The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-22 00:00:00

vinced of this, we see in the cause of
monopoly a cause altogether so hopeless and
impotent that we regard the fuming and vapour-
ing of its advocates with a feeling of contemptuous
indifference. Their noisiest orations an so entirely
the, flatulent ebullitions of an innocuous revenge, that
we have heart to cry out defiantly with LEAs in the
play,—" Blow winds., crack your cheeks
But, it may be asked, how it comes for the nonce
that a minority, in itself so contemptible, should
find itself swelled out to such respectable
dimensions in last night's division ? We
reply, that f.r this the bickerings of faction are
answerable—that the Irish representatives are re-
sponsible for a large portion of the odium thereby
attached to the Legislature. Were the same spirit
of petty revenge carried out much further, we should
soon perceive that if the principle of JoHNIIIITcnEn
has obtained small recognition, his example has proved
largely contagious among his fellow-countrymen in the
Legislature—their aim being, in fact, identical with his,
namely, " the disruption and downfal of the bloody
old British empire." Before this can be accoui-

plished, however, it should be borne in mind that
the British empire is still defended by the stalwart
hearts and brawny arms of the great race of the
Anglo-Saxons.

Most appropriate and felicitous was the quotation
from ALEXANDER POPE cited yesterday, at the meet•
ing at Willis's Rooms, by Lord CARLISLE. The
happy prophecy of the poet as to the advent of a
day when

Unbounded Thames should flow for all mankind,
Whole nations enter with each swelling tide,
And seas but join the regions they divide"
will meet with a very literal realisation at the period
of the Great Industrial Exhibition ; and not only will
the letter but the spirit of the prophecy be then ful-
filled. Not only will individuals of all nations be
actually gathered together by the great meeting to
be holden in London in 1851, but the very proposi-
tion, and the peculiar terms of the proposition, for
that assembly Will effect much, and have
already effected much, towards strengthen-
ing and developing the bonds of interna-
tional amity. The meeting held yesterday in
Westminster was in this, as in all other reTects,
worthy of the occasion on which it was convened.
At that meeting the Foreign Ministers of France,
of America, of Prussia, and of Belgium, vied with
each other in tendering, in the names of their re-
respective nations, an expression of generous admira-
tion at the suggestion, and an offer of cordial co-
operation in the furtherance of the proposed under-
taking—an undertaking in every way worthy of the
British nation, and eminently creditable to the en-
lightened Prince who has rendered himself so
honourably conspicuous in its promotion. The very
appearance of the various Ambassadors on
the platform yesterday was an exquisitely
appropriate recognition of that universal character
which forms the peculiar and glorious feature of the
proposed exhibition. In addition to the appearance
of those Ambassadors, and in addition to the eloquent
truths set forth in their various discourses, the meet-
ing of yesterday was rendered attractive by the pre-
sence of the Earl of Castrasr.r, whose enlightened and
accomplished mind and liberal principles eminently
qualified him for taking a conspicuous part on suet
an occasion. Very justly did the Noble Earl re•
mind his auditors of the peculiar fitness of the pro.
posed festival for the peculiar characteristics o
the age we live in. " If," be argued,

" in

cultivated Greece they delighted in games
adapted to the public taste, if the sterner Romans
took pleasure in the dying throes of the gladiator, or
the bloody struggles of wild beasts, very surely at
the present day, in order to be national and becoming
to the spirit of the age we live in, industry, skill, and
enterprise, should have in their turn their own ova-
tion=, their own triumphs, their own high holding,
when the workmen and work women of the world
may escape for a time from their unceasing toils, fur
the purpose of seeing what their fellow-workmen are
doing, and can do, the whole world over." Very
justly did Lord CARLISLE cite this peculiar
feature of the Exhibition as one which entitled it
to general support. It is to be, in fact, an ovation to
Skill and Enterprise and Industry, those three great
powers to whom, humanly speaking, this great
country is wholly indebted for her national prospe-
rity and magnificence. Therefore, as the French
Ambassador truly said, there could be no better
arena for the contest, than the metropolis of England.
A nation of shopkeepers we have been styled in de-
rision, and we are now about to show that in the
noblest signification of the word—inasmuch as it
signifies individual skill and industry, and mutual
co- operation and beneficence—we are proud of the
title. Some few years back a member of the aris•
tocracy boldly ventured to assert the pre-eminence of
mercantile over hereditary honour—

" The land it boasts its titled hoots, they cannot Tie with
these,
The merchants of old England, the Seigneurs of the
seas."

And now we find all 'classes, from Royalty down-
wards, uniting to afford a world-wide evidence of the
high estimation in Which this country holds the noble
industrial arts. It is, however, superfluous again to
enumerate the excellent effects likely to arise from
the industrial festival. Regarding it merely as a
sign of the times we live in, it is productiie only of
satisfaction. It is satisfactory, inasmuch as it is a na-
tional homage to the peaceful arts, and it is
more than satisfactory, as being, as the American
Minister happily styled it, a great Peace Convention.
While foreign nations have, by the lips of their Am-
bassadors, freely tendered us all the assistance we re-
quire of them, it remains for the British nation indi-
vidually v,-Jrthily to consummate that portion of the
arrangements in which she asks for no foreign help.
" This country,'' said Lord CAaniaLr, " enters the
lists of competition with the whole world, but it does
not forget that it has to discharge the office of hospi-
tality. The competition is to be international, but
the preparations ought to be wholly national." This
determination is entirely consonant with the national
feeling—it remains to be seen whether in a financial point
of view the undertaking will be rendered worthy
of its high object, and of the liberal character of the
British people, a question which can hardly be con-
sidered as admitting of the slightest doubt. Among
the speakers at the meeting of yesterday was Lord
BROUGHAM, who for that occasion only transgressed a
rule he has kept for twenty years, namely, never to
attend a public meeting. The occasion was well
worthy of forming an exception to the rule.

WEST INDIA MAIL.
(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, FEB. 22.—The Trent arrived this
morning with West India and Mexican mails.
She brings 450,000 dollars cn merchants' accounts,
and the exact number in manifest for the Mexican divi-
dends is 1,392 dollars. There is also on freight a guar:-
tity of cochineal, jalap, cigars, tz.:c.
The Jamaica markets had undergone no reaction since
the 17th ult., the date of advi&es v:d New York per Em-
pire City steamer.
The Clyde had arrived with the Mexican mails, which
was transhipped on board the Treat, on account of its
being necessary for that vessel to return to England for
repairs.

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY COM.
PANY.—The usunl half-yearly meeting of this corn-
p4ny was held this day, at twelve &clod:, at the
Euston-square 'station. The report recommended
that a dividend of 21. 15s. per cent. be declared for
the six months. The proceedings had not concluded
when we went to press.

SINGULAR ItZCOFERY OF STOLEN PROPERTY.—
On SaturdAy week, near twelve o'clock, a party of the
detective oflicer', ,either, from information supplied, or from
their own &uspic,i;ns, entered the small cheap auction shop
of a man named (Larne, situated on the south side of Tron-
gate, for the purr ose of making a survey. The man wit.;
knocking off silk and other goods at what is termed an
"immense a.eri113.2," when the police ?mind it cxpeciient,
to stop the sale., and clear the shop of the onlookers
and purchase:;., On an examination, they turned
out 139 silk aa' satin handkerchiefs, cravats, &c.,
many of the ar tide; of a very superior description,
and which there is now no doubt formed part of the
plunder of the sh op of Aliss lel4Kinlay in Kilmarnock,
which, one night last month was broken into by bur.
glars, and alma ;t the whole stock carried away.
Dining the pa t winter the housebreakings in
Glasgow have , not exceeded an average ; they
have possibly b see less ; but in several provincial
towns, such as A' yr, Lilmarnock, Paisley, Stirling, Fal-
kirk, and Perth, t here have been many daring cases of
housebreaking, in. which, in the aggregate, property to

e amount ne thousands o--11'. pounds bad been

stolen. We trut -the seizure which has now been made
will throw some light on these proceedings.—Glasgow
Herald.

COBDE K.,—We regret to liarn that a domestic
affliction prover !zed Mr. Cobden from attending the de-
bate (qa Mr. Di vraeli's motion.