Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-09-03

of this famine and emigration. These can
only be diseased social aud political sys-
TEN; and such Mr.. Allison represents
them to be. But while he attributes them
to free trade,we trace them deeper into the
fabric of society, though we admit that
free trade may have assisted, perhaps, to
dcreiope them prematurely. 1t is the un
equal distribution of the soil which now in
England, as of old in Rome, is bringing
on national decay and death.
There is a feature of this decline in pop
ulalion even more eloquent of ruin than
the general fact. The falling off is princi-
pally in the rural districts. All history
teaches that, when a country is sinking,
the inhabitants decrease in the agricultural
portions first. Long after the plains of
Italy had become desolatc, and when deg
radiation and decay were rapidly overtaking
he land, the cities continued to flourish
Such is the condition of affairs in Great
E-i'ain now. In ten years London has
> creased 417,I12 souls, Glasgow GO, III
and Dublin %, ,124. During the same
period all the Irish counties have sunk in
population. Cork, for instance, has lost
2222 900; Galway, 124 900; Mayo, Ia
600; and others in proportion. The cities,
in fact, have grown at the expense of the
country; yet, with this, notwithstanding,
there has been general decline. Starving
thousands, evictcd from their fields, or
flying from decaying land, have crowded
into the towns, in hopes there to obtain
livelihood, while still other thousands,
abandoning the rural districts for similar
reasons, have emigrated to Canada, Aus
trala, or the United States. How radi-
cally wrong must be the social and politi-
cal condition of a nation which thus COM
pels annual crowds of its people to seek
livelihood in other lands, while a sufi-
cheney Of soil remains at home for the sup
port of all, if it was but divided fairly
The decay of declining kingdom, We
have said, is first perccptible iii the rural
districts; but it soon makes its appear
ances also in the cities. The ruin spreads
from agriculture to commerce, from COM
mcrce to manufactures, and so through
the entire commonwealth. In England
the cancer has already extended from
farming to other pursuits. In lS43 the |
property assessed for trades and professions
amounted to sixty-threc million pounds;
in 1913 it had fallen to sixty millions
and IN 1850 it had still further declined to
fifty-five millions: thus showing decrease
of nine millions, or fourteen per cent, in
the short space of seven years. 1t is es-
timated that the decline will be half mil
lion more for 1851 In the face of this
startling fact who can doubt that England
is declining? When a nation loses both
in population and in wealth, her days may
be considered numbered. nor can she ar
rest speedy death unless she checks the de-
cline VIII England do this? We fear
not The article before US, indeed, is proof
TO the contrary. While her great men, on
one side, maintain that free trade is the
cause of her decay, and, on the other, that
protection is, there can be but little chance
Of the true evil, the unequal distribution
Of the soil, being discovered and remedicd. |
In every way, indeed, England appears
to be declining. Crime is frightfully on
the increase. The commitments for 1910. |
for example, were 81, ,s52, while for 1915 |
they were 74,l62. Pauperi.m, also, is
growing. In 1S40 the poor rates were, in
round numbers, four millions and a half
pounds; in ls45, they were five millions
and half This was the increase in mon
ey value, but as compared with the price
of wheat, the great agricultural staple of
the kingdom, the increase was far more
terrible; for, while 1,33G,340 quarters of
wheat would have paid the poor rate of
1910, it required, in consequence Of the
decline in the price Of wheat, 2,4i3, ,l66
.aarters to discharge the poor rate of 1915.
This TOO in the face of decreased produc-
ton of that staple. When nation thus
increases in pauperism, and at the same
time diminishes the resources of the agri-
cultural population, on whom, after all,
the chief burdens of the state fall, it needs
no prophetic tongue to foretell her speedy !
decay.
Meantime too, the imports of England
increase faster than her exports. The lat !
ter have risen from fiftyone millions to
sixtX-fve in ten years; the former have
swelled from sixty-four millions to one |
hundred and three in the same interval. |
Truly, Great Britain, once the mistress of
the world, has seen her palmiest days
Philad. Ball.tn.
According to the Medical Times. there