country finds himself in an identical
condition. Now, on the contrary, there is no class of laborers in
which there is greater variety of condition than that of the
agricultural laborers. It changes from north to south, from east to
west, and from county to county. It changes even in the same
county, where there is an alteration of soil and of configuration.
The hind in Northumberland is in a very different condition from the
famous Dorsetshire laborer; the tiller of the soil in Lincolnshire
is different from his fellow-agriculturalist in Sussex. What the
effect of manufactures is upon the agricultural districts in their
neighborhood it would be presumption in me to dwell upon; your own
experience must tell you whether the agricultural laborer in North
Lancashire, for example, has had no rise in wages and no diminution
in toil. Take the case of the Dorsetshire laborer--the whole of
the agricultural laborers on the southwestern coast of England for a
very long period worked only half the time of the laborers in other
parts of England, and received only half the wages. In the
experience of many, I dare say, who are here present, even thirty
years ago a Dorsetshire laborer never worked after three o'clock in
the day; and why? Because the whole of that part of England was
demoralized by smuggling. No one worked after three o'clock in the
day, for a very good reason--because he had to work at night. No
farmer allowed his team to be employed after three o'clock, because
he reserved his horses to take his illicit cargo at night and carry
it rapidly into the interior. Therefore, as the men were employed
and remunerated otherwise, they got into a habit of half work and
half play so far as the land was concerned, and when smuggling was
abolished--and it has only been abolished for thirty years--
these imperfect habits of labor continued, and do even now continue
to a great extent. That is the origin of the condition of the
agricultural laborer in the southwestern part of England.

But now gentlemen, I want to test the condition of the agricultural
laborer generally; and I will take a part of England with which I am
familiar, and can speak as to the accuracy of the facts--I mean
the group described as the south-midland counties. The conditions
of labor there are the same, or pretty nearly the same, throughout.
The group may be described as a strictly agricultural community, and
they embrace a population of probably a