The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-14 00:00:00

THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT AND

HIS TENANTS.

The Duke of Beaufort is, we have every reason to
believe, a very good landlord, that is, after the good
old feudal fashion—he does not grind his tenants down
by extravagant rents ; but he likes them to know their
places, and to remember that they are retainers of a
Duke, and portion of his ceremonial, state, and political
high-mightiness. At the grand hunting gatherings,
they must therefore be present, and be mounted as be-
comes the followers of so important a personage ; and at
the day of a county election they must be prompt and
willing to sheut " true Blue," and vote for his Grace's
e.andidate. Farmers are not a rebellious race, and the
Duke has seldom experienced any difficulty at the hands
of those who cultivate the many broad acres of his very
magnificent estates. At length, however, a case has
arisen which has demanded, so his Grace thinks, a sig-
nal example—flogging is not allowed in the tenant
armies of Dukes, but the " drumming out" of refractory
farmers, who presume to disobey, or to forget the rules
of the service is found to be equally effectual in pre-
serving discipline in the ranks. The place where the
Duke has found it necessary to show that he is deter
mined, after the fashion of his Grace of Newcastle, to
"do what he likes with his own," is Monmouthshire,
where a vary singular political spectacle is at present
exhibiting itself ; where brothers, and cousins, and
uncles, and nephews, are pulling each other to pieces
in a manner which, if the actors were of a lower rank
in life than dukes, and marquises, and lords, would be
considered rather unseemly. Dr. Watts is, we presume,
much too plebeian and anti-orthodox an author to be
put into the hands of little " my lords" and little " my
ladies ;" and, therefore, they can scarcely be expected
to have been taught such homely rhymes a 3
" Birds in their little nests agree,
And 'tis a shameful sight,
When children of one family
Fall out, and chide and fight."
The representation of Monmonthshire (or at least
half of its representation) as our readers well know, or
ought to know, belongs by a species of right divine to
the Duke of Beaufort for the time being; and it is only
one of those amusing fictions which the English laws and
constitution occasionally exhibit, to say that the " in-
dependent electors," as they are facetiously termed, have
anything to do with the choice of Members of Parlia-
ment, at least in counties where great dukes are the
lords of the soil, and are therefore the proper parties to
take upon themselves the trouble and responsibility of
seeking eligible candidates. To be sure, these candi-
dates, when elected, are called the " representatives of
the people;" but this is only one of those pleasing
fictions to which we have before alluded. For a long
series of years it has pleased the present Duke of
Beaufort and his father before him, to nominate and
appoint Lord Granville Somerset to be a member for
the county of Monmouth, and as his Lordship does
really possess more tact and talent than usually falls to
the share of sons and brothers of dukes, who, in all re-
verence be it spoken, are not on all occasions blessed
with too great an abundance of intellect or common
sense ; and as moreover Lord Granville Somerset has
uniformly conducted himself towards his supporters
with suavity and politeness, the ducal yoke has sat
lightly upon the shoulders of the constituency, and their
votes have been given with much willingness, and for
so long a period, that " use has become second nature."
It has, however, pleased the Duke to take umbrage at
his younger brother thinking for himself on the subject
of the corn-laws, and has given him public notice that
he must render up his seat to another member of the
family who will be more docile. Now it happens that
some of his Grace's tenantry have become personally
attached to his Grace's now-to-be-disgraced brother, and
cannot so easily break asunder the links of gratitude
and esteem with the same ease as dukes can disregard
he ties of fraternal affection. They have accordingly

allowed it to be suspected that they-have a mind to 176(e

as they have been accustomed to vote, and have been
heard to give hints that as Lord Granville is no fool, it
is very likely that free trade is right after all. Now, of
course, this is a rebellion that must be nipped in the
bud—tenants have no right to think except as their
landlord directs them ; and therefore sundry of these

refractory vassals have received notice to quit their 1
farms—a salutary and timely measure which will no
doubt teach others not to chafe at the new harness
that has been made for them. It is also necessary to
show as publicly as possible that Lord Granville Somer-
set, although the brother, is n) longer kin in the
affections of the Duke. The Duke's son, therefore, the
Marquis of Worcester, is sent down to Monmouth at the
Assizes, where for time out of mind almost, Lord Gran-
ville Somerset has presided as chairman of the grand
jury. Well, his name is, as usual, called over at the head
of the list, and he is again installed in his old office,
of foreman, upon which his nephew, the Marquis of
Worcester, gives his juvenile moustaches a curl of rage
and scorn, and with a number of his partizans marchs
out of court :—a very seemly spectacle, of course, to
the lower orders, who are thereby taught that young
aristocrats are happily released from those shackles of
decency and polite behaviour to which " the vulgar" are
of course very properly expected to conform themselves.
It seems that there is a newspaper in Monmouthshire
called the Merlin, which in its innocent simplicity
thinks that these things ought not to be, 'and that
tenants ought to be expected to cultivate their farms
and to pay their rents, and if they do these things
they ought to be allowed to vote as they please. We
do not know where the Merlin editor got his " brought-
ings-up," but it is very evident he is an ignorant man,
and as mischievous as he is ignorant. It is, however,
" right divine" of dukedom, that there is another print
in the same county, yclept the Beacon ; and a shining
light it is, as its name testifies. That paper, which
may be taken, we presume, as the Duke's mouthpiece
upon this occasion, has come forth, and has done battle
against the heretical notions which it seems have begun
to find favour in Monmouthshire. That paper, in most
valorous fashion, maintains " the right, the expediency,
and the justice, of a landlord taking care that his
tenants be his friends." It grants that " notices have
been served upon tenants to quit their holdings," and
it says, "it served 'em right"—" the Duke of Beaufort
has acted in a straitforward way, and has shown that
he will not tolerate, as his tenants, men who have not
firmness enough to stand by the principles they profess
in the hour of trial ;" and it winds up its encomiums

of the Duke by—" We honour the Duke for his manli-
ness and consistency, which is infinitely superior to the
mawkish sentiment and liberal twaddle of the Merlin."
Well, the Duke, in the midst of his trials, is a happy
man—ungrateful and refractory tenants may annoy him
for a moment ; but such a devoted liegeman, and such a
clever one too, as the editor of the Beacon, is a jewel
beyond price. We cannot help thinking, however, that
a visit or two from Mr. Cobden, in Monmouthshire,
would do no great harm, if he could spare the time.
Agricultural serfdom, is, after all, a mighty fine thing
for Dukes cf Beaufort, but is, as far as human nature
and " English manliness.' is concerned, a lamentable
picture to contemplate in the year of our Lord one thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-six.—Gloucester J 0,47

THE POTATO DISEASE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin—The prevailing (and I think well-grounded)
opinion in this county, as to the potato disease, is, that
it was caused by some blight of the air; for, wherever
this most useful vegetable is covered by a tree not the
least damage has been done, whilst all other parts of the
crop is gone. In the same field where several portions
of the crop have been covered by trees, not a top of the
potato is touched, all the rest being totally black,
Notts, Sept. n, 1846. BASSETLAW.

Lord Dudley Stuart had an interview on Saturday
with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
A YOUNG 'Mm's IDEA OF A PLEASANT DAY.—
CIoSSING THE LlNE.—Extract from a letter just re-
ceived by a clergyman, near Salisbury, from a Naval
Cadet on board her Majesty's ship S--t, on its voyage
to China :-1846, May 3.—We are approaching Nep-
tune's territories. We expect him to hail us to-night,
and we are making preparation for him. Men are sta-
tioned on every top with buckets of water to pitch down
on the crowd as they go forwards to see who is hailing
us. As we expected, Neptune hailed us, and asked
what ship it was, and where from ? The Captain came
on deck and answered him. As soon as the men heard
him hailing us, they all ran forwards to see who it was,
and then the buckets of water camo pouring clown upon
us. Everybody got wet through. The captain invited
him to come on board on Monday. Accordingly every-
thing was prepared to receive him. We got the fore
trysail triced up to the forecastle in the form of a bag,
and filled with water. We got the fire engine rigged,
and everything ready. There was an old gun slide,
which was covered with old flags for his Majesty to sit
on. He came on board about nine o'clock. As soon as
he came on board, all the culprits who had to undergo
the operation of shaving were thrust down below, and
all the hatches shut, so that we could not see anything
that was going on. Mr. M., the master, went up first ;
then came the different officers of our berth. When it
came to my turn the constables came down and blind-
folded me. I was then led on the quarter-deck, where
the first thing was the engine playing right in my face.
I was then dragged on to the forecastle, where the bar-
bers caught hold of me, and led me to the brink of the
bath, on board which I sat down. They then began
lathering my face all over with tar, and to scrape it with
an old scythe, notched like a saw. When they thought
I had had shaving enough, they pulled the plank from
under me, and down I went right into the water. The
moment I was out I got hold of a bucket of water, and
flung it at the first person I met. This went on till all
were shaved, and then they piped bands to dry decks,
which was the signal to leave off, so we ran down be-
low and got a good wash, and so ended almost the most
pleasant day I have ever spent.
PROGRESS OF TUE NEW PALACE.—In the House of
Lords, to which, more particularly, attention is now di-
rected, the works are making rapid progress. The cell •
ing and upper part of the walls are finished, and carvers
and joiners are occupied in every corner of the place in
fixing the wainscot fittings, both in the House and
lobbies. Those in the former are most elaborately
carved out of the solid, and reflect great credit on the
workmen. The decorations will be gorgeous—dazzling.
The ceiling, formed into deeply-sunk panels, is covered
with g'old and colours. Under each wall-piece, from
principal timbers, is a sculptured canopy and niche,
solidly gilt, where finished, between which occur the
windows, to be filled with stained glass (six on each
side) and compartments for fresco.
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