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TOORDEN, {{omaF
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1845. “In the first place, I believe that the intelligence of the peopl?
&r. 39. in Scotland is superior to the intelligence of the people of
England. TI take it from these facts. Before going to the
meetings, we often asked the committee or the people with
whom we came in contact, * Arve there sny fallacies which
the working people hold on this question? Have they 217
orotchets about machinery, or wages, or anything else?’
And the universal reply was, “No; you may make a speech
about what yon like; they understand the gquestiol
thoroughly ; and it is no nse confining yourself to machinery
or wages, for there are few men, probably ne man here, who
would be taken in by such raw jests zs those” Well, if the
working men are so intelligent in Scotland, how are the
landowners? You find, in that country, that the science of
farming is carried to a degree of perfaction which. is almost
anknown in England. Yon find them with a climate not
so kind and genial as ours, for thoy often fai] in gather
ing in wheat when the farmers in. the south of England
succeed ; they have land not naturally so fertile as ours,
snd many are not so near a market to take off the whole of
their produce as our farmers are; but we find there thab
the landowners are intelligent enough to know that the
monopolists themselves rarely thrive under the monopolies
they are so fond of, und that it would be much better for
them to be subjected to the same wholesome stimulus which
persons in other pursuits feel, and which is alike beneficial
to the people so engaged, and to those who purchase the
articles they produce. . . . . Well, then, as to the middle
classes of Scotland, I hold that the municipalities of Scot
land represent the opinion of the middle classes. In Glas
gow, Edinburgh, Perth, and other towns, we found thst
the members of the eorporations were 2 true index 10
the opinion of the main body of the inhabitants of the
bown in which it was situate. Now, in Glasgow, Edinburgh