Instead of counteracting the great evil which it was intended to eradicate, it has succeeded, with other causes, in reducing the wages of the manufacturing operatives, so as to require the aid of the poor-rates "to cke out" their subsistence! No one can foresee the tremendous consequences which must follow if this system becomes general in the manufacturing districts. The only alternative, if the Poor Law Commissioners resolve to interdict the payment of wages out of the poor-rates, will be, to drive the operatives by tens of thousands into the union workhouses, or such a convulsion in society as I dare not attempt to describe.

Sir Robert Peel will do well to look into this matter. He may assure himself, that if he is determined to have the New Poor Law enforced in the manufacturing districts, the troops (which he is now sending to kill the Chinese because they will not take our poison, and the Affghans, because they very properly rejected our meddling interference in their national affairs) will be required to maintain the usurpation of the "three kings" in England!

The deplorable condition of the whole country, but more especially of the inhabitants of the manufacturing districts, is a proof which ought to satisfy any reasonable person that a great mistake has been made by those who supported the New Poor Law, in the expectation that the wages and character of the working people would be improved thereby.

The present state of things proves that this experiment (together with other causes which emanate from the same policy) has produced a very material reduction in wages, (which is strengthened by the fact I have now communicated to you,) and also a deterioration in the character of the people, of which I am constantly assured, by persons who visit me, that it is impossible, without a personal examination, to form the slightest conception.

I am told, upon authority which never deceives me, that food is stolen so regularly and constantly in many districts, that it would be singular to pass a day without such an occurrence. "The law of the basket" is no longer mentioned in secret, but it is openly proposed, as the only preservative of life. I am also informed, on the same authority, that tradesmen, on leaving the markets for their homes, are under such apprehension, that they arm themselves, and travel in companies or groups of at least three or four persons.

I know of no symptom in society more astounding than this. It proves that, from some cause or other, life and property are no longer considered safe. Thus, gain, is the fact established that THE NEW POOR LAW IS A FAILURE. It is also believed, by those very persons whose fears are the strongest, that the establishment of a Rural Police would only increase their danger, by hastening the crisis which they dread.

All these facts create in my mind no surprise. I should have been astonished if the case had been otherwise. I know the people of those districts well. I was certain that they could not retain their allegiance to the laws, when the value of their labour was tested by the New Poor Law allowance, and they were refused their rightful share of relief from the soil; and I did not fear, at much personal risk and loss, on many occasions, to warn the Government, that as soon as it was discovered by the people, that as by the New Poor Law the rights of the poor

were destroyed, they would, as a necessary consequence, cease to respect the property of the rich!

The constitutional principle of universal sympathy, which, like a magic spell, bound society together, has been broken; it is vain that a Government, which determines to maintain the principles of that cottage dismantler, the hated and accursed New Poor Law, should hope to restore contentment and security to the distracted and alienated people of England.

From all parts I learn that the very blossom and flower of the people are leaving England, because they have no longer any hope of finding sustenance in her bosom ! "Emigration or Revolution" is their desponding cry! Despairing husbands are forsaking their disconsolate wives and weeping children, in the vain hope of being able to provide for them, at a future time, in a distant land. "Emigration clubs" are established in the manufacturing districts, for the purpose of enabling the poor, by small weekly payments, to "draw lots" for their chance of a "prize," to enable them to raise the necessary fund for selftransportation!

Hundreds are, previous to their emigration, getting into all the debt they can, thinking that there is no harm in cheating the people of a country whose rulers have cheated them out of the means of subsistence, and robbed them of their birthright!

The love of country is destroyed-society is being disorganized-the character of Englishmen is changed; and times are now approaching when the dissolution of the body politic must ensue, if the wild notions of the theorists-" the liberal and enlightened Philosophers"-are not abandoned for the principles of truth which are to be found by "the light of the Constitution."

The tyranny of the New Poor Law minions has created the counter-tyranny of poverty. In some unions in the manufacturing districts, the poor no longer go singly to ask for relief; they have found, that the hard-hearted officers of the New Poor Law, who taunted, insulted, and refused a single applicant, dare not be rude and negligent to the claims of those who congregate in masses. The poor people now go in droves, and demand, if need be, even under threats, what before they would have received with thankfulness and gratitude! Such is the state of things, and I grieve to tell it, to which the accursed New Poor Law has brought the working inhabitants of the manufacturing districts of this country!

I need no Commissioners to satisfy myself of the truth of these mournful facts. My visitors are from all parts of the country, of all ranks and all parties -they are those who know the things of which they speak-their concurrent testimony has no variation; and although every one admits my intimate acquaintance with the former condition of the working classes, they all assure me, that it is utterly impossible that I can properly estimate the present depressed, distressed, and degraded state of the people! I repeat, that I am not surprised. I foresaw that misery unequalled must follow the new system of "liberal and enlightened policy"; for it is impossible that anything but poverty, misery, and wretchednesss can be the result of a system of manufacture and commerce which is avowedly founded on the base and destructive theory, that "the employer of labour is to avail himself of ALL circumstances by which

he can reduce the value of labour !"-a system which, thus armed against the poor, is pushed into execution by "that passion for accumulation, that inextinguishable passion for gain, which has no limits," must destroy the last hope of the industrious, and drive them to despair.

If I inquire of the shopkeepers, manufacturers, or merchants, "What is your condition?" the answer is, without reference to locality or any particular branch of industry, "We are at our wit's end-we were never before in such a wretched plight!""Is it more foreign trade that will give you relief?"-" Not a bit of it," is their answer; we want HOME TRADE. We have had foreign trade to repletion, and it has become our bitterest curse.' Nay, Sir, it is a fact, some

of the Anti-Corn-Law Leaguers are being convinced of the fallacy of their expansive notioas-even they are opening their eyes to the truth. In proof of this, I will quote from a letter, which is now laid on my table, from a most intelligent member of the League to his relation in Yorkshire, dated Manchester, April 11, 1842, in which he says

"Our trade, I mean that of the district, is daily growing worse, notwithstanding the abundance of money, which, however, is now beginning to affect corn. Our dealers here say, 'They intend to release all on the way and in bond at the minimum duty.' Where, then, is the protection of the farmer, which is so much boasted of?" * Wages are lowering on all hands."

"Unless we have more INTERNAL trade, power-loom weavers will be no better off than hand-loom weavers in a few years. THE GREAT CAUSE OF THE DEPRESSION OF THE COTTON TRADE IS THE FALLING OFF IN THE HOME CONSUMPTION, AND UNTIL THIS REVIVES I DO NOT EXPECT ANY IMPROVEMENT."

That quotation is worth a Jewess' eye! Let the Premier con well its contents, and it will prove to him, from fact, that the whole theory of Free Trade is a delusion; that it is a scheme invented to give capital the power to triumph over industry! And it must also satisfy the Premier, that the extension of our foreign commerce, resulting from more freedom, is not the plan to restore prosperity; but, on the contrary, that the only way out of our embarrassments is in the path of regulation and consolidation.

It must, however, never be forgotten, that the very essence of what is called Free Trade (or trade without Rule) is centred in the New Poor Law-the tendency of which must be, that the lowest limits of Bastile relief shall, in the long run, be the depressing point for the value of a working man's industry!

If, therefore, "INTERNAL TRADE" and "HOME CONSUMPTION" are to be restored, the New Poor Law must be repealed, for it is utterly impossible to encourage the HOME trade under the depressing influences of that accursed law.

See the practical result of the effects of the New Poor Law on the price of labour. The labouring man, the artizan, learns from his employer, "That he can have no more work, if he will not submit to a reduction of 20, or 30, or 40 per cent. from his already too scanty wages!" The poor disconsolate wretch leaves his master, and with a heavy heart applies to the board of guardians for relief. There he meets his master, or his master's friend. He is told, "The union workhouse, with its precursor, (a sale of his furniture,) the breaking up of his home-the brand of crime for poverty, and its punishment, imprisonment-separation from his wife and children, with a meagre nerve-and-muscle-destroying

diet, are all that they can offer him." The man's nature rebels against these revolting terms he again applies to his master for work. The employer, thus armed, "avails himself of this circumstance still further to reduce the value of the poor man's labour," and offers him, on this, his last application, some 5 or 10 per cent. less wages than before! Broken-hearted, the labourer or artizan consents! But the seeds of revenge are sown in that garden of poverty; and instead of being, as before, a part of the strength of the nation, he adds to its weakness and its crimes! He can consume but very triflingly, but he must produce still more, to save himself from starving, and, after all, “eke out” a bare subsistence, (after destroying the vitality of his frame,) by an allowance from the poor-rates, or yield to the suggestions of nature, and become a thief.

Thus, in every sense, is the prosperity of England undermined-her people are physically and morally depressed; and, as a consequence, the "INTERNAL TRADE," the " HOME CONSUMPTION," is destroyed. This is the reason why our shopkeepers, manufacturers, and merchants cannot thrive.

Let the following fact satisfy you of the rottenness of our "liberal and enlightened" manufacturing and commercial system. When we talk of millions and hundreds of millions, we are liable to be lost in the magnitude of our transactions, and are bewildered in the complicate intricacies of a nation's commerce. But we may more easily apprehend an isolated case, a sample of thousands. Take, then, a piece of stout calico, such as I have at this moment before me, from that single piece calculate the national loss by our present system.

and

Its weight is 21., and the price at which it is sold is 9d. per b. The cotton from which the piece was made cost a fraction under 5d. per b. so that this piece of cotton goods leaves less than 43d. per b. for the charge of manufacturing and profits, that being the whole sum left in England after the exercise and exertion of her skill and industry. In other words, the whole national receipt by the multifarious transactions in making and selling that article is now short of 44d. per .!

Now, Sir, about thirty years ago, the self-same article yielded for English labour and industry 38. 5d. per b.! Why, the assertion is so astounding, that I must prove it; and so I will. Then, the cotton of which that piece was made cost 28. per b., and the manufactured piece of goods sold then for 58. 5d. per tb.! so that, on that article of manufacture, there is now left to "fructify in the pockets" of Englishmen not quite 44d. per b., instead of, as formerly, 4ld. per I., or nearly ten times the present profit!

So much for the benefit which we appropriate to ourselves from our improved skill and exhausting industry! Instead of enriching, we impoverish ourselves thereby! Well may our shopkeepers, manufacturers, and merchants complain of "bad trade"-well may our operatives complain of exhaustion and starvation! -well may my friend Atkinson exclaim, as he does, at pp. 222 to 224 of his admirable Principles of Political Economy,' (Whittaker & Co.)—

“It will require that the doctrine of CHEAPNESS be understood and held in its true and abominable character! [Mr. Atkinson continues]-Now the real meaning of the word cheapness is, such an application or use of natural material acquisitions, as shall enable a portion of the things usually consumed by those who labour, to be withheld from them, or saved, as it is called. Thus,

the less that is given to the labourer for his consumption on the one hand, and, on the other, the more efficient his labour is made, the smaller will be the cost of production; and then, the production being procured at less cost, and the supply being stimulated, CHEAPNESS is the result. Thus, the possessor of capital is urged to encourage invention to the utmost of his power, and when by the exercise of ingenuity, a method is found of supplanting or dispensing with labour, the human agent is instantly discarded, without consideration and without compassion. Labour then becomes disproportionate to capital, or superabundant as compared with capital. Urged by necessity, the labourer then presses his service again to the possessor of capital, who offers him smaller remuneration, upon condition that he bestows for his diminished remuneration a still larger portion, of his toil! Thus the action is forced against the weaker part two ways; the one, by the utmost diminution of his matter of consumption, and the other, by the utmost pressure upon his ability to labour or produce. The result of such a course of cruelty is the much esteemed fact of CHEAPNESS. It is attempted, indeed, to conceal the true character of the proceeding, by asserting, that commodities so produced will come more within the reach of the labouring classes themselves, and so enable THEM to be greater consumers. Now this, it is evident, is a false gloss, covering a hideous and most pernicious state of facts; for as ALL commodities are procured by the instrumentality of labour, and as the course of action adverted to must of necessity be of equal and universal application, that is, be fitted to extend itself to ALL labour, so the assertion can have no foundation in truth, since it cannot be that a class or any general body can derive benefit by its own degradation."

No fact is more true, than that the labouring classes, who all, of necessity, produce more than they consume, (else they would not be employed,) can never be benefitted by CHEAPNESS. It must, then, be self-evident, that if the well-being of the working classes be necessary to a nation's strength, nothing can save this nation from decay and dissolution, but an entire abandonment of this accursed CHEAPENING system, "liberal and enlightened" though it be. Labour must be protected, or England will fall! Let the Conservatives look to it, or they will very soon experience very foul weather.

No wonder that those who were deluded (by the false statement and glowing theories of the Poor Law Commissioners and Lord Brougham) into a belief that the New Poor Law would produce prosperity and secure property, are now the first to "move" at boards of guardians for "the dissolution of their unions." Such is a common case-in Huddersfield and Halifax to wit.

The fact is, Sir, England's sun is setting! But our statesmen are afraid to meet the question, or on principle discuss the cause. They hope to parry off the evil day, and console themselves with saying, "It will last our time!"

Every symptom of dissolution is apparent in the body politic, and no proper remedy can be applied, because "the physician," feeling his incompetency to cope with the real nature of the case, strives to amuse and lull, or yields to the prevailing humour of his patient.

Sir, I am not a wanton alarmist. I know that I faithfully pourtray the true condition of the British nation, and I must, at all hazards, warn you—you who have influence and property, that if you would retain either, the condition of the poor must be attended to-their rights must be restored, their labour must be protected!

Why does Sir Robert Peel allow the great question of the New Poor Law so long to linger? Is he really afraid to meet it? I fear that he is; and that if he can find an excuse to evade it, he will punish England by another twelvemonth's infliction of that scorpion scourge, and pass it over to the next session