of parts of this important act are mingled with serious apprehensions of the evils which it seems equally calculated to produce, without a combination of caution and decision, prudence and firmness, wisdom and experience, scarcely to be hoped for in any mortals who may be entrusted with the bringing it into operation. The magnitude of the change alone is of itself a cause of considerable danger, by exciting alarm in the minds of the entire body of the poorer classes, who justly look upon the poor-law as the great charter by which their right to existence is, or was, guaranteed to them; and by suddenly dislocating the existing relations of society, and breaking up the links which have so long habitually connected the rich and poor of the same neighbourhoood. That the legislature in this reform have overstepped the necessity of the case, and deserted the ancient paths of the constitution, and the landmarks which experience had recognized, is but too evident. Even if determined to carry the experiment to this extreme extent, it would have been wise at least to have accompanied or preceded both the Report and the Bill, by a solemn recognition of the principle of the right of the poor to relief in destitution, and a pledge for its continuance. This is no more than the judges of the land have repeatedly declared to be the established principle of the ancient poor-law; and in making so vast a change in that law, it would have been well to have proclaimed that its principle was to be maintained inviolate. This would have calmed many fears, satisfied many anxious and distrustful minds, and settled much of wavering and dangerous opinion on the subject. It would have smoothed much of the difficulty in the way of the application of the same principle to Ireland. It was unworthy of the legislature by which this most important subject has been so maturely considered, to blink the direct recognition of the principle itself on which their entire measure is based. It should not have been left to be inferred from the enactments, but should have been clearly enunciated in the preamble. Now, however, that the act, with all its merits and defects, has become law, it remains for every one who wishes well to his country to give his aid to secure its being brought safely and beneficially into operation. We have heard it surmised that it will in fact remain a dead letter, like the Factory Bill of last year, of which no one, we believe, except the inspectors, and those who pay them their salaries, has heard a syllable since it received the royal sanction. But this perfect inactivity, for good or for ill, is, with respect to the new poor-law, impossible. It at once, and from the passing of the act, annihilates the most effective part of the machinery by which relief has been hitherto administered to the poor poor-the jurisdiction of the magistracy, in all parishes where select vestries exist, or which are governed by local acts; and if some equally efficient controlling and regulating power is not speedily substituted, the greatest disorder must ensue. Indeed, the act, as it is framed, is by no means clearly intelligible to ordinary capacities; and unless directions are, at a very early period, circulated from the central commission to the authorities in every parish, explaining to them the extent to which the law has been altered, the change which it has produced in their powers and duties, and recommending the course they should pursue under the circumstances, it is to be feared that in the general uncertainty on these points, and under a vague consciousness of the rigour of the penal clauses in the act, there will be something like a general strike among these local authorities; and, if not a positive cessation of the ordinary relief to the poor, yet such an interruption and hesitation in its continuance as must generate much alarm, and perhaps much dangerous excitement among the poor themselves. This is clearly the first point calling for the attention of the commissioners: indeed, it will hardly brook a week's delay. It is to be hoped there will be no remissness shown by the magistracy of the country to afford their cordial co-operation to the commissioners in carrying the act into operation. We fear that the sort of passive assent which the measure has, during its discussion, met from this quarter, has arisen rather from a sense of the magnitude of the evils of the existing system, and a desire to get quit of the trouble and anxiety and responsibility of conducting it, by shifting the whole upon a branch of the government, than from any matured conviction of the excellence of the new arrangements. It must, however, be perfectly clear that no central metropolitan authority can do much, if anything, towards the reform of local abuses, and the introduction of a better system, unless it can enlist the cordial, active, and intelligent assistance of the local authorities and influential persons in every neighbourhood. Should the latter hold back-should the magistrates, country gentlemen, and clergy fail to do their part, and take an active share, as guardians and vestrymen, in the business of the parishes or unions in which they reside-the commissioners must be driven to depend entirely upon stipendiary agents; and from this we cannot but anticipate the worst possible consequences-an alienation of the poorer class from their natural protectors, the educated and wealthy among their neighbours, and a direct and slavish dependence of the body of the people on the central authority, fatal to the principles of the constitution, and $ 2 pregnant pregnant with danger to the state, as leading the poor to charge all their grievances immediately on the government. But it is not only by assisting to carry the act into practical operation that the gentry of England can aid in securing the benefits it has in view, with the accompaniment of the least possible contingent evil. By tranquillizing the minds of the poor in their respective neighbourhoods, with regard to the character of the change; by setting the intention of the government and legislature in what we hope may be considered as its right light; by closely watching the conduct of the commissioners, and remonstrating wherever they conceive mischief likely to arise from their proceedings: but, above all, by encouraging and aiding the poor to depend more upon their own exertions, and less than they have hitherto done upon parochial support; by providing them with garden allotments, which, as experience has now fully shown, are so valuable and so perfectly harmless a help to the partially-employed labourer; by hunting out modes of giving employment of a private and productive nature to those who would otherwise be forced upon the parish; by devising works of a public and not unprofitable character, for those who are thus forced, whereon they can usefully and industriously labour until some more permanent means of disposing of them be adopted; by assisting the emigration of those who are decidedly in excess beyond the permanent average demand for labour through the year; and by promoting the formation and continuance, on true and salutary principles, of benefit societies for the mutual insurance of members against every casualty, misfortune, or infirmity; it is by these and other active exertions of a similar character, which the circumstances of every district or individual will suggest, that the gentry and clergy, and the respectable middle classes of England can, and, we firmly believe, will exert themselves to effect more, far more, than is within the power of any government commission, towards ameliorating the moral and physical condition of the poor, and restoring those virtuous and industrious habits, that energy and independent spirit, which were formerly characteristic of the English labourer, but which an abusive administration of the poor-law has gone far of late years to extinguish. Let us see a thorough determination among the higher and middle ranks to co-operate, by these various modes, each in his sphere, and to the extent of his means, in furthering the great object of the amended poorlaw, and preventing it from being perverted into an instrument of evil-and we shall have slender fears of the result. The intelligence and the benevolence of these ranks present, in fact, the only guarantee guarantee for the safe working of this important experiment. And, with respect to the poor themselves, much as they have been libelled recently, and by none more, we regret to say, than by the late commissioners and their assistants,-we entertain the same confidence in their good dispositions which has been eloquently and forcibly expressed by Mr. Osler in one of the communications printed by the poor-law commission. The poor deserve all the attention we can give them; they are grateful and respectful to their superiors, and most kind to one another. If treated with harshness, contempt, or neglect, they will resent it, and they have a right to do so; but let any one manifest an interest in their concerns, address them kindly, assist them with discrimination, refuse, when necessary, with mildness, and reprove with temper, and he will never find reason to complain. As the almoner of public charities, I have been brought into contact with thousands of them of all grades, from the respectable artizan down to the imprisoned felon. I have never been treated with disrespect; and have far more frequently had reason to blush at the excess of their gratitude, than to reproach them for unthankfulness*. Their kindness to one another in their distresses is most exemplary and affecting. When pleading for a neighbour, they will indeed urge the absence of every claim upon themselves, and their inability to afford any assistance; but after the aid they have been soliciting has either been obtained or denied, they will cheerfully divide their morsel, and perform voluntarily and gratuitously every service. Their faults are on the surface, and are often nothing more than that coarseness of manner which belongs to their station; but whoever will study them thoroughly, will be compelled to admire their general character, and will feel it an enviable privilege to be enabled to relieve distresses in which it is impossible not to sympathize, and to place them generally in circumstances which shall afford scope and encouragement to their virtues.'-p. 180. We must not conclude without expressing our belief that the government have made a judicious selection in appointing Mr. Frankland Lewis to be the chairman of the Central Board; and that the community owes much gratitude to that gentleman for undertaking this very laborious function. His name and character ought to assuage many jealousies, and do much to excite hearty co-operation among those of his own class and station throughout the country. * This beautiful sentence recalls Wordsworth's more beautiful stanza :'I've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds With coldness still returning; Alas! the gratitude of men Has oftener left me mourning.'-Simon Lee. ART. ART. XI.-Souvenirs Historiques sur la Révolution de 1880. Par S. Bérard, Député de Seine et Oise. Paris, 1834. OUR UR readers will recollect* that amongst certain nameless names' which the Three Days brought into notice, there was one Bérard. This man had been two or three years a deputy, but had never ventured into the tribune, and seemed, by his talents, character, and position, very little likely to play a prominent part in a great political movement. He, however, was the confidential friend of M. Lafitte, and, in the meetings of the deputies which took place during the contest, he distinguished himself by his seditious activity; and while the great majority were, either through timidity or constitutional scruples, willing to enter into terms with Charles X., Bérard-probably instigated by Lafitte-took the lead in urging the dismissal of the elder branch and the elevation of the Duke of Orleans to the throne. It was to Bérard's house that the Duke de Mortemart, the king's new minister and plenipotentiary, was-by the curious coincidence we before observed upon-conducted; it was he who told the Duke 'il est trop tard;'-and it was mainly through his management that this negociation failed. It was he, too, who undertook the preparation of the new charter, to which he had the honour of giving his name for it was and is familiarly termed La Charte Bérard. On the establishment of the new government Bérard had his share of the spoils, though not quite so large a one as he expected; for he thought that, as he had made Louis Philippe king,' Louis Philippe ought, in return, to have named him, at least, a member of his cabinet. Instead, however, of this, he was only made a privy councillor and Directeur Général des Ponts et Chaussées, a place equivalent to our First Commissioner of Woods and Forests. Although M. Bérard afterwards considered this as une des premières fonctions de l'Administration,' yet he no doubt must have been somewhat mortified to see placed in the superior rank of cabinet ministers persons who, like Guizot, Broglie, and Sebastiani, had, during the crisis, exhibited-not merely timidity and vacillation, but a desire to accommodate matters with Charles X. Whatever was the reason, he certainly soon became somewhat of a frondeur, and began to hint that the king he had made did not do full justice to his other great work-the Charter. We think our readers will be amused, and, if they reflect a little, instructed, by the following account of the first day of the new royalty—which, as well, indeed, as every page of the book, offers a most curious exhibition of the disgrace of what successful audacity has called glory,' of the meanness of its affected 'gran*See Quarterly Review, Vol. XLIX. p. 478. + Ibid. deur,' |