24 APRIL 1841, Page 15

THE REGENT'S PARK.

THE pressure from without, reinforced by the Marylebone Vestry, and directed in Parliament by the persevering efforts of Mr. Ewairr,, has caused the barriers excluding the public from the Regent's Park to show signs of giving way to what extent, remains to be seen : whether they will be wholly overthrown, or only partially removed, will depend very much upon the continued activity of the force directed against them. Mr. EWART'S notice of motion for an address to the Queen on the subject, coupled with the certainty that if repeated and urged on to a division it would be carried, and backed by the Marylebone petition to the throne, may induce Ministers to concede with a good grace what would ultimately be wrested from them : but private interests might prevail over public right, and a compromise be offered which it would be sacrificing- too much to agree to ; and there are strong symptoms of such a course on the part of the Government. The people in this case are in the condition of a body of cre- ditors having recognized claims on the property of a debtor : one instalment has been received' but small as it is, this was not got without agitation, for which Dr. FELLOWES is entitled to the public thanks. A second instalment is now demanded ; and as this divi- dend will most likely be a final one, its amount is a question of great consideration. The excuse offered by Mr. Secretary STANLEY for falling short of the full amount of the public claim, is that the estate has been improperly disposed of: in plain terms, part of the ground originally destined for the public recreation has been leased out to private persons ; and not only is thus much lost to the people, but other portions must needs be reserved to secure the possessors of these alienated spots from molestation. This is bad. A breach of faith has been committed by those intrusted with the care of popular rights ; and the trustees plead their own malversation as a bar to obtaining redress. Ought such a plea to be considered valid ?

Mr. STANLEY stated, that "a large portion of the Park had been given to public institutions,"—namely the Zoological and Horti- cultural Societies, and the Toxopholite Society. To the space occupied by two of these none would object ; but what pretensions have a club of fashionables who meet to play at bow and arrow to be styled a "public institution " ? The Marylebone Cricket Club might claim a plot of ground in that character, with more pro- priety; for their sport would be at least visible to the promenaders, while the archery-ground is enclosed like a nunnery. As to the ground being "given," the Zoological Society at any rate pay a wery handsome rental for their share,—a proceeding that no Con- tinental Government would adopt towards a scientific body : in- deed, as it is public property that is thus leased out, it would have been only acting in the spirit which Mr. STANLEY gives Lord DUNGANNON the credit of—justly, we believe—bad the Zoological Society been permitted to hold the ground at a quit-rent, with the proviso that on certain days the gardens should be open gratui- tously. The leasing out of the ground to private individuals for building, is an infraction of the conditions on which the Marylebone fields were converted into a park at the cost of the country. Two or three villas were smuggled into the original plan, very improperly, on the plea of their being ornamental; but the subsequent grants of land to the Marquis of HERTFORD and Mr. HoLFoRD, for their villas at the North-west side, were unauthorized, and should have been resisted by the public at the time. It is scandalous to see a public plea- sure-ground, which would afford healthful recreation to thousands of working men, women, and children who have no other opportunity of changing the confined and vitiated atmosphere of crowded courts and alleys for the pure fresh air, swallowed up for the gratification of one or two wealthy men, who have horses and carriages at com- mand to whisk them wheresoever their whim may lead them, and who perchance may not set foot in their gardens twice in the year. Yet it is only an undue consideration for these very intruders that stands in the way of throwing open the whole remaining space— that large portion indicated by Mr. HOME as lying between the villas of Lord HERTFORD and Mr. HOLFORD. Lord MONMOUTH stated, that of the 286 acres still enclosed, 200 might be thrown open without injury to the owners of the appropriated land ; and Mr. EWART declared, upon the authority of the lessees themselves, that there was "no understanding" even about excluding the public from the space beyond their private grounds. What then prevents the throwing open of the two hundred acres ? Why should a line be drawn, as the Woods and Forests seem to intend it shall, shutting up the large space between the bridge and the villa of Lord HERTFORD ? The true reason peeps out in the state- ment of Mr. STANLEY, that the Woods and Forests had made engagements to protect the parties from improper approaches made to their property on the part of the public. So that, not content with taking from the people the ground that was equitably theirs, they are shut out from a very much larger portion than they have been deprived of, merely for the convenience of those who are the gainers. This is monstrous. And who is the chief gaMer? The Marquis of HERTFORD, who scarcely spends a week in the year at his Tusculum. But then he gives fetes champetres; he was the friend of the Regent ; and he is one of those very lucky men for whom Fortune herself would seem to throw the dice, and who knows so weli. how to play his cards that he never loses. There is nothing like figures when a demand is made : we hope Mr. EWART will pin down the Government to the 200 (" say two hundred ") acres There will be a struggle for it ; and we have to deal with a slippery set.