The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 20, 1855.

SOIREE TO THE MEMBERS FOR
MANCHESTER.

The soirée at Manchester to Messrs. Gibson and
Bright, the members for that City, was held lasi night
at the Corn Exchange, and was numerously attended,
upwards of 800 tickets having been sold, and appli-
cations having been Made for admissions beyond the
capacity of the room, •which with difficulty seats so large
a company.
It has been usual for the Manchester party to hold a
meeting immediately before the assembling of Par-
liament as a means of indicating the tone they would
feel it desirable to aniline on the leading political ques-
tions of the day ; and that has .no.doubt been the •ob-
ject on this occasion, although the form of holding it as
" a soiree in honour of the representatives" for Man-
chester, and admitting the public by tickets is new.
The usual form has been to have meetings merely of
the election committees of the liberal members for the
boroughs and two divisions of the county, and of the
leading supporters of the liberal members.
The doors of the Exchange were thrown open to com-
pany at half-past four, and the speaking commenced at
half-past five o'clock. The principal guests were T. M.
Gibson, M.P., John Bright, M.P., Richard Cobden,
M.P., William Brown, M.P., John Cheatham, M.P.,
Thomas Barnes, M.P., Joseph Crook, M.P., Ed-
ward George Hadfield, M.P., James
Kershaw, M.P., Major-General Thompson, Danby Sey-
mour, M.P., Capt. Fenwick, the Mayors of Bolton,
Oldham, and Ashton, Joseph Sturga Dr. M'Kerrow,
Dr. Davidson, Dr. Beardsliev. Wilt.-gstekeli, Rev. Mr.
%biers-Rim H. Dubekley, W. H. Darby, of Brymboo
near Wrexham, C. E. Rawlins (Wrexham), and the fol-
lowing gentlemen who had accepted invitations as vice-
presidents and on the executive committtee :—Sir E.
Armitage, Henry Ashworth, Robt. Ashton, Thos. Ash-
ton, Wm. Bayley, Thos. Bazley, Wainwright Bellhouse,
Wm. Bickham, Alderman Bradford, Thos. Bright, Abel
Buckley, Nath. Buckley, Jas. Burton, jun., J. C. Dyer,
T. Goadsby, J. Grundy, Alderman Harvey, N. Heald, A.
Henry, Alderman Abel Heywood, Alderman John
Shawcross, Thomas Hibbert, Samuel Hibbert, E. R.
Langworthy, Daniel Lee, Ivie Mackie, R. N. Phillips,
James Procter, William Rawson., Henry Rawson, Wm.
Sale, Theodore Schunck, Joseph Simpson, Robt. Stuart,
Benjamin Syddall, Peter Walker, Alderman W. B.
Watkins, James Watts, Oldham Whittaker, Archibald
Winterbottom, Thomas Wrigley, John F. Petitjean, jun.,
Smith P. Robinson (hon. secretary), William Bradford,
James Edwards, John Fildes, Arthur Francis, Samuel
Hodgkinson, William Hodgkinson, Samuel Lees, Wil-
liam M`Call, William M`Cartney, Charles Macdonald,
Robert Rumney, Isaac Shimwell, and Frederick Royse,
Esqre.
Mr. GEORGE WILSON presided, and opened the pro-
ceedings.
Mr. T. M. GIBSON, the senior member for the city,
having been called upon, spoke at considerable length.
In the course of his address he observed that remarks
had been made about his hon. friends and himself voting
in minorities so constantly ; but if that was meant as a
reflection he might reply, that during the last session
he had had at least the satisfaction of voting in minori-
ties on most important questions with the Government.
In reviewing, according to custom, at these nteetinge,
the measures of the past session, the right hen. gentle.
man said it must be admitted that it had been an abor-
tive session. Great promises were held out by the Go-
vernment, but through the war and from other causes
most of the great measures introduced into Parlia-
ment had been defeated. The Reform Bill, he
thought, was wisely abandoned, but the Bribery Bill was
one which ought not to have come to so impotent and
lame a conclusion as it had ended in. The Queen's speech
had said the experience of the past had rendered it ne-
cessary to take steps for preventing bribery and corrup-
tion, and therefore, as no one could tell how soon a
general election would take place, it was at least neces-
sary to have passed that measure to have prevented
the renewal of those scenes of corruption that were
so much deploied. The bill had been carefully pre-
pared by a committee, but the first parts of it had been
struck out and emasculated. As the matter ended,
the bill was passed for one year, during which 'it
might have been foreseen there was little probability
of a general election occurring ; and, therefore, it
could it could only apply to a few isolated cases. But
he (Mr. Gibson) had no great confidence in any preven-
tive legislation in reference to stopping intimidation and
bribery at elections ; there was but one remedy, and
that was what must come at last the vote by
ballot. (Cheers.) There was another measure of an im-
portant character which had fallen through—the emanci-
pation of the Jews. London still had but three represen-
tatives. Contrary to the advice of many leading members
of the liberal party, and of able lawyers, preceding Govern-
ments had attempted measures of legislation rather than let
the house proceed by itself, and they had brought in bills
which had passed the Commons, but were rejected by the
House of Lords ; but they had at last succeeded in bring-
ing in a bill which had been rejected by the Commons.
(Hear.) The cause of the Jews had been mismanged from
the beginning, and in the last attempt to settle it they
brought down upon the Jew opposition from new quar-
ters, by bringing into the same bill the question of the
oath of supremacy ; and notwithstanding all the eloquent
declarations of the country about religious liberty, we
still laboured- under the stigma of a portion of our coun-
trymen being deprived of their civil rights on account of
their religious opinions. (Hear.) He hoped that the
next session, amongst other measures, the newspaper
stamp question would be settled. A resolution had
been passed by the House of Commons condemning the
present state of the newspaper stamp law. The House of
Lords had also adopted a resolution condemnatory of
the stamp. The Government had pledged*themselves to
bring in a measure immediately after the meeting of
Parliament, and his advice was to repeal all the laws
that now related to newspapers and pamphlets, and enact
no new ones—postage arrangements being left to be
settled between the Post-office and the Treasury, who had
full power under existing laws to make such arrange-
ments. He wished to see the press emancipated from all
control except that of courts of law, our libel laws afford-
ing ample security for the protection of private character
from calumny, for he did not contemplate any arrange-
ments that could by possibility leave individuals to be
libelled with impunity. (Hear.) When the newspaper
stamp was gene into, there could be no question but the
public voice of the country would demand also the repeal
of the paper duty, and then England will have a per-
fectly free and cheap press. (Hear, hear.) On the sub-
ject of the war the right hon. gentleman said--7ln ap-
proaching this question he found himself met with this
taunt, that he was against all war, and therefore it was
entirely that he objected to this war. He did not know
whether it was worth his while to make an observa-
tion upon that matter, but his opinion was that war
was sometimes unavoidable ; that no man felt more
strongly than he did the miseries, the crimes that at-
tended on the prosecution of war ; but as the world
is constituted, he was of opinion that the honour and
safety of the country might require it to engage in
war. The question with him was, whether the honour
and safety of this country required it to engage
in the war now being carried on ? He was going
to say that there had been many causes assigned
for this war. One of the most eccentric views he had
heard was, that the advocacy of peace principle' by his
friend Mr. Cobden and others bad led the Emperor of
Russia to believe that he might commence an aggressive
policy without danger from England, who would engage
in no war ; hut he found that Mr. Cobden had not been
the only one person who bad been at work engaged in
spreading peace views in the world. He found a cor-
respondence published between a , gentleman in the
Foreign-office and Mr. Wikoff, in which it was stated
that Lord Palmerston had entered into a specific ar-
rangement that Mr. Wikoff should write in the press
of the United States, and of France and elsewhere, to
represent clearly that the policy of the English Govern-
ment was liberal, and especially pacific. (Great
laughter.) So that Lord Palmerston had been en-
gaged in publishing peace tracts, he presumed, at the
public expense, to lead the world to believe that the
British Government was most reluctant to engage in war,
and that at the time that he was insinuating to Parlia-
ment that we were threatened with dangers from foreign
invasion, and when he had been long aware, as was
alleged, of the ambitious designs of Russia. If preach.
ing peace tempted the Czar, most unquestionably Lord
Palmerston was as chargeable as any one else with having
been one of the causes of the war. It was of little use
now to discuss the cause of the war, hound as we were
with our ally to carry it on. The most useful course for
them was to discuss the conduct of the war and the mode
of bringing it to a termination. He thought the doc-
trine of the balance of power would never settle
the Eastern question—that the balance of power in-
volved these two fallacies—first, that you could ar-
range that particular territories should be governed to
all time by particular ruling dynasties without reference
to the wishes of peoples ; and, secondly, that by in-
forming a power like Turkey that, whenever he was in
trouble you would come to the rescue, he was relieved
from the obligation of strengthening his own kingdom
and securing his independence, by the only means that
had been found capable of securing these results—a
sound system of policy at home. With regard to the
conduct of the war—even if it was right, which many
able statesmen doubted, to make war for the security of
Turkey whenever Turkey was in trouble, and which the
Duke of Wellington refused to do in the war between
Russia and Turkey in 1829—it did not follow that we
were to invade Russia. Defending Turkey against the
aggression of Russia was one thing; invading Russia for
some indefinite purpose of humiliation was another.
It was clear that the expedition to the Crimea had been
undertaken without any knowledge of the. difficulties
the armies would have to encounter. Louis Napoleon
informed his troops at Boulogne, as soon almost as the
expedition landed that Sebastopol had fallen ; and some
two months ago, even so cautious a statesman as the
Earl of Aberdeen informed his friends at Aberdeen,
that perhaps at the time he was speaking Sebastopol
was taken. Whether it was to be taken or not it was
clear that it had been found a far more formidable under-
taking than its projectors anticipated, and whether
taken or not, he doubted whether the terms on which
peace was settled would be changed. In the conduct of
, the viiu the Government deserved credit for having

adopted a more liberal view than had been held in former .
periods in reference to the rights of neutrals. He
had _himself submitted a resolution to the House of
Coimmons, previous to the issuing of the orders in coun- ,
ell, in the spirit of the principles which the Government
to !some extent had since adapted—and whilst respecting
the rights of neutrals was a sound principle, and in
ac"
ordance with the spirit of the age, in commercial '
m tters, yet he hoped that that wretched and degrading
i
sy tem of plundering small merchant vessels belonging to
the unoffending citizens of belligerent, parties would be
discontinued, that private property in war would be more
and more respected ; and he bad no sympathy with the
cry sometimes raised here—" Why spare Odessa?" Her
Majesty the Queen, in giving orders to the admirals not
to bombard the defenceless t)wns, and in bombarding
Odessa to spare as much as possible private houses and
stores—property in which not Russia alone but the
world had an interest, had carried with her the appro-
bation of all intelligent and humane men ; and we could
never have said we were carrying on a war in the
interests of civilisation if we had committed an act
only worthy of barbarians, and which would have been
execrated by all mankind. (Applause.) For himself,
he thought he was in favour of settling the war on
the four points. He saw no reason to doubt the
sincerity of Russia, for if we were to go upon the
principle that Russia was not to be treated with, it was
better not to make proposals at all ; and he agreed
with Lord Clarendon that a policy of suspicion was
neither wise nor generous. The fourth point—with re-
gard to the revision of the treaty 0f,J841 in the interest
of the balance ofpower—yras the only one in which a
doubt could be entertained of Russia's assent, for they
had long ago assented to the principle of the other three
points ; and as we were Informed by rind John Russell
that the propoial which it would be his duty to make
was very moderate indeed, he (Mr. "Gibson) presumed
that the interpretation was one that Russia would be
willing to accept to escape from the enormous evils she
had to endure in the infliction of this war. The force
of circumstances must bring about peace upon terms
similar to those that are contained under the four
points, and he thought all parties ought to be glad of
the opportunity of escaping from their difficulties by
this means rather than of prolonging the war to an in-
' definite time, to end only in a state of exhaustion, and
to be concluded by terms no better than those which
might now be obtained. (Bear.)
Mr. BRICIT, attributing the war feeling to the pas-
gone rather than the reason of the people of this
country, and their extraordinary credulity in the press,
which he attacked in a spirit of great bitterness,
owned that his party might be in a minority on this
question, but cited the experience of the last few years
ire which the Pope and the French invasion had played
such a conspicuous part, as showing the ephemeral nature
of their delusions. It was said if Lord Palmerston had
been in power the Czar would not have dared to cross
the Pruth ; but he referred to the noble lord's attack on
Greece and his conduct in the affair of Hungary to show
that he was no great friend of liberty. He read the
Queen's letter to Lord John Russell at the time Lord
Palmerston left the Foreign-office, implying that he
had arbitrarily altered and modified documents after
andsaid
he
treat lead
hisn
Sovereign, o
at as to re-
tain they had received the royal sanction,
and impro-
perly
withheld despatches ;
coonsfisdreeingco, o confidence in
soa
sacrificeminister a
whoil
real could
r so
es
respect
office for a single hour after receiving such a letter.
He said a member of Government had spoken of the
army of Russia as composed of eight hundred thousand
men, and he characterised the Government as stark
staring mast who could with that ,knowledge send such
army as we had to the Crimea.
Mr. COBDEN expressedan opinion that negotiations for
peace were now going on, and said he had a very great
suspicion that the terms of peace were irrevocably passed to
Russia, and that Russia had accepted them, that these
terms implied no loss of territory to Russia; and there-
fore, of course, not the permanent possession of any part
of the Crimea—in fact, that the terms were very mode-
rate. He suspected that the Government, having raised
the devil of war, had not the courage to announce to the
public the terms on which they sought to lay him at rest.
(Cheers.) These terms were very well known--they
must be known, for the diplomatists of Vienna took
time enough for the interpretation of their o wa protocol
from the 2d to the 28th December, but then it must
have been fully explained if that were kept back either
by this country or France, because orders had been sent
out to storm Sebastopol at any cost. If this were done
in the interest of a dynasty or a ministry, if blood was
to be shed in torrents for the occupation of a town,
every street of which was barricaded, and every house
converted into a fortress, to be defended by the most
determined troops in the world when behind such breast-
works, we should hear some day that twenty thousand
of the allies had been put hors da combat, while Se-
bastopol was delivered to the license of the soldiery,
and every conceivable outrage committed within it that
could make it a hell on earth ; and if they found, from
a comparison of dates, that the negotiations bad been
protracted for this, then he hoped no ringing of bells,
throwing up caps, or preaching from pulpits would
ever for a moment shield a Government that had lent

itself for any motives whatever to a deed so dark and
indefensible. _ _

Major-General Trroursow afterwards addressed the
meeting. The assemblage cheered the speakers with an
enthusiasm unusual even at such meetings.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

BETTING AT MANCHESTER.-FRIDAT.

Yesterday, consequent upon the appearance of the
weights for the Chester Cup, the Reiver, Star of Surrey,
Rotherham, Arthur Wellesley, and Marc Antony re-
ceived favourable notice from the backers of horses ; the
first-mentioned was installed as premier, hating de-
throned Calamus, who was heavily backed previous to
the publication of the handicap, but who was at once
sent to the right-about when the impost of Sat was seen
opposite hie name, 1,000 to 10 being laid against him.
To-day the betting was not heavy, but had a wider
range. For the Derby we have no change to record ex-
cept the improved position of Bonnie Morn, as will be
seen below.

LivErtrooL STEEPLECHASE.
16 to 1 agst Bastion (taken)
20 to 1 agst Escape (taken)
20 to 1 aget any other (offered)
GREAT NORTHERN HANDICAP.
25 to 1 aget Ivan (taken)
25 to 1 agst Wild Huntsman (taken)
25 to 1 agst Lady Palmerston (taken)
agetagB
t Rambling
THOUSAND GUINEAS.
Prince CHESTER CUP.
33 to 1 agst The Reiver (taken)
40
to I. aget Bracken (taken)
40 to 1 agst Rotherham (taken)
40 to 1 agst Marc Antony (taken)
50 to 1 agst Newbold (taken)
66 to 1 agst Kidnapper (taken)
66 to 1 agat Knight of St. George (taken)
66 to 1 aget Little Harry (taken)
1000 to 10 agst Calamus (taken)
1000 to 15 apt Jetty Treffz (taken)
DERRY.
15 to 2 agst St. Hubert (taken)
11 to 1 agst De Clare (taken)
lblinogf
.iirtes
12 to 1 agst Gi•asculus (taken)
15 to 1 agst Rifleman (taken)
20 to 1 agat Bonnie Morn (taken)
(taken)
5066 t t
o o 11
(taken)
Two
3to 1 agst St. Hubert (taken)
9to 2 agat Bonnie Morn (taken).

DERBY RICESA.ND STI
Acceptances for the Midland
miles anl

ZEPLECHASES—Fze. 13.
L Steeplechase. About three
Ld A half.

et lb it lb
Peter 5imp1e......... 11 0 Columbine 9 7
Rosa .................. 10 0 Sailor ............
May•day ............... 9 12 Theodine
The Hero ............ 9 11 Taffy
Free-trader ......... 9 11 Gradeley Lan
.....,
9 2
Maria Day. .......... 9 9 Seaman
Star of England .• • 9 9 Warwick
Laura 9 7 Old Misery
......... 8 12
Acceptances for the Selling Steeplechase. Selling allow-
ances, &c. About three miles,
et lb et lb
Toll-bar
Quickstep
Maria Day ll 12
Acceptances for the Selling Hurdle Race. Selling allow
antes, &c. One mile and a half, over six flights of
hurdles.

et lb I et lb
Half-and-Half
salopian ll 7 Skit .................. 10 8
Bmigrant
Dispute

lest of England, was
ARTFUL DODGE.— At the Bristolpc
hliwce-co haveourt
been
yester-
day a man named Henry Newton, the " captain " of a
vgianntgirnoifsinfgoutrneogronfidvefolksof
London
the sharpers,V
fully committed on a charge
five robbing & painter and
glazier, named Pointer,
of sovereigos. Newton
picked up Pointer in the street, and took him into a
cametave i
n tavern, where,
cansminthenynnd a
weree acorlinvkeirnsgalissonmeaboothuotrhpaalieg s
.
lost a valuable dog, which, having been leashed to an-
other, had managed to force open the lock of the leash
and get away. A lock was then introduced, and the
usual conversation leading tip to what is known as "the
lock trick " commenced. One of the fellows offered to
H
bet 101. to 51. that no one could open the lock, upon
which Newton urged Pointer to take him. Upon this
Pointer took out five sovereigns to bet with, but, upon
hisse c
handond with
thoughts,th e
coinssa i d he
ine
it. would
Newtonn o t
do
theno , grasped his and closed
hand and forced from it the money, which he gave to a
companion, who ran off with it. The prisoner cross-
examined the witnesses against him with a great deal of
shrewdness and skill, and contended that the Si. had
been fairly lost and won ; but the magistrates thought
t otherwise, and 001;4 him for trial.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The Duke of Wellington, 131, Captain Gordon, is
ordered from Spithead into Portsmouth harbour to com-
plete her refit as soon as the tides will admit. A large
party visited her yesterday, who went out in her Ma-
jesty's steam-vessel Fire Queen, Master-Commander
Paul, under the conduct of the Flag-Lieutenant to the
Commander-in-Chief, Mr. Sankey.
Orion, 91, screw, was commissioned at Chatham, on
Thursday afternoon. Captain Erskine, with the captain
superintendent, bait paid a visit 'to the ship. She is ex-
pected to be completed by the end of March.
The Blenheim, 60, screw, Captain (Nemesis) Hall, has
the artisans of Portsmouth Dockyard busily engaged in
refitting her for active serviee. Au order came down on
Thursday afternoon to strip off the old copper, and to
caulk and re-copper as expeditiously as possible, About
100 hands were instantly set to work, and continued on
her up to nine o'clock. Early yesterday morning she
was completely stripped, spiled, and half of her body
caulked and payed over. We feel a pleasure in noticing
such energy.
The Nankin, 50, Captain Hon. Keith Stewart, leaves
her moorings on Tuesday next. She will be towed to
Folly Point, Gillingham Reach, there to take in her
powder, stores, and guns. She will then proceed to
Greenhithe to adjust her compasses. She is for the
Pacific, to relieve the Winchester, at that station.
The Talbot, 22, is ordered to be sent to Woolwich, to
serve as a temporary powder-ship.
The Tartar, 20, screw, Captain Dunlop, is expected to
leave Chatham about Thursday next.
The Cossack, 20, screw, Captain Faishawe, sailed en
Thursday, for.Leith, and the Calcutta, 84, Capt. Stop-
ford, will sail in a day or two for the same destination,
having drawn charts for the Channel and North Sea.
The steam-sloop Geyser, 6, Commander Dew, left
Spithead last evening for Pembroke, to assist in navi-
gating to Portsmouth her Majesty's new steam-yacht.