The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-02 00:00:00

in the thews

working men.

Labour unfortunately is a mere

drug in the market. Thousands and tens of thou-
sands of persons, able and willing to work, drag on a
miserable existence, obtaining barely sufficient to
keep life and soul together ; and yet those very per-
sons, who are burdens on the national resources
might under a more judicious system become they

creators and producers of national wealth. The ma-
chinery is perfect, the motive power alone is wanting,
and to supply that power, .; to bring the various
springs and wheels into harmonious working, is the

great desideratum.
Great and comprehensive enactments are required
for that purpose. The nation is placed on the verge

of a precipice, and it cannot be rescued from destruc-
tion, save by a magnanimous disregard of common
rules and principles, which, although the best that
could be framed in an ordinary state of society, are by
no means suited to the magnitude of the emergency.
The remedy, in fact, must be suited to the disease.
The social condition of the country has been well de-
scribed in the first "Report on Irish Poor-laws" in
1836. It says—
" Ireland is now suffering under a circle of evils, pro-
ducing and reproducing one another. Want of capital
produces want of employment—want of employment,
turbulence and misery—turbulence and misery, inse-
curity—insecurity prevents the introduction of capital—
and so on. Until this circle is broken the evils must con-

tinue, and probably augment. The first thing to be done
is to give security that will produce or invite capital—
and capital will give amployment."

This is, unfortunately, but too true a picture. The
insecurity at present arises, however, more from the
enormous burdens that are placed on the land, than
from the turbulence of the inhabitants, and it is not
merely the actual amount to be liquidated, large as
it undoubtedly is, that occasions the mischief,
but the fear that the worst has not as yet
been encountered, and that additional charges
may be imposed—charges sufficient to absorb
the entire productions of the soil, and to leave
nothing whatever to satisfy the claims of the land-
lords for rent, or to reward the industry of the
tenants. This is the great evil to be remedied.
Satisfy capitali.ts that they shall receive fair returns
for their investments, and you Rill speedily find
capital flowing into a land that offers so many in-
ducements.
Sir Rosunt PEEL has now discovered that nothing
of permanent utility can be done for the country
until it receives the blessings of a solvent pro-
prietary, qualified to discharge the duties in-
cidental to the possession of property. lie
proposes, in fact, to get rid of those nominal
owners who, without any real advantage to them-
selves, clog and impede the industry of the people.
New blood must be infused into the nation, and, with
all regard fur the rights of property, it is both just
and expedient to compel those who cannot act bene-
ficially either for themselves or their tenantries
to dispose of their lands to others, who may
have both the ability and the will to Ex-
tract the latent treasures from the soil, to bring
it into a condition of the highest fertility and pro-
ductiveness. This may be called confiscation, but if
so, it is a necessary and an equitable confiscation—a
confiscation which will be no less beneficial to the
ejected proprietors than to the community in general.
Although they may entertain a national feeling of re-
gret at the loss of estates that hare descended through
many generations in their families, they will become
infinitely happier when in the unincumbered posses-
sion of even a small surplus, than they had been when
heavily embarrassed with constant demands which
they were unable to satisfy, and witnessing the misery
and sufferings of their wretched dependents, suffer-
ings which they were wholly unable to mitigate or
alleviate.

We may take some credit to ourselves for
having long since pointed out the ab-
solute necessity for such a change. More
than two years since we spoke of the enormous
incumbrances affecting the owners of Irish estates, as
the monster grievance of Ireland; and suggested re-
medies analogous to those now proposed by Sir
ROBERT PaEL. On the 2d February, 1847, we
said—
" Perhaps among the many causes that have contri-
buted to the lamentable condition of the sister kingdom
few have had a greater effect in producing that
result than the embarrassment and pecuniary difficulties
of the proprietors of the soil, coupled with the strict
settlements and entails, and the other laws by which the
free disposal and transfer of property in land was fet-
treeraelldy t andthe
er e
os twr an ienr e. d
n.
rTchoeu
ladp ph ae d rente
a pl osswithessorthe
pwr ao as a
rnott).
in that capacity. The nominal owner of extensive districts
and wide-spread domains had a large and showy
rent-roll, but, in reality, a small income. He was
little better than the agent, the trustee of others."
And again, in the same impression, we added :
" What then is the remedy to be adopted t what
palliative can be found by which the disease may be
removed or even mitigated ? Simply this—
that every facility should be given to the free
transfer of land, that so much as may be necessary to
satisfy the encumbrances affecting it should as speedily
as possible be brought to the hammer. Make it an
article of free sale, and reduce the expenses of transfer
to a reasonable and moderate amount. Simplify the law
relating to real property, and make such arrange-
ments as will give full security of title.
Cut off entails and settlements, or at least let them
affect the purchase-money in place of the land itself.
That purchase.money may be placed in the funds or on
other good and sufficient securities, and subjected to the
trusts that theretofore applied to the land. The
greatest blessing that can be conferred upon
a nation a solvent and unembarrassed proprie-
tary will he obtained. If the land could
be conveyed, and a good and perfect title assured to
the purchasers, there are numbers of persons with
sufficient capital ready to bid for all that may be
brought into the market. The supply cannot exceed
the demand ao as unduly to depress the commodity.
Even the unencumbered proprietor will frequently find
it his interest to sell a part to improve the rest of his
property, and the soil of the country will pass into
the hands of those who have the capital and ability
to manage it with the greatest advantage to them-
selves and to their country."
Such were our views in the beginning of the year
1847, and time has tested their propriety, and we
have at length the satisfaction of finding them recog-
nised
and adopted by the statesman who proposed the
emancipation of his Roman Catholic fellow-subjects,
and who obtained the legislative sanction to the
glorious doctrines of Free Trade.

DEATH or MRS. KEAN.—We deeply regret having
to announce the demise of Mrs. Kean, relict of the late
Edmund Kean, Esq. Mrs. Kean expired after a long
and painful illness, on Friday last, at the country resi •
denco
,of her son, Mr. Charles Kean, Keydell, near
Southampton.
THE COURT.—Her Majesty and his Royal High-
ness Prince Albert, and the youthful members of the
Royal Family, according to present arrangements, leave
Buckiagham Palace on Wednesday afternoon, for
Windsor Castle, where the Queen will remain a fort.
night for the Easter holidays, during which her Majesty
will mar) a SUCCCSS/Vn of iIIUSWOUS yisiters.