The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-28 00:00:00

S Ny

MA Y 28, 1846.

• •••• - • •
SIR ROBERT PEEL'S CORN AND
TARIFF BILLS.—PUBLIC MEETING IN HULL.
On Monday last, a very numerously-attended meeting,
convened by the Mayor, was held in the Town-hall, to petition
the House of Lords to pass the Corn-bill. The meeting had
been called by his worship in pursuance of the following requi-
sition :—" To the Right Worshipful the Mayor of the bo-
rough of Kingston-upon-Bull.--Sir,--We, the undersigned
merchants, shipowners, tradesmen, and other inhabitants of
Kingston-upon-Hull, most earnestly request you to call a
public meeting of the inhabitants of this borough, to be
held at the Town-Hall, on an early day, to take into con-
sideration the propriety of petitioning the House of Lords in
favour of the repeal of the corn-laws, and other measures
for the establishment of free-trade, lately brought before
Parliament by her Majesty's Government."
After the several resolutions had been submitted to, and
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shire, on rising was received with loud cheeri, and, after
some other remarks, thus proceeded—lt is often urged, as
an argument against free trade, that it would create a mutual
dependence upon each other between the different nations
of the earth. Now to me, as a Christian man and a Chris-
tian minister, the power to create this very dependence is as
high a recommendation as any other which trade possesses,
to enlist me in the effort to make wider its borders. It
means, when translated into plain English, that trade is the
best peacemaker, and the best security for keeping the peace
between country and country which it is possible to conceive.
And I begin my address to you with this trite and threadbare
remark, because, after one of the free trade meetings which I
attended, at the town of Hull, I was taken to task on this
very point by the then Ministerial organ, the Morning Herald,
which, after dealing out to me a general rebuke for publicly
avowing my sympathy with your sacred cause, went on to
call my attention to a passage of holy writ which, it said,
would, if well considered, draw me to very different con-
clusions on the subject from those which I previously held.
I must confess that I was somewhat startled at an effort to
persuade a minister of religion that he ought to be
an advocate of a state of things which would allow
a nation to go to war at any moment on the shortest
possible notice, and much more so to find it
alleged that the authority for making him such was to
be looked for in the page of Scripture. Has the writer of
such an almost impious appeal ever asked himself what
war is?—(Hear, hear.) Has he ever, even in a passing
thought, contemplated all its attendant horrors—fire
and sword, blood and massacre, the shrieks of the dying
and the tears for the dead; the wife widowed, and the child
orphaned, with violence and rapine in the front, and pesti-
lence and famine in the back-ground of the hateful
picture, all so terrible to think of, and so much more
terrible to witness, that the great hero of modern
times, our own laurelled Wellington, has been heard to
exclaim, "that next to a battle lost, the most dreadful thing
in the world is a battle gained?"-(Hear.) But I turned
to the passage pointed out to me by my critic, and found it to be
that famous one in which the sacred writer informs us that
a quarrel having sprung up between King Herod and the
people of Tyre and Sidon, the latter were anxious not to
push things to extremities, but to remain at peace, " because
their country was nourished by the king's ceuntry."—
(Hear, hear.) It is impossible to say how light makes its
way into the human intellect; but from the very same pre-
mises I arrive at exactly an opposite conclusion to that laid
down by the great Mentor of the press, and see in his argu-
ment against the dependence created by trade, a most glo-
rious and striking instance of its blessed and peaceful
influence to check the evil passions, and control the
pride and wrath of man. Here were two nations about to
plunge into war and all the horrors which have been depicted.
Angry feelings had grown into angry words. The sword was
to be drawn, and blood was to flow, until the delirium being
over, a lucid interval should return, and both parties be left
to regret their folly, and weep, in tears of bitterness and an-
guish, over the sad and sorrowful consequence, which it had
brought upon them. But at this crisis trade stepped in with
its mediating power, andhushed the rising storm.—(Cheers.)
It remindid the men of Tyre and Sidon, whatever wrong had
been committed, or provocation "iven by those who held sway
over them, that there were people as well as rulers, and that
the happiness and interests of the one were as worthy of a na-
tion's care as the pride orambition of the other.—(Hear, hear. )
Its voice prevailed. Peace resumed its smiling aspect, and
all-triumphant commerce continued to run on in its accurns •
tomed channel'.—(Loud cheers.) I only wish, when I look
back at this striking proof of the mighty influence of trade,
that we also were bound by a good commercial treaty to
keep the peace with all the leading nations of the world.
A good commercial treaty, for instance, between France and
England, and a thriving trade between the two countries,
would have given the people of both a better occupation a
year or two ago than to be watching, as they were, for daily
excitement in the news from Morocco or the far Pacific.—

(Cheers.) Neither would the Oregon question ever have
grown up into such a dangerous bone of contention between
us and the United States, but for the perpetual feeling of
hosti:ity which monopoly keeps up between the two nations.
Give them an unshackled trade, and the spirit of pugnacity
on both sides of the Atlantic will fly before the superior in-
fluence of the genius of commerce.—(Loud cheers.) But to
pass on from this part of the subject, every speaker on the
question of the corn-laws must feel that he can add nothing
new to the arguments which have been again and again
brought forward, and exhausted in the protracted discussion
of it. There is, however, one point of view in which it has
been less looked at than in any other, namely, as it is pecu-
liarly and especially the working men's question.—(Hear.)
First of all, in advancing to the consideration of it in this
light, I cannot help expressing my satisfaction at the better
and, indeed, thorough, understanding of this most important
subject which has made its way to the popular mind during
the agitation of the last four or five years.—(Hear.) Before
that time the working classes were too often the dupes of in-
terested teachers who made them believe that dear bread
caused high wages, a doctrine which, if properly and fully
carried out, would lead to the reductio ad absurdum that a
famine was the real and short cut to health and wealth and
prosperity. But they know better than this now. Since
the question has been so vividly forced upon their minds,
they have taken notes and watched its working for them-
selves, and have thoroughly learned, what even Mr. Hudson
admitted the other night in the House of Commons, that
labour is no exception to the rule which settles the price
of every article according to the supply and demand
for it.—(Loud cheers.) But I said that the question of
the corn-laws was peculiarly and especially the working-
men's question. I repeat, emphatically, that it is so.—
(Cheers.) They are always the first and the greatest suf-
ferers in a season of scarcity.—(Hear.) I can tell you from
my own experience and recollections how it affects them ; and
what has been, may be again, should the Lords rashly throw
out Sir Robert Peel's free-trade measure. I was, in the
earlier part of my clerical life, the minister of a large parish
in the manufacturing districts, and it was my misfortune,
during the time, to witness one of those periodical stagnations
of business which the working of monopoly from time to time
brings upon the country. We had been enjoying an unusual
season of prosperity. The people had employment,
and they were satisfied. The sound of industry was heard
in every cottage. Happiness and contentment were written
on the countenances of the inmates, while the smiling cherub
faces which played around the door, told that, if they were
not pampered by the food of luxury, they were nourished by
the hand of plenty.—(Cheers.) Every house had its appro •
priate stock of furniture, and, as often as the returning Sab-
bath or holiday proclaimed a cessation from labour, there
was an improvement of attire about the people which it was
delightful to behold. But this state of things was not to last.
The demon of corn-law approached, and the pestilential
breath of the destroyer was at once felt. The blast of desola-
tion came. A commercial shock struck at the very centre of
the prosperity of the country, and the whole fabric of hope
and anticipation fell before it. Mills stopped working; fac-
tories discharged their hands. The voice of industry was
heard no more. The look of happiness and contentment
gradually disappeared from the countenances of the poor, and
was replaced by the hollow cheek, the sunken eye, the care-
worn brow, by every Symptom which Could speak the in-
tenseness of their misery. Hunger and starvation were in the
faces of their children. It is true that both public subscriptions
and private charity were actively at work all this time; but
what can theyeffect when a whole population is starving and
crying but for bread?—(}sear.) One portion of furniture after
another was parted with to procure the means of subsistence
—first of all, the clock and chest of drawers in which the
wife had felt no little pride and pleasure—then the tables—
the chairs—the very bed itself—the clothing, too, all shared the
same fate, except such tattered rags as tile cold might search
through at every inclement blast—and so the torrent of misery
rushed on, until the dwellings which just before might be
likened to the cottage of content, became no better than
the fearful picture of the Cave of Famine in Churchill's
poems—
" Where half-started spiders prejr'd On half-starved flies."
But, perhaps, the most melancholy feature of all that melan-
choly period was to witness the fearful struggle of honest
English independence in the minds of some of the people
before they could bring themselves to accept the relief offered
to them. I shall never forget the case of' one poor matt whom
I had long known and remarked for his industry and steady
habits. Thinnerand paler and more care.-worn he grew every
day; but he never complained. He never asked assistance.
He never told or confessed to the actual misery and wretched-
ness of his family at home. Heaven help him, poor soul I
He had no occasion. The whole story was written upon
hit countenance as plainly as in a book open before you.
Often and often did I press him to go with others for a share
of the food which was distributed so many times in a week
out of the fund raised for that purpose, until one day, I recol-
lect, when 1 urged it most strongly upon him, he turned from
me to hide the tears which started into his eyes, as, using a
Lancashire word which means " starved," he said, "No, sir,
lam not clemmed enough for that yet." At the moment,
I stood before that man with a respect which I had never felt
for a fellow-mortal, and frequently since, as t have thought
of that trying period, and the events by which it was marked,
my memory has recurred to the evil augury which Sir Walter
Scott makes Marmion draw for Scotland at the sight of
Douglas weeping at the King's rebuke :
" Oh ! let such tears unwonted plead
For respite short from dubious deed;
A child may weep a bramble's smart,
A maid, to see her sparrow part,
A stripling for a woman's heart;
But woe awaits a country, when
She sees the tears of bearded men."—(Hear, hear.)
And how long is the nation to be kept liable to such convul-
sions, to such social earthquakes, as may well call them ?
What is going to be done now? Is, as it is whispered by
some of the most desperate of the monopolists, the Duke of
Richmond or Lord Stanley, about to form an administration
of country gentlemen ? When the Swedes complained to
Charles the Twefth of the
afflicted during his absence grievances re
the head
whichhis theyh e
re-were
plied that, " If they troubled him army,
dm any more, he wonld tend
one of his jackboots to rule over them." Well, a government
of topboots would be next door to it. But, suppose them in
the saddle, boots, and spurs too, what would they do?
_Would they attempt to maintain the state quo. Or, even in
their case, finding that to be impossible,
would they have
a dream of another compromise, another sliding of the
sliding- scale, another " much ado about nothing' specimen
of the Indian jugglers' legislation? But this will not
do. There has been too much of this sort of work already.
We are met here to protest against having any more of
it. One has given us a corn-law, and another has given us
a corn-law, and one has tampered with the trade of the
country, and another has tampered with it, until the poor
patient is in danger of miserably perishing from the dosing
and counter-dosing which it has had to endure from so many
different hands. In "Bentley's Miscellany," for December,
we read of a-quarrel between the Town-Council and Magis-
trates of some borough about the appointment of a surgeon
to the gaol. Each claimed the right, and each exercised it,
and lo " two puddings smoked upon the,board," or rather

PRICE 51).

the gaol in question was blessed with two rival doctors. A
prisoner fell ill. Both visited him; both prescribed for him;
both sent medicine as different as the views which they had
taken of the disease. The gaoler being no party man, felt
that his duty was to make the unhappy sufferer swallow the
physic of both, when luckily, at this juncture, the mayor,
being the most sensible man of the lot, interferred, and, ex-
tinguishing both surgeons pro tempore, called in a physician,
who cured the patient. But, says the tale, as it sums up,
if his worship had been less sagacious, and the sick
man had been left to undergo the horrors of opposite
treatment and the double allowance of physic, and death had
which
the of f tootr a d muche
been the result, what verdict would a jury have returned?
eft hdoifactera.alt
"Died TheeThee can be but one answer. It would, of course, have been,
ryAniadeetnhsistanis
constantly
yhe
kwerpatctexppereisletlo
It also is in danger
akni ding of too much doctor." It is
and space, and freedomnt a flower-pot," when it wants room,
shoot forth its spreading o project its roots in all directions and
"what can I do for ug and luxuriant branches far and wide.
philosopher of old : ,3r, Standu said the Macedonian Prince to the
the sun," was all the reply given, Tit of my light that I may see
from officious statesmen ancAnd this is what trade asks
is ever at work for it. It says to legislators,tilerti,whose killing kindness
and let me have a little sunshine • sca't;eBrtatiiied out of my light
bungling interference,and let me 'breathe the clouds of your
free-
dom. Yes; this is what trade wants. It wants topl7rerefrael7f fetters and restrictions ;to be loosed from the crutches free from
min
all
poly and protection ; to be released from the bandagernsonnd
swaddling-clothes, and cradles, and go-carts, and leading
-
strings, and rocking-horses of babyhood, and to be allowed to.
run alone and:take care of itself. In short, as I said before, it
wants to be rescued from the danger of " dying of too mach
doctor." And from this danger the care of the statesman, as
well as the sympathy of the philanthropist, should be roused
to snatch it—and what, indeed, should a statesman be but
a philanthropist in the largest meaning of the word? But
some of our opponents—l have heard it from themselves—
tell us that they would abandon the corn-laws to the agita-
tion and organisation of the free- traders, if they could quite
persdade themselves that there are no-Ulterior objects masked
behind this first demand. This is the wisdom of the school-
boy over again, who, when scolded for his stupidity in not
learning his lesson, protested most strongly against the in-
ference—" No, mother, no I I'm not a dunce; but 1 know
very well that, if I learn A, master will want me to learn B
next."—(Laughter.) Now, this young gentleman was an
admirable specimen of a person guarding himself against ul-
terior designs.—( Hear.) But his imitators would do well to
recollect that, as there is a time to hold out, so there is a time
to yield; and they should take care not to pass that time by,
lest, by their obstinacy, they should bring upon themselves
the very peril which they wish to avoid—(Hear)—and be
compelled, not only to learn A, but B also, and C and D, and
all the letters of the political alphabet, down to Z itself. It it
said that there are persons who, if you give them an inch,
will take an ell. But whether this rule will or will not hold
good in politics, depends more upon the giver than the re-
ceiver.—(Hear.) An inch, given in time, and given
gracefully, will, by the feelings of gratitude which it excites
in the people, often save an ell.—(Hear.) But, if obstinately
refused and held back until wrung from the hand which de-
tains it, it is taken without thanks, and a demand for the 11
ell
instantly follows. And some of the monopolists, lam sorry
to say, seem to be bent upon playing this losing game
ezt
the matter of the corn laws . In putting forward such
remarks, far be it from me to urge or to think that states-
men and legislators should rush in breathless haste
to yield to every wild and ephemeral cry which may spring
up and die out in a day. But prudent and far-seeing men
ought surely to be able to distinguish between a real and a
counterfeit, a genuine and a spurious, public opinion—
(Cheers)—they ought to know the steady and increasing
light which flashes from the one in all directions, from the
the fire of stubble and momentary blaze of the other.—(Loud
cheers.) And they ought to perceive clearly that there is an
earnestness, that there is a reality, that there is a strength,
in the national demand for free-trade, which plainly says,
that a compliance with it cannot be much longer evaded,
and, therefore, that it is folly to defer it until the people may
be irritated into demanding free trade and something more.—
(Renewed cheering). Do our monopolist legislators want to
afflict the country with a perpetual blister of agitation ?
Do they wish to make agitation so strong that, when it has
carried one object, it shall have sting enough left in it
instantly to set about another—(Hear)—ever, like the phoe-
nix, instead of dying in its ashes, renewing itself, and start-
ing back into all its youthful vigour?—(Cheers.) If they
were wise men, they would yield at once—if, even now, the
time for yielding gracefully have not passed by.—(Hear). If
they persist much longer in a vain and useless opposition,
they will only (to use a homely proverb) "go farther and
fare worse."—(Cheers.) They must be losers by so perse-
veringly teaching the people the power of combination and
organisation.—(Hear.) If this struggle should be foolishly
protracted on their part, what must inevitably be the result?
Do they think that the sweets of power and ambition are
pleasant and acceptable to none but those of their own class
and order ? Do they expect that the men who have guided
and wielded the popular will by their mental superiority and
inspiring eloquence, will quietly retire to their looms and
their factories, their works and their warehouses, and leave
the arena of public affairs to those whom they have so
often foiled and baffled in it? Do they suppose that those
who have become freeholders, and dethroned one
county despot after another, will all at once act
the part of political suicides, burn their title-deeds,
or barter away their power?—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Marvellously small must be their knowledge of human na-
ture if they have any such idea. But they cannot entertain
such an absurdity in their minds. Convinced of the fruitless-
ness of any further resistance, they must, in spite of their
looks and words of bold defiance, be going to yield, and all
that the people have to do more at this crisis Is to make it
apparent and clear to the monopolists that yielding must
mean yielding, and nothing else—(Hear)—and that the re-
peal of the corn-laws must be total and nothing less—they
must take care not, in the joy and intoxication of victory, to
suffer the results of defeat to be palmed upon them as the
fruits of success.—(Hear.) As Mr. Cobden has said over and
over again, this is the veryti me to watch and be wary.
Our enemies are a slippery race, ever sliding, never
standing fast to anything.—(Laughter and cheers.) Even
now, when about to give away, they are some of them
yet talking of bargains, compacts, compromises, terms,
conditions, compensations, stipulations, and I know
not what besides ; but all such things must be carefully
denounced by free-traders.—(Hear, hear.) The very
words, as here used, have birdlime, bubbles, snares, pitfalls,
mantraps plainly written over them.—(Hear.) You must
not, then, and I am glad that you do not, abate one atom of
vigilance, one iota of zeal, one fraction of energy, until the
work is accomplished. and the repeal of the corn-laws ac•
tually made part and parcel of the statute-book of the coun-
try.—(Loud cheers.) The man in the fable was credulous,
and foolish, and sluggish, and folded his arms, and stood
looking on in idleness, while he called upon Hercules to lift
his waggon wheels out of the ruts into which they had sunk
and stuck fast.—(Hear.) But in our case it must be every
man his own Hercules. Every man must put his own shoul-
ders to the wheel until success is achieved. No room must
be left for accidents between the cup and the lip.—(Hear,
hear.) It is the last nail which will rivet the whole work;
send it home by your unanimity and determination this
day, with a will which cannot be mistaken, and which
will prove to your opponents that it is the right one
which you have hit upon the head with the sledge
hammer of a giant.(Loud cheers.) But all this time I have
said nothing about the specific measure proposed by Sir
Robert Peel. What do I think of it? In all honesty, I
think it a very great measure, and it appears to me that we
must all admit that it has been brought forward and carried
through the House of Commons in a sincere and good spirit,
and we ought, by our meetings from one extremity of the
empire to the other, to give him all support to carry it
further and on to victory against the tierce, but final, oppo-
sition of the monopolist Peers.—(Loud cheers.) But still,
as an agriculturist, and also as a free-trader, lam anxious
that the repeal of the corn•laws should be immediate as well
as total.—(Hear.) Captain Marryatt, in describing the
death of one of his characters somewhat given to romancing,
makes him, true to the ruling passion to the very last, ex-
claim, in his expiring moment, when he felt the death rattle
rising in his throat, " Oh, never mind that. A friend ofmine
bad the rattles in his throat for six weeks before he died.
But protection is to be so afflicted, not for six weeks only, but
for three years, that is, we, agriculturists, who are proverbi-
ally a timid race, are to face the ordeal of three years of
doubt, three years of uncertainty, three years of un-
easiness, three years of perpetuated panic end unsettled
minds. And at the end of the three years—what? Aye,
"there's the rub.h---(Laughter.) It is a secret worth know-
ing;_u but neither you nor I can find it out. the duty
should then be at the four-shilling end of the sliding-scale,
the thing will go off well. Our fall will be upon a feather
bed, and there will be no bones broken. But if it should
happen to be at ten shillings, then, and for some time pre.
viously, it may act as a premium for a panic, by inducing
foreigners to hold back their corn until the sliding-scale
expires, and then pour in the accumulation all at once, so
as not only to affect the agricultural interest, but to derange
for a time all the monetary affairs of the country. And, in
that case, how all the prophets of evil would exult and re-
joice as they charged upon free-trade the mischief entirely
to be ascribed to a blunder of legislation. This should be
yet altered, if possible, and I hope that Sir Robert
Peel may be induced to alter it.—(Hear, hear.) Hydropathy
may be a very harmless affair while it confines itself to the
pump-handle; but I, for one, have no fancy for being sub-
jected by it to the action of a cataract.—(Cheers.) There is
yet one other point upon which I would briefly touch before
I sit down, The stagnation which has affected every branch
of trade and commerce in the country, from the delay of the
ministerial measure in the House of Commons, is greatly to
be deplored, especially when it is evident, from the scene
which took place on the night of its third reading, that per-
sonal feeling has at least had as much influence as patriotism
with the cleverest of the obstacle-mongers, whose hostility to
Sir Robert Peel appears to be very much akin to the lamen-
tation of the disappointed belle at the undiscerning blindness
or too bashful coyness of the hesitating beaux—
"They don't propose—they won't propose,
For fear, perhaps, I'd not say
Just let them try, for, heaven knows,
I'm tired of single blessedness."—(Laughter.)
But still, as far as the question of free-trade itself is con-
cerned, however this delay may have tried our patience, it
has, I verily believe, greatly strengthened our cause.—
(Hear.) If the promoters of it fancied that, to use a Trans-
Atlantic phrase, by adopting this " masterly inactivity
they should allow the agriculturists through the country
time to get up a fiery storm of agitation in their behalf,
how miserably
self-deceived they must have been. So far
from such a response having been made to their appeal, the
Ministerial settlement of the question has been met, if not
with grateful acquiescence, at all events, with silent indiffer.•
ence throughout the rural districts. At the Watford meet-
ing the other day, the Earl of Essex proclaimed his unquali-
fied conversion and adhesion to the principles of free-trade—
(Hear,
hear)—and the Earl of Essex, we know, was one
of those to whom the monopolists looked for the most
strenuous help and assistance, as, in their imaginations,
" mangling done here " over the portals of
they inscribed
n parish too
the House of Lords.—(Laughter ) In my ow „
found, upon my return from London a week or two ago, that
our largest farmer—and a very good and clever farmer he is,
but a most confirmed croaker and alarmist withal at one
time on the subject of free trade—had been taking some ten
acres more, at a rent certainly not less than three pounds an
acre. And he has since increased his holding by a hundred
and eighty additional acres, at a somewhat, but not very
much, lower rent.—(Hear, hear.) Now, this is what I call
being a merry mourner over the death of monopoly. His
name is Brown, but, as I said before, he is no green one in his
vocation—(Laughter)—and nobody can say that he is either
looking very blue himself, or regarding the prospects of agri-
culture as very black at the present *moment.(Cheers.)
And yet, I can assure you, three months since the same man

.!--.1

• had an idea that the only chance of avoiding the rain which
free-trade was certain to bring with it, was to
fly to some unknown land, the paradise of farmers,
where corn was to. -be had for reaping and labour for
nothing. But enough. Under any circumstances, the
struggle is almost over.--(Rear, hear.) " The shadows which
coming events cast before them" cannot be mistaken. They
all combine to assure us that the mission of the League is
nearly accomplished• The mission of the League! Upon
that phrase, as this, I trust, is our last meeting on the eve of
victory, I would dwell for a few moments as I finish. Never
to my mind was a more sacred or holy mission undertaken
by mortal man.—(Cheers.) Its dreams are not of wild
ambition or extended power, like those of the statesman or
the hero. It arrays itself, indeed, as a conqueror for the
struggle ;.but the conquests which it would achieve are of a
peaceful and moral kind. Its object is to wrestle with, to
war down, to overcome, the blighting influence of class
interest, to subvert the dominion of selfishness, to uproot
monopoly, to win the convictions of the country to the
necessity and benefit of these things, and to set free the
industry of the people from the chains in which a mis-
taken and one-sided legislation has so long bound it.—
(Cheers.) This is the mission of the League! For such
ends, for such a conquest, it started into being, and so
far its career has been a march of triumph through the land.
The miserable sophistry and more miserable ignorance of its
enemies exposed, prejudice trampled under foot, obstinay
softened down, hostility soothed into friendship, conviction
reaching, first, hundreds, then thousands, and tens of thou-
sands, and, last of all, spreading to the millions--and taken
up by the whole people, as it were, by acclamation, these are
the trophies which it has already set up in its onward march
to victory. And who shall tell me, as I contemplate these

little less than miraculous achievements, that the day can
now be far off when the impulse given to the trade of England
by the seven men who met seven years ago in the small
room at Manchester, shall make itself felt on the banks of
the Ganges, in the valleys of the Mississippi, and the farthest
islands of the ocean? But while I praise the League for
its almost superhuman energies and exertions, we must not
forget that others, high and influential, great and noble in
the land, are zealously and earnestly with the people in this
mighty struggle. And if from the ranks of these I may select
one to whom the gratitude of the country is peculiarly due,
I would for an instant pause upon the name of the great
healthyt
ara nc e, than
change the
throughout tide
head of the Liberal party, Lord John Russell. His adhesion
o the popular wishes was the signal for immediate victory.
wHasis afatmoonuces tl
Let:
at eerd firnomourEfdarinobuurrghnnporoscoi ocedner
amaanddedei:
ana p -
p ed
a
lafinedrcelyHmuisainnantte
maintained before,
WAS upon
every lip, and the eyes of all true lovers *
bent upon him and marked him as
tie
their leader
their country were
eader in the crisis
of the straggle. The timid were encouraged; the doubtful
and wavering were decided. The desponding felt the influence
of his- confidence communicated to their hearts. Even the
active and the zealous were stimulated to more than their
former exertions. In short, a new spirit invigorated every
breast, and the people, strong in their numbers, but strong in
the righteousness of their cause, rallied round the standard
unfurled by their old and tried leader—his very name an
sugary of victory, their EnglishA m -etermation a surety that
that augery should not be in vain.—(Applause.) But still,
and Lord John Russell, I am certain, would be foremost to say
so, the first and chief praise of all that is accomplished can
only be ascribed to one quarter. Compare the state of our
cause at the present moment with what it was when first
the agitation in its behalf commenced. Free trade was then
a theory, an abstraction, which might here and there occupy
the attention of some deep thinker in his closet. Now it is a
question fully and clearly understood by applauding millions.
(Applause.) Then it was a speck, a spot, no bigger than a
man's hand, just peeping above the horizon of the country.
—(Hear, hear.) Now, it is a rich and fertilizing cloud filling
the whole political sky around and above us. Then it was
a tiny, trickling rill, stealing silently and imperceptibly
through the land. Now it is a wide and majestic stream,
resistless as the flood which feeds Niagara with its
waters, and sweeping all before it in its rising and
swelling tide.—(Cheers.) And who have made it all this?
Who watched over it, and cherished and nursed it in its
earliest and tenderest infancy? Who worked for it, and toiled
for it, and laboured for it from the very beginning, not waiting
until the iron was hot before they struck, but striking it with
lusty vigour until they made it hot? Who were the patient
and persevering instructors of the popular mind, steady to
the work, through evil report and good report, for years-upon
years, refuting every error, exposing every fallacy, explain^
ing every difficulty, until at last they have created a public
opinion in its hehalf which is the representative of almost a
nation's thoughts, its fiat law, its will command, and
snatching from the ranks of its opponents the very states-
men whom they raised to power as the stoutest champions
of their cause, and harnessing them to the triumphal
chariot in which it is careering to victory? Who have
done all this? The League—the men of the Leave—
and honour to them for it.—(Loud cheers.) Honour
to them now, and honour to them from all future
generations of their countrymen. We find it emblazoned
in the history of France that, for centuries and centuries after
the death of the celebrated Maid of Orleans, the inhabitants
of her native village had cause to remember her not only
with national pride, but with personal gratitude, inasmuch
as when told to name a reward for her services to her coun-
try, she asked nothing for herself, but prayed that the seat
of her birth and childhood might be free from every kind of
impost and duty. Her request was granted, and annually,
as the taxes were gathered in, it was passed by, the books of
the collectors having this significant intimation written op-
posite to its name, "Nothing, for the Maid's sake." Now,
draw the lesson ; point the moral for yourselves. Shall Eng-
lishmen be less grateful? Will they not, through ages yet
unborn, feel pleasure, and pride, and thankfulness, when they
look back at the glorious struggle now drawing to a close,
and as the food of the people now comes to them, untaxed,
with no duty, no sloth-encouraging protection to be paid
upon it, from every region of the earth, will they not also
joyfully exclaim " Nothing for the League's sake?" It is
the fulfilment of its mission—" Nothing for the League's
sane." The Rev. Gentleman was repeatedly cheered during
the delivery of his speech, and resumed his seat amidst the
most enthusiastic plaudits of the meeting.

THE RACES.—There was a gay and brilliant assem-
blage on the Downs, and more than the usual number of
joyous and happy countenances, notwithstanding the heat of
the weather, the clouds of dust upon the road, and the long
continued stoppages thereon, yet were all these disagreeables
borne with more than usual fortitude by the almost countless
multitude. One thing could not escape the general observa-
tion, which was the appearance of all the well dressed ; till the
present season, black or dark colours, according to foreign
journals, being :the mournful characteristic costume of all
our public meetings. Somewhat may be ascribed to the too
general dolorous aspect of our climate, but this singularly
sunny day shone forth hundreds dressed in the registered
paletot, made of llama cloth. These being sovariedin colours,
much enlivened the appearance of the course. The patentees
of this popular garment are Messrs. Nicoll, of 114, Regent-
street, and 22, Cornhill. The universal object seems to have
been not only a protection against the heat, but the rain, had
such been the decree of the clerk of the weather.
TO THE SPORTING WORLD.—SaIe of Bell's Life i
London during the past four weeks in May :
May 3 ..... .••• • • • • ••••• • • 25,096
May 10 .
May 17 .. . .
May 24 - • . .
Making an average sale each publication of twenty-six thousand six
hundred and seventy. Bell's Life is regularly published in time for
all the Saturday afternoon railways.. For the most correct reported
particulars of the four days' Epsom Races, see Bell's Life, Sunday next,
May 31. A sixpence enclosed to Mr. Clements, Jun., 170, Strand, Will
insure, at all times, a copy to any part of the kingdom by return of
pest.
FADVERTISEMENT.3—ANOTHErt WONDSR ; OR, CURE
EXTRAORDINARY BY HOLLOWAY'S Pitts.—Mr. Maguire, a respect-
able person residing near Sunday's Well, Cork, was given over in a
case of dropsy, and was perfectly cured, when pronounced to be at
the point of Beath, by these wonderful pills. rersons, either young
or old, who become corpulent, pottle-bellied, bloated, or dropsical,
may not only avoid apoplexy and other dangerous diseases attending

thereon, but also regain the highest state of health, strength, and
energy, and their figures become as tight, as light, and as good as
is the days of youth.—Sold (also llelloway's Ointment) at Professor

Holloway's Establishment, 244, Strand, and by almost all respect-
able Aendors of medicine throughout the civilised world.
[ADVERTISEMENII ] —SIGHT AND HEARING TESTI—
MONIAL, 39, ALBEMARLIt-STREET, PICCADILLY.—Major-General Sir
Howard Elphinstone begs to say that the spectacles he has now had
some time in use, have fully redeemed the assurance of the Messrs.
S. and D. Solomons as to their excellence, and having found so much
comfort and advantage from their use, far preferable to every other
kind of glasses. 13, .Norfolk-street, Park-lane.—From the Hon.
George Cavendish, to Messrs. S. and B. Solomens.—Gentlemen, I
approve very much of the spectacles I purchased from you. I have
Ire an .
able
mad
emesetOofs glassessee ewd ftoor
Sours,
yaenadrs,wainthd nieesyserimnceotnvviventhi4nc
—General Browne Clayton feels desirous to expresseverfty
year.,
and
advantage he has derived at his advancetLager.of
eyes.—l am yours' obediently, G. Cavendish, LeixlptChase
etioem,
eas .S. and B. Solomons'
Ye
tt cio te:dy
fort' and
after two years' trial, from the use of "--i-nyention fully merit the
newly invented spectacles. Their valuable
gh,Eses, microscopes, Ste., of
Improved achromatic telescopes, opera
evtbr yet invented. The
to surpass any .;
the same kind of lenses,
,ib e
1 operative voice conductors,
Messrs. S. and B. Solomons' invi .
patronage they have received. Addresc.Atilington.Hali, Lancashire.
sound magnifiers,
of dearness. Caution—Messrs. S. suiri B. Solo-
ing extreme cases
for deafpersons, give immediate relief to old-stand-
sem° same name, in their immediate neighbourhood. To prevent misteXes,
Solo-
mons, opticians. are not in any way connected with a person of the
be cautious, and observe—Only to be had at 39, Albemarle-street,
Tnh —Te
of July
nest,annual a
n d regatta
so
enamoured aV I
are e 'w will
thel
Piccadilly, opposite the York
JHbuoltel.
take H
placeaVß
EinßthEeGAinT,A
French of the sport, that they are determined to begin practising RI
time. On Sunday last, opposite to Frascati's, the essays of the boat-
men were witnessed by many hundreds of persons. For the informa-
tion of regatta men, who look forward to the coming fetes for a dis-
play of skill in rowing, &c., we annex a list of the boats that prac-
tised on this occasion, In the order in which they came in :-1. Le
Greville ; 2. La Maria ; 3. L'Heloise ; 4. La Fleche ; 5. La Riposte;
6. La Vesta.

THE HARVEST.—Next in importance to the fate of
the proposed scheme for lowering the duties on grain to a nominal
point isLthe prospect for the ensuing harvest. On this head some
apprehension was beginning to be felt in consequence of the very wet
weather experienced for several consecutive days ; but those fears
have in a great measure been set at rest by the splendid weather we
have enjoyed since Thursday. At this early period it would be
folly to enter into anything like a prediction as to what may be the
yield of the next crop, but we are certainly
_inclined to think that there
exists at present very little real cause for despondeney. Rather too
much wet may have fallen to be altogether beneficial for the wheat
plant ; a warm, dry June would, however, put all right ; and for the.
spring-sown corn, the hay-crop, and all kinds of culinary vegetables,
the showers must have been highly serviceable. The very important,
decline which has taken place in the value of w heat since the close
of April has had the effect of checking the supplies from the growers,
and the quantity brought forward at the different markets held
during the week has been only moderate ; nor is there a prospect of
the deliveries again increasing for some time to come. In the course of
another fortnight the hay harvest will have commenced in many of the
southern co unties, and the necessity of employing all hands in the
fields will prevent large deliveries ; other labours incidental to the
season must follow, and it is not likely, therefore, that the markets
will at present be overdone with British-grown grain. Whether the
stocks of foreign now in bond in the kingdom are or are not to be im-
mediately released must, of course, depend on the success or failure
of the Ministerial scheme, the development of which all parties seem
determined to await before entering into extensive operations. The
fiziness done at most of the leading provincial markets held since our
last has
,‘,een on a strictly retail scale ; whilst the weather remained
unsettled,
.v.—Mark-lane Express.
a sj;is•,,t increase of confidence was displayed by sellers, but
this has since given w... 7.—
WHAT THE FRENCH b....
mssion was sent
i
Y OF SMITHFIELD,—When ~
the Prefet de la Seine decided upon efeet.2.lg anew market-hall in
Paris, previous to the plans being completed-it (x. .
out to visit various countries and study the establls_ments of that
1
kind. It consisted of Messrs. Anger, Inspector-General ef Market-
halls of Faris ; V. Ballard, architect ; and A. Busson, chief eiiirk 01
the Prefet de la Seine. Details are given by the commissioners 01l
the markets of London, Manchester, and other cities. While the
advantages of our establishments are placed in relief with the usual
urbanity of Frenchmen, yet they could not quite blink the incon-
venienceSmith-
field,thaptltahyiss conspicuousaimmense
inetproaptto.lis
has" Who
no should believe," of some of our mediaeval concerns, amongst which
Imiel"ettphlaeyce"rfor,
cattle ? It is in the midst of the city, a few paces from -
ot the es shheieftpi n ganodf cows,mi
1 e ;bultlhoeck bullocks,
caanpdinhgorsoefs the Cathe-
dral of St. Paul, where all this host of animals are driven to and
sold. Smithfield is the beau ideal of disorders in the way of markets.
;htiallfe
howling of dogs, shouting of drivers, screams of frightened passers-
peturricogurisnabileasontsof;hethrdes
by—add to this, that the streets through which this world of beasts
pass are choked by this throng, dirtied by their excrements, et cetera.
Whence comes all this inconvenience ? It is because the corpora-
tion opposes its removal, leaning upon a statute enacted by Edward
111.-11ve hundred years ago."—The Budder.
The talk here is that Mr. Bramley Moore, and other
gentlemen from Liverpool, have been in London
of Brazilian
as a deputation,
lian the
object of whose going had reference to the admission
longed &ration with Mr.
sugar • that they had an interview of pro
l.
nivi
for a nis-
Secret'ary Gladstone; that he was, as usual, po it.e, ,
not
ter, singularly explicit; that the talk was interesting, and unin-
from what passed is
stractive; and that the inference drawn
impor-
tant—viz., that the Cabinet are net agreed; on the sugar question ,
that they are not likely to agree, and that a " split" is inevitable.--
Liverpool Journal.

THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN ON THE DANGER OF
DEBATING SOCIETIES.
WITH A PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON IRVING, BY
GREATBATCH, AND AN ILLUSTRATION BY LEECH.
The June Number, price Half-a-Crown, of
BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY
will contain:—
wall/ (YLINN ; OR, LUCK 15 EVERYTHING.
By W. H. MAXWELL, Esq.,
Matt of " Stories ofWITS AN Waterloo,"S
Bports of the West," &a.
ILLUSTRATION Y LEECH.
CHAPTER Xll.—Love-lane—Hr. Xernsgate makes a new acquain-
tance and renews an old one—Evening conference—Suppers and
syMpoSia.
Jaff Linton's Oak ; or, May-day. By J. P. Palmer.
Legends and Traditions of Lewes. By Miss Costello.
THE ARCHBISHOP of DUBLIN on the DANGER of DEBITING
SOCIETIES to YOUNG MEN.
The Boys in the Streets. By Albert Smith.
Romancing. By A. Gibb.
Mackinnon on Civilisation.
A Treatise on the Pump. By Paul Prendergast.
TATTERSALL AND TATTERSALL'S ;
With a Glance at the Lions and Legs of the Betting-ring.
Sketch of Washington Irving, with a Portrait. By Greatbatch.
The Albigenses and the Troubadours. By Dr. W. C. Taylor.
TIPPERARY HALL.
The Tipperary Skiff—rowers of Transatlantic Eloquence—
Yankee War Song on the Banks of the Rio Grande—John Bull's
Navvies giving Settlers to Uncle Sam—The Beauties of a Richmond
Tide—Ladies on Land and Water—Apologia Levitatis—The
Triumphs of an Irish Jaunting. car—Serenade—A Poetical Legend of
Kildare," Ilow the Devil rode out with Lord Luttrell and his Stag-
bounds"—The Witch of the Fens—A Derby Day—Dithyrambic on
Xing Pyrrhus' last victory.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.

MR. MAXWELL'S NEW WORK.
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 3 vol s.
CAPTAIN O'SULLI'VAN;
or,
YiIfTURES, CIVIL, MILITARY, AND AIATEIMONIAL, OF
A GENTLEMAN ON lIALF-PAY.
By W. H. MAXWELL, Esq.,
Author of " Stories of Waterloo," Ste.
Benny Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

RAILWAY SHARES BY PUBLIC SALE.
111ESSRS. LAM()ND, SMALE, AND
OND, Railway Share Auctioneers, beg to thank their
Friends and the Public for their continued support and patronage,
and to announce that their Public Sales of Railway Shares, &c.,
take place every TtraspAr and FRIDAY, at One o'clock, at the
Hall of Commarec, Threadneedle-street, London, to which place
favours, containing instructions (with a reference), are respectfully
requested to be addressed.
Ali Scrip and Share Certificates must be deposited for x
inination at least one day previously to their being offered ; exa-
mination
*deices of results will be forwarded by the first post aft
and the proceeds immediately disposed of according to iner the
sale,
instructions.
Offices. gall of Commerce. Threadneedle-street, London.
stions.

HEr. MAJESTY'S THEATRE.
Signor LABLACHE has the honour to iniorm his Friends, Sub-
scribers to the Opera, and the Public, that his BENEFIT will
take place

S EVENIN
Maim will be performed THI
(tor the first time these two years), Cima-
rosa's Chef d'(Euvre, in Two Acts, entitled,
IL MAT RIMONIO SEGRETO.
'Carolina, Madame Grist ; Fidaima, Madame Sanchioli (her first ap-
pearance in that character); Elisetta. Madame Castellan ; Paolino
Signor Mario ; Count Robinson, Signor F. Lablache ; Geronimo,
Signor Lablache.
Between the Acts, a DIVERTISSEMENT, In which will be
presented a Grand Pas, by Marllle. L. Grahn (composed by her-
self), supported by Mdlles. Moncelet, Dernelisse, and Casson. A
Pas de Deux, by Mdlle. L. Taglioni and M. Perrot; and the ad-
mired Pea de Caractere, La Cracovienne, by Mdlle. L. Grahn.
To conclude with the grand Ballet, by M. Deshayes, re-arranged
in Three Tableaux, by M. Perrot, the Music by M. Costa, entitled,
ALMA ; ou, La Fille du Feu. Perephite, M. Perrot ; Balfegor, M.
Gosselin ; Emazor, M. St. Leon ; Alma, Mdlle. Cerito.
Applications for boxes, stalls, and tickets to be made at the box
'Mike, Opera Colonnade. Doors open at Seven, the Opera to com-
mence at half-past Seven o'clock.

THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE.
THIS EVENING
Will be performed THE BOHEMIAN GIRL. Count Arnheim,
Mr. Boman': Florestein, Mr. Harley ; Thaddeus, Mr. W. Harrison ;
Devilsitnof, Mr. Stratton; Arline, Miss Rainforth.
Between the first and second Acts of the Opera, will be intro-
ilittced the popular Allemande, by twenty Danseuses Viennoises ;
:and between the second and third Acts, twenty-four of the celebrated
Danseuses will execute the famous National Polka Paisans.
After which, the celebrated Ballet of LA GISELLE. Duke of
Silesia, M. Mathis; Hilarion, Mr. W. H. Payne ; Prince of Cour-
land, Mr. Howell ; Wilfri 1, 31. Adrien ; Giselle, Mdlle. Sall; Mirtha,
Mdlle. Louise; Princess Bathilde, Mdlle. St. Louin ; Bertha, Mrs.
Payne ; Principal Willis, Mesdames Adele and Glubilei.
Durinr; the Ballet will be introduced the Standard Galop, by
forty-V,ght of the Pupils of Madame Weiss.

THE A TBE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
THIS EVENING
Will be performed THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL. Sir Peter
Teazle, Mr. W. Farren ; Joseph Surface, Mr. Stuart; Charles Sur-
fece, Mr. Hudson; Lady Teazle, Mrs. Seymour.
The Band will perform the Overtures, "Cenerentola," and " Duc
/Monne," the " St. James's Polka," " Philorael Walzer," and the
"`',l.Thatsworth Quadrilles."
After which, a Comic Drama, entitled USED UP. Messrs.
Webster, Brindal, J. Bland, Howe ; Miss Bennett and Mrs. Hamby
sustain the principal characters.
To conclude with a New Farce, called LEND ME FIVE SHIL-
LINGS. Mr. Golightly, Mr. Bu3kotone ; Capt. Phobbs, Mr. Tilbury;
Capt. Spruce, Mr. Brindal ; Mrs. Major Phobbs, Miss P. Horton.

THEATRE ROYAL, LYCEUM.
UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF MRS. KEELEY-

Another brilliant Triumph ! "Robin Hood and Richard Cceur de
Lion" every Evening.
THIS EVENING

Will be performed the Farce, entitled, A FRIEND INDEED.

After which a new Farce, called SISTER AND I. Characters
by Messrs. F. Matthews, Meadows, A. Wigan, Emery, Turner,
liinloch, and Bellingham ; Miss E. Daly, 3lrs. Wigan, Miss Arden,
and Miss Forster.

To be followed by A MODEL OF A WIFE. Characters by
Messrs. Wigan, Meadows, Turner ; Miss Farebrother and Mrs.
Woollidge.
To conclude with a New Grand Operatic Romantic Burlesque Spec-
tacle, founded upon certain St riling and hitherto Unrevealed Pas-
sages in the Histories of ROBIN HOOD AND RICHARD CCEUR
DE LION. Characters by Mrs. Keeley, Miss Fairbrother, Miss M.
Keeley, Miss Villars, Miss E. Daly, Miss Howard, Miss Bromley
Miss Laidlaw, and Miss Grove ; Mr. A Wigan, Mr. F. Matthews,
Mr. Keeley, Mr. Turner, and Mr. J. W. Collier.

THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPHI.
THIS EVENING

Will be performed a new Drama, entitled THE MEMOIRS OF
IN UMBRELLA ; or, The Silent Observer. In which Messrs.
Lambert, Howe, Boyce, 0. Smith, Wright, R. Ryan, P. Bedford,
Selby; Miss Woolgar, Mrs. Yarnold, M. E. Chaplin, Mrs. F.
Mathews, &c., will perform.
After which, the interesting Drama, entitled THE CABIN BOY.
In which Madame Celeste, Miss Woolgar, Mr. Paul Bedford, 31r.
0. Smith, &c., will appear. C
To be followed by the Burlesque, entitled PETER WILKINS ; or,
The Loadstone Rock and the flying Indians. Principal characters
by Misses Woolgar, Emma Harding, Chaplin, Brooks, Taylor; Mr.
Paul Bedford, Mr. Munyard, Mr. Mitchenson, &c.