The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-02 00:00:00

went there, and she said in order to get out of the way
of her brothers, who came and wanted the money
she ha.d got. She said she had received 501. tram Solo-
mons' people, because she should not bring an action f
fAlse imprisonment. I told her it was wrong to take
the money. I requested her to attend at the police-
court, but she raid she did not wish to prosecute. She
came on the following Tuesday to Guildhall with Mrs.
Brads haw, but as young Solomons was not present, the
case w as adjourned.
Evidence in corroboration of the proceedings at the
statiorelouse and the police-court having been given, the
case h nr the plsintiff concluded.
It a as admitted, on the part of the defendant, that the
plaint lir was under age.
Mr. CAMBERS, for the defence, said the real plaintiffs
in thie action were the brothers of the young girl, and
the de fondant complained of the extortion which they
were a ttempting to practice upon him after he had al-
ready amply compensated the plaintiff. That their
only object was to get money was placed beyond
doubt, because it appeared that the plaintiff hersclf
had gone to Gravesend in order to avoid her
brothers, who wanted„ to get a share of the 50L
which she had obtained from the defendant.
The stritement as to the defendant's son having made
her insensible with some drug, and then violated her
person, was a pure invention for the purpose of exciting
the prejudice of the jury against the c'efendant; but as
the defendant had suffered great anguish of mind in
consequence of this action, and had given the girl 501.
with the view of being exonerated from further liability,
he trusted that the jury would not sanction such a pro-
ceeding as the present by giving a verdict for the
The Learned JUDGE having summed up,
The jury retired, and after being absent for >a consi-
derable time, returned into court with a verdict for the
plaintiff—Damages, 501.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

(THIS EVENING.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.
Their Lordships met at Five o'clock.
BIRTH OF A PRINCE.—ADDRESS TO HER
MAJESTY.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE rose and said—My
Lords, I have to propose before we proceed to the con-
sideration of any other subject, a metion to which I am
sure that your Lordships will willingly yield prece-
dence.—(Hear, leer.) It is in allusion to an event
which occurred yesterday morning.—(Hear, hear.,
I am sure that your Lordships will feel that
it is subject of congratulation to your Lordships, in coin-
' mon with all classes of the community in this country,
that her Majesty should have given birth to a Prince.—
(Hear, hear.) All classes of the country, lam sure,
join with your Lordships in congratulating her Majesty
upon this increase to:her domestic happiness, and I will
not therefore detain your Lordships longer, but will
propose that a humble address be presented to her Ma-
jesty, congratulating her Majesty upon the birth of a
Prince.—(Cheers.)
• The Duke of RICHMOND said—ln my own name,
and in the name of those Noble Lords who sit on this
side of the House, I beg to express our hearty con-
currence in the expressions of grateful congratulation
to her Majesty, and I second the motion.
The motion was then agreed to nemine contradicente.
PETITIONS.—AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS.
The Duke of RICHMOND presented a petition in
favour of the Ten Hours Bill from Yorkshire; also a
petition from Morayshire complaining of agricultural
distress. The farmers could not grew wheat at the
present prices, and were laying down their lands in
grass. He had rather cultivate the whole of his
estates himself than trust to cotton Manchester
men to cultivate them. It was an insult to the
farmers to tell them that local distress existed, but
that the whole state of the country was satisfactory. The
repeal of the duties on bricks was no aid to the farmer.
There were more bricks in one manufacturing chimney
than in many agricultural cottages. The farmer was
bound to pay a certain amount of ,property-tax, while
the manufacturer only paid upon what; ho chose to
return as his profits. Such a course of proceeding would
affect the loyalty of the farmers,. He had to present seve •
ral petitions from various members of the agricultural in-
terest, praying for a return to the principles of protec-
tion. Be asked the farmers not to be violent, but per-
severing, and to show that when the yeomanry put
their shoulder to the wheel they could not be driven
from the point by a body of Manchester manufacturers.
So long as the present rate of taxation continued, so long as
faith was kept with the public creditor, the farmer
could not compete with the foreigner. Nu remission cf
a small portion of taxation would put the farmer in the
same position as he would be if he bad adequate pro-
tection. If they persevered in this course 01 proceed-
ing, they would have a recurrence of such acts of vio-
lence as had recently taken place in the county of
Warwick, which he rejoiced to say had bean put down
by the rural police.
Earl GREY said in 1844, a Sussex farmer had drawn
attention to the fact that at that time 70 farms were ad-
vertised for sale in Sussex, showing that agricultural
distress was then under a system of protection, even
greater than it was at present in 1850, under a system
of tree•trade. The real weight which had broken the
neck of the British' farmer was the miscalled protection
under which he was oppressed. The existing arrange.
ment with regard to the property-tax payable
by the farmer, had been adopted at the sug-
gestion of the party with which his Noble Friend
acted. and he himself, as a free trader, bad opposed it.
The farmer who expended large sums in the improve-
ment of his farm suff:red from the rule, while those who
did not improve paid nothing in good years.
The Duke of ARGYLE thought undue stress had
been laid upon the expression of the Noble Marquis
(Lansdowne) that free trade was an experiment. It was
extremely difficult to procure the repeal of a prin-
ciple when it was contained in an Act of
Parliament, and he could not consider that this was an
experiment to be watched, or tbat the principle could be
easily reverse!, and he came to the conclusion thee the
experiment, if such it could be called, could not be re-
versed at any moment they pleased. Ile considered
the present to bo an exceptional state of things,
and thtte they could not argue as to the permanent
price of agricultural produce from the present
time. The same complaints of ,the low price
of agricultural produce were made in France,
that the Noble Duke made in this country, and there-
fore he concluded that the present state of matters was
exceptional. At the same this state of affairs showed
that money cheapness might go too far, a principle which
was acknowledged by all authorities on this subject. If
the present state of affairs was to be considered
permanent, considerable changes must be made in the
distribution of the public burdens of this country. It
had been admitted by Lord John Russell before the re-
peal of the Corn-laws by Sir R. Peel, that in the event
of that repeal there must be some relief given to the
agricultural interest from the burdens which pressed upon
them, and he thought that some different method of apply-
ing the property-fax on the farmer should be adopted.
The Earl of FEVERSHAM denied that the present
state of agricultural distress was 'exceptional. There
was no chance of any improvement taking place so long
as a free-trade policy should be continued. Was it.
just, he would ask, to continue the present duty upon
malt? That tax was paid by the agricultural interest
both as producers and as consumers, for they were
great consumers of malt.—(flear, hear.) The agricul-
turists were the most loyal and the best class of
community, and their petitions had not been treated
with the respect to which they were entitled. The dis-
tress among the agriculturists was general and universe
throughout the county.

The Earl of S. GERMAINS admitted the existence
f distress among:the owners and occupiers of land, but as
he was convinced that a return to a system of protection
was an impossibility, he believed that he was no friend
to the farmers who taught them to expect it.—(Hear.)
He believed that the repeal of the system had preseived
this couctry from those revolutions which had devas-
tated the rest of Europe. The present state of the agri-
cultural interest was, he believed, an exceptional state,
for he found that the state of agricultnral distress was
even greater in European countries under the protective
system, such ns France, than it was in this
country. Ho believed that the stocks of corn in Europe
and America were nearly exhausted. Prices were rising
in New York, and it was the apprehension that we might
return to a protective system that had caused our markets
to be deluged with foreign corn, and which kept
down the price at present in this country. He thought
it was the duty of Government to inquire into the bur-
dens upon the agricultural interest, and to remove those
which pressed unjustly, but he considered those were
the worst enemies of the agricultural interest, who en-
couraged them to indulge a hope that we should ever
return to a system of protection.