The Sun. — London, England, 1839-07-12 00:00:00

of Canada as to any definitive settlement of their sffairs. He could not throw the whole blame on the Government, as the Hon. Baronet near him had don e, because some of it rested with the 800. Gentlemen opposite, for their ; view of political morality was the mr,st extraordinary he ' had ever heard of. They thought they bad no right to suggest a better plan than that of the Ministers, end ; that they had discharged their duty when they had exercised their perverse ingen u it y in thwarting every iplan proposed.—(Cries o f " riear, hear.") He blamed the Government beca u se they had not met the s e facti ou s feelings in a limper way by bringing forward good men. sures, and then trusting to the feeling of the country. The Right Hon. Baronet opposite had taken a larger view i than was usual of the institutions of Canada. He (Mr. 1 Buller) was aware of the difficulty which must exist in making such a change as Lord Durham had proposed, but no one could den!" that there was a radical vice to which a sweep.ng and poompt remedy ought to be applied. But the difficulties w'uich existed there were hot peculiar to those colonies. There was not one colony in which the present system. had not caused a stoppage of the machine of Government, and there must be some common vice for all this miachtief. Let them compare these states with the ' neighbouring states of the union. There was not any thing in which the British provinces had not an advantage over the states of the union, and yet if they were compared with respect to civilization, tranquillity, content, fegisla ; tion, and the 'administration of justice, every Englishman must blush rat the deplorable inferiority which characterised the proviroces under the British crown. The vice was this, that whereas in the Union the people manage their (ran affa'ars, ourcolonial system excluded them. This was the vice which Lord Durham had proposed to remove. His object ; also was to settle the quarrel between th.e races. The, great object and principle of the union that had been preeposed—its great purpose was to form these ill-used and Misgoverns I colonies into one united community, having suflieient intelligence and power to be entrust,- a with the ,management of its own affairs while the ccnneatien with the British empire subsisted, and if any unfortunate event should cause a separation, that they rnig'at be enabled to defend themselves and maintain their ;independence.— ( Hear, hear.) Ile was not one of tiro ,e who thought that colonies were of no use, and that they avere only to be go verned by force. He thought they avere of much more importance in opening resources .ti the superabundant po pulation of the mother country, and of new markets for her manufacturing industay. If these great nod im portant objects were kept in view and acted apon, he did not see how the colony you'd ever come into collision with the mother country. After all he had seen of the government of these colonies, and all the evidence he could collect, it v i rpeared to him that that was the only sure and l'gitionte way of attaching them, as it was the Only 'neves of securing harmony, tranquillity, and cffiaient Govern ,n en a,_( Hear, hear.) With respect to the remark of the, Right Hon. Baronet about apprehended insurrec tieratry movements on the Canadian frontier, his own ob -1 P . -a - Nation had led him (Mr. C. Buller) to believe that I there n ee d b e no appre h ension of invasion from the American frontier, although ho believed, from all that he had heard, that there was some probability of insurrection in the province of Lower Canada, although from the total want of concert, unity of purpose, and of numbers of the disaffected, such an undertaking could only be looked upon as little short of madness. He had been abeseal for defending the American Government, but he . persisted in maintaining that they had acted 'D perfect good faith with the British Government.— ' t Hear, hear.) Considering the nature of the frontier and the population residing on it, he believed it was im possible for the American Government to prevent occa sional incursions. The American Government, however, had good right to complain that while they were required to take measures for t):,e preservation of neutrality along the frontier, the British Government was, to a great ex tent, neglecting is own duty.—( Hear, hear.) He con fessed he saw with great regret that the plan for the for- Mation of a union of the two provinces, and the settlement of the Government on a permanent basis had not been taken up with proper vigour and determination, be cause he believed that the union of these two, or rather he shoold say, of all the British North American pro vince% was the only means of establishing their frau quility and s ecur i ng t h e i r independence.—( Cheers. ) With respect to the Noble Earl's Report to which allusion had been made, he fully concurred in every word of it, and he w as satisfied that it would henceforth become the text-book of colonial Government over all the wide possessions of t hat coientry.—( Hear, and cheers.) Mr LABOUCHERE would not detain the House by any lengthened remarks from doing that nhich was the Particular business of the day—namely, proceeding to the FAisideration of the details of the Bill in Committee. He *elieved th at no essent i al difference existed in principle ; 11 .Ftwcen H on . M embers on that and the other side of the louse- There was a general impression that it was their duty to provide immediately and without delay for that which was a necessity of the most urgent nature in Lower Canada, nam e l y , to take care, while mitigating the spirit *of the arbitrary Government they had been compelled to pose, that they should not run the risk of imposing any practical grievance upon the Province by disabling the Legislature front carrying into effect the necessary mea sures . for the improvement of the Colony, and which was calculated to give a stimulus to the industry of its inhabitants. With reference to thej:il a n w o a f s pa n c o i n fi e cat k or e t that had been pr o p ose d , he believed there employment mid industry, and no measure so likely to pia• duce a political calm as that which would induce them to turn their attention to well considered plans of commercial rdagricuh ura l i m p rovement. L et the House consider that it asirnpossible to pass any measure of police, or for the pro /notion of private enterprise, until additional powers were ceeferred. upon the G overnment b y the interference of that bot Rouse. H o entreated Honourable Members, as .sh sides appearod to be agreed u p on t h e genera l prin ciple, to p ut a:o end to the present state of things, w ith regard to the revenue of Lower Canada, his Hon. Friend (C. Buller), who occupied in that House, on Cana dian affroirs, a kind of semi-official character—( A laugh) Ia I made a, greet mistake in estimating it at 140,000/. a year. In 180.'2 it was 153,0001. In 1837 it had fallen to 92,0001. and in. 1838 it was Tao more than 95,000/.—a diminution not towing to any decrease of consumption on the part of the inhabitants, bv,t to the substitution of articles menu factured by theanselves - for commodities exported from this country. Now the amount of the civil expenditure was 60,0001 annually, leaving only 35,000/. for the local . . purposes— prArposes, let it be recollected, not merely of public imprsevements, as canals and railroads, but all those itnumera'ele objects met by local assessments: among others, fee i•mportant objects of education. Was it then to be wondered at that Lord Durham and Sir John Colborn, .. shoal represent everything in the country as starved? and was it unwise to give to the Governor and Council the g , ,neral power of meeting these wants? To attempt to r'.eprive them specifically would be useless, and would be to rem the risk of omitting those most necessary and impor. taut. So with respect to tenures; could there be any objection to vesting the Governor in Council with the Power of framing such measures as might appear bene ficial, coupling that power with the restriction requiring the kteovsledge and sanction of Parliament; thus show. in g t h e caution with which it was conferred. Let it never be overlooked that the most pressing evil in the c w el ?nY was the di s t u rb ance o f th a t con fid ence i n p ro p el ty pe pleb i t was so a ll i mportant to preserve.—( Hear.) (vele were not able to invest their money—they had no sec urity for their investments.—( Hear, hear.) Was it " fe—was it wise—was it politic to continue this sYstem for another year ?—( Hear, hear, hear.) Ile w as aware of the meaning of that cheer—that it was the du ty of the Government during this Session of Parlia nlent to have brought forward some measure for the per i,nanent and effi c i en t se ttl emen t o f L ower C a nada.—( Hear, i e ar.) He did not deny that it would have effected im ble°sQ good, and during the early part of the Session it had ° ea "the anxious desire of the Govetnment to have done s s, c ' ; but e ven d ur i ng t h e course o f t h e present d e b ate ""onourable Gentlemen must have heard many things which should induce them to pause before they proceeded to inculpate the Government for not bringing forward aconclusive mea sure d ur i ng thi s S ess ion. But the Go vernment had only to choose between evils, hence ho Would admit that it would be exceedingly gratifying if the Government could have sent over to the Canadas a Bill n 1 which that H ouse, b y consent i ng to t h e secon d rea di ng , had,i affirmed th e t wo grea t pr i nc i p l es o f U n i on and of Municipal Government. He would not occupy the at tentionof the H ouse f ur th er th an to express hi s h ope th a t t hey would consent to go into Committee on the present Bill l Sir E. „ SUGDEN was prepared to go every justifiable Canada. en g‘u in F.upporting the Government in legislating for I The Noble Lord had stated last year that in fi e g'sl,a';:ng for these colonies he was not prepared to sacri „?7 %fie French Canadians to British interests ; those were :ure grounds on which he was prepared to act, and to give every assistance to her Majesty's Government ; but al though he was prepared to do this, he was not prepared to give any power to the Governor and Council which should go directly against the interests or prejudices of the French Canadians. The provisions of the present Bill were cal culated to rouse the feelings of the French Canadians, and to produce an enmity between the two races, to which Lord Durham had alluded in that Report, which he did not understand until to-night, was to he henceforth the manual of all Reformers in all colonies, although he did not know how a confidential communication from a Governor of a colony to her Majesty herself should become such a manual, but the Noble Lord had expressed his opinion that there enust be a conflict between the two races. The French Canadians had abused their authority, and he would not reinvest them with the power they had abused ; but whilst he was prepared to coerce them as far as might be necessary, he would not go beyond. Now, with regard to tenures, the present Act proposed to give the Governor in Council power to alter these tenures, that was, to alter the laws affecting the property of French Canadians. Would the House abandon its legislative functions, and entrust them to the Governor in Council. He knew very well the meaning of laying the Bills on the table of that House; it was an indirect day of doing that which if done should be done in a direct manner. It was of vital i nportance that the French Canadians should never have taken from them that law of property which had been assured to them in the manner in which it had been. On the conquest of the country it had been made subject to the laws of England, but in 1774 an Act was passed reciting that the law of England had been found so utterly inapplicable to the condition of the French Canadians that it was necessary to restore to them the Law of France, and they were now going to give th e Governor in Council power to alter all the tenures of the French Canadians. This was unjust and impolitic. He Would admit that feudal tenures were absurd in connection with a liberal Constitution,but the absurdity was committed 1 by this country in giving them a liberal Constitution. The French Canadians constituted five-sixths of the popula tion, and did the Noble Lord believe that when the Union should take place these coercive laws would render the French Canadians amenable to reason. He thought the present law ought to be defined, instead ( of making thi s a supplemental Act to a measure which the Noble Lord had stated it was his intention to introduce next Session. If they gave their assent to the provisions i of the present Bill the Noble Lord. would say next Session that they haul pledged themselves to the projected Union. He cautioned the House against placing themselves in such_ a p os i t i on. He thought it extremely wrong tie t the House should be called upon to act upon papers that had ....... ____ EVENING .ED ETION. only been laid upon the table that day, especially when it was considered that those papers contained points upon which the French Canadians had made great resistance Session after Session. The House ought to remember that they acre legislating for fifty thousand proprietors of the soil, who had among them a million of acres, which they held under the feudal system, and whoever took their rights away from them committed a flagrant set of injustice. Would the House, he would ask, attempt to take away those powers at the close of a Session, when tile House was necessarily thin, which they would not attempt to take away during the last Session, when they had all the facts connected with the subject before them? If a proper degree of energy had been shown by the Noble Lord on this subject, a great deal of the difficulty and mischief that had arisen in Canada might have been avoided.—( Hear, hear.) Mr. HUME would detain the House but a very short time. The Right Hcn, Gentleman who had just sat do;vn had made the best Radical speech on this subject that he had heard for some time. The Right Hon. Gen tleman had stated that taxation and representation ought to go together, and that nothing was more monstrous than that the Canadians should be taxed by this Council. In all that he (Mr, Hume) agreed. That was a lesson witch the Right Hon. Bayonet and the Noble Lord would do well to take to themselves—they had both erred in this respect, for they had suppressed the ceenstitutionel rights of the Canadians. The delay and dilatory spirit of the Government had given rise to r4ost of the difficulties upon Canada, but that the same delay might occur next Session in bringing forward that measure which all concurred in thinking was so desir able to be adopted. He had always held they destroyed their own colonies by interfering with their legis lature, and regulating their own affairs ; and he had no hesitation in saying, that all the difficulties which the Right Baronet statsd to be in the way of legislation, were all difficulties that have been created by the British Government not making the Executive Council accord with the popular body in each Province. He was as ready as any man could be to blame the Ministers for their dila toriness in legislating for Canada-4 Hear, hear)—but con. sidering that the Ministers themselves admitted the fault— considering that the Right Hon. Baronet also admitted that he was to blame—he should recommend his Hon. Friend to withdraw his amendment.—(Cheers and disap probation.) S. O'BRIEN endeavoured to address the House arnidsi:general interruption and cries of " Divide." After some minutes' dumb show the House divided. The numbers were— For the motion For the amendment Majority for going into Committee —195 Mr. HUME proceeded to say that he would rather be under a single despot than under several. Let them have Sir John Colborne if they pleased. Mr. LE AD E Rsaid the only object of appointing so many Councillors was to avoid the responsibility. Mr. DUNCOMBE asked the Hon. Gentleman to show some substantial reason why the present Councillors should be superseded by twenty new ones. Mr. L ABOUC HE RE explained. Those Councillors would be - responsible to the public. Mr. HUME said the Legislative Assembly had been so; yet fur ten years they had laughed the people of the province to scorn. Out of 88 there were always 80 oa the same side. The number of twenty Councillors instead of twelve was at length agreed to. The Coriimittee then divided on the question whether clause 1 should stand part of the Bill or not, and the numbers were— For the clause.. Against it Majority On the second clause being put, after Mr. L A BOU- C HE RE had proposed some verbal amendments, Lord STANLEY said that the House must recol lect that when the Governor and Special Council was established last year, it was under circumstances of absolute and imperative necessity that powers so exten sive and so despotic had been conferred, and they could be only justified by the consideration of the state of anarchy in which the Province was then placed, and the necessity of providing an ad interim Government. Five restrictions were impose,: on this despotic authority; first, that he should have no power of enacting permanent laws; second, that he should not impose taxes beyond those already in existence ; third, that he should have no power of interfering with the legislative authority, or with the qualifications of electors ; fourth, that he should have no power of violating an Act of the British Parliament, which, under certain cir. cumstances, the local Legislature possessed : three out of these four restrictions it was now proposed to do away with, and the fifth, that he should not appropriate to the service of the Province a larger sum than had been so appro priated in 1832, they were about to evade, by enabling the Governor to raise sums from other sources, and applying them to those services. The principle he should go upon would be to define and restrict the Governor's power within accurate limits, beyond which he should not go. The principle of the Government on the contrary was that no powers should be denied to him except those which were expressly excepted by this Bill. Which course was the safe one to adopt? There could not be a doubt that it would be better to confine the powers granted strictly to such as were necessary for carrying on an ad interim government, so as to avoid anarchy and con fusion. It was most important that these powers should be so limited as would enable the legitimate Government which should succeed to confirm or reject his acts, so as to make legitimate Government work for the public advantage. If the clause remained as it now stood, what was to ensue ? There was nothing which affected the social relations of the country which they might not form, unrestricted by any authority except the assent of the Crown. The House ought to pause before granting this unconstitutional power. He would not consent to give the power of permanently legislating ; and without any restriction, taking the whole community for any purpose, and authorising other persons to tax the community—delegating the power to municipal bodies hereafter to be created to tax Lower Canada for municipal purposes. This power was so monstrous that be was confident the Committee would never sanction it. If the Government showed to what extent they wanted this power he would go with them. Nothwithstanding what had been said by the Hon. Member for Lisk ea rd, he (Lord Stanley) would not admit that it was the duty of his (the Opposition) side of the House, although they had during the Session taken it upon themselves to a consider able extent—(Hear, hear)—to remedy the blunders made by the Government. He was willing to give a great por tion of the powers asked, but he could not consent to an unlimited power of taxation. It was said they ought to have all the powers which were not expressly denied. On the contrary, he (Lord Stanley) said they ought to have no power given, except that which was expressly conferred. It was acknowledged that there was a surplus revenue. Why, then, could it not be ap plied to the purposes of quarantine and registr) ? He was ready to give permanent taxation if they would limit the subjects which were necessary to promote the local improve ment of the country, the preservation of peace by the im ployment of police, and the system of lighting, watch ing, &c. They (the Opposition) objected not to delegat ing the power of making local improvements, but did object to giving the power of framing such large and gene ral measures as ought to be proposed by higher authority than a Governor and Council. He (Lord Stanley) would now move the rejection of the second clause, leaving it to the Government to frame a modified enactment to meet the objections he had urged. Mr. L A BOUC HE RE begged to set the Noble Lord right as to the revenue of Lower Canada, which left a surplus (as he had before stated) of only 35,0001. for local purposes, which defrayed all the expenses of paro • chial schools, and other important objects, so that Sir J. Colborne had stated his inability to maintain an efficient police, much less to form local improvements. As to con ferring the power of permanent legislation on the Council, in respect of taxation for local purposes, such power was necessary ; for it would be absurd to pass a Road or a Railway Bill for one year only. With regard to more large and general measures, there were many which could not safely be deferred. Sir J. Colborne especially referred to the urgent necessity of depriving the disaffected of that influence which they derived from unremedied abuses. Now, what was the danger of leaving legislation in that colony for one or two y ears, perhaps more, totally para lysed or unwisely fettered? The House would certainly hesitate, therefore, before they adopted the proposal of the Noble Lord.—(Divide, divide.) Mr. LEADER quite agreed that the House of Com mons was not able to legislate for Canada, though it had delegated to a small and despotic body the power of legislation. He concurred in the argument of the Noble Lord ( Stanley), and could not imagine any independent Member, really favourable to the representative principle, supporting this clause, and he should vote for rejecting it. Sir R. PEEL said that he doubted the right of the Right Hon. Gentleman to make use of the authority of Sir John Colbourne as the foundation of this measure. Sir John Colborne did not advise that the Special Counsel should have power to legislate permanently for the country. He merely asked for permission to make the experiment, and if it were found successful it could be embodied in a permanent Legislative measure ; and that was what he ( Sir R. Peel) agreed in, there was no recommendation of Sir John Colborne that the Special Council should have the power of permanent Legislation. What was the power proposed to be given with regard to tenures? Why, it was proposed to give the power to make permanent and compulsory regulations on this sub ject. If this was a subject of such paramount and pressing importance, why was not the despatch laid on the table before the 11th July? and then only in conzequence of a question from him (Sir R. Peel). He trusted that the House would not give the Government this unlimited power of taxation, and that in the last yenr of its exis tence the Government of Canada, which was to expire in 1840, would not be empowered to make permanent laws for the regulation of property. Mr. L ABOUCHER E said that the other alternative suggested by Sir John Colborne was pregnant with evil, that the whole laws should be merely temporary. Mr. HUME objected to the making of laws by irres ponsible persons, and he could only account for tho pro. position by supposing it was not intended to re-establish the representative Government at all. Mr. CHARLES. BULLER said that the course adopted by Honourable Gentlement opposite seemed to be to abolish representative Government with the utmost facility, and then to make up matters with their con sciences by crippling the Government established in its place as much as possible.—(Cries of " Oh I" answered by cheers.) Except the regulation of the tenures of land, and of matters connected with religion, ,he knew of no power that ought to be taken out of the province of the Government exercising legislative functions. The question was this, whether they should have a Legis lature with the power of making permanent laws that might be repealed by a future popular Legislature, or whether it should only have the power of making temporary laws which that popular Legislature might Continue. By the plan of making every law temporary, and to expire at the meeting of the new Legislature, they would throw upon that leg,tslatere almost all questions calculated to ex cite a strong party feeling.—( year, hear.) After a few words from Sir R. PEEL and Mr. C. BULLER in explanation, THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1839 t Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that he was not aware t I that the Right Honourable Baronet objected to any part of the clause now under (consideration for he began with the third slause, and there was nothing in the rest of his speech to show that he objected to the se cond clause. He (Lord J. Russell) considered this to be a most important clause, on which the prosperity of the people of Canada would very much depend. The Noble Lord the Member for North Lancashire had stated two different views as to the powers which ought to be granted. He ( Lord .1. R.) considered that he was asking for all those powers which might tend to the benefit and prosperity of the people of Canada, and that the Noble Lord was con sidering only the maintenance of the peace of the province, for which he was willing to allow the necessary security, without consideration for those measures which would be ad- vantageous to the province, and tend to its good regulation. There had been in Canada repeated complaints of the in efficiency of the powers given to the Governor and Coun cil, as, for instance, the erection of court-houses and gaols, and the trial of prisoners for minor offences. As to defining the objects of taxation, he ( Lord J. Russell) would not oppose any just limitation which might be sug gested; but he was strongly convinced of the necessity of giving full power of legislation, not merely for justice and police, but general and local improvement, with regard to which there had been of old groat disputes between the Council and the Assembly. Sir R. PEEL explained that he certainly had inti mated a decisive objection to this clause. Mr. BROTHERTON rose, but was put down by immense vociferations of " Oh, oh l" The Hon. Mem ber, we presume, meant to move the adjournment, which we fervently desire he had done, considering that it was already past twelve. The Committee divided, and the numbers were— r the clause 174 Against it ...... Majority --18 Clauses two and three were then ordered to stand part of the Bill. On clause four being proposed, Sir ROBERT PEEL proposed that the clause should not interfere with the tenure of property, except in Mon treal, as had been proposed in the marginal note. Lord HO WICK hoped that the Housewould pause before they consented to this amendment, when they recollected the manner in which the law of tenure bad tended to pro duce the late troubles. It this question were not settled before the restoration of representative Government, this old subject of dispute would be revived in a way that would make it fatal to the working of the restored Consti tution ; but if it were settled previously, the Constitu tion would most probably work well and favourably. Sir E. SUGDEN supported the suggestion of Sir R. Peel. Lord J. RUSSELL admitted that there was consider. able force in the objection, because the Gover nor and Council would have the power of al. tering the whole tenure of land. He was willing to amend it in this manner : that any ordinances which might be made should not come into operation until confirmed by an Act of the Imperial Parliament. After explanations from Sir R. PEEL and Mr. C. BULLER, (who wrote out the terms of the amendment), The amendment was negatived without any division. Lord J. RUSSELL then moved the introduction of words rendering necessary the sanction of Parliament for alterations in the tenures, which was agreed to, and the clause ordered, as amended, to stand part of the Bill. The remaining clauses were agreed to, and the House resumed. The Older of the Day for going into Committee on the Highway Rates Bill was then read, but Mr. BROTHERTON rose, and the Committee was postponed. The Turnpike Acts Continuance Bill was read a third time and passed, on the motion of Mr. FOX MAULE. The Indemnity Bill passed through Committee. The Soap Duties Drawback Bill passed through Com mittee. Mr. HUME gave notice of certain clauses he intended to propose in Committee on the Admiralty Courts Bill. Oa the Order of the Day being read for going into Com mittee on the County Courts (advance of Money Bill), Colonel SIBTHORP said—Not a sixpence tonight. —( Laughter.) On the explanation of Sir J. GREY, the Bill went through Committee pro . forma. Mr. L ABOUC HE RE brought in a Bill to amend and continue the Act for the Government of New South Wales. The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of, and .he House adjourned at Half -past One. COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.' Yesterday a Court was held for the dispatch of busi ness. The principal notices of motion on the paper of business were the following :—That this Court do petition both Houses of Parliament against the Bill now pending in the House of Commons, entiutled " A Bill to amend the Laws relating to the assessment and col lection of Rates for the relief of the Poor, and to the collection of County, Borough, and Police Rates ;"—and that this Court do petition Parliament for the adoption of Mr. Rowland Hill's plan for an uniform postage of one penny. There was a very full Court. To the Right Hen, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, of th e Ci ty o f London, in Common Council asFembled. " Showeth,—That your memorialists are striving to raise a sum of money by volnntary subscription, to build ten additional Churches, schools, and parsonage houses in the very poor and populous parish of Bethnal- Green. That the population of this parish chiefly consists in artisans, weavers, and other persons of very small incomes, and of many t o t a lly devitCte, who are quite unable to provide places for public worship, or schools for themselves. " That many circumstances, in addition to the great increase of the population of the metropolis, particularly the late magnificent improvements in the city, have removed a vast population from their ancient . Churches, and compelled them to seek residences in Bethnal-green and other districts around L on d on, w h ere from not hav i ng b een supplied with churches, schools, and clergymen, they have falleninto a deplorable state of ignorance, vice, and irre ligion. That your memorialists hope, under God's bless ing, by introducing a good system of parochial instruction and management into this very poor parish, greatly to improve the temporal as well as spiritual condition of the inhabitants, and they most anxiously be the assistance of the city of London, in the arduous undertaking in which they are engaged. " And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray." Mr. BUXTON (the memorialists having been asked by the Lord Mayor whether they wished to add any thing to the statement made in their memorial) said that he was able, from his knowledge of the large district alluded to, to confirm every word stated in the petition, and was anxious to add hi s supp li cat i on f or ass i stance i n so pressing an exigency. He could; not give credit to the accounts of the misery and spiritual darkness which existed in the neighbourhood, until he employed a gen tleman, upon whom he could place the utmost reliance, to inquire into its condition. He then ascertained that in a district upwards of a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile in breadth, and containing a population of 60,0001 persons, there was but one place of worship.— (Hear, hear.) At each extremity there was a church, but there was certainly 50,000 persons who could not obtain entrance. He was well aware of the liberality with which the Corporation of London had, upon various occa sions, contributed to the relief of the distressedinhabitanta of Bethnal-greza in times of' starvation, and he was convinced that, at the present moment of the dearth and famine of religious instruction the aid of that Corpora tion would be willingly yielded.—( Hear, hear.) In answer to some questions from members of the Court, th 3 memor . alis s said that th; ministers of the churches would Le supported by endowments, and that 8 out of 10 of the ministers were to be appointed by the Bishop of London. The petition was then referred to the Coal, Corn, and Finance Committee. SUNDAY TRADING. Deputy HICKS ofliciaily brcu ht up the Report of the Markets Committee, recommending that Farringdon market should be allowed to be kept open for the sale of soft fruit until nine o'clock on the morning of the Sabbath. The Deputy stated at the same time that he by no means approved of the recommendation of the Report. The Loan MAYOR hoped that the Corporation of London would not, after all that had been said about Sunday trading, set the bad example of sanctioning the violation of the salutary rule upon which they had hitherto acted.—( Hear, hear.) He denied that it was the good of the poor that was likely to be accomplished by such a measure, or that the sale of soft fruit would exclusively take place if the market were to be opened. The fact was, a public market of everything would be the result, and the abuses which would arise would be intolerable.—( Hear, hear.) The RECORDER intimated that the Report recom mended that which was against the law. Mr. HEPP EL did not see what injury could arise from the sale of fruit on Sunday. It was well known that the rich could get what they pleased on Sunday. It was upon the poor the prohibition to open the market operated as a grievance. After some observations from several other members, the Report was negatived by a large majority. REPORT ON THE COUNTY COURTS' BILL. Mr. LOTT brought up the report of the Committee on the County Courts' Bill, with a draft of a petition to Parliament against the Bill. It was as follows : " To the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, &c., &c. " We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, your Com mittee, to whom it was referred to consider the propriety of opposing the Bill pending in Parliament, entitled a Bill for improvin g C oun ty Courts, and t o re p or t o u r opi nion thereon, do certify that we have accordingly con sidered the said Bill, and it appearing to us that there are several clauses therein highly injurious to the interests of the public, and that the operation of the Bill if passed would be to entail great inconvenience and expense upon creditors by requiring them to follow their debtors into distant parts of the kingdom, with their witnesses, to prose cute their claims, and procure the payment of their debts, and that the Bill is also objectionable in other respects ; we recommend this Honourable Court to petition the House of Commons, praying that such Bill may not pass into a law. And we have caused a petition accordingly to ho prepared, which we annex to this our report, and recommend the same to this Honourable Court for adoption." The Report and petition were then unanimously agreed to. POSTPONEMENT OF THE MOTION ON THE NEW POOR A6SESSAUNT DILL. Mr. 'RODGERS, at the request of Mr. Asherst, post poned his motion for a petition against the New Poor Assessment Bill, in order to enable that Gentleman to brine; forward the proposition for the adoption of Mr. R. Hill's penny postage plan, as the latter subject was appointed for immediate consideration in the House of Commons. own acquaintances, refused credence, and dissension and mischief to an immense extent was the consequence. He had cited these instances, but it did not seem to him, that after the meeting yesterday, the Court needed further instances.—( Hear, hear.) With reference to the suppression of domestic correspondence Mr. Ashurst said that he could give instances that would astonish the Court, but it was not necessary and he would move the Court to petition both Houses of Parliament for the adoption of the plan ; he trusted that this petition and tlle petition agreed to yesterday, and others coming from Liverpool and Manchester, would induce the Chancellor of the Exchequer not to jeopardise a great measure by insisting upon an unne cessary pledge. Mr. GALLOWAY seconded the motion, and expressed his regret that the Chancellor of the Exchequer should raise an imaginary difficulty. Mr. W. PRITCHARD begged to remind his friend, Mr. Galloway, that the Court had not been so unmind ful of its duty to the citizens of London on this the most important of modern administrative improvements, as his friend had supposed ; on a motion which he (Mr. P.) had the honour to submit, this Court, at the same time that the Chamber of Commerce in Glasgow, and some few other public bodies, had expressed their opinions on the subject, was amongst the foremost to declare, in a series of resolutions, and in petitions to Parliament founded thereon, its conviction of the wisdom and justice of the important change contem plated. At that time he (Mr. P.) had some diffi culties to contend with, arising from the subject being but imperfectly understood by the community at large ; but in a few short months, bow striking was the change in this respect. Much praise was due to the public spirit and perseverance of the Association of Merchants, Bankers, and others in the City, who had pursued the matter with such untiring energy, and had but yesterday had the satisfaction of witnessing, at the Mansion-house meeting, the extensive hold it had taken upon public opinion ; and scarcely less commen dation belonged to his friend Mr. Ashurst, who, as the solicitor of that body, had not only collected and ar ranged, with the greatest professional skill, the im mense mass of interesting and important evidence submitted to the Committee of the House of Com mons, but bad given to the public, in his able pamphlet, the lucid and irresistible conclusions deduced from that evidence by his own comprehensive yet ana lytical mind.—(Hear, hear.) In all parts of the coun try the subject now deservedly occupied a large portion of public attention. Parliament had been besieged with petitions, and the periodical press had teemed with ar guments and illustrations showing the immense advan tages which the country could not fail to derive from the adoption of Mr. Hill's plan. The only objection to it that had been urged was an apprehension that some loss might possibly be sustained by Government in the falling off of the revenue. He (Mr. P.) concurred with the majority of those who had reflected upon the subject, in believing that, although some, and it might be a considerable defalcation would naturally be the first effect of passing from the present to the new sys tem, yet that that deficiency would ultimately, and he thought in a very short time, be made up by the immense increase in the number of letters which the evi dence showed was certain to follow the adoption of the improved plan, and by the in crease d consumpt i on of paper and its exciseable produce consequent upon that in crease. But assuming, for the sake of argument, that some permanent loss of revenue might be the conse quence of the change, it should be remembered that the Post-office establishment was not a machine to be used merely for fiscal purposes. The Report of the Commissioners of I nqu i ry di st i nct l y recognised its hav ing. a primary obj ec t o f a muc h h i gher order. " The facility of frequent, punctual, and quick communica tion (say the Commissioners) which the institution of the Post-office is calculated to secure, may be justly classed among the elements of profitable commerce. It is essential to the purposes of Government, and sub• servicut to all the ends of national policy." And again, in another Report, " The principle of the Post-office at its establishment, as is distinctly laid down in the 12th Charles 11., was to afford advantage to trade and commerce. The direct revenue to be derived from the Post-office was not the primary consideration." Apply ing these principles to the evidence taken, what was the result ? That whilst knowledge and education had been largely extended throughout the country, and with them the intercourse of mind with mind, and whilst the pursuits of commerce had multiplied to an immense ex tent, communication amongst those engaged therein, the Post-office had, in its results, remained stationary ever since the last improvement effected by Mr. Palmer in the establishment of mail coaches.—(Hear, hear.) What then had become of the surplus quantity of letters beyond those transmitted by post ? They had forced their way to the persons receiving them by so many and such ingenious modes of elicit conveyance as to baffle detection and seduce all classes of the the community into a participation in such irregularities, under the notion that they were a sort of pious frauds. —(Hear, hear.) He would not press the argument further. Ills friend, Mr. Ashurst, had so ably shown the advantages of the new system in promoting social and affectionate feeling amongst those classes of the community to whom the present rates of postage operated as a prohibition of intercourse, in facili tat.ing the results of commercial enterprise,; and removing the temptation to fraud, that he would only acid one further argument, and that was as to the obligation in eumbent upon Government to provide for the public the most efficient system of post conveyance, as do neces sary and indispensable condition of their assuming a mo nopoly of the system, and interdicting the public from finding their own means of conveyance. That the public would, if left to its own resources in the present age of improvement, and the formation of companies, readily provide a highly improved system, there could be no doubt; and, therefore, demonstrating the superiority of Mr. Hill's system as had been done, the public had a right to demand its adoption of the Government, even though it might, which he (Mr. P.) denied, be attended with some little loss of revenue. Upon these grounds, he called upon the Court to join with the other public bodies of the kingdom in soliciting for the community at large of the Legislature, the im mense, social, moral, and political advantages that would inevitably flow from the adoption of tha important sub ject they were now considering. The motion was carried unanimously, only one band being held up against it, amidst laughter. The following petition was then moved : " That the present rates of Postage fetter commercial transactions, are prejudicial to the interests of the general revenue, check the education and the moral progress of the people, and tempt all classes to systematic violations of the law. " That the plan proposed by Mr. Rowland Hill for es tablishing a uniform postage of ono penny for each half ounce weight, to be paid in advance, would, in the opinion of your petitioners, increase the general revenue, and ?hi. match-, realise the present amount of Post-office receipts, and prove a source of great social and moral benefit to the whole community. " Your petitioners, therefore, pray that no consideration of an assumed temporary deficiency in the revenue will in duce your Honourable House to delay the introduction of so important a national measure. " And your petitioners will ever pray." Mr. OBBARD moved that the words " increase the general revenue" be omitted. Sir P. LAURIE seconded the motion. Mr. ASHURST said that the Chancellor of the Ex chequer was anxious about the revenue. Now, it was given in evidence before the Parliamentary Committee by Mr. Charles Knight and others, Mr. Knight taking the lead, that he pays a certain sum in the shape of postage, and another sum in the shape of paper duties— that if the postage were reduced he would pay double the amount of the postage, and considerably more Ex else duty. Sir P. LAURIE said he did not intend to oppose the petition, but the Hon. Member having quoted Charles Knight, he (Sir P. Laurie) would give him a better— Colonel Maberly.—(Loud laughter.) The fact was, that it was not so much the poor man that would be relieved, but it would be—he would not mention names.—(Laughter.) The amendment of Mr. Obbard was then put, and negatived without a division. The original petition was then ordered to be prepared, and presented by the Sheriffs. A motion was afterwards made by Mr. WIRE, and carried unanimously, that the petition and resolutions should be printed in the usual Morning Papers. After some other business, the Court adjourned. CHARGE OF SHOPLIFTING.—Two sisters of the name of Gibson, residing in Grosvenor- street West, and said to be ladies of fortune, were on Wednesday exa mined at Queen-square on a charge of having stolen five pairs of gloves from the shop of a draper at Knightsbridge. They were remanded in consequence of the absence of the shopman who gave them into custody. AN 46 AFFAIR OF HONOUR. " -Wednesday morning, soon after seven o'clock, a hostile meeting took place in Copenhagen-fields, between Mr. R., a gentleman residing at Bayswater, and a military officer on half-pay. It is stated that Mr. R., and some young ladies, relatives of his, were viewing the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, when they were followed by the officer, and one of the ladies was repeatedly spoken to by him. Mr. R., feeling indignant at such conduct, remonstrated with him on the impropriety of it, when words of an unpleasant nature occurred, which caused the meeting. Mr. R , attended by two gentlemen, arrived in a chaise about five minutes after seven o'clock, and was almost immediately followed by his antagonist. The seconds having measured the distance (12 paces), and endeavoured, but ineffectually, to bring about a reconciliation, an exchange of shots took place, when the officer received the contents of Mr. 11.'s pistol in the thick part of his thigh. Mr. R. was slightly wounded in his pistol hand. Both gentlemen, expressing themselves " perfectly satified," shook hands, and were conveyed from the ground to their respective residences. The thick part of the thigh is almost always the sufferer in these affairs of " honour" now-a-days. 'Lea Bermudez, one of the ex-Prime Ministers of Spain, is at present in Paris, where he is said to be ac tively negotiating an arrangement of the affairs of Spain, by means of the old project of a marriage between the son of Don Carlos and the young Queen. The French Ca binet has long been supposed favourable to such a com promise. i 4 ..; ~ $> :, t 0 . • cf) a cr., t 4 . d 0 ' 0 . Z • - s.• 0 a, 0 0 E 0 ..= • ~., 2 _ :-,.%) -2 —l , tp 5' - .-° -! 1 • 7 2' 2 „ 0 2 • a. .- 8 •-. ,).. ,=. 6 -§ 0 '-' 'Z' 8 - .43 0 —a; -.% v v ..S:' C) ^,....' C..) Cr d. d. d. d. Stamped labels ......1 . 005 f .97 -035 'O3 1 Stamps on letter pa- 1 f• the per on thepa- of the per. § sheet ofpaper (say a penny) Stamped covers...... .091 1.091 1 nil. •15 less car- li riage. If Stamped envelopes. .05 1 . 05 ! nil. unknown.l I* - -!- Average per letter, assuming the con sumption of each kind to be equal . .102 D:tto, assuming the first and second to be one-third of the whole 1 .1 'Alone 3' - payments 1 '''. ------------. It appears, then, that the co by stamps even at the higher esi be less than one-sixtieth of a lst of collecting postage timate of the two, would penny per letter ; while Whether the --- paper to be employed shall b e Dicken ' on's, or that o f any o!he!.m.nufacturer, would of course be best determine d b y inviting all papermakers to send in specimens and tenders, and adopting that which appears most advantageous. This would put all on a perfect equality. t Envelopes are now sold at Is. 6d. per 100, or less than one-fifth of a penny each. This includes distribution. § Say one farthing, or 20 per cent. on the cost of paper and stamp. The carriage would probably cost about one cent. 4 . 1 Because the exact cost of making the envelopes is un known. The profit would probably be at least 14 per cent. THE CITY POLICE BILL. Mr. RODGERS, seeing the Remembrancer in his place, wished to put a question to that officer, relative to the position in which the City Police Bill stood in Parlia ment.—(Hear, hear.) There were certain rumours abroad that the measure was intended to be postponed by some means or other till another Session, and strength had been added to these rumours by the sin gular fact that on two successive Tuesdays the Bill had been placed on the House of Commons' paper of busi ness, and that on those days it so happened that the House had been counted out. He was, therefore, anxious to be informed of the position in which the Bill at present stood.--(Hear, hear.) The CITY REMEMBRANCER said that some delay had taken place in consequence of the necessity of in troducing into the City Police Bill some clauses which were proposed to be introduced into the Metropolitan Police Bill. These clauses had been on the preceding day agreed to, and he expected that on that night the Bill would be read a third time and passed in the House of Commons.—( Hear, hear.) 11.1 r. SAVAGE took occasion to complain that the City Police had upon one occasion, to his knowledge, re futed to take cognisance of a flagrant case:of assault, be cause the policeman applied to had not seen the blow struck ; and upon another,had refused to take a charge against a number of persons who were brevking the peace because the cry of " murder" was not amongst the ,words used by those who were attacked and insulted. THE DUTIES OF THE MAGISTRACY. In answer to a quesiion from Mr. Asburst re lative to the absence of the Alderman from the bench of the Central Criminal Court on a day in the last session, Sir CHAPMAN MARSHALL said that he was happy to have the opportunity of publicly denying the report that he was the absentee on the occasion. —(Hear, hear ) lle would challenge any member of the Corporation of London to say that during the seven years he had had the honour of serving as a Magistrate of the City he had once neglected his duty.—(Cheers.) ATTACKS UPON ABSENT MEMBERS OF THE COURT. Mr. R. L. JONES rose to notice an attack which bad been made upon him in his absence, at the last Court, on the subject of the Blackwall Railway Bill. He de nied most positively that he had taken any part in the Committee upon that. Bill, and as to his private con duct with reference to the measure, he was perfectly able and ready to justify the course he had thought proper to pursue.—(Hear, hear.) He could not help saying that it was unworthy of any member in that Court to bring an accusation against him in his absence. Mr. ASH URST (as our reporter understood him) con sidered that Mr. Jones ought to have withdrawn from a Committee in which his exertions, instead of being serviceable to the views of the citizens of London, were calculated to operate in a different way. Mr. JONES would appeal to any member who had been present whether he attempted to use any influ ence.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. LOTT rose to address the Court on the subject, but was stopped by the cry that there was no question before the Court. He complained of not beinE heard on the matter to which Mr. Jones alluded. THE COUNTY COURTS BILL. Mr. ANDERTON asked the Remembrancer whether it was expected that the County Courts Bill would be proceeded with any further in the present Session, and in what position it was. The REMEMBRANCER said that the Bill might pass the House of Commons, but from what he had heard he did not think that it would have equal success in the House of Lords. CITY IMPROVEMENTS. Mr. R. L. JONES said that he had a few words to say about the conduct of the Chancellor of the Ex chequer with respect to the Bill in Parliament for mak ing further improvements in the city of London. The Right Hon. Gentleman had thought proper to stop the City Bill in consequence of some misapprehensions enter tained by him as to the power given by one of the clauses to raise money ; upon being assured and, as it was supposed, to his satisfaction, that he has in error, ho said that he would not oppose the measure. Since that, however, the Right Hon. Gentleman had given notice that he would himself bring in a Bill. Now lie (Mr. Jones) thought the Bill so promised must be looked very closely after, as he suspected that it would contain certain matter which would render it necessary to introduce the sub ject to that Court again.—(Hear, hear.) A MEMBER asked whether any of the improvements which it were in the contemplation of the Corporation to make in the City, was likely to be effected by the Bill, of which the Chancellor of the Exchequer had given notice ? Mr. JONES—Certainly, I think they will.—(Hear.) NEW POOR ABBESSMENT BILL. Mr. JOHNSON presented a petition from the parish of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, praying the Court to exert their influence in pr e v en ti ng the Bill relating to the assessment and collection of rates for the relief of the poor from becoming law. The petition was received and ordered to be taken into consideration upon the discussion of Mr. Rodgers's motion on the subject. DEPLORABLE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE POOR OF BETIINAL-GREEN. Mr. Powell Buxton, the late respected Member of Parliament, Mr. Hanbury, and severla other influential and benevolent men appeared at the bar. Mr. MuscnovE (ainember of th e Court) presented the following petition, which was signed by those Gen tlemen : PENNY POSTAGE. Mr.AsnußsT-1 propos e p e titi ons t o b ot h H ouses of Parliament for the adoption of Rowland Hill's plan of Post-office Reform. That plan has been so much discussed th a t it s mer i ts are well known to all. The plan i s that all letters passing from one post t own t o another in the U n it ed Kingdom be charged one penny for each half ounce, to be paid in advance, and it has been proposed to collect the postage through the medium of small adhesive stamps, or stamped paper, or covers, and the effect will b e t h at every man will, be enabled to frank his own communicati on . The prese n t ra t e o f postage prohibits commu n i ca ti on b e t ween every c l ass of the community, and it practically operates to sever nearly every child who goes from its parent's roof from the advantage of parental co rrespon d ence an d i nstruct i on. , The evidence given before the Parliamentary Commit tee is peculiarly full an d str iki ng. M r. Ashurst said that he did not intend, after the full exposition of the subject at the meeti ng at the Mansion-house yesterday, and knowing the C ourt were with him—(Hear, hear) —to go into the commercial part of the subject. He had occasion, in getting up t h at ev id ence , to go to t h ose connected with science, with literature, with th e ar t s , with the public health, and every class of society, for the purpose of putti ng i n ev i dence the effects that would flow from bringing the whole of the communica tions which now passed through illegal channels into the Post-office. Scientific men found that experience was with the operative s in their several departments ; and the evidence sh owe d t h at we were d ependent upon the labouring classes for much of the knowledge, as we were admitted to be, for all the wealth we possessed, and if postage were reduced, a plan would be acted upon for the purpose of eliciting the practical knowledge they possessed, by which those who had the science and education necessary, would obtain an immense mass of facts, and the results flowing would be brought into action for the discovery and diffusion of truth. The Society of Civil Engineers prepared a number of ques tions with open spaces, to transmit to those who cou ld afford to pay the posta ge , an d they being answered and sent back, furnished an aggregation of facts, the only groundwork for philosophizing. They find that men have distinct perception of what relates to the particular branch in which they are engaged, and that if they send a post-paid letter they can get those facts, for though the men cannot write treatises they can an,wer questions and give many sound reasons. Even those able to pay postage declined to receive their questions through the post, and valuable results are lost. So with reference to com merce, and the origination of commercial operations. Lord Ashburton stated, and every person acquainted with business knew, that there is a great deal of specu lative correspondence, as there is of spec u l a ti ve conver sation, and that for an operation in busin ess , w hi c h en d s in a practical result, many projects are conceived, a nd inquiries made, ere the determination to effect one operation is matured, and at last one opera tion out of many is brought to bear. But few of these operations at first are thought of with that determination of purpose whichinduc es a man to ex pend large sums in making inquiries upon a matter on which he himself is wavering ; but if he can make the m easily and cheaply, hewill address a n inquiry to those who are likely to give him information ; and the dis position of all men in trade to promote operations with merchants. of credit, induces them to give even fuller information than that at first . sought, and th e contem plated speculation ripensaction, merely because the correspondence being opened, that which would is bro ug h t i nto being. A merchant in America, i ofrrwise have diedawayf he can co mmun i cate cheaply and freely with the manufacturers of Germany and of France, and finds the same mode of communication with the manufacturers of England is very ex pensive, will not get into corresponden ce w i t h E ng -- I land, but will write to Germany or to France. So with reference to strike among workmen ; the Court would hardly suppose the injurious effects of the heavy postage rates. It was stated by one who had been a delegate him s elf from t h e journ eymen to communicate with the masters, that such was the extent of suppres sion of communication, that they could not get letters from men who they knew could give them true informa tion on the subject of wages. The masters would say to the men, " here are letters showing that the wages are so much at such a place ; we cannot g i ve y ou more than those." The men said, " W e do not believe them," struck, and went on the tramp, and at last found the statement of the masters confirmed. In one case w h ere a d e l e gate h a d hi mse l f rece i ved let -1 ters, a n d t o ld th e men that th e mas t ers were r i g h t , Ithe me n , b ecause o f their want of information, from their ON THE COLLECTION OF POST AGE BY MEANS OF STAMPS. In the Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage (pp. 35-43), it is shown that payment in ad vance, by means of stamps, would be convenient to the public ; would simplify, facilitate, and economize the operations of the Post-office ; would especially expedite the delivery of letters, without rendering it in any de gree less secure ; and would tend to the security of the revenue by preventing the errors and frauds which can not be altogether guarded against under the present ar rangements. Also, that there are no practical difficul ' ties either in distributing the stamps, or in guarding ' against their forgery. In this paper it is intended to consider more fully than has hitherto been done, the different kinds of stamps which public convenience will require to ascertain their cost, and to compare that cost with the expense of col lecting postage by money payments, as at present. I have been understeod by many to recommend the exclusive use of stamped covers ; but a glance at my evidence will show that such is not the case. The ex clusive use of covers would be objectionable on two grounds ; first, their cost, if they'were supplied at the charge of Government, would form a serious and unne cessary subtraction from the Post-office revenue ; and, secondly, they would prevent the Post-office stamp from bein g struck on the l e tter it se lf, w hi c h, as s h own by Mr. Moffat (Ev. 4,342-6), is frequently of importance. As stamped covers would for many purposes be very convenient, and as, unless exclusively used, they need not, as I shall shortly show, be supplied at the cost of Government, it will be important to allow the use of them ; but I am of opinion that it will also be important to adopt the suggestion of Mr. John Wood, late Chair man of the Board of Stamps (Ev. 2,129), and allow the public to send letter paper in sheets to the Stamp office, there to be stamped in the part used for the ad dress ; and, in addition to this sug gestion , in order to meet the wants of all, to supply small stamped detached labels, say about an inch square, which stationers and others may paste on sheets of letter paper, envelopes, &c., or which may be wafered to letters previously written, or, if prepared with a glutinous wash on the back, may be attached without a wafer." These labels, if made of some paper difficult to imi tate,* and, like the medicine stamps, printed from com plex plates with various colours in the same impression, thus requiring the combined ingenuity of the paper maker, the engraver and the printer, would be secure against forgery. Their cost wou ld b e a mere trifle (only ld. for 200, even including the expense of distri bution through the Post-office, see the subjoined esti mate, Appendix A), while their extreme lightness (1,000 weighing only an ounce) would be such, that every one might easily carry a stock in his pocket-book ; and, to avoid the inconvenience of keeping labels of various prices, two of the penny labels might be used for an ounce letter, three for an ounce and a half letter, and so on. It has been objected to the use of these labels, that damp or friction might detach them from the letters while in the mail bags. This,- however, would be of no consequence. All that is necessary is, that the label should remain attached until the letter shall have re ceived the stamp of the post-office at which it may bo posted. This post-office stamp must be such, that when struck across the label, it shall extend a little on one side, so as not only to prevent the label from being used a second time, but to mark the letter itself, and thus to show that it has been properly franked, even though the label should afterwards become detached. I would recommend that these labels should be printed on sheets, each containing 20 rows of 12 in a row ; a row would then be sold for ls., and a whole sheet for 1/. I propose that it shall be made the duty of all post masters throughout the kingdom to keep the stamped labels, and to sell them to all applicants at one penny each ; precautionary measures, which need not be stated in detail,`being taken to prevent the stock from being exhausted. As the trouble of selling labels would probably not exceed that of receiving money under the present sys tem, for postpaid letters—for the labels would generally be sold several at a time—it would, perhaps, be unne cessary to allow the postmaster any poundage. It would, however, be desirable to make it his interest to extend the sale of the labels. I would therefore recom mend that a poundage be allowed the postmasters, at least as high as that now allowed distributors and sub distributors of stamps (from 1 to 3 per cent.—Ev. 2,173 --say the maximum, or 3 per cent. on all) and that they should be put under the same regulations as the examination of stock, mode of payment, &c. Having thus secured a means by which any one may, if he think proper, purchase a single stamp, and thus for Id. frank his letter written on any kind of pa per in any part of the kingdom where it can be posted (an arrangement which is very important to a poor man), I conceive the distribution of stamped letter paper and stamped covers may safely be left to the or dinary commercial channels. It does not appear neces sary to require either the stamp distributors or the postmasters to keep letter paper or covers on sale ; nor, on the other hand, to allow so great a poundage on labels as to induce stationers to keep labels oo sale. There would, of course, be no objection to permitting the sale of labels by stationers, or of stamped letter paper and covers by stamp-distributors and postmasters ; the terms being, as nearly as practicable, the same for all, and thus the very appearance of a monopoly avoided. With regard to letter paper sent to be stamped, in sheets (which of course must be sent in large quantities at a time,) the Stamp-office would charge the nominal value of the stamps (a penny per sheet for penny stamps, twopence per sheet fcr twopenny stamps, &c.) It would not be necessary to allow any poundage, nor need the cost of carriage, which would, of course, be the same whether the paper were stamped or unstamped, be borne by the State. The only cost to the Govern ment would be, that of applying the stamp, keeping the necessary accounts, packing, &c., which Mr. Wood es timates at Is. per 1,000 sheets, or Id. for about 80.— (Ev. 2,122.) With regard to stamped covers, I would recommend that they should be made of the same paper as the labels, and of two sizes ;—one, that of half a sheet of letter paper ; the other, such as would be required for making up into the little bags called envelopes. The latter would be little more than half the size of the former. They should be sold to the public in large quantities only, at prime cost (say at the rate of Id. for II of the larger, or 20 of the smaller covers) plus the value of the stamps ; and the lower price of the smaller covers would probably enable the stationers to make them up into envelopes, and sell them as such, at the same price with the larger covers, which latter would require no manipulation. Here, as in the case of the stamped letter paper, no poundage need be allowed, nor would the carriage be at the cost of the State. With respect to covers, therefore, the Government need be at no cost whatever. The prices to the consumer of the stamped letter paper and covers would, under this arrangement, be regulated by competition, as that of unstamped letter paper and covers now is. In most places, they would probably not exceed I id. for a sheet of common letter paper, and 14d. for a cover or envelope postage in cluded. It would be convenient to the public in saving the necessity for weighing letters, if the letter paper were made of definite weights, as I, 4, and two sheets to the half-ounce, with an allowance for the seal, and marked accordingly ; but this would of course be left with the paper-makers and stationers. Subjoined is a table drawn out for the purpose of exhibiting, respectively, the cost of collecting the post office-office revenue by means of stamps, and by means of money payments on delivery. The latter cost is so mixed up with other expenses, that it is impossible to determine it with anything like precision, but the sub joined estimate (Appendix B), which makes it, under the conditions of a fivefold increase of letters and uniformity of rate, the 10th of Id. per letter, is cer tainly not too high : VENING EDITIO Ithe cost of mone3-payments on delivery would be at least one-tenth of a penny, or six times as great. In the plan here submitted, however, it is proper to , remark, that the most economical arrangement as to stamps, rather than the most convenient, is proposed. It would certainly facilitate the distribution of stamps if a greater poundage were allowed on labels, so as to induce stationers to sell them, and it might be advis able to extend the poundage to all descriptions of stamps. These steps, however, need not be taken in the first instance. I would advise the adoption in the first place of the plan here laid down—there will be no difficulty in increasing and extending the poundage, if it be found expedient so to do—such a step wcrulti be pro tanto a still further reduction of postage , at least as respects all who would purchase their stamps. in large numbers. And it is manifest that the poundage might be advanced to any amount not exceeding 9 per cent. on the average of all stamps, without making , them equally expensive, as a mode of collecting postage, with money payments, as shown by the table. It may be necessary to add, that although I strongly recommend the use of stamps, I still adhere to the opi nion expressed in my evidence, that as a temporary measures (to be got rid of as soon as the transaction from the old to the new system shall have been com pleted —say at the end of three or six months), an op tion must be allowed the sender of the letter to frank it by means of a stamp, or to leave the postage to be col lected on delivery, making such postage 2d. per lbalf ounce instead of Id., that is, double the price of stat ups, in order to indemnify the Post-office fortbe expensive machinery it would be necessary to retain. ROWLAND HILL. Bayswater, June 13, 1839. APPENDIX (A). ESTIMATE OF THE COST OF STAMPED LABELS. Mr. Dickenson has offered to contract to supply 12 half-sheets of letter-paper for covers, printed with a large stamp, for one penny, paying half the paper-duty. (Ev. 2,408-44.) But in order to put the trade on a footing of perfect equality, 1 would recommend that the full duty be paid, in which case 1 1 half-sheets might be supplied for Id. d. These 11 half-sheets to measure about 730 square inches, consequently they would make 730 labels of one inch square. But as the cost of print ing labels would be greater than that of printing covers, sheet for sheet, and as a glutinous wash would be required at the back, say 300 labels (in stead of 720) would cost Id., then 1,000 would cost . . 31 The weight of 1,000 labels made of thin paper would be about one ounce, therefore their distribu tion through the Post-office would be charged 2d. ; say the cost to the State would be one-half . I Allow for expenses at the Stamp-office in making up parcels, keeping the accounts, &c. . 2-3 Total cost of 1,000 labels including the distribution 5 Or, per letter, 1-200th part of a penny. APPENDIX (B). ESTIMATE OF THE COST OF COLLECTING POSTAGE BY MONEY PAYMENTS AS AT PRESENT. At page 13 of the notes to the report, the pre sent average cost of distributing a chargeable letter is shown to be 76 hundredths of a penny, of which cost of the transit is about one-fourth, or 19-hun dreds of a penny, and the cost of receipt and de livery about three-fourths, or 57-hundredths of a . penny . .57 If the number of letters were increased fivefold, and a uniform rate of postage established, the cost of the receipt and delivery of each letter would !in doubtedly be reduced, even though the postage were collected as at present ; say the cost would then be only three-tenths of a penny . - .3 For our present purpose, it is necessary to deter mine what portion of this cost would result from the collection of the postage by money payments as at present. There are no data for deciding this with accuracy, but, considering the cost of keeping the accounts and of checking the payments and the delay in receiving money at each door, we should probably not over-estimate the portion at one-half, or 15-hundredths of a penny, but say its only one third, and it follows that— . • The cost of collecting postage by money-payments as at present, would be per letter . .1 or one-tenth of a penny. ANTI-CORN-LAW CIRCULAR. We have just received the seventh Number of this excellent publication, which we rejoice to find increases in circulation, as it unquestionably does in interest and ability. Much of its extraordinary success is probably attributable to the fact that its conductors have been enabled to manage the discussion in such a way as to advocate their cause with consummate effect, while party politics are entirely avoided. The able article on the monetary crisis forms a most conclusive exposition of the connexion betwixt the Corn-law and the present critical position of the Bank of England. It well ob serves that we import tea, and sugar, timber, and tallow, cotton, and woollen, hemp, and wine, without any drain upon our specie. The trade in these articles is regular and constant ; the foreign merchants with whom we deal provide markets for our manufactures—they decline supplies from other sources, and all are benefited. Why then does the importation of grain draw the bullion from the country ? Because, observes the Cir cular, the Corn•law wakes the trade uncertain, preca rious and dangerous—because it recurs at distant inter vals in sudden demands, and at times which cannot be foreseen. The foreign agriculturist is, therefore, un prepared with a market for our goods, because neither he, nor those who would buy them, have any idea when the goods will come; they are supplied elsewhere, and they refuse taking any thing but gold, for which every where they can find a market. We are glad to observe that the " League" have challenged the Agricultural Association to a discussion, into which, it is quite certain, that the landowners dare not enter. An appeal to the public in favour of monopoly, or to the opinion of bread consumers on be half of bread taxers, is an attempt, the issue of which seems by no means doubtful. The landocracy must just submit to be kicked and cuffed through every town in the kingdom with spaniel submission. Like Pistol, they must eat their leek with silent me.kness, and wben their iniquity and ignorance are fully exposed, they must " wipe it up, and say no more about it." They dare not face the public. They deliberately rob the rest of the community, and both the thief and his vic tim know it. Their only security is in silence, their only safety is in the exercise of that political power which enables them to force the Legislature to govern the nation in the face of public opinion and in opposi tion to the feelings of the country. LINCOLN LAW AND THE BOS- TON BULL-FROGS, It appears that when the question of the C6P 3-134. , was first agitated by " The League," the farmers a... 71 landowners of the Boston district assembled together, and subscribed a resolution binding themselves to make no purchases of any kind from such shopkeepers or mer chants as took any part in agitating for a repeal of the protective duty. It is also now understood that the agriculturists in the vicinity of Lincoln, have determined upon the adoption of a similar mode of suppressing discus sion, and that several respectable merchants arc already suffering under the effects of this system of exclusive dealing. We do not regret this. It must hasten the destruction of this vile monopoly. What, indeed, can be more iniquitous, unreasonable, and tyrannical ? Let the Act be translated into plain English. " We, the farmers of Lincolnshire, have resolved that we shall never purchase any goods from you, the m erc h ants an d manufacturers, but we insist upon maintaining the Corn-law, by which you shall be compelled to buy exclusively from us." We particularly request that the repeaters in the fens will furnish us with the , facts connected with this non-intercourse persecution. Nothing can possibly furnish a better case to ge to Par liament with. " 'Tis a knavish piece of work." A ny system of retaliation, passive resistance, or open oppo sition, would be justifiable under such circu ms t ances. If the mercantile community submit for one moment to this double tyranny, they deserve all the ev il s i t must inevitably produce. The insolence, th e ostentat i ous despotism, which it argues, cannot f a il t o a d m i n i ster their own cure. ANTI-CORN-LAW AGIiATION. - It would seem that the Council of the Anti-Corn law League are determined on the unremitting agitation of this important question in the pro-Corn-law districts. The common - sense convicti ons o f Si r R o b ert Pees constituents having been put on record (vide The Sun of Monday), M r. A cland proceeded from Tamworth to Aylesbury, as the centre of the county which has hitherto condescended to be led by the Duke of Buckingham, " the farmer's friend," as he is pleases to designate himself—but the " Marquis of Mortgage and Malt-tax," as he has been humorously described by those who contend that he has done nothing to serve his farming tenants, and much to distress them. Mr. Acland had obtained the grant of the County Hall for the purpose of delivering lectures and holding discussions in advocacy of repeal, but this liberal deci s on of the Under-Sheriff was over-ruled by an adverse resolution of the Buckinghamshire Magistrates, in ses sions assembled, and the proceedings therefore took place in the open space in front of the Hall, the " Corn-law conduct "of their Worships provoking the missionary of justice to a declaration that, instead of two lectures, he considered it necessary to deliver three, in order to afford the wiseacres of that locality an addi tional opportunity of justify in g their inveter ate hostility to free trade and fair a The eveni ngs o f T ues d ay, Wednesday, and Saturd of last week were devoted to the public consideration of the subject in question, and the result was a unanimous resolution in condemnation of the landlords' law for the payment of high rents by the unemployed.or but partially employed bread-eaters. At High Wycombe, where Mr. Acland lectured n