The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-22 00:00:00

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RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.

LI V ERPOOL, DEC. 21.

STOCK EXCHANGE.—Transactions in the stock and share
market have been dull, and prices are again quoted lower,
as will be seen. by the following rates extracted from the
authorised list :—Caledonian, 3413 • Eastern Counties, 13
3-16 ; Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee, 7 9-16 ; Lancashire
and Yorkshire, 84FT, ; London and North-Western,
1251, 6 ; Midland, 80 ; Shrewsbury and Hereford, 1 die. ;
South-Eastern and Dover, 244, ; York and North
Midland, 30, s ; Quebec and Richmond, 1 prem. ; Bo-
rough new 101. shares, 1 prem.

MANCHESTER, DEC. 21.
STOCK EXCHANGE.—There is a tolerable amount of
business, but shares are not so firm as the sales would seem
to indicate. The shares from the official list were :—Bir-
kenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction, 6i dis. ;
ditto, 20/. Shares, 2* die. ; Blackburn, No. 1, 7* ; Cale-
donian, 343, I, ; East Anglian New Preference (1848) 7
t Cent., 4 I Eastern Counties, 13 3-16 ; East Lancashire,
; Edinburgh and Glasgow Yorkshire, Edinburgh, Perth, and
a,,1114,.ee, 7i • Lancashire and
125 i • Manchester, Sheffield, and Lin-
EaaZge,,,3l-1 ; Midland Railway Consols, 10i ; South-
-York, v. 445, 11-16 ; Warrington and AltrinchL, I prem. ;
'Newcastle, and Berwick, 18g.

BIRMINGHAM, DEC. 21.
STOCK. EXCUANGE.—The Railway Share market was
quiet, and nothing was transacted on 'Change. In the
course of the daY, however, Caledonians were bought at
69, and London and North-Western at 1264 for a distant
nmrket.

titigTOL, DEC. 21.
STOCK ExCHAN4E.—The
day was very inac-
tive with little variation in Lionsquota. Bristol and Exe-
ter ere done at 106 i.

THE SHIPBUILDING TRADE.-6IINDERLAND DEC. 20.
—There are at present fitting out in this LAND,
20 new
vessels, the aggregate tonnage of which amounts to
8,661 tons ; and upon the stocks in the building yards
ggregate ton-
nearly a similar amount of vessels of an a
nage. While the building of timber ships is so active
in the Wear, iron shipbuilding is very brisk on the
Tyne. One firm on the Tyne is launching a, iron
vessel, on an average, every month ; another is execu-
ting a large order for the Austrian Lloyds ; and the
builders of the W. S. Lindsay have a vessel of 1,800
tons burden ready for launching, and have laid down the
keels of three other large iron vessels. Last week an
iron vessel was launched by Messrs. Toward, of St.
Peter's, for Portugal ; and last spring, Messrs. Palmer,
of Jarrow, launched a large iron screw-collier, the
William Hutt, for the General Screw Collier Company.
Messrs. Smith, of Newcastle, have also launched a large
timber paddle-steamer for the Demerara mail packet
service ; and have a frigate on the stocks for the Sicilian
Government.
PETERBOROUGH ELECTION.---A petition from certain
electors of Peterborough has been presented against the
return of Mr. G. H. Whalley, who contested the repre-
sentation with Mr. Cornewall Lewis praying that re-
turn of the former may be declared
null and void, onthe the
gtound of bribery and corruption.

111INISTI2Y.-MEETING AT THE EARL
OF .DERBY'S.

Tie . meeting at Lord Derby's residence in Downing-
street on Monday, was very numerously attended by his
stipporters in both Houses of Parliament, notwithstanding
" many had left town after the late division.
The Earl of Derby on entering the room was received
with enthusiastic cheers, and when these had subsided,
we understand he addressed the peers and commoners as-
sembled to the following effect, so far as we have been able
to gather :—Having thanked them for the cordial and una-
nimous support he had received since he came into office,
he proceeded to give a sketch of the state of parties at the
time of his accession to power, and since he was at the
head of the administration. He reminded them that when
the Government of Lord John Russell had fallen to pieces,
not by any external attack, but by; its own internal dis-
sensions and weakness, that noble lord had recommended
to her Majesty to send for him (the Earl of Derby), he had
little doubt, without any hope of his forming an admini-
stration ; and, being disappoidted in this, he at once as-
sembled the discordant materials of his defeated party in
order to form an opposition to the Government which he
had only just then recommended to the Queen.
However, the Government held office, and carried
on the necessary business of the country until the
dissolution of parliament, and the sense of the
country was taken upon the great question which
then agitated the public mind. After the elections,
it was found that about 310 members had been elected
who would support the policy of the government, but of
these two had been since lost by death, and two had ac-
cepted permanent offices, which left 306 who were still
steady adherents of the government. On the late division
there had voted with Ministers (pairs included) 300 mem-
bers. After the general election, finding himself in a mi-
nority of the whole house, he felt it to be his duty to yield
to the verdict of the country on the question of protection ;
but he still considered himself bound to persevere to hold
office, and to meet parliament with a budget which, while
it was framed on the principles which had then been
acceded to, yet would have afforded some relief to the
suffering classes. The party which supported him had
done so with unparalleled unanimity on that occasion,
and scarcely a man was absent except from unavoidable
causes, and he appreciated the value of this unanimity,
as he knew that many of his supporters must have felt
much disappointment when they found that the hopes
they had a right themselves to entertain from the govern-
ment, and which they in many instances held out to
their constituents, could not be fulfilled. The noble
earl added that he was proud to say that at no time
was the great party he addressed more unanimous, and
that never had they more confidence in their leaders,
or been more determined to support the principles they
professed than at that moment. The noble earl then went
on to observe that after the division the other night
he had tendered his resignation to her Majesty, who
had been graciously pleased to accept it ; that he had not
offered her Majesty any advice as to whom she was to con-
fide the task of forming a Ministry, but that she had sent
for two noblemen, one of whom (Lord Lansdowne), being
unwell, was unable to attend ; but the other (Lord Aber-
deen) had undertaken the trust confided to him, though
how he was to perform it he (the Earl of Derby) was
not aware. He had stated that at the opening of Par-
liament the number of those who honoured him with
their confidence was about 310, or nearly one-half the
house. There were also on the opposite side about 250
Whigs and Radicals, and about 50 gentlemen from the
sister isle, whose only policy seemed to be to render every
Government impossible. Then there was another party,
numbering about 30, but including among them many
gentlemen of ability and official experience. These gen-
tlemen professed to be Conservatives, and that there
Was only one point of difference between them and the
great party with whom they had at one time acted. This
only difference having been removed, it was natural to
suppose that these gentlemen, professing Conservative
principles, would not give any opposition to a Conservative
Government. He had calculated, therefore, on their sup-
port, and that Conservatism would have had an absolute
and a strong majority, because in and out of Parliament,
publicly and privately, they had declared that their only
objection to a re-union with the great Conservative party,
and to aiding him in the service of the nation, was the
question of protection. Communications were said to have
passed continually between these gentlemen and the Whigs,
and the negotiations were, up to now, conducted through
the intervention of a right hon. baronet—Sir J. Graham.
Having briefly alluded to the debate on Mr. Villiers's mo-
tion, the noble earl said that, from the first day after the
re-assembling of Parliament, it was apparent to him that
all public questions had been sacrificed to personal feelings ;
that the hostility which had previously prevailed had
rather increased than diminished ; in fact, it became
obvious that the followers of Sir Robert Peel had been
making private arrangements with the Whigs to consolidate
an opposition, and that nothing but the fall of the Govern-
ment would satisfy them. The real fact was, that it was
no detail of the budget which had caused this banded oppo-
sition to the Government. The real question was, whether
he (the Earl of Derby) should continue at the head of the
administration, and his party remain in power, or not ?
He was aware that he might have preserved office for a time
by altering the budget ; but seeing that he would have
humiliated himself and his party by holding office under
sufferance from men whose object it was first to degrade
and then to expel him from power, he submitted to the
expulsion, but refused to consent to the degradation. This
he was sure the gentlemen who honoured him with their
support would not tolerate, and he therefore resigned
without hesitation. (Cheers.) It now devolved on Lord
Aberdeen to carry on the Government he had under-
taken to form ; though how, he (Lord Derby) was at
a loss to conceive. He himself had been unable, even with
the support of 310 members—nearly half the House of
Commons—to carry on the Government, and it was
really difficult to say how it could be done with a party not
numbering 100, and united with two other parties, differ-
ing, or professing to differ, from them on almost every
subject. The noble earl then proceeded to advert to a
subject which was personal to himself, and which, he said,
it was necessary he should do, as a misunderstanding on
the subject seemed to have arisen from something he (Lord
Derby) had said some short time since. It was true that
were he to consult his own wishes, he would be glad to re-
tire into private life. He had many personal views and
interests which an attendance on public affairs obliged him
to neglect. After an acquaintance with official life for
nearly 30 years, he confessed he could not come to the
shock of political strife with the same freshness or enthu-
siasm that he formerly had, and if he were certain that the
government of the country was entrusted to an Adminis-
tration in whom he had confidence, and who he believed
would uphold the interests of the nation, he would gladly
retire from public affairs ; but he saw that the time might
not be distant when this country might require the ener-
gies of all who valued her institutions to stand in their
defence ; and while he was honoured by the confidence of
the great party who stood around him, he never would
desert them; whatever might be the inconvenience to
himself, he would be found ready to contribute all
he could to the defence of those principles which
they all deemed essential to the welfare of the coon-
try. (Hear, hear, hear.) He conceived that in the for-
mation of a Ministry, Lord Aberdeen reckoned on a for-
bearance of that party to whom the gentlemen who were
to compose the government had not shown any ; and he
hoped that, uninfluenced by pique or resentment, if the
new Government brought forward truly Conservative mea-
sures, it would receive, if he could not say the cordial, at
least the sincere support of his party ; but if the Govern-
ment about to be formed should not bring forward Con-
servative measures—if, influenced by the men with whom
they were now associated, they brought forward demo-
cratic measures, the great Conservative party should
in re-
member office, that, even out of they had immense in-
fluence the country, and that they should use that
influence •to stop the downward course the Government
would be urged to pursue. They should confide in their
leaders and in one another, and preserve that unanimity
which would be wanting to their opponents, composed as
they must be of heterogeneous materials. Thus they
would be enabled successfully to defend and preserve the
institutions of this great country. The noble earl con-
eluded by thanking the peers and commoners present for
their cordial support. It might be the last time he
addressed them as Minister, but whether it were or not, it
would ever be to him a source of proud feeling to have
been honoured by the confidence of such a party.
The Earl of DELAWARR then briefly addressed the noble
earl, and expressed the gratitude of the gentlemen as-
sembled for the declaration he had made of his intention
to continue in the leadership of the Conservative party,
and for the independent and patriotic course he had
adopted in the present important crisis.
The meeting then separated.