The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-30 00:00:00

(4r brebnim .-?;11tIt

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1846.

THE PRIVY COUNCIL.

A special train, on the Great Western Railway,
was ordered at the Paddington station at half-
past one o'clock this afternoon, to convey the Minis-
ters to Slough, on their way to Windsor Castle, to
attend the Privy Council held by her MAJESTY, for
the further prorogation of Parliament.
Parliament is at present prorogued unto Wednes-
day, the 4th November.

Lord JORN RUSSELL, Sir GEORGE GREY, and
several other Ministers, left town by the special train.
The Lord Chancellor is staying at Winds or Castle,
on a visit to the QUEEN.

Who is there that has perused any of the remark-
able statements put forward by the llon. and Rev,
S. G. OSBORNE who has not been thoroughly awakened
to the lamentable condition of the agricultural
labourers in Dorset,hire, and made feelingly alive to
the imperative necessity of some immediate step being
taken for their benefit? Even those most opposed to
that amiable and enthusiastic philanthropist, and most
deeply hurt at the exposures he has made, must give
him credit for the purity of his motives, and deplore

I the circumstances that induced him to stand forward
as the champion of the poor and needy, to abandon
the seclusion and privacy that was most congenial to
his habits, that would suit best his character and
sacred profession. The best evidence has been afforded
that the interference on his part was not unwarranted
or uncalled for, that the state of the working man was
not that which it ought to he, and that it was—in the
language of the first resolution adopted at the meet-
ing to which we are about to allude—"such as to
give occasion for the immediate efforts of an energetic
and well-directed benevolence to produce a per-
manent and effectual improvement in their condition."
On Monday a meeting was held at Dorchester for
the purpose of " establishing a Labourers' Friend
Society, with the view of bettering the condition
morally and physically of the rural labourers and
working mechanics and artizans, by carrying out the
field garden allotment system under judicious regu-
lations," over which the High Sheriff of the county
presided, and which was attended by the Lord Bishop
of the diocese (Salisbury) and several Members of
Pat liament, clergymen, magistrates, and country
gentlemen of rank and influence.

A hope was held out, in which we cordially par-
ticipate, that the working of the society would not
be limited to the objects specified in the requisition
convening the assembly, but that the sphere of its
duties would be considerably extended and enlarged,
until it comprehended everything relating to the wel-
fare or comforts of the classes for whose peculiar
benefit it was called into existence. We cannot,
however, expect to see any society in its infancy
attain the strength to which it may afterwards, in due
season, aspire, and too wide a circle in the first
instance might impair its efficiency, and prevent it
from coming to full maturity. " The child is the
father of the future man ;" and it is, perhaps, well
that for the present its exertions should be directed ex-
elusively towards " the carrying out of the field allot-
ment system," while from its very style and title,
" The Labourers' Friend Society," we may draw the
happiest auguries for the future.
Wherever the allotment system has been introduced
and judiciously acted upon, its results have been most
favourable, both morally and physically, to the parties
who have been participators in its advantages. It has
afforded a healthful and innocent occupation for those
hours of idleness that might probably have been
wasted in the beer-shop, or expended with worthless
and profligate characters, to the deep and lasting
injury of the uneducated labourer. Some occupation
is ever necessary, and the nursery hymn that states
that—

" Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do,"
has had its truth attested during all times and periods.
The possession of a certain plot of ground that he
can call his own, the idea of property thereby oc-
casioned, the certainty that he will be permitted to
enjoy it during good behaviour, "dun, se bene gesserit,"
and that any aggravated offence or crime may incur a
forfeiture thereof, has been of the greatest service to
the poor man, and has ensured a degree of industry,
a correctness of conduct on his part, that few other
means have been sufficient to effect. A Select Com-
mittee of the House of Commons has reported in the
strongest manner in favour of its utility ; and with
such powerful evidence on its behalf it is only sur-
prising that it has not already been brought into
more extensive, we may say into universal, use.
The statement of the Hon. and Rev. W. SCOTT
cannot be passed in silence ; it speaks more eloquently
in favour of the system than the most brillir.nt orator:;
it shows the rise and progress of the good work.
That Rev. Gentleman said that—
" When ha entered on the living of Maiden Newton
he was ironically congratulated on having got the worst
parish in the country to deal with ; and he himself was
no less than six times in that very court as a prosecutor.
In thelastthree years, during which allotments had been
in operation in his parish, he did not thilk he had been
seen there. In the first year of the allotments two Con-
victions took place, and there were consequently two
forfeiture* ; but from that time not one out of eighty
holders had committed any offence to call him up before
a magistrate."

Can there be a stronger testimony to its benefits ?
It is not merely the addition to the bodily comforts,
the affording a means of profitable employment during
the dead season, when he would be unable to procure
it from the farmer—it is not merely that the oc-
cupation of his leisure hours, which, with perfect
faithfulness to his master, he could devote to the cul-
tivation of his allotment, would produce sufficient to
support the labourer, if he were quite without wages
for thirteen weeks in the year ; but there is some-
thing still more desirable and important,—it keeps
him from crinae, it brings his mind into a better state,
it renders him more contented and happy, less exposed
to temptation and firmer in his resistance thereto;
and many an humble but happy family may bless the
day when the husband and father became a tenant of
one of the land allotments. The benefit, too, is a
cheap one, it can be conferred with little, if any, ex-
pense. The same rent that could be obtained from a
farmer would be most gratefully and punctually paid
by the labourer—what prejudice then has hitherto
prevented its adoption ? Is it the fear lest the in-
creme the
fPopulation would also increase the poor-