The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-11 00:00:00

LOUI3•NAPOLEODi.

It is quite refreshing to find that common sense has
not altogether departed from the agricultural dis-
tricts—to refer to a meeting of farmers, at which the
great majority exhibit a firmness and manliness of
bearing becoming English yeomen, who are not
prepared to abandon all exertion because the rest of
the community are no longer subjected to a most
oppressive and unjust impost for their peculiar
benefit, who are enabled to perceive the true
nature of their position, and the absurdity
of looking for a return of a system that has
been for ever abolished, with the full consent
and approbation of the great body of the people, who
are determined to meet their difficulties fairly, and
boldly to enter into competition with their rivals.
The annual meeting of the Cirencester Agricultu-
ral Association is worthy of notice, as exhibiting a
practical proof that the condition of the agriculturists
has not deteriorated in a greater degree than that of
the other great interests—trading or manufacturing—
after a crisis of unparalleled intensity, in which all
classes suffered deeply and severely from the monetary
pressure, and also as affording some cheering prospects
for the future. :" The Cattle Show in the morning was
above the average merit, and there were more sheep
exhibited than had ever been brought together on any
former occasion ," while, with a single exception, the
speeches subsequently addressed to the meeting were
of a cheerful and encouraging tone. The true
mode in which the farmers should act during the
present emergency was pointed out, and the
advice was the more valuable, inasmuch as it

recommended the employment, of additional labour,
by which the produce of the land would be mate-
rially augmented, and a large and deeply afflicted
class—the farm.labourers, would be enabled to sup-
port their families by their own honest industry, in
place of being driven to the tender mercies of the
union workhouse. The proceeding would thus be
" twice blessed," to the giyers as well as to the re-
ceivers, the employers and the employed.
_

The address of the Rev. H. Cansre was peculiarly
appropriate. It contained no gloomy vaticinations
—no prophecies of universal ruin, and na-
tional bankruptcy. It hinted not at the
restoration of protection, or at any minor remedies,
but it showed the means available to every man
throughout the length and breadth of the land,
where labour is cheap and abundant, of opportu-
nities for which our Australian colonists are pining,
and for the possession of which they would willingly
pay an enormous price.
The Rev. Gentleman said—

" For himself he did not care a farthing about pro-
tection. He had sold wheat this year at 101. per
load, and had got as fair or even a better profit
than he had got last year at 151. He was
not afraid of the times. There were many present with
a larger capital and more experience than himself, who
had spent a large sum in manure and feeding. He had
never spent a farthing, but had confined himself to in-
creasing his labour, and he had iy that means made taw
crops grow where only one grew before. He advocated
an increase of expenditure in labour on farms instead of
reducing the labourers' wages. They all lived in luxury.
What was considered a luxury when he was a child
was looked upon as a necessary now ; it was only
the poor man whose comforts were measured
by the quartern loaf. He believed the remedy for
agricultural distress was in their own hands.
From his experience, as chairman of the board
of guardians of the Cirencester Union, ho could
say that he had seen families of labourers driven
into the workhouse, at a cost of 501. a year, who might
have been kept out for 50s. If the wages of those men
had been raised 2s. a week, they would have been kept
off the poor-rates. There were such persons in the
poor-house at that moment. lie contended, there
fore, that those who improved their land by
the employment of labour were doubly benefiting
themselves. However, they had this consolation, that at
present the depression was alike in all trades, and with
regard to the remedy, it must be found in their own
exertions. Tho remedy which he suggested was, that
they should farm no more land than they had capital to
cultivate, and that they should snake the most they pos-
sibly could out of it."
These are sound and wholesome truths, worthy
of being recorded in letters of gold. Let the
croakers and alarmists take a lesson from one
who, like themselves, is deeply interested in the
welfare and prosperity of agriculture. Let them
cease to feed cattle and begin to feed men.
Let them learn that it is cheaper to keep able-bodied
labourers, who are both able and willing to work, out
of the workhouse than in it. Let them abridge some
of their own luxuries—luxuries which were never
thought of by their forefathers, and bestow, not
grudgingly, but with a kind and liberal spirit,
some additional comforts upon their dependents.
Then, indeed, they may rest assured that they
will not be defrauded or their interests neglected, but
that they will receive a full and ample equivalent
from the grateful peasantry. It will become a labour
of love to their workmen to render every possible
service to kind and benevolent masters. The work
will not be carelessly or negligently performed, but
every man will endeavour to benefit him from whom
he receives reciprocal advantages. The poor-rates will
be materially diminished, while the produce will be more
than doubled. If the aphorism of the philosopher be
true, which declares that "he is the greatest bene-
factor of mankind who makes two blades of grass
grow where one only formerly grew," Mr. CRIPPS,
and those who follow his sensible and judicious re-
commendations, may be regarded as real philan-
thropists and patriots.
The speeches of Lord VILLIERS, of Mr. E. HOLLAND,
formerly M.P. for Worcestershire, who, we trust,
will speedily again obtain a seat in the Legislature,
and of Mr. MECHI, were also of sound. practical
character, and deserving of the highest commendation.
A spirit of " hope" was apparent in every sentence.
Mr. HOLLAND pointed out the almost inevitable
consequences of " protection" in the sketch which he
gave of the cloth-making county in the far west, which
placed a prohibitory duty upon foreign cloths. The
spirit of self-reliance," of honourable emulation,