Tanquam aliquid Divi admotam garriret in aurem. Cancellos, sanctosque choros, altaria, tædas, Tanquam ageret, quod suadet agendum: nec minus ipsum Quis tamen ille fores pede concutit importuno? His concussa malis gratos Fanatica cœtus Haud ultra impellet populos; nec jam amplius illos Such was an academical exercise of the age of Charles the Second. These things must have severely pained every pious and judicious churchman in those days not less than in our own, and it would be most unjust to visit upon our ecclesiastical communion the wrong proceedings which originated in secular politicians or worldly-minded churchmen. The faithful men in every age are too often overpowered by noisy or intriguing partizans; and it would be unjust to attach to the discredit of the Church of England all the actions of the former or any of those of the latter. She stands upon her own merits, and she is no more a persecuting church because good men from fear or prejudice, and bad men from worse motives, mixed her up with intolerant proceedings, than she is an antievangelical church, because too many of her clergy forgot their own Articles and preached morality instead of preaching Christ. Let us be thankful for the present extended revival of pure religion within her pale; for never, not even in the noon-day of the Reformation, could she exhibit so many devoted servants of God as at the present moment, either in the ranks of her clergy or her laity. She asks not the weapons of persecution for her defence; she can well afford to give to every man the liberty of worshipping God after the dictates of his conscience; for her foundations are laid in scriptural truth, and the more they are examined the more solid will they be found. She needs purification, and she is likely to have it; she may even in her turn go through the refining fires of persecution, in order that the dross may be consumed and the gold shine more brightly; but God has ever been her refuge and strength in time of trouble, and she needs not fear what man can do unto her. The time is perhaps not distant when it will be seen who are her true friends; and it will not be found that they are among those who most court her for secular favours. Then those who have studied the question of her orders, have drunk into her spirit, have loved her Articles and ritual, and have been wise to win souls to Christ in her communion, will prove her faithful members still; while ambition and self-interest throw off their mask, and no longer call themselves her children. ON PAUPERISM AND COTTAGE ALLOTMENTS. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. G. G. THE attention of your readers having been directed to the important questions of Pauperism, Cottage Allotments, and the means of providing for the Poor, permit me to address a few remarks to you on the subject, though they may, in some instances, be in opposition to your own opinions and the high authority by which your are supported. On this interesting question, respecting which so many conflicting opinions are maintained, the truth must be the great object of the inquiries of all who are anxious for the religious, moral, and political welfare of their country. I am persuaded it is yours. I shall confine my brief remarks to increase of population, the effects of the poor laws on population, and the subject of cottage allotments. As I have lived for some years in country villages, and have had under my care for a considerable time a parish where the cottage-allotment system has been tried, and have made many inquiries respecting these things, I trust I am not wholly unprepared to speak on the subject. : With regard to the first particular, I would lay down the proposition, that population never can increase, or for any length of time continue, beyond the demand for it: this, I think, will be evident, if we consider the circumstances which regulate the increase of population. Within little more than thirty years the population of Great Britain has increased from ten millions and a-half to nearly seventeen millions,—an increase rapid beyond all former precedent in our country. For many ages it had been slowly increasing, till it reached the amount of ten and a-half millions whereas, in these last thirty years, it has gone far towards doubling that number. Had the rate of increase, even from the time of Elizabeth, when the population of England and Wales was computed at about two millions, been in like proportion, it would be easy to calculate to what an enormous amount the population would have at this time attained. The question is, to what is owing the vast increase since the commencement of this century? My answer is, that there has been a demand for people, a want of them; and without this they could not have existed at all. The increase in commerce, the improvements in manufactures and machinery, the further working of coal and other mines, which, without the late improvements in machinery, could not have been worked at all; the increased produce of the soil in corn, vegetables, and cattle; these, I conceive, have been the causes which have necessarily occasioned the great increase in our population, by causing a demand for it. They have operated in this way: labour has been abundant; it was well paid; this enabled the poor man to purchase for himself and his wife and family many comforts; and further, as the introduction of machinery in manufactures has enabled the manufacturer to fabricate his goods at much less expense, this has brought many more articles of comfort within the reach of the poor man. This being the case, the labourer or artizan has been able to procure more food, more clothing, and to surround himself and his family with more of the necessaries and comforts of life than formerly. In proportion as he has been enabled to do this, he has had it in his power to obtain for himself and his family the things requisite in sickness and in health; and in consequence of these comforts, he has been able to bring up a greater number of children, many of whom, if they could not have had them, must have died in infancy, or been carried off by sickness in early years. Who can tell how many thousand people has the article of coal alone saved by the warmth, cleanliness, and other conveniences it has been the cause of? How many children have been saved from destruction by the cheapness of clothing, blankets, &c., who, without these articles, must have perished? Since, then, within the last thirty years, there has been such an astonishing increase in the comforts, conveniences, and necessaries of life-since there has been such a demand for human labour-are we to wonder that the people have increased, and are we to blame their improvidence in marrying? Their great increase of numbers is by no means to be attributed to the imprudence of their parents, or the operation of the poor laws, but to the wonderful and vast improvements in arts, sciences, and agriculture, which have increased the comforts, and demanded the labour of man. In this manner I think it is plain that population is regulated by the demand for it. This, I am sure, will be rendered more clear if we consider why the people in previous centuries increased so slowly. It was not that they did not marry, or that the number of children born was less in proportion than at present,-but because they had not the necessary comforts within their reach, which of late we have enjoyed. Hence the children in great numbers died in infancy and in sickness, from want of those comforts which of late years have been more abundant. In conversing with many aged people, I have been astonished at the accounts I have heard of the great mortality which has befallen their children: out of numerous families of six, seven, or eight children, but two or three have survived; whereas, I see now, in the villages around me, many families of from six to eight healthy children, grown and growing up. The cause of the mortality of the generation past, and the increase of the present one, seem pretty evidently owing to the increased comforts and demands of the present one, and the want of them in the former. As to the future; population will, as it has always hitherto done, regulate itself according to the demand for it. If it is wanted-if our trade enlarges, if our manufactures and agriculture improve, the population will further increase: nothing can stop it. But, should they diminish, our numbers would decline with our declining prosperity of the children born, more would perish, for the want of comforts to support and cherish them. : Thus, I conceive, without any anxiety or care of ours, without any legal interference, population will regulate itself. The demand for people will create a supply; and the redundancy, if there be any, will soon be got rid of. But if we need be under no apprehension about the increase or diminution of population; it is the duty of the legislature to take care that it is not instrumental in giving rise to a vicious and degraded population. And this brings me to make a few remarks on the poor laws. To the evils of the administration of these laws the minds of men are beginning to open; but no person can be fully aware of them till he has for a time resided in a place where they have been in full operation. Were I to speak of the lamentable evils which I witness, and the dismal and bitter consequences that must arise if the system be pursued, I fear you would scarcely have patience to hear me : and, how briefly to express what I know and feel, I know not. I do not like to speak generally, and without proofs, for that brings no conviction to the mind; but I must. For the most part, I see the young people rendered thoughtless, reckless, and extravagant. If they procure a little money, it is soon spent in drink or in finery: they think there is no necessity for frugality; the profits of the summer and harvest, which I know are far more than is necessary, especially with the employment that may be obtained in the winter, to support a single man, are soon squandered away; and almost every young man in the parish, whatever his earnings in the summer may be, in the latter part of the autumn or beginning of winter throws himself on the parish for relief. Instead of receiving the parish allowance with thankfulness, they demand it insolently as a right; "I am come for my money." Such is the spirit produced by the present administration of the present system. It is also most grinding and cruel to the poorer payers; many of them creditable persons, struggling themselves with adversity, whom it robs of their little store, painfully acquired against the wants of age, to be squandered by their pauper neighbours; who, instead of feeling gratitude, are ready to insult them. The poor laws, as they at present work in country parishes, separate the labourer from the farmer; and cause the poor to unite in a body against their employers and the officers of the parish, whom they look upon as witholding from them their just rights; while the farmers view the poor as draining from them the profits of their labour and care. They further tend to throw land out of cultivation, and to prevent its improvement. The farmer says he has it not in his power, he has not the means, to meet the demands of the parish, and to employ his usual labourers also; the consequence is, that to meet the calls of the overseers, he is compelled to have fewer labourers, and thus more are thrown upon the parish: less profitable labour is performed; and thus, if not remedied, it must keep increasing till the farmers are ruined, and the poor sunk to the lowest state of degradation. If we desire the religious and moral improvement of the poor-if we would rescue the country from that disease which is consuming the very vitals of the empire, and poisoning every village, town, and hamlet;-let the legislature be called upon to give its early and earnest attention to this very important object. With regard to the cottage-allotment system, when prudently managed, it seems to me one of the best plans that can be adopted, for improving the condition of the labourer, and for making him reasonably independent. It serves to render him prudent and careful, and in all respects to make him a better man, and a more faithful member of society. In a parish of which I am the curate the squire has allotted half an acre of ground, at a moderate rent, for each family. Since this has been adopted, the improvement in the comforts of the people has been very great. The poor people, instead of considering the cultivation of their ground an addition to their toil, say they cannot sufficiently express their gratitude for their benefactor's kindness. They have now had it four years; and the crops raised from it are much greater than are obtained by the usual cultivation of the soil. On a quarter of an acre of barley, the average crop is about three sacks, several of the lots producing three and a-half sacks; (this year the produce in some instances is nearly four sacks on the quarter of an acre ;) whereas the farmers in the same parish reckon nine sacks on the acre a very good crop. Indeed, each family is more benefited than if it were presented annually with 8l, or 10l. a-year. It does not increase their labour in the same proportion as it increases their comfort: since, when there is much to be done, namely, during the seed time and harvest, it is usual for them to request the farmers to let them off from their usual work for a few days. The advantages attending this system, besides the comfort of the poor man, are the diminution of the poor's rate, and the moral improvement of the labourer. Since this plan has been in operation, the poor rate has been steadily declining, from about 320l. to about 1801. per annum, with the prospect of further diminution. When the farmer's work is scarce, the poor man finds profitable employment on his own patch of ground, which if he had not to occupy him, he would be sent to idle upon the roads at the expense of the parish. The system has a further and very important effect of improving his character. When the labourer has his little plot of ground, from which he feels he shall not be ejected as long as he conducts himself with propriety, he has an object on which his heart is fixed; he has something at stake in society; he will not hang loose on the community, ready to join those who would disturb it: so much so that in the late riots not one man in the parish shewed any disposition to join them. Thus has this plan in this parish worked all the good that the most sanguine could have expected. But it is still but just to say I have seen the cottage system followed in other parishes, where it has failed: but its failure, I think, has been owing to the administration of the poor laws and the numerous beer houses; and this shews that to render this, or any other plan, finally beneficial to the poor, a great alteration must be made in these laws; for if, notwithstanding the extravagant and wicked conduct of a man, he is to be sure of relief on applying to the parish, this will soon neutralize all the advantage to be derived from any system of bettering the poor. Let this be remedied, and then the cottage system, I think, cannot fail to work well. It is objected against the cottage system, that it will tend to increase the population. I answer, inasmuch as it increases the quantity of human food and the comforts of the poor, it seems most probable that it will have that tendency. But are we to consider that an evil? shall we check improvements, that we may keep down the number of the human species ? Let the population be taught that they must rely upon their own prudence, frugality, and industry, for their support, and not on the relief extorted from the parish; and then let the people, if it please God, be multiplied a hundred fold. J. W. D. THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I ENTIRELY Concur in the opinion which you expressed in a late Number, that we must mainly look for the introduction of better habits amongst our poorer brethren, by educating, and, with the blessing of God, Christianizing them; but I much question whether even a Christian education, unless accompanied with greater incitements to industry than are at present held out to the poor of this land, will produce that change in their habits which is so essential not only for their temporal but their spiritual welfare also. Commissioners have been appointed to inquire into the Poor Laws, and much do I hope that their labours may be blessed with success; but when I look back upon the total failure of the exertions of former commissioners, and the hopeless declarations of some of our most eminent statesmen, as to CHRIST. OBSERV. APP. 5 Q |