866

LIFE OF OOBDEN,

_ 1862. pendent power. A few days will tell us how these election®
Ar. 58. will go.”

The Cotton Famine,
“Nov. 6, 1862. (To Lady Hatherton).—Few people can
realize the appalling state of things in this neighbourhood.
Imagine that the iron, stone, and coal were suddenly withheld
 from Staffordshire, and it gives you but an imperfect
idea of what Lancashire, with its much larger population, i8
suffering from the want of cotton ; it reverses the condition
of the richest county in the kingdom, and makes it the poorest
A capitalist with 20,0007 invested in buildings and machinery,
may be almost on a par with his operatives in destitution, if
he be deprived of the raw material which alone makes his
capital productive. Bad as is the state of things, I fear we
are only at its commencement, and unhappily the winter i8
upon us to aggravate the sufferings of the working people
The evil is spreading through all classes. The first effects
will be felt on the small shopkeepers; the weak millowners
will come next. I met a magistrate yesterday from Oldham,
 and he told me that at the last meeting of the Bench
four thousand assessments were exempted from payment of
poor rates on the plea of inability of the parties to pay !
How rapidly this must aggravate the pressure on the
remainder of the property of the Union! There will be
another meeting of the Manchester Committee next Monday,
at which it will be proposed to extend it to a National Committee,
 and the Queen will be solicited as Duchess of
Lancaster to allow her name to appear as its patron. An
energetic effort will then be made to cover the whole kingdom
 with local committees, and then institute a general
canvass for subscriptions. By this means we may keep
matters in tolerable order till Parliament meets, but there i
& growing opinion that we shall have to apply to Parliament