The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY RETURNS.

We extract from the Railway Magazine the sums re-
ceived on the principal Railways of Great Britain
for the we€k ending on the day of the month prefixed
to each. The return includes the money received for
passengers, parcels, carriages, horses, mails, and mer
ehandize :
Week
ended

Name of Railway.

Total.
E. a. d.

Jan. 6 Birmingham and Derby Junction 1,170 17 9
5 Birmingham and Gloucester
6 Brandling Junction .
5 Chester and Birkenhead
7 Dundee and Arbroath ..
6 Edinburgh and Glasgow... 2,068 17 2
7 Eastern Counties
6 Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ayr 1,548 4 4
6 Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenoc•k BlB 5 5
6 Grand Junction, and Chester & Crewe 6,218 13 6
6 Great North of England
7 Great Western
5 Liverpool and Alanchester 4,206 4 3
6 London and Birmingham 12,322 12 3
11 London and Blackwall
6 London and Brighton
9 London and Croydon 213 11 8i
11 London and Greenwich . 681 3 7
7 London and South Western 4,847 18 0
4 Manchester, Bolton, and Bury 9ll 14 7
6 Manchester and Birmingham
6 Manchester & Leeds & Hull & Selby 5,095 6 8
6 Midland Counties. 2,178 7 9i
7 Newcastle and Carlisle 1,127 17 3
7 Newcastle and North Shields ...
Northern and Eastern
6 North Midland
North Union....
2 Paris and Orleans..
8 Paris and Rouen...
Preston and Wyre
6 Sheffield and Manchester
11 South Eastern.
Taff Va1e.......
7 Ulster.... .................
6 York and North Midland 1,269 10 2

3,732 10 7
2,892 0 0

669 15 1
2,248 13 4

WILL OF THE MARQUIS WELLESLEY.!--The will
and codicil of the Marquis 'Wellesley have just been proved by
Mr. John Thornton Down, the sole executor, who has a legacy
of LOCOL He bequeaths to Mr. Alfred Montgomery, his private
secretary, 1,0001., "in regard of his affectionate, dutiful, and
zealous services," and the-residue of his property to his wife,
Mary Ann, Marchioness Wellesley. By the codicil he gives to
his secretary (Mr. Montgomery), in addition to the legacy in
his will, all his manuscripts ; and gives the following directions,
which are verbatim :—" And I desire him to publish such of
my papers as shall tend to illustrate my two administrations in
Ireland, and to protect my honour against the slander of Mel-
bourne and his pillar of state, O'Connell." To Lord Brougham
he leaves " Homer," in four vols., and earnestly desires him to
assist in publishing his MSS., saying, " I leave any memory in
his charge, confiding in his justice and hcnour." To Earl
Grey, " my George, carved on an Amethyst, and worn by
George II." To his valet he leaves his wearincr apparel, robes,
stars, &c., " for his kindness during my illness.' 'I he property
is swGrii under 6,000/.

COLONEL SIODDART ALIVE.—We understand that
what may ba considered authentic intelligence has
reached town, to the etYect that Colonel Stoddart is still
alive, and at large, though strictly watched, by orders of
the Khan of Bukhara. It is stated that he has been
employed by that Prince in the drilling of his troops.
We also learn, through the same source, that Captain
Conolly is dead ; but whether he has fallen a victim to
imprisonment and disease, or been put to death, is not
pesitively, ascertained.
MAILS FOR SYDNEY.—A contract has been entered
into by her Majesty's Government for the conveyance of
mails, monthly, from the United Kingdom to Sydney.
British newspapers will be forwarded free of postage.
THE PURITY OF THE LAW.—That th 3 adminis-
trators of the law should be clean- handed is the universal
admission of the whole civilised world ; but it has re-
mained for an Irish votary tif"Thernis to carry the prin-
ciple of legal purity to its fullest extent, as will be
seen by the following notice, which we extract from
Saunders's News-Letter of this morning:—" Notice.—
Mr. Molloy, Provisional Assignee of the Insolvent
Debtors' Court, requests that all clerks and others having
business to transact with him, will make use of the rug
and scraper for the feet, previous to their entering his
apartment." Perhaps Mr. Molloy has found that the
" clerks and others having business to transact wit),
him," resemble the French lady, who, when some sur-
prise was expressed by an acquaintance at the impure
condition of her hands, pathetically responded, " Ah,
mon Dieu, if you were only to see my feet l"—Dublin

GLASGOW }REE TRADE
BANQUET.

This great and important demonstration in support of the
principles of free trade, and especially in behalf of a total
repeal of the corn and provision-laws, took place on Wednes-
day, -n the City Hall. In point of respectability, according
to the ordinary acceptation of this term, the meeting, was
perhaps never surpassed in Glasgow. The entire nun.brr of
persons in the hall was about 2,000, including ladies, of whom
50 occupied the western gallery.
The Chair was occupied by the Hon. t he Lord Provost.
Vice-Chairmen—Walter Buchan-n, Esq. ; John Tennant,
Esq. ; Alexander Graham, Esq. ; William Cross, Esq.
On the Chairman's platform were the folbrwing gentlemen ;
—The Hon. Fox Motile, AL P. ; James Oswald, Esq., M.P. ;
Richard Cobden, Esq, M.P. ; Colonel Thompson ; R. R. R.
Moore, Esq. ; John Bright, Erq., M.P. ; Arc hdeaeon Hastie,
Esq., M.P. ; Rev. Dr. Ward'aw, Rev. Dr. Peugh, Rev.
a. Willis, George Stirling, E.q. ; Samuel Iliggirsbotham,
Esq ; John Wilson, Esq., Dundyvan ; P. W. Kennedy,
Esq., of Drumellan ; Robert Stewart, Esq. ; George Ander-
son, Esq. ; David Chapman, Esq ; William Gemmel!, Esq. ;
Walter Crum, Esq. ; Alexander Cooper, Esq ; David Mur-
ray, Esq. ; George Brown, Esq. ; Charles Gray, Esq. ;
James Scott, Esq. ; John Ker, Esq. ; Andrew Galbraith,
Esq. ; Thomas Sprirs, Esq. ; John Young. jun., Esq. ; George
Stevenson, Esq. ; John Ker, Esq. ; John Kerr, Esq.
At the other end of the table were—Provost Bain, Gree-
nock; Bailies, Hamilton, Whitehead, Hastie, and Andcrson ;
Provost Bankier ; Bailie Bunten ; James Dunlop, Esq. ;
George Crawford, Esq. ; George Wilson, Esq. ; John Wil-
son, Esq., Aueheneden ; John Robertson, Esq. ; Robert
Hutchinson, Esq. ; Robert Bartholomew, Esq.; William
Gray. Esq. ; John Pattison, Esq. ; John Anderson, Esq. ;
11. E. Crum, Esq. ; A. C. Dick, Esq., Advocate; Alexander
Denny, Esq. ; William Couper, Esq. ; William Logic, Esq. ;
and P. Cowan, Esq.
Letters of apology were received and read from Lord Dun-
fermline, Lord Kinnaird, the Hon. C. P. Villiers, N.P. ;
I'. M. Stewart, Esq., M.P.; C. Duncan, Esq., IMP.; J.
Fel gus, Esq., late Al. P. ; and %V. D. Dillon, Esq., of Walls
house.

The LORD PRCVOST, in rising to propose the first Watt, was
loudly cheered. He said—Ladies and Gentlemen, 1 have great
pleasure in taking the chair on this occasion. The question
of free-trade has long occupied the attention of the citizens
of Glasgow, many of whom, towards the close of the last cen-
tury, zealously maintained ',the sound principles which the
cerebrated Adam Smith so ably and admirably propounded and
practically illustrated, whilst he filled one of the chairs in our
University..—(Cheers.) I am happy to fled that ro many of
our intelligent merchants and manufacturers of the present
time are becoming every day more and more alive to the im-
portant principles involved in this all engrossing subject—the
abolition of all monopolies ; and I assure you that 1 feel gra-
tified, when an opportunity occurs, that 1 can, in the exercise
of my duty as chief magistrate, give countenance and support
to any measure that will tend to ameliorate the condi:ion of
the working classes, or improve the commercial and ma
nufacturing interests of this great and flourishing city,
the mercantile metropolis of Scotland.—(Great cheering.)
We have met here to-night to express our abhorrence of those
laws which, by enhancing the price of bread, cut deeply into
the comforts of this great community, as well as of the coun-
try generally. They also tend, by restricting our intercourse
with foreign nations, to limit the demand for our manufactures,
diminishing the employment of the working population, and
the necessary consequences follow—the redurrion of the wages
of our operatives and artisans.—(Hear.) I am well aware
there are many gentlemen whom I have the pleasure of seeing

around me, who wilt in the course of the everting explain art;;
enter upon the details, and picture to you, in more glossing
terms than I can, the misery those unjust laws inflict cn the
vast majority of our population. To them I leave the task;
and I now request you will fervently join in doing special
honour to one whose father's principles, as well as her own
education and feelings leave us no room to doubt that in her
we have a friend to every measure that can promote the social
happiness, core fort, mad prosperity of the people —" I he.
Queen."—(Great cheering.)
His LORDSHIP then proposed successively—" Ills Royal
Highness Prince Albert,' and " The Prince of Vales and
Royal Family," which were drunk with applause.
The LORD PROVOST then called on the Hon. Fox Maule for
the next toast.
Air. Fox ALAULE, who was loudly and enthusiastically ap
plauded, and " one cheer more," was given for the lalembet
for Perth, said—Ladies and Gentlemen, in rising to address
you on this occasion, I feel that to-night I have been placed in
a position which there are many here present much mots
worthy to occupy than myself. Indeed I should have bees
disposed Lather to follow those who have already led the way ii
bringing the great principles of free trade before the public,
than to be put forward as the first to introduce that subject to
you this evening. But it has been the pleasure of the Com-
mittee to arrange it so, and I shall, therefore, endeavour, in as
few words as can, to give the toast which they have allotted to
my share. It embraces the great and wide subject or " Free
'1 rade"—(Cheering)—a toast into all the ramifications of which
I will not enter in detail—for, were I to do so, in the first
place 1 should weary your I atienee, and in the next place, I
should do that of which I have sometimes had occasit n to com.
plain in folls.wing the toasts of other speakers I sheltie
trench upon my neighbour's ground. 1 shall endeavour
to avoid that it possible, and 1 shall endeavour to speak to
those paramount principles which, if they exist any
where, I should imagine must and will exist in that city
in Meet' Adam Smith taught ar.d wrote— ( Hear, hear)
—in that city which boasts itself not only the commercial ant
manufactut ing metropolis of Scotland, but is second scarcely
to any city in the enipire.—( Applause.) Thu principles of
free trade, Gentlemen, have begun to force themselves so con-
vincingly, day after day, upon the minds of the inhabitants of
this country, that it scarcely requires—indeed it would be at,
insult to your unaerstanding—that I should go back into their
origin, cr trace them to their ultimate objects. I consider that
the proper business of such a meeting as this is to consult-toge-
ther, and to listen to practical suggestions as to how, in the
speediest and most effective, and, at the same time, in the
safest manner, we can carry these principles into effect in the
Government and Legislature of our country.—( Loud cheers.)
I think 'you will admit that we have had of late years pretty
clear and plain proof that the old systems of special protectiot
are not these upon which--even though you might believe ant'
countenance them for the moment—the vast interests of such a
country as this can permanently stand.—( Hear, hear, and ap-
plause.) Like a plant, which may be reared or forced in ti
hot- best or hot-house, monopoly may be of benefit for the
moment; but to stand all the tear and wear of a changefu
climate—to be thoroughly fixed and permanently rooted it
our soil, it is not destined, and you may rely upon it, that
monopoly is not the plant to flourish in this country ; nor i
our soil likely to be burdened with it much longer. (Cries ot
" Hear.") We are free men, and why should we cot hay.
free trade 2—( Applause. ) I think it stands to reason that the
system is best, and promotes to the greatest extent the well-
being of all, which shall give to us the easiest enjoyment of
that which the rest of the world produces, and which shall con-
vey to the rest of the world the produce of our own industry it.
return. Now, these are the principles ui on which I for one
wish to see legislation ; and 1 wish to see the m embraced nor
in this point only, but in all. In fact, I wish to see no taxation
in his country which is not solely for the purpose of maintain.
ing our national credit, and answering our national engage-
ments— ( Hear, hear)—and I would further vs ish to see that
taxation so levied that its pressure might be equal on all classes.
and that no class or section should have exemption at the ex-
pense of another. There are various subjects to which the
principles of free trade have been more peculiarly directed ; bus
as one deeply interested in the prosperity of agriculture, I an.
not sorry to have the opportunity before this company, in this
great city, to bear my public testimony to that which has been
asserted by others—that I believe free trade in agriculture, or,
in other words, the repeal of the corn-laws, which give a mono-
poly to the owners or holders of land, should be, for the genera
good of the country, conceded—that these laws should be imme-
diately repealed.---(Loud applause.) I have not come to this
opinion suddenly, nor have I arrived at it from any personal
motive or purpose; but the more I have considered the sub.
jest, the more I have been convinced, not only that the land.
owner or laneholder will r.ot be losers by the repeal of the
corn-laws, for that is a narrow view of the question, but they
will to so far gainers that, without any less to themselves, the
repeal of these laws Neill confer an immense boon on the rest
of the community.—( Hear.) Now, in reference to the article
corn, I would like to say one or two wore;s on that subject it
any farmers who may be here present, and I would wish tt
express my conviction, from the little experience 1 have bat
in communication with agriculturists, and especially esith the
tenantry of this country, that I believe there is a growing
ul inion amongst the tenantry, that the sooner the corn-law i
settled the better, and that they will not consider any settle-
ment satisfactory which does not involve a total repeal of these
laws.—(Applause.) This I believe to be a growing feeling
among the agricultural population ; and our agricultural popu-
lation, you w ill bear ire mind, and the gentlemen from Englane
ill bear in mind, depend mostly upon leases arid ui on fixes
engagements with their landlord. But to what do I trace this
change and growth of opinion ? I trace it to the t irons of
body of which, though I am rot a member myself, yet I can-
not have lookrd unebservantly upon what they have beta,
doing during the last twelve months. It was not my inten-
tion to base entered into any details regarding the Ant,
Corn-law League; yet when 1 see a body of men as much
entitled to hold their opinions, and to press thOm on the public
as I or any other class of the community are entitled to Lots
opinions—when I see a body composed of such gentlemen a:
these on my right and left, to whom have been attributed ma-
licious motives, and who have been falsely attacked and chal-
lenged for using the most atrocious of language, and the mos
horrible of doctrines—when I see this I must take the libertyo,
stating my opinion of the high merits of that body, and of the
important, services which the Anti-Cern-law League have ren-
dered during the last twelve months.—(Hear, bear. ) I have
often remarked quietly to vat ious members of that body, tha:
in the first commencement of their career, they, as seella

„.
their opponents, dealt too much in bandying hard words with
each other. I told them that this was not only a waste of their
time, but a highly impolitic proceeding into the bargain ; but
timing the last twelve months we have seen that body scattering
arguments throughout the length and breadth of the land—
reams of reason flowing from their press, and working by that
machinery, and fighting with those weapons which are most
worthy of reasoning men, and most likely to convince reason-
ing beings.— (Loud applause.) 'I here may, no doubt, have
lit es hero and there, in a large body such as this, sem
men whose vivid imagination and fiery temperament ma)
have occasionally run away with them; but we must judge r
body like this by its written feelings and opinions, not Iron
the sudden speeches of some of its members. And when we
look upon the endeavours of the Anti-Corn-law League ti
inform the public upon all the bearings of the great question,
of free trade, I must admit 1 have seldom seen an associatlou

—and I do not in general approve of such associations for the
purpose of urging on legislation—l have never known one
which had such beneficial objects in view, or urged them with
such legitimate and laudable weapons. I have thought it right
to say this much, and to express publicly my opinion in orde,
to show that though I do not belong to them, 1 am so far Iron.
discouraging their efforts, that 1 regard them as the means of
vast good, and it is our duty therefore to bear up against those
who would foully and unjustly calumniate them.—( Hear. )
Having said this much in regard to this great and grossing
body in the country, permit me to go on to state that I believe
that cause they have been advocating is coming by slow and
sure degrees to a crisis.—(Hear, hear.) When I look into
England—% hen I regard the counties of England, and observe
the different tone of language which is now held at.agricul-
tural meetings, I cannot help being struck with a strong feel
ing that the landlords and farmers e.f England. thote:b the}
won't confess it themselves, are making up their minds foi
what they see is inevitably approaching.—( Hear, hear," am.
applause.) "Why, we begin to hear in the counties of Eng-
land remarks on the necessity of leases, and suggestions a,
to the utility of draining—we begin to have the practice of
the Lothians quoted in Devonshire and Dorsetshire—ane
we find that agricultural associations are no longer mere
bodies met for the purpose of dining together, and hearing ce
making speeches in favour of monopoly; but they have se t
themselves earnestly to do business in their own line, by en.
deavouring to point out to the tenantry of the country how
they may make the land grow more, and how, by increased
production, they may meet the defalcation, should there be a
defalcation, produced by a repeal of the corn-law s.—( Hear.)
It has been generally imagined that the most prosperous tenant
was the man who held his farm at the lowest amount of rent;
but let me tell you, and in doing so I have the authority of
eminent agriculturists, that a rent inadequately low is nothing
more nor less than a reward for indolence. The man whose
rent is so low that, with the merest daily labour, he can extract
from the ground that which is necessary for his ordinary wants,
will leave his land in t:.e same state that he got it.—( Hear,
hear.) But the man who is spurred on by a long rent, or a

large family, will exert every nerve to make the ground pro-
; duce to the uttermost; and that man of all others is he who
will not fear any repeal of the cot n-laws, but will rather court
the settlement of a question which distracts his attention, arid
which, when settled, vs ill leave him at liberty to ap-
ply his energies in a manner from which he will be
be sure to derive a fair return. Such sentiments, lam con-
vinced, will in due time prevail all over England ; but I be-
lieve we shall not succeed in this great question till we can se-
cure leases to improving tenants. But some of the English
landlords complain that they cannot do without the corn-laws
because their estates are burdened with mortgages. These.
men, then, may not be able to afford the money to improve
their own estates ; Lot, if they give least s, eiVerprising tenants
will be found to improve these lands and lay out the money.
And shall the indisposition of the proprietors to lay out this
money, which may more properly be stated as an indispOsition
to part with their hold over the consciences of their tenantry—
shall this indisposition interfere between the public and their
obtaining this great been ? A boon it is not—it is their right.
It is the right of the people of this country to have food at the
lowest possible price; and when this can be had without in-
jury to any class, I say the longer we are in obtaining this
right from the Government, the more blame w,e should" take
to out selves that the question is so long unsettled. But that
we shall obtain it in a few years I am convinced—we shall
secure it, either from the principles of" a' Liberal Govern-
ment, or the fears of a Tory Government—we shall either
have it in the same spirit in which the repeal of the Test
and Corporation Acts or Municipal Reform were given,
or we shall obtain it in the same way as Catholic Emancipation
was secured in 1829.—( Hear, hear.) But it is a most
wretched state for the country to be in in the mean time; and
it is worse to have men in power who will nibble at reforms
without making them while there is time. There must be no
nibbling in the case of free trade. " Nibbling," as Lord Joint
Russell said to Sir Robert Peel, "that unsettles everything
and settles nothing." And, therefore, the safest, and wisest,
and best course for all parties is, to let us have done with all
those laws which give any one class a superiority over another
—which gives a boon and protection to which they have no title
in lustice; for I maintain that no men or class is entitled to
protection in the shape of monopoly on any pretence whatever.
—( Applause.) It is not my intention to detain you longer
from the business of the evening. I have merely made these
remarks as leading to the practical development of the subject
before us, and I conclude by inviting you to join me, in drink-
ing
the toast of " Free Trade," in condemning all of posits
principles of legislation, and in pressing for a speedy abolition
of those monopolies which are a burden to the country and a
bane to the people.—( The toast was given with the most en-
thusiastic plaudits,, alter which the lion. Gentleman resumed
his seat.)
The LORD PROVOST, after adverting to the fact that the
Legislature had turned a deal ear to reasonable remonstrance,
and thereby given the League enormous power, requested the
meeting cordially to join him in the" Health of the gentlemen
composing the deputation from the Leagne."—( Cheering. )
Mr. COBUE aeknowledged the toast, and was received with
every demonstration of the most enthusiastic welcome.—(l he
cheering continued loud and long, and the Hon. Gentleman, at
the outset ot his speech, was more than once interrupted by a
repetition of the plaudits). He said—llly Lord Provost,
Ladies, and Gentlemen, it gives ms great happiness to have the
honour of appearing before such an audience as this, especially
when I have fresh upon my recoilection the proceedings which
took place twelve months ago, and the gratifying and Haltering
circumstances which then attended my visit here. Since wo
last had the onortunity of meeting, important circumstances,
not a few, have marked the progress of our movement ; and if
we score to be asked at what time free-trade mdinions were
inakiog the most raf:id prcgress, I would say that now they are
progressing more than at any former period. While we had
ten converts yesterday, we have 100—nay, I,ooo—to-day ;
not only its nverts, but active missionaries in the cause. And
iris impossible fur any one to suppose that our cause, marked by
the circumstances which have attended the movement, can ever
go back. Our excellent Lord Provost has alluded to the
tabours of individuals in ecnnexion with this movement ;
but I would be ashamed of myself, as my friends here would
a!so be, were we to arrogate to ourselves the prin-
cipal merit of the great advance which ':as been re-
cently made. There are many men whom I could
name—men not publicly known—who have done as much to
promote the advance of the catie, and ensure its success, arid
• who are still !assuring in their own circles, as those who have
bt en constantly before the world, and had all the echtt of the
movement. Well, then, if I were asked what is the reason of
the rapid progress we have lately made, I would say, that next
to the justice of our cause, and to that wise discretion that has
induced the League to adhere to the one great question—l
should say, that we are more indebted to the conduct of our
opponents than to any other circumstance.—( Hear.) .1f I had
been requested to prescribe the course of conduct which our
opponents, both in Parliament and out of Parliament should
pursue, I would however, having a due regard to the interests
ot free trade, have prescribed that very course which they
have been kind enough to adopt.—( Hear, and a laugh. ) I
should have recommended the exercise of tricks and chicanery
.11 the House, and the employment of ruffianism out of it ; and
if I could Lave raled up from the kennel the ready tool of any
party—if I could have found men abandoned in l üblic and pri-
vate life, and induced our opponents to employ them as the
organs of monopoly, 1 should have recommended those very
men whom they have taken. 1 shou'd have advised them not
to advance by slow degrees in the charges of a crimioal nature
against members of the League. I should have advised to take
calendar of crime to assassination itself.—( Hear, and a laugh.)
.dirteges of petty larceny in the outset, and ascend through the
1 hat would have been the peculiarly proper course, for it. is by
some such gradations that human nature advances from little
to the great depths of criminal ty ; and I should should have •
said—charge the men who have the merit of ordinary propriety
end decorum in their lives—charge them with assassination
t once. By so doing, I should have known, that in dealing
with the people of England—the shrewd and right-hearted
people or England—weshouldhavecovered our accusers with

. .
ignominy Imre ntempt. Having said that I am obliged to our
°peon. tits for the course they have pursued, I would also say,
hat we are not setting up for ourselves the merit of possessing
any superior amount of virtue. We do not say that we have a
claim for more than a man could expect in a servant at eighteen
shillings a week. We only say that we stand hese Arcs sating
i favcurable contrast to the champions of monopoly, by whom
we have been assailed. The champions and the eiiuse are
werthy of each other. The lion. Member then adverted to
what the League had done and what it proposed to do, arid
spoke at corsiderable length of the rapid and vast prowess it
had made at the meetings it had held in the agricultural dis-
riets, of the benefit of the repeal of the corn-laws to the capi-
talists and labourers, and cot eluded thus :—And now I have
had a toast put into my hands to which I find it necessary to
eslvert. My friend, Air. Alaule, made a promise he would
eot trench on any other j. erson's ground, and, like every
ether promise of the kind, given at a public meeting, he
era e it, by going over the whole of my ground.—(Laughter.)
But as he did it so much better than I could hate dole, and
with much greater authority, I ant happy that he took up the
.gricultural view of this question ((beers.) I shall ant,
Gentlemen, telaeim,neont,hteouichch
dwelt
tion upon, thetogoromunud,thl.i_ke(lec'
to Le taken
For telli'e taken
up
by
ither speakers, the metal ground of this question, which is etc
h
.ve consider i' as one of pounds, shillings and pence, let us re-
member that there are bearings in the free trade question far
higher than these—that free trade is the most benignant of
arinci} les. As Sir Robert Peel said, it is to buy in the
eheapest, and sell in the dearest market. This may be said to
he a selfish principle ; but it is in fact, just to take your pro-
dime that is cheap, to those countries where it is dear.—
t Cheers.) And it is cur taking this produce, because it is
much.—(Cheers.)
cheap there, and bridging it to cur country, because it is dear
here:— ( Cheers.) If you view fide trade with this definition,
you will never arrive at the opinion, that there is anything
selfish in free trade ; but, on the contrary. you will find that it
is the reverse—that it is feeding the hungry and clothing the
naked, in the most comprehensive manner all over the world.
dr. Cobden then gave " The agricultural interests of the
eountry, and may all classes connected with it become satisfied
;hat they cannot prosper while commerce and manufactures
decay."—(Drunk with loud cheering.)
Mr. AI.FXANDEFt GRAHAM proposed "The ministers of
,-eligion who have ident.fied themselves with the cause of free
rade., A few years ago two clerical convocations were held
es this special subject. The first was at Manchester, anti eon-
1 ested of 6,50 dissenting ministers of all denominations. Besides,
nearly 900 other aLsent ministers also addressed letters to the
ess.enibly, expressive of their approbation of its tbject.—( Hear, 1
tear.) The other convocation,
held at Edinburgh, consisted
if 2(10 ministers. Each assembly closed its sittings with a i '
solemn address to the public, condemning all monopolies, as
Alike offensive to God and injurious to man. United, they form
t sacred cloud of witnesses to the justice of our cause.—
(Cheers.) I would not maliciously keep alive from oblivion
he memory of that act of the General Assembly, by which they
eetitioned Parliament against a repeal of the corn-laws, as
hreatening to depreciate the value of their grain revenues ; but
he fact is worthy of record, as an illustration of this one Incst
' repulsive aspect of a bad system, um!• r which the ministers of
religion have become vested with an interest antegonal to that
if the people, and are exhibited before the world as collateral
sharers in the spoils of an unjust monopoly—one even tempting
hem, in the secrecy of their hearts, to contradict and recal the
weekly public prayer of their lips for plenty in the land both to
man and beast.—( Hear, hear. )
The Rev. Dr. Petrol!, amidst ,loud cheering, proposed—
' The progress of knowledge, a necessary guarantee for the
extension and permanence of free institutions. —(lmmense
Alter adverting to the moral bearings of the ques
:peering.)-
Peel too much.—(Hear, hear.) We must be just to that
%Roister ; and in some points of view I think• he is entitled to
`ion, he said,—l think we are apt sometimes to blame Sir R.
,tir hearty thanks, and especially for conferring on time country
a great boon which Sir Robert Peel never meant, perhaps, to
bestow upon it, but which, nevertheless, does not alter the
nature of the gift. But for Sir Robert Peel contending for the
corn.law, and using every effort to keep it as it is, I suppose not
e few of the distinguished persons who figure most proini- !
eently at the present day might have lived and died in the pri-
luxuly, to bring them into the
racy of retirement. But Sir Robert has wrought them out of
eoutiti y and contrived to marshal
:hat privaey, which to them was
farm rs themselves. And we may
arena of public life, to fa-ten on them the eyes, tne confidence,
Robert is preparing the way for
and the affections of this
ender them the people of all classes—baekers, merchants,
whose efforts I trust
Robert Peel a public benefactor
tradesmen, and even the
,e,tvieienributioipofis,eliowthatthosSeir
(lasses,
from
that he and his associates will either withdraw or be
iriven- from I say then, my
'yoU'OUli?An'etal. what you have heard
power,—( Vehement cheering.)
ps sayyto
(LLoradtigPhrtoervo)_st,uinsconleissteiSouirs
say—condeseemline, you
may say—but, after all, is lie not a.sublime benefactor?—( Re-
newed laughter. ) Gait
ironical—bat yet exult-
ing the right hand of the chair, and what you will no dauht
yet hear front the left hand, and yet say that Sir Robert Peel
us not entitled to your—l
iiig approbation ?—(Coritnaued laughter.) Yes, let Sir Robert
persist, and we will persist also ; let Sr
e.e• Hobart support mono-
poly, we will oppose it ; let hint and his friends club their
• nd let it
money, we will do so too, e , be one or two years, if
use only continue true to ourselves, and to the great cause
we are engaged in, we are as sure to beat him as we are en-
:?aged in conflict with him.—( Loud cheers.) The Rev. Gen-
ileman gave the tozst amidst loud and repeated cheering.
perlia
Mr. BRIGHT now rose amid loud and prolonged cheering.
When silence had in some meature been restored, he said—l
have been requested by the Committee of management to speak
to this meeting on a part of the subject which contains the
which—that is, that part which is included ie the phrase--
' The total and immediate repealof the corn-law s"—( t ht err.)
and if I had not been so requested, I have no doubt but this
particular part, or whole of the suhject, %venal have
presented
itself to my mind at the very first. For the total repeal we
ask because we are resolved never to be satisfied with
I. ss than complete justice; for immediate repeal we ask,
because having discoveied what would be complete jus-
tice, we are resolved that that justice will not be de-
layed one moment if we can help it, _ ( Great cheeritg.)
Re have Leen for twenty-eight years living under the opera-
tion of this corn-law, and have, as men generally do in such
eases, become so accustomed to it, that we are almost unable
to discover the hideousness of its features, or the deformity of
its character ; but that it is hideous, that it has been most mis-
iihievous, that it is to this hour destroying the hope and the
happiness of thousands, we are well aware. The Hon. Gen-
tleman then entered at great. length into the history and effects i
of the corn-law, aed spoke with his usual force and eloquence,
proving to the company that none of his energy, or his hearty
abhorrence to the law, I ad been diminished by his recent ill- 1
ness, and coneluded thus i—l speak net without authority.
We have attended hundreds of meethsgs. No men in this
country Lave seen the faces of so many of their countrymen
as we hate.—(Cheers.) We have shaken by the hand, from ;
our heart of hearts, hundreds of thou Sands of the intelligent 1

population of this country; and we have authority for saying,
that it is the opinion of the middle classes of this country, who
are intelligent. and the p ovverful, and the electoral classes,
that this law is bad, that it originated in injustice, and has
b en maintained by an unjust exsrcise of power —( Cheers. )
And we ask you, the people of this city, whether you are
wiiling to term, with us to the breach, to bear all, to suffer
all, and work all that is necessary for the carrying out of
cur principle, the fundamental principle of the Anti •Corn-law
League ?—( Great cheering.) I know you well—l have not
read the history of your country for nothnier ; and I treed nut
point out to you passages in the history of your country that
prove beyond dispute that there is in the people of Scotland a
love of liberty that can never die.— (Cheers.) Your country
has been the cradle of liberty, the home of freedom fur centu-
ries back._.( Cheers.) You have not been oppressed and tram-
pled on by England, as some other part; of the world have
been-4 Chi-ers)—and now I trust that what you have done for
freedsm—what you have done for civil and religious freedom,
you are 110 W ready to do for yourcornmercial liberties.—( Cheers.)
I a‘k you to resolve with me that—
" By oppressions woes and pa:ns—
By our sons in servile chains,
We will work while strength remains,
Butwe shall be frce."— (Cheers.)
Mr. Bright then gave, " The total and immediate repeal of
the corn-laws," which was drunk amid enthusiastic cheering.
Colonel THOMPSON, who was received with loud cheers, said
—My Lord. Provost, Ladies and Gentlemen,it is well that our
friend who spoke last has interposed a few matters of finance,
for it would be hard to take a man from hearing " Scots wha
ha'e wi' Wallace Lled," and carry him directly to the discus-
sion of a dry point of political economy like that which has been
put into, my hand.—(Laughter.) It was, perhaps, so placed,
because there was a confidence that I at all events should not
withhold a reply when I was regularly called on—that I should
net demur to give the most honest and clear opinion I was
able upon a point of such importance. The question lam to
speak on is :—ccAn adjustment of taxation to give relief to the
industry of the country and the masses of its population." True,
you might ask your gentles to tell how this might be accom-
plished, and perhaps they would not give you such an answer
as I would hint at. They would probably propose some cha::ge
in the duties of oil olive, or a relaxation of those of stick-
liquoriee.—(Laughten) Well, here is a sort of professional
workshop, out of which Parliament, and Acts of
Parliament, hereafter are to be made. There let us pause a
few minutes, endeavouring to clear our own ideas upon,
this question, although it be a dry one, and perhaps
we may at some time find our opinions mounting into
those regions where they shall have tome chance of being re-
duced to a practical result. I pars by, as a mere piece of by-
play, those specimens of taxation in which the poor, or nume-
rous classes, are ma 'e to pay in something like proportion to
their poverty. —( Laughter.) The invention is a silly one, Lut
quite effectual. It is hut this, to lay on a fixed duty upon all
articles of one kind, whatever may be the differences of value
amongst them.—( hear, hear.) Tobacco—for instance—some
here are erhaps not teetotallers in that aromatic: wee:!--
( Laughter—well then, in consequence of the application of
this principle, the pooreq, man here pays eleven titres the tax-
ation on the tobacco whirl he whiffs on the streets, compared
with that which the dandy smokes in cigars.— (Laughter. )
With tea, Ladies, it is much the same. —( Laughter.) '1 he
pour have to pay the greatest proportion of the duty on tea
he Duchess pap; but a fragmented portion of the value of that
%%hie!' they imbibe. he vs asherwoman—tell it to your washer-
women wken you go forth—pays the same amount, or some-
thing like it, for the Bohea with which she refreshes her irri-
tated nerves.—(Laughter. ) There seems nr this some
prospect of a possibility of a mixture of taxation in that
form ; but there is another form more important still, be-
cause it is more extensive than vie now imagine it to he.
The Gallant Colonel proceeded to say that he would dlr• et
the attention of the meeting to the same sr bject as he had
brought before them when he last had the honour of appear.rg
1 ofore them. The question was simply this—were they to pay
a higher price instead of a cheaper, for the bent fit of some class
of the community or other : so that a national gain might be
derived from it, or whether there should be a national gain or
a national loss? Colonel Thompson went on to show that in
every such instance, where one individual gained, hundreds of
individuals lost. lie illustrated this in his quaint and pointed
style hy the hi ead tax, the injustice and impolicy of %O dell he
Lriefly but powerfully expo.ed. But then, he said, there has
! gone farah a fear and apprehension, that, since there must be a
large revenue raised, how imprudent to shake the fabric muter
which it is collected—if you do anything to impoverish the race
of rich men, where are we to get the taxes ? Why, where but
from those who get richer by the alteration ? (Cheers and
laughter.) Now, you appear a calculating race, whom no
man can beat at Yulgar fractions any more than in the field of
action.—(Laughter.) rook into those things against I came
again, arid let us then compare notes. Another time I will ace
wnether we have not made some progress in tape:sing w hat
species of taxation it is that ought to remain, and what should
be removed, in the support of my toast, which is, ', An Adjust-
ment of Taxation, to give Relief to the Industry of the Country,
and the masses of its Population."—( Great ch. clang.)
Mr. OSWA r.n, M.P., gave the healthy of those members in
the Upper ]louse who support the principles ref tree trade.—
( Loud cheers.) The toast was given with all the honours.
Councillor Caoss next addressed the meeting, and in a neat
and appropi iatc speech proposed " he Abolition of the Sugar
and all other Colonial Monopoly," which was received with
enthusiastic applause.
Dr. WiLiss proposed " The speedy repeal of all those laws
which enhance the price of toot, and are proeuctive of poverty,
immorality, and crime."
Mr. Conners', with many well-merited compliments, pro•
posed " The health of the Lord Provost." Drunk wish loud
cheering.
The Loren PROVOST briefly thanked the meeting fur the
honour they Lad conferred cpon him, and, after passing a high
eulogiurn upon " The free trade Members of the Ilouse of
Commons who have honoured us with their presence," pro-
posed the toast, coupling it with the uame of Mr. Hattie, M.P.
for Paisley.
Mr. HASTIE, ALP., soke to the toast.
At the conclusion the Loan PROVOST proposed three cheers
for the Anti-Corn law League, which were heartily given, and
tl.e large meeting separated in the most decorous arid orderly
manner.

IRELAND.
(From the Times.)
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.
DunLIN, JAN. 1.-1 his belt g the first day of the term,
the C. of Queen's lunch was mote than u_ually crowded
from an sail) ur by persons anxious to witness the opt ning
proceed:rigs. A considerable number of ladies were press Di.
shortly- before two o'clock Air. Justice Burton entered the
Court, and the swearing in of the city and county gramd juries
was proceeded with. '1 here was a very full attendance ok the
gentlemi n on both panels.

CITY GRAND JURY.
Mr. Francis Blake Kni.x, Foreman ; Messrs. William R.
Box, ('harks Carotin, Homy S. French, Vicars Boyle Wm.
Watson, Cuthbert E.'ecles, Lucius 11. Deering, RobertA:ham-
ley, Peter R. Mike, John Campbell, William Deane, Joseph
lloniy, homas .111‘F.nery, Wiliam Andreas, Thomas Fut-
troll, John Molloy, Richard Wilson, .I..seph Cassin, William
It. Fa} le, Wiliam Curry, jun., Fergus Frsrell, and I'. D.
lardy.

COUNTY GRAND JURY.
Mr. James Hans Hamilton, M.P., foreman; Hon. A. F.
Southwell, Sir Robert Shaw, Bart., Messrs. William Rath-
borne, Alexander Kirkpatrick, A. S. Hussey, Thomas R.
Needham, Benedict Arthure, Richard Manders, C. Fitzsimon,
Francis Savage, Arthur B. Crofton, John Brennan, Robert
Alexander, Edward 11. Casey, William Caldbeck, David
Henry Stierrard, Charles Davis, Emanuel Bailey, Arthur
Neville, William Worthington, Henry M‘Matius, and Charles
Jones.
The Foreman of the County Jury, addressing his Lordship,
said that he took that opportunity of mentioning to the Court
that there was a feeling among the gentlemen o: the jury that
they ought to have the right of sitting in their box during
term. He believed, however, that the right of occupying it
during the State trial bad bt en ceded to the Sneriff of the city.
The High Sheriff for the County said, that he believed the
City High-Sheriff had arranged that the box should be occupied
by the press during the trial, but, in his opinion, the applica-
tion of the county grand jurors was a very reasonable one.
Mr. Justice Be wrosi said, that he had a strong opinion on
the matter himself; but it would be necessary for him, before
giving any reply, to confer with his brethren on the subject.
The Foreman of the City Grand Jury said that he had been
requested to make a similar application to his Lordship on be-
half of the gentlemen acting en that jury.—(Laughter.)
Mr. Justice BURTON replied, that in a few days a trial was
to take place in that Court in which there was a special jury,
to the aecommodation of which the box in which the gentle-
men of the city grand jury sat was to be applied, and it would
not therefore be possible that the grand jury could continue to
occupy it.
His Lordship then retired, and in a short time retutned into
Court, accompanied by Mr. Justice Crampton and Mr. Jus-
tice Perlin.

Judge BURTON, addressing the gentlemen of the county
grand jury, said that before he left the Court, the foreman had
communicated to him the desire of the jury that there should
be no interference with their right to come into their box when
husii.ess made it necessary that they should appear in Court.
Ile hail been informed, that the high Sheriff for the city had
allocated their box for the reporters of those journals in which
what took place in Court was to be published. Ile had con-
ferred with the Lord Chief Justice and the other members of
the Court on the subject, and they were all of opinion that it
was not only proi.er and expedient but indispensible, under the
circumstances of the case, that there should be a place in that
Coutt for the reporters of the public press, and they accord-
iagly felt what had been done for their accommodation by the
Iligh Sheriff was perfectly right. If the gentlemen of the
grand jury, host ever, should have occasion, in the discharge of
their business, to come into Court, every facility should be
afforded them; and in such an event the reporters could leave
a portion of the box for their accommodation. With regard
to the other grand juty-box, the application far it by the city
grand jury was altogether cut of the question, because that
would be the place occupied by the special jury who were to
try the case. _

The matter then dropped, and the gentlemen of the grand
juries returned to their rooms.

THE STATE TRIALS—THE WITNESSES.
Although there appears to be no longer any further occasion
for the observance of s, crecy with respect to the act u.I name of
at least one of the parties suspected of having broached to the
Government some of the vcret doings at the Corn-Exchange,
and who, it is now openly stated by the Repealers, will be pro-
dtu ed as a very material witness at the appreaching state trials ;
still, until the fact, should it prove to be such, is announced
through some more authentic medium that that of mere public
conversation, it would be manifestly improi,er to make any
more distinct allusion to the matter. It may, however, Le
mentioned as the very general belief that the Executive has
been put in possession by the susi.ected individual of some re-
markable doeurn, nts, which, says report, may hereafter be pro.
duced in evider.ce against the traverse, a. There seems to be an
impression here that after all Government are by no meats as
anxious as their opponents suppose about the result of these
State trials; fur, let the verdict be what it may, it will, it is be-
lieved, in nowise.influence Alinisters with regard to what ulterior
course they may adopt for the total supFression of the Repeal
agitation ; and that some stringent measure; with that object
will be submitted to Parliament early in the ensuing sessizn
ap-
pears to be the opinion of all classes a politicians.