confinement. This is a specimen of the wretched laws of England. There is no justice for the poor.
This case was taken into consideration by the inhabitants of Dundee, who sent a petition to Parliament on the 26th of February, 1846.
It was again brought before the notice of Parliament on Thursday, April 2, when a motion was made to inquire into the particulars of the case, and lost by a majority of twenty-five. Alas! poor country, when will thy oppressed people have justice done them?
There are some people who take a sort of pleasure in speaking against the laboring portion of my countrymen; calling them idle, drunken, and the like. In order to show the reader that such is not their general character, and that they are not only industrious, and work hard for a little, but that they know how to take care of that little when they have got it, I will here insert an extract, taken from the books of the Savings Bank of Dundee some four or five years ago.
In that town, out of 464 male weavers, with wages averaging $1,92, 108 are depositors. Of 181 flax dressers, with the wages averaging $2,88, 36 are depositors. Of 290 mechanics, with wages equal to §4,85, 56 are depositors. And even among the class of girls whose case I have just recorded, there is one solitary depositer, while there are 237 accounts in the names of female domestic servants.
The reader will bear in mind that each of the poor people whose hardships have been recorded, in this and the preceding letters, have to pay taxes to government, in addition to finding their own food, clothing, and necessaries, without regard to age, sex, or condition.
