The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-27 00:00:00

As it is, in this exceptional case, a harsh and
unjust landlord and a violent and irritated ten-
antry are guilty, between them, of shedding in-
nocent blood. That such a lamentable and
guilty occurrence will direct attention anew
to the land laws cannot be doubted ; it is
well, therefore, that the tyranny possible to be
exercised under the existing laws should be
illustrated by the production before the new
Parliament of the leases actually attempted to
be enforced by Mr. Scully. The stringent
character of these leases will be sufficiently
exemplified by the following abstract of their
chief clauses :-
1. Binding the tenant to pay the rent, free
of all deductions on account of rates and
taxes, excepting quit rent and rent charge, but
not excepting poor rate, notwithstanding any
Act of Parliament to the contrary. 2. De-
priving the tenant of any claim for imple-
ments or any growing crops. 3. Forbidding
the cutting of timber, and requiring the tenant
to keep the lands and premises in good tenant-
able order, and to deliver it up on the Ist of
December, Ist of March, Ist of June, and Ist
of September next following the receipt of a
21 days' notice demanding possession. 4.
Stipulating that the posting of such notice on
the door of the dwelling-house shall be deemed
good service. 5. Containing a covenant against
alienating or in any way disposing of the lands
without the landlord's consent in writing. 6.
Forbidding the erection of " any house, build-
ing, hedge, ditch, fence, dyke, or drain what-
soever," unless authorised in writing. 7.
Prohibiting the burning or breaking up of
the soil, or the meadowing of more than a
prescribed portion, and requiring that all game
shall be protected. There is a further cove-
nant giving the tenant a corresponding right
to give a 21 days notice of surrender.
Can we be surprised that tenants who had
been on the land for generations before Mr.
Scully had bought it refused to accept such
stipulations ? And yet
reasonable refusal that whole-
sale eim
unjusandc attempted by Mr. Scully.
tit wasefortt
eh barbarousnitssN,er e
This system of causeless ejectment is the point
to which the attention of statesmen ought to
be directed, in order to put an end to deeds
of violence and bloodshed, which are too surely,
to be predicted of such intemperate and high-
handed abuse of the rights of ownership to the
soil
nunfortunate not only exceptional violence,
as instance, that has to
i thisßut it is
be attended to, so much as the widespread
and deepseated discontent which unjust and
oppressive land laws have done more than
anything else to create and foster. In the
leases which Mr. Scully attempted to enforce,
and the resistance to which he punished by
summary ejectment, it is agreed that 21 days'
notice shall suffice to terminate a tenant's
holding, which, at the mere will of the land-
lord, he has to quit without any compensation
whatever. What land can thrive when such
a system is permitted by law ? What en-
couragement, what security does a tenant
derive from such leases ? He is almost reduced
to the position of a serf. Where is the com-
munity of interests that is the real bond be-
tween landlord and tenant ? Mutual forbear-
ance that can alone beget goodwill is not
encouraged by laws which hand the tenant
over, bound hand and foot, to the land-
lord. The existing conditions of the law are
such as to render the zelations between land-
lord and tenant very precarious, and this rela-
tion is still further jeopardized by difference in
religion. If it is true that the laws regarding
the tenure of land in Ireland act with a mis-
chievous effect on the natural relations between
landlord and tenant, it is also true that this
effect is heightened by the fact that the owners
of the soil, for the most part, belong to an
alien and oppressive Church. This twofold
evil, therefore, ought to increase the anxiety to
remedy or remove the oppressive and unequal
laws relating to the occupancy of land.
We trust that, simultaneously with the aboli-
tion of the Irish Church Establishment, a fair
and equitable adjustment of the land laws
will be enacted by the now Parliament. If
this reform is carried out in a large and liberal
spirit, and with a generous consideration for
the rights of those who cultivate the soil, the
new and more popular House of Commons
will have commenced at least a work of real
union between the sister countries.— Westinin-
ster Gazette.

The retail sales of intoxicating drinks in the
United States it is estimated, amount every year to the
total value of all the railroads in the Union—about 1,500
million dollars

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We have no disposition to underrate or excuse
the faults of the Republican party or of its leaders ;
indeed some of our readers think we err in the op-
posite direction. Certainly no one can accuse us
of blind partisan zeal. We can fully appreciate the
doubts and difficulties which trouble many of the
best men who ordinarily vote the Republican
ticket, and sometimes cause them to hesitate in re-
gard to their political course. And before answer-
ing their objections, it is only fair t) mention some
of the principal ones. It is alleged that the Re-
publican party, as an organization, has become as
corrupt as the Democratic ; that its managers are
lobbyists and its chosen legislators venal ; that
Republican revenue officers defraud the Treasury
of millions and a Republican Senate keeps them in
office, while a Republican House of Representa-
tives kills every proposition for reform in the civil
service, and Republican newspapers strive to abolish
the only court which is a terror to the whisky
ring. It is further alleged that even the honest
portion of the party is so ignorant of political eco-
nomy, and so blind to the corrupting influence of
government expenditure, that any scheme which
pretends to foster the interests of the country finds
favour with it, while it is always ready to applaud
such follies as the Gold Bill of 1864 in the hope of
violently checking the operation of the laws of
trade. And, in substance, the Republican party
must plead guilty to these charges. It has an army
of corruptionists in its midst, and it has inherited
from the old Whig party a disposition to tinker at
the business of the country and to spend the public
funds liberally, which makes it easy to be deceived
by men whose schemes contemplate a return of $1
to the nation, and a hundred dollars for themselves.
Having admitted this much, let us consider what is
the prospect for reform offered by the character of
the Democratic party, and what an honest citizen
may reasonably hope to accomplish for the public
good through that means. Ignoring for the present
the overshadowing question of reconstruction, we
ask any one to tell us what measure of political re-
form can be hoped from the restoration of the De-
mocrats to power. The Republican party, for a
temporary purpose, debased the currency and un-
settled the business of the country. The Demo-
cratic party is enthusiastic in favour of perpetuating
this debasement, and thus annihilating all legitimate
business. The Republican party of New York and
Pennsylvania evaded the just obligations of those
States to foreign creditors by paying their interest
in a depreciated currency. The Democratic party
proposes to repeat the operation on a scale a thou-
sand times larger, and with a currency that will
thus be made absolutely worthless. Republican
officials in this State plunder it through the Canal
Department and otherwise, it is estimated, of pos-
sibly a million dollars a year. We never heard of a
higher estimate. The Democratic officials who
control New York City extract at least three times
that amount annually from the funds of that city
alone, probably very much more. There are many
dishonest Republican officials, but there are also
many honest ones. An honest Democratic official
(we speak now of executive officers in minor de..
partments) is a thing scarcely known within our
sphere of observation. The Democratic party is
steadily growing worse. For years past its increase
has been derived mainly from the lowest class of
the immigrant population ; and this class, pro-
foundly ignorant, selfish, blind to considerations of
public good, and destitute of that foresight which
enables men to see their own ultimate advantage
in the ol.servance of moral law, are constantly gain-
ing more control of the party. No amount of cor-
ruption in their leaders shakes their confidence in
them. No argument ever reaches them. There
was a time when there were Democratic Congress-
men of inflexible integrity, who were the unsparing
foes of every device for public plunder. There are
absolutely none such now. There is scarcely a
single Democrat in either branch of Congress who
even votes against such schemes, and there is not
one who is known as their active and zealous oppo-
nent. So at Albany and Trenton it is found
that bad as Republican Legislatures are, they are
made respectable by their Democratic successors.
A critical examination of the personnel of the party
will have a still more discouraging effect upon those
who think of accomplishing any reform by its
mew, Let any one count up all the Democrats