The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-12 00:00:00

resolution he supported limbed the amount of bud to
be let to the labourer to • eiertabi quantity, so that its cold-
infirm could not very well interfere with the emotions dna
to the employer. It was not like the write:lei old=
tem which prevailed in another country, bet Wei
merely for the purpose of increasing the temfitels7rbe
labouring population. It would be the greatest Maw the
labourer could desire, imams& as it would tend morally
and physically to the improvement a bk •reanktime.
(Heart hear.) In his own pariah, and the ems immediately
it, there had been for the last three yean one
hittn=allotment tenants, under very and be might
as airier! regulations, both as to thenvrition of their
allosins, and their moral charade! One feet would be
sufficient to show the working a f the system In the first
year, three forfeitures ware made for improper conduct, and
one be bad cultivation. In the secon4 and third years
there had been no forfeitures, and no complaints of any kind
had been rendered aecemary. No argument or fact could
speak stronger than that, in corroboration of his statement,
the system he advocated was eminently adapted to pro-
mote the social, political, and moral condition of the la-
bourer. Convinced as he was that it would ever have that
effect, that it would bind together more closely in common
ties the landlord, the tenant, and the laboarer,—ties that
could never be severed without threatening ruin to all, he
cordially seconded the resolution.
The resolution was adopted.
J. GRUNDY, Esq.. banker, moved the next resolution, on
which, though only a formal one, he desired to make a few
remarks. It would ill become him, as a very large employer,
to have refused to-operation with the proposed society. or
the formation of that society, no time could have been more
fitting than the present, because in consequence of a mys-
terious plague, the condition of the labouring poor was
likely to be very precarious and distressing ; and it was the
duty of those high in station to impart to them confidence.
Therefore, it was a fitting time to form the society, although
the reason which rendered it necessary was a most painful
one. One of the great objects of the society would be to
instil into the minds of the labouring population larger
wants—legitimate wants, of course, he meant—for be held
that to be a dangerous state, when the wants of the peasantry
were reduced to the lowest possible point. Therefore he
looked forward with pleasure to the formation of that
society, because it would afford to the labouring poor in-
creased comforts, and thus lead them to higher aspirations
and more determined exertions. In the formation of the
society, he would go to the point at once, and make ft a
labourer's society, for he thought they should not look to
the remoter point, namely, the result of this measure to the
employer, for it was impossible that any man could work
weil who did not work willingly. Let them, therefore, put
no limit on the amount of land to be allowed to the labourer,
farther than that he should not be allowed to hold more than
be could properly cultivate. The powers and the time
of the labourer were his own, and he, of course, had a right
to dispose of them in any manner he chose. His (Mr. Orun-
dy's) views in forming that society were directed entirely to
the improvement of the labourer, feeling as that with
the improvement of the labourer the interests of landlords
and tenants would be found to be intimately asenciated.
(Cheers.) lie concluded by moving the following resolution
"That the following noblemen and gentlemen be requested to act
on the eommittee—the Marquis of Winchester, the red of Portarteig.
tae, lord Hedport, Lord Ashley, the Bishop of Saliabury, Lord
latinordale, the Hon. and Bev. Mr.liWard, the members for the county,
the members for Lyme, Re. Re."
. . .

The resolution, having been eminlif A wiefearried.
Lord STATOHDALE announced that he bad received, from
Vag
I. B. Sheridan, Esq., a note apol for his unavoidable
Isheence, and at the same time ex his fear that his
motives on recent occasions had misconstrued by the
aviculturists of Dorset. He (the noble lord) bad a great
respect for Mr. Sheridan, and sincerely wished he could
transfer to that right hon. gentleman a portion of the pop*.
larity with which he had been honoured. (Cries of "No,
no and "He does'nt deserve it.")
Mr. Seeaxe having had much experience in the county of
Somerset, was enabled to corroborate all that had been mid
with reference to the beneficial effects of the allotment sp.
tem. Fourteen years ago, one with which he was intimately
connected was formed in the county of Somerset. Its begin.
sing was but small, but like the oak it,
Grew with as growth, sad streagtliened with 1.. s strength."
At the present time it combined thirty parishes, with 800
allotments. He could say as an inspector, that all the per.
sons who held them were thankful, and that there was net
one who would not feel extreme reluctance on parting with
his piece of ground. (Hear, hear.) Not only would the
labourer be benefltted by the extension of the allotment
system, but the landlord and tenant also. At the present
juncture, when the potato disease pervaded the length and
breadth of the land, it was their duty to do all they could
for the honest and industrious labourer, and he trusted that
at the first annual meeting of the society it would be m.
to the members, that their philanthropic exertion.
ported rs
db been crowned with eminent and deserved success. (Loud
cheers.
The ttev. W. B. WHITEHEAD, Rector of Chard (a county
magistrate), having been called upon by the Chairman, said
'that, from an experience of many years, he had become fully
persuaded of the usefulness of a society such as they had
assembled that day to found, the great object of which, be
took for granted, was the promotion, physically, morally,
socially, and religiously, of the labouring poor ,•
and that the free garden allotment system had
been selected to carry out that object. 'Very
little calculation wax required to show the increase of income
which arose to the poor man's cottage when well regulated.
and his conduct based on right principles. It was proved
that a small allotment of land, take a quarter of an acre,
would, if properly cultivated, yield to a labouring man 41. or
51. per annum, after allowing all necessary expenses. In
many instances that was be:ow the estimate ; for it mast be
remembered, that not only summer and autumn crop eessid
be produced, but winter crops also; and these might be se
varied in their nature, that there should be no season of the
year when they, might not add to the comforts of the poor
man's table. 1 requently had it been stated to him by wires
and mothers, that but for the produce thus raised they
would have experienced much difficulty in escaping the
demoralisation and miseries of the Union workhouse.
The system held out a relief of the most valuable kind from
the toils of hired labour, and when a man found that he had
a permanent interest in a piece of ground, he would scarcely
consider any amount of labour too much to bestow on its
cultivation. He would become • steadier and better cha-
racter, more firmly attached to his native soil, and clinging
more ardently to his happy home. That was his (the rev.
gentleman's) experience, for he had at the present time
seventy field gardens of his own, and on the;r working his
judgment was based. Forsfurther information on that point
he would refer them to that report whim) induced the parlia-
ment to pass the act providing for field gardens, which now
graced the statute book. It was therein shown, beyond all
doubt, that persons who had taken these gardens, being at
the time of indifferent characters, had been reclaimed, cer-
tainly not independent of biaher influent a, when honour.
able employment was provided for them. In one parish
with which he was acquainted, containing 2,000 inhabitants,
previous to 1834, when these field gardens were granted,
there were thirty-four apprehensions ; but since that
time, there had not been one apprehension for any cause.
It was subsequent to the establishment of field gardens
in the parish alluded to, that the great change took place.
After some eloquent sentences on the moral and spiritual
tendencies of the allotment system, the rev. gentleman went
on to remark that they who pm-eared the better things of
this life might go on revelling in their luxuries—they might
continue in the enjoyment of their worldly poesessions, care-
less of the starving population around them, but suck a
state of apathy was little in accordance with the sentiments
of a man who loved his country and his fellow-creatures—
totally inconsistent with the obligations of Christianity.
He would beg the meeting to consider, at the same time,
that the field garden system was not all that was required
to alleviate the wants of the poor. He would recommend
them to join friendly societies, clothing societies, loan funds,
&c., in their respective districts. The inadequate state of wages
in that county must be remedied, not only upon the weak
and frivolous ground of expediency, but upon the high,
holy and sacred principle that he who cultivated the kind
was before any other entitled to his share. It would not do
for them to see the man superseded by the brute, or cattle
thought more of than the man bearing God's image. (Cheese.)
The brute receiving all attention, while the emaciated Its
occasioned a mere transitory feeling of pain ; it would
not do that the animal should be petted while the labouring
man was defrauded of his hire. The man must be well
housed as well as properly fed. He (the Rev. gentleman)
meld not believe that with such an assembly any difficulty
with respect to that matter could exist. It wee to the owners
of the land that they must look for thou great remedies. The
inadequacy of wages might be remedied by an understanding
between landlords ana farmers. Improved cottages might
be secared in the same manner, and the present evil of
cottage rents might be remedied by** landlord taking the
cottages into his own hands, and milicing himself the i/al3lO-
- landlord, so that rents and other charges being reduced
religion would have good ground 'on which to work ; educa-
tion would be extended. and the comforts of the poor
inmemed. They did not expect an Arcadia ice this man-
b7:—

‘‘ Vain the search for scenes like these; no view appears
By sighs unruffled and unstained by tears."
Still it was in the power of all to assist the labourer in his pre-
sent straggle, so that he should no longer remain in his
pauperised condition, to be found " in his old age begging
his bread." He would conclude by saying, that he was glad
to see so many of the gentry of the county of Dorset pre-
sent at the meeting, perhaps, he might say, the unjustly
censured gentry of the county of Dorset—because their co-
operation would completely answer the allegations which had
lately been made against them by heartless traducers.
A vote of thanks to the chairman having been carried, the
meeting separated.

BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
SOUTHAMPTON", FRIDAY.
The various Sections were occupied this morning
in receiving and discweing a great number of papers
relating to the several departments of science entrusted to
them. Amongst the most important were, in Mathematical
and Physical S. fence, a paper by Sir D. Brewster, on a new
property of light, as exhibited in the action of chryumonate
of potash, on common and polarized light; and another
by Mr. Hopkins, on the Semi-diurnal movements of the
barometer, to daily sea and land breezes. In Chymical
Science, a paps by W. R. Greve, Esq., on the dritompositket
of water into its constituent gases by heat t' one by Dr. Dea-
lrationale bony on the of certein oltymical practises em
ployed in agriculture ; rod another by Professor Way, on
the cause of fairy rings in land. In the section for Geology
and Physical Geography, was an interesting paper by Capt.
B. Menton and Professor Forbes, on the vertical tertiary
strata of White Cliff Bay, in the Isle of White. In the
section for Mechanics (O.), Mr. Vignolles read a paper'
furnished by M. Arago, for the express purpose of being
communicated to the British Association at this meeting,
which M. Argo was prevented by film es from act,
"On a new method of boring for artesian springs," by .