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the year 1829, when Robert Gouger commenced the real labour of his life, the position of the working classes of this country was only just becoming capable of definition. Many of the vexatious laws under which they had formerly groaned were being relaxed, and the reproach that the "common people" were merely a part of the machinery of the country was being gradually taken away.

The great fiscal reforms of Huskisson in 1825; the labours of Joseph Hume; the repeal of the Combination Laws, which rendered the union of working men in self-defence no longer criminal; the repeal of the laws relating to artificers going to foreign parts, which made emigration possible when the labour market was overstocked; and other measures of relief, were paving the way for further reforms generally, and for the great Reform Bill of 1832 in particular.

But at that time, and especially in that year (1829), there was great poverty and consequent distress throughout the country. All trades, pursuits and professions were becoming more and more overcrowded, and multitudes of people of all