The Sun. — London, England, 1846-01-22 00:00:00

WM' NVI 1) - as held o 4 the chv: .;SLt ecte( l . Ref j, Cubit t ' • : maein Tylor,.4bP d the e0o5: cy, an eved ug rde and pear It 3ual rePt to t Ictly If i es tioT o PPeu"'9s4oo reg • lesa ,lu .. the at P rtoi I deo , — 0 7 ool i t ni ic lo• a nu t ya inorP ° , ,ere ma t Fe t 9 ' 3 ' the li,„, _.„,p f detelo4 1331 ENG 12 •• • vo at, clued lentil th e del!Aiv raP l st ° abE e w eto corn H ero i Cen - . 6 4 trS l intep r° nfl s HE EXPIIESS EDITION. is in itself a sound principle, and agriculture being a branch of domestic industry, is entitled to a share of that pro tection. It is said, that in a country encumbered Ivit'a an enormous cr bt, and liatle to an enormous taxation, it is necessary that domestic industry should be pro tected from fereign competition—as necessary to the great body' of the community. It is necessary however that the labouring classes of the community should not be omitted in this arrangement ; it is but right that wages should vary with the prices of food, that high prices should imply high wages, and that low wages should be a concomitant of low prices.—(Cheers.) If I admit that land is entitled to protection on account of its peculiar burdens, it is a question of justice rattle r than 'one of policy.—(Hear, hear.) I have always felt that if we uphold this argument, it is still liable to removal by compensation. The three first ob jections to the removal of protection are objections feunded on public policy, and the last is fouteded on public justice ; but by granting compensation we re move the latter objection. I do not want to arrogate to my self that which has been used a priori by other per sens. I want to deprive none of them of the credit to which they are justly entitled ; and I confess that my own opinion has been greatly modified by the experience of the last three years.—(G rent cheering from the Opposition benches.) I have had opportuni ties of comparing from day to day the results which have followed during the last three years, from that principle on which you have been acting for some years pest, 'lamely, the gradual removal of protection to agri culture. 1 !we hail the opportunity of comparing the results of those ye ars. I have watched them; and the affect of the policy has been, that during tile last four or fire years, I have found that the arguments of those who advocated protection are per fectly untenable. I believe that the rates of wages vary with the prices of food. I do not believe that when prices are high wages are low. I do not believe it is impossible fi it me to coincide in the opinion; it is utterly impossible fur me to contend that protection to domestic ire( ustry is disadvantageous to the country. With regard to the other argument that because we have a high rate of taxation, it. is impos sible for us to compete with foreign industry—l have submitted it also to the test of the last three years, and so far as the experience of those years justify me, the argument is a fallacy. I have seen from the experience of the last three years, ending October last, that while prices were comparative low wages were high, and at no time were wages for labour higher than then. But taking the three years preceding, I found that there were high prices and low wages. I cannot, then, resist the impression that prices vary with the prices of food. Now, as to the state of trade, as I have said before, we have hitherto for some time been acting upon the prin ciple ofremoving prohibitions and reducing duties, that is to say, in doing away with protection. Well, what has been the result ? I will just read a statement of the re sults of these measures from the year 1842. Beginning with the year 1839, I find that the amount of British produce exported was over fifty-three millions ; in 1840 it was fifty-one millions ; in 1841 fifty-one millions ; in 1842, forty- seven millions ; in 1843, to fifty-two millions ; and, in 1844, to fifty-eight millions—thus showing a great increase since the year 1842. For in that year the amount was 47,381,000 L, and, in 1844, it amounted to 58,530,0001.—(Hear, hear.) Well, but it may be said that this increase has been owing to our trade with China. Now, I shall deduct all that, and then state the result. I see by the returns, then, that in 1842 our trade with all other countries, except China, amounted to 46,411,0001., and in the year 1844 they had increased by ten millions. With regard to the last year we can give the accounts up to only the eleven months previous to December, 1845. In the year 1843, the exports of all the principal articles of British pro duce amounted to over forty-one millions ; and in 1844, they amounted to 47,312,000/. ; while in 1845, they had further increased, and amounted to 47,764,000/. These results prove that they are the consequences of the re moval of protection, and that such protection ought not to exist in a highly-taxed country like this. —(Hear, hear.) Then with regard to the Customs duties, the reductions I proposed in them were to this effect. In the year 1842 I proposed to reduce the Customs revenues by 1,438,0004 and in 1844 I proposed a still further reduction in that department of 273,0001. ; and in 1845 I proposed the enormous reduction of 2,418,000/.—(Hear, hear.) The reductions which I have made in the several imposts on the foreign commodities amount to 4,129,0004 and yet notwithstanding that this large amount has been withdrawn, the revenue of the country has not been re duced. I ask then whether the expectation which I en tertained at the time these reductions commenced has been real ? why the absolute advantage which the coun try has enjoyed, apart from the relief given by these re ductions, is upwards of 1,500,000/. In taking my estimates last year I made an allowance of 1,000,000/. for the re duction of the Excise duties. I made a similar allowance for the reduction of the duties on glass, and on auctions; and in regard to those duties, it should be observed that there was nothing there to make a return for the reduc tion of the duty. It was not like a reduction to one half or one quarter of the previous duty, where the increase in the consumption of the article makes up for the deficiency of the rate charged upon the article. In these cases the taxes were entirely swept away, and there was a total abolition of the tax. I felt that by vivifying other branches of industry I should be able to make up for the deficiency which I thus occa sioned; and I ask the House whether I have not been fully justified in the expectation which I entertained. in making my estimate last year, I allowed far a reduction of 1,000,000/. in the Excise, but I have no reason to believe that the produce from that branch of the revenue will be more this year than it was last. Yet there has been no salient point from whence to spring ; but the result has been entirely owing to the natural progress of national pros perity, arising out of the great reduction of taxation. If we were to take a comparison of the estimates of the several years, we shall find that in the Customs' duties alone there has been an increase of more than 2,000,000/. In 1843 there was an improvement over 1842, and in 1842 over the year preceding. In 1842 the Customs duties produced 19,961,0004 and now they are upwards of 20,0(10,0001., although there has been a reduction of no less than 4,129,000/. Taking the reduction of duties into consideration, I believe that I shall be justified in asserting that the improvement in that department has been upwards of half a million. But I will now take a more important matter into consideration—a more important matter than either trade, commerce, or revenue unques tionably important as all are. I will take the moral state of the country, and I am happy in stating that during the last year there has been a large reduction in the amount of crime. 'The number of offences has within these 12 months been greatly reduced in the country. In 1845 the nutnber of commitments was 24,305, that is 2,237 less than during the preceding year, namely, 1844. This was a decrease of 51 per cent. on the year before. In 1842 the reduction was 51 per cent. In 1844 it was 3 7-10th ; in 1845 it was 5i per cent. as I learn from the communication from the several quarters ; and that is to me a source of grea, gratification. That is the fact. that this reduction is chiefly observable in the chief manufacturing districts, and in some of the chief manu facturing towns, while on the other hand, the reduction of political offences has been equally great in the agricul tural districts. In Wales there is perfect quietude, and not a single offence of dissaffection or sedition has keen committed throughout the whole of the Principality. The Attorney-General's office has been, for the last two years a sinecure —(Hear, hear)—for daring that period there has not been a single prosecution for any offence against the State—(Hear, hear, and cheers) — in the years 1840, 1841, and 1842. Now, let us listen to this serious state of things in these three years. There were 1,257 committed upon charges of sedition and riotous conduct. In the years 1843, 1844, 1845, there were 124 persons instead of 1,257. In the last year there was not a single one. In the year 1845 there were 422 persons sentenced to the punishment of trans portation, less than in the year 1843. In the last three years there were 1,701 less sentenced to transportation, than in the three preceding years. g t o prices produceandm p thtiemne,stoofreesoismt pthaeractoinvceluasbiuonn: thisco arati comparative beneficial re s abundance ult. Nhoawv,e these cno - d t N t rhaioanbwtcue'tl.eotdhwliss th possible,as b ee n d l u s r a i y n are great social benefits. I do not say they are the necessary results of it, but I do say they are concnrrent with a diminution of protecting duties (Hear, hear). Well, have these advantages been obtained by any serious detriment to that great in terest whose welfare should be the constant object of our care, the agricultural. Protection to them has been diminished, and I have been the object of much attack for diminishing these duties, and deeply should I regret if these great social advantages to which I have alluded had been accompanied with any serious injury to agri culture. Now, let us see what has been the efft et of articles ot . re ducing the duty up on the four great o ur imports. In the year 1824, theprotecting duty on . flax was 10 / 14 s. 6d. It is now comparatively nothing. Protection having been• re moved, what has been the result . 2 What is now the price of Irish flax ? In the year 1843 the prices of fine flax in the market of Belfast was from 65 to 70. In the year 1844 the prices were from 64 to 68, and in January, 1846, the prices now are from 70 to 80. There is no such fear from a reduction of duties on our importations, nor indeed is there any cause for the alarm raised by some Hon. Gentlemen who have given expression to their feelings on the subject of protection. The taking off the duties from foreign cattle was pre dicted to be highly injurious to the agricultural interest. Now what is the fact with respect to that prediction ? In 1843 there were 1019 foreign horned cattle imported, and in 1844 there were 2899, and in the last eleven months there were not less than 12,000 ; but it is not proved that this increase has been detrimental to the agriculturist of this country, In the year 1844, the contract for storee for the navy was 31. 18s. sd. per tierce, and it is now 6/. Bs. bd. This latter price -s the one now paid for the navy contract and this proves beyond all doubt that, not withstonding the free importation of cattle, the article has nearly doubled, or at least very considerably increased in cost; and this, I think, cannot be de nied ttA as an argument against those, who ex pressed so mach alarm on the repeal of this duty. It cannot be denied that the price has not more than kept pace with the import Now there was no article which caused so much alarm as lard.—(Cries of "Hear, hear," and great laughter.) In 1840 there were only 97 cwt. of foreign herd imported into this country. In 1842, when the duty on its urn portationwas repealed, 48,000 cwt. were introduced ; in 1844, 76,000 cwt. ; and in 1845, I believe it will be found that above 80,000 cwt. had been introduced. Now what has been the price of domestic lard ? In 1844 it was 455, per cwt. ; 1845 it was 67a. ; and in January of the present year, nt4"withstanning' these enormous importations the increase in price has been from 48s. to 625. in 1845 and 675. in this y ear.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") Now there is only one other article which is of great importance and which demands the Most serious attention, and that is the article of wool. I was pprstuicieo ifils4i that it wile exiseflient that th v no other monopolies in this country ?—(Hear.) What do you think of the Eaet India Company ? what do you think of the Bank ? and vy aat do you think of the hundred others? If you consent to mak.? further iuroed into and get rid of proteeCoe, you will have to pull down the house and rebuild it re to the :commencement.—(Cheers.) I will ask e he ther the Civil List will remain. I will ask if a single salary in this country gill remain if yen at once destroy the protectiva duties of this country. My Lords, I for one will not give yo rt Lordships the trouble of voting upon an amendment upon the present occasion ; but I. enter my protest, my solemn protest, against that clause in the peech, which is contrary to every principle which the present Govern ment has ever brought forward from the Speech of 1839 up to the present moment. I know nothing of what their measure is, but I have a right to speak strongly, because I happen to be one of those who are of opinion that no relaxation of the corn laws should be made. What have we said respecting these little mea sures brought before Parliament by the present Govern ment, against which I end some of your L.e.dships voted, only that they were steps towards free trade. We, fortunately, voted against them; but Sir Robert Peel has contrived, by his eloquence and by his soothing speeches, to get a large number of Members of both Houses of Parliament to place con fidence in him. My Lords, that confidence may exist still in some quarters, bat I beg to say that it exists nut in the large body of the middle classes of this country. What is the fair, Open, honest, English manner in which the farmers of this coun try have come forward on a thee cecasion They do not ask .you to reject the measures to be pro posed. No ! But they come to you, and they say to the Government, " You came into office pledged to pro tection ; you have thought fit, we know not why—we care not to impute motives, but we say you ought not to carry out these meneures without appealing to the coun try."—(Cheers.) It must be a bad case indeed when a Minister does nut dare to face what is called a poeular question on the hustings.—(Cheers.) We ask for no more. We ask for a clear stage and no favour. We ask you to appeal to the country to know whether or not these modern innovations are to he admitted, and to know whether we ought to be made dependant upon foreigners for a supply of that which we can produce ourselves. I think the House has a right to demand from her Ma jesty's Government the reason of their sudden changes. I know not what to call them. These reasons are only known to some ; dozen individuals on the opposite side. I think the country has a right to inquire why they threw up their offices, and if the protective duties were in any danger.--(Hear, hear.) My Lords, I feel that your Lordships will take this question into consideration, and will do your duty to your Sovereign and your country; and that you will lavish from your minds the Minister who proposes these measures. My Lords, Ido not on this occasion intend to offer any factious opposition to the Address, but I do intend, and I do trust, your Lord ships will aid me in offering every fair opposition to the proceedings of the Minister. We have heard a great deal about the disease in the potatoes, and we have suffered in Eugland as Nell as in Ireland. There wiil be plenty of opportunities for discussing this ques tion. But I beg to enter my solemn protest against that part of her Majesty's Speech which threatens the ruin of the agricultural interests, and this House, I think, is entitled to know the reasons why they have come to such a decision. The Duke of WELLINGTON—My Lords, the Noble Duke states that he will not offer any amendment to the Address, as proposed. He has camplained of the omis sion of all allusion to the corn-laws in the Speech from the throne. My Lords, it is not necessary in this House to fellow my young friend in his observations on the conduct of the Ministry.—(Hear, hear.) Nor de I think it necessary to make any allusions to the Address moved by my Noble Friend, as I beg to in form your Lordships those measures will he brought before the House in a very few days.—(Hear.) I entreat your Lordships to consider whether now it is right to expect me to make any explanation such as that which the Noble Duke requests.—(Hear, hear.) I hope it will not be insisted upon that any such matters will be entered upon ; but I entreat you now to adopt the Address, and leave. explana tions to another time. Respecting such a ques tion as that which has been put by my Noble Friend, regarding the resignation of her Majesty's Ministers ; the Noble Duke who has put it, has been a privy coun cillor himself, and knows what a privy councillor of the Sovereign must keep the counsels of the Sovereign secret. I cannot, therefore, state here what has passed in that privy council, without obtaining the previous per mission ot the Sovereign. Betore my Noble Friend had .asked the question, he should have given notice of his intention of doing so, in order to afford an oppor tunity of the necessary permission from her Majesty preliminary to such explanation being given. Had I known that such a question would have been asked, I should have obtained permission to make a statement in answer to it But why should the question be put on the first night of the session ? Such a course is not usual. The public interests require that the counsels of the Sovereign should be kept secret. It is nO doubt convenient that sometimes what takes place should be revealed, but as a general rule the secrets of the council cannot be revealed without obtaining the pre vious permission of the Sovereign. This is the first in stance in which such a question has been put without previous notice, and no one present can deny that the secrets which it involves should be at present stated. The Duke of RICHMOND said he would be glad to give notice of his intention to ask the question, though he could not but wonder that his Noble Friend had nut ex pected that such a question would have been asked, and therefore have been prepared for it by obtaining the previous consent of the Queen. He would now give no lice that to-morrow night he would ask the qnestion of his Noble Friend. Lord STANLEY said e —Although he had the per mission of her Majesty to make any statement ifs refer ence to the subject that was under the consideration of the House, in reference to the circumstances connected with his resignation, he thought the present time was not a proper one for going into explanations. Still, without going into details he would state briefly the rea son wby he had separated from those colleagues with whom he had acted for the last four years. Although dif ferences had existed which led to his separation from the Ministry, he still entertained for those with whom he had hitherto co-operated the most unfeigned regard and esteem.—(Hear, hear.) He could not state all the grounds that had led to his retirement, without also stating the measures that were then under the consideration of her Majesty's Cabinet. At the present he could not go into details, and therefore he could not vindicate his conduct, or afford all the explanations necessary why he bad abandoned the position he had held. Since that time those measures may have been altered and modified, or others may have been introduced in their stead ; but, in reference to them as they then stood, he would only make the state ment that on one measure, and one only, there was a difference between himself and his colleagues. On all the others they were agreed. The measure to which he referred had relation to the degree and nature of protection that was to he afforded to the agricultural interest.—(Hear, hear.) The measure pro posed could not meet with his approval without a sacri fice of his consistency and convictions, which he was not prepared to make. The opinions of his col leagues during the past few years had undergone considerable change, but his own had not done so ; and he could not make himself responsible with them for the changes proposed. He therefore separated SUN-OFFICE, Half-past Eight. TTE RSALUS-THIS EVENING. SIX o'CLocK. CHESTER CUP. 33 to 1 agst Best Bower—t 3 3 to 1 agst Mickey Free—t 3 5 to 1 agst Wa 4 0 to 1 agst Whin rp stone—t 40 to 1 agst Ould Ireland 40 to 1 agst Mermaid—t 45 to 1 agst Aliss Burns—t 6 6 to 1 agst Mervis ll to 2 ags DERBY. t Sting 1 4 to I agst Brocurdo—taken 2 5 to 1 a g st 'ago—t a k en 30 to 1 agst Spithead—taken 30 to 1 agst Malcolm 30 to 1 ag s t Gi nger 35 to 1 ag , t Fan c y B oy 20 00 to 59 agst Humdrum. IMPERIA PARLIAMENT. (Tills DAY). "OUSE of LORDS. r, :I I e THE ADDRESS. e(ji tiotiEarl of (10,,,, , air. (in continuation from our Third cif her 3 m 4 1 : " - Nly Lord. I now come to that part o ne er - o .teety' s SPeech " in which there is brought kid t h e lir notice the prosperous state of the revenue, ar e ii .t4aerieral improvement of the country, and they E neas ti k ' res u eed ai sure symptoms of the success or past ie 1,40. went commerce, and recommend laleretio lat nent to take into their earliest con earritd 4 Whether the same principles may not be te d L e r with benefit to the country. And, h at i ng a• this 1. so part I approach with great timidity, g e l ) , b Jule experience of Parliament, and having so i . t Pres u e a e° 'ne a Member o• your House ; I therefore feel 41 1lij eet, Tlit!iou s in me to express any opinion upon this °Pon the'ling confident that I should throw no light Play feel: lli(..et; and fearing that I might arouse a ka ei , gby bringing; on a premature discus would estonasnbject which thmajority of your Lordships atal too _ Wer more fitting to be disposed of at another hav e n r_e Proper tinae-(Hear, bear) -and one which, I fake t " doubt, when; her Majesty's servants shall etiaed their views respecting it, may be dis nl eao With the utmost unanimity. I feel confident you arespe-rgratulate the Sovereign and the country on the ale e ° us state of the revenue and of the interests of 1 , ouatry gate b een ,a and that every Noble Lord, whatever . may sates all his opinions heretofore respecting the mea ereased t u t : "I to, will now rejoice that they have in- I N e nd wealth and the resources of the country, (A cta :übted evidence that they have produced these Pear, i l i ll he laid on the table of your Lordships.- ° tak e • e al%) I feel quite certain also, that when you t o si tosel l , nto v e o Tiside . rafi on the measures which .. will be e e "e of di . will do so with a disinterested blittiyaterte.tzetchideingin the way which will be most interests of the empire.-(Hear, hear.) tabl e .baring now addressed you to the best of my -tree: a1y..... ( ID s to p t o • hear, and c eering -o Hear, h ' ) n the 1,4". totet the Ines of her Majesty's Speech, I hope that °f lag the"exPerienee of Parliamentary business, and it h; addr e • fir3 t time that I have had the honour t ;I tl etis . 4Bll s so illustrious an assembly as L e l r eaio - ' 1 MaY not have been betrayed into any -atio g i 11 , Whieh might awaken a feeling of disappro °,lloa t r i l l th e Members of this' House. Having touched Vheref:ae subjecte to the best of my ability, 41 4v e tre re thsnk you for your consideration while I isai_ saassed on your attention, and, with de dress I will es t I read the words of the Address. (The Ad- N•Bile-,as thenread • of the ie - ere) ; it was a merely an echo 440 d b t a h rlcl said, I E ROS then rose to second the . Addre_ss, e a b le am much obliged to my Noble Friend for Add ress manner in which he has moved the : t benti o ' a nd I shall not, therefore, occupy your " 4 trib u te any length. I shall commence by paying a able ton to the Emperor of Russia for the honour -3,ertit:ll4" in which he has assisted her Majesty's `eate r , ent in establishing peace. It is a distinguishing Nar a (11. his country the manner in which he en (listing" the arts and sciences; and he himself has been e e „ nni gu e ished in his efforts to assist her Majesty's Go °f th e t .' e With regard to the convention of the King mobl e - D r ench as to the slave trade, I concur with my treat b ar that it will be the means of preventing eohie e barity and many horrors, and will promote a kr etre emulation between the two countries. With re• Rive n e t° the Oregon question, my Noble Friend has alia tev it n opinion in which I also concur, via., that Pao Net er Party o n t h at s i de of the water ma y do to s ess e irritati on b etween the two countr i es , th e good ~..iet,rees?! t he Americans, an d th e knowledge that their Alej e ,," are identified with ours, will enable her er ran ra Government to come to an am i cab le attvy , gcent. As t o t h e i ncrease o f the army and du t i es " Must be obvious to your Lordships that the . cr ess _ and labours of the colonial service are on the in osp _e ot _ . nd it would . not be fair to strain too hardly on k az ! s id ! e , rs and ailors there. The next topic in her je re t e Y o b mt p • e nli h ti l o s all in which I feel great interest-- he S t s a t t some endeavours . should be . i c ed to suppress the n sys t em of assassination in Ireland. ,_` should be the last man y to nposefany coercive measures 0 affect the general libertiespr but I do think thaat her Majesty's sub es,rdinary efforts of the law is nescoemsseatrymfgor Ireland. do not wish to be misunderstood, for Ido not refernte; t t l l b e whole of Ireland, but only to those districts where k a aystana is carried on ; and in those districts it is well eti wn that e his the whicht h e .. uc impunity with tl t i aPes, that Cea price of blood i s b roug h t as low as do r ee or four pounds. Under these c i rcumstances, I y eiir t hink that the state of I re l an d requ i res / oeLordships' serious cdhsideration.-(Hear, hear.) pr od 7__Nfer to the scarcity in the pot a t o crop. It has of ta r s ed, and may be expected to produce, a great deal ath oo nY• All who visit that country can speak to the an e e r lied hospit a lity in I re l an d ; b ut I t hi n k there is peevaiel v irtue not sufficiently apppreci a t e d, and which also Ne t , a to a most unbounded ext en t upon all oc hi so l of national distress. This charity, exerted ' 'eut t hp r aisevrorthy a manner, will, I think, pre tlittN. ° worst evils anticipated by the approaching l i or -s • We also know that there is great room l atit4Ployment in that country, and a great the i ht a for the outlay of capital. There was access to i t re "s er iei• of Ireland by water, there being no part of 41 el % th fifty miles trom the sea. With respect to far b e a aation of the prohibitory duties, it is a subject e alt Yle e 3'° , l4 ,d my experi e nc e ; so I will content myself by O'OC 'am what has b ee n done in this respect has not title o r that evil which was expected. The importa °aetiee foreign cattle has not, I believe, been pro ;Pieta ° l . ,_ any injury to the British farmer, ; 11 .1tir y '' near.) I da not . anticipate that any I.lareQhatever will follow the other contemplated re k•ol tel s i, i ° • All I will do is to draw the attention of your ' tent Ps to the measure which may be proposed, and : 41 11 (4 1, t o say that no measure will be produced that 11 ,. IC ec e,ive your just and dispassionate considera "me re ot; ° NY remains now for me, my Lords, to second sad The T ' n f , ll which Noble Friend has proposed. de e j u ß l) CHANCELLOR then put the question, A.ft e -a r i ed that the Contents had it. Thera i. eiv seconds, at to a la , uke of RICHMOND rose and said-I am not d t° aane u Priseel to see the desire which has been evince ThrpF.;,e,S,S discussion upon a, an - ' nj t 111) CHANC ELLOR-I beg the Noble Duke . muta te s state that. I waited deliberately for a few' ti iried L i ' and finding that the Noble Duke was not in- HOUSE OF COMMONS. 14 - use, I put the question and put it slowly. THE ADDRESS. I te ° e tl rder l) . eke perfectly should RICHMOND - HMOND-I am d- Sir the immediate cause which led to ti le I he Pee have listened with satisfaction Sir ROBERT . PEEL (in continuation from our Third re‘ri,,dresss ifeh of the Noble - Lord who moved Edition) said-Sir, et til ed th at ',..._ he had not iii. ar heard the statement calamity had . fallen fthe p t of his speech re• the dissolution of lh u e o G n ov tb er a n t m a e r n ti t clo wa o s f , fothoadtona which people of the United Kingdom, tdd re e tir nist :e should wait until we h t . .li toi. _ ol r. I have heard :my . Lords, enough in that a great portion o mainl for their subsistence. tio 7.r ) 1 ,01 v what the Minister 'titan to do.-(Hear, and still larger.numbe.rs,of theTsihsatetrwkaisntghdeom, immediatedei)end ns.) r e intends to withdraw protection.-(lnterru • for it would be unfair n d of u th u •_• g; 1 / 4 40 L o r e had mentioned the corn-laws at once. I defy Government • e e' t a t te in te u t a b : o say that the Speech just_ re ) ad does not candid on my part .if I laltiteachpeadrtieuenledrue cause This is portance to that subject. ite mittle g . lid v corn-laws. -(ReaF, hear. Ai, 111 la ; the compact which Sir Robert Peel appeared to require immediate decision. tbu l t t w an es ii ii e b e s i o e : difp re `i!ad s C 2 with the agriculturists, and which Inte necessary at the time alluded to th e tutie s, n e, the Secretary of State, said removed diate course tvneurlitiltbbee importation tliatZletilt lt ii t t . l was made for the purpose of securing to laws corn.-(Hear.) I :ati v o i n th of re c g o ' rn c . l 11114 15 e "% %119;;, t i at , 6 a permanent law. It was to secure I will not v s shrink topics now i e f from mh have lately expression agite o t f e d m opinions t y he%o rld, Y:itir,„fice -- ,„tw that the agriculturists acquiesced in upon those l p Ltoeti sae hog hear.) My Lords, I wish to draw nor will w d ithl t io u ld th fro h m ay t e he e p e u e b e li i c de t r h a a h t ly the e p it r e o r g e r d ess m o y t ° ,°nou s ,. - ,,:,;t Iv - „ t ,"" wha ' t Mr. Gladstone said in 1843. He reason an th ey -.ate to 411 lie unjust to the agriculturists, and dis- views upon these r o to t H m ea y r, ow l n ie o ar p . i ) oion l s w up il c l ai n t o h w e cli have undergone a change.-(Loud 13 rii:is taltd e a " p a L U 'oveinment and to the Parliament, if freely and openly topics. -(Hear, Sphere Ind u 1.99 -'all g. in the laws which protected subject of protection (1. is st ' whil e great and adequate ca ISea se . th e out a . on I claim the right to exer use. and long-continued . Opposition cheers.) Alike in a pub tiot 8 to eauso? Decidedly not the potato lie as a private situation . i e al o. Thelreland. No, my Lords, i •t was cise the privilege of yielding to the force of law a e first ;,, POtAt, upon the rusults of enlarged expe ,e 0 failure was assined as the reason argument . and , conviction - (Hear, hear) - and at lahy arltgue.an. 'ante, and promulgated It ma be sup life see rience.- (Renewed Opposition cheers.) y. . " .'-'l4 in the Anti-Corn- every time acting . the st - n Cohd` e '-ar, hear.) I cannot for my tisk til nanch e 11 ,should nut be made a Peer an . d sit on posed that there is something humiliating in the mewing v tith le People of tar• hear, and laughter.) I wish to of such a confession. I think no such thing.i . Al ieth ree in Pinion ugland and those persons who d u is_a_g uw re s e , (Cheers.) I have no intuitive capacity of a waa a determining what is right, but I k!a po `Tr th ey nil the question of the corn-laws, 1 11 44 caiv L ee a pprove of the course taken by the . Anti- confidence in the belief that .it would _. . _ Teague?,- H of th: een un cona. .( ear, hear.) I say their course a false conciliation indeed, if my opinions had under gon e a modification or change, to pretend to adhere i ts 4 ,3 c h ange. f ILI' uttonal and that they are the authors Cor dot as to 9pe this House will not so far abandonto thein.--(Cheers.) But then it became a question, 114 4.1,,, Le Permit itself to be intimidated by the Anti- which the House and the public have a right ask, whether the motives for changing them !gue ? or Ili a What i, by the money that body has raised. D., ! s serifie _tne time the Government asks us to make ii i i e ffic a ient and honest. Nothing could be more public man than to protect himself from Coen p e u ,_ to Popular clamour ? We find that Sir base . , li t th "asnotproduced _ a so re b pretending that no change had taken place titlo Itt ' °ll the c T n ione, while on the other hand it would be most ape e to take .ontrary, murders and assassinations con- in his op - tCnt and most urjust to his Sovereign ana his „ a eh, Sir Robert every day•-(Elear, hear.) In this inconsis , i ion seeingreason to alter his course of aetion t Peel come ountry i , tit f o il ., and alter those laws sto us, and asks tie to give 0 . d from making that alteration by the es. _ ih e benefit which every man knows ar•he is to be r• elude char e of inconsistency.-(Hear, heal:, and kverY eias • 9 not of the agriculturists alone, but of fear of the The h ear •) in the commu •t • g uestion, then, for me to deal . % with is, tr , .) I shall ni ).-(Loud cries of a Hear, cheers.) question, i change arc sufficient and motives for toe e the statementnow call your Lordship? attention whether the re those who contend that the f t a l . 183,,wien made by Sir Robert Peel in the just. Thera are t upon the import of a geea nnovarof ',lupe imen.s . l 'ietilt u • ,n he wanted office from the r e i of tealtests. tie then said, e necessary article commerce would ti o „ ,et he farmer will lf you take away pro- and very a ask you to et rid of all protec- be a source of great a it has dvantage, and heretofore these parties - - sci on e, - TY other article ." y IT g - ' - to combat the osition of ate ' - -t ' pon that occasion Sir R. been eal.r die ex %re, t e d wt ,.. , would be the effect if urgent necessity for . protection to by pointing out the , ~ [Goal the time t' were abolished,The effect be that • f these restrietl4laa win t i ol . d o n on must all rotes istence 044 other articles must be Abolished,-(Hear, hear.) has arrived when it in at; h as become . - fair and open awl. It e ,, You prepared to destroy y '''. ettetom-house possible to meet them ' b hshoeing that - e 4 0 , Y that means destroy -;;.- e „"ne that, went-(Renewed Opposition cheers) .7 of prohibition Ar e g n es to support the liabilities r ."-' - " ? the advantages arising from the system (lestrY°.4 prepared to do that ? or, are of the • 11,..7-n, ,-- . :ere greater than those which taiga. I tarise from their thi s ~ ) the custom-houses ? Are you prepared oi • -ael, The time had arrived the system was it itrt prineiplvs t o • If you are, where will youge t paprepared to . do rem, - -eistent with the rig— ;Pa --', a• •• _ b . Y the public creditor ?If revenue. sufficieot • '- .ind regulate the trade of the ethin got rid of because it is protection to corn is to a ^^tion t 9 domestic industr i y great monopoly, are there Lord BROUG HAM rose, also, to express the gratifi cation which he experienced at the course which Go vernment had pledged themselves to adopt with regard to America. (LEFT SITTING become inco... which ought to gum.. try. In this rublic view pro 4,. SUN, LONDONI TM. TY'R SDAY YEN' IN F, JANUARY 2 184 6 . 46- ~~~J duty on wool should be altogether repealed—that there in fact should be no restriction on i:s importation. It was more certainly in deputatiens than in thie House that objections were urged :against the free importation of that nett:Vie. Certainly there e ere griev , us entiefatione 1 , et in eonsequceee of the ebolition of the duty on that elm cle, parties engage d in the woel trade, should be injured. Well, here ugein there has been an enormous increase in the impation of wool. In 1842, there were 45,8801b5. of foreign wool imported into this country, and in 1844, there were 5,790,0001b5., and during the last year, I ant bound to' adrnia that there were no less than 65,216,0001b5. of foreign wool imported into England. — (Hear, hear.) Now what has been the cause of the re duction of the duty on syool ? In 1842 the price had sunk from 1 qd. to 10d., and in 1843 from 11 Ad. to lid., but in Deceneber, 1845, eighteen months since the aboli tion of the duty, the price has sunk from laid. to 104 d. per lb.—(Heer, hear, and great laughter.) Now I think, Sir, we have had experience for the last three years, sufficient to show for th e remova l o f p ro tection to i domestic nduetry has been followed by an increase of our social happiness and the interests of the country have been materially promoted.—(Hear, hear.) Our morality, too, has been much improved. I could read the most conclusive proofs that the public health has also been much improved —(Hear, hear.) and that the national trade ha been increased. Exports have been increased. and this is a fact in which I rejoice. —(Wear, hear.) The trade in those articles froni which protection has been removed has been increased. Now, sir, it is right that I should stete that, notwithstanding, the conviction which this experience has brought to my mind, that my decided impression was that, on other grounds, the eorn-laws should be reconsidered. This I was firmly resulted upon. I could not have met in this st ssion the motion of the nom Gentle man for the reconsideration of the corn-laws. I could not, I say, with liaise convictions—which, say what you will, I cannot forget—l could not have met that motion with a direct negative.—(dear, hear.) Now, Sir, let me again repeat, that the convictions which I have come to have been brought about by observation and experience. With this change in my opinion, I could not have under taken the defence of the cern-laws upon the ground being hea v ily t a x e d the round thatcontinuance of that protection country nas necessary, o r upon the ground it was for the interest of the labouring classes that high prices should be continued as a guarantee for high wages ; nor could I have undertaken its defence on the ground that a non interference of the system was a guarantee for domestic peace.— (Hear, hear.) But I have more urgently wished for this opportunity to explain to those friends who have hitherto honoured me with their confidence and support, as well as to justify to them the, course I have taken. —(Hear, hear.) I wish to assure them that had I not taken the course I have done, this Parliament would have been broken up. and the defence of their interests would have been com mitted to the country, and another Parliament would have had the opportunity of reconsidertng the question of the ecru-laws. Circumstances occurred in the last autumn which would have precluded me from meeting Parliameist on the principles I had previously entertained. A great calamity has mani fested itself, the limits of which were then, and are still, little known—(Cheers) —and it was evident to us that we should have great difficulty in con- . tending against that calamity. The calamity was not confined to Ireland, but it had appeared, not only in many other parts of Europe, but in England itself. This calamity made the Go vernment aware of the fact, that the time had arrived when a change in the corn laws became pressingly necessary ; and it was, then, our duty 1 1 to eur Sovereign and the country to make of the necessity for this change, which existed iu the coming change. Now, had we pretended only that . there was apprehension of a scarcity, for the purposes of effecting an alteration in the corn-laws, nothing would have been more briee or dishourable ; and you now shall have the opportunity of judging of the importance of the in formation we received upon this calamity, and to deter mine whether or no that information was not sufficient to justify the Government in !yarning the country against the coming danger.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") So strongly, indeed, was I impressed by this information of the necessity fur a change that, in the month of No vember, I advised the suspension of the protective duties. —(Opposition cheers.) There are two important periods to which I must particularly allude in my explanation. namely, the periods between the Ist of November, 1845, and the 6th of November, 1845, and the 25th of Novem ber, 1845, and the 6th of Deccmb er, 1845 ; but before I do so, I propose to read, in consecutive order, the information which we received at diffe rent periods from different parts of Europe, which induce me...to come to the coclusion I have done. The Right Hon. ;Baronet then read a series of letters from - Belgium, Egypt, Poland, France, and other countries, detailing :the great ravages of the potato disease in those places, Now with respect to England, this is the limit of the information which has reached us. I should mention vember, and that between 25th November nnd 6th De ember following, were Ferias of importunce.during the late Ministerial crisis, and he would read to the House the communications which he had received during these intervals, and which had induced im to offer .the advice to Avhich he had alluded. (The Right Hon. Gentlenian here read various commu nications which he had received from foreign countries, and from persons in England, relative to the failure of the harvest throughout Europe, and to the prohibition of articles from foreign countries.) There was throughout Europe a general apprehension of scarcity, measures were taken for excluding us:. from our usual sources of supply. With respect to England and Scotland, he heard first of all from the Isle of Wight that the potato crop had altogether failed—this was as early as August, 1845. (The Right Hon. Gentleman then read various commu nications front authorities in different parts of the United Kingdom, setting forth the extensive failure of the potato crop.) The pressure was great in England and Scotland, but it was greatest in Ireland, and the report presented by the Commissioners on that subject. Among the Members of which were Mr. Lucas and Professor Kane, It was stated that 4,090,000 of persons depended upon the potato crop, so that the Government found itself called upon to pro vide fur the subsistence of 4,000,000 of people in tha country. The reports of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, con firmed those fears, and, althongh there was now no dan ger, yet he called upon the House to judge of his motives by the intelligence which was then communicated to him. In consequence of the potato disease, the Lord Lieutenant said that everything was rising rapidly in price—that the people were becoming discontented, asking if he should issue a proclamation for prohibiting the distillation of grain, and urging on the Government the necessity of adopting measures to obviate the evil Such were the communications they had received, and he hoped allowances would be made for the feelings of those whose duty it was to uatch those calamities, and to forecast for the future. In adnition to these communications, he had received communications from gentlemen unconnected with the Government detailing the fearful consequences of the failure of the polato crop. Lord Monteagle had written to him on the subject, and the Duke of Leinster had pre sided over a public meeting at which the Government was called upon to interfere. Lord Clare had also written to him on the subject. The Government had sent over Professor Liniey and Dr. Playfair to inquire into the subject. Dr. Linley had given to him the most alarming accounts, and these accounts had been confirmed by the report of the Com mission. The conclusion they had come to was, that one-half of the potato crop had been destroyed In any advice which he gave on the 6th November, he had only been guided by some of these letters. The Cabinet was called together on the 31st of October, and many were held on the 4th and 6th November. On the Ist November there was no deliberation ; it appeared to him that there was the full justification for the Order in Council, or by calling Parliament together, and fully to remove all restrictions on the importation of grain. He was ready to take on himself the issue of an Order in Council but he did not adopt that course. H call Parliament together and propose the temporary re moval of all restrictions. He did not consider that that would necessarily involve reconsideration of the corn-laws but he thought it would compel Parliament, in the in terval, to reconsider those laws. His opinion was overruled, and if he did not resign it was on account of public and not of private reasons. He felt it was his duty to remain. The Cabinet reassembled on November 25 ; the events which had occurred in the interim had not altered his decision. A Commission of Inquiry had in the meantime been appointed, and it became necessary to determine what should be the instructions issued to them. He then stated that he considered the issue of those instructions incompatible with the maintenance of the existing pro- hibitory laws, and that he could not consent to the issue of those instructions without reserving to himsel the power of proposing an alteration in the corn laws. (LEFT SPEAKING.) that the first account we had of the failure of the potato crop was received from the Isle of Wight. A gentleman writes us on the 10th of August that he cultivates 300 acres, and he is also a salesman in London. He was also engaged in the retail trade, and therefore fully com petent to give an opinion. He had examined the crops around Sandwich and its neighbour hood, and they were almoit entirely destroyed. In Kent also the crop has been most seriously injured, as appeared by a letter received from Mr. Clay. In Yorkshire the -chop has been even worse, for it appears by a letter from Mr. Wood, from the place that the injury has been most extensive. Then from Scotland I received a letter from my friend the Member for Dumfries, in which he says that the po tatoes there, in many districts, were unfit for human food. This was the nature of the accounts which my right lion. Friend and myself had neon receiving during the months of October and November, and which we spent days and nights in reading. Then, as to the accounts which Caine from Ireland, it would appear by them that the people of that country chiefly subsist upon that article of food. It would be difficult to estimate the number that so exist ; but by the official accounts which we have received from that country from Sir W. Brown, Mr. Lucas, and Professor Kane, it appears that nearly four millions of the people of that country mainly depend upon the potato for their support. It is quite clear, then, that we have now to contend against a cala mity affecting no fewer than four millions of people. — (Hear, hear.) I will not enter into any details upon this subject, I will merely content myself with reading the accounts we have received from the Lord Lieutenant, confirmatory of them.— (Hear.) The Lord Lieutenant stated in one of his letters that the evil will not be felt in all its intensity until the month of February or the beginning of spring, that is the stock of laz;t year's p o t atoes . Thi s , be iL remem bered, is the opinion of one who was chiefly responsible for guarding against any calamity.—(Hear, hear.) Now. after all the accusations which have been brought against me, I wish to place upon record what were the appre hensions of those who were responsible for the providing of measures in order to meet this calamity. In a letter from the Lord-Lieutenant, he stated that the disease was very prevalent, and that results of an alarming nature might be anticipated, if measures were not speedily taken to maet the evil. This letter was followed by was followed by another, dated the 21st of October, in which he says that accounts still continue to pour in of a most discouraging nature; the extent of the calamity it would be impossible to calculate—potatoes were dry upiapparently in an healthy state, which in a few days presented all the appearances of decay. On the 24th Oct. another account reached us, in which we were told that the prices of the necessaries of life were rising, and that a spirit of discontent seem e d s p rea di ng among the people, and urging upon us the necessity of adopting speedy measures in order to allay the feeling of the people, and wishing to know whether he should issue a proclamation forbidding distillation from grain. . . LITERATURE. KAIG ( tiT'S 141.C.EKLY VOLUME, LXXXIIL..._ icapofrv . e•Bonam irte : his Sayings and Doings. Vol.- I. Ry A. 7 '.ieusseu. z From tire title: of this volume, the reader would naturally have ea:pected to discover in it something epigrammatic and something novel, either in the in formation or in the manner in which things already familiar might have been conveyed, but he would have been egregiously deceived. Far from this form ing a collection of the sayings and doings of Na poleon Bonaparte in any way deserving of such a distinctive denomination, the book is simply a very meagre, watery, frigid, matter-of-fact history of that most wonderful of all wonderful men. As tar as our judgment will permit us to discriminate the character in which any personage is written about, the style of composition in biography should in some measure be commensurate with and subservient to the particular idiosyncracy of the individual. The statesman should be delineated with candour and dignity ; the critic in a terse and didactic fi:shion ; the poet with a glow, and fervour, and imagery apportioned to the theme; while, in the memoir of any extraordinary warrior, the drums, and the guns, and the musketry, and the bugles should to some extent be symbolised on its. pages. When, however, a great marvel, like Napoleon —a Cw.iar, without the libidinous nature of Cwsar— an Alexander, without the drunkenness of Alexander —a Washington, without the stolid 'intellect (entirely devoid of imagination) of Washington—a Cromwell, without being a regicide or a fanatic like Cromwell— Alahoinet, without being an impostor—a Frederick, without sullenness —when a great man, like Napo leon, coinbines in hithself the character of a lawgiver, a captain, a statesman, a sage, an orator, and a sove reign—it is but natural to look for something in the account of such a being characteristic of some, if not all, of those striking qualities. In this respect the volume before ns is excessively inapt. M. Vieusseux is neither a Sallust, nor a Tacitus, nor even a SUMMARY CONTINUED: It was clear, therefore, that employment, low prices, and comparative abundance contributed to :he public peace, and these advantages were concurrent with the diminu tion of protection. Had the agricultural interest been in jured ? Protection to them had been diminished on four great articles, foreign flax was admitted duty free. In 1844 the duty on flax was 101. per ton ; it was now removed, yet the price of flax in Belfast mar ket was in JanuAry, 1846, higher than it was in 1844. The permission to import foreign cattle had given riso to great alarm. Had any injury been inflicted ? A low duty had been substituted for absolute prohibi- tion—there had been a gradual increase of importation, and with increased importation there had been increased prices, as was proved by aco reparison of the contract prices for the navy during the ye ajs 1842, 43, 44, and 45, There was no article he had touched on with so much alarm last year as lard. A division had absolutely been taken on it. Since 1842 the importation of lard had in creased to an immense extent, and yet the price had risen from 48s. in 1844 to 625. in 1846. Then there was the atticle of wool. In 1844 it was proposed to remove the duty from foreign wool. The importation of foreign wool had increased annually in consequence of the removal of the duty, and yet the price of South-down Wool had increased from 11 id. in 1842, to ls. 4id in 1845, so that experi ence proved that, by the aemcval of protection, the wel fare, the health, and the morality of the people bad been improved, concurrent with an increase of price in those articles for which protection had been withdrawn. Yet his impression was, that upon other grounds the reconsideration of the law ought not to have fallf n upon him. He felt that, with these opinions he could not have met Mr. Villier's motion with a direct negative. He could not defend the corn law, either on the ground that in consequence of high taxation protection was necessary, or that on the ground of keeping up the wages of the labouring classes protection was necessary. He could continue the conflict no longer. He must decline it. Others At the same time he should have wished to hav e coin.: mitted the jujgmeut of this case to another Parliament, but during the course of the last recess a great calamity bad happened, the consequences of which it was difficult to calculate. It was the duty of the n Govern ment to take measures to avoid th e threa te n ed h e ta v hv il ie i be, If they had taken advant a g e of p retende d apprehensions (4 e s n car u c l i o t) r . e t b o 4s a e. lte b r u t t h bs ei c o or vy n n l i a l nothin g s p v i s n ,ionwaafound e d u p o n could evidence which he had certainly consid ere d that it was c h a is lam du it t y y, earlyby advising in November, tbe to suspensionprovide againsi 0 fthe duties payable in the imp ortation of f)reign corn The Period between Ist NoYel4l4r, 1845, and 6th No- LAYS OF THE SEA. Personne. This little volume of poems is prettily imagined_ the notion is very graceful indeed ; and will appeal warmly to all who have any recipients of their l•we upon the waters; and scarcely an English family but can number a sailor among its members. The look of the book is unambitious—the ideas are un ambitious—and the character of the metre is un ambitious. However, though modesty is a valuable foundation for any lyrical composition, that modesty may be carried too far, by rendering the thoughts maudlin, and reducing the language to great poverty. A little more anxiety to be excellent and pathetic would have prevented that terrible bathos in the second line of what is intended to be a mournful piece:— " I miss thee, 0, my brother ! With my papers all before me!" Personne should be a little more circumspect before venturing upon the hazard of a poetical publication. It is casting a rose -leaf upon troubled waters. SELF-INSTRUCTION FOR YOUNG GARDENERS. By J. C. Loudon. On the anniversary of Washington's death, namely, on December 14th, 1843, died John Claudius Loudon —a man whose integrity of character and amiable bearing had endeared him to a staunch cluster of acquaintances, while the assiduity of his studies and the sterling excellence of his writings had already acquired for him an European reputation. As an enlightened botanist, his opinions have long carried with them great authority, and his very name is now as intimately associated with that science as Herschell with astronomy, Lkebeg with chemistry, Whewell with mathematics, or Murchisson with geology. Not however that, like those illustrious philosophers, Lou don has achieved any extraordinary discoveries in the subject to which his whole intellect was devoted—not that, like them, he has made any grand innovations in a long-established system ; but that, animated with a sincere anxiety for the " diffusion of knowledge" among a class who were hitherto excluded from it by the abstruseness of its expositors, Loudon ' elucidated the obscure, and systematised what had previously been given in a desultory and disjointed manner. In the present volume we have, according ,o the editor's preface, John Claudius Loudon 's ' Last Legacy to Gardeners"—the text being under his widow's supervision, the sections upon mechanics, hydrostatics, and hydraulic:, being furnished by Dr. damieson, those on architectural drawing, and geometrical projection, and perspective by Mr. Robertson, besides several other interpolations from similarly authoritative sources. Surrounded by all those accessories of talent and industry this work could not possibly be more practical in its application or more accurate in its details. For young garden ers, for forresters, for bailiffs, for land stewards, and for farmers in general, it will prove a perfect vale mecum a resource on all doubtful points—as useful for their guidance as the shafts are to the plough. Although, with Mrs. Loudon, we must ever regret the decease of her husband, before he had still further embellished this self instructor, by appending to it diquisitions upon drawing trees, flowers, and landscapes, together with several other accomplishments, we can discover no single deficiency sufficiently important to mar the symmetry, or abstract from the completeness of the volume now under consideration. Its plan is ori ginal and ingenious, its style is comprehensive and lucid, its success in all respects is entire. We can cordially and honestly recommend it to all horticul tural and agricultural students. OVER- POPULATION AND ITS REMEDY. By W. 7'. Thornton. A theme of more vital consequence, nationally and individually, or one that has been more frequently mooted, could not possibly have been selected. Its importance is self-evident, as upon it depends the happiness or misery, the prosperity or indigence, of society at large ; while, at the same time, it has so repeatedly afforded materials for the disquisitions of many sagacious minds as, to a very considerable ex tent, to have allayed the curiosity of political students and philanthropists. So many quacks have arisen and tendered their nostrums as an infallible remedy to such exuberances of the human race, that men have become somewhat chary of lending an ear to any new-coiner in the same field. John Bull has so very often become unconsciously the jack-pudding of statistical jugglers of this nation, that he dreads some time wakening up from a second Nlalthusian deceit., to find himself a general laughing stock. But John Bull may, in the present instance, approach without trepidation—he will here find no fantastic or impossible theory—he will here find no vagary of the imagination, but, on the contrary, a ' candid and enlightened effort of reason. Instead of advancing some novel and impossible scheme, Mr. Thornton has contented himself with a careful inves tigation of the opinions of his predecessors. On this he has built up a very sensible plan of affording remedy in case of over-population—a plan which is founded upon a substratum of facts, accounting for the maladies which have to be eradicated. As a sen sible and clever essay upon this most interesting sub• ject, the present book deserves all possible attention ; and the tact of selection displayed by its author, is only equalled by the extreme modesty with which he offers his opinions. COURT CIRCULAR. The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, and the Princess Royal, arrived o'clock d oc a k t t Buckingham Palace at ten minutes pastthree yesterday, in a carriage and fou r, from the r j a . dd l i , n i g in to c n e t e rminus of the Great Western andstern the Princess Alice, were in another carriage rand ‘i" f., l ur accompanied by the Dowager Lad y L y ttelton. The royal suite occupied three carriages and four, and !onsisted of the Viscountess Jocelyn, Lady in Waiting ; the Maids of Honour in Waiting, the Marquis of Or monde, Major-General Sir Henry Wheatley, Admiral Sir Robert Otway, Colonel Buwles, Colonel Buckley, and Colonel Bouverie. A party of Light Dragoon s formed the escort. Her Majesty and her Royal Consort were received at the Palace by the Lord Chamberlain, the Master of the Horse, the Marquis of Granby, and Capt a i n F rancis Seymour. The Queen held a Privy Council at half -past three o'clock. It was attended by his Roy a l hi g h ness Prince Albert, the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Buecleuch, the Earl of Haddington, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Ro bert Peel, the Earl of Abordeen, Sir James Graham, the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of Ellenborough, the Earl of Ripon, Lord Granville Somerset, the Earl of Lincoln, the Earl of Dalhousie, the Earl St. German's, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, the Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberlain, the Master of the Horse, and the Groom of the Stole to Prince Albert. The Queen in Council was pleased to declare the Most Noble Walter Duke of Buccleuch, Lord President of her Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, and his Grace took his place at the board accordingly. Her Majesty having been pleased to deliver the cus tody of the Privy Seal to the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Haddington, the oath of Keeper of the Privy Seal was administered to him, and the Noble Earl took his place at the Board. The Queen having been pleased to appoint the Right Hon. Henry Earl of Harewood to be Lord-Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, his Lordship took the appointed oaths. Her Majesty having been pleased to appoint the Right Hon. James, Earl of Verulam, to be Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, the Noble Earl took the oaths appointed to be taken thereupon. The Queen's speech, on opening the session of Par liament this day, was arranged and agreed upon. The Hon. William 13athurst was the Clerk of the Council in Waiting. Iler Majesty gave audience to Sir Robert Peel. The Court was attended by the Vice-Chamberlain, the Treasurer of the Household, the Comptroller of _ the Household, and the Marquis of Anglesey, Gol d Stick in \Vaitinc. WINDSOR, W3i:DNEsDAY.—Tbe unfavourable state of the Weather throughout the forenoon, prevented the Queen and the Royal family from taking their usual early airings. The Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch left the Castle this morning at two o'clock. The Qacen anti P r ince Albert, aocoinpsnipti by t h Prince of Wa:es, Prince Alfred, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Al:ce, aqd attended by the Vi,countess Jocelyn, the Dowager Loy Lyttelton, , the Maids of Honour in Waiting, the Marquis of Ormondo, Major- General Sir Henry Wheat!ey, Bordes, Admiral Sir Robert Otway, Colons; Buckley, and Colonel Bou verie left the Castle, escorted by a party of the 2a Re giment of Life Guards, commanded by Lieutenant Tot tenham, fOr the Slough station of the Great Western Railway, to proceed by a • special train to town. The royal party occupied five carriages and four. The Duke of Buccleuch, Lqrd President of the Council, attended yesterday at the Privy Council-office, White hall. Prh Castelcicala has returned to town from.Lei cestershire to attend the opening of Parliament. The Pi ince transacted business at the Foreign -office on Monday. The Earl of Dalhousie, President of the Board a Trade, arrived in tow n.yesterday morning from Scotland. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England had a general meeting yesterday at the office in Whitehall place. There were present the Archbishop of Canter bury, the Bishops of Winchester, Ely, Lland;,ff, Oxford, and Rochester, the Earl of Bessborough, the Earl of Chichester, arid the Right Hon. Sir _George Grey. Mr. Freshfield had an int erv i ew with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday. Dispatches were received at the Colonial- offico, from the Governors of the West India Colonies. Sir John Hope had an interview with Sir George Clcrk, yesterday, at the office or-the Board of Trade. Sir Robert Peel had a full dress dinner party of forty • oue tnerulers of the House of Commons, (including tie Right lion. the speaker, and the mover and seconder of the address,) at his residence, in Whitehall-gardens, yesterday evening. LOIZDS' SUMMARY CONCLUDED. After some observations from the Duke of Wellington and the Marquis of Salisbury, the Address was carried, .and their Lordsh ps s'lortly afterwards adjourned. SIEGE OPERATIONS AT CHATHAM. CHATHAM, JAN. 20.—This day, Tuesday, the 20th inst , was witnessed au experiment of considerable inte rest in the field works of the Royal Engineers, near to the Casemate Barracks, Brompton, under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Frederick Smith, K.H., It.E, and in the presence of the Inspector-General of Forti fications, Sir John Fox Burgoyne, K.C.8., who c ime purposely to witness the evolutions. There were also present Sir Thomas \Villshire, Bart., Commandant of the Garrison; Colonel Weare, K. 11., of the Provisional Battalion ; Major of Brigade, Capt. O'Brien, and a numerous assemblage of the officers of the garrison. The first military movement was that of breaching a stockade of a most substantial construction, consisting of a number of pieces of solid timber, united together with ribbt,ns of oak plank, top and bottom, firmly nailed with ten inch spikes. It was thirty feet in length, each piece of timber being a foot square, and about twelve feet long, and firmly rammed into the earth about three feet. This stockade had two rows of loop-holes for musketry firing, one so as to enab e soldiers to fire standing on the ground, and the other near to the bottom to fire as if the men were standing in a trench. The whole had been so arranged as to represent the same sort of obstruction as our troops encountered recently in New Zealand, when so many lives of British soldier, were sacrificed, in attacking with only their muskets and bayonets ; indeed every pains had been taken to make this stockade as substantial as it could possibly be put together. The first trial of making a breach was an experiment of 301bs. of powder placed in a bag opposite to the top ribbon of the stockade, by slinging it at the end of two pieces of slight timber in the shape of a tri angle placed against the structure, and on its being fired it was found to have no other effect than that of re moving out of their places at the spot a few pieces of the timber about four inches out of their line towards the top. A second charge of 301bs. of powder in a bag was then laid on the ground in the centre of the stockade, closely clamped with four damp sand bags, and on being fired it made a breach of a space of two feet nine inches, driving one of the piles out of the earth, and breaking another asunder like a twig. To effect a total destruction of this strong-build stockade two charges of powder well tamped with sand bags were placed in bags, one consisting of a bag containing 701bQ. of powder and another of 501b5., in equal distances close against the building, and on their being fired, they had such an effect that it raked the piles of timber out o the earth, and drove some of them to a distance of 150 feet from the spot, scattering the timber to a very con siderable distance. The report was tremendous, and it produced a most magnificent sight. A pass having been made, a number of Sappers and Miners, to about 200, passed through, representing the taking of the place. The object of destroying the stockade was to ascertain the minimum quantity of powder necessary for that purpose, and frem the result of those experiments, it is evident that a barrel of gunpowder containing 901bs. will destroy any stockade, however firmly put together, provided the action of the powder is confined by being surrounded by three or four bags of earth about the size of a bushel each. The next scene of attraction was that of the mining operations. The first was the firing of a countermine, containing a charge of 150Ibs. of powder, lodged in s chamber of a gallery several feet under ground, and on being fired it produced an explosion with a loud report. causing a strikingly perceptible effect in the earth, felt by persons standing on the glacis on the opposite side of the trench, and throwing the earth up a considerable distance, and forming a crater of nearly twenty feet in circumference, and about 'three feet deep. This was followed in a few moments by another _explosion of a charge of 1701b5., thereby causing an explosion of a most magnificent description. The earth and fragments were blow❑ up into the air, forming a crater of 33 feet by 16 feet, and a depth of 6 feet. The earth seemed to tremble for some distance. To witness this mode of weave, the troops of the line and the Royal Marines were present, besides ti vast number of civilians. The weather was particularly fine. At the conclusion a few experiments were tried with globes of compression at the end of holes bored in the earth by means of a boring apparatus, with small charges of gunpowder placed at the end, and well rammed up with earth. These experiments were tried to ascertain the size chambers that small charges of powder would make in solid earth being applicable to defensive mines. The whole of the arrangements commenced at two o'clock P.M., and closed at four o'clock p M. THE ARmr.—The 2d (Queen's) Regiment of Foot, lately returned from India, and now at Chatham, has re ceived its route for Chichester, where barra c k s are ordered to be prepared for its reception by the 26th i ns t. Th e 58th Light Infantry and the 74th. Highlanders are, it is e x p ec t e d , n t o leave this district dung the next month ; the former re giment going to Leeds, and the latter to Edinburgh. Red fo r 1 1 1 1 o e u s s e ooi Pier, o f on c e , a S T EAM -BOAT COMPETITION ON T UB THAMES.--,—II is the intention of one of the steam-boat compa n i es t o com mence nho t e r tlh a se v ea,r eli c i to n om g Lp b oann et dy w m e hl e -as u bri t rd hegedtheir fare to Greenwi e , to throe-ponce. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL.—Last evening, the students of University College Hospital entertained Wil liam Davy, Esq., one of their number, at a dinner, on the occasion of his receiving an appointment as a surgeon in the Hon. East India Company's service. The dinner took place at the Arundel Hotel. There "%ere about sixty gentlemen present, and H. Morgan, Esq., occupied the chair. The chairman eulogised in glowing terms the character of their guest, and congratulated him on the success which had so early attended his professional exertions; at the same time expressing his regret at the loss the College would sustain by the removal of a gentleman who had proved one of its &tightest ornaments. The health of Mr. Liston and the other Professors of the College were afterwards drank with enthusiasm. SUDDEN DEATH.—This morning between eleven and twelve Mr. Windslane, a master builder, residing in Duke. street, Bloomsbury, suddenly dropped down in his pounting-house.- 'When ho was picked up he was found to be dead. LYMINGTON. The Hon. Colonel Keppel has issued the following address to the electors of Lytuington. The gallant officer was a candidate for this borough in 1841, on only a few days' notice, and was only 43 behind Mr. Mac kinnon on the poll. Gentlemen,—i beg to announce to you my intention of offering myself a candidat e f or th e h onour o f your suf f rages at the next election. My political' opinions have undergone no change; they are comprised in the sentence I employed in my first address to you—" the greatest good to the greatest number." The same cause which obliged me to leave my residence in the vicinity of your town, viz., illness in my family, will ne cessitate a further absence of some mouths, but in the Autumn I intend to renew the kindly relations of friend and neighbour, and hope ere long to add to them the honour of being your representative. • NOien the proper time arrives I shall pay my respects to you individually. In the meanwhile it is not my wish to disturb the town by a premature canvass.—l have the honour to be, Gentlemen, your most obedient servant, GEORGE KEPPEL. The following correspondence between Mr. Mackin non and one of the leaders of the Conservative party in Lymington has been published in that borough. It is amusing + and speaks well for Colonel Keppel's prospects of success. • TO THE DIEJ/BERS OF THE CONSERVATIVE SOCIETY OF I.TMI\GTON. Gentlemen,—Since Mr. Mackinnon has thought fit to send down to his political agents in Lymington, a copy of a letter addressed to me, to be shown by them to all persons of the Conservative party of the town and neighbourhood, I think it is but fair that my letters to Mr. Mackinnon, as well as his replies, should be exhibited. 'ln the first place, I should state that Mr. Mackinnon wrote to me on the 18th of December, asking my opinion as to his coming forward again for Lyrnington ; my reply is No. 1 of the letters ; after receiving No. 2, and as there appeared no immediate chance of a dissolution of Parliament, I thought it fair to let Mr. Mackinnon know what really appeared to me and others, to be the state of feeling towards him in the town, as well as neighbourhood, of Lymington, so that he might have time to consider well whether it might not be both politic and agreeable to his own feelings to look out for a seat in Parliament elsewhere. My opinion was grounded on the sentiments of dissatisfac tion which have been so freely expressed by many, and even by those who have hith er t o po li t i ca l ly supported Mr. Mac kinnon. I did think that, if an unpopular second candidate on the Conservative side was again brought forward, our opponents might considerably add to their numbers; but I really believe a Whig or Radical candidate would be as fat from obtaining success as ever. In wishing Mr. Mackinnon to resign his pretensions to the Parliamentary seat for Lymington, I not only con sidered such a step advisable for the Conservative cause, but that it might be of the greatest local advantage to the town, as A candidate might come forward connected with a nobleman, a member of the present Government, and lately become the proprietor of estates in an adjoining parish, who would have it in his power most materially to benefit the town and trade of Lymington. I have now given you a plain statement of facts, and I am sure that no gentleman who reads that letter of Mr. Mackinnon (made public for political purposes) addressed to me will be surprised at my wishing to lay before you Om whole correspondence. I remain, Gentlemen, yours very faithfully, F. It. WEST. LETTERS, (No. 1.) Amewood House, Dec. 21, 1845. Dear Sir,—Before I answer the contents of your letter of the 18th instant, dated from Brighton, and received this morning, I wish to know whether, from the heading " Pri vate,'? it is your desire that I should not communicate your letters to the other gentlemen of Lyisiington and its neigh bourhood, who form the Conservative interest which has hi- therto returned the two members for the borough. Acting as I now am with that party, I should nut feel justified in entering 'into a correspondence with you, unless you allow me to show that correspondence to the heads of the Conser vative party here. With this understanding I shall be ready to place before you the real feeling of the party as regards the return of two Conservative Members for Lymington.— I am, &c. &c., F. R. WEST. W. A. Mackinnon, Esq.' (No. 2.) December 23, 1845. Dear Sir,—ln answer to yours of the 21st instant., I beg to say that, as I have only mentioned the business to a few influential gentlemen, and as the old Ministry are again in office, and no probability exists of a dissolution till after the session of 1847, it may be as well to let the matter drop for the present, as far as my letter to you is concerned. As no chance exists of a dissolution, at present, I will beg leave to tell you that which I have been desirous of doing ever since 1841, had the opportunity been offered of per sonally doing so : that is, if any expression ever fell from me that would give you auy annoyance, I much regret it ; and that I have always entertainedAowards you that sentiment of respect which is entertained by all who have your ac quaintance.—Yours, &c. &c, W. A. MACKINNON, I write this in a hurry, just leaving town, and wishing to answer by return of post. (No. 3.) Arnewood House, Dec. 25, 1845. Dear Sir,-1 have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d instant. As I rind you have written to others in the neighbourhood to the same purport as your letter to me of the 18th instant, I can no longer consider its contents of a private nature. The Conservative interest in Lymington is strong enough to re turn two Members, provided those who compose that interest are united. I think it but fair to inform you that there is not that unanimity at present which is so desirable ; Mr. Stewart's seat is perfectly secure, but I candidly tell you that yours is not generally so considered ; indeed I think you must be in some measure aware of this, for you can no t 'but rameinber that several of those who voted for you at the last election did so for the cause, and not with much hearti ness for you ; without a hearty and good feeling for the can didate, as well as zeal for the cause, the chances will he great for an adversary. This danger several anticipate if you again come forward, and I decidedly tell you that such is my feeling, and I think it most desirable the.t another Conservative candidate should be invited. In justice both to yourself and the Conservative party here, you ought to consider well the policy of again coming for ward to represent Lymington in a new Parliament. Who the " friends of our party in town,"* who urge you to come ward, may be, I know not; but this I do know, that some of the heads of our part• know that your return in 1541 was gained with some difficulty.—Yours, &C. &c.,. F . WEST. W. A. Mackinnon, Esq. * Mentioned in Mr. M.'s letter of the 18th of December. (No. 4.) Dear Sir,—Your letter of the 25th instant has ref!ched me ; i n my reply to you, I will exercise the same candour and freedom in expressing myself, as you have used towards me, and do so I trust in a proper and becoming manner. You are pleased to say, that unanimity in our party is desirable, and in this sentiment I cordially agree : in the next sen tence, however, you add, " that you think another Conser vative candidate should be invited." Surely to start three Conservative candidates in the field cannot be the way to preserve unanimity! Afterwards you state that so far back as 1841, there was at first some disunion in our party. This may be correct, but by whom was that disunion fomented? that period, I believe, you attempted to bring another candidate forward ; I have been informod by a gallant officer, a particular friend of mind, Col. Pringle Taylor, that you called upon him, offered him the seat for the borough, and urged him to come forward. Surely that was not the way to keep up unani mity, to stir up an opposition in the same party, and to bring Conservatives against each ether. What would be thought of me,- if I had a pique against Mr. Compton, and was to call upon any gentleman in the county, and urge him to oppose the sitting member, and then write to Mr. Comp ton—tell him there was a want of unanimity amongst his friends—and that he had better not come forward, and to act in this manner without stating any objection whatever to his political conduct !! You have, I think, been in the House, and are aware that the Government will not support. any one in opposition to a Conservative Member who is true to his colours; no Conservative would act against Mr. Compton if he offered himself. Such opposition would only weaken the party, and create that disunion you deprecate. Afterwards you say "you know not who the persons in the town, who urged vie to stand again, may be." I beg in answer to assure you, that they are amongst the most leading and influential gentlemen and persons in the town and its neighbourhood, the Walliampton influence included; and that, under such auspices, I shall certainly offer myself again. Taking these circumstances into consideration, I beg to submit to you, that the person who injures the Conserva tiveoive interest would be that man who (by whateve t r o n e i endea vour might be actuated I cannot pretend to say) leas t v4urpotolitsiteaarl start another conduct I will only add, that, I trust and hop e , t 11 r ok al l some years o C f a t n h t e lid p a re te se , n li t a; i i e l b n e o r. fau_ e l e t li o ng t i s nd ef w an itb : novance at the correspondence that ago between you an , I writ!, this in mind and memory, as they are from mine, tha t that I shall reg?:et if any repeat r perfect good humour, and t i me , g iven you cause ,t offence.— d me ale entirely obli terated front y our act of mine had, at any time, iv. A. MACKINNON . Yours, &c., &c., M a nor House, Lyndlearst, Jan. 1 , 1846 . D r (No. 5.) B en tinch House, Brighton Tuesday (30th.` t , Sir,—Your l e tter of the 30th his,t an t 1 rece i ved this mol hasten to reply to part of y our l etter in which you state that Col• T• • ' offered' the seat for the borough of ..)nangton to h i m. I beg l eav e to say that no offer of such a n a t ure was made by me, i ea in r g S . ir 'l but n egociations were carried Ohl with Col. Taylor for the in troduction of another gen,tletnan, a friend of his. Whatever 1 have done, or may do, as telates to the political intorests.of Lymington, or its neighbourhood, must be in conjunction with others.—l am, yours, &c Btc F. R. VEST. W. A Mackinnon, Esq. GRAY'S INN, JAN. 21.—Sarnuel Joyce, Esq., was this day called to the degree of Barrister-at-law by the Hon. Society of Gray's Inn.