The National Register.
London, England, 1816-10-07 00:00:00

COTTAGERS, LAND, AND COWS.

The Board of Agriculture, on occasion of the scarcity la
the years 1796 and 1796, made various enquiries into the state
of the labouring pm; which produced some interesting me-
moirs on the best means of suppordrl them. Amon; these,
one from the Earl of Wineheisea, on a practice which had
been comae* In Rotlandslairei foe thaw liansessmatioly that of
attaching land to cottages, to enable the poor to keep cows,
was particularly distinguished; and mu ries on the 911111 e sub-
ject were also satisfactos ily answered by the late Lord Brown-
low, and some other correspondents. In the year 1800, the
Secretary of the Board was directed to employ the summer
in examining the diet* of a great number of parliamentary
enelosures, as web hi respect to the interest of cottager., as
to those general beneficial results well kno.%a to ,t from
the measure of enclosure: and as it appeared upon ti at en-
gairy, that many cottagera 'were deprived of the loci etit of
cows, without any necessity for such deprivation, the i oat d,
in order the better to. understand the question, ilispat bed a
person, in 1801, for the express purpose of billy aseer silting
st in the two counties of Rutland and Lincoln. 'f he re, ort of
that journey was one of the most interesting memoir.. ever
laid before the public; anti proved, litiquesti nobly, the im-
mense advantages malting from the system to the landlord,
the farmer, the cottager, and the public. A few slim t ex-
tracts will fully support the assertion. Lord Vl/4 inchelsea ob.
serves,
" I am more and snore confirmed in the opinion! have long
had, that nothing is so beneficial, both to the cottager.; and
the land-owners, as their having land to be occupied either
for the keeping of cows, or as gardens, according to circum-
stances. By means of these advantages, the Inlourers and
their families live better, and ate cimsequently more fit to
endure labonr ; it makes them snore contented, and more at-
tached to their situation; and it gives them a sort of inde-
pendence, which makes them set a higher value upon their
character. In the neighbourhood iu which I live, men so
circumstanced are almost always considered as the must to
he depended upon als.l trusted: the possessing a little pro-
perty certainly gives a spiny to industry ; as a proof of this, it
has almost always happened to me, that when a lairotiter has
obtained a cow, and land sufficient to maintain her, tie in t
thing lie has thought of has !poen, how he could sic c
enough to buy another ; and I have almost inn ay, had ;ip-
plieations tbr more land from those people su circumstanced.
There are several labourers in my neighbourhood ah.i have
sot on in that manlier, till they stow keep three, and some
tour cots : and yet art• amongst the hardest-working arm in •
the county, and the best labourers. i believe there are frem
70 to 80 labourers upon my estate in Rutland, who keep front
one to four cows each : and I have always heard that %Inv
are hard-working industrious men; they manage [Mir Jana
well, and always pay their rent."
-

In a Memoir presented to the Hoard, Lord Brownlow thus
expresses himself:—
• In many parishes the cottage.; arc very generally let to
under-tenants by the firmer, ; but Ibis is a practice waiver.
sally rejected on my estates. To the cottager the contrary
system affords the comforts of life ; to the parish, it lowers
the poor's rates : a notn who keeps a cow has seldom beton
known to be trouble,oine to the parish; soul to the public it
gives an increase of hands, from infancy taught to work by
their pa reuts for their advantage."
The person employed by the Hoard, and who examined
above forty parishes minutely, gives the following general
result : _ .

" Seven hnndred and fifty-three cottager,: have amongst
thew 1194 covi b, or, on nu at eragc, one and a huff and I-I..th

274

row each. Not one of them receive any thing from the pa-
rish, even in the present scarcity! 'Ulie system is much ap-
proved of by the Camels, as it is by the poor people them-
selves. They are declined to be the most hard-working, dili-
gent, sober, and indusitions labourers, who have 14114 anti
cows : and a nnincrons meeting or farmers signed their entire
approbation of the system. In the above-mentioned parishes,
rates are,on an average, I 70. in the pound; and but for ex-
ceptions of 30.11 C families w•io have not laud, and of certain
cases and expenses foreign to the enquiry, they would not
be one penny in the pound. In nine parishes, where the
proportion of the pour having COWS amount to rather more
than half the whale, pour-rates ate Ail. in the pound. In
t welve parishes, where the proportion is less than half, but
sole-third, poor-rates arc !WI. in the r d. In ten parishes,
wnere the proportion is something under a fourth, poor-rates
are Is. Oil. in the pound. In seven parishes, where the pro-
portion is but nearly one-sixth, poor-rates are 4s. I ad. in the
pound. And in thirteen parishes, where few or none have
cows, poor-rates are is. lid. in the pound. The poor in this
considerable district being able to maintain themselves with-
out parish assistance, by means of land and live stock, and to
do it at the same time so much by their industry and sobriety,
and consistently with an honest conduct, clearly marked by
the entire approbation of this system by the torment, zee.
their neighbours, is a circumstance which, well considered,
does away a multitude of those objections and prejudices
which we too often hear in conversation." . . .

In the same county, .It. Barker, steward to Sir Robert
Sheffield, has the remarkable declaration that " there can
scarcely be sail to be any poor in that country, because they
all have cows, by means of which they are in a comfortable
state; and are generally equally sober, honest, and industri-
ous.•'
Mr. Arthur Young, also, bears testimony to the highly be-
neficial effects of granting small portions of land to cottagers.
In a letter dated Bradford Hall, September 2, I strong-
ly reco 11111 l ends the general adoption of the plan :
" It is astonishing to me, that in the various publications
which have issued from the press on the subject of agricul-
tural distress, none of their authors appear to have searched
for eases exempt from the common calami.y ; one such case
is worth twenty arguments; —are any such to be found?
Now it is with great pleasure I have to inform you, that such
cases do exist at present, have existed for ninny years past,
and stood the test of the two scarcities; a most minute de-
scription of thew was published la years ago, in the Annals
of A:zi iculture, by a Gentleman employed by the Board of
Aga culture, expressly Mr the purpose of examining minutely
into circumstance attending such cases, and who tra-
sh ;hrough an extent of_nearly 1O mires of country
abounding with a great her of instances, upon the whole
sufficient filly to ascertain the effects of the plan pursued.
In ;lie counties of Rutland and Lincoln, the practice is, to at-
tach laud to cottages, sufficient to support that number of
cows which the cottager is able to purchase ; they are tenants
to the chief landlords, and not sub-tenants to tanners; yet
these latter are very generally steady friends to the system :
well they may be so, for the poor-rates are next to with*,
when compared with such as are found in parishes wherein
this admirable system is not established. In the late minute
enquiries made by the Beard of Agriculture, into the state of
the Labouring Poor throughout the kingdom, matt), persons
were written to who reside in the districts where this system
is conmitm ; and it was found by their replies, that the pram-.
Lice stands the test of the present distress, as well as it sup-
ported the opposite difficulties of extreme scarcity. It is
much to be regretted, that so admirable an example is not
copied in every part of the kingdom ; and should a Committee
of the House of Commons meet in the next Session, pursuant
to the notice given by Mr. Curwen, it will be strange indeed
if they do not call before them the persons residing in those
districts, who are most able to give them full information re-
lative to a system which has stood the test of such long ex-
perience, amid encountered difficulties of the most opposite
tendencies. In those comities where no such practice is met
with, it is very rare indeed to meet with a labourer who bag
saved any money, their reliance is entirely on the parish, and
their present earnings dissipated at the alehouse ; not so in
Lincolnshire : the man who wishes to marry, saves his money
to buy cows ; and girls wito design to have husbands-, toke
the same measures to secure them. Sobriety, industry, and
economy are thus secured : and children are trained from
their iiifiney to the culture of a garden, and attending cattle
instead of starving with unemployed spinnine-wheels. No
°kir et am better deserve the attention of men of considera-
ble landed property ; if some change of management deci-
sive in its nature dues not take place, poor-rates will continue
to increase, till they will absorb the whole landed revenue of
the kingdom ; at the present moment they are rising in a
manner that ought to alarm every proprietor of land; dud
this, not to assist or support such objects as were described
in the lad of Elizabeth, but hearty strong men in the full vi-
gour of life ; which molt be considered as so absolute an
abuse of the system, that not one Session of Parliament ought
to pass without souse effective remedy being applied."

PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING AT NOTTINGHAM,
SEPTEMBER /5.

An unnsaai degree of anxiety was displayed by the inha-
bitants of this town on Wednesday, to attend the meeting
.I,,nseued by C. L. Norley, Est the Mayor," to deliberate
the propriety of petitioning the Prince Regent, to assem-
ble the Parliament of the United Kingdom."
As soon as the gates of the town hall were opened, the
place was immediately filled.
The Meson being unanimously called to the chair, shortly
addressed the meeting, in a speech winch opened the pro-
ceeding% and met with considerable applause.

Mr. then said, the present alarming state of the
country', and the gloom which hang over our firth' c prospects,
ought to arouse the exertions of every real friend of hi.. coml.
try. Should we indulge in apathy, when the nation was
rapidly sinking into decay and ruin, and all overwhelming
taxation and poop' rism, were spreading their desolating in-
fluence through every part of the kingdom? Ought we nut
rather, as Englishmen, to strain every nerve, to use every
means in cur power, in ortlertoavert such dreadful calamities?
—(Apphivse..)- -It was their inalienable privilege, as Britons,
to make tle it veices heard at the foot of the throne, and to
petition in him but respectful language, against those evils
they considered the eatn: of their present sufferings? He
made no pretensions to the character of a politician, but it
had now become obvious to every one, twat an excessive
taxation, and the eorrept administration of our national re-
sources, were the presciit cancane of oar miparalle led distress.
—(App(ouse.)—Our taxes had increased in Xs y ears front 15
mill. to 70 millions a year. During this period, the fruits of
our industry had b., it sipianderi to keep the world at war,
and had been expended on objects fureiiu to the true iuteicsts