The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-14 00:00:00

Mysterious Death of a Female at Bow,

Yesterday afternoon Mr John Humphreys, the Middlesex
coroner, opened an inquiry at the Rose and Crown Tavern,
High-street, Bromley, respecting the death of Elizabeth
Jennings, aged 17 years, who it was alleged had died from
ilful drowning, under the following circumstances :
Henry Sims Jennings, of No. 2, Upper Park-street,
Bromley, said that the deceased was his sister, and she was
a crinoline maker. The deceased had been ke2ping company
with Joseph Dean, a hammerman employed at the Thames
Iron Works, Victoria Docks.
William Fletcher, of Three Mill-lane, Bromley, said that
he was lock-keeper employed on the River Lea, Bromley
Locks. Oa Monday evening last, about nine o'clock, he
saw the deceased and the man Dean pass him along the
towing path, About twenty minutes afterwards he heard
the voice of a man, who called " Help, help." He went to
the spot with a pole and the drags, and when he reached
the place from whence the sound came he found several
persons on the bank. He was then informed that a female
was in the water, and witness saw the man Dean on the
bank. Witness threw in the drags and found, with the aid
of a boat, the body of the deceased, Witness addressed the
man and said to him, "Why, you passed me with her a
little while back." The bank where deceased was found
was slanting towards the water, and the width at that spot
was about twelve feet. There was water on the other side,
and that was also navigated. The usual place for the f tot
passengers was on the towing path. When the body was
got out a surgeon was sent for, who pronounced life extinct.
The water «here deceased was found was thick and foul.

Charles Diane, of the Delivery Office, Bromley Locks,
stated that on the night in question he heard a cry of some
person in distress. It was about a quarter past nine o'clock,
and when he went along the bank he found the man Dean in
great trouble, and calling out fur help. He said, " She is
gone, she is gone." Witness brought him away from the
spot, but he said, "No, I will follow her." He asked him
why he did not save ber, when he replied, " I would have
done so, but I cannot swim." Witness asked Dean how it
happened, and he said. "We were walking along larking,
when she slipped in. Witness then went for the dragi, when
the body was got out.

Emma Jane West, of 7, Elizabeth•street, Bromley, re-
siding with the deceased—Sae last saw the deceased alive
on Monday night about 7 o'clock, as she was leaving work.
Witness lett ber with the man Dean and Alfred Heather,
and they appeared to be on good terms. She did not say
where she was going to. She never heard deceased threaten
to destroy herself:. nor had she ever complained of the con-
duct of Dean. The man Dean and witness's brother were
not friends, and they had quarrelled about the deceased, of
whom Dean was jealous. Had never heard any one threaten
the deceased.
Charles West, lodging in the same house with the de-
ceased, said he ha: words with Dean because witness had
walked out with deceased. He saw them together on Mon-
day evening near the distillery. 'They were going towards
Bromley-hall-fields. Witness watched them because he
(witne,s) heard they were going to have a quarrel. Had
known them to have angry words respecting witness,
.Had
never heard Dean threaten her. Witness had seen Dean
strike the deceased jokingly, and he watched them because
he had heard they were going to have words. When wit-
ness passed them he did not speak to them, but he stopped
behind and watched them. The deceased told witness that
she was going to give up the company of the man Dean.
Had told a man named Care that he would not give the de-
ceased up to Dean. _

George Care. residing in the same house as the last wit-
ness, stated he met Dean on Monday morning in St Leonard's
road. He spoke to witness and said that he had been to
Woolwich on the previous day. Dean said, " Did you take
Lizzie with you ?" Witness said he had not seenler since
Friday. Dean pulled out a purse and said, while taking out
a piece of paper, "This will do for her." Witness did not
know what Dean meant. Could not see any writing on the
paper, which did not contain anything.
Dr German, of the divisional police, said that the deceased
had died from submersion by drowning.
Mrs West, the landlady, said that the deceased had com-
plained of Dean. and had stated that she was afraid of him.
Witness advised her to tell her brothers, who would pro-
tect her.

Acting Inspector Brenchley, 2 K, said that he searched

the accused, awl found 2s upon him. When the charge was
booked he asked him how the deceased got into the water,
when he replied " We were larking together on the bank of
the River Lea and she was holding a purse in her hand,
when I tried to get hold of it and she missed her footing,
when she slipped into the water." He added, " I could not
save her because I could not swial."
The father of Dean stated that the paper which had been
shown to one of the witnesses was a note from the deceased's
father requesting her to go home to Nortbfleet, where he
resided, and Dean was going to her on Monday evening to
show it to her,

The Coroner summed up the facts adduced, and observed
that although there was some mystery as to the manner
deceased got into the water, he did not believe there was
sufficient evidence to send the case to another tribunal.
There had clearly been great jealousy on the part of the
accused, owing to the deceased walking out with other
young men. _

the jury, after some consultation, returned a verdict—
Thar the deceased died from .rowning by submersion in the
water of the River Lea, but how or by what means she came
into the water there was not sufficient evidence to prove.

FATAL ACCIDENT TO M. JULES GERRARD.—
Intelligence has been received in Manchester of the death
of M Jules Gerard, the celebrated traveller, better known
under the name of the M Gerard is said to
have been drowned in the river Jong, 120 miles from Sierra
Leone. The information comes from the factors of Mr
Ell's Edwards.-21/anchestar Courier.
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The Chancellor of the Exchequer in

Liverpool.

LIVERPOOL, Thursday.

Addresses was this afternoon presented to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer by the members of the Liverpool Chamber
of Commerce and the financial Reform Association, in St.
George's-hall. It was originally intended that the presen-
tation should take place in the Town-hall, but the demand
for 'tickets of admission being very great, it was found
necessary to have recourse to the more ample accommoda-
tion of St. George's-ball. The vast area of that spacious
and most elegant .building and the galleries on either side
were filled half an hour before the proceedings were ap-
pointed to commence.
Previous to the arrival of the right hon. gentleman Mr
Best played a voluntary on the magnificent organ at the
north end of the hall, which was much applauded by the
eagerly expectant throng. At a quarter to 1 o'clock the
Mayor, Mr Mozley, made his appearance on the platform,
and was loudly cheered. He was accompanied by some of
the leading merchants of the town, the High Sheriff (Sir
J. Kay Shuttleworth), Mr Gregson, M.P., Mr Horstall,
M.P., Mr Hepwood, Mr Robertson Gladstone, &o. A
number of ladies were present.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, on presenting himself,
was loudly cheered. Mrs Gladstone, who was lea by the
Mayor to seat on the platform, was received with the most
enthusiastic applause.
The MAYOR, on taking the chair, briefly stated the ob-
ject of the meeting, and called en the President of the
Chambers of Commerce to present the address of that body.
Mr GRAINGER, the President of the Chamber of Com-
meres, then rose and said,—When the pleasing news of
your intended visit to Liverpool was made public, the
general and almost universal thought was how best
to welcome to his native town the greatest of her
sons. (Cheers.) The Chamber of Commerce immediately
instructed me, their President, to invite you to accept
their honorary membership, and of a public address em-
bodying their feelings of respect and admiration, I
cannot adequately express my thanks for your prompt and
courteous appreciation of our intentions, You, doubtless,
recognised in this Chamber a form of self-help, part of the
genius of the English character, which is the foundation of
our prosperity as individuals, and of our greatness as a na-
tion, making us in its development a truly free and self-
governing people. (Cheers.) Sir, as in those classic ages
with which you are so familiar their heroes proudly wore a
simple wreath of laurel as the highest reward of their suc-
cess, and in these modern days we welcome our country-
men illustrious iu arts and arms by conferring on them the
franchises of our cities and Universities, so now we, the
merchants of Liverpool, would honour ourselves and you
by enrolling in our Chamber of Commerce the conqueror
of financial difficulties, the liberator of commerce, and the
enlightened friend of the working classes, (Cheers.):
The Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr J. R.
Jeffrey, having read the addresses,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, who was received
with much enthusiasm, all the audience rising to their feet
and cheering loudly for several seconds, said—Mr Mayor,
Mr High Sheriff, gentlemen presidents of the respective
associations, and ladies and gentlemen of Liverpool at large,
I hope it is needless for me to assure you that I am deeply
grateful for the emphatic marks of your kindness and con-
fidence which I have just received. Many long years have
separated me from familiarity—l mean general tamilarity,
with the community of Liverpool, and Liverpool herself has
within these years been more than once I may say multiplied
and transformed. When my recollections of her were most
familiar she was a town of 100,000 persons, and the silver
cloud of smoke which floated above her resembled that
which might appear over any secondary borough or village
of the country, She has since extended her boundaries
and multiplied her population, and you, gentlemen, have
given me a proof to-day tnat the same warmth and energy
of spirit which she carries into her commercial pursuits
distinguish her in every public proceeding, and animate your
breasts with sentiments of generous regard to those upon
whose public conduct you are pleased to look with favour and
indulgence. (Cheers) I am the first to recognise, with
reference to words that were used by the President of the
Chamber of Commerce, the value of associations such as
those whose addresses I have had the honour to receive,
There have indeed been times, there have and, perhaps,
there are still countries where associations formed °Bien-
sihy with reference to purposes of trade, industry, or
science have been regarded with jealousy by the authorities
in being, I remember, for example, that before the great,
and, I crust and think, the happy transmutation that has
occurred in Italy—(cheers)—it w,,s the custom of those who
promote constitutional opinions to form themselves into
agricultural associations---(a laugh)—and when meetings of
such persons were held—and they comprised pretty nearly
the entire intelligence of the country—(cheers) —no doubt
these meetings were useful for discussions relating to the
progress of agriculture, and it was also strongly, and I
believe justly, suspected that much attention was paid on
these occasions to what I may venture to term political til-
lage, and that the field of public questions was very dili-
gently cultivated. (Cheers.) But, gentlemen, we do not
suspect the Chamber of Commerce, nor the Financial Re-

form Association, nor the ass,ciation of the tradesmen o;

Liverpool of covering under the names they choose to bear
ulterior or sinister views. And the reason why we dont
suspect them of meditating great political changes, and pur-
suing them under false pretences, is this, that happily if
they did see occasion to me iitate these extended political
alterations, there would be nothing in the world in this
country to prevent them from plainly saying so, and forming
societies with a view to the prosecution of those objects. It
is therefore upon these associations, considered as what they
represent themselves to be, and as what we all know they
axe, that I would say one word. Most fully, most cordially
do.I recognise their value; to their value I would add their
importance; to their importance I would add their nines-
sity—nay, gentlemen, I will go one step further, and I will
say that I do not find that value greatly diminished by the
fact that, exercising the privileges of free-born Englishmen,
they regard economical and fiscal questions from somewhat
different points of view. It would be strange indeed if in a
community like this, and if on a subject-matter on which it
is obvious that progressive change and adaptation to the
varying circumstances of different periods are the essential
law—it would be strange indeed if in a community like this
differences of opinion did not prevail. I dont believe that

any Englishman'would take a sinister view, or pass an in-
vidious criticism on such differences; still less would it
become me to attempt to venture anything of the kind on

an occasion like this, when, first, I am possessed by a sense
of profound acknowledgment for the kindness I receive at
your hands, and when, secondly, and yet more, I am pos-
sessed with a deep conviction that one and the same prin-
ciple—namely, a desire for continued and progressive im-
provement,
lies at the root of all these addresses. (Cheers.)
Gentlemen, it is by these institutions that public opinion is
termed and. matured. It is among you, it is by your mutual
communications, that your ideas are gradually brought into
being, under the influence of that light which experience
gives you, that they from time to time acquire more and
more substantive form and power, until at length—having
parsed the test of searching and protracted examination by
the free press, the free assemblies, and the free conversa-
tions of this country—they reach to that condition of matu-
rity in which a Legislature may safely and wisely adopt
them. (Cheers.) True it is that that process is of necessity
a tardy process; true it is that the expectati Jim of the more
ardent supporters may be doomed to receive many a lesson
of patience and some of disappointment; but it is also true
that in consequence of the tardiness of that process the
changes accepted here are accepted in good faith, are ac-
cepted by the entire community, and when once they take
their place on the statute of the coun' ry they become part
of the system under which we live. (Cheers.) It may still
be open to us further to develops that which we have done,
but happily we can say with respect to our legislation gene-
rally, and especially with regard to legislation of the class
more particularly under view, what was said by the ancients
of a place that it is needless to name—" There is no back-
ward road, there are no footsteps turned in the direction of
retrogression." (Cheers.) "Onwards" is the motto of
Englishmen, and by that motto they abide. (Cheers.) Well
now, if I may be permitted one single criticism, and I think
it will not be invidious, it will be in illustration of that
which I have just stated. The address which has been read
by our friend Mr Jeffrey does me a great deal more than
justice. It attributes, in common with other addresses,
much more than their just value to the labours which I
have been enabled to perform, but it over-estimates the
power which is placed in the hands of the Minister of
Finance. The address states, with truth, that I have given
my opinion in my place in Parliament, that the tax which
still remains applicable to the article of corn is a tax that on
principle cannot be defended,and that as far as I know it is
not recommended by any such imperative considerations of
convenience or public advantage,apart from principles, as to
make me, at least for cne, content to recognize it as belong-
ing to the permanent fiscal system of the country. (Cheers.)
It would be absurd were I to say that I think it burdensome
and grievous, because these are subjects which belong to
questions of a graver and more serious character; but I
frankly own I know no reason why, when practicable,smaller
evils as well as great ones should not be removed. But I am
bound to say, having travelled thus far with my friend Mr
Jeffrey on the road, that I am not able to accept the doc-
trine that an error was committed, as the address says, by
me, and I must of course say, and in order to speak the
truth, by the Administration of the Queen, when we pre-
ferred to ask the HlllBO of Commons for the remission of a
penny from the income tax rather than to take off the tax
on corn. Now the simple test to which I bring this question
is this—Supposing we had not proposed to take a penny off
the income tax, but had proposed to remit the Is corn duty
during the last session of Parliament,—because that is the
whole question, the question of time and circumstance,—
will Mr Jeffrey guarantee to me that such a proposal made
by the Government would have succeeded ? (near, and a
laugh.) Now that is a very fair question, and until Mr
Jeffrey comes forward and makes himself fully and bodily
' responsible—(iaughter)—for a clear, distinct, and satisfac-
tory answer to this question, I will waive and adjourn the
further discussion of the subject. (Cheers.) Mr Mayor and
gentlemen, your kindness has been exercised towards me at
a time and at a moment of very great and peculiar interest.
I distinguish between the moment and the time, because
the very period in which we live, especially the last 20 or
30 years, has been, and the years that are coming promise

still to be during the whole of their course, a period of great
and peculiar interest. But there also circumstances appli-
cable to the moment, on which:l will venture to say a word.
We are still, if I may presume to use the expression, in the
trail of the great cotton famine, because, through the
mercy of Providence—first under Him and next by the in-
comparable spirit of our fellow-citizens of Lancashire—
the workmen in the first place, and their employers
and superiors in station generally in the second, wo
have, I trust, escaped from wtat may be termed the
bitterness of the affliction. The worst of the calamity we
may hope to be passed. But speaking to a commercial rather
than to a manufacturing community, I need not do more
than simply observe to you that we cannot expect to return
from a state so disordered and unnatural with regard to the
supply of that great and capital article of industry as that
which has prevailed for the last two years to a state that is
natural and normal without undergoing much inconveni-
ence by the way. The great shock of the earthquake has
been felt, and the ruin it was destined to work, and the suf-
fering It was destined to cause, it has caused. Secondary
and minor shocks have yet to be experienced, and it is for
you, gentlemen, as a commercial community, to bear speci•
ally in mind that influences ought to be exercised in your
proceedings by a recollection of the numerous—perhaps the
rapid, perhaps the varying and inverted, but certainly the
great and considerable—changes that may occur in the
course of that down ward movement in the price of cotton
and that upward movement of the supply which we all con-
fi lently trust is destined to place the great cotton industry
of this country on a basis firmer and broader than it has ever
heretofore occupied. (Cheers.) Another circumstance of
great and peculiar interest, still more specially belonging to
the moment of which we speak, demands a few words from
me—l mean the state of the monetary question in its appli-
cation to the present condition‘ of the money market.
Now, gentlemen, this is perhaps of all other subjects
the subject that you would least expect me to venture
either upon the expression of abstract opinions, or
upon a positivo or confident indication of inten-
tions, for there is no matter of greater delicacy, there is no
question on which the expression of a rash opinion by a
responsible Minister would be less excused by the circum-
stances of the case or more likely to produce mischief out
of all proportion to the good it could possibly contemplate.
What I would venture to say, in the first place, is to
use the language of congratulation, for, in my opi-
nion, if we compare the manner in which the exist-
ing tightness and dearness of money has been met by
the commercial community on this occasion with
the manner in which it was met on other occa-
sions, if we compare the absence of complaint and the absence
of agitation, which is now so remarkable with what we have
witnessed at other times, we see, I think, in the future of
our course the assurance that the commercial mind of Eng-
land, so to speak, is advancing farther and farther in its
education; that the perception of sound principles is grow-
ing wider and more clear, and above all that the great law of
self-dependence, so opposite to dependence on the acts of
authority, is more and more becoming the rule of conduct
of the British merchant. Our whole monetary history for
the last 40 years has been one course of progressively widen-
ing and extending experience. The Act of 1844 was a great
fact in that monetary history. It was followed, as you well
know, and have reason, perhaps, to recollect, by two sus-
pensions, by the occurrence of two periods when no Ministry
was ready to be responsible for maintaining the act in ope-
ration. [he last of those suspensions was followed by a
Parliamentary inquiry, and the experiences obtained from
day to day during the crisis of 1857 forced in the main the
substance and basis of the deliberations of the committee of
1858. Since that time no legislative change had occurred;
but an administrative change has occurred under the very
able and enlightened Government. The Bank of England
has taken a modified and altered view of its functions, and
has, as you well know, attempted to secure by prompt and
early action, by a close conformity to what appeared to be
the economical law of the question, that security and stabi-

lity for the mone•ary law which the previous system of ad-
ministration had not been able to effect. Under these cir-
cumstances I hope it is unnecessary for me to assure you

that her Majesty's Government, that department of it
which is charged, with this special responsibility, are n, t
more alive than they ought to be to the deep interest of the
circumstances which may occur from day to day. From
day to day they are followed with the closest attention,
and then they see every class to repose their confidence
in those by whom the great central institution at the
head of our monetary transactions is now managed and
administered. There is, however,.,one lesson to which the
peculiar circumstances of the time peculiarly point—it is the

lesson that for the successful and safe prosecution of com-
mercial enterprise, British prudence must be combined with
British energy and spirit. (Cheers.) Now, a few words upon

the larger and broader features of the time in which we live.
Reference has been made in the address of the Financial
Association to myself as the follower of Mr Huskisson and
Sir Robert Peel. (Cheers.) There is no title, if indeed I
may arrogate it to myself, by which I would more desire
and more rejoice to be known. (Hear, hear.) To them, to
others who preceded, accompanied and followed them, I am
glad to owe the instructions on which I have feebly and
humbly endeavoured to act. (Hear, hear.) I may, indeed,
say that I owe to the pm-sonal influence of Sir R. Peel the
particular manner and degree in which it has been my poli-
tical lot to follow, a commercial and fiscal career in Parlia-

ment, But the lessons of the time, the lessons drawn from
the past, the expectations connected with the future, are
indeed of a deep, and I may almost say of an overwhelming
interest. I shculd exhaust even your patience if I were to
attempt in this hall, or in addressing any other assembly of
my fellow countrymen, to follow the development of the cha-
racter and resources of the legislation of which we have all
been witnesses, and to which mo t of us in one form or other
have been parties, some of the results of the great changes
introduced into the commercial system are obvious, and lie
upon the surface. We see from the figures which daily meet
the eye, the vast expansion of our trade. We know from
other but not less palpable experience, that the expansion of
trade has not been merely a commercial or material ques-
tion, but that it has been fraught with moral, social, and
political tesults—that it has bound us together as a com-
munity in a manner in which we were nut bound before,
and has made us all rejoice as we never so fully rejoiced
before in belonging to the country of which we are the
happy inhabitants, (Cheers.) But even these are not the
bounds and limits of the effects produced by the system of
commercial legislation especially associated in Parliament
with the names of Huskisson and Peel, especially asso-

ciated in Parliament and elsewhere with the names of
others, some of them my colleagues in the Government,
some of them not my colleagues, but men whom I am glad
to recognise as teachers in the school of true economy,
such as Mr Cobden, whose name has been mentioned
already—(hear, hear)—and, going further back, let us do
justice to that old economist of our country who first of all
was the bold and efficient pioneer in making known to the
people the truths of economic science, Dr Adam Smith,
and not less than him, to the enlightened and courageous
Minister, Mr Pitt, who became the champion at a date
so early of those truths in his place in Parliament, as
the responsible Minister of the Crown. (Hear, hear.) A
marked effect of the adoption of freedom of trade upon
which I may congratulate you is that, along with the ex-
tension of commerce, it has given far greater stal,ility to
commercial operations, whatever may be the inconvenience
of the crisis which we have now to undergo. I do not speak
of such a case as the cotton famine, due to causes -which are
beyond our control, but of the crises which occur from time
to time in the commercial world in connexion with the va-
riation of harves's, the fluctuating supply of the respective
articles of commerce, and the consequent state of the money
market. Whatever, I say, we may think of these things,
we must agree that there is a great mitigation in the fea-
tures of these crises as compared with what formerly oc-
curred under the ancient system of pro:ection and monopoly.
Whereas before the adoption of freedom of trade there were
many of those who hoped it would be extended who yet
feared that the extension would be accompanied with some
degree of instability, experience has shown that, with a vast
enlargement of the scale of trade, there has also been a
broadening of its basis and a great mitigation of the evils
which attend its occasional disturbances. (Hear.) This
question also has aspects and results reaching far beyond
the narrow bounds of the island in which we live. We have
adopted in a great degree the principle of freedom of trade
for ourselves, and stand on the well understood basis that
everything in the nature of a protective duty is unsound
and bad, and that everything in the nature of a revenue
duty should be brought down to as low a point as the ne-
cessities of the country will permit. There is still a rich
and abundant harvest to be reaped. Jt is a harvest which
will be found in foreign countries. If an enormous impulse
has been given to trade in this kingdom by the conduct of
the British Legislature, what will the impulse become when
our example has been followed by all the other Legislatures
and Governments of the civilised world ? (Hear.) As to
the Treaty of Commerce with France, the obvious and pal.
pable consequences which flowed from the direct operation
of its written terms were those of_ the least importance. It
may possibly happen that we shall fail to retain all those
markets in France which we have got, because such are the
ingenuity and skill of the French people, such are their ex
pending energy and their ready acquisition of commercial
habits, as well as their accumulation of capital, that no doubt
in every competition they will be able—and, I trust, be able
fairly to hold their own. But I own for myself, and I may
say as much for others, that we have looked beyond the
mere terms of that treaty—first of all, to one great fact in the
moral order,and second,to another great fact in the material
order of things. The great fact in the moral order is that the
commercial treaty laid the foundation of a closer union in
feeling and spirit between the two greatest nations of
Europe. (Hear, hear.) The great fact in the material
order was this. We know very well what was the language
held abroad. So long as the adoption of the principles of
free trade was confined to the British Legislature, the lan-
guage held may be summed up in these words. They
charged us thus— they said, " You have mounted to wealth
by the ladder of protection, and having got there, you have
kicked it down, and now you want to prevent us from tread-
ing in your path and attaining to the same position that by
means of protection you attained." That was totally un-
true. Protection did not lead us to wealth; protection had
impeded and deferred our progress on the way to wealth—
but, although it was untrue, yet we must admit it was also
plausible. It was an argument difficult for us to refute—
but when France in the very midst, in the very heyday of
her protective system—under I must say the enlightened

manful guidance of her present ruler—(cheers)—and
through the great material influence of Mr Cobden—(cheers)
—who I must also regard in fairness and justice as having
been undeniably the great source of this important mea-
sure—when France proclaimed herself, in principle at least,
and in great part in practice, a convert from the ancient
system, then I think we were able to bring an unsuspected
witness into court, and I frankly own that it is to the ex-
ample of France that I confidently trust as being morally
certain to draw after it in this beneficial course, one after
another, more quickly or more slowly, and all the worse
for those who are slower, but still draw after her, by a
certain chain of cause and consequence, the final accession
of every civilised Legislature and every civilised people
to the principle which consecrates freedom of intercourse
between man and man, between country and
country. (Cheers.) But now, Mr Mayor and Gentle-
men, I hope it was not needful for me in addressing the
presidents of these associations to use strong, laboured, ar-
tificial expressions in assuring you on behalf of her Majesty's
Government, as well as on my own individual behalf, that
with this great encouragement in our views and recollec•
tion, we, too, shall be studious according to our means and
opportunities in the search for occasions and means for the
further application of these principles which have produced
benefits so incalculable to our country. (Cheers.) Allow
me, however, to point out that there are certain general
rules from which we should be wrong to depart. I ire in
the able address which Mr. Jeffrey presented, or I think I
detect a latent principle, on which my own peculiar posi-
tion as Minister of Finance I confess I look with a certain
degree of suspicion. He wants to promote public economy
by making the paymant of large taxes insupportable. Direct
taxation, I admit, if we were to proceed upon abstract
principles, is a sound principle ; but, gentlemen, have some
compassion upon those whose first necessity, whose first
duty it is to provide for the maintenance of public credit—
(hear)—to provide for the defences of the country—to pro-
♦ide in every department for the full efficiency of the public
service. (Cheers,) I wish I could teach every political
philosopher and every financial reformer, to extend some
indulgence to those who would ascend along with them, if
they could, into the seventh heaven of speculation—(laugh-
ter)—but who have weights and clogs tied to their feet which
bind them down to earth, and render it necessary for them
to infuse large dilution, large participation of secondary
matter into that system of abstract reasoning by which, if
they could, they would be very glad to be guiJed. Thai is
an important reservation from me. Allow me to say that I
trust that at no time will any GI eve' nuieut be Intlueed fur the
sake of seeking favour with•the belief—and I am quite sure
that in seeking favour they would fail to find it—let no
Government be induced under the notion of abstract, ex-
tensive, sudden, and sweeping reforms to endanger the vital
principle of public credit, or to risk throwing the finances of
the country into confusion—(cheers)—but subject to these

imitations, I, for one, trust that progress will be the law of
our Legislature in that as well as in every other particular,
and in that particular not less than in any other. I am very
glad to think that among the sources to which we may now
look for the progressive extension of fiscal reform we may,
I trust without too confidently reckoning on the future,
calculate a steady increase on the revenue of the country.
(Cheers.) Indeed this is no matter of secondary import-
ance. There was a time,—and that time is within the re-
collection of almost the whoje of us,—there.was a time when
the revenue of this country was nearly stationary. In an

important period marked by many and most beneficial
changes in every respect—the important period between
1830 and 1810—a period which was almost barren in mea-
sures of commercial and fiscal improvement, the increment
of the revenue was almost imperceptibly slow. But it is
now our gratifying duty to record from year to year, quite
independently of the progress of the imposition of any new
taxation, a considerable increase in the public receipts, as
the result of that increasel activity of capital and industry
which has been imparted to the various industrial classes of
this country. There is a source upon which indeed we can-
not reckon with confidence from year to year, because cir-
cumstances may interfere to break the continuity of pro-
gress, but upon which, in looking over a series of years, I
think we may reckon with considerable confidence, and
which, therefore, leads to the belief that we have as yet by

no means arrived at the term of fiscal and financial improve-
ment ; but there is one consideration on which, in conclud -
ing these remarks, I will briefly touch. It is fraught with

so many topics of reflection, i:., brings into view so much of
the future, it extends over so many departments of the

deepest human interest, that even to touch upon it almost
appals the mind. We all remember that before the repeal of
the corn laws we were told that we sould get into a
state of dependence on foreign supplies. (Hear, hear.)
Let us do literal justice at least to the prophets from
whom these menaces proceeded. We have fallen into
a state of dependence upon foreign supply. (Hear, hear.)
Prima facie, therefore, the prophecy is justified ; but yet

when we state what that prophecy really meant—because
the real meaning of it was this, You will obtain your corn
from abroad, and your fields at home will remain unculti-
vated"—that was their full predictions—l need not ask
whether that full prediction has been verified or not. As far
as my knowledge goes, the fields of this country continue to
be cultivated. I believe that those who are happy enough to
be possessed of any portion of the lands of the country still
continue to receive some rent for those lands. (Laughter.)
In point of fact it is not only that they continue to be culti-
vated, but there is a great deal better cultivation than ever.
It is not only that they produce as they did before, but they
produce a great deal more than They ever did before. It is
not only that they produce more than they did before, but
it is this—that they produce what is less in the character of
the mere necessaries of life, and what is more of the charac-
ter of the comforts, and in addition in one sense, let me say,
the luxuries of life for the mass of the population. It is that
which has increased the general progress in the condition of
the country, and which has made us dependent on foreign
supply, because we find it cheaper and better to get our corn
from abroad ; but, gentlemen, at the same time there is
something I believe almost unprecedented, nay, as regards
any great country, something quite unprecedented, in the
condition of a nation whose commercial position might now
be defined as ours. Nearly one-half of the essential food of
the people of England—l mean grain—is cultivated and
raised in other lands, and perhaps I might say, indepen-
dently of food, nearly one-half, possibly for aught I know it
may be more than the one-half, of the whole materials of
the labour of the country are produced in other lands.
What is the condition of a country whose industry is dis-
tinguished by features like these P Here is opened to us a
vista almost interminable, because we are not only depen •
dent, but we are increasingly dependent on foreign supply.
I see indeed, and I see with joy, in the figures of the Cus-
toms' revenue, that there is a decreasing duty on foreign
grain, because a small revenue from that source means
abundance at home and cheapness in the main essential ele•
ment of the subsistence of the people. That is the case com-
paring one year with the years that are nearest to it; but if
we leak a little further what must we expect ? Population
and trade have grown enormously, but have they reached
their limit? Have your dock walls reached their limit?
Has the extension of Liverpool reached its limit ? When I
was a child its population was 100,000; now it has more
than quadrupled its numbers. Is there any reason why the
rate of that increase should be slackened in the future? For
my part, I know of none. If it please God to preserve to
us the inestimable blessing of peace— (loud cheers)—l know
no reason why the trade of the country should not continue
to extend with the population of this country—should not
continue to grow—(cheers)—why along with the growth of
the population in mere numbers the powers and efficacy of
the moral agents at work within it should not also continue
to grow in future times as they happily have grown during
the last 30 years—(cheers) ; and I know no reason why we
should refuse to accept the benefit Providence thus offers us
in the increase of numbers, of power, and, as we believe and
trust, of happiness and virtue, because we see, and must
piainly see, that it will be and must be accomplished from
day to day with increasing dependence on foreign supply.
(Cheers.) For, gentlemen, when we consider the matter,
what does dependence upon foreign supply mean ? It means,
I humbly trust, progress, the substantial progress towards
that state of things which may still be remote, which r ei-
ther we nor our children may live to see, but yet which we
may hope lies in some happy future—that state of things
in which the intercourse between nation and nation, pro-
duced by human industry, the blessed result of that law of
labour which Providence imposed on our first parents and
all their descendants, shall weave a web of kindness by
the incessant action of the interchange of commodities be-
tween country and country, shall diminish progressively
the force of those motives which dispose men to violence
and aggression,and shall progressively surround and increee
the power and efficacy of those motives which incline men
to live in concord, amity, and love with one another. (Loud
cheers.) lam not insensible—none of you can be insensible
—and still less can any one responsible for public affairs be
insensible to the gravity of the question which must be en-
countered in the working out the great problem before us.
What is to be the condition of a country with respect to the
necessary element of the means of defence. What is to be
the state of the maritime and international law of the world P
How far the rules hitherto applicable to its conduct are safe
good, or wise, or require alteration or modification by the
joint consent of the nations in order to meet the exigencies
of coming times ? All these are questions which must be
examined and must be brought in due time to their solution ;
but beyond, and above, and beneath, and around these
questions is embraced the destiny of our time, and the ex-
tension of those great laws of industry and exchange which
are a wider and a larger fulfilment of the beneficent design
of the Almighty in giving different productions to different
climates end countries of the earth. My belief is that the
law of that extension will prevail, and that as our depend-
ence on foreign supply increase we may become more and
more pledged and bound to a policy of peace and justice, to
setting a good example of moderation and wisdom, and pro-
moting the influence of every principle that conduces to the
happiness both of ourselves and of our fellow men among
the various surrounding nations of the earth. The right
hon. gentleman resumed his seat amid loud and enthusiastic
cheering.
Three cheers were given for the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, three for Mrs Gladstone, and a vote of thanks to
the Mayor closed the proceedings.
At a special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of
Liverpool, held at 11 o'clock, Mr Grainger, the presi ent, in
the chair, Mr Horsfall, M.P., moved, and Mr Brocklebank
seconded a resolution enrolling the Chancellor of the Ex-
. ceequer as an honorary life member of the Chamber. This
was carried with acclamation. An address to the right hon.
gentleman wee also adopted.