The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

630 plained that the advantages had not been returned on a fair principle of reciprocity : " They claimed • reciprocity of rights and privileges. Now, had they obtained such a reciprocity? Scotland yielded to the imperial Treasury, after paying all its own expenses, s,7isi3Of cit. per annum. What hail been done by the imperial tiovertinietst for the great object of national defence in Scotland ? l /leer.) The people of England expected that if a war were to break out they could muster 141%000 armed men. In Ireland there were 22,0110 regular tremor, and 12,1100 police, admirably equipped, equal to soldiers of the line, and paid by the Government. What was the state of matters in Scotland ? Here they had only two battalions of infantry and one regiment of cavalry, mustering among them some 1,1400 combatants! In case of a war breaking out, if a descent were to be made from Russia, he need not say where the invading force would coma to in the first instance. Why, they would just come to the Frith of Forth. If they came there they would find the harbour of Grantham prepared for them ; and, after threatening Edinburgh with conflagration and plunder, sod levying • contribution of I ,ts Ml,l M or %tits s if., they might march to Glasgow, follow the same course there, and then return to the Baltic before England got anima war ready. While fully admitting the necessity of looking, in the first instance, and chiefly, to the defence of the cen tral parts of the countey,atut of making London,lVoolwich, Plymouth, Deptford, Chatham, and Portsmouth as secure as they could possibly be, lie saw no reason why Scotland should he left utterly defeneeless, without any force what• ever, either maritime or military, to repel an invasion. Leaving the question of national defences, he would refer to the subject of harbour* of refuge. There, too, the Eimlish took admirable care of themselves. No less a sum than 2,400,0001. was now in course of being expended in England in the improvement and extension of harbouni lif refuge ; while in Scotland there was only one harbour of refuge from Berwick to the coast of Cdithneas, and that was the one at Leith. Scotland had 311,000 seamen, and 211,000 vessels annually entered Senn+ ports, their aggre gate tonnage amounting to 2,003,i00, All those seamen, and all this wealth, were exposed to imminent danger be elines Scotland had no money voted for harbors of refuge, the only sum expended on Scotland being 2,21 NW., which was given to Portpatrick harbour. Let them look to the matter of police. In Scotland the police was maintained exclusively at the expense• of the counties and cities, whilst a parliamentary paper had just appeared which showed that the police of Ireland wet 1172,000/. per moon, of which 54:1,001. was NW out of the l•ons o lideted Fund of direst Britain. The sum that was now in course of expen diture on the naval establishments in Englund amounted to 71,10M►1., while not one shilling had been given to Scot land." Sir Archibald then alluded to some local grievances, relative t o barracks, post offices, and other public edifices in Edinburgh and thlasgow, rettrging the eimplaint that Scotsmen on every side contributed increasingly to the Imperial Exchequer, and yet were treated with a miserly economy in all that re lated to itnperial outgoings. After a resolution denouncing the ruinous state of liolyrood Palace, a final resolution was passed by the'tneeting to this effect : "That the National Association tor the Vindication of Scottish nights, whieh devotes itself to the ace plisliment of the objects embraced in the resolutions adopted by this meeting, is one de sarviui tbe cordial support of every true Scotsmen." SIR C. WOOD AT HALIFAX. LAST week a Corporation dinner at Halifax was honoured by the presence of the borough member and President to the Board of Control. Sir C. Wood seconlingly took the opportunity to make a long speech, in which he glanced at the chief topics of p tblie interest and Ministerial anxiety at the present moment. lie began by alluding to the personal features of his subject : "We took office under peculiar circumstances. We were called upon to niske great personal sacrifices in order to effect the junction of two parties who, though animated by the same principles, had been separated by enema stances for years, to the detriment, as I lwlieve, of the service of this country. Yet it was not without pain that thew *walker were made. Still I may, I believe, say for every one of my colleagues, as well as for myself, that we were actuated by one feeling only : that we would do that which wo believed to be—tvaly as we thought, mistakenly as others may think —for the benefit of the country. We have been rewarded for our sacrifices by a large amount of support in a House of c o mmons elected under the auspice's of our opponents; and our conduct has been sp. proved by that l'arhinneut and the country. (ApplauAe.)" Going over the at and of the past session, and re peating the often-heard explanations, congratulations, and boasts respecting free trine, taxation, India, Sir C. Wood at length consented to forego any further detail of parliamentary debates, remarking "that they had much to get through that evening." lie went on to relate what everbotly knew regarding the Russo-Turkish dispute. After mentioning the sue. cesaive attempts at negotiation in which the Govern ment had participated, be proceeded : " I grieve to say that these efforts have not been success• ful, aad that the l'orte has made a declaration of war, which, however much I may regret, one can hardly feel surprised at, for the Sultan has shown an amount of for. bearance which entitles him to our admiration and sym pathy. (Wear, hear,' wed arpbsior.) lint there is such a thing as a state of uncertainty which may even be more injurious and galling than the evil of war ; therefore I am shot surprised, though grieved, that the Forte has taken a step which is alpinist thy 441 . 1411 Of its Wet friends. But THE PRESS. we do not derpaire even yet of being able to avert any for midable war from arising out of these circumstances. That some acts of hostility may occur is possibly to be ap prehended. lint the two armies are separated by a broad river, which is difficult to pass; the winter season is ap proaching, and there are great hoiws that, even after the declaration of war, actual hostilities may not be corn tnenced at present, and that the season which is appreach hag will give time for reflection, and for the interposition of the efforts of those powers in Europe which, by their posi tion, are able to exercise an influence in the matter, and which are interested in endeavouring, by some means eon 'latent with the honour of both the opposing parties, to reserve the 'ware of Europe. C ll ear, hear,' and apidause.) Thi s , I hope, will be the case. The various nations of Europe are large communities 1101111 d together by their mutual interests, and no infraction of the peace can take place without detriment to these interests. Of course it is impossible to speak with any confidence on the subject as it at present stands. The issues of peace and war are not in our bands; and, however great our interest may be in preserving peace, we may not be able to restrain those fanatical spirits who arc bent on war. lint 1 believe that the other powers of Europe are also 11111XIOUS to maintain peace, as it is for the interest of all that the general peace of Europe should be maintained; and I will conclude by staying that, by the blessing of Providence, l hope we shall yet be able to avert the greatest of all evils, war." RIOTS IN THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS. _ FEARFUL riots broke out in Wigan on Friday, the 2f4th ultimo, and were revived on subsequent days, causing immense confusion in the town and neigh bourhood, and presenting the multitudes of eollit rs and working men and boys of the district in the dis graceful character of a ruffianly mob. For many hours together the town has been in absolute pos session of the lawless crowds, who have destroyed a large amount of prop€rty and given a shock to public confidence which the locality will not soon recover : Friday is the market day in Wigan, mid the centre of the town is then much thronged ; but on yesterday week the Market-place and adjoining streets were mono crowded than usual, owing to the autumn cattle fair being held, ac• cording to charter, and a large number of colliers and fac tory operatives on strike loitering about. At four o'clock in the afternoon the adj red meeting of the coal pro prietors of the district was held at the Royal Hotel, in the Marketplace. fly the time it terminated several 1 keel colliers had east-lidded in front of the loon I, and manifested great anxiety to leant the result. When they learned tha the masters had only derided to throw open their pits att the old prices they scented much disappointed, and showed an uneasy feeling. tirtiolually the excitement increased, and WWII the crowd began to hoot gentlemen co • g out of the hotel, or cheer them &naively. Four police officers, who were on duty near, endeavoured to prevail upon the crowd to disperse , but without avail. About half-past six o'clock five or six gentlemen came out of the hotel together, and were followed by the mob, who hooted, cheered, and jostled theta. Two of them took refuge in a shop, when the mob committed the first act of violence by breaking the windows. The two gentlemen Nun-ceded in effecting a retreat, when the crowd turned 1111101.1 the police, and began to pelt them with oyster shells, stones, Se. Information was sent to the Mayor and other authori- ties, who arrived on the scene and endeavoured to overawe the rioters; but the mob grew every moment moon- turbu lent ; stones were thrown and sticks used with great free dom, and many persons, including the Mayor himself, severely injured. At length his worship got away to the railway•station, whence he despatched a telegraphic nres sage to Preston for mime soldiers. The votive force in Wigan, it appears, is only composed of a constable, a V rgt . llllt and nine men—eleven in all—and who of course were altogether powerless against a crowd of some thousand men and boys. By nine o'clock the town was completely in their hands. They had extinguished all the gaslights, broken an immense number of windows, and forced their way into a multitude of shops and some of the hotels, where they shattered the furniture, itc., to pieces. 'cry little pilfering, however, is said to have taken place, no. thing but wanton destruction of property appearing to be their object. The few eases of plunder that came to light appear to have been perpetrated by some young lads n o t connected with the main Ludy of rioters. This scene lasted for some hours. All this while the Mayor was at the railwareutation, waiting for the military. Hy eleven the soldiers arrived, and by twenty minutes to twelve were in marching order, procceuting through the streets. Their presence seemed for the moment effeetnal ; the riotous crowd melted away and disappeared, leaving no one to fight or even to apprehend, and nothing but the wreck to testify to their pins-nee on the spot. on Monday the proprietors, according to promise, threw open their pits to the men, offering the former wages. Main colliers and a number of new hands went to work accordingly: but this seems to have enraged the mass of turnouts, and the day was spent in anxious observation of various detached masses of men, who marched to and fro, and threatened to attack the houses or business premises of sundry obnoxious employers. The display of the sof• diers kept Wigan itself pretty free front outrage, but a desperate onslaught was made ir. the evening upon some sawmills near the town. The police force was mustered within a line of boarding In defence of these mills, and a desperate struggle took place between them and the crowd outside. In the end the police were obliged to retreat, and the mob haul obtained possession of the outworks of the place. when a body of soldiers, previously sent for. arrived and chased them all out. Firearms were used in this operation, and nine or ten persons shot, though not fatally, besides the extensive damage received from the poliestuen's truudisens. SATURDAY, By Wednesday external quiet was tolerably iestored. More soldiers had come in from Manchester and elsewhere, and fresh help was placed within reach in case of need. A number of special constables were also sworn in, and the local authorities took the resolution of hereafter in• creasing the number of policemen to whom it should be entrusted to maintain order in a town numbering 7o,oist inhabitants. About eighty of the country police have also been brought into the villages round Wigan, where they serve, as armed patrols, to cheek any sudden attack upon houses or works in its outskirts. Orders were received at Portsmouth garrison on Tuesday for two regiments to hold themselves in readiness to proceed at a moment's notice, if required, to the scene of the riots. Some disorders of formidable character, but arising from a different cause, occurred in Blackburn on Wednesday. An election of common emmeilmen was in progress, and much party spirit excited by the contest between different candidates. From an early hour in the morning, men armed with bludgeons were seen moving about, and even thing seemed to indicate that violence would be resorted to before the day was over. At noon, when all the facto- ries were " loosed," the street became tilled with operatives, and a series of skirmishes ensued, in the course of which several men were roughly handled, and one of them, a butcher, was so severely injured that he is not expected to recover. Some others were also struck, one so as to en danger life. Several windows were smashed, which led to a general closing of the shops. The magistrates engaged a large body of special constables, and also communicated with the military at Burnley, but quiet was restored in the evening without their interposition. The damage done was very great. Alderman Hooks house was attacked, and an immense frontage of glass destroyed. AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. AN important letter on this subject has been aO - by Lord Ashburton to a select committee of the board of guardians of a Hampshire union, of which his lordship is a member. The misapprehen sions that have prevailed both "aa to the exact nature of the return desired from us, and of the motives of the Government in desiring it," are alleged by Lord Ashburton as the reasons for his communi cation. The following are the principal paragraphs of his letter " With regard to the first point, the Government does not require the a 1111 l unt of each Males stock, or the extent of each man's cultivat• : such a return would he too emobrous for use, too expensive fur p u bli c ation. The il ove nnuent wants the sums total, nut the items of which those sums total are composed. It seeks no more to mark out and distinguish the return of each occupier, the n we seek to murk out and distinguish each brick of whit h our house is built up. The house must be rut together brick by brick, anti the return for the three kingdoms must be gathered item by item ; but the items which compose the sum total will be as much lost in the mass and aggregate of the whole, as the bricks which compose the house are lost in the mass and magnitude of the building. "The next question is, Why does the Government de• sire these statistics? What is its motive? " It appears to me that the wonder is, not that the lovernment should now endeavour to collect agricultural statistics, but that it should never have sought to do so be fore. It has now for ninny consecutive years spent large sums in order to collect, digest, and publish the statistics of trade, shipping, and manufactures, for the use of the merchants, shipowners, and manufacturers ; why should not some little money have been spared to do as much for us ? Is it consistent with good sense that every month the public should have paraded before their eyes, and canvassed in every newspaper, the tons of shipping anti the pounds of cotton which have entered anti quitted our ports, and that no intimation should be given from year's end to yeses end of the food prepared and preparing for a i t °pies sub. stence ? " Is our industry so unimportant, our capital so minute, that no note should be taken of its condition ? " The great corndealers have long frit the necessity of collecting sonic such information for their own guidance. Mr. Saunders, of Liverpool, told the House of Commons committee, in 1S:13, that he employed agents to travel over the corn districts, and report to him both the cultivation said the yield. " Now, what is the consequence of this partial know ledge enjoyed by some few men to the exclusion of the mass? Mr. Saunders and his class can operate on the market fur many days before we, the bulk of the selleis, become aware of th e true circumstances which regulate the price of what we have to sell. " Some ten years ago the same advantage was enjoyed by the great money-jobbers on the Loudon Stock kx change. They kept their couriers travelling from city to city, and obtained information five or six days in advance of the ordinary poet ; they made rapid fortunes at the ex pense of the public ; but now the electric telegraph has placed all upon a level. The publication of these statite tics will produce the same good on the Corn Exchange. " There is a further consideration which should influ ence our judgments. and I therefore mention it. though it may touch upon politics. Not only does the farmer suffer for want of statistics in his contest for price with the great dealer on the Corn Exchange, but be suffers also from the same want in his content fot consideration and political power with other elasses on the meat stage of life. "1 have no doubt, in my own mind. but that the capital we employ, and the Produce we raise. exceed in value all the capitals and all the produce besides raised in this great manufacturing country; but 1 have no figures to appeal to: I can only speak from conjecture. " When. therefore. next year, or when at any future time, it shall be proposed to make a mow appointmoot of power