We are not quite sure that we comprehend this aright, but we believe it to mean that a vagrant class, bred in the districts where the grave crimes abound, migrate from thence into the more instructed districts, where the minor crimes abound, which the said class therefore commit, rather than the native population of such districts. That people bred in districts prone to the graver crimes should, on migrating to other districts, instead of swelling the catalogue of such crimes, swell only the amount of minor crimes, requires support; and certainly derives none from the mere fact, that in the best instructed and most populous districts the minor, rather than the major, offences prevail. To argue thus would be petitio principii with a vengeance, and unworthy of Mr. Fletcher's high reputation as a statist; for it is evident that this state of crime may result from many different causes, all foreign to the one assigned. Mr. Fletcher however infers that :

"It is this great class of offences, therefore, and not the gross commitments, which should be regarded as the index crime to the relative moral character of each district, not as a perfect test, but as one approximating to the truth much nearer than the latter, being affected in a smaller degree by the migration of the depraved towards the more instructed centres of resort; a further correction for which, in the case of the index crime itself, were it attainable, would render its universal testimony in favour of the good influences associated with instruction in England yet stronger.

This index class, of the more serious offences against the person, and the malicious offences against property, bears strong and universal testimony in favour of the influences associated with instruction throughout England and Wales."

Unfortunately for Mr. Fletcher's theory it no longer does so. We have abstracted from the returns of the three last years above cited the following table, whereby it will be perceived that the same "index class" he relies on, for a test of criminality, now bears testimony the other way: the highest degrees of such instruction and both classes of crime predominate together!

RELATIVE INSTRUCTION (according to Marriage Marks) and CRIMES, in same Years as before cited, of the ten most instructed

and the ten least instructed Counties and Welsh Districts.

We have selected these twenty counties simply because they are in the two extremes as regards "instruction," omitting the medium counties as not declaring decisively either way.

The only safe conclusion from the premises is, that the marriage mark test, affecting about one and a half per cent. of the population, is not even a test of who can write their names, and still less of who are educated, or even moderately instructed; and that even if it were, it has no real relation to crimes whatever. It is, in fact, mere trifling to bestow any reliance upon it.

Density of population has, however, so general a coincidence with greater criminality, that some relation may be said to exist

between them. Thus we find the fifteen counties most prominent in these two features rank thus:

Thus, ten out of the number, to which asterisks are prefixed, concur in being much above the average for criminality and density of population. This fact is important, and whatever may be its cause, it indicates the direction which our philanthropic efforts should take. The cause is indeed of far less importance than the fact. It is most gratifying to us to find so able, clear-sighted, and right-hearted a person as Miss Carpenter espousing the same views we put forth in 1848, as to the means required for this great end. Her admirable work on Reformatory Schools for the dangerous and perishing classes, is seasonably timed, and will not fail to direct the attention of all wellwishers to social progress, to this most vital subject.

It is proposed by a number of gentlemen, who have paid earnest and deep attention to the condition of the "perishing and dangerous classes of children," to hold a conference as early as may be practicable, with a view to make such united efforts as may lead to an improvement in the legislative enactments for these unfortunate beings. Among the gentlemen who give their invitation to this conference, are Sheriff Watson, M. D. Hill, Esq. Q. C., Jelinger Symons, Esq., and Joseph Hubback, Esq., Secretary of the Liverpool Industrial School. As we understand that Mr. Hubback has consented to act as Honorary Secretary, any gentleman desirous of attending the conference can communicate with him.

The object of the Conference is as follows:

A consideration of the Condition and Treatment of the Perishing and Dangerous Classes of Children, and Juvenile Offenders, with a view to procuring such

legislative enactments as may produce a beneficial change on their actual condition and their prospects.

The children whose condition requires the notice of the Conference

are,

First, those who have not yet subjected themselves to the grasp of the law, but who, by reason of the vice, neglect, or extreme poverty of their parents, are inadmissible to the existing School establishments, and consequently must grow up without any education, almost inevitably forming part of the perishing and dangerous classes, and ultimately becoming criminal.

Secondly, those who are already subjecting themselves to police interference, by vagrancy, mendicancy, or petty infringement of the law.

Thirdly, those who are convicted of felony, or such misdemeanor as involves dishonesty.

The provisions to be made for these three classes are,

For the first, Free Day Schools.

For the second, Industrial Feeding Schools, with compulsory attendance.

For the third, Penal Reformatory Schools.

The legislative enactments needed to bring such Schools into operation are, for the Free Day Schools, such extension of the present government grants from the Committee of Council on Education as may secure their maintenance in an effective condition; they being, by their nature, at present excluded from aid, yet requiring it in a far higher degree than those on whom it is conferred.

For the Industrial Feeding Schools, authority to magistrates to. enforce attendance at such Schools on children of the second class and to require payment to the supporters of the School for each child from the parish in which the child resides, with a power to the parish officers to recover the outlay from the parent, except in case of inability.

For the Penal Reformatory Schools, authority to magistrates (or judges) to commit Juvenile Offenders to such Schools, instead of to prison, with power of detention to the governor during the appointed period, the charge of maintenance being enforced as above.

It is in this scheme assumed that society has a right to protect itself from injury and loss, such as it at present suffers from this class of children; that the existing system does not so deter or reform as to protect society; and that EDUCATION, including both instruction and training, is the only means of effecting any material diminution of juvenile crime.

Also, that in all the schools above named, the object in view is not so much to give a certain amount of secular knowledge, or to enforce a temporary restraint, as to train up useful and

self-supporting members of society, acting on a religious principle. Hence they will be best conducted by individual bodies, carrying into effect their own religious convictions, with close and rigid inspection by the State as to their effective working.

The parent has a double duty to discharge towards his child; first, to supply him with the means of subsistence; secondly, to train him in the way he should go. It is then further assumed, that, by neglecting the second part of his responsibility, he ought not to be permitted to escape the first.

The objections usually raised to such reformatory plans are, that they "confer a premium on crime," and "interfere with the liberty of the subject;" the religious question also presents obstacles. These difficulties are all met in the preceding scheme and the principles assumed.

ART. VII.-LANDLORD AND TENANT Under the
PRESENT CRISIS.

N these momentous and progressive times, when science is making such rapid strides in agricultural improvements, it is absolutely incumbent on us, whether we possess broad acres or narrow garden strips, to co-operate in carrying out more liberal covenants either under private arrangements or public enactments, and more enlightened views respecting land culture, as it is only by an assiduous attention to this subject we can hope successfully to compete with the foreigner. Thus, agriculture, although temporarily depressed by low prices and excessive burdens, (for the burdens of land bear an unfair proportion compared with personal property and stock in trade, so much so that in the eventful session of 1846 Sir Robert Peel said, “The land is entitled to protection on account of some peculiar burdens upon it, but that is a question of justice rather than of policy; but I have always felt and maintained that the land is subject to peculiar burdens,") and aided by security for improvements in the shape of an acknowledged "tenant right," may again take its stand amongst the other arts and sciences, increasing the energies of the tenant, unshackled by the caprice of landlords, and, by employing the labourer, stopping crime and degradation, and, by increasing produce, serving the best interests of the community at large.

Although properly constructed leases and agreements vary

VOL. XV. NO. XXIX.

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