The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-18 00:00:00

fetirb WZittion

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.
THE RUSSIAN LOAN.

(THIS DAY.)

A large public meeting, called in consequence of
Mr. Cobden's letter to the secretary of the Peace
Society, was held this day at the London Tavern, to
consider the proposal recently issued for negotiating
a loan'for the Russian Government in this country.
The gallery, the platform, and the body cf the
large room of the tavern was crowded long before one
o'clock, the hour at which the meeting was appointed
to take place.
Among those on the platform we observed Mr.
Cobden, M.P., Mr. Charles Gilpin, the Rev. Mr.
Burnet, and the Rev. Mr. Richards.

The appearance of \lr. Cobden was the signal for a
loud burst of applause.
Mr. Charles Gelpin, of the Peace Society,
was unanimously elected to take the chair
on the motion of the Rev. Mr. Richards,
seconded by Mr. Morley. He said they were there that
day to express their opinion upon the morale of the
lean asked by the Emperor of ail the Russias,
of
five-and-a- half millions of money, and which, he re-
gretted to say, had been accepted by a house of high
standing in the City.—(Hear, hear.) They were
there to protest against raising money under false
pretences—(Loud cheers)—which he held to be as
base in an Emperor as in a begging-letter impostor.
—(Loud cheering.) They were there to ask the
capitalists of this country, whether they were pre-
pared to advance resources for the evil designs
of a despot, whose savage hordes had just returned
from the desolated plains of Hungary.—(Cheers.)
They were not quite of the opinion ef the writers in
the Times.—(This allusion was met with loud shouts
of execration.) Every capitalist, small or great,
who advanced any portion of this loan would to some
extent b 3 responsible for the morality which it
sanctioned.—(Cheers.) After making reference to
the accusation, that the present movement was at
variance with the free-trade doctrine, he ad-
vised capitalists to have better security than
was offered at present, if they risked their money
in such a loan. At may rate, time would show
whether the prediction of Messrs. Baring— (A loud
groan for the " Barings")—who guaranteed its
security, or the prediction of his Hon. Friend Mr.
Cobden, would be verified in the case of Russia.—
(Cheers.) Mr. Gilpin concluded by calling upon
the Secretary to read the following letter of apology
from Lord Dudley Stuart :
" 34, St. James's-place, Jan. 17, 1850.
"Dear Mr. Cobden,—l perceive by the papers that
a public meeting on the subject of the Russian loan,
called at your instance, is to be held at the London
Tavern to-morrow. When, a few months ago, you
gave the signal for a similar meeting with reference
to the Austrian loan, I hastened to answer the sum-
mons, and I should do so now were I not confined to
my room by severe indisposition.
",On the former occasion, I denounced the Austrian
loan as illegal, and though the correspondent of the
Times, at Vienna, immediately afterwards attempted
to confute me, I so completely demolished his reason-
ing by the citation f facts and figures in a letter also
published in the Times, that my antagonist has never
ventured a word in rejoinder. Ido not know that
the Russian loan is obnoxious to the same charge,
except that in a country where no law really exists
but the sole will of the Sovereign, no act of the Go-
vernment can be held as strictly legal, or be looked
upon as based on any firmer foundation than that
Sovereign's caprice.
" The present loan is asked fur by Russia for the
ostensible purpose if completing a railway. It is, no
doubt, calculated that the object put forward will dis-
arm the scruples of capitalists belonging to the peace
party in this country; bas his conscience must be
little sensitive, and his penetration blunt indeed, who
can he so deceived. Can any man doubt that the
real destination of the loan is to cover the deficit
occasioned by the recent iniquitous intervention of
Russia in Hungary and her present no less unjust in-
terventien in Turkey ? Are the friends of peace,
are any true Englishmen prepared to supply with the
sinews of war the power of all others the most
likely to disturb general peace—the only one
from whose policy there is any danger of England
being forced into war ? Does any one seriously
apprehend a rupture with France, Prussia, Austria,
or 'any other European power, or even with the
-United States ? No ! but it is notorious that only the
other day the haughty and inhuman demands of Russia
f,r the extradition of Kossuth and his brave
ilungArinn and Polish foil° vers I,ft, us no alternative
but to prepare for immediate bostil!tieF, or to permit
the destruc-ion of Turkish independencf-, so nee. ssary
to the security of Europe, so essential to the commer-
cial interests c f this country. b?`, therefore, those
who are desirous of promoting anarchy, prolonging
convulsions, and encouraging war, or who are in-
ditlarent to such results, and those onlr, sub-
scribe to the Russian loan. Twat loan may
be negotiated ; but at any rate this meeting, which
you have called, %i ill have the effect of displaying, in
its true light, the conduct of those whose cupidity is
not proof against the temptation of 41 per cent.
"I am, dear Mr. Cobden, yours sincerely,
(Signed) " DUDLEY COUTT3 STUART.
_ _ _

itichard.Coblen, Esq., 11. P."
Mr. COBDEN then stood forward to address the
meeting, and wss received with vociferous cheering,
which lasted for some moments. When order had
been restored he spoke as follows :—Gentlemen, I
have the honour to propose to you the first resolution,
which I will read :

" That the Government of Russia having proposed to
ia;se in this country a loan of five millions and a half
sterling, pr, festiedly f r the purpose of completing a
railroad from St. Petcrsburgh t Moscow, but
rel.lly to rephnish the imperial exchequer, exhausted
by the expenses cf the war in Hungary, this
meeting is of opinion that to lend money to the Emperor
of Russia for such an object would vimaly be to sanc-
tion the deeds of vi.l-nce and blood committed by him
in Hungary, and t famish him with the temptation and
ttae nak wis for carrying on future schemes of aggression
and conquest."

—(Cheers.) I congratulate the Peace Society and the
friends c.f. peace in this country, that the Emperor of
Russia has been obliged—unconsciously we musk, as
a matter of courtesy, suppose—to affix his name to a
document which is not true, in order to obtain a loan
of five millions and a half in this country. I say the
document which is signed by the Emperor of Russia
ccntains an untruth—(Hear, hear)—and I know it
to be untrue, and it is known to everybody at St.
Petersburgh to be untrue.—(Cheers.) But I accept
that untruth as the highest tribute that could be pos-
sibly paid to the moral power of the Peace party in
this country.—(CheerF, and some disturbance occa-
sioned by the crowded state of the room.) I was
saving thet the pretence put forth by the Emperor
of Russia, that he wants this money to complete a
railroad from Moscow to St. Petersburgh, is unfounded
in truth. I was in St. 'Petersburgh two years ago';
at th.,t time the rolling sock of that railway was all
finished ; one hundred locomotives were ready ; I
travelled with them en that part of the line. Thou-
sands of waggons and carriages were ready, and I am
told the iron is en the ground and paid for. It is
the embankment that is not finished e and looking at
the martial disposition of the Emperor, and to his
baring so little regard to the social interests of the
people of his country, I don't think the railroad will
be completed for ten years to come.—(Hear, hear.)
He will spend his money like a great overgrown
colossal baby on his soldiers rather than on those
substantial improvements which could really alone
add to the power, the happiness, and the civilization
of his country.—(Cheers.) But why need I argue
this matter ? Nobody believes the money is wanted
for a railroad. Everybody assumes the contrary but
the Russians. But I will convict them from their
own ukases. They want the money in six months.
Who ever heard of five million sterling being wanted
for a railroad in six months ?—(Loud cheers) Some
of you here, unhappily, have had experience in rail-
way calls.—(Laughter.) But did you ever know
them come from any board of directors so thick and
fast as they come from the Emperor of Russia ?
(Laughter.) 201. must be paid two (lays after the
allotment ; 10/. must be paid on the 15th of
March, 101. on the 15th of April, 101. on the 15th
of _Nay, 101. on the 15th of June, and the remainder
on the 15th ofJuly next—(Laughter.) Railway calls
for one railway at the rate of nearly a milliOn a
month ! And, mind you, in a country where up to
March no work can be done on an embankment—
(Cheeo—and correquently this stoney is wanted for
the purpose of b. ing expended in an embankment '
'in the months of April, May, :Tune, and July. Oh,
I pity the mendicant Cza,, v.'ho is ohliesed to come to
?Itch a story.—(Cheers.) Is' it not humi-
liating ? (ltenewed cheers.) Arid then, after putting
forward this pretence, that the money is wanted
for a railroad, after beginning his Imperial
ukre-e, by saying it was not the truth—l presume
he did not know it—(Laughter)—he winds up at last,
as if doubting be would not be believed, by promising
us five per cent , and that the accounts of the sums
derived from this loar, and to be applied to this
line of railroad, will be kept as formerly
from all other state revenues and expenditure.—
(Laughter.) Why, he wants if possible to open a
door for even the most scrupulous of Quakers to sub-
scribe to his loan.—(Laughter.) It was not only
sot wanted for war, but it, wws entirely to con..