The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-17 00:00:00

3 THE LIVER-POI
-------- ---- - -
TO CORRESPONDENTS. ' nearly interested in securing such protection have —the poor unfortunates whom no change can ren-
A Shareholder" will find in another part of our paper the posi-
shewn little inclination to do their own duty to- der worse off—will be drafted away to supply the
"
ticn in which the lines of railway, to which he refers, are at wards the community, and even towards their own increased demand for hands to arise in the manufae-
present. dependents. They point to the lamentable instances turing districts. We shall have the talents of a
We had five reporters present at the meeting of the Church
of defection from the straightforward path of con- score or two of Muggerldges employed in selecting,
Pastoral Aid Society, but in consequence of the accommoda-
tion for them being very unsuitable—the speakers addressing sistency and principle on the part of the lords of the for removal to spinning and weaving paradises,
the meeting right over the reporters heads—we fear the report soil—to votes on Factory bills and Maynooth bills "widows with large families, or orphan children."
will not be found so accurate as we could have wished.
We have received a copy of a paragraph congratulating pew- —to their Poor Law legislation and practice—and the commodity which, according to the amiable
owner' upon the fact, that the trn&-tees of St. Mark's Church then ask the question, " Why should we hurry now suggestion of an eminent whig-radical mill owner
have resolved " upon submitting the incumbency to competi-
tion for the purpose of securing an efficient minister as suc- to the rescue of those who failed to answer our call, in the West Riding, is the most profitable to grind
cessnr to the Rev. Mr. Blacow '' We regret much to see such when objects dear to us were assailed." down into yarns and calicoes. But, then, what will
a course adopted. It is not at all consonant with the princi- Alas, there is but too much reason and justice in , become of the pleasing picture, painted by Sir James
plea of the establishment, or ca:culated to advance the in-
terests of religion, although the selection of a popular' such a mode of arguing. But it must not he in- Graham, with respect to the improved condition of
preacher may possibly improve, for a time, the property of dulged in. It is dangerous. The question at issue the manufacturing operatives, with whose labour
ad tht
e peed w-o
is at all likely w ers. We
too securest)
not thit
) thenk that the mode about to be now with the League is not one of Free Trade only. this pauper supply is to come into competition ?
op
best qualified minister, as many really valuable men would They have never built up their vast fabric of un- " I can very well understand," remarked Sir James,
shrink from any such competition, accompanied, as it possibly constitutional influence for that object alone. The on Tuesday night, " how those working men should
may be. with a personal canvas of the trust( es. It would
be a point of wisdom to re-consider ;he matter IN e have fullest realization of the principle of Free Trade will overtax their industry, and even call upon their
received several communications on this subject, one of not cause the withdrawal from the registries of the wives and daughters to work, that they may obtain
which we insert elsewhere. thousands of votes which they have foisted upon subsistence. Necessity might drive them to such
A correspondent, who we regret has not furnished us with his
name, which compels us to omit materi,l portions of his corn- them, and with which they would control the repre- resources. But if they can understand that by a
munication, conveys to us. the following as the opinions of sentation. Having found out their power, and per- change of your law they may be able, without re-
eminent counsel with respect to the legality of directors of
railways dealing in the shares of the ei.mpanies over which fected their organization and their machinery, they quiring their wives and daughters to work as they
they preside. "It is stated that all purchases made by a di- are not likely to be cajoled into the folly of laying do now, to live in greater comfort than they have ever
rector of a railway, bank or other company, of shares in such them down or of stopping half-way upon the road known a), I have not the smallest doubt that ar-
tery is illegal, and an application to the Court of Chan.
eery wonld compel a restitution of prrfits. Tl,i, opinion is to the achievement of their ulterior objects. We rangements will be made between masters and men
founded upon the fact that ahese directors are only trustees, have therefore seriously to inquire what are those as to the period of labour, and so every ground or
and consequently under ti•ose rules and laws of equity which
govern such parties. No assignee to a bankrupt's estate can objects, pretext for legislative interference will be taken
purchase any of the eftets without going through certain The answer will at once present itself to us when away." We have the greatest doubt of the realize-
forms of publicity, nor can any executor r r guardian buy any we consider who and what are the bulk of the men tion of this delightful consummation. The Corn-
of the property entrusted to his care. Now a director elected ,
by a body of shareh 'lders is a trustee for each and every one of whom the League is composed. We know that missioners of Somerset House will soon daub over
of his constituents, and of every share ; and it is unjust that in religion they are sectarian ; in politics they are the bright sky, which Sir James Graham spreads
he, knowing from his peculiar situation what arrangements
may be making for the sale, lease, or amalgamation of the scarcely a remove from republicanism. In this over the manufacturing elysium, with a few of the
company's property, should avail himself of that information, crusade against the Corn Laws they have exhibited gloomy tints, and introduce a few of the ragged
—withheld, of course, from his principal—and purchase from the bitterest hatred of aristocratical institutions, and and half famished figures of the Goatacre meeting,
him that property."
__ „ no great love for the monarchy itself. What, then, or of the mothers and children who sat huddled to-
-01,131) Etberpool *tanbarD. must be the position of this empire, if we permit gether by the cheerless firesides of their miserable
___ - cottages, whilst their husbands and fathers did the
TUESDAY MORNING, FEB. 17, 1846. nization and strength, and absorbing more and more work of the League by exhibiting their wretched-
of the representation ? In a League parliament— ness to the midnight moon.
We are far from entertaining the absurd notion and how rapidly we are approaching to the return Clever as he undoubtedly is, Mr. Sydney Herbert
that a statesman is not to be allowed to change his of such a parliament the community does not at touched upon dangerous ground when he paraded
opinions without being taunted with unworthy mo- present suspect—we would not give many years' this solitary demonstration of agricultural labourers,
tives. The legislator, as well as the man, has his purchase fora Church establishment, in its integrity, with its " pre-arranged resolutions," in favor of
childhood, his youth, and his mature age; and he or for the security of any of the institutions of the free trade, and the declaration of the speakers that
who can pass through these stages without having country, which have offended ultra-liberalism by " they could not be worse off," in the face of the
his perceptions enlarged and corrected, is little bet- standing in the way of its progress towards supre- hundreds of meetings of the same wretched class,
ter than an idiot. Experience is, indeed, lost upon macy. With such a parliament, running riot with at which their sufferings have been attributed to
the man who, with the realities of life before his the excitement of the novelty of power, we would Boards of Guardians and Assistant Commissioners.
eyes, which prove his early opinions to have been not give much for the prerogative of Royalty itself. Goatacre is dangerously near to Andover, of bone-
based upon a foundation of sand, adheres doggedly We would entreat of the friends of the Constitu- crushing notoriety; and it was rather impolitic
to their advocacy, and even prides himself upon his tion to give this subject their earnest consideration, even to risk suggesting the enquiry, which will be
mingled obstinacy and stupidity. In the man, there- —to be wise in time, and take some vigorous steps made, how far the destitution of the labouring
fore, we can pardon a change from the opinions of in self defence. It cannot surely be that the Con- masses employed in agriculture is attributable to the
the youth. It is a change which not only added servative gentry of England will tamely sit by, and cruel bondage in which they are held by the new
experience hut altered temperament warrants. submit to the domination of any combined and Poor Law; and, moreover, how far the blow levelled
We cannot, however, carry cur tolerance upon irresponsible body, composed of materials so dan- by Sir Robert Peel against the agricultural interests
this point so far as to excuse the glaring apostacy gerous to the security of liberty and property, as is of the kingdom is compatible with the maintenance
which we witness amongst statesmen in the present this Anti-Corn Law League. If such a body is to of that law and its grinding machinery. The British
day; and of which such startling instances have be permitted thus to manufacture qualifications in farmer may, pos-ibly, by increased science and im-
been exhibited in the proceedings of the House of every borough and county, the Conservatives must provements in cultivation, along with reduced rents,
Commons during the past week. It is seldom that see if they cannot better their instructions, and foil be enabled to compete with the foreign grower of
real convictions come so suddenly upon men as to them at their own weapons. corn ; but the British labourer must be fed,—not in
allow of their boxing the compass in so short a Union workhouses, or upon wages regulated by the
period as has elapsed since the Conservative Minis- Mr. Sydney Herbert, who was placed in the cost of workhouse dietaries, but in comfort and
try of Sir Robert Peel—now advocating and intro- ministerial van in the debate upon Mr. Miles's upon sufficient food ;—and when they are promised
ducing ultra free trade measures—were advocates amendment, on Monday night, is evidently destined such improvement of their condition, as the result
of protection to native industry. The change is too to be a trump card in Sir Robert Peel's hand. We of free trade, they will not allow that promise to be
sudden, too violent, to avoid leaving behind its do not argue this from the selection itself, or from broken. A disappointed man, we may remind him,
avowal the suspicion that the abandoned opinion the intuitive perception which the Premier has is a dangerous man.
has never been very firmly entertained. There is ever shewn in detecting the existence of talent, and
too much of strategy about it—something too much we may add pliability, in those around him. We The resolution of the Highway Board on Thurs-
resembling the military manoeuvre of turning the form our conclusion from the speech itself, which day, to negotiate the purchase of the Harrington
guns of a captured stronghold upon the flying and is certainly an able one, and calculated to raise the Watovork's, in addition to the purchase already
defeate 1 foe, whose hands erected it as their defence speaker at once to a very prominent position in the madaillif the Bootle Works, will, we suspect be re-
against aggression, and who looked to reap from it ranks of his party, aaal in the estimation of the garded by the rate-payers with no slight alarm. It
protection, not slaughter. house. The most consummate talent, however, is, no doubt, highly desirable that some strenuous
Besides, we expect to see in the avowal of changed may err at times. Many an excellent advocate and effort should be made to secure for the inhabitants
opinions the semblance, at least, of modesty, and shrewd witness have lost the cause entrusted to an efficient and ample supply of water; and most
regard for appearances. It is not enough for a mi- them by " proving too much " ; and in somewhat desirable it would have been if such effort had been
nister, in whom his fellow countrymen have placed of this position Mr. Sydney Herbert may some day made long ago, before the existing monopolies had
a certain degree of confidence, to state, in brusque find that he has placed himself, when, after addu- grown to their present large extent and value, and
terms, that he has changed his opinions. Men cing, as one of the strongest of his reasons for the task of affording such supply had been placed
want to know the process of that change—when the advocating the repeal of the corn-laws, the wretched in the hands of some of our public bodies. To re-
early faith began to waver, at what time it ceased condition to which the agricultural labourers, for pair the error now, however,—to resolve upon Pur-
a() operate, and how it came at last to cling to the whose protection those laws had been devised, were chases which will require such a serious amount of
point from which, through life, it had turned away at present reduced, he clenched the statement, as to money to be raised and charged upon the rate-
with loathing and horror. Something like this sort their condition, by the following reference to a recent payers—is a matter which calls for very mature
of explanation we looked for, especially from such a meeting in Wiltshire : • consideration, both with respect to the price to be
man as Sir James Graham. Starting, as he did, in "In his own county, a meeting was lately held at night, given, and the mode in which it is to be effected.
early life, from ultra-radicalism, and progressing at a place called Goatacre, which had since been the sub.
In our haste to secure a benefit we may rashly
gradually through moderate whiggism to conserva- ject of much comment. It was very possible, and he
tisrn, there was apparently afforded a guarantee that
thought that it was obvious from the force of the reason- inflict upon the town a permanent burden.
big, that they were not drawn up by working men. This We cannot see, either, that the Highway Board
conviction, on his part, was gradual. The wild meeting, he believed, was pre-arranged and concerted by is the best public body to undertake the manage-
theories of youth were forsaken for more moderate orders ; but he was, in truth, bound to say that the state- ment of these purchases, if determined upon, or
opinions in manhood, and conservative opinions in ments of the working men as to the diffic.ilty with which the carrying on of the works when purchased.
"
mature years. Certainly from such a man w they lived were true. (Hear, hear.)
e were
warranted in expecting something better than the Readily we admit the ability and great experience in
We shall not ask who were the parties to whom
heal affairs of many of the members of that body.
Mr. Sydney Herbert refers.as having. ordered and
meagre and reasonless avowal of change, which isWith Mr. Gladstone, however, we should prefer
preconcerted the meeting in question, and drawn
contained in the following paragraph of his speech seeing the Corporation undertake the supply of the
up the resolutions adopted. Probably it was the
on Tuesday night last : town with water. In their hands there could be no
" I cannot at all blame my noble friend who has just a t k
sat down for the reference he has made to my former meetings in this town. But we may ask the Ho- financial s es,—ne risk of oppreasive rates to
declarations on this subject. I admit that the past de- nourable Gentleman, who appears willing enough outweigh the value of the boon to the rate-payers.
claratious of opinion made by a member of this House, to bring forward the statements of the agricultural The Highway Board has, already, ample work be-
who either leads, or aspires to lead a party, and declara- labourers of Goatacre, "as to the difficulty with fore it, more immediately within its own province,
thins made by a first Minister of the Crown, if at variance
which they lived," as an argument in favour of free in the paving, severing, and efficient cleansing of
with the:course he now adopts, are subjects not unworthy
of reference, and which call for explanation. The lion. trade, if he is willing to carry out that argument to our growing extent of streets and public thorough-
member for Northamptonshire made a direct appeal to its full extent, and especially to its bearing upon fares;
.and what that body ought to stipulate for is
the Government, and challenges us if we had changed another great question connected with
the supply of the privilege of taking, from whatever body may
our opinions, manfully to own it. I answer that challenge. a undertake the supply of water, sufficient for the
food. Is he willing to tell us how much of the
I do frankly avow my change of opinion, and by that destitution proper and effectual discharge of their own duties.
avowal I dispose of all the speeches." (Loud cheers of these miserable agricultural labourers
Before, however, taking any step, we should
from the Opposition, with counter-cheers from the Protec- is attributable to that inhuman law, which delivers
strongly urge the adoption of the suggestion of Mr.
tion benches, rendered inaudible the rest of the sentence. them up as bound and fettered slaves into the hands
Tinge, visa.: that we should first have some cotn-
When a man thus cavalierly " disposes of all) of the farmer and the landowner, by holding up
prehensive report from a competent engineer, as to
speeches" and principles of past years, we are na- before their eyes, as the alternative of refusal to
turally disposed to ask, " when will he begin to be submit to hard toil and insufficient remuneration, the best means of supplying the town with water.
sincere and consistent," and how do we know that the " coarser kind of food " and the equally hard Do not let us now enter into any patchwork scheme,
he is now sincere and not disposed to veer round toil of the Union workhouse ? " They could not when we may hereafter find we might have had a
Perfect and comprehensive scheme for half the
again at the first change of the political wind, or be worse off under any system of corn-laws," was p
money. Perhaps, after all, we may not have to
whatever influence it is which directs his conduct ?" the burthen of the song of dole, uttered to the moon the
Purchase the Water Companies. We cannot see
His own language, in the course of the same night's and the wintry midnight air, by these half-fed and p,
debate, affords us a criterion from which to form half-clothed mockeries of men—these wretched tnat it
.is at all imperative upon us to pay these
ico
our own deductions. In June last, Sir James Gra- caricatures of " a hold peasantry, their country's companies the exorbitant prices to which their stock
ham reminds the house the following were his opi- pride." Will Mr. Sydney Herbert, or any one for of the nos been
i run up, for the right to enjoy, in a town
m importance of Liverpool, an abundant sup-
nions upon the subject of protection : him, inform us how much better off they will be P
"On the occasion when the hon. member for Wolver- made by the measures, which he hints at as afford- ply of one of the cheapest necessaries of life. We
Hampton (Mr. Villiers) moved for going into committee • should, of course, prefer an equitable and ing all that is requisite to place them in that reasona-
onposi-
the corn laws in June last, I said, 'lt is decidedly my . ble agreement with the companies, to any step
opinion, that the prosperity of agriculture must always tion of social comfort, which every accountable •
which could inflict injustice on individuals; but,
depend on the prosperity of the other branches of the being, willing to work, ought to occupy in a civi- ,
native industry of this country, and that the public pros- used and a Christian country ? certainly, we should be sorry to find that the town
perity is on the whole best promoted by giving a fair and We suspect much that the operation of the New taxed pe ebyany ,isto be in rp tuo
uninterrupted current to the natural flow of national in- i gain, such, as it appears to us, would be the purchase
Poor Laws has infinitely more to do with the present
dustry. I will go further, and say, that it is my opinion
degradedsuffering and condition of the agricul-
that, by safe, gradual, and cautious measures, it is ex-1 of these companies at the present price of their
stock. Time for deliberation, however, is what we
i
pedieut to bring our laws, with reference to tie trade in tural labourer than any question of protection or I
contend for. Let us not go too fast.
• fa sa.,aa, ~,;#h Jun enund Ilrinnirdo• 'lnv, _ 'Arc*? ortinn 'Me. wl, nin r‘r fb n ri.ennt;/, nn n _ , now

—the poor unfortunates whom no change can ren-
der worse off—will be drafted away to supply the
increased demand for hands to arise in the manufac-
turing districts. We shall have the talents of a
score or two of Muggeridgts employed in selecting,
for removal to spinning and weaving paradises,
" widows with large families, or orphan children."
the commodity which, according to the amiable
suggestion of an eminent whig-radical mill owner
in the West Riding, is the most profitable to grind
down into yarns and calicoes. But, then, what will
become of the pleasing picture, painted by Sir James
Graham, with respect to the improved condition of
the manufacturing operatives, with whose labour
this pauper supply is to come into competition ?
" I can very welt understand," remarked Sir James,
on Tuesday night, " how those working men should
overtax their industry, and even call upon their
wives and daughters to work, that they may obtain
subsistence. Necessity might drive them to such
resources. But if they can understand that by a
change of your law they may be able, without re-
quiring their wives and daughters to work as they
do now, to live in greater comfort than they have ever
known (.9, I have not the smallest doubt that ar-
rangements will be made between masters and men
as to the period of labour, and so every ground or
pretext for legislative interference will be taken
away." We have the greatest doubt of the realiza-
tion of this delightful consummation. The Com-
missioners of Somerset House will soon daub over
the bright sky, which Sir James Graham spreads
over the manufacturing elysium, with a few of the
gloomy tints, and introduce a few of the ragged
and half famished figures of the Goatacre meeting,
or of the mothers and children who sat huddled to-
gether by the cheerless firesides of their miserable
cottages, whilst their husbands and fathers did the
work of the League by exhibiting their wretched-
ness to the midnight moon.
Clever as he undoubtedly is, Mr. Sydney Herbert
touched upon dangerous ground when he paraded
this solitary demonstration of agricultural labourers,
with its " pre-arranged resolutions," in favor of
free trade, and the declaration of the speakers that
" they could not be worse off," in the face of the
hundreds of meetings of the same wretched class,
at which their sufferings have been attributed to
Boards of Guardians and Assistant Commissioners.
Goatacre is dangerously near to Andover, of bone-
crushing notoriety ; and it was rather impolitic
even to risk suggesting the enquiry, which will be
made, how far the destitution of the labouring
masses employed in agriculture is attributable to the
cruel bondage in which they are held by the new
Poor Law ; and, moreover, how far the blow levelled
by Sir Robert Peel against the agricultural interests
of the kingdom is compatible with the maintenance
of that law and its grinding machinery. The British
farmer may, pos,ibly, by increased science and im-
provements in cultivation, along with reduced rents, I
be enabled to compete with the foreign grower of !
corn ; but the British labourer must be fed,—not in
Union workhouses, or upon wages regulated by the
cost of workhouse dietaries, but in comfort and
upon sufficient food ;—and when they are promised
such improvement of their condition, as the result
of free trade, they will not allow that promise to be
broken. A disappointed man, we may remind him,
is a dangerous man.

We shall not ask .who were the parties to whom
Mr. Sydney Herbert refers as having ordered and
preconcerted the meeting in question, and drawn
up the resolutions adopted. Probably it was the
same party which preconcerted two or three similar
meetings in this town. But we may ask the Ho-
nourable Gentleman, who appears willing enough
to bring forward the statements of the agricultural
labourers of Goatacre, " as to the difficulty with
which they lived," as an argument in favour of free
trade, if lie is willing to carry out that argument to
its full extent, and especially to its bearing upon
another great question connected with the supply of
food. Is he willing to tell us how much of the
destitution of these miserable agricultural labourers
is attributable to that inhuman law, which delivers
them up as bound and fettered slaves into the hands
of the farmer and the landowner, by holding up
before their eyes, as the alternative of refusal to
submit to hard toil and insufficient remuneration,
the " coarser kind of food " and the equally hard
toil of the Union workhouse ? " They could not
be worse off under any system of corn-laws," was
the burthen of the song of dole, uttered to the moon
and the wintry midnight air, by these half-fed and
half-clothed mockeries of men—these wretched
caricatures of " a hold peasantry, their country's
pride." Will Mr. Sydney Herbert, or any one for
him, inform us how much better off they will be
made by the measures, which he hints at as afford-
ing all that is requisite to place them in that posi-
tion of social comfort, which every accountable
being, willing to work, ought to occupy in a civi-
lised and a Christian country?
We suspect much that the operation of the New
Poor Laws has infinitely more to do with the present
degraded and suffering condition of the agricul-
tural labourer than any question of protection or
non-protection. The whole of the despotic ma-
chinery of Somerset House, with its Bastiles and
its dietaries, its cruel and unholy severing of the
most sacred ties of life, as the punishment of po-
verty, disease, or old age—its workhouse tests and
its heart tests—were set up, ostensibly, to raise the
standard of character in the labourer, but, in reality,
to reduce the cost of labour. And admirably it
has served such real object, as the meeting at
Goatacre proved; and ruthlessly it is worked, as
the disgusting revelations of the Andover inquiry
have placed beyond the possibility of dispute. Re-
duce the price of the food of the labourer and his
family you may—give him a bushel of wheat, or a
bushel and a half of oats or rye, in exchange for his
six shillings weekly dole, you may ; but you reduce,
at the same time, the cost of keeping him and them
immured in your pauper prisons. It is the cost of
the " coarser kind of food," to which you submit
him as the punishment of compulsory or wilful
idleness, which is the real test of the price of his
labour out of doors. The new Poor Law is the
screw, whose energetic and heartless application has
brought the poor labourers at Goatacre and else-
where to that desperate condition, in which they
are willing to try any experiment of legislation, or
even of violence,—" for they cannot be worse off
than they are!"

our laws, with reference to tie trade in
corn, into a nearer relation with the sound principles
which regulate our commercial policy with respect to
every other branch of industry."
Clearly, Sir James Graham, whilst uttering this
speech, was paving the way for the vindication of
his present change of opinions. If such references
be all the use of the recora of opinions of public
the pag.'s of Hansard furnish us
such records might be burnt with great ad-
to the national morality. Statesmen could
• " dispose of all their
and we should less ominously be re-
--ity of rendering the text,
" put not your trust ►n princes," into an equally
appropriate one, put no trust in statesmen.

men w

more conveniently

minded of the

The following paragraphs, which we find in the
colums of a local contemporary, suggest matter for
don of that pertion of the com-
munity which is not in name and profession alone,
but in reality, Conservative.
"lip to last Saturday, sufficient transfers of property in
Preston alone had been made to place one thousand addi-
tional free-trade votes on the register. As similar exer-
tions had been made in other places, there is little doubt
but there will be, after the next revision, a majority of
free-trade votes for this division of the county.—Preston
Chronicle.

consul

South Cheshire is safe on the next registry, 726 new
free-trade votes having been secured."
What steps, we ask, are being taken to -neutralise
the effect of these most unconstitutional proceedings
lanufacture of qualifications ? Not
any. We see around us in this great commercial
locality—why should we conceal the fact t—men
whom the drearri of some vast benefit to arise from
the free-trade policy of government has blinded
altogether to the operations by which that policy has
been precipitated. The League they regard merely
as a free-trade "great fact." The organisation
which has broken up the old commercial policy of
the country—which rules supreme in a majority of
our boroughs, and is already stretching out its arms
to grasp our counties—can, they imagine, be carried
to no further end ; but, its ostensible and original
object being achieved, it is to die a natural death.
The Cobdens and Brights are to sink from dema-
gogues into mere calico-printers and cotton-spin-
ners. We are to have a political elysium—no agi-
tation—no difficulty save that of estimating the
hugeness of the tide of prosperity which is advancing
to our shores.

We shall be told, no doubt, that employment will
be rendered more abundant by the measure in pro-
gress. The farmer is to drain more, to pursue an
improved system of husbandry, in order to enable
him to compete with the foreign grower ; to do
this, he must employ more labour on his land,
and hence will arise demand for such labour, and
advanced wages. We believe, firmly, that no such
result can arise, in the agricultural districts at least,
whatever may be the case in the manufacturing dis-
tricts. In the first place, we cannot see how the
farmer is to afford the required outlay of capital ; or
how his landlord, with a reduced rental, is to help
him. And, in the next place, we are reminded by
the speeches and writings of the agricultural advo-
cates of the measure—the model-farm people—that
the secret of improved cultivation is improved ma-
chinery and implements, which are to save human
labour. There will be no increased demand suffi-
cient to advance the rate of wages, or to counte:act
the operation of the new Poor Law,—that pet in-
strument of the landowner, which enables him to
regulate the weekly dole of the labourer by the cost
of that coarser kind of food upon which he can be
supported within the walls of the Union Work-
house. _ _ _ _

Most strongly we would warn every lover of the
Constitution and the monarchy of the danger of
thus allowing themselves to be misled. They do
not, apparently, care to battle very strongly in be-
half of protection to native agriculture. They have
the excuse for their lethargy, that the class most

Another anticipation is doubtless indulged in,
that the surplus labour of the agricultural districts