The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-11 00:00:00

TTHE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

AND THE LABOURER.

Having inserted the contradiction of the Bucks
Herald, we think it lair also to find room for the re-
plication of the Aylesbury News, the authority on
which we first, statcd that the Duke of Buckingham
had employed a labourer at 4s. a week.

As might have been expected, 111;. Ryde, the Editor
of the Duke's Herald, rushes to the rescue of his mas-
ter, and attempts to bolster up a story for his Grace,
which he calls " a complete denial and disproof." We
are about to show that, though a denial, it is a worthless
one ; and, as for being " a complete disproof," the as-
sumption is truly ridiculous.
Mr. Ryde gives the statement the " most distinct
denial in every particular," and commences the last
paragraph of his article with " the lie was widely and
rapidly circulated." The question, therefore, as to the
truth of the story turns entirely on the amount of cre-
dibility to be given to either of the two gentlemen
whose stories are so directly opposed to each other. It
Ryde is to be believed, Bonser has lied ; if Bonser's
statement be true, the charge lies at Ryde's door. No
explanation can make the two statements consistent
with each other ; who, then, is to be believed—Ryde
or Bonser ?

On the part of Mr. Bonser, it may be stated that he
is a respectable man, holding a responsible situation, and
not likely to fabricate a falsehood of this nature, having
no inducement so to do ; Mr. Ryde himself " does not
believe he intended to propagate a falsehood." Now,
what can be said for Mr. Ryde? In the first place,
every body knows his connexion with the Duke
of Buckingham, and his consequent anxiety to shield his
Grace from all censure ; secondly, the entire omission
of the remarriable statement from the Bucks Herald
report of the proceedings of the Aylesbury Petty Ses-
sion looks most suspicious. We happen to know that
the reporter of the Bucks Herald had Mr. Bonser's
statement on his MS. notes, and yet the printed report
contained not a word of it, nor even an allusion to it.
The omission can only be accounted for on the supposi-
tion that Ryde thought the statement likely to detract
from the Duke's popularity, and therefore garbled his
report. Ought not this wilful garbling to detract from
the value of the denial? One thing is very evident—
the Bucks Herald is more anxious to defend the Duke
than to protect the labourer. Knowing that the state-
ment had been made, Mr. Ryde took no pains to con-
tradict it until the Duke's character was affected by it.
Had Mr. Ryde a spark of that regard for the interests
of the labouring classes which the pro-corn-law advo-
cates make such loud professions of, he would have
made his inquiries respecting this poor lad a week be-
fore, as he had the statement before him just that period
of time ere we made it public.

It is to be noticed that we have no authorized con-
tradiction of Mr. Bonser's statement, no regulated in-
quiry into the particulars, no withdrawal on the part of
Mr. Bonser. We have nothing, in fact, but the denial
of Mr. Ryde, who tells us he examined the lad—the
very last man in the whole county we .should have ad-
vised to conduct an inquiry in which the character of
the Duke of Buckingham is concerned.
There is, however, one discrepancy in the statements
of Mr. Ryde and Mr. Bonser which we think not at all
irreconcileable. The former describes Allen as "stout
and ruddy, walking about as sturdily as any lad of his
age ;" the latter as " so reduced that he had the appear-
ance of an old man, though only nineteen years of age."
This difference of descriptions we account for by re-
minding our readers of the different periods at which
the lad was examined. Bonscr described the state of
the lad at his entrance into the Union workhouse, and
while suffering under the effects of the regimen pre.
scribed by the Duke of Buckingham for his labourers,
as stated by his apologist Ryde—giving them such a
rate of wages as will hardly suffice for purChasing
enough " bread and lard" to keep them alive, and allow-
ing but half a pound of meat a week. " We," says
Mr. Ryde, "saw the lad on Wednesday last, and he
appeared stout and ruddy, and walked about as sturdily
as any lad of his age." Yes, Mr. Ryde, this was after
the poor fellow had been in the Union workhouse for
three weeks, and had, by the superior diet there given,
recovered himself from the deplorable consequences at-
tending enrolment among the Duke's labourers. Thus,
the recollecting that three weeks had elapsed between
making the first description and the second accounts
ior the apparent discrepancy, without charging either
party with " lying ;" and, unfortunately for the Duke
and his apologist, entirely deprives his Grace of all the
credit which may attach to the appearance of the
" stout and sturdy" lad. It is very evident that Allen
would never have become either stout or sturdy while
bean-hoeing for the Duke, and living on bread and I ird.
Mr. Ryde talks of " other testimony on which he
can rely." It happens that we - have also seen indi-
viduals from the neighbourhood of Ashendon, and they
all tell us that, " for their parts, they behave every
word of Bonser's story."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
(From the Globe.)

The master-stroke of High Church and Tory po-
licy for the present Session is reserved for the 16'11
inst., when Sir It. Inglis will endeavour to induce
the House of Commons to vote eight milliwis—for
that is the limit of their present hopes—to effect what,
in the vocabulary of the party, is designated Church
Extension! The effect of such a vote would be two-fold.
In the first place, the amount now asked for would
entail a perpetual charge upon the general taxation of
the country of 400,0001. annually, independent of the
incidental local charges in the shape of Church-rates,
and other forms of parochial taxation, which inevitably
follow the erection of new churches ; but, se-
condly, and chiefly to be deprecated, is the asked-
for recognition by Parliament of the principle, that
churches ought to be provided at the expense
of the State in proportion to the increase of
the population. This is the real object sought
by the party which is straining every nerve for the fur-
therance of the Church Extension scheme ; and this
would increase the public burdens to an extent, not
merely oppressive, but ruinous. Not less than eighty
millions would suffice to erect the buildings only ; the
stipends to be secured to the clergymen appointed to
officiate in these churches must also be provided by the
State, and would demand at least ji/ty millions wore
(From the Standard.)
We printed yesterday the principal clause of Mr.
Pigot's Irish Franchise Bill. We reprint it here,
as the Morning Chronicle has given a very long ar-
ticle upon the subject this morning, and because the
proposition of the ex-repealer and late member -iTy.
the National Convention in Ireland, who holds the
office of Solicitor-General in that country. illustrates in
a remarkable manner the habits and disposition of a
Government that exists upon a combination of mean
craft, with a readiness to embark in the must desperate
enterprises of its patron and master.
" And whereas it is expedient to remove such doubts,
and make provision for the mode of ascertaining such
qualification, and to create a tribunal of appeal upor, twit-
ters of law relating to the registration of voters in Ireland;
be it therefore enacted, by the :,:ueen's Most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
Lords spi: itnal and temporal, and Corn ,ions, in this pre-
sent Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the
_ . _

" That in determining whether any person who shall
claim to be allowed to register as a voter, has a beneficial
interest to the amount in value required by law to
entitle such person to register as a voter in respect.
of any freehold or leasehold premises, the ti
bunal determining upon such claim shall estimate
such value according to the beneficial interest
which such premises actually yield, or are capa-
ble yiel ing, to the person so claiming to register,
calculating such interest to be the profit or advantage de•
rived or derivable by such claimant out of such premises,
after deducting the rent, tithea, rent-charge (if payable by
such claimant) and expenses, if any ! of cultivating tire
same, arai not according to the rent which a solvent tenant
could afford to pay for the same, over and above the rent
which the person so claiming to register is liable to pay."

Every one in the leas', acquainted with the condition 1
of the Irish peasantry must be well aware that the effect of
this interpretation of the law would be UuiversolSqt;.age. '
Now, linivef,al Suffrage m ty be just or unjust, politic or
impolitic, but whatever it may be it is a change too vast to
be proprly effected by a declaratory law, misintet preting
two words. We say misinterpreting, because the plain
common sense meaning of the wurds " beneficial in-
terest " is the contrary of that which Mr. Pignut's
law would give to the phrase. As well say that one
of Mr. O'Connell's kinsmen has a bewfieial juiciest
of 101. a-year in the hod by which he earns his living, as
that another has a " beneficial interest" of 10/. a-year in
a scrap of ground, by the use of which he makes a far less
comfortable living than his cousin hodman. Read the
words of Mr. Pigot's Bill—" Calculating such interest to
be the profit or advantage derived or derivable out of such
premises, after deducting the rent, tithes, rent-charG e
(if payable by claimant), and expenses, if any, of culti-
vating the same." Now, we say without fear of con-
tradiction, that there is not a scrap of ground sufficient
to sustain one man, much more one family, and that
by the best management, which would not constitute a
title to the franchise under this description.
(From the Courier.)
We have no great faith in the diplomatic ability of
Colonel Hodges, whose blustering manners, as his Ajax-
like stature, might be well suited to the meridian of Bu-
charest and the barbarism of Wallachia, where he should
have been left, but are little suited to cope with the
subtle policy and masterly mind of Mehemet All,
upon which European frankness and honesty, comic it
fan!, would be calculated to make more impression even
than a congenial display of Oriental finesse. With
so many other imbroglios on hand, springing out of
the tortuous and vacillating management of fp,,,:eiza
affairs, it is clearly the height of iiiipolicy, and prep_
nant with future peril, longer to delay the adjust-
ment of a question on which we arc at issue more or
less with two Powers, each with views and in tercs' s
conflicting with those of this country, a combi,
nation and mutual understanding between whoiu, to nor
and pr, judice, wil pot Improbably be the
result
Austria can have no views of agranchiquent --
of further indolence and apathy. Altlicitigh
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