The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-19 00:00:00

and no sooner had he come up to the unpro.
tested ladies, than he " struck out of the centre
of• the carriage road," and rode his horse upon
the narrow footpath, brushing by the ladies at full
gallop, and, as the wooden rails prevented their
getting out of his way, the hoofs of the person-
age (of his beast, we ought to say) " came
within an inch of the ladies' feet," so that their
lives were in imminent danger. The horse
did not appear unruly, whatever the creature
may have been which bestrode him. Swift
assures us, that an untamed specimen of the
Yahoo tribe is the most savage and malignant
of animals ; we can, therefore, though with dif-
ficulty, bring ourselves to believe that an offen-
der of the same species, having inspired a party
of helpless women with consternation, by all
but a downright assault upon them, would, in-
stead of making them a manly and respectful
apology, turn round, "grin horribly a ghastly
smile," " and gallop on !" The " accident,"
as we have learned in that neighbourhood, of
such an outrage occurring to women, with no
protectors near, has become a pretty common
one—it has grown into a practice. Riding
%%id) grooms after them, on frequented foot-
paths, is not indeed an offence much indulged
in by English gentlemen ; it can be deli-
berately perpetrated by none but those whose
habits are not English, and whom nature has
not made gentlemen. In Hanover there may
not be such things- as footpaths, for aught we
know—indeed, a foreigner of the last century
remarked their exigence as a proof of the solici-
tude shown by the constituted authorities of Eng-
lani for the accommodation of those humbler
classes, who are compelled to travel on foot, conse-
quently clthe importance o f those orders ofour citi-
zens, or in other words of the reality of British
freedom. But in Hanover we are afraid that a
footpath might be invaded, or even a life taken,
with impunity, provided only that the transgressor
were a " personage" high enough to trample
upon the laws, and used to undervalue every
right but that of the powerful to oppress the
feeble. In this country, however, such freaks
had better be omitted. People here do not
" laugh and gallop on" when they see or hear
of an outraged fellow• countryman ; and of all
outrages, an insult is the least to be endured.
The rides of the personage in question from town
used to terminate at Broinpion or its neighbour-
hood. What business has he so far up the
Thames as Barnes-terrace ? His own wife is
somewhere thereabouts, which renders the affair
more unintelligible. But this we tell tbe person-
age, only for form's sake,—because lie is as
conscious of the fact as we ourselves,--that he
has no superfluous popularity to sport with,—
nothing to come and go upon,—not a leg to
stand upon. He had best, therefore, leave men's
sisters, wives, and daughters, together with the
footpaths, unmolested. The direct succession
'o the crown of England has been broken by
Act of Parliament before now ; and we live in
times when Englishmen proceed, without much
ceremony, to act upon their moral impressions.
" Mr. Editor,—Perhaps through the medium of your
respectable Journal some apology or explanation may be
,ffered upon the part of his Royal Highness the Duke of
—, for a most indefensible, if intentional, annoyance of
party of ladies, on S iturday last, on the Barnes road.
The young ladies, four in number, had crossed the rivtr
from their house on Hammersmith-terrace, for the plea-
sure of a morning's walk to Barnes ; two of the ladies were
1 little in advance of the others. The Duke came gal•
opiog along at his usual rate, and when even with them,
-mdd my struck out of the centre of the carriage road on
to the narrow foot-path, to the imminent danger of their
limbs or lives. The situation of the path is such, that it
is guarded on the marshy side of the river by wooden
roil., which prevented them completely getting out of his
,ray, supposing. there had been time to do so ; hut, how-
ever, at the peril of their persons, they stood sti:l close up
to the railing, while the Duke brushed his horse past them
full gallop. The danger of their situation may be ima-
ined when I tell you the hoofs of the horse came within
,n inch of the ladies' feet, and a black silk apron, worn
by one of them, wafted round his knees. Whether acci-
dental or intentional doth not appear ; we conclude, though,
the latter, for his Highness turned round his Lead,
laughed, and galloped on.'
" The truth and accuracy of these particulars will he
confirmed on the terrac- ; and as to the identity of his
!loyal Highness, his white mustachios are too well known
to be mistaken.

" Mr. Editor, such rencontres are all very pretty sport
,1 la Constantine, hut not at all suited or ad.rpted to the
feelings of this reforming period.

" I am, llr. Editor,
" One of your regular suligeribers, and
" A FRIEND TO THE LADIES.

" P.S. The excuse of his Royal Highness being a lit-
tle short-sighted (which, by the by, is nothing new), will
not stand good here, for I myself, on the same spot last
week, bowed to his Royal Highness, who returned the
salute from the centre of the road.

" To set aside all doubts or want of accuracy of this
statement, the name cf the young lady so nearly injured is
Miss Perfect, of Hammersmith- terrace, and her companions
.v( re I.er sister and the Misses Forties, of B ,rnes.

" Hammersmith, Sept. 17."—( Times.)

We do not believe that the people of England
,:re sufficiently alive to the evils caused by the
unequal distribution of property. Without a
regard for property, all civilization would soon
he at an end. It is for the interest of the poor,
therefore, as well as of the rich, that property
should be religiously respected. But if the
laws of a country have a tendency to produce an
unequal distribution of property, they are at va-
riance with the object for which property is en-
titled to respect, for they strike at the security of
property. The excess on one side leads to ex-
cess on the other. The existence of excessively
rich individuals in a country has a tendency to
make the millions excessively poor. " People,'
~bserves Destutt Tracey, " deceive themselves
as to the meaning of the expression poor na-
tions, for then the population are in easy circum-
stances ; and it is in rich nations that the people
are usually poor. This is the reason why the
one are usually strong and the others often weak.
The whole reduces itself to this truth, which
has not been always sufficiently felt; the multi-
plication of our means of enjoyment is a very
good thing ; then, too, unequal distribution is a
very bad thing, and the source of all our evils.
On this point also the interest of the poor is the
same with that of society." When there
is a class in society extremely rich, the scale of
expenditure is necessarily high, for the reward of
functionaries is not according to the value of the
services, but according to the notions prevalent
in the class in question from w hich the highest
functionaries are taken. In the United States
of Nor it America, where labour is of more va-
lue than in England, and where the very lowest
class is equal to our middle classes in the pos-
session of physical comforts, there are no ser-
vants of the State who do not receive more than
double the rate of those at the bottom of the scale
in England. A Custom-house officer in America,
for instance, receives three times the salary of a
Custom-house officer in England. But the re-
verse of all this is witnessed as we ascend the
scale. Rapacity has no bounds with the upper
class of public functionaries in England and her
Colonies. The consequence of all this is, the
adding enormously to the privations of the mass
of the people who have to support this enormous
expenditure ; and the money so wrung from the
people again perpetuates the inequality of pro-
perty by enabling the rich class to provide for