The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-19 00:00:00

COVENTRY AND THE FRENCH TREATY.

The distress of the Coventry weavers has always
been one of the strong points in the arguments of
the Protectionists, but if we may judge from the
specimens afforded by the Workmen's Exhibition
now opened at the Agricultural Hall in London
there is little reason to apprehend that the trade will
suffer permanently from foreign competition. Among
the machines on view in motion at the Hall is a ribbon-
weaver's loom weaving silken book markers according
to a design suggested by a scene in "Adam Bede."
The authoress of that remarkable book was born in
the neighbourhood of Coventry, and the choice is,
therefore, -very appropriate. The manner in which
Ithe silk is gradually woven into a picture resembling
copperplate proves that, so far from being on the
decline, English loom-weaving is really progressing.
Some years ago such work could not have been done
here, even if the machinery for its manufacture had
been forthcoming. Seven years since such looms
were imported, but English weavers, under the
stimulus of foreign competition, are now using
English looms for the best kinds of work, and in the
International Exhibition of 1870 an Englishman

kV EVENING, JULY 19, 1870.

exhibits a loom of such ingenuity that he challenges
the world at large to excel it. Two hundred such
looms are now at work in Coventry. If such be the
result of the much dreaded foreign competition,
English weavers may very well rest satisfied with
the renewal of the treaty.

lIYDE PARK MEETING.

On Sunday a meeting took place in Hyde Park,
for. the purpose of making a deinonstration against
the Sunday Bill now before Parliament. The num-
bers increased from three o'clock, the time of meeting,
until six o'clock, but at no time was the
assemblage very formidable in extent, and little
enthusiasm was manifested. An address
was delivered by Mr. Taylor, the president of
the Free Sunday Society, in which he declared
that trading on Sunday was a necessity
in some parts of the metropolis. The bill in ques-
tion was a one-sided measure, and it was a mockery
to the poor to tell them to provide for all
their wants on Saturday night, when they de-
pended on the sale of their wares on Sunday morn-
ing to furnish them with the means of doing so.
Several resolutions condemnatory of the measure
were passed, and the proceedings closed with a vote
of thanks to the chairman. Other meetings took
place in different parts of the Park, at which similar
resolutions were adopted. The chief characteristic
of these assemblages was the order which prevailed
throughout. Scarcely any policemen were to be seen
on the ground.

SIR R. HARVEY AND THE NORWICH BANK.

The severe injury sustained by Sir R. J. Harvey,
Bert., in his own shrubbery at Crown Point, Nor-
wich, on Friday has caused a widespread feeling of
consternation. The fact that the Norwich Bank,
which was founded so far back as 1774, stopped on
Saturday, the market day in the town, added to the
gravity of the affair, and it is now supposed that Sir
Robert, who was a chief partner in the concern,
contemplated taking away his own life. Sympathy
with the injured gentleman, who still survives,
though in a very feeble condition, is felt by many
friends and old constituents of hisliving round Norwich.
Many of the residents of the town, however, have
been so struck with surprise at the closing of the
bank that their thoughts have been, since Saturday,
too wholly centred on their own difficulties, to think
of the lamentable state of Sir Robert. The business of
the banking establishmekt was till lately in a sound
condition, returning a profit of £30,000 per annum,
and even now assets which will allow a dividend of,
at least, 15s. in the pound to be paid, are promised.
The causes of the collapse are said to have been heavy
commitments, resulting from the operations of Sir
Robert Harvey on the Stock Exchange, he having
latterly been a speculator to a large amount in
Spanish and other foreign stocks. As Mr. R. J. Harvey,
Sir Robert, who is the son of an old Peninsular
officer, and whose mother was a member of a-noble
Irish family, sat for Thetford from 1865 to 1868; but
on the disfranchisement of that borough in the latter
year, he disappeared from parliamentary life. He
received his baronetcy from Mr. Disraeli.