The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-24 00:00:00

',EVEN ING TION.

COA:i-LAWS.—RIOT AT CAM-
's
BRIDGE.

-•••••- The (-Isgraceful opposition which Messrs. Smith and
truia 1, lecturers of the Anti-Corn-law League,
^•:Farienced from the enemies of repeal, among the

c ►Bing themselves, par excellence, respec►able,

. ,
and most significant sign of the titneq. At
Letth, Stamford, Huntingdon, and Cambridge, meet-
ings assembled for the express purpo,e of receiving, in-
-I,n-illation on the vitally important question, of a free
trade in grain, have been, according to a deliberate plan,
outrageously disturbed, and the objoct of the lec.
rs frustated by the d re,t appocation of ph}-
. force on the pin of hos • wi o st
• selves the " friends of o• d r!" and e
•.; :3 have, in several instances, been protected
bodily harm by the interference of work-
' for their defence against the ruffian'y violence of

' - employers. When the boasted middle classes 01
-htened England thus set the r flees aza;ust the
:rre liscussion of a subject invoicing the inter. SIC of
he millions, is it to be wondered at that the people,
-ing under the accursed starvation laws, should
ecrin to despair of obtaining relief, except by a resort
t.. peesical force, and be ready to embrace the most des-
erate alternative, rather than longer submit to the whole-
sale tyranny of the classes above them. The late occur-
rences in the district referred to, present, we fear, but
t o faithful a picture of the country at large, and they
are worth volumes as a practical comment on the origin
and progress of the wildest doctrines of Chartism. The
accounts which have reached us of these proceedings,
were they not authenticated by the most respectable
testimony, would stagger belief. The affair at Louth,
where a Magistrate, countenanced and supported by the
aristocracy of the town, got up a case against the lec-
turers in revenge against them for having failed, and
held him up to merited ridicule in a public debate, which
he himself had provoked, has been already alluded to in
this Paper. At his first lecture in the theatre at Stam-
ford, where about 2,000 persons were assembled, Mr.
Smith had to appeal again and again to the oc-
cupants of the dress circle to be more decorous,
and it was only by inviting down a number of
the working men from the gallery to take their
seats among the gentlemen, that he was enabled at
last to awe into order, and to proceed with his address.
At Ole second lecture a disposition to enact over the
same scene was apparent among the soi disant respec-
tables of Stamford, but the respectable working classes
having mustered strongly they were deterred from the
attempt. Mr. Smith's first lecture in the theatre, at
Huntingdon, delivered to an audience consisting of
farmers, landowners, shopkeepers, and others, was ex-
ceedingly well received. At his second lecture, on the
following evening, the enemies of repeal got up a most
disgraceful scene of outrage, which was commenced by
the Town-cltrk, supported by the gentlemen rabble,
the aristocratic conservators of the public peace!
The people.: were on the lecturer's side, and
anxious to hear him, but so great was the disturbance,
that at the earnest entreaty of a Magistrate, who is
much esteemed by all parties, Mr. Smith agreed, for
the sake of peace, to give up his lecture, stipulat-
ing, however, that his opponents should quit
the field first that they might not be allowed
to boast of having put him down. But Cambridge—
classic Cambridge, bas quite out-Heroded Herod in
0 is barbarous warfare against the spread of intelligence.
The first lecture there was enthusiastically received ;
mat ',he ring-leaders of the Huntingdon riot having com-
municated with the gownsmen of the University, a de-
liberate plan of disturbance was concerted for the second
evening. We have not room for the details of the
mode in which this infamous design was carried into
effect. About 150 gownsmen took up their seats in
the boxes, and by shouts and all sorts of noises, pre-
vented the lecturer from proceeding. The towns-
pe ,pie, who were eager to heir tha lecture, resolved
to chastise the students, and after a severe contest
rith bludgeons and sticks, in which many wounds
were inflicted, they succeeded in expelling them. After
about a quarter of an hour, during which Mr. Smith
was suffered to lecture in peace, they returned with a
reinforcement, and a still more dreadful struggle took
place, in which they were again repulsed, many of
them have received very severe injuries. After the
melee the townsmen returned to their seats, displaying
as trophies of their victory fragments of caps, torn
gowns, half surtouts, and tails of coats, amidst tre-
mendous cheering. After order was restored, the lec-
turer was listened to with the deepest attention, and
concluded amid enthusiastic applause.
In regard to all these disturbances, though it is
painful to notice them, we agree with the working men
of Huntingdon who assured the lecturer that such con-
duct on the part of their enemies wouldiserve the cause
of repeal more than a thousand lectures.

HOW DO FARMERS PROVIDE FOR
THEIR FAMILIES?

(From the Manchester Times.)
In a recent article we gave a list of a number of
farmers in certain counties ot Scotland, and stated what
became of their sons. The object was to show that
only one son of each, if he wished to preserve his sta-
tion in society could follow out his father's occupation ;
and that, if there were a larger family, provision must
be made for them in trade, or in professions dependent
on trade. The argument built on the statement was,
that, if a farmer had two sons, his interest, so far as
their settlement in life was concerned, was quite as
much for the promotion of trade as of agriculture, and
that, if he had more than two, he had a greater interest
in the prosperity of trade than in the protection of agri-
culture. We said, also, that, if the inquiry were ex-
tended, and the question were—What became of
farmers' daughters? it would be found that the same
conclusion must be come to.
The cases enumerated had come within our own per-
sonal observation ; and it happens that in almost every
case tee individuals, though only designated by a letter
ot the alphabet, have been generally recognised. We
now give the history of the daughters ; and that it may
be complete, we recapitulate the history of each member
cf each family. We have taken families in which all the
sons have arrived at man's estate, and after they have
chosen the occupations which are likely to be followed
throughout life. In like manner we have chosen, in all
the cases, to include only families where the daughters
haveattained, or gone beyond, the usual marriageable age.
1. LANARKSIIIRE.—Four Sons.—One, an engineer,
emigrated to Kentucky, two, farmers, who also emi-
grated, and one a manufacturer in Glasgow.—Fiva
Da :gliters.—Two married emigrants, two married farm-
E.-3, and one married a person employed in iron works.
2. LlNLlTHGowsuntE.—Six Sons.—One a manufac-
turer in Glasgow, one a hanker in Lancashire, one a
farmer, and three emigrated to Canada.—Six Daughters.
—Two married Glasgow manufacturers, one a town der-
- ~nan, and three are unmarried.

LANARKSHIRE.—Four Sons.—Two emigrited to
United States, one a grocer in Edinburgh, and one
daughters.—O.ie married an emiurunt,
mid one is unmaria.

l',EttwlcKsfunr.—Six sons.—Two merchants in
'.2.aigo,,v, one a merchant in London, one a drysaiter
in.Lomion, and two unmarried assistants to then father.
—One Daughter.—Unmarried.
O. PERTIISIIIRE.—Five Sons.—All merchants in
Manchester.—Three Daughters.—Two married to
Gias;ow manufacturers, and one to a merchant in
Manchester.

13. INVERNE63-SHIRE.—Four Sons.—Calico printers
in Lar;ca!hire.—One Daughter.—Unmarried.
7. LANARKSIIIRE.—Two Sons.—One a merchant in
Liverpool, and one a brewer in Birmingham.—Two
Daughters.—Unmarried.
8. LA :cm; KitußE.—Tliree Sons.—One a surgeon iu
India, one a merchant in Edinburgh.—Two Daugh-
ters.—One married to a mechanic, and one unmarried.

9. STIRLINGSHIRE.—Five Sons.—All employed in
U«sgow.—Three Daughters.—Married to Glasgow
t radesman.

10. LANARKSIITHE.—Two Sons.—One a Glasgow
manufacturer, and one a farmer.—Two Daughters.—
Married to farmers.

11. PEEBLEsmaz.--One Son.—A. Glasgow dyer.—
Three Daughters.—Unmarried.

12. LANARKSHIRE.—Five Sons and Two Daughters.
—All emigrated to the United States with their pa-
rents.

In these twelve families there were forty-seven sons
who all arrived at man's estate, and only four of them
are farmers. There were thirty-two daughters, the
youngest of them of a marriageable age, only four of
whom married farmers. Thus, of the whole seventy-
nine, only eight have any direct interest in agriculture,
fur the unmarried are annuitants. Of the thirty-two
daughters not fewer than twelve remain unmarried ; a
proof that if farmers find it difficult to settle their sons
around them, it is still more difficult to find suitable
matches for their daughters.
In all these instances the heads of the families, with
one exception, held rather extensive farms, and the
sons, by emigration, or by trade at home, have sustained
their fathers' station in society, and some have risen con-
siderably beyond it. But the children of the smaller
farmers—of those who held from 30 to 100 acres of land—
have sunk to the class immediately below that of their fa-
thers. The sons have become farm labourers, masons, 1
, joiners, smiths, weavers, &c., and the daughters have
I married into the same class. This has been almost in-
variably the case where the father has not been able to
confer education upon them, for without the elevating
sentiments derived from knowledge, there is seldom any
spirit of enterprise. In a parish which we have parti-
e4Yarly in view, while writing, if the father was a reading
man, it might safely have hech predicted that his family
would emigrate or betake themselves to trade or to
___professions.s If the father was uneducated and took no
"!'an to have his children well instructed, it might,
with equal
si:dc into the classafety'have been predicted that they would
of mere labourers.
Colonel Thompson writes us :—.‘ I am much struck
by your examination of the Way farmers dispose of
r their children. Can nobody
sHwing the way landlords make out a similar list
dispose of their sons, stating
:ti Low many cases they establish them in the law, the
army, the church, the colonies, &c., and is how many
instances (and to what extent in all) their establish-