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

COMMONS INCLOSURE BILL.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)
In consequence of the indisposition of Lord Wonky,
the Order of the Dar for, going into Committee on
the Commons Inclosure Bill was on Wednesday night
postponed by the House of Commons till the 24th of
April, and most earnestly is it to be hoped that the
friends of justice and of the poor will spare no
effort during the brief interval thus given, in endea-
vouring to defeat this monstrous attempt et public

spoliation.
While the Morning Chronicle 13 employing its
columns in aid of this iniquitous proceeding, and en-
deavouring tO blind the eyes of-the public to its real
character, the Times' admits into its pages a, most
valuable expose of its true nature. The morning or-
gan of .Whiggery volunteers to. write in. favour of a
rapacious act worthy only of the:age of feudal oppres•
sion, and the " leading journal" does not leave its
readers without the means of perceiving the gross in-

justice against the poor, of Which the Chrnnicle is
the advocate. The Commons -Enclosure Bill is, in

tie language to which we refer, " a proposition which
gives 4,000,000 'of acres to those who already possess
32,000.000," and which, we may add, makes this
magnificent donation to the landed aristocracy under
the most hypocritical pretences, Under the profession
of regard to the poor, and a wish to provide for them,
the great landlords in Parliament are about to divide
among themselves about one-eighth of the whole coun-
try ; and the organs of Liberal opinions, the stern as-
sertor of public rights, aids the cupidity of landlords in
Parliament, by trying to persuade the country, that
there will be no harm done. We admire the pointed sar-
cam which pervadesthe following language, and ufyveils
the hypoctisy of which the Chronicle i$ the advocate :
" The parties to this important question are the
gentry of then country on the one hand, and the com-
mon people on the-other. The first assume, and with
truth, that there is want of employment in many
parts of the kingdom, and by the inclosing, paring,
and tillingof many of those wastes, every labouring
man will obtain the great and scarce boon of employ-
metit, for which he is pining. The increase of their
_ .

oivit staies is not for amOnient admitted as a -motive.

though an addition of one-eighth is not a contempti-
ble addition." If this very large portion of the
country which is now, the property of the nation, is
to be brought into Cultivation for , the benefit of the
poor, we beg .to suggest a plan by which the interests
of the poor can be effectually secured, and at the same
time the nation at large shall receive whatever ad-

vantage may be derivable from the improvement of
its own property. -Let these four millions, of acres
be sold or rented, 'or allotted to the poor; and let the
proCeeds' go towards the liquidation of the National
Debt. Can we afford to put into the pockets of :the
landed aristocracy those funds which, if judiciously
appropriated, .would considerably diminish the-bur-
dens of an over-taxed population ? What man in his
senses,, who
.kbpws the - facts which for months
past have been constantly before the' public, relative
to the heartless inktiffereeree-eg-lanellords to the pros-
perity of their tenantry, would, for a moment dream
of those landlords. devising a measure simply for the
benefit ofthe agricultural labourers and farmers? What

a disinterested—, benevolent race these landed Members
have become, to consent to have their estates en-

larged, not at all for their own advantage, but simply
from the kind and anxious wish to add to the comforts
of those miserable families to which their compassion
has' assigned as an ample support, 6s. or 7s. a week !
The true extent c>f the regard which is had to the
poor in the Contemplated measure, may be best un-
derstood by the fact, which is stated in the Times,
relative to the inclosure at Croydon :--
" Some years ago an
.Act was obtained to inclose
no less than 6,000 acres of
_land at- Croydon, in Sur-
rey. The lord of the manor, the holders of land,
and others received large portions—among them the
late. Lord. Liverpool. To the poor were allotted about
200 acres. These they never obtained, neither com-
pensation ; but a court-house being wanted, another
Act was passed : the poor' man's lots were sold in pur-
suance of it, and the money-spent in this monument

of rapacity:,' . •
"? Here is a beautiful specimen or...the treatment to
- •
setuchlhe poor are, subieet by fanclowning M. P.'s.
X-large extent of common is inclosed for the benefit
of the poor, and their portion is appropriated to the
erection of a court-house, where.they may stand in
the presence of their wealthy neighbours charged
with poaching on the manor which was once their
own possession, and which the laws of their coun-
try :hare- taken from. them and given to the rich.
The friends of thepoer have every reason to dis-
credit the profesSiOns of 'those by whohrLord Wers-
ley's Bill is advocated, and..to oppose a measure'
which,:as long 'as the• game-laws disgraCe our Sta-
tute4)ook; will increase the perilsite which the lives
of the. poor are exposed. The' more inclosures the
more pme preserves, and the wider will be the scene
in Whichdesperate encounters will take place
tweett the fttrtive intruder and the gainekeeper. . To
the numerons:illustrations,Which. have recently ,been:
fUroished of. the evil result's of these: foolish and
cruel Tasks, an addition has just been .made by a trial,
reportetl'in:the' papers yesterday, for. the -murder of;
the :gamekeeper at Kingston. In •the language of
the Learned. Counsel wholdefended. the prisoner, it
"a melancholy thitig-that,.in order to enable 'persons:
in the 'position of Lord Grantley to: epjdy "their plea-
sures and preServe their. game,.the_lives of the oorer
claises:. are to be 'sacrificed; and it would be 'much'
better 'if there were, no game, and that such lordly,
pleasures 'Should be altogether abolished, than that:
such dreadful cases as that before the' Court, and si-
ones all over the country during the present
assizes, should have: taken place." it is ,evident,
from. the .confession ••of the unhappy convict Elsley,
aawell as 'froth anmereus_ other similar statements,
that the feelings that -exist between poachers 'and,
ginnekeepers are those of Ilin,most deadly hatred,'
feelings strangely inconsistent
,with the trivial eha-
raet4rofthe property which one of
.the parties has
to Protreet and the other is anxiouS, to seize. In the'
case to. which .we have referred, :,the gainekqe.per
seemed ,determined, to kill; the, poorman who_had
knocked :down a :brace, ef, pheasants, and a deadly:
encounter, • a "life-for-life" fight was the' result. If.
the victim of these inhuman and :unnatural laws had.
been the keeper of the Crown jewels or the guardian
ofMajesty, he could not have displayed more ear-
nestneSs in the guardianship' of the property intrusted
to his -care, or have' shown -a 'More deadly en'mity'
against the man by whom his charge \V itSsdiled. It
is really a ;Monstrous eiurdity that the; idle' amuse-
meats of the aristocracy should be so sacredly fenced
round by, the.sanctions 'ofclaw as to peril human life
and liberty whenever they are invaded. And 'when,.
as in the unhappy case at Kingston, we see one life
sacrificed; and firikher barely= saved from the gibbet,
in a contest for a brace of pheasants, tskon to rescue
his wife and family from the
.tugs pf starvation; we
are the more impelled to protest,against a measure by
which the. number, Of sach cases will be increased.,
,Besides the design which the disinterested Members'
of Parliament hive of dividing: this land amongst
themselves, there is another too obvious not to' pre-
sent itself to:the mind..of every-thinking• man. This
scheme is One, of the efforts of the. pro-corn-law
party to perpetuate the ruinous policY of which they
are the abettori: 'Want of employMent-tbe ,-effeet
Of the ecru-laws-s4s to cease for a few years by Set-
ting the uneinployedlabeurers to Wonk. on their own
land, and thUs one of the arguments for free trade is
fo'he answered, -and the..clarneurs of the
_League to
be silenced: Should this.policyAby the aid_ of the
Morning Chronicle) succeed, the clay which the land-
lordi dread will,be put off, until it will. be too, late
to adopt' the only measure that will save 'the country
from ruin, England will have lost her Manufacturing
entertirise and all her interests will be' bankrupt
together. - • .
' '. (From the Times.)
' 'The second .deb;ite on Lord Worsley's Inclesure
Bill is. adjourned; till after. glister. We.are glad of
this.. The int4sial lime .thns: gained will afford an
Opportunity to;Hon. :Members, of. investigating the
merits of a subject on which, we suspect, the greater
number of thenvare more ready:to .vote: than to re-
fleet.
,And, though we do pot profess to• be very
sanguine in • _ our hopes that the_ izrriere pens& of a
Parliamentary majority may turn the scale of a divi-
.sion in favoitr of a generous and just as opposed 'to an
interested pelicy, yet we do- not , wholly despair of
:Seeilig 'the , House do on this occasion what it has
dope,sm-•others-.7snamely, rescind its
,previous- deci-
sionsrand retract its former language—an inconsist-
ency which, however derogatory it may be to the
dignity of a legislative assembly, is not unfreiluently '
more in-accordance with the wishes, and more sub-
seiiient to the interests"; of those who are represented
in it, than the most stubborn and pertinacious con-
Si:Stoney The house has of date exhibited
very-strong predilktion in favour of the principle
of Immaniti over, the petty .wisdom of economists and
.the sOfisli abstractions of rich risen. The causes
from which this predilection has arisen still exist, and
must ()twat? .on, future occasions .to thwart any tett,
dency to a sordid or oppressive spirit of legislation.
4t:reittnot:be that- Ulnae who have -stood forth strenu-
uusly and determinedly, and mot less triumphantly
-than 'strbinotisly,-• champion the . poor *man s
rights. :in_ populous towns .which owe their
'wtaftlis"-atif iiroVerity t't6 his labotik-;-it 'cannot
be that theyery same rnen can forget= to Maintain the
tlieyoliy,o4-tibilanthropy,' of past
,agesznaraoteed to him
_Aptt in the soil of
his native tanalet. WeTh-tsii