The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-04 00:00:00

THE AGRICULTURAL LABOULER.

What kind of man is the agricultural labourer ?
He produces as much perplexity as the " working
man" of the famous Reform struggle. One writer
makes him almost revel in luxury, while another
pictures him sunk in squalor, dirt, and misery.
Mr. J. J. Xlcchi, of Tiptree Hall, Essex—
an authority on agricultural matters—gives us his
idea in a letter to the Times. Here it is.
Conditions—generally healthy. Wages, under good
masters, 15s. or Ms. per week, generally 1 ls. or 12s.
Families—large, (over ten children), set early to
work, generally healthy. Cottages—many very bad
but a new order of things coming in. As the
labourer is generally contented, gets pure air for
nothing, has a healthy, though. not too abundant
diet, Mr. Mechi thinks him superior to his brother of
the town and the factory.
02ICIgALITY.

A discussion long wanted has commenced in the
London papers as to originality. It arose in this
wise :Mr. Robertson has just written two plays—
" Home " and " School "—both of which have been
favourably received. Suddenly a correspondent
discovers that Mr. Ilobertson's play " School " is
something after the style of " Aschenbr6del," a
German play of some repute, and straightway ch.irges
the author with piracy. It is admitttxl that the
play is no mere ti%lnslation ; many scenes are
entirely new, the dialogue is different, the working
out in many respects dissimilar, but there is the
"inspiration." Ilad Mr. Robertson any right to use
the play ? These who say so, argue that any genius,
any man who has any wish to write for the coming
generation, an author with a spark of individuality,
would lean on himself alone, woal'l spurn such aid

es can be got from other people's brains. In using
taste in the outward and visible forms of divine another nian's work—inre-dressing it— he gds predi,.t,-
worship, without feeling the slightest symmttliv will' till. iS 'l.lifi f nip ~,...*,‘,..2.1..-4. —, - .... ~.;.,ibeilLtea thaz mien
.- - . ...- ~... aegree or sanctity, and pro• a stric rule would fetter the genius of the present
ceed mn cla further in adoring the Virgin Mary and the generation. As it is well put in one of the papers—
Saints
than is generally supposed. Indeed, if the Ritualists " The right of an artist to try and do better what he
believes has been imperfectly done before, is one that
had their way, the Church of England would become a
mere travesty of both the Roman Catholic and the Greek no one questions, as it concerns the magnates of the
Churches—a mongrel institution which neither Church past, who are beyond the pressure of contemporaryprejudices and interests." Shakspere found
would recognise, and which would yet have as little Boccaccio helpful; Scott worked out a border legend
affinity as either with the Protestantism of the country. " Bride of Lammermoor; " Tennyson's
The Telegraph refers to its announcement of the refusal
complains.in"ldyiliilees " are
m" as old as the hills." And yet no one
of Government to sanction a revival of Convocation in ay not the same thing be done by
Ireland, and considers that the best justification of then playwrights?
refusal is the language of the rejected application just pub. SYMPTOMS OF THE SESSION.
lished. There is a large and daily-increasing party among CoEtuairclii,DheasGrey and Ripon, Lord President of the
the clergy and laity in favour of negotiation with the Council,
Twelve given his first Ministerial. dinner of the
Government, but, on the other hand, the bishops who signedmembers of the Cabinet the Lord
the petition are at present vehemently opposed to every. Chamberlain, Mr. Helps, and Mr. Harrison were
concession or accommodation. It is certainly
thing like present; the Lord Chancellor, Mr. Goschen, and Mr.
Fortescue were the absentee Ministers. At the
not the policy of the present Government to discourage Cabinet Council, held the same morning, fourteen
overtures of capitulation or fire on a flag
of
e,members of the Cabinet were present, Mr. Fortes-
truce. On the contrary, Ministers most earnestly desire a whoo is in Ireland, being the only absentee. Lord
to carry out the great reform in a conciliatory spirit, Clarendonet was at both gatherings ;so that the report
on f
and to confer with every or any fairly-constituted institu. setbya recently-started evening paper as to
Lion which represents the parties interested. There are the seriouseo illness of the Foreign Secretary would
to
many reasons why such communications should be invited seem have no foundation in fact.
and hailed with the utmost pleasure. In the first place, THE IRISH CHURCH.
the questions of proprietary right which the Legislature ThedeEati,lish Conservative journals are showing a
has to consider are extremely intricate, and it is especially goodirritation at the attitude of Irish Church-
desirable that the various claims should be well inves. men. Theoffi complain that the second should
now, insteadcaorfaptitt making a brave resistance, be intent
tigated, and, if possible, settled by amicable arrange. meat. By a rough computation, the annual cede- only upon
mg on the best terms. These
journals say that it is ratheri hard that English Con-
hundred thousand pounds, of which about one-third o fight the battle of the Irish
Church alone, should .°
be the only party to rally
is derived from land, and the residue, for the round the standard of "no surrender." It was
most part, comes from the tithe rentcharge. With all not for such fainthearted conduct as this that
this property parliament must deal in the ensuing session ; they foughtthe battle of the elections. Moreover,
and, in order to estimate the justice or expediency of any 1 what are they to do in the coming campaign if they
plan for appropriation, we ought to have a clear concep- are to be dey • of the only ground which is left
tion of the existing titles and tenures. For the purposes of I
EthnegmlisfhorceoonmpsEa:t7t. Irish Churchmen are wiser than
hustings declamation, of harangues addressed to Orange I
have no wish to baelvesdthought them to be. They
lodges, it is sufficient to say that the property has been I
"Constitution "wasma e,a mere cheral de bataille, as
solemnly and irrevocably given to the Church ; and it !theto be abandoned like
warfare that' i during iitgv
whenever
Reformver th.e struggle,lleeessi-
follows, as a sufficiently logical consequence, that Mr,
ties of party
twomhaosrteeserinlaytterer2eaterpmeaaotic.iraiatic
Gladstone and his colleagues are spoliators and robbers. compel a strategical move-
The ttthlei
lipseor men a
The Daily News asks whether railway shareholders have
yie,,lliteY know
any fair right to throw on the public the burden of their toa
nt
own mistakes and extravagance by compelling them to pay the fiction of a democraticne
Toil' as a pret-e p inventedleeedgfr
double and treble the price on the lines they do want dishing their opponents; they know that these men
which they would hare paid if the company had not took a leap in the darks ;so far as the State is con-
wasted their money on lines which are not wanted. Share. cerned, and believe that the
uld. take another as
regards the Church. So theyey
holders assume as a matter of course that they have such athink it wisest to make terms with the Liberals,
right, and they will not stop to consider the other side of who are willing to grant
the case. When liberal conditions, rather than to one of their number, saner than the rest, only in order hereafter to surrender refuse all terms
attempts, as on Tuesday at the meeting of the Brighton " unconditionally.
shareholders, to remind them of the public expectations, ' CONGRATULATIONS.
The Conservatives of Mid Surrey held high
and of the experience gathered elsewhere as to what is
festival
on Tuesday night. They met together at
really remunerative, they put him down for trying to one of the
1 several new " railway hotels " which ‘
"depreciate their property." This is all very foolish, be- been erected in the metropolis,have of late
to congratulate
cause the case of the public sooner or later, and sooner one anothe ha • succeeded 111 in carrying
esoant thevlenlg two
rather than later, must be fully heard. Shareholders , Conservatisf
evould do well to pause, before they push their rights, or that whenever such a baeenqinonet.
takes is
place
ing to note
ace—whichever
fancied rights, to an erstreme. We dispute, then, alto. I party rejoices—the speakers considP that the con-
gether, the absolute , right of railway conapan4s to a five stituency has been " rescued er
from oppressive
per cent. or even a one per cent. dividend on the . thraldom." This and a great deal to the same
'enormous •
capttals which they have heaped up. What ' effect was said by the fervid after-dinnerlne
orators. Lord George Hamilton, M.P., was one of
tchaey.
capital
strictly entitled to is a fair return on the
the speakers. He ridiculed the idea of the present
working lines, the various branches of their aural. Government
notwithstanding the weakness of the late Minis-
gamated undertakings being in thisaccount k ept try, it had braved unpopularity and the loss of a
separate. They have no sort of moral or equitable claim '
seat by prosecuting Mr. Johnston, of Ballykilbeg.
to make the stream of tragic on the main line,
or the But the present Government, in fear of losing the
suburban lines near London, bear the interest on capital support of a section of the party, had not the moral
for totally disconnected arricl
Othemustelliral lines which they courage to put down the Mayor of Cork, notwith-
have chosen to take npon. The two things standing his seditious language. Mr. Brodrick set
are entirely distinct, and although7s. they insist on keep. forth a " social " policy for the present Government.
ing them together, the public will
T 1 not agree with them when . ELECTION EXPENSES.
the penalty is too severe. `!'hat ,hie is now the
need . by a can-
need not insist. One can only wonder La" we , It is astonishing how much may be spent
at tae
ins There is Mr. Tomline, for in-
didate in a few days.
fatuation of Mr. Laing in talkinr, glibly as he does stance, who went to Grimsby only aor two
of the expediency and justice of raisingso faresl and rates in before the eleetion, and who spent L 1,240 ; and
Order that above all things a certainidc sa return may be Captain Williams, who was brought out at the last
obtained. He did not care, he said,according to one re- minute for Barnstaple, and who spent over 4.:T00.
port, "whether the fares p=r passenger were id
• a mile or Beth these borough- Ire so notoriously corrupt that
33, a mile," provided the gross receipts were soand neither side dares .• • .
so. i petition, knowing well that the
Bat this is exactly what the public do care about,poie future
would be disfranchised, and all opportunities
their present mood it was not wise to indicate so and
in
:
eso roughly __ spoiling of candidates would be taken away.
and epigrammatically the clispee '
awn
of
railway
direo. Thus tee worst offenders escape punishment.
tors to neglect them.
BARON MARTIN.
Surely Baron M •
artin, though a most excellent
judge is ' -
The Derby illereary states that there '
will be no 6
, `Sir Henry
, a somewhat indiscreet man. His letter to
ir I Stracey, in which, after unseating him
petition against tho return of Colosol Vr'iimct f
cr South publicly he consoled h. privately, was, to say the
DaLTs6lm . , least, an eccentric proc unl.
I ieec nig. His speech at Bradford
when decja,rin, At
~, r, i'orster duly elected was some-