Another source, however, and the one on which we chiefly depend, is the growing intelligence and taste of the cottagers themselves. The agricultural populution of no part of Britain is yet sufficiently enlightened to act by cooperation; but, with a proper system of national education, and the free circulation of political and moral knowledge, both of which we hope soon to see established, the operative agriculturists, like the operative manufacturers, will be enabled to command such dwellings, and other means of subsistence, as their superior condition will require. At present, what are called the lowest class in Scotland, and especially the agricultural labourers, consider themselves as living by the sufferance of those who are above them; and nothing but knowledge can eradicate this degrading idea, and relieve them from the numerous privations which they undergo in consequence.
