The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-21 00:00:00

intiruiit: t int

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1846.

of the office of Crown Solicitor in Ireland, vacant by the re- '
cent appointment of the late Crown Solicitor to another
office, and that by the new arrangement, which was merely
an experiment, a saving would lee effected of 1001. a year.
On the motion that the House, at its rising, do adjourn till
Monday, being put,
Mr. BROTLIERTON moved that the House do sit to-morrow
at 12, as it was not likely the House would divide to-night.
Sir R. PEEL thought it would be extremely advantageous
that an early decision should be come to on the question, yet
he saw no advantage in acceding to the proposition of the
Hon. Gentleman. He knew how impossible it was to limit
discussion, but still he thought no advantage could be gained
by acceding to the proposition of the Hon. Gentleman.
Mr. STAFFORD O'Bumx said that several Hon. Gentlemen
on that side of the House were desirous of addressing the
House. No time would be lost in permitting them to ad-
dress the House on this question, as they would not have to
address that House again in the future stages of the Bill.
He hoped, therefore, the division would not be unnecessarily
pressed for this evening.
Mr. ROEBUCK, who spoke in a very indistinct tone, put a
question as to the Post-office arrangements with Canada, in
answer to which

Sir R. PEEL stated that the matter was a very complicated
one, and would better form the subject of official communica-
tion than of a question in the House.
In answer to a question from Capt. OSBORNE relating to
the potato disease,
Sir R. PEEL said that he had since received a communica-

tion from Dr. LINDLEY stating, that from experiments which
he had tried, he was of opinion that potatoes propagated
from diseased seed were themselves diseased, and that there-
fore the greatest care was necessary in the selection of pota-
toes from seed in order to guard against the propagation of
the disease. .

Various petitions on the subject of the corn-laws having
been presented, _ _

The adjourned debate was resumed by
Mr. CummiNG BRUCE, who denied that the Government
measure would be considered a settlement of the corn-law
question. It was a total sacrifice of the interests
of an important class of the community, and if this
sacrifice were to be made to agitation, it would only give
rise to a new agitation for more dangerous objects. If the
Government bad been firm, the agitation would
have been put down, but experience proved that con-
ceding to agitation only gave rise to fresh demands•
He would not consent to sacrifice his feelings on behalf of the
interests of his constituents, and his tenantry, and his neigh-
bours, to the unfeeling theories of political economy, which,
in seeking the greatest happiness of the greatest number, set
at naught the feelings and interest of some odd millions of
agriculturists. The Government measure would be carried by
the votes of the Opposition—not by those of the Minister's
usual supporters. Although he agreed in opinion with the
Noble Lord the Member for Liverpool, and with the Hon.
Member for Inverness, as to the impolicy and danger of the
Ministerial measure, he would not follow their example by
voting for it; and, if by throwing out the measure they
should oust the Minister, although, perhaps, they might no'
find

" Five hundred as good as he,"
they would find more than five as good as he,to take his place.
He denied that the farmers in Scotland were indifferent to
the corn-law—the great majority of them were opposed to

drawal of protection from agriculture would be ruinous to
the best interests of the country. With regard to the con-

;he Ministerial measure. He considered that the with•

duct of the Noble Lord opposite during the recent attempts
to form a Government, he thought that it was worthy of an

English gentleman, honest and honourable; but with regard

to his letter to the constituents of London, which seemed to

have been adopted by the Home Secretary, he wished to ask
how it was, that while the Noble Lord was formerly in office,

he had not discovered that the corn-laws were

the "bane of agriculture and the blight of commerce?"
He wished to know whether the refusal of the Right Hon.
Baronet's colleagues to co-operate with him in November
was a refusal to a proposition for a simple suspension of the
corn-laws, or for a suspension coupled with a proposition for
their ultimate removal? This question affected particularly
the .department of the Chancellor of the Exchequer; he
should like to hear his opinion on the subject. He thought
that the Right Ilon. Gentleman had showed cause for his
proposed modifications in the duties on manufactured arti-
cles, but he had utterly failed in showing that corn was in a
similar category, or that there was any necessary connexion
between a suspension of the corn-laws and a repeal

Their Lordships met at Five o'clock.
Lord FEVERSHAM presented forty-six petitions from differ-
ent parts of Yorkshire against any repeal of the corn-laws,
and complaining of the unconstitutional proceedings of the
Anti-Corn-law League.
Lord LrrrErrom moved an address to the Crown for cer-
tain papers connected with the colonies.—Agreed to.
Lord CAMPBELL presented a I etition from Cork praying fur
the abolition of the ministers' money. The petition wasof great
extent, he had been charged 8/. by the Post-office for the
postage of it; but which had been remitted by the kind-
ness of the Noble Lord at the head of the Post-office De-
partment. He trusted the object the petition had in view
would be maturely considered by their Lordships.
Earl ST. GERMANS admitted that the impost complained
of by the petitioners was a grievance, but only one of prac-
tice and not of principle. He could not ray at the pre-
sent moment whether the Government intended to intro-
duce any measure on the subject.
Lord STANLEY thought it would be impolitic to adopt the
prayer of the petition.
After some observations from Lord MoNTF,AonE, the peti-
tion was ordered to lie on the table.

of the corn-laws, or that there was any justification
for such a measure as that which he proposed•

He regretted exceedingly the decision to which the Righ

individual who was not in favour of a system of restric-
triction. All parties in that country were united against ;
what they called the fatal cause of competition. H
could conceive gentlemen who had from conviction joined
the Anti-Corn-law League giving utterance to their senti-
ments somewhat warmly, but he could not understand the
language made use of that evening by the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman the Secretary at War and the Right Hon. Gentle-
man the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who
were at best but late converts—although he believed the
Secretary at War had been abstractedly a free-trader, but
had not put his theories in practice, because at that
time they came from the wrong side of the House.
They were told that no great quantity of corn could be im-
ported. The manufacturers of Manchester would furnish
capital, and the Hon. Member for Sunderland would find
them with roads, and whatever they demanded would be
supplied, and as the demand increased the prices would fall.
This was proved by what had happened with regard to the
cotton trade. The Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of
State had expressed fear for the failure of the
potato crop. Every year he had bretight forward sonic
great measure, and every year he had abandoned it.
Bold and not overscrupulous in opposition, since he had been
a Member of a Conservative Cab net, he had been constantly
acting from panic—in fact, the Members of the present
Cabinet, were ,he children of panic. Now, with regard to
protection, he did not -find that what the Noble Lord
opposite called the, protective system had ever existed. The
colonial system had existed to the great advantage of the
country, but that was not what was called a protective system.
During the eighteenth century our foreign trade was sacri-
ficed to our colonial system, and merchants were compen-
sated by secure markets and great profits. We lost our
colonies, and Mr. PITT brought forward a system of free
trade, because we had lost our great colonies. The revolu-
tionary war interrupted the system, which was again taken
up by Lord LIVERPOOL and Mr. Husatssox, and by the
Right Hon. Gentleman—his Corn Bill of 1842, and his
tariff ; that was, the system of free trade as
contradistinguished from that which was now proposed, and
which he would call free imports, the introduction of which
system had been the ruin of Turkey, and which would pro-
duce the same effect in every ether country. The Right
Hon. Gentleman had announced that the principle of protec-
tion was renounced by his Cabinet. He thought it was bene-
ficial. The onus probandi lay upon those who ad-
vocated the doing away with competition. He found great
difficulty in meeting the case of the Anti-Corn-law League,
because it continually varied. They began by promising
cheap bread to the labourer, they ended by promising high
rents to the landlord. He did believe they were disin-
genuous, because he thought that all this time they were
only instructing themselves. In 1839, the Chamber of Man-
chester referred all the evils under which they laboured to
the state of the currency; and, having exhausted the cur-
rency, they afterwards turned to the corn-laws. The League
said protection was a failure, because it could not feed the
people, nor employ the people. He denied both propositions.
The agriculture of no great country in the world was equal
to that of England. The great bulk of capital collected by
our settlers in our colonies were invested in land; there was
not an Englishman in India, riding upon an ele-
phant, and surrounded by slaves, who did not dream
of quarter sessions, and place the summum bonuni of life in
being a justice of peace and a deputy-lieutenant. What
would be the position of England, after the repeal of the
corn -laws, if she should be involved in a foreign war? It
would be the same as it was at the rupture of the treaty of

Hon. Baronet had come, but could not see a shade of unfair-
ness in his conduct ; he entirely acquitted him of the
charges which had been brought against him, and believed
that he had acted from conscientious and honourable mo-
tives. He could see no connexion whatever between a po-
tato famine in Ireland and a suspension, much less a repeal
of the corn-laws. If corn had risen in price, the law would
have opened the ports, but they had not given the law a fair
trial, and instead the Government proposed, at the bidding
of the Anti-Corn-law League, to reverse the verdict
of the constituencies of the empire. The recent
prosperity had been owing to the manner in which
public credit had been renovated by the income-tax, and to
the spirit of railway speculation. These afforded no reasons
for giving up protection, and he for one could not consent to
embark with the Right Hon. Baronet on the unknown ocean
of free trade.

Mr. POULETT SCROPE thought no atmosphere was so
noxious as that of the forcing house of protection, within
which we bad cooped up so much of our industry, under the
mistaken idea of stimulating production. The free im-
portation of corn might greatly benefit the country
without effecting any reduction of prices. There
were some millions who, it was said, now re-
joiced in potatoes because the country did not produce a
sufficiency of corn for their consumption. The burden
of proof of the necessity of maintaining high prices rested
with those who assumed that they were necessary, and

he had heard no sufficient reason for their maintenance arti-

Amiens; and it would only be by securing the command of
the seas, that supplies would be obtained. They would be
obliged, as they were then, to raise loans with wheat at
110 s., and to pay the interest of those loans with wheat at
555. Seeing that since that time we had supplied the popu-
lation with food, it could not be urged that the system had
failed to feed the people. It bad not failed to employ the

people. The Secretary at War said, cultivate the hills o
Wiltshire, and the population will be employed. Why were
they not cultivated? The condition of the peasantry, bad
as it was at present, was worse before the system of protec-
tion was introduced. The Goatacre meeting was much like
the deputation from the nations of Europe, which was
brought to the bar by the French Convention, by Anarchasis
Clooty. But if these were to be taken as specimens of the
agricultural class, he would produce greater instances of
wretchedness from the manufacturing • districts, but he
would not condescend to do so because he knew that they
would not be a fair sample of the labourers in those districts
for he knew that generally speaking the manufacturers were'
honourable men, who endeavou-^ '— :I promote the interests
of their labourers to the best of their power. He would
admit that the principle did not regulate wages, but if wages
of labour did not depend on the price of corn, the
importation of foreign corn must displace so much Bri-
tish corn, and so displace so much agricultural labour
which must seek for employment in the manufacturing
districts, and so bring down the rate of wages there. The
House should consider the effect of sudden importations of
corn on the monetary system. He admitted that if they
had a regular trade they would have a regular supply ; but in
the event of a deficiency there would be an extra denier d,
which it would he impossible to meet without deranging
the monetary system. He did not vindicate protection on
the ground of peculiar burdens. Land had great honours
and must bear great burdens. The system could only be
maintained by a system of high policy, by maintaining a
due balance between the two great branches of nationa
industry, and by giving a preponderance to the agricultura
interest, because they had in England a territorial constitution,
which was the only security for self-government as opposed to
a system of centralization. He believed that the real
meaning of this movement was not the mere repeal of the
corn-laws, but the transference of political power from the
agricultural to the manufacturing classes. He could not
consent to be rescued from the power of one class only
to sink under the power of another. He protested
against such an ignominious catastrophe; if they were to
change the present system of politics, he would prefer falling
under the thraldom of capital, to trust to the energie-
of an educated and an enfranchised people.
The debate, on the motion of Mr. E. BULLER, was then
adjourned till Monday.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and
be House adjourned.

tidally, or for the continuance of protection. Now, the
Hon. Member for Northamptonshire had drawn a picture of

the misery produced by the introduction of foreign commo-
dities to the exclusion of the productions of our native in-
dustry. Now if he had stripped the Hon. Member of all
foreign products which he had worn at that moment—of his
coat of German wool, his shirt of American flax,
his handkerchief of Italian or French silk—the
Honourable Member could hardly have made his
appearance in decent society. The Honourable Member
for Knaresborough, too, in his abuse of machinery, was
guilty of the same fallacy. To carry out his theory he
ought to come down to the House clothed in skins, to live
in a cave, and to support himself on roots grubbed up with
his nails. All these objections to free trade were most falla-
cious. The calm and convincing arguments which bad year
after year been urged. by the Hon. Member for Stockport
had convinced the country, and those arguments had never
been answered by Members on the other side.
Mr. NEWDEGATE denied that prohibition and protection
were the same thing. He acknowledged that to buy in the
cheapest and to sell in the dearest market was true as to trade,
but he denied that it was true as to legislation. It would not
be true as applied to the army employed for the national de-
fence, and protection was as necessary to secure our national
industry as was an army to secure our national safety. The
object of the corn-laws was to maintain steadiness of price,
and the distress of 1841 and 1842 was an example of the
danger of too great an extension of our foreign commerce
with our present monetary system. He had foreseen the
change in the policy of Government ever since 1844, and
it this measure passed, we should be doubly dependent on
foreigners; we should be dependent on them for our
food as well as for money to buy our food. The course

The Earl of KINNAIRD gave notice of his intention, on Mon,
day next, to submit a question to the Government with respect
to the proceedings of the Broad and Narrow Gauge Corn.
missioners.

Earl ST. GERMANS said he wished to introduce some verbal
amendments into the Bill he had brought in the other night
with respect to the pacification of Ireland. lie believed that
the proper course would be to move the reprinting of the Bill
with the amendment.
Lord CAMPBELL suggested that the proper course would be
to withdraw the Bill and introduce a new one, containing
the amendments.

Earl ST. GErtmAss adopted this suggestion, and the Bill
was read a first, and ordered to be read a second time on
aonday.

Their Lordships then adjourned till Monda'

The SPEAKER took the (;hair at Dour o'clock.
General
.EVANS took the oaths and his seat for West-
minster.
Mr. Gooch took the oaths and his seat for East Suffolk, and
Mr. SEYMER and Mr. FLOYER took the oaths and their
seats for Dorsetshire.
Several railway Bills were read a second time, and ordered
to be committed.
Petitions were presented for and against the Customs and
Corn Importation measure.
On the motion of the O'CONOR DON, it was agreed that
it should be an instruction to the Select Committee on
Petitions on Railway Bills, where parties had proved com-
pliance with the standing orders, that they should have
precedence.
During the course of a somewhat desultory conversation on
the subject of railway Bills, it was stated that on Monday
the Committee would report on a large number of railway
Bills, which had by them been arranged in groups, and it
was suggested that Irish and Scotch railway Bills should
have precedence.
Mr. P. Scnori suggested tile appointment of a Commis-
sion to arrange preliminarie., and to sort ralway Bills in
groups before the meeting of the House.
In answer to Mr. GISBORNE,
Sir G. CLERK said that he was not prepared to state at
present whether the Government would introduce any pro-
position funded on the report of the Gauge Commissioners,

Evitz.
~',Fhere was an immense quantity of evidence not yet printed,
0 --'4 *vhiCh the Government must consider before they determined.
' ,fir. HUDSON
1:7,,t
0. . - proposed that the standing orders of the two
gatte,lv.ith regard to railway Bills should be assimilated
4417/
~ .:, 1, : --oittd. tit t!t , railway Bills generally should be permitted to ori-
.,
zl i rojginate tn•dae Lords as well as in the Commons, which would
A. 014, 'Ate a greatsaving of time and expense.
~.1 fCl',';' The -grEaKER stated that he had received alettehrisfr?inm
, -:-Iltitllol3, JAMES LINDSAY, stating that it was not
•
_ ilentiiiit to defend the return for the borough of Wigan.
In answer to a question,
Sir J. Gtitat AM said it was intended to divide the duties

pursued by the Right Honourable Baronet was not con-
stitutional ; he was not the Minister of his Sovereign's choice,
but of her necessity. He was glad to see the determination of
a broken party not to be awed by the threatenings of the
Right Hon. Baronet.
Mr. BARELY supported the Government measure. He
believed that the carrying of the measure would benefit not
only the tenant-farmers, bat the landlords themselves.
Mr. P. BENNETT, jun., opposed the motion.
Mr. MU NTa said that no man would be more happy

.han himself to see this measure carried, because he believed

Lord ASHLEY'S farewell address to the electors of Dorset-
shire is worthy of deep and general attention. After having
represented the county for the last fourteen years, the
Noble Lord has been compelled to withdraw for a
time, the protectionists having obtained a temporary
influence. Indeed, so resolved were they to oppose
the Ministerial measures, that they were prepared to
spend any sums in order to return their favourite
candidates. Lord ASHLEY at once declared himself unable
to afford such a contest. And it is well he did so; the cham-
pions of free trade must be chosen on higher grounds than
any pecuniary considerations. Let them leave those to the
protectionists, who have nothing else to recommend them.
In taking leave of his former constituents, in earnest, elo-
quent, and impressive language, the Noble Lcrd
explained his reasons for resigning, refuted t 1 :e
arguments of his opponents, and strongly urged the
necessity for supporting Sir R. PEEL. Indeed, the " only
amendment he felt disposed to propose to the Ministerial
measure—one suggested by grave and mature consideration—
wai, that there should be an immediate, not a gradual abo-
lition of the corn-laws." Many persons have blamed Lord
ASHLEY for advocating the cause of the factory operatives,
while, by upholding protection, he was wronging the agri-
culturists, with whom he was more nearly connected.
By his recent conduct the Noble Lord has silenced these
objections; he has proved himself the friend not of one class,
but of the community ; in both cases he has sacrificed per-
sonal interests for the general welfare. He refused to enter
the Government in order to bring forward the Factory
Bill, and now, by supporting free trade, he has
lost his seat in Parliament. He is now only
a private individual, and much as we may regret this cir-
cumstance, we do not regret it for Lord ASIILEY'S sake. We
regret it for the House of Commons, which has lost one of
its most consistent, conscientious Members; we regret it for
the poor, who have lost a powerful friend ; for the hard
working operatives, who have lost a zealous advocate ; for
the suffering and the helpless, who have lost the help of one
ever ready to sympathise, ever fore, riost to assist. We should be
very reluctant to believe that Lord ASHLEY'S political career
had terminated, but even were it so, all will admit that few
have ever effected more real good. Others may dazzle by
their eloquence, convince by their subtle reasoning, obtain
passing admiration or perhaps lasting fame ; but Lord
ASHLEY has earned a higher tribute than admiration—he
has merited the warm approval of the kind-hearted
and well-judging, the fervent gratitude of the poor, the
suffering, the oppressed. To his unwearyiag perseverance
we are indebted for many of our most brunane and salutary
regulations. We owe it to him that women, no
longer neglecting the duties and dignity of their
sex, working in the mines, perform labours arduous
even for men. Who has not read with horror
those details, describing young and tender females,
barely covered with a single garment, struggling beneath
the weight of burdens as ill-proportioned to their physical
strength as the situation was unfitted to their moral cha
racter ; but these revolting scenes are over, and it is to
Lord ASHLEY we are indebted for the change; through him
also children under eight years of age no longer work
twelve aLd fifteen hours a-day ; and through his
endeavours mothers will some future day have
two hours to attend to their families—young person:;
two hours to obtain some instruction. Thinking of all that
he has done, of all that he might yet do, we cannot but
regret the absence of Lord ASHitrEY from the scene of his
untiring labours, his well-earned triumph. But, for his own
sake we cannot regret it ; his resignation has placed him
iNwpgna:ttothhcaiytwfheohigher position than he ever owned before-
Not
tnnsht
eroofsnhahgkei
se eloquenceoo pfapdt,h eoecnattse necessitiesoddf dtrt
uhhteeho,af
appear
ahpouemenas
cemr
osuahonno.
commanding
country.
.figltyl enißie,ybs
sup-
porting sym-
pathy
sononwa,lv,
advantage,
nh
tea
ge has rheaslinquished all thoughts of private or per-
given up even his power of doing
the corn-laws he might have retained influence, but.
principle forbade him; he roiglst also haves mret
seat, yet ♦oted for a repeal, but his feelings of honaouluer"his
com-
pelled him to resign his trust, and he has resigned it. 'Wsmay sum up his character in the impressive words of Mr.
SMYTHE, in his poem of "Armond Carrel :"
" A, wrong to conviction he would not endure,
And he fought for his love when lie fought for the poor,"

that by so doing a veil would be torn from the eyes of the
people which had blinded them for years. He was glad that
the Right Hon. Baronet had admitted that for the last forty
years he had been wrong in to-o.
Mr. DISRAELI had pledged himself to meet this ques-
tion on its merits; and though he might be unable for the
task, he would not shrink from it. They did not complain of
the Right Hogifi Itarc&Pchanging his opinions, or that he had
deferred too mali freptiVec opinion, but that he had outraged it,
The people had now a Protection Cabinet and Free-trade
Minister. The country was flourishing. Why ? Because
it had enjoyed a judicious and moderate protection, and the
Right Hon. Gentleman's whole speech went to prove the
advantage of such a protection. He would ask the Hon.
Gentleman, could he fight hostile tariffs with free im-
ports? It was most consistent in free-traders from
Manchester to cheer that question, but what was the
answer of the Right Hon. Gentleman ? If he believed he
could, he need not troubtlieidh.ihmeself about commercial treaties;
must have a clear answer to
andth ap
trora
esset
oh
ni s.
keTilaiz
but if lie did not, why
ght
mltearsntilre ?
Prus,sitfti!eetrade, Franceb had shown symptoms
Unitedt States were protectionists,
the manufacturing
sible that America,
protectionists, and in
Enviseed,.and
amountedor ato eight
of beingpopulation
1840 the manufacturing population
hundred thousand operatives It was the best
must numerous interest in the United States. g
free trade had become popular in England, the manufactr
urers
in the United States had been warlike,because they considered
war as the best protection of the manufacturers, and in pro-
portion as they conciliated the western they would raise the
dislike of the northern and eastern states, which were the
most powerful. The Noble Lord the Member for the West
Riding had given them some statements of American social
life ; he wished the Noble Lord had spoken of the celebrated
negro melody, which showed how gentlemen turned from one
side of the table to the other. Then with regard to Prussia
an author of high authority recommended that they should be
more stringent in their prohibitions. The little states would,
by this measure be forced to join the Zollverein. With re-
gard to France, with his knowledge of public men there, he
did not believe, with the exception of a Minister twho would
wish to conciliate an English Government, that there was an

In his speech, on Thursday, Lord ASHLEY fairly answered

TAE SUN LONDON, SATURDAY MORNING, FRBRUARY 21, 1846.

all the arguments of his opponents when they spoke of a de-
pendence on foreigners ; he reminded them that they were not
dependent on any single country, that all foreign ports could
not he closed at once; that" NAPOLEON, in the zenith of his
power, with the entire command of the continent, found his
Berlin and Milan decrees inoperative, because he
was fighting against the necessities of the people.
There was now more wisdom in their forms of government,
a tenfold force in public opinion, and he was convinced that
in the present day it would require a NAPOLEON multiplied
by twenty, not only to enforce but to proclaim such de-
crees 1" He then referred to the article of cotton
for which we are only partly dependent on America ;
yet, " during the war in 1812, there was no sus-
pension of the trade, the two countries agreed, as it were,
to tight with the one hand and trade with the other."
He strongly deprecated the idea that the manufacturing and
agricultural interests were at variance. "And now," said
the Noble Lord with great impressiveness, "I assert
that their prosperity is your prosperity you cannot
every.ou anrtelvoltohteiyon areof
the
arms flourish
ofw they
ta te, fade
andde ;
3
steam-engine drives r e ploughshare deeper into the
fruitful soil of England,' and this is the language of a Tory !
Truly times are chan,ed. Reason and common sense have
triumphed at last. Party spirit has given way to the
universal spirit of truth and justice. Lord J. RussELL
could not propose more truly liberal measures than those
which Sir R. PEEL has recently brought forward, and Mr.
COBDEN himself could scarcely uphold free trade more
strenuously than Lord AsiILEY. The Noble Lord thus con•
eluded his address :

" And now as I bid you farewell—(No, no)—I will ask you in
all justice seriously to answer me, what motives can I have in coun-
selling the adoption of these measures, other than a sincere—it may
be a mistaken belief of their value for your public and private inte-
rest ? My lot is cast with yours. If this measure be an evil one,
few will suffer more than myself. I have many children and no
situate in the poorest and most unprofitable
expectations to sustain them but the se derived from land,
panardts that,
your Own 'own county. I have by a voluntary act of my
own stripped myself of the high honour that attaches to being your
representative, and I now stand here before you after fourteen years
of service—l may say with joy of blameless service—l stand here to
be rejected by your voices.—(" No, no," and cheers.) I stand here
to be sentenced to a private station, and be deprived of all hope cf
carrying into completion those measures of social improvement
to which I have devoted the better portion of my life. How-
ever painful the issue, it shall not sever those ties of charity
which bind me to you, and, I am sure, you to me ; and I
shall rejoice in a hope amounting to an assurance, that counsels
such as these—devised to consolidate the peace and extend the in-

tercourse of nations—to reconcile man to man and interest to inte-
rest, will be abundantly blessed from on high ; and I shall hope
that your common welfare, forced] on you in spite of yourselves, will
make you confess at last that the free and friendly intercourse of all
the families of the earth will secure your own prosperity under God,
and bring all nations to the love of the law and the freedom and re-
ligion of the British people."

selves as militia, and has even taken five hundred convicts
out of prison and embodied them into a regiment. It is
really astonishing how the French Government can allow
this madman to remain at his post for one day longer. The
remarks of the National on the subject will excite sympathy
throughout France. " Marshal BUGEAUD," says that jour-
nal, "has just ordered the organisation of all the reserve of
the Algerian National Guard. The army is not sufficient,
and the National Guard is put in requisition. It is even ne-
cessary to have recourse to men whom the law has struck
and banished from the ranks of our battalions. Five hun-
dred men, condemned to the punishment of a weight at-
tached to their leg, have been equipped and armed in all
haste, and have just taken the field. In a word, all
the resources of the Governor-General are employed to
withstand the sad necessities of the situation. We
learn, in addition, that fresh reinforcements have
been demanded from the War department. We
can easily comprehend the painful emotion caused in
Algiers by the calling out of the National Guard. It is in
vain that M. BUGEAUD, in his letter to General DE BAR, en-
deavours to assign a different motive for this grave measure ;
every one easily divines what this appeal to the devotedness
and courage of the civil population means. It is evident, and
we have repeatedly said so, that M. BUGEAUD does not know
where to turn. By his fault, and by his fault alone, a mag-
nificent army has in a mauler melted away during a short
campaign of foar months. No more cavalry, no more beasts
of burden for the transport cif provisions and ammunition.
The infantry present only a few enfeebled groups, covered
with rags, and reduced to the most meagre diet. In despair,
the citizens are obliged to be armed, and to be called on to
defend the country in common with offenders, declared un-
worthy to wear the uniform."
Several officers of the army of Africa, who are in Paris on
leave, have just received orders to return immediately to
thoeinr
Wednesday the Three per Cents. closed at 114 f. Sea. ; the Five
per Cents., 1231. 40c. ; the Orleans Railroad shares, 1,330 f. ; Rouen,
1,060 f. ; Havre, 7621. 50c.; Avignon, 1,025 f., Vierzon, 735 f.; Bor-
deaux, 657 f. 50c.; Boulogne, 5551.; Basle, 256f.25c. ; Great Northern,
77bf. 75c. ; Fampoux, 472 f. 50c. ; Paris and Strasbourg, 557 f. 50e. ;
Tours and Nantes, 595 f.
The following are the quotations for other lines :—Paris and
Lyons (definitive), 632 f. 30c. ; Lyons and Avignon (Talabot),
511 f. ; Ditto (Lecointe), 5051. ; Ditto (Compagnie Meridionale),
502 f. 50c. ; Bordeaux and Cette (Mackenzie), 504 f.; Ditto (Espeleta),
511 f.; Charleroi (Kysaen's), 492 f. 50c.
LYONS, FEB. 16.—Marseilles and Avignon, 9.90 f. ; Paris and Orleans,
1,298 f. ; Paris and Rouen, 1,527 f. 50c. ; Orleans and Vierzon, 770 f.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, FEB. 19.
Boulogne and Amiens, 11%—Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Cette

Seven days since we announced the fact that a most un-
constitutional influence was being exercised by certain noble-
men, whereby the freedom of elections was directly tampered
with, and the old boroughmongering system revived
This declaration was on Thursday corroborated by Mae,
Cot-LETT—corroborated at least as far as assertions
can be received. Unfortunately, however, the Honourable
Member had not supplied himself with testimo-
nies (to accumulate a vast number of which there
would assuredly be no difficulty), and was besides so embar-
rassed in his delivery as to militate considerably against the
actual importance of his motion. These circumstances we
most earnestly lament since, through their interposition, a
vicious and insufferable grievance—possibly the most vicious
and insufferable grievance with which our govern-
ment can be afflicted—is slurred over as something
scarcely worthy of attention, when in fact for a
Legislative interference in its regard there is a pro•
digious and paramount necessity. The integrity of our own
individual department—of the people's department—in the
State is placed in jeopardy : of this fact, there are indubi-
table proofs, and proofs of almost daily recurrence. Young
scions of nobility, by courtesy designated as representatives
of this or that constituency, but in reality the delegates of
dncal interest, walk one after another into the House of
Commons, are sworn in as a matter of mere routine, and
seat themselves among the advocates of individual monopoly
and party protection. Of this no individual, who has
observed recent occurrences down in the provinces,
and who is, at the same time, gifted with a single
crumb of brain, can, for one solitary instant, doubt,
It is as plain as that the seasons alternate: it is
as demonstrable as the simplest proposition in arithmetic
Like the plague-spot, it is its own evidence; like the crime
of HAMLET'S uncle, it is " rank, and smells to heaven !"
That this corruption exists, look at Chichester, look at
Buckingham, look at Woodstock ;—that this corruption
exists, read, as the Hon. Gentleman recommends, "Dodd's
Parliamentary Companion ;"—that this corruption exists, ob-
serve how frequently men are returned with a
sweeping majority, who have no personal claim, or
tie, or influence with the constituency—men without
one jot of the persuasiveness of eloquence—men who are ac-
companied, when they sally forth to canvass the electors,
with some purse-agent—some recognised money-jobber of a
local landlord with a coronet and a thumping rent-roll. With
these facts staring one boldly in the teeth, who shall blink
the matter as anything but imperative ? who shall have the
audacity to say that rotten boroughs are utterly abolished?
The serfdom into which a considerable number of our
enfranchised countrymen are plunged; their total incapa-
city to vote as their heart and their very reason would tell
them to vote; the undue authority which these acre- owning
despots are permitted to exercise—are really pitiable.
Looking at those devoted blots upon the political chart of the
"Land of Liberty," we almost sigh for the freedom of
the Russian peasantry, or pine for the liberality of
thought permitted of old among the Helots. By an
extension of the malady upon which we have thus animad.
verted, the Lower House would ultimately become, with re-
ference to the Upper House, what the servants' lobby is with
reference to the drawing-room—the reception hall of legisla-
tive flunkies- We are impelled to give utterance to our in-
I dignation in language thus comprehensible and matter of-
) fact from the intolerable nature of this great constitu-
tional rice. The grievance is harsh and unsavoury—it
requires to be eradicated with harsh, and possibly unsavoury
promptitude, and hence the same qualities are requisite to
1 give strength to any exposure of the necessity. Sir
ROBERT PEEL objected, last evening, and that with mani-

(Espelefa). 214 —Central of Spain, I—Eastlndian, 114 —Great North-
ern of France Constituted, 1514—Great Western Bengal, % —Ja-
maica South Midland Junction, 314-Louvain and Jemappe, 2
Lyons and Avignos, 214—Luxembourg, 2%—Madrid and Valentia,
I % —Namur and Liege, 3% —Orleans and Vierzon, 17% —Orleans
and Bordeaux, 11 %—Paris and Rouen, 401,(—Rouen and Havre, 29;4.

feat propriety, to the acceptance of the motion as produced
by Mr. CoeLETT, insisting that one of such
a peculiar character should be accompanied by
an array of proofs directly bearing on the case in
point--otherwise this, namely a demand for what might rea-
sonably be regarded as an idle, fishing Committee of Inquiry,
Might rationally be stigmatised' as a vexatious attempt to
occupy the time and to fritter away the patience of the
re-
presentatives.To these very sensible objections no sound
opposition can possibly be raised; it is but proper the House
should look for testimony before any investigation (especially
one of such an important kind) should be seriously corn-
, menced. And hence, as we have previously observed, Mr.
Com.= seems to have been either wonderfully precipitate,
or wonderfully incompetent, to undertake the office to which
he has aspired—namely, the impeacher of more than a ducal
triumvirate. We consider the Honourable Member pecu-
liarly culpable, from rendering a good solid cause
apparently a very shallow and frivolous one indeed ; by not
selecting from the mass of evidence which lay before him
ready to be collected, some facts which would have satisfied
the sceptical and driven the House into a Com.
mittee forthwith. From this assemblage of evidence
let us select one; surely it alone would have had suf-
cient power to have accomplished the ends which
we have just enumerated. It is about the boldest interference
of a Peer in the election of a Member fi.a. the Commons
which could well be conceived, and from other particulars is
tinctured with extraordinary audacity, and no less extraor-
dinary intolerance. Our remarks are directed t an epistle
written by his Grace of NEWCASTLE on Tuesday last; it is
dated from Cumber; i! is addressed to "the inhabitants
of South natinghamshi ;" and is penned for the direct and
acknowledged purpose c preventing his Grace's son, Lord LIN-
COLN, from being the successful candidate at the forth-
coming election. " In addressing you on the present occasion,"
says the Duke, " I am quite aware of the unusualness of the
proceedings :" a most proper occurrence indeed for the
coinage of an epithet ! the detestable act was not
to be expressed by any word in the dictionary ! " Lord
LINCOLN has been the deluded victim of bad counsel"—it is
his Grace's cash-box that here takes a tongue unto itself—
he pursues his malignities by saying that some individuals
had foolishly " expected that the public voice
would be raised in favour of free trade and the
other newly disclosed enormities of Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S Government, although we have neither asked
for nor desire free trade, nor any other vicious and revo'ution-
'lvy system I" Strong speaking this in so unsound a position I
bold words for the scarcely legitimate interference of an
oligarch Nor is this the marrow or the essence of the
epistle ; the whale production is red-hot—it breathes of the
boiling brandy in which QUILT' was wont to ouench his thirst.
Looking at it through the medium of mere substantial fact,
this letter is the ebulition of a father against his son ; it is
the preference of private wealth to public prosperity ; it
looks uncommonly like a breach of the standing order. We
Icommend it as such to the consideration of the Prime
Minister and the investigation of the House of Commons.

The Madrid Gazette of the 13th publishes the- following
appointments to office, signed by the late Minister of Jus-
tice :—General NARVAEZ, Commander in-Chief of the Army ;
Marquis DE MinAFLoitEs, President of the Council, Minister
of Foreign Affairs; IsTunrrz, Interior; General RONCALI,
War; Admiral TOPETE, Marine. The other vacancies had
not been filled up. The public seemed to take little inte-
rest in the new Ministry, as it is considered only temporary
and formed for the purpose of carrying out some intrigue.
The Funds continued much depressed. On the 12th the
Three per Cents. closed at 31:N at GO days; the Five per
Cents. at 231/i at 60 days; and the Madrid and Aranjuez
Railroad Shares, at 2,095 at 60 day's.

Most of the Paris journals contain articles on the Ministry
just formed at Madrid, and the causes of the change, but
%hen we state that they give at least four different ♦ersions
of the affair, our readers will excuse us for passing them over
without further notice. The Chamber of Deputies had been
engaged for two days in discussing a plan, for which
15,000,000 f. are required, to complete the canal between
Toulouse and Castels, but when the debate was brought to
a close, and the vote was called, there were not a
sufficient number of Members present to make a
House. The accounts from Africa are still very
unfavourable. To such extremities is BUGEAID reduced
that he has compelled the colonists to arm and enrol them-