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    Un 24. 1852.] ®%t %9H*tt. . ™

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    address of tbpebtoob-t-a ^ Association t...

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    The Amazon. Nothing Material Or Novel Ha...

    r—^ fth at thev came from the stewardess . adkne «? SoiwS saw no signs of flames , but he hastened Tthe 8 Ss on tcvt ^ e deck . He there saw no crowd of up * JSt . erson to give an alarm ; but he saw amid-P P « the raefngofthe ^ ames towards Heaven . He then a T ^ S 8 £ t * wi lowered at the side of the ship , and Koti 4 Se bulwarks with a view of letting himself Sriwn into it ; butiii consequence of his ^ roken leg he was -JLftStoi to let himself down , intending to swing hlmt $ &\ tebZ £ *& c * me under him . At that moment the ? S ga ? l way / and the boat was swamped-and he saw those whom it had contained struggling m the water with Kh Two or three were still on the upper part of the S and he appeared to hear a voice whisper to him , ? HoidTon , and aU will be right . ' Having mounted the vpssei he lowered himself into another boat , about Lenty-five feet above the water , so great and lofty was Tnat siuck naicnes

    that noble vessel . Doac on me , auu they could not get it off rbat suddenly . the boat was capsized , and how he kept his place in thehoat he could not recollect , but he began to imagine . the horrors of death by drowning . Suddenly the boat righted , and she was swung , with thirteen people in her , from the ship , but the tackle could not be disengaged from her . A sailor called for a Knife , to cut the rope—the rope was cut , the ship was gone , and they were left to the buffettuiR of the waves : and here he felt bound to praise that God

    who controlled all things , and held the mighty deep m the hollow of His hands , for his preservation . When the boat got clear of the vessel , it was discovered that she had got a large hole in the bottom , and it was feared she must sink . One poor man placed his arm into the hole , and asked for something to plug it with : one gave his hat , another his drawers , another his stockings and other things ; and that the watchful eye of God was still over them , was shown by the fact that two small vessels had been left on board the boat , which served them to bale out the water and keep her from swamping . "

    A portion of the paddle-box and some of the machinery of a large new steamer have been Washed on shore at Bridport , and is supposed to be a part of the ill-fated Amazon . Information has already been forwarded to the Admiralty , and the officers of her Majesty ' s Customs have taken active , measures for securing the portion of the wreck , which is of Borne value oft account of the quantity of coppdr and brass attached to it . ., - . < ¦ ¦ . The sufferers haye ; beerj ^ generously cared for at Plymouth and Southampton . ^ .

    Un 24. 1852.] ®%T %9h*Tt. . ™

    Un 24 . 1852 . ] ® % t % 9 H * tt . . ™

    Address Of Tbpebtoob-T-A ^ Association T...

    address of tbpebtoob-t-a ^ Association the RATEPAYERS OF THE UNl-Tfifc KINGDOM . Fellow , Countrymen , — -A-t the commencement of another year we are desirous of again calling attention to the principles upon Which this Institution has been founded , and to the increasing necessity that exists for their adoption and enforcement by the Legislature . Our object is—To abate the evils of pauperism , and to reduce poor rates . Our means are—The substitution of reproductive employment of the poor , either upon the land , or in handicraft labour , instead of the odious and repulsive labour tests and relief system ; and thus to render the poor-law establishments nearly or altogether self-supporting .

    In a word , the aim we have in view , and which we confidently call upon the country to assist us in achieving is , to benefit the ratepayer by benefiting the poor . The burden of poor rates has increased in density year after year ; and whithersoever we turn we discover no prospect of improvement , save in the adoption of the principles of this Association , The evil is getting worse and worse , At first it was , so to speak , like " a cloud no bigger than a man ' s hand ; " now it is like a flight of locusts , threatening to eat up every green thing . In many districts in Ireland numerous rentals have been entirely swallowed up by the poor rate . Take the following statistics , illustrative of the tremendous increase of this impost in the sister kingdom : — In 1840 the expenditure for administration of Irish poor law , was £ 37 , 051 1841 Ditto do . 110 , 278 1842 Ditto do . 281 , 233 1843 Ditto do . 244 , 374 1844 Ditto do . 271 , 334 1845 Ditto do . 316 , 225 1846 Ditto do . 435 , 001 1847 Year of famine , do . 803 , 084 1848 Ditto do . 1 , 826 634 1849 Year of cholera do . 2 , 177 , 651 The expenditure for the year 1850 fell to £ 1 , 430 , 108 , a lact which is no Bubject for gratulation , as , alas ! it is mainly attributable to the frightful diminution of the P » ' P ° iaHy by death , as the last Census returns ao faithfully testify . The above figures require no commentary to sustain th ! :. i e j eM »« 5 ntly than words do they proclaim the ut er inadequacy of the law to accomplish the object thlT n lt ** 8 avowedlv fra" > ° d . It will be seen that ™ i ?« * u 8 exaoti ° n was multiplied in tho very years when the country was lea ^ t able to meet it-when lying prostrate under the successive visitations of famine and 8 te 1 In annum

    tlWnrSl ^^ ? ? '» P ^ wrung from thJK f " « InduBtrial resources of Ireland , for lStC'ir ^ th ^ niJ ? ! ** Canthe Statesman , the ' Phi-SriWbeon ClSr 0 hri 8 ^» » « a « sfy himeelf that the poor tfft Fffi 3 iJli h " f ? 2 , May we not Ouoto tho worda tim « i i B applied to theoonditionof * Englftndmhifl to refl 7 rtt liXT ° f tter e t ° ni 8 hihent to any m " n to refltot that , in a country where the boor arc bevond a comparison , more liberally provided for than hJw ^ SaB £ S 5 » s «« 3 unaer the Irish , poor-law administration ,

    notwitUstanding the enormous supplies levied by it , thousands and tens of thousands of our fellow-creatures have notoriously died of starvation . Under that system , notwithstanding that the workhousea are full , the country , is ravaged by hordes of mendicants , who , like guerilla bands , prowl from village to village , extortingirora the unfortunate taxpayers 'the remnant that has been left them by the poor-rate collector—for * ' what the eaterpillar has spared , the cankerworm has devoured . " Under that systemj cargoes of Irish paupers have been thrown upon the coasts of England and Scotland to swell , to an intolerable extent , the ranks of pauperism in London , Livernbol . Manchester , Bristol , Glasgow , & c , & c .

    Under that system , humanity has been degraded below the level of the brute creation ; and in Irish board-rooms and English vestries the price of sending 80 many paupers to Liverpool , or despatching them back to their native parishes , has been debated with infinitely greater callousness than would be exhibited in a discussion between a Smithfield crazier and a shipping agent , on the subject of the transmission of so many head of horned cattle . It is impossible to avoid shuddering at a condition of things of which these features are the indices . The social position of Ireland , under the operation of the poor law—a position which menaces a speedy extinction of an entire people—as it cannot be contemplated

    without horror , so it cannot be justified by the most subtle sophistry . In that country there are millions of acres of Waste lands , which only require the application of labour , that is now waste , to make them yield their increase , and augment the wealth of the State . Shall we not make an effort to remove this anomaly ? or , to use the language of a respected member of the Legislature , and of this Association , in his letter to Lord Jobn Russell , in 1847 : — " Shall we , my lord , wait for some terrible convulsion , before you appropriate the waste lands of Ireland

    *—the peoples' farms—to the use of the people f " The social cancer is also steadily eating its way in England , the charge in 1849 being £ 5 , 792 , 963 . In 1836 , the expenditure for the relief of the poor of Manchester was only £ 25 , 000 , but it reached £ 120 , 000 in 1848 . This annual charge has since been reduced , owing simply to the abundant employment of the working classes in this district . Any one who has watched the mutations in the manufacturing districts , within the last half century , will readily decline the task of deciding how long this : happy employment of the people , and consequent diminished charge for pauperism , may be expected to ¦

    last . 1 ' •¦• In a late return to the board , there is a passage pregnant with importance , as illustrative of-the injurious effects upon England of the overflow of Irish pauperism : — " The relief granted during the week ending December 17 , 1851 , in the township of Manchester , was as follows : —Settled poor , 1951 cases , at a cost of £ 231 . 5 s . 5 d . ; Irish , 1780 cases , at a cost of £ 221 . 10 s . 9 d . ; English non-settled , 876 cases , at a cost of £ 108 . 17 s - 2 d . Compared with the corresponding week of the previous year , there was an increase of 188 English cases , and £ 4 . 3 s . 6 d . in the cost ; and an increase of Irish cases , and £ 36 . 2 s . 6 d . in the cost . "

    This tax upon the industry and property of the country is becoming too heavy to bo borne longer , without an effort to throw it off or mitigate it . So wretched , indeed , is the method of disposing of the impost , that it is a question whether the poor or the rich are actually more dissatisfied , or have greater reason to be so , Bince the plunder of the one serves so little to the real advantage of the other . And if this evil be not corrected in a time of almost profound peace and comparative prosperity , how will it be endured in a season of commercial or manufacturing distress , when thousands of hands will be thrown of employment , to add to the number of recipients of relief—how tolerated in a currency crisis—or how will the Chancellor of the Exchequer find dividends in any future war , to pay the interest of an increasing debt ?—all possible contingencies , which it becomes the statesman seriously to contemplate and provide against .

    The remedy which we suggest for this crying evil—the instruction and employment of the poor in' works of a remunerative character—is not a new panacea . It has had the sanction of some of the most illustrious names in English history and literature ; and it has had the imprimatur of success , wherever it has been judiciously The celebrated statute , the 43 rd d'f Elisabeth—the maladministration , not the principle , of which demanded a change—was drawn up by the great Lord Bacon , and " gave power to raise by assessment , to purchase a stook of wool , hemp , flax , & c , for the employment of the

    Lord Halo prepared a scheme , well worthy of hia Lord Halo prepared a scheme , well worthy ot lua highly-gifted intellect , for the employment of the poor in workhouses , which would have been a great improvement upon the 43 rd of Elizabeth , innsmuch as it rendered it compulsory upon the justices of tho peace to procure stock for the poor , when the overseers neglected this duty . One of the suggestions of Lord Hale demonstrates that the sale , outside , of the goods manufactured in the workhouse , was a part of his plan : —" Ihftt there be yearly chosen by the said juatioeo , a master for eaoli workhouse , with a convenient Balary , out of the aald stock , or the produce Jhei ' cof , to continue for three t tiuuciuc »/« — —

    ! rears , it is accpiy o ua u »« " *•*» »•» .., .--ooked forward to the accomplishment of his scheme for the improvement of tho condition of the poor as tho crowning act of hia public life—as a work of great humanity , " worthy of a Christian and an Englishman — was removed by death before ho had time to press It upon the attention of tho Legislature . Sir Joshua Child , who wrote elaborately on tho subject , gave the following as the reault of his reflections : — " It is no matter whether the manufacture in the worichouse turns to present profit or not , the great business of tho nation being—first , to keep tho poor from begging , and starving , an 4 inuring ouch , as wo able to labour and

    discipline , that they ; tnay be hereafter useful members of the kingdom . " In 1697 , Mr . Locke suggested that , ' * houses of industry were the means to increase the quantity of labour throughout the kingdom , and decrease the expense of maintaining the poor /' Against these opinions , emanating from the " master Spirits of the age" in which they lived- —against the light of reason , the testimony of experience , and the dictates of humanity—the disciples of a false version of political economy present us with certain fallacies , which , although they have been often refuted before , it may be necessary here again to notice . First , it is urged that the substitution of employments

    of a healthful and remunerative charactive for compulsory idleness or cruel and repulsive task work , such at picking oakum , & c , would interfere with the means of testing cases of real destitution . In answer to this objection , we submit , thatthe test system itself is unjust , and the sooner its doom is sealed the better . The right of the poor to relief on the soil that gave them birth is as sacred , as ancient , as fully recognized by statute and by judicial authorities , since the days of Richard II . downwards , as any right to property , title , or prerogative , possessed by the highest in

    the land . This being the case , is it just to clog their acceptance of relief with conditions so revolting that , in thousands of cases , it is notorious they endure the utmost extremity of suffering rather than apply for assistance ? The pauper , living in a highly artificial state of society , finds himself reduced , by circumstances over which , perhaps , he has had no control , to indigence ; and unable longer to support himself , his wife , and children , without extraneous aid , he presents himself to the guardians of the poor , and in obedience to the primseral mandate from on high— " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou return to the ground "—he

    " Humbly asks his fellow-worm To give him leave to toil . " He does not demand subsistence for nothing . The only capital he has in the world is the labour of his hands , and that he is willing to give in return for the assistance advanced to him . He desires " to take his portion , and rejoice in his labour , for this is the gift of God . " But he is stopped at the threshold by the stipulation which is imposed upon him , viz ., that , if he enter the workhouse , he must be content to languish in total idleness , 4 ) t go through a certain amount of task work , which , while it thoroughly disgusts him ^ neither is , nor is intended to be , of any benefit to the public . It is hard to say whether the injustice of this system to the poor , or the absurdity of advocating it for the benefit of the ratepayers , is more transparent . In the case of youthful paupers , the weight of our argument is greatly enhanced .

    " Ju 3 t as the twig is bent the Uee's inclined . " Under the plan we recommend , industry would keep the rising generation from mischief , and fashion the future man for a life of honesty and self-dependence . Another objection presented by pseudo-political economists to the carrying on of reproductive labour by guardians is , that it interferes with independent industry . At acursory glance , this objection may appear to possess some force ; but a closer observation will discover that it is wholly untenable . Expounders of political economy should be the last persons to advance this objection , for that science teaches us , " That the wealth and prosperity of a kingdom increase in a ratio with the aggregate of the money earned by the labour and employment of its

    inhabitants ; " and " that production generates demand ;" and the highest authority that could be appealed to assures us " that idleness is the root of all evil . " It is asserted that the application of the labour of the inmates of poorhouses to works of a remunerative nature is an injustice to the workmen who are supporting themselves without parochial relief ; and that it is better for the latter that the former should be supported in total idleness . This proposition is as rational as if we said that in a family of six persons three should insist upon doing all the work , and complain that they were about to be plundered , if the remaining three contributed aught towards the common stock ! Three should " eat the bread of idleness . " in order that the labour of the other

    three should not be interfered with ! The proposition is aa sensible as if we said that one half of the factory labourers in Manchester should be drafted to the poorhouse , there to receive relief at the cost of the remaining eons and daughters of industry . What Bhould we think of the sanity of a man who , about to walk a considerable distance , insisted that he would advance with greater ease and speed if permitted to carry a neighbour on his back ? Beyond all doubt , if the suffrages of the workmen of this country were taken upon the subject , all of them , who are not blinded by ignorance and prejudice , would unhesitatingly concede to the indigent unemployed the privilege of contributing to their own support by the labour of their hands , and to the consequent reduotion of the burden of poor rates , which preBacs so severely upon all classes , from the landed proprietor and oapitaliet to the hard-working mechanic .

    Will tho opponents of the self-supporting system display the temerity of asserting , that the predent administration of the poor law has not most seriously affected Independent industry in Ireland , by swamping the rentrolls of the landlords , driving the farmers out of the country by hundreds of thousands , and pressing bo heavily upon the trading classes in the towns as to compel thousands of onoe comfortable ratepayers to become recipients of in-door relief ? Has it not seriously interfered with the labour markets of England and Scotland , by subjecting the workmen in these countries to an Injurious competition with Irish immigrants , trho , oft the principles we are advocating , might be employed at home to their own benefit and that of society ? Has tho interdiction of reproductive employment not perniciously affected all classes in England , by swelling the rates to ouoh an extent that , in numerous rural districts , vrhen

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1852, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24011852/page/11/