O ANNALS OF BRITISH LEGISLATION: BEING A DIGEST OF THE PARLIAMENTARY BLUE BOOKS. EDITED BY DR. LEONE LEVI, F.S.A., F.S.S., OF LINCOLN'S INN, BARRISTER-AT-LAW; PROFESSOR OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF COMMERCE NEW SERIES.-VOL. III. с LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 1866. PREFACE. SOME of the sources of British Wealth are well exhibited in the present Volume, under the first Series of Finance, Commerce and Agriculture. In the Report on the British Fisheries, and especially in the comprehensive Report on the Sea Fisheries of the United Kingdom, we have the important fact that the produce of the sea around our coast actually bears a higher proportion to that of the land; that whilst once in the year an acre of good land, carefully tilled, produces a ton of corn or two or three cwt. of meat or cheese, the same area at the bottom of the sea, on the best fishing grounds, yields a greater weight of food to the persevering fishermen every week in the year. The Reports on the Cattle Plague indicate the extent of its ravages; but when we learn from the statistics that the Live Stock in the United Kingdom amounted to upwards of 8,000,000 cattle, 26,000,000 sheep, and nearly 4,000,000 pigs, it is evident that, in proportion to the supply, the losses were after all very inconsiderable. The progress of British Commerce is commented upon with much precision in the Report of the Customs Commissioners; and there we see that, in 1865, as compared with 1862, the Exports of British Produce and Manufacture increased not less than 42,000,000l. The fruits of the high wages earned by our working-classes are exhibited in the Returns of the Savings Banks, and in the Returns of the various Industrial and Provident Societies formed on the Co-operative principle in England and Wales. The Return of the Capital proposed to be invested in Public Works, and authorized to be raised by the private Bills which passed in 1864 and 1865, shows to a certain extent what occasioned the necessity for the letter of the Governor of the Bank of England, and the answer of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the Enlargement of the Issue consequent on the great Commercial Crisis of last May. And, the fear lest our Coal Supplies should, sooner or later, fall short, having suggested an inquiry into the Production of Coals in different countries, we have the results of such inquiries in the Reports of the Secretaries of Embassy on the subject. Whilst calling the attention of our readers to the usual Returns on Finance in this Series, there is one important document which well deserves special attention, viz., the Report upon the Trial of the Pyx, containing valuable historical facts relating to the Coinage. Under the Series "Diplomacy and War," will be found important papers connected with the Correspondence on the proposed assembly of a Conference at Paris, previous to the war between Austria and Italy, and the Treaty of Commerce concluded between her Majesty and Austria. The Return showing what Treaties of Commerce are now in force between Great Britain and Foreign States is most useful for reference. Here we have, too, the history of our differences with Brazil, and of the manner in which they have been settled; and also the Correspondence on the War between Chile and Spain. I would likewise call attention to the papers respecting the Shenandoah, containing a summary of all the difficulties and complaints which have arisen in our relations with the United States in consequence of their civil war. The Alabama dispute yet pending, a reference to the previous papers on these subjects will put my readers in possession of all the arguments on many difficult questions of International Law. There are but few documents belonging to the Series "Ecclesiastical Affairs and Education." Yet the Accounts of the British Museum and the Report of the Science and Art Department are full of valuable information, whilst the Report of the Committee on "Art Unions" shows to what extent the principle of lotteries has been used, under the specious pretext of promoting the Fine Arts. A most important survey of Meteorological Science is offered in the Report of the Committee on the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, occasioned by the decease of Admiral Fitzroy, who did so much to establish a system of forecasting the weather, with a view to diminish the dangers at sea. To the Series "Railway, Shipping, and Postal Communication" belong also the Reports of the Emigration Commissioners, and the return of the Number and Tonnage of Vessels employed in the Foreign Trade. The persevering efforts to obtain the total abolition of Capital Punishment having led to the appointment of a Commission to inquire into the provisions and operation of the laws under which the punishment of death is now inflicted in the United Kingdom, and the manner in which it is inflicted, this Volume contains the Report of the Commissioners, with the substance of the evidence on the different points. The progress of public opinion on the subject is clearly shown in this Report, and it will be seen that a declaration in favour of the total abolition of death punishment was signed by four out of twelve Commissioners. A Bill was introduced during the Session to carry out the recommendations of the Commissioners, the main provisions of which will appear in the next Volume; but it did not pass into law. Other papers and reports are inserted belonging to the Series "Justice and Crime;" such as the Report on Convict Prisons, Bankruptcy Returns, and Return of the Metropolitan Police. At this time, when the Treaty with France on the Extradition of Criminals has been renewed, the list of the Crimes forming the subject of such Treaties will be read with interest. The "Colonial" Series has two papers of supreme importance, giving a full Account of the Disturbances in Jamaica, the Report of the Commissioners, and the Despatch of the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, the Colonial Secretary. But more perhaps than any other Series, the "Municipal and Parliamentary " Series contains papers of great interest. The Reform Bills having been the great subject of discussion last Session, the Electoral Statistics, some of which are inserted in this Volume, have attracted the greatest attention. Here we have the usual Report on Births, Deaths, and Marriages, always replete with valuable social facts; and also an interesting Report on the Licensing of Theatres and Places of Public Entertainment. Although the Session of 1866 has been comparatively sterile of public measures, yet few have elicited a more thorough inquiry on the social condition of the country; and the great advantage of the Annals of British Legislation consists in presenting the facts so collected in a handy and compact manner, more available for public information, than in the ponderous volumes in which they are originally published. 10, FARRAR'S BUILDINGS, TEMPLE, 28th November, 1866. LEONE LEVI. |