spoken of the abuses of Yeovil from the written evidence, but I did so because Yeovil and Winchester had been classed together as equally guilty. My meaning certainly was, that according even to this evidence, the cases of Yeovil and Winchester ought not to have been mentioned in the same century, for this simple reason, because one charity was at least in existence and florishing, and the other a non-entity, nor did it appear what had become of its funds.

Without any professions of extraordinary humanity, most fervently should I rejoice, if in every case, where the poor had been deprived of their just rights, those rights should be restored; and that avarice, or fraud, deeming themselves secure in the possession of spoils unjustly acquired, should be deprived of those spoils, and brought to the bar of public animadversion.-But, much as I should rejoice at such restitution on one side, and such justice on the other, I should far more sincerely rejoice, if, when an accusation was brought against any society or any individual, that society or that individual should be proved clear from such charges, as I hope I have proved Winchester to be. So far from wishing any sacrifice, from terror, or any other feelings, at the shrine of Wyke ham, I can read with the greatest satisfaction, the plain yet forcible vindication of the charities of Croydon, &c.; and I should do the same, if what appears so black against Yeovil should come out as spotless as the fame of Winchester. I thought it indeed absolutely essential, in vindicating a particular place from the charge of abuses, to show that my object was entirely remote from the possible imputation of wishing to screen abuses in general.

There is another charge, which I am equally anxious to repel; it is, that I have confined, what it pleases the writer to call my "moaning" to the expression of regret, on account of the omission of two highly respectable names, in the list of honorable Commissioners; saying nothing on account of the omission of other highly respectable names, and particularly that of the Chancellor of my own University.

Now, this last circumstance alone is sufficient, I conceive, to justify me; for if there could be found a name entitled most peculiarly to my veneration, it would be that of Lord Grenville, to whom, on account of his high character, I gave my unbiassed support at the University Election for the Chancellor's Chair!

Sir Wm. Scott, one of the members in Parliament for the same University, has received from me the same testimony of public respect. I can add, that among the honorable Commissioners, some are personally known to me, and there are none, for whom, as individuals, Í do not feel the sincerest conviction of their intelligence and integrity.

But as Mr. Brougham had lamented the absence of two particular names from the list of honorable Commissioners, I surely might be allowed to join in the expression of that regret when I was bound to those whose names he had introduced, by many considerations of private regard, respect, and gratitude. Nor could this expression of my regret, in common candor, be conceived as implying the least disrespect to others, or being a mere « Echo" of Mr. Brougham. If it was an Echo, it was not an Echo of Mr. Brougham, but of the WHOLE nation.

If Mr. Brougham were to say, "that Milton's Paradise Lost" was a fine poem, my cordially joining in the sentiment would not be an "Echo" to him, when all judges of poetry think the same : nor could this expression of praise on one great Poem be deemed the least reflection on a poem such as "THE LAST OF THE GOTHS!"

I trust the writer of that article will take in good part these observations; but I could not be entirely silent when I am represented as throwing a kind of slur on names which stand high in the national estimation; and when the writer is lost sight of, to bring before the Public the feelings of the man, with which the public have nothing to do.

As to "sickening adulation," let those show it who would palliate grievances to flatter power," that thrift may follow fawning," &c.

I had no motives, no feelings, of this kind; I could have none. Nor had I the smallest desire to detract from the great services rendered to the nation by the existing ministry, though I am honored by the notice, and, may I say, friendship, of some of the most distinguished characters politically opposed to them. I have never concealed or compromised my own opinions.

Having thus endeavoured to set myself right before the public, respecting the motives and feelings which influenced me in addressing Mr. Brougham, on the subject of Winchester College, I hasten to the more immediate topic of this letter-the increase of crimes; and I am persuaded that if, in speaking of the best means of preventing these crimes, education, and the national schools, I should succeed in disposing your mind to a more just view of the Church, of which I am a member, I shall have done some service to it in this day of trial; and if what I address to you should dispose others to a more tolerant survey of the advantages derived from its establishment, I hope also I shall have done some service to the country:-at all events, I shall have done my duty without any feelings of terror, and without any thought of interest.

The first object we have to notice is the dreadful Increase of Crime. According to the statement of a noble Lord in the House of Peers the increase of capital convictions in the space of twelve

years, was from between two and three thousand to thirteen thousand.

It was then observed, " that it was impossible to determine what the causes were of this frightful augmentation; nor was it assign able to any one cause in particular. Among the supposed causes mentioned, were the increased taxation and the fluctuation of property in consequence of a war.

That the most obvious causes are, first, the premiums on a rapidly increasing pauper population; the state of prisons; the frequency of capital convictions, is now generally admitted: I shall add a few observations on these topics, and then advert to some peculiar circumstances in the present day, which tend to render ineffective those moral restraints which a well-regulated sense of religion imposes.

Each of these causes, like the wheels of a vast machine, moves other subsidiary and unseen powers, which, being impelled with increasing force derived from the first cause, all and each contribute in their turn, more or less, to one accumulated effect.

On the first of these causes of that evil which we see and lament, I shall offer a few reflections; and first, of the premium on the increase of a pauper population. It has been often observed, that the poor-rates, with all their evils, have brought a tenfold accumulation of those evils within the last twenty years. One of the most deplorable effects is that of completely paralysing the sense of moral independence in the poor man; the consequence of this is the withering of those sympathies which the Author of nature implanted, and which the Christian Religion nourishes.

Under the iron law of compulsive aid, all the feelings of benevolence die; but not only so, even the feelings of natural affection become almost callous, in consequence of the afflictive operation of those laws.

Every child a poor man has, after his first, brings to him a premium from the parish, which, in the onset of life, makes him. the less anxious how he should be enabled to provide for it. Nor, in consequence of the present administration of the poor laws, did this enter into his calculation when he married. As a laborer he has, perhaps, eight shillings a week-when he has two children he demands twenty shillings during her confinement for his wife and child; when this month is over, he goes to the vestry, and though he is young and strong, and employed in constant labor, instead of receiving ten or twelve shillings a week for his labor, which would keep the moral feelings of independence and decent pride alive, he holds out his hand as a beggar for a shilling more, to the overseer of the poor. Pam. NO. XXIX.

VOL. XV.

C

The first feelings having been thus brought down, it is of consequence to him, that his wife should annually present him with an addition to his family, because he is sure of receiving eighteenpence additional for each child till ten years old, and after that two shillings. Suppose his family be increased, which almost invariably happens, to four or five children in so many years, his necessary allowance from the parish must be

Self ..
Wife

First Child.

s. d.

Second Child

Third Child

The fourth Child

12 O

This is the allowance, if he works for a farmer at eight shillings a week. If he is obliged to be employed by the parish, one shilling is taken off, that he may be induced to try to get labor himself. His earnings, those of a laborer in husbandry, are eight or nine shillings, and the rest is made up from the poor-rates.

It must be obvious that he will not work if he can help it, as he cannot get more than eight or nine shillings if he does; and he is thus encouraged to avoid laboring any farther than he is obliged. It may be otherwise with some, but, in general, the very habits of sobriety and industry are destroyed; for by degrees the laborer reasons in this manner: "If all endeavor to work as little, and get as much from the parish as they can, why should not I?" But let us see, not only the demoralising effect on his own character, but on all the interesting feelings which light the fire-side of a father, however poor. He looks upon his children as worth so much parish money to him; and when he has become a completely altered character, by the inevitable deteriorating effect of those laws, he considers the money as received in consequence of the increase of his family as his own. This he too often spends at the ale-house. When he returns in the evening, his humble dwelling is no longer cheerful: his hearth is cold and comfortless: his children sallow, and his wife in tears: he becomes more alienated from them on that account, and yet he is anxious for another child, that he may save from the premium given by the parish, a farther sum. Thus, through a vast proportion of the population, these causes extend in an immense ratio the evil first produced.

Let us trace this picture a little nearer. Two of his children are upwards of ten; he is not solicitous for their leaving home,

to procure a livelihood, or work for themselves, unless he can get what they earn. Here is instant estrangement, and the first affections of nature those of a child towards the parent, or a parent towards its child, blighted.

When the son is grown old enough to look out for work himself, or the daughter to straw-plait, whilst they live together, the overseer's scale is not altered; the father is dissatisfied if he cannot share what the son earns; and the son, of course, keeps what he can to himself; but all of them try to persuade the vestry how little they can earn, in consequence of bad weather, &c.

The father eats his solitary meal, and the whole family are as much separated as if they lived apart. Suppose the father dead, and the mother left with two sons, grown up; they are unmarried till, perhaps, twenty, and earn eight shillings a week each. This sum, if the mother was now become infirm or helpless, in a family of love, would be sufficient, for it would amount to sixteen shillings for three. But would the children spare a part of their bread to the melancholy mother, who, whatever their father might have done, always loved them? can they not spare a little from their own comforts to render more comfortable the few declining days of her who watched over their childhood, and who is now a grey-haired widow? Not a sixpence ! if they can help it, not a penny! In a case of this description, two sons unmarried, earning each eight shillings a week, refused to grant a penny towards the maintenance of their mother, living in the same house ; and the mother, so far from requiring it, thought it very hard that they should pay any thing to her, who, she said, ought to be supported by the parish!

She was granted eighteen-pence! and upon that, and one shilling of her own, I believe, she subsists very contentedly! These evils are obvious to any considerate mind.

Oh! with what pleasure have I seen an industrious mechanic of Scotland, where these laws have not yet so palsied the first and best feelings of the heart, when he has earned some provision for his family, share his roof and his comforts with his aged mother!! How have I astonished that mother when I informed her that in one English parish (my own) nearly three thousand poun is are annually given to the poor! and what are the effects upon the morals, the sympathies of man, and the dearest and first affections of the heart!

I take my examples from a country village, and, in spite of these drawbacks, if there is, as generally happens, a clergyman's family, to keep alive and preserve some traces of virtue, morals, and kind affections, his duties on a Sunday give him an opportunity of preventing the entire extinction of all virtuous independence and domestic happiness.