, 1875-11-29
THE REVOLT OF TIRE 8ERFB.


THE REVOLT OF TIRE sERFS.
Tho battle between tho SORTS Of England
and their maatcrs, the formers and landlords,
euelel in tho defoat Of tho former. Il hollow
truce exists betw ween thom. Tho Lnbor-l1nion,
which fought the fight of tho agricultural Ii.
borera, Ia split In two, and Is temporarily, if
not permanently, power1ass. Nuittur cf its
two wings expects TO renew thu old tight.
Each will hereafter bend It's otforta to pro-
tnoting emigration,-a hazardous remedy for
hnnle ills. Tie enemy Is by no mems unitul,
either. Tho far,ners aro dissatisfied md
Benretl Tho landlorda-or soma few Of the
wisar among shen--see in tho rebellion Of
tho Berfs the warning finger TINT traces the
"Muno. meme" nrrosa tho monopoly 1and
lnws Of England. Thero Is widespread tiis-
content.
Tho condition Of tho scrfs has some.
what improved. Their nrorago vaeca aro
two sl4iiings, or half q dollar, n
work moro thhn They were threo
yen-s ago, when the rorolt hcgan. What IL
perhaps Of much greater importance, public
nttcl4tion has bocn cn1iel to tho eSis.nnco of
serfslom OH English soil, to the fact that tLo
agricultural 1nborcr, tho direct descendant
and only representative Of tho sturdy yeo-
man who, in the days Of ANAL firms, waa
Eng,nnh's prido mud strength, has sunk to
the level Of the brute, He lives in straw
roofoa, mud-walied hoyels on mud floors. no
and his wifo. THUR swarn,ing children Of
every ago,--ushorcd into tho world by doc.
tor in parish pny, and thus branded rs
pnupors before their eyes open to tho 1ile
tint cusacs the land often two or three
dodgers, all lia in l,enps upon tho coassc atrnw
that III at once carpet md bed in tho one
room the hut contains. Rcducud to liEe liko
pigs. is it any wonder that they crafty their
british passions like pigs? Exceptions there
are, OF course, but this is tho rule. The letters
OF tho correspondents detailed hy the London
paporA to write up tho strike Of 1873 and tho
lockout Of 1874 painted a story Of wretchcd-
1loss that was as frightful rs CAnL HunsRa's
j" Waavers of Silesia," tho picture which
provoked riot In Berlin, when exhibited
tllore, mud which waH shown in the a.t-gal-
lcty Of the Exposition here in 1874. It WAS
not pleasant to learn TINT employees Of Queen
T1cron1A. servants Of monarch who sayes q
fortune from her suporlnous income ovory
year, wora starving and SHINING on wages that
tnado it simply impossible to eacepe pauper-
ism. More delightful, it not moro interest
ing, lettors have beon printed than TINT de-
tniling tho woes Of tho suffering lnborers on
tho santlringAam estate, tho rositlouce Of tho
Prince OF Walea, whose Income is
nearly $4,000 a day. AL together, the
fncts r,neartlled BY tho keen detectives Of the
press told fearful story of mans inl,umanity
to n,an. THAT story has been somewhat
changed, but only little. The 1aboror iB
still scarcely mora than slnve. He has boon
beast Of burden too long to become man
forthwith, oven when his yearly wages is ill.,
creased by the enormous aim Of $50. In too
many caaea, the extra 80 cents n week isspen.
for liquor, md the life shows no change for
the better. There seons, indeed, to be little
1 hopo for tho human cattle who have growll
up under tho conditions Of the past. save
in exceptional cases, they cannot 10 human.
ICED. Tho eHectua1 work must bo done will
tlo next generation. II the children can be
docont1y clothed and fed, aavod from some
Of the moro deadly influences which
hnve poisoned their parents lives, and
/ sent to. school, they will DO something
more than the criminals to whom thoy owe
their existence. But tho most important
change that can bo mada in the intercsts oi
humanity, Of Christianity, Of oommon.senso,
ia thorough reform Of tho land laws. When
tho agricultural laborer owns tic laud he tills,
ho will DO slave no longer. His condition
now Ia perhaps little bottor than that of the