and for the establishment of a primary school in every parish and commune; and on the other hand, it would enable all the national debts of Europe to be paid off in less than forty years, thus occasioning an immense alleviation of popular burdens, and an incalculable stimulus to business. The consequence of war, although for the moment giving an unhealthy stimulus to trade, is most hurtful to true progress; it creates a population of paupers, which is the greatest bane of modern society in England. This subject is so comprehensive that we have thought fit to devote a separate section to it, which in a future session will be laid before you. It must not be thought that the writer has utopian ideas of a universal brotherhood; and that, were the plans of a certain society carried out, wars would be a thing of the past. Unfortunately human nature must fight out first that which in the end is negociated by diplomatists. The aim of this paper is to deprecate the use of large standing armies in times of peace. They can only serve in periods of tranquillity as a means of effecting the purposes of despotism. A celebrated philosopher has remarked that soldiers in times of peace are like chimneys in the summer; but the simile ends there, because the prime cost of building the chimney once effected, there is no extra expenditure when no fuel is used. How different with military forces. The mind of the people is slowly awakening to the truth that defence from outward attack is the duty of every citizen; but it is also equally awakening to the fact, that rulers' quarrels are not peoples' quarrels; and we may hope for the time when dynastic warfare shall cease for ever. The lesson we can draw from the study of political economy, and especially that which has regard to public indebtedness, is, that the due payment of those debts already incurred, and the true and legitimate honour of nations is to be best effected not by war and bloodshed, but by peace and its consequent prosperity. Would that the time were nigh when we might say in the words, though not in the sense, of the immortal bard— "Farewell the plumed troops, and the big wars, "Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GREAT BRITAIN. PART II.-THE POOR LAws. By B. L. Benas, Esq. (READ DECEMBER 30TH, 1869.) "THE poor shall never cease out of the land." Four thousand years of practical experience have confirmed this truth. We have never heard of a period of history when the poor existed not. In the land flowing with milk and honey, whose soil is rendered sacred by the glorious traditions of old; in the classic land, enriched by bard, sculptor, and philosopher; in that gigantic military realm, whose eagles waved triumphantly from shore to shore-everywhere there were poor to be found. And when the military adventurers of Spain invaded golden lands and shared a princely spoil, too soon were needy ones to be found even amongst these. We may take it for granted, then, that poverty exists in every community, especially of civilized men, and it is not only a duty enjoined by religion, but an undeniable law of expediency, that those must be assisted who cannot assist themselves. It is certainly more easy to find fault, and criticise a system that has grown with an artificial state of society, than to prescribe a remedy. It flows less from want of management by those who have the system under control, than from the positive difficulty, under a constitutional government, in coping with that which an enlightened despotism would be able to grasp more firmly. We are too well aware of the advantages which a representative form of government gives to mankind even to hint that a more arbitrary form would be better able to command the means of ameliorating the condition of our suffering population; but the facts still remain the same, that we have in England a large population unable to earn their sustenance, entirely dependent upon the earnings of those who are able to maintain themselves; and further, that whilst for Imperial purposes we have a comparatively equitable mode of taxation, for the relief of the poor, or rather in those districts where the poor abound, the burden falls upon those that suffer most, while those districts where affluence abounds are spared from the penalty which the others have to pay. This indeed is a glaring evil. It would be equivalent to making those parts of the realm which are most accessible to an invading force, pay a large premium for the defence which their position costs the country, whilst those more happy districts far removed from any danger of invasion, would pay correspondingly less. We may divide our poor into three classes: 1. Those that will work, but can obtain no employment. 2. Those that are, from physical causes, (infirmity, or old age,) incapacitated for work. 3. Those that can work, and will not work. So long as the feudal system existed in England in its entirety, very little was heard of the necessity for poor laws; because the serf was then the virtual property of the owner of the soil, and the landlord generally cared for his vassals. The foreign wars, however, of Edward III introduced a new feature into the social economy of the country. Men were half forced and half tempted by their lords to enlist under their banners; and many, in consideration of their valour upon the battle field, were promised independence. The wars over, these men were unfit to work, unwilling to till the ground; and, habituated to a roving life, they became, in many instances, vagabonds and criminals. Thus we find in the 12th year of the reign of Richard II, in 1388, a law enacted by the Parliament-" To devise some "means of supporting impotent' beggars and others having 66 no means of livelihood." This act may be termed the foundation-stone of our poor-law system. The act further states-" That a convenient sum shall be "paid and distributed yearly out of the fruits and profits of "the several Churches, by those who shall have the said "Churches in proper use, and by their successors, to the poor parishioners in aid of their living and sustenance for ever.” Thus indirectly, and in rather a clumsy manner, the poor were relieved by the State. The Church was no doubt allowed to gather supplies for this purpose. In consideration for this permission, the Church spared the State the responsibility of caring for the poor. That the poor were really contented under this system, the evidence will hardly allow us to believe. We hear of large revolts like those of Wat Tyler and of Jack Cade, but the smaller local riots no doubt were left unrecorded, partly from the deficient means for the communication of news, and more especially from the desire to leave these things in obscurity. But when serfdom had entirely ceased in England, and, above all, when Henry VIII possessed himself of the property of the monasteries throughout the land, the government, which had hitherto interposed the Church between itself and the needy, was now brought face to face with its destitute subjects. If the spoils of the monasteries had been devoted to the maintenance, under State control, of the poor for whom indeed the original bequests to the Church were made, instead of being shared amongst those who assisted to plunder the Church, the change of title to the property might perhaps have left little cause for regret; but as it was, the poor lost the support they had hitherto depended upon, without receiving an adequate substitute; and a series of legislative enact |