The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-10 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 10, 1864.

5U

have shown me. I shall therefore again thank you
for the ',kind reception which I have experienced,
and say that I am proud of having been applied to
to preside at this ceremony, which I trust is only
the harbinger of future greatness and increasing
prosperity for this industrious and increasing town.
(Cheers.)

A blessing on the New Exchange having been
asked by the vicar of Bradford, the National Anthem
was played, and this stage of the day's proceedings,
which were conducted throughout most successfully,
was brought to a close.

The architects of the building are Messrs. Lock-
wood, Mawson, and Mawson, of Bradford, who de-
signed the St. George's Hall, the splendid Alpaca
Mills of Titus Salt, Rig., at Saltaire, one of the local
infirmaries, and also several places of worship in the
West Riding. The plan has been accepted provi-
sionally, but there is no doubt that it will be adopted.
The style is Venetian-Gothic. There will be a
handsome but rather ecclesiastical spire and tower
at one end, and the design is framed with a view
to numerous necessary and important improve-
ments to be made in the approaches by the corpo.
ration. There will b© three entrances, the chief
being under the tower, and communicating with an
arcade for change purposes. A vestibule leads from
this to the exchange hall, a magnificent space of
625 superficial yards. The parallelogram of the
hail will be 20 feet by 70 feet, with an apex at the
north side 42 feet in diameter. Banded shafts of
polished granite, with capitals and bars of Caen
stone, will surround the Exchange, and from the
capitals will spring arches to form windows. Filled
in with tracings of elegant mediaeval designs at each
gable ends will be a large splended window under
the colonnade. The hall will be 25 feet high under
the spring of the roof, 37 feet. There will be a
telegraphic office, large news room, and other con,
veniences on the ground floor, and on the basement
story are to be kitchen, larder, scullery, and wine-
cellars, for the use of the Bradford Club. On the
first floor will be a large coffee•room, reading, writ-
ing, and dining-rooms, and detached, but on the
same floor, smoking, billiard, card, and six bed-
rooms. Another portion of the building is to be set
apart for the use of the Chamber of Commerce.

Lord Palmerston's valuable life were spared he
could again visit the town on the opening of the
Exchange, when he could promise a reception quite
as hearty and as enthusiastic, In conclusion he
moved the following resolution :—" That this meets
ing desires to express to the Right Hon. Viscount
Palmerston the great pleasure and satisfaction which
his lordship's visit to Bradford has afforded, and to
express an earnest hope that he may live long in
the enjoyment of intellectual and bodily vigour to
take, as he has done for many years past, an ims
portant part in the great councils of the nation."
who was very warmly re-
ceiAvierd,lC
bVriieKfli;Aari
seconded the motion, observing that
whatever pride he had in representing Bradford,
it was increased tenfold by the events of that day.
It was also a matter of congratulation to him per-
sonally that, in supporting the policy of the noble
lord, he had with him so unmistakably the confi.
dente of his constituents.
Mr Alderman LAW supported the motion, which
was agreed to amidst overwhelming applause.
There was not the slightest symptom of any op-
position, although the chairman specially invited
those who held a contrary opinion to declare it.
Lord PALMERSTON, on rising, was received with
several rounds of enthusiastic cheers. When silence
had been restored the noble lord said—Mr Mayor,
Ladies, and Gentlemen, I can assure you it is no
figure of speech when I say that words are inade-
quate to express the pride and gratification which
I feel at what has passed this day. (Cheers.) I was
delighted with the reception which I met this morn-
ing from the inhabitants of this town. The recep-
tion has been crowned by having had the honour of
meeting this imposing assembly which I am now
about to address—in which I see congregated in
this great and magnificent building a vast amount
of manly intellect, a vast and striking amount of
those other and softer qualities which have been well
described by the gentleman who moved this address
as qualities which induce mankind to be delighted
at accompanying those who possess them. (Laughter
and cheers.) In despotic countries those who have
the conduct of affairs are deprived by custom of
those opportunities which are enjoyed in a free
country like this, which are afforded to those who
conduct affairs of State of mixing with their fellow
countrymen on those easy terms which it has been
my good fortune to mix to-day with the people of
Bradford. (Cheers.) It is customary to talk of the
labours and anxieties of office. Well, those labours
and anxieties are light to those who believe they are
doing their duty to the best of their power. (Cheers.)
That only harasses which time and opportunity
prevents them from doing—that which they are
able to do is a source of satisfaction if they feel they
are doing their best, and whether their efforts are
attended by success or failure, their minds are satiko
fied that they have performed their duty to their
country. (Cheers.) But it is a great and heartfelt
satisfaction to be able to meet, as I have done to.
day and as I have had other opportunities of doing,
the people of England, to see their faces and show
one's own. (Cheers.) It is a great satisfaction to feel
that we meet on terms of good fellowship, and that,
while on the one hand sympathy must be excited
more strongly in the minds of those who govern, on
the other kindly feelings are inspired in the minds
of these with whom we meet. (Cheers.) It has been
deeply gratifying to me to have been allowed this
day to lay the first stone of a fabric which is to be
the scene of business and commerical transactions in
this, I will call great—but destined to be still greater
and more prosperous—community. (Cheers.) I
might say that I hope this building will be everlast-
ing, but I easy perhaps venture to think, though
ample as its cimensions have been planned, capa-
cious as its halls will be, the day may come when
the increasing commerce and transactions of busie
ness in Bradford may outrun the capacity of the
building—(cheers)—that some other man succeeding
me may be called upon to lay the first stone of a
larger, ampler, and more capacious Exchange.
(Cheers.) There is something particularly interest-
ing in this town of Bradford, for it is a type of
the English character. I consider that character
to be marked by perseverance, industry, enterprise,
judgment, and courage in pursuing that which has
been undertaken. Ail those qualities have been
marked by the people of Bradford. You have
converted that which may almost be said to have
been a barren moor, with only a few scattered
hamlets, into a thriving and great commercial
town. Your progress has only been begun; happy
will it be for those who shall watch and mark its
future career. But in the course which you are
pursuing, you are not only contributing to your
own wealth and comfort and well-being, but you
are contributing immensely to the strength and
wealth of that country of which you form so
distinguished a portion. (Cheers.) You have been
pleased in the resolution to advert to the conduct of
public mer, mice amongst others. It is true, I
trust and am proud to say that during the last five
years this country has enjoyed a state of increasing
prosperity and comfort, and that whilst we have
been in a thriving condition at home, our honour
and the dignity and interests of the country have
been maintained—(cheers)—and, adopting words
which are familiar to -the ears of all, the great in-
fluence of England in foreign countries has not been
lowered. These results are the consequence of the
combined efforts of an Administration of which I
may be permitted to say that no other Administra-
tion that ever existed contained within itself a
greater number of able, distinguished, and capable
men. (Cheers-) I venture, without fear of contra-
diction, to say that there never was a Government
in which every department of State was better filled
than it: has been filled by the Government which is
now in power, and therefore it would be unjust to

attribute any peculiar merit to any one member
of that Administration, the merit belongs to the
combined and united efforts of all ; and it is only
by such a continued and united course of action
that any Government can accomplish results worthy
of obtaining the confidence and goodwill of their
fellow countrymen. (Cheers.) It has undoubtedly
been ono of the
main objects of the policy of
the Government to remove all obstacles that stood
in the way of the development of industry and com-
merce of the country, and to induce, as far as they

are able to do so,
other countries to adopt the doe

trice, and follow
the example which has been set to
them and hold torth by us. But that task is not
an easy one ; there is nothing so difficult to uproot
as a prejudice long established in the human mind;
and althougn those who have cast away pre-
judice, who have abandoned an error, and got into
the road of truth may wonder that others have not
done the same, yet it is a remarkable fact that the
mind of man is prone to cling to errors as lung as
they are interested in them; but when they have

turned their back upon them, and have come to the
ruth, they wonder not only that others do not follow
hem, but that they themselves should have ever en.
ertained the same errors and prejudices (hear, hear).
We all know
what a long battle was fought in the

country between free trade opinions and the system of
protection. IVe know how many a man conscien-
tionsly thought that the country would be ruined
by taking
away that protection which this, that,
and the other class had had from time immemorial
to the prejudice of every other class, and to the de.
•

triment of the country at large. It is long before
a nation can learn the truth that in all regulations
of commerce you had to consider, not the interest
of one particular class es producers but the interest
of that much larger class, the consumers—namely,
the whole nation. (Checrs.) Although a Govern-

ment may often appear hard hearted and severe in
dealing with the interests of a class of producers
who have hitherto been protected, yet it ought to
have been borne in mind that they are only doing
their duty to the many, and that in fact even the

interests of those few will in the long run find a
benefit in the changes which are made. (Cheers.)
We Al recollect the time when a proposal being msdl,
to abolish the protection which the agricultural pro-
duccrs had long enjoyed, thepeople were told that the

country would be ruined, would be starved., that the
land would go out of cultivation, that the agricul-

tural interest would vanish and perish ; and they

said, "For heaven's sake, dont inflict a calamity
upon the country." (Laughter.) Well, what has

been the consequence ? Not only by the repeal of
the corn laws have the bulk of the community re-

ceived large supplies of food which previously they
could not get, and been able, in ern'sarge for them,

to send forth the products of their industry; but
the agriculturist himself has greatly benefited by
the change. (Cheers.) Every class which is pro-
tected puts on its night-cap and goes to sleep—
(laughter)—and it requires that which schoolboys
call the cold pig—the application of competition to
stimulate the energies of the man, and make him
bestir himself, and improve the calling to which
he has devoted his mind and capital, (Loud
cheers.) Well, that has been the case with all
other nations which shall adopt our principles of
free trade. (Cheers.) But if you come to talk
to them about it they pour forth such force of ar-
gument that you could think that trade would be
ruined, and the other branches of industry would
be impoverished, and that you cannot afford to
take the bread out of the mouth of this class and
that class. But they forget the interests of the
consumer. They look only to the small and local
interests, and they are as deaf as an adder, and you
cannot persuade them to adopt the doctrines you
preach. (Cheers and laughter.) Nothing can con-
vince other nations except the broad and patent
example of the prosperity which England has
reached from the abolition of that protective sys-
tem. (Cheers.) We are often told that we ought
to make commercial treaties with other countries,
and thereby gain in exchange for the admission
of other commodities, facilitating for the extra-
dition of ours. That system has been ren-
dered impossible by that which we have already
done. In the case of France it was a necessity, be-
cause the French Government, although desirous of
entering into a system of free exchange with us,was
unable to do so except as the consequence of a
treaty, and that treaty, as it has justly been said
—and every man in this town well knows—has
been of the greatest advantage to England. lam
glad to think that it has been peculiarly beneficial
to Bradford.—(Cheers.) That it has been a great
advantage to the French nation, which when it was
at first proposed, thought it was a calamity from
which they could probably with difficulty recover.
Well, that treaty was made. We had to take off
import duties from an immense number of commo-
dities. It was impossible to limit the abolition of
duty to articles coming from France, because with
our insular position commodities with other countries
would solely have come through France, and what
was granted to France was granted to every other
country. In fact, we have acted upon what com•
mon sense prompts your negotiation with a fo•
reign country, If it is real and sincere that you will
abolish certain import duties here if they will abo-
lish certain duties there, it is very much as if two
men had shackles on their legs, and one was to say
to the other—" Now, if you will take off your
shackles I will take off mine, but not otherwise."
(Laughter and cheers.) If the duties which we
impose upon the importation of foreign commodities,
which are wanted by consumers of this country, are
a burden upon the country itself, and the remission
or abolition of these duties is a gain, whether it be
accompanied or not by any corresponding remission
or obligation on the part of other countries, we do
it for our own sakes; and so we tell these foreign
countries. They do not very much believe us.
They say, making an erroneous use of words, and
there is no greater cause of errorin reasoning than the
misapplication of terms, they say, especially in Ger■
many, "If we let in English commodities upon a low
duty without difficulty, we shall be inundated by
them. They think in their own minds what
an inundation of water is, and that the same evil effects
would arise from the admission of European commodities
that would happen from the breaking of one of the great
dykes. (Laughter and cheers,) They totally forget that we
are much too sensible to make them a present of what we
have been making ; that we only send our commodities
abroad as an exchange for an equal value to be received
here ; and that, therefore, they cannot be inundated with
our goods unless they themselves, by their own industry,
create an equal value to send us in return, and that conse-
quently every additional commodity which we send abroad
is the cause of additional industry, additional capital, and
additional employment to their manufacturers at home.
(Hear, hear.) Well, gentlemen, we have pursued this
course on the one hand ; we have acted on the principle of
reducing duties for our own benefit and our own advantage,
and we have held out to other countries the example of our
success as an encouragement to them to follow our course;
but I remember talking to a very distinguished political
economist et a foreign country, and explaining to him how
it had succeeded with us. lle said, " Ah, it is very well ;
you have got rich by protection, and now you can afford
tree trade." I tried to persuade him that protection had
slackened our course of progress, that we were less wealthy
than we should have been if protection had been got rid of
sooner. He said, " No, you haN e got rich by protection;
and now we, are poor you want to keep us poor by asking us
to get rid of that shield under cover of which you have
amassed the wealth which you now possess." (Hear, hear.)
Well, gentlemen, all I can say is, that the course which has
been pursued for the last five years has been conducted with
benefit to the country. We have succeeded in preserving
peace, although there were great events arising in different
parts of the world in which we might have been implicated,
and exhortations were not wanting. We might have been
tempted plausibly enough, upon good principles and good
motives, but we refrained from doing so. We have main-
tained peace, and I think in that respect we have done our
duty to the country. (Cheers.) We have lamented that
terrible war—that bloody war—which has been raging in
the northern part of the American Continent, but wo have
felt that any endeavour on our part, or in conjunction with
any other European Powers to interfere in that quarrel by
our friendly offices would have done mischief instead of
good. The feelings are high when the quarrel is fierce, and
the battle raging ; the combatants will not listen to the
calm advice of friends, however good their intentions and
however wise their counsels. All that we have to do is to
pursue the course by which, in the first instance, we averted
the consequence of this calamitous war; to abstain, from
meddling, and to wait for that hour which must come at
last, when the two parties, exhausted by their mutual efforts,
are at last weaned away from those revengeful feelings
which at present influence them, and be more disposed to
come to an amicable settlement. We can only hope that
the time will shortly arrive when that blessed result will
take place. Gentlemen, I have only again to say that I feel
it a proud and grateful day on which I have met with so
cordial a reception from such industrious and manly races
as the inhabitants of Bradford, on which I have had the
good fortune to meet so distinguished and, I may say, so
imposing an assembly as that which I have the honour to
aodress. I can only say that this day will be amongst the
brightest in the annals of my life, and that I shall carry
away with me feelings of gratitude and thankfulness which
will never pass from my mind as long as I live. The noble
lord sat down amidst prolonged cheers.
Mr W. E. FORSTER, M.P., proposed a vote of thanks to
the High Sheriff, the representatives and mayors of neigh-
bouring towns, and other visitors who had honoured them
with their presence, which he rejoiced to think was a proo

of the good feeling and sympathy with which they regarded
the prosperity of Bradford—good feeling and sympathy
which he was sure the people of Bradford would cordially

reciprocate. He could not help expressing his astonishment

that the noble lord so soon after his arduous labours—and
feiv really knew how arduous they were as leader of the

House of Commons—should take this extraordinary mode
of relaxation. However, to it they were indebted for his
presence, which had given so much importance andinterest

to the occasion. Ho was led however to remind the noble
lord that the people of Bradford had extreme opinlono, but
the noble lord must not conclude from their conduct that

day, and from the reception which he had mot with, that
the people of Bradford had abandoned those opinions, They
felt that the occasion was not a desirable or fitting ono to

express those opinions, and their forbearance muet not be

taken as a proof that theydid not desire their political privi-
leges, nor that they were not worthy of them. (Cheers.)
He would only make one more political allusion, The people
of Bradford thanked the Government with all their hearts

for keeping the country at peace. (Cheers.) But they were
not peace at any price men, and if the honour or the inte-

rests of the country really required it, they would be as ready
to make any sacrifice as any other part in the kingdom.
(Cheers.) It was not because the trade and the prosperity
of Bradford depended on peace being maintained with the
Continent, but because they felt that to have interfered in a
_ _

war which had already been rather a local war would have
sot all Europe in a flame. This result, ho trusted, would be

a lesson to the;noble lord and the world at large that we must
interfere less in foreign affairs and mind our own business

for the ittture. (Cheers.)
Mr M. W. THOMPSON seconded the motion, which was

supported by Col. Gascoigne and carried unanimously.
Sir F, CROSSLEY responded. He observed that his hon.

:riend Mr Forster had truly remarked that their friends and

Fellow-countrymen in Yorkshire heartily rejoiced at the

prosperity of Bradford. He was delighted to have the op-
portunity- of addressing such an important portion of his

own constituency, congratulating them on the manner in
which they had gone through the trying times of the cot! on
famine. It was true that a large portion of their manufactures

was composed of the quality which Egypt and other parts of
the world had supplied in so extraordinary a manner to make
up the deficiency of the American supply, whilst tho price for
cotton goods had so increased that the demand for Bradford

manufactures had been largely stimulated, and therefore he

rejoiced that the distress which had been so severely felt in
th 3 adjoining county had not been experienced in this dis-
.

:rict. He rejoiced at the preemee of the noble lord. After a

Long and arOaous session he might at his time of life have
_ _

felt just.ifi‘d in declining their invitation, if ho had not

beol one who had always boen ready to C0n21,1,:r not his