The Sun. — London, England, 1851-01-25 00:00:00

they might be carried without difficulty, and carried with results most happy and prosperous for the country. —(Applause.) Now, this meeting to-night was con fined by the Chairman (without whom, in spite of all I have been saying, I am not sure whether we should do anything at all or not) —(Applause)--to the members for the county and borough, and so forth, who should meet together here; and I thought that you would lecture us; but it appears that we have been lecturing you all the evening. Now, during the last session of Par liament, it will be in the recollection of many hero that there were circumstances occurred which caused a little disappointment in some minds.—(Hear, hear.) Men thought that we did not quite sufficiently compre hend and appreciate the virtues of the Foreign Minister, or the absolute necessity of maintaining a Whig Ministry in office. Why, Mr. Dyer said there was 80 or 90 men in 1818 who were in favour of these reforms; quite as many as we have now. But if these 80 men had hap pened to be on the other side of the Speaker's chair, they would have been much fewer than now; and if these men who now sit as a Government on the right of the Speaker's chair were by some accident sent over to the other side, you would find our 80 or 90 would become upwards of 200. It is not because some 80 or 90 only vote for some measures that therefore those 80 or 99 are all who are on the side of Reform? Those 30 or 90 are behind a Government, which is said to be a Liberal Government, and which men who are willing to give men credit for all kinds of virtues call a Liberal Government. Why, the Whigs in are totally different creatures to the Whigs oat.—(Applause.) It is quite notorious that the timid, the rather far-seeing of the re spectable classes, have been willing to keep the Whigs in, because they know if they were out there is no kind of desperate measure which they would not recom mend. And I venture to say, and I would stake any thing upon it, that if the members of the present Cabinet were on the other side of that table which you see when you go into the gallery, there would hardly be a single proposition which Mr. Cobden has proposed, and which any one has seconded or supported, that they would not have supported with an ardour and a political partisanship which we have never exhibited.— (Applause.) We go there without any expectation of getting titles and places—(Hear, hear)—and thousands a year. Very likely, if we had those expectations our feelings would be stimulated sometimes, and we might be excited to bitter and irritated expressions against our opponents. But there is nothing of that kind in our case. We have no hope of anything of the sort. We sit among some of those who vote with us so con stantly, telling us we do harm, that it is a great deal better not to go into that lobby—that, in point of fact, above all things, if Mr. Disraeli or any of his party should show a spirit of hesitation whether they will go that way or this way, should they prSpose so go for what is right for once, even though it is our conviction, we must go the other way with the Government, and forget our principles.—(Applause.) I must confess, after all—and there are many of my constituents here, and I hope they will bear it in mind—that my principles are not in the slightest degree affected by my geogra phical position. What I tell you in Mattehester, when I have occasion—perhaps sometimes too often—l tell them in the House of Commons, and the principles which I have expounded and advocated on the platform of the Free-trade Hall, I intend to maintain in the House of Commons. —(Loud applause.) And if I should happen occasionally to run athwart the opinions, convic tions, or prejudices of any of my friends, I hope that they will give me credit for being sorry that I am obliged to differ with them; but that I am endeavouring, I be lieve, to serve their true interests by maintaining the consistency of my character and by upholding those principles which were no; concealed from them when I was elected, and which I cannot play any tricks with and conceal to please any party whatsoever.—( Loud applause.) I believe there is nothing more essential for the progress of freedom in this country than that you should have an independent party in the House of Commons. Oh, there are lamentable things seen in that House ! (" Hear," and laughter.) Everything is to be forgotten fur the sake of keeping a Government in or a party out, and the most visionary dangers are conjured up—dangers really hardly surpassed by the Prince de Joinville's invasion or the Papal aggression—but these things are raised up before th© eyes of affrighted Mem bers a Parliament, and they are really not able to see their course clearly how they should vote and how they should act. Now, even though we should sometimes go wrong, even th ough wo should occasionally vote against the Government, when you may think that with out abdicating our position or principles we might have voted with them, bear this in mind—that whatever slight error we may at any time commit (and I confess our liability to error), that error is abundantly compen sated for by the existence of some 50 or 100 men in the House of Commons who have a regard to the opinions of their constituents, or (what is even a far better guide) to the principles which they have learnt, which they have taught, and which they value. It is far better for the country that there should be such a party, than that any Ministry that ever existed in this country should be kept in office.—(Loud cheers.) I believe there is no good and honest measure, even though not going so far as we would go, but going in the direction of the prin ciples we hold, which we have not constantly supported and wherein we have not constantly defended the Go vernment. We shall take all the pains in our power, when they bring in an Irish Franchise Bill, that it shall not be made a worse Bill, and that it shall pees, if it be in our power to make it pass. It would be fir more satistactory to be on the most intimate terms with Noble Lords and Right Honourable Gentlemen who sit down below where we sit and speak; but that is not pre cisely what we were see; there for.—(Loud cheers.) If there had been no men in Parliament but those who trembled for the fate of a Ministry, where would have been the liberties that you have already achieved; and where would have been your freedom to import corn at this very hour?—(Prolonged cheering.) Now, all I ask is, that you should trust us.—(Renewed cheering.) You have had some experience of us—an intimate experience of ten years past. I trust you so far as to dare to vote in the teeth of any uproar that may be made down here, in accordance with my own convictions, knowing that the men in this district, if I know aught of them, will at least, when they have calmly considered the circum stances, be able to give me credit for having taken an honest and independent and conscientious course; and having taken that, I am sure they will not condemn me when Income before them again.—(Repeated plaudits.) During this session that is now about to open, there may be points—anxious and difficult and unpleasant points— that will rise up. Well, all I ask is, that you should , give us credit for doing the best we can under the circum stances in which we are placed. Ido not think we have lost the respect of the Government, or their regard, lb any particular whatever, by any course that we have taken. There is not one of that Government who would charge us with any kind of factious or improper proceedings with regard to them. We give them credit whenever we can; our tendency is to do so; our sympathy for their past career—for the past career of many of them, leads us to do it. We have no interest whatever in doing other wise; and, as they give us credit for an honest course, I trust that you, and all those throughout the country who may consider us at all representative of their views, will give us credit for an honest course in what we do, and that, at least, will be some compensation for the toils and the anxieties which are inseparable from public life.— (Mr. Bright sat down amid enthusiastic applause, the meeting rising to do him special honour as they cheered the conclusion of his speech.) Mr. RICHARD COBDEN, M.P., who was received with great applause, spoke as follows.—When I entered this room I was not quite aware of the character of the pre sent meeting; but when I looked around upon the countenances of the gentlemen assembled, I perfectly understood its character. It comprises, I can vouch for it from personal knowledge, the pith and marrow of the Reform and Free-trade party in South Lanca shire. It comprises men who worthily represent those who cannot be present in this room—men without whose co-operation no election can be carried in South Lancashire, Manchester, or Salford, and against whose opposition it is equally important to know that no victory can be won. lam glad to have had the op portunity of beholding the cordial, kind, and flattering reception with which yon have greeted those who repre sent you in Parliament. They are the men who stand the brunt of a bundance of ab use; they ha ve to mee t de traction coming from your own city, and professing to express your own sentiments. The shafts of calumny, the base insinuations of base motives, are continually sung at them—those unfair weapons of political warfare which are never resorted to except when men are either conscious of a bad cause or actuated solely by personal pique and spite.—(Hear.) I t i s right, therefore, wh en they have to bear the brunt of such attacks that they should, when they meet you, receive the reward which you bestow upon them. But I, for my part, come here not to answer to you for my conduct in Parliament, nor to share in the tribute of respect and gratitude which you have bestowed upon them; spectator that I ri se here, t it is as listener and past ten o'clock, to say a f e w words . This has b een a called a meeting to talk over a ll sorts of subjects . Now I am not going to dcal in vagu e generalities, nor range the wide topics of poli tical contr oversy. I will say, generally, that after we suc ceeded in the free . trade eontrover sy, I set cer tain task in public life , I thou g ht t h a t the natu ral a and co ll atera l consequence of f ree trade was first to end" along with phy s i ca l comfort an d prosperity, - your to give the people, improved intell ectual and moral ad vantages. I thought that the country which had b ained for itself to enter the lists o f ar competition with th e Wide world, seeking no favour, but asking on ly f or a fair field and free compet i t i o n, would set about to econo mise its resources and attempt in every way to mitig a t e a load of taxation which must impede the career of any nation which is unduly taxed in its competition with more favoured countries. I thought that when h e had said, W e offer to trade with the whole world, and we invite the whole world to trade wit h us," that by th a t very declaration w e told the wide wor ld we sought peace and amity with them.—(flear.) I set myself the task of endeavouring by every effort I could bring to bear to stand prominently forward as the advocate of education, peace, and retrench ment. Whilst u p on all these subjects we have met with keen opposition, and upon two with obloquy and derision , I see p ro g ress making and made which will encourage me to persevere in the advoca c y of these principles with renewed and re doubled efforts. — (Cheers.) I find education assuming a prominence and importance, even by the admission of those who, until lately, have been opposed to it in every form, that cannot leave a doubt upon my mind that public opinion will be brought to bear on that topic with such irresistible force that ere long we shall find a solution for this, which is one of the most difficult pro blems of our social existence. I find that the question .1' peace, even in the eyesof those who leave our attempts to ridicule its advocates, has become a leading topic of the day. I find that what I told you in the Free Trade hall just three years ago, that we might live to see the time when the expenditure which sufficed for 1835 would ,uffice again, is in process of being realized. We have THE already made such progress that some four or five mil lions of reduction in our expenditure has taken place. — (Cheers.) I have no doubt that further retrenchments are going on at this present moment. As fiscal ques tions will engage a good deal of attention in the ensuing Parliament, I would have you rigorously to draw a distinction between two questions which are very often jumbled together, causing great confusion in the public mind—l mean the difference between a surplus caused by an increased revenue, and a surplus caused by reduced expenditure. The Government comes forward with a suplus of 2,000,0001. arising from an increase in the re ceipts of the various existing taxes; and the Govern ment is then too apt to take credit to itself for the great merit of having created a superabundant revenue. They do not tell you—and you are too apt to forget it—that this surplus is merely the effect of your having given out of your pockets 2,000,0001. more into the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in one year than you did in the last year; and then the Chan cellor of the Exchequer tells you, " I have two millions more than I estimated, I will return it to you." But I wish that when the Chancellor of the Exchequer brings forward his budget you would examine critically the amount of the redaction of his estimates for the netxt year's expenditure as compared with the estimates of .last year.—(Hear, hear.) The surplus that is now being estimated is upon the present year's estimates; I want to see the next year's estimates and the budget, the t we may judge of the Government by their esti mates, and not by any revenue they may have reached. --(Cheers.) I have not since the close of Parliament acFdressed any audience upon general political topics. I have addressed peace meetings, I have addressed meet ings of freehold-land societies, I have addressed educa tion meetings, but I have not addressed a meeting where so wide a range of discussion and observation has been permitted as is now open to us in this assembly. I very much regret it, because I Should like to have said a few words upon a controversy which has been raging in this country for two or three months, and which I should be guilty of cowardice, seeing it is always my practice to deal with the prominent topics of the day, not to refer to. I speak to you only as a politician. For the last two or three months there has not been a calm in this country. We Mere heard of a great political calm, but there has been no calm. On the contrary, there has been an agitation. It has, I admit, been mainly sectional; but it has been wide-spread, and it has occupied almost exclusively the attention of the leading public prints. I need not tell you that the question is that which is called " The Papal aggression." The remark I wish to make is, that the discussion of this topic has overlaid, arrested, and smothered for a time every political topic. In this coun try the public mind entertains but one subject at a time; therefore the discussion of this topic as a political topic has prevented the public mind from occupying itself upon fiscal questions and questions affecting reform in the representation, and other questions which politicians have had for many years at heart, so that we approach the meeting of Parliament without the opportunity being afforded or taken by the country of signalling to the Government the views they take upon these questions. I wish you to bear in mind that when we meet in Parliament our time will then, I fear, be very much occupied with the discussion of this same question; for if we may believe the Rev. Hugh Stowell in what he told us at a very large assembly, every political, social, fiscal, or reformatory question must be suspended until this one great question be settled by the House of Commons.—(Applause.) What I want to ask is—" Is this a question that can be settled by politicians ?"—(Loud cheers.) I may settle it in my own mind as a Protestant, and as a Protestant I may have my opinions. But I want to ask, if there is any reason why religious questions should net be removed out of the domain of politics, the same as in the United States of America? Lord Carlisle, when he honoured himself by coming out of the Cabinet to deliver an ad dress to the Mechanics' Institution of Leeds, made a remark which, coming at the time it did, I think expressed more than words would entirely do, when he said, "I confess I do envy the complete toleration which exists in the United States."—(Loud cheers.) In the United States the Pore may appoint bishops wherever he pleases; he may parcel out that vast continent into as many dioceses as he pleases; he may send as many cardinals as he pleases; and no matter by what pompous phraseology all that be done, the United States' politician, or the United States' Legislature at Washington, would be perfectly indif ferent to it all, Why cannot we, in this country, as politicians, leave with the same security to private and individual judgment the settlement of this question, as it is in the United States? Is it that we are so ignorant, or that we are so liable to be misled? Then I say let us look sharp and follow the advice given by Mr. Law rence, the American Minister, and educate ourselves.— (Load cheers.) But lam told that the reason is that we have a State Church in England. Well, but does a State Church render the people of this country less able to protect themselves, by their own unaided judgment, knowledge, and sound sense, from aggression? Are the people less able to protect themselves against error be cause they have a State Church? Will that be the con fession? No. But the State Church has been made the obstacle, or attempted to be made the obstacle, in every parish, to the promotion of the same liberality that exists in America, and against every proposal with regard to liberty, whether civil, religious, or commercial.—(Loud applause.) We are and have been continually tempted to be obstructed by the cry of "The Church in danger;" yet in every case the parti sans of the Church have found their predictions singu larly falsified. After the repeal of the Test and Corpo ration Act—after the accomplishment of Emancipation— after the Reform Bill was secured—there was the same cry; but I believe it will be admitted, by both Church men and Dissenters, the Church never was so active and prosperous, never were so many churches built, and never bad the Establishment greater authority tbaaafter the last of those great reforms down to the present day. Where, then, are the grounds for fear on the part of Churchmen for the security of the Church? Ido not stand hero as the advocate or the partisan of the Roman Catholic body. As a politician I do not presume to offer my opinions on the faith of any man. But I may be allowed to say that lam no friend to the organial tion of the Roman Catholic body. It is too subduing to the intellect, and too centralizing for me. But at the same time let the Roman Catholics living in England judge for themselves, not only of their own faith and motives, but of the mode in which they have looked up to the organization that will follow religious teaching.—(Loud cheers.) Why should you dictate to Roman Catholic bishops whether they govern by a cardinal, an archbishop, or diocese? They do not come to me as a politician to ask me to give force and validity to their titles, or to give them stipends out of the public purse. What right have I, then, as a politi cian, to come before a public meeting, or to get up in the House of Commons, to say a word upon the subject of their faith, or on the polity of the Roman Catholic Church ?—(Hear.) We shall be told, pretty often no doubt, that unless Government interferes the privileges and prerogatives of the Queen of England will be in vaded by the Pope—not by Cardinal Wiseman. Cardinal Wiseman is a British subject; he cannot invade the pre rogative of the Crown without being guilty of high trea son; and if he is so guilty, let him be tried by law. But what prerogative has been invaded by the conduct of the Pope? Not the temporal prerogative. Why, the Pope has at this moment in his army a few - thousand -French and Austrian troops; and I have it on the beat authority that if these troops were removed dire would be the dismay and speedy the flight of the whole body—Pope and Cardinals.—(Cheers and laughter.) It is not, then, the army of the Popo that is to threaten the temporalities of the Crown. Are the temporal pre rogatives threatened by sea? You may have a list of the entire naval force of the Pope—it amounts to two gun brigs and a schooner.—(Laughter.) Put one quarter of an effective service on the coast of Essex, it would be quite sufficient to guard the whole island against it. We are told, however, that the spiritual do minion of the Queen is to b e perilled. Now, are we as politicians, who aro called upon to vote money for ordnance and for shot and shell, to meet and repel the aggressive enemy that meets us with similar weapons— are we to forge the spiritual artillery with which we are to meet this aggression ?—(Cheers.) If we are, I beg you to consider how capitally we are suited in the Blouse of Commons for that purpose.—(Loud cheers and laugh ter.) Admitting, if you please, that we are the great majority of us eminent for our piety, how are we con stituted ?—(Laughter.) Are we all Churchmen, owning to the spiritual authority of the Queen? Why, about 40 or 50 of us are Roman Chatholic; and, mark me, you will have a great many more Roman Catholics returned from Irelavd at the next election.--(Hear, hear.) We have an Independent or two, we have three or four Unitarians, and we have a Quaker I am happy to say, and I wish we had a good many more—(Great applause) —and we have a prospect of having a ave.—(Heer, hear, and laughter.) Now, is not that a very nice body of men to uphold the Queen's supremacy as head of England's Church ? If you wanted to give us a task in the House which should last till Doomsday, then give us the task of settling the question of Papal aggression.—(Che e rs.) I say, g i ve it to the politicians to settle if you want it never to be settled at all. Ashes been well expressed here by Mr. Bright, politicians have been at the work already for 400 Or 500 years. They have tried every available means; they have tried fire and faggot, and then came the penal l aw s which went every length short of extermination. What has been the tendency of the last century? Con stant relaxation, a tendency more and more to religious toleration. What has been the course taken by the leading statesmen of this countr y? Why, to their and honour be it said, the greatest _most illustriou s states men of the last sixty years were so far in advance of the latent bigotry existing in the country, that they were ready to sacrifi ce their fame, they were willing to f orego place, patronage, everything which statesmen and poli ticians hold moat dear, rather than lend themselves to the continuance of a system which I very much fear there are men now in the Cabinet who owe all their dis tinction in public life to having been identified with the principles of toleration to which we are constantly more and more progressing, who are now ready to sully their fair fame, and belie, I had almost said, the whole of their past political career on entering into the political season of 1851 .—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I en treat you to remove t hi s question of religious opinions —remove it out o f th e d oma i n of politics if you wish, not only to ma k e progress in those questions which we cannot delay, but if you wish to prevent a policy. It will n o t en d i n a mere return to the re t r o grade parties of religious monop o ly, b ut w ill b e certain toc o nduc t you into a retrograd e t rac k i n questions affecting temporal interests, and f or w hi c h many of those wahuor fancy themselves sincere are now lending their voices when they raise this cry for religious intolerance. egree with Mr. Gibson completely, that if this country suffers one step backwards in the career of religious to leration, you are endangering yourselves in questions on which you feel most nearly interested.—(llear, hear.) I never felt the slightest doubt in the world come across my mind on the subject of retaining every thing we have gained In the way of social improvement SUN, LONDON, SAT URDA Y EVENING, JAN UARY 25, i 851: until I saw the account of a county meeting in Essex, which has had its counterpart nearly in every part of England, and at which Sir John Tyrell was one of the most prominent actors, when he called for three cheers for Lord John Russell.—(Cheers.) Look at the actors throughout the country in this present movement against what is called the Papal aggression. Who are they ? Have you seen those men advocating the repeal of the corn-laws?—(Hear, hear.) Have you not seen, in every case, that the most prominent actors in these county meetings are the men who resisted the establishment of that principle of commercial reform?—(Hear, hear.) When I ask you if by any accident—such accidents as may happen in our constitution—we are precipitated at any moment—when I ask those who agree with me upon the subject of commercial freedom, and generally upon questions of liberal policy in secular affairs—when I ask them to answer me this question,—Suppose a general election were to take place, and those who are prominent in opposing religious toleration succeeded—and I am not sure that they would not succeed—in returning to Par liament a majority for re-enacting the disabilities and restrictions upon Roman Catholics—would not that be a majority that would either tamper with the corn-laws or take care to indemnify themselves for what has been taken from them?—(Cheers.) It is so; and those who are acting have not been so discreet in this case as to conceal their belief in the possibility of retrieving their monopoly. I say to those who have generally been favourable to commercial freedom—who have been, in fact, friendly to civil and commercial freedom, and who join in this cry, and lend themselves to the support of this party who are in favour of religious restrictions—l say they would, in my opinion bring hack on themselves commercial monopolies and political monopolies; and I say to them as inconsistent men—for I don't address myself to those who oppose freedom in every shape, but those who are eenerally with us in advocating civil and commercial freedom—l say if they gain the triumph of religious in tolerance, and if they gain along with it a monopoly in food, as well as political institutions, they richly merit their fate.—(Loud cheers.) But there is one thing that has been said by those who preceded me—they have alluded to the bigotry, and fanaticism, and ignorance, which prevailed fifty years ago among the mass of the people of this country. Now there is one symptom, and almost the only symptom, which has consoled me in this agitation for religious disabilities, and it is this—the calm, passive, and, in many respects, contemptuous silence and indifference with which it has been regarded by the great mass of the people of this country.—(Cheers.) If the same tumults had occurred fifty or sixty years ago, owing to the then ignorance and bigotry of the mass of the people of this country, half the Roman Catholic chapels would have been in flames, and half their oc cupants' lives in danger.—(Hear, hear.) And I thank the demonstration only for this—that it has given me, more than anything else, a conviction of the great progress that has been made in real intelligence by the great mass of the people, especially in , the north of Eagland. I will not say so much of the south. And I cannot say much of the corporation of London.— (Cheers and laughter.) Why, only think of that cor poration professing to represent the city. Only think of it! Last year setting itself up and agitating in a fer ment of enlightened intelligence and patriotism in favour of religious liberty to the Jews. When has there been such a spectacle, even so absurd a spectacle, exhibited as that which was shown, when the London corporation took that great gingerbread coach, the pattern of 200 years ago, and clothed themselves in that Bartholomew Fair dress of theirs, and took a man with a fur cap, whose pattern dates back, I believe, five centuries, with a long sword in his hand, and all the other set of the paraphernalia of the corporation of London, and went down by the railroad to Windsor in order to present an address to the Queen in order to put down—Popish mummeries!—(lmmense cheering and laughter.) If you want to see mummeries, go and see the Lord Mayor's procession. I have seen the grand ceremonies in the Vatican at Easter; I have seen the most gorgeous re ligious processions the Church of Rome can boast of; but I never saw anything half so absurd or half so offensive to intelligence or common sense as the mummeries in which the corporation of London indulge in every year. —(Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, lum glad to say of the north of Eogland that the mass of the people here have not joined in this ietolerant outcry.—(Hear, hear.) I only regret that circumstances have prevented this meet ing from being hold in the Free-trade Hall, that I might have heard the cheer which I should have had frem 5.000 auditors in expressing the sentiments I have just enunciated. Now, gentlemen, only one word more— as a politician again, but not as a party politician, if you please. Something has been said about conduct or misconduct during the lad session. I don't come here to answer to you, because I have not the honour of representing most of you. But this I will say, I am exceedingly tolerant of every Member of the House of Commons who strains a point to vote with the Govern ment, because ho has been some 15 or 20 years lon ger in the political arena than I have been. I believe my friend Mr. Brotherton, for instance—(Cheers)—aims as much at benefiting the mass of the people in this country, in every form which ho can do it, as I do— (Cheers)—but I believe Mr. Brotherton has a stronger sentiment of reliance on and sympathy towards the pre sent Government than I have; and it is easily accounted for. Mr. Brotherton entered Parliament after the pass ing of the Reform Bill and shared their struggles in ob. taining that Bill, which I still regard—notwithstanding what Mr. Dyer said—a great progress in political reform. Ile shared all their struggles in carrying that Bill, and it is natural that he should have those sympathies. But I will say this in vindication of myself, that I entered somewhat at an advanced time of life for a man who has taken up the discussion of a public question, and I did it resolved to devote my labours to the solution of that question, without reference to the temporal interests or conveniences of any existing political party. And the result of that agitation in the case of the corn-laws has convinced me that if anything is to be done in this country for the great mass of the people, if you are to succeed in establishing any reform of mag nitude, it can only be done by the people out of doors, and in the House resolving to do that one thing, and totally disregarding the existing political parties in that House. I desire to see some thing accomplished. I have set myself the task of ac complishing certain things, and among them the one most dear to my heart is the advocacy of a more peace ful and conciliatory policy in the intercourse of nations, I would especially say, the intercourse between this country and weaker nations. It you want to wound my principles most acutely, it will bo to-show me England violating the principle of conciliatory and humane po licy when it has to deal with a weak power, which is like a child in its grasp. I look upon inhumanity, rude ness or violence on the part of England towards a power less state like Greece with additional resentment, just as I should regard that man as a coward as well as a despot who molested and ill-used a child. Feeling, then, that my principles were violated in the case of Lord Palmerston, in the Greek affair, I voted against him on that occasion, and I should do so again, if 10,000 seats in Parliament depended on the issuing of my vote.- -(Loud cheers.) Now, gentlemen, let me give one word of advice to those who are in Manchester or else where, and take up a hasty conclusion against some of our Members, with whom you generally agree, and in whose judgment and sagacity you have some confidence, to beware how you take side against them merely because you see in certain public prints a certain line of policy argued. Give them credit for being wary—they have a better opportunity of sifting public men than you have.—(Hear, hear.) A man must be a fool if he does not know better after being in Parliament seven or eight years, and sitting in committee with nearly all the Members, and hearing their motives when they are dis closed, not on the public arena, but when they are chatted over by their own friends in private.—(Hear, hear.) Depend upon it your Members will have rather better opportunities than you will have of judging of the conduct of public men. And if you happen to think that Lord Palmerston, although he did try to maintain a fixed duty long after Lord Aberdeen had be come the advocate of total repeal and untaxed bread— if, notwithstanding certain other symptoms, I could mention that Lord Palmerston is not the champion of liberty that you suppose—if, I say, notwithstanding you have an impression in favour of Lord Palmerston, and if your Members come to a different conclusion, why, give them credit for the same honesty of purpose and intelligence with yourselves; and bear in mind that they have the better opportunity of forming an opinion than yourselves. I have no desire to stand out singu larly in my vote. As was well expressed by Mr., Bright, it is a very unpleasant thing to do so ; and it would be far more agreeable to make companionship with those men on the Treasury benches, instead of treading on their toes, and poking them in the ribs, and making them uncomfortable. Is it any satisfaction to me, do you think, that Lord Palmerston's organ, the Globe, has denounced me, over and over again, as a dis- from the present party. But this I say—if I cannot say that I have at least the liberty cf voting iu the House of Commons for something different to that which now ex ists—if I cannot hope to see some change and some reform—at least if I am not allowed the free advocacy of my own opinions for some distinct principle different from that which is now the rule of conduct with Whig and Tory—why am I to be sitting up till twelve o'clock every night in the House of Commons? This "disap pointed demagogue" wants no public employment; if I did I might have had it before now.—(Cheers.) I want no favour, and as my friend Bright says, no title. I want nothing that any Government or any party can give me; and if I am in the House of Commons at all, it is to give my feeble aid to the advancement of certain questions on which I have strong convictions. Deprive me of that power; tell me I am not to do this because it is likely to destroy a Government with vvhic:b at the pre sent moment I can have no sympathy, I say, then, the sooner I return to printing calicoes, or sem ething more profitable than sitting up in the House of Commons night after night in that way, the better both fur me and my friends.—(Hear, hear.) I have come here, then, merely to renew personal acquaintances, or rather„ anxious by a short sojourn in this neighbourhood and in Yorkshire not to lose old acquaintances which I higtdy prize and value. I come, moreover, in order to ham) an opportu nity of testing the current of public opini on a little and sounding its depths, to see whether it be Ina unusual tide or a steady, permanent stream. I think this meeting has demonstrated to me that, whatever hEas existed in other parts of the country, here at least there is no re action.—(Loud cheers.) And if we are ) band true and faithful to our recorded opinions, you i a Lancashire, and I hope my friends in Yorkshire, will a sways be found true to their principles. (Ur. Cobden stet down amid loud and long-continued cheering.) BRIGHT, and of RICHARD COBDEN. The language employed by those popular representatives s vill call to mind the palmy days of the Anti-Corn•lasst discus sion ; a circumstance in no way matter of surprise, seeing that according to the phrases of the Hon. Gentleman the, Member for the West, Riding of Yorkshire, there were assembled together yes terday, in the apartment already mentioned, " th e pith and marrow of the Reform and Free-trade party in South Lancashire." Among an audience so nes culiarly congenial, no wonder that the advocates of constitutional reform gave utterance once more to the sentiments with which the people of these islands have been long getting more and more familiarized. The precise meaning and purpose of the ". Parlia mentary soil*" to which we are now directing public attention, may be recognized at once from the opening speech of the evening, the speech delivered by the senior Member for Manchester. From the remarks uttered by that Hon. Gentleman, it will be perceived that the intention with which he and his brother legisla tors had met each other in the midst of the sceues of their former successes was simply that cf explaining, in some degree at least, the policy they have resolved to carry out if possible during the ensuing session of the Legislature. To this end a variety of the most mis cellaneous topics passed under the scrutiny of the orator.,, upon all of which they were sufficiently plain spoken for the most fastidious and inquisitive. For example, Mr. MILNER GIBSON, not contented with avowing at once that " he would have Ministers upon some well-considered scheme of financial policy repeal those taxes which were most oppressive to the industry.of the country, and which in the greatest degree contracted the enjoyments of the people," insisted that the abolition of the tea-duty would prove actually beneficial and remunerative to the revenue. Jumping, shortly afterwards, with some abruptness to a scornful reprobation of the taxes on knowledge, the Honourable Gentleman boldly turned to a consideration of the arch-difficulty of the time, thrusting plump upon his hearers the inquiry, " What shall be done with the .itoman Catholic hierarchy ?" The purport of his response to this, interrogation is nothing less than—toleration. One question he an swers with another. " Don't you think," he says, it might be wise for people to mind their own affairs, and lock after their own bishops ?', Mr. BRIGHT, as usual, was ingenious enough to iuveat the driest of political topics with the interest of the ridiculous. His humorous allusions told well with an audience ever ready to respond to his facetious oratory with mingled applause and laughter. But, coming as he did after experienced and successful orators like Mr. BRIGHT and Mr. Ginson, there could be no doubt that the speech of the evening was, for various reasons, that which fell from the lips of Mr. COBDEN. Seldom has the Hon. Gentleman the Member for the West Riding of Yorkshire been more happy in his " hits" on, matters " political," " economic," or " ecclesias tical," than he was when yesterday addressing once more his old familiar friends of Manchester. Never did his tongue declare more clearly that his is in truth essentially the Genius of Common Sense. About the Catholic hierarchy he was, if possible, yet more explicit than Mr. MILNER GIBSON himself. What, for instance, could be morn suggestive or more significant than these sentences in which he summed up the Ministerial difficulty in regard to this most conspicuous object for legislative enactments :—" Are we (in the House of Commons)," said he, "all Churchmen, owning the spiritual authority of the QUEEN ? Why, we are about forty or fifty of us Roman Catholics ; and, mark me, you will have a great many more Roman Catholics returned from Ireland at the next election. We have an Independent or two, we have three or four Unitarians, and we have a Quaker, lam happy to say, and I wish we had a good many more. And we have a prospect of having a Jew. Now is not that a very nice body of men to uphold the QUEEN'S supremacy as head of England's Church ?" Everything considered, the observations made upon this remarkable subject by the Representative of the West Riding are deserving of more marked consideration on all accounts than almost anything that has hi therto been uttered upon the same fruitful theme of discussion. Nor were the comments made by the same speaker upon other matters less entitled to examination. As, for instance, where he remarked upon the surplus of two millions of money sterling, which the Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer made such a subject of glorification, which he pretended to return to the nation . by his brick-dust adroitness, with a consummate air of magnanimity. " Thank you for nothing," says Mr. COBDEN, should be the only reasonable acknowledgment. Such were among the pithy sentences enunciated by the chief among the leaders of the League, when yesterday, calling to mind his old oratorical triumphs, he spoke in the old style, to his old friends, in the old scene of his political and commercial labours—Manchester. The entire report, we doubt not, will be read by the majority of the intelligent public, and read, too, with the care and attention to which it is eminently entitled. _NO TIC E .- THE SECOND VOLUME of PEPYIS' DIARY, CHEAP RE-ISSUE, price 6s. , . Will bo READY with the Magazines, January 31. This complete Edition of Pepys' celebrated " Elary and Corres pondence," containing al the passages restored *from the original manuscript, and all the additional notes, will be published in Five Monthly Volumes, post Bvo., with Portraits, &c., i irice only 6s. each, bound. " Trial by jury" has long been regarded as one of the most valued and highly-prized institutions of this favoured land. It is, indeed, justly considered the " Palladium" of British liberty, which can never be destroyed, so long as no man can be punished, either in purse or person, save on the unanimous verdict of twelve of his peers—honest, independent, and intel ligent men. There is no higher duty than that which a person summoned to the jury -box, to hear and decide upon the several matters and things which may be brought under his considera tion, owes to society. He is bound to receive the legal evidence that may be brought before him in every case, to weigh it calmly and dispas sionately, exercising a nice discrimination in setting aside irrelevant matters, testing the accuracy of the different witnesses, and attaching due importance to each portion of their respective statements. He owes a double responsibility, viz., to society in general and to the prisoner at the bar. If the charge be clearly established—if no reasonable doubt can exist that the offence has been committed by the person on his trial, there must be a verdict of " guilty." No consideration of the inevitable consequences of such a decision, no compassion for, or sympathy with, the person whose future wel fare is involved in the issue can be to inter fere with the stern requirements of justice. The heart of the juror must be steeled against all such feelings, and his sole object must be in accordance with the solemn obligation he has taken, " a true ver dict to give according to the evidence " But the second portion of his responsibility —his duty to his fellow-man—is even of more vital import ance, inasmuch as the cons equences of an im proper conviction are infinitely more formidable to the individual, than those of an injudicious ac quittal are to the community in general. Guilty men may escape with impunity without any very serious mischief to society being the result, but it is totally different if an innocent man should be sub jected to unmerited punishment. Such a case—and, unfortunately, the instances are not so rare as we could desire. —is justly regarded as a public evil of no ordinary magnitude. The confidence in the law it self is shaken, and each person feels that he himself may be the next victim to the prejudices or mistakes of a jury. Hence every possible precaution is adopted to prevent —we will not say the possibility, for every merely human institution is subject to error, and ab solute infallibility cannot be hoped for—but the pro bability of such a calamity. "It is better that one hundred guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer," is a maxim which from time immemorial bas been recognized and acted on by the criminal tribunals of the country, which will be repeated by the judge in every case where such a caution may be considered necessary. This humane principle materially relieves the juries in such inquiries. In a civil case they are required to balance the evidence on either side, and to pro nounce in favour of the party to whom the balance may incline but in criminal matters the truth of th e accusation must be distinctly and unequivocally es tablished, an d guilt brought home to the defend an t . One of the greatest and most amiable men of the present century has placed this matter i n so cl ear a point of view that we cannot refrain from quot i ng from the observations of Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY on the Criminal Law of England the following re markable passage : appointed demagogue, and hurled language at me which no other journal—the Times for instance—has ever le velled at me? I know perfectly well that on the Man chester Exchange, and the Leeds Exchange, and the Liverpool Exchange, where the Globe paper is taken, and that being a Whig paper, when persons see it speak in such terms of the Member for the West Riding, they are apt to think there must be a great deal in it, and that the Member must be making himself especially ridiculous in the liouso of Commons.—(Hear, hear.) I am not a disappointed demagogue; if ever there was anybody who ought to be satisfied with his public career, it is I.— '(Euthitsiastie c h eer iwr ' .) I thank you for giving me the only response which cou ld relieve me from the imputation of great egotism in saying so.—(Renewed cheering.) Well, as I said before, my position is not the same as that of Mr. Brotherton. I have lived so long that I cannot see the line of demarcation between Whig and Tory-. I cannot see what principle the Whigs advocate which the Tories do not advocate. I find from Lord John Russell, in the House of Commons, nut simply great impatience, but petulance, and I had almost said great insolence, in his dealings, particulary in the re marks he has made to our friend Mr. Bright—who I am sure is very indifferent to the remarks themselves—but they are sufficiently important in indicating the tone of the man supposed to be the leader of our party.—(llear.) I must confess. that in regard to fiscal mutters, I am bound to say I believe th e O ppos i tion party would do quite as much in the way of retrenchment as the Whigs. 1 um not sure that they would not do more. I believe Sir James Graham, for instance, would show less sub ' ,erviency to the Duke of Wellington in military ar rangements, than Lord J. Russell or Lord Palmerston. I believe in colonial policy; while Sir R. Peel resolutely re fused to add another acre to our tropical possessions, the present Government are taking possession in Asia, as well as Africa, of tracts of tropical territory which, I believe, notwithstanding anything that may b e sa id to the contrary by the Manchester Association, arc only calculated to entail additional expense upon us, instead of benefiting us, as a free -trading community. And I liar that next session we shall be placed in a still worse dilemma. If we are to believe the reports that Lord John Russell, instead of being the champion of religious liberty, is going to embark in a crusade against religious freedom, I shall then find myself still further alienated " It should be recollected, too, that the object cf penal laws is the protection and security of the innocent; that the punishment is resorted to only as the means of attaining that object; I when, therefore, the guilt) escape the law has merely failed of its intended effect— it has done no good indeed, but it has done no harm. But when the innocent bec acne the victims of the law the law is not merely ineffic: eat—it does not merely fail of accomplishing its inten•aed object—it injures the ver) persons it was meant to protect ; it creates the very evil it was to cure, and destroys the very security it was made to preserve." These admirable suggos Lions should sink deeply into the minds of every person about to assume 01. , onerous functions of a juror in criminal matters, who should also recollect that Ids decision is irremediable ; that: there is no appellate tribunal by which the ver dict may be revised, so far as the facts of the case are concerned ; errors of law may be rectified, but error. of fact never can. In this respect a verdict can never be reversed, or even varied in any respect. It must for ever remain on record against the con victed party, however clear and indisputable may be the proof of his innocence. A case was tried before Mr. Sergeant ADAMS and a bench of magistrates, at the Middlesex Sessions, on Thursday, which has created an extraordinary sensation in the public mind, more especially in the City, where the probity, veracity, and high character of a gentleman, whose testimony was directly impugned by the Learned Sergeant and by the ver dict of the jury, are fully known and duly estimated, We unhesitatingly assert that that verdict has not given satisfaction, that it was totally opposed to the weight of evidence, and we call on the Secretary of State for the Home Department to institute a searching inquiry into all its circumstances. It affords the most powerful illustration of the mis takes that may occur even under the most judicious system, and of the absolute necessity for the esta blishment of a Court of Criminal Appeal. Gon forbid that we should be supposed to impute wilful error or corrupt motives to either Judge or jury, but we cannot help thinking that a most serious mis take has been committed—a mistake fraught with the must pernicious results to an innocent gentleman, who has been improperly sentenced to three months' imprisonment in the House of Correction; while wil ful, deliberate, and corrupt perjury has been imputed to six persons, three of them gentlemen occupying respectable stations in society. The case to which we desire to direct the public attention is that of Mr. JOHN GOLDSMID, a member of the Stock Exchange, who was on Thursday tried fur an assault committed on an officer attached to the department of Inland Revenue. From the evidence of the prosecutor it appeared that he was subjected to some very rough treatment by some person whom he believed to be the defendant, on the evening of Saturday, the sth of October, at the Blue Posts, in the Hay market. Unfortunately he was induced not to give the culprit into custody at the moment, in conse quence of being informed that the offender was " JOHN GOLDSMID, of the City, who would, on the Monday, make any compensation for the injury he might have dune to his clothes." This compensation, however, did not arrive; and three weeks afterwards the prosecutor having discovered, as he supposed, the residence of the defendant, summoned him to the police-office. The defendant did not appear on the first summons; a second was accordingly taken out, and the defendant then refused to adopt a sug gestion of the magistrate to arrange the matter, alleging that he could prove that he was at Brighton at the time the alleged assault took place. The matter was then very properly remitted to the ses sions for a jury to decide on the conflicting tes timony. From the evidence of the prosecutor, it was mani fest that it might be a case of mistaken identity, in which the prosecutor might have erred as to the per son of one whom he had never seen but on that even ing. For the defendant, his father and brother (both highly respectable stockbrokers), positively swore that the defendant had on the day in question gone down with them to Brighton, from whence he did not return until the following Monday. This was confirmed by Mr. GOLDCMID'S footman, and by a gentleman named STEVENS, a respectable auctioneer in the City. A clearer alibi was never established, and it was impos sible to convict the defendant without supposing that these four persona had been guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury. But this was not all; three other witnesses to the transaction not only swore that it was not the defendant who committed the assault, but declared the name of the real offender, who it was said "much resembled the defendant." On this evidence the jury found the defendant guilty, and the Judge, in passing a very severe sentence, distinctly charged the several witnesses with deliberate perjury. The matter cannot rest here; it must be stringently investigated in every particular, and must lead to an alteration of the law, and a full power of appeal in such cases. The consequences may otherwise be of a very disastrous character, such as we should not willingly be called on to encounter. This is the age of newspapers. A recent calculation made in Vienna gives no less than 1,282 journals and papers as actually known in Europe, n o t i nc l u di ng therein Austria! There are, of course, many provincial papers not included in this list, but the following comparison is curious. In P ar i s 160 papers of various kinds are published; in London, 97; in Berlin, 79; in Leipsic, 68; in St. Petersburgh, 36. The number of journals published in Germany, exclusive of Aus tria, in the German language, is 645, nearly three times as many as Paris and London put together. The Leader. COMPENSATION TO THE OFFICERS OF THE DEFUNCT PALACE COURT.—The officers of the defunct Palace Court have just received intimation that the Lords of th e T reasury have granted them annuities for life. It will be recollected that the court was abolished on the 31st of December, 1849. The claims of the officers were ma d e within theperiod. limited by the Act of Parliam e nt, an d no decision was come to until within the last few days, when it was ascertained that the summoning officer had received his annuity for a year, , amounting to nearly 501. Th e other officers in a short time received . the gratifying intelligence th at t h e i r cla i ms had ken considered, and were made acquainted with the amounts a , .varded. There were about fourteen applicants fur compensation, but all, it is understood. were not successful. The Treasury paid the parties who were granted compensa tion a year's annuity to each, ending on the 31st of Decem ber last. The compensation to the several officers vary from 401. to 601. a year. THE CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER AT BRISTOL.- At the resumed inquest, on Thursday, the captain of the Adolphe, Frederick Dugais, was examined. He did not witness the assault on deck, but heard the deceased complain afterwards that Mr. Alexander had struck him. Auguste Dugais, a son of the captain, was also called as a witness; his evidence went to show that he did not see the cause which led to M. Bippert's fall from the quarter to the main deck, but he afterwards saw the deceased, who appeared , to be trembling and shaking from the effects of the fall. The in quiry wa s th en a dj ourne d till the following day (Friday). Mr. Long, the surgeon who attended the deceased, was re called and examined as to the probable effects of strangu lated hernia. The coroner, having read over and commented on the evidence, commencing with the deposition of the de ceased, taken in articulo mortis, and carefully going through the examinations of all the other witnesses, the jury, after a consultation of about an hour, returned a verdict of man slaughter against Mr. Philip Alexander , ~ who w as th ereupon committed for trial at the ensuing Gloucestershire assizes. The remains of the unfortunate deceased, M. Bi ppert, have just been conveyed for interment in the cemetery at Arno's Vale. LONDON ENVELOPED IN A DENSE FOG.---N UMEROUS ACCIDENTS. —Yesterday afternoon and evening the metropo lis and suburban districts were visited with one of the densest fogs that has been witnessed for some winters past. All tra velling by the usuall steam, con veyances w as completely out of the question. At four o clock in the afternoon it became so dark that it was extremely difficult to see more than a foot in advance; the consequence was, that several accidents happened both on the river and along the public roads. Near Westminster steam-boat pier, a boat containing three men and a female, who were making for College-stairs, ran their vessel against the stairs and all four were thrown overboard, and narrowly escaped drowning. At the foot of the various bridges, and along the stre e t s, several vehicles came into violent collision. CUSTOMS W ATERGUARD...-..MF. D. S. Harding, senior inspector of the river, has, we understand, been ap pointed to the situation of inspector-general of the water guard department of the Customs, vice Mr. Ansell, deceased. THE ALLEGED MURDER or A HUSBAND BY HIS WIPE.--Yesterday a long inquiry was concluded before Mr. W. Carter, at the King's Head Inn, Blackfriars-road, as to the death of John Brown, aged twenty-three, who was alleged to have been murdered by his wife, Jane Brown, who is now in custody. The jury returned a verdict of " Man slaughter against Jane Brown." APO THECARIES'-HALL.—The following gentlemen passed their examination in the science and practice of medi cine, and received certificates to practise, on Thursday;_ Edwin Henry Bolton, London; George Elm; William Chap man, Sedbergh. ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.---The following gentlemen, having undergone the necessary examinations, were admitted members of the College on Thursday :--- Messrs. Thomas Coke Higgs, St. George's, Bermuda, and Edward Higgon 'Evans, Treffgarne-hall, Haverfordwest. THE MURDER IN CHESHlRE.—Yesterday her Ma jesty's Government offered a reward of 1501. for the disco very of the person or persons who so brutally murdered Mrs. Mary Kinder, on the evening of the 16th inst., at Roads Fold, Chester. It was announced also that any a ccomp li ce , not being the actual murderer, who will give such information as shall lead to the apprehension and conviction o f hi s or h er confederates, will receive her Majesty's free pardon. THE INDIAN COLLECTION. --Th e Lords of the Treasury have granted Mr. Catli n , th e owner of the North American Indian collection, the privilege of retaining his collection in this country, without being subjected to the duties due on the several articles, for a further period of time, in order to give him an opp or t un i ty o f ex hibi t i ng it in the metropolis during the ensuing s ummer , a t th e expiration of which the collection will be taken from this country. Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great lklarlbe rough-street. THEATRE ROYAL, DRETRY-LA NE. Lessee and Manager, Mr. James Ani Jerson. • THIS EVENING, Will be presented by her Majesty's F ;orvants 7th time, a new Comedy, called THE OLD LOVE AND THE NEW. Sir Algernon Courtoun, Mr. Cooper; Major Stock, Mr. Emery; Captain. Sidney Courtoun, Mr. J. Anderson ; Mr. Haythorn, Mr. Barrett ; 2liss Trimmer, Mrs. Tcrnan ; Camilla Haythorn, Mrs. Nisbett ; Ch , arry Bounce, Mrs. Walter Laey. After which an entirely New Grand, Historic :111, Emblematical, Aerostatical, Gastronomical, Metaphorical, Musii :kJ, Poetical, Vocal, Municipal, Juvenile, Pantomical Pantomime, by E. Fitzball, the po pular author of " Za-ze-zi-zo-zu," entitled HARLEQUIN and HUMPTY DUMPTY; or, :Bobbin de Bobbin and the First Lord Mayor of Lun' tin. Private Boxes, 31.33., 21. 12s. 6d., 21. 25., 1/. I :Is. 6d., and IL Is. To be obtained on application at the Box-office ; r. Sam's Libarary, St. James's-street ; Messrs. Mitchell Ebers and Co.; Andrews and Alcroft, Bend-street; at Jullien's Music W: erehouse, Regent street ; Chappels, New Bond-street; Leader ai ad Cocks, 63, New Fond-street; Ransford and Co., New Bond-strc ; and Bailey and Moon, Carlton Library. 12, Regent-street. Sta Cis, 53. each. First Price—Dress Circle, ss. Od. ; Boxes, 4s. ; Pit. 2s. I ;41. ; Lower Gallery, Is. ; Upper Gallery, 6d.. Second Price at N bne o'Clock—Dress Circle, 2s. 6d. ; Boxes, 25.; Pit, Is. 6d. No Ha if-price to Upper or Lower Galleries. The Box-office open from 11 HI 14. It is respectfully intimated that seats in the Boxes cannot be rese a - ved after the First Act of the Play. THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMAY. F anT. Mr. IL Webster, Sole Lessee and Manager, Old BromptoU. THIS EVENING, Will be performed EVERY ONE HAS lII3S FAULT. Lord Norland, Mr. Rogers; Sir Robert Ramble, Mr.. Davenport ; Solos, Mr. Buckstone ; Placid, Mr. Rowe; Irwin, :Mr. Stuart; Lady Elinor, Mrs. Warner; Mrs. Placid, 31.1:s P. Her ton; Miss Wooburu, Miss Reynolds. After which a new translation of THE SE( 30ND CALENDAR and the QUEEN of BEAUTY who had the Fight with the Genie. Principal characters by Messrs. J. Bland, Selby , Lcbarr, Buckstone, airs. L. S. Buckingham, Mrs. Fitzwilliam, Miss :r. Horton, and Miss A. Itomer. To conclude with MRS. WHITE. Peter White, Mr. H. Bedford THEATRE ROYAL, ADEL!' EH. . Under the direction of Madame C sleste.. THIS EVENING, Will he performed an entirely new grand Dra• na, n 3 acts, entitled BELPHEGOR THE MOUNTEBANK; or, The Pride of Birth. Duke do Montbazon, Mr. Hughes ; Count de S t. Cyr, Br. Boyce ; The Chevalier de Rolac, Mr. 0. Smith ; Guilla ame, surnamed Bel phegor, Mr. B. Webster; Ajax, alias Mr. Merr yman, Mr. Wright ; Captain Pnfferes, Mr. Worrell .Madeliene, Ms dame Celeste; NMI Flora Aphrodite Stilz, Miss Woolgar. To be followed by a new Extravaganza called LA TARANTULA ; or, the Spider King. Characters by Messrs. WI fight, P. /Sedford, 0. Smith, Miss Woolgar, Miss E. Chaplin, Miss K.. eitzwilliam, Madame Celeste, &c. ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OXF ORD-STREET. Under the Management of Mr. C. Keaa a nd Mr. Keeley. THIS EVENING, Will be performed the Comedy of THE PE USONER OF WAR. Characters by Mr. C. Kean, Mr. Keeley, Mrs.. C. Kean, and Mrs. Keeley. To be followed by THE LOAN OF A LOVE Jt, in which Messrs. J. Vining, Addison, Keeley, and Mrs. Keeley w ill appear. After which a new Comic Christmas Pantom Line, called ALONZO THE BRAVE AND THE FAIR IMOGENE ; )r, Harlequin and the Baron all covered with Jewels and Cold. Clo wn, Mr. Flexmore ; Harlequin, Mr. Cormack ; Pantaloon, Mr. Pa aJo ; and Columbine, Miss Carlotta Le Clercq. The Pt.blic is respectfully informed that Mr. •BARTLEY will per form only Six Nights more, and that conseqw in tly the final repre sentations of Shakespeare's Play of HENRY I - V. will take place on Monday, Jan. 27, Monday, Feb. 3, Friday, Feb.. 7, Monday, Feb. 10, Friday, Feb. 14, and (for the last time) on Mor iday, Feb. 17. Private Boxes, &c., to be had of all the Bo okseliers, and of Mr. Massingham ; of whom also places may be ta. ten at the Box-office, Oxford-street, from Eleven till Four o'clock. ROYAL LYCEUM TREAT RE. Under the Management of Maas' an Yearll. Bole Lessee, Mr. Charles Mat hews. THIS EVENING, Will be performed THE HANDSOME HUSBAND. Alter which an entirely new and original Fairy Extravaganza, to be called KING CHARMING ; or, the BI Ito Bird of Paradise. Characters by Messrs. C. Mathews, F. Matthews, Horricastle, Suter, Bellingham, and homier; Madame Vestris, 3 It's. Frank Matthews, Miss Ellis, Mrs. C. Horn, Miss St. George, and "Miss Martindale. To conclude with TILE ELNGDOVES, in which Messrs. C. Mathews, F. Matthews, Basil Baker, Mrs. F. Matthews, and Miss M. (Over will appear. ROYAL OLYMPIC THEA'i? RE. Lessee and Manager, Mr. W. Parren. Great hit of the Romance of thca Nose. THIS EVENING, Will be perfor Bed ALL THAT GLITTERS. IS NOT GOLD. To be followed by PRINCE DORUS; or, The Romance of the Nose, in which Messrs. H. Farren, Compton, ghalders, W. Farren, Jun., Cooke; Mesdames Louisa Howard, Ellen, Turner, and Madlle. Adele will appear. ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITI3IIATRE. Under the Patronage of her Majesty and 111:3 Royal Highness Prince Albert. Proprietor and Manager, Mr. W.. Batty. Extraordinary series of attractive novelties. TIIIS EVENING The Grand new Spectacle of KENNILSS ORM ; or the Golden Days of the Virgin Queen, With new and costly oostumes. Together with Batty's Splendid Scenes of the Circle. To conclude with an entirely new and original grand historical Equestrian Christmas Pantomime, written exp ressly for this Theatre, by the author of " Bluff King IIal," to he enti tied HARLEQUIN AND O'DONO. 3 , HUE ; or, The White Horse of Killa rneyi Box-office open from Eleven til 1 Four. Stage Manager, Mr. T. Then - cpson. HIGH WATER Al LONDON BRIDGE Tiara Div —Morning 42 min. after 7 jiv ening 11 min. after 8 To-hfoasow—Morning 47 min. after 8 Ev ening 23 rein. atter 9 THE WEATHER.—StrN Oirricz,, JANUARY 25. THERMOMETER, IN THE S WOE. 35—highest since noon yesterday. 28—lowest this morning and durixt,g the night. 38—this day, at noon. BAROMETER, 30.02.. Wliti'D S.E.—Morning, fine; Afternoon, cloudy. DAILY WEATHER TABLE. State of the Wind and Weather at e ach of the following places at Nine o'clock yesterday mor sing.—The stations are arranged in order of latitude. KINGSTOWN ( DUBLIN)—Wind S.W., gen tie breeze—overcast. PLYMOUTH—Wind S., gentle breeze—pa xtially cloudy. PORTSMOUTH—Wind N.E. gentle breezt o—overeast. BRIGHTON—Wind YE., calm—cloudless;. HASTINGS—Wind N.E., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. ForaßsyoNß—Wind S.E., gentle breeze--partially cloudy. TUNBRIDGE—Wind E., calm—foggy. GREENWlCH—Calm—foggy. SWINDON—Wind S.W., light airs—partially cloudy. OXFORD—Wind S.E., calm—foggy. COLCHESTER—Wind N.W., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. CAMBRIDGE—Wind S.E., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. YARMOUTH—Wind S.W., calm—cloudless. CONWAY—Wind S., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. HOLYHEAD—Wind S., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. MANCHESTER—Wind S.E., gentle breeze—principally clear. LANCASTER—Wind S., gentle breeze—principally clear. SHAT—Wind S.E., calm—overcast. BEArrock—Wind S.E., gentle breeze— cloudy. The returns from the following places indicate the state of the wind and weather on Thursday morning at nine o'clock :- o:mu—Wind S.W., light breeze—cloudy. CARLOW—Wind S.I , gentle breeze—partially cloudy. KINGSTOWN. (DußLul —Wind S., gentle breeze—cloudless. MuLLINGAR—Wind S., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. DUNDALK—Wind N.W., gentle breeze —frosty. POOLE—Wind W., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. RuGßy—Wind S.W., gentle breeze—overcast . BIRMINGHAM—Wind S.W., gentle breeze—overcast. PETERBOROUGH—Wind S.W., calm—partially dandy. LivErtroor,—Wind S.E., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. LEEDS—Wind W., calm—partially cloudy. YORK—Wind W., gentle breeze—overcast. Se'—Wind S.W., calm—partially cloudy. WHIT I HATEN—Wind S.E., gentle breeze—partially cloudy. I". 411 - 6° ' GUI .11,44%; r,t, • • - .or - '7 4 F' • %, ••„11; v A 4r • - rd '.; • Olt •; , 11kg ", 91 1 . 111 LI) =jag Ittr. LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1851. Alacrity, it is true, has scarcely anywhere been evinced among our leading Reformers in anticipation of the re-assembling of the imperial Legislature. Nevertheless, if tardy in their agitation, they are at length evincing an earnestness that promises well for the prospects of wholesome innovation. Recently we have taken occasion to refer directly to the meet- ings convened of late in reference to such movements as those in favour of abolishing the window-tax, and those in behalf of certain changes in the patent laws. This evening will be found reported at some length, in another part of our journal, the speeches delivered last night by two or three of the most distinguished Mem bers of the House of Commons in the great room at the Albion Hotel at Manchester. There they will find themselves again in imagination listening to the well-remembered voices of lthLtiza Gasoiv, of JOHN THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. TUE NEW MINISTRY. MESSAGE FROM THE PEE`,ADENT TO THE ASSEMBLY. We have received the Paris journals of yesterday. The Ministerial crisis is over ; the PRESIDENT has appointed a new Ministry, not one of the members of which is a representative of the people, and all of whom are comparatively speaking unknown. The Assembly met yesterday as usual, and at half' after three Colonel VAUDRT, the aide-de-camp of the PRESIDENT of the Republic, entered and banded a paper to M. DUPIN, the President of the Assembly, who, after the disposal of the routine business, an nounced to the Assembly that be had received a Message from the PRESIDENT of the Republic, which he proceeded to read as follows : " Public opinion, confiding in the wisdom of the Assembly and the Government, has not been alarmed by the late incidents; nevertheless, France begins to suffer by divisions which she th plorcs. My duty is to do what in me lies to prevent the ill results of them. The union of the two powers is indispensable to the re pose of the country, but as the Constitution has rendered. them independent of e ac h ot h er , t h e on l y con di t ion or this union is reciprocal confidence. Penetrated with this sentiment, I shall alvvsys respect the rights of the, Assembly while mai n t a i n i ng i ntact the prerogat i ves of that power which I hold from the poop's. In order not to prolong a painful dissension, I have accepted, after the recent vote of the Assembly, the resignation of a Mt nistry which had given to the country and to the cause of order signal pledges of its devotion. Wishing, however, to reconstruct a Cabinet with chances of duration, I could nut choose its elements in majority produced by exceptional circumstance, and have found myself with regret unable to frame a combi nation from among the members of the minority, not withstanding its importance. "In this conjecture, after vain attempts, I have re solved on forming a Ministry of transition—of special men, belonging to no fraction of the Assembly, and de termined to devote themselves to affairs, without regard to party feeling; and the honourable men who accept this patriotic task will have titles to the gratitude of the country. The Administration will, therefore, continue as before; prjudices will be dissipated netora a reseal' brance of the solemn declaration of the message o f November 12. The real majority will be reconstituteh• Harmony will be re-established without the two powers having sacrificed aught of the dignity which constitutes their strength. France, before all things, desires repose , and expects from those whom she has invested with her confidence conciliation without weakness—calm and au" altered firmness in the right. Accept, M. le President, the assuruace of a high esteem. " Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE." The Message was listened to throughout without interruption, the attitude of the Assembly being cool and calm. The new Ministy is as follows General Rendon, War; Weiss, Interior; Gerrninit Finance ; Magne, Public Works ; Brennier, Foreign Affairs; Royer, Justice; Valiant, Marine; Giraudt Public Instruction; Schneider, Agriculture and Cour merce. M. WAISS, the new Minister of the Interior, l a the Prefect of the Department of the North ; M. P ° GERMINY, the Finance Minister, is the Receiver- General at Rouen ; M. MAGNE, the Minister of Public Works, was Under-Secretary to M. FOULD, the lan Finance Minister; M. Dr, Rortu, the Minister 0 ' Justice, is the Attorney-General of the Court of AP: peal of Paris; M. GIRAUD, the Minister of Publi c Instruction, is the Inspector-General of the Univerr sity ; M. tiCLINEIDER, the Minist e r o f C omm erce, the proprietor of lalge iron works at Creuzot. Th e War Ministry is entrusted to General RANDON, 50 that of the Marine to Admiral VAILLANT. When the appoi n t men t o f t h e new Min i stry , an the contents of the Message, became known on the Bourse, the funds at first wavered, but closed with RA rise on the prices of the preceding day. The Assembly continued calm, and broke up wit h out the slightest s i gn o f ag i tat i on. On Thursday N i'-1 DE MoNTALEMBEET had a long conference with the PRESIDENT. The Patrie thus relates the failure of the attemp t of M. LEON FAUCHER to form a Ministry A report was current at the Assembly that M. Leos Faucher had succeeded in forming a Cabinet. The names mentioned as those who were to enter the Xi' nistry with him were—General d'Arbouville, for the War Department; M. Lebeuf, Finances; /41. de FlavigdYt Foreign Affairs; M. Buffet, Commerce; M. Mage e ' Public Works; and M. Lacross, Marine. Our privet; information enables us t o say t h at this l i st only ex istea in idea. We can even say that, at the present time, th e arrangement of a Cabinet with M. Leon Faucher, takes from the minority of the 286, may be considered 13.. 5 having tailed, and as havin g b een comp l ete l y a b a ndoned. Other negotiations have been opened." The following are the chief items of the Bank ac count : Francs. Specie in Paris ••• ... 350,836,363 Ditto in branches ... ••• ... 129,553.478 Bills in Paris portfolio 61,462,718 Bills in brunches ..• ... 88,423,785 Bank notes in circulation ... 420,272,900 Ditto in departments ... ... 90 246,125 Credit to Treasury ..• ••• 89,052,4 91 Private credit accounts 77,12 5 , 88 ! Ditto in branches ... 21,343, 575 The items of this account show an increase under. nearly every head ; there i s a s li g ht i ncrease o f gold in Paris, but 4,000,000 more in the provinces. The portfolio is improved. The note circulation is ove r that of last we e k. Th e cre di t to the Treasur y i s 3,000,000 moie. What is curious and most gratify ing, is, the absence of the usual debit for bills lyi n g unpaid, and this, for the first time, since the revolu tion in February. The composition of the new Ministry was well received at the Bourse, arid a rise took place in the price of Pu n ' lie seculitics. The Five per Cents. opened at 94f. 90c., and rose to 951. 35c.; they closed at 95f. 30c. T he Three per'Cents. closed a t 57f. 1 0c.; the N ew Loan at 95 r. 20c.; Orleans Railr oa d Sh ares, 8 48 1 . 75c.; Rouen, 677 f. 50c.; Havre, 2701.; Great Northern, 4701.; Avignon, 186 1 , O n '', Vierzon, 392 f. 50e.; Basle, 141 f. 25c.; Bordeaux, 395e 7 Paris and Strasburg, 355 f .; Tours and Nantes, 2481. 7 ° — BiISI.NESS DUNE IN FOREIG-N RAILWAYS A'l'Tl° LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, J. 24. Boulogne and Amiens, 9 1 / 8 —Central of France (ortegis and Vierzon), 15 3 / 4 ex int.—Luxembourg, 2i. 2 —Northel l of France, 14"✓ e ex int.—Orleans and Bordeaux, 4--Fa o and Strasbourg, 9%—Rouen and Havre, 11. SPAIN. Madrid journals of the 18th have arrived. In the sitting of the Chamber of Deputies Senor BRAVO MURILLO, the new Minister, declined to state, in answer to a question from Senor FERNANDO Cop' LANItES, whether or not it was his intention to bring any charges against the late Administration. It Or considered that the new Ministry will have to encouir ter a vigorous opposition. Generals PAVIA and SERRANO will be appointed to important commands. The Heralds publishes a pretended telegraphic communication from Paris, announcing that an In" surrection had broken out, that General CAvAIGNA° bad been shot, and that the PRESIDENT had fled. Il e wish of his patrons was probably the father to the thought of the Orleanist scribe. MADRID BOLSA, JAN. 18.—The Three per Cente• 33 5.16 ; Five per Cents., 13. Exchange on Lon' don, 50 65. GERMANY. Ac counts from Dresden of the 22d state that Aug' tria and Prussia have agreed to the installation of $ provisional dualistic central power to protect Ger' many in the event of any outbreak occurring in France' In the Prussian Senate, on the 22d, the following amendment on the order of the day was moved bY M. ARNIM : "That the Chamber resolve that the entrance of Austrian troops into Schleswig-Holstein is in open con , tradiction to the promises made by both the Commis' sioners to the Stadtholderate, according to the protocol' of the 7th and 11th of Jan. of the present year, and that, neveitheless, there is certain information that Austrian and Prussian troops are to occupy Holstein; further, that the public have been credibly assured that Prussian and Austrian troops are to garrison Bends' burg; bat that several other strong places of Holstein which undoubtedly come within the circumscription of the German Confederation are to be left to the 0' cupation of Danish troops; and that, finally, by these measures, even if merely provisional, the mint"' nance of the integrity of the territory of the Confe deration will be exposed to real danger; that, therefore, the convention entered into by the tat) Commissioner s with the Stadtholderate in the name of the German Coir federation should be h-ld as sacred and inviolable by Prussia and Austria as it has been held by the Stadthel' derate; that in case the Commissioners should have go' beyond their instructions, their acts so far should be dis avowed, and the convention which has been concluded, should n o t b e rat i fied; and that in all events csre shou l d be taken that Holstein, which belongs evidently to th e territory of the Confederation, should not be even lon' visionally occupied by any other than German trooPs• The motives for this motion are as follow:-1st. Be: spect for concluded conventions and fur sacredness or promises; and, 2d, the danger to which th e i n t egr ity of the territory of the Confederation is exposed." Accounts from Vienna of the 20th confirm the re' port of SCIIMEBLING'S resignation. The Hanoverian Ministers have announced that the KING has given his sanction to the establishmen t of a railway between Gottingen and the Hessian frontier. DENMARK A NiiTHE DUCHIES' General LEZEDITSCU has announced to the Senate of Hainburgh his intenti on o f sen di ng an Austri an garrison to tbat city. Th e S enate has proteste d in vain against this Austrian invasion. It is announce d by letters from Vienn a th at t h e Austrian occupa tion of Holstein and Lauenburg will not be a temporri measure. In this ca se th e Ki ng of PRUSSIA. may 1. ! 1 ',„ that he has been somewhat too hasty in dismiowb his Landwly2r. The King of DENMARK, as Duke of LAUENBUSGI has issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of tburg t 'nseque °l ark anl 144 to th divid ed t %ants of bC/rder, an 0 4° Yal D 4 ,'° ll llt R t ,.." hov e whi ty bef ore m a ] v t. ,,, rtam Military • 4 ecou tbelnBlirreo j usu i t ," l -I, E , bag been MAI IsTZI 1 3 8 ' pit,y z 8 4 t, ta z , la Od to klar tl" . ' °J 04 41 sh ; ter: ,"' ll l I ° ,l to 24 t 33 23 3 . to 1 14 9d 4 6(1 to 2, V ile ‘t fr e4l, 8 V w Q et, fro -"' la 0( 64Turbots, t * 2 s ad a • Iv b . 0 2s 0 —v ' 4 ster s '' 1 1;r1 1 . 3 - 1 ! , 5 1,.1.23r , Ith, b ushel. t t The „..: 4, 1 04 7 . d to 4 rket I tiBiO4tl._?bit2odBB4ll 961 b NC ° Oa. s ki i4 to "" ~ 04 ( 4 an 44 ' d eact 1/ 8m 4 -3 to 4 ; 13t1 del at( trbtaEtc 31 0 hd e fi w 111 TEC] k i 79 3i ( ' l 'y goo I