178 BECOBDS AND REMINISCENCES OF GOODWOOD 



must, therefore, allude to these in as concise a manner 

 as possible. 



At a meeting of the Society for the Protection of 

 Agriculture and British Industry, in 1849, being 

 called to the chair, in his address to the audience he 

 expressed a hope that no one present, and that not 

 a single farmer in England, would suppose for an 

 instant that he had in the slightest degree withdrawn 

 from the cause of Protection. . . . "We continue," 

 he said, "here to receive the most lamentable ac- 

 counts of the ruin which has overtaken too many of 

 those honest farmers who have for years exerted 

 their talents and industry, honestly and usefully, in 

 the cultivation of the soil of the country. 



" What is the use of calling upon them to lay out 

 more capital, when from the capital they have already 

 expended they cannot get back a single penny in 

 return ? If it be wished that in this country there 

 shall be an improvement, which I for one am quite 

 willing to see, show these men that they can get 

 remuneration for their capital, and there will be no 

 lack of such expenditure. . . . 



" I find that in most parts of the country there 

 exists lamentable distress amongst agricultural 

 labourers, and I find that a large portion, by far 

 the greater portion of those who heretofore have 

 been able to maintain themselves and their families 

 by the sweat of their brow, are now out of work, 



