34 AKTJFICIAL STATE OF INDUSTRY. 



for their tenants as labouring subject*, how 

 many of them have been unable to proceed 

 further in the reformation of their country ! 



Although the agriculture of England has 

 been very much neglected, yet the condition of 

 her agricultural labourers is very different, and 

 very much superior to that of the Irish. The 

 extraordinary industry of her manufacturing 

 towns has relieved her rural districts of their 

 surplus population. The Lowlands of Scotland 

 is similarly situated, both having enjoyed the 

 full benefit of manufacturing and commercial 

 industry. The principal feature in the manu- 

 facturing and commercial industry of England 

 is its artificial character, or the application of 

 inanimate power to machinery to such a stu- 

 pendous amount, as already noticed. But 

 while this artificial state of industry has enabled 

 her to compete with and outstrip the rest of 

 the world, the muscular strength and industry 

 of many of her people in her large towns arc 

 at a very low ebb, and fast descending to a 

 level with those of the present potatoc-fed 

 inhabitants of Ireland. The amount of labour 

 performed by many of the labouring classes in 

 London and other large towns falls infinitely 



