The Sun. — London, England, 1832-11-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, The embargo imposed on Dutch vessels, ht the Order in Council published in an Extra ordinary Gazette of last night, is a natural am necessary consequence of the measures which on. Government was bound to adopt in executiot of the late convention. The stipulations of that convention engaged England to undertake, in conjunction with France, the blockade of thl Dutch ports, provided his Dutch Majesty re fused to comply with the conditions of the treat of November 15, 1831, by the surrender ot Antwerp within a specified time. His Majesty having refused compliance with that demand. and having held out no hope that further consi deration would lead him to alter his mind, the blockade must of course be enforced in the first instance, and, if inefficient, must be followed 13‘ the advance of a French army against Antwerp The very nature of a blockade infers the neces sity or the justification of an embargo. The object of the former at present is to inter rupt the trade of Holland till Holland returns to better counsels, and to make her feel that the displeasure of the two most powerful nations in Europe is not to be despised, even though it May not lead to the immediate attack of her ports, to the confiscation of her property, or to the invasion of her territory. This can only be done by prohibiting British vessels from clear ing out for the ports of Holland, and by pre venting Dutch vessels at present in the ports ol Great Britain from returning to their own coun try. That would, indeed, be a most extraordi• nary species of blockade, imagined by some Tory blockheads, which would allow the com mercial and shipping intercourse between the two hostile nations to remain as active and direct as if no blockade had existed. From the me inent that the blockade was declared to the Dutch Government, after its refusal to comply with the convention of the 22d ult—from that moment, we say, the British and Dutch Govern ments were in a state of hostility. It would there fore have been absurd to have permitted our ships lo sail for the Dutch ports, either to be captured by the enemy, or to contravene the policy of their own country. It would have been equally ab surd to have allowed such Dutch vessels as ma) happen to be in British ports to return home. when, according to the very conditions of blockade, they must have been exposed to cap titre by our blockading squadron at the Yen mouths of their own harbours. With regard to the Dutch, the Older in Council for an em bargo is even a kind and benevolent arrange. ment. Should the King of Holland surrender Antwerp on the advance of a French army, et before the French force reaches the Dutch lines to commence hostilities, it is extremely probable from the temper in which the naval expedi tion has been undertaken, that all Dutch naval property in England will be restored. The em bargo will thus f.cilitate a restitution which ah would desire. Had Dutch merchantmen been allowed to sail from England and be captured on their own coast, the captors would then have claimed an interest in their prizes, which would have been extremely embarrassing to our Government, or costly to that of Holland. The Dutch or English must have paid to the blockading squadron the price of their captures. By the embargo all this difficulty is prevented ; and, as we have no desire to oppress Holland. all the detained vessels will most likely be re stored as soon as the Dutch King is cured of his temporary insanity. The French army will certainly enter Belgium by the 15th inst. (ac cording to the terms of the convention), should the presence of the blockading squadrons fail ot producing the desired effect on the Court of the Hague. Europe cannot, therefore, be kept much longer in suspense about the result of a contest which ought to have been settled a year ago. That year has been one of considerable agitation and alarm among all sensible and good men, who see the only, or at least the fairest, chance of consolidating free institutions, and of extend ing general liberty in the bosom of peace, and in the absence oft hat military dictatorship which successful warfare nearly always bequeaths to the victor. But the interval has not been entirely lost to humanity, though it has exposed Europe to great dangers, and inflicted upon the Netherlands great sacrifices.TheGovernments of the chief Pow ers oft he continent have learned to appreciate eacl4 other's interests and designs. They have beet, enabled to see that war is a game in which each may lose as well as win,—that it is not abso lutely necessary to consolidate freedom in France or to protect despotic power in Russia ; and that if propagandism should cease, and the ambition of conquest could be restrained, the world might endure in peace two sets of political opinions as well as several systems of religious doctrine. 11 war, therefore, should now take place, or, in other words, if the King of Holland should continue to hold the gauntlet which he has so impru dently taken up, its circle will he extremely li mited. Holland, which pretends to fight for her commerce, would not long continue a strug gle by which all commerce is destroyed, nor would his Dutch Majesty, who retains Antwerp to give him the chance of recovering Belgium, desire to continue much longer that hostile oc cupation when, by the desertion of one portion of his former allies, and by actual opposition ol the other, he finds that object utterly placed be yond his grasp.—Times. If the embargo on Dutch vessels, announced by the Order in Coun c il, b e no t one o f those fictions which, in the polite language of diplo macy, is called a demonstration, the tocsin of war has been sounded by the " Pacificators of Europe," and the conflict of arms follows the confusion of the Protocols. The Ministerial Papers that have repeatedly proclaimed, during the last 18 months, the speedy settlement of the Batavo•Belgic question by peaceable negotiation, and that have as often ridiculed the notion of the Protocol farce ending in a tragedy, now labour to make the public believe that nothin g can be wier than entering into a war at the pre sent moment, because it is only to " preserve the peace." A war to " prevent war" is a po litical novelty, of which the Statesman-like in tellect that has enriched the world with so great a tliscovery, might well have been proud if the original merit of the invention did not really belong to that Irish pacificator who said that his " only reason for breakin g a man's head was to prevent a breach of the peace." An Ev en i ng Paper (the Courier) says, " Ministers have been dragged on by events. NS' as it within th e scope of foresight, or within the calculation of probabi lities, that Holland would de& the power of Great Britain—and of Great Britain united with France ? Even now the fact, if fact it be, is like some strange politicalsdream. But it seems that Holland has thrown down the gage ; she laughs at our menaces—despises our demonstra tions—rejects our endeavours to prevent the necessity of waging war against an old Ally— ai,d Holland must be made to learn that though applauded by Austria, encouraged by Russia, and issisted by Prussia, no nation on the habitable ! lobe may defy the might of Great Britain with .mptinity. If Ministers have been dragged dung by events, as our contemporary thinks, nto a war, the events are of their own creating. Such events have grown out of the protocol kbours, which, instead of solving the Belgic iroblem, have entangled us in the meshes of a net of difficulties woven by our own intermeddling ,)olicy. We are now commencing what we sup pose we must call by the novel title of the war of non-intervention, and which is likely to be a perpetual memorial of the mischievous incapacity -hat presides over our Foreign-office. When he Courier asks, " Was it within the scope of Foresight, or within the calculation of probabili ies, that Holland would defy the power of Great Britain—and of Great Britain united with France ?" it impliedly admits that, if our Government could have foreseen the resolute de fiance which Holland throws in the face of our " demonstrations," they would not have taken such measures as drag them on to war. What to excuse it is for the errors and bad policy of the Government of a great nation to say that they would not have gone such lengths in a dangerous course if they had not been destitute of foresight ! It surely did not require the gift of prophecy to anticipate the difficulties into which the departure of our Ministers from their Professed creed of non-interference in the affairs of Belgium and Holland has plunged the country. We have never pretended to powers of vaticina tion, and yet we anticipated and proclaimed fr o m the earlier sittings of the London Conference the dangers to which the inter ference of our Government exposed this country. We over and over again advised and en treated Ministers to withdraw from that fatal connection into which, by some malign influence, , hey suffered themselves to be betrayed. Why Earl Grey ever entrusted the helm of our fo reign affairs to such a pilot as Lord Pa!merstoo, we cannot conceive. Why he was wholly unfit for such an important trust all England can now understand. When we are told that " Holland must be made to learn that though applauded 1)y A ustria, encouraged by Russia, and assisted Prussia, no nation G n the habitable globe may defy the might of Great Britain with im punity,' we ask how long ago is it since the Dower of England was defied by the Emperor of Russia, who, though he pocketed our gold, tore the treaty of Vienna to pieces, trampled on the nationality of Poland, which we were hound by that treaty to uphold, and forbid Lord Durham to trouble him on the subject ? Now Russia is a great Power, and Holland is a -mall one. Russia gave us cause of quarrel— Holland gave us none ; yet the " mag nanimity " of England is displayed in attacking Holland with fire and sword, and submitting to the insults of Russia! Nay, our Foreign Mi nister dared not interfere to prevent the system atic violation of the principle of neutrality prac tised by Prussia during the struggle of the Poles, and which mainly assisted the subjuga tion of that brave people; and yet there are those who can talk of " no nation on the habitable globe daring to defy the might of Great Britain with impunity !" Don Miguel knows better !Ilan that, whose brigand troops have wantonly fired more than once on the British flag, and shed British blood under its protection, and have done so with impunity. But Holland, in stead of being an assailant of ours, only did us the mischief of purchasing our iron, cotton and woollen goods, coal, &c., and we prepare to blockade her coasts, to cut off one of the best outlets for the productions of our struggling ma nufacturers ; and all this, because we will not allow four millions of Belgians to settle their own dispute, with two millions of Dutchmen.— Morning Herald. The Norwich East Anglian of Tuesday las has the following observations " We are shocked to see the spirit of incendiarism wain stalking over the land. In the catalogue of human ortmes there are scarcely any which can equal it in the in dignity and extent of its mischief. Those who can erpetrate this enormous crime must he utterly inacces - ble to all appeals of reason. Strict vigilance to detect, and extreme punishment speedily to follow detection, are the two things we must now rely upon. The price of corn is exceedingly low, and the stark-yards are laden with corn, the threshing of which must give employment to a treat many more hands than usual. At present there is no lack of work in the country; we are now in the midst of wheat setting, and the autumn operations en the farm keep every man employed. What is it that revives this ,ievdish spirit among us? But it is revived, as a reference to our provincial intelligence unhappily proves; and we know that, in consequence of a num. er of anonymous letters, threatening incendiarism having lately been sent tc several farmers in the neighbourhood of Holt ; the hour of holding the corn-market there is changed from four in the afternoon to one o'clock, in order that the farmers may be enabled to get home before dark." We have elsewhere given some of the in stances alluded to in the above extract. It is easier to ask than to answer the question, " What is it that revives this devilish spirit among us ?" The Conservatives would at once answer, this is one of the blessed fruits of Re form, were it not known that incendiarism in its most frightful shape broke out in the Ministry of the Duke of Wellington, and that Sir Robert Peel was so completely overcome by it, that he stated in Parliament the people must protect themselves, as Government could not protect them. At that time, to use the words of a pamphlet just published, under the title of Whig Government; or, Two Years' Retrospect, " Nightly fires blazed around our villages, while the produce of th e y ear , an d t h e b rea d' of the nation, were at the mercy of undetected in cendiaries. The farmer was rendered desperate, his landlord stood aghast, and the Magistrate was powerless ; armed bands of soldiers alone kept the peace, and the links of social life seemed fast separating." Norfolk is one of those counties in which the relations between the high and the low seem the least satisfactory. It abounds in Farsons, for it contains nearly as many clergymen as belong to the whole Church of Scotland ; it abounds in Magistrates ; so that, it' parsons and Magistrates could keep a district quiet, it ought to be above measure orderly. Arson, however, is an old crime in Norfolk, and, we believe, in most of the agricultural counties. In the observations of the Rev. Mr. Brercton, Rector of Little Massiogham, in Norfolk, a gen tleman who did so much to expose the demoral izing tendency of the rural system of England, he says, " At the present time, there is a heavy levy upon the hundred to reimburse the lo,s which our overseer has sustained by the burning of his stacks. There was not long ago a similar case of arson in a neighbouring hundred." Mr. Brereton, when he first came to reside in a purely agricultural district, was struck with the discon tent which he everywhere saw among the agri cultural labourers, and which he had not wit nessed among the labouring population in towns; and he was ►ed to inquire into the causes of the difference. Mr. Brereton was not long in dis covering that the Magistracy were the causes of the mischief ; and it will be found, we believe, nearly always, that in proportion to the number of Magistrates in any district, is the extent of abuses of the Poor Laws, demoralization of the lower orders, crime and discontent. There can not be a greater curse in a country than a num ber cf idle people invested with authority to in terfere in their neighbours' matters. The pro per place for idlers is towns, where they can spend their incomes without doing much mis chief to any but themselves. Mr. Brereton saw the increase of crime keep pace with the in creased powers to Justices of Peace, and he ex pressed himself convinced that " a reformation of morals, or a permanent amendment of the administration o f th e P oor L aws , i s impossible, without a reformation of the present system of provincial justice." " The following inquiry," he continues, "in all its parts, has been directed to this point from a firm conviction, that such a reformation of the inferior Courts is the only adequate remedy for the present gross maladies in rural society. The great number of summary convictions, the increase of crime Judges, Courts, and decisions of spurious equity, discretion abused into usurpation of power, nice and interested dis tinctions between questions of law and matters of fact, which forbid all appeal to higher Courts, loudly call for some reformation, or, at least, for some regulation of the present system. It is often very galling to the practical sensible men of the country to fi n d persons w h o areinca pable of managing a small patrimony or a glebe, pe rm i tte d, i n v i rtue o f t h e i r office, to dic tate in the management of their farms—to ad minister lectures and admonitions which school boys could not tolerate—to break down, by the most whimsical jerks of authority, the subor dinations of society, and reduce whole districts to an ill-connected mass. The Magistrates seem to consider themselves in many cases dis pensators of bounty, rather than executors of the law. These Courts are no longer Courts of law and appeal, but of dictation and direction. Some check must be applied to this case. A Commission of Inquiry is appointed to examine into the evils o hid] have, by the natural course of everything human, accumulated in the Court of Chancery, over which a most laborious, learned, and upright Judge has for many years presided ; but these spurious Courts of Equity, which trample under foot the common law, and scrutinize every man's private affairs, must not be touched." The paper, with an extract from which we commenced these observations, lately mentioned that the borough of Lynn, with a population of about 14,000, had had a maiden Quarter Sessions, and that this was owing to the population being all employed, and the care taken to prevent the intrusion of vagrants. When we see these effects ascribed to good management, may we not infer that the incendiarisin must have its origin in bad management ? i• On coming to reside in this part of the country (West Norfolk)" says Mr. Brereton, " it was impossible not to observe the universal prevalence of pauperism and its mischievous influence on the morals and habits of the people. The first thing veNich led me to suspect the nature of the disease was, not the burden of the poor rate, but the small price at which the labr.uter sold, or rath.r at which other parties so'd, their independence, interest, and happiness. The corruption of manners, the number of paupers, and the smallumount of poor rare, convinced me that the labourers could be no gainers by the system. For five-and-twenty pounds a year they were all reduced to the condition of beggars and paupers. * They are doomed by the Magistracy of the county to pauperism as their privilege; it is represented to them that nothing stands between them and destruction but the office of Justice of the Peace or a Select Vestry. and an allowance of halt instead of the whole of their wages. It is true, they might obtain the half in idleness, and they could only obtain the whole by industry. Many, no doubt, preferred the half with poaching, smuggling, pilfering, and plund,r. In the list of paupers, it appeared that many had been seduced to part with their independence and happiness lot' 4 shilling or half-a-crown, in some particular week of the year. That trifling sum was in many cases obtained by fraud and perjury—by summons and orders—by the ut most stretch of power—by the reciprocal alienation of master and servant, and even of father and child." The result of all the inquiries we have made into this subject, satisfies us that England has 'Pen more injured in the demoralization of the labourers by Justices of the Peace, than by all other causes put together, and that the very first step towards a remedy must be the taking from Justices of the Peace the exten sive discretionary powers of interference they at present possess. We agree with the able writer of the article on Dr. Chalmers in the Edinburgh Review for October last, that upon the whole the condition of the labouring people is not deteriorated. Mr. Brereton says they live, even in Norfolk, in better cottages than formerly, and that they are better educated ; that is, are more generally taught to read and write. It is to be lamented that the natural tendency to im• provement should have been contaminated by an interference on the part of the Magistrates, pro ductive of the most demoralizing effects. We have no doubt that the labourers who have now been guilty of anon in Norfolk, have been led to consider themselves wronged. It is the curse of the system of interference that the labourer attributes every inconvenience to which he may be exposed to others.—Morning Chronicle. If the difficulties in which at present our con- tinental policy appears to be involved shall pass off entirely to the satisfaction of the Statesmen by whom they have been created—if King Leopold shall make, before Christmas, his triumphal entry into so much as may remain of the town and citadel of Antwerp—if the hero of Toulouse shall vaunt the new glories of the tri colour, and establish upon an immovable basis the authority of the Juste Milieu—if Russia, and Austria, and Prussia, shall strike no blow with the swords they have raised, and apply no match to the cannon they have pointed—if Lord Palmerston shall succeed, by his bows and his smiles, in obtaining from the new House of Commons a grant of money for the expense of this most iniquitous struggle, and a vote of ap proval for measures which posterity will brand with an indelible censure—if our doubts and dangers, our menaces awl entreaties, the thun ders of protocols and frigates, the labours of Downing-street and the dock-yard, shall he ter minated by this delicious consummation—let us, in the name of common sense, inquire what ob jects each of the three belligerent allies will have gained by the chances of the game in which the fates have made them partners. 'What will France have gained by the war ? There is no purpose which France for centuries has so con, stantly kept in view as the annexation of Bel gium to her territory. Royalty and republican ism, the directory and the empire, Louis Capet and Louis Philip, all have perceived, what their neighbours till now have perceived no less dis tinctly, how flattering it would be to the vanity, and how useful to the ambition, of France to advance her boundary to tire Rhine. H ow f ar such a design will be served by the promotion, for the present, of the interests of the new Sove reignty of Belgium, let those who have watched the movements of French diplomacy durin g the last twelve months determine. Moreo ver , war , for whatever object, is necessary t o th e F renc h nation. The unsettled Throne, the unstable Ministry, the restless ambition of the people, all I invite war. Except by war the King cannot retain his Crown, nor the Ministers remain in office, nor the populace be withheld from re bellion. What will Belgium have gained by the war ? Her profit is obvious. She will have secured to her subjects the passage of the Scheldt on the payment of merely nominal duties ; she will have confirmed to the use of ' her citizens the canals and roads which have been made by Dutchmen at the expense of Dutch purses ; she will have completed the integrity of her territory by the accession of Antwerp, to which she has as much right as England could assert over Jericho or La : puta ; and, which is more than all, she will have finally established the independence of her soil ; and it will be undeniable that Bel gium is Belgian, until it shall please the Doc trinuaires or their successors to make her French. But what will England have gained by the war ? Anxious for peace, she will have been hurried into an unnecessary strife ; loaded with debt, she will have seen new burdens added to those she already bore ; a free and a Protestant country, she will have supported bigoted and Popish Belgium against free and Protestant Holland ; a producing and manufacturing coun try, she will have aggrandized the producers and manufacturers of Belgium, and impoverished the traders and purchasers of Holland ; she will have opened to all nations the unrestrained navi gation of the Scheldt, in which Holland, for a thousand reasons, would give her, if she could give her, a preference ; and she will have guaran - teed to Belgium that communication with the Rhine by which Belgium may at any time throw open to all nations the full advantages of the German markets ; and, finally, she will have given Antwerp to Belgium, and, in giving Antwerp to Belgium, she will have given Antwerp to France. We have uniformly condemned the injustice, the tyranny, the perfidy of the Dutch war. If the ends proposed to be gained were clear and magnificent, we should yet repeat the condemna lion. Let us be convinced that our quarrel is just, before we cdculate what we may win by its prosecution. But, for the day, let us omit the consideration of right and wrong. Are the benefits to be won by the war sufficient to recom mend the pulling of a trigger? If they are not, we say once more, this is not a party question : it is not a matter on which the idle skir mishes of those who have or those who want office should endanger the public weal. We are embarked in a contest by the result of which, however favourable that r - esu may be, our commerce, our trade, our manufac tures, must suffer. If such a contest is to be undertaken by this country, simply and solely that the most profligate Statesman who ever sat in an English Cabinet may be protected from the blame which, by a pertinacious consistency of obstinate mistake, he has richly deserved, our sons will have to look to our ledgers and cash-books for the moral of a very extraordinary tale.— Morning Post. The first actual demonstration of hostilities against Holland, or rather of an attempt to com pel the Dutch King to comply with the requisi tions of France and England, has at length made its appearance—in the shape of an embargo on all British and Dutch vessels ; and our Tory contemporaries are in a rage that either anything of the kind should have taken place, or that the English Government should not follow the meek and mild resolution of the Dutch Sove reign, to dispense with all embargoes. The question, however, is not one of pure recipro city. The Dutch King may very safely, for the sake of popularity, say that he has too much regard for the interests of commerce to commence a war upon the owners of private property ; but the question is a very different one in the hands of the plaintiffs, France and England, who have only one object to pursue, and who cannot promote it more effi caciously than by adopting the most prompt mea sures. When war of any kind is commenced, the sooner it is put an end to the better. While it exists it furnishes a boundless extent of ex pense in blood and treasure, for which there is no return, and the kindest act, in consequence, that any one can confer upon an enemy is that of putting him to his shifts at once—of shortening the battle, and shortening the expense of blood and treasure. The King of Holland has pre tended to be very kind and very liberal in his conduct of the war—if war it may be called—be tween Holland and France and England ;but Lord Palmerston has shown a judicious firmness in re sisting the example. He has justly determined —no doubt with the consent of his colleagues —that the briefer the period of war, the briefer the injury to all parties concerned in it ; and we are glad to see such decision manifested on the part of the foreign department. It has given time and space enough for repentance on the part of the King of Holland ; and it was, as suredly, full time that it should vindicate its ho nour by the adoption of a very different line of conduct. The obstinacy of the Dutch King, which, however, we have reason to believe will not be productive of any serious consequences, is the sole and only cause of the war now about to be waged, and not that of the British Cabi net, which have been anxious throughout, not only for the preservation of the general peace, but also for the security of all the rights and pri vileges justly belonging to the Dutch Sovereign. —Morning Advertiser. 1 " GALT, who by-the-by we are happy to find, is fast recov. ring irom his late severe indisposition, h as written a new Introilmtion and Notes to his inimitable story of Lawrie Todd,' which forms the current volume of the Standard Navel.' As a picture of the singular life that opens to the adventurous settler in the back woods of America, the English languagt assuredly possesses none that can be computed with the present production. fhe Americans themselves have borne testimony to the high merit of the work, which the emigrant will find of rare value during his career in the New World, to say nothing of the infinite a:nusement afforded to the general reader by the jute' esting nature of the story and the rich vein of humour pervading almost every page."—Morning Chronicle. SUBSTITUTE FOR PAPER HANGINGS.— A su bstitute for paper hangings has been invented in M a nchester, and bids fair, as an article of upholstery, to command an extensive, sale. Iu the spinning and tnanu • f.cture of c otton it is well known that there are great quantities of fine waste, commonly called ilyings. These have been collected, and, by means of bytiraulic presses, converted into a kind of thin cloth, which takes the stain equally well with paper, and is found to be a good and cheap substitute for that article on the walls of dwelling. house ..— Chester Chronicle. LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET, Nov. The business done in the cotton-mark e t t o -d ay i s est i mate d at 4,00 0 bales, chiefly in American descriptions, from 64d. to '7l l CAUTION TO CLERGYMEN.--On Sunday ie , nn i g h t a wedding took place at Iffley, near Oxford. After the ceremony, on the fees being demanded, the husband refused payment, and told the c l erg y man t h at h e h a d no money for him, and he might uninarry them if he t h ou ght proper. A similar circumstance occurred a few . nottt h s since at a church in Oxford, with the addition that the man ordered breakfast at a p u bli c -h ouse, and, under prete nce of going out to get change, decamped, leav i n g the clergyman, clerk, and landlord unpaid. RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN THE WEST INDIES. (Abridged ftom the Devizes Gazette.) A very numerous and highly respectable meeting of the friends of civil and religious liberty, was held at the Assembly-rooms, in this town, on Tuesday last, to consider the propriety of addressing the Throne on the continued religious persecutions in the West Indies. Among the company present were, Sir J. D. Astley, Bart., M.P., Sir A. Maier, Bart., the Hon. Capt. Bouverie, the Rev. Arch deacon Macdonald, Mr. Montague Gore, Mr. C. L. Phipps, Mr. Scott, Admiral Dacres, Capt. Morgan, Dr• Brabant, Rev. Mr. Vincent, Rev. J. H. Jobe son, Rev. J. Medlicott, and several other Clergy men of the Church of England, Dissenting Clergy men, &c. &c. The room was also graced by the company of a large number of ladies : and a more interesting meeting we have seldom witnessed; each succeeding speaker appeared to rivet the attention of the company, and to elicit repeated cheers. Sit J. D. ASTLEY, Bart., was unanimously called to the Chair. The WORTHY BARONET, in stating the object of the meeting, said, he took it for granted no one would deny that every British subject was entitled to the protection of the British laws. He then al luded to the recent outrages on the Missionaries in the island of Jamaica—outrages, he observed, highly disgraceful to those who committed them, whilst those who suffered from them were in every re spect loyal and good subjects. It was for the pur pos.t of taking measures to prevent, if possible, a continuance of the atrocities alluded to, that this dis tinguished assembly had been called together. Sir A. MALET moved the first resolution : " That this meeting desires to express their loyal and devoted attachment to their revered Sovereign, William the Fourth, and to the principles which seated his illus trious family on the throne of then • realms." The Hon. Cap►. BOUVERIE said, it might per haps be sufficient fcr him to express his cord.al con currence in the object of the meeting; but as he himself was one of a family whose first ancestor was driven to this country from the Netherlands on ac count of his religious opinions, he should be little deserving of the blessings he enjoyed, if he did nut at all times raise his voice, and lend every assistance in his power to protect his countrymen from similar persecution. The gallant Captain said, it was be cause th it the Missionaries had sought to enlighten the minds of the black population and to promote their welfare here and hereafter, that they had pro ticked the of the planters; and from the effects of this ill-will, it was the bounden duty of every Englishman to protect the Missionaries.— (Cheers.) The Rev. W MONEY moved the 2d resolution:— " That this meeting deeply deplores the violation of the 13ritish Constitution by certain Magistrates and others, in their recent persecution of Christian Ministers, and their flocks in the Island of Jamrs'e 1." Seconded by the Rev. J. BURCHELL. Mr. MONTAGUE GORE then presented himself, and was received with the loudest cheers. It may tend to render more clear and distinct the observa tions I am about to address to you (said the Hon. Gentleman) if I first read the resolution that I have been requested to propose for the adoption of this meeting. " That an Address be presented to the Throne, humbly praying hi• Majesty to adopt such measures as may speedily correct these e• rtes" What those evils are, has just been ire timed to you, in a statement so full, so luminous and able, that it can require no andition from me; turd in asking you to address the Throne, requesting its interference to prevent the continuance of such evils, I request that to which I do not anticipate any objection in a free and loyal country. For what freeman would venture to defend such arbitrary acts as have been ascribed to the colonists ? what loyal man would hesitate to uphold the authority of Govern ment, and to reprobate the outrages that have been offered against its authority in the West Indian Islands ?—(Cheers.) If iL be desirable—and this I apprehend no one in the present assembly, nor any reflecting man in the kingdom will venture to gain say—if it be desirable that law should be respected and upheld ; if, on the respect arid reverence paid to it, depend the welfare and prosperity of states; then I ask not, whether Church-of-England-man or Sectarian, whether Englishman or Colonist be the offending party ;—the principle of obedience to the laws must be universally maintained—it must be as much so in Jamaica as in Wiltshire, unless it is held that law rests not on the fixed principles of justice, but veers about with the every-varying notions of political expediency. In proposing that you should address the Throne on the present occasion, I only request you to do that in behalf of the sectarians, which you have often done on your own behalf.— (Cheers.) When any attack has been made on your own liberties—when any great measure has ap peared to be desirable—when any evil to this coun try has been dreaded, which it was in the power of the Crown to avert—have you not supplicated the father of his people, that he would stay the plague, and avert from you the pestilence ? And will you now hesitate to ask that for others, which you have deemed of such inestimable advantage to yourselves ? Shall it be said that Englishmen, could indeed feel oppression when pracised on themselves, but that their love of liberty rested on a selfish regard for their own interests, and that they felt no sympathy for freemen if they suffered in distant climes, nor enter tained any hatred against oppression if practised on other shores ? Mr. Gore then read the following extract from the Janzaica Courant, of February 29 and March 1. " On an attentive reperusal of the Governor's speech to the Legislature, we are sorry to remark that his Excellency persists in his allusion to the machinations which have been employed to seduce the slaves into " rebellion," talk ing of their " allegiance," and the" duty" they owe to their masters. The Earl of Belmore has been long enough in Jamaica to know, that the slaves owe no allegiance, and that the contract between their owners and the Givetnment of the other country, provides only for their " obedience to their masters t" and we deprecate the idea of inculcating on the neero mini the hare supposition, that the King has any control whatever over him." Now let me ask (said the Hon. Gentleman) can any man of common sense and common candour justify such conduct and such language ? What must the state of society where so large a pro portion of the population are openly told that they owe no allegiance to the King, and are not subject to his control ? when they are plainly informed that they may indeed be guilty of disobedience to their masters, but cannot incur the guilt of rebel lion against a Government to which they owe no allegiance? Is there an instance in ancient or mo dern history, when such a state of society has ex isted, that it has not been the fertile source of tumults, disturbance, and horrors ? There is one point which deserves attention on the present occa sion, and that is, how far the supremacy of the mo ther country over the colonial legislations extends. The supremacy may, perchance be questioned, and it may be said—" What ! do you Liberals—you who profess such reverence for the exertions of Fox, [Nuke, and their illustrious coadjutors in behalf of American independence, now wish to stifle that of the West Indian Legislature ?" But the question of Amer►can independence rested on the simple ground, that no people ought to be taxed except by their representatives.—(Cheers.) " No taxation w►thout representation," was the ground on which he great men of their days took their stand as re •pected that question; but they never doubted the supremacy of the mother country. In confirmation of th►s, Mr. Gore read the opinion of the present Lord Chancellor, with reference to the couduct of Mr. Burke on that subject : " Mr. Burke (lie slid) with his own band sketched the hold outline of a code for the government al our sugar co lonies : with his own hand he filled up the details: with his own hand, long after the American contest had termi nated—al er the controversy in Negro Slavery had begun, aild when his own principles, touching the slave trade and slavery, had bent before certain Wrst Indian prejudices, communicated by the party of planters in Paris, with whom he made common cause on revolutionary politics.—even then instead of rejecting all idea of interference with the rights of the colonial assemblies, he delivered over the plan of a slave code to Mr. Dundas, the Secretary fur the co. lonies, for the adoption anti patronage of Mr. Pitt and himself: I offer this (said Lord Brougham) as a striking oroof that it is worse than a jest, it is an unpirdonable de lusion to fancy that there ever has existed a doubt of the right of Parliament to give the colonies laws." Not only were these Mr. Burke's opinions (Mr. Gore proceeded), but they appear also to have been those of Mr. Dundas, who approved of the code suggested by Mr. Burke, and fully agreed with him as to the right of the mother country to interfere. If then we err on this question, we err in common with some of the ablest and best informed statesmen hat ever graced the annals of this country. In an assembly of Englishmen —in an assembly of the lescentlants of those illustrious Britons who man fully shook off' the shackles of religious despotism— vho fought, and bled, and died for conscience-sake —who for it endured all ills, and braved all dangers; no one, I should hope, would oppose any resolution in behalf of religious liberty. If the eulogies passed upon these great men who rose against the Stuart dynasty, because they would be tree; who brought over and supported King William, because in so doing they saw a guarantee for the preservation of religious liberty; if the exertions of your forefathers on that occasion form the proudest period in your history —then I am sure you will not now grudge to the West Indian Isles those bless ;ngs for which your ancestors made such sacrifices, which they so highly valued, and for which they have been so warmly arid so deservedly praised.— (Loud Cheers.) As long as the sacred light of martyrdom shall illumine the tombs of your forefathers, who fell nobly, fighting for their faith; as long as their names shall be cationzed in history, so long shall that flame beacon on their descendants to follow their glorious example, and to tread in their foors'eps.—(Continu e d cheering.) You, Eng ashmen, have long since burst asunder your band ; you live, each and all of you, in the fullest eujov merit of religious liberty ; and I would ask the , 00rest native of this isle, whether he would barter is birthright as a Briton—whether he would ex change his inheritance of fieedom—whether, above all, he would give up his r:ght to worship his Maker recording to his conscience, for any advantages, however tempting? There breathes rott, lam sure, a true-hearted Englishman, who, if such an offer were made to him, would not indignantly tram ple it under foot, and spurn its proposer from his presence.—(Applause.) Justly proud are you of y"ur ancestors, who so nobly maintained their rights, and who, overcoming all the fences of despotism, siood forth proudly pre-eminent, the foremost amid free nations. But, forget not in your glory, might, and power, that your forefathers were once slaves as degraded, as ignorant as are now the hapless ne groes on the Indian Isles. In this now Christian realm, heathenism once prevailed—heathen rites were observed—heathen ceremonies were celebrated —arid even at no great distance from this place, heathen sacrifices were offered up. To your ances tors, however, was the Gospel preached; before its holy rays the mists of Paganism vanished; and su perstition fell before the Cross of Christ ! And will you now deny those blessings to the negroes ? Will you refuse to them that religious knowledge which is the surest foundation of social happiness and political welfare ? Remember that these negroes are men like yourselves; heirs of the same faith ; crew ures of the same Maker; open to the same im oulses for good or ill, as they are well or ill treated; and that for them, as well as for you, was the Gospel preached ?—(Cheers.) Will you let future history say, that Englishmen, who could so bravely assert their own tights, had no regard for those of their fellow-subjects in distant countries ? Even suppose we admit, that the sectarians were the authors of the late disturbances, still th's would not justify the conduct pursued towards them.. If they promoted he riots and tumults—if they did excite sedition, let them be punished, but let their punishment be according to law. In proposing this resolution for your adoption, I ask you to defend, not to oppose, the laws; and I call on you to support it as good citizens, who would wish to see the laws alike re spected in est, ry part of the British dominions; as humane men, who can feel for the woes of your fel lows; and as freemen who can appreciate the ad vantages to others of that religious liberty which you yourselves enjoy.—(Loud cheers.) Tne Rev. JOHN DYER, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, in seconding the resolution, could not refrain from expressing the delight with which he had listened to the constitutional senti ments uttered by the gentlemen who had already spoken, and his gratification at the warm and ge nerous interest evidently felt on behalf of those who had sustained such serious injuries. Mr. Deer then went on to remaik that the object sought to be at tained by the proceedings of that day, was mere justice. If the Missionaries had really been guilty !of the crimes laid to their charge—if they had really lent themselves to sanction and erocourage rebellion and bloodshed—then they deserved punishment, and the opposition they had encountered might, to It certain extent, have been considered justifiable; but since their innocence had been so triumphantly ma nifested, since all the keen investigation to which !heir conduct had been subjected, only served to render the utter futility of the charges brought against them more conspicuous, he felt justified in styling the treatment they had met with religious persecution.—(Cheers.) Several other gentlemen addressed the meetings after which, thanks were voted to the Chairman, and the meeting adjourned. The residence of Sir FRANCIS SYKES, at St. Leonard's, Hastings, has been robbed of plate, jewels, and valuables, to the amount of nearly one thousand pounds. Tile work of plunder has been going on fir some time, and suspicion has fallen on some of the domestics.--• Brighton Paper. • On Friday evening last, at about 6 o'clock, 3 dreadful fire broke out on the premises of Mr. J. CLOwEs) of Neatished. The principal part of a large hay-stack was destroyed, an entire harley stack, 16 yards long, and 3 large double barn filled with wheat and barley was burnt to the ground. There is no doubt that this was the diabolical deed of some incendiary. The buildings belong to Lady PRESTON, and we understand are insured in the Union-office. and the crops are insured in the Equitable. —Norwich East Anglian. Six months ago there existed in Prussia a club of suicides, every member of which had taken an oath to destroy himself within a give❑ period. Twelve persons have been mad enough to 3,in this most singular +ssociation, which, though the statutes enjoin them to en deavour to make pro-elytes to supply the place of those who took themselves into another world, has become ex tinct ; the last member, faithful to his oath, having blown out his brains. a BIRTHS. On the 6th inst. in Duke-street, Westminster, the lady of William Webb Follett, Esq., of a daughter. On the `..'2d ult. at Munich, the Hon. Mrs. Yeats Brown. of daughter. On the sth inst. the lady of Robert Bell, Esq., of Gower street of a daughter. MARRIED. On the 6th August, at Gibraltar, Lieut. John William C 1 06 6! of the Royal Rifles, son of th e H on. Sir John Cross, one of the Judges of the Court of Re v i ew, to Maria Teresa Arengo, grand daugh ter of the late John A rengo, the Austrian Consul at tua place. On the 3d inst. at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, Mr. W. J. Lonsda le j of Dempsey-street, Com merc ial -road, to Elizabeth Mary, se" - ~ daughter of Mr. E. W. Bond, of Stepney. On the 3d May, near Mam p ba -l in E foin, at Malacca, in the 191/ 1 year of his age, Ensign George Holford Walker, third son o f Joshua Walker, Esq., of Ivy Lodge, St. John's Wood. He .`f, snot through the heart whilst doing duty with the sth Nai i „ c . Infantry, and died instantaneously. Although cut off at tu t ', early age, his gallant bearing on a former occasion had been such as to call forth the especial notice of Colonel Herbert, Co." mandant of the Field Forces at Malacca in his official despatche: On the 26th u lt . i n the College, Durham, Miss Anne OW beth Colberg, aged 57. On the 4th inst. at Ramsgate, Sir James Lake, Bart. On the 7th in s t . in Cadogan.place, Sloane-street, Basil Fie' „, land, Esq., late of St. Lucia, in the 76th year of his age. On the 6th inst. in St. Martin's-lane, Thomas Gent, Esq. „r On the 3d in s t. a t C oates, F i fes hi re , Si r J o h n Leslie, Profes i' of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. On the sth inst. at Upper Clapton, after a long and severe ness, Joseph Wheelwirght, Esq., in the 28th year of his age. A On the sth i ns t . at Will es d en , M r. A ugustus Nicholay, 3°,'" :36, late of Oxford-street. On the 3d inst. at Ussige, East Barnet, Herts, Thomas 1.A." hert, Esq., aged 83, many years resident at opoi to. PAINTED AND PUBLISHED DYMUROO VUUNIG, AT V AS SUN OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LONDON.