The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-25 00:00:00

been told not to commit himself, at least not to commit
himself against the sliding scale. He now attempts to per-
suade you that the sliding scale will give you cheaper
bread than the fixed duty proposed by the Government.
Now I say at once with regard to the fixed duty, that I
am net a finality rn,m, on this or any other subject.—
(Loud cheers.) You are aware that I am not a
man given to sudden and frequent changes, and some
of you, I believe, have had reason to complain
that I have not gone fast enough for you ; but I
assure you that I can see no reason why a measure
passed in one year, should be held final against the expe-
rience of all its future workings, and though when this
measure now proposed, is arranged, I :should not wish to
see it disturbed.at an early period, yet it would be en-
tremely absurd to say that corn shall never be intro-
duced into this country except at a rate of duty fixed
- -under circumstances which may not exist when we
—(Loud cheers.) It appears from the Re-
Hon. Opponent's speech. that he
von that you will really
scale than under a
Lore is all this
House

meet again.-
port I have mild of
has endeavoured to persuh,....
get chOpet bead tinder the
fixed duff, Then if this is the case mite,—
outcry on the part Of Mc agicalturists ? In
of Commons it was not stated that the apprehensions
the agriculturists, which I think are Vet 7 nveh exagge-
rated, cr the evils they apprehended arose !mot this
cause; their cry is not that the fixed duty will raise the
prier of broad so as to ruin the poor of this country, but
that it will cause corn to be sold so cheap as to ruin the
itgeiCilltiiral interest who will not find a market for their
produco. itieti hi what way (I speak only from the re-
port of the speech Of the Hon, Gentleman) does he
make out his propo3ition? Ili n.ys that the average
duty on corn has been ss. 3d. tilVia§h this is too
low, and I believe it -has been ss. 9d., tlisi that the
airictiint of the fixed duty proposed by the Oevern-
Meilt •i 5 Ps, But did the Honourable Gentleman
tell you widai flv price of corn when the duty
was 15.,. did he tell you tilc quantity of foreign corn in
bond and not entered for sale at all, but-411401 would have
been brought into the market had there been a fixed
duty. Did he tell you that the price of corn will not be-
. increase(' but diminished under a fixed duty ? Did he
tell you that foreign countries, knowing that there would
be a certain rnarttet, would grow a greater quantity of
corn for importation till this country, and so prevent the
price rising to a famine prieei and keep it steady and
even, preventing those fluctuations whidit you know have
taken place in the price of corn, while yon ta.,.!, know
that no such fluctuation has taken place in the rates of
your wages?--Cheers.) You are told by others—l do
not know whether the Hon, Gentleman has said ao or
not—that we ought to be independent of foreign coun-
tries. Was there ever such an absiirdity ? What is

there in which We arc independent of other mat-dries,
or hi which they are independent of us ?—(Cheerk)
To be so would cut at the very roots of all our com-
merce ; our ports would be blocked up, our ships sold,
and oar manufactures destroyed.(llear, hear.)` If
we are independent of others fbr the ifenzwaries of
life, why should not other countries be indeveftdent
of us ? If we did not. take their corn, how can We
expect that they will take the manufactules we pro-
duce?—(Continued cheering.) I really do not know that
upon this subject of the COrn.lavvs I need address you
another word ; all I can say in addition ss that as I
stated to some of you the other night, from the first
ntoment of my entering the House of Commons by their
support, and by no other support have I ever entered it
than that of this popular constituency, I have known
that your sentiments and my own are in accordance on
this point, and ever since I hae sat in the House of
Commons, I have voted for an alteration of the existing
system.—(Cheers.) There are other measures of a si-
milar kind, on which it is not necessary for me to enter,
as they are of minor importance, though they are all
based on the same principle, namely, that of the gradual
but certain abolition of monopolies unduly restrictive of
our commerce—a principle which you yourseVres have
affirmed in a petition signed by nine thousand of the in-
habitants of this borough, and which I had lately the
honour of presenting to the House of Comm9nS.—
(Cheers.) From those principles I know that you will
not directly swerve, for do I believe that you will suffer
the good sense which is your characteristic to be cajoled.
—(Cheers.) My Honourable Opponent, when he
arrived here, endeavoured to persuade you that
the battle on their part is already won, and that
those who advocate the principle of freedom against
monopoly were actually flying in all directions.
I will not follow his example and enumerate the long
string of places from which the Tories are flying frpm
the face of the constituencies ; I am no prophet, nor will
I indulge in any sanguine expectations or predictions
excepting as to the contest in which we are personally
engaged, and of which you have forbidden me to enter-
tain the sligh' est doubt.—(Loud cheers.) But, Gentle-
men, on this point, I am anxious not to deceive you ; I
do not want you to elect me if your votes depend on the
chances and probabilities of my continuation in the con-
fidential office, which, by the favour of my Sovereign and
a 3 your representative I have been placed in. The issue
of the struggle, the present and immediate issue, may be
one way or the other ; it is not a contest of the kind
described by the Hon. Gentleman, but of those princi-
ples which at an early period I advocated, and which I
mean still to advocate; and even if those principles should
meet a check, if it should be proved that class
intere: t 3 have been too strong for the people on this
occasion, yet those principies once fairly laid before
the people, once fairly discussed at such meetings as
this, after they have been debated at the hustings in a
manner that will triumphantly refute the calumny that it
is a dangerous thing to appeal to the people on an ex-
citing subject, in a manner that will carry conviction to
the hearts of the constituency, and if those principles are
approved by the people, then at a limited and no distant
period those principles will prevail. There is one suh-:
ject, on which though it is thrown comparatively into
shade by the great principles now in question, and which
form the immediate subject of the appeal to you, I feel
that I ought to address you, in consequence of an altered
vote which I have giyen on the subject since I last ad-
dressed you, and it is due to offer you some explanation.
I allude to the Ballot.—(Cheers.) You may remember
that in the contest of 1834, a conviction was carried to
my own mind that some protection for the voter was re-
quired in many cases where lie wished conscientiously
to exercise the franchise given him by the Reform Act, and
was compelled to exercise it in a way that left him fet-
tered and obliged to vote against his conscience. At
the same time I abstained from voting on the question,
because I was not convinced of the expediency of
the Ballot, but anxious that every other means
should be tried for the protection of the voter.
I stated on the last occasion that I was anxious to
see other measures tried, yet no other had been pro
pounded to Parliament that seemed likely to be effectual;
that being the case, and in deference to your wishes, as
that question was made an open question by the Go-
vernment., I, though still dubious of the efficiency of the
Ballot, have given my vote in favour of the trial of the
Ballot.—(Loud cheers.) There is one other question on
which I know that I differ from a great many around
me, but I shall not therefore be deterred—(Hear, hear)—
notwithstanding the cordial unanimity—(Hear, hear)—
that has prevailed on other subjects, fi om alluding to it,
because I wish to shrink from nothing in which the
people feel an interest, and because I know that a large
body of this Constituency feel a deep interest in it ; I
mean the question of Church- rates. On that question I
have not voted, nor am I now prepared to vote for a
total abolition of all compulsory payment towards the
maintenance of the fabrics of the Chinch, which are an
ornament to the country, but. I am ready to abolish that
criminal jurisdiction which is exercised in a most ob-
jectionable manner by the Ecclesiastical Courts—(Loud
cheers)—and to prevent any man from suffering in
his person by imprisonment for the non-payment of
Church-rates.—(Cheers.) Lord John Russell has com-
municated with me on the subject, and a measure
was prepared which, but for the termination of the
Session that has taken place, would have been sub-
mitted to Parliament : another has been proposed by
Mr. Easthope, for which I was fully prepared to vote,
but not. for the complete abolition of all compulsory pay-
ment. I have stated these views on the subject, because
I do not wish to be accused of any concealment of any
information that may be desired by you of my past con-
duct, and which lam ready to answer. The ground I
stand on is the great principle of freedom against mono-
poly ; the principles I am ready to maintain are those
which tend to the advancement of the prosperity of this
country, which I believe at a limited and no distant ,pe..
riod, if not immediately, will have a signal and distin-
guished
the nnb triumph. I feel bound to tell you that in
jagted the t oearliest
return
conse-
quence of being summoned to attend . a Council of
Wednesdayherrrv,
with
next,
shall
intention
on
Majesty
t o Lo London oonn 00-m
possible moment to come back to you • Imention it now,
because though my interest is as nothing in the balance,
yet I am anxious the interest of our common cause should
not suffer in my absence.—(Continued cheering.) I feel
that I ought
to_ be here among you unless some para-
mount and compelling duty requires my absence, and I
mention it in the face of the constitu-
ency in order to put
to silence every voice of misrepresentation. On Friday
1 shall appear anion you a •
the victory is
won,
the again, and from that time till
triumph is achieved, I shall
be found fighting cordially, Heartily,
fully, by the sid of my leartily, and I know success-
onourable colleague.
Sir G. Grey was loudlycheered at the close of his
speech, and the applause continued for some minutes after
he resumed his seat.

ARRIVAL OF THE TRAFALGAR AT SHEER-
NESS.()-wa r-
shipO ri Tuesday
ofloo night, at eight o'clock, the Trafalgar man •
guns, which was launched from Woolwich
Dockyard on Monday afternoon, arrived at Sheerness, in tow
of the steam-packets Salamander, Meteor, and Monkey. They
g
returned to the river on Wednesday morning. The Trafalgar
was expected to be hauled into Sheerness dock. at high water
yesterday afternoon.
DREADFUL STAGE-COACH ACCIDENT.—
OVERSETTING OF THE LYNN STAGE-COACH, NEAR CAM-
BRIDGE.—On Wednesday night the Union, Lynn stage-coach,
which should have arrived at the Golden Cross inn, Charing-
cross, did not, on account of a dreadful accident occurring by
its being overset near Cambridge, on its journey to London from
Lynn, unfortunately at the time being filled with passengers in-
side and out, by which unfortunate circumstance the coach-
man, Thomas Cross, received a compound fracture of one of
his legs, and two ladies, passengers, also sustained such serious
injuries that they, with the unfortunate coachman, were neces-
sitated to he conveyed to an inn, where, as quickly as possible,
every requisite surgical assistance was rendered the sufferers.
Another coach being procured, the remaining passengers, after
a delay of a few hours, proceeded on their journey, some few
having sustained slight injuries.
RAMSGATE.--.THE CENSUS —The enumera-
tors have concluded their labours, and by the accounts rendered
S ts.
tL.
Peter's,n 1,346 males
el es
aanndd 11:640163
it appears that Ramsgate contains 4,896 males and 6,013 fe-
males, making 10,909 ;
females,females, mulakkiinn,rl;296,629s. ; It is a most remarkable circumstance
that this town should be just the same number as Margate,
which i 4 10,909. In the last census Ramsgate vra.? 7,987,
and has increased in the ten years 25 per cent., and Mar.
gate was 10,460, whtch has increased 2i per cent. ; the inte-
rests of the two towns are so similar, that local circumstances
cannot take place without affecting both in the same way.—
Kent /*raid.
• .