Litchfield enquirer., 1842-11-03
MIR. COLBY'S ADDRESS, BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE.
 (ConCludod

Allow me to close this Scries of illustration ' by rcfcrence to that country. with whici our acquaintance iS most intimate, and whose institutions we best unhers:and-onr Father
 land. Ot all lands, it presents the mos . striking spectacle ofthe unequal t!istrihutnI ofpfoiS rty. This inequality owes iis origin
 to the t"ndal system, but its perpetuation and continuance to her present Iepislation and
 policy. The eX,remts of wealth and power. ty are to he found in England in tue most appaiTng contrast. We see on the one hand. an hereditary nobiliry-lhe law of primo. genture, by which the eldest son succeeds to the titles and estates of his ancestors-the law at entail, by means of which vast estates are locked up md perpetuated in the hands of single individual from generation to se. neration, and from age to age. Only one. sixth of the population of England are the proprietors to the soil, and to the rights and interests of these proprietors every thing oends and gives way, as we may see in their corn laws |; or to state the fact more aeon. rately, and in the words of Allison, the whole proprietors, who live on the fruits of inc soil in Great Britain and Ireland at this moment. probably do not amount to 3OO.OGO, while above three million heads of families, and fifteen millions of persons. depednent on their | labor, subsist on the acGges they receive.- Another writer remarks that, {" in the road which the English laborer must travel. the FOOT House IS the last stage on his way to the grave" To this add inc startling fac, that the annual income of some nobjemen amounts to at least $30O,0OO. This terrible system IS sustained by the potent authority of law, by close confederacy ot those who are alone benefited by its preservation, and by the whole influence of strong govern ment, Should we feel single emotion of surprise therefore, when we hear of riots, mobs, burnings, tumults, disturbances in this rich and fertile island! The few cannot be thus exalted and privileged and protected, put at the expense of many, and it is not to De wondered at that they should, in mere desperation, display their disquietude in acts or violence: As one Illustration of the rigid tenacity with which they cling to inc most odious laws if they have the charm of anti quity. it may be mentioned, that it was long the law of England. thatth land Of a person dying could not be taken from his heir to pay his simple contract debts, and that the | perscvering efforts ot Sir Samuel Romilly to alter the law on this subject, were defeated again and again in the House of Lords. And the measure was carried at last only by an adroit legislative ruse de guerre; by u bill subjccting the lands of tradesmen to be thus | taken. which passed without objection, and 1 It was afterwards extended to other persons. Such IS brief sketch of the condition of tho two great classes into which society is divided. in some of the principal countries of the Old World. It requires but a slight knowledge of human nature to assure us that there neither is nor can he any genuine sympathy between them. And when as. sert that " the former history of the world is chiefly occupied with the struggles of Free dom against Bondage, the efforts of Labori. ous Industry to emancipate itself from the yoke of Aristocratic Power," employ only the language of a most enlightened and phi. losophic historian of the present day, Allison
 What are the glittering pages of I.ivy, for the most part, but vivid records of bitter feuds between the Patricans and Plebians- | of tumults, instructions, secessions, so yio
 lent that they were only appeased, nt times, by the fact that the enemy were assaulting 1 their gates 's' |S
 Every country in Europe has been witness 10 frequent popular outbreaks, because of intolerablc expressions. France saw what desperate men would do in the war of the Jacquerie-and she felt. at later day, that mighty wrongs were revenged by mighty crimes. In England the much.ridicued in- surrectiOn of Wat Tyler-in Germany. the war of the Peasantry under the gallant Phil ip Van Artavete--in Spain that of the Com. muneros were only the legitimate result of an unnatural policy. Wherever such mon. strous inequalities are created and fostered by law, there must in the nature of things be deep-seated, irreconcileabie hostility between tho privileged and the unprivileged classes. It may be- smothered for time, like volcanic fires-it may be kept down by the tremendous machinery of courts and jails, by armies of police officers and regi
 ments of horse guards, but the feeling exists and will speak out with startling distinct ness whenever and wherever it finds oppor- tunity. Imagine to yourselves an obscure citizen, who casts stolen glance upon his starving wife and children, as he goes abroad to seek iU0rk-" the most pitiable spectacle under the sun"-meetjng the coroneted cha. riot of some hereditary Noble, and his train ttendant-distinguishe for nothing but his wealth, his extravagance and his vices. He is gaunt with famine--his sinews are har- dened by toil and exposure-hs heart is scared by sufferiDg-.he feels that he is doom- ed to a whole eternity of bondage, and he mutters 10 himself, "His wealth and my poverty are the results of unjust laws" He is a ripe and ready instrument for revolu tion and mischief. And 10000 such men are in the hearr of every European kingdom. and their ceaseless agitations are the un- quiet heavings of the ocean--the cry ot their children the wall of the sea-hird-that fore. tel the coming storm. .7,, ... .,,a. .--
 It has given me no pleasure thus to speak of the condition and institutions of the Old | World. Nor has ii been done in spirit Of osieniatious pride. to which, it is said, we Americans are prone, but for the purpose of better understanding our own, by making a just comparison between them. But, as n nhilauthrOpiSf if gives me m Dni,, to for.sea