The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-06 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 6, 1867.

the h•cal bench on the very point in dispute. The
prosecution might, one would think, in common
decency have waited 6•c t!te tlecilion of the Master
el the ROHR.

The clergyman v., o is :Ord of the manor ti
.;•• Loughtan thinks differently. however, and
nn Friday last two poor men were brought
before the local magiatrat,a on the charge of tree-
passing upon the fore at they maintain they have
common rights over, and of lopping wood therein.
One at least of the magistrates present is himself
in p.aseesion of a portion of the forest land in dis-
pute ; and, with more than questionable taste, the
clerk to the bench acted as solicitor to the prose-
cution. Fortunately, however, care had been taken
to have these 'Poor men defended by a barrister,
and after a warm diacusion of several hours' du•
ration the case was dismissed. For the proper
understanding of the matter in dispute, and in
order to fairly appreciate the position of the de-
fendants and their judges, it is necessary to re-
member that the lopping forest wood has been the
means of livelihood to the former. The lord of
the manor and his friends, many of them magis-
trates. decide sunimarily among themselves that
they will wake this forest land their own, by
buying off -11 other existing eights. Their poorer
neighbours plead that they have never parted with
their COIIIIIIIIII rights, and prefer to use the forest
as heretofore to accepting compensation. For forty-
seven years one of them declares he has lopped
wood every winter, and hopes to be allowed to do
so to the end of the chapter. The answer of the
gentlemen inclosing takes the extremely practical
form of committing the man to prison. The
question is brought before the Master of the Rolls,
who is so far unconvinced of the lord of the
manor's right to inclose that he takes time for
consideration before giving his decision.
Is it not, to say the least, unseemly that attempts
should be made to force matters by awarding
punishment for what the highest legal authority
hesitates to call an offence 1 The local bench is to
be congratulated on not having yielded to the
temptation of acting arbitrarily, and on disobliging
their friend and neighbour by dismissing the men
he thought tit to bring before them. The odds are
proverbially against peasants when landed interests
are at stake and landowners are the judges ; and
it is not wornierful that Friday's decision was wel-
comed with every show of enthusiasm in the neigh-
bourhood, and regarded as a partial triumph for
the popular cause. It may be fairly hoped in the
interests of public decency that the matter will
now he permitted to rest in abeyance until the
decision of the court of equity is known, and that
no further attempts to inflict punishment or snatch
a temporary verdict will be made. Lords of manors
must wait the course of justice like other people,
and they at least need not fear the ad interim
punishment they are sometimes able to indict—
loss of employment, of character, of means of live-
lihood, and of home.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

on continuing the obstruction, they may remove him from
the ground, and poises, themselves of hie name and
address. with a view to proceeding against him for the
trapa•e which he has committed.

The Princess Metternich is going to give a grand
international ball on May 28.
The members of the committee of the tailors
strike have been summoned before a judge of in-
struction to answer a charge of having exceeded
the right of coalition granted by M. Emile 011ivier's
act. and having illegally interfered with the free-
dom of labour.

The Society of Gans de Lettres is trying to get
up an international literary congress in Paris be-
fore the Exhibition is over. The " writers "of
the whole world are called upon to join the con-
gress. I can find nothing else definite in the pro-
gramme. Would-be members who desire to know
further particulars are requested to write to or
call on M. Emmanuel Gonzales, the secretary of
the society, 14, Citi Trevise.

ftotuott.