The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-20 00:00:00

GREAT BOAT RACE FOR £2OO.

A great boat race for £lOO aside came off yesterday, and
attracted a large number of spectators. The competitors
were Geo. Everson and Geo. Hammerton, the former from
Greenwich and the latter from Kingston, both being very
celebrated. The distance was from Putney to Mortlake.
No less than six steamboats accompanied the vessels.
There was a great crowd on the banks of the river. Bet-
ting was no less than 2 to 1 on Hammerton (chiefly on
account of his being a most finished sculler, the style of his
opponent being a very bad one.) Shortly before 2 o'clock
the men, trained -to a nicety, made their appearance, Ilam-
merton taking up the best position on the Surrey side. Mr.
Charles Clifford, the inventor of the boat-lowering appa-
ratus, bad been appointed referee by Bell's Life; and the
umpires were Biffen, the boat-builder, for Everson, and
Messenger for Hammerton. After a false start they were
away in beautiful style; but Hammerton led immediately,
owing to Everson catching a crab. This, however, did
not trouble him much, for in half-a-dozen strokes he
was alongside again, and then commenced such a struggle
as is only seen where two really good men are opposed.
For 200 yards they rowed strictly level, and then a second
time Hammerton led slightly, but his opponent, a strong
powerful man, his superior in stature by tour inches, and
much heavier, was soon up with him again. At the end
of half a mile Hammerton put en a fine spurt and drew
a yard or two away, and this lead at times slightly de-
creased, and then was lengthened again. He held to be-
yond the Point, where Everson was ence more level, but
Hammerton, rowing in beautiful form, broke away again,
and was upwards of half his length in advance at Cra-
ven-cottage. Between this point and the Crab-tree
Everson gradually came abreast of his opponent, and
now in his turn led, although another crab threatened
seriously to interfere with his progress, but he drew in
front again, and passed under Hammersmith-bridge a
clear length ahead. From this spot to the winning post
he gradually increased his lead, and, notwithstanding the
magnificent rowing and plucky spurts of Hammerton, won
the race easily by four lengths.

THE RECENT FRAC AS AT ASTON-PARK

BIRMINGHAM, SEPT. 19.

At the Aston Police Station, near this town, to-
day, before a bench of magistrates, composed of
the Rev. R. K. Bedford, rector of Sutton Coldfield,
Messrs. J. 0. Bacchus and Joseph Ledsam, the
charges were gone into against the principal per-
sons alleged to have been implicated in a aisturb-
ance which took place at Aston-park on Monday
evening on the occasion of Blondin's ascent. The
circumstances attendant upon and the character of
this affair having been much exaggerated, it may
be well to state the charge preferred against the
defendants. It was that of " resisting James Wil-
son, drill-master of the Birmingham police force,
and the other officers under his command and orders
on the 16th inst."

The defendants were Chas. Belton, upholsterer;
William Ward, lamplighter ; James Jackson, brass-
founder; William Gwilliam, pumprndter; John
Hewitt, bricklayer ; William Daniels, gun-imple-
ment maker ; and Robert White, clerk, two or
three of whom were defended.

Frum the evidence of Wilson, the police-officer,
it appeared that on Monday he was sent, with 11
men, to Aston, to preserve order. About half-
past 5 o'clock in the afternoon he received in-
formation that a number of persons 'who were
assembled outside the park were endeavouring to
gain admittance through the boundary of the
grounds; in a short time, the crowd being great,
a portion of the fence was broken down,
and admission was obtained to a field contiguous
to the land of the company. Wilson, assisted by
two of his men, succeeded in driving the intruders
back into the road, but immediately afterwards he
and his party were obliged to beat a retreat; the
crowd then proceeded to break down the fence, and
by that means obtain admission to the grounds
where the fete was taking place. The police force
on duty being in this respect overp.owered , an
extra force was sent for from Birmingham, but
before it arrived the police on duty were assailed
with stones, and a leg of one of the horses of the
mounted police was fractured ; the mob also col-
lected the broken timber and made a bonfire in the
road. Upon the arrival of the additional police the
intruders were driven from the ground, and the
defendants were captured.
In the case of the defendant Belton, a youth, it
was sworn to that he was seen throwing stones, and
when taken he had stones in his hand. He was
fined £5 and costs, or in default 14 days' hard
labour.

Jackson was discharged from insufficiency of
evidence ; and Daniels, who was seen to throw
stones at the police, was fined £lO and costs, or
two months' imprisonment.
In the case of Hewitt the evidence was to the
effect that he not only threw stones but that he was
the person who threw one which struck a constable
in the face by which he was knocked down : fined
£lO, or two months' imprisonment.
Ward was discharged upon recognisances, the
evidence of identity being insufficient ; White and
Owilliam were also discharged, it appearing that
the latter had really been engaged in aiding the
police.
The bearing of these cases occupied five hours.

Yesterday morning Mr. S. Laing, the Finance
Minister of India, attended a meeting of the Man-
chester Chamber of Commerce, the Cotton Supply
Association, aria the Manchester Cotton Cultiva-
tion Company, summoned for the purpose of com-
municating to the hon. gentleman their views and
wishes relative to the promotion of commerce with
our East Indian possessions, and especially with re-
gard to the supply of cotton for the manufactures
of England.

The meeting took place at Manchester, in the
Mayor's parlour at the Town-hall, and was pre-
sided over by Mr. Curtis, the Mayor of the city.
Among the gentlemen present were Mr. Bazley,
M.P., Mr. Hadfield, M.P., Sir E. Armitage, Mr.
G. Wilson, Mr. J. Shuttleworth, Mr. W. R. Wood,
Mr. H. Mason, Mr. J. Platt, Mr. J. Cheetham, Mr.
B. Nicholls, Mr. M. Ross, Mr. E. Ashworth, Mr. T.
Clegg, Mr. T. Mosley, Mr. M. Gladstone, and
many other representatives of the three commercial
bodies above named.

The MAYOR having briefly introduced Mr. Laing,
and directed attention to the objects of the con-
ference,

Mr. Ross, Vice-President of the Chamber of
Commerce, rose to present an address from the
Chamber, and was followed by Mr. J. CHEETiIAM,
who presented an address from the Cotton Supply
Association. Mr. J. PLATT, of Oldham, presented
an address from the Manchester Cotton Cultivation
Company. All these gentlemen addressed the
meeting at some length in reference to India, their
remarks being mainly directed to the importance of
improving the internal means of communication in
India by the improvement of common roads, the
means of water carriage, and the construction of
railways. They also called attention to the still
unsatisfactory state of the law in India with re-
ference to the land tenures. With regard to the
supply of cotton from India, Mr. Cheetham directed
attention to the importance of increasing the
quality as well as the quantity, which was of the
utmost importance if our dependence on America
was to be avoided, and this could only be done by
facilitating the settlement of Europeans, and alter-
ing the land tenure of the country so that Euro-
peans could acquire the fee simple.
The following is the address of the Chamber of
Commerce :

" To THE HON. SAMUEL LAING, &C.
" Sir,—We, the members of the Manchester Chamber of
Commerce, in public meeting assembled, gladly avail our-
selves of the opportunity afforded us by your visit to our
city to offer to you our sincere congratulations upon the re-
storation of yGUr health, and to express to you the satisfac-
tion with which we have heard of your approaching return
to Calcutta, in order to carry out the sound financial and
commercial policy of which you have already proved your-
self so able an exponent. When you originally undertook
the arduous duties of your important office we were well
aware that you were making many sacrifices in proceeding
to India to encounter difficulties from which a public man,
holding no mean position in England, might well have re-
coiled ; and the failure of your mission would have caused
us less surprise than sorrow. Bat we have been spared any
other feeling with respect to you than that of sincere re-
gret that sickness should have compelled you to relinquish
your task before time had been afforded for its completion.
" We have now for many years past been engaged from
time to time in urging on her Majesty's Government the
special requirements of India. We have pressed upon our
rulers the policy—nay, the absolute necessity of opening up
that great country by means of roads, canals, and other
public works; and very recently, in furtherance of resolu-
tions adopted at a conference on Indian affairs, originally
held here and then adjourned to London, a e endeavoured to
show the material benefits that must ensue from the intro-
duction of certain changes in the administration and general
policy of the Indian Government, under which our Eastern
empire ought to be no longer a source of anxiety but of
strength to the Crown of England. We have, therefore,
witnessed with much satisfaction the progress now being
made towards the realisation of the views which we enter-
tained. The reduction of our military expend,ture, the
proposed establishment of local legislative councils, the
6P."'s out of roads, onri ntbor -...miertakings of lilro
Character we regard as the commencement of a new era in
the history of India. For the share you have had in intro-
ducing these promising measures wo desire, Sir, to tender
You our best thanks ; as also for the promptitude with which
you reduced the import duty on cotton yarns from 10 to 6
per cent., and we earnestly trust that circumstances will
shortly admit of your adopting a similar policy with regard
to the heavy duties now levied on the import of our manu-
factures, with a view to the ultimate abolition of all such
imposts.

"We feel that it is wholly unneeessary to enter into any
of the reasons which have convinced us of the impolicy of
protective duties, your own recorded opinions affording the
strongest testimony that the cause of free trade cannot have
a more earnest and enlightened advocate than yourself.
" India at the present moment occupies a large share of
the attention of the educated and reflection portion of the
community. The deplorable events which are taking place
in America imperil the welfare of millions of industrious
men, women, and children in these districts. The approach.
ing dearth of cotton would indeed be appalling, if we had
not India to look to as another, perhaps the chief, source
whence we may draw the needed supply of the raw material.
Those among us whe know India best are the most sanguine
as to the advantages which England must derive from a
more intimate connection between the two countries. We
ask you, Sir, to aid us, with your high intelligence and sa-
gacity, in urging forward the adoption of measures by
which alone such results can be secured ; and we make this
request the more confidently, because we know that we are
serving no mere selfish ends—because we know that India
cannot bring prosperity to Great Britain without being her-
self raised in intellectual and material wellbeing at the
same time.
" You will on your return to Calcutta probably find a

body of our fellow-countrymen who have long been en-
gaged in the cultivation of indigo and other produce in a
position of much difficulty and embarrassment. We ex-
press no opinion at the present on the circumstances which
have led to this state of affairs, but the subject is alluded
to simply to draw your attention to the necessity which we
are convinced exists of amending the law of contract
throughout the country, and to the policy of encouraging
in every possible manner the employment of British capital,
industry, and enterprise in India as the surest means of
giving life and energy to the still latent powers of that mar-
vellous country, and of improving the moral and intellectual
character of her people.

" To these expressions of opinion we desire to add the
assurance of our entire confidence in the devotion of your
utmost energies to the arduous task which you have under•
taken, and it is our earnest hope that the issue of you r
labours may be honourable alike to yourself and conducive
to the interests of our common country.

(Signed on behalf of the Manchester Chamber of Com.
merce.)

The following is the address of the Cotton Supply
Association :

" Sir,—The members of the Cotton Supply Association
offer their sincere congratulations on your restoration to
health, and the prospect of your speedy return to India to
resume the duties of your high and important office in the
government of that country. They trust
you may long be
spared in the enjoyment of your accustomed mental and
bodily vigour, and be enabled to carry into more complete
fruition those sound economical principles which have
hitherto distinguished your financial policy.
" The association cannot in dntyneglect this opportunity
of laying before you their deliberate opinion that there are
serious obstacles to an extended commerce between India
and this country which it is within the power of an en-
lightened and vigorous Government to remove. Their claim
on your attention in connection with this subject arises from
the fact that India has, among her other undeveloped
sources of wealth, the proved capacity of furnishing in un-
limited quantity, and of approved quality, the raw material
of our cotton manufactures. The entire cessation of Ame-
rican supplies, and the uncertain prospect of their resump-
tion, invest this fact with tremendous importance.
" They rejoice to observe that one main obstacle to the
material prosperity of India is practically engaging the at-
tention of the Government. The lamentable deficiency of
internal communication, of which the association have so
long complained, is being partially remedied. They have
noted with satisfaction the steady progress of railway works,
the active efforts which have followed the late minute of
the Governor-General directing the improvement of cart
and bullock tracks in the interior, the promised opening of
the Godavery navigation, and the sanction by the Govern-
ment of part of an important road scheme, which, carried
out in its integrity, would place the vast cotton resources of
Berar and Dharwar at the disposal of the country. In these
projects they see evidence of a disposition on the part of the
present Government to atone in some measure for the ne-
glect of their predecessors. They would urge a still more
liberal provision in future budgets for such purposes. The
association have recently had the honour of expressing in
detail to the Governor .General their views on tho "ilo of
rue present system of land tenure, and the importance of,
some equitable law for enforcing contracts between the ear

simple that no sufficient inducement has been offered to the
British capitalist to embark in agricultural pursuits. They

are further informed on un impeachable testimony, that a con-
siderable part of this waste land is immediately available for
cotton cultivation, and they submit that by selling that at

its own disposal 'in fee-simple the Government would,

while deriving a large accession of revenue, offer a material
inducement to the employment of European energy and

capital in the country. They confess their great surprise

that a course attended with such obvious advantages, and

which was distinctly recommended in 1858 by Lord Stanley,
the then Secretary of State for India, should not have been

long since adopted. In cases where private rights intervene

the influence of the Government might readily bring about

a sale on terms which would insure a speedy reclamation of

the land from its present unproductiveness.
" These are briefly the points on which the association
solicit your services. They have only, in conclusion, to as-
sure you that in the fulfilment of your arduous and impor-
tant mission, and especially in promoting any measures for
extending the cultivation of Indian cotton, you may fully
rely on the active support of the Cotton Supply Association.
" Signed on behalf of the Association,
".TORN CREETHAM, President.
coa.llSelrT o , Interim
attention
to
the Secretary. "
EDMUND ASHURST, Vice-President.
Mr. FERG US SONS'
prohibi-
tory duties at present levied upon cotton cloths ex-
ported to India, which he calculated, with the'
charges for freight, insurance, &c., amounted to a
protection in favour of natives equal to 30 per cent.
He knew this was a delicate question in the finan-

cial difficulties besetting the Indian Government,
He contended that the people of this country oaght
not to be taxed to this extent for the support of a
dependency. He estimated the loss of British mer-
chants through the measure of Mr. Laing's prede-
cessors at a million and a half sterling. There was

a class of orders from native merchants called " in-
dents," which he was told had fallen off since the

dnty was raised to the extent of 75 per cent.
Mr. LAING, who was warmly cheered on rising,
returned his most sincere thanks for the kind man,
ner in which he had been personally referred to. As
he thought nothing could be in worse taste than
for a public man to have the appearance of blowing

his own trumpet, and as, moreover, the arduous
task in which he was engaged was not yet fully ac-
complished, he preferred as speedily as might be
to pass on to those more general topics on which he
was expected to address them. Of course, it would
be borne in mind that he was only one member
of a Government sitting at Calcutta, 10,000 miles
distant, and he could not, therefore, be understood

as committing the Government, either at home
or in India, by anything he might say. He was
placed in the alternative of speaking with a great
deal of official reserve, or, if he spoke frankly, as
he should wish to do, and as he believed would be

most acceptable—(cheers)—it must be taken
merely as an expression of his own sentiments
whatever they might be worth. He most heartily
agreed in what had been said of the great duties
and responsibilities resting on the Government and
people of England with regard to India. He
briefly recounted the wonderful progress of our
dominion in that country, till it had expanded from
the Black-hole of Calcutta into an empire bounded
only by the Himalayas and the ocean, and to the
consequent necessity of suppressing the mutiny of
that army of our own creation by means of which
we had conquered India. That danger was hap-
pily overcome, and there seemed but one obstacle
left before the era of warfare in India should ter-

minate, and the era of peaceful progress begin in
earnest. That obstacle was the financial crisis. For
years and years a deficit had gone on accumulat-
ing, until at last it became a question, almost

from month to month, whether the Government
could continue to pay its way. This was an ob-
stacle to further improvement, an I, perhaps, the
main reason why many of those useful re-
forms which had been urged to-day had been
suspended or hindered. When he arrived in
welllndia,
be
mh aorrdelyglonoi
mn ey
than
oe
en ths
the ago,nothing
financial
p r
scpoeucltd.
In the three preceding years some 38 millions had
been added to the national debt, and an official cir-
cular had just been issued admitting a deficit for the
current year of over six millions. The very gravity
of the danger, perhaps, proved the means of extri-
cating the Government from this position, because

through it they were enabled to carry out some
very large measures of reduction which were sure
to encounter much opposition and difficulty. The
French saying, " Aide-toi, et le Ciel t'aidera," was
never better exemplified than in this case. The
moment the Government applied themselves in
earnest to the work of reduction the tide seemed to
turn, and they had a complete run of luck. The
rains fell in the very nick of time, so that the famine
which had threatened to be so overwhelming was
confined within the limits that were not so very
important financially, though of course it was pro-
ductive of much individual s uffering. The price of
opium ran up to an unprecedented height, and
other sources of revenue turned out more produc-
tive than had been anticipated. The result was that
in April he was enabled to present a budget in
which the deficit (previously only reduced to about
five millions by taking into account the proceeds of
income-tax and the other new taxes imposed by
Mr. Wilson) was met and an additional expendi-
ture of £500,000 on roads and communications was
provided for by, in round numbers, about three and
and a half to four millions of reduction in expendi-
ture, and a million and a half in almost impercep-
tible additions to indirect taxation. It would indeed
be too much to assume that all the estimates of the
budget would be completely realised, and that the
financial crisis was completely at an end. In a coun-
try where many of the sources of the revenue was
so extremely speculative, like opium, where such
very important changes were being carried out,
where, above all, the system of budget and esti-
mates was completely new, and the financial ma-
chinery had to be made to his hand, so to speak,
by a finance minister who was himself new to
the country and to his work, it would be absurd
to say that there was not a wide margin of uncer-
tainty. At the same time, he should mislead this
meeting if he did not state that he felt the greatest
possible confidence that the crisis was so far sur-
mounted as no longer to be seriously formidable, or
stand in the way of other measures of improvement.
(Hear.) It was mainly with a view to realise his
own estimates that he was going back to India, at
some amount of inconvenience perhaps, for a short
time. (Cheers.) He should not wish the meeting
to run away with the idea that all Indian estimates
were quite delusive, and that Indian finance was
wrapped in impenetrable mystery. There was one
simple test by which we could always tell pretty cer-
tainly how they were going on. This was the state
of the cash balances in India. As they had no loans
open, and every penny borro wed in England was ap-
plied to the construction of railways, and he did not
pretend to have discovered the philosopher's stone,
it stood. to reason that if they spent at a greater rate
than, they received, the balance at their banker's
mus t run down, and vice versa. Now, since the
ree,uctions were commenced in earnest at the begin-
ning of the year, the cash balances in India had in-
cl !eased by more than £3,000,000. He did not mean
t hat there was an actual surplus of £3,000,000 in
six months, because temporary exceptional circum-
stances would account for a good deal of it; but he
referred to this with considerable confidence as
proving that, on the whole, they could not be far off
from a substantial equilibrium. The greater outlay
on communications which was desired, and the re-
duction of tariff on imports, all depended on finan-
cial improvement. It was in further economy and
reductions we must seek the means of meeting those
necessary demands, for he thought we had nearly
reached the limit of taxation in India. He lug
mention, as anotheg reason for confidence, that