The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1853-12-29
Westerly, Dece mber 20, 1853.
EnglaMd's Slaves.

We have been deeply Interested
painfully interested-in the perusal of
Cobden's " White Slaves of England"
published by Derby & Miller, Auburn,
N. Y. Having been accustomed to
hear it reiterated, and to believe the SEN
timcnt Of Cowper, that
90 Slaves cannot breathe in England; if
their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are
Free"
as true, we have always thought, with
Wesley, that American slavery was the
" vilest that ever saw the sun - but
admitting this book to be true picture
Of the horrors Of Slavery in the British
mines, Slavery in the British Factories,
Slavery in the British Workshops,
Slavery in the British Naval Service,
Irish Slavery, Coolie Slavery in the
British Colonies, and Slavery in British
India-and as it is corroborated by doc
umentary evidence from British author
tiles, we see no reason to disbelleve it.,
unless it be on account Of the inhumanity
and oppression set forth therein, and
even that is too well substantated for
US to doubt i've must confess that we
do not see but English Slavery is quite
as bad if not worse than American
Slavery. We would not, by any man
ncr of means, be understood as taking
the ground Of apologists for American
Slavery. Not that we hate American
Slavery less, for having read this book,
but that we hate the British system of
slavery more.
The landed proprictors of the United
Kingdom constitute an extremely small
proportion of the whole population, and
the existing laws of entail and primogen-
iture has Il tendency to reduce even that
small number. AS the population in
creases, the landed proprietors decrease.
According to McCullock, there arc over
1900, 600 acres of land in the United
Kingdom. The number of proprietors
of all this land is about 30, 900, while the
whole population numbers over 2S ,oo0,-
900. What a tremendous minority
own not foot of soil, and never can
Rev. Henry Karsley, speaking of Eng
land, says that in that country, in 1910,
there were go, 900 freehold estates, in
the hands of 100000 different families /;
and that in 1919, the whole of the lands
Of England were concentrated in the
hands of only $4,000 proprietors This
shows conclusively that the assertion Of
the LOadon Times is but too true
Once a peasant in England, and the
man must remain peasant forever )
and unless he will consent to tear him
self from his relatives, friends and early
associates and either transplant himsel
into a town or into distant colony, h,
has no chance of improving his condition
in the world. Mr.. John Fox, medica
officer of the Cerne Union, in Dorset
shire gives the following account of th'
dwellings of the agricultural laborers -
Most of the cottages are of the wors
description some mere mud novels, an,
situated in low and damp places, will
cesspools or accumulations of filth clos,
to the doors. The mud floors of man
> are much below the level of the road
and, in wet seasons, are little better thar
so much clay. In many ofthe cottages
the beds stood on the ground floor, whicI
was damp three parts of the year
scarcely one had fireplace in the bed
room and one had single small pam
of glass stuck in the mud wall as its onl
window. Persons living in such cot
tages are generally very poor, yer.
dirty, and usually IN rags, living almos
wholly on bread and potatoes, scarcel
ever tasting any animal food, and con
sequently, highly susceptible of disease
and very unable to contend with it,"
The Morning ChrOnicle of November
ls49, said of the cottages at Southleigh
Devon
zone house, which our correspondent
visited was almost a ruin. 1t had con
tinued in that state for ten years. Th
floor was of mud, dipping near the fire
place into deep hollow, which was cor