The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-04 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 4, 1882.

THE

livelihood by the sweat of their brows had votes as
good asthe_Duke of Marlborough, as the poor man's
vote was equal to the rich man's freehold. (" Hear,
hear !" groans, and cheers.) They were determined
to have an efficient registration of the county, and
to fight the battle of independence at every succes-
sive election until they had at least one member, if
not two, to represent the Liberal 'opinions of that
county in Parliament, notwithstanding the intimi-
dations of men of high station and great wealth.
1 (Cheers.)
The crowd then separated.

LIVERPOOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
THE AMERICAN .BLOCKADE.

The 12th annual meeting of the Liverpool Cham-
ber of Commerce was held yesterday, Mr. Wm.
Brown presiding.
The CHAIRMAN moved the adoption of the report,
which was little more than a formal record of the
proceedings which had been adopted by the Council
of the Chamber during the year.
Mr. J. C. EIVART, M.P., seconded the motion by
the chairman, and in doing so expressed his hearty
concurrence in the respectful allusion contained in
the report with respect to the death of the late
Prince Consort. He said all of them must deeply
deplore the continuance of those sad proceedings
which had taken place, and which aro yet occur-
ring in America. England, he considered, bad very
properly all through preserved the strictest neu-
trality in regard to those disputes, and the greatest
anxiety had been shown in the House of Commons
to avoid the introduction of anything which could
wound the feelings of the Americans. He (Mr.
Ewart) was glad that the American Government
and people had met the Trent affair in the manner
they had done. Though late, they had made the
amend° honorable, and that ought to be considered
satisfactory. He could not, he said, avoid express-
ing his deep regret at the blockading of Charleston
harbour. Mr. Seward had, indeed, stated that it
was only a temporary blocking up, but he (Mr.
Ewart) feared that it would be found much more
difficult to remove the obstacles than Mr. Seward
appeared to think. A gentleman just returned
from Charleston had told him (Mr. Ewart) that 25
whalers laden with stone, closely cemented toge-
ther, had been sunk there, and the only reason
why the remaining portion of the harbour had
not been blocked up was because it was defended
by the guns of Fort Moultrie, Ho hoped there
would not be a repetition of such acts in the other
parts of the Southern States. England would, he
was sure, be strongly inclined to support any effec-
tive blockade of the ports; but if the reports ho
heard were true, that of upwards of 100 vessels
trading between Savannah and the Southern ports
of America, only six had been captured, it was
quite clear that the blockade could not be consi-
dered effectual, amd that they would be justified in
disregarding it. How far such conduct on our part
might be wise or politic was another question. His
owu conviction was that we should continue to
pursue the same non-interference we had hitherto
pursued, and leave the Americans to fight out their
own quarrel. His further belief was that before
many months were over we should see those diffe-
rences brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Mr.
Ewart concluded by seconding the motion of the
chairman, which was carried unanimously.
Mr. MAGPIE moved, and Mr. S. Jon seconded, the
motion that thanks be voted to the members for the
county and borough, Mr. John Laird, M.P., being
ex officio a member of the council.
Mr.HOLDERNESS asked if the Chamber had taken
any steps to protect British interest in the ports of
the Southern States. Ho understood that many
British merchants were prevented from following
their occupations, and that they had no means of
communication with any of her Majesty's ships of
war.

Mr. CHILTON, who in the meantime had assumed
the chair, explained that the general question of the
troubles in the States, and the rights of belligerents
at sea, had received the anxious attention of the
council, who were almost unanimously of opinion
that all private property should be respected atsea,
and that it would be to the advantage of this and
all countries that this should be the principle of
belligerent rights. (Hear.) The question, however,
of the protection of tho property and the rights of
private individuals trading in or with the Southern
States—particularly as that trade was supposed to
be entirely closed--was one that could not be taken
up by the chamber unless brought before it on an
actual motion, or upon an actual case. While on
this subject he might be allowed to read a letter
wLich had been addressed by Mr. Cobden to Mr.
Horsfall, M.P., just before the news of the Trent
outrage was received, and forwarded by Mr. Hors-
fall to the chamber, The letter, which was read,
was as follows :

" Bear Mr. Horsfall,—The question of bellige-
rent rights, on which you took a part repeat-
edly in the house, must come up for discussioa—l
hope for settlement—in the next session. To me
it seems as clear as noonday that if the articles of
the Paris Conference respecting the rights of neu-
trals are to have the force of international law—of
which I suppose nobody, except Mr. Bentinck, has
expressed any doubt—then it must be the interest
of England—nay, as a vital necessity, for
her to go forward and adhere to the Ame-
rican doctrine of respecting private property at
sea even against armed Government ships. And
it is equally clear to me that wo mast go a step fur-
ther, as suggested by Mr. Buchanan's Government,
and agree to put an end to blockades. It is very
desirable that these questions should be well dis-
cussed by the Chambers of Commerce, especially
that of Liverpool, before they are brought before
Parliament. I hope your Chamber has entertained
the subject."

Mr. CIIILTON said he cordially agreed with Mr.
Cobden, believing that belligerents had no right to
interfere with something which had precedence of
them—namely, the rights of peace. The rights of
each and every nation freely and quietly trading
with each other stood first upon all occasions. Bel-
ligerents could only step in to override these rights
when permission to do so was absolutely necessary
for the actual prosecution of military or naval ope-
rations. This was a simple priNciple, upon which
ultimately (perhaps not immediately) these ques-
tions must be decided.

Mr. HALL, in the course of some further discus-
sion relative to the blockade, strongly protested
against the principle of a neutral Power stepping in
and interfering in the quarrels of another nation,
and taking action to prevent the legitimate Govern-
ment of any State from reducing to obedience any
portion of its subjects.
. .

Mr. EWART denounced the stoppage of Charleston
harbour as an atrocious act. He said he hoped that
in these civilised times he would never see harbours
which had been given by the Almighty to the whole
world permanently blocked up, which he very much
feared was the case in this instance.
Mr. MACFIE, on the part of the Council, dis-
claimed any Northern or Southern bias in their
treatment of the question.
Thanks having been voted to the chairman, the
meeting separated,

LIFEBOAT SERVICES.—WhiIst the fishermen of
Filey were pursuing their daily avocations out at sea a few
days ago, in their small cobles, the wind suddenly rose, and
veered round to the south-east, which brought on a tre-
mendous sea. The most intense anxiety was felt on shore
for their safety, and soon twelve noble fellows manned the
lifeboat belonging to the National Lifeboat Institution, and
at once rowed through the breakers to the spot whore the
cobles were. The lifeboat followed them closely as they
carefully made their way through the rolling sea to the
shore, which they providentially reached in safety. Too
much praise cannot be given to the crow of the lifeboat for
their disinterested and manly act, 'for in her absence, had
any of the cobles been capsized, the poor fellows must have
inevitably perished.

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With this knowledge none should trifle with life or death.

TILE BRAZILS.

From the Rio papers we learn that on the night
of the sth and 6th ult. a fall of rain occurred to an
extent never before experienced. On the same night
a ball was being given at the Hotel Braganza to
celebrate the arrival of the magistrates and others
of the nobility. About 2 o'clock in the morning,
during the dancing of the Lancers, the ball-room
was suddenly inundated, the ladies being forced to
get on to chairs and into the orchestra. As can
readily be imagined, the confusion was immense ;
iu a few moments the water in the room was two
feet deep, and many valuable jewels were lost. The
ladies, who were all very wet, were eventually
carried in the arms of the people to the upper rooms
of the hotel. Many of the houses and warehouses
in the principal street were also inundated, and tho
loss of sugar and other property was very great. In
the house of M. Ignacio Papal the water rose to the
second story. The rush of water aroused many per-
sons from their slumbers, and they were compelled
to seek safety in their night attire. Within two
hours after the water began to recede and the river
had resumed its original condition. In reference to
the sales and stock of coffee, the Eio do Janeiro
Journal of the 7th of January says :—" In the few
days from the sailing of the French steamer Estra-
madura, on the 25th of December, up to the end
of the month, there was very little done, the sales
being only 20,000 bags, the dealers maintaining
with firmness their pretensions. This month, so
far, there are no sales, and„'though accounts are not
unfavourable from consuming markets, still the
fear of war between England and the United
States prevents exporters from operating at the
present high prices current. On the other hand,
the coffee dealers, influenced by the diminished
arrivals of coffee from the interior, and still more
by the almost impassable state of the roads, owing
to the late fearfully heavy rains, show no disposition
to give way ; we must, therefore, consider our
quotations entirely nominal, and the same as on the
23d of December last. The arrivals from the 24th
of December to the 4th of January were 34,518
bags, of 5 arrobas each, or about 2,876 sacks per
day. The total exports of coffee from Rio de Janeiro
were 2,085,974 bags in 1861, against 2,150,188 in
1860, equal to 148,998 tons in 1861, against 153,585
in 1860. The stock in Rio was large—say, 320,000
to 340,000 bags in dealers' hands for sale, but so
confident were they of short supplies from January
to July that when the mail left on the 9th of Janu-
ary they firmly maintained their pretensions."

her could be seen on the second morning after
her loss. The master's certificate was lost with
the ship.—l have, &c.,

I concur.

lABIES TRAILL.

HY. HARRIS, Nautical Assessor.
To the Lords of the Committee of Privy
Council for Trade, &c., &c.

RAILWAYS AND OTHER COMPANIES.

BELFAST AND NORTHERN COUNTIES.

The report of the directors states that, notwith-
standing the depression in the commerce of the
country and the opening of a new route from Bel-
fast to Londonderry, they are enabled to pay the
same rate of dividend that was declared at the two
previous general meetings, and have reason to be
satisfied with the prospects of the undertaking.
The total receipts from all sources of traffic during
the half year amounted £55,856. The extreme
wetness of the past summer and autumn prevented
much of the usual pleasure traffic passing over the
line, which, with the diminution in the number of
ordinary passengers, has materially affected the re-
ceipts. The directors believe that this falling off is
but temporary, and look forward to a better return
from this source of income with a revival in the
trade of the district. No comparison of receipts and
expenditure with those of previous statements can
be made, as this is the first half year during which

they have had the entire line through to London-
derry. The improvements and necessary works on
the Portrush line are progressing, and will be com-
pleted before spring. The revenue account, after
paying all charges against it, including interest on
loans, &c., and rent of Londonderry and Coleraine
line, shows a balance of £20,838 available for divi-
dend, of which the 4 per cent. preference shares will
absorb £3,000, and they propose to pay a dividend
on the ordinary shares at the rate of 4 per cent.
per annum, amounting to £13,725, and carry
£2,805 to the credit of the reserve fund, making
that account £lO,OOO, and leaving £1,308 for the
next half year. The capital account shows that
£992,999 had been received to the 31st Dec., and
and £1,049,726 expended, leaving a balance of
£56,727 against the company. The revenue ac-
count for the half year ending the 31st Dec. last
shows that £55,856 had been received, and £23,420
expended in working charges, £6,598 paid for in-
terest on loans, and £5,000 for rent of the London-
derry and Coleraine line, leaving, as above, a
halance of £20,838.