The Sun. — London, England, 1840-01-25 00:00:00

The Bishop of EXETER rejoiced at the very proper interruption of the Noble Lord. He rejoiced that the very parties charged prayed for a very full inquiry. —(Hear, hear, and cheers.) His first intention was to have asked for a full inquiry into the principles guiding the parties. His reason for not taking that course was, that most naturally the result of his motion would be, that the Government must direct prosecutions against the parties charged by him with high crimes against the peace and welfare of society, and he did not wish that the case of parties so charged should be prejudiced by that House taking evidence upon oath which might be used against them they at the same time having no right of cross-examination. He rejoiced, therefore, that the parties themselves had prayed for a full and free inquiry into their tenets as it had done away with the only objection which he had to pursuing his first intention. Of course no objection would be made to the full and free inquiry prayed for by the petitioners.—(Hear.) He rejoiced they prayed for such an inquiry; and if the Noble Lord would move for such a Committee, be (the Bishop'of Exeter) should rejoice to concur in it. He would now recur to the point at which he was when the petitions were offered. He was going to state, with all humility, yet with confidence, that the Noble Marquis, in stating these people had not violated the law, had stated wbat,he believed to be possible. From the de gree of information the Noble Marquis might have ob tained, he might think himself warranted in stating—but the real facts of the case showed there could be no doubt that grievous violation of the law was committed by Socialism as a society. And first let him tell the -s'ate of Socialism as a society. It was an organized society—and he need not state that the law looked with jealousy at the proceedings of organized bodies, however eager it might be to protect individuals, and even bodies of men, in meeting for the assertion of what they 1:•!• lieved to be their rights ; and it would be in their Lordships' recollection there were some special laws . in :!eclaration of the common law, or otherw ise , on this subject.—(Hear, hear.) This society, more over, was not merely an organized and English society it was an universal one, purposing to extend it self through all lands ; at present, indeed, it did not extend beyond France, but with F rance th ey h e ld re viler communication. But in England. or rather in the British islands, it had wide ramifications. They had p Ircelled out Great Britain and Ireland into fourteen districts. They had an annual Congress, which was entrusted with the legislative power of this great com munity, and which met at different places in different years, to which delegates were sent from all places in which there were chartered branches, of which there were no fewer than sixty-one. Some of these branches sent one delegate, others more ; but the body at large met in Congress, to exercise the legislative power of the community. Besides the legislative body, there vas a central body, under the control of the Board sitting at Birmingham, and he believed be might say these were constantly sitting. This district Association appointed missionaries throughout the land, of whom he should have something to say presently. Of the ; fourteen districts into which the United Kingdom was ' livided, there was at the same 350 towns which were ro.;elarly v,sited by these missionaries. They were , ‘,Aid not inconsiderably, by contributions of about twopencet from each member and others, and from come persons not so much. These missionaries were paid no less a sum than 303. per week, and their tra- N elling expenses,—an amount which could not be con sidered trifling for persons in their situations in lite. Those missionaries were, too, in many instances, per sons greatly distinguished for their attainments, which f:equently were -not of an ordinary character. There was also a Tract Committee, which distr.buted im mense numbers of tracts all over the country. To Manchester alone there was one thousand copies ..,,, nt weekly, and a proportionate number to other to.vns. That society had, also, a weekly newspaper, which expressed and propagated their sentiments; and .f the Noble Marquis had only given a passing atten tion to those facts. he would not have said that the objects and proceedings of that body were not in con travention of the law of the land. On those grounds, Thee, be would state with confidence that that society was an unlawful one. It was rendered so by the 57th of George IIL, which enacted that any society em- 1 p/!sying any' missionaries, or delegates, to communicat, with any other society or delegates, shall be con sidered an unlawful confederacy. He contended that the proceedings, in that respect, of the Sociali s t s , con.. stituted a grievous offence in the eye of t h e law, and one which no effort of the Noble Marquis cou ld justify. It was illegal in its nature and arrangements ; but more especially i n t h e mode of carrying its principles into effect. The object avowed by their newspaper, to which he had al luded, was to put an end to the institutions of the coun try, and establish others in their stead, excluding all religion except such religion which had no regard to the immortal state oi man. Under the new state in which they proposed to place the country, they would abolish marriages. Those objects alone did, in his opinion, es tablish the illegality of such associations. There was no doubt that the object of the parties constituting that society would attempt to destroy all the institutions of the country and all the frame-work of society, and set up new ones in their place. If, then, this was their object, the very basis of it was illegal. They ground themselves certainly upon principles that would go a good way to jutisfy th em , if no t i n a l ega l, y e t in a moral point of view. The great found a tio n s tone upon which they build their doctri ne i s th a t o f t h e irresponsibility of man. Their laws and cons ti tut i on were sent to hi m b y ono of their leaders, when he heard that he (the Bishop of Exeter) was about instituting an inquiry upon the subject. It was then l a id d own to b e their belief and conviction that man was irresponsible for his actions, and was influenced by some powers o f organization over \ which he had no co n t ro l ; an d , b e i ng an irresponsible i being, should neither receive reward nor punish men t. When the case of Bol an d occurre d , t h e man who was; convicted for murder at Newcastle, one of their lec turers declared that the murderer ought not to have been punished, because, indeed, he could not help doi ng what he had done. It was fu r th er d ec l are d i n the pre menet, of a person who informed hi s L or d sh i p that a man detected in a theft had no right to have been 1 punished, or to have been treated as a thief, becau se h e cou ld not , help it. The Noble Lord, indeed, has said th a t he could not help that ; but should that be the language of the Government of this country ? This system, it appeared. was drawn forth by Mr. Owen, a man, he , believed, who was then three score and ten years of age, and has been for near half a century known in this country. His opinion of that individual was such, as far as he (the Bishop of Exeter) could form an opinion, as would not lead him to press his individual case upon the attention of that house. He was not dealing with Mr. Owen particularly, but he was bound to deal with him because he was put forward as the great head of this system. In a public discussion between Mr. Owen and Mr. Roebuck, the irresponsibility of man was, by the publication which had then appeared, supported by one of the parties,—(Here the Right Rev. Prelate made a short quotation.) It appeared by the argu ments which Mr. Owen used that all human laws were founded on injustice, as they were made to punish for actions that the offending party had no control over. This was manifestly striking at the root of all human laws, and was consequently an illegal society. Mr. Owen said that this was a contest between those who believed that the happiness o. man should be kept down by force, and fraud, or supported by truth and justice. Up to this time there had been the reign of force and fraud, and when the millenium should take place, the reign of truth and justice would commence. In the 14th page of the preface to the New alloral World, their Lordships would find that Mr. Owen there said, that " the laws then existing produced more evil than good. Such was the present state of things ; as soon as man should be regenerated, they would discover that the present classification of society and its various grades—aristocracy, professions, trades—were only fit for man in his first, or irrational state of existence ; for the present classification consisted only of fools and knaves—the oppressors and the oppressed." He (the Bishop of Exeter) was most sorry to say that in the discussion with Mr. Roebuck he had found a passage, not directly calling for bloodshed, but recognising the probabiiity of it. This was the passage --" It is the interest of every individual family of man that this great and glorious change may now be commenced, and if the Government will lend its aid it may then be produced without force. But if the Go vernment still decline to take the lead in the great work necessity will compel them to accomplish it for themselves." That he (the Bishop of Exeter) appre hended that that was an intimation that the present state of society should be degraded. If the Govern ment should join in the destruction that would be suffi cient ; if not they would then raise and establish this new state of , hings themselves. Hit would not enlarge on the organisation intended in the country. but he would only say that the strong arm of Government should wield the power of the law against them. He now came to another of their doctrines. They had heard of the extraordinary denunciation of that blessed state under which the happiness and virtue of man under God at present existed—he meant marriage. Marriage was denounced as an accursed thing—a cunningly-de vised fable by the priesthood that ought to be abolished. The Reverend Prelate then read a long ext' act from the works of Mr. Owen, and said that gentleman held that the system of marriage was the worst thing known to man, with two exceptions, and what did their Lord ships think those exceptions were?—the systems of religion and private property.—( Hear, hear.) Now he thought it would be a waste of time in him—it would be arrogance in him to inform their Lordships that all that was against the law—was in defiance of law, and of course known to the Noble Marquis. The Noble Marquis was a man of the world ; he no doubt was in the habit of reading a newspaper ; he could not, then, have been unacquainted with these matters ; and yet only three nights ago he volunteered to say that those parties were not acting contrary to law. The Noble Marquis was in the habit of walking through the streets—he knew what was going on—yet by a sort of hallucination, he stated that they had done nothing contrary to law. He need scarcely quote authorities because all their Lordships were quite aware that all their proceedings were contrary to law, but still the Noble Marquis did not interfere, but said they had not offendedagainst the law. " Russell on Crime" said the Court of Queen's Bench would take notice of all matters that were against the public morals. Mr. Owen went on to say that the Truths of Revelation were diabolical falsehoods invented by man—that this earth was the only Heaven that man could enjoy, yet these the Noble Marquis said were not against the law. He wished that he could be justified in saying that this unhappy man had been contented with being simply irre ligious without being blasphemous, but he had been guilty of the most horrible blasphemies that could be uttered. He had stated in his book against Mr. Roebuck that the Supreme Being, as imagined by the Christians and Jews, was the most inconsistent, idiotic, cruel, and unjust being that ever it had entered into the imagination of man to conceive. It might be said that this was the language merely of an individual who was in an extraor dinary state of mind, and if he were on a Jury trying him for some crime he might, perhaps, be inclined to give him the benefit of this, and not to hold him accountable for his actions. But it should be recollected that that book of his was the book to which his whole society looked up, and he would say that any society which could make such an avowal was an illegal society, and ought to be put down by the strong arm of power, if there was a strong arm in the realm. It was the business of the paid missionaries to preach these doctrines, in every one of the 360 places to which they were sent throughout the country. A most respectable individual had given him a list of the blasphemies with had been uttered by the Socialist missionary in Birmingham only oa Sunday last, and t o th e t ru th of the se s tat e me n ts that individual was rea d y t o t es tify e ith er b e f ore a Com mittee of their Lordships or in a Court of Justice, if it should be thought fit to prosecute them. He begged to state that he did not at all mean to mix up the Noble and Learned Lord who had presented this peti tion as a partieeps crintinis, he was too wise a man to hold these doctrines, were he not too good a one to do so. The Socialist Missionaries had thus spoken of God—What a monster is that God ! wnom the Christians call just ; he is a barbarous cruel God, and we will not serve him. On 25th November, the So cialist Missionary had said that he would not serve that vindictive being called the Lord of Hosts. He wonld produce no more specimens, but he could assure their Lordships that these wore by no means the worst ; there were others in which the blasphemy was so mixed up with the most horrible obscenity applied to the most sacred sub jects, that he would not produce them though on their pro duction depended the whole question,and that by so doing he could induce the Noble Marquis tointerfere by the strong arm of the law to put down these horrors. Trey endea voured to entangle their hearers by the most specious sophistry—specious he said—when the passions of men were engaged on the same side ; and unhappily, in this respect, the parts of this country where they now existed were those which, to the shame of the country he it said, not to the shame of her Majesty's present Government, but of all Governments for the last half century, had been abandoned without having been taught to know their God. On the ears of such men such sophistry as theirs, not professing to be reason, could not fall without effect. In some instances they were horri ble in the extreme, and he could prove the statement by many instances, but he would confine himself to one, which had been brought under his notice that day. A most respectable inhabitant of the town of Wolverhamp ton, named Parke, had an apprentice, who was in the habit of attending social meetings, without the know ledge of his master, and had procured their books else where, since his master's shop was not likely to furnish them. The peculiar circumstances of his death lie thought their Lordships very well knew. He had dined and drank tea with his master, as usual, and left the house to attend St. George's Church, which he was in the habit of attending, and he (the Bishop of Exeter) must say the Socialists did not at present forbid their proselytes from going to church ; so long as they attended them they did not care for that. Not coming home at the usual hour, his master sat up for him until 12 o'clock, when he concluded his relatives had detained him ; but he was found dead in a lumber room the next morning, and two bottles which had con tained. poison beside him. Lying near him were four letters, addressed to his father, his master, to the Jury, and the other containing his creed. This latter stated that he considered the Bible the most dangerous book he had ever read, and that if ever such a person as Je sus Christ lived, he was the weakest of men. He stated in one letter that he had been nurtured in super stition, me an ing that he had been brought up in the faith o f th e Ch urc h o f England, and that he disbelieved in a future state of retribution, that he considered ap prenticeship as a state of slavery, and preferred the peir of a moment to enduring it for ~ six years. He entreated the Jury to return a verdict of felo de se, for that he was in the full possession of his faculties He was only about sixteen years of age, of superior talents, and of great viv ac i ty an d cheerfulness of m i n d. H e (the Bishop of E xeter ) understood that after t h e ver dict his uncle said, that were he in the presence of the Queen he would not abstain from calling Owen the murderer of his nephew. He (the Bishop of Exeter) would ventur e t o says that it was a culpable neglect of their duty if Ministers did not tell her Majesty the consequences —the ascer tained results, of the . writings of a man who had -been presented to her Majesty and gra c i ous l y received. On that presentation he should have a f ew words to say hereafter. He had not thought proper to d eta il to their Lordships anything like the fiftieth part of the miserable iniquities of the case, for the worst things he had not dared to bring forward. He did not think it would be necessary to prove this Social Society was an illegal body, and it ought to have been known to be so by her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home De partment. They had gone on for years, and he be lieved they had increased much mere since the Noble Marquis had been in office, but that was a matter merely of time of r ffice, for he was sure the Noble Marquis (lid not mean to encourage them, but he thought the Noble Marquis had been more negligent to what the news papers said upon the subject , than the Socialists were to that negligence, because the Noble Marquis had said he was ignorant that anything illegal had been done by those men, whose conduct was one se ri es of violations of the laws of God and man. But it might be said ' this was not an obscure society, and that it was one of the innumerable forms of human foliy and vice ; but the Noble Marquis had struck that ground from under him, for he had said he knew what they were doing, and they had done nothing illegal. He repeated the assertion. The Home Secretary had said that he had not enforced the law against the great body of Socialists, because they had done nothing illegal. That proved that he (the Home Secretary of State) had made inquiry, for if he had not, how could he undertake to say so ? Was any part of his duty so stringent as that of attending to the morals of the country, and watching with jea lousy all proceedings affecting it. Why did the Noble Marquis occupy so high an office, if he thought it no part of his duty ? And if he did think so, he (the Bishop of Exeter) asked whether he had made inquiry, and what was its result ?—( flear.) That House was in error, if it supposed that the mem bers of this society consisted merely of unlettered and obscure individuals—it was no such thing. That so ciety was a most flourishing one. He held in his hand a copy of their weekly newspaper, entitled The New illoral World, in which it was stated that their various sncietiea were in a most prosperous state of advance ment ; and the same paper strongly advocated the ne cessity of forming new ones. Of the progress of the Social principles at Manchester, Liverpool, Maccles field, Birmingham, and other important towns, a most flattering description was given. In fact, he knew that in the propagation of their doctrines the Socialists had been successful to a great extent. He knew that, for the advancement of their purposes, one individual had guaranteed money to a large amount, and at Man chester four individuals had guaranteed the sum of five thousand pounds, by which a Socialist institution of a most formidable nature had been built there, quite ad jacent to one of the Established Churches in that town. This institution had its lecture-room, and all the other essentials of a complete literary institution. At the meeting of the fourth congress of this Society, an ac count was given of its pecuniary means, in the course of which they laid considerable stress on the necessity of providing estates on which to carry out their plans. One estate had been offered to them valued at twenty two thousand pounds ; that price was thought too much, but various other offers were read, at that time varying in amount ftom the sum he before named down to 501. This then was the association of which such a harmless picture had been drawn. He could assure the House that there were many men of character and property engaged in propagating the ob jects of that society, aid the printed account of their proceedings was given with a degree of grave regularity exceeding even that which sometimes might be found exhibited in their Lordships' House. In Birmingham there was an individual holding the important office of Superintendent of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, to which he presumed he had been appointed by Government (he spoke el' Mr. Pare) that individual held also the office of Vice President amongst the Socialists, without thinking that it at all interfered with the office to which he had been appointed by Government, as a proof of which he had actually put a painted board over his door indicat ing the official rank held by him as a Socialist. He also sigried all the charters granted for the establish ment of new branch associations. He (the Bishop of Exeter) hoped the Noble Lord (Melbourne) had not been aware of these facts ; if he had been, he (the Rev. Prelate) should then have considered him guilty of dereliction in the discharge of his first and most sacred duty. Mr. Pare was subsequently obliged to give up his office of Vice-President to the Socialists, but he did not give up the office of Superintendent-Registrar, though there could be no doubt he will still be an active agent amongst the Socialists. He (the Bishop of Exe ter) wished this had been a select instance, but it was not. There were other parties holding important offices equally distinguished for their zeal in the cause of the Socialists. At Coventry application was made by that party for the use of the Guildhall to lecture upon So cialism, and that application had been granted by the Mayor. The application had been made by a per son of great weight in the borough, the con ductor and collector of the market tolls, to which office he had been appointed by the Mayor and Corporation. He had always thought unfavourably of corporate bodies, and the circumstance just mentioned was by no means calculated to alter his opinion. It was true the Mayor afterwards granted the use of the Guildhall to Mr. Brindle, a most effective lecturer against Socialism, but the Socialist lecturer having gone on as far as he liked, and Mr. Brindle wishing to do likewise, again applied for the use of the Hall.—(Hear, hear.) It was found, however, that he had been so successful in his exposure of the Social doctrines, that the collector refused again to allow him the hall, , and he was obliged to resort to the theatre to finish his lectures. Thus, then, it would be seen that this per nicious system was not confined to the humbler classes, but extended itself to the highest functionaries in the State. In consequence of what he had just stated, a requisition had been got up by the Dissenting Ministers, and all the Clergy of that town. on the subject ; indeed, the Mayor of Coventry had actually assisted the Socialists with money. He very much wished that Coventry was the only place of which such facts could be spoken, but in the Guild hall of anotherjmportant city which he would not name —(Here one of the Rev. Bench stated that it was the city of Lincoln)—a scene of the most blasphemous de scription had taken place. The Reverend Pre late then produced a newspaper, which he stated advocated the Social doctrines, and possessed a great circulation, still, not nearly as great as another newspaper, advocating the same doctrines—he meant the Weekly Dispatch, the circulation of which he understood was not less than 30,000 copies weekly. In a letter which had appeared in the Weekly Dispatch of February, 1837. the writer had said that a man was no more responsible for his fate than he was for the length of his nose. That paper advocated the doctrines of Socialism, and he believed the public would see that the circulation had on that account been very materially increased. He (the Bishop of Exeter) was informed, on the most indubitable authority, that the Society ha(' taken a lease for 99 years of a property containing 500 acres, near Southampton (we understood). The cler gyman of the parish, who was allied to a great family in this country, had heard that the sect had taken a farm of 500 acres, and they would guess his astonishment at finding that a large portion of the property was in his parish. A letter from the curate of the parish had been put into his (the Right Rev. Prelate's) hands, which stated the formation of th: Socialist community in the parish—the foundation of school ; and it likewise stated that there was a lectur at two o'clock on Sunday, and when the weather woule, permit, the members amused themselves on that holidaN with music, dancing, and singing. The clergyman con ' eluded his letter by expressing his fears for the awful consequences that might ensue, as upwards of 500 peo ple attended their Sunday meetings. Now, making every allowance for curiosity, for he did not believe that 500 people would countenance such a demoniacal system—be thought that the dangers were of a most tearful kind, and ought to raise the apprehensions and excite the deepest sense of suspicion in those who had voluntarily incurred the responsibility of guarding the morals of the people. There was one other point to which lie felt it his duty to allude. The petitioners lamented the countenance that had been given to the Socialists by the presentation of Mr. Owen to her Miijesty. Their Lordships would agree, he was sure, that such an incident could Lot be looked on with indifference. lie must say that, when the first Minister of the Crow( had taken the very unusual part of presenting to the Sovereign at her Court, Mr. Owen, for the purpose o presenting an address to her Most Gracious Majesty, he must say that it appeared a very questionable affair, It was an address to her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria I, from the Congress of the Universal Comm oities' Societies of Rational Religionists. He (th Bishop of Exeter) said that that very title ought t , have alarmed the Noble Viscount.—( Hear, hear.) H( said that very title ought to have told him that it wag his duty, before he bestowed such a distinction on any individual a s to present him at Court, to inform half (): the nation of the Address that was to be presented. I! was his opinion, however, that the Noble Viscount pre sented Mr. Owen from good nature. The Address from the Rational Religionists did not contain a single word about religion ; it was a vague general desbrip tion of the tenets of the society. He (the Bishop of Exeter) said that that presentation had given great impetus to the system. And a testimony for that assertion was their paper published soon after. For in that paper they said that the public had, up to the present time, winked at their progress. He (the Bishop of Exeter) said the public had done no such thing. Her Majesty's Government had—especially tho Secretary of State for the Home Department. The public would no longer wink at theM, but would b, compelled to acknowledge their onward progress it, face of every obstacle which ignorance could lay in their path. Such was th practical result of that moe; . ash fogy measure. The R; ht Rev. Prelate trusted that now when the facts were brought to their notice, that they would redeem their error, and avenge these injured re -I_,_.,i(sion and piety of the nation. In the face of that H o use—the sanctuary of justice—in the face of the country,tecaelalendedon e l at er hi llaj t e e st g y i ' v s e p a r a inc a i s p s a a l r S an ec ee re t t h ar a y t l nofighst,at li e e that' he would inquire into the facts now brought beforetat l i t n a g t u !he Noble Lord rdh e o ir w hadud stated y the facts not expose himself and his Soverei g n to the re p roach of sshouldhis notice,be found anduad true, on that t countenancing this abomnia ble sect.— ( Cheers.) Lord BROUGHAM assured their Lordships that he w ou ld no t entangle them in an y discussion, as it wa s most necessary that ev idence on the subject should be exam i ne d. He was unacquainted with the persons complained of in this petition. He had, however, known Mr. Oven for a long time, and he believed he miedit s ty ! that there was hardly any individual whose acquaint ance was more extensive among all classes of men, and especially Members of that House, and the members and heads of the Church, of his (Lord Brougham's) certain knowledge. This alone had induced him to i present the petiti on h e h a d presented. Mr. Owen had l been charged with being an immoral character. He would venture to say there could be no greater testi- I mony to Mr. Owen's morality than that of Mr. Wilber- I force, who, when Mr. Canning presented a petition from him to the house of Commons, bore ample testimony to the respectability of Mr. Owen. He would only add, that though he had seen many of Mr. Owen's writings and petitions, ne had never heard anything so offen sive, absurd, and extravagant, as that which he had heard from the Right Rev. Prelate that evening. He agreed with the Right Rev. Prelate that if there were such doctrines, and an idea that they might meet with suc cess, it was a most foolish and chimerical idea. If he overrated the power of truth, and underrated that of falsehood, still he thought there was no fear of such doc trines making any way among his enlightened fellow subjects. He made that statement with this addition, provided that these doctrines were left to themselves ; for certain he was, that ail experience taught that per secution was a great means of inculcating doctrines, hie] nothing but persecution could ever have spread. The Marquis of NORM AN BY then rose and said, he could assure their Lordships that notwithstanding the ironical and sarcastic speech of the Right Rev. Pre late, he looked upon the principles of the Socialists with feelings of the most unmixed disgust And if the Right Rev. Prelate thought it his du, y to bring before their Lordships these principles, he could only add that he felt the greatest abhorrence of them. After he had listened to the speech of the Right Reverend Prelate, in which lie had at one time soared to the highest flights of eloquence, and at another descended to the weakest and the most puerile of puns, he could only assure their Lordships that with the information the Government possessed they had used all due exertions and discretion, believing the right sense and good feeling of the country would counteract these pernicious principles. And he did not think the mere fact of their prosecution would tend to their suppression, but only gratify the wishes of particular individuals.—( Hear, hear.) And speaking the truth he must say he had never been guilty of reading the New Moral World, but he did think the circulation of that work would be increased after the publication of this debate.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") [he Right Rev. Prelate, indeed, had suffered it to escape that these doctrines had been in existence for years, while he was trying to throw upon the Govern ment the blame of neglect. Why did not the Right Rev. Prelate before bring forward the subject ? Be cause he doubted the propriety of his course. The Right Rev. Prelate had insinuated that his (Lord N.'s) conduct in Ireland might have induced this supineness ; he (Lord N.), on the contrary, said that if the Right Rev. Prelate came to such a conclusion, he came to it in the teeth of the votes of the Committee, and of the universal acknowledgment of their Lordships. But the " Social System" in operation bad been for many years disregarded, by the absurdity of its doc trine ; they had no account of its travelling very much through the country. There never was so signal a failure as the attempt made by Mr. Owen to establish his system in America. Whatever the dangers were which this country was subject to, there was no fear of this pernicious doctrine spreading, when the moral and religious feeling of the people were so much opposed to it. There was not a single doctrine contained in the Social System which did not run counter to the univer sally established feelings of human nature.—(Hear, hear.) The feelings which were planted in their hearts would repel any such monstrous doctrine as that a com munity of persons could ever be established to any ex tensive degree. The Right Rev. Prelate has said, why, if they (the Government) were aware of the existence of Socialism, why did they not write circulars to the Members. Such was not the usual course that was pursued in any proceeding of that nature ; the usual course would have been for the Magistrates to apply for advice as to how they should act, if they saw there was necessity for interference, or that there was any difficulty. in the case. All he (the Noble Marquis) could say was, that there was no appeal ever made to the Home Office to prevent the spread of that noxious doctrine. So far from the system having spread so much as had been stated, he really believed the meetings were attended by as few individuals as at any former period. However pernicious the Right Reverend Prelate might deem those doctrines to be, he (the Noble Marquis) thought that very fact would have the effect of destroying their progress altogether.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") So far from Socialism being more widely diffused, he had every rea son to suppose that it was greatly on the decline. The course the Government should take, supposing that the Right Rev. Prelate's statement be true, he did not think it necessary for him to state. Believing these doctrines to be of the most wild and vision ary nature, he did not think it necessary to take any measures to put them down, for the simple reason that their absurdities would extinguish themselves. The Right Rev. Prelate, on more than the present occasion, had directed their attention to that system, and he then told him he was not prepared to take any particular course against their spread. The Bishop of LONDON did not know whether the Government had or had not discharged their duty with respect to the sect under consideration ; he wonld merely touch upon some of the arguments laid down by the Noble Marquis, wherein he stated that it was not the duty of the Government, to interfere in pre venting the extension of those doctrines by reason of their absurdities, and that the people were too religious and too moral to allow them to propagate. With re spect to the more intelligent, such doctrines as they had heard could not 'for any length of time have any effect, they, of course, were not the persons in whose behalf the Government was called upon to discharge what he would call their parental powers. But there were many persons whose ignorance left them liable to be deceived by the arts of cunning and designing naen ; he therefore thought that the Government was called upon to act in a parental manner towards such a class of persons. Although their schemes were of the most wild and visionary character, he begged the Noble Marquis not to lay the flattering unction to his soul that the system was not progressing. Some years ago, ibout six or seven, he thought there was only one section of them meeting in London ; he had since made himself master of the facts, that there were now no less than twelve. He thought proper, some years ago, to call the attention of the Government of that time to the danger of allowing such meetings to take place. The Secretary of State consulted the Attorney-General, and he considered that any interference upon their part. would have no good effect. They even then selected the Lord's Day for the dissemination of their poison, the Increase of which he had stated was in itself a convincing proof that the absurdities of its doctrines was not sal ....tent to pu: it down. The fact, ilso, of publishing a regular newspaper showed that they had resources at their command, and that they were not in that declin ing state which the Noble Marquis would seem to sup pose. In the Isle of Ely they had built a place for their Socialist community ; there was money furnished eat by persons occupying the humblest situations, but lie understood that there were two gentlemen of great respectability who devoted both their time and their money to its objects. He could understand that they might be called moral men, but what security had they for their respectability, when they lent themselves to the dissemination of such pernicious doctrines ? Was that not sufficient to prove that the system was pro gressing ? and unless the Government interfered its parental power, there was no accounting for the mischiefs that. they might entail upon so ciety, and the consequences which must result. The laudable anxiety of a good Government should be in disseminating and giving extent to sound Christian prin ciples. The prosperity of the country depended upon this, and the blessing of God would attend their efforts in maintaining its Christianity. He hoped he had said nothing in any way attacking her Majesty's Go vernment, but he would wish that they would grasp these difficulties and abuses manfully and courageously, and adopt every effort to prevent such opinions spread ing in a Christian country. In Coventry he understood that they were erecting a Socialist meeting-house. and that their two Parliamentary representatives had sub scribed to it. The Bishop of EXETER said he thought it his duty to write to both of those Gentlemen alluded to by the Right Rev. Prelate who spoke last, stating that it, was his intention to refer to this subject on that even ing,; Bishop but on i eo o f p t o h r os: O Ge N ntl D Gentl eman he found was not i 4 11 o rr n t d h o a n t , s a u n e d h f a r n o m a s s t e h r e t other waseOr heNsaid untrue.received The his ho authority letter, t ry was the t s v at - 5 the last publication of the Socialist newspaper, in which it was stated that there was '2Ol. subsc , ibed by the Members for the borough towards the building of this new hall. Viscount MELBOURNE said from the many per sonal ob servat i ons wh i c h h a d been made, he deemed it necessary address their Lor dshi p s. lie admitted being the p erson w h o , i n the course of last June per . formed the offi ce o f i ntro ducing Mr. Owen to Court ; but, in admitting that fact, he strongly protested against the conclusion drawn from it, that by performing that act, he became responsible for, or in any way idenitfied vri , h the opinions of that indivi dual.—( Hear.) And he wished to disclaim any such notion with respect to Mr. Owen, or any other person he might do the same office for. lie merely performed a formal duty, for the purpose of giving Mr. Owen an opp or t un i ty o f discharging what he would call his constitution a l r i g ht —that of presenting a petition to her Majesty.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Owen waited on him last summer, and men tioned to him (Lord Mel bourne) th e great sc h emes he had in view for the pur pose of reforming a ll ev;ls u nder the total regeneration system, and h av i ng ex p re ssed a wish to go to the Levee, he asked him (Lord Melbourne) to introduce him. He ( Lord Melbourne) did not see anything in Mr. Owen's character or situation in life which ought to preclude him from attending Court. The Right Rev. Prelate had made it a very strong charge against her Majesty's Government for not having taken mea sures for the suppression of those opinions that unfor tunately prevailed among that class of persons calling . themselves " Socialists." Those opinions were de cidedly pernicious, and he did not consider them free from danger, because they were wild and visionary.— (Hear, hear.) He remembered, in the course of last Session, a Noble Duke made an observation which was replete with good sense and judgment, and as it was applicable to the present case, he would repeat it. That Noble Duke had said that "he had the fullest reliance upon the powers of truth, as he was perfectly convinced it would ultimately vindicate itself." Such an observation, coming from the Noble Duke was particularly valuable, when they consi dered he was in communication with all classes of per so..s and conditions of mankind. He (Lord Melbourne) wished he could share in the confidence of the Noble Duke, but the atmosphere of calumny, falsehood, and malignity must operate against so desirable an event ; and although truth might vindicate itself ultimately, error might prevail for a considerable time, more espe cially when assisted by the active instruments which find their existence in this atmosphere of calumny, falsehood, and malignity. He bad no doubt the Right Rev. Pre late was right in putting this question, for it was impos sible not to be under great apprehensions at those opi nions continuing to prevail in the conntry, not only with respect to those opinions of Mr. Owen, but almost every other subject, whether political or religious, which was often carried to an extravagant and extreme degree. He thought it was possible that the acts of that Society might be within the penalties of the Act of Parliament ; but, however, it. was a different question, whether it would be advisable to enforce that Act. It had not been of late carried into effect—it had solely acted by terror, and it had never any real or practical results. There were other Societies of a most serious character, which had branches throughout the country, and which were equally opposed to the letter of the Act. He therefore much doubted whether the step recommended by the Right Rev. Prelate would be found effectual for the purpose for which he had demanded that it should be enforced. He says, however, that the object of Mr. Owen is to alter the present state of the Constitution and the property in the country, and that, therefore, it must be illegal. Possibly that was so, but that was not an illegality which could be proceeded against at the present day, and the law was not one which could now be applied. What, he would ask, was there sacred in the State? What was there established that we had not societies for the purpose of overturning ? There were voluntary societies for the purpose of doing away with the Church Establishment, to which many most respectable men belonged. He did think that the objects of the society referred to made it illegal, and yet he should say, that if a society which would alter the whole frame of the Constitution was il legal, that a society for altering part of it would be ille gal in the same degree. He was afraid that a prosecution against those societies for holdiag specula tive opinions with respect to property, or government, or even religion, might not be advisable, and he very much questioned whether that prosecution could be suc cessful. At the same time he should now observe that he had gone further into the question than he should have wished to do, because he was most unwilling and re luctant to say anything which could induce others to think that he approved of those opinions. There was nothing he abhorred or detested more. Others might have listened to Mr. Owen—he had always thought his opi nions the wildest nonsense that could be imagined.— (Hear, hear.) He did not dislike his system the less because it proceeded from a feeling of humanity, or from a wish to improve the condition of mankind. It did not appear to him to be the less , dangerous on that account ; because it had been often observed that those who had professed the deepest and strongest wishes, and the most tender feelings of humanity and compassion, became in the course of events the most ruthless and bloody. It was an observation made by a leader of the French Revolution that it was that which was most absurd that led to what was most san guinary. He did not wish to say one word which could excuse those opinions, of which he deeply la:nented the existence ; but the question was, what was the prudent mode of proceeding and of dealing with them.— (Hear, hear, hear.) They all knew that for many years it had been the practice of the Governments of this country, not only of the present one, and of that which preceded it, but of the Government for several years before—that it had been their practice to abstain from prosecutions on such subjects as the present. They had allowed the press to go on entirely unques tioned and uncontrolled, and that had been a policy very striking and strongly acted upon by a Noble and Learned Lord, who sat on the opposite benches, both when Attorney and when Solicitor-General prosecutions were found to be unavailing. It was found to be very doubtful whether they did not increase what they were intended to repress. The whole policy of Governments lately had been to leave the press unconstrained and uncontrolled by anything like legal animadversion. He thought, he must say, that the experiment was a doubtful one. He thought it questionable whether the public might bear much longer the misrepresentations and the falsehoods of the press—its not saying one word of truth, and its perversion of every fact and of every reasoning. Whether the public could much longer endure all that, be considered a very serious question, and a very great experiment. He did not, however, see another mode of proceeding in this re ' spect than through public opinion, and he did not think anything else could be tried or attempted with any thing resembling a probability of success. He certainly could not help entertaining a doubt whether any other course would be advisable, even in the case brought under the notice of the House by the Right Reverend Prelate. Yet, though he did not give his opinion as to the course which he would recommend to be pursued, he acknowledged it was a matter which demanded the very serious attention of Government. It was unques tionably their duty to watch over this matter, and to consider whether they had any means of repressing the system, if it were making its way with the rapidity which had been stated. He trusted, however, that that was not the ease, and their wild opinions were naturally spawned and produced in a state of society like that in which we lived ; they were produced by the dis tress which now prevailed, and by the opinions which existed in the minds of men that by a change things might be made better than they were, and that their miseries were owing to the Constitution under which they lived. There was naturally a straining in men after a perfection which they were nowhere told to expect or to think possible, which led them to those ex treme opinions which at the present day are urged with all that violence which belongs to the proceedings of the times in which we live. Lord WHARNCLIFFE would trouble the House for no other reason than for the purpose of calling atten tion to a letter which he had received on the present subject on that very morning from a Magistrate at Shef field. The conclusion of the letter stated that Mr Owen had been presented to the Queen by the Noble Viscount opposite without having solicited that honour. It was a voluntary act on the part of the Noble Viscount, and he (Lord Wharncliffe) alluded to this fact for the pur pose or showing how imprudently the Noble Viscount had acted on the occasion. The Duke of WELLINGTON rose principally for the purpose of giving his nest thanks to the Right Rev. Prelate for having drawn the attention of the House to a system which appeared to prevail so generally, not perhaps in the country but in the large towns. He had to add, however, that he had had experience in some parts of the country, too, of its existence, and of the great mischief which it had occasioned wherever it prevailed. He was happy to observe that the Right Rev. Prelate, by bringing forward the question, had drawn from all parts of the House an expression of the detestation which their Lordships felt for it, He quite agreed with the Noble Viscount opposite, that it was a very difficult question for Government to de termine in what way such a system should be dealt with. Ile thought that the Right Rev. Prelate had proved most clearly that the Society in question was an illegal association ; but, at the same time, it was very doubt ful whether it was possible for Government to prose cute its members under the Act of Parliament as sug gested by the Right Rev. Prelate. There were, how ever, other measures to be adopted besides proceeding by prosecution against such a system, which Govern ment might have recourse to, for the purpose of mark ing its sense of the atrocity of the objects of those asso ciations. He said that the Right Reverend Pre late had brought facts before their Lordships which showed clearly that some measure of this description, some notice on the part of Government as a Government, of the atrocity of the objects of those associations was necessary, on account of the error into which some Magistrates had fallen, particularly in the large manufacturing cities. It appeared that in those places fair play had not been given to those who op posed by argument and reasoning the system adopted by the persons in question. It appeared that Magis trates had given the use of the Town•halls for the pur pose of adopting the doctrines referred to, while on one or two occasions they refused permission, if not to clergymen, at least to persons authorised by them to preach against that atrocious system. He had himself lately received a letter on that subject, and he thought it would be right to warn Magistrates of the illegality of those associations, and that would be a step entirely lawful and constitutional in itself, and not unusual, he believed, in the practice of the country. It appeared to him that such a proceeding would have some effect and would be desirable, particularly after the discussions, in that House. It was the more to be wished for in con sequence of the unfortunate circumstance of the gentle man who preached these doctrines having been pre sented to her Majesty by the Noble Viscount opposite. He was not at all disposed to enter into any discussion on that part of the subject, especially as the Noble Viscount had stated, and with great truth—(A laugh) —that be had committed an indiscretion on that occasion. He (the Duke of Wellington) did not believe that the rule of the Couit was, that no gentleman should be presented by another unless he was acquainted with 1,1 m• It did appear that the Noble Viscount was not only unacquainted with the doctrines of the gentleman alluded to, but that he did not know his person. Lord MELBOURNE here said, amidst some laughter, that he certainly did know Mr. Owen by person. The Duke of WELLINGTON proceeded to say that he had been mistaken on that subject, and that, from that circumstance, it was still more desirable that Government should pronounce, in some form or other, its opinion on the matter. It should warn Magistrates to attend to those transactions, and it should take care to look to the circumstances likely to result from the subject. The Earl of GALLOWAY said that the Noble Viscount had told the House that Mr. Owen had ac tually entered with him into the details of his plan for regenerating society. He most therefore have been no stranger to the object of Mr. Owen. Now it was after having been put in possession of this information that the Noble Viscount had consented to present bim to her Majesty, and he incurred by that means a very serious responsibility. He would now only say that the country was much indebted to the Right Rev. Pre late for the part he had taken that night, and he (the Eirl of Galloway) rejoiced that the Noble Viscount did not coincide in the opinion of the non-importance of the subject, which had been expressed by the Noble Marquis, the Secretary for the Home Department. The Marquis of NORMAN BY begged to deny that he had said a word which could lead to suet] an impression—all he had said was, that the importance of the matter appeared to him to be doubtful. The Bishop of EXETER gave notice that he would on Friday next, ask the Noble Viscount opposite, whether any change had taken place in the office of Superintendant Registrar. Adjourned at Eight o'clock, EVEN ING EDITION. IThe LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Wool ) sack at the usual hour. Viscount DU NCA NNON laid upon the table, by command of la-3r Majesty, certain papers relating to Canada. --- fheEishop of EXETER begged leave to present a petition from Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, signed by 4,000 inhabitants, composed of the most re pectable bankers, merchants, and tradesmen. It also gives the profession and residence of all who signed this large petition, so that they could judge of the re Lpectability of its character. The importance of this petition was such, that he must request permission i to have it read at the table. The petition was accordingly read. It stated that religion way much affected by the progress and dangers to the people's morals which arose by the spread of what was called Socialism, which was increasing much through the influence of Mr. Owen. l The Bishop of EXETER continued by saying, that in moving that this petition should lie upon their Lord ships' table, he would have taken a longer time than usual to consider its objects ; but the vast importance of the subject would excuse him presenting it at once. He would ,have eagerly sought for some other hands to bring up the question ; it was altogether no distasteful to him, and involving such dange rous doctrines as were calculated to be a great barrier to morals or religion. The consideration of such a subject rendered it a very painful task in him to take it app. He came down to the House on this evening in consequence of having been told that this petition would have reached him. He asked the Noble Lord, the head of the Home Department, some questions relative to Social ' ism. He (the Bishop of Exeter) at first thought that her Majesty must have been advised to give directions to '‘lagistrates or other guardians of the peace to proceed against the meetings held by those persons. To his utter astonishment he was then told by the Noble Mar quis that the Government had not taken any steps, because the Socialists had not offended against the law, but that the Government would be ready to proceed against them as well as any other offenders of the peace. The Socialists had not offended against the laws. The Noble Marquis did not say that he knew nathing of their proceeding ; he (the Bishop of Exeter) did not suppose that any member of her Majesty's Government would possibly affirm the legality of their proceedings ; but he must say that he put this construe ticn upon the Noble Marquis's answer, that the Noble Marquis was generally informed of the proceedings of the body, for he was sure no man occupying the ituation that the Noble Marquis held in her M•t-• -...>ty's Government, as guardian of the peace and -corals of the country, could have permitted matters to proceed without inquiry. His astonishment certainly as overwhelming, when he was told that the indivi dials, in the judgment of the Noble Marquis, the Se cretary of State for the Home Department, had done nothing illegal. He was sure the thought had never flashed across his mind, that either the Noble Mar quis or any member of her Majesty's Government, could have any reason either of political expediency or e.ny thing else for not proceeding against them manfully and steadily. Lord BROUGHAM was very sorry to inter rupt the Reverend Prelate—it was almost the only time he bad entered the House alter its sitting but it might be well for the Reverend Prelate to know that he was charged with four petitions from the individuals against whom the charges were now brought, He thought that it was better that he should present them before the Reverend Pre late made his statement, as it would put him in possession of what he had to answer. The petitions were from the officers of the Central Board of the Society of Rational Religionists, vulgarly called Socialists. It was signed by Mr. Owen and other officers, and prayed for a full inquiry into their system. The other petitions were to the same effect, from three Societies belonging to Mr. Owen's party. THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, J NUARY 25, 1840. EvEN:NG EDiriow • RO YAL EXCHANGE. We give the folio ving details as a eurksity. They are extracted from 's report made to the Court of Com mon Council on Thursday. The Committee was ap- pointed in August, 1838, to make arrangements for purchasing the propert3 required for the site of the Exchange, and reported that, with two exceptions, the whole of the claims had been adjusted. It is amusing, on looking over the items, to see what an enormous swallow the members of the Corporation have. Both as regards the site of the Exchange, and the approaches to London-bridge, they claimed three times as much as was awarded to them, and possibly get three times as much as they were entitled to. These Corporators seem to think the City funds were created for their especial use, and therefore consider it no blame to pocket, whatever they can lay their hands upon. Can any one wonder why they are so silent about Corporation Reform ? It would be an act of suicide on their part to allow a , peg of the venerable and sacred structure to be touched, for it is reasonable to concluzie that, if the annual estimates for the City expenditure were submitted to an impartial body of men, the half' million would be cut down in the same proportion— that is, to about 170,0001., or perhaps to one half that sum. If they allow Radical Reform to establish itself in the Corporation, they must be the greatest dolts in existence. This is the statement alluded to : Buildings purchased for the new Royal Exchange, and avenues. Estimate 150,0001. For which there were fifty-six claims. _ 42 Cases claimed £69,263 settled by Committee at £38,852 8 Cases freeholds 107,981 referred to Surveyors, and valued at 94,136 4 Cases claimed 37,065 settled by verdicts at 12,284 2 Cases not settled 5,508 supposed value 56 £219,817 £145,272 From the aforesaid amount there was claimed, by members of the Corporation £27,000 Settled at Difference Mr. R. L. Jones, in presenting the above report and statement, observed that the London Bridge Committee was far from being a popular Committee with the Cor poration. He had a paper in his hand which would sa tisfactorily assiga a reason, by showing the difference be tween the amounts claimed by Members of the Corpo ration, and the sums for which these claims were settled by that obnoxious Committee. The following is the paper referred to : A portion of the Expenditure of the London Bridge Ap proaches Fund, commencing 1824 and ending 1838 :- 668 cases of claims amounted to £1,425.128 Which claims were settled at the sum of 806,577 Difference £618,551 From the aforesaid amount there was claimed by Members of the Corporation Set.led at 48,509 Difference.. £75,751 The reading of this London Bridge Document was received with bursts of laughter and loud cries of" Hear." MARKET INTELLIGEN CE. PRICE or The highest price of Bread in th Loaf. Good Bread may be had at PRICES 01 Per Cwt. New English Red C10ver...554.90s Old Ditto Ditto — s. - s New Foreign Ditto —s. 563. 303. Old Ditto Ditto —s. —s —s. New White Clover sos. 655. 703. Old Ditto Ditto —s. —..s. Nem Trefoil Old Ditto —s. Ws. Trefolium —s. 28s 3ns English Carraway —s. 52.. 56.. Foreign Ditto —s. 50s. 565, Coriander —s. 20.. 255. Rapeseed, English fine (per Ls PRICES C Farnham Pockets (per cwt.)... East Kim t Pockets Ditto Bags Mid Kent Pockets Ditte Bags Sussex Yearlings Old Olds PRICES OF ISREAD. se Metropolis. is 10 for the 411). ud, F SEEDS. Per Quarter. St. Foin -s. 49s 6f. Rye Grass -s, 40s. 4,5 Pacey Grass -s. -s. - Linseed, for feeding -s, 4 , n. 52, Ditto, for sowing -s. 545. 5?" Ditto, for crushing -s. 425. A/ Canary -s 705.80.; Hemp s. 335. Al's Per Bushel. White Mustard...lls. 1 14. 14s. rd. Brown Ditto lss. Od. 193. Od Tares ss. 6d. 7s. 6d. ast) 281.311. Foreign 261. 28/. 3F HOPS. .... 01 Os. 01. Os. to 01. Os. .... 41 10s. Si. 15s. to 61. Os. 31. los. W. Os. to 4/. 4, ▪ 3/. 103. 4/. 10s. to 5? 12r. • si. les. 01. Os. to 4:. 01. 31. Os. 0/. Os. to 3!. 01. Os. 3/, 3s. to 31. 10i., ~.. 01. Os. 11. 15s. to V. 103. LEATHER. Per lb. d. to d Per lb. d. to d. CropHides,3oto4olb.each 11 13j Horse Hides, German... 12 22 ----40 50. l2 16 ----- --- Spanish ~. 13 24 --50 60. .... l3 IS Calf Skins,3o to4olb.(doz) 15 22 Bull Hides -40 50 Butts, V.triol ... --- English . ... 15 2 4 --- 70 100 -- Foreign f oreign Hides Dressing Hides .. I-----. ....... 11 14 'Kips —Shaved... 13 17 Basils... . .... Best Saddlers' Hides...., 15 16t . Bellies florseliides, English ... 11 I' , Shout:lora lO 1:; Calt Skins, if rounded 2d. to 4d. por b. more. PRICE OF OIL. RapeOil,brown, pe: ton, 35/. Os.—Refined, 361.10 s Linseed 0 il, V. Linseed Oil Cake at the Mill (IMO), 14& us.—Rape (ake, per ten,l7. PRICE OF TALLOW, SOAP, &c. per 1121 b. Town Tallow sss. Od Yell. w Soap... . Yellow Russia sos. 6sl. MoWiwi —s. Od. White Soap Ditto ... Melting Stuff ...„ ...... 375. Od. (ood Dregs'..... Ditto Rough PRICE "F RAW FAT, per stone of SltP. Price of Tallow (as stated by the Tallow Meiters)..... ...... 3s. Id. PRICE I.‘F CANDLES. The price of good Store andies in the Retail Shops is as follows : Candles, per dozen, Ss. Od. ; inferior. .7s. od. ; Moulds, Os. 6d. Sixpence per doze discount for cash. COAL MARKET. s, d . 8. d. Adair's Burdon Slain 2O i) Walls End Russell's Helton 93 6 Holywell Main 2l 6 Walls End Stewart's 247n Ord's ltedhugh South` Hartley IS 0 Wails End Hartlepool '3 9 West Hartley 2O 6 W..11s End Adelaide. Wvlam. 2O 0 Walk End karrington Tees 20 6 Walls end Heaton .. 21 3 Wr'ls End Tees ore 6 Walls End Hilda 2l 0 Walls End Tees Helton ....:'0 0 Walla End Walker 2l 1' Walls knd West Tees 2l 6 Walls Endßraddyll'slletton 23 0 Stavely Main Walk End Haswell c 3 P Walls End Devonshire 2l 6 Walls End Hettoa Ships arrived sinec last market.dly, 21. (From the London New Price Current of January 24. ) SUGAIL—For West India Muscovadoes Sugar there has been a good demand from the grocers since we last wrote, and the rates previously established have been fully supported. In refining descriptions a fair business has been transacted at prices equal to those of this day week. Berbice, low brown to low middling grey 56s to 58s ; Demerara, low middling 60s. 6d; St. Lucia, with more colour 61s; St. Kitts; good mid dling 645; Jamaica, good middling 655, fine 693 to 695. 6d : -and - this afternoon, for grocery and refining descriptions, the prices 'previously established were fully supported, and in some cases a slight advance was obtained. REFlNED.—Refined goods since we last wrote have im proved to 77s to 78s for standard, and 74s 7d to 76s 6d for low and good brown lumps ; Treacle, at 31s 9(1 to 32s for common and 3.3 s to 34s 6d for patent and the best old make; Pieces, tine to 70s; Bonded Crushed Sugar at 345, under which it is impossible to buy, although a parcel has been sold at 33s 9d. Loaves in small parcels at 37s 6d to 38s for 10 lbs. and 36s 6il to 37s for 14 lbs ; Treacle, at 12s 6(1; Bastards and Pieces at low rates ; Dutch CI ushed 3ls 6:1. deliverable at Arns:erdam. Mituaurrus.—Full prices have been paid for brown, mid tiling, and good grey qualities, fine kinds have brought a slight, advance. In refining descriptions previous rates have been barely maintained for middling sorts; other kinds are fully as dear : at auction, 6895 bags of the new crop have been offered, fine and very fine yellow fetched 67s to 68s, good 69s Gd to 66s 6d, good middling 64s to 655, middling 62s 6d to 63 s 6d, low middling 61s to 625, good middling grey 61s 6d to 625, low 59$ to 59s 6d, good anti fine brown 58s to 59s 6d, mid dling 55s 6d to 573, low middling 53s to 54s 6d, inferior 503 per cwt. EAST INDlA.—Brown descriptions of Bengal continue to at tract attention, and at a public sale, consisting of 3800 bags of low heavy quality, full prices were paid, damps at 49s to 50s, and washed 48s 6d per cwt : at auction 457 bags went at 66s a 66s 6d for middling coloury, 62s for yellow, 62s 6d a 65s 6dlor damps and washed, and 64s for drained upon. For Refining under bond the advanced rates have been fully maintained : at auction 1137 bags sold at 2ls a 21s 6d for good and fine brown, 22s a 22s Gd for low and mid yellow, 20s a 21s for damps and washed, one lot fine yellow fetched 24s per cwt ; the private purchases have been 1800 bags at 23s for low mid yellow, and middling 225. 6d; Java at stiffer prices; Siam at 24s 6d fcr ord, and 26s for mid white. This altern ion, in white descriptions of Bengal previous rates were fully supported: at auction 413 bags of heavy brown quality went at 49s to 50s for dam., and 49s to 03 for washed. FOREIGN.—This afternoon 200 chests Iravannah, and 65 chests 8 brls 145 bags Pernambuco were submitted to public competition ; the former sold 6d to 1s below previous rates, and went at 22s a 24s 6d for low soft b rown to fair middling yellow, good mid 26s 6d, washed 21s a 23s 6d, one lot low mid sound white taken in at 355; the latter partly sold, good mid to fine white at 27s to 335, very low soft and mid 21s to 245, brown 20s to 21. TEA. — The market has not been in so excited a state this week as it was last; still there has been a fair business doing, and at previous rates for Free Trade, at which some parties are not inclined to realise, in consequence of the warlike prepara tions making by our Government against the Chinese. Com pany's Congou has been less in request, and 2s 1 lid has been accepted for money, and 3s li ,d t ) 3s 2d with a two and three months' prompt. To-day 4,403 chests Congou, 1502 chests, 687 half-chests Twankay, and 362 chests Hysoo, were offered at public sale, the whole of which found ready buyers. Congou brought l i :1 1 to lid above th e rates pa id i n t h e mar k e t this week, but d rather strong fet c h e d 2 s llid to 3 s op, but , m lng stsong blackish l ea f 3 s Oid to 3s oai ra I*d; T r a str w a t k O a r s t o are i 3s d Oi h d i , g but erh t mid than yesterday, bl k s h ' l f b r a str but m 3sl i da d r to 3s 3,!;f)_ On the 22d inst., in King William-street, Mansion-hou ses Benjamin Atkinson, Esq., aged 31. On the 22d inst., at Islington, Arthur Harris, only surviving son of Mr. Arthur Norton, aged 2. On the 22d i ns t., a t B re ntforl, Mr. Willi am C urt i s, age d 64. ,„ On the 29d inst., Betsey, the wife of M r . R o b ert R. son, of Park-terrace, Regent's-park, aged 33. On Abe 22d inst., Kenyon Charles, son of Kenyon Steveo Parker, Esq., of Lincoln's-inn, Barrister-at- Law, aged 12. On the 27th of October, 1839, on board the ship Malcolw' in the Bay of Bengal, on his passage to England, Samuel Grasoo Esq., of kishnaghur, Bengal. On the 22d of December last, on board the ship New Jer se l; on his passage from savannah to England, Francis HolY cl o f Moore, 8.A., late of Queen's College, Cambridge, third son ic the late Mr. Moore, of Mappleborough G reen, W ar wie aged 27. • On the 15th inst., at Beers, near Reigate, At Quebec, Isaac Clut too, Esq., aged 76. the Hon. Jonathan Sewell, LL.D., o f the Ele entive Council, aged 74. At Inchbrakie, Scotland, M rs . C olonel Grw e aged 8 0 . Mr. James Hi m ling. of Cod - --nor, late of Belper, aged At Great Marlow, Bucks, Mrs. Sarah Puddifant, aged Mrs. Elizabeth Noon, of Leicester, aged 92. her At Denwick, near Al nw i e h , Mr. Andrew Gladstains, . herd, aged.lBo. London: Printed and Published by MURDO YOUN G „'iLe No. 112, Strand, a t Th e Sun Office, No. 112, Strand ' county of Aliddl esex.—Saturday, January 25, 1840. coa fetched 3s Oid to 3s Id, but mid ra str 3s lid, but mid ra coa and str 3s lid to 3s 2d, but mid brtsh If 3s 4d to 3s 40; Hyson, mid brtsh If sold at 4s 7d to 4s 71d, good mid ris to 5s Old, mid ra str plsh brtsh If 4s 9&d, which are 4d above market rates: privately there was a fair business doing at simi lar prices. CorFEE.—The trade have appeared very desirous to pur chaq. clean descriptions of West India Coffee this week, but the small and indifferent supply at market has operated against buy ing; and the parcels disposed of by private contract have been at an advance on previous rates of '2s ; Jamaica of middling and goo:1 middling quality 126 s to 130 s : low middling 115 s to 118 s per cwt, unclean kinds at pr"vious rates, Java 80s to 829 for good to fine bold pale quality, superior fetched 83s to 84s bulked at 80s per cwt, Ceylon 106 s to 107 s for small parcels of good ordinary quality,ll4s to 115 s for middling clean quality ; Cuba good ordinary mixed ,etched 62s 6d to 645, bold good ordinary 74i to 775, fine and fine fine ordinary 58s to 995, very coloury good middling 1083 to 1083 6d, pea berry 119 s to 120 s per cwt ; St. Domingo, from the Cape, good quality at 69, to 70s; Mocha 125 s to 128 s for sma.l parcels of middling. This afternoon a good demand prevailed by private contract for all clean kinds of East and West India for home use, the advanced rates quoted above were fully supported ; at auction 175 bags Java and 915 bags of other kinds were offered, the former sold at the advanced rates of 90s to 90s 6d for bold yel low, and 81s to 84s for good and fine pale, which is al, advance on the rates of the last auction of 4s to ss, the remainder was Padang, subject to the is du y, and fetched 46s for good quality. Rust, BRANDY, AND HOLLANDS.—For Leeward Island Rum there has been an active demand, shippers have been the principal operators, and large purchases have been made for New South Wales, the sales have amounted to 450 puns since we last wrote, and the prices paid show an advance of 2d to 2 1 ,4 d per gallon ; proof to 3 per cent overproof have realized 3s 6d to 3s Bd, 6 to 12 over 3s 9d to 4s Id, 15 to 18 over 4s 3d to 4s 6d, 20 to 25 over 4s 8d to 4s 10d, 27 to 29 over 4s Ild to 5; ld, 30 to 33 over 5s 2d to 5s 4d, 36 to 40 over 5s 5d to 5s 6d. Jamaica has secured a fair sale at prices lei to 1 1 Ad above those of this day week : 350 puns have been sold, 27 to 30 per cent. overproof at 5s 6d to 5s Bd, 33 to 35 over 5s 9d to 6s, superior marks 6e Id to 6s 4d. The announcement of a Government contract for 80,000 gallons cause holders of proof Leewards to refuse to sell under 3s 7d per gallon. The arrivals have been light. A fair amount of business has been tran sacted in Brandy, principally for home consumption, and prices continue to improve : sales have been made at the following terms, viz.—at 5s Id to 5s 2d for first brands of the vintage of 1836, 4s lld to 5s Id for do 1837, 4s 7d to 4s 9d for do 1838, and Bordeaux 2s &I to 2s 9d per gallon, at these rates holders are firm. In Geneva several sales have been made at 2s to 2s Id per gallon. British Corn Spirits have secured a fair sale at lOs per gallon, at this nnremunerating price, however; the dis tillers are not anxious to make contracts. OlLS.—Linseed Oil at 22s to 22s 3d, Rape at previous rates. For Palm, prices remain the same. Sperm still commands high rates. In pale Seal and Cod Oil, a fair amount of busi ness has been transacted, at 301 to 311 for the former, and 29/. to 29/ lOs fur the latter. This afternoon there were two public sales of Southern, con sisting of 300 tons; 120 tons of Palm Oil were also brought forward—of the former, a small part only found buyers at lower prices; low dark to fine pale quality selling at 221 lOs to 25/ 5s per ton ; of the latter, a small part has been disposed of at 321 to 3215 s per cwt. SPICES.—This afternoon the public sales consisted of 172 bags of Pimento, and 619 bags of shot Pepper ; the former was only partly sold at 3d to 3d for low middling, and 3P for good quality, which is rather cheaper ; the latter went at the high figure of 4d for fine quality. TALLOW.—Russian Tallow, first quality, has been disposed of currently at 49s 9d, and in some cases 50s has been paid, which is an advance on previous rates of 9d to is per cwt. For delivery in the spring mouths, 49s 9d per cwt. For delivery in the last three months, 48s to 48s 3d must be paid. This afternoon the demand for Russian Tallow was good on the spot as well as for delivery in the next two and three months, and prices were firm at 49s 6d to 49s 9d for first quality. INDIGO.—To-day, previous to the opening of the sale, 577 chests were withdrawn. 760 chests have passed the sale. The ord and low sorts of Bengal remain neglected, and are mostly bought in at 6d to 9d discount on the rates of last sale ; the bid dings for the shipping qualities were however brisker at the rates previously established; Madras is heavy of sale at 3d to 6d discount on October prices ; Oudes mostly bought in and with drawn ; Bombay sold at 2s 6d to 2s 10d. About 380 chests were taken in. RrcE.—This afternoon there was not much desire shown to do business in East India ; at the public sales, which consisted of 5,000 bags Java, and 1,498 bags Bengal, the principal part of the former, however, found buyers at full prices, low white fetched lOs a lOs 6d, good mid lie a lls 6d, the latter was partly sold at 14s a 14s 6d for good white, and 13s 6d for mid dling, being former rates, the remainder low yellow was taken in at 10s a 101 6d per cwt. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS. Wheat Barley. Oats. Beane. S. to 8. 40 5:. 42 46 40 42 30 44 50 55 40 42 36 43 37 42 48 53 36 46 - 43 s. d. a. d. s. d. a d. Is. d. s. d. ts, d, s, d, PO 9 8 4 6 6 6 I 4 0 56 "50 70 EDINBURGH CORN MARKET - .—Jan. 22 Wheat. Barley. oat.. Pease. Bean!. First B4s. Od. 44s Od. 305.0.1. 465. Od. I 45s I'd. Second 74 0140 0 25 0 42 0 42 0 Third 52 0 32 0 20 0 38 • al a Average price of Wheat T. Os 2d, PRICES OF PROVISIONS. KC. B :el, per lb. ......... Os. 52 to Os.B2.lFreshßutter, lb. 5.10,1, to Is. Od mutton .................. 0 5 0 8 Salt Ditt0—........ 010 011 Veal 0 8 1 0 Ditto, per ca t.... 84 0 96 3 P0rit..........--....- 0 5 3 7 Eggs, per dos:.. ti 0 0 - 10 Lamn, per gr. -...... 0 0 0 0 OatStraw(kl.l.)..lo 6 14 6 Fallow, cwt.......... 40 0 42 0 Wheat Ditto.... 8 6 10 6 '.uartern Loaf ...... 0 9 OPi Barley Ditto ...... 7 6 9ti Potatoes,. 14th....., 031 0 0 Hay, per 5t.......... 1 2 1 4 EDINBURGH MEAL MARKET.—Jan. 21. Per Sack of 2801 b. Imp. Per Stone of 141 b. Ira First Oatmeal 42 0 0 First Oatmeal 2 4 Second ditto,.. Barleymeal..... ....... -... I 13 0 Barleymeal 0 1 10 Peas eraeal ... .. 1 10 6 Peasemeal Pot Barley from 325. to 555. per sack. GLASGOW CORN MARKET.—Jan, 22. . Wheat, per 2401 h. s. d. s.d.. Oats, per 2641 b. s. d. s. d. British, old BB 0t039 0 Irish 2l 0t023 0 .---. new Canada, free — 0 0 Beans, per 2101 b. Irish Barley, per 3201 h. • Scottish 2l 0 23 0 E.lglish 35 0 36 0 Pease, Scottish ...... 240 25 0 Scottish 27 0 31 0 Oatmeal, per 1401 b.... .20 0 22 0 Irish Per Bushel, Birmingham s, d, 8, d 6U 7 e CORNWALL MARKETS. (Calculated at 24 gallons to the bushel.) Wheat. Barley. 1 Oats .l s. d. to r. d. s. d. tw s. d. s. d. to s. d. Truro — 0 7 V 0 4 0 0 3 •• Helstone St. Austell — 0 9 4 0 4 6 0 3 2 Bodmin 0 86 —0 50 ._0 3 1, Liskeard 8 6 9 0 3 9 4 e 0 3 0 Launceston Camelford B - 0— C 5 t 2 8 3 la Penzance MINING INTELLIGENCE. Ton s.Cift. cr e ' Quantity of Copper ores sold at Redruth last week... 2,804 21 a Average Produce 8 Quantity of fine Copper , Amount of sale, PO 16 , Ils. 0 1,- li 224 8 0 -Average Standard, 1151. Is. od. THE WAR IN INDIA.—The late brillian t events in India have given so strong an interest to everything connected with the Native Princes, and particularly Runjeet Sing, the " Lion of Lahore," as he was called, and the. most extraordinary of them all, that great curiosity awaits the air pearance of the Hon. Mrs. Osborne's Journal of a recent rest" dente at his Court and Camp. It enters, we understand, into the most singular details respecting the character a n d persona . habits of that Prince, who was as unbridled in the indidgenF' of his private vices and crimes, as he was sagacious and jot.' ° „ his public:capacity as ruler of a powerful nati o n. Th e deseriP o tion, too, of the barbaric pomps of his " Court and CatuP , ,, are, we understand, of a natur e to astonish a n d even confoun d our European notions of such matters. GRATIS, AND POSTAGE FREE.—Bull's Library System can now be had gratis and po s t age f r ee to . ai pints of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by p r i va t e farniheh reading societies, and book clubs desiring to be supplied in anY_ quantity with all works, magaz.nes, and re v i ews regu larly f o ' perusal, upon the most advantageous terms. A select list is 1 0 eluded of nearly one thousand modern publications, with all the valuable new works published to the present day. Apply t° Mr. Bull, Public Library, 19, Holies-street, Cavendish-squar e, London. MUSICAL BOXES.—A few Boxes, of various sorts and sizes, slightly dam age d, are offered for sale, 8t Twelve Shillings each. The list of tunes of new perfect Musical Boxes is published, and may be had gratis, on applied' tion, or will be sent in answer to a paid letter. The prices vary from One to Twenty-five Guineas. T. COX SAVORY, Goldsmith, Silversmith, &c., 47, Cornhill (Seven doors from Gracechureh-street), London. BIRTHS. On the 22d inst., the wife of W. Andrews, Esq., ALA , of Golden-square, of a son. On the 23d inst., in South A tidley-street; the lady of Ed' ward Vansittart Neale, Esq., of a son. On the 23d inst., at Battersea, the lady of Dr. Al'Kellar, o f a daughter. 21xAERIED. On the 21st inst., at Bettws, Denbigh, James Glynne Bate-, son, Esq., of Liverpo o l, t o A nne Margaret, eldest daughter of the Rev. Robert Phillips, Vicar of Bettws. On the 22d inst., at Tooti ng Church, Augustus Lidbrook' youngest son of th e Rev. D r . C ope, of Penryn, Cornwall, t° Frances, youngest d aug h ter of Mr. Robert Hicks, of Tooting, Surrey. On the 22d inst., the Rev. Hyde Wyndham Beadon, Vi e t: of Latton, Wilt s , to F rances Isabella, youngest daughter of 14' late Major-General the Hon. Sir William Ponsonby, K.0 3 : 11 On the 23d inst., at the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, the Tow er , II ,nry Smith, Esq., of her Majesty's Ordnance of ffi oee, Tower, t o Ch arlotte Gordon, only daughter of VW. r Whitnall, Esq., of her Majesty's Paymaster-General's- o°e Whitehall. Per Quarter. Abingdon—. Andover.,,„.~, Banbury Basingstoke,, Cirencester Daventry..,... Derby H wden -- Hungerford... Mallon Ilaidenhead.„ Nottingham Wantage Warwick ,eater York s. to s. CO 72 (2 72 s. to s. 32 48 36 46 37 44 32 37 38 40 63 SO b 8 SO G 8 72 86 78 38 44 35 47 57 V. 68 76 6 ) 83 57 7!► L 8 80 32 42 :35 38 35 4. 45 30 40 36 46 - 72 40 8t a 2 46 8. to s. 211 38 28 32 28 34 24 29 25 38 28 34 28 :16 24 - 23 30 22 33 25 32 20 36 21 28 32 37 22 30 S. 13. 44 2 40 42 40 -- - 30 37 40 40 65 - 40 Pease. I N