The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-04 00:00:00

DINNER TO MESSRS VILLIERS
AND THORNELY.

(Abridged from the Staffordshire Examiner.)

The excitement occasioned by this dinner has almost
been without parallel in the town of Wolverhampton.
From Saturday last up to Thursday afternoon there was
such a demand for tickets, as to occasion in the minds
of the Committee the deepest regret that, instead of
providing for the accommodation of 300 or 3.50, they
had not anticipated snd provided for the assembling of
ten times that number. The Duke of Sutherland and
Lord Wrottesley, unsolicited, and in the most handsome
manner, furnished game of every description. On the
right of the Chairman sat the following gentlemen : --
The Hon. C. P. Villiers, M.P., Colonel Anson, M.P..
Mr. Leader. M.P. for Westminster, Mr. Bolton. of
Liverpool, and Mr. Throgmorton. On the left— Mr,
Tuornely, Mr. Easthope, Dr. Bowring, Mr. Harvey, of
Liverpool, and other gentlemen.
The CHAIRMAN, after dinner, gave with a few corn-
plimentary words, " The Health of our &ware4n Lady
Queen Victoria." The toast was received with tre-
mendous cheers.

Letters were read from Mr. W. Evart, Mr< Robt.
Hyde Greg, Mr. G. S. Ward, Mr. Thomas Potter,
Mr. Joshua Walmesley, Mr. W. Rathbone, Mr. J.
Brotherton, Mr. Joseph Heine, and a number of other
gentlemen, apologizing for their inability to attend.

The health of Prince Albert was drunk with loud
applause, as was that of the '° Duke of Sussex, and the
Royal Family resident in England."
The CHAIRMAN said in proposing the health of
her Maj. sty's Ministers, I hope I may be permitted
to trespass on your time •in order to state my
reasons for cordially concurring with the sentiment.
None of us can forget that it is to these men and their
colleagues, backed by the voice of the public, when out
of office, that we owe the repeal of Test and Corpora-
tion Acts.—(Cheers.) None of us can forget that it is
to them we owe the emancipation of our Catholic
orethren from those bonds which prevented their exer-
cising their inalienable rights.—(Loud cheers.) We
cannot forget that it is to these men, similarly backed,
that we owe the passing of the Reform Bill, which gave
a place to Wolverhampton amongst the Parliamentary
boroughs—(Renewed cheering)—that it is to these men
we owe the opening of our East India trade, and that to
them the slave is indebted for bursting asunder those
bonds which bound him f o a cruel and hard-hearted task-
master.—( Tremendous cheers.) Nor can we forget that
to them we owe the preservation of peace—(Cheers)—
for, amidst all our troubles and distresses, peace is indeed
a blessing.—(Renewed cheers) To them, too, we owe
the first: glimmerings of the free trade principle, for the
first questions of the Ballot and Corn-law repeal are
now no longer Cabinet questions, but are open to all
upon the Liberal side of the House—(Cheers)—and,
lastly, thoughwnot least, I may enumerate the Postage
question, which they have carried, and of which we
are now feeling the good effects.—(Renewed cheers.)
Gentlemen, we are not ungrateful.—(Hear.) English-
men are not ungrateful.—(Hear.) They feel, and feel
war:nly for favours granted them, and I do wish Colonel
Anson would take an opportunity of telling Lord Mel-
bourne to jog on a little faster—(Loud cheers)—and
that if he did not truckle quite so much to his political
opponents the men of Wolverhampton would like him
all the better.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I give you—
" Her Majesty's Ministers."
Drank by all the company standing, with three times
three.

The CHAIRMAN, after some well-deserved compl-
- gave —" Our Representatives, Villiers and
Thornely, with thanks to them for their untiring efforts
to promote our interests and the good of the country."
Mr. VlLLlERS—Gentlemen, if I do not use the com-
mon-place expressions which are usually uttered on
these occasions, I am sure you will excuse me, because
they would but very imperfectly express my feelings.
I cannot but feel gratified at the kind and honourable
reception you have given me and my worthy colleague.
I do feel most grateful for it ; and I only trust that I
have merited such a favour.—(Cheers, and cries of
You have.") Certainly I have sought to do so ; and
if I have had success, I now receive the only reward
I ever looked forward to, or desired.—(Hear, hear.)
When I look around this board, and see every face
that gave us countenance at first here at the present
moment, I think that it offers an evidence to ourselves
of our mutual fidelity, and ,to the public that we have at
►east seen no reason to swerve or turn from those prin-
ciples which we have espoused ; or to leave the public
cause, which, as electors, or as representatives, we pro-
mised to support. Gentlemen, you are aware there has
been malice enough in this town to charge those who
voted for a consideration of the claims of the people
with being accessories to the recant unfortunate com-
motions.—(Cries of " Shame, shame.") Gentlemen, I
think it would be well for those who brought these
charges to have remembered a little what was the
nature of the dwellings in which they reside, because it
is an old proverb that " Men who live in glass houses
should not be the first to fling stones ; ' and when we
think of what courses they have been pursuing for a
season ; when we think in what way they have attempted
to shake the affections of the people to the Throne itself
—(Hear, hear)—when we think that they have been
employing themselves in uttering vile and ribald re-
marks against our youthful Sovereign—(Hear)—she
who sits on the throne by no fault of her own, and who,
for what they have proved,since shehas sat there has com-
mitted no fault. When we consider the tendency of such
attacks to be to lessen the affection of the people towards
the Crown, and when we consider the deliberate and
systematic attacks they have made on all the authorities
appointed by the Sovereign, I think we should be doing
something. Why, it is only but a short period since an
address was forwarded to me by a Noble Lord—l believe
one of the representatives of this county—(A voice : " A
misrepresentative")—and in which! found serious charges
brought, and serious attacks made against the authorities
of the country, holding them up to derision and con-
tempt. But it seems to me that they had better reproach
and reproYe their own friends for ,tending to shake the
influence of the law and authority over the people, before
they look at what may be the effect of taking into cons;
deration the just claims and prayers of the people.
Gentlemen, when 1 identify myself with liberal policy
it is that motto which I see there inscribed which
have ever held in view.—[Here the Honourable Gen-
tleman pointed to the motto on the wall " We do unto
others as we wish them to do unto us."]—l claim that
just and blessed maxim of the Christian religion
(continued Mr. Villiers) as the basis on which all Libe-
ra: politics rest, and from which they all proceed. It
is the doing to others as we would they should do unto
us that we take as the principle of our policy. It is that
on which all our wishes arc founded; it is with that
view all our struggles are made ; it is rather to ab-
jure the selfish, sordid, monopolizing policy, and to
seek to extend to others that which accieent or for-
tune has conferred on us, than to use our powers
and advantages to perpetuate and confirm their n,i-
sery.—(Loud and continued cheering.) It is in that
cause and for that purpose that we have struggled for
those great measures in which as yet we have been sue-
crs,s!ul. It is for that cause we have toiled—for free-
dom of conscience, for responsible Government, for the
abolition of monopoly, and for the education of the
people.—(Tremendous applause.) Mr. Villiers pro-
ceeded to make some spirited and just observations
on the conduct of the pretended friends of the Church,
which, together with the remainder of his long and able
speech, we are obliged to exclude from want of room.
He declared himself in favour of the Ballot, and spoke
strongly and eloquently against the Corn-laws, and con-
cluded thus :—Gentlemen, I believe the struggle in
which we are engaged for the freedom of commerce

is of great importance, and is more essential to the in-
terest and prosperity of this country than any struggle
which was ever made by our predecessors, or will be
made again.—(Hear, hear.) I believe it is the great
and important cause we ought all to identify ourselves
with, and there is no reason to despair, seeing that we
have obtained the victory on so many previous questions.
Gentlemen, your noble example has been already pointed
at by your country. I say, onward, onward. You have
set an example before the country which has reflected
much credit hitherto, and you will receive all the
satisfaction and pleasure which, conferring blessings on
your country, will always give to you. The Honour-
°able Membo- then resumed his seat amid thunders of
applause.
Toe CHAIRMAN said, in order to give them a few
minutes rest, atter the long and eloquent address of the
Hon. Member, he would call on them to fill their glasses,
and respond to the following sentiment :
" May orders come as thick as hail,
And those who send them never f "
Drunk with laughter and cheers.
Mr. THORNELY, after a lapse of a few minutes,•
tendered his most cordial thanks to this assemblage for
the honour. He then proceeded—l feel it also a duty
to remark, that during the five years I have had the
honour of representing this borough, I have received
nothing but indulgence from you for my failings, and
warm approbation whenever I have been found to
have acted up to your principles and desires—( Loud
cheers.) Gentlemen, I stand before you the man I
was when I came among you five years ago.—( Rap-
turous cheer.) The friend to economy—the friend to
the education of the people—the friend of free trade—
the friend and advocate, as far as my humble abilities
will permit, of the repeal of that iniquitous itrpost, the
injustice and impolicy of which my Honourable Colleague
has so eloquently impressed upon your attention in the
course of his most able address. Of course I mean the
food laws.—(Great cheers.) I find, Gentlemen, that
in this district, and especially in Bilston and Willen-
hall, you are feeling the effects of those laws to the
greatest extent. Your trade is, I lament to hear,
(.linii,g. You are not, however, singular. It is the
same in Birmilgliam, the same in Sheffield, the same
in the great manufacturing districts in Yorkshire, the
same in Scotland ; in fact, throughout England em-
barrassment prevails, and you can scarcely hope to
escape.—(Cheers.) There is a cause for all this em-
barrassment, and it is our duty to investigate that
cause, and procure its removal if possible. I lately took
an opportunity of making inquires concerning the
present condition of our trade, with the States; and

I have come here to-night prepared to real to you the
extract. 3 for the authentic reports I have received from
men of the first standing in the United Stites. The
first document I shall read to you is an extract from a
letter from the United States, dated 23d of October,
1839. It is as follows

" In respect to tree trade, all discussion was put to
rest by Mr. Clay's Compromise Act,' which goes into
full operation in 1842. The manufacturing int, rests
will endeavour to re-enact the former high duties, but
I doubt if they succeed ; they certainly will not if you
will reduce the duties on corn, and make them perma-
nent, so that we may count on a perpetual market for
flour. This measure on your part will secure the vote
of the grain growing states, containing six millions of
people, in favour of a liberal tariff, at present this section
is hostile to Gre,,t Britain, conitteletall so. I),,catt,e
you refuse their star."
A sec3nd letter I received contained the foilowin4 re-
markable passage. It is dated the Ist of Novi,utber :
" The cry now is give us a protecting duty on British
manufactures, for it is their importation which brings
us in debt to England, and draws us of our coin."
A third letter, dated fourteen days later, runs as fol-
lows

" The late accounts from England about flour and
your harvest have diminished the desire to ship flour,
wnich is to your disidvantage, inasmuch as our means of
paying debt is decreased. Your Corn-laws develop
more and more the evil consequences resulting from the
selfish, and absurd, and unwise principles on which they
are forwarded. You ask about the t-riff question. It.
is now said that some of the leading men in the cotton
and tobacco states are willing to susrain the eastern and
middle in an excluding duty on woollens, cotton, iron,
&c., when the compromise comes so round. I hardly
think this can be the case, but it is certain that a p.,r-
severance in the corn and timber laws will add to the
strength of the anti-comm2rcial party, and, at no dUdant
day, you will be excluded to a great extent from our
markets. You see what Prussia has done among
the small German Stites, awl tut, same temper ft,xis:s iu
this country, and will be folic:1-(A out in legislative
enactments. A change in your Corn-laws would weaken
the Tariff party, and bring both sections into a commer-
cial harmony, to the great advantage of both pari-ies."
" It should else be borne in mind that the importance
of our trade is not to b.: measured by that of the other
countries. They, in comparison with us, arc stationary
in population and wealth, here we increase in a ratio
heretofore unknown. The census of 1830 was thirteen
millions, we shall in 1840 show about eighteen millions,
and in 1860 number more than France, whilst wealth,
in my opinion, increases in a still greater ratio."

•,
I have thought it material to r,pi these extracts. I
i‘erused the opinions expressed in them under the im-
pression that they would be useful to you.—(Cheers.,`
I have now submitted them for your consideration, and
it remains for me only to add my voice to that of my
Hon. Cullea4-ue in calling on )ou to exert yourselves
it you desire to preserve this important market for your
manufactured goods.—(Cheers.)
After Mr. Thornely, Colonel Anson, the Member
for South Staffordshire, Messrs. Easthope, Leader,
Bowring, and other gentleman spoke, and kept the com-
pany to a late hour. The proceedings were through-
out of the most enthusiastic description. The report of
them, which we have been compelled so largely to
abridge, is of great length, and does great credit to the
industry of our able provincial Contemporary.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE.

bKI D.

le Metropolis is oYt.'2' for the ill)

SEEDS,

Per Quarter.
St. Foin —s. 4Si U.
Rye Grass —i. 40s. 4,s
Pacey Grass
Linseed, for f,rding —,,
Ditto, for sowing —s.
Ditto, for erusliing •—. A2s •
Canary
Hemp Ss

Per Bu,hel.

White nisi.air:C.:lL:
,Brown Ditto lbs. od. 19.. Od
Tares Ng. (hi. 7s 6d.
at) `231.311. Foreign 2fit.

EATHER.
Per IL. d. to d.
Horse Hides, i=erman 12 22
Spanish 13 24
Calf Skins,3o to 4,,1b.(d0z) 15 22

50 .,. 18 24
--58 (30 ~ 21 2S
100
Seal Skins, large...
, .., 20 21
16 2.1
11

Kips
Basils...