, 1865-04-25

were |aOunQanC. Hence dItWtl HuulOSI
were driven to differing and other courses
which bring them under the cognizance
of the Chief Justice. The year 1868 was
one of severe drought and privations
amongst the laboring people. Gangs of
people went about robbing the potato
fields on the estates to relieve the pangs
of hunger. 1t was in the July of this
year a derelict vessel, laden with provi-
sions, was abandoned off the Island by its
crew and was cast on the St. Philip coast,
which was the occasion Of almost a riot in
that Parish, leading the way to other I'M
lawful acts elsewhere, resulting from the
severe privations which the laborlng
classes suffered from the long continu-
ance of the drought and the high price Of
provisions. The Legislature was obliged
TO have recourse to a severer mode OF
repression than that which the laws or
dinarily permitted, and emigration to the
nelghbouring colonies was encouraged.
Thus it is, the increase or decrease OF
crime depend. in great measure upon the
character Of the year, and upon the con-
dition of the Iabour market. There IS
another thing to be taken into considera-
ton, as the Grand Jury very properly
observe, in their Reply TO His Honor, in
connexion with the increase OF crime
since 1854; it is the increase of popula-
ton, and no doubt the inreased exertlOns
and vigilance Of the Police in the detec-
ton of the larcenies and such petty often
ces in town and country, as form the
great staple of the trials before the Cri-
minal Court. 1t is in the number of these
petty delinquencies, not in the heinous-
ness of the acts committed, that the Chief
Justice points out the growth of crime;
showing that it is connected more with
the circumstances than the character of
the population. When the rain tails,
and'there is work TO be done in The fields;
when wages can be earned, and food can
be procured, the people keep out of
Gaol but when the drought sets in, and
the famine is sore in the land, and the
people can't get employment, or procure
the means of subsistence, they take to
piIfering, and are locked up in the Gaol.
That is what these figures tell US. We
thank the Chief Justice for inviting at
tvntion to them.
A DEFENCE OF WH1sT.-Whisf, in a
pre-eminent degree, exacts the exercise
Of a large range of faculties, and facnl-
ties, too, of a very varied and disslmilar
order. 1t is very common to hear a pre-
ference accorded to chess over whist, on
the ground that in chess nc element of
chance enters, andthatthe whole conducto Of
the game is resovable to mathematical
certainty. Now, it is precisely for this
very difference that We claim tile superb
ority for whist. 1t is in this same ele-
ment of chance that whist so closely re-
sembles real life. It is in this same ele-
ment of what may or may not be that
we have o field for the exercise Of those
powers which calculate probabilities, and
argue from the likely or unlikely, and
draw conclusions from premises not abb
solute certain, but still as probable as are
The greater number of the u~naccomplish-
ed events in our actual lives. If there
be a game which sets the fine edge Of
the reasoning powers of the man of the
worid-of him who is to be conversant
with the daily Incidents of life, and those
who set them in motion-it is whist.
Show fnaea ifrst-rate whist PLAYER, and [