and we hope what he has seen of British prosperity, will dispose him to fayour freedom of Government at home. We regret to find that the Colonial Le gislature of Jamaica, has indignantly rejected Mr. Huskisson's very moderate letter. POETRY. 'OF THE INCOMPARABLE TREASURE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES,” "CERTAIN GODLY PRAYERS FOR SUNDRY DAYS," (from an old edition of ON PRAYER the Book of Common Prayer) MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. SCRAPS FROM THE EARLY DIVINES THE IRISH SOCIETY ON THE EARLY MARRIAGES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY TOUR TO 'THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY ON THE ASSUMED DIVINITY OF THE POPE REVIEW. 163 164 165 169 172 176 180 189 195 AN ESSAY TO ILLUSTRATE THE FOUNDATION, THE NECESSITY, THE ............. ...... FOREIGN RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. DOMESTIC RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE Cork and Ross Diocese, Catechetical Examinations. London, Lectures to 227 235 UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.. POETRY-Jerem. xxxi. 15. Imitated... WILLIAM CURRY, JUN. AND CO. DUBLIN AND HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. LONDON: SOLD ALSO BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. "Ibo," ," "G. H," and if possible "B," shall appear next month.-The communication of" R. S. T. U." is inadmissable: he may receive it back, by applying for it at our Publisher's.-" R. M. J." shall be inserted." S. D." shall also appear as soon as we have space.-The continuation of "Look beyond Luther,' shall be inserted.-An anonymous communication on "First Cousins" is inadmissable.-A letter has been left at our Publisher's for "Celestino."-" A Curate" has been received." Viator" has also come to hand: we have not yet had time to form our "opinion" of his communication; he shall have it in our next.-The Sermon by the Rev. Matthew Henry, sent us by "C. L. P,” shall be inserted, as we take it upon our Correspondent's authority that it is genuine, and that it has not been published.-To our poetical friends we have to acknowledge the receipt of “X”—“ A. M. T.”—and “A. S.” A Correspondent has expressed a wish that we should insert extracts from the Savoy Conference, relative to the points at issue between the Puritans and the Episcopalians. We shall be happy to introduce the subject into our pages, should any of our Correspondents favour us with a discussion of it. As "ROBERT" seems to have mistaken the character and spirit of the articles he animadverts on, we deem it not expedient to publish his letters. At the same time we beg to present him with the Author's (compliments, and to request that he will, through the medium of our Publisher, favour him with a letter, subscribed with a real signature, to which he shall receive an answer, conveying his explanation and name at full length. We are accused by our correspondent, "C. M. P." of gross "carelessness, in neglecting to insert several pieces which were sent to us for publication." We know not the articles to which he alludes; but we beg leave to say, that, however we may have erred on the other side, we have never excluded from our pages any of the favours of our Correspondents that did not appear to us unfit for publication. We regret that our decision should have caused "disappointment" to any of our contributors; but we are utterly at a loss to conceive how it could have produced "rage." We must decidedly plead not guilty to the charge of having knowingly omitted to acknowledge the receipt of any of the favours which we have received, unless their contents were of such a nature as to render acknowledgment unnecessary or inexpedient. We believe it is not usual for Periodical Publications to discuss at large the merits or demerits of the various pieces sent to them for insertion; and we know not what else our friend can require of us, as, upon comparing our Magazine with other works of a similar nature, we do not find that we differ from them in the manner of noticing contributions. The communication from the Curate of St. Michan's is not suited to our publication. We have received some Remarks on a Review in our last, subscribed, "A Clergyman of the Church of England." We have not as yet been able to communicate them to the writer of the article in question. The length of our Reviews this month obliges us to omit several articles of our Religious Intelligence. EMPLOYMENT OF THE POOR.-POOR RATES. TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER. SIR-In your Magazine for August, 1827, I read an article on the Poor Laws, the perusal of which induced me to consider the subject with more attention than I was hitherto disposed to bestow upon it, and have now come to this conclusion, that they have acted as a great inciting cause of the outlay of capital in the productive employment of the people; that they prevent the landlord in England letting his land at double its intrinsic value as is the case in Ireland, for if he ceased to employ the people or exacted exorbitant rents, the townland being charged with its paupers, he would have to support unproductive consumers on his own property; that to them may be attributed the respect that the lower orders pay to the laws, so that the constable's staff in England bears more power and influence than the sword of the dragoon in Ireland; that justice is administered with certainty and effect, for want can never there be pleaded in justification of crime, and the law of the land never violates the law of nature. A provision that would insist upon the employment of the people, and thereby their maintenance, is a national security for life and property, an insurance against the vicissitudes of trade, commerce, and war. It is paid ultimately by the operative classes, the great consumers of taxed industry, to whose productive articles the nation owes its wealth, and directly serves as a check upon that class who have indirectly made a monopoly of all the prime necessaries of life. Thus England is formed into a joint-stock company which, by this co-operation, and notwithstanding the high price of provisions, is enabled to undersell every other nation in the foreign market. In fact £7,000,000 annually is the floating capital to effect this purpose; and I am convinced that, without this provision, the introduction of machinery, and other scientific improvements, would be productive of excessive misery. But now the increased profits arising from machinery enable parishes to support those who are immediately injured thereby, and induce and enable the capitalist to seek employment of an higher nature for the people, and thus consumers are created for his manufactures. The objections urged against the poor rates of England by Mr. Malthus and others are, that they produce an unnatural encrease of the population; yet the encrease of the population of Ireland, com, pared to that of England, is nearly double in proportion within 30 years. This disproportionate increase arises in a great measure from the non-existence of any check on the rapacity of the landlords, who, in order to obtain high rents, have subdivided their estates. Mr. Malthus's second objection is, that it encreases the number of paupers. The fact is the reverse, for the number of paupers have decreased, though the population has doubled since 1688. At that time Mr. Gregory King states, that the population was 5 millions, and the number of paupers 1,200,000; in 1811 the population of England was 11 millions, and the number of poor one million.— Thirdly, he complains of the encreased expense, without any reference to the encreased price of provisions, the change in the value of money, the fearful increase of the national debt during the American and French wars, and the consequent heavy pressure of taxation at present. But the only fair standard to try the poor rates by, is their relation to the contemporaneous income of the country. Trying them by this test, we find that the relative expense has decreased in an inverse ratio to the encrease of the income of the country. In 1688 the income was 30 millions, the poor rates 2 millions, that is, fifteen to one. In 1811 the income was 300 millions, the poor rates 8 millions, being in the proportion of thirtytwo to one; that is, relative to the income, half what they were in 1688. He likewise asserts, that they destroy industry. Why, its primary result is to create employment-the act of Elizabeth saying, employ the people or support them as unproductive consumers." This makes all classes industrious, especially those who are least disposed to be so-the upper classes, who in England seek real sources of productive employment for her poor, which repay them one hundred fold. In England, where there is a poor rate, there is abundant employment for the people, and also for the miserable migrating paupers of Ireland. In Ireland, where there is no poor rate to insist on employment, half the nation is without it, and in a state of utter destitution; their subsistence is roots, and even the scanty supply of such food is, to a great extent, obtained by a licentious mendicancy, which generates habits, feelings, and vices, inconsistent with the well-being of society. I maintain that, by the operation of the poor laws, the enterprise and spirit of the noble people of England is not impaired, for by the exertion of their industry the income of that country now amounts to 400 millions, and I am disposed to think, that by provident advances to the manufacturer, he is enabled to continue his labour in times of stagnation, and thus his habits of industry are matured and confirmed. Part payment of the wages of the agricultural labourer out of the rate has been much complained of, and amounts to about two millions of it; (vide Lord Castlereagh's and Lord Milton's speeches, May 1819) but if this be the general practice of landowners and farmers, it is but a nominal charge, for those that pay the rate for this purpose, receive benefit in the proportionate decrease of wages. 66 We are told, that a measure which would insist on employment, |