X. MEANS OF NATIONAL IMPROVEMENT. 1. Report from the Select Committee of the House of Com- mons, appointed to inquire into the Education of the Lower Orders in the Metropolis, with the Minutes of Evidence 2. Report from the Committee on the State of the Police of the Metropolis, with the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee. Ordered by the House of Commons to be 3. Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improve- ment of Prison Discipline, and for the Reformation of 4. An Inquiry whether Crime and Misery are produced or pre- vented by our Present System of Prison Discipline, illus- trated by Descriptions of the Borough Compter, Tothill Fields Prison, the Jail at St. Albans, the Jail at Guild- ford, the Jail at Bristol, the Jails at Bury and Ilchester, the Maison de Force at Ghent, the Philadelphia Prison, the Penitentiary at Millbank, and the Proceedings of the Ladies' Committee at Newgate. By John Fowel Buxton. 5. The Basis of National Welfare considered in Reference chiefly to the Prosperity of Britain, and the Safety of the Church of England, with an Examination of the Parlia mentary Reports on Education, the Police, the Population of Parishes, and the Capacity of Churches and Chapels; and a further Illustration of the chief Facts noticed in the "Church in Danger," in a second Letter to the Earl of Liverpool. By the Rev. Richard Yates, B. D. 6. A Letter to Sir Samuel Romilly, M. P. from Henry Brougham, Esq. M.P. F.R.S. upon the abuse of Charities. 7. A Letter to the Right Hon. Sir William Scott, &c. &c. M. P. for the University of Oxford, in Answer to Mr. Brougham's Letter to Sir Samuel Romilly upon the Abuse of Charities and Ministerial Patronage in the Appointments under the late Act. To which is added an Appendix, containing an Abstract of the principal Acts of Parliament relating to ART. XII. Considérations sur les Principaux Evènemens de la Révolu- Sermons. By Daniel Wilson, M. A. XIII. CRIMINAL LAW IN ENGLAND. XIV. An Elucidation of the ancient English Statute Laws, that award the Penalty of Death sans Clergy, from the Accession of Edward the Third to the Demise of Queen Anne, with copious historical and legal Notes, connected with the most material Points of each Act. By Thomas Mott, Esq. Solicitor. Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, collected and arranged by Jedediah Cleishbotham, Schoolmaster and Parish Clerk of Ganderclugh. XV. TYPHUS FEVER. 1. Practical Illustrations of Typhus Fever, and other Febrile and Inflammatory Diseases. By John Armstrong, M.D. Physician to the Fever Institution, London. 2. Practical Observations on continued Fever, especially that Form at present existing as an Epidemic, &c. By Robert Graham, M. D. 3. A Succinct Account of the Contagious Fever of this Country, exemplified in the Epidemic now prevailing in London; with the appropriate Method of Treatment, &c. By Thomas Bateman, M. D. F. L. S. XVI. DISPUTES BETWEEN AMERICA AND SPAIN. XVII. XVIII. 1. The American Register; or Summary Review of History, Politics, and Literature. Page · 324 - 367 . 386 · 396 - 406 - 420 2. Official Correspondence between Don Luis de Onis, Minister XIX. INTELLIGENCE FROM THE DISCOVERY SHIPS. 1. The Possibility of approaching the North Pole asserted. By the Hon. D. Barrington. With an Appendix, containing Papers on the same Subject, and on a North-west Passage. By Colonel Beaufoy, F. R. S. 2. Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society for the Years 1814, 1815, 1816. LIST OF BOOKS. INDEX. 471 - 528 - 538 - 549 THE BRITISH REVIEW, AND LONDON CRITICAL JOURNAL. NOVEMBER, 1818. ART. X.-MEANS OF NATIONAL IMPROVEMENT. 1. Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to inquire into the Education of the Lower Orders in the Metropolis, with the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 7th, 14th, 19th, and 20th June, 1816. Reprinted 8vo. Gale and Co. London, 1816.-Second Report, 25th May and 2d June, 1818. Third Report, 3d and 8th June, 1818. 2. Report from the Committee on the State of the Police of the Metropolis, with the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, July 1, 1816. 3. Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders. 8vo. pp. 32. Phillips. London, 1818. 4. An Inquiry whether Crime and Misery are produced or prevented by our Present System of Prison Discipline, illustrated by Descriptions of the Borough Counter, Tothill Fields Prison, the Jail at St. Albans, the Jail at Guildford, the Jail at Bristol, the Jails at Bury and Ilchester, the Maison de Force at Ghent, the Philadelphia Prison, the Penitentiary at Milbank, and the Proceedings of the Ladies' Committee at Newgate. By John Fowel Buxton. 2d Ed. pp. 171. London, 1818. 5. The Basis of National Welfare considered in Reference chiefly to the Prosperity of Britain, and the Safety of the Church of England, with an Examination of the Parliamentary Reports on Education, the Police, the Population of Parishes, and the VOL. XII. NO. XXIV. Capacity of Churches and Chapels; and a further Illustration of the chief Facts noticed in the Church in Danger," in a second Letter to the Earl of Liverpool. By the Rev. Richard Yates, B.D. F.S.A., Chaplain to his Majesty's Royal Hospital, Chelsea, Rector of Ashen, and alternate Preacher to the Philanthropic Society. Rivington. London, 1817. 6. A Letter to Sir Samuel Romilly, M.P. from Henry Brougham, Esq. M. P. F. R. S. upon the Abuse of Charities. 2d Edition. Longman and Co. London, 1818. 7. A Letter to the Right Hon. Sir William Scott, &c. &c. M. P. for the University of Oxford, in Answer to Mr. Brougham's Letter to Sir Samuel Romilly upon the Abuse of Charities and Ministerial Patronage in the Appointments under the late Act. To which is added an Appendix, containing an Abstract of the principal Acts of Parliament relating to Charities, and likewise the late Act 58 Geo. 3, by which the Commission is appointed and empowered. Hatchard. London, 1818. WHEN we meditate upon the various political and moral aspects of the world as they present themselves in the pages of history; the struggles of temperate, and the storms of licentious liberty; the fates of empires under the influence of luxury, commerce, and war; the succession, the recurrence, the analogy of opinions, systems, and creeds; we are tempted to exclaim in consecrated language, that "there is nothing new beneath the sun." But when from these general views we direct our attention to what has for some time been in agitation in this country for diffusing through the whole community, even down to its very dregs, the means and advantages of education, instruction, and reform, with a spirit of philanthropy which submits to no limit, we are compelled to acknowledge that we live in times to which, in this respect at least, the records of the world furnish no parallel. It is not possible for any man who feels an interest in the general condition of his fellow beings, nor very easy for any one whose anxieties extend beyond himself, even to the wellbeing of his own family and immediate posterity, to view these elements of change and commotion with a careless mind. There are, however, many and various lights in which this great question is considered, producing various sentiments of bright anticipation, fearful apprehension, or tranquil indifference. There are some who look upon the extensive apparatus of modern education as they look upon the new modifications of the power of steam, or the machines for expediting the processes of husbandry; it is with them a subject of dry calculation in what ratio the brain may be rendered active or productive under a supposable degree of excitation, without taking at all into the question the final object of practical benefit to man, or appre ciating his soul or his salvation as any important part of the problem of human felicity. Others, with scarcely more concern for the dignity and value of man's higher interests, satisfy themselves with a vague impression that any great impulse given to the human mind must propel it forwards in a course of advance ment, and that we have nothing to do but to render it on all sides a talking, reading, and disputing world, to secure the progress and enlargement of knowledge and virtue. Many, perhaps a very large proportion, are active in the promotion of the great enterprise of general education from a love, but too apparent, of the distinction which accompanies it; to whom the mere act of intermeddling brings its reward; and the pomp of anniversaries, with the stir and commotion of committees, and popular exhibitions, are the motive and consummation of their gossipping humanity; and there are others, and these too are numerous, who see, or think they see, in a reading and writing populace, the elements of political change, and the beginnings of an organization of democratical strength which the constitutional barriers of our ancient polity will be found incapable of resisting. Nor are the enemies of Christian orthodoxy without their expectations of advantage from the aptitude to new impressions which may find their way to the bottom of the community, under the influence of universal education. 66 Among the friends of their country and human happiness, there is also a considerable diversity of sentiment respecting the issue of this catholic experiment. There are some of this latter class who think that, as in the case of an individual, so in the mass of the labouring and busy community," a little learning" will prove a dangerous thing;" they calculate the conse quences of of presumptuous ignorance, and plebeian philosophy; they dread the poisons of the press, and the prurience of licentious curiosity; and are of opinion that, as men who live by manual industry can never read and reason enough to read and reason well, it would be better for them to take their learning at second hand, from authorized instructors, than to be left to the dangerous guides of their own choice in regions overspread with contagious error, and in which every path is beset with some secret ambush, or open enemy of God and man. Others of this same class of benevolent reasoners cherish a livelier hope, and a holier confidence in spiritual guidance, and the ascendency of the Bible; to them it appears that if all men have access to the Scriptures, and are enabled to draw from those fountains of truth, more especially if they are encouraged to come to these oracles for advice, the wicked shall spread their |