Prospectus. INCREASING age and decreasing physical powers, with several recent and emphatic warnings as to the insecurity of health and gradual decline of life, have led me, after sixty years of more than usual activity, to seek retirement and comparative repose. In this last stage of progress towards the grave, reflection naturally succeeds to action; and the still small voice of conscience and duty is heard repeating, ever and anon, the solemn injunction, "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it quickly; for the night cometh, in which no man can work." In casting a retrospective view over the labours of the past, and seeing the many political, commercial, social, and moral Reforms already effected by the power of Public Opinion, created and stimulated into action by the pen and the press; and observing, at the same time, the many indications of coming Reforms yet to be demanded and achieved, I feel an irresistible desire to aid, as far as I may be able, their progress and accomplishment. With this view, I propose to publish, during the coming year, 1854, a Series of separate Essays, each independent of the other, and complete within itself: but so arranged, as to form, when concluded, a continuous whole. These will contain the results of my experience and reflection on the several topics indicated, with illustrations drawn from actual knowledge, acquired in the various walks of life in which it has been my lot to be engaged -as a voyager by sea, a traveller by land, a public writer in India and in England, a member of the English Legislature, and a visitor in every rank of society, from the prince to the peasant, from the cottage to the palace, and from the most ignorant and depraved to the most enlightened and virtuous classes of our own and of other lands. The Series will extend to Eight separate and successive Numbers-about 130 pages each-the first of which will be issued with the Periodicals, on the 1st of January, 1854, and the remainder on the 1st of every succeeding Month till completed. The price of each Number will be Half-a-Crown; and the whole will be closed in August next, when the Numbers may be formed into two handsome Volumes of about 500 pages each. St. John's Wood, London. J. S. BUCKINGHAM. HEADS OF THE SUBJECTS TO BE TREATED OF IN EACH OF THE MONTHLY NUMBERS. No. 1.-JANUARY, 1854. The New Reform Bill for England-Necessity of Purifying and Elevating as well as Extending the Electoral Franchise, and establishing an entirely New and Uniform Qualification for Voters in Boroughs and Counties; with the Introduction of a Plan for Conducting Public Elections which shall effec- tually abolish all the Degrading Scenes by which they are at present cha- racterised, and remove all the Foul Influences which make Bribery and Cor- ruption so constant a Source of Perjury and Demoralization-Preceded by a Biographical Sketch of the Author's Life and Labours, and an Engraved Revised and Enlarged Edition of a Plan for the Future Government of India, to contain ample Details of the Present State and Future Prospects of that Extensive and Valuable Portion of the British Empire, and a Report of a recent Public Meeting held by 4,000 Natives of India, summoned by the Sheriff of Calcutta, in the Town Hall of that City; with copious Extracts from the recent Works of the late General Sir Charles Napier, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, and Member of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and of Francis Horsley Robinson, Esq., an Officer of Thirty Years' Experience in the Civil Ser- vice, and late Member of the Board of Revenue in India; both in Condemnation of the Present System of Government in that neglected and oppressed Country. History and Progress of the Temperance Reformation in England and America, as well as in other Countries of Europe and our distant Possessions in Asia, Africa, and Australia-Parliamentary Proceedings and Report, founded on the Evidence collected from the Testimony of Witnesses examined on the Subject A Sketch of the Maine Law, recently enacted in several of the United States of America, and, with some Modification, in one of our own Provinces- New Brunswick-signed by Queen Victoria, in August, 1852, for the entire Sup- pression of the Traffic in Intoxicating Liquors, and the consequent shutting up of all the Gin Palaces and other Places for their Sale, to the immense Bene- fit of all Classes of the Community: and a Statement of the Grounds on which the immediate Enactment of such a Law for England, Scotland, and Ireland would be both just, politic, safe, and practicable-Illustrated by an Engraving, which will surprise the Politician, and amaze the Philanthropist and the Discussion of the great Question of Public Education, admitted by nearly 6 No. 5.-MAY, 1854. Emigration and Colonization: their essential Difference-Necessity and Advantage of both, as a Means of relieving the Burthens of the Mother Country, and enriching both it and its Colonial Possessions, by the Creation of new Sources of Wealth, and the mutually advantageous Interchange of the respective Productions-Proposed Plan of National Emigration, by which Families and Individuals of the Poorest Classes, now wholly destitute of Means, might be transferred from their present Condition of Poverty and Want, to Abundance and Prosperity; not only without ultimate Cost to the Nation, but with pecuniary Benefit to the Parishes relieved from their Maintenance; to the Parent State, in thus providing for its Children; and to the Colonies, by enriching them through the Labour of which they all stand so much in need-With a Treatise on the True Principles of Taxation and Financial Reform, and a Plan for the Gradual and Complete Extinction of the National Debt. No. 6.-JUNE, 1854. General Review of the Principal Sources of Evil which most powerfully impede the Progress of Mankind, in Health, Wealth, Intelligence, and Virtue; and which require to be removed, before the Civilization of even the most advanced Nations of the Earth can be said to be complete; more e-pecially Ignorance-Intemperance-National Prejudice-Restrictions on the Perfect Freedom of Commerce-War and its Machinery, overwhelming the Finances of every Country, even in Time of Peace-Competition between Capital and Labour, and the consequently destructive Evil of Strikes-The Helpless Condition of large Masses of Human Beings consigned to Slavery and Indigence for Life, without Hope or Prospect of Emancipation― Remedies for each of these within the Power of the Legislature to provide; and the Necessity of harmonizing the Duties and Interests of Professions an i Classes, instead of leaving them in a state of constant Antagonism, as at present. No. 7.—JULY, 1854. The Arts of creating Wealth better understood than those of its Distribution -Would it be possible so to improve the latter, as to make the Producers of Wealth Participators to a greater Extent than at present in its Enjoyment?— Question answered in the Affirmative-Contrasts between the Theory and Practice of Professors in all Classes; in the Church, the Law, and the Legislature, as well as in Commercial and Fashionable Life-Yea nings of many Noble Hearts in all these Sections of Society for the Promotion of Social Reforms, as seen in the Suggestions of Model Cottages by the Prince Consort, Model Lodging-houses for Labourers, Ragged Schools, and Baths and Washhouses for the Poor, Free Libraries for Artisans, Noble Lecturers for Mechanics' Institutions, and Crystal Palaces for all-Plan of a Model Town and Industrial Association, which should realise all these Advantages in the most effective Manner; with an Engraved Ground-Plan of the Town and its Buildings. No. 8.-AUGUST, 1854. Comparison between the Enjoyments of all Classes in such a Model Town and Industrial Association, with the Miseries and Poverties of the Labouring Classes in the existing State of Society-Ancient and Modern Authorities in Favour of Associated Labour, from the earliest Ages to the present, including Scriptural, Classical, and Modern Examples, in the Old World and the NewRefinement in the Arts, Literature, and Manners only to be attained by Surplus Wealth, but perfectly compatible with Industrial Occupation-Elevation of the Condition of Women, and Extinction of Pauperism secured-Analysis and Classification of the Numbers and Ranks of such an Association of 10,000 Inhabitants; or larger or smaller Communities, in similar Proportions; and a Plan for their Practical Organisation, with relative Duties and Rewards; illustrated by an Engraving, containing a Perspective View of such a Model Town, corresponding with the Ground-Plan in the preceding Number. |