the West of England appears infinitely worse; although most inadequate ly remunerated for their labour, still the working classes in Yorkshire and Lancashire have something to do; but in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire, the same classes of workmen are literally without any employment. At Frome, at ShiptonMallet, at Bradford, and indeed at all the manufacturing towns of the West, the distress of the manufacturers is unprecedentedly overwhelming and appalling. In presenting a petition from the inhabitants of Frome Selwood, complaining of intolerable distress, and praying for relief, the Bishop of Bath and Wells observed, that "nobody except those who had seen the distress could believe the degree to which misery prevailed at present amongst all ranks. He would not say so if the facts had not fallen under his own notice; but he had seen, and he knew that what he said was true. At Wells, where he generally resided, the distress was appalling to humanity-many of the poor creatures had no fuel. At ShiptonMallet, there was great distress, and so there was at Frome; at various places, the number of persons claiming relief was greater than that of the rate-payers. He had seen fellow-creatures yoked to carts, which they were dragging through the country. They were ready to do any thing to obtain the food of which they stood in need; but with all their sufferings, they had displayed no violence, no disposition to turbulence."

At the once flourishing town of Frome, there were about fifty clothiers of these only sixteen now remain, with scarcely half their former employment. The inevitable consequence is, that the parish contains at this period upwards of 5000 paupers receiving weekly pay. This class consists of able-bodied men, whom the stagnation of trade has entirely deprived of their usual employment. Not long since some of them were considerable manufacturers, and most of them rate-payers; but now they and their families are wholly dependent upon parochial relief. A few of these distressed workmen evince a spirit worthy of their better days, determined to subsist as long as they can upon the proceeds of their own industry, between twenty

and thirty of them, accompanied by their wives, may be seen harnessed to trucks which they draw daily to the coal pits, about nine miles distant. They return the same evening with from three to five hundred weight of coals, which they dispose of (if they can) at about 10d. per hundred weight. By thus performing the functions of beasts of draught, they contrive to maintain themselves and their families without parochial assistance.

Wherever we turn our eyes, the same scenes present themselves-the same overwhelming distress-the same poignant cry of intolerable suffering. To us it appears manifest that things cannot be allowed much longer to go on as they now do, without compromising even the safety of the State. Some vigorous effort must be made to rescue at least the classes which depend upon the earnings of their labour from the poverty, the degradation, and the misery, into which they have been plunged. The wealthier classes, who subsist upon the profits of capital, can perhaps, without incurring utter ruin, wait until the derangement occasioned by the changes effected in our monetary system rectifies itself; but to the operative classes, who are necessarily dependent for subsistence upon what they earn by daily labour, want of employment is want of food. It gives us, therefore, no ordinary degree of satisfaction to find that the condition of the labouring classes is to be specifically pressed upon the attention of Parliament. We sincerely hope, that nothing will occur which may have the effect of preventing the Duke of Richmond from fulfilling the intention which he has announced, of bringing this matter before the consideration of the House of Lords; and we also hope, that his Majesty's Government will not resist the appointment of a select committee to enquire into this most important subject. We are well aware that at different periods committees have been already appointed by both Houses of Parliament to enquire into the condition of the labouring classes: we also know, that although some valuable information has by that means been collected, it has led to no useful or practical result. The different committ

have collected evidence and framed reports; and there the matter has been allowed to end. It would, however, be illogical to argue, that because one committee, or a series of committees, has answered no useful purpose, another committee must therefore miscarry. Besides, it appears to us, that the visionary and theoretical views of those who have taken the most active part in these investigations, have greatly contributed to render all their labours abortive. Excited by magnificent plans of foreign colonization, they have spurned with contempt the homespun task of searching into the resources which our home territory may contain for the employment of the people. With the most unfeigned respect for the motives, the perseverance, and the industry of the honourable chairman of the Emigration Committee, we must express our disappointment at the result of his exertions. The reports of that committee contain abundant details with respect to the resources of our North American colonies, and the expenses of emigration-upon these points we are furnished with all the information which appears necessary. We are, how ever, disposed to think, that by treating the matter in this manner, the committee begin at the wrong end. The first step in the inquiry should be a careful examination of our domestic resources: it should be rendered indisputably clear, that we possess no internal means of furnishing the industrious classes with profitable employment before the public can be brought to sanction the expensive, as well as equivocal, expedient of removing from the country any portion of its industrious pulation. It is no doubt indispensable, both for the happiness of individuals, and the general welfare of the community at large, that employment should be found for the idle hands which now exhaust the resources of the country; but it by no means follows, that in order to accomplish this object, we must look beyond the limits of our home territory.

po

That an overproportion of the population of this country is now employed in manufactures is a fact which no person will venture to dispute. The extended use of machi

nery has displaced a vast amount of manual labour. The inhabitants of other countries are now enabled, by the use of machinery, to supply themselves with the wrought commodities which they had been accustomed to purchase in this country. The use of steam tends likewise to break down that species of manufacturing monopoly which we once enjoyed. Our pre-eminence in manufactures must not be ascribed solely to our national superiority, either in skill, industry, or capital. Much of it arose from the greater abundance, and more convenient distribution, of the water which nature had placed at our disposal. This furnished the British manufacturer with a power which few other countries possessed in an equal degree. But the use of steam, as an impelling power, has greatly diminished the extent of this local superiority. A steam-engine can be erected any where, which renders it perfectly practicable to establish a manufactory in any district or country capable of furnishing the necessary supply of fuel. Hence the use of the steam-engine will have the practical effect of equalizing to a great degree the natural facilities possessed by different countries for manufacturing operations. The only pre-eminence which this country can therefore expect to retain in manufacturing industry is that which may arise from the possession of greater skill or more capital. ` But even in these respects other nations may be seen treading very closely upon our heels. The French have prohibited the importation of British cotton goods; and the consequence is, that the improvement of their manufacture has been so rapid, that the same calico which in Bonaparte's time, sold for five francs or four shillings and twopence per ell, now sells for twenty sous or tenpence. This rivalry will become more intense, and spread into new regions every year. As other countries improve in industry and skill, they will gradually succeed in supplying their own markets with the wrought commodities which they used to receive from our looms and factories. Hence it seems very probable that the demand for British goods will fall off still more in foreign countries; and as a consequence, the demand for labour in

our manufacturing districts may be expected to decline still farther. From these considerations we are led to infer that we have reached a crisis in the history of our national industry. We have an increasing population, while the demand for manufacturing labour is confessedly falling off. Under these circumstances, the prospect before us would indeed be sufficiently gloomy, if we had been left without resource. But fortunately for the country, we possess ample means of absorbing this superabundant population. We have only.to adopt the simple and easy expedient of removing a part of our population which now languishes or starves in our decaying manufactories to some neglected portion of our home territory, which, if properly cultivated, would yield an ample return for the labour bestowed upon it, and increase the store, both of human happiness and national wealth. Half the population of Lancashire, for instance, is now pining in indigence, from the low rate at which their labour is remunerated, and half the fields of the same county are nearly in a state of nature from want of tillage. Transplant, at least, some of these people from the cotton mills, in which they now all but starve for want of food, into the corn-fields of the neighbourhood, and they will be able to raise for themselves an abundant subsistence, as well as increased surplus to go into the pockets of the land

owners as rent.

The advocates of the Free Trade system are, in a more especial manner, called upon to use every exertion in facilitating and promoting this transfer of labour from manufacturing operations, where it has become unprofitable, to agriculture, where industry, properly applied, cannot fail to yield the labourer an adequate remuneration. Their grand maxim is, that trade should be left perfectly free and unfettered, and that no branch of manufacture deserves to be upheld which cannot maintain itself without prohibitions and restrictions. Whatever may be thought of this maxim as a guide in commercial legislation, it is manifest that, in the first instance, much individual suffering cannot fail to result from changes in our public policy: when

ever any manufacture, deprived of the artificial props by which it had been upheld, falls to the ground, the workmen thrown out of employment must, of necessity, become exposed to great distress. Hence the adherents of the Free Trade system are bound by every principle, not only of humanity, but also of policy, to join strenuously in every effort which may be made to open a new source of profitable employment to the industrious labourer, whom the operation of the new system may have thrown out of work. The present condition of the silk manufacture in this country will furnish an apt illustration of this matter. The advocates of Free Trade contend that if this branch of our manufactures cannot sustain itself against foreign rivalry, it is a proof that it is not of a profitable nature with respect to the community at large; and that therefore it ought to be left to its fate. The silk weavers reply, that this may be true as far as the nonproductive classes are concerned ; and add, that with the declension and fall of the silk trade, their means of subsistence must be greatly diminished, or perhaps entirely fail, when no alternative would be left them except starvation or the work-house. It must, no doubt, be admitted that the opening of the silk trade has not effected the extinction of the silk manufacture in this country; on the contrary, it appears to have increased in extent. But what has been the cause of this extension? The immense fall which has taken place in the rate of wages, and the incredible deterioration which has been brought about in the condition and circumstances of the working classes. The foreign competition which has been let in upon him, forces the British manufacturer to put up with half the remuneration which he had been accustomed to receive for his labour. If he has succeeded in keeping the field against foreign rivalry, it has been done by the application of a double portion of industry; and the fall which has taken place in British silks, to the level of continental prices, is therefore a benefit reaped by the non-productive classes-by those who five on incomes derived from profit, or capital lent out at interest, at the expense of

producing classes-of those classes who subsist solely upon the earnings of manual industry. The wealthy portion of the community is enabled to purchase silks at a diminished price, but, in order that this may be effected, the working classes are obliged either to perform double tasks, or subsist upon a moiety of their usual wages. The Free Traders appeal to the increased importation of the raw material, as evidence both of the extension of the silk manufacture in this country and of the soundness of their principles. If the earnings of the working classes had continued as high as they were before the change, the fact to which they appeal would have been conclusive; but when it is notorious that the working manufacturer is tasked to the utmost pitch of human ability; and that, notwithstanding this extra exertion, under the constant influence of which individuals too frequently fall into a premature grave, this wretched class can command in return for their labour no more than a moiety of their previous means of subsistence; the circumstance which the Economists put forward as the basis of their triumph, is conclusive of nothing except the unfeeling cruelty of their vaunted system. The silk manufacture has no doubt thriven in appearance in spite of foreign competition. The working manufacturer, finding no opening for the transfer of his labour to another branch of industry, has been compelled to stick to his loom, although the remuneration of his labour has been diminished onehalf; still half-a-loaf being better than no bread, he is forced to put up with half the reward which he had been accustomed to derive from his labour. From the effect of this reduction in wages, rendered inevitable by foreign competition and consequent deterioration of the condition of the working classes, it is not to be wondered at that the silk manufacture has greatly extended. The fall in the wages of the workmen has now reduced the price of wrought silk so much, that it has to a very great extent been, on account of its cheapness, substituted for other commodities. The persons employed in manufacturing the commodities thus displaced, have in their turn been injured.

They are obliged to work harder, and content themselves with lower wages. The effect of the change has thus extended itself throughout the whole mass of the industrious classes. The changes projected by the Economists benefit the affluent and nonproductive classes, by diminishing the cost of the commodities which they consume; but this advantage is purchased solely at the expense of the productive classes, by diminishing their wages, and adding to their toil. This system is admirably calculated to minister to the luxury and enjoyments of the idle and opulent portion of the community; to foster the dissipation, and augment the splendour of the palace and the hall; but the virtuous and hardworking inmate of the cottage it robs of his comforts, and almost of his necessaries. What it adds to the enjoyment of bloated wealth, it takes from the scanty earnings of pining industry. In order that the votary of fashion and extravagance may purchase luxuries at a cheap rate, it trenches with ruthless severity upon the remuneration of productive`industry

This, we apprehend, to be the true ground of the opposition which has been offered to the practical application of the principle of Free Trade. The opponent of this system knows well, that the unrestricted admission of foreign silks into our shops, or of foreign ships into our harbours, will enable him to purchase silk goods and foreign commodities at a diminished price. He is not quite such a bumpkin as to doubt, that a foreign weaver, subsisting on chestnuts and water, can fabricate for him a yard of silk at a less cost than an English artisan, who requires to be fed on beef and porter. Although unblessed with the vast intellectual powers of the Economists, he is, notwithstanding, capable of comprehending, that a foreign sailor, content with the coarsest and meanest fare, would carry his tea from China, and his sugar from the West Indies, much more cheaply than a well-fed and jolly British tar. But although he see all this as well, perhaps, as our renowned Economists themselves, he is too generous, too liberal, too honest, to desire to reap these advantages at the expense of fellow

subjects, whom the employment of foreigners would necessarily throw out of work.

In spite of the boasted illumination of the age, we are not ashamed to recommend these principles to the - consideration and support of the community. They are honest principles, and appear to reflect credit on those who maintain them. They are considerate and humane principles, which will prevent one man from being benefited at the expense of injuring, and perhaps of ruining, his neighbour. For our own part, we feel no hesitation in avowing, that we would rather wave all the glittering advantages which are held out to us as likely to result from the practical application of the most wonderful discoveries of Political Economy, than consent to reap them at the expense of any class of our fellow-subjects. Pleasant no doubt it is to the eye of the beholder to see the fair forms of our lovely and fascinating countrywomen decked in the elegant productions of foreign looms; or in British productions, perhaps of equal beauty, which our own mechanics and artisans have succeeded in fabricating at an extra cost of labour. But this pleasure is greatly embittered by the reflection, that it is purchased at the expense of much suffering and privation to the industrious classes. A terrible encroachment upon their moderate and necessary enjoyments has been made by Economists for the purpose of adding to the luxuries and superfluities of the affluent and idle portion of the community.

There is indeed nothing in the conduct of the advocates of Free Trade so deserving of reprehension, as the hypocritical pretences with which they attempt to disguise or conceal the real object of their measures. If we credit their professions, this amiable and enlightened tribe of philosophers has nothing in view except the public good, and the improvement of the condition of the industrious classes. There is, however, room to think, that they overestimate the ignorance and blindness of the community in supposing that the mass of our population can be much longer hoodwinked by this flimsy pretence. If the effect of this system had been at any time a mat

ter of doubt, recent and dear-bought experience has taught the workingclasses, that the free competition of foreign labour must diminish the compensation which they can expect to receive for their toil. The artisans and mechanics of this country have probably by this time become pretty well convinced, that the importation and consumption of the produce of foreign labour has no tendency to ameliorate their condition; and that they at least form no portion of that public whom the Free Trade system is said to benefit. We must, however, be allowed to assure the labouring and industrious classes, that they constitute no portion of that public, of whom the Whigs and the Economists talk so loudly and so frequently. In the vocabulary of this sect, the personification called " the public" includes only the idle capitalists, the consuming classes, the "fruges consumere nati;" but has no reference whatever to the working portion of the community. The Whig Economists regard this class merely as beasts of burden, as animal machinery produced by nature for the purpose of "hewing wood and drawing water" in the service of the nonproductive and consuming classes. We apprehend, however, that_the moment is arriving, when the Free Traders will no longer find shelter from public scorn and indignation, under the hollow and false pretence of intending to benefit the working classes. The time is approaching when they must cease to insult the understandings of those whom they have irreparably injured. Is it not enough, that, by their innovating measures, they have deprived the labouring portion of the community of employment, and their families of bread? Is it necessary that, with an unusual refinement of malice, they should jeer and flout the unhappy classes whom they have robbed and ruined?

The great principle and discriminating characteristics of that honest party in this country, which stands opposed to all speculative innovation is a determination to uphold in all their useful efficiency the institutions, and social arrangements, which, handed down to them by their ancestors, have been subjected to the test of experience; admitting occa