Pontypool Free Press and Herald of the Hills

Hlflrnplttan gossip. B7 OUR. OWN CORRESPONDENT, YThe remarks under this head are to he regarded as the ex- pression of -ndependeut opinion, from the pen of agentlemaG ia wnom wo nave the greatest confidence, but for wluch WO Ogrortheles.- do not hold ourselves responsible.] In the domain of politics there is yet nothing very exciting. The health of the Emperor of the French, the Senatus-Consulttun. the Irish Catholic manifesto, the Irish land question, Indian loans, and some other topics are discussed, and the element of party politics is not wanting in these discussions but purely political matters are not yet attracting much attention. Neither Ministers nor their opponents, however, are idle during the recess. Public events occur with in- creasing succession, and public opinion, though it may be comparatively quiescent, never sleeps. The Irish land question, for example, has been started, and it will be kept going till Parliament meets, when a plan which is now merely being slowly formed will be brought forward, and will infallibly excite the whole country. It is said, too, that Ministers are now study- ing, and will continue to study how they can effect further reductions in the national expenditure. People are looking to Mr. Childers, who is now cruising about, for reductions in the naval service, and a large scheme of retirement is expected. We heavily taxed British ratepayers will be quite prepared to hail any such scheme with acclamation if it do not mar the efficiency of a navy of which we are so justly proud. Statistics are occasionally very telling, and some- times they are made to tell the reverse of truth, but they are usually rather wearisome to writer and reader. I think, however, that some important statistics might be compiled just now by any one who chose to take a great deal of trouble, to prove that the condition of the country has improved. For myself, I have arrived at the conclusion, though I will not bore you with the numerous facts which hare led to it. The harvest is turning out more favourably than was expected food generally is getting rather cheaper; employment is somewhat more plentiful; and pauperism is slightly on the decrease. I believe these to be facts, and if so, they are very enoonraging. IV* want of something better to do, perhaps*, I have been having a meditative ramble in Southwark Park, as it is at present rather facetiously called. Possibly the greatest pleasure to be derived from meditation in the place is from the contrast of what the "park" is to what the locality was before it. Before this new pleasure ground was laid out the locality was noted for Its marshy and quagmiry ground, for its canal and its ditches, for its tanneries and unpleasantly odorous fac- tories, for its flat, unpicturesque, dreary-looking market gardens, and its ugly little streets of poor houses. Two centuries ago this locality was a cheerful one; there were beautiful orchards and "cherry gardens," the name of which still clings to the locality; there was a mill and a mill-pond, and Millpond-lane recllls what we may have read in Evelyn's Diary "—Evelyn lived hard by—incidentally showing how this locality was once noted for its natural beauties, its orchards and gardens. But the exigencies of trade and the growing population long asro marred all this, though even thirty years ago the "Seven Islands" were part of a pic- turesque suburb. And now we been trying to restore some of its lost beauty to the neighbour- hood. At present there is a very sorry result. A park What pleasant thoughts does the word excite. We think of splendid waving trees, and deliciously fresh grass, of lovely dells and swelling mounds covered with verdure, of shady avenues, and of the sun flooding other parts of the park, with a rich golden light. But oh, what a different scene is Southwark Park!" The miserable little trees might be dug up with a trowel and carried away if they were worth it; they look more ridiculous even than the trees on the Thames Embankment. The grass is patchy and ragged; the shrubbery is piteously fcanty and the injlosures inclose nothing particular though heavy penalties will pursue any one that enters them. Add to this that the paths are stupidly made of large stones which crunch under your feet, and perhaps sprain your ankle, and it will be admitted that Southwark Park is not yet a paradise of verdure. But we must give it time. In ten years it will begin to look like a park, and, meanwhile, it is a great improvement on what the locality was before even this melancholy "park" was fcrmed. A scheme haa been placed before the Court of (very) Common Council, as Mr. Dickens calls the City mag- nates, for widening London Bridge. Mr. Fulton, the en- gineer, proposes to widen it by 24 feet in placing wrought iron cantilevers on either side, at a cost of S20 000. This would be a splendid improvement, and something of the kind has been frequently proposed. The traffic on this bridge is still enormous, and must always be so but if this mighty thoroughfare were thus widened, the continuous stream of passengers and vehicles might flow on without let or hindrance. Considering, how- ever, that it would accommodate the masses of popu- lation on either side of the river, to say nothing of visitors to the great metropolis, it is hardly fair that the City should bear the whole expense, and this con- sideration will probably prevent the improvement being made. Moral: we want a municipal government. The Philanthropic Society's Farm School has done such good service to society that it might seem ungracious to say a word in discourage- ment of it but it is with the friendliest feelings that I would ask whether something more might not be done in the same direction. Up to the close of the past half-year the receipts were £3,495, and the payment £2,897, leaving a fair but not too large a balance to go on with. So far so good, but then the society has £2,.HO invested in the funds, while the number of boys in the school is only 292. Thousands of unemployed little rascals swarm about our streets and if only a few of these could be taken into the Farm Schoul it would be a great boon to society. A horrible and suggestive tale comes to us from France. "Buried Alive." Those words can seldom be read without a shudder, and could the grave give up its secrets we should doubtless learn that these sad words have a larger application than we may have thought. One grave haa now given up a secret, and a terrible secret it is. A lady in France recently died, and as she had expressed a wish to be buried in the same grave as her daughter, who had died about a year previously, preparations were made to comply with her wishes. The grave was opened, and then a fearful sight presented itself, as the lid of the coffin was taken off. The winding-sheet had been torn open; the right hand, which had disentangled itself from the cerements, was deeply marked with bites—as if the unhappy revenante had either sought to quettch her stifling thirst with her blood, or had gnawed her flesh, like Ugolino, in blank despair; and the lid of the coffin had been indented by the crucifix which lay on the young lady's breast. These terrible facts recall Juliet's soliloquy, when about to take the sleeping-draught which Friar Lau- rence gave her that she may have the semblance of death, and so avoid the marriage with Count Paris. Says the friar to Juliet:— Then, as the manner of our country Is, In thy best robes uncovered on the bier, Thou shall be borne to that B ame ancient vault Where all the kindred of the Cupulets lie. In the meantime, against thou shall awake, Shall Romeo by my letters know eur drift, And hither shall he come." Those who have read this sensational play will perhaps remember Juliet's words as she takes the draught:— How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me t There's a fearful point! Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth BO healthful air breathes in, And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes ?" There is a tale, by the way, in the current number of Belgrzvia founded on this double incident of a sleeping draught and intentional burial alive. But in the sad tale that comes to us from France we have fact—horrid fact—and such facts have occasionally occurred before in the history of France. The law of that country compels burial within 24 hours but French legislators might do well to ask themselves whether as the man- ner of their country is," the law may not sometimes work a terrible result. The storm which Mrs. Beecher Stowe has raised hrough that extraordinary article in Macmillan, rela- tive to Lord Byron's married life, will be a long time before it has passed away. Supposing the story to be true it was unadvisable to write and publish it, for Lady Byron's memory needed no apology supposing the tale is unintentionally false, or mixed up with much error, it was equally unadvisable to publish it. But now that it has been published and read in some form or another by millions of people, Mrs. Stowe is beund to go further, and give proofs of her assertions. After carefully reading the article and many comments on it I think the Examiner is quite right when it says, "Here is a statement supposed to be dictated by a woman so weak that physicians think she is dying; her amanuensis is another woman of con- siderable strength of imagination the narrative itself is incorrect in certain most important facts, it is with- out a shadow of corroboration or proof, and it is highly improbable." The controversy that has arisen from this article is vigorously waged, but at present Mrs. Stowe's opponents appear to have got decidedly the best of it.. As an instance of the attention to which journalists are devoting to the subject, it may be men- tioned that the Standard the other day had an article of six columns on it. Burn's pew, once in St. Michael's, Dumfries, and bearing R. B. cut by his hand in an idle hour, and under weary sermonizing, has been put up for auction. As the pew did not reach £5, the pew was bought in." And not very surprising either. Supposing a man bought this pew, What would he do with it?" Keep it in his drawing-room, or lumber-room, or what ? Dr. Johnson's pew in St. Clement's, Strand, has been carefully preserved, and a plate has been let iito it, recording the fact that here the great lexicographer used to join in the service—a service, by the way, which he highly admired. That is sensible enough but it would be rather an awkward thing to remove that pew as a curiosity.

EXECUTION OF THE ALDERSHOT MURDERER. On Monday morning, at eight o'clock, the final sentence of the law was carried into effect outside the County Prison, Win- chester, on William Dixon, who, it will be remembered was condemned to death on the 18th of last month for the wilful r murder of Corporal Wm. Brett. The following are the leading ciretimacances of the case :— The culprit was stationed with his regiment, the 7th Royal Fusiliers, at the camp at Aldershot, and occu- pied part of a hut of which his victim was the corporal in charge. Brett had occasion to report Dixon several times for trifling breaches of discipline, but not more than, or, indeed, so much as, other non-commissioned officers had done, under whom Dixon was from time to time. On the 20th of July some of the men of the regiment were engaged in filling the mattresses, but the culprit and a comrade, named Hensnall, left their duty and went ,away to the canteen, where they were found drinking, and from whence they were fetched by Corporal Brett to con- tinue the work. After it was done Dixon and Hen- shall went and had more drink, and on returning to the but Henshail got his rifle from the rack, and on being asked what he was going to do made use of threats against Brett, declaring he would put his light out before night." Seeing that he was under the iLfluence of drink he was removed to the guard-room, and very soon afterwards Dixon was seen in the act of hand- ling his rifle, and, as the deceased was approaching the hut, he levelled the weapon at him. One of his comrades, named Adams, called out to him to mind what he was about, upon which the culprit pointed the rifle at him, and said that he should have the contents of it if he interfered. Dixon then levelled his gun at the corporal just as he was entering the hut, and shot him through the head, killing him on the spot. After the occurrence Dixon quietly gave up his rifle, saying at the time, Now I am satisfied I've done it." After his committal to the County Prison he was asked what he was brought there for and he re- plied "far ..h,,to3 o^ptirai Tsrett." The deputy- governor of the prison said that was a bad job, and in- quired how it came about, to which Dixon replied, Well, he was always bullying me." He also referred to the same subject when he asked the schoolmaster of the gaol to write a letter to his mother, and tell her that Corporal Brett had acted like a tyrant to him. At that time such was t he only reason he at all gave for the commission of the act. It is only just to state that at the trial the murdered man was proved to have been a kind, humane, and considerate man to those under him. Subsequently, as Dixon was being brought to Winchester to take his trial, he seemed to be very unhappy, and spoke in mo3t affectionate terms of his mother, at the same time saying that drink was the cause of what had happened. The culprit was brought down the same evening he was convicted, and ever since he has been under charge his general conduct has been very orderly and most attentive to all instruction given to him. He was, however, exceedingly reserved, but evidently felt his position a good deal, especially towards the last few days. On Sunday he received Huly Communion, and afterwards wrote the following statement, and made, as will be seen, an earnest request that his last words should be made public "I, William Dixon, now lying under sentence of death for the wilful murder of Corporal Brett, beg to state that my sentence is a just one for the horrihle deed I committed, arid for which I am very sorry. It is my earnest wish to seek forgiveness from the friends of Corporal Brett for the injury I have so unwarrantably Inflicted on him, as well as on them, by my most wicked act. It is too late now for me to expect any answer to this request, but I hope they may tell my God they have forgiven me also, that my neglect of God, and my wretched love of drink, as well as my evil passions should have led to such a deed. Surely, if soldiers, and espe- cially young soldiers, could know what mi-ery and wretched- ness follow such conduct as mine, they would never allow their passions to be their master, and continue such a course of drink and other vices as have been my ruin and the cause of my taking a fellow-creature's life, and a c mrade's who de- served a better fate, and whose brother was my friend and companion I now feel I can make no adequate satisfaction for my i-in and crime. I fear it is almost useless to hope my fate will prove a warning to many of my comrades and com- panions in the regiment I belong to. I only wish they knew what 1 have gone through since I committed the crime. Perhaps, t! en, they would not be so likely to imitate my ex- ample in that or in any other respect. My present anxiety and sorrow has many causes. I have sinned against God all my life. I have wickedly and unjustifiably deprived a fellow- creature of life, and involved hi3 friends as well as my own in grief and misery. I feel I dare hardly expect any forgiveness from man or mercy from God bun for his great love in Christ Jesus, and my hope is solely in that Saviour. Had I learned to know more of Him years ago I might have escaped this shameful end, and had a more satisfactory hope in a dying hour. I hope God may have mercy on me for Christ's sake, and I wish that my riaath may prove a terror and a warning to people, and especially to soldiers, who are going on as I used to do. I should be thankful it this may meet the eye of Corporal Brett's brother and friends, and the eves of the men in my regiment. Signed in the presence of the governor, the chaplain and the schoolmaster, WM. DIXON. Sunday, Sept. 4, IS69." On Sunday night the culprit retired to rest early, and slept well until half-past two, when he seemed some- what restless, but soon composed himself again to sleep. The bell rang at half-past five, and at six the chaplain, the Rev. Foster Holers, visited him, and remained with him to the last. Shortly before eight Calcraft was taken to the room where tne culprit was, and the process of pinioning was at once proceeded with. Thesadeere- mony was soon complete, and the procession to the drop was formed. The scaffold had been erected in the yard at the back of the prison, and over the convict burial ground, the most sickening part of the arrangements being a large deposit of lime at the side of the scaffold. The mournful procession was headed by the chaplain, reading the burial service, and on reaching the drop the final procesi of the pinioning was completed. The noose being adjusted, the bolt was drawn, and the un- happy man, who hardly made a struggle, died almost instantaneously. A black flag was hoisted on the prison gate as the drop fell, and remained there for an hour, but not more than fifty persons were outside the gaol during the sad proceedings. All due arrangements were made for the admission of the Press, who in this instance were the sole repre- sentatives of the public.

A CURIOUS QUESTION. At the Marlborongh-street Police-court, in London, Mr. Emery, of -No. <5, Great Portland-street, in London, accom- panied by lr. Mills, sculptor and mason, of Highgate, waited upon Mr. Knox, the sitting magistrate to ask his advice in the following matter:- Mr. Emery said that he purchased of the Highgate Cemetery Company a grave, and ordered Mr. Mills to place over it a tombstone, the inscription on which had been approved by the superintendent. Subsequently there was a refusal to allow the stone to be placed o. the grave on the ground that the inscription was of an objectionable nature. The inscription was as fol- lows The family grate of A. Emery, of No. 66, Great Portland-street, M'iryltbone. In affectionate remembrance of William Emery. infant son of the above, who departed this life July 4, 1869, from the mortal effects of vaecnaticn, aged 4 months." Mr. Emery said the words were in accordance with the verdict of a coroner's jury. The magistrate on such an application as the present, declined to enter into the general ques- tion of the policy of vaccination. The applicant, it appeared, had purchased a piece of ground as a burial place in the Higbgate Cemetery, and claimed the right of erecting a tombstone and placing any inscription on it he might think fit. It seemed to him that the matter must be considered just like any ordinary business transaction. The legal question would be, what rights were purchased with the ground—what conditions, in fact, were attached to the sale. Mr. Emery said no conditions whatsoever. Toe company, however, claim that they have affixed as a condition that "a tombstone of a design to be approved by the company must be erected within twelve months," but the claim was brought under Mr. Emery's notice for the first time when be got his receipt. Would the word "design" include the terms of the inscription ? That might be a question for a court of law. Certainly, anything of a blasphemous, seditious, libellous, or immoral nature might be reason- ably objected to. If Mr. Emery were to insert the words according to the verdict of a coroner's jury before the words from the mortal effects of vaccina- tion," as a coroner and his jury were a legally consti- tuted tribunal, it might remove the difficulty. The applicant and the company were both bound by the conditions of sale. If the dispute could not be settled in that way Mr. Emery might give the company notice through his solicitor that he would take steps to test his right in a legal way. Mr. Emery thanked the magistrate for his advice and retired.

THE LAND QUESTION OF IRELAND. The special commissioner of The Times, who is just now contributing to that paper a series of letters on the Irish Land Que-tion, is Mr. O'Connor Morris, an Irisn barrister, and an occ tsional leader-writer to The Timet. In one of his letters, under date Maryborough, he says:— The landed system of Queen's County does not differ widely from that of Tipperary, and the social results are at bottom the same. I have to apologise to your readers and to yourself for running into frequent repeti- tions but it is impossible not to give the same account of phenomena essentially the same, and it is necessary to present them fully to the public. In this neighbour- hood, as elsewhere, the line between the owners and occupiers of the toil is, for the most part, marked by religious distinctions; the landlords are nearly all Protestants, the tenants are nearly all Hainan Catho- lics and differences of race, not wholly effaced, to some extent increase this division. Considering what has been the history of Ireland, this circumstance, though impossible to remedy, must be noticed and pro- nounced unfortunate, and it has been attended here with some present mischief. I do not speak merely of the want ot sympathy, of the alienation, of the moral antagonism that results necessarily from this state of things I refer to facts more distinctly palpable. I have heard of instances in this county-[ shall refer to one particularly bereafter--in which landords have avowed a purpose of not dealing with Roman Catholic tenants, and I know from autho- rity that I can trust that, in some cases, dis- pensations have been given that they would evict tenants who ventured to transgress their mandate, and to marry openly in the regular manner. I have been informed, too, of estates on which an Englishman, or an Irish Protestant, obtains as a matter of course a preference over a Roman Catholic in the letting of land, the distinction being made the more galling because the favoured person obtains a lease, and the discredited class are usually without one. Such in- stances, are, no doubt, very rare, and it ill quite pos- sible that, in almost every one, a plausible apology might be made for the landlord; but they provoke distrust and ill-feeling; and remiud the peasant ry too much of the days when it was a common form in Irish wills and deedb that Good Protestants only should have leaseholds. It is certain, however, that, with few exceptions, Roman Catholic proprietors in this county are not more generally liked than Protestants. Some have been described to me as extremely harsh, nor is it d fficult to ascertain the reason. As a general rule, the Roman Catholic proprietor in Ireland is a new man, who has, perhaps, made a forune in trade, and has purchased under the Landed Estates Acts he is, accordingly, rather exact in his dealings, and he is without the liberal associations and sentiments which the ancestral possession of landed property usually im- parts even under a bad system. These observations, however, do not apply to the Roman Catholic gentle- man of ancient descent; in his case he unduubtedly sees the importance of religious unanimity between the owner and occupier of the soil; he is almost always beloved by the people. Absentee estates are tolerably numerous here. but in several instances they are very well managed. I have heard nothing but commendation, and that from persons of all classes, with respect to the relation, between Lord Lansdowne and his tenantry in this county his lordship makes the improvements on the lands, or allows the occupiers compensation for them. In a word, on this and other absentee estates, the English method of dealing with landed property has been introduced, and has worked well, though under conditions not favourable, and though it does not fall in with the genius and habits of the peasantry-a fact that ought to be kept in mind by those who contend that we must adopt some novel mode of tenure in Ireland, veiling confiscation in polite phrases, and that it is impossible to satisfy the Irish race by doing justice after the English pattern yet let it not be supposed that I io not perceive the evils of absenteeism to their full extent. When I shall review the landed system of Ireland as a whole, I shall endeavour to show that they have some effect, even in a purely economic sen-e, and their moral effect is most serious in checking the growth of the kindly sympathies so necessary in the relation of landlord and tenant, who take each other" f..r better or worse," in a consortium that may be happy or unfortunate. Nor let it be said that this is a sentimental grievance; the word, in truth, has an ominous sound since the downfall of the E-tablislie(i Church, a grievance mainly of this kind, and I should be very sorry to press the analogy. Not, however, that here, as in Tipperary, the landed system generally pre- valent does not cause very plain material grievances. In some instances the landlords have made the im- provements on their lands at their own cost; in others, have fully, or in part, given compensation to those who have made them but, in the overwhelming majority of cases, indeed as the ordinary rule, the occupiers of the soil in this neighbourhood have done nearly every- thing that has been done for the benefit of the land during many years, especially in the marshy tracts, where they have reclaimed thousands of acres of bog by a slow and almost imperceptible pro- cess. Yet here as elsewhere, the whole class is without any durable tenure—"A lease has hardly been given in the Queen's County these twenty years was the remark to me of a most experienced and able gentleman, and this insecurity is all the more vexatious, because, until the present generation, lease- hold interests here were extremely common. I have already pointed out how fruitful of evil in the relation of landlord and tenant in Ireland—a relation which, it has been bitterly said, is more like thatof the zemindar and ryot than that of free and independent contractors —this state of things irresistably is; how it givts a licence to all kinds of wrong; how it places the occupier at the mercv of a superior not seldom un- friendly to him; how it sanctions the creation of a mass of property which law ought in justice to protect, yet exposes it to be diminished or confiscated by those who have a direct interest to do so. I shall not at present recur to this topic but it is equally evident that this vicious system is not less injurious to the common weal than it is to the class directly affected. It dis- courages the tenant from investing his capital or labour in the soil; makes improvement penal, because it may be mulcted in the shape of an increased rent and, be- yond all question, is a main cause of the timid and suspicious habits of hoarding which have been ob- served among many Irish farmers. I cannot do better than quote on this point the words of one who, though a fanatic in maintaining the cause of Protestant as- cendency, and a violent upholder of the rights of landlords, has, nevertheless, in spite of himself, the sympathy of a hard and successful worker for the Irish peasant, whose work he perceives is discoun- tenanced under the existing law, and who is quite alive to the consequent mischief. In a pamphlet recently published on this question, Mr. Fitzgihbon, an Irish Master in Chancery, writes in this way of the evil effects of want of tenure" in checking improve- ment, and he has a right to say that very great expel i- ence gives real authority to his opinion The people who have thus imperfectly reclaimed bog and mountain seldom hold by lease When they come under rent, they do so as tenants from year to year, liable to be turned out on a six months' notice to quit. As soon as the poor tenant has brought his farm to that degree of fertility which enables him to pay a rent and live. all further improvement is studiously avoided, as a thing which the tenant believes will only increase his labour to produce a larger rent for the sole benefit of the landlord, whom he regards as a vigilant spy upon evei-y symptom of ability to pay more rent." The practice of selling the goodwill of farms prevails here to a considerable extent. I heard of an instance in which £70 was given for a patch of four acres, the rent being at a fair rate, and the tenure merely from year to year. It is impossible not to see that this usage is, on estates where it is sanctioned, slowly eating away the freehold right and converting the tenant into a copy- holder, and the landlord into the mere lord of a manor, with a right to little more than a rent- charge, and it is difficult to suppose that in this ag.. Parliament will not, in some measure at least, follow the example of the judicial legislation of our tribunals in the daj's of the Plantagenets, ,I I c,,I-fi,-In the equitable title of the occupier. It is vain to argue that in cases like these the purchaser acquires no legal right,—that hd purchases with notice of the infirmity of his position such sophistry is repudiated by con- science, and it ceases to have even a show of reason when once the custom has taken root. I am confident that few landlords here would think of disturbing this tenant right on properties where it had been recognised but though they acquiesce, and the tenant acts with a reasonable conviction of their acquiescence, this mode of dealing reminds me too much of the expression of Burke,that, "connivance is the relaxation of slavery, not the definition of liberty." Here, as elsewhere, the in- security, the uncertainty, and the confusion of rights, arising out of the numerous vice of the landed system generally prevailing, provoke a great deal of dii-o in- tent, with which a fair mind may justly sympathise. Many of the peasantry, however, are filled with the wi!d spirit of dissatisfaction to which I have alluJed before and you hardly meet one that does not expect some "grand settlement" cf the land question. A perpetuity of tenure and a fixed rent are the ideas to which many minds turn and it is curious to ob- serve how these mingle with traditional notions of ancient ownership. A small farmer, after complain- ing bitterly that his landlord within the last ten years had raised his rent from 16,. to Rl an acre-the land was certainly barely worth the £ 1—expressed to me a confident hope that he would soon get it from Government at the old rate, and that be and his would hold it for ever." I asked him how he could suppose the Government would disturb the arrangements of his landlord, and rob him directly of his property. "Disturb and rob," the man exclaimed, starting up with a wild, passionate gesture, the Government dis- turbed and robbed us three hundred years ago, and little they cared. Let them now do the same turn to the landlords Such are the dreams which at this conjuncture have risen into the imaginations of thou- sands but I must observe that in many instances I beard the question discussed in a rational manner, and within the limits of an equitable adjustment. Many landlords here bear an excellt-nt name, and perform well all the duties of property. Yet I observed with regret that the peasantry seemed in too many instances to dislike their superiors and the fe"ling- is shared by other classes. The no'ion that the relation between the owners and occupiers of the soil is tainted with wrong is in the minds of many whom we may reasonably suppose to stand indifferent; even few landlords will go further than make use of the old St",te plea, that the system is not bad in practice." The agrarian spirit exists in this county not so exten- sive!y as in Tipperary, but not, I fear, less generally diffused. I think that exceedingly few landlords would exercise some, at least, of the rights which, beyond all question, the law gives them in fact, their rights are tacitly in suspense. I heard from authority I cannot doubt that more than one gentleman who has given notice of evicring tenants was in danger; and there has been one terrible agrarian crime. The attempt to assassinate Mr. Warburton and the attendant circum- stances bring cut too plainly the evils at work in Irish society. Mr. Warburton is a young man, the representative of an old county family, the possessor of a large landed property, and a Protestant of the true ascendancy type. Since be undertook the manage- ment of his estate he has not been popular with his tenantry and there can be little doubt that towards some at least he pursued a course of petty annoyance. Some months ago he began raising the rents of one or two farms in a capricious manner, and he accompanied a notice to that effect with a letter of a very insolent kind, reflecting on his tenant as "you Roman Catholic." Some weeks ago the unfor- tunate gentleman was fired at and seriously wounded, and though it is simply wrong to palliate the crime, and the youth of the sufferer is to be urged in his favour, his conduct was certainly very injudi"ious. I have not heard of an attempt to justify it, though of course there is much personal sympathy for him. I had hoped that my social survey of this neighbour- hood would have been more reassuring. On the whole, however, I have found less material prosperity than in Tipperary, and the same element of moral disorder, if less active, not the less in existence.

THE PRESENT STAGNATION OF TRADE AND ITS CAUSE. The following letter from "Lancashire Employer" appeared in The Times of Tuesday Daring the Parliamentary recess, and while the country- Lancashire in especial-is labouring under a severe and pro longed depression of trade, it behoves every one interested to consider if there is any other cause of stagnation than simply a recurrence of ordinary panic. But it is equally desir- able in our suvvey to be cautious that we are not led astray by any bias or hobby, or any plausibly arranged statistics, and so arrive at unsound and mischievous conclusions. The necessity of care in this matter is impressed on my mind more immediately by the appearance of sundry publications, in Loudon and elsewhere, boldly throwing discredit upon our system of free trade, but unable, withal, to exclude from their reasoning facts which I hope presently to show point to the exactly opposite require meiAta-viz., that we want our trade still more free than it is. Lancashire, it is generally admitted, must stand or fall by her cotton trade; and though all will allow that no perma- nent basis of prosperity can be relaid in this till cotton be again forthcoming in full quantity, an uneasy feeling pre- vails that meanwhile our Continental and Transatlantic friends are fast becoming independent of our markets, and even proving our keen competitors. Hence the unques- tionably increasing murmurs against "free trade without reciprocity." A greater calamity than the American War has proved for this country could not have occurred, for besides the de- rangement of our staple manufacture there has resulted a spirit of Fpeculation, or rather oi gambling, which has utitred many rormerly steady business men for safer, though tamer, pursuits; has introduced a thirst for rapidly acquiring such fortunes as before were made only by yeais of persevering and honourable occupation; has induced extravagance, which forces men into hazardous transactions; and has deadened the sense of h onour and shame of failure once characteristic of the British trading community. And all this, we may be sure, has not happened without its effect upon the great substratum-the working classes-who can hardly be firmer in resisting temptation than their better educated neighbours. Accordingly we and them exhibit- rig a greater impatience of control, a stronger aver,ioll to abour, and an increasing desire for shorter hours and h'gner wages Not that they deny I)-ipg much better off than for- merly, but they seem to have conceivtd the idea of being at once masters and servants, artisans and legislators receivers f wages and rulers of the destinies of trade." Some years ago, Mr. B*zley, M P., delivered a lecture at one of our mechanics' institutions, entitled" Lahour the foundation of Wealth n lecture, as w, can imaaine from its I I, le and o-ir knowledge of its author, welleilcul itedt,) inspire habits • if self-dependence, industry, and economy in his hearers, as the means of tlifir advancement. to prosperity But by a -ingular perversity, not altcgether without parallel in the •letter instructed cla-ses, the main result from that, and all similar lectures and addresses in the artisans mind would appear to have been the confirmation of an idea ■ hat as the foundation is nee- ssa-y to the sup jrstructure, so are the working classes necessaiy to the capitalist, and there- fore are fully at liberty, by any means, to enforce what terms they may think proper as the conditions of labour. If this is not the creed of all working men it barely expresses the aims cf the trade unionists, as may be seen any day by mixing among them, watching them woik, and listening to the lan- guage of their club delegates. And their efforts are as those of a trained army against an undisciplined mul- titude when brought to bear on their non-union fel- lows. We all remember the revelations which the extraordinary power of the Royal Commission elicited both in Yorkshire and Lancashire a little while ago; also the defective memories, faulty book-keeping, and general mistiness and irresponsibility of many of those societies now asking so loudly for special legislation in their favour. What is the whole affair but a huae, lawless system of pro- tection, none the less real for being unofficial, nor effective for being crtiel ? When we think of the co"scientious pains taken by the Royal Commission, and the astounding facts proved, the steps taken by the authorities seem ridiculously inadequate Indeed, to a stranger the employers would everywhere seem the aggressors and the unionists the perse- cuted class. Has the inquiry ever suggested itself to your reader, )Ir, E titor, Where go the enorni us supplies ot- I had almost said luxllries-lmt, however, of butchei's meat, fowls, sal- mon and other fish, butter, eggs, and milk, constantly in- creasing. but ever rising in price, while biead alone remains cheap ? The writer knows many cases where joints have been purchased by the woiking man without hesitation from under the fingers of well-to-do customers, who hail passed them by a3 being too dear. And it is a well «scertained fact that the yearly cost of food for many all artisan's table exceads that of similar famili s many degrees higher in the social scale. All this may be quite right, but what becomes of the plea of low wiges The truth is, the classes who are ever complaining, ever "striking," are well off the suffering poor and the crowds in our gaols and worknouses are non- unionists. "So much the more in favour of our policy," say the unionists. Not so; for the same might be said of thieves and murderers till the day of reckoning. Whence does it arise that in some places the destitution of the working classes is really appalling, while in others em- ployers are advertising in vain for workmen and 1iDourers 1 Emigration is continually put f rward as the remedy for all evils, but does this often reach the class to whsm it would be a boon? The skilled and well paid men emigrate, and their brethren take care by limiting apprenticeships, object- ing to "machine men," by insulting outsiders, and even pay- ing them to ab-ent them«elves, that none of the hungry and needy Rhall fill up the vacancies. In short, by this system of protection our trade is diverted at its very outset from its natural and remunerative current at the prompting of the selfish and short-sighted few who practically sway the great power of the unions. And yet we find men of Mr. Mun- della's calibre speaking to his constituency in Sheffield-of all places-the other day as follows:- A few capitalists went down to Liverpool and bought up half the cotton in the marktt, thereby starving half the mills in Lancashire, causing thousands of people to be idle, and stopping the trade of a great country by raising the price of cotton. That was not restraint of trade it was said to be the legal and proper employment of capital. But if a few workmen combined together to raise the value of their labour, the avowal of such a combination was said to be in restraint of trade, and any act done in pursuance of it sub- jected those men to special punishment." Surely the honourable gentleman did not consider duly the effect of his approving voice upon "Mary Ann" and the rattening system generally. Louk into the daily papers and you will see caseaftdrcase of intimidation andviolei.ee, and reflect to what extent these are merely indications of the fierce intolerance of a self-constituted protectionist tribunal, only recurring to open persecution when other means have failed. Often we see even these cases dismissed as incom- plete through some trifling informality, or with a light fine, paid at once hy the offender. Have our magistrates the fear of unpopularity before their eyes, and is it already occurring that our Parliamentary representatives deem it necessary to say smooth things to their extended constituencies. Reverting to the printed pamphlets mentioned at the out- sets, they quietly assume that if we close our ports, except our competitors open theirs, they will at once ecmply this is begging half the question. They acknowledge .,ur open ports have made ours the principal market and given us the chief carrying trade of the world but this they pass oy without a thought. There only remains the fear of compe- tition on our own ground; and if England, the mistre-sof resources, enerey, aud skill, should fear already the efforts of the tyros of Europe, or even of America, depend on it there is something at work beneath the surface of matters which must be paralj zing our efforts and neutralizing the advantages of our position. That something is tra(tets, unionism It is not merely the extra wages we are forcd to pay cer- tain hands, whether they ire worth it or not; that is rela- tvely of small moment. E ery workman who tries to excel in his trade finds immediately that he has to reckon wi'h a system which denies him the advantages of his ski 1, takes from him his individuality, and compels him, as part of a huge machine, to move at t e same r ite as the slowest of his fellows. It s-eadfastiy di courages him from seeking to lighten his labour l,y his ingenuity and its aim notoriously i, to spread the least amount of labour among the greatest number of workmen, by inciting each, while demanding the highest wages, to break the c impact b, hiding his bki 1. How can such a system benefit a community ? And how can trade based upon such asjstem maintain iTs foothg. The arbitrary nature of foreign Governments eni,bles them to put down trade aggressions and intimidation without effort. It is Only in bnuland that mch a sy-tem as I have described can maintain i',srlf in complete action. Perhaps in Ameiica something simian exists, but that pountrj's enormous s:ze and f/ieat tiiw'uial wealth place her out of compaiison with ourselves. The time is come for our legis- lators to speak out decisively and to declare that labour, equally with commerce and capital shall be free. And while allowing working men every liberty to combine for any legal purpose whatever the authoiities must he em- I powered to watch jealously and see that the t. lightest attempt at intimidation or even annoyance shall be unerringly and severely punisned_. This, and only this, will give in a chance to regain our prominence as a c ui.niei cial penple and I assert with the 11.11."t confidence will render our working classes better off aud more truly independent than they ever were bef, re. The growing importance of asevere Bankruptcy Act and the necessity of grea er publicity in the affairs of all companies of l nnted liability are too well known-to need luither allusion.

THE QUEEN IN SCOTLAND. Invertrossachs House, the property of Mr. Slewart Macnaghten, was built by Mrs. Eastmont about thirty years ago, who changed the came from Drunky to the present more euphonious appellation. Situated between the Lakes of Venachoir and Achray within the shadow of the mountains of Ben Venue and Ben Ledi, it is difficult to find a more picturesque spot than ttlis resilience, which baa been lent by Mr. and Lady Lmily Macnaghten to the Queen. On Saturday the Queen and the Princesses Louise and Beatrice visited Loch Lomond. The Royal party left Invertrossachs about nine o'clock in the morning for Loch Katrine, where a special steamer was in waiting to convey her Majesty to Stronachlachar, near the other end of the lake. There the Koyal party again entered carriages, and proceeded to Inversnaid, on the east shore of Loch Lomond, where they went on board the saloon steamer Prince Consort, which had been chartered for the occasion. The Royal party sailed down the east side of Loch Lomond, in the direction of Balloch, as far as Inch Murrin, and, turning at this point, the steamer proceeded up to the head of Loch Lomond, this time keeping close to the western shore, and after- wards steamed again for Inversnaid, whence her Majesty and the princesses returned to Invertrossachs by the same route which had been followed in the morn- ing. lr. A. Smollett, late M.P. for Dumbartonshire, and a number of gentlemen connected with the Loch Lomond Steamboat Company, were on board the steamer, and at the various landing stages small knots of spectators had congregated, but it instated that "as it was evident that the Royal party were desirous of privacy and quiet, anything Lke demonstrative wel- come was avoided." "'w.