The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-10 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1841.

PRICE 5d

No 15,370

NATIONAL LOAN FUND SOCIETY
FOR GRANTING
LIFE ASSURANCES, DEFERRED ANNUITIES, &c.
No. 2t, CORNHILL.
Capital £500,000.
Empowered by Special Act of Parliament.
DIRECTORS.
T. LAMIE MURRAY, Esq., Chairman.
J. Elliotson, M.D., F.R. S. I John Rawson, Esq.
John Griffith Frith, Esq. John Riddle Stodart, Esq.
Hunter Gordon, Esq. Clement Tabor, Esq.
George Lungley, Esq. Joseph Thompson, Esq.

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITU-
TION, REGENT-STREET.—MORNINGS and
EVENINGS except SA't URDAY EVENINGS.
THIS EVENING, at Eight o'clock, Mr. J. SMITH will
deliver his THIRD LECTURE on PERSPECTIVE, which
will be illustrated by a Series of beautiful Models. The
FOURTH LECTURE will be To-Monßow, at Two o'clock;
and the Two remaining ones on FRIDAY EVENING NEXT, at
Light o'clock, and on the following SATURDAY, at Two.
Other Popular LECTURES Daily.
Nearly 2,000 Works of eminent Art, Science, and Ingenuity,
among which are BARWISE and BAIN'S METHOD of
PRODUCING SYNCHRONISM by VOLTAIC ELEC-
TRICITY. The ORRERY, MICROSCOPE, DIVING
BELL, DIVER, &c. The GREAT FIRE of the TOWER
of LONDON, with the Alditary Signals, and other Changes,
are added to the DISSOLVING VIEWS, A VIEW of
CANTON, by a CHINESE ARTIST, the MODEL of the
UNDERCLIFF, Isle of Wight, and various other COSMO-
RAMIC VIEWS, are added to the Evening Exhibition.

SEEDS ALMANACK for 1842.
The only one containing the NATIVITY of the
PRINCE of WALES (Born Nov. 9, 1841) ; calculated
in full.

MIDLAND COUNTIES
CONFERENCE.

of the manufacturing operatives, it ought to have been
to their sick clubs and friendly societies, their reduced
wages and want of employment, and not to a standard
which, at the same time that he paraded it before the
House of Commons, he knew, or ought to have known,

_.. ......
Sold by Simpkin and Marshall ; Renshaw ; and Kirkman :
London. _

GREAT MEETING OF THE MER-
CHANTS and MANUFACTURERS.
(FROM OUR OWN REPORTER.)
A highly important and interesting meeting of the
merchants and manufacturers of Leicester, Derby, and
Nottingham shires, took place yesterday at Derby, for
the purpose of taking into consideration the existing
commercial distress, and to consider the propriety of
petitioning Parliament for the immediate and total re-
peal of the Corn and Provision-laws. At eleven o'clock
the Delegates assembled to the number of nearly 1,000
in the Lancasterian School, which was crowded in every
part, and the meeting, we understand, represented the
great bulk of the manufacturing and commercial wealth
of the surrounding districts There were also present
Sir John Easthope, M.P. for Leicester ; Sir G. De Hor-
sey Larpent, M.P., Nottingham; Ed. Strutt, M.P., Derby ;
Joseph Strutt, M.P.; Dr. Bowring, M.P.; Richard Cob-
den, M.P.; W. Evans, M.P.
From Nottingham—Aldermen Heard, Frearson, Her-
bert, Shipman, Vickers, and Judd, Rev. IL Hunter, and
Messrs. -Bean, T. Wakefield, F. Wakefield, Forth, J.
Bradley, Astill, Carver, Parkin, Galloway, Roberts, J.
Biirton, W. 'Taylor, J. Dunn, ecc.
From Leicester.—J. Stokes, Esq. (Mayor), Messrs.
J. and W. Biggs, R. Harris, F. Angrave, E. Dewson, T.
F. Paget, .T. Clarke, W. Eames, J. Eames, andßurgess.
Of Derby.—Stephen Gamble, Esq. (Mayor), Messrs.
J. Strutt, John Strutt, Anthony B. Strutt, and F. Strutt,
R. Longdon, N. Gisborne, F. Hill, W. Taylor, J. and F.
Peat, W. Morley, F. Morley, and the Rev. J. Gawthorne.
From Loughborough.—Messrs. Warner, J. White, and
T. Cartwright.
Mr. Dean Taylor, the Chartist lecturer, was also pre-
sent, and several influential gentlemen from Birmingham,
Manchester, and other more remote parts of the country.
On the motion of Mr. Ihcos, of Leicester, seconded by
Mr. WAKEFIELD, of Nottingham, JOHN 'Leen, Esq„ of
Nottingham, one of the most extensive manufacturers of
the midland districts, was called to the Chair amidst loud
and general acclamations.
The CHAIRMAN said—Gentlemen, it was not until my
arrival here this morning that I had the least expectation
of being called upon to fill the high and honourable
situation you have now called me to. I am, therefore,
totally unprepared to fulfil its duties, or to make any speech
or observations which such an occasion naturally calls for.
Still, as I am come impressed, as I believe every one
now present is, with th e impolicy, the wickedness, and
the ruinous consequences of the present Corn and Pro-
vision-laws, I cannot but accede to your request, and en-
deavour to discharge the duties you have imposed upon
me to the best of my ability.--(Hear.) I believe the par-
ticular object Air which we are assembled together, is to
consider the effect produced by the Corn and Provision-
laws on the manufacturing interests and trade of these
midland counties. On this subject, therefore, it will be
much better, and more correct, that the gentlemen who
are to address the meeting should speak, even if I
were able to do so. This, however, I am convinced of,
that, under no circumstances or situation, can the Corn
and Provision-laws be a benefit to the country. True, if
the country was capable of producing a much larger
quantity of food than could be consumed, such laws
might-be inoperative, and be deprived of much of their
baneful effects ; but while the population is increasing,
while we know the land cannot increase, and when we
have arrived at that position, that it cannot by possibi-
lity produce all the food we require for the convenience
and comfort of the people, such laws are injurious and
decidedly bad, and those only who are blessed by Provi-
dence with property, will be able to escape the effect of
these laws, which press with great severity upon those
who are unable to purchase them at these high prices.—
(Hear.) I shall not enter further upon the subject, but
call upon a large manufacturer of Leicester, Mr. Biggs,
to move the first resolution.
Mr. W. Blocs, of Leicester, then came forward,
and addressed the meeting as follows :—I propose
to substantiate the correctness of all the proposi-
tions contained in the resolution I have the ho-
nour to move, by showing the gradual progress in the
reduction in the wages of labour to the extent of nearly
one-half since 1815; by the number of failures and
bankruptcies among manufacturers; by the depreciated
value of the machinery employed; by the diminution of
its actual amount : by the non-employment of one-third
which is at: present in existence : further, by the depre-
ciated value of property in houses; by the numbers un-
occupied compared to former periods; by the diminution
in the amount of weekly rent for houses, and the increased
difficulty in collecting it; by the diminished amount of
necessaries and small luxuries sold by shopkeepers and
dealers to the poor, and by their purchase of coarser ar-
ticles of consumption; and by the diminished purchases
of the middle classes themselves, in departments where
retrenchment can be made.—(Hear.) I propose further
to show, that the prospects for the hosiery trade of the
. midland counties are most discouraging, in eonsequenco
of the alarming growth of a gigantic foreign German
competition, which has already superseded us in neutral
markets, and is rapidly invading us at our own doors.—
(Hear, hear.) In order to prove all these propositions
consecutively I shall begin with Hinckley. The three
largest manufacturing towns in the county are Hinckley,
Loughborough, and Leicester. The population of
Hinckley in 1831 was 6,491—in 1841 it was 6,459;
showing a diminution which, though trifling, is any-
thing but an index of prosperity. The poor-rates for
1815 were 2,9291.; for 1841'are 4,2401: between which
times it must be recollected the population remained
nearly stationary in amount. In 1811 there were
twenty-five houses unoccupied ; 1831 there were
122 ; and in 1841 there were 157 :—thus showing
an increase of deserted tenements, and evidencing a gra-
dual and growing pauperism among the working classes.
—(Hear, hear.) In the year 1815 the clear earnings of
an average workman were 12s. per week; in the year 1841,
when fully employed, they would not exceed from 7s. to
Bs. ; but, for the last three years, the workmen have not
been fully employed, even at this reduced rate. Those
engaged in the manufacture of brown cotton hosiery
(which is the principal article and chief support of
Hinckley) have been unemployed fully one-third of their
time for the last three years; and the deficiency of em-
ployment has gone on greatly. increasing during the same
period. Of those who are in work, one- half only are
fully employed, the other half being limited to what is
called half work, which does not exceed in amount 4s. per
week. This, it must be understood, has occurred in a
town, and in a manufacture, where not the slightest al-
teration or improvement in machinery has taken place;
so that of course the distress and reduction of wages
here cannot by possibility be ascribed to machinery, as
steam power has never been employed in Hinckley or its
neighbourhood, in the manufacture of cotton hosiery ;
but the distress, as evidenced by, the poor-rates, can be
distinctly proved to be greater in years when corn is
dear, than in other years, when corn is cheap; as for
instance in 1835, when corn was 395. 4d. per quarter,
the poor-rates amounted to 2,0101.—in 1836, when corn
was 48s. 6d. per quarter, they amounted to 2,o7oL—in
1840, after three consecutive dear years, and when corn
was 665. 4d. per quarter, they amounted to 3,1201.—
and now, in 1841, when corn is 645. 6d. per quarter,
they amount to 4,2401.: from which coincidences we
are warranted in believing, as practical men, that dear
corn has a natural tendency to produce bad trade, reduc-
tion of wages, and general distress. Frame property
has depreciated in Hinckley to a great extent; it is not
possible to say precisely to what extent., as frames are
not now vendible by auction at any price. The last sale
was stopped, after the few first frames were disposed of ;
and those which were sold did not realise much more
than half the valuation. In 1815, the averago value of
frames, as tested by sales at public auction, was 8/. 14s. ;
in 1826 and 1827 they were depreciated to 61. 3s. 6d. ;
in 1840 to 41. Is. ; at present, in 1841, there is no price
for them. It is unnecessary of course to say, that the
value of frames is regulated by the profitable or unpro-
fitable nature of the business. Hinckley, and the villages
adjoining, contain one-fifth of the frames in Leicester-
shire, and were principally dependent upon the Americen
market for employment. Hinckley goods are now beaten
out of the United States market by the manufacturers of
the Continent.—(Hear, hear.) The articles in which we
have been superseded by the Germans are—men's and
women's brown and coloured hose and half hose. The
prospects for Hinckley are gloomy in the extreme ; the
declared intentions of some of the largest manufacturers
are, to sell their machinery and
.get out of the trade,
owing to the absence of all profit in carrying it on for
the last few years, and the ruinous depreciation in the
value of manufactured goods. In several cases of insol-
vency, in this town and neighbourhood, it has been found
that goods have been repeatedly sold, for the last three
years, at a ruinous sacrifice, at a loss of at least from
fifteen to twenty-five per cent. The demand for labour
seems to decrease here more and more every year, and
in the same proportion the comforts and respectability of
the working classes decrease with it ; and all the exer-
tions of religious teachers of Sunday schools cannot and
do not retard the rapid progress of demoralization, which
is, in consequence, fearfully extending itself. Hunger
and distress are fast destroying all honesty in our sex,
and all chastity and decency in the other. As painfully
interesting evidence of the extreme state of poverty to
which the operatives are reduced, it is a fact, that thir-
teen out of fifteen sick clubs, or friendly societies, in this
town are shut up, from the inability of their members to
pay their subscriptions; and some intention has been en-
tertained of dividing the funds, and breaking up the
clubs altogether. Here is poverty, destitution, and de-
spair: we will weigh this in the balance with Sir Robt.
Peel's story about the savings banks, and I ask every
one who hears me, whether it does not make it kick the
beam like a feather?--(Cheers and hisses.) Besides, as
an evidence of manufacturing prosperity or distress, the
savings' banks absolutely prove nothing. From. inquiries
which I have myself made, I learn from the most un-
questionable authority, that at least two-thirds of the
depositors are domestic servants, whose wages are paid
them periodically, and who are the last persons to be
affected by the vicissitudes and alternations of trade—
that half the remaining third are agricultural labourers,
servants, and cottagers, or persons utterly unconnected
with manufacture ; and that the remaining one-sixth
only is composed of small tradesmen or shopkeepers,
manufacturing operatives, small manufacturers, artizans,
and children, together with the deposits of benefit soci-
eties and charitable institutions.—(Hear, hear.) In
common fairness, therefore, if Sir Robert Peel had
wished to refer to any gage or criterion of the condition

was no criterion at all. However such a statement may
pass current in a Tory Parliament, we manufacturers,
who live in the midst of a distressed, unemployed, and
impoverished population, and have every day such pain-
ful and distressing evidences of it before our eyes as can-
not he mistaken, look upon the savings' bank story of
Sir Robert Peel as a mere rhetorical flourish to dress
up a case, and suit a party purpose. " We know
its rags and gather in the face on't."-(Loud cheers.)
In conclusion, it may be said that one-third of the
frames and workmen at Hinckley are at the present time
totally unemployed ; one-third earning only from 7s. to
Bs. per week ; and the remaining one-third employed
upon half-work, by which they can only earn 4s. per
week. It has been found impossible fully to carry
all the provisions of the New Poor-law into operation in
Hinckley ; it has been repeatedly tried, but has as re-
gularly failed. -East year (1840) there were 500 men,
heads of families, out of the small population of Hinck-
ley parish, in the workhouse yard breaking stones ; this
year, the poor-house is full, and the unemployed poor
who are not in the house are necessarily relieved out of
it. The poor-rates, which used to be, in a healthy state
of the trade, 10d. in the pound per quarter, or 3s. 4d.
per year, are now 20d. per quarter, or 648 d. per year;
being, in other words, double what they formerly were,
with no present prospect of alteration or reduction. The
stato of destitution here (adds my informant) is attended
with wretchedness which will not bear description ; it is
too bad to be pourtrayed, and too extensive to e re-
lieved.-(Hear, hear.) Having now occupied you suffi-
ciently long with the painfully distressing details of the
state of trade at Hinckley, and the social condition of the
working classes there, we will next proceed to enumerate
a "few facts in connexion with the second largest manu-
facturing town in the county ; we will consider Lough-
borough. My informant reports that the population of
Loughborough is now 10,000, according to the last cen-
sus; in 1831 it was 11,000; so that its population may be
said to have decreased 1,000 in the last ten years-a pain-
ful evidence of its diminished prosperity, and the loss of
a considerable part of its trade. In 1831 the number of
houses unoccupied was 100 ; at the last census (1841)
there were 305, or three times more than upon the for-
mer occasion. The average wages of common work
here do not exceed 7s. per week. There are now three
times as many frames unemployed here as at any former
period. The price for a certain description of ribbed
work in 1815 was 14s-now it is Bs. or Bs. 6d. In 1815,
Loughborough was in a state of great prosperity, the
wages of the operatives were good, and their comforts
were, of course, in proportion. Now there is a greater
amount of privation and distress than I ever remember
to have witnessed-the circumstance that the poor have
not the means of obtaining partial relief, whilst it pre-
vents the rates from being heavy, entails a fearful
amount of suffering upon them in seasons of scarcity of
labour. At the present time there is a great deal of dis-
tress existing, in consequence of numbers of workmen
being discharged from their usual occupation, and hav-
ing to seek relief or casual employment in any way they
can, which, under existing circumstances, is extremely
difficult to obtain. Wages are reduced nearly one-half
in the staple trade (hosiery) since 1815, which reduc-
tion, coupled with, and, as we believe, mainly caused by,
the high price of provisions, diminishes the comforts,
and increases the privations of the poor to a most dis-
tressing extent. I should state further that this reduc-
tion of wages has taken place in common articles made
in common frames by manual labour, to which steam-
power has never been applied. We will now, gentle-
men, introduce Leicester. Leicester contains, according
to the last census, 50,000 inhabitants. The number of
houses unoccupied in 1831 was 550 ; in 1841 it was
1,400.-(llear, hear.) My informants state that within
the last three years ten manufacturers have declined
business in Leicester on account of its unprofitable
character-not, I regret to say, with fortunes-while
sixteen other firms have been overtaken with insolvency
and bankruptcy within the same period. The wages
of the operatives here, in common branches, are not
more, on an average, than six or seven shillings
per week, and not more that half, after their various
charges and expenses are paid, what they were in 1815.
The prospects for the ensuing winter are most discour-
aging-several houses having already begun to discharge
their workmen, and it is almost certain that the numbers
out of:employment will be now increasing every week.
The suffering and privation among the working-classes is
necessarily 'very great. But, Gentlemen, we must now
go more into details, and submit to you an amount of
evidence collected from various sources, all of which can
be substantiated, like the preceding, if a necessity should
arise, at the bar of the House of Commons, or before any
Commissioners whom Sir Robert Peel may choose to ap-
point. The first evidence of distress I shall introduce is
that of the great reduction in the wages of labour. I
shall not take here a fancy article, which may have parti-
ally gone out from changes of taste or caprices of fashion,
but one of the most stable, and regular, and ordinary
articles in the trade, made in narrow frames by manual
labour, and which has never been interfered with by the
application of improved machinery or steam power. The
article I select is a dozen of women's 24-gage worsted
stockings, 104 leads wide, and is a fair criterion of the
extent to which labour in the hosiery manufacture gener-
ally has been reduced since 1815.
WAGES OF LEICESTER FRAIWEWORK-KNITTEES,
From 1615 to the present time.
1815 7s. 6d. 1829
1816 7s. Od. 1830
1817 6s. Od. 1831
1818 6s. Od. 1832
1819 7s. Od. 1833 ss. Od.
1820 75. Od. 1834 4s. 9d.
1821 6s. 6d. 1835 4s. 9d.
1829 6s. 6d. 1836 ss. Od.
1823 6s. 6d. 1837
1824 ss. 6d. 1838 4s. 6d.
1825 6s. 6d. 1839 4s. 6d.
1826 ss. 6d. 1840 4s. 6d.
1827 4s. 6d.
ss. 6d. 1841
1828 ss. Od. -(Hear, hear.)
Low as is this rate of labour at the present time, and
utterly inadequate as it is with the present price of provi-
sions, to maintain working men in anything approach-
ing to comfort, I have no hesitation in saying, that if
manufacturers, as a class, had the feelings and disposi-
tions which Chartist leaders and thoughtless men ascribe
to them, there is no level to which the wages of labour
might not be reduced-so greatly is it in excess, and so
general is the want of employment at the present time.
It is maintained alike by Tories and some of the Chart-
ist leaders that the price of corn and labour invariably
go together-that dear corn induces high wages, and
that cheap corn induces low wages-that, therefore,
cheap corn would be no advantage to the operative, and
that manufacturers generally want a Repeal of the Corn
laws that they may reduce the rate of labour.-(Cries of
" Shame.") Thus fallacy and calumny generally go to-
gether. To say nothing of the coarseness and injustice
of such a charge, against a class of men, who, to say the
least of it, will challenge comparison with any other in
the empire, for intelligence, humanity, benevolence, and
public usefulness, the assertion that corn and wages go
together is absurd and untrue, and is now nearly ex-
ploded everywhere except in our House of Lords. But the
best refutation of it in connection with our hosiery busi-
ness, is to be found in the recent letter of an intelligent
operative of Leicester, to the Duke of Rutland. The
Duke had been making some observations at an agricul-
tural dinner at Waltham, to the effect that with every
fall in the price of corn, the stocking 'makers received a
corresponding reduction in their wages, proving that here-
ditary legislation and wisdom do not always go together.
The operative in question (Mr. Richard Seal) states in
the course of his letter, that in the year 1815 24-gage
hose, 104 leads wide, were i s. 6d. per dozen when corn
was 635. Bd. per quarter ; that in 1816 the same sort
were 7s. per dozen when corn was 765. 2d. per quarter ;
that in 1817 they were 6s. when corn was 945. per quar-
ter; that in 1818 they were 6s. when corn was 83s. Bd. per
quarter ; that in 1822 they were 6s. 6d. when corn
was 435. 3d. per quarter ; that in 1834 they were
4s. 9d. when wheat was 465. 2d. per quarter ; that in
1835 they were 4s. 9d. when wheat was 395. 4d. per
quarter ; that in 1839 they were 4s. 6d. when corn was
70s. 6d. per quarter ; that in 1840 they were 4s. 6d.
when corn was 665. 4d. per quarter ; and that in 1841
they were 4s. 6d. when corn was 645. 6d.: thus exhibit-
ing every variety of alternation in the wages of labour,
without the slightest regard to the variations in the
price of corn. " If your Grace (continues this intelligent
operative) will only cast your eye upon the price
o
c off corn
corn
and the price of labour in 1815, and the price
and the price of labour in 1839, 1840, and 1841, you
will see what a tremendous reduction has taken place in
the price of the framework•knitters' wages' while corn is
considerably dearer than at the period of 1815. Your
Grace will see at least one conclusive, and, your
ntGreartra)ee,
kept, noit
hasdoubtup thb been,
eanp7ucuenn
under
efi
rn
lgatbfhaoceotor, that
ebro operation
oh
tneh Corn-laws ntoh-oleas weo
thes
lhao have
reduced one-half-the clear of the
earnings
framework-
knitters, at 4s. 6d, per dozen, beingnot more than
one half of the clear earnings at 7s. Gel. per dozen.
My uniform experience has been that the working
classes
hav enjoyed the most comfort when food has
been
last(C h e ej
June,
theA t as na
same
lit Ai-Corn-law
operativeCor n-1 a w
said,h
that
meetingat
" he could not go away without corroborating the as-
sertion made by two previous speakers,
that the low
price of food was beneficial to the poor, and raised
rather than lowered their wages. Ire knew this from
experience, and he could therefore flatly contradict the
thatfamil
statement contained in a bill which was putinthorehaids
hands as he entered the theatre,
cheap
and in
lowered wages. In 1822 he had a
consequence of the low price of b'relaardgehis weekly' ex-
his wages were higher by one
ponces were less by four shillings, th
satmheat htimee
shilling,
reckoned ho was a gainer to the amount see
of 13/. in the
course of the year.
Now, if he calculated that there
they were
were one million poor families, in the country, and that
equally benefited, here would be a saving of
thirteen millions. What did he do with
ncrease thisd
13e c odm-
id
of his family, and thus helped to increase the trade
he put it into a strong box? No,
forts
lie i
of his country.-(Loud cheers.) This illustration is
the most simple and conclusive of any that I have heard,
or that can be propounded. What was the case in this
individual instance, would be the case in millions of in-
stances-a generally increased capacity to buy, would

_NATIONAL PROVIDENT INSTITU-
TION.—The SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING of
the MEMBERS of this INSTITUTION will be held at the
Office, 13, Nicholas-lane, King William-street, on WEDNES-
DAY, the 15th instant, at One o'Clock precisely, to receive the
Report of the Directors for the current year.
Dec 4, 1841. JOSEPH MARSH, Secretary.

AUDITORS.
Professor Wheatstone, F. R. S. f Professor Graves, A.M. F.R.S.
ACTUARY—W. S. B. Woolhouse, Esq., F. R. A.S
PHYSICIA N—J. Ell iotson, M. D 2 F. R. S.
SURGEON—E. S. Symes, Esq.
SOLICITORS—AIessrs. Sweet, Suthos, Ewens, and Omman-
ney, 6, Basingliall-street.
BANICERS—Mmrs. Glyn, Halifax, Mills, and Co.
LIFE ASSURANCE.
ADVANTAGES.—Perfect security from a large paid-up Capi-
ta' and accumulations—Equitable Rates—Power to borrow
Two•thirds Premium paid, without expense or forfeiture—and
Profits annually divided.
N.B. Policies for Short Periods at Lower Rates than at any
other Office, with option of continuance for Life, at the usual
rates.

QTEAM CARRIAGE and WAGGON
L 7 COMPANY. Offices, 18, MOORGATE-STREET,
CI T Y.—The DI RECTORS beg to announce that, in pursuance
of a resolution passed at a CAeneral Meeting of Shareholders,
held at the Freemasons' Tavern on the 11th of November,
they ate ready to RECEIVE PROPOSALS from persons
willing to supply STEAM CARRIAGES for the Convey-
ance of Goods or Passengers on Turnpike-roads. Parties pro-
posing to supply Carriages must produce one in a state fit for
work, to be submitted to such test as the Directors may re-
quire, and, if approved, arrangements for the construction of
several for the use of the Company will be immediately made.
All communications should be addressed as above. _

Admission to the whole, One Shilling.

Opens at Half-past Ten o'clock in the Mornil'i'gs and Seven
o'clock in the Evening.

TO PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPER PRO-
PRIETORS.—The ADVERTISER, who has been
for nearly Seven Years employed as REPORTER and AS-
SISTANT on a Weekly Journal, VI ishes similar employ-
ment, at a moderate salary, on a Provincial Paper. He is an
expeditious and correct Reporter and abridger, and would
exert himself to promote the interest of his employer.
Address to M. M., Deacon's Country News Agency, 3, Wal-
brook, City.

By order of the Board.

DEFERRED ANNUITIES.
The best and most varied provision for after life hitherto of-
fered—E2 12s. per annum (Is. per week) at 20, will at 65
give the policy-holder the choice of an annuity of £47 16s. 6d.,
or £349 I Is. cash, or policy at death of £466. Similar ad-
vantages at 50, 55, and 60—Two-thirds payments lent at any
time, sad Two-thirds returned in case of premature death.
The detailed Plans, and Last Annual Report to be had at
the Office, at any of its Branches, or ma application will be
forwarded post free.
F. FERGUSON CAMROUX, Secretary.

THE COMMERCIAL COMPANY'S fast
and splendid STEAM SHIPS leave London-bridge-
wharf (weather permitting) as under, for—
RAMSGATE—Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday
at 9 o'clock.

GRAVESEND, Southend, Sheerness, and Chatham
Daily, at 11 (Sunday included).
BOULOGNE—Sundays and Tuesdays, according to tide.
The Company's Steam Ships leave SOUTHAMPON as
under ( weather permitting) for—.
PLYMOUTH and DEVONPORT—Mondays and Thurs-
days, at 6 in the Evening.
TORQUAY and DARTMOUTH, Direct—Wednesdays
and Saturdays, at Six in the Evening.
ST. MALO—Saturday, Dec. 11, at 7 in he Evening, and
every alternate Saturday.
UERNSEY & JERSEY—Every Saturday Evening, at 7.
HAVRE DE GRACE—On Thursdays, Dec. 16 at 9 Even-
ing, Dec. 23 at 3 Afternoon, and Dec. 30 at 8 Evening.
Goods will be received and forwarded by the South Western
Railway for the undermentioned places from Hambro'-wharf,
Upper Thames-street ; Spread Eagle Office, Regent-circus ;
the Station, Nine Elms; and the Company's Office, 17, Fish-
street-hill ; for Weymouth, Torquay, Totnes, Dartmouth,
Plymouth, Devonport, Stonehouse, and all places adjacent.

VICTORIA LIFE ASSURANCE AND
LOAN COMPANY.
No. 18, King William-street, City.
Sir JAMES DUKE, M.P., Chairman.
BENJAMIN HAWES, Esq.. Deputy Chairman.
William Allen, Esq. John Knill, Esq.
Benjamin Barnard, Esq. John Nolloth, Esq.
Charles Baldwin, Esq. Thomas Nesbitt, Esq.
James Cockburn, Esq. Major-General Robertson
Bryan Donkin, Esq., 1. R.S. Daniel Sutton, jun., Esq.
Aaron Goldsmith Esq. O'Bryan Bellingham Woolsey,
James Law Jones, Esq. Esq.
SOLICITORS.—Messrs. Lake and Curtis, FO, Basmghall-street.
Assurances of every description may be effected by this Com-
pany, on a scale entitling parties to participate in profits, or on
a low non-participating scale. Premiums, in any case, made
payable to suit the convenience of Assurers. Loans, repayable
by instalments, are granted to parties assured with the Com-
pany, on a liberal and advantageous plan, either on real or
undoubted Personal Security.
WILLIAM RATRAY, ACTUARY A ND SECRETARY.

PURSUANT to a Decree of the NIGH
COURT of CHANCERY, made in a Cause of LATI-
MER against BENNETT, the Creditors of FRIND CRE-
GOE COLMORE, late of Moor End, near Cheltenham, in
the County of Gloucester, Esquire, (who died in the month of
October, 1839), are, on or before the 16th day of January
next, tit come ir,and profit their debts before Sir GIFFIN WlL-
sox, one of the aliferPllf the said Court, at his Clmmbers
in Southampton-moldings, Chancery-lane, London, or in de-
fault thereof they will be peremptorily excluded the benefit of
the said Decree. ,
PRICE and BOLTON, Lincoln's Inn, Plaintiff's Agents.

EMPOWERED BY SPECIAL ACT OF PARLIAMENT
4 VICT., CAP. 9.
BRITANNIA LIFE ASSURANCE COM.
PANY,
No. 1. PRINCES-STREET, BANK, LONDON.
This Institution is empowered by a Special Act of Parlia-
ment, and is so constituted as to afford the benefits of Life As-
surance, in their fullest extent, to Policy-holders, and to pre-
sent greater facilities and accommodation than can be obtained
in other Offices. The decided superiority of its plan, and its
claim to public preference and support, have been proved in-
contestably by its extraordinary and unprecedented success.
Among others, the following important advantages may be
enumerated :
A most economical set of Tables—computed expressly for
the use of this Company, from authentic and complete data,
and presenting the lowest Rates of Assurance that can be of-
fered without compromising the safety of the Institution.
Increasing rates of premium on a new and remarkable plan,
for securing loans or debts, a less immediate payment being
required on a policy for the whole term of life than in any
other office.
Premiums payable either Annually, Half-yearly, or Quar-
terly, in one sum, or in a limited number of payments.
A Board of Directors in attendance daily at Two o'clock.
Age of the Assured in every case admitted in the Policy.
All claims payable within one month after proof of death.
Medical Attendants remunerated in all cases for their reports

-ipURSUANT.?:to it Decree of the High Court
of Chancery, made in a Cause HALES against HALES,
the Creaitors of WILLIAM HALES, late of Windmill-place,
Camberwell, in the County of Surrey. Gentleman, deceased,
(who died on or about the 19th day of November, 11439), are,
hereby required to come in and prove their debts before SA-
MUEL Du c KWORTII, Esq., one of the Masters of the said Court,
at his Chambers in Shuthampton-buildings, Chancery-lane,
London; or, in default thereof, they will be excluded the be-
nefit of the said Decree.'
WALTERS and REEVE, 36, Basinghall-street.

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induce a generally increased activity on the part of other
operatives to manufacture; good trade would follow cheap
food, as certain as day follows night, and that not by
accident or otherwise, but inevitably and of course.—
(Renewed cheers.) It has frequently been urged against
the Manchester free-traders, when they have petitioned
for a repeal of the Corn-laws, and urged the existence
of distress and want of employment amongst the working
classes, that such distress has not been the result of our
restrictive Corn-laws so much as of their improvements
in machinery, their introduction of steam power; but in
our own !peculiar manufacture we have a conspicuous
example of immense numbers of workmen being thrown
out of employment, and wages reduced nearly one-bait
since 1815, without any important alteration, or hardly
any improvement upon the machinery employed. The
stocking frame is to all intents and purposes essentially
the same in principle, and almost in details, as it was
when first launched from the hands of its inventor.
Steam power has never been applied to it; for upwards of
two centuries it has remained unchanged; even the ag-
gregate number of frames, at present extant in Leices*
tershire, is not so great as it was in the more prosperous
period of the trade. In the year 1815 it was ascertained
from extensive inquiry, that there were 16,000 frames
in Leicestershire. There are now certainly not more
than 14,000, the few new ones which have been built
latterly not having by any means kept pace with the
worn out or old ones, which have been broken up and
_ _ . .

destroyed ; and yet, in spite of this diminished number
of stocking frames, a third part of the machinery in the
trade is either totally still, or only partially employed ;
while wages have been reduced since 1815 from 7s. 6d.
to 4s. 6d. per dozen. Here, then, is a striking instance
of reduction of wages to the amount of nearly one-half,
in a manufacture where none other than manual labour
has ever been employed—where steam power has never
been introduced—where the amount of machinery itself
is less than it formerly was—and where one• third of
the diminished number of frames now in existence are
at present totally unemployed. It is utterly impossible,
therefore, that the distress in Leicestershire can arise
from an increase in the amount of machinery, or from
the application of steam power. It must, and does, in
the opinion of the whole trade, arise from the Corn-
laws, and from them alone ; dear years, like the last
three, are inevitably years of suffering, loss and depre-
ciation, while cheap years, like 1834, 1835, and 1836, are
as necessarily years of activity, national prosperity, and
social happiness. We will now proceed to show the
depreciation in the value of our machinery, and the
amount of it at present unemployed. Within the
last ten years, machinery employed in the ma-
nufacture of common hosiery has depreciated at least
from forty to fifty per cent. In 1836, plain frames
twenty-five inches wide, would sell for 201.: such frames
would not now sell for more than lit or 121. In the
same year, an average lot of plain stocking frames,
fifteen inches wide, would have sold under the hammer
for 71. to Si. each ; at the present time, at the only ac-
tual sale which has taken place for some months, they
only realized 31. 15s. each, and several lots of wide and
narrow frames, after having been publicly advertised in
all the local papers for two or three weeks, have been
withdrawn for want of bidders. Scarcely a single ma-
nufacturer attended these sales—a decided proof of the
extreme depression of trade, as manufacturers had for-
merly been the principal purchasers.—(Hear, hear.)
Warp looms, which are usually employed upon fancy
articles, have slepeeciated to a still greater extent than
the common stocking frames • they are at least from 60
to 70 per cent. lower in value than they were. The
greater part of this depreciation has taken place within
the last two or three years. In the year 1836, fifty or
sixty-inch looms would then readily sell at an average of
from 141. to 15/. each ; but at the present time numbers
have been offered in the market of greater widths, at
51. ss. each, and have been declined. The progress and
history of the stocking trade still further illustrates the
depreciation in machinery. A considerable number
of stocking frames were formerly owned by in-
dependent holders, and by the workmen them-
selves ; but such has been the long-continued depression
of trade, and the difficulty of procuring employment
for such frames, that these classes of frame holders
have been gradually compelled to sell them at almost
any price, regardless of the sacrifice, or of their original
cost, in order to secure themselves regular employment.
This has accumulated the machines in the hands of manu-
facturers ; but the depression continuing, great numbers
of these frames have been withdrawn from the manufac-
ture, and laid down as temporarily useless—it being a
smaller loss to the manufacturer to forego the rent for
such machines, than to encounter the difficulties of sale
and depreciation of stock consequent upon their employ-
ment. Such frames aro not, therefore, brought into the
market for sale, as there is no probability of vending
them for anything like their intrinsic value, as com-
pared with former years ; for instance, if a new fifteen-
inch frame were made at the present day, at the lowest
possible rate, it would cost 151. and could not be sold
for more than 101. If the manufacturers were to force
a sale of their surplus machinery the depreciation would
reach at least sixty to seventy per cent., and it is more
than doubtful whether purchasers could be found at any
price whatever.-(Hear, hear.) I will now quote the
evidence of a gentleman lattterly retired from the
hosiery trade, who kindly furnished me with his business
experience and history, in connexion with frame pro-
perty ; with which, and the result of my own personal
inquiries, I will conclude my case as it respects machi-
nery. "I commenced business (says our informant) in
1803, and up to that time, and for twenty years preced-
ing, the workmen themselves owned a great part of the
frame-property in Leicestershire. Many of them used
to purchase their own material, and regularly make up
their own goods, for which they found an easy, regular,
and weekly sale to the hosier, for at least five per cent.
profit ;at this time hosiery goods were so much in re-
quest, and labour consequently so greatly in demand,
that manufacturers were in the habit of riding round to
the adjoining villages, and offering premiums and advances
upon wages, to induce the workmen to supply them with
goods in preference to their former employers. This state
of things continued without much change or interruption,
till about the year 1815, from which time there has
been a gradual reduction of wages, and an increasing
distress and suffering among the working classes. They
have been compelled in most cases to sell their frames,
which have thus become, in the course of time, the pro-
perty of manufacturers, who are at present the principal
owners of them. Stocking frames originally cost 171.
each building • even as late 1820 I had many made at
that price. On the 10th November, 1841, I attended a
sale of frames by auction, and the average price they
realized was oaly 3/. 135. 6d. each ; from Which must be
deducted expenses of sale and five per cent. for duty, leav-
ing only a net proceed for each frame of 31.85. 6. Ever since
the year 1816 manufacturers have been compelled to lay
down part of their frames, and I have known many in-
stances latterly where frames have been offered for sale at
a public auction, and no bidders have attended to purchase.
In 1821 I gave up manufacturing, and let out my frames
to a respectable house then commencing business, for
ls. a week each, and introduced them at the same time
to my former business connection. This house soon de-
clined business ; I then let them to a large manufac-
turer for 9d. per week each. He employed them until
the year 1838 ; when he wished to give them up, but
I prevailed upon him to continue to rent half of them,
till this year (1841) when he finally gave up the whole.
My frame property, the rent of which formed part of
my income, is now therefore thrown useless upon my
hands. I have already waited upon at least twenty ma-
nufacturers, besides other persons, without being able
to let one of them upon any terms. I know many per-
sons who depended upon the rent of their frame property
for their livelihood, who are now reduced to very
great distress, and even destitution ; they have been
compelled from the distresses of the times, and from the
absence of any interest derivable from them to sell them
one by one, and some have even been obliged to apply
for parish relief."—(Hear, hear.) From personal inqui-
ries of eight of the largest firms in Leicester, who are
holders of machinery, ourselves included, to the amount
of 2,650 frames, there are 955 or more than one-third,
totally unemployed, and lying down entirely useless.
This proposition holds good with the smaller houses, and
throughout the whole of the hosiery trade ; so that it
may be fairly stated, without exaggeration, that one-third
of the machinery of Leicestershire and one-third of the
workmen, are at present unemployed. We will further
establish the existence of distress, from a brief history of
the poor-rates in the parishes of St. Margaret and All
Saints :—" In the parish of St. Margaret. which con-
tains three-fifths of the whole population of the town of
Leicester, or thirty out of its fifty thousand inhabitants,
there were two hundred and fifty unoccupied houses in
1831, and six hundred and fifty in the present-year, 1841.
lonnityhaevtebrreageecdh4e4aps.3B,dea. rsperlBq3u4a,rtleBr3,sth, aend 1636, when wheat
to only 18,807/. ; while in the three
Years 1838,
they
and 1840, when corn averaged 675. perto 2a 020 L This
amounted, including a subscription,
of
1839, in
subscription was got up in the winter m
conse-
quence of the immense number of unto ployed workmen,
lastpoo yr-ratelsBa3mB,
1839,
and which increased their amount sote-
ay
ores, there
them so onerous to the smaller rah -pa eanper rendered
who were obliged to be relieved out of
the `healthier
was no alternative left but
classes to subscribe, or for
a large proportion of
p
these poorer rate-
%.e ra to be ruined, and added to
the Under these
bysubscription,
which circumstances
five thousand pounds was raised
was disbursed paupers.-
by
weekly instalments under the
superintendence of a Committee,
li st of
the Chairman. Supposing, therefore, that this
subscription was
was distributed according to the population,
and that three-fi.t..s, e h or 3,0001. of it, was disbursed to
of which the Mayor
direct poor-rates, make a total
suns of , t.raAisleadrgbayret, it would, in addition to the
years among the necessi-
faorniptur--
of 25,02 .
• Thus the
seaxrpeerlence
always oftho
e
almost universally
held aohe
tds parishf
andbe yw• Oty2lhf
eaeoaomd2rtf distributed
confirms
oienbn,
famishing
erhpmdao
ots i nr t
ahne three
opinion
s
social condition
heel.
8).
high-
est when corn is high, and lowest when corn is low; and
of the
people,earwhenad thefoo ds °Ci
S
that the state
always oftra
bestde,
manu-
facturing ttuhrei
nparish of
population,A ll Saints,containing
ross amount
the Ina-
rates for 1834, 1835, and 1836, was 3,4951., but in the
three succeeding years, which were years of campara.,
tively high prices, the amount was 4,6791. It is an in-
ream cheap
variable rule in the trade (remarked Mr. Whetstone, late
poMartyoDruotifesl,,ecicoemstemriiteine) his
tw hewhen examination
b provisionsefo
there is a good demand ; it is a rule observed constantly
by manufacturers, and established as a maxim iu the trade.
The poor-rates, he added, are always highest in the years
when corn is dear, and lowest when corn is low. We
have now, Gentlemen, proved the reduction in the wages
of labour since 1815 ; the losses and failures among ma-
nufacturers ; the extensive want of employment ;
the reduction in the value of machinery ; the
diminished amount at present in existence ; and the fact
that one-third of what is now extant is totally
nom,unem-
ployed ; all painful evidences of a diminishing and de-
clining, Gentlemen, advance the
merchants and traders, house pro-
prietors, and wholesale dealers. The first is the farther trade.
e N id e
ncWe oef will
evi-
dence of a wholesale grocer :—" I have been," says my