Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1848-10-13
BRITISH GRIEVANCES

The London Times describes the condition of the
manufacturing districts of England as distressed
and unsettled, and constantly urges the necessity
OF preventive measures against the least Interrupt
ton of the peace, on the ground that those dis
trlcts, besides that they contain half million
Irish, are otherwise sufficiently impregnated with
taste for revolution" There is nothing novel
in this announcement; for discomfort is clamor-
GUS and generation upon generation there in quick
succession, have followed each other to the grave
borne off by constant suffering from intole rable Ia
Dor and insufficient food. At times the fuctua-
lions of trade have reduced the laboring popula-
ton to pittance of wages too scanty for subsis-
lance, and the resource of charity or crime was
the only alternative to starvation Strikes turbu-
lent assemblages and incendiary confla grations
have occurred at frequent intervals and neither
employers nor workmen have felt satisfied or safe
The shifts of individual suffering for relief have
been at times so desperate and dreadful, so inhu-
man and unnatural, to revolt the most marvel
loving credulity. "The hands of the pitiful wo-
men have sodden their own children" CARLYLE
in his Past and Present, mentions the conviction
of father and mother for poisoning three chill
dren successfully, to deraud burial society of
f3 SIS. due on the death of each. This occurred
in 1910, and it is intimated that the case is not
solitary. 1t is notorious that in Ireland during
the past year. the living ate of the flesh of their
dead relatives, for temporary relief from starva-
ton These are extreme inetances but it is diff
fcult TO darken the picture in which is portrayed
the misery of the social condition of half the
population of the British Isles Political agita-
ton derives its vitality from the sense of ceaseless
suffering, that stimulating the patient to relief in
Ireland, demands Repeal in England reform
Repeal of the union IN one country nor uni versal
suffrage and vote by ballot in the other is regard
cd as the remedy, but only adequate means
of securing 1t, through the radical changes which
they may be made to effect The soil of Ireland
is competent to sustain many more than the ex-
listing population, if only its capabilities were de-
veloped; and Its present production in ordinary
years greatly exceeds an ample subsistence for It's
inhabitants. In England too, the supply of all
things is exhuberant, and its wealth greater than
any nation ever had before. The people starve
in the midst of abundance and they attribute this
anomaly to an artificial polity, which causes the
accumulation of wealth in large masses in the
hands of favored individuals, and prevents Its dis
tribution with that approach to equality which
the experience of some other States indicates to
be productive of if not essential to, the general
well being.
France, with less wealth, and much larger
population, is comparatively exempt from pau
persm, especially in her rural districts; and want
in her large cities, is in general the offspring of
al
in his Geographical Dictionary, Marshal vauban
estimated that of the total population of France,
one-tenth was in a state of mendicancy, and five |
of the remaining tenths in a condition but little
above It-an extent of restitution greater than |
that which now exists In Great Britain. And |
this state of things continued, with little aevia-
ton, till the French revolution of 1889 abolished |
prlmogeniture, majorats and entails, and provided
for more general distribution of property, by |
establishing equal laws of inheritance Now, two
thirds of the whole population of France, inclu-
ding the families of the proprietors or twenty
two out of thirty-four millions, are owners of the |
soil; six millions more are interested in property
vested in commerce and in stocks; and the re-
manning six millions alone are dependent solely
on the wages of ordinary laborers In Great Brit
ain and Ireland the landed proprietors with their
families, number only 100000, out of twenty-six
and half millions; and more than half of the
whole population or those countries is dependent
on the scanty wages of agricultural, manufactur-
ing and mental labor, which barely suffice to sus-
tain life under the most favorable circumstances
and when withdrawn in seasons of sickness, or
suspension of work from other unavoidable caus-
es, leave the aborer the sole resource of refuge
from starvation in the work-house or the Jail In |
Great Britain alone. this class comprises eight |
millions, of whom three millions have been at |
times the recipients of public charity and mil
lion and half are public paupers supported at an
annual cost to the State Of thirtyfve millions of
dollars.