The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-06-11 00:00:00

. •

man is
ftearak
itniton
firnomthesopmroepwehr property
tohfeyeydeesery
g ape;
firstin%ih.nj point
caTots dflefrti eh:ait.thereto,
- o.e.
rve not to lose, and gir
ing to others who havens title to the
td Poor-rates has been, and properly is, always COeon:
,ddreuerenetatsinfltrsnodmcalculations,
ofafarsami ilst
pwarolisoreh,oruitnty
the amount of these rates; and lands sell for more or
fewer years' purchase, according to their respeedee
assessments to the poor. The landed, the mining, mkt
the manufacturing property of Ragland, has sysemed
its present shape, and form, and value, conjointly With
the spirit of the present laws of settlement, tad hat
been as it were consolidated therewith If, as toe
reallily admitted, these laws have interfered with the
rights of the poor, and limited the sphere of their et.
'nista., and rontrouled, ant/ perhaps reduced, the valor
of their labour, these are only pnrtions of that gale
system which, restricting the British fanner is the %ale
of part of his produce, sacrifices the interests of the
public to mete him amends by corn-laws and reale.
aerating duties. Through this miserable vacillating
policy, the landed interests of the country have been
defrasded of many millions of money, by the row
prohibition of markets for their wool out of Great
Britain, till the discouragement has operated to render
Great Britain herselfdepead an t os other countries for a
supply of the finer sorts of wool. The trade aad ma.
meree, the property of the country, are built op and
fenced round with restrictions, and monopolies, and
grants ; take away the Thole--estab:isli an on the
broad, liheral, and unira:agnablet principle of freedom
of trade, and reduce the charges on labour and property
in this country, on the part of the Government, tea
fair anti relative proportion to what they are in other
countries—remove, also, all restrictions as to the w.
dement of the poor, which, tinder such circumstance%
will, like every thing else, then, but not Ilefure, find its
natural and proper level. But, attar, respect the
present laws and safe-guards of property,—sed et
they are.

It is well known that the present state of the cotton,
the woollen, the iron, and the hosiery
and yet, according
no feelings tehatever of exultation ; trades, justifies
stoadtdbleedprworitihrs iothnes ofaft
ut
rhei
%M. i
n 1 it,eNtahnerose
°trite to
portionboef
their workmen who, starving perhaps in distant pa-
rirescheeivse,
ilit,araendhet eemte
pfuloreysedin, inoandrellorpegrbedmannidtfedinie,sltiyhellthe
proprietors of these manufactories. Is it fair, is it
reasonable, is it just, to fix all these aliens upon them
for a maintenance, when the manufaczerers are so de.
pressed that they cannot find them wo:ls, and are is.
capacitated from paying them wages ? It is only obis
distressed, that the manufacturing and mitring parish.,
and great and populous towns, cannot employ the
workmen, and enable them to maintain their familia;
and this is precisely the period sagaciously piteind
upon by the provisions of ..hr. Scarlett's Bill, forme
thorising the a orkmen and their families to claims,
be maintained, at a time wisest work cannot be afforded
them. This is nothing less than rank injustice; nee
let cant or hypocrisy succeed in representing this as a
boon to the poor. Whet, is it a privilege to be axed
on an exhausted, ruined parish ? Is it an admire,
to the poor to remain congregated together in maki-
, tides, infinitely disproportioned to the ability of the
parish which is to provide for them ? Have we not,
in times not long past, seen what misery has beta ta-
ilored in Wain, parishes, by that portios of their poor
who are eati.led ender the existing laws? Rad the
other portion, which war then departed, and scattered
about throughout a hundred parishes, where compara-
tively there was a little to complain of, been also sad-
dled upon the parishes of their occasional residue',
must not misery' lave become starvation, and extreme
distress have urged on to acts of desperation and blood-
shed ? And yet this is the privilege which, at the
expense of every principle of justice, the present Bill
would concede to the poor!
The Select Committee of the House of Commies,
which appears to be favourably entertaining Mr. Sur-
lett's Bill, in its Report on the Poor-laws, selects, as
an awful instance of distress, the case of the parish of
Wombridge, in which the Report states that "the
annnal calor of land, mihes,and houses, is not srlitiott
to maintain Ms attencrow3 and increasing poor, ern if
Me sante were to Ge eel free of rent !'' And yet it boa
touch parishes ?Ir. Scarlett's Bill would fix multitudes
of poor in adt:ition ! In roe county of B.ccon, the
Parish of Valnor joins to that of Merthyr Tvdvil, is
Ulamorgaashire ; seine thousands of the workmen em-
ployed in s)e great iron works at Merthyr, live in the
perish of Vai nor, am! yet under Mr. Scarlett's Bill these
thousands wotid be entitled to claim support Iron the
pat ish of Vainor, the whole rental of which would sot
maintain half the number, in case of the iron mil
failing in Merthyr ! Thus it is when people became
entangled in legal or political sophistries! and this.
if the people were yet tamed sufficiently to hear it, art
the property, the comfort, and the tranquillity.'
country to be sported with!
But the alarm is taken; the people of this coati,
are not quite hesotted ; the middle ranks begie to It*
and to feel the near approach of the ruin, winch, Fl-
aw,: the system that alone has rendered the Poor-
laws offensive, or made the Poor-rates burdensome.
will as infallibly involve them in, as it has already
crewed two millions and a half of paolgesfte them to
maintain. Let tAe cause therefwe be removed, and
eke effect will cease. The guardians of the . t
Birmieghata and other places bare already petitioned
against the self-called • Poor-law &modisteat Bill''
and many great towns, and cities, and manufacturing
districts, are, we understand, preparing so to do
What a situation, as to poor-rates, would Birnategb.r.
and Bristol, and a great portion of the country. be
,s ill
further reduced to, were this Rill to become law !'

.....-. ---
HORTICULTCRAL Sovix.r ise Anniversary nil"
ser of this Society wat held at Willis's Rooms, hi'
street, St. Jv
anses's-stoare, on Tuesday last. A awl
splendid Dessert, probably the finest that bad ever
been collected together at so early a season. was ce-
tributeti by Fellows of the Society and others ; it vt:.s
exhibited in • separate room previous to the dinscr.
Resid:-. the fruits were yttrium, kinds of are regetat:ts
of great merit. At six o'clo.-k, upwards of I till No-
blemen and 4.lentlemen sat down to dinner. after the
cloth was removed, "the King., the Patron of theSo-
atetYvu " the Royal Family," " the Royal Society and
its President," "the Unstrap Society and its ilwi*e
dent," with various other appropriate toasts
Jishro•
. wer
dreuk. The Dessert consisted of shore 200
170 of which were forced fruit, of the greatest delicacy.