THE GOVERNMENT AND THE FARMERS.
THE Government have given the Farmers two important
political lessons this week. By allowing the Bill abolishing Hypothec in Scotland to pass, they have shown them that the power of the landlords is far less than the power of the electors ; and by introducing the debilitated Bill for County Government, they have shown their desire to keep all county power in the landlords' hands. The vote on the law of hypothec is a measure of what tenant-farmers, by reso- lute persistence at the polls, might be able to effect. By the law of Stotland, the crop, stock, and furniture of a farm are " hypothecated " to the landlord for his rent, which thus is rendered in all cases absolutely secure. The landlord, if un- paid, can not only re-enter on his property, but has a pre- ferential mortgage upon everything on the farm, before
any other creditor can be satisfied. The effect of this rule is that a Scottish landlord need never consider the character or solvency of his tenant, but can let his land to the highest bidder, who may, and often does, offer more than the land is reasonably worth, the ultimate loss falling, not on the landlord, but on the other creditors. That is regarded by the tenants as an oppression, aggravated by another result,— that the law destroys the tenant's credit with his banker, and with the merchant who supplies his artificial manures, neither of whom can look to the tenant's property as security, because it is previously mortgaged to the landlord. The tenants have to pay the highest rates for all accommo- dation. The tenant-farmers of Scotland, therefore, have made the abolition of hypothec a test question at the hust- ings, but hitherto the Tories and the landlords together have been too strong for them. The Tories look on the reform as an innovation, and the landlords as the loss of a. privilege of great pecuniary value. Even the Scotch landlord- Members, though true to their pledges when a vote is called, are not very hearty in the cause, or sorry when an actual vote can be avoided. The Bill, therefore, has in this Parliament always, until this week, been met either by a count-out or a talk-out ; but on Wednesday all this was changed. The General Election is approaching ; it is necessary to conciliate Scotch farmers and defeat Mr. Gladstone in Midlothian, and the Government, therefore, through the Lord - Advocate, officially supported the Bill, which accordingly passed its second reading by 204 to 77, a nearly threefold majority. The Lords may throw it out, and probably will, fearing lest the precedent should be used to attack the English law of distraint, under which a landlord recovers rent without the suit necessary to an ordinary creditor ; but the Tory candidates will be able to say on the hustings that the Government, as a Government, made the concession, and that this long-standing grievance has, as a party cry, no reality. The tenant-farmers in Scotland, that is, have by their persistent determination compelled a Tory Cabinet to decide in their favour, and against the landlords.
The farmers are not as strong in England as in Scotland. In the latter country, the tenant-farmers are within a fraction one-half the county-electors, and of course hold the county seats in their own hands, but allover England they are only one-fourth of the entire body. They are, however, much stronger than this in the strictly agricultural divisions, and they carry with them a very large body of village tradesmen and artisans who are de- pendent on their custom, or willing to look to them for advice. They hold, at least, the balance of power in their hands, and could, if they chose, either seat Liberal Members, or compel the landlords, for the sake of their votes, to surrender the second seats to tenant-farmer representatives. Nevertheless, the Government regards them so little that on their main question, the government of the counties, it offers them a Bill which is positively contemptible. Mr. Sclater-Booth's County Government Bill, which was read a first time on Tuesday, does, it is true, create County Boards for taxing purposes, which are to be nominated two-thirds by the Guardians—" ex- officios" included—and one-third by the Justices ; but these Boards are deprived of all real power. The powers of the Justices in Quarter-Sessions are continued, thus maintaining the old division of authority ; and they are authorised to obtain any money they want from the County Board by "precept," and to manage directly all important parts of county administra- tion. That is, as Mr. Stansfeld put it, the Justices are to control the administration of police and justice, reformatory and industrial schools and lunatic asylums, and probably the conservancy of rivers ; while the Boards are to manage highways, and pauper lunatics in workhouses, and levy county rates, the amount of which, however, will be mainly determined by precepts from the Justices. The principle of municipal government is given up, and almost all substantial power left with the Justices,— that is, with the landlords. The Government., in fact, will not trust the farmers and other ratepayers to govern the counties, but prefer to continue to entrust that function to the gentry, who will settle the amount of taxation, leaving only the irk- some duty of collecting the taxes as a privilege to the rate- payers, who have always had the other privilege of paying them. They have actually gone back from their offer of last year, in itself insufficient, and now offer the county electors a mere mockery of reform,—a Bill so feeble that no tenant-farmer would take the trouble to vote for it, and that men like Mr. Whitbread denounce it as almost a farce. The farmers want to elect those who spend the taxes, not dignified bailiffs to collect them. There is scarcely a chance of such a Bill passing, and the Government in proposing it are only playing with the farmers, and under- stand that they are playing with them. They are, in fact, conceding nothing, but only confirming the privileges of the landlords, whose support, as 'they think, carries at the polling-places that of the tenants. Yet it is certain all the while that municipal institutions would benefit the coun- ties, if only by reinvigorating their municipal life, and that if the farmers at the next election insisted on them, they would be conceded in the fullest measure. The Government does not dislike the reform for itself, but for its effect on their landlord supporters. If the farmers were resolute the Govern- ment would turn round, as they have done upon the law of hypothec, and a Bill establishing County Councils, with powers as full as those of Municipal Councils, would be carried by a majority of three to one. Till then the Tory Government, while professing to be specially the farmers' friend, will trust them with no power,—not even that of expending the rates they pay ; but if it gives County Boards at all, will give them only as taxing instruments subject to the " precepts" of Quarter - Sessions. The right of self-government conceded to the poorest borough is denied to the richest division of a county, and the farmer of 500 acres is refused the control over his own affairs granted to the barber in the nearest town. The Government, more- over, have not made this distinction through any blundering. They have maturely considered the matter, and have deliber- ately receded from their Bill of last year, which, bad as it was, did create a representative body, with all municipal powers, and might have been expanded by the next Liberal Govern- ment into a valuable measure. The difference between the treatment of the Scotch and English farmers is most marked, and is due to this,—that the Scotch farmers insist at the polls that their grievances shall be redressed, while the English farmers put "confidence" in a Government which at heart regards them as persons in the landlords' service, to be kept in good-humour, if possible, but to receive nothing either of substantial power or redress of grievances, so long as fair words will do. If the farmers like that treatment, there is nothing to be said ; but at least let them be aware that they pay for the Government of their choice, by submissions which townsmen would consider derogatory, if not shameful.
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