COBBETT'S 

 POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 



NUMBER I. 



TO THE 



. <* 



WORKING CLASSES OP PRESTON. 



Burghclere, Hampshire^ 22d August, 1826. 



MY EXCELLENT FRIENDS, 



1. AMONGST all the new, the strange, the unnatu- 

 ral, the monstrous things that mark the present times, 

 or, rather, that have grown out of the present system 

 of governing this country, there is, in my opinion, 

 hardly any thing more monstrous, or even so mon- 

 strous, as the language that is now become fashiona- 

 ble, relative to the condition and the treatment of that 

 part of the community which are usually denomina- 

 ted the POOR ; by which word I mean to designate 

 the persons who, from age, infirmity, helplessness, 

 or from want of the means of gaining anything by 

 labour, become destitute of a sufficiency of food or of 

 raiment, and are in danger of perishing if they be not 

 relieved. Such are the persons that we mean when 

 we talk of THE POOR ; and, I repeat, that amongst 

 all the monstrous things of these monstrous days, 

 nothing is, in my opinion, so monstrous as the lan- 

 guage which we now constantly hear relative to the 

 condition and treatment of this part of the community. 



2. Nothing can be more common than to read, in 

 the newspapers, descriptions the most horrible of the 

 sufferings of the Poor, in various parts of England, 

 but particularly in the North. It is related of them, 



14* 



