The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-12 00:00:00

Mr. CUNLIFFE proposed a rote of thanks to Mr.
Robertson for his exertions on behalf of the bondholders,
which WAS carried unanimously.
Mr. ROBERTSON said, in returning thanks, that before
undertaking the consulate of Equador he had made it an
express stipulation that he should press an arrangement
of this debt with all the speed possible.—(Hear, hear.)
Ile could assure the meeting that there never was a
better prospect of a speedy settlement of their claims
than at present.
The meeting then separated, after a vote of thanks to
Mr. Talker for his conduct in the chair.

MR. DENISON, M.P., AND FREE
TRADE.
At a very numerous meeting of landed proprietors
and tenant farmers, held at Doncaster on Saturday, Mr.
Denison, M.P., offered some explanation cf his conduct
with respect to the part which ho has taken on the sub-
ject of protection and free trade. The chair was taken
by Sir Wm. Bryan Cooke, Bart., and a resolution hay-
in;.z been carried in support of a return to protection,
Mr. DENISON said, if he had lowered himself in their
esteem by the vote he gave last week, he could only say
that he had no honest alternative, and he would tell them
why. He alluded to the amendment proposed by Sir J.
Trollope, against which Lord J. Russell and Sir C. Wood
spoke, and declared that Miaisters would not comply.
Now, every man in the House ought to consider the re-
sult of a vote he was about to give. And the position
in which he stood was this—that if, by his vote, he
should turn a Government out, who was to follow ?
He had no wish to turn out the present Govern-
ment.—(Hisses.) Who was to succeed them ?
(Cries of " Lord Stanley," and " Hear, hear.")
Well, he had no objection to Lord Stanley, be-
cause he believed him to be a wonderfully honest man;
but perhaps not always the most judicious. Bet sup-
posing Lord Stanley were sent for,
.unless he was
prepared to go back to protection, and do away
with free trade, why should he be put in the
place of Lord John Russell ? And how would
he be able to get up a Government in favour of protec-
tion? Would he get one of Sir Robert Peel's party to go
with him? In the first place he did not believe they would
be asked; and, if asked, he did not believe they would go.
And, in the last alternative, an:appeal to the country,
could they then form a protection Government? —(Yes.)
Ho knew something of the House of Commons, and he
could say that the Protectionists hai not a single
man, with the exception of Mr. Herries, who had
ever held office in his life.—(A ♦oice, " They will
be all the honester.") Honest or not, if a man had
not been in office before, he was not the fittest
man to form a part of the Government. Ho
was firmly persuaded that Lord Stanley, with a Protec-
tion party, could not form a Government which would
stand a fortnight. And if so, would they like the
Queen to send for Mr. Cobden ?—(No, no.) Well, he
was sure they would not wish for Sir R. Peet.—(No.) He
would be frank with them, and say that he was sure
that even he could not form a Government. Well, then,
if neither Sir Robert Peel, Lord Stanley, nor Mr.
Cobden could form a Government, they must be content
with the present one. And this being his impression,
he ♦oted against the amendment, considering that it was
his duty to his Sovereign and to his constituents that he
should do so.

Some resolutions having been carried, it was agreed
that petitions be got up and presented to both Houses,
praying for a moderate duty, or the exemption of the
land and its produce from all taxes whatever, as the only
means of arresting the evils at present complained of.

IN ATFORD.—On Friday last one of the most nu-
merous and respectable parties which this town has wit-
nessed for many years dined together at the George
Inn for the purpose of paying a tribute of respect to Mr.
Paten, for his indefatigable exertions in the prosecution
of the plan for supplying the inhabitants of the metro-
polis with pure water. Upwards of fifty gentlemen sat
down.

PROTECTION IN via lllGnwirtio 8.--- A memorial
to the Queen, praying her Majesty to her pre_
nd caalltcatobihneert
sent Ministers, to dissolve
councils men who would make Protection
measure, has been hawked about the a.st. two
weeks in Strathtay and Athole. It
with some of the minor landlords originated
with
e
districts ; but the time when "Jock geed up to
be hanged to please the laird" is passed away, and most
of the farmers are refusing to sign the memorial. They
call it "humbug," or the Gaelic equivalent of that ex-
pressive epithet, and declare that a reduction of rent is
the one thing needful to the tenant-farmer. Here, as in
must other oases, the Protectionists go out to gather
wool, and return shorn.—Perth Advertiser.

THE AYLESBURY SA VINGS' BAN K.—The small
freehold property, consisting of four cottages, let for
211. 121.. a year, belonging to Stratton, have just been
sold by direction of the trustees of the Aylesbury Be-
nefit Building Society, of which he was a secretary. It
has not realised sufficient to cover the society's claims,
and consequently there will be nothing forthcoming
to diminish the amount of his defalcations at the savings'
bank, which amount to between 990/. and 1,0001. It is
in a singular fact that Stratton, who sailed from Liverpool
the
i Canada upwards of six weeks ago, was accompa-
nied n the same vessel by a clerk who had plundered
the savings' bank at Jedburgh of between 4,0001 and
5,0004

that Government intended to bring forward a general
measure for the dissolution of companies, of which they
might take advantage, and thus avoid the expense of
getting a private Bill to dissolve. He simply drew this
inference, and had no official knowledge of what the
Government proposed to do.
A vote of thanks, after some further discussion, was
passed to the Chairman and directors, and the meeting
separated.

MEETING of the BONDHOLDERS
OF EQUADOR.

A meeting was held of the Equador bondholders, at
the Guildhall Coffee-house, yesterday, by the requi-
sition of Mr. P. Robertson, to consider certain proposi-
tions. The meeting was numerously attended.
In opening the proceedings,
Mr. ROBERTSON said that he appeared before them as
the representative of the Republic of Equador. One of
the subjects which that Government had most at heart
was that of the foreign debt. Moat of the bondholders,
he thought, knew the circumstances in which that re-
public was placed. When Colombia was split into three
portions, New Granada, Venezuela, and Equador, an
arrangement at which Equador had no commissioner
present, the debt owing by Colombia was split into three
parts, and the lion's share—(Cries of " No, no," from
the bondholders)—yea, he thought taking into ac-
count the smallness of the population, and the paucity
of the resources, that 21 per cent of the debt was by
far the largest share. The white population was 300,000
or 400,000 at the most, spread over a large amount of
country. This debt had been a subject of great anxiety
to the Government, and they were extremely wishful
to come to some arrangement; and he (Mr. Robertson)
was armed with a full power of attorney to come to a
settlement as soon as possible. His object in calling this
meeting was to ask them to name a committee of three of
themselves to make arrangements with him respecting the
immediate settlement of the debt. He should be ready to
furnish that committee with all the information in his
power, with the details, which it was impossible to fur-
nish to such a large meeting. He thought it was his
duty to inform the meeting that the present price would
be the maximum which they would be able to obtain.
He spoke under the perfect knowledge of what Equador
could do. Any arrangement which he might be able to
make with that committee it would be necessary for
him to transmit to the Legislative Assembly of
Equador to receive its assent.
In reply to a question,
Mr. ROBERTSON said that he had no reason to think
that say arrangement which he made would be refused
by that body.
A BONDHOLDER inquired what would be the
maximum?
Mr. RobEnTsoN said it would be 3 per cent., arriving
at that by a scale from 1 per cent. The overdue coupons
he was not so certain about, but he thought that they
would be transferred into the nature of deterred stock.
There were other matters into which he could not enter
into detail at present.
Mr. LIND() thought that if Equador had had no
commissioner present at the division of the debt, she was
cot justified in recognizing the debt. He believed that
the division of the territory had been made with a con-
sideration to the population, commerce, and resources of
the three parts, nor did he think that there was reason
for Mr. Robertson saying that Equador had the lion's
share.

After some desultory conversation, in the course of
which some of the bondholders insinuated that the ob-
ject of Mr. Roberson, in calling the meeting, was to
depreciate the Equador stock, and to make the best
bargain he could with the bondholders,
Mr. ROBERTSON replied that he had yet to learn that
a state was to be thought less of because it came for-
ward to meet its creditors, and to make the best ar-
rangement it could with them. His object in meeting
them there to-day was not to depreciate the stock, but to
make an arrangement with them for the settlement of
the debt.
Mr. GREEN thought that the best eourse which this
meeting could pursue would be to desire Mr. Robertoo❑
to put himself into communication with the committee
of the Spanish American bondholders, and to inform
them that he was empowered to make arrangements
for the settlement of the debt.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. LINDO entirely approved of the suggestion. He
considered that any disagreement which might have oc-
curred between that body and Mr. Robertson would not
at all lessen Mr. Robertson's readiness to undertake that
arrangement.
Mr. ROBERTSON said he was perfectly willing to un-
dertake any arrangement which the meeting would pro-
pose. He thought the best course would be for the
meeting to appoint a chairman, and embody their propo-
sition in a resolution, and to transmit it to him.
Mr. TANKER then took the chair, and put the follow-
ing resolution, which was moved by Mr. Green and
seconded by Mr. Cunliffe:—
" That Mr. W. P. Robertson be desired to put him-
self into communication with the committee of Spanish
American bondholders, with a view to the immediate
settlement of the Equador debt."
Mr. MARRIOTT thought that resolution was scarcely
stringent enough. He would express more confidence in
the committee, and would not press for the immediate
settlement of the debt; be thought that the prosperity of
South America was perspective, and if they were con-
tent to wait fur a little time he had no doubt they would
be able to obtain much more favourable terms.
No amendment was proposed, and the resolution was
put and carried unanimously.
A BONDHOLDER wished to know whether the committee
would have all powers to settle with Mr. W. P. Robert-
son without acquainting the bondholders previously.
The CHAIRMAN raid that there was no instance on
record where the committee had come to a final arrange-
ment without previously calling a meeting to acquaint
them with the conditions.