The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-12 00:00:00

The Price of Gold.

The quotation of gold at Paris is about 3 per mille pm. and
the short exchange on London is 25.30 per £1 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
17s. lOad. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
about 2-16ths per cent. dearer in London than in Paris.
By advic :8 from Hamburg the price of gold is 423 per mark
and the short exchange on London is 13.51 per £1 stcrlin .
Standard gold at the English Mint price is, therefore, about
7-I:tha per cent. dearer in London then in Hamburg.

TILE KING OF DAIIOIIE'S SPOUSES.—A throng
of unarmed women, the royal spouses, sat in a
semicircle behind the King under the same thatch, the
warrioresses being on stools, or at squat outside, and through
the open entrance slave girls peeped at the proceeding. I
regret to say that not a pretty face appeared. Most of the
"fair sex" had sooty skins, and the few browns showed
negro features. They atoned for this homeliness by an ex-
treme devotion to their lord and master. Woman's position
on earth, say Easterns, is to look up to somebody, and these
certainly do, so far, their duty. It is no wonder that the
King of Dahomee soul, like my "Lord Keeper's," lodges
well. If perspiration appears upon the royal brow it is in-
stantly removed with the softest cloth by the gentlest hands;
if the royal dress be disarranged, it is at once adjusted ; if
the royal lips move, a plated spittoon, which Mr
Norris wrote, was gold, held by one of the wives, is moved
within convenient distance; if the King sneezes, all present
touch the ground with their foreheads; if he drinks, every lip
utters en exclamation of blessing. The intense personal
veneration reminded me of the accounts of Mahommed the
apostle and of his followers left by contemporary writers.
But without Analysing too far, I suspect that in Dahome it
is rather the principle than the person that is respected,
the despotism more than the despot, the turban rather
than the wearer; that were the King to be succeeded on
the morrow, the same semi-idolatry would be heaped
upon his successor. However that may be, the Dahoman.
King must only condescend to live, all, save what must
necessarily be done by himself, is done for him. Such a life
appears wearisome ; but kings are unlike common men, and
the ways of princes are mysteries to the multitude. To
this exceeding care only can be attributed the protracted
reigns of a dynasty whose eight members have sat upon the
throne 252 yearr, thus rivalling the seven Roman monarchs
whose rule extended over nearly the same period, and has
caused them to be held fabulous or typical.—. Burton's
lltis-
sloe to She ling of Dahome.
-

..._._ _
A horrible murder has just been discovered at
If antes Combes (Isere). In the beginning of last
month a farmer named bloit oud disappeared, and no traces
could be found of him, although the police, at the instance
of his wife, made inquiries far and near. Last week, how-
ever, the authorities were informed of certain rumours to
the effect that Moiroud had probably been murdered by his
wife and a man named Chenavas, with whom she had for
some time maintained an illicit connection. They were
accordingly arrested, and the woman at last confessed that
Chenavas, at her instigation, had murdered her husband by
striking him on the head with an axe, and that they had
then burnt the body in an oven which they had previously
nearly filled with wood for the purpose. This confession
was proved to be true by the discovery of calcined human
bones in the ash-hole under the oven, The two prisoners
were coarmitttd for trial.

Tho Chancellor of the Exchequer at Bolton.

BOLTON, Tuesday Evening.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer visited Bolton
this afternoon, on his way to Farnworth, where be
is to-morrow to take part in the inauguration of a
public park. In honour of the occasion the chief
streets of the town were profusely decorated with
figs and streamers of every colour and device.
Conspicuous among the other ensigns was the
French tricolour, which was supposed to bear re-
ference to the commercial treaty with that country
which was concluded under the auspices of Mr.
Gladstone, and which has done much to benefit the
trade at Bolton. Other banners bore the inscrip,
tion, " Welcome Gladstone." The train in which
the right hon. gentleman arrived reached Bolton
shortly after half-past four amid a discharge of fog
s'gnals fastened to the rails, and the " hurrahs" of
the spectators gathered within and without the
station.

The Mayor ( \lr. R. Harwood), the town clerk,
Mr. Barnes, M.P., Lieut.• Colonel Grey, M.P., the
High Sheriff (Sir J. K. Shuttleworth), and Mr. A.
Barnes were in waiting to receive the distinguished
visitor. As Mr. Gladstone and his escort passed
through the streets leading to the Market-square,
they were loudly cheered by the crowd who lined
each side of the way, and who sometimes, in the
vehemence of their curiosity and admiration,
pressed inconveniently near the carriages, some-
what retarding their pace. A brief halt was made
at the Free Public Library and the handsome Mar-
ket Hall, both of which were inspected by the Chan.
cellor. It was about a quarter past five when the
party reached the Temperance Hall in St. George's.
road, where the presentation of the addresses
were to take pla3e, and where they were
received with much enthusiasm by a numerous
and respectable audience. Mr. Bazley, M.P.,
Mr H. Ashworth, and other gentlemen of local note,
were on the platform.
The Meson, in introducing the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to the meeting, said—Fellow country-
men and countrywomen, no words of mine are
needed on this occasion. I will only say that it is
a proud day for Bolton. (Cheers.) We are honoured
by the presence of one whose name is a household
word in England, and whose deeds have made him
famous through the length and breadth of the
British isles. (Cheers.)

The Tows CLERK then read an address to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer from the corporation
of Bolton, which has already appeared in The Sun,
Mr TEtomPis GRIMSUAW next presented an ad•
dress, which had been adopted the night before by
a meeting of the working men held in the Market-
square.

Each address was endorsed by the frequent ap-
plause of the audience, which was again renewed
when the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose to
speak. He said—Mr Mayor, ladies, and gentlemen,
—I will not at all affect to underrate the nature of
the spectacle which I have witnessed to-day in the
town of Bolton. I must, however, state that it was
on my part entirely unexpected. I felt fully per-
suaded when I had the honour of receiving the in.
vitation of the municipal body, that I should be
kindly welcomed among you, and moreover I will
venture to say I felt a confidence, sustained by the
happy experience of members of the Government
in every part of the country, that the general indi-
cations of the public in this place would be of that
nature which tends to show that the public rely
upon those by whom the laws are made and admi•
nistered. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, it is undoubt-
edly a sight that would excite astonishment is some
portions of the world, when the thousands
and tens of thousands that form the teeming
population of these great towns are prepared, as we
have seen to-day, and has been seen on other occa-
sions by other and worthier men, to tender, as it
were, each man for himself his personal welcome to
those who are engaged in carrying on the govern.
ment of the country when they visited particular
portions of the community, but it is a sight full of
meaning, and be assured that I do not consider
these indications on your part in any narrow or any
selfish sense. I know very well that I am receiving
in testimonies of your confidence a reward due
rather to the labours of others. (No, and cheers.)
I know it was those who were pioneers in the field
of useful legislation to whom your gratitude is
mainly due. I do not consider myself to be other
than one of the humblest among all the labourers
in that cause, and not one of the earliest among
them. I claim at your hands no credit whatever,
other than such as is due to secondary abilities and
to a secondary part, but yet a par: taken in a use-
ful process. We have seen, gentlemen, during a
lifetime, an alteration brought about in relations of
classes in this country such as must mske the heart
of every man leap within his breast to think upon.
We have seen mistrust and alienation gradually
fading away like mists before the rising sun, and
we have seen throughout all parts of the country
and throughout all classes of the community senti-
ments of mutual confidence, respect, and esteem
taking the place of that alienation and estrange
went. (Cheers.) Believe me, I can appreciate that
generosity of the English character which has been
so signally exhibited by the mass of the people in
this country, and with which they have shown
themselves so ready to acknowledge the cfThrt9 of
the legislature on their behalf. The changes we have
seen 'within the last 20 or 25 years, especially in the
field of economical legislation, are of a character so
marked that perhaps we cannot expect anything
precisely similar to recur. It is not often that it
is given to those called on to bear a part in public
affairs to be enabled, by their puny exertions, under
the direction of an all-wise Providence, to do an
amount of good which is, upon the xhole, both so
extensive and unmixed as the good which has been
done in England within our recollection by the libe-
ration of industry, of capital, and of skill. (Hear,
hear.) In general, when we see parties violently at
issue, and principles keenly contested, the conditions
of human life do not permit us to hope anything
better than that, in the solution of these contro.
versies, at least a balance of good may be secured ;
but here we have witnessed changes carried into
effect which have conferred good alike upon those
by whom they were promoted, and upon those by
whom they were opposed. (Hear, hear.) And,
moreover, we have seen this, that although these
changes referred in their primary aspect only to
material and commercial interests, yet they have
proved to be fraught with a profound moral and
social character. In increasing the wealth of the
nation they have warmed the heart of the nation.
In disposing of arguments which seemed to separate
man from man they have disposed of jealousies
Which separated class from class. (Cheers.) And
while these acts of parliament take their place upon
the register of the statute book they are not to be
judged only by the formal terms in which they are
conceived, but must be regarded rather as angels of
mercy, ministers of peace, restorers of union and
concert through every part and corner of the land.
(Hear, hear.) Mr. Mayor, ladies, and gentlemen,
in profoundly thinking upon the remarkable mani-
festation of which I have, in one sense, been made
the object to-day, I wish to assure you I do not for.
get that it has reference to myself as one among
many who are regarded as the symbols of a cause
of practicsal improvement—many who are now
alive; many with whom I act in the government;
many with whom I am associated in parliament ;
many to whom Lancashire has given birth,
and whose exertions she animated and encouraged,
and it is to them that your commendations and con-
fidence aro mainly due. (Cheers.) It is impossible
for me not to refer to the short experience I have
d
of this town, and to the very great gratification
with Which I witness the growth of institutions
among you—all of which are a testimony to the
great truth that man does not live by bread alone—
that he has a mind, a rational and immortal part,
that he is born for the future more than for the
present, and tutaitsallrealinaprovement which. takes
place among
ainvariablyn i attended
prepares
to
oya
meet
lhiealesrat con-
place
It looks towards
he
future. I rejoice to find that the Act of Parliament,
passed at the instance of Mr. Ewart, for the foun-
dation of free public libraries, having been adopted
at an early period by this borough, has been appre.
ciated by the whole body of the community, and
has produced, as I am informed, all the effects which
the benevolent and enlightened promoter of the

measure could possibly have desired from i a (Hear,
hear.) I am also exceedingly glad to learn that the
working men themselves have established en insti-
tution, not in separation from, but in union with
those by whom they are employed, w l'ch aims at
the same purposes of mental improvement and
rational recreation which are contemplated by the
Public Library. Long may institutions of this
kind flourish and multiply among you, maintained
not by the isolated efforts of one class, but by the
combined and harmonious efforts, and with the
concentrated good-will of the entire community.
(Cheers,) [At this point a man fainted away among
the audience from the heat and pressure, and was
carried out.] Gentlemen, I see but too plainly
the inconvenience under which many of you must
labour, and I will be mindful of it in the few
remarks I have to make. (Go on.) It is im-
possible for me to come among you without re-
ferring for a moment to the present and recent
condition of the town. I hear, and of course with
pain, that throughout the district of South Lanca-
shire, and perhaps especially in a town which
hitherto has not had to encounter the extreme seve-
rity of the recent scarcity, the pressure is now very
sharply felt. it was to us—l speak of my colleagues
in the Government and myself—a matter of extreme
satisfaction that when through the exertions, skill,
and influence of Mr Cobden (cheers) the treaty with
France was negotiated, one immediate result of that
treaty was to minister not only to the general course
of commercial improvement, but in a very remark.
able manner tosupply the temporary but still press.
ing wants of this country. (Hear.) At the very me)•
ment when, through the calamitous war raging in
America, a great portion of our trade had been cut
off, the effect of the treaty was to open a market
which came in lieu of that which we had just lost.
There were many places which might be mentioned,
some of them in particular connected with the iron
trade, where at that period the same amount of
business was carried on immediately after the decay
of the American trade as had been carried on before,
the difference being simply that the demand from
France had sprung up to take the place of the de-
mand from America. It was exceedingly pleasant to
think that through the circumstances and arrange-
ments of trade, in which Bolton had a special in-
terest, it was one of the places which, in connec-
tion with Bradford, appeared to derive particular
benefit from the treaty of commerce. (Hear). Well,
now, gentlemen, the time of pressure seems to have
come upon you, It is very easy for those outside the
circle, for those who do not themselves feel the
pinch of difficulties, to be preachers of the
manner and temper in which the crisis ought
to be endured. (Hear, hear.) This, how-
ever, I venture to say without fear of being
thought to flatter that the Lancashire community has
shown, during years, during winters of extreme
affliction, that it wants no preaching from extrane-
ous persons on this subject, and certainly it is satis-
factory to think that there is at least one marked
and favourable difference between the season when
the cotton famine was in what may be called its
agony and the present time. I am afraid we must
admit there is a recurrence of another extension of
distress, but the distress is of a different character
from that which formerly prevailed. It is not
attended with such gloomy prospects. When the
cotton famine first began to bear upon Lancashire it
was absolutely impossible to know at what point its
calamitous results would close. We knew that the
principal source of supply was stopped—we did not
know in what degree other countries of the world
would prove able to minister to our wants. After a
time it has been found that though nothing will as
yet enable England to dispense with the American
supply, the powers of other countries have been
developed to a very considerable extent, and very
large contributions have been obtained from quer-
;:ers which preciously had hardly been reckoned on,
had indeed been scarcely dreamed of in the enumera-
tion of our resources. We may now, and this is the
difference to which I refer, venture, as far es it be.
comes a frail being like man to give an opinion on e
such a matter—we may now venture to say that the
knot of the problem is in the main untied, and that
sources of supply do exist in the world which will
sustain the future prosperity of the cotton indus-
try of England, and probably tend to place it
upon a firmer basis than it could ever be said
to occupy when it depended almost entirely
on the productions of America, and when those
productions themselves were dug to a state of
society and to a description of labour which, in
this country, we look upon as being unnatural, and
contrary to the best interests of humanity. (Hear,
hear ) Therefore, it is a great point that your
brethren of the working class, and such among
you as belong to that class, and not only you,
but all who compose the other sections of the com-
munity, and whose interests are completely identi-
fied with yours, when the pinch comes, if it be not
now felt by you, you may derive consolation from
the reflection that there is ground for a confident
hope that the calamity is a temporary one, and that
the inconveniences you are now enduring are at-
tendant on a course of transition and on the process
of return from a state of things which is unnatural
and exceptional to a state of things which is durable,
sound, and healthy. (Hear.) It is not possible to
escape from a disturbance and distortions so vast as
the cotton industry has undergone without suffering
great inconvenience on the way. A man cannot
throw off a virulent disease without finding that the
road of return to health is rough and uneasy, and
that in the very process of cure much secondary
suffering must be borne. Hence, if the effect of cir-
cumstances has been, as we know it has been, to
multiply five or six fold the price of the raw mate•
rial, it is a condition of affairs which cannot be per-
manent. Your industry could not permanently sub;
sist in connection with it, but the lowering or
depreciation of prices which would occur before you
arrive at a thoroughly natural condition is a process
which would involve rick, inconvenience, and pres-
sure, very different indeed from the pressure that
some parts of Lancashire had to undergo some two
years back, but yet at the same time amounting in
themselves to very serious evils ; only let us be
thankful that evils are as it were gilded by con-
fident hopes. I speak in the presence of those
who are better able to judge than myself, and
who can correct me if I am wrong, but I do trust,
looking forward to a future—not very remote per-
haps, distant only by a very few years, so few that
they might almost be numbered in months—we shall
see the vast and gigantic system of enterprise on
which the fortunes of South Lancashire principally
depended, again resorted to the whole extent of its
former operations, and not only so, but carrying on
those operations with a certainty and stability,
such as in the former circumstances it would never
have been able to attain, (Cheers.) Now Mr
Mayor, and ladies and gentlemen, I have little
to do except to assure you that the kind reception
that I have had at your hands will be an additional
incentive to walk with as much firmness and integ-
rity as I may in the path of public duty. I am quite
sure that is a sentiment which I need not profess
to utter as one peculiar to myselt—it is happily
the sentiment which prevades, I believe, the minds
of the Legislature of this country. (Hear.) The
discharge of our duties is very imperfect, In many
things it is open to criticism. The concerns of this
vast empire are so mighty, are of so complicated a
character, that to handle them as they ought to be
handled altogether transcends and exceeds human
strength. It is not possible, therefore, that there
should be men in the proceedings of parliament and
of government who shall not invite criticism and
remark. Some things we do which we may be
mistaken in doing, other things which we omit we
may be wrong in omitting—but, gentlemen, 1 would
beg you to observe that whatever be the virtues of
the legislature of this country, they are faults
which they possess and exhibet in common with
mass of the nation. (Cheers.) If parliament at a
given time shows extraordinary vigour in the
work of legislative improvement it is because there
prevades in the public mind a temper of determined
desire for improvement such as sympathisers with
and sustains, and even requires, those exertions
on the part of parliament—but if, on the other hand
there come a time when parliament shows less
eagerness in the promotion of useful reforms, depend
upon it the cause of any comparative inaction
is to be found not so much within those four
walls as in the temper of the nation itself. This is
, a great consolation to those who might be inclined

to a sentiment of impatience when they find that
efforts at,improvement are canvassed with a greater
jealousy than in other times, and that, in point of
fact, as sometimes almost happens, any man who
proposes en ameliorating law becomes by that very
fact itself a sort of object of suspicion, (A laugh.)
Now when that happens depend upon it it is due to
the state of the country. What is our state with
regard to these things? Our state is this that, not-
withstanding the vast extent of our public affairs, I
do not believe that 25 years of more Effective or
beneficial legislation are to be found in the history
of any country than of those of the last 25 years in
England. Well, after a hard day's work men are
apt to get tired—(laughter)—and, depend upon it,
it is no figure of speech when I say that just the
same thing occurs to Parliament, and that they may
get tired; and there is a certain relaxation—a re.
la\ ation of what I may call the muscles of the
mind—after hard work has been done. Grievances
have been removed, unwise laws have been miti-
gated or repealed, and improvements have been
sown broadcast through the land ; but I must ad.
mit to you that I shall be the first to affirm and cons
tend that is no reason at all why other improve-
ments should not be prosecuted with similar zeal.
On the contrary, were we perfect beings, that would
be a reason why we should be still more zealous
than ever in accomplishing whatever remained to
be done. I eay that you may depend upon it that
the country itself has been disposed to take breath
for a little while, and to exact a less strict account
from the representatives of the people with regard
to their legislative labours. (Cheers.) If there be
any who think that there is still a press
sure for great improvement—and I cer-
tainly am one who believes that much
may yet remain to be done—let them also bear
this in mind, that we live in a state of things
in which a conviction wants taking hold of the
minds of the people. The different classes of which
it is composed will be fairly answered in the cons
duct of the houses of the Legislature, When I
speak of what remains to be done I do not at all
mean to say that we stand now as we stood 30 years
ago. On the contrary, crying grievances, gross
evils, and mischief have with great prudence, wis-
dom, and circumspection, but at the same time with
great firmness and decision, been remedied. The
improvements that are before us are therefore in
many respects of a different character from the im-
provements that lay behind us to be made. There
are adjustments which our institutions will require;
the progress of education, the progress of good and
sound habits in the community, the increasing con-
fidence which unites classes together—all these
things point to a gradual enlargement of the privi-
leges possessed by the people; and sure we may be
that as the necessity, the occasion, for such changes
are felt, a liberal disposition to adjust such changes
will likewise be felt amongst us. (Cheers.) I trust
we shall never live again to see the time—time
bearing the smallest resemblance to the great pub-
lic crisis which marked the commencement of the
reign of William IV.—the crisis known as the crisis
of the Reform Bill. The triumph then achieved
was not only in itself a great advantage to the
country, but it was a pledge that altogether im-
provements would be attained by a process less cri-
tical and violent. I hope the time is coming when,
more and more, all social and political questions
will be disposed of, not by violent action, but by
friendly persuasion, by the close contact of mind
with mind, by a constant diffusion of information,
by keeping the people well apprised of all the Legi-
slature is doing and intending for them, and that
there will be a gradual substitution of what we
may call moral force in the settling political
controversies for that dangerous manifesta-
tion that has often been the only means of
remedy available in other times for the removal and
cure of grievances. I cannot touch on a question of
this kind without in one single word performing an
act of justice to those who were the real and effec-
tive promoters of the measures that were gradually
adopted by Parliament for what is called the eman-
cipation of the press of this country. The penny
press of this country has now been in operation for
a certain number of years. There were those who
were led to anticipate that that organ would be a
dangerous organ—that it would minister to bad pas-
sions, and that it would tend to create jealousies in
the country. We have now had a pretty long expe-
rience, and it is no more than justice to the gentle-
men by whom that press is conducted—no more
than justice to them, without the smallest reproach
to others who have conducted a press of a somewhat
different eletzacter—to say that every one of those
sinister anticipations has been signally disappointed,
and that these organs of public opinion, copies of
which are sold at so cheap a rate as to find their
way into almost every man's houic,have been second
to none in their regard for moral principle, in their
respect for personal character, in their fidelity to
the duties they have undertaken ; and lastly, let me
add, for it is a vital element in the case, of attach-
ment to the law, and in loyalty to the throne—
(cheers)—and that press, in my opinion, has proved
to bo not only a means of conveying innocent and
useful information to the masses of the population,
but it has been a powerful political engine, contri-
buting to the stability of our institutions, convey-
ing home to the mind of the working man a sense
of his interest in the country, and is, in point of
fact, entitled in the highest sense to the honourable
designation of a thoroughly conservative power.
(Cheers.) I trust that we may venture to look for-
ward to a continuance and increase of those feelings
of mutual regard which now happily unite together
the several portions of this community ; and I
trust that also it may be the happy privilege
of the people of this country to be governed
in future generations as they are governed in the
present age, by a Sovereign whose affection for her
people, whose knowledge of the principles of the
constitution,whose fidelity and attachment to those
principles, and whose exhibitions of every personal
virtue and qualities of excellence, may make her a
model for imitation, as well as an object, which she
is, of tenderest and warmest attachment throughout
all classes of the community. The right hon. gen•
tleman sat down amidst loud and continued
cheering.
with the party on the
TemperancerTiaeChanclo
Hall
lr of
ineotmh Exchequer
pe
aEhequer then left the
ny
platform, and proceeded down Bradshawgate to the
residence of Mr Alfred Barnes, Green Bank, Ferns
worth.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT NORTHERN.

The directors have accepted the tender of Messrs
Smith, Knight, and Co., limited, for the Doncaster
and Gainsborough Extension, and the improvement
of the loop line. The company is at preEent ehr
gaged upon the Doncister and Wakefield line. The
contract for the Lincoln and Honington branch was
let to Messrs Kirk and Parry, who are erecting ad-
ditional sheds for the company at its Doncaster
works. The length of the Doncaster and Gains-
borough line is about 181, miles, the improvements
to be executed on the loop line extend over a dis-
tance of 8,1- miles, and the length of the Lincoln
and Honington line is about 191 miles.