The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-04 00:00:00

. -
4.----dr
el -amination of therntiort
bring themsellik.. • .an
tt
, in, .04 I ask them Selves what it
,oyes to do. TThe Bill is
liment of a scheme which
and effects of the
. of late years—thdt of
really is, and wha it 'MAI
i;
nothing more than * emt...,,
y the worst 'features' of
vv. ..., :, the fraud which itsug-
hc2tbreafiosl:tieonv—eryagfgru:tned '.
spoliation. It takes fk)nt '
et e poor to give to the
:,,mischiefs which it ne-
cessitates by' creation of A.-,0,.* board of assistant-
commissioners, secretaries an* a I,'arge staff of mer-
cenaries, who will doubtless be lust Os likely to regard
prayers or the remonstrances a,' the poor com-
moners, as that other great central boi,-rd—the' NO-
law' Commission—is.labitually moved by the suppli-
cations of parochio paupers. There is one thing
to be said in fa 'Bur, 4, this Bill—that 911
shOws..- less humbug than
the face of. it it ,
might be expected.
,It of course has a good
deal about appeals
to par,. lament, awards, and arbi-
tratiens, and so forth ; just,-
as if when the plunder
who must get it ; but
once began, one did not know
on the whole it does not profess Amuch in behalf of le
Parliament do
,
poor, as its supporters in and out `4°f
it puts them quietly on one side, tel-,!, them that. ics
'
of no use in the world making any nt.,:ie about the
matter, and coolly transfers their property.-often the
smallest portion of the commonable land h.' a,pariah
—according to the will ,and pleasure of the. one or
two gentlemen who may happen to possess an inte-
rest in two-thirds of it—i.e., of the, great landoicner
or landowners in the neighbourhood. There is ; ,4t
all events, something bold and straighforward in this),
which distinguishes Lord Worsley's tone from di*,
taken by many of his party, who'professed to be ini-
pelled by an overvvhdlining solicitude for the good, of
,4 i
the poorer lasi,s4ii A.rl -on this ground aloae-1-7
that .it despoili.,te:249p,cottager of all that he can
call:hiS own,in4e, may, a property—on this ground
alone„: if; on ,!ne `, other, we would strongly resist
this measure:. But when, -in fiddition to this
one noxious and 'hateful principle, it involves flip
creation of a central board, with Heaven - only
knows what powers and what salary, and the Aisl-
pensation of no little patronage, we' Oink' 'thtit.
we are discharging a most important duty ...in
denouncing a despotism which will be no: leisi , prog-
gate than oppressive—no less costly to the public than
inimical to the welfare of the poorest classes. If the
poor are to be not only injured in their property, but
also wounded in that generous pride with which the
consciousness of hereditary privileges , was wont to
inspire the very humblest individual, do not insult
those whom you rob by the mushroom superstruettn'e
of a well-paid Commission. If you must erect a net
loard, and if-you are grasping for more patronage, at
any rate look out for some subjects more powerful .and
less sensitive than the rural cottagers to operate tipop.
Look abroad npon the wide field of.foreign ,and do-
mestic politics; and in the wide ocean of fiaance,•:
litical economy, and European alliances, you will find
some green spot whereon a Commission may fatten
to your heart's content. You are fond of talking about
-the happiness, the comfort, the manly independence,
and the honest cheerfulness of the rural population ; do
not talk thus, whilst you are destroying the basis on
which your panegyric rests. Do not deprive hint if
thatpetty remnant which political economy or indr
vidual covetousness yet allows him to retain, of inte-
rest in the soil Which gaVe him *birth. Deprive hitn
of this, and you extinguish in his bosom' the last
spark of ingenuous pride, and you
,convert him into
a sullen, reckless, thriftless, and sere-like hireling.
You speak kindly and sympathetically of his manly
sports when it aids your purpose ; you pass a Bill
through Parliament, not, of course, as at first sit
off would appear, to ward o certain legal penaltiei from
yourselves, but to encourage
,the manly sports of
n
your poorer countrymen ; do ot, let, this enactment
—philanthrepic and disinterested as, you would hare
it considered—be the limit of your well-doing and
right-Voting. Resist a Bill. which . would take away
from the alleged object of your genial sympathies, not
only the few
.acres which pastured • ids small stock,
.
but also the green-Sward where— . -Y,
" All the village train, from labour free
Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree ;
While many a pastime circled in the shade;
The young contending. as the old survey'd,
And many a gambol frolick'd on the graund,
And sleights of art and feats of strength went round."
If you are bent on preserving the healthy, and chee;-
ing sports of the English peasant--sports which may
beguile him from the beep-shop, arid allure-him from
Chartism—depend upon it that you will do:more to-
wards realising this purpose by resisting Lord Wori-
ley's Bill, than by a thousand enactments directly or
indirectly in favour of horse-raeinN. • r

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