The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-04 00:00:00

eaTtllina

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1850.

The Committee of the Lords on the commercial
distress deserved the marked thanks of the community
for their able, honest, and well-considered report,
a document of a very different character from that
emanating from the Commons Committee, although
the evidence adduced was practically the same in both
cases. The Peers' Committee was fairly and justly
coneti,uted. It was not' packed" for the purpose of
sustaining a particular Act of Parliament, of preserv-
ing the restrictions on banking, by which the value of
money had been so greatly appreciated and the chains
of the debtors and tax-payers double riveted. The
Mini,ter of the day was not certain of carry ing his
own report, as Sir CHARLES WOOD asserted he
ought to be before assenting to any inquiry. There
woe, on the contrary, a firm determination to conduct
the investigation committed to their charge with
strict impartiality, and a " true s.relict to give ac-
cording to the evidence," and that resolution was
unflinchingly carried cut. The report itself was a
valuable commentary on the evidence. It di 1 not
merely quota the opinions of the witnesses, but gave
the just deductions from the general testimony, show-
ing bow far these deductions were sustained by, or
opposed to, these opinions ; and in the latter cases
explaining the reasons for dissent. The Committee
did not enter into the objections that have been pre-
ferred against the Act of 1819. They regarded
" the convertibility of the bank-note " as a settled
question, that should not be interfered with under
any circumstances, and our cbeervations on their
report are to be taken on the same foundation. We
need not state that we are totally opposed to the
bullionist principles, that a e desire the repeal of
the Act of 1819 as earnestly as we do that of
1844, the latter merely increasing and aggravating
the evils which had their foundation and origin in
the former statute. But the subject-matter of in-
quiry was practically limited to the operation of the
supplementary law. To that the evidence of the
witnesses and the arguments of the Committee were
chiefly directed, and we shall for the present examine
the case from the same point of view.
The entire report is unequivocally condemnatory of
the Act of 1844. The Ceu.mittee state, in their pre-
liminary observations, that they had " come to the
conclusion that the recent panic was materially ag-
gravated by the operation of that statute, and by the
proceedings of the Bank itself." They add, " This
effect may be traced directly to the Act of 1844, in
the legislative restriction imposed on the means of
accommodation whilst a large amount of bullion was
held in the coffers of the Bank, and during a time of
favourable exchanges ; and it may be traced to the
same cause, indirectly, as a consequence of great
fluctuations in the rate of discount, and of capital
previously advanced at a low rate of interest. .
This course' the Bank would hardly have
felt itself justified in taking, had not an impression
existed that by the separation of the issue and bank-
ing departments one it flexible rule for regulating
the Bank issues had been substituted by law, in place
of the discretion formerly vested in the Bank. The
banking department was considered to be thus ab-
solved from all obligation but that which was con-
nected with the pecuniary interests of the proprie-
tors." The Committee then gave a more detailed ac-
count of the primary causes•and extent of the dis-
tress, which they stated the witnesses concur in attri-
buting to the " sudden and unexampled demand for
foreign corn produced by a failure in many descrip-
tions of agricultural produce throughout the United
Kingdom. This reduced the bullion from the Bank
coffers by about 7,500,0001, and 1,500,0001. from
other sources." There was also the " railway expen-
diture," " overtrading," the " rise of price in cotton,"
and the sudden and extensive " fall in sugar." They
add—" what precise proportion these different
causes contributed to the common disaster, there is
some room for difference of opinion, but that each
had a considerable share in producing it no person has
been found to dispute."
In the existing state of the law these causes un-
doubtedly contributed in same degree, more:or less, to
the evil ; but would they have done so if the law
were different ? That is the question. The British
nation, which between loans and taxes could raise in
three successive years, Hl3, 14, and 15, no less than
510,000,0001. sterling, and that without distress or
difficulty, cannot have fallen into such utter poverty,
that 9,000,0001. sterling, sent to procure food for the
starving people, could have produced such calamitous
results, such unprecedented distre, a and destitution—
we say " unprecedented," for the great majority of
the witnesses considered the intensity of the pressure
as far more severe than the distress of 1837 and 1839,
and many stated it to have been greater even than in
the year of panic, 1825.
The second head relates to the Treasury letter of
23tib October, " the salutary consequences of which
ware recognised gratefully by almost every

witness, even by those mo st favourable to
the Act of 1844." The C onimittee declare
that nothing short of absolute necessity' could justify
that letter; but, " not relying with. any confidence on
either of the remedies (viz., a sale of Consols and a
limitation of discount) proposed by tL e Bank, as
likely to have proved safe or effectual," they express
their approval of that letter.
The principles on which the Act of 1844 are based
are discussed, and they clearly prove t hat " the effi-
ciency of the circulation is not identical with its
money amount," and the "inapplicability of the same
rule to periods of favourable' and of adverse foreign
exchange. . . The Act of 1844 applies the same rule
in boil cases." The " self-acting regulator" is, there-
fore, quite inadequate to provide for all the exigencies
that might probably arise.
The Committee then considered " some very im-
portant results attending the new banking system,
which appeared to have produced very serious results
to the commercial interests." These are " the
freedom from responsibility in the issuing depart-
ment," and the liberty to manage the banking
department on the principle of a private bank." And
"the unexampled fluctuation in the rate of discount
since the Act of 1844." Previous to 1839 that rate
had never exceeded 5, or been less than 4 per cent. ;
and althuugh it rose for some months, in 1839, to 6
per cent., it was again reduced to 5 per cent. in
January, 1840, and remained, as before, between 4
and 5 per cent., till after the passing of the 7th and
Bth Victoria, cap. 32. From that time the fluctua-
tion has been exceedingly great, amounting, in a
single year, to as much as 61 per cent., the rates
charged by the Bank of England exhibiting a melan-
choly contrast to the charges of the Bank of France
during the same period, which never at any time ex-
ceeded 5 per cent.
The great length of this admirable report, and the
importance of the remedial measures suggested by the
different witnesses, render it impossible to reduce our
observeions within the limits of a single article ; we
shall, however, take an early opportunity of showing
how completely it overturns the various theories on
which that most unwise and impolitic law is founded,
which "materially aggravated the panic," and the
suspension of which was essential to the safety of the
nation and the "convertibility of the bank-note," for
which so many evils have been deliberately and ad-
visedly encountered.

We were yesterday forced to conclude our re-
marks on the Irish landlord-and-tenant question
before we were able to point out what we conceive
to be a grave error in reference to this subject,
which appeared in the columns of a morning contem-
porary, viz.—" That land is not, by the law of Eng-
land or Ireland, considered as of necessity the subject
of a trust." What the force or use of the words "of
necessity" in this sentence can be we are at a loss to
divine ; it is not essential to our purpose to show that
land is of necessity the subject of a trust—if we can
establish the fact that a portion of the land of Ireland
has been actually granted in trust, in all due form
of law, we shall have succeeded in the end we had in
view in noticing the mistake of our contemporary—
the establit hment of our own accuracy.
We shall pass over the moral trusteeship implied
in the social compact, and which in faro conscientie
should be sufficiently binding on an honest landlord,
and ask our contemporary to take the trouble of ex-
amiaing the "Articles" of the " Ulster Plantation."
He will learn from them that a special trusteeship
was annexed, by a public Act of the State, to the
grant of the confiscated estates in the north of Ire-
land, comprising the greater portion of six counties.
We have frequently through the columns of this
journal cited portions of the orders and conditions
contained in these "Articles," in which it was most
distinctly and stringently laid down that these lands
were not conferred for the private profit of any indi-
vidual or corporation, but, in the emphatic words of
the official document itself, "to do service to the
Crown and Commonwealth."

This document printed and issued in 1608, under
the authority of the KING and the Lords of the Privy
Council, goes on thus—" And forasmuch as many
' persons being ignorant of the conditions whereupon
his MAJESTY is pleased to grant the said lands, are
importunate suitors for greater portions than they are
able to plant, intending their private profit only, and not
the advancement of the public service, it is thought
convenient to declare and publish to all his MaaesTv's
subjects the several quantities of the proportions which
shall be distributed, the several sorts of undertakers,
manner of allotment, the estates, the rents, the tenures,
with other articles to be observed, as well on his
'MAJESTY'S behalf as on the behalf of the undertakers,
in manner and form following." This document will
be found in " Harris's Hibernica," Part 1., p. 63. See,
also, Appendix to the Skinners' Appeal to the House
of Lords (decided in 1846), p. 31, and the Irish
Society's Answer.
We cannot conceive that any person, after examin-
ing tbese state documents and charters, will seriously
contend that the landlords or " undertakers " of these
lands are anything more nor less than public trustees
fur the purposes of the state. They are but the
KING'S stewards to carry out his MAJESTY'S intention
in reference to the colonization of Ulster ; no abso-
lute right of ownership has been conferred on them ;
they have no right to turn to their own private use the
profits and advantages intended for the general body of
the settlers, and by assuming that right they would, in
our judgment, be as much guilty of a breach of trust
as any other trustee created by the ordinary process
of law, who shculd convert to his own private pur-
poses the property of his cestui que trust.
T cis may be considered strong language in refer.
ence to the rights of landlordism in Ulster, but it is
forced upon us by the conditions and written evidence
of a publicly ratified grant from the Crown of
England. Under the terms of this grant the for-
feited lands were parcelled out to three classes of
undertakers or landlords in certain graduated pro-
portions. The first class, who were to be English
or Scotch undertakers, received a proportion of two
thousand acres, and were bound to plant their lands
exclusively with English and lowland Scotch tenants.
The second class, who should be persons who had
serv€d the Crown in any civil or military capacity in
Ireland, received one thousand five hundred acres,
and might plant their lands indifferently with native
Irish or British tenants—of course being Protestant.
The third class received one thousand acres, and
might be natives of Ireland, but had to pay double
the amount charged to the English and Scotch under-
takers. By the twelfth Article promulgated by King
JAMES and his Privy Council, the English and Scotch
undertakers were bound " not to demise any part of
their lands at will only, but to make certain estates for
years, for life, in toile, or in fee simple" By Article
13 "no uncertain rent shall be reserved by the
said undertakers, but the same shall be expressly
set down without reference to the custom of the
country, and a proviso shall be inserted in their
letters patent against cuttings, cosheries, and other
Irish exactions upon their tenants." The second
class of undertakers were bound to make certain
estates to their tenants, and reserve certain rents,
and forbear Irish exactions. The third class were
also bound to make certain estates fur years or lives
to their under-tenants, and forbear Irish exactions.

These are the conditions upon which the confiscated
lands of 131ster were conferred upon the forefathers of
the present proprietors, and fur the purpose of enforcing
a due observance of the duties and conditions imposed
they were strictly bound by the terms of the third
general article, which runs thus—" That every under-
taker, before the ensealing of his letters patent, shall
enter into bond or recognizance, with good suretiei,
to his MAJESTY'S use, in the office of his 'IAJESTY'S
Chief Remenabrancer in England or Ireland, or else
before two of the Commissioners to be appointed for
the plantation, to perform the aforesaid Articles, ac-
cording to their ft veral distinctions, Stc., Scc. ; and
making of certain estates to their tenants, in this man-
ner, viz., the undertaker of the greatest proportion
to .become bound in four hundred pounds, of the
middle proportion in three hundred, and of the least
proportion in two hundred pounds." Since the days of
JAMES there has been no change made in the condition
of the plantation as contained in the " Articles" from
which we have made the above extracts. Hence,
since it is clear that the original grantees in the time
of JiMES, who took no absolute ownerships, were
bound to grant fixed and certain estates to the plan-
talon tenantry, the same obligation follows and at-
taches to their successors down to the present day,,
and that the " phtutatim tenant," of Ulatet ACM le-

gaily entitled to a fixed and certain estate in the soil
by the same right which gives title to the landlord.
In some parts of the north these rights of the tenant
are partially recognized, and wherever the tenant
right is to any extent acted on, it is admitted to pro-
duce the most beneficial and salutary consequences.
And those rights and privileges which JAMES, in a
spirit of narrow bigotry, would confine to a favoured
few, we should be glad to see extended by our Gracious
QUEEN in the spirit of a more civilized age and a
more enlightened liberality to every subject of her
MAJESTY.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

_ We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The PRESIDENT was to leave Paris yesterday for
Cherbourg, where he will review the fleet on the 6th
and 7th.
It is said that there is a split in the PRESIDENT'S
Cabinet, and that General D'llauTrour, and M.
BAROCHE, who do not approve of the course proposed
to be adopted by their colleagues in reference to the
extension of the PaEsipeax's term of office, are about
to resign. A Cabinet Council was held on Sunday,
and when it broke up the PRESIDENT sent to Berlin
suddenly to demand the immediate presence in Paris
of his friend M. DE PERSIGNY.
The Duchess of ORLEANS has written to M.
TIIIERS and to Count MOLE, requesting their advice
and protection for her children. M. Tunas has
frankly consented to become the friend and adviser of
the Duchess, but Count MOLE, who has for some
time past been intriguing both with the Elys6e and
Wiesbaden, refuses to commit himself.
The Count of CHAMBORD left Wiesbaden on the
31st ult. Endeavours have been made by his partizans
to represent him as free from the vices of his race. It
would appear, however, that he is quite as bigoted
and quite as priest-ridden as his grandfather. It
seems that during the time he was staying at Wies-
baden a subscription was set on foot fur the repair of
a church, to which at first it had been un-
derstood that the Count DE CHAMBORD would
contribute. As the church, however, was a
Protestant church, his confessor forbade him
to subscribe, and the faithful son of Rome at
once obeyed the orders of his confessor. The
knowledge of this fact will militate materially against
his chances in France. The French people will never
again submit to the government of the confessional.
The news of Louis PHILIPPE'S death reached
Wiesbaden on the 29th ult. On the following morn-
ing all the French visitors of Wiesbaden, with the
Duke of BORDEAUX at their head, attended sc funeral
mass in the church, which was hung with black. On
the same day the Duke gave a farewell reception, at
which he delivered the following brief adieu to his as-
sembled partisans :
" Gentlemen,—Let me bring you together once more
around me, not to say Adieu,' but Au revoir ;' to thank
you for having quitted your families and affairs of bu-
siness to visit me. I have communicated to many cf you
my intentions, my desires, the lino of conduct to follow,
and what men possess my confidence. I wish to repeat
to all of you that if you desire the triumph of our poble
and holy cause, which is that of France, union and dis-
cipline are indispensable. Show yourselves inflexible as
to principles, moderate and conciliating as to persons.
He whom you regard as your head, as your king, and
who, I may add, is also the best of your friends, will
always show you this example. And if society, if
France, were ever in danger, alll tell all our friends how
happy and proud I should be to fly with you to her
defence."
The Duke, having pressed the hands of those pre-
sent, then retired.
A letter from Cherbourg of the 31st says :
" Strangers are flocking into Cherbourg. The
steamers and public vehicles bring every day crowds of
visitors, and among them are a great number from
Jersey. When the Jersey steamer, the Superb, ar-
rived, it went round the roadstead to show the fleet to
the passengers, bat it neglected to salute the station-
ary vessel as required by the regulations. A gun was
fired to remind the captain of his duty, but he took no
notice. Thereupon the boats of the Becephale, commanded
by Lieut. Picard and his officers, put off and overtook
the Superb just as it was about to enter the port.
The lieutenant demanded explanations, and the
English captain, M. Priaulx, immediately gave them in
the most satisfactory manner. This, joined to the cour-
tesy of the French officers, prevented the commander of
the reaelsted from putting the Superb in quarantine in
the middle of the port, a proceeding a hich would have
been anything but amusing to the passengers. This
incident caused a oertain movement among the persons
on the quays. It was raid that as the Superb had
endeavoured to enter without respecting the regula-
tions, it must needs have some important or suspected
personage on board. Some one, by way of joke, pro-
nounced the name of Ledru-Rollin, and immediately
it became generally reported that he was really on
board. The gendarmerie, the police, the customs' offi-
cers, and the local authorities, were immediately on foot,
and a minute examination of every passenger was made.
Fortunately no one resembled the celebrated exile, or he
weuld at once have been seized by the collar, and
marched cff to gaol, there being strict orders all along
the coast to keep up a sharp look-out after him. After
it became certain that Ledru-Rollin was not on board
the Superb, the passengers were allowed to disembark,
but then a scrupulous examination of the boxes and port-
maeteaux .was made. The inhabitants of Jersey, who so
well received the national guards of Avrauchea and
Granville, were astonished at such a reception."
Although there was very little business transacted at
the Bourse the price of public securities was more firm.
The Five per Cents. opened at 96f. 60c., and closed at
96f. 65c. ; the Three per Cents. closed at 58f. 30c.;
Rouen. 585 f.; Havre, 243 r. 75c.; Great Northern, 461 f.
250.; Vierzon, 350 f.; Basle, 117 f. 50c.; Bordeaux, 390 f.;
Paris and Strasburg, 349 f.; Tours and Nantes, 248 f.
25c.; the New Roman Loan, 78k.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE,SEPr. 3.

Boulogne and Amiens, VA—Central of France (Orleans
and Vierzon), 13%—East Indian, 9'%—Namur and Liege,
7—Orleans and Bourdeaux, 2;R—Paris and Rouen, 23%—
Paris and_Strasbourg,