The Express.
London, England, 1861-10-11 00:00:00

AT. J. Ail 61117.

ir7rtil Win.
nit tl I.t &New , %ill be prAli.
. tete-ilga tint tines at this
'hear% tleiZY It lITLY. l wln h 4r seeil tine./rank
Matthew • wIU mat their Ent a{.prcrane mph r tte ten.. tit
nentswerent Alen 161114 A wit tt...f PIPI.R. In lithe. ttr.
A.tenl M,lu. itr Ilehowirer. lir, Aside tr. Sar. Dewar, %In, Her.
Lest. iii.. %i.e... ant WM Aihni N Ists3l wen sentain their .rt.
plu.l • bikr 44 1... t.. meant. Ant time at this tin Atm.
liti‘b to% mint %sot:, . pelacital chars. ten. Mr. I:r.rriv
Mr 5t.a.1,.., As. I Mr. awl Sin rnistk Ilattlw•s.

Tim CARLO Hreat Mutant,.
eir.tv -HIGH UM Nana' srAIIN,
ri1,m44.0 4111. W. Crnatord. -Awl THE IgEwl E
or nig until • -Cusumano, at harpailill

MOO W ATKA AT LONDON DILIDOIL
Tim Das —4..ndod Si Mo. ... A mak :h. 245.
To voidow—Morois4. d 0..... Minniedo. 84L Wa

LUMINA FRIDAY, OCT. 11.

TO OUR READER/3.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

A !ate edition of the Express it publixliod every
eveni%g .luring the racing entsou, containing the
results of the day's races.

W► sue now in the very height of the Agricul-
tural Dinner season. Within the last three days
exhibitions and annual dinners of various provin-
cial Asset-banes Lave taken place at Hounslow,
Egbain, Aylesbury, and Tavistock. The dinners
were no dents satisfactory enough, the dishes solid,
the wines sound, the ease:Oiled guests in the best
temper and spirits, and the toasts drank with the
usual enthusiasm. But we must say the majority
of the reported speeches are not very lively or in-
structive reading. It is rather difficult to gut
through many of them, even in the recess, when
newspaper readers are disposed to be thankful for
small mercies. The speakers either confine them-
'elves to strictly local and special topics, such as the
entries for the ploughing-match, the show of vege-
tables, and the peculiar merits of a prize labourer,
or if, taking • wider range, they refer to general
topics, then: is for the most part a fatal mono-
tony in the subjects selected as well as in the man-
ner of treatilig them. We know beforehand the
well-beaten round of references in which the after-
dinner speaker is almost sure to move. Apologies
or vindicatious of the House of Commons, eulo-
gies of the volunteers, congratulations on the
harvest, vague references to foreign affairs, and
still vaguer laments over the American war, con-
stitute the staple of most after-dinner speeches at
these autumnal meetings. It may perhaps be
thought unreasonable to demand or expect more
than a complimentary reference to public affairs
at these convivial meetings, even from public
men of position and influence. Members
and constituents meet, it may be said, as
host and guest, vilifies being excluded, and the
season sacred to the reciprocal duties of hospi-
tality. That may perhaps be the theory, but in
fact public affairs are always referred to, and it is
well they should be. We simply urge that they
should be dealt with in a direct and practical
instead of a purely perfunctory manner. These
vacation meetings constitute • kind of scattered
parliament, in which county and borough mem-
bers appear and speak not simply as private gen-
tlemen, but as public men ; and as most of the
leading proprietors of the neighbourhood are pre-
sent, an earnest politician has a fine opportunity
of speaking a word in sewn to a whole district.
Sir Leearw.'e Pats, in his speech at Tavistock
on Tuesday, availed himself of this opportunity.
His address was throughout a thoroughly practical
and useful one. The Member for West Devon
selected the very topic which of all others it is
most important should be clearly and forcibly
urged in the agricultural districts—the duties of
landholders to the labourers and tenantry on their
estates. The main subject of his speech was the
special duties of landed proprietors towards their
laheurers, and these he summed up under two main
beads—the duty of improving their dwellings, and
of providing the means of elementary education
for their children. Sir L. PALL is entitled to
speak on the subject of improved cottages for agri-
cultural labourers, having himself laboured assi-
duously, both in Parliament and out of doors, to
direct attention to this needed improvement as
well as to facilitate the progress of the work.
List session, for example, as Sir Liwaasee re-
minded his hearers, he brought in • bill with this
very object, which was keenly debated, and en-
countered no small amount of opposition. Mr.
Hemiar was the chief opponent of the mea-
sure, and ho boldly maintained that im-
proved dwellings for the labourers were no
benefit to the land at all, " because nothing
" was an improvement to the land that did
" not bring in an immediate and profitable re-
" turn." A more thoroughly inept and fallacious
argument it would be impossible to find. Such
reasoning undermines and destroys the very basis
on which, in the last resort, the right of
property in land rests. In • civilised country indi-
viduals are allowed to retain permanent possession
of the soil only on the implied condition of con-
tributing to its improvement, and it is because
from the very nature of the case many improve-
ments can give no immediate return, the posses-
sion, which might otherwise be only temporary,
is rendered permanent. Enclosing waste lands
and enriching poor ones gives at once no return
answering to the outlay, but after the lapse of
years the full benefit is realized. The same holds
true of draining the land, and improving the dwell-
ings of those who cultivate it. Better cottages, it is
true, will not usually yield an immediate pecu-
niary return in the shape of high rent, because
the labourer cannot pay more than &certain su m for his
dwelling a hether it is good or bad. But indi-
rectly, improved dwellings for labourers are an
. .

enormous benefit to the land, and amply repay
what has been spent upon them. A better dwell-
ing is the first step towards raising the character
of the labourer. The man who lives in a well-ven-
tilated, well-ordered cottage, will be better in
health and spirits than one whose only shelter from
the elements is a damp, crazy, and reeking hovel.
A decent, comfortable home, moreover, exercise.
a morel influence which no wise landed proprietor
will lightly overlook or despise. It fosters self-
respect and those habits of cleanliness, sobriety,
industry, and economy which spring from it. And
en improved of agricultural labourers oontri-
bute not only to an improved cultivation of th.