The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-30 00:00:00

was to be fought against thosestrongly-combined interests, it
was necessary to show no fear, no hesitation, and to fight that
battle even where those interests might be the strongest, and
where those combinations might be the most formidable—
( Tremendous cheering)—Gentlemen, in commencing this
struggle in the City of London, I knew that I was exposing,
you who had done me the honour of voting for me to great
difficulties—to menaces, and to temptations of every kind.—
(Loud cheers.) But I relied upon the free and bold spirit
of the electors of the City of London to give a proof that
they at least would not be afraid of Choosing as your represen-
tative a Minister who had been deelared by the House of Com-
mons unworthy of their confidence—( Vehement and long-con-
tinued cheering)—because he had placed himself in the front of
the battle to relieve the community who were oppressed by the
burdens which particular classes bad laid upon them.—(Loud
cries of " Bravo.") From any body of electors less important
and less numerous than you are, the answer to the appeal
made by the Sovereign to her people would have been
less authentic and less decisive.—(Cheers.) Coming
from you, it does convey to the whole of the
'United Kingdom a herald of principles to the great interests
of the people, and a knell of dismay to those protected inte-
rests which have thought themselves safe in their strength, in
tl:eir numbers, and in their confederacy.—(Loud cheers. )
For, depend upon it, Gentlemen, after the return you have
made, the present Corn-laws cannot be ccntinued on its pre-
sent footing. You will not expect, I am slim, that in
such an assemblage I should attempt to go through
figures and calculations, or that I should endeavour
to confute the fallacious statements that have been made else-
where with respect to the benefits of the present Corn-law.
One argument, and one only will I give in favour of what is
called the sliding scale. That sliding scale, be it remembered,
which, it would appear from the addresses of the Committee
of those who were lately my opponents, is for the future to be
reckoned amongst the ancient institutions of the country, and
therefore you are called upon to reverence the law of 1828, as
you were formerly called upon to revere the Consti-
tution of 1688.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") You were told
then that the great benefit of the sliding scale is that when
corn becomes dear the ports are at once open, and that corn
will then be admitted, and a moderate price only required as
the price of that corn. But a very little reflection will con-
vince any man that this argument, however plausibly put forth,
and however sustained by sophistry, is totally wanting in truth,
because you must be aware that no market can receive a con-
stant supply unless there be a constant demand. Take the case
of the meat and vegetables brought to market in this great
metropolis.—( Hear.) Your supply is constant and large,
but the market is well supplied because the demand never
ceases—because the demand is repeated year after year, and
those who have to supply it—the farmer, the grazier,
and the market gardener, know where they can
go for the sale of the commodities in which they deal.
But if you were to render those markets unsteady, if you vary
them from year to year—if they could only sell half or a
quarter of their produce one year, then the same supply as
now comes would not come, and the great markets of the
metropolis would be subjected to constant fluctuaeions—you
'would have meat and vegetables sometimes at
famine prices, and at others the prices would be
so low as almost to ruin the producers. Such is the obvious
and convincing answer to the statements, that by the sliding
scale we can always command a sufficient supply of corn. We
know that from the present laws foreign countries do not now
cultivate their lands • they cannot do so, because they are not
sure of a market in this country for their produce. With re-
gard to the great question of an approximation
to free trade, as it was justly called by the honourable and en-
lightened gentlemen who did me the honour to propose me,
Mr. Jones Loyd, that approximation will soon receive the ap-
probation of those who are sent to represent you in the House
of Commons.—( Hear, hear.) When I look back at
other great struggles in which we have been engaged for the
purpose of establishing sound and fair principles, I do not find
that the same spirit was exhibited by the people at the com-
mencement as in the present instance. Look at the great
question of religious liberty. For a long time the friends of
religious liberty had to struggle hard before they
obtained freedom for the Protestant Dissenter, and
longer still before our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects
of Ireland were admitted to the privileges of the Constitution.
Look again at the great question of Parliamentary Reform,
for how many years had we to fight in the minority—contesting
tor that great cause in the House of Commons—when I
look back at those struggles, I see that the aspect of the
present question is far more encouraging than either of them,
and I feel persuaded that whatever may be the number in the
future House of Commons, who may oppose the measure
which we her Majesty's Government have brought forward, it
will not be long before free discussion, enlightened opinion
the voice of truth will prevail, when those
who have none but sdphistical arguments and com-
bined interests to oppose to the urgent and convincing
argument on which our system is founded must succumb. A
gentleman near me asks me respecting the new Poor-law
Upon that question there has not been any difference of opinions
between Sir R. Peel and myself. I believe it was his object,
as it was mine, that indigence should be relieved, but
at the same time that no encouragement should be given
for a return to the vicious abuses of the former system. That
question, however, has to come under discussion, and I am
persuaded that upon that occasion the great majority of those
returned to Parliament will consider it without reference to
party distinction. Gentlemen, in the course of this elec-
tion I have had to contend with many misrepresenta-
tions; and with, in some instances, very care-
ful concealments. My opinions with respect to the Corn-
laws have been quoted, but the persons so quoting my
opinions took good care to omit stating that those opinions were
held by me in 1822. I confess, Gentlemen, that my opinions
have been greatly altered since that period. My
opinions suffered that change several years ago,
and you must remember that since 1822 I have had the benefit
of hearing the speeches of Lord Ashburton and of Sir James
Graham upon the subject, who also have changed their opi-
nions on this question; but in an opposite direction to me.
Now those gentlemen claim, and call upon the public to
believe, that they conscientiously altered their opinions.
Surely, then, you will not deny to me the same credit which
you gave to them, and you will now allow me to use the same
arguments which on former occasions were so ably enforced
by them. lam aware that every effort has been made to induce
you not to elect use as one of your representatives.—
(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") lam aware that having
been for many years connected with office, I was open to at-
tacks upon many of the various questions which have from
time to time been brought under discussion in Par-
liament ; but will do me the justice to say, that
1 have never feared those attacks. I relied upon
your good sense being able to distinguish what
was the real question at issue ; and it always will be to me a
source of great pride, that at the end of ten years of official
life, I asked for the approval of the electors of the City of
London, and that you have responded to that call, and placed
me in the honourable situation of one of your Members. I feel
deeply grateful to those electors who have supported me,
and feel the greatest obligation to you for the brave and coura-
geous manner in which you have exerted yourselves in my behalf.
I consider myself now as Member for the City of London, and I
consider that 1 am bound to attend to all its varied interests.
I shall consider them as bound up with the
.general inte-
rests of the community, and I will give to them
the deepest and most constant attention, while I have
the honour to sit in Parliament as your representative.
Although you have now chosen me for the first time, I trust
that when I appear before you again I will be enabled to prove
that I have not been undeserving of the support which has
been so generally given to me.
The Noble Lord then retired amidst loud and general
cheering.
On the motion of Sir M. WOOD, seconded by Mr. W. iTT-
woon—" The thanks of the Hall were awarded to the Sheriffs
for the strict impartiality with which they had presided over
the election, which having been acknowledged by Mr. Sheriff
Gibbs,
Mr. MASTERMAN proposed, and Mr. BAYLIS seconded a
vote of thanks to Mr. Commissioner Harvey for his efficient
and judicious police arrangements.
Mr. D. W. HARVEY then came forward amidst very gene-
ral cheering, and said, that throughout his public life, of no in-
considerable length, he uniformly recognised the public voice
as the safest test of truth and j ustice.—( Cheers. ) They would
all readily believe him when he said he felt grateful for that
expression of their approbation, because the situation which it
was his fortune to fill, was not one, as they were aware, calcu-
lated to elicit public applause ; and that man should be deserv-
ing of popular approbation who so directed the police force
that should be only a terror to the evil-doers and a
safe- guard to the doers of good.—( Hear, hear, and cheers. )
It was gratifying to him to find that that vote of thanks was
moved by a gentleman whose politics were in all things ad-
verse to his (Mr. D. W. Harvey's), and that it was seconded
by a gentleman who might be said to concur with the mover
in polities. That was giving the surest testimony of the impar-
tiality of his conduct. Perhaps if there was anything required
to give weight to that claim for impartiality it would be found
in the singular fact that the present was the first time in 23
years in which he was not the successful occupant of a seat in
Parliament. Why he stood there as Commissioner of Police
and not a Member of the House of Commons, was perhaps
more to his credit than it was to that of others.—( Cheers. )
1 The Crier then dissolved the Hall by proclamation.

EXTRACT FROM THE ROCHEFORTIN.—For
three years the works of the maritime arsenal of Roche-
fort have made considerable increase. It is remembered
with what promptitude have been executed the construc-
tion and armament of the frigate La Gloire, and of the
shipL'lntlexible ; at this moment they are proceeding
with the steamer Le Gomcr, with still greater activity.
This vessel, commenced in January 1841, will be
finished and launched very shortly if the engines
arrive at Rochefort opportunely ; they are expected
very soon. Some particulars of this immense steam-
frigate will not perhaps appear out of place. Her total
displacement is near that of a 74-gun-ship, as Le Triton.
Her extreme breadth is 12 metres 45 centimetres ; her
depth of hold, 8 metres 20 centimetres ; the length at
load of flotation, when stored for sea, which is 70 metres
95 centimetres, exceeds that of a vessel of 100 guns, as
L'Hercule of 9 metres. In measuring the distance which
ought to be found between the after part, the main-boom and
the fore extremities of the flying jib-boom, a space is ob-
tained of 106 metres 50 centimetres, of which one can form
an idea by placing the column of the Place Vendome on
the balustrade of the tower of Notre Dame. The truck
of the fore-royal-mast is elevated above the keel 50 we-
tres—a space one may imagine the two obelisks of
Luxor, the ona on the end of the other, and then one
adds to that 4 metres. The total surface of sails
is 1,870 square metres. To animate this colossus,
and to give it a speed of from 10 to 11 knots in calm
weather, it must have a steam power of 450 horses,
consuming daily about 54 tons of coal, or a bulk of 720
hectolitres. After Le Gomer and L'Asmodie they will
occupy themselves with four great packet-boats, each of
450 horse power, for the transatlantic correspondence.
Afterwards, the Descartes, Monge, and L'lnfernal—alto-
gether nine steam frigates. And in addition, two brigs,
Le Papillon, and Le Messager, and the corvette Le Rhin,
which will be launched at the same time as Le Gomer.

FIVE LIVES LOST AT PLYNIOUTII.-SIX
boys, aged from 7 to 18, took a ship's boat on Sunday, the 13th,
and went to Cawsand, where they remained about two hours.
On reaching the Sound, on their return, one of the lads cried
so bitterly that a humane waterman who was passing took him
into his own boat and brought him home. No tidings were
heard of the others until Saturday, the 26th, when the bodies
of two of them were picked up in Batten-bay. '1 he lad who was
taken out states, that at Cawsand they had some spirits, and
when they got into the boat again one of the senior boys kept
stepping on the gunwale and rolling her from side to side, and
occasionally going to the mast-head. It is conjectured that
in one of these foolhardy freaks the ballast shifted, and the
bolt must have been instantly swamped, thus consigning the
whole to an untimely end.
REDUCED PRICE OF ADMISSION TO WEST-
ArlNsTrit ABBEY. —The Dean and Chapter of Westminster,
in fulfilment of intentions long since entertained, have made
such alterations in the terms of admission to Westminster Ab-
bey as will enable visitors to see the whole of the interior for
6d., or the nave and transcept only 3d. They have placed the
regulations under the superintendence of the High-Constable
of Westminster, who will be in constant attendance at the ap-
pointed hours, and to whom immediate reference of any com-
plaint is to be made.