56 



average surplus was considerably less. Conse- 

 quently, the labourers in husbandry, according to 

 Lord Fitzwilliam's own estimate of prosperity, and 

 according to his own showing, were more prosper- 

 ous during the time of high prices than anterior to 

 it, which is contrary to the assertion " that the 

 boasted period of agricultural prosperity was to 

 the labourer a season of distress." 



At the time of high prices there was a wide 

 field for the employment of labour in the cultiva- 

 tion of waste land and in general improvements 

 in agriculture, and every labourer in husbandry 

 was employed ; this, unfortunately, has not been 

 the case of late years. Ci Mark," as Sir J. Graham 

 says, " the evidence of Mr. Banning before the 

 Agricultural Committee of 1822." " He was 

 speaking of the county of Somerset, the garden of 

 England, and describing the condition of the 

 lower orders in that district, at that particular 

 time ; and his account is in unison with the evi- 

 dence given from other quarters with regard to the 

 condition generally of the labouring poor. In 

 better times they were in the habit of consuming a 

 certain quantity of animal food, of bacon, or of 

 cheese, which they do not eat now ; unquestion- 

 ably within the last two years their condition is 

 deteriorated." At that time, in 1822, the labour 

 of the agricultural poor, and we are confining the 

 remark to the agricultural poor, was less in 

 / demand, in consequence of the sudden and exten- 

 sive change in the value of the produce of the soil ; 



