Being Letters to THOMAS THORNHILL, Esq., FROM RICHARD OASTLER, His Prisoner in the Fleet. WITH OCCASIONAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM FRIENDS. "The Altar, the Throne, and the Cottage."-"Property has its duties, as well as its rights.” "The Husbandman that laboureth, must be first partaker of the fruits." "He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the Oppressor." LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 1842. VOL. II.-No. 10. THOMAS THORNHILL, Esq. PRICE 2d. The Fleet Prison. SIR,-The 9th of February, 1842, was a great day of anticipation-it will be a day long remembered by the people of England. The people had groaned under the burden of the Whigs for ten long years. Instead of the amelioration which they promised, the Whigs had, by their senseless selfishness, brought the circumstances of the country into a state of still greater derangement. In addition to other injurious results of their management, they had also accomplished the darling object of their policy-they had "forced the poor of England to live on a coarser sort of food!" and, having done so, they were driven from office by the people, amidst universal execrations and loathings. Every rank of Her Majesty's subjects had been distracted and deranged under their government. The peer had been rendered still more hateful to the peasant -the employed and the employers were everywhere still more estranged. Our merchants and bankers, our manufacturers and shopkeepers, all felt that their substance was waning. Our artizans and labourers were on the brink of despair · nay, under the management of the Whigs, want had taken such fast hold on the poor, that if, in the newspapers, we saw a report of a coroner's inquest, we expected the verdict would have some reference to "the want of food." Patience, at last, surrendered her sway over the people, and the Whigs were driven from office by the universal shout of detestation, which was sounded so loudly, that at last it reached the Royal ear. The Queen, attentive to her people's cry, forgot her personal convenience, and accepted the resignation of her attached favourites and friends. She conferred her confidence on those to whom she was supposed to have no respect, but, yielding to the voice of her people, she forgot her private antipathy, and, with a magnanimity which has been seldom exhibited, she seated those from whom she had been estranged in the offices of her favourites and friends. Sir Robert Peel having, under such circumstances, received the reins of government, required five months for information, consultation, and reflection. Deplorable as was the condition of the people, destitute as their homes were, and difficult as it was for them to wait, without a murmur, that term was granted. The interval was used by the opponents of the Government to drive the starving people to madness. The most excitable subject, that of bread, had been selected, as soon as the Whigs began to totter, for their rallying cry amongst the starving multitudes-it was now chosen by them, (the Leaguers being their pioneers,) to work upon the minds of a most suffering population. Men of great talent, eloquence, and cunning were hired to visit our cities, towns, and villages, to rouse the hatred of the people against the Landlords and the Government. Still, all was peace and order; no single breach of the law could be obtained. The people had been led to hope that the Conservative Government would prove to be their friends; and they knew the sure way to deserve the amelioration of their condition was to respect the laws and keep good order. At length, Sir, the required respite expired-Parliament assembled, and the Queen herself declared "I have observed with deep regret the continued distress in the manufacturing districts of the country. The sufferings and privations which have resulted from it, have been borne with exemplary patience and fortitude." Testimony was also borne to the sufferings and patience of the people by Mr. Beckett, on seconding the address of the House of Commons in answer to Her Majesty's speech, in these few but eloquent words "He would venture to say that at no previous period had the people been so fully entitled totheir sympathies and assistance as at the present moment. The people had suffered deeply, but they had suffered patiently." By these expressions of sympathy from the Throne and the House, it was hoped that suffering and patience were destined to meet a proper reward.. When Sir Robert Peel availed himself of the first opportunity of giving notice, that on Wednesday, the 9th of February, lie should "move that the House do resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, for the purpose of taking into consideration the laws which affect the importation of foreign corn into this country," the expectations of the people were all on tiptoe. The enemies of the Government, in this short interval, again used every effort to excite and exasperate the people; but all in vain. The people resolved,, 'midst all their sufferings and privations, to wait in patience the developement of the Premier's plans for their amelioration. I had my fears, and, at much sacrifice of feeling, I expressed them. I remembered too well some of Sir Robert Peel's former declarations-I. thought that I also knew his nerve; and could not, without some doubt, anticipate that he had changed his opinions, or, if he had, that he would have the nerve to say so. Still, I strove to hope against hope. At length, the anticipated morning dawned. All thoughts were turned on the Premier, and the developement of his plans for the relief of the wide-spread, deep-rooted miseries of the people. Never shall I forget that day. My hopes were spurred by what had passed in the House of Lords the preceding evening, when, in answer to the observation of the Marquis of Lansdowne, on a petition from the woollen-manufacturers of the West of England, to the effect that "They gave it as the result of their most mature consideration, that all restrictive and prohi bitory duties, interfering with the free exchange of commodities, not for the purpose of revenue, were most unjust and most injurious to the interests of all classes of the community. So that they were opposed, not only to the protecting duties on corn and provisions, but also to all restrictive and protecting duties on any articles the produce of British manufacture"-when, to these remarks, Lord Ashburton replied as follows, I say, Sir, my hopes that Her Majesty's Ministers had discovered the fallacy of the new-fangled scheme of Free Trade were encouraged; for his Lordship said "Every day brought to light some fresh instance of the exclusive system being acted upon. In proportion as the system of Free Trade was extolled in England, did the other countries of Europe adopt more extensively a system of restriction and exclusion with regard to our manufactures. All the nations of the world, in fact, while listening to our lectures on the principles of political economy, and the evils of restriction, were acting upon the very principles which we condemned.”— “He entered his protest most decidedly against the removal of protection, where it was shown that such protection was required. If this Government, or any other Government, made such an experiment, it would be attended with the most disastrous and ruinous results to the interests of our manufactures." Knowing, as I did, the close connexion subsisting between Lord Ashburton and Her Majesty's Cabinet, and remembering that he was once one of the great oracles of the Free Trade school, who had been selected to present the never-tobe-forgotten Free Trade petition from the merchants and traders of the city of London to the House of Commons, in the month of May, 1820, (to which I had occasion to refer in the 7th Letter of this Volume,) was it surprising, that, when I found his Lordship addressing the House of Lords in such terms as those above quoted, the very night before Sir Robert Peel made his debut on the Corn question, I should fondly cling to the hope that Her Majesty's Ministers, having at length discovered the dangerous and ruinous fallacies of the Free Trade theory, were about, through Sir Robert, to exhibit those fallacies, and retrace their steps to the hallowed principles of Constitutional restraint and regulation, by giving such universal protection to native skill and industry as should secure "a fair remuneration to British capital" and enterprize, without resorting to the most unjust, but, at the same time, the only, the avowed alternative of the philosophers of the Free Trade school, namely, "KEEPING DOWN THE PRICE OF LABOUR"? I strove to indulge the hope that at last the advice given by Mr. William Beckett was about to be acted upon, and that Sir Robert Peel's speech would contain the announcement of a plan of commercial policy, which would secure the prosperity of this country, by "measures which recognized the regular employment and proper remuneration of the people, and their consequent power of consumption." Others had read the proceedings in the House of Lords on Tuesday evening ; the perusal thereof would, of course, animate the friends of home trade, and lead them to anticipate, with myself, the overthrow of the sophistry and delusion of that philosophy which is propounded with so much doubtfulness by the most talented advocates of the Free Trade school, but with so much assurance and impudence by the hired lecturers of the League. Wednesday, the 9th of February, 1842, was a day of anxiety for all. With different emotions, we were all bursting expectants of the grand ministerial exposition. None could doubt, that a fair, full, and candid declaration of the real state of things would be made-that the universal distress would be admitted, and its causes explained by a master mind; and then, that the long expected master stroke of policy, embracing the plan of relief, would be lucidly developed. The anxiety of the people was well depicted, in miniature, in the House of Commons. If, on all occasions, the representation were as correct between the people and the members of that House, no man, henceforward, would name "extension of the suffrage," which, by the bye, will soon, I can assure you, become a very awkward appendage to the catechism of the Leaguers. (In parenthesis, I may be permitted to say to the Chartists, See to it, that the Leaguers do not cheat you this time, as last.) Sir Robert Peel did not enter the House of Commons till long after Prayers. I hope that the Prime Minister had humbly asked, in another place, for that assistance which alone could safely guide him in this awful emergency of his political life. I dare say, Sir, this observation will, in many quarters, be met with the sneer of contempt. I dare also say, that the spirit which is the parent of that contempt, is one chief reason of the distress of the people, and of the perplexity of the Government. At last, the long expected speech was delivered! and truly, considering all the circumstances (which I need not repeat), from the overthrow of the Whigs, to that long expected hour, it was a very singular speech! Sir Robert Peel asserted, that "the question affected mighty interests"; and he admitted, that "There is commercial distress, and great suffering and privation connected with that distress. There may have been excitement-there may have been attempts to inflame the minds of the people; but this I must say, that the general demeanour and conduct of the great body of the people of this country, and of that portion of them who have been most exposed to sufferings on account of commercial distress, have been such as to entitle them to the utmost sympathy and respect." The CAUSES of the distress were thus defined by the Premier :— "It is impossible, I think, to take a review of the causes which have affected our commercial and manufacturing prosperity, without perceiving that there have been in operation, during the last four or five years, several causes, the separate effect of which would have been considerable, but the concurrent effect of which is sufficient to account for the depression which has taken place. If you look at the stimulus which was given, partly, I think, by the facilities of credit, to great undertakings in 1837 and 1838-if you look to the connexion which existed between the directors and parties concerned in joint-stock banks and the manufacturing establishments - if you look at the immense efforts made for the increase of manufactories, and for the building of houses for the reception of those who were to labour in those manufactories-if you look at the immigration of labour from the rural districts into districts the seats of manufacture, and the immense increase of mechanical power which took place in consequence in the years 1837 and 1838, you will hardly be surprised to find that the result which has before attended similar excitement and stimulus should again ensue." Sir Robert next alluded to the affairs of the United States, China, and Europe, as having had some influence in producing our poverty, and then added"The united effect of these causes goes far, in my opinion, to account for that depression in our prosperity which has created so much regret.” The Premier was content to explain the CAUSES of the distress, without even hinting at any cure, except by NATURAL operations, and then he proceeded to make the following “awful" admissions, for the purpose, I suppose, of preparing the landlords to surrender some portion of their rents to the greedy Leaguers. On these most awful" admissious, I shall, at a future period, have much to say. Sir Robert proceeded : 66 Extend your foreign commerce as you may, depend on it that it is not a necessary principle that the means of employment for manual labour will be proportioned to the extent of your commerce. Whatever may be the extent of your commercial prosperity, whatever may be the demand for your manufactures, it is impossible not to feel that coincident with that general prosperity there may exist in particular districts the severest partial distress. "This must have been the case at periods of the greatest commercial and manufacturing prosperity. The necessary consequence of the sudden employment of machinery, diminishing the demand for manual labour, MUST BE to expose in certain districts of the country those who are dependant for support on manual labour to great privations and suffering. You find hundreds of persons occupied in a great manufacturing establishment. Their reliance for subsistence has been placed on their labour in that establishment; but by an exercise of ingenuity some improvement in machinery is suddenly devised, and copied by others, which has the effect of depriving those who have relied on manual labour for subsistence of employment. This has been the case with the hand-loom weavers, and with many parties engaged in manufactures. It is the hard condition, INSEPARABLE from a manufacturing country, that there MUST BE such revulsions in the demand for manual labour; AND IT IS NOT AN IMPEACHMENT, THEREFORE, OF ANY COMMERCIAL SYSTEM, THAT GREAT PRIVATIONS AND SUFFERINGS EXIST. Let it not be supposed that I am deprecating the exercise of skill and the improvement of mechanical power. It would be madness to attempt to CHECK them. It would be folly to deny that in the aggregate this country has derived a great source of strength from such improvements in manufactories. The attempt to obstruct them would have the necessary effect of encouraging competitors and rivals, already too formidable. In referring to instances of distress, INSEPRABLY CONNECTED as it appears to me with such developement of skill and improvement in machinery, I do not do so for the purpose of impeaching that skill or deprecating that improvement, but for the purpose of discouraging the too sanguine hope that any extent of legislative interference can exempt you from the occasional recurrence of distress. IN PROPORTION TO THE MANUFACTURING EXCITEMENT TO THE stimuli TO WHICH I HAVE REFERRED-THE stimuli oF SPECULATION OF FACILITIES FOR UNDERTAKINGS CREATED BY UNDUE ADVANCES AND CREDIT-IN THAT PROPORTION MUST YOU EXPECT THAT IN CERTAIN DISTRICTS THOSE PRIVATIONS TO WHICH THE ATTENTION OF PARLIAMENT HAS BEEN CALLED WILL OCCUR." Such, then, are the CAUSES which Sir Robert Peel has discovered of the distress under which this nation now groans. The domestic causes are these: "Rail-roads"; "Joint-stock Banks"; "Increase of manufactories"; "The Migration system, including the building of houses required for the immigrants"; and "The immense increase of mechanical power." That there is great truth in these statements of Sir Robert Peel's, I have no doubt. The worst of all is, that he says, there is no legislative cure. We must, it seems, after all, bear our sufferings as best we may, for the great Law-giver of the age sees no legislative remedy; but " does entertain a confident hope and belief that we may still look forward to the revival, BY THE OPERATION OF NATURAL CAUSES, of our commercial and manufacturing prosperity!" If that were all, I should say, that we had waited long for little purpose; but Sir Robert does not leave matters here. Having revealed to us the CAUSES of our distress, told us that legislative measures cannot relieve us, and assured us that he will leave everything to be "revived" by "NATURAL causes," he proceeds, in the following words, to tell us what is not the cause of our sufferings:"I can see no ground (says Sir Robert) for imputing to the operation of the Corn Laws, as some do, any material share in the evils at present existing." "I see no ground for the inference sometimes drawn, that the Corn Laws are the cause of our misfortunes, and that the repeal or alteration of them will supply an immediate remedy." "I cannot infer that the operation of the Corn Law is to be charged with the depression which is at present so severely felt in many branches of trade; I see other causes in operation which are sufficient, in a great degree, to account for the evils no one can deny to exist." One would have supposed that a Prime Minister who had resolved that it was impossible for the legislature safely to interfere with such things as had |