sary for their own comfort, after having withdrawn all that was necessary to keep them alive. That was going on this year since January 11 in a very remarkable manner. I have tables from the Post Office, which form only a portion of these figures, showing that on January 18 the deposits were 266,000l. for the week against withdrawals of 178,000l., being an increase of deposits of upwards of 88,000l. On January 25 the deposits were 276,000l. against withdrawals 174,000l.; so that the difference in favour of deposits was 93,000l. ; and on February 1 the deposits were 312,000l. against 136,000l. withdrawals, so that the deposits were more than double the amount of the withdrawals. Now, I think that fact should show you that, although there is distress, there is a very considerable number of persons who are fairly well off in this country, belonging to the working classes, and the times are not universally so bad as they are said to be.' According to the Industrial Review,' at the end of 1871 the total sum due to savings-banks depositors was 55,845,000l., in round numbers; the Post Office banks owing 17,025,000l., the trustee banks 38,820,000l. At the close of 1877 the grand total due was 72,979,000l.; Post Office, 28,741,000l.; and the older banks, 44,238,000l. The six years' accumulations, made up of money saved and interest allowed thereon, reached 17,135,000l., the mean annual accumulations being 2,856,000l. The increments at the postal banks were in sum more than twice those effected at the trustee savings-banks-the respective amounts being 11,716,000l. and 5,419,000l. It has been highly satisfactory to be able to bring together, in this brief review of the material progress of the population, such indications of improvement both in the earnings and in the comfort enjoyed by the masses of the people. Wages, notwithstanding the too frequent fluctuations in their amount, tend, and ought to tend, to become more and more liberal. We may venture to hope that the supply of food may for a considerable period increase more rapidly than the population. 6 Moral and social progress of the people in fluenced by their mate The material condition of the people tells directly on their moral and social progress. 'Better motives,' said Mr. Bagehot, 'better impulses rather, come from a good body; worse motives or worse impulses come rial condifrom a bad body; improper conditions tend to im- tion. proper human action; deteriorated conditions tend to deprave human action.' We do not expect as much from St. Giles's as from Belgravia. Canon Farrar, in the preface to his noble sermons on Eternal Hope,' has given expression to the same sentiments. Clergymen of all denominations,' he says, 'bewail their utter inability to prevent the spread of materialism and infidelity. I, for my part, cannot be surprised at this, when I feel within me the revolt of an indignant conscience against much which is taught as an essential part of a gospel of salvation. It was the doctrine of endless torments which made an infidel of the elder Mill. Does the reader suppose that in this respect he stood alone? Those who work among our London artisans know well the effect that the doctrine has on them. Never was there a wilder and more monstrous delusion than that it is efficacious in deterring them from sin! "I am but thirty-two; I am a coke-burner, which has injured my lungs. I have worked seven days and seven nights, on and off. You see I haven't had my chance," said a poor man to Mrs. Marie Hilton. "Do you really think, master, that God Almighty will put me in fire for ever and ever, after putting me in this here mud all my lifetime?" asked a rough navvy of a City missionary, not long ago.' In the social and the material order of things, no less than in the spiritual, hope inspires, despair discourages exertion. In bringing about the improvements which we have been able to record, Parliament has done its part. The recent Acts relating to trades unions, conspiracy, and arbitration have been described by Mr. Howell, in his recent volume, as the charters of the social and industrial freedom of the people. In their immunity from the conscription the working men of the United Kingdom enjoy an enviable advantage. Our country is safely guarded by the sea and by its volunteer defenders. The subjects of the military despots on the Continent look with envy on our military system, which secures an army strong enough for our defence, but which numbers no reluctant conscript in its ranks, no soldiers forcibly torn away from homes that can ill afford to lose them. 351 CHAPTER XVI. SOCIAL AND MORAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. Perfection consists in becoming something rather than in having something.... Conscience and self-renouncement are righteousness.-MATTHEW ARNOLD, Culture and Dogma. Riches do not gain hearty respect: they only produce external attention. Promiscuous hospitality is not the way to gain real influence you offend more people than you please.-DR. JOHNSON. Nous ne recevons l'existence Qu'afin de travailler pour nous ou pour autrui. The Est puni par la Providence, Par le besoin, ou par l'ennui.-FLORIAN. poor, inured to drudgery and distress, Act without aim, think little, and feel less, And nowhere, but in feign'd Arcadian scenes, Taste happiness, or know what pleasure means.-CowPER. No man is obliged to do as much as he can do. A man is to have a part of his life to himself.-DR. JOHNSON. Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue But moody and dull melancholy, Comedy of Errors, act v. sc. 1. The temper of the Puritan gentleman was just, noble, and self-controlled. The larger geniality of the age that had passed away shrank into an intense tenderness within the narrower circle of the home. He was as kind a father,' says Mrs. Hutchinson of her husband, as dear a brother, as good a master, as faithful a friend as the world had.' Passion was replaced by a manly purity. The new sobriety and self-restraint marked itself even in his change of dress. Colonel Hutchinson 'left off very early fluences the wearing of anything that was costly, yet in his plainest negligent habit appeared very much a gentleman.' 'He had a loving and sweet courtesy to the poorest, and would often employ many spare hours with the commonest soldiers and poorest labourers.' 'He never disdained the meanest, nor flattered the greatest.'-GREEN, Short History of the English People. I will neither always be busy and doing, nor ever shut up in nothing but thoughts. Yet that which some call idleness, I will call the sweetest part of my life, and that is my thinking. OWEN FELTHAM, Resolves. Everyone must seek to secure his independence, but he need not be rich. The old Confucius in China admitted the benefit, but stated the limitation: If the search for riches were sure to be successful, though I should become a groom with whip in hand, I will do so. As the search may not be successful, I will follow after that which I love.'-LONGFELLOW, Notes to Translation of Dante. Chacun doit se défier de ce qu'il y a d'exclusif et d'absolu dans son esprit. . . . Pour moi, je m'irriterais d'un monde où tous mèneraient le même genre de vie que moi. Comme vous, je me suis imposé, en qualité d'ancien clerc, d'observer strictement la règle des mœurs; mais je serais désolé qu'il n'y eût pas des gens du monde pour représenter une vie plus libre. Je ne suis pas riche; mais je ne pourrais guère vivre dans une société où il n'y aurait pas de gens riches.'-RENAN. Social in- I HAVE faithfully endeavoured to describe the actual more valu- condition of trade, and the relations between labour legislation. and capital, as they are in our country at the present able than time. There has been much on which we may congratulate ourselves, though some dark clouds are still gathering in the sky. It is a maxim of our law that there is no wrong without a remedy. We cannot contemplate the existence of an evil and not desire to remove it; but the remedies for the avoidable imperfections of our commercial and industrial organisation are to be provided rather by good social influences than by legislation. The legislator has done his part by removing the shackles from industry, and by placing the workman and his employer on an equal footing in the |