338 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



tion has been continually going on from that to the present time. 

 Labor here, then, is wholly dependent upon capital. Emigra 

 tion, from the insular character of the country, is extremely dif 

 ficult, and not as in the United States, where a man has only to 

 take his axe upon his shoulder, and find for himself a home. 

 Though the price of bread, therefore, should increase, the rate of 

 wages would not be affected ; the laborer would get no more ; 

 and, from the advance in the price of that which is indispen 

 sable to his subsistence, his wages would virtually become of 

 less value, though the nominal amount remained the same. Add 

 to this, that the increase of the population of Great Britain is 

 going on at a rapid rate, the increase for the last year, as 

 stated upon the highest authority, being no less than 380,000. 

 These considerations, as connected with this subject, cannot fail 

 to have their weight upon reflecting and benevolent minds. 

 Whether any restraint, therefore, should be put upon the supply 

 of food to the people, is a matter which I submit to the opinion 

 of those whom it concerns. 



If &quot; property has its rights, it has also its duties,&quot; and those 

 of a most responsible character. The condition of the laborer 

 is sufficiently striking. His labor creates the product, but this 

 product passes immediately into other hands ; sometimes into 

 the hands of those whose skill, and care, and enterprise, com 

 bined with his labor, did their full share in the creation of this 

 product, but often into the hands of persons who produce 

 nothing, and live only to consume and to enjoy. He must be 

 satisfied if a very small portion of it is returned to him by way 

 of compensation for his toil ; but it would seem at first blush a 

 hard case, if even a portion of this must be abstracted in its 

 progress to him, or otherwise he will not be allowed the oppor 

 tunity of laboring at all. Our horses and oxen are well fed 

 and cared for, in proportion to the labor which they are com 

 pelled to perform. What should we say of the man who refused 

 them this ? But alas for the poor men ! I have seen hundreds 

 and hundreds of the laborers, who, after a most scanty breakfast, 

 in the midst of their labors, sometimes severe and always unre 

 mitting, had nothing for their dinner but a bit of dry bread and 

 a draught of water, and who would return at night, when the 

 toil of the day was over, to a supper as scanty. Even the in 

 ferior butter is not suffered to reach them, but is mixed with tar 



