The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-07 00:00:00

~Uørting cinm

,'LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1844.

-In the Souse of• Lords, last night, the Royal
Assent was•giVen by Commission to several important
Bills, the titles of which are recapitulated in our re-
port•Of the proceedings.
On the Earl of EGMONT'S moving the second
reading of .(Sir TuoNtAs) WILSON'S 'state Bill, for
the incrosure of Hampstead-heath, an interesting de-
bate arose. . •

Lord VENMA,N, in opposing it, contended that the
terms of the will under which Sir Thomas WILSON
held this property were so explicit, that there could
be no necessity- fur the 13111. He cautioned their
Lordships not to be misled by the statement that. this
was not an Inclosure Bill, in the ordinary under-
standing of the phrase; fur at all events, it gave
Power to certain parties to build over 400 acres of land,
now, and fur years past, a constant and favourite
resort of thousands of our metropolitan population
the power of contributing to whose happiness and
enjoyment, by keeping the heath open as at present,
the Noble and Learned Lord should have thought
might have abundantly outweighed the consideration
of any trifling increase that it was proposed thus to
produce in the rental of the property. The will of
the late •Sir TuomAIVII.3ON had been very unjustly
reflected on. IhOught it a most humane one, and
that the deceased as much intended to devise to the
public the enjoyment of this heath, as he did to be-
queath any of his other property to his son.
Lord CAmnIELL and the Earl of MANSFIELD also
prayed their Lordships to reject the Bill.
LeLlea "LCIIEStEIt, the Earl of WICKLOW, and
cfrrEzat4ll Supported it.
On a division, there appeared a majority of 11
against the setond reading,- and thus the obnoxious
Bill was:" lost."
A lettit.froin Lord ELLE.-n
the thanks of the House for tr:sueGrirvicaeeskrne°nldveircedgibnyg

A short discussion took place on Wednesday, in the
House of Commons, on the subject of Lord \Volts-
LET'S Inclosure Bill. In proposing the committal
of the Bill, pro forma, his Lordship observed that he
had that day had a communication with the Govern-
ment respecting it, when he found that, though
favourable to it generally, Ministers were, never-
theless, desirous that it should be very materially
altered. The measure does, indeed, require a con-
siderable degree of alteration, and it is absolutely
necessary that it should be watched with the utmost
vigilance, not unmingled with a wholesome distrust,
for, as it at present stands, it is exceedingly arbitrary
in its character, being calculated, as Mr. HOME
justly observed, to deprive a large portion of the
poorer classes of the community of those few
uninclosed lands which still remain to them as their
property in common—lands which have hitherto
enabled so many of them to keep pigs, and cows, and
geese ; over which they have exercised an undis-
turbed right of pasturage for ages; and on which
they have indulged in those manly sports which
afford such •infinite recreation. A measure which
proposes, no matter in how indirect and circuitous a
manner, to trench upon these privileges of the poor,
cannot be watched with too much keenness and
jealousy, more especially when it is borne in mind
that the majority of the House of Commons are by
no means very solicitous to promote the welfare of the
labouring classes of the community, but consider only,
both in their speeches and votes, how they may best
adapt themselves to the views of their lord and master,
Sir ROBERT PEEL. In its present shape we must
confess that we cannot at all bring ourselves to
approve of Lord WORSLET'S Inclosure Bill. Doubt-
less it was framed with the best intentions, and the
sincerest desire to benefit the interests of the poor ;
but, unfortunately, those interests are left wholly at
the mercy of a Commission which is armed with the
fullest and most inquisitorial power, and whose
responsibility—if we remember rightly, for we have
not the Bill just now before us—is not sufficiently
defined. Those, too, whose rights—the prescriptive
rights of ages—it is proposed to interfere with,
have little or no power given them to obtain redress ;
they must perforce obey the sovereign behests of the
Commission, however reluctant they may be to do so,
and however firmly convinced they may be that those
behests are injurious to their interests ; and as to the
hints about compensation thrown out to them, these—
so far as our recollection serves us—are the vaguestand
most jesuitical portions of the Bill. Assuredly, on
the first blush of the thing, it seems a just and proper
scheme to bring as much uncultivated land as possi-
ble under tillage, and so increase the agricultural
wealth of the country ; but there are large tracts of
land in many districts which .we could mention,
which, however uncultivated they may he, are of
infinite value to the poor who reside in their im-
mediate neighbourhood, and these should not be
interfered with, except with the ready and cordial
icsonnsoetntthoef
salqulirpeaarrtciheys interested in
edhin
sthhoeulmdathteer.l
con-
sulted on the question, for the inclosure system is to
them a mere increase of gain, whereas to the hard-
worked, ill-fed, Scantily-remunerated labourer, it is
an affair of life or death. Deprive such a man of his
right to feed his pigs and his geese on the adjacent
common, and you deprive him of one of his surest
means of livelihood; if he can scarcely keep his head
above water even with the aid of this privilege, he
can scarcely be expected to do so without it ; and the
odds are, that he is very soon compelled to
sue as a pauper for admission into a union
workhouse. Justly remarked Mr. HUNE, "such a
measure as this of Lord WOEtsLEY'S, ought to be a
Government measure. It was a Bill that would affect
the whole country; and if passed, it would be a great
injustice to the labouring classes. Already had two

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