The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-17 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

s, "'m
ad anount Melbourne h audience yesterday of her
'alesty.
in the following joined the Royal circle at dinner last even-
Weitt the New Palace :—The Marquis of Headfort, Viscount
, borne, Sir John Hobhouse, Mr. and Lady Mary Aber-
-01,1.
and the Right Hon. G. S. Byng.
Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at the
rAeis.l°ence of Viscount Melbourne, in Downing-street. The
vilnisters assembled at three o'clock. There were present—
]) senunt Melbourne, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Viscount
Greannon, Lord John Russell, Viscount Palmerston, Lord
Thenelg, the Earl of Minto, Lord Holland, Mr. Poulett
Joined°lll, and Viscount Howick. The Lord Chancellor
broke his collrag_ues soon after four o'clock. The Council
up soon after five o'clock.
A conference which occupied nearly thr:e hours, was
held at the Foreign Office on Tuesday evening between the
I;;Presentatives of the Four Great Powers ; namely, France,
nussia Austria, and Prussia, upon the subject of the Belgian
question.
r_
a ors Turkish, Russian, Austrian, and Hanoverian Ambas-
transacted business yesterday at the Foreign Office.
e' Van de Weyer. the Belgian Minister, and Mr. Steven-
hll' the American Minister, translcted business yesterday at
'e Foreign Office.
tinTrsheecSueacrredtsary at War transacted business yesterday at the
i) Despatches were forwarded yesterday from the Foreign
partment for Lord Ponsonby, the British Ambassador at
Constantinople; and for the Marquis of Clanricarde the
British Minister at St. Petersburgh.
f°l' Li Despatches were forwarded yesterday from Downing-street
etches
Sir John Colborne, G. C. 8., the Governor
of the Canadas.
Despatches were forwarded yesterday from the Foreign
Department, for the British Ambassadors resident at the Courts
et Stockholm and Copenhagen.
°)
, The Chancellor of the Exchequer left town on Tuesday
Rht for Hastings.
Sir John Hobhouse arrived in town yesterday.

, ELVOIR CASTLE.—Friday, Saturday, and Mon-
ay forty persons of rank dined at the Duke's table. The
t2sitants remaining at the Castle on Monday were Lord
-yorrester, the Honourable Captain and Lady Emmeline
Stuart Wortley, Mr. and Lady Elizabeth Drummond,
141% Croker, Sir F. Trench. Lord and Lady Wilton
had left for Melton Mowbray, Sir R. Peel for Drayton,
Lord, Hill for town, and the I\t-Irini-: ENfter for
I•gley.
4-IP6ky Litinsu gLirg iceqtici;
the cti read,' Duke of Wellington, who is expected in town, from
s
trathfieldsaye, the week after next.

LONDON :
THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 17, 1839.

We hope from the reduction of the prices of Grain
at Mark-lane on Monday, that they have at length
reached their acme. It was high time, for the aver-
ages of the week ending the 11th instant reached to
81s. 6d., and the average of the preceding six weeks
to 78s. Bd. But though the price has begun to de-
cline, the evils of the short crop, and the very high
price, in limiting employment, in lessening foreign trade,
and in diminishing the revenue of the country, will all
be most acutely felt hereafter. The severity of the
paroxysm may be over, the dreadful weakness resulting
from it will be permanent, and such another may end
in death.

At length the people seem to be aware of this, and
the report of the meeting held at Cripplegate yesterday
bespeaks knowledge and zeal. The Ward resolved,
without the least opposition, to petition for the repeal
of the existing Corn-laws. At Leeds too, on Tues-
day, there was an excellent public meeting of the inha-
bitants, at which resolutions were adopted, and a peti-
tion founded on them for the total repeal of the Corn-
laws. The meeting was very numerous. Mr. FEARGUS
O'CONNOR attended, supported by all the adherents
he could muster, and endeavoured to substitute a reso-

lution favourable to Universal Suffrage for those re-
lating to the Corn-laws. We are happy to aay that he
was signally defeated, and as that is one of his strong-
holds, we trust that, should his partisans make similar
efforts in other places, they will be in like manner
discomfited. His defeat was shameful, because it

was coupled with an exposure of interested incon-
sistency, which ought to make his misled followers
doubt his sagacity and his prudence. We hope that
this example will encourage the shop-keepers, mer-
chants, and manufacturers of other places to meet in
public, and if the Chartists endeavour to interfere with
the proceedings, to convince them that they are not
to have everything their own way, even at public
meetings.

At the Birmingham Town-council, on Tuesday, it
was resolved by a very large majority to call a public
meeting of the inhabitants to petition for the total
repeal of the Corn and Provision-laws ; but our
Correspondent informs us the Chartists are to offer
counter resolutions. His words are remark-
able, and as he is a calm and reasonable
man, we think them well worthy of the attention of
the public. " I do not know," he says, " whether
the Chartists will succeed ; but such is the present
excited and angry feeling of the working classes with

the present House of Commons, that I should not be
surprised at their doing so." The worst thing, there-
fore, we could now wish the landowners and the clergy
is, that they should be able to preserve the Corn-laws.
At the meeting of the Birmingham Town Coun-
cil, the following resolution was also adopted,
and it is worthy of notice, as showing how sweeping
and determined the manufacturers are now become :

" That the Mayor, Joshua Scholefield, Esq., M.P.; William
Chance, Esq. ; Robert Webb, Esq. ; and the Secretaries,
Messrs. William Boultbee and Julius Partridge, be requested
to attend the meeting of the Anti-Corn-law Association, at
Manchester, on the 23d instant, to urge upon that meeting
the great importance of entrusting their cause in the House
of Commons to a Member who shall stand pledged to the
country, to take the sense of the House on the total repeal of
the Corn and Provision-laws, and to refuse the substitution of
a fixed duty for the present system."
There will now be no end to this agitatio❑ till the
Corn-laws are repealed, and we learn with satisfaction
that it is confidently expected that Ministers will sup-
port the plan for hearing the Abolitionists at the bar
of the House of Commons. One thing is quite
certain, Mr. POULETT THOMSON finds it necessary
to notice the opinions of his constituents ; and the
Manchester Guardian contains an article in which the
President defends himself from the imputations of some
of his friends at Manchester. We cannot to-day re-
print the article of the Guardian, but we shall give it
to-morrow all the benefit of our circulation.

The Tories of the Ward of Coleman-street—a very
formidable set of gentlemen, no doubt—have deemed
it expedient to show their fellow-citizens that they, at
!cas!, have pluck enoul7h to `„et up a guzzle in the
t•itr bfmour of their principles (Nr:33
and, accordingly, met for this purpose at the London
Tavern last night. It would appear that the Ward