TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 159 



merly in this country, or are perhaps to be found in any quarter of the globe. From 

 the foregoing facts, and from the results of the policy pursued by the Government, it 

 is quite certain that the industrious man never knew a period in which, if he could only 

 be temperate and frugal, he might more easily save money ; and could he only be 

 induced to eschew the whisky shop, and turn his footsteps to the Savings' Bank, he 

 would speedily find himself more comfortable, independent, and happy, tlian the mass 

 of his fellow-labourers, whose increased means are but too frequently devoted to the 

 gratification of the grosser passions of humanity. 



On some Statistics bearing upon the Relations existing between Poverty and 

 Crime. By W. M. Tartt, M.S. A. 



After alluding to the crimes committed by those who were in the enjoyment not 

 merely of competence but of luxury, Mr. Tartt contended, that, although poverty might 

 be a predisposing state, it was rarely an immediate cause of crime till it became allied 

 with drunkenness and ignorance. It was proved by prison returns from the manufac- 

 turing districts of Lancashii-e, that crime had increased during periods of prosperity, 

 and diminished (sometimes to the extent of 40 per cent.) in immediately succeeding 

 periods of adversity ; plenty leading to vicious indulgence, while poverty was the severe 

 teacher of economy and restraint. In addition to the more minute details furnished 

 by the chaplain of the County-House of Correction at Preston (the Rev. Vi. Clay), and 

 quoted in the paper now read, it was shown by the reports of the chief constable for 

 Manchester, that the committals and summary convictions in that borough for the 

 prosperous years 1844-45 were 10,436, and that ibr the two years of distress which 

 followed, they were only 7635. It seemed admitted by all who came in contact with 

 the administration of criminal law, that the two great causes of crime amongst the 

 lower classes are drunkenness and ignorance ; and it was shown by the returns which 

 were now before them, that the greater proportion of the crimes committed were directly 

 or indirectly to be traced to drunkenness. At the assizes for Lancashire in the year 

 ending March 1 854, out of 380 of the worst cases, 250 (including 9 murders) were 

 traceable to this vice. Much of it is the result of ignorance, and of the consequent 

 inaptitude to find amusement in better things. To show the extent to which it pre- 

 vails, it was stated that of the male prisoners who came under the notice of Mr, Clay 

 in 1 853 and 1 854, 1088 (or 41 per cent, of the whole) were incapable of reading at all ; 

 938 (or 36 per cent.) were unable to repeat the Lord's prayer with any approach to 

 accuracy in the words or proper comprehension of their meaning; and 1836 (or 72 

 per cent.) were unable to understand the import of the plainest language necessary to 

 convey instruction in moral and religious truth. The Liverpool police returns showed 

 a similar result ; and they pretty nearly confirmed the calculations of Mr. Porter for an 

 average of thirteen years from 1836-1848. They cannot be taken as evidence on the 

 general question of education: they merely refer to the connexion between ignorance 

 and crime. The remedy was our great difficulty. One of the judges (Mr. Justice 

 Wightman) had more than once declared his belief, " that drunkenness would ultimately 

 be eradicated by moral and religious instruction. He did not depend so much upon 

 the knowledge acquired, as upon the habit of disciphne and self-restraint consequent 

 upon better education ; and the creation of a tone of self-respect which might ope- 

 rate as a check upon disgraceful or degrading conduct." Something might also be 

 eflPected by example. The lower classes were, at times, encouraged in their vices by 

 the conduct of those above them ; and as temperance has now been substituted for 

 debasing excesses in the one, the same change may, before long, be witnessed in the 

 other. But, above all, we should endeavour to get rid of the monstrous anomaly of 

 raising revenue from the vices of the people ; for whatever may be shown by tabulated 

 returns, we cannot but believe that the establishment of beer-houses has been the 

 greatest incentive to crime that was ever sanctioned by legislative enactment. 



It is, under every aspect, one of the most important questions to which our attention 

 can be directed. 



A Deduction from the Statistics of Crime for the last Ten Years. 

 By Professor R. H. Walsh, LL.D. 

 A theory has lately grown up, that when the people suffer privation they refrain from 



