wring the poor man's heart before he can so far subdue the feelings of
the husband and the father as to make him "_desert his family_;" or, if
they do reflect on them, they must be more cruel than the storms and the
waves. The labouring men in England, generally speaking, are the kindest
and most indulgent of husbands and of parents. It has often been
observed by me, that they are generally so to a fault. If a boy or girl
belonging to them behave ill towards their employers, their father and
mother are very hard to be convinced of the fact.--I have often to
remonstrate with them upon this subject, and to remind them of how much
more indulgent they are to their children than I am to mine. 'Aye, Sir,'
said a very good woman to me a little while ago, 'but your children have
their belly full of victuals.' The answer was a _silencer_. And this is
the true cause of their indulgence, and of their excessive affection
too. They see their children in want; they grow up in continual
suffering; they are incessantly objects of compassion over and above the
love which nature has implanted in the parent's breast. Their obstinate
perseverance in justifying the conduct of their children upon all
occasions is a fault; but it arises from the most amiable of human
weaknesses; and though it may, and often is, injurious in its effects,
it is the least censurable of all the frailties of the heart.

"If I have here, as I am sure I have, given the true character of the
English labourer, as a parent and a husband, what must that state of
things be, which has rendered the _desertion of family_ so frequent an
offence as to call forth a hand-bill and _placard_ such as that which I
have quoted above? And, in a state of things like this, are men to be
called _promoters of sedition_, because they endeavour to point out the
real cause of this horrible evil, and also endeavour to point out the
remedy? Aye, but in doing this we point at the same time, to the _weight
of taxes_; and we cite Mr. Preston in support of our doctrine, who says,