The monastic institutions in Roman Catholic countries provide for, and thereby foster, a large amount of idle and reckless habits. Previous to the Reformation, this was certainly the case in England. Not only the sick, the maimed, and the accidentally necessitous were fed and clothed,--the same indiscriminating charity was extended to those far less worthy of the sympathy of their fellow-creatures. On the suppression of conventual establishments, it would have fared badly with the deserving poor in London had not the Corporation stepped forward to help them. At present, the princely sum of 10,000 pounds is annually disbursed from the corporate funds in contributions to various hospitals, asylums, schools, dispensaries, and local charities; but even this large sum of money would be inadequate to the purpose, were it not supplemented by the individual munificence of the citizens. The Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, the Aldermen, and the other civic dignitaries vie with one another in an open-handed liberality, which asks no other condition than that the recipient shall actually stand in need of aid, and be worthy of relief and assistance. It is much to be feared, however, that with the declining influence of the Corporation, the stream of private charity will also dry up. The continued payment of the 10,000 pounds a year may, indeed, be secured by Act of Parliament; but no Act of Parliament can alter human nature. Proud of their position as the chosen delegates and representatives of their fellow-citizens, among whom they and their fathers have lived for generations, the City potentates have, of their abundance, contributed lavishly and without stint to every local institution deserving of sympathy and support. And not only these, but the livery companies likewise have given lordly amounts to charitable establishments both within and without the City liberties, and have founded schools in many distant parts of the kingdom. But if the Corporation is to be "reformed" after the manner of Sir George Grey and his coadjutors--if the esprit de corps, which is now so beneficially and beneficently exhibited, is to be suppressed, what reasonable hope remains that men who have been arbitrarily deprived of all real interest in City matters will still devote their time, their energies, and their fortunes to purposes which only remunerate them with toil, anxiety, and personal discomfort? The inevitable tendency of the proposed Bill is to reduce the entire administration of the City to a dull, heartless routine. Step by step the continental system of home government is being insinuated into this hitherto free country. Yet a few years of unchecked progress in that direction, and it will be proposed to appoint crown officers to preside over county and town, city and borough. The approaches to absolute power, under the less alarming title of centralization, though insidious, have long been apparent to all who study the workings of system-mongers.