tune, more like a funeral dirge than a
.military march; and 10, and behold, in most imposing
state, seated on a splendid Arab, covered with glit-
tering ornaments, appeared the " Shadow of God,
Brother of the Sun and Moon," " Disposer of
Earthly Crowns," in the august person of Mali-
moud the Great, really written on his countenance,
" Every Inch a King," and I think I never saw so
fine a man; of years about forty-five, of stature above
the common height, but of countenance most strik-
ing. In his turban he wore a small heron plume,
studded with diamonds, buckled .up with a large
diamond rose, and on each side of his pelisse, which
was green, being the royal colour, handed down by
the Prophet, was a large patch covered with pre-
cious stones, as was the hilt of his scimitar, the whole
formed a regular galaxy; his horse was led by his
" Capidjee Bachi, or first gentleman; two or three
hundred slaves surrounded him, which with their
sable faces and white turbans, had a very imposing
effect ; then came the pages of his court with large
helmets and wide-spreading heron plumes, with these
they endeavoured to conceal the Imperial Presence
as much as possible from the vulgar gaze. We were
luckily in a eaf6 close by, and saw the whole. Thus
in sovereign state passed on the great Mahmoud to
the mosque, followed by a long train of the " Kislar
Aga," or grand eunuchs, and numerous Arabs, splen-
didly mounted, some of them leading about a dozen
horses of the Sultan, covered with trappings. Mali-
moud having spent about half an hour in. the mosque,
returned in the same state; it reminds me more of
the pageantry of Covent Garden than any thing I
have yet seen. One of his officers bore the royal tur-
ban after him, arid although it was tenantless, yet the
people bowed to it with great respect.