wise be idle, and partly by himself, but only in the evening, when his daily task is done, or on whole days, not exceeding two or three in the year, when he is either not wanted for his master's work, or gets leave to stay at home. Thus nine-tenths of what he raises are clear profit to him, and a single rood of land will yield him a supply of vegetables worth an additional income of 2s. a week, besides enabling him to keep a pig or two, worth, perhaps, one half as much. His home-raised provisions. are, indeed, worth to him far more than their market value, for they come into use principally in the winter, when work is slack, and when, but for them, he might be thrown upon parish assistance. But an accession of comfort is only one of many advantages which the possession of an allotment affords. Its moral effects are not less important. It gives the labourer a feeling of independence and self-respect, and at the same time the strongest incentives to diligence. It makes him prudent and thrifty, and assists him in instilling similar habits into his children, and in training them for the particular calling for which they are destined. Thus, while it raises the labourer's social position, it endows him with the very qualities most requisite to keep him in his new station. It draws him also from the temptation to debauchery and crime; teaches him to respect the rights of property; interests him in the preservation of order, and checks his disposition to regard his wealthy neighbours with envy and animosity. In a word,

it contributes more than any other single cause whatsoever, to his physical and moral improvement, and to convert him from a burden and a pest both to himself and others, into a contented, upright, and useful member of society.

349

CHAPTER VIII.

REMEDIES FOR OVER-POPULATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES

(continued).

Certainty of the early Repeal of the Provision Laws. — Importance of the subsequent Conduct of Landowners, in determining how Rent and the Remuneration of Labour will be affected. Certainty of considerable Benefit to Agricultural Labourers from the establishment of Free Trade. - Ability of Landlords to improve their Condition forthwith. — Expediency of their preparing for the approaching Change in their own Position.-Identity of the Means of promoting the Interests both of themselves and their Dependents.-Peculiar Obligation of Landowners to provide for their Poor Neighbours. Recent Movements of Parliament in behalf of the Peasantry. - Mr. Cowper's "Field-Gardens'" Bill,, and Lord Lincoln's "Commons' Enclosure" Act. Objectionable Provisions of the latter.-Advantages obtainable from it. Suggestion of other Expedients for the Extension of the "Allotment System."-Estimate of the Amount of Benefit derivable by Agricultural Labourers from Free Trade and Cottage Allotments. Probable Permanence of the Improvement in their Condition. - Auxiliary Means of promoting their Welfare. Payment to Farm Servants of fixed Proportions of the Crop.- Location of them on the Farm Premises. - Education. Its general Advantages. Inapplicability to the Labouring Classes of the ordinary Modes of Teaching. Oral Instruction. Sorts of Knowledge most useful to the Poor.- Expediency of a National Provision for Education. Obstacles to its Establishment in England. Secondary Importance of Scholastic Education. - Improvement of the Habitations of the Peasantry. Retardation of the Progress of Population consequent on Improvement of the Condition of the People. Moderation of the necessary Restraints upon Marriage.-Means of ameliorating the Situ

ation of Town Labourers. Insufficiency of High Wages alone to render them comfortable. — Paramount Importance of Education, and of proper Lodgings.-Limitation of the Labour of Females and Young Persons. - Probable Consequences of Legislative Interference.

THE distribution of land among our agricultural labourers seems to be not only entirely free from the dangerous consequences with which many writers imagine it to be fraught; it is, perhaps, indispensable to the restoration of that noble yeomanry, the strength and honour of England, of that bold peasantry, their country's pride, whose decay was so feelingly described by Ascham and Goldsmith, and whose almost utter extinction is now the subject of such frequent lamentation. It appears to be the only means by which an adequate body of farm-servants can be maintained in comfort. Wages alone can scarcely suffice for the purpose. The nature of husbandry requires the employment of many more labourers at some seasons than at others, but a farmer cannot be expected to keep a number of persons throughout the year whose assistance he needs only in spring and harvest. Though he cannot keep them himself, however, he may enable them to keep themselves by assigning to them small portions of land which yield little to him, but from which their labour can extract plentiful supplies.

This course must be adopted almost necessarily if the repeal of the provision laws do really lead to the subdivision of farms. The demand for labour being then much increased, the market will be so

far from overstocked, that farmers, in order to have a sufficient quantity constantly at command, will find it expedient to attach labourers to their service by giving them solid reasons for remaining in it. Besides the unmarried servants who will be lodged in the farm-house, two or three cottagers will probably be permitted, and even invited to settle on the farm, in order that the assistance of their families may be obtainable when required in busy seasons. Whether these agricultural arrangements will result from the repeal of the provision laws, will depend entirely on the landlords, and on the choice they may make between an increase of trouble and a decrease of income. If they attempt to maintain the present system of large farms, rents must inevitably fall; but if they will let their land in portions not exceeding fifty acres, rents will certainly not recede, and will very possibly advance. If they choose the latter alternative, free trade in food will be deprived of all its terrors for their particular class, and will prove an unalloyed national blessing. Its immediate effect,— cheapness of the first necessaries of life, from which all men, without exception, will benefit as consumers, - will result less, perhaps, from importation from abroad, than from increased productiveness at home; and this circumstance will create a new fund, from which both labourers and landowners, without taking a penny from any other class, will derive an accession of revenue. Free trade, unaided and alone, will then have safely delivered the labouring portion of the peasantry from their slough of despondency.