number of gentlemen, chiefly known in connection with the commercial interests of Manchester. Before the end of this month, the committee was in full working order, and had passed the following resolution, copies of which were sent to the lord-lieutenants of counties, the mayors of cities and boroughs, and other officials throughout the kingdom :-"That the existing distress of the work-people connnected with the cotton trade, in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire, and the well-founded expectation of its increasing in intensity as the winter approaches, warrants the committee in communicating to the various counties, cities, and towns of the country, that it is prepared to receive any sums that may be subscribed for the object in view, and will give its best attention to the proper and judicious distribution thereof.'

CHAPTER V.

MAY JUNE 1862,

WHILE these charitable agencies were being organised, and were commencing their benevolent operations, the Government was not unmindful of its responsibility, and was fully informed of the position of affairs through the agency of the Poor Law Board, who from their official connection with the boards of guardians throughout the kingdom, are in possession of a source of general information superior to that pertaining to any other department of state It is worth the consideration of the Legislature whether this important organisation, which is at once so firmly localised by the parochial system, commanding every corner of the realm, and which is yet so easily and so harmlessly centralised in the Poor Law Board it is well worthy of deliberation, whether this may not be made of further service in the collection of much statistical information of the highest value. Through no other official medium could agricultural statistics be collected with equal facility, By this. means, however, the Government was made acquainted with the condition of the manufacturing districts, and it was probably owing to the importance which the boards of guardians had acquired--from the fact that upon them first devolve the duty of meeting the distress-that the parliamentary representatives of Lancashire were induced to seek an interview with Mr. Villiers, early in the month of May, in order to have a conference with him upon the condition of the county.

It was difficult at the time, and perhaps it would be impossible now to define the precise object which led Colonel Wilson Patten and his colleagues in the representation of Lancashire, to the Poor Law Board. It was suggested that they were anxious to discover if the

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Government intended to give assistance from the national exchequer, and it was hinted that they would not be indisposed to encourage such a disposition. But considering that not a voice had been raised in favour of a national grant, and that on the contrary, up to this time, the public and the press of Lancashire had ostentatiously disclaimed any such assistance, there is no reason to suppose that such was their object. What passed in the tea-room of the House of Commons-which was their first meetingplace did not transpire. But it may well be thought, that they acted simply from a feeling of duty towards their constituents in a great crisis, that they felt it incumbent upon them to do something, and as they were the immediately connecting link between the district and the Government, it was not unnatural that their concern should find expression in Whitehall. Moreover, the questions of outdoor relief and the labour test,' were at this moment questions of the day in Lancashire, and these gentlemen felt it their duty to inquire whether it was possible so to combine the principles of the Poor Law with the growing exigencies of the situation, that their constituencies should not be disturbed by contentions between the boards of guardians and those to whom they administered relief.

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If it were not that the Poor Law is so unpopular a study, and necessarily so diverse in its operation, it would seem strange that these legislators--the representatives of a county, certainly not the most benighted in the kingdom-should learn, from a minister with whom many of them had long been personally acquainted, much that was new to them in a simple statement of the law, as it stood affected towards the applicants for relief in Lancashire. They came to complain of an enforcement of the labour test,' unwittingly adopting an opprobrious term wholly unknown to the law. It was news to these gentlemen to be told by Mr. Villiers that the law. established no test,' but only made the requirement that the applicant should be set to work so long as he continued to receive relief.' These are but a paraphrase of the very words of the Act of Elizabeth. And they are simply another reading of those still more ancient words, 'he that will not work neither shall he eat.' They were left to

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infer that the description of work is entirely at the discretion of the guardians. The stone-hammer is of rustic origin, and does not, like the lictors' fasces, of necessity accompany the law. They were informed that the guardians were allowed absolute discretion in relieving all classes of persons except able-bodied men; and that the guardians might extend their staff of relieving officers, or increase the poor-rates with no other limit than that of the ability of the ratepayers.

The deputation withdrew, satisfied with Mr. Villiers' explanation, and with his advice that they should 'leave the matter at prescnt in the hands of the guardians, who were performing their duties very efficiently.' This official exposition of the Poor Law had unquestionably a good effect in quieting the fears of those who had hastily formed the opinion that the Poor Law would be found inoperative in Lancashire. But while Mr. Villiers gave this pacific advice, it is very evident from the circumstances which immediately followed this conference, that he was convinced of the necessity of being more closely connected with the district. It may be that in the various constructions which were put upon the Poor Law, he saw the need of having some official expounder of its true principles and objects. The distress was, however, becoming too wide and too serious for the Government to neglect the duty of having a special representation in the locality. A Royal Commission had been suggested, but it is certainly not to be regretted that the idea was abandoned. This very dignified deliberative machine demands the sacrifice of time as a necessary homage to its importance, and moreover, it possesses the disadvantage, which would have been specially felt in Lancashire, that as becomes its rank-it does its work at second hand. Distress might have been carried into the august precinct of its presence, but could scarcely anticipate the honour of inspection with its official eyes.

It was well that the Government chose a less cumbrous mode of representation. It may be that the national library is by a whole blue book the poorer, but surely the the inch or two of shelf is not the only gain by the absence of this volume. In preferring to be represented by an individual, there was at once the means provided of

obtaining confidential information, of imparting advice, and of strengthening the hands of the various local authorities. An individual could, as it were, incorporate himself with these public bodies, while the members of a Royal Commission must have met these local authorities, either in disliked superiority, or in unprofitable rivalry. It was no secret in official circles, that much inquiry had been made as to who should be sent upon this arduous mission. The jealous eye with which Lancashire has always regarded any interference from Whitehall was well known. It was not one of those posts which are sought of many, but one of those which are essentially of that nature that demand the right man. Soon it was whispered that a gentleman of high standing and long experience at the Poor Law Board, had been summoned more than once to attend the councils of the Cabinet, when it was known that the condition of Lancashire formed one of the subjects of deliberation. And upon May 12, Lord Granville announced to the House of Lords, that Mr. H. B. Farnall, who for five or six years had been previously engaged in the district,' was specially commissioned for this service.

Mr. Farnall's instructions, which were dated May 12, appointed him a Special Commissioner of the Government,' and directed him 'to make inquiry into the operation of the Poor Laws, and the orders of the Poor Law Board at the present time, on the condition and habits of those workpeople who, from a great diminution in the demand for labour in the cotton districts of the counties of Lancaster, York, and Chester, have suddenly and unavoidably fallen into temporary distress.' He was requested to embrace every opportunity of personally communicating with all authorities and special organisations administering relief and succour to the poor; he was to interpret and define the true spirit and breadth of the Poor Law; to create and sustain hármony; to promote liberal and judicious action; to examine into the manner in which the poor were relieved; to find out what labour was required of them, and to suggest the most suitable forms of employment. Finally, he was desired by Mr. Villiers to keep a daily journal of his proceedings, and to give a weekly report of the progress of his labours.