The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-29 00:00:00

~--_. y r ~ ~' ~~ _ `.l•._ 41 this respect. Attacks apen her have not been wanting, I am well aware, but- thanks, under Providence, to her ma jesty's'oppotition; those attacks have been defeated. (Great cheers.) Has the constitution been maintained as it origi nally was ? Remember that the inroad in it was made be fore the trust of representing your interests had been re posed in either myself or my noble colleague. (Cheers.) From that hour no inroad has been made. (Loud cheers.) Attack after attack has been made ; attempt after attempt has also been made ; and when it has been found that pro positions working unfairly as respects the constitution have been attempted to he r emedied by hens majesty's opposition they have been thwarted by the mistry, and when the struggle was for the constitution as it is, then the burden of the struggle has been borne altogether by her majesty's opposition. (Renewed cheers.) Having then returned to you faithfully the trust reposed in me, . I trust I shall, without the least diminution of your attachment, have the honour of saying that I am as well supported as ever in my claim upon that trust again. (Great applause.) And what is that trust now ? What are we called upon to maintain at the present time ? We ask now to have reposed in us the trust of main taining the interests of Britain against the interests of foreigners. (Loud cheers.) They have tried to delude you by saying that we are desirous of promoting class interests ? and wishing to protect this man and that man at the expense of the community at large ; but if we were to adopt the mea sures proposed to us by ministers we should be injuring, not foreigners, but ourselves. (Hear, hear.) Every one of the measures proposed to us would be most injurious to the interests we are most bound to preserve. (Hear, and cheers.) To one of them I shall allude. I like to speak of familiar matters, for I can then be least charged with any desire to mislead you, because on such matters neither myself nor any man else can mislead you. (Hear, and cheers.) Let us then, take the question of the colonies. (H ear , hear . ) We a re called on at the present period, in this gre a t town of " Liverpool,—interested above all thi ngs i n shi • ship building, ship-fitting, ship-manning, ship-victu.ll.g, ing,o ,sayand, bringing home timber by your ships, — we are called n to destroy the whole of that trade. (Hear, hear, hear.) Now, I appeal to any man connected with the shipping e seen vessel in terest, have you not, during the l as t ten ers, after vessel quitting the dock s i n this great town crowded with your fellow-country men , emigrants, relieving the poor rates of this country from the necessity of supporting them, and l seeking for a subsiste nce i n a foreign and ? (Hear.) You who remain here have been more fortunate. You have been able to obtain employment. You have been able to earn an honourable subsistence by the work of your hands. Your fellow-countrymen, perchance not less honest, indus trious, or anxious for independence than yourselves, and not less fond of their native country, have yet, in the distress of circumstances, arising out of the natural progress of events —the population of the country increasing beyond the means of supporting them—sought a living in a foreign land. (Hear.) You have seen them leave your shores and depart. You have no doubt expressed to the parties surrounding the docks your hopes for their prosperity ; but, will you now as sist her majesty's ministers in the carrying of a measure. which must not only destroy all those hopes, butreduce your fellow-countrymen to absolute beggary and starvation ? (Hear, herr.) And yet such would be the effect of the mea sure they propose. Can any one connected with the port of Liverpool be for one moment ignorant of the fact, that if the timber trade with our North American colonies were stopped, our fellow-countrymen who have emigrated thither would be materially injured ? Or can any one doubt that that trade would be ruined by the measure the goverement have pro posed for substituting the Baltic for the colonial timber trade ? (Hear, hear.) If then, you sanction that measure, and if you send men to parliament to support that alteration, what is it but signing a fiat against your hundreds of thou sands of countrymen in the colonies ! And have you the heart for that ? (Vehement cries of no, no.) Oh ! 1 know you have n't the heart for it, though I appeal to your heart first because it is a good English one. (Cheers.) Let me now appeal to your reason, and ask whether the first honest impulse of your reason is not supported by your judgment ? What reason is there for it ? How can they prove that you would be beuefitted by it ? Suppose timber was brought from the Baltic, would you bring it ? (No.) Would you build their ships ? (No.) Would you man them ? (No.) Would you victual them ? (No.) Then what have you to gain by the change? (Loud cries of " Nothing at all.") Exactly so; you would gain a loss (hear, hear, and great laughter); and your less fortunate fellow countrymen now living abroad would be reduced to ruin and starvation.' (Cheers.) Another great interest which they are attempting to take from us is one connected with our commerce, be cause, without it, it cannot flourish, but dependent, not so much upon our commerce as upon our agriculture—l mean the interest of the landholder. You have heard a great deal of idle talk about this interest. You have heard about the foreign grower of corn being willing to supply yon with grain at a cheap rate, - and that it was impious upon your part to keep from the people the supply Providence had ordained they should possess. What sad nonsense !—I cannot treat it more mildly—what utter nonsense is this you talk ! (Cheers.) I shall put the case thus :—I understand a cargo of wheat has already arrived from Odessa, which, after pay ing the whole amount of duty that is capable of being exacted by the existing law, can be sold here and give a profit of 25 per cent. to the importer. Suppose that the corn-grower in this country, bearing the burden of poor-rates, highway rates, tithes, and other burdens which fall on the real pro perty of the land—suppose he sells his corn at a price that leaves him five per cent., they immediately cry out, " Oh ! 'tis monstrous that you should realise five per cent. by your industry. it is contrary to the laws of Providence." (Hear, and a laugh.) But, according to the laws of Providence, what right has the importer to make 25 per cent.? (Great cheering, and cries of Ask Sir Joshua that.") It is not a fair auestion to put to any man, simply because no man has a right so to argue, because if a man says that it is impious to keep from the people the produce of the land which Provi dence intended for their support, why then any man has a right to fix his own price on the soil, and the owner of it must be bound to part with it at whatever the tenant may choose to give ; and so you reduce the bargain and sale out of the vulgar practices of trade. (Great laughter and cheers.) So much for that subject. Though I fear that lam detaining you—(no, no)r-to too late an hour on this, Saturday night, which is so peculiarly adapted to repose, and when, after the labours of the week, we may be anxious to enjoy it, I shall just add a word or two more. (Hear.) I have attempted to show you some of the evils which would have resulted from the passing of those colonial and corn questions, not because I think those questions of vital importance, but because if your adversaries could show that you were under some mis take as to those, they might mislead you from the great and leading questions on which t he happiness of this country de pends. The main, and after all, the great fundamental feel ings which should actuate the constituencies of England at the present moment is the maintenance of that great Protes tant principle—which seated our beloved monarch on the throne, by which her ancestors reigned, and by which, I trust, she shall reign after most of us are in our graves, under which her country has thriven, and she has enjoyed liberty in reli gion, as well as civil liberty also. (Cheers.) Without reli gious liberty no civil liberty can long exist; for if the mind be enslaved, the body cannot long r emain free. (Hear , hear.) You can have little choice in such a case. If you are subjected to religious thraldom, I will answer for it that you cannot enjoy civil liberty ; but, in the result, the pressure of the one will make you rebels against the other, and you will become infidels in religion and democrats in politics. (Great ap plause.) 1 find, therefore, in looking back on the history of this and other countries and their present state, that demo cratic feelings and infidelity in religion go together ; that the dominancy of the papacy and mental slavery are infallible concomitants;—(hear) —that where the Popish religion pre vails, the priest domineers not only over the conscience but the conduct of his penitent ; that it is only where man is instructed to be free in his thoughts and actions, where he is daily i m pressed with a feeling of reverence towards his Creator — where he feels sensibly, every day of his life, his awful re sponsibility towards Him who made him, and his gratitude towards Him who redeemed him ;—it is in such a case he will enjoy all the blessings of religious, and, as a necessary consequence, civil liberty also. (Renewed applause.) It is on these grounds, as well as my fidelity to the constitution, that I seek a renewal of your confidence. I utterly disclaim all the new-fangled notions of the ministry : but if it were on these grounds, and these alone, I am well convinced that you are far too much enlightened even to suppose that they are spread before you with the view of obtaining anything like a benefit for myself. These are the grounds on which, I trust, we have received your confidence ; these are the topics which have, I trust, obtained for us a cordial greeting at your hands; ' these are the principles which will, I trust, be invigorateed even during your day of rest; for it is on that day they are more likely to work within you than on any other. (Hear, hear.) To-morrow you rest from your labour, and from those temporal pursuits to which you devote yourselves dur ing the week. Think then of those things which are more sacred, for then will you come out on the Monday impressed more fully than ever with the force of our arguments, and more determined than ever to uphold those great institutions under which you live, and which are the glory and the hap piness of your country. (Vehement cheers.) It is not on the excitement of the moment that I rely, but it is on your deep and sober judgments, your reflections, your feelings, and your convictions ; and if I were not to see one of you again, but be severed from you until after the battle had been fought, I should still feel convinced that, by the force of your own convictions, you would become more and more confirmed in favour of the views which my colleague and myself enter tain ? you would see that our principles will withstand all investigation ; you would repudiate the false notions which are abroad; you would come as men to maintain your opi nions at the hustings, and you would rally round the poll to return us as the representatives of your wishes to the great council of the nation. Mr. Cresswell here resumed his seat amidst thunders of applause. The CHAIRMAN then said he felt very much obliged to the audience for the respectable and orderly manner in which they had conducted themselves throughout the proceedings, hoping that the same order would be observed throughout the election. (Hear, hear.) Though the resolution might have struck them as a colonial shipping question, there was another important matter which concerned the electors far more deeply: He hoped they would not consider the present to be a struggle of one party, or of one political creed. It was a struggle in which they must be successful if sacred principles based on truth, that only commodity which was desirable, guided them in their course. They should strug gle against the wild elements of whiggery, which wild ele ments were disorder, insubordination, and ingratitude to the sacred institutions of their country. (Cheers.) He begged of them to remember what order and contentment were, and the evils of disorder and discontent, in their own families ; and also to remember that every vote held by an elector was like a talent committed to his keeping, for the proper dis pensation of which he was responsible to God and his country. (Great Applause.) A vote of thanks was then presented to Mr. Gibb for his conduct in the chair, to which he suitably replied, and the meeting separated. REPRESENTATION OF SOUTH LANCASHIRE. VISIT OF LORD FRANCIS EGERTON AND THE HON. R. BOOTLE WILBRAHAM. On Saturday a very numerous and influential meeting of the friends and supporters of the conservative cause in South Lancashire assembled in the Clarendon Rooms, for the pur pose of meeting Lord Francis Egerton and Mr. Bootle Wil braham. Among those present we noticed Sir Thomas Brancker, James Aspinall, Thomas Sands, Adam Hodgson, R. B. Hollinshead Blundell, Charles Inman, Robertson Gladstone, James Robertson, Richard Dawson, Thos. Bold, Charles Parker, Reddish, Brandreth, W. H. Myers, C. Boutflower, J. Walker, Thomas Toulmin, John Ireland Blackburne, Christopher Bushell, Joseph Cris p , Hugh H. Birley, Daniel Ledson, Nicholas Robinson , William Smith, Charles Turner, James Bold, Thomas Moss, Simon Trotman, George Grant, Charles Lawrence, William Dixon, Higgins, John Ridzway, Alex. Smith, jun., Th o mas Reyes, Thomas Lee. King, Lawrence Peel, William Bnshby, Jam es Law rence, Henry Sandba c h John Sheppard, Richard Gri ffiths, Francis Foster, Thomas ' Brassey, Wilkinson, James Hall, Cottingham Moss, Esquires, &c., &c. Business commenced soon after one o'clock, by Sir Taos. BRA.NCKER moving that Nicholas Robinson, Esq., do take the chair. He had served under him in many hardly fought contests, and knew how capable he was of performing the d u ties. Mr. ROBERTSON GLADSTONE seconded the motion, and it was carried. Mr. ROBINSON then took the chair, observing that he was not aware whether any resolutions had been prepared. Sir TUOMAS BRANCKER said there was only one resolu tion. and that was a resolution to carr y th e cons ervative can didates. (Loud cheers.) Lord Francis Egerton and the Hon. Mr. Wilbraham were then introduced, and were most enthusiastically cheered. Lord FRANCIS EGERTON, on w ce as wa r s ec re ei s v to ed red 7i b th e loud and vehement cheering. When silence ^ spoke to the following effect Mr. Chairman and Gentle. men, Tam too well'aware of the'present circumstances of this borough, to think of intruding on you with a long speech. I did, in fact, understand the arrangement to be, that I should comedown here this morning to meet such of my friends and constituents as I have now the honour of seeing around me, and to forward those necessary arrangements with a view to that contest for the county which is appointed to take place so soon as you are discharged from that important struggle— none more important in the kingdom—in which you are en gaged. (Hear.) I understand, however, on consideration with some of my friends that we should carry the proceedings further, and that it would not be inconvenient to the meeting if we were to imitate the example of other gentlemen who have made their appearance in the Exchange. (Hear, hear, and renewed cheers.) I am come here for the purpose of placing myself entirely at the orders of my friends and con stituents with a view to the accomplishment of that which I believe every gentleman present has sincerely at heart. (Hear.) I shall. therefore, without further comment, or without any useless expression of my opinions, or without detaining you from your important avocations, content my self with expressing my desire and readiness to act on that advice, and to do to -day whatever may be thought best by the wise heads and good management of those of my friends who conduct the affairs of the election in Liverpool—(loud cries of "hear, hear")—in order to promote what we all have in view. (Hear.) I have had experience on former occasions of the zeal and energy with which I have been received, and it is a great satisfaction to me to perceive, by the aspect of this room, that there is no prospect what ever of that being diminished. (Vehement cheering.) I have now to thank you for your attendance, and in some measure certainly to apologise to you for being the cause of distracting you from the contest you are now so busily en gaged in, and also to thank you very cordially for the re ception you have honoured me with upon this occasion. Lord Francis resumed his seat amidst the most enthusiastic appluse. The Honourable RICHARD BOOTLE WILBRAHAM then rose to address the meeting, and was most warmly received. He could assure those present that he felt the greatest grati tude to them for having, in the midst of business in which they were so ardently engaged, given his noble colleague and himself this opportunity of meeting them It was not his intention, as it was not that of his noble friend, to detain them by any observations at present; therefore he would content himself with simply saying, as be felt himself bound to do, that he felt most grateful for the confidence which had been reposed in him, and he would assure his supporters that the sentiments which he had ever entertained towards them, and the principles he had ever held since he had the honour of being one of their representatives, remained perfectly the same. (Loud cheers.) He would not detain them any longer, but he hoped that this day they might perchance meet with as good a reception in the Exchange as those gentlemen had who opposed them. (Loud cheers.) Mr. IRELAND BLACKBURN inquired at what hour the noble lord proposed to visit the Exchange ? The CHAIRMAN replied, three o'clock. Lord F. EGERTON said he would here take the liberty of making one observation which had been suggested to him by one of his excellent friends below. He had taken measures for acquainting his committees in the various places in the county that an endeavour was being made by their opponents to split votes in favour of Mr. Towneley and himself. (Hear.) It was possible gentlemen might not have seen his sentiments; but he would state that he had communicated to them, that in his neighbourhood and elsewhere such endeavours were making for that purpose, and that in some instances it might happen, apart from other considerations, and out of personal regard for himself, gentlemen might think they would meet his wishes, and serve themselves with his respected antagonist, Mr. Towneley, by voting for both. He would venture to call the attention of electors to the circumstances under which his honourable colleague had come forward—that he had come forward not for the purpose of being a candidate, but to secure the triumphs of conservative principles by securing his (Lord F. Egerton's.) His honourable friend was present, and it was impossible for him, therefore, to call the atten tion of the electors to the manner in which his duties had been performed since he embarked in the undertaking. He was returned then by a triumphant majority ; and he (Lord F. Egerton) ventured to suggest that it was impossible for him, with a view to these circumstances, to consider Mr. Wilbraham's case as otherwise than absolutely identified with his own. (Loud cheers.) He could only say that he was not here for his own return only ; but ready to make any and as much exertion for his excellent colleague as for him self. (Cheers.) The meeting then adjourned till three o'clock, when the candidates and their friends proceeded to the Exchange. About half-past three Lord Francis Egerton and Mr. Wil braham, accompanied by Mr. John Moss, Mr. Sands, Mr. Robinson, and many other distinguished conservatives pro ceed to the Exchange. Rooms. They were there received with a most hearty welcome, which strongly contrasted with the melancholy greeting which awaited Mr. Townley on his visit to the same spot on Thursday last. Though the weather was by no means favourable, the immense multitude patiently braved the pelting of the pitiless storm, and ever and anon gave utterance to the most enthusiastic bursts of applause, in testimony of their concurrence with the senti meats of the hon. candidates' addresses. Nothing could exceed the ardour and devotion of the gentlemen present to the conservative cause, which must have been as gratifying to his lordship and his noble colleague as they were honourable to to those who evinced them. The candidates afterwards pro ceeded into Messrs. Sandbach, Tinne, and Co.'s office, which overlooks the area of the Exchange, from which it was at ranged they should address the assembled multitude. Lord FRANCIS EGERTON, having been introduced, was received with indescribable enthusiasm, which, having in some degree subsided, he spoke to the following effect : Gentlemen, I feel that I owe you some apology for bringing you here together on the present occasion, for I am well aware that you, or the greater part of you at least,—the voters for the borough of Liverpool—are engaged, and have your energies occupied, in a contest which, in importance, is second to none that can take place. lam sensible that all your energies are devoted to the task you have undertaken, and I feel I have to apologise for interrupting you for one moment from that task. (No, no, and applause.) But it may be necessary to state to you the fact, that when I came here this morning I felt that truth so much that I was un willing to bring you together. That was my view, and so also was it the view of those who more particularly have in terested themselves on my committee, but it did appear to those, to whose advice I always defer, that I should on this occasion endeavour to see some of my friends on the Ex change, and particularly those who have supported our con stitutional cause in the county election. (Loud cries of " hear," and much cheering.) I have, therefore, to ask you, knowing that your steam is up for another purpose, that when your vessel has arrived, as I firmly trust and believe she will arrive, safely in port—l say, I have to ask these who concur with me in the political views which have hitherto brought me into parliament, not to let their fire entirely go out, but to reserve some of its energies for the subsequent contest, which I am told awaits us in the county as well as the borough. (Renewed cheers.) Gentlemen, I need scarcely observe that this is a most important crisis, for rea sons of which you are already aware. (Hear, hear.) I have endeavoured to communicate to the county at large, briefly but fairly, candidly, and I trust temperately, such opinions as the county electors may have been in doubt as to my en tertaining upon subjects which partake anything of the charac ter of novelty since the last election. Of my general prin ciples which I confess have dictated my untiring but not factious opposition to her Majesty's ministers, and upon general subjects I have frequently explained. I have told the electors that they remained unchanged ; and if on these principles I cannot cemmand the same support I before ob tained, all I can say is, that it is not I who have changed, but the majority of the electors who have thought fit, for reasons honest and good in themselves, no doubt, to change. (Hear, hear.) If I could have at any time entertained Suspi cions that such a change had taken place in this quarter of the county. I confess that the reception I have experienced this day is not likely to confirm me in that opinion, or to increase my apprehensions. (Loud and protracted cheering.) Gentlemen, with regard to the other topics more particu larly brought under the notice of the constituency of this county at the present time, I have, as I have stated, informed those who may take an interest in them, what my views are. I do not think that this is an occasion, or that under present circumstances, I can enter at length into a vindication of my views upon subjects which involve a wide range of political economy. (Hear, hear, and great cheering.) It is some consolation to me to think, that however wrong I may be in the opinions I have professed, or however mistaken I may be, that lam at least mistaken in good company ; and it is also some consolation to me to think, that if on the present occa sion I lack time, power, and opportunity to explain, to vin dicate, or to express those opinions, there are others, at pre sent in this town, who have not been at all slow or languid in the execution of that task. (Hear, hear.) It is true that I have not been able to anticipate the canvass which has been carried on, but I have paid some attention to the speeches which have been made, and I think I may briefly express myself in this way, that in the opinions expressed by my noble friend (Lord Sandon) and his colleague in this town, on subjects of a financial description, I do most heartily and entirely concur, so far as I have seen them. (Hear , hear, and cheers.) It would have been a matter of satisfaction to me to dwell in some respects on the subjects in question, but when I consider the circumstances of the present moment, it is impossible, standing sheltered as I do, to detain you who are standing under umbrellas, on topics of corn and sugar. There is one circumstance, however, on which I have not length in my printed address. (Hear, hear, I did thinkopinionstha t the occasion a subjectss io cal called leading i m n ge forad t hnwedefreelcheers.) a ta I.ly expression of in terest, and I did believe that the constituency did me the credit of supposing that I still entertained towards her ma jesty's ministers those feelings of unmitigated opposition, which I always expressed. (Hear, hear, and renewed cheers.) There are various and multifarious subjects of interest in the present crisis ; and the question naturally arises whether I am right or wrong on the subjects of commercial policy. (Hear, hear, and long-continued cheering.) But that is not the only question. Another question is, whether the go vernment ought to be allowed to remain in office as 'a go vernment. It is a question whether their principles have been such as to justify the opposition I have endeavoured to carry out so far as my principles have allowed me. It is another question whether their more recent proceedings, and the mode in which they have introduced their measures, have been such as to warrant that retention of office to which they have so tenaciously adhered. It is my deliberate opinion that the ministry, in the course they pursued, have lost sight of the interest of the measures they professed to promote—that they have lost sight of their duty to their country and their duty to their sovereign. (Vehement ap plause, followed by a few faint cries of No," which were speedily drowned in a great burst of loud and indignant cheer ing.) All this opposition I am ready for at the proper time and opportunity. I am not so presumptuous as to say I can prove to your satisfaction, but I am ready to explain the reason on which I entertain those opinions. (Renewed cheers.) I think, and briefly I shall state, that with respect to the measures they have brought forward—that looking to the interest of advancement of those measures, they have brought them forward at a time when they were least likely to be discussed with that temper and moderation which could insure a satisfactory settlement. (Loud cheers.) I think with respect to the removal of the duties on corn, for in stance, that if their principles could be maintained, and that if they were so certain of the beneficial effects of such repeal, I connot tell why one, two, three, four, five, and six years ago they did not bring those measures forward, not in an obscure corner of the budget, but in a conspicuous place in a speech from the crown at the opening of the parliament. I cannot see how or upon what principles they have failed in this respect up to the present moment, or why they should introduce measures now, the advocacy of which they pro claimed heretofore to be nothing short of madness and cri minality. (Cheers.) With respect to the country, I think they have lost sight of its best interests in promoting those measures in a shape that was likely to agitate and convulse the country from one end to the other, without at the same moment being able to carry those measures to a satisfactory conclusion. They did not bring them forward in the hour of their presumed and boasted authority, when they had a majority in the House of Commons—(hear, hear)—when they could boast of their power and insult the we aker p art y with exhibitions of th e i r power ; but in the hour of their weakness, and in the last stage of their decrepitude, they throw their firebrands among the people, in the hope that the tide of agitation might float them along the stream of office and emolument. (Cheers.) It is upon these grounds that I think they have been false to the interests of the coun try. (Cheers.) I think they have been false to the interests of the crown. (A cry of " No, no," was here raised, but it was quickly drowned in an universal cheer.) And, though it rains, I call upon you for a moment to hear me why I think so. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) I think the best in terests of the crown are promoted by its union with the people, and I call upon sou to judge between two parties in this respect. There are honest hearts and clear understand- r ings In this crowd enough to enable me to call upon you, as a jury, to decide that question ; and I call upon you to be the arbiters for a moment between Sir Robert Peel and Sir John Cam Hobhouse. (Hear, hear.) We all remember the events of 1836. Sir Robert Peel was then called to the councils of the crown by his Sovereign, who, mature in years and experience, had tried the Whigs and knew what they were worth. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) He enjoyed the favour of a sovereign who never, under any circumstances, and with whatever party he acted, did other wise than give him his honest support ; but he was beaten in the House of Commons; and what did he do? (Hear, hear.) It is a matter of history now, for the sovereign who called him to his councils is dead. I did not see him clinging to office with tenacity I did not hear such words as these pass his tory lips in that 'hour of defeat and discomfiture—" I have lost the confidence of the House of Commons ; here I have been beaten; but I will protract my resignation, for I have the favour of the crown ; and, let me tell you, that is the best support a minister can have." No, gentlemen. He was beaten ; but he crossed the floor of the house with the ap plause of his enemies, with his honesty unimpeached, and his principles unimpaired, and he took that seat upon the other side of the house behind which three hundred gentlemen of England then, or at least since, have rallied round him. (Tremendous cheers.) It is from whig lips that I have lived to hear the doctrine that the support of the crown is the best support which a ministry could have—(hear) :—for those were the words of Sir John Cam Hobhouse, in a late debate; and, gentlemen, I call upon you to recollect them. (Hear, hear.) In my view, they call upon the constituency of this country to rise, like oue man, to displace from the neigh bourhood of the sovereign those who, if they hold such doc trine in the face of England's representatives, may instil doc trines into the ear of the sovereign which must be poiscin to that ear—doctrines to which, if the sovereign were to assent, the monarchy would be endangered to its foundations, and doctrines to which, if the people assent, they deserve not to be, what they have been, and what they are, the devoted and loyal subjects of a constitutional monarchy—sympathising with the prosperity of that government in the hour of Eng land's prosperity, ready to rally round it to the death in the hour of misfortune and of danger. (Great cheers.) I say they deserve to become not such as these, but the tax payers of a bey or a pacha, or the slaves of the palace fa vourite of the hour. (Loud and long continued cheers.) These are all grounds upon which I retain, I will not say, unmitigated, but increased—not any personal ran cour, for there are many among the ministry whom I esteem and regard for their talents and station, and for whom I have as much private regard as for any gentleman with whom I am politically connected, (hear, hear, hear), but these are grounds, I say, upon which I think I am justi fied in retaining, not only the unmitigated, but the increased political hostility against them which has actuated hitherto my course in parliament. (Loud cheers.) I have said it is not for me upon such an occasion as this to detain you from avocations which are far more worthy your attention than any thing I can occupy you with at this moment. I content myself with having briefly expressed to you my opinions upon the leading subjects which now engage attention, and with having vindicated upon this occasion the course which I shall think it my duty to pursue, should I have the honour of your suffrages. (Cheers.) Of that result I confess it is impossible for me to judge from any knowledge of my own, but, from the accounts I have received from those who have never yet deceived me, I confess, that either with regard to my own prospects, or those of my honourable colleague, I have not the smallest or slightest apprehension. (Enthusiastic cheer ing.) All I have to dread is, that too much security may be placed in the prospects before us. (Hear.) All that I wish to warn my partial friends against is, their indulgence in too great security, if they do me the honour to entertain the wishes they formerly felt and acted upon for the prevalence of conservative principles, for the triumph of that cause, in my very humble and unworthy person. (Cheers.) For your attentions, gentlemen, upon this occasion, I cannot be too thankful. The noble gentleman concluded by again thanking the meeting for their attention, and then retired amidst enthusiastic applause. Mr. R. BOOTLE WILBitAHAM then proceeded to address the people. He was loudly applauded. Considering, lie said, the state of the weather, it is not my intention to trou ble you long with the few remarks that I deem it my duty to make • but since you have done my noble colleague and my self the honour to meet us to-day under such circumstances, with weather as we have now, I cannot but express to you my gratitude not only for meeting us upon this occasion, but for that support whi c h upon all former occasions you have done us the honour to give to us. My noble colleague has gone rather more at lengU than I shall into the views with which we have b een ac td as opponents, generally speak ing, of the administration. (Hear, hear.) I can only add to what he has said, that my feelings have been equally opposed to their measures ; indeed, I have very little knowledge of them. But, as far as their measures have gone, I conceive that from year to year they have been getting worse. You all remember that they proposed to start their government, with the principle of non-intervention, with no patronage, and with controlling the public expenditure within the small est limits. (Hear, hear.) I ask you, gentlemen, if any of these pledges have been fulfilled? (Loud cheers, and cries of " No.") Do we not at the last moment see them jobbing and chopping ? (Hear.) What else is their appointment to the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland ? Do we not know that Sir John Campbell is put in only to gain the retiring pen sion. (Shame, shame !) At all events we see them jobbing and changing their offices as if they were going to have a te nure of them for ten years longer; whereas, I firmly believe, that on the very first day that parliament meets we shall re ceive their resignation. (Cheers.) I have, in my address to the electors of this county, explained my opinions upon the subjects on which this dissolution took place, but I beg to say, when I read the addresses of those gentlemen who profess to support the present government, I see they are talking about free trade and the doing away of protective duties as being the reasons why we are sent to our con stituents to ascertain whether those are the principles which they maintain. That is not the case. (Hear.) The reason is to ascertain what confidence the constituency and the conntry at large have in the conduct and principles of the present government. (Loud cheers.) I think, and I am satisfied it is the general opinion of the people throughout the country, that not only will her majesty's ministers dis cover that they have not only not the confidence of the late House of Commons, but that the country at large despises them and rejects them as being men of neither power nor pretensions to carry their views into effect. (Cheers.) It is unnecessary for me to go further now into this question. I have endeavoured, as I said before, in my address to the constituency, to point out what my views are, I will, there fore, only add, that I feel much obliged to you for your patient attention, and that I shall, upon all occasions, do my utmost to promote the conservative cause,—(cheers)—for I conceive that this country looks forward now to years of peace and quiet, and 'not to those restless times which we have had for the last ten years past. With that hope, I trust you will return your late members for this borough, and that my noble colleague and myself may receive the honour of your continued support. (Loud cheers, during which the honourable gentleman retired.) Three cheers were then given for Lords Francis Egerton and Sandon, Mr. Wilbraham and Mr. Cresswell, after which the meeting dispersed. MEETING AT THE AMPHITHEATRE OF THE TRADESMEN'S AND OPERATIVE CONSERVA TIVE ASSOCIATIONS. Last evening a most crowded meeting of the members o the Tradesmen's and Operative Conservative Associations was held in the Amphitheatre, for the purpose of meeting Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell. Amongst those present we observed Sir Thomas Brancker, James Aspinall, C. S. Parker, J. Parker, C. Bushell, S. Holme, Thomas Dover, John Shephard, Charles Lawrence, George Grant, H. Sandbach, John Wilkinson, Jas. Ackers, R. Houghton, James Proctor, J. B. Molyneux, Robertson Gladstone, Daniel Ledson, John Miller, Wm. Potter, R. Jones, jun., Thomas Toulmin, John Penington, Richard Bryans, John Carson, P. Wright, Dr. Hensman, Dr. Baird, M.D., John Smith, Captain Brassey, Joseph Cooper, T. D. Butler, A. Henderson, G. Green, jun., Peter Hope, Wm. Birkett, Thomas Muncaster, H. C. Chapman, Duncan Gibb, J. Booker, Thomas Jones, Thomas Lee, John Kilshaw, Cottingham Moss, J. Rowland, James Holme, John Moss, H. Banner, Adam Hodgson, David Hodgson, Dr. Stubbs, Dr. Pearson, Dr. Bickersteth, Alexander Shand, Joseph Ackers, and G. P. Walker. On the motion of Mr. JOHN KILSHAW, ALEXANDER SMITH, jun., Esq., Chairman of the Tradesmens' Conser vative Association, was requested to preside. Mr. SMITH having taken the chair, alluded to the manner in which he had been returned to the Town-council for North Toxteth ward, in opposition to Mr. Rathbone, and expressed his determination to suppost the institutions of his country both in church and state. (Hear.) He then re ferred to the admirable speech of the Rev. Hugh M'Neile, at the Operative Protestant Association meeting, and said that it had set the question of the corn laws completely at rest. (Loud cheers.) A PERSON from the gallery inquired whether the chair man would allow a voter to ask a question from either of the candidates? (Cheers, and some confusion.) The CHAIRMAN said he could have no hesitation in an swering the question. Ours was not the cause of darkness, and we were prepared to give a reason for every thing that we did. (Loud cheers.) Ours was a great cause, and he would tell the meeting what it was. We avowed ourselves loyal subjects, and supporters of the constitution in church and state ; we avowed ourselves to be friends of the Qreen, and anxious that her dignity and the constitution of the country should be maintained unimpaired. (Cheers.) We were, therefore, ready, not only to avow our sentiments, but to answer any questions as to them which might be pu t to us. (Cheers.) He was satisfied that the admirable speech of Mr. M'Neile must have carried the conviction, to the minds of all who had heard or read it, that the Anti-Corn- Law Leaguers, who had been agitating the country in com mon with her Majesty's ministers, had no other object in view than the filling of their own pockets, without caring one straw for the people. That speech had made it as manifest as anything could be, that the sole and only object which the millowners and the Anti-Corn-Law Leaguers had in view was the reduction of the wages of the operatives (cheers), and that without the reduction of wages it was utterly impossible they could reduce the price of the manufactured articles in which they dealt. (Cheers.) That point he considered as now settled beyond all dispute. The same result would apply not only to them, but also to another community. We had been told, that if the corn-laws were done away with, as a matter of necessity, a very large proportion of the land in this country must be thrown out of cultivation. (Hear.) What would be the consequence of that? There was abun dance of work and occupation for the mechanics and artisans of Liverpool in the town of Liverpool, but they were not left to themselves; they were interfered with by people from distant parts, and the consequence was, that those people, either by hook or crook, contrived to get such a footing in the town, which prevented the natives and those who had long resided here from finding employment. (Hear.) At this moment Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell entered the theatre. Their appearance created an immense burst of applause. The CHAIRMAN said the enthusiastic reception just given to Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell, was a convincing proof of the unanimity of the meeting, and of their anxiety to see these gentlemen again returned at the ensuing election. (Loud cheers.) The conservatives, as the meeting were aware, were opposed to the mischiefs which had been done by her Majesty's ministers : they had done everything in their power, from time to time, to oppose them, and at last they had succeeded in carrying a vote of censure. A new parliament had, therefore, been called, and upon the result of the elections which were about to take place, would de pend whether the past government remained in power, or whether the conservatives assumed the reins of state. (Hear.) Of the issue of these elections he had not the slightest doubt, and he believed that before we in Liverpool had commenced on Wednesday. we should have learned that Lord John Rus sell, her Majesty's secretary for the colonies, had been defeated. (Cheers.) He had no doubt that on that day we should find that four good conservatives had been returned to represent the city of London. (Loud cheers.) We were all aware of the manner in which her majesty's ministers had thought proper to support Mr. O'Connell upon every occa sion ; but he believed there were not many who were aware that they had carried their proceedings still further. He could not call Mr. O'Connell exactly a rebel, or the party to which he belonged in Ireland rebels. Within the last few days a letter had appeared in the Times, signed by Sir Francis Head, who was governor of Upper Canada when the rebellion broke out there. Sir F. Head was not a man particularly attached either to one party or the other, unless he had had opportunities of seeing in what manner the loyal subjects of Upper Canada conducted themselves upon that occasion, and he had thought it right and proper, and he (the chairman) thanked him for the manner in which he had opposed her majesty's ministers --to place upon record facts which shewed that not only was no encouragement given to the loyal inha. bitants of Upper Canada for risking their lives and property, in support of the government, but that one of those infamous individuals who really was part and parcel of the company who concocted the rebellion had been placed in the situation of solicitor-general to her majesty. (Heir, hear.) Was that conduct which would be applauded or approved of by the inhabitants of Great Britain ? (Loud cries of " No.") Was it not our wish to maintain loyal men—to grant to them not only support, but to grant to them every encouragement which the country can give? Ought we not to reward such men, in place of degrading and disgracing them ? But her Majesty's ministers had actually degraded the very people— the very people—and without whose support and as sistance at this very day the Canadas would have been in the possession of the tlied States. ^ (Cheers.) These were startling facts. These, then, were the ministers against whom we were arrayed, and he was satisfied that every indi vidual present, and every true British heart, would join with him in saying that this ministry did not deserve our confi dence—that the vote of the House of Commons was an ex cellent vote, and one which met our sympatky and our cordial approbation. (Loud cheers.) The chairman then expressed a wish that the electors would respond one and all to the calls made upon them, to support their late excellent representatives, and return then' by a larger majority to the House of Commons than before—for he should be sorry to find that either one or the other returned by a smaller. His conviction, however, was, that they would be returned by a larger majority. He trusted that the electors would return them by such a majority as would give effect and furtherance to the triumph which we should, no doubt, receive from London. (Cheers.) This would be the next election of importance to that, and he was satisfied that the results of both would be such as to satisfy Sir Robert Peel, Lord Stanley, and his noble friend at his right, who would undoubtedly fill a prom - Inea situation in thecoUncils of the country. (Cheers.) The chairman concluded amidst many cheers, by calling upon the first resolution. Mr. SAMUEL HoLme moved the first resolution. The contest in which they were about to engage was one, he said, of such permanent interest, that he would call on every one of his fellow tradesmen and fellow operatives to exert himself on the great occasion as if victory depended on his individual vote. The welfare of the nation, the happiness and security of their own domestic hearths, the glorious institutions under which their country had so long flourished, were all menaced. He therefore trusted that there was not a man present who would refuse to spring to the rescue, and who would not respond to the sentiment— " Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land." (Loud cheers.) The finances of the country were crippled at the present moment; their taxation was increased and their trade paralysed. It was high time, therefore, to take the helm of the state out of the bungling hands who held it, now, and to give it to those who had more wisdom, dis cretion, ability, and honesty. lie looked upon the present to be the fag-end of the reform ministry. They were some thing like an old quill which bad been worn to .the stump. Ten years since they could boast the names of Grey, Althorp, Brougham, Carlisle, Ripon, Richmond, Stanley, Graham, and Burdett ; but where were those men now ? Echo an- swered where. The present ministry were like tenants un der a process of ejectment, who had barricadoed the doors 'and windows and refused to give up possession. And some of them was peeping through the key-holeaud shoutingcheap bread ; another was shouting out cheap sugar ; and a third was lifting up a slate in the roof and shouting cheap timber. (Great laughter.) But the people were not to be gulled by cries of this kind, and they were loyal enough to stop the chimneys and to march them out. (Great cheers.) He (Mr. Holmes) had no inclination for things cheap and mus ty, for as far as his experience went, such things were never good—(cheers)—but if the conservatives got rid of the present bad tenants and obtained possession of their property the questions of cheap corn, cheap sugar, and cheap timber would be settled to the satisfaction of the country at large. He hoped the conservatives would not undervalue the exer tions of their political opponents. Sir Joshua Walmsley, he believed, would not be guilty of anything dishonourable, but he had lieutenants who would not stick at trifles to carry his ambitious objects. It was a maxim of the Duke of Wel- lington, when he was going to fight a battle, to make victory secure before he fired a shot. It was necessary that the con servatives should imitate the example of the great leader of his country in this respect, and not to he certain of their strength until the victory was certain. (Hear, hear.) The opposite party were going to tender the votes of the Protector Society, many of the members of which had gone to the Parish-office for relief. He hoped and believed that there was loyalty enough in England and in Liverpool to prevent the lofty plume of England from being bowed to the dust be fore the dragon of Rome. Mr. Joit( WILKINSON seconded the first resolution, and it was carried unanimously. Mr. DANIEL LEDSON having been called upon to move the 2nd resolution, was received with loud cheers, and spoke nearly as follows :—I never rose, sir, to address a public meeting in my life with greater pleasure, or with more heart felt satisfaction than I feel in addressing my brother tradesmen and brother operatives on this occasion. (Hear, hear.) We have met to express our warm acknowledgments to my Lord Sandon and to Mr. Cresswell for the very able and the very indefatigable manner in which they have repre sented our interests in the Commons' House of Parliament; —(loud cheers)—and I am sure it would be needless in me to call upon this meeting to renew that confidence which we have for so long a period reposed in them. (Cheers.) Sir, when I see myself surrounded as I am on this occasion, by the great wealth and intelligence of the town of Liverpool, I regret exceedingly that the resolution has not been placed in more able hands than mine; but, gentlemen, I trust you will bear with me a moment if I attempt, however feebly, to offer a few observations. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, our oppo nents have loudly proclaimed that we have arrived at a great crisis. We have, indeed, arrived at a crisis in political mat ters which the most speculative prophet of the future could hardly have ventured to anticipate. (Hear, hear.) We, the tradesmen and operatives of this town have assembled to express our decided and deliberate opinions upon questions which, in few former periods of our history, can we find a precedent or a parallel. (Hear, and cheers.) A ministry, gentlemen, which has continued in office by various shifts and stratagems since the year 1835, a minis try that has exhausted, one by one, all those thimblerig tricks which the good sense of this country has so frequently denounced. (Cheers.) A ministry that has sustained itself in office one day by concession to repeal ! and another day by encouragement to revolution. (Tremendous cheers.) A. Ministry which, in its utter weakness, has in one week stretched forth its supplicating arms to the conservative ma jority in its front ; and in the next in its utter imbecility im plored the aid of the radical mountain at its back ! (Renewed cheers.) This ministry, gentlemen, because of the consti tutional and manly stand taken by Sir Robert Peel, on the vote of confidence question—(cheers)—at last arrived at the end of its various resources, and, gentlemen, what did they ? Why, with th e country in the greatest state of excitement, with a deficiency in the revenue, and with dis content abroad, this ministry absolutely dissolved the parlia ment, but previously threw down on the political arena, as mere clap traps to the electors throughout the country, the three great and important questions of svgar, timber, and corn. (Tremendous cheering, and cries of hear, hear.) But gentlemen, as chairman of the Operative Conservative Association, if I know any thing of the character of the opera tives of this great town; if from the frequent demonstrations I have had the pleasure of witnessing, I may arrive at any opinion as to their character, I believe that nothing can be more hostile to their feelings than that which savours of subterfuge or deceit. (Load cheers.) To what else can this new-born zeal for the inter ests of the poor in the hearts of this philanthropic government be ascribed? (Hear, hear.) When the New Poor -law Bill, with its harsh and inhuman clauses, was under discussion, the amendments and sugges tions of the conservative members were met with contumely or indifference. (Hear, hear, hear.) The destitute poor are unworthy the attention of these liberty-loving ministers. (Cheers.) Cases of oppression are passed over with light-hearted contempt, and a cry of ex aggeration is raised—(h ear , hear)—but let this same mi nistry be defeated upon some favourite party project—let Lord Stanley quash their Irish registration bill—(loud cheers)—and immediately rises in alibis dignity, the right hand of government, my Lord John Russell, and, in his exceed ing sympathy for th e poor, proposes to take into considera tion the question of the trade on corn. (Great laughter and cheering.) But I ask you, gentlemen, notwithstanding the earnest and laboured protestations of ministers, if it was not a very sudden and a very suspicious sympat h y . (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, are they not the most wretched, the most im becile, the most vascillating ministry that ever this country was cursed with ? (Great cheerincr, and cries of " Yes, yes.") And now, after numberless defeats, they have given us an opportunity of turning them out (hear) ; and I believe that there is such a spirit aroused throughout the land—that there is so much anxiety to preserve our Protes tant institutions—that we shall be successful. (Tremendous cheering.) Gentlemen, in reading Sir J.Walmsley's speech, I was very much plea se d to observe one remark which he made, and which was the greatest compliment he could have paid to our glorious cause—namely, that he had not called upon a single conservative elector from whom he had not met with the greatest civility and kindness. (Hear, hear.) Sir Joshua having thus stamped the characte r of gen tl eman (hear, hear) upon every conservative elector, I trust that you, my Lord Sandon, and you, Mr. Cresswell, have received the same civility and kindness from our opponents, and that you will be able to return the same compliment to the oppo site party. (Loud laughter.) Gentlemen, her Majesty's ministers started with professions to carry out reform, re trenchment, and peace (hear, hear) ; but, I ask you, have they carried out the se great pr i nciples to your satisfaction. (Loud cries of "No no.") I apprehe n d, th a t i n th e o bj ec t of reform, it neve r was intended to subject this and other towns to a political party or a religious faction ;—(cheers)— and as to retrenchment, gentlemen, I shall only refer you to the eloquent and splendid speech of the great conservative leader, Sir Robert Peel—(immense cheers)—in which he places the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the ludicrous and perhaps in the eyes of the ministry unenviable position of sit ting on an empty chest by the side of bottomless deficiency, and fishing for a budget. (Great laughter and cheers.) I have only to refer you to the deficit of two millions. (Loud cheers.) As to peace, gentlemen, the angry and menacing attitude of France holds out no prospect of a renewal of our commercial treaty. (Hear.) The imp r i sonment o f M`L eo d still cries for notice ; and notwithstanding all the promises of a negociation, the China question remains nearly where it was. (Loud cheers.) G e ntlemen, I would h ere s i t d own — (cries of " No, no") — but I shall still trespass upon your time a few moments, and trust I shall be excused in attempting to offer a few observations upon the much agitated questio n o f th e corn-laws. (Hear, near.) G entlemen, I quite acknowledge that a free importation of corn into this country would enable the poorer classes of society to obtain it at a much cheaper rate. I have travelled a good deal, although a very young man, and I have had considerable experience. I quite admit the arguments of theAnti-cornLaw perhaps, Leaguerst enable hatthe the im portation of corn in this country would, poor man to purch ase it at it cheap rate ; but if we are to have a free importation of corn let us have free trade alto - b ea r, from Lord Sandon.) When I was gether. (near, abroad I purchased a bat that would have cost here 21s. for 7s. 6d. I also purchased a good suit of black clothes for £2 18s, which would have cost here from £6 to £7, and a of pair s h oes, wh i c h would have cost here s p m ethi ng lik e • 12s, for ss. 6d. (' con t en d, Hear, hear.) No w , I that if the free benefit the p oor man, so like wisefree importation would the free of corn i mportation of all these articles of dress. But then comes the questi on w h ere i s the money to purchase the(H e poorar , and man c h e t o e r s.) find the tailor, the hatter, articles d ic t l h es e ferhoomemthaekecromntuisntenc whatpete with the importer of these must must ce the wages of thei r wor k men they do ? They reduce (Tremendous other night, applause.) I happened is in f aed t t a o cr ta y k f e or o l p ow a h a o -a o g k es t . he more than one-half, therefore, you see, g en tl emen, the cry for cheap bread legibly inscribed, that in th e year 1 8 00 and I saw there very e o d s t a o ti g s o fy to th p e r o w s s a i n a t . s o ( e o a u r r . or 1801 there was a very great scar c it y o f corn in this country, and that w i e n re o c r o d m e; starving people we hear.) We went to Prussia, and the Prussians certainly did business with us, but they took care they did not receive our manufactures in return for their corn—(hear)-- took our money for a duty p orit, moreandoo.o i thantof 8 that, s.o b m e e fo a ise or th e. ey s ( h H i e p o p r e . d ) the corn they laid corncont l i a n n e d n s continental to e b r e s w And so it would be ag ain if the people o f thi s country were starving, if we are to be beholden Itfo ther oo for our supplies. (Hear, hear.) thrown out of cultivation, you may depend upon it the nation would be in a position ten times worse than it is now. (Ap plause.) Ido not know whether there are any coopers pre sent ; but as I happen to be a sprig of a cooper myself, I can give you my testimony as to the effect of free trade. (Hear.) I dare say you know what shooks are. Now, it is a very re markable fact that s hooks have will b as e k en an im y p o o o r o t p ed er tporeasgerhetat ex- tent into Liverpool; and whe ther he supposes he can compete with the price at which they are imported—is it not impossible for any master tradesman _,~.~ to compete with them ? There is not a cooper who may not earn 4s. or 6s. a day if he chooses to work hard, or from £2 to £3 a week, but his wages would have to be reduced to 2s. 6d. a day, or we should not be able to compete with the continental importers. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion, I must say, that I entertain no fear whatever for the result of the great contest in which we are about to engage. (Cheers.) Sir, I am persuaded that there is sufficient loyalty throughout the land, that there is sufficient anxiety to protect the reli gion of the land as by law established, that will enable us to place at the helm of the state a good Protestant conservative government. (Loud cheers, the audience rising as one man.) And then, gentlemen, we shall be sure that peace, and pros perity, and happiness will once more pervade this empire; then shall we he satisfied that a new and lively impetus will be given to the commerce of the country : then shall we know that this nation will once more take its stand, unrival led, among the nations of the world; then shall we know that her Majesty will be surrounded by wise and faithful counsellors, and by an administration that will likewise pro tect the just and legitimate rights of all her subjects. (Re newed cheers,) When we have a Wellington—(cheers),--a Peel—(cheers),—a Stanley—(cheers), —a Graham—(cheers), —a Sandon and a Cresswell—(renewed cheers),—and a Glad stone—(loud cheers)—in office, then may we congratulate ourselves that the people of this great country have boldly. firmly, and nobly done their duty. (Great cheering.) And I, sir, will become the guarantee that the operative conservatives of Liverpool will stand by their declara tions, to which they have attached their names, which is their " fixed determination to maintain the tried and ancient principles on which the constitution of our country is founded, and resist all measures by which the necessary connexion be tween the Established Church and the State may be severed or relaxed—by which the dignity of the Monarchy may be impaired, or its existence endangered—by which the privileges of the House of Lords, as an independent branch of the Le gislature, may be virtually annihilated, or the deliberate powers of the Commons' House of Parliament become fet tered or controlled--as they are convinced that on an united and energetic support of these authorities depend the con tinuance of social order. the security ofproperty, and the in terests of religion." Mr. Ledson concluded, amidst loud cheers, by moving the second resolution, which declared the unqualified approbation of the meeting of the parliamentary conduct of Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell, and particularly of their zealous exertions upon all occasions for the interest of the town ; and that, therefore, the meeting would use all constitutional means to secure their return at the approaching election. Mr. EDWARD HITCHCOCK seconded the resolution which had been proposed by Mr. Ledson. He had mever, he said, been more gratified in his life than in being selected to second the resolution they had heard read, and which had been so ably seconded by the worthy chairman of the Opera tive Conservative Society, Mr. Ledson. Lord SAN DON then rose to address the meeting, and mat with a most cordial reception. This, he said, was a most gratifying sight. It was a gratifying sight to those humble individuals who had come to render an account of their stewardship, which they had discharged since last they were chosen to represent this important community in parliament. It was gratifying to their personal feelings, but still more gratifying to those feelings which they entertained in common with ourselves for the defence and support of the general interests of the country, to find their constituents not dis satisfied with their discharge of the duties they had then undertaken, but that they were satisfied they had been faithful to their charge—that they had fulfilled the pledges they had given, and that their constituents were disposed to entrust to them for another period of time the great interests they had so long had under their care ; but it was still more gratifying to find that they were still as deeply attached as ever to those great principles which had first recommended them to their notice—to those principles of constitutional liberty and attachment to the throne and the Church, which were the principles which bound and knit together, like one common thread, every class of society, however various their interests, their affairs, and their habits of life. (Great applause.) It was, indeed, a proud thing to see that in this part of the country, at least, we had no reason to think that the attempt to set up one class against another, to wage war in the name of one class of society against another, to sow the seeds of dissension and disorder, to raise the poor against the rich, to raise the towns against the cities, to separate, to disunite, to disorganise society, had in any measure been successful in this great community. (Cheers.) It was in , deed gratifying to find that the cause of the land was under taken not by the rich, the great, the noble, nor by the landed proprietor, but that it was defended with ability, zeal, and knowledge of the facts by merchants, trades men and operatives ; to find that they were fully sensible how close was the interest which united each—that the land could not flourish without commerce, and that commerce could not flourish by the destruction of the landed interest. (Hear.) It was gratifying to find that there was in this great town of Liverpool that warm feeling for our fellow-country men, which would not induce us, for the sake of some tem porary and fictitious advantage, to desire the destruction of their interests, although her majesty's ministers were de sirous of sacrificing them for the encouragement of our foreign trade. (Hear, and cheers.) We were not disposed to sacrifice the interests of the landowner, the farmer, or the labourer, or of all those trades more immediately connected with the agricultural interests ; neither were we desirous of sacrificing the interests of our manufac turers which were connected with the supply of every comfort to the internal districts of the country in the hope of being able to secure, though he believed only for a short time, the advantage of a trifling degree of cheapness in the cost of bread, purchased at the price of dependence upon foreigners, who would be sure, as we knew by experience, to deprive us of that advantage whenever they wished to dis tress us in a time of war, or tax us in time of peace. (Cheers.) It was, indeed, gratifying to find that this cru sade which her Majesty's ministers had undertaken had been frustrated, and that it had been as Quixotic as it was mis chievous and iniquitous. It would, indeed, be hard to ex pect that men so enlightened as those whom he saw around him, who saw the advantage to be derived from internal in tercourse between different parts of England, and between England, Ireland, and Scotland, between England and her colonies, and her East India possessions, should be inclined to embark upon a crusade against all those great interests, in the hope of securing a very uncertain, and increasingly de pendent foreign trade. (Cheers.) We here, who sat at the door as it were of Ireland, and were interested or profited by the intircourse with Ireland, felt for the interests of the sfster country if we had no feelings for England, at least we should be anxious to do justice to Ireland, and not over turn the great staple of her employment. (Hear.) There was no material manufacture in Ireland but the manufacture of the productions of the soil. Our reports of corn from Ire land had increased from the value of £3,000 a year at the period of the union to the value of nearly four millions; there was an immense milling interest there exporting near!) , two millions of hundred weights of flour annually, and we must not forget that we daily saw parading through our streets cattle, sheep, and pigs, butter, flax, and tow, whieh were feeding the populous districts around, and for which was borne back a source of wealth to that unhappily dis turbed, but, he believed, still improving country. We should not, he was sure, be inclined to disturb the great interests of that country, which were now drawing about twelve millions a-year from the advantageous markets which they found in England and Scotland. (Hear.) When people talked of " justice to Ireland," they forgot these things. They forgot that the first want of the people of Ireland was bread and food ; and if they were deprived of this great market, by which alone their industry was encouraged, a population pour already, but still improving in condition, would be reduced to the most abject beggary. Then what would be the result? Unsettled she was now, though improving in condition, but what would be the result then ? Increased disturbance from disaffection and poverty at home, and a still greater in pouring of hordes of wretched and impoverished Irish, to fill our manufacturing and commercial towns, draining and swamping the labour of our own people. (Hear, hear.) Therefore, in justice to ourselves as well as to Ireland, we were not inclined to embark in this crusade of her Majesty's ministers against the productions of British and Irish industry. These were things which apparently the gentleman who pro fessed to be the representative of all Ireland never thought of. (Hear.) He always was talking of " justice to Ireland," but he (Lord Sandon) taxed his memory in vain, since he had had a seat in parliament, for one single practical measure for the advantage of his fellow-countrymen which he had even introduced. (Hear, hear, hear.) He had talked much about their rights and their wrongs, he had endeavoured to excite the hostile feelings of the peope against those whom he called " the Saxon," and he had endeavoured to make it impossible that any English capital should go there, and an Irish gentleman feared to reside upon his own estate—yet he talked of " justice to Ireland," although he had done every thing in his power to retard and impede the progress of its power. (Hear.) The noble lord then referred to the state. ment that, under the existing system of the corn laws, the trade of the country had dwindled. He denied the asser tion, and proved from statistical documents, that from 1833 to 1839, the tonnage of shipping had increased no less than 14,000,000 tons ; that in 1832 the official value of our exported manufactures was sixty-five millions, but that in 1839 the official value had reached ninety six millions ; that in 1832 the real value of our ex ports was thirty-six millions, whilst the real v alue in 1839 was fifty-two millions. as this evidence of a declining trade ? Was this such a destruction of our commercial and manufacturing interest as to make it necessary to try a most fearful and ruinous experiment upon our other interests ? (Cheers.) The noble lord, after observing that he and Mr. Cresswell had received the utmost courtesy from the electors who opposed them, referred to the connection of cheap bread with low wages, and again demonstrated that one ine vitably produced the other. After some powerful observations, for which we regret we have not space, upon the course taken by the manufacturers in the present agitation, and a vivid contrast between the condition of their workpeople and that of the agricultural labourers, with respect to the care taken of them by their employers, the noble lord de scribed the constitutional use which the ministers were making of the name of the sovereign to further the agitation now goiag on, and the course which the conservatives had often been compelled to take during the parliament just ended, in defending the roini.tei hum their own friends. (Hear.) He next referred to his own conduct in "the house, and said, that though more ability might have shewn in the service of the constituency he could not accuse himself of any want of a desire to offer them his best exertions. He hoped, in conclusion, that to-morrow we should form a magnificent and orderly procession, abstaining from any outward demonstrations which might irritate those who dif fered from us. But beyond the procession to-morrow, he called upon them to be early at the poll on Wednesday, so that we might take the lead from the beginning, and keep it. The noble lord then thanked the meeting for their attendance, and retired amidst loud cheers. Mr. CRESSWELL then rose, and the cheering was renewed. If he had come to the present, their last assembly being their appearance on the hustings, and had found a diminu tion of the numbers or of the warmth of feeling which had greeted them on the Monday preceding, he might have considered that their adversaries were boasting with something like truth upon their side, and that tkey felt strong and confident in their success. But when he remembered that, full as their assembly was on Monday and warm as they had found every room in which the electors were assembled during the week, he could not but think that the present meeting was composed of a coneregation of all whom they had met elsewhere. It seemed as if all Liverpool had been thrust into one house, and he assured them that he felt for the position in which many of them were placed, considering the small space in which they were compelled to stand. (Hear, and cheers.) He rejoiced to see such an assembly on the termination of the canvass; for there the labours of their candidates should close, and the exertions of the electors commence. [(Hear, hear.) Their enemies had attempted to mislead they judgments, and to excite their prejudices against different classes ; and he confessed that he had come to the meeting on the p re ceding Monday, im pressed with much anxiety on the subject, because he knew how difficult it was to reason with multitudes o f men labour ing under a rooted prejudice. He recollected the madness that prevailed some nine or ten years since for a reform in parliament, and he also remembered that wh atever might have been the wisdom or the prudence of suc h reform,ulterior t measures were in the hearts of those who excited the people to the state of phrenzy which then existed and w.hi gered the very throne itself. (Hear , hear.) At th e at time they had neither the honesty nor the courage to propound those measures, but they had kept t hem back until they thought they had a parliament that then it was suit edthat their purpose, and would carry their objects into effect ; and Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham awoke from their trance, saw to what end their co lleagues were driving, and honourably made a sacrifice of their personal feelings upon others. (Cheers.) Then discovering, the true principles it was that a strong co con servative alliance othe allianc . e was formed, at the head of which was an honourab e trio, composed of Sir Robert Peel, Lord Stanley, and Sir James Graham who, he trusted, would shortly rule the destinies of England. ' (Loud cheers.) When be recollected the delusion which bad ex- ii isted at the time of the reform bill being mooted, he began to fear lest the delusions which ministers were spreading before the people would not be discovered. And on what ground did they rest them ? or why did they attempt them? Simply because they regained strength and were unable to carry on the government as it was unless by sacrificing the great interests of the country. (Hear, and cheering.) At the solicitations of the mill-owne r ; they stated that their manufacturing brethren were starving, ; and that the trade of the country was paralysed ; but his (Mr. Cresswell's) noble colleague had placed before the meeting a few figures which showed how these matters really stood. It appeared per fectly manifest that the manufacturers Lad glutted all the markets of Europe, and that for some years to come they could not expect the state of things to be changed, and the cause of all this seemed to be that several entered in to trade some time since, seeing the profits of the manufacturer to be so enormous, by which these markets became over stocked. And these were the very men who now cried out for the destruction of the agricultural interest, with a view to their own benefit. (Hear, hear, hear.) They called the landowner a " bloodsucker," and a " vampire/' and they held him up to detestation; and why? simply be cause he pointed out their follies when they endeavoured to procure the destruction of his interest for their own advance ment. (Great and protracted cheering.) He (Mr. C.) begged to ask those who used hard names, whether it was ever ne cessary to pass a statute with a view to keep the landowner in order? (Hear.) He also begged to ask whether it had ever been necessary to appoint inspectors to look after agri cultural labourers, or to prevent children from being marked by landowners for more than twelve hours a day? (Hear, hear, and cheers.) No; it never was ; but such had been the case as it respected the manufacturers. Where, then, was the boasted humanity of the latter, or where their regard for the poor, who had to be protected, not by the ma nufacturers, but by paid inspectors appointed for the purpose. But they wanted, forsooth, to introduce foreign corn and cheap black bread into England, in order to benefit, as they called it, the community, in which case, foreign governments, as the Prussian government had done, might impose a tax on grain ; or the people of foreign countries, as the inhabitants of Bordeaux had done lately, might rise up and tumultuously prevent, for fear of causing a famine among themselves, a shipment of flour to England. And here he begged to draw the attention of the meeting to a proclamation which had been issued by the King of Naples, in the December of 1838, of which the following is a translation : . " Naples, Ist December, 1838. "'Having perused with much attention the reports made to us by the ministers of the borne department, regarding the short crops of grain and pulse in our kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and likewise the report respecting the export that has already taken place and is still in progress, which may be followed by serious evils to the public subsistence. " Having further observed the high prices paying for all sorts of grain, we haie by the advices of our secretary of state for the home department, and the ordinary council of state, resolved to issue the following degree, viz., " I. The export of all kinds of grain and pulse is hereby suspended, in consequence of our royal determination from all our royal dominions, from the date of the present decree. " 11. Our secretaries of state for the home department and finance, each according to the virtue of his office, is to see that this decree is immediately enforced. (Signed,) " Palermo, 27th November,lB3B. Why should not any other foreign king, he should like to know, issue a decree similar to this, and in times of peace too? (Hear, hear.) And if such decrees should happen to be issued, with our lands out of cultivation, and the peo ple without food, then would it be for the millowner to talk of his love for the people, and then would it be for the inspectors to protect the poor, not merely from being overworked, but from the famine also. He (Mr. Cresswell) had lately told the electors, that if the landed interest was destroyed, the founded interests of the country would not long survive ; that if the value of the land was lowered, if the mortgagee could not obtain his interests, and that the poor-rates, the highway-rates, the church-rates, and the tithes remained unpaid, that neither could the interest on the national debt be discharged, and that an attack would be made on the creditors of the nation. He little thought at the time that his words would so soon be verified. The attack kad commenced already ; it might startle, but it was, nevertheless, a truth, that the cry of " Down with the national debt," had been raised at the present election. He had read that very day in the newspapers a copy of a placard which had appeared at Bath, to excite the people in favour of certain candidates, in which the following words ap peared :—" Cancel the national debt, and free trade, cheap bread, and plenty will be the result." (Hear, hear.) And it went on to call upon the people to establish anti-national debt leagues in every town. What did the meeting think of this state of things ? The money placed in the savings banks, and which had been collected from various parties—he hoped from thousands of those whom he had the honour to ad dress—had been placed to the amount of millions in the funds, and constituted part of that national debt, which the advocates of cheap corn were desirous of expunging. (Hear and cheering.) The working classes and the trades men were, therefore, to go, and the gentry, who were the home consumers of our manufactures, were also to be swept away ! Could the party have devised a more attroci ous scheme for reducing the country to an absolute state of ruin than this of abolishing the national debt. It had been the first scheme of those who caused the revolution in France, the effects of which t tat country had never yet recovered ; and the fact showed that he (Mr. C.) was fully justified in having predicted such an event as the consequence of the measures produced, because even already it had been nropounded as the natural concomitant of them. (Long continued cheers.) Why, if they were to abolish the national debt they ought to abolish debts alto gether and say that there should be no debts throughout the land. Why should they not have an universal destruction of all ledger accounts? (Hear.) Why not have cheap bread and cheap goods of all kinds, and no payment for them ? (Applause, and great laughter.) Why not have all their fountains flowing with wine, and the compass of their streets running with beer, and no payment? (Hear,:and laughter.) Who would be so base as to pay ? The nation doesn't ; why then should the public ? Why talk of a national debt or of a national church ? Down with the national debt I Down with the church! Down with the poor rates 1 Down with taxes ! Down with titles I Such should be the cry of the party. Such might be, and such would be, the effect of the abolition of the national debt, for then anarchy, misery, and de gradation, lower than that which had visited any nation, would befal the country. (Applause.) After an energetic Peroration, in the course of which the learned gentleman in culcated the necessity of preserving peace and good order during the election, Mr. Cresswell resumed his seat amidst thunders of applause. A vote of thanks was then presented to Mr. Smith, for his conduct in the chair, and the vast assembly dispersed. " FERDINAND°. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LONDON TIMES. Sir,—The approaching dissolution of parliament, remind ing electors, as it does, of their privilege in possessing the franchise, calls on them also to exercise it conscientiously. To those who acknowledge it a duty to do so I address myself, in the hope of inducing them to agree on some terms of union among themselves, and on some stipulations with candidates for their votes which shall regard the good of their country rather than the support of party. It is, I assume, a point on which, in the abstract, there will be no difference of opinion among us, that what the Holy Spirit spake to David is applicable now as formerly— namely, that " he who ruled' over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God ;" and that the rule by which Jethro advised Moses to be guided in his selection of members of a legislative body is that by which every sensible man should, as far as possible, be actuated at the present day—that is to say, he should " provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness." Do you think that the members of the present House of Commons would ever have obtained a seat there if their con stituents generally had regarded this rule ? Do you not think that if you had done so, many worthier men would have been found in it ? Are you everywhere so few as to have no influence ? Have you ever really tried to exercise it ? Is it an obsolete or an unchangeable truth, "Tim that honour me I will honour? and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed?" Or is it inapplicable to politics? What are politics but the application of moral principles to ques tions affecting large sections of mankind? And if so, when the moral system of legislators is unsound, their measures must be unwise, and their country, to a great extent, un happy. Now, though this unhappiness may be traceable immediately to their misgovernment, is it not ultimately to your unfaithfulness in choosing them to govern? God's glory having been disregarded in your choice of legislators, God's blessing has been withheld from the policy of the un godly objects of your choice. You may say you have peti tioned from time to time for what is right, but have seen your petitions as so much waste paper, and deservedly. Your representatives may read your wishes in your petitions, but they learn your resolutions from your votes. Comparing them together, they justly infer, that measures are less im portant to you than men, and act accordingly. You assume that you cannot find such men as you would wish to see in parliament ; or that it would be hopeless to bring them forward as candidates if you could find them. Without stopping to inquire how far your assumption is correct, you cannot deny that you may, if you please, annex conditions to your votes, and agree among yourselves what those conditions shall be. Let me not hear in reply that the system of pledges is bad, and that our reprenstatives ought to be perfectly free to exercise their judgment as they think fit. I rejoin, that a pledge to follow a certain leader (which is freely asked, and freely given) or to vote according to instructions from constituents, from time to time, is bad : but a pledge that not merely principles, but measures which you clearly see to be required by the state of society, shall be advocated by those who are to represent you, is reasonable and constitutional. To make a man pledge himself to the maintenance of your unexpressed opinions, or to the advocacy of undefined measures, is indeed to make him a delegate ; but to require his support of those which are avowed is in volved in the very idea of a representative. And not to do so, is to violate a trust to please an individual or support a party. I ask, then, fora union which " glory to God, and gc. will to men," shall be the basis ; and certain measures (to be agreed on) the immediate object. Neither principles nor propositions separately will do. Principles alone will be too abstract, propositions too unconnected, to ensure extensive co-operation or practical good. We have the former already in the Christian Influence Society ; the latter in detached portions in various associations of men. But these, from their disjunction, are feebly supported; and those, from their apparent vagueness, unpopular; and so, little is done for either. Their respective supporters are beaten in detail by the common antagonists of all. But if they who profess to be actuated by the principles above mentioned would cordially support every measure fairly deducible from either, while some might lead in one thing, others in another, the success of this unity of purpose and effort might be as striking as the failure of insulated efforts now is. Inferring present duty from the application of principles to circumstances, I should say that religion requires the recog nition of God's will by the state, and, therefore requires also church extension, and church efficiency too.; scriptural edu cation, the honour of the Lord's day, and the abandonment of all legislative connexion with idolatry, both at home and abroad. Patriotism requires that men should be ipso facto disqua lified for a seat in the legislature, who will not deny the vali dity of declarations and decrees which authorise the persecu tion of heretics, and mental reservation in taking an oath. It is not enough that they profess their abjuration of such doctrines ; they must formally deny the authority of official documents which propound them. The insufficiency of the general disclaimer, and the necessity of a formal denial of authoritative decrees are unanswerably proved by O'Connell's declaration on Mr. Colquhonn's motion. " I abhor the in tolerant and perfidious maxims imputed to us. I believe all that is taught at Maynooth." Now, it is well known that the persecution of heretics, and the invalidity of oaths con trary to the interest of the Romish church, are taught there. Humanity requires that, in legislating for the poor, they should be cherished as brethren, not cast off as an incum brance ; and therefore that they should not be allowed to be immolated to avarice, as they now are under our w or kh ouse and factory systems ; that oppres s i on should be prevented or punished in our colonies. and that worst form of it, slavery, energetically thwarted wherever our influence can be exerted for its depression. Though, for distinctness sake,t I have pl ace d th ese mea sures under different heads,is plain th a t th e " g l ory o f God and good will to men" l concur in requiring them all. What, then, can be. more unseemly than the union of com passlion for children in factories with oppression of the poor in workhouses ; or, conversely, ardour in behalf of the poor, with insensibility to the misery inflicted by the avaricious head of a factory or tyrannical possessor of slaves? Or what more offensive to the Most High than countenancing idolatry to propitiate isolators, discountenancing religion to fyk "1 • - , • • • , • ; •.; .44 " • " N please the covetous, or voting the public funds indifferently for the propagation of truth and error? The result of this preference of policy to principle is, first, a blight on it from God, and then disappointment and discredit before men, disunion in council, and irresolution in action; place eluding one's grasp, near in prospect, but far front possession. I would just remark, that if some of us are right in infer ring from certain " obscure passages in Revelation" (as they are called by Mr. Ward, M.P., who deprecates in applica tion to " our miserable politics," intimations which he would indeed prize if they did but originate :n human sagacity in stead of Divine foresight), that lawlessness, with all its at tendant evils, is lowering over Christendom, it is peculiarly the duty of a Christian patriot to bring his religion to bear on his politics ; that, whatever may befall society, he may Jit least have the consolation of reflecting that he has neither given just cause of discontent to his fellow-men, nor pro voked God to leave him undirected or unsupported in the time of trial. If, thee, principle be any thing more than a mere term with you, do refuse your suffrages to the as serters of privilege above law, to the advocates of the inter ests of the sick before the rights of the poor, and to those who, excluding religion from politics, are careless whether they honour God or not, provided they strengthen their party. And do unite in each constituency, and agree on cer tain measures—measures as well as principles—the advocacy of which shall be indispensable conditions of electoral sup port. If you cannot get all you would, you will get a good deal if you speak clearly and stand firm. Candidates may affect the magnanimous, and eschew pledges. I suspect, however, that they will descend from their loftiness, and give a few, if they can obtain a considerable increase of votes by doing so. And then we may have the happiness of better legislation than we have had lately, if not of better legisla tors.—l am, sir, your obedient servant, Portsea, June 3. EDMUND DEWDNEY. THEATRE-ROYAL.—Last night the performances were under the patronage of Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell. The house was brilliantly and fashionably attended—a strong contrast with the bare benches of Friday night, under the distinguished countenance of Sir Joshua Walmsley. The members were loudly cheered on entering and leaving the house. In "As You Like It," Mr. George Vandenhoff played Orlando very cleverly ; Mr. Vandenhoff Jacques, and Miss Vandenhoff Rosalind. The performances went off ex tremely well. NEWS FROM AMERICA.—The packet-ship George Wash ington, which left New York on the 7th inst., arrived here on Sunday evening. A correspondence bad taken place be tween the British minister and the secretary of state for the United States. The former gentleman demands the imme diate liberation of 111`Leod, but the secretary proceeds in reply to state at great length the reasons which bad influ enced the President in refusing to comply with it. The news from England, taken out by the Acadia, which arrived at Boston on the 3d inst., produced an unfavourable effect on the New York market. ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION OF LORD SANDON AND MR. CRESSWELL ON THE CORN EXCHANGE.-011 Friday our excellent and distinguished candidates proceeded to the Corn Exchange, accompanied by Sir Thomas Brancker, where they were greeted with the enthusiastic applause of the assembled body of the merchants of the port, in a manner so hearty as to prove to the most fastidious observer that their late votes and proceedings in the House of Commons had met with the warmest approbation of their enlightened constituency. His lordship and Mr. Cresswell acknowledged the compliment paid them in the most respectful and heart felt manner. The cheering continued during the whole time that they remained in the Exchange conversing with their friends and acquaintances, and was redoubled with energy and animation as they proceeded through the spacious struc ture. THE ELECTIONS FOR LANCASHIRE.—The writ arrived in this town on Friday night, and was immediately read, and the nomination fixed for this morning, and the polling for to-morrow. The elections for the various boroughs in this county would, in all probability, have taken place a day ear lier, but Sir George Grey having, early last week, been ap pointed to the Chancellorship of the Duchy, in the place of the Earl of Clarendon, appointed Lord Privy Seal, the seal of the office, which is deposited with the clerks of the crown, in Preston, had to be sent to London, for the formal confer ment of the office on the new Chancellor. When, therefore, the writs reached Preston, on Thursday morning, the seal was not at hand ; and it was only returned on Friday morn ing, about eleven o(clock. No time was, of course, lost in affixing the seal, and issuing the writs immediately. TESTIMONIAL OF ESTEEM.—On Tuesday last, about 30 gentlemen sat down to a sumptuous and elegant dinner, given by Mr. Singleton Cooper, on his taking leave of his friends previously to his retirement from business, on which occasion a handsome service of plate, consisting of tea-pot, sugar-basin, and cream-jug, was presented'to him, as a tes timonial of respect and esteem for the manner in which he has conducted himself as a gentleman and as an honest and straightforward man of business ; also, a handsome bible and prayer-book, as a further testimony of his painstaking advocacy for the spread of sound and genuine Protestant principles. Many neat and appropriate speeches were de livered in the course of the evening; and se earnest and co gent was the reasoning of most of them, that one gentleman, who had hitherto been in the ranks of the radical party, manfully avowed the recantation of his principles, and stated that he would henceforward become a conservative of a de cided character. LAST GLIMPSE OF TIII PRESIDENT.—The packet-ship Orpheus, Captain Cole, which sailed hence on the 11th of March, in company with the ill-fated President, arrived yes terday from Liverpool. Captain Cole had the last glimpse of the steamer on the morning of the 12th of March, the day before the most terrific gale that ever blew on our coast. Nothing has been heard or seen of her since that morning, unless the wreck seen by Captain Bowman was her. Many and many a person will remember that dreadful gale which raged, for two days, the 13th and I4th of March, strewing the broad Atlantic for miles with spars, masts, hulls, and wrecks, of all kinds. Captain Cole said he never experienced such another. So strong did the wind blow that it took the sails furled tightly on the yards of the Oxford completely off, and tore them into rags. And Captain Comstock, of the steamer Massachusetts, who was in Long Island Sound on the first night, reports that he never passed through such a night. That he and all his passengers were saved was a miracle. Several of the passengers say that they are indebted to the skill and coolness of the captain for their lives. We give these facts to show the severity of the gale the President, with her heavy, bulky machinery, had to encounter when only two days out.—New York Paper, June 1. The population of Preston is now 51,000. FATALITY OF THEATRES.—Drury-lane was built in 1662, destroyed by fire in 1672, rebuilt in 1674. and burned down three years after. It was again burned down in 1809. Co vent-Garden Theatre was built in 1783, and destroyed by fire in 1808. 11er Majesty's Theatre opened in 1704, and was burned down in 1789. Pantheon, Oxford-street, built in 1772, burned down in 1784, and eight years afterwards was again destroyed by fire. Surrey Theatre destroyed in 1805. Royalty Theatre burned down in 1819. English Opera-house destroyed by fire in 1830. NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING.—The power of the journalist is immense. Experience enables us to assert confidently, that twenty thousand addresses, printed separately, and cir culated with the utmost energetic diligence, would not pro duce the effect of one advertisement.—New Monthly Ma gazine. - - A magnificent building has recently been erected at South Shields, which is to be consecrated for the performance of religious service, according to the rites of the Roman Catho lic church. Three hundred years have elapsed since the abo minable delusions of Popery were advocated in this town ; and the attempt to erect a Catholic church would have sig nally failed in this instance, had not the subscriptions been vastly increased by the misplaced liberality of several wealthy Protestant gentlemen. - Paris, it is hinted in high quarters, is soon again to become the scene of festivity, in consequence of the marriage of a member of the royal family. The exalted personage alluded to is not the Prince de Joinville with a Princess of Holland, but the Princess Clementine with the brother of Prince Albert, consort of the Queen of England. The King and Queen of the Belgians are to grace the nuptials with their presence. Their Majesties are expected in Paris in about a month hence, and preparations are already commenced for their reception at the Tuileries. Mr. George Stone, of Taunton, solicitor, retired to rest a few nights ago, but could not sleep, through indisposition. He therefore occupied himself in reading a newspaper until two in the morning. when he extinguished his light, and soon heard a cough in his room. This alarmed him, and he continued to lie awake for some time. At length, however, he fell asleep, but was roused in about ten minutes after, by hearing the newspaper rustle. He sprang up, and perceived a man creeping from under the bed, who eluded his grasp, and succeeded in getting clear off. It would seem that the fellow had secreted himself for some villanous purpose, and when he found the day breaking, thought it necessary to make a bold escape. EXTRAORDINARY INGENLITY.—We noticed in a para graph under this bead, a short time since, a very clever little piece of mechanism—a model steam-engine, then to be seeu in a shopwindow opposite the Eastern Institution, Commer cial-road East. Stimulated by the approbation bestowed on him by several eminent practical engineers, who examined his first model, the inventor (a watch-maker) has attempted, and indeed succeeded in producing an engine of much smaller dimensions than the one previously noticed : and is the same window may now be seen one of the most extraordinary pro ductions of modern times, vix., • working model steam engine, the weight of which, including engine, boiler, safety valves, fly-wheel, stop-cocks, feed-pipes, and all the other et cetera:, does not exceed three pennyweights. The cylinder is less than the 16th of an inch in diameter, and it has been calculated that the fly wheel makes upwards of 500 revolutions in a minute. MURDER AND RETRIBUTION.—A soldier of the army in. Algiers, named Jugla, having in one of last year's expedi tions received a wound which rendered amputation of his left arm unavoidable, was when recovered discharged from ser vice with a pension of 360 francs. He returned to Paris, his native city, and was received by a maiden aunt, named Guery, living on the Quai de Bethune, who, though her earnings were not more than enough for her subsistence, gave him board and lodging. Jugla, instead of endeavouring to con tribute towards their joint support, became dissolute, and gave his hostess repeated cause of complaint by coming home intoxicated. On Monday night he was in a worse state than ever, and used coarse language towards his benefactress, who, though late, was still working for his maintenance. She re commended him to go to bed, but as he persevered in his un grateful conduct she was provoked to say she would no longer converse with a drunkard. This reproach so exasperated Jugla that he drew a knife, stabbed her in the side, and was preparing to repeat the stroke, when she escaped, ran down into the porter's lodge,.and there fainted. A surgeon was called, who dressed her wound, and she is likely to recover. The nephew, brought partially to his senses by the struggle and the outcry raised against him, and struck with remorse. threw himself from the window in the fourth story, and would have come headlong to the pavement, had not his fall been shortened by a balcony on the first floor, the rails of which he broke, but as he rolled inwards he lay between them and the window. The inhabitants of the apartment were out of town, and had not left the key. Jugla, therefore, remained on the balcony till a ladder was brought, when he was taken down and carried to the Hotel Dieu, where he expired in a few minutes.—Galignani'r Messenger. BIRKENHEAD AND CHESTER RAILWAY. (FROM GRANGE-LANE STATION, BIRKENHEAD•) MORNING. 10 minutes before 8-20 minutes past 9-20 minutes past 10, in time for the Crew Train. AFTERNOON. 10 minutes before 1-10 minutes before 3-20 minu tes p ast 4 20 minutes past 6-13 minutes past 7, (Mail Train , first-class only, and will not stop on the road)-20 minutes past 8, (FROM BROOK-STREET STATION , CHESTER.) • MORNING. Half-past 5 Mail Train, and will not stop on the Road—Half-past 7, half-past 9, and half-past 10. AFTSRNOON. Half-past 12 o'clock—half-Pas t 2—half -past 4—half-past 6--half. past 8. The Steam-packet will leave the George's Pier, Liverpool, at half. past 7,9, and 10 o'clock in the mornin cl g ; ock i and the half-past 12 and half-past 2,4, 6, 2 0 min utes to 7, and 8 o'n Evening. r t— IR b s e s f s sox l , will n CHESTER 2 : 0 as m itno i p, n u o t n First st hpeas Class, and will not oasd.-13 minutes t SUNDA Y TRAINS.—FROM BIRKENHEAD. M o rning, 20 minut es p ast 8-10 minutes to 10. past 7. sna il train'. ' Aftern°°n. 1° Ini Pi u rs t t e p s l C a. a Morning, 30 minutes s top on the road -9 o'clock. Afternoon, Half-past 1,5, and H. George's Pier, Liv erpoo l , a t e i g ht we T lo h c c k S . t a ea n m d h P aif ac . k pa et s w t o 'e ,elock in the morning, and half t ime one, and five o'clock in the afternoon.