of economy, nor cooking, nor mending their clothes.' From the Potteries, Mr. Scriven, the sub-commissioner, in his Report, says, 'I almost tremble, however, when I contemplate the fearful deficiency of knowledge existing throughout the district, and the consequences likely to result to this increased and increasing population.' He adds that, from the evidence from Cobridge, Burslem, &c., it appeared, that more than three-fourths of the persons therein named can neither read nor write.' It is not,' he continued, from my own knowledge that I proclaim their utter, their absolute ignorance; I would respectfully refer you to the evidences of their own pastors and masters; and it will appear that, as one man, they acknowledge and lament their low and degraded condition.' Hence the disturbances and arson in the Potteries. Mr. Lowndes, clerk to the Board of Guardians of the Burslem Union, says, 'It is with pain that I have witnessed the demoralizing effects of the system as it has hitherto existed; it appears to me fraught with incalculable evil, both physical and moral. In this opinion he was supported by many clergymen, inspectors of police, and others most competent to give their testimony on the subject. Again, Dr. Granger, the sub-commissioner at Nottingham, reported, All parties-clergy, police, magistrates, workpeople, and parents-agree that the present system is a most fertile source of immorality; the natural results have contributed in no slight degree to the immorality which, according to the opinion universally expressed, prevails to a most awful extent in Nottingham. Much of the existing evil is to be traced to the vicious habits of the parents, many of whom are utterly indifferent to the moral and physical welfare of their offspring. The education of the girls is even more neglected than that of the boys-the vast majority of females are utterly ignorant-it is impossible to overstate the evils which result from this deplorable ignorance. The medical practitioners of Birmingham forcibly point out the misery which ensues-improvidence, absence of all comfort, neglect of children, alienation of all affection in families, and drunkenness on the part of the husband.' But here he (Lord Ashley) would read to the house the testimony of a very remarkable person, though only a simple mechanic of Birmingham. He gave his evidence in London, and was anxious that it should be reported, because it was the result of long experience, and because he was deeply convinced that he spoke nothing but truth. The person he alluded to was Joseph Corbett, a mechanic of Birmingham. He (Lord Ashley) would not trouble the house with the whole of his evidence, as honourable members would find it at length in the appendix to Dr. Granger's report. He would content himself with reading only one or two passages. This poor, but intelligent, man stated, ‘Ï have seen the entire ruin of many families from the waste of money and the bad conduct of fathers and sons seeking amusement and pastime in an ale-house. From no other single cause does half so much demoralization and misery proceed.' He then added a most valuable sentence, and, speaking of what he had seen at his own house of the conduct of his own father and mother, said, 'My own experience tells me that the instruction of females in the work of a house, in teaching them to produce cheerfulness and comfort at the fireside, would prevent a great amount of misery and crime. Then there would be fewer

drunken husbands and disobedient children. As a working-man, within my own observation, female education is disgracefully neglected. I attach more importance to it than to anything else.' Now, he (Lord Ashley) thought that a man who could write in such a way, and who maintained such sentiments, was one of whom the country might well be proud; he was a solitary instance to show what might be the condition of the working-classes, but for the existing neglect of the lives, temporal and eternal, of those classes. This was pretty nearly the entire statement with respect to those districts with which he (Lord Ashley) would trouble the house. He had, however, other opinions which he had received from persons of great weight and authority on such a subject, but whose names he would not read. One gentleman, whose opportunities of observation were, perhaps, unequalled, had written to him, and spoke of the existence of a highly-demoralized, middle-aged, and rising generation-more and more debased, I believe, than any previous generation for the last 300 years.' A clergyman, writing from one of the disturbed districts, said, 'The moral condition of the people is as bad as it is possible to be. Vice is unrebuked, unabashed; moral character of no value. A spirit of disaffection prevails almost universally. Magistrates, masters, pastors, and all superiors are regarded as enemies and oppressors.' Another correspondent from another of the disturbed districts wrote, 'I took down myself the following words as they fell from the lips of a Chartist orator- The prevalence of intemperance and other vicious habits was the fault of the aristocracy and the millowners, who had neglected to supply the people with sufficient means of moral, improvement, and would form an item of that great account which they should one day be called upon to render to a people indignant at the discovery of their own debasement.' From another he had learned that a working-man's hall is opened on Sundays, and in this 300 poor children are initiated into infidel and seditious principles. A wild and satanic spirit is infused into the hearers.' To an officer of very great experience he (Lord Ashley) had put this question, What are the consequences to be apprehended if the present state be suffered to continue?' The answer he had received was, Unless a speedy alteration be made in the manufacturing districts, a fresh and more extensive outbreak will again occur, threatening loss to the whole nation.' This state of things prevailed more or less throughout the whole of the kingdom, but principally among the large concentration of human beings which the manufacturing and trading districts exhibited. But he would now read to the house a paper, to show that the evil was not partial, but universally diffused over the surface of the land. The time would be insufficient to go through all the details, but if honourable members would turn to the latter end of the second report of the Children's Employment Committee, devoted to the statement as to their moral condition, they would find that the state of things was shown to be universal throughout the coal and iron fields of Great Britain and Wales, and the east of Scotland. They would find such evidence as the following:-One clergyman stated, the condition of the lower classes is daily becoming worse in regard to education, and it is telling every day upon the moral and economic condition of the adult population.' Another said, 'The country will

be inevitably ruined unless some steps are taken by the Legislature to secure education to the children of the working-classes.' In North Wales it was stated, that not one collier boy in ten could read so as to comprehend the sense of what he reads.' In South Wales' many are almost in a state of barbarism, religious and moral training is out of the question, and I should certainly be within bounds by saying, that not one grown male or female in fifty can read.' In the west of Scotland a large portion of the colliery and ironwork hands are in an utterly depraved state,—a moral degradation, which is entailing misery and disease on themselves, and disorder on the community.' From Yorkshire, Durham, Lancashire, North Staffordshire, and Cumberland, the following accounts of the replies of children who had been examined had been received: I never heard of France.' 'I never heard of Scotland or Ireland.' 'I do not know what America is.' James Taylor, 11 years old, has never heard of God; but has heard men in the pit say, God d them.' A girl of 18 years of age said, 'I never heard of Christ at all.' This was very common among children and young persons. never go to church or chapel ;' and, again, I do not know who God is.' From Halifax there was this evidence; You have expressed surprise,' says an employer, at Thomas Mitchell not having heard of God; I judge that there are very few colliers hereabouts that have.' Could it be possible, he begged to ask, that such terrible causes as these should be without the most pernicious effects? He contended it was not, and that an urgent necessity existed for arousing the country at large from the fancied security under which they lived.'.

6

'I

Lord Ashley at the conclusion of his speech, introduced some facts showing the melancholy state of the adult population, which he attributed in part, to drunkenness, to the state of their dwellings, to the truck system,' and to the practice of paying wages at public houses. Into these causes we cannot now enter, as we must turn to the measures proposed by government, to remedy the fearful state of things we have briefly pourtrayed. Lord Ashley modestly but justly observed, after completing the picture he desired to lay before the House, he had not presumed to present to it any scheme, because he had ever thought, so great and weighty a question demanded all the collective wisdom and deliberation which it was in the power of the Legislature to bring to bear upon it.' To this opinion the Ministers were prepared to give their concurrence, and Sir James Graham immediately announced the intentions of Government to meet the wishes of the noble mover, and of the House, by several measures which he had no doubt, when brought into operation, would at least do something to counteract and remedy the evils so justly described.

It must be admitted the Government met the case frankly and generously, but whatever be the disposition on the part of Ministers, or however liberal the assistance they propose to afford, we are inclined to think there is great truth in the observation made by Sir Robert Peel, that unless conviction were brought home individually to the minds of all men of the wealthier classes of Society, that they themselves had shared in the guilt of neglect in this great matter, and unless their effectual co-operation could be obtained, much of the good designed by the proposed measures would be imperfect.

The Government have proposed

1st. To give power to parishes, or where the population is small to a union of parishes, to build and maintain schools for the education of pauper children, and of those whose parents or guardians would consent to their being educated in those schools, the expences of building and maintaining to be defrayed out of the Poor Rates.

2ndly, To make some alterations in the regulations relating to factory children, so as to insure their having more hours devoted to education.

3rdly, To alter the terms upon which grants are to be made by the Committee of the Privy Couucil for the erection of schools in aid of local efforts. The rule hitherto has been, that no advance should be made towards building a school unless two-thirds of the sum required were previously provided by private subscriptions, and in some cases unless one-half was so subscribed; but in no case unless one-half was previously advanced. Instead of which it is now proposed, that, in any district where the inhabitants should be enabled to procure a local subscription to the extent of one-third of the expense of building a school, the public subscription should be granted on the following conditions:-first, that one-third of the cost of the schoolhouse should be raised on the principle of local efforts; secondly, that a memorial should be presented by certain of the inhabitants to the Committee of Council, praying for a grant of one-third of the expense of the building from the public fund, and for the loan of onethird. The committee of Council should make enquiry as to the representation contained in the memorial, and refer the memorial and statement to the justices of the division, who should examine into the facts, and declare whether a school was necessary. If the justices declared a school-building necessary, the Committee of Council should make a grant of one-third of the cost of the building, and might empower commissioners to issue Exchequer-bills for one-third of the amount, re-payment of the amount of which was to be obtained out of the poor-rates in a period of ten years. That was the mode provided for the erection of the school.

4thly, It was stated that the condition of the dwellings of the labouring classes, and the arrangement of various sanatory regulations relating thereto, were under the consideration of government, and that with regard to the truck system and the payment of wages at public-houses, the evils were fully admitted, and the government would support any measure to correct those evils, that would not infringe upon private rights and contracts.

Such are the measures proposed, and they are no doubt good, but they are alas! very unequal to the portentous evils they are designed to remedy. Again, adverting to the fact that it is extreme destitution and poverty which is the chief obstruction to education, we would earnestly recommend that some measures be adopted, by which this obstruction may be removed, and something be done for the parents as well as the children, thus showing that the ancient obligation is yet acknowledged :- -"For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in thy land."

TABOR.

FROM WYLIE'S MODERN JUDEA.

TABOR has no equal among the hills of Palestine, uniting in itself the glory of Lebanon and the excellency of Carmel. It stands apart, as if proud to display its beautiful proportions and unrivalled symmetry its figure is that of a truncated cone;'* its height has been guessed not to exceed a thousand feet from the plain. It stands on the confines of the tribe of Issachar, having the land of Zebulun on the north. Its great height, beautiful shape, and prominent position, rising abruptly in a level plain, render it a well-marked object throughout the surrounding district whether the traveller skirt the promontory of Carmel, or wander by the shores of Gennesareth, or climb the hills of Nazareth, or journey along the plain, the beauty of Tabor is always before him, relieving the eye, fatigued perhaps by the universal sterility and desolation which reign around. The perpetual verdure of this mountain, which has excited the wonder and delight of all travellers, appears to be chiefly owing to the heavy dews which fall on it during night, and the thick clouds which during a great part of summer cover its summit in the morning, but break up at noon.|| The traveller who would ascend its top must go round the base of the mountain, and begin his journey upwards on the north side a winding path, which he may easily traverse on horseback, leads him through thickets of stunted oaks, olives, and pistachio trees, while the ground at their bottom, as well as the whole face of the mountain, is covered with grass and wild flowers. The wooded parts afford a cover to wild boars, and other animals, which the Arabs often come hither to hunt. After winding several times round the mountain, and thus enjoying the prospect afforded from all its sides, the traveller at last reaches its summit. Here he finds an oval plain, of about a quarter of a mile in length; ¶ the east end of which is cumbered with the ruins of the military and religious buildings which have successively occupied the summit of Tabor, the west end forms a beautiful table of luxurious grass and odoriferous herbs, which retain their perfume even in the middle of winter. Part of this plain is sometimes cultivated by Arab husbandmen; but this rarely happens; when Joliffe visited the mountain, there was not the slightest symptom of cultivation to be seen in any part of it.** Such is its usual state, its beauty is entirely that with which a fertile soil, and the heavy dews unite in clothing it. Tabor commands the finest prospect which is anywhere to be had of the great plain of Esdraelon; the condition of the fields around, as seen from its summit, is such as powerfully to remind the spectator of the denunciation of the prophet. Here,' says Mariti, you behold an immensity of plains interspersed with hamlets, fortresses, and heaps of ruins.' tt “I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness,

* Burckhardt, p. 334.

+ Elliot, Vol. II. p. 363.

+ Stephens reckons 3000 feet in height. This estimate is too great, for the ascent is easily accomplished in an hour, though the path winds very much.

§ Relandi Palestina, Tom. I. Cap. 51.

Buckingham, Vol. I. p. 160, 161.

tt Mariti, Vol. II. p. 160, 161.

Burckhardt, p. 335. **Joliffe, Vol. I. p. 41.