There was an " ugly rush" in the Commons on
Wednesday. Mr. Carnegie had moved the second reading of a Bill abolishing the Scotch law of hypothec, the Lord Advocate was supporting it, and everything was going on comfortably when Mr. Young made a blunder. He didn't see why landlords should have exceptional privileges as to rent. Rent was a debt, like any other. Rent a mere debt !—here was a Red upon the English Treasury Bench ! The House of landlords grew furious, men " acred up to their chins" rushed in from everywhere,—poor Mr. Young, blue with alarm, was compelled to explain ; but it was all of no use, and the landlords voted by 184 to 105 that hypothec should stand. They did not care about hypothec, which is an additional privilege enjoyed by Scotch landlords ; but they must put down such Jack Cadeish ideas, otherwise the Constitution might be subverted, and a parish cease to be the " natural division of the soil." It was worse than the cattle-plague.
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