fair chance of going, into the hands of the Noblemen. Some of them are taking two millions to themselves! Now, Sir, pay great attention, I am about to stick my spurs right into them. Three hundred thousand New houses built, and one hundred and fifty Millions of money expended. EVERY INCH OF LAND, or nearly so, on which all these houses stand, BELONGS to the NOBLEMEN! LEASES of this Land have been taken at an enormous price. The ground rent of some of the Labourers' houses is eight pounds a year. I have been informed that some ground rents of the Labourers houses, are more than that sum; but I believe, that the ground rents of this class of houses, are all let generally at from four to eight pounds a year. Then what are the ground rents of those houses that face the Streets and Roads? However, I will not, at present, say any thing about these; I will stick to my own class of houses. I will average the ground rents of the Labourers' houses at five pounds a year each. Now, Sir, is this not rent enough for any Labourer to pay, without paying one penny of rent to the owner of the house? Fifteen shillings a week wages, is about the sum received by the London Labourers generally; five pounds a year, two shillings every week, (besides what goes for water coals and so on going out of the Labourers wages into the pockets of the Noblemen; and not one penny for the rent of the house! But, I have not yet mentioned the principal point of all: sixteen out of every twenty of these three hundred thousand houses are standing empty. Some of them have been built three years and some longer, yet they are all unoccupied.

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But it is greatly in favour of a ground rent Landlord, that the house should not be occupied; because it will then sooner fall into his posseesion. The Noble ground rent owner receives bis rent regularly; if not paid in proper time, his sharp Attorney sends a six and eight-penny harrow, with a point as sharp as a needle, at the owner of the house. This fetches the rent pretty quickly. The Noble ground owner stands no nonsense. He says my middle-mun" this "Learned Attorney" gave you a Lease, which says that you are to pay me so much money every year! Yes, Sir; Yes My Lord, says the poor owner of the house, the lease does say that; and I have paid you the ground rent regularly during the last three years, though the house has never been occupied since it was built; What is that to me? I made no no agreement about the house being occupied; I insist of

you to comply to the terms of the Lease, or if not, I shall instantly take possession of the house! The poor owner begs hard to have a few weeks grace; during which time, he offers the house for sale by auction! The first question asked, is, what is the ground rent yearly? So and so! O! that is rent enough, keep the house to yourself! Every body stands aloof! Not a single shilling offered! The poor owner begins then to open his eyes, and his credulous ears, but it is too late, all is gone. He becomes stark raging mad, and cuts his Throat. If he has fortitude to withstand the shock, into a Gaol he is put, and his family into a workhouse! Here you have au account of some of the effects, caused by all these buildings.

The man who cut his throat, had lost thirty thousand pounds! He had with that sum, I will say, built sixty houses, each of which had, of course, cost him five hundred pounds! The ground rent of a five hundred pound house, would be twelve or, perhaps fifteen pounds a year. However I will say ten pounds a year. Sixty multiplied by ten makes six hundred, that is six hundred a year to the Noble ground rent. Landlord, for these sixty houses; and not one of them occupied, or if three or four of them are occupied, the Tenants run away just as the rent is becoming due. The owner of these houses, may say to the ground rent owner, I have no money; I owe you six hundred pounds for ground rents; but I cannot pay you for the reason before stated. These houses My dear Lord, have cost me five hundred pounds each for building; will you take one house at that sum, and then I shall only owe you one hundred pounds, which shall be a mortgage on the remainder. Very well says the Noble ground rent owner, I will agree to that. He takes the house iuto his possession; and then puts up a paper with these words upon it: namely, " This House to be let at twenty pounds a year." This pulls down the price of the other houses. They all stand empty and the owner is ruined: while the Nobleman's house is instantly occupied.

Have I any occasion to say another word? It may be said that every man has a right to make as good a bargain as he can. But, in this case, he has not; because he has, by his slight-of-hand actions, put out, or caused to be put out, paper money that makes an acre of land worth one bundred pounds this year, and not worth ten pounds next year.. You may, every day, read of insane propositions all formed by the Noblemen, but spouted out, by their adherents or un

derlings. In order to keep the paper money out, I have been sometime expecting to hear a proposition to make a Canal under ground from Westminister Abbey to Paris, taking particular care to go under the Good-win-Sands! One Million of unclaimed Dividends has been taken by the Noblemen. I have not seen any account of what they have done with it. All goes into the gulf of despondency. Every nation that trusts its affairs into the hands of the Nobility and Clergy, is sure to be brought to destruction! Look at England and Ireland, the latter is the finest nation in the world, what pictures they exhibit! What starvation, what murders, and what hangings, have taken place lately! Such scenes were never exhibited before, in any nation in the world! Talk of the Savage Ashantees, go ye hypocrites into that country, there you will not, during a long life, see such horrid work as that, which has taken place here since the last Assizes! Both Nations filled full of Tax-gatherers, Exciseman, Police Officers, and Soldiers, all commanded by, and acting as spies to, the Noblemen! These Coronets are constantly talking most gloriously about Liberty, which is a word that they take especial care never to define. Look at the brave Greeks, say they! while their hands are in our pockets, turning them inside out! tearing the clothes off our backs, the flesh off our bones, and leaving us to perish by thousands.

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

JAMES HALL.

P. S. I have not explained this subject so well as I intended when I began. It has taken up more time than I expected. I should have been more particular in explaining what the labourers' wages will be, in about twelve or fifteen years time, when the paper money is all drawn in; by that time the greater part of the debt called national, will be gone to the Christian's Devil! The paper money all nearly drawn in, a London labourer's wages will then be about ten shillings a week. The new houses will all be in the hands of the noblemen, who will call the late Lord Castlereagh every foul name that they can think of; because he wanted more banks to be formed, to get out the paper money by this act they will say that he wanted to cheat the people out of their property!

Now, Sir, we have had a long chat on this Hill. Let us go home; and, when I get thither, I shall instantly have a

cup of water out of the tea-pot; then, when I have time, I will sit down to write another letter, in which I will show you how the noblemen have taken more than ten millions of of our property from us, during the last two years in another direction, in addition to all that I have mentioned before! Stop a moment longer; tell Mr. Sturt that you cannot consent to have the hand-cuffs on a week; but, that, you will agree to have leg-bolts on that time, if he will go down on his knees to that Nobleman, who said that a pound of sevenpenny sugar is enough to serve any farmer's wife a week, and desire him to call on the Bridge Street Gang, or any other Gang, to prosecute this letter.

TO MR. R. CARLILE.

Good bye,

J. H.

SIR, London, September 27, 1824. HAVING lately held some conversations with a worthy friend of liberty, given to believe on the superior intelligence of Astrologers in human events, believes human actions are dependant upon, and are directed by the influence of the Planets, in their conjunctions with each other and the earth-and that the course, circumstances, and life of every man, as he is born under certain positions of certain planets, is prescribed, beyond his power to counteract or controul.

I wish that some Astrologer of superior talents, well versed in astronomy and chemistry, would in plain language, divested of technical terms, honestly explain by what means the planet Mercury, for instance, operates upon the nervous fluid of an infant at its birth, to impel it through life to perform nolans volens, certain actions. Until some one can explain this, so as to be understood by people of common sense, Astrologers and their disciples must excuse me, when I say, that I consider the soothsaying of Astrology, like the prophecy of priests, to be all a delusion, which tends to keep the ignorant and credulous, enslaved to knaves and impostors.

Every art beyond the reach of common sense to under

stand, preserved as a secret, and all occult science, I consider to be founded in error, or knavery, and retained for profit, or "to keep the dull rabble in awe."

"The Age of Reason" having commenced, the age of plain dealing and honesty must soon follow: I sigh for the commencement of that age, and cannot consider Astrolo-> gers honest, until they explain how the heavenly bodies, or more properly speaking, how the plauets, in their motions can influence the affairs of man..

Uutil they can or will do this, I shall class them with the visionary priests, and look upon their art to be all a juggleand though they are opposed to each other, or at least the priest to the astrologer, I shall consider that they both follow up the deception, to extort money from their credulous and ignorant devotees.

As your pages, Sir, are devoted to the exposure of every species of fiction and superstition-probably you will admit this into the Republican, and say something towards curing any of your friends of their hallucinations, that may happen to believe in astrology and soothsaying.

Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 84, Fleet Street.-All Correspondences for “The Republican" to be left at the place of publication.