60 COBBETT'S [No. 



yet you see the people that seem surprised that crimes 

 increase ! Very strange, to be sure ; that men should 

 like to work upon meat and broth better than they 

 like to work upon dry bread ! No wonder that new 

 jails arise. No wonder that there are now two or three 

 or four or five jails to one county, and that as much is 

 now written upon " prison discipline" as upon almost 

 any subject that is going. But, why so good, so gen- 

 erous, to FELONS ? The truth is, that they are not 

 fed too well; for, to be starved is no part of their sen- 

 tence ; and, here are SURGEON'S who have some- 

 thing to say ! They know very well that a man may 

 be murdered by keeping necessary food from him. 

 Felons are not apt to lie down and die quietly for want 

 of food. The jails are in large towns, where the news 

 of any cruelty soon gets about. So that the felons 

 have many circumstances in their favour. It is in the 

 villages, the recluse villages, where the greatest cruel- 

 ties are committed . 



64. Here, then, in this contrast between the treat- 

 ment of the WORKING FELON and that of the 

 WORKING HONEST MAN, we have a complete 

 picture of the present state of England ; that horrible 

 state, to which, by slow degrees, this once happy 

 country has been brought ; and, I should now proceed 

 to show, as I proposed in the first paragraph of this 

 present Number, HOW THERE CAME TO BE 

 SO MUCH POVERTY AND MISERY IN ENG- 

 LAND ; for, this is the main thing, it being clear, 

 that, if we do not see the real causes of our misery, 

 we shall be very unlikely to adopt any effectual reme- 

 dy. But, before I enter on this part of my subject, 

 let me prove, beyond all possibility of doubt, that what 

 I say relatively to the situation of, and the allowances 

 to, the labourers and their families, IS TRUE. The 

 cause of such situation and allowances I shall show 

 hereafter; but let me first show, by a reference to in- 

 dubitable facts, that the situation and allowances are 

 such as, or worse than, I have described them . To 

 do this, no way seems to me to be so fair, so likely to 

 be free from error, so likely to produce a suitable im- 



