The general conception of these institutions may be shortly expressed. A number of individuals associate together, and, by payments made at stated times, create a fund, out of which they receive certain specific sums on certain specific occasions.

The people, whose course of life is most apt to present to them occasions where sums of money, derived from other than their ordinary resources, are of great importance to them, are those of whom the ordinary resources are the most scanty; in other words, the whole mass of the people employed in the ordinary and worst paid species of labour.

The occasions on which sums of money, derived from other than their ordinary resources, are of most importance to these classes of the people, are those on which the ordinary sources are diminished or dried up,—those of sickness, disablement, and old age.

Benefit Clubs are, accordingly, associations of persons of the rank thus described, who agree to make certain payments, in general so much a-month; in consequence of which, they receive certain sums, proportioned to the money which they pay, in times of sickness, of disablement, and in old age.

Sir F. M. Eden, in his work on the Poor, refers to Hickes's Thesaurus for a proof that Benefit Clubs are of very ancient date, as the Gilds of our ancestors were nothing but associations of the same description. A Saxon MS. in the Cottonian Library contains the constitution of a Gild, or Sodalitas, as it is rendered by Hickes, a Friendly or Benefit Club, established at Cambridge.

"It was first of all," says the MS. "agreed, that all members shall, with their hands upon the sacred relics, swear that they will be faithful to one another, as well in those things which relate to God as those which relate to the world; and that the whole society will always help him who has the better cause. If any member dies, the whole Society shall attend his funeral to whatever burying-place he himself may have chosen; they shall defray one half of the expence which is incurred by the funeral entertainment; and each member shall further pay two-pence, under the name of alms. If any member kill another, he shall pay not more than eight pounds, in the way of satisfaction. But if he who has committed the murder refuses to satisfy, the whole club shall revenge their brother, and all shall contribute to the expence. If any member, who is poor, shall kill a man, and have satisfaction to make; and if the person killed was worth one thousand two hundred shillings, every member shall contribute half a mark, and so in proportion. If any member shall address another with coarse and uncivil language, let him pay a sextarius of honey," &c.

From the same source we have the formula of another Club or Gild, formed at Exeter. After the religious services which the members were to perform for themselves, and for one another, it is ordained, "that when any member shall go abroad, each of the other members shall contribute fivepence; when the house of any one is burnt, each shall contribute one penny. If any one neglects the appointed times of meeting, he shall be fined; for the first offence, the price of three masses; for the second, the price of five; if, after admonition, he is absent a third time, without substantial ground, of sickness, or other cause, he shall not be excusable. If any member shall use towards another gross and uncivil language, he shall make compensation by thirty pence."*

Gilds, we are told, did not confine themselves to cities, though it is only in cities that the vestiges of them remain. Little Gilds, it appears, were established in every parish. And of all those unions, the object was to entitle each of the members individually, on certain occasions, on which it was most apt to be required, to receive pecuniary or other specified aid from each of the rest.

Sir F. M. Eden speaks of Clubs which had existed in the north of England, for the purposes above described, above one hundred years; and there is a treatise on the poor laws by Mr Alcock, printed in 1752, which represents a number of them as existing at that time in the west of England. From that time to the present, they have been gradually multiplying; and have grown so numerous, within the last fifty years, as to have become an object of great importance in our national economy, and one of the most striking manifestations of virtue that ever was made by any people.

For persons merged in poverty, and totally deprived of education, as the English population heretofore have so generally been, it is not easy or common to have much of foresight, or much of that self-command which is necessary to draw upon the gratifications of the present for those of a distant day. When a people thus situated have a provision made for them, to which they can with certainty have recourse, as often as they themselves are deprived of the means of earning their own subsistence; and yet, notwithstanding this security, choose to form themselves almost universally into Benefit Societies, in order that, by taking something from the means of their present scanty enjoyments, they may in sickness, disablement, and old age, be saved from the necessity of having recourse to public charity, and

* See Hickes's Thesaurus, T. II. Dissertatio Epistolaris, p. 20, 22. may continue to live to the end of their days upon the fruit of their own labour, no burthen to the public, or dependent upon its bounty,—they exhibit a combination of admirable qualities, the existence of which could hardly be credited, if it were not seen; above all, in a country in which the higher ranks too often display an eager desire to benefit themselves at the public expence.

There is much similarity in the constitution of these societies. The rules and regulations of from twenty to thirty of those established in the metropolis, as well as those of several in other places, have been perused for the purpose of this article. The payments are, in general, monthly, and about two shillings the most common amount; though sometimes associations are formed of persons whose incomes are fixed pretty high, and then the payments are somewhat larger. The mode of regulating the benefit is commonly by three different rates of allowance; one during a temporary sickness; another, commonly one half of the former, during a chronic illness; and a third, still less than the preceding, a permanent annuity for old age. When a member falls sick, so as to be unable to labour, he receives the allowance for sickness; if the disease continues beyond a specified number of weeks, he is reduced to the chronic allowance; if the chronic illness continues beyond a certain number of months, the member is put upon the superannuation list, and receives the allowance for old age. Besides these rates, there is almost always a sum of several pounds which is paid for the funeral expenses of a member or his wife. It is one of the ill-grounded desires of the least instructed part of the population of this country, to have what they call a decent, meaning by decent an expensive, funeral. As this is so much absolute waste, a consumption for which nobody is the better, and ravaged from a suffering family at a moment when most commonly their resources are diminished, or rather destroyed, the sooner they can be weaned from this superstition so much the better. It might soon be done by the example of their superiors. If those among them who are above vulgar error would enjoin their successors to put them in the earth at the smallest expence which the physical operation would admit, the childish passion for a costly funeral would soon disappear. It is necessary that sepulture should be performed in places, and by persons pointed out by the proper authority, for the security due to the health of the living. But if the business of the cemetery is not performed altogether at the public expence, and in the same manner for all, which would be the best regulation, there assuredly ought to be no fees, nor any charge beyond the rigid payment of the labour. When the religion of the relatives requires a devotional service to be performed at the grave, it ought assuredly to be performed without any fees or presents to the actors in the scene. Fees to the clergyman, and others, in a church of England funeral, are a serious grievance to the poor.

The mode of doing the business is exceedingly simple. When the society is not numerous, there is, in general, a monthly meeting of all the members. When they are numerous, a committee is formed, of which the meetings are monthly; and general meetings, at more distant periods, are held of the whole. Two or more stewards, as the business may require, are chosen at certain short intervals, whose business it is to visit the members applying for relief, and to pay their allowance. Members are admitted only within a specified age, most commonly between twenty and forty-five; and the persons belonging to occupations regarded as unwholesome or dangerous, are excluded by name from most of the clubs not expressly established for themselves. There are some curious exclusions in most of the London societies. From a great proportion of them, Irishmen are excluded; and in almost all of them, it is particularly declared, that no attorney, or attorney's clerk, shall be admitted a member.

Some of their rules are in a very remarkable manner favourable to virtue. In almost all the London clubs, it is a rule that sickness or disablement, produced by drinking, by the venereal disease, or by fighting, except in self-defence, shall receive no benefit. If any member, while in the receipt of an allowance, is found gaming or intoxicated, or out of his own house after a certain hour in the evening, he is subject to heavy penalties, very often expulsion. If any member appears at a meeting of the society in a state of intoxication, or uses rude or provoking language to any person present, or is guilty of profane cursing and swearing, or offers wagers, he is fined; in some cases he is fined if he comes to the meeting without being clean in his dress and person; and, in other cases, attention to this object is recommended without being enforced.

Of some of the rules, which are also very generally adopted, the reason is not so easily seen. One of them is, that none of the members shall belong to any other association of the kind. If a member complies with all the rules of one society, it can be of no detriment to that society, if he belongs to another. A man whose earnings place it in his power, may thus secure to himself a double benefit in sickness, disablement, or old age. It would lead to the same end if a man was allowed to take more than one of what may be called the shares of one society, double, for instance, the monthly and other payments, on condition of receiving all the allowances double; but his security, as long as clubs are on a precarious footing, would be somewhat increased by dividing the risk.

By another of these rules, the utility of which seems rather more than doubtful, a member, while receiving aid, is not allowed to work. The intention of this is sufficiently evident. It is to prevent that sort of imposition to which the societies in question are most exposed, receipt of bounty at seasons when it is not required. The question is,—whether if a man was allowed to earn, were it ever so little, as soon as he was capable, and even, when entitled to relief, to divide the produce with the club; deducting, for example, from his allowance, a portion equal to one half of his earnings,—both parties would not find their account in it? and whether means might not to be discovered of guarding against imposition as effectually in that case as by the expedient which is now in use? In the case of the superan- nuation annuity, the member is, in general, at liberty to do any thing which he can for himself, provided his earnings go not beyond a particular amount.

Such, then, in a general point of view, is the end aimed at by these societies, and the means through which they endeavour to accomplish it.

We shall next consider the effects which they have a tendency to produce.

The effects which they have a tendency to produce, regard either the individuals themselves, who are the members of the societies, or the community at large.

1. The effects which they most immediately produce with regard to the individuals themselves, are two; first, They deduct somewhat from the ordinary enjoyments; secondly, They diminish greatly certain occasional pains; and there can be no doubt that what is lost by the diminution of the ordinary enjoyments, is much more than compensated by what is gained in the diminution of the extraordinary pains. The pains are either those of want, in times of sickness and disablement, where no provision is made for the poor, or those of disgrace and aversion, where relief may indeed be received, but in a way inconsistent with all sense of independence, and in general various little habits from which the idea of happiness can no longer be disjoined.

Under this head, something may perhaps be allowed on the score of temperance. Of the money paid by the members to the club, part, if not so paid, might have been spent upon intoxicating liquors, by which the health and strength would have been impaired.

2. The effects which Benefit Clubs produce in regard to the public, are either pecuniary or moral. Whatever portion of money would otherwise have been spent by the public in maintaining, during sickness, disablement, and old age, the persons who, in these circumstances, are maintained by the clubs, this exactly is the pecuniary advantage which accrues to the public.

The moral effects are not so easy to define. But circumstances present themselves in sufficient abundance to prove that they are not inconsiderable. In whatever degree they contribute to diminish the use of intoxicating liquors, they weaken one of the grand causes of the uselessness and mischievousness of human beings. In whatever degree they contribute to keep alive the sensibility to disgrace, they preserve one of the greatest of all incentives to useful conduct, and one of the greatest securities against a course of life, either mischievous or useless. That they contribute greatly to keep alive the sensibility to disgrace is not to be disputed. It follows that they contribute greatly to all that virtue and good conduct of which the labouring classes of this country are day after day displaying a greater and a greater share.

Since Frugality Banks became the fashion, it has been customary to allege, that all the benefits capable of being derived from Benefit Clubs, and still higher benefits, may be derived from the banks, and with the avoidance of several evils. It will not require many words to enable us to effect a comparison. We shall follow that division of the effects, into those regarding the individuals, and those regarding the public, which was presented above.

1. In regard to the individuals, it is supposed that the banks will make them save more eagerly. If this enables them to make a greater provision for the seasons of distress, it is good; if not, all that they would have spent in innocent enjoyments is so much good lost.

But it may well be questioned whether banks are calculated to make them save more rigidly. The idea of a stock which they may leave behind them is something. But the idea of a better provision for the occasions of their own distress is something also; and with the greatest number, it is probable, the greatest something of the two.

With regard to the convenience of taking the money in small sums, the monthly payments of two shillings, are nearly as small as can be desired. If this is too small for the rate of any man's abilities, there might in each society be different rates, or one man might belong to several societies.

A circumstance which has been urged more strongly is, the inconvenience of paying, as required in Benefit Clubs, on a particular day; to banks the payment is made whenever it is convenient. This has its advantages, and its disadvantages. The disadvantages appear to exceed the advantages. With this opinion Mr Duncan was so deeply impressed, that he thinks stated payments, with penalties, a proper law for Frugality Banks. "Though it may bear hard," he says, "on a contributor to be bound to pay annually a stated sum, as in Friendly Societies, under the pain of forfeiting the whole, it is, notwithstanding, useful in such institutions, that some strong motive should exist for regular payments. The reason on which this opinion is founded, must be obvious to all who know any thing of human nature. What we have no pressing motive to do at a particular time, we are apt to delay till it is beyond our power to do at all. So sensible are the common people themselves of this tendency, that we frequently observe them having recourse to contrivances for forcing themselves to save money for a particular object. It is partly on this principle that Friendly Societies find so many supporters; and that there are such frequent associations among the lower classes, with the view of raising funds, for the purchase of family Bibles, or some of the more expensive articles of furniture." (Essay on Parish Banks, p. 24.)

This important fact, of the voluntary associations of the people to raise funds, not merely for support in seasons of distress, but for the purchase of articles of fancy and luxury, is a strong argument in favour of Clubs. It shows two things; it shows the pleasure the people take in them; and it gives the experience of the efficacy which attends them.

The difficulty of making good the stated payments to the club, at moments of great pressure, as when employment is wanting, or a man's wife and children are sick, is objected to Benefit Societies. This is an inconvenience, no doubt; but we have seen that it is not unattended with compensation. In fact, a man must be in a state of distress very uncommon, if he is prevented by real necessity from paying his club-money. Besides, this is one of the occasions on which very extraordinary exertions are made by his acquaintance and friends; especially if he is not a man thoroughly worthless, whose vices, not his misfortunes, are the cause of his distress, to supply him with the means. And this is an exercise of virtue in these acquaintances and friends, which is highly useful; and tends forcibly to the increase of the benevolent feelings in the minds both of those who make it, and of those in favour of whom it is made.

It is urged as a hardship of great magnitude, that a man, after he has been a long time a contributor to a club, should lose the benefit of the whole, for a delay in payment at a season of peculiar distress. But a certain degree of indulgence is allowed; a defaulter does not forfeit till the first meeting, which is a month after the quarter-day. Besides, it is very common to misrepresent the amount of the loss in this case. What a man really and truly loses is that which will be necessary to place him in the same situation. But that is only as much as will be necessary to entitle him to the allowances of another club. This may be nine or twelve months' contributions. Suppose the rate of contribution is 2s. a-month, and 5s. of entry-money. What a man loses by expulsion, however much he may have paid, is only 29s. If, indeed, he is an old man, past the age of admission into another club, what he loses is much more serious; it is the value of all the benefit which he would have been entitled to derive. And, in this case, some modification of the rule of forfeiture would be desirable. It is, however, no fundamental objection, because such a modification may be easily made. Lastly, the number of those who suffer forfeiture from real necessity, and not from their vices, is small, bearing a very insignificant proportion to the whole. For a hardship to the very small number, a great benefit to the very great number is not to be foregone. This is the very principle on which bad government is distinguished from good.

It is brought as a strong argument against Benefit Clubs, that the meetings are held at public-houses. From this, it is inferred, that the members are at these meetings very commonly seduced to drink; and acquire, increase, or confirm habits of intemperance. This appears to be an inference altogether unwarranted, and contrary to the fact. The members are, in general, under the necessity of holding their meetings at a public-house, because it is only at a public-house where they can, in general, hire an apartment for the purpose. The use of the apartment is sometimes paid for by the money spent, which is always a limited, and always a very small sum, threepence most commonly, or a pint of porter for each; and sometimes the room is paid for, not in this way, but by the contribution of a penny or other small sum from each; and intoxication, at the time of meeting, is punished with a fine. It is affirmed by those who have most attended to the practical proceedings of these societies, that instead of being a source of intoxication, they have been one of the grand causes of its decrease.

One decided advantage which the Benefit Clubs possess above the Savings Banks is, that the money paid to the club cannot be taken out, first, to gratify any unnecessary desire; secondly, to buy furniture for the sake of an early, and hence, in all probability, a fruitful, that is, a deplorable marriage; thirdly, to satisfy the parish for a bastard, which often would not have been gotten, but for the reflection, that if the worst came to the worst, means were had to get rid of it.

In a moral point of view, the formation of the people into little combinations and fraternities is of the greatest importance. It concentrates the eyes of all upon each individual; and renders good conduct a thing of infinitely more value to him, as it renders bad conduct for men detrimental. It is this circumstance which the sage mind of Dr Adam Smith leads with such emphatic praise in the supposed case of the division of a country into so great a number of religious sects, that each congregation might be regarded as differing from the rest. In this manner, without difficulty, and without care, is exercised one of the most vigilant and effectual of all censorships; the most salutary of all inspections. When an ignorant, or almost any man can say to himself, my conduct is regarded by nobody,—it is astonishing how easy it is for temptation to subdue him; when he must say to himself, I cannot perform a disgraceful act without reading aversion and contempt in the eyes of all my acquaintance,—it is astonishing how much he is strengthened for resistance.

There is yet another thing of cardinal importance. If it were possible for the superior to do everything for the inferior people, and to leave them nothing to do or care about for themselves, nothing would be more calamitous than the accomplishment of such an event. The mass of the human species would thence become what the people of Paraguay became in the hand of the Jesuits; most perfectly helpless, and ready, on the least derangement in the machinery which conducts them, to fall into the deepest wretchedness and barbarity. As that machinery would be liable to be deranged by the slightest accidents, it could not be preserved in order long, and would then serve as an introduction, a necessary and certain introduction, to one of the most deplorable conditions of human affairs. The case is altogether different where the power of suffering for themselves is generally spread throughout the community; where the people have resources; where every man is accustomed to combine for himself the means of warding off evil, and attaining good. There the machine of society cannot be easily disordered, and human happiness is placed on a much more secure foundation. Then, if any of the larger arteries of the body politic is obstructed, the nourishment of the system is carried on by the admirable service which may be rendered by the smaller. To a system which has thus a vis medicatrix in all its parts, no shock can be given that is not immediately repaired. Were the greatest disorder introduced, things of their own accord would hasten to their proper place.

It is, therefore, a prodigious recommendation of Benefit Societies, that in them the people act for themselves. We do not mention this, however, as one of the circumstances in which they differ from Savings Banks. It is, indeed, true, that in most of the Savings Banks which have yet been started, the upper people have taken upon them to manage for the under. But this is not necessary. The contributors to Savings Banks may themselves, if they choose, manage a bank just as well as a club-box; in fact, the business of the bank is far more simple than that of the box. There is one important example of a bank conducted by the people themselves, in that established in Clerkenwell, at the suggestion of Charles Taylor, Esq.

So much with regard to the effect of Benefit Societies, as compared with Savings Banks, in promoting economy and other good qualities among the contributors. Let us next compare them with regard to the benefit received. This part of the subject has already been so well handled by the Reverend Richard Vivian, rector of Bushey Herts, in A Letter on Friendly Societies and Savings Banks, published in 1816, that it would be improper to do anything more than transcribe what he has written.

"For a view of the powers of the institutions, to secure independence, let Mr Rose's table be compared with the Benefit Society long established in this parish. By the table the amount of one shilling per week after one year is L.2, 12s. If the contributor should be ill at the beginning of this year, there is nothing for him: if quite at the end of the year, he should be ill four weeks, and should draw equal to the allowance of the Bushey Benefit Society, his capital is gone; and he must begin again. A member of the society pays two shillings per calendar month, and, if he has paid one pound to be free, supposing him under twenty-five years of age (and other ages in proportion), he will receive 12s. a-week during illness in any part of the whole of the year; and will find his right to the same payment for future years undiminished. There is no occasion to go through the intermediate years. Let us take the twentieth. After twenty years, the contributor to the bank (if he has had no illness, which would quickly have exhausted his stock, especially in the earlier years) will have paid L.52, and will be worth L.77; 8s. 6d. We will suppose that he is come to old age, or some lasting infirmity. He can afford 6s. a-week for five years, and then comes to the parish, with the aggravation of disappointed hopes of independence. In the society the payments in twenty years will amount to L. 24; the receipt 6s. a-week in old age, if his life should be protracted to the (I hope incalculable) date of a national bankruptcy.

"You will perceive, that the great defect of Savings Banks is the want of benefit of survivorship. But (say their advocates) there are the advantages of bequeathing their stock, and of taking their money, whenever they want it; the advantage of bequeathing I will leave to be estimated by the most sanguine admirers of Savings Banks, only desiring them to take into their account, the high probability that his little stock will be hardly worth bequeathing, even if not exhausted by the illness of the testator, in the ease of his dying in youth; and the certainty of his being his own heir, if he should die in his old age. The power of taking out the money at any time is the very circumstance which fills me with alarm. There is danger lest the subscriber should leave his club, and become a contributor to a bank, from the fallacious hope of enjoying this advantage in addition to all the others. No doubt this may be an advantage to prudent persons in certain situations. But is there no danger of cases, which I might have mentioned before, in which the stock will be sunk in unfounded projects, in wanton expences, in a childish impatience of possessing money? All this imprudence would be of comparatively little consequence, if the parties were by any means protected from absolute want; that is to say, if they were, at the same time, members of Benefit Societies.

"The truth is, Savings Banks are not calculated for the lowest and most numerous rank of the community. This is evident from Mr Rose's table, beginning with 1s. per week. Many members of Benefit Clubs cannot make good their payments of less than half that sum without the best charity that can be bestowed by the rich—assistance towards the payment of their subscriptions to members of Benefit Clubs, with large and helpless families. Men in elevated stations imagine that they see the lowest order, when they see but the lower. The 'Corinthian capital' looks down, and mistakes the cornice of the pediment for its base. While the great are providing for their immediate dependants, they seem to be providing for the poor. I do not wish to retort upon some of the defenders of Savings Banks, and by exaggerating their possible ill effects to exalt the merit of Benefit Societies. Savings Banks have done, and I hope will continue to do, much service to many. They often lift a little higher them who are not already very low. But a man should be secured from sinking into absolute wretchedness, before he is encouraged to mount into a higher sphere. By a Savings Bank, a butler may lay up money enough to keep a public-house. But there must be a Benefit Society to keep a ploughman and his family from the workhouse. Now, I hope I may be allowed to say, that it is better that one ploughman should be preserved from a receptacle of misery, than that ten butlers should be exalted into publicans."

Even Mr Dunean says, "There is one point of view in which the Friendly Society scheme can claim a decided advantage. An individual belonging to the labouring part of the community cannot expect, by making the most assiduous use of the provisions of the Parish Bank, to arrive at sudden independence;—on the contrary, it is only by many years of industry and economy that the flattering prospects held out by that system can be realized. But health is precarious, and an accident or disease may in a moment put an end to all the efforts of the most active and expert. It is under such circumstances that a very striking difference appears in favour of the scheme we are considering. He who should trust to the progressive accumulation of his funds in a Parish Bank, might now find himself fatally disappointed. If he had not been fortunate enough to realize a considerable capital before the sources of his subsistence were dried up, the illness of a few weeks or months might re- duce him to a state of want and dependence, and cause him to experience the unhappiness of mourning over impotent efforts and abortive hopes. On the other hand, the man who has used the precaution to become a member of a Friendly Society, has made a comfortable and permanent provision against the sudden attack of disease and accident. The moment that he comes to acquire the privileges of a free member, which, by the rules of most of these institutions, is at the end of the third year after he began to contribute, he is safe from absolute want, and the regular manner in which his weekly allowance is paid him enhances its value. Nor is this provision liable to any of those objections, which have been so strongly and so justly urged against the well-intended but mistaken system of poor rates. Instead of degrading and vitiating the mind, its tendency is directly the reverse. The poor man feels that he is reaping the fruit of his own industry and forethought. He has purchased by his own prudent care an honourable resource against the most common misfortunes of life; and even when deprived of the power to labour for a livelihood, the honest pride of independence remains to elevate and ennoble his character."

It is objected, that Benefit Societies have been established on improper calculations, and thus have come to ruin. But this is an evil which has a tendency to correct itself. Experience, if there were nothing else, discovers what rate of benefit the payments can afford, and the thing is now so well understood, that mistakes, it is probable, are very seldom incurred. At any rate, this is a chance of evil which may always be precluded by communicating information.

The funds, it is said, of Benefit Societies, are often confided to improper hands, and by consequence lost. This, too, is an evil, which, so far from being necessary, has a sure tendency to correct itself. People learn by a little experience where their money may be safely lodged. It is, indeed, a lesson which probably they have already learnt. We perceive it is a rule in most of the London Societies, that whenever the fund exceeds what is necessary for the current expenditure, it is invested in Government securities. Another thing should be observed, that it is a great advantage of Benefit Clubs not to require much in the way of fund. If the calculations are correct, the outgoings within an average period will balance the incomings; and all that is requisite in the way of fund, is a small sum to meet accidental inequalities. When this fund is lost, it is not much that is lost. If a small additional sum is subscribed by each member; or, instead of this, if the allowances are for a short time suspended, or only reduced, the society is placed in its former situation. The case is woefully different with a bank. There, if the funds are lost, the whole is lost.

Secondly, In regard to the Community.

2. Thus stands the comparison between Savings Banks and Benefit Societies, in regard to the members or contributors. How stands it in regard to the community as a whole?

In the first place, it is evident, that the classes, of whom such members and contributors are composed, being the whole population, with the deduction of a number comparatively small, it is not easy for any thing which is good for them, one by one, not to be good for the whole conjointly.

Further, if Benefit Societies afford, as appears to be ascertained, a better security for the maintenance of the people, free from public aid, than Savings Banks, the public is benefited to the amount of all the support which otherwise it would have been obliged to afford.

If the moral and intellectual qualities of the people are more favoured by the societies than the banks, the public is benefited in respect to a cause of good, the effects of which are incalculable.

Thus far on the side of good. On the side of evil, a great fear has been expressed, that out of any joint proceedings of the people would arise mischief to the government. The operation of fears of this description has been one grand cause of the evils which human beings have brought upon one another. It is a circumstance full of suspicion, when governments count upon the hatred of their people. It seldom happens, and seldom can happen, unless when they know well that the people have reason to hate them. It is not natural for the people to hate their government, unless oppressed by it. The people, instead of being disposed to hate a good government, are far too much disposed to be pleased with a bad one; as the history of the whole earth so abundantly and woefully testifies. If a government takes care of the interests of the people, and gives them instruction sufficient to know their own interests, that is to say, takes no measures to prevent their instruction (for that, in such a state of society as ours, includes all that is necessary), it will have nothing to fear from the little societies which the people may form, to insure one another against some of the calamities to which they are most commonly exposed. Besides, if ever the people are stimulated to combine against the government, they will find better mediums of combination than the Benefit Societies, which appear to have an unnecessary and improper jealousy of one another.

A fear has been also expressed, that Benefit Societies may be rendered subservient to conspiracies for the raising of wages. Upon this it may be sufficient to observe, that many instances of what the workmen call striking for wages have taken place, since Benefit Clubs were frequent; in these instances, other means of combination have always been found; and Benefit Clubs are by their nature ill adapted to the purpose.

Such is the present state of the business of Benefit Clubs in this country at this moment, and such are the effects they have a tendency to produce. The grand cause why more of the good effects which they are calculated to produce have not been realized, is the unhappy state of the law in England.

This deserves a few words of illustration.

For a long time, the unhappy state of the English Inconveniences Law rendered the Benefit Societies a mere object of prey. Any person whatsoever, who found it agreeable to cheat them, might do so with perfect impunity. They had no means of redress. This was owing to one of the fopperies or quaint conceits of the English law, bred in times of ignorance and im- posture, and hugged with ecstasy by the lawyers, in spite of the wisdom of an enlightened age. In consequence of the conceit to which we allude, no assemblage of men could be regarded as one body, or entitled to sue for property possessed in common, unless they had certain ceremonies performed in regard to them,—ceremonies exquisitely useless; after the performance of which, the lawyers would give them a nickname (that of a corporation), and would then permit them to sue as one party, for any cause of action common to them all. The ceremonies, the performance of which gave an assemblage of persons this potent name, depending upon the will of great men, were not easy to be got; nor was the getting of them without an expence fatal to such institutions as Benefit Clubs. They remained, therefore, deprived of the benefit of law till the year 1793, when an act was passed which had two objects in view. One was to take securities against certain dangers at that time intensely associated with the idea of any thing called an assemblage of the people. Another was, to give to Benefit Societies, though without the name corporation, which performs legerdemain, if not magic, in the kingdom of the lawyers, something of the protection of law. The treasurers and trustees, as vested with the property of the society, were enabled to bring or defend any action, suit, or prosecution, relative to the property of the society. But to obtain this advantage, it was rendered incumbent upon the society to make known all its rules to the justices of the peace, and obtain their approbation.

As the expence of law-proceedings was so great, that the expence of a suit, or at least of a few suits, would be completely ruinous to a Benefit Society, something was also done towards the diminution of that expence. It was ordered that no fee should be taken by any officer or minister in the courts, and that the proceedings should not be chargeable with any stamp duty.

This was most undoubtedly travelling in the right path; but it was not doing enough. It did not render the access to justice sufficiently easy. The proceedings of English law are full of delay, and full of intricacy. The business of the great mass of the people, of which Benefit Clubs is a part, requires dispatch and simplicity. A suit at law in behalf of a Benefit Society is still attended with so much trouble, and so much expence, that, virtually, the doors of the Courts are well nigh shut upon them down to the present hour. And this want of the protection of law they are obliged to supply, as well as they can, by rules of their own,—rules of some inconvenience, and of which they would never think, if the protection of law were as it should be.

Thus, with the delay, trouble, and expence of the regular courts, it would never do to sue for arrears, as often as a few shillings became due. The societies are therefore obliged to make a law of their own, that a member who does not at a certain time pay up his arrears, forfeits his place as a member. If a single attendance of a few minutes at a summary court, which would be all that would be required, would suffice to procure a sentence and execution upon the goods of a defaulter, the law of expulsion would not be required.

It is evident that, to give to Benefit Societies all the salutary operation of which they are capable, some court is wanting, where, free from the superstitious perplexities of barbarous law, the matter of all applications may be immediately tried, in the way of natural and rational inquiry; the parties themselves and their witnesses instructing the judge upon their oaths, and receiving his award without delay and without expence. If every man who fancied himself aggrieved by his club, and every club who had a complaint against an offender, could receive justice on these terms, the business of societies would be very simple, and their benefits sure. Their rules might then be limited to the fixing of the periodical payments, apportioning the benefits to be returned, and settling the order of conducting the business. They would attain a sort of ideal perfection, could they only obtain in a degree at all approaching to perfection, the benefit of law. With no other than the functionaries at present in Great Britain administering the law, the easiest mode of composing a judicatory for Friendly Societies would be to make the reference to a single Justice of the Peace, who should hold a regular tribunal for this purpose, and go through immediately, even to execution, with all disputes, reserving one appeal to any of the neighbouring Justices, upon whom the parties should mutually agree. Upon no part of the proceedings should there be the shadow of a tax or a fee; and, as lawyers would be altogether unnecessary, and the witnesses would in general be few and at hand, justice would in general be done without an hour's delay; with the loss, even in the most tedious cases, of but a few hours of time, either to the parties or the witnesses; without any expence in most cases, with a very small expence in any. The consequence would infallibly be, that, in such cases, no man would have any interest in an injustice, for which he would be immediately called before the judge, which he would be immediately obliged to repair, and from which he could therefore derive no advantage, not so much as a little momentary ease.

(BENTINCK (William Henry Cavendish), third Duke of Portland, was born on the 14th of April 1738. Having finished his education at Christ Church, Oxford, he went on his travels. Soon after his return, he was elected for the borough of Wobly, in the first Parliament of the King's reign. For this borough, however, he did not sit long; for, on the death of his father, on the 1st of May 1762, he was called up to the House of Peers. He immediately joined the opposition; and, in 1763, his name is found among the minority against the cyder bill, and along with that of the Duke of Grafton, in a protest against it. The next session, he also signed a protest on the motion to vote away the privilege Bentinck, claimed by members of Parliament in matters of libel. In 1765, when his friend the Marquis of Rockingham came into power, he was appointed Lord Chamberlain, and he retired when the Marquis went out of office. In 1768, there was a violent contest for the county of Cumberland; and as the Duke warmly supported the two opposition candidates, the ministry, in order to weaken his influence, and at the same time to increase that of Sir James Lowther, who was one of the ministerial candidates, granted to the latter Ingleswood forest, an extensive and valuable estate, which had been granted by King William III. to the first Duke of Portland, and had remained in possession of that family ever since. The new grant was made in consequence of a report from the surveyor-general of crown lands, that the premises were not comprised in the original grant from King William to the Duke of Portland, but were still vested in the crown. A letter was written from the Treasury, directing the Duke to prepare his title, and assuring him that nothing should be decided concerning the grant till such title had been stated and maturely considered; but while his Grace's agents were busily employed in their researches and inquiries, he received a second letter, informing him that the grants were passed, and the leases signed. A caveat had been entered at the Exchequer to stop the progress of the grant, but, when Lord North was prayed to withhold affixing the Exchequer seal, he replied that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was bound to obey the orders of the Treasury. On the 19th of November 1771, this great cause was tried before the Barons of the Exchequer, in Westminster-Hall. The Court recited all the records, and prerogatives of the crown, from Edward I. to the lease made to Sir James Lowther; when, after a full and impartial examination of the said lease, it was found invalid; agreeably to the statute of the 1st of Anne, which expressly requires that, upon every grant from the crown, there shall be a reserved rent, not under the third part of the clear yearly value of the manors, lands, &c. as shall be contained in the grant. Sir James Lowther's grant from the crown being only a quit rent of 13s. 4d. for the whole of Ingleswood forest, was immediately determined by the Court an inadequate third proportion, and he was nonsuited accordingly. The nullum tempus bill, or the act for quieting the possessions of the subject against all pretences of concealment whatsoever, which was brought into Parliament in 1768, and passed in the following year, owed its rise to this grant of the Portland property to Sir James Lowther.

In 1766, the Duke of Portland had been bound more closely than ever to the Rockingham party, in consequence of his marriage with Lady Dorothy Cavendish, sister to the Duke of Devonshire. On the resignation of Lord North, he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; and, during his government, the Parliament of that country was declared independent of the British Parliament. After an administration of somewhat more than three months, he was recalled, when Lord Shelburne came into power. On the death of the Marquis of Rockingham, he was recommended by the Privy Council to the King as his successor at the Treasury; but Lord Shelburne was preferred. When the Coalition came into power, however, he obtained the situation of Prime Minister, and went out of office with them. During Mr Pitt's difficulties, when he first came into administration, in consequence of the House of Commons being against him, an attempt was made to form a coalition between him and the Duke of Portland; but his Grace objected to the conditions on which Mr Pitt came into power, and refused his support, unless he would resign his place, and come in again on equal terms with himself and his friends.

In 1792, he was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford; and, soon afterwards, he, as well as several other friends of Mr Fox, who differed with him respecting the French revolution, left the opposition, and joined the ministry. Upon this, he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Nottingham; and, in 1794, Secretary of State for the Home Department. The scarcity and high price of provisions, and the state-trials, which occurred soon after he became Secretary of State, rendered his office arduous and unpleasant. He discharged his duty, however, under these circumstances, with moderation, and with acknowledged good intentions, though not always perhaps with vigour and judgment. He continued Secretary of State, till Mr Addington became Prime Minister in 1801, when he exchanged this situation for the more easy duty of President of the Council. On the death of Mr Pitt, and the appointment of Lord Grenville and Mr Fox to the ministry, in the spring of 1806, he was removed from the Presidentship of the Council; but he was again called into public life, and placed at the head of the Treasury, in March 1807, when Lord Grenville's administration closed. His Grace, however, though nominally the Prime Minister, was too infirm to take an active part in the high and arduous duties of this situation, which were discharged almost entirely by Mr Perceval, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He continued nominally the First Lord of the Treasury till a very short time before his death, which happened on the 30th of October 1809.

The abilities of his Grace were certainly but moderate, and very far inferior to those which he must have possessed, had he been, as latterly there has been an attempt to prove, the author of Junius's Letters; but his understanding was good, and he was by no means unwilling or unable to give regular attention to official business. His political integrity was never questioned, even by the party whom he left.

BERBICE is a colony belonging to the British, situate on the banks of the river of that name, in the province of Guiana, in South America. The latitude of the mouth of the river Berbice is 6 degrees, 20 minutes north; and its longitude 57 degrees, 11 minutes west from London. The plantations are situate on each side of the river, and extend nearly 300 miles from its entrance. Previously to the year 1799, this colony was bounded on the east by the Devil's Creek; and on the west by Abarry Creek, which separated it from Demerary, its breadth being then 30 miles. But when Surinam surrendered to the British in that year, a negoci- tion was entered into between the Governors of these two colonies, by which Surinam conceded to Berbice the tract of country between the Devil's Creek, and the river Courantine; thus increasing its breadth to about 45 miles. The sea coast, extending nearly 50 miles, and the west bank of the Courantine, were immediately surveyed, and laid out into regular allotments. The extent of this colony was farther enlarged by the British, who cleared and embanked from the sea the whole line of coast between the Demerary and the Courantine, forming upon it a carriage-road 60 feet broad, with six-foot parapets on each side for the convenience of travelling.

Previously to this improvement, the face of this country resembled that of the rest of Guiana. On the shores there was a border of low ground, between high and low-water marks, covered with mangrove. When the tide flowed, this border had several feet of water over it; and when it ebbed, it presented an inaccessible mud-bank. This is now rendered dry and productive. Behind this border of mangroves, at the distance of 400 or 500 paces, commence low, level, swampy savannahs, formed by the rains, which are prolonged in the direction of the coast, with a depth more or less considerable, according to the distance of the mountains. This part of the colony was almost entirely neglected by the Dutch, who fixed their principal plantations in the more elevated and interior part of the country.

The year, here, is divided into two dry and two wet seasons; light showers begin to refresh the land about the middle of April; the rain increases till the middle of June, when it falls in torrents; at the beginning of July, these heavy rains begin to decrease; and in August, the long dry season begins, and continues till November. December and January constitute the short and rainy season; and February and March the short dry season. The land winds prevail during the two wet seasons, and are unhealthy; in the dry season, the air is refreshed, by regular, diurnal sea-breezes. The temperature of this colony is not so great as might be expected from its latitude; the thermometer very seldom rises to 91 degrees; in general, during May, June, and July, it varies between 83 and 84; the lowest degree is about 75. The weather always changes very gradually.

There are two rivers in this colony; the Berbice, and the Canje. The former runs from south to north, and discharges itself into the Atlantic Ocean. The coast on each side of it forms a bay at its entrance, which is nearly a mile in width, having a small island in the middle, called Crab Island, from the number of land-crabs on it; the entrance is protected by three forts, but they are of little use, as Berbice must, from its situation, always follow the fate of Demerary. Without the entrance of the river is a bar of sand, over which, at high tide, there is sediment more than 16 feet of water; but within, the water is of sufficient depth, and the river is navigable, for ships of burden two hundred miles from its mouth. On account of the bar, however, few vessels rendezvous here, but anchor off the port of Demerary.

The river Canje is narrow, but deep, running at first nearly from south to north, but afterwards diverging to the east, till it falls into the Berbice about a mile from the sea. It is navigable for colony schooners 30 miles up. At its head are immense falls, and about 40 miles below, there is a creek which connects it with the Courantine. In this route, and by means of this creek, or island, dispatches are brought from Surinam to Berbice by the Indians. The water on all the coast of Berbice is brackish. The rain-water, which lodges in the low parts of the forests, called bush-water, is collected by the Indians for the purposes of drinking and cooking. The forests are extensive, and contain many very large trees. Dr Pinckard describes an enormous tree of the Tonquin Bean, the body of which rose perpendicularly to the height of between 70 and 80 feet, before it threw out a single branch.

The only towns in this colony are Old Amsterdam, Towns. and Fort Nassau, or New Amsterdam; the former is said, by Bolingbroke, to be 50 miles up the river Berbice, but Dr Bancroft places it at 100 miles from the mouth. The inconveniences attendant on this situation of Old Amsterdam were so numerous and obvious, arising chiefly from the uncertain and intricate navigation of the river, that, in the year 1766, when Dr Bancroft visited Guiana, it was resolved to remove the seat of government to a point of land on the eastern shore of the Berbice (about a mile from its entrance), formed between that river and the Canje. So slow, however, were the Dutch in their operations, that New Amsterdam, for so this town was called, was scarce begun, in the year 1796, when Berbice capitulated to the English. Under the greater activity of the conquerors, New Amsterdam soon assumed the size and appearance of the capital of the colony. It lies on the south side of the Canje; and the houses extend up the banks of the Berbice about a mile and a half, facing the water. The Dutch, in laying out the town, paid particular attention to health and convenience. Round each allotment there are trenches, which fill and empty themselves every tide, so that all the filth is carried off before it stagnates and becomes unwholesome. Each lot contains a quarter of an acre of land; a free circulation of air, as well as ground for a kitchen-garden, is thus secured to the inhabitants. The houses are very long and narrow, and not more than a story and a half high, with galleries on each side, to protect them from the sun. Those inhabited by the Dutch are thatched with troolie* and plantain leaves, which they prefer to shingles on account of coolness; but

* The troolies are perhaps the largest leaves that have been hitherto discovered in any part of the world. Each leaf is supported by a single stem, which arises immediately from the root, and becomes the middle rib to the leaf. These stems are hard and strong, and about three inches in circumference near the root. Each leaf is from 20 to 30 feet in length, and from 2 to 3 feet in breadth. They will effectually exclude the most violent rains, and last for many years. the English shingle their houses, from their dislike of the insects and vermin which the troolie and plantain leaves harbour. The government-house and colonial offices are built of brick, in the European style, and with considerable pretensions to architectural taste and magnificence.

Before Berbice surrendered to the British, in 1796, almost all the plantations were at a distance from the coast, considerably up the banks of the Berbice and the Canje; but within a very short time after the colony came into our possession, the plantations were greatly extended. The west coast was first cultivated; and in the year 1799, that to the eastward of the river Berbice, as far as the Devil's Creek, was cleared and cultivated. This part was surveyed and cut into two parallel lines of estates, with a navigable canal between them, for the convenience of water-carriage. Behind the second row of estates, the river Canje runs, both the banks of which are cultivated with sugar, coffee, and plantains. The estates are distinguished as follows; those on the line facing the sea are the coast estates; the second line consists of the canal estates; and the remainder are called the Canje estates. Besides these, there are valuable and extensive plantations on each side of the Berbice, stretching, as has been already mentioned, nearly 300 miles from its mouth. The principal and most valuable produce of the colony are sugar, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, cotton, and the annota, or roucou shrub. This last was, for a considerable time after the settlement of the colony, cultivated almost exclusively by the Indians, they macerated its seed in the juice of lemons, in which the gum of the manna tree had been dissolved, and thus obtained the celebrated Indian pigment, or crimson paint, with which they adorn their bodies. The roucou is now cultivated by the Dutch and English planters, as a dyeing stuff. Cotton thrives best, and is principally cultivated on the coast estates. The sugar plantations are deemed the most valuable.

Agriculture, and all other labour in Berbice, is almost wholly performed by negroes. On an estate, which, on an average, produces annually 140,000 cwt. of coffee, and 10,000 cwt. of cocoa, there are generally 200 slaves employed, calculated at the value of from L. 50 to L. 100 each. The Indians who inhabit this part of the South American coast, consist of four tribes; from these, particularly, the tribe of the Arrowaues, the inhabitants derive some assistance, as a few of them reside on almost every plantation, and are employed in various services, particularly in hunting and fishing. They have no animals domesticated, nor any grain or roots, except the cassada, brought into cultivation; a small species of deer, which something resembles the hare, and the armadillo, are their favourite food. They scald off the fur of the deer, cut the body in pieces, and stew it in cassada juice, seasoning it very highly with capsicum. The weapons they employ are the common bow and arrow, and the poisoned arrow, which they blow from a tube. Their accuracy and skill in using both these is surprising. With the common arrow, which is formed of a reed nearly six feet long, they can hit a chicken with tolerable certainty at nearly 100 yards distance. The poisoned arrow they can shoot from a tube of about seven feet in length, to the distance of eight or ten yards, with great accuracy; and, at 12 or 14 feet distance, they seldom fail in striking the edge of a penknife stuck on the back of a chair. The plants from which this poison is extracted are not known.

Mr Bolingbroke states, that the negro population Population of Berbice was doubled within ten years after it came into possession of the English; and that, in 1805, it amounted to about 40,000, besides 1000 free people of colour, and 2500 whites. From the papers, relative to the British West Indies, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed in 1815, it appears that, in October 1811, the population of Berbice must have decreased very considerably, if Mr Bolingbroke's estimate be correct; since, at that time, it consisted of

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Whites</th> <th>Coloured</th> <th>Blacks</th> <th>Total</th> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>550</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>240</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>- - - -</td> <td>25,169</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td colspan="3"></td> <td>25,959</td> </tr> </table>

A capitation-tax on the white and black inhabitants, an excise on every fifty pounds of sugar made, a weighage-toll of about 2 per cent. on all imports and exports, and a tonnage-duty of three florins per last on the burden of ships, are the principal sources of the revenue of the colony. In October 1811, there was only one private dwelling hired as a church for the use of the Dutch. The salary of the curate was 7000 stivers, that of the clerk and sexton 500 each, and that of the churchwarden 375. These sums were raised by a tax of one stiver per acre, with the exception of the Coromantine coast of the colony, which, in the return to Parliament, is represented as consisting of 80 estates, at 500 acres each.

The imports and exports were,

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Imports.</th> <th>Exports.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1809,</td> <td>L.193,663</td> <td>L.49,662</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1810,</td> <td>191,566</td> <td>51,785</td> </tr> </table>

In the years ending the 5th of January, there were imported into Great Britain from Berbice, of rum,

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1810.</th> <th>1811.</th> <th>1812.</th> <th>1813.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Gallons,</td> <td>20,355</td> <td>6193½</td> <td>1806</td> <td>23,139</td> </tr> </table>

And, in the year ending 5th January 1813, there was imported of sugar 9084 cwts. In 1809, the exportation of cocoa from the colony amounted to 17,665 cwts. and, in 1810, to 22,582 cwts. In the former year, the exportation of cotton was 1,874,195 lbs.; and, in the latter year, 1,656,057 lbs.

The colony of Berbice was founded in the year History. 1626, by a merchant of Flushing, to whose family, in 1678, it was granted as an hereditary fief. Three-fourths of it, however, were, not long afterwards, given to Van Hoorn and Company, in consequence of their discharging a heavy contribution levied on the colony by some French privateers. The new proprietors being allowed by the Dutch East India Company to import a certain number of negroes annually from Africa, and obtaining other privileges, greatly extended the cultivation of sugar, cocoa, and indigo; but they were restricted from exporting the produce of their plantations to any port not within the province of Holland. In 1763, an insurrection happened among the slaves of Berbice, which was quelled chiefly by the assistance of the Indians, and the English from Barbadoes. In 1796, the colony capitulated to the British; but it was restored to the Dutch by the peace of Amiens. In 1803 it was again reduced, and its possession was confirmed to Britain by the peace of Paris. In consequence of the Lords of the Treasury learning that the loss of slaves on the Crown estates from the year 1803 to 1810, had been at the rate of \(26\ \text{per cent.}\) they appointed, in 1811, commissioners for the management of these estates, who were especially directed and empowered to maintain and protect the negroes, and to reward and encourage industry among them.

By an act of the British Parliament, passed in the 56th of George III. (1816), cap. 91, Berbice is placed on the same footing in relation to the regulations of trade, as the British West India Islands. The subjects of the King of the Netherlands, who are proprietors in Berbice, may import into it from the Netherlands the usual articles of supply for their estates, but not for trade:—wine imported for the use of their estates, to pay a duty of 10s. per ton. The Dutch proprietors may export their produce, but not to Britain; both exports and imports to be in ships belonging to the Netherlands,—the duties to be the same as those payable by British proprietors.

See Pinckard's Notes on the West Indies, 2d edition, Vols. I. and II.—Bancroft's Essay on the Natural History of Guiana.—Bolingbroke's Voyage to Demerary.—Tuckey's Maritime Geography, Vol. IV.—Baron Sack's Account of Surinam.