The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-24 00:00:00

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented a petition
firom Dissenters at Hornerton, praying the House to
...clopt, without delay, such measures as might tend to
atop the advance of' what they believed to be impending
:rational misery and ruin. The Noble Marquis said he
TA mild take that opportunity to express his concern that
I.er Majesty's Ministers were not prepared to enter upon
Ape important inquiry to which the late amended ad-
dress to her Majesty in some degree pledged that House,
}because he was convinced that it would have been the
/duty of Parliament to have gone into such inquiry.
:ru.ding, however, that her Majesty's Ministers were
:not prepared to do so, it was not his intention to elicit
then any discussion on the subject. He should there-
fore merely move that the petition be laid upon the table.
The Duke of WELLINGTON said he thought if the
:Noble Lord had reflected for one moment, he must have
:seen that it was impossible at that time to enter into any
:inquiry of the nature alluded to between that time, and
:the probable termination of that Session of Parliament.
'Their Lordships then adjourned to Monday next.

CORN LAWS
.AND COMMERCIAL REFORM.

P.UBLIC MEETING AT STOCKPORT.
distress of the operative classes of this town and neigh-
kusarbt7ad having lately increased to an alarming extent, it was
Clough t advisable to call a public meeting on the subject. With
Mil; vie sy a requisition, signed by about 400 gentlemen of the
Teorotigh,. was last week presented to the Mayor, W. Andrew,
lEsq., cot splaining of the present distressed state of the town,
a .4 the p ropriety of memorialising the Queen not to prorogue
t he House till they have fully considered the Corn and PrZivi-
a on-laws.

In compliance with this requisition, the Mayor convened a
üblic meetinx, which was held in the Court-house, on Mon-
ay evening last. Long before the proceedings commenced the
)om was crammed almost to suffocation.

The Maiton occupied the chair.
The Rev. C. BAKER moved, " That the distress at present
tpx istaig is unparalleled in extent and severity ; that from the
•inution in trade many factories are closed, many honest,
.strious workpeople arc without employment, or the means
rp s..;btaining a livelihood ; that wages are on the decline, and
root ak dfiaient to provide for and maintain the population; that
one- fifth of the houses of this borough are tenantless, and at
I cast an equal number paying no rent on account of the poverty
se f the tex ants ; that the crowding of the population together is
ghly prejudicial and injurious to health ; that want of em-
p toyrnent, the unremunerating rate of wages, the hith price of
p :•ovisions, and the general depression of trade, are productive
w the deepest distress among all classes of her Majesty's sub-
j. cts ; and that all these calamities are likely to increase during
14 approaching winter, unless means are adopted to render
ade more flourishing and provisions more abundant, which, in
• e opinion of this meeting, cannot be accomplished whilst the
rs esent system of restrictive commercial policy exists."
Sir RALPH PENDLEBURX seconded the resolution, and said,
thi at no eloquence was necessary to convince them of the pre-
'FM ling distress. He hoped that the petition which would
tell mate from that meeting would be numerously signed, and
th w ight it would not be improper if the female portion of the
IPt p, ulation also signed a petition to the Queen.
M, A. CAMPBELL supported the resolution, and con-
• 'atu.'3..ed the meeting on the feeling which had brought
,em together. He gave a detail of the existing dis.
ess, and said that he (Mr. Campbell) had lately vi-
a
n ted eceiteen families, and found that the income of the
.at earn ily amounted only to 2id. per day for meat and
• othing .`o each individual ; the second, 2d per head per day
11 e third, _ld. per dal ; fourth, lid., and so on in proportion.
C tie family had only an average of ld. per head each day for
fC od and clot biug ; and there were many families in the bo-
ll ugh whose present means did not average more than Vel.
r day.
A slight opposition was offered to the resolutiOn by a few
C hartsts, who had e,,idently come with an intention of dis-
til rbing the meeting; but it was passed with only three clissen-
lit nt voices.
l'he Rev. 11. RIDLEY moved, " That the Corn and Provi-
tio, a taxes (exacted for the exclusive benefit of a few, and not
• the purpose of revenue), by denying the right of the peo-
lf to exchange the labour of their hands for the food and
e the r products of other countries, are the chief causes of the
Pre sent unparralleled depression in trade, and the intense and
aft,g ra vated sufferings of the people; and that they are unjust,
az tie. iris Tian, aoct unscriptural." The Rey. Gentleman, in an
!oqa tent speech, -oaviuced the meeting of the truth of the re-
a dutl'on.
The 11ev. J. WA,intNctoN seconded the resolution, which
.as unanimously passe d.
H. COPPOCK, Esq., Town-clerk, moved the third resolution,
Vt hich was to the effect, Out a memorial be presented to the
i.teen, praying her Majesty not to prorogue the two Houses
tit Parliament until they had entered upon a fu:' consideration
el the Corn and Provision laws. Mr. Ceppock ad-
rted to the present distressed state of the inhabitants, ‘nci the
In amber of empty dwellings in the borough. At the takin 7?f
th e census a few months ago, there were 2,155 empty dwreli-
iu in the borough. During the last seven weeks, the distress
aE the inhabitants had increased to an alarming extent. In the
'at 'ek ending, Aug. 6, the Board of Guardians gave, in out-
do n relief, bread to the amount cf 1,4571bs ; August 13,
7951bs ; August 20, 1,8711b5. August 27th, 2,loSlbs. ;
te ptember 3er, 2,6501bs ; September 10th, 2,8131bs ; and
el 'telpher 17th, 3,371155. of bread were given in out-door
Yelr .4. The out-door relief in money during the same time
I la
been scout 13u1. per w eek.

GLOBE.—If the journals in the interest of the newly-
installed Ministry are to be believed, the people are so
intoxicated with joy at the change of Government, that '
they regard the visitation cf commercial distress and
general starvation as very trifling matters, when compared
with the vast advantages which cannot fail to accrue to
there from having Sir Robert Peel substituted for Lord
Melbourne. The meetings which have been held, or are
about to be held, in the several districts of the metro-
polis, and in almost every provincial town, for the
purpose of petitioning the Queen not to.prorogue Par-
liament until it shall have taken the severe and widely-
spreading distress of the country into consideration,
with a view to its relief, are not, it seems, to be re-
garded as militating against the gratifying fact, that the
people are perfectly contented with their lot, or at
least resigned to their fate, which they are quite willing
to endure for the time required by the Premier anti his
colleagues, or for as much longer as they, in their wisdom
and humanity, may deem fit, rather than the Govern-
ment should be embarrassed, or its Chief inconvenienced
by being compelled to develop his plans, and, possi-
bly, estrange some of his colleagues by the announcement.
Hence we are assured that these meetings are chiefly,
if not altogether, composed of persons whose general ap-
pearance indicates that they form a portion of those
classes of the community on whom the Corn-laws press
with rigorous severity; on whose families, diminished
wages and dear bread entail privation of necessary sus-
tenance, and the gradual sacrifice of those articles of
furniture and clothing to which the poor generally
cling with fond tenacity, and seldom part with until
want compels that the less necessary chattels and gar-
ments be pawned or sold, to obtain food, which is
absolutely essential to the preservation of life. No
wonder that such sufferers from the operation of
the " insane and cruel policy" which diminishes employ-
ment, and consequently the wages of labour, while it
raises the price of food, should attend, aye, and form,
too, the principal portion of the audience at meetings
convened for the purpose of conveying a knowledge of
their sufferings to the Sovereign ; nor will it excite sur-
, prise if their hands be " unwashed," and their dress
" tattered !"
STANDARD.—The speech of Lord Stanley upon his
re-election will be read with pleasure and long remem-
bered. The Noble Lord's vindication of his consistency
was triumphant. We have, however, reason to be a
' little jealous with a part of it. The Noble Lord
quoted the testimony of M. Duvergier de Hauranne
as to his, Lord Stanley's, Conservative opinions so
long ago as 1826—we can quote a better testimony of
an earlier date, the testimony of Lord Stanley him-
-I& in his speech upon Mr. Hume's motion against
S` -rei§t Church in 1824 upon which speech we
i at the time, that, whatever he might
rtlelienaerkete---de of the matter, Mr. Stanley, as a
himself till.
'leteian, and Christian was a Tory
scholar, gen, s
d that, either sooner or later,. a
in principle, at. ,
eclere himself. The observation,
Tory he must u. , , .
inv,-eveti us in a short controversy
as we remember,
We are not quite sure
with the Examiner.
24 referred to was not
whether the speech of ies
Loci. Stanley in Parliament,
the firt speech delivered by
but it certainly was one of the flrs.!..
is found;.and the
actingstate the
statesman at
who, at the end of seventeen years,
part of which his outset gave so clear ti promise, must be
convicted of inconsistency by some stranger evidence
than his relation to this or that party. Lord Stanley's
opinions, in 1824, were the opinions (we are not
speaking of the practice) of the Tory party for the
last half century—the opinions of the present Con-
servative party. It was merely an accident that seta-0 .
rated him from that party, and he i.. 9 only taking his na-
tural and proper position in its ranks, or rather among
its leaders. The part of the Noble Lord's late speech
that regards the Corn-law question is complete 4s an
argument. But what of that ? What do the mill-owners
of the League care for argument ? They can hire for e
few shillings a-day their Aclands and their Smiths, with
organs of speech, and that is quite sufficient for
them. They . who are too stupid or ignorant to
comprehend a reasoning process themselves, will not
appreciate the value of it addressed to others. Noise is
sill they want, and of that they can buy a cheap penny-
worth with Aelands and Smiths in the market. If de-
monstration could silence the mill-owners of the League
and their hirelings, the)., would have been silent long
since. We rejoice to say, however, that reasoning has
not been lost upon the people. We rejoice, too, to think,
that by the questions they have moved, the mill-owners
have caused the development of some truths which they
had no design to bring to light, but which must prove of
immense value to the nation.
COURIER.—The most substantial and precious ho-
mage which can be paid to the importance and influence
of a public man, is perhaps not that which manifests
itself to the number of his friends, in the deference with
which they receive his opinions, or the warmth
and intensity of the feelings of admiration and
esteem with which they regard his character and
abilities. These doubtlessly bespeak him a man of mark
in the e.stimation of his party ;
ceonfidence in his integrity, and a
irnegs
pao
nd ing prominentper -
at
liiiell.,v
just appreciation
coenzaqcueenc
of his intellectual pre-eminence, suffi-
place
c :e n t13.1-a grateful
publiclife,w e
attracting ti seo occupying uepty);
front the fullest impress of sincerity,.
1 t of his influence, the
por-
tion of public attention. Buttllat wwhiiiciehhbaelaorsst
strongly
and and strikingly attests the
whatwtegt
is wrung from oppo-
nents,"
Who hate and dread him too"
and
l'astile sfsroorfu htishoseeapaeity, is
unvarying continu-
CAMBERWELL. 1 calumnies ; and, if ever the
lin the shape of spiteful vituperation malignant
Al
vmeeting of the Camberwell and Peckham Auxiliary Anti- ante of attacks originating inaspdleen,
by perfidy
A°ra law Associations was yesterday held in the Lecture party rancour, and prompted
n . pointedortance of two
) Corasi , !lin-street, Peckham, 'for the purpose of memorialising and falsehood, bespoke the imp
sum tis James Graham
envenomed by
Jaesli.not to consent to the prorogation of Parliament public men, it is in the case of Sir
.f
onside, el"; eased state of the country should be taken into
Inoval , • ' Ind measures adopted with a view to the re- by every • ,
• ‘ the exciting ea tinguished men have been assailed
and Lord Stanley. For years these gi ed
speciesandcliosi
Mr. - • Vita, cause of that distress, the Corn-laws.
attain , he v, ~e,, , of the me .as called to the Chair, and opened the abuse, and with every kind of weapon ;
rn pmJring
fertile in calumny have exhaused themselves i
air. 3. Ltexo ettng' epithets against them. ere
this rtt °"", proposed the first resolution—" That forth foul and opprobrious
, efl.'ls views • section
influential,
, with deep concern, the constant recur- large, though fortunately not a very .
Irenee f dis 're daily labours
uses
I )
this es
amongst the manufacturing and labouring of our Contemporaries seem to think their
imaginations
titt
.45,. of t!iis
_...countr, ; that in the opinion of this meeting, unfinished unless seasoned by an attack of some,
Est cat
mall", trae, and the high price of food, the magi- or other on either of these two statesmen, A-114 even
al tse of such distress; are • t and im- when freed from the fear of retaliation, when unawed
occasioned by unjust
politicnth : laws, which creve t not
"'th ti's 3 311 bd- n. the free exchange of our labour by the certainty of reuital, Whig leaders have
pera un ar, t agricultural produce of other nations." direct their
-{ Us* r.) scrupled to vent 1• t leir puny scarcasms, and Mr. Blackt.sourn supported his resolution in a long email ins. • kind
sang 431 insinuations against those who had abandoned
went address. ale dwelt upon the 'ser which at ---- !Present prevailed in the manufacturing districtT'' liyi Rochdale their company, as soon as they found they could not con-
w, ii,
ere 176 families, each individual of which subsisted tinue the alliance which early associations had formed,
111.)uu.e.d. a week each ; and 291 families subsisting upon 101
er week -. each individual ;without compromising their characters and acting
these we:e also in Rochdale upwards traitors to their convictions.

- .
C.,IARLES HUDSON' Esq., seconded the adoption of the
ial, and suggested that the statement of the Town-clerk,
It lati 've to the amount of out-door relief, be added thereto.
T.lis was agreed upon, and the resolution was carried unaui •
lusl 7.

A liote of thanks was then givea to the Chairman, and the
_eting separatA.

LEICESTER.

One hundred and fiity of the most respectable inhabitants of
icester, in one day, have signed a requisition to John Biggs,
q., Mayor, to call a meeting, to consider the propriety of
itts morialtsing the Queen, and of petitioning Parliament to
en ter on the immediate consideration of the Corn and Pro-
'is

The Mayor appointed Thursday evening for a public meet-
;r to be held at the New Hall.

BRIGHTON.
The following is extensively eireclated in this town :
" Working men ! you pay a tax of tenpence upon every stone
e‘i our you and your wives and little Ones Consume. If there
vas not an ir.famous bread-tax, you and your families might buy
three loaves for the same money that you now pay for two.
/mon e very shilling you pay for bread, meat, bacon, eggs, vege-
natio, & 1., you pay 4d. tax for monopoly. Down, down with
-the cruel Lorn-law."

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM 'PIT. or v-P,TE,‘,‘y
CHRONICLE.—The announcement of the funding of
5,000,000/. of Exchequer Bills is said, in some quarters, to
have taken the Money Market by surprise, and great praise is
awarded for the secrecy wirh which this splendid revival of the
farce of Raising the Wind has been brought before the pub-
lic. For our own part, we must confess that it neither excited
our sensations of surprise or of admiration; because, unfortu-
nately for ourselves, with many others, we bad anticipated the
course which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has adopted.
The alteration announced to-day in regard to the mode of
taking the deposits shows very clearly that one-half the amount
in money would be extremely satisfactory, and to those who
have not enough of Exchequer Bills to lodge, the part money
payment will be very convenient.
There is a very grotesque allusion made, we observe, to the
saving said to be effected for the country by the operation,
compared with the reception which would have been given in
the City to such an announcement from the late Ministry. The
saving in question acts, however, precisely in the reverse way
that such economical operations usually do ; for we see that it
will add 150,0001. per annum permanently to the fixed burdens
of the State; and in regard to the reception which sech a mea-
sure would have received if it had emanated from the Whig Mi-
nistry, that would depend, just as the present will, very much
upon the state of the Money Market, and the profits which
could bee eaped by subscribing. But on this point it is enough
to repeat that all these schemes of loaes, of funding, and
votes of credit, were spurned with contempt by the Whig-
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Wken he found the expendi-
ture seriously overbalancing the public income, in conse-
quence of the ereat reduction of taxation which had been
carried out by himself and predecessors in office, he
resorted to the simple plan of an increased per tentage
to make up the deficiency. That plan did not answer his ex-
pectations, because of the great distress and diminished means
of consumption of the people, thus testing the fact that they
were totally unable to support fresh taxes. He, therefore, saw
the immediate necessity of changing our fiscal and commercial
policy, and in his Budget specified the various resources which
were then open to him, amongst which the old resource of bor-
rowing first and taxing afterwards presented themselves as the
readiest ; but these he wisely refused to adopt, convinced that
nothing but recourse to the principles of free trade and a revi-
sion of the provision laws could possibly restore prosperity to
the trade and industry of the nation. These principles he
brought forward in a clear and practical shape, proposing to
make up the deficit yearly by reducing the duties on timber,
sugar, and corn. His proposals were rejected by tho e who
are now in office, and who are responsible for the consequences.
They have, as a justification of their course, attempted to prove
that the itudget was founded on false principles, and that not a
shilling of the expected increase would have been available.
But Sir Robert Peel signally failed in proving that.
POST.—As might be anticipated very little business has
been transacted in the English Funds to-day, neither can it
be expected that operations to any extent will be entered into
until after the subscription be completed for the conversion of
Exchequer Bills. The more the proposed plan be considered
the more it seems to increase in favour with the monied inte-
rest, and the fair and judicious calculation as well as the option
of paying either in money or bills meets with almost universal
approbation. The loose and undefined state in which the un-
funded debt was left by the late Chancellor of the Exchequer,
and the large and continued deficiency in the income rendered
the raising of money actually necessary and no plan so favour-
able as that which has been chosen could well have been se-
lected. It will relieve the market from a large portion of the
floating debt, and at the same time afford the opportunity of
subscribing towards a new loan, without any of the inconve-
nience to which such a proceeding is usually subject.
HERALD.—The arrangements for some days past in
progress, have, it appears, been satisfactorily concluded, and
the London and Westminster Bank has now taken the agency
of the Nottingham Banking Company, which will forthwith
resume its operations. At the meeting of the Proprietors of
that Joint-stock Bank in Nottingham last Friday, a call was
agreed to of Si. per share, by which the capital will be raised
from 80,000/. to 120,000/. Exclusive of this resolution several of
the mote wealthy Shareholders are understood to have made
immediate advances in money and securities to a very con-
siderable amount, it is said so far as to the value of 100,0001.,
so that the concern may now be considered better on its legs
in point of credit thadever.
TIMES.—The paragraph in the notice of the proposed
funding of Exchequer Bills which requires deposits in Ex-
chequer Bills to the amount of 20 per cent. to be delivered by
parties intending to subscribe, has been considered to lead to
an impression that Exchequer Bibs only would be receivable
in the tender. Hence the Money Market has been given to
understated that the tender will be received half in money and
half in Exchequer Bills, and that the provisions of the subsequent
paragraph were to be applied to this one.
A letter has been received from a high authority in ex-
planation of the delay which has been observed in the pub-
lication of the circulation returns, in pursuance of the Act 4
and 5 Victoria, c. 50. By the Act the returns are directed
to be made within seven days after the termination of each pe-
riod of four weeks. The majority of the banks comply with
this regulation ; and our correspondent considers that if the
whole of them were to do so, the earliest period in which the
aggregate amount would be published in the Gazette would
be thirteen days after each period of four weeks. He attributes
the delay which has been occasioned, to the inability of some
of the joint-stock bank to obtain the returns from some of their
branches in time, to a misunderstanding on the part of the
bankers as to the days on w hich the return should be made, and
finally, to the sending of imperfect or erroneous returns, which
have to be sent back for amendment, and the alleged miscar-
riage of others.
A recent police case having shown that a fraud, if it had
proved successful, might have occasioned the payment of a
sum of money twice over by a savings' bank, attention has been
called to the plan adopted by the Oswestry Savings' Bank, to
prevent similar frauds, when the person receiving money pre-
sents the depositor's book. This plan owed its origin to a
fraud which was committed on this bank in 1835. The money
of the depositor in this case was all drawn out, and as she had
been for some time in a declining state of health, her repre-
sentatives, after her heath, applied for the money, raising R.
doubt whether the depositor had been able to come to Oewes-
try, which was ten miles from her place of residence,
to receive her money on the day on which it had been
paid. A reference was agreed on, and it was awarded that the
money should be repaid to the representatives with interest to
the time of signing the award, each party paying their own costs.
This award caused a loss to the bank of 122/., and in consequence
a regulation has been made that the producer of a deposit bank
shall be considered as the actual depositor, and that such pro-
duction shall be a full discharge to the institution. The age,
residence, and other particulars relating to the depositors are
inscribed in the books of the bank, with a view of checking
imposture, and under suspiciouseircumstances inquiry is made ;
but the Managers assume, that the safe custody of the book is
at the risk of the depositor.
AD VERTISER.—It must be a source of regret, we imagine
to very many parties, lung and intimately connected by the
amicable relations of commerce with the good old Hanse Town
of Hamburgh, that any source of bickering or discontent should
have arisen between the mercantile interests of that place and
Hull. As far as we can make out the matter in dispute it is
briefly this. 'I he Hull Steam-packet Company has for many
years past enjoyed the sole monopoly of the carrying trade be-
tween their port and Hamburgh, but very recently an opposi-
tion has been started against them by some of the natives of
Hamburgh, the vessels bearing of course their own flag, and
the whole enterprise being essentially one created and fostered by
the march of German industry. This, it appears, the Hull
Company considered as a grievance, gi ouniling their complaint,
we believe, upon the fact of their having done so much to pro-
mote the trade of Hamburgh, and to sustain a regular com-
munication with it at a time when this was a matter of much
greater difficulty than at present. Under the plea, therefore,
that there was no just reason for the starting of an opposition,
since all the wants of the trading community had been promptly
met, and further that the t. affic would not be sufficient to sup-
port two rival Companies, the agents for the Hull boats, upon
learning that some of the Hamburgh merchants were dividing
their favours between them and their new opponents, took oc-
casion to address to each of them the following notice :
" Hull, Sept. 8, 1841.
" Sir—As we perceive that you are supporters of the
Hamburgh steamer, we are under the necessity of refusing to
take any of your goods by our steamers unier 7d. per foot,
until we have your assurance that you will no longer support
the Hamburgh opposition against us.
" We are, Sir, your obedient servants,
" GEE and Co.
" RICHARD TOTTIE,
" JOHN SANDERSON,
" For the St. George's Steam-packet Company."
This very impolitic, if not even insulting epistle, was na-
turally sufficient to excite the ire, not only of the parties whom
it was more immediately intended for, but of most of
the influential shippers of Hamburgh. Accordingly, a
meeting was convened among them, and thirteen of the lead-
ing wool exporters—a most important part of the trade carried
on with Hull—subscribed to an agreement not to forward a
bale of the staple by the English Company's boats, and in-
vited the other merchants of Hamburgh to follow their exam-
ple, which it was generally expected they would do. The
pe pie of Hamburgh, it seems, possess but one boat, and in-
tending, as these thirteen Influential shippers profess, to put
the Hull Company under the bann for some years, unless con-
cessions and advances are made towards what they deem a fair
and honourable competition, they were urging the necessity o
immediately providing more vessels for the station.