1838] 



FA RM B RS' REGISTER. 



687 



for himself and liimily a bare pubsis'.enoe, it is 

 viiin to seek any considerable improvement of his 

 condition, and the jroveniment i-;ui do no more 

 than protect him in the enjoyment oC the part al- 

 lotted to him, and be caiilious that they do not, by 

 any of their measures, expose him to unnecessary 

 hardships. 



Tlie doctrines and theories of the economists, 

 to explain the principles npon which the jirodiice 

 arisino; from land is disirihnted between ihe owner 

 and the laborer, (io not favor the sup[iositioii that, 

 in sjeneral, the sitnaiion of the airriciilliiral poor is 

 susceptible, in ordinary circumstances, of ji real im- 

 provement; and, unfortunately, we find no liicls at 

 other periods, or in other countries, to make us 

 doubt the correctness of their reasoning. History 

 doee not deal much in the records of the poor; but 

 from the little vvhicli can be collected of their state 

 in the early and middle ages and at some later pe- 

 riods, they appear in our country, to have been 

 then subject to greater evils than itifest them even 

 at the present moiTient. 



The situation of the peasantry in other countries 

 affords no txround for more consolatory views. 

 The Netherlands furnish an example of a state 

 said to be well cioverned, and ot a fertile coun'ry; 

 the land appears to teem with plenty; hut no Enjx- 

 lish laborer would exchange his presentcondition, 

 his comfortless cottage, his small allotiTient of a 

 wheaten loaf, for the worse hovel and black bar- 

 ley-bread of the Flemish peasantry. 



The revolution, and the strufjirles which pre- 

 ceded it and of which it was the consummation, 

 laid the foundation of the permanent f^reatness of 

 this country, and of its riches, its powers, and 

 prosperity, ; and it is impossible not to believe that 

 some portion of these benefits* were comnmiiica- 

 ted to the working part of the community ; their 

 comfort must have increased, in some degree, with 

 that of other classes, and the period after the com- 

 mencement of the last century, for seventy or 

 eighty years, was, probably, that in which they 

 had most reason to be satisfied. 



A great rise in the amoimt of the poor-rate, 

 seems to present the best indication for fixing the 

 period at which, during the last century, the wel- 

 fare of the agricultural laborer began to decline. In 

 the parish in which the farm before described is 

 situated, the whole sum collected annually for the 

 use of the poor and of the county-rate, until the 

 year 1779 and 1780, did not exceed 27/. or 291 ; 

 and by reference to the details found in the ac- 

 counts of the overseer, the money so collected 

 was expended in payments of 2s. 6d. per week, to 

 three or lour widows, and occasional relief to per- 

 sons afflicted with sickness. There is no reason 

 for believing this parish to be circumstanced dif- 

 ferently fi-om the others included in the district, 

 and any in.'erence deduced from its example will 

 probably be nearly true as to all. No n)anufac- 

 tures are carried on in it ; the population is entire- 

 ly aorriculiural. Since the year l7S3, the popula- 

 tion of the parish has gradually increased about a 

 third; (ew new cottages have been built, but many 

 have been pulled down, so that the means of ac- 

 commodation being lessened, the inhabiiants are 

 compelled to crowd in heaps under the same roof; 

 families are mixed together by necessity, in a man- 

 ner which deprives a father of any power of se- 

 lecting the inmates of his house, and all control 

 over the morals and habits of his children is usual- 

 ly lost. 



Previously to the yetn- 1783, and fJir some years 

 suhsequeiitiy, a Itnv laborers were owners ol" cot- 

 taires and gardens, on leases lor lives, and they af- 

 liirdcd the most favorable specimen of the slate of 

 coml'ort thill a laborer mii>hl possibly attain. The 

 whole of this class have disafipeared; most of 

 them were compelled to sell their property before 

 the expiration of their tenancy, audit is believed 

 no lease has been renewed. 



From 1780 ihe poor-rate and county-rates in 

 iliis parish, gradually increased, and fiave since 

 that period, within the present century, amounted 

 sometimes to between 600/. and 700/. per annum ; 

 whilst the rental upon an improved state of culti- 

 vation, ivliich nearly dout>le(l the produce, has 

 ceriainlv not been augmented a third. 



Tdxailnn. — The year 1783 terminated a disas- 

 trous and costly war, which fixed on the country 

 permanently a heavy weight of taxation, and the 

 war which was concluded in 1815, with so much 

 irlory and at so enormous an expense, has certain- 

 ly not diminished the burthen. 



It is difficult to ascertain, with precision, the 



proportion of taxation which bears upon the la- 



I borers ; it fills on the means of ihi-ir subsistence 



throucrh so majiiy channels, and in such shapes, 



that the detail is involved in great obscu-nty, and 



' the proof of it is exposed to every species of cavil. 



: But it is evident, the fiirmers will endeavor to 



! seek an indemnity, in some degree, for the bur- 



j then which, directly or indirectly, is imposed upon 



] themselves, and compel the laborer to pay some 



I proi'ortion of it by a deduction from his wages. It 



cannot be i)re vented by any expedient that will 



not vest a discretionary power in some officer or 



matilsirafe to settle the rate of wa<res; a method 



to which the objections are ins iperable. 



fVagts. — The |)ower of making such deduction 

 is placed in the hands of the (iinner, at (iresent to 

 a degree nearly indefinite, by ihe want of employ- 

 ment of the poor. The competition for work 

 amongst the laborers is so great, that they under- 

 bid each other, and leave the barirain entirely at 

 the discretion of the master. This authority is, 

 undoubtedly, sometimes much abused, and gene- 

 rally carried to an extent which compels the la- 

 borers with families to seek the supply of some 

 part of his deficient subsistence, through the in- 

 tervention of the overseer and the magistrate. 



Excess of Population. — Whether this state of 

 circumstances proceeds from a n^al excess of pop- 

 ulation, or from a diminution in the profits of the 

 farmer, which at present disables him li'om em- 

 ploying a greater number of laborers, the imme- 

 diate evil is the same ; but tliese causes differ in 

 their ultimate results. If there be a real excess 

 of population, which caunol be absorbed by some 

 more perfect system of cultivHtion, or by a srreater 

 extent of it, the mischief will be more difficult to 

 remove, than when it proceeds from an occasional 

 depression of profits. 



There are three causes which will probably, in 

 this district, operate to prevent this increase of 

 employment : first, the more extensive use of ma- 

 chinery, which, in defiance of its present unpop- 

 ularity, will ullimalely take place; secondly, an 

 extensive conversion of pasture into arable in Ire- 

 land ; and next, a more unrestricled imfiortation of 

 foreiirn corn, to which all the |iriiiciplep now avow- 

 ed by the majority of the peo()le, and of the able 

 men in parliament, inevitably lead. Whenever 



