CHAPTER IV

Summary

Nov. 14. Ther. 41°. Mr Lalor's Prize Essay on Education has arrived in Boston, and I hear it very highly commended. It recognises the benefits which phrenologists have conferred on the cause, and I am told that, coming to America backed by the approval of the Central Society of Education in London, it will give additional weight to the views which this science unfolds in regard to teaching and training the young.

The Chartists.—A friend brought to me “The Western Messenger,” Vol. vii. No. 6., published in Cincinnati in October 1839, and requested me to read the first article, on “The Chartists,” and to give him my opinion whether it fairly represented their case. I have read it, and, while it shews a want of correct information on some important points, it contains a great deal of truth, and truth which, read here at a distance from the prejudices which obscure one's judgment at home, makes me blush for my country. It points out forcibly the unjust taxation of Britain, by which property is exempted and consumeable articles loaded with duties, throwing the chief burden on the poor, who by their numbers are the great consumers. It describes the ill-regulated condition of the jails, and the tyranny of the magistrates, who all belong to the aristocratic class, in committing the poor to these prisons for the most trifling offences, and also in exacting heavy bail from. James Lovett and Joseph Collins the chartist leaders.