Dialogue between John and Thomas, on the Corn Laws, the Charter, Teetotalism, and the Probable Remedy for the Present Disstresses

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PAISLEY:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY G. CALDWELL.
1842.
T. Weel John what do you think is to come out o’ thae terrible times? I believe our kintra neer saw a time like this.
J. Really they are fearfu’ looking times, and I am really at a loss what to think about them, or how to propose a remedy to better them.
T. Deed John I’m truly at a loss mysel’ to ken what would be the best remedy, but it is plain we would need some remedy soon, for our miseries are every day increasing, and the starvation and destitution that is amang us is alarming. Hae ye nae idea ava’ what can be the cause o’ a’ this bankruptcy and beggary that is come amang us?
J. It is often my first thochts in the morning, and the last at night, to fin’ out the origin o’ a’ this distress; whiles I think the Corn Bill has a great effect to hurt our trade, and I hae nae doubt but it has had a bad effect, but how far it would remedy the evil now I’m no very sure, for wi’ us no takin’ their Corn, they wouldna tak’ our Goods, and noo baith Russia, and Prussia, and Holland, and Belgium, and France, and America, an’ a’, has gotten Cotton Mills, and Thread Mills, and lots o’ our Mechanics, and they are quite independent o’ us and our goods. I think our landholders, if they had half an e’e in their head, micht see that.
T. I dinna think ye’re far wrang John, altho’ I have heard some argue strictly in behalf o’ the Corn Bill, and tell us if it wasna the Corn Bill our grun’ wadna be sae weel cultivated, and its value wad sink in estimation, but I rather think the lads up by are feart the rents wad sink in their estimation; and is this a’ the relief John—the takin’ aff o’ the Corn Laws—that we hae to look for, for the bettering o’ our condition? if this is a’ it is a very forlorn hope.
J. I hae nae doubt Thomas but there is ither causes that produce these great grievances amang us. Anither great cause, I believe, is our great National Debt, which hangs about our neck like a millstane, and I’m afraid will sink us to the bottom if the string is not cut, and what surprises me maist is to see sae little attention paid to economy, to help to pay off this debt. It is grievin’ to read o’ the thousands, and thousands, and hunders o’ thousands, that is payt awa’ every year to placemen and pensioners, for no purpose under the sun, but rank wastery: ane wad think, when they see our kintra sinkin’ and sae muckle need for care, that they would be glad to adopt any plan to save us; and they ha’e a capital pattern o’ cheap government laid down to them in America, whar the head o’ the house costs them only £6000 instead o’ £400,000, which some folk has to pay.