The Sun. — London, England, 1844-10-28 00:00:00

people who cavil at this public appeal and say—" you will not put salt upon the enemy's tail—it is much too wise a bird. They have been at this work long ago," and they have the worst of it now.—(Hear, hear.) What has been the conduct of the landlords of the coun try ? Why they have been long engaged in multiply ing voters upon their estates, making their farmers take their sons, brothers, nephews to the register—making them qualify as. many as the rent of the land will cover ; they have been making their land a kind of political capital ever since the passing of the Reform Bill.—(Cheers and a laugh.) You have then a new ground open to you which has 'never yet been entered upon, and from which I expect—in the course of not more than three years from this time— that every county, if we persevere as we have in South Lancashire, possessing a large town population, may carry free traders as their representatives to Parliament. —(Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, with just these prelimi nary remarks, I was going to notice a common objection made to us during the last two or three months, that the League had been very quiet of late—that we have been doing nothing.—(Hear.) Many people have said to me, " When are you going out into the agricultural districts again ? I think they will be quite ripe for you now, for most of your predictions have fallen true, and the farmers will come and listen."—(Hear.) My answer has been, " We are better employed at present at home, and the landlords are doing our work very well for us at their agricultural meetings."—(Loud laughter and cheers.) What have been the features of the agricultural meetings we have heard of in the last two months ? There is one very striking circumstance, that from the Duke of Buckingham downwards every president of an agricul tural association has always begun the proceedings of the day by saying, " We must not introduce political topics in the discussions of this association."—(Hear, hear.) That means, " It is not convenient to us, the political landlords, to talk about the corn-laws just now to the farmers:!"—(Cheers) —and so they talk of everthing else but the corn-laws, and a very pretty business they make of their discussions.—(A laugh.) We hear in every case in which I have read their reports of the deplorable state of the agricultural labourers. Now, I beg to premise, from my own personal observation and much inquiry, that the agricultural labourers, as a class, are better off now than they were when corn was 70s. the quarter, in 1839 and 1840.—(Hear, hear.) I watched the poor-law returns during those years, when we had such deep dis tress in this district, and I found that able-bodied pau perism was increasing faster in the corn-growing coun ties of Sussex and Kent than they were in these manu facturing districts. When we called together the con ference of ministers from all parts of the country, the accounts they brought from the rural villages were as heart-rending as anything we had ever known in these manufacturing districts.—(Hear.) You did not hear the clamorous cry from the agricultural districts then, be cause they were drowned in the concentrated cry from these populous regions; but they were suffering as much as you were suffering.—(Hear.) And now, when in this district employment and comparative prosperity have re turned upon us, we hear of the state of the agricultural labourers, which has been always bad, always at the lowest level of wretchedness, only because you have ceased to occupy the public mind with your complaints and your distresses.—(Hear, hear.) But if what they tell us is true, that the agricultural labourers are so dis tressed, what becomes of their plea in the House of Com mons, that the corn-law was passed and kept up for the benefit of the agricultural labourers ?—(Loud cries of Hear, hear.") After what have heard from these gentlemen, the squirearchy in the House of Commons, I should have expected that they ought to have been the last upon the institution of agricultural associations to complain of distress, and of the dangers impending over them in the future, to have said, " I have a nostrum in my pocket that will quite prevent distress among agri cultural labourers. Have we not got the corn-law ? Did we not pass it upon the pretence of remedying the distress of the agricultural labourers ? Here it is. We have the sliding scale, and depend upon it our agricultu ral labourers have nothing to fear."—(Hear.) But in stead of that, in no instance do they ever allude to the corn-law, as either a cause of employment or as a means of remedying the evil.—(Hear, hear.) They never al lude to any Act of Parliament of the kind at all; and they seek wide and far for some other remedy for their distresses.—(Hear, hear.) What are their remedies ? One of the latest declared is allotments of land. To hear the outcry that we have from the leaders of the country, glorifying themselves with the idea of giving a patch of land to the labourer, you would have thought they had resolved all at once to make a present of a little slice of their estates to the labourers around them—(Hear, hear) —but what does it amount to ? It is proposed that each cottage should have a garden attached to it ! The ge neral advice is, I see, that it should be not more than half an acre, and some are recommending it to be a quarter of an acre in extent ! It amounts to this, that the landlords, benevolent souls, are going to allow the peasantry that live upon their land to have a garden to their cottages.—(Hear, hear.) Why, there was a law passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, ordaining that no cottage should be built in this country without a gar den Leine- attached to it.—(Hear.) I do not believe that law has ever been repealed to this day ; and the landlords, after violating the law, are now takng credit to themselves, and glorifying each other, that they are going to allow their labourers to have a garden to their cottages.—(Hear.) Now what is the mode in which these gentlemen go to work to benefit the agricultural labourers ? They call them together for a ploughing match, then they bring them into the room and give them a glass of wine, and they give a " reward' of thirty shillings to the man who has ploughed the best I Then they inquire who has served twenty-five years in the same place, and perhaps they condescend to give him thirty shillings as a reward for good conduct.— (Hear.) Then the farmers. The farmers who sit at the table have their names read over, and prizes are awarded to one for successfully cultivating turnips, to an other for having produced a good fat ox, and to another for having accumulated the greatest quantity of fat upon a pig.—(Laughter.) And this is the way in which agri culture is to be improved !—(Hear.) What should you think if a similar plan were adopted to protect you in your business ?—(Bear.) Let us suppose that a number of monopolists came down once a year—once a year mind you—for the lesson is only given once a year, and then only about two hours and a half long—that they held a meeting, in which they would have a spinning match or a weaving match.— (Hear.) And after they had been into some prize mill to see this spinning and weaving match, they sat down to dinner and Job Har greaves or Frank Smith is brought in, stroking his head down all the while as he comes before the squirearchy— (Laugh ter)—and making his very best bow, to receive from the chairman thirty shillings as a reward for having been the best spinner and the best weaver.—(Hear, and laughter) And this being disposed of, imagine next the manufacturer getting a prize of 5/. for the best piece of fustian.—(Cheers.) And another, ditto, ditto, for the best yard-wide ca ico.—(Laughter.) Then imagine a shopkeeper rising from his seat at the table, while the chairman puts on a grave face, and addressing him in complimentary terms, presents him with 5/., fur having kept during the past year his shop floor and his counters in the cleanest state.—(shouts of laughter.) Then they call up a manufacturer, end he has an award of 51., be cause the inspectors had found his mill to be in the best working condition.—(A laugh.) Then the merchant rises up, and gets his reward of 51., for having been found by the inspectors to have kept his books in the Lest order by double entry.—(Renewed laughter.) You laugh at all this, and well you may. You cannot help it. Where is the difference between the absurdity, the mockery, of bringing up men in round frocks to a dinner fable and giving them thirty shillings because they have ploughed well, or hoed well, or harrowed well; bringing up farmers to give them prizes for having the cleanest ! field of Swedish turnips, or for having managed their i farm in the best way ? Wh ere i s the difference, I ask, Fetseeen offering these rewards and the giving out here of inch rewards as I have just now alluded to ?—(Hear, bear.) Let cs suppose, if you can keep your counte 'lances, that such a state of things existed here, and what must be the concomitant order of things ?—(Hear, hear.) It would argue, in the first place, that the pro prietors who were so treated were an abject and a ser vile class.—(hear, hear.) It would argue that the trader who could condescend to Le treated so, would himself be little better than a slave.—(Cheers.) And if .you needed such stimulants as these to make you carry on your business as you ought to do, how do you think you would be found in the race of industry as compared with other countries, where they were not quite so childish as to be fondled and dandled by a body of Members of Perli'atnent ?—(Hear, hear.) Why, there would not be a country on the face of the world that you could coif pee with—that is evident. You would, like them, be going to these same Parliamentary men who were your nurses, in order that they might pass an Act of Parliament to protect you in your trade.—(Hear, hear.) But the landlords themselves, they do not give ' themselves praises, but they hold up th e i r con d uct as something deserving of reward, of public admiration, because they can come forward and tell us that they make the most of their land forseeth.—(Hear, hear.) I was reading just now, in this morning's paper, a report of Lord Stanley's speech at the Agri cultural Society's meeting on Tuesday, which by the magic power of steam has been carried to London, and brought back to us here in Manchester, in te o day s .— ( Hear.) Lord Stanley tells us what must be done with J an et. Ile srays :—" And Ire peat what I have aim ally said oft a former occasion in this room, that there is no investrncf:t in the world in which a landlord can so safely, so usefully , or t o profitably invest his capital, as in the improvement of his own farm, by money sunk in draining, on security of th e land which belongs to him self."—(Hear, nd cheers.) Well, what dogs this amount to ? That it is the interest of the landlord to make the most of his land.—(Hear, and a laugh.) And he goes on to say, and he takes some little credit to himself and to his father for what had Leen done with his land here in Lancashire. He says :—" In this last year we have laid down in deep draining sornee here about three hun dred miles of drains, at an expense ef bt tween 5,00 a and 6,000/. ; and, I think, employed about a million and a half of draining tilee."—(Hear.) I believe my frit nd Mr. Bright here—(Cheers) —who has been building a mill, has during the same time been laying down about a million and a half of bricks in erecting it—(Laughter and cheers)—but you would be astonished, would you not, and 1 am sure the squirearchy would be rather puzzled, if Mr. Bright were to get up here and talk of that as something for which he might glorify himself, having first of all d ec l ared it was the most T cheers and rofitablein: vestment any man could m a k e laughter.) By the wa y, h l is w m is i h lli m . on y— and a half of brick s friend Lou here w ou ld d calculate how much duty pay to the Government, whi c h d uty my Lord Stanley and his fellow-landlords have managed to ow exempt drain ingl tiles from.—(Hear, and applause.) x me n, I do not want to say anything rude or un'ci!ir and J will not apply my remarks personally to Lord Stanley, but I will say this, that the whole course of the conduct of these gentlemen in their exhibitions—the landlords— when they parade to the world what they condescend to do with their land, is just a gratuitous piece of imperti- Deuce to the rest of the community.—(Loved cheers.) What do we care what they do with their land— (Hear)—whether they put down draining tiles or not ? All we say is this, " If you do not make the most of your land, it is no reason why we should be starving that you may grow rushes."—(Cheers.) It is a gross humbug, to use no milder term—(Much cheering)—on the part of those who come forward at the agricultural meetings, to glorify themselves about the mode in which they choose to dispose of their private property. — (Great laughter.) There is a gross delusion lurking under it.—(Hear.) It is intended to make us believe that we are indebted to them, and must wait until they choose to supply us with our food—that it is something like a condescension, or at least an act of favour on their part, that they give us their food in exchange for our manufactures.—(Hear, hear.) Now, what is the reason that the land has not been improved before ? Lord Stanley tells us here when these great improve ments began, and mark what he says :—" Even within the last few years—within a much shorter time than that which I have named—within the last four or five years—l see strides which, small as they may be, com pared with what might be done, are gigantic, when com pared with what was done before." What was " done before" ? What has been done " within the last four or five years" ? Lord Stanley takes credit for agricultural associations. Why, what have they been doing ? Up to within the last year when did they condescend to talk about the corn-laws ? From one end of the kingdom to the other they were nothing but political clubs, for the purpose of drawing the poor tenant-farmers together, in order that they might be drilled by the land-agent, to be made subservient at a future voting day ; and the whole talk of these agricultural associations was, not about im proving the land, but maintaining protection to British agriculture.—(Cheers.) And now what can these agri cultural associations do for agriculture ? They meet once a year ; they generally have a man in the chair who begins, as Lord Stanley does, by admitting his practical ignorance of the subject upon which he is going to dilate ; and the chairman is generally the man who occupies three-fourths of the time of the meeting by his speech.—(Hear, hear.) I have watched the proceed ings of these associations, and I have observed they have had all sorts of people except farmers in the chair— (Hear, hear)—and upon one occasion, in a part of Mid dlesex, I observe the late Attorney- General, the present Chief Baron Pollock, was in the chair as president ; and I must do him the justice to say (for he is a most candid and excellent man) that he began his opening address by declaring he did not know anything concerning what they had met about.—(Loud laughter.) What have these associations done for agriculture ? They assemble men together once a year ; they bring prize cattle to be exhibited ; they bring agricultural implements to be exa mined. Are improvements only to be sought for once a year in agriculture ?—(Cheers.) Would that do for manufactures ?—(Hear, hear.) Only think of a com mercial meeting once a year to see what our neighbours are doing; whether there was any new machinery in vented ; or which of the hands bad discovered some new process in calico printing 1 Would that once a year go down, with the chance merely of finding something of that sort ? Could not the farmers see what superior farming there was to be seen by riding out every day in the week to look over their neighbours' hedges ? Could they not learn where the best breeds of cattle were to be had from the advertisements of those who had them to sell ? And could they not get the best agricultural im plements by writing for them any day by the penny post, whether they were to be found in Manchester, London, or Ipswich ?—(Hear.) The thing is a farce ; and when my Lord Stanley takes credit to these agricultural asso ciations fur having improved agriculture during the last five years, I say it is not due to those agricultural associations, but to the Anti-Corn-law League.—(Great applause.) It is owing to that that the agriculturists and the landowners have been roused from their lethar gic sleep.—(Cheers.) They are buckling on their ar mour to meet the coming competition, which competi tion will do for them what nothing else will do, and what it has done for manufactures—it will make the agricultu rists of this country capable of competing with the far mers of any part of the world.—(lmmense applause.) They give up the whole case when they talk in this way.—(Hear.) When they tell us what the land might do, and what it ought to do, which they admit it has not done, they plead guilty to all we have ever alleged egainst them and their system of corn-laws.—(Hear.) I ask this—Can they bring a Member of Parliament, a theorist, into Manchester, with his books in hand, amid can he suggest a single improvement in any of our pro cesses of manufacture, whether they are connected with mechanical or chemical science ? No.—(Cheers.) I went the otter day into several establishments with one of the most eminent French chemists, a man renowned in Europe ; he had nothing to say on visiting the dye works or the print works of this neighbourhood, but to express his unqualified admiration of the perfection to which they had brought the arts among us.—(Cheers.) Can they come here and say, as they say of themselves in connextion with their industry, " you ought to pro duce three times as much as you produce from your ma chinery, for it is already done in other places which we can name to you ?"—(llear.) No ! But what do they say of their own land ? I have heard Mr. Ogilvy, who was engaged by Mr. Brooke, of Mere, and other land lords of this and the neighbouring county, as superin tendent of their estates, declare—and he is willing to go before a Committee of the House of Commons to prove it—that Cheshire, if properly cultivated, is capable of producing three times as much as it now produces from its surface, and he is willing the statement should be made public upon his authority, and there is no higher authority in the kingdom.—(Cheers.) I say, whatever improvement has been made in this respect, it is to the Anti-Corn-law League we are indebted for it, and more —the most bigotted of our opponents have made the ad mission. Whilst they abhor the League. and detest its principles, they have made the admission—" at all vents," they say, " you have done good, and are doing good to agriculture." I passed last year, about this time, over to Knutsford, where I held a public meeting close to the gates of Mr. Egerton, of Tatton. As I went froin the railway station across to Knutsford, I rode at least five or six miles through the estate of that large proprietor, and I saw the land was in.the same state as I believe it was at the time of the Conquest, and growing just about as plentiful a supply of rushes as of grass.— , ( [fear, hear.) It so happened that upon the day I was addressing the meeting upon the race course at Knuts ferd, Mr. Egerton, of Tatton, was paying a visit to Man chester, to preside at the Manchester Agricultural As sociation—(hear, hear)—and I took the opportunity of saying, in the course of my remarks, that I thought a gentleman who had such an extent of territory as he had, might be better employed in exterminating his rushes, and setting a better example to his neighbours at home, than in travelling to Manchester to preach up improvements in agriculture.—(Hear, hear.) The other day I met a gentleman who happened lately to be at Knutsford, and he told me, that, whilst sitting at the inn, there came in a number of neighbouring farmers, whose conversation turned upon agriculture. In the course of their conversation, one of them remarked, " What a deal lof draining has been going on here since Cobden was here blackguarding him about the rushes !"—(Cheers.) We have, indeed, given them a fillip ; we have stirred them up a little. But, gentlemen, if mere alarm of the approach of free trade has done so much for agriculture, what will free trade in corn itself do for it? —(Cheers.) " Why," they say, "we should be an sporting country if we only grew as much as we may grow." . 1 have no objection to it if, besides feeding the e hole of the people as they ought to be fed—no short commons I—(Cheers)—if besides feeding them well, they could send four or five millions of quarters of corn abroad, and bring us back tea and sugar, and such like matters in addition. We shall then have no reason to complain of the British agriculturist.—(Hear.) But we do complain that, whilst they stop our supplies from other countries, under pretence of benefitting agriculture, they at the same time come before us at these meetings of our own, and plead guilty to our charge that, under this system of protection, they are not making the most of their land.—(Hear, hear.) I speak my unfeigned conviction—and we have the very best agriculturists a ith us in that conviction—men like Lord Ducie, and others, who are agriculturists by profession—when I say I believe there is no interest in this country that would receive so much benefit from the repeal of the corn-laws us the farmer-tenant interest in this country.—(Cheers.) And I believe, when the future historian comes to write the history of agriculture, he will have to state, "In such a year there was a stringent corn-law pass e d, for the protection of agriculture.. From that time, agricul [tire slumbered in Engiand, and it was not until, by the aid of the Anti-Corn-law League, that the corn-law was utterly abolished, that agriculture sprung to its full vigour and existence in England, and became what it now is, like her manufactures, unrivalled in the world." —(Loud cheers.) It is a gloomy and most discouraging thought that, whilst this sy stem of corn-laws alterna tively starves the people in the manufacturing districts, and then ruins the farmers, that it really in the end con fers no permanent benefit upon any class.—(Hear, hear.) I told you in the beginning I did not believe the agri cultural labourer was now so badly off as he was when corn was 70s. a quarter, but I will tell you where dis t.-ess in the agricultural districts is now. It is among , the tenant-farmers themselves.—(Hear, hear.) They are paying rent with wheat at 455. a quarter, which they have bargained for at the calculation of wl.eat being 565., aid in many cases GOs. the quarter. It is owing to this discrepancy in the prices that the tenant-farmers are now s in g le ) irl a r b e o n u t re out of unable to capital employ; th e yare them —and dischargingtheirs is the real distress now existing in the agricul tural districts. This state of things will not continue either here or in the agricultural districts. What is tne language which drops from these landlords at some of their meetings ? It is, "We shall not very likely have higher prices for corn this year ; we must wait for b tter times ; we will give you back ten per cent. this year." No permanent reduction, and why ? Because they know that by the certain operation of this system, in less than five ye ars from this time, this wheel of for t .ne, or rather misfortune, will go round again ; you e ill be at the bottom, and the farmer at the top, and will have a heat again at 70e. or 80s. a quarter, giving thus a pretended prosperity among the farmers. As sure as you have had this revolution before, so sure will you have it again. There is nothing in Sir Robert Peel's corn-law to prevent the recurrence of similar di. asters. The law is as complete a bar to legitimate trade in corn as the old law was. I speak in the pre sence of merchants shipping to every quarter of the globe, men who bring back the produce of every quarter of the globe, and I put it to them whether, with this sliding scale, they dare to order from a foreign country a single cargo of wheat in exchange for the manufac tures which they sell ? This being the case— and it is the whole case—you are not stimulating other countries to provide fur your future wants, you are laying up no store here, or stores abroad, and there will be a re currence of the disasters we have passed through.— res m um r. e il d (After some further observations, the. Hon. Gentleman R h i seat T a t m .p id , st enthusiastic cheers.) enthusiastic eheerin then stepped forward amidst mos spokeeacast z f e,l eyeslu w s over: cheerio', w entered hen thi s it had subsided, he the vast meeting, w roo as i e t:- todayn,zde precisely the observation which you have already heard, that this meeting may be taken as a token of the I firm resolution which the inhabitants of this town and district have come to, that, so long as there is an Asso ciation which has for its object the abolition of the corn law, so long will you be found amongst its warmest supporters.—(llear.) And, although, just now, in this district, there is not that imminent danger which we have seen, and although some are disposed to argue that, because we hare good harvests, therefore corn law repeal is not necessary, and that therefore no agi tation can be maintained, yet I am prepared here to contend, that we are now in a better and more advantageous position with respect to the carrying out of our object than we have been at any former period ; and, more than that, we may derive consolation and delight from witnessing how beautifully, how har moniously the seasons are working round to carry con viction to the minds of the most bigotted, and to demon strata to the whole country and the world, that every principle which we have propounded on this question is well founded, and that experience constantly confirms it. —(Applause.) We read of old of an invader and an usurper, that the stars in their courses fought against him; and may we not say, also, with respect to those who invade the rights, the dearest rights of the popula tion of this country, who usurp a power to which they have no just title—the power of feeding, or, if need be, of starving a great empire—(Loud applause)—may I not say that the seasons fight against them, and that year after year, as it rolls over us, is but weakening their power and strengthening that public opinion which we are rallying as fast as we are able for the overthrow of the worst species of tyranny with which any country was ever cursed?—(Loud applause.) We are entering the seventh year of our labours in this great cause, and there may be some who at the thought of this may despond. If there be any who have a right to despond, or who may be forgiven if they feel faint-hearted, it is surely those who have laboured hard in this cause ' • but so far as the Council of the League are concerned, I can state to this meeting and to the public, there never was a time when they were more convinced that they were right in the beginning and right now, and that in their cause, as in all others, right must finally triumph.— (Applause.) If you feel despondent upon this question, think for a moment what it is you are fighting for. It is For no paltry triumph of a faction. It is not to elevate this mau or that man; or to set waving this flag, or to pull that flag down. No; but you are fighting for one of the greatest and the noblest causes which ever united the exertions of any body of men; you are fighting for the liberation of the industry of twenty seven millions of your fellow-countrymen, and not for the liberation of their industry only, but as everything that is established here becomes a fashion for the world, you are also working out the liberation of the industry of the whole human race, from all the tyranny which monopoly in every clime and in every age has inflicted upon it.—(Loud applause.) Six years ago this country, and this district especially, had been passing through a season of great commercial prosperity and of extraor dinary commercial excitement. At that period we found this prosperity decaying, and this excitement being changed into as extraordinary a depression. We were led, as most men are led, who feel themselves getting into danger, or in a dangerous position—we were led to inquire why it was that this change was taking place. We knew that Adam Smith had written, and that other men had propounded the great doctrines of free trade, and we knew that there were laws upon our statute book which in every sense infringed those great prin ciples. We had not, however, had our attention so directed to this question, as to make much ado about it, until danger was at our door. We then began to in quire, and we came rapidly, but still .most surely and safely, and, I believe, wisely to the conclusion, that the cause and the source of the miseries which then threat ened this district was to be found in an Act of Parlia ment which did not hesitate to starve the people and to cripple commerce, merely for the aggrandisement of a class to whom your class would seem to be of no value, and who despise commerce from their very hearts.— (Applause.) Well, we pointed out the cause. It is of no use living in a free country unless the free man has the right to advise the people when he finds anything wrong in the public affairs of the nation.—(Cheers.) We advised our countrymen that the source of their evils was in the corn-law. We pointed out how, during the good harvests of 1834, 1835, and 1836 prosperity had increased, and how the moment that we were deprived of good harvests, the very first season, this prosperity received a very sensible check, and we began to go from that to the other ex treme of depression and embarrassment. But monopoly refused to believe. So it always has done, and so it al ways will.—(hear, hear.) There is :nothing harder— no, the nether millstone is not to be compared in hard ness to the heart of monopoly.—(Applause.) Monopoly never believes till it is grasped in earnest, and compelled to disgorge.—(Applause.) Monopoly did not believe us, but made a variety of excuses, some of which had some little effect at that time, but now appear to be simply childish; and those persons who did predict in their favour must be very sorry that what they said was ever written or printed.—(Applause.) They said that menu eactures were subject to great fluctuations. Well, that is quite true, in this country, so far as our experience of the last thirty years goes, and so far as our experience of the period before that goes. But then the time before the last thirty years was almost a continual course of war, which interferes with the regular course of industry ; and since the war the corn-law has also interfered with the regular course of industry; and we have no proof whatever that any such fluctuations as we have suffered arose from the nature of things, but rather from the violent interference with the nature of things which has been inflicted upon us by war in one case, and by legis lative interference in the other.—(Applause.) Well, and they had the audacity to say, also, that we were badly off because we competed with each other. Why, if we had not competed with each other, we should have had no prosperity at all.—(Applause.) They said there are too many people come to Manchester Exchange, and they bid against each other. We said, " There do not come too many to sell, but there come too few to buy."—(Applause.) Why, there is more competition now on Manchester Exchange than there was then, as far as the number of sellers is con cerned, and the entire of the quantity sold is cnm cerned; but there are more buyers than there were then, and those who buy are buying in larger quanti ties, while they give a little more for their goods.— (Applause.) They said, ton, that machinery was the cause of our calamity ; and Sir Robert Peel—l call him in this respect a great little man—did stoop to a mean ness utterly unworthy of a man occupying the position which he occupies—that of attempting to spread this delusion amongst the people, and amongst the working classes. Such a notion must be very dangerous—that machinery and improvement in machinery were the causes of so many of the labouring population of this district being thrown out of employment.--(llear, hear.) And is it not notorious that there is more machinery at work Mow than ever in this district ? is it not notorious that it is more perfect, costly, and exquisitely finished than ever it was before ? Is it not notorious that it is turning out a greater quantity of work for the same amount of wages and of manual labour than before ? And yet, for all this, there are no persons turned out of employment now by the invention of new machinery, and without anything being done to remove these par ticular causes to which they have attributed our distress. —(Applause.) Some of them had the effrontery to say that this •state of things arose from a greatly extended foreign trade, and the columns of some of the monopo list newspapers were filled with arguments—no, not with arguments, but with assertions—to prove that if we only stick to our home trade and our colonial trade, we should be extremely well off. And is it not notorious that these very people, the moment the China war ceased, and the China trade was thrown open to us, began to rejoice in the' extension of our foreign trade, and have all along attributed a considerable portion of our prosperity to the opening of that foreign trade ? We have more foreign trade now than we had three or four years ago. This year there has been a great extension of export in almost every staple article of British manufacture ; and yet, notwithstanding the increase of this evil, to which the monopolists pointed us, we find we have a return of prosperity.—(Hear.) Then, they said again, that one great cause of the evil was, that there was so much agi tation in the country. I have no doubt at all that their uneasiness arose from that source.—(Applause,) But it must be borne in mind, that during the last two years, during the latter period of 1843, at any rate, and the beginning of this year, the agitation in favour of the repeal of the corn-yaw was carried on with more energy than it had been at any former period ; and yet, during the time that the agitation was increasing in intensity, the cause of the evils in their eyes being increased, still the evil was gradually diminishing, and we were return ing to prosperity at a rate none of the slowest.—(Ap plause.) Well, now, it is worth remarking that not a single cause to which monopoly ascribed our distress has been removed, and yet the distress itself, in this district, has, to a very great extent, vanished.—(Applause.) Well, I should suppose, then, the monopolists were mis taken, but I dare say they won't acknowledge it, and if people won't swallow the things that were said two or three years ago, they'll have a new stock for you, and if you are not intelligent and inquiring some may be taken in with their new excuses. But what did we say with respect to the distress ? The very first time that the Manchester Chamber of Commerce met, or the very first time that the associa tion met, which afterwards became the Anti-Corn law League, the corn-law was pointed out as the cause of the distress, and we have never varied a hair's-breadth from it from that. time to this.—( Applause.) Well, the distress has abated, and the corn-law is not repealed, and therefore my argument with respect to the monopo listh a v e e ce a x o l c e wu u niadr s 3n e . bs s lesa m aawib i d, g u h btnh t ydaa b wtn e ihtfi t ac u wnh rn edf e ohe d oand" ii ‘ a g gei ! odi s dr t hi m fabrw e v , eeas o lthitl i tslu i a i dn y ebdit t yn, h , norw a ctt t . hdt e l f o .o f od th a ttiaonntaou theun t corn-law to r a n -law ; temporaryaii and under aboli tion,cheap, then the distress would abate. We a repeal of the corn-law, but we have had abundant harvests, e o s t r s , a and gre a t that l relaxation this the distress has abated, and prosperity has returned. —(Applause.) Well, now, I consider our case to be tolerably well proved. I think, if we take twelve men from any county in England, not excepting even Buck inghamshire, and put them into a jury -box, and have an impartial man from any country in the world to try the cause, and we bring the facts and arguments which we have bronght before the public of this country be fore those twelve men, I think they would have no dif ofifeutlhtye i s n uff making s u w p hi t c h h eir th m is in d d i s str a i set,to an t d h e the real p c p a u u l a s e . tion of the country generally, have endured during the last five or six years. Then, if our case has been proved, and if we have all that from the past, what shall we say of the future ? You have been told al ready, that it would be a proof that you had not capacity equal to the level of ordinary instinct if you were to for get what is past, to disregard the lesson it has taught you, and to'neglect to prepare for the future. The Pro vidence which has given two or three good harvests, may give us one, or two, or three more; but we must bear in THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 28, 1844. mind that the course of the seasons cannot be changed, will not bo changed to suit the caprice, the folly, or the criminality of human legislation.—(Applause.) As we have had before, so we shall have again, a change of seasons; and when that change shall come, and if the people of this country have not, in the meantime, be stirred themselves and shaken off this iniquitous impost, I ask you, who can you blame but yourselves, and where can you run for refuge, for your own folly will have led you into danger, and by your own neglect alone will you have allowed these evils again to come upon you. You will again have to suffer those evils which arise from the price of bread rising all over the country; the consumption of the great mass of the people of all kinds of manufactured goods will be greatly crippled; you will have again a great exportation of gold, and a great derangement of the monetary affairs 'of the coun try; you will again have numbers of merchants and manufacturers going rapidly, week after week, into the Gazette, you will again have shopkeepers impoverished, and worst of all, you will again have the labourers of his district, your honest and industrious artisans, plunged into all that distress which we have lately witnessed, and arising from that distress, discontent, dis affection, and a brutalising and barbarising of the minds of the people, such as they have suffered from for the last half-dozen years, and which they are now only par tially getting rid of.--(Applause.) It is impossible to draw a picture too gloomy of that which we have already seen in this district ; and it is much less possible to draw ; a picture of that which must come. if we neglect the power that we have in our own bands, to wipe away these infamous laws. I am sure we have the power ; the statements made by our Chairman to-night proves that we have the power.—(Applause.) The Reform Bill never has been worked by either the liberal or the free trade party in this country.—(Applause.) It may be a bad Bill ; it has flaws enough we all know ; it has pit-falls many for us, and it has privileges far too many for our opponents.--(Applause.) But fur all that, if we will only work it, I am persuaded there is within it enough of the popular principle to enable us to amend it, if need be—(Applause)—and to do many other things which we may think necessary for our welfare.—(Loud applause.) Well, then, if there be a possibility of bad harvests and bad times coming upon us again, I need no other argument to convince you that it is necessary that the agitation of the Anti-Corn-law League should be contiuued.—(Applause.) lam not one who is in the habit of apologising for our agitation, nor do I go, " with bated breath and whispering nimbleness," to ask my Lord this, or squire that, whether it be proper, or legal, or constitutional, or asant, that the Anti- Corn-law League should endeavour to repeal the corn-law.—(Continued applause.) I urn sure, from what we have seen in former years, and what we know now, we have reasons sufficient to convince us, that if ever the agitation of this question were a duty, it is a duty now, and that if we were to let go of it now, we should deserve all the calamities which the very worst legislation which squiredom can carry on could possibly inflict upon us.—(Applause.) Now, I charge the mono polist landowners with being the cause, the direct cause, of the calamities which have afflicted this country for some years past ; and I charge them also with being the direct cause of the deplorable state of things in which their own agricultural counties are now found.—(Hear.) They will find it out by and by ; they will come and ask to have the corn-law repealed some day or other, if we don't force them to do it beforehand.—( Applause.) It is a law which ultimately must bring ruin, and distress, and embarrassment, and discor I around their own baronial halls, as much as it can do in this densely popu lated county. These landowners are too ignorant to legislate for trade.--(Applause.) Mr. Cobden, I think, charged them with being so ignorant that they were not fit to manage a chandler's shop.—(Applause and laughter.) One of them did rise in his place in Parlia ment to protest against such a charge, and to assert a higher character for the order with which he was asso ciated ; he said they were fit to manage a chandler's shop. —(Great laughter.) Their ignorance is so great in all matters of commercial policy, not only upon facts but upon principles, that their selfishness runs them into danger. But there would be no great harm to this country from squiredom, if there were no men in this district foolish enough to help them.—(Hear, hear.) If there be a creature of an order which has never yet been classified, it is a manufacturer in the cotton trade supporting a squire in carrying out a law to starve the manufacturer's labourers, and to destroy his trade.— 'Applause.) Anti yet there are some—a good many— though in the south of England people cannot well be• lieve it.—(Hear, hear.) The nioncpolist landlords them selves, when they passed the corn-law, never for an in stant dreamt that they should receive great support from this district. They have their Buckingham, and manu facturers have their Birley.—(Loud applause.) Now I would be the very last man in this room to say a sylla ble against any man who was acting at an election ita his political character different from me, but acting accord ing to his honest conviction, and after moderate inquiry into the question before him. But when I see a man who, of all men in the world, one would think has a direct interest in the well-being of commerce and manu factures, presiding, as I believe, this man did preside over the election committee for the return of a person pledged to oppose every step in the direction of free trade, I do say that that man is a traitor to the order to which he belongs—(Hear, hear)—and abandons his duty, especially to the great mass of the labourers of' this dis trict, to a large number of whom he gives employment. —(Loud applause.) It may be that this gentleman was perfectly convinced that a fall in the price of bread would involve a fall in the rate of wages, for I have understood that during this week there has been a procession of persons in his employ, discontented with the present rate of wages, and seeking for an advance, grounding their claim upon the in crease of business, and the improvement in business ; thus proving that the statements of the monopolists in this respect were wholly false.—(Applause.) I know not whether this brings conviction to the mind of Mr. Birley, or to any other of his class. I would hope that they acted conscientiously in the courses that they took ; but I do say that it becomes the duty of the free traders of this country, who are five out of every six of the po pulation—(Loud applause)—l say it does become us to mark with our reprobation the conduct of any man, himself deriving his property and his station from the commerce and the manufactures of his country, and when an invader comes to besiege the town, that he himself, traitor-like, by night, as it were, opens the gates and lets in the enemy.—(Cheers.) The last time I was in this hall I listened with extreme pleasure to a speech delivered by Mr. Smythe, the Member for Canterbury, himself the son of a nobleman, and heir, I presume, to a Peerage, a speech from which the monopolist manufac turers of this district would do well to take a lesson.— (Cheers.) He spoke of a time when a citizen of the distinguished city of Mayence c om bi ne d w i t h ot h ers to put down the spoliation of the barons, who lived upon the banks of the Rhine—barons who, as he said, exacted a toll upon the f-Irst necessaries of life.—(Hear, hear.) Now, do you believe that there was a single citizen of Mayence who turned out to fight on the side of the ba ' roes? And yet the monopolist manufacturers are sur roun led by a body of men, nobles of this country—nobles ho exact a t o ll u p on th e fi rs t do not do it by pi s t o l, mus k e t, n b by e e c s o s a u r r i t e e s s y e , t l r i f u e l , y — w h w o ' bayonet, or sword, but who do it by the not less power ful, far more subtle machinery of an Act of Parliament; and when we are assembled here, men all of one order, interested in nothing but the prosperity of the industry of this district and of our country—when we are as sembled together for the purpo se o f protest i ng aga i ns t this invasion of our rights, and calling upon the whole population to march with us, after us, or before us, to re-establish our rights, then we find the monopolist ma nufacturer—and this one I have named the chief among them—actually turning out from this district and siding with the feudal barons, actually endeavouring to strengthen the oppression which we are striving to over throw.—(Loud applause.) I often wonder why it is that men are so willing to bow their necks to men who are ornamented with stars and garters and titles—(Ap • plause)—for I am sure the more I come in contact with these characters, the more I come to the conclusion that it is something far beyond this which constitutes true nobility of character.—(Applause.) And there is not any creature that crawls the earth to my mind more despicable and more pitiable than the man who sacrifices the interests of his own class, and of his own order, and of his country, merely that he may toady somebody who has a title to his name.—(Applause.) He should recollect— "-Title his ill-woven chaplet wears, Full often wreathed around the miscreant's brow ;" and that there are men in the: peerage of every country who are greatly to be despised, as there are some worthy to be honoured to the utmost, in whose hearts their high rank has not driven away all sympathy with the rights and interests of their fellow-men.—(Applause.) And for whom is it that these men degrade themselves, and make these sacrifices ? Why, for a class who don't like us, the producers ; for it is no disrespect to the aris tocracy of this country to say that they don't like trade, because it is not , ,rioui that they valiur themselves chiefly on the very lung period of ante during wnich their an cestors have not been connected with anything so sordid as trade.•—(Applause.) : They prove that they don't like trade, because they make laws which shall cripple trade, and keep it always, as it were, in sw addling-clothes, and never let the infant become a youth, nor the youth a man.—(Hear. hear.) And they are a class, also, of whom it may be said, and I say it with grief, that however bad the laws they pass in Parliament may be, the adminis tration of those laws in their own district s, wh e r e they , reign predominant, is quite as bad as the legislation of may la? sure that, But there is a I which they are guilty.—(APPlaus) with retributive justice—l heard Sir James Graham say that. 1 —(Loud applause.) And when men fail in their duty, or violate great principles, they some titre or other, they will be found out and punished for it. In the southern counties, at this moment, how deplorable is the state of Ointfs ! It is flOt of our telling ; the eyidence etitnes from thetti,elves. I t has nit chamberg,ine e tl f ir; he igh A t u b t e i. z o i r g n n . i f f a y w inte e p a r g o a c e e:s (T)fhti,einzrianneicle offices proclaim it.—(Rear, hear.) Did not one Office didissue a e send down 200/. towards the fund for opening p u bli c parks and walks in Manchester, with a letter in which they complimented the people of Manche ter and the working classes for the energy, zeal, and courage, which, they had assisted in preserving property when i n danger of being destroyed by fire.—(Applause.) And ether r t time, ami within a fortnight of that memorable letter, for I hold it u th n i i s te insurance-offices to be memorable, and most creditable and honourable t town—within lee-effi a fortnight ees m eet not the cular to all their agents in England and Wales —and to o g f et ‘ h h believe, in Ireland—but certainly in England and Wales, in in which they enjoin every agent to make especial • in quiry before he insures farming stock, as to the charac ter and circumstances of the person who wishes to insure. —(flear, hear.) And what are the questions tot) asked ? Is he a man who has received any threateninge letters ? What a horrid state of society it must be, when it is necessary to ask a farmer—has he received a threat ening letter ? What does that mean ?, Is there some body who is ready to burn his premises, and it m a y be, I almost to destroy his life ? Again—has the man who wishes to insure any steam-engine upon his premises ?—any machine for thrashing his grain ? Why, here you have your mills filled with the finest machinery in the world ; and there is not a working man in Manchester who believes that ho would be better off if this machinery did not exist.—(Applause.) But here, in the southern counties, if a man has a steam-' engine on his farm, as they have in Scotland, or a thrash ing machine, which will thrash rather faster than a man can do with a flail, he is held to be in danger of the destruc tion of his property by fire, from the ignorance and yin dictive spirit of the labouring population, and therefore his property cannot have the safeguard of insurance on the same terms, though heretofore farming property had been insured at common risks, I believe at Is. 6d. pre mium upon 1001, which is the same as it is upon dwell ing-houses in this district, and they have no tax upon their insurance as we have.—(Applause.) Now they must pay in all cases, I believe, 35., and in cases where there is any machinery upon the premises, not less than 55. per cent. Well, now, that is retributive justice.— (Applause.) I am not blaming the farmers, except that they have not had spirit enough to prevent this state of things ; it is the landowners who are chiefly to blame ; and to them public indignation will be turned, and they will be asked, in a language which they dare not disregard—How is it that you have neglected the population about your own estates, legislating in Parliament, e,t without opposition, and administering those laws in your own parishes paramount in authority, and ilet,- posed ; how . is it that in your districts such a lamentable state of things exists ?—(Applause.) But for what has been already alluded to, it would be impossible to explain how helpless these unfortunate persons are. I confess, ' I pity them from my heart, as I pity all men who, from ignorance, selfishness, or vice, get into a dilemma and into a difficulty. They are in difficulties, and their help lessness, if it was not to be pitied, would certainly be greatly to be laughed at.--(Applause.) What are their remedies ? They propose to put down incendiarism by giving the people gratuitous exhibitions of fireworks.-- (Loud It.plause and laughter.) I believe it was a pro fessor—Professor Henslow—who proposed this. And there are a variety of others of a like nature. The Honourable Gentleman then read some extracts from an Aylesbury paper, showing the severe treatment of poor criminals in the county of Bucks, and then pro ceeded :—And these are the men to whom lir. I3irley and the monopolist manufacturers of this district are looking up for an approving smile, and fora nod from whom they would endure almost a very agony. —(Cheers and laughter.) These men are thus" who are helping to thin the slices three times it day for these poor children and suffering parents. Oh, I do wonder, after all the discussion we have had on this ; question, that there are men to be found who are not heartily ashamed that they ever said a syllable in favour of such an accursed system.—(Loud cheers.) He says, "If ever a committee should sit on the distress of the agricultural labourer"—but they took care last session, when a committee was asked for, that they would not have one—(Hear, hear)—" I would find them plenty of cases in which single men, of thirty-seven years of age, are only paid 6s. a week. I would prove that many farmers only give 6d. a day to men of three and four and twenty, who have worked from childhood with them, and are known to be as useful as the best men they have !" And so they are. In this book there are many things of a similar description —many not suitable to read in an assembly like this—but theie is one more eattract I would read. He says, the agricultural labourer is generally paid on the principle of giving him just that amount of sustenance that will keep him from claiming relief from the union house. "That as a dweller he .s considered as an incumbrance on the soil, I think is but a fair deduction from the fact of the pains taken to diminish the number of dwellings. And when I com pare the trouble taken to get the best plans for stables, cowsheds, and pigsties, and the money expended in their improvement, with the little effort bestowed on the improvement of the labourer's dwelling, I am forced also to the conviction that he is the last living thing upon the farm whose physical condition is re garded. And yet, he says, while it is allowed by all, that the labourer is physically and morally oppressed, " to take up his cause is, alas ! but to unite all parties against you ; so much as a matter of course, are the worst features of his condition considered, that you are at once considered as a conspirator, both as against land owner and occupier, if you venture to speak a word in his favour ; that he is pauperised from the low wages paid him, demoralised by the circumstances that sur round him, as a matter of general conversation is allowed. Make but the feeblest attempt to enforce his claim to a better treatment, and you are at once set down as a pro pagator of dangerous ideas—one who threatens all man ner of evil—and you will probably be told that you have some party motive or private pique at the bottom of your philanthropy." It appears, by what he says here, that it happens there much, as in this part of the country, that if any man speak of those dis tressed, and presumes to interfere with the profits or amusements of another class, then that class say he is a dangerous man, and that the Association he is connected with ought to be put down by law Now, I have taken this pamphlet on these grounds : it speaks of the county of Dorset ; it is given by a reverend gentleman, an l a man not likely to have been readily moved to take the course he has. And when we recol lect that there has been down in the neighbourhood a Noble Lord who lays claim to feelings of philanthropy, and who professes a desire to improve the state of the working classes generally, there is somethin g surprising about these statements. I can appreci a te the motives of man who seeks to do justice any. where, yet I should admire it more if it were not of that expansive character which looks abroad for its ob!ects, whilst it never sees the evils which exist nearer home.—(Loud applause.) Mr. Bright concluded by saying, that if such was the state of the agricultural districts after thirty years of protection, surely this was not a time to abandon the struggle in which they had so far advanced towards suc- Cess. Mr. BAZLEY. President of the Chamber of Commerce, then moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright, and the meeting, after giving three enthusiastic cheers, separated. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. F 1,031 THE EVENING PAPERS OF SATURDAI. GLOBE.—We find that Mr. George Bankes has been directing the attention of the Dorsetshire magis trates to Sir J. Graham's Bill for paying clerks of the peace and of petty sessions by salaries, instead of fees, and for regulating the fees in courts of criminal justice, in language showing a very unnecessary alarm for the interests of the fee-receivers :—" Public attention had been excited by the great impropriety of charging accused persons with fees on ac quittal. The nature of the question had been in some degree mistaken, fur it had been supposed that all parties accused were liable to these charges. Now, that was entirely a mistake, because in charges of felony no fees of that description were charged. It was, however, by no means just that parties who had been falsely accused (and they had a right to pre sume this of persons who had been acquitted) should be subject to any penalty. But the clerks of the peace ought not to be deprived of the emoluments which their predecessors had enjoyed ; and consequently a difficulty had occurred in the way of putting a stop to a practice which had been reprobated by the magis trates of that bench so long as he could remember. It was very necessary that such a Bill should be intro duced, and be had no doubt it would pass ; but it was also necessary that they should look over it with considerable care, because it was not just that they should deprive clerks of the peace of their fair and proper remuneration." The children of Zeruiah are sure to take good care of themselves ; and however natural it may be for a Tory county Member to anticipate their wishes and over act zeal in their behalf, we should think better of him if he withheld all encouragement of a jobbing opposition, too sure anyhow to arise, to so good an object as that of Sir J. Graham's Bill. These fees, of which Mr. Bankes pretends so much fear that clerks of the peace may be unjustly deprived—fees taken from defendants in misdemeanours—are illegal fees; pro hibited clerks of the peace are prohibited from taking them by the 55th George III.; and their illegality has been affirmed by Sir James Graham, on the autho rity of the Law Officers of the Crown, on Mr. Eseott calling his attention to such fees being still demanded by many clerks of the peace. "It was not just that they should deprive clerks of the peace of their fair and proper remuneration !"—This fair and proper re muneration being fees which are taken in violation of law —as, if they were not illegally taken, they would exist in violation of the plainest principles of justice— from men acquitted on charges of misdemeanour, or discharged for non-appearance of a prosecutor. Out, we say, Mr. Bankes, upon such affectation of justice ! chat fees so indefensible, should continue to be exacted by many clerks of the peace, contrary to law, is only one of many instances of the necessity for a more effective supervision of the amateur adminis trators of criminal justice at Quarter Sessions. A Parliamentary return has been obtained by Mr. Escott (whose persevering exertions to abate this disgraceful practice deserve all praise) of "Fees taken or demanded from defendants in misdemeanours by the Clerks of Arraign and Clerks of the Peace in England and Wales, at the last Assizes and two last Quarter Sessions respectively." Put aside the illegality of these fees ; and that they should be wrung, legally or illegally, from poor men as the price of regaining their liberty after acquittal on a false charge, is enough to make Englishmen blush for their country in which such practices are permitted to exist. The same return shows an amount of upwards of 1101. received by such fees in the two last sessions in Somersetshire. We rejoice to see that Mr. Escott, assisted by Mr. Labouchere, has prevailed on his brother magistrates at Taunton, at the sessions just concluded, to prohibit the clerk of the peace from continuing any longer to take these fees; and we trust other counties will follow this example. STANDARD.—We have long been of opinion that one of the most urgent of necessary reforms is, the improvement of the residences of the poor in large towns. In hamlets and villages, and de tached cottages, there is, perhaps, little occasion for the presence of the reformer; there the youth grows up, and the man lives in the society of his family, generally the best of moral schools ; to transfer this advantage tq great towns, or to provide a substitute for i t, is a problem not yet solved, though its solution, besides being neccessary to the happiness of the poor, mu s t exerc i se an important influence upon society, through all it gradations ; we, therefore, hail with satisfaction every fair experiment that is made in a matter of so much weight, for it is the domestic character makes the man, and the home shapes that domestic character. Never did we, however, read of such an experi ment with so much delight as the report of the proceedings to establish " a sailor's home" at Liverpool. We know not with whom the ad mirable proposition originated, but whoever has the honour of being its author, that good and great man, ,the Rev. Hugh M'Neile, has not only insured the success of the scheme at Liverpool, but rendered cer tain the establishment of a sailors' home in every principal seaport. Let Mr. M'Neile's address be read by any man of Christian or human feeling, and the reverend advocate of truth and humanity has se cured a convert. LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Oct. 26. (Before Mr. commissioner EvA.Ns.) IN RE ALFRED TULLY. Mr. Wm. Nash, a wholesale grocer, near London-bridge, was this in ilning examin,d at considerable length, as to hid trade transeetions with the bankrupt, the well-known proprietor of fancy bazaars in London and its neigh bourhood. The examination was carried as far back as 1842, at which time Mr. Nash was a creditor to the amount of 376 L ; and the bankrupt then, as security for payment, granted a warrant of attorney on certain lease hold property at Hackney. Failing in his payment, judgment was, in September last, entered up against the bankrupt, an execution was put into the premises, and a tiat issued against the bankrupt. The examination was further postponed. CENTRAL CitIMINAL COURT. (Before Mr. Justice MAULE and Baron ROLFB.) On Saturday, James Carruthers, who was on Friday convicted of sending certain threatening letters to MessrS. Coutts and C o ., the" bankers, with the intent to extort money from them, was brought up for judgment, when. Mr. Justice Maule sentenced him to be imprisoned for twelve calendar months. ' John Henderson, who pleaded guilty on Friday to two indictments charging him with forgery on his master, time proprietor of Morley's Hotel,. was also brought up for judgment, and sentenced to two years' impriconment on each indictment. Abraham Myers Was indicted for feloniously cut. ting and .11 - Aim:lig Robert Clayard, a livery-stable keeper, with intent to kill and murder him. There were other counts in the indictment, charging the prisoner's intent to be to do the prosecutor some grievous bodily harm. - Mr. CHARNOCK stated- the case on the part of the prosecution, and afterwards called several witnesses, from whose evidence it appeared that on the 24th of .September the prosecutor went into the Crown public-house, in Cranbourne-passage, and that the prisoner entered shortly afterwards; that a quar rel took place between them, and the prosecutor, having applied an offensive epithet to the prisoner, they proceeded from words to blows, and during the struggle that ensued the prisoner forced his thumb into the prosecutor's mouth, and also attempted with one of. his fingers to gouge out the prosecutor's eye. They were, however, separated by some of the people in the house, and the prisoner afterwards retired into the parlour; the prosecutor followed, and they re mained there for nearly an hour without anything fur ther taking place between them. At the expiration of that time, however, the prisoner went out for a few minutes, and on his r e t urn t h e prosecutor sa id to hi m, " Aby, let's have no more animosity," and offered to shake hands with him. The prisoner, apparently with the intention of accepting this offer, took hold of the prosecutor's right hand with his left hand, and then suddenly drawin g a b u t c h er ' s - knife from his pocket, said, " I'll have your heart's blood," and in stantly stabbed the prosecutor with it in his breast. The knife very fortunately struck against the prose cutor's ribs, or be must have been killed instantly. The prisoner then made a second stab at the prose cutor, but the latter caught hold of the knife with his hand, but in so doing was severely wounded, and his thumb nearly cut off. The prisoner then threw down the knife and ran away, but was immediately pur sued and taken into custody. - The knife was produced. It was a large-sized butcher's knife, with a very sharp point. Mr. CLAItKSON made a long address to the jury on behalf of the prisoner, in which he said he could not attempt to justify his conduct, but urged in extenua tion the very great provocation he had received. . Mr. Baron 4oLiE haying summed up the evidence, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of assaulting the prosecutor yvithintent to do him some grievous bodily harm. . The Learned JUDGE, in passing sentence, said the crime of the prisoner was very much aggravated by the circumstance of; his temper having had time to cool after the provocation which,he had received, and his afterwards going out and deliberately providing himself with a knife, with which the wound on the prosecutor was inflicted. The case was one that called for severe 'punishment, aril therefore the sen tence of the'Court on the prisoner was, that he be transported for fifteen years. Herbert Holmes and Wm. Newman were indicted for feloniously cutting and maiming Bayley, the captain of the ship Cuba, on the high seas, and within the jurisdiction- of the Admiralty. It appeared that thevessel in question was off the coast of Savanilla,, on the 31st of July last, engaged in taking in her, cargo, when the cook got very drunk, and interfered with the crew in such a way as to prevent them performing their duty; at length the captain ordered' the cook to be tied hand and foot and put ender a sail which was . on the deck. The prisoners deClared that their shipmate should not be treated in such a manner, and Holuies drew a knife, with which he attempted to hamstring the captain, and although he failed. in his object, he inflicted a severe wound in the calf of his leg. The jury found Holmes Guilty, and Acquitted the other prisoners Mr. Justice MAuLE sentenced Holmes to be trans ported for fifteen years. This trial terminated the session, and the Court was adjourned to- Saturday, the 2d of November, on which day the Learned Judges will meet and ar range the days for holding the sessions of the Court for the ensuing year. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. (SATURDAY.) LAMBETH-STREET. Messrs. Johnson and Lee, the proprietors of the Royal Pavillion heatre, IVhitechapel road, attended before Mr. Norton to answer the complaint of Mr. John Sculthorp, colour merchant, of Brick-hill-lane, Upper Thames-street, City. The magistrate was occupied for a considerable time, and until nearly six o'clock, in hearing the par ties pro and con., but the brief facts of the case were these :—On the night of Thursday week, the benefit of Mons. Plege, the celebrated French tight-rope dancer, who had been engaged for some time before at the Pavilion Theatre, was announced to take place at that house, and by way of astonishing the natives, as well as inducing additional attraction, the bills, in addition to the performances, set forth that Mons. Plege was to walk from the Mile-end gate to the theatre upon stilts sixteen feet high. The even ing being exceedingly gloomy and dark, the Mon sieur on stilts was preceded by a blue light which threw forth extraordinary brilliancy,"and brought to gether an immense concourse of persons. During the performance of this feat Mr. Sculthorp was driving down the Whitechapel-road in a phaeton ac companied by four friends, and his horse upon the approach of the blue light became perfectably un manageable, upset the vehicle, and every person in it was more or less injured, one gentleman so much so that he is obliged still to keep his bed. The horse, the harness, and vehicle, were also very much injured, and upon Mr. Sculthorp making an application to Messrs. Johnson and Lee, whom he considered liable for the amount of damage—ll/. odd—he c.mceived those gentlemen had not met him in that spirit which as men of the world they ought, and ultimately he appealed to Mr. Norton to afford him some redress for the injury he had sustained. Messrs. Johnson and Lee denied their liability, on the ground that the accident occurred alone through the carrying of the blue light by a person over whom they had no control whatever. Mr. Scuithorpe assured the magistrates that there were other bills of the performance on the night in question, in which the stilt-walking was made a pro minent feature. Besides, the lessees of the theatre took two-thirds of the receipts of the theatre on the night in question, and the Frenchman only received I one-third, so that there was no doubt upon his mind as to their liability to pay the whole of his damage, or at all event, two-thirds of it. Mr. Lee admitted that himself and his partner were aware that Mons. Plege was about th walk on stilts from the Mile-end-gate to the theatre, but with respect to the bills alluded to they knew nothing about them. The bill exhibited to his worship was that alone authorised by them. Mr. NORTON thought the exhibition in so public a thoroughfare highly dangerous, and he was some what surprised that the police should have allowed it. It was his opinion, under the circumstances, that 1 Messrs. Johnson and Lee were liable for the amount of damage, and therefore recommended an amicable arrangement with the complainant, who had, throughout, acted with much kindness and forbearance. Mr. Sculthorp said, as ha understood the French man had only received a third of 261. for his benefit, he would reduce his demand to six guineas. Messrs. Johnson and Lee thought the paym en t or such a demand would forma dangerous precedent, and it was ultitnr,,tely arranged that the case should stand over, and a summons was issued for the appear- ante of Mons. Plege on a future day, UN/ ON-Wil 44: Samuel 41ra4weg was charged with furious driving and causing a serious accident to a horse. The defendant was driving a caxt and sitting in front •••••- nf it, gallopping along Guildford-street, when a Ills: driving another vi hide was run against, and his h° r 5,,,, sustained such injury that the owner will be ebligea have it killed. Mr. TRAILL inflicted a fine of 40s. on the defeadsll4 besides adjudging him to pay 104 the value of the WWI or in default to six weeks imprisonment. MARKET NEWS.—(SATURDA Y.) COVENT-GARDEN. both Although we had an unusually .large supply o ' r Fruit and Vegetables, a very extensive business was t rans : acted at full prices :—Potatoes, from 2s 9d to 4s 9d per cwt ; Turnips, 2s to 3s ; Carrots, 4s to 6s • Coleivo rt* or Greens, 28 to 3s 3d ; and Leeks, is id to 2 3 dozen bunches • Common Plums, 2s to 3s 3d ; ARP., and Pears, 2s id to 4s ; Spinach, 8d to is 6d ; 0017 a Is 6d to 2s 6d ; and French Beans, is 6d to 23 ', A per half-sieve ; Pine Apples (English), 5s to 7 e ,r, Out-door English Grapes, 4d to 8d; Hothouse a 1,70 4s to 5s ; Foreign Grapes, 4d to 10d ; Filberts,, ls; and Cobb Nuts, 8d to 10d per lb ; English Me to 4s ; and Foreign ditto, is 6d to Ss each; Cabbages, 2s to 5s 6d ; and White ditto, 8d to 25 _„it dozen ; Horse Raddish, 2s to ss; Broccoli, is to 2s 6d; omr Celery, 8d to 2s per bundle ; Mushrooms, 8d to 13 , punnet ; English Hazle Nuts, 4s to 5s per bu shel' English Walnuts, 8d to is 3d per 100. zelE SAXE AND X.BADENNAT.S. steady The prinivst Beef and Mutton commanded a e te 7f inquiry at full prices- in other kinds of Mest little was doing. Beef, from 2s 6d to 3s 6d ; 3 1 °" — At i 2s 8d to 3s 3d; Veal, 3s 4d to 4s 4d ; and Pork , 25 " 0 to 3s 10d per 81bs by the carcase. We had a very la t h e supply of both Game and Poultry, owing to whi ch Is demand ruled heavy, at very moderate prices. S WI S , sold at from is 9d to 3s ; Ducks, is 6d to 2s ; Gees e ,,l to Os; Hares, 2s; Partridges, is 3d to is 6d; Phes enm 3s 6d; and Grouse, 2s each. NEWPORT. The trade with each kind of Meat wa ; inactive, at o c a quotations. Beef, from 2s 6d to 3s 6d ; Mutton, 23 : t0 to 3s 8d ; Veal, 3s 6d to 4s 4d ; and Pork, 2s 1 0 ° 4s per 81bs. WRITECRAPEZ. With the exception of prime Matto t selling steaost at full prices, the general demand wis heavy, at n - 8 d quotations. Beef; from 2s 8d to 3s 6I ; Mutton. -45 6 4 to 35 8d ; Veal. 3s 2d to 4s 4d ; ald Pork, 25 to 3s 10d per 81bs. • ICITNGEP.PORD. i t We had only moderate supplies of mpst articles• the demand was extremely inactive, at late rates. ' BILLINGSGATE. . v The demand for Fish was in a slu;gish state, Yew have no material variation to notice in the quotation'" BREAD. tts The prices of wheaten Bread in the Metropohmis from 7d to 7id ; of household ditto, sii to 6id loaf.. BIDE MARKET. 'fer s F Raw hides at per sto ne ofl4lb.—B e st steers and he' ~ 5s 4d to 5s 8d ; middling hides, 4s 8d to 59 od ; t i terior hides, 4s 2d to 4s 6d. Sheep and calf skit per skin.—Market calf, 6s 6d to 8s Od ; long W 0 Sheep, 2s 3d to 3s 6d ; short ditto, 2s to 3s. riLELR3LkTS. • SMITHFIELD.--Coarse Meadow Hay, 31 12s to 411 Useful ditto, 41 12s to 51 ; fine Upland ditto, , 5 0 , /to , to 5/ 53 ; Clover Hay, 41 lOs to 5/15s ; Oat Straw, I ,` It tus ; Wheat Straw, 11 lOs to 1/ 12s per load. Pur 4 tolerably good, and trade rather chill. CUMBERLAND.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 31 Iss to 41 125; Useful ditto, 4114 s to 51 ; fine Upland ditto, 5 1 3 , 5 0 it 5/ 8s ; Clover Hay, 418 s to Si 14s ; Oat Straw, 11 B A . f . itir 11 s ; Wheat Straw, 1/ 12s to 11 14s per load. av,rage supply, and a steady demand. 1 05; WRITECHAPEL.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 3/10s to 4 to Useful di; to, 41 12s to 5/ ; fine Upland ditto, 2 1 , 13 § 51 6s ; Clover Hay, 41 10* to 6/3s ; Oat StraW , to 1/ lOs ; Wheat Straw, 11 lOs to 11 12s per Both Hay and. Straw sold slowly at barely late rat.* WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET.—FRIDA I • r de Notwithstanding the large arrival of Wheat the ! ,ifig , has been very firm, and a fair extent of business 11 5 ; 00 1 upon fully as good terms as last week. Good salle ie s, Barley are scarce, and command rather better Pr o 9. Oats, Shelling, and Beans also find a better sale , small improvement in value. . 1. Wneat Suffolk, Essex , and Kent.. Per it q ed r. of 6°lExb. tioatt9l:e bt 1 : " 'W: 5 46.1 Ditto ' ditto .... .. White... --- 53 ,, 4 4 45 Norfolk. .... ................ Red ..... 4 .... 4", 4 1 Ditto ditto White... '',„,' 45 40 Lincolnshire and Cambridge Red....... '.„' 41 4 5 ditto .. ..... • Ditto Yorkshire Red....... ''; 45 0 Ditto ditto White... 01 41 J .O Foreign ftc ' __ 49 46 .., . Ditto ditto .......... White 52 •perli Per quar , :r lin 6 Barley, Norfolk anal Suffolk .... .............„....» — 38 ai 4 49 Yorkshire and Lincolnshire 95 •-• 51 . Grinding Foreign =scans, Small t;ne .... ....... ................. r .: .... q ... r. 2 63lb - - . 3 ; :: : a i i'llel. TioloS •.«,•••••••.....• .......... •••••.« .......... •••• '.l SJ Foreign .................. ................... flats, 1 ,,, tat0 aid Pole d Mealing ...... .. lild. to 12d., Fcrcign —d to —d- l'' . ili 3 S INilitig ' -.. 25a. to :i6, od. P L " - .• d . Mitt Rtoesee.l 251.03 t.eflt. Os. —t. ": ''' RAILWAY RETURNS. 00 0 ' RAir.vrav TRAFFIC.—The following are the Total Receipts 0 .03 oe ways for the past week—that is to say, up to the date to w ill 60 ° respective returns are made, together with the receipts of the week in the previous year r..,0 • 33/ r 4 t. 7 25 , Week ending Last week. NAB OF RAILWAY. Oct. 19 18 Arbroath and Forfar •• •• Birmingham and ......Gloucester•••• Brandling Junction . Bristol and Gloucester • • • •• Chester and Birkenhead. •• Dublin and Dregheda• • • • • . ... Dublin and Kingstown .............. Dundee and Arbroath. .. Durham and Sunderland ..... Edinburgh and Giasgow ........... Eastern Counties and North Eastern• • Glasgow, Kilmarnock. and _lyr Gbtsgow and Greenock.. • • • Grand junction .................... t North of Englaial ............ Great Western . ............ Liverpool and Manchester London and Birmingham . • London and Blackwall— • ..... • London and Brighton ............... London and Croydon. London and Greenwich London and South We5tern. ........ Manchester, Bolton, and Bury ...... Manchester and Birmingham........ Manchester, Leeds, and Hull Assoc.. Midland Counties ............ ...... . Newcastle and Darlington ...... .... Newcastle and Carlisle .. • .. • Newcastle and North Shields.. North Union and Bolton and Preston Paris, Corbeil, and Orleans-- Paris and Rouen ................... Preston and Wyre Sheffield and Manchester....•..•.... South Taff Vale .... ... Ulster . Yarmouth anti Norwich York and North Midland 2,72* , r 1,1 53 516 635 ssl go 7 2,20 6 i':9 I,9nt' 17,1 51 4,943 16,9,3 X 8 1 .2 5,173 1,525 .773 6,869 - 939 3,488 7,202 10,8 59 1,068 1,773 1,525 6,260 5,557 222 868 772 241 2,615 MARRIED. tor, at of On the 23d inst., at Bayton, the Rev. M. Garfit, z e :gbv - Stretton, Rutlandshire, to Isabella Mary, youngeti Vt ir of George Richards Denshire, Esq., of Thetford .1 1 °"" colnshire. On the 24th inst., at St. Luke's Church, Choise* f G. S., the eld es t son of James Eyres Coward, Esq., 0 zlorP4 ton, Devon, t o A nne, d aughter of the late John Ex ton Esq., of Leicester. On the 24th inst., at Bishop's Tawton, Devon , . 131 :Vc!! wards, of Bath, t o Fanny, eldest daughter of W. 0 DIED. 1' On the 24th i nst., M r. He Gardner, o f Croifn - Mile-end-road,' On the 24th inst., at Weymouth-street, Portland -I', Marv, relict of the late R. Stone, Esq., aged 88. df,st °ll On the 24th i ns t., Ed war d H os i er Williams, Esq" - Mascott, Shropshire. .1 0936# On the 24th i ns t., i n R egency - square, Brighton, Sir Martin Lloyd, Bart., of Lancing, Sussex, aged 8 3 - On the 24th inst., in Belgrave-square, Dehany, Esq , late solicitor to the Excise. ondm: Printed and Published by UMW° YO a 111 Nu. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sus gl 4) " . S -and, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the Dii v"-- idlesex, Monday, October 28, 1844. # tOr Many of the merchant s are express i ng grew" t y easiness at the order issued by the Lord Mayo: T o p efilict that no person will b e a d m i tte d i nto t l ie r° or Mansion-house -street, Cornhill, Barthoir, i new-lan e l e o. Threadneedle-street, after nine o' c l oc k on M ou daY ' w e* With respect to bills of exchange, as has alreadY ;of stated, there is no law to distinguish Monday from other day, and yet the abo ve or d er w ill render the, E , la sentation of them for pay men t a b so l utely imposs'beef all the principal streets of London. Had the OP ° limited to ten or eleven o'clock, the dissatisfaction n ot lce have been less general, but the merchants do not Il e : many of their lett ers until nine o'clock, a nd there , day is entirely l os t, though there is n o thi n g in the , 0 1 of the country to provide against the conseque n „ °e ed such an occurren ce . Th e f ee li ng in the city °bola strong on this s u bj ec t, an d certainly some steps s d W be taken to relax an t.', - eaer that, if enforced, ma y le t 'nes. great inconveillence in the commercial world.— I , 4 " f idlif DREADFUL DESTITUTION.—Mr. Wakley On -1; ' l OO held an inquest on the body of a man named fis h ' A fter had died in Marylebone. His widow stated, that 0 0 having pawned every article they possessed, s he e bili compelled, he bei ng t oo ill to wor k , to apply for Parcoo relief, but it was re f use d h er, and he died from „,! want (it appear e d) i n a f ew d ays afterwards. .Pife roner declared h e cou ld see t h e poor woman herse. d ber literally starving at that very moment. She s° Sora e children (four in number) were in a similar state. o re medicine had been given to her husband, but they be told that if they applied again for relief they W 0 t> " passed" to th e i r p ar i s h , wh i ch they did not des' via. their only chance of em pl oyment was where t hey ale The Coroner e x p resse d hi s di sgust at such a 11° /post state of things, and adjo u r ne d th e i nques t fora ,03.0 marten: examination, meanwhile giving the poor "'- some silver for her immediate relief. BIRTHS. On the 17th inst., the lady of Albert Green, Esq.'s Grand Parade, Brighton, of a son, Lanark tb i On the 19th inst., a t B rakf i eld House, New Lan .- Of wife of Charles Walker, Es q., of a daughter. ef' On the 21st inst., Mrs. Woods, Brixton-rise, qdrr a son. a r r, On the 22d inst., in Southampton-street, Bloom° square, Mrs. W. L. Donaldson, of a daughter. of ° On the 19th inst., at St. Martin's-lane, Mrs. A gi bble daughter. 11 ' On the 20th inst., at Lowestoft, the ladof the Cunningham, of a son. y On the 21st inst., at Hackne Mrs. N. S. CO dfreP of d !';iighter. y , DX On the 22,1 inst., at Hanworth H a ll, Norfolk, the 0 , - Henry Rudd, Esq., of Stoke Newington-green, Lo n a son. tt,t \VI v t , Cot lak l,