them (except back again to their ori- especially the motives of living authors, ginal state), let him hunt throughout ought to warn you against trusting in Scotland and Ireland, and there find an the stuff put forth by the scribbling coxEnglish vagrant; there find a pass-cart combs, fools, and knaves, that are dead. to convey beggars back again to Eng-1, taking permission to use the words of land. This is the first thing to do before the apostle," bear witness of that which a pack of Scotch and Irish renegadoes I have seen." It is not yet a week get together to hatch the means of since I set my foot in Scotland; yet I robbing the working people of England have seen enough to make me clearly of the compensation for their patri- understand the ground-work of all your mony, as the people of Scotland and errors relative to this most important Ireland have been robbed. Before any of all human matters. quack be impudent enough to propose to abolish English poor-laws, let him stop the pass-carts, which are constantly in movement to carry out of England, and to toss back upon their own soil, the destitute people of Scotland and Ireland. I find that there is a sort of poorlaws in some parts of Scotland; that the counties bordering on the sea, through which I have come, that the county of FIFE, and others, some of the rich parts of Scotland; that this city, that PAISLEY, GLASGOW, GREENOCK, have compulsory Here is a thing calling itself "a assessments for the relief of the poor; Government," and a "paternal Govern- but that, in all the interior, and over the ment" too, having three countries under far greater part of Scotland, there is no its management, out of two of which such provision, and that the destitute distressed persons are continually prowl- depend entirely upon collections at the ing into the third; and that third is as church-doors, and upon other alms constantly engaged in carrying these voluntarily given. The people of Engdistressed persons back again by force, land compelled the Government to give and tossing them back again upon the them a legal claim upon the land genersoil from which they have made their ally in lieu of their patrimony, which incursions; and this work of carrying consisted of efficient and substantial back (causing great expense) is con-relief out of the tithes. The people of stantly going on through numerous Scotland, embroiled and torn to pieces channels every year of our lives, from by conflicting tyrants; and the people the first of January to the thirty-first of of Ireland, kept down by the iron arm of December; and with all this before the greedy aristocracy in England; their eyes, this “paternal Government" had not the power to compel their is incessantly at work, hatching schemes rulers to do them justice, and give them for reducing the third country to the a compensation for the loss of their situation of the other two! It is useless patrimony. Therefore these two counto rage; and, there being a liberal tries were robbed without compenWhig Ministry in power, I stifle my sation ever obtained; and therefore it feelings, and refrain from doing justice is that destitute persons prowl from them in characterising this Government. into England, and that the English But now, Dr. BLACK, about the destitute persons stay at home. famous "antalluct" of the labourers of Even Scotch charity does a great deal, Scotland, and the ignorance of the and the distribution of the alms being chopsticks of the South; those causes committed to their exemplary parochial of turbulence in the latter, and of quiet ministers, a great deal is done to allevisubmission in the former. You are a ate the sufferings of the destitute. Scotchman, Doctor; but you know the rich counties and the great towns nothing about Scotland. You live in where the assessment is compulsory, it England; but you know nothing about is, nevertheless, extremely defective. It England. Books have been your teachers; and that which you know about the characters, the capacities, and In is a fixed sum for the year. In this city it is six per cent. on the rental; but then (which is a subject to be treated of ; another time) the judges, and every one those of the South are so turbulent belonging to the courts, claim an ex- and about that "moral restraint" of emption; very unjustly, to be sure; the nasty-pensioned-parson MALTHUS, but they claim it, and they have it; and that "prudence in abstaining from and thus about a thousand of the richest marriage," which makes the labourers of men in the city pay nothing towards Scotland so WELL OFF; because, the relief of the poor. The sum thus Doctor, it is this last-mentioned matter raised is found to be very inadequate which is the great thing of all. here, in this fine and beautiful city, with as much real piety as is to be found in any place in the world; with ministers as diligent, and with a whole people as charitable, the assessments fall so much short of the necessities of the case, that the suffering and the beggary, though so much checked by the proud stomachs of the people, surpass, in a tenfold degree, that which is to be found in any place in England; and if I were to say in a fifty-fold degree, I do not think that I should go beyond the fact. From everything that I can learn, nothing can exceed the diligence, the pains, the disinterestedness, with which the funds raised for the poor at EDINBURGH are managed; and yet such is the distress and such the beggary! Well, then, what does this prove? It proves the wisdom as well as the justice of the act of Elizabeth; it proves that, to make the relief what it ought to be, there other poor-law commust at all times be, as in England and missioners, SENIOR and COULSON the the United States of America, a power reporther, and HARRY GAWLER (the to collect, not a certain sum during the Duke's brother) and Malthusian BURyear, but as much as shall be wanted DETT, and all the old crew, shall find during the year, and the adoption of that I have not come to Scotland for measures to secure the due application | nothing. as well as a sufficient collection. Now, then, let me tell you how those persons are off, whom you wish the labourers of England to imitate, and with whom you wish them to change situations. But I will not address myself to you here. I will address myself to the chopsticks of the South; and this part of this Register I hereby direct my printers to take out of the Register, after they have printed off the edition, and to put it in a half sheet or quarter sheet of demy paper, with a title to it, just such as I shall here give. I hereby direct them to print ten thousand copies of this address; to put at the bottom of it, price ONE PENNY; and I hereby direct the person keeping my shop at Bolt-court, to sell these addresses at five shillings a hundred; or at three shillings for fifty. Now, then, Doctor, BROUGHAM and MALTHUS and Lord Howick and Sturges Bourne and BROUGHAM'S COBBETT'S ADVICE TO THE CHOPSTICKS OF KENT, SUSSEX, SURREY, HAMPSHIRE, Having now shown that even in Scotland necessity has dictated something in the way of compulsory assessment, leaving Mr. O'CONNELL to reflect on these and on the foregoing facts, and respectfully suggesting to him to consider whether it might not be as well to sweep beggary out of Ireland first, and then for us to discuss, when the people shall have their backs covered and their bellies filled, the question about a repeal of the Union; leaving Mr. O'CONNELL MY FRIENDS,-This is the finest city and these matters here, let me now, Dr. that I ever saw in my life, though it is BLACK, turn to you again, and talk to about five hundred miles to the north you about that famous " antalluct," of the southern part of Dorsetshire; before-mentioned, that keeps the la- but neither the beauty of this city nor bourers of the North so quiet, while its distance from your and my home has Edinburgh, 14. Oct., 1832. made me forget you, and particularly be as quiet as the Scotch labourers. poor Cook and Farmer Boyes and Now then, I will tell you how well off the men that were transported in 1830. the Scotch labourers are; and then you I have some advice to offer you, the will judge whether you have been wise object of which is to induce you reso- or foolish, in what you have been lawlutely to maintain the rights which, fully doing for two years past, with a agreeably to the laws of our country, view of making your living a little better we all inherit from our forefathers. than it was. Amongst these rights are, the right to This city is fifty-six miles from the live in the country of our birth; the river TwEED, which separates England right to have a living out of the land of from Scotland. I have come through our birth in exchange for our labour the country in a post-chaise, stopped duly and honestly performed; the right, one night upon the road, and have made in case we fall into distress, to have our every inquiry, in order that I might be wants sufficiently relieved out of the able to ascertain the exact state of the produce of the land, whether that dis- labourers on the land. With the exceptress arise from sickness, from decrepi- tion of about seven miles, the land is tude, from old age, or from the inability to find employment; because there are laws, and those laws are just, to punish us if we be idle or dissolute. half mile, from fifty to a hundred acres of turnips in one piece, sometimes white turnips and sometimes Swedes; all in rows as straight as a line, and without a weed ever to be seen in any of these the finest that I ever saw in my life, though I have seen every fine vale in every county in England; and in the United States of America I never saw There is a reform of the Parliament; any land a tenth part so good. You and, it is touching your conduct as con will know what the land is when I tell nected with this reform, that I am you, that it is by no means uncommon about to offer you my advice; but for it to produce seven English quarters before I do that, I must speak to you of wheat upon one English acre, and about what I have seen in Scotland, of forty tons of turnips upon one English which this fine city is the capital. You acre; and that there are, almost in every know that many gentlemen in England have Scotch bailiffs; and that these Scotch bailiffs, particularly CALLEN DAR, the bailiff of Sir THOMAS BARING, in Hampshire, and another one or two whose names I have now forgotten, beautiful fields. were principal witnesses against the On! how you will wish to be here! men that were brought to trial for " Lord," you will say to yourselves, breaking thrashing-machines, and other" what pretty villages there must be acts of that sort in 1830. You know" there; what nice churches and churchthat these bailiffs are always telling you 66 yards; oh! and what preciously nice how good and obedient the labourers" alehouses! Come, Jack, let us set off are in Scotland, and how WELL OFF" to Scotland! What nice gardens shall they are; and yet they tell you that" we have to our cottages there! What there are no poor-laws in Scotiand. "beautiful flowers our wives will have All this appears very wonderful to you. climbing up about the windows, and The Government and the parsons tell" on both sides of the path leading from you the same thing; and they tell you, "the wicket up to the door! And what that if you were as well-behaved as the" prancing and barking pigs we shall Scotch, and as quiet, you would be as "have, running out upon the common, well off as they are. They say, that it" and what a flock of geese, grazing is your ignorance that makes you not upon the green!' like to live upon potatoes, while those Stop! stop! I have not come to liswho live upon the tithes and the taxes ten to you, but to make you listen to have the meat and the bread. They me; let me tell you, then, that there is tell you that you would be better off if neither village, nor church, nor aleyou were but as sensible and would but house, nor garden, nor cottage, nor flowers, nor pig, nor goose, nor common, chopstick of Sussex, who has been used nor green; but the thing is thus: 1. The to sit round the fire with the master farms of a whole county are, generally and the mistress, and to pull about and speaking, the property of one lord; tickle the laughing maids! Pretty 2. They are so large, that the corn-stacks well, that! But it is the life of the frequently amount to more than a hun-married labourer that will delight you. dred upon one farm, each stack having Upon a steam-engine farm there are, in it, on an average, from fifteen to perhaps, eight or ten of these. There twenty English quarters of corn; 3. The is, at a considerable distance from the farmer's house is a house big enough farm-yard, a sort of barrack erected for and fine enough for a gentleman to live these to live in. It is a long shed, stone in; the farm-yard is a square, with build- wails and pantile roof, and divided into ings on one side of it for horses, cattle, a certain number of boothies, each havand implements; the stack-yard is on ing a door and one little window, all one side of this, the stacks all in rows, the doors being on one side of the shed, and the place as big as a little town. and there being no buck-doors; and as 4. On the side of the farm-yard next to to a privy, no such thing, for them, the stack-yard there is a place to thrash appears ever to be thought of. The the corn in; and there is, close by this, ground, in front of the shed, is wide or always a thrashing-machine, sometimes narrow according to circumstances, worked by horses, sometimes by water, but quite smooth; merely a place to sometimes by wind, and sometimes by walk upon. Each distinct boothie is steam, there being no such thing as a about seventeen feet one way and fifteen barn or a flail in the whole country. feet the other way, as nearly as my eye "Well," say you, "but out of such could determine. There is no ceiling, "a quantity of corn and of beef and and no floor but the earth. In this place " of mutton, there must some come to a man and his wife and family have to "the share of the chopsticks, to be live. When they go into it there is “sure!" Don't be too sure yet; but nothing but the four bare walls, and hold your tongue, and hear my story. the tiles over their heads, and a small The single labourers are kept in this fire-place. To make the most of the manner: about four of them are put room, they, at their own cost, erect into a shed, quite away from the farm- berths, like those in a barrack-room, house and out of the farm-yard; which which they get up into when they go shed, Dr. JAMIESON, in his Diction- to bed; and here they are, the man, his ary, calls a "boothie," a place, says he, wife, and a parcel of children, squeezed where labouring servants are lodged. up in this miserable hole, with their A boothie means a little booth; and meal and their washing tackle, and all here these men live and sleep, having their other things; and yet it is quite a certain allowance of oat, barley, and surprising to behold how decent the pea meal, upon which they live, mixing women endeavour to keep the place. it with water, or with milk when they These women (for I found all the men are allowed the use of a cow, which out at work) appeared to be most inthey have to milk themselves. They dustrious creatures, to be extremely are allowed some little matter of money besides to buy clothes with; but never dream of being allowed to set their foot within the walls of the farm house. They hire for the year, under very severe But if their dwelling-place is bad, punishment in case of misbehaviour their food is worse, being fed upon or quitting service; and cannot have exactly that which we feed hogs and fresh service, without a character from horses upon. The married man rethe last master, and also a character ceives in money about four pounds for from the minister of the parish! the whole year; and he has besides Pretty well, that, for a knife-and-fork sixty bushels of oats, thirty bushels of obliging, and of good disposition; and the shame is that they are permitted to enjoy so small a portion of the fruit of all their labours, of all their cares. On barley, twelve bushels of peas, and Scotland. Six days, from daylight to three bushels of potatoes, with ground dark, these good and laborious and allowed him to plant the potatoes. The patient and kind people_labour. master gives him the keep of a cow for the year round; but he must find the cow himself: he pays for his own fuel; he must find a woman to reap for twenty whole days in the harvest, as payment for the rent of his boothie; he has no wheat; the meal altogether amounts to about six pounds for every day in the year; the oatmeal is eaten in porridge; the barley-meal and peameal are mixed together, and baked into a sort of cakes upon an iron plate put over the fire; they sometimes get a pig and feed it upon the potatoes. an average they have six English miles to go to any church. Here are twelve miles to walk on the Sunday; and the consequence is, that they very seldom go. But, say you, what do they do with all the wheat and all the beef and all the mutton; and what becomes of the money that they are sold for? Why the cattle and sheep walk into England upon their legs; the wheat is put into ships, to be sent to London or elsewhere; and as to the money that these are sold for, the farmer is allowed to have a little of it; Thus they never have one bit of but almost the whole of it is sent away wheaten bread or of wheaten flour, nor to the landlord, to be gambled or otherof beef nor mutton, though the land is wise squandered away at LONDON, at covered with wheat and with cattle. PARIS, or at ROME. The rent of the The hiring is for a year, beginning on land is enormous: four, five, six, or the 26th of May, and not at Michael- seven pounds for an English acre: the mas: the farmer takes the man, just at farmer is not allowed to get much; the season to get the sweat out of him; almost the whole of the produce of and if he die, he dies when the main these fine lands goes into the pockets of work is done. The labourer is wholly the lords; the labourers are their slaves, at the mercy of the master, who, if he and the farmers their slave-drivers. The will not keep him beyond the year, can farm-yards are, in fact, factories for totally ruin him, by refusing him a cha-making corn and meat, carried on prinracter. The cow is a thing more in cipally by the means of horses and maname than reality; she may be about chinery. There are no people; and to calve when the 26th of May comes; these men seem to think that people the wife may be in a situation to make are unnecessary to a state. I came over removal perilous to her life. This a tract of country a great deal bigger family has NO HOME; and no home than the county of Suffolk, with only can any man be said to have who can three towns in it, and a couple of vilthus be dislodged every year of his life lages, while the county of Suffolk has at the will of a master. It very fre- twenty-nine market-towns and 491 quently happens that the poor creatures villages. Yet our precious Governare compelled to sell their cow for next ment seem to wish to reduce Engto nothing; and, indeed, the necessity of land to the state of Scotland; and you character from the last employer makes are reproached and abused, and called the man a real slave, worse off than the ignorant, because you will not reside in negro by many degrees; for here there a boothie," and live upon the food is neither law to ensure him relief, nor which we give to horses and to hogs! motive in the master to attend to his Take one more fact, at which you will health or to preserve his life. not wonder; that, though NorthumThere, chopsticks of Sussex, you can berland is but a poor country compared now see what English scoundrels, call-with this that I have been describing, ing themselves "gentlemen," get Scotch the poor Scotch labourers get away into bailiffs for. These bailiffs are generally England whenever they can. There is the sons of some of these farmers, re- a great and fine town called NEWcommended to the grinding ruffians of CASTLE-UPON-TYNE, from which and its England by the grinding ruffians in neighbourhood, the coals go into our 66 |