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    September 30 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 9 a 5

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    hundred tons ; so that the loss of the Tayleur is not likely to be repeated . The actual proportion of loss is little more than 1 ^ persons in a thousand emigrants ; and that proportion is likely to be decidedly less in future . The means are to be had , as we have seen before , by the numbers "who have actually gone- Although wages have been raised in

    Ireland there ia room to continue the same process : they can be raised higher . They can be raised also in England ; and we should be glad to see the whole of the reserves transferred from the miserable grounds of Spitalfields or Paisley- —the surplus hands who keep down wages in iron shops or factories carried aff to grapple with rough work in America or Australia . AVe know that mechanical

    improvements can easily supply the place at home , and that neither manufactures , trade , nor agriculture will suffer . Quite the reverse ; they will benefit \> y the stimulus to invention ; while the labouring classes would receive the higher rate of wages commanded by a higher class of labour—just as the poweiloom-weaver takes more than the handloom-weaver . If a million or two more could go within the next few years to the land of high wages , social progress , and political independence , those reanaining behind would begin to feel at home * the benefits of high wages , social progress , iind , in consequence , political independence .

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    GOOD STABLING . Agbicum-tpbal Societies of the old stamp are attaining their perfect stage , for they are declining ; One of the great working poets of our day , Professor Owen , has said that the ieal life of certain insects must be considered to be passed in the caterpillar state , since that may last two or three years ; whereas the winged creature lasts but a brief month , perchance a day , and expires * We doubt , however , whether human reason will ratify

    the scientific rule . A life of schoolboyism , where the student of existence is eating his terms , is not the " perfect" state , although it is long ; and although the honeymoon is postponed till the eve of death , still , we fear , there will be a tendency to account that the really perfect stage . On similar grounds we hail the perfection of the old agricultural Society in its death . Agriculture and Science are wed , and tlie society which has fulfilled its functions feels its golden wings dropping off—its subscriptions . It has passed its

    larva state appropriately , in one eternal dinner ; it has undergone a torpor of discouragement , the " sickening" of naturalists , in its pupa state ; and now it emerges , glorious , to expire in laying the egg of futurity . What is agriculture but a constant funeral ? Geres rears her child , only to cut him down figain , and bury him ; afterwards to rear him again—one of the thousand types of resurrection . So has Agriculture political reared

    its ideas only to bury them , and the new crop is getting on . Protection is buried to grow agricultural improvement ; and having escaped from economical cowardice , which the claim for Protection was , agriculture is growing generous . Taught to rely on itself , [ Landlord Agriculture , like all true independence , tnkes thought for others . At Bunbury , JS / Lc . Henley preaches , not charity , but good honest aid in improving the condition of the labouring classes .

    There is , saya Mr . Henley , much bad ploughing ; for alter all , ho insists , the fault Js not in tho tool , but in the man thnt uses it . The spado and tho digging-machine have failed to supersede the plough ; but no branch of agriculture , ho insists , requires more skill in fcho handling and tho management than the plough ; and those sooieties , lie says , Show tho workman what ia good and bad work . Wo might aak Mr . Henley whether the societies can teach tho man to appreciate

    good and bad work ? It is not only the actual distinction between a straight line and a crooked one , —between a furrow of unequal depth , and one that cuts , the land like the artist 3 * graver ; but it is the ready union between the mere perceptive ideas and the mind . It is not only seeing the furrow , but conceiving it neatly ; ib is not only to conceive it in the mind , but to feel it with the hand ; in short to possess a clear intellect

    and that close union between mind and muscle , which constitute skill . But the requirement pre-supposes a man of developed mind and well-trained tody . We do not mean book-learning : study "will not do it , and similar results hare been attained without much library lore . But before a man can possess the tact and skill required by Mr . Henley , he must have had opportunity , leisure , and incentives to fetch out his faculties .

    However tlie agricultural idea is growing . " There must , " says Mr . Henley , "be improvements in the dwellings . " It is , he says , " perhaps one of the most important problems affecting our social position . " Hje believed there was no subject which had of late years more attracted public attention , and he believed there was no subject more beset with difficulties— -no subject -which at the present time was receiving more earnest endeavours in many direej , tions to be solved and elucidated . There were many persons in the world whd -were not rich enough to be able to enjoy tlie luxury of a good house . That was

    a thing which fell , to the lot of few ( hear , heur ) , and the lot of the poor man wcmld never be to have a good house until his situation in life was so elevated that he could afford to pay a reasonable price for it . Charitable institutions were doing something towards that object , but it was like the bread they ate , or the coat they wore—the poor man , after all , must pay the cost . ( Hear , hear , and applause ?) That was a problem which every day ' s experience would tend more and more to solve , and he believed that , with the cheapening and gradual improvement of building , and the materials connected with { building , they

    might look forward without apprehension to a continued increase in the dwellings of the labouring classes , so at to meet the . wishes of almost all of them . Those among them who were old enough might , perhaps , recollect the state of the dwellings of the poor 50 years ago , and they could not be insensible to the fact , how vast an improvement hail taken , place during those 50 years . They used to live in old mud-built cottages , more resembling a cabin than a cottage , but those had now disappeared . Many of them , were put up by the poor themselves , perhaps

    at the edge of a common ; but these had now giyen way to a better description of houses ; and he believed that , as the condition of the poor improved , and they were able to give better rents , instead of having three or four persons sleeping in one room , each one would have his own respe 6 tive locality . Everything tended to show it was of the greatest consequence that the poor man should be made comfortable in his dwelling , because in the case of every man , whatever might be his respective occupation in life , if his home was comfortable , he could nob want to Boek for enjoyment out of it .

    Tins is progress indeed , and it is in the natural order of sequence . It is some time since the agriculturists conceived the idea , that instead of malting their cattle stand in a heap of straw and filth , and letting thorn feed how they might , it would bo well to study their diet , to seeuro them plenty of good food , to drain the floor of their stabling , to make tho enclosure Avarm enough , and yet to let thoro be good ventilation . In other

    words , tlie boasts must have food , air , and comfort , or tho owner of the cattle would have to pay tho penalty in tho deterioration of the stock . Tho same rule holds good with horses . If you would get a maximum of work out of your boast , you must Btablo him well ; and if you want to got tho full amount , in quantity and quality , out of tho human labourer , you must also stable hint well .

    poses , the owner fattens her with grains and sends her in that condition into the presence of her butcher . Upon the whole , however , the public-house has a very remote relation with bad stabling for horses or for cows ; it has a very close relation with the stabling of men . Mr . Henley praises the human stablea that have been introduced , and with reason , on the mere ground of comparison ; but still we say that neither in town nor country has this improved stabling been yet carried to the point at which sound investment will repay the employer . It is really worth the consideration of farmers , and we specially invite Mr . Henley ' s attention to the analogy of the horse and ox .

    It is tho more necessary in tho case of the human cattle , since , if thoy be not , aa Mr . Henley sivys , rendered comfortable n > fc home . " they will bo driven to the public house . " Tho ill-stabled horse does not take to drinking ; nor does the superannuated cow turn to iwteinporanco , until , uselosa for other pur-

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    GENTLEMEN AND OFFICERS . Not a week now passes but we find an incident of disorderly life among officers of the army and navy made conspicuously public . Society and the press are indignant : particularly the press . In reference to the Portsmouth case , the Morning Chronicle asks—Shall the army and navy be allowed a special morality ?— -which is immorality . The Globe says , The British public is moral—at least it insists on immorality being concealed—so that the virtuous Globe

    is angry because Lieut . Knight was found but . Both journals , and indeed all the journals , assume that officers are , as a class , distinguished l > y vices peculiar to themselves . It is , perhaps , a mistake to assume this . It as , perhaps , an error and an unkindness to argue a Perry case and a Portsmouth case as a question of morality : such are strictly questions of discipline j and the officer is only specially to blame because it is his professional duty to set an example of orderly life and well-balanced nature .

    The indignation of the press , a 3 a profession , would only be justified upon proof being ; shown that our journalists , as a class , are sinless in the respects in which certain unhappy officers have offended against public decency . This , it could be shown , is not at all the case—and coiild be shown , as in a Perry or Portsmouth case , by reference to notorious public events and characters ; and , under such circumstances , the virtuous vindictiveness of our heat possible instructors is suggestive of the very worst Bort of hypocrisy —supererogatory hypocrisy .

    The vexation of society with officers and gentlemen is just as affected . The sins of the detected officers are the sins of young gentlemen—notorious , permitted sins . The young gentlemen of'this enlightened , not to say Christian , country , supply our towns with prostitution . The Haymarket nourishes though there is an army in tho East . Why ,

    then , this disgust with young officers who , as young gentlemen , follow the fashion of the day ? Arc young barristers , young solicitors , young stockbrokers , purer than young officers ? " Young men will bo young men" ds a physiological phrase in society : —young officers will be young men—would not that be a charitable addition ?

    The journalists - \ vho have talked morality apropos of tho Portsmouth sccno aro appealing to an imaginary public opinion . TJio public scouts the individuals who > aro found out , but continues to be considerate to ( ho < jlass . Young officers were never inflexiblychaste—Avero never vohemently sober— -and young officers have always boon popular m ball-rooms . Morality on such points as those

    raised in the Perry and Portsmouth cases ) a « dependent on tho public opinion nmong women . Our young Jadioa do not insist ; on a high standard of young gentlemen : whenoo u . variety of private miaenea and pub ho 'vice . A " correct" young man is the butt oi hocioty ; and there aro wiso miou who contend , that fclio world ia always rig ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 30, 1854, page 925, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2058/page/13/