The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-06-02 00:00:00

FOR THE STATESMAN.

TO TILE RIGHT 110XOURABLE LORD STANHOPE.
lit Loon---To. be countenanced by your Lordship
Oh say twcasion l ronci,:e: a Breit honour, and cm
gratibeil by the manly. and humane sentiments
espreesed in your last conouttuieation ; these, together
with the favourable reception you u ere pleased to be-
stow on several opinions of mite, that have beets some
time before the public, induce me more readily to obey
your Lordship's suggestion, in submitting. to you some
obserrations relating to the present state of the Bri-
tish euip:re, which are briefly as follows :
PARV mfrs.—Many are, and others will be ruined by
poor ralcs.
blirticnas ,m—Tbe manufacturer has become a mer-
chant, to get rid of his over-stock, and will at all
times sell an urer stuck at a loss ; consequently the
regular merchants' Toasts are certain, since to meet
the market the prices must be reduced from 2I to 30,
or perhaps 50 per cent., and his risk of being paid fur
Kt articles, even at :he reduced prices, is greatly in-
creased.
Tax WHO:XIALIC Tam Dell nr C II'ITAI --IV:1! be
compelled to .:aline business by tl:e losses he nny,t
sustain in giving cretin. as well as float the value of
his stuck bring so repeatedly reduced.
Wiles-erne ‘LERS OS SMALL t'setrat.---Expe-
_earner more los,es, in proportion, by trusting men of
less capital than the large wholesale dealers do ; and
AN they are frequently obliged to sell, in order to raise
money, great sacrifices must be made to sail an over-
stork in a declining market, in consequence, they must
shortly recur for assistance (as indeed maur do ncw)
to :he parish, to which a few years ago they cheerfully
pia theirrates.
RttrAlL DRAVRIL—In consepterce of want of tie-
eland, together with the low prices, their returns are
b.t..ome very small; many of the articles in which they
sit al being sold by hawkers, who are employed by the
-manufacturer to dispose of his over-stock, so that the
goods go directly from the manufacturer into the
• hands of the consnmer, through the single agency of
a hawker ; and the whole of the intermediate parties,
such as warehousemen. agents, wholesale dealers of
large capital, wholesale dealers of small capital, and
retail dealers, are thus left to live with their fatuilies
on their property, or recur to the parish for support.
HAWKERS—Are at present jus' able to 11-
selling the over-stocks of the manufacturer left from
ti.e market, to the injury of all parties concerned ; and
when the public and consumers are supplied in this
way, how are the intermediate classes of wholesale
sod retail dealers to pay the expenses of their esta•
bilshments
LARGR MANUFACTTRRIIII, WItO ARI MIN OF CAFI•
accordifigly decline business, os remote to
another tountrv, since in this they cannot carry it on
t advantage, and of course will not, when it is evident
that they must lose by so doing.
SMALL MAReFACTURSRA or LITTLE OR KO CAPITAL

—Must now part with their goods at whatever price • animosities, and open a p °soca of leer-s'in' happi- 1
they can get, to factors and jobbers, who are compelled 1 ness and freedom. it is vet in their rower, hut it may'
tr take every advantage, in order to protect themselves, ' soon be too late, if a contrary course be taken. or even
owing is the rapid fall goods are daily experientiag, if that which has been a means of our aggrandisemegt
in sostempiesee of the introdectios of asechasical be further porseed to the extreme, mob as remoltog I
power, among which screws and dies are particularly cottage., lying waste the vast domains of ththeeeii-;
deetractire in the iron trade. . tary hail-owner, and arowing the people out if cm- I
WOILICKEIP or Mao. vr•rrcnsas —Workhouses are , ployinent. Such prcc.e.iings exhibit the legible fee-
sow full of these ; and a system of receiving a part of tarts of a declining nation. As Ple.vfair and other
their wages from the masters, and a part from the pa- , writers tell us, before the western empire fell, pro-
rid, is increasing to an alarming extent. This erten: ; peaty was all in the hands of a few ; the great macs of,
is so degrading to the-minds of those who are thus , the people was wretche•ily poor, mutinous, and idle ;1
paid, that it accelerates the ruin of an immense pro- 1 the land was in possession of men who had acquired!
portion of the community. ' , larde in: ow 'hod t ham cultivation Was no ob-
trammel Lsecicasas—Receive their wages in the jest. The rev noes State were waged. on the
some way. and indeed to a greater extent than those of soldiers, on shilts to p the people occuilled. and
the preceding class. Instead of living in the farmer's in the purchase'Of co brought to Rome hell a dis. I
house, as formerly, being his servaut at all hours, : tame. The was so great, Ito-1
/rid's, themselves on the good order and clean mils inners rbarisias, and t they
as of their own moos, and of their mot be weriss or the no-
cattle soder their rare, and, having their li des still attachment to tone-!
eided for them, 'being enabled to save a part try, bet they had
viitaiii
lib, I.ower, nor who- it
wawa. as a provisioa foe old age,th of against the time i y: In this mistrals of things the poor, for !
thopusarrlml sad hada family, they are now engaged ' the sake of protection, became a sort of partissis or!
ea teak wages and bout, of service, and care' very pensioners of the rich, trboin they were ready to serve
Jill* about their roaster's illneftst, or the condition of on all occasions, so that, except in a few forms. there
Sit deale seder their tare. When cases of necessity was no trace left of the institutions that had raised the
fit their aetendance happen met of the raglan hours, wame of Rome, and made the other nations of the
they are seldom to be found ; and being driven to re- "world tremble at her nod.
siA is the alehouse for 'their food, they there speed " What's Rome to met What More Ito do there?
every Earthen of their earnings. rail at their masters I. mho can neither lie, nor falsely swear."
as ants, and acquire habits of profligacy and dis-
s
i
.i while, the roars orderly of them, to obtain
74.1%0f comfort, and to have a home to which Notwithstanding the unavoidable weight of taxation,
S
it Is vet a trifle compared with the ghastly strides of
pauperism, infidelity, and their common effeet—setli-
SMOIMO, at the close of the day's labour, are ha-
Zi
to early and hnprovideot marriage, and rely on thief. Employment for the people, therefore, is the
only sovereign antidote for all these evils ; and the
del parish to support their families. culture of the soil is the only employment that can
Lass-owronts aim Stoce-oirsizaz—Will be left to be obtained at the present time. This is, also, the
pettpite taxes and feed the people. only means of paying the taxes, which may thus be
these miseries, as well as many others, are occasion- effected with comparative ease, and certainly with
el Ty mitres causes, the last of which, neer, admits content.
of as legislative romody—l mean the employment of Many gentlemen expect too much from Princes and
oradleinery—thorigh the fasts are anquestlonable, that Ministers of State; and, when they find themselves
thi.essohltmerin parent in the United Jilogskon is disappoiuted, are apt to attach blame very unjustly to
eat le of nesaufacturing from ten to bftees times the men in ogre, for not doing that which Maly fillips*
..Mitt of pods required ; and many of the meths- in their power to aceeinplish. Notwithstandivgg the
alma powers are so portable, that they may easily be public clamour against such men, I finely bellive the
taltilltio another douotry, where free nits or paupers Ml:litters who have in succession directed the affairs
airtwork elms, of this country for many years acted conscientiouallr,
r'ormerly it required men of ingenuity to make a in the way that they believed would best accord with
key, as well as many other articles which the Eng- the wishes of the people and the general good. Bet
Lib were famed for maoufactaring ; and thisincenuity the Kipg and his Ministers cannot -do every thing,
was obtained by men who had served seven years ap- I though their approbation, countenance, and encoutage-
renekeship Jo learn the art. Allong as England malt, in their official and private capacities, from the
eat on io dair way„ aid manufacturing superior ar intluitice of other and the superior information they an
thailil/2 she bad the trade; bust now the art can be expeoted to possess, are calculated to be highly ad-
curled in the woisicott pocket, in Ilse shops of ot.lk vantagenus, by inducing other. to think and act as
ce terms. But the British people mast be fed; aid they approve; and the cultivation of the waste lands
and ibis ought certainly to bd•atiempted by tbd host of the country by cottage Aseitodiedry could not fall to
24444 meens.-.-rthe distillation of the soil—which be advantageous.
will prodime both health and happiness, instead of While the cloud that hangs over our native land
misery med., waist, now so prevalent through the darkens every poiqt of the political hemispiters--4116
ivh**gdOtai. 'the cry of distrees hat for some the sun of British splendour appear; to dip and dwiisdk
time6w so Juird, aid the words " relief of the poor." into a point below the horison, the voice of deposed
so such used. AlR:ibis is almost become a fashion- years returns in solemn admonition upon us; when hit
Mtopic of convereaffea; but then tile fashion is to glory is departed. and kw history to be added to the
dal for some ipeeilifrc isliot ; and se stoner it airy plan catalogue bf mighty empires, which exhibit the insta-
eowneil thee ,a :oar} is et . work to overture it. Why of all human grandeur; of empires which. after
ilav,toat.boootowt..isearat proper pleas are well knows, they rose by virtue to be the admiration of the woad,.
slid hot tikoiliolilielly render them doubtful to mike sunk by corruption alto obscurity, tke gbnagmkau et