The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-22 00:00:00

* * t er to Feet'nd to OW to tho peepls of this country. (Loud cheers.) I see here that these warm conservative feelings are not to be extinguished for one moment ; that what may be called their death-bed repentance and their con vulsive struggles in the throes of extinction will not wipe out of your recollection those many and deep delinquencies which earned for them not only the mistrust, but I em bold to say the contempt of the people of this country. (Cheers.) I see that the Brazilian is not to be tempted by the offer of the admission of his sugars ; that the warehouse keeper is not to be tempted by the bribery of increased burdens for his were houses, that the people of Liverpool arc not to be bribed wholesale by offers, the solidity of which may be well doubted, but which at any rate would be a poor exchange for the loss of their liberty and their religion. Cheers.) Gentlemen, you are not inclined to sell, the people of Liverpool are not inclined to sell, the birthright of their liberties and their re ligion for the mess of pottage which they have offered. (Hear) In an assembly like this it is difficult to go into the question of free trade, into the question of the corn laws. It is a question too abstract, and too complicated, requiring a detail of too many figures, and reference to:too many facts, to be properly fitted for diecession in a numerous assembly like this; hut, at the same time, as it is made the stalking-horse, and is to be the only. stalking-horse of this election, 1 think I should not be entitled to pass it by without at least eorr i le nde lit tler notice. (Cheers.) I mi g ht shelte r myself simply under authority upon this question. I might shelter myself, as I have done in the addre , s which I have put upon the walls, upon this question under the great name of nu monopolist, that that of your great rep re s en tati v e , Mr. Huskisson ; might ' shelter myself under the name of Lord John Hassell himself (hear, and cheers); I might shelter myself under th e u th o rity of Lord Melbourne (groans) ; I might shelter myselfa under the authority of Sir Henry Parnell; I might shelter m y s elf under the authority of a very large proportion of those who are now crying down as ignorant bigots all those who do not defer to their present opinions. (Hear.) I am un willing to trespass upon you with reading anything, it l but per haps you will allow me, and particularly will be excu se d in Liverpool, if for a moment I read you a passage or two from the sentiments of your former repieseroative, Mr. Hus kisson (hear) : " The history of the country " he says, and no man was a better judge upon this question, or less favourabl e t landed interest. " for the last seventy years clearly proves othe on the one hand that cheapness produced by foreign i m p ort is the sure forerunner of scarcity ; and on the oth er t h at a steady home supply is th e only safe foundation of steady and moderate prices." He then goes on to say that— " During upwards of one hundred years. up to the year 1765, the import of foreign corn was restrained by very high duties. What was the state of the country during these one hundred years ? That in ordinary seasons our own growth supplied a stock of corn fully ample for our own consump tion ; that in abundant seasons, we had some to spare, which we exported ; that in bad se as o ns we f e lt no want , and were under no apprehensions ; that the price of corn seldom vari ed more than a few shillings per quarter ; that we had no years of inordinate gain to the farmer and starvation to the consumer ; that prices instead of rising from year to year, were gradually diminishing, so that at the end of this long period of a century, daring which we never imported fo reign corn, they were actually one-fifth lower than at the beginning of it. , ' (Cheers.) I will not go through the whole of his statements, but I will just add one or two points of peculiar application to this occasion. He says, . " The country which depends on enemies or rivals for the food of its people, is never safe in war." They talk of war as if it was an impossible contingency. Let those who say so look at the experience of the past year, when the whole trade of the country was paralysed by the apprehension of war, and when the trade of this town was peculiarly paralysed by the possibility of war with the United States. (Hear.) We are told that one of our argu ments is mere clap-trap, namely, that wages are not in any way dependent upon the price of corn. It is possible we may be wrong—at any rate, we have authority for our opini ons in Mr. Huskisson, who says, " Wages would fall even more rapidly than the price of bread." (Loud cheers.) I will not trouble you with more than one short extract from the opinions of Mr. Huskisson ; but I think we have a right to say, if we are mistaken—and 1 do not mean to say it is not possible we should be mistaken upon this question, for it is one which men of the largest minds and of the most enlightened views have differed, and I do not think we have a right to dogmatise—at the same time, no person is entitled to treat us as ignorant bigots when we can quote such opinions as those I have quoted. (Hear, hear.) I may, too, surely quote within the walls of Liverpool the opinions of the president of the United States, who, only two years ago, said in his message to congress that " that country was indeed wretched which depended for its food upon foreign supply." (Hear, and cheers.) But, how ever, 1 do not come here to fight the battle of a sliding scale of duty. It is possible we may be wrong, and that a fixed duty will be better. The opinions of the ablest men have varied upon this point from time to time, and I am not pre pared to dogmatise. (Hear.) But I may nevertheless be allowed to quote the opinions of Mr. Huskisson upon this subject. In 1828, when the very law which is now in force was under discussion, these were his opinions : " An hon. gentleman had spoken in favour of a fixed duty. Abstractedly, that might look well enough ; but when they regarded the circumstances of the country and the wants of the people, they would see the impossibility of adopting such a principle. If a high permanent duty were imposed, then in periods of scarcity the poor would be exposed to sufferings and miseries, the infliction of which, no claims for protection on the part of the home corn-grower could ever justify. For the advantages then which the grower foregoes, when corn is high, by the admission of foreign grain, he receives compensation by the imposition of a high rate of duties, when corn is at a low price, he receives, in fact, only that re muneration to which he is justly entitled. When legislating on this subject, they were bound to look to the different and varying circumstances of the country, and the wants and ne cessities of its inhabitants. A permanent fixed duty was therefore out of the question." I do not say upon this question that it is not possible Mr. Huskisson and others who supported his opinions m ght not be wrong; but at any rate we do not err in bad company, when we have such opinions to warrant us in considering a fixed duty not the best. (Hear.) Gentlemen, how is it possi ble, that without protection of some sort or other, in sonic shape or smother, the grower of this country can compete with the Polish or the Prussian peasant? (Hear.) You have seen it stated upon the walls of your town, what are the wages of that peasantry. You have seen it asserted, and the assertion is perfectly correct, for I have read it myself in the documents returned to the House of Commons by our con suls in those countries. that in the town of Dantxic the wages of labour are one shilling a day, and in the interior of the city not one half of that sum. (Hear, hear.) Now, gentlemen, are you prepared upon this statement to cry out ' cheap bread? (Cries of " No.") Are you prepared to em bark in this crusade against your own domestic interests, against the interests of your own brethren, against the inter ests of the inhabitants of the same soil, against the mterests of those who are of the same blood, of the same feelings, and of the same religion, merely because a big loaf is hung upon a pole instead of a little one ? (Cheers, and cries of " No.") We are told that if you will only admit foreign corn an unlimited prosperity is to be the result, that your workshops are to be full, your spinners are to be employed, and that you are to have nothing but the glad voice of prosperity around you. (Hear, hear.) I have taken the trouble of looking at the report of the commissioners sent to inquire into the condition of that most depressed and suffering class of our fellow countrymen, the hand-loom weavers. This report is drawn up by strong anti-corn law parties—by men who were determined to draw an argument in favour of repeal whithersoever they could find it; but at the same time they candidly and frankly admit that with regard to the hand-loom weavers, let the corn laws be altered or not, their circumstances will in no way be improved. Here are the expressions they use : The nature of their employment has created their po verty, and it would keep them poor if the market of the whole world were open to them."—Page 66. Now, at the same time that these very same authorities are no doubt paraded in the streets of Bolton, Ashton, and all the weaving towns of this county and Yorkshire, andindeed every where, proclaiming cheap bread and prosperity if they would only support persons who will vote against the corn laws, there are upon the records of parliament the opinions of these commissioners, who were sent to look minutely into the question, and who were strong advocates for repeal, but who were obliged by the force of facts to confess that no altera tion would benefit their condition,—that their poverty had arisen from the peculiar circumstances of their trade, carry ing on an unsuccessful competition with power-looms and machinery, and which, so long as it existed, no alteration in the corn laws would enable them to benefit by. (Hear.) Now, gentlemen, let me ask you, have the corn-laws really been the cause of the present distressed state of trade ? (Cries of No.) Nobody can dispute that trade is distressed in an uncommon degree who is acquainted with the circum stances of the great manufacturing districts of the empire ; but are the corn-laws the cause of that distress ? (Hear.) The Chamber of Commerce at Manchester, who seem to think that they are entitled to dictate to the whole empire what is best for their own interests ; who invade you by rail way, and employ lecturers to speak in your public places, and even endanger the peace of the town, by exci ting agitation upon a matter which must deeply interest the feelings and passions of the people—(cheers)—these very same Manchester gentlemen only in the year 1839 assigned a totally different cause for tiie distress which now, for the moment, they wish to impute to the corn laws. (Cheers.) It was only in the year 1839 that the Chamber of Commerce at Manchester drew up a report attributing. the whole or nearly the whole of the distress which then existed and which has continued too long, to the action of the Bank of England upon the . currency—to the alternate stimulus given by the cheapness of money, and the contrac tions which the bank caused when its own bullion was in danger. (Hear, hear.) The same circumstances cannot he attributable to two different causes. Either they were wrong then or they are wrong now. (Hear, h ear .) Th e f act i s, that when they want to make out a case against any particu lar law, they attribute all the evils of the country to that law, and here they have unscrupulously made the same facts to bear upon two such different objects as these. (Cheers.) I believe that the real cause of the distress of the coun t ry, a great extent, is the rapidly-increasing fictitious capital— (hear, hear) — which has been created in th e manufacturing districts. (Hear, hear.) There has been too much artificial capital created in the c ountry ; and these veryspinnerswlue would ruin every interest but their own, have become share holders in banks ; the j oint- st ock banks have furni e d them with capital; in time they have become debtors to the banks•, thus they have been enabled to build mill after mill, and gone st on b e producing more than th e whole marke t of the world ever-stock every market in the worl d. they country have mu " the whol e could absorb, and then they say , thrown into confusion that we m a y find market s t o carry off the result of our own over-produ ction. " (Hear, and great applause.) With regard to this very cotton manufacture, which is the most important branch of the whole trade of the country and of Liverpool, what are the facts? H as the cotton trade been falling off or not? It has not : it has been continually increasing up to the present time. (Hear, hear.) I have got the facts here, and it is inoet desirable that you should not lose sight of them; they are these: — Quantity of Cotton Wool taken for Home Consumption durin g the last ten years, reduced to bags of one uniform weight of 300 lbs per bag—say per week — in._ 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 Bags.. Kei 18,756 20,088 1n.... 1 836 3 17,138 18,330 1838 1839 1840 Bags. • 22,239 9 1 3 83 4 7 7 R 27 438 23,0b8 30,089 Makin g a n increase of 82 cent. within !en te years—(hear, hear) ;—aid be not far from these gentlemen, within years, have mills, they think they doubled the production of cottons from their world because all the world are entitled to quarrel with all the e world will not take all that they think Proper to manufact u that all the world would re! (Loud cheers.) I wish heartily take it, that they might go on from year to year in mo re time, I think they can not P rapid rogression - ; but, at the same comm erce fettered, because they do not find the wants of consum ers quite keep ' , m with the rapidity with which the cotton manufacturers of Manchester and the neighbourhood are able to supply the markets "keep . (Hear, hear.) We are told by them,with da i the ;b u r t e .o. st th o e f r th c e ou w n o t r r l i d es . True, we do manufacture ag i e a e c a e t Well, just let us see if the fact be so. are gaining upon us." The noble lord then read the following document ; Statement showing the Consumption Great of Cotton Wool, or ye c a ompared wits Great rather the relative proportions, Bri tain, taken is averages of three years, and assuming in each tain at 100. average the consumption of 182Gto 1829 to 1828 1831 1832t0 18 1835 to 1838 to Great Britain 1 00 100 100 France 33}- 32 Continent of Europe 2O 21 21 23+ 21 France and Continent together „,, , „ „ eo 52t 53 56i 53 United States ~ France, Continent, and United States 76 70 74 781 754 So that you see we more than keep our place when compared with the nations on the continent, that the United States only has gained in some degree upon us; but that in the last nine years they have made no play against us. The whole re sult is, that having began with England as 100 is to 76 com pared with all the countries which I have mentioned, we, at the end of this period of fifteen years, are at 100 still, and they having begun at 76 are now at 75i, so as to the whole manufacturing power of the world, England occupies the same place which she did fifteen years ago. (Long and loud cheers.) But, gentlemen, we cannot promise always to keep this place. It is impossible to say that the result of continued peace, the continued accumulation of capital, and all the energies of foreign countries diverted to their internal improvement, shall not ultimately in some degree prevent us from keeping the power of manufacturing for the whole world which we en joy. Ido not say we have no right to expect it ; we cer tainly do keep our ground in a most wonderful manner, but if we are not able to do so against all other nations, I do not see what right we can have to complain. Gentlemen, if we arc to keep our trade and commerce in a healthy state, I think we must have a steadier government than we have had for the last ten years—(ehrers)—a government upon whore pledges and promises some reliance may be placed, who will not quiet any one branch of trade one year by giving them reason to think it will not be touched, and the next upsetting it root and branch. (Hear, hear.) We must have a government who know their own thoughts, who will not make pledges and promises and then break them. (Cheers.) You must have a government that will watch carefully the proceedings of foreign countries, that will watch with more activity and more closely than the present—the late government i was going to say—(loud laughter)--but it ie all the same—the proceedings of foreign countries, that will not allow British navigation to be thrown out of the trade of Spain, Portugal, or the Havannah, that will not allow a blockade of Mexico and Buenos Ayres to be established for two long years — (cheers)—that will not allow the north-eastern boundary of North America to remain unsettled for years at the imminent peril of our peace, that will not allow the internal affairs of the Canadas to be untouched until insurrection breaks out, and our finances are burdened by the ex pense of an ultimately necessary, but in the beginning perfectly unnecessary war. (Immense cheers.) We must have a government that will not leave the representative of the crown in China for two long years without instructions, although he wrote time after time for instructions on the great question or the introduction of opium, which he'saw would come on. (Ilear, hear.) No ; we must have a government with foresights to see the cloud in the horizon before it bursts out into a storm. (Loud cheers.) We must have a foreign secretary who is not engrossed by the political bobby of the day, but who thinks it worth his while, as well as his duty, to watch over the interests of British commerce. (Great cheering.) Gentlemen, I need hardly go much further into questions of this nature. They are not the questions which will determine your votes at the election. You will not, if you should differ from me upon these questions, throw over your conservative feelings; you will not abandon every other question of infinitely superior importance, be cause upon this one doubtful question of political economy it is possible you mAy think us wrong. (Hear, hear.) I have touched, in some degree, upon the corn question, but in a place like this I must not forget two other question which have been pressed upon your attentions. With regard to the question of a reduction of the duty upon foreign sugar, it is a painful thing for the representative of a mer cantile constituency to be compelled, by circumstances, to place himself at variance with the opinions, interests, and wishes of any portion of his constituents, to be obliged to weigh in the balance two interests, both of which he repre sents, and to be compelled to give a preponderance to one in some degree to the detriments of the other. Such cases will arise, and when they do arise, we are bound to give a fair and manly opinion on the question—(hear, hear,)—and not for the sake of getting a few votes, or avoiding a little oppo sition, escape, if possible, from the responsibility which a prominent policy upon great commercial questions involves. (Hear.) It no doubt was grievous to me to be obliged to interpose in the way of the interests of the great Brazilian trade, but at the same time, there were great and paramount considerations in my mind, which made it impossible for me to give those interests that predominance which, from their importance, they naturally might demand. (Hear.) But I think that we who took this part cannot fairly be blama ble for having maintained the ground which we all main tained unblamed last year, when there were circumstances of greater temptations to depart from the principles we asserted. (Loud cheers.) Last year the government 'Aid it down that the public feeling would not permit it whilst the experiment of growing sugar by free hands in our own colo nies was going on, to give encouragement to slave-grown sugar. (Hear, hear.) Are we to blame if we maintain that opinion which the government maintained last year, but which from circumstances of known but unexplained neces sity, they have departed from in the present session? (Hear.) With regard to timber, I think a noble friend of mine has said in an address to the electors of Lancashire, it appeared to have slipped, by consent of ministers, through a hole in the bottomless budget. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) It has slipped out of sight—it is no longer mentioned :it was thrown out, and though a very heavy article, it did not catch popular attention, and consequently it was allowed quietly to drop. But I think we should not allow it to drop into obscurity so very quietly. I think ministers should not be allowed to play with great questions, or disturb great in terests, unless they have made up their minds that they will adhere to the principles they set out with ; and unless they have some chance of carrying these principles, they should not propose diem. (Hear, hear, hear.) They should not rashly unsettle great interests, or disturb the established channels of industry ; for the first object of a com mercial man is to know whether the trade he has to deal with is secure; and it is of less consequence to him what the principles of it are, than that those prin ciples should be steadily maintained, so that he may know what to reckon on in all his calculations. (Hear, hear.) 1 think we should not disturb this timber question. It is a question which shows more than the others the per fect incompetency of her Majesty's ministers to govern the empire. (Hear, hear.) Whatever the abstract merits of the question may be, if it is desirable to disturb such a vast coloeial interest, to ruin so important a branch of British shipping, if it were desirable to throw out of employment so many British sailors and so many British shipwrights, if it were desirable to strip one half of your docks of so large a portion of their activity, and to deprive the emigrants from this country who, pressed by necessity, go to seek a happier fortune in a country where there is more room for expansion than in this, of that easy, cheap, and frequent intercourse with our Canadian colonies which the timber trade affords, yet, still I say the incapacity of these men to govern the country is proved by their choosing a moment like this for threatening to withdraw from the Canadas the essential and great staple of their commerce with us. This, I say, is the most convincing and damning proof of their utter unfitness for their office. (Cheers.) Why, gentle men, when Lord John Russell mentioned it what did he say himself? He said he had letters groin Lord Sydenham, the governor of the Canada., and you know the circum stances of the Canadas, that we are trying there a new constitution, that we have not yet launched the new as sembly, and that the united province is still suffering from the withering effects of rebellion—yet this is the moment chosen for endangering the safety of their great staple trade. [Hear, hear, hear.) Lord John Russell, I say, said himself that he had received letters from the Governor, in which he stated that the touching of the timber trade would greatly embarrass the government. (Hear. hear.) We have learned since that that embarrassment is not a vision ; we now know the feelings of the Canadas upon this point. Here is a report from the Chamber of Commerce of Quebec, which thus ex presses the feeling of the colony : " At a moment when the province is slowly recovering from the withering effects of two attempts at rebellion, when the experiment of a new form of constitutional government is about to he tried, it seems most impolitic further to unsettle men's minds by the agitation of measures which, if adopted, would infallibly deprive many thousands of their daily bread. Great and leading interests of those colonies, and of the mother country, are encouraged and maintained by the tim ber trade. It affords extensive employment to British ship ping, is a nursery for British seamen, promotes emigration, settlement, and agriculture, and opens an extensive market for British manufacture." Extensive indeed, for if we look at the calculations we shall find that Canada consumes between £4. and XS. worth of British manufactures Der head yearly, whilst France takes only from 2s. to 35., and the rest of Europe a smaller por tion, not worth notice—(bear, hear,) —certainly, the portion which the Baltic can take from us is not worth comparison. (Cheers.) The report goes on : " Abandon the timber establishments of the British North American colonies, and England will at once become entirely dependent on the will and pleasure of the northern powers of Europe for her supply of timber—a fact which, in the time of need, might jeopardise the very existence of her right arm—her navy." And again they say, "The board has observed with deep regret and alarm cer tain evidence regarding the timber trade of the British North American colonies given last session before a select com mittee of the House of Commons on import duties. Much of that evidence is characterised by the grossest ignorance, or what is worse, by the most shameful prejudice and partiality." This is the feeling which the Canadians have themselves shown before they knew the government proposed it—when it was only threatened by the report of the Imports Com mittee of the House of Commons. (Hear, hear.) But at this moment, in the present state of the colony, to withdraw from it the great stsple of their commercial existence, seems to me an act of madness that even exceeds the folly of the attempts they have made with regard to foreign sugar. (Loud cheers.) The mention of the Import Duties Com mittee calls to my recollection the proceedings upon that commitiee : it just reminds me of the confidence you ought to place in the predictions and assertions of these free trade gentlemen. There were two gentlemen, very well known cer tainly, Dr. Bowring and Mr. M'Gregor, who gave evidence before that committee upon the whole system of our com mittee, and I must say evidence more loose, more rambling, more conversational, more varying within itself, and among themselves, I never read upon any occasion. (Hear, hear.) What are their statements ? To recur for a moment to the corn laws, as incidental to what 1 have been saving. Dr. Bowring tells us that England is taxed to the amount of eleven millions by the corn laws ; that sounds pretty well, and it is a tolerably heavy imputation, but what says Mr. M'Gregor? Why, he says that England is taxed to the amount of more than one hundred millions by the corn laws ! (Hear, hear, hear.) When doctors disagree among themselves, Doctor Bowring from Mr. M'Gregor, who ought, if he is not to be a doctor, he is so dogmatical, who must decide the question. I, for my part, think the best course is for every p , rudent man to say " I b e li eve neither one nor the other. (Laughter and cheers.) The question before you with regard to commerce even, is not the question of monopoly ; it is not the question of a sliding scale of corn duties, nor ene of a fixed duty, but th e ques ti on really at issue, with regard to commerce, is this,—will y ou , or will you not, have any protection for domestic and colonial industry? (Cheers.) Because, although government pretends to maintain the practice of protection, the language they themselves hold, and still more so, the language of their sup porters, must infallibly lead to the abolition of every ray of protection. (Cheers.) They tell you, and you know it is their language undisguised—" We will not rest till we have torn every rag of protection both from our colonial and our domestic industry." (Hear, hear.) You must be prepared, if you embarlc in this crusade, to abandon your coasting trade as well as every other branch of industry to the foreigner, for upon what ground, if you say the protection of any interest is only robbing one party for the benefit of ano ther, upon what principle, I ask, will you reserve your coast ing trade to British navigation? (Hear, hear.) Upon what principle is the consumer in London to have his goods brought from the north of England in British vessels, when he can have them an much cheaper by Norwegian vessels, unless there is some reason in the argument of those who say we have a right to protect our domestic interests, and that the principles which concern the prosperity of the nation arc not those only of buying in the cheapest market and sel ling in the dearest ? (Cheers.) 'We insist be prepared to carry these principles into effect, and ask the silk manufac turers of Macclesfield and Manchester whether they are wil ling a o n tt y in d g ia h t a y m ;--, ( that the silk manufactu res o f F rance should c hear)—we must then ask the laceu' e the hatters o( Newcastle, and the shoemakers of Stafford, and eve r y o th er i n t eres t exc ept that of a portion of the cotton trade, are they p repare d forthis come in n weavers without of Nottingham, free trade without protection ? You will find that they have each some reason to assign for their exception. Now is it not true, unless you are prepared to go the whole length either of a reduction of taxation or the abolition of the pay ment of the dividends upon the national debt, that if you do away with protection entirely, you cannot carry out the prin ciple, unless, indeed, yeu carry it out with most gross injury and intuatlee to a lariea and Important part of the population (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, although in a town like Liver pool, and upon an occasion like this, it is necessary to enter upon these questions and discuss them, yet these are not the main questions, as I have said before, upon which the elec tion will turn. What are you electing your representatives for ? Are you electing them simply for a single question ? Will a vote upon one question be the whole amount of duty which your representatives will have to discharge ? Is it a single year's service they are to give you? No; you are electing your representatives for seven years certain, or pos sibly for seven years, to vote on all great questions con cerning '-our deepest interests, the interests which are dearest to your hearts, the integrity of the empire, and the maintenance of your church—(loud and continued cheers) —concerning the independence and dignity of the throne— these, 1 say, are the questions for which you are electing representatives, these are questions which must survive any temporary agitation upon one or two commercial topics. (Hear.) It is for these questions you are electing us, not for those which are put in the foreground with the object, if possible, of making the constituency forget themselves. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, you must recollect that you have con demned governments for the way in which they have meddled with the education of the people; you have considered their scheme for this purpose unwise and uncalled for. They retain the same feelings, the same wishes; the snake is only scotched, not killed ; and if you choose to elect represents- tires everywhere, merely because you want free trade in corn, you will have these attempts upon your religion and your establishment, renewed, and renewed too with double force, if the constituency of the empire, in their search after free trade forget higher and more enduring considera tions. (Cheers.) A VOICE.—Why did not the government pass these free trade measures, when they had a working majority ? (Loud cheers.) Lord SANDON.—The observation of the honourable elector is perfectly correct. If ministers really thought these mea sums so necessary to the interests of the country, how is it that this new light has broken in upon them only at this mo ment? (Hear, hear.) If they really thought these questions of the importance which they now pretend, why did they not bring them forward when they had some hope of power to carry them ? (Hear, and cheers.) Why did they only bring them forward when, according to their own confession, with regard to the roost important of them, they had not the slightest expectation of earrying them ? (Hear.) Gentlemen, I am really afraid of wearying you by dwelling so long upon this subject—(cries of " go on,")—but I think I may be al lowed for a moment to advert to the candidates who are now opposed to us. Of course I mean to say nothing against the individual private character of either. With regard to the gentleman who belongs to this town, I am sure I have not one word to say against him : the representation of his native town is an honour of which he is naturally ambitious, and if he succeeds it will be rather owing to his private character than to your approbation. With regard to the other candidate— is he a candidate? (Laughter.) There seems to be some thing peculiar in the soil of Liverpool • no other soil that I know throws up phantom candidates ;—(hear and eheers,)— they seem to be indigenous to the soil. I wonder how it fruc tifies so as to produce them ! (Hear, hear.) I once had some friends at Tiverton, and I believe I have some still. I happen to hold in my hands an address "To the independent electors of the borough of Tiverton," signed " Palmerston." Is it the same candidate ? Surely the same gentleman is not soliciting the suffrages of my old friends at Tiverton, and of my present friends at Liverpool? (Hear, hear, and laugh ter.) But I suppose it is. Perhaps he thinks he has not a very good chance here, and it is well to secure a retreat elsewhere, in case he should be beaten. (Hear, hear.) But I do not think that a gentleman who treats you in this very cavalier manner, who does not think it worth his while to solicit your suffrages, and who has so little hope of securing them, that he seeks a retreat in the bosom of a small con stituency, is very likely to obtain your suffrages. (Hear, hear.) Perhaps it may be as well just to see what he says for himself. " My public principles are known to you." I do not know how. (Cheers.) He used to oppose reform when he served in the administration of Mr. Canning ; and he has supported it subsequently under the auspices of very different administrations; yet he says, " my public opinions are known to you S" He has been thirty years in public life, and always, by some good fortune, found his principles in accordance with those of every administration he has served! —(hear)—a happy coincidence, but I hope the coincidence will soon cease. (Cheers.) He says, " My public conduct is before your eyes." Perfectly true ' • I do not think the better of it for th a t. Wh a t a re the farther grounds upon which he lays claim to the confidence of the people of Tiverton? Perhaps they may be the same grounds as the grounds upon which he seeks to have confidence re posed in him here. "The government," he says, " has been obliged to appeal from a decision of the House of Commons to that of the country." They have, at last, and a heavy up hill game it was, but at length they have. (Hear, hear,) " And I ask you to give your judg ment. We have discharged our duty faithfully towards the crown, and to the advantage of the country. At any rate we have a right to say so. We have maintained tranquility at home"—that, I suppose, means by exciting the chartists to insurrection "and peace abroad." That, I suppose, means our warlike armaments in China, upon the coast of Spain, and that little force which we have in the waters of the Levant ; and now the government tell us they have no alter native but to ruin the great interests of the country, or impose fresh taxes. The noble lord then read another passage from Lord Palmerston's address, to tine effect that Ireland was for the first time for centuries quiet and contented, and that our colonial possessions are peaceable and secure. Now these, Iris lordship proceeded, are remarkable assertions. I believe that Mr. O'Connell is contented, not that Ireland is; but as he is the representative of all Ireland it is at least something that half the assertions should be true. But, gentlemen, when the quietness and contentment of Ireland is boasted of, let us see what it amounts to. Does the murder of land lords in open day imply quiet? (Cheers.) Do the returns we have lately had from Tipperary speak of quiet and con tentment ? If so, it is that peculiar mode of expressing their opinion which we sometimes find among our friends of the sister country—(hear, hear)—and we are to infer from what they say, that they mean directly the reverse. (Hear, hear.) " Ireland is quiet and contented." If Ireland is quiet how is it? is it the sort of quiet that any government has a right to boast of ? Is it not a quiet which proceeds from buying the chief agitator? (Cheers.) is it not obtained by the policy which was once so notorious in the dominions of the Pope? I will tell you what it was. The Pope always had a weak government—as have we had lately. (Hear, hear.) The country was infested by high waymen who disturbed the public peace, and endangered pri vate property. How did the Pope deal with them ? Did he put them down by asserting the majesty ofthe law ? Did he se cure property andlife by the authority of the laws ? No ; but he took the chief robbers into his pay and soquieted the country for a time. (Hear, and cheers.) Ourgovernment seems to have taken a leaf out of the Pope's book in the management of Ireland, and to think that the most prudent measure to secure quiet and contentment is by paying the chief dis turber! (Hear, and cheers.) That may be good policy for a time, hut it is bad in the long run ; it degrades and dis graces public authority, and the majesty of the law ; it can not be relied upon; and it only feeds and fosters the agita tion for the future, which at the moment it professes to suppress. (Loud cheers.) Therefore, as to Ireland, the government has no right to boast of its peace and con tentment. If it is quiet, it is because it is slumbering, it is because the great master of the passions of that people thinks it his interest to he quiet, but it is not quiet because the law is supreme,—(hear, hear,)—it is not quiet because the law is respected. (Cheers.) is it not enough to condemn the policy of arty government that they should have offered the highest seat upon the judicial bench to that man who has so often urged tine people of that country to the very brink of rebellion, who has taught them not how to break, but how to evade every law? (Cheers.) Just of the same character was their placing Frost upon the bench of New port ; but Frost not being so calculating a man ins O'Con nell, went a little further, and lie has now found his appropriate place on the other side of the water. (Cheers.) The other boast which my noble friend Lord Palmerston made is that our colonial possessions are peaceable and se cure. If, in our colonial possessions, our large possessions in the East Indies be included, I am not quite so satisfied upon their security. I am not quite satisfied that we have done wisely in extending our frontier so far as to bring us into contact with fresh enemies—that we have not engaged e o l u ld rs o e f lo w es hi i c n h a w s e ys c te a m nno o t f f a o g r g e r s a e l e id . ise l m a e m nt no a t n c d ei c t o a i i i n qu w e h st eth th e e r we can consider it wise policy to bring ouselves to the neces sity of an immediate increase in our Indian army, and of ex tending the arm of our strength beyond its natural power. (Hear, hear.) But if we look also to Canada, our colonial possessions there are secure at present; but it is too soon, before the experiment of the new constitution has been tried, for any administration to declare, and at once predict, that security and peace can properly be predicated of that impor tant part of our colonial possessions. (Hear.) I will not trouble you further upon the occasion. Indeed, I ought to apologise for detaining you so long; but the subjects are so very various, the extent of delinquency we have to go through is so very wide, that it is not easy to exhaust it in one single address. (Cheers.) A VOlCE.—Never mind, my lord, we are all ready. (Loud cheers.) Lord SANDON.—I believe you are all ready. (Cheers.) I believe the electors of Liverpool are always ready. I do not know whether they sleep with guns under their pillows, but they are always ready to stand to arms at a moment's notice. (Cheers.) And whenever the battle of the constitution is to be fought the electors of Liverpool are up and stirring at a moment's notice. (Long and continued cheers.) Before I retire I must say one word upon a subject which most deeply interests me. I am told here, " Oh you need not fear for your own election, but you have a lawyer for your colleague," and there are many who seem to doubt whether a lawyer can do all you require. (Hear, hear.) Do riot be deluded ; do not let this lead you astray, or induce you to lose from your service, and give up the advantage of baying attached to your interest one whose public or private character, I for one, would most gladly have. (Cheers.) It is not solely,—though that in my mind is the first consideration, upon account of his upright and independent character; it is not solely upon account of his ability; it is not solely upon account of his straight forward downright conservative opinions, but it is the real and substantial advantage which the interests of Liverpool, in her peculiar character, derive from having such a man as my able and estimable colleague. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, you cannot have from him, I admit it, the kind of sacrifice which, being an idle man, I am able to bestow. His is a different kind of ser vice to mine, but it is equally efficient and equally important in its nature ; he is not always able to be at your beck and turn as I am, and as it is my pleasure to be, but have you not the advantage, if any gentlemen come to London and wish to examine any question in which the interests of the town are concerned, of the opinion of a man who comprises as much in five words as I can in twenty ? (Hear.) Have you not the advantage of having the best ad vice upon all those numerous questions which touch the pe culiar interests of Liverpoel, for now, let us recollect, there is going abroad a principle of general and wide spreading legislation, irrespective of the peculiar wants of particular communities, which compels Liverpool to be continually on the watch, which compels its representatives to look with an eye of legal jealousy at every act of parliament, lest under cover of sonic general provisions, some stroke should he aimed at the comfort, the interest, or the independence of this great town. Is it nothing, upon occasions like these to have the opinion, the advice, and the services of my hon. and learned colleague? (Cheers.) I have heard people complain that as a lawyer he cannot sacrifice his time. Can that be said of that man who sacrificed time so valuable as his last year in the service of this town—who, thirteen weeks of the most valuable portion of his time, sat upon your dock bill ? (Cheers.) Why, gentlemen, Inc is prepared, and he does, make large sacrifices ; and if he is not able to be himself continually at your beck, I am happy to give my time to you for him, for if you have his opinion you have that which is worth much more. I really ought to apologise to you—(no)— and to my hon. and learned friend, for speaking of him in his presence, but upon this occasion I thought it necessary to thro w Over a ll d e li cacy , an d g ive this public testi mon y o f his distinguished merit. (Loud cheers.) Having said this much, I will not trouble you further. I do not profess to be able to enchain ,your attention in the manner that other speakers ar e a bl e to do, but at the same time I do profess that I have a hearty and a deep interest in the welfare of every thing connected with this town. (Cheers.) I am prepared to devote my best energies to your service; I am prepared to watch over your local interests , but I am not prepared t o sacr ifi ce them to t h e objects of a party ; • and I am prepared to watch with jealousy the application of great principles to this community, and, above all, that spirit of centralisation which is passing its iron roller over all the different portions of this country, with the view of pressing into uniformity every part of its varied surface. (Cheers.) I do hope that by this hour this day week we shall not be talking, but be doing (cheers) ; and by this hoar that we shall hardly be doing, for I hope the work will be done, and that we way congratulate ourselves upon haring gained the most important ♦ictory which the walls of Liver•. pool ever saw. (Loud cheers, duriug which the noble lord retired. Mr. CRRSSWELL then rose, and the cheering was renewed. The learned gentleman repeatedly endeavoured to proceed, but was so often interrupted by the vehement and enthusi. astic applause of the meeting. At length, silence being in sonic degree resiored, he spoke, evidently under feelings of heartfelt excitement, to the following effect :—My fellow countrymen ! Electors of Liverpool! deeply, I may say, most solemnly, impressed with the importance of this meet ing—for I verily believe that on the result of the election about to take place the fate of my country depends—l freely confess to you that I came to this meeting labouring under the deepest and almost unsupportable anxiety. (Hear, hear.) But words are wanting to me to express the joy and exulta tion I feel at what I have witnessed this day : joy, that I find those principles, by professing which I gained your favour and your votes, still prevailing strong as ever among you ; exultation, that you still appear to think me worthy of your votes. (Cheers.) Gentlemen; 1 have often said that I can not feel any personal pride in the position in which you have placid me, apart from that which relates to my .country. This is my principal feeling, although I am proud to an ex cess I cannot mention, at perceiving thht you still think my principles are worthy of your applause. (Hear, hear, and renewed cheers.) B ut h ow can I t h an k you personally or individually ? How can I thank my noble and generous col league for the manner in which he spoke of me? Believe me, and I know he believes me, because he has spoken of me in his own plain, straightforward manner, when I say, that I trust he will ever find me such as he has represented me to be—(hear, hear, and continued cheers)—and, gentleman, do you also believe me when I say, that I am most deeply grateful for the reception you have given me, and that it can not ever be effaced from my recollection. tHear, hear, and applause.) lint enough. Let me not forfeit my character for plain speaking, and let me come to facts. (Hear, hear.) Now, what is the question to be decided on at this election? It is not this or that isolated question. What you have to determine, and what all England has to determine, is this .—Shall the counsels of our Queen be guided hereafter by Sir Robert Peel or by my Lord John Russell ? (Tremen dous cheering for several minutes, and cries of " By Sir Ro bert Peel," at the close of which there was one solitary cry from the boxes of " By Lord John Russell," which created some disapprobation.) Mr. Cresswell continued—l am not ashamed of anything I shall say—(cheers) ;—let him hear it. But I see you bear in mind Sir Robert's principles. (Re newed cheers.) I need not call your attention to what they are ; but permit rue for a moment to draw a contrast between him and his rival, Lord John Russell. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Sir Robert Peel professes a loyalty to the throne — (cheers).—not conditional—(hear, hear),--not dependent on personal favours shown—(hear, hear),—not dependent upon whether he was retained in, or rejected from, office—(hear, hear, hear),—but a deep and sterling feeling of loyalty to the Queen, and not to the Queen only, but to any other monarchs whom he has served, or whom he may have the honour to serve. (Great applause.) He feels, and he has shown that feeling by his conduct, a deep veneration for our institutions of all kinds in church and state. (Cheers.) He has shown a desire to improve, where he found them capable of im provement ; but he has resisted their overthrow for any side purpose whatever. (Hear, hear, and renewed cheers.) What have been the principles of his noble rival since he held the. reins of government ? Steering without chart or compass — (hear),—guided by no certain principles—(hear, hear)—blown about by the popular gale in whatever direction it might blow —(hear, hear, hear),—and making concessions, not be cause he thought they were proper, but because he thought they would be profitable. (Great cheers and laughter.) Thst is the contrast, shortly, between the two governments of Sir R. Peel and Lord J. Russell. Have we not recently had confirmation of it? Why, the very measures put forward by the present dying government—(cheers and laughter)—the very measures by which they hoped to delude and to deceive you, are, according to my notions, the strongest possible con firmation that I have not taken an incorrect view. (Hear, hear.) -Under what circumstances, at what period of their existence were those measures of cheap corn, cheap sugar, and I will not say, cheap timber, but Baltic instead of co lonial timber, brought forward? (Cheers, followed by ano ther solitary cry frosts the boxes of -' The operatives are out of employment ! Very well, Listen to me for a moment. (Hear, hear.) Bear in mind, that when two years ago the people were out of employ, Lord Melbourne said that such a measure would be madness. (Hear, hear.) He didn't want votes then to be obtained. (Laughter and cheers.) Last year, he said, that to agitate the question would stir society to its foundations. (Hear, hear.) And last year, sugar being dear . and scarce, Lord John Russell was against the question far the reduction of the duties ; but this year, sugar being abundant in supply and cheap in price, but votes being scarce—(roars of laughter)—he introduces it. Now, let us inquire a little into what is the true question as to British agriculture. I take it to be this : shall there be protection or an abolition of all protection. It is very true that, in an swer to the question in the House of Lords, Lord Melbourne said he intended to protect agriculture, and I think Lord John Russell sa id th e same; b u t th e noble lord—the phan tom candidate in Liverpool—(hear, hear, and great laughter) denounced the corn grower as a monopolist. Why, if the corn grower is to be denounced as a monopolist, because he happens to be protected, what becomes of the professions of Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell? (Hear, hear.) And what did the Anti corn-law League, who brought their philosophy and wisdom along with them to enlighten the dunces of Liverpool—great laughter and cheers)—what was their view ? Which was it, protection or the total abolition of it? Why no doubt the total abolition of it. (Hear, hear.) They called the corn grower a " vampire," a blood sucker," an " assassin," " a creator of typhus fever," and I do n't know what. They might as well have added that he was a maker of Morison's pills. (Roars of laughter.) But is this measure of total abolition consistent with justice ? (Hear, hear.) See what burdens the corn-grower bears in this country ? In the first place it is the property of the country that supports the poor, by poor rates—that's charge the first. (Hear.) Charge the second is the highway rate; charge the third is the malt tax ; charge the fourth is the church-rate ; and charge the fifth, and the most important of all, is the maintenance of the clergy by the payment of tithes. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) It will appear plain to you, therefore, that you cannot reduce below it, proper level the agricultural interest of this eoitutry without destroying the church of your forefathers. (Hear, hear, and renewed cheers.) Which of those gentlemen will come, let use ask, and, upon the voluntary system, pay the &moult of the tithes? (Hear, and laughter.) And what, let ins ask, is it that they want to put on a footing with the English corn grower? Why, the foreign corn-grower. But does he pay your poor-rate, your highway-rate, your malt-tax, your church-rate, or does he maintain your clergy? Not a penny. (Cheers.) Does the manufacturer pay those seve ral taxes out of his stock? Nut a bit. (Renewed cheers.) Remember this again ; if by the decreased prices of agri cultural produce the corn lands of this country are thrown out of cultivation what is to become of the labourers ? (Hear, hear.) Why, they must either be maintained out of the poor-rates, or carry their physical power into the manufac turing towns and districts, there to bring it into competition with others. (Hear, hear.) If they retnain on the land can the landowner withdraw his capital so as to maintain the poor dismissed from his service? Certainly not. (Cheers.) Not so the millowner. He may employ hundreds ; he may get a large per centage for his goods; and he may turn off hundreds ; shut up his mill, and leave somebody else to pay the poor-rates for him. (Laughter and cheera.) I am not entering fully into this question, for really argument after argument crowd so fast upon one's miud against it, that to give them utterance would occupy too mach time, and there fore it is that I am only urging two or three of the main points. But, waiving the justice, let us look at the policy of the question. And here I shall go to the fountain head of the political economists, and give you a passage out of Adam Smith on the " wealth of nations." He concludes his re marks in the following manner. He says :—The capital employment in agriculture not only puts into motion a greater quantity of productive labour than any capital em ployed in manufactures, but in proportion, too, to the quan tity of productive labour which it employs, it adds a much greater value to the annual produce of the land and the labour of the country to the real wealth and revenue of its inhabitants. Of all the ways in which a capital can be em ployed it is by far the most advantageous to society." What have the repealers of the corn-laws to urge against that? (Hear, and renewed cheers.) We have the father of their system assuring that " of all the ways in which capital can be employed, agriculture is by far the most advantageous to society ;" and the reason is obvious : it is because nature works along with the capital, and makes it more productive than capital employment in any other mode. (Hear and cheers.) There is this advantage also, that the manufacturer who exchanges with the home-grower pays his fellow-coun tryman for his corn, but if he exchanges with a foreigner, he pays a foreigner; therefore, in every way the application o f capital to agriculture is most beneficial. (Hear and cheers.) What are the anticipated advantages of the aboli tion of the corn-law and all protection on agriculture ? I shall state to you, in a few words, that the advantage, if any, would accrue entirely to the mill-owner—the master manu facturer—(hear)—and that it would afford none to the opera tives, or to any other class of society. (Hear and cheers.) In the first place, the manufacturer argues in two ways. First, he says he will be able to manufacture cheaper, and, there fore, hat he will be able to compete better with foreigners ; but I beg to know how he can manufacture cheaper unless labour is cheaper—(hear, hear)—and how eau labour be cheaper unless wages be lower? (Hear, hear, and cheers.) There is, however, another point of view iu which he puts the question. He says lie can dispose of more manufactured articles to foreigners, because, he alleges, he can get corn in exchange. These are the two modes in which he thinks of the corn l aws wou ld b e b eneficial. As to the a repeal cheapness, I say we ca nno t manu f acture c h eaper unless wages be lower; and so my noble lord read you a passage from Mr. Huskisson, to show that this was his doctrine also, namely, that farming servants would be thrown out of work, and that the consequence would be that wages would fall more rapidly than the price of corn. (Hear, hear.) But your Anti-corn law League men deny that, and that's the way they treat all authorities. They go with them so far as it suits their pur pose, and then they discard them. (Hear.) Now I cannot imagine why Mr. Huskisson should be thus treated. (Hear, hear.) Why should I go 100 yards with hi m an d t h en stop short, or why should those gentlemen go with him a part of the way and not go all? (Hear,. and cheers.) His te s ti mony, however, in this respect, quite right and capable of demonstration. (R en ewed c 'ecru.) But I proceed now to their second allegation. (Hear, hear.) It is clear in this country, and h a ppily it is so —it is so i n a ll o ld counties, I believe that the supply of l a b our greatly exceeds the demaud, the more especially where the labour is not of a severe kind, an d where a little phy s i ca l strength only because when is required a number of p ersona are out of • employ, if there is a species of labour to whi c h t h ey can de vote themselves without much physical pow er b e i ng neces sary, a great portion of them will go to th at. (H ear.) When the supply exceeds the demand, wages are reduced to the lowest point at which a labourer, can subsi s t. (H ear, he a r.) If you offer less than be can suosist upon, he will go to the workhouse, but so long as lie can maintain hi mse lf, h e w ill work. Repeal the corn-law s, . however, and then every ma nufacturer will be fond of having labour cheap, and therefore the wages of labour will be depressed to th e l owest po i nt o f subsietance. (Hear.) So much for the notio n o f th e ope ratives being benefitted by the manufacturernufacturer being able t o manufacture his goods cheaper. (Cheering.) I say, accord ing to Mr. Huskisson, that wa g es in such a case would fall in in th e a x t c w htu ag ig e e s wont rise when the deman d more rapidly than the p r ice of corn. (G reat c h eering.) eea nufac , t , u c r a e n m yo or u e m g a o i o n d ta s But they say we can for corn, and then they ask , increases . No, they won't, if the supply be faster thal, the demand. (Hear, )tear, and cheers.) And how would this bear on it, and what would be the result, if all protection on agriculture be abolished ? I shall tell von. The laboure rs in a g ric ulture exceed by fa r six minions in num b er . Destroy agriculture in England, and two or three millions out of those six will be thrown out of employ. (Hear, hear.) Do the manufacturers say that into England they if they hcomingad foreign corn employment to two or three millions more than they do at present ? No such thing. Well, the fact of those two or three million labourers going to the manufacturing districts to look for work would increase the supply of labour, and all the labour in the factories being capable of being accomplished by women or children, not one of them would have more than women or children's wages, which wages would still continue to fall if the supply exceeded the demand. (Hear.) I like to have an authority on this point. (Hear, and a laugh.) You know it is the way of our profession, and if we cannot find a parallel case in our law books we are generally apt to find the opinion of a great lawyer on it. (Hear, hear, and great laughter.) The opinion 1 am about to read is riot, however, that of a great lawyer , bu t that of a great states man. Speaking of the political economist's school, the ma nufacturers, and the enemies of humanity, with a kind of sarcastic sneer, he says—" They care not for the difference be tween an agricultural and a manufacturing pop u l a bi ss is all that concerns morals, order, national strength, and national tranquillity. Wealth is the only object of their speculations, nor de they much consider the two or three millions of people who may he reduced to utter beggary in the course of their oper ations. This they call diverting capital into another chan nel." (Cheers, followed by some one asking " Is that Harry Brougham ?") No ; it is Lord John Russell— (hear, hear, hear, and great cheering)—who said, only two or three years ago, that " wealth was the only object of their speculations ; that they cared not about the two or three millions they might reduce to beggary ; and that they called this directing capital into another channel." (Ve hement applause.) Anti such would be the results, assu ming that the manufacturers are right in stating that they could manufacture cheaper and sell more. (Hear.) But not only do they say that they could manufacture cheaper and sell more, but that they could also procure foreign corn in exchange for their manufactures—that, in short, they could get it at fair prices and in exchange. I apprehend that they could do neither. ( Hear, hear.) For what would be the course of events ? If a man goes to:buy an article of luxury, he may either take it or nor. Then, indeed, the ne cessity of the seller may comply with the wishes of the buyer. If a lady, for instance, wanted a diamond necklace, she ap plies to a jeweller, and says, " I should like to have it on credit until such a time." The jeweller might say to her, " You must pay down ; but if he was in distress, he would have to part with the article on her own terms. (Hear, hear.) But, suppose our corn lands were thrown out of cultivation, that our people were starving, and that a ship went to some Baltic port, or Odessa, perchance, and carried out a quantity of goods to exchange for corn. We shall take Odessa, where the people wear sheepskins, and feed upon black bread. (Hear, hear.) The captain says to them, " We have come for a cargo of wheat, and we have brought a magnificent lot of Manchester manufactured goods, such as cloths and cot tons, to exchange for it," " Oh, but," say the people of Odessa, "we don't wear such things here.' "Oh, but," rejoins the captain, "my countrymen are starving." " We don't want you your manufactures" they tell him again. He then asks "What would y ou l e t me h ave th e corn f or ?" " Why, at such a price," they reply, " and pay in specie." Whe do you think would win? Would the corn grower or the famishing man who had to pay cash down? (Cries of " the corn grower.") To be sure the corn grower: so that you would neither get the corn cheap nor would you obtain it ia exchange for Manchester manufactures, but you should pay a foreigner instead of a fellow-countryman. (Most rap turous applause.) Let us illustrate this by an occurrence that 1 dare say is familiar in Liverpool. A tradesman has a bill falling due which he cannot well meet, and he goes to a monied man—l won't call him an usurer—and he says, " Can't you let me have £l,OOO to meet that bill ?" " Oh, yes," is the answer. " Well, what must I let you have for the loan of it ?" " Money is scarce in general-15 or 20 per cent.. however would be reasonable." " Oh, good God," the man says, " that would ruin rne." " Yes, but won't the bill ruin you if it is not taken up," is the ready answer. " That it would," he then bethinks himself ; and accordingly he agrees to give the 15 or 20 per cent. And that would be just the case with the starving people of England, if they were obliged to draw their supplies of food from foreign coun tries. I believe that the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt arose out of the famine which prevailed, and which compelled them to go to Egypt for food; and from that day to the present I believe no country ever remained long in a state of inde pendence which depended upon foreigners for a supply of food. (Hear, hear, and protracted cheers.) lagt me pass for a short time to another point ; and I ought to apologise to you for troubling you at all on these questions, for my noble colleague discussed the whole of them—(hear, hear)—but let me say a word on the subject of sugar; and here I hope that those, interested in the matter of the introduction of Brazilian sugar will cheerfully submit for the present to the position in which they arc placed. (Hear.) No additional tax is imposed on them ; "and the way in which their matter stands is, that the duty was not taken off. (Hear.) What, let me ask, was the condition of our West India colonies some centuries ago ? Unhappily our government, so far back as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, thought that the slave trade was ad vantageous to the country, and many acts of parliament were passed to promote it. At length we became enlightened on this point ; we felt it to be a reproach to the nation ; we felt that the retaining of our fellow-beings in chains was a national crime ; and therefore we thought fit that the nation should pay for their freedom. It is a mistake to suppose that the West Indian proprietors of slaves had twenty millions paid to them to purchase the freedom of those for whom they were responsible. No ; the nation was responsible, and therefore they obtained nothing more than what justice demanded they should receive. (Great cheering.) For, as they were obliged to purchase the slaves, they paid for them; but leaving them to employ their emancipated men as free labourers, and hoping that they will endeavour to promote their welfare, as they are bound to do, and hold out to other nations the example of colonies flourishing after the emancipation of negroes converted into free men, would it not be most impolitic, unwise, and injurious, if, after having made that great experiment, you propounded to the whole world that it was a failure, and that sugar could not be grown successfully by the leaven of free men. (Hear, hear.) That was the principle upon which we acted ; and it was for fear that such a proclamation should be made, after such a change having been effected, that the sugar duties were re tained in their present position. (Cheers.) But I trust that ere long the emancipated negro will learn his true position, and labour as a man that has enjoyed his freedom ; that the prosperity of our colonies will be revived, and that the expe riment will be successful; and then will be the time to con sider—not under present excitement, created for a purpose— (hear, hear)—of those various matters affecting so much our colonial merchants. (Loud cheers.) The other topic— although, as my noble friend said, it had slipped through a hole in the budget—(hear and a laugh)—the other topic is timber. In this great seaport, in this town, enjoying so many ship-building yards and graving -docks, employing so many carpenters, and sailmakers, and sailors, ill would it be come me to neglect saying a few words upon this interesting subject. (Hear, hear.) On this question of timber, colo nists, shipowners, timber dealers, and sailors, are all, by the phantom candidate, denounced as monopolists. (Hear.) Strange monopoly ! when all men are at liberty to embark in the trade if they like, and wherein people are to gain unjust profits, whilst any man who chooses may slander them. But, never mind that. Lord Palmerston has denounced them as monopolists, and you to be called on to abolish them. (Hear, and a laugh.) Now, what is the history of this North American trade, so much envied and so much abused ? (H ear, hear.) It was, I believe, in the year 1810, that our supplies of timber, being drawn from the Baltic alone, the article rose to an inordinate price. In order to relieve the public from paying that price, those discriminating duties were imposed which it is now sought to alter. The North American trade was encouraged ; and the fact is, that immense capitals were invested in Canada in saw-mills, for the purpose of carrying on this trade—that some 500.00 ii settlers have since then re lieved our shores of their presence, in order to find employ ment in a foreign land—that 1200 ships have been employed in that trade, which have been repaired and victualled in Great Britain ; and that 16,000 of our sailors have been kept in constant employ for that time. (Loud cheers.) But this is not all the " iniquity" of it. (Hear, and a laugh.) For our manufactures, to the extent of eight millions annually, have been disposed of, we taking timber in return. (Hear, hear.) What a hateful and detestable monopoly ! (Loud laughter.) Down with it ! (Renewed cheers and laughter.) Let us de stroy it ! (Continued cheers and roars of laughter.) The ships must be broken up !—our 500,000 fellow-countrymen may be starved in the colonies !—our shipbuilders may. be ruined!—our artisans and ouriship-carpenters may be turned adrift!—our 16,000 sailors may be left without employ ! But what signifies that? (Vehement applause.) " Divest the capital into another channel !" But how would that benefit the timber consumer ? You are to have the timber dearer according to the proposed plan, for its to pay an additional tax of 10s. from North America! You will have to pay a good deal more for any coming from that quarter then. (Hear.) But you will have Baltic cheaper, for ss. is to be taken off that. But then, if the North American timber cannot come in unless at 10s. more than you pay at pre.sent, I have a strong impression that the Baltic will rise in price, and come in at about a shilling under the other, in which case you would be the loser by about is. or Bs. (Hear, hear.) That many, to be sure, bring in more timber paying more duty, and so put something into the coffers of the empty ex chequer. (Great laughter and cheers.) But how that would benefit the consumer, I am at a loss to understand. (Hear.) However, remember this ;—at present the British sailor has the monopoly of manning British ships. Will the phantom destroy that monopoly also ? Or will he allow British ships to be manned by foreign sailors? (Hear, hear.) If so, who will take advantage by the change ? Certainly none of you. (Cheers.) And remember that if by this blow our mercantile marine is destroyed our military marine cannot long exist, and then would come the destruction of monopoly indeed ! the monopoly which is the envy and admiration of the world !—the monopoly which has kept war far from us when it raged across the Atlantic, and in other countries !—the monopoly of naval glory and of power in the sea! (Most enthusiastic cheering for several minutes.) Long may a gracious providence preserve to us this monopoly; but for what object is it to be destroyed ? Why, to stop a hole in a budget. (Great laughter and cheers.) For, they plainly tell us that those are only financial measures which have in view the improvement of the revenue and nothing more. (Hear.) Will you then, to fill an empty chest, or to stop a hole in this rotten budget—(roars of laughter and cheers)—destroy the interests I attempted to describe ? (Cries of " Never.") But as they have put the question on financial grounds let us see how they are entitled to our trust and confidence. You are aware that " reform" and " retrenchment" are their watchwords when they come into power. Let me, therefore, give you one or two of their performances, for things are tested by comparison. (Hear, hear.) Between the years 1821 and 1830, taxes were taken off under the conservative administrations to the amount of £15,883,000. (Cheers.) But, perhaps Lord Palmerston will take some of the merit of that reduction to himself. (Laughter.) Well, per contra. The whits between 1831 and 1839 took off £6,373,000.; ,but that doesn't all go t o th e i r cre dit, f or th e y p u t on £3,249,000. —therefore, the balance is £3,124,000., leaving a balance in favour of the conservatives of £12,759,000. (Loud cheers.) So much for their promises and performances ! So much have they done to win your confidence! (Hear, hear, hear.) Now, your present representatives, together with all the other representatives have shown by their votes that they have not their confidence • I hope you will show the same next week. (Tremendous cheering, and cries of " we will.") But it may be said that I am dealing unfairly by them, that they may have something else to offer you, and accordingly you have a dark and ambiguous note in the address of one of our rivals about " extended suffrage," which means, I suppose, that you will have universal suffrage given to you. Much good may it do the present voters, say I, and much your interest will be increased by having so many added to the number of the constituency. (Hear, and laughter.) What is this universal suffrage but an attempt to array the num bers against the intelligence of the people? (Cheers.) And then you are to have the dastardly, the contemptible scheme —the vote by ballot! Of all the un-English modes of voting I ever heard of that is the one. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) What ! shall Englishmen who have never been afraid to look a foe in the face!—Englishmen who have always been ready to shed their blood in defence of their county ! Englishmen who would walk to the cannon's mouth in search of glory or " safety for their co un t r y ! Sh a ll t h ey cry f or th e " ballot ? Shall they claim the privclege of halooing for one candidate and voting for another? Shall they sneak to the discharge of a duty under cover of a lie ? (Vehement cries of no, no, and cheers.) God forbid ! But there is another topic in the address, and that is—education for your children ! (Hear, hear, hear.) Educ a ti on ! A ye ! but your proper feeling s would say, will they g i ve us religious education for them_: " Yes," says this te m pt er . " we will give them religious cd„ ucation, but it shall b e w ith ou t re f erence t o s ect or creed. What ! religion without a creed (Hear, hear, and cheers.) And thus to be taught to worship Christ or Mahmnet , Vishnu or Jos. (Roars of laughter and cheers.) Yet, I state from the published address of a member of the go vernment to his constituents th a t th e y are t o g i ve " religious educationbidn without reference to s e c t or cree d." And at whose bidding does he do that I (H ear , h ear .) At w hose bidding were the government, who before now w er e'excited to attempt _thank God not to perpetrate the spoliation of the church — t ( u c c h t e j e o rs) —called on to give educati o n w ithout religious in! n ; and at whose bidding do they attempt to giveeducatmnwitthto out reference to sect or creed ? But I shall notatt attempt describe the answer in my own language. I shall re ad it to you in the prophetic language of one of the wisest and sober est men that ever adorned the c hurch-0f h by his writings etas accorded the title o f the J ucliim who by i ouS2 l I shall read you a passage from will sacrifice " Judicious " Hooker :—" Tell us not that ye sacrifice to Ashtoreth ; that to the Lord our God, ye a sermon preached by the ye will read our scrip i t f ures w i l f il by permission, we shall we will listen to your tradi tions ; that if ye may have a liking, r d o e f. t h a S t. o s l h o e m d o i n d took hav e a i t communion (as well he e with might) th g e f o o d r m a l ae n sas e v evident i aean not bear a motherly affection to H h e er ea ch e i n l e d t w l h o i r c e h y th ie e ld L ed er t d o have it cut In divers parts. Jesus with his heart which lendeth one ear to his apostles and another to false apostles; which cannot brook to see a mingle mangle of religion and superstition, ministers and massing priests, light and darkness, truth and error, tradition and scripture." And will that sort of education for your children tempt you? No, no, no. Will those innovations as to universal suffrage and vote by ballot tempt you? No. (Loud cheers.) Will this destruction of your ships and eoloniea and navy tempt you ? No. (Cheers.) Will this deluded cry of " cheap bread" tempt you ? No, oh ! ro. (Cheers.) Let us stick to England as she is, and pray that she may remain so ! (Great cheering.) Let us have commercial England, nau ti ca l E ngland, colonis ing England, protestant England. (Most enthusiastic cheer ing.) Let us support the church, such as she was delivered to us by our ancestors, moral and religious, without being superstitious. (Vehement applause.) As such, we may endeavour to preserve her, and as such we may bind ourselves solemnly to hand her down to future genera tions. (Protracted cheering.) I sec that your spirit is awa kened—l see that you are ready to do your duty ; set an example to all England, and God grant that all Engiand may do its duty to you! The learned gentleman here resumed his seat amidst thunders of appl a u s e from all sides, after having delivered one of the most able and eloquent speeches we have had the pleasure of hearing fora considerable length of time. Mr. NICZOLAS ROBINSON moved a vote of thanks to Sir Thos. Brancker, for his conduct in the chair. Mr. BUSHELL seconded the motion. The CH AIRMAN returned thanks, and the meeting sepa rated. THE PRINCESS ROYAL, IRON STEAM-SHIP. TO THE OWNERS OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL, STEAM-SHIP. We, the undersigned passengers on board the Princess Royal, on her first voyage from Glasgow, have great pleasure in expressing our admiration of her extraordinary speed, un accompanied by the usual tremulous motion; the distance from Greenock to Liverpool having been completed in the unprecedented period of fifteen hours and twenty-five minutes. We have further to express our high satisfaction with the very commodious and elegant manner in which the vessel is fitted up, embracing every thing calculated to promote the comfort of her passengers ; and we feel especially called upon to acknowledge the usual polite attention of Captain APArthur. (Signed by) Robt. Dalglish, jun., Glasgow Neil Campbell, do. Archd. Galbraith, do. P. 111' Laurin, Glasgow Thomas Stewart, Honduras Geo. G. Hornby, Liverpool Wm. M`Cann, Drogheda Jahn M. Cowgill, do. Robert Brand, Glasgow F. B. Wade, do. George Ord, do. Wm. Boyd, _ do. James Scott, _ do. Ebenr. Duncan, Manchester J. G. Campbell, do. P. Cruickshank, Liverpool Dr. 111`Farlane, do. G. 0. Greenwood, Bradford Geo. E. M'Farlane, do. E. L. Averack, Keswick W. EL Black, Portrush William Spence, Glasgow David Heron, Glasgow Robert Dick, do. Jno. Whitfield, Birmingham W. Miller, Madras J. M`Murtin, Port-Glasgow L. Miller, Glasgow Alex. Mg Kinlay, Glasgow W. Merrylee, Lerwick James Campbell, do. Thomas Thomson, Liverpool D. Nl' Phail, do. J. D. Beckett, Huddersfield Charles M`Kinlay, Rothsay James Paterson, Glasgow W. K. Jackson, Sheffield James Gray, Tobermory Robert White, Glasgow J. M. Cowgill, jun., Liverpool Owen Baillie, do. Liverpool, 19th June, 18-11. The passengers agreed to pro token of respect, to mark the an excellent sailor and a wortl .sent Captain M'Arthur with a esteem in which he is held as ly man. FREE TRADE.-SHIPS, COLONIES, AND COMMERCE. At a meeting, on Friday last, of the Shipowners' Society, in London, at the London Tavern, Mr, Alderman Thomp son observed, in the course of an able address, that— " On a late occasion, matters had been brought forward by her Majesty's ministers, for the purpose of deluding the public. Let him inquire what the meaning of free trade was, because if they were to have a free trade at all, they must allow a free trade to all the world with their colonies ; they must permit the ships of other countries to visit the ports of their colonies to traffic and to carry away, and to bring away their produce ; and all this too with the certainty of inflicting a proportionate extent of injury upon British shipping. Indeed if they were to have a free trade, it might even extend to the participation of other countries in the coasting trade of England. if this were done, what would become of Britain's fleet of merchantmen ? Where would be its value? Why, at a depreciation of 75 per cent." What say the Chester and Liverpool shipowners to this undeniable truth ? We shall be obliged by our respected contemporaries, the LIVERPOOL STANDARD, Courier, Mail. &c., to note the subject in their usual talented manner, and see how the reduction of any thing like 75 percent. on ship ping property would be borne in that vast emporium—Li verpool. . _ [The above will appear in the Chester Courant of to-day, and we were favoured with a slip of it by a gentleman who arrived from Chester last night, Our contemporary will find the subject noticed at length elsewhere, in an article which was partly in type before his communication reached us.—En. L. S. j THE DISSOLUTION.—This day her Majesty dissolves the present House of Commons. We believe the writs are all ready to be sent down to this town, and will, in all proba bility, be in the hands of the Mayer to-morrow. Three clear days must elapse prior to the day of nomination, which canuot therefore take place until Monday next, which will most likely be the day, and the following oae the period of election. TDP: TENDER MERCIES OF THE NEW WHIG POOR LAW.—This new and accursed law is now like a reckless monster beginning—and only beginning—to fasten its fangs upon the suffering and heterogenious population of our town ; and if such be the commencement, what may we contemplate as the end? On Saturdal last, one of the relieving days for the outdoor' poor, we happened to be passing the Parish Offices in renwick-street, when we observed an unusual crowd round one of the doors, consisting chiefly of poor, and for the most part emaciated females, with a considerable number of children. This was at two o'clock. We want into the back yard and looked down into the large cellar be low, and found them also crowded with unfortunate appli cants, to the number in all of 600 to 700, all in want of the common necessaries of life,—and the greater part had re mained there from seven o'clock in the morning without relief, suffering that "hope deferred which maketh the heart sick !" Several of them were on the point of fainting. The cellar in particular was so densely crowded as to approach to a suffocating closeness and warmth, and the exclamation was frequent " For God'e sake let me go !" No blame was, however, to be attached to the relieving or other officers, who are anxious to administer the law with as lenient a hand as possible. But the nuniner of applicants, and the new Sys tem imperatively introduced, had deranged all previous ar rangements, and rendered delay and confusion inevitable. Some relaxation of this grinding system they will probably be enabled to introduce in a week or two ; but the new law, ini quitous every where, is least of all applicable to such a town as this. Indeed, we ventare to say, that it will be found to be almost impracticable, from the nature of our home popu lation, and still more from the influx of Irish paupers. We trust that no intelligent or humane elector will„vote for those candidates who belong to the party that originated and still favour this abominable enactment—but will support the old representatives, who will exert themselves to obtain its abrogation. ASSAULT.— Several cases of violent assault, some of them arising from party feeling, were yesterday brought before Mr. Rushton. Thomas Simkins, a very stout man, for vio lently striking an old man, an Irishman, was fined 50s. and costs, or to be imprisoned one month.—James Balmer and William Atherton were each fined £5, or to be imprisoned two months, for an unprovoked and violent assault on two men, on Sunday, while they were walking in Breck-lane.— John Evans, a very athletic man, was fined £5, or to be im prisoned two months, fora violent assault on his ownrnother, whom he was in the habit of abusing. He was also required to find bail to keep the peace, himself in £2O and two sureties in £lO each. EMBEZZLEMENT.—At the Police-court, yesterday, Thos. Turtle. a you ng man , w h o i t was state d i s possessed. of some property, was placed at the bar on a charge of having em bezzled a sum of money belonging to his employer. Mr. Mayor, clerk t o M r. Th re l fa ll , b rewer, sa id h e had paid the prisoner £lO for rent of Mr. Threlfall's house in Vernon street. Mr. Grace and his clerk, Mr. Jones, said the pri soner was authorized to receive the money, and had not ac counted for it, or entered it in the books, which it was his duty to do. The prisoner said he did not intend to keep it, and would refund it ; but as he had absented himself from the office, he was committed for trial at the sessions.— Thomas Houghton, who hd been employed by Mr. Grace as his bailiff, was then brought up, charged with having em bezzled £l7, his property. The payment of the money was proved. The prisoner said that after he had received the money he went into a small public-house, where a person treated him with a glass of ruin, which he believed was drugged as it stupified hint. lie was afterwards strack by one man, pinioned by two others, and robbed of the money, after he had become insensible from a blow on his head.— Mr. Rushton said that being employed as bailiff, the offence was not a felony ; but the prisoner ought to have gone to Mr. Grace and have informed him of the circumstances. The case was dismissed. TRIBUTE OF Risprm—On Sunday the 6th of June, im mediately after divine service in the afternoon, the inhabitants of the chapelry of Carrington, in the parish of Bowden, as sembled in their school-room for the purpose of presenting to their minister, the Rev. George Heron, M.A., a polyglott Bible, handsomely bound, with a beautiful cover to match, as a token of their esteem and regard. To this appropriate testimonial of respect, the poorest families in the township of Carrington and Partington were found most willing to con tribute, and the whole number of subscribers amounted to 195. The sum collected being more than was required for the purchase of the Bible, it was agreed that the remainder should he expended in coal for the benefit of the poor during the ensuing winter. The following is a copy of the inscrip tion :—This Bible is most respectfully presented to the Rev. George Heron, incumbent of St. George'e Chapel, Carring ton, by the inhabitants of the township of Partington and Carrington, as a small token of their regard and esteem, for his kind attention and faithful services as a minister of the gospel, the 6th June, 1811 ; to which the reverend gentlemen made a suitable reply expressive of his deep sense of their kindness and good will. MODE OF CONDUCTING ELECTIONS.—IDCitie3 and towns county, having their own sheriff, the writ under the great seal is sent direct to such sheriff; who, immediately on receipt thereof; must make proclamation, appointing the day of elec tion, not sooner than four days nor later than eight days from such day of receiving the writ. For boroughs not having a sheriff the writ is directed to the high-sheriff of the county, to hold an election for knights of his shire, and for burgesses of the boroughs within the county; and within three days the high-sheriff addresses a precept to the mayor or other returning-officer of each borough ; who, like the sheriff of a city or town-county, must make proclamation of proceed ing to election, not sooner than four days nor later than eight days from such day of proclamation. In the counties, the high-sheriff must, within two days after the receipt of the writ, in like manner, make proclamation of his county-court, to he held not sooner than ten days nor later than sixteen days from that date. The earliest elections for boroughs take place on the fifth day after the prorogation, and they may be as late as the twelfth day after the prorogation. The county elections may begin as soon as the twelfth or as late as the 19th day after the prorogation. DEATH OF THE EARL. OF FORTESCUE.—The venerable Earl of Fortescue expired at Castle Ilill, South Molton, Devon, on Wednesday morning, after an illness of three weeks, which from the first left but faint, if any, hopes of his eventual recovery. However, changes of a favourable nature were apparent in the earlier stages of the noble earl's illness, and it was apprehended his dissolution was not so near at hand until Monday and Tuesday, when those alarmin.r symptoms with which his lordship was first attacked returned. The noble earl, whose many amiable qualities endeared him to a numerous circle of friends, completed his 88th year in March last, having been born the 12th of that month, in 1753. The deceased peer, Hugh Foytesque, Earl ue, Fortes s Vis count Ebrington, county Gl oucester, and Baron Fortesque, Castle Hill, county Devon, in the Peerage of Great Britain, succeeded his father, the second lord, as baron only, (the viscount and earldom not being conferred until 1789) on the 10th July, 1785. The noble earl was for many years lord lieutenant, custos rotulorum of the county, and vice-admiral of the coast of Devon, which appointment he resigned to his son, Viscount Ebrington, (the pre sen t ear l) i n O c tober, 15:39• He was hi g h steward of Barnstaple end South Ho lton, D. C. L. and F. S . A . A great many families d ra nk placed in m ourn i ng b y this event. re ; 2 ISREADFUL Min:DER ON THE HIGH :SEAS. At the Police-court yesterday, a man nested Benjamin Franklin White was placed at the bar, charged with having committed a murder on board of an American ship bound from New Orleans to this port, and which arrived here on the evening cf Friday last. The prisoner is a man of a sallow complexion and apparently somewhat mulated. He was poorly clad as a sailor. The following evidence was addneed. George Windsor, a tall good-leoking man, wins gave his evidence very slowly and distinctly, said—l am captain of the American ship Constantine, now in thie pert. The pri soner was a seaman on board. We left New Orissas between nine and ten o'clock on the evening of the 14th of May, and were towed out by a steamer. Next enoraill about ten o'clock, the pilot having taken the skip over the bar, she be came under my owl control, and I ordered sail to be sat so that we might proceed ors oar voyage with all pessit.le speed. Some of the seamen were rather intoxicator: sad the chief mate, Mr. Jacob Neiper, said he had difficulty in keeping them to work. It was then about 12 o'clock. Dinner was announced in the cabin as wells forward, and I told the mate not to mind stirring the anchors and cables until orse o'clock, when he might call all hands up. About that time the mate came and told rue he had only twelve men fit for duty, out of the eighteen of a crew. I said he'd better go dawn, and try to get them up from below peaceably. He west, and, on his return, said he had succeeded in getting them all up with out difficulty. I then told him to keep them in some light exercise, and to lock the forecastle up until they got better. Shortly afterwards he came to me, and said the forecastle was broken open, and the lock not to be found. In about ten minutes afterwards I saw him talking with the prisoner, and saw the mate take the prisoner by the collar. This was nearly abreast the gangway, en the starboard side, which was the lee side. I could net hear what the mate and the pri soner said to each other. The mats pushed the pri soner forwards, while he had hold of his collar, two or three steps. I was about twelve feet from him, on the same side. Almost instanter after the mate let go his hold, the prisoner took this instrument from his side (producing a paper parcel) which he had buckled round his waist with the belt. The sheath was attached to the belt. [The knife was produced. It was one of those with a wooden handle and a sharp point, used by sailors. The blade, which appeared to he about five inches, was still red with blood at and n ear th e point.] I saw him draw the knife. He took it thus. [Here the witness grasped it in such a manner as to show how it was used in giving a back-handed blow.] The prisoner in stantly drove it with great force into the mate's left breast, and stabbed him. The mate immediately turned round to ins, put both his hands on his heart, and said, " Captain, I am done for." He never spoke again to my knowledge. He did not live one minute. When the mate turned round after being stabbed, I said to the prisoner, " You villain, what have you done?" He kept the knife in his hand. When I spoke.these words to him, he made two or three quiek steps towards me, the knife being still in his hand. Being appre hensive that I might become his second victim, I ran into the cabin, where I have generally some weapons in readiness. I got a cutlass, and in a few seconds returned to the deck. When I went up to where the mate was, I found he had fallen on his stomach, and blood was flowing fast from hirer. I found that I must use the cutlass, if it was necessary, in self-defence. I went towards the prisoner, and he retreated. I did not think it proper to pursue him. I looked after assistance to the mate. I found him thee almost dead. I do not think he ever breathed after he spoke to are. He died immediately after. I examined the wound. The car penter brought his rule, and we found it was four inches and a half long, in the left breast, directly over the trout. One rib was cut entirely oil', and another nearly so. The deceased wore this brace and this watch-geard. (Produced.) [The brace appeared to be of leather. It war nearly cut through across, and was still red with blood. The guard wag also cut through.] After I found that the deceased was dead, I ordered the second-mate and the carpenter to seize the prisoner, and bring him into the cabin. This was done, and I had him put in double irons. I then went en deck, and called for the knife, and the prisoner handed it to me. It is the same I now produce. It was more bloedy then than now. It was bloody the full length of the blade, and part of the handle ; but the damp of the sea water has obliterated some of it. The prisoner declined to ask the witness any questions. George Washington Boyd, an ordinary seaman on board the Constantine, said, I remeMber the second day after the vessel sailed. I was in the long boat, amidships. About half-past one o'clock I saw the mate and the prisoner on the starboard side, abreast the gangway. The mate hall hold of the prisoner's shirt, near the breast. The prisoner had a knife drawn in his hand, and held it up. I saw hire strike the mate in the left breast. The mats turned round, and ran about 12 feet, when he fell near the sabia door. The cabin is on the deck. I saw him about two minutes after. He was dying, and did not speak. He died in aboat two minutes. Jahn Billings, a coloured man, cook of the ship, was in the galley, and saw the second mate pat the prisoner to coil up some ropes, as he thought. Prisoner said, " I'll be d—d if I don't put a knife into him ;" but he did not name any one. Soon afterwards he heard that the mate was killed. The prisoner was, he thought, drunk. The Captain re-called.—l think the prisoner was drunk. Mr. Rushton, addressing the captain, said a question would arise in the case, as to whether the jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty extended to murder, or other capital crimes, committed in the vessels of a country with which we were on terms of amity, and which was at the time on the high seas, and beyond the waters of Great Britain. His awn opinion inclined to the affirmative, and in that case that court would take cognisance of the offence, and the prisoner would be sent thither for trial. The court was held every six weeks, and the grand jury had been discharged at the present sit tings. The prisoner was then remanded, to be sent to Lon don to abide the issue. imprrial Varltanunt. HOUSE OF LORDS..—THURBDAY. The county bridges bill and the metropolis improvement expenses bill severally went through committee. Several other hills were forwarded a st:►ge. The Marquis of NORMANDY moved the third reasling •f the punishment of death bill. discussion arose as to the propriety of retaining tits punishment of death in aggravated cases of violation ; but the debate was adjourned until this day to give further time for considering the clause relating to those offences. The Marquis of NORMANDY moved the committal of the bribery at elections bill. Lord Bnou G mast contended that the bill, from the slovenly manner in which it was drawn up, would, if passed, be nothing less than a bill for the encouragement of wholesale bribery. Lord Antarnest also opposed the bill, and it was eventually arranged that the whole of the bill should be abandoned, with the exception of the fourth clause, empowering conswiittees to report on eases of bribery, even where agency might not have been established. Some other bills were forwarded a stage, and their lord ships adjourned. HOUSE or COMMONS.—TLIURSDAY. The bills of exchange bill and the loan societies bill were severally read a second time. The Court of Chancery bill went through committee. Several bills were brought down from the House of Lords. On the motion of Mr. WonastousE, Ili address to her majesty was agreed to, requesting that there might be laid before parliament, through the medium of her majesty's am bassadors, or other diplomatic residents abroad, copies of all regulations established in foreign factories, together with such explanations in detail, as the nature of the cases would admit, describing the character of the food osed therein and the wages paid, whether in specie or kind. The house then adjourned. HODS[* OF LORDS.—FRTeAY. The Militia Pay Bill went through committee. The Metropolis Improvement Expenses Bill was lead third time and passed. The Marquis of NORMLNIIY moved that the Punishment of Death Bill should pass. The Earl of WlNciiiLsicA moved the omission of the clause which abolished the punishment of death in cases of violation. After some discussion the house divided, and the nembers were—For retaining the clause For its omission Majority . The bill was then passed. Some bills were forwarded a stage, and their lordships adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. —FRIDAY. Lord J. RUSSELL, in reply to a question from Sir F. Bur dett, said, that it was the intention of the government to erect three monuments—ono to Lord itxmouth. another to Lord de Saumares, and the third to Sir Sydney Smith. The house, at its rising, adjourned until Monday RESIGNATION OF LORD PLUNKET. (From the Dublin Evening Mail.) That we should ever live to record the exercise of such a virtue on the part of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland ! But we live in strange times, and a more extraordinary exempli fication that such is the case can scarcely be imagined than this—that Lord Plunket has resigned! If the matter were to rest in the mere notification of the fact, men's minds might well be filled with wonderment ; but when we add that there is a job—a flagrant job—connected with the trans action, all cause of surprise will be removed. Ministers—having failed in carrying their Administration of Justice Bills at the tail of the session, and thereby lost the opportunity of quartering their Attorney-General, Sir John Campbell, upon the country, and being well aware that after the first week of the meeting of the new Parliament in August, all power and patronage will be taken from their hands—entered into a negotiation with Lord Plunket, the result of which is the resignation of his Lordship, and the appointment of Sir John Campbell to the Irish seals, merely with a view of entitling the latter to a pension for life of £4,000 a year as a retired Irish Chancellor. The sensation produced in the Hall of the Courts, and in the law and equity offices, amongst the members of the profession, and through. out the city, by this announcement, is excessive. Since the foregoing was in type, the follovrimg communica tion reached us— Some short time since an application was made to his lord ship, stating that it was the anxious wish of the government to provide a comfortable retirement for Sir John Campbell, and requesting, unless he felt it extremely repuguast to his feelings, to resign the seals, in order that Sir Johli should he appointed his successor. Lord Plunket (to his credit be it spoken) replied, that con sidering the eminence and character of the Irish bar, he could not bring himself to offer it so great an insult, as to place Sir John Campbell, nem:onion-law lawyer, at its head ; that, moreover, he could not become a party to an act which the public must consider a job ; and that, therefore, his re pugnance was such, that lie could not bring himself to give his consent to the proposition. This creditable reply produced a letter from Lord Ebring ton to the Chancellor, requesting, as a personal favour to himself, that his lordship should resign, and in no ambiguous terms hinting that his lordship had received such favours from the government as rendered it impossible for hint to refuse his assent to any accommodation the government 'night demand from him in exchange. This application has, of course, produced the desired ob ject. The Chancellor has resigned. He forwarded his resignation last eve n i ng , f ee li ng t h at h e cou ld no t, without disgrace, hold the seals after such an intimation. It t is just said t ; and w w u ehave e must een stat e ser re eau be ethtaoteianrtdisiisLohrids last t n p k n e i t i — tio w id e act, he h as re d eeme d many o f t h ose errors which we have felt it ou r d u ty f rom ti me t o ti tue reprehend. Tint PRESIDINT.—There were one hundred and thirty six persons on board the President. —Neu' iirk Herald. Till REV. HUGE 11.1`NRILI ON Tilt CORN LAWS.-I'g have read with the greatest pleasure a speech delivered by the Rev. Hugh M'Neile at Liverpool, on the subject p o i ll i t e h t : corn laws. The Prote stant Assoeiatioa of Bolton hare deemed it desirable to re p rint it in the shape of a p.ra which may be purchased for one penny, at the Chronicle office and other places. We cannot speak too highly of the 51) „,h. It abounds with strong argument, apt illustration, and eloquent patriotism. We earnestly raeoamead elet a o t n ely ee . L oßure•Lneoadec, om rs A t . op iri os e s . [ esst i wmhreirll b elr: uem red a re e r faeo bw pyi t z t ie :t al_ h i ; .. . Daly paper that reported •• !. * this eloquent and as. 'S .` r a u n ro d ectotaoktivtchade address. It l o t f ha p s re kere servi i n a g LivritpooL STANDA.D.D was the . , • irr•datliy r ra lv tit il e i 'L ib ta i ts 4 • this a ; ' . town, aid has alrauly h e E. L. S. 1 ~i