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Untitled Article
3 . ' Resolved / that it is the opinion of this Committee , that powers of pro * viding for paving , macadamizing , watering , draining , and otherwise impro ving cities , towns , and p laces , should be vested ( under certain conditions and regulations ) in | the inhabitants , to be carried into effect without the necessity of appealing to Parliament . ' * i
Why stop here ? Does the self-evident general princi p le involved in the first resolution , include no cases but those of inclosure bills * and bills for local improvements ? Are these even the fittest cases to begin with ? Is it not absurd , that from the clumsiness of the law of partnership , every numerous association for commercial purposes requires a special act to entitle it to one of the simplest of the privileges which ought to belong to all
jointstock associations , that of being treated m all legal proceedings as a single person ?* Why should a turnpike bill , more tnan a bill for paving * and watering , occupy the time of the Legislature ? Would not all , or almost all local matters , be best provided for by ' parties having an interest therein ;' the Legislature interfering only where national as well as local interests are concerned , and are in danger of being compromised by the supineness of the local authorities ? To ascend to higher matters : what can be more monstrous than that there should be such things as divorce bills ? Is it not
self-evident , that what is [ good for a small number of the higher classes , must be good for the . whole community ; that the grant of a divorce ought to depend upon something else than length of purse ; that there ought either to be ( as is , to us , obvious ) a general law of divorce , or else no divorces at all ? In regard to the particular points for which the Business Committee recommends that provision may be made , there is another recommendation which should have preceded . They should have recommended ^ that the House do immediately commence the organization of an efficient representative system of local government . Till then , we should be afraid to
trust the local authorities with any new powers ; especially arty powers of encroaching on the rights of the poor . Who would tolerate , that the men who have stopped up , literally , every path in some of the most populous counties of England , should have the power , without passing the ordeal of Parliament and the public , to confiscate remorselessly the vested interest of the poor labourer in the free air and the pasturage , and the vested interest of the whole people in the enjoyment of the beauties of nature ? It is something that the House of Commons will now no longer pass Bucklebury and Kingsclere Inclosure Bills . These were considered as cases
of pecuniary injustice to the poor . But there are other kinds of injustice , besides pecuniary ; injustice to the whole nation , as well as to the poor . Is it too much to expect from those who vote away 11 , 000 / . of the people ' s money for two Correggios , that they should show some value for the peoples tastes and enjoyments , as well as for what are called their interests ? Hampstead Heath , it is said , is now on the point of being enclosed ; the Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson , whose cupidity is the motive to this sacrilege , has already enclosed Charlton Wood , and stopped up every , or almost every , foot-path between Blackheath and the Thames . The writer of this , who
has been a pedestrian in the neighbourhood of London for about ten years , has , during that time , had to lament the loss of the two finest pieces of natural scenery within twelve . miles of the capital , —Penge-wood , between Dulwich and Beckenham ; and the Addington hills , near Croydon . The first , an inclosure bill having been obtained by a man named Cator , 'who has a house in the neighbourhood , is now in preparation for being : cut up into citizens * boxes and bits of garden ground . The Addington hills , one of the most remarkable pieces of heath and forest scenery in the south of England , have been usurped b y the Most Reverend Father in God , Doctor Howley , Archbishop of Canterbury , the author of the famous * prostration * The Attorney General , we are glad to obserre , has since obtained leave to bring ia a bill for remedying this grievous and mischievous defect in our institutions .
Untitled Article
624 Notes on ike Newapapert .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1834, page 524, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2635/page/64/
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