The Express. — London, England, 1848-01-29 00:00:00

ght eportoo. MAILS The malls for New South Wale., Van Dienien'm tend, sad Nefet Seethed will be made up on the eveninn of the 31et January. The mails for the West Coast of Afriea nod Madeira will be made up on the evening of the Slot January. The Wert indm Math, melding Bermuda, Nemo, HaranaN Random; New Orleans, Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Porto Rlo and excludlog thorn fur Madeira, Jacturh Girths:eq., Santa Mart* Charm, Panama, West Cont. of South America, and St. J uan.de- Nicaragua, wit he made up on the morning of the :ad February. The overland malts for Gibraltar, Matto, lirecoo, the lonian Wood., MtAden, Ceylon, In t* Ilona -Kong. sad China, ere Southampton, made up on the morning of the 3rd February. The mails for the Brazils, the River Plate, Monte Video, Pernam buco, Bahia, Madeira, and Buenos Ayres, will be mad. up on the evening etas 4th February. The mile fur Vigo, Uporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, end Libretto, will bs motto u a on the leamint of the 7th February. The overiand chive.' mada, alarselltaa, to toe Merliterraness, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, InAia, Hoop KONG Be., will be made up es the evening of the 7th February. TO 00IRIBPORDINTO. ••• ANerOmmost• 1•10.4.1 Sr • no Ispre.. • Loodon ••.1. rare, an. nt the eflo.. W. Sago.O.aunet. hf Tvre u'Ourh ea t.. daj m imalwatwa. 111619 Wing AT LONDON PleitKlN. non DST— Morm , a& 91 09..11.1 Aft••••••• 19 ail,. p 97. To-tio•••••—llar•INg.30 Ws. NO • I Worm.. 11.••• •. LONDON, SATURDAY, JAN. 29. Tim histories of old times, and even of not very distant. ones, acquaint us with the wondrous effects of eloquence upon whole multitudes, carried away to far crusades, by the oratory of a het mit ; and even upon grave political assemblies and parliaments which an able speaker could twist, turn, arid persuade, accord ing to his fantasy, so that majorities hung upon his words. There is no such thing now-a-days. Audi ences are neither so pliable, nor so soft; and elo quence, however mighty, tails in carrying convictions by storm. Perhaps this is the reason why . so few public men of the present day fall into the mistake of striving or affecting to be eloquent. Persuasion, in fact, is now a long-winded and tedious task. The winning of an audience, of a party, the inculcating an idea, the disseminating it, the winning conviction first, and getting up the enthu siasm after, is now a slow work, almost like the dropping of a seed, and patiently waiting till it grows, in order to foster it, water it, protect its growth, and enjoy its expansion into the stern and the flower: such is the political eloquence of modern times. lie who discovered it, and who practises it, is —RICHARD COBDEN. A speech of COBDEN'S, therefore, starting and developing a new idea, a new principle of po litical action, is a very important event ; for, although the new idea may be very startling at first, as corn-law repeal was —so startling, that the tories welcomed it with a smile and a curse, half derision, half execration—yet even tories can grow accustomed to the most unpalatable of things, and find sense and nee: ashy . at last iu what at first seemed mere paradox. Thus is it, thus will it be, with the new dogma of peace broached by COB DEN, at Manchester, on Thursday last. Peace may be no new theme. No divinity has had more homage paid to it in prose and verse. And statesmen, even when in office, always begin by scattering a few grains of incense on its altar. . But this is mere form. For the whole spirit of international policy of Europe has ever been one of rivalry, over-reaching, and hostility, open or concealed. Even friendships, when they existed, were but alliances for the spolia tion of a third power. Courts led the way, with their piques and their jealousies, their love of expense and distinction, and of soldiers, anxious to reap re nowns from out the ruins of smoking cities, arid the reeking glories of the battle-field. With all our philanthropy and humanity, no public man or party has ever had the courage to extricate themselves fully from this political creed. This is the state of inter national opinion, which is by too many considered in evitable, and by pretending to destroy which Mr. COBDEN is, no doubt, looked upon as a visionary and a fee! prophet. We feel confident, notw ithsts nding, that the scheme is quite possible to be realised, and that the feelings, or I rather the habitudes of mutual hostility, which r xist between the different countries of Europe, have their foundation in sentiment and idea rather than in solid interests or in reality ; and that if the people of France were made fully aware that the people of England wore imbued with those sentiments that Mr. COBDEN put forth, this conviction would be quite enough to create in French minds a reciprocal feel ing, and that jealousy would give way to a mutual amity, which it would not be in the power of king or minister to gainsay or to abuse. The first and mated step towards the pre paring and establishing such a mutual feeling is precisely such a declaration of opinion as that enounced by Mr. Cott D Ev, and wel comed as its own by a great meeting of men, at the head of free trade and of popular opinion, in the town of Manchester. The sentiment, we have no doubt, will be re-echoed from abroad ; and we do not see why war repeal should not progress as corn law repeal did, especially when preached by the same voice, and diseemioated by the 64111 C energy and perseverance. _ . _ In another column we publish a letter addressed by a resident in Paris to the gentlemen of the Bristol meeting. There is no one better placed than the writer for forming a judgment of the sentiments of persons of influence in Paris. And yet, we think, that if there be in France rivalry and animosity to England, this venom lurks more in these influential persons, and that it but partially, if at all, animates the industrious classes. There linger a, no doubt, some tradition of the empire, some old songs of the camp, and the few sparks of old rancour ore kept olive by the accounts, true or false, of English rivalry with France in foreign countries. But all this is the off. spring of their ignorance, or of our error. And it gives birth to an hostility which se should employ the schoolmaster to combat, instead of forging bayonets to resist it. We scarcely know what might not have been the fatal consequences had a war-pan is sprung up here simul taneously with that of the Irench. But, fortunately for us, the French led the way, and tho consequences are fully laid before our eyes in the power ful speech of the great war-champion, M. THURS. The augmentations in the French budget for the last five or six years have been on an average 66 millions of francs, or two millions and a half annually, which makes above 15 millions aug mentation; and M. TRIEB9 complains that there is not disposable capital in the country to fill up the loans necessary to complete these 64 millions sterling of annual expenditure. The French are sick of it, of the cost of steamers, bayonets, guns, and fortifica tions. We have but to read their debates to see it. And certainly Mr. COBDEN, were he ten times the patriot and philanthropist that he is, could not have started up to address the two countries at a fitter time, when France was weary of war expenditure, and when England, pausing at having spent in augmcntatien of military expenditure those very five millions squeezed out of the country by the income-tax, stood hesitating between idle panic and sage economy. The meeting at Manchester, and the opinions pro pounded there, form, in our opinion, a new era in foreign policy. It is, as we before said, but the dropping of the seed; but that wed will grow, and he who lives to watch its development will see it covering England and the continent with a foliage of peace. understand the List reduction of their minimum rate was an nounced, their private securities were 16,600,000 L They have permitted these securities to run off to the extent of two millions sterling, without taking any steps to improve the business of their discount office by a nearer approximation to the rates current in Lombard-street for the same descrip tion of securities. This very large reduction in so brief a space of the volume of the private securities is the clearest indication that the alteration of Thurs day is not premature, and the best proof that it has been neither hastily nor selfishly adopted. In point of fact it is quite notorious that accommodation for some days has been easily obtained on terms much more favourable than even the present official minimum— in some cases we believe at less than 31 per cent. The grounds upon which the reduction of the rate of interest is held to justify alarm or at least disquietude, appear to resolve themselves into apprehensions not very clearly expressed that it will open the facilities of the money market to the second and third rate classes of traders, and that it will release the railway companies from the difficulties which have beset them since the summer. We are exceedingly inclined to thiuk that these are the precise reasons which will render the alteration not a source of further embarrassment, but ' a source of relief. What have been the actual symp toms in Lombard-street during the last four or five weeks ? There has been a palpable and rapid fall of the rate of interest on what are called first class bills, that is, bills drawn, accepted, and endorsed, by houses of the most assured solidity ; but there has been a compar,.tively small and partial relaxation in the onerous conditions imposed originally by the discredit of October upon the mass of ordi nary trade acceptances, which, with few exceptions, are every way as bonii fide and secure, but not so well kr own, SI the paper of the BARINOS and HOTIISCIIILDS of commerce. And, concurraitly with this retrocession of the rate of interest on the ono hand for first class bills, there has been an evident diminution of such bills, arising out of the contracted transactions of the country, on the other. The tendency has been that which is inevitable under such circumstances. The funds which could not find employment in the highest channels have gradually betaken themselves to those next in degree, and a disposition has diffused itself, to afford a more courteous reception to the applica tions of the leas eminent class of borrowers. In fewer words, there has been a general relaxation of the rate of discount. _ . . ~ Now it is this relaxation which will receive some impetus Irom the example of the Bank ; and so far as we can understand, the party who are dissatisfied with the directors, point to this impetus as the strongest justification of their complaint. With all possible deference we presume to think that the alarm and the discontent are alike without foundation. We should at once concur in the reasonableness of the fear, if instead of being at the end, the country was at the outset of a career of excitement. We could have no difficulty in joining in the strongest deprecation of any measure which extended the facilities of the money market in the face of sue '+ events, and in the teeth of such • tendency of the public mind as marked the latter part of 1844 and the commence ment of 1815; but we submit that there is the greatest possible difference between that time and the present. We are not suffering from an expanding and danger ous spirit of speculation; it is precisely our best founded complaint that we find considerable difficulty in keeping up an ordinary state of activity. We are in the condition of a man who is slowly recovenng from the excessive debility occasioned by a stroke of apoplexy, or violent paroxysm of spasmodic disease. We are as anxious as any that there should be no ap plication of artificial excitement, but, in the name of common sense, do not prohibit the return of the patient's natural appetite. It certainly appears to us that the fall which has taken place in the value of loanable capital is a phe nomenon which the Bank can neither counteract nor prevent. We regard it as the result of the inevitable re-adjustment which has taken place between the re sources and the obligations of the country by the re moval of the feelings of alarm and insecurity so widely disseminated by the severe shocks of April and October. We never accepted without most mate rial curtailment the doctrine, so prevalent in the summer and autumn, that the country was perishing from a dearth of means, and that we were the victims of panic purely and solely because we were first the victims of poverty. We were much more disposed to reverse the antithesis, and believe that we were poor because through the operation of an absurd law we were first panic-stricken. And without plac ing too much reliance on a short experience, we may safely claim the events of the last three months as more confirmatory of the last than the first hypothesis. If under present circumstances it cannot be re garded as an evil that the manufacturers of Lancashire and Yorkshire should be relieved from a stringent rate of banking accommodation, neither can it be re garded as an evil that the access to a wider field, which is granted on the one side to the borrowers of money, should be extended on the other to the lenders of the same commodity, or, to drop the circumlocu tion, if the whole extent of Lombard-street is opened to the applicants for discount, there is no reason why the whole extent of the railway debenture market should not be opened to those who keep the coffers of Lombard-street replenished. Every person, we pre sume, now understands that the question of railway expenditure is a question of degree. We cannot spend a hundred millions a year, without reducing ourselves to the greatest straits; but we may possibly spend twenty millions, and not only (under reason able legislation) feel no inconvenience, but experience a positive relief. Latterly, there has been a disposi tion to deny this very reasonable proposition, and to decry the railway demand—unless upon a most diminutive scale—as a most dangerous aberration, — certain to lead to a derangement of the exchanges and produce a panic. Now there is the strongest grounds to suspect that the imputation against this species of outlay, of deranging the foreign exchange, is purely gratuitous, and cannot be sustained either by argument or fact. It is quite true that railways are not exportable commodities, and that if we expend through the wages of railway labourers fifteen millions in the course of a twelvemonth upon extra importations of foreign articles, sugar, coffee, cotton, and so on, we mast either counterbalance this extra importation by an expansion of our usual exports, or excites drain of gold. Now we contend that in point of fact we do counterbalance these addi tional imports in the ordinary course of trade—that sufficient time intervenes between the manifestation of the demand and the necessity for meeting it to permit our foreign trade to rectify itself upon the true mercantile principle of an exchange of commo dities. If this view of the facts be the correct oue, it is manifest that within reasonable limits the absorp tion of capital in sound railway undertakings is alike beneficial to all the parties concerned. It provides an object of investment to the lender, a brisker trade to the merchant, and more work and better wages to the moat numerous and important class of all, the labourer and the artisan. . . .—...—. For all these reasons we see no cause to regret the line of conduct adopted by the Bank Directors. THE severity of the cold, which, as we write, is gradually covering the surface of the Thames with ice, might of itself well excuse a reference at this moment to the subject of the casual poor of the metropolis. But the contrast which winter enforces between the comforts of the housed, warmed, and fed, and the miseries of the naked, hungry, and houseless, is not the only reason for our present choice of this subject. The sight of streets more infested with beggars than we ever remember, even at this period of the year, the daily cases before the police courts of petty crimes committed to secure the ignominious shelter and bitter bread of a prison, the announcement of the opening of the various refuges for the houseless, And a memorial recently addressed to the poor law com missioners by the guardians of the City Union, pray ing the establishment of district asylums for the elms now accommodated in the casual wards of the differ ent metropolitan workhouses, are so many pregnant texts for present comment on the destitution of London. The evil to be encountered, if grappled with in its totality, is set about with difficulties, each of which carries at its root a social problem. We cannot pre tend even to state these, much less solve them. But without attempting to compass in an article the subject-matter of a science, we may point out cer tain evils which demand, and are capable of receiv ing, instant remedy, and we may indicate in so doing certain distinctive features of the different climes po pularly included under the title " Destitute," though Ws must own that we cannot understand the profound ail 0E i n m g r in e ‘dsiooon Thursday vbic t o h f e its r m ed i uLtio u n m o ra f te th o e f discount to 4 per cent. appears to have produced in several quarters. There is nothing in the surrounding circumstances which, on calm consideration, affords any countenance to the apprehensions of permanently cheap money, or of the rate of interest being artifi- cially and mischievously forced below its natural level. On the contrary, we are disposed to think that there have been few occasions when a downward movement of the cardinal index to which we have become accuse tomed to attach so mach importance, has followed so obvisusly and naturally upon the changes which hay grown out of the spontaneous adjustments of supply and demand in the general market. Without at pre- sent considering whether, under the weight of its former responsibilities—that is, its responsibilities before 1844—the management of the Bank would have taken the present step at the present time, it is - Only an act of justice to point out that, subject as they are to the injunctions of " unresOicted competition," imposed with so much emphasis by the framers of Amu present charter, the directors coSi..l scarcely have n xel cused a greater degree of forbeara'ce than has = OW their conduct in the present instance. On the ! 23 r d 2:laptanber (1847), the day on which the THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 29, 1848. widely differing from each other in character and claims to compassion. In the first place, the destitute in whose behalf we would ask attention are not the professional beggars, whose numbers and mischievous character it is equally difficult to determine with any approach to precision. Their commonwealth includes as many and marked social and professional distinctions as oar own. Beggardom is a dark, squalid, treacherous, hideous little world, with its known and unknown regions, its before and behind the scenes, its masquerade and its reality. It is impossible to take up a newspaper without hitting upon some revelation of this mysterious and double ! limed fraternity, this new order of mendicants. Our number of yesterday, for example, lets in three 1 gleams of light on three distinct existences and in dustries of the beggar world. First, the Mansion house has its report, headed " An Ingenious Impos tor," which shows us the begging-letter writer at his profitable aed ingenious calling. His is the "learned profession," par excellence, of beggardom. He be longs to the crrline de la crime of the ragged world. He lays rich and noble under black mail; never receives any coin more ignoble than a half-crown; is at once a great ro mance-writer and a consummate actor, indulges' the imagination of the one and the personation of the other at the public expense; leads a life, in short, which must have its charms for a man of ready wit, with love of pleuure, and an aversion to work for it. To be a successful begging-letter writer requires a rare combination of qualities, and the calling is gainful in proportion to the rarity with which these qualities are found united iu the same person. 'This is, clearly, not a class for which sympathy need be felt. The three months' imprisonment, with bard labour, adjudged to the offender of Thursday (even without the whipping, which a previous conviction would have enabled the LORD MAYOR to append to the sentence), is a real punishment to the begging letter writer, who does not, like some of his Bohe mian race, live better in prison than out of it. Our next glimpse into the beggar world prompts sadder reflections, and indicates a more deeply-seated evil. A girl is charged at Bow-street with torturing her infant brother, by running pins into his body, in order to excite charity by his cries. The poor little child was found to be in the meat emaciated and filthy condition, its limbs shrunk with hunger and cold, its body covered with itch and ulcers. The father was found to be a pauper in receipt of out-door relief trent Holborn Union, a tailor by trade; but preferring to live on the parish dole and the produce of his children's begging. The chit- Aron are sent to the workhouse, and the rascally father to the House of Correction or a month. This man is but a subaltern in the mendicant order, but yet one of a superior grade, inasmuch as he flakes the miseries of others satisfy his roan wants. Ile does not expose his own limbs to the cold, or parade his own disease and deformity, but those of his wretched little family. Ile is the proper party to punish. No sympathy can be felt for him, much as we may lament the hard fate of his children, who can only be rescued front growing up into beggars by being made paupers. The third peep reveals one of the darkest scenes of this wretched world, that lies so near our own, and yet so utterly out of common knowledge. One of the im porters of Italian music-boys and street beggars is brought to the bar and punished by a rare determina tion of the magistrate. Ile, again, is an arch-spirit among those stronger spirits who put to profit the weakness and helplessness of others. He really trades iu beggary as honest men in corn or hemp. Ho has cargoes of little children over from Northern Italy to be manufactured into beggars, just as the mill-owner takes hie cotton from America to transform it into calicoes. We should be justified in resorting to the strongest measures to put down so noxious an industry. If ever there was a trade fairly indictable as a nuisance, this of the wholesale dealer in Italian' beggary is one. It is often said that these fellows arc dexterous enough to keep on the windy side of the law. Ilere, however, Mr. LIAM/WICK contrived to find legol warrant for giving the padrene a month with hard labour. We would have all fathers of distressed families who proclaim their modest woes in a stentoriaa voice to first-floor windows of quiet streets—all in teresting mothers of lovely cherub twins, sleeping BO sweetly in their white gowns and caps under the deadly influence of Daffy's elixir, or some other poisonous narcotic—all begging-letter awiters, who can create widows and orphans at discretion, and heap all the woes of humanity on their own heads in the wielding of a pen—all importers of music boys, white-mice boys, and that various swarm of bright-eyed prettily whining little rogues of the south, whose ingenuous faces make one doubly indignant at the rascality which is training them to a life of lies—all " I am starving" —" cold and hungrys"— " no food, no homes" and others who inscribe woes on the flags, the out ward shows of which are nightly effaced as readily as the chalk which records them, who show a white shoulder from a ragged jersey, and a pathetic pair of muddy or frost-nipped soles turned out towards the compassionate passenger—we would have this whole race of begging impostors made at once arrestable, and imprisonable, and further punishable. It is absolutely necessary to clear the ground of such impostors, the very rankest and most noxious growth of a diseased civilisation amongst us, before any measures can be taken to relieve the deserving and unfortunate destitute. The nature of such mea sures and their urgency will furnish matter for another article. FRANCE.—TouLON, JAM. 23.—A no-EL-K ADER.— Ah , l-el-Kader appears to suffer leas is mind since the arrival of Colonel Detains'', who delivered him an autograph letter from the King. The Emir is frequently visited by that offi cer, and was Invited on the day before yesterday to a dinner which the commander of Fort Lamalgue gave in honour of this superior offic, r. Re seldom leaves his apartment, and when an observation to this effect was made to him, he re plied that the surveillance to which he was subjected had eausid him to adopt the resolution of sot going out. It is positive that in this respect the Emir is treated with the ut moat rigour. It is said that Abd-el-Kader passes the time of his captivity at Lamalgue, in haying the history of the cam paigns of Napoleon translated to him by M. Rousseau, his intirpreter. We are assured that among the projects of our government relative to Abil-el-Kader, is the notion of sending him to one of the colaeir of Senegal. of Beat ; Gee. E.. A. Cook;to be AWL, by par., Mee Alegander, who ;K. W. Wilean, Gent.,to be ea rn , by pur., vice Cools. 12th Light Drap. —W. e11er.411814., to be vet. Barg., vice Brett, tO Cavalry Depot at tilohlotosto 14th Lt. Drega—Llent M. M. Befiessr, from the 59th P., to be lieut., I vice Oreenbam. who evalsimege. Coldstream Reg. of F. Oweigle..--Ens. and Lieut. W. C. Lyon. to be lieut. and eapt., by par., Cl. Melville, who ret. ; Ena. T. F. Holt, from 'the 63rd Beet., to be so. rid lbw., by our., vac Lyon. 19th Reg. of F. —llemAlnier L Denny, from the 55th F., to be capt , vice Parrett. Irbil ezigkeeps. 514 F.—B. J. Lena; got, to be ens., by per., vice thrailield, promoted. 39th F.—Lleut. W. Oreembeim, from the 14th Lt. Drop., to be liwL Mee Baader, who eralifoffe& 50th F.—Ens., with temporary rank, C. Macdonald (Town Myer of Montreal), to be ens., without per., vice Heston, dee. 56th F.—Ena. W. W. Hewett, to be lieut., by per., vice Saunders, who retires; M. (roan, gent., to be ens., by pun., vim Hewett 38th F.—kept. W. T. Parrett, from the 19th F., to be rapt., vice Denny, who exchanges. Girth F.—Major Lord C. J. F. Bunsen, from h anat. to be major, vice J. IL Trevelyan, who ex. • Brev..ldej•ir J. Temple, to be major, by per., vice Lord C. J. F. Bo thell who ret • ' Lieut D.JOOeS, to be cept , by par., vke Temple; tioa..Lieut. .1.1 . . llattereby, to bo Bret lhait., by par., vim Jones; C. W. lieut., by Is., B."° P. Lillingston, gent., to be am.- =0.,63,4 F. me. E. a, C. , from the 70th F., to be en., vice Bolt, app. to the Coldstream Reg. f F. Guards. 7sith A. Rae, gent., to be ens., by per., Hee Richton, app. to the 62rd F. 75th F.—Lieut. W. Brookes. to be rapt., without per., vice Brevet- Major J. Bohai, who yet. on full.puy. 101st F.—W. It. Stseton, gent, to be ens., by per., vice Lamont, who mares. 03rd F.—Lleut. J. P. A. Bartle, to be adjt., vice Macdonald, prom. in the 37th F. 99th V.—Gent. Cadet A. F. Smith, from the Royal Mil. CoL, to be ens., without pun., vice Fraser, who resigns. Berver.-11Mor C. J. F. Rummell, of the 40th F., to be lieut..col. is the army; Capt. J. B. Dodawortli, of the 2nd Reg. of Life Gds., to he major in the army. Mammas:mew. —The Chrbstlan names of Fns. Armstrong. of the 05th F., are John Herbert. The half-pay of Brid..Major J. F. L. Benne, as a capt of infantry of the Rine s German Legion, has been cancelled, be having accepted a commuted allowance on the 24th Jan., 1810. Erratum in the anomie of 21st Jan., 1810.—Fot Gent. Cadet W. Ball, from the Royal MiL Col., to b ens. in the Glth F., vice Madder, read, Gent. Cadet W. Bell, to be, . fbt Court. WINDSOR, FRIDAY.—EarI Spencer and Lord and L►dy John Russell left the Castle this morning. The Bishop of Manchester and the Hon. Sir E. Cust also took their departure to-day. Madame Van de Weyer, the Duke of Norfolk, and Sir R. and Lady Gardiner are expected to arrive at the Castle this evening on a visit to her Majesty : The royal dinner party at the Castle this evening will include the King and Queen of the Belgians, the Duchess of Kent, Mons. and Madame Van de Weyer, Ls M►rquise de Traxeynies, Lady Fanny Howard, Baroness de Smith, the Duke of Norfolk Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston, Sir R. and Lady Gardiner, and Major de Ideerkerke. . . . _ The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the royal family, will, according to present arrangements, arrive at Buckingham Palace from Vindaor, for the season, on Tuesday, the Rth proximo. The Court is not expected to return to Win&or (except, perhapa, for • few days during the Ascot Ran; week) until quite the latter end of the autumn. Mr. Wickham, Chairman of the Stamps and Taxes, had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exche ' quer yesterday. Mr. Rowland Hill had also an interview yesterday with the right hon. baronet, at his official residence in Downing-street, Admiral Sir Charles Adam had an interview with the Right Hon. Edward Strutt yesterday, at the of fi ce of the COMIIIIISOiOrIeTS of Railways is the Hear of Trade. Lord and Lady John Russell arrived in town yesterday from Windsor Castle. Despatches were sent off yesterday evening from the Colonial-offize for the Governor of Canada, and also for the governors of the other North American colonies. (From list night's Gazette.) WiftTEHALL, JAN. 24.—The Queen has appointed Major General J. Bell, C. 8., to be Lieutenant-Governor of the island of Guernsey, in the room of Major. General W. F. P. Napier, C.B. DOWNINO-STREET, JAN. 28.—The Queen has ap pointed J. Scott, Esq., to be Surveying Engineer and S u p er . intendent of Public Works; J. Hoeken, Esq., Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, to be Muter Attendant and Postmaster, for the island of Labuan; and C. Simms, F.sq., to be Chief Clerk and Registrar of the Supreme Court, and Clerk of the Central Circuit Court, of the island of Newfoundland. WAR-OFFICE, Jam. 28. 2nd Life Gds.—CAPE J. 8. Dadeworth, from h.-p. Unit, to Meant. v i ae It. mane, who each.; Lieut. the Ron. R. N. Lanky, to be capL, by par., vice Dolororth, who ret. ; Cornet and SubLkut. the Hon. J. IL D. Astir'', to be lieuL, by par., vice Lanky ; Lieut. T. O. L. C. Gno, from 6th Drag. Gds., to be cornet and sub.lleut., by par., vice itetky. 6th Drag. Gds,—Cornet A.A. IL Campbell, from lad Light Drags., to be lieut., by pus., vim GreTn, app. to 2nd Life Las. s a d Li g ht Drags.—Coruct G. E Remake. to be lieu[., by per., vice J. D. White, who reL ; O. T. Ricketts, Gent., to be cornet, by par., vice Retinue. I th Light Dup.—Cornet and MX W. Ennis, to hue the rank PRICE AND PURIFICATION OF GAS. Yesterday a special meeting of the commissioners of sewers for the City of London took place at the Guildhall, upon the references to inquire into the price of gu gene rally, and also for the purpose of receiving important infor mation from Mr. Leslie, one of the members of the metro politan sanitary COUIII2IIMIOI2, who had consented to attend the board in order to communicate to them the nature of the improvements which were taking place under his superin tendence in several of the departments of the government. Deputy Peacock in the chair. In answer to a question from Mr. Leslie, Mr. Dew, the chief clerk to the commissioners, said the City consumption of gas in the public lamps cost between 11,0001. and 12,0001. a year, and that the gsa supplied to the prisons of Newgate, Oiltspur-street, Wb,tecross street and Bridcwell, was not included in that charge, the expenditure of the ar:iele in these places being defrayed by the City under the he 4 of paring and lighting; neither had the com missioners anything to do with the supply of gas to any buildings whatever. There were 2,700 lamps lighted with gas under the authority of the commissioners. Mr. LESLIE said the effect of the improvement which he recommended would be, to increase, in an essential man ner, the illumination, and to render the gu inaoxious to health, by taking out all its impurities. The first public experiment made by him as to the illumination, bad twin effected under the authority of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, in the Queen's-walk in the Green-park, where he hail fixed his burners to 18 of the lamps, which were 90 feet apart, and consumed 41 feet per lamp per hour. The contrast between these lamps and the others lighted upon the usual plan, was most palpable. It was only necessary fur the commissioners to trust to their own eyes. The next experiment was made by him at the Post-offie ' perhaps the Largest affair of the kind in the world. His burners were as yet but partially in operation in that establishment, but they would eampletely supersede the old system in a very short time. _ . . Mr. LAWRENCE asked whether the gas consumed in the Post.office was purified, and what might be the sanitary effect of the purification ? Mr. Luxus said that nearly all the offices in the estate lishment were lighted by his apparatus fur purifflug as well as illuminating, and, as to sanitary results, there was not the *lightest smell in any one of thi en, as the commissioners could easily ascertain. The saving to be accomplished by the adoption of his plan would amount, per week, to at least 54,000 feet, and yet he found that throughout the various compartments there was too much gas. The illumination was powerful and there was no smell—two effects, of which many persons awl.° were capable of seeing and smelling could adequately judge. Mr LAWRENCE—You °lnsider that we could, by your process, light the streets of the City, at 2.5 per cent. less charge than we now pay ? Mr. LESLIE said considerably more, and at the close of the meeting he stated that the saving would be more likely to be 50 per cent., than 25 per cent. A street lamp should burn 3,480 feet per annum, and he would produce as good a light, by the application of his burners to the public lamps, as those at present exhibited, at less than three-fourths of the quantity of gas. For the purification of the gas—which purification would, there could not exist a doubt, be required universally in a short time—he should require to fix the apparatus in the company'. premises; but as regarded the coi—oustion, his burners alone would be calculated to effect tke necessary improvement in the quality. In answer to questions from Mr. Harrison and ether mem bers of the board, Mr. Levee gave a scientific description of his mode of accurately testing the exact amount of light in which his process differed from that to which we have been long accustomed. Fur his burners his charge was seven shillings each, the sum paid by the government, the parish of St. James's, and in fact by all parties who had deter mined to adopt his process, after having seen the results of the experiments which had been made. Mr. LA WILENCE asked what Mr. Leslie thought the Com missioners of Sewers ought to be able, on an average, to make and supply gas for to the public, if they made it themselves ? . . . Mr. Lraila answered—Three shillings for every 1,000 cubic feet, and that charge would include every cost of plant, mains, &c. The in aerials he us.d in the process of purifi cation absorbed all the deleterious and offensive parts of the gas. A MERBEn of the board—Would the deposit be valuable after the purification takes place ? Mr. L69l.lE—Certainly, to a considerable amount. Mr. HAHRISCN—Can you without purifying lower the price of illuminating ? Mr. LESLIE—Yes. But purification must be adopted. The benefits of purification are so great that it is quite im possible to argue upon the continuance of the impure state of the article in any case. If you have 2,700 public lamps in the City, that number would demand a supply of 13,500 feet per hoar fir the whole. Your gasometers, two of which you should have, and that number would be sufficient fit you, should have in each of them six hours' stock of gas. A space of forty feet diameter would be sufficient to huild them in. The purification would render the glasses much less liable to damage. In fact, by-and-by purification will be the indis pensable attendant of illumination by gas. The CHAIRMAN—Are the two companies, the Chartered Gas and the City Gas companies who supply us aware of these facts which you have stated to us ? Mr. LeSLIE—Yes, as well as I am. Mr. Lawiterceß—Are they aware of these effects which you have stated to us ? Mr. Lesus—Certainly. Mr. LLWEENCE—WEIeh of them supplies the Post-office? Mr. L►sLlE—The City Gas Compmy ; but they will make it th mselves at that establishment before long. The whole interior of the building will be lighted in t'm course of next week, according to the improved process of illumiaation and purification. The Ras lighting of the Post-office used tocost from 3,0001. to 4,0001. a year, and I have undertaken to save them a thousand a year at least. The Chairman and board returned thanks to Mr. Leslie, and the ecnsmissionen adjourned. AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY. The twenty-fourth annual general court of proprie tors was held yeshvday, at the offices of the company, King's Head yard, Moorgate-street. Mr. J. S. fixownaroo, M.P., occupied the chair, and read the report. The directors commenced in terms of con gratulation upon the progress of the company, and stated the returns which had been made of the amount of its fLicks and herds in the iyear 1846, comparing that of the two preceding gyms, in order to mark the increase. The stock of sheep on the let of January, 1841, was 101,693 in 1845, 117,257 ; in 1846, 124,205. The lambs yeaned in the first of tho.e years were '26,051 ; on the second, 23,264; and in the third, 16039. There had been no importations of sheep in the first or third years, and only to the number of 11 during the second. The totals were in 1844, 130,744; in 184.5, 140,532; and in 1846, 141,144, From these amounts were to he deducted: in 1844, sheep sold, 277, and slaughtered, 4,754 ; in 184.5, sold, 675, and slaughtered, 4,745; in 1846, sold, 5,660, and slaughtered, 4,528. The number of sheep dying through age, disease, and casualties were : in 1844, 8,456 ; in 184.5, 9,969 ; in 1846, 15,918. Including the numbers boiled down for tallow, the deductions amounted to 13,487 in 1844 ; 16,327 in 184.5 ; and 29,648 in 1846. The stock remaining on Dec. 31, 1846, was 111,496. It was with much regret that the directors had again to report the large amount of casualties, far exceeding cven those of the previous year. The returns for the horned cat tle were as follows: Stock on Jan.l : 7,189 ; and the number of births during the year had been I,ooo—making in all, 8,189. From this number were to be deducted 666, of which 198 had been lost from various casualties, and the remainder slaughtered, sold, and boiled down for tallow. The stock remaining on Dec. 31 was 7,523. The stock of horses and ponies at the beginning of 1816 was 1,016; and at the begin ning of 1847, 1,115. From this last number 76 were to be deducted for horses and ponies that had died or been sold. The stock remaining on March 31 was 1,039. The stock of asses and mules remaining at the same date amounted to 71. The sale of live stock had realised, in 1844, 4811. Os. 4d.; in 1845, 1,4571. 10s. 9d.; in 1846, 3,6561. 191. Ild. In drawing the attention of the proprietors to this item of the company's accounts the directors were happy to find that the hope which they had expressed in the last report of a gradually increasing demand had been fully realised, the profits aris ing from the sale of stock having more than donbledthat of the previous year. On Dec. 31, 1846, the total number of per sons in the company's employ was: In the agricultural establishment, 302 free men, 86 ticket-of-leave men, and 1 convict; in the colliery establishment, SO free men, 36 ticket. of-leave, and 14 convicts; making of the first clam 352, of the second 122, and of the third 15—which showed an in crease during the year 1846 of 10 free men and 5 ticket-of leave men, and a diminution of 17 convicts. The statement of coal sold in 1846, compared with 1845, was as follows : In 1846 the number of tons was 33,979, and in 1841, 23,272, the increase being 10,707 tons. The directors congratulated the proprietors on this increase, which augmented their revenue by upwards of 2,0001. The retail business at Syd ney-wharf was given up at the beginning of 1846, as it was scarcely found to compensate for the expenses incurred. During the peat year 315 bales of wool, part of the clip of 1846, had been received and sold by auction, producing a net amount of 10,4401. 131. 6d. 1 hese wools were of a superior kind, and realised an average price of 2.. 21d. per pound. The remainder of the clip, consisting of 269 bales, had also arrived, but had not yet hen sold. 370 hides, 707 horn tips, and 76 casks of tallow, had also been imparted, and sold by auction. The revenue realised in New South Wales from the sale of live stock, rents, &c., during the year 1846, was 16,7561.; and the amount realised in England from sales of wool, hides, tallow, &c.. 11,6571 21. 2d. The unsold wool was etimated at 6,346/. 3s. 42. The expenses of maaape ment in New South Wales for the same year were 22,6781. 15s. 11d. ; and in England. 2,3501. 16s. 102. ; show ing • surplus revenue of 9.7411. 13s. Bd. The surplus re. venue of the two preceding years had been in 1844, 9,6991. 64. 34.; and in 1845, 8,2821. Ils. sd. These eircum stances enabled the director., taking into consideration the amount now standin4 at the credit of the dividend account, to propose a dividend of U. per share for the year 1846, being at the rate of 31. 6s. Bd. per cent. on the paid-up capital of the company. In the Idit annual report it had been stated that. the Secretary of State for the Colonise recognised the claims of the company to • dis pensation from all the restrictions contained in the charter relative to their land, and that nothing then re mained but the preparation of the title deeds in accordance with that decision, and their transmission to the colonies. The directors had now the satisfaction of informing the pro prietors that, in addition to this concession, Earl Grey bad further consented to emancipate the coal grant at Newcastle likewise from all the conditions appertaining to it, thereby extending the power of alienation to the company's mining property. The terms of the title-deeds having been at length settled between the Commissioners of Colonial Land and Emigration on the part of the crown, and Messrs. Fresh field, the solicitors, on the part of the company, were for. warded by the colonial department to Australia in April last, with the original warrant under the sign manual, ad. dressed to the Governor of New South Wales, authorising the conveyance t the company of their land in that glory ; and the directors had accordingly authorised the commis sioners to take the necessary steps for carrying out the con cluding arrangements. The debtor and creditor account of the enmpany in London for 1847 showed a total of 361,4391. 13s. 3d., of which the cash balance was 3,4901. 1 Is The CHAIRMAN moved that the report be received, and lutiorinted for distribution among the shareholders. The reso n was carried unanimously, an was the next resolution declaring the dividend. The CHAIRMAN then stated that there was a vacancy In the board of directors, caused by the disqualification of Mr. Bertley : he moved that Mr. H. M. Farquhar be elected in his stead. This resolution was also carried, and was followed by the re-election of Mr. 8. Majoribanks, Mr. G. It. Smith, and Mr. Thornton, the three directors retiring by rotation ; and also of Mr. L. Knox, Mr. John Abel Smith, and Mr. W. Tuke, the auditors.—This concluded the business of the meeting, which immediately separated. THE 'MURDER op ELIZA DAVIS ELEVEN YEARS Aoo.—On the 9th of May, 1837. a young woman named Eliza Davis, barmaid to Mr. Wadley, the King's Arms, Lawton-place, Frederick-street, Regent's-park, was murdered in her master's house. The party upon whom suspicion reek(' was said to he a modell r, who was in the habit of frequenting the place; and for a long while Inspector Ages and Sergeant Peeler of the S division were in que.t of the said person without ever being able to gain any tidings re specting him. We have now good reason for believing that there is at length a enance of the hith, rto mysterious affair being cleared up, Inspector Tedman, of the D division, being in possession of some very important particulars rela tive to the case, and circumstances of • strongly suspicious nature have recently transpired tending to the conclusion that the sanguinary act was not the work of the modeller above referred to, but of another man, who at the time of the occurrence lived in the immediate neighbourhood. LNQUESTS, YESTEEDAY.—Two MEN SUFFOCATED AT A BILEWEDY.—By Mr. Baker, at the Bombay Grab, Midi-street. 13,w, on view of the bodies of William Clarke, aged 33, cellarman, and R. Simms, aged 43, labourer, in the employment of Mews. Abbott and Son, brewers, 8.,w, who were seffocated in a vat. G. Taber, turnmrtn, said thathe saw the deceased men on Tuesday afternoon, shout a quarter-put four o'clock in the vat-room. He went there again in an hour and called them, but received no answer. At 6 o'clock he was in the same department with • men named Peters, when be observed a lighted candle on No:9 vat. He remarked to Peters, that he thoeglit they must be in the vat. He put the candle in it, which was extiiguished by the foul air. H then lowered another lighted candle, by means of which he saw the unfortunate men. He called some of the men to his aasi4tance, and he wan let down by a rope, when he placed smother rope round the bodies of the deceased, who were brought up. Life was extinct is both of them. Mr. E. Abbott instantly sent to itime medical gentlemen. Mr. E. Abbott mid that the vat, which was about 13 feet in depth, had been empty about six months. He and his (witness's, father tied repeatedly cautioned Clarke to be careful, when he has sometimes come out in • fainting fit ; when he has laugh. d at them. " Verdict of accidental death."-- AN INFANT POISONED WITH LAUDAN UN.—By Mr. Bedford, at the Que , n's Head, Queen-street, St. James's, on the body of Elizabeth Simpson, aged one month. The deceased, ever alum its birth, had been ailing. On Saturday night last it was unable to sleep ; the mother therefore, on Sunday, sent a little girl to Mr. Fowler, a chemist, of 14, Brewer street, for a penny worth of laudanum. lipaa the return of the child she administered the whole of the opiate, about 20 drops, to the infant. The result was, that the deceased was instantly seized with very alarming symptoms. The mother took it to a doctor in the neighbourhood, who pre. scribed the usual remedies, but without success, and it died is the course of twelve hours. The child who was sent for the lend•num stated that she dia. tinctly told the chemist that it was for her mother to give to the baby. It was put into a cup, and as she carried at home she placed leer finger in it and sucked it, to taste whether it was nice or not —Mr. Fowler. the chemist, said that when the little girl came to his shop for the laudanum, she said, in answer to his inquiries, that it was for a woman and not for as infant. if she bad said it was for an infant, he certainly should not have served her. He did not put any label, on the cup. He had heard that one drop of laulanum would kill a child of that tender age.—The Coroner said that he considered the selling of laudanum to such a eeild as had been seat fur it , highly improper.— Verdict—" Died from an overdose of laudanum, incautiously administered to the deceased by its mother." FREE TRADE BANQUET AT ➢IANCHESTER. (Continued from the first edition of yesterday's Express.] RICHARD COBDEN, Esq., M.P., rose, and experienced a most enthusiastic and flattering reception, all the com pany rising and cheering for several minutes. As soon as he was able to proceed with his remarks, he said: I have in the first piece to tender you my thanks, and the thanks of those gentlemen who represent North and South Lan cashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire , fir the honour you have done us in drinking our healths. I believe a very large proportion of the members of those divisions of the counties are now free-traders, and I have no doubt they will all be found to do their duty to the satisfactioa of this assembly. (Hear, hear.) Now, gentlemen, I have been asked a dozen times, I dare say, what is the object of this meeting ? I confess to you that Ido not wish to regard it as a meeting to celebrate past triumphs, still lees to glorify ourselves or one another. I wish rather that it should be made to show that we are slice to the future--(" Hear, hear," and applause); that having secured upon the statute-book a guarantee for free trade is corn, we intend to make it a prelude to free trade in skipping; that we in tend to prevent the West Indian proprietors from taxing this community for their advantage; and that, in fact, we intend to carry out in every article of commerce the prin ciples of free trade which we have applied to corn. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, our esteemed representative has so ably and efficiently anticipated some points I intended to refer to, in connexion with the sugar question, in justification of our principles of free trade, that I am relieved from the necessity of repeating them : and I thank him most heartily for the speech he has given, which is one of the ablest I have ever heard in this hall. (Applause.) I believe this question of free trade—the question of free trade in all its details—is understood by this assembly ; that what I have told you would be our future objects has the concurrence of this assembly, and I have no doubt that every member on this platform will join us in carrying out those principles' in the legislature. (Hear, hear.) But now, gentlemen, I wish to allude to another subject; and although I admit that subject to have an intimate con nection with the question of free trade, yet I wish distinctly to be understood that I do not presume for a moment in what I am going to say to speak the sentiments of any member of parliament or of the gentlemen beside me. speak only for myself, and do not wish to compromise any other individual ; I allude, as you may probably have anti cipated, to the intention which has been announced of increasing our war armaments. (Applause.) Gentlemen will bear me out that throughout the long agitation for free trade the most earnest men who co-operated with us were those who constantly advocated free trade, not merely on account of the material advantages which it would bring to the community, but for the far loftier motive of securing peace between nations. (Applause.) I believe it was that that mainly drew to our ranks the great host of ministers of religion, who were so powerful an im petus to our progress at the commencement of the agita tion. I have known most of the leading men in this struggle, and have had an opportunity of understanding their motives ; and I believe that the most earnest, the most persevering, the meet devoted of our coadjutors, have been men who have been prompted by those purely moral and religious motives, to which I have referr ed the desire for peace. (Applause.) And lam sure that every one of these men has shared with me the shock which I sustained, when, within one short twelvemonth almost after we had announced ourselves as free-traders to the world, we were startled with the announcement that we were going to increase our warlike arrangements. (Applasair.) ask what is the explanation of this ? Probably we e, ' find it in the Duke of Wellington's letter, in the p efforts which he announces he has made with the Gesso ;ant, end ;correapoaaii; he has had ceititii.o7d - John Raabe& We ma attribute this, that, to the Duke I to am e re the ry that t d:no p ossess ing taut coos, sod Wellingt on,r .fgsto o inr r t e adh s t tewhu s hareo e a that hc „fyrtbli hand w t. h ardent eha r tnel:ftti war r iors-( hear, feelings idsi z. withouto kmir eci oev' br figureh theaeo aobf.o, 7 6' itieryk. hoaut mace t o", hzh, e n e t :is no l 1 - ee_ l a7h. . : his letter aneivhilyispaPraesi:Tapoire,otTe, tfrsuridhoiisimil ra P g P m i f use e l ye a pb as . , ) ;; ; ;a ß le y .l- 14_ :1 : : sever published ? ( Hear, hear, and ti.temet a i has rut the greatest probable duration of human be is tottering on the verge of the grave. (11 P :a he ar " th l e a :eeitwt present pipc; publ ic cnh a g m : jo e ulf n yde t ar a b dtowle, e yht oct - i:,ther ( -ai e tbu p eac p ne l. u e du hroat ) lumen -which is more ca d..:: : : c .i.)a u g la rech ea)tga:;Sri of l tl irs, a l i d n : ( w od i p t pt ri o : ed.:pep s 1 ous Lim to eave been preaching forgiveness for, and OTblivieagg an m people to retaliatory measures to retrieve thr I b y . -- ans wounds, which ere now idolise he.ded up, rather t ha n the cauterp reopening those wounds, and leavingapply another generation the task of repairing the to he has perpetrated? I left the subject eg . duke's letter when I read that part where he - " I am ill my 77th year,"-and I said that a lp ha; it all lied excuses it. (Applause .) We have Me! CO deal with the Duke of Wellington, ere haveto g 6.17" with those younger men who want to make thority to carry out th eir own special purposes. „ bear.) Now, what I want to stipulate with you and the people of England is this-that the question before ' not a military question, that it is not a naval question, bat that it is a question for civilians to decide. hems end applause.) When we are at war, thee. the men wilt red coats and swords by their sides may step in to do their work; and it is one which is not to be envied, and which that great milit . ry o ffi cer, Sir Harry Smith, has described as "a most dm:enable trade." (Hear, hear is a question for the merchants, fur t:.e mended fit the shopkeepers, for the operatives, and for the farmers d this country. Aye, and pardon me, my Lord Ellesmere, it is a quit' ion fur calico-printers too. (Load and continuos applause.) What is this prospect seiner ? Where dos it come from ? You, I say, are competent to judge better thou military men ; von are more impartial; all 'Mgt your interests do not lie on the side of war. I say there never was a time in the history of France, w h o a there was a greater tendency to a pacific policy, Ind especially towards this kingdom, than there le at this moment. Why, the French people have gone through a process which almost disqualifies them from . going to wars They have tone through that social revolution which m . . much equidisee the uinionn of the property, that the people contribute, almost equally, to support the Governmental the country. The taxation is for the most part direct, and therefore the people are raut sensitive on the score af expenditure, and are not likely to agree in the u of going to war. I will venture to say that ther e' ll rltboleijnenetic,7,::_theigtsb, "d ithighbeurly wimotmet not a more affectionate and domesticated rare on the Las of the earth than the French. (Applause.) Why, I byte seen with horror and shame and iurli-natitin the way in beenwt e calculated eithatoikiintrga:to.:Pliina:)....t-6. which mime of our newspapers have spoken of the Frets* people. They have placed them before the community is a most ignominious, a moat degraded position, and marked them as a most ignorant people. Without spying anything about prejudices and want of Christian charity, I am glade the opportunity of rising in such assemblies as this to reps. diate the statements which have been reade,-to speak as behalf of the French people, to assist in ietting them right with the world, and with ourselves. There is a paper in this city, which I always wish to treat with respect, if it will allow me,-(laughter)-there is one paper here which last week gravely took this line of argument,-that it was necessary that we should have police i.e Manchester to constantly protect us against thieves, pickpockets, ruffians, and mu derers, and therefore we should have an armament to pro tect us against the Freneh-(laughter)- as it they were thieves, pickpocket., ruffians, and murderers , . Why, the French community is at the present as well otgauised and as orderly u cur own ; and there has been as little discord in France as in England during the last five or six years. Then there is another paper in London-a weekly paper that used to write with great gravity; but I suppose it has been so panic-stricken of late that it has lost its wits. (Laughter.) That paper tells us that the next engagement with France will be without a declaration of war, and that we shall literally have to protect our queen at Osborne-house against those unscrupulous Frenchmen who msy carry off her Majesty. (Laughter.) Well, now, what a lesson has one courageous queen taught such people as these. Sho went over to France, unattended and unprotected, and threw herself nn the shore at the Chateau cl'Eu, literally in a bathing machine. (Laughter.) Now there is either great courage on the oxe si.'e, or great cowardice on the other. (Lsuehter.) But this is, after all, a sort of periodical visitation. I sometimes cemeare it to the cholera • for I believe the last visitation we bad of this kind came about the time of the cholera. It was then said we were to have au invasion from the Russians, and I rather identiff el myself with the Russian invasion, as it is called. I believe it is quite p-ssible, that if I had not been etruck by ' the insanity of some of the public papers, which told us that the Russians would come some foggy day and land cent Portsmouth, I should never have turned author, have written pamphlets, or become a public man; and might have oeen up to this day a thrifty pair.steking calico-printer. (Con tinuous applause). Now, gentlemen,l want us to under stand theft foreingers a little better. You may remember that three weeks or a month ago, I had occ.oion to ad dress a few remarks, at Newton, on the occasion of the election of my friend Mr. Henry, and there I let tall some remarks relative to the reduction of our crinaineuts; showing how necessary it was to reduce our expenditure in order to tarry out the fiscal reforms. I little dreamed at that time, that, at the very moment I was speaking, a large meeting was being held at Rosen, the Manchester of France, at which 1,800 electors were assembled to promote, at a public dinner, the progress of Parliamentary Reform; and that there a gentleman was makir.g a speech so similar to my own, that he sent me a newspaper, and expressed his astonishment teat it should be possible ter two speeches to be made, without c fusion, so similar to each other. Now, I will read you, if you please, this gentleman's ?e -metics, and give the notes of the approbation and cheers of the company as Igo en. Monsieur Visinet said : " How long will it take to turn from theory into practice the very simple ides, that, apart from the precepts of religion, whitth ws de so often quote, but so seldom practise, and upon the merest Weals. dons of :at enlightened self-interest, nations have a tar cliderent atles slat upon earth than to excite in each other mutual feat How long will it be before they discover the selfish objects of thote who have an interest in persuading them that the name cal a toreigser is synonymous with that of enemy? When will they learn that, as children of the same Father, their real and only enemies, those which they ought to stru ggle destroy, are, iglu:c once, oppresion, misery, and supersiltlon 1- (cheets)-that in proclaiming their mutual friendshiis they will tend to the consolidation of perwful relations with each other! When will they discover that the maintenance of formidable imamate, in countries whose nationality is not seriously menaced, it.flicts an evil upon all, and confers teneilts on none. (Shouts of " Thai's true! that's true.") But, better to define my idea, do you not think that if, con fident in the maintenance of an honourable peace, we were to deduct from the are hundred midis= of francs which our army and navy oat us, twenty.aix millions to he applied to the educatton ei the people, and a like sum for the purpose of converting meaty thousand soldiers into road makers; if we gave back to *gets culture and manufactures 50,000 more soldiers, leas .ng is car pockets the slam which they cost to par and support them-think you not that this would be a good result °tithe mfr.!, cordiale , I win not say between the governments-we know rebut that is iretli (atighter)- but the natii.na, which bare no dynastic interests to serve, and do not pity at diplomacy ! ;Cheers) Ile you not think that this example of common sense, and fecling of security given by us, would have its influence upon the other countries of Europe, would lead to other disarmament's would facilitate every% ly re those seal reforms which are tioetponed from day to day on the plea of the neom sides of the treasury, and would give to productive industry that capital and labour which are now diverted into unproduzivechan nets r (Expressions of ament.) Mr. Cobden next read a quotation from a speech of Mon sieur Cremieux, and said These extracts are rather long, but thought it would interest you tes know what was paeaicg is a popular assembly representing the activity, the popular opinion of the chief manufacturing town of France ; and when you au such sentiments as these upplauded in the way they are in a French assembly, why will sot, the people of Manchester, believe that France is the nation of banditti which some papers have represented ? (Applause) I don't mean to say that there may not be prejudices in France to root out, and even prejudices in England to extirpate, but this I do say, that it is not with a few insignificant persons in Paris--men without station, stake, or influence in France; it is not with these that we should attempt to pick a quer red ; it is to such men as these that we should hold out the right hand of fellowship. (Applause.) Now, I will be practical with you on this que-tion of the armaments, as it is probable that I shall not speak to you again on the subject until it comes before the house. It is , I repeat, a gusta tion for civilians to determine • milit..ry and naval men have nothing to do with it. I Wish it to be understood that I am not going to enter into the technicalities of war; I do not? claim for . the civilian the t he has the slightest practical knowledge of the horrid trade of war-(applause) I only stipulate for this, that while in a state of profound peace, it is for you, the ratepayer, to decide whether you will run the risk of war, keeping the money in your pockets, er whether you will allow an additional number of men to live in idleness in red coats or blue jackets, under a pretence of protecting you. (Hear, hear.) I say this, I am for acting justly and fairly, and holding out the olive branch to the whole world; and I will then take upon myself, so far OA my share goes, all the risk of anything happening to me, without paying for another soldier or another sailor. (Loud applause.) But it is not merely the question of whether we are to have great armaments that you as civilians are competent to decide. You have already expended this year seventeen millions sterling in armaments, and this lea question which you are able ti decide-whether that is the best b.le use you could make of your money ? (Applause.) Have you inquired, for instance, whether the navy for which you Gave paid so largely is really employed in the beat way, or at all events, in the way beat calculated to do that which these men profess themselves to be so anxious to clo,:namely, protect our shores? (Rear, hear, and applause.) Now, where ore all our great battleships gone to! will venture to say there is Oct more idleness or demora- Ration going on in any space on the Coos of the earth than there is in the ships of war for want of employment. (Hear, hear.) Where are these gr eat line of battle ships, which you pay for, to be found . Occasionally they sail out, making a great display of power, science, and other attractions; but they do not go to Hamburg or the Baltic, where there is so much trade: no, they do not go there ; the weather is rough, and there - are act many at on shore there. (Laughter.) Well, do they the 'Bolted States, where we do one-fifth or one-sixth our foreign trade? q,p the contrary, the arrival of •an English man-of-warls recorded in the newspapers MB a rare occurrence. The naval men are idle, end therefore they do not very often go there ; is fact they are not wanted anywhere where there is oommer T .