women. It is young-it is for the orphan and the young-it is for woman -let every generous heart support it. I have the honor to be, Madam, your obedient servant, JOHN COLLINS. 9, Cornish Terrace, Rathmines, Dublin, July 9, 1860. P.S.-The balance-sheet of this Institution, for the year past ending 31st December, exhibits a receipt and expenditure of £2,252 88. 11d. But I observe, on the debtor side of the account, an entry of " £500, loan from the trustees for bettering the condition of the poor in Ireland ;" and also the item of "£88 158. 1d. cash overdrawn from bankers by the treasurer." The building expenses, in this year of its outset, seem to have been £976 11s. 4d., to account for the necessity of this deficit, which I earnestly hope may be balanced by contribution in the next year's abstract. The Institution cannot be expected to be self-supporting for two or three years; and pecuniary help is imperatively required to enable the work of its philanthropic mission to be carried on. Contributions, on behalf of the Institution, it is stated in the Report, are received by the bankers, Messrs. La Touche and Co., Castle Street, Dublin.-J. C. X.-PASSING EVENTS. THERE is no longer any doubt that Garibaldi has landed in Calabria with a considerable force; the number of his men, and his plan of action are variously reported from day to day. The news from Hungary is said to cause disquietude at Vienna; fears are entertained of the rising of the population; meanwhile, Austrian Italy is far from tranquil; the military authorities at Mantua continue to seize proclamations exciting the soldiers to desert, which are largely circulated, and even thrown about the streets. Altogether, the month of August closes in great political uncertainty as regards foreign affairs. By the last letters, a caravan of Christians who had escaped the massacres at Damascus had arrived at Beyrout in a wretched condition. Syria is very disturbed. The commissariat are active in preparing for the French troops; urgent appeals are made in all our despatches for pecuniary assistance. Consul Braut writes from Damascus that he has under his roof nearly 200 people depending on him for food. Subscriptions are being raised here for the sufferers; they are received by a committee at 12, York Buildings, Adelphi, London, by whom the large sum of £5,500 has already been sent out. The Atlantic cable is given up as lost; a report has been received from the conductors of the attempt made at Newfoundland, stating that all attempts to raise and restore the cable to working order have been unsuccessful, and it is abandoned. Nearly a million of money is lost with it. The Prince of Wales having reached Newfoundland in safety, has been enthusiastically received by the local magnates. The people in New Brunswick are said to be "mad about him," from highest to lowest. At home the interest of this month has not been great. Parliament is still sitting, Her Majesty is at Balmoral, and the papers do not record any striking events, unless an unusual number of trials for murder may be so classed. There seem times when crime becomes epidemic, and the last two months have partaken of this character. Our readers will notice that the Journal appears this month with the impress of the Victoria Press. We have the great gratification of recording Her Majesty's approval of the employment of women in printing, as appears from the following paragraph from the Times : "The Queen has graciously signified to Miss Emily Faithfull her approval of the establishment of the Victoria Press, at 9, Great Coram Street, for the employment of female compositors, adding, that all such useful and practical steps for the opening of new branches of industry to educated women must meet with Her Majesty's entire approbation." XI.-OUTLINE OF A PLAN FOR THE FORMATION OF INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATIONS AMONGST WORKWOMEN. AMONGST the laboring population, none are more to be pitied than young women employed in needlework. The conditions of life under which they exist are unfavorable both to health and to morality. Living in an unhealthy atmosphere, confined to a sedentary occupation, working long hours without proper rest or nourishment, their health soon gives way, and the temptations to which they are exposed from insufficient pay, from association with immoral companions, and the necessity of returning alone and at late hours to their homes, exercise an equally pernicious influence on their conduct. It is therefore with the view of endeavoring to ameliorate their temporal and spiritual condition that the following suggestions are offered. The disproportionate gains of capital, as compared with the miserable payment of labor, is a fertile theme of animadversion by socialist writers. These persons not having the slightest conception of the true principles on which trade ought to be conducted, advocate the most absurd theories; with a view, it is to be feared, in too many instances, of exciting the laboring population against their employers, and causing discontent and disorder. Now, it is certain, that so long as capital is concentrated in the hands of employers, so long will labor (if abundant) be badly paid. It is therefore worth inquiry, if it may not be possible to render laborers in some measure independent of capitalists, by inducing them to combine for a common object-that object being the establishment of ateliers, in which each individual should be at the same time both laborer and capitalist. Such a plan would be well suited to sedentary trades, more especially so to those not requiring a great outlay of capital to commence with. Let us inquire if it might not be applied to the trades in which women are principally engaged. The trade of a dressmaker, who makes up the materials furnished to her, scarcely requires any capital, and is perhaps one of the most favorable for experiment. VOL. VI. F The object in view is not to confer charity, but to render the working class of women independent of it; by making their labor sufficiently remunerative to enable them not only to live in decency and comfort, but lay up a fund for sickness, or compulsory idleness from inability to procure employment. Should the plan of association we are about to propose be found to answer, it is intended that each little Society should supply its own funds; but in the commencement it would be necessary to defray the first expenses of all the "model" establishments. The plan is as follows: That a house should be rented for a certain number of young women (say twenty) to be employed in the various branches of dressmaking, under the superintendence of a woman of middle age, who should be considered their mistress, who would regulate the household affairs, and keep order amongst the workwomen. This woman should be assisted by two others, whose occupation would be entirely in the workrooms, who would cut out dresses, fit them on, and arrange the work. It would be necessary before the establishment was formed, that a sum of money should be raised, either by borrowing it at interest, by contributions from associates (for which they should receive interest), or by gifts from wealthy persons, sufficient for the following purposes: 1. To furnish the house. 2. To lay in a small stock of the common materials used in needlework. 3. To provide subsistence for six months, until the establishment became known. 4. To provide for one year's rent and taxes. 5. To provide for one year's interest due on money borrowed. The two latter sums should be placed in a savings' bank, as a guarantee fund; because, if the establishment proved successful, a proportion of the cost of interest, rent, &c., should be deducted each week from the profits. The house after being furnished would require to be organized, and the following scheme is proposed. 1. That none but girls of good character should be admitted. 2. That the work women should be bound to obey the orders of the mistress and her assistants. 3. That the sleeping-rooms and workrooms should be kept thoroughly clean and airy. 4. That the rooms should be kept in order by the workwomen themselves, who should, in turns, be required to assist for one or two hours each day in all other household duties which would not spoil their hands and render them unfit to do fine work. This regulation would be beneficial to health, and would also teach them to fulfil their duties as wives and mistresses of families when they marry. 5. That ten hours be the limit of work. 6. That no needlework be done on Sundays and great festivals. 7. That all expenses be paid each week before any wages are paid, viz., house-rent (proportion for a week), coals and candles (ditto), washing (ditto), interest (ditto), taxes (ditto), a small sum for medical attendance and replacement of furniture, &c. (which sum should be placed in a savings' bank), also the cost of subsistence, i.e. bread, meat, &c. 8. That the workwomen be divided into classes, receiving different wages according to ability. That the mistress and her assistants should each receive a fixed salary, and that after the above-named payments have been made, the surplus should be paid over to the associates in equal proportions. 9. That no credit be given. I have made a calculation of profits, and I believe, from what I know of the prices paid to dressmakers in London and Paris, that an establishment of twenty-two workwomen of tried ability would be sufficient to provide the entire cost of house-rent, living, &c. &c., and to allow to each of the workers 10s. (at least) per week, and if such were the case, a portion of that sum ought to be deducted, and placed each week in a savings' bank for their benefit. The mistress would be charged with the moral and religious instruction of the girls. They ought to have prayers every day, be conducted to church on Sundays and great festivals (on which account it would be desirable, if possible, that all the community should belong to one religious denomination); as they would have leisure for improvement, they would be expected to read, or hear reading, during a portion of each evening. It would be necessary to allow them some recreation; but unfortunately the recreations enjoyed by girls of the working classes generally lead to evil, as they go to them alone, or in improper company. To remedy this evil, it is to be desired that the mistress or her assistants should at convenient opportunities accompany the young girls on cheap excursions into the country, or to the parks, if in London, where they might spend several hours very profitably in exercise, or other innocent amusements. They might also visit picture-galleries and museums. The great design of such an association as that now sketched out is to elevate the character of the working classes, and to enable the young women when they marry to become useful members of society, and the means of still further improving and refining the manners and morals of the generation which is to succeed them. In addition to these independent industrial associations, others affiliated to them might be formed. 1. A training school for workers, supported by contributions from persons not belonging to the working class. 2. An infirmary for sick members of the industrial associations. 3. An office of registration for women in want of employment, where extra help might be obtained when a pressure of business required it, and where those who wanted work might apply. M. A. This plan, which is susceptible of various modifications in practice, exemplifies the principles of co-operation among women to which we referred last month in the article on the " Opinions of John Stuart Mill," of which a continuation will appear in November. The rules, the amount of wages, and the amount of reserved fund are all questions for discussion; but Mr. Mill's opinion is strongly favorable to the formation of co-operative or joint-stock companies as soon as the artisans of any trade are sufficiently advanced in education and selfcontrol to be capable of working well in combination. The success of the Rochdale Mill in Yorkshire affords a splendid instance of such combination. XII.—MADAME DE GIRARDIN. In the following year, Madame de Girardin, as we must now call her, published two novels, entitled "The Opera-Glass,” and “An Old Maid's Tales to her Nephews;" in 1833, "Napoline," generally regarded as the best of her poems; in 1835, another novel, "Monsieur le Marquis de Pontanges," and, in 1836, a fourth novel, "The Cane of Monsieur de Balzac." Of these novels we select the Opera Glass, "Le Lorgnon," through which to take a glance at the authoress's powers in prose fiction. Her preface is as follows, and its lively style conveys a satire in every line. How different (need we remark?) to anything an English novelist would indite. "This preface," writes Madame de Girardin, "is not in the fashion; the author does not deceive himself. In the first place, it proceeds from his own pen, a grave mistake which is never committed now-a-days; secondly, it is not longer than the work itself, and does not insist on its being very good; it is not threatening, and does not announce half a dozen books of the same stamp as 'in the press'; it does not insult any government, past, present, or to come; it does not fix the merit of contemporary authors, immolating every one who got any credit before our generation came on the scene. The author does not prove herein that nobody but his own friends know how to write that they only possess talent and originality—not by any means that he is deficient in clever friends, or that he does not appreciate their talents; but, unhappily for him, they are of themselves so famous by reason of their sublime verses, or their eloquent and poetic prose, that he cannot pretend to establish, any more than to add to their reputation. Thus the great quackery of introducing proper names |