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21st May, 1812.
Leeds, April 30th, 1812.
MR. EDITOR,—The present disturbed state of the country has become the topic of general
conversation ; all good men must reprobate in the warmest manner, the conduct of those deluded people who endeavour to destroy that grand cause of our present greatness, Machinery, which is certainly
one of the means that has elevated us so high in the scale of nations; it is however generally allowed, that the depressions of trade, with the high price of the staff of life, bread, imperiously
call upon the rich and noble to come forward with that liberality, which as Englishmen is our characteristic, and endeavour by voluntary subscriptions to alleviate the sufferings of those who
'shrink into the sordid hut of cheerless poverty.'
The example has already been set us by some of the neigh-bouring villages, and I believe by several of the large towns in the Kingdom ;
and Leeds, which has never been backwards in forwarding the claims of charity, will not view with supineness the distresses of so large a pardon of our fellow creatures.
Independent of the
pleasure which every good man must feel in the exercise of charity, it cannot fail, even in a moral point of view, to be productive of the greatest advantage, in pointing out to the poorer class, the
interest and feeling their town's-people take in their distresses, and may ultimately be the means of completely subduing that desperate association, which aims at nothing less than the
destruction of the nation.
On a subject of such general importance I might considerably enlarge my remarks, but I shall content myself with requesting you, Sir, to give to this letter a prominent
place in your widely circulated Paper.
I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,
A TOWN'S MAN.
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