condition of the industrious classes is
producible than that dark cloud of witnesses
who speak out of the fulness of an Englishman's
privilege—grumbling. That testimony has been
lucidly sifted, and was adduced by Mr. G. R.
Porter at the recent meeting of the British
Association in Edinburgh. It consisted—in
proof of the well-being and continued progress
of our country—of a comparison between
the income tax returns in respect of incomes
derived from trades and professions in 1812,
and the like returns in 1848, excluding from
the former period the incomes below one
hundred and fifty pounds; which, under the
existing law, are allowed to pass untaxed.
The total amount thus assessed, after deducting
exemptions, was, in 1812, about twenty-
one millions and a quarter; while, in
1848, the amount was nearly fifty-seven millions;
showing an increase, in thirty-six years, of
about thirty-five millions and three-quarters,
or one hundred and sixty-eight per cent.;
being at the rate of upwards of four and-a-half
per cent., yearly:—an increase very nearly
three-fold greater than the increase during the
same period of the population of Great Britain;
where, alone, the income tax flourishes in full
bloom.

But how has this three-fold prosperity been
distributed? Have the rich grown richer,
and the poor, poorer; or has Fortune taken
off her bandage and rewarded honest
industry, with a discriminating hand? Have
the bulk of the people shared in the
productive wealth which thirty-six years have
accumulated? In order to answer these
questions, Mr. Porter entered into a series of
elaborate and interesting calculations, which
prove the pleasing fact that the great
progressive wealth has been shared among
the middle and working classes.

He found that the returns of 1812 as well
as those of 1848 gave the sums assessed to
Income Tax in various classes; and, for the
purpose of his examination, he distinguished the
incomes thus given:—those between one
hundred and fifty pounds and five hundred pounds;
those between five hundred pounds and one
thousand pounds; incomes between one thousand
pounds and two thousand pounds;
incomes between two thousand pounds and five
thousand pounds; and those above five thousand
pounds. Adhering strictly to these distinctions,
Mr. Porter perceived, in 1848, a positive
increase in incomes between one hundred and
fifty and five hundred pounds per annum, of
thirteen millions seven hundred thousand
pounds, over the incomes assessed in 1812.
Between five hundred pounds and one thousand
pounds per annum, the increase since
1812 has been five millions. On incomes
between one thousand pounds and two thousand
pounds, and incomes between two thousand
pounds and five thousand pounds, there is an
increase of upwards of  four millions
respectively; while in the highest class, which
includes all incomes above five thousand
pounds per annum, the increase is found to
be no more than eight millions and three-
quarters. Comparing the highest with the
lowest class, the increase has been greater
in the lowest by nearly five millions—or fifty-
six per cent.

This improvement in circumstances,
however, descends to no lower a class of society
than persons in the receipt of at least one
hundred and fifty pounds per annum. It was
necessary to dig a little lower in the strata of
private circumstances, in order to show the
progress of wealth among the working classes;
and Mr. Porter had recourse to the returns
from savings' banks; these being chiefly used
by the humbler orders. From data thus derived
it was ascertained, that, while the deposits in
England, Wales, and Ireland, proportioned to
the whole population, amounted in 1831 to
twelve shillings and eightpence per head; in
1848 they had risen to twenty shillings and
eleven-pence per individual. The largest
amount of these savings occurred in 1846;
when they reached, in England alone, to more
than twenty-six millions and three-quarters,
and in the three Kingdoms, to more than
thirty-one millions seven hundred thousand
pounds, being equal to twenty-four shillings
per head on the population of England, Wales,
and Ireland, and ten shillings and one penny
per head on that of Scotland.*

The exceeding moderation of this estimate
will be observed when we mention another
description of savings' banks which Mr.
Porter has taken no account of—we mean
Friendly Societies. Of these, there are fourteen
thousand in Great Britain, regularly
enrolled according to Act of Parliament,
consisting of one million six hundred thousand
members, with a gross annual revenue of two
millions eight hundred thousand, and accumulated
capital amounting to six millions four
hundred thousand pounds sterling. To this
must be added the capital belonging to
unenrolled benefit societies (exclusive of those in
Ireland), which has been estimated at a
greater amount than those which exist "as
the Act directs;" namely, at nine millions
sterling, belonging to two millions and a half
of members. It is indeed a most gratifying
proof of the prudential, and therefore moral,
as well as pecuniary advance which this
country has made during the past thirty
years, that half our labouring male population
belong to Friendly Societies. The operative
classes of Great Britain alone possess, at
this moment, capital in savings' banks and
friendly societies, the total of which reaches
the enormous sum of forty-two millions of
money. How very like national ruin this looks!

* The comparative smallness of the deposits in Scotland
arises from two causes: first, the system of allowing interest
upon very small sums deposited in private and joint-stock
banks; and, secondly, the more recent connexion of savings'
banks with the Government in that division of the kingdom.
Hence, there is no reason for supposing that the
labouring-classes of Scotland are less saving than those of
England or Ireland.