The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-10-04
Our London Correspondence.

Our LOnuOn COTTObpobssAe"o0'
LONDON, Sept. 8, lS4S.
Ihe land Mouopolu m Engt.nd-Means of En-
slayememt- Unequal Representations Corruption
of the Pyess-Engiish Interference on the CONT
qieMt.
Before going further,I will look round upon the po-
sition of the British government Her state glares
defiance upon the world. Tothe eye nothing can be
stronger and yet nothing Is in reality more feeble
to resist the touch. In auspiclous hour for hu-
man hopes and human happiness, it will depart,
and like the baseess fabric of vision, leave not
awreck behind" Whether its departure be i'm
mediate, or delayed-whet Their it Is to be calmly
and by natural decay, or with violence like the
tempest OF the clouds. and the still more frghtful
shock OF batte-ts end Is certain Let US survey 1t
with clrcumspection. And first of the monuments
and the elements OF It's strength, there Is the
grand prestige of eight hundred years OF successive
Kings, moulding the desnnies OF the subject mill
IONS At whatever point OF rum the spectator
stands, that proud defence projects its vast proper
tons on every side. Then there Is the entire
monopoly of the land by few thousand persons,
not much over 5000 proprietors, possessing the
largest portion. Then there Is the keeping 1t out
OF cultivation for the use OF man, not over one
eighth OF 1t being TILED, and producing the cereals
and animals OF human consumption. BY this po-
Icy masses are driven INTO the thronged cities,
where they are compelled by their own cOmpetl-
tion to take starvation wages while they are kept
under with greater conve nience to the military
and police, both which prodgous bodies are
drilled and armed and the best troops IN the
world. Besides which, Infamous detectives and
1nformers swarmlng every where, TO betray
and destroy any counsel or concert upon any
subject whatever Then there is no place, nor
any custom, for assembling anywhere, about any
thing to give people the nOmlna nonon of their
strength. No crowd Is To be seen. The court house
is too small, and so is the market house; and the
only large public places, churches and theatres,
are both unsuited to gatherings of the masses of
the DeODle and thew DISQUALIFIED nv the InStltu-
ton OF the Sabbath in the one case, and by the
holdes OF soldiers and officers in the other. The
habits CT the people are as Snfrlendly to them.
selves, as one could imagine, from the absence of
places OF meeting. They are mutually ntolerant,
distrusttul, and entirely severed from each other:
Every dwelling is locked ans double locked, and
impossible to get in out, without difficulty; and
the people live together INTRO nenia Even the
master of the house, well as the errand boy,
rings and UNDERSTANDINGS fifty put of-for
admission into his own premises AS you pass the
streets you will see, every few steps, this strange
and characteristic exhibition of English lite. An
old man aghts from his carriage, and pulls the gate
bell ); very soon the noise OF locks and bolts IS
head within the mansion, and out trips the tidy
servant and lets her master In, turns the key OF
the gate, and replaces all the Notifications of the
front door. The villas in town are also absurdly
surrounded with walls Of BRICK, so high as to cut
of even the universal communication OF the eye
No merchants pepper-box Is complete, uaess 1t is
inaccessible to The gaze of strangers, and fell
low SUBJECTS, as ttne mansion OF Tie dTlStOCTdt,
Never were people more assIduous IN their own
isolation, and will add, their own imprisonment.
But, 10 proceed Into the house, every article OF
use and ornament is carefully brought, by some
ObsequiOus servant runner tor the shops, from
the steaks, up to the cos.llest articles wanted by
the inmates. Even the letters draw no crowd to
the post Offices nor do the papers to the p int
ing offices. Each man and woman wait at
home till their letter or paper is separately
delivered into their own hands. Boarding
houses are unknown lodgings are taken instead
Each has his room and bed, and private table
Fraternity is thus effectuay sacrificed, as well as
liberty and equality. There is, in fact, In the
British social and political system total over
throw of the condition Ct individual rights and
happiness, except, indeed, so tar as the ew thou-
sands Of the aristocracy are concerned; and their
existence is, to their peculiar notions, very de-
Ighlfu The people thus crowded together, and,
at the same time, separated, caan0t acquire any
fixed property The land Is not only monopolised
by the present owners, but 1t is so entaugled by
laws and settlements, that II cannot be approached
for enjoyment. or even tor Investment. The peo-
pie are carefully excluded from all political power
whatever tbs common error 10 presume that
Onc-seveDth of the mass Of adult males Is really
represented in Parliament; the truth is, that
the representation is not IN the proportion
of one-tortieth and literally amounts to no.
thing Tie landed aristocracy have posses
sion of all the lords, of course That is In
one House OF Parliament. In the other, where
sit CSC, so called Commons, the same class have
at least SIX hundred certain; and OF the whole
body large majority Is returned by about one
thousand Of that class The disparity Is so man.
aged, that even such "calcalators," as Joseph
has some (not much) skill in figures, but he was
goose enough to hiss at equal electoral districts,
as he was Missed at himself, when he quoted the
Congressional some hour rule" ior the Parlia men,
tary debates. 1t is a very obvious cheat also
and II is thus the great tewns, where the peo-
pie are so crammed together, that the rural dis
trcts appear to an American to be thinly popula-
ted have almost no representatives; while coun-
ties and rotten boroughs loom in the scale.
Tins, mighty Manchester has but two
members, while Bucktoghamshlre, which is
IN some respects the poorest county In Eng
land WITH halt the inhabitants made up on the
nomination OF just three land owners. ten MEM
bers, including several cyphers, besides MI. DIS
raei.
The arstocracy having possession OF the lords
and commons, and the land, OF course enact their
own laws, and take excellent care OF themselves.
For hundred years It has been the custom OF the
realm for the actual rue to rest IN the hands OF the
majority of the Commons who exercise 1t through
a vote of want of contde Dce, which mmediately
displaces the ministry. OF that majority there is
complete and memorable possession In the hands
OF the landed proprietors They have large ar
my and large navy, and an immense civil list,
which serve them in every way They fur
nish places for their younger sons and daughters
as well, for they are sought for IN their own
gtieripg circle, but like the courts OF justice,
and the other machinery OF government. they
paid for by the people-tor all the general taxes
fall from the land upon the consumer OF imported
and other articles, while the land is only subject
to local charges principally for the support of the
poor. The Judges, and the countless Justices OF
the peace, are all nominees OF the crown tor lite
and. IT nothing else in his own neighborhood, the
land owner is sure to be in the commission OF the
peace, and thus he exercises arbitrary control over
the tllers OF the soil, mechanics, and tradesmen.
Besides this, he discharges functions of coerciye
(hough not obviously SOY character upon the
poer. The important class of men In the legal
profession, also, all attached to the crown by
ties OF interest, and expectations of prefer
establishment whose dig litaries also justices
of the peace, and clothed with the legislative
functions itself, through their lords spiritual who
SIT in the upper house These are full Of alacrity,
like the land-holdels, the members of the legal