The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-03-26 00:00:00

Jt
from the ein ployer ',basing to change apy of thericenpants.
I can smite midi:rebind the argunsetirof a teteuit fanner, !
that it in ino.:t important to Into to have hie shepherd,
his et:demean, mid a few others, so under his enamellist,.
that he can dimities them at his will, and therefore that
he onelit to have the power to give the Sallie 11,,11CA1 tI
quit the cottage that ho gives to quit the 'civic). I
mug, however, state my conviction, that it is IL 1e4,144:1.
VIII to make tide coetingercy a matter et arroneenteet
between the !mien d and the tensed, built foreseeing the
neee:sity of some under :bending in the matter, than to
leave the cottages to be sulelet by the teeentm, nitrite;
them all power over their occupants. I think tlie rent
the rub, ehnubl never be to ell p irt et wee 4, hot
ehould he paid es such to the own .r of the eivelei ps,
fur thus roily cae the tenant be 105.10 to I,
careful in mattere cense:rein the agreement under
whielt be bolls, rb it cottage building can hi made it
.40.'4 investment, I do not believe, if it is den* as it
ought to he. But the dee:limp of the lebourer are a
poeitivo nerseety of the est its-, just as stables, she Is,
and fennhonees are. You most ha we the men; you net uire
them to hive certain qual'ficatiene ; they cannot corn
their sweat into bread, clothes, fuel, and dwelling ;
badly housed, they will lei badly reared ; no school
pence, no churela or chapel power can ineke good Per-
ratite mite., men, womee, and children—bred, roared,
and etabled on an estate, but never in regent to their
homes treated as ham in iwitiga, who are snieeptible of
the claims of decency, wit, have idea, relative to •
home, beyond that of lucre shelter. A good deal of
complaint has for the last few years arisen amonget
tenant farmers, on the subject of the scarcity of 'ahem,
and the probability of this becoming a greater evil than
it now is, from the fact of the few marriages among the
labouring class. It hes been said, and I know in many
part of the country with a gool sled of meson, that thu
great scarcity of dwellings is at the bettont of this evil.
With your permiesion, although hardly within the limit
of iny present ad-Irene, I will say a few words on this
subject. Ihirine the last twenty years a very great
amount of fresh laid has been turned into arable ; at
the ',Mlle time, a system of farming has gradually pre •
veiled, which allows of any portion of the land of a farm
little rest ; no sooner is ono crop taken, preparation
speedily commences for the growth of some other crop.
Item at 4•114.4 e lan iniseti a great Ilemand for
extra labour. Before, however, it had reached
its present point, there was a great eons.
plaint in many districts of a sweetie popu-
lation, aud to reduce this great effort, were made
to promote emigration ; a very large number of young
healthy labourers and large families were thus removed
front the country. At the I:411113 time there hiss arisen
throughout the whole laud n very large demand for a
Ppecially qualified servant, I mean not only for the large
force of police kept up in London and the other large
towns of England, and now over the whole land ; but
with this a still larger demand on the part of all the
railwaye of the kingdom. Ilerc are very large field, of
labour demanding the services of young, healthy men,
with an extra amount of education—just the amen
now so generally obtained in the schools of the pestilent
day. The wages are sufficiently good to attract many
from our cottages, and there in the hope of rieing by
good conduct to any amount of pay which cannot be
obtained in 00131111011 farm work. It is within my own
knowledge that a very largo proportion of the police and
railwayestaff in drawn from rural districts. Again, the
recruiting sergeant is always amouget us, and draw.;
away a great many from um. I caunot myself see any
evil front this, speaking me an Englishman, although
were I a large landlord or a tenant farmer, I ehouhl
find it one as regards my own particular interest.
Education not simply gives a qualification for higher
pursuits than mere manual labour, but it gives a cur-
tain amount of refinement which shrinks from touch in
the lot of labourers on too many estates. I do not
wonder that the Ltd who lssu been well taught in what
is right and decent, has health, strength, and the
power of reading well, writing with ease and correctly,
: and a certain amount of knowledge of arith-
metic, should become restless in a home whore
he is a burden, and often front the crowding, a
a nuisatice,—abould look at the remaining Oh the spot an
impossible, seeing that pairs need nests and roosts, and
there arc none to be hail, should at least determine to
emigrate and seek work where his qualifications give
hint better prospects, where he may hope at least to get
a hoine, although it may be amongst strangers, shoull
prefer this to waiting at home, entangled perhaps by a
sweetheart, hopeless of ever making her in decency his
wife. Gentlemen, there is but ~no remedy for this
state of things. The value in expeediture to retain
sufficient good labour, to have good labourers on the
spot, must form a greater element than it now does in
taking into consideration the value in umney to be
derived yearly from an estate. The pressure of
external demand must be balanced by at 'east e.mally
advautageous home demand. clic condition of the
labourer on any given est.ite must be made good enough
either to attract from other quarters; or a pepulatien,
by judicious expenditure, must be kept m here decent
homes and opportunities to earn in them what they
cannot earn any where else, should be the means of
causing theta to remain on the estate where they are
born and bred, to rear up again, generation after
generation, as I would hope, each an itrlffellfeltlelll upon
the last. I have very long been of opinion that there
is no so serious a question as this of the demsuel and
supply of good agricultural labourers, which has been
so long systematically evaded, and the result of which
• threetens more serious tniachief. lam satisfied
•very honest land-agent will admit that for very many
years estates have been expected to return what they
had no right to return, if the waste and want of repair
of the labour element had been preperly considered. The
consequence is, the/ the dwelling question has become
• twist serious one ; and whilst the fun is of
an estate arc exhausted upon the farm buildings which
are a positive necessity, • pressure has arisen which
must be attended to; ere how to find the !veal labour •
!strength for the tenants cultivating the land. It is all
very well for the world to cry out, the landowners must
meet this state of things; it is their duty, I admit it, but
lest we throw back in the teeth of this said worth, it
annot be, until you, tyrant that you are, cease to
excite from men of property, their sons, their families,
• style of living as proper, in your ideas in men of their
acres, which common sense declares to be wholly incon-
sistent with the real demands of their estates. Could
I even hope to see the demands of society made secon-
dary to the real demands of the property by which a
landowner lives 11l it, I should have no fear of his living
in what is called " position." lam quit* assured many
would find a pleasure in their estates, which present
grievances have deprived them of, and what was just
and right of the labourer would be done without any
real loss in reepect towards themselves. I turn now to
the consideration of the duty of the tenant. First, I
would say, he is bound to weigh well the nature of his
lease or agreement under which lie occupies, to regard
it in a fair and considerate spirit. his farm becomes
his bow, his land lie la to cultivate as the source of his
income. In the one lie takes up his postitiou as a anew-
her of • class, deservedly possessing • great and increa-
sing influence in the country ; on the other, he sinks the
capital, the return from which can alone support that
position. There is no one business in life, in which as
a rule, it is more necessary for a man ti endeavour to
settle permanently, where he settles at all, than that of
the tenant farmer. Ile can rarely change his occupa-
tion, except at a great sacrifice of comfort and capitil.
fie has, therefore, to aim at a continued occupution,
by the faithful fulfilment of the terms upon which
he has entered on his farm. The peace and
comfort of his life, in no little measure
must depend upon his living on thoroughly
good terms with his landlord. I heard it sometimes
said " Nothing is worse than for a landlord to be over
civil to his tenants." I say nothing can he worse than
• tenantry who expect or will willingly submit to so
hollow a show of civility, if it is meant that the dealing
with them in this way simply aims at what is called
keeping them in good hunionr. The duty of the tenant
is to respect the bead of the estate under whom he
occupies. it is not his duty to *ell this respect for the
poor offering of a designing civility, lie must be free
and independent to offer what lie feels for one really in-
clined to feel and act kindly towards himself. Although
under every form of tenant, the tenancy must in • great
deal be independent of his Landlord, he will ever act
wisely whilst he preserves this independence, and at
the same time reciprocate all kiuil feeling shown to him;
nay, if unhappily it is necessary, show that he on his
side, however dealt with, will himself deal justly and in
• conciliatory spirit. A tenant may do muck to preserve
his landlord's property by a little care awl attention,
as, by want of these, lie can anew it to suffer much
injury. It may not lei according to the letter of his
lease that ho should shew his care, but no mere en-
grossed executed claim can excuse, from the mere fact
of omission, the duty of acting justly to those from
whom we expect pietism. I have, in many localleee,
Peen farms on which it was clear to me the self intervA
of the tenant was as evidently jealous of injury to the
owner's Property as to his own. The man who owns
laud and the man who route it,are,after all, of the mime
species, subject to the same tempers, to all the failings
of that common race ; but too often alike. easily dis-
posed to take offence and to resent it. We mud net
only all say, " Live and let live," but " bear and for-
bear." Of all living men there arc no two parties who
are so situated with respect to each other, se to re-
quire the exercise of those principles mere
than those who stand it, the rolatiopship
of landlord and tenant. To them a mutual good feel- ,
ing is most valuable, any interruption of it most 1
pernicious. The tenantry bold, as I have already said,
• moat honourable social position. To them as
parish officers, guardians, jurors, and largo employers
of labour, is given great responsibility, and great
authority. I had hardly need to say that duty de-
mands in the execution of these trusts, that mon should
come to them, not only at the time (listened to set
uprightly, but with characters already obtained for
honesty and integrity. I avoid all comment upon the
cultivation of the farm ; it would be impertinent in me
to speak to you upon it. Where not restricted under
the terms of your occupation, it would seem to follow
that the duty of the tenant simply consists in making
all he can by industry and skill out of his bolding, not in
• rash and gambling spirit, but with all prudent eon•
sideration for his own and the future interest of his
family. I am not now about to enter into anything
of a really political nature, that is, having reference to
any party polieioal opinions, or to any political :sea.
sum: But I feel that I am bound to say something
on a rather delicate point, bearing on the tenant's posi-
tion as one to whom the State has given a voice in the
election of members of Parliament ; and this is forced
upon me from the conviction that the truth is rarelyt
spoken about it, and the untruth, which la popularly re-
ceived, seems to me to degrade the parties interested.