The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-25 00:00:00

rtiE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 25, 1869.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

NEW BARON'ETCIES.

Mechanical Science is to be honoured in the per.
sons of Mr. Whitworth and Mr. William Fairbairn
The Times states that baronetcies have been offered
to and accepted by these gentlemen.
EXTRA PARLIA3IENTARY UTTERANCES.

The most important of extra-parliamentary
harrangues within the last day or two is that by the
Earl of Carnarvon, whom speech we have giver
more at length elsewhere. His lordship warm
statesmen against heroic remedies ; cries " Caution
Caution " ; objects to Mr. Bright's scheme al
an imposition of a burden upon the taxpayers
passes by as incredible the idea that any confivatory
plan will be adopted; and thinks the extension of lease-
holdings and the institution of tenant right will suf-
ficiently meet the Irish difficulty.
The Buckinghamshire farmers are Conservative. Mr
Disraeli may cheer his heart by contemplating the
fact. They do not at all like Mr. Lambert, the
Liberal M.P. for the county. The members of the
Bucks Agricultural Association would not even heal
him at their annual dinner. All the speakers com-
plained that the Cattle Diseases Act was not strict
enough. Mr. Lambert had assisted in passing it
They listened to him while praising the general talent
of the House. of Commons, and while he spoke of the
union between parties ; but their patience altogether
broke down when Mr. Forster became the snbject ,
his eulogy ; and the "minority " member wisely sat
down.
A not much more peaceful -gatherinc, was that of
the Staffordshire Agricultural Society, to which the
Earl of Lichfield spoke on the land question. Muck
disorder was caused by his lordship declaring that the
law gave to the landlords in England and Ireland
privileges, which, if exercised in England, would im•
mediately lead to a cry of injustice. In Ireland
these legal rights were daily asserted. The
question was whether they should be touched
by legislation ; and he hoped the question would be
discussed amongst farmers. But let them understand
that any law passed for Ireland should also be applied
to England. At the same meeting Mr. Bass appealed,
to the farmers to use their influence on behalf o*,
better cottages for labourers ; and in a second speech
Lord Lichfield supported him.
THE ELECTION COMMISSIONS.

The Commissioners at Bridgwater were investi.
gating on Thursday a case of spiritual terrorism ; one
which they characterised as "very shocking " and " most
atrocious." This is not the first time the facts have
been made public : they were commented upon it
May 1866 ; but they have never before been brought
under judicial notice. The one upon whom the rod
of religious chastisement has been used is Mr. Robert
Coles, a sawyer, and previously to May 1866 a mem•
ber of the Baptist Chapel at Bridgwater. In that
year there was an election petition investigated by
committee of the House of Commons. Mr. Colet
gave evidence in favour of the Conservatives. He had
previously voted Conservative, and by so doing had
given great offence to a Mr. Sully a deacon of the
chapel. On his return from London Mr. Coles was
waited upon by Mr. Sully, and requested to attend a
private meeting. Coles complied, and was that
evening charged with having committed perjury in
London. The proof was plain : Mr. Sully hail had 5
conversation with a gentleman, who stated, upon the in
formation of another gentleman, that Mr.Coles "looked'
like a perjurer in court when giving his evidence.
Mr. Coles denied the charge, but a Church meeting
was held next day, and he was expelled. Will
it be believed that the letter expelling him quoted
as proof positive of his guilt the fact that a gentleman
standing near a shorthand writer had in the said
shorthand writer's hearing used the words, " From
his manlier I can see he is not telling the truth ?
Now Mr. Sully was examined by the Commission.
ers ; his evidence did not agree with that of
others ; and when he found it did not, he
tried to qualify it, causing Mr. Anstey to
exclaim, " Your evidence is perfectly false." What
will the Baptist Church do with the good deacon.
Mr. Sully ?
The inquiry at Beverley amazes us with the stories
of various sums of sent without instruction by
candidates and members in quiet times to prepare foi
coming elections. Mr. Wreghit, the Conservative
bribing agent, appears to have been able to get money
whenever he wanted it by the merest hint. "Money
down—no inquiries made "—was the motto midi
both principals and their agents.
TUE IRISH LAND QUESTION.

The Special Commissioner o the Times has made
a circuit from Mullingar to Trim in order to examine
the country. Though the county of., *path has
advanced like every other part of Irelanesinco
.the
social revolution of 1846, the advance has been less
than might have been expected. It has im-
proved more slowly during the last two decades
than any of the adjoining counties with which
it may be fitly compared. . 'This slowness
of progress coincides with an extraordinary decrease
of population. The number of inhabitants in Meath
has been reduced at the rate of 82 per cont.
The social economy of the county is described as being,
in the highest degree interesting. There being little
tillage, the demand for agricultural labour is small,
and the labourers are in consequence very poor. Their
wages vary from ss. to Os. per week, and even at
that rate are not constant. Rent varies from £4 to 168.
per Irish acre. Farms in Meath differ greatly in
extent—from immense grazing tracts of 2,000 and
3,000 acres to small patches of three or four. Tho
la De farmers, speaking generally, are wealthy, but the
smallt' ones are evidently badly off. Their dwellings
are in many places mud cabins, often without a
chimney. They complain exceedingly of the want of
fuel. Their dress and appearance are squalid and
mean.

The landed system of Meath the Commissioner
regards as being possessed of features distinguishing
it broadly from the landed system of any of the other
counties he has seen. Almost an eighth of the soil
is owned by Roman Catholic gentlemen of ancient
lineage, and their estates are usually centres of ordelb
aid content. But, though the circumstances of sever
?al estates in Meath are of this happy character, the
landed system of the county, as a whole, presents
some painful, though instructive features. A consi-
derable and increasing number of landlords keep largo
tracts of pasture in their own hands, and farm them
on their own account; the whole of the remaining
good grass-lands is in the possession of substantial
farmers ; and so the poor peasantry are relegated to the
inferior soils. The result is a most marked contrast boo
tween agricultural wealth and poverty, and a peculiar
spirit of discontent pervades the county. The poorer
classes, forced off from the soil by the operation of
influences they cannot comprehend, and often pinched
by distress and want, feel angry and jealous of the
rich. Lawlessness and outrages have been com-
mon in the county. More than one attempt
at assassination has been made! and the Commis-
sioner was shewn a whole mass of threatening letters
which not only had reference to the taking of land,
but to the dismissal of farm servants and the reduc-
tion of the rate of wages. The spirit that animates
these misdeeds, though essentially of an agrarian kind,
is said to be not purely agrarian ; it is not equally
sustained by a
.principle ; it is not so systematic
in its objects ; it is more akin to hatred of pro-
perty and dislike of existing social arrangements.
Though not common in the county, the practice of
elling the goodwills of farms prevails in spots along
s northern border where it comes within the
fluence of Ulster. Though the practice is objec-
tionable in the abstract it works well on the whole,
in the opinion of the Commissioner, in the critical
state of the Irish land system, as it has a tendency to
quiet possession. At all events, the practice exists,
and has grown into custom, over an area of not incon-
siderable extent, even in the midland counties of Ire-
land ; and, since this is so, it is high time for Parlia-
ment to examine the real nature of the relations con-
stituted in this way, and of the legitimate rights
that flow from them. An '_lrish tenant who on
estates where the usage exists gives perhaps £2O an
acre for goodwill acquires nothing in point of law
except the interest of the seller, a mere tenancy at
*ill, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred; though the
landlord must on the hypothesis acquiesce, and though
be usually encourages the purchase as he obtains
thereby payment of arrears and a guarantee for the
future rent. "In point of fact, however, the purchasing
tenant considers justly that he has bought a real
though indefinite estate in the land, equivalent
in some degree to his outlay ; and usage sanctions the
supposition, for few landlords would think of violete
ing the tenant-right that had thus been paid for, and
in these instances fixity of tenure, as a rule, is esta-
blished by contract. Nevertheless, cases occasionally
arise in which needy or unprincipled men will turn
law against the unprotected custom, and extinguish
the rights that have thus been created." The Legis-
lature, the Commissioner urges, must put an end to the
conflict existing between law and fact, and compel
the bad landlord to do by law what the good land-
lord does from respect for usage.

litlM CHURCH SYNOD.
The Synod of the united dioceses of Cork, Olovno,
rind. Ross, held at Cork on Thursday, was larg' elv
attended Ly the laity, and a resolution was adopted
to the eflict that the bishops and clergy and laity
should vote independently in General Synod. In
seconding the resolution, 'i-ice-Chancellor Chatterton
deplored the prevalence of the idea that the laity
were in danger of being overridden by the clergy, and
considered it a paramount obligation of the laity to
acknowledge the clergy as spiritual guides.

LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES.
In connection with the failure of the Eurole an
Life Assurance Company, the monetary editor of the
Daily News makes a 'nowt remarkable statement.
It is to the effect that a dead set is likely to be
made against several other offices, the posi-
tion of which in public estimation renders
them likely to succumb to attack. In
former days the harpies who prey upon joint-stock
coraDAkigo used to wake picnev lay_.±kroulotike