The Press.
London, England, 1856-09-27 00:00:00

BELGIAN FREE TRADE CONGRESS.

THE congress was formally inaugurated on Monday,
under the presidency of M. Brouckere, Burgomaster
of Brussels. At a previous meeting held on Saturday,
M. Con VAN DER MAEREN in a speech of some length
thanked the foreign delegates for their presence on
that occasion :

He bade them welcome in the name of prosperous
Belgium. Their 'resent congress was widely different
from that of 1847. We had advanced. Holland had
abolished her navigation laws, and in England the oppo-
sition of the protectionists to an established law had ceased.
France bad modified her tariff, and was Cant to erase the
word " prohibition " from it ; and Sardinia, Spain, Ger-
many, Portugal, Sweden, &c., had liberalised their customs
does. Something had been done, it must he confessed, in
Belgium ; but a coalition of interested men bad prevailed
to retard the application of the goad intentions of the
Government. Still the principle of free trade, or of a re-
duction of duties, had beeu allowed; the method of reduc-
tion was alone the question.
Strict limits were laid down to confine the speakers
within either of the two following questions :-
Ist. What were the artificial or natnralobstacles opposed
to the extension of the commercial relations of the country
to which you belong? 2nd. What were the practical meats
proposed or to be proposed in each country to remove or
diminish the obstacles which impede the extension of cora-
inercial relations with other nations ?

The speakers, however, had each prepared his speech,
and were not to be deterred from delivering it by
arbitrary limits. The worthy presidential burgo-
master made every effort he could, but in vain, to
compel the delegates to confine their observations to
the question before the congress, and not to go into
irrelevant details.

The Swiss delegate, M. CHERBULIEZ' wore out his
audience so much that they hailed his peroration
will' uproarious applause, while Mr. WINKWORTH'S
translation was absolutely called to order for diverg•
ing so freely from the question.
Delegates from Spain, Sardinia, Berlin, Brussels,
and Paris severally addressed the meeting, pointing

►SATURDAY,

out the advance of their several countries in the
path of free trade.
M. GARNIER (Paris) said :
A project had been submitted to the Corps Legislatif for
the removal of all prohibitory duties; and, without being
too sanguine, it was to be hoped that that body would be
induced by the example, influence, and experience of Eng.
land to make a movement in the right direction. The
advocates of free trade were steadily increasing in France.
The entire press regarded it favorably, the manufacturing
and commercial classes were awakening to its advantages,
and oven the agricultural interest, ever slow to recognise
what really tended to their benefit, were beginning to look
upon it with diminished distrust.
Mr. OLIVEIR.t spoke in favour of a reduction of the
wine duties.

Mr. H. BORN (publisher, London) expounded his
views to the conference on tho subject of an inter.
national book post, based on principles analogous► to
the system recently introduced into England.
The discuss►ons were continued on Tuesday and
Wednesday, when the establiAment of an inter•
national customs reform association, with a central
office in Brussels, was proposed and unanimously
carried.

The proposition for the establishment of tri-
bunals of commerce, uniformity of weights and mea.
sures, and money, as well as letters of credit and
postage, after some discussion, was referred to the
new international league just founded.
The next proposition was from the authorities of
Antwerp, and was to the effect that what remained
of the colonial system should be abolished.

The third proposition was to the effect that "the
congress desired that all duties on rivers running
from one country into another, and straits separating
them, should be abolished." Carried, with one dis-
sentient voice.

The fourth proposition, suggested by M. Couv-
mutt, was to the effect that the passport system
should be modified, and the compulsory visas for
various nations be abolished. This proposition was
carried unanimously.
The fifth proposition ran thus :—" That declara-
tions on the importation add exportation of merchan-
dise should be simplified, and made uniform fur all
nations." Carried unanimously.
M. TILLIERE brought up the report of the section
on the teaching of political economy. The section
appealed to the delegates to pledge themselves to use
their influence to get tbo elements of political economy
introduced as part of popular education in their
respective countries, and to recommend the prepare.
Lion of teachers for this purpose.
The Spanish delegate reminded the congress that
in the ten universities of his country this science was
taught.

The resolution of the committee was carried
unanimotudy.
Mr. EwART, M.P., them moved, in a complimen-
tary speech, an address of congratulation to the
King on the 26th anniversary of the national inde-
pendence. He begged to assure them that his Ma-
jesty was highly esteemed in England.
Carried unanimously.
It was then arranged that a fourth and final sitting
of the congress be held on Thursday.

A STATEMENT that the late Earl of Shrewsbury
left a will devising his estates for charitable pur-
poses, to the sole disposition of the late John Sad-
leir, is not correct. The noble deceased, it is un-
derstood, did make a will, leaving his property in
trust for strictly Roman Catholic charitable and
educational objects, but the trustees included several
noblemen and gentlemen, as well as Mr. John
Sadleir.

SET A TRAP—NOT ♦ THIEF---TO CATCH ♦ TRIM
is the maxim of a Times correspondent who lives
"midway between the city camp of the swell-mob
men and the field of their nocturnal operations at
Notting-hill." After pointing out the uncertainty
and awkwardness of the revolver or pistol, the writer
says :--
I know the highways and byways of my own house. I
know where the plate-chest is deposited. I know better
than my swell intruder the vulnerable points of the place,
and there I plant my " trap." My trap has a good grip-
It holds its customer hard, but does not hurt unless he
attempts to get off—then it squeezes him more and more,
and won't let him go anyhow. It hooks him above the
knee. True, he will give tongue a little, and then I
descend slowly and carelessly towards him. I know my
bird is bagged. As to his making off with the trap,
may as well march off with the rock of Sisyphus. He is
fixture for the time. When my servant goes out in the
afternoon for beer or any other necessary, I tell him to
leave the ltull•door ajar, close the cross baize door, fix my
trap, and catch my customer as he handles the coats, hats,
and cloaks in the passage, and, on my servant's return, all
is right without any trouble or confusion. I then strip
him of his long black lucks and his moustache, trundle
him with the trap into the wheelbarrow, and have him
carted along to the next police-station. I average the
weight to spring my trap at eight stone and no less. The
poking of a stick is useless.

SEPT. 27, 185 G.

THE BISHOP OF EXETER AND THE PRO-
TESTANT ASSOCIATION.
THE Bishop of Exeter presided over the anniversary
meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts, held in the Exeter Guild-
ball last week, and in his opening address the right
rev. prelate alluded to a circular issued by the Pro-
testant Association, and signed by Lord Shaftesbury
as president, protesting against episcopal letters
being sent to incumbents to preach on behalf of the
joint societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge
and the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts,
notwithstanding the withdrawal of the royal letters,
inasmuch as such withdrawal
was hailed by many as a timely relief and as a cause
for thankfulness ; for the royal letters had long been re-
garded with dislike, as favoring certain societies to the
exclusion of others, and as tending to fetter the free judg-
ment and action of both clergy and laity. The issuing of
episcopal letters, while it tends to reimpose the yoke in
a nother and not less embarrassing form, may place both the
clergy, the laity, and the society for which it is made in a
false or painful position, and may oblige the clergy either
to disregard the injunction of their bishop, or, nut of
deference to his office, to advocate a cause they do nut
cordially approve.
The Bishop of EXETER observed :

One circumstance has surprised me a great deal—if any-
thing can surprise one in these times; for perhaps you are
not aware that you are considered Popish, and that by a
society which numbers on its list noble lords, and has a
noble earl at its head. I received a letter, not very long
ago, from a gentleman who is known only to me as the
secretary of a society called the Protestant Association;
and it contained a document for your instruction and my
instruction too, which is of a somewhat remarkable charac-
ter. Now, what is it? Jt is, in fact, a remonstrance to
the bishops for addressing letters, requesting their clergy,
if they see fit, to advocate the cause of these societies.
Really there is something that is absolutely astounding in
this—what shall J say? The only words that occur to my
mind are not likely to proceed from my month in this
meeting. Jt is really scarcely credible that noblemen and
gentlemen—religious gentlemen—men of eminent Chris-
tian profession—should join in any such remonstrance.
It is a declaration against episcopal advice and counsel to
the clergy in lieu of the Queen's letters. I need not say
that the Queen's letters having been withdrawn, the arch-
bishop preferred a general request that in future each
bishop in his own diocese might issue letters in favour of
societies of this kind. Now, it does happen that, know-
ing, as I do, the numerous claims upon the clergy of this
diocese, I have never issued letters, so far as I can recol-
lect, requesting them to address their parishioners in
favour of any society without specially requesting them to
consider whether in their judgments they may think fit so
to do. Therefore there has not been any great deal of
episcopal interference on my part in so doing. Her
Majesty and her council, when they thought fit to restrain
the issuing of the Queen's letters, did not restrain the
bishops from exercising their discretion in calling upon
their clergy to act as they pleased in favour of any society,
or of any object, of Christian benevolence. Therefore, do
not let it be imagined that in sending letters in support of
the two societies that claim your attention today the
bishop is acting or doing anything in any way against the
royal commission. I should be very much shocked if the
time should ever come when the Crown of England should
think fit to enjoin the bishops not to issue letters in favour
of the Christian Knowledge or the Propagation of the
Gospel Society. This is only a specimen, lam afraid, of
a spirit that prevails--a spirit which I have no hesitation
to say would, if it were able, act on the same principles,
and do as was done some 200 years ago--it would pull down
the Church of England, extinguish episcopacy, and over both the Church and the State; that would be a ne-
cessary consequence of carrying out the principle on
which these gentlemen act.

The right rev. prelate then commented upon certain
Passages in the " circular " remonstrating against
the substitution of episcopal for Queen's letters,
characterised them as an "uncomfortable intima-
tion " of the anti-Church spirit abroad, and appealed
to his hearers not to rise up in a spirit of aggressive
opposition, but rather to accept it as a proof of the
necessity for "increased energy, zeal, and constant
assiduity" in promoting the great cause of the pro-
Paitation of the Gospel.