The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-20 00:00:00

THE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT

On Tuesday evening a crowded public meeting
was held at the Horbury school-rooms, Ladbroke-
road, Notting-hill, to promote the formation of a
Cadet corps in connection with the South Middlesex
Rifies—the Hon. E. Curzon in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN said that, as the residents of Not-
ting-hill were among the earliest in establishing
volunteer corps, he was not surprised to find them
in favour of the proposed cadet corps. Ifthe volun-
teer movement was to become one of the permanent
institutions of the country, cadet corps must be
established, Ew" as to enable the rising generation to
take the place of their elder brothers in arms who
might be removed from the muster-roll of the corps
through death or any, other cause. The cost of
equipment to the cadet corps
was moderate, so as to
bring it within the reach of all parents.
" That, inasmuch as the Mr. SILT then moved,
volunteer rifle movement has
is the
become a subject
of national approbation, it the opinion
of this
meeting that volunteer cadet corps should be
formed."
Mr. SHERIDAN, 1%1.P., seconded the motion,
which was carried.
After addresses from several other speakers, a
resolution was agreed to pledging the meeting to
support the proposed cadet corps. A vote of thanks
to the chairman closed the proceedings.
On Tuesday afternoon a numerous company
assembled at the Town-hall, Woolwich, to witness
the presentation of a silver bugle, subscribed
for by the ladies of the district, to the 4th Kent
Rifle Corps, which arrived at the time named,
under the command of Captain Carter, and pre-
ceded by its band. The corps having formed oppo-
site the platform, Mrs. Brown, wife of the Rev.
Henry Brown, M.A., rector of Woolwich, ad-
dressed them as follows :—" Several of the ladies
of Woolwich have honoured me with the request
that I should present to you this silver bugle as a
token of the high estimation in which your disin-
terested services are hold by them, as well as by
the inhabitants of this important town in general.
Though the sound of the bugle is usually associated
in our minds with the terrors of war, we trust that
in this instance its notes may serve to enliven
the peaceful occupations of our daily life rather than
be heard as a call to arms for the defence of our
country. But should the tranquillity of our

homes be disturbed by foreign invasion, we feel I
assured that we may confidently rely on your cou-
rage and readiness, as well as on you, ability, to
aid in our defence, since only a high sense of duty
to your Sovereign and of love for your country
could have thus roused you in a time of peace to be
prepared for the unhappy contin ncies of war."
Mrs. Brown then presented the bugle to Captain
Carter, who replied in appropriate terms, and, after
an address from the Rev. H. Brown, the corps re-
tired in marching order.
On Monday last, at a meeting of the non-com-
missioned officers and privates of the 4th Company
of the Ist Surrey Rifle Volunteers, a valuable watch
and chain, with a purse, was presented to Sergeant
George Madgwick, R.M., as a mark of their appre-
ciation of his services as drill instructor.

TILE MANCHESTER CHAMBER OF COM-
MERCE AND THE FRENCH TREATY.

A special meeting of the Chamber was held
yesterday in the Mayor's parlour, at Manchester,
to receive a report from the directors relative to
the French treaty.
Mr. H. FLEMING, the secretary, read the docu-
ment, as follows :
The French Commercial Treaty being now completed,
and its details having been published, the directors feel it
their duty to report the various steps they have taken as
regards this important measure.
On the publication of the treaty the sinject was brought
under the immediate notice of the Board ; and at a meat-
ing, held on the 13th of February, it was resolved to peti-
tion the House of Commons in its favour, the petition•con-
eluding as follows :
" Your petitioners therefore pray your hen. House to
afford the measure its calm and impartial consideration in
its many important details, to pass the same with all con-
venient speedr and thus check the mischief arising from
the uncertainty now naturally affecting many important
interests. On!the same day a cordial vote of thanks was
passed by the Board to Mr. Richard Cobden, M.P., for
his voluntary and patriotic exertions in the negotiation
of the treaty in question. As soon as possible after the
receipt of copies of the treaty the Board met to consider the
subject, and on the 20th of February appointed a sub-com-
mittee to examine its details and report thereon. Their
report was presented on the 23d of the same month, strong
objection being taken to article No. 13, which gave the
French Government the power of converting the ad valo-
rem into specific duties, the sub-comaittee being of opinion
that such a course would be attended with considerable
risk of complication and uncertainty, and would be found,
as regards the manufactures of this district, to be generally
impracticable. The report also showed the unfairness of
calculating the rate of duties upon the medium price ruling
during the six months immediately preceding the ratifica-
tion of the treaty, as a fair average would not be arrived at,
prices having been higher during that period than at any
time during the previous ton years. The views contained
in the report were subsequently brought under the notice
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and more particularly
of the President of the Board of Trade, by a deputation from
the Chamber. The deputation was assured that the matters
to which attention had been called should be brought under
the special notice of the French Government. Early in the
month of April a letter was received from the Board of Trade,
requesting the Chamber to afford information upon several
points. Your President, with the concurrence of the Board,
forwarded a reply, suggesting that it would, be productive of
great advantage if a meeting could be arranged with Mr. Cob-
den and the other Commissioners, and theßepresentatives of
Chambers of Commerce from the large commercial towns
whose trade was likely to be affected. The proposed interview
took place at the Board of Trade, and your directors again
urged their objections against specific duties; and they
flatter themselves the results of that interview have been
beneficial. After this period the Consell Sup6rieur du Com-
merce proceeded to take evidence on the relative cost of the
manufactures of both countries, and several members of
your Beard proceeded to Paris, and were examined. Mr.
Cobden subsequently requested the Chamber to aid him by
sending to Paris a deputation of gentlemen well acquainted
with the manufactures of this district, and able to give him
all the requisite information regarding them. Your Board
immediately appointed a deputation, with instructions to
adhere to the opinions already expressed in favour of ad
valorem duties, but still to afford all the aid in his power
in framing a scale of duties which could be practically
carried and be mutually satisfactory to Great Britain and
France. A resolution was passed on the 16th of July,
That the deputation to Paris from this Chamber should
not commit the Chamber to any opinion as to the rats of
duties which ought to be imposed by the French G4vern-
ment on English manufactures.' At the close of the month
of July the deputation proceeded to Paris. A very exten-
sive assortment of patterns of the various manufactures of
this district was also sent. Every effort was made by that
deputation to entbrce the views entertained by the Board
on the mode of levying the duties, explanations were
afforded to the French Government as to the great injustice
and difficulty which the adoption of specific duties would
unavoidably entail. The difficulties in attempting the
classification of printed goods and every class of fancy
woven fabrics have since been practically acknowledged in
the tariff by the admission of many kinds of such goods at
an ad valorem duty. But it will be found that in the case
of yarns, cotton, woollen, and linen, in plain cotton and
linen fabrics, in fustians and velvets, a complicated scale of
specific duties has been adopted ; the directors regret that
the very simple form suggested by the deputation in July
was not accepted. The directors invite from members of
the Chamber the expression of their opinions as to the prac-
tical effect of the tariff, as they believe, from the liberal
spirit evinced by the French Government, that where error
have been made or difficulties arise, modifications of the
tariff will be considered with a view to amendment. The
directors have much pleasure in acknowledging the cordial
co-operation afforded by the Glasgow Chamber of Com-
merce. The Treaty being now complete the directors are
confident the Chamber will unite in declaring its estimation
of the great value and of the devoted, untiring, and gratui-
tous labours of Mr. Cobden, and will express to him their
full appreciation of the high motives which led him to at-
tempt the negotiations now terminated. The Board trust
the Chamber will also tender its thanks to Messrs. Mallett
and Ogilvie for their services and polite attention to the de•
putation from the city while in Paris; and also to the gen-
tlemen composing such deputation for their great assistance
in conducting a very difficult and delicate negotiation.
" On behalf of the Board of Directors,
" EDMUND POTTER, President."
Mr. EDMUND POTTER, the President of the
Chamber, took the chair, and moved the adop-
tion of the report. He thought they had gained a
very great benefit by the completion of the treaty
—a much greater benefit, he must confess, than he
had himself anticipated. There was in the treaty
inuch that he regretted, but much that he
valued. Though it was rather reversing the
order of things, the first point he would refer to was
the closing suggestion of the report, that a cordial
vote of thanks should be given to Mr. Cobden.
He (the chairman) had framed that clause himself,
therefore it expressed his feelings entirely. He be-
lieved that only Mr. Cobden could have obtained
this treaty—(hear, hear)—considering all the cir-
cumstances. He made that admission frankly,
because, like many others, stanch freetraders as
they were, he had not exactly liked the mode in
which the thing was set about. However, he be-
lieved great advantages would accrue from it, and
there were times when expediency itself might
become principle. Perhaps it was better to have
dealt with the question as Mr. Cobden had done. If
he (the chairman) were not addressing a commer-
cial assembly, and as a commercial man, he should
say the groat value of the treaty was more in its
moral and political than in its commercial bearings
(Hear, hear.) But the duty of this Chamber was to
consider it as a commercial treaty alone. In tha

spirit the report would show that they had all
along expressed a strong opinion of the value of ad
valorem duties. He adhered to that opinion most
strongly, and had, perhaps, expressed it dogmati-
cally, but he did not regret having done so, and he
thought the whole value of the treaty now con-
sisted in the ad valorem principle they had intro-
duced into it. The admission of woven goods of all
sorts, more particularly printing goods, at 15 per
Cent. duty, was an amazing concession on the part
or the 'French Government, and he deeply regretted
that the same ad valorem system could not be car-
ried
suecshs.
Specific du throughout, because he saw in the specific duty
an enormous amount of mischief and unfair-
n es never meantexactly what was
stated ; as a rule they were always very much more
than the nominal amount. He believed that it had
not been intended to s
levy a
spun cotton goods, woollens,
worsted, n
higher specific duty
15peruthoran.sted, and gray
15 per cent. on
skirtings;
hi7h prices the duty would be t
to on the present
2 0
in
a
cent.
few ;
and
if there were a reduction
b of price
months, as was likely enough, these duties would
mount up to 24 or 25 per cent. Again, specific
duties required specific goods to be manufactured
for particular markets, and thus the trade Was ham.
pered in various ways. A great example
of the
mischief of specific duties was the Zoliverein. Ac-
cording to the statement of M. Arles Dufour, that
gentleman was resident in Germany when Prussia
established the Zollverein proclaiming the principle
that the duties should not be protective, but always
fiscal, and should never exceed 10 per cent, on the

value. They were, however, to be specific duties,
and revised every 10 years to keep them within
the 10 per cent. The revision, however, had not
taken place, and the duties had gradually mounted
up to 30, 40, 60, and 80 per cent. And this must
ever be the effect of specific duties, because the
natural reduction of price which must follow the
increase of machinery and capital would always
tend to raise the duty. No person acquainted with
the subject could deny that, had the Zollverein,
comprising a population of 30,000,000 to 40,000,000
in the most civilised portion of Europe, adhered
honestly to the 10 per cent. duty, we should now
be sending them the same amount of exports that
we had with the United States, instead of only one-
third. He considered this should operate as a warn •
ing against receiving with cordiality any specific
duties whatever. The United States had adopted
a bold system of ad valorem duties, and the extent
of trade with them was now £22,000,000 and
£23,000,000 a-year, Almost every nation seemed
just now to be short of money, and he observed
with much regret that, following the bad example
we had set them in India—(hear, hear)—they were
mostly proposing to supply themselves, by raising
duties. But where this could not be carried out
frankly and honestly, there was another start-
ling proposition. In Mr. Buchanan's Message,
the President recommended the adoption
of specific duties in the United States, in order
to gain, by a roundabout method, a real increase of
receipts without the appearance of it. With the
example of the Zollverein before us, what were#ve
to expect if it should be followed by America ? It
was much to be lamented, therefore, that American
statesmen should be able to point to the treaty be-
tween France and England as comprising both
specific and ad valorem duties, and say, " Why,
then, should not we also partially adopt specific
duties ?" Hebelieved if Mr. Cobden were now pre-
sent he would express himself much more eloquently,
and quite as strongly, to the same effect, and these
opinions on the part of the Chamber were no reflec-
tion either on that gentleman or any other pro-
moter of the treaty. In proof of this he might
refer to the emphatic approval of this remark of
M. Arles Dufour—" If specific instead of ad valorem
duties are admitted, except, perhaps, for some few
special articles, France will experience the same
delusions and difficulties as the Zollverein, and
there will be created a permanent source of claims
and recriminations on the part of England." (Hear,
hear.)
Mr. M, Ross seconded the motion. Without
going into any argument for or against specific or
ad valorem duties, he believed the interests of the
community would be promoted by studying in every
case how far either system would best promote
trade, instead of persevering in some dogma that
might deprive us of commercial intercourse with
any country. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. H. MASON, of Ashton, had felt a little disap-
pointed at the half-and-half manner in which the
question had been spoken to by the chairman.
(Hear, hear.) He thought they were called toge-
ther to rejoice on the completion of a great com-
mercial, political, and social victory, and not to
discuss the merits of ad valorem or specific duties•
(Hear, hear.) He could fancy how the chairman's
speech would be reported and commented upon by
various portions of the public press, and he could
well imagine that great but most unprincipled
organ of public opinion, the Tiknes, suppressing
every word that might be uttered that morn-
ing on behalf of the treaty, and publishing in large
type, and with a leading article upon it, just the
special remarks of the President of that Chamber
in censure of the arrangement. He believed that
it ill became Manchester to take the course which
the chairman seemed to have set before them that
morning. Perhaps he had spoken as a calico
printer, and not as chairman of the Chamber; but
he (Mr. Mason) rose to speak as a cotton spinner,
and, though there might be anomalies and defects
in the treaty even as to cotton spinning, he must
say he had not spoken to a single cotton spinner on
the subject who was not prepared to rejoice in the
completion of one of the greatest treaties of com-
merce that had ever been made, We were told
over and over again that it was the most liberal
tariff in Europe except our own, and it was only
the other day that we ourselves entered on the
path of unfettered commerce. Should we then be
supercilious or hypercritical in the remarks .we
made or the views we took of the great French
nation in the course it had now entered upon ? He
thought the French Government and nation de-
served our unqualified approbation in this matter,
and if the remarks of the chairman committed the
members of this Chamber to any kind of modified
approval or mild censure of the treaty, he (Mr.
Mason) was quite prepared to move a resolution to
the contrary effect. (Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN said no one but himself would be
committed to the opinions he had expressed. The
Chamber, of course, could adopt or reject the re-
port, which had been unanimously agreed to by the
directors:
Mr. W. R. WOOD thought Mr. Mason's remarks
would have been unnecessary if that gentleman had
inquired what further resolutions were to be brought
forward.
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Mr. BAZLEY, M.P., moved :
"That in the opinion of this Chamber the commercial
treaty between Great Britain and France will be of great

advantage to the people of both countries, and is now cor-
dially accepted."
That he might be guarded from incorrect imputa-
tions of any kind, he begged to express his own con-
viction that the treaty was not founded on political
principles of aiy kind, but that it was, in fact, a
pure economical treaty, having for its object the
increase of the comfort of the people of France and
England. In the abstract Mr. Disraeli had approved
a treaty, and after such a declaration from him it
was gratifying to be able to attach no political com-
plexion whatever to the arrangement. He was
very much surprised that the moneyed interest had
not received it with more favour, for on many occa-
sions the abstraction of bullion to pay for the luxu-
ries of France had been a great inconvenience in
this country, our imports from France being at pre-
sent 15 millions, which was 10 millions more than
our exports to that country. He was glad, how-
ever, to see, one after another, so many indications
from different quarters of the approbation with
which the treaty was regarded generally. He
thought, however, a word of caution was necessary,
lest it should be forgotten that France was already
a great manufacturing country, and that by sud-
denly sending an immense quantity of our manu-
factures there we should inundate the market and
disappoint ourselves. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. J. CHEETIIAM seconded the motion, which
was unanimously agreed to.
Mr. 0. HEYWOOD moved the third resolution, as
follows :

" This Chamber desires hereby to record its high sense
of the value of the devoted and untiring labours of Richard
Cobden, Esq., M.P., in the negotiations of the French
Commercial Treaty, and would at the same time seek to
express to him its full appreciation of the high motives which
led him to originate the measure now completed. The
Chamber warmly thanks him for these services, in addition
to those formerly rendered to the commercial as well as to
every other interest of the nation by his labours in
the cause of Free Trade. The Chamber doubts not that,
apart from the great commercial benefits which it expects
will result from the treaty, it w ill lead to closer and greatly
extended intercourse between Great Britain and France,
and thud materially promote the progress of intelligence,
civilisation, and peace." _

The resolution was seconded by Mr. GL.4DSTONE,
and carried unanimously.
The Chamber afterwards voted thanks to Messrs.

Mallet and Ogilvie, and to the chairman.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] Pills and medicine invariably ag-
gravate and perpetuate diseases; their annoyance, dis-
appointment, and expense may be avoided by persons
in indillerent health sending only their address to E.
S. Barry, Esq., 77, Regent-street, W., London, and they
will receive gratis and free by post the " INvat fps' Own
GuIDE," or Natural Restorer, without medicine or ex-
olnse, of perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs, and
refreshing sleep, to the most enfeebled, insuring the removal
of indigestion (dyspepsia), constipation, liver complaints
nausea, epilepsy, walysis, debility, nervousness, palpitation.
cough, asthma, consumptiop, dropey, flatulency, diarrhoea,
dysentery, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, catarrhs, colds,
no2esin the ears, rheumatism, gout, impurities, eruptions,
hysteria'
neuralki*, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, palpi-
tation, heartburn
• ile"aalle, despondency, cramps, spasms,
sinking, fits, bronchitis "17 to ileulth."Kluestionably the safest Guide I

_