The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-05 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION•
tress in the town he placed the following represenfaion
of the condition of the agricultural labourer by an authe,
rity whom none would question. It was from
in a recent number of the John Bit/A-signed 147
Rudge, D.D., Hawkehurch." Dr. Ittagle',.sß
have taken a very warm interest in the cmigratio
tion ; and his reasons for doing so were amply set forth
in his letter :
" If it shall be asked why I, as an humble individual,
have been so much interested in matters of this kind,
the following is given as an answer :—The agriculturli
labourers of my parish are dreadfully oppressed by
poverty, and I feel an anxious wish to see them placed
in a situation in which they can get constant work, and
bott,s their temporal condition ; and these two objects
I think c.in be realised by their going out as settlers to
New Zealand. Hence I am a friend to emigration, and
when applied to I strongly recommend the measure.
Whit are the average wages per week of agricultural la•
bowers in my parish ? At the utmost only si. 63. per
w, elf, after deducting Is. Jul. or _'s. for the miserable cot-
tages in which they live. Will say one say say that 5.5.6 d,
is sufficieht to feed and clothe a man and his family ? But
there are times in which they do not leceivc even this
pitrance—tirees in which work is not to be had—is not,
therefore, constant ; and I have the names of about
forty or fifty oung a-id able-bodied men, who, during
the last autumn, could obtain no employment. In such
a st ite of poverty and uncertainty I hare said to all
who have called at my house for information and ad-
vice, why not emigrate either into C made or New Zea-
land, where our condition woull be bettered—your
work constant, yOur wages good, and your passage',
the latter colony would be paid ? These persons have
applied in every direction for work, but without success ;
and I could send out to-morrow one hundred and
twenty-three agricultural labourers, including their wives
and children, pi ovided they could raise the sums suffi-
cient to pay for their outfit.''

The publication of these statements brought another
from Batley, Yorkshire, which, though he had occupied
much of their time already, he soul I read to the meet-
ing. The writer of this communication said :
" Sir,—W bile perusing your valuable Journal of the
14th mutant, I met with an article, headed " Appalling
disress of the Labourer and Artisan,' is which you give
an extract from a speech made by Mr. Ashworth, at the
Bohol tea party, containing a deplorable account of the
distress peveding in that district. I, Sir, quite agree
in the opinion expi essed lay you, timt.:he distress of the
working classes is far greater than is'generally keown or
supposed to exist. I in the more confident that this is
the cage from some fact; which have recently come to
my knowledge on this stijiict. A few benevolent
iding in the centre of this village, conceiving that
considerable distress pros riled in the neighbourhood,
commenced a subscription for the relief of the most
needy in their own locality. The sum realised was
about 401., to be distributed in food, and some cottons
sheets for beds. In visiting the dwellings of the people
we found some of the inmates not only without food of
any kind, but also so desti'ute of covering to their beds
as to render it impossible for them to obtain anything
like warmth at this inclement season of the year. The
situation of some was truly heart-rending. In one
house there were the wile and three ehilden, On in-
quiring into their circumstances, she said, " Jim has
gone out on the road to-day ; but he has not been
able to go before for the lust fortnight, having got
some dross into his eye while breaking stones."'
Bursting into a flood of tears, she said, point-
ing to one of the children (I use her own words),
' That child is calsttg (wasting) away for the want
of proper support ; she has been ill, nod now
welts something to raise her, and we cannot get
it for her.' It is true the woman was kneading some-
thing for bread, but it did not appear to be made
ei!lier of fl >ur, barley, or oatmeal ; it it contained any
pmf on of these, it must have been in the smallest
quantity ; it had every appearance of bran mixed witlA
water. It may be said by sonic that this was an ex-
treme ca..e. It was, in some respects ; but, in other
instances, it was not only equalled, but even surpassed.
In another house that we visited we found the oc-
cupants, a young man, his wife, and child, in a mise-
rable state of want. One of the neighbours, a poor
widow, satd to us, Have you been at that house ?'
pointing to the place. lam afraid of finding them
dead in bed, when I get up in a morning, for mere
want. It is very little I can give them,' she said, hut
I give them all I can spare, in order to keep them alive.'
These oases are not singular. Another case, which
came to my knowledge last right, I will mention.
Speaking to a neighbour on this subject, he said, I
have had a woman at my house this afternoon (Monday)
who has eaten nothing since Saturday.' He was an
operative, but he gave her some cold meat, which, ho
said, would very likely make her ill, having been so
long without thod. In such a state of thugs are we
to expect anything like satisfaction or good-will among
the labouring classes of society ? It is impossible." •
But, le,iving this argument out of the question, and re-
verting to the state of the poor, he f. It convinced in his
own mind that this was the strongest point. The facts
he had re el to them were better than any argument or
speech that could be made. The poor were nearly
starving, and they were daily getting worse. This ware
a fact which could not be looked at with indifference,
even by the landowner ; and the conviction must ulti-
mattly force itself upon his mind, however startling,.
that this war a state of things which could not con-
tinue.