The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 27, 1868.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.-'-This kay.

EQUITY.

THE CHILDEEN Or Tom SAYERS.-Mr. Marshall, the
chief clerk of the Master of the Rolls, had before him the
case of Sayers v. Stent. This was an application made by
Mr. Edward Johnson, of Clifford's Inn, for an issue to be
directed to a court of law to try who were the legitimate
children of Tom Sayers living at the time of his death.
About £3,000 was collected shortly after the fight with
Heenan and settled on Tom Sayers for his life, and at his
death the fund was to be divided amongst his children
then living. Mr. Edward Johnson now appeared for three
children born after the marriage with his wife, and there
were other children born of the wife before her marriage
with Tom Sayers. The Chief Clerk perused an affidavit
of the facts, and intimated his intention to refer the matter
to the Master of the Rolls. Mr. Gay, who appeared for
the trustees, said he had no objection to the course pro-
posed. The question would be whether there should be an
issue at common law or in Chancery. Mr. Edward
Johnson said the Master of the Rolls would decide
whether it should be with or without a jury. The matter
was accordingly referred to the court.

CONSERVATIVE DEMONSTRATION IN

BRISTOL.

On Thursday evening a meeting, convened by
the Bristol Working Men's Association, Was held in
the large hail of the Rifle Club, in order that the
operatives of the city might hear addresses from
Mr. W. Ferrand, Mr. Cecil Raikes, and Mr. R. N.
Fowler. There were about 5,000 persons present.
The proceedings, which oommenced in an orderly
manner, grew, before the meeting had lasted long,
very tumultuous, and concluded amid a perfect
uproar. Mr. W. Kearsey presided.
The CHAIRMAN said that Lord Stanley had re-
marked of the banquet held there the night previous
that he had attended many demonstrations, but he
never saw one more powerful or loyal than that of
Wednesday in their ancient city of Bristol.
(Cheers.) He regretted the absence of Lord
Stanley on this occasion, and read a letter he had
received from him.

Mr. OWEN proposed the first resolution :
" That this meeting desires to express its full
confidence in the home and foreign policy of her
Majesty's Ministers, and at the same to record its
deep gratitude to them for having, under circum-
stances of great difficulty, restored the franchise
to a large number of their fellow countrymen."
(Cheers.) _ _

Mr. W. FERRAND, who was well received, se-
conded the resolution. lie said that it was now 40
years since he first took a part in public affairs, and
during the whole of that period he had never hesi-
tated to appear before his fellow countrymen to
stand by the political truths which he professed,
and it was a high compliment paid to him that
evening by those he saw before him who were
assembled there—(ironical laughter, and cheers)—
to hear an address from him in defence of those
principles which had been dear to his heart from
early youth, and he deeply regretted that Lord J
Manners had not appeared that evening along with
him. It was now 26 years sincehe became acquainted
with -that nobleman, noble in nature and noble
in heart—(cheers)—whose political life had been
spent in trying to exalt the character, the social
snd religious position of the working men of this
country. (Cheers.) It would have done his heart
good to have been present there that evening, and
to receive a greeting by their hearty cheers. (Ap-
plause.) Official duty alone prevented him being
present, duty to the country and duty to his Sove-
reign. Now, he stood there that night a Tory—
(cheers)—and he would tell them why he was a
Tory. (Cheers.) Toryism was political Freema-
sonry—(cheers)—it united every rank and every
class in one common bond of amity, cementing the
whole in mutual interests, and it was on account of
Toryism working that principle and that action
throughout the country that he was a Tory—
(cheers)—and that night he stood there to defend
Toryism. And why ? Because for the last 40 years
Toryism had been calumniated and abused—(confu-
sion, and a voice, "Justly")—falsehoods had been
propagated against it by the Liberals and by the
Liberal press. (" No, no," and " Yes, yes.")
The Tories had treated these attacks with con-
tempt, but no principle was worth having un-
less it was worth defending. What did he see there
that night? (A. Voice—" A lot of Liberals.") A
number of persons came there to listen and not to
abuse, to see fair play, and not to shout, and groan,
and hoot down. (Cheers.) The days for blubber
and noise had gone by ; the people were exalted ;
they were determined to judge for themselves ;
they took no man's word ; they listened, they
studied, they argued, and having formed their
opinions they acted up to them. (A Voice—" The
Liberals taught then to do it," and confusion.) A
great mistake that bad been made by the Tories
was that they had neglected the Conservative press.
The Conservative press bad fought their battles for
years, and had not received that support at the
hands of the Tory party it ought to have had ;
but the Tories sawnow that it was their
duty to support the Conservative press, and he
rejoiced to find they had papers in that ,
city of every shade of politics, so that they '
could judge both sides, and that was all he asked of
the Liberal party—freedom of conscience, freedom
of action. Well, then, let them have that, and if
there was any one there standing on the outside—
for he always found the lurkers in that part--
(laughter)—if there were any there who thought
they could put him down by noise and vulgar clap-
trap, they made a great mistake. (Laughter and
confusion.) Aye, let them recollect that the insult
was not offered to him, but to the intelligence and
respectability of that great meeting, and he warned
the disturbers that if they continued iu their dis-
turbance it would recoil against them at the next
general election. He had told them they had been
charged and calumniated as being the enemies and
oppressors of the people. (A. voice—" Three cheers
for Bright," and uproar.) But if they were the
opponents of the people he challenged their oppo-
nents to prove it. Mr. Berkeley, in a speech he
made in November last, charged the Tories with
all sorts of crimes, and he finished his harangue
with

" Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Gladstone our hearts we fix."

(Cheers and laughter.) Now, during that speech
Mr. Berkeley told them nothing in his opinion could
save the country except the ballot, or words to that
effect. (Cheers.) Well, it was an extraordinary
thing that Mr. Berkeley should say he had fixed
his heart on Gladstone and the hearts of his friends,
when Gladstone had always voted against the
ballot and spoken against it too. (Laughter.)
Now, he stood there to prove the charges against the
Tories to be false. Previous to the year 1830 they
had been in office for a period of about 40 years,
and during that time the trade and commerce of the
country had increased in a marvellous manner, and
the working population had also increased in an
equal ratio in prosperity, in happiness, and in con-
tentment; but in the year 1830 the Duke of Wel-
lington made the great mistake of his life. He
then, in the House of Lords, declared that he was
opposed to all reform. From that- time young as he
(the speaker) was he protested against that declara-
tion,
sand it was made against the feelings, the
wishes, and the opinions of the great majority of
the Tory party. (Confusion.) Well, the Liberal
party, which was then the Whigs, took advantage
of that declaration of the Duke of Wellington, and
commenced a violent agitation throughout the
country. They roused the passions of the ignorant,
of the roughs, and rowdies, and dangerous classes
then, as they were attempting to do now. (Con-
fusion.) The Tories, who had for centuries been
the natural leaders of the working population of
the country—(shouts of laughter)—were denounced
as their enemies, and the cry raised against them
became so strong throughout the country that at a
general election there was a majority of 350 Whigs
returned to the House of Commons. When the
Reform Bill was under discussion, the working
population were urged to call out for the bill, the
whole bill, and nothing but the bill. They well
knew that in that bill, if he might use the ex-
pression, there was their political " death in the
pot," that they were determined to be
politically extinct. (Confusion.) He might tell
them that there were people sent to that meeting
to disturb it, and they were afraid of free discus-
sion. He trusted, for the character of that city,
they would conduct themselves with propriety, and
if they did not he would appeal to the others to pro-
tect him from insult. (Cheers and uproar.) Be-
fore 1831, when the Whigs came into office, the
working men of the country returned to the House
of Commons, entirely or through their material
inflence as voters, nearly 150 members. Now, the
Reform Bill which was introduced by the Whigs
was concocted to destroy the influence of the work-
ing men—that was, their votes to return these 150
members. That was a statement, which, being made
by him, he was boundto prove, and he would prove
it by quoting Lord J. Russell himself, and let them
recollect the Tories resisted the attempt of the
Whigs to rob the working men of the franchise.
Let those recollect who did not feel inclined
to listen to him that he was going to show
them facts which they ought to know, and expose
the treatment they had received at the hands of
those who had for so long professed to be their
friends, Ile then quoted from Lord John Rumen,

speech in the House of Commons on the introduc-
tion of the Reform Bill in 1831, with respect to the
gross venality and corruption among the electors of
Bristol, and his assertion that he wished to give
the franchise to the real respectability of the coun-
try. lie (the speaker) would ask him to point out
a more respectable man on the face of the earth
than the honest working man. (Cheers.) Sir
Robert Peel's defence of the operatives and a quota-
tion froftt a speech of Mr. Baines, member for Leeds,
who he said was a Whig and Radical combined,
were given, and then the speaker proceeded to re-
mark on the benefits conferred by Sir C. Wetherell,
but his observations were received with derisive
shouts. He called on them to listen to what Sir Charles
did, and then let his enemies blush for very shame.
Passing on to speak of the measures introduced
by the Whigs, he Said that they introduced the
new Poor Law. (Confusion.) He would open
the eyes of the working man that night—(laughter)
—and he challenged his opponents to disprove what
he said either in the public press or anywhere else.
Who were the chief advisers of the new PoJr Law
but the Manchester party ? They proposed that it
should be directly enforced, in order that the work-
ing population of the south of England should
be driven down into Lancashire to keep down
the wages of the factory operatives. Letters
bearing on that had been published and quoted
by men in the House of Commons, and no man had
power to deny them. Who bad been the leader for
the last twenty-five years of that Manchester party,
and instructed the Poor Law Commissioners to
send down the working men of the south into
Lancashire to keep down wages, but Mr. Bright?
(Cheers and hisses.) Now, who was it resisted the.
new Poor Law but Lord Eldon and the. Bishop
of Exeter? The Whig Government, frotn.lB3o to
1841, pursued a course of gross extravagance in the
ware in China and India, the people of which coun-
tries were unoffending, and they organised a system
of jobbery and robbery unparalleled in the history
of the country, and so disgusted did tile people' :at
length become with the Whigs that their majority
dwindled down from 350 to one. (Confusion.) He
ag Ina; cs
said
d thatat the
theirG member, Mr.
Philip Sir ARioilbcse,rtherlpeeed
to strengthen his hands. l,
The Tories then tried to
raise the social position of the people, to redress
their wrongs and restore to them the franchise. (A
Voice—" All gammon.") As to the present pße-
form Bill, be remarked that in 1867 Mr. Gladstone
assembled his supporters in the House and im-
plored bill, and Mr. Bright
said if they did not throw it out on that occa-
sion them to throw out the
it. (Cheers.)
they would never be able to do
had taken one of
the people since 1841, and he
He would tell them what the Tories had done for
the most active parts in achieving the benefits
which they had rendered. They repealed the
harsh clauses of the Ten Hours Bill, and the
*
Times newspaper proclaimed that he had been the
chief the chief cause of the repeal. They car
Fac-
tory Bill ; they abolished the truck system and
enforced the payment of wages in the current coin
of the realm, and he was the man who brought the
question before the House of Commons. (Cheers.)
He was the man who moved that a committee
should be appointed to inquire into the system ;
and the committee was granted, and on their report
the bill prohibiting the payment of wages in any-
thing but the current coin of the realm was passed.
They stopped the working of women and children
in coal mines, and introduced the free allotment
system. If Mr. Berkeley were there he would tell
him that those were the knavish tricks of the Tories,
and no honest working man would confound their
politics as long as they supported such interests. It
was the TorieSwho frustrated the knavish tricks of
the Whigs when they wanted to dispossess the
freemen of the franchise. (Laughter and cheers.)
Mr. Bright had charged the Tories with being
the enemies of the working man. He was a
large manufacturer, and bitterly opposed their
interests. In factories formerly women worked
fifteen hours a day, and had occasionally to
be carried from the factories in the pangs of
labour, and children were brutally treated by over-
lookers; but Mr. Bright protested against any fac-
tory legislation, and said that the masters had a
right to do what they liked with their own work-
people, as long as the workpeople consented to work
for them. (Uproar.) As to Mr. Gladstone, who
had charged the Tories with deserting their prin-
ciples, there was not a greater political renegade in
Great Britain and Ireland than Mr. Gladstone.
(Confusion.) He had not represented one con-
stituency which he had not betrayed. (Great
uproar.) He would give them a slight history
of Mr. Gladstone's political career ; it was short
and sweet, and they and the country ought to
be reminded of it, and thoroughly understand
it. (A Voice " Cheers for Gladstone," and
great tumult.) In 1832 he took his first seat
in Parliament, and commenced his political life as
the Tory nominee of the Tory Duke of Newcastle,
and for three years he represented the borough of
Newark. In 1835 the Duke turned him out for
deserting his principles. In 1837 he went to a great
meeting at Glasgow and urged the Whigs and
Tories there to defend the institutions which were
threatened with destruction by the extreme Radi-
cals, and to unite on a neutral ground to meet the
attacks of the common enemy. Then he subse-
quently made a speech in the House of Commons
in favour of Tom Paine's " Rights of Man." He
had been the supporter of the Corn Laws. (Laugh-
ter and great confusion.) Ah, they might be
annoyed; the flesh would quiver where the pincers
pierced. (Laughter.) In 1815 he deserted his
principles and became a Free-trader. In 1847
he became member for the Oxford University.
(Cheers.) In 1854 he accepted the leadership of
the political dissenters, whose chief labour was to
destroy the State Church. In 1852 the Tory Glad-
stone joined the Whigs for office, and then after-
wards he joined the Radicals to keep the Whig
Lord Russell out of office. (Great confusion.) Let
those who made the noise go home and tell the poli-
tical fools who sent them there that they were not
going to fool the meeting. (Further uproar.) They
might go home and be fried in their own frying-
pan. (Laughter.) In May, 1864, Mr. Gladstone
spoke in savour of trades' unions. (Great uproar.)
Let thern,Toar, he had a good pair of bellows„ Thosa.
who made 'that uproar were the men who boasted of
the liUrti of their political principles, who asserted
they ought to have a right to exercise their own
judgment, and yet they came there to prevent a
fair hearing. They did that because they knew
Toryism was founded on truth and justice, and he
was proving it to demonstration. (Confusion.) In
1867 Mr. Gladstone published a letter stating that
trades' unions were an evil. (Great tumult, with
cheers for Gladstone.) Let the men of Bristol re-
collect that they wanted their trade and commerce
protected, and Lord Derby's Government was a safe
standing-ground for every loyal man to take his
stand upon—(confusion)—and he firmly believed
that loyalty to their Sovereign and love to their fa-
therland would unite the whole country in defence,
at the next general election, of the altar, the
throne, and the cottage. (Cheers and great up-
roar.)
The resolution was pat by the chairman, and de-
clared to be carried.

The Councilof the Zoological Society have elected
Mr. Jesse as their zoologist to accompany the Abyssinian
expedition, which appointment has:been approved by the
Government. Mr. Jesse will join tho head-quarters of Sir
It. Napier.
FLOODS AT OXFORD.—The recent heavy rains
have submerged the low lands in and near Oxford ; the
lower part of Port Meadow is nowhere to be seen, and
Christ Church Meadow, the land towards Iffiey and Sand-
ford, and the meadows near Hincksey, are also inundated.
The floods are not, however, higher than they have fre-
quently been at this time of year, and certainly not of
sufficient consequence to cause any alarm, more especially
as they have, within the last day or so, subsided several
inches.

The Athenceum underp.,talids that the authorities
of the National Gallery, lamenting the probable cessation
of the most valuable annual exhibition of pictures by the
old masters and deceased British artists at the British
Institution, are in treaty with the proprietors of the last-
named gallery for the further hiring of their premises in
Pall Mall, in order to the carrying on of the gatherings of
pictures on loan from the best, furnished English private
collections.

RAILWAY AND OTHER COMPANIES.

MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND LINCOLNSHIRE.

The report of the directors of this company states
that the total revenue for the half year ending Dec.
31, from all sources, amounted to £591,158, the
total expenditure to £267,697, and the net profit to
£323,460, which, with the balance brought forward
from the previous half year, amounted to £323,958
available for interest and dividend. The debenture
and other interest chargeable against the revenue of
the half year amounted to £79,370, the canal annui-
ties to £14,148, the dividends on the various classes
of preference stock and shares to £114,794, and the
South Yorkshire interest and dividends to £70,581,
making a total charge against the above net ba-
lance of £278,892, leaving a balance of £45,065,
out of which the directors recommend that a
dividend be paid at the rate of £2 per cent. per
annum on the ordinary stock of the company,
carrying forward a balance of £1,139 to the next ac-
count. The tonnage in and out of the Grimsby
Docks was 503,327, against 421,913 tons in the
same half of 1866, showing an increase of 78,414
tons ; and the receipts for dues and wharfage
amounted to £6,436, against £6,138, showing an
increase of £298. The quantity of coal shipped in
the past half-year was 149,199 tons, against
122,392 tons in the same half year of 1866, show-
ing an increase of 26,807 tons. The company's
share of the net profits of the South Junction Rail-
way amounted to £9,185, as against £9,496 in the
corresponding period of last year. The rolling
stock, permanent way, and works had been effi-
ciently maintained and rene e d during the half-year.
The working expenses of the railway during the
half-year amounted to £239,468, against £227,499,
showing an increase of £11,969. An increase of
£4,921 had taken place in the item of compensa-
, tion, and of £2,683 in rates and taxes, an. increase
of outlay over which the directors could exercise
little control in the present state of the law. The
directors thought it right to explain to the proprie-
tors that they had an unsettled claim against the
Great Northern Company, under the agreement of
1857, for interest upon capital expended by the com-
pany for the accommodation of the through traffic
exchanged between the two companies. The direc-
tors trusted that the Great Northern Board would
meet the claim in a fair spirit. The expenditure on
capital account during the half-year amounted to
£277,274, of which £97,729 was for contributions
to joint lines, £78,066 for works and stations, and
£88,078 for additional rolling stock. The general
depression of trade iu all branches, combined with
the deficient harvest of last year, had led to a reduc-
tion in the usual rate of increase of the company's
traffic. It was hoped that the improvement in the
cotton trade will be followed by a revival in the
other staple trades of the country, and that thus the
accommodation provided by the outlay of capital,
which was adequate to work a large increase of
traffic, might soon be profitably utilized. The
capital account showed that £12,530,329 had been
received, and £12,403,054 expended, leaving a
balance of £127,275. The revenue account for the
half-year ending 31st of December last showed that
£591,158 had been received, and £262,555, or 46.41
per cent., expended in working the railway and
canals ; the company's proportion of loss on work-
ing the Cheshire lines, the Garston and Liverpool,
and the Oldham Guide-bridge Railways was
£5,142, leaving the balance of net profit £323,460.