The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-29 00:00:00

rim SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 729, 1861.

I
present that with regard to the smaller class of he moral verdict of mankind upon the just ice of
tenantry who had not, and never had, a lease in this the cause which they have risen to assert."
country, their tenure had very often been much more
permanent than that of those who had had leases.
There were tenants in that room who had been
on this estate, he believed, for many gene-
rations—for some centuries— in fact, from
time immemorial. The relation between land-
lord and tenant, therefore, whether they looked at
it with reference to the large tenements under lease,
or with reference to the small tenements, was in its
nature an almost permanent relation ; and it was
impossible that in such a relation there should not
arise, and there ought not to arise, feelings of
mutual regard,'and he might say of mutual depend-
ence which were wholly different from those which
sprang from a purely mercantile transaction." There
are numerous relations quite as permanent as that
of tenant. But from another part of his speech we
should have thought the permanence itself rather
questionable. We have heard of Scotch landlords
clearing their estates of their yearly tenants, and
, driving them from the land to catch herrings on the
sea.

What the Duke has done on his estates we do
not know, but we do know that he himself tells us
not that the surplus of a rapidly increasing popu-
lation has been obliged to leave their homesteads,
but that the population has considerably decreased
in Argyleshire ; which must mean that numerous
tenants without leases had to quit their little
feudal Edens, with the wide world only before them
and "Providence their guide." But for the banks
of the Clyde, and perhaps, in many cases, those
of the St. Lawrence or the Ottawa, it would have
gone hard it seems with fifty per cent. of the con-
fiding clients of the northern landlords. Referring
to the state of agriculture in the county of Argyll,
he said " That from the late census it appeared that
during the last 30 years the population of the
county had decreased by nearly 20,000 souls, being
a decrease of very nearly 20 per cent. upon the
total amount of population. Other counties had
diminished, but not in the same ratio. The popu-
lation on the shores of the Frith of Clyde having
undoubtedly very largely increased, they must
come to the conclusion that the decrease in the
purely rural and purely agricultural part of
the country had certainly been not less
than from 25 to 30 per cent. That was a very re-
markable fact, but he found that, coincident with
this decrease of population, there had been an in-
crease in the valuation of the county to a very much
larger extent. In the 16 years from 1844 the in-
crease in the value of the county had been no less
than £73,800 a-year, equal to 30 per cent.; and he
could not for a moment doubt that if they took in
the other periods from 1831 to 1844 the increase in
the value of the county had been no less than 50
per cent. ; an increase, the benefit of which was
certainly not felt by the expatriated fifty per cent.,
however pleasant to the landlord and the luckier
tenants.

His Grace, however, does seem to have learned
the lesson that the price of agricultural produce
must depend upon the prosperity of manufactures
and commerce. "I hope," he observed, "although
there are some misgivings in the aspect of public
affairs at present, that agricultural produce may still
maintain such prices as fairly to remunerate the
cultivator of the soil. We have now learnt, I think
all of us, whatever political party we may have
formerly belonged to, that we must look for the
prosperity of agriculture to the prosperity of the
manufacturing industry of the country. So long
as they are prosperous and the demand is great,
there is no question whatever that agricultural
industry will proper and succeed. This VMS a
lesson which his order were slow indeed to com-
prehend. It is well for us that they now under-
stand how entirely the prices of corn depend on
the number of the non-agricultural population; of
those who make it worth the farmers while to
grow more than he and his family themselves can
eat.

This natnrally led him to the clouds across the
Atlantic, which threaten our vast cotton manufac-
ture. A manufacture which has done more than
any single cause to raise the rent-rolls of our Lords
and Dukes ; but one for which they are only just
overcoming the feelings of profound con-
tempt they entertained even a quarter
of a century ago. Yet the cotton lords
beat them. The son of a cotton spinner, who
himself, in his holidays, when a lad, assisted, to our
knowledge, in his father's warehouse at Man-
ehester, in serving provincial customers, over-
threw, as Prime Minister of England, the landlords
grand monopoly, and removed their tax from the
food of the people. Now the cotton lords fear for
their supplies of raw material, and a ducal land-
lord dreads the effect of manufacturing embarrass-
ment on the prices of his tenants' produce, and
therefore on his own bankers' balance.

All the recent accounts from India give hope that
general attention is awakened among the natives to
the growth of cotton, and that, with some excep-
tions, there is general good-will towards the object•
The exceptions we allude to are two :—One, that of
some poor peasant growers in the interior who
actually rooted up their crops on inquiries being
made among them as to the probable yield of their
crops; such inqiuries having always, hitherto, pre-
ceded increased taxation. They took, therefore, as
they thought, the prudent precaution of presenting
a low basis of assessment when their crops should
be overhauled:by the collector. The other excep-
tion is that of the Punjaub agriculturists. Some
years ago, they made great and successful efforts
to supply an American deficiency ; they erected
screws and gins, and invested much capital in
cotton. Slavery increased its produce again—
Manchester, of course, cared not a straw about
slavery—lndia was deserted, and the money all
lost. The memory of this makes, in colloquial
phrase, the burnt child dread the fire. They want
to know what reason there is to hope that, after
they have incurred all the expense, they shall not
again have their work thrown upon their hands.
But taking a view of the whole country the
prospects are very encouraging. From all parts
the accounts are that a larger area of cotton has
been planted, that ryots and Zemindars are alike
interested in it ; that the Madras and Bombay
Presidencies are making great efforts; and that
the district accessible by the water carriage of
the Godavery has considerably extended its
culture of the now so eagerly desired plant. In
Tinnevelly the efforts are represented as having been
great and successful to improve the plant and the
quality of its produce, by the introduction of dif-
ferent kinds of foreign seed. In Oude itself the
great proprietors are beginning to give themselves
to the cultivation of cotton. Altogether the response
of the natives is quite as general as could possibly
have been expected, and the only thing needed is,
that the American slaveholders and slavehunters
should continue for two or three years the it com-
bination to lock up their cotton, and India will have
secured the essentials,—good plants, good clearing,
and good roads.
But there is yet another hope for India.
America sends us tobacco as well as cotton. Vir-
ginia and Maryland, the very seat of the war, are
the two great tobacco growing States. Their
supplies will nearly cease, and .£5,000,000 of revenue
depend on English love of the practice which Sir
BENJAMIN BRODIE condemns. Sir BENJAMIN
however, will not interfere by his advice with
Mr. GLADSTONE'S calculations, if the " weed',
can but be obtained. It is, it seems, of universal
growth in India ; but also of such universal con-
sumption, being the one luxury of the poor ryot, that
none worth notice has been exported. No attention,
moreover, has been paid to the quality, which is
said to be capable of indefinite improvements. Expe-
riments with foreign seed, have shown that excellent
qualities can be as easily produced as of the other;
and as in the case of cotton, the preparation of the
leaf for the market, which is now effected in the
rudest style, may be also considerably improved.
Mr. SETON-SAAR has proposed, it seems, to lay a
tax on tobacco of 20 per cent. This it is urged, in the
face of the prospects now referred to should be
withdrawn. We should think it certainly will be.
When we add to the above that the indigo planters
and the ryots seem likely to settle their quarrel,
we may conclude with a hope that the prospects of
india are substantially improving.

Tower-hill was yesterday the scene of a very

interesting spectacle. Earl RUSSELL, who has

falways been a staunch supporter of the Free
Drinking-Fountains Associations, has given a
practical proof of his conviction of their utility
by contributing largely to the erection of a sub-
stantial and beautiful fountain in this populous
locality. We have frequently expressed our cordial
approval of this movement, so conducive to
the health and temperance of the people, and

The Duke, however, is wise enough to object to
any interference on the part of England, in the
quarrel which locks up the cotton needed by Man-
chester, in the plantations of the South. He objects,
very properly, not only to breaking the blockade,
but also to proffering our advice, which they would
certainly little car© to receive. We might
easily find, indeed, a strong case for recognising a
Southern Government, and fetching away their
cotton, whether Mr. SEWARD liked or not ; but
at present, and if the Northerns behave with
anything like decency, it is better not to go to
war with them, and India will get the benefit of
the embargo on the South. As to advice, we
quite agree with the Duke, that we should de-
serve the cold shoulder from the Americans if,
like the Emperor of RUSSIA, from very good in-
tentions, we proffered merely the general advice
to make it all up as soon as they could. Such
advice does seem to treat the ground of the dis-
pute as trivial; while, as the speaker justly ob-
served, " Whatever we may think of that con-
test, in fairness to our American friends we ought
to admit that no more tremendous issues were ever
submitted to the dread arbitrament of war than
those which are now submitted to it upon the
American continent. I do not care whether we
look at it from the Northern or from the Southern
point of view. Take the mere question of what is
called the right of Secession. I know of no Go-
vernment which has ever existed in the world
which could possibly have admitted the right of
secession from its own allegiance. Gentlemen, I
think we ought to admit, in fairness to the Ameri-
cans, that there are some things worth fighting for,
and that national existence is one of these. And
then, gentlemen, if we go to the South, if we look
at the matter from the Southern point of view,
difficult as it may be for us to do so, I must say also
that I am not surprised at their conduct. If they
believe—as they loudly proclaim that they do be-
lieve—that slavery is not an evil which is to be
tolerated only and brought to an end as soon as
possible, but a Divine institution for the benefit of
mankind. to be maintained, and, if possible, ex-
tended, and which if it is assailed, even in a single
outpost, must be defended to the death, then, even
though the citadel of slavery be not assailed, but
only an important outwork, then it is but natural
that the South should rise in its defence. But, of
course, in this, as in all other revolutions, those
who take part in them must be judged finally by

forcible testimony to its merits was given
yesterday by Earl RUSSELL in his inte-
resting observations on the subject. After corn
menting upon the many social and otherwise great
wants of the crowded population of London, fresh
air and pure water, and the importance of supply-
ing as far as might be these requisites for public
health, he went on to show that the people fully
appreciated the benefits conferred on them by these
fountains. It has been computed that no less than
6,000 persons daily obtain water at the fountain
lately opened at the Royal Exchange. As the noble
speaker observed if we take only half that number
we shall see the large proportion of persons who
take advantage of the eighty-five fountains of th•
metropolis. It must not be supposed that
they only supply the needs of the thirsty traveller
or diminish the temptations of the beershop and
gin-palace to the working man : although these are
great advantages. These fountains are largely used
by poor persons in the neighbourhood who readily
appreciate the benefits of dressing their food in the
pure water supplied by them instead of the tanks and
pumps they were formerly compelled to use. Every
one must remember that one of the great aids to the
cholera was the use of impure water, and those who
have penetrated among our London alleys and bye-
ways, may well ask how anything else
can be found in their vicinity. It is
almost more than we could have hoped that the
people should so readily avail themselves of the
better and purer water offered to them, instead of
showing indifference or ignorance of the benefit.
The supply, however, is as yet far from meeting the
demand. Eighty-five fountains, among a popula-
tion of more than two millions is a very small
number, and it is a matter of surprise and regret
that the :public who are generally so liberal
in a good cause have not come forward
more readily in their behalf. Lord RUSSELL
said justly yesterday that this movement ought to
be an object of municipal care. Up to the present

time, however, such has not been the case, all the
fountains having been erected by the Metropolitan
Free Drinking Fountain Assciations, aided by the
voluntary contributions ofa few friends,among whom
the noble lord is conspicuous by his recent munifi-
cent gift to the city. It is satisfactory to have the
testimony of no less an authority than Dr. LANKES •
TER as to the quality of the water supplied to these
fountains. The impurities contained in the tanks
and pumps from which the poor are forced in their
absence to draw their supply, he considers are very de-
trimental to their health, and he expressed his hope
that the public would give more ready help, since the
association was sadly in want of funds. We hope the
meeting of yesterday, and the example offered by
Lord RUSSELL, Mr. GURNEY, and others may
have weight with our men of wealth and influ-
ence, and go far to supply the existing deficiency
in the required 200 fountains of the metropolis.

The accounts from the Paris Bourse continue to
show a diminution of anxiety. Money is in demand, but
the supply is also good at 51 to 6 per cent, in the open
market. A decline in wheat is reported from many of the
principal markets, and especially at Marseilles, where the
arrivals have been extremely larze.