The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1846-02-24 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

WHAT SHOULD BE THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE LANDLORD AND THE FARMER.—Referring to a supposed dialogue between a landlord and his tenant, related by Mr. S. O'Brien, in which the former is represented as stating that a manufacturer, who is able to improve the yield of the soil from three quarters per acre to five, paying a full rent, and that the latter is likely to be dispossessed; his farm being let to the highest bidder, the right hon. baronet continued :—" Well, now, I will suggest another speech, and a better speech to be made by this landlord: My good fellow—(laughter)—let us both start with this advantage. Your forefathers have been buried in the churchyard of this hamlet. Your forefathers ',eve had their fortunes intimately connected with those of mine. It is possible that a stranger may outbid you in this farm. Under these protecting laws, your land, which ought to produce five quarters, only produces three, and public opinion will hardly tolerate this. (Hear.) That there shall be no foreign corn imported, but that the natural fertility of our own soil shall be promoted. We must really, therefore, take some measures for increasing the produce of this farm from three quarters to five. (Hear, hear.) But I have the advantage of the new tariff.  (Hear, hear.) lam enabled to purchase my commodities at a lower rate—(hear, hear)—and I intend to apply the saving in your assistance and in the improvements which I wish to effect. (Cheers.) I will not, therefore, turn you out of your farm ; I will not let the manufactdrers come here ; but it is for your interest and for mine that the land which can bear five quarters shall not bear three. (Hear, hear.) You have not capital, perhaps; you have not science ; I can afford you both—l will lend you capital, I will get you the aid of science to assist your improvements, to assist you in the education of your son, and enabling him to succeed you. (Hear, hear.) I will cut down the trees that encumber your land, and let you and me together keep out the foreign invader—the manufacturer. (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) But let us now, by the application of capital and industry, improve this farm, and let it be handed down to my son and to yours in an improved state. (Cheers.) Let five quarters be produced where three have been before. That will be for the benefit of both landlord and tenant, and your son's son shall be buried in this churchyard.' (Hear hear, and laughter.) Suppose the tenant should say, But this is a labourer's question.' I should answer then, My good friend, but if we can make this land, which now produces three quarters, produce five, we shall employ more labour —we shall have a greater demand for labour, and all parties will be benefitted, and the state will he improved. The guarantee for the rent will be enhanced, your comfort increased, and all this by the application of a little of that saving which the honourable gentleman says that the rich are to derive from the tariff.'  MURDERS AND SUICIDE AT CAMBERWELL  Shortly after seven o'clock on Monday morning', the neighbourhood of Southampton-street, Camberwell, was thrown into consternation by the frantic screams of a woman who had just made her escape, by the back door of No. 5, Wellington-place, a small cottage residence only one story high. The first person who repaired to the spot was Mr. Pratt, a surgeon, who resided at No. 4, and who, upon entering, was horror-struck at the scene. In an upper room, upon the floor, lay the lifeless body of M. Philarete Iloreau, a Frenchman, aged 53, with his throat. cut from ear to ear ; on the bed, hie son, aged 13, quite dead, shockingly mutilated about the throat ; and in the lower room, an.rther son, aged 11, with his throat cut, a wound on the cheek, and his hand much lacerated, who was at first supposed to be dead, but afterwards showed  some symptoms of life, though unable to articulate or give the least account of the dreadful catastrophe; and in a short time afterwards, a fitnale child, aged eight months, was found dead in a rain-butt which stood in the garden, but having no wounds whatever about its person. Upon investigation we find that the unfortunate man had resided at No. 5 for nearly the last twelvemonth, supporting his family as a teacher of languages; but this mode of existence had been so precarious, that for dome time past they had suffered extreme privation and great pecuniary embarrassment. M. Horeau had been in the habit of rising about seven in the morning, and usually took down stairs with him one of the twin infants (a male and a female), who slept in the same bed as be and the mother.  On Monday morning, upon dressing himself, he did the same thing, taking the female child with him, and leaving the male infant in bed with the mother. In a few minutes the mother was alarmed by a loud shrieking, which she at first attributed to the two elder boys quarrelling, and therefore took no farther notice of the matter for a few moments, but the shrieking being continued, she went to the room, and upon opening the door was met by the younger boy, who immediately ran down stairs bleeding, at the bottom of which he fell down apparently lifeless ; and, on entering the room, Mrs. H oreau saw her unfortunate husband in the act of cutting his own throat, and before she could interpose he bad fallen down a corpse. On looking farther, she discovered her eldest son dead in the bed, but could not perceive any trace of her infant child, who was, however, shortly afterwards discovered to have been drowned in the rain butt. There is no doubt whatever but that the unfortunate father proceeded to the garden instantly on leaving his bed-room, and having drowned the child, then ascended to the children's room, where be afterwards perpetrated the other murder, committing suicide the moment an alarm was raised. As no vital organ has been severed, hopes are entertained that the younger boy's life will be saved. There seems to be little doubt that, owing to their privations, temporary insanity was the immediate cause of this shocking affair, as his pecuniary embarrassments had for some weeks past induced great depression of spirits.