The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-28 00:00:00

OU(lxin 2eint

LONDON, THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 28, 1850.

The Freehold Land Society is now " a great
fact," "an established fact." It has survived the
dangers that beset the infancy of every institution.
It has overcome the difficulties that impede and
obstruct every new undertaking, however prudently
and sagaciously planned. Like the Anti-Corn -law
League, it sprung from a minute source. Seven
men meeting in a small room in Manchester
originated the association, which speedily took
root in the affections of the people, and within
a few short years had spread throughout the
length and breadth of the land, defying, the power
of the monopolists to arrest its irresistible progress
until it finally triumphed, assuring to the people the
great desideratum—an unlimited supply of cheap
and untaxed food. And yet these seven persons
were not men of exalted rank or unbounded
influence ; they were of the middle class,
Whose experience had convinced them of
the enormous magnitude, the grievous injustice of the
evil for which they were about to seek a remedy ;
and the only influence they possessed was that
which must necessarily belong to every clear-
headed and intelligent man, with an unblemished
character for honour and integrity in all his dealings.
Their most powerful weapon was the justice of their
cause; they knew that truth and reason were on
their side, and with such efficient allies they feared
no opponent. Their great object was to promote dis-
cussion, to attract the public attention to the subject.
When once it was taken into consideration i❑ a cHlm
and unprejudiced spirit the victory was achieved•
When the ridicule with which every new project is
invariably attacked had subsided, when the pom-
pous platitudes and specious claptreps, of which
we sometimes hear the faint echoes from
Protectionist gatheriLgs, had ceased to control the
minds of a people, who had begun to listen to the
arguments, and could not understand that because
" Britannia ruled the waves" her trade and com-
merce should be fettered and trammelled by a thou-
sand vexatious restrictions, or because " Bcitons never
would be slaves" that they should voluntarily pay an
enormous tax, an unrighteous tribute, to or for the
benefit of a favoured class, the matter was brought
to a conclusion. Victory after victory was gained ;
the Crystal Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, nay, the
largest building which it ever entered into the human
mind to conceive, or which human power was en-
abled to carry into execution, could not contain the
one-hundredth part of the numbers belonging to the
association, all the members of which had a few short
years before assembled in a small back room in a
provincial town.
But if the commencement of the Anti-Corn-law
League was small, still more minute was the origin
of the Freehold Land Society. Two persons only
met together. Mr. J. TAYLOR—the name is worthy
of being commemorated and treasured in the recol-
lections of the people—and a friend passed various
resolutions, and the result has been the formation of
the society, which has already eighty flourishing
branches—thirty thousand members—all good men
and true—and 170,000/. sterling paid-up capital on
shares, which will eventually bring in about
1,000,0001. sterling. This extraordinary progress,
we believe to be fully equal to any that has ever yet
been accomplished, not exceeded even by the
brilliant success of " the League" within a
similar period. Its future strides will be
'even more wonderful, realising the nursery fable of
the " Seven League Boots," or the arithmetical prob-
lem of the sum constantly doubling on each succes-
sive nail of the horse-shoes. Last year there were
but 33 societies, now there are 80, and if the improve-
ment follow a similar ratio, we ought to have between
180 and 190 societies in November, 1851, and be-
tween 400 and 500 in November, 1852. And so
there will be if further efforts be not rendered un-
necessary by a large and comprehensive measure of
Parliamentary reform, placing the suffrage on so
satisfactory a basis that the want of the elective fran-
chise will be a mark of di'grace and ignominy, the
fault of the " political cypher" himself, and nut of
the laws of the land in which he lives. But this
salutary law will, if not altogether the off-
spring -of the society, at least be essentially
promoted by its progress. Let every man, therefore
whet values the inestimable privilege himself, and
who has a sufficient sense of justice to extend it to
others, although they may not deserve it as well as
himself, hasten to juin the reeks of the society. Let
him consider with himself, whether he cannot allocate
a few shillings, even ls. 6d. per week out of his earn-
ings, to so noble a purpose. Is there no unnecessary
expenditure he can curtail—no useless luxury he can
cut off? Every shilling contributed to the funds may
be looked upon as a portion of the price'of his freedom

—what sacrifice or privation should not be willingly
encountered in such a cause ? All who are worthy of
obtaining the inestimable privilege will respotd in
the manner required ; acta non verba will he the
test of their sincerity. If they would have their
professions credited, let them join the society
and pay up their subscriptions. Its portals are open
to all, there is no exclusion. The honest and con-
scientious Conservative will be received as readily and
receive his freehold as speedily, as the Liberal. There
will be no control attempted over the opinions of the
members. Each may follow his own political predi-
lections without let or hinderance. The principle of
the society is that it is unjust to deprive British
citizens of the franchise, to keep them unrepresented
and without a voice in the national councils while
contributing,
ttehaithgerineaytainconesi: elxtp epnrdoivt
iudrees.
they are
man may, ,with ordinary
feovrery
flatcilifftieerssbayrwemheicdhy
industry. and ordinary frugality, achieve the fran-
chise ; and it does not seek to depreciate the
value of the boon by clogging it with restric-

tions that would be disgraceful to both partie:.
It addresses itself to freemen, not to slaves ; to
men whose votes will be the result of their own
honest convictions, and not to those who will submit
to the dictation of any man or body of men. It is
the very "catholicity," the universality of its object,
that ensures the success it will unquestionably ob-
tain, because it is eminently merited.

Every clay furnishes fresh proof that, despite the
ef-
forts of Jesuits and Puseyites, the country is sound at
heart—that England is " Protestant" England still—
the land of Christianity as contradistinguished from
Priestianity. From every part of the Uaited King-
dom does every post bring intelligence of meetings
held to express the " determination of the people,"
we quote the words of a morning cotemporary, "not
to be thrust back into the swathing•clothes of the
middle ages by any old spiritual nurse whether of
Rome or Exeter;" and rejoiced are we to find that at
the great majority of these meetings the right tone
has been adopted. To the inhabitants of Bangor and
of Carnarvon, however, is due the credit of having
been the first to point out the most effective measures
for rendering of non-effect the efforts of the great
politico-religious conspiracy concocted at Gaeta for
the destruction of civil and religious liberty, of which
the recent Papal aggression is an overt act.
The Bangor petitioners state that they consider
that the only safeguards against the usurpations of
the POPE and the superstitions of Popery will be
found in those weapons by which the Reformation
was originally achieved, namely, the force of truth
and the diffusion of knowledge; and also in the exten-
sion of the sympathy of the Government and of the
people of this country to those nations who have still to
struggle against spiritual tyranny upheld and enforced
by the arm of temporal power."

The most efficient weapon of defence against those
who, be it never forgotten, have arrogantly pro-
claimed that the time has arrived when "Protestant-
ism must be extirpated at the point of the sword,'
would be the formation of a Protestant League to af•
ford assistance and support to all who are strugglirg
against Papal tyranny—a tyranny which abuses tole-
ration, because, not content with equality, it proclaims
that it is itself oppressed whenever it is deprived of the
power of oppressing others.
The following list of the acts of aggression com-
mitted by the Papacy, or at its instigation, within the
last three years, has bean furnished us by a valued
corespondent, and it proves the necessity of the for-
mation of some such League of self-defence as that we
have proposed :
" 1. An attempt (instigated by the Romish priest-
hood) to sever the Roman Catholic and Protestant
cantons of Switzerland, an attempt enforced by war,
aided by Austria and France.
" A brutal war of aggression against the Hunga-
rians, terminating in cruelties unparalleled since the
dark ages. The Protestant principles (quite as much
as their free institutions) were confessedly the cause
of the Austrian attacks on Hungary.
" 3. A direct aggression, by the POPE and his priest-
hood, on the temporal government of the Catholic
kingdom of Piedmont."
And to these may be added the seizure of the mo-
nopoly of education in France by the Jesuits, and
the dismissal from their professorships of all those who
are in favour of toleration for any other sect of reli-
gionists. As the correspondent to whom we have al-
ready alluded justly observes—

" The most effectual mode of extinguishing the
power of Popery (not excepting, perhaps, even the
diffusion of education) will be found in the promotion
and encouragement of Protestant principles and free
institutions in those countries which are the seats of
Popish domination, viz., in Italy, Germany, and
other countries in the south and centre of Europe."
It is evident that the conspirators themselves feel
that the adoption of some such method as this would
be fatal to their success; for in the Jesuit jour-
nals of Paris we find it stated, in a manner
which proves the alarm of those who
make the statement, that the " Anglican clergy
have come forward with their subscriptions to fill up
the MAzzINI loan." The statement, we are sorry to
say, has no foundation, but the foe has shown his
weak point by raising the outcry, and we thank him
for the hint. To present the POPE with the reality
of a Roman Republic would be a proper return for:his
present to us of a sham English hierarchy, and his
HOLINESS would find AlAzzim rather more difficult to
deal with than Queen VICTORIA is likely to find
Cardinal WisEmAN. The 13.ingor petition concludes
as follows :

That your petitioners therefore humbly conceive
that it is of primary inaporto,ce that the universidys
and schools of this land should hr rendered seminaries
for the instruction of youth in the pure principles of the
Protestant faith, and in the rudimuuts of an enligl-itened
Secular educa•ion. Your petitioners therefore humbly
pray your Mjesty that a full and complete inquiry tic
instituted into the universities and schools of this coun-
try, and into the state of the endowments for the pur-
poses of education bquezthed in former ages, in order
that all principles adverse to the spirit of the Reforma-
tion may be eradicated from our schools end colleges.
and that the donations of our forefathers may be applied
as was intended by the donors to the general advance-
ment and instruction of the people."

-We hope that every petition and address will, for
the future, contain a prayer for university reform, and
that those who have agreed to petitions and address
in which allusion to this im,..ortant subject has been
omitted, will forthwith re assemble and agree to an
additional address, calling the attention of her MA-
JESTY to this special matter. In an admir-
able letter on Puseyism, from "An Old Re-
former," who has often honoured The Sun by
making it the medium of his communications with
the public, this subject of education is admirably
handled, and we hope and believe that early in the
next session of Parliament we shall see the banner of
" Secular Education" raised under the patronage of
the Government. There is another recommendation
of " An Old Reformer" which we trust the Govern-
ment will at once adopt. "The QUEEN'S Ministers,''
says our correspondent, " though they cannot unmake
a bishop, at least without more trouble than it is
worth, might mend the breed. Make GonnAsi a
bishop, as a persecuted defender of Scripture and
common sense would have been in the days of our
fathers; and see if that does not balance a half-dozen
of traitors. There are ways for everything ; and
when men mean it, they take them." The
raising of Mr. Gm: Am to the episcopal
bench would be the heaviest blow and the
greatest discouragement that the traitors within
the camp have yet received ; the first vacant mitre
should decidedly be conferred on Mr. GORHAM. We
had intended, in the course of this article, to have
noticed the admirable letter of Lord BEAUMONT, and
" the base, brutal, and bloody" attack of an armed Papist '
mob, headed by their priest, at Birkenhead, upon a
party of unarmed Protestants quietly assembled to
discuss the propriety of presenting a loyal address
to the QUEEN, but we must defer the consideration
of these matters to another opportunity.

We are, indeed, rejoiced to find that the wonderful
and important discovery of Mr. REES REECE, to
which we have repeatedly directed the public at-
tention since it was first mentioned in the House of
Commons by the O'GORMAN MAHON and Lord
ASHLEY, is about to be carried out under the most
propitious circumstances, under auspices that forbid
the slightest apprehension as to its ultimate and
triumphant success. From a reference to our
advertising columns, it will be found that the British
and Irish Peat Company is in course
of formation, that JOHN MACGREGOR, the clear-
headed and intelligent Member for Glasgow, the
excellent and efficient chairman of the Royal British
Bank, the qucndam Secretary of the Board of Trade,
which situation he resigned in order to accept the
important trust confided to his charge by the largest
town constituency in the United Kingdom, and who
cons quently possesses greater experience in all mat-
ters of trade and commerce than any man in
the British dominions, will be the chairman
of the new company now in course of
f...leation, and that Mr. W. D. OWEN, to
whose enlightened and enterprising liberality the
talented propounder of the project is indebted for the
clear and satisfactory evidence of the vast importance I
of his tliscovery, is to be one of the directors. There
are, other names to be found in the list now published
whose well-merited 'reputations and business habits
afford the best possible guarantee ,that no
,statements
have been put forward' which cannot be fully and
completely substantiated, that, there are no
exaggeration or untenable , assertions con-
tained in the prospectus. it would, howeier,

he invidious to particularize any where all are good
and beyond reproach ; and we should not even have
alluded to the names of Mr. MACGREGOR or Mr.
OWEN, but that, peculiar circumstances entitled those
gentlemen to the distinction.

It appears that the company is to be incorporated
by royal charter, which will limit the liability of the
shareholders to the amounts for which they have
subscribed, and foe which they may execute the
deed. There will be but 6,000 shares, of
201. each, with liberty to increase the en-
tire capital to 5000001., so that all who desire
to participate in a mine of wealth, richer than any
contained in California, should make early application
for shares. It requires no extraorainary power of
vaticination to perceive that the shrewd and intelli-
gent capitalists of the metropolis will endeavour to
obtain some interest in an undertaking which pro-
mises a return of more than cent. per cent., which
off rs a clear profit of 11,908/. on an outlay of"
11,7171. Any delay will, therefore, be fatal, and
prevent the possibility of the applications being t;c-
ceded to.

It is no Russian or Austrian loan that is now
proposed, which, even if it offered ample security and
handsome interest, would still be applied to purposes
of which few Britons could approve. It is not- to
rivet the chai"s of the gallant Magyars, or to per-
petuate the dismemberment of Poland, and pre-
vent that gallant but unfortunate country
from again attaining a place in the scale
of nations that the funds are required.
Every subscriber may lay his head upon his pillow
with a clear mind and an easy conscience. He may
reflect that while he is making his own fortune, he is
contributing to feed the unhappy people of Ireland--
that he isiaiding in the work of regeneration for his
own countrymen, who speak the same language and
acknowledge the same allegiance as himself— that he
is assisting in developing the extraordinary natural ca-
pabilities of the sister kingdom. There is no danger
of the material falling short. There are nearly
3,000,000 (2,830,000) acres of peat bog in Ireland,
all well fitted to the purpose. There is no risk of
undue competition. Mr. ltEncE's discovery is pro-
tected by patent. There is an abundant demand for
the articles to be produced, the only difficulty will be
to supply the market—it cannot be overst,eked.
There is nothing, then, that can prevent the unquali-
fied success of the undertaking. Everything is in
its favour, and large profits must attend
the speculation, to all who enter into it at its com-
mencement. We, therefore, earnestly commend the
project to the attentive consideration of our friends,
and the public generally, again cautioning them as to
the necessity of promptitude and dispatch. Let them
seize the golden opportunity, and be a§iureil that
they will never have cause to repent of so doing.