The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-09 00:00:00

ettrninis

LONDON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1844.

Considering that the Anti-Corn-law League—accord-
ing to the statements of the majority of the Ministerial
journals—has been dead or dying for the last three months
and upwards—we never knew a confederacy in so
uncommonly- health y a condition, or which gave such
unequivocal indications of longevity. It is a great
act of presumption in the League to persevere in the
enjoyment of such excellent health, when it ought
long since to have given up the ghost, if only to jus•
tify the statements of the Herald, the Standard, &c.
Had it possessed the slightest sense of feeling and
delicacy, it would long since have put an end to its
existence, and thereby saved the character of these
estimable journals for sagacity and foresight. But the
League has no sense of propriety—no sense of disinter.
estedness ; it is purely selfish, otherwise when the
organs of Monopoly insisted on its dying, and even
tried hard to kill it, it would have died with the
utmost readiness, and with the best grace imaginable!
Those who have read SURTO NI1:9, may, perhaps, re-
member the curious anecdote which the biographer
of the CESADS tells of the NERO and his mother
AG RIPPINA . Anxious to disembarrass her of the
troubles of life, this affectionate son administered a
dose of poison to his parent, and immediately spread
abroad a report that she was dead. But 10, to his
exceeding discomfiture, the poison pro duced no
effect, and the next day the old lady met NERO at
the dinner table, looking as smiling and comfortable
as if nothing had happened ! Annoyed at his
ill-success, the tender-hearted son next invited his
mother to an evening party at the island of Caprice.
and gave orders to the skipper of the vessel in which
she embarked, to drown her on the passage. The
man of course was all compliance, but alas, NERO
had never taken into consideration the fact that the
old lady swam like a duck, and was not less asto-
nished than horrified at finding her swim safe ashore,
and he among the foremost to enjoy the festivities of
the evening ? Just as NERO acted towards his
refractory parent, have the Ministerial prints
acted towards the League. They have tried
to poison it by their deadly slanders, and
to drown it in the fierce, headstron g torrent of their
• abuse ; but in spite of all they can do, it still persists,
like the tough AGRIPPINA, in living, and whatis worse,
in turning its existence to the most active and efficient
account. What wonder that its enemies are mad-
dened at their ill-success, and more inveterate than
they
have yet been against the League ! But, fortu-
nately, they have less power than eve,r, to injure, this
great popular confederacy, whichv on lr ednesday next
will again take the field Co garaclen with aug-
Merited resources, renewed energies, and sharp-
ened and disciplined by experience. etpaternuoh
substantial good from the exertions of the Anti-Corn-
law League in the approaching campaign. mr,

believe that it will give another serious shock to the
crazy fabric of Monopoly ; set poor Mr. BANEE,s, of
the Dorsetshire Elysium, quite beside himself with
rage and despair; draw forth new powers of abuse
from the Duke of RICHMOND ; and elicit from the
reluctant, but expediency- guided Premier, a more
explicit declaration in favour of the principle of free
trade than he has yet ventured to make. As we have
observed on more than one occasion, Sir ROBERT
PEEL only bides his time to come round to the
views of the League. He is too observant a
statesman not to see the strict justice of its
demands, but feeling that the Monopolist party
and those who side with them, are yet too strong for
him, he quietly rests on his oars, confidently antici-
pating the approach of the hour when he will have
both wind and tide in his favour. Under such cir-
cumstances, what is the course that the Anti-Corn.
law League should pursue ? It should keep itself
before the public eye more prominently than ever;
persist in its constitutional agitation with a boldness
and pertinacity abundantly justified by the gradual
progress of events ; and, above all and before all, not
neglect the circulation of tracts, to the fullest
extent possible, among the inhabitants of the agricul-
tural districts, who at the present moment
are from a variety of causes—not the least of which
is their state of physical destitution—well disposed to
give a favourable consideration to such clear, forcible
arguments as the League, through its tracts, may ad-
dress to them. It is by adopting such a strenuous
course of agitation only that Messrs. COBDEN and
BRIGHT, and the other members of their confederacy,
can hope to bring the Premier round to their own
views, for impervious as he is to conviction, he is,
and has always been, and will always continue to be,
exceedingly sensitive to the effects of the "pressure
from without."

The commotions caused by Puseyism are happily
not confined now to the cloisters of Oxford. They
have become general throughout the country, and the
jesuitical, deceitful, and anti-Protestant intrigues of
certain clergymen and Fellows of Colleges, together
with the connivance of the Bishops, and the almost
total silence of the two Archbishops, have excited a
feeling of alarm for the safety of the reformed reli-
gion which does honour to Englishmen. The danger
is unknown, and is therefore probably magnified; but
the symptoms, nevertheless, are such as to warrant
the most energetic measures on the part of the laity
in opposing the tide of Popish innovations, which are
so visible in the Church. A report prevails that
the Bishops have become alarmed at the mani-
festations of public opinion, that frequent
communications are carried on between them
and the Primates, and that the Episcopal Bench
are determined to put down forthwith Pusex, and
Newstais, and,WAnn, and all the young fry of
Popish imitators. Not the slightest credit can be
given to such a report, yet parties, from a strange
hallucination who have hitherto honestly opposed the
Tractarians, not only place implicit confidence in it,
but recommend that the redress of this unprincipled
outrage on Protestantism should be left entirely in
the hands of the Bishops. Who aver heard of defeated
rebels being allowed to make terms with the Execu-
tive ? What rational man would recommend that a
band of thieves, caught in flagrante d,elicto, should be
allowed to retire to their haunts of infamy, and pro-'
pose terms of settlement to those they had
robbed ? Why the Church, and the very nursery
of our Bishops and Clergy, Protestant Oxford,
have been the cause of all the mischief. The tracts
issued from that venerable establishment, for a time,
not a whisper against them was heard from the Epic-
copal Bench ; 89 appeared, all directed, openly or
,;overtly, against the Protestant religion, and it was
►nly when the 90th, so outrageous in its character,
tnd so directly opposed to tenets revered by English-
men, made a noise in the world that the Bishop of the
iocese, or the Archbishop of CANTERBURY— we
orget which—intimated to Messrs. PUSET and NEW.
NIAN that it would be prudent to stop the publication.
The hint was taken, and this shows what the fathers
•,f the Church could do if they were serious in the
natter. But they are not serious. With one or two
boeourable exceptions, their late addresses to the clergy
tt visitations have been of such a vacillating character,
es vague, and yet so forgiving to the offenders, that all
reasonable men said, if they looked to the. Bishops
For support, they would trust to a broken reed.
['heir replies to remonstrances from the laity have
been equally unsatisfactory. These Fathers, in place
of treating the people under their charge as re-
formed Christians who have a dread of change, re-
buke them for meddling with the ceremonies of the
Church, and seem to rejoice when, in the abundance
►f their rubrical knowledge, they can prove that
.:hurchwardens and vestries know nothing about the
importance of the surplice, the beauties of the
4ffertory, and the blessings which will be conferred
on the Church by burning tapers, genuflexions, and
frankincense. Admitting, therefore, that a conclave
is to be held on this important schism, what beneficial
result can be expected? The two Archbishops are old
•nen, one approaching fourscore years and ten, theisther
item displayed great activity, and, if report speaks
he truth, is more guidtql by one of his brethren than
oss e judgment. Many of the Bishops take little
nterest in the matter; they love quiet and retirement,
tnd will be led by the two most active, stirring, and
;iaughty prelates on the bench, whose opinions are
Nell known at Helston and Tottenham. Will the
Protestants of England trust their religious principles
to the decision of such manifest Puseyites ?

Madrid journals of the Ist instant have been re
.eived, from which wo regret to find that the tour.
lerous system of shooting men without trial is stil

persevered in by the NARVAEZ Government. FELL.
CIAO &RDAS°, the eldest son of General ZURuANO,
was shot at Logrono on the 28th, along R ith Captain
BALTANAS, ZURBANO'S secretary, and a third person,
whose name is not mentioned. These unfortunate
victims had surrendered voluntarily. The Govern-
nent, it was believed, had decided on bringing to
;ourt• martial General BAvoNes, Captain General of
Burgos ; and General ORIBE, Commandant of the
province of Logrono, for not more promptly executing
the orders they had received for the execution of such
ZURBANO'S band as might fall into their hands.
MADRID BOURSE ON THE 30TH.—Three per Cents.,
for cash, 30 ; for Account, 30 1-16 ; Five per Cents.
for Account, 211.

We are glad to find the Paris Opposition journals
tally displaying less animosity against England, and

lirecting the attention of the French nation, more

especially the trading community, to the decayed
state of their mercantile nary, the commercial treaties

farmed by their neighbours in a spirit of peace and
equality, and the necessity of a more liberal system,
both foreign and domestic, to place the commerce of
France on a footing with that of Germany and Eng-
land. This is noble rivalry, and infinitely more ad.
vantageous to the glory and greatness of France
than hundreds of victories, which only waste human
life, and in a few years generally leave affairs as they
were at first. The Constitutionnel of Saturday has
an article on the commerce of Prussia, Holland, and
Belgium, as compared with that of France ; and after
showing the vast increase which has taken place in
the exports and imports of the latter country, adds :
Thus we are menaced and outrivalled on all sides.
Treaties are concluded without our concurrence, and
we daily see our neighbours coming into redoubtable
competition, without its being possible for us to be-
come participators in any just proportion in this
movement, which interests in so high a degree the
produce of our country, that is to say, the prosperity
of our manufactures and commerce,"
The .National too has an excellent article on the
obstruction to trade in France, among which it
reckons quarantine, and the octroi duty (town dues) ;
and, it might add, the obnoxious and useless system
of passports. That journal thus vividly describes the
injury done to French commerce, and recommends
the Government to imitate the example of Eng-
land :

" Three days back some just reflections were given in
a Conservative journal on the quarantine system, which
is so rigorously applied in our ports, and which causes a
considerable prejudice to our maritime relations with the
East. It is very right, without doubt, to fear the plague,
and to take precautions against it ; but those which we
take are exaggerated, and the neighbouring nations, who
have profited better than we by the advance of science,
are gradually obtaining exclusive possession of the Me-
diterranean, for the simple reason that a long preventive
imprisonment is not required in their ports as in ours.
Therefore travellers and goods coming from the
Levant prefer the line of Trieste to that of Marseilles,
and, strangely enough, the journey from Alexandria to
yrauce is sometimes effected more quickly by passingo
England than by landing at Toulon. This places us in

a state of real inferiority, and it is difficult to compre-
hend how such a state of things can be persisted in,
when it adds at least one or two weeks to a passage
of a few days, and this when all nations are devis-
ing means of augmenting in every possible way ra-
pidity of circulation. These reflections are certainly
just, but they ought, we think, to be applied to matters
constantly passing before our eyes. Every day, nay,
every hour, at the entrances to Paris, there may be seen
vehicles loaded with goods, travellers, and merchants,
obliged to undergo veritable quarantines, and that with-
out any fear of contagion serving as a pretext. A
vehicle, for instance, proceeding from Meux to Paris,
takes about four hours to effect this distance. When-
it has so far advanced as to arrive at the Barriare de la
Villette, it is detained an hour, and thus its journey is
prolonged a fifth. It is the same, and even worse, for
all the articles brought to Paris each morning. The
unfortunate drivers are obliged to leave home three or
four hours sooner than would be necessary without
the octroi, and are forced to pus a part of the night
fully exposed to the inclemency of the season, until the
unfortunate moment arrives when it shall please the
octroi-officer to poke his examining lance into the load.
Everymorning several thousand individuals lose in thisway
a considerable portion of their time, and that without
any profit to any one. There is in this a clear loss for
them and for society. Our octroi system, which forces
citizens to stop on the road at the moment of arriving at
the end of their journey, and subjects them to the visits
of a crowd of agents, costing large sums to keep up, will
certainly one day pass for a mark of barbarism, doing
but little honour to our times. There is not a single
observation justly addressed to lazarettos that cannot
be applied with greater reason to these fiscal citadels
established round Paris. Our neighbours, who are cited
as a proof of the necessity of suppressing quarantines,
have perceived that it was absurd to maintain amongst
them the entrance duties which weigh so heavily on our
commerce. It is time to imitate them, and to put an end to
a state of things, the most manifest result of which is to
harass the citizens, to cause a great loss of time, to cause
a prejudice to merchandise, and to offer a premium to
fraud."

The Frew, which has an article on a similar subject,
praises the new tariff, and adds :—" But it must not
be forgotten that measures of this nature are incom-
plete as long as the general legislation of the country
favours the two most powerful navies in the world.
The day on which the evil is to be attacked in its root
the Government must determine to strike a more de-
cisive blow. Whilst waiting for this moment, which
we trust will soon arrive, we must applaud every act
of the Government which indicates a tendency to-
wards that complete reform, and we are certain that
the ordinance published in the &foniteur will be hailed
with satisfaction in all our seaports." The Constita-
tionnel says, it is the intention of Ministers, if chances
are not against them to dissolve the Chamber at the
clone of the approaching session, and, among ether
reasons for this step, gives the following :—" The
K trio, fortunately, has the strongest health and the
most robust constitution, and his reign will, without
doubt, be prolonged for many years. It is, however,
only a matter of prudence that the Chamber should
always have three sessions to run, in order that, if an
event, which is probably very distant, but which
ought always to be provided for, should bring on a
change in the reigning prince, a sufficiently consider-
able period should elapse before the time of a general
election. It ought therefore, it is alleged, to be laid
dcTwii as a principle of prudence, ;that, unless under
grave circumstances, the Chamber for the future
should be dissolved, not after the. fourth session, but
after the third ; and this rule is, it is said, to be ap-
plied to the present Legislature."

The peaceful demonstrations of the war party in
France, which are responded to by one of the organs
of that class in England, has afforded the Journal des
Debats an occasion for a humorous article. After
noticing the reconciliation, it says :
" Delightful harmony ! Behold our politicians, our
journalists, who, during the last four or five years, have
been exhausting themselves in looking out in the dic-
tionary for, and using all the polemical terms they could
find, and sometimes others much stronger, for their
mutual accusations of lightness, stupidity, ambition, and
thirst for war.; who, were we to have listened to them,
would have made us believe that not only Europe but
the world was on the point of being put to fire and the
sword. Behold them, suddenly taking the fancy to re-
flect and discovering—shall we not say to their own great
surprise—that they are not so malignant as they were
thought to be. ' What would you have ?' says one
party. We thought you were going to play the part of
Napoleon—that you intended to take Antwerp, the left
bank of the Rhine, and even, perhaps, Ireland I On
hearing you roar so loud, we were afraid you wanted
to eat us up 1' No, no,' replies, the other, Don't be
afraid, we do not wish to hurt 'you. We certainly
now and then sing the Marseillaise, but it is all in
joke. In the ebullitions of our eloquence we retain
our knowledge of the world and its-affairs; in the bile of
our pamphlets there is always a sentiment of truth. We
thought you wisbed to thwart and humiliate us. It is
no such thing. Let us come to an understanding. Give
us your hand, for we new know what you mean. We
often find in certain fabulous romances, how two knights-
errant meet in a fog, or in an enchanted forest, with their
visors lowered, and without even taking time to demand
their respective names, or to regard their device or
escutcheon, they blindly attack each other, and engage
in mortal combat, and then, during a moment of IP site-
Lion, they raise their visors, look each other in the face,
and find that the two fierce combatants are brothers in
arms, the best friendsin the world—Orestes and Pylades,
Damon and Pythias, Nisus and Euryalus—upon which
they embrace, execrating their mistake. Such an ad-
venture or mischance has, it appears, occurred to M.
Thiers and Lord Palmerston. During four years Europe
was a spectator of the battle of those two champions. The
two Parliaments resounded with the heroic blows which
they dealt each other. But a fine day arrives, the f, g clears
off, the two champions wipe their eyes, and regard each
other. M. Thiers recognises Lord Palmerston, and
Lord Palmerston recognises M. Thiers. There is a
moment of surprise ! The encounter lasted so long, it
was so rude, in appearance at least, that the unhappiness
of the two hampions may easily be imagined. But let
us not feel any alarm ; neither of the knights have been
killed or wounded. The innocent public alone were de-
ceived, who believed the knights were fighting seriously.
The simple people believed it was a tragedy, whilst it
was only a comedy in five acts. It appears that we are
now witnessing the fifth act, and that tne piece ought to
conclude, like every well-arranged comedy, with a ge-
neral explanation and reconciliation. An explanation
is made, the mystery is cleared up, and all parties em-
brace. This is the spectacle which we are now witness-
ing. The two great statesmen of 1840 are lavishing all
kinds of endearing epithets on each other through the
medium of their respective organs."
THE BOURSE--SATURDAY, DEC. 7.

Dint Highest Lowest Last

Price. Price. Price. Price
French Five per Cents.... •• 120 20 .. 120 80 .. 120 25 120 55
Fours • • •• •• 108 .. 108 108 •• 108
Three per Cents •• 83 3.5 .. 83 58 .. 83 30 .. 83 40
Bank of France 3200 ..3210 .•3200 —3205
Lafritte Bank, I,ooof. Shareslloo —llOO .• 1100 ..1100
B,ooof. SharessoBo ..8080 ..5080 "5080
Belgian Bank •.....
1841.. •••••1100 —llOO ..1100 „1100
Belgian Fives,lB4o •••••••• 1031 • • 103/ .. 1031 ..
Two-and-a-Half.... 61 85 •• 61 • • 61 85 .. 62
Apanish Threes ••• . •• •... 361 • • 361 • • 361 .. 361
Portuguese Five per Cents.. 651 •• 56 •• 65; ..
56
Neapolitan •• •......• .• . 98 SO .. 98 90 .. 93 50 .. 98 55
Dutch Two and-a-Half .• ••• 61/ .. 641 •• 64 • 641
Rowan •••• • • •
RAILWAY SHARES

Versailles,R.B.•• •••••• .• •• 453 50 .• 457 50 .. 456 25 •• 456 25
L. 8.•• •• •• •••• 327 50 .. 324 75 325 .• 325
R,uen 1030 • 1030 •.1030 ..1130
Rouen to Havre••••
Orleans •• •• •• •••••• •••• ••1066 25 ..1067 50 ..1065 ..1065
Strasburg to 292 50 •• 295 . 292 50 .• 292 50
Avignon to Marseilles•. •• .• 927 50 .. 927 50 .• 927 50 .. 927 SO
RAILWAYS FOR THE ACCOUNT, Drc 16.
St. Germain....• •••• •••••• 980 .. 988 75 .. 980 .. 960
Versailles, R. 8...•..
L.B••••
Reties.
723 76 703 7g 701 06 . 701 75
Orleans ..........••.•• •• —1067 50 ..1070 ..1067 50 ..tf.6b
Strasburg to 8a1e.......... 291 25 .. 295 .. 291 25 .• 293 75
Avignon to Marseilles...... 927 60 .. 930 .• 927 60 .. 927 50

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY FOR DECEMBER.—Bent-
!ey closes the year with the same spirit and talent, and
genuine humour as it began with. The leader of the
corps comique and pathetique is Albert Smith ; and we
now look in vain amongst the contributors to the vari-
ous monthlies around us, for anything approaching the
style of rich and natural humour, mingled with heart-
stirring pathos, which pervades his writings. " The
Fortunes of the Scattergood Family" will, we are satis-
fied, be as much the favourite of the public as the best
of Dickens's facetious works. " The Tempted "is a
well-written tale, powerfully worked out, and would well
repay the trouble of dramatising. "The Physiology of
London Life—Life in Lodgings," is vcry amusing.
cisa na both
,re
Miss Louisa Stuart Costello, in her " Sketches of
ch t
t ear n
Le-
gendary Cities," gives us " Shrewsbury," and displays
than
gooda
n lay taste, st
oute. a Our
Christmas r Shropshire h
half-crowni re fr ien
and s
n (t research
purchase
rbe
laughable ;thetoy,
mragaanz(iin e.
the
"Post
Benefits
Bag„of Sonru
Eccentricff-taki n g "
Correspondents," by It. B. Peake, is highly entertaining.
There are two first-rate poems, " The Genius of Theo
critus" and " Tribute to Anacreon:" the first is one con-
tinued flow of golden thoughts—we do not recollect a
poem in Bentley, from the commencement of the maga-
zine, of such rich beauty. There are several other
papers, to which we have not time to refer. Let us
not, however, emit a word of praise to John Leech,
whose illustrations are superb.—Shropshire Conservative.
GREAT LEAGUE MEETING AT LEEDB.--One vof
the most enthusiastic meetings of free-trade electors ever
held in Leeds, took place at the Music-hall on AVednes-
thy evening. Alderman
Stansfield in the chair. The
object of the meeting was to hear addresses from Richard
1
Cobden, Elq., M.., ' and John Bright, Esq., M.P., on
the best means of adding to the strength of the free-trade
party in the West Riding. The meeting
.was convened
by circular, signed by Hamer Stansfield,sq., Chairman
of the Free-trade Committee ; and notwithstanding that
only such persons as were most likely to qualify fir the
West Riding were invited, the extensive saloon, the
largest public room in Leeds, was completely filled ; and
judging from the enthusiasm which prevailed during the
eunciation ;of the plans of the League, in the eloquent
speeches of Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright, we cannot but
infer that a most important stimulus was given to the
cause of free trade in this district.—Leeds Mercury.
Sir William Middleton has let 20 acres of land
among the cottagers of Great and Little Livermere, the
rents varying from 14 to 24 an acre.