The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-13 00:00:00

made in vain.

it spoken, has been among the foremost to set an ex-
ample of munificence, knowing well that one season-
able act of charity like this will shed far more splen-

dour on his Mayoralty, than if ht.) wete to announce a
public festival at Guildhall every day during his conti-
nuance in office.

The speech of King LEOPOLD on opening the
Belgian Chambers, on the 11th inst., which we tave
given from the correspondent of the Times, realizes
our most sanguine hopes of the improved con-
dition of Belgium under the present Government.
King LEOPOLD speaks of Belgium as only yet pre-
paring- to emerge from the evils in which she was
engulphed ; he recommends a rigid economy in every-
department ; announces the flourishing condition of
railway improvements and other public works ; and
what is of the greatest importance, he states that the
present condition'of the public finances, and the regu-
larit-, with which they are managed, will allow the
nation to undertake several other works for im-
proving the trade and commerce of the coun-
try. The only part of the speech which will
excite attention of more than an ordinary, kind, is
where he refers to a project for strengthdning the
northern frontier of the kingdom ; which, coupled
with his total silence on the question of 'lol-
-1 land, looks rather ominous. On the whole the
speech is very satisfactory ; .the nationality of
Belgium is now recognized by most of the
great European Powers ; her trade increases ra-
pidly ; her people are sober and industrious,
and in the course of a few years a prudent- Go-
vernment may so manage her affairs, that Belgium
will be one among the most prosperous countries in
Europe.

The accounts from St. Petersburgh to the 29th
Oct. bring no political news.

DUTCH FUNDS—AmsTF.anAm, Nov. 11.
Actual Debt, 2% per Cent...
Alflolt Syndic, 4% per cent. 90% to 91 4
Ditto, ditto. 3% per cent 74 to 74%
Loan (It•t:30) 5 per cent.
Ditto ((SO2 and 1&13) 5 per cent.
Exchange en London, One month l2 17 5 IC
Two months

SPANISH FUNDS
tortes at Amsterdam, 5 per Cent 45 to 41
Ditto, ditto, 3 per Cent 27►4 to 28L4
Loan, London (1832; 5 per Cent.
Cou;7ons Cortes
Cortes Deferred Debt
----Dutch Papers, Nov_ 12.
PRUSSIAN FUNDS—Beaus, Nov. 7.
St. Schuld. Sch. 4 per cent.
Prtusian English Loan, 18 iB, 5 per cent - --
Ditto ls22, 5 per cent.... --
Ditto Bonds lB3l, 4 per cent.... 951 i 85%

We have heard it urged by men of intelligence,
against the plan of aiding the poor man by making him
a small landholder, that in the first place it would
make him less valuable as a labourer, and that in the
second place it could not be done, so as to secure him
any profitable return for his outlay of labour. As a
general answer to these general objections, it may be
said, that when the majority of both agricultural and
manufacturing labourers were small landholders, they
did find the cultivation of their plots profitable, and
that as labourers, their character was infinitely higher
than it now is. We will, however, not confine our-
selves to mere general assertions, but will show from
facts that the holding` a plot of ground, not too large
to be cultivated by the labourer, with the assistance of
his family, during his leisure and unoccupied hours,
is a certain way of elevating his character, and
making him independent of parochial relief. This
reservation must be always borne in mind—not
to convert the labourer into a farmer, beyond occupy-
ing such an extent of ground as will not interfere with
his daily and customary labour. If the labourer be
removed from his own status, he becomes a small
farmer, without capital, and is thus exposed to ruin
from the ordinary misfortunes of loss of cattle, or a
bad season. Our recommendation escapes this evil,
and in few cases, would we permit the labourer to
tenant more than half an acre. This is sufficient, gene-
rally speaking, to find himself and family with moderate
employment.

In the first place we will demonstrate that the cultiva-
tion of a small plot of land is profitable to the labourer,
because without carrying the will and interest of
the labourer along with us, we can do nothing.
The Bishop of BATH and WELLS many years ago
commenced a plan of letting a portion of glebe land to
the poarest and most destitute of his tenantry. ,This
plan he has followed in all his removals, and he has
thus left behind him the best proofs of a Christian
spirit, namely—industry, content, and sobriety. Since
1827 be has allotted 38 acres in the immediate neigh-
bourhoo&of his palace. This extent of ground is
divided into quarters of acres, let to as many different
tenants ; and thus, upon an average, 140 families find
emplapnent upon it. The crops principally cultivated
are potatoes, and the land is let at a moderate but fair
rent. The prqfit upon each plot isfound to be upwards
of 51. after deducting every expense and liability. The
same gestalt has attended a multitude of examples with
which we have been made acquainted. Thus, the
eultiv4ion of a small plot of ground fills up unoccu-
pied time, prevents idleness, that curse of the working
man, finds a healthy employment for his family, and
the pr§,ks more than suffice to pay his cottage-rent.
Let u§ now see what effect the holding of land by
the poor has upon the amount of poor-rate. In
1800 the population of the parish of Long Newnton,
Wilts, were reduced by distresses of various kinds to
extreme poverty. The idea of allotting small portions of
land, as a means of raising them from their depressed
and miserable condition, occurred to Mr. Estcouttr,
and
.the proposal was made, and eagerly received.
Each cottager on application became tenant of a small
quantity of arable land, at a fair farmer's rent, and of
no greater extent than the family of such person could
cultivate, without interfering with his usual labour.
What followed the adoption of this plan ? Why that
the amount of poor rate for the six months previous to
this time, was 2121. 165., whilst the same rate for the
same- period, two years after the plan had been in
force, was 12/. 65., of which sum 4/. 12s. 6d., alone
was applied to the relief of the poor. At Burley-on-
the-Hill, in Rutlandshire, the system of encouraging
cottage land-holding has been very long in practice,
and with what consequence as to pauperism ? That
the poor rate amounted only to 3d. in the pound of
rental, whilst at Burwash, in Sussex, where no
such advantage has been enjoyed by the cottagers,
the relief levied for the poor has almost swallowed up
the rental, having been 12s. in the pound. We could
multiply examples of this nature ad infinitum, were it
not that our limits prohibit us.
Having seen the profit to the labourer, and the
effects upon the poor-rate produced by the holding of
small plots' of land, let us now see what have been its
effects upon the poor man's character as a labourer,
and tipon his moral. and domestic habits. Mr.

ESTCOURT says, " some persons have conceived that
inconvenience would arise, from the circumstance of
the poor being in a better situation than formerly, and
that it would put them above the necessity of labour,

and would render theni idle, insolent, and immoral.
Experience,. however, proves the contrary, and the
farmers of the parish allow, that they never had their
work better done, or their servants more able, willing,
civil, and sober ; and farther, ,tli4at their property was
never- so free from depredation as at present." In
another situation in Wiltshire, where the plan
has been acted upon since 1820, the owner of the
property thus speaks :—" When I first resided in the
village in 1820, I found the peopl: neglected, poor,
uncivil, thieves, poachers, mischievous, and idle.
They are now contented, civil, laborious, and honest.
Eight years ago I suffered the usual country revenge,'
for encouraging the good, and punishing the dissolute ;
and had my plantations twice broken and destroyed.
During the late tumults—in the agricultural districts—
they have come forward, to a man, to protect my pro-
perty, and no disturbance whatever has occurred." We
must here again repeat that these examples are not so-
litary, or rare ones. We have lying before us abun-
dance of details, from all parts of the country, of a si-
milar character.

These facts bearing upon the improvement of the
poor, make us exceedingly anxious that the attention
of the Poor Law Commissioners should be directed
towards them. The almost despotic power which is
placed in their hands, may be of immense advantage if it
be applied to the legitimate purposes intended by the
Poor Law Amendment Act, namely, to raise the
labouring poor from idleness, improvidence, and degra-
dation►, and if they seek to do this by making the Art
a means to an end, without looking for beneficial re-
sults, solely in the literal execution of its enactments.
There are, we believe, several acts of Parliament still
in force, empowering overseers and others to hire land
for the employment of the poor, and likewise other
acts relating to crown lands, speCially ordering that
certain portions shall be reserved for the same purpose.
We also know, from the most extensive enquiries, that
land may be had at a fair farmer's rental, in most
townships except those in the immediate vicinity of
large towns, and we know too that the labourers
would hail the proposition of holding- land as a boon.
It must not be supposed, that because the poor have
suffered their cottage gardens to decay, that they are
listless and apathetic on the subject. They have been

long under the degrading influence of a badly admi-
nistered system of relief, and of a gradual, but con-

tinued, diminution of wages ; and these have step by step
depresrd their independance of spirit, and for a time
robbed us of our bold and industrious peasantry. But

his spirit, though depressed, is not broken. Let the

denial of out- door relief, and of other evil modes of
administering to their wants, come upon them—not as
a punishment—not as a harsh and unfeeling measure
—but let it come joined with the remedial agencies we
propose ; and at no very distant date, in place of seeing
considerable tracts of country but half cultivated—in
place of seeing an immoral and pauperized population
—in place of seeing the value of land swallowed up by
parochial expenditure—we shall see these tracts look-
ing like a garden—we shall have a happy, a con-
tented, and a respectable population ; and we shall see
land rise in value in proportion to the industry ex-
pended upon it.
It is, we believe, too common to consider the poor
man as a creature solely anxious for the supply of his
mere animal wants and passions, and many of us
should be disposed to inscribe on his tomb the self-
written epitaph of " Sardanapalus"—
" HEee habeo, qum edi, qumque exsaturata libido
Hausit : at ilia jacent multa, et prceclara relicta."
We crr, however, widely in thus viewing him.—A
long acquaintance with poverty has shown us, that
many of the nobler and better attributes of humanity
are shared by it, in common with ourselves—and that
there is frequently a nobility in poverty of the highest
excellence. It is in this light we should view the
poor man. To consider poverty as a crime is the first
step towards making the poor man a criminal.