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

irfarning

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1846,

No shire in Great Britain requires so much enter-
prise from its landlords, for the purpose of diminish-
ing local pauperism and elevating the general condi-
tion of its peasantry, as Dorsetshire. Hitherto, that
most beautiful, possibly, of all the English counties hes
been the most lamentably deficient in its agricultural
organisation. The degenerated and impoverished
character of the Dorsetshire labourers has, indeed,
assumed to itself a miserable notoriety; the inertness
of the Dorsetshire landowners has been very naturally
surmised in consequence. 'We are peculiarly gratified
to observe that the latter are becoming painfully con-
scious of the invidious impressions associated with
themselves collectively, and are becoming proportion.
ably -solicitous to remove from the public mind im-
pressions so calculated to diminish their influence and
to render their body "a reproach and a hissing
in the land." We do not, however, presume to assert
that these gentlemen are actuated solely by motives
so reprehensibly selfish. We give them every credit
for desiring to ameliorate the miseries of their ne-
glected dependents upon principles the most disinter.
ested and philanthropic. Nevertheless, we must, ii
honesty, remark, that no resolute exertion was
attempted for the advancement of the agricultura'
labourers d the district until the indignation of the
people-at their protracted indolence hid been MOP
signally manifested. We mean distinctly to asseri
that the landlords of Dorsetshire have been impelled
to adventure upon the alleviation of the distresses of
their subordinates mainly, if not entirely, throng},
the potential recommendation of the popular
voice. Public opinion is being successfully exerted,
for the social improvement, the physical culture, and
the moral elevation of the Dorsetshire peasantry, as it
was previously exerted for the destruction of the de-
testable corn-laws, for the removal of the illiberal dis-
abilities attached to the profession of Roman Catho-
licism, for the realisation cf Parliamentary Reforn
aral for so many other lesser achievements. The force
of public opinion is being again manifested in the
movement observable among the landed proprietors of
Dorset ; and it could scarcely be manifested in 1
course more peculiarly identified with that of uni-
versal humanity, as well as with the better deve
lopment and more indisputable prosperity of British.
agriculture.
On Tuesday last, the 27th instant, a most interest.
ing, and we may even say momentous meeting, tools
place in the Assize-hall at Dorchester : a meeting
presided over by the High-Sheriff; and numbering
amongst the individuals cotlected upon the platform
almost all the principal agriculturists of the county.
How much was accomplished at this preliminary as•
semblage may be readily perceived from the first re-
solution proposed by the Lord Bishop of SALISBURY.
and seconded by T. FLOYER, Esq., M.P. That reso-
lution was to the following effect :—" That it it,
obvious that the present state and condition of the
labouring classes are such as to give occasion for the
immediate efforts of an energetic and well-directed
benevolence, to produce a permanent and effectual
improvement in their condition." There is an ac-
knowledgment ! After this declaration of the
necessity for "an energetic and well-intentioned
benevolence," it will be impossible for the landowner.
to tarry in their march of philanthropy. They have
adjured the public, as it were, to watch their endea
yours to assuage the sorrows of their farm-labourers.
They have confessed the positive necessity that exists
for such a proceeding, and have thus rendered them-
selves liable to receive a national reprobation if they
do not successfully combat with the exigencies of the
local population, and ultimately confer prosperity and
comfort upon the dependent peasantry.
Gratefully do we accept the sentiments uttered on
the occasion of this meeting by the Lord Bishop of
SALISBURY. Those sentiments are inculcative of
lenity to the humbler daises in their toilsome avo-
cations ; they enforce the duties of generosity tee
those who are in a great measure dependent upon the
landed proprietors ; they laud those who, in their
relation with the peasantry, are distinguished for
their suavity and beneficence. "As with the social
condition of the individual man," said the Right Rev.
Prelate, "so was it with the condition of the social
community. In both conditions it was found imprudent
to stand still, for the nation and individuals were either
advancing to improvement, or tending to degradation or
decay." Without some valourous and generous effort
to promote the general happiness, by elevating the phy-
sical position of the Dorsetshire peasantry, they will
inevitably retrograde, while the rest of their country-
men are keeping pace with the onward movement of
civilisation. .
It is from a consciousness of these facts that the
second resolution was proposed by Mr. A. H. D.
ACLAND, and seconded by the llon. and Rev. W.
SCOTT, that resolution being to the following effect :
" That it is evident from the report of the Select
Committee of the House of Commons on the utility
of allotments of lands to the poor, and from various
other authentic documents, that land allotments on
the field-garden system, under judicious regulations,
tend to add to the resources, to increase the comforts,
and improve the moral habits of the labouring
classes." Unquestionably they do! But surely the
acknowledgment of those social truths, and, by in.
ference, the subsequent presentation of so many
boons to the poorer people in the shape of allotments
or rather of garden patches attached to their dwell-
ings; should not be accompanied with the
injurious recommendation of a precarious
and deceitful vegetable. Now that there
is so much *probability of the successful cal.

tivation -of the Indian maize in lieu of
the less nutritious potato, w•e are sanguine that a
better substitute for that fragile tuber may be intro-

need, not merely to the allotments of Dorsetshire,

,ut to the wider and equally neglected tracks of

Ireland.
After all the dismal disclosUres of want and
wretchedness among the Dorsetshire labourers ; after

having acquired the mournful knowledge of their
habitual destitution, ald the painful conscious-
ness of their mental and bodily abasement ;
it is some, solace to find
_their natural guardians,
even at the eleventh hour, acknowleding their
great sins'of omission, and avouching their determi-
nation to assuage the torments inflicted upon many
generations by themselves and their more culpable
predecessors. It is a solace to hear this solemn con-
fession, and this assurance of regret; and it is well