556 PROSPECTS OF INDUSTRY 



in the rate of wage partly, by being deprived of home manufacture 

 and partly, by the desuetude of plot and garden cultivation. 

 Which of these can we restore to him ? We cannot break up the 

 large farm system, we cannot raise his wage, unless by improving the 

 condition of the farmer, neither can we bring back his home manu- 

 facture. But we can restore to him his land, and by so doing we can 

 find him a means of supporting his family, without at all infringing 

 upon his character as a labourer. We do not point out a theoretical 

 scheme, we do not innovate upon the industrial character of the 

 labourer, we do not make his degradation a source of speculative 

 experiment. No ! We would replace him as he has been : the trans- 

 ition of property and industry has literally overwhelmed him, be- 

 cause his interests have never been recognised. The time is however 

 come for doing so : his distress has already modified the Poor Law, 

 and threatens to destroy him utterly ; but this must not be, his 

 existence and his welfare are essential to us as a nation, and he must 

 be preserved. 



In providing land for the poor man, the argument is used, where 

 is it to be found, and how is he to pay for it ? he is poor, he is reck- 

 less, and has neither means nor inclination for becoming a tenant. 

 It is lamentable to think that such language should be commonly 

 used. It seems to proceed from a belief that the poor man is without 

 the nobler feelings of independence and pride of self. But he is not 

 so : he has within him all the better and higher elements of humanity, 

 and, in his struggles with poverty and toil, he often exhibits a moral 

 heroism and a pure sense of religion, which ought to make him a 

 subject for our admiration. Stretch out to him the hand of fellow- 

 ship, show sympathy for his condition, enable him to exercise his 

 energies, and the labouring man will prove himself worthy of encou- 

 ragement. To assert that he is careless or indifferent, is to assert a 

 positive falsehood. Every man familiar with his feelings and dis- 

 position is aware what value the labourer attaches " to a bit of 

 land," with what pride it is cultivated, and what a degree of inde- 

 pendence and personal respect it gives him for himself. And this is 

 the pivot upon which every plan for regenerating the poor should 

 turn. Give him a moral stimulus, and the battle is won. 



But where is the land to be found ? Everywhere. We could, 

 did our space permit, point out a superficies of many thousands of 



