The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-04 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent)
NEW YORK, Jan. 20.

Ever since the surrender of Savannah the people
of the North of both political parties have been in a
state of excited satisfaction. The subsequent capture
of Fort Fisher, cheaply purchased, they consider,
with the lives of 1,500 or 2,000 men, has increased
their delight, and if General Sherman and his gal-
lant army will march as successfully through South
Carolina as he did through Georgia and seize upon
Charleston as easily as upon Savannah, their joy
will border closely upon delirium. They are told,
upon high authority, to expect this great result
within a very short period; and have already begun
to calculate, as they think, for the last time, the
number of weeks that must elapse before not only
Charleston, the cradle, but Richmond, the throne,
of the " rebellion," shall be theirs, and the flag of
the restored Union float triumphantly over every
fort and public building between the St. Lawrence
and the Rio Grande. It must be admitted that in
this moment of real and anticipated victory they
make no threats of revenge, and breathe no whispers
•of extermination against the Southern people, nor
even against the leaders. The only vindictiveness
heard is the customary denunciation of England,
coupled with a warning to that " perfidious Power"
that when North and South join hands they will
cement their new compact by a foreign war, and
take the opportunity to humble the pride of
Britain and reduce her to her true position in
Europe—a little higher perhaps than Denmark, or
a little lower than Turkey. And it is not alone the
success of the Federal arms, but the statements and
discussions of the Richmond papers which either
support in• oppose the Confederate Administration
that fill the Northern people with such sanguine
-hopes of the approaching restoration of the Union.
They see in those discussions a proof that the
southern leaders are prepared to listen to terms of
peace, and all except the earnest Abolitionists are
inclined to support Mr. Lincoln in making every
possible effort at conciliation, even to the recogni-
tion of State rights upon the matter of slavery. They
argue that slavery has received its death wound in
the progress of the war—a wound from which it is
impossible that it can recover—and that there is con-
sequently no necessity to make any stipulations with
regard to it. All that can be done, they think, is to
leave it to time and to the action of the several
States in which its perishing remnants shall continue
to exist for a few months or years longer. Last week
people attached but little interest to the missions of
Mr. Blair, sen., or General Singleton, but the an-
nouncement to-day that Mr. Blair has departed for
Richmond a second time has invested his movements
with unexpected importance, and led most people to
believe that both his first and second visits are not so
wholly unofficial or personal as was once pretended.
After his return to Washington, and prior to his
second departure, Mr. Blair made no public an-
nouncement, and suffered none to be made in his
behalf, of the objects or results of his journey ; but
the Richmond papers assert that he had a long, a
cordial, and a confidential interview with the Southern

President, and afterwards with the Minister of War;
and that Mr. Davis expressed his willingness to send
commissioners or ambassadors to Washington, to
confer with any commissioners in that city whomthe
Federal Government might appoint. In view of his
second visit these revelations of the Richmond press
acquire additional importance. But whether they
mean much or little depends upon the interpretation
which is to be put upon the intentions and views of
Mr. Davis and his Government in consenting to
negotiation. Every belligerent, if he be not a
savage, ought at any period of a war to be willing to
discuss whether it be not possible and advisable to
make peace ; and it by no means follows, from the
willingness expressed by Mr. Davis, that he is pre-
pared, as the great bulk of the -Northern people sup-
pose, to yield the one great point of independence,
or that he does not believe that the North is as
weary of the war as he can be, and is prepared to
recognise the South upon favourable conditions.
There are, however, in the North almost as many
opinions upon the subject as there are parties and
interests.

One class of people is convinced that the recent
victories of the Federal arms, especially the actual
loss of Savannah and the prospective surrender of
Wilmington and Charleston, have virtually made an
end of the rebellion ; and the people are ready to
return to their allegiance, and that the leaders,
seeing the hopelessness of further resistance, are will-
ing to make any terms that shall secure their per-
sonal safety. Another section, which does not be-
lieve that the spirit of the South is effectually
broken, is of opinion that Mr. Davis, his Cabinet,
his Generals, his Congress, and a large portion of his
people are so disgusted with the heartlessness of
Great Britain and France in leaving the South un-
recognised and unbefriended, to fight single-handed
against its gigantic adversary, that they are willing
to re-enter the Union, if slavery, wherever it now
exists in the States, be solemnly guaranteed in an
amended Constitution ; and that, if satisfied on this
point, they will unite their armies with those of
the North to expel the Emperor Maximilian from
Mexico, and annex British America 'and the West
India Islands, as well as Cuba, to the Federal
Union. A third party insists that the South, so far
from being exhausted or discouraged, is able to
maintain its independence for 20 or even for 40
years against the whole power of the North, and
that, too, without resorting to the last extremity of
arming its able-bodied slaves ; but is willing for the
sake of peace to come to terms with the North, on
the basis of a highly advantageous commercial
treaty, which shall include an export duty of ten
cents per pound on all cotton intended for the Euro-
pean and especially for the British market. A
fourth party, which may be small, but which makes
up in intellectual foresight and sound statesman-
ship for its deficiency in popularity, treats all these
suppositions baseless and unworthy of credit. It
admits that Mr. Davis and his Government are
willing, as Christians and gentlemen should be, to
consent to a suspension of hostilities, to appoint
commissioners, and to discuss all points at issue be-
tween North and South, and that they are now, as
they ever have been, willing to treat with the North,
as equal to equal, and to debate any and every pro-
position that may be made to them, except their re-
turn to the Union. A much larger, though less
influential, party
encourages the idea that the Re-
bellion," as the North persists in calling it, is the
work of the Southern leaders alone, and that the
people are now, and always have been, friendly to
the old Union, and would return to it cheerfully,
and without conditions, if the pressure put upon
them by these leaders were removed. Some even go
so far as to express their conviction that a counter
revolution in the South is imminent, and that Pre-
sident Davis himself is so fully aware of it as to be
more inclined to lead and take advantage of than
to oppose it. These speculations help to show how.
contradictory and diversified are the opinions of the
Northern people, and how little they appreciate the
true character of the struggle in which they are in-
volved, or the opponents with whom they have to
dolled, or
the
who reckon so politicians and people of the North,
raitisiecifh on the bitter opposition that
has manifested
upon the depressing effectoonist President Davis, and
of the brilliant Fine upon the Southern mind
three months attended the awhich have for the last
ies and navies of the
North, would look back to
public, and stud the the
ofthe early days of the Re-
y hiry discourage_
sto
meats, privations, and reverses thatbefel
Washington, they would discover that General
hero and patriot was in far worse straitstheir than
girlme
Jefferson Davis, and that he ultimately tti'
Phover obstacles much greater than have ever yet
tried the patience and energy of the South.
might also discover that France was the dewy
ex machina which enabled the colonies to foil the
power of the Government which considered the great
Washington to be a rebel ; and remember that the
same agency may become available for a similar
purpose in the present day, if the Mexican question
continues to be made a pretext for insult or hostility,
by the Federal Government, as many current indi-
cations seems to foreshadow.

The gold-market, which exhibited unexampled
steadiness on the first news of the fall of Fort Fisher,
has been yesterday and to-day in a state of violent

excitement. The Treasury brokers, instructed by the
Government to operate for a fall, succeeded, though
not so easily as they expected, in bringing down the
premium from 115 per cent., at which it stood on
the departure of the Liverpool steamer on Wednes-
day, to 109 last night and to 1011 this morning. In
the afternoon, however, a re-action occurred. The
Treasury had sold all the gold it had to sell--the
weak speculators were out of the "ring"—and the
price steadily advanced to 1071, at which point it
stood at the close of the business. The bankers
and brokers of Wall-street are not so sanguine as
the public that the recent victories have done much
to prepare the way for a pacification ; and the con-
sequence is that the market, as soon as it is left to
the manipulation of people who understand their
business, and is relieved from the extraneous agency
of the Government, resumes its former condition,
and gold points steadily upwards to the point from
which it had been artificially depressed. The great
question of the arming of the negroes of the South,
and the certainty if they be armed and drilled and
converted into good soldiers, zealous for the cause
in which they fight, that the North will be com-
pelled to enforce a vigorous conscription, and cease
to rely upon the precarious and insufficient recruit-
ments to be purchased by high bounties, loom darkly
upon the vision of all who can see before them, and
are not led away- by the enthusiasm of the moment.
The belief that the South will immediately have re-
course to this source of supply gains ground among
all who wish well to the Southern cause in this city,
and is also shared by large numbers of sincere
Abolitionists, who would as readily accept the
freedom of the coloured race from Southern neces-
sity as see it enforced by Northern bayonets. In
short, it would seem at this moment as if the fate of
the Confederates hung upon its decision in this
matter. So strongly is this opinion entertained by
men who are in a position to form an accurate judg-
ment upon the question that it is openly alleged
that Mr. Lincoln fears that the negroes will be
armed and freed, and that the recognition of the
South by all the Powers of Europe will immediately
follow, is the reason why he despatches Mr. Blair
to Richmond, to ascertain if he cannot make terms
for a commercial, if he cannot restore a political,
Union, or agree to an alliance offensive and defen-
sive with the Confederacy.

January 21.

Postscript.--The publication this morning of the
letter of President Davis to the Georgian Senators
who had expressed opinions in favour of a Conven-
tion of the States throws a new light upon the peace
question, and gives unanswerable reasons why
neither North nor South can settle their differences
by this method. The letter, though dated so far
back as the 17th November, applies with great force
and directness to the peace rumours of the day, and
effectually demolishes the hope entertained by many
leading members of the Federal Government that if
the South would not treat as a unit, it might treat
with the North State by State. Mr. Davis declares
that the first course of action is impossible without a
surrender to the North of the whole principle for
which the South has taken up arms, and that the
proposal of separate State action is unwise, imprac-
ticable, and offers no prospect of good to counter..
balance its manifold injurious consequences to the
cause of his country. It is yet too early to report the
effect which the letter has produced on the public
mind of the North; but that it will serve to dispel
many fallacious hopes, and correct many erroneous
ideas, is evident to every one who has had leisure to
bestow a thought upon the subject.

Mr. Gray, M.P., at Bolton.

On Thursday Mr. W. Gray, M.P., delivered an address
in All Saints' Schoolroom, Bolton, on the occasion of the
opening of a news and reading-room, in connection with
the East Ward Conservative Association. Mr. Marsden
occupied the chair.

In responding to several toasts Mr. GRAY said at present
the army and navy might be said to be in a state of tran-
sition, as great alterations and improvements were being
made in thorn. Neither of the services were ever in a more
efficient state. Both were necessarily very costly, conse-
quent upon the changes which were being made. But so
long as the money was well expended he was sure
that the taxpayers would not begrudge it. He believed
that the volunteers had been of the greatest ser-
vice to the country, and had been well supported in
Bolton. It had not been his practice to give a formal
account of his stewardship, nor did he think it
was the wish of his constituents that he should do
so. If such was their wish he should feel bound to
comply with it. (Hear, hear.) It was a more honourable
position for a member to occupy, when his constituents had
such confidence in him that they did not require an exact
exposition of his views, but were satisfied that he would do
whatever was right and proper, and the best for his town
and country. (Applause.) He had, however, no objection
to mention one or two public matters. The American war,
he believed, had an indirect and very important effect on
this part of the country. He could not conceive how a great
many people could say that war was a contest to put down
slavery. (Hear, hear.) He considered that our Government
had taken a most wise course in not interfering in that war.
There was always a feeling among Englishmen that the
weaker party ought to have their sympathy. He confessed
that so far his sympathies were with the South—(applause)
—but not because they were slaveholders. The North had
no right to take credit to themselves for the intention to put
down slavery. At his first election, President Lincoln said
he had no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with
the institution of slavery in the states where it existed ;
that he had no lawful right, nor had ho the inclination to
do so. In Sept., 1862, when the North found that they had
not conquered the South in 90 days, as they had anticipated,
President Lincoln issued a proclamation by which he ex-
pressed his intention to declare free the slaves in any state
the people of which were in rebellion. On that account
he (Mr. Gray) contended that the North had no right to
take credit to themselves for a desire to abolish slavery.
That slavery would be done away with by the were he
was perfectly satisfied. That would be one of the advan-
tages resulting from the dreadful war now raging in
America. & Closely connected with that question was the
cotton famine. They had had the greatest cause in Bolton
to be thankful that they had been so lightly dealt witt.
He thought that Bolton had been less afflict,-,,1 by the
famine than most other towns which -were engaged in
the cotton manufacture,
as was evidenced by the pro-
portion of the relief fund which had been distributed in
Bolton. With reference to parliamentary reform he did
not think that the public feeling was very much excited
on that subject, notwitstanding the various meetings got
up in order to create an agitation. When he first came be-
fore the electors of Bolton he expressed himself as favour-
able to a moderato extension of the franchise. He still
held the same views. Moderate extension was not that
which was proposed by Mr. Bright and his supporters. He
(Mr. Gray) would be glad if all classes could be so educated
as to be enabled to enjoy the privilege of voting, and use-
fully to exercise it. He believed such would ultimately be
the case. We were now doing a good deal in the way of edu-
cation.sfourm t htoei sxe
expenditure
countrydlonti tedp people
too
rpwo
nl a
se
educationalt shva said
cedr
very
army
lthatt little,
4ae
purposes.
000 a year was a great
There
hwiththoughtere
twhae
;it
an-
nualht
na
vy compared. H
sum of money voted for a better purpose than the educa-
tional grant, and no equal amount would be more useful if
the educational grant was properly expended. But there
was a great number of schools that did not get a penny of
that grant, which was enjoyed by only a small number--
4,000 out of upwards of 11,000: and he welcomed the scheme proposed by Miss Burdett Coutts, thinking that it
would tend to remedy the evil. Coming to the considera-
tion of the Permissive Bill, ho said that if it was not igno-
miniously rejected, it was at all events overthrown by a
large majority. There was no wisdom in a measure which
would leave the question of the sale of spirituous liquors
in a district to the majority of the ratepayers. Such a step
would be an injustice to the owners and occupiers of pub-
lic-house property. In his opinion the House of Commons
took a very proper view of the bill ; and he would much
rather, to quote the words of Mr. Bright (for he would do
so when he and Mr. Bright agreed)—(laughter)—trust to
people than to any such measure of
legislation.
io(nHoearf
. t)he If there was one tax which ought to be
fire insurance. The
repealed or reduced, it was the duty on .
Chancellor of the Exchequer had dealt with it to a certain
It would ha
have dealt with it in a more liberal manner.
extent, but as a member of a Liberal Government he might
been wiser to have reduced the duty to 6d. per cent. on all
kinds of property, without any
exemption. The malt tax
did not much affect this part of the country; but those
whom it did affect would attempt to get a reduction. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer did not like to interfere with
it, as it was a matter of six millions a year. Perhaps one
n
half of it might be remitted at some future day. In all
Tatters relating to Bolton he had had the co-opera-
tlema
ter.) o
ci
"yes," and anothery f lals•honourable colleague (Mr. Barnes). A gen-
bad one inan 0 t
had lately said that in their representatiles they
(Laugh
to
SA " no."
three other
was an advacinuteanst
which
the question of the ballot, and two or
each sic©, as g thhee tdoiwffneretdo h w
avt he
Moner.
memberihrnes•
on It
the ear of the (lover:neer party was in office it gave them
thought, had precedencelat-t(Laughter.) His colleague, he
day
therNve,i.wh the present Government, but
he hoped 801110
auviadenlporecedence. (Hear.) It
be a Government with
which he (Mr. Gray) Should he
newnsrgotehraer.athat
had
in
gave him much pleasure to be
celebrating the opening of their
They -ad taken

a step in the right direction. If the Conservatives of Bolton
chose to put forth their hands they might gain the whole
power of the borough. As a rule the Conservatives, how-
ever,were not so much politicians as gentlemen on the other
side. If there was a room in every ward like that which
they were that night opening, a great deal might be done
towards taking power into their own hands. (Cheers.)
Several toasts followed, and the proceedings closed at a
late hour.

Lord Lichfield on the Question of Land

Tenure.

On Thursday afteenoon, at the Midland Farmers' Club,
the discussion " On the Tenure of Land," introduced at a
former meeting in a paper by Mr. R. H. Maslen, was
resumed.

The Earl of LICHFIELD, after some preliminary remarks,
said, the club had come to certain resolutions which were
calculated, as it appeared to him and to many persons,
to interefere with the object which he had in view, rather
than to assist it. He feared there was a great deal in the
agreement they had been discussing which, if left as it was,
and if no further notice was taken of it by himself or others,
might tend very much to deprive the tenant farmers of the
country of the advantage which he sincerely hoped they
might some day or other receive from the discussion which
that question had already undergone. He was perfectly
certain that there were both in the resolutions passed by the
club and in the agreement they had drawn up, many points
which would prevent the agreement from being generally
adopted. He wished to dispel the notion that he was op-
posed to leases and wished to set tenant farmers and land-
lords generally against leases. He was not opposed to leases,
but they would bear in mind that whenever the subject of
leases was mentioned the question of capital was always
mixed up with it, and any one who had considered the sub-
ject must admit that for leases tenants with capital must be
found. Mr. Masfen said in his paper that the capital would
be forthcoming; but he must remind Mr. Masfen of the
thing which Mr. Masfen would keep forgetting—namely,
that the agreement to be decided upon was to be placed in
the hands of existing tenant farmers, and it was undeniable
that many of them had not the capital for leases ; therefore
he was certain, and all men must be certain, that annual
agreements were matters of absolute necessity. Therefore
they had to consider a form of annual agreement, andit was
clear that no form would be generally adopted unless it was
satisfactory not only to outgoing tenants and to landlords,
but to incoming tenants also. (Hear.) His impression,
derived from the resolutions passed by the club, from the
agreement drawn up by them, and from the discussions
that had taken place among them, was that they had only
looked at one interest—that of the outgoing tenant. (Hear.)
It was quite clear that if he was right in that impres-
sion, their agreement would not be generally adopted ;
and the fact that some of the members of the committee
who drew up the agreement dissented from the reso-
lution upon which that agreement was founded, was not
likely to cause the public to look with much confidence
upon the result of all their deliberations. With reference
to the remarks made by Mr. Newdegate, M.P., at the last
meeting, his lordship said the hon. gentleman did not appear
to have fully considered the agreement drawn up by the
club, nor his (Lord Lichfield's) agreement either. Mr. New-
degate said he preferred the agreement drawn up by the
club to that drawn up by him (Lord Lichfield), but he
(Lord Lichfield) thought he should be able to convince Mr.
Newdegate, if he had a short conference with him, that
that was a mistaken preference. However, the visit of the
hon. gentleman to the club had done some good, for it
had attracted the attention of the Times, and that was a
a great deal. The leading article that appeared in the
Times did not throw much light upon the subject, for
nobody could tell whether the writer of it favoured leases,
compensation clauses, or anything else. But an article in
the Times went a long way for all that. (Hear, hear.) The
article he referred to, although not very explicit, would help
to create an interest in the subject, and he for one was
much obliged to the writer of it. When Mr. Newdegate
said he was alarmed at his (Lord Lichfield's) agreement,
he must have meant that by it too many claims for compen-
sation were admitted. He agreed with Mr. Newdegate that
tenant-rights ought not to be made too heavy, so as to
throw too great a burden upon the incoming tenant ; and
therefore he could understand that Mr. Newdegate might
have been rather frightened at all the claims that might be
made for compensation. He had since written for one of
Mr. Newdegate's own agreements, and he must say that it
was a very good agreement. The only fault he found
with it was that it left too wide a margin for arbitrators,
and opened the door widely to the influence of what Mr,
Newdegate himself in his speech condemned, viz., the
"custom of the country." One of the main objects of draw-
ing up an agreement was to get rid of
," the custom of the
country" altogether, and this could only be done by making
the form of agreement complete, and then confining the
arbitrators strictly to it. This could only be done by pro-
viding compensation in the agreement for everything for
which the tenant could possibly claim. He now came to
the objections he had to the agreement of the club. In the
matter of repairs, they had put so much on the landlord
that they might as well have said at once that the landlord
must do everything. The tenant had only to provide the
workmanship for the inside and for the gates, stiles, and
fences. The landlord was to do everything else. This was
contrary to the system hitherto pursued, and it was a very
heavy obligation to put upon landlords at once. He could
not say whether they would not be able to obtain these
terms eventually under an improved state of agreements ;
but for the present the landlords would not, he thought,be
willing to undertake such heavy obligations. Again, in case
of fire, the landlord was to do everything, although he was
convinced that in nine cases out of ten fires were owing to
the negligence of the farmer or his servants. He provided
in his agreement that the tenant should draw the materials;
and, considering what ho had just stated, he did not think
this was unreasonable. Ho did not provide in his agree-
ment that the tenant should insure, because he thought the
landlord ought to be his own insurer. They proposed to
allow the landlord to inspect the buildings and everything
about the farm, but not to give him power to put anything
into repair if the tenant neglected it. It was no very great
privilege to allow him to see things in a bad state of repair
if he could do nothing to put them right. The noble lord
next referred to the clause about rabbits, and said the
course adopted by the club with reference to this subject,
so far from facilitating a satisfactory settlement of the ques-
tion, would have a contrary effect. They proposed that the
tenant should have the right to kill rabbits in any way he
liked. There must be an end to game preserving, for no
landlord could preserve game if any other means than dig-
ging and ferreting were allowed for the destruction of rab-
bits. He was perfectly certain that no tenant who wished
to be on good terms with his landlord would think of killing
rabbits in the hedgerows and every place else at the time of
yer.r when game was breeding. Why, then, should they ask
this privilege, seeing that he was sure none of them would
make use of it ? Ought the' Lot rather to be willing to give
the landlord power to protect himself against tenants who
might not be, actuated by any such good feeling ? No such
T,'^-rision for the destruction of rabbits as that contemplated
by the club could be satisfactory to anybody. It would give
rise to endless disputes between landlord and tenant. He
declared that his experience was that those cases were
quite exceptional in which game. was preserved to an un-
reasonable extent, and he denied that as a rule the game
question had interfered between landlords and tenants.
What he proposed in his agreement was that the landlord
should undertake to kill the rabbits both on the farm and
in the covers, giving the tenant the power of protecting
himself during certain months, and also giving him com-
pensation for damage done by game. But he wished it
provided that notice of any intended claim for damage
done by game should be given when the crops were
in their early state, in order that the valuer might be able
to distinguish between bad farming and what was eaten
by game. He was advised by many that the question of
damage done by game had far better be left alone,
but he thought not, being convinced that, as he should
place the agreement in his tenants' hands, that clause
would never be acted upon. Now he came to the subject
of restrictions, and he found that the club proposed to do
away with restrictions altogether. He thought they had
acted unwisely. Much had been said about agreements
being for good tenants, and not for bad ones; but he thought
that unless they made agreements for bad tenants they
need not makelany at all. With the best tenants he would
not care for any agreement. With regard to hay and straw,
he was surprised to see that the club proposed to allow
I them to be sold without anything being brought back
instead of them. He provided in his agreement that the
hay and straw should not be sold except with the con-
teeisee fat
n describing
hoo
t h con-
sent of the landlord, and good rotten manure being
brought back instead. With respect to cropping, he
thought it should, for the sake of the incoming
tenant, be laid down very clearly the state in which
the farm
should
d be
to theleft theelinoh gr
alasteeymeamint
wasT to thehestron gest
ohlast
clause which the schedule attached to it. It would not be
possibled
mcoann,dithioanvinogf
a afsacrmhedluo or 15
schedule put into
years
ahisgho7tod
make anything like a fair estimate of the improvements or
deterioration that might have taken place since. As re-
garded this part of the agreement, he would never adopt it
himself, and he was certain that scarcely a landlord in the
country would do so. He was now sorry that when he
attended the first meeting ho did not propose that his
agreement should be discussed, and that amendments
of it should have been suggested. He thought it would
have been desirable if the club had confined them-
selves as far as possible to the discussion of his agree-
ment instead of drawing up an agreement of their own.
If they had taken that course he might have been
able to alter his agreement very much in accordance
with their opinions ; but in drawing up an agreement
such as the club had thought fit to draw up they had inter-
fered with the object he had in view. He firmly believed
that the opinions embodied by the club in that agreement
were not the opinions of the majority of the tenant farmers
of this country—that was to say, of the tenant farmers who
had really well considered the matter. (Hear, hear.) For
the last two years he had received numerous letters from
hthseabecknstofwarmledegrsedinneovteoryneof them
part
of the
apcPunrovtryed and although
of
the
whole
his agreement, yet, taking the opinions of all, they were
in the main in favour of all the clauses, and they certainly
approved the restrictions introduced by him with reference

to the sale of produce. He felt that he had spoken very
freely of the agreement and of the resolutions of the club,
but he wished to be understood that he was extremely
obliged to them for the assistance they had shown a dis-
position to give him in the matter, although he was of
opinion thatthey had failed to do so. To show what was
his position in this matter, he had, as it were, sucked the
brains of everybody he could lay hold of—(laughter)—in-
eluding the members of that club. He intended now to
withdraw his agreement altogether from any further discus-
sion. He had quite made up his mind upon the main points
which he intended to embody in the agreement. There
were one or two matters of detail which he proposed to alter
in the agreement. For instance, he intended to give more
encouragement to autumn cultivation, by allowing 20s. an
acre for land left clean, whether cultivated or ploughed.
He did not intend to insist on so large a portion of straw
being left as was proposed by the club. He had been very
strongly urged to make some allowance for the use of arti-
ficial food, and he thought he should in all probability de-
termine to allow for probably a third of the last year's con-
sumption. He had quite come to the conclusion that
artificial manures were not to be allowed for. In many
instances they not only did not leave much in the land
but they took a great deal out of it to the injury rather
than the benefit of the incoming tenant. If the tenant
wished to make use of artificial manures, let him go to his
landlord and make an arrangement as to whether an allow-
ance should be made or not. He should insert a clause
strictly confining the arbitrators to the agreement. (Ap-
plause.)
Some discussion followed, in the course of which several
clauses in the agreement introduced by the club were
amended, and the draught, with the amendments, was
ordered to be printed.