Sir Michael Hicks-Beach has been the first to break the
silence of the Recess. He spoke in Wiltshire on Wednesday, and took for his main topic the condition of the agricultural voters. He accused the Radicals of representing their con- dition in the blackest colours, whereas it was better than that of the peasantry in any country in Europe. It was doubtful if they gained by going to the towns, for they lost their gardens, their cheap houses, and their friends under misfortune. The Radicals would promise them all manner of things through the action of District Councils, but all the powers now sought had once belonged to the Vestries, and had gradually been taken away. We are unable to believe much in Councils, or any other talking-shops, but Sir M. Hicks- Beach is a little too shrill. It is not true, as we have shown elsewhere, that 18s. in silver and perquisites is the same -as 18s. in silver, and the fancy-picture of cottagers reduced to log-huts is absurd. The American farmers, who are in reality peasant freeholders with an average of fifty acres, all dwell in wooden houses, and find them very comfortable. Sir Michael, we do not doubt, wishes the lot of the villagers to be improved ; but his speech will leave on their minds the im- pression that in his judgment it cannot be. That is what the villagers say, and therefore depart.
Previous page
