lSl6.] Plan for the Relief of Agrkulhiral Laboureri. 



of the best; for I do not hesitate to say 

 the one now under consideration can 

 never be countenanced by the House of 

 Commons. Good-Intent. 



To the Editor of the Montldy Magazine. 



SIU, 



THE public charities of England 

 are its true glory; they distinguish 

 it ia an honourable point of view from 

 other countries. The English uation 

 has shown, that a regard I'or the welfare 

 and happiness of individuals is the first 

 step towards t!ie universal l>ei!evolence 

 so much extolled by modern philoso- 

 phers. To the eternal honour of this 

 nation, it has with prompt libcralily 

 stood forth to relieve the distresses of 

 the thousands on t,')e Continent, who 

 Lave suiiered during the bloody wars 

 which have desolated their countries. 

 As the ble.sshig of peace is now restored 

 to Europe, I ho|)e we shall turn our 

 attention to the internal condition of our 

 own kingdom. 



The long continuance of the last war 

 brought every tiling and evei-y body 

 into such a particular situation, that 

 both commerce and agriculture have 

 proceeded as if war were the natural 

 course and order of the world. The 

 unexpected return of peace has sud- 

 denly diverted every thing from its long 

 accustomed cliaunel, and has caused a 

 general stagnation of trade over all the 

 country. Individuals, of every class, 

 are labouring under the pressure of the 

 times ; and those few who ar;e still able 

 to maintain their ground have but a 

 distant prospect of an impro\ emciit in 

 the state of afl'airs. 



The class of suffering individuals, to 

 which I beg leave to call the attention 

 of your readers, is that which consists 

 of labourers in husbandry. It is well 

 known, that the de|)ression which the 

 agricultural interest has experienced 

 bas ruined many families, and caused 

 others to discharge the greater part of 

 their labourers, being unable to jiay the 

 wages ol' a sufiicient number to till their 

 laud. Tliese labourers arc now wan- 

 dering up and down dilierent parishes 

 in quest of employment ; and the ina- 

 jorilj of tliern have bccji compelled to 

 seek relief from the i)arishes to which 

 they belong. I have been grieved to 

 hear daily compljiints fiorn men, who, 

 till the present time, have maintained 

 themseUes and reared their families 

 by their honest iniluslry, but are now 

 driven to seek (he scaiUy alms of parish 

 reliof. And, as if Ihit degradation wi.ii 



not severe enough, many brutal officers 

 of parishes, when applied to by th« 

 starving labourer for assistance, Lava 

 wantonly wounded the feelings of th« 

 poor man by telling him, that, instead 

 of giving him money, he should find him 

 work. Such a promise would at first 

 enliven the honest petitioner; but ho^ 

 must he have been goaded almost to 

 madness, when his iron-hearted employer 

 has tasked him to perform some childish 

 or debasing ollicc. Your readers will, 

 doubtless, feel the greatest indignation, 

 when they are told, that some of these 

 tasks have been to sift water, or to en- 

 deavour to make a stick stand alone, 

 while their cruel masters have looked 

 on, like the Philistines, while Sarasoa 

 " made sport." I was lately informed 

 of a young man, who, after lighting the 

 battles of his country, v. as discharged at 

 the late peace, and had applied to Ids 

 parish for relief. He was employed, by 

 tliose who ought to have honored a de- 

 fender of his country, in emptying a 

 Jakes, and was commanded to carry the 

 ordure in pails a mile! Your readers 

 must not be ofl'ended at the circumstan- 

 tial recital of what an honest and high- 

 spirited youth was made to endure, pur- 

 posely to degrade him. 



Is this the manner in which so valu- 

 able and numerous a portion of the com- 

 munity is to be treated! Are men, 

 whose famishing children cry to them 

 for bread, to be grossly insulted, and 

 made to bear " cruel mockings," in ad- 

 dition to the sufierings of poverty! 



But I hasten to submit to your rea- 

 ders a plan, to which the foregoing re- 

 marks are intended to lead. 1 propose, 

 that in eveiy parisli a subscription be 

 commenced to enable farmers, in re- 

 duced circumstances, to tind employ- 

 ment for the labouring class. This plaa 

 might be put in execution by allowing 

 ad.* per diem, that is, one half of a la- 

 bourer's <!aily wages, to every man em- 

 ployed by such farmers; which would 

 essentially relieve the employer, and, at 

 the same time, afford assistance to the 

 labourer in a beneficial manner. I 

 am sensible of the imperfect form ia 



* I am aware that I have rated the la- 

 bourer's wages at a sum higher than ift 

 now generally given; but, certainly, nnt 

 hioluT than it ought to be, if the prices of 

 the necessaries of life are to regnlafe 

 wages. Forty years asjo the labourer was 

 paid lU. or IM. pir diem; and, at the 

 sauje time, almost every article of tuod and 

 dress, ^c. wa; at less titiu htii the present 

 price. 



whicli 



