The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-20 00:00:00

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COURT CIRCULAR.

The Queen and Prince Albert walked yesterday morning,
in Claremont Park. Isis Royal Highness Prince Albert
afterwards rode out on horseback, attended by Sir Edward
Bowater, Equerry in Waiting. The Prince returned to
Claremont to lunch. ,

Their Royal Highnesses "the Prince of Wales, the Princesi
Royal, and the Princess Alice, were taken airings yesterday,
in the grounds in Claremont Pak.
At ten minutes past three o'clock, yesterday afternoon,
her Majesty and Prince Albert, accompanied by her Royal
Highness the Princess Royal, left Claremont, in a carriage
and four, for town. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of
Wales and the Princess Alice, accompanied by the Dowager
Lady Lyttelton, were in the next carriage ; and Colonel the
Hon. Charles Grey, Equerry in Waiting on her Majesty,
and Major-General Sir Edward Bowater, Equerry in Waiting
on his Royal Highness, occupied another carriage and four.
The Royal party arrived at Buckingham Palace, escorted
by a party of Light Drageons, at twenty minutes before five
o'clock.

The Queen and Prince Albert were received at Buck-
ingham Palace by the Lord Chamberlain, the Master
of the Horse, the Vice-Chamberlain, the Viscountess
Jocelyn, Lady in Waiting; the Hon. Misses Murray and
Liddell, Maids of Honour ; the Marquis of Ormonde, Lord in
Waiting; and Sir Frederick Stovin, Groom in Waiting.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, and Lady Fanny
Howard, Lady in Waiting, dined with her Majesty and
Prince Albert yesterday evening, at Buckingham Palace.
A Cabinet Council was held at two o'clock yesterday after-
noon, at the Foreign-office. It was attended by Sir Robert
Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Whamcliffe, the Duke
of Buccleuch, the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Stanley, Sir James
Graham, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Earl of Had-
dington, Earl of Ripon, Mr. Gladstone, Sir Henry Hardinge,
and Sir Edward Knatchbull.

The Lord Chancellor arrived at the Foreign-office soon
after three o'clock, and joined his colleagues.

The Council sat two hours.

His Excellency M. Dedel, transacted business with Lord
Aberdeen yesterday at the Foreign-office. His Excellncy
Baron Brunnow also transacted business at the Foreign-
office yesterday.
Earl Delawarr had an interview with the Chancellor of
the Exchequer yesterday, at his official residence, in Down-
ing-street.
The Ecclesiastical Commission for England had a meeting
yesterday afternoon, at the office, in Whitehall-place. The
Commissioners present were the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Bangor, the Bishop of
Chester, the Bishop of Hereford, the Bishop of Lichfield, the•
Bishop of Pe terborough, the Bishop of Rochester, the Earl
of Besborough, the Right Hon. H. Hobhouse, the Right
Hon. Sir George Grey, and the Dean 'of Westminster.
A deputation of the Anti-Slavery Society, consisting of
Joseph Sturge, Stafford Allen, Joseph Cooper, J. H. Hinton,
and Henry Sterry, had an interview with the Right Hon. W.
E. Gladstone yesterday at the office of the Board of Trade.
Mr. John Wood, Chairman of the Excise, and Mr. Higham,
Secretary and Comptroller-General to the Commissioners for
the Reduction of the National Debt, had interviews with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday.
Sir E. Knatchbull arrived in town on Monday.

AMERICAN SLAVER?.—CASE OF JOHN L. BROWN.
—On Thursday evening one of the most numerous, and, at
the same time, most interesting. meetings of the members
and friends of the Glasgow Emancipation Society, which has
taken place for many years, was held in the Rev. Mr. Ander-
son's church, John-street, for the purpose of remonstrating
against so flagrant a violation of the rights of humanity, as is
involved in the conduct of the authorities of South Carolina, in
sentencing John L. Brown to be hanged for the crime of aiding
the escape of a female slave. Previous to the hour announced
' for the commencement of business (half-past seven) the
church n as crowded in every part by a highly respectable audi-
ence, and shortly after the numbers increased so much as to
cause, by the pressure, very much inconvenience. There
were upwards of 2,000 persons present, and, at least, an equal
number had to go away from want of accommodation. Indeed
the interest manifested in the proceedings on this occasion
exceeded anything which has been exhibited in connection
with this Society for many years past. There has been no
anti-slavery meeting equal to it in Glasgow since the cele-
brated discussion between Messrs. Thompson and Iforthwick,
and it most pointedly.demonstrated the intensity of the public
feeling in this city on the subject for which the meeting was
convened.— Glasgow Argus.
THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN AFFGHANISTAN.---We
are requested to state that Mr. Colburn, of Great Marl-
borough-street, has this day published " The Narrative of
the last Campaign in Affghanistan, under General Pollock,"
by Lieut. Greenwood, of her Majesty's3lst, Regiment ; form-
ing a Companion to the Narratives of Lady Sale, and Lieut.
Eyre, in 1 vol. small Bvo., with Illustrations, price 12a.,
bound; which can now.be had :of all booksellers. Mr. Col-
burn has also just published the following :-1., The pro •
hibitgcr Comedy, " Riehelieu in Leve ; or, The Youth of
Charles the First," with a Preface Explanatory, Bvo., 48. 6d.
—2. Lieut.-Col. Napier's Wild Sports in. Europe, Asia, and
Africa, 2 vols. small BvO., with Illustrations, 21s. bound.-
3. The Light Dragoon, by the Author of " The Subaltern,"
&c., 2 vols., 21s. bound.-4. Whimsicalities, by Thomas
Hood, Esq., 2 vols., small Bvo., with numerous Illustrations,
by Leech, 21s. bound.-5. Agnes Strickland's Lives of th
Queens of England, New and Revised Edition.
Last evening, shortly before six o'clock, an alarm-
ing fire broke out at the Cooper's Arms public-house, in
Huntingdon-street, Hoxton. The inmates and neighbours
endeavoured to extinguish the flames, but, owing to the
strong hold they had obtained, they spread with astonishing
rapidity. They parish engine was soon on the spot, followed
by three brigade engines and the West of England. An im-
mediate supply of water being obtained, the three first en-
gines poured a great torrent of water upon the flames, but
some time elapsed, before the fire was completely out. The
fire originated from a spark flying out of the fire amongst
the furniture in) the wool. Mr. Benton is insured 'in the
Atlas Fire-Ace. . -

' ANTI-LEAGUE MEETING AT
ABERDEEN.
(From the Aberdeen Herald.)
A fortnight ago, when we recorded the miserable
failure of the first attempt to get up a county meet-
ing in support of the corn-laws, we expressed our
belief that, if the landlords and factors were deter-
mined, they might, by resorting- to the same means
they had used to procure signatures to the requisi-
tion, still succeed in filling the Court-house with
their adherents. It would seem, however, that we
gave them credit for more influence than they really
possess. The great demonstration came off yester-
day, and, but for the presence of a number of people
belonging to the city, most of, whom are free-traders,
the meeting, after all, would have been, comparatively
speaking, a thin one. We believe we are accurate in
stating that, of the five thousand requisitionists, there
were not present more • than from three to four
hundred. Long after the hour of meeting, there
was room both in the galleries and the body of the
house (which holds only some six or seven hundred),
and when, in the end, it was nearly or quite filled, an
estimate f the amount of. the hissing with which the
resolutions were received showed clearly that there was a
strong minority willing to express dissent, although
prevented, by the constitution, of the meeting from giving.
any other opposition.
The general character of the proceedings was just
what might have been expected from a set of men
who have always been hostile to free discussion, and
who, in this particular instance, felt that they bad
nothing but misstatement and sophistry to advance.
A gentleman in the gallery wished to ask a question,
for information, of one of the speakers, but he was
immediately put down by the Chairman ; while Mr.
Lumsden, of Pitcaple—to the great admiration of his
chief tenant, the miller—got up in a state of the
greatest excitement, and, with a loud tone and violent
gesticulation, demanded that the questioner should
be put out. After all the resolutions had been passed
—or rather, after they had been proposed in the slump,
and a show made of passing them—another gentleman
got up, not to offer opposition, but simply to direct
attention to a point that had been omitted. With some
difficulty he obtained a hearing to his proposition, but
that was all; the Chairman immediately told him that
he had no right to speak—for nothing, it would seem,
could be introduced but what had been arranged in the
programme. Even Mr. Forbes, of Boyndlie—as stanch a
Protectionist as was' there—was snubbed and put down,
because, instead of confining himself to abuse of the League
and support of the corn-laws, he ventured to throw out
some hints illustrative of his currency crotchet or
theory. A few of the tenant-farmers were ostentatiously
brought forward to propose or second resolutions, but
they did nothing more ; they hardly ventured a sentence '
to explain their silence, and as for reasoning in support
of the statement they. had the honour of reading, they
seemed to think that altogether unnecessary. The
Chairman attempted to put a stop even to the sounds of
disapprobation that were from time to time uttered ; but
in this he did not succeed, although he went the
length, more than once, of hinting at physical force as a
means of effecting his object.
This is the way in which the landlords choose to dis-
cuss an important and complicated question. Such is
their novel mode of deliberation! Well, so 'be it. We
have no wish to quarrel with the means which our oppo-
nents take to advance their cause. The folly of resort-
ing to public meetings and preventing open discussion
must sooner or later recoil on their own beads. The
real effect of such procedure was indicated in the taunts
with which their hurried separation was greeted. Men
who pretend to give a reason for their opinion, and yet
are afraid to listen to a word of reply, or even ex-
planation' will never carry conviction into the minds
of their fellow-countrymen. The four thousand six
hundred requisitionists who were absent, and the hun-
dred and fifty
.thousand inhabitants of Aberdeenshire
who neither signed nor were present, will look with
great suspicion on arguments that cannot bear ex-
amination.
The first speaker was the convener,
Mr. Grant of Tillyfour. If, as was obviously the
case, he intended to make an impression by the quasi
facts he adduced relative to the price at which foreign
wheat and barley can be imported, he will, we sus-
pect find himself grievously mistaken. Were it
true, as Mr. Grant alleges—borrowing from some
dishonest pamphlets put forth by the wholesale furnishers
of protection fallacies—that wheat could be imported
into this country—better wheat, too, than we can grow
in Aberdeenshire (but which, after all, is not saying
much)—at 20s. or 255. less per quarter than we pay for
it, what is to be thought of the law that robs us so
monstrously ? Of wheat alone there is consumed,
in the United Kingdom, twelve or thirteen millions
of quarters annually. What do our readers think
of a system that, according to Mr. Grant's state-
ment, takes the large proportion of from twelve to
sixteen millions sterling a year from the consumer.
and puts it into the pockets of the landowners, and this
on one kind of agricultural produce alone ! The con-
sumption of other sorts of grain is upwards of forty mil-
lions of quarters, and allowing even that half of this
is never brought to market, but reserved for seed, feeding
the agriculturists, their servants, and their horses, we
shall have another four or five millions to 'add to the
landlords' tax. Had Mr. Grant been hired by the League
to exaggerate the burden of the corn-laws, he could -not
have taken a better method than this to show that they
rob the consumers of a sum, according to his own esti-
mate, of from sixteen to twenty millions sterling every
iyear. There has been grumbling about the twenty
millions:granted to the West Indian slave-owners, and we
;still complain of the tax imposed by their sugar mono-
poly—which, assuredly, is no mean grievance, being
something upwards of five millions a-year ; but both
taken together are a trifle, compared with this perpetual
drain of twenty millions a-year, which, according to Mr.
Grant, is taken from the poor bread-eaters,