The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-15 00:00:00

uUR RURAL POPULATION.,

The tlOra or a-series of lectures given under the auspices
of the ?eform League, in furtheranc6 of the political edu•
cation of the people, was delivered in St. James's Hall
last evening, by Professor Fawcett, M.P.—Subject. "The
Future of Our Rural Population."
The chair was taken by Mr. Beales, Itetorm League.

Professor VAWCETT, who was received with loud cheers,
commenced his lecture by remarking that the wealth of a
nation ought to be estimated rather by the manner in
which that wealth was distributed than by its cumulative
amount. The English people were too much accustomed
to boast of the wealth of the country without due consis,
deration of the stupendous poverty which existed among
the lower classes of society. Taking the case of any ordi.
nary agricultural district, it must be evident that a labourer
whose wages amounted to lOs. a week must, at a time
like the present, when bread was ls. ad. the Blb. loaf,
be in a state of semi-starvation, while his children had
their minds ruined by premature work, and their
lives blasted by the blight of ignorance. As the sub-
ject of his lecture was the future of the rural popu-
lation it was unnecessary to go at length into their
past history. One of the main features presented by a
cursory review of that past was the fact that it had
widened throughout an undue preponderance of power on
the part of the owners of the soil, and, as the late Mr.
Cobden had once said to him in allusion to this topic,
" A great battle has been fought already, but one is left
behind which will require perhaps greater efforts, and that
will be the endeavour to secure free trade in land."
(Cheers.) Looking abroad, a great part of the soil, both
in America and on the Continent, was cultivated, by
peasant proprietors, and the people were contented and
happy, because of the interest they thus acquired in the
soil ; but this interest was wanting am .ngst those who
cultivated the soil of Great Britain. The yeomen of Eng.-
land, who achieved such great results in the past history
of the country, upon whom Elizabeth had relied for re,
sistance to the projected Spanish invasion, and from whom
Oliver Cromwell had derived his main support, had been
swept away, and the old common- rights were ale° fast
disappearing with the absorption of the common land..
The re-event system of the aggregation of land in England
was fostered by the law of primogeniture, wham asserted
the justice of leaving the whole of a nian's property in
land to his eldest son, even in the event of the younger
children being beggared. The effect of this, although
probably not very powerful directly, had considerable
influence in an indirect manner, and it was to be hoped
that a reformed Parliament would demand an altera-
tion of the law of primogeniture. Another law, the law
of entail, gave to landed proprietors the power of settling
estates on unborn children, the result of which was that
the estates so settled were for many years destroyed as
a marketable commodity. This tended to diminish the
quantity of saleable land, and cot sequently created a
monopoly piice with regard to what remained, while it
also prevented improvements from being carried out upon
the soil. Another circumstance which likewise tended to
place a monopoly price upon land—the effect of this
monopoly price being to prevent the cultivation of the
land—was the fact that hitherto great political influence
had been associated with the ownership of the soil. It
was thought in some quarters that there would be a dearth
of political cries for the ensuing general election, but he
would suggest that if the abolition of the law of primo-
geniture was not sufficient, they might also demand house-
hold suffrage for the counties as well as for the boroughs.
It might be that this would confer votes on a number of
agricultural labourers, and that at first those labourers
might be subjected to something like undue influence, but
he had great faith in the educational power of the fran-
chise, and did not see why the agricultural labourer
should be completely ostracised and cut off from all poli-
tical power in the country. He should like to hear from
the representatives of the farmers and the labourers what
they thought of the game laws—what they thought of
the extension of a law which gave a few distinguished
personages the power of enjoying a mighty slaughter of
half-tame pheasants. (Laughter.) It should be remem-
bered that the men who possessed these privileges
were the men who were appointed by an irrespon„
sible authority to the magistracy,l in which capacity
they administered the law and controlled the finances
of the counties in which they acted. Those magistrates
were not chosen from among the ablest and best educated
men in the counties, and he knew it as a fact that the most
stupid and ignorant youth who was ever plucked at college
would, if he became the owner of a landed estate, be made
a magistrate. (Hear, hear.) When popular rights come to
be conferred on the counties, these and other anomalies
would, he was convinced, speedily vanish, and the country
would be happier and more prosperous in consequence.
One of the great points to be considered in legislating for
the future of the rural population was education, and it
behoved the country to watch well time kind of education
that would be hereafter attempted for the agricultural
labourer. During the past session the principle of the Fac-
tory Acts had been extended to every industry except that
of agriculture. Of course this exceptional state of things
could not long exist, and it would be necessary to see that
in the system of education which might he adopted care
• hould be taken that no children under 13 years of age
should be employed unless they attended a school co
many hours a week. (Cheers.) ;Mr. in'aweett went on to.
between us
under
advocate the desirableness of establishing between farmers
ers
ld
rate
elorivvt
eoti
rdfheoeeidfi)arr
incofi)erioli)
no'
huNerifibtsceearalliewii
d:ea:yd,l
olattui]
and their labowittuifits si:noheuar
rtsall beaermyas
surplusvci
hiwhich
rsf obtained.
prm'r o
) If
labourers would be united to their employers by the strong
bond of pecuniary interest, and their energies so power-
fully stimulated that the employers would confess they
had embarked in the best speculation they had ever made
in their lives. By and by, when this principle had made
progress, the co-operative principle might be resorted to,
so that a certain number of men might unite in the culti-
vation of extensive farms. Another point on which he was
desirous of insisting was the establishment of a compulsory
system of education, which he should only vote for on con-.
dition that it was coupled with power to compel the
attendance of neglected children at school. It might be
that such a system would lead to the imposition of a cer-
tain amount of taxation, but there could be little doubt
that the ultimate result would be to strike a heavy blow
at crime and pauperism, which were the chief sources of
a large proportion of
the rates now levied throughout the
country.
Mr. C. WENTWORTH DILKE proposed a vote of thanks
to Professor Fawcett for the lecture ho had delivere( .with
The motion was seconded by Mr. ELT, and carried wan.
acclamation.

TIIE JAMAICA COURTS-MARTIAL. —MT. J. S.
Williams, barrister-at-Law and Judge-Advocate, who
generously volunteered, without expectation of remunera-
tion, to defend the officers of the army against whom
serious charges were preferred for acts alleged to have
been One by them during the rebellion of October 1865,
has had his eftcient Services recognised by the War Offr.
tOO gAlig4.§ bqpkiia*le. to

lIIGH ;VA TER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

TIII3 DAY.—Morning, sh. 54m. Afternoon, 6b. 17m,
To-lionnow.-Morning, Ch. 41m.—.-Afternoon, 7h. sm.

4.,
441 t. 11"

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15, 1868.

We learn from Paris that the Corps Legislatif
has agreed to the whole bill of the Army Reor-
ganisation by 199 votes against 60, thus making the
decisive majority of 139. This must be a great
satisfaction to the EMPEROR and his Ministers, and
also it may be added that it is a decided gain to
the country. It is high time that something decisive
should be done in this matter, for France cannot
afford to lose her place among the nations, and
Europe is just now so unsettled, and so little likely to
enjoy peace in anything like a fundamental style
that no one can blame the Cabinet of the Tuileries
I r being on the alert and seeking to remedy defi-

The Government had a majority also
concerning the Fourteenth Article of the Army
Reorganisation Bill prior to the final triumph.
This must tend to make them strong, and to give

ciencies.

a greater feeling of seenr:ty to the people respecting
their policy. If anything is to be done, it must be
done at once and in a decisive fashion, for the times
are too critical, and important events succeed each
other too rapidly, to permit of doubts and delays.
It is indeed fortunate that this result should have
been obtained, and now we may expect that as
something definite has been done great pro-
gross way be speedily made in the work of remo-
delling the army. We wish that. the intelligence