The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 11, 1851

tation several parcels sold privately at full terms. Costa
Rica is wanted, and 150 bags realised 51s to 52s 6d for
good and fine ordinary.
TEA.—Although Congou is offering rather under pre-
vious rates dealers operate with reluctanee. The value
of common and good ord is lld to 1 lid, medium is to
Is Oid, and better sorts is ld to is 9d per lb. The
lower kinds are now least in request. For Green the
market has a dull appearance. Scented and Pekoe Teas
can be obtained rather under previous terms, and few
buyers.are to be met with. Of 12,000 page offered at
auction on Wednesday, only 2,000 found buyers.
RICE.—For the best white descriptions of East India,
a good demand exists for cleaning purpose, and full
rates are paid. All other sorts are, however operated
in with caution by shippers and home dealers, although
offered rather under previous terms. At auction
4,762 bags Madras all sold at 9s 6d to 10s per cwt
for good clean white Bengal grain; but of
6,604 bags pinkey not above half found buyers
at from 7s 6d to 9s for low to good; of 1,800
bags Bengal a part sold at 103 to 11s 6d for mid to
fine white. By private treaty there are sellers of Cargo
and Pearl Barley at 8s per cwt., but few buyers are to
be met with. Of cleaned Patna large parcels have
been sold at lls to 18s for low to fine ; and there
is a fair business doing in town dressed Carolina at
20s to 268; and American at 18s to I9s per cwt. In
Sago sales are upon a more extended scale at 193 to 21s
for small Pearl; and Sago Floor at 14s 6d to 15s. Ta-
pioca has been dealt in with more freedom at 4d to sd,
but for Arrowroot the demand has been limited. Bar-
badoes is to Is 6d, other sorts of West India 3d to 10d,
and East India at 2cl to 4d.
SPICES.—To-day at public auction 31 bgs of Pimento
sold at 4id to 4id for ord, and at 5d for mid; 16 bgs
Madras-Ginger at 35s for sound; but 2,000 bgs pod
Pepper were withdrawn.
Sriarrs.—Leeward Island is held for is 8d to is 9d
proof, the supply continuing small; at the same time
there are few buyers. East India ha, been in good re-
quest, in consequence of Is 6d to is bid being accepted.
We quote plain and mid quality 30s to 33s per cent over
proof at 2s 8d to 3s, good to fine 33 to 38 over 3s 2d to 4e 6 I
but oniy limited transactions have taken place. There con-
tinues to be a good demand for Demerara from
2s 6d to 2s 10d for 30 to 40 per cent over proof., Brandy
Cognac best brands, of the vintage of 1850, at
4a 4d to 4s 6d, 1849 ditto, 4s 7d to 4s 9d, 1848 ditto,
45 9d to 4s 11d, and inferior sorts 3s to 3s 4d. Geneva
is is 7d to is Bd, fine is 9d to 2s. British made Spirit
is yet 9s 8d to 98 9d, and Gin 8s 3d for 22 per cent
under proof.
INDIGO.—The quantity declared for sale was 11,683
chts in the A, and 4,730 in the B catalogue; total 16,413
chts; of which 3,247 have not been printed, leaving the
quantity to be brought forward 14,166 chts. During
the progress of the sale 427 chts have been
withdrawn. 1,180 chts (including 427 withdrawn) have
passed the sale this day. There was but a small attend-
ance of either home or foreign buyers, and the orders
generally appear to be very limited.
COCHINEAL.—On the part of holders there is mole
firmness, and none has been submitted to public sale
since this day week. Privately a fair business has been
concluded; Honduras, silvers 3s 6d to 4s, black 3s 8d to
4s.Bd; Mexican, silvers 3s 5d to 38 7d, black 3s 8d to 3s
10d, and Teneriffe 3s 7d to 4s 4d per lb. For auction
the quantity declared is small.
TALLOW.—An active demand has been experienced for
Russian on the spot, with much firmness on the part of
holders. For fine new yellow Candles the rates obtained
have been 38s to 38s 6d per cwt. Several contracts
were entered into for delivery in next two months
at 37s 9cl;to 38a for new. The rates demanded are
39s to 393 3d for last three months of the year,
but little desire is at present evinced to operate. Town
melted is well quoted a; 37a net cash. In other sorts of
Tallow larger purchases have been made, and at firm
rates. At auction 1,250 casks Australian were nearly
all sold at from 33s 9d to 37s 9d; 400 pkgs South Ame-
rican 858 6d to 38s; 800 casks wrecked Petersburg
yellow Candle 36s 3d to 37s 3d per cwt. For public
sale 1,400 pkgs are declared.
0i1.5.--This afternoon at auction 93 cks Cocoa Nut
Oil frum Tahiti were sold at 25s to 27e 6d per cwt. Of
120 tuns Sperm Oil a small party only sold at 851 to 851
10s per tun for first sort.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT,
(THIS EVENING.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.

__-
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woo:
sack at Five o'clock.
PAPAL AGGRESSION.

Lord ABINGER presented a petition from the county
of Surrey against the Papal aggression. He thought the
Government ought to put the existing laws into force
before bringing forward any measure in Parliament.
He complained of the inemcieney of the Govern-
ment measure, more particularly of that portion of it
which prevented these bishops from administering to
property left to the Roman Catholic Church, a provi-
sion which might be easily evaded. He thought that
some measure ought to be adopted to put a atop to the
great Roman Catholic conspiracy by preventing the
monastic orders from exercising any power. In
Poland:a Roman Catholic ministry had, after the Re-
formation,: been enabled by their episcopal and mo-
nastic organizatien to oppress and persecute the ma-
jority, which majority consisted of members of the Greek
and Lutheran Churches. They had gone on until a civil
war broke out, and. then the Roman Catholicsaap-
pealed to foreign powers for assistance; and the re-
sult had bees the destructihn—,4 the free king-
dom of Poland, and the partition df- the country;
and if by a culpab!e neglect the Roman Catholics were
enabled to carry out their ambitious designs in this
country who could say what might be the result? Should
the Roman Catholics be enabled to return some hundred
Members to the House of Commons what would not be
their power as a balancing body acting always
together. They might command the majority.
It was said that Roman Catholic priests
were poor, but great conspirators had from this very
secresy great power. Let them remember that at the
Reformation two-thirds of the property of the kingdom
was in the hands of the Roman Catholics, and yet • by
energy the Reformation was carried. The Roman Ca-

tholic priests were endeavouring to induce girls pos-
sessed of property to become nuns, and thus they sought
to possess themaelvs of the property of the kingdom.
They had seen at their bar a counsel pleading that a
nunnery was entitled to property which under ordinary
circumstances would have been the property of the nun,
bet which the father had declared should not be the
property of any-of his children who should become mem-
bers. of a religious order. Several other instances had
occurred lately in which the Roman Catholic priests had
endeavoured to deprive persons of their property. They
had subjected persons of their religion to macerations
until their minds should be reduced completely under
the power of the priests. In one case in which the
Jesuits had prosecuted for the recovery of property they
had given 10,000/. to compromise the case. What must
have been the dark features of that case which the
Jesuits would wish to keep from the public eye,
oven by the payment 7; of 10,0001! Iu another
case a Roman Catholic priest had expended 4,000/.
of trust money, and had refused to give any
account. In monasteries persons were kept
in imprisonment. They had inspectors of prisons and
of lunatic asylums, and they ought to have inspectors of
nunneries and monasteries, to prevent unfortunate per-
sons from being confined in those places who might
desire to be set at liberty. They required a vigorous
police over monasteries, nunneries, and monks. By the
Emancipation Act they were to have registers of
nuns and monks; no such register had been
kept, nor had any registrars been appointed.
Jesuits were prohibited from entering England, and yet
they swarmed. He thought that personal property
should be included in the statute of mortmain, which
prevents the Roman Catholic religion from being en-
dowed. The intrusion of priests into our houses for the
abduction of our daughters, of our wives, and of the ob-
taining of death-bed legacies, by working on the fears of
the dying, should be prevented. The Noble Lord at the
head of the Government- had, by what he had already
done, excited the undying enmity of many implacable
enemies, and he hoped he would carry out the work he
had begun.

The Earl of HARROWBY presented several petitions
against the Papal aggression.
Lord WODEHOUSE presented several petitions to
the same effect.
The Marquis of LANSDO WNE laid certain returns
on the table. '

Reading,Waterworks.
Reiding Cemetery Company.
Regent's Canal Company.
Saint Patrick's Cathedral (Dublin).
Scarborough Gas.
Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Wakefield, Huddersfield,
and Goole Railway.
South Devon Railway (No. 1).
South Devon Railway (No. 2).
Sunderland Improvement.
Taw Vale Railway and Dock.
Trinity College (Dublin).
Waveney Valley Railway.
York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway (Branch to West
Durham Railway, &c.)
York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway (Abandonment of
part of Bishop Auckland Branch, &c.)
Sir J. Y. BULLER presented petitions from several
places in Devonshire complaining of agricultural distress.
Mr. F. O'CONNOR presented several petitions from
Lancashire praying for a repeal of the window-tax.
Lord C. MANNERS presented two petitions from
Leicestershire, one against the Papal aggression, and
the other praying for the repeal of the malt•tax.
Lord G. MANNERS presented a petition from a place
in Cambridgeshire praying for the establishment of
county financial boards.
Lord HOTHAM presented petitions from the East
Riding of Yorkshire complaining of agricultural distress,
and praying the House to take steps to remove it.
Mr. SPOONER presented a petition to the same effect
from Worcestershire.
Mr. PLUMPTRE presented a petition from Kent
against the Papal aggression.
Mr. BOOKER presented a petition from Glamorgan-
shire complaining of agricultural distress.
Mr. REYNOLDS presented a petition from St.
Michael's, Dublin, against the Government measure for
resisting the Papal aggression; a petition from Ros-
common praying for a new and equal valuation under
the poor-law; a petition from the letter-press printers
of Dublin praying for the total repeal of the duty on
paper; and a petition to the same effect from the pub-
lishers and stationers of Dublin.
Mr. CHRISTOPHER presented a petition from Lin-
colnshire complaining of agricultural distress.
Mr. LUSHINGTON presented a petition from St.
James's, Westminster, praying for the repeal of the
window-tax.
Mr. D'EYNCOURT presented a petition to the same
effect from Lambeth.
Mr. WILLIAMS presented a similar petition from
Marylebone.
Mr. HUME presented a large number of petitions
from various places praying for the repeal of the taxes
on knowledge.
Mr. GEORGE BANKES presented petitions from
several places in, Dorsetshire complaining of the opera-
tion of free trade. The petitioners stated that they
were subject to highway rates, poor rates, and all the
other obligations to which land was liable, and that
they enjoyed none of the benefits of free trade ; and,
therefore, petitioned that they might he exempt from
the disadvantages of which those who enjoyed its
benefits were ignorant.
Mr. Herries, Lord March, and several other Members
presented petitions to the same effect.
Sir R. INGLIS presented several petitions to enforce
measures against the Papal aggression.
The Attorney-General, Mr. Alderman Humphery, and
Lord Duncan presented petitions from several places
against the window tax. _

AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS.

Mr. DISRAELI—Sir, I beg leave to move that the
conclusion of that part of her Majesty's most gracious
Speech, which refers to the condition of the country,
be read by the Clerk at the table. (This having been
done, the Honourable Gentleman continued)—A condi-
Von of general prosperity iu the country, concurrent
with a continued depression of a most important
class cf her Majesty's subjects, appears to be a
conjuncture which should make the Minister reflect.—
(Hear.) But, Sir, if such a combination of circumstance,
be brought about by legislation, which has at the same
time produced the general prosperity and continued de-
pression, I think the subject is one which merits not
only the eonsideration of the Minister, but also the de-
liberation of Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) Sir, these
remarks, I think, apply to the present condi-
tion of the owners and occupiers of land in the
United Kingdom.—(Hear, hear.) It was, Sir, once
my intention to have cffered to the House evi-
dence, which is in my possession, as to the
present condition of the owners and occupiers of land,
and I would have offered to the House such evidence as
could be tendered by men in various parts of the kingdom,
who are regularly and largely employed in the cultivation
of the soil—men, in their class, of the highest skill
and respectability, many of them well-known members
sitting on both sides of the House—in Scotland and
Ireland as well as in England.—(Hear, hear.) Sir, I
feel, generally speaking, the objections to which
such evidence, however strong, and even
though certified by the names of those who respectfully
offer their testimony.—(Hear, bear.) I feel generally
the objection which such evidence is open to in
a Parliamentary discussion like this.—(Haar, hear.)
It is, Sir, in respect to that evidence that I now call the
attention of the House, and I call upon them not to
trust in their preconceived notions, or in any thoughts
which may have induced Them to act, whether it be on
this side of the House or on the other; but I call upon
them as Members of Parliament to discuss in a calm and
dispassionate spirit a matter which largely affects the
interests of the whole nation.—(Hear.) The high cha-
racter which the House ought to sustain in the country-
calls for this.—(Hear, hear.) At least such is the notion
which may have willingly or unwillingly chosen to ene
tertain.—(Hear, hear.) But that is no sufficient answer
to the complaint which I haxe to make, and no answer
to the petitions of those who have suffered from the
grievous mistakes which have been made upon this sub-
ject,—(Hear, hear.) The best answea which we can
obtain is to be derived from the effects which free trade
has produced. It is a strange thing that while the
whole of the rest of the community are enjoy-
ing, it is said, unexampled prosperity, the agri-
cultural class are Buffering unexampled depres-
sion. This opinion is not confined to this side of the
House, or to the other. lem prevented, as I have said,
from the necessity of trespassing upon your atten-
tion on this matter, for my observations are cur-
tailed by the admission in her Majesty's Speech
that this depression is univerval and confined to no par-
ticular class of the owners or occupiers of
land. The opinions of all were agreed, at last, upon
the fact itself. The very thing prima facie carries its
own appearance that the agricultural class are severely
and constantly opressed—(Hear, hear.) If that be the
case, and the complaints come not from one side alone,
there is an additional reason why a new investigation
should be entered upon.—(Hear, hear.) There is
yet a' third reason why this investigation should
be entered upon. I remember that when a Noble Lord,
whose position I most unworthily occupy, had expressed
a great fear of the consequences of the Bill which was
then about to be iutronueed into the House, and had
asked the great Minister of the day whether he had duly
considered the cousequencss of the legislation on which he
was about to enter, he was told that little fear need
he entertained on that point.—(Hear, hear.) And this
opinion was entertained not only by gentlemen on this
side of the House, but also,' if any faith were to be put
in their expressions, equally by those on the other side.
I remember that, five years ago, when the question for
the repeal of the corn-laws was -mooted in this House,
Lord George Bentinck—(Hear, hear, and cheers)—had
asked a question of the great Minister of the
day as to the purport of the views which he had pro-
mulgated, and had inquired whether he was prepared to
bring in any measures to obviate the evils which must
necessarily arise from the repeal of the corn-laws.—
(Hear, hear.) Lord George Bentinok asked whether
Sir Robert Peel had taken into consideration the effect
of the repeal of these laws upon the commu-
tation of tites.—(Hear, hear.) Wheat was then at
58s. Bd. a quarter. Sir Robert Peel said that he had
not, for be did not expect that any change would be
made in the price of corn.—(Hear, hear.) Yet within
less than seven years it was ascertainee that such was
the working of the Act for reducing the corn-laws
that it was not now more than 455. a quarter, and he left
it to the judgment of the gentlemen on either side of
the House to say whether it was, under present circum-
stances, likely to be higher. Sir Robert Peel had
emphatically expressed it as his opinion that the repeal
of the Corn-laws would make no alteration, or at least
not any material alteration, in the price of wheat. And
yet you have seen the results of Imperial Legislation on
important class whose interest I am advocating.—(Hear.)
Sir Robert Peel had plainly expressed his opinion upon
this point, and the Hon. Gentlemen opposite were not
without their share of responsibility, for the Right
Hononrable Gentleman the Secretary at War openly
and explicitly, had expressed similar opinions.
That Right Hon. Gentleman informed the House that
the Scotch farmers had not the slightest fear of compe-
tition with the foreigner; and he alluded to a case
which had recently occurred of a farm in the county of
East Lothian, called East Barnes, which had been let at
an increased rent, but observed that it had
been let to a person of energy and enterprise. Now,
I happened to look over a Scotch Liberal paper lately,
and there I found it stated that the rent of this man of
energy and enterprise had been reduced by no less a
sum than 6501 (Hear, hear.) Sho iug that
even a Scotch farmer may be liable to error
as well as an English farmer. • That Minis-
ter, whose opinions on such a subject would
naturally have considerable influence on the House, had
always shown the least reserve on the subject; and he
was sure if sanguine statements and chewing calculi-
tions from the Chancellor of the Exchequer could com-
pensate even for the absence of protection, they had not
been spared, but indeed expended on the soil with an
exuberant generosity which could not be excelled. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer wai not only hopeful, but
announced that the consequences which he did not fore-
see were only occasioned by what he called exceptional
circumstances—now the harvest is short, now it is ex-
uberant, but whether plentiful or sterile, unfortunately
for the owners and occupiers of the soil, whose
difficulties are now recognized graciously by the Sove-
reign, unfortunately for this important class of
her Majesty's subjects the result was always
the same, whether there was peace or whether there was
war, whether the continent was in convulsions or in a
state of tranquility, the same effect was always pro-
duced in Mark-lane.—(Hear.) In 1848 the Chancellor
of the Exchequer favoured the House with a most
successful expression of his economical opinion, and
cleared away all the difficulties which beset the question.
He did this on a question which I first endeavoured to place
before the House that long perverted question of local
burdens.— (Hear, hear.) 'The Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, in his speech on that occasion, in which,
having dispatched the question of local burdens, which he
treated with all his facility and ability, he gave us his
matured sentiment and the matured opinion ot. the
Cabinet on what be called agricultural distress.
The Cabinet acknowledged that agricultural distress
existed in 1849; but then they said it was principally
most vexatious in the south of England, though that it
prevailed to a certain extent in all parts was
not denied. But the Cabinet, by the mouth
of a financial Minister accounted for that distress. "He
(the Chancellor of the Exchequer) was inclined to think
that the present depreciation in the price of agricultural
produce was very much occasioned by alarm."—
(Laughter.) The sympathy of his supporters excited
him to s still stronger expression of opinion, and in
the next five minutes he said "he thought there was
abundant reason to believe that the present prices were
unduly lowered by the language used at recent agricultural
meetings."—(Laughter.) I believe he even intimated that
the principal cause of depression of agricutural prices was
some speeches, which were made by my Noble Friend the
Member for Stafford.—(Hear, hear.) But the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer said there were other things
to be considered besides the price of grain.
But what was the average of 1848, from which I sup-
pose the -Cabinet drew their calculations in 1849
that this was merely a temporary depression,
which would last only for a short time? I have the
averages of 1848 as quoted by the Right Hon. Gentle-
man, and I have the averages of 1850; let us compare the
two, and see whether there was any good reason for
hirseto tell us that that depression was only temporary.
In 1848 the average price of beef was 4s. sad., in 1850
depression,wthen.hil
while
1 8
it was 3s. B}d. So that, after two years:of only temporary
swot.siatrweasnoownilyn a worse condition than we were
The average price for mutton in 1848 was ss. 2d.,
referring- to Chancellor only o b objection
t 1)07:
the. Exchequer,tihseto opinion het
haet2fd. RitghhetrYllon. Gentlemen
that, it may be possible to arrive at erroneous opinions
upon that important subject, and then-, therefore, when
great men on both sides have formed erroneous opinions, it
is more the duty of this House to say whether they
cannot discover the cause of this depression and pene-
trate the 'reasons of this anomaly.—(Hear, hear.)
Unfortunately the Right Honourable Gentleman was
not in his place when the subject was discussed last
) ear; but the Lord President of the Council, a
statesman second to none in judgment, and, from
his position in the country, and connexion
with the lauded interest the object of respect and
affection to a large class, that Noble Lord, before au
august assembly, told the House that the depres-
sion had been caused only by exceptional causes.
which would not last many weeks. That eminent states-
man informed the House this time last year thai the idea
of the continuance of imports into this country was quite
absurd.--(Cheers.) Well, Sir, when we have men
of such high position in the country, who gave
all their attention to these subjects, and act
under a sense of the great responsibility attached
to anything which may fall from their lips,
when we have Ministers of the Crown deceived
in like manner as their predecessors, it is an additional
reason why the House of Commons should endeavour to
fulfil their duty and arrive at a more sound and cautious
conclusion than those who are our models and leaders.—
Hear, hear.) I do not for a moment accuse the
present Government of not having given great attention
to this subject. It is not merely that we have the recorded
opinions of the .Secretary at War upon Scotch
farming, nor that the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer and the Marquis of Lanadowne have applied
themselves to this important question, but there are
Members of the Government' not occupying positions so

eminent, nor fulfilling functions so responsible, have
devoted their intelligence to the investigation of this
subject, and favoured the House with their conclusions
on it. I mean the Member for Westbury; he is a
►nember of the Administration, justly dis-
tinguished for statistical acquirements and economical
information, and I may say this sincerely, that I know
no man who has more successfully demonstrated that
that which has happened ought not to have occurred.
He could not but think that in all the discussion that
had taken place great injustice had been done to the
British farmer. He had been described as a
sluggish and a slothful man. He thought
that the occupier of the soil ought to be
treated in a very different way to what they bad hitherto
been. He thought that the effect of the present law was
to blot out a class in their agricultural hierarchy.—
(Hear, hear.) They were making a war against the
middle class in England, the class which, he
had no hesitation in saying, was one of the most
important in the country.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
He trusted that the House, in discussing this question,
would forget the past, and only look to the prevent
aspect of affairs.

(LEFT SPEAKING.)

AGRICULTURE AND CURRENCY.
(From the Journal of Industry.)
The state of agriculture in tuis country is now that
which Adam Smith defines as " misery," v:z., a state of
"low prices and touchy." The yield is found, for the
most part to be decidedly defective, while the average
price of wheat for the week ending 17th of January,
was 38s. ld. a quarter. Now when it is remembered
that 1,200,000 men are engaged in agricultural
pursuits in Great Britain, the depressed condi-
tion of so large a class becomes a most
serious consideration to the country at large.
Their distressed state must necessarily react on trade
and the manufacturing interest. But, independently
of this, it is impossible to regard the increasing depres-
sion of the once powerful agricultural body without
feelings of deep concern. The land was originally the
source of the mation's wealth. The Barons of Runny-
mede wero the representatives of the landed interest
of their day. The country party has again and again
stood forth to protect the rights and liberties of the peo-
ple of England. And what are the present prospects of
the country party? " Already," said Sir James Gra-
ham, in 1825, " Mr. Peel's Bill has occasioned an im-
reouse transter of property." " Estates, which have been
held from generation to generation in the same family,
are rapidly changing owners; and as the country gentle-
man retires, the fundholder advances. Both the nobility
and gentry must fall from their high estate under the
operation of this Act; their reduced rental must
be absorbed in the necessary outgoings, and
fixed charges on their property, and nothing
will be left to sustain the dignity of their
rank and station. The occasional expansions of
the circulating medium which Government hos seise-
tioned and encouraged, whereby a temporary prosperity
has visited all interests, and the ingenuity with which the
mercantile class has availed itself of commercial money to
supply the place of coin and bank notes, together with the
partial advantage derived from the corn-laws have en-
abled the agricultural interest to delay the evil. But the
necessities of our vast population have now exposed the
agriculturists to the conapetion of the world, and that
evil day is last approaching. With mortgages, and in-
cumbrances fixed in money payments under a high scale
of prices, the landowner must gradually sink under the
burden. Lord Brougham has correctly defined what is
meant by the ruin of the landed interest,—an
expression which is often treated with derision.
It is not, he says, that " the proprietors
would be destroyed, that the land would
become sterile, or sink into the sea, and the owners be
exterminated. No : what is to be understood by the
ruin of a great class, and by the destruction of the
most commanding interest in the country, is shortly
this : a change of property; much individual misery ;
the whole relations of that class to the rest of society,
and of its members to each other, destroyed, Such may
be called the destruction of a .class ; when it happens
to a community, it becomes the destruction of a state."
Already the middle class of agriculturists, the tenant
farmers, are sinking under the pressure of the monetary
system. Many of the smaller farmers are already ruined,
many more are on the verge of ruin, and the most pru-
dent, successful, and enterprising portion of the body—
men of skill, capital, and energy—are witnessing the pro-
visions made for their families d H indling away, their capital
depreciating, and the fair remuneration of their labour
annihilated. And the pressure is reaching also that
more numerous class, whose lot it is to labour for their
daily bread. The winter has, so far, been favourable to
this class. The farmers, much to their credit, have, for
the most part, manifested an unwillingness to lower
their wages. Food has been cheap, fuel has not
been so urgent a necessary of life, as usual at
this period. But is it possible to imagine that
the agricultural labourer will not speedily ex-
perience the ill effects of the ruin which is seizing on his
employer? No: landlord, tenant, and labourer, must, if
the present system continues, be involved in the same
severe distress. Now this is the time to consider,
calmly and deliberately, what should be done for the
agricultural body, and also what should be done
by them. We say. that . the existing depres-
sion calls for immediate relief, as tar as it
is 'practicable. The severe depression of any
large class of the community should never be regarded
by a statesman with indifference. Where distress cannot
be prevented, it should be relieved ; where suffering can-
not be remedied it should Ise mitigated. That hard-
hearted abuse of the principles of political economy,
which leaves a class to "find its level," though that level
be the dust; and proclaims that our fellowwen,whose errors
or mistake of judgment have brought them to distress, are
to be left to the punishment of nature," is abhorrent
alike to morality, religion, and common sense. But
where a large, important, producing class is struggling
against the effects of laws which have reduced the
puce of their produce to an extent never contem-
plated, and at the saute time increased the
weight of their mortgages, incumbrances, taxes, rents,
and all money payments, they are justly en-
titled to relief. Immediate relief is what they want ;
and all practicable relief by lessening the heaviest burs
dens on land, the land tax, the hop duty (a grievous
tax), all rates pressing unduly on laud, and by causing
all the payments which comp against -the land to undergo
a careful revision, should be effected.
But let the agricultural body be assured that all such
relief, however it may-alleviate present suffering, is a
mere expedient; it is not the remedy. The laws which
have brought them to their present condition,
and which threaten them with worse consequences,
are the monetary laws which the late Sir
Robert Peel established. To these laws are owing
the repeated periods of depression which, with a
productive duty first up to 80s. a quarter, then down
to 705., to 645., and to _565., have visited them, in com-
mon with all the industrious interests of the country,
during the last thirty years. These money laws were
the immediate cause of the corn-laws being, at last,
repealed. They render a return to protection impos-
sible. And these laws, as the wants of an increasing
population become more urgent, will, when com-
mercial and manufacturing depression are added—
as added they will be, when the " cycle" brings their
arrival—will prodnce changes, financial, social, and
political, greater. than 'any we haie yet seen. If the
agricultural body wish to save themselves they must
learn to understand the true cause of their suffering;
they must do more—they must combine and unite,
they must exhibit that determined energy of purpose,
that abrogalion of selfish and personal feelings, with-
out which even a good cause cannot prosper. They
must give time, money, and influence to obtain redress.
and above all, they must make common cause with all
the other great producing interests. Bad money laws
have injured the merchant, the trader, the manufacturer,
the landowner, and the farmer. The poor operative, and
the day labourer have again and again suffered all that
humanity can endure from privation and misery.
Let the landed aristocracy of England stand forward,
not to fight for their class interests, but to contend for
the general weal. What has immortalized the Barons
of the great charter, and the. Great Charter itself?
It is this. They asserted the rights and liberties, and
assured the property and interests of all classes of
ed ‘n‘ oThiendißffaerroennee" tsoatjh'se
James Sir
their
Mackintosh,fellow-countryjshneonw.
in-
ferior classes; for in their articles they require a Parlia-
mentary consent to the tallages of London and all other
towns, us much as to the aid and scutages which fall upon
themselves." That charter provided for the welfare of
noble, merchant, free-man, and serf. "We shall sell, delay,
or deny justice to none." The Barons were strong in
right, and strong in right will that body again be when
they stand forth to rescue all the industrious classes of
the community from a system which is the common
enemy of all. Joule TWELLB.
Perlethorpe, Notts.

THE LATE FATAL COLLISIONS IN THE FIRTH OF
CLYDE.—GLASGOW, SUNDAY EVREING.-It has now been
definitively ascertained that the crew of the Laurel, which
vessel was ran down by the Thistle steamer on Tuesday
night, numbered fifteen souls. There was also a gentleman
passenger—thus making sixteen in all who have perished by
this unhappy catastrophe, after having braved all the win-
ter storms of the Atlantic, and when within three hours'
sail of the close of their voyage. A dressing-case, belong-
ing to the passenger containing the miniature of a lady, has
been cast ashore. The name of this gentleman is believed
to be Bradford, from Demerara. The name of the captain
of the Laurel is Livingstone, not Dalrymple, as formerly
reported. Little of the wreck has been cast ashore since
Thursday, and none of the bodies, in consequence of the
wind having changed, and being likely to surge them down
the channel. In the opinion of nautical men, who have seen
the wreck of the Laurel's stern, the frightful onset of the
steamer must have cut the brig quite open, and gone right
over her, sending her to the bottom almost instantaneously.

It is presumed that the Laurel had been lying to at the time,
waiting for the morning light to run up to Greenock. The
name of the captain of the Eleanor, run down on the same
night by the Vanguard steamer, was Kewley. a respectable
man, aged 55. As the night was wild he had not retired to
rest, but was sitting at the cabin fire with his clothes on
when the collision took place. The three men en the watch
on deck saved themselves by getting on board the steamer;
but a cry arising that the latter was sinking, she put up
steam and separated from the wreck of the schooner. When
last seen, the Eleanor was on her beamends, and Captain
Kewley with the two men with him were on deck waving
lanterns to attract attention. As no tidings have been
heard of her along the coast, she has undoubtedly gone down,
and the three men have perished. The Eleanor was 105
tons, and belonged to Whitehaven. The survivors admit
that they put the helm to " starboard" instead of to " port."
according to the Admiralty regulations; and time the vessel
and lives were lost by their own negligence, for the Van-
guard was seen ten minutes before she came down upon
them. The sheriffs' authorities at Glasgow are making an
investigation into the catastrophe of the Laurel, but, as yet,
they have learned nothing beyond the imperfect account the
crew of the steamer gave them; nor is it likely they will
ever learn more.
It is said that her Majesty will prorogue Parlia- I
ment early in May.

COURSE OF EXCHA
Amsterdam •• .. 11 1 G

Ditto, throe monthe..
Rotterdam ••.. • • 11 17
Antwerp.............. 25 17%
Brussels ........ 17%
flarnburgh •• 114.8. 13 G!,,,t
Altorta • • • • •• • • • • • • • • ••1

Paris, 3 days'sight .• 24 97%
Ditto. 3 months .... 25 20
Marseilles •• 25 20
Bourdeaux ..... •
Frankfort on Maine 118
Berlin • • .• • • ...... • • • •
Vienna, effee. 12 52
Trieste, ditto.... 12 b 3
Petersburgh,Sll. Wale..
Madrid ........ 49%
Cadiz •• ••• •• •• •• •• ••
Barcelona

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

ROUSE OF COMMONS, Fel 10.

Sir R. IL INGLIS presented i petition !I'm a place
in Essex, praying the House to take measures to extir-
pate Popish institutions in this country.
ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES—ADJOURNED
DEBATE.

Mr. REYNOLDS (in continuation from cur Third
Edition of last night) proceeded to say—lle bad
been told that some Catholics would support this measure.
He could understand Catholics in office voting for it; but he
begged to remind them that the day of reckoning would
come, when they would be asked whether they were sent to
the House of Commons to vote penal laws against Catholic
bishops, and to tell a dying man who should wish to leave
1,000/. to Dr. Murray for charitable purposes that if he called
him the Most Rev. Daniel Murray, Archbishop of Dublin,
all his wishes would be frustrated, and that his money would
pass to the Crown, to be given according to the will of the
donor, or as the Crown should think fit. The Noble Lord
had said that Roman Catholics were promoted to places in
the gift of the Government; but what was the fact? In the
Court of Chancery, in Dublin, the number of Protestants
employed was 57, whose salaries amounted to 57,000/. a year ;
while the number of Catholics employed was only 16, and
their salaries amounted to 4,000/. a year. In the law courts
there were nine Protestant judges and C 5 Protestant officers,
whose salaries amounted to 54,7191. lss. hid., while there
were only three Catholic judges and 17 Catholic officers with
salaries amounting to 16,7571. 3s. Bd. The same principle
existed in the Lord-Lieutenant's household, as well as in the
Customs, Excise, and all other public offices; and the only
cure for all this, the only cup of comfort to be administered
to the Catholics, was that their bishops should not be
bishops with Irish titles. Dr. Cullen had been spoken of as
one not acquainted with Ireland, whereas he was born,
reared, and educated in that country, and was more ex-
tensively connected with the upper and middle classes
than any other Catholic bishop. The Noble Lord laboured
under similar misinformation with regard to Dr. Wiseman,
whom the Noble Lord had called a foreigner, but he was to
all intents and purposes a British subject. He was born of
Irish parents at Seville, in Spain, lived there seven years,
and then came and resided in his own native county of
Waterford.—(Loud laughter.) They all knew that a man
born on board a British vessel at sea might call Sussex,
Kent, or any other place his native county.—(Renewed
laughter.) The Hon. Gentleman concluded by disclaiming
all sectarian or bigoted views, and declaring that, with re-
ference to the Protestant Church he entertained no feeling
towards her but that of kindness and respect.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, that if the House had
taken the usual and ordinary course of allowing this Bill to
be introduced at an early period, so that the House might
become acquainted with its provisions, he should not have
thought it his duty to trouble them with any observations at
this stages but, as they had not only been occupied one long
night, but would probably be engaged for a similar period in
a discussion with respect to a Bill about to be introduced,
in the absence of all knowledge as to its provisions—.
a species of ignorance which they must necessarily labour
under—and, as it appeared to him that the observations
made by his Noble Friend on introducing the Bill, with re•
spect to its purport and effect, had been misunderstood by
the House, he was desirous of explaining what appeared to
him to be the general scope and effect of the Bill as described
by his Noble Friend. But before he did so he hoped the
House would permit him to call attention to what was the
offence which it was intended by this Bill to meet. It
was to be observed that in the course of last year the
offence consisted in the introduction of a bull, by which cer-
tain persons were entitled by the Pope of Rome to assume
certain territorial sees and dioceses, defined by certain limits.
That was the whole extent of the offence ; the consequences
of it would have to be regarded and dealt with by the
House ; but they were derived solely from the circumstance
that those titles were authorised to be assumed as of certain
pretended sees and dioceses of this country. The view he
took, which was one he thought the House would agree in,
was that in meetinng these consequences you should act on
a very sound and safe maxim of politics, and that you
ought not to introduce a remedy more extensive than was
necessary to meet the evil complained of. lie thought,
therefore, if they introduced and passed a measure which
should effectually prevent persons from holding those sees,
as being bishops or archbishops of those pretended dioceses
in England, that the real object which was sought would be
found, and that they needed not to legislate beyond the occa-
sion, or seek to provide against possible evils which had not
yet arisen.—(Hear, hear.) Now, he believed the proposed
Bill would in fact effectually prevent the evils which
had been complained of. That such was the object
of the Bill there was no question, and that it had been
framed with considerable care to meet that object he was
well assured—it would be for the House to consider with
what success. He must be allowed to observe, that it was
important to draw a distinction between the two different
branches of the offence which would be constituted by the
Bill. One portion of it—a very large portion of it—had re••
lation to what was conceived by many, and, as he appre-
hended, justly conceived, to be an insult to this country--
(Hear, hear)—the other portion of it was the injury inflicted
on certain classes of the inhabitants. But those two things
were in themselves perfectly, distinct. There had been this
effect, that the insult offered to this country by a foreign
power introducing a bull, by which he professed to govern
the whole of the kingdom by his own immediate dependents,
had produced an undue belief with respect to the extent of
the injury likely to arise from that bull ; that the two things
could not be separated in the public mind without some diffi-
culty, and that a very great desire for legislation had arisen,
not merely from the injury it was suspected the introduction of
the bull would cause, but, in a great measure, by the insult
which the public considered to have been offered to the
Queen and to the country. As to the insult that had been
offered it would be useless to say anything.° The expression
of opinion on the part of the country and of the House
was amply sufficient to show that the introduction of any
measure containing an expression of their opinion would be
fully adequate to repel, in the most proper and dignified
manner, the insult which had been offered by the Court of
Rome. With regard to the injury inflicted by the bull, it
undoubtedly affected the Roman Catholic branches of the
community, but it was, however, of a twofold nature. The
first injury was of a spiritual, the second was of a temporal
character. With the first he apprehended they had nothing
to do; and if it was possible for them to separate completely
any questions with respect to the spiritual and temporal effect
of the introduction of the bull, and the assumptions of titles
thereupon, it would be well and fit for them to do so, apart
from the question of what was due to the honour and dignity
of the country. It was said the effect of the hull in tem-
poral matters would be to give to certain persons assuming
the titles of aschbishops or bishops of dioceses and sees the
power of dealing with appointments relating to religious en-
dowments made by Roman Catholics; that it would enable
them to deal with the property given to support charities, or
for other religious purposes, in a different and more exten-
sive manner than at present, and that the result would
be to give to those prelates powers not intended to be con-
ceded to them by the persons who founded those institu-
tions. As to the spiritual power introduced, he had not
heard it suggested, nor had he seen it in any of the
publications he had read, that there were any specific
powers which might be enforced by the bishops of these pre-
tended sees,clietinct or different from the powers which might
.had been enforced by the bishops in partibus and vicars-
apostolic, or anything to show they were not as great in one
case as in the other; but with respect to the temporal power,
it was of importance, he apprehended, -to stop the assump-
tion by any person being, or pretending to be, as; undoubt-
edly these bishops must profess themselves to be, under the
canon law and dependent on the Pope of Rome, of dealing
with the rights and interests of British subjects in a manner
different from and inconsistent with the manner which had
hitherto obtained. The difficulty to be feared would arise
when the questions arising from these appointments came to
be adjudicated upon by the courts of law, because the courts
taking cognizance of every species of endowment for the
benefit of Roman Catholics, and enforcing trusts connected
with them, would inquire into the rights of appointments as
mere facts to be ascertained,and would refer to the authority
of the Roman Catholic bishops to know by what authority
the persons interested had been appointed. Now, the Bill,
as was stated by his Noble Friend (Lord John Russell) on a
Errner occasion, was intended in the first instance to extend
the provisions of the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 10th
George IV., which imposed a penalty of 100/. for every
offence, in case of any Roman Catholic prelate assuming the
title of any existing see throughout the United Kingdom,
that penalty of 1001. to be enforced for every offence, but
only sued for by the Attorney- General. Now this Bill, by
the first section, extended the penalties of that clause to the
case of the assumption of any title whatever—whatever it
might be—from any city, or any town, or place, or territory,
or district whatever within the United Kingdom, If the
clause had been found to be effectual—a matter on which
he could not profess to express any opinion-. in preventing
the assumption of the titles of existing sees, it might be
equally expected to have a similar effect in preventing the
assumption of titles from places within the United King-
dom. But it did not atop there. Several instances had
been alluded to in which it was alleged that Roman Catholic
bishops assumed the titles of existing sees, and it was
thought desirable to endeavour to carry into effect the ob-
ject of prohibiting the assumption of titles by making every
act done by persons holding sees of that description in
their characters of bishops or archbishops null and void. It
appeared to him that any clause providing that any Act
whatever, or any deed, instrument, or writing made or
executed by or to any one assuming such titles, or done in
the character of assuming them, should be null and void,
would have the effect of completely paralyzing, with respect
to his temporal authority, all the powers of any person thus
claiming to be a bishop, and that it would not be possible
for him to do anything which was effectual in a court ofjus-
tice for the enforcement of any religious or charitable trust
or use; for, as the Act of Parliament declared any deed by a
person in that position to be void, it could not be given in
evidence or proved, so as to enable any one in his quality of
bishop to do that which, if done in any other character,
would be perfectly valid. In addition to that they proposed
to endeavour to prevent other persons giving those bishops
of pretended sees titles from any place in the United King-
dom, and they therefore propose to enact that it should not
be lawful for any one to endow or to give any suns of money
whatever for the support of such dioceses or sees, or to any
person performing ecclesiastical functions as such, of such
districts, and words sufficiently large would be introduced to
provide against any evasion of these provisions. They
further provided, that every devise of real or personal
property given to any person by his title, as de-
rived from any diocese or see, should, in point of fact, be
forfeited to the Crown, and that the Crown should be able to
dispose of it in such manner as should be thought tit. The
effect of that would be, that it would be totally impossible
for any person intending to give any grant for charitable
purposes, of which the bishop or archbishop of the diocese
was to be the administrator, to give it to him by the name
or with reference to the name of his diocese. Undoubtedly
it was not intended to prevent any person making any be-
neficial bequest to any Roman Catholic; the only thing was,
that in doing so he must give it by the name in which the
donee usually went, and that, for example, he must give it
to Dr. Wiseman, not to Dr. Wiseman, Archbishop of West-
minster, as, if given by the latter name, it would be void,
arid the money would be disposable by the Crown. The
House would see, therefore, that if it was intended to
make a beneficial bequest, it would be properly given by
the name of the person who was to receive it ; that, if