pauperised labour, whose pauperism must be but the harbinger of general bankruptcy among their employers, would prove insoluble--that their starvation would breed pestilence and lead to outbreaks of violence and crime, ending with seditious attacks on the Government and all institutions that upheld law and order. Already it has been shown that commerce, so far from declining, flourished apace during 1862-63, and that the revenue increased so rapidly that Mr. Gladstone actually remitted taxes. The problem of relieving the distress was solved with ease and simplicity. There were no epidemics of pestilence, and, save in Stalybridge, no riotous disturbances. The noble resignation, the heroic patience of the sufferers, and their perfect confidence in the sympathy and the helpfulness of their countrymen, in fact compelled the admiration of the civilised world. In the month of December, 1862, there were 500,000 cotton operatives receiving relief in Lancashire, and the loss in wages from lack of employment was estimated at £168,000. Cotton then came in, though in small quantities, and some mills were able to run. Emigration and the transference of labour to other employments also relieved the pressure, so that in June, 1863, only 256,000 persons were receiving relief in the afflicted districts. At the end of the year this number was reduced to 180,000. So far from the health of the people suffering, it rather improved. There was less infant mortality than usual in the cotton districts, possibly because female operatives, being thrown out of work, were able to devote more attention to their children.[177] Enforced [Illustration: SIR CHARLES PHIPPS.]