BEING ERECTED IN WORKHOUSES. 



125 



LETTER VII. 



mr. dickson's flax mills being ekected in workhouses. 



Sir William Somerville, Bart., being M.P. in 1849, for 

 Drogheda, a town where the good effects of the linen and Flax- 

 trade adds much to the well-doing of the population, I thought 

 well to draw his attention to my views on the question of 

 erecting my Flax-machiney in the workhouses, then in my 

 opinion, miscalled so ; but as my letters and documents were, I 

 suppose, thrown into the waste-basket with others on Irish 

 affairs, I think it fair to Sir William to say my letter was 

 acknowledged as follows : — 



" Sir William Somerville presents his compliments to Mr. 

 Hill Dickson, and begs to return his thanks for the letter of 

 the 7th instant., and the other documents which ^accom- 

 panied it. 



" Irish Office, London, 



13th February, 1849." 



I verily believe that Sir William would then (as chief Secre- 

 tary for Ireland) have supported my views, but for the terror 

 of the economists of the "Manchester school," for as money 

 would be wanted, the Cobden and Bright parties and their 

 satelites, would have made the Irish Office in London too hot 

 for Sir William if he had countenanced my proposition — there 

 is no denying the fact, for no measure would they support that 

 would be likely to benefit landowners or farmers, by a relief from 

 poor-rates or the reclamation of waste land. Cheap Bread, 

 low wages or half-time for factory-hands, are the mottoes of the 

 Bright, peace-loving subjects of our Beloved Sovereign Lady the 

 Queen, and as cheap material in the shape of Wool or Flax 

 cannot be now had, in January 1859, but on the contrary, the 

 advance in price is more than one-third over that of the last 



