The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-07 00:00:00

have occurred within the same period ; and we
venture to assert, that the former will not more
than counterbalance the latter, if it should in-
deed be equal thereto. The English labourers
are still on English ground. We readily grant
that, inasmuch as employment can more easily be
obtained in almost any district, we do not so often
witness the deplorable spectacle of able-bodied men
being " passed along" to the respective parishes in
which they may claim settlements.
But, were it otherwise, were there indeed
fewer labourers in the agricultural districts in
1852 than in 1846, it would not sustain Mr.
BERKELEY'S argument, that " the rate of wages at
present paid must and would have been infinitely
lower, or half the hands been without occupft-
tion." To establish his case, he should have
shown that there is less demand for labour, and
that fewer men are employed in agricultural pur-
suits at this moment than at the similar period of
1846 ; and this we defy him to do. It is noto-
rious that the land has not been deserted, or farms
suffered to remain idle or uncultivated. There is
still, despite Free Trade, ample competition for
any vacant farms. Even Mr. BERRET,EY will not
venture to assert the contrary. Nay, more, there
is, we are happy to say, a very considerable im-
provement in the general cultivation of the
soil. The farmers--to their credit be it
spoken—are laying their shoulders manfully
to the wheel, and endeavouring to meet
the increased competition by more strenu.
ens and energetic exertions than were formerly
required at their hands. No longer able to rely
on an artificial enhancement of prices, they seek to
obtain larger returns from a superior style of cul-
tivation. This will be acknowledged in the'Agri-
cultural Association. Even FOSKETT, the " Hero
of a hundred Protection Societies," will render
that act of justice to his brother farmers.
How, then, has this improved cultivation been
effected Has it been done without hands, and
by merely wishing or speaking on the subject ?
No ; it has been achieved by the thews and
sinews of British labourers—the English soil has
been fertilized by the sweat falling from English
brows : increased toil, expended in the fields, has
led to increased produce—to an improved condi-
tion of agriculture. There may possibly be iso-
lated cases, where the occupiers of land have
diminished the number of their farm labourers,
but such is the exception, not the rule ; and
wherever it has occurred, it is perceptible in the
deteriorated, not in the improved, aspect of the
land. There is, then, at least as many labourers
employed in the cultivation of the land as in
1846—at least as great a demand for agricul-
tural labour. And if the supply continued equal,
the number of labourers being the same at one
period as the other, on what principle can Mr.
BERKELEY assert, that " the rate of wages would
have been infinitely lower, or half the hands been
without occupation ?" His argument, then, is
mere empty declamation, without a particle of
foundation on which to rest.
The state of the West India Islands, or of

British Guiana, in which Mr. BERKELEY is chiefly
interested, is beside the question of the Corn Laws.
They were suffering as deeply—at least the com-
plaints were as general and as loud—long anterior
to 1846 as they have been since. We cannot
see how the imposition of a bread-tax would in
any degree benefit the inhabitants of, or owners
of, property in these colonies.