The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-21 00:00:00

1111 E
_SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAYf EVENT JAWUKR 21, 1846.

COURT CIF.CULA.R.
Prince Albert
WINDSOR, TUESDAY.—The Queen .
walked out this morning. • isPrince
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wa. '
emd
were
Alfred, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice,
taken their accustomed exercise in the forenoon.
Prince Albert took the diversion of shooting to day.
The Marquis of Granby, and Colonel Bouverie were in
attendance on his Royal Highness. The Marquis of
Granby afterwards took his departure for town.
His Royal Highness Prince George left the Castle this
morning.
The Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Rutland, the
Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Sir R.
Peel, the Duke of Beaufort, the Duke of Cleveland, the
Marquis of Abercorn, the Marquis of Exeter, the Bishop
of ;Winchester, the Bishop of Oxford, Sir James Graham,
the Marquis of Hertford, the Marquis and Marchioness
of Camden, the Earl of Fowls, Earl Talbot, the Earl of
Liverpool, the Earl Delawarr, and the Earl of Jersey,
took their departure from the Castle to=day.
Her Majesty and her Royal Consort again walked in
the pleasure grounds in the afternoon. •
The Royal Family were taken airings this afternoon.

- -
His Royal Highness Prince George arrived at his re-
sidence in St. James's Palace, yesterday, from Windsor
Castle.
17.tte Queen will hold a Privy Council at half-past
three o'clock this afternoon, at Buckingham Palace.
Sir Ro:Nert Peel arrived at his residence, in Whitehall
gardens,ye terday morning, from Windsor Castle. Sir
George Clerk had an interview with the Right Honour-
able Baronet.
Mr. Hif.,ham, Secretary and Comptroller-General to
the Commissioners for the- Reduction of the National
Debt, had an interview with the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer yesterday, at hie official residence in Downing-
street.
The Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Lincoln, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Granville Somerset,
and the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert. had a meeting yes•
terday, at the office of the Board of Trade.
Mr. Meek had an interview with Sir George Clerk
yesterday, at the office of the Board of Trade.
Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial.
office from the Governor of Hong-Kong, and also from
the Governor of Ceylon.

NAVAL IN TELLIGENCV.
Woormicu, JAN. 20.—The Ariel steam- vessel, Lieutenant-
Commander Mudge, has arrived at Woolwich, from Dover,
to be paid off, and her officers and crew will be transferred
to-morrow to the Onyx steam-vessel, destined for the same
service as the Ariel was lately engaged upon. The Onyx is
expected to be the fastest boat upen the Dover station, her
speed,• when tried down the river, being at the rate of 161
statute miles per hour.
The Goodwill arrived from Deptford on Saturday, and the
Duck sailed for Chatham on the same day.
The Amphion, 36 guns, launched at Woolwich Dock-yard
on Wednesday last, was towed to the East India docks to-day,
to be fitted with her engines.
PORTSMOUTH, TUESDAY.—An awful gale has been blowing
all night from the south-east, and the sea has been dashing
over the walls of the town, deluging the habitations along
shore. The elemental war has not even yet abated, and much
damage will, it is feared, be discovered to have been sus-
tained by the shipping. The schooner Ann and Elizabeth,
of Fowey, from Cardiff, laden with iron, for London, drove
from her two anchors at Spithead last night, about nine
o'clock, and struck on the Spit, where she thumped and
sank. The captain and crew were in the rigging
the whole of the night, until eight o'clock this
morning, when they were rescued, in a state of great exhaus.
tion, by Reuben Maine, a Portsmouth waterman. Six
hands (including the captain) were thus saved from appa-
rently.inevitable death. The stern of the schooner has since
been washed out, and the sea is making a clear breach
over her. Messrs. Garratt and Gibbon, the agents to
Lloyd's, promptly. rendered every assistance, and suc-
ceeded in saving the spars, sails, three small anchors,
and other stores, but all the men's clothes and property
have been lost. The captain was putting his desk,
containing all his savings, into the long-boat, which
was got out directly the vessel struck, when a heavy
sea struck her and smashed her to pieces, together with the
desk and its contents, which were lost. The schooner struck
and sank in less than five minutes. The captain and men
describe the night as truly awful. Messrs. Garratt and Gib-
bon have a heavy cutter near the wreck to endeavour to
save what is possible of the cargo; and when the weather
moderates, dockyard lighters will he sent out to endeavour to
weigh the wreck.
The students of the Royal Naval College will resume their
, professional studies on Thursday.
The Nautilus, 10, Lieutenant-Commander M'Dowell; came
into harbour this afternoon. We believe she suffered con-
siderably in the gale last night.
The Grampus, 50, Captain Martin, C,8., has received orders
to proceed to Plymouth to complete her complement.
The Superb, 80, Captain Corry, remains at Spithead ; but
her gallant captain is on Admiralty leave,
The Scourge steam-bomb-vessel, Commander Caffin, will
leave the basin on Thursday. She will ship the mortar bed
of the Etna to-morrow.
The Lords of the Admiralty are expected to visit this port
in a few days.
The Apollo troop ship, Commander Radcliffe, sailed from
Rio for Monte Video on the 27th of November, under orders
from the British Minister at Rio.
The Cyclops steam-sloop, Captain Lapidge, arrived at Rio,
with dispatches for the British Minister on the 7th of De-
cember, when it -was rumoured that the Minister would de-
tain the Cyclops to return to England in.
The Express, 6, Lieutenant-Commander Herrick, arrived
at Rio on the 28th of November, from Falmouth, with
mails.
The Cruiser, 16, Commander Fanshawe, sailed from Trin-
comalee on the 19th of November, for Moulmein.
,The Vulture steam-frigate, Captain M'Dougall, arrived at
nincomalee, fi-om Spithead, on the 22d of November.
Art accident happened this morning to one of the men
in the =ploy of Mr. Peter Rolt, the contractor for the
works of the new steam basin, &c., in this dockyard, by
which his arm was so dreadfully fractured from one of the
piles falling upon him that it is feared amputation must be
performed.
The Rodney, 92, Captain Collier, C. 8., in dock, is now
under the hands of the dockyard officers and artisans, who
have commenced making the alterations in the internal fit-
ments of the ship already mentioned. ,

FATAL ACCIDENT on the SOUTH-
EASTERN RAILWAY.
We regret to state that a fatal accident, by which one in-
dividual lost his life and another was much injured, occurred
on Monday night, or rather between twelve and one o'clock
yesterday morning. -On the arrival of the luggage train
from Dover, at the bridge which crosses a river about a mile
from Tonbridge, one of the abutinents, owing, it is supposed,
to the overflowing of the water and high wind which pre-
vailed at the time, gave way, and as aeon as the engine en-
tered upon the bridge, one of the arches fell in, and the
engine, tender, and two of the luggage waggons, together
with the engine-driver and stoker (brothers), of the name of
Doyle, were precipitated into the water. There were se-
veral other luggage carriages attached to the train, but
they were not injured. The deceased was a young man
about twenty-seven years of age, and bore a most respect-
able character. At the time the accident happened the train
was proceeding at a moderate rate. The stoker is severely
hurt, but not considered dangerously. The French mail,
which ouglit to have been at the terminus at London-bridge
yesterday morning at five o'clock, in consequence of the acci-
dent did not arrive until eleven o'clock. The downward
trains left London yesterday morning at the usual time,
planks having been placed across the bridge on which pas-
sengers and goods could be safely conveyed over the river,
where another train was in waiting to receive them. Up to
the time the latest intelligence was received, the engine,
tender, and two luggage waggons remained in the water,
and therefore the extent of the injury and loss of property
cannot at present be ascertained.
in We hear that when the two unfortunate men were thrown
uredthanerdf exhausted,
t o
other
water, one of the brothers, by his intrepidity rescued
the
man swt ea that
he dibedutonhethweahsasnohdroeafdtfhuellyriviner-
j
before he could be removed to the station. The
body of the
deceased was dreadfully cut, one of the thighs
broken, and
was otherwise injured. There were fortunately no passengers,
and the two brothers are the only persons injured.
Yesterday afternoon the bridge was so far repaired that the
trains were able to pass without interruption.

STRIKING FEATURE IN THE
SPORTING WORLD.
A "new black" has recently arrived from America, of the
name of W. Perry, from Annapolis, in Nova Scotia, anxious
to acquire pugilistic fame, and has thrown up his hat in the
P.R. as a regular tone of defiance. But, nevertheless,
nnexa-
he has
not come to quarrel about the Oregon territory, the a
tion of the Texas, the repeal of the corn-laws, or the opening
of the ports, but ultimately to decide whether the champion-
ship
shall belong to the New or the Old World. Johnny
Broome held out his hand to the man of colour, saying,
" Welcome, my boy; country or colour are all the same to us
Englishmen ; we only want good uns ; and if you can show
us that quality, you shall not want for patrons." Perry is a
fine-looking young man, and stands 6ft. liin. in height,
weighing rather more than 13 stone. His nob has
nothing ferocious attached to it. His face rather
pleasing than otherwise. He had heard of the battles of the
late brave, high-couraged Molineux, and he resolved to
tread in his steps, if possible, and be on the qui vice to
get at the top of the tree in the P.R. The challenge from
Perry was not suffered to lie on the table; but Burton, from
Leicester, weighing something more than 12 stone, and said
to possess good milling qualities, made a match with the
black for 151. a side, which came off yesterday. "It was
to be a quiet day," the Fancy observed, and the patrons of
boxing steamed it down old Father Thames on the sly to-
gether in perfect harmony, and as to the name' of the
place, mum was the order of the day—but the boxers
were to land at the first convenient spot which
offered itself to prevent the interference of the beaks and the
blue bottles. The office was to be ready—quick, and to
go to work without loss of time. They landed before they
came to Oravesend, and the men appeared in the ring with
the utmost alacrity. The black looked like a dangerous oppo-
nent, with a potent arm capable of doing masterly execution,
and the winning man. He smiled at Burton with confidence,
showed no hesitation on his part, and seemed "eager for the
fray," and soon showed himself a troublesome customer.
"He'll do," said Johnny Broome. I never saw Molineux;
but his parallel I think is in the ring to day, and
he shall be matched with some of the "Big Ones yet."
The black took the lead in great 'style, and kept it, nobbing
his opponent with ease; and the i..rat eight minutes convinced
the spectators hOw the battle must tzArminate, and in twenty
. minutes Burton was so punished, and had not the slightest
chance in his favour, when the black was declared the con-
. queror. He appeared at Johnny Broome's fast night, with-
, out the least appearance that he had been exhibiting his
I prowess in the ring. Perry is sure to prove a tease' to a few
of the " Big Ones," and Caunt, Bendigo, Tess Parke:. &C.,
• must look out.

The Right flon. and Mrs. W. Ewart Gladstone
entertained at dinner yesterday evening, at the Right. Hon.
Gentleman's mansion, Carlton House-terrace, the Bishop of
Jamaica; Mr. Alexander Wood, of the Emigration-otlice ;
Mr. Stevens, of the Colonial-otlice ; and other gentlemen
connected with that department ; Mr. Bonham, late of tlie
Ordnance ; Dr. Phillimore, and others. Covers were laid
for sixteen.
INCREASE OF SHIPPING IN THE WEST INDIA
Doca..—The amount of shipping in the West India Dock,
according to the rotation furnished for the last year, com-
mencing in January, and ending in December, 1845, was no
less than 1,307, being considerably above the amount from
the opening in 1802. The amount is expected to be consi-
derably increased as soon as the branch line of railway
communicating with tho Eastern Counties shall be com-
pleted.
Mr. John O'Connell, M.P., has a " Life of his
Father" in the press, with his speeches.

THE CORN TRADE.
BRITISH.
Though the natural effect of the uncertainty respect-
ing the corn-laws must have been to create great uneasi-
ness among all classes of agriculturists, it is a singular
fact that supplies from the growers have for some weeks
vast been on a very moderate scale. We can scarcely
• -nose that this has been caused through confidence
in the t.
-.resent amount of protection being maintained,
v has strengthened the belief that Sir
as each a.,1 his colleagues contemplate a material
Robert Peel-
ac• duties on grain ; the most reason-
therefore, is that farmers are
reason-
relaxation ateioonncliunsiotnh?
yiek; of the last crop is really
oiSconsequentl unwillin to
aware that the
prdepreciated value.
resent
sdneifirciifiecnet,thaetd
Should this really be die case (and we see no reason to
question the accuracy of the opinion expressed at the
ptrOapterttlyleL
time of harvest, viz., that the produce of wheat of the
United Kingdom was in 1845 materially short of that of
average seasons) there is certainly nothing to war-
rant the recent great decline. We consider, there-
fore that farmers are acting prudently in not pres-
sing wheat to market; for, even if the whole of what
is now in bond should be liberated, it would not
have any permanent effect on quotations, in case our
supposition that the home produce is short be correct.
We are compelled to put the matter in this indefinite
manner, in the absence of statistics on so important a
subject as the produce of the country ; though, from
careful investigation of the reports from all quarters re-
ceived previous to the commencement of harvest, as well
as carefully compiled estimates from practical agricul-
turists after the crop had been secured, we have no
doubt in our own minds that the deficiency, though not
so great as represented by those who raised the famine
cry, is actually of sufficient importance to render it very
questionable whether the value of wheat can be kept lOw
during the ensuing summer, let the measures of the
Government be what they may.
In considering the future range of prices, the fact that
millers and merchants have for many weeks past refrained
from adding to their stock, must not be lost sight of. The
purchases recently made have been to supply immediate
wants, all parties having manifested a: determination to be
in a position to take advantage of whatever effect the ex-
pected alteration in the corn-laws might have upon the
trade. It is, therefore, not unreasonable to suppose that,
when once the cause of uncertainty shall have been re-
moved, the demand which has for so protracted a period
been languid, will immediately revive ; and, instead of
a f:”-ther fall, we should not be surprised to witness a
steady and gradual improvement. This cannot, how-
ever, be expected till it has become definitely known by
what laws the importation of corn is for the future to be
regulated ; and, so long as the matter is under discus-
sion in Parliament, no great revival in business will, we
fear, take place.
At all the principal provincial markets held during
the week, the utmost difficulty has been experienced in
effecting sales of wheat; and though, as before observed,
the supplies brought forward have not been by any
means large, the tendency of prices has been decidedly
downwards.
The reports from Liverpool, on Tuesday, state that,
at an abatement of about 2d. per 701bs. on the rates of
that day se'nnight, some small purchases were made for
immediate use, but that millers were unwilling to take
more than their pressing necessities obliged them to buy.
Later in the week, the depression rather increased than
diminished.
The accounts from the leading towns in Yorkshire are
equally dull. The Hull advices of Tuesday inform us
that with a disposition on the part of sellers to facilitate
business by submitting to a decline of quite 2s. per qr.,
little progress was made in the disposal of wheat ;
whilst at Leeds on the same day, and at Wakefield on
Friday, the reduction was at least 2s. per qr.
The depression has been nearly as great at the leading
markets at the west and north-west ; nor have affairs
worn a more promising appearance in the agricultural
districts, the cessation of orders from the chief consum-
ing towns having obliged farmers, if anxious to sell, to
submit to reduced prices.
By our Scotch advices we learn that the continued dull
reports from the south had had their usual influence on
the trade, and wheat was quoted Is. to 2s. per quarter
lower on Wednesday at Edinburgh and Glasgow. Prices
of most other sorts of grain, as well as those of flour
and meal, had also receded more or less ; all parties
having acted on the reserve.
The Irish markets have likewise felt the influence of
the flat accounts from this side of the Chanpel; still
quotations of both wheat and oats are too high to admit
of consignments to London with a fair chance of profit.
The arrivals of wheat coastwise into London have
been small, only 5,117qr5. having been reported
up to this (Saturday) evening. The quantity
exhibited at Mark-lane by land-carriage samples
has been trifling, but the millers having ad-
hered firmly to their determination not to increase
their stocks in the present unsettled state of affairs, the
scanty nature of the supply has failed to impart a firmer
tone to business. On Wednesday only a few samples,
left over from the previous market-day, were offered for
sale; to place these some difficulty was experienced, but
factors refused to submit to any further reduction. On
Friday there was some slight addition to the quantity of
wheat on the Essex stands, and the inquiry being quite
as languid as earlier in the week, the turn was rather in
favour of buyers.
The transactions in free foreign wheat have been on a
strictly retail scale ; no variation has, however, taken
place in the value of the article since Monday ; holders
having, on the whole, displayed more firmness than
might, under all circumstances, have been expected. On
Wednesday bonded wheat was totally neglected, nor
were the actual operations of importance on Friday ; but
there was certainly more inquiry for the article at the
close than in the commencement of the week, princi-
pally, we believe, for shipment to Belgium. Had sellers
been disposed to give way a trifle in price, business to
some extent might probably have been done.
The demand for flour has, throughout the week, been
excessively slow ; hitherto, the top quotation
for town-manufactured has remained at 565. per sack.
Ship flour has not supported its previous value, some
pressed sales having been made on Friday at about is.
per sack below former terms.
The arrivals of barley, though not particularly large,
have proved amply sufficient to satisfy the immediate
wants of the malsters:and distillers, and noone has shown
any inclination to take more than necessary for present
purposes; we are unable, therefore, to report the slight-
est improvement either in the demand for or the value
'of this grain.
Malt has also been difficult of sale; but the real
scarcity of superior qualties has caused the finer sorts to
command relatively high rates..
The market has been moderately supplied with oats,
of home growth; from our own coast only 4,060 qrs.;
from Scotland, 170 qrs. ; and from Ireland, none have
come to band. The smallness of this arrival has, how-
ever, in some measure been compensated by the receipt
of 11,727 qrs. from abroad. The principal dealers have
shown far more anxiety to induce them to increase their
stocks; the sales of the week have consequently been
on a restricted scale. Factors have, on the other hand,
displayed considerable firmness; and the business done
has been at terms quite equal to those current on Mon-
day last. Many of the cargoes of foreign oats have
been offered, duty paid, from on board ship; and as
these were mostly purchased at high rates on the other
sides, the result must be far from favourable.
Beans have met with a moderate share of attention,
and handsome parcels of old have brought quite as much
money as last week. The duty rose to 3s. 6d. per qr.,
on Thursday, and is likely to continue to tend upwards.
The mildness of the season has greatly interfered
with the sail of boiling peas; and though the quantity
brought to market has not been large, no difficulty has
been experienced in buying at last Monday's decline.
Grey and hog peas have also hung heavily on hand.
The duty advanced a step on the minimum point (at
which it has stood for some weeks) on Thursday.
FOREIGN.
The reports from the different
EI
foreign markets are at
present of very-little interest, the uncertainty as to what
alteration may be made in the corn-laws- of Great
Britain having tended to check business at most of the
continental ports.
The latest advices from Dantzic are of the 12th inst.
Since the eommencement of the new year very little
business has been done in wheat; a parcel of very line
high-mixed, the growth of 1842, had, however, been
bought for spring shipment at equal to 565. to 575. per
chase money paid in advance. There had also been
qr. free on board, with a large proportion of the pur-
some inquiry for the lower qualities, principally on
Konigsberg account; and for a lot of new, by no means
fine, weighing only 601bs. per bushel, equal to 495. per
qr. had been obtained. Statements of the quality of
wheat exported during 1845, and the stock remaining on
hand at the close thereof, had been published; from
which it appears, that of the total 34,106 lasts shipped,
23,343 lasts had been dispatched to Great Britain. The
exports had, it seems, materially, exceeded the arrivals
from the interior, the stock having been reduced from
40,881 lasts held Ist January, 1845, to 22,138 lasts on
the 31st December.
From Stettin we have letters of the 10th, but their
contents are of little interest. The nominal price of
good to fine red wheat, for spring delivery, was then
495. to 50s. per qr. free on beard; but the rates asked
having been much above the limits of the few orders
received, scarcely a sale had taken place.
From Rostock the latest accounts are also very dull.
At Hamburgh, on Tuesday, there was scarcely any-
thing passing in the grain trade; no foreign orders hav-
ing been received there, and buyers for consumption
having confined their operations to as narrow as per-
mitted by actual wants. Contracts for fine Waren
61 to 61?slbs. per bushel, to be shipped in spring, might
nave been closed at 528 9d. per qr. free on board, but no
buyers had come forward. Moderately good red Marks
wheat, weighing 601b5., was then obtained on the spot at
equal to 495. per qr. In spring corn the operations had
' been unimportant; oats had, however, owing to their
scarcity, maintained their former value.
From the Mediterranean we have nothing fresh to
communicate, business in grain having become exceed-
ingly dull at all the southern and eastern markets. At
Odessa, however, the value of wheat appears to have
been pretty well supported, the latest quotation from
th,snce being 355. per quarter free on board, for the
best LNalities.
By tio Acadia steam-boat we have reports of recent
dates from the principal markets in the United States.
Shipments of flour to Great Britain were then
being rapidly proceeded with, and a good
mand for the 'articlft had been experienced all through
the month of December, but prices were not
quite so high at the clove as they had at one period
been. The exports from New York from Ist to 31st
December had amounted to no less than 92,791 barrels of
flour, and 58,991 bushels of wheat ; besides which large
quantities of Indian corn, rye, and barley had been
shipped.—Mark Lane Express.

Sir James Graham returned to town yesterday, from
Windsor Castle.

SHREWSBURY and BIRMINGHAM

RAILWAY.
MANCHESTER, TUESDAY EVENING. —A numerously
attended meeting of the shareholders of this Company
was held by ad;Lur.iment at the Star Hotel this evening,
to receive the report of a deputation appointed at a
meeting he:,l la,t week to proceed to London and re-
ceive from the Committee of Management some explana-
tion respecting the recent amalgamation with the Dudley,
Madeley, Broseley, and Ironbridge Railway Company.
The Chair was occupied by J. Todd, Esq., who called
upon the deputation to report the result of that visit.
Mr. lIARRISON BLAIR read a written report, the sub-
stance of which was that the deputation was courteously
received, and that the committee thought it due to the
shareholders in Manchester, whom they knew, by the
re-signing of their deed last year, to be both numerous
and largely interested in the Company. to send their
Secretary down in order to give the fullest ex-
planation of the recent amalgamation with the Dudley
and Madeley Company, or on any other points on which
the shareholders might desire information.
Mr. KNOX, the Secretary to the Company, having
arrived, stated that he was ready to furnish the share-
holders with such information as they required, either
in reference to the past proceedings, the present position,
or the future prospects of the Company.
Mr. Sttelt.spE4lig rnimars wished the Secretary,
before he proceeded to explain the recent amalgamation
With the Dudley tied Aladeley Company, to state whether
the Company had got rid of the opposition of
the Shrewsbury and Grand Junction Company, which
opposed them last year, and threw them out on standing
orders.

The SECRETARY stated that the Shrewsbury and Grand
Junction Company of last year did not now exist. It
was then merely a branch of the Grand
Junction Company, but in consequence of the
feeling which existed in the district against the
Grand Junction Company . before it had amalgamated
with the London and Birmingham Company, what was
called an independent company had been formed, in
which the Grand Junction Company had only one-fourth
interest, the South Staffordshire one-fourth, and he
believed the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton
one-fourth, leaving one-fourth for the public. This
company had adopted the plans of the Shrewsbury
and Grand Junction of last year, and was also a
competing line to the part of the Shrewsbury and Bir-
mingham scheme between Shrewsbury and Wolver-
hampton. The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Company
had however offered to amalgamate with it, and to re-
ceive half its capital and half its committee on their
board—an offer which if left to the shareholders would
very readily be accepted ; but the committee, from the
constitution of the Company, were so allied with other
parties that they could only amalgamate as between
Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, and even as to that
they stipulated for the adoption of their station, in order
to accommodate the South Staffordshire and the Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton Companies, whereas the
line and station of the Shrewsbury and -Birmingham
Company were on a much higher level, and could not be
altered this session to the level of the Shrewsbury
and South Staffordshire station, without destroying the
direct communication between Shrewsbury and Birming-
ham. It had, however, been referred to the engineers
of the two companies to consider how far it was
practicable in a subseqeat session to adopt the lower
level, and to have, for the accommodation of all the
railways into Wolverhampton, one grand central station,
for which the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Company
had some months ago purchased an eligible plot of be-
tween six and seven acres of land. If the_ con-
test of last year is renewed, it will be in a more
friendly spirit ; and as both lines run nearly side by
side all the way, it can hardly be decided upon engineer-
ing merits, but must be decided with reference to the
claim and position of the two Companies. Upon this
issue the committee of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham
Company entertained no doubt of the result, taking into
account their priority of claim, the greater extent of
their schemes, and the report of the Board of Trade in
their favour, a circumstance which was likely to have
more weight in the present than in the last session of
Parliament.
A SHAREHOLDER inquired whether it was true, as had
been stated in the papers, that the Grand Junction Com-
pany would support the opposing line in Parliament,
while the London and Birmingham Company determined
to remain neutral in reference to this Company ?
The SECRETARY said that the shareholders could
themselves judge how far such a thing was likely, seeing
that the London and Birmingham Company were united
with the Birmingham Canal Company and with this
Company, to make all the lines in the district between
Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and that such lines
would be useless as atomneunication with Shropshire if the
line of the Shrewsbury and South Staffordshire Railway
were sanctioned. Besides, he knew that so recently as the
day on which the amalgamation with the Dudley and
Madeley Company was completed, the chairman and
solicitor of the London and Birmingham Company had
stated to the Vice-Chairman of this Company, that it
might depend upon the cordial support of that Company
in Parliament.
A SHAREHOLDER remarked that the amalgamation
Of this Company with the Dudley and Madeley Company,
which could not go to Parliament this year, and was
about to return the deposits to its shareholders, seemed
like joining a living body to a dead corpse.
Another SHAREHOLDER asked whether it Was true
that this Company had got a bonus of 30,0001. is the
exchange with the Dudley and, Madeley Company ? He
did not see how a Company whose shares were at a dis-
count could afford to give such a bonus.
The SECRETARY said that probably the shortest plan
would be to state the history of the Dudley and Madeley
Company, and its amalgamation with this Company.
The Dudley and Madeley Company was projected about
the middle of last year, and received strong local
support, having also a highly respectable pro-
visional committee. Its first project was a line from
Dudley to Madeley, with a branch from Rudge Heath to
Wolverhampton, and its original capital 800,0001,, which
was readily subscribed and the deposits paid. At this
time the Shrewsbury and Birmingham committee saw
the danger of a line from Dudley to Madeley, as likely
ultimately to become a competing line to Shrewsbury,
and, as the best alternative under the circumstances,
offered to contribute half the capital required, and to be
represented on the Dudley and Madeley committee. This
offer was not only rejected, but the Dudley and Madeley
Company advertised an extension to Shrewsbury, and
an increase of its capital to 1,600,0001. There was no-
thing left but for the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Com-
pany to oppose the line from Dudley to Shrewsbury, and
in like manner, the Dudley and Madeley Company had re-
solved to appear as a competing scheme to this Company.
The plans and sections of the Dudley and Madeley Compa-
nies were not only not lodged in due time, but the latter
were in so defective a state, that it was found hopeless to
proceed for an Act this session. The Committee accord-
ingly published a report, in which they stated their
intention to return 2/. per share to the shareholders,
reserving 12s. 6d. per share to defray the expenses in-
curred, and to provide for the expense of proceeding in
the next following session of Parliament. It was at this
period that overtures for an amalgamation were again
made by this Company, and as the plan originated with
himself, and had been carried out not without consider-
able difficulty, he hoped the reasons he had to state in
its favour would be as satisfactory to the shareholders
present as they had been to the committee, and had led
them unanimously to conclude the agreement with the
Dudley and Madeley Company. First, an opponent had
been removed from the field and converted into an ally;
second a line, which in other hands might have proved
a powerfully competing line with this Company, and
which in the general opinion of those best acquainted
with the district is not only required and must be made
by some one, but will pay for making, has been secured
to this Company; third, this Company were enabled
to effect an arrangement which will sbtain for it a bonus
of about 30,0001, being just the expenses which
had been incurred in the formation of the Company
and the fruitless contest of last session. It was one of
those arrangements which proved also beneficial for the
shareholders of the Dudley and Madeley Company, and
the result is seen by the matter being no longer one of
negotiation, but of history, for four-fifths of the Dudley
and Madeley shareholders have already signified
their assent to take shares in this Company.
And last, though not least, this Company will obtain
additional deposits amounting to 90,0001., besides having
its maiden deposit almost untouched, and when the share-
holders take into account that, without contributing to
the Parliamentary deposit of the joint scheme between
Wolverhampton and Birmingham, which has lodged
duplicate plans, and is proceeding with a separate and
distinct Bill, that required for the lines, as lodged by this
Company, will amount to 110,0001, they will have no
difficulty in perceiving that the committee have very
much better consulted their interests by the amalgama-
tion which had been made, than had they made a call of
21. 10s. per share, in order to supply the deficiency.
The capital required for the line from Dudley to
Madeley would about equal that displaced by the alliance
inghainand Wolverhampton, and as the
estimate of the Company is 1,900,0001.,
there is still
idrrmY
room to admit half the capital of the
Shrewsbury
and South Staffordshire Company, if the two
betweenpahawms be:Brty
Companies come to terms.
The SECRETARY then read an extct from the sub-
scribers' agreement, to show that the committee were
fully empowered to conclude the amalgamation with the
Dudley and Madeley committee, and stated that it was
consulted, but the short period before
they were not .
from no want of courtesy towards -the shareholders that
negotiation itself, preventedthe of
adoption such a course.
to that effect, as also a vote of
the opening of Parliament, and the very nature of the
Several shareholders expressed themselves highly
satisfied with the explanation given, and a resolution
A SHAREHOLDER
said be bad been informed that the
wthaasokusntaonitmhemSseclYreptgasrsyedfor the trouble he had taken.
staff of the two companies was the only thing that pre-
vented an amalgamation with the Shrewsbury and
South Staffordshire.
The SECRETARY stated that such could hardly be the
case, as the engineers of the two Companies were re-
spectively the engineers of the London and Birmingham
anti the Grand Junction, which had united, and Mr.
Swift had been offered to participate jointly with the
solicitors of the Company ; as to himself—
A SHAREHOLDER—Two secretaries would be about
as bad as two chairmen.
A rote of thanks was then passed to the Chairman,
and the meeting separated.
de-

Lord Farnham will second the Address, which
Lord Home w7lll propose, in the House of Lords, in reply to
CORN-LAWS:
So.f— ouWrTmerchants
ith a zeal
the Queen's Speech.
andGLlibAesraGloit;
IN
and manuflicturels, &c., have this week come forward and
subscribed the munificent sum of upwards of 10,0001. to aid
AGAlNST,orworthy of
TIDEoIe cause, O R
the Great League Fund for the eonstitutioal overthrow of
the Corn-laws. This is doing the work in right earnest, and
it attests that the city of Glasgow still holds its right position
on this most vital of all questions.—Scotek Reformer's Gaza

THE CORN-LAW' S.
MEETING AT NORWICH.
NORWICH, JAN. 20.—This evening a public meeting was
convened by advertisement at St. Andrew's Hall, in this
city, to which all persons interested in agriculture were espe-
cially invited to attend. The hall, which will hold 4,000
persons, was quite crowded, and the arrangements for the
accommodation of the press were very good but a mob of
ruffianly fellows surrounded the inclosed space set apart for
the reporters, and made it very difficult of approach.
The chair was taken by Mr. Betts, the Mayor; and the
greatest excitement was awakened in consequece of the
rumour that Mr. Wodehouse, M.P. for Norfolk, had accepted
a challenge from Mr. Cobden to meet him and discuss the
great question of the repeal of the corn-laws. The city
throughout the day was thronged with strangers, as well as
groups of townspeople, discussing incidentally the object
the meeting. The proceedings commenced at half-past i
o'clock. Mr. Cobden arrived first, and was much cheered;
sx
and w
Mr. Wodehouse arrived soon afterwards,hailed with
partial cheering and laughter.
The MAYOR rose and said. he wished every person to be
fairly heard. That was an Englishman's privilege. He did
not pretend to know which was right or which was wrong
on the present question; but he had quite sufficient force to
keep order, and he meant to have it kept. The Anti-Corn-
law League of the city of Norwich were understood to have
possession of the hall till Mr. Cobden had addressed the
meeting.
Mr. COBDEN then rose amidst enthusiastic cheering,
which was again and again renewed. He said—Mr. Mayor
and gentlemen, .it gives me peculiar pleasure on this occa-
sion to address you in this magnificent hall, because I under-
stand we are favoured with the presence of a gentleman dis-
tinguished as a leader of the agricultural protectionists, one
noted in the House of Commons by his talents, competent to
take a lead in that influential body of our fellow- countrymen,
and who, I am sure, will be able here to state the case of the
pjotectionists as successfully as any member of that body.
Now, gentlemen, as I understand, this meeting is intended
to afford an opportunity for a discussion between those
who entertain opinions similar to my own and those who
favour protection to agriculture, I shall confine myself pretty
much on this occasion—(Clamour)—to the discussion of the
effects of protection upon agriculture.—(Renewed clamour.)
If those men are not perfectly quiet I shall call on the Mayor
to ask them to leave the meeting, for I have no idea of allow-
ing 5,000 people to be annoyed by the conduct of ten indivi-
duals.—(Cheers.) I will confine myself to the effects of pro-
tection upon agriculture, for I will take it for granted that
there are no men here connected with manufactures who are
not, as we are in the north, favourable to free trade in pro-
visions. I will assume you want no argument from me to
convince you that it is better to have abundance of food
than an artificial and legalized scarcity of food. And now,
taking for granted that the manufacturers and traders of
Norwich are favourable to abundance and cheapness—that
you want no arguments frora me to show that it is your in-
terest to hare abundance and cheapness, we will address our-
selves to the consideration of protection as it affects the
agriculturists. I proceed another step. I intend to define
what I mean by agriculturists. Nothing has misled so much
as the neglect of definitions as we go along. By agricul-
turista I mean men who labour on the land. Agricul-
ture means labouring the land. Agriculturists means
the tenant-farmer, who works with his head if not
with his hand, and it includes the labourer who works with
his hand.—(Cheers.) It is only the farmer and the labourer
who are entitled to come near the definition of agriculturist.
—(Cheers.) It is true we have landowners who call them-
selves agriculturists—men who probably never had one acre
in their own hands to cultivate, or who receive their rents
and probably live at Paris, Rome, or Naples, or spend their
time at Cheltenham, Brighton, or London—men who receive
their rents, and then come forward pleading the cause of the
agriculturists, and say to the farmer and to the labourer "We
are all rowing in the same boat."—(Great cheering and
laughter.) The question we have to discuss to-night is—
first, what interest the farmer and farm-labourer have in the
corn-laws. I say here, as I have said a thousand times before,
that the farmers and farm labourers have no interest in the
corn-laws. If the corn- laws do what we are told they do—
keep up the price of grain—why then one inevitable conse-
quence follows—rents must be higher here than on the con-
tinent.—(Cheers.) So long as you have twenty men bidding
for every vaeant farm, you may be quite sure rents will re-
main up to the full extent the tenant is able to pay. If
the farmer could see that an Act of Parliament could
secure him 80s. a quarter for his wheat, doubtless lie
would be willing to pay a higher rent than if he got 40s.
a quarter for his wheat, and any Act of Parliament which
does really succeed in raising artificially the prices of corn
and provisions, why, that is a rent-law—(Great cheering)—
and I believe there are not two farmers at this meeting or
in the country, with heads on their shoulders sufficiently
good to entitle them to be left at large without a keeper—
(Cheers and laughter)—who would not be quite willing
to admit that, in the long run, Acts of Parliament that raise
the price of wheat are Acts of Parliament in some degree to
raise the rent of land.—(Cheers.) Then, why all this
clamour on the part of the farmers in behalf of the corn-
laws ? What do they hope to get by the maintenance of
these laws ? What have they got by their maintenance in
times past ? At the protection meetings what has all the
outcry been but that farming is a bad trade ? What good,
then, does protection do to farmers ? You have had that
protection—you have had a majority in Parliament—you
have thrown up your caps at hustings for the men who
promised protection—you have ten landlords in Parliament
for one manufacturer or merchant—you have had it all
your own way, and yet I say farming is a bad trade, and I
know it has been a bad trade.—(Hear, and loud cheers.)
I'll tell you why it is a bad trade. It has been a bad trade
because you have had Acts of Parliament meddling with
your trade. You have had Acts of Parliament proposing to
secure certain prices for your produce, and the farmers have
taken their farms expecting these prices; but when they
have gone to market they have found the market prices not
up to the Act of Parliament prices.—(Laughter.) They
have reckoned their rents upon these Acts of Parliament
prices, and paid them out of the market prices, and been
losers by the bargain. I need not go over now the history of
the corn-laws since 1815. I have done it already in this
very roan. I showed you in this very room that your first
break down in 1822 was owing to the corn-laws. You had a
law passed in 1815 to secure you 80s. a quarter. In 1822
wheat was selling at half that price, and in a number of the
Norwich Mercury in 1822 there were no fewer than 168 adver-
tisements of farmers to be sold up.—(Hear, hear.) Well,
then, you have had two or three times since the prices down
to rearly one-half the prices the Act of Parliament pro-
mised you. You know the distress which followed upon
farmers in consequence. I need not go back upon it ; every
man here of my_ own age can recollect it.—(Hear, hear.)
But I hear an Hon. Gentleman near me, the Member for
one of the divisions of this county, cheering me when I
allude to the distress of the farmers.— (Cries of " No, no,"
from Mr. Wodehouse.) lam not saying that he exults in
it, but when we are cheered in the House of Commons by
one of our opponents we always think that something ironical
is meant by it, and I take it that the Hon. Gentleman means
to infer that protection has not secured the prosperity of the
farmers. But probably the Hon. Gentleman has some other
way of accounting for the distress of the farmers than I
have. Well, all I stipulate for is, that he shall confine him-
self, on the present occasion, to corn, and if they have
had distress in spite of protection, what is the use of rousing
the whole country and fighting the battle of protection, as
if the only thing it did was to benefit the farmers ? I ap-
peal to past experience to prove that the farmers have not
been prosperous with protection ; but I'll go further, and
maintain, that the fanners have not only not been pros-
perous, but that they have done worse as men of business—
I mean they have made less money than other classes of
the community. There is not a farmer in the country
who would not respond to this assertion immediately.
Our shopkeepers, our drapers, our grocers, our coach-
builders, every trade or profession you please— our
lawyers, our doctors, every other class, has made money
and become prosperous, more or less; but, as a rule, farmers
have generally been unprosperous. Now, why should it be
so ? Why should farmers not make money as well as other
people? Why should farmers be the most unprosperous per-
sons in the community ? I can only account for it from this,
that they have been especially protected by Members of Par-
liament.—(Laughter.) They have had so much dry-nursing
by county Members—(Continued laughter)—that they have
never grown up into healthy maturity; they have been
rickety bantlings, and as they grow up, though they have
now been under this system for 30 years and odd, they must
still have crutches given to them.—(Hear.) Well, we hear
a good deal at these protection meetings about the over-
grown capital engaged in manufactures ; and is it not very
odd, that the manufacturers, who have no protection, and
who want none, should make out better than the farmers
with all their protection ; that county Members should be
fighting night and day in the House of Commons, and
coming down to public meetings and rousing the whole
country to keep up protection—that protection being
intended to secure the farmer the home trade with-
out which you cannot possibly live, and at the
same time our manufacturers in Lancashire and York-
shire, who are selling their goods probably to the
Chinese some 12,000 or 15,000 miles off, are making money,
and the farmers, who have had the home market secured to
them without any competition, can't make any money at all ?
Well; then, take the agricultural labourers. Why, they are
at the bottom of the scale, the very lowest scale of the ladder
—(Hear, hear)—making less than 7s. or Bs. a week.—(Cries
of, " No, no," "Yes, yes," and other sums named.) Well,
I won't pretend to settle the question. Nothing, 1 find, is
so difficult as to settle the rate of wages anywhere. I find
that in Wiltshire the wages are 65., 75., and Bs. a week, but
I hope they are double in Norfolk. But, whether or not,
this I will undertake to say, from a pretty wide knowledge
of facts, that, the whole country through the lowest paid la-
bourer is the agricultural labourer.—(A voice, "No, no.")
New, anybody that denies that must not have had his eyes
and his ears open for the last two or three years. Now, why
is it that the agricultural labourers are worse paid than any
other labourers? I would ask the gentleman who denies
that the agricultural labourer is paid less than the manufac-
turing labourer how is it that the labourers are running
away from agriculture to manufactures? Did any one ever
hear of a man running away
.from 12s. a week to Bs. 2
(Laughter.) But I can imagine it possible that he would
leave Bs. to get 12s. But how is it that the agricultural
labourer is-not badly off? I will not go beyond one
cient
fac_et, ;
that the have
n
that the farmers, as a rule throughout the country, e d
aurffiis
cient in capital for their land ; h tahsere an
y roet
capital for the acreage they occupy; and w.e
insufficient capital, there you havely badly paid and miserable
remarks simply to Nor-
labourers. Now, Ido not apply
folk, for I believe Norfolk an London are two of the best
eak of the country generallv.
counties in England, but I sp
What I want to state is a nations case, and N not allorfolk
case; and I say that the farmers in this country, as a rule,
one-half the capital they ought to have. Even the
ha
evne notinthe House of Commons don't deny this, for I have
told them so there. Now, how is this? Why, just because
they are under the delusive system of the corn-laws. You
have had landlords living upon the capital of successive tenants
in this country. If you had 163 farm tenants advertised to
be sold up in the Norwich Mercury, judge of the distress
which must have existed among the labourers on these farms,
when all the capital was swept away to pay the rent, and
the farmers left without the means of employing their la-
bourers.—(A voice—" That was owing to an alteration of
the currency.") Well, if it be owing to the alteration
in the currency, call your currency meetings, but don't go to
the protection meetings, and tell the farmers there that it is
protection that makes them prosperous, and when I show
you that they are not prosperous; don't tell me th.;:c it is
owing to the currency that they are not so. I Ir4.‘ve no ob-
jection to your taking your own course, but tlis I am,quite
resolved upon, that you shan't jump up behind. our Anti-Corn-
law League, as a bad boy, that does not want to hurry him-
self, jumps behind a post-chaise, to any errands for other
people who employ -him.—(Laughter and cheers.) It is
admitted that the farmers have not prospered, and that the
labourers have been distressed; protection has not prevented
that.—(Hear, hear.). Let us try, then, if we cannot do with-
out protection. It is said that neither English farmers nor
manufacturers can compete with foreigners. Why not? Are
you not as good and as clever? Will you submit to have
your coward ears cuffed as the farmers do?—(Laughter and
cheers.) I have been literally ashamed of my countrymen
when f have heard accounts of these protection meetings.
Dukes, lords, squires, and great burley farmers, alongside
of whom I should be but a pigmy,. meet together, weeping
and declaring in the face of the country that they will be
all ruined if they are not protected. (The Hon. Gen-
tleman held a white handkerchief to his eyes amidst
Much laughter.) They want tq be protected against the

Russians and the Poles, the Germans and the Dutchmen.—
(Laughter.) They are protected. We don't ask them to
send abroad and compete with farmers at their own doors,
as we manufacturers do. We don't ask them to send their
produce to China, and sell it there at what they can get after
paying all the expenses of freight and duty; yet we find
these men meeting together, and blubbering and mourning
over the bare idea that they should be called upon to com-
pete with foreigners, either here, or at their own doors.—
(Cheers.) It is surprising to hear one of those dukes and
squires, when presiding at public meetings, tell the farmers
that they will be all ruined if the corn-laws should be re-
pealed ; and that if foreign corn were ever introduced we
should be unable to pay taxes. Where is the country that
is not taxed? I should like to find out such a country.
Show me the Government, whether Turkish or Russian, that
will work for nothing, and I will go and live there.—(Hear
and laughter.) And, farmers, if you had ever travelled as
you ought you would not be gulled in the way that you are.
Foreigners are taxed to the extent of all they can pay, just
as you are.—(Hear, hear.) That appears to me to be the
chief end of Government, as far as I know.—(Some confusion
took place here in consequence of a rush made by several
persons at a side-door to force an entrance, and the inter-
ference of a policeman, who ejected one or two of them.)
How the protectionists would like to have such competition
for admission to their meetings !—(Hear, hear.) The
protectionists talk of the ruin of the tenant-farmers by
the repeal of the corn-laaws. I ask you whether there have
not been in the House of Commons three motions calling
upon that House—for there are no tenant-farmers there—
to show what are the burdens upon agriculture, and
they uniformly voted against the inquiry ?—(Hear,
hear.) They tell the farmers that they have peculiar bur-
dens. We tell them in the House that they have peculiar
exemptions. I have told them, as I tell them now, that if
they will show a burden borne by agriculture and the
landowners, which is not borne by manufacturers and
traders, I will show them that five times the burden is
borne by the latter classes. (Hear, hear.) If, then, the
peculiar
than o
burdens,'riy h
ot what l
asright
s
have
they
of
tahgeryicutlotuprri
protection any annoy
more athee
community ?—(Cries of Hear, hear.") We say, if they have
peculiar burdens we will exempt them ; we say we have no
desire that any class of the community should have either
peculiar burdens or exemptions. We say that they should
be fairly arranged; and, if we have any other taxation, let
us have a fresh arrangement, in which all shall be fairly
treated.—(Hear, hear.) But when we seek for a statement
of accounts, they come to farmers' meetings, and say, « we
cannot compete with foreigners, on account of our burdens."
—(A laugh.) I say this scheme of protection is one-half a
political hoax, and the other half arises out of political igno-
rance.—(Hear, hear.) The men who play the game, and the
men who are played upon by the players, make up the two
classes of dupes and impostors.—(Laughter.) The landlords
—the political landlords I mean—wish to exercise supreme
authority in this country, and they frighten the farmers in
order to drive them to the poll. They bellow for "Protection
to agriculture."—(Laughter.) There is nothing like a good
cry at an election —(Hear, hear.) Ay, but that old banner
of protection is most terribly soiled and torn of late.—
(Laughter.) I don't think the farmers will rally round it
again.—(Cheers.) I want to see the farmers put upon the
same footing as the tradesmen and other classes are ; and
that they do not make their trade a species of party politics.
No trade will ever answer that is mixed up with politics.

If anybody comes to protect you tradesmen, shut up shop,
and turn to honest pursuits.—(A laugh.) Having urged
his usual arguments in favour of farms being let on leases of
nineteen or twenty years, and on mercantile terms, and that
they should not be suffered to be infested and injured by wild
animals, nor the leases clogged with covenants injurious to
the tenant-farmer, the Hon. Gentleman said, you must be
allowed to do as you like, and the best you can with the
land, having no restrictions as to how you are to dress and
crop it, or adapt it for the preservation and hunting of game.
I say that one-half of the agriculturists are dupes, and the
other impostors. In the first place, the farmers are made
tools of, as political farmers, by the landlords; and, in the
next place, they are staved off from inquiry into the game-
laws tenure, and the like.---(Hear, hear.) In conclusion,
Mr. Cobden argued that the landlords would no get less
rent if the farmers were freed from the mischief's com-
mitted by game, and from ancient covenants prejudicial
to the proper cultivation of land. If any landholder in
Norfolk would let his land on such terms, and for a
lease of nineteen or twenty years, he would under-
tike to get him a tenant.—(llear, hear.) Yet the
landlords told the farmers that such changes would ruin
them.—(Hear, hear.) What could be more degrading
than to tell the farmers of England that they were the Bri-
tish lion, and that if the' only shook their mane and
wagged their tail, the miserable manufacturers would be
thrown off like dew drops.—(Laughter and cheers.) They
were told that they were loyal men, that they upheld our
institutions in Church and State, that they were the founda-
tion upon which the Throne and the aristocracy rested, and
that they had fought the battles of the country at Waterloo
and Trafalgar.—(Laughter.) Why, if I were addressed in
that way (exclaimed the Hon. Gentleman) by abody of men,
I should think of the fable of the fox and the crow, wherein
the fox flattered the crow that she had a moat enchanting
voice, and, deceived by the " soft sawder," she opened her
beak to sing, and down dropped the cheese which she had
held in it, and which was all the fox, who ran off with it,
wanted.—(Great laughter and cheering.) I venture to pre-
dict that when the corn-laws are abolished—as abolished
they will be—(Great cheering)—(A cry—" Three cheers for
the abolition of the corn-laws,' which were heartily given)
—you will see no more of those painful and humiliating ex-
hibitions. 'I he farmers will not then be brought together
and treated like children—like school girls—to be flattered,
to have soft sawder laid on, not with the brush, but with the

trowel. I wonder they don't see through it. I think they do.
But I want to see all that nonsense abolished. The farmer's
vote will then be his own—(Loud cheers)—and the landlord
and tenant, instead of laying their heads together for the
maintenance of an interest opposed to that of the community,
will lay their heads together to do as much for each other as
they can in an honest way.—(Cheers.) Both landlord and
tenant, I think, must feel considerably indebted to me and
the League for, telling them that we are going to abolish the
corn-laws. And we will do it.—(Loud cheers.) The old
edifice is looking very shaky, but you will see it tottering
and crumbling before six weeks are over.—(Cheers.) I
want to do this without exciting the alarm of the parties
concerned. I have held, meetings from Dorsetshire to Aber-
deenshire; the League, a few. years ago, expended 10,000/.
in enlightening the farmers; but no sooner was my back
turned than up got protection societies, which say to the
farmers—" Don't mind what Cobden has been saying. You
cnn't thrive—you can't hope to hold your farms to any good
purpose unless you are protected against the Russians, the
Poles, and the Americans. If you don't trust us you
will all be ruined." And now in what a precious mess
they are all landed !—(Cheers and laughter.) Now they
are going to have the corn-laws repealed, and they
know it. As to this galvanized movement among the far-
mers, we know all about it. It has originated with a few
landlords—not the most intelligent of their class—who have
sent about their agents to rouse the farmers. They cannot
get above 60, or 80, er 100 persons to attend their meetings.
Then they get their speeches put in the Morning Post or
the Morning Herald, and this sort of thing they call a great
national demonstration.—(Laughter.) Then, what do we see
on the other side ? A meeting is called at Oxford, and every
hand is held up in favour of free trade. At Brighton a
thonsand people are seen holding up their hands for free
trade, and only six against it. At Exeter, a meeting, called
by the Mayor, is unanimous in favour of free trade. And
with all those meetings in favour of free trade the protection-
ists are unable to call a single meeting in a single town in the
kingdom. The game is up, and they know it.—(Cheers.) We
meet in Parliament on Thursday, and what has come of this
great protectionist party? Where is their own Prime
!Minister, whom they made to uphold the corn-law?- (Cheers
and laughter.) Run away. This state of matter reminds
me of an anecdote which I once heard. A friend of mine
asked a gentleman, who had to deposit stakes, whose hands
he had deposited the stakes in? "In the hands of Major-
so-and-so," was the reply. " Yes, but," said my friend,
"who will hold the major?"—(Laughter. ) In 48-11 the
farmers put the stakes in sir Robert Peel's hands, and now
they want somebody to hold Sir Robert.—(Renewed laugh-
ter and cheers.) I ask your worthy representative to
oak out candidly to-night what his real opinions are as to
leprospects of protection, for I think he will agree with me
Ibis, at least, that if protection is likely to be abolished,
nothing can be so mischievous, nothing is so greatly to be
deprecated, as that the farmers of this country and kingdom
should be longer deluded with the idea that protection is to
be maintained.—(Hear, hear.) I ask that Hon. Gentleman to
join with me to-night in a candid avowal as to the prospects
of maintaining protection. I can see but one danger from
the immediate abolition of the duties on corn, and that is
entirely eccasioned by the absurd course followed by the
protectionists. The protectionists have already robbed the
farmer of ss. the quarter on his wheat for the last six
weeks or two months by the panic which they have created.
If there be a panic among the farmers, that will be entirely
owing to the preaching and teaching of the protectionists, and
all I have been trying to do for the farmer is undone. bad!
now do my best to obtain free trade in corn instantly, ifarkt. is
to be got at all.—(Cheers.) Now we are going to i lia
mtheentiowni.thGeSinrtßle.mPaeneladnedtehrmisinpeadr t
yth.-7,laireaertes.)hinisehelf frao e
rm
lead ethat
two men in the House of Commons who alone can
, will admit
hartdJt such. Russellis h
tore case.
It.e. Lord
Peel. GentlemanTjhohenHoßnu.sseell is
our
leader.—(Loud cheers.) Sir R. Peel was their leader— (Laugh-
ter)—and he is run away. But that is not the worst of it.
He carries with him Sir J. Graham and Mr. Gladstone, the
only two men who could possibly be conceived capable of lead-
i;ig the House. Well, then, what is to become of the protec-
tionist party—ofthe 100 or 150 forlorn-looking gentlemen, with
I their hearts in their shoes and their chins down to their waists ?
They may revile Sir R. Peel, but the country will say they
are -disappointed. They are impotent, and will sink lower and
lower in public opinion as the session advances. Well, what
comes of the protectionists? I tell the farmers at once the
game is up ; you may
.talk of anything you like, but if any
oespyeaooksmteoayn-ou to agkaioanxousf p?rL{tecetihonee,ra and laughter.)youshouldas A
ask him,
"Do
gentleman has addressed a note to
the taxes are to be paid.
we don't object to Ray the Queen's
how, if the corn-laws are repealed, I e
f asking
bne.taxes.
.ndgs.
Weg7mt
(e
objectup
pho friends.—(Cheers
ee
rxsp lain
laughter.)
upgahyt taws
er .)
It
nevero the
heard Hon.o
f Gentleman's
agitations only
main-
taind
athteaxqufeorstitohnewuQuiesehno'
be-
nefit of the Queen to payrevenue. If the gentleman who
p u puts Queen's
taxes mehtoowsoioatewbodoulyd
etee,fotrk
ethe I bwille-
explain his difficulty. Mr. Cotiden next proceeded to repeat
his statements on the subject of the qualification. He did
not advance the money, neither did the League. The
majority of that meeting were free-traders ; and he
begged of them to give Mr. Wodehouse a right frank
and hospitable welcome. If that gentleman were not a
very plucky one, he would not have been there that
night. Having shown that the corn-laws were no benefit to
farmer, labourer, or even landlord, Mr. Cobden, in conclusion,
said—lf that Hon. Gentleman and his order—if the aristo-
cracy of this country—are so infatuated as to persist in
fighting this battle against the people on that most unhal-
lowed of all grounds—a bread tax—then I warn them, if
they put us to it, we will show that the power which the
middle and industrious classes possess is sufficient to put
down the usurpations of a privileged class. The trial of
strength between the people and the aristocracy has taken
place elsewhere, in many countries and ages. It never proved
successful, and the aristocracy may depend upon it their at-
tempt will not prove successful here.—(The Hon. Gentle-
man resumed his seat amidst loud and long continued
cheering.)
Mr. GEARY then proposed the first resolution, as follows :
" That the corn-laws, and all other laws designed to re-
strict trade under pretence of protecting particular classes, are
unjust in principle and injurious in operation, and ought to
be forthwith abolished."
Colonel ANGERSTaIN seconded the resolution.
Mr. WODEROUSE rose amidst cheering and clamoulri,e and
said, that in presenting himself before the ineett g
that his first expression ought to be one of duty
ga letter to
mayor. He attended here in deference to thatased
authority. He (Mr. Wodehouse) had addressed
as to a famine were
indications of a scarcity, the statements .
the electors of Norfolk, telling them that h iol:lnTlrednsi atnh'es
gh there were,
andto
munder i
talal
circumstances, an allegation of
grossly exaggerated; but.
paramount ma
Cobden not matter of interest. He as
that
sactar:iitly toimugelsil
asked if there was not
in alluding, even in the smallest degree, to the
something of unblushing
in the
on the part of Mr.
scarcity which a few weeks ago was so loudly asserted to