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REVIEWS.

"Copit Hall; or, a Tale of the Land Laws," a political novel, by William Cowling, is a capital story, in which the writer fulfils the promise of the title, and shows a deep perception of existing evils and how they should be remedied. A shilling cannot be better spent than in sending it to the publisher, Mr. Michael Waller, Lowgate, Hull, for a copy of "Copit Hall."

The Clifton and Bristol Christian Socialists have issued 8 "Preliminary Programme" in which they contrast what is with what should be. The hon. sec. is Hugh Holmes Gore, Clifton, Bristol.

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"THE BISHOPS AND THEIR WEALTH,"

By the Rev. MERCER DAVIES, M.A., Formerly Chaplain of Westminster Hospital. This is one of the most able and vigorous pamphlets which we have seen for many a day. The Lord Bishop of Liverpool has lately said: "It is utterly untrue that the bishops are rolling in wealth. The bishops have so many demands on their purses that they can hardly make both ends meet."

To these assertions the writer applies the stern logic of facts, and refutes the bishop by tables from the Probate Office, giving the names of the bishops of England and Wales, deceased, from 1856 to 1885, with the amount of personalty proved at their death:

C. J. Blomfield..

Chr. Bethell

Edw. Maltby

Geo. Murray..

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G. and B...... 1856 26
Chest. Lon.... 1857 32
Bangor
1859 35

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5,000 10,000 4,000 8,000 5,000

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5,000 8,000 15,000

Ely

Peterboro'
Chester

Rochester
Lichfield

Hereford

Peterboro'

Rip. Cant.

Thos Musgrave

Henry Pepys

J. B. Sumner

Thos. Turton
Geo. Davys
John Graham
J. C. Wigram
John Lonsdale..

R. D. Hampden

Francis Jeune

C. T. Ligley

H. Philpotts....

Exeter

W. K. Hami.ton... Salisbury

Hon. S. Waldegrave Carlisle..

J. P. Lee..

A. T. Gilbert

Lord Auckland

T. V. Short

S. Wilberforce
C. R. Sumner

Con. Thirlwall.

G. A. Selwyn
Chas. Baring

Manchester.

Chichester

A. C. Tait..

Alf. Ollivant..
Rob, Bickersteth

W. Jacobson...
John Jackson
C. Wordsworth
Geo. Moberley
Jas. Fraser

J. R. Woodford

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28 Winch. 1873

Winchester... 1874 43 10,000

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With trenchant truth the Rev. Mercer Davies goes on to say:-"A bishop is a man who has undertaken the highest, the gravest, the most onerous, the most responsible office which any man can undertake in this world-to preach the Gospel of Christ, to deliver a message which he believes to have come from Almighty God, and to be the great instrument of saving men's souls from perdition, and bringing them to eternal life. at any rate, whatever other men think of Christianity, this is what he professes to believe; and it is strictly on the strength of this profession that he holds his office in the Church, with all the advantages and responsibilities belonging to it. And at least there must be some relation between preaching and practice; any great discrepancy between the two must not only be fatal to his own efficiency, but must even expose him to ridicule. The teaching of Christianity is directed most earnestly and most unequivocally against the principle of selfishness: it attacks the love of riches, with the consequent desire of accumulating money, on all sides, and on various grounds, especially as showing a want of love and sympathy towards our fellow creatures, and oftentimes inflicting grievous injustice and suffering upon them, for all these reasons Christianity condemns the principle of covetousness and selfishness; and it enforces all these lessons by displaying the greatest example of unselfishness, of love, of self90,000 sacrifice, which the world has ever seen. Whatever 60,000 men may think about the personality or the 20,000 divinity of Jesus of Nazareth, this at least is not 120,000 denied, that His was a grand example of self70,000 sacrifice, of voluntary self-devotion for the good of 50,000 others; and that, as such, it is worthy to be held 20,000 60,000 up not only for the respect and admiration of men, 40,000 but also most signally for their imitation. These 80,000 are some of the prime lessons and principles of 45.000 Christianity, and I venture to say with great con90,000 fidence that of all the theories and conclusions 45,000 arrived at in the field of political economy, of all 45,000 the methods proposed by men for controlling and 14,000 correcting the evils of poverty, and the multifarious 20,000 difficulties of social existence, this great principle 40,000 of the Gospel, the principle of unselfishness, of brotherhood, of love, is not only the most elevated, 14,000 but it is the most effectual, the most indispensable. Without this all others must inevitably fail.

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B. and W.

St. Asaph...... 1872
Oxf.

29

60,000

80,000

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"Such is the constitution of the world, and of man himself as much as any other part of it, that some individuals will always be stronger than others, more powerful in frame of body, or in intellect, or in shrewdness, or in having a better start in life, and these favoured individuals, if they choose to push their own advantages, and to use them for their own selfish ends, must always be 19,000 able to oppress those that are weaker, in spite of

65,000
72,000

85,000

29,000
85,000

any human laws to the contrary. The true remedy is to govern and rectify the hearts of men; and there is no power that has yet been known in the world more able to do this than the faithful preaching of Christianity.

"Men and women are living and dying by thousands in the midst of poverty, hardship, suffering, and misery, which might be remedied; the existence of which is a disgrace to us as a professedly Christian nation.

"One stirring sermon preached in the heart of this metropolis, preached with earnestness, preached with the power which goes only with perfect sincerity, preached by the Church's chief minister and representative, such a sermon would be listened to and remembered; such a sermon, or a few of them, if they were indeed worthy of their subject, would produce an effect on the public mind, a lasting and practical effect on public religion and morals. But when has any such sermon been preached on the subject of riches and covetousness,

on

most truly and most daringly, is he who appropriates to his Own personal indulgence and aggrandisement the proceeds of a rich benefice, the funds which have been dedicated to the service of God, of His Church, or of the poor; funds which are urgently needed for all these important objects. The offence indeed is common enough, but I do not think it will escape condemnation on this account." It is scarcely necessary to say that in the cpinions thus ably expressed we cordially concur, and earnestly commend the pamphlet to the attention of our readers; every page will amply repay perusal.

The publishers are the Southern Publishing Company, 160, Fleet Street, and it is issued at the moderate price of 2d. We trust that it will obtain the circulation which it deserves.

Christian brotherhood and WHERE unselfishness? Who has ever heard it, or even heard of it? No; the thing has been impossible, and for the simple reason that the bishops themselves, with very few exceptions, have been among the greatest offenders against these very principles which it is their bounden duty to enforce. Their tongues are tied, their lips are closed upon such a topic; the words which ought to be heard would verily stick in their throats if they attempted to

utter them.

"If there is any manifest inconsistency between the two, the preaching and the practice, then the inevitable result must be to cast a suspicion, not only upon their own integrity, but upon the truth of that message of which they profess to be the

authorised bearers. And the world has seen so

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CORRESPONDENCE.

IS GOOD TRADE TO COME

FROM?

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DEMOCRAT. SIR,-In the article under the title "Where is Good Trade to Come From?" contained in your issue of this month, it is recommended that the hours of labour be shortened in proportion as the improvements of machinery enable more work to be done in the hour, so that the work to be done may employ a sufficiently enlarged number of people to cure the present deficiency of employ

ment.

much of priestcraft, so much of lying fables told
in the name of religion, that there is indeed no
small excuse for men, if, in doubtful cases, they
lean rather to the side of incredulity than other-only

wise.

"A man who is covetous, or who accumulates large sums of money, is as much disqualified for the office of a bishop, as one who is a winebibber, a passionate man, or a polygamist.

"I do not hesitate to say that a man who was really possessed of a proper Christian spirit could not keep these large sums of money in his own possession; he could hardly do it in any sphere of life; least of all could he do it as chief pastor and shepherd of Christ's flock. Seeing all the distress and misery existing around him, and which, as a bishop, it is his duty to see and to care for, so much suffering which is undeserved, so much which might be at once effectually relieved by a small donation from his own purse, the mere crumbs from his own rich table;-I say a bishop who saw all this, and possessed but a reasonable measure of humanity and true Christian charity, would never be able to keep his purse strings closed.

"Will a man rob God?-This is the question which is sometimes applied to those who resist the payment of tithes and other ecclesiastical charges for purposes which they do not care for, or do not approve of. But I think the man who robs God

The writer of that article appears to have forgotten that in order to our obtaining the supplies of food and other necessaries which we require from abroad we must export largely, and that in order to our exporting largely we must be able to compete in every way with other nations. The way in which shorter hours, i.e., diminshed production per individual and the consequent spreading of the work over a larger number, could benefit the working classes would be by enabling them to obtain a rate of wages so much higher per hour than at present as would make the earnings per individual at least equal to what they are now. But how is that to be done? If we have at present a very hard fight with other nations whose scale of wages is lower than ours, are we likely to win in that fight if we increase our cost of production? It must be very evident that if the proposed higher cost of production resulted in the loss of part of our trade, there would be less to divide amongst the workers. How is that loss to be avoided, and who shall say how great it would be? It is a matter in which we cannot safely experiment. We should not know the result of the experiment until the loss had occurred, and it might not be possible, even by a reduction in the cost of production, to bring back trade once parted with, and the mere agitation of this idea is enough to disturb the current of trade to the prejudice of this country, and consequently of the very parties who produce the agitation. In 1874 the advance of prices in consequence of the dearness of coal and other effects of the great increase in the

volume of trade which took place in 1872 and 1873 rendered it particularly desirable that no foreign business should be lost, more especially as symptoms of a change were beginning to show themselves, but the danger of strikes was so great that our manufacturers did not dare to undertake contracts with stringent limitations of time unless they contained a strike clause. At that time the great competition of Germany, Belgium, and France with this country in the delivery of railway plant had not been fully developed, and we still held possession of the market for countries where railways were comparatively new, and there were many such orders stirring, but time was so great an object that our strike clause could not be admitted, and the orders went past us. How many millions of wage-paying power were then, and have been since from similar causes, lost to this country none can say, but the amount has been enormous. Foreign establishments have been created, the influence of which upon our industries will continue to be most unfortunate for us, and it is because of them that we have not now employment enough to keep us going full-handed. But in what manner do they operate? Simply in the cost of their productions. And why are they enabled to produce cheaper? Because their wages are lower and they work longer hours, and consequently cause their plant to be more fully occupied. The trades unions of this country propose to meet this by increasing the cost of our productions, both in wages and the diminished use of the plant. They would thus destroy our export trade, and enable the foreigner to compete more than he now does for the supply of our home wants also. The effect would be that the unions must further limit the hours of artisan work, and thus further increase the cost of their productions and the competition of the foreigner in our home markets until we become exhausted and unable any longer to pay our workmen artisan wages.

But whilst this process was going on, what would become of the other working classes, and especially of that portion of them whose employment depends upon the artisans. They cannot live upon such wages as they must receive for diminished hours, and their numbers are continually increasing, for they cannot keep them down by regulations such as prevail amongst trades unions for the purpose of producing a scarcity of skilled labour. It must be evident that great distress would prevail, and that an agitation must eventually ensue against this monopoly similar to what is beginning against that treatment of land whereby the labouring class is deprived of the employment which naturally should be derived from it. The population of the country is continually increasing at a rapid rate, and if neither the work upon the land nor that connected with artisan employments may be increased, but, in fact, must be diminished at the instance of the two governing classes the landed and the labour aristocracy-we must have emigration on a large scale-an impossible scale-and even with that device must, I fear, eventually starve. Now, did Divine Providence intend us to starve, or even not to progress, because any set of men determine to strangle industry and to pervert nature's gifts in

order that everything should be subservient to them? Why are there such stores of coal, of iron, of tin, and of lead in this country, and why have its inhabitants such an aptitude for the use of these things? It surely could not be in order that the phenomenal multitude of inhabitants provided to use these gifts should be prevented from availing themselves of the benefits they can confer in employment and advantage, because a certain class of men, who are not even the nominal owners of them, assert their right to make such compacts as shall limit their use notwithstanding that starvation may be the consequence. And it is not only in the provision of materials for industry that a higher power has given the means of subsistence and comfort to this crowded population. Harbours and the disposition to a maritime life have given us the command of the seas, so that the produce of the industry of our beehive should be dispersed over the markets of the world. The efforts of these monopolists and exclusivists should be, and inevitably soon must be, as ineffectual as was King Canute's chair to keep back the rising of the tide. The starvation of the people by whomsoever effected can but last for a time, and the tide of an increase of 400,000 per annum in our population will ere long sweep away these restrictions, whether aristocratic or sham democratic, as effectually as the tide, though we may have first to pass through privations and losses still greater than those to which we have been getting accustomed.

But it may be said that I have dealt more with a question not asked by the article referred to, namely, with the prevention of greater evils than we now I suffer from than with the question asked. believe we may not only avoid the further evils I have ventured to sketch, but also bring about prosperity of a more solid character than we have over, as yet, enjoyed, by considering ourselves as one people having one great general interest in making the most of the advantage we possess and insisting that all members of the community shall take their part in the effort. At present we allow land to lie in a condition which is not beneficial to anyone, much of it needing drainage and otherwise furnishing with what is necessary to its successful cultivation. The landlord alone can do what is needful for it, for he alone can borrow upon it, indeed, the law does not give compensation to tenants for substantial improvements in England, although it does in Ireland. But the landlord as a rule will do nothing unless he is compelled, and the law must be made to step in and compel him just as it does with the owner of property in a town. The importance of this will be understood when it is considered that we import never less than £110,000,000 worth of agricultural produce in a year-it was £131,000,000 or upwards in 1883, and that with proper drainage and provision of facilities for cattle, and for the preservation of tillage, we might produce at least £130,000,000 more than we do. That is, that we might save in agricultural produce alone, year by year, more than all the bank notes in circulation, and that this would be accomplished by the employment of an army of workers, not by any means chiefly agricultural labourers, but drawn from the various classes capable of doing

the work, all of whom would circulate their wages as they received them. Thus every trade in the country would brighten, and the artisan would come in for his share. But the reform of the Land Laws should not be confined to the surface. There is no other country where the landowner is permitted to strangle the mineral industries by royalties, and he has absolutely no right to them here-they were fraudulently seized, the grants of land having been for service and therefore not conveying the freehold. Indeed the whole landed system is so utterly unjust that it has no title to national respect or forbearance, and if trades-unionists would bestow their attention upon it, they would find quite enough to agitate for without such a question as the lessening of production.

Another means of bringing about better trade is the most trenchant reform of the liquor laws. The tendency of these laws is to diminish both the production and the consumption of everything useful; but the aristocratic and other wealthy classes will never take steps to reform them unless compelled, for by means of them they squeeze out of a demoralised population those taxes which their own wealth should bear by means of them, and they render the people unable successfully to contend with the varied oppressions they suffer.

There is still another source from which good rade would eventually come. Why do we treat our emigrants with indifference? We have since 1815 allowed more than two-thirds of them to drift unheeded to the United States, there to compete with us instead of rendering our own colonies the source of strength and profit which they might have been. Nothing could more clearly show the incapacity which has characterised our Governmental departments than the way in which this very important subject has always been treated. The practical acuteness of trades-unionists might with great advantage have been directed to this and all the subjects I have named; if they had been treated with common sense and common honesty, we should not now be asking "Where is good trade to come from?" for trade would never have been bad.

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POWDER AND SHOT FOR LAND
RESTORERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DEMOCRAT. SIR, So many inquiries have reached me lately from readers of THE DEMOCRAT with regard to the publications of the English Land Restoration League that I hope you will kindly allow me to make a general reply through your columns.

The following two-page leaflets are now ready at sixpence a hundred :

No. 1. Manifesto of the E. L. R. League.
Nos. 2 and 3 (on same sheet). "Progress and
Poverty," and "The Landlord's claim on So-
ciety."

No. 4. "Free Trade in Land. Would it benefit
the People ?" by J. Morrison Davidson.
No. 5. "Henry George and the Duke of Argyll."

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Also the following four-page leaflets at one shilling a hundred :No. 6. "The Right to the Use of the Earth," by Herbert Spencer. No. 7. "Land Sketchley.

Common Property," by J.

No. 8. "Mining Royalties," by J. E. Woolacott. There is no better way of helping the League than by purchasing a parcel of leaflets, and by undertaking their careful distribution at political meetings, in working men's clubs, in workshops and factories, &c.

Beside the leaflets mentioned above, the League publishes several pamphlets at prices from a penny to a shilling, which will be found very useful for propagandist purposes, and a list of which I shall be glad to supply. I remain, Sir, yours faithfully, FREDK. VERINDER, Sec. E.L.R.L. OFFICES, 8, Duke-street, Adelphi, London, W.C.— Sept., 1886.

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RESUMPTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DEMOCRAT. SIR,-It is of good omen that the Trades Union Congress has entertained the vital land question, the root of social calamity. But one London delegate, however, by conjuring up imaginary difficulties attending the expense (!) of land nationalisation, betrayed an utter ignorance of first principles, and of English history. The constitutional method of resumption severs the Gordian knot most simply.

It is hopeless to extricate those from the meshes which landlordism has been for centuries weaving around them, who will not take pains to master elementary truths and to examine the nature and essence of law.

Law is nothing more nor less than fashion, and just as mutable. When Coventry ribbons were in fashion people invested their money in factories, and paid for the goodwill of established businesses; fashion changed and the trade was ruined. Had the British tax-payer to compensate them? People also invested their money in land when the fashion was at its height of worshipping and maintaining a set of idle ornamental vultures. When the fashion is going out are we to compensate the vultures who fail in their design of preying upon us? Landlordism, by abusing trust, robbed us of our land; had it paid the State compensation would have been just, but of its own arbitrary will it created a position for itself which others eagerly paid money to occupy, in the belief that the endless masses would remain ignorant, and that fashion would never alter. Surely they have no claim on the British taxpayer, they should ask the vendors to return the purchase money; but from unrestrained habit the privileged class regard the public purse as ready to pour out gold for them on any pretext. Look at the votes of the people's (?) representatives on Mr. Labouchere's motions for docking extravagant salaries. So long as working men will send landlords and Conservatives to parliament, we must expect to be fleeced. The matter is in the hands of the landless massses, if they were enlightened enough to know that they can make law as easily as landlordism could. What the landed classes

could appropriate by law the landless masses can resume by law.

For the sake of those who have neither time nor opportunity for reading permit me to quote what I have read in history.

OUR SERMON.

"That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.—Micah vii., 3.

The man who is doing evil which comes under the head of law-breaking may do evil earnestly, but he is not always free to do it with both hands. He has to keep one hand free to ward off the approach of those who wish to arrest him, and to resist those executive departments of his country's Governwho oppose him. But if either the judicial or ment are amendable to corrupting influences--especially if they are amendable to the desire of unholy gain-then there is a means at hand by which a breaker of the law may sometimes free his hand. But this is a very temporary and superficial freedom. To gain a deeper and more effectual release, the

The "mischievous desire" of the "great" has in past periods constituted itself into many enactments of wrong, and encroachments upon right, and as time rolled on, it has wrapped it up, wrapped wrong up into precedent, into nominal order, into a show of claim, into the substance of common law. ginnings and ends of many a desirable course, It has wrapped it up, drawn into its folds the bebringing those who would have taken such courses to a dead wall or to a precipice, and leaving them nothing but to retrace their steps; sometimes not leaving them even that.

When Henry IV. wanted money the Commons asked him to resume the Church lands, and set forth "that the clergy possessed a third part of the lands of the kingdom, and not doing the King any personal service (i.e. paying no reddit or rent to the State) it was but just that they should contribute out of their revenues toward the pressing necessities of the State." The King listened, but Archbishop Arundel declared "if the King deprived the clergy of their estates it would put a stop to their prayers night and day for the welfare of the State," (Rapin, "History of England.") The nobles also declared that the clergy held lands exactly as the nobles did, and if the King took the one the Com-transgressor must alter and mould the law itself to his purpose. mons might ask him to take the other also, to the subversion of the realm. (Lingard's "History of England.") When Henry V. succeeded, the Commons renewed the petition and the King observed that he might take their chattels as well as the land, without rationally discriminating between a product of labour and a gift of nature. An assembly of prelates resolved to stave off the evil day by offering the King a large sum. Archbishop Chicheley coming into the room at this critical juncture and, learning their resolve, dissuaded them. He told them it would be conceding the principle and whetting the King's appetite for more. He would undertake to divert the King's attention by prompting him to revive the claim to the French throne. The bait took accordingly, and the strain on the nobles to provide the munitions of war induced them to join the Commons in advocating the resumption of the lands belonging to the clergy, who in terror admitted that the King might fairly resume the English lands of the alien priories, because the rents were carried out of the country and impoverished it. (Goodwin's "History of Henry V.") The King, on the call of the Commons in A.D. 1414, exercised his prerogative and resumed the lands, without compensation (whether acquired by purchase or by gift), (Rolls of Parliament, Vol. ix., p. 22), which helped him with means to fight the battle of Agincourt, and Archbishop Chicheley, out of compunction for being instrumental to the slaughter of so many brave men, founded the college of All Souls, Oxford, for their eternal welfare. This is the first remarkable precedent for a general resumption of land without compensation, for State purposes, and we might carry out the "three acres and a cow programme in the same way.

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JOHN WHEELWRIGHT.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

CARDIFF. We are making inquiries, and will report fully in the November DEMOCRAT.

MANY ANXIOUS INQUIRERS.-The monthly publication of the DEMOCRAT has been a great success. In its present form the DEMOCRAT has, we believe, a larger circulation than any publication of a similar character. We are much indebted to friends who make special efforts to promote the sale.

The desire of the great must bear sway; it is both the raw material and the mould of the common law. And the mischievous desires of the great have vitiated in a large measure the substance of this law. And the confusion of things thus brought about will react upon these great men themselves. "The day of thy watchmen and of thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity." perplexity will be in proportion to the number of the folds of that which they wrapped up.

Their

The princes and judges of that time and country greediness, the great man could carry out his miswere so devoted to gain that, by working upon their chievous desires with impunity, nay, even with protection and assistance. But there are communities where systematic robberies are carried on without any bribes being required, either to prince or to judge, because law and what is called order are framed in consonance with these robberies. The mischievous injustice of the great man is wrapped up in his country's constitution, and it seeks to wrap itself up in the adjudications of creation and the planetary system; for if land assignments, for example, have nothing to do with these, then what has to do with them?

But the laws of Nature are not like the laws of a

country; they won't " 'wrap it up." Rather, it would be truer to say they will wrap it up for a while, but the time will come when they will act like a reversible engine; every fold shall be thrown back, every coil shall be straightened, aud the pressings, shall be thrown open to the light. Buried mangled forms, crushed in the unnatural com

horror after horror shall

Start up before the pale destroyer's eyes,
And testify his madness to the avenging skies.

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