18 



STATE OF COMMERCE ON THE CONTINENT. 



Many elaborate statements have been written to show that 

 the condition of our ^^oor is much superior to that of the Conti- 

 nental ; without any reference to the inferior condition of the 

 foreign to that of the English gentleman. The rise of very 

 many of the higher orders of society in this country may be 

 traced from those flourishing times when the labourer and the 

 artisan were employed at liberal wages. An impetus was 

 then given to home commerce, which has been gradually sub- 

 siding in proportion to the reduction of wages; and now it is 

 comparatively at a stand, in consequence of the extremely low 

 and illiberal rate at which the working classes are paid. The 

 inevitable result must soon be the fall of English gentlemen 

 as well as of English labourers to a level with foreigners, and 

 the designs of that party be accomplished which would delight 

 to revel in the ruins of agriculture, and in the application of 

 the sponge to the national debt. 



It is true that bread and meat are cheap abroad; but it is 

 equally true that the wages of the poor in general will allow 

 them to purchase but little of either. In some parts of the 

 world the spontaneous productions of the earth contribute 

 largely towards the maintenance of the poor, as they may be 

 had for the trouble of gathering. But the climate of this 

 country will not allow our people to obtain relief from hedges 

 and ditches. 



Nothing can be more impolitic than the attempt to supply 

 our population with corn, raw material, manufactures, or any 

 articles made in other countries, that can be grown, manufac- 

 tured, and made at home. We pay down hard money for these 

 productions to foreigners, who never return a single farthing 

 for anything produced from the soil and industry of this king- 

 dom ; but, on the contrary, the}^ wisely employ it in the im- 

 provement of their own agriculture, in the erection of facto- 

 ries, and in rendering themselves for ever independent of 

 England. 



I could unfold cases of misery and destitution that would sicken the heart in 

 the perusal. I could relate instances where the rising; influence of Christian 

 feeling towards the amelioration of these sufferings has been overpowered by 

 the sordid passion= for gain. But I refer to my ' Remedy for the Distresses of 

 Norwich,' in the Appendix. 



