72 



EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



Each laborer pays 4 4s. for a house, and has about 3 roods 

 of garden. 



Calculation of what each man receives. 



&quot; The English laborer,&quot; says an assistant poor-law commis 

 sioner, &quot; even if he has transcendent abilities, has scarcely any 

 prospect of rising in the world, and becoming a small farmer. 

 He commences his career as a weekly laborer, and the probabil 

 ity is, that, whatever may be his talents and industry, as a weekly 

 laborer he will end his days.&quot; &quot; This is the best side of the 

 picture : what is the reverse ? If he has no chance of rising in 

 the world, how many chances has he of falling ? If he is thrown 

 out of employment ; if he has a large family of girls or young 

 children ; if he yields to temptation, and becomes irregular in his 

 habits ; what is to become of him ? The answer is obvious : 

 for a time he will be assisted by casual charity, and struggle on 

 against extreme privations ; but if the causes of distress continue, 

 one or other of two things will be his final lot he will either 

 be enrolled among the 1,072,978 paupers receiving parish relief 

 under the new poor law ; or he will be starved out of the coun 

 try into some large town, and absorbed in the floating population 

 who tenant the cellars and lodging-houses, and live by the worst- 

 paid description of manufacturing industry, or by thieving, pros 

 titution, and casual employment.&quot;* 



As I have before remarked, it is much more easy to point out 

 and deplore an evil, than it is to suggest a remedy. A republican 

 would say that the evil is fundamental, and grows out of a con 

 stitution of society establishing different ranks, the appropriation 



* Laing s Prize Address. 



