BRITAIN’S 
 
 CRY FOR REFORM, 
 
 RETRENCHMENT, 
 
 REDUCTION OF TAXATION. 
 
 BY A MIDDLE-CLASS MAN. 
 
 fRmtcfjestei*: 
 
 . HEYWOOD, OLDHAM STREET. LEEDS: D. GREEN, 
 
 BRADFORD: J. HAINSWORTH, AND W. COOKE. HUDDERS¬ 
 FIELD: J. RICHARDSON. HALIFAX: D. WILSON, 
 
 LORD, MIDGLEY, NICHOLSON AND WILSON*. 
 
 1848. 
 
BRITAIN’S CRT FOR REFORM, &. 
 
 The mandate once addressed to the inspired prophet Ezekiel, seems in 
 this eventful time to be addressed to every man possessing a reflecting and 
 humane mind: “Go through the midst of the city, or land, through the 
 midst of the nation, and set a mark upon the foreheads of them that sigh 
 and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.” Ezek, 
 ix. 4. Yes, “go forth,” ye lovers of your country, go and observe the de. 
 pression of commerce, the starvation of the poor, the luxury of the nobility, 
 the determined procedure of government still to increase the burdens of 
 the country, aud their complete apathy in the midst of extreme national 
 suffering;—“go forth,” and the result of your inspection will he, “So 1 
 returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun; 
 and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, aud they had no comfort- 
 er; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no 
 comforter.” Eccle. iv. 1. The oldest inhabitant of this country cannot 
 refer to any former period of his life when distress amongst the labouring 
 population was so prevalent and so deeply felt. They do indeed “sigh," 
 because they are “oppressed;” and the time has arrived when their sigh¬ 
 ing must be regarded. The shopkeepers—the middle class men, must 
 regard it, they must lift up, and combine their voice with that of thesuf- 
 
national evils under which we groan, and constitutionally to demand that 
 justice be done to the labouring classes, upon whom the middle classes are. 
 dependent. You may dream of returning prosperity as you please—you 
 may ardently hope that the present gloom will in time pass away; but 
 let one thing ever be present to your minds; it is this—The sun of pros¬ 
 perity is blackened, and emits no exhilarating and life-giving rays—the 
 source of all wealth is dried up, while the operative classes of this country 
 are being ground to powder! They are the foundation as it were of the 
 National Pillar. Upon them are resting the middle classes, the wealthy, 
 the nobility, the aristocracy—and royalty. Take away this broad base, 
 and the column will fall. It is already giving symptoms of decay. You 
 Jlillocrats—you tax-makers—you hireling priests—you aristocratic pau¬ 
 pers, placemen, and pensioners—and even royalty itself—you have been 
 so long hammering and chisseling at the base of that column, that the 
 Revenue-Teller has-already announced that it is not sufficiently strong to 
 sustain the immense weight imposed upon it. 
 
 As it regards the cause of the national distress, the writer is willing to 
 
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 Whilst mournful to relate, thousands of clever and willing artizans of 
 every trade have not even that, because they are under the ban aud curse 
 of money—the centralizing tendency of which must ever crush them. 
 
 The scriptural sentiment is beautiful; “ The labourer is worthy of his 
 hire but the hire ought to be accompanied by labour; the two things 
 ought not to be disse vered. Granted that it would not be proper to allow 
 the widow of a monarch to be in want, would not £5000 per annum be a 
 most munificent sum for a queen dowager, who receives nominally 
 £100,000 per annum, but whose real cost to the nation, including the ex¬ 
 pense of the journeys abroad, the packets placed at her majesty’s service, 
 8cc. &c., is not less than £200,000 yearly. And remember this woman is 
 a decided enemy to the people—she did all she could to persuade her 
 husbaud, William the Fourth, not to grant the Reform Bill. There is 
 the young Prince of Wales, now in his seventh year, who derives a very 
 large revenue from Cornwall, and who has his court, and all the para¬ 
 phernalia of an embryo king, which would be very amusing if the royal 
 family had estates of their own. 
 
millions more which they once received, are now enjoyed by the aristocracy and other 
 laymen. All the property belongs to tile public, and should be disposed of according 
 foMh 'f'ti' A S rea ^ part of it was originally given for purposes of charity, and 
 
 sons who are real plagues to the community-who'sitin'the House of Lords'to oppose, 
 with all their might, the just rights of the people. It is a mighty bribe employed by 
 the government to secure the services of the clergy on their hehalf. It is high time 
 for the people to call for a better and more honorable appropriation of wealth. 
 
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