The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-20 00:00:00

FREE-TRADE CONGRESS TN BRUSSELS.

SEPT. 17.—The question for the second day's die-
cuuion was the examination of commercial liberty in its in-
ternational relations.

M. de lIRSSELLB, of Verviers, in the course of an able
address, replied to the remarks of the protectionist speakers.
He expressed his conviction that the fraternity of nations
was not, as M. Duchateaux alleged, a mere idle dream. Na-
tions as well as families and individuals, had an interest in
making their purchases in places where the supplies could be
had best and cheapest. In France it was ascertained, in
1834, that the price of the productions of the cotton
industry was 20 per cent. dearer than those of England ;
yet the French manufacturers had not greater profits than
the English, whilst the wages of the workmen of the latter
were double the amount of those of the former. It had been
proved that, by taking that 20 per cent. into account, France
pays as a dead lose the sum of 120,000,000 f. per annum. In
Switzerland, on the other hand, there is a very flourishing
cotton trade without any protecting duties—without any bar-
riers. That country afforded more regular employment to
its working clams than did Belgium or France. If England
had many advantages, so also had the continent, and amongst
others the cheapness of labour.
M. WOLOWellil said he could not admit the distinctions
drawn by the protectionists between raw materials and
labour, for he considered that every material appropriated to
satisfy human wants was impregnated with human labour.
For his part he felt convinced that tho man who gave more
labour in exchange for less materials, was the one who wan
most tributary to another. To impose a heavy burden upon
the community at largo under the plea that the working
classes must be supported, was merely transforming work-
shops into so many charitable institutions. He was surprised
to find that Herr Rittinghausen objected not only to the im-
portation of manufactured articles but also to the exportation of
raw materials, upon the ground that if they were kept in the
country the price°, them would be lowered. Now the great
object aimed at by all politeal economists is production, and
the prohibition to export certain articles discourages produc-
tion. With respect to the argument that all nations do not
enjoy equal advantages, it may be urged that the protective
system discourages progress and improvements, inasmuch as
it gives to the producer the certainty of selling his produce
at a remunerating price, even with all its imperfections. He
contended that sal customs laws protected the manufactured
articles but not the working man—a monstrous discrepancy
which would be removed by free trade. It was in vain to
ask for et.: *-• receive an industrial education to attain to
teat per axon wh.c..—.. Pcoucime3 ; ter wen., y••••
were improving they would be improving also, so that there
would be always& great distance between one and the other.
It had been said that the smuggler was an envoy of provi-
dence; but although ono might repeat with Plunger,
chiteau, cabana,
Now taut omits putout;
K 1 In 10l sow toad:Lome,
Le people nose about,
still it must he admitted that smuggling was accompanied
with many evils. The state had in its pay a host of custom-
house ofllcers, in order to oppose the smuggler:, whilst the
community at large supported the smugglers in order to
neutralise the custom-house officers, (Laughter and cheers.)
With respect to eztjtanges in kind with England, be would
merely state that 'yen France exports cotton to England
from Mulhatieen—in small quantities, it was true, but France
could not export much to that country, if it received only
little in exchange.
M. ANNMON DCPERRON, peer of France, and M. Gamier,
editor of the Journal rtes Economists*, next addressed the
meeting, in favour of free-trade principles, and were followed

by Mr. J. P. Smith, the delegate of the Free-trade Mood,
Lion of Berlin; M. de Brnurkere, the president; Count Arri.
vabere ; M. Horace Say, and other speakers. Finally the
meeting voted in favour of two propositions, setting forth
that freedom of commerce rendered closer the union of na-
tions, and enabled them to lend reciprocal aid ; also that it
increased production and secured industry against those
violent shocks which are inevitable on the limited markets
of prohibition.
Seer. IB.—The discussion was opened on the following
question : " What is the influence of tree trade upon the state
of the labouring classes of society ?"
i
Mr. BROWN, M.P. (or Lancashire, in an English speech,
argued that it was not to protection that England owed her
commercial supremacy, but to her climate and maritime
position.
Waenrm, a native of one of the Rhenish provinces,
and a merchant establiehed in Brussels, delivered a speech, in
the course of wb!...'n he observed that he was surpt ieed to find
thegpr"esenhtaadtivineeetftodiac onase working
classes
Iwnhotsehe c
I beg, then (he said). to speak in the name of the working
classes, and particularly of the three millions of industrial
ordindobn assembly
co representative
operatives of England, with when j am best acquainted, for
I have lived several years amongst them, and the remem-
brance of the days thus passed is the dearest to my heart. I
em delighted to find the sympathy felt and expressed in this
assembly for the working classes. They have a right to that
sympathy, for they have been treated hitherto not only as
beasts of burden, but also as so many bales of merchandise—
as so many machines—so much so that, in England, they are
not reckoned as so many " men," but as so many •` handl."
Look on the hanks of the Rhone—look at the dark
and dirty streets of Leeds and Manchester—look at the
mountains of Silesia, and at the plains of Westphalia; pene.
trate even into the dreary abodes of parts of this capital, and
you will find everywhere the same misery amongst the
working classes. I know not whether that state of things is
the result of the protective system, but I know full well that
that system is powerless to cure the evil. (Loud cheers.) At
ail events, the condition of the working classes is so bad that
no change can make it worse. He was, however, far from
thinking that free trade would promote the lasting happiness
of the operatives. lie would admit that it woald bring
about a reduction of price; consequently a greater consump.
Lion, and a greater demand for labour. (Cheers.) But
such a state of things could not be durable, on account of the
very evils themselves of free competition. That competition
would give a fresh impulse to mechanical inventions, which
would gradually replace manual labour; there would be
then a great struggle amongst the labouring men to obtain
work, and the manufacturers would take the aivantage of
that competition to reduce wages, just as many =nein-
turers have done in England, when they employed the poor
Irish at lower wages than the English ones, until they
brought the latter to the level of the former. The speaker
next referred to the opposition of the English chartists to the
anti-corn-law league, who (he said) laughed at the deceitful
promises of "cheap bread, high wages, and plenty to do."
Dr. BowatNo disavowed M. Weerth as the representa-
tive of the English working classes, which, he said, would
not certainly recognise him as their defender. In England,
free trade having lowered the price of food, had enabled the
working classes to purchase their necessaries at a cheaper
rate, and thus ameliorated their position. It was the pro-
tective system which had displaced capital, for the profit of a
few, and to the detriment of the many. He was against the
gradual remedying of the evil ; his cry was that of the
English League, the entire and immediate abalitnot of ta•
p-otectire system.
Mr. M'AnAM, M.P. for Belfast, gave some statistical de.
tails; and was followed by
M. ARRSDYCK, professor of political economy at Liege,
He declared that he came to answer the call which had been
made on Holland, a country which had become rich by
abolishing protection. Holland, he said, was a friend of
program, and, as such, he came to represent her. Formerly
Holland and Belgium had lived united. Events, had, how-
ever, separated them, but there wero still many sympathies
felt in Holland for Belgium ; the two nations must remain
friends, and free trade was to be the bond uniting them—a
bond by which tiny would be much more happily joined
than by unity of government. He (M. Aerselyk ) thought
that free trade would have a good influence upon the labour-
ing chsses, as it tended to diminish the chances of stagnation
in trade. It would lower the price of food, and iu doing so
render the working man both morally and physically stronger.
M. VAN DER CABTEELS, a manufacturer in Flanders,
spoke of the protective system as the cause of the misery pre-
vailing in that province.
After some re.narks from M. Tex, professor at Leyden,
and M. Asher, delegate from the societies of Hamburg and
Berlin,
H. Wozowent rose, and said he considered the improve.
ment of the condition of the lower classes the great end of
political economy. Religion bad charge of souls, political
economy of physical well-being. The latter shout I imitate
the principle of fratereity introduced by Christianity. This
alone would obviate the popular commetions foretell by the
last German speaker. Political economy was now every
body's science, and princes were not ashamed to prnht by it.
Labour and the means of labour were unlimited, if there
were perfect freedom of trade, and the opcoing of tide uni-
versal demand for labour was the only mode of keeping up
the wages of the working ruin.
The meeting Xas then addressed by Mr. Wilson, in Eng-
lish, and a numbcrof resolutions in favour of free trale voted.
A grand banquet took place in the evening.

DR. WISEMAN AND THE "DAILY NEWS."
The following letter from Dr. Wiseman appears in
the TaLtd:

_
London, Sept. 17, 1317.
Dear Sir,—On my return to England from the continent
I was made acquainted with two articles, one in the Dai'y
News, the other in the l'reeman's Journal, to which I
think it my duty to reply ; and I trust those two papers
copyLb s
ntadhooi a eso answer.
y cohua h v
rges me
already
reira preferwith
sending
intdheienbinglae)siajteitit hlsyt ht
ne fh:
fairness
sr(residentpaper,to
matter.i The Roman oorropondent
f
having placed in the hands of the Propaganda a caper, in
which I describe the education of tho Iris priest
as totally deficient in the accomplishments united to
the clerical character in England, however fitted they
mar be for the half-savage peopM they were bred among.
" They are good enough," he aays, " pro agrestibus et lives-
tribal." There is not one single word of truth in the whole
of this statement. Ist. I never presented a single paper in
Latin to the Propaganda, or to any other authority during
my stay in Rome ; everything that I wrote was in Italian,
and yet the "correspondent" pretends to give the very Latin
words used by me. 2nd. I never, either in writing or is
conversation at the Propaganda, or with any one be-
longing to it, or with any person in any authority, alluded
even indirectly to the character, qualifications, or conduct
of the Irish clergy, whether in England or in Ireland. No
business which I bad to treat of ever called for any allusion
to this topic. In the plainest and simplest meaning of the
word, I declare the whole paragraph of the Daily News to be
a pure fiction, including what is said in it on the subject of
catholic trusts ; on which not a line was written or given is
to the Propaganda, or any other authority, by Di. Sharpies
or myself all the time we were in Rome. The Premiss's
Journal speaks more vaguely, but to the same purp:,rt. It
gives it as " a report " only, that I had " spoken most dis-
respectfully of the Irish clergy," and them attributes to me
much the same expressions as the correspondent of the Daily
News. To this " report " I beg to give the same answer as
to the more specific charge, that it is utterly devoid of the
slightest foundation ; and that I never while in Rome used
a 'lngle expression which could justify it. As this is the
third time that a similar charge has been brought forward
against me in an Irish paper, I sincerely hope that before i:
is repeated for the fourth time, some more pains will be
taken to ascertain its truth.—l am, dear sir, yours faithfully
in Christ, 't N. WISEMAN.
We print the bishop's letter is extras°, even that
passage where he hints that the rumour in question
was concocted by us in London, and our correspond-
ence fictitious. We have fished up from the editorial
basket, and forward to his lordship the origi-
nal letter, from which he will see we have retrenched
muck matter unpleasant to him, though undoubtedly
current among Roman gossips. We did so out of re-
spect for himself, towards whom every man with the
slightest tincture of sound learning mast have a
friendly feeling. The writer, whose name is at-
tached, fulfills the conditions required by Tacitus
for an impartial historian, being equally devoid of fear
or prepossession of' any sort : ab ira, ab or& remotes,
is perfectly independent—we simply filtrated his
letter. Ilia lordship might as well hint that his
morning' mocha wail elaborated in Loudon, because
it was ground, nay, possibly roasted, in Golden-square,
and the Arabian sediment carefully removed.
What gave grounds for the rumour we are in no
position to judge. We think we saw in it something
irrational, and we accordingly called it " an Irish
row" which " the bistiop had brought about his ears,"
as many a man has done, without deserving
• such a
visitation.
Th late removal of some Iris clej-men front in-
cumbee nciee in the midland distrihct, Marg nchester, Dud-
ley, Leamington, will perhaps be found not foreign to
the matter. On the vexed question of parochial
fixity and the substitution of anon law for mere
whim in clerical dealings, we copy the sensible
remarks of the Tablet, which echo, of course in a sub-
dued key, the strong language of our own correspondent
of the 15th of April from Rome.
wol"uldkinbegidalte tht:cittetendt of .cite
=thrtdhiTerneeiecirdiromlim/WW t:d"r!'':,',°
don was a continuance of the old routine. We do not so",.„.—rfigof
any point of mere y: sonar disposition ; or 106 C .„prat
less enterprure Arm s.go• ur or a...Z 'Mr. N.
far more largely. Whatever "'mow' character"' its cbanre
.aisiii.pme, we,
tofeekmbl most
undert!iordti gthhley
time. We are not for urging on inconsiderate shooed; for leltistrl
seal outrun discretion; (or milling funds i=eivols
enteNr
epeculstioos , tor
tar incurring great treks, or indureog in
wisp or Jack-'=lantern in the shape of a new light.
It
Gregolia
powdered flunkies or carriage in the 'WS : tier w me".
taking up new theones, and running astray after errrre:irll.4.,..'4bto
non
ti th.c.that old syastetatz
Ctunt on which our hearts arc net. But we confess there are lwo
things which with an almost sanguine expectation we CO
Dr. Wlstman'o arpointalent. One is the restoration ofßeturnr i
The present ;system carefully !cetera two opposite. cripple
The
and to weaken us. It takes from the secular clergy all indepes ,n_
psition; inks them the mere stewards or spual b•ilitfe 14. e.
things to which we do attack the very greatest. invorr,ftec,rt—=
bishop, during his good pleasure ; gives them no ermulus to cm.
dinery enaction; so far an wit-miffed an actuate Meat, etuvrhofll
dissuades them from nuking secrldear ; I," may te
legal guarantee, leaves their career in s Par; ‘ses
cut
sealmaly and eneeemtblly doing the work of Uldt(N ware to
Wort by whispered slander and unproved suprestrorossal
do not pi pat this lest result Mn ewe happened; bat as

room

oat the ealoung eyehole preene me security against It, and the the
net Writ OW* los
orte beepoideree nonlinear —namely, the reline
n when the Men wenn lert neer the Ingenne net
• W been Nina liar lima ll* IWO pitiebe
of
Wel te de Oen Thine en iselly IN*
'bps mfgail so lend his very Wtrie
fen iiffv : is the ruler, and th•Olhielirtilarntiart is • syr
us width we druid like neither to be wheat ter prtin nor to
eninen es
pf mine =one la, that part of the done which the eta*.
oma onoloMmot of Dr. Wiseman may humid to uv is the submit..
VW al la. for ; the known low of the church, with Ito wise and
roirontees, for the diecrellon, however resioctablt, of any