The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-22 00:00:00

illornin /11114

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1844.

Lord CAMPBELL called the attention of the House
of Lords to what he considered an unjustifiable delay
in giving the Royal Assent to the Bill for reducing
the Three-and-a-half per Cents. By a clause in that
Bill, the dissentients were required to express their
dissent on or before the 23d of this month. The Bill
now could not become law before four o'clock on Fri-
day, so that only a few hours would be given to the
many thousands who resided at a distance, to give
their dissent. He objected to this course, as it might
be taken as a precedent.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said he had received inti-
mation from the House of Commons that it would be
more convenient to have the Commission on Friday,
There had, however, been only three notices of dis-
sent, and he believed no more would be given.

Lord MONTEAGLE concurred in the remarks of
Lord CAMPBELL, but he did not think the delay
would produce any inconvenience, and he was sur-
prised that there had been even one notice of dissent,
as the measure was so advantageous.
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the second reading
of the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill, and detailed at some
length the alterations proposed. The Bill, as far as
we can judge from the statement of Lord LYND-
HURST, made no change of material importance ; it
left all the diocesan courts in full vigour ; and, though
some of the minor courts would be abolished, all the
old causes of complaint would still remain.
Lord COTTENHAM opposed the Bill, and stated his
objections at some length in an excellent speech. He
thought the measure was fraught with much mischief,

and therefore moved that the Bill be read that day
six months.

The Bishop of LONDON supported the measure, and

defended himself in the best way he could for sup-
porting, this Bill, which, in many respects, was similar
to others which he had opposed. lie supported the
Bill on the ground that it was the only one likely to
receive the assent of Parliament.

Lord BROUGHAM supported the Bill chiefly on the
ground that it did away with the Courts of Pecu-
liars and Exempts, but reserved to himself the right of
proposing in Committee such amendments as he might
see fit.
Lord CAMPBELL was opposed to the Bill, and
pointed out the inconsistency of leading Members of
the Government who supported the Bill of last session,
yet gave it up at the wish of the section of a party.
There was some mystery about that transaction which
required explanation.
The LORD CHANCELLOR, in reply, said the Bill
could be read a second time, and an amendment
might be moved for the purpose of carrying into
effect the measure of last session, but he would not
give his assent to any such amendment, and on that
point every Member of the Government concurred.
The Bill was then read a second time, and the
Rouse adjourned at Nine o'Clock.
On the motion of Sir THOMAS FREMANTLE, a
new writ was ordered for the borough of Christ-
church, in the room of Sir G. H. ROSE.
Mr. G. CRAIG moved that the order issued on the

lath, relative to the Edinburgh and Glasgow, and
several other Railway Bills for Scotland, be dis-
charged. Mr. GLADSTONE and several other Mem-
bers opposed the motion, and, on a division, it was
lost by a majority of 1.
Mr. WINE presented a petition from the members
of the Repeal Association in Ireland, praying for in.
quiry into the late State prosecutions. The petition
was signed by 821,334 persons, and had been got up
in three weeks. The petition was of an enormous
size, and, on being carried up to the table by six
Members, one of the bearers being Mr. O'CoNxem,,
excited much laughter. The petition was read at
length by the Clerk, when Mr. WYSE moved that it
be printed. The SPEAKER, however, informed him
that' he must give a specific notice to that effect,
when Mr. WrsE said he would move the question
on Monday.
Mr: twArr brought forward a motion for a reduc-
tion of the import duties; but after he had spoken
• for only a short time, a motion was made to count
the House, and, there being only thirty-eight Mem-
bers present, it adjourned at Seven o'Clock.

"
We have just received the portly " Blue Book
containing the. Report (and depositions of witnesses
therein referred to) of the Commissioners appointed
by Royal Commission under the sign manual, dated
Windsor, Oct, 7, 1843, " for the purpose of making a
full and diligent inquiry into the present state of the
laws as administered in SOUTH WALES, which regu-
late the maintenance and repair of turnpike roads,
highways, and bridges ; and also into the circum-
stances which have led to recent acts of violence and
outrage in certain districts of that country." The
well-known disturbances which "REBECCA'S' orga-

Wised and daring demonstrations of physical force
occasjo‘d in many. parts of the Principality, and, in
z-eoca _ s, almost simultaneously ; the offences and
ti(C:\ 2AmO in ich those disturbances resulted, and the
.. special iritrU* constituted for the trial of some of the
. , clffeutters_ witol had been engaged in them, must be
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still fresh in the minds of our readers. Some persons
are still of opinion that the character and amount of
the " troubles in Wales" were a good deal exaggerated
for the " meridian of London ;" but we never heard a
doubt expressed touching the expediency of this Com-
mission of Inquiry into the latent causes of such
alarming discontents among a people remarkable, at
all times, for their loyalty and their general submis-
sion to the laws. We will endeavour to give a suc-
cinct statement of the contents of the Report.
The Commissioners (the Right Hon. FRANKLAND
LEWIS, and R. H. CLIVE: and Wm. CRIPPS, Esqs.)
have divided this document into the following sec-
tions :—lntroductory Report, a sort of historical re-
sume of facts ; statements respecting particular trusts;
general ditto as to Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire,
Radnorshire, Breconshire, Glamorganshire ; con-

elusions and suggestions derived from the above de-
tails ; of tithe in South Wales ; poor-law, of its ad-
ministration ; magistrates' clerks' fees ; county rate ;
" minutes of evidence" of nearly 200 witnesses.
These are preceded by a good lithographed map,
showing, by coloured lines, the direction and extent
of the said trusts. The Report bears date only the
6th inst., and occupies 579 folio pages. The expe-
dition with which these have been printed, and the
technical execution and accuracy of the work being
alike honourable to the establishment of Messrs.
CLOWES and SONS, the eminent printers of Stamford-
street.

The Commission was publicly opened at Carmarthen
on the 25th of October, 1843 ; and after three weeks
occupied in taking evidence and receiving informa-

tion (which it had solicited
/from all quarters), it re-

moved to Haverfordwest. From hence, after dili-
gently examining into the state of Pembrokeshire,
and the transactions which had occurred therein, it
successively visited Cardigan and Radnor, and in
these counties instituted 'Millar inquiries. Its next
sittings were held in Breconshire, and " the wealthy
and populous county of Glamorgan." After " visiting

in succession the principal towns" therein, it ter-
minated its " inquiries at Merthyr-Tydvil on the
13th December last." The Commissioners express
their belief that the disturbances in South 'Wales

had not originated in any political causes :
" The chief grounds of complaint were the mis-
management of the funds applicable to turnpike-roads, the
frequency and the amount of the payments of tolls, and,
in some cases, the vexatious conduct of toll collectors,
and the illegal demands made by them: the increase in
the amount payable for tithe under the Tithe Commuta-
tion Act, the unequal distribution of the rent charges,
and the variable payments, fluctuating with the average
price of corn: the operation of the Poor-law Amend-
ment Act, principally (though not exclusively) on ac-
count of the high salaries of the officers, and the opera-
tion of the bastardy clauses: the administration of jus-
tice by the local magistrates, and especially the amount
of the fees paid to their clerks, and the progressive in-
crease of the county rate. The cost and dificulty of
recovering small debts, with some minor points of griev-
ance and complaint, were pressed on our attention,
some of which it will be our duty to notice before we
close our report."

A formidable catalogue this, it must be confessed,
of local grievances, the grievances themselves
being precisely those most calculated to excite the
resentment of a people at once poor and simple.
minded, choleric, and impatient of oppression. There
is abundant testimony, in these pages, to show that
they have long had to endure some of the most in-
tolerable vexations of " district board mismanage-
ment," and parochial and county jobbing. The
Commissioners thus report upon some of the more
prominent, perhaps more unavoidable, but certainly
very disheartening, discouragemements,-Under which
the "small farmers" have long been declining :
" All persons acquainted with the condition of the
country concurred in stating that a succession of wet
and unproductive harvests had very much reduced the
capital of the farmers. They had been forced, during
successive years, to buy the bread consumed in their
families; and the money they obtained by the sale of
stock, and the other produce of their farms, scarcely en •
abled them to make good various payments to which
they were liable, Concurrently with these difficulties,
the price of sheep, cattle, and butter, had fallen much
below the average of preceding years, though, at the
same time (as it said), all rates, tithes, and taxes, had
increased, the rent of land still remaining, generally,
undiminished. The Welsh farmers are, at all times, a
frugal, cautious race, but by the pressure of the circum-
stances we have described, they were rendered more
than usually anxious to release themselves from even the
smallest payments."

The multiplication of turnpike gates, the employ-
ment of "professional toll collectors," and the sub-
stitution of a rigorous exaction of the dues, in place
of the lax and somewhat considerate management
under which the tolls had formerly been taken, occa-

sioned that wide-spread dissatisfaction and disgust, and
that determination to tear up the gates, which first
exploded in the destruction of the New Whitland

Trust Gates " on the confines of the counties of Pem-
broke and Carmarthen " in the year 1839. Mr.
BAUGII ALLEN, the magistrate, a very intelligent
witness, and whose evidence appears to go deeply into

the real causes of the discontent, thus alludes to this
first scene of the remarkable drama which was after-
wards to be played with more diversified machinery
in other parts of South Wales. Some parties from
England having intimated that if certain new gates
were erected on roads where there was a considerable
traffic in culm and coal, they might be induced to
farm the tolls at a higher rate than that previously
attained ; and the tolls having been let, accordingly,

to a Mr. BULLIN, an extensive toll-contractor; four
new gates were erected. Thereupon, the country
people assembled in the midst of summer, at about six
o'clock in the afternoon, and those gates were pulled
down amidst all sorts of noise and disturbance and
great jollity, and were destroyed without the inter-
ference of anybody." I
.do not think (says Mr. W.
EVANS, the clerk of this trust) they were a week
standing." After enumerating similar destructions
of turnpike-gates in other districts of Wales, the Re-
port gives us this significant intimation of the shame-
ful carelessness with which " Turnpike Bill " legisla-
tion is sometimes managed in Parliament :
" There are twelve different trusts in the county of
Carmarthen. In each of these trusts the amount of the
toll to be taken at each gate is limited by Act of Parlia-
ment, but there is no limit as to the frequency of the gates.
We know no reason why the trustees should not, if they
thought fit, in virtue of the large and lavish powers
committed to them, establish a gate, and demand a toll,
at intervals of 100 yards each throughout the county of
Carmarthen. In the creation of each of these trusts,
Parliament has paid no apparent regard to the existence
of any other trust, and though the trustees have been
somewhat unwilling to establish too frequent tolls with-
in the limits of their respective districts, they have had
no scruple in placing a gate or bar at the confines of
their own trust, however near it might be to the gate of
an adjoining one."

So in Carmarthenshire, the Kidwelly and Three
Commotts Trusts, and some others, "interlace each
other in a sort of net-work ; and the frequency of
payments which has been so violently complained of
and resisted, has chiefly arisen from that circum-
stance." (p. 4.) How much it is to be regretted that
that vicinity is not blessed with the neighbouring
presence of Royal Establishments. The privilege of
Royal equipages to pass to and fro, without liability
to toll, would prove to the greedy renters of such
" trusts " as these, a source of perpetual sulkiness and
ill humour which we can picture to ourselves but
cannot describe. The luxury of pouncing down on
the half-starved team, dilapidated cart, slight load,
and drawling, reluctant waggoner of a wretched
Welsh farmer, in all the conscious authority of a
"Local Act," and with the awful table of tolls legibly
painted on the side of the toll-house to appeal to—
the impotent despair of being compelled to allow, a
dozen times in a day, perhaps, a bowling carriage-
team of four in hand, with two or three carriages of
the suite, equally well horsed, and Royal coachmen,
sleek and smiling as the bouquets in their button -
holes, to drive through these sacred " bars " in cool
defiance of clerks of the peace, surveyors of the
roads, and chairman of trusts; the agonizing desire
of TANTALUS for a draught of cold water
must be a mere slight feverish excitement
compared with the hopeless intensity of a
"Welsh toll-collector, to clutch the " road dues"
which, if needy small farmers must pay, he finds
that exempted Royalty will not. We have no room
to enter into other particulars and details connected
with the subjects of the various sections in which
this Report is arranged, and as to which the Com-
missioners in general terms recommend the landed
proprietors, and other parties interested, to adopt
without loss of time the necessary remedial measures,
in a spirit of conciliation and good will towards the
people. Their rapidly increasing separation from
the Church of England, in the districts which have
been the scenes of greatest disturbance, is a fact em-
phatically pressed upon her MAJESTY'S attention at
the conclusion of the Commissioners' Report. Lest
the multiplication of turnpike trusts, however,
should be merged in the enumeration of other

grievances of a more striking character—as, the in-
crease of county-rate, and of tithe, and the large
diversion of great tithes into lay hands, in the
greater portion of South Wales—we subjoin a
few instances, the mere enunciation of which
must be allowed, we think, to go far to-
wards supplying a case of justification for those
who—violently and illegally, it is true—put down
nuisances, but nuisances not the more tolerable be-
cause of their being sanctioned by enactments which
had been suffered to creep, unmarked, into those
furtive statutes, significantly enough denominated
" Private Bills" :

On the " Three Commotts Trust," extending over
50 miles of road, there were 21 gates or bars ; average,
one gate for every 2 miles and 1-Bth.
On the Kidwelly Trust, 74 miles of road, 30 gates;
average, one gate for every 2 miles and 1-sth.
On the Llangadock Trust, 41 miles of road, 13
gates ; average, one gate for every 3 miles and 90
yards.
On the Llandovery and Llampeter Trust, 40 miles
of road, 13 gates; average, one gate for every 3 miles,
wanting 40 yards.
We could readily multiply examples of this kind
from the volume before us; but surely these are suf-
ficient to establish the intolerable nature of the
nuisance to which we have alluded, as it has affectel
the poor and agricultural communities of South
Wales.

Another ofthe great weekly meetings of the Anti-Corn-
law League was held on Wednesday in Covent-garden
Theatre. Immense numbers of free traders attended as
usual, and, among them, were two tenant-farmers,
Messrs. LATTIMORE and HUNT, who, though deriving
every farthing they possess from agriculture, yet in-
veighed against the principle of Protection in the most
decided and emphatic terms. The former speaker men-
tioned a striking prediction made to him when he was a
mere boy, by an old experienced farmer, to the effect
that, if the corn-laws were continued for twenty years
longer, the then existing race of farmers would, to-
gether with their capital, be entirely annihilated.
This prediction, added Mr. LATTIMORE, had been verified
to the letter, for,- of the agriculturists in the parish to
which it had been applied, some were in the union
workhouse, others on the roads, and the majority in a
state of miserable dependence, their property destroyed,
their hopes blighted, their families ruined ! This anec-
dote made a forcible impression on the minds of all who
heard it, and no wonder, for what could more strikingly
demonstrate the egregious fallacy of the statements con-
stantly made by the Monopolists, that the corn-laws are
the greatest possible boon to the farmer, and that without
them he could no longer keep his head above water ?
His Grace of RICHMOND will, of course, discountenance
an anecdote of this clinching character as " vulgar to the
last degree," and beneath the consideration of gentle-
men ; but we doubt much whether, beyond the walls of
Parliament, he will find a majority to agree with
him. But decidedly the most remarkable speech of the
evening was that made by the Earl of RADNOR, who
discussed the question of free trade in all its bearings,
with a calmness, a perspicuity, and au acuteness that
were at once felt and appreciated by all who had the
good fortune to hear him. He, too, stated that he was
" wholly and solely connected with the agricultural in-
terest," and, like Mr. LATTIMORE, urged this as the
strongest reason why he should be an enemy to Pro-
tection. " The population of the country," observed his
Lordship, "increases every day at the rate of a thousand
persons. Now, as the manufacturing interest has
hitherto absorbed our increasing p pulation, it is most
desirable, you will all admit, that n check should be
given to those manufactures which may be called on here-
after to absorb a much larger proportion of the agricultural
population." One would imagine that the Monopolists
could scarcely fail to perceive the force of thiS reason-
ing ; but they are a pig-headed race, " styed "—to use
BURKE'S apt expression—in their own inveterate pre-
judices, and rendered blind to all rational considerations
by their own causeless apprehensions and jealousies.
They seem to think that agriculture can only flourish by
a constant check being put on the movements of com-
merce, though all experience tends to show that each
acts and re-acts on the other, and that the farmer is never
so well off as when the manufacturer is in a thriving
condition. To cripple trade is to cripple agriculture ;
to do injustice to the one, is to make the other the
direct victim of that injustice. This is a truth that is
daily making itself more and more felt by
the farmers ; and hence the alarm of the
great land-owners, who fancy that their own
selfish interests are injured by their dependents be-
coming too vigilantly awake to ttie true state of things.
In the course of this temperate and argumentative speech
the Earl of RADNOR expressed his sentiments on the
subject of free trade in these impressive terms:—" I be-
lieve that on the carrying out of these principles the
happiness and welfare of the country depend. I
believe, as has been said by others, that they are the
principles of common sense. I also believe that they are
the principles of benevolence, of charity, of sound policy;
and that they are the principles on which the whole
country will eventually be governed." No one who thinks
soundly can doubt the truth of these remarks ; and
sure we are that Sir ROBERT PEEL and Mr. GLADSTONE
have long since at heart acknowledged their force,
though it may not suit their notions of expediency to
express publicly the convictions of their understandir.g.
After all, what more does free trade mean than the
granting of a permission to industry and enterprise to
move about the world unshackled ; to make the most
of such opportunities as may be thrown in their way
of increasing the wealth, and, concurrently with this,
the comforts, of the labouring population; and of binding
together, more closely than has yet been done, in one
comprehensive social compact, all the best interests of
humanity ?

The Madrid journals of the 13th, those, of course,
under the authority of the Government, for no others are
published, applaud the zeal and vigour shown by the
Government at Alicant and Lugo. They also contain
official dispatches from General Pula SAMPER, dated
Lugo, the Bth instant, detailing the execution, on that
day, of CASTROVILAR, a priest, F. FERNANDEZ, and two
brothers, named CEIDE. " They were tried," says the
General, in his report to the Minister of War,
" and executed to-day. I had not flattered
myself that CASTROVILAR would make any im-
portant disclosures, and my opinion has been justified
by the event. His accomplices and he suffered death
with resignation and repentance, thus offering a useful
example to the immense crowd that witnessed this mili-
tary execution." RONCALT had left Alicant for Cartha-
gena on the 9th, and we may, therefore, reckon upon a
similar atrocious dispatch from him in a few days.
The Three per Cents, were done at 321 for cash
and 33 at 60 days ; and the Five per Cents. at 231 at 60
days.

The discussion in the French Chamber of Deputies
on the vote of 1,000,000 f. for secret service money, was
brought to a close on Tuesday, when an amendment to
reduce the amount by 80,000 f. was rejected by a large
majority. On Monday the most remarkable speech
was made by that singular personage, M. LEDRU
IieLLIN, who attacked the foreign policy of the Go-
vernment, and attributed irresponsible acts to the KING
without consulting his Ministers. He alluded to the
frequent changes of Ministry in France, and asserted
that it was owing to the Cabinet never having sufficient
liberty of action that the foreign policy of France was
so unsuccessful. He instanced the Syrian question and the
righfof search, in which the Ambassador had received in-
structions evidently not proceeding from the Ministry. He
was interrupted by calls of " Order," when Marshal
SEBA.STIANI said the Hon. Deputy was committing a
grave fault in introducing in the Chamber, under a
transparent veil, a name which ought never to be men-
tioned in their discussions. "If there was blame," pro-
ceeded the Gallant Marshal, " I was the only person to
blame, fur I never received any order or communication
except from the Ministry." The speaker, nevertheless,
recurred to the subject, when the President interfered,
and said the Hon. Deputy ought to be aware that no
allusion such as he was evidently making could be tole-
rated. Ministers or Ambassadors could alone be men-
tioned in the discussions of the Chamber. M. LEDRU ROL-
LIN again proceeded in the same strain, and asked, since
M. G UIZOT pretended that it was only advice ho had
received, whether that declaration could extend to
intercepting dispatches.—(Cries of " Oh, oh, non-
sense.") He would ask if it could be alleged that the
Crown only gave counsels, when M. TIIIERB declared that
he ought to have known everything, and was not in-
formed of all ?—(Fresh noise and disapprobation.)
M. GUIZOT said there was not a single Minister of those
to whom the Hon. Deputy had just alluded, who had
ever refused to take on himself the responsibility of the
acts now spoken of. In every case alluded to by the
Hon. Deputy there was a Minister to cover the acts by
his responsibility. He would speak in the name of all
those Ministers, and declare that not any one of those
this
acts had been disavowed. M. de LIMARTINS also at-
tacked the foreign policy of the Minister, and said,
and
France,n a secret
enmity ret "whilst every day the official language declared an
accordinti-
emnamteity wwas
at
betweenthebottom
Englandsentiment which caused that if two ships of the two
nations met 4,000 leagues off, a collision 15104 to be
of men's
hearts.