The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-03 00:00:00

ill ailing .76'llitit

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1847.

The returns moved for last night by the Earl of
Mousrrcasunn, in the House of Lords, had for their
object the attaining of some degree of certainty as to
the amount of encumbrances affecting Irish estates.
The melancholy fact of the onerous character of the
burdens, the heavy interest payable by the Irish land-
lords as a body, the sad result of their own or their
predecessors' extravagances and imprudence, does not
require the confirmation of official returns to obtain
easy credence. It is a well-known fact that from
five to six millions of pounds sterling are required to
keep down the annual interest of the encumbrances
affecting real property in Ireland, which, as the
average interest of money in that country may be
reckoned at five per cent. per annum, would show from
one hundred to one hundred and twenty millions
sterling as the amount of debts, the repay-
ment of which is secured on the land of
that country. We do not think that the Noble Lord
would have made the sad reality more certain, if he
had obtained the information he required. In the
first place, he would only have the rental of the lands
which are already under the control of the Court of
Chancery, but he should not thereby be enabled to
state what portion of the rental was applicable to the
purposes of the present owners, after providing for
the payment of the annual charges; and, secondly, he
would know nothing of the cases where the proprietor
still received his own rents, and devoted a large por-
tion thereof to the satisfaction of the accruing interest
on the charges, where the encumbrancers were satisfied
to leave the collection in his hands without having re-
course to the machinery of the Court of Chancery.
Whatever legislation may be contemplated on the
facts desired to be proved by those returns may
fairly be introduced on the universally-admitted
state of things.
Perhaps, among the many causes that have contri-
buted to the lamentable condition of our sister king.
dow, few have had a greater effect in producing that
result than the embarrassments and pecuniary diffi-
culties 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 fettered and restrained. The apparent pos-
sessor was not really the owner, nor could he deal
with the property 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. lie could not maintain his position in
society on the small balance remaining for his use ;
after providing for the necessary payments, he found
debts accumulating which he could only satisfy by
insuring his life and mortgaging his estate for life.
His own necessities prevented him from expending
any sum of money on improvements, no matter how
beneficial they might be, or how ample the return of
which they might give reasonable expectation. He
could not sell or dispose of any portion of the property,
no matterhow greatly its alienation might enhance the
value of the remainder. In fact, although differing in
name, he differed little in character from the middle-
man, the monster grievance of Ireland. Like him, he
was obliged, by any: means, to increase his present
rental, to extort the highest possible amount from
the occupiers, to let to the person who
would assure the highest rent, without re-
gard to his character or prospects of payment. If
lands were out of lease the rental was increased to
the utmost possible degree, or the tenant displaced in
order to make room for a new occupier, who would
promise a larger payment; thus the occupier had no
certainty or security of tenure, the lands remained
unimproved, and the greater portion of the kingdom
presented the melancholy appearances of neglect and
bad cultivation which have attracted so much attention
and given occasion to so many well-founded com-
plaints.

What then is the remedy to be adopted ? What
palliative can be found by which the disease may be
removed, or even mitigated ? Simply this—that
every facility must be given to the free transfer of
land, that so much of it 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. Sim-

plify the laws relating to real property, and make
such arrangements 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 secu-
rities, and subjected to the trusts that theretofore ap-
plied to the land. The greatest blessing that can be
conferred upon a nation—a solvent and unembar-
rassed proprietary—will be obtained. If the land

could be conveyed, and a good and perfect title as

sured 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 ex-

teed the demand so as unduly to depreciate the

value of the commodity in the market. Even the

unencumbered proprietor will frequently find it his
interest to sell a part to improve the rest of his pro-
_ _

perty ; 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.

A very prevalent, and we might almost say a per-
fectly unanimous, feeling is abroad, that it were more
in accordance with the character hitherto assumed by
our Government to allow the official correspondence
relating to the Montpensier marriage to terminate
with the last communication received at the Foreign
Office from M. GUIZOT. The advisability of this
abstinence from further diplomatic retorts is obvious.
The Ministers of a great nation are neither to be
guided by a false punctilio, nor are they to yield to
the
,master passion of viragoes, namely, a fretful
determination "to have the last word." Every
dispassionate
and intelligent man recognises the truth
of these principles of administration, and consequently
every dispassionate and intelligent man acknowledges
the advisability of drop
question, and thereby preventing
of
revpelng ntaingthtehecaocreroemsppolnisdhemneenet in
tthheattravenrysfoormrdiantaior
ordinary trick
of a bundle of aletitetelrsegeirndteo main—
aste-paper. No
moe
some-
thing more dangerous than°
vir
moment could possibly be
pportune f
o
our withdrawal from the epistolary squabble he
e.

We inserted yesterday another letter from Mr.
RIGBY WASON to Lord JOIIN RUSSELL, upon the
subject of waste lands in Ireland. The writer notices
with satisfaction that the Government plan which has
been propounded upon this momentous question is
identical, in all its outlines, with, the suggestions
which he recently submitted, thrmigh our columns,
in a series of letters to the Premier. We have our-
selves some reason to rejoice at this coincidence, in-
asmuch as we earnestly took the lead in support-
ing Mr. RIGBY WAsoN's views, conceiving that they
were the soundest of any which were being con-
stantly thrown out for the consideration of Govern-
ment, with the view of raising agriculture in Ireland
from its present depressed condition. Moreover, the
vast good which this gentleman had effected on his
own property in Scotland, to an extent of some
miles, under the auspices of the very system which
he strenuously urged the Administration to adopt,
increased our confidence in his every recommenda-
tion—Expert° crede. The object of Mr. R. WAsoN's
last communication is to except to a matter of detail in
Lord J. RUSSELL'S scheme, but which is, nevertheless,
one of essential importance. It is officially proposed to
divide the unreclaimed land into holdings of not less
than twenty-five, nor more than fifty acres. The
question of what shall be the maximum and mini-
mum siae of the farms in Ireland is the most interest-
ing one that can be entertained in reference to her
agricultural improvement. It cannot be too delibe-
rately canvassed in all its bearings, for, it is beyond
all doubt, that a great portion of the agrarian dis- THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
By the arrival of the ship Essex at Brixham, from
land, are to be attributed to the prevalence
turbances, and of the other social evils of Ire-
Calcutta and the Cape of Good Hope, we have received
of the cottier system. The mode in which a
papers from the Cape of , Good Hope to the 6th Decem-
considerable quantity of the Irish soil, for the most ber, and from Grahams Town to the 2d, from which we
part miserably cultivated, has been, as it were, infi- (From the Cape Frontier Times, Dec. 1.)
nitessimally partitioned by the tenantry, despite of the WEDNESDAY, Nov. 25.—Information reached town that
will of their helpless landlords, it is matter of noto- most of the Fatritfiegrhfiteldouctattol,
the
iltrreue:lstak,el_n by Kafirsf
partyma marauders,
deo:,
riety has been prolific of pernicious consequences. immediate) went in pursuit of the
The art of husbandry has completely decayed beneath and the Commandantbbs hlroe sent Sporting Club,
its blighting influence, and demoralisation has been -. under Penny,
lir.Wj'unS.t,eof Stubbs,
wasr' fired upon bym Kafirs as.he
Edt:ualr(timengetthfietehifdeollo wing
:
engendered to a frightful extent. The springs of was looking for some oxenthreetar all drift iTithe Assegai river,
human energy have been dried up, and a spirit of and he escaped without ithouet balllir t
further
inj perforatedury
self-reliance, the great pivot on which national inde- tilribiuriloAy.—Report received of the wreck of the Albatross,
pendence rests, is unknown to the great body of the a schooner of 20 tons,e chtaortfarnedd by Messrs. Cawood,Lt for the
Irish peasantry. Small possessions, then, 'have, be. WeatlLeTepniongfull particulars of this disaster. It
mouth. Purpose of _
in the neigntlsutotodof
yond controversy, constituted the chief bane of Ire- appears that after crossing the bar she was steered on shore
land and Scotland, that diminutive farms are flboileomwoifisntiko
land's prosperity. We know by experience in Eng-—h ni eoft awrulrdrihenanvee
abteieenenpreond
the
-
and driven the vessel on the rocks. A great
most undesirable; their disadvantages must be Part of the cargo will probably probably be
Colonelsaved
Somerset's division.
greatly augmented in a country where there are This loDffiAcYec7Rt eacpeipveeerenewsfro
has lamtely captured 1,800 head of
day, serious u tt
accident a t is
m iasde
for redundant labour. Taught by the past the im-
no manufactures, furnishing channels of employment cattle beyond' the Kciskamrna, killing thirteen ofh the enemy
regiment, who
woefre
some t,
policy of the cottier system, we ought to be exceed- ihrerewgetlilearr,it,k, ilolefd
conduct on their part
in
ingly provident of not permitting the new farms, A train of mule and
the
eewmavggwohnisle narrowly escaped
intended to be carved out of the unredeemed land, to and losing two privateasotolofohisboor
inre
for Colonel Somerset's camp.
polrlitngpoindtdoiethweihtliindeospopfliehse
be of such inferior dimensions as to render them inci- These waggons were very insufficiently guarded, antodwhen
f
dental to the propagation of the evils the effects oflargeeft:wahodared them
tion to this, we must be careful to give every facility
which we have now so bitterly to deplore. In addi- tao the,oeddvaliocioefi,rsenwdetrielesneenonwe
thegons oppositeere hastily driven back
the convoy arrived at the Keiskamnla
side,
ofThis might have
..' been a little Burn's Hill affair. The rule
_e to the tenantry for obtaining a tenure of a secure e Learned that
to Fort Peddie, where they arrived safe.
and seems without application here
simple description,
the Farmerfield people had recovered their cattle near
The great desideratum in Ireland is to that only three' Kafirs were seen, two of whom were
create a body of
that two out of three
proprietors who shal
wages. We consider that we shall come far short f
I become shot. . . . We are sorry to learn
permanent employers of labour at remunerative Blue Krantz, on the road to Bathurst. It appears
messengers employed to bring dispatchea, to his Excellency_ry
of this object; indeed, we doubt if we should in anytheyw,m
from the Government agent
ingntni;
ewieireei, stl,ei of
gbutepoartiv of ere cross-
of this
compass it with the limitation of acres proposed
by the Government. Our hope is, however, that the
question will again undergo the deliberate reflection
of the Cabinet. Lord J. RUSSELL does not think the One man crossed with great
1 issuplosedr for hostile Kafirs.
difficulty, after Foncienaltihnegrhivim-
self for manhours amongst the ruahes. growing
and succeeded in reaching his destination
dispatches.
beeSo.IITURtDAY.--
small holdings have beep injurious, because, in Ar- MoNal:
magh, the most prosperous and best cultivated county dijaelY
in Ireland, the greatest division of land exists. But
the statistics which Mr. R. WAsore has presented,
and the reasoning he has advanced upon them, strike
(
us as being subversive of the foundations on which
the head of the Government rests his conclusions. Auyr.ed withof er,
ion apart the
Report made that Mr. Maloney's cattle had
it.leaHowisonm' Phiunrghsh-ereshass
shocking surd7rrtw.as wantonly and pub-
committed in kligh-strect! Graham's
the
employ of
of 'l,ll.re ;eu.rld%.rer
on seeing him raise Ogilvie. The youngnn, twtnten?Poetster-
in it seems, Hottentot, in
tsetantding in the street wigts gun loaded, and wafs speaking
o
,sgewthiiisehg Mr.o no
it
teoff—a eteheep te,lihere
chillroenHboetltoenntpt girls whot ;vheizmins,
tcohaorngee
ofo wtwhrocnlittiLe
made a propofial
Bred, and the ball passing
levelled. his gun and threatened to shoot her. The children
Thet i eo
mantli other,
Out of the 685,389 farms into which Ireland is one, a boy of about four years of age, leading the younger.
divided, 636,997 are under 30 acres, and only 48,312 one The onf? tahlthrough theishojulder of
above that number. Under five acres we find the who, after girls,ingetlynhgoawsalsi abort killed on
a; the
sepxoptirsetdr.o
large figure of 306,915. The cottier system is uni- iheine:teody .t .. .. From Colonel Somerset's camp there
immediately hher
declining
ra n
vernally condemned. It seems a contradiction, there- some of hlijs followers. yesterday,w ere
.) onfti h whiche
ot)eo
tdoaiy
hisU h I mvilawaererirveendolviinth
fore, to appeal to Ulster, where it is most extensive.
wfoitTied..... A convoy object
mules and horse wagons,
supplies, reached town, with a quantity of loose mules for
This province, compared with Munster, has nearly frontier service. .
Herald
Cape Mail arrived this afternoon.
double the number of cottier holdings from one to The Port-Elizabeth H reports that the schooner Rose:
five acres; and were it not that Armagh is the centre obrthelptta.;onhl.),athe, had successfully attempted the entrance
of the linen trade, Ulster would no doubt have had
We We have informal on from Upper Kafir Drift to the 28th
the same sad experience which has inseparably accom- inst.
learn that Field-Captain H. Bowker has had
many
night patroles out lately. Two parties of Kafirs had
panied the dwarfish diVision of territory in .the other been seen at a distance,
and also the spoor of three other
provinces. " If, therefore," shrewdly observes Mr. ipmaerntiesee,eanll returning to Kafirland. No spoor of Kafirs had
R. WASON, "the prosperity of Ulster is not entirely The old waelalsteorfing the
colony since Mr. Bowker's arrival.
the post had been built up, and all the men
owing to another cause—that of the linen trade— had been comfortably butted The Sporting
Club, under Mr W Stubbs
surely our duty would be to assimilate the test cf iron, Mr. Lalcniey. fru 'hissent to recc,v,r the cattle stolen
Ireland with that of Ulster, and increase as much as I turned home on Saturdayl nila.ralltona pptl:aereKtaLeitgase,
seven
possible the number of cottier holdings from one 0 cattle only are missing, and that the party found several
naked foot-prints in the direction which the cattle bad taken

The French Government steamer Etna was wrecked
at Tenez on the 20th, crew and passengers saved.

Count FIIAIISSONVILLE, the son of the Duc DE
BROGLIE, has left Paris for London on a particular

mission.

The food riots still continue, and as a proof of the
serious nature of these disturbances, we may mention
the fact, that the Government have just demanded,
avowedly with a view of preventing the occurrence of
more serious commotions, an additional force of 182
brigades of horse, and 59 of foot gendermerie, and 10,000
men of the line.

The French Three per Cents. were done on Sunday, in the
Passage de l'Opet a, at 7§f. Isc.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, Pm:tau/tar 1.
Boulogne and Amiens, 14%—Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Cette
(Espelete), 5i—Namur and Liege, 2%—Northern of France, 11%—
26%
Paris
Sambre and D and Lyons, 7%leuse, —Pari
6% s and Strasbourg, 4—Rouen and Havre,
.

PRIVY COUNCIL.—Her Majesty's Privy Council, ap-
pointed at Windsor Castle on Thursday next, will be
holden for the purpose of " pricking" the list of Sheriffs
tor the present year, according to ancient custom.