The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1841

The choice of the SPEAKER is the only busi-
ness of importance which has yet occupied the
House of Commons. Whatever interest might
have attached to that question was extinguished
when it was announced that the re-election of
Mr. SHAW LEPEVRE was not to be opposed.
The whole affair from that moment became a
matter of routine, and our Contemporaries must
have been much at a loss for subjects to ex-
patiate on, when they devoted column after
column to this bygone event. In fact, the elec-
tion of the SPEAKER took place when Sir It.
PEEL consulted his friends, and allowed his de-
termination to be announced that lie should not
oppose the re-election of Mr. SHAW LEPEVRE.
We might as well waste our space in discussing
the dissolution or the election, as the re-election
of the SPEAKER.

The French Journals of Thursday have all
been received, but the news contained in them
was anticipated in the afternoon edition of yes-
terday's Sun. The following extracts from them
are, however, interesting :
Between four and five o'clock; the afternoon before
last, as one of the men of Messrs. Jouan and Favre,
druggists, in the Rue Saint Martin, was carryiar,
down into the cellar a bottle of volatile alcali, he
let it drop, and broke it. The gas was immediately
ignited by the candle the man held in his hand, and
spread like lightning over the whole cellar, in which
were other inflammable essences, so that in a few
minutes it was filled with flames. The firemen were
almostly instantly on the spot, and set their engines to
work. Several put on Colonel Paulin's apparatus, and
went down, but the explosions were so repeated and dan-
gerous, that they were forced to return, and it was every
minute expected that the whole house would be blown
up. Their exertions were, however, continued with such
skill and perseverance, that in the course of two hours
and a half the fire was extinguished, but not without
doing very extensive damage. The loss was consider-
able, but fortunately the parties were fully insured.
Two evenings ago, as a farmer of the Seine et Marne
was returning home from Paris, when at about half a
league from the barrier, he heard groans by the road-side,
and, having dismounted, saw a man lying on the bank of
a ditch., He stooped down to assist him, but immedi•
ately received in his eyes a handful of dust and snuff;
which for a few moments deprived him of sight. Mean-
time the man who had thrown the mixture got up,
mounted the farmer's horse, and galloped off. The
owner, who was left to continue his route on foot, on
arriving at home found his horse in the stable, but with-
out the saddle. It is supposed that the thief being un-
able to make the horse take a cross-road, had abandoned
it, after stealing the saddle, and the animal had gone
home by itself.
A correspondent at Algiers writes, on the 9th inst. to
the Moniteur Parisien :
" The dissolution of the power of Abdel Kader is at
hand. All his ability and activity cannot delay the dis-
location of the tribes for more than a few days. .At
Constantina a tribe has . delivered up to Ben Gan-
nah, our shiek, a lialifa of the Emir's, who was en-
deavoliring to re-establish his authority, and who has
been sent to the prison of the island of St. Marguerite.
Several Kabyles of Soumata have made their submission
at Blidah ; and at Milianah 54 deserters from Abdel
Kader's regulars have come in and surrendered them-
selves. The garrison of Milianah is in a satisfactory
state of health. The utmost activity is using in pre-
paring for the autumnal expedition. Eighteen hundred
mules are ready for the baggage, and another thousand
are expected at Oran, from France and Bona. An im-
mense supply of, provisions and ammunition will be sent
to the magazines of Blidah. The expedition will take its
departure from the 20th to the 25th of Sept."
Thd Precurseur, of Angers, says, " A report was
spread at Angers yesterday that disturbances had taken
place at La Rochelle, caused, as some said, by the expor-
tation of corn, or, as others stated, by the re assessment.
It is said that the battalion of the 30th regiment gar-
risoned at Beaupre and Cholet has been sent to La Ro-
cholle in consequence of these events. We have not been
able to ascertain the complete accuracy of this report, but
it is certain that one or two companies of the garrison at
Augon have marched this morning forßeaupre and Cho-
let, doubtless for the purpose of taking the place of the
battalion, which has been sent to another place, accord-
ing to the report which we have stated, to La Rochelle.
The Phare des Pyrenes, published at Bayonne, of the
15th of August, says, " Several journals make Lieut.-
Gen. O'Donnell travel from Paris to the frontiers ofSpain
with plans for an insurrection. We are able to affirm that
that General has been for some days past at rampeluna."
—La Gazette de France.
The Moniteur of this morning has no official part.
We have received the Journals of Bordeaux of the
17th. They announce that there had been no disturb-
ances on the evenings of the 15th and 16th.
The Indicateur says, that, on the morning of the 10th,
part of the 9th Regiment of Light Infantry had arrived
from Saintes. In the evening there was a very considerable
display of force. There were only some isolated at-
tempts to excite disturbance, in which the crowd took
no part, About a dozen persons were arrested. The
number of persons arrested, up to the 15th, is 194, almost
all of them strangers to the city, and belonging to the
working classes.
Orders have been given for troops, catatoned in the
east of the 11th Military Division, to march to Bor-
deaux.—_Le Constitutional.
BOUT'SE—
PARIS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 19.

first Highest Lowest Last
Price Price. Priv, Pri CP
French 5 Der Cents...... ll6 50 ... Ild 55 ... 116 50 ... 116 :,0
4% per Cants ...•••••• 105 50 ... 103 50 ... 105 30 ... 105 50
4 per Cents ...
..51 C 12400 . ..".51(414
5
3 per Cents. ex. div. 77 60 ... 17 60 ... 77 50 ... 77 5..)
Sant of trance
Latlitte Bank I,OOW.
Skates
ses
5120 1040
......51420 .
0 ...
Belgian Bank ...... ......
Belgian 5 per Cents.
3 per Cents 7l 50 ... 71 50 ... 71 5) ... 71 50
Dutch 2% per Tents. 52% ... 52% ... 52% ... 52%
rpanah Acuvis ........ 10% ... SO% ... sO% ... ox
Passive 4% ... 4% ... 4% ... %
New Deferred
Neapolitan lO4 30 ... ir4 30 ... 194 30 ... IC4 30
tt,unan . .... 102% ... 102% ...102j1 ...102%
RAILWAY SHARES.
728 75 ... 731 ... 728 75 ... 728 75
Ssytte:::::iii:::3:',3t:.::..l
....
.............
.. _..........
325081
5073
....
32107
50 ......
320259 73
......
3.750
Rouen
0ne..., .
237 50 ... r 37 50 ... 237 50 .. 237 :Al

CIIILDIIEN DOING THE I.:
Maufth he ter the remarkable things stated at .the
*lry OF PAIIENTS.-011C of
Confe-
rence, of which several instances w.'re givull, W", that
whole families are sometimes supported hY the labour of
one or two children who are fortunate enongh to be kept
in employment, while their parents and broilers can find
noti'ing to do. There is little demand for the it.-.lour of
adalta, and could not the children find work, whole fa-
milies would be starved.

GREAT NORTH OF ENGLAND RAILWAY.
Traffic returns for the week ending August 16, 1841:—
Passengers
Merehandiz, 368 8 4

cultivation, that it never will, as long as the cus-
tomers of the agriculturists Increase in numbers
and in wealth. That the repeal of the Corn-
laws would increase the number and wealth of
the town population there is not the smallest
doubt, and that increase would do more to stimu-
late and extend cultivation than all the Corn-
laws and agricultural societies that ever existed.
What would the farmers do without customers,
and what would they-not gain by the rapid in-
crease of their customers:?
As to wages, the tailors, carpenters, brick-
layers, shoemakers, &c., of the metropolis and of
every town of the empire, are paid weekly wages,
the rate of which seldom varies. The same fact
is true of porters, clerks, and a great variety of
other labourers. It is a plain and palpable ab-
surdity to assert that their wages have risen or
do rise with the price of wheat, which varies be-
tween 365. and 80s., while the rate of their wages
has continued for many years past very nearly
the same. When prices are low and wheat
abundant they probably get an increase of em-
ployment, but their payment does not otherwise
vary with the price of bread. What proportion
such classes form of the whole body of labourers,
including servants, &c., we cannot say, but it is
very considerable, and completely disproves the
assertion, as a general statement, that wages rise
and fall with the price of bread.
But as the question is now narrowed, we have
only to look at the condition of the working
classes for its solution. Never was that much
worse. In the manufacturing districts they are
starving or praying to be transported, and in the
agricultural districts they commit crimes, and
deliver themselves up to the law, that they may
be sent abroad. There are seven thousand
handloom-weavers in Manchester living in cel-
lars, without a blanket to cover them, or a ves-
sel to boil their food, while wheat is between 70s.
and 80s. the quarter. In some manufacturing
districts some workmen receive 55., and in the
agricultural districts Bs. per week. The average
of wages throughout the empire is barely suffi-
cient to obtain subsistence for a family. If the
fate of the Corn-law is to be decided by its influ-
ence on wages, the condition of the labouring
classes at this moment pronounces against it a
withering condemnation. We feel grateful to
those who have reduced the question to this nar-
row issue, and we call on the workmen through-
out the empire to decide it.

S ?A nv oFt7: R•
1 zW3

AND
ttb at) tO It•

" Mu runs may read."

POILEXGN.
The American domestic news to the Bth inst., brought
by the Great Westerr, is of so miscellaneous a character
that no summary of t can be given here. Nor does it
contain a single fact d paramount importance save that
Mr. M'Leod would positively be brought to trial at Utica
on the 19th inst.

The American payers bring important news from
China to the 17th ofApril, which will be found in an-
other part of The Sea. It states that the British had
seized upon Canton, from whence all the wealthy inha-
bitants had fled—that the High Commissioner Yang had
been disgraced and sent in chains to Pekin—that in their
engagements with the British the Chinese had lost about
3,000 men and 800 pieces of cannon, whereas the British
had only one man lilled—that the Chinese Admiral
Kwang, the " lineal aid terrible descendant of the God
of war, whose wrath the barbarians could not withstand
extermination," was killed in one of the forts—and that
all hopes of an accommodation being at an end, a British
expedition would attack Pekin in the month of June.
As doubts of the authenticity of this news is entertained
in the city, we refrain from expressing any opinion upon
the events. We have, however, considered that we
would not be justified in withholding a full report of
this news from the public in the shape in which we find
it in the American papers. No news of importance this
morning from the Continent.

Punzac OPINION.
The Times asks the following curious question, with
reference to the late Manchester Conference :—" Is 'it
not abominably hard that we are obliged ever and anon
to abstract ourselves from more dignified pursuits, for the
mere purpose of putting an extinguisher upon hurnbugs ?"
The " dignified pursuits" of a Journal, whose sole pur-
suit for some years past has been to bolster up the cause
of faction, at the sacrifice of every just and conscientious
opinion that it once maintained—that shifts like a
weather-cock from day to day, and is consistent only in
its flagrant inconsistency ;—the " dignified pursuits" cf
a Journal like this is such a broad, palpable joke, that
it is impossible to think of it without a burst of laughter!
As for our Contemporary's flippant allusion to " humbugs,"
it would be difficult to find one greater than himself, unless
indeed it be that selfish anti-national faction which is now
as much the theme of his idolatry, as it was five years ago of
his contempt. In another paragraph, the Times, still re-
ferring to the Members of the Manchester. Conference,
adds, "it would seem that these men's pompous and in-
flated arrogance has succeeded in ensnaring Lord Ducie
and Mr. Cobden, M.P., into a belief that it was really
worth while to excite public wonder by the appearance of
a clean shirt or two at the Conference. Those respectable
persons little knew who their linen distinctions and good
sense were wasted on." From the constant reference that
our Contemporary has of late been making to clean shirts,
we infer that they are luxuries in which he seldom dreams
of indulging, for we always think most of those things
that are novelties to us! •
The Morning Herald objects to the speakers at the
Manchester Conference, that they were uncultivated and
ungenteel, observing—" The Rev. Chairman of the day,
in the verbiage of a coal-porter, declared to the Confe-
rence that there was no palaver about the American
orator." The word " palaver" has evidently given
quite a galvanic shock to our contemporary's notions
of classic elegance, he himself being a model in this re-
spect ; and he adds, immediately afterwards, " The
effects of education, we had thought, were in no sense
more distinguishable than in the avoidance of slang; we
have either been labouring under a mistake, or political
dissenting teachers may be devoid of the education as
well as the manners and feelings of gentlemen." Hence-
forth, let no public speaker, whether Parliamentary or
otherwise ; ever make use of the word " palaver." The
Herald pronounces it vulgar and ungentlemanlike, and
who can demur to his high authority on the subject of
graceful and polished diction ? But if " palaver" be
low, and worthy only of the meridian of Russell-
square ; how much lower and vulgarer must have been
Lord Stanley's famous slang allusions to " thimble-rig-
ging !" Yet we do not recollect that our fastidious Con-
temporary expressed his disgust at this lavish display of
" Billingsgate ," for he seems to be one of those discreet
public instructors who can swallow a camel while they
strain at a gnat ! After all, however, the people will
look, not to the language of the Manchester speakers,
but to the principles they enunciated ; and if these are
sound, they will pardon the homeliness of their diction.
The Chronicle says :—" The general character of the
Conference proceedings at Manchester is such :as cannot
fail to command respect. The resolutions are so framed
as to embrace the great moral and religious bearings of
the subject, founding the inferences which they embody
mainly on facts coming under the personal observation of
the parties themselves, or on the broad, undeniable
truths of history and moral science. The convocation,
or synod, as it has been termed, promises to be as unique
in its results as in the impulse on which it was sum-
moned. It is the one general council of practical Chris-
tianity. Aided, as its object has been, by such publica-
tions as those of the Rev. Thomas Spencer and other
clergymen of the Establishment, especially by the
powerful pen and high character of the Rev. Baptist
Noel, we cannot but consider one most important result
as achieved. The religious sense and principle of the
country has declared itself against the Corn-laws." This
is perfectly true ; and the sound, healthy, patriotic spirit
displayed at the Manchester Conference will very soon
find an echo in the hearts of nine-tenths of the com-
munity.
The Post observes, in an article praising the incom-
parable public virtues of the Tories •--" We should be
glad to know what there has been in• the conduct of the
Parliamentary party, headed by Sir Robert Peel for the
last ten years, which should warrant any man of vera-
city in attributing to that party intolerance or exclu-
siveness ? We defy any one, however hostile to •the
Conservative party, to produce instances, or a single in-
stance, of such dispositions." For an answer to this
barefaced assertion, we refer our Contemporary to the
Parliamentary Debates for the last ten years and up-
wards.
The Dublin Evening Post assigns these reasons for the
increase in the military force in Ireland :—" Four regi-
ments have been ordered to Ireland, say the Orange
journals, and the Whigs, by making this tardy increase
of the military force, admit that the country is not in
that blessed state of tranquillity for which so much credit
has been given them. The sending of those regiments
to Ireland has had nothing whatever to do with the
state of the country, which is as tranquil as
represented by the Judges during the recent Circuits.
Two of those regiments are Cavalry, and they have
come over to complete the quota of that description of
force allotted to this country, and because, from the
paucity of cavalry in Ireland, much inconvenience was
suffered, and a great number of horses were rendered
unfit for service, owing to the very distant stations, it
has been found necessary to send detachments. With
respect to the infantry, the corps ordered to Ireland,
being reduced below the proper standard, are coming
over to recruit, and complete their complement.
The arrangement is altogether one of military conve-
nience, considered expedient at the Horse Guards, and
having no connection whatever with the preservation of
order in Ireland.

The Durham Chronicle gives the following etymology
of the distinguishing feature of Conservatism :• There
is a difficulty often in giiing a new definition to party ;
for unless it be fit the original name predominates.
Conservatism and bigotry are one. Now, what is bigotry?
Walker is happier in the pun of his pronunciation than
in his definition. Big-gut. ted, or Big-gut-try, makes a
very good collateral or analogical definition, while the
real meaning of the word is an attachment to idolatrous
error—to something beyond party. All the figured
idols of the earth have been exhibited with big bellies
and the priests and idolators of all countries as carnivori
or great devourers of animal food, which they call sacri-
fice. Eaters without work would be another appropriate
definition of Tories or Conservatives."

The Coventry Herald remarks on the obscurity of the
Peel measures :—" The dishonest silence of Peel for the
last two months has not been more unjust to his oppo-
-1 nents, than it has been embarrassing and awkward for
his own friends to deal m ith. Pressed right and left, be-
' fore and behind, by their respective adherents, gasping,
yearning, and importuning for ' intelligence," news,' or
' information,' the ' best public instructors' of the Tory
Press havebeen forced to say 'somelhing ;' yet, being left
quite in the dark as to the future policy of their leader
they have scarcely known what to advance, or what to
withhold ; what to advocate, or what to oppose, save and
except that it is quite right to ' turn out the Whigs.' "