The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-04 00:00:00

COMMON LANDS INCLOSURE
BILL.

We wish to draw public attention to the iMportance
of, Lord Worsley's Inclosure Bill, for when it is car-
ried, which we suppose will be .the case, it will be
the basis of many similar measures. We assume the
principles-4irst, that the land that we have ought
to be turned to' the most productive account; and,
secondly, that it is bad policy to force bad lands into
cultivation at a great expense, when we can procure
land-produce at a much less price from other com,
tries. We believe *that a Very large potion of the
Common land brought under culture within the laSt'
half • century might, to our advantage, be again
turned into wilds .and wastes, and we are sure that
a great many of the owners of these inclosed common
would be very glad to get rid of their property if they
could find a fair price, or purchasers of any sort. But
let Inclosure Acts be what they may; they ought not
to trespass on the rights of the poor. Lord Worsley.
draws nice distinctions between common and waste
land, and commonable land. The end of these quib-
blings is, that the poor are to, be robbed of whatever
they possess. Let lawyers quibble as they'may about
the extent of the poor man's rights, certain is it that
of those rights he is to be deprived. Common and
waste land is attached to certain tenements, and al.;
though those who may take, leases of tenements,
with this right attached to them,: may not care r to
avail themselves oht, still, having paid the landlOrd
rent in proportion to the acquisition, SllOl terfants
ought not forcibly to be deprived of that „for Which
they have' actually paid. The principle is., too
clear to • be. disputed. Commonable, land.. may be
Productive, of corn, and some parts of it be productive
of only! grass • the arable produce is always clainied-
by somelandowner or lord of the manor, whilst thepasturage 'is the personal right of the inhabitant's.
Here the-cloven foot of lordly power is seen trampling
on the poor, for whilst the rich can pasture their cat-
tle all the year round, the poor can use the grass for..
only two seasons. ,'The. Bill provides for the enclosure
andimproVement of common and commonable lands..
The exchange of lands, the .division of intermixed.'
land,' and for the defective or ,incomplete execution of
the powers of. general ,and local inclosure Acts. No
Bill. ever brought into Parliament aimed at a hun-
dredth part of such arbitrary power. How is this
tyrannical Bill to be executed ? Hitherto, no
inclosure, however small, could take place with
out an Act of- Parliament -having passed the
Lords and Commons, and having received
Now,the . Royal. assent. , Lord .Wcirsley. is
execute his law .by a set of Commissioners, who, he,
assures us, will be unpaid.- ,They need na payment,
for, they will have pickings and parcellings, allotments
and opportunities, of preferences. and denials, sufficient
to make their :places immensely profitable. But- no:
man ever yet entertained the idea of a Commission-
with a power of -superseding Acts of Parliament'.
Lord Worsley's Bill is nothing but an indirect. prop
to t corn-laws.
he 'co-laws. Ile tells us that, his Bill will
call the industrious poor into employment, and pro-,
duce a greater investment of capital. in the, land.
There is too much capital kicked up in land already,,
and as to the poor man's labour, abolish the corn-laws,,
and employment for our poor wlll be ample ; whereas.
Lord Worsley's Bill would not give to the poor through-
out England a four-pound loaf in a year for each in- 1
dividual. But food is not the only-thing to be con-:
-sidered. - The health, the ventilation, the recreations,:ll
the sports, and general enjoyments.of the poor are to.l
be taken into account. A great source of morals
'proceeds from early associations, and the poor man,
in middle life, and especially in old age, is broken-,
hearted at seeing torn from, and inclosed, in favour of
the rich, the land on which he gambolled in his child-,
hood, and on which, perhaps, his mother kept a
goose or a pig. His •Lordship's Bill holds out the'
-lure of draining commons, in too many of which'
there is' stagnant water: This drainage ought Ao.
be effected by the magistrates, or the parishes
'but the new Commissioners having drained the
land; take it all as possessions of the rich.' A:
large common} may have stagnant pools, pestilential
to all persons around it, but surely we are not driven
to the alternative of letting• the nuisance continue, or
of suffering a landlord, in reward for • draining the
. pond, to seize upon the land? The new Commis-
sioners are to let ground for burial4places, for
ehapels, 'and for schools, Atc.l;iti fact,4 Commission
with;mores aa!bitrar,i' or more -extensivetWreti, kiwier

?Wu, Ist6p4Sed to Parliament. The petty ionimoners
go sadly; to Abe wall. His Lordship boasts that his
' Bill will throw no charges on the Consolidated Fund.
It need not, do • so, for it robs the poor to such an
extent; / that the Bill can•pay its own 'expenses.
Lands,lit•England, are much intermiied, that is to
-say, a• huinble man may possess a few- acres, stir-
roanded by larger estates, He • refuses to' alter his
course of husbandry to meet the wishes of
bis richer neighbours. This , presumes
that such a division of land is inconvenient.
Inconvenient ,to Show? Of course to, the
rich man, and the 'Bill gives the •Commissioners a
power to alter the arrangement or possession• of pro-
perty;, thus a humble roan, who Mayobe as proud of
'sniall•possession, inherited &mit his virtifous fore-
-fathers—as proud even as Hr.,. DUkeS ths-t- inherit
their large estates from the profligacY Ofilheit an-
Cestral motheri.with Charles H., may be hustled out
Of his property with very little ceremony,. whilst, if
. ,"ive attempt to_ invade the . pensions, of
~immense
amount,- granted by Charles 11. to his six to eight
mistresses, we are reproached with designs of attack-
ing the right of property. In the woodlands of
England there are iglades or ' intervening small
pasturages, of course belonging to • the' humble
classes. The woods are the possession of the rich,
the pasturages are the property ofthe poorer
proprietors. It Lis urged that these owners of pas-
• turages have an interest in injuring the wood. What
`is tole the remedy? The owners of forests are to
be empowered to do what they please with the owners
of the small pasturages. There is.-no appeal to a
jury; no - not even •to the quarter-sessions.. But the
Commissioners are to •do all =these Commissioners,
of course, being of the upper •classes, and having local
interests, prejudices, and attachments. It is com-
pletely a Bill of spoliation. Great evils unquestion-
ably exist in our tenures of land; but they are not to
be removed by. a sweeping measure- of this sort.--.
Weekly Dispatch.