Northern Times. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-08-18 00:00:00

AUGUST 18, 1859. SOIREE TO MR. COBDEN AT ROCHDALE, LAST NIGHT [B Y SPECIAL EXPRESS.] (FROM OUR OWN REPORTERS. _-4.-- The Soiree in celebration of the return 0 Cobden, Esq., for the borough of Rochdale, Richard last night, in a spacious Pavilion, erected tor ttie occa sion in Castlemere Field, about half a mile from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Station, capable of accommodating about 4,000 persons. The Pavilion contained about 12,000 yards of canvass, 15,000 yards of rope, 18 masts or centre poles, 200 side poles, and 300 stakes, on which were mounted about 100 flags and banners of all nations. The length was 46 yards, and the width 32 yards. In addition to the above, there were four small tents for cloak-rooms and provisions The doors were opened after that hour the immense area of the Pavilion rapidly ' filled, and ] announced t •erg short hair was D be taken, Precisely at the appointed hour the chairman, Andrew Stewart, Esq., the Mayor of Rochdale, appeared on the platform, accompanied by Mr. Cobden, M.P., the guest of the evening. The appearance of the hon. member was the signal for an enthusiastic outbreak of applaxse. The entire company rose, and the cheering and waving of hats and handkerchiefs, which were again and again renewed, was continued for several minutes. Arno the ot) - r ' _ter n. anguished guests present were—J. Bright, Esq., ILP. ; Frank Crossley, Esq., M.P. ; Thos. Baylev, Esq., .M.P. ; James Kershaw, Esq., M.P. ; George Hadfield, Esq., M.P. ; E.- A. Leatham, Esq. ; F. Ash -worth, Esq. ; Geo: Ashworth, Esq.; IV. Sharman Crawford, Esq. ; Tans Salt, Esq., M.P.; Geo. Wilson, ESTI. : Jacob Brioitt. Esa. ; Colonel Salway. Gibson. Hughes, Job, &c.' & , - , The CHAIRMA N said : In introducing to them their much esteemed representative, he was quite per- den, in comiection with the great agitation for free trade, and more especially for the repeal of the obnoxious Corn Laws, must be very familiar to them all. They owed to him, and the country owed to him, a large debt of gratitude which never could be repaid, for the inte rest he took in that great struggle. His return to Par liament was a small instalment of that debt of gratitude, on the part of the constituency of that borough. He concluded by calling on GEORGE ASHWORTH, Esq., who moved the following resolution " That this meeting most cordially welcome Richard Cobden, Esquire, as the representative of this borough in Parliament, and expresses its high gratification that at the electors of Rochaale have, bS: returning _ be °l)Posed, given him the highest proof of their esteem, be 1 an d placed him in a position again to advocate and enforce, in the House of Commons, thosegreat principles a- ha of Comm erc i a l F ree dom and Political Reform which have distinguished his career." 0- The resolution was seconded by JOHN PETRIE, Esq., him un- and Iva acelama NORTHERN DAILY TIMES. tected, the House of Commons would order, in country was becoming more potent and powerful; ment as that; and it was, therefore, no use saying every such case of bribery, that the party should He had seen that - public opinion in this country was all- !what she ought to do with the remainder of her b e prosecu ted criminally .by • the Attorney-General— powerf u l on the. question of the interference of this t e rritory. (Hear, hear.) But, he said, he did not he • would venture to say that such a course would country in the late. Continental .war. • He was not in blame Louis Napol6n for going to Italy, - and he have the effoct of putting down bribery sooner than England at the time, but he was glad to see public did+ not presume to judge . his motives for going anything else which the House- of Commons could opinion raised against such an interference, and he con- there ; and he did not blame him for coming away from resort to. Formerly the system of bribery, undue gratulated the country on the fact. He was glad to know It a l y , b ecause h e did no t go th ere t o d o hi s (fir. Cob quences and corruption, was confined in the counti es t h a t • they saw great _ and gigantic armies marching den') business, and he had no right ' to find fault with to a few individuals. One noble family and another together,'withotd Eirand baN;ing been called upon to him 'for coming away again. - He thought that noble family spent hundreds of pounds each in bribing, interfere in the conflict. (Hear, hear.) And now let Englishmen had a due notion of their own importance corrupting, and influencing the electors. Every one us take stock, and- ask ourselves whether all the old and their own powers for interfering with other people knew it, and it was considered a legitimate expenditure traditions had been proved to be true ? We had been in what they do, without any reference to our rights or of their wealth, and exercise of .their power. In the t o ld that if we did not interfere in an European war pretens i ons i n the matter. ( Hear, h ear. ) They had an same way, if a contest took place i n a - bporough, it was we should lose our- poWer. Well, now, he would ask interest apart from the question of Italy in this ques some leading landed proprielor against another similarly th em h a d we l o st p r e s ti g e or power by havirg abstained tion of foreign policy. He might say that every situated with himself, who fought for some twenty days from joining in the struggle ? Did we not know, on the buctmet was framed with reference to their foreign hand, that England was more powerful than ever, and even that her peoptawere clamorous against our takinc , part in the conference which was now about to take We had had public opinion exercised against )art in a war, and now he trusted that • in succession corrupting the electors. Elections were ' otl . notoriously fought in thi s manner, b ut only by the great. We read of them in history. and saw that ir„ those times no notice at all was taken of them. But place now we had another class of corruptionists. We saw our takim corruption, mother element introduced into our 'system of electoral public Opinion would keep us from interfering in We had a certain class of people coming diplomacy, unless it should be on a question of which rrom Australia with :heir £5O nuggets, now going down England could fairly approve. But do not let us have to the different boroughs and corrupting the electors. lie rin ventured to say that where such a system of bribery was n carried on by some of those parties he had named, who ;a had not the prestige of nobility about them, the system Is would -" lheld so cl I y, and efforts might 7 aot, be up►. uccessfully made to put it down, for it woutu common It would be remembered that it was - so i. Le amongst this class of society, that when one party lie must him in deadly conflict, or otherwise he was banished from society: Well, they wi - ,uld perhaps remember that two linen draper's assistants, having had a serious quarrel, went one morning down to Wormwood-scrubs to settle their differences by a duel ; and, on its being known that the linen drapers' assistants had become AnnlEn bnor", vnrtr frIC11;111,11 . 11p in 1111,1,17 PR flf thenobility, for some of the &Hers were sent to Neu gate, and now people had begun to think that nothing could he more ridiculous, as well as criminal, than two gen- tlemen going out to fight a duel. (Hear, and laughier.) And so he thought it would be with our electoral sys tem : for he believed it would be found that when those , ts, and att ;mpted to bribe some dirty little borough in the West of • England with £5,060, the system would not be considered so fashionable as formerly. ex -11.F., and wear the prison (tress, ne nau no uouou that it would do a great deal to put an end to this - - system of bribery. But there was a much wider cues tion than that in connection with it. lie did not mean to say that it was the only way in which our electoral system was to he reformed. lie should have something more to say on that to-morrow night, when he had to meet the whole body of his constituents; and therefore on that point at present he would not touch. But this he would say, that he looked upon all the present attempts and pre tended measures for putting an end to this system of cor- ruption as sincere on the part of the House of Commons. There had been a rule acted upon in the House to a great extent when bribery had been proved in _certain cases, of ordering. cpmmis.sioners to proceed to the par ticular towns and enquire into the proceedings. Now, he would tell f hem - what that amount& my more 'ongresses T . 19 . e op were partitioned air to different rulers just with ihe same indifference to their instincts and wishes as thonah they were so many flocks of sheep. mse of 'n order to arran,7, ition on which and perpetuate terms of Peace. Lord John Russell had made conditions which he (Mr. Cobden) thought wire not likely to be acted But what he wished to express was, that their object should be, and the sole condition should be for which _ should go into that Congress, that the Italians should be left free to manage their own affairs. (Ap rhat they should be secure from intervention that they should enjoy the privilege of non-interven i in the management of their own affairs, just as sacredly and as securely as any great power oii earth enjoyed it. lie knc the excuse which these great :il . vers had for interfering in the inferior states, under a pretence of preserving order; a hypocritical pretence, he had no hesitation in calling the French empire for the last thir years ? bid they preserve the earth from bloodshed? Did not they Austrian and the French empires shed more blood by preserving order and preventing bloodshed. - He should face the chance of disorder. He said if the Italians could not settle their own affairs, without fall why they not D carry on any other pow& taking the advantage and entering their (Hear, hear.) How did England act in when she fell into almost a red Instead of their going at once it was agreed that 0 - policy, not .to their domestic policy. It was not what they wanted to spend at home that formed the basis of public tamition. It w: is ‘That- they wanted to spend with reference to their proceed- ing-s , abro: and it was, unm Es - that ht tallied to them of forelgg policy ; because he saw no chame of progress in those physical reforms of which the resolution which w read referred, unless they brought their relations with foreign countries into a different position than they were at present. He did not come to advocate; and he never aivocatod, the )le of defencelesanc3s or disarmament, and fe•preparod to power, anc lefend thems - lv - es against any possibl ba ctanil /in fnr wraQ t111.2_,n, Ire would quote the words of Sir Robert Peel—that England should talte care that precaution should*be taken, so that every mile of our coasts and our colonies zgresszon ; t a ruinous policy ; ten - ci he used these words must be prepared peless and man is lie i'vho will take some risks." Rather than take such precautions; that was his (Mr. Cobdeies) principle with regard to their foreign policy. (Ap plause.) What would they think if he told them—and he did so as the result of a little calculation—it took the amount of money which they annually spent in that country, as a means of defence' and precaution against the possible warlike agression of France. If they took that suns of money, as he would do, at the very . lowest possible amount, six millions and a-half it was nearer twelve millions ; pent six millions 'sterling per arotecting themselves against TlOUnced the greatest and most desirable means.of de- I free and magnanimous offer was made to him. lie was fence for the country of any they could possess ; and bound to say, at the same time, that whilst his own with the present improvements in the cannons and feelings and convictions prevented him from taking that. the deadly -nature of the missiles which now could step which many of them there; and many of his be projected from their cannon, and the enormous friends in Liverpool and Manchester pressed on him , he distance at which they could strike an object, that the wasvcrvgladthat his friend Mr. Gibson felt hirwelf reatly most scientific men said that with 1,000 men i.e a line- and at liberty to take office in Lord Palmerston's govern of-battle ship, with twenty or thirty tons of gunpowder, meat, and he was also glad teat his friend Mr. Gilpin did they could saiver a vessel to atoms. These b oa t s were so, for there was plenty to do in the office which he called "slaughter-houses" in America. (Laughter.) had accepted. He liked to see a man step into govern -1 the French were said to be overwhelming' meat from the r an k i o f the people, as it were, and thus us 34, h with B n w ay e a n l preparations, England had 200 steam to show that they need not be holy in a cat-tent vessels of all sizes, and it was shown that England had region in order to le able to serve the Qum/_ increased tenfold in sailing and mre ste h st am vesselssince 1852. - Now, he sa id h e nee d not regret the course which he took ~‘ n onn.nn n I n :o their tax Ice had no a regard hesitaTtioninsayin7 that this bad been a perfect waste. - They were as safe' before from any aggression, as they were now, with all the additional expenditure.. 'What .ord l'alrne‘) j -ston's offer If he had ever !lad auy personal feelings..Tgainst him, which he never had, ..-for Lord Palmerston wasa man of that kind of pleasing lisposition, and one wou ld scarce l y f ee l any personal )pposition to him. If he ever said one word against .-m. respecting • - Inds of the Cha s zi cellor of the Exchequer ? dive him £5,000,000 of revenue to deal with, and see what he with it, instead of voting that meaty away with aeclammatioa, as they gene ally did, fu - or these uis fiweign 'olicy whiight be considered personally. hurtful p , he felt ch exc m eedinglr sorry for it ; b u t h e never intended to do so. lie could. onlyjustify hiwself by Pilling back on his own stronr, feelings on the matter: :Via nn,, senseless preparations. eriv"e him the money . to deal with, and he wou ld a pply it to the• mod& cntion cf taxes, in the reduction of customs' duties, in the releasing of - vexatious ineumbcances, in °my nope ior kindness and indulgence, in the youiu course which he their had thought it his duty to take. The hon. gentleman re— sumed his seat amidst much cheering. The following r4solution was then proposed by Thomas Ashworth Esq., seconded by Jacob Bright, Esq,: "That this meeting having he ar d f rom Mr. Cobden; the reasons which induced him to decline the office which was offered him in the present cabinet, expresses its entire satisfaction with the course he has pursued,, and sees in it another proof of the clear .judginent and the perfect honour and disinterestedness by which his public life has been distinguished." The resolution was carried unanimouly: removing obstructions on their commerce, and reducing those high duties which checked their intencourse with France. Give him that money to deal with, in reducing the duties on French commodities, and they would do far more to effect peace with that country than ever they_ would do by any preparations for- war. They raise the country by any attempt at great They should let France hear as they ußeriority nau. beard from France ; but he did not know what truth there was in the proposal to reduce the navy ; their trusty advisers, no doubt, would tell them they must. Rot reduce their navy, no matter what Franco did. The effect of that would be, if they showed themselves in the Mediterranean with an immense line-of-battle ships, no French Government would try to reduce their navy while England kept such a force. y `The must bear in mind that France had a commerce only - second to ours, and that the French had a pride equal to our own, and would not bear to have a naval force. inferior in any great degree to ours. It was said that England was not likely to go to take France; but, by theirleave, gentlemen, when ever there had been an invasion it had always.been an invasion by England and not by France. When they bore in mind that the French read in their schools ba6ks of the English descents on their coast, the Kings of - England taking their boats, they had a different opinion to that of the English people, and they did not believe in the opinion of an incroase. (Laughter.) Whatever some of them might' think the experience The next resolution was proposed by WILLIAM SHARMAN CRAWFORD, Esq., and seconded by FRANK CROSSLEY, Esq., M.P.,—" That in the opinion of this meeting, the question of Parliamentary Reform presses for immediate. settlement. That without Reform, elections will continue to be corrupt, and Par liament will be unfaithful in its trust. That, so long as that one-sixth only of the adult male population of the kingdom is entrusted with the franchise; that a small minority, probably net more than one-sixth of the existing electors, returns a majo rity of the members of Parliament ; that the coercion o. electors is the rule in counties, and the corruption of them, through a profligate expenditure of money, the practice in boroughs ; a truly liberal and honest administration is impossible. That this meeting recom mends all liberal and free constituencies to support the present Government, through their representatives. only Cm condition that the question of Parliamentary Reform shall be dealt with in an earnest and generous spirit, at the cpening of the next session of parliament. .The resolution was supported by E. A. Leathanr, Esq., M.P., and John Bright, Esq., 111.1' The resolution was then put, and carried with accla— mation. the last six months must have shown flu military powers of the continent, and that war was a source of pastime in our days to be resorted to very little, and at short intervals, it was a very serious thing, with their means of recrimination, and their tremendous preparation, and the means Of destruction, and the means of transport. It was a very serious thing to bring 690,000 men in the way against each other, for a few days would now do what it would have taken months to do at the beginning of the last century; and they brought these mighty hosts into instant collision, and with a means of destruction such as the imagination of our forefathers could not conceive. 'Well, that had been found out, and some thing more had been found out, The public opinion of Europe was not in favour of these wars. Now he never presumed, since he spoke in public on the ques tion of the ruler of France, to offer one word of censure or of praise on that individual, and for this reason— the Emperor of the French was elected by the whole people of France, and, he believed, freely elected, inasmuch as he received more than two-thirds of the whole votes of the country for the Presidency, and that when the ballot-box was in the hands of his rival Cavaignac. He took it as a proof that, when the people were in favour of Louis Napoleon, having voted for him as Emperor, they voted for him as President; such being the case, what may have been the motives of 36,000,000 of people in the election of their chief? It was not his business, and he had no right to inquire. He bowed to their decision, sup posing they had been actuated by impulses which might have been right in them, but would not be probably right in us ; and lie had always this impres k: mon, for the last seven or eight years had a per- A vote of thank honoured_the meeting De the career of one who bore ni And this he would whether he or any other rder on the continent career was not to that evening as passed to the gentlemen whco with their presence and assistance: A vote of thanks to the Mayor, moved by Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P., and seconded by Thomas Bazley, Esq., M.P., concluded the business of the evening, and the meeting broke up at about half-past ten o'clock. An attempt is about to be made on a scale of some importance, to introduce thegrowth of silk into Holsteiri as a staple article of commerce. The mulberry trees; which have been, planted for some time on the shores of the Baltic, near lieilegenhafen, have thriven well, amt an abundant supply of cocoons has been received, to the future produce of which those who aro engaged in the enterprise look forward with confidence for a profitable result. ay, that OFFICES Anor.rslrEn.-The offices of inspector or customs in Upper and Lower Canada have been abolished:. Mr. Matthew Ryan, who held the latter, retires on n. year's pay, and intends devoting himself to the practicer of the law. Mr. T. Worthington, the Upper Canada.' inspector, has been appointed assistant commissioner oil customs under • Mr. Bouchette, who has so long anct efficiently presided at the head of this department. FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT AT IIUDDERBFIELD.A —On Tuesday, a porter united Alfred Iloyle, employes/ in the goods department at the Huddersfield railway station, was thawing a handbarrow full of goods across of the _ age, as to dream 'of a career of war_and the barrow, the line, when a tram came up, ca twisted it_ round, and threw Hoyle down, engine and two or three taken to the infirmary, Nihon it was found that the right thigh was torn through, and the left leg below the knee was shattered to pieces. He expired in ten minutes. A BLUNT INVITATION.—A popular clergyman, from Paisley, was preaching lately at Dunoon. At the close annexation, Such as commenced by Napoleon the First, then he would find that public opinion, which was impotent sixty years ago, would be sufficiently powerful of the - service, an Irish gentleman one of the audience,who resides near Innellan, and who ' is remarkable for his plain, blunt hospitality,_ waited on him, and, slapping to avenge agalist the man, whoever he mi, would attempt to trample on the interests meree of the present world, and deprive the of Europe of their just expectations of benefits of those improvements and inveu hinifamiliarly on the shoulder, said, "Bedad; sirryoii are the finest specimen of the Presbyterian clergyman 'ou must come and dine wid me ; that charade select committee that sat in the House of Commons produced a file or blue-book from these commis- ;inners four feet high, and weighing up warc [red-weight _ . ,f . Mr. COBDEN, on rising, was received with tremendous .. ---.-- ----, ---, it cheering. Wh en th e a ppl ause h a d su b s id e d, th e h on . F Well, commissioners have been appointed to enquire iv gentleman said :—Ladies and gentlemen, I am rather into those brutal boroughs where they had reasons to out of practice now, for it is now somewhere about two- suppose that the corruption was more than usually and -a-half years since I addressed a public meeting out vile. And what did it amount to ? A few young iv . of Parliament ; and lam afraid that, with the disad- barristers were sent down to a little borough in os•j vantage o f b e i ng un d er canvass —( a laugh)—l may fail Gloucestershire, and they heard stories from Tom and Y I to make myself heard by every one here present, Harry, and then a blue-book was presented to the g unless you indulge me with silence" dur- House of Commons, which was never read ; the con ing the short time I shall occupy your at- sequence was, that the country was put to an tention. And first, let me thank you—let me tender enormous expense for those blue-books, and Li you my too long-delayed personal acknowledgments and result came from them, and no result was in thanks, for the kindness you showed me when I was tended to come from them. Now, he voted against the more than 4,000 miles distant from you, for having ce- appointment of a commissioner in the case of Gloucester, turned me as your representative, which I make no because he knew the utter futility of it, and therefore secret of telling you is an honour I court beyond that of he would not lend himself to what lie knew was a any other constituency, in having returned me voluntarily delusion. Ile was perfectly satisfied that any man who a nd th without solicitation. I thank the gentlemen who took would resort o n ly t o ex i s ti ng m e ans t o su pp ress b r ib ery , er th e leading part in my committee, and I also tender my must have m ore cre d u lity th an h e p ossesse d. H e h a d anks to all those gentlemen—many of whom I now no faith in the existing means, and he would not lend f see preser. , were never read by any member in . the commit if I may not be travellingbeyOnd the strict line of - discipline, I would also thank our opponents who sheathed-their swords and granted me an armistice, which mmseit to them any longer. Beyond the means they at present possessed, they alight at least to allow the experiment of the ballot. (Hear, hear.) He did not speak of.the ballot as the cure for all evils. He lid not speak of the ballot as a political measure, when I read and hear of the transactions at the late general election, I think my acknowledgments are still more due to you for having thought of me during my remote absence_ ; for, if I judge mixed up with other questions of t organic change_ Tie spoke only of the ballot as a measure to exercise a cheek on this moral corruption—this rottenness which was sapping the very foundations of our electoral system. They had also observed, very likely, the it was this, that the than — usual struggle :ss I am gitly surer made by the recent 'Election . Committees. In the small boroughs the price of votes had risen as the day had advanced from £5, £lO, £2O, at twelve o'clock, £lOO at half-past three o'clock, and in some cases even £2OO five minutes before the clock struck to obtain scats in parliament ; and, unl misinformed, some of the .rants for the honour dia in the strict rules of not confine themsel Now I do not think it out of discretion the case of Fra republic ten years ago ? whatever happened to France they should lefi - ve her, free. What they did powers they should do with the smaller Proclaim war with the great powers. It Niai to the interest, of of these towers only, but to the interest of humanity. There could be no chance of peace—no prospect of any abatement of those vast military armaments, that prevented the public from getting the fruits of their industry, until they had the principle o_f non-intervention recognised as a in every small state, and in every 1. (Hear ;i9l princip_ , hear, and applause.) lie therefore did not say wrong, he said, when he expressed this subject. He said, - one condition, and almost the sole condition, upon which their Government were pre pared to take any part in any continental congress with reference to the affairs of Italy, should be to insist upon the fundamental maxim by which Italy should manage her own affairs, • and prevent the interference - of any arms, Austrian or French, or any other power whatever. (Cheers.) He confessed that he spoke with strong sympathies on this question. He had had an opportunity of mingling much with Italians. He had travelled in all parts of that country, and he had watched with the greatest interest the proceedings at their late elections. He had seen with admiration the orderly moderation with which they had carried on their elections, though plunged suddenly, as it were, into the furnance of revolution, all the old landmarks and old authorities disappearing. But he had been very much struck with this fact, and he mentioned it not merely for that meeting, but because their proceedings would th.f. observe( and in the territories of the Pope, as well as other parts of Italy, the people bad not only elected the ablest 11lell, oui, men woo, oy meir wealth and possessions, represented the wealth and property of the country. There were men elected (he had seen their names in the newspapers) as their representatives, who were fairly entitled to be taken as representin7 the nrnit w‘,9ltb aorta roiruence or rue country, as Lord Derby would be, or Lord Jl.lin Russell would be, or Lord Lans downe, or any other great historic names of families in this country. The Italians havine• done this, showing that they were capable of keeping annual as the means of the aggressions of France; beyond the ordinary ar - nouxt of force which they sustained with reference to the amounted to more than the whole of their trade with France, that -^ as a politico MP as a conseptenc mico maxim, he would say it - would bufor the benefit of England if Fmnee did not exist ; and, assuming that avec pr upon t hglaw us, it wou be bett, nat Zing at the bottom of the sea. Tie put a question as corol lary to that—was a man, who called himself a politi cian' but did not even aspire to the rank of statesman, was he deserving of the name of Utopian if he said he was capable of giving counsel as to the practical means of getting rid of this state of things ? Was there no possible remedy for such. a state of things ? There were thirty-six millions of peo ple in France and twenty-six millions of people in Eng land in the year 1859 unable to place themselves in a better position,—because they were unable to believe the protestations of each other ; they were getting them selves prepared for this mutual attack with deadly defi ance. He said, Was it - Utopian to ask if a statesman could not devise such a scheme as would rid the world of such a frightful scandal as this? (Cheers.) lie was not going to trouble them much longir on the old question, as they might consider he was harping on the old string, and especially in the presence of ladies, but he was bound to say that they had themselves very much to answer for this unnatural and unprofitable state of things. He knew he should be called to account by those organs of public opinion, who claimed a right to think for them, and to speak for them, and to project for them, and expected they should be allowed to do all that ; and if they attempted to say a few words for themselves, they were greatly chid, and were very intolerant, and very troublesome people. But he ventured to say that a large portion of the English press, and many of those weaker vessels who were led by the popular cry, had much to answer for this state of things. With regard to France, he hesitated not to say, being a close observer of these things, that the increase of the act been qui 3 mile!' provokec France. (Hear, 'hear, and cheers.) Probably in tl matter they should be more inclined to take the °pith, of another country ; and he confessed to them that in the midst of all the good feeling and the high respect which he found in the United States was entertained towards this country, and the high respect of the offspring for its parent, and the , respect of the parent to war d s the • • • •• offspring, he believed both had good cause to be proud. Amidst all the kindness shown towards the English people, whom they were always ready to admit they owed everything in their happy maxims of freedom, g. there was one thing which he saw in their papers, and _ have ever mi ats a devil of a good sermon you gave us !" The rev. ;entleman begged to decline the honour ; but Paddy at ou: place her( _ word or two on ti. fresh in our minds have had upwards of forty elections, but I am told thal if .. all those had petitioned who had prosf of the corrupt practices, the numbers would have been double what they are. Now lam go- in.... to say something which I am afraid, in these days. when we have set phases, will be considered to be un charitable; yet heaven forgive me when I say that I do not believe parliament is in earnest in its expressed de sire to put down bribery, for otherwise it would have been accomplished long since. For what do these election petitions mean, after all ? Let a word or two about them whilst we are from them. What is an election petition that when a man is deprived of his seat by venial practices he appeals to a certain tribunal, and that tri bunal the most costly in the civilised world. For I will venture to say that a man who presents an election peti tion to the House of Commons, goes before a tribunal in comparison with which the Court of Chancery itself becomes dirt-cheap indeed. The principal obstacle to a petition at all is that the party praying for a redress of his grievance—the grievance of having been deprived of the fair chance of free and unbought suffrages of the electors—feels that no man can tell him what it may cost him. It may cost him £5, or it may cost him £5,000, and therefore no parliamentary lawyer who has either candour or conscience will venture to tell him that he can guarantee him against the expenditure of any sum whatever. The consequence is, the cost is so great that most men will not incur it. But supposing that he did prosecute his petition, how did it end ? And this was his (Mr. Cobden's) great charge against the House of Commons. The petitioner, in all probability, proved corrupt proceedings on the part of hi s o pp onen t, an d a portion of the constituency ; and the consequence was, that his opponent was unseated. That, however, did not give the petitioner the seat, but merely said that there should be another e l ec ti on i n t h e same b oroug h ; and so, if the petitione r chose to come forward again and incur the same expense, those " free and independent " electors who had already sold their votes on the former occasion, would a second time have the privilege of selling them, another election being nothing less than a second harvest to those corrupt voters who made merchandise of their electoral privileges. Such being the case, what wonder was it that hundreds of those who so lost their seats 'Would not venture to petition ? A friend of his in the Eastern Counties, who lost his seat at the late general election, told him that he had the clearest possible case against his opponent, but he would not petition. And why ? He had petitioned once before, and his expensesamounted to £5OO a day, and if he had petitioned again he had no guarantee that it would not have cost him a similar sum. Now, this being the state of things, he might be asked what was the remedy for it ? He re plied, that were the House of Commons in earnest, a remedy would easily be found. In the first place let these enquiries be made cheaper and more accessible. Spare the aggrieved party the enormous expense to which, at present, he was subject where he proved that he had a case. "Where there was a good case, let the expenses be borne by some one else besides the petitioner ; for, if it was right that this system should be put down—if one faithful and true' representative depended, indeed, upon purity at its source --then who so much interested m not allowing those who were corrupt to go unpunished, or who so fitting to bear the expense, as the whole of the country itself, should that be considered, under the circumstances, ex pedient ? Well, then, let the inquiry be carried on in such a manner that it should not be ruinous to the peti tioner. But beyond that, he said, let there be some punishment inflicted upon those who were detected as the guilty parties in those transactions. He would venture to say that if, when a case of bribery were de- four. Again, they had no doubt seen that, wherever they had ruffianism and rowdyism—if he might use an American phras( wherever they had this ruffianism that critical time when the scale' might be turned. There was a case the other day where these violent means were used by a ruffian on a gentleman, (not knowing that he was a valiant servant of the Crown, and wearing her Majesty's livery. This gentleman was narriarl nff by fltn ruffiang at ti eritionl nnint in tha nlant. tion, and was not al these questions well see how things would be with the ballot. If they had the ballot, they would not know:how the poll stood at all until the election was over. The great merit of the ballot was, that it would promote order, decorum, and honesty, in taking the poll. He was by no means certain, and he said it iu all candour, that it would have any effect in carrying any particular party at the poll. He would not say that his own views would be likely to be reflected in the ballot-box. He thought that in many cases the parties who dreaded the ballot most would perhaps be the most profited by it. But compare it with the villany, the bloodshed, and the hideousness that we witnessed at our elections, as com pared with other counties where it was in operation, and he said that the ballot, as an experiment, they ought at least to resort to. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) He would mention a fact, in illustration, which occurred in America, on this question. Now, let them understand he was not ping to quote America as a country where they might look for imitation in everything regarding their political institutions. They were as unfit for us in many respects as we were unfit for them. But this, he would say in passing, that the white man in the United States had a theory in their government, which, if the human instrument be equal to the political machine, went to deal justly with everyone. (Cheers.) In America he was speaking to a gentleman whose name was known to some of our statesmen here—for he knew that he gave evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, ol which he sat, to inquire into the mode of proceeding in our houses of Parliament — he was a man standing high, both socially and politically, and wishing that he (Mr. Cobden) should have the full benefit of his views, he wrote him a letter after he had left Philadelphia, which was addressed to him at Washington. In this letter, he said : " I have been for fifty years connected with political movements in Philadelphia, and I never knew a vote bought or sold." Now that was one of the largest states in Ame rica, and contained one of the largest populations of working men—for Philadelphia had changed its cha racter from being what it formerly was, a leading sea port—and now it had become a manufacturing city con taining 60,000 or 70,000 inhabitants. That gentleman would not have told him that Philadelphia was pure — that there was not the same liability to corruption, and he would not have told him that all their elections were carried on peaceably and tranquilly ; but he wanted to show that the ballot presented such an obstacle to bribery, that no man would venture to bribe when he had no means of knowing that ho got value tor what he paid. (Hear, hear.) He would say nothing more upon his experience in America at present, for he confessed the honest truth, that he was so kindly treated there, and he felt that he was treated kindly there on a great question of cosmopolitan inter est, and treated in the same kind way as others who had gone before him had been treated ; but he was really so kindly treated that he felt he was scarcely an impartial witness of that country, and therefore he was induced not to say more about it. But this he would say, that we in this country ought to feel that our electoral sys tem was pure, for our government depended upon it for weal or for woe. (Hear, hear, a nd cheers.) It was doubly necessary now that it shouldC be so ; for not anly in our domestic government, but also in reference to our foreign gorernment, public opinion. in, this bearance of other conntrics powerful nati around them imhnssnclorst • And if morc of creating an influence, it would be very easy to Pro (Mop dicnrilisr in fllnca onnn fri wnnld IAP vory onkv to make it difficult for those eminent men, who had beeii voted as representatives of the people, to carry on the government with moderation and success. But he said, if they should fall into disorder by direct means, and if within themselves they had the elements of self-go- be interfered with. Is was only a hypocritical pretence for the greater Powers to interfere in their concerns When England was in the canidron o: Lie revo: from 1645 or 1650 to 1745, when the last battle was fought in favour of the Stuart dynasty if, instead of being left to fight out their own redemption, when they were dethroning one king after another, and overturn ing one ministry after another, a hostile army had been placed on their shores and insisted on settling their disputes, and insisting on the power of remedying their disorder, what would have been the fate of this country ? Would it have grown up with that stamina and wisdom, and with the experience which they enjoyed? What they went through in that century was a process of fer mentation, which, in the moral world as well as in the physical world, was necessary to pass through before they arrived at those principles to which it was neces sary to attain. What gave strength to nations and to individuals, but grappling with difficulties ? Where would their maxims and laws have been, if, during this contest, a Spanish or a French army had been planted on oui shores to dictate the terms of peace, and insist ing on its preservation ; where would have been their liberties, and their privileges, and their glories ? Now, he contended, and heaven knows he would not be charged with anything like sympathy of feeling with bloodshed as a process for obtaining human good, but he contended for the right to every country on the con tinent to go through the same process as England went through, or by any other means to obtain the same maxims of government, or to obtain it by that inevit able means—civil strafe. He was in favour of non-inter vention with the affairs of Italy; but it might be said,where would Italy have been at that moment if there had not been intervention on the part of the Emperor Napoleon. He was not going to be so unreasonable as he feared some of them haebeen—first, for having quarrelled with the Emperor Napoleon for having gone to Italy, and then having quarrelled with him for coming away from Italy. (Laughter.) Napoleon had removed the Austrians From Lombardy, and had left them in Venetia —and he (Mr. Cobden) quite agreed with Mr. Glad stone that Napoleon had done as much good for Austria in removing her from that perilous position in Italy, as he did to Italy in ridding I , .er of her hated mistress. (Applause.) He did not think Austria could do a wiser thing than to make arrangements with the population to pay . a portion of the national debt, and abdicate her sovereignty altogether. He said Austria could not do a wiser thing than emancipate the rest of Italy, and re move herself into other parts where she would be prob ably loved, which she would never be in Italy. H e said if she was a government, but governments were never wise—(laughter)—and the least wise of govern ments was Austria, it seemed to him that :that govern ment was living in that happy state of blessed ignorance that she had no more notion of what public opinion was thinking of her government, than if she were in the middle ages. (Hear, hear.) She might have avoided all this bloodshed and all her p re _ sent disasters; and she might have received, no doubt, a very large. payment for the independence of Lombardy, and have avoided this collision with France, if she had only undertaken to have abstained from interfering with any other States of Italy than those belonging to he r , according to. the treaty entered into at Vienna. But it wastolly to , expect any wise step from such a Gatern, upon us for this prepara tion for an invasion from France. lie would just read one extract which he took from the .2Verc York Times, a paper not unfriendly to England. It w as as Ley case follows :—" There was a time in Enilish history when the 'inviolate island laughed all foreign threats to scorn, and met even the terrible p er il o f th e grea t Armada of Spain with a front of haughty defiance;' but that time seems to have passed by. The press and the orators of England have now no capital stock so rich in sure returns of interest and excitement as the chronic ae great disturbance of the continental relations of t Powers ; on the least appearance of unusual activity in Lock yar L'rance ; on the meres' new combination between one or more states of Europe, not commonly united in their policy—England at once sets up her outcry of distress. Her leading journals thunder over the land, her parlia- Lnstings ring with alarm anrlidatps r nuke t ' dreadful notes of war,' her captains tale do - iin the sword of Wellington, and her poets laureate take up the lyre of Tyrtious. If England were consciously the weakest or the wickedest of powers, her conduct in this respect would be perfectly reasonable. If she knew herself to have fairly earned the hatred of all the world, and felt herself unequal to resist the onslaught of avenging justice, one might attribute her propensity for panics to causes that would be rational, at least, if not respectable. Well, now, he would repeat, it was not pleasant for an Englishman to read such articles as these, and this was the mildest part of the article. (Laughter.) There was scarcely a post that did not bring some newspaper from some part of France or America, particularly from Havre and the centr d parts of h'rance, in wh.ch they did not speak with a pity resembling that which would be given to a child. The Americans called it the " English craze." (Laughter.) Was it too much to say to newspapers—he did not want them to abstain from one word that was hard against himself—(laughter) —nor did he wish to curtail them in their privilege of criticism of all the world ? They might say what they pleased of all the arbitrary sovereigns in the world, and he would tell those sovereigns, if they could not bear the criticism of the newspapers, they were hard to please. He did not want to curtail the liberties of the press at all. Do not let them set up a screech against him, as if he wanted to curtail their liberties; but this he would ask of them, that the newspapers which had been advocating these preparations should not make him ridiculous by continuing in this tone. (Laughter.) Was not that a reasonable request to make of them? (Renewed laughter.) If they would only treat these panics with the ridicule which they deserved, they should be able to get to the end of them. But for another fact. When he came home from America, and after going into the House of Parliament, he took a look into the bluebooks which had been presented to Parliament during his absence, and he found—he did not believe anybody else looked at it, because it would not answer the cry of the moment—but he found a paper presented to Parliament which was drawu up by the late Government giving a th n a a t c c e o e l e i e n n t n o t f in h e thenE i Housande e FfFrenchnneanz ands. H i t e n read was contradicted. It showed that for every vessel that France had increased in number in her navy during the er lnanstrysehveas h n years,een a ll the time the extension of h going on—for every vessel she added to, her fleet, England added ten. Whilst their public writers and speakers, who seemed to pander to this. panic, and wanted to make money out of it in some direction or other—whilst they were merely giving then the defences of the frigates and the line -of-battle ships,. they ignored other preparations, which were pro nounced by scientific men to he the most perfect pre parations. they could make against a foreign foe—these were.the. steam gun-boats, of which they had now 160 add: U tic creeks aud harbours, These were pro- should attempt to convert the inventions and discoveries of our day to such purposes ;_ if he should attempt to convert the steam-boat, and telegraph, and railroad, merely for purposes of warlike ambition, why he would say then that it would have the prayers and aspirations of 19-20ths of all the honest and industrious men of Europe, in favour of his dethronement and downfall ; and, where such a majority proclaimed its views, sooner or later, and not very late, they wsnld make this power felt, and such an individual mis . - 4 h. character of the age in which he lived, would he - ins own person ,he precept " that he who word shall perish by the sword." (Applause.) ne was going to have the pleasure of saying a few words to them to-morrow, he would not trespass on their time longer ; but he found that he was expected ow, as to say something on an incident that occurred some little time ago. It seemed to be thought that, even at this distant time, it was becoming in him to say a few words on the subject. He should have thought it presumptuous to have said anything upon it to any one else ; but if it was the wish . of on the platform he must obey it their chiefs cries of "go on.") He need not his arrival in England, where he found himself then their representative, he received a communication from Lord Palmerston, and also another from Lord John Russell, and in Lord Palmerston's letter he was kind enough to urge many reasons, kindly and frankly ex pressed, why he should accept a seat in the Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade. 'Well, he would not affect any indifference on the question, but he would at once say that, if he was fit for any office in the Cabinet, he was peculiarly fitted for the Board of Trade. (Hear.) Indeed, if other circumstances had not interfered, his presence in the Cabinet would have been putting a square peg into a square hole. (Loud laughter.) But his reasons, if they would have them, for declining to accept the honour which was offered to him—an honour, he begged to assure them, which he did not regard with indifference, which was a matter peculiar to him, if he had been an ambitious character ; for probably, taking it for all in all, it would have been the first instance in which a man. sprung from amongst them, had had offered to him a seat in the Cabinet. It was, therefore, not a matter of indifference to him. But in that case he felt that it was a matter calling for his conscientious action. Well, he went to London • and before calling on any one, or see ing any one else, he thought it the best to call otherw h a t upon Lord Palmerston, and express to him his views on the matter, and he might tell them, as frankly as he e as ei s l a t i h l is ant an o d f told Lord Palmerston; what those views were. He stated his case to him. He said, "I have been, for inH be r these of words,yyears, rs, whlem veryt his en ten ut course,neotarrl calculated e e dendetito produce years, priest s feotdhr to oap s he y nai s ucu t le im b a e t t i w e I believe to be wrong foreign policy, for I think it d views .had been. He stated to him that he might be mistaken, for that when a man pursued a certain likely took an exaggerated view ; but he put it to Lord Palmerston, and he now put it to them, whether, having recovered their opinion, it was becoming in him to step from the deck of an American steamer, and hav ing now been offered a post of honour, whether it was consistent for him to imagine, or at once to discover that he had altered those opinions—whether it was right or not to take such a course, he candidly confessed that it was inconsistent with his own self-respect. (Cheers.) Now, lie did not wish to take more merit on this question than he deserved, neither did he wish to say anything more about his own a bnegation in the matter. He told the gentlemen at Liverpool when he met them there that it was a question concerning himself alone, and which he only could decide, and that he now told them. He told them that it was his own conviction, and that he was bound to be faithful to those convictions, and especially was he bound to be so, when his lordship's ;enerous importunity prevailed, 'orth British Daily IMPROVEMENT IN GENTLEMEN'S HATS.— Many letters from time to time have, on this subject, appeared in the "Post" and " Journal," the ori(rmaLst of which are to be seen at ou r s h ops , 9, DALE— STREET, and . 6, CRESCENT. MR. JOHN A. SIMPSON, the active partner of the firm of KINNEAR and SIMPSON, begs to state that this improvement in Gentlemen's Hats is his own inven— tion, and registered by hint in his own name, and is his 'own private properly. In bringing this invention so prominently before the public, he has avoided say— ing one word about it himself. All that has been done has just been to print, in the " Daily Post and the 1 ‘ Liverpool Journal," some three or four letters at a time. The principle upon which Cut advertisement is inserted is the one so well expressed in. Proverbs- —" Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth ; a stranger, and not thine own lips?' The whole of those letters are written by persons altogether uninfluenced by any other motive than this —that they really felt the benefit of Mr. Simrsox's invention, and in such a degree, that they thoughtit only just to him to state their opinions, not in words merely, but also in writing. 3nteitigturt. LATEST BETTING EBOR BIANDICAP. against Volatile (t.I Starke (t.) Peeress (t.) 8 to 1 against Underhaid. (t.) 10 to 1 against Archduchess (t.) 12 to 1 against Maid of Dewent (t.) YORK RACES.-WEDNESDAY. YORKSHIRE OAKS of £l5 each. One mile and a quarter. Bilberry 1 • Olympias 2 Maid of the Mist ZETLAND STAKE Kestrel... Springwe Lady Kir Fifteen ran Trovatore Subtractiol NORTH OF ENGLAND BIENNIAL STAKES, Volatile. Gamester Willie Wright CONVIVIAL STAKES, itestes Thormaub Thirteen ran. QUEEN'S GUINEAS. Newcastle Fisherman BURGUNDY STAKES Killigre ToxOphilite . ..... BRAMIIAM STAKES, Actaeon CHESTERFIELD HANDICAP Dun.any Bankrupt ........ Maid of the Mist hegira LATEST BETTING AT YORK EBOR HANDICAP. 100 to 30 against Volatile. 4to 1 against Starke. sto 1 against Peerees. , Bto 1 against any other. The following read best on paper for this day's racing at York : For the Hopeful Stakes—NEWCASTLE. For the Prince of Wales Stakes—Mr. Merry's SELECTION. or SPOFFORTIL MAID. For the Ebor St. Leger—Aczmos. For the Great Ebor Handicap-_j azazsa ; with Drewittig best. “FISIIERMAN."