In all comparisons betwixt county and county, or groups of counties, it is necessary to bear in mind an important principle, developed by Mr. Neison, in the very elaborate and masterly contribution to the Statistical Journal,' the title of which appears at the head of this article. It is this: that the tendency to crime is greatest at the period of life from twenty to twenty-five. The ratio of criminals to population, he gives as under, at the ages specified.

It is obvious, that wherever there is a preponderance of persons of the ages fifteen to thirty, there, all other things being alike, crime will be most rife. The difference in the number of persons at those ages, comparing the manufacturing with the agricultural population, is considerable. Taking Mr. Neison's data, as to the per centage of persons at these ages in the five manufacturing, and the sixteen agricultural counties, we find that if the latter are brought to par, as to relative numbers at the ages fifteen to thirty, the ratio of crime would be increased from 1 in 654, to 1 in 617, that of the manufacturing districts being, 1 in 625. Mr. Neison also shews that the different ratios of females in a given population, materially affects the ratio of crime, and thus another disturbing element has to be allowed for, before any accurate scale of relative intensity of crime can be established betwixt different counties, or groups of counties. Mr. Neison has grouped the counties of England according to the ratios of persons engaged in trade and in agriculture, and of educational attainment,-respectively; and on page 265 'Statistical Journal,' 1846, he has given the counties in alphabetical order, and exhibited the excess or deficiency of actual crime, as compared with the average of England. We have arranged the counties in the order of precedence, the county of least crime standing as No. 1., the same as in our table, (page 652). The two tables exhibit some striking agreements as to the position of counties in the order of crime, but there are also several wide discrepancies. We should give the two in juxta-position, but it would require more space than we can afford in explanation; and we are compelled to say, that the comparison and

grouping of counties in Mr. Neison's excellent paper, loses much of its value, from the selection of the years 1842-3-4, as the basis of his calculations. The relative ratios of crime were greatly deranged in those years; the ratio of crime in the manufacturing districts being far more affected by the prolonged distress, than that of the agricultural districts. It is only necessary to place in juxtaposition, the respective ratios of crime in those two groups of counties, before, and after the periods selected by Mr. Neison, to perceive that any conclusions as to the relative intensity of crime in each, under ordinary conditions, must be incorrect.

The fact is, that neither Mr. Neison, nor any other of the contributors to the Statistical Journal,' have given that weight to the effect of variation in the supply and price of food, which is due to it. The free-traders, in the time of the League agitation, did indeed draw attention to the fact of the coincidence of bad harvests and increased crime; but it is characteristic of persons accustomed to the exact demonstration of statistical science, to hesitate in accrediting conclusions drawn from general observation, or based on abstract principles of political economy. Yet we cannot but think, that the fact stood out unmistakeably in our entire criminal records, that dear food and increased crime go hand in hand, and are in fact, though precisely in what mode we will not dogmatically say-cause and effect. We shall be glad to see Mr. Danson directing his attention to this subject, with the same ability as is shown by him in his contribution to the May number of the Statistical Journal.' Mean time, we may be allowed to jot down a few memoranda, bearing on the matter in question.

The mere fact that years of dear food and increased crime are coincident, is established by a reference to the criminal tables from 1805 to 1837. We will give illustrations, by a statement of the price of corn, and the total amount of crime, in years of scarcity, contrasted with the preceding and following years of plenty.

Price of Wheat per quarter.

89/9

79/1

75/4

The marriages for the same years attest the pressure on the condition of the mass of the population. They are as under:

Here, then, we have dear food, coincident with increased crime and diminished marriages. But we must complete the demonstration of coincidence, before we draw any conclusion from the facts. We now give the same particulars, for that eventful period in the history, alike of the working classes and of the Corn Laws, commencing in 1838, and terminating in 1844.

With a continuance of scarcity and dearness of food, crime

rose from 23.094, in 1838, to 31.309, in 1842; whilst the mar

By

riages returned in 1842, after a partial rise in 1839, and a stationary condition in 1840 and 1841, to the level of 1838. But with a return of abundance and cheapness, crime fell in 1845 to the level of 1839; whilst marriages rose no less than 50,000! whatever mode of action on the morals of the masses, the pinching of dear food, and the repression of the ability to marry, produce the results now established, matters little. The result is utterly inexplicable on any other supposition than the one we have advanced; namely, that privation and crime are cause and effect. Let us see if we can give the rationale of the mode.

The effect of an enhanced price of food is not limited in its operation on the condition of the operative classes, by the simple difference of the sum taken from expenditure on clothing, &c., to make good the difference in the cost of food. The action of a lessened consumption of manufactured goods is to depress prices, and to limit production even beyond the exact measure of lessened ability to consume manufactures. Falling prices act on credit, and falling credit narrows all mercantile and manufacturing operations; and the finale of the process, is a large reduction of employment to the operative, concurrently with dearer food. Diminished employment, which means a smaller daily loaf, scanty fuel, and ragged garments, finds the operative in a state of discontent, suffering, and idleness. Discontent and idleness are fearful things when they meet in the condition of a man who has small mental resources, and comparatively a low moral tone. That such is the condition, at such times, of a large portion of the working classes, there can be no doubt; though we are far from believing it is general. We have, indeed, ample proof to the contrary, in the fortitude with which they have endured the distress of 1846-7, not to speak of 1840-2. We have distinct testimony to the noble bearing of the class, in the Thirteenth Report on Prisons' already quoted. But asserting this, and contending for its truth, it cannot be denied, that the continuance of privation amongst those who, unhappily, neglect to make provision for the day of need, in the day of abundance, does lead to crime. Severe want tries the virtue of the class, on questions of meum and teum ; and it destroys the moral tone of the class but too often, as it leads to sensual indulgence and recklessness. Then comes in the demon of faction. In his despair, the operative blames all around him for the evil of his condition; and he is thus prepared for a war of classes, which manifests itself in rick-burnings in Essex, and plug-drawing in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

It is undoubtedly true, that with more of forethought and thrift, and with a more intelligent perception of the nature of

the things which affect his lot, the operative would maintain a better moral position in the hour of trial. But we must deal with him as he is; and we therefore judge of the operation of the causes we have named, by what we know of him, rather than by what might be expected of him, in a better moral condition of his being. We cannot but indulge the hope, that a wiser national economy will lead to greater equableness in the price of food; and that the advancing morals of the working classes will enable them to meet with far less of deterioration, physical and moral, such vicissitudes in their material concerns, as under the wisest polity will be unavoidable.

We must now recal the attention of our readers to the table on page (650), showing the relative progress of population and crime, from 1805 to 1845. There is a moral in that table which we have not developed, but which is far too important to be overlooked.

The table establishes A GREAT FACT. It proves that crime has seen its climax. It proves, to use a railway phrase, that some powerful cause has 'put the break' on its onward and desolating progress, and first bringing its speed into coincidence with the ratio of progress in the population, will ere long leave it far in the rear. If there be any truth in our theory-that the growth of a city population greatly increases the tendency to crime, then is it evident, that since 1820, the condition of England has been yearly becoming more unfavourable to the national morals. Supposing, then, that no counteracting force was in operation, subsequent to 1821-we ought to see in the ratio of crime an acceleration, comparing 1821 to 1831, with 1805 to 1821. But what says the table? Excess of crime, 1805 to 1821,-147-8. Ditto, Ditto, 1821 to 1831,-33! Nay, more. From 1831 to 1845, the excess is only 8.4 for all England; and there is an actual deficiency in the manufacturing districts of five per cent., and in the metropolitan of 1.3. Whatever vague and dreamy speculations others may entertain, as to the causes of crime,' we have no questionings as to the cause of this extraordinary retardation in the rate of its progress. The people are more intelligent, and more moral. Sunday-schools, day-schools, mechanic's institutes, a free press, the juxtaposition of the middle and operative classes in our manufacturing districts especially, and its humanizing influence,-all have had their specific operation, and the result is what the criminal records unfold. It is an answer, most complete, to the thousand and one assertions, in and out of parliament, during the education controversy, that the people were going back to heathenism, and sinking deeper and deeper, year by year, in brutality,