The Sun. — London, England, 1846-02-25 00:00:00

colonies. In the year 1842, 1,550 vessels cleared the ports with 540,000 tonnage ; in 1844, the tonnage was 789,000, and the number of vessels cleared was 2,284. This did not rest upon his own statement. A Committee had been appointed for the last year in which a question of a similar nature as the present was raised. One of the witnesses, a perscn much connected with the shipping trade, had stated that the benefit to the shipping interest by the operation of the tariff made a difference in favour of the British shipping, in their competition with the foreigner, Equal to 30 per cent. He was asked, with reference to the prices of freight, if 38s. or 40s. was sufficient remuneration, his reply was, that if they would insure him 385., he would contract to supply the country with any amount of tonnage. Another objection which had been raised was, that the.shipowners found it difficult to maintain a competition which would remunerate them for their outlay, in consequence of the very expensive materials used in the con struction of their ships. Ship-building a short time since cost more than it would do at present, in consequence of the re duction of duty on timber. It had been stated that Baltic timber was necessary for the construction of a twelve years' ship ; but he seemed to forget, that having once obtained this material, the value of the ship was thereby greatly enhanced. If he (the Chancellor of the ExChequer) could compare great things w ith small, he could compare this class of shipowners with those innkeepers on the Great North Read, whose business had fallen away in consequence of the diversion of the traffic by the railroads. It had also been urged that by adopting the present measures we should injure Canada —that country which we had flattered so before; for said Hon. members, are you not going to admit foreign corn into this country, and will not that be a breach of your compact made with them ? He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) stood up for the importance of supporting the colonies of this country, and of doing everything likely to conduce to their ultima e benefit.—( Hear, hear.) They had no right however to com plain, if fur a general benefit we introduced competition with those upon the same terms as with the mother country. Ir Canada complained, their answer would be that she stood upon the same tooting as the mother country, and therefore she had no right to complain. Another favourite argument which had been used in the discussion of this question—a favourite mode when argument cannot be readily produced, is to draw some very extravagant picture of its effecr. If free trade, said they, is to be adopted, we must have free trade in all things—the duty must be taken off tea, coffee, and all other commodities: Ile (the Clincellor of the Exchequer) did not, however, adopt extreme opinions on this question, either on one side or the other ; he considered that it was impossible in any financial position to avoid in some measure a system of protective duties. When he advocated free trade, he did it under the considera tion that it was necessary for the purposes of revenue—for the preservation of the public morals and the public safety—that some restrictive eluties should be retained. He did not conceive that in so doing he was at ail deprecating a system of free trade. He viewed this question in the same light as he would the question of civil liberty. In that case it was necessary for the preservation of the public safety and morals that there should be some restrictive and prohibitory laws. Other argu ments have been adduced to prove that the repeal of the corn laws would materially affect the conditon of the agricultural labourer. They have supposed that by . the introduction of competition with the agriculture of other countries we were likely to be overwhelmed by foreign agriculture produce. This question had been ably argued in the course of the debate. He would not trouble the House with the recapitu lation of those arguments, but he would merely call the earnest attention of the House to two cases which these experiments had been tried, and he would give the result of those experiments, and he would shew the ad vantages which it afforded to the country. In the reign of Charles 11. the agricultural interests of this country seemed to have entertained opinions similar to these professed by indi viduals in connexion with the agricultural interest at the present day, and they were also deeply affected by the imports of articles which came into competition with them. In the preamble to an Act passed in that reign it was stated, that whereas certain lands of an inferior quality in this country cannot be so well employed as in fattening cattle, therefore be it enacted, that no cattle shall be imported, and those per sons who shall at any time import or cause to be imported any cattle from that country into England shall be subject to cer tain penalties which it was not necessary for him to read. At that period it was curious to refer to the arguments which which were used for the purpose of giving to this country as entire and complete monopoly. The historian tells them that there were great and general murmurs at that time, complain ing of the great injury sustained by the agriculturists of that country in consequence of the importation of cattle, which were bred in Ireland with scarcely any trouble and expense; and if some enactment did not take place, the breeding of cattle in England would be given over, and thereby the rents would be decreased, whilst the rent in Ireland would rise to a considerable extent, and this could only be avoided by an Act of Parliament." Sonic members of the agriculturists of that time, Lord Clarendon tells them, complained that they had not " land bad enough to breed cattle upon," and that ap peared to be the case in many counties. However, in the face of those Hon. Members, the Bill was carried through the Ilonse, limiting the importation of cattle. In the House of Lords, the resolution was carried with all expedition, and it was curious the Duke of Buckingham was at the head of those who favoured the Bill with most marvellous concern.— (Loud laughter.) When that measure passed, about seven years afterwards, a most distinguished man in that country, writing to the Lard Lieutenant, said " That the cattle which were brought over from the Irish soil would in future be brought from Rouen and Lisbon," The expectation of that Bill, that it would keep up the rent of laud in England, was proved by those who were most capable of judging that it had not in the slightest degree that effect. There was another case which proved the great value of admit ting a competition with them. It was perfectly well known that up to the period of the union Ireland was treated as a foreign country ; and that since then, the importation of corn and cattle were freely admitted ; and notwithstanding the value of agricultural commodities considerably increased, up to the period of 1841. After the union, a free intercourse was es tablished between that country and Ireland, and the corn of Ireland was freely admitted into the market of England in competition with their own corn. It must be borne in mind that at that particular period the quantity of corn grown in England was proportionate with the population—( Hear hear)—lreland then sent large quantities of corn to this coun try for home consumption to so great an extent that it am mounted to one million quarters per annum, for the maintenance of the population of England. That importation graduaily increased until it amounted to three million; and tour millions quarters annually. If lhooe persons used the argument that the importation of corn would ruin the agriculturists of Engl ind, what would they Fay of that tact when the admission of corn from Ireland was permitted into England. If they could sustain the introduction of agricultural produce from Ireland at a period when their population was not more than fifteen millions without injury, what danger had they now to fear with the increased improve ment in agricultural knowledge, and with an increased popu• laii_n in the United Kingdom, amounting to twenty-seven millions ? Why, from the date of the union, they may date the great improvement which had taken place in agricultural science in that country. They found that in the very year that the free admissions of Irish corn took place, there were a greater number of Bills passed through that House connected with agricultural improvements than on any former occasion. --(Hear, hear.) They also found that the gentlemen of Eng land paid greater attention to the improvement of agri culture than they were ever known to do before. They found too that the price of corn in England was not reduced by the importation which had taken place ; but, on the contrary, agricultural prosperity was growing from year to year. If, therefore, as he said before, that large quan tities of Irish corn were imported, without finding any possible effect, but when they found on the contrary, that competition led to permanent improvements, how could they argue that a small introduction of corn from the Continent could produce those disastrous effects which he had heard so often stated? But there was another remarkable circumstance in connexion with these two parts of the United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ireland. Which of the two countries was agriculture most advantageous to—Great Britain or Ireland ? No man present, he believed, would deny that the agriculture of Ireland, com pared with the agriculture of England, was deficient in an ex treme degree. How then would competition act with the two countries ? The corn pro hice r s in England brought to their aid exertions, intelligence, and energy, but in Ireland agriculture remained little better that, it was many years ago, for corryeti lion was not known there, and the want of agricultural enterpri,e proved an injury to them, which was not telt in England. It was said by an Hon. Member that that measure , vonld prove injurious to the people of Ireland. Why, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) was sure, that his lion. Friend would feel that ' the same results would take place its that country which eaeopet.tioa had created in England. The measure was far from decreasing the value of property in that country. The stimulus that would ba given to trade there, by increased de m tut!, would produce in that country, as it had in England, the effete of giving employment in agriculture, and also from the establishment of manufactures, which were so much required in Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) It had been stated, and it had been truly stated, by his Noble Friend, that the markets of this country were open to the world. If there was any prin ciple better understood, it was for the most part that a home market was necessary for the. agricultural produce of that country. So far from causing injury, that measure would create employment in the increased competition that would take place in the extended commercial intercourse which such a measure would create. He would confine himself to another ti st•pic. He h a d h ear d , dur i ng a great portion of that debate, i fferent arguments used with respect to the inconsistency of public men —(Loud ironical cheers.) He was an advocate for consistency—(Similar cheers.) But does that consistency consist in adhering to principles which varied with the altered state of society?--( Hear, hear, and cheers from the free traders.) If i n any one measure they adopted the principles of f ree trade, there was no good reason why they might not be adopted in au o th ee , at a su b sequent per i od; and ha would like to know w h a t gent l eman was there in that House who had not, at ..e some ti me or other changed the opinions which he held? kt knew none who had not to some extent, changed their I nit aciPles with re s p ec t to those ' laws. Were the Hon. Gentle opposed to the measure, themselves agreed as to what course shell b pursued ?—( Hear, hear.) W ere th ey pre - P p l as re si d ng t° o m f al t n h t os ai e : the principles whi c h were en t er t a i ne d at t h e to be laws? and were t h ey prepare d to say that those leas oug h t t permanent in the country ?—(Cheers. ) When they were p re can be effected withPgrreeadt to show him a time when the repeal hoe to the great body of the community, then he the Hon. Gentlemen show 1:1 prepared to join them ; or would ta,.time when re , istance to the repeal of the corre law vitvoeurl! e tended with less danger or threatened with a great calamity chance of success ? They in consequence of the failure of the that bound to look forward to the effects which Potato Cr°P, and they were A f a n i! d ure th w o - u as o lik i e l l i y s to produce in the produce of future had produced Hon. Friend the Member for Stalfeoard"shir different from his garden a fine potato, grown from one e of the diseased r a e e su m l t e s n . roots, yet there were other experiments madels on a more extensive scale, which lead to very He had seen accounts from North Anaerica, whereret had now prevailed for thre consecutive years, and h e found i d e th s a t t in the present year the failure in several parts of that country was fully equal to that which prevailed in many districts in Ireland.—( Hear.) What happened in other countries might also happen in their own, and it was right that they should not forego the opportunity of providing beforehand a supply which would be able to protect them from the effects of such a calamity. They should also recollect that a failure in the crops had very generally prevailed upon the Continent, and they mast naturally infer that they would experience a diffi culty in obtaining a sufficient supply, rather than that they should be inundated with corn, as some Members have imagined. Did the House ever consider that the produce of 120,000 acres of wheat, were year by year required to support the growing population of the country, and did not that circumstance alone prove the necessity of making provision is time for the want which must press upon the couotry.—(Hear, hear.) He, therefore, thought in a time of general distress and disaffection, by repealing the corn-laws, they would effectually provide for the happiness and comfort of the people. —( Hear, hear, cheers and counter cheers;) He was extremely sorry that in the course of that debate so many of his Hon. Friends should have expressed themselves in terms of strong disapprobation of the course pursued by her Majesty's Minis ters.—( Hear, hear.) He regretted that those for whom he e s 1: ie t . er e t alned the sincer es t respect , s h ou ld h ave expressed them hastily, not merely with respect to the measures of the Government, but also with respect to the personal conduct of his Right Hon. Friends.—( retort those expres Dahl' Hear, hear.) He did not intend to lions, but his Right Hon. Friend, the Member for the University of (Mr. Shaw) male a speech which contained far more eloquentrl declamation than it did ar gument. He stated a principle, which he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) cordially concurred in, viz , that it was Member to maintain that course the duty of an independent. SVN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARI 25, 1846. which he believed to be right. Now he would only ask that Honourable Gentleman to allow to those who were the Ministers of the Crown the benefit of that principle, and that he would not heap upon them those oppro brious epithets which he had made use uf, for acting on the very principle which he had laid down for his own guidance. He told them that the Ministers were the " most unstable of men," " infirm of purpose," and were " Cabinet jugglers." He had also made use of an observation, not very kind, to those with whom he had se long acted, and which did not display that judicial coolness which became a high judicial character.—( Hear, hear.) . He called them " political cowards." He (the Chancellor) might be a political coward, for he had been afraid to maintain party consistency in oppo sition to the wishes and interests of the people ; and he had been afraid to risk the subsistence of the empire for the sake of gratifying a party. If that were cowardice, it was that of which he had been guilty.—( Hear, hear.) He had turned his back upon his friends, but he had only done so in order to protect them from their own want of foresight. —( Hear, hear, and cheers, and counter cheers.) Seeing the storm a-head, seeing the frightful effects vi hick famine would produce in Ireland, he had not been ashamed to oppose himse fto the danger.—(Hear, hear.) He begged to to 1 those Hon. Gentlemen that he painfully felt the loss of their good opinion ; he should ever remember with satisfaetion the period when they had been formally united, and he trusted that when their judgments had time to cool—( Ironical cheers) when thoy shall see the dangers with which the country had been threatened, not merely in prospective but iu reality—when they shall be aware of the necessity which existed to make pro vision for those dangers, he trusted he knew enough of them to believe that—however inconsistent it might appear with their present opinions—they would admit that they have been wrong, mud that the Government had adopted the best course for the preservation of the general interests of the country.—(Chedr.) Mr. W. B. FERRAND believed that he was perfectly in order in alluding to the petition that had been presented to the House a few evenings ago by the Noble Lord the Member for the West Riding of Yorkshire. The House would remember, that as far back as 1843, he hid stated in that House, that the Anti-Corn-law League had purchased signatures to the petitions which they had got up at a shilling a hundred.—(Laughter.) Now he (Mr: Ferrand) was well aware that when the Noble Lord presented those petitions he might no doubt have believed that the signatures were genuine; but he (Mr. Ferrand) was prepared to prove, if his statement were denied, that the working men whose signatures were affixed to those peti tions were obliged by the master manufacturers to attach their names, and if they refused to do so, that the consequence of their re fusal would be the sacrifice of their elegy bread.—(Bear, hear, and cries of "Oh ! oh I") He was indebted to the Hon. Member for- Montrose for the able statement which lie gave of the modes operandi which was resorte Ito in the working of this tyranical system. That Hon. Member said it was a regulation of the master-manufacturers in Scotland, that if a workmen left one manufactory in consequence of a dispute 'with his employer the owner of another manufactory would not employ him. The consequence of which was that the most abject slavery and subservience was created. The Hon. Member stated that that was a glorious combination. Now he (Mr. Ferrand) was prepared to say that that combination existed to as great an extent in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and he had no hesitation In saying that there was no mari in the employment of any of the members of the Anti-Corn-law League who dared to refuse his signature to the petitions which emanated fromithat body.—(Cries of "Oh ! oh !") He would ask the Hon. Gentlemen who advocated the doctrines of free-trade, and the Noble Lord, the Member for London, if they believed thalthose signatures were genuine ? If they really considered them to be the bona fide acts of the parties whom they proposed to represent, they would have laid greater stress upon them. Now he (Mr. Ferrand) was prepared to prove that one man attached no less than 14,000 signatures.—(Loud cheers.) Attached 14,000 signatures to one of those petitions without ever having left his house, er employed any one even to write his name.—(Loud cheers.) That was the way that petitions were got up by the Anti-Corn-law League, and were afterwards presented to that House with a flourish of trumpets.— (Loud cheers.) So much for petitions. Now, if the Hon. Member for Sheffield would allow him, he would iude to certain points which he had referred to in a speech he made a few eve nings ago, when he interrupted the Hon. Member in rather a round manner.--, (Laughter.) As, however, he had stated his views in a ver y inaccu rate and dictatorial manner, he (Mr. Ferrand) deemed it his duty to give the statements of the Hon. Member a peremptory denial. The Hon. Member said that some lion. Gentlemen had engaged to sub scribe 2,0)01. for the recent election in the West Riding. Now, all he (Mr. Ferranti) would say on that subject was, that if the lion. Gentleman would find the individuals who were to subscribe this money, he would give him 201. per cent. for his trouble.—(Laughter.) The Hon. Gentleman also said that he (Mr. Ferrand) had published an able letter on that occasion. He believed that that statement was perfectly correct, for no member of the League had ever yet been able to answer it.—(Laughter.) The Honour able Gentleman went on to say, that he (Mr. Ferrand) had succeeded in his peculiar misslon of creating a bad feeling between manufacturers and those in their employment. If the Hon. Gentle man lied read his (Mr. Ferrand's) speeches correctly, he would have discovered that his object was not to create bad feeling, but to expose and bring before the public gaze these cruelties and oppressions to which the working men were subjected by the master manufacturers —(hear, hear.) The Hon. Member stated also that his (Mr. Fer ran i's) friends had repudiated his efforts. Now that he strongly denied. The Tory party, not the Conservative party (for, thank God, that party had ceased to exist )—(Laughter.) The Tory party had told him that it was of no use to contest the Wist Riding of Yorkshire, for that the Anti-Corn-law League had, by their corrupt and unconstitutional proceedings, so swamped the constituency, that it was utterly useless to attempt a struggle. He told them In reply that they had truth and honesty on their side, and so far from retir ing from the contest, he advised them to persevere.—(Hear, hear.) He had no hesitation in saying that if Mr. Ed word Laseelles had boldly confronted the enemy, that a different termination would have follewed ; or if Mr Lane Fox had persevered in his efforts—if the battle had been fought out, he believed tit- it Lord Morpeth would never have sat in that House as Member for the West' Riding.—(Hear, hear, ant ironical cheers.) Hon. Gentlemen opposite might say " Hear, hear," but he believed that any man who would weigh the circumstances of the case, could come to no other conclusion. The Hon. Gentieman(the Member for Sheffield) had said that the working men had repudiated his (Mr. Ferranti's) doctrines. Surely, if that were the case, the statement as to his having created bad blood betwen masters and the employed could not be correct. He would now tell the House what het ac tually occurred on the day of election. A friend of the Noble Lord's (Lord Morpeth) who sat on the hustings, cried out to the 8,000 people who were assembled on that occasion, to give three groans for Min (Mr. Ferrand). Now, how was that met? Not one individual in that assembly responded to the call. Now, if it were true that the working men had repudiated his docaines, they would surely have made a response when they were called upon to give three groans for hi n. Honourable Members were aware that when he was in Yorkshire he had challenged the members of the Anti-Cern-law League to meet him to discuss the question of protection. He had given out that chal lenge in Leeds, Bradford, and Huddersfield, but no one had ever yet accepted that challenge. Ile would now repeat that challenge in that House, and he dared any of them to accept it. If they doubted hie intention he would give it to them in writing. How then could they say, under such circumstances, that the working men had risen en masse fur free trade?—([tear, hear, and cheers.) Ile would refer to the disgraceful position in which Hon. Members on that side of the House appeared before the country. Ile remembered when the present Government first entered upon office, that the Noble Lord the Member for London asked the Right lion. Baronet the First Lord of the Treasury, who at that time came in by a majority of ninety-one, " how he intended to conduct the affairs of the country ?" The Rigid, Hon. Baronet replied—" I am asked by the Noble Lord how I propose to carry on my Government"--and turning round to the men who placed him in office, he said " I will walk in the direct path and in the light of the British Con stitution." He (Mr. Ferrand) believed that it was in the spirit of the Constitution that candidates, when aspiring to re present electors in Parliament, should explain to their constitu encies what were the political principles by which they proposed to guide their conduct; and not only that, but that they should be sub jected to a searching examination, so that their electors might be able to decide clearly what political principles their representatives adopted. When Parliament was last dissolved, the Sovereign had salt that her intention in dissolving it was to ascertain the opinions entertained by the public on those points which were then agitating the country.—(Hear, hear.) There can be no doubt but such was the intention. Shortly afterwards, when he stood before the peop'e of Leeds, he heard the Noble Lord (Morperh), on the 23d of June, 1341, giving expression to the following sentiments. He said— " The struggle which I am now about to commence is one against monopoly, and it is not in the town-hall of Leeds that I am going 'to cleseair of a triumph." What was the deelaeation of his Hon. Friend the Member fur Yerk shire, who was going to speak against the measure, and to vote against it also, and who 'sad been deceived into seconding the ad dress ?—(llear, hear, and laueliter.) Noble Lords and lion. Gentle men had once been charged with " thimble-rigging," but he thought they might with justice on the present occasion turn round and charge their accusers of apostasy, who threw out the bait ofcheap corn and cheap bread, and humbugged the people with notions of free trade.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) What, said the lion. Gen tleman the Member for the borough of Leeds? He said, "Gentle men, stick fast by English agriculture in the first instance, and then try foreign agriculture."—(Hear, hear.) Now his (Mr. Ferrand's) advice to lion. Members was, to stick tss English agriculture.— ( Hear, hear.) He had heard words used that evening not credit. able. in his opinion, to the Hon. Gentleman who uttered them —he alluded to the Hon. Member for Montrose, who called the landlords monopolists." Now, in reference to a former speech of that Hon. Menab,r, he found that lie had made use of the following language :—" Stick to English agriculture, because it is your interest to do so." Now if the Honourable Member were present, he would not ask him how he intended to vote, but he would say to him, if he was an Englishman, he should stick to English agriculture ; if he was an honest man, he would redeem be pledge ke had made to his constituents; and litre was an honour • e' I, men he would resign the seat he then held in that house, for he .:coati not forget that he once stood beneath the !minus, on which was inscribe,! " Protection to native industry."—(Hear, hoar.) He should then tell him, that if he betrayed he trust and deceived the people, it would add epithet to his appellation—namely, that of (Its honesty.—(llear, hear, and cheers.) He shoal] next turn to the benches immediately behind the Treasury benches ; and he had no doubt but several llon. Gentlemen were beginning to tremble in that quarter, and ask themselves, "Is it I that tun alluded to ?" (Lirighter.) He alluded at the outset to the lion. Member for Win cliester--(llear, an I laughter)—and he begged to ask him how he had obtained his seat?—(Hear, hear, and renewed laughter.) 114,1 he forgotten the visit he paid to the Buckinghamshire farmers, the a - lire-drinking amongst them, the putting them on their backs, and the " Hip, hip, hurraying," he created amongst them in flavour of protection? (clear, and shouts of laughter.) Did the Hon. Gentleman recollect all that, and how he subsequently marched in for Winchester with the free-traders?—(Hear, hear.) Was that a fair way of deciding an election?—(Cries of "No, no.") Ile (Mr. Ferrand) loved honesty in public men; and if he had been guilty of such conduct as that to which he called attention, he would scorn to tread the floor of that House.--(Hear, hear, and cheers.) The Hon. Member came before them, reeking from the hustings, ready to stand or fall by protection to agriculture..—(Cheers and laughter.) He recollected that on the 22d of February, 1842, the Hon. Gentleman made a splendid speech in that House. lie stood there, directly in front of the agricultural benches, and quoted Latin passages by the page, in defence of protection —(Great laughter.) He, next day, published the speech, corrected from the short-hand writers' notes, at Mr. Liddell's, Pall-mall, and presented him (Mr. Ferrand) with a copy of it, which, with the permission of the House, lie would then, for the first time, make use of.—(Hear, hear, and In-, creased laughter.) In that speech, the Hon. Member declared, that if ever there was a scheme fraught with danger, and concocted by bad men for the destruction of their own interests or the interests of their country, they could not have hit on a better expedient than the cry of cheap food ; and that the man would be mad, or something worse, who sided with such a cause.—(Great laughter.) Now he (Mr. Ferrand) was not going to say what the phrase, or something worse, meant.—(Hear, hear, and increased laughter.) The Hon. Member, is -another part of his speech, sa - d, the question of the corn-laws was one that did not alone affect the constitution of that House, but also the constitution of the country. Now, he could tell him that the present question was one that affected his honour, and lie was bound to give up his seat and appeal to his constituents anew.—(Hear, hear.) There was one more extract in the speech of the lien. Gentleman, to which he begged to refer—it occurred in the peroration.--(Lazgliter.) It was this --=" I am resolved, for the good of the country and the preservation of its liberties, to stand by the landed interest, which is only another name for English interest, and I will uphold it by the bast means in my power, and by voting for the measure of her ma jesty's Ministers."—(Hear.) Let thorn mark that vote in favour of her Majesty's Ministsrs, but not against them, as he wan bound to do on the present occasion. —(Hear, hear.) That then, was the speech of the Hon. Member for Winchester, who now sat behind the First Lord of the Treasury as one of his sup- Porters.—(Laughter and cheers.) There was an old proverb, but a very true one, and in very familiar use in his (Mr. Ferrand's) part of the country, and which, perhaps anlied in the present case. It ryas this, " That birds of a feather flock togeth er ."—(G rea t l aug ht er. ) I hiLe did not know w h e th er th e H on . M em b er f or Ci rencester was in house at present, but if lie were he hoped lie would tell the e, the place h e did rea ll y represen t.—(L aug h ter. ) That lion. Member er was now what he would cad the last Lord of the Treasury eiteliber then rertedratr that had been I member went e l ected. speaker said he could no t Upon the 14th of August, 1845, that lion. ) would here read an extract. The Hon. „ led , (mr. 'S own to his constituents, and made a speech, from vote for the abolition ofnlla extract, which was to the effect that the without dishonour and loss of character, e peectehlion. Member the Vice-President of the attention ar ofT t r o a t d h e e speech o s f c orn - laws.—(Eenr.) He would next call very business-like, but he fearewdls certainly one of great ability, and failed in carrying the House with it .—(Laughter.) But at the ver y t that the Right li mo , he delivered it, he (Mr. ti l s eman had at diet very mo lusetarnts, calling, upon Ferranti) knew meat in his red box an address from jo ts m h i a i . e d made this would call him to resign his seat.—(Greatiaueleter ain.l would not say why the Right lion. Genilema. nh ee le : r e -41 t 3 a:y :or lee r, 1 ,21r;"1L1,2 to do so, but he knew the reason why his e,onste etten been "'"" demand.-(Cheers.) The next lion. Member to w attention was the Member for Wiltshire, the S he would say to that Hon. Member that he thought his honour to Was at stake.—(llear, hear.) About a e ear ago that lion. Member went down to his constituents, and in asking for a renewal of their Supllrt, lie reminded them that it was twelve years since he first appeared before them in the position of a candidate for their corn-laws he look e d su ff rag es—that it was true that all men were liable to make rale takes, but that in re ference to the giving great stability to the agriculture country.—(Laughteroufpotnhisprohibitions acid cheers) Well he now came to deal with the Eight Hon. Baronet the Secretar y of Stete for the his constituents, and lie (Mr. } er rand) would ask the Right Hon. Home Department, who had also recentl y been obliged to go before tell th ' e Right lion. his personal honour at stake ?He be to Baronet did he not stand pledged to his constituents , and was not Baronet that lie was botlnd to redeem th e p led g e he had made to his moment he had changed his op inions u p on this constituents, and the question, he was bound in honour to resign his seat, in order that hits constituents might be fairly and honestly represented.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. Ferrand) had read the Eight Hon. Baronet's speech, and he should say it °tight to have been printed and circulated for the" benefit of the country, as the Right Hon. Baronet, the First Lord of the Treasury had done upon a former occasion, when he was opposed to the Whigs.—(Cheers and laughter.) At that time he (Mr. 'errand) was only in the rank and file of politics, but he received a large number of those speeches, and he took care to have them most Industriously circulated at a penny each.— (Laughter.) Why, the Hon. Baronet had sent them to him he did not know, but he knew not from whom else they could come. But in reference to this speech of the Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary of State for the Home De partment, he would just quote one or two passages which appeared to have been received by his constituents with great laughter and cheers. The Right Hon. Baronet was reported to have said upon that occasion, that "he would never shrink from the expression of public opinion."— (Laughter.) Then he (Mr. F.) would say, "Go down again to your coestituents."—(Laughter.) The Right Hon. Baronet went on to say, " The Whigs are down, to rise no more."— (Laughter.) Should O'Connell or Roebuck or Bowring dare to say that the democratic principle should ever take the lead in this great ompire."—(Great laughter.) Now, let him (Mr. Ferrand) ask who supported ithe Right lion. Baronet in this House?—(Cheers.) In what position now stood " Roebuck, and Bowring, andO'Connell, the conspirator?"—(Renewed laughter.) The Right Hon. Baronet went on to say that his conviction was that the full development of the democratic principle would be destructive to this country.— " Oh," continued the Right Hon. Baronet— " May I be cold before that drcadful day, Oppressed with loads of monumental clay." (Shouts of laughter.) And the Hon. Baronet then continued to say, after this poetical effusion, that it remained now for his con stituents to decide whether they would return him to Parliament or not."—(Laughter.) He (Mr. Ferrand) would like to ask the Right Hon. Baronet whether his now considered himself the representative of those constituents?—(Hear, hear.) One more quotation from those election speeches and he had done with them, but the last was the severest and most tremendous cut of all.—(Laughter.) It was from the speech of the Right Hon. Baronet, the First Lord of the Treasury—(Laughter) —and he would tell that Right lion. Baronet that his personal honour was also at stake.—(Cheers ) The Hon. Member then proceeded to read extracts from a speech made by the Right Hon. Baronet to his constituents, which were to the effect that he had adhered to the promises he had made upon the last oc casion he appeared before them. " Who paid the tithes ? He would not say altogether, but principally, the landowners of this country; and if corn could be produced by other landowners at a cheaper rate, it would not be just to the English landowner to admit their corn on equal terms." This was at the poll in the borough of Tamworth, and after these pledges made by the Right lion. Baronet they returned him to this House. He (Mr. Ferrand) on the other hand, said that the Right Hon. Baronet was wrong when lie violated his pledges to the University of Oxford when he resigned his seat. Ile would prove to him that he was bound, in honour, to resign his scat now. What did he say at the poll on the 3d of June?—" You placed me in the proud position of your repre sentative in Parliament, and you may depend on it I will be faithful to my professions. I will remain untiringly devoted to the Con servative principles, which in the face of this constituency I have professed. I will, 'at the same time that I pay due respect to those differing from me in religious opinion, uphold and defend the histi tutions of my country." The Right Hon. Baronet pledged, in the face of this constituency, of his own free will, to stand by his prin ciples; and he (Mr. Ferranti) called for him—not as Prime Minister, not as the leader of the Conservative party, er as the man who once led them, but as an honest Member that house— toresign his seat and go down to his constituency.—(Cheers from the Minis terial side.) He had said that he had made his last quotation, but would the House allow him to throw in as a kind of makeweight the speech of the Right Hon. Baronet's colleague, Captain A'Court, who had said "It is certain that the prosperity of Tamworth depends on the prosperity of the agicultnrist, and I will never consent to take from the British farmer the protection he requires.—(Hear, hear.) I will not reduce the English labourer to the same level and con dition as the continental labourer." What figure did he cut when he looked at those Hon. Gentlemen—honourable by courtesy, and honourable by their characters and principles—who still held his opinions. CoiOd he and his colleagues look that House in the face, and say that they had conducted themselves with common honesty ? They should not tell him that they accepted office not with the view of carrying this measure through that House. They were not bound to carry it ; but when they found that they were unequal to carry out the principle of protection, they were boned as honest and honourable men to appeal to the country—(Cheering from the Ministerial side) —and to ask their constituencies for their approval of their conduct. If the Right Hon. Baronet had pursued that course at first, they might have rallied round him a great part of the country; but now the population of Great Britain and Ireland had a contemptible opinion of his position.—(Cheers from the Ministerial side.) lie would ask, how had the Right Honourable Baronet been supported during this discussion ? He (Mr. Ferrand) knew that Hon. Mem bers, who were on terms of personal friendship with the Members on the Treasury benches, wept for them when they rose to speak, so much did they feel for their .depraved condition.—(Cheers from the Ministerial side.) Ile knew some Hon. Gentlemen, opposed to the principle of protection, who had made some endeavours to address the House, but their consciences and their hearts had failed them. The Hon. and Learned Member for Bath felt his case so bad that he broke down in his speech —so much for the democratic Member for Bath. The Hon. Member for Colton had calmly said a few words, but had ventured to do no more. Without following this subject any further, he would say that no man, to whatever party he might belong, would say that this House had any right, in common honesty, to decide this question.—(Cheers from the Ministerial side.) It was not at all improbable that au address might be moved in the House, praying her Majesty to send th m where 'they ought to have been long since—before their constituencies. if that did happen to be the case, lie would tell Hon. Members the course he intended to pursue was as soon as the division was over to look at the list and find the names of those men who were snugly ensconced behind the Right Hon. Baronet and who voted for this measure. He would then go to Peel's coffee-house in Fleet street— (Langhter)—and look over all the country papers of Great BMW!' and Ireland and see how the pledges of lion. Members to stand by their principles of protection had been redeemed; and when the ques tion came before the House again he would show up those parties who had failed to do so, and then even the most democratic would ha inclined to go back to their constituente es. It was a most extra ordinary fact that during the whole of that discussion the manufac turing population of this country had hardly even been alluded to. They were told by Hon. Members that as the population increased it was necessary to extend the manufactures. What was the effect on the moral and social condition of the people ? He would go back 60 years and bring before them the sufferings of the manu facturing population. It was his intention to read one or two brief extracts teem the debate of April 3, 1816. Mr. Ro bert Gordon said, that the parish officers in London contracted with the manufacturers for the disposal of their children, and they agreed to make one idiot for every 19 sane children, and these they sent to be at the disposal of the manufacturers, and that was now the course adopted by the new poor -law. The late Sir R. Peel (Cries of " Or der, order.")—had said that the insane were most employed, and he had more than 1,030 of them as kis apprentices. He had also said that young children were dragged from their beds, some hours be fore daylight, and confined for fifteen hours, and put to labour that no children of eight or nine years of age could bear. Only three years after, the present Prime Minister had said, that it was true that children were employed In Lancashire for fifteen or seventeen hours at a stretch, and that often occurred three times in a week, and on Sundays. They were employed from six in the morning till twelve at night in cleaning the machinery. He says that the popu lation spent their wages on Sunday in the most profligate manner, and got beastly intoxicated with ale and beer. Both boys and gir:s drank gin and other liquors to an enormous extent. The consump tion of opium was also very great in the shape of pills, laudanum, and other kinds of opiates. The labour was also stated to be very severe, being to the extent of twelve lions without interinision. In a word, besides the evils here described, the workers were repre sented as breathing continually foul air filled with fine dust, which debilitated the frame and laid the foundation of a great variety of distressing and complicated disease. The women were obliged to attend the factory to the neglect of their domestic duties, and the children were in consequence neglected, while opiates and other drugs were administered to lull them in the absence of those who ought to attend to :heir wants. The heavy and exhausting toil of the parents were visited on the children, and a general physical de generation took place. The Hon. Gentleman was continuing to read the extract further, when he was interrupted by Mr. ROEBUCK calling out "Question, question," Mr. FERRAND, with much warmth, said that it was the ques tion. The question was the increase of manufactures, and the prOPO - to sacrifice agriculture to benefit - the manufactures. It was, therefore, right for him to show the effects of the manufacturing system on the working population—(Hear, hear)—and he would pursue his own course in spite of the lion. and Learned Member until called to order by the Right Hon. Gentleman the Speaker of the House. lie did not wonder at the Honourable and Learned Member for Bath calling out order but he (Mr. Ferrand) would call him, if he was capffile, to attend to what lie had to read.—(Hear, hear.) That Hon. and Learned Gen tieman professed to represent the people; but he seemed, like the three celebrated tailors of Tooley-street, to represent al: England, as centred in himself.—(Cheers and laughter.) The lion. Member then proceeded to read the extract he was employed on when the inter ruption took place, which represented the disease and mortality that pervaded the children who were engaged in factory labour. He would now, he said, ask the attention of Hon. Members on the Op position side of the House, representing the Anti-Corn-law League, to the name of the gentleman from whom he (Mr. Ferrand) had been quoting. It was from Mr. Rathbone Greg, a great authority on their side, and a leader of the Anti-Corn-law League, who were now call ing on the Government to give the death blow to agriculture, to en able the great millowners of the north to use up the surplus popula tion that might thereby he created in the agricultural districts.— (Hear, hear.) That gentleman says that this has been the case— and could Hon. Gentlemen have a better authority?—(Hear, hear.) There was another witness on this question, to whom he would re'er. Doctor Kay Shuttleworth confirmed the whole of the statement ; yet this authority was one belonging to this side of the question, He says the working people of Manchester are berder ing upon savage life—that the moral check regarding the increase of population has no effect upon them—and that the population are generally in a most deplorable condition. Ile also states that the ob ject of importing labourers from the agricultural districts, was to break down prices in the manufacturing labour markets. Ile read another extract from Dr. Cooke Taylor, of Belfast, who is also a good authority with the League. It was taken from the League newspaper when it was the Anti. Corn-law Leasue Circular, and is from No. 96 of that publication, It states that the writer had seen scenes of the greatest misery and wretchedness in the huts Ireland during the prevalence of the cholera —that he had witnessed the cellars of Liverpool, and been through the narrow and dirty wynds of Glasgow, but nowhere had he witnessed mi.ery equal to that In Lancashire. It was there, and there only, that exti eme of wretchedness was to be seen. It was there that he beheld the immolation of th population of the country. And he (Mr. Ferran:l) would s:y the same—it was an immolation of the work ing classes at the alias of Mammon a sacrifice to the demon of wealth.—(Hear, hear.) Yes, the best of the population were immo lated ; and he would say, advisedly, murdered by the factory eystem. Let them establish competition as they were seeking to carry out the principle of free-trade, and see how it would operate in the midland counties. Mr. Greg had stated that the hosiers of this country, though protected by a duty of 20 per cent., could not successfully compete with the Saxony manufacturers. —(" Oh, oh," from Mr. Hawes.) The Hon. Member for Lambeth might express dissent from this, but he (Mr. Ferrand) was prepared to prove it ; and if this was the case, under the present amount of protection, what would become of the hosiers of Nottingham and Leicester, coder a complete system of free trade? Competition would he enfeebled, and ruin would inevitably ensue.—(Hear.) Ana this was the result of their free-trade principles, backed as it was with a protective .duty of 20 per cent. Even with this duty they were reduced to this frightful state of misery. --(Cheers.) One fact proving this mass of misery, which he had brought before the House was worth a thousand statements of three months' converts.— (Continued cheering.) It was hr the year 1843, that he (Mr. Ferrand) presented petitions to that House signed by upwards of 25,000 frame-work knitters in the coun ties of Nottingham, Leicester, and Derby, showing the frightful suf fering.; they were undergoing, and praying the House to prohibit the importation of foreign hosiery until at least foreign eottntfles took the prohibition off English hosiery ---(Bear, hear.) When he had pre sented this petition, the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary for tke Colonies (who, Unfortunately for the Government, could not find a place in England to return him to this House, and whose absence he (Mr. Ferranti) deeply regretted), employed Mr. Muggridge as a Coin' miesioner to go into the Midland Counties, to inquire whether the statements of the frame-knitters were true; and now he (Mr. Ferranti) would read to the Holm extracts front the report furnished by Mr. Muggridge.—(The Honourable Member then read extracts the purport of which was as follows:—That daily labours eltendva from fifteen to eighteen hours—their wages were as low as 3s. 7d ; a great number of children were also employed, and one-third of the married women were working on frames. The employment of these women effected a great reduction in wages. And, nose, he would ask the opinion of the House whether this waB not a frightful state of things ? Mr. 3luggridge had examined Dr. Shaw, an emi nent medical practitioner of Leicester, and he said that the mortality of the children under live years of age was about 49 per cent of the whole population. This was owing to the neglect of the mother s, who were employed in the stocking trade, they not being able to have them out as in some others in the manufacturing branches. In speaking of the debility of the framework-knitter, he said that was caused from deprivation of the necessaries of life, their common articles of subsistence being bread, cheese, gruel, and tea, but the latter to no great extent. They had earned greater wages in former years with a great deal less labour. It was also a too common practice among the poorer classes to administer Godfrey's cordial to infants, the object being to keep the child quiet while the mother was at work. lie was now going to justify his statement, that a wholesale system of murder was carried on in the manufacturing districts. He quoted from an eminent surgeon, examined by Mr. Muggridge, He had known infants killed by administering three drops of lan- . danum, but there was nothing said about it. The infants went off quietly, not like grown people. He said that he could prove that, owing to the existing starvation, the poor murdered their children by wholesale. He knew one family, in which four children had died in the same way. The infants that died in a more insidious manlier became pale, tremulous, and at last slink. He would ask the House of Commons to copy this report of Mr. Muggridge's, and to read it, for he would lay his life that they had never heard anything more frightful than the whole of this evidence. And now let them hear what the pawnbrokers said, and he only wlseed that the Hon. Hember for Durham were in his place. Ile (Mr. Ferrand) perhaps knew the reason for that Hon. Member's absence —(Lauiditer and cheers)—but were he present, he thought that the Hon. Member would admit that the misery of G atul o iut i re t e t ixi a ip e ue r gi e , sf s ue v r a ou s r r i r i e g sur t ee o i t . h and ebroughtTaneys oeial pledged c rhoen,them tui t ou h iti e ub of t blankets framework knitters night, e i w i o t r h ka e t. r ba were ad isv o a, f i fo rt ht3ellasOwsinatoslnsttioseuirnia!leat.: kn u lt r ters was, owing to the depression tinder which the trade had la. 'lltlauetihr the condition character; c d o lv n e ,i l i l t l o g -houses none, and public worship was altogether neglected by them. worst m la n s i t s and io m i they inquire c n lo o t f h t i h ng e manufacturing districts, and did time a ll ow him, he would produce a frightful statement with regard county of Yo r k. He had to the manufacturing system in the bordering on Savage life, savage exhibit ed the midl an d counties in a state egN;trhat they were even indiff eren t t o the murder of th e i r offspring manufacturing population were the ine e they to be told th at when the would the agricult ur i sts consent Zo uc a frightful st a t e as that, laourer to f the man hand over th e agricultural inthe language the of tender , Mr. mercies Cooke o Taylor, to be 't in tr il e t r i s ' ana allow thew ' cotton lords might grow richer ? The Right lion. lated, that certain Sectctary of State for the Home Department had stttlalitleinan the was greatly reduced in this country. He (Mr. Ferrand} would crime him that that was not the fact, [.ll this Point of the lion. ta u t t 1 man's address Sir James Graham was engaged in earnest converse lion with an Hon. Member.] Perhaps when - Ise (Mr. Ferrand) told the Right lion. Baronet that the protectionists were 462 a - head • • South Nottinghamshire, he would attend r i toahim.-(Loud pro tectionist cheers.) When the Right Hon. Gentleman said that crime had not increased, he would call his attention to the address of Mr. Justice Coleridge to a jury in the north, in Nov., 1844. That Learned Judge said that a steady increase of crime had taken place throughout the country, and in their own county the increase was not so much in crimes of a petty nature as those of a more serious character. Within the last eight years the number of prisoners had nearly doubled In that county. That county was the manufacturing county of York. At the present moment the number of prisoners in Wake field gaol were greater than it had ever been known before. When he was in the north of England he was thrown into contact es ith large bodies of the working classes. and they instructed him to bring their case before the House, for they said that the battle was the battle of labour against capital, and they told him, that far from the extension of trade in this coun try being of the slightest benefit to them, it had been their bitterest curse, and they produced to him statements of the greatest import ance to prove that such was the fact. ills Hon. Friend, the Mem ber for East Cornwall, had 1 itchy published, at his own expense, a history of the working population in the manufacturing districts in the north of England for the last sixty years. This was written by a working man, but who had shown ability far above his order. [The Hon. Gentleman then read several extracts from the work in ques tion, from which it appeared, that while trade had largely ex tended, the wages of the labourer had been decreased hi proportion.] He would now quote a statement made by Mr. Muggridge, the Com missioner appointed to inquire into the state of the manufacturing districts in the midland counties. In examining a weaver at Roch dale, he asks, " What had you for weaving this piece of cloth in 1829 ?" The weaver replie d, " 21. 55." Mr. Muggridge then asked him what he received for it now, and he replied " 1 9s ," and added, e asked the following qu es ti on s : - as well ju rff g il d t g he corn-laws were repealed, as you " that trade had neore th an doubled since 1829.0 Its examining a 80l were in a given year ?" " No • If y ou g ave me all my food for be , nothing I should net be so well off, because, since that period, the t o o u n l d w y e o a u ver, reduction which has taken place in my wages amounts to more than the price of all the food I eat, and tke clothes I wear." Now, that was the statement of a Bolton weaver ; and he had other in stances which he could quote, of a still more startling character. It would suffice, however, for him to pledge his word to the House that ever since machinery had been introduced into this country for the purpose of manufacturing goods, the wages of the working people had been gradually falling. He had been charged by the Hon. Member for Stroud as being the opponent of every description of machinery. Now, he positively denied that charge-he was in favour of machinery so long as it was subservient to manual labour ; but when it destroyed menial labour, he said, in the language of the late Sir Hobert Peel, that machinery became a curse rather than a benefit to the country. Was any Hon. Member opposite prepared to say that the price of food did not regulate wages? Was the Hon. and Learned Member for Bolton prepared to say that it did not ? Dr. BOWRING-I am. Mr. FERRAND continued - Well, then, if the Hon. and Learned Member would refer to his speech which he made on the 26th January, 1835, he would find a statement to the effect that the foreigner was enabled to compete with the Bri tish manufacturer through the cheapness of food abroad, rending it unnecessary to give his workmen the same wages as were paid in England. The Hon. and Learned Member for Cork, Mr. Ricardo, the Hon. and Learned Member for Birmingham, and Mr. Rathbone Greg, all agreed in this opinion. Now, something had been said about the country gentlemen of the South of England ',re posing to the manufacturers to take off their hands the surplus popu lation of their districts. He was glad to see the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton in his place, and he called upoc him, if lie dared, to refute this statement. Mr.:VILLIERS-No ; I will not indeed. Mr. FERR AND continued-No; he was eonvinced the Hon. Mem ber would not, for he had always conducted the corn-law debate in a niode-ate and honourable tone, and had o .ly made one thaw against the agricultural body, which he should show shortly that the lion. Member. had failed to prove. He would assert it, without fear of contradiction, that the agricultu ral population of the south of England were er'ginally taken into Lincolnshire by the League manufacturers-(Hear, hear)-tliat the proposition was never made to the agricultural Members, or to the employers of those labourers-that they, in fact, never heard of it until the thing was carried Into effect.-(Hear, hear.) The autho rity which he had for saying this was the letter an Quaker, which, before he had done with him, he would prove to be a trafficker in human blood. That letter was addressed to Mr. Chadwick, the Se cretary to the Poor-law Commissioners. That Quaker recommended that the agricultural labourers of the south of England should be sent into Lancashire for the purpose of being employed in the cotton manufacture, where there was good remuneration for labour ; and yet at that very moment a Committee of that House was sitting, at which it was clearly proved that he was in the practice of giving no more than 23e d. per day to his hand-loom weavers. That Quaker was Mr. Henry Ashworth, of Bolton, who, in consequence of the great support which he gave to the Leaguers, was called the head of the Anti-Corn-law League. Now was it not disgraceful that any man 'could be found who would be guilty of such conduct ?-(Hear. hear.) But there was Mr. Robert Hyde Greg, another Anti-Corn-law League manufacturer, a gentleman who subscribed his thousands to the League, to whom he would refer. Mr. Greg wrote a letter on the 17th of September, 1844, only three months after the date of Mr. Henry Ashworth's letter, and his letter was a kind of refresher to Mr. Chadwick. Mr. Greg said in his letter, that he had for some time thought of addressing Mr. Chadwick on the same subject as his friend Henry Ashworth had written upon a short time before. It was, lie said, a most important question, and one which deserved immediate attention. He then went on to recommend that all poor men and women, of every age, and even children and orphans, should be transmitted from the south of England to Lancashire and Yorkshire. He said that they would be most acceptable to manufacturers wisp were short of labourers, or those that were starting new concerns, because the variety of the manufacturers' wants were great.--(Hear.) That proposal came from Mr. Greg, the Anti Corn-law League manufacturer, and the Proposals in his letter were adopted. He (Mr. Ferrand) held Its his hand a reedier invoice which was sent of a fatnily that had been packed off into Lancashire, after they had been kidnapped in the agricultural counties to supply the wants of the manufacturers. He also held in his hand an extract from an article which had appeared in the Manchester Guardian with regard to sending the agricultural population of the south of England into the manufactur ing districts. The editor of that paper expressed his earnest hope that another draft might be made from the same source, for the purpose of giving comfort to the agricultural labourers. Two years ago the Hon. Member had moved for certain returns which should prove to this House and to the country that the population had been worked to death in the manufacturing districts. Parliament then called upon the Poor law Commissioners to account for the tens of thousands of the inhabitants of the • agricultural districts who had been induced to go into Yorkshire and Lancashire-8,000 was the whole number for which they could account, and he was in a position to prove that the re mainder were worked to death. Before, however, he did that, be would read to the House some extraordinary documents connected with the Poor law Commissioners, which had come to his hands ; and now the country would begin to know what has been going on at Somerset House between these Poor-law Commissioners and these manufacturers connected wills the League. Within these trait ten days he had received a letter, of which the following was a copy :- . " Ludlow Parish, West Wycombe, Bucks. " Sir,-I beg to inclose you an account made out against Ludlow parish, for the charge of four persons belonging to the same, who were tempted to migrate at the instance of Mr. Ashworth. This parish of Ludlow, in 1839, refused to pay any snore money to Mary Awls, as they considered that 4e. Gd. per week, paid by the parish, did not go to her, but for wages. She was, therefore, discharged to try it on with the parish, and ultimately went back unfit for agricul tural labours. The parish subsequently settled -the account (71.), under the threat of legal proceedings.-I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, 16 Ile would now call the attention of the House to the sufferings of these poor people, and he thought he could not better effect his pur pass than by calling their attention to the following extraordinary document :- " Messrs. 11. and E. Ashworth, Drs. to Dr. Barry :-Mary Ann Avis, child burnt and died, 1/. ; Mary Ann Avis, small-pox, 11.55. ; George Allen and family, typhus fever, 1/. 9s. Bd. ; George Gilbert alai family, sickness, 1/. ; George Gilbert and family, small-pox, 61. 15s. ; to cash paid in aid of wages, at 4s. 6d. per week, 471. 13s. 4d. Total, 591. 3d. Settled the sixth day of the third month by the Poor law Commissioner, Assistant Parker." Thus the House would see that these Poor-law Commissioners paid for the single item of wages to Messrs. Ashworth the sum of 471. 13s. 4d. Now, this was part of the exposure-it was not all ho had other documents. No. 958 of the Commissioners papers proved the payment of 61. 15s. 4d. to Mary Gregg on the same account. On February 7 he received another document, proving the payment of a further sum of 141. Se. 2d. to Mary Avis. After this payment, it seems she, with her family, was sent home by an order of removal, but in what state will be seen by the following invoice sent with her to the parish of Laidlaw : -Maria, aged 10 years ; Emma, aged 5 years ; illegitimate, one year. He had another letter which he would also read, in which Messrs. Ashworth acknowledged the receipt from the poor-law Commissioners of the sum of 221. Is 6d., paid by them to Widow Avis ; and they also considered that it was an unworthy re turn, and that thoy should look to the West Wycombe Union for the payment of the full sum of 4s. 6d. per week, which had been paid by them to Widow Avis. The Hon. Member for Manchester, who stated at a public meeting in that town that they could buy up the whole of the land In England, declared that the working population of Manchester were starving to death, arid living, if living it could be called, upon wages, if wages it could be called, at the rate of Id. a day. The Hon. Member for Oldham stated himself that the people in his borough were starved to death. That was the state of the working population in the manufacturing districts. The Anti-Corn-law League manufacturers had proposed to the agricultural labourers to go down to the north of England fur the purpose of getting food and higher wages. He held in his hand two statements, one of them the copy of a document, which was laid on the table of that House, which would show that the unfortunate agriculturist la bourers were actually kidnapped and carried deism to Lancashire, The House and the country should hear that night what had become of them. And then he thought they would de ceive the working classes, and that they would oppose the measure of her Majesty's Government. The manufacturers admitted that the measure would throw out of cultivation the poorer descriptions of land. Now that House should hear how the manufacturers treated their poor workmen, and the lion. Members opposite would them selves be ob7iged to say that the cases which lie would aUude to would surpass anything of the kind they had ever heard. lie (Mr. Ferrand) had taken some pains to collect for three years the number of accidents which had taken place in manufactories in the North, and he found them to consist of 31a, out of which 36 were caused by the machinery being in motion at time time, O u t of those 340 cases he only knew of two in which the manufacturer had made any rep a rat ion, or compensation to the injured Pada% Three hundred and forty I torn limb from limb by the machinery of those free traders ! He would challenge any Hon. Member opposite who re• presented the. Anti-Corn-law League to produce any case in the country of an agricultural labourer being injured without receiving compensation. Their Reiterant preacher, convicted of blasphemy their discharged soldier, with his lashes marked upon his back-such were the persons they sent to inquire into the conduct of country gentlemen.-(Cheers from the protectionists.) They should now hear from the lips of a manufacturer, mid a Member of that House, what had become of the agricultural labourers to whom he had alluded. The Hon. Member then read a statement, in which it was alleged that ih many inetarteeri the poor Creatures were starved while flogged to their work, and were erten driven by the harsh treatment which they received, to the committal of suicide.- (Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") That was the treatment the poor agricultural labourers received, torn from their green lanes and 'shady valleys, to drag out a miserable existence in the manufacturing districts. And now, if these facie Were true-arid he challenged any Member to deny it was it not the duty of the Government, as well as of every county Member, to demand that the agricultural labourer should be pro tected, and that they should be permitted to exist on the land on which they had been bent, rather than be iacrifled and immolated for the benefit of the Cotton lords Of the North of England ?- (Cheers.) Ile had not exposed the one-fourth of what he in tended ; but the day would arrive when he should do so, and he *as Very much inclined to believe that he had said sufficient that night to be remertibered for a long time by the Anti- Corn-law League. .But now he would exhibit their complete selfish ness. The House may remember (having frequently heard it men tioned) the name of a Mr; George Wilson, who was the chairman of the Anti-Cotnslew Leagtte-Who presided at the League meet ings-and who was a president of that society. This gentleman also adopted the motto-" Oh, Lord love ye, we're all for ourselves," for when the Right lion. Baronet in the alterations which he proposed In the Tariff 1842 lit wits abotit to reduce the duty on foreign starch from 9/. or 101. to 11., this gentlein an, Who *as a manufacturer of that article, said " Oh, this will never do; free trade ill Core, If you like, but no reduction in the duty on starch (Laughter). He did slot however, rest till he had convened a meeting of tue starch menu factltrers doveli et Manchester and at thin meeting resolutions were expressed to send a deputation to tilt Mintier with the view of in ducing him to alter his proposals so far as stareli Concerned. Lobsters and starch were the only articles which were exempted from the reduction then made. He received a letter front a friend of his at that time detailing the above circumstances. This individual was also a free trader, but this extraordinary con duct' on the part of Mr. Wilson and the other members of the League With regard to this subject excited his disgust. (The Hon. Gsntleman here read the letter in question.) It was somewhat extra rdinary that in this new tariff of the Right lion. listronet the wishes of Mr. G. Wilson were equally protected, mid the prohibitory duty, as far as starch was concerned, was not affected.-(" Hear, hear," and laughter.) That was the way the Government of the country truckled to the members of the League-(Laughter.) He had then in conclusion to allude to a subject which was of a personal nature. He had suffered not a little frotn the conduct of an Hon. Member of that House ; and perhaps he should never have-alluded to the matter but that the gentleman had asserted at a public meeting that he intended repairing to Knaresborough to deprive him (Mr. Ferrand) of the representation of that borough, and lie called on the Anti-Corn-law League to assist him in carrying out his object. Now as he (Sir. Ferrand) was to be opposed by the Honourable Gentleman, he alluded to the Member for Stockport, or his nominees, it would be only fair that the y both should stand upon eq ua l e,rounds.-(Hear, hear.) Owing to state ments that had been made in reference to him (Mr. Ferrand) he applied 'for, and obtained, a Commission of Inquiry, at which Lord Ashley presided. The lion. Member then quoted questions from the report, the answer to which was that certain individuals, who were rnillowners, kept cows and let them out, and that many workpeople were compelled to take more mile thair they required ; and that all the miliowners were in the habit of getting 50 per cent. out of their shops. Ile then went on to say, that he would not utter another word upon this question, but he would appeal to the gentlemanly feeling of this House ur on the question ;It 'u-as late, he admitted, to do so, but he would leave the question now to the House to decide whether the two Hon. Members opposite had not made a charge which was totally divested of a shadow of a shade of foundation.-(lieer, hear.) He would be prepared to meet him at the hustings, but it would cost the lion. Member 1,5001. He begged to thank the House for the kind atten tion wills which he had been heard. He had performed his duty to his constituency; he was prepared to go bethre them again, and he hoped other M embers would be able to do the same. Mr. W. MILES said, that if his opinion had been taken, the divi sion on this question should have been taken that night, but at the. same time, lie thought that a question of such importance shouldt have the fullest consideration. Wednesday had been set apart for separate business, and, therefore, he did hope that it would he ad journed to Thursday, and he trusted that the Hon. Member who moved the adjournment evould be satisfied with such en arrangement. lie believed that he could undertake that this debate would not go on beyond Friday. The discussion kept the country 111 a state ofi suspense, yet as sever a l gen tl em en still wished to speak on the s fleece, he thought that he stilled in asking the was ju delay, as, in 4140 0u10n, the debate could not contain beyond Friday, mild might possibly finish on Thursday. He could not give his reasons for that opinion, as they were not called for. The Right Hon. Baronet had presented a petition from Liverpool, which petition stated that the long continuance of the debat, caused great trouble and confusion in mercantile affairs. He knew that a good deal of this discussion was caused by the temporary decrease of the potatoes in Ireland, and this ought to be brought to a close as soon as possible, if it were a measure for temporary alleviation. If the Right lion. Baronet chose to bring in a temporaw Bill, giving to the Government the power o taking out of bond teed for the purpose of alleviating the distress of Ireland, he, for one, would give his consent. Sir ROBERT PEEL said, that if the question had been asked, he would have given his opinion In favour of an adjournment to Thursday. Mr. CRARLES BULLER obtained leave to bring in a Bill to assimilate the law with respect to the period of notices for elections in England and Ireland. The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the House adjourned at a Quarter to One o'clock. UNION MAGA ZINE.-CORN LAWS.- The MARCH number of this Magazine will contain the re maining portion of the conclusive Article on the Corn Laws, proving the beneficial tendency of their repeal on the agricultural interest ; together with all the latest, home, and foreign statistics, obtained at great expense, and now published for the first time. Published by Messrs. Madden and Malcolm, Leadenhall-strect, Lonles. RAILWAY SIIARF.S BY PUBLIC SALE. LAMOND, SHALE, AND oiL LAMOND, bcg to thank their Friends and the Public for their continued support and patronage, and to announce that their Public Sales of Railway Shares, &c., take place every TUESDAY and Fainar. at One o'clock, at their offices, at the Hall of Commerce, Threadneedle-street, Loudon, at which place all favours, cen t lining instructions, are respectfully Aquested t r he addressed. All Scrip and Share Certificates must be deposited for exa mination at least one day previously to their being offered ; and advices of results will be forwarded by the first post after the sale, and .the proceeds immediately disposed of according to instructions. Offices, Hall of Commerce, Threadneedle -street, London. THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE. TO 7 MORRO V, TIIUR§DAY EVENING, Will be perf:•rmed a few Opera, entitled THE CRUSADERS, The principal characters will be sustained by Messrs. Howell, Itar rison, Korrani, llorncastle, (S. Jones, Weiss, Stretton, D. W. King, Miss Romer, and Miss Rainforth. After winch, a new Fairy Ballet, called THE ISLAND NYMPH, fn which Mons. Desplaces, Mdlles. Neodot, Louise, Adele, Mdme. Giubilei, &c., will appear. This being Ash Wednesday, there will he no performance. THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET. TO-MORROW EVENINt4 Will be performed the Tragedy of ROMEO AND JULIET. Fomeo, Miss Cushman, Mcreutio, Mr. Hell; Peter, Mr. Buckstone ; Juliet, Mist S. Cushman ; Nurse, Mrs. Glover. The Band will perform the Overture, " La Gaz•sa Ladra," and the Waltz, "Love's Serenade." After which, the Comedy of THE OLD SCHOOL. Principal haracters by Messrs. Farren, Hell, Brindal, Mrs. Clifford, and Mrs. Yarnold. To conclude with a New Farce, called LEND ME FIVE SHIL- L" NGS. Principal characters by Mr. Buckstone, Mr. Tilbury, Mr. Brindal, and Miss P. FI rton. THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPHI. TO-MORUOW, THURSDAY EVENING Will he performed the Drama of LEOLINE : or, Life's Teals P lncipal characters by Messrs. 0. Smith and Wright, Mrs. Y. , :es ant Miss Woolgar. To be followed by TAMING A TARTAR ; or, Magic and l‘ra znurkaphobia. In which Messrs. Paul Bedford and Wright, Miss Woolgar, Madame Celeste, &c. will perform. . To m conclude with a New Farce, entitled THE PHANTOM ;ARF,AKFAST. Supported by Mr. Paul Bedford, Mr. Wright, Miss Woolgar, &c. This being Ash Wednesday, there will be no performance. PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OXFORD-STMEET. TO-MORROW, THURSDAY EVENING, Will be performed Shakspeare's Tragedy of KING LEAR. King Lear, Mr. Maeady ; Earl of Keht, Mr. Cooper; Edgar, Mr. Vallack ; Regan ' Mrs. Ternan ; Cordelia, Mrs. Stirling. To be followed by a DIVERTISSEMENT, in which Mr. Gilbert, Mr. Marshall, M. Adrien, Miss Bailin, Miss Marshall, and Mdlle. Duval will appear. After which, a New Farce, called TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE BROTH. Gregory Granite, Mr. Compton; George, Mr. Oxberry ; Fanny, Miss E. Stanley. This being Ash Wednesday, there will be no performance. NEW - STRAND THEATRE. A. PHILLIPPE'S SOIREES and MAI INEES MYSTERIEUS ES Two Morning Performances during the Week : . _ At the urgent and reiterated solicitations of many distingu t shed families, and in order to accommodate the crowds who tick to attend his Morning Performances, M. PHILLIPPE will give his :rand Juvenile Entertainment every Wednesday and Saturday Mornng, at Two o'cloulk. _ _ . Pl;illippe's most Popular Deceptions and Peculiar ExT cements rill be repeated every Evening, varied by the Amusin; Per- Mrmances of the Chiarini Family, ana the astounding Feat of the American Brothers.—Doors open at a quarter past &Neu to com mence at a quarter before Eight. Stalls, 35.; Boxes, 2s. ; Pit, Is. ; Gallery, 6d. ; Pr' vete Boxes, 11. Is., and 1/. I Is. 6d. This being Ash Wednesday, there will be no performance. ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITITEATRE OF Ahl S. Glorious career of the New Oriental Spectacle. he most sue• cessful piece ever produced. Nightly overflows of rank and fable)n lo witness the race pe:formances of the Colossal Elephants, trail of Camels, &c. TO-MORROW EVEN ING Will bo performed a New Drama, entitled THE RAJAH OF S'AGPORE ; or, the Sacred Elephants of the Pagoda. In which the whole of the extensive 'resources of the Establishment will be brought into requisition. New Scenes of the Circle, combining the unequalled Feats of the British and Foreign Company. The whole to conclude with the faTokrite Afterpiece of LOVE AND WAR: DAVIDGE'S ROYAL SURREY IIIEATRE The greatest hit ever known. The ORe Hundred Female Warriors' wonderful performance, and the magnificence and effect of the New Ilittorical Spectacle, have produced an immense sensation. Nightly crowded to the ceiling. First appearance of Mr. R. Pelham (from America), the Nigger Dancer and Singer. TO-MORROW EVENING Will be performed THE SEA KING'S VOW ; or, a Struggle for Liberty. Supported by Messrs. Hughes, Rogers, Cowell, May nard, Johnson, Lewis, lit slop, MoHson; Mcsdms. Vining, Daly, Martin, Miss Glover, and one hundred Female Warriors. After which, a new Farce, entitled, THE MASQUERADE BALL. Saints-Hit-'em-Hard, Mr. R. Pelham. To conclude with THE MENDICANT SON; or, The Jew of Southwark. Supported by Messrs. Hughes, Johnson, Rogers, Cowell, Maynard, Lewis, lleslop ; Mesdames H. Yining, Martin, and Daly. ROYAL VICTORIA THEATRE. On Tuesday, March 3d, for the Benefit of Miss Vincent, Will be performed THE BELLE'S. STRATAGEM ; or. The Ma:- queradc. Supported by Messrs. Osbaldiston, E. F. Saville, Frede ricks, niggle, Miss Vincent, &c. After which, a Drama called SHARSPEARE'S FESTIVAL. In which the entire strength of the Company will be envtged. Professor HEMMING and his Two &faint SONS will go through a Series of their Classical and Popular Exercises. To eoneludo with MARGARET CATCIIPOLE ; or, the Female horse Stealer. Margaret Catchpole, Miss Vincent. THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, FEB. 24. THERMOMETER, Lowest, 52; Highest, 58; Noon, 60. BAROMETER, 29.72. Wm S., morning, rain: afternoon, fine. RION WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE THIS DAY. 3dorning .. 12 minutes after 1.1 Evening .. 37 minutes after 1 AS ,L i * * ,, ,tt 4 4 4.. 1 S IN . socK u l 'RAI. • Pr 99 , 'Wr6 .l T• irt , .t • ' ' a '':- ' ,-tr '' A 1 ' r• w 1 - ' I L OS . * ''' . 4- ... (T It 3 —. r r k j i i ,..... ,./ -'" . . ' • 4 ftb. orritum ~stn ),,, ),. 4 LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FE i - RUARY 25, 1846 The LORD CHA.NCELLOR took his seat upon the Woclsack at Five o'elccie, After the presentation of petitions, The —AnQum of WEST3IEATR asked a question as to what had taken place in the House of Commons in reference to the case of BRIAN SEERY. The question having been objected to as irregular, the Noble Marquis gave notice of a question on the subject for Thursday. Lord IlnouoirAm then presented a petition from a person named Worthing, praying their Lordships to amend the law relating to divorce. The case was somewhat similar to that of Edward Gibson Wakefield. The daughter of the peti - tioner, a minor, had been abducted by a man named Newman, and married by him. The man had been convicted of the abduction, and she prayed their Lordships to amend the law, so as to give an easier remedy in such cases. The Noble and Learned Lord concluded by announcing his intention of moving that the petition be referred to a Select Committee. _ ...... The LORD CHANCELLOR suggested the propriety of having the petition printed. Lord CAMPBELL protested against this proceeding. In the case of Wakefield, the marriage had never been consummated, but in this instance there had been issue, and he trusted their Lordships would not illegitimatise the issue. The Scotch law of marriage ought to be altered, but until it was altered, marriages contracted under the law ought to be maintained. After a few words from Lord BROUGHAM, the petition was ordered to be printed. Loid KINNAIRD then rose to ask the Government what course they intended to pursue with respect to the report of the Gauge Commission? The question was of great impor tance in a social, a commercial, a military, and a financial point of view, and he hoped the House would grant a Committee to inquire whether it would not be advisable to establish a general system of superintendence and control of railways generally, which would ensure the safety and convenience of the public, and prevent the pro mulgation of bubble schemes. With regard to the report of the Commissioners, it appeared to him to be all in favour of the broad gauge, with the exception of the conveyance of troops and of goods ; and after reading the report he was surprised to find the Commissioners recommending the narrow gauge. He trusted they would not attempt to limit the speed, and he regretted that the Commissions had not considered the pro priety of adopting a medium gauge. The narrow gauge might, without any inconvenience, be altered into a six-foot gauge. Indeed, he believed it was impossible to alter the whole of the narrow gauge into the broad without any incon venience to the public, and without any enormous expense to the parties. He trusted the Noble Lord would maturely consider the subject before he tied down the country to an inferior gauge. The expense of the alteration might be defrayed by a mileage-tax upon all railways. He wished to know how soon it would be before the evidence was laid before the House, and when the Government would be prepared to state their intentions on the subject? The Earl of DALHOUSIE replied, that the recommendations of the Commissioners were of very great importance, and must be maturely considered. No effect could be given to those recommendations without an Act of Parliament, and the Government felt that it would be unjust to propose to take any steps until the members of the Legislature should have had an opportunity, of studying the evidence, which would be laid on the table of the House as soon as possible, possibly in the course of two or three weeks ; and. as soon as the Government shOuld have considered the evidence, they wonld propose some measure on the subject. Lord BeouGnam_thought that time should be given, not only to Parliament, but to engineers and scientific men, to consider the subject. Lord HATHERTON thought great caution should be exer cised in coming to a decision on this important subject, and if the number of miles of broad gauge had been greater than those of narrow, ha thought the decision would have been in favour of the broad gauge. He wished to press on their Lordships the necessity of competing lines in order to pre vent monopoly. The public interest could only be secured by competition. The Marquis of LONDONDiRRY considered that amalgama tion of various lines as most detrimental to the public interests. He thought that the construction of competing lines ought to be encouraged. After a few words from Earl Gnmr, The Duke of WELLINGTON gave notice that the Noble Earl, the President of the Board of Control, would submit certain resolutions relating to the recent military operations in India, and that on Thursday or Friday he would lay on the table certain papers relating to those operations. The report on the Public Works (Ireland) Bill was then brought up, and certain amendments were then proposed and Agreed to. The Fisheries, Piers, and Harbours (Ireland) Bill was then read a second time. On the =UM of the gal of sz amours, after a !gel eulogium by Lord rifosTEAGLE on the Board of Public Works (Ireland), and an expression from the Duke of RICHMOND of his willingness to support any measure for the improve ment of Ireland, Lord DACRE then moved the second reading of the Game laws Bill. The Noble Lord then went into a detailed history of the various alterations which had been made in the game laws since 1816, and proposed, as an amendment of the pre sent law, that every licensed dealer in game should be forced to keep a record of the names of the persons of whom he purchased game; and thus, if it were found that the sealers had purchased game from a person not iu the occupation of land, it would be prima fizcie evidence that be had purchased illegally, and by this measure the demoralization occasioned by poaching would in a great measure he prevented. He also proposed to give power to magistrates to appoint refe rees to assess the amount of damage done to the crops of any person complaining of the game preserved on the land of any neighbouring occupier, such assessment to be levied by warrant of distress to be issued by the magistrate. He thought that the difficulties which would be thus interposed between the poacher and the dealer, and the easy remedy afforded to the injured occupier, would sooth the irritation at present prevalent on this subject. Lord CAmors objected to the whole of the Bill, as calcu lated to make the game-laws more strict than they were at present, as really affording no check to poaching, and as cal culated to increase the acrimony at present existing in regard to the operation of the game-laws. Lord BROUGHAM considered that the game-laws repaired revision. Although the regulating the sale of game did some good, yet he thought that sufficient securitities were not taken against abuse. The Duke of RICHMOND had never paid a sirgle farthing for damage done by game, for be had always destroyed every hare and rabbit as mere vermin, and he had done so long before the celebrated Tainworth decree. Lord HArifEuros had nearly exterminated hares and rabbits on his estate, greatly to the satisfaction of his tenantry and to the improvement of his property. Lord ASHBURTON recommended their Lordships to take the hare, as well as the rabbit, entirely out of the class of game, and he would, in Committee on the report, submit a clause to that effect. The Bill was then read a second time, and their Losiiships adjourned. The SPEAKER took the Chair shortly before Four o'clock. Several railway Bills were read a second time and or dered to be committed. ...... Mr. W. PArrrs presented a petition from Burnley, in Lancashire, praying for a free pardon for Frost, Williams, and Jones. Mr. WILLIAMS presented similar petitions from Coventry. Petitions were presented for and against the free-trade measures brought forward by the Government. Mr. O'Comtut.t. had to complain of a breach of privilege on the part of the Morning Chronicle, in having made him to say on Monday, with respect to the execution of Seery, that he had laid the case upon the subject before Mr. Baron PENNE FATHER, and that that Learned Judge had decided against him; now what he stated was, that that Learned Judge had decided in his favour. He was sure that the error was unintentional, and he should therefore not press the matter further. Sir R. Plate presented a petition from the American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool, praying the House to come to a speedy determination with respect to the Ministe rial question now before it. Mr. O'CONNELL gave notice that he should, on the 26th, move that the correspondence between Dr. Cantwell and the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, relative to the execution of Seery, should be laid on the table. Sir R. PEEL gave notice of hisintention on Monday next to move the thanks of the House to the Governor-General of India, and the officers and men employed in the recent operations on the left bank of the Sutlej ; and in order that the subject might be properly understood by the House, he should, a few days previously, lay on the table dispatches that bad been received by the Government from the Governor-General of India. Mr. ESTCOURT then moved, pursuant to notice, that so much of the report of the Committee on Standing Orders, presented on Friday, which related to the West Riding . Union Railway petition for leave to bring in a Bill, be annulled, and that the notice be expunged that the West Riding Union Railway be brought in. The error that had been committed was merely technical, but the Committee had that day come to the resolution that the standing orders should not be dispensed with in the case of the West Riding Union Railway Bill, and had directed him as their Chairman to report it to the House, in order that no unnecessary delay should occur. to the parties. After Some observations from Mr. C. WOOD, Mr. B. DENISON, Mr. AGLIONI3Y, and Lord Monrorrr, the subject was referred back to the Committee on Standing Orders. Mr. HUME moved for certain notices relative to the carriage of letters and newspapers to the East Indies, and also for re turns relative to the Cape of Good Hope.—Agreed to. Mr. CORRY, in answer to a question from Admiral DUNDAS and Sir C. NAPIER, said, that when the navy estimates were brought forward, a new arrangement would be 'sug gested relative to the retired list of officers Mr. MORGAN JOHN O'CONNELL then resumed the ad journed debate on the free-trade measures of the Government. He was not ashamed to own that his opinions on this question had changed during the last twelve months. Al though he had formerly voted with the Hon. Member for Wol verhampton ; he considered that a moderate fixed duty would be the best course to adopt, but at the present moment he considered the only satisfactory mode of settling the question would be to immediately repeal the corn-laws. He trusted, whatever agitation might take place on this question, the farmers of Ireland would not be forgetful in their support of those mea sures wit:eh were for their interest. Those int crests in Ire land, which it had been said would be ruined by free-trade, had of late years quadrupled their imports into this country. There was nothing that would please him better than to see the Protectionists thwart the Right Hon. Baronet were he called upon to form a Ministry, because he was sure if they had presumption enough to do so it would end in their own discomfiture, and their being laughed at from one - end o the country to the other. He supported the measure be cause he believed it would afford to the working man the protect:on he wanted, namely, protection against the 'high price of food. Col,CoNstoux opposed the measure of the Government. He did not see any necessity for it, because he was convinced if the It ish peasants waited till these resolutions were passed for relief, they would have to wait a long time. He thought the present measure rash, inasmuch as it gave an impetus to that which had already gone too far. While he had a soul in his body he would never support so frightful a propo sition as that put forward by her MAJESTY'S Ministers. Lord INGESTRE felt that it was due to the House that he should apologise for addressing it on such an important question. It was its importance in these days of political apostacy that must act as his excuse. He believed that it was the intention of his noble relative to support the measures of the Government, believing them to be beneficial to the country. He would be glad to hear from the Chancellor of the Exchequer why he had not pursued the same course as that which was adopted by the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Government in 1829, namely re sign his seat, and go again to his constituents in his new character of a free-trader. He believed that the adjust ment that was proposed by the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Government wculd be:found to be the beginning and outbreak of fresh tronble ; that the (lay was not far.distant when lie would exclaim that the period when he brought forward the measure was the unhappiest of his life. He believed that if all parties were allowed to start fair, the nation would soon overcome the difficulties by which it was now surrounded. The admission of foreign corn would dis place a great quantity of British corn, and destroy the home market for manufactures. Seeing that the prosperity of the country had greatly increased under the present system, he could see nu reason for altering it in the sudden manner pro posed. The proposed measure was an act of injustice to ) Ireland, to our colonies, more particularly to Canada, and to the agricultural interest of England, and although he gave the Right Hon. Baronet credit for being actuated by con scienticus motives, he felt bound to oppose the measure. It had been said that potatoes were diseased ; now, be held in his hand certain young potatos—(Here the Noble Lord, amidst some laughter, produced from his pocket a handful of small potatoes) which had been produced from diseased eyes, and which were'perfectly sound. Mr. TRELAWNEY supported the Government measure, and commented in indignant language on the expression made use of by the Duke of Richmond, that "cotton would burn a, well as straw." Mr. PACER felt great regret in being obliged to differ from an Administration which he had hitherto supported, but so convinced was he that the proposed measure was ruinous to the country that he felt bound to oppose it. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER defended the Govern ment proposition. It was unnecessary for him to say. that the removal of protecting duties had invariably benefitted the people. He utterly de ied the statements that had been ptit forth, that he differed from his colleagues upon the pro priety of the steps Tropoied to be taken by the Right non. Baronet at the head of the Government. He admitted that he objected to the opening of the ports by an Order in Coun cil, as inexpedient and unnecessary. He also thought that further information ought to be obtained hefts] e Parliament was called upon to assemble to ekes the law with respect to corn. He might on these points have been in error, but no circum stance had taken place that would lead him at the present moment, if the question was again proposed to him, to adopt a different course. When he resigned his office, he had no thought that he should have had to deal with the question of an alteration of the corn-laws, other than as a private indi vidual, and in that character he had determined to support an alteration in those laws. As to his not tendering the resigna tion of his seat for the University of Cambridge to his con stituents upon the change of his opinions, he did not consi der it the duty of a representative who had given no pledge to do so; indeed, it would be parting with the trust he held to the people to do so. The Right Hon. Gentleman then at some length pointed out to the House the benefits that would result from the measure, and stated his firm belief that free trade would improve the condition of all classes. He was the advocate of consistency in public men, but he did not think it consistent to uphold a law when it was found to be injurious to the people. He knew of no man, if it was to be considered consistent to uphold a law when it was found oppressive, who had been consistent with respect to' the corn-laws. He believed that the present was thy" time for the settlement of the corn-laws, and he trusted, therefore, the measure of the Government would be adopted by the House. 111 r. FERRAND then addressed the House. He accused the Anti-Corn-law League of having purchased, at one shilling a hundred, the signatures to the petition presented the other night by the Noble Lord the Member for the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was prepared to prove that one man attached no less than 14,000 signa tures to one of the petitions without leaving his house. So much for the petitions presented to that House. He denied the statement of the Hon. Member for Sheffield, that he had set master and servant at defiance. He believed, if Mr. E. LASCELLES had fought the battle in Yorkshire, notwith standing the conduct of the League, Lord MORPETH would have not now been the representative of the West Riding. Noble Lords and Members opposite bad been ac cused of thimble-rigging; he thought they might retort ths observation in these days of unblushing apostacy. The Member for the West Riding who seconded the Address was going to vote against Ministers, and would tell the House that he had been humbugged into seconding the Address. As to the Hon. Member for Winchester, he was bound to go down to the electors there and reign his seat. lie thought the personal honour of the Secretary at War was at stake, and that he also ought to go to his constituents in Wiltshire, and tell them of the change in his opinions. As to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, he ought to do the same, for he would find that though he could dispose of his speech by one fling of the arm, he could not serve his constituents so. He could not but admire the cool ness of the Right Hon. Baronet the Vice President of the Board of Trade, who, when he addressed the House last night, had either in his pocket, or his red box• a letter from his constituents, requesting him to resign. The perusal honour of the Right Hon Baronet at the hd of the Go- ve rnment was at stake, and lie ought also to ea go back t o his constituents at Tamworth. The electors of that place believed in the pledge of the Right Hon. Baronet, that he would pr - tect agriculture, and on that ground they rei urned him. How he bad kept thosepledges he world leave it to the House and country to say. When the Government found they could not carry out the measures they proposed, instead of resigning their places, they ought to have appealed to the country, and asked the opinions of the people with respect to their inea stares; that was the bold and manly course they ought to have pursued. He thought it was not improbable that an address would be moved in that House, ere long, praying her Majesty graciously to send them back to their consti tuents; and should such be the case, he should, after the division was over, look carefully through the names of all those who voted with the Ministry—he would see what pledges they had given to their constituent s, and he would take care to show them up in that House. The Hon. Member then, at some length, went into statements to prove_ the wretched condition of the operatives of the ma nufacturing districts, and'asked were they now to hand over the agricultural labourers to the tender mercies of the lords cf cotton and manufactures. Perhaps if he could not get the Right Hon. Baronet's, at the head of the Home Depa rtme nt, atten tion to the statements he had been making, he would con descend to notice this fact, that at four o'clock that day the protectionists of South Nottingham were 460 a-itel d * He could assure the House, that the more machinery had been introduced the more r..pidly had wages declined. was not against machinery so long as it did not displac e manual labour, but when it did displace manual labour it was the greatest curse to the country. He contended that wages were regulated by the price of food, and quoted sere' ral authorities in support of his position. Would any mem ber of the Anti-Corn -law League venture to state that the agriculturists of the small of England had proposed to 1- . .. The manufacturers to use up their surplus population ? 1116 knew the proposition had come from the manufacturers and it was made at a time when the hand-loom weaver; were in a state of the greatest distress. The PO!! law Commissioners had been playing into the hands of the . manufacturers, and the agricultural labourers who had•gue° into the manufacturing districts had been worked to death. He challenged them to deny his statement, and he trust the agricultural labourer would be content to live 111)°,:i. moderate comforts at home, rather than migrate into t manufacturing districts. He had shown up the cruelty" of the manufacturers, and they were 93 66 0 as they were cruel. They were not for free trade everything, for Mr. G. WILSoN, the Chairman of the Aar' - Corn-law League, who was a dealer in starch , had , in 183 : ' called a meeting to prevent the removal of protec tion le starch, and he had succeeded, and starch and lobsters vierle the only articles on which protection was retained ; and e:.:. though it was now proposed to have a free trade in c*:U; starch was still to be protected by a prohibitory duty. t s , complained of the conduct of the Honourable Idet, ll "i, fir Stockport, who had declared that the -. 1 - 1 !, e ,. Corn-law League would subscribe liberally to u s . prive him (Mr. FEnnann) of his seat for lioar e t .., borough. The Hon. Member then went into a long sta te' ment about manufacturers forcing their work-people to Ptu ti ,i chase milk ; the statement was a very confused one , certainly, as we understo d it, it failed to implicate t Hon. Member for Stockport. Mr. BORTHWICY moved the adjournment of the debate t° Wednesday. Mr. W. Miens moved that it be adjourned till Thurs da ti as Wednesday was set apart for private-business. lie thouge.f. the subject had been fully debated, and he believed that the debate were adjourned to Thursday, it would not be On; tinued beyond Friday night, and it might perchance be ec` f t ° it on Thursday. If the Right Hon. Baronet thought .11 move at once to take corn out of bond for the use o f the ltoo ' people he would support it; but he thought this Vest' should be amply debated. f die Sir R. PEEL had no objection to the adjournment 0. the debate to Thursday, which was agreed to; after whic,,h to - other orders of the day were disposed of, and the ite adjourned. We hear it said (that the Division is likely to lace on Thursday night; In the French Chamber of Deputies, on the 21.84 6 io re Pi . debate took place on the motion of M. ODILON BARRart to go place the Bill on secondary instruction among the orders she, day. The object appeared to be to embarrass the gis 4 ,4 by keeping alive the disputes between the University 1`" Unive rsit y the Church. M. TRIERS took an active part in the - e and 'defended the proposition of 31. BARROT, but all in % g o M. GUIZOT resisted the motion, and on a division i " - to negatived by a majority of 211 to 144—majority in fs,./:oto of Ministers, 67. The papers contain further de tails J obs Algiers, and also a dispatch from Marshal BuGEA tim The Madrid papers of the 16th contain explaoA made by the new Ministers in both Chambers relative to; late change of Administration, in the course of which Ge n "1 NAaVAEZ made a very submissive and cons titutl S gun speech. In the Chamber of Peers, the Marquis Ps I , le., Frionas said he should not enter into the causes vibe,,,,sel' to the dissolution of the Ministry, but confine u'l,g4 chiefly to what related to himself and friends :—O s to sent for by the QUEEN, he thought it his duty to st s v , t o her MAJESTY, that it would not be desirable that N• aid, should form part of the new Cabinet. NARVAEZ agreed to this; and offered his services in any W s i r tio r could be useful to the country. The Chief Minister isoelf stated, that the dignity of Commander-in •Chief W 5 reseD~ honorary, and as regarded the policy of the Le; Government, he asserted that he and his cs : - had adopted the financial policy of Senor 31°- ",,re that one of their principal objects in assuming the / 10- or task was to maintain public order and respect for the (W stitution. The speech gave satimfaction to all partieo' 0 0 ' neral NARVAEZ gave a brief history of the Ministerialioco said his conduct had been regulated by the pure st obio ; e ! country, and added that he had offered to the n ew or:, his support, whether as Captain-General of a provillro i 1 a more inferior situation. Ministers then procee°%e Chamber of Deputies, and similar statements ba1 .3 7;10 4 , matte, the Chamber adjourned. The Gazette 0 0 4.00 4 3 royal decree appointing PENA AGUAYO Minister 0 , 40 1). This appointment and the explanations in the Chem a favourable effect on the Funds. rho a The Three per Cents. closed at 32% at 60 days ; d - the P per Cents. at 22% for cash, and 23 at 60 days •a" , t , drid and Aranjuez Railroad shares 2 , 100 at 60 ds f ee', 11th inst., in which that General fully confirms t" ictOt t i almost officially contradictee, that AnD"Bl't,eo was in the very centre of the colony, and aiirc-hici,,4 his obstinate continuance in that position, from t- i by h ; would be difficult to drive him away, unless the ci ,; should undertake the task . This is not very likely, s " Marshal must, therefore, rely on his own resourceP following is a copy of thd dispatch : tl o FROM MARSHAL THE DUKE D'ISLET TO THE Instant& O. fi ,, , 1 5 11:n , - 6 6. " As I have anticipated, Abd-el-Kader has thrown hinlself tilos Jurjura, and made unheard-of efforts to establish hin l ',, e ot oo; re' Hitherto he does not appear to have made much progreo Vol Kabyl s, but as he still remains, in spite of the check ry b o t ceived in the night attack by tieneral Gentil, it must found partizans, and entertains hopes for the future, u",colo circumstances I have recalled General Bedcau, and our trprit combined will possess a force of cavalry more than sun-S.to or,eiVy, vice in the difficult mountain country where we are a bout i s 1 1 ;40' But I have not been able to collect as many infantrY„ it:, have wished, because it was necessary, at the same DOW. r;,,q,01?. 4 t , frontier to the south against the attacks of the lientenauL 100'00 P Emir has stationed in the Desert, and to cover the avenue: ll ,, 0 8 Algiers on the west. I am new in march to supp ort General Gentil, and to endeavour to drive back the cue; heights out of the valley of the Schaou. But I fear that ,ejel which are commencing will embarrass this operation. , " We cannot abandon the line of the Isser so long 19 • . is ia the Jurjura. If he persists to remain in these rudg_ e a ;VT and should find support, we must bring up our forces aw a re 1' to retire towards the heights, where lie will find fewer rf* c s, The subjcined letter from a French officer in Ai ri d e r we fear, a too faithful picture of the sufferings u n j ot s the troops are labouring:— 0 1 P`A " The newspapers, we are told, dwell on the fatig ues it Pee. have undergone, but one can scarcely form a notion We have had to suffer from cold, hunger, and thirst. ~,,011 0 e• l several days without rice or salt, and with only half it to ‘ , 11 „, cult for twenty-four hours. Provisions are distribui` sity eight days. They are consumed in three, after which ai we can. I have eaten corn raw, roasted, or crush e d - 00 0o_, stones ; barley, camel flesh—in short, we have been rtiso:? 1 1 j whatever can be digested. We have sold our buttons. t he" a r t the Arabs would accept, for a little flour. rho.Pi rt Angad, where we have long operated, there is no 0," Ate, the roots of the gayra, a small shrub that horses fee dorr 0 0 0 we covered ourselves as well as we could with our lul l ' Pier o ,o huddled together like sheep to procure a little wa in ,' isO r i3O i ii we found no water for days together. Twelve coltrln n ,' e ve ort 4 e months past been in pursuit of Abd-el-Kader, who 18 13 1 e ) D . 1.'.'d and nowhere. The soldiers have a hideous asPe ct ' 05 01 ., rags from head to foot. Their formerly red trousers .. a tf, r ‘,„ dirtiest harlequin garments, and many of us have our °o uv up with pieces of sheepskins." The accounts from the army are understood A t V , torll if rj11..; of a more alarming character than those pub lls 4:!t u , Government. A Cabinet Council was held o";eoP; t tb a which remained for a considerable time in delib e „ t . it was generally believed that affairs were CO urg, e- th° te a t o t Council came to the resolution of di s patchiob e oe c g , s D'AMALE to Algiers immediately. He wa s r o' l if leave Paris on Monday. The Funds, hower e ' A O O I O firm. On Sunday the Three per Cents. were done t to 4. - fs BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILW - 4• $-A ce ie 2 LNDON EXCHANGE, FEn• , 9 0 10 Boulogne and Amiens, STOCK 11% —Bordeaux, Toulougoi;,so, (Espeleta), 2 —Central of Spain, 1 —Dutch Rhenish', oi dian, PA—Great Northern of Franca Constituted, ,' j or and Jemappe, I n —Luxembourg, 2%--Namur' on" Orleans and Bordeaux, 1 1.34 —Paris and Rouen, 404 . ` j itneemasmdsmiseEnsirs 1, o v ; The following members have been selected bi, 95 0e e tep, Committee of Elections to form the Cliairtna" ° the fi e st l ' serve as Chairmen of Election Committees. session :—Mr. Charles Buller, Mr. Hawes, S,, r i , ar les 1 ,0 0 ,03 cote, Mr. Hogg, Mr. Pakington, and M • I ',', lta Cet';,ecl,:of SOUTFi NOTTINGHAM ELECTION.—The poli, e - r ece l ,,,te' t o yesterday, and from information which we ha', to 0 5, 0 A t t t lor on which we can rely, we think we may Ye" • bs •,,t01 ) not only is the return of Lord Lincoln certs' n ' to trl" . 1 4 majority over the monopolist candidate will le e , as the most enthusiastic free-trader could detgite,,.fetatte Captain Lindsay, the new Member for t o ' o e, t i I notified to the Speaker that he does not inrevoieko` y oto seat against the petition presented by gr• s it o r t Al t unsuccessful candidate on the return, can not t oP II4 e .o „' the petition has been tried. -40 01 3 01,, DELAY IN THE PUBLICATION OF TBE iiide • the ;he P ol.f " GAzETTE."—Great anxiety was produced in in , have relatives in India, in cons( quence of the deiz t o, ti opine., of the Extraordinary Gazette of Monday evening, 'rietors,,,st the source of great inconvenience to the PrZ tte d papers. Now, although it must be ad sreoui the -er. l 10 introduction into the Gazette-office ° in vo 1i1• 1 0 and the other modern improvement printing, the publication of the Gazette n n,b ogr ee l_ n ocr s o , casion be much expedited, yet we do e' e , ths li diy t ier , ,ho blam r iqell l es , D s with a Morning Contemporary, r' e , ey 0 ' t he at the Gazette-o ffi ce for the provoliin „ tote la tt iog o te f ing. They, we believe, are net at all to Li, „ tote la eve dis i° 1 hou r e the Gazette was in type at an " r at to th t,arY et° ( to proof-sheets were struck off and se nn eces r f t o k r e r o e ffi vi n s i i a o l n s , a a t ud the it I w n as dia o u w o i cting s l o ord'olf e : Board ill ocrs t kshoecetas,zetthtea_toffithooe, :cnee:bee;:eoioeibsicet:ccdeeoet,rcitatyliAciiicollieris: authorities th e r o a o t f t - to re ven th e '1 • to the utmost on every occasion 0 % 6 , 1 1 3 0 Av tit e • fi carelessness and dilatoriness of t k m n c o n w t for officesa fact too thatoften n r n e n o d n e e r c t their leo h office tul braitt e ' s hoe t e• ceased) holding at that time ly a l had bee suing al l . cog s J for r t c a or p r r e o c lo n f , theint into his u ntry tie 5 actually took . it down into the coof be Gaze t g b u r e t n i e v e o d o a cw s. lnch the publication tbrg•thinth I°oloe ttpeaceti,cliancl, S 4OIP ______ _____________--- 'f Ilatehard, MARBLED. 0•009 isua On the 19th inst., at St. PanCraS hurch, the Itev.__ to 14 1 ) (cCi", Jerusalem. 11 W.CPlllei se° ',- rd, • On the 17th in .at St. 3lary'S, Stote ands ii A 10 MA. to Fanny .eldest daughter of tu. Pt ° $ of Leadenhalb street, to Charlotte, (laughter at. 0 ford, Suffolk. Taw, foaDi zr Ou the 17th inst., at Kirby-Under -dale, .fleir „riethh. oadley Harrison, of the 10th hussars, to Jttlta,i;„,". (laughter of the Hon. and Rev. Henry to - I, r' l ' gy p , Majesty's On tl. i C ,t o h n s i n u s l i . , D/D. ,5,.., her ,-• of On the 6th Inst., at Alicante, Jasper aring? , ' 09 „AP rOc o k:, t E he s( - 2 1 , ali. t i,r . 11 0°1 Mr. Judge, aged 23 ' • • ' ^.eishir, SA Ott. On the 29th inst., a Lesk-bill, Preston, .%-,..--` r joo at EoTemont, near ',Warp& 8.A., aged 25. tnizahetlu r e ______ _7 . oth inst., at Claphira-coturnon, the '''ir. IS 04001 V On the 2Oth inst., at Bromley, Middlese2t, ..-• ter of Mr. henry Berger, ___-------- -- i. So. I li ---- --------r-"------l) l'oll4"'thye Pre.ft:ri London: Printed and Pubis by A: v•-• gtrod, T., feW Strand, Pt Mter, at The Office , 0.1 12, - i vonc ' of the Savoy, in the County a v14,1100;4 ~ 25, 1846. • • • ' ----."''---- AL 111 (41 s I bt i ft t , he,, U e: ti N I • tal l dr 1 --.) FA ....,,_ A-4 )ti, 4 11 11 ..Rr t tql; 4 4 k u . "," :itxc 4 Por 4 , 1114 y b e In A, a pro '''esari, lie