THE SOCIAL CONDITION AND EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE IN ENGLAND AND EUROPE; SHEWING THE RESULTS OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS, BY JOSEPH KAY, ESQ. M.A. OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; BARRISTER-AT-LAW; AND LATE TRAVELLING BACHELOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. "The best way to help the Poor is to enable them to help themselves." of the people." IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. THE PEASANT PROPRIETORS. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1850. (4) TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD JOHN RUSSELL, M.P., FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY, &c. &c. MY LORD, When you addressed the Electors of the City of London, upon assuming, at the command of Her Majesty, the office of First Minister of the Executive Government, you announced, that the Administration, over which you were called to preside, would apply itself to the amelioration of the social condition of the people. Your Lordship's Government has sought to fulfil this great promise, on the one hand, by the reduction of the public burthens, by the removal of commercial restrictions, and by the consequent diminution of the price of the necessaries of life; and, on the other hand, by the diminution of the hours of labour, by the improvement of the sanitary regulations of the towns, |