The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-22 00:00:00

tion conform strictly to these
sieur le Sous Prifet, the assurance of my sincere considera-
tion. (Signed) " LEON FAI:CIIE11."

ire, Mon-

NEWSVENDERS' BENEVOLENT AND PROVIDENT
I NSTITUTION.—Last evening the twelfth annual general
meeting of this excellent association was held at the Belle
Sauvage Hotel, Ludgate-hill. Mr. L. Wild, of Catharine-
street, occupied the chair. It wu stated that Mr. James
Harmer, the president and founder of the institution, was
unable to attend the meeting in consequence of a recent
accident. The secretary (Mr. Cole) read the report. It
spoke of thc continued prosperity of the society, the bank
stock available being at present 1,200/. The usual public
dinner had been postponed until the autumn, in conse-
quence of the difficulty in finding a chairman. In refer-
ence to the disposal of the capital, the report said—" Direct-
ing attention to the statistical account as matter
for serious reflection, the committee point strongly to the
sum expended for temporary relief, distributed, with
two exceptions to non-subscribers:" and state that
they had received many other similar applications from
ineligible parties. '• The committee, therefore, deem this
fact a motive of sufficient magnitude for reiterating their
opinion that the subscribers do not bear in mind the nccei-
sity existing for pointing out in their various connections,
while advocating its interests, the true merits and limper
basis of the institution; as although at all times it must be
highly gratifying to afford assistance to the deservedly
necessitous, still it should be promulgated that (with ex-
traordinary exceptions only) the society's funds ought to
be retained intact for the benefit of the bomi Rik sub-
scribers—unweakened by disbursements to parties who
have not had the provident feeling to consider for them-
selves until the hour of need overtakes them : and who
only do so then by seeking a remedy for their
incautious neglect from the accumulated pittances of the
careful and prudent." The report then mentioned that the
principal business of the evening would he to call (for the
second time) for the suffrages of the members "in further-
core of the grand aim of the institution by the election of
a pensioner," who was described as a widow, her claim
being founded upon the fact that she had belonged to the
society from the commencement. "After granting this
pension, the committee beg reference to the balance that
will then remain of the stock dividend, as insufficient at pre-
sent to meet another claim, and which, according to the rules,
is alone applicable for such a purpose." In conclusion, the
report calledupon the members to increase their exertions in
the procuring of new members. The statement of the year's
accounts, as read by the treasurer (Mr. Merritt), represented
that the subscriptions to this time amounted t 0291. iSa. 6d.
which, with the interest on 1,2001. stock, Three per Cent.
Consols, 34!. 10s. ; and the balance as per audit of last
year, 671. 10s. 10d., made Int. sm. 441., and that the expen-
diture had been 981. is. 10d_,. leaving a balance in favour of
the society of 241. Gs. 6d. The report was adopted on the
motion of Mr. Ghbilin, seconded by Mr. Gravatt ; and
alter the usual votes of thanks to the officers of the so-
ciety and thc election of a pensioner (to whom 101. an-
nually was voted), the business of the meeting was con-
cluded.

THE STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATE FOR LIVERPOOL.
—We understand that Mr. Mansfield, who formerly was
attached to this circuit has accepted the office rendered
vacant by the death of Mr. Rushton, at a salary of 1,0001.
per annum. The learned gentleman has been warmly re-
commended by Barons Parke and Alderson, and several of
the otherjudges. It is the intention to have two courts,
one of which will be presided over by the honorary magi-
stracy.—Lirerpeol Standard.
SOCIETY FOR BUILDING CHURCHES, &r.—Tho an-
nual meeting of the Incorporated Society for the Enlarge-
ment, Building, and Repairing of Churches and Chapels
was held yesterday, at 79, Pall-mall. Present—His Grace
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Ox-
ford, Bangor, Lichfield, and Ripon ; Earl Howe, Lord
Bayaing, Sir R. H. Inglis, Bart., M.P., Archdeacon
Clough, Rev. Dr. Lowe, Itv. Dr. Spry, Rev. Messrs.
Townsend, Jennings, Hawkins, Twining, and Strong; Sir
Thomas Phillips, and Messrs. 11. J. Burchard, J. Cocks,
W. D. Adams, G. Cowburn, W. Barker, &c. The Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, as president of the society, occupied
the chair. The report submitted to the meeting states that
" In the course of the past year aid has been given towards
the enlargement of 63 existing churches, in which 10,003
additional sittings have been obtained, the whole of which
are to be free for the use of the poor; and, in addition to
these, 167 which have been hitherto appropriated. These cases
occur for the most part in towns, and places where the popula-
tion has greatly increased, but where the parishes are not of
such extent as to render a division of the district and the erec-
tion of a new church or chapel necessary. The number of
new churches and chapels proposed to be built with aid
from this society is 42, that reported last year being 39.
The number of churches to be rebuilt has been the same
with that of the preceding year, viz., 12. An increase has
again taken place in the applications from manufacturing
and mining districts nine places in the diocese of Lich-
field, seven in that of Ripon, three in that of Manchester,
and two in that of Llandatf have been aided in the course of
the year ; which is an increase upon the number stated in
the last year's report. In the course of the year the society
have paid grants to 107 places, amounting to 14,940!. They
have here to report the completion of 31 new churches, the
rebuilding of 16, and the enlargement or other increase of
accommodation in 57 existing churches; 30,827 additional
seats are thus secured, 27,792 of wtdieh are expressly set
apart for the use of the poor. The contributions made to
the society in the course of the year are, in donations,
2,325!. Is. ; in subscriptions, 1,208/. 9s. 6d. ; from diocesan
and district societies, in union with the parent society,
1,299/. 184. Id.; in legacies, 2,737/. 10s.; and the total
amount expended in carrying on the operations of the so-
ciety is 16,259/. 15s. 2d., which includes the interest of
money invested and pledged for the payment of grants, and
such portion of the principal sum as it was found necessary
8o pay away in meeting the demands upon the society for
works completed." The report having been adopted, votes
of thanks were passed to the various honorary office-bearers.
The usual appointments were then made, and the meeting
broke up.
THE VAN NUISANCE.—Yesterday Mr. Bedford
held an inquest in the board-room of St. Martin's work-
house, on the body of Richard Nicholson, aged 63, who for
above 20 years had kept *fruit stall adjoining St. Martin's
Church. Samuel Newman, cabman, No. 14, Stockwell-
terrace, said that about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the
2nd inst., he was in a taxed cart drawn by one horse,which
was proceeding down St. Martin's-lane. When near St.
Martin's Church he passed a huge advertising van, at the
sight of which the animal shied and began to plunge and
kick. He pulled the animal in, but while doing so the
shafts broke at the step-iron, and he was thrown out under
the horse's hind legs. The animal went off at a furious rate and knocked the deceased down, who was taken with his
stall several feet along the street. He was picked up and
carried to King's College Hospital. Mr. C. Lewis, visit-
ing surgeon at the hospital, said, deceased, after being a few
days at the institution, left of his own accord. Witness
attended him at his lodgings. He died on Sunday last.
Deceased had two ribs broken, which had penetrated the
lungs, and produced effusion on the pleura, which caused
death. The Foreman remarked that advertising vans
, were a complete nuisance. Mr. Newman said his horse
always shied at advertising vans. The Coroner observed that
the vans were made with such glaring figures, that horses
were apt to start. It would be a mercy if they were alto-
gether prohibited. Verdict--" Accidental death, caused
by an advertising van."

THE
AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS.

BULWER'S LETTERS TO JOHN BULL.

TO TILE EDITOR OP THE DAILY NEWS

SlR,—When views so inconsistent with facts and
opinions formed with such obvious want of know-
ledge of the subject, as arc contained in the pamphlet
by which Sir Edward Bulwcr, now Lytton, has sig-
nalised his desertion of his old friends and patrons
the whigs to the standard of Lord Stanley and Mr.
Disraeli, came under my notice, I could not resist tho
temptation of addressing you thereon. Whether Sir
Edward is seeking to get into parliament as one of
the members for Hertfordshire, by the grace of tho
Marquis of Salisbury, as some people allege, or whe-
ther he hopes to come in for Lincoln as a hanger-on
of Col. Sibthorp, as others believe, I know not, but
certain it is that he has adopted a tone low enough,
and indulged in fallacies foolish enough, to satisfy
either patron. Most of your readers are aware that
Sir Edward Lytton has published a tract purporting
to be three letters to " John Bull,Esq., on affairs con-
nected with his landed property, and the persons who
live thereon," in which he professes to act as " a con-
ciliator," and recommends the imposition of a fixed
duty on corn of :is. per quarter, or, in short, Lord
Stanley's programme. It is not my intention to deal
with any portiol of these letters except the strictly
agricultural part, save that I may say in passing that
the two first letters consist of verbose revivals of tho
protectionist arguments and mis-statements of freo
traders' opinions which were used and abandoned be-
fore the repeal of the corn laws in 1846. Sir
Edward has been out of parliament, I believe, since
1841, and his political and economical education
seems to have stopped at that point ; since then ho
has become a landowner, and he seems to have read
up politico-economy from that time iu the columns
of the Morning Post.

A few years ago Sir Edward Lytton succeeded on
his mother's death, to an estate in Hertfordshire,
near Stevenage, called Kncbworth-park, which is for
the most part light and poor land, but intlitti.rentl7
farmed, and, I am told is now, as was in his mothers
time, much overrun with game. I have heard Sir
Edward's character as a landlord discussed by
farmers of his county, and it certainly had not
I then inspired them with much respect, though pos-
sibly his hid of a ss. duty for their goodwill may do
more for him than his rural merits. Lately he has
been giving dramatic fetes, to which birds and
squires were invited one day, and farmers and
tradespeople the next; entertainments which were
generally taken to indicate a desire to represent tho
county in parliament. No doubt he has also duly
subscribed his money to the tory fund, by means of
which Lord Salisbury and his clique base hitherto
contrived to domineer over this county.

s. •
But to the pamphlet. It is not easy to extract
many definite statements or arguments from the
rhapsodical pages--proving that the habit of writing
by the sheet continues after the main incitement to
diffuseness has ceased—in which Sir Edward has
argued his case. They seem, however to be these;
that the British agriculturist cannot compete with
foreign corn growers " with the most fertile soils of
the globe ;" men to whom a poor rate is unknown,
and who have no cheek either from the charity of
the legislature or the habits of the labourer upon the
minimum of wages ; " that no more can bo
"wrung from the land;" and that the com-
plaints are loudest in the best farmed districts.
And in support of the last proposition he gives this
illustration: " Suppose A. B. has a certain farm for
which he pays 300/. a-year, and has for his own
profit as tenant 3001. a-year also, but his land being
not originally fertile, is -brought into high cultivation
by artificial means, and it therefore requires an ex-
penditure of three times the net profit, viz. 9001., in
order to yield the said rent to the landlord and the
said return to the farmer; in all, the sum risked in
the cultivation is 1,500/. a-year. But suppose C. 1).
has another farm, on which he pays 3001. a•vear;
has also 3001. a-year for his personal profit; but the
soil being light and fertile, requires an expenditure
of only 4001. to realise the said rent and return the
said farmer's profit; in all, the sum risked on this
farm is but 1,000/. a-year." Now, this is purely fan-
ciful. Where does Sir Edward find that a farmer
employing a capital of 1,000/. in the cultivation of
his farm, makes the same profit as the man who em-
ploys 1,5001. ? Rent, to he permanently paid, can
only be the surplus which remains after the
expenses of cultivation have been returned, ineluding
the lowest sum the fanner will consent to receive as
remuneration for his time and capital ; hut nothing
can be more fallacious than such supposititious cases,
founded upon some imaginary proportion between
rent and profits. Sir Edward next says, or seems to
say, I don't profess to quote his loose language—that
the fall which has taken place in the price of fat
meat is a reason why the Injunction to "farm high,"
in order to meet reduced prices of corn, cannot be
obeyed. Nevertheless he does not ask for an altera-
tion of the tariff, but believes " that by degrees the
farmer will, more than he now expects, readjust his
speculations on cattle." That is just enough, and
why may he not readjust his cultivation of grain
"more than he now expects?" I shall show you pre-
sently how the thcts of the history of modern hus-
bandry contradict Sir Edward's sophisms. Again, he
says that improvement was going on befino
the repeal of the corn laws, and that such
improvement " has been arrested." Let Sir Edward
get on the Great Northern Railway, and go—with
his eyes open—in any direction through the agricul-
tural districts ; and let him ascertain what has been
done in the way of improvement since 1810, and
what is now doing, and I venture to say that ho
must withdraw or escape from that assertion. There
was more talk about improvement at agricultural
meetings before 1810: there has been much more
done in that way since. Next, he asserts, "that
during the war every inducement was given to
bring under cultivation lands previously waste. It
was the avowed object of the legislature to encourage
to the utmost the home production of food. Vast
tracts of land were thus reclaimed and tilled; an
immense capital thus buried in the soil. Necessarily,
prices rose at that time." • • • Capital was in-
vested on the calculation of such prices, and while
the expense of bringing into tillage fens and heaths
was at its height, no doubt the fanner really
required mush higher remunerative prices to
sustain his engagements and save hint from
bankruptcy, than at a period when this inferior land
had been rendered artificially fertile, and produced,
perhaps, thirty bushels per acre, where it had before
produced ten. I believe it to be perfectly true that
803. then would have been required to remunerate
the farmer where now 50s. might suffice. lint the
corn-law of 1815, in forbidding free impartation till
home-grown wheat reached that price, was no doubt
most absurd and impolitic ; it held out a hope that
could not be realised. Two years of extraordinary
high prices-1817 and 1818—induced rash and sud-
den returns to the inferior tillages, before gradually
abandoned. Bold risks of fresh capital in agricul-
tural improvements, " for improvements almost
always follow a rise in prices," and the increased
supply thus obtained, combined with plentiful sea-
sons, sunk the price of wheat six years afterwards
(in 1824) to an average of 435. 3d. And then ho
refers, in a note to M'Culloch's remark in his ap-
pendix to Adam Smith, that " the progress of agri-
cultural improvement, which during the late war had
been extremely rapid, was retarded for a few years
by the sudden and heavy fall of prices that took
place after the peace; "but since 1825 it has been
rapid beyond all former precedent."

Now, for a scholar, a practised writer, and a pro-
reseed logician, the passage I have quoted from Sir
Edward Lytton's third letter does betray such confu-
sion of ideas, or utter want of knowledge on the sub-
ject of land improvement and cultivation, as to render
his opinion of little value. Here there is no ilktine-
tion made between the reclamation and the cultiva-
tion of land, the one being the work of the owner as
the other is of the occupier of the soil, it being
I assumed that the farmer both reclaimed and culti-
vated the land, and required 80s. a quarter for wheat
to remunerate him. But, in fact, reclamation is per-
manent investment of capital by the owner of an
estate, for which he is well repaid if he gets a per-
manent addition to his income of five or six per cent.
upon his outlay; while cultivation is the employ-
ment in a business of working capital, which the
farmer must get back with the ordinary rate of profit
within a comparatively short period. The chief
effects of the high
.prices of the war were to
induce the conversion of pasture land into
tillage, to extend cultivation on light soils
by means of sheep and turnip husbandry,
and to promote the enclosure of commons, and the

I

aging several of the numerous common fields which
had existed throughout the country. Good farming,
however, such as we now see in the best cultivated
districts, was unknown in 1815, and so far from the
improvements which all admit to have been made
since that time, following " a rise in prices," they
have been made is the face, and, as I firmly believe,
in sonsequence of a gradual fall of prices. True it is
there have been fluctuations of price, but from the
end of the war there has been a constant downward
tendency of what, in the language of our corn law
legislators, was called the pivot—the average—
price of grain. Whoever has attended to the history
of British agriculture, and agricultural legislation,
since 1815, must be aware that at every succeeding
period of low prices there has been a loud clamour of
agricultural distress, plentiful prophecies of rural
ruin, and the moat authoritative statements by prac-
tical farmers that some range of prices, higher than
were ever afterwards obtained, was absolutely neces-
sary to remunerate the farmer and keep the land in
cultivation. Yet in every instance such predictions
have been falsified by the event, and though
the required prices were never received,
farmers went on extending and improving their
cultivation ; and, taking any period of seven years
from 1815 to the present time, it will be found that
the land had become more productive at its termi-
nation than at its commencement. I am half
ashamed to re-argue this settled question ; but when
men like Sir Edward Lytton condescend to falsify
agricultural history it may be useful to restate the
facts. I shall show that there has been no inferior
land abandoned since 1815; but, on the contrary, a
constantly increasing quantity of inferior land has
been brought into cultivation, and a steady improve-
ment in culture has been going on, notwithstanding
the constant subsidence of average prices, and the
no less constant failure of successive corn laws to
realise the hope of high prices promised by the
authors of each.

32 bushels per acre, or more than double the rate
obtained in 1812 under the incentive of war prices.
And other grain and sheep have increased in equal
proportions ; for in this district all the old
sheep walks have been broken up, and the
land is all cultivated on rotations which
have prodigiously increased the food for stock (by
turnip and green crop culture) as well as grain. And
is it supposed that these Yorkshire weld farmers
have obtained from their farms " all that can be
wrung from them ;" and Sir Edward Lytton in one
place says, and throughout his pamphlet implies, has
been done by the farming body ? Far from it; I
learn from the report that the weld farmers are only
just beginning to try the effect of giving some dry
food with the turnips to their lambing ewes, and that
the feeding their lamb-hogs with corn or cake so as
to sell them fat at from twelve to sixteen months old,
is only slowly and timidly being undertaken by the
more enterprising, because "it involves a little more
capital, and rather more confidence in results than
falls to the lot of the majority of farmers." Then,
again, while their straw is wasted, few of the weld
farmers adopt the Lincolnshire plan of feecUng beasts
in yards through the winter on straw and oil cake,
which has done so much for the improvement of the
land and the pockets of the farmers on the Lincoln-
shire wolds. I affirm, without fear of contradiction,
that on these welds there is room for profitable
improvement by means of good farming, which will
be fur more than equivalent to the fall which has
taken place in prices; and that though the outcry of
ruin may seem as loud as it was in 1814—which it
is not—the farmers have the meal's in their own
hands, or at all events by arrangements with their
landlords, of meeting the present alteration of prices
with no more difficulty than the change from war to
peace prices has been met.
I now turn to Lincolnshire, and I find, on the
authority of Mr. Pusey, that on the chalk hills and
heaths of that county, nearly 300,000 acres have
been " added within our own times to the corn lands
of England;" and Mr. Pusey, in 1813, states in
great detail, the particulars of the cultivation of these
light land farms; the land has been chalked twice
over, at the cost of 665. per acre each time; bones
to the extent of 41. per acre have been used; while
on a farm of 1,000 acres, 110 beasts were yearly fed
in the straw-yard with eighty tons of oil cake, and
from ten to twelve large long-woolled sheep to the
acre are wintered on one-fourth part of the farm.
And this was stated as a specimen of the ordinary
system pursued by the hill farmers of Lincolnshire,
and Mr. Pusey refers to the celebrated farm of
IVithcall, formerly occupied by the late Mr. Dawson,
consisting of an entire pariah of 2,000 acres of
ploughed land, as being in 1835, under Mr. Dawson's
management, " the perfection of farming." I saw that
farm last autumn, and I was told that its cultivation
by the present occupier is much superior to that of
Mr. Dawson, and that throughout the district the
cultivation of all farmers had been wonderfully im-
proved. Mr. Pusey tells us also that some of Mr.
Chaplin's land on Lincoln Heath was enclosed " as
lately as the year 1823, a year of the lowest depres-
sion for agricultural prices and spirits, so that the
undertaking was spoken of as an act of absurdity."
Yet Mr. Chaplin was "not disturbed or discouraged,"
and the system from that time steadily pursued by
the tenant of one of the newly enclosed farms was
deemed by Mr. Pusey " so admirable," that he felt
bound to state its details. The account is too long
for me to quote, but that and other particulars stated
by Mr. Pusey " on the agricultural improvements of
Lincolnshire," demonstrate the fallacy of the notion
that improvements follow high prices. In the actual
state of English agriculture the very reverse is the truth,
for all our great modern improvements have originated
in a period of agricultural depression. It cannot fail
to be remarked that the system pursued on the light
lands of Lincolnshire, is infinitely superior to that of
the Yorkshire Welds, and that the farmers of the
latter district have a large margin between their
own and the Lincolnshire practice, in which they
may find compensation for lower prices. Nor can
any practical fanner doubt, that good as the system
is in Lincolnshire, there is yet room for great im-
provement; or that the enterprising and intelligent
farmers of that county, who have done so much in
spite of falling prices, will be able successfully to
cope with the present state of agricultural markets.

The most detailed statements of farming accounts
and estimates, as amply vouched by practical farmers,
as the like documents Sir Edward refer, to as lying
before him, were presented to the Lords' committee
of 1814 to show that nothing less than tills. a
quarter for wheat and corresponding prices for other
grain would enable the English farmer to continue
his occupation. Mr. lienett, the member for South
Wilts, then a great agricultural authority, pro-
duced to the committee a detailed statement of the
expenses and produce of a farm of 943 acres
in Wiltshire; and, taking the price of wheat at 965.
the quarter, and barley at 485., he showed a posi-
tive yearly loss of 664 Now, from 1813 to 1822,
with the exception of the years 1817 and 1818,
which were years of scarcity, the price of grain
never reached the point which had been alleged to
be indispensable to agricultural success • and by Au-
gust, 1822, the price of wheat had fallen to 425. a
quarter. Again there was agricultural distress, and
a parliamentary committee. 'That committee—the
Commons' committee of 1821—referred to former
periods of low prices fur agricultural produce, and
saw that the statements and opinions then given as to
the " ruinous operation of low prices strikingly con-
firmed" the evidence received by the committee,
but that such fears had been dissipated by the natu-
ral course of seasons and events, and recommended
the trade in corn to be thrown open. This report
was too toxin advance of the opinions of the legisla-
tors of that day to be heeded : and in 1822 another
committee was appointed, upon whose report, the
limit of absolute prohibition on the import of wheat
was reduced from s4)s. to 71)a., with a duty of 12s. a
quarter lithe price was less than 80s , with a fur-
ther duty of 3s. for the first three months. At thin
time several witnesses stated that it was of no use " to
assist poor tenantsbdy deductions of rent ;"
farmersthat
" who hacommenced with little
capital must give up their farms :" that "no
abatement of rent would enable many of the (then)
present tenants to go on ;" and that wheat could not
be grown at a profit "even if no rent was paid;" of
each and all such complaints we hear at present the
exact echo. An adjustment of rents, which had not
been materially, if at all, reduced since the war, was
at this time very generally deemed necessary, yet,
except temporary reductions, there has been no
abatement of rent., but rather an increase since 18t2.
By 1827 the price of wheat had risen to the average
price of 60s. a quarter, and a strong public feeling
against the corn laws was expressed, and the sliding
scale of IR2B was adopted in the place of the abso-
lutely prohibitory law which had been in existence.
The object of that law was to keep the price of wheat
about 6.)5., but except in periods of occasional scarcity
that object was not effected.
In 1833 the price of wheat was from 51s. to 545.
per quarter, and agricultural distress was again made
the plea for the appointment of another committee.
This committee reported that clay land farmers were
suffering from several wet seasons; that our own
produce of corn was not on an average of years equal
to the consumption of the country, and that the con-
dition of the labourer was improved, and the main-
tenance of the corn law of 1828 was recommended.
Then followed the abundant seasons of 1834, 1835,
and 1836, when wheat was lower in price than it has
been since the trade has been thrown open. This
low price produced the usual agricultural distress
and a committee of inquiry; but though there was the
same attempted array of statistics to prove that agri-
culture was ruined, so much counter evidence was
offered, and looked so much more like the truth, that
the majority of protectionists on the committee ven-
tured to mike no report, but contented themselves
with preventing a free trade report, which was justi-
fied by the evidence. Shortly after this time, seasons
preyed bad, and prices rose from scarcity, and then
that agitation commenced which ended in 1846 by
repealing the corn laws.
I have gone thus minutely through the history of
corn law legislation, because it shows that, taking
the parliamentary aspect of agriculture, farmers and'
landowners were so often in distress, that, if real, their
distress with loudly proclaimed rain must have been
little better than a chronic malady. At each succes-
sive paroxysm, they had their pamphlet writer, their
farming statistics, and their confident prophets of
is il, to prove the depth and utter hopeliaisness of
their distress; yet I will show you by the testi-
mony of agriculturists, writing not with a party
political object—testimony protectionists cannot im-
pugn—that there has been a constant advance in
husbandry and a regular increase of produce from
land, the result of increased capital and intelligence
applied to its cultivation. The passage from M'Culloch
which Sir Edward Lytton quotes, in seeming ignorant e
of its effect on his argument for protection, says that
"since 1823 it [the progress of agriculture has been
rapid beyond all former precedent," yet if the dolorous
testimony of protectionist farmers offered to the va-
rious committees had been true, there must have been
a great decline, not a rapid p , since 1825. I
will take four districts of lirogfrsland, the chalk
bills or wolds of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, Lincoln
heath, and the chalk hills and downs of Wiltshire,
and ace what has been the progress of agriculture in
each district since 1813. And it is admitted that
these light soils, requiring as they do expensive or
" high " farming, form one of the extremes likely to
be most injuriously affected by lower prices than the
occupiers anticipated. I find'in the " Report on the
Farming of the East Riding of Yorkshire "—and I
have myself heard similar statements in all the dis-
tricts I have named, which obtained the prize of the
Royal Agricultural Society—a reference is made to
Stnckband's survey of that county published in 1812,
when the average price of wheat was 1224., barley 665.,
oats 445., and beans 2s. per quarter, and beef and
mutton 8;c1. per lb.: and the writer of the report
observes—" During the twenty-four preceding years,
these and other causes had operated as most powerful
ineentives to agricultural enterprise." We should
have been prepared, then, to find that the cultivation
of the soil had proceeded pan pastu ; whether this
was the case let Mr. Strickland 's pages telL War
prices bad done their utmost; but what Liebig de-
nominates the day of "rational culture" had not
arrived,

In Wiltshire I find a large tract of chalk land, the
farming on which is for the most part as much be-
hind the Yorkshire Welds as that district is behind
Lincolnshire, but still it is since the war, and more
especially during the last 15 years, that the greatest
advances have been made. Referring to the Royal
Agricultural Society's prize essay on the farming
of Wilts'aire, written in 18-14, I find the writer,
under the head of " Improvements since 1811," the
date of the report to the Board of Agriculture, says,
" then a considerable portion of the land was in com-
mon field husbandry," but now most of these have been
enclosed. " Since that took place improvements have
been continually making in the agriculture of the
county. . . . The land is now in a much higher;
state of cultivation than at that time, and produces
much better crops of corn, both in quantity and qua-
lity. . . . The introduction of bones and other
artificial manures has wrought a great change in the
agriculture of this county, more particularly on the
lightest soils, which were formerly considered too
poor to be cultivated. Their use has greatly contri-
buted to bring the agriculture of the southern divi-
sion [the light land district] into that superior state
which has excited the surprise even of some of the
farmers of the Lothians, and the commendation of
_ .

all who are capable of judging on the matter, for the
farmers of South Wilts, taken as a body, are excel-
lent farmers.' And I could prove a similar progress
has been made since 1823 on most other kinds of
land, when occupied by tenants of fair capital, did
your limits permit ; and even the clay land farmers
whose prospects are so frequently treated as dark
and dreary have not stood ; much land of that
' description has been drained, more or less effectively,
within the last ten years, and there is scarcely an
owner or occupier of clay land who does not now ad-
mit the necessity of driuuing, and whose only ques-
tion is how is it to be effected. Then have we not
public money draining acts, and draining com-
panics, and acts for facilitating the drainage of land
by means of private advances of money ? All of
which bespeak the determination of the landed in-
terests to bring up the culture of clay soils to a par
with that of the light lands of England.

There are some other points in Sir Edward
Lytton's pamphlet I could notice did space permit,
but I have shown the futility of his affected fears on
behalf of agriculture from present prices, and the
complaints thereon, by reminding you that every
depression in the price of grain since 1815 has been
accompanied by fears as great and predictions as
woeful as those we now hear, and that in each in-
stance the fears have proved groundless, and the
predictions have been falsified by the steady and
continuous advances of English husbandry down to
the present hour ; and that at this moment there is
more silent and substantial improvement going on,
and a more deep and general conviction amongst
landowners and occupiers that further improve-
ment is absolutely necessary than at any former
period.

The writer then makes some quotations ?rem
Mr. Strickland, illustrative of the then state of hus-
bandry on the wolds, from which I take these facts:
That the produce of wheat was then from 12 to 24
bushels per acre on the wolds, and that the land, in
stead of being improved by having been ploughed upl
(as about two-thirds of it had then been), was of less
value than when principally in sheep-walk. True it
was that warp • had done their stalest for the
halms, ' to their then system, but had not
led to the improvement of the land t that remained
to be done as they became compelled by lower pr•cea
In adopt a "rational culture.' And theresult bee
leen, according to the prise report, that the produce
et! wheat On the Yorkshire Wade is now from 24 to

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 22, 1851.

THE DERBY DAY.

The only successful rival to the Great Exhibition
is, unquestionably, the Derby—theatres, concerts, and the
thousand other media of easing people of their loose cash
during the London season scarcely draw money enough to
pay rent and taxes—parliamentary debates are carried on
with all but empty benches, or are bucked by a "count
out"—Exeter Hall orators find no audiences, and even the
linendrapers' and mercers' shops have become mere lounges
for idle shopmen, our lathes passing by them without
deigning to cast a glance at their, at other times, attractive
displays. " Every body," say the London people, " goes to
the Exhibition, and all the spare cash is spent there." The
Derby day was an exception to this rule—or, if every-
body went to the Exhibition in Hyde Park yesterday,
everybody must have had a double at Epsom Downs.
We have been present at many crowded Epsom meetings,
but never saw so many persons assembled on the Downs be-
fore. This may be accounted for by the vast number of
foreign visitors brought hero by the great industrial exhibi-
tion, the leisure of the London tradesmen, the fine weather,
and, above all, by the facilities for cheap conveyance the
railways afford. But though the crowd on the course was
so much greater, there appeared to be a much smaller show
of dashing equipages than usual. Omnibuses, stage
coaches, vans, and carts of every description, there were in
plenty; but the carriages and four, with postilions in bright
silk jackets, and their smiling, bright-eyed, and showily
dressed occupants, were few and far between. The road
from the earliest morn presented a scene of the most
lively animation, notwithstanding the counter-attractions of
the two railways had so great a share of public patronage,
that the innkeepers must have been agreeably reminded of
olden times. From every part of London, across the several
bridges leading to the south, vehicles of one description or
other were seen wending their way. From Kennington-
gate onwards the stream of carriages of all sorts was from
8 till 12 o'clock continuous. Barouches, broughams, gigs,
dog-carts, omnibuses, cabs, stage coaches (in such numbers
that one wondered where they had been dug up from), tax-
carts and donkey tandems, all mingled together, not in con-
fusion, for the turnpike-men and the police prevented that,
but on a footing of equality which wanted only an occa-
sional changing of places to be all that any communist
could desire. The number of persons which some of these
vehicles carried was astonishing. The old-fashioned stage-
coaches, for instance, which in their "day of life" with
some difficulty accommodated 13 outside passengers, had
from 20 to 25 people piled up on, and hanging about their
' roofs and sides—a weight which, were it not for the heavily
laden provision baskets below, which acted as ballast, must
have capsized them at the first turn of the road.
The vans and omnibuses, and all that bad the
appearance of public carriages, were equally over-filled;
nor less numerous or varied in their appearance were the
pedestrians. Groups of economical Frenchmen, with long
beards, full trousers, and curiously fashioned hats ; showily
dressed Lasears, here and there a Chinese (whose walking
powers did not seem calculated to carry him very far beyond
the sound of Bow bells), Italian organ boys, bending under
the weight of their instruments, Bavarian broom-girls,
working men in feethan jackets, labourers in smock frocks,
pea and thimble rigzers, vendors of "Darling's correct
cards," and others who combined pleasure with poverty, or
desired to earn their money before they spent it. Every
cross road on the route added to this moving mass, and long
before Epsom was reached the way was frequently blocked.
All the houses of entertainment on the road were crowded;
the dust made everybody thirsty, to the delight of " mine
hosts," who must have reaped a harvest that should induce
them for the rest of the year to look complacently even on
their great enemies, the railways.
Of the railways, the London and Brighton, as offering
the greater facilities, of course was the favourite. The early
trains, which commenced running at five o'clock, carried
down a vast number of people at the cheap fares—and the
high price trains, which from nine until two were started at
intervals of about a quarter of an hour, were all tilled. The
arrangements of the company were admirable—and in con-
sequence the crowds who were all the morning besieging
the terminus at London Bridge, following each other in
continuous succession, were accommodated without con-
fusion.

The South-Western Company not having the advantage
of a line into Epsom, endeavoured by their low charges to
compete with their more fortunate rival, and not altogether
without success. Their trains, which ran every quarter of
an hour from Waterloo terminus to Kingston, were exten-
sively patronised. For those who may have • conveyance
waiting at the station to carry them on to the Downs—a dis-
tance of seven miles—this probably is the most agreeable
route ; but those who have made no such provision will
find the charge for coach-hire between the rail and the
course far more than counterbalance the low fares of the
railway company. In point of weather the seventy-second
anniversary of the Derby was remarkably fortunate ; a
shower fell early in the morning, enough to lay the dust,
but neither heavy nor long enough to have any effect on the
course, which, as may be imagined from our report
of the first day, was anything but favourable
for horses with doubtful fret. Great care wu
taken by the heads of the police to prevent stoppages on the
three thoroughfares from Epsom to the Downs, by placing
horse patrols in different points ; in short, all to whom the
management of the course, or of matters connected with it,
was entrusted, carried out their orders in a business-
like and efficient manner. With reference to the great
event, we may observe that it is many years since the race
up to the day was looked upon as so " open." Of this the
number of starters ione may be quoted as a proof ; the
" million," in fact, arrived on the course pretty gene-
rally impressed with the idea that " some outsider" would
win; they had bad no Flying Dutchman or Vol-
tigeur on whom to pin their affections ; and nett
to that (to the ring) very useful animal Lightfoot, the
only horse to whom they evinced a decided leaning was
the Marlborough Buck, and on him, owing perhaps to the
recent list defalcations, their investments were much
lighter than would have been the case bad the "money
market " been in a healthy state.
The first race of the day got over, the paddock became
the centre of attraction; the starters speedily emerged
from it, and within a few minutes of the time fixed—three
o'clock—were mounted, the course having previously been
cleared, with • tact, temper, and rapidity highly creditable
to the police. Having taken their preliminary canters, the
horses, thirty-three in number—one more than ever started
for Derby, Oaks, or St. Leger—returned to the paddock,
were conducted from it to the post, and got off without
the slightest failure, at ten minutes past three. The race
may be described in a very few words. Teddington
waited in front to the turn, was never afterwards
headed, and won in • canter, the Marlborough
Buck beating Neasham by a length and the latter de-
feating Hernandez for the third place by a neck. Sir Joseph
Hawley and his party win an immense stake, and most
of the gentlemen are on the right side ; on the other hand,
the " ring " loses almost to a man. And Mr. Davis, who
had something like an 80,0001. book, admits that the
winner and the Marlborough Buck were the worst horses he
had in the race ; his loss is very heavy. Job Maroon won
, this raoe last year on Voltigeur, and it is somewhat re-
markable that the five leading favourites were the first past
the winning chair ! Of the other races it is only necessary
to refer to the Exhibition Plate, in which lanthe made so
ridiculous an example of her horses, that she imme-
diately became • prominent favourite for the Oaks. Thanks
to the abolition of heats, the racing was brought to a close
shortly after six o'clock.
The densely crowded state of the stand and the enclosure
rendered it quite impossible to obtain a list of the company
perfect. We give • few names, however, to show that the
Turf still has patrons in the higher classes: Their Royal
Highnesses the Ditt.e and Duchess of Nemours, his Royal
Highness Prince Henry of the Netherlands, his Royal
Highness the Duke of Cambridge, his Serene Highness the
Prince of Saxe Weimar, the Marquis of Waterford, Mar-
quis of Worcester, Lord Granville, Lord Glasgow, Lord
Enfield, Lord March, Lord Eglinton, Lord Zetland, Lord
Besborough, Lord Strathmore, Lord George Manners,
Lord Wilton, Lord Newport, Lord Uxbridge, Lord Maid-
stone, Lord A. Fitzelarence, Lord Stanley, Lord Exmouth,
Lord Bateman, Sir Joseph Hawley, Sir W. Codrington,
Sir G. Armyusge, Sir Hume Campbell, Sir R. Peel, &c. &c.
The racing commenced • few minutes after two o'clock
with

111:110H STAKES of 3 son. each, and 40 added ; for 3-yr-
olds, 7st 101 b; 4 yrs Bst 71b ; five and upwards, fist 81b;
mares and geldings allowed Jibs. Winner to be sold for
100 lOTA &T. Half-a-mile. (11 subs.)
Mr. Horisby s Ths Old Fox, 3 yrs —..(C. Morsalty, Jon. 1
Mr. Osteldsston's J,e o' Sot, seed (81ropron 2
Mr. Shrintytoies'Arlette, 4 yrs (When
Won eleverly.by s length ; a bead between anon and
third. Run in 51 sees
Daisy STALKS Of 50 son. each, h ; for 11-r-olds ; oohs)
Bst 716 ; fillies, firt2lb ; the secoad to receive 100 son. and
the winner to pay 100 son. towards the polio. and rigida-
tions of the assess, and 60 son. to the Judge. One mile
and • half ea die sew come. (182 subs.)
air I* a=e
Mt. J. Itshotrost
lir. 11111••••••Iblihns 3
lard (IL Mans
n•=ll=:2;iiiiia";;Wiioe—iicert r. J.
Porney's Wartlike (A. Day) ; Mr. Salford's Prime

Minister (W. Sharpe); Mr I.Mawle The Ban (Pearl) •
Lord Chesterfield's Heartbreaker (F. Butler) ; Mr. Wig
ler's c by Epirus out of Entetprke (Wakefield) ,• Mr. Ore-
ville's Ariosto (Flatmate); Mr. G. Illrgins's Theseus (8.
Rogers); Mr.H.Hill's Mountain Deer Maton) ; Mr. E. R.
Clark's Glenhawk (Dockery) ; Lord 'tette, Midas (Nor-
man) • Mr. Moore's Alomprre (Simpson); Mr. Wentworth's
Agee; (Bumby); Mr. A. Nichols NewminsWr (Pettit) ;
Mr. Delamere's Guy Mannering (Bartholomew) ; Mr. Mar-
re's Hungerford (Penn) ; Sir Thomas Burke's Brother to
Chanticleer (H. Robertson); Baron Rothsehild's e by Tear-
away, dby Aleaston (Robinson); Mr. Neville's Telescope
H. Bell) ; Lord Eglinton's Bonnie Dundee (Cartwright) ;
Lord Eglinton's Hippolytus (C. Marlow) ; Mr. Meiklam's
Constellation (Templeman) ; Mr. Saxon's The Black Doc-
tor (W. Abdale) ; Mr. Thompson's Gholab Singh (Winter-
ingliam) ; Mr. F. Garner't Serus (H. Edwards); Mr. Wor-
thington's Ooliah (Osborne); Mr. Merry's Louis Napoleon
(J. Howlett) ; Duke of Richmond's Buckhound (Kit-
chener) ; Sir R. Pigot's .Eolus (W. Boyce) ; Sir R. Pigot's
Runnymede (Sly).
Betting 3to 1 agst Tcddington ; 7 to 2 apt Marlbo-
rough Buck; 7to 1 apt Hernandez; 7 to 1 agst Prime
Minister; 1.5 to 1 agst Constellation ; 15 to 1 agst Theseus ;
15 to 1 apt Neasham; 22 to 1 apt Black Doctor; 30 to 1
apt Lamartine ; 30 to 1 apt Ilimmlytus ; 40 to 1 apt
Bonnie Dundee • 150 to I apt Ariosto; and 1,000 to 15 apt
any uther—Buckhound took the lead from the post, and
with the Enterprise colt in his wake, the latter waited on
by Teddington, Constellation, Herod:am, and Ariosto, led
the way nearly to the top of the hill, the running
being then taken from him by the Enterprise
colt, Teddington following, Buckhound in company
with Neasham and Ariosto neat to the latter, lying CIO.
'fellation, Heartbreaker, the Marlborough Buck, and Eglia-
ton's two. This order lasted only to the mile post, Ted-
dington then quitting his horses, and going on with a
decided lead, the Enterprise colt and Buckhound giving way
to Hernandez, the Marlborough Buck, Neasham, and
Ariosto, to which lot the race, after making the turn. was
confined. Marlborough Buck took the second place at the
road, and held it to the distance where Newham went up,
and by sufferance got within a neck and shoulder of the
favourite, by whom, however, he was very speedily disposed
of. The Marlborough Buck and Hernandez were thus left
within half a length of the favourite, who, having had the
race in hand from the time he took up the sunning, left
them without an effort, and won in a canter by two lengths,
the Marlborough Buck beating Neasham by a length. Her-
nandez, why would have been third, but for a disappoint-
ment opposite the stand, finishing a neck from the latter.
Prime Minister was fifth, and Theseus, Ariosto, and Lamar-
tine well up. Run in 2 min. 51 sec.
Ersom TOWN PLATE of 50 sows. (handicap), for 3 and 4
yr olds ; the winner of any race after publication of the
weights to carry slb extra. One mile.
Lord Sum era t.roapier, 3 yrs, est lelb (Charlton) I
Mr. bouelass's Leybourns, 3 yrs, eat (a...Pavii) 2
Lord H. loa's e.m. 3 Yr.

,
S yr.., R 4 310 (Carre 3
Mr.GTOTllleastaktte, 4 yrs, let 71b (cat. 7ai Mb) (!Tatman 4
Peones Fernando, 4 yrs, Set 310
. _

Mr. Parnses Guardsman, 8 Rib ........... (Weal
Betting: 2 to 1 agst Croupier, 5 to 2 agst Fernande, 4 to
1 agst Theorem, and 4to 1 agst Estufette. Fernande took
a clear lead at starting, and, with Estafette and Leybourne
in attendance, cut out the work to the road, where she was
beaten, and Leybourne took up the running. At the stood,
however, Croupier went up, quitted hint without •
struggle, and won in a canter by two lengths. Run in Im.
46 see.

1 6BEAT EXHIBITION PLATE of 100 sore. (handicap) ; a
winner subsequent to the publication of the weights to carry
51b extra. One mile and a quarter.
Mr. JOBele. lanthe, 3 yrs, Bet 211, (Preece) I
Copt. Areeders Bodaysz, 3 yrs, 511 10th (W. Teens) 3
Mr. Dennett's Subterfuge, 4 yrs, Got (T. Sherwood) S
Mr. Magenthes Ingratitude, 3 yrs, Set 121 b (Pacts) 4
Betting : 2 to 1 on lanthe, who made all the running and
passed the winning chair twelve lengths first. Run in 2 min.
15 sec.
s'.cxew STAKES of 3 soy.. each, with 40 sovs. added; 3-yr
old., i'st 6lb ; four, Bst 71b; five and upwards, fist 111 b;
mares and geldings allowed 31b ; the winner to be sold for
150 sous., if demanded. Three quarters of a mile.
(7 subs.)
Mr. llorasbyh The Old Pox. 5 yrs (C. 'Wrathy, Jun.) I
Mr. Burnes ;'s (lowborn* Doe, 4 yrs (Burn 1
Mr. Csreseenoellte, 3 yrs (Barbara) 3
Mr. Thocnco's Derdans, 3 yrs (Donaldson) 4
BETTING ON 711 E OAKS.
7to 2 agst Payment (t) I9to I *est Iris
4to 1 Home Itnnsburg 9 to) tenth* (t)
7 to) Aphrodite (1) 11 to I Miami= (0
Wouneura STAKES.—EIcot was examined before the
races yesterday by Mr. Field, who pronounced him to be
only two years old.

CRICKET.

ELEVEN OF ENGLAND v. TWENTY-TWO OF TILE

NORTHUMBERLAND CLUB.
This great match, long looked forward to by the inhabi-
tants for many miles around Newcastle-on-Tyne, was com-
menced at that place on Monday, in the presence of a large
assemblage of spectators.
It will be seen by the state of the score at the conclusion
of the ploy on Tuesday that the Eleven have obtained a
number which has placed it beyond all probability that the
Northumberland Club—many though they are—can have
the slightest chance of making even a fair appearance
against upon the paper. The score stood thus:

.
... .
Ti.. &kyr,. .
i Wiiden, 1 b tr, b Paberwood 7 • Guy, b Wright 2
Darya, e Trotter, b Wright ... 23 Mayer, c Peacock, b Wrigbt 3l
Parr, b Usberwool 55 Clarke. • Sopp, b Wright
N. Fax, KN., ron not ........23 Day, not out.
Box, b Sopp ll 0,7;1 DO; w,21
112..rtingell, ron oat 21
A. Mynn, eq., 1 b w, b 303
Wright • -. 32

Clotke I I Anderoon, not out
Alkinoon, b Windt%
Trotter, e Dar, b I.Lrke

The match was to be

yesterday.

ROYAL THAMES YACHT CLUB.—The following
yachts have been entered to contend on Monday next, in
the first match of the SCUollsof this distinguished club

nut CLASS. o
Ysekts. Toss. Owners.
Hauls 3$
Tsetse
Musquito se .... ... Lord Landesboroul
Cyntals
"".""'. ... • ."