The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-14 00:00:00

earnest and successful promoters of this long-
desired act of justice, was the great writer who
closed his first tale of humour by leaving its
amiable hero (tights, gaiters, spectacles, and all
complete) sauntering about the green lanes, and
strolling into the pleasant picture gallery at Dul-
wich—let Ili not forget another debt of gratitude
due to the glorious humorist, who is at once the
delight and the ameliorator of his generation.

If the English farmer cannot, like OPHELIA,
" turn all things into favour and to prettiness,"
he would seem to possess the secret of turning
ruin into prosperity—a useful art as times go.
How often he has been finally and irretrievably
ruined within the range of our recollection we
will not undertake to say at a moment's warning;
but we are quite sure not seldomer than his pros-
perity has been placed on a better basis than
before.

The fact is he has suffered a good deal from
hypochondriacism. Brought up in the unhealthy
atmosphere of Protection, the very notion of ex-
posure to the rubs of this work-day world has
operated as a shock to his nerves, and conjured
up a host of apprehensions for which there was
no real foundation. If his malady has not led
his morbid fancy to the conclusion that he was
literally made of glass, it certainly has repeatedly
led him to believe he was in danger of becoming
a broken man from the effect of changes really
calculated to do him good. To what terrible ap-
prehensions did not the threatened repeal of the
Corn Laws give rise in his perturbed mind ?
apprehensions, it must be confessed, incessantly
stimulated by his " natural protectors." It would
afford considerable amusement to posterity if his
notions of the corn-growing capacity of the tillers
of the soil on the Danube and in America, pre-
vious to the repeal of the Corn Laws, were accu-
rately recorded. Never, it would be seen, had
the world witnessed such a Titanic race of agri-
culturists, soil so fertile, and produce se plentiful.
His little gleanings were doomed to be swept
aside like chaff before the corn storm they would
infallibly pour into the markets of this much-
misguided country. Competition with the
foreigner was a thing impossible ; or, if possible
fur a moment, must eventuate in utter ruin. No
prospect loomed before him but that of extinction
as a member of a class, or—expatriation.
There was still that chance left him. To some
more favoured country it was still open to him
to transfer his little capital, and his overborne
energies, leaving an ungrateful country to deplore
his loss. So, in a minor degree, was it with the
introduction of an improved mode of culture.
Deep draining and shallow draining, economical
hedging and ditching, were sufficiently bewilder-
ing ; but guano and chemical appliances were
agencies fraught with mischief, if not with de-
struction. Poor timid creature, to his diseased
imagination the assurance of the poet went for
uothing—a breath could make or unmake him,
while it was impossible ho could be replaced.

The Cornlaws, notwithstanding, were repealed,
and the resources of chemistry were brought to
gear on the culture of the soil, and how little
were his apprehensions justified by the result !
Once exposed to the bracing air of competition,
his fine manly constitution had fair play, and with
the renovation of his energies came the sharpen-
ing of his invigorated understanding. Ruined I
Not a bit of it 1 In those stalwart arms, and
that keen eye of his for the main chance, there
was an everlasting bulwark against ruin. He
set to with a will, took kindly before long to
artificial composts, reaped as he had sown, and
with healthier spirits and fuller barns and folds
became a vastly better man than he ever was
before.

A further trial now awaits him. He is as good
as booked to furnish agricultural statistics for the
service of the State. Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY
has brought in a bill to compel him to send in an
annual return of the number of acres he holds,
and how much of them is devoted to wheat, bar-
ley, oats, and other descriptions of produce, and
this the STANLEY whilome of Protection, to wit,
Lord DERBY, declares to be just and necessary.
Will our agricultural friend recognise in the act
another impending ruin ? We would fain hope
he is by this time too wise for that. As Lord
DERBY remarked, " the farmer is not called on
to disclose any of his private affairs ;" all he is
asked to reveal is what his landlord's steward
oould easily ascertain if he chose. The farmer
need have no fear, therefore, of his rent being
raised in consequence. It would be a diffi-
oult matter, impossible indeed, to get at
the sum total of his profits through such returns.
fn other respects it will be both to his profit and
,relit to make no bones about the matter. He
will have to furnish such returns under penalty,
whether he likes tho notion of it or not, and they
will do him good, and not harm. A wealthy
farmer may, to be sure, once on a time make a
ucky hit under the present want of system, but
tgaiust that hit must be set the misses of a hurl-
lred of his less fortunate brethren. The new
•yste:n once in operation, farming will soon be
?laced on a healthy basis, and will cease to be dis-
urbed by rash speculation. Let him think the
subject over and ask himself whether, with the
3marnple of Scotland and Ireland before him,
where the farmer makes similar returns of his
own accord for the general benefit, it would be-
come him to confess himself—as he would by op-
position—inferior in manliness, patriotism, and
resource to either. If he does so, and we feel
some degree of confidence he will, the result can-
not be doubtful. He will offer no opposition to
the principle of the measure, but content himself
with directing his attention to the best means to
prevent his prosperity being endangered by the
efforts of prying curiosity. It is for him to discover
whether any improvement can be made in the
form of the return, and any better or less offensive
agency employed in the collection ; and, if he
succeeds iu doing either, to suggest the result to
his " natural leaders."