The alarming state of Ireland is bringing upon the horizon of that unhappy country, a cloud which, though, as yet, no bigger than one's hand, must soon cover the heavens, unless looked after, and blot out the light of day from the future as well as from the present. Extreme want permanently keeps a portion of our population in the same desperate condition, into which the dreadful visitation of wide-spread famine is threatening to plunge, suddenly and for a time, the great body of the Irish people. If their usual range of decency and comfort has always been so low as to render them comparatively reckless, what limit can be put to the destructive consequences of a calamity which, like the serpents of Laocoon, is crushing the father and the child together, in its terrific folds? The only hope, apparently, of retaining a spark of moral life in the children who may escape from it, will be by applying to their circumstances the principle of the plan which Mr Guthrie urges upon us for our outcast poor at home. I tremble,' writes Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas, for the fate of the rising generation in this country. Misery has so worked upon this people, that, consumed by one only thought that of food, they abstain from their old churchgoing habits. Shame of appearing in bad clothes operates greatly in this; but, alas! the children no longer attend the 'schools in many places, and demoralisation is, I fear, advancing at the same rate as destitution. I have spoken to some people ' about this, and I really believe that the proposed extension of the poor-laws may be made to accomplish the double object of 'feeding destitute children, and at the same time of instructing them. The children would go to school if fed; and I have • been assured by a gentleman, who takes a very active part as ' a poor-law guardian, that such a united system of feeding and teaching would be a great economy; for if children were thus 'looked after, their parents would not so much throng the work'houses. The moral objection of withdrawing children from the superintendence of the parent, does not hold good where 'the parents give no superintendence. The rising generation are left to wander about in idleness, living, in fact, on the 'public charity, and it were much better that the public charity 'should be well bestowed.'* A few hours of hunger, fever, and despair, have demoralized the strongest natures-whole armies, whole cities. What then can we expect, if we make this the life of children? It is not always easy to find out a judicious charity, and to * Letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas to Mr Trevelyan, Clonmel, Jan. 30. VOL. I.XXXV. NO. CLXXII. 2 M We have the comfort of reconcile our feelings with our reason. believing that there is no contradiction here. Mr Guthrie conceives that his schools are common ground, where Dr Chalmers and Dr Alison may meet. We hope so too. The characteristic tendency of foundling hospitals and of liberal poor laws is, to reproduce and aggravate the evils which it was their object to repress. At the age at which Mr Guthrie receives his ragged friends, they are too old to expose his institution to the reproach of a foundling hospital, and too young for it possibly to generate the evils incident to parish pay. The relief afforded is of a kind that nobody can lean upon or reckon on. It corrupts neither the parent nor the child; on the contrary, it must improve the one-it may improve the other. There is only one particular in addition, suggested by Mr Guthrie himself. It is not an indispensable one, but is one to which he attaches great importance. It is this. Instead of his subscribers paying in their money to the fund, and having done with it, he wishes every individual to pick out the child for whom he is to pay, and occasionally call and see how he is coming on. The child knows this, and his heart opens; he has a superior who cares for him; and thus a relationship is formed, which, if he only continue worthy of it, will not end in the schoolroom; but, on his launching into life, will see him safe over its first breakers into the open sea. Children used formerly to be kept in mind of the presence of God by the representation of a gigantic eye on the frontispiece of their primers. Their masters will teach them that the sooner, for their being humanised by knowing that the eye of an earthly benefactor is upon them too. We have rejoiced to hear-we hope trulynot only that the necessary funds are coming in, but that the clientela is forming fast. The experiment is not a costly one. The average expense of the school at Aberdeen was L.6 a child for the year: and, so employed, it has cleared both town and county of begging children. In the three summer months of 1843, one hundred begging children were found wandering about the county, and were reported by the police. Juvenile mendicity is the natural and certain training for juvenile delinquency. Yet, God be praised! two years afterwards, they are reported gone-not as criminals to the prison, but as scholars to the school. The School of Industry had absorbed them all. We heartily wish that as many of our readers as have a spare sixpence, would lay it out upon this pamphlet. They will find it no bad investment. Let them hang its pictures round their chamber of imagery, and sanctify their closet with its thoughts! Towards the end there are a few plain questions proposed for our consideration; of the kind that were proposed by that great Querist, Bishop Berkeley, a hundred years ago, to the Irish people. We dare not trust ourselves with another word on Ireland. Alas! alas !-alas for neglected opportunities! Alas for all, whether individuals or nations, who will not take to heart in time, the things which belong unto their peace! NOTE. On p. 22, Mr. Oswald of Dunnikier is incorrectly described as having been a Glasgow merchant. On p. 23, read Dr John-instead of Ebenezer-Erskine. No. CLXXIII. will be published in July. INDEX. A Aberdeen, average expense of ragged school at, 534. Aberdeen, Earl of, his correspondence with the French government, Akh-lak-Jalali-Mr Thompson's translation of, note, 341. - on uni- 352. Ampère, M. on the supposed influence of Egyptian philosophy on the Arabian philosophy, known only to a few Oriental scholars, 341-M. Artist, perception of beauty at all times necessary for a truly great, 462. Astronomy, the science of, not known by the Egyptians, 356. ཆ་ Bacon, on the love of literature, 9. Bale, his adventures when escaping from Ireland, 407. - Bancroft's History of the United States, review of. The scheme of the Billow and the Rock, by Harriet Martineau, 461. See Martineau. Borgo, M. Pozzo di, his able state paper on the policy of Russia to- Broglie, Duc de, speech on the policy of France towards Spain, 498. Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton's pamphlet, entitled 'A Word to the Bunsen, Christian Karl Josias, on the Basilicas of Christian Rome, Burton, John Hill, advocate, his Life and Correspondence of David |