The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-16 00:00:00

braving

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1844.

On Wednesday last a public meeting took place in
the Town-hall, Bridport, at which Mr. B. Cocu-
RANH was present, and addressed his Constituents in
an eloquent and animated speech, in which, while
we fnd much to approve, we find much more to con-
demn. The Hon. Gentleman is one of the few Con-
servatives in Parliament, of whom it may be said with
truth that he has preseried his consistency and inde-
pendence under circumstances peculiarly trying to
men of less force and determination of character.
The awful frowns of Sir ROBERT PEEL have had no
terrors for him, and he has been equally, proof i
against the seduction of his smiles. Rising
superior to mere party prejudices he has
maintained a straightforward course, and spoke and I
voted according to the unbiassed conviction of
his understanding. Such a man deserves—and will
be sure to gain—the respect even of those who most
differ from him in politics ' • and it is:with no slight re-
gret that we feel ourselves called' upon to protest
most strenuously against those portions of his address '
to his Constituents which referred. to the corn-laws.
His remarks on this branch
wereoins subject. were not
e ep;ee
er. puerile to
g
simply illogical, but they
the as t
degree. Observe, for instance, th
childish-
ness of this passage :—" I have
meotnsidneraousearteot°aft
Commons, and I repeat it here, that I
repeal of the corn-laws the forerunner of
lotion; and why do I entertain such an opinion;
Because I have not read history wholly with-
out deducing some experience; because I know
fa well that the cry of No Corn-law wil',

when that law is once swept away, be too
soon converted into the cry of No-Monarchy; and
therefore it is that I would give my adversary no
vantage-ground by retreating from the outworks into
the citadel, however strong that citadel might be.'
Was there ever such absurd, incoherent, inconclusive
reasoning as this—if reasoning, indeed, it may be
called, and not, rather, logic run mad ? The abolition
of the corn-laws place the monarchy in peril ! What
earthly connexion is there between the two things ;
or how can the system of free-trade act injuriously on
the monarchical system ? Is it when a monster-
grievance is removed, and the people are beginning to
reap the benefit of that removal in increased commer-
cial activity, in more employment for the poor and
more resources for those who employ them; when
the field of enterprise is enlarged to an infinite extent,
and a fair day's wages for a fair day's work," is no
longer an advantage to be desired, but an advantage
pined ;—is it under favourable circumstances like
these that the monarchy is most in danger? On the
contrary, is it not then most secure ? But Mr. COCH-
RANE refers us to history for proofs of the soundness
of his hypothesis. Strange, that be should have so
completely misinterpreted the warning lessons which
it teaches, and which are diametrically opposed to the
spirit of his remarks ! For all historical records, whe-
ther of ancient or modern times, tend directly to prove
that the peril of rulers is in exact proportion to the
burdens to which the ruled are subjected. A thriving
people is rarely if ever a disloyal one—rarely, if ever, dis-
posed to criticise too severely the system of government
under which they live. It is distress that makes them
censors, and sets them on the task of keen investiga-
tion and inquiry. What occasioned the first insur-
rectionary outbreak in the reign of the first CHARLES ?
What, but the increasing financial burdens of the peo-
ple, and more especially the summary imposition of a
tax unjust in its essence, and most oppressive in its
tendency ? What compelled Louts the SIXTEENTH to
summon the States General ? Again, the financial
difficulties of the nation, and the operation of a series
of intolerable; and iniquitous imposts. If Royalty
is ever to be endangered—and the supposition is not
ours, but Mr. COCHRANE'S—it is far more likely to be
so by the continuance, than by the removal, of such
a notoriously unjust tax as the corn-laws. Once
abolish this vexatious impost, and give fair play to
the industrial energies of the people, and demagogues
may declaim from morn to midnight against Royalty,
and find none to listen to their inflammatory
harangues. A well-filled national belly is your best
and truest Conservative ; and national prosperity, the
mainstay of monarchy in all countries. As it is
with :a manufacturer, so is it with a people.
As long as things go on smoothly, he rests
content with the working of his establishment,
and institutes no minute, searching inquiries ;
but the instant his trade flags, and his returns
fall short of his just expectations, he begins to look
closely into matters—to consider the expediency of
retrenching here and retrenching there—of dismissing
this operative, and compelling that to work at re-
duced wages till the advent of better times. The
people, like the manufacturer with his establishment,
never look closely into the workings of the monarchical
system, until goaded to the investigation by the pres-
sure of intolerable distress, and its necessary conse-
quences, distrust and dissatisfaction.

Notwithstanding the recent attempts made by cer-
tain zealous but blundering Conservatives in Dur-
ham to restore unanimity among their party, by
reconstructing the old Association in that county
upon a more enlarged basis, disputes still prevail
among the fraternity, who appear to be split into two
distinct sections, one of which accuses the other of
lukewarmness, while the other retorts with a charge
of intolerance. This party is in favour of having the
Marquis of LONDONDERRY for their leader—the
ASTYANAX of their cause; that, indignantly repudiates
his claims to such a distinction. The more moderate
Conservatives are willing to forget and forgive his
conduct as regards the election of Mr. BRIGHT ; the
more zealous ones are sternly of opinion that he has
sinned beyond all hope of pardon. Mr. LIDDELL
would appear to side with the latter party, for he
observes, in a letter to the Secretary of the North
Durham Association, " I am as anxious as any man
to see a cordial union among all Conservatives in the
county, and I would not allow any causes of personal
difference to interfere with an object so desirable. If
my seat in Parliament were the sole cbghtelp frb
cusnosed of but
I regret to say that other reasons exist whie:. forbid
me to expect that unanimity can be restored to the
Conservative cause by the attempt now made to
reconstruct an Association under the exclusive pre-
sidency of the Marquis of LONDONDERRY." Verily,
the Noble Marquis is a most unlucky politician; for,
notwithstanding his decided principles, it is his lot to
please no party. The Ultra-Tories reject him with
disdain, considering that he is a man so much in-
fluenced by the impulse of the moment, as not to be
relied on in cases of emergency ; and the Conserva-
tives equally discountenance him, on the plea that
there is too much of the old leaven of unmitigated
Toryism in his nature to suit the altered temper of
the times. It is clear, from the disputes respecting
his claims to the leadership of the North Durham
Association, that unanimity is not very likely to be
restored among the Conservatives of that county ;
and, indeed, we do not wonder at it, for, independently
of this cause of difference, many others must exist
among them, which cannot fail to be detected the
instant they are brought into frequent contact with
each other, and begin to act as a body. One section,
as a matter of course, will approve of all that Sir
ROBERT PEEL says and does in Parliament; another
will claim the right of sitting in judgment on his
conduct, and expressing their unequivocal disapproba-
tion whenever he exhibits tendencies of too liberal a
complexion. Just as the Conservatives are divided
in the House of Commons, so will they be divided in
Durham. A firm bond of union no longer exists
among them. The cohesive principle is wanting
They have nothing to combine for—nothing to rally
round—nothing to make a firm, vigorous, immovable
stand upon. To be sure they may set up the conve-
nient doctrine of Expediency, and enlist under its
banners, but then they will cease to be Conservatives,
at least in the sense in which they now understand the
term. Who shall assure them, then, when once they
have adopted this lax, accommodating doctrine as their
principle of action, that they may not be called on
some fine day to approve measures diametrically
opposed to the original genius of Conservati3m—
measures framed in a Whig spirit, and emanating
from a Whig workshop, though brought forward by a
Tory Premier ? Who shall assure them that the
Ministry of their choice, and whom they took such
prodigious pains to instal in office at the last election,
will not, ere long, drag them through the dirt by
compelling them to abandon, wholly and for ever,
their favourite crotchet of Monopoly, and yield sub-
missively to the authoritative demand of the League
for a total abrogation of the Corn-laws ? Who shall
assure them that they will not be called upon to make
such large concessions on the subject of national
education, as shall throw Mother Church into fits of
absolute despair? If the Durham Conservatives
resolve as a body to stand by Sir ROBERT PEEL and
the Expediency-system, there is no end to the humi-
liations to which they will be subjected—no end to
the sacrifices of character and consistency they will
be expected to make—no end to the contempt which
will be shown them by their task-master, and the
abhorrence in which they will be held by the country ;

if they do not unhesitatingly, caute qui coute, stand by
the Premier, but prefer to maintain independent
opinions of their own, then it is pretty clear that they
will never be able to form a compact, numerous,
powerful, well-organised Association in the county of
Durham, for there will always be waverers and time-
servers among them who will have a direct interest in

sowing dissensions in their ranks, and endeavouring

to bring them round to the views of those in power.

Intelligence from Madrid to the Bth inst. has been
received, and it is some relief to find that amidst the
general apathy of the
_people one member of the
Cortes and one journal advert with just indignation
to the present system of despotism. "The prisons,"
says the Clamor Publico, "are gorged with miserable
prisoners—Spanish blood is spilt on the scaffold—nu-
merous victims fall under the murderous and liberty-
, killing shots of assassins—desolation and mourning
reign everywhere—misery
Fraud, persecuti is destroying the people.
on, *ma immorality are the order of
the day, and all the horrors. of the dissolution of
society accompany the discussion of the reform of the
code of 1837, and enable us to presage the fate which

will be ours on the day when that Constitution is de-
stroyed."
In the discussion on the address, Senor ORENZE
moved as an amendment on one of the paragraphs,
that " The Congress should examine the budget each
session, and demand it of the Government if it should
neglect to present it." He contended that it was ab-
solutely necessary for the credit of the country and
good government, that the budget should be an-
nually laid before the representatives of the people ;
he called attention to the insecurity of life and liberty,
complained that many innocent persons were thrown
into prison and retained without the shadow of a
charge being brought against them ; and that many
had been even shot without trial or certain proof of
their guilt.
The speech was cheered, but the amendment, like
all the rest, was withdrawn. This shows that NAR-
VAEZ is complete master of the Cortes.
MADRID BOURSE, Nov. B.—Three per Cents., for
Account, 271. Five per Cents., for Account, 201.

The papers are still barren of news. The Journal
des Debals, in order to show the progress of commer-
cial industry in France, as compared with that of
England, gives statistical details of our exports from
1841 to 1843, inclusive, and is of opinion that the
occasional depression and increase of exports from
France has gone on nearly in the same proportion as
the English exports. In several articles, such as the
woollen and cotton manufactures, the writer contends
that in England they have been nearly stationary for
ten years, while in France they have greatly increased ;
but we will leave the writer to state the facts in his

own way :
" If we compare the exports of France (commerce spe-
ciale) to those of England, it will be found that the first
represent, in fact, very little more than one-half
, (687,000,000 f.) of the second. The superiority is cer-
tainly great in favour of England,:and the extent of the
commerce of that country, no more than the economical
' considerations which create an imperious necessity for it
to maintain this expansion of its markets, have no need
to de demonstrated or commented upon here. On her
external commerce depend the wealth, the influence,
and the grandeur of England. Let us consider only
whether the relation we have pointed out between the
affairs of the two countries has constantly been the
same, and whether both have walked with equal steps
in the paths which lead to supplying foreign markets.
From 1837 to 1839 inclusively, the average annual
amount of British exports rose to 1 milliard 170 millions.
During the same time our exports rose to an average of
615 millions. Comparing those two periods with what
has been stated for 1843 (1 milliard 300 millions and
687 millions), we shall find the same improvement for
both countries of about 11 per cent. Relatively, there-
fore, during these seven years, we neither lost nor gained,
but perhaps it would be more correct to say that we lost.
It is important now for us to regain from England a por-
tion of the ground on which she has surpassed us. If
this is not the case for the ensemble, it is satisfactory to
acknowledge that, in the most considerable branch of
manufacture, that of tissues, our progress has been more
rapid than that of England. This assertion may at first
create surprise, but it rests on the positive and official
facts. In 1837, 1838, and 1839, England exported on an
annual average for a value of 645 millions of cotton, linen,
woolen, and silk goods. Our sales of those manufactures
averaged only 273 millions. In 1843, the sales for Eng-
land amounted to 465 millions, and for France to 315,
being an average of 15 per cent. upon our side and only 3
per cent. on that of Great Britain. This, we think, is
a decided proof of improvement; all the branches of
manufactures, however, are far from having experi-
enced the same rate of progress. It is due almost en-
tirely to the spirit of enterprise in woollen manufac-
tures, which, on the contrary, have made but little
progress in England. We may say the same of silk
goods, but not of cotton and linen goods, the supply
of which England may be said to have monopolised
in all the nations of the globe. The exports of English
cotton goods, in 1843, amounted in value to 406,000,000 f.,
in weight to 80,000,000 of kilogrammes, and on a
quantity, to 820,000 kilometres, or 205,000 leagues,
being nearly twenty-three times the circumference of
our globe. Next to these goods, iron was the most im-
portant article of the English exports. England sold iron
to the commercial world to the amount of 64,000,000,
being only 3,000,000, more than in 1842, whereas, con-
sidering the enormons reduction in the price of this
article, the increase ought to have been much more con-
siderable. With the markets which Great Britain has
created in India and China, we may conjecture her ma-
nufactures will receive a new impetus, and that she
is really little alarmed at the gloomy predictions which
have been made by some persons as to the future fate
of British products. Our own products are extending,
as we have shown, not only as regards foreign markets,
but in our vast national market, where the increase of
wealth has given a new impulse for the importation
of merchandise and articles of consumption. Thus,
whilst in England the quantity of foreign wool manufac-
tured has remained for ten years nearly at 20,000,000 of
kilogrammes per year, It has risen in France in the
same period, from 12,000,000 to 20,000,000.
Something analogous has taken place in cottons—our
consumption of which has risen from 40,000,000 to
fal Vl° 00" of 11""----1from
e propurnon only o
source of trade, a vast and rich home rzAr!,-,t, and an I
increase in the exports, constitute for our country an
excellent state of things, which will infallibly be im-
proved by the habits of well-regulated and judicious in-
dustry, and the spirit of perseverance in our enter-
prises. These form, in a great measure, the secret of the
commercial greatness of England."

These papers contain no satisfactory intelligence
from Spain. Indeed the remarks in most of them
on the present state of affairs is of a gloomy character.
The Correspondent of the National, however, finds
consolation in the first decision of the Court-martial
on General PRIM, though he expresses serious appre-
hensions that the tyranny of NARVAEZ will finally
prevail. He thus remarks :
Great was the public surprise on the arrival of the
double intelligence of the sitting of the Court-martial
and of the judgment it pronounced. The fact was not
only unexpected but unexampled, and its effect has been
such, that even the Progressist journals have loudly
praised the court for its independence. This shows the
situation in which we live here, and we must be grateful
at not seeing the accused parties condemned and exe-
cuted upon a mere report of the police. Those judges
should be honoured for their uprightness in not passing
sentence upon simple indications. In other times and in
other countries they would have been more rigid ; for
the charge was made, and the incoherence, the emptiness,
the absurdity of the accusation was as apparent as day-
light. Why then did not the tribunal declare the in-
nocence of which it was convinced ? This it would
have done had not the imperious will of Narvaez domi-
neered over it. The judges are dependent upon him,
and already I am told that one of them has received
a promise of being appointed a Captain-General of a
province.—[This promise, says the National, has been
realised, for we find in the journals received yesterday,
that General Concha, brother of the Deputy, and one of
the members of the Court-martial, has been appointed
Captain-General of the Basque Provinces.] Instead of
declaring their incompetence, the generals have ordered
a new examination, and now God knows when this odious
business will be brought to an end. Many persons be-
lieve that Prim will be acquitted; but I must be allowed
a contrary opinion, and express my conviction that the
tortuous path that has been entered upon will continue
to a great length, and end at last in a sentence of trans-
portation."

The Presse says—
" It is believed that 'Dr. Bowring, of the English
House of Commons, who has just quitted Paris for
Brussels, came to France to sound our Government on
the grave question of suppressing quarantines, which is
to be the object of a motion in the English Parliament
the next session. The suppression of quarantines, or at
least a reduction in the time assigned to them, is an
inevitable consequence of the improvement in the modes
of transport and communication.
THE BOURSE--THURSDAY, Nov. 14.
First Highest Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents •.
Fours....
Three per Cents..... 82 70 .. 82 75 .. 82 65 .. 82 75
Bank of France. 3160 ..3160 ..3160 ..3160
Lafrltte Bank, I,ooof. SharesloBo ..1080 ..1080 ..1080
5,000 f. Sharesso2o —5020 ..5020 ..6020
Belgian Bank .. ••• • • • ••• •• • 660 .. 660 .. 660 .. 660
Belgian Fives, 1840 .. •• • • 104/ • • 104/ .. 104/ • • 1041
1842 •• •••• •• 1071 1071 .. 1071 •• 1071
Two-and-a-Half... • 61 75 .. 61 75 61 75 .. 61 75
Spanish Threes • ... •.•• • • • • 31/ • • 361 • • 351 .. 351
Active .. ••••• • • • • 33 • • 33 .. 33 • • 33
Passive .... 6 .. 6 .• 6 .. 6
Portuguese Five per Cents.. 55 .. 55 .. 55 .. 55
Neap01it5.n.........• •• • • • 98 60 .. 98 60 .. 98 60 .. 98 60
Roman • . 1031 .. 1031 .. 103( .. 103/
RAILWAY 6HAREI4.
Versailles, L. 8.....•.. . 283 75 . 285 .. 283 75 .. 283 75
R0uen.......... ••••• • • . • .1000 . 1000 ..1000 ..1000
Rouen to Havre.
Orleans
Strasburg to lisle
Avignon to Marseilles.... 825 • 830 .. 825 .. 830
RAILWAYS FOR THE ACCOUNT, IN ov. 16.
Versailles, R. 8... .. 400 • • 400 • • 400 • • 400
L. 8.•• •• ••• • • • 285 .• 285 .. 283 75 .. 283 75
Rouen .••••••• • • .. • • • .1000 ..1000 • • 990 .• 992 50
Rouen to Havre. ••.. • • • • • 772 50 . • 772 50
.. 772 50 • • 772 SO
Orleans ••••••••• • • • - • • •• ••1005 ..1007 50 ..1005 .. 1006 25
Strasburg to Bale. .. • .
Avignon to Marseilles.... • • 820 • • 832 50 .. 820 .. 832 50

COURT OF SEWERS.--The proceedings at this Court
yesterday were more important than usual ; and,
from their great length, we are compelled to defer
our report till Monday. We wonder the rate-payers
have remained so long quiet, under the pressure of
this intolerable nuisance—a Court of ostensible job-
bers, who seem alike indifferent to the proper expen-
diture of the public money, as to their own character
in public estimation.

Diedyesterday, the 15th inst., at his lodgings in Great
Russell-street, Bloomsbury, in the 92d year of his age, the
Rev. Francis Smith, more than fifty years Rector of
Grendon, in the county of Warwick. The presentation
to the above very valuable rectory devolves to Sir George
Chetwynd, Baronet, of Grendon Hall.
Oxman, FRIDAY.—The annual two-oared race on
the Isis for a pair of silver sculls, took place this after-
noon, when Messrs. Mark Haggard and William 11.
Milman, assisted by Mr. T. J. Front, steerer, all of
Christ Church, carried off the prize. These gentlemen,
it will be remembered, won the race last year; their
opponents, Messrs. G. H. Richards, and Charles W.
Hutchinson, of Exeter College ; steerer, Mr. George B.
Lewis, of Oriel, had not the slightest chance with them.