The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-13 00:00:00

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.....--. ..,,
..tain of the hearty votes of these hundreds of work-
men ; still, we imagine, all these great masters
would rather not have to court their work-
men. Mr. BRIGHT, therefore, found that in the
very class to which he belongs there was, at
least no zeal for the enfranchisement of operatives.
His present letter is, for the most part, a very
clever appeal to the masters through their aversion
to strikes. To a master manufacturer it would be
better to be out-voted than to have all his hands
turn out, and most probably, too, on quite insuffi-
cient ground. The letter is in reply to one who,
like himself, is a great patron of popular educa-
tion, but who has been disappointed in its results ;
and chiefly it would seem with its not teaching
the men not to know better than to strike.

other waste lands are to be classed as special and '
Las
country lands. special lands include all lands
within given distances of towns, cities, villages,
railways, rivers, and sea-margin. Country lands
include all other waste lands, and may be sold by
selection at the uniform price of one pound
per acre. Country lands are to be divided into
allotments of from 80 to 640 acres, and each allot-
ments is to be subdivided into two equal portions.
These subdivisions may be taken up by free selec-
tion at the uniform price. Three millions of acres
are to be surveyed as soon as possible, so that the k
whole extent may be proclaimed as open for selec-
tion within twelve months from this date. Appli-
cations for subdivisions are to be lodged at places
appointed, and the full amount of the purchase
money is to be deposited at once. Thus, for forty
acres forty pounds must be paid down. Re-
ceipts must be given and secrecy preserved by
the officer who receives the payment. On
the day appointed the applications are all
to be opened publicly. If there be only one
applicant for an allotment, of course he
gets possession without further trouble. If there
be more than one applicant for an allotment, a
limited auction is to be held, at which the appli-
cants, but no other persons, may bid against each
other. Unsuccessful applicants receive back their
deposit moneys. The selector of an allotment may
elect to purchase it at the uniform price, or to rent
it at one shilling an acre per annum, with right of
purchase within the time specified in the lease.
Unsold lands within the area proclaimed may be
taken up in allotments to the extent of 640 acres
at any time, upon payment of tha uniform price.
Certain conditions of improvement and occupation

Mr. BRIGHT, in reply, adverts to the ignorance
of all classes on the subject. "It is not," he says, "to

bo expected that the workmen in our population

should be wiser than other classes, and we know
well that other classes have, whenever able to do it,

enforced combination prices, and endeavoured to
make a scarcity in the articles in which they have

dealt. The fact is that among all classes there is a

lamentable ignorance of the laws which ought to
regulate labour and trade, and that the study of
political economy is totally neglected in the educa-
tion of the whole people. At this moment the
views of a large portion of the highest class—l
mean highest in position, in wealth, and in scholar-
ship—are wholly unsound on these subjects, and,
making allowance for difference of circumstances,
they support precisely the same principles as those
contended for by trades' unions." He shows how
naturally the workman supposes that to force higher
wages from his employer is obviously for his inte-
r rest ; and that anything is fair in the fight with
capital. But Mr. BRIGHT now turns to the em-
ployers, and says there is one cause of this evil for
which you are greatly responsible. Your system of
k political exclusion of the working classes, a system
pz.trposely maintained by you, has harrowed their
thoughts and sympathies. You have trained them
to 103.1/4 only at those immediately over them. You
have aeet:stomed them to think of only two classes,
those who employ them and themselves ; and
consequently you have to bear the brunt of
la addition to this, you have
every conflict.
prevented that e-nlargement of mind which
would enable them to perceive, that combinations,
either of masters or of men, must, in the vast ma-
jority of cases, be to their mutual injury. "They
are shut out from the political world ; they
are told that they ought to have, and shall
have, no opinion and no voice in the direc-
tion of public affairs; that they are an igno-
rant and a dangerous class; and that what
are called the institutions of their country would
not be safe if they were permitted to take any part
in them. The inevitable result is that these men,
growing every day in information, and in restless-
ness and discontent, rather it may be with their
social than their political condition, and growing
also in numbers and in the means of organisation,
maintain a contest with the only authority they see
and feel, namely, with their employers, who are to
them almost all they know and comprehend of
superior power and of governmental control."
This is, assuredly, clever hitting ; and it is as
cleverly argued out in what follows. He seems also
to ask the suffrage of the Right Hon. BENJAMIN
DISRAELI himself; for, tacitly, he appeals to his
description of " the two nations," and we should
not be surprised if the Right Hon. Member for
Bucks did not really suggest this argument
to Mr. •BRIGHT. " The fact is,"—he says—
" our system of political exclusion has this
effect; it makes of the working classes a nation,
separated by a gulf passable only by few of them,
from that other nation to which the existing Con-
stitution pretends to give, though it does not honestly
give, political power. There is thus no real amal-
gamation of classes. The class receiving wages is
shut out from the questions and the interests which
occupy the minds and engage the energies of the em-
ploying class. Its members are limited to the
consideration of their ownindividual, and local, and
class interests ; and their mental activity is devoted
to something like a servile war, because everything
that is broader and greater is excluded from their
view." His hopes do not seem to be very sanguine
as to any early adoption of his views ; but he states
well what he conceives the result would be.
He sees h direct connection between an
equal civil and political position for all classes,
and the cessation of strikes. "I do not," he re-
marks, " expect in our time that these deplorable
transactions will come to an end, but I am per-
suaded that they would occur much more rarely,
and be attended with less of bitterness and of that
obstinate folly which now so often distinguishes
them, if the wall of partition between classes were
broken down by the admission of the great
gabbur interest' into the rights of citizenship.
Then the same questions would interest us all ;
the same grievances, where grievances exist, would
be seen to affect us all ; the same great public ob-
j ects would stimulate us all ; and instead of being,
as we now are, two nations in one country, having
different ends and adverse sympathies, we should
have objects and parposes in common, to the incal-
culable and permanent gain of the whole people."
It will not bo denied that there is weight as well
as ingenuity in these observations. It would. be
easy, of course, to picture quite another side ; but
it is not easy to deny that full political rights, pro-
tected too by the ballot, must do much to enlarge
the minds and thoughts of many who now have no
direct interest in anything but work and wages.

must be complied with by all lessees of public lands
on pain of forfeiture of lease. At the expiration of
a lease the lands may be sold as special lands. No
compensation is to be given for improvements made
on rented lands, but buildings, etc., may be re-
moved. When one-fourth of a proclaimed area
has been taken up, the remainder may, until
selected, be used as commonage by the settlers.
Stringent penalties are instituted against all
attempts at land jobbing. Every transaction
under the act must be genuine and direct. Sold
lands must be improved up to a certain amount
under a penalty of taxation. Special lands are
to be sold by auction as at present, at an upset
price of one pound per acre. These are the main
provisions, or " popular" clauses of the new
act. They afford, as will be seen, facilities for
agriculturists without much capital to enter on the
occupation of small farms on almost nominal terms
of rental. The rest of the Act is occupied with
details of a more technical or strictly legal kind."
The incubus which pressed so heavily on this rich
country is at length removed, and the inhabitants
of Victoria may now look upon the falling off of the
gold returns with comparative indifference. The
wealth and prosperity of the colony must not hence-
forward be dependent on its raineral produc-
tions, although there is no danger of that
failing, but upon the vast agricultural capa-
bilities of a fertile soil and genial climate.
Gold is, after all, but the representation of value ;
•orn is the staple of life. The impulse which the
passing of this measure will give to trade will be
immense. Employment will now be found for
thousands who are at present out of work, and
although wages will no doubt come down the
working man will be the gainer, for constant work
at reasonable wages is far more advantageous than
high remuneration with uncertain employment.

Sardinia.

THE PRINCE OF WALES.

PLYMOUTH, TUESDAY, 11 A.M,

The paddlewheel steam sloop Gorgon, which left
Portsmouth on the Bth, and Plymouth at noon on
the 9th, returned to the Sound this morning.

She has been above 120 miles from south-west of
Scilly, but could see nothing of the Hero.
Has experienced very severe weather from the
eastward.

The Parliament of Victoria, after a protracted
session of eleven months, has at last come to a
definite settlement of the Land Question. The
Legislative Assembly, with great good sense and
moderation, having waived two minor points on
which a short time back they seemed resolved to
make a stand, viz., the settling of competing appli•
cations for the same allotment of land by " lot,"
instead of limited auction, and the extension of
deferred payments to three-fourths instead of
one-half of each allotment. But the members of
the Council proving obstinate, and, in fact, want-
ing some concession to be made to give them
an excuse to pass the bill, the Legisla-
tive Assembly having in reality gained
_the victory could afford to be generous,
so that this long-vexed question is at length settled,
and on the 18th September Sir HENRY BARRET
affixed his signature to the death• warrant of Land.
Jobbery and Squatter monopoly. Henceforward land
will lose its fictitious value, and bona fide pur-
chasers will be enabled to buy land at the upset
price of one pound sterling per acre ; or, better
still, to take it on lease at a rent of:one shilling per
acre per anuum, with the right to purchase within
the time specified in the lease. Three million
acres of public land are to be thrown open for
selection by -the Ist of November, 1861, at th 3
uniform price of X 1 per acre, and the contracts
have already been taken for the survey of more
than a third of that quantity, besides a considerable
tract of country already surveyed and open for
selection. We take the following summary of the
Land Act from the Melbourne Herald of Sept. 25 :
" The first 11 clauses deal with lauds reserved for
public purposes, and other preliminary details. All,

THE S SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING; NOVEMBER 13, JB6O,

E \it

(REUTERS TELEGRAMS.)
NAPLES, Nov: 12t—

The King has visited the hospital for wounded
volunteers, and distributed relief. Garibaldi has
been appointed a General of the army.
The siege works against Gaeta are being actively
carried on.

NAPLES, Nov. 10.

King Victor Emmanuel leaves tomorrow for
Sicily, and will return on the 11th inst. Great
festivities are to take place on the 18th inst.

General Lamarmora has been entrusted with the

military reorganization.
Garibaldi, in his farewell speech, tells his com-
panions in arms to be ready to follow him again,
as it is likely that a fresh conflict will break out in
Italy in March, 1861. Garibaldi says that one
million of men and arms will bs wanted.
The King, it is said, intends mobilizing 20,000
National Guard of the city of Naples.

TURIN, Nov. 12.
An official decree appoints Farini Lieutenant-
General of the King at Naples.
There is no news from Gaeta.

VIENNA, Nov. 13.

The official Wiener Zeitung of to-day publishes
a statute organising the provincial representation
of the Tyrol.

The same journal contains a decree definitively
appointing General Dagenfeld as Field-Marshal
and Minister of War.

An imperial resolution cancels all written warn-
ings remitted to the journals up to the present
time, thereby relieving them from the legal con-
sequences of the same as set forth in the press law.

ROME, Nov. 9.
An extraordinary Council of the Cardinals took

place yesterday.
The secret committee has collected the votes o 1
Rome on the question of annexation.

BRUSSELS, NOT. 12.

The opening of the Chambers by the Xing in
person has been countermanded, on account, it is
said, of his Majesty being indisposed.

ROME, Nor. 10.

The Neapolitan troops entered the Papal States
through treachery on the part of their Generals.
The Pope has sent for their relief 50,000 Roman
scudi, and General Goyon 80,000 rations. The
troops are now distributed amongst the Roman
provinces. They will be sent by the Papal Go-
vernment to their own country.

To-day 900 Pontifical prisoners returned from

General Goyon, it is said, considers his posi.
tion untenable.

The Papal Government has everywhere again
denied that the Pope will leave Rome.

Public opinion is strongly against Mgr. Meroie.
A detachment of Irish Zonaves is being organised.

The report of General Lamoriciere is being
printed. Rome is tranquil and awaiting future
events.

THE BOMBAY AND MAURITIUS MAILS.
SOUTHAMPTON, TUESDAY.

The Peninsnlar and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Ellora, Capt. Joy, with the heavy portion of
the above mails, has arrived here.

She brings 87 passengers, £1,420 in specie, 124
packages of sundries, and 2,609 bales of raw silk
of the value of £250,000

On the Bth inst. the Ellora spoke the French
barque Pensha, which requested to be reported at
Lloyd's.

Gibraltar Exchanges on London-90 days,
50 5-16.

THE UNITED STATES.
QUEENSTOWN, TUESDAY.

The Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia
Company's screw steamer City of Manchester,
Capt. Mirehouse, from New York on the 27th ult.,
has arrived with 150,000 dole. in specie.

She experienced heavy easterly gales on the pas-
sage. She passed the Arago on the 31st ult.
Her news has been anticipated.