The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-05 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, DEC. 5.
AN evidently conscientious and philanthropic
writer in a morning contemporary journal insists
very strongly on the virtues of a peasant proprietary,
or the division of the country, or of a certain portion
of it, into small farms, possessed by peasants as pro-
prietors. The proposal is more especially applied to
Ireland, and the plan is represented as almost the
only one in which the peasantry can be incited to
industrious and pacific habits, and in which the land
can be brought into the most productive cultivation.
The last argument of this writer has been
adduced from the state of the Palatinate and the
valley of the Rhine, into which certainly the system
of peasant proprietor has been introduced. Now,
we chance to be acquainted with districts on both sides
of the Rhine, of the situation of which we shall state
the principal facts. The effect of the great revolution
which terminated the last century gave to tho
peasants in one district, that of Germany, a permanent
copyhold interest in their farms, making them per-
petual tenants, at a fixed rent. In the other district,
on the French side, the original landlords were swept
away, and the land parcelled out and sold to peasants.
If the two districts be compared, that district where
rent is received, has a population far more comfort-
able, more wealthy, better fed and cared for, than the
district in which the peasants obtained all to them-
selves.
In the latter district all right of primogeniture was
of course abolished, and the land has become so sub-
divided, that in some places the portions do not
amount to a potato garden, and do not pay the expenses
of collecting the laud-tax upon them. In C01184.4111C8C0
of this subdivision, too, the facility of keeping and
rearing cattle no longer exists, nor is there such a thing
as manure, except in that liquid state, which our cotem-
porary speaks of, and that is gleaned, and gathered,
and used in a manner that we shall refrain from
1 detailing. In this region, moreover, the peasants
are no longer proprietors. They are nominally so,
but in reality they are all so indebted to the Jews,
that the latter really draw the few fractions of profit
that can be derived from such parcelled land. The
diet of the population is of the lowest kind, and quite
on a par with that of the worst parts of Ireland.
The districts on the right side of the river, where
rent is paid, are not reduced to this extremity. The
holders are not permitted to subdivide their lands,
and they are altogether better husbandmen and heal-
thier individuals. Both regions, however, are in the
same predicament as to their surplus population. Both
are obliged to employ annual emigration, the younger
sons and younger brothers, with the females whom they
marry or betroth, invariably setting forth to seek in
America that outlet and employ, which is not to be
had at home. The difference is, that in the tenant
region this vent has been had recourse to sooner,
before the population had been increased to the
extent of mutual impoverishment and starvation. As
far as the accumulation of capital is concerned,
it is much the same thing in both ; in the one dis-
trict all the money that can be spared or scraped,
goes with the emigrants to America. From
the other they go without money, and with bare
necessaries, to be helots in another hemisphere, those
who cannot muster the passage-money, enlisting as
soldiers in the French army, of which they fill most
disproportionately the number.
It is not to be denied that the fields look well, that
they are full of corn, and cabbage, and tobacco ; and
the hoc and the watering-pot, and the mist trusser
aro industriously plied. All these are accompani-
ments of the petite culture. But penetrate into
the dwelling of the Alsacian or the Badischen
poor, inquire into his circumstances, his dietary, his
state of intelligence, notwithstanding his education,
and you will find that his physical wants are too
poorly supplied to admit of his having or developing
moral or intellectual ones. in the grade of human
beings the Alsacian peasant-proprietor is as low as
the Irish cottier.
But the partizans of peasant proprietorship may
urge that they only demand that a portion of the
peasantry of the country be proprietors, leaving
theme rest to live on wages as day labourers for far-
mers who hold, or do not hold, under landlords.
We fear, however, that there is a strong tendency to
assimilate in the lower classes of a country, and that
one system, whichever it be, is likely to absorb or
banish all others. We know that slave labour soon
swallows up free labour in any country ; so would
peasant proprietorship soon swallow up landlordism.
But wherever there is capital, and where land
becomes a mercantile speculation, there land-
lordism must prevail nay, must drive even
the old regretted yeomen from the field. Such
is one of the effects of wealth and its accumulation.
We doubt, therefore, whether it would be either
politic or prudent to run counter to this in any part
of the British dominions. Ireland has yet to be con-
quered in an industrial sense, and its land reclaimed
by English capital. Tenant-farmers, and not peasant-
proprietors, arc the instruments which capital employs.
The peasant proprietor neither wants nor attracts it.
All he wants is to vegetate and live, and, in time, to
make his progeny vegetate and live far worse on the
same area which fed him. Our contemporary may
depend on it, that over-fixity of tenure draws after it
over-population. The no-fixity has, to be sure, pro-
duced the same result, which only shows that ex-
tremes meet, and that over-recklessness and over-
confidence in the means of subsistence, produce the
-ame result on the lower classes.

----
THE excise has always been, and while it exists al-
ways will be, the most odious mode of taxing commodi-
ties—the property and income tax not excepted. This
is owing to its necessarily inquisitorial character, and
is a mere matter of sentiment; yet Rise statesmen
will always make allowance for popular sentiment in
devising their plans for raising a revenue. Apart,
however, from sentiment, the excise is open to grave
objections on the score of its tendency to repress in-
' ventive ingenuity, and of the expense of collection.
The excise duty being paid in the first instance by
the producer or dealer, it is necessary to know
how much is really produced. To guard against
frauds on the revenue, the agents of the excise
must have admission to watch the processes of manu-
facture at every stage ; they must be enabled to in-
stitute comparisons between the amount of raw
material and the amount of manufactured, produce,
in order that nothing may remain unaccounted for.
To this end the law prescribes the processes to be
' observed by manufacturers of articles subjected to
excise duty ; from these legal methods there can be
no deviation without incurring heavy penaltiesthe ;
adoption of new plans, in order to accelerate pro-
duction, or increase the quantity, of manufactured
produce extracted from raw material, comes thus to

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' took place on Tues- CONOSSEUM. ALTERATION of TIME. --.
that the atmospheric effects in the marvellous Panorsma of London
tole it cannot be pro- CE.—T Nobility and Gentry are respectfully informed
by Night will take every ball-hour. Mask from 2 till dusk. and
he show of Scots was
tt tut half-pica°. Holiday Prices continued. The DAY and EVENING 1
red with what we have
EXHIBITIONS comprise the Panorama of London by Day, and the I I
: notwithstanding this
s high terms as at our new and marvellous Panorama of London by Night, the 'Museum i
aervatorim and Flower Show, Swim Cottage, Mont Blanc, Maintain
is also limited, but from of Sculpture, gorgeous Gothic Aviary, Musk Ruins, Arabesque Con-
y were left unsold. Of
Torrent, and Stalactite Caverns, he. Open frosts 10 till dude, sod m 7
,ebibitifa. but the qua- till half-past 10.—Evening family tickets to view the whole, for four , I
did not mid purchasers. end upwards, at 3s, each, may be had at the Colman= Qom
id and Durham Heifers, fratrl 4, and at the principal Mode Warebounes and Iftwaiss.
key were all sold. Of The whole projected ilnd &Mimed by Mr. W. Bradwell.
but even then were
LYCEUM THEATRE.—Mr. ALLCROFTS
PROMENADE CONCERTS.—LAST NIGHT BL'T EIGHT.—
~ hai ebee2 THIS EVENING (Saturday), Dec. 5. Programme :
dtherdeidlle,
wastihial in gene-
nemlent 0 the 'a" ; Preciosa ; Operatic Selection. Robert le triable, by Mr. DiTtlirituM
ash Beasts that was not hie your Soaves the sax, • Polka, Victorm-Albert ; Ballad, )
ag little hope that this ~ By the ir.t.. Sea Waves," the :dimes Williams; Quadrille, the Mas-
Of Sheep the number !nor; Sang, Mr. anseleir;..Fantasie. Cornet,
c Mr._ll3.ldrky;
.Dtp,stin'a
on the tint day there Military CI orr- 5.... (4 r WC, Mr net bow ,
Grand Duet, Melia and Piano, MeiFts. Irhirorall and Iter‘.:lster;
Is were sold, though the po Rovid mail ; vocal Duet, .. woodhied,,,,, the Misses Williams;
leas been i Priem, how- so10, Sax-Born, Mr. H. Diann ; Quadrille, Nigh:. Dancers; Finale,
ping from 36c• to 445. ; Tarantella. Conductor, Mr. Negri; leaders, Mama Thriven sad
is. to Ws. Of Wether Thorium—Pit, Promenade, and Upper Boma, Is.; Dress ( ircle, le. ed.;
Cart Horan and Cart Private Boxes, 10s. 6d. and Us. Application to be made at the Box- i i I.
re thinly supplied; any- ram. i
There were but few i .
id all were sold, though r i
d have brought a few
all
:he novelty in the fair of -7''
jhe 1-4
regg.
fere, part of which were
e in Beasts was on about MAILS. l.l
but of the few Sheep The overland closed midis, via Marseilles, to the Mediterranean,
Ile lot changed kande. Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Hong Kong, he., will be mode sp on the
evening of the 7th December.
—This being the lnitt The mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, ' I,
d around this part of the will be made noun the morning uf the 18th December.
of pure South Downs, The West inma mans, excluding for Atexco, Honduras, and
the Hawinnah, will be made up on the morning of the 18th December.
is parts, which, with a Th? overland mails for Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, the lonian islands,,
d, caused the trade to be p„,,, ~e., Ceylon; hx&,,,Home.,Kom and China, eia southams,..
Fat Sheep, which sold wiftbe made up on the morning of the 20th December.
D than 201lia. per quarter, The mails for New South Wales, Van 'heroin's Land, and New
tail. The lean stock did 7.ealand will be made up on the evening of the Met December. -
of The mails for British North Anieriai, Bermuda, and the tufted
ost lots
States, will be made up on the evenlig of the 3d January.
Leh have both Ewes and
been previously
a further advance of le. TO CORRESPONDENTS. i
old for 66e• each, and 200 WO alMad in any way, any communication that Is sent to us
it Wethers, 62a. ; 4-tooth, eamigneoualy; these who choose to address ua inconfidencewill
r iltbrodEwesandLambs, Mad ileat eisandsass resesated. NEITHER CAN WE UNDERTAKE l
a° U, ,S for The Expreu, London evening pew.
1
2s. per head lower. The TO man= ANTMAISUBCRIPTS WHATEVER.
ter fat or lean beasts. •im", goo °maw ~,.....k.k a. 0.447 ,imik.„,.........;.
i
4s. per stone of 81b., very '
mid quality; inferior do. HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE.
s. Bd. Lean Beasts were yaw MT.—Morning, 8 min. past 3; Afternoon, 27 min. peat 3.
er head. Cows with Calf To-willow—Morning, 44 min. past 3; Afternoon, 3 nun. pest 4.
, •_ "_te e---. 101 .., IR/
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