The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-27 00:00:00

proposed in 1840. Yet still it would he a bed duty. In
1840 I proposed a fixed duty of Bs. per quarter. That is more
than I would now propose. I would prefer at present 45., 55.,
or (is. per e.uarter, as preferable to what I then proposed, and
as better, in the present state of affairs, than a total repeal cf
the whole duty as some other parties proposed. Another pro-
position is to impose a sliding duty of 10s. or Bs. gradually
going down to a shilling. Now in comparing these two pro-
positions my opinion is decidedly in favour of a fixed duty,
because I consider a sliding scale necessarily entails a change
in the amoent of duty and of price every year.—( Hear, hear. )
If I wore asked whether I consider it desirable to have any
duty on can at all I should say, as an abstract principle, No;
but I knot the injury likely to accrue from the sudden with-
drawal of any long- established custom, however pernicious
that custom may have been, It may be said, " If you regard it as
an evil, why will you not consent to its removal ?" But thus
it might also be inquired respecting a man who, during a pro-
tracted life, has been accustomed to stimulating diet ; no phy-
sician would advise an immediate change of diet, or prescribe
the total abstinence from the regimen, however deleterious.
It is in this light that I regard the present restrictions imposed
on corn, and yet that there will come a time, as has already
arrived for wool, when a total abrogation of duty will be found
inevitable and accorded, I for one entertain no doubt; mean-
while, though I look upon such a course at the present time as
premature, and its success equivocal, I think 1 do but consult
the best interests of the country in proposing that clause
of my • resolutions .—" That this House will take the
saidlaws into consideration, with a view to such
cautious and deliberate arrangement as may be most
beneficial to all classes of her /llejeety's subjects."
I now arrive at the next question which I consider materially
affecting the condition of the labouring classes of this country,
and, in the words of my motion, I assert "that the freedom of
industry would be promoted by a careful revision of the law of
parochial settlement which now prevails in Eugland and Wales "
During the war the system whereby the labourer was assisted
in his poverty, or remunerated for his work, was most perni-
cious ; as the war continued the price of corn rose, and the
course pursued was to distribute the effects of the high price
over the entire family, instead of increasing the wages, and
thus more labour was employed than there was demand for. In
1834 that system was altered, and it has been said that the al-
teration was injurious, but I will avow my opinion, that if that
system had been continued, the labourers of England would
have been reduced to pauperism, while the forced and com-
pulsory clarity of the poor .rate would have scarcely given them
the means of subsistence, instead of as under the
present system, charity being given in the whole-
some shape of wages under the superintendence of
employers. I will again allude to an authority from which I
have more than once quoted to-night. In a report drawn up
by Mr. Tuffnell, respecting the working of the poor-law in
Kent, with which he was long officially connected, I fied that
the amotnt of wages paid in that neighbourhood, during the
two years preceding the establishment of the union there,
was 6951., and far the two years succeeding, 8101. If such
has been the wholesome effect of 'the poor-laws, is it not a
false misrepresentation to hold up that law as injurious to the
labourer, while in reality nothing could be more beneficial ?
( Hear, hear.) It is now a little more than ten years since
that law, as amended, came into operation. The children
who were then in a state requiring no immediate employ-
ment have now grown up—they seek for labour, but unfor-
tunately that artificial state of labour which characterised our
industrial population a few years ago, still inflicts its disas-
trious consequences on our agriculture, our manufactures, and
our eommerce. You have made alterations, but it is net suffi-
cient to have altered your poorelaws, it is not sufficient that you
now standby the principles of that law; temporary and alleviating
measures must be sought, must be adopted, to meet the exigen-
cies of superabundant labour.—(Hear.) The Right Hon.
Gentleman opposite, the Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment, has undertaken to introduce a measure, admitting
the proposition that it was a hardship that a man could not
transfer his labour to a locality where demand was greater ;
but, while assenting to this, he does not agree or propose that
five years' industrious employment should give a settlement;
yet what can be more rational, more equitable, more just ?
( Hear, hear.) And what is the working, or the effect of the
working of the present law of settlement ? A young man mar-
ries from the agricultural districts, he settles as an artizan at
some manufacturing town, gives the district the benefit of his
skill, but after ten or twelve years of thriving industry, by
some sudden panic in trade, he is deprived of work—he seeks
the meats of temporary subsistence from the Union, but is
told, tt You must go back to the town whence you originally
migrated, and seek that relief we cannot afford you here."
That such a system is fraught with evils no one can surely
doubt.

Colonel WOOD.—Hear, hear.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL—The Hon. Member for Brecon
cheers that expression. He proposes that one year's residence
should give a settlement ; 1, however, do not think that a less
period than five years would be advisable to establish as a rule.
With regard to lesser periods of two or one years, if a relief
for tempecary distress were required, it might be beneficially
accorded for a few months, even should net the applicant be of
long residence in the town, because a great hardship is fre-
quently entailed on a poor man engaged as an artisan,
suddenly and but temporarily distressed, being sent back to
his former place of residence, where, losing all employment or
prospect of employment, he becomes a pauper, and eventually
losing all moral elevation of character, ceases for ever to be,
what under due care he might still have remained—a good and
useful member of society.—( Hear, hear.) I now pass to the
next branch of my series of resolutions—" That a systematic
plan of colonisation would partly relieve those districts of the
country where the deficiency of employment has been
most injurious to the labourers in husbandry." In adverting
to this cuestion, difficult and delicate as I admit it to be,
I have made my allusion cautiously, because I conceive that a
system of emigration too extensive, or compulsory, would not
only be unadvisable, but dangerous. Nevertheless I consider
that a voluntary system, carried out with caution and benevo-
lence, may be made beneficial to the country and the emi-
grants. I have been told by Mr. Hodges, who for many
years represented the county of Kent in this House, that the
effect in his parish, of voluntary emigration, has been prodoe•
tivo of the greatest advantage to the district, and by intelli-
gence he bas received from the colonies, of happiness to the
parties who embraced it. The price for labenr in Canada was
2s. 6d. a day, and in West Canada Bs. and upwards. When
men can thus go to a country whose inhabitants speak the
same language, and are characterised by the same habits, the
emigration is positively advantageous to them. But great care
is required in the safe working of this system ; for you must
not send out as emigrants men who are unable to bear extreme
labour, and the privations to which they are too often subject ; nor
must your system be that of indiscriminate assimihtion between
parties hitherto unknown. They should go out, not only ac-
quainted, but connected with each other. In the army and
navy you give those officers who choose to accept the offer
your Crowe lands on certain favourable terms. Let your emi-
grants proceed out under those as a bead, and by that arrange-
ment, and :n such a transaction all parties wi I be the gainers.
They will accept your home manufactures, and send you their
produce in return.—( Hear, hear.) The next question to
which I shall advert is, the important one of education. I will
not now enter at length into a subject connected with such
vast interests, and which demands such anxious and protracted
consideration. That a great advance has been made in the
education of the people during these last few years no one can
entertain a doubt. Previous to that it was considered that
education was general and useful, but an inquiry
into its nature proved it nominal, and not the
moral, religious instruction which would tend to elevate

the charactA- and improve the social condition of the people. I
find in a late report of the British and Foreign School Society,
in reference to the gaol returns, that in some counties one.
third of the population was unable to read ; in Devon, out of 61
only four could either read or write, in Denbighshire one-half,
and in other counties the population was even less. Now,
Sir, these are statements made in regard to counties in Eng-
land, but it may be said that although these prisoners are un-
able to read, yet religious' instruction has been given to them.
It may be said that they have received such oral communica-
tions from clergymen in the gaols, and other ministers of the
Gospel, from friends, and from neighbours, that they cannot he
said to be in a state of ignorance; and, I must confess, that I
can understand those, among whom reading and writing may
not be prevalent, yet who, if such pains were taken to teach them
religious and moral truths, might, in point of learning,
be said to be a far from uninstructed people. What, I may ask
the House, was the case in Sussex, some short time ago ? I
find, in the same return 1 have already quoted, that out of 171
persons, 141 did not know the Saviour's name; 24 knew his
name, but no more ; and only G out of the whole number had
received any instruction. Some indeed of them had been, by
their own acknowledgment, at places of worship, but when
they attended all was darkness and confusion to their minds.
Now, Sir, I do say that when you take measures to promote
the well-being of the people—when you take measures to re-
move any restrictions which may press upon the introduction of
articles necessary for food--I say that as Christians,:and as le-
gislators, you should not shut your eyes to this gross state of
ignorance. Do not forget that while, in this month of May,
there are excellent and pious men meeting day after day,
to consider what sums they shall distribute in China,
in the South Sea Islands, and in Africa, for
the promotion of the Christian faith—do not, I repeat, forget
that in the county of Sussex, and in every other county in
England, a wretched number of persons, who have felt the lash
of the criminal law, are existing in total ignorance of every duty
which Christians ougkt to perform. Sir, I cannot entertain
a doubt that the House will wish to pass measures to amend
this evil ; I cannot entertain a doubt that the present Govern-
ment would like to see measures passed, with the view of cor-
recting this alarming evil. True, we are here met by the ob-
jection, that such measures may jar with certain sectarian
jealousies, and interfere with religion, and that you cannot
consistently, and in disregard of the religious
liberties and rights of conscience, pass any general
scheme of education.—(Hear.) But this you can do—
you can make a grant to those who apply for it for that pur-
pose, and thus you can promote and assist to educate the peo..
ple. One plan is to give pupillary teachers to schools through-
out the country ; another is to endow teachers, and so to en-
courage small seminaries. And here I must call the attention

of the House to what is the present situation 4 schoolmasters.
On those men depend much—the important religious education
and secular knowledge of the people of this country, and yet
there are few of these men who remain satisfied with their sta-

tien—few are anxious to return to the situation of teachers.
What is the fact? No man would remain a schoolmaster for a
longer period than ten years. I have understood
that that is the case with regard to the National
Schools. I have frequently asked the Secretary of the
British and Foreign School Society with regard to it, and he
says " We have many clever young men educated in a school

in the Borough-road, they go from us and take charge of
schools, but people finding that they are worthy of confidence
they are tempted away to other more profitable pursuits and
lucrative situations and leave to inferior masters charge of their

schools."

This is a misfortune. They are in consequence of

their abilities employed by merchants and manufacturers insi-
tuations of importance. But not surely more important than
those of instructing the children who are to m
the men of the country.—( Hear, hear.) It must
have struck the observation of every one, that it is the school-
master who really forms the school, for though one may teach
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anxious as I am, to second any means for improving the edu-
cation of the people ; and it cannot be done if we vainly try
to impose compulsory regulations, or seek to drive the child to
certain schools, let them be established ones or otherwise.
Such a mode of education is impracticable, but you can
assist the schools founded by Protestants or Dissenters, and
by this mode you get rid of the objection I have referred
to. Now, with regard to the national schools, it has been
stated by the Committee of Education that if they were to
give all that would be required for educational purposes, they
would require to expend 130,000/. in addition, implying a
total expenditure of 400,0001. I still think that the grant you
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greater part of that sum should go to the national school ;
some part of it might be combined as an assistance
to the endowed schools, and the rest might be expended on the
other schools throughout the country. And this might very
well be paid under the supervision of the Committee of Edu-
cation oft he Privy Council, and I am of opinion that in that
way a large amount of good might be done to the cause of edu-
cation. This, then, Sir, is the resolution to which I beg the
attention, and if I may, the approbation of the House—" that
the improvements made of late years in the education of the
people as well as its more general diffusion have been seen with
satisfaction by this House." I mean not by these words that
iltpesple should be instructed in the way proposed by Go-