The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-19 00:00:00

NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE,

AQUA AMARELLA restores the Human Hair
to its pristine hue, no matter at what age.
J NO. GOSNELL and CO. have at length, with the aid of one of
the most eminent Chemists, succeeded in perfecting this wonder-
ful liquid. It is now offered to the public in a more concentrated
form, and at a lower price.
Sold in bottles, 3s. each; also 55., 7s. 6d., and 15s. each, nclud-
ng brush.

ited Bull Wharf, Angel-passage, 93, Upper Thames-street, Lon•
don, B.C.

THEATRES, AND AMUSEMENTS,

DRURY-LANE-A Domestic Hercules. Amy Robsari
Phobus's Fix.

QUEEN'S—Aunt Charlotte's Maid.
Dream.

Midsummer Night's

VAUDEVILLE—ChiseIIing. Two Roses. Don Carlos.
STRAND—On and Off. Living at Ease. The Idle
'Prentice.

PRINCESSEW—Wanted, 1,000 Milliners. The Rapparee.
The Happy Man.
ROYALTY—WeaIth and F. M. Julius Cncesar, the
Irregular Rum 'Un.
OLYMPIC—LittIe Emily and (Burlesque) Panl and
Virginia.
ST. JAMES'S—To Oblige Benson, Fernande. Only a
Halfpenny.
HOLBORN—Farce. The Odds.
GAIETY—The Happy Village, Zampa. Trombalcalzar.
GLOBE—Board and Residence. Taming of the Shrew.
Marco Spada.

SADLER'S WELLS—Farce. Macbeth.
STANDARD —Little Emily. Chapter of Accidents.
PALMS RoYAL—Dr. Corry's Panorama of Ireland—Pro-
fessor Faber's Talking Machine- Siege of Paris.
MADAME TIISSAIJD'S (Baker-street) —From 10 a.m. till 10
p.m. is. ; extra rooms, 6d.

tirjg (t-ip

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1870,

" IF I were twenty-five or thirty-years old, instead
of twice that number, I would take Adam Smith in

my, hand, and I would have a League for free trade
n land, as we have had a League for free trade in
These words were uttered by Mr. COBDEN

corn."

in the last speech which he addressed to the House
of Commons. More than five years have passed
since he made that speech, but no one has raised
the banner which he would so gladly have
borne. Yet year by year the huge army of paupers
becomes vaster, more formidable, and more perilous
to the State. At the rev olution of 1088 there were

in England 849,000 families who were landowners;
at the present time there are only about
30,000, though the population has increased five-
fold, and though the latter number includes all
the building sites and town and suburban allotments .
Two hundred years ago one family in every four
were freeholders; to-day one half of England is
owned by 150 persons, and 192 million acres of Scot-
land, one fourth of the total acreage of the United

Kingdom, are owned by twelve persons. Between
1670 and 1867 no less than 7,000,000 acres of com-
mons have been swallowed up under the Enclosure
Acts, and have gone to increase the already large
estates of adjoining proprietors. By the side of these
startling facts we place another. Out of the 772
million acres in the United Kingdom only 451 millions
are under cultivation or in permanent grass; the
remaining 32 millions are lying waste, though fully
one-half is capable of cultivation. These figures we
borrow from a very remarkable article in the West-
minster Review for the present quarter, and they afford
a theme for deep reflection. Say that there are only 10
millions of waste land capable of cultivation, and
we have at once a field of labour, vastly beyond the
labour of those 150,000 poor, whom we have amongst
us, fully able to work, yet a burden upon our re-
venues, because there is no work for them to do.
Not only is available labour lying unused, there is
also available capital to any extent which might be
used in making the wilderness and the solitary place
to rejoice if only it were possible to get possession. It
is calculated that £760,000,000 are invested in
foreign and colonial railways, and in Indian and
foreign debts, besides an unknown sum in foreign
banks, insurance, steam navigation, dock, plantation,
land, and mining companies. Probably not less than
a milliard sterling is invested out of the country—
that is, is spent in wages to foreign workmen and
otherwise.

With these facts staring them in the face, our
legislators have yet no remedy for that fearful disease
of pauperism which is consuming the vitals of the
nation. Ministers who in other matters have shewn
no lack of boldness will not venture to declare
Englishmen shall not be allowed to
when three - sevenths of English
soil is left barren. In this matter the
press must precede Parliament. Journalists and
political economists must, with line upon line and
precept upon precept, constantly insist that land is
different from all other property, and that there is no
just ownership in land distinct from the improvemen,
of it. A merchant may sink his goods in the sea

starve

a city man man may throw his gold into the
fire and he will not hurt the community, for
ti,ere is more of the same materials to take the
place of those that have been destroyed. But the
landowner has nu right to keep his land a bog or a

Leath, because he thereby deprives the
wealth of that whereof the supply is limited, and

which is essential to the nation's wellbeing. We have
not indicated the whole of the evil. Not only does the
present land system deprive us of the surest remedy
for pauperism ; but it also keeps the class which
cultivates the land that is tilled in a state of poverty,
which hardly falls short of pauperism. Throughout
Europe it would be impossible to find a class so
degraded, and so miserable as the agricultural labour-
ing class in England. Hitherto the same class in Ire-
land has been in a worse condition; but the Act of
last Session cannot fail to elevate them. Is there to
be no such day of redemption for the English
peasant F Is he always to toil until old age for a
pittance just sufficient to keep body and soul
together, ard- then, when no longer able to work,
to find a refuge in the Poor-house ? This 'is the
question which more than any other, infinitely more
than the Ballot and University. Tests, and other like
political measures, demands the attention of our legis-
lators. The Westminster Review proposes a bold
remedy—" Let the Crown resume possession of the
whole of the agricultural and unreclaimed land in the
Kingdom, and compensate the owners at so many years'
purchase at the present rents. Let, it retain
possession of the land, and lease it in blocks of from
ten to two hundred acres in 'extent, the leases to
be for a period of thirty years. At the expiration of
that period let the land be va.ued, and if it has
increased in value in the interval, whether owing to
the enterprise of the tenant, or to other causes beyond
his control, let him have his lease renewed for
another period of thirty years, conditionally on his
paying, in addition to the old rent, one-half of the
value that has accrued since the commencement of his
tenure. The cultivator would lave what is so neces-
sary to him, security of tenure, and ample encou-
ragement to effect all necessary improvements; the
man of small capital would have an opportunity of
acquiring a holding suited to his means; while the
landlord (i. e. the State) and the tenant would
each receive his fair proportion of the value
that might.accrue to the land during occupation."
This is a definite proposal which we trust the author
of the Irish Land Bill will consider, with a view to
extracting from it the elements of a solution for the
most pressing and difficult problem of the day.