9 



The result, gradually effected by the proposed reform measure of Mr. Bright, 

 would be to break up these large estates, and oblige the owner to superintend 

 his farm, as is done by the American owner. The landlord's share would then 

 become merged in the other two, which would so meliorate the condition of both 

 that the laborer could partake of those blessings of life — society, religion, a 

 place in the state — fitted for the duties and enjoyments of each by proper instruc- 

 tion. How far he is now removed from these may be seen in the following esti- 

 mate of the expenses of a laborer, his wife and five children, and their earnings : 



Articles. Cost. 



Food $100 00 



Physic 30 



Coals, candles, and soap 15 00 



Clothes 30 00 



Cooking utensils 1 50 



Rent , . . . 20 00 



Schooling and books 2 50 



Total . 169 30 



The earnings of such a family — the wife and two of the children, supposed to 

 be over ten years of age, and, therefore, required to constantly labor — are esti- 

 mated at $201 20, leaving S31 90 as their net income, an amount that ordinary 

 sickness would lessen. 



These statistics, taken from Purdy on Rate of "Wages of Agricultural Laborers 

 in England and Wales, indicate the character of the clothing, and the statement 

 is made that "the husband's cloth coat for Sundays cost fifty shillings, ($12,) 

 but he had worn it for thirteen years, and his wife's bonnet, costing two shillings 

 and sixpence, (sixty cents,) lasts for one year and a half." 



It is easy to see why Mr. Bright demands an amelioration of this deplorable 

 condition of the English agricultural laborer as a necessary condition of the 

 recognition of his right to vote ; but few, however, in England seem to partake 

 of his lofty and wide grasp of the question involved in this reform movement, 

 but the great majority seek the instruction of the renter only. Shall this 

 instruction be to fit him for his occupation merely, or shall it have reference to 

 his wants as a man? This is the question now discussed there — the same pre- 

 cisely as here — and there, as here, the discussion, as it progresses, grows v.-armer 

 for the man. 



All general education, in the language of the London Agricultural Gazette, 

 should aim '' to quicken poAvers of observation, to confer alert vitality and wake- 

 fulness, to create habitual thoughtfuluess, to strengthen resolution, to foster 

 religious feelings and conviction." And these qualities of mind belong as much, 

 to the industrial classes as to any other in society, for though covered with the 

 sweat and dust of the harvest field, and begrimed with, the smoke and soot of 

 the forge and workshop, yet is the individual a man — a man, too, absolutely 

 essential to free governments. Who, for a moment, can suppose that this rebel- 

 lion could have been forced iipon the country by the vaulting ambition of a class 

 not industrial, if the labor of the south, like that of the east and the west, had 

 had its powers of observation quickened by instruction, and habitually and actively 

 thoughtful of its own temporal interest and religious convictions 1 But the inevit- 

 able tendency of slavery is to deprive the industrial classes of such instruction 

 by placing labor in a lower caste, and therefore has that institution been justly- 

 regarded as inimical to free government. 



Justice to the man, then, demands in England, as well as here, such an edu- 

 cation as alluded to in the following extract from the London Agricultural 



