o 



26 History of the 



One very gratifying exception to the prevailing distress of the 

 time is mentioned in the following extract from a review of Dr. 

 Taylor's " Notes of a Tour in the Manufacturing Districts of 

 Lancashire in 1S42." {/!) 



"At the village of Rawtenstall, in the Forest of Rossendale, the 

 tourist on a morning witnessed the Factory System under the 

 fairest auspices, in the large establishment of the Messrs. White- 

 head, where all was harmony and happiness. Here were to be 

 seen comfortable and ample houses, clean and well-furnished ; neat, 

 healthy, and intelligent children ; a school, well attended and on 

 the best foundation ; a handsome chapel ; teetotalism in many 

 cases ; and money in the Savings Bank. He found the villagers 

 healthy, happy, and contented. The operatives one and all 

 declared that their only anxiety was, lest the progress of distress 

 should reach the establishment of Holly-mount, and deprive them 

 of the employment they possessed, and the comforts they produced." 

 Unfortunately* the distress did eventually extend to Rawtenstall, 

 but the latter did not at this period suffer to the extent of other 

 districts in the immediate vicinity. 



There can be no question that "protection" was again at the 

 root of the wide-spread misery and depression. The Corn Laws 

 bore heavily on the poorer classes. Flour had risen to an enor- 

 mous price ; the produce of foreign countries being held in bond 

 by the ruinous rates imposed upon its importation. Our great 

 champions of Free Trade, Cobden and Bright, and a host of 

 lesser stars in the political firmament — not forgetting Ebenezer 

 Elliott, the Laureate of the people — were in the midst of their 

 repeal agitation. But certain of our Legislators, as usual blind to 

 the real evils that afflicted the nation, endeavoured to mitigate the 

 distress by resorting to every proposed remedial measure but the 

 true one. Emigration and colonisation found favour with many 

 who were called statesmen, but who either were unable to perceive, 

 or were indifferent to the fact that the only effect of these, on an 



(/) In TaiVi Magazine, September, 1842. 



