The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-17 00:00:00

POLICE OF THE METROPOLIS.

There have been some very curious stories told of
the police this last day or two ; stories of their hard-
ness to the poor, their brutality to the weak, and
their helplessness before the rich and powerful.
But another kind of case altogether came before Mr.
Knox' at Marlborough-street, on Thursday. Three
bank clerks had been balancing the books till late
at night. Before leaving the office they had had
some supper and sherry. When they left, just after
one o'clock, they appear to have been somewhat
noisy. They went into the Haymarket for a cab.
Just then the night-houses were being closed, and,
being taken for some of the revellers who had
just been turned out, the police told the bank clerks to
move on. They refused, saying they were waitiiig,
for a cab. The police then used violence, and, in the
end, the young men were taken to the station-house.
When before Mr. Knox the police swore that the men
had assaulted them. But rebutting evidence was
called, which satisfied the magistrate that the police-
men were telling what was untrue. He, therefore,
dismissed the case, declaring lAN' "t ought never to
have been brought before him.

AMERICAN PAPERS AND TIIE GLIM RELIGIOUS

PRESS.

The Standard, ever on the look-out for signs of
vulgarisms in the New York Dress. unearths every

not and again some " smart wrio.l7, rrvin rn
American press. Its latest discovery in that way is
from the Neu; 1 o 21.; World, which contained, on
June 30th, a whole page devoted to " Daniel E.
Sickles," and, according to the headi:igo, gave reports
of the " Public Reception of our new Minister
to Spain—Some Account of Caner
as Rowdy, Mail Robber, Spy, Murderer,
Confidence-Man, " General," Satrap, Politi-
cian, &c.—Example for Young Americans—
Noble Instance of the Success of a Scoundrel in
American Politics—The Dinner Idea given up—A
Reception to be given To-night without Meat or
Drink. she., &c., &c." All this is bad enough, but if
the Standard would look nearer home it would find
things nearly as bad. Take the following cutting
from the elturch News, a High Church paper whose
moderation is known unto all men :
" We have only to run our eyes over any parish register
in England, and we shall find that the progress of Dissent
and of bastardy move together, If we know the date at
which Dissent entered the parish, we know that from that
date the number of illegitimate births will steadily in-
crease."

Could party journalism—even religious party jour-
nalism—carry abuse further ?

TIM ENGLISH LAND QUESTION.

Mr. Andrew Reid is writing in the Beehive a
series of letters on the land question in England.
lle shews how enormously the land has aggregated
in the last 100 years. Of the total of 7,660,413
acres inclosed since 1710, only 334,974 were inclosed'
between 1710 and 1700, leaving 7,325,439 acres
inclosed between 1700 mid 1867. Ile believes that
we are altogether on the wrong tack with regard to
our land system. To lessen labour in proportion to
the land is one thing, to lessen it in pro-
portion to the produce is another. We have
been doing the first under the delusion that
we were doing the second. Now on all the
smaller farms there will be found a greater number
of men employed than upon the larger ones, and
relatively to their size a larger amount of produce.
The farm labourers of England might easily be
doubled in number, instead of as now being
decreased ; wages might be doubled, and food made
cheaper, if a considerable portion of the peasants
were occupiers instead of hirelings. Mr. Reid
would prefer to see the Metayer system,
under which landlord and tenant share the produce
equally, as in Italy; or, better still, the peasant farmer
system, in which the peasant is the owner as well as
the cultivator. As regards the former, Mr. Reid is
evidently not aware that it is considered a failure in
Italy, where it has long been adopted. It is said to
give rise to so much dishonesty that the Italians
(perhaps it is the Italian landlords) have substituted
for the term inezzadro mezzo-ladro ; that is, for half-
produce they write half-thief.