WITH THE ANTI-CORN- LAW LEAGUE. 



239 



wheat, — that as flax will flourish on newly broken-up soils, it will 

 evidently be the means of bringing into regular cultivation large 

 tracts of barren land ; that it will require less than two acres 

 to every hundred now in cultivation, to supply the present 

 demand for flax, independent of foreign aid, from which infi- 

 nitely more tons of linseed would be obtained to fatten cattle 

 than were ever imported of oil-cake in one year; that through- 

 out my pamphlets, previous letters, and present series, pub- 

 lished during the past four years, I advocate constant icork at 

 adequate wages; and not only cheap bread, but also cheap meat 

 for the people. Showing, from the result of successful experi- 

 ments, that, through the cultivation of flax, the fattening of 

 cattle upon native produce, box-feeding, and summer-grazing, 

 three bullocks and three sheep may be fattened where only 

 one of each was kept before ; — and that it did not require a 

 very profound calculation to discover that a triple quantity 

 of manure thus obtained would produce a corresponding increase 

 in the productions of the earth, the price of which is immaterial 

 to the farmer, provided he is remunerated, as is oftener the 

 case with a plentiful crop and a low price than with a scanty 

 one and a high price. I rejoice that measures are being 

 adopted for a vigorous extension of the above system through 

 every part of the kingdom. Already much progress has been 

 made ; and I look forward with renewed confidence to no very 

 distant date, when the manufacturer shall not have cause to 

 complain that the high price of the common necessaries of life 

 prevents his successful competition with foreign markets. I 

 cannot avoid expressing my surprise that those who profess so 

 much sympathy for the poor, and who depict so truly the 

 horrors consequent on non-employment, should attempt to 

 thwart measures that would at once obtain the desired relief ; — 

 should offer their vague and empty theories in opposition to 

 solid and permanent benefits; — rejecting the good within their 

 immediate reach, in order to grapple with phantoms which 

 never fail to elude their grasp ; holding out to starving mor- 

 tals the blessed prospect that with 'six shillings a week ' a 

 man is to maintain himself and family, and fare sumptuously 

 upon provisions drawn from foreign resources, to the encourage- 

 ment of foreign farmers and to the employment of foreign 



