The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-05 00:00:00

good end. We are quite certain that the present
Government are pacifically inclined, but we are
equally certain that, despite the tenor of such obser-
vations as those to which we have adverted, they will
not be deterred, should the necessity be unhappily
created, from firmly vindicating the rights and in-
terests of the British empire, in what quarter of the
world soever any attempt may be made to invade or
impair either the one or the other.

The Landed Property (Ireland) Bill went
through the Committee in the House of Lords last
night. The promised explanation as to its general
objects, which should have been made on the second
reading, was given by the Marquis of LANSDOWNE,
who also announced the increase of the fund to be
granted for the purposes of the Act, from
1,000,0001. to 1,500,000/. sterling, consequent upon
the postponement of the Bill for the reclamation of
the waste lands, and the liberation of the million
intended to have been applied thereunder. The
public are already acquainted with the chief features
of the proposed measure, which is, in effect, the
mode by which the Treasury minute of last December
is to be carried out, and the stimulus to be given to
the improvement of the soil by those proprietors,
who, by reason either of their restricted powers
consequent upon entails and settlements, or of the
weight of the encumbrances and charges affecting
their respective properties, are unable from private
sources to obtain the necessary funds for that im-
provement. It is universally admitted by persons of
all parties, that the aid intended to be afforded by
this Act, coupled with that for the more easy
disposal of encumbered estates, is calculated to
lead to the permanent amelioration of the sister
kingdom, and its elevation from the distress
and difficulties in which it has been involved.
No opposition, therefore, was offered from any quar-
ter to the progress of the measure. Some suggestions
were offered, one of which, including grist mills in the
class of buildings for the erection of which the Commis-
sioners were empowered to make advances, was assented
to. If this power is judiciously used it may be produc-
tive of considerable advantage to the country.
Nothing could be more objectionable than the crea-
tion of extensive commercial establishments with
the public money, or the interference with
the free course of trade, by giving undue
encouragement to any class of speculators which
must be prejudicial to those embarked in the
same description of business. Generally speaking,
private enterprise will be found fully adequate to
provide the required accommodation, to make the
supply equivalent to the demand. But, in Ireland,
the extraordinary events of the past year, and the
vast alteration that must henceforth take place in the
food of the people, require that extraordinary
facilities should be given for the grinding
of every kind of corn, and its conversion
into meal or flour. There is also an immense
quantity of water power, which has been neglected
and which might easily be made available, so as to
have small mills erected at a very trifling expense in
almost every locality. If limited to this extent, it
will be a very useful addition to the Act.
The Duke of WELLINGTON suggested the insertion
of another clause of the greatest importance. Among
the most crying grievances to which the Irish Agri-
cultural labourer is subjected is that which has been
termed the " Conacre system," a system still more
objectionable than the " Truck system," which
prevails in parts of this country. The poor
man who has no land attached to his cottage,
who has no place in which he can grow the accus-
tomed crop of potatoes for the use of his family, ap-
plies to a neighbouring farmer, who lets him a small
plot at a rent amounting to 81., 101., or 121. per acre,
which rent he agrees to accept in labour at the rate
of Bd. or 10d. per diem. The poor cottier is well
satisfied with his bargain ; he cares not how exorbitant
may be the rent he agrees to pay, because it will be ac-
cepted from him in the only way in which he can
pay it—in the labour which would remain unoeeupied
if he did not enter into some such agreement ; and
he is well aware that in no other way will
he get employment. Had he ready money to pay he
would get the land for less than one-half of the amount
which he undertakes to give in labour. If there is a
fair and reasonable amount of produce the labourer
is contented, and most religiously performs his part
of the contract ; he has secured a sufficiency of the
humble food on which his family and himself are
accustomed to live, and he trusts to the casual
work he may be able to obtain to procure every
other necessary ; but if there should be a
failure of that for which he had mort-
gaged :his labour, his only wealth, his con-
dition is indeed deplorable ; he has no resource
left, he is flung upon the charity of the country, and
must have recourse to the Government works or the
poor-law union for the support of himself and family.
Of course he cannot then give the stipulated quantity
of labour, and the farmer, who relies on obtaining it
from him, too frequently has not the means
of procuring other labour, and his lands remain neg-
lected and uncultivated. All classes, therefore, suffer
from the baneful effects of the system. His Grace
proposes as a remedy, " that all bargains for the
wages of labour should be made in the current coin
of the realm ; and that the payment of wages shall
be enforced in the same ; and that the labourer shall
have a claim for that payment, notwithstanding any
bargain to the contrary with his employer." This pro-
vision appears well calculated to give the death-blow
to the practice, and may probably be introduced
with safety, pari passu, with the extended poor-
law, which will ensure a maintenance to the labouring
population, either in return for their daily
work or otherwise, without that it might possibly
deteriorate the condition of the people for whose be-
nefit it was intended. It might induce the farmers
to give far less employment, and consequently to
leave their lands still more neglected than at present.
It might leave the cottier without any kind of occu-
pation or remuneration for his labour, and far worse
off than he is under the present state of affairs. The
clause is proposed to be added to the Bill on
the bringing up of the report. In the meantime we
trust that it will receive that full and attentive con-
sideration that its importance, and the vast influence
it must exercise on the social condition of so large a
portion of the community, and that the most helpless
and destitute, so urgently demand.

The King of NAPLES has granted a full pardon to
thirty-six prisoners, and reduced by one-half the
periods of punishment of ten others. In the first
batch were included five persons condemned for
political offences.
Letters from Bologna of the 25th ult. announce
that the POPE had sanctioned the principle of the
establishment of national guards throughout the
Pontifical dominions, and that a decree to that effect
would be shortly published by his Holiness. The
two censors of the press, who, with the Governor,
were to constitute the superior board for the pro-
vince of Bologna, were Father VENTURINI, a Barna-
bite, and M. BAJETTI, professor of natural law—
two men of great learning and liberality.

A letter from Berlin says—
"ln Prussia. till now, all conflicts of jurisdiction were
judged by the Council of State, as in all the other states of
Germany, in France, and in many other countries. The King
has just reformed this state of things, which gives rise to
many abuses. By an ordonnance of the 12th, his Majesty
has created a court composed of five immovable judges, who
are to decide on all the conflicts which may arise between
the tribunals, or between the administrative authorities, or
between the former and the latter. This measure, as will be
readily believed, has been received with general approbation.
The King has held out a hope to the Deputies of the Grand
Duchy of Posen that immediately after the case of the Polish
insurrectionists shall have been judged, there shall be ac-
corded an amnesty, if not general, at least very large."

Madrid papers of the 28th ult. have arrived.
It is said that General VAN lIALEN, the friend of
ESPARTERO, is expected in Madrid. The return of
VAN lIALEN is probably the forerunner of the recal
of ESPARTERO. The 27th being Queen CHRISTINA'S
birthday was observed with the usual solemnities.
The Court was to leave Madrid for Aranjuez on the
sth May.
MADRID BOMA, APRIL 28.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 31i for cash; the Five per Cents. at 19;
the Debt without Interest at 5i ; and the Coupons
at 16.

We have received the Paris papers of Monday.
The investment made by the Emperor of RUSSIA
in the English funds is the subject of comment in
several of them. The Presse, of course, sees in it a
political rather than A financial operation. The Em-