358 Emigration-Report. —[Oer. 
effect, be. the. cause, what it, may; but. there. is, no, undoing what is 
actually done,;,,Not.so ; some undoing is possible... The steps, that-have 
led, to this. ruin may,..some of them at least, be retraced, and, to,a ¢onsi- 
derable extent, they, must be retraced... Things: must be brought;by 
sound, though perhaps. gradual, measures, as nearly, as' possible, td the 
state they were in forty or fifty years ago. Taxation must be transferred 
from consumption: to, property, and the corn laws.must be: repealed. 
The land-legislature. may, then, and. doubtless will find a way to reduce 
the. expenses of the state at the very Jeast, one-half, though it be to'the 
abandonment of. some of our useless colonies and military. fineries,— 
witha clipping of ten, twenty, or thirty per cent. from the funds. All 
the harm that will follow will be to chip off a few of the exuberances:of 
luxury, while the poor, though they may, not. for a time get adequate 
labour, will, get cheaper provisions. ) uid 
But, what,is to be done in the meanwhile ?. , Enforce, the'poor-rates, 
to the full extremity of the law. For what were they. instituted but to 
provide for permanent as well as occasional distress, The law was wisely. 
enacted against the callousness of wealth, and let, the poor, now, that 
they. are deprived of all other resources, have the full benefit of it. 
The law contemplated no limit, and. least of all is it to be endured that 
a limit shall be fixed by those, who are the very creators of the distress. 
And. let it, be literally and. virtually a provision,—not.the paltry. provi- 
sion, on the Dorsetshire scale, which upon trial proves to be about one- 
third below the price..of bread.and water simply, with, no | consideration 
for fuel, rent, or clothing, But our estates..will be quickly swallowed 
up. Very well, you should have foreseen the. effects, of your intempe- 
rate measures, or. have listened, to those who) did;, you,/should, have 
husbanded. your, resources more. thriftily.; you should have, kept iin mind, 
who had a claim upon them,—that the poor were, born, on, the-,same| soil 
with, yourselyes, were, of the same nation, and entitled to the equitable 
protection of an equitable. government ;—that. though machinery eats 
nothing, man must.eat; and if you force him to be idle, he, must eat, 
at last, at your expense. CEO EK 
_, Truly,.the rich of the land seem to think the, poor have no claim | 
whatever, upon the. produce of the soil, and that, if they cannot live 
without aid, they must.die, Lands are now appropriated, and sacredly 
must they, be regarded as belonging to the proprietors.) Yes, for that 
very reason) it. is, because the whole of the reclaimed land is appro- 
priated, as we call it, that those, who have none, must somewhere or 
other have a.claim to support.. Let them labour by all, means; but if 
you exclude them from labour, as you really have done, you must, sup~ 
port. them. | No, say. you, let them go elsewhere, and) get their own 
living. But here nature has thrown them into,life, and here, they have, 
a right—the right. of. nature, ,.to live, .as-long.jas subsistence canbe 
raised, and as long.as land remains. capable.of growing. it.\..There are; 
still unreclaimed wastes, let them be allotted, and cultivated ; and land: 
may still be rescued in many..spots from, the) seas. . Let these things 
also be done, and every superfluous hand may, raise food enough.and.to 
spare.. There is.no justice in any scheme of emigration, so) long as: 
there, is a possibility of findmg support at home. , That /suppoxtis:still 
possible; by the great relaxing their, gripe, and treading. back,their, 
SMHOPEI 35 SoMoieiedie tisdt 1ot eodeitsq odt tooo bisow-.bodlzemtesti od 
But we are arguing, it will be said,.on the,,supposition ,.of force; 
