The Express.
London, England, 1847-03-11 00:00:00

Mr. GROG-1N thcught the civil bill process one of the t,
most useful institutions iu the country. The first intiostul;m
of the hon. member for Waterford's bill had spread alarm
through Ireland. He should oppose the second reeding.
Mr. P. SCROPE believed that the system of ejectment,
serried on under the civil bill process, was acted urn to a
great extent by the landlords in ninny pars of Irellaiv., as the
reediest means of clearing their land, and operated most
severely on the poorer class of tenants, who were the victims.
(Heir, bear.) A gentleman, writing to him from Mayo,
stated, that in the last January sessions there were brough
before the assistant barrister for trial from 1,500 to 2,000
eases under the civil hill process. By r.us.'aing use of that
process, and arresting the tenant for the iteht, the landlords
succeeded Much more speedily in clea .ing off their poorer
tenants than by the usual process of ejectment. The men
were taken in execution and kept, In gaol their fami-
lies being left at home to star fe—until they gave up
their holdings, and in numerous issuances, to avoid the pro-
cess, they abandoned their hom ea, and were driven to seek
refuge in Liverpool, Manchester, and elsewhere, thus swel/-
ing the burden upon the Engl.,,ah poor-rates. The Rev. Mr.
Neary, of the parish of •ryrass.ley, en Mayo, stated Chit on
the lit of September last the ee were in his parish 1,000 fami-
conaisting of 6,600 in Jividuals ; there were now only
600 families and so exti .neively was this system of clear-
since in operation, that, h August next, he believed there
would not be 200 mule]eft; and unless some check were in-
terposed, the county we old soon be depopulated. Of the con•
acre tenants, 20,000 we re unable to pay their rent, in conse-
quence of the failure t if the potato crop; these might, under
the civil bill proems, ne thrown into gaol at any moment;
and many of them h ad already been driven from their hold-
ings, and were now., with their (smiles, utterly destitute or
dependent upon e relief works. In other cases, where the
tenants had 'Trued to give up their bolding., the landlords,
being upon the relief committee, had interfered to prevent
their obtainiag employment en the relief works. With them
statements berme him of tic working of the power of arrest
for small sums in Ireland, he thought no time should be
lost in abolishing it.
Mr. W. S. O'BRIEN considered that his hon. friend (Ste
H. W. Barron) would, after the pledge which had been
given, act wisely in leaving the matter in the hands of the
Solicitor-General for Ireland. It was, however, a question
for consideration, whether under the present circumstances
of the country sonic temporary measure should not be passed
to enable the assistant barrister to stay execution on the
civil bill proms', is such cases as had been referred to, via.,
where it was used as a meant of ejectment.
Sir R. FERGUSON believed the statement of the bon.
member for Stroud was much overcharged. If an accurate
return of the number of civil bill processes issued for non-
payment of rent were obtained, it would be found that there
was no danger of depopulating the country. It twist be re.
membered too, that the number of processes dated to have
issued were tene tlebts of ml sorts, rad arising out ut dealings
of all des:riptions. Again, the commissioners for relieving
insolvent debtors invariably refused to allow execution under
the civil bill process to be used as a means of compelling
tenants to surrender their forms.
Sir O. GREY hoped his hon. friend (Sir H. W. Barron)
would consent to leave the matter in the hands of the Soli-
citor-General •, if not, he must move that the bill be read a
second time that day six months.
Mr. B. ESCOTT objected to a system being continued for
Ireland, which in England it had been found necessary for
the interests of humanity to abolish. He hoped, however,
after the promise which had been made by the Solicitor-
General fur Ireland, thet the motion would not be pressed
toe division. The partial failure of the change in England
in the first instance was owing entirely to the absence or
local tribunals of sufficient jurisdiction to carry it Into effect
with a due regard to the rights of the creditor.
Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN was favourable to the prin-
ciple of the bill, though he thought there was much in what
had fallen from the Solicitor-General for Ireland as to the
means of carrying it out. With regard to the statements
brought forward by the hon. member for Stroud, they had
been full, answered by the hon. member for Londonderry.
They bad the statement of a gentleman personally and pram
tically acquainted with the state of Ireland against assertions
brought forward on the authority of other parties, by a gen-
tleman of great humanity and practical benevolence no
doubt, but who was, nevertheless, liable to be misled, and who,
C. qualify himself to judge of the conduct of the Irish land-
lords, and of the real state of Ireland, he would advise to
take advantage of the government measure for facilitating the
sale of encumbered estates, and to settle down in one of the
most disturbed districts as a resident Irish landlord. (A
laugh.) When the hon. gentleman returned from Ireland—if
ever he should—(laughter)—he would doubtless return a

wiser end a better.man..
Sir H. W. BARRON, after the speech of the Solicitor
General, would not divide the halve; but would ask the
government whether they would give a pledge to bring in a
bill on the subject this session.
Mr. LABOUCHERE concurred in thinking the question
one of great importance ; but, looking to the important Irish
measures already before the house, and cenudering, also,
that the government had other important measures in con-
templation, for which they hoped to obtain the unction of
parliament, he could not give a positive pledge to bring for-
ward a measure on this subject in the present session. All
be could say via, that the government would serionalc con-
sider, and if possible prapere, a bill upon the subject. (lieu,
hear.)
The bill was then, by leave, withdrawn.
DRAINAGE OF LAND BILL.

On the order of the d oy for going into nominate: on this
bill,
Mr. W. WILLIAMS said that the rate of interest paid
under the bill of last session was insufficient, and leas than
the Chancellor of the Exchequer was paying for his recent
loan. The rata of interest under the bill was to be 61 per
cent. for 22 years, when principal and interest would he
extinguished. That was a rate of interest not exceeding 31
per cent. [An Hon. Member : 31.] It might be between
the two, but it was at all events a less rate of interest than
the government paid kr their loans. The people ought not
to be taxed fin the benefit of the landed proprietors, whom
the bill was intended to benefit, particularly as it was pro
bable that the interest of money would reach a still higher
rate. He therefore hoped the government would consent to
make some addition to the rate of interest under this bill.
Mr. H. J. BAILLIE said that as the faith of the govern-
ment was pledged to this measure last session, it could not
now be violated.
Mr. HUME observed that the measure of last session was
a bribe to the landed interest. He himself was a party to it
because he thought it would serve the public. But he toped
the government would introduce a clause providing that if
the rate of interest rose higher they should charge an addi-
tional rate of interest on the borrowed money. It was the
interest paid in this way which bad raised the interest on
Exchequer-bills. He admitted the obligation under last
yeer's bill to lend the money, but he hoped that a clause
would be introduced limiting the amount of loans to indivi-
duals, and thereby making the loan more useful by being
more general. (Hear, hear.)
Sir G. GREY argued that the landed proprietors, per-
ticularly in Scotland, relying upon the faith of government,
as pledged by that bill, had expended large sums of mosey
in carrying out the object of the bill; and, although it was
at first proposed as a boon to the landed proprietors, it had
been found most available for the relief of distress in Scot-
land, so much so that the government had only granted
about 4001., the remainder having been advanced by the
landlords, in the hope that the money would be repaid
under the operation of the bill. With regard to the hon.
member's suggestion of limiting the amount of loans, it was
his intention to introduce a clause in committee having that
effect. (Hear.)
The house (after some further conversation on the subject)
went into committee.
On the 8/et clause,
Mr. OSWALD, in reference to the proposed clause of the
right bon. gentleman, observed that an hon. relative of his
own, who had asked for 40,0001., and who had already
advanced 15,0001. on the faith of the loan, wu willing to
give up the remaining 25,0001. It was not for kiss to eq
whether this hill would suffice to meet the diaries in Sr&
land, but, if not, he hoped that such paternal &Mehra r
llcCullurnmore would not be indifferent to that distress.
The Earl of LINCOLN objected to that part of the bill
which extended the loan from its original of
drainage, so as to include fencing and elm
improvements. The lowest estimate of the
for the complete drainage of the land in Ragland Mat
land was from 200 to 250 millions, and if the SIM of UM
millions to be granted for drainage was to be seed mho kr
fencing, its usetulnew would be greatly impaired.
Sir G. GREY argued that, under the peculiar circuit-
stances of the highlands of Scotland, the government were
fully justified in extending its object' to Mein and
hum.
Lordc DUNCAN trusted that preeedesea weal be gives
to the Highland proprietors, who were aseiradleig figrahesti
severe distress in their districts, without &deg be seesee-
ment aid. Besides, in the Lowlands, at WA be Mai nay
that in Forfarthire wages were 50 per out. Idsbeesewlikea
for several years peat. His opinion was that a relaxed= of
the law of entail would be better for Scotland than eves the
loan under this bill.
Lord MORPETH said that if the gramma sued ea
the noble lord's suggestion, sad excluded annkritna Mal
England and the Lowlands of Scotland, they mead be
guilty of a breach of faith, and that it was the less loseasery
to do so as the bill showed that the Highland proprietor
were uppermost in their thoughts. Indeed, it would be
found that about threeefourths of the whole lass of
2,000.0001. would go to Scotland. The benefits of the WO
would he limited to those wide pastoral districts where arable
land bore a high value, so that the amount voted would not
be expended oa other improvements. Indeed, no applica-
tion* for money to trench orfence had yet come from Eng-
land, nor did he expect any.
Lord G. BENT INCH. had heard with great pismire OM
wages hail risen in Forfarshire in proportion to die desk the
price of food. He was, however, surprised to Uwe tbedier
timent from the liberal member for Bath, whe lli tls
desire to grind down the wages of the per eeirlesist
point. He did not concur in the apprehensions of the lava.
member for Mutsu that the interest of money would be
raised • for he had heard, on authority, that the Idel-

.111.1 tenantry were as ready to isty for the construction of
snow-dykes as for drainage,
Sir G. GREY said tt.o clause did not authorise fencing
irrespc ctive of drainage, and the noble lord must not encou-
rage his tenantry to Lepe that they would obtain money for
fencing alone.
Lewd DUNC AN, in explanation, said be did not wish to
grind down wages, but in the present state of things in the
part of tho country where he resided he thought it would
be injudicious in the government to encourage drainage,
becar.ae it would not repay the proprietors as well as if wagihi
were lower.
After a few words from Mr. H. J. Baillie, Mr. Henley, and
Mr. Aglionby, in answer to a question from Mr. Hope,
The LORD ADVOCATE said that nu doubt the charges
en entails under Montgomery's act were inconvenient; and
that what was wanted was not sdditioeal charges, but the
power of making sales.
After a few words from Capt. HARRIS,
Mr. ESCOTT said this bill was one of which all owners of
land ought to be ashamed. The grants would be made t.. 3
those who worts least in want of it, and ought to be extended
to those who really needed it. It was understood that the
bill was the result of an arrangement on the passing of the

measures of last year. -
The Earl of LINCOLN repudiated the notion that there
was any arrangement between the late government and any
party on this subject ; all he said was, that the faith of par-
liament having been pledged that a sum of money should be
advanced at • err.ain rate of interest, when applications were
made for grants, it would be a breach of faith if the rate of
int, rest was raised.
The clause was then agreed to.
On clause 2,
Mr. FORSTER moved that the following words be added
to the clause: " That comet plans or tracings of the drain-
age, u Hinny effected, be deposited with, and preserved for,
public use and inspection, by the commissioners."
Viscount MORPETH objected to the provision, on the
ground that it would cause inconvenience, delay, and
expense.
After a discussion, in which the amendment was opposed
by Mr. E. Emma, Mr. AOLIONHT, and Mr. H. J. IlattLiz,
and Mr. Hesse supported it,
Lord DUNCAN asked in what order the clauses trent in
would be considered by the government.
Viscount MORPETH—In the order of their arrival.
Lord G. BENTINCK said, that by the act all prelimi-
nary expenses were paid by the land, and there was no
charge on the public.
Sir G. GREY said this would not be a preliminary ex-
pense, but be for the public advantage, and when the drain-
age was concluded, it would be hard to charge it on the
land.
Lord G. BENTINCK did not intend to support the pro-
position.
Mr. FORSTER then proposed to leave a discretion to the
commissioners] to deposit the plans when they thought it
would be for the public advantage.
But after a short discussion, the hnn. gentleman with-
drew his amendment, and the clause was agreed to.
Clauses 3,4, and 6, were agreed to.

On clanse'6;
Sir G. GREY said he had an amendment to propose.
The bill as it stood provided that the works should be com-
pleted in three years from the time of granting the certifi-
cate, with a discretionary power to the commissioners to
extend it for one year. The object of this limitation was to
prevent the money being locked up, to reduce the number
of largo applications from individual proprietors, and to
diffuse the grants as widely as possible. It bad been sug-
gested that this object would be more directly obtained by
limiting the pecuniary amount of the grant. It was th're-
fore proposed, in ordinary cases, that no provisional certifi-
cate should be granted for a larger sum than 15,0001., and
that the period for its being expended should be enlarged from
three yearn to five. In order to meet the case of the High-
land proprietors, a diseretionery power was given to the com-
missioner' ; where there was a large unemployed population,
and it could be shown that • larger amount would be ex-
pended in three years, a larger advance should be made.
Sir J. GRAHAM, while admitting the great improve-
ment which was made by this amendment, and highly
approving, as he did, that some limitation of the grants was
necessary, and also that with reference to the circumstances
of the Highland proprietors some discretionary power of de-
viation from the rule should be allowed, yet thought that
the sum of 15,0001. was too large. He very much doubted
whether the object of the bill, as admitted on all sides, would
be secured by concentrating these funds in a few large pro-
prietors. Those who really wanted assistance were the
smaller proprietors—the yeomanry, who were labouring
under comparative difficulties. It would be impossible to
satisfy the just claims of the numerous persons who had
made application for loans out of the 2,000,0001., if the maxi-
mum to be advanced was 15,0001.; whilst on the other hand
he believed that if the advance was limited in each case to
10,0001., there would he means sufficient to satisfy ectry
claim, and also the peculiar case of the Highlands. He
hoped the government would consider this suggestion, the
adoption of which, he thought, would add to the great int-
provements already made in the bill.
Lord G. BENTINCK thought the object which the right
hon. baronet (Sir J. Graham) appeared to have in view,
namely, the extension of the benefits of these loans, would
be secured by adding 1,000,0001. to the amount already to
be advanced, and without fixing any limit to the loan to be
granted in each case.
Lord DUNCAN objected to any addition being made to
the loan, the payment of the interest upon which would be
thrown on the working dames of this country. Rather than
fix a limit it would be better to provide that the advance
should in no ease exceed one-third of the rental of the land
to be Improved.
Lord G. BENTINCK said the noble lord could not have
read this bill or the act passed last year, or he would have
known that every landowner to whom advances would be
made would have to pay 61. 10s. per annum for the next
twenty.two years, which was equal to interest at the rate of
31. 10s. per cent., so that the public, instead of being losers,
would be gainers of something like two shillings and six-
pence per cent.
Mr. AGLIONBY thought the noble lord, the member
for Lynn, had net answered the objection of the noble lord
the member for Bath. Although the loan would be ad-
rimed on the security of the land, yet it must be repaid,
and there could be no doubt that there would be taken
something out of the taxes to pay the difference of interest.
He concurred in the proposition of the right hon. baronet,
and hoped it would receive the consideration of the
government.
' Mr. ELLICE joined in the entreaty that the government
would take the proposition of the right hon. baronet oppo-
Apr (Sir J. Graham) into serious consideration. By its
Aopnon he hoped the public would have little if anything
to pay, while by increasing the production of the land,
they would by this outlay in the end be greatly benefited.
After a few words from Mr. BAILLII and Lord G. Hex-

TI;CIt, in explanation,
Sir G. CLERK supported the proposition that 10,0001.
ought to be a maximum loan under this bill.
Captain HARRIS and Mr. HENLEY expressed similar
opinions.
Captain GORDON supported the original limitation fixed
upon by the government, vie., 15,0001.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER concurred
in much that bad fallen from the right hon. baronet the
member for Dorchester, and though be could not under-
take now to state what the government would do, he would
smuts the committee, seeing the feeling to be in favour of a
reduction in the amount of limitation, he would, on the
bringing up the report, state the determination of the govern-
ment on the suggestion, which in the meantime should re-
ceive the fullest consideration.
Sir J. GRAHAM said the sasuranoe of the right bon.
baronet was quite satisfactory to him. He (Sir J. Graham)
was quite convinced that the limit of 15,0001. would not
enable the government to meet all the applications, whilst a
reduction to 10,0001. would do so.
After a short conversation, in which Mr. Oswald, the Lord
Advocate, Mr. 8. Herbert, Mr. Aglionby, Mr. Cayley, and
Mr. Beckett Denison took part, the clause, as amended by
Sir G. GREY was agreed to, an were also the remaining
clauses of the bill.
The house resumed ; the bill was reported with amend-
ments, and the report ordered to be received on Friday next.

Prevention of crime is, no doubt, the lawgiver's ;
but in following it, the principles of justice must
be taken as guides, one of the essentials of
puaiahment being that the public, on whom it
is to ant as an example, must be satisfied of
its justice. Justice demands fitness and gradation of
punishments. If imprisonment is to be the punish.
ment of murder, what is to be the punishment of the
robber who goes near to murder? The whole system
of punishing by confinement of different degrees of
duration and severity, is strongly objected to by the
French jurisconsalts, as establishing no striking or
manifest difference between degrees of crime—even
when murder is excepted, and punished with death.
We think, then, that even before we can discuss the
alatiou of the punishment of death in cases of
murder, we must first find a fitting substitute for
capital punishment, and we must proportion this sub-
stitute to the other kinds of punishment allotted to
inferior crimes. We must, in short, reform and esta-
blish our system of secondary, punishments, ere we
leap to the conclusion of abolishing the primary.
Now this is precisely what Earl GREY is aiming at I
in his new measures, a bold and beneficial experiment
made on each a scale as cannot but test, in a very few
years, the efficiency of the separate system as a cor-
rective, and of the probation system by ticket and task
work, both in reforming the offender, and deterring
the committal of offences. It is most desirable
to have the experiment fully. tried. If we
cannot succeed, and that speedily, in some plan of re-
forming offenders, no colony will receive them. The
efforts made abroad, in another hemisphere, for effect-
ing that reform have failed, in a great measure owing
to the distance and the necessary results of distance.
There remains, therefore, but to try it at home, with
all the vigilance of the executive, and the intellect of
those connected with it, concentrated on the working
of the system. Should it fail, an altogether new
course must be taken. We have, however, great
reliance that the system now in contemplation will
prove successful. And the efforts of Lord STANLEY
to go on is the old bungling routine are so perfectly
calculated to stop progress and perpetuate failure and
abuse, that we trust they will not be countenanced.
Lord STANLEY makes this a party and a personal
question. He followed up and sanctioned certain
half measures, and his anxiety is to prove that he
could not be wrong. One way to effect this, cer-
tainly, is to preclude his successor from trying any
other mode. If this be attained, both will have been
wrong, nothing will have been done, reform will be
strangled, and Lord STANLEY may boast, that, al-
though he did nothing, no one else has done more.
The opposition carried on against Lord GREY'S
plan proceeds less upon objections to it than upon the
ground, that the existing law does not suffice for such
a change ; and that, like the measures for the relief of
Ireland, it must pass through both houses during this
busy session, to be extinguishedor adjourned. Nothing,
however, can be more dear than the Transporta-
tion Act of GEORGE IV. It empowers the govern-
ment to erect prisons either in hulks or on land for
those condemned to transportation, to set them to
work, to take them for that purpose from the com-
mon gaol and transfer them to a house of cor-
rection, the time so spent to be counted to
them, as if spent in transportation. The commuting
of one sentence for another, of substituting transporta-
tion for death and home labour for transportation, are
to be found in the bill. The hulks, as a substitute
for transportation, have all along existed, imprison-
ment in the hulks being. accompanied by labour in
the dockyard. Where is the difference between this
old-established eyetem and the one that Lord GREY
proposes, except in prisons better managed and more
healthful than hulks and on public works more impera-
tive at the present moment than the labour of Wool-
wich dockyard? Transportation at the time of passing
the act was an impossibility, and government was
obliged to pay the Australian Company in land for the
reception of convict on assignment. The system
of transportation contemplated by the Act of
George IV. was that of assignment. It has
been abolished without its legality being ques-
tioned. How then can Lord STANLEY question the
lesser change from confinement and labour abroad to
confinement and labour at home? Indeed, the legal
question cannot bear a moment's examination, nor is
it worth mooting, when government admit that any
thing beyond an experiment, or implying a permanent
alteration in prison discipline, must come regularly
before parliament.
That the present moment is a fit one for the experi-
ment—nay, that the trial is imperative, is clearly
shown. The abolition of the Norfolk Island prison
even Lord DENMAN applauds. Nor does any
one, save Lord STANLEY, recommend a continuation of
the system, which turns the current of convicts chi'
to Van Diemen's Land. The suspension of transporta-
tion was inevitable, and fortunately the necessity of con-
structing ports of refuge simultaneously occurs to offer
labour at home, labour akin to that of the hulks, and
no way competing with the regular employment of
the labouring population.
The portion of the system most attacked is the
sending out pardoned convicts, and giving them the
run of the colonies without surveillance. But the fact
is, that this system exists already. Not only
Sydney, but all the Australian colonies, have nume-
rous pardoned convicts, who circulate as they please,
who find their way to America, to Hong Kong, and
are not tempted to break theirban, and exchange colo-
nial life for home, their wages and condition out there
being much more advantageous than any prospect at
home could be. _ _

An objection which we made on Friday, and which
has been enlarged on by the Chronicle, is the unfairness
of teaching trades to convicts, and thus rendering
their term of punishment conducive, not only to their
education and morality, bat to their elevation in
life. This, although a serious objection for offenders
condemned for a short time, and about in a few
years to re-emerge amongst our domestic population,
becomes less so when the liberated convict stays in
the colonies, where there is ample space for work, and
where competition can hurt no one. But even for this
we would teach them trades more useful to the rustic
settler, than enabling the possessor to sit down in a
town life. The carpenter's skill may enable the re-
formed settler to clear his way and build his hut in
the woods ; whilst the shoemaker's craft would
keep him, where he ought not to linger, in the
town and amongst the urban crowd. But this
class of objections should have been urged against
the Pentonville system long since, where it is carried
on. It makes no part of Earl GREY'S new proposals.
And, indeed, we believe that Capt. MACONOCHIE'S
recommendations altogether favour oat-door and
rustic work, and limit as much as possible the sepa-
rate system and the sedentary trades, which alone
can conveniently be taught during that period of
punishment.
These, however, are objections of detail, and
should not be swelled into obstructions so great, so
philanthropic, and necessary an experiment.

WHILE our merchants are ransacking every corn-
growing country in the world to supply the peening
demand for food which exists in the United Kingdom,
it will be well to see that our home resources are

fairly developed. Famine and dearth may be alleviated
by importations of grain, and when the corn-trade
shall have become permanently free, it cannot but
preclude excessively high prices. But plenty, the
abundance that produces cheapness, must ever
depend mainly upon our own produce. Our growing
population must look to increased growth of grain on
British soils as their main reliance. Now, the great
obstacle to increased produce of human food in this
country consists in the impediments to cultivation
imposed by the landowners. Of this, the pro-
ceedings in the House of Commons upon the
second reading of Mr. PUNIT'S Tenant-right Bill
offer a forcible illustration. Probably most of
our readers remember the singular earnestness
with which landowners in nearly every part of
England preached improvement to their tenants
during the latter days of the anti-corn-law agitation.
Then, each representative of a rural constituency was
great on the virtues of guano, and the profitableness

few sincerely desirous of improving agriculture and
bettering the condition of the tenantry.
Amongst then Mr. PrSEY unquestionably stands
high. Ms evidence against game-preserving has
earned for him the respect of the yeomanry of Eng-
land, and his present bill on tenant-right is a well
meant and honest measure. Should it pass into a
law, it must. however. be regarded, to a great extent,
as a measure of transition; its permanent operation, as
we believe, will be found to consist chiefly in prevent-
ing tenants from exhausting their farms daring the
last few years of their terms of occupation. This alone,
however, should obtain for the bill the hearty support
of the landowners. But instead of support, we have
reason to believe that their efforts are directed, either
covertly or openly, to render it practically inopera-
tive. 'The fear that seems just now to haunt the land-
lord mind is, lest tenants should lay out too mach
capital and improve their land too energetically.
We sincerely wish there had been any foundation
for such fantastic fears. Efforts will be made
in the select committee of squires, to which the
tenant-right bill has been referred, to render all
claim to be paid for improvements dependent upon
the previous consent by the landlord—that is, to
render the whole measure abortive. That an act with the
name of a tenant-right act will pass there is no doubt,for
farmers are so much in earnest about the matter, that
their leaders and masters mast gratify them with the
name, though they withhold the substance of the
benefit. In order to understand the motives of land-
lord dislike to a measure for giving to tenants com-
pensation for nnexhausted improvements, it will be
necessary briefly to refer to the condition of the
tenant farmers of England.
. .

Competition for land, and the promises of arti-
ficially high prices for grain, which the successive '
corn-laws since 1815 held out, have raised rents '
higher than the actual state of husbandry war-
rants. We do not say that English rents are
high, if the land were let for long terms of years
to men of skill and capital ; but they are higher than
prudent farmers ought to pay under yearly holdings
and the present average system of cultivation. An
acute writer defines rent to be "the residuum left, after
delivering to the tenant the portion of the proceeds
which the competition among individuals of his
class obliges him to accept ;" and adds, that what the
tenant will be obliged to accept " will be such a part
of the price of the produce as will return him the
capital he must lay out, with the lowest rate of profit
for which men under the existing habits of their society
will consent to lay out farming capital, and superin-
tend its employment." Here we have a clue to the
principles on which the generality of landlords prefer,
as in fact they do prefer, a comparatively poor and
dependent tenantry, to men of capital and indepen-
dence. The " existing habits" of poor tenants induce
them to accept so small a part of the price of the pro-
duce of the farm that the landlord's residuum, or rent,
is little lees, as an absolute sum, than would be paid
by a tenant of larger capital ; and the landlord has a
subservient and dependent tenantry besides. What
enables landlords with safety to their incomes to re-
tain a poor tenantry is the law of distress which enables
the landlord to sweep away all the farmer's property
to pay the rent, to the prejudice of the rest of his
creditors. But for that, landlords would take espe-
cial care to let their farms only to men of
sufficient capital ; and to induce such men
to take the farms, the terms of occupation mint be
rational, certain, and permanent. Yet, although
tenants have generally less capital employed than is
for the complete cultivation of their farms,
still in majority of cases they farm better than in
strict prudence they ought to do as yearly tenants.
TLey could not pay their present rents if their farm-
ing was not better than the insecurity of their tenures
would properly justify. The consequence is, that all
moderately good farmers, being yearly tenants, are
liable to the confiscation of a considerable portion of
their capital at the mere will of their landlords. Let
a landlord be offended with a tenant's vote, his
religious opinions, his insufficient protection of gnme,
or any other matter equally foreign to the relation of
landlord and tenant, and the tenant may be turned
out at the end of any year, without any compensation
for outlays made upon the farm, on the expectation of
reaping the return from three or four years' cultivation.
This is simple robbery. And it is the not unfrequent
occurrence of each expulsions of tenants, with the
sense of insecurity all yearly tenants naturally live
under, which has created the present demand for
tenant-right allowances. And the simple justice of
that demand is so obvious, that it is difficult for any
one but a landlord to comprehend the frame of
mind which dictates its refusal. Yet, unless farmers
and the public strongly express an opinion, it will
be retuned.
If the tenant-farmers obtain a legal right to de-
mand compensation for improvements, by draining
and buildings, by fencing, road making, or irrigation,
by chalking and claying, by artificial manures, and
the high feeding of stock, and so forth, some check
will be placed upon capriciously dispossessing a
tenant by the necessity of the landlord's paying a con-
siderable sum himself, or finding a new tenant able or
willing so to do. And this will soon lead to the custom
of granting leases; for landlords, being compelled to
• exercise some degree of prudence in the management
of their property, and being to some extent restrained
in the wanton exercise of power, will quickly dis-
cover that complete prudence, which would induce
them to grant leases, is most consistent with their
own interests.

Already we find many landholders, who once were
sticklers for yearly tenancies, advanced to the advo-
cacy of tenant-right agreements ; and though they
now accede to such agreements, in order to avoid
giving the more complete security of leases, the rea-
sonings by which they support their views are so
puerile, that they cannot be long maintained. Take, for
instance, the following passage from observations
lately made by the lion. W. Rot's, at the North
Walsh= (Norfolk) farmers' club, after an earnest
farmer's speech on the subject. He said:
He strongly objected to long lessee. as they by no means
tended to cement that bond of friendship which should exist
between landlord and tenant. An agreement with a notice
of a year and three quarters, subject to valuation for dilapid-
ation,, and unezhausted improvements, would, in his opi-
nion, be a far more advantageous tenure than a lean. It
would be difficult to define such dilapidation and improve-
ments, but he would suggest that a committee, consisting of
landowners and tenant farmers, should draw up such • scale,
which they might deem suitable, and submit them to the
clerk. On the question of buildings, he entertained some
doubts. It was settled by late, that any buildings erected
on the property of another, would at the expiration of the
agreement, be the value of the owner.
Ask the tenants what they think of this "bond of
friendship," and they will say that it is the fetter of
dependence.
It is because the bill for giving a legal tenant-
right is the first step towards the emancipation of the
tenantry that we earnestly desire to see it carried.
i For it s • condition preliminary to any general im-
provement in agriculture, that the tenant-farmers
should be relieved from their present state of inse-
curity and dependence. Until that be accomplished,
the art of husbandry in this country will offer the
melancholy contrast which it now presents to other
industrial arts.

The Paris journals and correspondence of Tues
have arrived. The debate on the project of electoral
reform is adjourned to the 22d. The rise in the pries
of vegetable subsistence continues to make alarming
progress. Nothing but large importations can arra*
the progress of the calamity. Most of the arrivals
expected are bespoken, some by the municipalities,
and some by benevolent societies established for the
aid of the poor in the interior, and these will not,
therefore, enter the market, or produce a sensible
effect on the price. In the markets which supply
Paris the rise on Monday was from If. to 3f. per
hectolitre. The actual price of wheat in these
markets at present varies from 40f. to 44f. per hecto-
litre, being equivalent to from 87s. to 965. per qr.
The price of flour in Paris, on Monday, was 92a.
per sack. Bread is expected to undergo a further
rise in the last fortnight of March.
A large and respectable body of the clergy (not
less than 900) petitioned the Chambers on Tuesday
immediate French

day last, when a report of the condition of the enter-
prise was submitted to the meeting. The total num-
ber of passengers carried in the year 1846 was
1,521,646, and the gross receipts amounted to
9,1100,138 franca, of which 4,186,68.5 were expended,;
leaving a net profit of 5,613,453 francs.
The secretary to the Spanish Embassy left Parison
Monday morning, to place himself at the orders of
Queen Christina, who is expected at Bayonne
I today

Two Spanish mails, bringing the Madrid paper,:
and correspondence of the 3d and 4th, wire received
in Paris on Tuesday. The appointment of M. lsturita
to the embassy at London was officially announced.
The report of a change of cabinet is contrad;cted.
The ministry affirmed in the chamber that the go-
vernment had no participation in the proceedings of
General Flom. A report was prevalent that the
resignation of General Breton in consequence of ill
health was accepted, and that General Pavia would
take the command of Catalonia. No further Carlist
movements were reported, and it appear.; probable
that much exaggeration has been introduced in the
accounts of these demonstrations.

El Herald() announces that Mr. Bulwer has in-
formed the government that the English cabinet de-
sires, in concert with that of Madrid, to adopt such
measures as may prevent the ultimate success of Den
Miguel in Portugal. It appeared, therefore, probable
that an intervention would take place to settle by
compromise the present differences.

FRANCE.—" COMMANDANT" ALEXANDRE DUMMI.
—On Sunday, the author of " Monte Christo" appeared in a
change of character. A strong muster of tho National
Guards of St. Germain and some of the neighbouring corn.
munea assembled to witness his reception as Cora.
mandant of the National Guard of that place. An
immense number of persons of all classes had assem-
bled to witness the ceremony. After the reception, M.
Alexandre Dumas, who made in his uniform an excellent .
military appearance, and who wore on the occasion only the
moos of the Legion of Honour, *mourned the command," and,"
continues Gahgnani, gravely, "gave the word with all the
readiness of an old soldier."

BOULOONE.—At the last market at Boulogne-tmr-
Mer, there were scarcely any supplies of wheat, a circuits-
stance which excited the greatest alarm among the authori-
ties and principal inhabitant+. M. A. Adam, M. L. Foe.
Mine, M. Chavesu-Sire, and M. Arch. Adam, who are at
the head of four of the principal mercantile houses of the
town, immediately advanced a sum of 200,000 francs, with
which they despatched M. L. Fontaine, jun., to England, to
purchase corn. They took this measure only in the interest
of the town, having declared that if any profits should arise
from the sale of their purchases, they should be given to the
charitable institutions ; and that if there should be any km,
they would hear it entirely themselves.
BELGIUM.—The Belgian government has pub-
lished a decree permitting the free import of cattle till the
Ist of July next, by all the frontiers, excepting those of the
province of Luxemburg, on payment of • regneration duty
of 10 centimes, or about one penny per head cnly. It was
expected that the municipal authormes of the various towns
and cities would, in furtherance of the views of the govern-
ment, suspend also the octroi duties on the cattle entering
their respective places. The Belgian Monfteur proposes that
the prices of all the bread of first and second qualities shall be
surtaxed, that is, rated at such higher prices as the cost of
the wheat or flour may require, but that the household
bread, pars de menage, in use among the lower
classes should be maintained at the existing rates.
The principal bakers of Verviers had agreed and proposed
to the municipality that, desirous of contributing
all in their power to alleviate the distress of the working
classes, they would be content with three francs per hecto-
litre, instead of 11 per cent., for all their profit, which would
be equal to a reduction of three centimes for the loaf of three
kilogrammes. The greatest agitation prevailed all over
Br um in consequence of the high prices and dearness of
food, and in Liege more especially, perhaps. So, also, at
Lille, Strasbourg, and other parts of the frontiers of France,
The Belgian papers are full of details of rising prices of grain
and popular commotion.
TEST OP DEATH.—The Belgian papers report that
• meant of that country, M. Maindle, has asserted his dis-
covery of a simple means of distinguishing real from appa-
rent death. It consists in establishing • burn of the second
degree. If life remains, • blister always rises, even in the
absence of all sensibility; but if death has taken place, the
burn produces no effect.
GERMANY.—BERLIN, MARCH 2.—The project of
the new commercial code is terminated, and has been pre-
sented hy the Council of Sters to the ministers. It contains
186 articles' and many reforms, especially as regards bank.
notes and bills on order. M. de Bodelschwing is laid up
with a serious illness from which he suffers, owing to a
wound he received in the war of 1813, and it is not probable
that he will be able to attend the labours of the general
diet. The king has decided that sworn-in reporters are to
be present at the debates of the diet. The Universal Pron.
sian Gazette has announced that it intends publishing the
debates. M. d'Eichsteedt, deputy of Stettin to the general
diet, has declared that he shall make various propositions to
the diet ; among others, admission of the public to the
sittings of the diet, a modification of the present constitution,
publicity of the municipal councils, liberty of the_prem, fite.
THE CATASTROPHE AT THE CARLBRUHE THEATRE.
—We read is the Carlsrulte Gazette of the 3rd : " For three
days past, the persons occupied on the ruins of the theatre
have been engaged in taking out the dead bodies, and con-
veying them to the cemetery, where they are buried in one
large grave. They were for the greater part so mutilated
that they could not be recognised. According to the infor-
mation which we have received, it muy be regarded as cer-
tain that most of the v victims were suffocated, and that they
had not to undergo death from the flames ; it is almost be-
yond doubt that, overpowered by the gas, they lost all con-
sciousness before the tire reached them. A person who saved
himself by getting out of one of the windows to the roof of -
an adjoining house, states that when the fire broke nut, every
body rushed towards the doors, but the effect of the gas was
so strong, that they began to lose their sight, and wens
crowded together in a senseless state unable to utter • my. /
A chimney-sweeper who saved • person in the third Ike
said,' All who are now there are seated without having -
been able to move a limb.' " The remains of the enfeeble -•
nate victims of this sad catastrophe were to be buried on the 1
4th in one large grave in the churchyard of the town.
GREECE AND TURKEY.—The diplomatic mis-
understanding between these countries, on an affair of which
we have given the details, has not yet been concluded. A. a
correspondence which has taken place between Genera
Coletti and Ali Effendi may be summed up in few wade.
There is no tendency to yield on either aide. General fJele~ 'a
complains of the Turkish envoy that he performed what kg
conceived to be his duty in a harsh manner. and Ali Medi N/P s
plies :—M. Manures, by refusing to rise the pampa MAL ••
Turni Haratmes, only did his duty. The instructionsbebaime
ceived prevented him from signicg it I hope that thlaini,
of which I beg of you to inform his Majesty, will nasals
make him retract the judgment he has expressed
on the conduct of a man whose only thoughts wet
to act in conformity with the instructions of bin govemoiss
Should this hope unhappily not be realised, M. Museums
to demand his pigpens, and to return immediately to Con-
stantinople with all the members of his legation, leaving a
consular agent at Athens to manage the affairs current." To
this, M. Coletti replied: " After due consideration, I sag
declare to your excellency that it is impossible for me to
counsel the king to take the steps demanded from his go-
vernment."
DAMASCUS, FEB. 2.—Safveti-Pacha has jolt
arrived at Damascus front his pilgrimage to Mecca. an
caravan suffered from the cholera, and he had to deplore the
loss of some sheiks, and of the commander of his irregular
troops. The caravan found the cholera on its arrival St
Medina, where it had canied away one-sixth of the pilgrims
arrived from all points of Asia, Europe, and Africa. no
pilgrims at Mount Ararat numbered 100,000.

•
AMERICA AND MEXICO.
NEW YORK, Ply. 9, 1847.
If, as I antiriptia, puW. enztety in England be at *5 •
present moment intordy concentrated upon the question d :
bow far the United Staid at America can this year minis* •
to the wants of Ireland be large supplies of the "rug d
life," I cannot be In making this the first subject d
my present communication. And, truly happy am Ito my,
that the further I extend my inquiries, the more am low •
Tinged of the correctness of the opinion expressed in my fora*
letters, that however great the demand may prove, the seas •
plus produce of last year's abundant harvest in this nos
country is amply adequate to meet it at moderate prices,—
that is to say, wheat not exceeding 1 dollar 60 route. Awl •
to Ge. English money) ; and Indian corn 1 dollar (equal
45.) per bushel. These prices on our extensive sea board A
will bring enormous quantities of wheat, flour, and fading s
corn from the interior; and if freights do not rise berm, 1
their existing high level, about 4s. per quarter will cover sil ,
expenses of transporting a barrel of flour, weighing 2001*,
from any of our Atlantac ports to England, Ireland, or fleah
land. Lut year, from this city alone, GOO ships, aver/dill
600 tons burthen each, all loaded with bread-stuffs lad
other provisions, were despatched to Europe; and this yesr
at least double that amount will be expedited. Hitherto 7
dollars (28a) per barrel ie the highest price asked for the
finest brands of flour in New York; a strong indication dad
no very large or pressing orders for the article haver id
been received from your side of the Atlantic.
Referring to the notice in my last, of the adulteration ef
Indian meal, by grinding the " cob" and corn together, bar
the supply of the European market, I may notice that the
charge of the corn and " cob" being " ground together, the
Maud - bon ground together again, in order
meal u Harty Y4si.lte,"