Morning journal and courier., 1885-12-22
The Feuda1 System Not So PoetlcaI.

! From the Quarterly Review.
 | sNo new form of taxation resulted inmedi- ately from the Norman conquest of England. 1 The king continued to derive his revenue | mainly from the demesne. His power was 1 increased by the conf1scation of the lands of ! those who had fought for Harold. Gradual i ly the necessities of the conqueror introduced the feudal system of land tenures From I the incidents and casualties of this a consid- ! erable revenue was derived, practically only abolished at the outbreak of the civil war The roots of two other branches of modern revenue are to be traced in the obligation of all the tenants of ancient demesne to assist the king oil any occasion of extraordinary expense, but more particularly on a military expedition, when the extent of their liability went even to the tenth part of their goods, and in the fact of prisage, the right to take cask or two casks, according to the amount of the cargo, from wine-laden ships on their arrival at 8 port the parliamentary basis of customs duties may be found latent. The fsudal system, associated in poetry with glamour of romance with knightly bearing, with brilliant achievements, tournaments and gay trappings, when looked at from the fiscal point of view, presents a series of trans actl5ns at leass as prosalc as the entries in any shopkeepers ledger. The tenant by knights service was bound to serve the king personally in arms for forty days in every year. The description of this duty recalls to the mind the host of knightly warriors, each bound to do service to his sovereign, to undergo any hardship, to imp Til his limbs, to risk his fife at the bidding of his lord. But with the very first provision of the sys- tenn of tenure all the tinsel drops off. Noth- ing: can seem more suitable, nothing led in onfi0 to nf jrDjJ1 tN J01nr ignoble bargainings, than the system of wa-dship. On the death of a tenant-in- chief the king came in to ward off intruders until the heir appeared to claim the lands and to do homage. For this a years profits were due When the heir was minor, and therefore incapable of doing knight service, the king kept him in ward and his lands in possession, providing a substitute to perform the services due from the minor. When ths infant was an heiress the king, by the same train of reasoning, was entitled to select husband for her, and to give her away Ill ] marriage to person capable of doing knight service to the king. The "maritigium," or right of bestowal in marriage, was extended eventually to men. Thus on the exehequer l rolls is the entry that "Walter de Caucsy gives fifteen pounds sterling for leave to l marry when and whom he pleases; Wiver- l one, of Ipswich, four pounds and mark of silver, that she may not be married, except to her owu good liking; ne capiat virum nisi quon voluerit." Even marriage did not al ways completely extinguish the right of the sovereign in these matters; thus, F'The wife of Hugo de Nevill gives to the king two hundred he as for permission to sleep with her husband, Hugo de Nevill, for one night, Thomas de Sandford being pledged for one hundred hens. Robert de Abrincis fines for pardon of the kings i'll will in the matter of the daughter of Geldewin de Dol," &c. The system of exacting fines on every possible III I The Bishop of Winchester owes tonell of good wine for not reminding the king John about 8 girdle for the Countess of Abe
 marle and Robert de VaHx fines in five of
 the best palfreys that the same king would hold his tongue about the wife of Henry Pi-
 nel." These extracts show how soon the
 system of fines became 0 mere method of ar
 bitrary eXaction. The rule of knight service
 in person did not last long either. The leu
 dal array difficult to manage; great bar
 ons arrived last at the muster of the host;
 all sorts of disputes and wranglings occurred
 about place and precedence; the strict fmi-
 tation of the term of compulsory service to
 forty days fixed all inconvenient term to any
 heightened expedition. Hence Henry Plan
 tagenet found it more convenient when pre- pairing for his expedition to Toulouse to levy fine in money on every knights fee than to depend on the personal service of the bar | ons.
 A C0lOfe0 Ek8n7S Argument ASa1nS6 Alcohol.
 From the Pittsburg Chronicle.i
 An aged darksy rose to standing position and point of order the other night with 8 tremendous voice and feeble mien, and combatted a sentiment adverse to the crush
 ing out of old King Alcohol. He said:
 ''Mind me, my bredern and my sistern, of
 nannecote I wense heerd whin I was nigh
 about a pickanniny. Oar was shot hon
 kali a-ram'ling ob hisself down shady
 lane when wot should we see but MT Snaik
 lying de ground wid 8 big rock
 on his he'd. Says MT. Kali: 'Wot's de mat
 ter ob youa' Says MT. Snaik: Please, Mr.
 Kali, to take dis stone offen my hed.' Dun
 mo- says MT. Kali. Spec you'll bite me-
 Deed, do,' says MT. Snaik, you take de
 stone off, an fo' de Lord I'll nebber bite
 you' So MT. Kali he knocked de stone of
 fen Mir. Snaik's he'd. Which way you
 gwine, Mr. Kalf?" says MT. Snaik. Down
 dis way says Mir. Kali. So dey started off
 togedder. Bimeby MT. Suaik says: MT
 Kali. guess I'll bite you Why said Mr
 Kali, you said you wouldn't bite me if l
 turned you loose.' I know dat says Mir.
 Snaik, 'but kain't help it; it's my nature.'
 We'll says MT. Kali, we'll leave dat ques-
 chun to de fust niggah we meet Well, de
 fust niggah dey met was fox. 'Mr. Fox,'
 said MT. Kali, T tuck s+one offen MT.
 Snaills he'd a while aback, an he promised
 he wouldn't bite me. An now he wants to
 bite anyhow 'Well,' says MT. Fox, de
 only way dat I can arborate de matter is to
 see de 'rig'nal psrsishuns of de parties So
 dey went back and MT. Snaik laid hisself
 down and MT. Kali put de stone on his he'd.
 fNow,' says MT. Fox, dat am de rig'nal per
 sishurs ob de sputants, am its' Dey bof
 sed it was. We'll sed MT. Fox, 'Mr. Kali,
 you just go bout yo' bis'ness, MT. Snaik
 won't bite you Dassit, my bredren, dassit.
 You mus put de stone on de he'd, and gwine
 about ye' bis'ness an de snaik won't bite