and by his own vigilant superintendence, much, very much, might be done to make a factory rather a school of virtue than of vice. If it be contended, that a mere sordid cupidity actuates the manufacturers, and that they never will be induced to take these measures for the improvement of their operatives; I reply, that the mill-owners are neither more under the influence of avarice, nor less under the influence of better motives, than any other class of men; on the contrary, many of them are men of enlarged minds and humane feelings: most of them have the means of instituting these improvements, which would require but a trifling expenditure; and nearly all, from their very habits of business, are accustomed to those extended views and calculations which enable them to look forward with confidence to a distant advantage for an immediate outlay. Some from benevolence, some from emulation, some from shame, and more, perhaps than all, from the conviction that it may actually tend to profit, may follow the examples already set, and in 10 or 20 years hence the factories of England may be as much improved in the moral character of their operatives, as they have been in times past in their machinery. That it is the imperative duty of masters to use all the means they possess of benefiting and improving those under their control, no man of correct principles can doubt; and I believe the conviction is strengthening and spreading, that it is eminently the interest of a manufacturer to have a moral, sober, well-informed, healthy, and comfortable body of workmen."-Baines's History of the Cotton Manufactories.

PRISON DISCIPLINE.

It is worthy of remark, that while the Americans are praised as the great authors of prison discipline, we are forgetful of the example set us by Wedderburn, the great Lord Loughborough. We extract the following from the Law Magazine, for February last:

"With the benevolent object of improving the condition as well of criminals as of debtors, Lord Rosslyn allowed a little treatise of his to be published in the year 1793 (more than 40 years ago) on the state of English prisons, and the means of improving them.

"He had acquired an estate, in Yorkshire, by his first marriage with Miss Dawson, on which he occasionally resided, and qualified as a Magistrate for the West Riding. In this character he took an active part in the establishment of a police in the house of correction at Wakefield; a prison which is quoted, at the present day, as a model of discipline. His work is written in a plain, forcible, business-like style, and contains useful hints and observations. He suggests that a house of correction should be so constructed as to prevent the loss of liberty from being aggravated by any unnecessary severities, and shows that the old style of the building ought not to be adhered to. The common prisons were formerly placed in the fortresses, and the comforts of the prisoners less attended to than their safe custody. When houses of correction were first erected there were no other models for their construction than the gaols, and of course they were formed on a plan to keep the prisioner safely with little attendance, in a narrow space, and with few openings for light or air. The close air and squalid condition of a prison, 'squaler careins,' were by many considered as the necessary attributes; and even men of respectable judgment have supposed, that in the case of debtors, that the filth of the prison was the proper means of compelling them to do justice to their creditors. This prejudice (for it is not entitled to be called reasoning) is no less inhuman than senseless, for it supposes all debtors able but unwilling to pay, it afflicts those most who deserve it least-the man of sensibility; and it forgets that habit with most men, deadens the disgust they feel from the loathsomeness of their situation. This humane magistrate draws a frightful picture of many houses of correction, and suggests many valuable improvements.

"To a place so circumstanced, loathsome with disease, where all the day is consumed in perfect idleness, and every vice is huddled together, every good habit destroyed, and every bad propensity promoted, to commit the youth of either sex, and that for the purpose of correction, is a grievous reproach to the laws of a civilized country. What, then, is the remedy to be found for this evil? It is short and plain'--Work. It has been and may again be said, how shall every one be compelled to work when it avails nothing? The answer is easy, by seclusion and spare diet.' Seclusion does not mean absolute and profound solitude, which ought to be reserved for very serious cases, and applied with due discretion; it means that, during the night there should be an entire separation, and in the day, that the intervals of communication should be short and interrupted, and under the eye of the keeper; and that all the continued hours of work should be solitary. There is nothing in this state which a feeble mind cannot endure, and there is enough to produce a sober temper in any mind capable of being reclaimed."

LORD BROUGHAM AND EDUCATION.

An interesting speech was delivered by Lord Brougham, at a meeting of the Marylebone Literary and Scientific Institution. He adverted in the course of it to the beneficial change that had recently taken place in all classes of society in connexion with this subject. He went through those in detail, and instanced the case of those country gentlemen whose knowledge is confined to the love of the chase, and the luxuries of the table; with whom the stable boys are alone on a par, and amongst whom the names of Bacon and Bentham, two so illustrious as would shed their glories permanently over every age, and would now be recognised at every turnpike-gate with honour, would produce no effect beyond perhaps the inquiry, whether they were the names of horses? On the subject of the communication of political knowledge among the people, Lord Brougham said, "I am persuaded that it is now right and proper the people generally should not only be helped to the acquisition of scientific but political knowledge, and I would have strong hopes of the achievement of this great object if I saw reading-rooms and libraries established throughout the kingdom, and the stamp duties taken off the media through which political knowledge is communicated; for not only the food we eat is taxed, but the food for the mind is loaded with at least 100 per cent. which is a tax equal in value to the article itself, and which no other article save this, even now so much in demand, could possibly, or without utter destruction, bear. If I had remained in office, I hoped to have effected this, and were it once done, the means of political knowledge would be diffused in every cottage throughout the empire, where the greatest need of it existed, and where the end of rendering instruction is more difficult, in proportion as the inhabitants of towns are gregarious." In conclusion, his Lordship adverted to the charge of conceit and love of display which had been of late urged against him for attending public meetings. "It was understood to be the business of a public man to meet the public sometimes; but I have been told I have done so for self-glorification, but I will say, that if I have done some public service with my name, I have accomplished more privately, and in a manner that no one knows, in periods stolen from my professional avocation. Not a thousandth part of what I have written upon subjects calculated to be of public benefit is known or suspected to be mine. (Cheers.) Ten or twelve years ago, I wrote courses of lectures, which were then delivered, and are now delivering over the country, which were anonymous, and the author was known to but one individual, the person who directed their distribution. People may work in a good cause, for the love of employment; they may be actuated by enthusiasm; but it does not follow the motive is a selfish one."

EDUCATION.

In Denmark there are schools for the whole of the population; in England there are but sufficient for one fifteenth; in Sweden for one ninth; in America for one twelfth; and there are 30 schools in Malacca. In Northumberland education can be extended to one in ten, and the commitments are one in 2,000; in the more southern parts the advantages are but a fifteenth, and the commitments are one in 500; of 700 apprehended for misdemeanour, scarcely one of them could read or write, and those persons in the immediate neighbourhood where the crimes occurred, who took no part in them, were almost to a man, persons who had been educated. How much more desirable it would have been to have expended the £30,000, which was incurred by the special commission, in spreading the means of education.

MANUAL LABOUR AND MENTAL CULTIVATION.

My conviction, not lightly taken up, but the result of long and earnest thought, is, that daily occupation, with manual labour, is no way incompatible with the highest mental cultivation and refinement; that so far from the exercise of mechanical employment daily for a moderate time being detrimental to the mental powers, it has, on the contrary, a decided tendency to strengthen them and that if those who at present serve the public as writers, were to employ several hours in mechanical labour the bodily health would be improved, and their writings would take a character of vigour, startling even to themselves. They would find the workshop of a more healthy character than the drawing room. There is no reason, save ignorance, why any thing like degradation should attach to the character of the working mechanics; there is no reason, save ignorance, that they should not have dwellings as good as their employers, as to all purposes of comfort; there is no reason, save ignorance, that they should not have refreshing baths after their daily toil; and abundant change of comely garments conducive to health; there is no reason, save ignorance, that they should not have abundance of well-prepared food for the body, and access to books of all kinds for their souls; there is no reason, save ignorance, that they should not have access to lectures of all kinds, picture and sculpture galleries, and museums far more imposing than the world has yet beheld; there is no reason, save ignorance, why the great body of the working people should not possess in addition to all that is necessary for the comfortable maintenance of the body, all the pleasures of mental refinement, which are now only within the grasp of the rich.”

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS' WAGES AND FARE. “Men assisting at farm work in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, get from 10 to 12 dollars, with maintennace, per month; and they are not easily obtained to attend regularly at work. Young men and women, of the industrious classes, in the country, dress in fashionable clothes, of the finest fabrics, before marriage; after which, the wife becomes a lady, and generally engages a hired girl, or help. Thrashing machines are common, but not good; and when the flail is used, barley and oats cost 3 cents, rye 7 cents, and wheat 12 cents, per bushel. Indian corn is often trod out by the workmen. Craddles generally mow round the field, when the crop admits of doing so, and stop only when the scythe requires to be sharpened. Hay costs, in cutting, from 1 to 11⁄2 dollar per acre. Mr. W. pointed out a field of rye, which was a good crop, and which he had a few days before let to be craddled at 75 cents. per acre, without board or any other etcera. The craddle not being permitted to sit at the table with the family, and disliking to eat in the kitchen, had agreed to board with Mr. W's. labourers, at 45 cents. per day, and would thus be fed, viz.: breakfast at 7 o'clock, on wheat-bread, rye-bread, fish, cheese, butter, and coffee; luncheon at 10 o'clock, on cold meat, pickled pork, cheese, butter, pickles, bread and

coffee; dine at 12, on every thing that is good and substantial; at 5, coffee is served, with bread, butter, fruit, and fruit-pie occasionally; supper is taken at 7, but this meal is considered superfluous."-North American Tour.

Reader, compare this with the labourer of Great Britain, who has only 6s. a week, with a family of from 6 to 8 children on an average; and in Ireland, where he has from 6d. to 8d. per day at the most, is not this a subject for the legislature? The Labourer's Friend Society is doing a great deal of good, but the rich will not enter into its views: they wish to see the strength of the nation like a baboon who has been subdued; but I do not say this of all. What is the fare of the Irish labourers but potatoes? and these not fit to be eaten -even the pigs fare better. Is Man, the lord of the creation, thus to be treated worse than one of the most filthy creatures on earth? No: the time is coming when he will be considered the staff of the land; the era is nigh at hand, when he will be an ornament to society. The legislature is considering the cause of the poor: one thing they have done, which has thrown a halo round the kingdom, that is the inquiry into the Education of the poor of the United Kingdom.

Something must be done, or else we shall have our best labourers leave a a country where they barely exist, for another flowing with milk and honey. NATIONAL EDUCATION (IRELAND).

In the House of Commons, Mr. W. Johnson moved, in conformity to his notice, an address to the crown, for returns respecting National Education, pursuant to the order of the 13th of May, 1834; and in addition, a list of all such books as are distributed or used under the direction of the Board, with the full titles thereof, and a list of the schools in which the whole or any of such books are used as class books; also returns of the number of the Roman Catholic children, and children of the Church of England and Ireland, and of Protestant children of other denominations in either of the schools under the superintendence of the Board, and that the superintendents state the amount and particulars of any grants made by them to schools connected with or under their superintendence, of any meeting, monastery, or other religious institutions or houses; and also of any grants of schools kept in any Roman Catholic chapels or buildings, forming part thereof or contiguous thereto, or within the precincts of the said chapels, with the places where such schools are situated. The honourable gentleman said, in moving this, he could assure honourable gentlemen at that (the opposition) side of the house, that he had no wish to disparage any religious party: though, that as they had now a new parliament, the sense of the house ought to be taken on the important question, and that before that was done, they ought to have full information before them. Agreed to, and returns ordered.

INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

In every country, and in every age, spirituous liquors are indulged in to a blamable excess; this reproach applies to every class of society, and perhaps more to the higher than the lower orders. The tables of the rich in modern days, are almost always laid out as if debauchery alone was to preside: the glasses of every shape, and rich decanters crown the board; and we should, perhaps, be accused of want of taste, if we refused to overload the stomach with the inflaming liquors. The medical world have repeatedly deprecated this murderous system, but in vain; vice and our passions, more powerful than their counsels, have perpetuated this highly-injurious habit. Many old people may attribute the indisposition which torments them, to this pernicious use of spirituous liquors. If they are used in very cold or dry warm countries, for sustaining the strength and stimulating the vital powers of the stomach, they are very bad in such climates as ours; insomuch, that they derange the sensitive system, and affect the mental functions. They give rise to cutaneous and

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stomachic disorders, contracting, drying, and hardening all the living solids, and inducing premature old age. Persons of sedentary and solitary habits, who have been addicted to their use and abuse, are particularly liable to pains in the back and loins; caused almost always by the existence of stone. Old persons annoyed by bad indigestion or flatulency, foolishly imagine that spirituous liquors alone can rid them of these inconveniences; let themselves only examine into the consequences, a very short time will have elapsed before they will discover that the result is not what they anticipated. If these liquors do appear at first to strengthen those who fly to them for relief, it is but to bring them at last to a state of weakness almost incurable. "A man is strong when MAD, but weaker after the fit is over.”—Rules for the health of the aged.

BRENTFORD BRITISH SCHOOLS.

The Annual Meeting of the subscribers, and the first examination of the children of these Schools, took place on the 12th of March last, Thomas Farmer, in the chair. The day was extremely unfavourable, but notwithstanding the torrents of rain which fell the whole of the morning, a large number of the most respectable inhabitants of the town assembled by eleven o'clock, in the boys' school. Immediately after the chairman had opened the proceedings of the day, upon a signal being given, the folding doors were thrown open, and the children that were assembled in the girls' school, were at once seen. The effect was extremely gratifying. The whole of the children then repeated, in a subdued tone, the Lord's Prayer, and afterwards sung the Morning Hymn.

The examination proceeded-Alternately a class of boys and girls were called up. To follow the order of examination would occupy more space, even in the outline, than our limits will allow. The examination was conducted by the Secretary, assisted by the Chairman, Mr. Dunn (the Secretary of the British and Foreign School Society), and Mr. Althans. The numerous friends of education then present were most deeply interested, and bore ample testimony to the satisfactory progress the children had made during the eight months the School had been established. After the examination was concluded, each child was presented with a large cake (the expense being defrayed by a private subscription from the members of the Committee), and departed, not more pleased with their little present than they had afforded delight by the manner in which tbey had conducted themselves.

The

Then followed the business of the Meeting. The Secretary read the Report, from which it appeared that the erection of the splendid building had cost £816.:18..6, a sum which would have been increased at least one-third, had not some of the Committee obtained the bricks and timber at first cost. Treasurer, Thomas Berry Rowe, Esq. also, in addition to £50 from himself and £50 from his brother, Lawrence Rowe, Esq. had contributed £186..17..0, the price of labour of the carpenters and bricklayers. The annual receipts amounted to £86..5..5, and the expenditure for the eight months to £80..16..7. Motions were moved and seconded by Henry Dunn, Esq., Rev. C. Riggs, Rev. E. Kenrick, Rev. S. Wood, the Rev. J. Nelson, the Rev. J. Fish, Mr. Althans, and James Montgomery, Esq. The amount of collections and extra donations announced in the course of the day, was £32..4..0.

At four o'clock the Committee and their friends, to the number of thirty, dined together at the Royal Hotel. Here also animated and appropriate speeches were delivered by the gentlemen who had addressed the meeting in the morning.

The proceedings of the day were of a deeply interesting character, and from the spirited and liberal manner in which the important objects of the Institution have been commenced, much moral good may justly be expected

to be the result.