Star. — London, England, 1826-10-20 00:00:00

NUMBER 12,382.3 VICTUALLINGLOPTICS, OsOther I, lass. THE COMMISSIONERS for VICTUALLING his menurrs Astl7, thereby silo notice That on TtSESDAY, the S4th instant, they will he ready to receive Tenders in writing (sealed up), and treat for the sappily et the undermentioned articles, viz. Vane Hundred Tons of MUSCOVADO SUGAR, Eighty Tons of COCOA, rifteen Tone of BUTTER, Fifteen Tons of CHEESE, Thirty Toes of NEW OATMEAL, Twenty Tons of NEW VIRGINIA LEAF TOBACCO, Pot Tons . of NEW BLACK SMYRNA RAISINS, Two Hundred Bags of KENTISH HOPS (growth of MO, Two Thousand Sir Hundred Sacks of BISCUIT MEAL, Two Hundred and Fifty Quarters of PALE MALT, One Hundred and Fifty Quarters of AMBER MALT, Ten Thousand Gallons of good, strong, full-bodied TENERIFFE WINE, Ten Thousand Yards of CALICO, Ten Thousand Yards of FLANNEL. The whole to be delivete4 hits his /laleaty'a Vietualikkg &onra at Deptford, One half by the Mb et s illovessaher, and the re snainder by the 24th of December next. AND ALIO MS Five Tons of EAST INDIA RICE; and Six Hundred Thousand WILLOW RODS, likewise delivered into the &ores at Deptford, the former Immediately, and the latter between the Ist December nest, and the Ist March, 1827, in equal monthly proportions. Samples of the Sager, Oxon, R 116134 and Rke,of not less than Three Pounds each; of the Oatmeal of net less than Three Quarts; and of the Malt of not less than One Quart, will be required to be produced with the Tenders. Samples also of the Willow Rods mast be produced with the Tenders: thosetif the Tenerife Wine, and the Calico and Flannel, will be exhibited at this Oiliee. The Conditions of the Contracts may be seen at this 01Bee. hach Tender must specify the price In words at length, and be delivered before One &Clock en the Day appointed, and the Person who makes the 'Ander, or some Person on his behalf, mnst attend to answer when called for. • M W.4LLER CLIFTON. VEN ABL ES, MAYOR. IN a MEETING or ASSEMBLY et the MAYOR, ALDER. MEN D and LIVERYMEN, of the sev e ral COMPANIES o f the C ITY of LONDON, ht COMMON HALL assembled, at the GUILDHALL of the said CITY, on Tininanav, the 19th day of October, 1826 Essourun UnantatousLY„ 9 1 11 AT the Thanks of this Common Nall b e g i ven to the Right Hen. Wia.usac Yasianna, Lord Mayor, for the seal, talent, and independence, with which he has discharged the important duties of his high station—for the dignity and hospitality with which he has upheld the ancient character of this City—and fir his uniform attention to the Privileges and Interests of all classes of his fellow atizens—but more especially for the judgment and firmness which he displayed during the late crisis of commercial embarrassment, whereby the dormant spirit of public confidence was called into action, and evils which threatened the most vital interests talk Country were averted. WOODTHORPE. VENABLE% MAYOR. In a MEETING or ASSEMBLY of the MAYOR, ALOIS& MEN, and LIVERYMEN of the several CO MPA N I ICS of the CITY of LONDON, to COMMON HALL assembled, at the GUILDHALL of the said City, on THURSDAY, the Ipth day of October, Mtn c RasoLtrato UPARUSOUSLY ‘ IFIHAT this Meeting contemplates with alarm and .416, dismay the present state of the Country, in which, after many years of profound peace, they sea the Agricultural and Manufac turing Population, to a melancholy event, dependent either upon charitable contribution or parochial relief--the Shipping and Com. mercial Interests depressed—the Public Revenue diminished, together with an increase of crime, alike frightful in its event and threatening in its consequences. That from whatever catues such &combination of evils may have arisen, it is the opinion of this Meeting that they have been greatly aggravated by the operation of the Corn Laws, which, adopted under the specious pretext of maintaining the general Agricul tural Interests of the Country, but really for the purpose of support. ing a high scale of rents—have exposed the Tenantry to fluctuations in the value of their produce hitherto unknown—vshilst the Agricul tural Labourers have, by the effect of these Laws, combined with other causes, been driven down into a state of the most deplorable degradation, and the advantages of Capital, Enterprise, and Taknt, possessed by the British Manufacturer, have been constantly inter fered with and controlled by the operation of Laws, the object of which has been to protect the exclusive interests of the Landlord, while the greater and more important and universal interests of the Consumer have been wholly overlooked. That since the brat enactment of these Law% in laid , the very alight securities they gave to the popular interests have been *rural times broken down by averages taken upon fraudulent and false returns; and that, upon a recent occasion, the Executive Govere. intent has seen the necessity of interfering, by an unconstitutional stretch of power, to arrest the progress of the evils which this per nicious system seemed, by its legal operatioo, likely to produce. That it appears highly important that the Legislators should be tailed upon to revise these Laws, and to allow at all times the IBM venation of Grain, under such replatiens as the general interests of the community demand. .That in making this appeal to the Legidature, it is the anxious wish cot this Meeting not to recommend any coarse inconsistent with the support of Public Credit, which, at the cootrary, it is their wish strenuously to uphold; bat that, to avert the possibility of so great an evil as would noemearily arise from a breach of faith with the Public Creditor, it bosoms the duty of the Legislature to reduce the whole systma of titre ram Ripsaw', and to put an end to all unnecessary Establiaimenes, beds at Woe and abroad. That, by the adoption of a rigid system of ecenemy, and an honest application of all the resources of the Country, its character may be 11111111t1ined, the Putative may be diminished, and the welfare of all dusts of the People secured. And Drafts of Petitions to both Houses of Parlament, agreeably Anew, being prepared, were read and agreed to. Resolved Unanimously—That the said Petitions be fairly trans. scribed, signed by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, two Aldermen, the Sheriffs, and Twenty of the Livery, oa behalf of this Cornmon Hall. Reselfed Unanimously—That the Sheriffs, attended by the Re membrance', do wait upon the Right Honourable Lord King, and "queer his Lordship to present the Petition to the Right Honour able tie Hesse of Lords. Rasing linanimously..-That the Representatives for this City in Pastanannt be requested to present the Petition to the Hon. the Howse of Comsons. _ _ _ Resolved Useehisously—That the Representatives of this aty In Parliament be, mod they are hereby instructed, to support the said Petition in the Hen. the House of Commons, and by every means is their power to promote the object al these Reseludoos. Remind Unssinsessly—That the thanks of this Common Hall be gives se she Right Hon. Lord King, for his manly and patriotic *Bonbons in the House of Lords, en the Question of the Corn Laws. _ Reesteed Unambetou3ly—That the thanks of this Common Hall be given to thaffsel FeveU, E.g. the Mover, and John Dowering. leq. Seeming attlie Resehotknte and Petition, for the able manner is which they lave brawl* forwani the business of this day. WOODTHODPE. COMMON HALL CORN LAWS. A Meeting of the Livery was held yesterday to con sider the propriety of petitioning Parliament for a re peal of the Corn Laws, and a retrenchment of Public Expenditure. The usual Prockmadon having been made, The LORD Mayon said, that he had called this Com mon Hall to consider two questions—that of the expe diency of repealing the present system of Corn Laws, and of calling on the Government to revise the extrava gant system of Expenditure. The Requisition by which the Comm Hall was convened hav ing been read, hfr. Favatt. addressed the Liverymen. He never came berme them with more satisfaction than on the present day. Men of all parties had been consulted ; and this meeting was neither Ministerial nor Anti ministerial, neither Agricultural nor Manufactuting. Uuion was the principle, and old. England the watch word ; to uphold all the interests of the country was its 'object. Within the last twelve monthi very fearful signi had manifested themselves ; large bodies of ma aufacturers had been supported wholly by charity or by parochial relief; commercial credit had been shaken ; the shipping interest injured ; and the revenue dimi nished. What was the remedy ? Without ascribing all these evils to the Corn Laws, they were unquestion• ably a part of the cause, and tl,ey had at least a right to say that they aggravated the evil. The Corn Laws stood condemned for the last forty years, ever since the time of Adam Smith, in the estimation of all political economists. Those laws now condemned themselves, for it was found necessary to suspend their operation, in order to avert the most mischievous consequences. Bonded Corn, from its unwholeiome quality, had proved the destruction of many excellent horses, and was pro ductive of all the imposition arising from fraudulent , averages. Though they might be called good protect ing laws, they were certainly "more honoured in the breach than in the observance."—(Hear).—He did not like laws of such a character as t require occasional suspension. If no otherwise objectionable, they were to be regarded with jealousy on the principle suggested by the Poet, that " Use doth breed a habit." It should be recollected that James the Second lost his Crown by an unconstitutional suspension of law, and though the na tion might be willing enough to grant an indemnity to Ministers for dispensing with the inconvenient law under consideration, it was to be apprehended that the prece. dent thus raised might lead to the suspension of good laws Irsome future day. About two centuries ago, in the reign of Edward the Sixth, it was penal to deal in corn, but it was shortly afterwards discovered that there were two uses in corn; one, as an article of consump tion, and the other, as an article of merchandise. For a considerable period then following, England became an exporting country. Subsequently our ports were thrown open to foreign grain, and up to the period of 1815, we were an importing country. By the discus sions of the press they had arched at certain great facts: one of these was, that a deir loaf is as injurious to the agricultural labourer as to the manufacturer; another was, that high prices of corn were not good for farmers. He then adverted, in terms of the highest praise, to Mr. Whitmore's pamphlet.We were,he said, ourselves a pretty snug little island, and if we had not eight hundred mil lions of debt, meaty-one millions of the interest of which was dependent on the Customs, we might do with less foreign trade. But unless commerce could be maintained, the agriculturist must be ruined. The . agriculturist would not like to be left to pay the whole interest. They were now about to call upon a new Parliament for re trenchment and economy. Reduction of taxes must take place, but it was nt,t to affect the public debt ; for the public credit must be held sacred. Ministers, he was ready to admit, were not at present on a bed of roses. Mr. Favell then said that he had much hope from the new Pediment. The County of Surrey was something better than it had been; the four Members for London were as good as a dozen others, though he was afraid, unless they were well supported by the people, they would be overcome by the numbers from Cornwall. He concluded by moving the first resolution, which, after adverting to the various distresses of the country, ended by tracing the evil effects of the Corn Laws, and recommending the Legislature to admit corn at all times, under a regulated duty ; and by stating the necessity for a reduction of the public expenditure, in order to uphold the public credit, and the welfare of all classes. the Corn Laws, petitions against these laws covered the table of the House, but they passed the Bill never theless, because this also put money into their pockets. Those who gained all in times of trouble, were un willing to part with any portion in the calm which fol. lowed, and they were now adhering to their gripe, not withstanding universal distress, and the ruin of com mercial interests. When the Chancellor of the Ex chequer brought in his Budget, he told the public that 21,000,000 of taxes had been taken off by means of an increase in the exports. But this was is fact saying just nothing ; for, if before a person gained sixpence by the sate of three articles, he was now obliged to sell four articles to gain just as much. The jargon of land owners was perfectly unintelligible, when they affected to commiserate the poor firmer, who found it so diffi cult to procure a livelihood, and when they talked of the necessity of a protecting duty to affect that object. This was the language of,the Upper; House, who were themselves represented) by the Lower House ; and it Malt no more than this—A Reduce as Much as you please is all, other clatters of finance, but do not voa. tine to touch our rents."—(Heer, hear). “ We, who are 72,000 strong, ought lb live in palaces; no matter, how extensive may be the distress of the lower-orders—' we are not to fall to the level of our fellow English men.'? The poor man, whose industry once produced him thirty shillings a week, most now be content to receive twenty shillings for the same measure of labour; but the rich man, whose income amounted to 20,0001. a year; would not listen to the reduction of a single thonfland. He would, however, tell them, that if the poor man should fail of procuting corn cheap, he would be sure to get it fop nothing—Wear, hear). — lie not mean to say that this would be effected by riot. No, the people were now iirown too sensible and intelligent for such a course. They would not be in duced to commit riot—even to please the Aristocracy —(A laugh).—But if their labour was uwivailable to their support they would go to the workhouse, and there be supported at the expense of those whose per verse and unwise policy chkew such a butthen on them. selves. It was notorious that the landowners paid the labourers not mere than seven :billings a week for work worth fifteen, and the poor man was thus thrown upon parochial relief, to woke up the deficiency. This tended to.induce service habits, and thus the landowners were not only starving the people, but destroying the energies of their minds, and turning them flour inde pendent citizens into abject slaved--(Hear). The agri-• cultural interest was indisputably most important ; but lithe manufacturer mere in danger of starvation, be would emigrate to some other country, where his labour might be beneficially exerted, and it would be found utterly impossible to retain twenty millions of slaves. The peculiar mark of the present times was selfishness, and it was no great wonder, for when the pocket and the belly were touched, every man began to provide. with anxious care for himself, his wife, and his imme dine family. But in no quarter was selfishness so observable as in the highest orders of the State : witness the attempt made to increase the salary of the Presi dent of the Beard of Trade from three thousand to five thousand pounds, at the very moment when the loudest complaints were made of universally pervading distress. He would pay no attention to what people said, he would only regard what they did. He would call for immediate reduction in the Military Establishments and in Tithes. Rats had gar between the timbtra of our bark, and there was no hope but in the life-boat of It-- form. He had but one further remat k to make: if those who talked of Reform did not reform themselves, they could have no sincerity. It was the bounden duty of every man to commence the work of reform in his own department • Mr. Howr having been received with liud cheers, put forward his head interrogatively, as if distrusting the sound, and on its repetition, he began by saying— What I no hiss, Brother Liverymen I—(Load laughter). This was the first time he ever bad the honour to ad dress them there, that some tool of Government dii not lurk in their ranks to receive him with hisses. It was really strange; but perhaps he might redeem his cha racter and elicit the well-known sounds before he con. cluded—(A laugh). Those who precede) him had treated the-subject under discussion with great ability, but then their arguments were entirely theoretical.— He would therefore confine himself to practical illus trations of the truths they had endeavoured to impress. It was trut that whoever came before the country, and pledged himself to a repeal of the Corn Laws as the sole mode of relieving the public distress, was either an postor or was imposed upon himself. The Corn Laws were in fact only a part of the system of distress. It was mere cant to say that the English farmer was not the same in character now that he was a century ago, with the exception of the distress arising from taxation. No doubt he shared in the temporary extravagancies of his neighbours, and he (Mr. Hunt) had recently seen a green grocer's daughter playing away at her piano with as much taste as any farmer's daughter in the country. —Facts were stubborn things, and he would prove by facts, that the agricultural interest was not equally be nefitted by a change in the times. Within the last forty years rents were tripled, and in order to an equalization of benefit, it would be necessary that the price of corn and of labour should be tripled also. But this was not the case. To prove this proposition by a case--forty years ago the estate of J. Benett, Esq. M.P. for Wilts, was let for 6001. a year. The same estate now pro. duced its owner 180 W. a year. Forty years ago the farmer got 20s. a sack for corn ; and he now could get no more than 275. for the same quantity. Forty years ago the labourer was paid six shillings a week, but he now received no more than 7s. For 6s. he could then procure 14 or 15 quartern loaves ; he could get bacon for 4d. per lb. butter and cheese proportionably low ; but now he could only procure ten quaitern loaves for 7s. and all the other articles were dear in similar pro portion. In fact, while the landowner was benefitted 300 per cent. the farmer was benefitted on 46 .7 5 n, and the labourer not more than 15 per cent. be was young, there were not more than three reputed thieves in the parish where he lived, but now there w ere scarcely as many reputed honest men there. This melancholy change in the character of the people was attributable to their distresses, aid the oppressive systom pursued, Mr. Bowaido, in seconding the motion, observed, that the great bulk of the community was interested in cheap bread. The effects of the Corn Laws had led to a most alarming degradation of the people. The little farmers of the last age had been swept away; the bold peasantry, of whom our ancestors acre so proud, had been annihilated. He held in his hand a letter front one of the first ports in Europe, which said that there were 500 cargoes ready to be exported ; but which, owing to our laws, could not be sent away. The Pole and the Rus sian were half clothed, the English peasant half stirred. The former had plenty of corn, the latter plenty of cloth ing. Both were desirous to exchange; but then came a fragment of aristocracy, in the shape of an Act of Parliament, which said, 44 You shall not ; the English peasant shall starve, and the Pole shall go naked:— After paying a high compliment to the Ministry, he (Mr. B.) went on to say, that they could do nothing un less the people declared their will loudly, perhaps im peratively. All the privileges of this country had been absolutely nullified by that incubus, the Corn Laws.— Yet all the talents and industry of this country were to be thrown away, because a handful of individuals chose to put in their pockets a few shillings out of the pounds that were extorted from the people. *Mr. STEVIMS said, that the evils we were now ex periencing had sprung from principles which had been long operating ; the monopoly against which this meet. ing was met, was not a monopoly of agriculturists, but of the landowners. Were not these landowners the legislators of the land? and when they met to legislate for the peyple, did they not too frequently legislate for themselva only ? In 1815, when petitions poured in from all parts of the 'country against the Income Tax, they repealed the tax, because they then put, money into their pockets. When they were about to plus I fi n i We, Cent 41 /4 "- •:" ..-..., 1 ''' f:4'. ,.,\ . ,!, ' ~ • ,i WV' ~, i ?,_,:. ~.-:; - "-_, Is z ...: . A i• v I :c.. 1 ..., * ~, .:.: --• / „ -- A . " ' A . .''• ' ' (r 0 ff I - 1 - • •„! I. ik.,... , • x , - , .. r , Y 1 . (1r( 5....0/11111 je 0 ... 4010 AIIII qr , . . . '• • FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20, 1826. ~^ [PRICE SEVENPENCE. i i i li 1 . 1 . . i which had the effect of demoralizing the country.— Forty years ago his father paid two - pounds less for a farm, tithes and all, than he himself now paid to the Clergyman alone. He gave much credit to Messrs. Canning, Hnskisson, and Robinson, for what they h a d already done, and be h o p e d they w ould do more. Mr. Hunt, after a few further observations, proceeded to deliver his opinion of the present Administration in terms little suited to the style of eulogy in which a few moments before he spoke of the Ministry, and alluded to the character of Lord Castlereagh in language too repulsive for repetition. He gave a short sketch of the system which he would pursoe if a Minister, the leading trait of which was, the confiscation of all Royal, Eccle- siastical, and Corporate property. He concluded with a heatty expression of support to the Resolutions. Mr. WILIGUT said a few words on the same side; The ant Resolution having been carried, it was vossived that Petitions founded upon it should be preseoted to botb Houses of Parliamknt, and that dut Representatives of the City of London should be hutructed to support their prayer. Alderman Wm, hoped it was not aesesliatilli him 1 to *dare bow aglow ho was to follow dr e tteg of his fellis.cidneas on everything wh to promote the general good of the country. In the pre sent instance his conviction was in unison with theirs, and be felt assured that the landed and commercial in. tereits of the nation would be , equally benefitted by the furtherance of their views. Alderman WAITHINAN said, that he would have great pleasure in supporting the prayer of their petition. In 181.5 be took an active part in opposition to the enact ment of the Corn Laws, and the Resolutions which he I then had the honour to draw up, were signed in the course of three days by no less than 60,000 persons. They were in substance the same as those now proposed, and he concurred in the observations which bad been made upon them. He congratulated them upon the unanimity, firmness, and good temper, with which the proceedings of the day had bee n conducted. It was ever his principle and maxim, that a Member of Par liament should represent the whole community, and not barely a particular portion of electors, and on the same principle he would conceive it dishonourable in them to seek any thing from Parliament inconsistent with the general advantage of the State. He looked on the re. peal now sought to be in favour of the real and per manent interests of the landowners, as well as of the commercial 'and manufacturing population. It was with the body politic, as with the body natural, no one part could enjoy sound and perfect health, unless a wholesome circulation was kept up throughout the en tire system.--(Applause.)—After arguing the constitu tional effect of the repeal of the Corn Laws, he con cluded by promising his warm support to the prayer' of the petition. Mr. Alderman Titomrsohr said, that, although the I discussion had been protracted to so great an extent, he could not forego the satisfaction he felt in declaring his readiness to co:operate with his constituents in that great and, in his opinion, necessary object. the Repeal of the existing Corn Laws—(Applause). The sentiments of the Livery were in unison with those which he had always maintained and expressed,when an opportunity had been afforded to hint. The system of the, Corn Laws was, it appeared to him, decidedly unjust, and grievous to the interests of the manufacturer and tradesmai.— He trusted. that the forcible language in which t! e Resolutions were expressed, would not fail to excite in other great corporate bldies a disposition to co. operate with the City of London in this struggle, and thereby enable them the better to diminish the power and influence which would be exerted to maintain the present system—a system not entitled to any respect on the ground of the antiquity of its origin, nor cer tainly for any scintilla of benefit it had rendered the nation ! They were asking for the revival of the old system of the Corn Laws, and the abolition of a mischievous innovation upon them—(Loud applause.) In the early p rrt of his late Mjesty's reign, corn was admitted to home consumption on payment of a mo derate duty. When the price of the quarter of wheat did not exceed forty-four 'boffins, the duty payable on the importation of foreign corn was only 24 6d. They were asking for no popular theory. but for that practical system which experience had taught them worked wel4 and had contributed to raise the country to its greatest prosperity. Since 1815, the fluctuations of prices tad been ruinous to the cultivator of the soil. Othe r hi g hly injurious consequences had flowed from this cause, affecting other into ests. 'Had they not seen the master manufacturer and the workman brought into collision-- the one trying to reduce, the other to raise wages? Al. the great branches of industry had been paralysed, while the foreign ports were filled with grain, perishing for want of a market, and ready to be exchanged for the manufactures which were refused them. The Li. very were asking for the application of the same prin. ciples to agriculture which had been already applied t, commerce. The manufacturers of this country were no longer protected by bounties in the market abroad, nor at home by prohibitions. The Livery, in fine, were asking that the landed interest should surrender a grievous monopoly, at variance with every . principle of wisdom and justice. While the system lasted, how could they complain of the foreigner who refused to admit English goods, while his own produce was ex cluded from this country? This system had mainly contracted the sphere of the commercial operations of England. For his own part, he(lklr. Alderman Thomp son) was so convinced of its injustice, that he would be ready at his post, when the Petition was presented, and he would support it to the utmost of his ability. He felt confidence in Parliament. He was sure that talent and intelligence would there be found adequate to trace the cause of the difficulties of the country to their real source, and, be would add, virtue and integrity sof& cient to apply the needful remedy. The worthy Alder man was loudly cheered on the conclusion of his speech. Mr. Wass said be did not come for the purpose of influencing the decision of Ms constituents. He would be most happy to be the means of conveying their sentiments to Parliament.---(4,fouse.) On the modal of Mr. Ho= thanks were voted to Lord King. for his patriotic and manly exe rtions in Parliament. Thanks were also voted to Mr. Fara and the Lord Mayer. Ma Louisan, in expressing a grateful eenee of the honour demo him, bade farewell to his fellow-citizens, and said that if ever he appeared before them in any other capa city than that of a Magis trate, it would be more In accordance with their wants and wishes, shalt with his own intikation.