trepanned, kidnapped, transported, and cheated English victims in my house at Fixby-I have exhibited those invoices and victims to thousands and tens of thousands of my fellow-countrymen in the North-I have heard the poor Migrant slaves tell how they had been deluded by officials acting under the Poor Law Commissioners-how they were afterwards cheated by the parties to whom they were invoiced-and how they deplored the miseries to which they were subjected. -Distressing as the remembrance of those facts are, disgraceful as they are to England, now, when the result of all these villanies is admitted by the Prime Minister to be poverty and wretchedness, I need not hesitate to recur to them.

Nay, it is needful that those tales of woe should now be repeated; that the evil of which the Premier so loudly complains should be exposed; that the cause, which he admits, should be explained; and that the officials-the base, dishonourable, and dishonest officials, whom he still confides in-should be universally recognized in their acts as the Monsters of the nineteenth century!

Sir, I am rejoiced that the Premier was candid enough to admit that the Poor Law Commissioners had, by their diabolical Migration scheme, caused much of the manufacturing distress-that scheme, which has been the death of thousands, which has driven tens of thousands to despair, and which has caused millions to curse its guilty authors, whom it is still the Premier's delight to honour!

In recurring to the Migration scheme, and to my proceedings to oppose it, I must implore your patience, and that of my readers: may be, my language will seem violent; but no words can fully describe the violence done to justice in the execution of that inhuman plot.

It was not enough that those poor victims should be robbed of " the inheritance of their fathers," and that their "land-mark should be removed;" but the Poor Law Commissioners resolved to aid the factory masters in "making the blind to go out of their way," by leading those poor creatures (under the most false and delusive promises) to their own ruin, and making them the innocent instruments of ruining hundreds of thousands of manufacturing labourers, by a reduction of their miserable wages, in consequence of the increased competition produced by the arrival of the agricultural labourers in the North.

One would have supposed that the greedy manufacturers had already had power enough to oppress their own poor; but in the Migration scheme, the Poor Law Commissioners lent themselves to assist in the most revolting and dishonest plans to aid the Anti-Corn-Law-Leaguers in their diabolical scheme of "working up" the "surplus" agricultural population in their mills!

The Assistant Poor Law Commissioners were employed to deceive the southcountry labourers. The Poor Law Commissioners actually opened an office in Manchester, and appointed an agent there (the notorious Mr. Muggeridge) to accelerate the transfer of the deluded and wretched slaves from their native fields to the noisome factories!

All this iniquity was perpetrated under the Government which pretended to hate slavery, and whose greatest boast was, a payment of 20,000,000. sterling (a great portion of which was collected from these white slaves) to the rich proprietors, for the emancipation of their black slaves! Say, Sir, is it possible that hypocrisy can more effectually debase the human mind?

The object, the avowed object of these trafficers in white slaves, was not so much to obtain men-it was women and children, widows with large families, whom they wanted to "use up"!

You are aware that I know something about the agricultural labourers-of their families, homes, and habits; and how I regretted the loss of their labour, which was so much required in tilling their native soil. How I insisted that they were all necessary to improve the land and increase the value of agricultural property. Heaven gave you (the landlords) a robust, moral, industrious population, whose presence would, if their labour had been employed, have doubled and trebled the value of your land. But the "philosophers," who wanted to work up the women and children, persuaded the landlords that these men were "surplus"; and at their nod, you suffered your natural, your safest prop to be removed the industrious peasantry.

When I think on the wrongs which those honest and confiding people have endured of their peaceful, lovely cottages, decorated with honey-suckles, climbing jessamines and rose-trees-the fragrance of their little gardens-their profitable walnut trees and luxuriant vines-the healthful breezes on their native plains, and then compare what they have lost with that which they are condemned to suffer in those hells upon earth, the factories, I am almost frantic!-To think that a powerful Christian Government, the Government of a nation which boasts that she is "the Mistress of the World," should identify itself with such cruel, cowardly, and unseemly frauds upon its "bold, brave peasantry"-absolutely hiring men," philosophers!"-rather say savages-to lie, and coax, and threaten, in order to procure a cheaper method of spinning cotton, by starving all engaged therein! And when those infamous proceedings are acknowleged by the Prime Minister himself to have issued in misery unprecedented, what national curse, I ask, can be too great, when the authors of such crimes and wretchedness are not only left unpunished, but are continued in office with larger powers than before? Truly, Sir, the conduct of the Dictator and his Lick-spittles is revolting to humanity, wearying to patience-it is defying the power of the Almighty, and courting His heaviest CURSE! The "philosophers" may jeer at the thought of a retributive Providence-they may laugh at the threatenings of Omnipotence; but those who believe in the Word of God, must tremble while they contemplate. that those wicked acts of the Poor Law Commissioners are now so solemnly sanctioned and approved of by the Conservative Government!

When the whole scheme is laid bare-when my readers shall be made acquainted with the acts of fraud and cruelty which were perpetrated in seducing thousands of our fellow-subjects from their homes, and consigning them to slavery, misery, and want-when all the circumstances of the case are fairly laid before them, many, who may now think that my expressions are too harsh and severe, will confess, that language fails to supply words strong enough to describe sius so great, They will deeply regret, with me, that the Conservatives have, instead of averting the curse of God, courted its infliction upon this guilty nation.

Before I proceed with my recital of those proceedings, I must, in order that your mind may be solemnized, read to you a few sentences from the Word of God. It may appear a light matter to men who enjoy their tens of thousands a

year, or to Commissioners who, by their villany, obtain their thousands, that a few poor people, widows and fatherless children, should be deprived of their "RIGHT," (I mean, when in need, of their parish pay,) or that they should be removed from their much-loved homes, and ruined in exile! These things may appear trifles to the great ones of the earth; but, Sir, there is One who treats such subjects seriously-One who marks them with an attentive eye, and who will not forget to punish those who transgress His laws. Depend upon it, there

is truth in these words :

Cursed is he that removeth his neighbour's land-mark.

"Cursed he that maketh the blind to go out of his way.

“Cursed is he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.

Cursed is he that taketh reward to slay the innocent. Amen."

“Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievances which they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the RIGHT from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from afar? To whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?"

I am aware how the "philosophers" will scoff at such quotations. I know how they have set their hearts against the Word of Truth, and that they have been too successful in persuading many, that none but enthusiasts and mad men believe in such denunciations. I know how anxious those are, who are at case in their worldly circumstances, not to permit their quiet to be disturbed by such troublesome sayings; but I know also, that neither the "philosophers" nor the prosperous ones can alter a single word in the CURSE, nor stay, for one moment, the avenging hand of Deity. How often, when I hear the scoffs of the railers, and witness the reluctance of those who are at ease to give credence to these things how often, under such circumstances, is this the language of my heart:

'Nevertheless, my soul, wait thou still upon God: for my hope is in Him. He truly is my strength and my salvation: He is my defence; so that I shall not fall. In God is my health, and my Glory: the Rock of my might, and in God my trust. people: pour out your hearts before Him, for God is our hope.”—“For the Lord heareth the poor, O put your trust in Him alway, ye and despiseth not His prisoners."

Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, and taketh him for his defence, and in his heart goeth from the Lord. Amen."

Having thus refreshed myself from the Fountain of Truth, I turn from the railers, the oppressors, and those who are at ease, and who refuse to listen, to the poor victims of their power and wrath, whom, ou the brink of despair, I would urge to trust in their God, who, for their comfort, thus addresses them :

"The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of His people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of Hosts."

I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”

Be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land."

Lord, who is like unto thee, who delivered the poor from him that is too strong for him: yea, the poor, and him that is in misery, from him that spoileth him?"

Well may those who endeavour to build up this nation on the ruin of her peasantry-on the tears of her widows, and the sinews of her orphans-well may they strive to shut out the knowledge of God from the people, and to educate them in ignorance of His Holy Word!

Despite the proud blaspheming "philosophers," who laugh at the threatened "Recompense," I will urge the suffering poor to trust in their God, and, by patient endurance of those afflictions which will, if they are faithful, ultimately work for their good, to ensure the aid which He has promised-the deliverance which His own Arm will accomplish.

Thus impressed with the solemn truths of the Word of God, and the necessity of an entire faith in that Word, I will proceed to lay bare the foulest scheme which was ever plotted against the poor.

In order that the true character of the Poor Law Commissioners may be known, and their diabolical intentions with regard to the agricultural labourers may be understood-in order that the base depravity of their tools may be fully recognized, it is needful that I should begin at the beginning, and give you a few extracts from a work which was published by Dr. James Phillips Kay, a few years before he was employed as an Assistant Poor Law Commissioner in Norfolk and Suffolk, to persuade the poor labourers how happy, prosperous, and comfortable they would be, if they would migrate into the factory districts! This same Dr. Kay had lived many years in Manchester. His talent in medicine was not so much appreciated as his exertions in canvassing for the Whig candidate. for Manchester. He was successful in seating his friend, and soon after was appointed to the office of Assistant Poor Law Commissioner!

In 1832, Dr. Kay published a pamphlet, entitled, The moral and physical condition of the Working Classes employed in the Cotton Manufacture in Man-1 chester,' (James Ridgway, No. 169, Piccadilly). In that work, he eloquently described the condition of those operatives. Remember, while you read these extracts, that the same Dr. Kay from whom I am now quoting, is he who, a few years afterwards, was engaged, at a large salary, by the Poor Law Commissioners, to delude your labourers into the belief, that the cotton manufacture would afford them a most comfortable and profitable employment! I shall quote word for word from the Doctor's book. I cannot apologize for the length of these quotations. He says:

"Instructed in the fatal secret of subsisting on what is barely necessary to life, the labouring classes [of Manchester] have ceased to entertain a laudable pride in furnishing their houses, and in multiplying the decent comforts which minister to happiness."

"When this example is considered in connexion with the unremitted labour of the whole population engaged in the various branches of the cotton manufacture, our wonder will be less excited by their fatal demoralization. Prolonged and exhausting labour, continued from day to day, and from year to year, is not calculated to develope the intellectual or moral faculties of man. The dull routine of a ceaseless drudgery, in which the same mechanical process is incessantly repeated, resembles the torment of Sisyphus-the toil, like the rock, recoils perpetually on the wearied operafive. The mind gathers neither stores nor strength from the constant extension and retraction of the same muscles. The intellect slumbers in supine inertness; but the grosser parts of our nature attain a rank developement. To condemn man to such severity of toil is, in some measure, to cultivate in him the habits of an animal. He becomes reckless. He disregards the distinguishing appe

tites and habits of his species. He neglects the comforts and delicacies of life. He lives in squalid wretchedness, on meagre food, and expends his superfluous gains in debauchery."

"The family sits round the table, and each rapidly appropriates his portion on a plate, or, they all plunge their spoons into the dish, and with an animal eagerness satisfy the cravings of their appetite."

"They [the operatives] are engaged in an employment which absorbs their attention, and unremittingly employs their physical energies. They are drudges who watch the movements, and assist the operations of a mighty material force, which toils with an energy ever unconscious of fatigue. The persevering labour of the operative must rival the mathematical precision, the incessant motion, and the exhaustless power of the machine.

"Hence, besides the negative results-the total abstraction of every moral and intellectual stimulus-the absence of variety-banishment from the grateful air and the cheering influences of light, the physical energies are exhausted by incessant toil, and imperfect nutrition. Having been subjected to the prolonged labour of an animal-his physical energy wasted-his mind in supine inaction the artizan has neither moral dignity nor intellectual nor organic strength to resist the seductions of appetite. His wife and children, too frequently subjected to the same process, are unable to cheer his remaining moments of leisure. Domestic economy is neglected, domestic comforts are unknown. A meal of the coarsest food is prepared with heedless haste, and devoured with equal precipitation. Home has no other relation to him than that of shelter-few pleasures are there-it chiefly presents to him a scene of physical exhaustion, from which he is glad to escape. Himself impotent of all the distinguishing aims of his species, he sinks into sensual sloth, or revels in more degrading licentiousness. His house is ill-furnished, uncleanly, often ill-ventilated, perhaps damp; his food, from want of forethought and domestic economy, is meagre and innutritious; he is debilitated and hypochondriacal, and falls the victim of dissipation.

“These artizans are frequently subject to a disease, in which the sensibility of the stomach and bowels is morbidly excited; the alvine secretions are deranged, and the appetite impaired. Whilst this state continues, the patient loses flesh, his features are sharpened, the skin becomes pale, leaden coloured, or of the yellow hue which is observed in those who have suffered from the influence of tropical climates. The strength fails, all the capacities of physical enjoyment are destroyed, and the paroxysms of corporeal suffering are aggravated by the horrors of a disordered imagination, till they lead to gloomy apprehension, to the deepest depression, and almost to despair. We cannot wonder that the wretched victim of this disease, invited by those haunts of misery and crime the gin shop and the tavern, as he passes to his daily labour, should endeavour to cheat his suffering of a few moments, by the false excitement procured by ardent spirits; or that the exhausted artizan, driven by ennui and discomfort from his squalid home, should strive, in the delirious dreams of a continued debauch, to forget the remembrance of his reckless improvidence, of the destitution, hunger, and uninterrupted toil, which threaten to destroy the remaining energies of his enfeebled constitution.

"The contagious example which the Irish have exhibited of barbarous habits and savage want of economy, united with the necessarily debasing consequences of uninterrupted toil, have demoralized the people."

The reader who has not thoroughly apprehended the wickedness of the New Poor Law scheme, and the consequent debased depravity of its officers, will scarcely believe that this same Dr. Kay, the author of the above quotations, was afterwards employed, at a large annual salary, in persuading the agricultural labourers of Norfolk and Suffolk how delightful and profitable it was to work incotton factories! This wretched man is now Secretary to the Education Board of the Privy Council!!!-More on this painful subject in my next.

I am, your Prisoner,

RICHARD OASTLER.

P.S.-Again I must delay my " Rent-Roll."-R.O.

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