The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-27 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, Nov. 26.
The Queen walked this morning in the Slopes.
The Royal Family took walking and pony exercise
in the grounds adjacent to the Castle.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert went out hunting
this morning, attended by Lieut.-Colonel Hon. A.
Gordon.
The Royal dinner party at the Castle to-day
will include her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent,
the Duke of Wellington, the Right Hon. Sir George
and Lady GrPy, Lord and Lady Charles Wellesley,
Lady I'Llany Howard, and Baroness de Speth.
The band of the
,Coldstream Guards attend during
dinner. Her Majesty's private band will afterwards
attend in the Castle.
The band of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards
attended in the Castle on Monday during dinner, and,
under the direction of Mr. Tutton, performed the fol-
lowing pieces :
Overture, "Egmont"
Waltz, "Die Hietern"
Selection, " Le Favorite" Donizetti.
Quadrille, "Chevalresque"
Galop, " Themse Tunnel"
The Queen's private band afterwards attended in
the Castle, and performed the following pieces :
Overture .... •
Selection, "Le Songe d'un Nuit d'Et,,} Thomas.
Chorus, "'Das Nachttager" Kreut v2r.

Mr. M‘Gregor, Mr. M‘Chlery, and Mr. W. R.
'Sandbach, had an interview with Esrl Grey yes-
terday at the Colonial-office.
• The CheValier Bunsen, Prussian Minister, had an
interview with Lord John Russell yesterday, at his
official residence in Downing-street.
Sir Francis Baring returned to his residence in the
Admiralty yesterday.
Sir James Hogg had an interview yesterd iy with
Earl Grey.
Dispatches were received ye.terday at the Co-
lonial-office Irons the Governors
_cf the Cape of Good
Dope, Malta, and Gioi-Altar ; and also frotn the Lord
High Commissioner of the ionise

Dispatches wer,,,,pent off list evening from the
Colonial• offiCe;for-4110.GOvernor of Gibraltar.

4. FATAL ACCI;DENTI'itOM . A ri.--.
i; Bolp m,_..oe-,4„, a A.i0013; fli../%64
d) Mr. Richard 1,
Oreat.- orton,. Yinkshiie,, wan
-
1., ying a few d4s siride—with a juvenile, 4durpanion..,who-
iiYflS pretending placOra-peilii his ear and-to-make it come
wilt of his mouth iiiiitOTC, bAte!vil;tlio -teat ib' have been
featly performed, was kidTi:ecjad jai` -e the attempt hirriself,
'sod thrust the pea so forinn" his eail; that it could not be
got .out. In, a vain ~ encleayour
..to extrext it made by a
triedie.al inan',lt wiii:sinit fitither it]; '.'and tii"- poor titiy died
1 four dAyraftwistrcli .fasctlithe ofrocti;

THE PREVENTION OF CHIME.
LETTER VI.

_ .
TO THE RIGHT LION. SIR GEORGE GREY,
BA T., Bz.o. ezr.
Sir,—The first time the Wakefield system of colo-
; nizltion was brought under my attention I observed,
that if the public approve of this plan 2E,op bas
written in vein one of his best fables, for it would not
be possible to give a more etrikirg instance of the
folly of those who killed the goose for the sake cf the
golden eggs; and on mentioning this opinion to one
of the most sagacious of the directors in the New
Zealand Company, he was so struck with its truth
that he requested me to write to him upon the sub-
ject. Other avocations, however, interfered, and I lost
sight of the ruhject.
Every person who has given attention to the sub-
ject of emigration is aware that the great majority of
those v. ho emigrate with the view of st,ttling as r.gri-
culturiqs (and these are the most valuable of Hui-
grent,) is the want of capital. '1 his is the difficulty,
and yet all the emigration companies, acting upon the
Wakefield system, increase this difficulty, and thereby
either prevent the intending etni4rant from starting,
or so cripple his resources that he is comparatively
unable to b nefit either hirnsi if or the colony ; for
before the settler can enter on the land he is obliged
to pay one pound per acre. True, they say to him,
we will spend the mur ey in the best manner for your
benefit, but pay your pound an acre.
The would be settler replies, I have a large family,
whom I shall have to support ter some time before I
can exp,ct sufficient crop for the land; many
imple-
ments to buy ; our passage to pay for; and my whale
capital is 500/. My family and myself require 200
acres at least, and if I have to pay you 2001. I fear
the reminder will not be sufficient to give me a fair
start. The only rejoinder is, the rule is inflexible,
you must pay one pound per acre; and yet legislators
affect surprise that the middle class do not emigrate.
What would be thought of the sagacity of a land-
lord in this country who, having a farm to let, and
being applied to by a tenant of only sufficient capital
to cultivate the land, was to require that he should
lay out 500/. or 1,0001. of that capital in erecting
buildings; would not the reply, "If I were to agree
to this I should not have sufficient capital to cultivate
your land with advantage," be conclusive, and yet is
not this precisely the same as requiring a settler to
pay for his land ?
But the plan which I would propose entirely ob-
viates this absurdity. If the would-be settler, with
a capital of .500/., requires 200 acres, instead of
fleecing him of the 2001., I would only require him
to deposite it previous to his having a provisional
title, and upon arrival in the colony he should be able
to draw every shilling he required for his farming
purposes. Nay, I would go further. Suppose him
to be unable to pay the 2001., and he was known by
his relatives and friends to be an honest and indus-
trious man, sure to do well if he had a fair start, I
would take their security that the 2001. should be re-
paid within ten years.
With such a system as this, the lots all ready for
occupation, and a few acres in crop, can any reason-
able doubt be entertained that the settlers would be
very numerous ? And I would permit no man to
purchase land except those of good character in their
respective neighbourhoods ; and, beyond this, I
would introduce a part of the feudal principle, but in-
stead of the land being forfeited on non-compliance
with some folly, it should be absolutely forfeited if
the owner were convicted of crime.
Like the adoption of wise measures both in public
and private life, numerous advantages would neces-
sarily occur ; and, however useful they might
be, they should never be suffered to interfere,
either directly or indirectly, with the sole end of the
proposal, which is to provide the very best possible
place for reformed convicts, effectually guarding, as
far as human nature will permit, against exposing
them to temptation.
The consequential advantages which would arise
from the adoption of the plan are-
1. It would prevent the evils necessarily arising
from a colony founded by a convict population.
2. It would not cost the country a shilling ; the
sale of the land would far more than repay every
outlay.
But then there is the ever ready objection, " Oh, it
would be impossible to carry out the plan." My reply
is, adopt the same wise conduct which you have
carried out with respect to prisons ; give Colonel Jebb
a carte blanche, without any interference from go-
vernors, or comptrollers, or officials of any descrip-
tion ; let him be responsible only to yourself and to
Parliament, and so far from being difficult, its prac-
tical execution would be most easy.
I have the honour to remain, Sir,
Your very obedient and faithful servant,
RIGBY WA SON.
London, Nov. 22.

REFORM AS IT IS NOT.

TO THE EDI7:OR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—The tavourite A argument " with the oppo-
nents of reform appears to be a reference to the ex-
travagant schemes ascribed to the ultra-democratic
party on the continent. The unsettled state of
France is perpetually instanced with the endeavour to
delude Englishmen into the belief that such will
inevitably be the condition of this country unless a
retrograde rather than a, forward movement is made
by the Legislature. Avoiding, for the occasion, all
reference to the monarchical factisns which have for
so many years disturbed France—the antagonistic de-
signs of •BoDapartists, Legitimatists, and Orleanists—
they unhesitatingly lay the whole blame of the agi-
tations which exist in that country upon men whose
crime consists in their believing a republican to be
more consistent with liberty than a monarchical go-
vernment. How few like Lamartine could have
governed the revolutionary spirit which had been
provoked by the obstinacy of his predecessors, and
which he knew so well at once how to humour and
restrain ! And yet all the plots, real, fancied, and
invented, with which France is said to be undermined,
and the wild speeches at Socialist banquets, which
probably owe not a little of their inspiration to the
auxiliarif s of a feast, are unscrupulously declared to
arise from the political part taken by him in 1848.
English reformers are treated with equal fairness.
There is the same insidious attempt to confound re-
form and progress with rapine and rebellion. To as-
sert that constituencies of only two or three hundred
electorspieee h h
it are
tn not ,
t , entitledt an
equal
ar ti
s t,,, representation
w who
o d designed
si
gwith
d
those of twenty or thirty thousand, is to be all of a
determined C h
to set fire to the dresses of a score or two of ladies in
Kensington-gardens by way of an auto-dele.
Such is the chief opposition which is offered by the
opponents of reform, with the view, as they are
pleased to say, of maintaining "our glorious consti-
tution" unimpaired. But, like the very bq,st machi-
nery, this constitution of ours, wise as it is in prin-
ciple, is yet susceptible of improvement, and in need
of continual repair. Reform to be of avail must be a
constant work. As the population of some places, in•
creases, whilst that of others decreases in proportion,
o the representation must be re-adjusted, or it ceases
to be representation at all • laws should be modified
when the circumstances under which they were
framed are changed, and fresh claims upon the
nation arise to supersede others which have bad their
day. Unless such changes are effected, the constitu-
tion loses in substance what it retains only in form.
In this respect our opponents profess to tbink differ-
ently. They could not venerate it were it simply
old ; they must have it decrepid also. They cling to
it, it is true, but only as the ivy to a tree, with a sem-
blance of protection, though in truth exhausting its
vitality and speeding its decay. We wish to see it
healthy and vigorous, and cleared of the corruptions
to which they are attached. But this, it is to be
feared, would be to strip it of too much that is glo-
rious. They are perfectly satisfied with it as it exists,
so they connect reform with anarchy by styling all
improvement innovation ; and their favourite watch-
word, " our glorious constitution," is the " Shut,
Sesame," by which they close the cave of spoils
against all intruders.
And this is the only of those who
policy not
been always opposed to reform, but of others who
have supported it.at a time when the voice of the na-
tion was too loud to be slighted or mistaken. We
wish to see reforms effected with greater care and
earnestness, and, it may be, greater honesty than they
have as yet been compelled to do ; and this consti-
tutes our criminality. Their dictum is, " Thus far
shalt thou go, and no further;" not to go so far is to
be a simpleton, to go farther is rebellion at the very
least.
if the present reactionary struggle in Europe
should succeed, either by frightening the middle class
into passiveness through the misinterpretation de-
scribed, or by direct military oppression, the aspira-
tions of liberty may be repressed, but they cannot be
extinguished. History is not deficient in warnings
of the danger of such a policy, and that of our own
country affords an apt illustration. When Charles
the Second ascended the throne, he found the people
in the unsettled state which is the inevitable conse-
quence of sudden changes in forms of government;
and he availed himself of this to rule with a despotism
to which the people were too divided and harassed to
offer an effectual opposition. James, in fancied se-
curity, chose to follow the example of his brother
rather than take warning by that of his father; and
through his attempt still further to subdue the people
by the introduction of the spiritual slavery of Rome,
he suffered in his signal downfal and disgrace for the
faults both of himself and his. predecessor.. And so
.assuredly will retrilsp,tien fall upon them, or their
posterity, w hes in NM eagerness to profit by the
exigencies of the present are so rash as to forget the
• lessons of the past.rd ati), Sir, &c.,
A
• ate --st.
ea RADICAL.
Nov. 22, 1850.. •

The Leeds lntelligencer states that the Hon. John
Stapleton, brother of Lord Beaumont, has left the Church of
Dome.