The Globe. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 690, 5 September 1876, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1876.

Of all those people who have cause to bless emigration, surety the agricultural laborer of Great Britain stands foremost. When we think of what his position was twenty years ago, when he was a drug in the market, and could only expect after a dreary life of toil to end his days in the parish workhouse, and contrast his present position when a dozen flourishing colonies are competing for that bone and muscle which is the very life of new countries, we must conclude that as a class they have much to be thankful for. It is not only those who go abroad who are benefited; the constant drain has told, and we are happy to see that a little enjoyment cau now be indulged in by laborers even in " Merrie England," not without calling forth strong censure however, as will be seen from the following extract from the South Eastern Advertiser of May 27th of this present year:— The agricultural labourers of the Union had a great day in Maidstone last week. They cane with their wives and families in thtir thousands. They had gay sports. They distributed handsome prizes to winners in certain contests, and they had even a baby show, in which infantile Hodges and sucking j Unionists were exhibited by admiring I

mothers; Towards the close of the report from which I derive my information, I learn that the most rec?nt event in connection with the Union is the lock-out by the Bast Sussex farmers of one hundred and fifty men, wlio demand an increase of wages from 2s 6d to 2s 9d per day. Probably when 2s 9d is granted they will ask for 3s, and so O/i. Tt is no wonder they can get grand fetes, and their wiven and other female relations show up in all the glory of manycoloured ribbons and the general " gets up" that might put Joseph's variegated coat to the bluah for shame. We are to believe that these are the poor people who are ground down under the iron heel of ruthles3 employers, these the starving and miserable creatures who scarcely taste meat three or four times in the year, and who9e bodies and souls they can scarcely call their own. That fete at Maidstone was not well advised. Some of us, who began by pitying, will end in envying Hodge. He is much better off than many chilled artisans. The " happy peasant" may not be, after all, much of a misnomer. Even his fight with his master must be a source of pleasure, for he knows that, much as the employer may fret and fume, sooner or later the strike or the lockoat must end in triumph for the Unionists. Thus Hodge humbles his master and increases his own income at the same time ; he is happy in the retrospect of his success and the prospect, when, after a short lapse of time, the Union will consider him entitled to ask for more. Notice the anger of the writer at these rascally labourers daring to enjoy themselves! " Even a baby show!" he exclaims in virtuous indignation. Just think of it, a parcel of people who a few years ago had scarcely bread to eat, and hardly enough, of that, now not only have the impertinence to take a whole holiday, but to dress their wives and daughters in bright colours, and, most monstrous crime of all, to have a baby show ! Let us hope that those exquisite sketches penned by Charles Dickens, that great sympathiser with the poor, in Household Words, showing how weary and hopeless a life the peasantry of England led, are indeed records of the past. Our own fair colony has done much in the good work ; thousands have been made aware of its value; they have learnt that there is a home ready for them in many lands, that if they will only work grinding poverty can never more be theirs. The paragraph we have quoted shows the monstrous absurdity of the complaints made by agitators here. Eancy one of our colonial papers publishing a paragraph full of indignation because labourers were rich enough to dress their wives and daughters respectably, to take a holiday, and have a baby show! How our English contemporary would be disgusted with our Agricultural Show day, when he would see thousands of peasants who have a pound or two to spend, whose families not only dress weli, but in many instances are actually wicked enough to come in carts drawn by their own horses. Perhaps if he saw this and similar sights he might come to tho conclusion that the time was coming when only the idle need be ground down in abject poverty, when a thousand strong and willing hands shall be stretched forth to welcome even G-iux's Baby if he will work.