The Express.
London, England, 1851-10-17 00:00:00

of Dr. HURRAY, in the stars ty of the rector of
L'higwell, and the vicar of Leigh, has a naivete about
it which is quite refreshing.
But, listen to the principal performers, and first
to the Reverend JOHN Cox. 'The Reverend JoHN
Cox appears, in almost every point of view, but that
of a theologian. That character he wisely reserves
for a more limited audience. And whether we listen
to him as a political economist, as a minister of God,
or as a subject of the QUEEN, we ,hall be equally
transported with respectful admiration.
Hear him as a political economist. He is putting

a cue:
The point is this—we tate 1001 of corn, suppose from
America we most pay for it by exporting 1001. of our com-
modities in return ;and if we did that it would be free trade.
But what happens ? The American sends 100 f. of his corn
here, and we make an export of 1001. to pay the American ;
but when the geode arc landed at New lora a man mys
" I must trouble you fur 241. for customs' duties." The
merchant here knows that is so, and instead of 100'. he
sends 12-5/. to pay the duty ; 60 that it is clear that every
exchange you make is adverse to you 2.5 per cent. in every
too.
Why, can this reverend lecturer be so bNnd as not
to Oct that the 251. he talks about is paid, not by the
English exporter, but by the American consumer ?
For, if it were not so, would not the corn be paid. for
in an article on which there is no import duty what-
ever, even in the United States—we mean go:cli
Now then for the Christian teacher:
There have been a great many meetings held lately, at
which speeches have been made on this subject (farm pro-
fits); and what says Sir James Graham, a name loathsome
on the tongue of agriculturists. (Cheers.) We hate him,
and he knows why we hale him.
Mild successor of the apostles! Heavenly-minded
presbyter! Holy expositor of the words which one
of your predecessors put on record some eightmn
centuries ago !
" Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,
but contrariwise blessing, knowing that ye arc there-
unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing."
Last of all comes the loyal subject of the crown :
feel strongly on this question ; and 1 think there is no
individual to whom the farmers more freely open their
wands on these matters. Hat what was I told the other
day 1 Some of them said, we are so oppressed, so ill-used,
red despised by the government of this country, that we
pant be loyal much longer. (Hear, hear.) And if the
queen under ill advice, alienates the affections of the whole
agricultural constituency, would not give, under the
sew Reform Bill, many years' purchase for her crown.

(Cheers.)
Now, this is really too bad! The brother-in-law
of the Bishop of London, himself a beneficed clergy-
man and a man well known in his county, abso-
lutely angles for popularity among a set of post-
prandial noodles by giving an obscure but not unin-
telligible hint, that if protection be not restored he
himself may become the JACK CADE of the next agri-
cultural conspiracy.
To the 11ev. JouN Cox succeeds a speaker of a
more military but less warlike composition, and as
if it were not enough that Disttaxii, }LESLEY, HAR-
cochT, and should have successively poured
cold water down the agricultural back and into the
agricultural small-clothes, out comes Major Br:RES-
TORE) with his halfpenny squirt to add to the
inundation. There is an old proverb which
dissuades men from making unnecessary observations
before they are out of the wood ; but when the whip-
per-in himself begins to halloo, we may be pretty
sure that ho knows which way the hunt is going.
There is no mistake about it ; the unfortunate agri-
culturist, or, as he used to be called, the poor farmer,
is to be let down easy. But that Major llsmrsrono
i too should desert him, is really too bad, and his only
conaolation must be that he is not the first goose who
has been shot with a shaft fledged from his own
wing-feather.
But enough of the tragedy; let us drop in at half-
price and see the farce in a minor establishment.
There is a neat little place oa the old Ilar,vich
road, culled Witham. A century ago it boasted of a
mineral spring, and old ladies travelled down from
London by easy stages to drink the waters. Now-
adays, the well is dry, or the drinkers have ceased
to be thirsty, and Witham has relapsed into the lazy
somnolency of a fifth-rate market-town. A Pusevite
1 porno, and his sleek-looking curates, prowl on velvet
=
round the cottages, a dissenting minister
happily in the sunshine of a moderate
salary, a brace of doctors and two brace
et lawyers ply their callings with industry
and 811000 OS, and a bevy of old maids dis-
pense candle and scandal, tracts and flannel petti-
coats, according to the usual rules observed by the
sisterhood.
And Witham has its agr'cultuml meeting. Talk
of Castle Bellingham displays and parliamentary
eloquence'.—give us the Witham meeting of fourteen
tenant farmers and one sucking landlord, the omni-
present Mr. ikt.LOCK, who had endeared himself to
the meeting by a suggestion to refuse paying taxes
—a suggestion which appears to have met no dis-
favour with the assembled company.
The proceedings of the 11itliam meeting had
not the stilted character of the Castle lied-
ingham affair. It was very conversational, and
not unlike the performance of those cele-
brated characters, l'uucla and Judy. One point
of the plot reminded us forcibly of those worthies,
for at the very first opportunity they "hung the
parson." " Aristocracy," " priests," " parsons," and
“parsonamhy," are objects of the chairman's deepest
aversion, and he and other speakers gave utterance
to horrible doctrines about a certain matter called
rent—a matter most cautiously tabooed at the mare
aristocratic meeting at Castle Hedingham; and still
wore horrible doctrine about a still more sacred
natter called tithe—doctrines which would have
made the tongue of the Reverend Jons Cox cleave
unto the roof of his mouth.
These are all signs of the times. The tenant
firmer is beginning to find out that the landlord is
sot his nearest friend, nor the consumer his natural
enemy, and many months will not elapse without
(some curious practical illustrations of this lately dis-
covered truth. Next we may hope that the tenant
farmer will discern that he is himself a consumer,
and when he has made himself clearly master of this
additional fact, may we not hope that he will look
for relief not from the iv:is fatuus of a sliding scale,
but in the clear steady light of diminished outlay and
increased production