THE LORDS OF THE SOIL.
To the best of our recollection—for it will not be a slight ap- pearance of necessity that forces us again to wade through that dreary desert of irrelevant matter, the Conservative orations OR Lord FRANCIS EGERTON'S motion—only one Member of the House of Commons has declared himself opposed to the prin- ciple of municipal governments for local purposes. To prevent cavil, we will admit that there may have been two. All the rest of " the Conservancy " were loud in the praises of such institu- tions in the abstract. And the only reason assigned, except by Sir ROBERT PEEL, why they would not do in Ireland, was, that they would endanger the Church. A pretty Church it must be that is endangered by the existence of institutions which all par- ties concur in eulogizing ! But let that pass. Sir ROBERT does not say that municipalities are bail, but that they may now be dispensed with. Why ? We will quote his own words- " It had been laid down by the honourable Member for Liskeard, that, in at early period of society, municipal institutions had been great instruments of civilization and improvement. Now he ( Sir Robert Peel) was not inclined to buy that, in the early part of the eleventh century, Italy, France, and Spain, had derived great benefit from the establishment of municipal institution!, owing to the peculiar condition of society at that period, when equal laws (IA not exist, and when a man could not freely appoint guardians fur his ow$ children, or dispose of his own property. But, at the present moment, when there existed a parte:a equality of political privilege—(Does the baronet mean that we have no House of Lords on the one hand, and no non-electors on the other ?l—municipal institutions would not be found to be the same powerful aids to social improvement, nor so well suited to the existing elate of society."
He asserts, that in old times mueicipal institutions prevented the 0 da of the soil from trampling upon the rigt.ts:f every other °Igor f f society, and that in the present blee-ell millennium they
are unneressary. Let use look to the facts. The Ilnuse of Loads claims an inderendent, irresponsible power of pronouncing a veto ;mon every legislative measure. The House of Lords consists of lords of the soil. The be& of the soil monopolize the beet things the Chinch; and the Church hue power in virtue of the servile superstition or many, and in virtue of and direct
poli•ical vrivileues. The torte or the soil monopolize the Army sod Navy curl Diplamatie service: and men have power in virtue both if influence and organized physical fence. The lords of the sail liuve power over their immediate depesdents—a numerous body, etecng. mined, and brainless. The Mid, of the soil maintain en alliance offensiee and defensive with that great monied mono- poly the Bank of England, which leads the commercial interest It qs mercy. All these powers of fusee, weoltle and spiritual inflocrice, are combined to assist the ndelo of the lords of the soil to govern the country for their exclusive benefit, to the detri- ment of the mercantile, manufacturing, and industrious classes. Nor do they merely possess this powes —they have exercised it. All the wars untlertoken by this country against America and France, and their allies, have been mainly for the purpose of upholding this power in the possession of the bolds of the soil. Thee wars were entered into less to trample down freedom in other countries, than to prevent it rising in our own. In those wars the treasures of this nation were lae jelled as wantonly as the hlw d of its sons. Those t.easures were lavished by anticipa- tion; tiny are not set paid up ; we are every sear paying the in- terest of them in our contributions to the ll.vitlellds on THE DEBT. Again, to pension off the younger sons of the horde of the soil, and the penniless fellows who are lucky enough to marry their daughters, we are maintaining an ineflicieut d■plomatic staff, and an unnecessarily large arms, and an ill-officered mitt'. In addition to this, to bring up the lords of the soil in the belief that they are richer than they really are, we are every ) ear paying a large sum Of money to them through the medium of the Corn-laws, and the Sugar-duties (for many of our grandees arc extensive West India
proprietors); and we lose much more than they pocket, in conse- quence of the restrictions on trade which uphold their corn and sugar monopolies. But for the lords of the soil, the current annual expenses even of our extravagant system might be raised by direct taxation, levied equitably accunlitig to the means of the payers.
Altogether—in one form or another—the lords of the soil have as much power over us under our present system as in the periods mid countries to which Sir ROBERT PEEL refers, and exercise it as relentlessly. In other words, if municipal institutions were necessary and useful then and there, they are equally so now.
Municipal institutions in towns, by accustoming men to du that in little, which in exercising the el. ctive lianchise they are called
upon to do for the whole state—i. e. elect upon rational princi-
ples men fit to transact their business rationally—are the best practical teachers of sound political opinion and action. Then, why confine them within the walls of towns? If these insti- tutions nurse the only spirit which can effectually resist the unprincipled exactions of the lords of the soil, why not give
similar normal schools of political knowledge to the rural dis- tricts, where the influence of mere lords of the soil presses most heavily ? The inhabitants of rural districts have need of a local police, of roads, and of many other matters, as well as the in- habitants of towns; they would soon become as well qualified to elect and control those who shall manage these matters for them, and they are more exposed to the encroachments of the lords of the soil upon their immunities and pockets. They too have duties to discharge to the genetal state, and need to be trained by acting, in their limited sphere, to the requisite soundness of judgment and firmness of conduct when called to select their representatives in the higher legislature. Every argument which has been advanced in favour of municipal institutions for conduct- ing the local business of boroughs, tells with equal force in favour of an analogous organization of counties. It is true what Mr. ROEBUCK said, that there are matters of private concern, which are best left to the management of the individual—that there are matters of local concero, which are best left to the management of the inhabitants of a limited neighbourhood—that there are matters of general concerti, se Well must be referred to a central government, checked by the assembled representatiees of the whole nation. He who skilfully manages his own affairs, has undergone the best training for enabling him satisfactorily to act in a local govern- ment (call it municipal, or what you wilt); and he who has ac- gutted habits of public business in such a comparatively narrow sphere, has had the beet, the only education for forming a national legislator. That representative general government has an insecure basis in which the priuciple is not applied throughout—in which the tate-levying and executive authorities pf the communes and arrondissements do not rest upon the re- presentative principle as well as the central and supreme autho- rity. 1.et us have municipalities for towns, and analogous or- ganization for the rural districts, and we shall soon find them rearing sensible and honest constituencies, and, what is perhaps still more a desidetalum at present, men capable of repreeentng their constituencies honestly and efliciently. Such men would not rest contented with mbbling, skin-deep remedies for the evils of which we complain—inane, eerhape all of us, having no adequate conception of how deep-rooted and inveterate they are. Such men would entitle us to hope liar something like practical radical reforms.
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