The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-25 00:00:00

happened in the year 1835. The Legislature, after
all these attempts, thought it was better to leave
things to take their ordinary course, and to let the
people of this country buy and sell wherever they
thought it most to their advantage to do so.—(The
Noble Earl sat down amidst groans and hisses.)
Mr. G. DAT, in supporting the resolution, said that
he was sorry that anything which fell from the
Noble Earl should not be listened to by them with
satisfaction, because, whatever differences of opinion
might exist between his Lordship and themselves, no
nobleman was so much entitled to their respect as an
honest, conscientious, and sincere man.—(Hear,
hear.) With regard to his Lordship's remarks as to
Mr. Brighty's correctness, that gentleman had not
overstated the average importation of corn for the
present year. The importation of corn, fleur, and
meal amounted already to 12,0000,000 quarters, and
this month would make it 14,000,000 or 15,000,000
quarters—(Hear, hear)—imported to the injury of
the British farmer. Again, his Lordship adverted to
the year 1835 ; but gentlemen would find, that instead
of 1,200,000 quarters imported in that year, there
were not even 1,000,000 imported. If they referred
to the records of the year 1835, they would find
that there was then a most abundant harvest, and
the harvest before that also. No foreign corn
had for years been imported into this country,
and the consequence of the farmer having a good
crop and no foreign competition was, that he
was able to enjoy in prosperity the fruits of his in-
dustry. This was the distinction he wished to he
drawn, not the fact of their having cheap corn, but
they were to consider how it was made cheap, by a
bountiful harvest or by an unjust competition ; and
there could be no doubt that their present distress
arose from foreign competition. He would refer,
however, to the magnificent promises which had
been held out by Mr. Cobden as certain to be realised
by free trade, and to do so he was free to refer to his
letters. " First, with regard to the landlord, Ido
not mean to say that the landlords will not get as
good rents with free trade as they have now with
monopoly. No doubt they will get on a great deal
better with free trade. The landlord has nothing to
fear." Again, he said, " The landlords will have
the same rents with free trade as they have at
present." In speaking of the tenant-farmers he
said The tenant-farmer will under free trade
be an independent man. I say that the farmer
has nothing to fear from competition." With
regard to the poor, what did this gentleman say ?
" There would be no complaining poor in our streets,
no income-tax, no property-tax—(Cheers and
laughter)—no poor-rates, but all classes would be
benefited by the adoption of free-trade." These
were the promises made to them by a Free-trader—the
leader of them; and in the "Bread Tax Circular,"
No. 146, page 255, they would find what he had read
to them—Mr. Cobden's own words.—(Hear, hear.)
Had these promises, he asked, ever been performed ?
Where was the millennium promised to them ? Were
there not poor-rates—an income-tax ? Was there no
distress in the land ? Instead of the poor-rates being
decreased they were increased to an enormous ex-
tent, and were still increasing daily. Again, said
Hr. Cobden, "Every tradesman will be prosperous."
He asked them if that were true ? Were the work-
houses depopulated ? Were they less taxed ? He asked
them in the polite language of Mr. Cobden—was not
the whole system a humbug and a fraud from beginning
to end ?—(Cheers.) Instead of prosperity to the
tenant-farmer, he was labouring under distress ; all
farmers knew that with present prices it was impos-
sible for them to get a living for themselves and their
families. and discharge their taxes and liabilities; were
they not struggling with a pressure under which they
could not live free? They did not want protection
for high rents or to raise the price of food, but merely
te encourage the farmer to the cultivation of the soil
—to give him the reward due to his services—a
reward to which he was most justly entitled, and to
which the Government of the country was bound to
do all in its power to help him. Tney would find in
the Times of April last, on the occasion of Mr. Cob-
den's visit to his constituents at Leeds, a report of a
speech which he made there ; the words of it were—
" Some people say, " What has free trade done
for us ?' From the best opinions I have been able
to gather, I believe, .if we had not repealed the
corn-laws when we did, we should have had corn at
70s. per quarter, and sometimes as high as 725." Ile
said, then, that the cheapness of corn was owing to
free trade, which was to have done so much for them.
It had made the farmers reduce their prices of corn
down to about 455. when it would have been 70s. It
was true that the farmers had been deeply injured,
but that injury had not benefited the Government or
the revenue. The revenue duty on corn was then so
small that it did not produce as much as the duty on
currants did. In the face of all this Mr. Cobden
boasted of the services he had done, and threatened
the Protectionist party if they again dared to stir in
this matter. Mr. Day wound up a speech of con-
siderable duration by a reference to the general con-
dition of the country, and the spirit of dislike which,
he said, it was the object of the Free-traders to stir up
between the landlords and tenants. He supported
the resolution and sat down amidst loud cheers.,

After a few brief observations from other gentlemen,
The resolution was put and agreed to with only
two or three dissentients.

Mr. FRYER proposed the second resolution, entering
briefly upon its merits—
" That, in the opinion of this meeting, no hope can
be entertained of a reversal of the fatal policy under
which the country, and this county in particular, is
suffering from the present House of Commons, the
majority of which, this meeting is convinced, does not
possess the confidence nor represent the present
opinions of the people."
Mr. NICHOLLS seconded the resolution.
Captain DUMBLY and Mr. PRYME opposed it
briefly.
The resolution was then read from the chair, put,
and carried by a large majority.
The third resolution, " That a loyal and dutiful
address be therefore presented to her Majesty, pray-
ing that her Majesty will be graciously pleased to
dissolve the present Parliament, and afford to the
people the opportunity of electing their own repre-
sentatives—men who entertain sentiment's in unison
with the opinions of the great mass of her Majesty's
loyal subjects throughout the empire, and that the
address now read be adopted and signed by the High
Sheriff on behalf of this meeting," was agreed to.
The Rev. J. LITTON briefly addressed the meeting,
which, after a sitting of five hours, separated after a
vote of thanks to the chairman.

There were 800 persons present in the hall.

WRECK OF THE CALEB GRIM-

SHAW EMIGRANT SHIP.
The following letter has been addressed to a morn•
ing contemporary :
Sir,—As I believe no detailed account of the
destruction by fire of the ship Caleb Gritnahaw, with
the loss of 101 passengers, has yet been before the
public, I enclose you the particulars, which, coming
from an eyewitness of the melancholy event, and
who writes from notes taken at the time, may be
interesting to those who had friends or relatives on
board, and which I hope, Sir, you will find worth
inserting in your valuable journal.
In compliance with your rules I enclose my card,
and remain, Sir, yours, &c.
London, Dec.l9. A CABIN PASSENGER.

The Caleb Grimshaw sailed from Liverpool on the
231 of last October, with a general cargo, besides
100 tons of coals, and, I believe, 600 or 700 tons of
iron. She carried 427 passengers, including six in
the cabin; the crew numbered 18, with four mates,
there being also a steward and stewardess, the captain,
his wife and child, a doctor and two cooks—in all,
457 souls. For nearly three weeks we experienced
nothing but contrary winds and calms, and the first
fair wind we met with was on the day the fire was
discovered—Sunday, the 11th of November. It was
the first day we had our studding sails set. Our
latitude the day before was 41 deg. 8 min. N.; longi-
tude, 36 deg. W. At the time the accident occurred
we were in longitude about 37 deg. 30 min. W. At
nine o'clock, P.M., the ship being under all sail, going
about two knots, the alarm of fire was given, smoke
being observed to ascend from the fore hatchway. In
a few minutes all was confusion ; the steerage pas-
sengers rused up from their berths, and came aft on
the quarter deck, lying and kneeling down in all
directions, impeding the exertions of the crew, and
hardly allowing the commands of the captain to be
heard above their cries. A large force-pump on
the forecastle deck was immediately manned and
a hose fastened to it, which played down between
decks. By this means and the employment of
the ship's buckets, there was soon a considerable
quantity of water between decks, but still no abate-
ment of the smoke. It was now evident the fire was
in the lower hold; the hatchway, which had been
caulked and pitched over when leaving Liverpool, was
therefore opened, when immediately thick volumes of
smoke ascended. The hose was now directed down
this hatchway, fresh hands were summoned to the
pump, and in about an hour, the smoke appearing to
decrease, Mr. Hoxie, the first mate, volunteered to go
down and try if he could see the fire. A rope was
accordingly tied round his body, but he had hardly
been lowered below the hatchway, when he called out,
and was immediately hauled up again, quite insensible
from the smoke. His report, when after several
minutes he recovered, was very discouraging; he said
she was all on fire below. The exertions of those at
the pump were redoubled, and a constant stream
of water directed below. Several of the passengers
volunteered their services, but a great many
d to be driven from among the women
and children, where they lay groaning and cry-
ieg,. While the captain and mates were forward a
numbr of the passengers got into the larboard
quarter boat, and lowered her. She was immediately
swamped, and about twelve were drowned. Sl] rtly
after the alarm of fire the man at the wheel deserted
his post, and he, the boatswain, the second cook, wi tb