The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-27 00:00:00

Aytninl Ant

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1844.

The remonstrances of the press, the frequent sig-
nificant allusions to the subject in the House of
Commons last session, and still more, perhaps, the
midnight vagaries of Swing, have at length, we per-
ceive, had the effect of inducing the great land-
holders to turn their attention to the destitute con-
dition of the labouring classes, with a view, of
course, to see what is to be done in the way of
remedy. At all the late Agricultural Meetings—and
within the last few weeks they have been of frequent
occurrence—nothing is more remarkable than the
earnestness, to all appearance, with which the
different speakers impress on their audience
the necessity of endeavouring to provide adequate
employment for the labourer, and to ameliorate the
various hardships of his lot by every possible means
at their command. It is now beginning to be gene-
rally discovered by those who are placed in authority
over him, that the peasant is not such a mere clod of
earth as he was so long supposed to be ; but that he
has feelings and affections to quite as great an
extent as his betters, and that it is high time
that the kindlier impulses of his nature should
be drawn forth by acts of courtesy and good-
will, instead of being repressed by a system of
haughty reserve and isolation being maintained
towards him by those whose station, and even whose
interests, should induce them to act differently. At
the Lichfield Agricultural Association, the Chairman,
Colonel ANSON, observed that "the condition of the
farm-labourers was a matter which required the most
serious consideration, both:of the landowner and occu-
pier of the soil. It was, perhaps, the most difficult
question they had to meet at the present day. They
knew it was impossible at all times, in all places, and
under all circumstances, that regular employment
should be found for them; but where that employ.
ment was known to be precarious and insufficient,
it was the more incumbent on the landowner
and the occupier of the soil to do everything in their
power to better their condition." At the Suffolk
Agricultural Meeting, the following was the language
which was used by another Chairman, Sir EDWARD
KBRRISON :—" The condition of the labourers was a
subject worthy of the most serious consideration.
It was the interest of the landowner and not
less so of the farmer, to endeavour to render
the labourer comfortable, without which it was idle
to suppose that he would be either contented or
peaceable." Similar language was held at the
Herts Agricultural Meeting; indeed at this meet-
ing one of the speakers grew quite sentimental
while descanting on the indifference, not to say
neglect, with which the labouring classes had for years
been treated, and predicted that if a different course of
conduct were not henceforth pursued towards them
by their superiors, the consequences might be most
disastrous to the welfare of the community. These
new views of the Squirearchy, as regards the labour-
ing portion of the population, constitute very encou-
raging signs of the times, so far as they go; but it is
one thing to preach and another to practice ; and it
is not enough that the great agriculturists indulge
in expressions of good-will and sympathy towards
their helpless and impoverished peasantry; they must
act as well as talk—in a word, they must show their
faith by their works. As their opportunities of
doing good are great, so should their inclination ba
in proportion. A heavy accumulating debt has
for years and years been owing by them to the
labouring classes, and they should not lose a moment
in making the endeavour to liquidate it to
the last farthing, or at any rate, if this be for
the present impossible, to pay it off by regular
instalments. By these means only will they be
enabled to put an effectual stop to the midnight con-
flagrations of Swing, whose freaks, like those of
Captain Rock in Ireland, are the natural consequences
of the long neglect with which the peasantry in both
countries have been treated by their superiors. The
allotment system, of which Sir E.Knanisos spoke at the
Suffolk Agricultural Meeting, is one of great pro-
mise, and bids fair to benefit the labouring classes in
no ordinary degree ; but remedial measures of a
much more comprehensive character than this must
be had recourse to, ere our great landowners can be
said to have adequately fulfilled their duties as the
legitimate guardians and benefactors of their respec•
tive peasantry.

We are glad to find that the rate-payers of the
Bradfield Union continue to manifest a determined
and vigorous opposition to the oppressive deportment
of the Poor-law Commissioners. In our paper of
Tuesday last, in reference to the election of a master
to the liradfield Union Workhouse, we narrated the
circumstances attending the appointment, by the
Guardians, of the elected candidate, a Mr. BRANG•
WIN ; the objections of the " Commissionary "
to that individual ;—the reply to, and disproof of, those
objections by the Board of Guardians ;—the subse-
quent arbitrary edicts for BRANGWIN'S dismission,
and the election of a successor in his stead, issued by
the Infallible Council of Somerset-house ;—the suc-
cessive resignations and re-elections of the indestruc-
tible BRANGWIN ;—the haughty but ridiculous inter-
positions of the Infallibles ;—the renewed communica-
tions addressed to them by the Guardians on this
case ;—and their supercilious and arrogant treat-
ment of those communications.
That the Poor-law Commissioners, at the distance
of half a hundred miles from Bradfield, should be bet-
ter judges of the fitness of a man whom they never
saw, for a particular office in that locality, than eight-
and-twenty Guardians of the poor (resident inha-
bitants within the Union limits), cognisant of the
conduct, history, and reputation of the individual, and
personally associated with him for five years at the
same Board, where they describe him to have been an
active and zealous coadjutor) ;—all this may surprise
Common men of common minds. But the New Poor-
law Act has ruled it so ! That the notion of " elec-
tion " Supposes not a purposeless ceremony, but a
proceeding to be perfected by the induction of the
elected into the office for which he is chosen, is a de-
' lusion naturally enough misleading those who, as to
such inferior matters as the exercise of a Parlia-
mentary electoral franchise enforce the prompt and
jealous recognition and protection by Parliament it-
self, of the objects of their choice. But still it is a
delusion. Such a notion is contrary to the whole
scope of the jurisdiction assumed and practically ex-
ercised by the Autocratic Commissioners—(which is
everything)—although it may be strictly conformable
with the intentions of the Legislature—(which are
nothing)—in the framing of their most unconstitu-