The Sun. — London, England, 1842-04-06 00:00:00

VMC • ; asked why leave out London? It was very true the averages a l London were higher than those of the other fifteen maim '. e e etur ing and commercial towns. No doubt London was the the of speculation ; but the fact was chiefly caus-d through ee e ivality of the corn consumed. But it was not ne ioerY, to exclude London, for if the metropolis *ere i n - ,:ued with the other fifteen towns, the difference , 4e range of prices for a long period would be very incon rable. He had eompared the averages of the sixteen ma ifeat_tming tovvns with those of the fifteen agricultural towns. 100 4 7 . d taken eighteen periods, having three periods in the • th e iLn e of April, August, and December, for six years. In th e t i: ear e 1 833, 1834, and 18:35, the averages were low ; in DuringlYears 18:;9, 1840, and 1841, the averages were high. -«e last three years, the prices in the sixteen commer th tQ wes were higher than in the fifteen agricultural ones, !tough this was not universally the case. For ten periods the reerages were high in the 16 commercial towns ; in seven periods t h e y were higher in the agricultural ; therefore the notion of Ben. Member, as to the effect of including London, was ;1 f a n erY• He could assure th e H ouse , th a t t h e se l ect i on o f Ztowns had been made without the slightest reference, direct g er i ndireet, to the nature of the districts in which the towns Z e re taken ; and these had been taken, not with any intention . their parts of unduly influencing the returns ; their only . Art had been, t o range over the different districts, so that Y might insure returns from the various markets sread vMr.y. the country. p tv -.AWES said, that the Right Hon. Gentleman had t ive gtlo answer to the statement he had made, that the num ,,nrd tow ns selected from the districts which grew the finer of wheat was not proportioned to the number of towns ~;e n grew wheat of an inferior quality. He repeated that assertion; and he believed that the result of such a system th 'uld be u n d u l y to lower the averages, and of course to increase e d utY. He did not, however, throw out any imputation •nst the Government; and he did not mean to say that they 11 " td emlninfluenced by any improper motives in the proposal they fir E. KNATCHBULL made a few observations which Very imperfectly heard in the gallery; but he was under ; .ve to say that the election of towns had been made upon the %lest principle. VI% G L ADSTONE explained. to -Ir • VILLIERS said he could not understand why these Cms hal been added. According to the Right Honourable aror ie s . . . syst et opposite, scarely any fraud existed, and under the old lc e ns it had been altogether exaggerated; according to the sAist Hon. Gentleman, the Vice-President of the Board of Q a le, the additi on o f t h ese towns wou ld pro d uce no mater i a l 4 ( 17' Where, then, was' he use of the alteration now propo- Sf :, -- (Hear, hear.) He believed, however, that the effect th e ", alteration would be to lower the averages, and th e Presumption therefore was, that it would also have l b Moo of raising the duty.—(Hear, hear, and cheers. ) itight Hon. Baronet did not attribute any evils to the old ti 11,(1 . - ": 11 e had said th a t it was no t th e cause o f t h e di stress— h e Y,. had 'aid that he did n o t p r of ess t o expect any b ene fi t f rom t h e 'IW• All the Hon. Gentlemen opposite had said that the th tet of the law was to leave the protection as it was. Why, Vefore, did th e y see k t o a dd f res h c i rcumstances o f d ou b t ? ttirl4,l ot merchant would enter into th e t ra d e un til h e h a d ascer ih ii, e what would be the eff e ct of th e new l aw ? H ow cou ld e Y expect anything like re gu l ar ity o f t ra d e unt il t h e e ff ect o f 44' alterations should be ascertained? The old law had al l: o fY produced mi s chief e n ou g h w ith ou t a ddi ng a f urt h er cause ()• S.,,`nsehief to it. He should support the motion of his Hon. . 416 7; 1 1 Is for doing away with these towns altogether, and . also i the "" of his other Hon. Friend, in order that tne public might If e ' e an opportunity of judging of th e e ff ec t o f th e measure . Is t , was at a loss to conceive how the opposition to the motion could be justified. Th e Ri g ht H onoura bl e Ba il`" had said that his objection to the motion was, that k tr , () uld revive the oiscussion on the whole subject next year, 1/411 Right lion. the Vice-President of the Board of Trade , said that it wa s desirabl e , i n th e l eg i s l a ti ve se t t l ement o f th' re at question, to introduce such a measure as should settle tiOntstion at once and finally. Now, those expressions ex (ist'led a degree of simplicity that he had hardly expected from h ear men. on the other side. He had hardly expected to have itr ' i d this Corn Bill, which the Government had assured the te et !ultural interest would not diminish one iota of the pro . - t,„ l° ,n—he had hardly expected to have heard this Bill denomi (if° the great legislative settlement of a disputed matter.— k",r, hear.) Did the Hon. Gentleman suppose that the t,"P'e would be so imbecile as to cease from agitation in con ie`tieuvtice of this Bill ? On the contrary, they would only agi i" a ten-fold degree—(Ch eers )— un til th ey h a d o bt a i ne d a repeal o f th ese l aws . —(Ch eers .) What (lid the present th e !ire amount to? It amounted to an acknowledgment of i s ; . Principle for which the people had all along been contend te;. Last year they h a d b een t o ld t h at th e o ld l aw was per the,e"--that it had worked well. They however continued i s a gitation, and this year an alteration h a d b een p ro p ose d s, "e law. ' That was a concession of _the pri nc iple ; i n f ac t, I•l'Ythin g h a d b een conce d e d except a substant i al change. Rt e t :, e "uld not be consideredlegislative settlement of a th e question, for the people would never cease to agitate until so.7est principle which had been conceded should be fully I ,e'd out, and the law be totally repealed. The only reason th e ( "lie could imagine as inducing the Government to oppose tk _ on of Hon. in °t l Friend was, that they must have a d ou bt rt their minds as to what might be the result of the addition th o * i ?ese towns. If they had no do u bt on th e su bj ec t, w h y h u t ki thee oppose the motion the ,"' HARDY said it appeared to him that ite reason of th e being added was to prevent fraud. By increasing tio,",° ll lher of the towns, they increased the sphere of opera der .`"r tho s e w h o m i g h t see k t o pract i ce f rau d , an d t h us ren • is very very difficult, or wholly impossible, for such persons to un their fraudul en t p rac ti ces . en ,r• LA BOUCHERE said, that the House ha v i ng d ec id e d th e '""Pting the principle of the sliding scale, it became, from to,: .° , °Merit of such a decision, only desirable that they should I,l,ctuet the system of averages so as to guard as far as pos tikh. , a gainst fraud. He (Mr. Lab.mchere) thought that the li d . ' Hon Gentleman, the Vice• President of the Board of ref" , its referring to what the Hon. Member for Lambeth th e I t i l(1 on this subject, had not dealt quite fairly with what '4 , 1°11 . Gentleman had said. The Ri g ht H on . G en tl em an th e You justify fraud ; you say that fraud is a benefit to hie t , s ° "sumer." The Hon. Member for Lambeth had never the that fraud per se was a benefit to th e consumer. What ki"qoourabl•s Member said was —" That under the 4 r• "e* , system of Corn-laws th e op era ti on o f f rau d, O f h pi ° en that system gave encouragement, had had the effect N e ,: t 4liwg into the market fereign wheat at prices at which, th '. oliter circunistauees, it could not come into the market." 11 'rea' t sense the lion. Gentleman had said that if they ren that fraud s less practicable they would injure the consumer ; th e tn a ss, that they would prevent foreign wheat coming into the l is a , tk ets and thus injure the consumer. He must say that 41 'ef " the table appeared to be free from many of those ob • Its In which the firs list as hable:; but as far as reared 11011:Netical operation, t there w was I/0 very great differ g enc d e. tp,""er, anything that could be said on the subject must be of P'elisrist, and, for his own part, he would prefer the opinion es t ," intelligent corn-dealer on the subject to the opinion of R a y „lember of that House.—(H ear .) Wh en th e su bj ec t his,',,rst. discussed in that House, he stated that lie had been sR '- ., 4 " 4 1 by persons on whom he could place reliance, that the St` tisenew towns would be to influence the ad documents mount 'tstsdtable,felt bound to acknowledge that he had over 'Led a.v 'e effect.—( Hear, hear.) He did not think the adver taY th:j 4 l4es could be .affected to that extent, but he must also Teem n „ ° " was by no means convinced that the averages il b e - r - f ` be affected. It was remarkable that till the Hon. ,i Pe's, ° r Sussex said that the averages wonld not be affected, isle 4 on both sides of the House, whether belonging to Lioneuffriettltural or commercial interest, whether the ""tet i au le Member for Lincolnshire, of the Honourable Lt'O Nttr o for Smersetshire, who had epoken on the the whole, therefore, in the position in which he stood, if °° hs"°•Friend the Member for Malden should divide the House e ve r ; in ntion, he should feel bound to vote for it. But what tttsr,°,l4se he m i g ht t a k e on it, h e h ope d th e Ri g h t H on . ith, e '••vsoold do this, that he would allow a sep ara t e ac count u 're 4t vrages to be kept in the towns where they had hereto ,lle, : e n taken, an d w h er e they were now p ropose d t o b e t a k en . s t "seki , w as no difficulty in doing it, and by that means they wo l o J'e enabled to judge of the oeration of the system. It s s ."(lt, of course, completely meet the case, but they should llsecTat teas the working of one of the elements from which ,PPreherided that these effects might be produced. ORSLEY thought that, taking the averages in these Pti s :"° ll s would not produce the effect the Right Hon. Baronet Atta -IP ' t ed, in preventing fraud. He thousslit it would make 4 41i, L ,flure difficult—( Hear, hear)—inasmuch as three or four "'a'tivals, t'"uals, who by getting stooks of wheat, and selecting per 41s,k make sales of them, over and over again in different ki se e ts, had affected the averages, would now have to employ 4 '44 ° Rents. Fraud could be rendered more difficult, but :te e , 00 t be absolutely prevented. He did not think that the :se re o f taking the averages in these towns would be to lower the Ne i l e by 2s. though there was a general impression among far * set -t uat it tvo ' uld do so. He believed that the farmers considered :eit e s ,lale of duties not sufficiently protective, and, therefore, anything that the considered would secure them tstpieulotection. But he should . not be doing . his duty ahem tu t • be th e 'i t t,isal Member if, there being not a sufficient protection 1 1 : 1 1(1 f anner, he aVempted to gain it by anything like a side -11%1 e did not place much reliance on the fact of there ZiGuildfordaaturg towns and fifteen agricultural. tts t 1 gave an higher average than Liverpool, but t l e Wheat of Guildford was of the finest sort, used by eti e t h ee .hers, while the return from Liverpool included the in tirtsh wheats. There was not a fair return from these kists °t , * s• He would vo in favour of retainn the towns, I th .e i would make the te Bill better, though it i w g ould not cure t jeer evils he complained of. ' s al' t H OWARD was also in favour of retaining the addi -14 q r. s(- s:kt 5 ,. - I;LDEIIS did nut intend to divide the House on - 11 8. ' 161 1; but he should certainly divide upon the subject ti k Utik ' 4 e 29th clause came under the consideration of the Il t 9l r.' ° l 4 s , ^0 LIONBY said that before the discussion was k we " h , wished to ooserve, that the admission formerly si s r ;si .at frauds had been committed, seemed nov• to be S'''s si i " by Hon. Gentleman opposite. He could net con tl gro un d s o f th a t a lt era ti on o f o pi n ion, and he did not s t ts that reasons had been assigned for it. In his opinion, 11 4 4 e : r e many inconveniences inseparable from the system e v :,ages, and he bslieved that the o n ly reme dy f or I kti Ns's would be the adoption of a fixed duty.— 'es rho' He had reason to know, that in the neigh terosses' of Carlisle, there had been a diff e r e nce i n the i af from 35 to JO. He now wished to ask the Right th, -40 net to what extent he thought the amount of collect.. ktra,l4 r eterns might be reduced by the alteratiens which he Vs„ Fehr and how he expected the addition of so many would affect the returns ? t t 41i ~FEEL sail th a t it would be difficult for him to say th:7 li s , 6 "t• be the extent of the reduction of the expense ot• t i t% A the av erages un d er the new syst em ; b ut h e h a d O a !" think th a t t h ey wou ld be coll ecte d b y t h e Idid I. °r a less sum than the present amount. ay k not deny that frauds had been committed. Is es -t V er e, certainly, great frauds committed uoder the old 1 1 ,,,srss: kid it was difficult to say to what extent frauds may 414",; , Perhaps he should not call them frauds, but cam lisi4n °r heededspclations, with regard to corn, for the purpose a l . t. K t so ctteman opposite seemed to suppose , but by the ad -44,1) a 0 towns he thought that frauds, though not corn - isS4lisosevented, that frauds of two kinds would be prevented— loll' tile r tl the purpose of raising the prices of corn and.diminish ti 4 5 04 01 ,Y, and frauds for the purpose of diminishing the t s ti% t .stist r aising it when persons had large stocks on hand. 11 4 In it kIY that th e H on . G ent l eman was no t str i c tly cor keit stn i ,' l 4 ,ing that the price of corn must vary with the port. * , s tit g rea , show him th a t the price of corn in counties 7 kli ss 'ites producing counties—was higher than in ro t ' P r udeeing the best wheat.—( Hear, hear.) In th, - , e(3 Which were free from the influence of foreign i s ice titer would be higher than in those places wh:cti u etter wheat. He thought that the price in Leices ;:,!le.' ts,„ be higher than the priie in Essex or Kent. The Ills Is is ' "umber of towns, the greater would be their influ t,hsit'etsse Places where corn was imported ; Hid the greater 14 t ; t tow n " of inland towns, the more would the influence of 4 i d . '" which imported corn from Scotland and Ireland, f. 4 1, -( ; 1 J: -;* The morethose towns were diminished, the mere i s t es is e A -° fluenee of the others be increased. If the Hon. k'44 wanted fully to carry out his principle, he ought e ' 4 - • e r, that in one of the towns the old method of taking 'st A , 'ai t N t e i ' should be retained. The Right Hon. Gentleman tif that one of the causes tending to produce a lower tPet 4 'ere-ge would be the employment of excise 14 ( e -r s• sstake the averages instead of the corn In- Ni s her Honourable in order to carry out his prin .' the onourable Gentleman ought, in addition lr)ie towns 0' .c.e . w ith the May, 181 3,1 he towns 0 0 lianaent shall tho flonnurl xce ,,t t . u s e , e r tleman oW e t to be retatai h m ou t- , t i; from Which • 'ertainly the que Jion to his motion respecting the new towns, to move that in one half of the old towns the averages should be taken by the ex cise offieers, and that in the other half they should continue to be taken by the inspectors, as at present, in order to try fairly what would be the effect of the increase i vigilance of the ex • cise officers. He trusted the Committee would adopt the clause as it stood. Mr. P. M. STEWART said that he considered the system of averages as one of the great evils inseparable from the slid ing scale.—( Hear, hear.) if they were to legislate until doomsday, they would never do away with the inherent vice of the system of averages.—( Hear, hear.) In S cot l an d, t h e averages were struck before a Jury, in the presence of the Sheriff ; yet, even under that system, there were constant complaints of fraud. It was impossible to prevent fraud in striking the averages.—( Hear, hear.) It was, however, their duty to do the best they could. He thought the addition of the new towns was a great element of correction in taking the averages. The additional 299 towns was made for the purpose of obt dn ing a bona fide return of the prices of wheat throughout the country. The greater the number of towns from which the averages were taken the tnore they scattered the power, and rendered powerless those who attempted fraud is the markets. lie ( Mr. Stewart) was, therefore, surprised to hear Hon. Gen tlemen on that side, who like him condemned the Bill in prin ciple, but who thought it their duty to make the best of it—he was surprised at the arguments used in favour of a restricted number of markets. The old system included towns which aught not to have been included, and excluded others. Now the nee: list remedied this. He had only one other remark to make, and that was that when the Right Hon. Baronet was in search of good markets only, why did he not cross the border and take three or four celebrated markets in the south of Scot land? It might be said that they would find but a bad sample of wheat there, but he begged to say, and there were Hun. Gentlemen on both sides of the House interested in land, who would support him, and more especially his Hon. Friend the Member for Haddington, when he stated that there was no market in the United Kingdom where there was such fine wheat or such high prices as the Haddington market, and he (Mr. P. M. Stewart) asked why, when they were in search of markets, they did not go to the Haddington and Midlothian markets ? Sir R. PEEL said the averages in Scotland were so very unsatisfactory, that he begged to decline introducing them into his proposal.—( A laugh. ) Mr. P. M. STEWART denied that. This was a ques tion of great importance. The Right Hon. Baronet having had his joke, he (Mr. P. M. Stewart) begged to say that he should wish a further reason. He was serious, and ho could assure them that the markets he had mentioned were two of the best in Scotland. Sir R. PEEL made some remark, but in so low a tone of voice, and with his back to the reporters' gallery, that we did not hear the observation. Dr. BOWRING confessed he felt some surprise at the many observations which had been made with respect to those ave rages. He was surprised to hear the advocates of a free-trade principle receive this new system of averages. The effect of this new system would be to increase the amount of the duty, and he thought the lion. Gentleman who had spoken last was not aware that it must materially affect those interests he had so well advocated. Now these averages produced an effect, or they produced none. It was quite elear they interfered with a great number of arrangements which depended on the old system, and a great many contracts had been entered into, grounded on the old system. The Right Baronet proposed to disturb them, and he (Dr. Bowring) believed it would produce disadvantages to the interests he was anxious to protect. The effect of the addition of 150 new towns, would not be to de crease the general average. The nearer they went to places of production, the lower the price would be ;. and the lowering the prices caused the duty to be raised. The effect of the new system must be to lower prices, and consequently to in crease the duty; and to the extent it was raised, to that extent would sacrifices be made by those who were al ready oppressed by these restrictive and prohibitory duties. Now, the Right Hon. Baronet was not satisfied with the pre sent averages, because the average now taken had a tendency to diminish the amount of duty ; and he, therefore, proposed a more stringent system of averages. The public had some sort of benefit in the collusion or fraud, as it was called, in raising the plices of corn, in order that the amount of duty should be lowered, for by that very collusion the price was lowered to the consumer. It, therefore, did appear to him that the new system must be pernicious to the consumer. He, therefore, could wish to see the proposal of the Right Hon. Baronet worked under the system of the old machinery. The amendment was then withdrawn. Mr. WAKLEY said, he thought the proposal of the Right Hon. Baronet was one that would seriously affect the health of the community, by being the means of introducing corn that would be unfit for consumption.—( Hear, hear.) Under the proposed system of taking the. averages, tlmre would be the greatest inducement to send wheat of a very inferior description into the market for the express purpose of saving the duty. He therefore wished to propose, that nowheat which should be found to he unfit for the purpose of human food, should be returned to the excise officers appointed under that Act. He admitted that there would be difficulty its distin guishing the good from the bad. He admitted it would require cons . derable judgment in the party in all cases, to determine whether ,the wheat was fl t for food or not. He should therefore not press the motion to a division, but he had brought it for ward in order to its consideration by the Right Hon. Baronet, for it was really a most important subject, and one that ought not to be dismissed hastily. But he felt it would be useless to submit the question in the form of a motion, but he really hoped the Right Hon. Baronet would give it his attention Sir R. PEEL said he should not like to leave such a subject to the judgment of an Excise officer. Mr. M. GIBSON said the sliding scale did not do what the Right Hon. Baronet professed, viz. admit corn when it was wanted, because when corn was scarce there was a great want of good corn to mix with the inferior kind. Mr. BROTHERTON said the best thing to do was to abandon the averages altogether.—( Laughter.) One subject had not been referred to in the course of these debates, viz. that of the currency. When they got to a metallic currency the price of corn would keep low, and the increase of paper would cause prices to rise. It was, therefore, quite impossible that the system of averages could be good, and nothing could convince him that such was the case. After a few words from Lord WORSLICY and Air. FOR STER, wkich were inaudible. Mr, HAVES said he thought what had fallen from the Hon. Member for Finsbury was of very great importance, and he hoped the suggestifm would he carried out. '1 he greater the number of towns, the greater number of places likely to suffer from an introduction of bad wheat. He hoped the Hon. Member for Finsbury would press the subject, and he (Mr. Hawes) should be most happy to give him his vote. 4. Mr. GLADSTONE said the Hon. Member fir Finsbury admitted that there was great difficulty in carrying his proposal into effect, and he (Mr. Gladstone) thought this was the greatest objection to it. The Honourable Gentleman who had just sat down had advanced his opposition to the proposed mode of taking the averages, as it would materially in crease the introduction of bad wheat. Ile (Mr. Gladstone) . differed with tha Honourable Gentleman. In the first place it assumed what was quite contrary to the fact, because it was assumed that the new towns were merely the centre of produc tion, and not the centre of consumption, whereas the new towns were composed in the same proportion of the producing towns as the consuming towns are in the old list. It appeared to him (Mr. Gladstone) that the sales of damaged wheat were more likely to take place in large towns, as a great quantity of it was used in manufactures. It was used for the purpose of making starch. He thought it was perfectly impossible to separate such wheat from the returns. They might rest cer tain of this that very litile such wheat would be entered. Mr. AGLIONBY said the proposal of the Hon. Member for Finsbury might be difficult, but it was not itnpossible. He would take the price of 10s. where the return was made of corn sold in the market, and that all corn sold for less than one-third of that price should be excluded from the average.— Hear, hear.) When the best corn fetched a certain price that all corn sold at less than one-third of that price should be included. Mr. MARK PHILIPS said he wished to correct a mistake of the Right Hon. the President of the Board of Trade when he stated that much damaged flour was used in manu factures. He ( Mr. M. Phillips) could assure the House that for the purpose of manufactures the very best sort of flour was used, and for the purpose of finishing off cottons, the flour was generally obtained from the United States: The slightest tendency to unsound flour rendered it unfit for the pur pose of the manufacturer. Mr. WA KLEY said if he had to propose a remedy, it would be one not relished by the Hon. Baronet, as it would be to, make the trade in corn entirely free, but that would not exactly suit the previsions of this Bill —( Hear.) The clause was then agreed to. Clauses 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,15, 16, and 17, were also agreed to. On clause 18 being proposed, Mr. A GLION BY said, he objected to this clause, because it nlt place the inspectors in the city of London, and those in the other, towns in the kingdom, upon the same footing. If any inspector had been guilty of fraud or misconduct, he ought to be subject to immediate removal. He also objected to the proposal to give compensation to the present inspectors. He thought that where individuals bad not b:•en convicted of neglect in the performance of their duty, they should be re tained in office. Sir R. PEEL said there was a power vested in the Justices of the Peace of removing individuals who Lad been guilty of a clear neglect of duty. It was *considered, however, tint it might be desirable, in some cases, to relieve from perform- anCie of the duties of inspection an individual who had been guilty of no such neglect, and, therefore, a power to that effect was proposed to be vested in the Treasury. He could not understand the extreme jealousy of vesting in till! Executive Government the power of removing the inspectors. He would venture to promise that in every case of removal the grounds of it should be stated to the House. After a few words from Lord WORSLEY arid Colonel Sin. THORP, AGLIONBY said he would na trouble the House by pressing the point which he had brought under their attention, but he wished to a:lt the Right Hon. Baronet what was the in ,. . tention of the Government in proposing these clauses ? Did they intend to dismiss the present inspectors on giving them compensation, and vest the duties in the officers of excise ? Sir ROBERT PEEL—The inspectors' authority would cease under the new law, but it was the intention of the Go- vernment to retain every officer qualified for the duties imposed by the Bill ; but certainly the Government had no intention of removing them all, and giving them compensation. He could not state more exactly at present what the Government would do with those officers, but they would be treated with every consideration. . _ Clause 18 was then agreed to. Tho following clauses to 23 were next agreed to._ _ Lord WORSLEY postponed his amendments to elauals 23 and 24. On clause 26 being put, Mr. THORNELY hoped the advantages of the new law would be extended to the United States, oy all•wing their ports to participate ,in the advantages enjoyed by Odessa and the ports of the Baltic. Lord WORSLEY rose to propose an amendment to this clause. He said he was anxious that the averages should be taken at a longer period than that proposed by the Bill. lie thought it would be advantageous if the period was ex tended to ten weeks instead of five. It would benefit the farmer by giving a falter average throughout the year, and be an advantage to the consumer, by giving an opportunity of getting a supply of wheat from a grater distance. Ile moved that the blank in line 33 be filled up with the word nine." The Noble Lord stated, in referring to the great meeting at Lincoln, that he had asked the opinion of a staunch Conservative as to the plan of the Right Hon. Ba ronet, and he said if he had been in the House he should have voted against all the propositions of the Right Hon. Baronet. Col. SIBTHORY opposed the amendment, expressing his astonishment that the Noble 1 ord should profess himself the farmers' friend, and yet sit and act with those who were en deavouring to ruin them. The Noble Lord wanted to have the averages extended to ten weeks, because it would facilitate the importation of corn. Now he ( Col. Sibthorp) was not for an importation of corn, and he believed the farmers were not for it either. Mr. R. PALMER supported the amendment of the Noble Lord. Slr. GLADSTONE apprehended that there was no ob jection, on principle, to the proposition of the Noble Lord; it must turn on what would be most convenient in practice. It must be considered how very differently the proposal would act under different circumstances.. When prises were rising, he was afraid it would postpone the reduction, while on the other hand, when prices were falling, the farmer would be exposed to foreign competition long after he would otherwise, be. It was well known that the turns of price in the corn tnarket were very sharp and sudden, at a particular season ; THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVPNIANG. - APRIL 6, 1842, during five or six weeks before harvest there was a great rise, and in the six weeks after harvest there was a great fall. His conviction was that, on the whole, no arrangement could be made more fair to all parties concerned than the fixing the average at six weeks, as under the Bill. Mr. P. STEWART opposed the amendment. He had contemplated makine a prop isal diametrically opposite to that of the Noble Lord. From alt experience of the working of the Corn-laws, ever since they were passe4, it appeared that, to secure the greatest accuracy in the averages, the period was limited. When they were an exporting country, the averages regulating the exportation were, at first, limited to the weekly returns, and finally to the market price on the day before the exportation . From the time the country became apprehensive of needing a supply the present system of averages was intro duced. Ile considered a limited period ensured greater ac curacy. lie was glad that the Noble Lord had no chance of carrying his amendment. In his opinion, the shorter they made the period for ascertaining the averages, the more would they be likely to succeed in carrying out the new law with ad vantage to the community at large. Mr. CHRISTOPHER approved of the amendment of his Noble Friend (Lord Worsley), which he thought would have the effect of giving greater steadiness to the markets. Colonel SI BTHORP repeated his opposition to the amend ment. Viscount EBRINGTON supported the amendment. He thought that the longer they made the period for taking the averages, the more likely were they to obtain steadiness of price. For his part, he should wish that, instead of " ten weeks," they might substitute " ten years ;" and then they would have a nearer approximation to a fixed duty. Colonel T. WOOD thought that the proposal of the Noble Lord would be pernicious both to the consumer and to the far mer. That would only have the effect of preventing the im portation of foreign corn front being proportioned to the wants of the country. Mr. E. HULLER supported the amendment. Mr. G. PALMER also supported the amendment. In his opinion it would have the effect of discouraging those frauds which had of late veers been so extensively practised. Sir li. PEEL, said that various proposals had been made to Government to extend the period of taking the averages ; some persons reccommended 10 weeks, others 4 and 5, and that the period be extended to 13 weeks. But upon consider ing those different proposals, and examining what the opera tions of them would be, he must say that the impression on his mind was that any extension of the period of taking the averages would not operate at all as a check upon fraud or speculation, because the speculator would calcu late the advantages he would have in pouring corn into the market during the extended period, and consequently his mo tives to fraud and speculation would be increased rather than diminished by the extension. He (Sir R. Peel) confessed that the result of the inquiries made by himself and his colleagues was, that an extended period would operate, occasionally, inju riously to the consumer by keeping the duty high at a time when it was important that it should be diminished. On the other hand there were cases in which it would operate in juriously to the producer. He had given the best attention that ho could to the subject, and he was not able to persuade himself that any extension would be attended with good effect. Upon the whale he had come to the conclusion that it was safest to adhere to the period of six weeks. There would be great risk to the consumer, if the period were extended to thirteen weeks. The duty would be high when the price of corn was high. Referring to past years, it would be seen that if ten weeks were adopted as the period, the same objection would apply. On the other hand the duty would be low when the price of corn was low if those periods were taken. He had, therefore, come to the conclusion that the safest course was to adhere to the period of six •veeka rather than take a longer period: Mr. HAWES was against extending the period beyond six weeks. If the proposition was to extend the period to six months the case would be different, but in the case of a few weeks he saw no necessity for adopting any change. The Committee then divided, when there appeared— For the original motion For the amendment ... Majority for the original motion ... --,205 The clause was then agreed to. On clause 23 being read, Mr. BAYLEY suggested that the mode of ascertaining the value of corn should be by measure. Mr. WALL ACE said that he had been a member of the Committee which sat on the subject to which the Hon. Gen tleman al!uded, and the evidence produced before that Com ►nittee was sn strong that they considered the proper mode of ascertaining the value of corn was by weight and not by mea sure. The only proper criterion by which, in his opinion, the value could be ascertained, was that of weight. It was by weight Unit the core came to the consumer, and great frauds were committed when the purchase was made by measure. Sir ROBE It PEEL said, that this was not the first time during the course of these discussions, that he had been met by two propositions of a totally opposite nature. For himself, he could not agree either to the proposition of his Hon. Friend, or to that of the lion. Member for Greenock. Ile thought that. anyt sudden enactment would be attended with great incon venience, The question was then put, that the word " Coventry" stand part of the schedule. After a few words from Mr. Hawes, as to the most conve nient mode of putting the question, Mr. GLADSTONE said that he was,desirous of omitting some towns from the schedule, for the purpose of introducing the names of others in which the markets were larger. The town of Newbridge was then ordered to be struck out. The list of towns was then agreed to, and the Report was brought up, and ordered to be received on Thursday. The Report of the Forged Exchequer Bills' Bill was brought up, and the Bill read a third time and passed. The House then Adjourned at a Quarter-past One. FINE AitTS: THE HEROES OF - TV ATERLOO, This is the title of a fine picture which is now in the course of private exhibition at Messrs. Graves's, Pall-mall, previously to its being placed in the en graver's hands. The figures introduced are all por traits of distinguished officers' who fought at the battle of Waterloo, and they are supposed to be as sembled in the reception-room of Apsley House, awaiting the summons to the grand banquet which, for years past, the Duke has been in the habit of giving on the memorable 18th of June. His Grace is, of course, the most conspicuOus figure in the group; he is stationed nearly in the centre of the picture, so that the spectator's eye is attracted to him at the very first glance. The likeness is a good one, but not remarkable ; that of Lord Hill, who stands near the Duke, is excellent : but decidedly the most striking portrait in the group .is Sir Henry Har- dinge's, whose peculiarly-marked countenance there is no mistaking. The figure and attitude of the Marquis of Anglesey are easy, graceful, and digni fied; and his magnificent' Hussar uniform forms an admirable contrast to the scarlet costumes of the majority of the assembled officers. By way of vary ing and giving relief to the picture, some of the guests are represented in a sitting posture; and here the artist has been very successful, especially in his portraits of Lord Strafford and Sir Edward kerrison, who are seated together in th e f oregroun d , to t h e left of the spectator. On the walls of the reception-room hang two full-length likenesses —one, of the Emperor Napoleon, and the other, of Gecirga . the Fourth, who cuts a somewhat grotesq ue fi gure i n .t h e full High land uniform. On the whole, the painting is a skilful and efficient one; the colouring, - in particular, is rich without being overcharged ; and from the deeply interesting nature of the subject, we have no doubt that it will obtain great and immediate popularity. No. IL Quarters ended A..ril 5. INCOME. Customs.—Consolidated Duties Sugar applicable to the Consolidated Fund Total Customs Excise Stamps Taxes Post Office Crown Lands Miscellaneous Imprest and other Monies Repayment of Advances 7,6:38,096 .e,320,20 3 To Cash brought to this Account to be applied to pay oft' Deficiency Bills f.'20,000 240,01'0 7,958,093 8,5(0,303 COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL THAMES EMBANKMENT. Mr. 13i an (in continuation from our Afternoon Edition) said— The Committee expected g reat benefits would he d er i ve d f rom the proposed impr ovemen t, but it should be 'borne in mind that the Committee themselves did not ask the Corporation to pledge itself to any expense, they only asked for authority to proceed. The Navigation Committee had no funds at its di..- posal; the funds derived from the port of London and tonnage dues were appropriated to particular purposes, and the othr Navigation Fund, arising from certain tolls on the river, had been greatly diminiihed by the opening of the Southampton Railway. It was necessary to give every facility to the effecting these improvements. Mr. WIRE. then moved that the Report be refereed back to the Committee for further inquiry, and that a further report be made to the Court, before any permission be given to form an embankment of the river. Mr. BIRD Slid, the only objection to this resolution was, that the business of the Committee would be completely sus pended by it. Sir P. LAURIE said, the plan as detailed in the Report, had beer. laid before the Trinity House, and had been considered by it a perfect plan. That being the opinion of the Elder Brethren of the frinity House, he thought the sooner they agreed to the Report, the better. Mr. STEVENS said, the Committee had gone through a great deal of labour, and having read the Report care fully, he was delighted at the large measures of improvement therein contemplated. He could not have thought that the Report would have caused five minutes' discussion before the Court. • If the plan were carried into effect the present an noyances caused by throwing out piers and chains of boats would be rendered unnecessary. They should have great diffi culties to contend with—neighbour against neighbour—but in carrying the plans into effect they could not injure those who already had a river frontage. They could not block out Sir It. Peel, nor the Duke of Buecleueh, nor do any thing to impede their view and air. By the conclusion o the Report it would be seen that the Committee required autho rity to rem ,ve such nuisances as were injurious to health and offensive to the sight, and by agreeing to the Report they would only be - sanctioning all that the Committee had done. Mr. LAWRENCE said the Committee stated they had a diffi eultrin enforcing their powers. Now he did not see how '!their - agreeing to the present report would tend to enforce those; powers. ' If they wanted additional powers what was the -object - of iteeepting. the • Report? There was also another question ; ~ ' it 'appeared that they could not stir a step the -matter without u special Act of Parliament. Phe'whole b'f the plan would cost some millions of money; 'and - he <liil - - noir apprehend that either the Duke of -BuceleuglV , Sir Robert Peel would spend an y 'thirtir-t4 obtain a greater river frontage than they had already. afWthonglit •tlo2 Committee had been very usefully em tll4'nd in tWitnairy, but the Report would not lead to any omitftly tobd; cvottld not, by adopting it, be a step nearer MoptiMr'the Report was only due to the be n , objection to do s o, as lie thought the - ,tfitnitttee teas rift-tied - to their thanks; but the moment it .wetit betj'end this liseite thought it a very serious question that Ointirrtittee , shouidset about spending money without askinz t.lcc iitittiority of the Conn, and without the authority of an Act . 4 ) nrlitiment,'lle'colild tee no good in passing the Report. • 'Mr: HA RI:7S sard - thefe seemed to be some difference of Otsititm as to the effect of the embankment, but he had himself shell the extraordinary advantage of it. Ile read the para graph of the Report in 'which the Committee asks for authority to remove nuisauces and obstructions that were injurious to health and sight. This, if agreed to, would give the Com- Mateo power 'to carry out its intentions without referring again to that Court. If this power were given by the Court, he should be glad to know what means the Committee had of car rying those powers into execution? An [ION. MEMRE a—They do not intend it at all. Mr. 'Butts thee would ask to know what the Committee did intend ? COURT CIRCULAR. Lord Hill and Sir Robert Peel had audiences yesterday of, the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty, attended by Lady Caroline Cocks, and the Hon. Miss Cavendish, took an airing yesterday afternoon in an open carriage. His Rota! Highness Prince Albert rode out on horseback at the same time, attended by Major- Genera Wemrs and Colonel Bouverie. His Royarrtightiess Prince Albert, accompanied by Colonel Bouverie, attended yesterday afternoon a meeting of the Cons missiou ers for promoting and encouraging the Fine Arta at the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament, Viscount Pal mat-4°n, Lord John Russell, Lord Francis Egerton, Sir James Graham, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, and other Commissioners were p:esent. The meeting broke up at a quarter past four o'clock. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Prin- cess Royal, were taken airings in carriages yesterday. Her Majesty and Prince Albert, attended by the Dowager Lady Lyttelton, Lady Caroline Cocks, Earl of Warwick, Maj.r- General Wenayss, and Colonel Bouverie, honoured Covent Garden 'I heat re with their presence yesterday evening. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent visited her Ma jesty, the Queen Dowager, yesterday at Marlborough House.' The Duchess of Kent.. attended by Lady Anne Maria Dawson, and Sir G. Cooper, Bart., honoured the Italian Opera with her presence last evening.' His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge visited the Queen Dowager yesterday at Marlborough-house. His Royal Highness; attended by Colonel Jones, left town in the afternoon for his residence at Kew. her Royal Hignnes4 the Duchess of Gloucester visited her Majesty tile Queen' Dowager on Monday at' Marlborough HOLM. Her Majesty and Prince Albert did Mr. Sieyier the honour yesterday of inspecting his marble but of his Royal Highness Prince Albert and hiK Majesty the King of Prussia, previou4 to their going. to the Royal _Academy exhibition. Her Majesty and the Prince were graciously pleased to express their ap-. probation. After a few words from Dr. BOWRING and Lord WORSLEY, clause 28 was agreed to. • On clause 29 being proposed, Mr. CHILDERS said, that as the subject had already been so amply debated, he should not detain the House by going into any discussion on the subject. He should therefore content himself with snowing that instead of clause 29, the fiillowing be substituted—" That from the passing of this I;ill up- to the Ist day of May, 1843, the duty to be paid on the importation of foreign corn shall be regulated by the averages of thoSe towns only which have hitherto made returns in accordance with the Act of 9 George IV." Strangers were then ordered to withdraw, and the Commit tee divided, when there appeared-- • • For the clause For Mr. Childeria's amendment Majority for the original clause Clauses from 30 to 45 were then agreed to. The schedule, comprising the new scale of duties, was then put. _ Mr. Stephen Unevin, Mr. Jan Overett, Mr. James Fair head, and Mr. Daniel, Nash, on behalf of the Growers of Seeds in North „Essex, in Bedfordshire, accomnanied by Sir John Tyrell, Bart., M,P., Mr. C. Round, M.P., and Mr. Astell, M. P., had an interview with the Earl .f Ripon yesterday at the office of theßoard of Trade. Franks, Governor , Alr . Fullarton, Mr. Gooden, Mr. SteWirt, and Mr. Mitchell, Direetoraof the Canada Cienp‘ny, had an interview with Lord Stanley yesterday at the Colonial Ape,Putation on the Rice Trade had am interview with the Bari AA Ripon yesterday. A glsia,, 'organ and Brandt, on the Russian Timber Trailt., had.awtyteyview yesterday with the EarlAfßipon at. the.adiee I of the Board of "Trade. Mr. B. WOOD proposed as an amendment,that the duty should be 203. when the price was 455., but. which he with drew in accordanee with the general feeling of the House. Lord WORSL EY moved the addition, . of whi h he had given notice, " That every person who shall sell British corn at or within any city or town named in the said schedule her, unto annexed, other than the city of Loudon, shall, be fore he or she shall sell any British corn at any such city or town. make and deliver, in manner hereinafter mentioned, a declaration in the fo lowing words, that is to say (Form of Declaration.) • 1714 E .1161 VI P T '§UFFRA'nE MOVEMENT. • MEETING OF'DEPUTIES TN BIRMINGH TUESDAi.:—ni, morning the of Delegates, appointed at various meetings thrOughout the try, to represent the feelings and opinions of thi'i poop e tin .the important principles embodied in 'the Declaration and Alno rial issued by Mr. Sturge, tot,k plaCe in the Waterloo-rooms, Waterhui-street,•this morning. There were nearly a hundred Delegatas in attendance, rerresenting a large and influential portion of the middle and working classes of the country, who have united in a strenuous ell',rt to secure a full, fair, and free-repreaentation of the people; Mr. Feargus O'Connor en deavoured to get up a counter-demonstration, in tau shape of an open air meeting in another partst the town, but the affair wa, a complete failure, although the parties engaged in the de monstration were unsparing in their denunciations of the objects and motives of those engaged in the. "-Complete Suffrage" agitation! At eleven o'clock Mr. Joseph Sturge was unanimously called to the Chair. He said that he accepted the honour the more teadily, as he thought he would be able to facilitate business, having seen all the letters which had been received upon the subject. The Chairman then read letters fr im Stratford, Ri pen, Torrington, Taunton, Norwich, Snaresbrook. Devizes, Lynn, Alnwick, Hackney, Stockport, Stioud, Ashton-under- Lyne, Bacup, Lancashire; Gateshead, and' other places, ex pressive of the disposition of the writerif to aid in the present movement. The Chairman said that they might also rely upon having the Reformers of Ireland with them. -He begged per mission, for a moment, to advert to a matter personal to him self. His attention having been called, by a` gentleman in Scotland, to a statement which had appedred in'the Northern Star newspaper, that he (Mr. Sturge) had, in a conversation with a Miss Grave, some time ago, raid " That the people of this country never could effect the required change except by the sword, and, when they were prepared for that, that his (Mr. Sturge's) arm was at their service".--( Laughter ) he , could only give this statement the most unqualified denial; and ' so thoroughly convinced was he of the sin and 'injus tice of taking away human life, that he would sooner forfeit his own life than take that of his neighbour. lie trusted that neither himself nor his friends would ever recognise violence as a means of attaining the objects which they contemplated. Me. Wm. Morgan was then appointed Secretary for the sitting, and proceeded to read the list of Delegates, amounting to nearly one hundred, amongst whom were the Rev. Dr. Wade, the Rev. Thos. Spencer, of Bath, the Rev. Thomas Swann, the Rev. I. Allsop, Delon, Esq., Mr. John Mit chill, Mr. Archil. Prentice, Mr. Collins, Mr. Vincent, Mr. Lovett, Mr. Childs, of Bungay, Mr,• B. O'Brien, and Mr. Heyworth.. I, A. 8., do declare thatthe returns to be made by me con formably to the Aet passed in the year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled (here set forth the title of this Act), of the quantities and prices of British corn, which henceforth shall by nig, or for me, be sold, shall, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contain the whole quantity, and no snore, of the British corn bonafide sold for or by me, within the periods to which such returns respectively shall refer, with the prices of such corn, and the names of the buyers respectively ,nd, to the best of my judgment, the said returns shall, in all respects, be accountable to the provisions of the said Act.' " Which declaration shall be in writing, and shall be sub scribed with the hand of the person so making the same, and shall by him or her, or by Isis or her agent, be delivered to the mayor, or chief magistrate, or to some justice of the peace for suels city or town, or for the county, riding, or division, in whiult the same is situate, who are hereby required to deliver a certificate thereof to the supervisor of Excise acting as inspec tor of corn returns for such city or town as aforesaid, at the place appointed for receiving such returns. or to such con.inu mg inspector of corn returns as aforesaid for such city or town (as the case may be), to be by such supervisor or inspector registered in a book to be by him provided and kept for that purpose." Sir R. PEEL opposed the amendment. The effect of the clause would be to discourage sales in the open market, and throw much difficulty in the way of the seller. After a short conversation the amendment was withdrawn. Colonel SIBT110111) then rose t o move , pursuant to no tice, that the d u t y on f ore i gn corn should be paid at the period of importalin n . H e thought that the present system was favourable t o no party except the foreigner. It was expected that j o s soon as the Right Hon. Baronet had passed his measure, 3,000,000 quarters of wheat would be ported into this country, and tne consequence of this inuoda dation of the market would be the ruin of the farmer, who would be unable to pay his rent, and meet the other charges to which he was subjected. Since the Right Hon. Baronet had proposed his tariff, to which he (Colonel Sibthorp) meant to offer every opposition in his power---(" Hear," from the Opposition) —he hadbeeu informed, and the Hon. Members for Lincolnshire would bear him out in his statement, that produce had fallen 25 per cent. in that county, and the farmers were, with deep regret, obliged to lower wages from 2s. 61. to 2s. 3d. and 2s. The consequence ultimately would be, that whole families would be driven, through distress, into the wrkhouses of those infernal unions. I he cause of all this was to be attributed, to a certain extent, to the Right Hou. Ba • •onet's measure, and, in part, to the threatened inundation of I Mt• PHWTRESS moved the following amendment :—" That this Court do agree with the Commissioners in their said Re port as to the said line laid down for the embankment, and that it be referred back to them to carry the same into execution, and further, that it be an instruction to the said Committee to make further inquiries, and obtain the fullest information on all the other subjects contained in the said Retort, and to re port thereon from time to time to this Court." And, after some farther discussion, the question was put, when the original motion was carried unanimously. A few remarks relative to the Borough Compter and the case of the Town-clerk followed, which were rendered inaudible by the noise If members leaving the Court. DISTRESS IN THE COUNTRY. A requisition was read by the clerk, signed by Messrs. Taylor, Prendergast, &c., relative to the existing distress. Mr. P. A. TAYLOR rose to move the following resolution:— " That this Court received with feelings of deep sympathy the expressions of regret at the continued distress i n the manufac- using districts of the kingdom, contained in her Majesty's speech in opening the present Session of Parliament. That this Court hasntiserved with regret that, notwithstanding the benevolent desire expressed by her Majesty, the Commons House of Parliament has refused to sanction the free importa tion of corn, and that her Majesty's Government, instead of introducing a law to remove, has proposel a law for re-adjusting the injurious and oppressive restrictions upon the purchase of food. That in order to apply a permanent and sufficient remedy to the extensive and deep-rooted distress of the manufacturing and labouring classes of the community, it is, in the opinion of the Court, essentially necessary to abolish all laws which restrict the importation of food. That an humble Adderes be presented to her Majesty, praying her to refuse her sanction to any law to tax articles of food, or restrict their free importation into this country." He said that he felt considerable delicacy in coming forward en this occasion, because this was the first time that he had ever had the opportunity of addressing the Court, and be cause he was almost a stranger to every one in that Court. He was satisfied, however, that his claim on the candour of the Court would be greater with his situation, and he was satisfied that he should receive from the Court a large portion of their candour.—( Hear.) Another difficulty he had was in the Subject itself; it had been so long discussed—speeches without num ber, arguments without end, conversations on every part of the subject had taken place, till the question now almost palled upon the ear. He was fully aware of this difficulty, yet he must confess that notwithstanding the inquiries which had been made, the arguments used, and the time consumed in coming to a knowledge of the subject, every day brought its conviction to his mind that the question was not yet half un do-stood by the public.—( Hear, hear.) The position which had been assumed by the landed aristocracy of the country ap rieared to him to be most false and unjust. They seemed always to take it for granted, that they had full right to legislate for their advantage. Whenever a Committee of Inquiry was held— when the Corn-laws were agitated—the inquiry was not wile gler those laws were just or no, but they asked 'what was the state of the manufactures and of the country; ‘vt.re the people really in the state of distress in which they elle, Tcd themselves to be; did they think that their energies really w crippled, that their capital was decreasing, and their labou revs unem ployed, or was the contrary the fact? And, Ag ain, it was stated in the House of Commons that these manufa eturers were men of great wealth, and yet they were always coming up with their complaints of distress. Now it seemed to him: that whe ther the manufacturers were wealthy or poor, win (her there was plenty or scarcity in the country, he could not s ee why the landed aristocracy should seek to rule the country. —(Hear. ) He intended to deal with this subject first, with re ference to the evils which the Corn-laws inflicted on the coon ; and secondly, with reference to the arguments which were brought forward to show the advantage which accrued to us 1.5 v incur ring them. Taking up any paper of the day, they wol ald see that meetings were held to consider whether the pros - ection _which the agriculturists enjoyed was or was not suit *eient. Was it really come to be a question for consideration in Eng land, whether it was any advantage to be able easily to ei i `itain and pay for food ? Was it come to be a question whether k 'ng,- land would be better if she was less fertile, and whethet • it would be for her advantage that food should he scarce and da lr —that famine was an advantage, and plenty an evil (Hear- ) He could understand how the raising the price of au articric might be of advantage to those who dealt in that article, but he could not see what advantage it would b e t o th e nation. ( Hear, hear.) The Corn-laws were a tax ; it signified not whether it went into the Treasury or into the pockets of a certain class of individuals; any thing which artificially raised the price of any article is a tax, and it was impossible that a tax could be advantageous in itself : it might be necessary, but advantageous it could not be.—( Hear, hear.) By artific 'tally raising the price of food, the exertion necessary to obtain hat food was in creased. If, with food at a certain price, a labou Ting man would be ab'e to support his wife and family by labour of ten hours a day, if that food were raised fifty per cot it., he would be required to labour 15 hours a day to obtain the same amount of food—( Hear, hear)—and that was the secret s which would ex plain the melancholy cases that we daily belie! i d of women and children working in factories, and of old age la liouring past its natural time. The injury which these laws di. i to every branch of trade might be easily described ; to the s In :pping interest , they were a great detriment, and he meant to, r ove, before he sat down, that it was not true that agricecure. —that it was not true that commerce was the foundation of the prosperity of this country; but that manufactures a' Lone hak t raised this country to the height to which she ha 3 att a ins d, and when they stop, England's sun has set for ever. -4H e w , hear.) It was true that in Venice, Genoa, and in H .olla ad much towards the prosperity of the cunt, commerce did 1 7, t tLets they were the depots from which other countries dre w t their supplies, and they were purely carrying countries ; 1 . , flt i s wa s not the case with England. The great evil of the: C ,was that of limiting the power of demand cra I °reign countries; they said no exchange shall take lr e a—the foreigners shall not be clothed —th e British P m inufacturers shall be starved." Talk of the combinatio indeed, sometimes entered into by the working classes, talk o i e fears sometimes entertained lest'they should overstep t' ae limit 's of the law, and break into private property, what con ninn •atl •01, "4be could more A Committee was then appointed to examine the claims of all persons &siting to be included- amongst the members of the Conference. The Rev. T. SPENCER, in seconding the nomination of Mr. Vincent on the Committee, paid that gentleman a high com pliment fo • the manly end consistent advocacy of his prin ciples, while he manifested, at the same time, a thorough wi!- lingness and honest desire to conciliate all c:asses for the pro motion of th, general good. A Committee was also appointed to arrange the business of that Conference, to whom all papers and resolutions were to be submitted. foreign corn. Sir It. PEEL said that he was sure the House would ex cuse him from entering upon the question of the tariff at that time ; but with respect to the importation of foreign cattle, he would show that the apprehensions entertained by his Hen. Friend on the subject were groundless, and that great advantage would be derived by the agricultural and com mercial cla , ses, from the removal of the prohibition o❑ the im portation of fresh meat and live animals. and that if a reduction of 25 per cent. could be made, on the apprehension of the measure, it would not be so injurious as the Hon. Gentleman expected. If, as the lion, and Gallant Gentleman stated, the meat of foreign countries, which was to be brought into compe tition with the meat of this country, was absolutely poisonous, he ( Sir Robert Peel) would suggest that that was a security against any great consumption of tt---( Laughter) —and would diminish the alarm of the capitalists. If what his Hon. and Gallant Friend had stated was correct, the measure would not have the effect he anticipated. Lord WORSLEY said that what the Hon. and Gallant Member had stated with regard to the lowering of the price of wages was correct, and he also lamented that it had the effect of lowering the price of corn. Mr. WA KLEY said that Honourable Members ought to be very cautious in making statements with respect to the lowering of the price of wag.-s. T he Hon. and Gallant Member for Lincoln said, that the price of wheat in Lincoln shire had fallen 25 per cent., and that statement was confirmed by the Noble Lord ( Worsley) ; but if it were so, the people ought to understand that the people of Lincolnshire were not sufferers, as the price of provisions had been lowered also. But, at all events, people ought to be cau tious in making such statements, as :other persons would be found willing to follow the example of the people of Lincolnshire. Colonel WOOD. said that the Hon. Gentleman had stated that there were three millions of quarters of wheat. ready to be poured into the market as soon as the Bill should pass. Now those assertions ought not to be made except upon some accu rate data, as they were calculated to depress still more the price of the corn in the market. Tt.e other business was merely preliminary, and the Convo cation adjourned at Two o'Clock till Five in the evening. Thos. Steele, Esq., M r . C raw f or d ( son o f Sharman-Craw ford, Esq.), and Mr. Webb, were admitted as visitors, and took a part in the proceedings. The questi .n of the Extension of the Suffrage is to be dis cussed at the evening meeting. TUE Titount,Es OF TILE SQUIRES AND TUE FARNIER3. —On Friday last a meeting of the agriculturists of the Chelm ford Farmers' Club took place at Chchnsford, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament against the alterations as regard the importation of corn and cattle. The meeting was attended by Sir John Tyrrell,' Bart. M. P. ;. C. G. R oun d, E sq. ; M a j or Boresford, M.P. ; C. e. Parker, Esq. ; C. Tyrol', Esq., and a very large body of the leading agriculturists. Both the County Members addressed the meeting. Sir John Tyrell urged that the Government should be kept in—that the Whigs would propose a worse Corn-law—and that after all the agri wrists would not be so:greatly injured as they seemed to tear. "We have," he said, " lost our leaders. Our general officers have been killed off. We had lost the Duke of Buckingham at one time because he was in office. We have then the Duke of Richmond to fall back upon, but I will tell you what is the position of the Duke of Richmond. After the Corn Bill had been introduced, I was going through the lobby of the House of Commons, and I saw him with his son, the Earl of March, and other Members together, and I asked what the Dttke of Rich. mond thought of it ? The reply was, he stated, " 1 don't say I like it, but I think you had better take it." Well, then, he is hors de combat. Then there is Lord Stanley, and Sir James Graham, and others, whom we . looked up to as the greatest supporters of agriculture ; they are members of the Cabinet, who say they are deterinined to stand or fall by th e proposition. Therefore we, as agricultural members, are placed in the most painful and disagreeable situation. Mr. R oun d sa id , " You may feel very uncomfortable in the frying-pan, b u t I a d v i se you and a p not tog eti o tn to th into io hefi e re. ;-; ouie The of Lordsfollowing resoluti on was a d opte d , ntwas founded thereon : "'that the meeting views with alarm and regret the alterations proposed in the Corn-laws and the Tariff, and the removal of the prohibition /n foreign horned cattle, sheep, and swine, and the reduction of the duty on seeds, starch, tallow, and hides, which would lead to the ruin of the tenant occupier, and the misery of the labourer."—Essex Paper. During the night before last the portress of No. 17, Rue de Gratuthont, the piincipal part of which is occupied by M. Fulchiron, the deputy, who is the pro prietor of it, was roused from her sleep by an unusual noise. 'On getting up and looking out, she saw two men endeavouring to carry off the lead. Returning into her lodge, she pulled a string which leads to bells in 'nearly all the servants' rooms, and thereby alarmed the whole house, but the thieves, finding they were disco vered, made their way into the street, and fled. One escaped, but the other was caught in the Rue tie Grety by one of the servants, armed with a cutlass, who, as the man made resistance, wounded him in several places, and then secured him. He proved to be a chiffonier, named Baudrut. lie had a part of his cheek cut off, and his other wounds were severe, but not dangerous. H. re fused to tell who his accomplice was. LICENSED VICTUALLERS' Scitoot..--A. draft for 100/. was forwarded to the office on Sat ur d ay b y Messrs. Whitbread and Co. ; thus affording an additional proof that the appeal •f the Governor and Committee of Management to the liberality of the subscribers will be eminently successful. The gallery was then cleared for a division, but none took place, the lion. and Gallant Gentleman finding not ono supirrter. Mr. BARCLAY, in bringing forward his motiou for the omission of the new tewns from the schedule, would follow the example of the Hon. Member for Mahlon, and not enter any discussion on the subject. After the result of that divis'ea, he would not trouble the House to divide on his motion, he was merely desirous to have it put, in order that his opposition to the proposition might be put on record. While he was on his legs, he wished to allude to what had fallen from the Hon. Member for North Lincolnshire, respecting the corn merchants. That Hon. Gentleman had characterised their conduct as in famous : now, he (Mr. Barclay) knew severalgentlemen con nected with the corn trade, and he could assure the House that they were most honourable men. He hoped the Hon. Mem ber would qualify the expression. Mr. CHRISTOPHER said that it was perfectly notorious that there, was more infamous gambling and speculation going on on the Corn Exchange than even at Epsom or Aicot. He did not apply the phrase to any particular individual, butjit was perfectly notorious that the system was a most infamous one. From the returns on the table of the House. it appeared that in the markets of Wakefield, of Leeds, and of London, the dearer the price of corn was, the greater was the quantity sold. That fact was sufficient to prove that the present system was one entirely of fraud. Dr. BOWRING thought it was utterly impossible that any one could render greater service to the opponents of a sliding scale, than the lion. Member, who had just sat down, had ren dered them by his speech. He admitted that the present sys tem was a system of infamous fraud, and yet he said that ho would continue that system in order to keep up improperly the price of food.. THE REVENUE FOR THE YEAR AND QUARTER E No. 1.--An Ah4ract of the Net Produce of the Rel enue of Great Britain in the Years and Quarters ended sth of April, • or Decrease on each head thereof. DING APRIL 5, 1842. .841, and sth of April, 1842, ihewiag the Increase _ e l n . k: d A e l i Year ended A p ril : , . QUARTERS ENDED YEAR ' QUARTERS ENDED , Increase.. I Decrease. Increase. Quarter ended April . -7-7--.,_ ended ~.• July 5, Oct. 10, Jan. 5, April J, April ;,, July 5, Oct. 10, 1 Jan. 5, I April :;; April 5, 1811 1840 1811 1841 18.1 1841 1811 1812 1812 1812 • . -- ------ --- 1 Decrease. ---- ..-----.. f. us'oms.-ConsAidated Duties 3,985,998 4,562,048 3,64-1,2‘./2 3,527,828 - - - - _ • Sug i r r l i ltrty applicable to C onso lid ate d 3,767,031 4,256,8'2i 3,669,266 3,5):., 1 '52 I -• • - 1,151,036 - - - - .49,678 - - 5'. 1 5,798 , • Sugar Duty applicable to Supplies 1,100,829 736,614 900,62 17',814 1,480,389 1,106,008 413,003 - - -•-•• - - - ___...... • . .. Total Customs Excise... 15,4 '7 116,110,4 Stamps 2,711,951 :1,916,249 4,011;,11! - ,11 1,883,47 0 12,530,4136 2 , 795 , 312 4, 1 ,729,6.71 1,751,417 I • UV . .. , 8 1 , 07 , 404 8 , 7 .55, 1 18 1,680,821 1,7. , 2,704 1,618,517 1,599,487 6,631,319 161, 1 .100 3,739,270 1,769,161 12,914,0119 12i,589 . • ....... : 77,917 Taxes ... Post Ottice la ~ 000 1:3,000 18,0114 9f3,000 414,00.1 119,000 116,001 127,009 142,000 504,000 Isl, l llo 49,001 - Crown Lands 42,500 45,000 4 0 ,100 32,500 164,000 30,000 Atm) 40,0 0 50,500 180,1,00 1 20,000 - 1 •,1 0:1 -- MiSeellallt,'ls 4,117 24,382 1203 ; 49,L• 6 1;0,062 i 8,215 15,325 15,052 323,193 371,835 1 2,1,443 414,4'67 - r- - . Total Ordinary Revenue 11 , ,573,96 1 11, , 5;,7.2 1!,:31,1.6 9,478,053 4 ',:.1. 1 ,' 72 11,5.'2,1350 112,132,772 12,254,182 8,580,147 44,411,692 9.9,831 181,1!111 34 ',l 6/ 4:6,1173 1 Imprest and other Moneys 297,580 8,2,c,99 3',546 32 151 445,576 19",!15 i 97805, 26,187 25,714 .;4",801 9',"8.5 6,1:47 13e-payments of Advances ........... ,--- - - -- -_-_- - Total Income 11,867,&16 1 12111,,30 12, 0 e7,620 8,6(41,200 4r17;,701 I 11,. , 64,1:5 i 12 , 3 32,951 12,426, la 9 I 8,720, 3• 45,'63,'3_, 45,163,82: . V89, -, 36 1A11,8 . .15 406,742 Z.. 5,410 _ _________ , . ----- _____._ i Deduct the Amount applied to the Consoli- Deduct De dated Fund 0,899,530 I F,684179 t,93;,0..z 7,590,901 31 , 995,a31 6,753,592 ' 10,470,911 8,787,558 7,046,1(.4 1 ;73,i )64,1i 5 crease Decrease. Et: I 895 - . 295,410 Ditto, as Advances - 70,400 : 10,f)0 4 ! 82,1!50 403,100 102,550 60,000 •t),009 1: , ,112 247,6 . 2 , -- Ditto, -- as part of the Ways and Means of the Year 4,458,256 3,359,051 3,120,597 1136;249 1 12,-;;74,153 4,917,733 , , 1,116,041 3,618,511 1,65:1,016 I 12,011,400 Increase on l Increase on the Quarter I Total. 1 4'4;7,836 12,111, , 230 1 12,:187,6.0 I 8,609,200 i74,615,8!•11 II 11,864,175 11!,352,9M 112,426,1651 I 8,720,532 1 45,363.827 th Z7 l , e ri a l r. 11 ~n 32 . . Income and Charge of the Consolidated Fund, in the Quarters ended the sth April, 1841, and the Lth April, 1842. Quarters ended April 5. 8,537,134 1,3)1,551 3,'300 , 2 1,163,212 24,1.1 9 - ,041 337,3 28:,0•,0 97,3 4 '2 23 ,3SO 15,1 it L 3, 04 v,56 1 ,103 C,606, , at 1,537,438 I 5,07:4314 3g,27X6 0,527,826 1,503,043 1,67 ,1 04 2:12,445 0,000 `2, 0 49,121 3•2 , 1 M I/8,996 3,555,652 525,798 4,0!',1,450 1,782,535 1,510,447 10,53 142,000 50,NX) 2:3,193 .25,714 164,671 • CHARGE. 'Permanent Debt. Terminable Annuities • Interest on Exchequer Bills issued to meet the charge on the Consolidated Fund Sinking Fund. The Civil List Other charges on the Consolidated Fund For Advances, and to pay olt'Exchequer Bills issued for Advances Total Charge The Surplus The Amount of Exchequer Bills issued to wet the charge on the Consolidated Fund for the Quarter ended Jan. 5, 1812, and paid off out of the growing produce of that Fund for the Quarter ended April 5, 1.412. w••!. The Amount issued in the Quarter ended - April 5, 1812, in part of the sums granted by Parliament out of the Consoli. dated Fund for Supply Services ' - The Surplus of the Consolidated Fund, Quarter ended April 5,181 t The probable amount of Exchequer Bills required to meet the char; April 5, 1812 ~._ eon the Consolidated Fund, Quarter ended atrocious, what more mischievous, what greater injury was ever inflicted than the passing of this law, as was attested by thou sand, and tens of thousands of our suffering fellow countrymen ? —( Hear, hear.) In order to lay before the Court some idea of the amount of injury which the Corn-laws produced, he would beg to extract from the evidence of Mr. AP Gregor. He said that he considered the taxation which arose from that source and prohibitory duties was more than double the amount of the taxation paid into the Treasury.—( Hear, hear.) James Deaco n Elaine said that the money thus paid would be more than the whole revenue of the country. He (Mr. Taylor) had also another calculation which was founded on the population of Great Britain : supposing that each individual was supported according to the dietary of an Union workhouse—supposing each individual to consume six pounds of bread per week, out pound, and a half of' meat, with cheese, &c., it would mate Is. per week of tax paid by the population, and it. would amount to 50,000,0001. a-year. Now that was without con sidering the tax which was paid of 20,000,0001. upon barley in beer andoisi rits, and a number of wher taxes, all of which were laid on for the protection of the land. Another class of evils which he thought might clearly be traced to the same source, was the increase of crime.—( Hear, hear.) The number of commitments to prison during the severs years from 1810 to 1817 was 56,000, on an average of 8,000 per annum ; from 1817 to 1824, the number was 92,000, on an average per annum of 13,000 ; from 1824 to 1831 the number was 131,000, being an average of 17,000 per annum; 1838, 112,000 ; 1839, 113,000 ; and in the year 1840 alone there were 129,237 cons mittments, being an increase of 16,000 over those of the year 1839, and between 600 and 700 per cent. over those of the ten years antecedent.—( Hear, hear.) And it was seen the other day in that city, and a worthy Alderman said when a number of persons were brought before him for stealing, that he was certain that their object was to be committed ; and he would ask, could it be wondered at that crime should increase when the difficulty of obtaining food was daily in creasing. Now with regard to over-production. Other countries were manufacturing, and we had lately been giving them a bonus to encourage their manufactures, and now that they were competing with us, he (Mr. Taylor) thought that %VAS one of the strongest arguments why our manufactures should be set at liberty and released from all restraints. But they were told that one great reason of the distress in the coon • try was over-production That was certainly a most singular ,argument to urge when their 'mills were standing still all over the country, and their men were unemployed. Rut then they were told, as a reason why they should bear all these evils, that agriculture was the foundation of the prosperity of this country, and, therefore, it mu s t b e p ro te c t e d. N ow , he must confess, that there appeared to him to be a contradiction in the very terms of this statement—the foundation of prosperity, and yet needs protection.—( Hear, hear.) Why, by their own show ing, unless they take 50,000,000/ sterling from the pockets of the people, they cannot carry on their agricultural labours. Agriculture, the foundation of the prosperity of this country in deed ! R lien was agriculture ever the foundation of any wea th ? Till the consumption of a country equalled the production of food it must be expected ; now, there was nothing so cumbersome and so unprofitable to expect as corn; an i to bring corn to this country would cost from ten to twelve shillings a quarter. The best position in which landed proprietOrs could be placed would be that of a country where all their produce was consumed, and where manufactures were the great staple commodity of the people ; in that case, they would sell their corn at the highest price, becau e they would have no expense to export it abroad, and they would purchase their manufactures at the lowest pt ice, because, there would be no expense in importing them. Any attempt to carry their prosperity beyond that, immediately became suicidal.—( Hear, hear.) There seemed to have beets an idea lately set afloat that it was not a good thing for tiis country to manufacture too much, and that there should be some limits to our manufacturing efforts; that was neither more nor less than saying that there was enough of every thing for every one in th is country, and that we had too many things in this country for our nece,sities, our enjoyments, or our comforts. Now, what was it that brought into this country almost every thing which .we required for our neces sities, or our comforts—what brought in our sugar, tea, coffee and spices—what brought in our wine and our luxuries? Why, nothing but manufactures. We had nothing to give in exchange for everything that came in but our Manufactures.— ( Ilear, hear. ) Manufactures it was that supported the pros psrity of this country altogether. They brought in gold and silver, and in times of distress 'they even brought in corn itself, without which we should perish.—( Hear, hear.) Yet they were told that they produced too many manufactured goods. Manufavtures were, 2nd he thought he had proved it, the foundation of site prosperity of this country, and without them we should be a poor, wretched, miserable, beggarly nation.— (Hear, hear.) The tax upon food was no creation property; it was only a transfer of property ; just the same as when a thief robbed a man, that was no creation of new property, it was only a transfer. But supposing for a momont, that it was true that the agriculturists found a difficulty in paying the taxes, and that we should pay it for them, it certainly was not right that we should be called on to pay much more for them, yet that was the case. This declaration of the aristocracy, " Why, we'll pay the taxes, if you give us the money," put him ( Mr.T. ) in mind of the words of Sir John Falstaff:—" He that will caper with me for a thousand marks, let him lend me the money and have at bite:"—(A laugh.) Another argument had beers used, to the effect that, if the Corn-laws were repealed, wages would fall. Why, if .the manufacturers were sane in their desire to repeal the Corn-laws, it was no doubt because they believed that thereby they should have a larger demand for their goods than now ; and if they had, was it not manifest that they would have to employ-more workmen ? and was it not plain' that, when two masters were look ng after one workman, he would demand more wages that in times when two workmen were looking after one master ?—( Hear. ) In the year 1835, when the price of wheat was not more titan half what it is now, the demand for labour was so immense, that a vast number of persons were taken from the agricultural to the manufacturing districts ; and the reason then was—certainly, not that the Corn-laws were re pealed, but that corn being so cheap, almost the same effects resulted as if those laws had actually been repealed. Another reason, they were told, why it was necessary for the national prosperity of the country, that these laws should be continued was, that if they were not, land would be thrown out of cultiva'ion and labourers out of employment. Suppose it true that some labourers would be thrown out of employment, the question would then arise whether it would not be better to deprive a portion of them of employment, the whole number of them not exceeding 960,000, than throw out the 2,000,000 who were employed in manufactures and trada.—( Hear. 1 Sir H. Peel stated, in his place in the House of Commons, that he believed it best for the interests of the country, and best for the interest of all parties, that they should occasionally pay a small sum for domestic iiroduce. He was desirable that occasionally a small SUM should be paid to make us independent of foreign countries for the supply of corn. Would not the loss of the supply of cotton to this country be as deplorable as the loss of the supply of corn? But no fear was ever expressed that we should at any time be destitute of that commodity.— ( Hear, hear.) They never had any fears of the loss of the supply of sugar, or timber, or silk, or wine ; nor were the supplies of those articles ever deficient—( Hear) — still less grounds were there far the fear being entertained with regard to corn. Some of the other articles were produced by one country alone, and others by only a few countries ; but every nation produced corn, and if we only had free trade, so great would be our supply, that we should he made perfectly independent of years of scarcity.—(Hear, hear.) Joseph in Egypt appeared to be wiser in his generation than Peel.- -( Hear, hear)—because he had no sliding scale.—(Laughter. ) He, foreseeing the years of scarcity, purcbased his corn, and began to lay in a supply in the first year of plenty ; now Peel would not have commenced purchasing till the first year of scarcity.—( Hear' hear, and laughter.) Sir Robert said " oc casionally," and a " small amount." Was it net notorious, as might be seen from the papers that year after year gave the prices of 'corn at home and abroad, that the difference between the-price here and abroad was generally one of from 50 to 80 per cent., and that not occasionally, but was it not usually the difference?—(Hear, hear.) He.held in Isis hand a table, showing the difference of price between English and Prussian wheat since the year 1811. This difference was calculated allowing i 10s. a quarter for the ex pense of transporting into this country, allowing one quarter per head per annum, which was admitted on all hands as a fair calculation, and multiplying that by the popu lation of Great Britain in those 26 years—from 1815 to 1841 ......the amount of the difference between the price of wheat alone at Berlin and London was 1,185,000,0001. sterling. He had before him the price of every year, and, therefore, in this atatement he could make no mistake. Nor, indeed, was it at all wonderful that the sum should be so great, when they con siidered the amount of taxation and the population of this country; and that sum, or something like it, had gone to in crease the laws of the aristocracy. Did they wonder now that Sir James Graham's estates at Netherby had increased in value to 60 or 80 per cent. since the year 1816. Again, they had been told that they were called on to place such a duty on foreign corn as would be an equivalent to the special burdens which were borne by the land in this country. Now he (Mr, Taylor) should like to be told what these special burdens were, and what was the amount of them, for he confessed he did not know. Besides, if they had additional burdens that was no thing more titan the tenure by which they held their lands, which had been formerly granted to the old Barons on account of some special services to be rendered, such as furnishing a certain number of men to the wars, or such like. He had said he did net know what were the special burdens borne by the land owners; he might add that he knew more that they did not bear.—( Hear.) They paid no duty - upon their insurances ; they were released from almost all the taxes which pressed upon others, and they had also managed to shuffle out of the land tax.—( Hear.) There was no country in Europe in which of England. In Prussia the w h o l e amount the landed aristocracy paid so little to G ov ernment as did the landed aristocracy of revenue arising front land tax and customs was 7,761,0001., and of this the land paid 3,994,000/. In Austria, the whole amount o f taxes was 16,400,000/., and of this the land paid 8,700,000/. In France the taxes amounted to 40,000,000/ , and of atis land directpaid 13,379,0001,, and woods, fOrots, and 6,629,217 2,•t2 ,s7l 7,8..8,0: 6 I,lw,nir; ; ,193,L0 domains, 8,806,00@i. In Belgium, Holland, and Germany the 'anti tax paid about sone-half o f the wh o l e t a x a ti on ; b u t in Great Britain, whi re the whole am mot of taxation wa5 . 52,•22ti 0001., the taxes received from land amounted to only 1,17'2,000/. He did trust that that. Court would raise its voice aoaiwit this atrocious tax—t o t e ll thi s sor did ar i stocracy, that CheY were saves to sordid avarice—tint there are tights of the people, as well as rights of property— and that they are antecedent to the rights of property. inasmuch as those i f property were made and erected, whilst those of man ware ocrivcd immediately from God himself.—( Hear, hoar.) In conclusion,. he begged to thank his Lordship and the Court, for the attention with which he bad been listened to throughout his attires', and to move that th resolution be adopted, which he had read at the commencement of his remarks.—( Hear, hear. ) Mr. HEPPLE said, that titer the very able and lucid address which they had jest heard fr..m the Hon Member aho had only now resumed his seat, he should not detain the Coen with any observations of his ; he begged, therefore, thus briefly to second the motion.—( Hear, hear.) Mr. GADSDEN said, though the Hon. Gentleman who hail moved the resolution was a new Member of the Court, he must say that he had never heard the cause, which he advocated, up. with half the arguments, or in sr masterly a way as had been done by the Hon. Member. Ile had, however ; no doubt said a great deal that could not be understood by many members of that Court.—( Oh, oh. ) In opposing the motion of the Hon. Member, he (Mr. U.) should certainly be opposing what was called a popular question, and so he should be if the course he was adopting would lead to deprive 'the poor man of hi s b rea d ; but he did not believe that that would be the effect, or was the effect of the measures which he supported ; and therefore so long as he held a place in that Court. though he doubted not but this question would be carried by a large majority—( !fear) —he never would sit quietly by and hear the landed aristocracy belied. With regard to all the lion. Member had said r.la live to the estates of Sir J. Graham at Nctherby, he (Mr. Gadson) must say that. he doubted the asset Lion which had brew made, and he thought the Hon. Member must be in error. Again the Eloo. Member stated that the manufacturing popu lation of the country was -double that of the agricultural.; if that were the fact, he roust say that it appeared to him to be a new one, and here also he believed the Honourable Member was labou ing under a mistake; he believed the agricultural population doubled that of the manufacturing.— ( Oh, ) He looked at. the Corn-laws abstractedly, as the nece sary protection of the agriculture of this country.. The Hon. Memher said that the sordid aristocracy had taxed the people to keep up enormous rents', or wards to that effect. He (Mr. Gordon) might be allowed to state, and he would as sure the Court that be wonld.not state it, it he slid not know it to be a fact—(Hear, hear)—that in the counties round M4ddle sex the average rental of tillage land was but 30s. au acre ; and take the country round, the average rental was from IDs. to 20s. per acre for tillage ground ; the average gra wth of corn per acre would be about 3 quarters, or 24 bushels ; these 3 quarters would give 20 bushels of flour, and that would be just sufficient for 360 four-pound loaves. Now if be wer e learned in these statements, and he believed he was, it would follow that w:th regard to these 360 loaves, if the land-holder got his land for nothing, it would only make a difference of a Id. a loaf. Then where did the money - that thew men gained go to? Were not three-fourths of the manufactures made here con sumed at borne? The landlord buys of the shopkeeper, and the money is generally disseminated, and well would the ma ' 'nufaeturer do if this link were to be broken and he were com pelled to make his produce solely for the sills) , of other coun tries. lie much regretted that a subject of tais sort should be brought so many times before this Court. Ile thought it would be mull better that the members of the Court, who were tradesmen mostly, and whom. as such, he respected very much. should stick to that for which they were sent t here— viz., the municipal affairs of the Corporation, and should not interfere with that which their education wholly unfitted them to understar d. They should leave those matters to the Go. veronica of the, country.—( Hear, hear.) It was not his in tention to move any amend merit.—( Hear.) Mr. DA WSO N said he perfectly concurred in the observations which had fallen titan the last speaker. Ile viewed this agita tion as nothing more than a renewal of the appllieation to her Majesty to dismiss her present Ministers, as a discussion of this sort never took place when the late Ministry were in office. This was purely a political movement. Mr. Jon Nsos begged to say that. a discussion of this sort did take place in the time of the late Ministry, and that was in the year 1839 ; and the Hon. Member who had just sat down took a conspicuous part in it.. lie was surprised that any man could lay his head upon his pillow in peace, and look at the ex isting distress, and say that it was cot the duty of every honest man to do his best to relieve !fear, hear ) Mr. M Arrr..vvn said the present distress in the country was not owing to . the Colo.-laws, but. because of the imperium in imperio which existed in this country, by which taws were concocted out of doors, and were forced upun a weak succumb ing government. The vacillating conduct of the Whigs who abolished slavery, and who were so undecided in their mere ments, that an hour before they granted 20,000,0(x /. as com pensation, contemplated making a loan instead of a grant of 15,000,00 UL, was the meat source of the present distress. Mr. :isms:aims/ said, he did not thiek the address ought to go to the Queen. 'Duro was certainly a great deal of distress in the country at present, but he thought it was owing to a variety of causes. After some further remarks from Mr. PEsvautEss, Mr. STACEY, and other gentlemen, whose names we could not hear, in the confusion which reigned, and the cries of " Question7' and " Divide," and a few observations from Mr. TA's- Lit in reply, which want of space wholly prevents us, much against our inclination, front publishing, the Court divided, when there appeared— For . t he m ion Against it Alijority in favour of the motion Some other business of minor importance was then gone through, and the Court adjourned a little attcr 6 o'clock. (iti RELATIVE EXPENSE OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH RAILWAYS. The station of the St. Germain Railroad, in the Rue St. Lazare, has just been completed. The total expense of the constructions from .the Rue St. Lazare to the wall of Paris has exceeded eight millions of francs, whereas, it will be recollected, that the Origi nal estimate of the whole line to St. Germain. only amounted to 3,900,000 f. It must be allowed, how ever, that a large portion of the expenditur e of th e works of the Paris terminus arises from the pur chase of the ground, which has been paid fbr at a high rate, and the construction of the station, which is exceedingly elegant, and admirably adapted for the purposes to • which it is destined. It is composed of three waiting-rooms, those at the sides being intended for the passengers going to Versailles and St. Germain, whilst the third is kept as a supple mentary room for the increased numbers flocking i n during summer. The whole building covers a super ficies of 3,000 metres, and when the part intended for the passengers of the Rouen Railway shall have been completed, nearly 4,000 metres. The workshops for building and repairing steam-carriages (.!over about 10,000 metres. From the entrance.of;,the station, in the Rae St. Lazare, to .the.,Yla4;de l'Europe, where the tunnels begin, the station covers a super ticks of 23,500 metres. This is very nearly the size .f the Plac e d u Carrousel (25,000 metres), and a little larger than the garden of the PAlais Royal (21,000 metres). Coneparing with it some of the stations in England, we shall find hi them a considerable inferiority in size. The Birmingham station in London takes up 14,000 metres only ; the Grand Junction station at Birmingham covers 11,634 metres ; that of the line to Greenwich, London end, occupies only 3,0'4 metres; that of the Manchester and. Liverpool line, at the latter town, covers 6,475 metres, although it serves fir the Bolton and Grand Junction lines, which join the Liverpool and Man chester one. It is true that at Liverpool a station for goods has been constructsd, which takes up 9,432 metres; but the St. Germain railroad has one at the Batignolles of '102,000 metres. At Brusseli, the station covers 15,400 mitres, and for incidental business one is in the course of construction which will occupy 48,000 metres. Half of the 23,000 me tres of the station of the Rue St. Lazare are as yet unemployed. N o t l ess t h an 15,000 metres could be easily added to the above quantity, if required, and this without pulling down a single house. Whilst on this subject, we would suggest to the City of Paris the importance of purchasing the ground now occu pied with wood-yards, and which is exactly opposite the stati on , i n or d er that a handsome Nuare might be made, which would • bet - only be a pUblic-clubellish ment, but materially facilitate the free approach and departure of carriages. The Dublin Evening Niue admits that the thrift has ex lately, t t e e l d y the e t greatest a t l o a de n a c m i d9eng theira l l classcs, differencesconnectedkithduel agriculture and gr azing in Ireland. Two fanners of itiyeux, in Calvados, having guar rwith reaping : beaks. !';4.,lo!t_ig and sanguinary, an *as Wiminated by a'desperate Vouna in the neck of one of the combatants, which laid him senseless at the feet of his an tvoli i s t ; there are, however, hopes of his recovery. S ti .?! 1 =-7 e .0. , IZ!..et ~`. ?.-k-asx ~"--