The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-09 00:00:00

Q tirb9 72bition

THE FUNDS-(C

FUNDS.
Ditto Bonds £1,000..... Pm.
Ditto under £1,000...:. 78
)South Sea Stock ..„ .....
(Ditto Old Annuities ...
'Ditto New Annuities...
Ex. Bills, 1,0001. 1%c1.. :8 pm.
Ditto 5001............... 58 pot
Ditto 58 pm
Bank Stock for Acct....
IConsols for Opg 100
India Stock fee Acct.... 267
FUNDS.
Austrian, 5 per Cent ....... Russian, 5 per C01L...». 119 U
Belgian, 5 per Cent Ditto, Metallic ..... ••••••
Brazilian Bonds .............. 88% Spanish, 5 per Cent., 1840 2431
Buenos Ayres, 6 per Cent... Jitto, 1841......,.,...,.,,
Cuba Bonds, 6 per Cent.... Ditto,
Chllian, II per Cent ..... Ditto,
Colombian, 6 per Cent: T..... 14% Ditto, 1844
Danish, 3 per Cent ..... Ditto, 3 per Cent ..».„.» 2.6%
Oreek, 1625, 5 per Cent..„.. ;Venezuela Bonds, 2 per Ct —
Mexican, 5 per Cent ......... 36%1 French, 5 per Cent.... --t -c.
Neapolitan Bonds.s per Ct... French, 3 per Cent...—. —1 —c,
Prussian Bonds, 4 per Cent. Exchange ...... —f. --c.
Peruvian Bonds, 6 per Ct... Dutch, 2% per Cent
Portuguese Bonds,* per Cr Ditto,.s per Cent......... 99%
SHARES.
Bristol and Exeter (70 paid)
Caledonian (5 paid) • 4 4%
Cambridge and Lincoln, 1% paid l%

OSING PRICES.)

BRITISI
Baak Stock.••••••••«•«•••••••• 208)4i
3 per Cent. Red lOO%l
3 per Cent. Com.

per Cent. Red
New 3U per Cent lO3
New 5 per Cent........
Long Annuities to expire
lan. 12%
Oct.

Jan. 1860::::::::::::

Indian StoCk:::: •••••••••••••••• •••
FOREIG

.. .
Churnet Valley, 2 paid - 3
Edinburgh and Glasgow, 50 paid
Great Southern and Western (Ireland) 3 paid
Great North of England, 100 paid
Ditto 'Jew Shares (5 paid) .... ..... ..... ..... .
London and Birmingham (Stock)
Ditto, New Thirds, 2 paid
Ditto. Quarter Shares ( 2 paid)
London and South Western (411. 6s. 10d. paid).— 85%
Ditto Eighths (Iss. paid)
London and Croydon ......
Lynn and Ely, 11,E paid
Manchester and Leeds (70 paid) ..... ............
Dit to, Half Shares, :i0 paid
North British, 5 paid
Northern and Eastern (45 paid)
Richmond and West End Junction, I paid 2l!t
Rugby, 1 paid
South Devon, 10 paid lO
Trent Valley, '2 paid
York and North Midland (50 paid)...
Boulogne and Amiens, 2 paid ...... » ..... .....
Orleans and Vierson,2 paid....». 111,4
Orleans and 13ourdeaux, 1 paid ....................« 6%

SPIRtT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAT.
GLOBE.—In looking back over the multifarious
records of last session's legislation, the bulky blue
book of evidence on " Commons Inclosure," the result
of the labours of the Committee which sat, on the
withdrawal of Lord Worsley's Inclosure Bill, contains
several matters worthy of attention. The first reflec-
tion it suggests is, how little-pains have been taken,
till lately, to obtain accurate statistical information
respecting the most important branches of our national
industry. Of late, however, something has
been done in this way—manufacturing distress
brought on inquiries into the extent, cha-
acter, and subdivision of the vast population en-
gaged in manufacturing industry. A special legisla-
tion for the young, and for females, was founded on
ruiother and more careful series of investigation. It
is now the turn of agricultural labour, propped up as
it has been by artificial laws ; a vast deal of informa-
tion as to the condition of the occupier and labourer is
coming out by instalments, and we do not despair of
seeing the information for which Mr. Cobden vainly
applied, in his admirable speech last session (motion
for,a committee to inquire into the effects of import
duties on landlords and tenant-farmers), arrived
at in detail, and bit by bit. The Committee on in-
closure reported in favour of a general Act for that
-purpose and a Central Board of Commissioners.
The bulky mass of evidence published, extending to
above 6,000 questions, contains much information re-
lative to the statistics of land, which all classes may
refer to with advantage, whether agreeing with
or dissenting from the conclusions in ques-
tion. We shall cast a restropective glance
over a few of its leading feature's. The fact that
there exist in England and Wales large tracts of
common which might be, as to some portion
at least, profitably cultivated, is established by a large
body of respectable evidence ; as to its precise amount,
We look in vain for any accurate information. Mr.
Jones's estimate of common and waste land at
8,000,000 acres tells us little or nothing, since all
witnesses admit, and indeed it is a notorious fact, that
a large portion of this would not repay the expense
even of inclosure. A variety of classes of land is treated
of in the evidence, from absolutely uncultivated com-
mon to that which is in regular farm occupation, but,
from its inconvenient position, unsusceptible of the
most efficient cultivation. Admitting the evidence
given as of competent authority-, there are, however,
no means of shirking the conclusion that much land
remains which would repay capital laid out on it in
inclosure and regular cultivation. This fact was in-
deed pretty well known before ; it remains to be con-
sidered what would. be the social influence of such a
Measure. Supposing it a desirable result, there can be
no mistake as to the inefficient nature of the present
mode of inclosure by separate Acts. The expense and
jobbing attending such Bills are proverbial. As Mr.
Graham says—" A private Bill being promoted by a so-
licitor, the Commissioner is in most cases his nominee,
anti the former is appointed clerk to that Commis-
sioner. Thus the solicitor has the whole control of
the matter. Of the expenses some precise data are
given. Mr. Hayward, a Parliamentary agent, states
the average of fees alone on fire Bills passing
both Houses was 230/. When a common is in
two parishes these are doubled. The expenses of
the Llangerniew Act, 1840, amounted to 7731. Under
the Common Fields Act, parties have been put to
an expense of 51. per acre. As these charges often
exceed the value of the land in question,
it is evident that applications for inclosure
cannot be numerous under the existing laws. With
respect to the advance of value to be expected in
land thus brought under cultivation, the evidence
leads to the conclusion that it would be considerable.
Mr. Keen speaks decidedly as to what has taken
place in the neighbourhood of Godalming and Guild-
tbrd. Land, which before inclosure was not worth
10s. per acre now maintains a large population, and
has given employment to a vast number of labourers.
Other witnesses affirni the low moral state of
the inhabitants of uninclosed rural districts.
Chicanery, broils, and fraud, are rife ; in fact,
nearly all the social irregularities which law
and opinion seek to correct are prevalent.
Those locally near the common use that advan-
tage to overstock, and become the practical possessors
of the land. Squatting, to borrow the colonial term,
is by no means rare. Mr. Graham says :—" The
improvident deperdence of cottagers on the common
is a check on their industry, and crime is difficult of
detection." The great social question remains,
how far inclosures would diminish the pri-
vileges of the labouring classes ; and all parties
admit that extreme caution must be used in deal-
ing with their rights, and special reservations of
land set apart for this purpose in case of a general
Inclosure Act being passed. We fear that these safe-
guards against the diminution of the poor cottagers'
rights would be more specious than real. Commis-
sioners acting for the parties interested would probably
only amount to representation of the large, and ex-
clusion of smaller interests, though more important
relatively to the means and condition of the parties.
Are, then, these objections so great as to be impos-
sible to overcome ? and would a certain amount of eco-
nomical advantage be counterbalanced by social evils
and injustice, such as no legislature has a right to
sanction ? Such is the great question suggested by th©
large body of evidence submitted to the committee of
last session. It is a question that will again be brought
before our Legislature. We prefer leaving this matter
for fair aril dispassionate consideration, and before
returning to the subject, will for the present mention
two or three incidental topics suggested by the
volume before us. This may he considered-Ist, as
a statistical inquiry into the condition, value, and
social state of certain agricultural districts : 2illy, as
preliminary to an effort to extract more subsistence
out of the soil : and, thirdly, as evidence of a desire
to substitute more compact and central legislation
in place of the partial operation of special Acts. The
two first of these camont but he productive of good :
information as to the capabilities of the soil, and
the economical and social condition of labourers and
farmers (and, however, by a side wind, the body of
evidence on inclosures does bear upon these topics)
tends to promote sounder legislation respec'ing
landed produce. It is startling to hear, that at a
period when redundant capital seeks every possible
outlet, there should remain much wild land (after
allowing for all drawbacks), which only awaits
cultivation to yield considerable returns. Yet
the fact seems fully established. The evidence
of Mr. Davies is, perhaps, the strongest on this
point. He says, " Land which, as it now stands,
ss hardly worth 2s. 6d. per acre, I should value at
from 20s. to 40:,.. after inclosure." The merits of
centralised legislation are perhaps more specious then
Teal ; what advantages it has appear at once on the
surface—it is expeditious, compact, and uninfluenced
by local interests ; but it is, as we see in its work-
ing, often superficial and hasty. Skimming over a
vast surLce, it dives deeply into no parts of a ques-
tion—the machinery of form becomes an end instead
of the means. Fur example, a Central Board of
Inclosure Commissioners might do their work
cheaply, expeditiously, and with a sincere desire to
promote justice ; but it would inevitably sacrifice
local interests to the carrying out a general theory ;
and when such is the consequence of rapid legis-
lation, public opinion will force it to retrograde
in a way that will ultimately enhance the labour.
In taking leave for the present of the inclosure evi-
dence, we feel sure that should the plan there proposed
be ever carried into effect, it must be in a very mo-
dified form, and with some element introduced which
will be a reaLattmhonest equivalent for any losses
incurred by
commune
residents in the neighbour-
hood of our c and we shall recur to the
subject, and endeavour ;',3 gate more especially
how this might be aecomplinslvielti
r.
c TANDARD.--W e
e have a great
d Eerrand—we admire his talenrtssaPi:cd t for
eo4eaMge
) I love his enthusiastic philanthropy, aril
,t 1

41
V
ob.

though he has lately made a speech of which we en-
tirely disapprove, we respect him nothing the less on
that account. The Hon. Member for Knaresborough
has a great deal of ability, of spirit, and of zeal,
but he wants one quality which never yet was
found united with so very energetical a character
in a young man ; he wants—we should grieve to
be supposed to say it in an ill-sense—he wants wis-
dom. A few years will,
.in so honest and can-
did and acute a person, supply this defect, and
when it shall be supplied in Mr. Ferrand, he will
be a most useful public man—we know of no one
likely to be more useful. In the speech to which we
have referred, Mr. Ferrand summarily disposes of the
character of the present generation of Englishmen as
follows :—" It is a fact that England has become a
nation of humbugs." Now we can assure Mr. Ferrand
that except the homeliness of the epithet applied, there
is nothing new in this charge. The young and ardent
of each generation always apply it to their con-
temporary age, and each succeeding generation
discovers, that it has been unjustly applied to the
time of their fathers—Shakspere, Milton, Marvel,
De Foe, Pope, Churchill, Southey, are all witnesses
against the hypocrisy (or humbug, as Mr. Ferrand
calls it) of the times in which they lived ;
so that if England is to be convicted of being a
nation of humbugs, upon even the most respectable
testimony, it has been a nation of humbugs for
nearly three centuries, if not from the beginning.
The charge is, however, wholly unfounded. Sin-
cerity is a national characteristic; and we believe
that the virtue was never more largely or more gene-
rally diffused than it is at this moment in this country.
Mr. Ferrand's error is, however, the error of all young
men of his temperament. Such men enter upon life
with an earnest purpose ofgood, and with the most single
and therefore the narrowest view of every public ques-
tion. They attach themselves to parties or to individuals
whose opinions they confidently believe to correspond
precisely with their own detail, because they corre-
spond in principle. They fancy, too, that all who
value the same objects with them, or fear the same
dangers, value the one or fear the other to the same
extent. They think, moreover, that men pursuing a
common end must pursue that end by the same means.
A very short experience, however, of public affairs, and
more particularly in a complicated state of society,
undeceives them in one or more of these respects.
It is always, however, easier to self-love to
conclude that others are false and treacherous
than that we have duped ourselves ; hence the
middle period of the lives of men occupied in ob-
serving public affairs is usually clouded by the de-
lusion that all men are hypocrites or " humbugs."
Age and experience offer another lesson to candid
minds—and it is both gratifyiag and profitable
to know that the testimonies of aged public men
are nearly unanimous in favour of the general
honesty of our species—they teach that if in early
youth we form too favourable an opinion of man-
kind (which is not always the case), at a later period
we are disposed by disappointment of our hopes
of them, sometimes from others, to judge much too
harshly; but it is only when men can judge with
temper and fairness that their judgment is worth
anything. When, therefore, Mr. Ferrand,
" the guiltless head with random ' censure
strikes," we appeal from himself to him-
self—wiser by a few of those many years
which we hope he will be spared to his country.
Meanwhile we warn him against the flattery of
those who have flattered, insulted, and betrayed
almost every party and every public man in the
country panders to all spiteful feelings —on
whatever side to be indulged—who have, indeed,
an interest in denouncing as " humbugs " all
who are not prepared to imitate the profligate im-
pudence of their own habitual tergiversation. The
flattery of such is a contamination which prudent
men will shun as they would the plague. This,
however, brings us to another subject. If there
is in England one public man above
the suspicion of hypocrisy, that man is,
assuredly, Lord Ashley—his refusal of office when
pressed upon him—his obscure labours for the bene-
fit of the forgotten and neglected—obscure until
his genius and energy dragged into day the
sufferings of the mine and the mill. These
surely prove Lord Ashley sincere if ever man was
sincere, yet Lord Ashley has not escaped calumny in
that quarter in which Mr. Ferrand's proposition that
"England has become a nation of humbugs," is received
with applause ; probably in some degree, because
the conduct of Lord Ashley and of those who
firmly support him, presents a standing rebuke
to the slander that would charge all Englishmen
with hypocrisy; but, in part, also, from a recollection
of the noble lord's opposition to the Oxford Trac-
tarians some years ago, when his lordship's calum-
niator was the organ of that party. So tenaciously
do ill habits and ill dispositions adhere, that Lord
Ashley continues to be insulted by the late Trac-
tarian organ, even after the Tractarians have been
deserted and reviled by his Lordship's insulter.

SOUTHAMPTON, DEC. 9. —The Peninsular and
Oriental Company's steamer Royal Tar, Captain R.
Gasson, arrived this morning at nine o'clock from Gib-
raltar, Cadiz, Lisbon, Oporto, and Vigo, bringing all
the mails. Her dates of departure are as fullows :
From Gibraltar Nov. 30, Cadiz :Dec. 1, Lisbon, Dec. 5,
and Vigo Dec. 5. Ships of war lying at Gibraltar—Her
Majesty's sloop Scout and her Majesty's steamer Flamer.
Ship of war lying at Lisbon—Her Majesty's ship Albion.
Vessel passed of—Nov. 30, off Cape Trafalgar, the
steam-ship Tigus. Specie on board-15 bags. List of
passengers—Mr. Willis, two Misses Ca thearts, Alfred
Webster, Robert Graham, Mr. Eaveler, Baron Fulgaser,
T. F. Rebello, T. M. Silverer, Mons. Towgarvy, Wm.
Tomkias, Win. Green, Gen Martin.