The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-09 00:00:00

effect of the unjust division of property among

us, and it has been mourned over by social re-

formers as a serious hindrance to the progress of
the people. Now, however, there is a prospect
of improvement. In the first place the condition
of our country labourer's has excited a good deal

of attention. The official accounts which have

Wound their way into the public journals have
shown a state of things which urgently demands

a remedy, if we regard ft.e health or morals of
our population in the slightest degree. Com-
pelled to reside near their work, often on the

grounds of a landlord, whose regard for his own

pocket greatly outweighs his concern for the com-

fort and respectability of his workpeople, the
agricultural labourer has little opportunity ot
choosing his habitation. When he has it, it is
wretchedly small, often with only two or three
rooms. This evil is, of course, greatly aggravated
by the pernicious habit of taking in lodgers, so
that two families often crowd into a hovel that
is hardly fit for one. Undoubtedly this is the
fault of the people themselves, who thus make
matters worse than they need be ; but they have
two excuses for doing so,—first, that the miser-
ably low wages which they commonly receive
make them anxious to increase their incomings in
any way possible; and. secondly, that brought up
in such places there is not much likelihood of their
having any regard for health or decency. These
cottages, such as they are, are very frequently out of
repair, and the description given by the official
inspector of a district not long since was certainly
no attractive picture of an English country cottage.
Then comes the ignorance, which is all that can be
expected from such a bringing up ; and the ignorant
workman, who has no idea beyond the rudiments
of his labour, can earn no higher wages than his
father before him, and so the dreary round goes on
from generation to generation. There is no reason
why this should be the case. No one can doubt
that the natural abilities of the English agricultural
labourer, if properly trained, would render him able
to appreciate the advance of agricultural science,
and to profit by it. If our town workmen are so
quick in grasping any means of improvement or
advance, why should not their countrymen be
equally apt in their own kind of labour ? With a
view of giving this large class the chance and open-
ing, which is all they need, various associations
have been formed for improving the condition of the
agricultural labourer, and encouraging him to apply
his powers more heartily to his work. It is espe-
cially necessary that some stimulus should be given
and some effort made to increase the number of good
and efficient workmen, seeing that a great revolu-
tion is probably at hand in our agricultural labour.
The gradually extending application of steam ma-
chinery, and the great success attending its use,
are, no doubt, signs of its subsequent general em-
ployment. It is true there are several
considerations which we may hope will pre-
vent the change pressing so hardly on the
agricultural population as the introduction of steam
power into other branches of labour did on the
craftsmen of the towns. In the first place the great
expense attending the purchase of these machines
will restrict their use for a time at least to the capi-
talist, and their more general employment will
likewise be retarded by the prejudice against any
innovation common to many farmers. There is
therefore less chance of a sudden and violent change.
Again,according to the testimony of those who have
used the machines, there will be no considerable
difference in the number ot men employed, although
the work is done more thoroughly and more quickly,
and will of course require more able workmen. In
this respect the use of machinery will have moat
beneficial effect on the condition of the agricultural
labourer. As Mr. COWPER observed the other day
at a provincial meeting, whe❑ speaking on this
subject, "I look with satisfaction upon this change
under the aspect of its benefit to the labourer, for
the result must be that the labourer, becoming more
of a skilled artisan, will have higher wages, and be
saved from much of that drudgery which has to be
performed by manual labour. In every walk of
industry the application of steam machinery has
raised the condition of the workman, and so it must
be with the agriculturist ; the labourer, as well as
the farmer and the owner of land, will reap the
benefit arising from the application of science and
skill to the implements of husbandry."
In another aspect, too, the results of steam power
applied to the implements of husbandry will be
beneficial to the farm labourer, since it will increase
the production of food, and, consequently, render it
cheaper. Still, to avail himself of any advantages
that may be offered to him by the change, the agri-
cultural labourer must be a skilful workman, and
able to look beyond the mere routine of planting
and reaping. Such meetings as the one over which
Mr. COWPER. presided at Romsey are likely to do
good, since they give to the dull routine of agricul-
tural labour some object of interest, something to
look forward to, and something to gain. The prizes
given to the best workmen have not only the effect
of reward;ng that particular mail for particular
skill, but they serve to stimulate the industry of all
the others. They have stirred up their minds and
given them something to think of, some inducement
to try to understand the principles of agricultural
science. We may hope, in time, to see a knowledge
of these generally diffused among our rural classes,
and in the meantime let those above them do their
part by affording every encouragement to skill and
industry, and especially in removing them from
habitations which are only endurable to a low ordet
of morality and intellect.

Lord STANLEY'S remarks are always worth
attending to, as he speaks in a practical manner,
a►nd has generally some wise suggestion to make, or
some suitable plan to propose. His address on the
Oxford Local Examinations, the other day, is inte-
resting alike from its subject and style, and serves as
a sort of indication of the merits of similar institutions
He said that there was a large class between those of
the highest and lowest, between those who went to
Eton and those who attended village schools, and
the want of good "middle class schools" had long
existed. Now these examinations supplied the test
by which they could distinguish a good school from
a bad one. Certainly this is a very great desidera-
turn, for it is a very grievous thing if a man, who
has made his money by great exertion, and im-

proved his position in society, cannot succeed in
gaining that superior education for his son which
he naturally and honourably desires. Although he
may be able to appreciate such excellence when ho
meets it in daily life, he very likely does not possess
tho particular faculty, the scalar faire by which he
cAn detect the fallacies of this code of teaching, or
the benefits of that atyle of learning. Now the
scrutiny to which all scholastic establishments
are subjected by this plan it an admirable
one. It is an unfailing test and a sure standard.
As Lord STANLEY remarked, the superior character
of this plan is proved by the fact that it places not
only the lads but the masters upon their trial.
Nothing is so deteriorating to the prospects of
learners as to have instructors who are ignorant of
the first principles of tuition, who do not compre-
hend the necessity that exists for imparting know-
ledge in a bold and free manner, and who cannot
think for themselves, instead of trusting implicitly
to the rules of the books before them. Also, when