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ASOTHEK "PLEA TOU THE P00B."
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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TO MY UNREPRESENTED BRETHREN IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND . Lancaster Castle , Angust loth , ISil . Mt DEjiE Fbiesds , —I am invited to meet a great many friends in England and Scotland after my liberation ; that is to aay ,-after the 24 th of September—the tlay on which my term of eighteen months' imprison-JEBent expires . In tome places I am Invited to public -dinners ; in others , to soirees , or tea-parties ; aad in several places , it is intended ias I atn informed ; to honour me with nhat are called " Demonstrations ; " that is , jvoeecaona or public entries , preceded by bands of music , and ¦ with the usual accampaniinenU of flugs , tyinpw , portraits , mottos , dee . < tc Now , my friends , it is to this latter point , I wish to draw your attention—I mean the demonstrations and the public dinners .
Deuonstrations and public dinners are Tery costly things , especially the former . They are also , in my opinion , ( unless on great occasions ) ,. xezj unnecessary acd useless things . The late demonstrations in Manchester , Dundee , Glasgow , and many other places coat , on sa average , more than forty guineas each . ' Some of tite Kersal-moor and Peep-green demonstrations cost one hundred guineas and upwards . If all the money that his been expended upon demonstrations since the movement began in 1838 , were now forthcoming for useful and practical purposes , it would nuke a good lound sum ! The wages , that -workpeople have lost ttoough attending demonstrations would make a still larger sum ; and \ he largest of all would be the sum cf what workmen have lost through dismissal" or loss of
employment consequent upon tatii attending , demonstrations . Fifteen poor fellows lost their employment altogether , for attending a demonstration once given to me by my warm-hearted constituents in Leigh , Cbowbent , < fcc . I was taken by surprise on that © eeasioa , cot having tad the remotest intelligence of what was to occur , until on my approach to Leigh , I saw half a mile of a procession marching ont to meet me . My friends in Leigh ¦ win remember how grieved I was , at what they intended for my gratification , and what too many others would be bnt too prond to witness . Bat the sequel prt-Ted I ¦ was right . When I henrd , on the following day , that fifteen poor fellows had been turned off by their ,
employers , I cursed myself for baring entered the town , and I made a solemn tow never again to have a demonstration poi up for me , if I could prevent it , until the time should come when the people , after obtaining some signal victory over thtir oppressors , -might be able to attend demonstrations without entailing upon themselves the harrowing consequence of seeing their wives ana children without bread . To that vow—made though it was in the bitterness of spiril—I hare ever since religiously adhered . I have never allowed any demonstration to take place for me that I possibly ceuid prevent , and , with Gad ' s blessing , I never will , until either tyranny has ceased to live amongst us , or 1 ha ? e ceased to live ay self .
I do , therefore , most earnestly intreat of you , my friends , not to think of demonstrations so far as I am concerned . Di what you Vie in respect of Mr . O'Connor And others : it is your right ; and if you and they are satisfied , no other party has a right to find fault . I am not one of those starched persanages who object u > demonstrations in honour of others , because 1 decline them for myself , or who would apply degrading nicknames to any form of procedure , or modus operandi , fey which the people may choose to give public expressien to their feelings , and to vent their honest enthusiasm . It is your right to choose youx own mode of doing ioDoar to tbees to -whom you think honour ie due ; and if the persons so honoured are consenting parties to , sod satisfied with , what you do , it is only envy oi
impudence that would presume to call into question your act I may think demonstrations , in certiin cases , to be " foolish and vain displays , " but others may think differently . In all such cases , it is for the people , and those they honour , and for them only , to decide . J claim no right whatever to mate suggestions , pro or eon , as regards demonstrations got up for others . My objections apply exclusively t © those intended for myself : I am , by constitution and temperament , ¦ jusnt to address large open-air meetings . Othtr people are not I consider that the expence of demonstrations , and the losses in wages and employment which they invariably cause , are seldom compensated for , by any eBeets they produce . Others think d ; fferently . I am of opinion that up to this moment , we have not obtained a single victory over our enemies , but
on the contrary , have Buffered many and grievous reverses through the folly and treachery of leaders in on * own party , —and holding this opinion , I cannot , and will not , be a consenting party to processions and " triusiph&l" entries , with bands playing " See the conquering hero comes , " &c—all of which—in the ease of a beaten man like me—I should consider io be so much Tsm-foolery , or something werse . If I eonld bring myself to consent to a public oration anywhere , it would be in bonnie Newcastle , whare something like a victory has been obtained in connection with my name . Bat- even there I shall decline every thing of the kind , until I see ^ rhether the victory can be turned to a useful aecouiit-On these and similar points , other persons , 1 &in aware , hold very different opinions from mine . They consider £ h ° ca . nKA of nhArtism to have had little else than
a succession of triumphs frcm the commencement . Kay , they actually regard the result of the late general election as a triumph for the people , "Well , let them try the cherished conviction . Such persjns can have none of my objections to triumphal demonstrations .. I prefer Eoirees to public dinners , because thty are lees expensive , interfere less with working hours , and above all , beciuse working men may more conveniently take their wives and sisters to soirees than to public dinners . I do , therefore , my friends , once more urgently request of yon lo get np no demonstrations or public dinners , but aa many soirees as yon like for Tour ' B , sincerely , J . iirzs B O'Bbies .
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TO THE HONOURABLE AND REVEREND BABTI 3 T NOEL , MINISTER OP ST . JOHN'S CHAPEL , BEDFORD ROW .
Sir , —I wish I had the hanour of being personally acquainted with you . I wish very much indeed that I n » d . i wish it , becauss I could then be the better judge whether I should deal with your fallacies as the goodnatured whimsy of a good-natured man , or as the subtle pleading of an interested advocate . However as I have not the honour of being personally acquainted with you , I must deal with your assertions and conclusions as I find them in your pamphlet , very whimsically entitled
" A PLEA FOB . THE POOR . " In a postscript to my last letter to the Irish landlords , I gave an extract from your pamphlet , as I found it in the Morning Chronicle ; and having read a great many highly complimentary comments npon your work in the two Morning and Evening " anti-monopolist ' 1 papeia , &b they very humorously call themselves , I was anxious to discover whether or not jndlcions and fair selections had been made by the commentators from your text We barristers hold , and the law of evidence holds , that if one portion cf a letter be put in evidence ,
the parties affected by it may insist upon all being read ; and , again , that the best evidence which can be pracured should be procured . Upon those rules of practice and principles of the law of evidence , I ordered your pamphlet I have read it ; and so far from finding any qualification of the extracted parts in the text , I find that the scribes have , as is their custom , withheld those very portions which , if perused by a common-sense hand-loom weaver of eighteen years of age , must haveindnedd him to say , if there is no better advocate to support
"A PLEA FOR THE POOR , " "Preserve us from our friends ! " for , verily we * ihn }] periah under their tender mercies . ' Now , the passage of all others which struck me as being the most monstrous , appears to have gained for you the highest amount of Editorial praise . I quote it agiin . Here it is — " There is an cpinion sometimes expressed by well meaning persons , that we ought to keep np the agricultural population , and prevent the multiplication of great manufacturing towns , with all their disagreeable
accompaniments of dirt and smoke and noisa But this opinion is surely thoughtless . The land is already so thoroughly cultivated that while the number of families in Great Britain employed in agriculture in lssi was 978 , 656 , the number employed in the same manner in 1 S 31 was reduced to 961 , 134 . The hind , therefore , cannot employ the additional population ; and to endeavour to prevent multiplication of towns and the extension of manufactures , is to endeavour to secure that the whole a 3 ditional population of Great Britain and Ireland should be without employment and without food , "
Hon . and Rev . Sir , selecting this single passage , ;' so conclusive in itself ) for comment , would , in any case , be perfectly justifiable ; but when I find in many other parta ot your pamphlet rerj positive reasoning in aid of the above assertion ; and when I further find you selecting all the serviceable bits from the works , the letters , and even from the rambling speeches of others , in Eupport of this monstrous assertion , I am on those grounds still fur ther justified in dealing with it as your most important position , and one which you appear resolutely determined to maintain . If then I can successfully drive you from your strongest fastness , I shall have but little difficulty in convincing you of the hopelessness of an attempt to sustain your battle upon open ground .
Rev . Sir , when I read the extract npon which I am now about to comment , it brought to my recollection a frightful picture which you had previously draws of the poor , and in which you described " 500 , 000 , living without God , and without hope ; " and , in truth , I DO longer marvel that a fljck so shepherded should have so strayed ; but I did wonder how it was that , in all the casualties , misfortunes , liabilities , £ uc ! nations , and divine visitations , which so constantly affect the flock ; how , in the midst of all , the shepherd stood scathlesa —uninjured by national calamity—unshaken by the storm—unhurt by others' sorrows ; and moved only to compassion when poverty become valiant , threatens them with the foul folding of those committed to their care .
Sir , the shepherds have devoured every green thing ; and now yon tell us that the flock baa become too numerous for the pasture . Before I have done , I shall show yon that it is the shepherds who have become too numerous , too ignorant , too intolerant , too negligent , too luxurious , too proud , and too unlike the holy man whose picture Christ drew . Ton say that the land is already so thoroughly cultivated , that while the number of families in Great Britain employed in agriculture in 1821 , was , 978 , 058 , the number employed in the same manner in 1831 , was reduced to 981 , 134 , ' THE LAND THEREFORE CAKXOT EMPLOY THE ADDITIONAL
POPULATION . " The land THEREFORE cannot ? Wherefore , pray ? Wherefore , I ask ? Have you shown , beyond assertion , that the diminution of persons employed in agricultural pursuits at the respective periods , was owing to the fact of their labour not being required ? Or , if you were aware of the true reasons why not state them ? Vfere you not cognisant cf the fact , that causes simultaneously operating in England , Ireland , and Scotland within the very assumed period , had a poweifal , nay , an irresistible influence in unfairly and artificiall y producing that state of things which you set down to ( he inability ef the land [ from its advanced state of cultivation ) having fairly , and natuially produced ? Were you not aware that the very ten years which you have chosen for illustration was the jubilee of
manufacturesthe triumph of art over nature ? Were you not aware that in England the rural villages were robbed of their innacent and healthful inhabitants , by the bloodhounds of the human race , who stole , and seduced and fcidnapped whole families , and sold them to the tyrant from whom they could never again purchase thei ? emancipation ? Were you not aware that the effect of that Eystem was naturally to raise the wages of the diminished numbers in the agricultural market ? And , were you not aware that the effect of that was to throw much land cut of cultivation into pasture ? And were you not aware that the result cf that was a law to throw the unemployed " upon their own resources , " when the forced and unnaturally employed ponion of the agricultural community were sent back to their parishes after being experimentalised
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upon , and 'where they found the door of the Savings ' Bank closed against them ? Were you not aware that within these very ten years , two Acts of Parliament sent nearly one million of poor Irish agriculturists from the field to the cottonmill—to the road—or to death ? Yes , Rev . Sir ; the Subletting Act , intended for the benefit of the small farmer , had the effect of inducing Irish landlords to knock those farms leased into small lots into large farms , for the more easy collection ef rent , and , as they thought , for the purpose of reducing responsibility , by having only one instead of ten
tenants to deal with . When a middle man took a thousand acres of ground at £ 1 per acre , he subdivided it into small farms , of sizes just capable of catching all the little ready money which a thrifty labourer had amassed through many years of industry and privation , and which ( after bargaining for £ l 18 a . per acre , with the middle man ) "his Honour" took by way of fine ; thus leaving him without capital Many-leases of thirtyone years made by Irish landlords ( who abandoned their country ) to middle men in 1797 and 1798 , during Mr . Pitt ' s Rebellion , expired within your assumed period ; and the small farms were , according to the Scotch principle , knocked into large farms .
Mr . Gonlbum ' s Tithe Composition Bill , passed within your ten years , had also a powerful effect as well in increasing the large farm system as ia making many a gentleman theretofore engaged in the art of war , become farmers upon the more extensive scale ; turning their " swords into ploughshares . " But above all , the disfranchisement of the Irish 40 s . freeholders , in 1829 , amounting to more than 200 , 000 heads of families , swelled the numbers of manufacturing population of Great Britain to the extent which you describe , and from which you would ingeniouBly , but very disingenuously , lead us to infer , that the remuneration for the operative ' s labour was quite commensurate with the increase of numbers in that department ; the fact being that a kind of state-labour
lottery was established in which all the prizas were said to be on the side of artificial labour ; and all that trick , invention , and knavery could invent , was put into requisition to induce the confiding , the innocent , and unsophisticated husbandman to sell his wife and little family , not for the chance , but for the certainty of a prize , the prize being his own ease purchased by no more than the healthful exercise of his wife and children . Waggon loads , coach loads , ship loads , boat loads , horse loads , cart loads , and foot loads of speculators were thus drawn from , and smuggled from the quiet vale of innocence into the valley of death ; they were consigned to the charnel house , and made conversant in the ways of sin , of vice , of crime , and of all sorts of depravity .
Rev . Sir , my answer to your assertions shall not stand as mere assertion to asssertion . No , no ; I will meet your every gue 6 s with an opposing fact ; and to begin , I meet your first assertion : — " The land therefore cansot employ any additional population . " Again , I ask " wherefore it cannot ? " and the only answer is , because the Honourable and and Reverend Baptist Noel says so , and it is the interest of Influential men to uphold him iu the assertion . Now , then , Reverend Sir , have you bestowed one moment ' s thought upon the subject ? and if so , has it never struck you that , allowing your numbers to be quite correct , the truth La easily arrived at And how
are we to arrive at the truth ? Why , simply , by giving you an additional 40 , 000 families or » o in 1831 , to make you up a million for the sake of round numbers . and which million divided into the cultivable lands of Great Britain , amounting to above 50 , 000 , 000 acres , leaves jnrt one family to every fifty acres . Now , sir , it must be known to every person who understands the subject , that those fifty acres would be in an almost sterile and unproductive condition for want of a sufficiency of labour ; while the same fifty acres , subdi . vided into lots of five acres each , would improve yearly , and maintain in the outset ten familiea Instead of one , leaving also a larger , a much larger , surplus for general use after consumption .
Rev . Sir , estimating the population of Great Britain , in round numbers , at 20 , 000 , 008 , and allowing five to a family ( your own average ) , we have 4 , 080 , 000 heads of families . Now , Sir , what I ask for , as a means ot making all rich , every one of them , is simply 18 , 000 , 000 of ecres of land , at any rent—I care not what amountbut in perpetuity , and at a corn average , tor 1 , 000 , 000 of those heads of families—we will call them the freelabour husbandmen , if you please . 1 , 000 , 000 of the manufacturing families added to the free-labour husbandmen , would constitute one-half of the whole
population . Then for trades , professions , shopkeepers , artists , money-jobbers , manufacturers , soldiers , sailors , and all that tribe who would rather not have land , say 1 , 000 , 000 families ; and there wi . l remain 1 , 000 , 000 beads of families , consisting of landed proprietors , and largo tenants , and hired labourers , who would still speculate upon profit made out of land , after a fair standard price of labour had been established in the free labour market . Now to the latter 1 , 000 , 006 heads of families I assign 40 , 000 , 000 of acres for large farms , domains , pleasure grounds , deer parks , and so forth ; that is , four-fifths of the whole , and much more than they could compass .
Xow , Rev . Sir , by that arrangement , I n » . Ke each man independent of all , and all labourers dependent npon their " own resources . " I require no emigration—no foreign aid to support them—no dreadful foreboding , about a night's mildew , or a night ' s wind—no capricious reliance upon the farthing-sliding-scale rule—no man with the power to say to another , " Work for ME and for THIS , and at THAT , whether you like your master , your pay , or your job , or let it alone and starve ! " I open all the avenues of life for each to walk in , according to his taste .
Rev . Sir , you say that already the land is bo thoroughly cultivated , that it cannot eroploj any addi . tional population ; and you jump to a conclusion , mistaking causes for effects , and effects for causes forgetting what yon bad vouched in your 25 th and 26 th pages . You establish your position boldly i' faith . You say that because a dimunition in the number of husbandmen , has taken place in the ten years , between 1821 , and 1831 , that " therefore the land is thoroughly cultivated and cannot employ any additional population . * ' Sir , yon might with equal propriety have said that because a Lancashire manufacturer thought proper to dismiss his bands who refused to submit to a destructive reduction of wages , or from any other cause , therefore that mill could not be set to work again . But I will have no light reasoning or wide fencing
with you . You appear to be a good man , and I will therefore reason closely with you . Upon what data then have you presumed that the land is already " thoroughly cultivated ? " Is it upon the grounds that fewer hands now do more work than formerly , and that it was formerly thoroughly cultivated ? Is it upon the presumption that 15 per cent , added to the population since 1831 , require fewer hands to produce food than the smaller number previously required ? Is it upon the presumption that horse power and steam power have been more extensively applied to agricultural purposes within the assumed period ? Is it upon the presumption that more corn-producing ground has been laid down in grass land ? or is it from a comparison of land in its present condition as contrasted with its condition antecedent to 1832 ?
Now , Sir , allowing you the latter , as the most feasible means of judging , and allowing that you have from such data drawn your conclusion , then , I ask , when in the memory of man , was land in its highest or in one half cf its highest producing tilt ? I deny that it ever has been so ; and so far from your assertion being capable of proof from even the narrow limiU of the narrowest and best cultivated locality , I broadly assert that there are not in all Greet Britain lying together , and in the possession of , or held under any one landlord 500 acres , ( market-garden ground excepted , ) wkich are cultivated to one-half , nay , one-third part of their highest producing power ; and I assert generally , that taking the whole of the available land into calculation , that it is not
cultivated to one-fifth part of its highest producing power . Rev . Sir , suppose that Earl Fitzwillum Bhould take it into his head to covert some ten thousand acres of his Yorkshire estates into a large sheep-walk ; and suppose that those ten thousand acres had been previously divided into one hundred farms of one hundred acres each , and that each farm maintained the tenant and taree agricultural families , or four families , at five to a family , that is twenty persons , or two thousand npon the ten thousand acres ; and suppose that the tending of the sbeep required no more than some twenty shepherds and their families , making in all one hundred persons , would you in this case argue that a clear case of inability to Bupport more than the one hundred persons in labour was made out ? and
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that It followed as a matter of coarse , that the land was thoroughly cultivated , and not capable of employing any of the nineteen hundred outcasts ? or would you say that it was most beneficially employed in fattening mutton for idlers , while the poor were starving tor want of means to produce food from their own resources ? Again . Would you say that the 400 , 000 acres of Irish land which supported 200 , 000 forty-sbillinga-freeholders and their families of fire to a family , ot 1 , 000 , 000 persons and which were converted into farma of 100 acres each , worked by twenty to a farm , or only 80 , 000 persons , instead of 1 , 000 , 060 ; would you say that " therefore" it fallowed that the 400 , 000 acres which did maintain a million , was by the new move rendered incapable of supporting more than 80 , 000 , or not one in twelve ?
Would you argue that because ray Lord A , Or my Lord B , or Mr . C wished to knock several small farms , into others of sufficient s : zs te produce a £ 50 tenant-at-wili voter , who would be under his immediate control , that it ' tuerep » ue" followed , as a matter of course , that the land thus stripped of its usual means of producing , lacked some of its former powers , and was , " therefore , " incapable of supporting the population ? for to nothing more does your assertion tend .
Would you argue that Sir Arthur Brooks ' s estate had been cultivated to the highest , because failing to get Protestants hardy enough to displace bis Irish Catholic tenants , though offered the tempting bait of a reduction of ten per cent , in the rent , he had converted it into a sheep-walk or dairy-farm ? As well might you say that the land had conspired not to grow food for Catholics ! Yes , Rev . Sir , just as well ; because you attribute to the inability of the land that which the unjust powers of landlords—unjustly and capriciously used , — will not allow to be done .
Just refer for an answer to your own pamphlet , pages 25 and 26 ; and there you will find that the very expulsion of agricultural labourers from the land ia the prescribed peiiod , had caused a great rise in prices in the year 1831 , and had very neatly caused a famine by making us to require 1 , 491 , 631 quarters of wheat from the foreigner , which we could have better produced for ourselves . So that what you ascribe to the inability ef the land from its high state of cultivation in one part of your letter , you ascribe to want of speculation , and want of cultivation in another part !
Hon . and Rev . Sir , having now answered , aud I think conclusively , your assertion as to th * present state of the land of Great Britain , and its inability to support any greater population , I should be justified in leaving the general question , weakened as it is by the refutation of your strongest presumption . However , as it is my intention to demur generally to your " Plea for the Poor , " I shall not yet desist ; and , in fact , Sir , the great fault with those who write for public instruction consists in leaving off at that very point where they feel satisfied themselves , instead of making the whole subject intelligible to the meanest capacity . With that intention , Sir , I shall now select a few of those passages from your work which hinge most closely upon the assertion that the land is thoroughly cultivated , in aid of which assertion they have been routed out from all sources and quarters .
Rev . Sir , I shall select a few passages , which the press has thought proper to pass over , and from which I have drawn my conclusion that you are a kindhearted man . You say : — " The number of families employed in agriculture was , in 1811 , 895 . 998 , and In the year 1831 it had only in ^ creased to 961 , 134 ; while the number of families enployed in trade and manufactures , &c , had grown during ( hat period from 1 , 129 , 049 to 1 , 434 , 873 : and
on the whole , if Mr . Ward is comect , two millions of person ' s of agricultural origin , whose parents were employed upon the land , have since 1811 obtained a livelihood by manufactures . Should our manufacturing industry be repressed , the country labourers , already too numerous , must become an intolerable burden to the parishes ; bnt should our manufactures flourish , many will find employment as domestic servants , porters , warehousemen , artisans , and Bailors . The effect of this demand for labourers must be the same as the effect of a similar demand in towns . "
Rev . Sir , here exists a very curious discrepancy between yourself and Mr . Ward , the very first authority whom you quote—cautiously I admit , for you say "if Jfr . Ward is correct . " You make it appear that from 1811 to 1831 there was an emigration of some 05 , 000 agricultural families to the manufacturing towns ; while to the present time Mr . Ward estimates the number at no less than two millions . This great discrepancy between you and Mr . Ward , who generally prefers a reliance upon prophecy ( and credit for the fulfilment of prediction which he foretels after it haa happened , ) to
vulgar arithmetic , militates no further against you , it is true , than as proof of your credulity , andtheleose manner in which you have arranged your materials . However , Sir , in the concluding portion of the above passage , you have again asserted that the agricultural labourers are already too numerous ; and you propose to obviate their becoming a burden upon their respective parishes by sending them to where they will become a burden to themselves , and a reserve for the masters ; a sure means to prevent the very object which you profess te desire—the establishment of a regular standard price for la our by power-loom service .
You say , " in Buch case , " that is In case of the agricultural labourers going to work at manufactories in towns , " they can make their own tenns . '' A fetj curious theory that ! I should have judged that the very reverse was the case ; that the increased number would enable masters to make their own terms . But your assertion , you will say , depends upon manufactures flourishing . To that I answer , firstly , that mechanical invention and improvements will flourish to an extent of far greater proportion than would be required t j supply any increased demand : secondly , that agriculture , in cose of manufactures flourishing , should flourish also ; and so far from the flourish of manufacturers driving agricultural families
to the towns , it should insure for them a more flourishing condition on the land ; and thirdly , I am happy to find that we agree upon the necessity of establishing some just standard for the price of labour , while I deny however that it can be done in the artificial market ; so do you . But , then , if I mistake not , you futther on denominate a manufacturing life as the catuial life of a Briton , and agriculture as an artificial state of existence ! while you very whimsically reverse the case for all other inhabitants of this great globe , by making the land their natural element and manufacturing an artificial state of employment I shall now proceed to another passage . You say in pages 11 and
12—" Left alone , they could feed and clothe themselves , educate their children , and provide for the decrepitude of age . Why should the law step in and say , you shall neither labour nor eat ? God has provided food for them in other lands ; and if no law prevented , they could easily buy it Can it be right that the law should intercept the bounty of God , and sentence them to perpetual want ? •• If it be replied that grave interests require this interposition of the law , let me ask what interests ?
It is not very likely that agriculture would suffer by a reduction of the corn dnty , since the Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire , of Sutherland and Cleveland , the Marquis of Westminster , Lord Leicester , Lord Spencer , and Lord Fitzwilliam , are all favourable to the change . Too much interested io the question on account of their large possessions to adopt an opinion hastily , and too enlightened to be easily deceived , they yet believe that the change is safe ; and their opinion is surely entitled to the very highest respect "
Rev . Sir , allow me to say that the words , " God has provided food for them in olfier lands , " savours strongly of Infidelism . From these words I wholly and entirely dissent , and against them I enter my strongest protest , inasmuch as I feel convinced that God in His all-wise dispensutien , has not left him whom he created after his own image dependent on far-away aud distant countries for the means of existence ! I believe He has placed within the reach of all , enough for all ; in short terms , I believe that God gave us land , but the devil gave us landlords and legislators . What ! Rev . Sir , ' God has provided food for Mem in other lands ! ' What then becomes of country ? of patriotism ? of laws ? of kingcraft ? and of priestcraft ? Where is the father-land ? Where the homestead ?
Where the rallying point for Britons ot Irishmen , or men of any country ? Where the value then of the beautiful and divine injunction contained in the fifth commandment : — " Honour thy father and thy mother , that thy days may be long in the lakd which THE LORD THY GOD HATH GIVEN THEE . " What , then , Rev . Sir , constitutes a better title to the tithe of English land than to the tithe of Polish land ,
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Russian land , or American land ? Aye , aye , the English and Irish priests well know that in the event of their land being pat out of cultivation , they would soon establish a title to the " teens" of tfee thrashed com of America and of the world , Rev . Sir , would the * hepherds have advocated the non-production of grain from which they received payment for their valuable services , if they had not firstly transferred the demand to a general mortgage upon the whole land , yea , upon the rent or value whether rented or not , cultivated or not ? Ah 1 Sir , your order bad the tithe of men ; now you have the tithe of beasts !
Rev . Sir , pray , pray , pray erase the passage from any further editions through which your " Plea for the Poor" may pass . Believe me it is hetreodox , anti . national , - unacriptural , anti-scriptural , unwise , and autideluvian . Rev . Sir , as to the noble authorities upon whose wisdom you would rely , I think I might balance the noble scales by a very beavy coanterpoise of nobility , and thus balanced , call in aid of a fair judgment those who are much more " interested in the question , " namely , the people for whose benefit the artificial is tendered in lieu of the natural resource . In good truth , Sir , if you had searched the peer age and left out the names of Spencer and Fitzwilliam , you could not have more effectually damned yourself and your " Plea , " by authority .
Rev . Sir , I now come to a most important and sweeping calculation . You say ;—" Meanwhile , the population of the United Kingdom is now Increasing at the rate of 400 , 000 per annum ; and since nearly the whole of these must be maintained by commerce and manufactures , the alleged increase of exports amounting to the value of £ 14 , 000 , 000 in nine years , which ia at the rate of £ 1 , 555 , 000 per annum , may still leave a vast number of persons unemployed , and allow a constant increase of permanent distress . To justify the present Corn Laws , it should be shown either
that the amount of employment has grown faster than the population , or that if the population has been outgrowing the means of employing them , that the want of employment has not in any degree arisen from the operation of the Corn Laws . But if each workman can on an average manufacture , annually , goods to the value of £ 200 , these additional exports have employed annually not more than 7775 additional workmen . And as the whole additional population was in each year 400 , 000 , it is obvious that population may still have outgrown employment "
Heie we have the fad that the population is now increasing at the rate of 400 , 009 annually , and the assertion that all of those must be maintained by commerce , as the land is not capable of supporting-them ; and that also each workman employed produces annually £ 200 worth of manufactured goods . Now , Sir , suppose we assume that one-twentieth of the annual increase of population , all of whom are to be engaged iu commerce , or 20 , 000 to be manufacturing operatives , —that is quartering
nineteen drones upon one busy bee ; and suppose the repeal of the Corn Laws does , in truth , produce what we are assured of , namely , " plenty to do , high wages , and cheap bread ; " well , Sir , in that case we should require a new annual out-let for £ 4 , 000 , 000 woith of manufactured goods , being at the rate of £ 200 worth produced annually by the 20 , 000 new-comers . This you admit ; because you arrive at your £ 1 , 555 , 000 per annum of increased imports for nine years , making a total of £ 14 , 000 , 000 , by multiplying your presumed increase of 7775 auxiliaries by £ 200 , aa the amount
produced by each . Now , Sir , I have you . ' and I take you all in a lump , Mr . Ward , Mr . M'Culloch , Mr . Porter , and all ; aud I take " PLENTY TO DO , HIGH WAGES , AND CHEAP bread , " and even as few as 500 , 000 of producing operatives ; and mind , you speak of more , and so do all the school , —but I take 500 , 000 with " plenty io do , " and I multiply the 500 , 000 by £ 200 , the amount in value produced by each workman , and I have the fright * ful result of one hundred millions of English manufactured goodB to be disposed of annually , with an annual addition of £ 4 , 000 , 000 worth , the produce of the operative portion of the annual increase of 400 , 000 of the manufacturing population .
Now , Sir , I will take the average guess of M'Culloch , Porter , Hume , Colonel Torrens , and yourself—namely , that " rents will fall ; "eand "they won't fall , " and " they will notfallmucb ; " and " they will rise , in consequence of the increased demand for meat and vegetables ; " and " corn will always be a remunerating crop to the English farmer ; " and'' he won't be a worse consumer in thehoine market ; " and if " he is , what matters ? surely , we have a thousand Poles , or ten thousand Russians , and twenty thousand Chinese , instead of every John Bull !" Such , Sir , is the balance af opinion of the greatest authorities ! no two agreed—nay , not one agreeing with himself !
Suppose , then , the price of corn to be as you state it would be likely to be , ia page 30 of your boek , 50 s . per quarter , If relieved from all restrictions —( indeed , while you speak of cheap bread , you coolly tell us that the foreign grower could not let us have it at less than 58 s ., with 8 s . protection , and become our customer ); and suppose wo required four million quarters of foreign grain in aid of home produce , what would be the result ? Why , that 50 , 000 operatives at full work would produce enough , according to your own calculation , to bay all that great quantity of corn ! And pray what ia the foreigner to give in return for the remaining ninetyfour millions sterling worth ? "O , tea , sugar , timber , raw material , and all those good things !"
But , Rev . Sir , bear one thing in mind : you have argued one portion of your snbject very candidly . You admit that prices of labour , of produce , raw material and all , will be reduced , while the respective scales of prices will nevertheless enable landlords , farmers ' labourers , operatives and all , to hold their respective positions , being rather served . than injured , in consequence of " plenty to do . " Sir , you have not said one word about the old and heavy incumbrances to be discharged out of the small residue of reduced wages : —what of that pray ? Will net all the Government txpences of the poor remain the same ? Will the army , the navy , the civil list , the debt , national and personal , the church , the law department , and all the heavy commission departments ; will these not swallow up much more than the residue , after
provision for all the increased comforts was made by the fully-employed labourer out of bis reduced wages ? " O , no , " you answer , " our increased imports and exports will do all that" Let us see ; I will just take one item , the shepherd ' s share : looking then at the amount paid in lands and money to the shepherds of the State flock , leaving out those ef the " stray sheep , " what do we find ? Why , the monstrous fact , that while we are all by the ears looking for the means of producing a sufficiency of food for the flock , the shepherds of one flock actually receive about the exact price of tfee greatest quantity of foreign corn , 'which would be required for feeding the flock , —four million quarters , at 50 s . per quarter !! or ten millions sterling , annually !} J Will they reduce commensurately with any reduction which a Repeal may cause in wages ?
Hon . and Reverend Sir , I ask you once again , if it is so wonderful that there should be 500 , 000 of the flock " living without God and without hope , " and without bread , while the shepherds herd them without devotion and without fear , and while , having cropped the pasture and shorn the com fields , they leave the flock to bronse upeu the bare one and to glean the few scattered ears from the other . Hon . and Rev . Sir , allow me now to submit for your consideration a passage from pages 25 and 26 of your "Plea . " You
nay" Besides the ruin which this brings upon farmers , it renders an exchange of foreign corn for English goods impossible . 1 , 491 , 631 qnarters of wheat and flour were required in 1831 , but only 84 . 653 , in 1834-28 , 483 in 1835 , and 30 , 046 in 1836 . Thus the stimulant given to the cultivation of corn by the high prices of 1631 , led to the low prices of 1835 , 1836 , and 1837 : by these low prices the foreigner is shut out of the market , and consequently can take no English goods . " Rev . Sir , can words more plainly admit , unless indeed you would make all convenient exception in favour of " naturai . steam POWER , " that the " STIMULANT GUVEN" to manufactures ty the new
combination of chances , backed by fictitious money , say in 1842 , would lead to low prices in 1845 , 1846 , and 1847 ? But here we have a very valuable admission 1 no less than the fact that the land , which was brought to its highest producing power in 1831 , and which required a foreign supply in aid of home produce of 1 , 491 , 631 in that very year , and which could not produce more because it was then " thoroughly cultivated ; - we bave the admission that the same land , when callvd upon in three succeeding years , appears to have been adequate to the production of a sufficiency to create a . glut and to produce ' ow prices ! Now , Sir , is this not full proof that in
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your assertion , " the land therefore cannot empio , the additional population , " you have mistaken ca ^ for effects ? I have always said that a Repeal of the Com H * i would give such an impetus for gambling , until & ts * failures had taken the first blush of novelty ; ^ we should appear to live in a ( second heaven ; button , at the end of one year woeful would be the disapgol * L ment—and for this reason . Either warehouses woqm be full of surplus produce , while bills were being ^ . honoured ; or demand having shewn the Utmost suppf * which the whole world would require , machinery woifo be increased to an amount more than cent , per eeM beyond the required means . ^
Hon . and Rev . Sir , you have yet to learn that althon * living man and his condition is necessarily Iugg e ^ as the humane object of all those who experiment *!] ,, upon his labour and forbearance , that nevertheW the grand object Is to do without him , if possible ¦ **¦ mm m » k * ¦» V ~ ^ ^ ^ ^— ' — - ^ — ' ^ ~~ " »¦ i ¦ j m bj Wfcjn UIC Iniit
, if ever England shall be able to maintain a force ' stM cient to curb the indignation of a brave people res . dered useless by machinery , and deprived of a pro vwi , from their own labour expended on their own soil aye , their own—that force will b « raised : and then «» cog in a main wheel of a cotton mill will be consider of more value than a man ' s limb—nay , than a thous ^ men's lives . Kev . Sir , you appear to have taken a rery stand-gtn
view of the moving powers about which you write to fascinatingly for the press and the economists . Ym take no note of invention . You make no calculation g increased powers . You have lost sight of the fact tint while it required in 1836 , ( in round numbers ) 355 , o hands to work 52 , 000 horse power ; so great was yinvention against man's industry , comfort , aad bapti . ness in three short years , that in 1839 it only required 423 , 000 hands to work 102 , 000 horse power ; m that if the standard or relative dependency ha
been preserved between horse power and man ^ j service—the number of hands required in lass should have been nearly 700 , 0 * 0 ; but we flaj that about 60 , 000 hands in 1839 , applied to macbinen were equivalent to 355 , 000 applied to its service ia 1836 , just three years previous I Aye , Sir , and Mpeg the Corn Laws , and then la the language ef poor BuU& worth , the masters would "go to bed by steam , " wbilo the same power would steal the bed from oagg the displaced workman .
The farther I proceed with your innocent admisaioni the more I am convinced that you have but ill served the cause even of the manufacturers . You may reh upon it that wisdom left them but one course , and th £ was In exciting nothings . " Vir sapit qui paucatoquitKr " was never more aptly applied than to the jndiciou manner in which Mr . O'Connell set the example fa Corn Law repeal agitation . Believe me , Sir , he Ut perfect " master of arts : '" and he knew full well that the only argument of which the question would admit w « - " O ,- GIVE THE PEOPLE CHEAP BREAD ; ABOVE ALt tET THE POOR MAN HAVE HIS FOOD UNTAXED *
<« Mammy , I ' me hungry , give me some bread . " "HOULD YOUR TONGUE , MY JEWEL , SUEE IHET Taxes it . " Now , Sir , that ' s the way to argue a repeal of the Corn Laws : because no one thinks of asking Ml O'Connell if the destitute mother had a farthing to bay a shilling loaf with , if she was made the offer . Excitinf nothings . Sir , should constitute the chief reliance ot anti-Corn Law pantomimic agitation ; for , believe me , that the moment the economists do as you have doneattempt to sustain their cause by argument , that moment will reason step in and demolish all their air / . dreams of the existence of an artificial heaven in an
English- rattle box . They might , perhaps , have added , and with effect , the blood-sauce of the Globe to their " bread-pudding / and thus serve up another coarse of " BREAD AND BLOOD " to feed the heated imagination of a starving and insulted people ; but , believe me , that argument will not do ; that is all upon the side of the LAUD , lot in that alone can man recognise an inheritance , a homestead , a fire-side , a country , a castle , and a sentry box . Sir , after giving a quotation fiom M'Culloch by SirR . Peel , in which he contends that a repeal of the Con Laws would not throw land ont of cultivation , nor yet sensibly affect rents , you then quote Porter in cono .
boration of the same assertion . Sir , I admit , after the land had changed hands , that whether worti 10 s . or 30 s . an acre , it would be cultivated ; but if you rely upon M'Culloch and Porter , that rents would not fall and that prices would not be sensibly affected , then do I say at once that the whole thing is a hoax ; ani for this reason .- because , if prices do not fall to the continental level ; and if labour does not also fall to thit level , then doea your -whole scheme fall to the ground . Just imagine , Sir , what the great bone of contention is ; enough of corn and the great things which the inhabitants of corn-producing countrieswould take from us in exchange . Exchange , for what ? Why , for the
produce of something less than one-fifth of a-country of the same size as Wales . Yes , Sir , one million acres of the land of Poland would produce the whole quantity- of corn required in aid of British supply . You must not stir from this point , Sir . If you go to sugar , timber , tea , coffee , spice and luxuries , to ship ping and so forth ; I go to residue of low wages to pay heavy national and Government txpences , and State-Church , and army , and navy , and "idle pauper ' s fund . * You have made corn the summum bonum . I take it ; and I show you , firstly , that the produce of even 500 , 000 operatives , with the annual appendage oft twentieth of 460 , 009 increase of population , woaM
leave a surplusage of ninety-four million pounds worth annually , after paying 50 s . a quarter for 4 , 000 , 000 quarters of wheat . I show you that the shepherd ! receive the fall amount of what is required to feed the whole flock . I show you that old and heavy burdeu must be paid out of the residue of low wages . I sho » you , that if you have not low wages you can have no increaseof foreign consumers—aud that if you have lo ? wages you must have low rents , and bad home customers at reduced prices . I Bhow you that foreigner will not give you the inside lining f * r mote of the outside covering than they require . I show you that you must undersell the foreign slit *
in his own market with your sUve-produce , otherwiie the foreigner will not barter with you . I show you that you will but have created a new medium of « p * culation for monied men in the article of food , I show you that if you repeal the Com Laws without putting your house in order , by first reducing expenditure to » proper level , you will have a blaze of stack * , the present proprietors themselves destroying them ratio than see the Jews walk into quiet possession . Yo » will have on end to a Church Establishment , receiving the same amount of tithe out of reduced amount of income . So , Sir , if you are for a revolution , in whica funds , pensions , placemen , sinecures , private » na national debt , army , church , and all , must go as a
firstfruits , in God ' s name , at it ! for thepeople cannot be w «» off !! but mind , upon your order be all the responsiMlitr-The LAND mustceme to the people , whether for hig her rent with restriction npon the importation of foreign grain , or for lower rent after those restrictions are take 11 « rT : and in that case will the scale and standardof M'Cu 1-lochand Porter be perfectly correct ; things will in such case change appearances ; three thousand a-ye * then will be equal to ave thousand a-year now , because the Budget end will be knocked off ; and after god and wholesome , and fresh living , the residue of smaller wages will be still a residue and a Savings ' Bank ( ot the labourer . Sir , how can you establish a free trade in labour in an over-taxed country , without makisj every labourer a mere stone ? I defy you to do it .
Sir , I shall insert one passage in which you duTer , loto ccelo , with both M'Culloch and Porter , in the fif lt place , and with yourself in the second . You say . — " The lowered price of corn would tend to dim * " *! rents , J > ut as the prices of all other things » ' ° * T : in the same proportion , the diminished rent would w as valuable as the higher rent had been , for ^ P ^' chase of all the comforts and luxuries of life- So ™ Fj therefore , the land-owners would be no losers . But » n other respects they would be considerable eainew- "
In the outset you say that the lowered price of I * " " would tend to diminish rents ; and then you conclude by assuring us that the very same causes " would enable the farmer to pay a higher rent ? . " I trust , Sir , that in * simplicity of your kind heart you have not fallen into the error of supposing that although those different causes had led to the farmers' ability to pay a highs ' rent , yet that the landlords' love of justice would forbid a demand for any increase ? A little farther on , in the very some paragrap h , yon assure us that the facility which farmers would b * ve of procuring enough of manure for the lesser amount of land in cultivation , would enable them to bear "a still higher rent ; " those are your yery words , Sir ; so that n fact the conclusion to which you come is , that
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XJOtTDOfr . Mason ' s Charter Association . — This body met on Saturday last , si vheir Room , ibe Craven ' s Head Inn , Drury Lane . Mr . Wilson was « &Ued to the chair . A resolution , appointing a Committee to act as deputations to ihe various trades , was carried unanimously . Air . Whitehorn having made a present of a silk waistcoat , to assist the O'Connor Bincer Committee , received a vote of tiaoks , and the waistcoat was ordered to be raffled . Two addresses to the trades were read , and on the motion of Mr . Scott , seconded by ilr . Walker , one of them wa 3 adopted for going to the trades in London , and the other for the trades in the country . The deputations to the different trades save ia their reports which vrere received . Mr . Watkins ' lecture , on account of the pressure of Society business , was deferred till Saturday next ; Mr . Wall ' s on thefollowine Saturdav .
Middlesex Cooty Delegate Meeting . —This body met on Sunday afternoon last , at 55 , Old Bailey ; Mr . Mills was called to the chair . The following gentlemen handed in their credentials and took their seats , viz . : —Messrs . Wheeler and Ruffy Bidley , for Kensington ; Messrs . Walton , Worthington and Wilson , from the mason , body ; Messrs . Mills , Drake and M'Grath , from the Tower Hamlets ; Messrs . Knight and Smith , from Finsbury ; Messrs . Tapill , Humphries and Goodfeilow , from Si . Pancras ; Mr . Pickersgill , from Globe Fields ; Mr . Wiikins , from North-street , Whitechapel ; and from the City of London , Messrs . Ws-tkins and LangEwith . Mr . Drake opposed the reception of Mi . PickerFgill , bus tha opposition was overruled . Mr . Wheeler was unanimously appointed secretary . Messrs . Walton , Watkins , and Drake , were Appointed a finance committee . Messrs . Tupsil ] , Wilson , Goodfeilow , Ridley and Wheeler , were
appointed a visiting committee . Messrs . Humphries , M'Gr&th , Wilking , Mills and Pickersgill , were appointed a committee of observation . It was unanimously Bgreed " That no person be allowed to hold two office ? . " The minutes of the late Middlesex Coanty Council were read . Mr . Fussill read & letter from feaxgus O'Connor , Esq , in answer to a letter directed by the Council to be written by him to Mr * . O'Connor , in which he states that he feels proud of the inviUtieu which the men of London had given him to attend when liberated , that Mb conduct was approved of , and that he should certainly attend to their invitation and communicate with Messrs . O'Brien and Beabow on the B&me subject . Mr . Knight moved " That the Sunday meetings be dispensed with , Mr . Drake seconded the motion ; to which an amendment was moved and carried by a large majority , " That they be continued . " The Delegates after some little discussion agreed unanimously , " That they do assist the masons ia waning on the trades . " Adjourned till next Sundav .
Tow £ B Hamlets . —Mr . Preston lectured on Sunflay eveniDg last , at the Charter Coffee-house , Bricli-Une , and Mr . Wall , in consequence of Mr . Spurr ' s uon-amva ] , occasioned by a death in his family , attended at the Freemason ' s Arms . Shoehakebs' Chakxee Association . —This body held it 3 first meeting on Sunday evening last , at their rooms , Ropemaker-street , Ci ; y . The Coxcert , in behalf of Bronttxre O'Brien , on Monday last , at the City Rooms , Old Bailey ,- was most numerously attended . Mr . Jocelyn presided . The concert was opened by the singing of the
Marseilles byrnc Darins the evening a number of patriotic songs were sung by Mr . aad Mrs . Jocelyn , Mr . Hornby , Mr . Cohen , and Mr . Tipper , who was eacored in the song of " Emmett , " the company lisimg and joining in chorus to the last verse . Miss Bishop g » re two recitations ; Mr . Watkius # are the " Gladiator" from Byron ; Mr . and Mrs . Jocelyn , a ecenefrom Joha Frost ; and Mrs . and Mus Ford , with Mr . Ford , gave John Frost , and many other ladies aad gentlemen , among whom wa 3 Airs . Crockford , favoured the company , wiiich broke up a : twelve o ' clock .
Fixsbckt . —Mr . Culverhonse lectured here on . Monday ereaias last , to a numerous audience , ins subject being ' Ihe prospects of the people under a Tory Government . " He was much appkuded cu the conclusion of his leciare . A letter was read froai the Executive , girisg , as the ground of the rejection O Mr . Spurr , hi 3 havint ; thrown np his cax < i it 2 . public meeting . Further subscriptions were made in ahalf of the O'Connor Banner .
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Kekswston a . kd Chelsea . —A public meeting was held oa Monday last , at the "United Coffee House , George-etreet , Chelsea , Mr . Smallwood in the chair . The following resolution was unanimously agreed to , asd ordered to be transmitted by Mr . Wheeler to the Executive Council : — That vre have heard read with great pleasure , the manly and straightforward address of the . National Executive to the Chartists of Great Britain , and have the greatest confidence thai their future labours will be productive of great benefit to the cause , though we cannot , at the same time , avoid expressing our regret at their not having acted upon the suggestion thrown out by the Chartists of this neighbourhood , and the metropolis generally , for securing the return of Messrs . O'Brien and Binns to the Commons' House of Parliament ; for we sre well aware that if the subject be taken up by the Executive , it will bo
responded to with alacritj by every trae Chartist throughout the empire . " Mr . Ridley , late M . C ., delivered a lecture " On the Evils of Class Legislation . " Daring the coarse of his lecture , which w » 8 most * hly conducted , he described the baneful effects class legislation hid on all classes of society , the deplorable condition to which it had reduced the agricultural population of Wiltshire and the surrounding counties , through which he had passed lately on his lecturing tour ; and concluded by proving that the only panacea was the Charter . ThankB were voted to the lecturer , and to Mr . Whitehorn for his present to the Banner Fund , and which will be raflfod for on the 26 tb of August . The Chairman announced a lecture by Dr . Webb , on Monday next , at this place ; and one also on Sunday evening , by Mr . Stallwood , at the Charter Coffee Honse , Stretton Ground , Westminster .
On Scsdav Evbmag last , s meeting of the several divisions of journeymen boot and shoemakers of the City was held at the Bull and Bell Inn , Ropemakers-street , Moor Fields , to establish a Charter Association separate from their Trade Society . A goodly number attended , and the interest and anxiety displayed during the evening augur well for the establishment of a numerou 3 and powerful As = ociation . A deputation from the stonemasons attended to address the meeting on the cause of the Charter , and give any information required . It was resolved to form a branch of the National Charter Association .
Asothek "Plea Tou The P00b."
ASOTHEK " PLEA TOU THE P 00 B . "
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4 THE NORTHERN STAR . - - -
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 14, 1841, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct392/page/4/
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