L. Be it so; but by reason of 100l. a year for outgoings, you induce me to lower the rent from 500l., which I asked, and which you would have paid, and we agreed to 400l. as the fair amount you could pay. T. That I admit. L. Very well then; had there been no outgoings at all, you would have paid me 5007. a year; as there were outgoings, you agreed to the 400/. only, after deducting them; consequently, it is quite clear, that though you are the hand to pay the rates, it is in truth, and in effect, with my money, which, but for such outgoings, would have come into my pocket. T. Why, in this way of putting it, you may be right, perhaps; but I never heard of such a thing before, and nobody that I know of puts the question in the same way. L. May be not; but I must go a step further, now we are entered upon it, which is this: that though I pay 1007. a year, in effect and in truth, you have never been called upon to pay more than 907. T. And quite enough too. I have paid all I have been called upon to pay. L. I dare say you have; but I have allowed you 1007. for your 90%., and have consequently lost 10%. a year for an outgoing that never existed. T. How so? L. By allowing this abatement; whereas, on this ground only, it should not have been more than 90%. T. Well; what then? L. What then!-why, then you have in effect received 107. a year from me already more than you have paid; and do you now presume to ask for another reduction of rent, when you have, in five years only, had 50%. already? T. I confess, Sir, you rather puzzle me this morning. I was not prepared for such an encounter; but everybody knows the rates are now on the increase. L. That may be. But to our present question. You have never, in truth, paid more than 907. a year yet for all outgoings. Until you pay more than 100%., which I allowed you, I, and not you, am the losing party, for, as I said at the outset, you pay the 901., but it is with my money. T. I do not admit that, Sir; nor will any farmer admit any such thing, I assure you. L. And, I assure you, you have admitted it already, and so must every farmer in this country who will confer with his landlord on the actual facts of their contract as landlord and tenant. T. Why, Sir, there is not a farmer in the county that does not do as I have done. L. Very likely; and perhaps there is not a landlord, in like manner, that has not done as I have done-that is, pay all the rates and taxes for all his tenants to his (the landlord's) manifest loss and injury. This is far too clear to admit of any doubt, or difference even of opinion, when the facts, the plain statement of them, are fairly laid before the reader. T. Well then, Sir, I suppose I must go on without your assistance at present, and submit to the loss. L. Certainly; but you need not go away under any mistake or error in respect of our relative situations, for until you pay 100%. instead of 90%. for outgoings, and the fifty that you have got in your pocket for five years past, I, as I told you before, am the only sufferer. You, in fact, have gained by my loss, and it is rather too much that you are to make such a loss a ground for the reduction of your rent. T. I don't believe there is a landlord in the country that views the matter as you do. I am sure Lords A., and B., and C., never did. L. Very likely. I am disposed to agree with you in this assertion; but it only proves, Thomas, that Lords A., and B., and C., have been either ignorant of, or very inattentive to, their own interest, and very submissive to the exactions of their tenants. But before we part, Thomas, let me impress on your mind the additional loss imposed. on the landlord by the over-allowance for rates already made, and the probable increase to him, which you make the ground of your request to me. Must not you be quite convinced that, besides your burden, that should be, but which I have shown to be your landlord's; there is to him also all the additions, whatever they may be, in respect of his own establishment? If they increase with you until they exceed the 100%. a year, you will have lost nothing; but every such increase falls with increasing weight upon him, besides all above what is, and has been, allowed to you. Now I might, with as much show of justice—nay, more-come to you for an increase of rent proportioned to the occasion, as you do to me for the diminution of it. I think, Thomas, you will, if you rightly consider the matter, not trouble me on this subject again very soon. T. Why, Sir, if the rates go on increasing they will exceed even the 100%. a year, and what am I to do then? I see nothing but ruin and beggary before me. L. What you are to do then, I know not, but till then -and God avert the evil-you have no right to complain; you have, as the lawyers say, no case; and therefore I wish you a good morning. This is a dialogue, assumed as the vehicle for putting before the general reader a very plain truth. It is in-. tended to show how necessary it is for the landlord as well as the tenant to be rightly informed, and that this great duty, which each owes to himself for his individual protection, is also due to his country, in which his stake is the greatest. No man who does not make himself master of his own true position and resources is, in truth, doing justice to neither; and the cry of the poor is deeply involved in the inquiry, and more deeply, perhaps, than is generally imagined-"Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard'." Where so many benefits to the landlord, to the country, to the poor, are intimately blended, too closely allied to be ever wholly separated, attention becomes the first duty, as it becomes the best interest, of the landlord, to see to his own state and resources in every contract he enters into with his tenants.-J. I. B. Taken from the Labourer's Friend Magazine. EMPLOYMENT FOR THE MAIMED. SIR,-In reply to the letter of Benevolus, in the last number of the "Cottager's Monthly Visitor," I beg to offer a few suggestions, presuming that the poor girl's arm is amputated too high to admit of a wooden arm with a hook, and that the left hand and arm alone are avail Prov. xxi. 13. able also; that she is intelligent, good-tempered, and either has been, or will be, taught reading, and perhaps a little mental arithmetic. She might be employed in an infant or national school, to teach there-in a farm, to look after children not requiring to be carried-to teach them to read to assist in any light occupation in the dairy, skimming milk, perhaps turning a light barrel churn, tending poultry, pigs-perhaps weeding. For it is to be remembered that where any sense or faculty is deficient, a merciful Providence often-nay, generally, compensates it by the perfection of the rest: thus she would probably be able to do much more with her one hand than could be expected. Much however would depend on the judicious education she receives, and on her own character and disposition. Her misfortune, no doubt, renders her an object of interest; and if it was possible to find an occupation, means would be found to enable her to undertake it. If her residence admitted of the necessary arrangements, with the superintendance of a kind friend at first, why should she not successfully carry on the plan of Mrs. D'Oyley, for rearing poultry, as quoted in the Labourer's Friend Magazine, Oct. 1838? The cost would not be great, and perhaps the recent improvements in stoves would enable the plan to be still more cheaply and easily effected than at the date of Mrs. D'Oyley's experiment. Supposing the poor girl to have so much of the arm left below the shoulder, as to admit of fixing a wooden arm and hook, it would be a great help. Perhaps those persons, who make surgical instruments, would be more likely to know of inventions for the maimed than "medical men.' Who makes wooden legs, &c. for pensioners of the East India Company's service? a certain sum is deducted (it is believed) from the pensions, for supplying such articles to those who require them. Would it be likely that information might be obtained at Chelsea or Greenwich Hospitals, by addressing inquiries to some of the official persons there? A little work has been written by Capt. De Renzy, 82nd regiment, called "Enchiridion, or a Hand for the one-handed." A CONSTANT READER. |