Rural Rides by Willaim Cobett:
William Cobbett a journalist, agriculturist and reformer is best known for his political efforts, namely those against the Corn Laws.
He began publishing a weekly newsletter, the Political Register in 1802 and ‘Rural Rides’ was published from 1822-1826 in the Political Register before being published as 2 volumes in 1830.
At the beginning of the book his journey begins and he remarks how Britain has some of the best and worst lands in the world and he is currently enjoying the latter. Throughout his travels he remarks on the quality of the land and its upkeep by the inhabitants quick to pass judgement from his own agricultural expertise. He remarks about the state of political affairs, that it is a time of confusion, debt and selfish interests in the political sphere.
He comments on the various sights he sees, the state of labourers, the price of goods. Entering the such as the prices of livestock and crop which are considerably low, compared to earlier years. And the considerable difference of the price of same goods between towns due to the middle class which he seems to detest.
He exclaims upon the fact that ‘farmers unable to pay the men working for them and yet compelled to pay them for working in doing that which is really of no use to any human being.’ Despite the disrepair of various places, that despite there is a large amount of necessary work to be done, these men are reduced to an avenue of worthless physical effort such as creating smoother roads which are of benefit only to the wealthy giving nothing back to the town or labourers themselves.
Upon crossing into a new town and on the journey itself he remarks upon the beauty or troubling lack that the country presents giving the reader a very visceral and sometimes evocative image and showing his deep love for the country and how invested and passionate he is about his cause.
Cobbet is a very knowledgeable man and from his descriptions of the features of the country he will sometimes go on to explain the benifits and uses of e.g. the soil type or type of tree. For example: ‘This hazle is a thing of great utility here. It furnishes rods wherewith to make fences.’
He remarks upon the fact that an effort to further decrease the wages of a labourer will make the man no more than a slave, ‘a walking skeleton.’
He talks about the hypocrisy of a nation which concerns itself with lambasting the 6 million poor whilst turning a willingly ignorant blind eye to the other 67 million people who make use of public spending.
Instead of taking more from the working man he instead suggests that more money be taken from the church. He also suggests that to avoid further taxation of the poor the cutting of public pay and salaries would be an appropriate avenue to explore.
He enjoys making observations of the land, the work done to it and speculating how it can often be improved if he was ever afforded the opportunity and the money to do so.
As you read of his travels he writes of his own thoughts and speculations and you can hear the sheer horror in his voice for the continued and worsening plight of the agricultural workers: ‘The wages of labourers brought down to six shillings a week! a horrible thing to think of; but, I hear, it is still worse in Wiltshire.’
A view throughout the book is that England is declining, a view held by many throughout history where the time before the Inclosure Act is romanticised. A rural ideal of community, cooperation and living off the land.
His travels as dictated in his journal are often littered with anecdotes related to the place he has arrived at. It shows his deep connection with the country as he relates to the reader all these childhood memories, experiences which built him into the man he is today and seemingly such experiences and way of life he is trying to preserve in his efforts to save the labourers.
The historical context of Rural Rides and relevance in the 21st Century:
Rural Rides was written in the time of the Corn Laws. The Corn Laws were taxes on imported grain to allow homegrown grain to make a profit. In such a scenario homegrown grain is very expensive and imported grain even moreso. This is good for the British farmers who have an assured profit yet terrible for the peasents and workers who are forced to buy bread at hugely inflated prices despite an often lowered wage. However in the long term the Corn Laws allowed the Industrial Revolution to occur, they allowed for the maximum exploitation of workers who would work longer and for less money for food at abnormally high prices.
In the 21st Century we can see the same exploitation and its effects in China which does not have a minimum wage, this allows them to sell goods at very low prices and still make a large profit. If China did instill a minimum wage, Britain and the USA etc would be damaged economically as the price of common goods would increase and thus the standard of living would decrease as workers would demand higher wages to keep up with the price of goods. A wage raise would unlikely be immediate as it would cut into the profit of likely already suffering business.
This is why the Corn Laws were eventually repealed, workers on already low wages needed to be able to afford the most basic foodstuffs i.e. bread. If they cannot then workers wages have to be increased otherwise you inevitably starve your entire workforce which isn’t sustainable in the long term.
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