The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-27 00:00:00

PIM SUN, LONDON, SAI4I7II,DAY PtORNING, J.,.4.NUARY 27, 1844.

ceeds no faster, and if it is carried over the whole
series of the meetings, it will scarcely be concluded
till Saturday.

Our Correspondent makes the following remarks
relative to the evidence of Mr. HUGHES, the Govern-
ment reporter :

" The position of witness for the Crown, in a Go-
vernment prosecution, has often been bad enough in
Ireland; but it does not follow that the people are
destitute of all power of discrimination between the
honest witness, and the man who gives his testimony
from motives which are neither disinterested nor inde-
pendent. For this reason, considerable regret has
been expressed here to-day, that the Times should
have been so misinformed as to state, in a leader of
Wednesday, that every attempt is being made in
Dublin, to inflame the minds of the people
against Mr. BOND HUGHES, by posting the
walls with placards, describing him as a spy,
a miscreant, &c. Nothing can be more unfounded
than such an assertion. I have neither seen
any such placard, nor by inquiry can I discover any
person who has. Indeed the impression with respect
to Mr. HUGHES is quite the reverse of unfavourable.
Before his evidence was given, and while it was un-
known what he was to be called to prove, it cannot
be wondered at that some suspicion and ill-feeling
►hould exist respecting him. But from the moment
his evidence was published, not a word has been
printed or uttered respecting him but what has been
complimentary to him. The Dublin Press
has been most scrupulous in making the
amende to him; men of all parties agree that his evi-
dence did him credit in every respect; and we may even
say that he is rather popular than otherwise. Even
among the lower classes the same favourable impres-
sion exists, and they draw a wide distinction between
him and the other witnesses, who swore to the
speeches as reporters. That there is any attempt to
inflame the minds of the people against him is a
mere falsehood, which has been imposed on the Times,
and may pass uncontradicted in London ; but read
here, with the quiet and peaceable deportment of the
people under immediate observation, such state-
ments appear absolutely absurd."

We are not learned in legal lore ; we do not pro-
fess to understand the subtleties of law; but we do
profess to understand the common sense of questions,
and to see as far into a millstone as any of our neigh-
bours. And, looking at the trial now going on in
Ireland, with all the appliances and means to boot
with which we are endowed, we do think that we
can form as good a judgment of the proceedings as
any of our contemporaries.

It is to u evident that the case for the prosecution
is drawing to a close, and that the end of the be-
ginning i, at hand. And such an end never was, in
our opinion, witnessed. The evidence for the Crown
might, in truth, have been given for the traversers,
and every witness against them might, with far more
judgment, have been called for them. The prose-
cutors have proved that the meetings were peaceable
—that no secrecy was used in calling them—that
every publicity was given to them—that every
reporter for Government or for the press was admitted
freely and without restraint—that peace was on the
lips, as in the conduct, of the leaders—and that no fear
was caused, nor alarm created. What more could
there be proved for the defence ? Evidence can
only go to facts, not to intent, and intent can only
be judged of by those facts. The evidence given for
the prosecution indisputably proves the innocence of
the accused.

We do not think that any English jury would ever
call for a defence from persons against whom such
evidence only had been given. We are quite sure
that no English jury would convict upon such evi-
dence. Why then should we hesitate or doubt as to
an Irish jury ? Why should we fear the result in
their hands ? Simply and solely, because when an
Irish Attorney-General relies upon a case totally
groundless, a mere tale of a tub, to procure him a
verdict, we presume he knows his jury. He ought
to know it, for he had trouble enough to
get it. And if he relies upon the jury,
so much the more fear for the traversers. It is not
sufficient for us to have seen the case against the tra-
versers, grow " small by degrees and beautifully
less"—to have seen it dwindle away, and melt
like snow in the sun; for we feel no confidence in
Irish law,'in Irish justice, in Irish juries ; and we
feel grateful that, thanks to the Crown officials, no
verdict, can damage the accused, nor do good to their
persecutors.

It may be remembered that when Sir EDWARD
COBRINGTON went out to take the command of the
Mediterranean fleet, just previous to the " untoward"
victory of Navarino, he was reported to have received
his instructions in these words, "Go it, NED !"
Parodying the pithy language of these instructions,
we may say to the monopolists, who are now begin-
ning to stir in all quarters, "Go it, Neddiee,"
though we have not the slightest apprehension that
another " untoward" victory will be Ilse con-
sequence of their display of newly-awakened
energy. The truth is, they have stirred too
late for any efficient purpose. They should
have enlisted their recruits, collected their resources,
and taken the field months since, when the League
was less able to cope with them to advantage than it
is at present. They should have torn up the tree by
the roots when it was a mere weakly sapling, and
nut have waited till it had become a lusty, deep-
rooted, matured oak, capable of resisting the strongest
hurricane that hatred, self-interest, and desperation
may let loose against it. The monopolists,
we repeat, are too late with their display
of energy. The industrious classes have rallied
and combined against them; and even in the agricul-
tural districts—so many years their strong-hold—
men's opinions are seriously divided, and the League
can already number its converts by hundreds. Yet
the monopolists do not seem to be aware of their true
position, or else, from politic motives, they are keep-
ing it concealed from each other ; for they are at
work at Warwick, Spalding, Buckingham, and
Heaven knows how many other places, expostulat-
ing—viiifying—sophisticating—and pouring forth
twaddle and fustian with a profusion that bids defi-
ance to exhaustion. The Poet, meanwhile—the
hitherto pence, but now frisky and rejoicing Post—
cheers them an in language of congenial beauty, and
riotously alluded yesterday to " large funds" at
their disposal—funds which are yet in embryo, and
which, we greatly fear, are never destined to
chip the egg-shell. Go on, gentlemen* of the
monopoly persuasion—go on, we say, "fast and
furious"—uplift your oriflamme, and rally your
clodpoles under that august banner—declaim "a

Whole hour by Shrewsbury clock" to every mob you
can induce to listen to you—mesmerise all Bucks,
and rouse all Lincoln to duck Mr. COBDEN in one of
those sleepy, stagnant ditches, which presume
to call themselves rivers—draw forth from
the shy depths of your reluctant breeches
pockets subscriptions that shall show you are
at length in earnest—do all this and more ; and when
all is done, you shall still have reaped no solid ad-
vantage—in no respect have strengthened your
position—but continue on the same precarious footing
as that on which you now stand. To struggle with
any chance of success, a confederacy must strictly
represent and embody the peculiar spirit of its
age. This the Monopolist Association does not
do. On the contrary, it is in direct opposition
to that spirit; and, as a necessary consequence, must—
notwithstanding its exertions—grow weaker and
weaker in exact proportion to the progress of en-

lightened public opinion. When men are groping
about In the dark, nothing is more likely than that
they should mistake one thing for another—a dwarf
for a giant; but when they come forth into the broad
day-light they see things aa they really are, divested
of all exaggeration, and reduced to their just
dimensions. Now the people are no longer grop-
ing about in the thick darkness of ignorance; the
broad steady light of intelligence has been let in on
them, consequently there is not the slightest appre-
hension that they will mistake the small, trivial circum-
stance of a monopolist Confederacy for a "great fact"
like the League. But, alas, for Sir R.PHSL ! The agitation
of the corn-law bigots, though it has no terrors for
the free-traders, will be quite imposing enough to
alarm his delicate political sensibilities. lie, who is so
apt to take fright at phantoms, will be pretty sure to
mistake the shadow for the substance; and we
should not be at all surprised were he to make
another retrogade move towards the monopo-
lists, on whom last session he had all but brought

himself to turn his back. Well, let him do so; it is
not one PEEL, nor a hundred PERM, that can stop
the triumphant progress of the League ; it moves for-
ward in spite of him ; and the day is not far distant
when we shall see this man of many faces—this ex-
pounder of solemn plausibilitie\s—dragged an unwilling
captive at its chariot wheels.

Since the above remarks were written, we
have read, with the attention it deserves, an
account of the great meeting of the League,
NTEich-fOok place at Covent-garden Theatre on Thurs-
daY night. Whats striking contrast does not this meet-
ing exhibit to those which the monopolists have of
late contrived to get together with such difficulty !
In the one case we find earnestness--sincerity— con-
fidence—and inflexible determination of purpose; in
the other, faint-heartedness, scarce hidden beneath
the flimsy disguise of noise and bluster—
clumsy special pleading, with whieh conviction has
nothing to do, substituted for plain, manly, sound
reasoning—and coarse abuse attempted to be palmed
off for energetic appeals to the feelings. The League
directs its efforts to enlightening the understandings of
its audience--the monopolist Confederacy, to the
strengthening and confirming of their prejudices. The
one states broad, undeniable facts—the other runs
riot in the realms of fiction. The one describes
things as they are the other, as they are
not. Every successive meeting of the League is at-
tended by enthusiastic crowds—every successive
meeting of the Monopolists, by a set of sulky de-
pendents, to whose intelligence and quick-wittedness
we should be sorry to depose on oath at Bow-street.
In referring more particularly to the proceedings of
the League last night at Covent-garden, we cannot
avoid noticing in terms of high praise the admirable
speech delivered by Mr. Fox. It was just what such a
speech should be—animated—argumentative—full of
lively illustrations drawn from the most obvious and
familiar sources happily timed and skilfully
adapted to the taste and temper of the audience to
whom it was addressed. Mr. Fox, speaking
the sentiments of the Leaguers, boldly re-
pudiated the idea that they entertained any-
thing like a compromise. They were entitled to
a full measure of justice, and they would not be put
off with light weight. They were the chosen repre-
sentatives of the interests of the industrious classes,
and for those interests they would struggle through
all difficulties, and at all hazards. " The total, the un-
conditional, the immediate abolition of the corn-laws,"
observed the speaker, " was what they asked of all. They
sought no more—they would take no less, whether
from Sir R. PEEL on the one side, or from Lord J.
RUSSELL on the other." Mr. Ginsox, in the course
of a pithy, closely-reasoned address, lashed the
Monopolists in such scientific style, and
with such evident heartiness as would have drawn
bursts of applause from one of Lord CARDIGAN'S
drummer-boys ; and Mr. Bouvamstinstituted a suc-
cessful comparison between Sir ROBERT PEEL and
that punctual and dextrous man of figures and ac-
counts, Mr. Alderman Guam. In point of spirit and
energy the meeting was one of the most remarkable
that has yet taken place in the metropolis.

The strength and force with which the influence
of the currency upon the puisiis weal daily grows
upon us, has prompted us to redeem our promise of
returning to the subject, and we are the more in-
duced to do so from the perusal of a pamphlet, by
Mr. GILLIRRAND HUBBARD, which has just fallen in
our way. It is natural to look upon the observations
of an official person as possessing more than ordi-
nary weight, when they refer to the matters with
which he is presumed to be daily conversant. For
this reason we were inclined to study the opinions
contained in these pages with no little respect ; but
we must confess that we have seldom been more
woefully disappointed than in this instance. Going
over a large field, and comprising topics of the most
various and extensive importance, and hav-
ing one definite object in view, we had
a right to anticipate straightforward argu-
ment and logical deduction. The unity of his
objects—the demonstration of the necessity and
utility of a national bank of issue—gave him an ad-
mirable opportunity of arriving at it by the clear
declaration of premises and the natural deduction of
conclusions. The statements of his page of contents
would, one would conceive, have helped him mate-
rially, fur it is to all appearance satisfactory enough,
but in the course of considering the texts of his
several chapters, he has contrived to mix up so much
of ill-arranged-thoughts, and sophisticated argument,
as to render his conclusions altogether wide of the
truth. It is painful to speak thus severely of, no
doubt, a well-intended effort, and the more so in the
present case, as it is impossible to follow the authoi
through the whole of his range in the confined space
of a newspaper article, and our observations must,
therefore, have a general bearing, rather than a per-
sonal reference.
Mr. HUBBARD appears, with all the advocates for
a metallic currency, to entertain a confused notion of
the nature of money. He has been so much accus-
tomed to the sight of bank-notes and sovereigns that
he has learned to consider nothing really of value
until it has been converted into these representatives
of value, not being satisfied with a bank-note itself,
indeed, except insomuch as he has a certainty of turn-
ing it into sovereigns, thus, at all times, possessing
the power of putting what he conceives to be of in-
trinsic value into his pocket. He forgets that gold
itself is but so much shining trash, except in so far as
it can be exchanged for commodities, which, as they
conduce to physical comfort, or mental elevation,
can alone possess the value he desires. Every grain
of corn that tends to the bodily sustenance, and every
yard of cloth that covers frozn tho eold,possesses an in-,
trimic ; value and a piece of printed paper, impressed
with an authority possessing the power, legal through
enactment, and moral from position, of rendering it
available to the community at large, becomes as ser-
viceable in the purchase of commodities, as the
brightest sovereign that ever was. coined—nay, in-.
finitely more serviceable—as it is free from the con-
tingency to which gold, as the circulating medium
between nation and nation, is liable, of being at any
time withdrawn from the country, by the operations
of trade ; while it possesses, moreover, the additiona
advantage of accommodating itself with less incur.
venience to the various requirements of the social
public.

The great evil occasioned by the advocates of a
metallic currency, consists in their promotion of the
notion that gold is of more service as a currency, be-
cause it possesses, as they conceive, an intrinsic value,
not recollecting that the currency of the social system,
is, like the vital fluid in the corporeal system, only the
medium through which the means of nutriment is
conveyed to the whole body politic, and that through
the very scantiness of the mass, and through its
great liability to waste by depletion, either from
abrasion and loss at home, or from draughts for
abroad, utterly insufficient for the purposes for
which it is designed. The very circumstance of gold
being of exchangeable value gives it a double cha-

racter, and consequently renders it a cause of dis

turbance in the internal circulation. If used solely
as the medium of internal currency, so as to prevent
this disturbance, its natural action must be to reduce

all prices in Britain to the measure of those countries
with whom commercial dealings occur, and whose

_
taxation is not a third, perhaps not a fourth, of the
imposts of our own Government, and would just in
that proportion render our trade, home as well as

foreign, more advantageous to others than ourselves.
How taxation affects prices is well intimated in
the admirable definition given of money in the
" Catechism of the Currency," published some
years since. It is there stated that "Money is a
token of value of certain nominal amount, issued by
Government in return for value received, and payable
into the Exchequer in taxes, whence it becomes, of
necessity, a general legal tender." In the "Essay on
Money" this is happily explained, and the origin of
the authorised currency stated in the issue of the
Exchequer tallies. The reality of the addition to

prices, caused by the imposition of taxes, is still more

evident in the different effects produced on articles of
use by direct and indirect taxation. If the maker of

any particular article has been accustomed to dispose

of it for 205., and he suddenly finds a tax of ss. put

upon it, he must, of course, not only add the same

ss. to the price, in order to reap the same reward for
hie labour at he did before, but also some-
thing additional, in order to provide himself with
the means for conducting his business, and
pay him for the increased capital employed

!;

in it. This increase and this payment is forced
by the State, which imposes the taxes, in its
promises to pay, issued fur the articles which its ne-
cessity demands. Now, so long as these promises to
pay can be rendered available to the general ad-
vantage through a medium by which no loss is in-
curred, so long the country is benefited by the
greater consumption of its commodities; but the
moment a medium is employed, which possesses a
differen which has always a great
ta...11r
tendency to appreciation, and little or no tendency to
depreciation, that moment the monetary affairs of the
country begin to be deranged, and just in proportion
to the introduction of such a medium will the great
body of the people, who are producers, and who have
little opportunity of retaining much, or any of it,
be impoverished. The wealthy will obtain the power
to oppress the poor; capital will accumulate in few
hands; and a condition of apparent affluence will
only cover an inconceivable amount of misery, poverty,
and distress.

The attempt, therefore, to retain a high taxation
' with a metallic currency, which has always a ten-
dency to establish natural prices, is neither more nor
less than obliging the productive portion of the people
to pay all the imposts out of their labour ; leaving the
rich to acquire, day by day, fresh power, to occasion
a series of oscillations in the circulating medium,
the slightest vibration of which twinges the heart-
strings of him whose little may in a moment become
a nullity.
It was apparently the oversight of this principle
which occasioned the monstrous mischief wrought
by Sir ROBERT PEEL in carrying out Mr. Hus-
KIGSON'S principles of the currency. By the re-esta-
blishment of a metallic monetary standard, he at once
knocked off the taxation-addition from all the
commercial produce of the country, while he
failed to reduce the taxation by which those prices
had been enhanced. Gold became the governing
medium, and contracted the circulation, according to
its natural habitude. The people have to pay high
prices with little money, and the consequence is, that
the taxes have since been paid in the goods, and con-
sequently by the labour of the producers of the goods,
instead of in the money of the State. How terribly
this has acted will be evident by an inspection of the
following table of the proportion of taxation and
prices before, through, and after the war ; and a
greater indication of national loss, and therefore of
individual misfortune, could not well have been de-
vised. We extract from a valuable pamphlet, enti-
tled the "Monetary Policy of England and America."
"Let us take the average rate of prices at certain
successive periods, as they are shown in centessimal
parts, in a very useful set of Tables of Curre7c7,
Taxation,! and Prices, for fifty-four years, commenc-
ing in the year 1784 and ending in 1837. In this
work the exact prices of eighty-eight different arti-
cles ofproduce are stated, independent of any particular
duties levied on each. The eighty-eight articles of
produce collectively are thus expressed as to
relative prices, free of duty, at the following periods
in centessimal parts.
1784 to 1790 lOO
1791 to 1797 l2l
1798 to 1804 149
1805 to 1811 175
1812 to 1818 lBO
1819 to 1825.. 126
1826 to 1832.. lO5
1833 to 1837 lO5.

Say pence,
shillings, or
pounds sterling.

"To the fairness of this statement nothing can be
objected ; but it may be urged that, as the taxes (ex-
clusive of property and income-tax) produced in
1805 to 1818, the sum of fifty-two millions per
annum, and the amount now is but forty-eight
millions, a reduction in proportion should be made
in prices for the same period. Let us, then, take off
one-thirteenth (being the difference) from 175, and it
will leave 162 as the average comparative sum re-
ceived by producers in 1805 to 1818, for those com-
modities which they now sell for 105. It requires,
therefore, an addition of 56 per cent. to our present
prices to return producers the fair amount of their
taxes—to place them in the same relative position as
to taxation which they stood in from 1784 to 1790,
before the war commenced—from 1791 to 1797, before
the Restriction Act was passed—and from 1805 to
1818, when taxation and prices were at the highest.
To this extent are they injured by the return to cash
payments under our present amount of annual taxa-
tion."

In the eighty-eight articles alluded to are
comprised all most necessary for commercial opera-
tions and social comfort. We think there could not
have been more convincing evidence given of the
anomalous and injurious state of our currency than
this. Alone, it is enough to awaken every man who
has a business to conduct or a family to provide for
to active exertion to correct the evil ; but there is
an almost interminable abundance of testimony
equally strong to show the folly that must be evinced,
and the ruin that must attend upon a metallic stan-
dard
under our national circumstances. To Mr.
ITUUBARD'S notions respecting currency we will
return another day.

We hear, from indisputable authority, that Mr.
ROEBUCK intends to move an amendment to the ad-
dress upon the subject of the IRISH CHURCH. We
are delighted to hear this. No man can do more
justice to this subject than the Honourable Member
for Bath, and no man has shown a more eager desire
o redress grievancesthan Mr. ROEBUCK. The
any man—the grievance great,
sub-
ject
beyond m we wish Mr. ROEBUCK every
t
eo
worthyp
compare
r e; of
and
success in exposing it.

Grace'sanswerst
a'lo'e are glad to find that the attention of the public
has been challenged by a Morning Contemporarrto
the -,ralitablo ce -,ol*len - de4Yer'4l\ bis - tAi
Duke
in an article which appeared in The
of WiniiirGrox, before Ali& Seleet.Committee
of the
month
of July last. ve specially HouseofCommlons on " Shipwrecks," in the
eciauy
adverted to his
Sun, about two or three months since, on the First
Report of that Committee.
Rut our -observations
were then limited to the necessity for the establish-
ment of "harbours of refuge." On that point (one of
the main objects of the Committee's inquiries) the
Duke's opinions were distinct and decisive. He was
for the immediate construction of at least two such
harbours between the Downs and Portsmouth ; the
one, probably at Dungeness, the other at Dover; but
in answer to a question from Admiral Sir CHARLES
NAPIER, he allowed that it might be expedient to
establish one nearer Beachy Head, if the scientific
men, of whose opinions and advice the Committee
had the benefit, concurred in such recommendation.
His Grace's mention of Dungeness was founded on
his better knowledge of that locality, and its obvious
capabilities for such a purpose. But the Duke, in
several parts of his evidence on the same occasion,
fully admitted, and powerfully described, the pressing
want of forts and batteries on the coasts of the Chan-
nel, for the protection more especially of the mighty
trade of the port of London.
Nothing can be more clear than the mode in which
he demonstrates the liability 4 our commerce, coming
up Channel, to the depredations of any active mari-
time enemy, in the:event of war,—but more espe,
cially with France. The Duke shows that the app};

cation of steam to armed sailing vessels as a locomo-
tive power, added to the little draught of war steamers,
renders it impossible that in time of war fleets of 400
or 500 merchantmen can ever again venture to lie in the
Downs, at one time, awaiting convoy for example ;
whilst single vessels will no longer be able to creep
along the southern coast of Britain to the entrance of
the Thames, with impunity. We subjoin a few of the
more interesting passages of his Grace's deposition:—
" I should say that, considering the want of protec-
tion from the weather, and from military attacks, in the
Channel, the trade of the port of London will be in
a very precarious situation, and will be a very losing
one, in a variety of ways, in time of war, if some-
thing is not done beforehand—if some precautions are
not taken. Steam-power in moving ships has made
such progress at present, as that it must have a most
material effect in maritime warfare—l use the word
maritnnewarfare in contradistinction to naval warfare

—in all future times. If anybody will just consider
the advantage the French coast enjoys over the coast

of this country, in observation of what is passing at
sea, that is, to the southward, they have the sun in
their backs,--they see everything quite clear; and it
is possible, from the coast of France, to calculate to a

moment at what period a vessel coming up Channel
will arrive at particular points, and they may be in
readiness to seize her, at any point which may happen
to be unguarded, supposing the vessel to be without
convoy, and supposing there should be no naval weans

at that point to take care of her. I should say that
the trade of the port of London would lab Our under a
great disadvantage, if it were found that every vessel
coming up from Portsmouth was obliged to come up
in a convoy; that she should be shut up unless there
were a convoy. I have given a good deal of reflec-
tion to it, and have thought of it a long while, and
that is the conclusion to which I have come ; and it
is a rational conclusion, for it is founded on what the
state o— the commerce of this port, which is the great
port of the country, will be by-and-bye; if something
is not done."

His Grace contemplates the possibility, even on the
Goodwin Sands, if we rightly construe his evidence,
of constructing such formidable defences, by means
of batteries, as efficiently to protect our commercial
marine in making for the Thames.

"I am not able to judge of the maritime capacity
of the Downs ; but I should suppose, from what I
see, that the Downs is safe—not very comfortable,
, but safe as a port ; and I believe the holding ground
is good. I think it would not be at all difficult to
secure it, in a military point of view, for vessels run-
ning in there. Ido not mean to say that it is im-
possible to do anything in Trinity Bay. I think it is
wonderful what Captain BULLOCK has done upon the
Goodwin Sands; and I will not pretend to say how
far those measures might be carried out, and how far
they might give further security in the Downs.
There is no doubt whatever, that a port in the Downs,
to give to vessels lying in the Downs perfect security,
would be a very desirable object; but I cannot say
how far that system of Captain BULLOCK'S can be
carried out."

" 5,267. In time of war your Grace is aware that
it will be impossible, with steam, for the trade to lie
at anchor safely in the Downs ?—There have been in-
stances of privateers coming into the Downs and
taking out vessels ; but now mat there is steam, it
would be perfectly impossible for 400 or 500 vessels
to lie in the Downs. I should say it would be pos-
sible to give an increase of military security so as to
give complete security. I should say that it is a se-
cure place in the main, but I doubt if it is a very
comfortable place."

How the sea batteries requisite to give effect to
these salutary plans for protecting the commerce of
the port of London might be provided, Mr. MITCHELL
has recently shown, in a pamphlet, to which we shall
hereafter recur more at length.
In the mean time we cannot too strongly express
our hope that the Legislature will take into its very
earliest consideratioi the measures,—and at the ear-
liest possible period provide the means,—for remedy-
ing a deficiency of coast defence, which, in reference
to the interests to be guarded, will strike with as-
tonishment every reader who has not previously ac-
quainted himself with the facts. Yet, if no other re-
cord existed of the disgrace which has been inflicted
upon our national reputation, in times past, by the
same infatuated neglect of such primary precautions
as were thus authoritatively urged on Parliament in
1843, the lively narrative bequeathed to us by
SAMUEL PEPYS in his " Diary" might have illus-
trated to the existing generation of his countrymen,
the reality of the peril they are now incurring, and
have so wilfully incurred—and the facility with which
an enterprising enemy may take advantage of such a
state of things to lay waste our greatest naval arsenals,
and threaten London itself. It is not above some hun-
dred and sixty years ago, since the Dutch burned
Chatham to the ground, forcing the passage of the
Medway, and afterwards sailing far up the Thames.
It is not more than fifteen years since that the late
lamented Sir JOSEPH Yonan wrung from the re-
luctant representative of the Admiralty in Parlia-
ment, the confession that lie was justified in having
described the position of Sheerness, one of our most
important and best supplied dockyards, as so ex-
posed and defenceless, that it would be possible for a
foreign fleet to sail up one arm of the Swale, under
favour of a foggy morning, destroy all the works and
shipping, and capture and sail away with the com-
missioners, the dockmaster, the pay-clerks, and all

other officials doing penance in that muddy and pro.
fligate locality.

The Madrid journals of the 18th inst. have reachod
us, but are totally destitute of news.

The Three per Cents. were done at 261 at 60 days,
the Five per Cents. at 19k, and the floating debt at
411 for cash, and 42 at 60 days.

The discussions in the French Chamber on the
address are drawing to a close. The address consists
of ten paragraphs, and of these six being the most
important had been adopted without amendment.
The debate, or rather conversation, on Wednesday,
referred almost entirely to the commercial relations
of France with the United States, and certain of
the South American republics. It will be found
under the proper head. While the talk is going
on in the Chambers, the Government is actively
employed in hastening the completion of hostiles,
not only at Paris, but elsewhere, as will be seen from
the subjoined paragraph in the Commerce:—" Those
of Mont Valerien, St. Denis, Noisy-le-Sec, Rosny,
Nogent, Vincennes (the new fortress), Charenton,
Ivry, and Issy, are now occupied by the military.
They await but their armament. Rouen, like Paris,
is about to have its detached forts. There are to be
three citadels—one on the immense plateau of Bon-
secours, a second on Mont Ribondet, and a third on
the Havre road, about 600 metres from the gate of
Rouen, which opens on that road. The fire of those
three points, which command Rouen from a height,
comparable with the buttes Montmartre, will com-
mand not only the whole city and environs, but also
the whole course of the Seine from Pont d• l'Archo
tVital:igclki
,:, , . Rosa, e new antsAm-
pittiiki -WL' tie, -'§• h
....., ..
bassador, presented his credentials to the KING on
Tuesday, and made a brief address on the occaeion,
to which his Majesty replied—

_ -
" I accept with the greatest pleasure the sentimente which yon
have just expressed in the name of my august niece, her Majesty the
Queen of Spain, to whom I. atp united by, so many ties.. I desire
most ardently that het. Majesty janty.be able to establish in Spain to
temporate, constituVotial monarchy, lo prevent the return of dis-
orders which every one has deplored. I am most willing to give to
the Government of her Majesty the Queen of Spain every kind of
moral support, disinterested as that support must be, as France has
no other object but to see Spain tranquil and prosperous. To
arrive at this result, her Majesty the Queen, notwithstanding her
own qualities, will need, on account of her youth and inexperience,
the aid of all loyal and enlightened subjects, in the number of whom
is distinguished her present Ambassador at this Court."

The funds
,continue to decline. On Wednesday
the Three per Cents. closed in Paris at 82f. 30c.; the
Five per Cents, at 124 f. 65c.; Orleans Railroad
shares at 860 f. ; Rouen, 840 f.; Avignon, 697 f. 50e.
BOURSE--PARIS, WEDNESDAY, JAN, 24.
First Highest Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents. 124 65... 124 65... 124 50... 124 55
Foot. per Cents. 106 ... 106 ... 106 ... 106
"Threes. - 82 45... 82 45... 82 10.. 82 10
Bank of France. 3270 —.3272 50 ..3270 ...8270
Laffitte Bank 5,000 f 5070 —.5070 ...5070 ...5070
Belgian 8ank..... 690 ... 690 690 ... 690
Belgian Fives lO7 ... 107 ... 107 ... 107
1840 109 ... 109 ... 108; ... 108/
1842 110 ... 110 ... 109/ ... 109/
Dutch 2; per Cents 551 ... 554 ... 55
Spanish Passive 54 ... 5 ... 5i ... 5/
Portuguese Fives ... 46; ... 464 ... 46; ... 464
Neapolitan ..... lO6 90... 106 90... 106 75... 106 75
Roman ...... 1064 ... 1051 .. 1054 ... 1054
RAILWAY SHARES.
St. Germain B3O 830 ... 830 ... 830
Versailles, R.B 340 .. 349 ... 338 75... 338 75
L. 8... 167 60... 170 167 50... 170
Rouen
Rouen to Havre 662 60.., 662 50.., 662 50... 662 50
Orleans.
Strasburg to 8a1e... 230 ... 230 ... 227 50... 230
Avignon to Marseilles 700 ... 700 . . G 97 55... 697 50
RAILWAY SHARES, FOR THE ACCOUNT.
St. Germain B3O 830 ... 825 .. 825
Versailles, R.B 338 75... 338 76... 338 75... 338 75
L.B„. 172 50.., 172 50... 168 75... 172 50
Rouen 845 ... $45 ... 840 ... 840
Orleans . 660 ... 860 ... 855 ... 880
Strasburg to Bale 2.2.0 ... 240 ... 227 50... 230
Avignon to Marseilles 700 ... 700 ... 697 50 .. 697 60

We have not been unobservant of the struggles made
to captivate the public, particularly that part of it
locally interested, by the three rival lines :of railway
to Epsom ; nor have we failed to note,las the opening of
Parliament approaches, the relative merits of each are
brought out in colours,: made brighter by the dark sha-
dows thrown around its competitors. Two of these lines
have the connexion of Epsom with the metropolis
for their sole object, and their comparative merits
are estimated by the probable utility of a West-end, or
City terminus, for the good people of Epsom ; but the
third, the Middlesex and Surrey Grand Junction, coin- '
prehends a much more extended field of action and
utility by uniting, by an apparently direct and easy
transit, the great Northern, Western, and Southern lines
of communication, and affording in its . progress, to
Epsom amongst other places, not only the means of
access to London by railway, but, by a continuous line,
to every other part of England. When so much private
interest is exerted to promote its own favourite scheme,
the public must think for itself, keeping in view the
axiom that the undertaking which gives the greatest
amount of public convenience and usefulness, is that
which will yield the surest return to the inventing Owe-
bolder.

• '1::
-
•r~"

SUMMARY ii;iF

AND

Publtt (latnton

Who run, ~ay

I'OgLEXGN.
On Monday evening the King of the French received
Prince Paul of Wurtemberg, the. Belgian Ambassador,
and the Princess de Ligne, the Prussian, Danish, and
Saxon Ministers, the Prince and Princess de Wagram,
the Duke de Marmier, the Marquis and. Marchioness de
Dalmatie, the Prince de Tuffakin, the Marquis de Tur-
got, the Marquis de Langle, the Marquis de St. Didier,
and a number of other distinguished personages.
The ball, in aid of the British Charitable Fund, is
fixed for the 9th of February. At the head of the list
of lady patronesses are Lady Cowley, the Marchioness
of Londonderry, and Lady Jane Peel.
" Yesterday evening, after the Chamber of Deputies'
vote," says La Putrie, of Tuesday, "Lord Cowley im-
mediately dispatched a courier to London, in order to
nform Lord Aberdeen of the esult of the discussion on
M. Billault's amendment. The Cabinet was, according
to the result, to determine what words should be inserted
in the Queen's Speech to Parliament, in reply to the
entente cordiale announced in his Majesty's Speech to the
Chambers."
" Of nearly 33,000,000 persons in France," says the
m Refore," there are 27,000,000 who do not drink wine
—there are 31000,000 who never taste sugar—there are
20,000,000 who never wear shoes—there are 31,000,000
who never eat meat—there are 18,000,000 who nevereat
wheaten bread—and, finally, there are 4,000,000 clothed
in rags." Can it be true that only 2,000,000 of French-
men eat meat ?
The Count de Bastard, one of the- Vice-Presidents of
the Chamber of Peers, and a President of the Court of
Cassation, died at Paris on Tuesday.
The Univers states that the Bishop of Versailles is to
succeed to the Archbishopric of Rouen, rendered vacant
by the death of the Prince de Croi.
A letter from Vienna, Jan. 15, in the Wurzburgh
Gazette, says :—" The French envoys and ministers have
been ordered to quit the residence of the Courts where
they are accredited, as soon as they shall be informed of
the arrival of the Duke de Bordeaux, and to give notice I
at once of this instruction to the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs."
The Dowager Princess of Hohenlohe died on the 10th
inst., at the Chateau de Kapferzell, in Germany.
The severe measures adopted by the Russian Govern-
ment relative to Catholic establishments in Poland and
Lithuania will be put into execution in the month of
May. All the property of the chapters, parishes, and
churches are to be confiscated to the treasury. The
Catholic clergy are to be paid by the State, and, in con-
sequence, their independence will completely disappear.
The Italian Savans will hold their sixth congress this
year at Milan, and the day of meeting is fixed for Sep-
tember 12. Count Boromeo is President, M. Gahrio
Piola, the mathematician, C. Bassi, the naturalist,
Assessors, and Cesar Cantu, the historian, Secretary-
General.
The Commission appointed at Lyons, to deliberate on
the works most urgently required to aid the navigation
of the Rhone, has just decided that an annual sum shall
be laid aside for the works in the following proportion :
—3,000,000 f. for the part between Lyons and Arles, and
500,000 f. for the Upper Rhone. This grant is to be
continued until the navigation shall be pronounced per-
fectly easy and safe.
A letter from St. Petersburg, in the Augsburgh Gazette,
states that the Emperor of Russia has definitively ad-
hered to the resolutions of the Conference of London on
the affairs of Greece.
Mr. Samuel Clegg, the inventor of the Atmospheric
Railroad, has arrived at Berlin, where he has been in-
vited by the Prussian Government, to direct the con-
struction of an atmospheric railroad from the capital to
CharlOttenburg.

PUBLIC OPINION.
The Chronicle, alluding to the Anti-Corn-law League
meeting last night, observes :—" The League professes
to be non-political ; free trade, they say, is of no party;
and the abolition of all monopolies by the Tories would
be received with as much enthusiasm as if it were ac-
complished by the Whigs. Yet, when Mr. Bouverie,
last night, ran a parallel between Sir Robert Peel and
Mr. Alderman Gibbs, shouts of laughter burst from
every quarter ; which were repeated when Mr. Burnett
called him a "man of all work," and recommended the
free traders to make as much use of him as they could.
How is this? We always understood that Sir It Peel
was regarded, in the City, as an exceedingly respectable
man, and not to be named in conjunction with
such a functionary as Mr. Alderman Gibbs. Yet how
eagerly was the Peel and Gibbs association caught up
by the free traders last night. There must be a great
change for the worse passing over English society. The
middle classes of this country have been hitherto re-
garded as shrewd, intelligent, practical, and discerning
not to be imposed on for any length of time; and though
occasionally liable to be led astray by some sudden im-
pulse, always recovering their senses at last. Yet here
they are, blindly following the nefarious gang of " raga-
muffin " cotton-spinners, who are banded together in
order to destroyßritish agriculture, ruin the landed inte-
rest, beggar the tenant-farmer, and starve the comfortable
agricultural labourer! For this purpose the commercial and
manufacturing community gave the League 60.0001. a
year ago, and are now engaged in rapidly doubling the
amount."
The Times remarks, in an article on the subject of na-
tional education:—" The rejection of the Ministerial
Education Bill of last session appears to be de-
veloping into results more and more unlooked for
and uncounted upon. Few persons, we suppose,
anticipated that in the defeat of that measure
there would have originated, on the part of the
national Church an effort whose vigour and suc-
cess has given proof of the existence in that body of
greater vitality, more real earnestness, and more power-
ful energy, than at any period of her history since the
rebellion of 1640. We have all eady noticed the pro-
gress of the educational movement, which was thus
commenced within the Church, and have expressed
our satisfaction at the testimony which it bears to
the general character of the cause of sound education
throughout the country. It has shown at least that zt•al
for the cause of the poor—zeal for the great cause of
Christianity—the zeal of dispelling the darkness of
ignorance, and alleviating, by destroying it, the misery
of vicc—is still to be found within the pale of the Church
of England, not in empty words, but in deeds of self-
denial and of mercy—not in the mere selfishness of
teaching order and civilisation for the sake of preserving
to their possessors those constituted privileges and en-
joyments whose very being depends upon peace and
tranquillity,—but for the poor's sake themselves, for the
sake of charity, and for the sake of truth. It is much,
we say, to have done this. No political movement could
have borne such witness as this.'
The Herald says :—" We have been compelled occa-
sionally to dissent from the views and to object to the
practices of the Rev. Dr. Hook, the Vicar of Leeds ;
but, though our opinion of both is only confirmed by
re3ection and experience, we cannot forbear joining
,Lamour Contemporaries in expressions of admiration at
‘;', • +lll.l teryev.mwAtiir,-)xppopop
t,atraW 04or.tvit* t6-•rtstii.'l4
Leel what its population an extent have long
substantially deprived it of, the parochial system
of the Church of England, at the sacrifice by him-
self of patronage. Dr. Hook's vicarage now em-
braces an area of thirty-two miles in circumference,
and contains 160,000 inhabitants; from it he receives the
ordinary ecclesiastical dues; In this enormous .parish.
there are Merril:churches -and chapels, to nearly all of
which the Vicar presents. When Dr. Hook was in- '
ducted into this living he found Dissent rampant there- I
in, and the Church despised, disregarded, and forsaken:
by his own exertions, by the employment of five or six
curates, and by the able assistance of several of the
ministers of district churches, the influence and autho-
rity of the Church have been somewhat restored. This
restoration has taken place contemporaneously with Dr.
Hook's incumbency, and there can be little doubt that
the impetus was given by him. The Tractarian views
adopted by lir. Hook have, however, of late years,
checked this movement, have prevented the establish-
ment of that vnanimity amongst the clergy so desirable
in a large town like Leeds, and have cooled the, at one
time, growing enthusiasm of' its churchmen. Still it
would be exceedingly uncandid to detract one jot from
. the merits of Dr.. Hook."
We -quote the following from the Advirtiser :--" The
Ministers would no doubt be delighted to grant as a
boon to the Dublin Corporation that escape of the
traversers from amercement, which, if not given by
a verdict of the jury, must be enforced by the irresis-
tible tide of public opinion. We trust that the tra-
versers will firmly abide by the position they have
taken, and spurn the proffer of, as they have already
done the application for, any such degrading clemency.
What ! Pray for an act of amnesty for Mr. O'Con-
nell, and the other gentlemen now on their trial for
sedition and conspiracy, at the present stage of the law
presecutions ? What ! before a verdict has been re-
turned ? Before the jury, constituted as that jury
is, has pronounced whether Mr. O'Connell and the
rest of the gentlemen-before, the bar, be guilty or not
guilty ? Before' it can be stated that they have com-
promised themselves in acts of sedition and conspiracy ?
Before Government itself dare to condemn them ? Be-
fore public opinion has ceased to regard them in any
other light than, if convicted, as martyrs to the principle
of free discussion, the most wrongfully and unjustly dealt
with of men—if unconvicted, as triumphant witness of
the virtue of our Bill of Rights, and the reality of human
truth and liberty ? What ! Pray for an act of amnesty
to Mr. O'Connell and his brother compatriots at such a
moment, and this by the Dublin Corporation ? Why,
we confess, the world may well be mystified and con-
founded by the proceeding. We may
well be forgiven
for owning that we do not see through the enigma."
LAW AND POLICE.
In the case of Lord W. Paget against the Earl of Car-
digan, a motion was made in the Court of Common
Pleas to enter up judgment as in the ease of a non-
suit. In support of the motion, Mr. Sergeant Channell
produced the affidavit of the Earl of Cardigan, denying
most distinctly that he had been guilty of the imputations
charged in Vie letter of 'Lord William Paget, or that
he had ever given authority to any person on his behalf
to interfere with any of the witnesses subpcenaed to ap-
pear on the part of the plaintiff. There were similar
affidavits from Mr. Powell, the solicitor of the Earl of
Cardigan, and his chief clerk. The Court granted the
rule.

At Worship-street, John Davis, alias James Blythe,
Henry Robinson, and George Hirt, were brought before
Mr. Bingham for the completion of the former charges,
and to answer a fresh charge of burglary committed in
the r►arehouse of Messrs. Wood and Co., warehousemen,
in Red Lion-court, Watling-street. There are now five
distinct, extensive, and cleverly executed burglaries
clearly established a°ainst the prisoners. They were
fully committed to &nate for trial ; Hirt on ono 1

The remains of the late Countess Dowager of Clare
were interred in the cemetery at Kensal-greon en Tuesday
morning. The funeral was strictly private.
ALARMING INCREASE OF SMALL-PDX.--Thil
rsid
side,fno
o mal
lesassalotouhntahgnwtsaleirevke.ne
ocularnstessitaoinof
ds E
alleys n, Want
branchingsal -
gxo
off' from
oe e Vaal;
less that, four fatal cases have occurnreeadr
in Cardinal Cup.alley, in the same vicinity, two co" %.
occurred. On Wednesdalast the parochial authorities of
jaguar;
Saviour's, Southw.trk, instituted an official medical
the result of which has not yet been made public, b,°,t
ultis
understood that some most distressing disclosures wi"
condition
duSroiningertsheet-wweheark,avl
mately made regarding the unwholesome and filthy c0m1!,,,,
of the habitations of the poor on the southern back °'
fiver Thames.
The clouted cream for which Devonshire „
Is" eales;
brated is made as follows :—The milk is strained into s "
lhs.f:ih
dish, containing a small portion of warm water. is goo-
it is allowed to stand from six to twelve hours, when " ir;iste
dually heated over a slow fire or hot plate, great caro or
observed that it be not allowed to boil, or that the 'lamas
cream be not broken. The dish is than allowed to cool
dairy, after which the cream is taken off for use. „t
CHINESE JESTS.—A man of letters, who sPe;,..,
great part of the night in study, kept a kettle on th
to make tea, as a stimulus when be should bo vreiTn,
One night, hearing a thief breaking in through the "'rod
he took post by it with tho kettle in his hand
er'
when the thief had thrust both his legs through
b°
"5
ture, the student seized them, and poured the
water upon them. The robber roared out for werethY;
" Wait.' replied the other, coolly, "until -I emPtY
kettle."

~~