intended it for the poor, but its keenness is now felt by themselves. What pity that others must suffer from their wickedness.

The following items, copied from the last quarterly account of the Huddersfield Union, ending December 25, 1842, should make my old opponents, the Whigs of Huddersfield, feel some degree of shame:

"INCREASE, as compared with the corresponding quarter of last year, in the number of in-door paupers 64 in out-door paupers, 3,800!! in expenditure, 636/. 17s. Id.!!! in debt. 334/. 16s. I‡d."

And was it for this "BOON" that ye, the Whigs of Huddersfield, persuaded the Whig Government to supersede the office of Lord Lieutenant, by allowing an Assistant Poor Law Commissioner to authorize the march and countermarch of troops? Was it indeed to force your neighbours to accept of this "BOON" that a set of mushrooms were made into magistrates? Was it really to compel the people of Huddersfield to receive this "BOON" that you sent for and obtained a banditti of hired metropolitan bludgeoners to be stationed in your town? Was this the " BOON" for the obtaining of which you so frequently caused cavalry, infantry, and rifles to assemble in your midst?

Well, you now have the "GREAT BOON!"-bayonets, swords, and bludgeons have fixed it in your midst. How do you like it?-Shame! eternal shame on you, for forcing your neighbours to be cursed with that "BOON."-R.O.

"Huddersfield, Friday afternoon, February 3rd, 1843.

"My Dear Sir,- * ** The Huddersfield Union is now 24301. in debt! and how the money is to be raised, passes my comprehension. Before the infliction of the New Poor Law the rates were 5d. in the pound; the poor were well done by, the rates well collected, the rate-payers contented, and all seemed happy. Immediately after that event, the rates rose to 10d.; then to Is. 3d. in the pound; and the next is expected to be 2s. It is so already at Kirkheaton, and one or two other places. The paupers are complaining bitterly of scanty supplies, the rate-payers groaning under their burdens, and all is unhappiness and discontent.

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Our Philosophers never contemplated the fact that the higher the rates, the greater the difficulty of collecting them. You will see in the papers, that four of the nine overseers made some sort of arrangement with Floyd, the clerk to the board; the other five were convicted (5l. each). You will also perceive, that SIXTEEN distress warrants have been issued against as many ratepayers! Such are a few of the operations of this blessed enactment! Thus it appears, the higher the rates, the less can be collected; the more the rate-payers are burdened, the less comforts do the poor receive, and the more is pauperism increased, by the operations of the very Act which was to decrease them. The rates rise, the rate-payers are unable to pay, distress warrants issue, their few stocks of goods sold, and themselves added to the already over-grown list of paupers. To all this, England submits! the West Riding of Yorkshire submits!! and Huddersfield, which made so noble a stand against the abominable Malthusian enactment, submits!!! Another point deserves some observations from you. The overseers, once appointed, they must take the office, or pay the penalty (107.)-an office onerous in itself, yet without fee or emolument. The only things attached to the office are loss of money, of time, hinderance to their business, and a heavy responsibility. They must carry out the abominable measure, even though they render themselves odious, obnoxious to, and hated by their fellow parishioners, for acting in a manner the most repugnant to their own feelings, in taking away from the already too much impoverished rate-payers the few articles of furniture and domestic comforts which have yet been left to them. If the collector neglects his duty, or what is too generally the case, cannot collect the rates from poverty-stricken persons, the overseers are responsible-are left at the mercy of the collector. No money is paid to the overseers, yet they are responsible! The collector hands his receipts to the treasurer of the union, by whom it is placed in a bank-yet are the overseers responsible! To my thinking, this is the highest, and most absurd, and tyrannous anomaly of the whole, as far as regards the officers of the union. Notwithstanding the often reiterated complaints from every part of the kingdom, the system continues its rigour unameliorated, unabated.

After the cruel deceptions practised upon them by a Whig administration, the poor looked forward with hope to a Conservative Government. They have found those hopes blasted, and that a Conservative Government is as far from relieving them as ever were their Whig predecessors in office. They grumble, complain, and submit-verily the old national spirit of Britons is vanished -tled for ever. The only champion they ever had capable and willing to direct them, is himself a captive, and can only advise through the press; but the worm itself will turn when trampled on. Will Englishmen submit, in grumbling patience, to the most abominable and tyrannous Act that ever disgraced a country calling itself Christian? Oh, that I could once more see the light-the false light of Philosophy, extinguished, and reason and Christianity resume their wonted seats. England would then be safe, and our country once more happy. Ever yours, in truth, AN OLD TORY."

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LETTER XLVI.

THE ARGUMENT OF LOCKE FALSELY AND EVASIVELY TREATED BY SIR ROBERT PEEL AND THE MEMBERS OF THE BIRMINGHAM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

To J. R. M CULLOCH, Esq.

SIR, A document of considerable importance has lately been published, which cannot fail to attract the attention, and to excite the interest, of all whose minds are engaged ou

inquiring into the state and causes of the prosperity and adversity of the people. The document to which I refer, contains a correspondence between the Prime Minister and the members of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce on the subject of the Currency.

Whatever opinion is given on the causes of the physical and moral condition of a people by a man who occupies a position so elevated as that of First Minister of the Crown, deserves the most serious consideration as well as the most careful examination, because the opinion must be presumed to have a particular and immediate bearing on national policy; and also because the authority with which it is fraught, is calculated to influence both the opinions and practice of a great number of persons.

I will now proceed to lay before you the most important part of the evidence which the document above referred to contains. With regard to the particular question-which is that of a management of the Currency-mooted by the one corresponding party, and parried and partly negatived by the other, I need not, on the present occasion, enter upon a discussion of it, but I will request you to remark, that the members of the Chamber of Commerce attempt to fortify the line of argument they have adopted, by a reference to the authority of Locke; and that they give his authority the greatest weight they can, by ascribing to him the high and uncommon title of " the immortal," they designate him as "the immortal Locke."

On replying to the arguments of the members of the Chamber of Commerce, Sir Robert Peel, in the first place, casts these arguments back upon their inventors, as being obscure, unintelligible, and as having no solid foundation. He then refers to the authority of the immortal Locke himself, having an impression on his mind that the members of the Chamber had not read accurately, or to much advantage, the arguments of Locke. Ultimately he refers them to one particular part in that treatise of Locke's to which I have adverted in my last letter, and which was intended, by its author, to induce all who were reasoning on the subject of the Currency to contemplate steadily, and to investigate strictly, the great body of SUBSTANTIAL COMMERCIAL FACTS from which all money or currency must derive existence.

Thus, Sir Robert Peel invited the members to descend from the aerial, or unsubstantial region of invention, where, enveloped in mist, they had planned and shrouded their scheme, and asked them to condescend to tread on solid earth. This unpleasing invitation, so inapt to the Birmingham purpose, appears to have settled the question in so far as the arguments of the members of the Chamber of Commerce were concerned. Up to this point all was well with the Prime Minister, and very adroitly contrived; the members of the Chamber having been very quietly laid upon their backs. But now a vast change is superinduced over the discussion, and another state of things is gradually unfolded. Like those dissolving views by which the public taste has lately been attracted, and which excite so much surprise, so, whatever of adroitness, of judgment, and of truth existed in the argument of the Prime Minister, now disappear, and another picture, of a very different character, though of clear and solid reality, is presented to us.

I have already mentioned that Sir Robert Peel succeeded in hemming round the members of the Chamber of Commerce, so as to compel them to take a position on the most substantial part of an argument written by their immortal Locke. Having expressed an apprehension that the treatise of Locke had escaped the notice of the members, he concludes his letter of the 3rd of December with the following sentence:-" Against these positions Mr. Locke's arguments are directed; and as they apply with equal force to many of the doctrines maintained by the Chamber of Commerce, I RESPECTFULLY RECOMMEND THEM TO THE CONSIDERATION OF THAT BODY.—I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, "ROBERT PEEL."

Thus Sir Robert Peel himself recommended that this particular argument of Locke's should receive due consideration; but notwithstanding this recommendation, the members of the Chamber evinced, by their next letter, an aversion from the particular and important part referred to, and a tenaciousness of their own preconceptions; so that Sir Robert Peel, in his next letter of December 12, objects against the members that they completely mistake the meaning of Locke; and, subsequently, he refers them to one precise and important passage, whereby a REMEDY for a state of national poverty and distress is suggested. His words are as follows:-" He states (Sir Robertis alluding to Mr. Locke) in the next paragraph to that quoted by the Chamber, what he conceives to be the remedy for this state of things-namely, a return to the vertue and provident way of living of our ancestors, and spending less than our own commodities will pay for, which, he observes, is the sure and only way for the nation to get rich."

Now, Sir, I entreat of you to give the matter just alluded to your calmest and most solemn consideration, for it is of the weightiest importance. We have here a correspondence between the Prime Minister and a body of commercial gentlemen on the policy of measures which are suggested for remedying a state of national distress. Both parties concur in paying a certain degree of deference to the authority of an eminent writer, and Sir Robert Peel makes reference to a particular passage of a work by this writer, as conveying the judgment of the writer on the great question of remedy. I quoted the passage at full length in my last letter. The most important portion of it that Sir Robert Peel quotes is this :—“ A return to the vertue and provident way of living of our ancestors." On reading these words, a thoughtful and observing person would naturally wish to know the precise meaning of them. He would exclaim-what a misfortune it is that Mr. Locke has not left us a clear explanation of his meaning, so that we might know what he would have us to do in an emergency like that of which he was discoursing; for these words-" vertue and provident way of living of our ancestors"-may be construed in such a variety of ways, that, in fact, we can gain little, if any, practical knowledge by means of them. But now, on referring to the treatise itself, we find that Locke HAS given a definition of his important words; and this definition is immediately conjoined to the words themselves, and the definition is this :-" Content with our native conveniences of life, without the costly itch after the materials of pride and luxury from abroad;" but Sir Robert Peel has omitted all mention of this definition. He has quoted the words which precede it, as well as those which follow it; these, as compared with the definition itself, being of small importance. His motive for suppressing the definition, is best known to himself. Having viewed the omission in every possible light, still it appears to me to be wholly unwarranted by the occasion, and, hence,

to be disingenuous and unjustifiable. An important feature, however, IS conspicuous, namely, that the definition given by Locke is diametrically opposed to the commercial policy which Sir Robert Peel has recommended to the nation to adopt. So that, stating the case fully and truly, we have here the extraordinary fact of a Prime Minister respectfully recommending to the consideration of a body of commercial men an argument which goes to falsify the principle on which his own commercial policy is founded. Such is the character of the spirit by which, in these times, we are under the necessity of being guided; assuredly it is an awful instance of spiritual weakness in high places. Having thus shown the precise position in which the Prime Minister has placed himself by this correspondence, it is important, in the next place, to ascertain in what position they stand who compose the other corresponding party; and it will appear, that with regard to them the affair is even worse. In their letter to Sir Robert Peel of the 26th of November, the members of the Chamber of Commerce express themselves thus:-

"The Committee cannot but be aware, that the principle of the measures which you saw fit to recommend to Parliament in the last session, is the principle of Free Trade, and to that principle, in the abstract. they do not object, but, on the contrary, they believe, that if properly carried out, Free Trade will be found one great means of re-invigorating the wasting energies of the people, and bringing them again into effective operation."

Now, Sir, you will here perceive, that the assentment thus expressed by the members of the Chamber, embraces the most extensive field of commercial action that CAN be suggested. Here is no trivial, partial or confined view, but the principle sanctioned is nothing less than the principle of an entire SYSTEM, applicable alike to our own country as to every country in the world, and so comprehending all nations within its expansive influence. And, moreover, in thus giving their adhesion to the principle of Free Trade, the members of the Chamber have subsequently expressed regret that the principle is not likely to be so fully carried into practice as they could wish, because impediments of two kinds are likely to be interposed; the one impediment is, that the people of foreign countries will not fully unite with us in establishing that perfect freedom of commercial action which is desired; and the other impediment is, that our own legislature will not adopt the Birmingham scheme of an expansive currency, composed of paper promises. Thus, on the 26th of November, the members of the Chamber of Commerce gave the sanction of their authority to the fullest application of the principle of Free Trade that the human mind can conceive; and now I will ask you to notice the nature of the communication which concluded this remarkable correspondence.

I have already shown you, that Sir Robert Peel referred the members of the Chamber to ONE particular and important passage in the work of Mr. Locke; and, by adducing this passage, I have proved to you, that the principle therein contained is diametrically opposed to the principle of Free Trade; and now I beg of you to remark what the members of the Chamber wrote to Sir Robert Peel in answer to his recommendation that they should consider this passage. They wrote thus:In conclusion. THE COMMITTEE ARE QUITE READY TO RECOGNIZE

IN THE ABSTRACT THE PROPRIETY OF THE SUGGESTION INVOLVED IN THOSE OBSERVATIONS OF

MR. LOCKE, RECOMMENDING a return to the vertue and provident way of living of our ancestors;'" and here should have followed the definition, which the Committee, like Sir R. Peel, have omitted to put in, namely, CONTENT WITH OUR NATIVE CONVENIENCES OF LIFE, WITHOUT THE COSTLY ITCH AFTER THE MATERIALS OF PRIDE AND LUXURY FROM ABROAD."

Thus the members of the Chamber have placed themselves in a discreditable, and, I maintain, inextricable position, by advancing a direct self-contradiction; for in one part of the correspondence they have given the fullest assentment to the principle of Free Trade, whilst, in another part, they have professed to recognize the truth of the principle which is the antagonist of Free Trade. I think you will agree with me, when I suggest, that the gentlemen who compose the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce owe to their fellow countrymen a retractation, as well as an apology, for having ventured to treat the great question of the national interests in a manner so dangerously trifling and unbecoming.

With regard to the particular question to which the correspondence has reference, it grieves me to see a body of commercial men wasting their mental strength in the pursuit of a delusive and destructive chimera. When the question of Currency comes before me in the regular course of investigation, I shall be able to show by demonstration that the views advanced by the members of the Chamber are entirely erroneous; that instead of any national good resulting from the adoption of money made of paper and based on credit, the project is of a character entirely mischievous. I wish that these gentlemen, and many others also, would recognize and act upon the suggestion of Locke, which is, to direct their attention to the substantial facts of commerce. Let them go at once to the ROOT of the subject. Let them acquire a thorough mastery of the RUDIMENTS of the science. Let them prosecute a searching and persevering inquiry, until they have found the LAW OF VALUE; and then let them trace, with accuracy and precision, the manner in which this great law operates on the national property or capital; for, by this course, they cannot fail to render to their country most essential service.

The members of the Chamber ought to feel convinced, that the great truth after which we are all in search, must lie at one of two goals, namely, the free principle of trade, which may be called the policy of modern times; or, the regulating principle of trade, which is our ancient constitu tional policy; and therefore, that it is to one of these two goals that we must drive. To expect to invigorate commerce, to increase and diffuse wealth, and to get and properly distribute money, by sowing such seed as the members of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce would sow, is a futile expectation. It is like expecting to see flowers and fruit grow in the air, without the intervening matter afforded by the leaves, the branches, the trunk, the roots of the tree, and the earth. Before flowers and fruit can be had, a PRECEDING COMBINATION OF ELEMENTS is indispensable. So it is with money.

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
WILLIAM ATKINSON.

No. 16, Doughty Street, February 20, 1843.
Printed by Vincent Torras & Co., 7, Palace Row, New Road, London.

THE

FLEET PAPERS.

THESE Papers are principally intended for the perusal of the friends of Christianity and the Constitution; particularly the Clergy and the Aristocracy, and of all persons who are possessed of Property. The object of the writer will be to explain the reason for the present alarming state of English society, and the consequent insecurity of life and property; also to offer some remarks upon the folly and wickedness of attempting to uphold our Institutions, particularly that of Private Property, by the unconstitutional means of Centralization, Commissioning, Espionage, and Force; finally, to state his own views on the best mode of restoring Peace, Contentment, Security, and Prosperity, to every rank of the people of England.

The author is perfectly aware of the fact, that every Parliamentary leader is now only attempting to legislate for the present moment-putting off the evil day -making laws "from hand to mouth," in the hope that some unforeseen, fortunate event may enable succeeding Statesmen to legislate for permanency. He is also convinced that there is a mode of successfully re-establishing our Institutions upon their original foundation-Christianity;-and that that is the only way to preserve them from the encroachments of political partisans, who are now paving the way to universal Ruin, Anarchy, and Despotism.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

MR. OASTLER is removed from No. 2, in 10, to No. 8, in the State House. No. 8 is on the ground-floor, close to the front door, on the left.-MR. OASTLER begs to remind his friends, that ON MONDAY he is always occupied in writing; so that on that day HE IS NOT 66 AT HOME."

A. BENNOCK, 3, Upper Park Street.-Will he be so obliging as to call upon Mr. Oastler? Thanks for his letter.

J. PERCEVAL, 7. Camden Ville, Kensington. says, "I am sorry to say that the vagrant poor are dropping daily at our workhouse like rotten sparrows, from typhus fever. We have already had between 20 and 30, and there are now more than 20 in our house. We are, of course, unprepared for such a sudden demand on us, and are under considerable apprehension of our own paupers becoming infected. Two of the nurses have already taken the disorder, and we fear the surgeon also. It is terrible to think of the consequences of the merciless and niggardly spirit of the New Poor Law."

THOMAS SHORT, Lockwood, Huddersfield.-His most affectionate and very interesting letter is received. Mr. Oastler is grateful for such evidence of friendship. He too recollects with pleasure "those hours of sweet intercourse at Fixby Hall." The remembrance of those seasons is a sweet balm in prison—a balm of which man cannot deprive Mr. Oastler. To be assured of the prayers of such men as Thomas Short, is better than riches. Thomas shall hear from his friend soon.

JOAH MALLINSON, Leeds.-His valuable packet is received, and will, when properly digested, be used. It is melancholy, but not surprising, to know that things are getting worse and worse in Leeds." In the very nature of things, if we are to increase the competition-and that is now a settled question—” the burdens must be heavier and the profits less.” WILLIAM ATKINSON, Leeds.-Does the venerable patriot fancy that Mr. Oastler has forgotten his true friend !—No, no. He shall hear soon.

DAVID HAYWOOD, Bury, Lancashire.- Thanks for his good wishes and prayers.

R. J. RICHARDSON, 19, Chapel Street. Salford, and JoHN JONES. 10, Enock's Court, Goodman's Yard, Minories.-Shall be inserted at the earliest opportunity.

** In part of last week's number, in the advertisement of Mr. Ferrand's Speech, for "12s. per 100, 57. per 1000," read "3d. each, 16s. per 100, 77. per 1000."

JOHN PAVEY, 47, HOLYWELL STREET, STRAND.

NOTICE OF MOTION BY MR. WALTER.

(Referred to at page 69 of this number.)

Copied from the Parliamentary Papers.

"Mr. Walter,-To propose the following resolutions:

"I. That in a document intituled Measures submitted by the Poor Law Commissioners to his Majesty's Ministers,' appear the following passages:

That at any time after the passing of this Act, the Board of Control shall have power by an order, with such exception as shall be thought necessary, to DISALLOW the continuance of relief to the indigent, the aged, and the impotent. in any other mode than in a workhouse, regulated in such manner as by the aforesaid Board of Control shall be determined.'

them.'

The power of the Commissioners would be to REDUCE ALLOWANCES, but not to ENLARGE

After this has been accomplished, orders may be sent forth, directing that after such a day all out-door relief should be given partly in kind; after another period it should be wholly in kind; that after such another period it should be gradually diminished in quantity, until that mode of relief was EXTINGUISHED. From the first the relief should be altered in quality, COARSE BROWN BREAD being substituted for fine white; and, concurrently with these measures as to the out-door poor, A GRADUAL REDUCTION SHOULD BE MADE IN THE DIET OF THE IN-DOOR POOR, and strict regulations enforced.'

II. That these recommendations, applicable alike to every class of the poor, and enjoining an indiscriminate reduction of their physical comforts to the lowest endurable point, are shown, by the subsequent orders and practice of the Poor Law Commissioners, to form the real though unavowed basis of the present system of Poor Law relief.

III. That the suffering already caused by their partial enforcement, and the amount of outdoor relief in spite of them still administered, show their provisions to have been at once cruel and impracticable.

IV. That the attempted substitution of punishment for charity has more and more tended to irritate and dishearten the poor, to check industry, to increase crime, and to encourage various kinds of tyranny, without even the proposed compensation of reducing the expenses of the rate-pavers.

V. That this House think it, therefore, expedient to demand such a re-construction of the existing system as shall make it conformable to Christianity, sound policy, and the ancient constitution of this realm.-[Thursday, February 23, 1843.]"

The following epistle has recently been sent to Sir James Graham from the vicinity of Huddersfied. When the JAILER GENERAL has answered, Mr. Lockwood is requested to send a copy to Mr. Oastler for publication.

"Marsden, in Huddersfield, February 20, 1843. Sir,-Having seen, in various newspapers and other publications, that the sanction of your authority, as Secretary of State for the Home Department of Her Majesty's Government, has been given to prevent persons imprisoned for debt from amusing themselves by playing upon a Flute, I therefore most humbly solicit to be informed if such persons may not yet be suffered to amuse themselves and others by playing on the SCOTCH FIDDLE.

"I have the honour to be, Sir,

"Your most obedient servant,

"NICHOLAS LOCKWOOD"

"To the Right Hor. Sir James Graham, Bart., M.P."

(Extracted from the Times, December 20th, 1842.)

"CLERKENWELL.-A poor half famished looking lad, named Crookes, was charged with begging under the pretence of selling lucifer matches. He was first brought up on Saturday even.ng, when he said the constable had beaten him, and he was remanded until yesterday that the fact might be ascertained.-Police-constable 377 N said he saw the prisoner present match-boxes and touch his bat on Saturday evening in the Holloway-road. The people there had complained of the annoyance given by such persons as the prisoner. When witness took the prisoner into custody, the latter threw himself upon the ground and refused to go along. Witness took him that day to a broker in Holloway, who, according to the prisoner's statement, could prove that he (witness) had beaten him, but the broker would not say that witness had used any violence. He then took the prisoner to several houses to ascertain if he had offered matches for sale or begged at them, but no one knew him except one servant girl, who stated that the prisoner had asked a bit of bread for God's sake there, when told his matches were not wanted.

MR. GREENWOOD inquired what was the broker's name that contradicted the prisoner's statement?-The complainant said he did not know. The prisoner again affirmed that the policeman had treated him very cruelly when he was taken into custody. He had done no harm, only selling matches; he was not a beggar and lived in Charles Street, Drury Lane. He had been often seen selling his matches, but nobody ever saw him begging.

MR. GREENWOOD inquired if anybody saw the prisoner begging ?-Horsfield, the Mendicity Society's officer, said he saw the prisoner offer ng lucifers for sale; but,' said Horsfield, the most determined beggars in London sell matches, your worship. I know most obstinate beggars that carry matches and razors about the streets.'

MR. GREENWOOD said he believed that to be the fact. Prisoner, you must go to the House of Correction for 7 days.-The prisoner was then removed, weeping bitterly."