The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-31 00:00:00

turb the general peace. He ( Lord Durham) fully coincided
in that opinion as to the mutual advantages which both coun-
tries would reap from an intimate and friendly intercourse with
each other. If he had not general grounds for maintaining that
opinion, he would, even upon the merely selfish principles of
commercial advantage, be an advocate for it. How came it that
there was so little commerce between England and France ?
Let them for a moment look at the disproportion between the
commerce of England with France, and the commerce with a
distant country, the Brazils; the produce of England ex-
ported to France amounted to only half a million, while the
produce of England exported to the Brazils amounted to
4 500,000/.—( Hear, hear). The one country was 25 miles
off, the other was 3,000. The two countries, France and
England, were united,—not perhaps exactly united,—but at
any rate they had extensive relations in their laws and li-
berties, and institutions. The dearest object that he (Lord
Durham) would have at his heart, if he had any concern in
the administration of the affairs of this country—( Cheers, and
cries df " You ought,")--would be, to make that intimate de-
pendence of those two countries so certain that war would be
absolutely impossible.—( Cheers.) He regretted to say, that
on such a subject they could expect nothing from the French
Government, nor indeed from the French Chamber of De-
puties, a large proportion of the members of which are pro-
prietors of monopolies. But if they were thus prevented from
doing their duty to the people, the people of France will
not long endure a system so injurious to their real
interests. The whole of the south of " France and of
the outports have united together to obtain free trade, and in
the next Session of the French Parliament, instead of five or
six members only being found to be the advocates for free
trade, he was sure that there would be a large number. From
an individual actively employed at this moment in obtaining
information on the subject—he meant Dr. Bowring—he had
lately received the gratifying intelligence that such a party
will be raised in France in favour of free commercial inter-
course, that it will be impossible for the Government to con..

tinue the present system, and to plunder the people of France
as it had done.—( Hear, hear.) The people of France had
no notion of the extent to which their pockets were taxed to
support the present monopoly system. If the sentiments of
so humble an individual could by any means reach them, he
would just describe to them what they pay for those mono-
polies. For the support of one monopoly alone, the iron
monopoly, they had to pay 1,600,000/., being the difference
between what the article cost in France and what it could be

purchased for in England. Surely that single fact, if the
French people were thoroughly aware of it, should open
their eyes to the baneful effects of this system. The fact
was, that the people of France had to pay upwards of
16,000,0001. sterling for the support of the present monopoly
system. Such facts, if known among them, could not fail to
produce a good effect. The system of prohibitions was not
of the least use, except to produce smuggling. It was proved
that in one article alone, the consumption of which amounted
to 1,000,0001., 700,000/. of it was smuggled. The Noble
Lord then referred to the evidence of M. St. Cricq, one of the
French Ministers, and who was himself an extensive manufac-

turer- of pottery, to show that notwithstanding a protecting duty
of 100 per cent. the manufacture could not flourish in France.
Why then should there not be a free commercial intercourse
between the two countries ? lt was obviously for the advan-
,.

tage of both. If we sent to France the manufactures of Glas-
gow, we would take from them their wines and other articles of
consumption for the growth of which that country would be
particularly favourable. He trusted- to see that intercourse
established. It would be the sure means of preventing a re-
currence of the destroying scourge of war between England
and France. The two countries had but one common object,
and he hoped to see them always united in the closest bonds of
intimacy and friendship.—( Cheers. )
Mr. GILLoN, M. P., proposed the next toast—" Ireland,
may her liberties be restored and her grievances redressed."

He congratulated them on meeting at such a moment a Noble
Lord who deeply regretted every moment which passed over
.he-head of wrongs unredressed, and who repudiated the clip-
ling- and compromising of measures which, however it might
;lease the Tories, was only disgusting to real Reformers.—

( Great cheers.) Such meetings as that would show, in the
first place, that the Reformed Parliament had not realized the
expectations of the people.—( Cheers.) It would teach a
great lesson to public men, to those who possessed public
honour and political consistency, which alone fitted men to
sway the councils of this great empire.—( Hear, hear.) The
toast which he had to propose was one that strongly appealed
t) their feelings. For centuries Ireland had been misgo-
verned—for centuries she had been ground down by a selfish
faction, that had not shown itself in its proper colours, and
had almost hoisted the flag of rebellion—for centuries Ireland

had groaned under the domination of a sinecure and anti-
national Church.—(Cheers.) In the history of the Reformed
Parliament, short as it was, could be traced a sample of the
misgovernment of Ireland. He trusted, however, that the
day was gone by for such a mode of treating Ireland, and
that the time was at length come when iuStice
to that fine oountr

;n6ned to be drank when our express
rt—dlasgow=at midnight.

AMATEUR MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

The recent Commemoration of Handel at Westminster
Abbey will, in our opinion, form a remarkable feature in
the musical literature of this country., It has already given
rise to the great meeting at Birmingham, and a festival, in-
tended to be celebrated at York in the course of the en-
suing year, on a still more extended scale, may be ascribed
to the same cause. Nor has the example been lost on the
laudable projectors of the performance now taking place at
Exeter Hall. Among the musical societies of the metro-
polis we were aware of the existence of dilettanti per-
formers distinguished for practical ability, considerable
reading, and a sincere and intelligent love of the art ; yet
lye had no conception that the persevering energy of a few
private individuals could have assembled such a numerous
body of well-disciplined amateurs, as we had the pleasure of
hearing at the first grand performance of the Exeter Hall
Meeting. We were much struck on our entrance into the,
Hall at the general appearance of the scene, although
the associations naturally excited in the mind by the pointed
arches, lofty roof, and general magnificence of the ancient
Collegiate Church of Westminster were wanting ; yet the
advantage of an uninterrupted view of the spacious orchestra
and its assembled members, and of the undisguised happi-
ness which shone in the faces of a mur.erous and attentive
audience, rendered an effect of nearly equal interest. The.
only drawback to the orchestra is the diminutive size of the
organ, which contrasted but too strongly with the stu-
pendous instrument in the Birmingham Hall and its pedal
pipes of "forty horse power."
The choral performances of yesterday evening were given
with great splendour and effect, and with such a marked im,
provement on their rehearsal, that we presume some of ;;he
leading performers must have been absent on that occasion.
We have already given a full report of the selection for the
evening ; and we can only add that its performance was
worthy of the genius of the composers from whose works
it was taken. The chorusses went off with a precision,
power, and earnest feeling which astonished and gratified all
the hearers, and among them many leading memers of the
profession. The glorious imaginations of Handel seemed
to be felt by all the performers as
" 11 cantar, the nel ammo si sente "
,

and the audience, free from that cold and retralsive silence
with which the finest movements are too often received, tes-
tified their admiration by their contilnought to say that Mr.
ied
In mentioning the solo singo::s we plaudits.
Leffler sang " The Lord.
truth of coneeptior: worketh Wonders" with much
and considerable expression. He has
a light and
exible voice, and by time and application will
bee'.:le a valuable addition to our Oratorio performances.
A just opinion seemed to be entertained of Mr. Sapio's
style of singing " Lord remember David." His loud into-
nation of this plaintive melody was unseasonable and out of
character. Who Mr. Turner may be, we know not ; but
if an amateur, his correct and_sxpressive performance of
the Scena from Jephtha " Deelt rand deeper still" reflected
great credit on. llis talents and acquirements. On the whole
a great superiority over the rehearsal, especially in the cho-
russes, characterized the performances, which were also much
better attended.

MANF RED.—The announcement in the play-bills
of Wednesday that the music of Lord Byron's Drama is the
composition of Bishop is in some degree incorrect. The
writers of the notices of Manfred in the Morning Journals
have thus been led into the error of awarding to Mr. Bishop
the honour of a composition which is due to the immortal
Weber. The fact is, that the overture played by the orchestra
of Covent Garden on the night of the production of Manfred
was composed by Weber for his Ruler of the Spirits, a mag-
nificent piece of music which is little known in this country,
as it has been seldom performed in public.

The Florists 'of Wallingford, Reading, Newberry,
and Henley, will not be a little astonished at the contents of
the Horticultural Journal for the present month. The defence
of the individual detected at the Surrey Gardens, figures at
full length, but the Editor's reply is such as very few can anti-
cipate. There is a sarcastic allusion to a senseless attempt to
suppress the work in Wallingford. They might as well try
to turn the wind—the people's curiosity is increased by such
endeavours.

( ADVERTISEMENT.)
THE MIRROR OF PARLIAMENT 'V. NORTH-
CROFT'S PARLIAMENTARY CHRONICLE.—The proprietors of the
latter work, when they intimated to the public that the former
respectable publication had ceased, " its reflections" were mis-
taken. They take this opportunity of stating, that the infor-
mation was communicated through a channel in which they:
thought they could place implicit reliance ; and they an-
nounced the communication as a fact, without any view of ;
and as the
dis-
paraging the merits of their elder, and that equally respectable
their own, theta
publication. Finding, however, that they were wrong, they
tmdbilffisehreecnltafsroumsual
take the earliest opportunity in their power of stating that the
feel that it cannot detract from the merits, but 'llrather 1
wt add:
IsllcoiprreoorfoftliPata;.vleiarkmeisntsowmilel somewhat
to the reputation of Northeroft's Parliamentary Chronicir
candidly to acknowledge that ate former announcement v•aq
founded in error. In making this confession, they di,c '
laim
the imputation of the term " impudent falsehood," . .
,w'.d assure
the public, that as they are influenced solely by a
jus-
tice to acknowledge error, so their intend° Love of
their feelings were respectful tw,(l u ..‘„h 1. 'was as pure as
information which now turns out 4 13.,1 t in communicating
ported to thew, '7 "..Ave been wrongly re