The Sun. — London, England, 1844-01-26 00:00:00

GREAT ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE • MEETING AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE The Anti-Corn-law League held its usual monthly meetigg lest evening at the Theatre Royal, Covent firdea. The theatre having be en fitt e d u p f or M. Jullien's concerts, the pit was boarded over, and accom modation was, oonsequently, afforded for a much greater number of persons than could have been accommodated had 'it been fitted up in the usual manner. The orchestra was thrown into the pit, thus affording additional means of accommodation ; and the reporters, who had heretofore been located in the orchestra, were seated at tables running., along the front of the stage. The Chair man and speaker took their places in M. Jullien's raised orchestra, The doors of the theatre were opened at half-past six o'clock, and within ten minutes the theatre was crowded to suffocation la every part. The members of the League availed themselves of the increased room afforded by the boarding over of the pit. There was not even standing room at a quarter to seven o'clock. This was one of the largest meetings ever held in the metropolis. At seven o'clock precisely G. Wilson, Esq., the Chair man of the League, took the Chair, amidst the loud acclamations of all present. T. M. Gibson, Esq., M.P.; Dr:: Bowring, ALP.; Hon. Edward Bouverie; W. Wil liams, Esq., M.P.; Hon. C. P. Villiers, M.P.; Rev. J. Burnett ; and W. J. Fox, Esq., entered with the Chair man, and were received with loud cheering. Among those present we observed D. Christie, Esq. ; C: Thompson, Esq. ; J. Pattison, Esq. ; Arthur Patti soil, Esq.; J. Potter, Esq., Manchester; B. Baines, Esq.; W A. Wilkinson, Esq..; David Carr, Esq. ; John Macleod, Esq. ; John Anderson, Esq. ; W. A. Thom son, litsq.; J. Cox, Esq.; WM. Adam Smith, Esq.; P. H. I4Breton, Esq.; T. Wadsworth, Esq. ; W. Pye, Esq.; W. hinsith, Esq. ; D. Shephard, Esq.; Sir W. Baynes, Bart. ; 0.- Wilcock, Esq.; W. Thornborrow, Esq. ; Thos. Sharer, Esq.; Charles Davy, Esq.; Henry Lloyd Morgan, Esq.; W. Geesin, Esq. ; Richard Ware Cole, Esq. ; Edward Edwards, Esq. ; George Ridout, Esq. ; Dr. Simpson; Dr. Girths. Joseph Phelps, Esq.; J. P. Burnard, Esq.; W. Hewitt, Esq. ; David Aumonier, East. ; J. Ridge, • Esq.; A. Fees, Esq.; F. T. Purday, Esq. ; J. Crockford, Esq. ; David Price, Esq. ; George Beacon, Esq. ; Dr. Cooke Taylor; - Francis Place, Esq. ; Cowden Clarke, Esq.• Cummings, Esq. ; J. Welford, Esq. ; James Fordate, Esq. ; E. Bicknell, Esq. ; Sir John Easthope; James Wilson, Esq.; S. Harrison, Esq.; Professor Kay; P. A. Taylor, Esq.; Effingham Wilson, Esq.; and John Adolphus, Esq. The SECRETARY having read the minutes of the last meeting, they were adopted, upon the motion of the Hon. Mr. Villiers. The CHAIRMAN then rose, and said he had no doubt thiit the first question which would suggest itself to the present meeting, and to every friend of free trade, would be what had been done by the League, and what pro gress they had made in this great cause since they all had last assembled within those walls. He would tell them what had been done. In the first place, it would be unnecessary to state that the corn-laws had not as yet been abolished—that the Duke of Buckingham had not as yet joined the League—(Laughter)—neither had the Duke of Richmond ; and that Sir Edward Knatchbull still advocates the necessity of upholding the system which supports mortgages, and enables the aristocracy to endow their daughters with marriage set tlements.—(Loud laughter.) He might also state that Colonel Sibthorp—(A laugh)—had given the immense sum :of 501 to the Pro-Corn-law League.—(Loud laughter.) In opposition to those facts he could state that, the Anti-Corn-law League had been obliged to put up with a subscription of only 5001.—(Loud laughter) — from a Nobleman who was rich enough to buy them altogether—he meant the Marquis of Westminster. — (Loud and long continued cheering.) They also had had some meetings, and gained many advantages, which he was sure the meeting would agree with him, could neither be overlooked nor considered lightly.—(Hear.) In the first place, they had had meetings at Liverpool, when a sum of 4,600 L had been raised for the Great League Fund, which sum was subsequently raised to 6,000/. Then they had a meeting at Ashton-under-Lyne----a bo rough about seven miles from Manchester. At that meeting speeches were made by the Hon. Mr. Villiers, Mr. Cobden, and other members of the Council of the League, and 5401 was raised, which, with 3,8001. pre viously subscribed, amounted to 4,3ool—(Loud cheers.) Next, a meeting was held at Leeds, over which the Mayor of the town, Mr. Stansfield presided, and ad dressed the meeting. Messrs. Marshall, the largest ma nufacturers in the kingdom, gave 800/. to begin the League Fund with—(Loud and long-continued cheers) being 500/ for the firm, and 300/. for the senior partner. —(Renewed cheers.) They then had a meeting in Ha lifax, in Yorkshire, where 2,300/. was subscribed.— (Cheers.) The next was a meeting at Huddersfield, where 2,2001 was collected. At Bradford, 2,000/. was collected. Several small villages in Lancashire, the names of which he would not now trouble the meeting with, had also liberally subscribed. Then there was the town of Bolton, so well represented by his Hon. Friend Dr. Bowring—(Cheers)—where 1,200/. had been raised in an incredibly short time for the League Fund. They had had several meetings in the Midland Counties, at Derby, Leicester, and Nottingham. At Derby 1,2001. was sub scribed, then, at the next meeting at Leicester, 8001. was collected, and at Nottingham a sum of 180/. was subscribed to the League Fund. Then, at Btwnley, an other small place in Lancashire, 100/. was paid over to the Fund, and again, at Oldham, upwards of 1,000/. was subscribed. At Todrnorton, a small village, 6111. were given to the League Fund. From the town of Colnbrooke Dale, in Shropshire, a county which is re presented by the " twelve apostles "—(A laugh)—the SOM of 400/. was collected. The Chairman then read the names of' several small towns in Lancashire, from which various small sums, averaging from 50!. to 2001., were-rollected for the same great national purpose. From Stroud the sum of 5581 was sent to the League Fund. A deputation, consisting of Messrs. Cobden, Bright,Moore, Colonel Thompson, and others, proceeded to Scotland, and there their endeavours were crowned with like suc cees. At Glasgow the Lord Provost took the chair at the Anti-Corn-law meeting, and a sum of 3,000/. was subscribed fur the fund. In Edinburgh, a similar meeting being called, the Lord Provost also took the chair, and 1,500/. was collected. At Dundee 5001 was subscribed, at Leith 3501., and at Paisley 230/. These facts, then, were indisputable evidence of the progress which this great question was making in the public mind. It was a proof that a new compact and agree ment had been entered into between the various mem bers of the League in Scotland and the North of Eng land, and that they had pledged themselves to each other, and this meeting, that so long as they were blessed with health, so long would they persevere in the course they were now pursuing, not withstanding the calumnies and vituperation which mil igh t be poured out against the objects of the League. They had been told that gratifying as had been their progress, yet that they had to meet with obstructions in the Southern counties of Eng land. They had had their attention directed to many associations rising around them on every side, the ob ject of which was to support the present system of corn laws, and it was alleged that these associations had been organised by the farmers. Now he did not believe one wor of this. Three-fourths of the speeches at these meetings were generally composed of vitu terations against the League ; but the tenant farmers had no such ill-feeling against the League —they neither made speeches at those meetings, nor did they occupy the chair. No, it was the M.P., or the Reverend, whose names figured at those meetircs. The farmers knew from the first that the League never deceived them—they knew that, in 1841, that the League never marched them to the hus tings with the watchword of " No surrender" on their tongues, and in the midst of their rejoicing turned round 'and gave them a new tariff and an income-tax.—(Loud cheers.) No, the League told them openly and fairly, tkrough Cobden and Bright ;that they:(the League) were for the total repeal of (the corn-laws—that the farmers could gain no benefit front the imaginary protection of the corn-laws—that they would impoverish their consumers, and they themselves must suffer in re turn.—(Hear, hear.) Those were the doctrines the League broached to the tenant farmers, and they heard and appreciated such arguments, and it would not do now for the lords or the squires to come and tell them to the contrary.--(Cheers.) He had heard somethin ,, of those meetings which occupied so many pages in the news papers. A meeting of that description to which he had alluded was held at Colchester, when it was stated in the public press that 500 or GOO persons were pre sent. One of the members of the League, who was a tenant farmer, was present, and counted the number of pergola , who attended the meeting on that occasion, and there were not 500, nor 400, nor 300, nor even 200. There were only 186 persons present, including 14 reporters. Another meeting was held in the next county, about which a great deal had been said in the newspapers, but onlreleven persons were present, and as many columns appeared in one of their favourite papers. They had also been told that a great deal of money had been col lected on their behalf. They would have occasion for it. Now, what had the League to do after those meetings ? They should copy the names of every man possessing the franchise front the Sheriff's list, and send addresses to every voter throughout the country. They would never disturb these meetings, for they respected meet. ' a n i ft d s, no matt er front whom they might originate ; respected more espe c i a lly the meetings might emanate from thos e w ho lived by the sweat whicht h o f their b row ; but at the same time they should take care that every fallacy pu t forth by past speakers should be refuted in the p ublications of the League, and ttanstaitted through the h kingdom. But it had been said, does the Leaguaeguweasopr:ved now ?He would tell them. The Le dialing with the d electors. It had pledged itself, and would fulfil L i fe as far as was practicable, to contest every election when vacancy ' may occur.—(Loud and long continued cheering.) They might be defeated, but they should return . again and again to the combat.—(Cheers.) They e might u ...Joe close boroughs, like Salisbury, in which vacancies . might occur over which they had no control, but this would not make the slightest difference in their exer tion.. They had laid it down as a rule that no mono polist should take a seat in Parliament without meeting the eoncentrated strength of the League directed against him—(Loud cheers)—and the strenuous efforts of the League will never cease until the feeling has become general through every county in the three kingdoms. Was the League prepared to oppose the lord and the squire ?—(Cries of "We are.") They had the array of the intelligence and good sense of the country on their side, and were sure to prosper. He know t he y might be defeated once or twice, bet no great question ever sank into the mind of the middle classes of the people of England, which ultimately did not became the law of the land, and receive the sanction of the Crown.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) They might have to wait some time before this great question was settled. No period of distress or suffering should ever be per mitted to recur again, equal to that which pressed upon the manufacturing interests for the last five years. No Ministry should ever be again allowed to pl it.e the manufacturers in the same state as they were during the bad harvest two years ago. Knowing that numbers had been against them, that those numbers were increasing while their opponents were diminishing, and that their resources are now treble what they have been, the League bid the people have hope, and take courage, for they were every day coming nearer the termination of this system. He should conclude by introducing to the meeting the Hon. Mr. Bouverie. — (Great cheer i ng . ) The Hon. W. BOUVERIE came forward, and after the applause hadsuLnd bs o ided o , n sa s i t da,gae_.Alvih s ( th r isN g as their)_le sh his first appear anceoudl on the request the indulgence of the meeting during his remarks upon this occasion. He needed this indulgence the more because amongst the gentlemen around him were many who had fought long and boldly in the battle whilst he was but a young recruit, who consequently handled his weapon without their power. Still this was not the first time he had been amongst them. On the late occasion at Salisbury they fought the common fight, and though not enlisted under the banners of the League, yet he was possessed of unity and determination of purpose. They had been defeated on that occasion, and singularly enough they were defeated by free trade. He was an advocate for free-trade, but still he should dissent from that species of free trade which allowed one man to buy the vote of another.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) But, in spite of this, he rejoiced to think that the great cause of the League had been making such a progress ever since. It had been going on from month to month, &cm strength to strength, gaining greater power, influence, and weight. He rejoiced that the associations and the counter-associations to the League had been formed, and for this reason—the object they had in view was to see truth asserted, and all they asked was in quiry—( Cheers )—they did not want to mince the truth.—( Cheers.) The more the subject was agitated the more likely were the people to become converts.—( Cheers.) He felt, however, bound to say that it appeared to him, as far as he had heard the accounts of the meetings in opposition to the League, that the gentlemen who formed these meetings had not taken the best course to elicit the truth. Ile had read several of their speeehes, and the calumnies that had been uttered, the violent abuse that had been used, the choice Bil linsgate expressions that had been adopted towards gentlemen connected with the League, he had never seen equalled ; but, strange to say, not one single fragment of argument had crept into any of the speeches, calculated to convince either those who heard them, or the country at large, that they were right.—( Cheers.) He found, however, amidst all the great mass of calumny, slander, and aspersion, one little salutary fact had been stated by a Noble Peer ; he had stated as an in stance of the dreadful sufferings indicted on the agricultural in terest by the tariff, that the west of Scotland was suffering from the duty on cheese.—( Cheers.) Now, this might appear a little matter, but what was the fact? Why, the tariff did not make any alteration in those duties.—( Laughter and cheers. ) The truth was, that Sir R. Peel, satisfied with the little he had done, as a sop to the agriculturists, left butter and cheese alone. —(Cheers.) The truth was, there was no alteration in the duty on cheese, and there was a considerably less quantity im ported into this country, as he would ;shortly prove. In 1841, when the tariff was not in existence, there was imported into this country 246,000 cwts. ; in 1842,175,000 cwts. ; and in 1843, when the tariff was at its full play, 158,000 cwts.—( Cheers. ) Now, what was the reason of this? Why, they had used up their customers.—( Cheers.) The manufacturing classes, the working classes, used this commodity, and if they were out of employ, they had not the means of buying, and that was the reason why the farmer was unable to sell his cheese.—( Cheers. ) Now, they were on the eve of the meeting of another great pro-corn-law association, he alluded to the near assembling of Parliament, and little enough, he thought all present would be of opinion, was to be expected from that body.—(Cheers.) First of all they had the Protectionists, the majority of the House of Commons, headed by Sir R. Peel. He had some hopes of seeing Sir Robert Peel in that place ere long as a member of the League, and some day or other he would be perhaps kind enough to offer to same of them for the season, the use of his bull.—( Roars of laughter.) er perhaps he might offer to destroy the rabbits in his garden at Whitehall—(Renewed laughter)—and all this he would, doubtless, say he did for the benefit of the people.--( Cheers.) He would tell them why he thought they would soon have him in that place as a member of the League; it was because, during the whole of his life the measures he ultimately adopted were always those which in former life he had opposed.— ( Great cheering.) Now, he would bring him to book upon this point. —(Laughter.) Some twenty years ago Sir R. Peel had op posed certain resolutions brought forward at that time by one of the leading Members on the Liberal side of the House of Com mons, he alluded to Mr. Horner, on the great currency question. Now, eight years afterwards, what would the meeting believe Sir R. Peel did ? Why, is 1819 he brought forward a mea sure based on those very resolutions, and in his place in the House of Commons, without a particle of shame that formerly he had opposed the very resolutions he was then calling upon the House to adopt.—( Cheers.) An other great question on which he had altered his mind was the Catholic Emancipation question. There he had altogether changed his opinion ; and how any mortal man, with the or dinary sense that God had had given him, could put truth or faith in him again, he was at a loss to conjecture. In 1827, when Mr. Canning came into power, Sir Robert Peel stated as his reason for giving up his seat in the House of Commons, that Mr. Canning had always been favourable to the Catholic claims, and as the granting of these claims would be injurious to the Church, he felt bound to oppose them; and yet two years after that he granted these claims, and that too in his character of a Minister of the Crown.—( Hear, hear, and great cheering.) But he (Mr. Bouverie) had not dote with him yet.—( Laughter.) In the year 1833 Sir R. Peel, the leader of the Opposition, in the course of the functions cast upon him, made a speech on the financial state of the country, and on the income-tax being adverted to, he ex pressed his opinion upon it. He was not so fond of expressing his opinions now, because he had been several times made to eat his own words.—( Cheers and laughter.) He had now great difficulty in expressing his opinions ; but upon that occa sion he did express his opinion, and said that nothing but a case of extreme necessity could justify Parliament in times of peace subjecting the people to the inquisitorial proceedings of the income-tax—and that having recourse to that machinery for the purpose of raising the revenue two or three per cent. was most unwise.—( Cheers.) That with respect to II eland, it would be grievously felt, and would be most injurious; that it was his most anxious desire to see Ireland treated as much as possible like England—( Cries of " Shame")—but that to sub ject England and Scotland to a property-tax, and not Ireland, would be most unjust; and yet, after all this—after all these statements, he had clone that very thing which years back he believed to be unjust.—( Cheers). Now, surely, after a public man had so gone back from what he had publicly stated, and that, too, after great consideration, in his place in Parliament— no honest man could trust either him or his declarations. While he (Mr. Bouverie) said the time might come when they would see Sir Robert Peel enlisted is their ranks, he could assure them, that ho should not much rejoice at it.— (Cheers,) Of this he was sure, that when time had rolled on, and they were all gone to their accounts, their descendants would be shocked to find that in former days there were such leaders of party as Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Alderman Gibbs.— ( Great laughter.) With respect to the great party who were for agricultural protection, and supported Sir 11. Peel un willingly, they contended for no other proposition than this, that, supposing there was no custom-duties required at all, that supposing the revenue could be raised by some internal resource of taxation, such as Crown-lands and so on, that supposing that state of things existed, they would still have to maintain the whole army of Customs Commissioners, tide. waiters, overseers, revenue cutters, and so on, for the purpose of keeping out foreign produce.—(Cheers.) In short the agri culturists demanded that as a right. Now, why did they do so? They admitted that the Anti-Corn-law League had, ab stractedly, principle on their side.—( Cheers.) Mr. Gladstone had said that free trade was connected with common sense.— (Cheers.) Mr. Baring was for free trade in the abstract— ( Great cheering)—and a gentleman who had spoken at a meeting in Sussex was for the principle of free trade in theory, but net in fact.—( Laughter. ) Of this he (Mr. Bouverie) was convinced, that the more they knocked off the shackles that at present were bearing on the country, the more moral would they make it.— (Cheers.) But then these gentlemen, the agriculturists, con sider the burthens upon the land ! What comparison, he would ask, was there between them and the burthens placed upon the country to maintain the protection laws ? One was only a burthen of pounds, shillings, and pence, while 4ip other was that of suffering, privation, misery, starvation, and death.— (Great cheering.) One could not be weighed against the other.—( Cheers. ) They could not put in one scale, tears, misery, and wretchedness, and in the other gold.—( Great cheering.) There was no comparison between them, and in his opinion ' and in that of all thinking men, the pecuniary one ought to be put out of consideration.—( Cheers. ) Now what were the burthens of which there was so much said ? Why Sir R. Peel had enumerated them at Tamworth ; he said, look at the tithes. Now, how he (Mr. Bouverie) would ask, were they a burthen upon the land ?—( Great cheer ing.) A thousand years ago a provision had been made for the clergy, and the party took the land subject to that provision. —(Cheers.) It was a burthen on the land if they pleased, but not to the party taking it, bec a u se h e got the land cheaper.—(Cheers.) Then, with respect to poor rates and highway rates, they were said to be burthens, and no doubt they were in some measure so; but did not the occu piers of houses bear equal burthens ?—( Cheers.) Then they came to what really was a burthen—the land tax ; and what was the amount of that ? Why he found that in 1841 it pro duced 1,214,0001. ; he had looked up the items of the receipt of income, and he found the greater portion to be legacy and probate duty. Now the land paid neither of those dirties at all.—( Cheers.) If he was to succeed to-morrow to an estate of 50,0001. a year he should not pay a shilling duty, but if the land had been sold, and the party had left him the money he should then have to pay 10 per cent. duty.—(Cheers.) Now this he thought was a good set off against the land tax.— (Cheers.) There was another section of the House of Com mons who said they disregarded the notion of protection altogether, but they said they must have revenue, and it ought to be upon corn as well as any other article. Now the free traders said to that, No, it is one of the necessaries of life, and upon that ground it would be impolitic to place a duty on it. Duties ought to be regular, and corn could not produce a re gular duty on account of the change of seasons and other mat ters.—(Cheers.) The free trader also said that a tax should take as little as possible from the pockets of those who had to pay, and should give as much as possible to the Government; and that corn would not do that.—(Cheers.) He agreed with the Chairman, that of the ultimate success of the League no one could doubt—(Cheers)—they were sure sooner or later to succeed. —(Cheers. ) Let them look at all the great ques tions of political importance that had been decided in the coun try, and they would find that where the people pronounced in favour of them they had become the law of the land.—(Cheers. ) Who, he would ask, obtained the Reform Bill ? The aristo cracy? No,:but the people.—( Cheers. )They asserted it was right ; it was resisted for a time, but it was ultimately carried. Was it the upper classes that brought about the abolition of slavery ? No ; but the people willed it, and the slave trade was abolished. And, to come to a practical question of some importance to all of them, though perhaps not so important in its bearings as that to which he had just referred, was it the aristocracy of this country who proposed, or who willingly carried, for the benefit of the people; the penny postage measure ?—( Hear, hear.) He contended that both the Whigs and Tories were opposed to it ; it was the middle classes who carried it—the middle classes, who, if they exerted their strength, would be sure to succeed, and who saw the great benefit which would accrue if the measure was carried.—( Cheers.) But he need not confine himself to that measure. If they went back to the past, if they travelled back 200 years, they would find that this as now,re ands t l o t w fi fight nthatagainstty years monopolies ago monopoly. battle was fought at that period. The miadle classes had then, Thedredws abolished. a . s p the aTsswe od r e,shuol hun dred de claring that all monopolies should be abolished. He doubted not that the same thing would be witnessed perhaps in such general terms, but an Actitaoomfe nt passed,Par liament notde again ; that they would see an Act of Parliament that r e ah e d or t n h - a l t aw t s he w y e s r h e o l u n l i rtter s efore from that time oc de claring a theri n g count the best interests be repealed.—(Loud cheers). wanerAe a d e bt whato Mr. W. J. Fox then came rorward to address the meeting. As the Hon. Gentleman was commencing, considerable con. fusien took place through the breaking down of a barrier near the speakers. Order having been at length restored, he said he had to address them on the first meeting of a new year of agitation ; at a time when confusion, anxiety, and uncertainty, were prevailing throughout the country; when the Legislature was expected shortly to meet, and the people looked on rather with sullen expectancy than with any degree of hopefulness; when the League had gone on marshalling its strength, aug menting its funds, and multiplying its numbers; when political parties were on the look-out to see what chances might turn up for retaining their position, or for getting into the position of their adversaries ; when ienti- Corn-law League Associations were forming in different counties; and when, therefore, on all accounts, it was appro priate and desirable to reiterate, though in terms that had been often heard, they could not be too often repeated—to reiterate the League principles, the one aim and object of that Associa tion, that for which they were banded together, without which they would never be content, till they attained which their or ganisation and their exertions would continue; the one broad, simple principle of free trade, and, as applied to the greatest possible case, the total, the immediate, the unconditional abo lition of the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) That was the star by which they steered ; to that single point they bore right on, heedless of all other considerations. They cared not for par ties, they cared not for demonstrations of faction, new or old; they cared not for the consistency or the inconsistency of this or that leader, or of any portion of the House of Corn mons.—(Hear, hear) The total, the unconditional, and the immediate abolition of the corn-laws was what they asked of all. They sought no more, they would take no less, from Sir Robert Peel, on the one side, or from Lord John Russell, on the other side. They sought no more, and they would take no less, from Lord Melbourne on the one side, or from the Duke of Wellington on the other side, or from my Lord Brougham on all sides.—(Great laughter and much cheering.) They waged no further warfare with those who conceded this prin ciple ; they waged everlasting warfare with all who would not grant this principle; and, because it was a principle, in their minds, which admitted of no compromise on any grounds what ever.—( Great cheering.) That was their watchword.— (Hear, hear.) If a certain class in the country reiterated its cry of "No surrender," they replied by "No compromise."— (Cheers.) If this movement were, what it had sometimes been mistakenly represented ; if it were a mere manufac turer's combination—an endeavour to put certain portions of the trade and commerce of this country on a different, and a safer, and a more profitable footing, and that were all ; if this were a mere party movement—an action of hostility towards one set of politicians, and an endeavour to in troduce into their place another set of politicians ; if this move ment were a class feeling ; if they really did the absurd thing that had been ascribed to them in the published resolutions of societies if they hated agriculture (an inconceivable absur dity, for how could any man hate that through which he got bread to eat ?); or, if this were a mere popular caprice, a cuckoo cry set up by individuals for their own personal aggrandise ment, or for purposes of faction, like " no popery," and similar cries, which had so often led multitudes astray, and brought confusion to the country, why then there might be compromise in the matter.—( Hear, hear.) But with them it was the very stuff of conscience ; it was a principle to which they had made up their minds, as embracing a right of man anterior even to the existence of civilised society ; for if anything could be called a natural right, it was that of man's exchanging the produce of his honest labour freely in the world's market for whatever he might desire as a substitute, welcome to him as ministering either to his subsistence or his comfort.—(Loud and long con tinued cheers.) This was not a question that admitted ofdegrees ; it was not a thing to be settled piece-meal.—( Hear, hear.) They respected all rights, but they had no respect for wrongs. —( Hear, hear, and cheers.) They understood not the doc trine of tolerating a certain robbery, of iniquity, of oppression on the community, and on individuals.—( Hear, hear.) They took up their position on the right and wrong of the case. For property, of all sorts, as realised by skill and labour, and as sanctioned by human laws and institutions, they avowed every respect ; and they held in sacred regard the property of the class which most opposed itself to their claims.— (Hear, hear.) The broad acres of the landholder were his ; they meant not to touch them ; they set up no scramble for their division—they interfered not with his retention of that which, whether conquered by the sword or gained by purchase, belonged to him. Let him do as he would with his own—he was amenable to public opinion if he violated decency and mo rality; but, so far as he kept within the limits which the great objects of human society prescribed, they respected his rights even there.—( Hear, hear.) Let him have his game, or let him decimate his hares and rabbits—let him grant leases or let him refuse leases—let him cut down the ancient timber on his estate to put cash into his pocket, or let him have a great re spect for, and be conservative of timber and of institutions—they meddled with nothing whatever of that kind; let him have his whole rights—the land was his, the produce of the land was his, or those to whom he hired out that land; but there was one thing which was net his, and that was the industry of other people.—( Cheers.) Their labour, their skill, their per severance, their bones and sinews, their daily toil, and the bread which they earned by that toil, and which he had no right to diminish by taxation.—( Deafening applause.) They were his fellow-countrymen, and not his slaves.—(Renewed cheers.) The labourer's bones and muscles , were his own property, and not a landlord's.—( Continued cheering.) They claimed for themselves that which they conceded to him, the fair produce of whatever powers, privileges, or advantages they possessed.—( Hear, hear.) Here their principle claimed the same respect, the same sacred veneration, for the rights of pro perty in the man who had nothing in the world but the phy sical strength with which he went forth in the morning to earn his dinner at noon, and in the inheritor of the widest and most princely domains that could be boasted of in this rich country of Great Britain ; and in their regard for this principle, they were opposed not only to the present form of invasion of the industrious man's property, but to any other mode or plan of invasion that might be substituted for it by any other parties, or fur any other purposes.—( Hear, hear.) The principle was as opposed to a fixed duty as it was opposed to a sliding scale.— ( Hear, hear.) The one was as much an invasion of the com mon rights of the people as was the other. For what was its tendency, under whatever pretext it might be levied? There could be no doubt that any duty on the importation of corn must enhance the price of food; and whatever enhanced the price of food took away from the fair earnings of the industrious. And when they called to mind the condition of great multitudes of the industrious classes; when they thought how they rose up early, and sat up late, and ate the bread of carefulness, by what miserable and wearing toil their poor pittance was won from the world ; when they remembered how many there were whose history, the whole history of their lives, was summed up in the well-known verse— ,. Work—work—work,-- Till the eyes be red and dim! Work—work—work, — Till the brain begins to swim !" When they looked on such a destiny as that, if a fixed duty would take but a farthing out of a pound, they said it should not be taken from these wretches to augment the stores of the Dukes of Buckingham and Riehmond.—( Great cheering.) Why, there were cases in which the imposition of a fixed duty on corn, whatever the amount, would lead to more objectionable results, perhaps, than those which belonged to a sliding-scale. It had been often urged, and he believed it had been felt, as an objection, " What will you do with your fixed duty of 10s., Sc., or ss. ; what will you do with it when food rises, as it is subject at times to rise, to a famine price ?" Why, it had been said that it must then be relaxed. What power should determine the relaxation, and by what test?—( Hear, hear. ) Only let them realise, in their imaginations, for a moment, the condition of a Prime Minister who had to watch the coun try to see whether the time was come, or coming, at which the fixed duty on corn must be relaxed, by a speciaal interposi tion of the Government, because food was reaching a famine price ! Why, he must notice in the papers how many were picked up fainting in the streets for want of food.—( Hear, hear.) How many cases of starvation would prove that bread had risen to the rate at which the relaxation must take place? What amount of disease, how much typhus, would be a justification of the re laxation of the duty ? These were the inquiries a Prime Minister must make in such a case.—( Hear, hear.) He must watch the country, and feel its pulsation ; as the regimental surgeon stood by when the soldier was flogged, finger on wrist, eye on the bleeding wounds, ear open to the sound of the cat upon the bare back, and, with a stop-watch noting whether the instant had yet arrived when he was to interpose and say, " Hold, enough."--( Tremendous cheers.) Was that a fitting position for the chief of the legitimate government of a free nation?—( Loud cries of " No, no.") One violation of jus tice always led to another.—( Hear, hear.) Forget justice, and charity would not long be remembered, and humanity would cry in vain. —(Cheers.) A fixed duty ! Why it was protec tion under another name, that which was called protec tion ; and protection was the very thing against which that League waged warfare, and which it existed in order to put down and to annihilate for ever.—(lrnmense cheer ing. ) They had no more charity for protection in one form than in another. What was it ? The protection of agriculture. What portion of agriculture ? what class of persons? Strip it of devices and sophisms, and circumlocutions, it was the protec tion of rent, and nothing else. The protection of the tenant farmer! Had it ever enriched him? The protection of the la bourer ! What had been his history for many a year past ? He had been protected downwards from one stage to another of de scent ; protected out of his whole clothes into rags ; protected out of a cottage into a mud hovel, with but one filthy room in it for his wife and family, all to pig together ; he had been protected till his children and wife were obliged to tell him that they could not go to the church for the rites of religion ; he had been protected out of the fields into the union workhouse, or, perhaps, into the court of justice, or the gaol ; and, at last, he had him protected into that narrow home " where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest," finding in the cold shelter of the grave more of the reality of protection than he ever got from the corn-law.—( Great cheering.) Protection ! Why, what should they protect? Not a losing trade, for that was taxing all the community for the advantage of a class ; that was pursuing an object that could not repay labour; not a thriving trade, for that needed no prutection.—(Cheers.) And why should any one class be singled out? What was there in the recipient of rents that he was to be protected at the expense of all the rest of the community ?--(Cries of " Hear, hear.") Why not protect other classes of the community ? Were not the artist and the poet as worthy of protection ? He dared to say that there were in that great meeting perhaps some few Scotchmen present--(Hear, hear, and laughter )—and they might remember something of Robert Burns—(Cheers)—what did he want of protection—what did he gain by it? Nature made him a poet—aristocratic protection made him an excise man.—( Renewed cheering). His great protection, however, was his stout heart and strong arm.—(Cheers. ) He knew that himself, for he says— " For me, so lew I need not bow, The Lord be thank'd, I still can plough." Yes ; and he boasted further, that he could even beg. For the independence of a beggar was to him more desirable than the pecuniary independence which was to be obtained by plun dering others of their rights and means of subsistence.—( Hear, hear). It had bean said rightly by the gentleman who preceded him that the food of the people ought not to be made a subject of revenue. Indeed, what was a less fitting source of revenue ?—( Hear, hear.) But then this ar gument was met by some advocates of the corn-laws with the assertion that the duty was necessary for protection. Yet, when you came to examine the arguments of the advocates for the duty, you would find that those who talked of protection meant revenue, and very often those who claimed revenue were strug gling for protection.--( Hear, hear.) Whether they talked of revenue or protection, they were only leading us by a round about way to the same project of putting money into the pockets of one class at the expense of the community.—( Hear, hear.) They thought that the circuitousness of the process mystified the purpose. They were like the dishonest churchwarden.— (Cheers and laughter, and cries of " Gibbs.") No, no ; he did not mean that person. There had been more dishonest churchwardens than one.—(Cheers and laughter.) But still he (Mr. F.) could not envy that person's position. However, it was net to him that he had alluded, but to a chnrchwarden of whom it was related, that, when he carried round the sacra mental plate to receive the offerings, he put saw-dust in his pockets, to prevent the shillings he dropped in there from jingling.—( Great laughter.) The corn-laws were the land lords' sawdust.—(Cheers.) But the money was not the less fraudulently appropriated, because it was done noiselessly, and by an Act of Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) With such men there should be no compromise. —(Cheers.) That was not a word that could belong to the League in its present condition. —( Cheers.) If they would not compromise when they were weak and few, it wa snot likely that they would now, when they were strong and many.—(Cheers.) And he might be permitted to say, that the people in London could scarcely ima gine what the strength of the League was throughout the country. It would be worth while to send a depu tolatf hu ti w o t n oelidr da in c to lelyzt th rito e hn North, to mark the feelings of the people ther e , an d t h e strengt h , i ntens i ty, an d progress i veness the to deepestth e caus s ey sympathies h f free f human t r a de. — ( nature Cheers. 0 ) witness the multitudes of well) women, and shil4ken..of mas. THE S:UN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26: 1844. ters as well as men—that poured from the factories to give their support to this common cause. There was nothing to be seen of that tyranny that was spoken of elsewhere. Nothing of the kind existed in the places which he had seen. Wher ever he had been, the operatives came to the meeting, not choked with " Devil's dust," as Mr. Ferra.nd said—( Hisses, and laughter)—but ready to " down with their own dust" in aid of the cause.—( Cheers and great laughter.) He had seen the women, too, come forward eager to show their sym pathy with the oppressed, and the wrong that was inflicted upon themselves by the law which made the bread of their children scarce and dear.—( Hear, hear.) The children seemed to him to understand the interest which they had in the ques tion, and to look forward to the time when each of them would say with pride, " I too was a corn-law repealer in my infancy." When they saw this in London—when they saw London imitating the conduct of the people in the country on this subject, then the work would be accomplished, and these laws totally and finally abolished.—(Cheers.) Let it not Ise supposed, however, that the thought of compromise would not be as far from the minds of the Anti-Corn-law League if they stood alone.—( Hear.) This was shown by those seven men who met years ago at Manchester, and who still contended for the same principle as then—repeal, and no thins, short of repeal.—( Cheers. ) They would have adhered to those principles if no public sympathy had been raised in their favour, and if none of those meetings had taken place. For their principles were of that class, which having once got hold of a eau's mind are never abandoned. It was for such principles martyrdom was suffered.—(Cheers.) Once adopted—once promulgated, they might be delayed in their progress, they could not be defeated.—( Cheers.) It was by the influence of such feelings and the operation of such principles the Reformation was effected. It was to them we owed the Christian religion itself.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) If they who led the League were ever to falter in their course, their defalcation would have no effect upon the progress of the cause. They were but the foremost in the cause, which was proceeding as regularly as the rolling waters, and if they did not keep in the advance, they would be overwhelmed in the progress of the country to the great consummation.—( Cheers.) There could be nu compromise, for- the landlords had thrown down the gauntlet—they had waged war with the League— they had challenged the League, and summoned it to the con test. They had vowed they would put it down.—( Laughter. ) But they were not the bold Barons of Runnymede.—( Great laughter.) No, no, the age of chivalry was gone indeed, and most especially in their case—for they were traders, and the worst of traders, who diminished the food of the people to raise their own profits.—( Cheers.) They disrobed themselves of that which should be their dignity and their armour. What did they mean by standing aloof from the rest of the people, by uniting with whom they would promote their own real in terest, and secure wealth, peace, and happinesa for all, in stead o f rancour and warfare, and the opposition of class, to class?—(llear, hear, and cheers.) There had been no doubt great misrepresentations as to the large meetings throughout the country upon this subject as well as upon others. If the Morning Herald would oblige them—as it sometimes obliged the Government—with the private notes of its reporters—( Hisses, groans, and laughter)—they would know something more of the real state of the case.—(Cheers ) Ifs had seen but one report (and that in a country newspaper) of a genuine meeting of tenant farmers. That was held at Eversham, and there were twenty-two farmers present. The subjects which they met to discuss were leases and corn rents. After a full and fair hearing of both sides, from two of their number who had studied the questions, twenty voted in favour of leases, and two against thern--(Cheers)—whilst eighteen voted for, and three against the corn-rent.—(Cheers). Such would be the result of all those meetings of the farmer tenants, if they had fair play.—( Hear, hear.) In the mean time it was a pity that the friends of protection did not summon an aggre gate meeting, and, small as was the theatre in which they (the League)' were then assembled, it would be ample enough. Their friend, Mr. Paulton, might find a private boa for the Anti-League, and the managers' box might accommodate Sir Robert Peel and the advocates of the sliding scale.—(Cheers.) But it would never avail for the , landlords to drive the farmers to those meetings in the same manner as they drove them to poll at the hustings.— (Cheers. )•• There was more suspicion, sullenness, and sulki ness in the farmer going to the meetings, than going to the poll. He understood, now, that there was great difficulty in getting them to the meetings ; and, then, there was great diffi culty in getting them to hold up their hands. At one of these meetings the chairman repeatedly told them to hold up their hnnds, but they seemed not to understand him. The chair. man again called out emphatically that they must hold up their hands. But they (whether by a voluntary mistake, or not, he would not say) turned up their noses. ( Great laughter.) On the arguments brought for ward at those meetings he would say nothing, for out of nothing nothing would come. The only fragmentary grains to be found in these bushels of chaff, were such as could be refuted by every labourer of common sense. One was, that wages were raised in proportion as the price of corn was raised ; and that wages fell as the price of food fell. Another was, that the country ought to be independent of foreigners for the supply of food. This last was a doctrine which all the rest of the world had exploded, and it would be as well that it should here be crought to the test, and subjected to investigation. This independence was something very good for the landlords; to speak of, whilst they were spreading guano over their lands— covering this England with a foreign surface, and subjecting it to that polluted dependence which they deprecated.—( Hear, hear.) In the contest at Salisbury, Mr. Bouverie met his opponent upon those grounds, and stripped him from head to foot—( Laughter)—showing that he had not got upon his person one article of clothing that was not foreign.—(Cheers.) A French cook dressed his dinner for him—and a Swiss valet dressed him for his dinner.—( Laughter. ) He handed down his lady decked with pearls that never grew in the shell of a British oyster—( Cheers and laugh ter ) and waring on her head the plume of ostrich feathers, which never decked the tail of a barn-door fowl. He sits down to a dinner composed of viands from different countries. His wines are from the banks of the Rhine or the Rhone. He goes into his conservatories and regales his sight with the beautiful colours, which the flowers of South America present, and then, returning to his saloon, he refreshes his scent with the product of the northern continent. His picture gallery contains the master pieces of the Flemish school—and when he retires for his evening amusement, he hears Italians warbline German music ; and afterwards enjoys a French ballot: If he aspired to judicial honours, his robe was decorated with ermine, which never before was worn upon the back of a British beast.—(Great laughter.) His mind itself was not more independent. His literature was a pie-nie from Greece to Rome. His mathematics were imported from Alexandria— his arithmetic from Egypt—his religion from Palestine.— ( Cheers.) Such was the man—such the class of men —who told the country " let there be suffering, want, starvation, amongst you; you shall be dependent only upon us, and be inde pendent of foreigners, upon whom we depend for all our own enjoyments."—(Cheers.) The League was not going to the Legislature this session. They were not going to petition. ( Cheers.) The Members of the Lords and the Commons might do as they pleased and h o w they pleases!. The appeal of the League would be to the masters of those houses—to those who created the Legislature.—(Cheers.) It was the business of the League now to teach the constituency, who made the article badly, and to instruct them how to make it better The great landed monopolists hunted up the tailor and the shoemaker, and said, " have you not a little monopoly of your own ? Keep up our great monopoly and we will uphold your litttle monopoly—tickle me Toby, tickle me twice."—(Loud laughter.) The League had endeavoured to work upon the intelligence and principle of the:people, and upon that alone. Calling up not what was brutal, but what was most divine in humane nature, realising that spirit of independence without which no institution in the form of freedom could ever be great or lasting. For this reason were the League held to be such monstrous interlopers. It was the cry at Salisbury and I Vindsor, when he found of his a s ki ng D ame Q u i c kl y w London, `r Here are come amongst us men whose home is in Lancashire—they are utt er stran gers —they have no business here." There was the sa me sort o f indi g nation felt by Doctor was informed " that it was an h onest man." " But," said Doctor Ca ius , "what should anChaiou Slenders i in taitn was, z e Merryoset ; Dives u honest man do in ray closet?" So said the monopo lists.—( Hear.) Honest men shall not come into our closets. But the honest men had got into the closets, and with a search warrant in their hands. They had found that which would bring the monopolist* to shame ar.d confusion. They had laid bare their tricks. ss We, continued the Hon. Gentleman, " can have no compromise in such a question as the corn-laws, because we cannot compromise with crime.—( Cheers.) 1 hold that these laws Are but one great crime, both in themsels es and in their consequences. It is a fraud. The monopolists say to the nation—exclude foreign corn—be independent of foreigners. Does not that imply that they—the home growers—will furnish a supply—are they not by the very fact of interposing to pre vent gond provisions fro m comin g f rom abroad, undertaking that there shall be ample and sufficient provision of their own raising at home? Can that be done? Have they produced, at prices at which the great mass of the community, however in dustrious, could afford to purchase, a sufficient quantity ? Has there not been want and starvation in England and in Ireland ? While want and misery have been increasing, the wealth of the monopolists has not been ministering towards its al leviation. They could not produce a sufficiency of food for such an increasing population as our's, increasing, as it does, 23,020 annually. No, they could not produce food enough if a county as large as that of Surrey wer e t o b e add e d to the country. - How can they undertake to produce a suffi cient quantity of food ? Can they create a new Ireland, or can they keep the old Ireland ?—(Loud cheers.) I say that those laws with occasion the destruction of human food are a crime ? . Not long ago, about the time that I was in Liver pool, a large quantity of American butter was brought out of the warehouse. A hole was bored in each firkin, and as it was found that it would not answer a commercial speculation, if the duty were paid, they poured pitch and other substances into the butter, in order that it might be rendered altogether unfit for human use. I believe it was actually made into grease for the locomotive engines. At Sunderland the same thing occurred with respect to wheat. The people were starv ing without, and the wheat was rotting within.—(Hear, hear.) It was brought out under the Government lock and key—. brought by her Majesty's servants, the Custom-house officers. It was taken to the dunghill, amongst all sorts of substances, in order that it might be rendered impossible for use as human food, anti it was then converted into manure, and this at a time when the people wero talking about poor-laws, charitable sub scriptions, coll ec ti ons, an d ten d e r feelings for the suffering poor. It would b e wort h w hil e to c ompare the table of corn mittals for offen ces , w i t h t h e pr ices of wheat, from year to year. The exceptions are very rare in which the price of corn is not accompanied by an increase in the number of committals. In the years front 1834 to 1836, when wheat was 445. 3d. the quarter, the average number of committals was 21,000. From 1837 to 1941, when the average price of wheat was G3s. 2d., the average number of committals was 25,000. Four thou sand criminals a tear added by that horrible sliding scale of guilt anti misery ! Hear, hear, and cheers ) But to take an extreme year. In the year 1835, when wheat was a little under 40s. the quarter, the number of committals was 27,300. In 1842 wheat was 575. 3d. the quarter ; the committals were 31,300 in the year. This is the result of the experience of many years. This is the horrible operation of these iniquitous laws, which murder the soul as well as the body—which make the best tendencies of ou r nature subser vient to crime—which make the life of t hat man, whose fa mily depend upon bins for support, a motive and an incentive to guilt—which .ereate crime and make the re p etition of th e Queen's proclamation for the suppressi on of vice necessar y by an Act of Parliament for the producti on of criminalit y . O h , Ido declare before high heaven and th e world, that I wo uld p ra i t it h , e d r r hold up u to p e m i Lh e a T l y a a t in th o e st bar iniquitousofthe law, than Old Bailey as a col. be one of those who profit by a law which was made to coin money out of the heart's life of our fellow-creatures.—( Loud cheers.) Nor is this all. The annuable table of mortality is analogous as to numbers to the annual table of crime. With the price of wheat the number of deaths falls or rises. In 1798 and 1802 wheat was 595. the quarter, and the average number of deaths in London was 20,508. In 1800, the intermediate year, and therefore not liabl e t o excep ti on on the ground of increased po pulation, when wheat was upwards of 605., the number of deaths was 25,670. Five thousand deaths in that year, being an increase an a l ogous to t h e i ncreas e in the price of food, and directly tending t o i mpress - on the mind the connection of cause and effect. .I t seems as if the grins monster had forgot his impartiality —as if the bony tyrant had become the ser vant of monopoly, and though it is still in seme measure true that the rich and poor lay down together in the grave, yet that the world, by its laws, sends the poor there first. and sends them there in numbers to prepare for their own re ception. Tho effect of the classification of society is, that while in the middle and higher classes only one child in five fails to attain five years of age, in the working classes only half that number ever reach that period. Are We to be told that farther experiments should be made in a law that is connected with phenomena such as this ! Are we to give Peel's Bill a longer trial, or any trial of monopoly whatever? Are we to have more experiments of privation—of disappointment—of suffering—of crime—and of death ! It was an old medical maxim that expe riments should be made on vile and worthless bodies only ; but here is a law which makes experiments even on the bodies of a great sutT , ?ring nation. This is enough to raise every feeling •of our souls, and to create the indignation of man, woman, and child, • of all ranks and classes, at the iniquity, and a determination of liitening to no compromise until it be put down entirely and fur ever. For this we have bound ourselves. For this you, as the metropolis, must take your rightful position, and go forward to the van, and lead on the march. We are determined npt to cease our exertions until we have realised our great object of emancipating labour, and raising it above the ruins of all existing monopolies. For this we strive, and whilst one atom is left of restriction upon food—whilst there is any enactment curbing the rights of in dustry and of labour—whilst there is an imposition on the food of the people, we will never desist from agitation —no, never, never.—( Great and enthusiastic cheering.) From year to year we have held onward, endeavouring not only to obtain good for ourselves, but for other classes also, however blind to their own true interests they might be. For what is universal freedom ? It is the best security for the largest proprietor, as well as the rightful and honourable encou ragement for those who have no property at all. We go for commercial freedom—for the development of intellectual and moral freedom—teaching different classes their dependence on each other—uniting nations in a bond of brotherhood, tending to realise the anticipations of that great poet to whom I have before referred, whom this day gave to Scotland and the world— , " Now let us pray That come it may, As come it shall for a' that, That man to man, the world o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that." ( The Hon. Gentleman sat down amidst the most enthusiastic cheering.) Mr. M. GIBSON, M.P., next rose and addressed the meet ing, and was received with much cheering. He said, he would have preferred to have remained silent to have had time for reflection, after the very splendid and effective oration which they had just heard ; and he felt confident that he spoke the senti ments of that vast assemblage, when lie said that Mr. Fox had conveyed to the world the full intention of the National Anti- Corn-law League. He had nut gone beyond what they pro fessed, nor had he in the smallest degree come short of their deserts. The principle they advocated was the total and unconditional repeal of the corn-laws.—(hear, hear.) They also advocated the abolition of all other protective duties. They were not willing to reserve to any portion of the com munity that protection which they were resolved, if they could, to take from the agriculturists, and standing there, in the pre s sence of that vast and intelligent assembly, he felt proud in having it in his power to deny most emphatically the charge that had been brought against the Anti-Corn-law League, that it was a body seeking simply to attack the landed interest, and having a desire to preserve the protection of the manufacturers. —( Hear, hear.) Representing in Parliament the metropolis of the manufacturing districts of-England, he there emphatically denied the charge in the name of the manufacturers, and attested before all, that those men who had petitioned the Legislature for a repeal of the corn-laws had also prayed that Legislature to withdraw all protection from the industry of the country. His Hon. Friend, Mr. Fox, well said that petitioning the Legisla ture was a farce.—( Hear, hear.) He was glad that they were no longer to waste their energies in getting up futile petitions to a landlord House.—( Hear, hear.) They would be enter. tained next session with petitions of another description. Land lords' petitions would be presented by landlords to a landlord Le. gislature in the presence of the " collective wisdom." Those were petitions with which the country must be entertained, and they might believe that he stated the exact truth when he said that the parties who get up these petitions will belong to the same party that present 'them, and to the same party that re ceive them. It was difficult to conceive anything more ludicrous than -the farce enacted in the presence of a great body of men. These laws were enacted in what was termed the " collective wisdom" of the community, and it was indeed humiliating to think that any body of men could be found so stupid as to bee 'ileac that the people were represented in that august body. The Anti-Corn-law League had, indeed, reason to congratulate itself and the country upon the progress which this great movement was making. The League had been termed an odious conspiracy—(Laughter)—it was sometimes called a petty clique of ragamuffins—( Great laughter)—they had been also informed that the Association was a formidable combination of marked men, which endan gered and threatened the existence of Church and State—they were at another moment, a petty gathering of manufacturers, without any legitimate influence, but endeavouring to influence the community by the help of a little money.—(Laughter. ) The League could not be all those different things. Ile re membered a saying of the late Mr. Cobbett—he said, " Some . times the people call me the scum of the earth, and sometimes they call me the dregs; now, I cannot be both the scum and -the dregs."—( Great laughter and cheers.) But let them understand what the Anti-Corn-law AsSociation really was—it was not a formidable conspiracy of Wicked men, nor a petty cabal of manufacturers—( Hear)—it was the test of the union of the middle and intelligent classes uf the community, who were determined that th e y s h ou ld no , , 'l4;iiger live by sufferance—who resolved to vindicate their so cial position, and no longer allow themselves to be kept down : jai the social scale. in order that the feudal ascendancy might be maintained and the great body of the people kept down by that remnant of barbarous ages which was embodied in the corn-laws.—( Hear, hear, and great cheering.) The spirit of the system on which the corn-laws were founded was, that the trader, the manufacturer, the commercial man had no right to have more trade, no more wealth, no more enjoyments, no more of the comforts of life than might suit landlord propensities to allow him. They pro ceedednaireit,et o c r u a t c had a rd a s to the industrious classes—to restrict the comforts and enjoy r ight,b u y p i o n n h t e h r e i t a a n " c u e ni , to t regulateassumption th at the trade—tolan landed merits of life, and to tell their fellow-citizens to what degree they might ascend in the social scale. The League was a great combination of rational men, who stood forward deter mined to abolish this feudal tyranny, and erase from the statute book those remnants of feudal barbarism. They recogni ed no 'such inherited right in the aristocracy of landlords.—(Hear.) '.As Mr. Fox said, they did not covet their acres, nor 'desire to interfere with their property—( Hear, hear)—all they asked was, that the aristocracy should desist from inter fering with trade, and allow the great body of the industrious community to have full enjoyment of the resources which Pro vidence had placed within their reach.—( Hear, hear). They had been told that the lion of England had aroused himself, and that he was shaking his mane. He was afraid this lion of ' England would resemble the lion in the fable—a donkey in a lion's hide, and now that the animal began to bray, all the rest of the creation discovered that he was not a lion, but an ass.—( Great laughter). Was there ever in this world such a 'collection of wretched trash as the speeches recently delivered at the Agricultural Association ?—( Hear, hear). There was very little argument, a great deal of abuse, an occa sional allusion to special burdens on land, and the dangers which impended over the Church and State ; but all argument against the principle of free trade was abandoned, and the landed aristocracy appeared to have taken up the position that might constituted right. —( Hear, hear.) There was one special burden mentioned, which he would take the liberty of alluding to. It was mentioned by a gentleman at the Northamptonshire meeting. He said that ambassadors, diplomatists, and consuls were sent abroad at a great expense to the country, and all for the advantage of the commercial world ; and the agriculturists had to support the expense in the main of this valuable body of diplomatic neve tiatiors.—( Hear, hear.) That fell from a gentleman who in herited the name, but not, he feared, the abilities of that dia. tinguished statesman—George Canning. Mr. Canning told the so-called meeting of tenant farmers, (but who, in fact, were not tenant farmers, but a collection, for the most part, of those persons who usually took a prominent part before election contests,) lie told those tenant farmers, or whatever they were called. that ambassa dors were sent abroad, and constituted a special burden on land, and entitled the landed proprietors to enact the sliding scale for corn.—( Laughter. ) He bad allays thought that the ambassadors, &c.. were chosen from the aristocratic body, and that diplomatic situations were pleasant situations—large sine cures with large salaries, and quite suitable to the taste and fancy of aristocratic legislators.—(Hear, hear.) But he had never heard any reasonable commercial man say that he considered any service had been done him by diplo. matists. What intelligent traders said was, let not di plomatists meddle in our affairs. No diplomatist or ambassador can direct the merchant how to employ his capital, nor what exchange he ought to make. At this latehour of the evening it would, perhaps, be thought that he was trespassing on their time improperly—(Cries of "No, no")—if he dwelt at any length upon those arguments—if they deserved the name which Lad been used at the agricultural meetings. Old fallacies had been patched up at the Northamp tonshire meetings, such as if foreign corn were admitted free of duty, the foreigner would not take our manufactures, but would only take our gold and silver. It was a surprising anxiety the Northamptonshire farmers expressed about gold going out of the country.—( Hear.) One would think they had been instrumental in bringing the gold in. He should like to know how much gold would be in England if they had nothing but agricultural produce to send in exchange. Were there gold mines in Northamptonshire, or was silver dug up in Buckinghamshire, that there should be this excessive anxiety about the gold and silver going out of the country? All the gold and silver had been brought into the country by manu facturing industry_—( Hear, hear.) All that ministers to the luxuries of the great, and that added to the splendour of the aristocracy, had been purchased by manufacturing industry.— ( Hear, hear.) But when we asked to be allowed to purchase cheap bread, to relieve the necessities of the poor, and in crease the comforts of the industrious classes, they said, " Oh no, we dare not let you do that, for the gold and silver would go out of the country."—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") They were willing enough to allow gold and silver to be exported for the gratification of the great, but none for the comforts of the poor. If they would not allow gold to go out' for corn, why should they allow it to go out in exchange for the other imports, tea, coffee, sugar, and all the varieties of commodities which were brought into the country at the rate of fifty millions a year ? They yet find that the amount of gold in England was stationary, and they know that all the gold coin at present in the island would not pay for nine months' imports. What peculiarity was there in the commodity of corn that such dire apprehension should be entertained of the scarcity of gold and silver, and that all our domestic and financial arrangements should be embarrassed?— ( Hear, hear.) But it was vain to dwell upon such futile rea soning as that. The question they were now considering was the question of abolishing the corn-laws. He (lid not want to expose fallacies. They would not again muster their ener gies in attempting to kill the slain. If the middle classes of this country stood by their order, as the aristocracy stood by theirs, they would succeed in abolishing the corn-laws ; but if they cringed to wealth, and fashion, and aristocratic power, and allowed themselves to be wheedled into servility, the corn laws would continue, and all the speeches and arguments in the world would not abolish them.—(Wear, hear.) It was the consciousness, on the part of the ruling powers, that the great body of the industrious classes understood their true position, and were determined to vindicate their rights, that would induce them to yield. They would rot make a free gift--they would not yield without pres sure ; they believed that aristocratic privileges, as they called them, and aristocratic rights, were cherished in the hearts of the people, and that the day was far distant when they would be compelled to resign that unjust assumption of authority which curtailed the people's rights. He believed the voice of the Aleinbers of Parliament would be of little avail unless responded to firmly by those without—unless they knew that the great body of time middle classes were determined to stand by their order, and for their rights, as one man.— ( Hear, hear.) Unless, he repeated, this consummation took place the corn-laws would not be abolished. It was in the power of the electors of this country to abolish the corn-laws if they pleased. They were not in such a minority as they generally supposed. What was the fact, that out of 1)00 Mem bers which England returned, 330 were returned by the bo roughs and cities. The counties and Universities returned only IGO Members. Ireland and Scotland returned a majority in favour of the abolition of the corn-laws, and they' had but to secure a majority in England to abolish the corn laws and all the other monopolies.—( Hear, hear. ) Let them all pledge themselves to endeavour, by every means in their power, at the next general election, to return none but men who would pledge themselves to a total, immediate, and unconditional repeal of the corn-laws.-----( Cheers.) The time was now come for action, they must attack the registrations— ( Cheers)—they must advance the cause with the electoral body.—( Loud cheers.) The friends of the cause should exert all their powers of persuasion And intNence IQ brine the Middle classes out of that servility to the aristocracy which had too long characterised them.—( Cheers. ) Let them stand by their orde,', and they wauld compel the aristocracy to surrender their unjust pretensions, and that very speedily.—( Cheers. ) Let them instruct their Members to approach the Legislature, not --4, With bated breath And whispering humbleness," but to speak in the spirited tone of fi. rn remoestrance, and their power would ere long nuke itself felt. —(Cheers. ) They would find that it would befelt even in the present House of Commons. They would observe a marked difference before the close of Parliament in the tone and speeches of Hon. Members. Such was always the case when gentlemen knew that they had soon to meet their constituents.—(Cheers and laugliter.), It was remarkable how the tone of their speeches altered when they knew that a general election was at hand. If they began the pressure now, and increased its activity and its force, as the time for a general election approached they would increase immensely the number of those Members who would vote in favour of the motion of his distinguished and Hon. Friend Mr. Villiers.—( Hear, and loud cheers.) The Queen's speech would soon be presented to the nation. He feared that there would be nothing in that speech to give hope to the mercantile and trading population of the country. It would, no doubt, be full of congratulations, and he admitted that the peaceful state of our relations with diffe rent foreign Powers was matter of congratulation, but he be lieved that there was no efficient guarantee for the continuance of those peaceful relations, but the extension of commercial freedom.—( Loud cheers.) Nothing would so much tend to pro mote the peace of the world as the free interchange of thoughts and commodities, and the abolition of that selfish protective system which created divisions among nations, and embittered hostilities. Every philanthropist, who wished for the spread of peace and civilization amongst distant nations, should, as the best means of promoting those objects, endeavour by every means in his power to establish entire commercial freedom.-- (Loud cheers. ) The Rev. J. BURNET agreed entirely with the Hon. Gen tleman who had just sat down, that the great object of the League should now be to consider in what way they could best carry out their great purpose —( Cheers.) There had been a time when meetings, such as the present, would have been dismissed at the point of the bayonet, or by the staff of the constable, as calculated to bring the Government of the country into contempt. Now, however, such meetings as the present were actually assembled in order to prevent, if possible, tkie Government from bringing itself into con tempt.—(Cheers and laughter. ) They, however, behaved better to the Government than the Governments of former times would have behaved to similar meetings. They used no violence towards it. All they wished was to throw such a light upon the proceedings of the Government as to enable the members of the Government to guide themselves aright. Refe rence had been made to an opposition that was forming to the Anti-Corn•law League. He should much like to see that op position join the League and make the discussion a club busi ness. They could have the League one evening, and the Anti- League the next evening, and so on until the community at large were made fully aware of the bearings of the question ; and if the Anti-League could show that the League had been really misleading the country, why they could put it down at once, and the corn-laws would flourish for ever.—( Cheers and laughter.) It was said that the Anti-League embraced all the wealthy, and noble, and talented of the land, and that the League was composed only of insignificant individuals. If so why did not the Anti-League come in the mariner to whirls lie had alluded? What kept them in the back-ground, except the conviction that they should die in the fore-ground ? ( Cheers.) It seemed difficult to comprehend what was meant by protection, and against whom the landowners sought to be protected.-,.( Hear, hear.) Those who sought for pro tection were generally considered as helpless indi viduals, who could not protect themselves.—( Hear.) The landlords then, meant to say that they were so helpless that they were incapable of competing with the foreigner ; so ignorant of the science of farming, as to b e i ncapac i ta t e d f or doing so; and so devoid of genius as to be incapable of even improving their knowledge, that they rushed down to the House of Commons, and cried out for protection. Why, that was not the cry of men of influence, of property, and of power —it was the cry of the helpless; it was the cry of weakness ; and yet this exhibition of weakness was moat grotesquely mixed up with an appearance of exultation in their strength. They boasted that they could put the League down, and yet they told the Legislature that they could not keep themselves up.__ ( Cheers ) It was difficult to find out against whom this protection was sought ; but the truth was, it was against the manufacturers of their own country.—( Cheers.) The agri cultural interest sought for protection against Manchester and Liverpool, and Birmingham and Glasgow. They were afraid that the manufacturers would go to the cheapest market to buy their daily bread. "If you allow that," they said to the Legis lature, " we shall be ruined ; save us from them."—(Cheers and laughter.) It was not against the foreigner that they sought for protection. Their nearness to the market, their practical skill, their knowledge of the science of agriculture, all these were protections against the foreigner. The sea was their natural protection. The foreigner had the ex penses of importation to pay before he could bring his corn into the market, and beyond that protection the agriculturist had no right to seek for anything further. The protection sought by the landlords was against the poor and needy of their countrymen, to prevent them from going to the cheapest shop to purchase their daily food. How low had the aristocracy sunk, when they were seen rolling in their carriages, and revelling in splendour and wealth, and yet ask ing for protection against the poor widow who has jest strength enough to earn her daily food—to ask for protection against her, to prevent her being able to purchase more bread for her penny, than she could do at the present moment ?—( Loud cheers.) What a degradation was this for the proud lords of the soil—(Loud . cheers)—and w h enever t h e word protection was mentioned, let it ever be remembered that it was against the widows and the orphans that the landowners called for the protect ion of the corn laws. It was the landlord only who called for this pro tection, for it was to the interest of the agricultural labourer and of the tenant farmer, that there should be freedom et trade in the articles which they produced. Was there any interest in the country which really and permanently derived any advantage front this protection against the poor and mise rable? Could the lords of the soil really feel comfortable in the enjoyment of their property, while they suffered their tenants to become the victims of the gambling of the corn-laws ? —( Cheers.) The farmer, under the existing system could form no idea as to what probably might be his returns—he risked his capital on the gaming-table of the corn-laws, and he knew not what might be the result. The consequence might easily be foreseen. They saw farmer after farmer break down, and the landlord did not rise up. If trade were free everything would be settled.—( Cheers.) A fixed trade would be better than a fixed duty.—( Loud cheers.) It now became one of the great obligations of the League to take care that their opponents should perceive that, although their power hail increased, they had nothing to hope from their indolence.—(Cheers.) If Sir Robert Peel should slide out on the sliding scale, it behoved them to take special care, that Lord Jahn Russell should not slide in on the fixed duty.— ( Loud cheers.) Men in power had been sliding and shuffling long enough.—( Loud cheers.) But they should give those men clearly to understand that they would have no man sliding, whilst the people were neglected. —( Loud cheers.) Let the League show that their determination was fixed and settled, and there would be an end to sliding and shuffling legislation, and an end to the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) What right had the agricultural interest to claim particular advan tages ? He would compare the community to a great machine ; all the wheels were properly set, and when the combined power was set in motion, woe he to the feeble hand that should at tempt to stop it—it would inevitably be crushed. So was it with the community. The various interests were but one wheel of the great machine, and if one of them attempted to step out of its proper course, and to take upon itself the control of the mighty movement, that interest would bring upon itself inevitable destruction.—( Cheers. ) Although the corn-laws had been productive of much evil to the country, yet they had not been altogether unproductive of good. They were indebted to the corn-laws for much discussion. They had brought the people together, and in the course of the discussions to which those laws hail giver, rise, they had been called on to consider prin ciples involving the well-being of the great body politic of the empire. Those' discussions had been as a school, to form the minds of the rising generation —as an arena, wherein the men might try their strength and vigour—(Cheers)—and when the corn-laws should have passed away, every corruption which clogged the motions of the State machine would be removed by the same energy, the same resolution, and the same perse verance, which had been employed in the annihilation of the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) The corn-laws had taught them how the evils of a nation were to . , be grappled with.—( Hear.) They had taught ih e coun t ry it s own strength, and that too at a time when it had been reduced to the lowest point of weakness. They had taught the country to know its own moral power—not physical, but moral power—that power which could alone be wielded with safety both to those who felt and those who guided it.—(Cheers.) They had de termined not to petition. That was right.—(Cheers.) There had been a time when it had been considered an honour ,o receive even a nod from a Member of Parliament, and that even upon the eve of an election, and when to have been spoken to by one, was an honour to be transmitted down to one's grand children.—(Cheers and laughter.) At length people got a little more courage, and ventured to become acquainted with their Members ; further than that, they petitioned them on the subject of their grievances. First they ventured to writs a letter to the Members, and then they asked him to present a petition to the House, and when that had been done, and the poor people saw an account of it in the newspapers, they thought that all the evils of which they complained were to be removed at once. They then went a little further, and asked the Member to sup port their petition; and going still further, they at length ven tured to find fault with him* if he did not support it. Then they called upon him to make a motion upon the principle of the petition, and examined the votes to see it he had supported similar motions of others. They then took him to task in pri vate on the subject, and at length ventured to catechise him on the hustings.—(Cheers.) Thus they went on, until they were thought of more and more in the House, and Mem tiers, when speaking, would suddenly see the face of some one of their constituents appear before them, and would stam mer and hesitate, or wrap up the meaning in such perplexing phraseology, that it was impossible to detect their falsehood, and in phrases so obscure that they would admit of any inter pretration they might choose to put upon them.—( Cheers.) At last deputations began to wait upon them, and Members found themselves in the greatest possible dilemma betwixt the petitioners and their patrons—betwixt those who made them and those who paid them.—(Loud cheers.) They had now, however, to get rid of the difficulty, established themselves as a great and mighty party, which, ashamed of the old term Tory, called itself Conservative.—(Loud cheers and laughter.) The present Parliament had been chosen when it had collected all its strength and vigour to resuscitate Tory influence. Its grasp was powerful—like that of a drowning man —and the League had done wisely to let it exhaust its unnatural strength, without coming to blows with the giant, which would exhaust itself by its expiring efforts. They did wisely to let it die peaceably.—(Cheers.) But they had been threatened with a resurrection. Sir Robert Peel, it was said, would come round to the opinions of the League.—(Cheers and laughter. ) Well, let him do so. He despised no man for changing his opinion. Hedespised the man who changed it often, and without sufficient cause, but not him who changed it for the love of truth, and because he was convinced by evidence.—(Cheers. ) Sir Robert Peel was, it was said, a servant of all work, and he admitted that the Minister did look narrowly arid watch atten tively the spirit of the times, and shape his course accordingly He did this well. He did this cleverly. He did this wisely To be sure nothing could be said in favour of the moral gran deur of his conduct ; but still he managed matters very cleverly Now if he were a servant of all work, all the League had to do was to compel him to occupy himseli in their vocation to make use of him.—(Laughter.) In political movements they were often obliged to work with most contemptible tools, all they did in using such instruments was to take care that 'the did not permit themselves to be degraded, whatever might be the depth of degradation of the tools they were compelled to use. He w ould not occupy their attent'on longer at that late hour of the evening. They had no wish to keep late hours, he left that to the aristocracy.—(A laugh.) Before separating however, he would urge them not to let their exertion flag—. to let no circumstances throw them off their guard—to main tain their position not only by being always ready for battle, but by always fighting—not only by being prepared to take advantage of whatever circumstances might arise, but by moulding cir cumstances to promote their purpose. Let them go on, and the corn laws could not long remain. Let them go on with manly hardihood, and the day was not far distant when they would rongratulate each other on the success of their efforts to secure the rights of the children of men.— (Loud cheers.) The CHAIRMAN gave notice that this was the first of those meetings which it was proposed to hold weekly in that theatre for sOme time to come. He was not at liberty to ajmOunce the names of those speakers that would address them next Thurs day, but. they would be announced in the newspauers in the course of a few days. The meeting then broke up at half-past ten o'clock. FRANCE. CHAMBER OF DEPU PIES.—SITTING oir JAN. 24. . At two o'clock M. Sauzet, the President, took the chair, when the debate on the address was resumed. The paragraph under discussion was the following : " Your Majesty announces that you have concluded treaties of commerce with the King of Sardinia and the republics of of the Ecuador and of Venezuela, and that you are engaged in negotiations with other States in various parts of the world. We hope, Sire, that those treaties and negotiations, whilst they maintain to national labour the protection that its state demands, will open a wider career to the intelligent activity of the country." M. Gauthier de Rumilly, the first member inscribed to speak against the paragraph, said that he fully concurred with the Minister of Commerce in the propriety of adjourning the debate until the presentation of the Customs Bill announced by the Minister. _ Al. Cunin Gridaine next rose, and assured the Chamber that the Bill was ready, and would shortly be submitted to the approbation of the Chamber. :NI. JaiHandier afterwards asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs, if the negotiations with the United States, relative to the tariff, had been attended with any result Guizot replied, that the American tariff was not directed against French trade alone, but against the trade of all na tions ; that England had been aggrieved by it as well as France, and that there was no chance of obtaining redress from the present Congress, who were anxious that the tariff should continue in force. All the negotiations had hitherto produced no result ; but the next Congress would in all probability be more accessible to the complaints of England and France, and then fresh negotiations might be entered into with some chance of success. M. Taillandier observed, that France might have recourse to reprisals; but M. Guizot was of opinion that it was advisable to wait for the meeting of the next Congress. In answer to another question addressed to him by M. Ville neuve, M. Guizot declared that the treaties already concluded would be presented to the Chamber, together with the Cus toms Bill, and that no other treaty should be concluded before the presentation of that Bill. M. Lacrosse, who next addressed the Chamber, complained of the little solicitude of the Government fur the maritime re lations of France, of the neglected state of the colonies, of the abandonment to the Brazils of 10,000 square leagues belonging to French Guiana; of the neglect of French interests in Mexico, guaranteed by the treaty of 1839 ; of the non-payment of the indemnity stil.ulated therein in favour of despoiled French citizens ; and of the insufficiency of the naval force maintained by France in the Gulf of Mexico, &c. M. Guizot, in reply, sa id th at the negotiations relative to the frontiers of French Guiana, which were formerly pending in the Brazils, were now conducted in Paris, and that they, would be brought, he hoped, to a speedy conclusion. As respected Mexico, he admitted the truth of some of the complaints of M. Lacrosse. It was perfectly true that the Mexican Government now arbitrarily levied on foreign merchandise duties of 20 per cent. ; that it had adopted a system of measurement which subjected French vessels to pay navigation duties by one=fourth or one .third greater than before ; that it hadlaid exorbitant duties on the export of precious metals, and had finally pro hibited French citizens from carrying on any retail trade within the republic, and allowed them only six months 1 8, dispose of their property. The Government, he said, had not overlooked those grievances, and its remonstrances had al ready induced Mexico to abrogate on the Bth of November, 1843, the measure relative to the tonnage. The English capi talists residing at Vera Cruz, who supplied the French retailers with goods, were interested in the decree being revoked, and the English Government had on her side addressed energetic remonstrances on the subject to the Mexican Republic. M. de Mackau, the Minister of Marine, in his turn, assured M. Lacrosse that the naval station in the Gulf of Mexico was sufficient for the protection of French trade in that Gulf. M. Glais Bizoin next inquired if the Minister of Marine had adopted measures to terminate the disastrous warfare raging on the banks of La Plata? M. de Mackau rose, and communicated to the assembly two dispatches of Admiral Massieu, dated the 20th of October and 9th of November, 1843, from which it would appear that the resistance of Monts Video was prolonged by some French ad• venturers settled in that country, arid that the struggle was drawing to a close. Thus, continued M. de Mackau, France was on the point of reaping the fruit of the firm and enlight- ened policy pursued by her during the last four years on the banks of La Plata. M. Mermillod, who followed, denied that the struggle was maintained only by French adventurers, and added that the moat respectable merchants of that nation had been the first to give the signal of resistance and take arms to save the town from an assault by the troops of the ferocious Rosas. The Ad miral commanding the French station had offered a refuge• to 17,000 Frenchmen on board the two or three vessels under hie orders, on condition that they consented to lay down their arm* and abandon their property ; but no efficacious protection, he insisted, was afforded to French citizens in that quarter, and lie concluded by entering a protest against the offensive exprosaione used by the Minister towards the French residents at Monte Video. M. de Mackau again ascended the tribune, and repeated his previous statements ; he contended that the Frenchmen whe had taken arms, and thus renounced their quality of Frown citizens, had forfeited all right to the protection of the French flag ; but that all those who had taken no part in the civil wet would be efficaciously protected. Admiral Massien had lately concluded to that effect a treaty with General Oribe, wh ° pledged himself, in case be reduced Mobte Video, to respect the persons and properties of the French who had not interfered in the civil discords of the country. M. Glais Bizoin here rose and said, thatsince Marshal Seba' tiani had pronounced those words, " Order reigns at Warsaw, he had not heard a more cruel expression than that used by the Minister of Marin e , i n hi s exu l tat i on at t h e id ea t h at t h e resist ance of Monte Video was drawing to a close. The voice of th o speaker was here drowned by murmurs, and the rest of his observations did not reach the gallery. When order was re' • stored, the President put the paragraph under discussion to the vote, and it was carried without any opposition. The President then read the next paragraph—, ‘' We shall examine with care the measures necessary for the execution of railroads and various other public works. We hail with eagerness the assurance that the Bill which is to be presented to us on secondary instruction will, by satisfying the wishes of the Charter relative to the liberty of instruc tion, maintain the authority and influence of the State over public education." Two amendments to the latter part of the paragraph were proposed, The President having observed that it was necessary to divide the paragraph into two parts, and discuss separately th e : passages relative to railroads and public instruction, M. Mere' de Bord was called to the tribune. The Charnbar, however' paid no attention to his speech, in which we understood him to condemn the mode of construction of the railroads under the law of June, 1842. Al. de Larochejacquelin, who spoke next, denounced th e avidity of the eompanies, and recapitulated the enorrnons pro fits, realised by those of th e O r l eans, Rouen, and Par i s iroads, and that of A v i gnon to Marseilles. A M. Lacave Lapla gne , the Minister of Finance, terminat ed the debate by observing that it was premature, and might be attended with inconvenience. The Chamber next proceeded to discuss the question of the reedom of instruction. CITY OF - WESTMINSTER ME CHANICS' INSTITUTION. Dr. Hunter (of the Westminster Hospital School of Med ia eine) gave last night a most lucid and interesting • discourse ° I3 the structure an d f unc ti ons o f t h e human body. The con"; es spicuous feature of the lecture was its illustration by means • an anatomical model of the entire human subject. T il l enabled the Lecturer, as he referred to the several organs ". digestion, respiration, circulation, and absorption, to detto,u strate their precise situation, form, and relation to other Ps" ~i ; The description of the apparatus by which these processes % carried on, was thus rendeted peculiarly impressive. 'As 1 1 , architecture and engineering, a substantial type of the orighl., such as a model presents, surpasses all other expedients which an idea of complicated details can be imparted —s ° the animal mechanism, what would baffle the encil of the most faithful limner to repres en t i n di agram , is made as (perhaps to the general observer more so) as the nice origins 4 "huma n in this beautif u l " counterfeit presentment" of the form di v i ne ." N ot hi ng could surpass the breathless eagers e° , of the audi ence 4o mar k t h e remova l of the success i ve laY t ' b r , of mus c l e , d isc l os i ng t h e contents of the chest ; and its • Doctor thought these severally into view he gave a descrl; tion (dive s t e d o f a ll t ec h n i ca li ty ) of the masticatory orga ns, tl i t, gullet, stomach, liver, h ear t, an d l ungs ; t h us trac i ng the frail from its pl easan t st i mu l at i on of the nerves of taste, throug its transformations in the animal laboratory, till it becomes 1 3 _1,,, of the te x t ures o f t h ose vessels themselves, and of every subs stance, of which, that " b rea thi ng wor ld , " a man , i s com plicated' To show the beautiful mechanism of the gullet (or cesophaguo; and that even fluids do not pass through it by mere weigh t ; gravitation, he instanced the mountebank's feat of " p° ur. water up a hill " by drinking it while standing on Ills heads... and therefore pouring up instead of down. The lecturer e r _ • planed the difference between the voluntary and in or unconscious functions, and exemplified it by showing th at a l, the nutritive system the voluntary action ends with the 0111 t lowing of the food, beautifully observing that here nature liSs e ber her power, and takes the completion of the process into own hands—for all beyond is automatic, and proceeds a li bis . without man's thought or volition. Dr. Hunter treatedr,_„, subject in the reverential tone of a true teacher, and in uttering his own deep admiration of the infinite wisdom , dis 1 p.ayed motto; human structure, he evidently rendered every one Pr e " Lively participator in this ennobling emotion. vo iunta P • -- dORTII _,A.IIIISETII _ "lIILANTIIROPIC i NsTiT uTlOl v i. The seventh annive rsary di nner o f t hi s Institut i on w" " tee t, brated at Alr. Bryo n ' s , th e N ew B ell, York-street , Lar°-het..l . on Wednesday last, and was numerously and resPc.4ctably : le tended. The So c i e t y , a l t h ough less important than s '; t ill others of a simil ar nature, i t being a district Socie t y t he i f ' from the spirit e d manner in which it is supported by the tradesmen and othe rs i n t h e immediate neighbour-1100( 1,2°cl t he great care with w hi c h the funds are disbursed, reflect' greatest credit upon a ll t h ose who have taken an act i v e Pi trt o o its management, and who interest themselves in carrYingsto so laudabl e an o bj ect, wh i ch enables them to relieve the * 1 ,. and distresses of their poor unfortunate fellow-creatures, ' j ote . from illness or want of employment, may have fallen into ouc la porary distress. By the assistance of this Society want 0 0 individuals have been rescued from utter destitution. Tu e s an d of between 300/. and 4004 has been received in donationn di,. subscriptions, and the greater part of this money ho be ,r, foot' bursed for the purpose of providing ,the distressed w" i e heK and comfort. The surplus in hand will be applied to the on t os of distressed and deserving objects. The companl „OW I above inte res ti ng occas i on separate d hi g hl y d e lighted w!‘ z tbe good and philanthropic feeling displayed by all presel or t he , toasts and speeches manife s t e d th e anx iety felt by 0 1,, lop tlf .. • welfare of the institution, an d th e i r sa ti s faction was stou t; proved by the compliments paid to the worthy hosts ~ I , s o f THE SECRET PASSION.—TIie tiumertiuS rea ore • works of imagination will, we have no doubt, letrn wi th i „ le inal • than ordinary gratification that the author of thr,se truly.o r d 6 The productions, " Shakspeare and His Friends," asg, l _.... m ent ~. Youth of Shakspeare," has prepared for tlybm an entertalnl th e of the most attractive kind, in a novel jeist published , fl u ,torY title of " The Secret Passion ;" in which will be found of very singular interest, varied in a raanner altogethe r the novel reader, with the most striking delineation .eoiriga,, important agents in the great drama, of life, the moral L„, w ith( both under merely physical influences, and M co-opera"l7char... the highest intellectual cultivation. This work rn,a , !_ watt life, acterised as a romantic and picturesque study from I be coloured wit h the glowing hues of passion and poetry , 3" p ublic culated, we think, to make a lasting impression on tiler mind. - 11 Lord sijiP t . DEPARTURE OP LORD ELIOT. - - -- iS ~, ste allle- ; sailed last night for England, in her Majesty ;d felt t l5 f n e t rio t s: the Urgent. It would seem that the Noble Lo os _,., much disgust at the continuance of the States n Pr erry e t ' flint, as he did at its commencement. Ile wa-, and ht' mouth absent last term, at the commencement, ~._ w iil stow goes off for a month before the conclusion. fi e he have a pretty story to tell the Prime Aiinister,t.i.i_wiav,s sees him. We are sorry he did not wait for 11 5 ` 1 e. .. omit a , ' . , "P0 5 t ..,, comical proceedings. He might then roe tertaining series of break-downs.--•-Dubiln ,EVel" . l 7 • • Ttleadays r - ; ~'---. ~ y f TIII MAN; lit-EXA] ~;•; 2! 5V