The Sun. — London, England, 1841-12-18 00:00:00

EVENING SUN time they should have the opportunity of meeting. their excellent Secretary Mr. Allen, who was about to leave the country, it was but proper• that they should offcr some testatnony to him of the esteem in which he was held. After a lengthened eulogy, Mr. Dyke concluded by moving a resolution, to the effect " That the present - Special general Meeting could not separate without ex pressing its high sense of the efficient services rendered by their excellent Secretary,' Mr. Allen. His ability, unremitting attention, and untiring devotion, under the most difficult and trying circumstances in support of that cause which called the Association into ex istence, could not be too highly commended. They feel justified in calling the attention of the Refor mers of England to the unparalleled correctness of the estimate of the comparative number of Reformers and Tories, published by the Association last March, taken from tables, planned and executed entirely by Mr. Allen ; the labour and utility of which cannot be appre ciated but by actual examination, embracing, as they do, a period of four entire registries, and tracing the votes given at three different elections. In losing the valuaile services of their present Secretary the meeting are happy to learn that the books of the Association are in such perfect order that by a continuation of the course pur • sued by Mr. Allen at the formation of the Association, and so successfully continued by him during the four years of his conducting its affairs, the same triumphant results may be expected in the borough." Professor KEY, in very flattering terms, seconded the es^' •';on, which was also adopted unanimously. r FO,Jriptions towards liquidating the debt were then ente. d into, and in the course of a few minutes upwards of 1001. was subscribed, and steps having been taken to secure - the remainder, thanks were voted to the Chair man, t.nd the meeting separated at a very late hour. LONDON CYJVIREIGYDDION SOCIETY. The forty-sixth anniversary of the London Cymreigyd dion (Welsh Literary Society) was celebrated on the 16th inst., at Dolly's Chophouse, Mr. John Williams, of the firm of Williams and ffatton, Regent Circus, in the chair, supported by upwards of one hundred Ancient Britons. The objects of the Society being to perpetuate the An cient British tongue, and the customs of Wales, the pecu liar mode of singing called " Pennillion," appeared to af ford great entertainment to the company, and the im promptus of one of the bards (Sam o Von) after each toast reminded one strongly of the effects stated to have been produced in days of yore by the effusions of the minstrels, when their countrymen congregated to con tend for hearth and home. Had the Bard and Harper been greybeards, instead of being in the prime of life, the picture would have been perfect, and we might have fan cied ourselves spectators of scenes enacted a thousand years since. After her Majesty's health had been drunk with all the honours, the CHAIRMAN observed, that as that was the first meeting of IVelAmen in the Metropolis since the creation of the Prince of Wales, he had great pleasure in proposing his health with nine times nine, but he (the Chairman) could not help remarking that his education would: not be complete until he had learned the language of the place whence he derived his title. The sound of it, at all events, he should hear, as, according to prece dent, when he arrives at a proper age, the address that will be presented will be in that language, and the Chairman hoped that there would be no necessity for an interpreter. In proposing the health of his Royal Ilighness Prince Albert, the Princess Royal, the Duchess of Kent, and the rest of the Royal Family, the Chairman observed, that if the same care were taken in the bringing up of the Heir Apparent as there had been - in the case of her Majesty, we should have every reason to be proud of our Prince. Mr. Iluom WILLIAMS was called upon to propose the next toast, which was, " Oes y byd i r Gymraeg," the age of the world to the Welsh language. The sentiment he had to propose, he would give most cordially. The man who possessed no national feelings was, in hi, opinion, unworthy the name. Conquered naticns gene rally merged into those of the conquerors, and one at the present day could not pronounce whether the Eng lish owed most of their characteristics to their British, Belgic, Saxon, Danish, or Norman ancestors ; but th' Welsh have retained their language and habits amongst their fastnesses., and it would be a hopeless task to at tempt to eradicate the former, when it has now a press enlisted in its aid, and a nation of literary rustics to support it. Injuries have been endured patiently, bu their countrymen now well knew their rights, and they would assert them; more particularly when they were sup ported by such assemblages as he then saw before him. Their countrymen would soon have an opportunity o. worshipping God - according to the forms of the Este Wished Church, in the accents first enunciated by them. Mr. 0. W. THOMAS, in proposing the healths of hi, Grace the Duke of Northumberland and the patrons of the Society, stated, that though the Duke was no: a Welshman, yet he was nearly allied to some of thi best fattilies in Wales, and this Society was much in debted to bins for his liberal support of their exertion: in promoting the literature of their country. The en thusiasm of the'ordinary members solely could not enabh them to carry out their intentions into full effect, on, means being the offering pecuniary rewards for the best literary productions in the language of their forefathers. and the publication of useful works, which was often at tended with considerable loss to the Society. Their ef forts-were dire.eted to- the promotion of the best interest, of at least seven_ hundred thousand of her Majesty's sub jects, who were unable to avail themselves of the store, of knowledge contained in the English language, ant to excite the genius of their countrymen by emulation, and to diffuse the means of enlightenment generally. They had been seconded in particular by Dr. Lewis, the Rev.. Mr. Llewelyn, Mr. T. Edwards, and Mr. Morgan, the latter of' whom was seldom absent fron their meetings ; and he regretted much that family affliction had caused an exception that night. The CHAIRMAN proposed the health of the Hon. E. M. Gl. Mostyn (who, as usual, had furnished a libera. supply of venison for the occasion), and the Gentry of Wales. The VICE-CHAIRMAN proposed the health of the Ladi:s hall 10-Al Guest, and the PUtronesses of the cus toms and literature of Wales. Mr. WM. Trtom.ts, the Secretary, then observed that it was with some degree of regret that he rose to inter rupt the hilarity of their proceedings, but the duty that then devolved ution him had seldom if ever been ne glected in that. Society. At their last, their forty-fifth anniversary, their venerable founder was amongst them, whom he often. with a sigh designated his undutiful children, but now his seat was vacant, and he was gone to that bourne whence no traveller returns, and In (the Secretary) could do no less than add his Timm to those whose memories they had been in the habit of paying a mark of their respect to on former oc casions. 116'Wotird notdetain them by dilation , upon the ob ligations laid neon Welshmen by those wain he would presently name. Suffice it for him to say, that as long ns their aspirations fOr "ties y byd i'r Gymraeg," were not disappointed (if he might be allowed the expression), so lorig would the fame of Owen Jones (Myfyr), Dr. W. 0. - Pughe, J. H. Parry, and, as the founder of that Society and contributor to Welsh literature, might be added the name of poor Thomas Roberts, of Llwynrhy do!, hntt. Even were the language itself extinct, the monuments raised by the labours of those named would be ret'ernal to and admired so long a; true learning ex isted in England.—(Drunk in solemn silence.) Dr. Lr-wis, -in proposing_ the health of the Bishop of St. Davin'. and the Welsh Clergy, obse:ved, that they ha 1 certtinly been indebted to the dignitaries of the Church fur a tran:lation of the Bible, but they were natives, and since t at time hc was sorry to observe his countrymen had been hid tinier but few obligations to the'Establishcd Church, acd had been under the neces sity of providing alehurch for themselves. A brighter prospect, however,. at the present time appeared before them. The Bishop of St. David's had enrolled himself a member of that Society upwards of a twelvemonth s i n ce, and it was admitted by all that he spoke their lan guagewell as any native. cared not where a ma n was born, so long as he w as competent to discharge the duties of his Office. Eternal rewards and punishment had been preached to his poor countrymen in a language of which they understood not a single Word, and though there had been seldom oceasion, s ome had bee n sen tenced to death ,by .Judges . who could not utter an ex pression that was intefligi bx to the crimin a l defatigable exertion s of that Society - in better state of things , a nd they were anxiou s t o d o honour 'icing a to those who deserved it. toasts were Mr. G. finoaLts-then proposed the health of the Member, Wm. Morgan, of Holyhead, and the i. H o on t o h r e a r 7 n ' ev • in a highly - complimentary' drank, amongst which was that of the Chairman, most flost enthusiastically, for his excellent conduct in chair, as • to promote e in_ wellas for his desire on all occasions thout regard th per to terests of his fellow; country wi sonal sacrifices. • at two MYSTERIOUS A FFAI R.— YeSterdlly, o'clock, an inquest, adjourned from the previous resumed before Mr. Wakley, M.P., in the Board-room day, was e. . of body of Mr. St. Marvlebon workhouse, on view of the Henry Geary, mealman, of Uxbridge, who was found on Monday evening last lying dead, with his pockets ified. the in Niwth.bank, Regent's-park. T r he particularsof _ first in qu i r y a pp e ared yesterday. Dr. Robert Boyd, phy sician of St. Marylehone workhouse, deposed that he had, by order of the Coroner, made a post mortem examination of the body of deceased. There was n° appearance indicative of deceased having taken poison. There was an effusion of about a pint and a half of blood on the brain, induced by an enlargement of the heart, which was double the natural siz•, and weighs 21* ounces. Witness had no doubt that deceased's death was caused by apo plexy, con a (pent: on the effitiion he had described. Coroner (to deceased's son)—llas anything occurred to l ead You to suppose that deceased died otherwise than in the course of nature ? Son—No, Sir. I am perfectly satisfied with the testimony of the medical gentleman, and the only mystery which now remains is how he came to where he was discovered, and what be. came el his watch and sovereigns. The Jury then re turned the following verdict, " That the deceased Henry Geary was found dead in a certain open road, and that his death was caused . y b effusion of blood on the brain, .produced by natural causes."' GOOD FORT oN E .—A aingu'ar instance of good fortune has, within the last fe v days, happened to a poor man named George Peters, with a numerous f am ily, who followed the occupation of a journeyman baker, and resides in an obscure street at Camberwell. It appears that a distant relative, residing at Bath, and from whom no expectation s were ever entertained, has recently died, bequeathing to the wife of Peters large f u nded property amountin g to near 50,0001. Ire has a fablily of six children to participate in his unexpected good fortune. Died, at Mellerstain, Berwickshire, on the 1 1 th inst., George Baillie, Esq., of Jerviswoode, in the seventy ni„ a l year of his age. He was a man of large property, and spent no small portion of it in keeping the finest pack of hounds. in Scotland. Re w as f a th er to t h e pre sent Marchioness of Breadalbane. A MEETING OF MERCHANTS, MA NUFACTURERS, AND OTHERS. MANCHESTER, FRIDAY.—One of the most important meetings held in this town since the existence of com mercial distress in this district was held yesterday in the Corn Exchange, for the purpose of receiving reports and communications in reference to the present depressed state of trade in their several districts. The meeting was convened for ten o'clock, at which hour only a few persons had assembled, but in a short time afterwards the room gradually filled, and towards noon there was a crowded assembly of the leading manufacturers, mer chants, cotton-spinners, cotton-printers, and others en gagW largely in trade here. R. H. Greg, Esq., late one of the Members for Manchester , was calld to the chair. He entered into a luminous but startling detail of the falling state of trade, and of the fearful competition be tween this country and foreigners. He spoke for up wards of an hour, and adduced a great variety of facts worthy the attention of Parliament at this extraordinary juncture. Mr. Greg was followed by Mr. T. Bayley, a gentleman largely engaged in cotton-spinning in this town. The meeting took place in the Corn Exchange, to which the public were admitted as listeners and spec tators, and upwards of a thousand people availed them selves of the privilege. The attendance of deputies was large, including Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P., Joseph Brotherton, Esq., M.P., Robert Hyde Greg, Esq., John Brooks, Esq., T. Bazley, jun., Esq.. W. R. Callender, Esq., George Wilson, Esq., William Evan, Esq., Samuel Lees, Esq., W. Rawson, Esq., James Kershaw, Esq., John Rawsthorne, Esq., W. Lockett, Esq., W. Besley, Esq., and A. Prentice, Esq., for Manchester and Sal ford ; Robert Benson, Esq., jun., Droylsden ; Charles Jackson, Esq., Legh ; Timothy Warmby and Os ward Moseley, Esqrs., Hazel Grove ; Thomas Thornber and William Ecroyd, Esqrs., Colne ; John Ryland and John Allen, Esqrs., Warrington ; John Bright, Esq., Rochdale ; Nelstrop (Mayor), Hol lins, Henry Coppock (town clerk), Charles Hudson, Lefton, and Wilkinson, Esqrs, and the Rev. Messrs. Smith and Waddington, Stockport - Edmund Ashworth, Henry Ashworth, J. C. Darbishire, and Thomas Thomason, Esqrs., Bolton ; Joseph Spencer, George Southern, Alfred Reyner, and G. Iligginbottom, Esqrs., Ashton ; Joshua Brooks and Bradley Pass, Esqrs., Mossley ; Robert Platt, John Cheetham, and William Bayley, Esqrs., Staleybridge ; J. H. Roberts, Esq., Burnley ; H. Fletcher, Esq., Damen ; William llethwell and John Barker, Esqrs., Todmorden; Hol loday, Esq., Oldham; Nicholson, Esq., Leeds, &c. Mr. BRIGHT, of Rochdale, said the staple of that town was not the cotton trade, but still the flannel trade of Rochdale was one so near the cotton districts that it had not been thought improper some statistics should be brought before the present meeting. lie had written down, at the recommendation of a Committee in Roch dale, some facts connected with the state of that town, which he would read, in order that he might take up no Inure time than . necessary by any digression from the subject :—Many intelligent manufacturet's suppose that previous to the passing of the American tariff nearly one-third, or at least one-fourth. of the flannels made in Rochdale were exported to the United States. The American tariff passed in the year 1828, by 105 to 94 in the Rouse of Representatives, and by 26 to 21 in the Senate. It is remarkable that 28 of the New England Representatives voted against it, and only 15 for it, and as the Representatives of the Southern States opposed it, it was carried by the Representatives of the middle or manufacturing States, and the western, or agricul tural States. Mr. Randolph said, that " If the Bill had its true name, it should be called a-Bill to rob and plunder one half f the union for the benefit of the other half." Mr. Drayton moved to amend the title as follows: strike out all after an Act, and insert "to increase the duties on certain imports for the purpose of increasing the profits of certain manufacturers." When the Bill passed the New York papers said " the expression of public opinion is very batter against this measure, and the ship owners will have occasion to lament it more than any other part of the mercantile community." As soon as the Bill was known to have passed the Senate all the shipping in port displayed their colours at half-mast, as a token of regret for the injuries inflicted on com merce. The consequences of this tariff on the flan nel trade of Rochdale were most disastrous. It at one blow annihilated the American trade in that de cription of goods, and since 1828 the export of flannels to the United States has been reduced to an amount quite inconsiderable, in comparison with that which took place previously. The inevit able effect of this diminished demand was the scarcity of employment and fall of wages. Wages had remained pretty stationary from 1820 to 1828 ; but in 1829 they fell sixteen to twenty per cent., and employment was scarce. No new market was open to take off the goods usually made for America ; weavers were too numerous for the work to be done ; wages continued to fall, and in 1831 they were 40 par cent. below the rates paid in 1828 ; great numbers of sober, industrious, and valuable operatives emigrated to the very country whose food we refused to take in payment for flannels, and whose people were partly compelled to make flannels for themselves. These operatives would have remained in their own country to add to its population, strength, and prosperity, out for the suicidal policy of the landlord Government of England. Distress made fearful strides among those who remained at home, and had it not been that the cotton trade extended in the town about this period, tak ing up many hands from the woollen trade, the sufferings if the operatives n ust hive been greatly aggravated. Co such a state was the flannel trade reduced, that .nany looms were broken up, being worthless as looms, and bought to be used as props in the coal mines of the neighbourhood! Owing to this emigration, and the consequent diminished number of hands, and the general improvement in trade as provisions became cheaper; there was a slight improvement in the flannel trade and in wages in 1832. In 1833 a further rise took place, pro visions•still falling, and the home demand improving ; and up to 1837 this advance was fully maintained. In 1838, 1839, and 1540 wages gradually declined, during which time the price of provisions has greatly advanced; snd it may be safely affirmed that wages in 1840 were at least 40 per cent., and in many instances above 50, lower than in 1828 ; and many weavers were unable to pro cure employment, and vast numbers had only an irre gular and precarious employment. That a deplorable change has taken place in the condition of the opera tives engaged in the woollen trade at Rochdale within the past fifteen years is admitted by all persons ac pminted with their past and present circumstances. The house of the woollen weaver was almost proverbial for a degree of comfort and plenty, such as is now rarely witnessed. The furniture was abundant, always sufficient, not rarely handsome. A good chest of maho gany drawers, as a family wardrobe, its excellent polish protected by a large cover of green baize, and a clock in a large and handsome mahogany case, bespoke the degree of affluence and comfort to %Odell their dwellings are now almost entire strangers. Now we see abject poverty on every side. Wages so low that many men with full work are compelled to apply to the parish for relief ; their houses are unfurnished, possessing neither wardrobe nor garments ; and their hunger-marked countenances be speaking the terrible wrongs they endure. If it be true that protection to landowners gives a home trade so good as to make up for any decrease of foreign demand, how comes it that the home trade has never yet been able to place the flannel trade on its former footing, and to sup ply the customers of which it was deprived by the Ame rican tariff? If the landlord interest has purchased one piece more flannel than it would have purchased without the Corn-laws, the price of that piece %%as first stolen by law from the weaver that made the piece. CABINET MAKERS' FURNITURE:— Minute inquiries show that from fifteen years previous to 1828 there were twenty-eight to thirty journeymen cabinet makers and a few boys regularly and fully employed in Rochdale. At this time there are only twelve or thirteen journeymen and about ten boys in the trade, and these have not bad full and regular employment for a long time past. The population of the town and neighbourood has greatly increased during the past fifteen or twenty years ; but there has been no increase of furniture, clearly proving that the condition of the people is much worse, and their comforts greatly abridged. TRAVELLING SCOTCHMEN —l. Travels Todmorden, Saddleworth, Shaw, Lees, Oldham, Middleton, Hey wood, IVardle, and .neighbourhood of Rochdale. Has travelled part of this district for twenty years, dealing with many families throughout this period ; his customers :save gradually beeome poorer, and are now mostly ruined, and unable to buy clothing, tea, coffee, &c., as formerly. six years ago their condition was much better. Tod inorden was then his best district—now very much worse, ,pills there having worked short time many months. In his journeys he finds many houses which he has known well furnished almost stripped, the furniture having gra dually been disposed of to provide food. Has given up the Wardle district, the people being reduced to poverty io abject that they can pay for nothing. Most customers •ire asha me d to meet him, and skulk away to avo id hi m when they k now he i s coming, as they have nothing to pay for wh at t h ey have had from him. This is a common occurrence ab out Middleton and the neighbourhood. Many travellers have give n up the trade— their once good customers no r i e ni na l' e ° rin ver g i w sh tl e te l; t : r t a h c e le ir a p r u u r i e n h o a u s s es o l n .e e ry to s t m ho a s i l e ' and bad debts engaged in it. SHOPKEEPERS l of l hiss formerAND PR OVISION D EALERS. - 1. Th e qua ntity of meal sold i n Proportion to the flour is much greater than it used to be h a lf a dozen or three or four years sofcheese and suear and not t h a n half the tobacco. The quantity of malt is reduced to one-third of his sale in bett er t i mes. Debts cannot be more than ago. two-thirds Sells nueh e paid ; many honest and Industrious customers have debts standing over till time s tl mend. 2. More mea l in proportion to the flour sold now than a few years ago. His customers buy h a l f a pound or a pound of meal at on ce, as they are able. Much l ess tea one-halfless ; tobacco one : sold ; sugar rless. New Id chea er - butter net much bought ; o half. 13Brc'a:1) ,often none used In cheese the reduction is one n article s )1(1-1 in penny. worths commonly ; all the common stai.lsdi)l:,oi-io s„ I 3 now in very small quantities. I load of malt where ' ' l7: r tall better times. Only sells one halfpenny worth " to sell four. Boy came for three and . _ . s of industrious meal in rags ; family of seven, sober work 1 to 12s. per week ; . at most wages with full lswith setting card s . father 7s. or Bs., two boys earn 4 s. Only one bed forseven persons ; no hope of improvement. 3. Double quantity of meal and coarse flour sold in proportion to the whole quantity for bread. Customers • a pennyworth, who used to buy a pound of sugar now btt) Tea sold in or a quarter of a pound for twopence. a quantities as small as half a quarter of an ounce, for halfpenny. Butter as low as a half-penny or a penny ; bacon a penny, or a quarter of a pound for twopence. Four or five in a family send for half an oat-cake, worth one half-penny, with bits and scraps of bacon, worth a half-penny or a penny more. Meal sells most in quan tities of one pound each. Only sells half as much cheese as formerly, and of a lower quality. At breakfast and dinner hours many come in for a halfpenny or a 1 penny worth of bread. Debts cannot be collected. Knows that many of his customers are short of food ; hears many a curse as the destitute part with their last coin for half a meal for and their children. Wishes Sir R. Peel might stand in his shop for one day, an,l will gladly let any gentleman do SQ who doubts any part of this statement. BUTCHERS, SHINNERS, AND TANNERS—Estimate that four years ago 180 beasts were killed weekly in . the pa rish of Rochdale ; now not more than 65 to 70 are killed. Sheep and pigs much fewer. Poor pieces eagerly bought ; good joints difficult of sale. Customers buy a pennyworth or two-pennyworth of bits of suet or steak. Cannot buy more. The condition of the population very much worse than four years ago. DISPENSARY.--The reports of the Dispensary exhibit a very serious increase of the number of applicants fur medical assistance. In 1835 the applicants were 1,809, and in 1840 not less than 2,444. The Good Samaritan Society exhibited the same Syliiiitoms of distress. In the three years ending 1837, the numbers relieved were 607, while in the three years ending 1840 they had in creased to 983, and the increase of expenditure in 1841 over that of 1835, was 1,3221., or 115 per cent. The Poor-rates in Scotland township in 1835 were 4,6381., while in 1840 they amounted to 6,3321. The committals by the Magistrates had increased in the three dear years, as compared with the three cheap years, by 502 cases, or 67 per cent. The wages in the cotton trade are now coming down, and the decline is already from 12 to 15 per cent. within a few months. Many persons are unemployed, and there is no prospect of any change for the better. SURGEONS' OPINION.—We, the undersigned, are of opinion that, owing to the high price of food and want of employment, the labouring classes in the borough of Rochdale and its neighbourhood are now suffering great and increasing privations. That they arc in great num bers unable to obtain wholesome food in sufficient quan tity to maintain them in health, and thus they are pre disposed to disease and rendered unable to resist its attacks. That affections and diseases of the skin, with many others, are caused by a poor supply of food, and by innutritious food, and that many cases of appalling distress and suffering come almost daily under our no tice. In these respects the population amongst whom we practice are in a much worse position now than they were Live or six years ago; and that, for three years past, their condition has been gradually sinking, and we never knew them in so bad a state at any former period. T. H. WARDLEIVORTII, ROBERT BARKER, GEORGE MORRIS, WALTER DUNLOP. Rochdale, Dec. 13th, 1841. The Rev. J. WADDINGTON, from Stockport, then ad. dressed the meeting, and after furnishing statistical de • tails of distress similar to those given by the last speaker, said it has' been ascertained that since the year 1836, more than half the master-spinners or manufacturers in the town and its immediate vicinity have failed; twenty nine firms, including upwards of forty partm rs, are in their list. Of these, the machinery of seventeen mills were sold by auction, four by private contract, and eight effected a composition. Seventeen mills containing 40 horse power are totally unoccupied ; in seven other mills 285-horse power is standing still ; no acts of de predation have as yet been committed by the people ; but the superintendent of the police states that the num ber of petty offences, especially such as have for their object obtaining food, or such property as could easily be converted into money, or be made use of as the means of obtaining food, have been considerably increased during the last six months. The health of the town is equally bad as at Rochdele. Indeed it is impossible to imagine human beings reduced to a lower state of temporal wretch edness than that in which we have found our fellow-towns men. To mention but one instance: when a visitor called at a house to make his inquiries, he found a mother with eight children out of work. She was expecting every hour to give birth to another child of mis er y, and there was no couch to the miserable dwelling, nor an article of furni• ture fit for the accommodation of any human being. Not withstanding the strong and deeply-rooted aversion to break up their relative connexions, and to apply to the officers of their parish, within the last four months two hundred have applied for orders of removal—or more than an average of two every day, without interruption. I might add to this mournful detail of facts other particu lars, showing the general decay of our local interests; but I fear to trespass on your patience. Whole streets are deserted, and in hundreds of these now tenantless dwel lings a secret martyrdom of spirit has been suffered for months before they were abandoned. Hitherto there has been a forlorn hope that things would improve, but gradually that hope has given place to feelings of deep resentment against those whom the working classes are led to consider as inflicting upon them, instrumentally at least, their present miseries. I assure you, Gentlemen, that I am merely reporting the statements of the people with whom I am brought into daily contact, and not ex pressing so .much any opinions of my own. It is the almost universal conviction of the operatives that there is provided in the bounty of Providence bread enough and to spare. That the famine of the necessaries of life is artificial, and that the markets are closed against the produce of their labour in order to keep up the rents of the lords of the soil, and to increase the value of the tithes. Many of them, honest, industrious, and well-de signing men, have walked hundreds of miles in the fruit less search of employment. They may be fund sitting in their damp, cheerless, and poverty-stricken cellars, surrounded with their children, meagre-bellied, or sickening before them under the power of disease, and, as they brood over their miseries they compare their lot with those whom they regard as their oppres sors—pamrered in luxury,. and, as they believe, as regardless of their wretchedness as the rich man in gospel was insensible to the wants and sufferings of Lazarus, who perished at his gate full of sores. It is scarcely necessary to say, that the rumour that a plan is being formed to ship them off as felons, has awakened a spirit of indignation that will not be soon allayed. Gentlemen, I have now accomplished the task assigned me, and my only regret is, that the duty has been dis charged so imperfectly. Allow me a word or two before I retire as to the sentiments which this painful investi gation has excited in my breast. Without fear of con tradiction from any quarter, I can say that my remarks are not those of a partisan. Those who are best ac quainted with my course for the last nine years can bear me witness that few have less mingled with affairs of a secular or political nature. I was not present at the meeting of the inhabitants which appointed the Com mittee to make these inquiries. It was contrary to my expectation that I had to take part in them, and still more so that I should be here to-day. But having witnessed more wretchedness than can be described, occasioned by the want of employment-s -having witnessed the operation of decay extending over every class in our community, it would be extremely painful to me not to express my solemn conviction that we are rapidly appoaching the very limits of human en durance. It is not for me to suggest the means of amelioration—my counsels and sympathies in my daily intercourse with the poor are those dictated by the Gospel of Christ. I know not that in a single instance I have ever dwelt on the topic of the Corn-law. The suffering poor need from me something rather to allay than to inflame their burning sense of wrong. But even I do feel it to be my sacred duty to lay bare this deep and wide-spread social malady to those whose office it is to prescribe the remedy. So far as in me lies will I expose these scenes of lamentation and woe . ; nnd, fellow-countrymen, if, after these disclosures, ghastly want should lead to disorder, to tumult, to pil lage, or to bloodshed, for one, I and guiltless of the con sequences ; the inquisition for blood will be macho on those elso suffer such a mass of wretchedness to remain without the adoption of the only adequate means of ame lioration.—[This speech made a deep impression on the assembled multitude. Many were moved to tears.] A member of the Deputation then read details of the want of trade and distress in Preston, which, though not so bad as in Rochdale and Stockport, was still of a fearful description. Crime had increased with the price of corn as regularly as the mercury rises from heat. The number of cases of felony in Preston was as fol lows :—ln 1835, 18 cases ; 1836, 27 ; 1837, 84 ; 1838, 103 ; 1839, 112 ; 1840, 160. This alarming increase is attributed by some to the increase of dram-shops, con cert-rooms, &c. ; but when I consider the great increase of churches, chapels, schools, and moral institutes, which ought to be equal in their counteracting influence, I cannot help attributing much of this increase to the waat of em ployment caused by the pressure of the times, and which always falls first upon the idle and dissolute.—(Hear.) The wages of spinners have beon reduced this year to about 10 per cent., with a probability of a still greater reduction. Weavers are wandering about, and willing to take work at any price. Everybody's spirits are down ; the shopkeepers are complaining bitterly, and the small farms in the neighbourhood, owing to bad seasons and heavy taxes, are fast sinking into ruin. A subscription has b?en raised, soup, meal, clothing , and bedding are being given to the po o r. I v i s it t h e houses of the poor. every week, but to give you a description of the poor living, and miserable furniture (if such it can be called), of the wretched bedding, of the amount of human wretch edness and misery which I find amongst them, would be only such as would exceed all belief unless it were wit nessed. I took the Rev. Mr. Spencer and J. Curtis, Esq., when here, to see some of these cases, and they seemed astonished at the scenes of human misery, as well as Christian patience, exhibited by these poor people. (Here the Speaker read the return of thirteen sales of furniture at Preston averaging 6s. 51d. which appeared in The Sun yesterday.) A Report from Wigan was also presented, detailing at great length the sufferings of the working classes of the town and neighbourhood. This was followe 1 by a Report from Bolton: the want of trade was still greater. Out of 50 mills there are 30 stopped, and 8,124 workpeople; 5,061 are idle or working only four days in the week. In 1835 the number of iron -founders, engineers, and mill-wrights was 2,110, while at present they amount to only 1,325, and a considerable number of those discharged have gone to the Continent or Ame rica. The same may be said of carpenters, brick-setters, and stone-masons. One half of the tailors are out of employment ; the number, in 1835 ; having been 500, while now there are only 250, and but partially employed. sufferingb in Re h I porta were th en rea d f rom O swa ld w i st l e , par i s h o f which Sir Robert Peel draws r en t s to the "mount of 2,0001 a year, and has given 201. f o r the re-. lief of th e poor), from Glossop, Hyde, Mossley, Bury, and Legh, a ll of which contain the sa me me l anc h o ly de tails off Y and want. The following res o lutions, unanimou s l y agreed to, sum tip the whole : M• —RIGH T , of Rochdale r • " That the distri c t s o f w hic' moved— " Manchester is the centre,. engaged in various branches of the cotton trade and its' ( t i l e ) e pe d n u d r e a i t t i c o i e n s ,€) Lancashire. Thwahtlei of which suffering tinder a general depression, that the condition o t f hi t lB ::! sri of employer and operative, is s n ue o lvTi p do a eu i a - n a c( l ia l i e n -l h e i f n or t e he tli h is is m t o e r e y bt oth that fixed capital, such as buildings,greatlyne o iensegt rnol -half gpopulation,and c d a e p p i r t e a ei ns a t t a e , d as in a d u y e n h e a a v r e lyi 0 n gmachinery, deteriorated sc c ; . has since ceased to obtain a profitable return for their ra i er n dm v have e suff a e l sincene t cai h sin a egd t b 1; aBrn3etl6l:l,lae-;i reverses; h c s a y e t ; s a h n o d ph i e n e s p o e l r v s enc h y av h e that the reward of labour has been generally diminished ; that great numbers of skilful and de- ,THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1841 sorrily , - workmen are either wholly or partially unem ployed ; that pauperism has rapidly augmented ; and that diseaSe, crime, and mortality have made fearful in roads amongst the poorer classes of the community. That those evils are experienced at the present mo ment With unmitigated severity and that there is no prospect of any amelioration of the distresses of this great community." Mr. JOHN BROOKS seconded the resolution, and it was carried without a dissentient voice. Mr. Fletcher, of Darwin ; Mr. Ecroyd, of Colne ; and Mr. Holloday, of Oldham, having spoken on the state of their neighbourhoois, Mr. CHEETHAM, of Staleybridge, moved the following resolution : "That, in the opinion of this meeting, the calamitous state of the surrounding community is chiefly to be traced to the operation of certain legislative enactments, which forbid the free exchange of our manufactures for the needful productions of other countries, and especially to the Corn and Provision-laws, which, by restricting as far as possible the means of subsistence to the insufficient harve,ts of these islands, subjects the people to a per petual struggle for food, and exposes them to constantly recurring seasons of scarcity ; that these laws dry up the sources of profitable employment for an increasing population, not only by preventing the growth of foreign commerce, but by limiting in an equal degree the heme trade, which flourishes only with the pros perity of our manufacturing, mercantile, and trading interests ; that, in the deliberate opinion of this meet• ing, and irrespective of the present distress and its cause, any law which gives to a privileged class a mono poly of the supply of any article, but especially of the first necessaries of life, at the expense of the general body of the nation, is, in its essence, and under all cir cumstances and at every time, a violation of the funda mental principles of just, government." The resolution was seconded by JOSEPH SPENCER, Esq., of Ashton, and carried unanimously. JOHN RYLANDS, Esq.; of Warrington, moved "That, whilst demanding as a right the removal of all protective duties for the benefit of others, this meeting is desirous that the miscalled legal protection given to the cotton trade should be at the same time withdrawn: It' such protective laws were operative, they could only be so at the expense of the consumers of cotton manufactures. They, on the contrary, are wholly inoperative; more than three-fourths of the cotton spun and manufactured and ex ported and sold in competition with every foreign rival, and the price abroad determining the price at home, no legisla. tive enactment can possibly protect the capitalist or labourer engaged in the cotton trade. That, therefore, this meet ing regards the existence of laws professedly passed for its benefit' as calculated merely to delude the unreflect ing, and to afford to others the pretence for maintaining monopolies oppressive and injurious to the interests or the country." The motion was seconded by Mr. NICHOLSON, from Leeds, and carried ; after which Mr. ROBERTS, from Burnley, addressed the meeting. Mr. GEORGE WILSON, Honorary Secretary to the League, then read various communications from places which had not sent deputations. Mr. Perkins, of Nottingham ; Mr. Brotherton, M.P. ; and Mr. Cobden, M.P. ; then addressed the meeting, and the proceedings terminated. WAR BET WEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND' CHINA. (From the' Morning Post.) OPINION OF THE HON. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. The following document, from the pen of an American statesman who exercises a considerable influence on the national opinions and policy of the United States, will be interesting to the British public. It is a lecture on that part of the law of nations which applies to the existing war between this country and China, delivered to the Historical Society of Massachusetts by the Hon. John Quincy Adams a short time previously to the sail ing of the Caledonia. This production had not been published in America when the Caledonia left Boston, but was to appear in the Boston Notion of Dec. 4, from a copy of which paper, printed by anticipation, we have the op portunity, which we cheerfully embrace, of transferring it to our columns:— The existing state of the relations between the king dom of Great Britain and Ireland and the empire of China opens for discussion questions of deep interest to the whole human race, and of pre-eminent interest to the people of the North American Union. great Britain and China are at war. The questions which immediately rise for consideration in this conflict between two of the mightiest nations of the globe are 1. Which of the two, parties to the contest has the righteous cause ? 2. What are the prospects of its progress and termi nation ? 3. How the interests of other nations, and particularly of tie UnitA States, are already, or are likely to be hereafter, affected by it ? _ 4. What are the 'duties of the Government and peo ple of the United States resulting from it ? For the solution of the first of these questions we must resort to a statement of the facts in which the controversy originated, and for a candid application to these facts of the laws of nature and nations. It is emphatically enjoined by the Christian precept, to love your neighbour as yourself. Now, there is no other way by which men can so much contribute to the comfort and well-being of one another as by commerce, or mutual exchang,s of equivalents. Commerce is, then, among the natural rights and duties of men, and if of individuals, still more of communities ; for, as by the law of nature every man, though he love his neighbour as himself, must provide for hii own preservation and that of his family before he can minister to the wants of his neighbour, it follows that he can give in exchange to his neighbour only the excess of the fruit of his labour beyond that which is necessary. for his and their subsist ence. The exchange itself may indeed be of necessaries, and that leads to the division of labour, one of the greatest blessings of association ; but that cannot be with out commerce. The empire of China is said to extend over three hundred millions of human beings. It is said to cover a space of seven millions of square miles—about four times larger than the surface of these United States. The people are not Christians. Nor can a Christian nation appeal to the principles of a common faith to settle the question of right and wrong between them. The moral obligation of commercial intercourse between nations is founded entirely, exclusively upon the Christian precept to love your neighbour as yourself. With this principle you cannot refuse commercial intercourse with your neighbour, because commerce, consisting of a voluntary exchange of property mutually beneficial to both parties, excites in both the selfish and social propensities, and 'enables each of the parties to promote the happine:s of his neighbours by the same act whereby he provides for his own. But China, not being a Christian nation, its inhabit ants do not consider themselves bound by the Christian precept, to love their neighbour as themselves. The right of commercial intercourse with them reverts not to the execrable principle of Hobbes that the state of nature is a state of war ; every one has a r i g h t to b uy , b ut no man is obliged to sell. Commerce becomes altogether a matter of convention. 'the right o f eac h party i s on l y to propose—that of the other is to acc e pt or re f use , an d to his of hisresultli e ownmay be guided e xc l u A ve l y b y t h e consi deration interest, witho u t regar d to t h e inte rests, the wishes, or the Other wants of his neighbour. This is a churlish and unsocial system, and I take occasion here to say that whoever examines the Chris tian system of morals with a philosophical spirit, setting aside all the external and historical evidence of its truth, will find that all its precepts tend to exalt the nature of the animal man—all its purpose of peace on earth and goodwill towards men. Ask the Atheist, the Deist, the Chinese, and they will tell you that the foundation of their system of morals is selfish enjoyment. Ask the philosophers of the Grecian schools—Epicurus, Socrates, Zeno, Plato, Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, and you will find them discoursing upon the supreme Good. They will tell you it is pleasure, ease, temperance, prudence, fortit u d e , j ust i ce — not one of them will whisper the name of love, unless in its gross and physical sense, as an instrument of pleasure ; not one of them will tell you that the source of all moral re lation between you and the rest of mankind is to love your neighbour as yourself —to do unto him as you would that he should do unto you. The Chinese recognise no such law. Their internal Government is a hereditary patriarchal despotism, and their own exclusive interest is the measure of all their relations with the rest of mankind. Their own Government is founded upon the principle that, as a nation, they are superior to the rest of man kind. They believe themselves and their country espe• cially privileged over all others ; that their dominion is the celestial empire, and their territory the flowery land. At a period of their history so remote that they have no authentic records of the times, to make their separation from the rest of the world more effectual, they built a wall 1,500 miles long, between themselves and their next neighbours the Tartars, which, however, has not saved them from being more than once conquered. The prin ciple of the Chinese Government is, that the whole nation is one grtat family, of which the Emperor is the father. His authority is unlimited, and. he can not only appoint such of his sons he pleases to succeed him, but may even transfer the succession to another family. Idol worship, polygamy, infanticide, are the natural consequences of such a system within the realm, and the assumption of a pretension to superiority over all other nations regulates their intercourse with foreigners. To the Greeks and Romans of antiquity, the very ex istence of the Chinese nation was unknown. The first notice of them received by the Europeans of the middle ages, was from the Venetian Marco Polo in the 13th century. IVhen the Portuguese, 200 years later, found the way round the C a p e of Good Hope to India, they soon pushed forward their navigation and their enter prise along the whole coast of China. They were allowed to trade for several years at various ports ; but abusing this privilege and their navigating power, they were soon excluded from all access to the empire. A few years later the coast was infested by pirates. One of these, named Tchang-si-100, obtained possession of the island of Macao, there held the whole coast in a state of blockade, and besieged Canton, itself destitute of all naval power. The mandarins of the Celestial Empire were obliged to have recourse to those very Portuguese to defend and deliver their country from the depredation of a single 'bold and desperate pirate. They sent from lancam, where they had a trading establishment, an ex pedition which raised the siege of Canton, and drove Tchang-si-100 back to Macao, where, to escape from the fate which awaited him had he fallen into the hands of his pursuers, he died by his own hands. In reward for this service the Emperor of China gave to the Portuguese the island of Macao, which they hold to this day, and from which station they and the other navigating nations of Christendom have carried on all their commercial in tercourse with the interior of China. Other navigating Chri s ti an na ti o ns followed in the wake of the Portuguese. The Spaniards, the Dutch, the English, the French, the Danes, successively came as rival competitors for the lucrative commerce. It was chiefly, though not always, confined' to the port of Can ton, but no European was ever admitted within the walls of that city. The several trading nations were allowed to establish'small factories for counting-houses, on the banks of the river without - the city, but they were never suffered to enter within the gates ; they were not per mitted to introduce even a woman into the factory. All their intercourse with the subordinate government of the province was carried on through the medium of a dozen Chinese traders, denominated the Hong mer chants. All their remonstrances against wrong or ;claims of right must be transmitted, not directly to the Government, but through the' Hong—'-all in the form of hunible application, called by the Chinese a PIN; and all must be content to receive the 'answers of the 'Viceroys in .the form of ediCts, in which they, their sovereigns, and their nations, were invariably styled outside barbarians, and the highest compliment to their kings wag to declare them reverend' submissive to his Imperial Majesty, Mo narch of the Celestial Empire, and Fatheiof the Flowery Land. It is humiliating to think that not only the proudest monarchs of Europe, but the most spirited and enlight• ened and valorous nations of Christendom have submitted to this tone and those principles of intercourse, so long as to have given them, if prescription could give them, a claim of right and a colour of conformity to the law of nature. The vital principle if commerce is reciprocity ; and, although in all cases of traffic each party acts for him self and for the promotion of his own interest, the duty of each is to hold commercial intercourse with the other —not from exclusive or paramount consideration of his own interest, but from a joint and equal moral conside ration of the interests of both. If the object of any par• ticular traffic is advantageous to ore party and injurious to the other, then the party suffering has an unques tionable right to interdict the trade, not from exclusive or paramount consideration of his own interest, but be cause the traffic no longer fulfils the condition which makes commercial intercourse a duty. The fundamental principle of the Chinese empire is anti-commercial. It admits no obligation to hold Com mercial intercourse with others. lt utterly denies the equality of other nations with itself, and even their in dependence. • It holds itself to be the centre of the ter raqueous globe, equal to the heavenly host, and all other nations with whom it has any relations, political or com mercial,.as outside tributary barbarians reverently sub missive to the will of its despotic Chief. It is upon this principle, openly avowed and inflexibly maintained, that the principal maritime nations of Europe for several centuries, and the United States of America from the time of their acknowledged independence, have been content to hold commercial intercourse with the empire of China. It is time that this enormous outrage upon the rights of human nature, and upon the first principles of the rights of nations, should cease. These principles of the Chinese empire, too long connived at and truckled to by the mightiest Christian nations of the civilised world, have at length been brought into conflict with the princi ples and the power of the British empire ; and I cannot forbsar to express the hops that Britain, after taking the lead in the abolition of the African slave trade and of slavery, and of the still more degrading tribute to the Barbary African Mahometans, will extend her liberating arm to the furthest bounds of Asia, and at the close of the present contest insist upon concluding the pace on terms of perfect equality with the Chinese empire ; and that the future commerce shall be carried on upon terms of equality and reciprocity between the two communities, parties to the trade, for the benefit of both, each retain ing the right of prohibition and of regulation to interdict any article or branch of trade injurious to itself, as, for example, the article of opium ; and to secure itself against the practices of fraudulent traders and smugglers. This is the true, and I apprehend the only question at issue bstween the Governments and nations of Great Britain and China. It is a general, but I believe alto gether mistaken opinion, that the quarrel is merely for certain chests of opium imported by British merchants :nto China, and seized by the Chinese Government for having been imported contrary to law. This is a mere incident to the dispute, and no more the cause of the war than the throwing overboard of the tea in Boston harbour was the cause of the North American Revolution. The cause of the war is the pretension on the part of the Chinese, that in all their intercourse with other na tions, political or commercial, their superiority must be implicitly acknowledged, and manifested in humiliating forms. It is not creditable to the great, powerful, and enlightened nations of Europe, that for several centuries they have, for the sake of profitable trade, submitted to this Insolent and insulting pretension, equally contrary to the first principles of the law of nature and of revealed religionthe natural equality of mankind. ex traordinary for submission to insult is the more for being practised by Christian nations, which, in their intercourse with one another, push the principle of equality and reciprocity to the minutest punctilios of forms. Among the expedients to which the British Govern ment had resorted to hide their faces from the shame of submission to their principle of commercial intercourse with China, was that of,grantin,,o• the monopoly of trade to a company of merchants. .The Charter of the East India Company was the instrument of this monopoly ; and, as the Company possessed none of the attri butes of sovereignty, whatever- compliances their thirst for gain might reconcile with their self esteem its men, or their pride as Britons, was supposed to involve no sacrifice of the national honour and dignity. They submitted, therefore, to accept the permission to trade with the people of China, as a boon granted to their humble supplication, called a Pin. But their trade was to be confined to the single port of Canton, in an empire of seven millions of square] miles, with a population of 300,000,000 of souls. Even into that city of Canton no British subject was ever to be suffered to get his foot. They were permitted to erect on the banks of the river below the city the -buildings neces sary for a counting-house, over which they might dis play the degraded standard of their nation, but from which their wives and families were to be for ever ex cluded For the superintendence of this trade certain officers were appointed by the East India Company, and it was to be exclusively carried on with ten or twelve Chinese merchants of the city, called Hong merchants, through whom alone the outside barbarians had access by the Pin to the government of the city. In the year 1792, just at the time when the wars of the French revolution, in which Great Britain took so prominent a part, were breaking out, the British Govern ment instituted a splendid embassy to the Emperor of China, Kien Long, who was then approaching the termination of a reign of sixty years. From the historical account of this embassy, published by Sir George Staunton, it appears that its object was to prevail upon the Chinese Government to admit the establishment of •a permanent diplomatic British Minister to reside near the person of the Emperor, at Pekin, and, thereby to secure a more effective protection to the commerce between the two countries than it had before enjoyed. But this was not agreeable to Chinese benevolence. From the moment that Lord Macartney landed in China till he embarked in the Lion to return home, he was considered the vassal of a distant subordinate petty Prince, - sent by his master to do hotnagrs, and bear the tributary presents to the superhuman Majesty of the Celestial empire. The presentation of the Ambassador and the delivery of his credential letters was effected with great so:emnity, and he was magnificently entertained by the Emperor on his birthday, the 17th of September. But the letter and the presents were no sooner delivered than he re ceived significant hints that it was expected he would apply without delay' for permission to depart. Lord Macartney was extremely reluctant at coming to the conclusion that his embassy was at an end, and that he had nothing more to do but to ask permission to de part and return to his own country ; but a kind friend at the Imperial Court, whose good offices he had secured, suggested to him that the Chinese had no other idea of an embassy, and that there was in truth no other alternative. To relieve him from his embarrassment, his British pride and this Tartar courtesy, he just at this time received advices of the war which the National Convention had declared against the King of Great Britain and the Stadtholder of the Netherlands, and he comforted himself with the anticipation that by returning home immediately in the Lion, the ship which had con veyed him to China, he might at the same time perform the service of conveying in safety the East India Com pany's fleet of merchantmen then bound to Europe. This embassy, however, appears to have been treated with more respect than any other from a European Go vernment during the two centuries of the reign of the Ta- Tsing, or Mantchoo Tartar dynasty. The narrative of Sir George Staunton distinctly and positively affirms that Lord Macartney was admitted to the presence of the Emperor Kien-Long, and presented to him his credentials, with out performing the prostration of the Ko-Tou, the. Chinese act of homage from the vassal to the sovereign lord. Ceremonies between superiors and inferiors are the personification of principles. Nearly twenty-five years after the repulse of Lord Macartney, in 1816, an other splendid embassy was despatched by the British Government, in the person of Lord Amherst, who was much more rudely dismissed, without even being ad mitted to the presence, of the Emperor, or passing a single hour at Pekin. A Dutch t mbassy, instituted shortly after the failure of that of Lord Macartney, fared no better, although the Ambassador submitted with a good grace to the prostration of the Ko-Tou. A philo sophical Republican may smile at the distinction by which a British Nobleman saw no objection to deliver ing his credentials on the bonded knee, but could not bring his stomach to the attitude of entire prostration. The bonded knee, no less than the full-length prostration to the ground, is a symbol of homage from an inferior to a superior, and if not equally humiliating to the per former, it is only because he has been made familiar by practice with the one and not with the other. In Europe the bended knee is exclusively appropriated to the rela tions of sovereign and subject, and no representative of any sovereign in Christendom ever bends the knee in presenting his credentials to another. It has been seen how the British Government and na tion had accommoda7ed themselves to this self-arrogating system of the Chinese. It was by establishing a mono poly on their part, adapted to the monopoly of the Chi nese system. The exclusive right of trading with China was granted to the East India Company, and all the commerce of British subjects with the Celestial Empire was transacted by means of commissioned supercargoes, appointed by those merchant princes, without diploma tic character, and without direct intercourse with any officer of the Chinese Government. But on the expiration and renewal of the East India Company's charter in 1833, the exclusive right of trading with China was discontinued, and thenceforth the quasi political intercourse between the two nations transacted by mere commercial agents of the East India Company ceased, and in the third and fourth year of the reign of William, the Fourth, an Act of Parliament was made and passed, " to regulate the trade to China and India." In pursuance of the powers conferred upon the Crown by this Act, the sailor King issued three Orders in Council : -1. C onst i tut i ng an d appointing William John Lord Napier, Willi am Chieheley, and John Francis Davis, Superintendents of the Trade of J 3 ritish sub- j :eta in China, with an crder fur the government of British subjects within the Chinese diminions. 2. Creating a Court of Justice for the purposes therein mentioned. 3. Imposing duties on the ships and goods of British subjects trading to China, for the purposes therein mentioned ; that is, of derraying the expenses of the establishment. The order for the imposition of duties was afterwards rescinded, and the order for the constitution of a Court of Justice was sus pended for further consideration. The Chief Super intendent, Lord Napier, was instructed to announce his arrival at Canton by letter to the Viceroy. The Superin tendents were instructed to take up their residence at' the port of Canton, and to discharge the duties of their commission within the river or port of Canton, or at any other place within the river or port, or at any other place thereafter to be designated by an order in Council, and no' elsewhere. One of the most remarkable circumstances attending all these transactions is, that in giving these instruc tions to the superintendents to take np their residence at Canton, and to the chief superintendent to announce his arrival by letter to the Viceroy, they appear not to have been aware of the 'possibility of any objection to this course of proceeding on the part of the Chinese. Accordingly on his arrival in China, ;After organizing the board of superintendents at Macao, Lord Napier with his colleagues and the secretary of the commission pro ceeded immediately to Canton. You have in the first despatch from Lord Napier to Lord Palmerston, the primitive and efficient cause of the present war between Great Britain and China. It was in the attempt to execute two points of the instruc tions to the superintendents.-1. That the chief super intendent should announce his arrival at . Canton, by letter, to the Viceroy, and the other, that the superin tendents should take up their residences at Canton. Lord Napier, with the open-hearted and inconsiderate boldness of a British sailor, attempted to execute these points of instructions to the letter, with out for an instal. t conceiving that each of them was in direct conflict with the vital and fun damental laws of the Celestial Empire. This ignorance was very natural, and very excusable in a Captain of the British navy, Lut how it came to be shared by the Privy Council and the Secretary of State of the British Empire is more unaccountable. The instruc tions were explicit and . positive. Had there been the re motest suspicion .at. the time when they were prepared, that their execution would meet with resistance by the Chi nese authorities, it could not have failed to be noticed in them, with directions how the superintendents were to pro ceed in such an event. Until then the official protector of British commercial interest in China had been a supercargo of the East India Company, denominated by the Chinese a Towpan, whose representations or remonstrances in behalf of British subjects to the Governor of the two provinces, Kwang-tung and Kwang-see, were always presented in the form of petitioas, and always communicated through the medium of Hong merchants, without obtaining or claiming direct access to the Chinese dignitary himself. That this mode of communication was to cease from the time of the expiration of the exclusive privilege of the East India Company, was equally • well known to the British and Chinese Governments, and in the controversy which im mediately followed this first collision between Lord Na pier and the Governor o' Canton, the latter once and again asserts that ample warning had been given to the British merchants that when, by the expiration of the privilege of the East India Company, the functions of the Towpan would be superseded, some suitable messenger must be substituted to settle with the Hong merchants those trifling and insignificant concerns of commerce which it was.far beneath the dignity of the Government of the Celestial Empire to provide for or to notice. But I am already trespassing upon your patience—a brief and summary notice of the sequel is all that your time will at present allow. The proud and generous British noble mariner persisted in his determination to hold direct communication with the Governor of the two provinces, Loo, and to continue his residence at Canton till ha was obliged to call for an armed force from the British frigate in which he had performed his passage into Canton for the protection of his person from as sault by the armed force of the Governor ; who, on his own part issued edict after edict against the barbarian eye, laboriously vib Napier, who had come by sea more than ten thousand miles to the flowery land of the Celestial Empire, for what purpose the chief of the two-eyed peacock feather could not tell, but against all reason, and ignorant of all dignities, pre tending to correspond with the Viceroy of the two pro vinces of Kwang-tung and Kwan-see, upon matters of trade, by letter instead of by petition, and to assume the functions which for a century and some tens of years had always been performed in all humility by a Towpan, pe titioning through the medium of the Hong merchants, who attempted for several days to negotiate a compromise between the Governor and . the Noble Lord Superin tendent without success, till at length an edict was issued by the Governor, which suspended the British trade. The British commerce in China was prostrated at a blew, and the only alternative left to Lord Napier was to retire under numerous insults and indignities to Macao, where, on the 13th day of October, 1834, he died of cha grin and a broken heart. And hero we might pause—my brethren of the Massa chusetts illistorical Society—do I hear you inquire what has all this to do with the opium question, or the taking of Canton ? These, I answer, are but incidents in that movement of mind on this globe of earth, of which the war between Great Britain and China is now the leading star. Of the four questions which I have proposed this evening to discuss, we have not even reached the con clusion of the first. The justice of the cause between the two parties. Which has the righteous cause ? You will perhaps be sur prised to hear mi. answer, Britain—Britain has therighte ous cause. But to prove it, I have been obliged to show that the opium question is not the cause of the war : my demonstration is not yet complete. The cause of the war is the Ko-tort !—the arrogant and insupportable pre tensions of China, that she will hold commercial inter course with the rest of mankind not upon terms of equal reciprocity, but upon the insulting and degrading forms of relation between lord and vassal. The melancholy catastrophe with w Ilia I am obliged to close, the death of the gallant Napier, was the first bitter fruit of the struggle against that insulting and senseless preten sion of China. Might I, in the flight of time, be permitted again to address you, I should pursue the course of the inquiry through the four ques tions with which I have begun. But the solution of them all is involved in the germinating element of the first, the justice of the cause. This I have sought in the natural rights of man. With reference to the last of my four questions—what are the duties of the Go vernment and the people of the United States resulting from the existing war between Great Britain and China? I leave to your meditations the last event of that war,. which the winds have brought to our ears—the ransom of Canton. When we remember the scornful refusal from the gates of Canton, in July, 1834, of Mr. Astell, bearing the letter of peace and friendship from Lord Napier to the Governor of the two Provinces, and the contemptuous refusal to receive the letter itself, and compare it with the ransom of that same city in June, 1841, we trace the whole line of connection between cause and effect. May we not draw from it a monitory lesson, written upon a beam of phosphoric light, of preparation for war and pre servation of peace. COURT CIRCULAR. WINDSOR, FRIDAY.- Their Excellencies Baron Ra venshaw the Danish Minister, and the Spanizh Minister, arrived to-day at the Castle on a visit to her Majesty. The Prince Castelcicala, - and his Excellency Edward Everett, Minister Plenipotentiary, from the United States, took their leave to .day for town. This morning the Queen and Prince Albert, walked on tho terrace of the Castle. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent also walked there this forenoon attended by Lady Fanny Howard. His Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by Sir Edward Bowater, and the Hon C. A. Murray, rode to Ascot to meet the Stag hounds. A deer was unearted. In the afternoon her Majesty and Prince Albert, walked through the grand entrance to the new made grounds of the Home Park and to Adelaide Cottage. In attendance were the Countess of Gainsborough, Lady Caroline Cocks, Hon. Miss Cavendish, the Earl of War wick, and General the Hon. Sir William Lumley. Major-General and the Lady Isabella Wemyss, will . have the honour of joining the Royal Dinner Circle at the Castle this evening. The Earl of Gainsborough is expected to arrive to morrow on a visit to her Majesty. A Committee of the Lords of her Majesty's Most Ho nourable Privy Council had a meeting yesterday after noon, at the Council-office, to consider the manner in which his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales should bear his Arms. The Lords present were the Lord Pre sident, Sir Robert Peel, and Sir J. Graham. • • York Herald, and beputy Garter from the Herald's College, were in attendance on their Lordships. The meeting broke up soon after five o'clock. An Address from the Inhabitant Householders of Westminster was yesterday presented to her Most Gra cious 'Majesty, through the Home-office, very nume rously and respectably signed, praying for the extin guishment, by reasonable compromise with the Proprie tors, of the burdensome Tolls on Waterloo, Southwark, and Vauxhall-bridges. Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonald, Governor of Sierra Leone, had an interview with Lord Stanley yesterday at the Colonial-office. Th© Prince Castelcicala, Neapolitan Envoy Extraordi nary and Minister Plenipotentiary, on a Special Mission, arrived in town yesterday from a visit to her Majesty at Windsor Castle. _ Mr. G. Nicholls had an interview yesterday with the Chancellor of the Exchequer at his official residence in Downing-street. Sir George Arthur, Mr. W. Holmes, M.P., and Mr. Irving, had interviews yesterday with Lord Stanley at the Colonial-office. The Duke of Wellington has left town for his seat, Strathlieldsaye ' Hants. Mr. Henry Cope, jun., Honorary Secretary of the Metropolitan Anti-Bridge Toll Association, had the honour of an interview yesterday with Lord Wharnclille, Lord President of the Council, on the subject of the abo lition, for the benefit of the public, of the tolls on the Metropolis Bridges. Despatches from Sir W. Colebrook, Governor of New Brunswick, and from Sir John Harvey, Governo r of Newfoundland, were received at the Colonial -office yes terday afternoon. The Lords of the Judicial Committee of her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council sat yesterday. The-re were present the Lord President, Lord Brougham, Mr. Justice Erskine , a nd the Jud g e of the Admiralty Co ur t.. Sir Alekander Johnston and Sir Edward East sat as Privy Councillors. Mr. Lloyd, for the respondent, was 'heard at great length on an appeal from Bengal, which had been part heard at a former sitting, " Maharajah Mutter feet Singh v. Heirs of Jeserunt Singh." Mr. Pemberton, Q.C., r e plied for th e appe l lant. The Court rose. Lord and Lady Ha m ilt on Chichester left . s Hotel, Be l grave - square, yesterday, for Malta. EVENING suN FRANCE. (FROM OUR OW*„,CORRESPONDENT.) PARIS, DEC. 16.—The sentence'of the• Court of Peers is not yet pronounced on the individuals under trial be fore that Star-Chamber tribunal, although the evidence and pleadings have all been gone through. It will o' o ' bably not be known for the next four-and-twentY hours , -; t , bnt its tenour is pretty confidently anticipated. The Pir ') secution against one of the most insignificant of the pe- ' soners, a man named Prioul, has been abandoned. and he therefore will be set at liberty, but the rest will all Wl' , ",ed found more or less guilty, and condemned to vario us I le ' , na!ties. In his reply the Procureur-General spoke out rather more openly about Dupoty, and those of th e prisoners who are accused of having formed a cony:et. He admitted that the evidence might not perhaps go P far as to show that they had all conspired in common!, but he maintained that they had conspired by fractions—A..4'i parately, that is to say ; and " what could they, Art conspired for," he asked, "if not for this attempt ?' 7 / 1 ' then reminded the Court of Peers that they had, on. A 2- 0. 1 1•;,, better grounds, adjudged in 1834 the persons imp!cls,li in the Lyons disturbances, to be guilty of conspiracril and het ncouraged them to follow up their practice bY similar verdict on this occasion ; adding, that aftelst Nlllll they were not so much a Court as a Jury, no t tied u °4 by the letter of the law, but free to act as their 1 0 1,11 sciences and opinions dictated to them. Slid' i5 , 1 4 1 ,61 9 ' i1' state of law in France at the present moment • practice of the Court of Peers, and the doctrines ex',.,111 , ;-0Y French Crown lawyers at the present day, are ei" what existed in England in the times of. Ch a rles . 1 r and the manners of the Judges are equally brutal all4‘i• illegal. Truly the French Government is the '`Berj of Republics 1" Every body sees clearly that the r •i of M. Dupoty is desired not only as an ad° lS able precedent for future proceedings against the "'r es t° .0 0 . ;j but also as a set-off against the continued de1ear;.,.,,,41 which the Government has been lately exposed in 1 1 • secutions before Juries both in the capital and the 1 1 . r c e e vinces. Thus, though the law officers of the Crown ,l ,'„ o l, obtained one verdict against the Editor of the iVa t i ° o - A.,V° in Paris, and though M. Ledru Rollin has been f 0, 0 00; guilty of sedition by a packed jury at Angers, Y et t i fi too"" Government has sustained signal defeats at Arras all ... a ,..4t0 d Evreux (where the Journal de t Eure has just h eel ! , of quitted), and at Pau, when all the " cmispirators been Toulouse—one insignificant person excepted—ha re ea. freed from the accusations brought against .. . l ls o . In the capital, too, the Government has all the leading prosecutions of the year. s °,, jc!e something to put on the other side of the "" e ' r ic is absolutely indispensable, and this piece of "tbo the Peers are required to perform. The fact i s '. ion, they are already so " double damned" in public °fl a ir that any iniquities they can now commit will add bu t i bis to the contempt in which they are held; and therefore bed verdict will produce much less sensation than if it 0.1 not been anticipated. As to Quenisset, some of the men whose guilt of the attempt at ass'q,. tion is evident, nobody can dispute the justice coAreir being punished : but the law of the case turns e,.,..."!hieCi,111), on M. Dupoty, and public attention is directed -if: almost exclusively. It has been well observen reitter Legitimist Paper, that if the mere receipt ...)f IA eon' by the Editor of a Journal is enough $ vict him of complicity in the opinions and 'lOl,O- of the persons writing it, though he might not o f him even by sight or name—(and this is the ear! Dupoty with the letter sent to him as . Edit°. f Journal flu People by Launois), the narrow sli t ,0 of it; editor's box will become as dangerous an instrateoLit tyranny as the brazen jaws of the Lion of St• 111 Venice. A most amusing instance of French politica l just been witnesse near Grenoble. Last sittnin e , r o ' rt feei ( ing the troubles excited by M. Hurnann's Mega' . t he .:!,/ for the taking of the census, search was ma de ; 11 orlati; ytf small town of Vizille in the Isere for a depo t e e p ai.O.A o l: said to be kept there. Two brothers of arast" -- of Avril were possessors of the house. irce ;610 whatever were found, except an old fowlinglat,ig'; but there was discovered the draft of a letter witheseereed nature, date, or address, the purport of whi ch a . O f „r to be connected with some political meeting , but - to t ike object, or when, or where, or with whom, it wes „b .:1 place, no mention was make. This was quite en°, e ' be s ot found a .prosecution on : the paper was 5 11700 te_ s the writing of one of the brothers, Avril, w ho , '„T 0rt . c .4.0., cordingly brought to trial last week before the '. er Lionel tribunal of the district. No witness owlet idea & called by the law- officers of the Crown, nor an} etivoft of whatever offered, except the putting in cf the the letter mentioned above. Of course as th e lying ". 4 Procurator had done the tribunal the honou r of gL ot be .41e cognizance of a political case, the Judges could " ot i o el so unpolite as not to gratify him with a conid:erf d 3r ; and therefore without any further ado they tun" Avril, to be guilty, of what ?—of a conspirar.riteollf man guilty of cons it lug with himself ! and th e y cos ta ` sentenced him to a month's impriso nm ent, wild eto ine‘` It should be added that he had previously Lee" oth s ' in prison, under accusation of the crime, for four a in Art case parallel to this cannot perhaps be qii ot _ e be lieve psent century ; and we should have refused " t o t Pr it had we not read it in the official Govertune as t be the Moniteur. Certainly the French Charter Or most glorious one to have produced fruits lik e , 1 1 :. l S aile d The French squadron must by this time ihdetachs feom Toulon; seven ships of the line have been rest', - for troops to Algiers, and the destination of the af if this sq : still as uncertain as when we wrote last. A. -- dron is ultimately destined far the Levant, it is °- the fended as a sop to be thrown to the opposition 3 . fi e opening of the Chambers. The fact is that the alPe,ot, of any French division of importance in the l' e ` - bile coupled with the order for reducing the artnY,,,'„ w ge . England has still ten or twelve sail of the line in t" .. .inee diterranean, might very well afford ground foe oPri four to the address, and, therefore, the ordering " or five sail of the line on a cruise without tO.t :P o e at - object, may be alleged by Ministers, in the fibs, °E iticit s any better argument, as a reply to the tat s m ily. adversaries. The reduction of the army is important measure, and there is reason s'y of till that it will carried into effect. The e 3use b s inP ere o is plain : the Government is horridlY or t oes , - for money, it dares net lay on another 501.,.at pre' by • universal and so profound is the disc o ntent s° .b at and it has been forced on the King and tne tta ialin' he the obstinacy of two of the Ministers. I\- 1 . '" -- s urY ; s Finance Minister, knows the state of the tre ( dm* " knows the real amount of the deficit (nine bu ilt r was ° ir e offi•ancs before the recent loan of 150 millions, oto. tracted for); he knows that this deficit is)e u , r a nd til e s increase; that the expenses of the war in Afri ca ' t tool' s maintenance of the French in hall-a-d°,zetil nolliont of that country, has cost France one hunare Des tns', der in hard cash fur this last year alone, an ..c l,lO year it will amount to as much if not more, Abd t the for; being as able to continue the war as ever ; tifications of Paris will sink twice as flinc h ;" I " r irct i ' ' the estimates are limited to ; and that under aLt r ais a ei stances a fresh loan would not be very ca s Y.. e on to For all these causes he has insisted on a d i tt o Jere ,' the war budget, and it has been accordingly or 4 )t be cut clown for 1843 by 30 millions of fill : je t - 1;0 Guizot, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, lin°l - o nce ,l l was able to conjure the storms raised again s .! that Charlatan 'l'hiers, only by dint of Paci"ot, rin c ° ' and that after being a year in office, lie cane nc" ar .pea mon decency, continue to countenance th e being kept on a war footing. Both these p00;1.. therefore, pressed the matter strongly on M er. j a st, 511 . ,41° and the King, and at length, in Septeniberi,a )a s hy !piA ceeded in extorting the Royal signature. 11 , e ,,. berg's to ting, for they had nearly resigned, the .IC- 1 r ov ih r or 4 afraid of doing anything to discontent the ariliY , „der hands he and his children entirely are ; but the ) o lie jsrll4 the reduction was issued only the other (1 3 ) % „ r o(1 0 ;( fancied that earlier in the autumn it would ha ve ic t '11 1 .4 a rise in the funds, and so no doubt it won t he li e to were afraid, therefore, of having to negotiatee, a_r loan at rather too high a price, and the ordonm`refo.,l, consequently kept in the portfolio of the Niini st ! c t befe l i s to be used at a fitting occasion. As we have sai d it will only come into operation in 1843, ee Philippe may be taken off by a bullet before th et a came il M. de Lamartine will certainly be put uP gs t ies , Sn be date for the Presidency of the Chamber of DeP• re t i t we think with no small likeliho K 1 o f s uccess. be t contest will be bt twe,en him aad M. S a uzet ; art y, b e d . unite the suffi ages n )t only of the Opposition P s t hose o f all those of Court Mole's party also, as well a °lv o l 0 some personal friends amongst the u•wal stipr iiri , in t u l o Ministers. We confess that we exrect to the chair. He will not do anything to oppose lu e to r , he will not agree over well with either Guiz° ~0 0/ 101 1, r, main. Count Mole is still very ac ive about, " t , 0 6 14 probably about getting into office—he is s:„V bti - r roo i o , (excuse the pun) that he cannot le L ye u under the ground upon which Ministers sl oe to,, matter whet may be th 3 ofinions °f who, for the time being, held oil e. lie j ' a a ' n y it should be observed, a hettar el ante tha n tbe man in France of coming into offic bri n g mon it of principal favourite and toady; whilst Coitn,, en otl.J. e ' sr o who is grand lick-spittle to the palace , and t° the King's ames dirmnees, is always readYl° ' le f o r with him in any Cabinet he m form- 1 ‘ iee reign Aftiirs, Montalivet for the luterior,--grityin,t Philippe the! c tw - i, with any thing like a ra"j° Deputies, and he is ready to go the who le hog• eeet it to Every thing at the Tuileries is unconinur l Y a nd and dull this year. Louis Philippe is breaklnghi n g not like large parties ; the Queen, too, is gr e y tlotth.".,;(l D a w n hu d echt m iele o srs re da,n f oy o r n il i e l aar o igi f se liiii.eeart:e‘fisreleoysmiiiclmleeb•leicagti:iddoatil.t is ver 'e ~ The Pik cer o, but they can get nobody to go to them. _ to ter be dred and fifty guests are the 'nest they c an w k singing and fiddling is all over by eleven ° i n to lights put out, and the guests are fiettingt. . 5 win 11,3 fiacers to go home. Paris is, in general, dull ; The French all regret Lord Grenville verY much to ' l ,; kept open house, as an English Ainbassadoitn!.,ie,a Lord Cowley they complain of as being lc scrieAs (bdotictoltith. 50; homnme, rather dull, and inclined to ever he once c i e s s n e o t t ti ) e T i t i n installed b i n o u h r ig..ssottficial . ore, nee au l i c l! 7 ;i s et' .., c l 4, 44 l;!i resst ' -- -- ~c , R up. touRED • PARDON OF CONVIC A. , . , - , n r t w h ithstanding the contradiction which has bet n g l f i i, oil' ereort which appeared in several of the nebv,r L t • tr stating that it was the intention, on the birth e . „ v ict , Prince of Wales, to grant a free pardon to those eePtioAs who had been of good behaviour,- numerous apc,c6„obf are daily made and petitions sent to the Norue')"•iiiio-e friends of prisoners on the subject. We therefore fot o : it right to repeat that there is no intention on the P o til 6 . the Crown.gpecially to interfere in order to lese,loo terms to wiTich convicts have been sentenced. ?mop number of petitions haTe been presented, praYi n g milli" Frost, Williams, and Jones ma be included in the ' ~ cipated act of Royal clemency. „ n 10 5 ,. Her Most Gracious Majesty the Que . ' - t ritiv been pleased, in her Royal condescenzion, toeeoibort. humble offering; of the poor lace-makers of W 0 col Salterton, and vto besteNon them a munificent Pr'2°,epl her Majesty's continued bounty , a nd an encourage" to their industry. I t he ki t cli4