554 The Condition and Prospects of the Country, [Nov. 



that freedom procure him one degree of bodily comfort ? Can it raise 

 him above want ? Can it save him from despair ? No no ! He cannot 

 raise himself one step above his present degraded condition. He cannot 

 stop his ears against the cries of his famished children. He knows that 

 his almost unnatural exertions cannot earn them more than bare exist- 

 ence ; he feels that he is a slave ; and he envies the condition of those 

 who are fed and clothed in their bondage. Has Mr. Brougham ever 

 penetrated into the miserable dwellings of our manufacturing popula- 

 tion? If he has not we urge, not only him, but all the mock philanthro- 

 pists of charlatannerie, to contemplate the condition the life the food 

 the clothing of one half-dozen families amongst their poor. Let them 

 survey the populous county of Lancashire, or the manufacturing dis- 

 tricts of the West-Riding of Yorkshire. Let them there contemplate 

 the spectacle of mingled guilt and misery the crowded hovel the 

 emaciated form the debased mind ; and then let such men think, if 

 they ever do think, of the consequences of that miserably perverted 

 intellect, which grasps at fictitious charity, and overlooks the crying 

 necessities of famine and guilt in its own sphere. 



Such is the true working of that system before whose perfections the 

 wise policy of our fathers was esteemed foolishness. We offer this dark 

 and appalling picture of human madness and ignorance and we have 

 not overcharged one feature to the calm consideration of our reader, 

 and let him say whether such a state of society be safe or advisable, 

 and whether the wealth thus wrung out of the blood and sinews of the 

 people, be a source of strength or weakness. No man who is not blind 

 to the habitual crime and progressive demoralization of the lower 

 classes, will for a moment deny that some fundamental principle of 

 legislation is overlooked or wantonly disregarded ; and if he trace this 

 progressive deterioration of morals to its source, he will find it in the 

 principle which regards man's labour as a mere commodity, and legislates 

 for its cheapness. Virtually, the system of free trade does this. It does 

 not regard the comforts of the people, but their productive power the 

 greatest amount of labour for the least cost. The invention of a man 

 who can work without sleep, or food, or clothing and pay taxes 

 withal is its great desideratum. The foreigner is advancing rapidly in 

 the same insane pursuit of cheap labour, and we have bound ourselves 

 not to be outstripped in the race. 



In this crisis the country looks anxiously to the new parliament, and 

 no man can avoid noticing the peculiar feeling which is prevalent. It 

 is neither ardent hope, nor strong fear, nor bitter indignation ; but a 

 half indifferent, half contemptuous curiosity. Nothing can be more 

 evident than the fact that not only the ministry, but the entire legis- 

 lature the two Houses no longer lead the public opinion, but 

 slavishly follow the cries of madmen and the measures of fools. The 

 disaffected the innovators the base of all parties look upon them 

 as the weak tools who are to be bullied out of an opinion by cla- 

 mour out of doors, or tempted by interest within ; and upon no class 

 upon no party has the example of the last two sessions been lost. 

 Honest men can now look with confidence to one source alone to a 

 King, who will never betray the hopes of his people, nor ever mock 

 their miseries. We are sorry to trace the growth of such a state of pub- 

 lic opinion : but its existence is indisputable ; and when we view the 



