The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-19 00:00:00

THE SEIN, LONDON, TINSDAY, JANUARY 19 1,911

WALSALL ELECTION.

A crowded meeting of the electors was held on
Thursday evening in the Dragon Assembly•roem, Wal-
sall, to meet Mr. Richard Cobden and other gentlemen
from Manchester and Liverpool. Although the meet-
ing was specially convened for electors, we observed a
considerable number of non-electors present.
Mr. R. KELLY stated they had been favoured with
a visit from a few friends who would address them this
evening upon a vital and important question— Free
Trade. He hoped that the utmost harmony would
prevail throughout the meeting, composed, as he ex-
pected it was, of men of all shades of political opi-
nion. He had invited every elector to attend this
meeting by note, without regard to any party distinc-
tion. Their sole intent and anxious wish was, to have

the merits of both candidates, the principles they re-
spectively maintain, fairly and candidly brought be-
fore the electors of Walsall, to know the difference,
and snake their choice. There was nothing, would
give him greater pleasure than that any friend of
Mr. Gladstone's should come forward and defend that

gentleman's principles, excepting the pleasure of seeing
liinise/f in the arena, and lie hoped that if any indivi-
dua holding different opinions was present, that indi-
vidual would that evening state his argument fairly
and respectfully; betwe,in the two flints he had no doubt

the spark of truth would be
Mr. WA LK mmerchant, Wolverhampton, then briefly
addressed the meeting, and entreated the electors to do
their duty to themselves and their country. He earn-
estly hoped and trusted that at the hour of trial they
would not be found wanting.
Mr. SMITH next stepped forward. He would not
detain them long, as he felt desirous that the friends
now present from a distance should have an opportunity
of addressing them at length. But he felt it ❑ecessary
to say something concerning their position that night.
It had been said the electors of Walsall were dictated

to by the Anti-Corn-law League. He repudiated the
assertion. Nothing was more groundless of truth, as
those present, who were acquainted with the facts of
the case, could testify. Indeed, it was much against his

tiesire he came forward as a candidate for the representa-

tion of this borough in Parliament. He left his• family
at an hour's notice, nor did he say the cause of his de-
parture. The -first account they heard of him was
through his first address to the electors, a copy of which
he sent home. When he came to Walsall he had no
more expectation of standing as a candidate than he
had of fling to the moon ; but finding that Mr. Lyttel-
ton had fled, and no one in the locality would come for-
ward, and being requested to stand by a number of
the electors, he did feel it his duty to appear as a can-
didate for the support of the honest, humane, and liberal
men of Walsall. He placed himself in their hands ; it
was for them to do their duty. He then gave a sketch
of the history of the National Anti-Corn-law League, of
the men who composed it, the objects it had in view--
the abolition of all monopolies and free trade with ail
nations of the earth, the means it adopted to obtain

these objects, its lectures, and the Anti-Corn-law Cir-
cular. Upwards of 300 Associations had been formed
within the last two years through the exertions of their
Missbnarics—seven or eight in number—in En ;land,
Ireland, and Scotland. Their tracts have been trans-

lated into the Welch language for the instruction of the
people in Wales on that important question. They had
spared no labour in disseminating a knowledge of these
iniquitous laws, and they were now determined to go a
step further—on the hustings. They perceived it was
only by such a step they could expect to free themselves
from the heartless tyranny of the law-makiug landowners,
and they had decided to contest the election of every
bread-taxer. They could not afford to lose any time, as
the vital energies of the country were being fastdestroyed,
and it behoved every man to assist in securing a speedy
triumph to thisglorious cause. The electors of Walsall
had now the opportunity to give their opponents a fatal

blow—it rested with them to strike.
Mr. RICHARD COBDEN, from Manchester, rose up
amidst the most enthusiastic cheers of the meeting. Our
space will not permit us to give more than a brief out-
line of his speech. He came there that evening at
much inconvenience to himself and risk of health, being
at present indisposed, but could not allow either of these
to prevent him from performing a solemn duty, even
although it were the cause of his death ; he knew he
could not die in a more righteous cause., He came to
bear testimony to the character of Mr. Smith, his inti-
mate friend, and their candidate, and the principles he
advocates. He had known him many years as a man
of moral integrity, high intellectual attainments, and a
constant friend of the people. He recollected the time
—some ten years ago—when he stood almost alone in

Manchester as the advocate of free trade ; and now,
the people of that town having become acquainted with
. .

the monstrous nature of the bread. tax, and felt its ter-
rible effects, all arc repeaters ; not a single newspaper
in Manchester dare support the corn monopoly. Mr.
Smith was Chairman of the Manchester Chamber of
Commerce, and of the National Anti-Corn-law Leavue ;
he was possessed of great wealth, if they cared a fig for
that, and was universally respected in his native town.
That League had for its object the breaking up of all
monopolies, more especially the unchristian monopoly
of the food of man. When he opened the word of God,
he found in Gen., c. i., v. 29, " And God said, behold,
I have given you es:esy. herb bearing seed, which is
upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the
which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it
shall he for meat." Now, what is the case ? have
men not violated this righteous precept ? Have not the
Legislators of this country enacted that corn—the staff
of the poor—shall not be admitted to England unless
under an enormous duty tantamount to an almost total
prohibition ? They have ;—and while they thus vio-
lated the law and will of God as revealed in the Holy
Bible, at the same time they violated a law of nature.
Nothing could be plainer to the understanding of man
than the will of the Creator on this point. He could
not open a single page of the Bible but he found it
written in indelible characters ; be saw nothing in that
Book about fluctuating duties ; or that the inhabitants
of a little spot called England should be confined to the
produce of that country. He found no such monstro-
sity—no such infliction on humanity ; but he found—
yes, he found that " he that witholdeth corn from the
people shall be cursed of God." The Bible was correct
in all things ;it could not be wrong in this. He had
been in Palestine—bad seen the cities of the Holy Land,
Mount Lebanon, and the waters of the Jordan ; and he
always found the Bible his best guide book. No mo-
dern guide hook excelled it in accuracy or beauty of
description ; he had never found it to fail in any case.
And can it be supposed to have failed in this? Impos-
sible ! No man ever did or could say so. When we
ap-
peal to the Bible our opponents are mute ; they have no-
thing to say ; every page of it condemns their unholy
deeds. They may talk about culling- passages or mis-
quoting ; hut we don't cull passages nor misquote ; we say
take the Scriptures, as a whole, and we will undertake to
prove that the Corn-laws are unscriptural, unchristian,
and terribly iniquitous. He could hardly think of
coming down from so high a tribunal—one which, of
itself, alone indubitably settles the question—to consider
it as a question of figures and a balance of interests, as
if the written word of God, the physical constitution
of the world, or any law of nature, could or did operate
against the interest or happiness of any single indi-
vidual or class of men. For any man to entertain such
a case, proved his want of the spirit of Christianity
and his trust in the goodness and wisdom of the
Almighty—the merciful-Father of all mankind. The
population of the United Kingdom, at present, was
estimated to be about taentyzaix millions, and it had been
proved that the soil was not capable of raising
more food than was sufficient to support fif-
teen millions. What was the duty of legislators,
professing to be disciples of our Saviour, in such circum-
stances ? To prohibit the admission of the surplus food
of other countries—to say to the people you must be
contented with a short allowance ? No, no ! They
would cry aloud, " Let abundance be in the land—let
us succour the poor and needy, the naked and the hun-
gry." My friends, do we ever hear our landowning law-
makers cry thus ? Never. Let no man, or Minister
of the Gospel, professing the religion of Jesus Christ,
tell me he is a Christian if he votes for a bread-taxer.
They may talk about Infidels and Socialists, but rest
assured he is not a Christian who supports a system
which sacrifices the health, the comfort, the happiness,

~.....,
and the prosperity of his fellow-men—sends to prema-
ture graves thousands every year by disease, engendered
through starvation caused by the landlords' food mono-
poly. But while the landowning law-makers taxed
the food of the poor industrious man—the article they
themselves produced—by preventing its importation
into this country, unless it had reached a starvation
price, they legislated so that few of the comforts, and
none of the luxuries, should bo under such restriction.
He had travelled over the greater part of the Conti-
nent ; had been in France and Portugal ; there he saw
the choicest of wines castled and shipped ; if he asked
where these were going—" To London," was the reply.
In Spain he saw boxes of the finest fruits, tastily packed
and fancifully decorated ; he inquired where they were
going—" To London." From Italy and Russia he found
were sent to London likewise the richest of their silks
and furs ; but, my friends, you never heard of a fluctu-
ating scale of duty to any of these articles. The rich
alone can purchase there luxurious productions, and they
have carefully exempted them from heavy taxation.
The repeal of the Corn-laws was not a ques-
tion
of politics—of Whig, Tory, or Radical—of
one party or another party ; it was a ques-
tion of justice, the right to live by honest in-
dustry. He contended that every man had a right
to live by his labour, be it by his head or hands, or
both. The Corn-laws, by contracting the market and
the supply of food, deprived millions in this country of
that right. Much had been said about the home trade
by Mr. Gladstone and his friends, that it would be
ruined by the repeal of the bread-tax, &c. He was in
the home trade, manufactured for that trade, and would
feel extremely obliged by any gentleman stepping upon
that platform and showing him how the home trade
would be ruined ; if he could, he would be the first to
renounce tins ug,ttAtion. lie was deeply interested to
this question. He employed about 600 people, paid
upwards of 25,0001. yearly in Wages, and turned over

I about 150,000/. in business in the same period. Thus
r the prosperity and permanency of the home trade was a-
matter of some importance to him, probably as much
so as to any tnanufacturer in this borough. It was not
his wish to boast, but merely to state facts. And whom
did the manufacturers chiefly depend upon, even in the
home trade ? Was it upon such as any of the Duke of
Buckingham's petty agricultural villages ? No. It was
upon such towns as London, Birmingham, Wolver-
hampton, Walsall, Leeds, &c. And what did he find
was the ease ? Why, that when our foreign commerce
was depressed, the home trade was invariably bad ; that
was a notorious fact, the consequence of which was, that
those engaged in foreign trade were obliged to manuf?e•
ture for the home market to support existence, by which
means the wages of labour, and profits of capital were re-
duced to the lowest scale, and would still keep gradually
falling, and assuredly would continue to sink, so long as
they were restricted to the present system and markets,
and the population increased, as it would always do. Some
of his men earned about two guineas weekly, a consider-
able number got as much as 058., who had been ap-
prentices—and a still larger number about 20s. ; boys
and girls, from nine to twelve years of age, received
from 3s. to 55., and unskilled labourers, men who had
learned no particular occupation, from 12s. to 14s. He
would respectfully ask if the mechanics in Walsall were
receiving better wages than those he had no stated ?
(Cries of " No, no; nothing like it.") Well, then, it
was certain, that unless the food monopoly was speedily
destroyed, he, nor no other man, could long give the
present rate of wages. It was impossible,
while the
German was daily underselling them in most of their ma-
nufactures, as had been already ably shewn that evening
by their friend Mr. Walker. They must go down the
social scale, how:far no man could tell. Much had been
said about Irishmen immigrating to England ; he did not
see what ought to prevent them ; they had a right to
sell their labour at the best advantage—this was the
great principle they were contending for ; yet he could
not help fearing the time might come when the English-
man would be reduced to the condition of the present
Irish peasant ; this was certain, that unless our com-
mercial system were immediately revised, it would be ine-
vitable. He would not detain them any longer. He
seriously entreated the electors to consider their position
—the eyes of the country were upon them. He did
not use that expression in die sense it was used in a
petty election by party, where no one cared about it be-
yond its own precinca it they did return an anti-
monopolist he would come back to congratulate the
men of Walsall on the victory they had achieved for
themselves and their country; if not, he, as a private
individual, would not wish to share the obloquy and
scorn that awaited them.

Mr. Monnay, from Liverpool, having arrived since
the !fleeting commenced, was introduced by Mr. SMith.
He stated that last night a meeting of upwards of 2,000
people assembled in Liverpool to address the men of
Walsall, and to petition Parliament for the repeal of
the bread-tax. He had been sent by that meeting to
induce them to do their duty in the present contest, and
trusted they would.
After Mr. Murray had done, Mr. COBDEN again rose
and entreated discussion without calling any one forth.
A few suggestions were then made by a gentleman as;
to the propriety of getting up a requisition to Mr. Glad-
stoue, inviting him to appear with Mr. Smith before
the electors ; after which the meeting quietly dispersed.
Tne utmost enthusiasm prevailed throughout the pro-
ceedings, the different speakers being often interrupted
by shouts of applause.
FRlDAY.—Another large meeting was held this even-
ing. The Dragon Assembly Room was crowded to
overflow. Eloquent addresses were delivered by
Messrs. Acland, Kettle, Smith, and Cobden.

MEDICAL REFORM-THE QUAR-
TERLY REVIEW AND THE UNIVERSITY
OF LONDON.

In an article on " Medical Reform," in the last number
of the Quarterly Review, are some misrepresentations
and mis-statements respecting the University of London
which the author would not have ventured to make had he
been at all acquainted with the regulations and progress of
that institution. In this article the following remark oc-
curs :•—" We conclude that it was the failure of the Me-
tropolitan University which led Mr. Warburton, at the
close of the last Session of Parliament, to lay on the table
of the House of Commons his Bill for the registration of
medical practitioners."
What the failure or success of the Metropolitan Uni-
versity had to do with the registration of medical prac-
titioners is not very evident. The failure of that institu-
tion could not have rendered medical reform more, as its
remarkable success has not rendered it less, necessary.
However that may be, the following statement of facts will
show that the Metropolitan University, so far from being
a failure, has had a degree of success, unexampled, per-
haps, in the progress of such institutions, and has al-
ready exerted a highly beneficial influence in raising the
standard of general and medical education throughout
the country. The University of London was established
by charter in November 1836, and the first matriculation
examination was held in October 1438, During the period
between these two dates the members of the University
were assiduously engaged in considering and drawing up a
course of education and arranging the subjects of exami-
nation for graduates in literature and science, in law and in
medicine. Committees of these different faculties were
formed, and each Committee was required to draw up and
present to the Senate a report upon the particular subject
which it embraced. Fully sensible of the importance of
the task thus imposed upon them, the Committees endea-
voured to obtain the fullest information on the present
state of education in this and other countries. The Com-
mittee of the Faculty of Medicine in particular, from the
involved state of the subject in this country, occupied
much time in the preparation of their Report; and, in order
that they might have the assistance of those whom they
thought most likely to afford them useful and practical
information, the Report, when in an advanced state, was
sent to the most important medical schools and to many
of the moat distinguished medical men throughout the
kingdom (among whom were not a few who had ample
" experience in hospitals and schools," as well as
" inter.
course with students,") with a request that they would sub-
mit it to a critical examination, and favour the Committee
with their opinion freely on every point of importance in
the proposed system of medical education. The result of
this invitation was a number of communications sufficient
to form a goodly-sized volume, which constitutes not the
least remarkable or valuable part of the printed records of
the University. A similar plan was adopted by the Com-
mittee on arts, although to a less extent. In addition to
accurate information on the institutions of this country, the
regulations respecting the extent of education, the method
of teaching, and the mode of conducting examinations iu
all the principal States of Europe were obtained through
our Ambassadors. From these and other sources a
mass of valuable information was collected, of which the
members of the Committees availed themselves to the
best of their abilities in drawing up their respective re-
ports for the consideration of the Senate. The reports
of the Committees, after being presented to the Senate,
were submitted to a searching examination by a Com-
mittee of the whole Senate, and, after being printed and
considered, were finally examined by the Senate, before
they became regulations of the University. Thus much
is stated here to show that the members of the Metropo-
litan University spared no pains to perform the important
duties which had been entrusted to them by the Govern-
ment.

The
The

The regulations of the University were published in
May, and the first matriculation examination was fixed
for October, 1838. Twcnty.two candidates presented
themselves—a number surely as large as could have been
reasonably expected, considering the extent of the ex-
amination, and the short period which had elapsed since
the publication of the regulations. The subjoined table
exhibits the progressive increase of candidates during the
two years in which the University has been in operation.
NUMBER OF CANDIDATES WHO HAVE PASSED THE SEVERAL

EXAMINATIONS.
1838.
Examinationlor Matriculation

--
1839.
Examination for Matriculation
Degree of Bachelor of Arts l7
. Bachelor of Laws
•••
••• ... Bachelor of Medicine,
••
Ist Exam 16 /. 25'
2d Exam 9
... Doctor of Medicine ... 2 77
1840.
Examination for Matriculation
... Degree of Bachelor of Arts... 3O
Master of Arts
••• Bachelor of Laws
•••
Bachelor of Medicine,
Ist Exam 341
2d Exam... _l9 i" 57
Doctor of Medicine
••• •••

Total ........ 26

practitioners. Those who wish to obtain this .listinction
aru allowed to matriculate and begin their profession while
they arc yet boy:. at the age ot sixteen years, and to pcc-
sent themselves for their last examination, to as to be es-
teemed practitioners, as soon as they havr,4 pasted their
twenty-first birthday. Fourteen different kinds of lectures
are included in the curriculum, being five more than Ilion,
which are required by the College of Surgeems and So-
ciety of Apothecaries; while the attendance ort hospital
practice, which we believe to be of more importance than
all the lectures put torether, is actually less. The whole
system, as it appears to us, is unnecessarily complicated.
Yet we must acknowledge that it affords evidence of good
intentions on the part of those who formed it. They seem
to have been realty anxious to place the rnedi,.'o profes-
sion on as high ground as possible ; but they have :(0t had
that experience in hospitals and schools, nor that triter-
course with students, which they should have bad, to
enable
them to understand the true principles of media;
education."

The Reviewer's fears lest the University should even-
tually look to its own interests more than those of the
community are very natural, with the example of the me-
dical corporations before his eyes ; but fortunately it hap-
pens that the University of London has no interests
but those of the community.
With respect to the minimum age at which candidates
should be allowed to commence their medical studies, the
subject was carefully considered and discussed by the
members of the University ; and it was believed that
the time occupied in acquiring a good preliminary and
full medical education would regulate the matter of age
The writer in the Quarterly I?avierv, moreover, must
know full well, that the practical part of the medical edu-
cation of young men, is chiefly acquired after the de-
gree or diplorna is obtained, by an attendance on hos-
pital?, dispensaries, or as assistants to medical practi-
tioucra, and that few indeed are entrusted with the
treatment of disease until they have reached an age far
beyond that which a University could require.
The regulations of the University respecting attendance
on lecture:, as a means of instruction, are more in ac-
cordance with the critic's views than he imagines. Six
courses of lectures only are required, not, fourteen, as stated
by the Reviewer. The members of the University, after
mature consideration, thought it better to leave the mode
of acquiring instruction as much as possible to the pupils
themselves. They distinctly pointed out the whole of the
subjects on which the candidates for medical degrees would
be examined, but left them to acquire the information as
they found best, with the exception of requiring proofs of
their having attended a recognised school each year of
their studies.

But while, in such branches of knowledge as might be
acquired-either from books or lectures,
.the pupils arc left
to choose for themselves, the University requires proof of
this candidate having been actually engaged in the practi-
cal departments of his profession. With respect to hos-
pital attendance, which, we agree with the Reviewer, is
the most important part of medical cdtica!ion, the period
required of the bachelor of medicine is two years. and a
half. The doctor. of medicine, in addition to the above
period, is required to attend two years, 1: e. to have four
years and a half's attendance on hospital practice.. Let us
now see whether this amount of hospital. attendance be
less, as is asserted by the Reviewer, than that required by
the other institutions :

. 1 i years.

APOTHECARIES' COMPANY require
COLLEGE of SURGEONS (since 1840)
The COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS,
Licentiates, or those who practise in London,
or within seven miles of it . . . . 3 years.
'or Extra-Licentiates, or those who practise be-
yond the circle of seven miles around London, 1 year.
The UNIVERSITY Cr LONDON,
For Bael,e'or6 of Medicine . . . . 2i- years.
For D6otors of Medicine . . . 4i years.
So much for the attention which the Raviewcr has be-
stowed on the course of instruction promulgated by the
University which he has so unscrupulously condemned 1
But the system is said to be unnecessarily complicated. It
may appear so to one who, like our critic, has not taken
the trouble to examine it ; but it has not occurred that

. 3 years.

ne of the numerous candidates who have presented them-
selves for examination, has had the smallest difficulty in
comprehending it.
The University requires-Ist, That the pupil shall,
before he enters on the study of medicine, give proof of
having had a liberal education, by his passing the matri-
culation examination ; 2J, that he shall be occupied four
years in the study of medicine ; 3d, that he shall pass two
examinations for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine—
one at the end of the second year of his studies, and the
other when his studies are terminated ; 4th, the subjects on
which the candidate will be tested at each examination,
are clearly pointed out, and thus the order in which they
may be best acquired is indicated to him. A less com-
plicated system could scarcely Le imagined, or one more
suited to prepare the pupil for entering with advantage
on the study of medicine, and guide him in acquiring a
knowledge of the different branches, of his profession,
leaving him at the same time the utmost liberty in select-
ing his sources of instruction. But while the University
leaves the utmost license to the pupil in the mode of ob-
taining information, it has endeavoured to render the exa-
minations real tests of the candidate's proficiency. With
this view, he is examined on every subject laid down in
the curriculum : Ist, by means of written papers; 24, by
viva voce interrogations ; and, 3d, when the subject admits
of a prawical examination, that is added.
It would be difficult, we think, to devise a system of
education better suited to stimulate both pupil and teacher,
or a mode of examination more calculated to test the can-
didate's proficiency, than that which has just been de-
scribed; and now that the writer in the Quarterly Review
knows something of the regulations of the Metropolitan
University and their results hitherto, he may be disposed
to admit that the members have given evidence of some-
thing more than " good intentions," and that they do know
something of the " true principles of medical education."
Had they not taken a more.liberal and ealightened view of
medical education than the Reviewer has of medical re-
form, the Metropolitan University would assuredly have
been a failure.

The truth is, that the University of London has already
done more to raise the standard of medical education, and
place the medical profession on higher ground, than all
the chartered medical institutions in the kingdom have
done from their first establishment up to the present time.
The University has been in active operation about two
years only, and at this moment there is not, we believe,
a medical school of any character in the British dominions
which has not applied to be recognised by it ; and col-
leges of general education over the whole country have
solicited the same recognition, and have in consequence
increased the extent and raised the standard of their courses
of instruction to the requirements of the University, The
regulations of the Metropolitan University have thus given
a stimulus to education throughout the whole kingdom,
a result highly gratifying to the members of the institu-
tion, and which, had it been the only effect of their la-
bours would be sufficient to justify the expectations of its
founders and the expenditure which it has cost the country.