The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-15 00:00:00

that precious device—(Hear)—that contrivance which was to
make food abundant and the country independent of foreigners.
They had attempted to establish sliding scales in Holland
and Belgium ; but the moment there arose a deficiency of
food, how did these scales operate? Not one moment had
been lost in sending those scales to where the people hoped
they never would return from. He knew of no better instance
than that of Holland by which to illustrate what he was
urging. Holland, upwards of two centuries ago, did not grow
a grain of wheat ; but Holland, by the description of every
person who wrote about that time, was the granary of Europe.
What was their condition now? They had instituted this
miserable device of a sliding-scale, and what had been the
consequence? They were compelled to resort to compara-
tive free trade when a deficiency of supply arose. What,
then, did people read in the journals ? What did they
hear ? The Ministers had been meeting for' four
hours a day all last week for the purpose of seeing
how decently they could get rid of their scheme. That
was the real state of the case, and the only scruple that they
seemed to have was that, as they were the authors of the
scheme, it was necessary to consider what would be the opi-
nion of them throughout the country if they destroyed their
own work? As to that, the opinion of the country, he was
persuaded, was that if there could be one act more foolish
than the establishment of this sliding scale, it would
be, in present circumstances, not to get rid of it alto•
gether. It was promised at the establishment of this
scale, that it would make us independent of foreigners, and
it was asked was not that a great advantage? But what
was the case now? That was its greatest misfortune that it
makes us not entirely dependent on foreigners, and that in
consequence foreigners had not enough to send us ; for when
the Legislature devised this notable scheme, to render us in-
dependent of foreigners, they also brought it about that
foreigners should not be dependent on us, and having taught
them not to be dependent on us, they cannot wonder that
foreigners are not likely to have provided for us; but the
organs of monopoly said that they were ready to meet the
emergency, and that Sir Robert Peel was ready to meet
everything that can happen; because he was ready to give a
bounty—(Hear, hear)—on the importation of food. Now,
that was very good of Sir R. Peel—(A laugh)—and it was
very reasonable in the organs of his Government to recom-
mend that he should do so ; but he (Mr. Villiers) would
like to know who was to pay that bounty ?—(Hear, hear.)
He thought Sir R. Peel would not pay that bounty, but
that the people would pay it, and that, therefore, the
people were not only to pay too much for their food per-
manently, liut to pay a special tax in order to defray the
bounty. He did not think that there were ten people in this
country who believed one statement that the friends and
authors of the sliding scale made in its defence. What was
the meaning of the anxiety which existed previous to the
harvest time? This country was dependent for its supply of
food upon the seasons. Whether they should have abundance
or scarcity, dearness or cheapness, turned upon the weather
in the month of August. They had had so much experience
lately of. the consequences of food being dear or cheap, that
no person in the country was unprepared for what might be
the result in one case or the other. People had an idea that
if food was abundant and cheap, money would be plentiful,
credit would be good, manufactures would flourish, revenue
would be ample, wages would be high, and the country
generally would be prosperous; and they entertained just as
confident an impression that if food was dear money would
be scarce, manufactures would be depressed, wage 3 would be
low, local burdens would be increased, and all the capital
otherwise available for public works—such as railroads and
other similar undertakings—would be immediately with-
drawn to pay the increased price of food. It was perfectly
natural that people should be anxious to know whether the
harvest was likely to be good or not ; but then the question
arose, whether this anxiety was necessary—whether they
ought to depend only upon the harvest—whether, being
satisfied it was desirable that food should be cheap and
plentiful, they ought not to adopt every means to effect that
object ? There was one fact which ought to be impressed
on the mind of every person who was a supporter of the
principles of free trade, and who wished to meet the argu-
ments of the monopolists—namely, that there was not one
single article of consumption for which there was a great de-
mand in this country, and which was subject to the regular
principles of commerce, of which there was ever a deficient
supply, or of which the supply was ever limited.—(Hear.)
They fancied they knew a man's character when he arrived
at the age of twenty-one ; they ought to know something
about this law, which had attained the age of thirty-one.—
(A laugh.) He wished to know if any man could say a
single thing in defence of that law?—(Hear, hear.) It
excited the greatest anxiety throughout the country regu-
larly every two months; it threw the people into a state
of confusion regularly every four years; it had occasioned
great loss to the country, and constant privation to the
poorest class of the population.—(" Hear," and cheers.)
When he (Mr. Villiers) first went into Parliament he used
to hear it argued that dear bread was advantageous to
the country ; that it secured the people high wages ; and
that it was necessary to enable them to pay the national debt.
But now he heard nothing of this kind from the supporters
of the corn monopoly. They were obliged to admit that an
abundance of food was a great blessing; and they said,
" Only give us time ; let us adopt all the improvements we
can, and then we shall have as abundant a supply of food as
we can gain by importation." Now, he had a great objection
to wait, or to trust these men. If a gentleman said, "Leave
me a monopoly, in -order that I may benefit the public," he
greatly mistrusted such an individual. He mistrusted the
agricultural protection societies, because he never found
them endeavouring to carry their professed objects into effect.
If some twenty-fire of the nobility and gentry of a county
were to assemble and inquire whether they could not improve
the condition of the tenant-farmer, and to lead him to profit by
the lectures he was urged to attend, he (Mr. Villiers) would
confess that they gave some proof they were in earnest. Suppose
the gentlemen of whom he was speaking were to draw up and
agree to some declaration to this effect r—" That whereas we
have been in the habit of making the farmers political tools
—(Hear)—of placing them under every possible disadvan-
tage, extorting from them the highest rent we could get,
giving them the smallest possible advantages for making
their produce profitable, and making them religiously pre-
. serve a species of vermin it is our pride to destroy—(" Hear,
, hear," and great cheering)—and that the result of this has
been that their farms were badly cultivated, and the people
of this country were under-supplied with food, we agree to
recommend all landlords to give leases to their tenants—
, (Hear, hear)—to secure them in their tenures—to afford
them every inducement to invest capital in the soil, and
to allow the vermin before-mentioned to be destroyed;"
he had no doubt that the lectures of Liebig, and the in-
ventions of Mr. Smith, of Deanston, would receive the
careful attention of farmers, and that they would soon
see a great improvement in agriculture. But so long
as they confined themselves to giving lectures, and did
nothing beyond, he did not think the persons of whom
he had been speaking had any claim to their confidence.
But there was another reason which made him pause before
lie trusted the advocates of a corn-law. Those persons had
recently said, with great plausibility, to the opponents of
monopoly—" If you will only leave us protection a little
time we shall soon be able to do all you want." Now,
whenever bread was abundant and cheap, no persons were so
angry and discontented as the very people who thus appealed
to them for their confidence. If those whom he (Mr. Villiers)
was then addressing had happened to be in the House of
Commons one evening about the middle of last session they
would have witnessed a singular scene, which confirmed the
views he had just expressed. They might have seen a rustic-
looking gentleman with a number of papers in his hands, ad-
dressing the the house with great vehemence and indignation,
and assuming a threatening attitude towards the gentlemen
on the Treasury bench. Had a stranger entered the house
at that moment he might have supposed the speaker to be a
humane and honest man, complaining in indignant strains
of some injustice committed against the poor. But in such
a supposition he would have been grievously mistaken, for
he would have learned that this gentleman was a member
of the protection party, and that the papers he held in his-
hand were the prices current of all the animals and vege-
tables produced by the members of the agricultural protection
societies upon their property.—(Laughter.) That Honour-
able Gentleman went through every item in those returns
with the greatest minuteness, and he indignantly assailed the
measures of the Prime Minister, contending that, from their
operation, the price of pork, bacon, and flour, had fallen so
much a stone below the price which existed at the time when
he and his friends formed the Administration. The
gentleman to whom he referred and his friends made
charges of breach of faith, and held out threats of with-
drawal of confidence; and they seemed to have a strong
case against the Minister of the Crown. That was what
was termed in the House of Commons a practical debate,
(Laughter)—and there was a gentleman representing the
protection party and the landed interest of the country, occu-
pying the British House of Commons for two hours and a
half in complaining of a great fall in the price of the neces
series of life.—(Laughter and "Hear, hear.") He was
delighted to see the other day that that speech had attracted
the attention of a gentleman whose observation on the
subject had been much commented upon in the papers
lately. lie alluded to Mr. Escott, who stated that when he
heard that speech he saw that the game of protection was
up.—(Great cheering and laughter.) That was a true
remark. The game of protection was up. (Renewed
cheering.) This matter seemed to have struck a great
many other persous in the same light. The attention of a
nobleman, distinguished for his philanthropy, and for
whom he entertained great respect seemed also to
have been attracted by Mr. Escott's oration ; and
the Noble Lord to whom he referred said, speaking
of his experience during the last session, that he saw
the corn-laws were doomed.—(Hear, and cheers.) The
Noble Lord meant " detected."—(A laugh.) He trusted the
Noble Lord would turn out a good prophet, and that these
laws, having been detected, would speedily be doomed.—
(Loud cheers.) Therewas also another gentleman, a captain
in the navy, who had, after some years' deliberation, come
to a conclusion on the subject. That gentleman said,
" There were two things I heard during the last session, I heard
that the population is increasing by 1,000 a-day, and I heard
that the object of protection is to make the necessaries of life
r-- _

he believed, of persons who no longer were content to think
it sufficient that by their absence from the House they
should abstain from opposing the repeal of the law, which
had been admitted to be a fraud upon those for whom it was
devised, and an enormous wrong to 'those on whom it ope-
rated. He was therefore glad that the Flowards, and the
Cavendishcs, and the Fortescues, and the Russells all added
to the numbers of that minority, because they could not
endure to see that which was a fraud on those for whom it
was devised, and an enormous injury to the people, going
on any longer. He did not see how those persons who, whe-
ther really or pretendedly, were the friends of humanity
could any longer complain if they overlooked the existence
of a law which produced so great and grave evils as its conse-
quences. On the ground of humanity, therefore, he asked that
these laws should be abolished, of which the operation was
most calamitous on that class which was least able to resist
them from physical causes. This law they now bad prac-
tical means of appreciating. There was a deficiency in the
harvest. Prices had now reached the height at which Sir
J. Graham had said that destitution and crime were rife
throughout the country. Was there, then, ever an opportu-
nity at which matters were more ripe for action? Were
they ever in a better position to call upon the Government
to do something to ameliorate the prospects of the country?
—(Hear, heat.) The Government bad decided nothing.
They waited for the men of Birmingham to suggest to them
what ought to be decided. Let them gladden, then, the
hearts of millions, by calling on the Government to strike to
the ground and abolish at once and for ever the ridiculous
system which denied their food to millions, and urging them
to call Parliament together, either to do the deed, or to
sanction it; and if Parliament refused, to call upon the elec-
tors to test whether the present Parliament were the real re-
presentatives of those enfranchised millions who earned
their bread by the sweat of their brows. He called upon
them to act, and he was quite satisfied they would not do so
without success.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then gave the health of Earl Dude, who
returned thanks. _ . _

Lancashire, and every part of the country; now that they
saw the mighty edifice of monopoly tottering, and that its
walls began to crumble, they should concentrate their ener-
gies, and level it to the ground in all its crimes and blood;
and the peaceful ploughshare should pass over its ruins, and
full and enduring prosperity should bless our land.—(Loud
cheering.)
The CHAIRMAN then proposed " the Health of Mr. Bright,
M.P.," which was drunk with loud cheering ; and the Hon.
member returned thanks.
Several toasts were drank, and the company did not break
up until an advanced hour.

THE ARMY.
GENERAL ORDER.

HORSE GUARDS, Nov. 8.
At a General Court-Martial, held at Leeds on the Ist of
September, 1845, and continued by adjournment to the 18th
of the same month, Lieutenant William Augustine Hyder,
of the 10th Hussars, was arraigned upon the undermentioned
charge, viz. :
" For conduct unbecoming the character of an officer and a
gentleman ; for that he, the said Lieutenant William Augus-
tine Ryder, being quartered with his regiment at Ballin-
collig, aid, on or about the 17th day of October, in the year
1842, at Inchera, near Cork, and with intent to deceive his
commanding officer, Colonel yaudeleur, endeavour to pre-
vail on Silvester Oliver, Esq., to lend him a horse to remain
for two months at Ballincollig aforesaid as his second
charger, he, the said Lieutenant Ryder, proposing at the
same time to the said Silvester Oliver, Esq., that no one
should, during such two months, get upon the said horse."
Upon which charge the Court came to the following
decision
The Court having maturely weighed and considered
the evidence in support of the prosecution, together with
what the prisoner has urged in his defence (and laying out
of their consideration the letter addressed by Major-General
Henry Wyndham to Colonel Vandeleur), is of opinion that
he, the prisoner, Lieutenant William Augustine Ryder, of
the 10th Royal Hussars, is Not Guilty of the charge pre-
ferred against him, and does, therefore, acquit him of the
same.
" The Court having acquitted the prisoner, Lieutenant
William Augustine Ryder, of the 10th Royal Hussars, of
the charge preferred against him, cannot refrain from ani-
madverting in the strongest terms of disapprobation on the
violent, coarse, and uncalled-for language which he, the
prisoner, has had recourse to in his defence, in allusion to
the character of Silvester Oliver, Esq."
Her Majesty has been pleased to approve and confirm the
finding of the Court.
Her Majesty has been pleased to observe, that it appeared
that after the assembly, and during a short adjournment of
the Court, a civilian, the principal witness for the prosecution,
did, in the presence, and with the acquiescence of Colonel
Vandeleur, the prosecutor, destroy certain documents, which,
at the instance of the prisoner, such witness had been duly
required to bring with hint for production before the Court
—one of such documents being a letter having reference to
the subject-matter of the charge against Lieutenant Ryder
addressed on the 9th of May, 1845, by Colonel Vandeleur to
the said witness; and her Majesty has been pleased to ex-
press her displeasure that Colonel Vandeleur, hastily acting,
as he declares, under an impression that these documents
were not in a state fit to be produced in Court, and that
the fair copies in his possession would be much better,
should have acquiesced in a proceeding the impropriety of
which must, on reflection, be obvious to him, notwithstand-
ing that Lieutenant Ryder, having been acquitted, has not
suffered prejudice ; and notwithstanding that Colonel Van-
deleur had in Court, and was ready to produce a paper which
he alleged to be a true copy of such letter; and as to the
authenticity and truth of which Colonel Vandeleur, who
wrote the letter, the clerk who copied it, and the witness
who received it, might have been examined, if Lieutenant
Hyder had thought fit so to do.
Her Majesty, however, has been pleased to remark, that
much irrelevant matter appears to have been gone into, and
more particularly that the character of a witness for the
prosecution was irregularly and unjustly sought to be im-
peached by examining witnesses to particular facts supposed
to have taken place many years since, and unconnected with
the matter before the Court; whereas according to esta-
blished law and practice, evidence to the general character of
the witness for veracity was alone admissible; and further-
more, that witnesses were irregularly examined to contradict
the evidence of that witness on matters totally irrelevant to
the issue.
The Commander-in-Chief directs that the foregoing charge
preferred against Lieutenant William Augustine Hyder, of
the 10th Royal Hussars, together with the finding of the
Court, and her Majesty's confirmation thereof, be entered in
the general order-book, and read at the head of every regi-
ment in her Majesty's service.
By command of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington,
Commander-in-Chief.
JOHN MACDONALD, Adjutant-General.

The CHAIRMAN begged leave to propose " the health of
Richard Cobden, Esq., the distinguished opponent of all mo-
nopolies.—(Vehement cheering.)
Mr. COBDEN, on rising; was greeted with loud cheers. He
said, that he felt deeply indebted to the assembly for the
kind manner in which they had received the announcement
of his name. He also congratulated them on the aspect of
the meeting; and observed, that this demonstration put into
the hands of Mr. Villiers a most powerful weapon against the
common enemy, which that gentleman would wield for their
common benefit in the House of Commons. He did not ap-
pear before them, after the full exposition which had been
given of their principles and views, to make an argumentative
speech. Facts were before them which demonstrated to the
conviction of all what were the consequences of those prin-
ciples which they had met to oppose. They found them-
selves, under the operation of those principles, verging as
nearly as possible upon a state of famine. This, as Mr.
Villiers had well explained, was the consequence predicted
from these restrictive laws by every writer or speaker on the
subject, from the time of the celebrated protest of Lord
Grenville, in the House of Lords, in 1815, down to the most
recently-published pamphlet in opposition to the corn-laws.
The matter for their consideration was, what was to be done
in the present state of this question? It seemed that they
bad been deluding themselves when they entertained the
idea that the Government was going to do something. It
seemed that they had not even such a Government as some
of the Continental States possessed. Were they not gratified
to think that they were unworthy of as good treatment as
the Russians, and Turks, and Dutch received? When the
Dutch, and Germans, and Turks, and Russians, and Belgians,
found there was likely to be a scarcity, they took that course
which common prudence dictated, and which any community
out of Bedlam would at once pursue, if left to the exercise of
their unbiassed judgment. Finding there was a probability
of an insufficient supply of food at home they opened wide
their ports, and admitted importations from any part of the
world. This was what the people had expected our rational
Government to do. What was the question which thirteen noble-
men and gentlemen had been sitting in the Cabinet day after
day to' discuss? Whether they, from their own rents and
revenues, should make large purchases of grain from abroad
to supply the wants of the people of this country ? No.
Whether they should vote a subsidy from the taxes of the
country, and levy new taxes to cover the amount to purchase
food? Nothing of the kind. The mighty difficulty they
had to decide was this—whether they would allow the people
of this country to feed themselves ? and it appeared the Cabi-
net had decided that they should not.—(" Hear," and cheers )
Rumours were afloat, he could not tell how-well-founded they
might be, that there was a division in the Cabinet on this
great question. They were told that Sir R. Peel and
Sir J. Graham on the one side, and the Duke of Welling-
ton and Lord Stanley on the other, were at variauce
.on this subject ; and . they were told that the
Duke had decided that the people of England should
not be allowed to feed themselves.—(Hear, hear.)
Now, they were at issue with the great Duke on this great
question.—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Cobden) believed that
the people of Birmingham had before tried the mettle of
that noble warrior.—("Hear, hear," and cheers.) The Duke
of Wellington was a nobleman whom they regarded with,
honour, as possessing those qualities which were held by men
in the highest estimation. Ile possessed high courage, great
firmness of resolve, and indomitable perseverance. '1 hey
admired such qualities in any man, and the Duke had had a
great field of enterprise on which to manifest his endow-
ments.—(Hear, hear.) He would not like to see the Noble
Duke, who had now grown old, and who had conquered so
often in the field—he would not like to see that Noble Duke
sustain another defeat, before he descended into an honoured
grave.—(Hear, hear.) He would, therefore, remind that
noble individual that he had never yet entered into a contest
with Englishmen in which he had been successful. As
the great battle to which he (Mr. Cobden) had been alluding
must be and would be fought, he could only express a hope
that the Noble Duke might live long enough to test tjae qua-
lity of his countrymen again.—(Cheers and laughter.) But,
after all, it was not the Duke of Wellington against whom
they were arrayed. Who was at the head of the Govern-
ment of this country? Sir R. Peel. He (Mr. Cobden) had
sat in the House of Commons in the palmy days of Sir R.
Peel's prosperity, and when Sir Robert brought forward his
measures, and dictated to his servile colleagues what his
policy should be, the little monosyllable " I, I, I," was con-
stantly on his lips.—(A laugh.) "I do this," " I call upon
you to support me in doing that." "I act upon my own honest
convictions." " I look for a posthumous fame." " I will
do nothing as the Prime Minister of this country which I do
not think is for the benefit of the community." He (Mr.
Cobden) would take the Right Hon. Baronet at his word. Al-
though he was the Prime Minister of this country, he was, as
Prime Minister, responsible for his actions. Many attempts
had been made to shirk thatresponsibility ; and an endeavour
had been made to show that those who talked of such respon-
sibility intended to do personal violence to Sir R. Peel. He
(Mr. Cobden) knew that Sir R. Peel was ashamed of that
plea; but some of the newspapers had now fallen back upon
it. He (Mr. Cobden) could only say that he would not touch
a hair of Sir R. Peel's head.—(Hear.) But what was the
meaning of the responsibility of a Minister? The Minister
of this country was responsible by the Constitution for every
act of the Sovereign. The Queen alone could issue an order
for the opening or the ports; and her gracious Majesty
would have taken that step long ago, but that the Con-
stitution prevented her from doing so till Sir Robert
Peel presented her with the decision of the Council.—
(Cheers.) They were, therefore, only pursuing a legiti-
mate constitutional course when they brought Sir R. Peel to
the bar of public opinion, and declared him to be respon-
sible for the acts of the Government.—("Hear,"and cheers.) It
had been proposed that, for the relief of the poor in Ireland,
great public works should be undertaken, that railways
should be made, lands drained, fisheries started, and boats
and nets supplied to the people. He (Mr. Cobden) would
recommend, in the place of these suggestions, a repeal of the
existing corn-laws.—(Cheers.) The ports of Belgium had
been opened for the importation of foreign corn, they did not
there expect to feed the people merely by pickaxes and
shovels, by giving them work without furnishing them at the
same time with food which they may purchase with the pro-
duce of their labour. The Irish people would undoubt-
edly suffer much from famine, owing to the failure of
the potato crops in all parts of that country. Tbat affected
"not only men who were able to labour on railroads and
public works, but womefi, children, the aged, and the dis-
abled. Those. were not persons into whose hands they
could put pickaxes and shovels. He would venture to pro-
phecy a recurrence in Ireland, in the ensuing spring, of those
events which occurred in that country in the spring of 1822,
when the famishing flocked by crowds into the towns and were
fed by the charity of the inhabitants. But the question was,
where was subsistence to be obtained for them, now that
their own crops, upon which they had depended, had failed?
It must be bought elsewhere; and not a moment ought now
to be lost in accumulating stocks of grain, for if they
deferred doing so till the time of pressure—spring—arrived,
that commodity would probably be double its present
value.— (Hear, hear.) The monopolists were tampering
with the present state of things. The organs of the
Government, day after day, represented the state of affairs
to be much more cheering than it actually was. Why, what
was the state of things in Ireland ? Could a wide-spread
conspiracy have been organised to deceive them by false
representations ? Had they not seen that masses were
offered up in the Catholic chapels throughout that country
praying the Deity to avert the impending calamity? and
that the Protestant Primate and Bishops of Ireland had
ordered similar prayers to be offered up in the churches of the
Establishment? The boards of guardians also had memo-
rialised the Government on the subject. He (Mr. Cobden)
was convinced there were- not a dozen men in this country
who did not feel it a solemn and melancholy truth that the
country was placed, by the deficiency of the crops, in a most
unfortunate and perilous position ; and yet the Government
were tampering with this critical moment of their welfare, and
were apparently unprepared with any measure to avert the
calamity.—(Hear, hear.) Now, then, was the time for the
people of this country to speak out. It had been said
there had been scarcely any demonstration in the country in
favour of opening the ports ; and why ? Because there were
town who did not expect
is num—warren ehe-e,,eiJsere-
of the Ctiabinet that the ports were already open.—(" Hear,"
and cheers.) But that expectation was now past ;
and he thought it behoved the people in every town in the
kingdom to meet together, as they were going to do at Man-
chester, and call upon the Government to open the ports.—
(Hear.) When the ports were once open he was sure they
would never be shut again, and that was the reason they had
not been opened. Where was the necessity to hold four or
five Cabinet meetings in order to tell them that corn could
not,corne in ? Some men said, look to your native produce:
but that was not thought reasonable in anything but corn.
He had heard Mr. Gladstone eloquently advocate the free
admission of lard, hides, and flax, because (he said) they
were the raw material of manufactures, and that, there-
fore, it was necessary that a cheap and abundant supply of
those articles should be had. The argument which applied
to corn, was forgotten when they had to deal with lard, hides,
and flax. He would whisper in the ear of the advocates of
the corn-law, that corn was the article on which rents were
fixed and tithes regulated.—(Cheers.) Let them not deceive
themselves, and fancy they would get all at once a free ad-
mission of corn—that was to say, wheat. There was no
objection to admit Indian corn free of duty. Lord Sandon
wrote to his Liverpool constitutents that they did not mean
to oppose the admission of Indian corn. Why? Because
they did not fix their rents or regulate their tithes on the
price of Indian corn. The truth was, the opposite party had
not a man of average intellect that dared to support their
cause; they could not appeal to a statesman of any eminence
who had delivered a dictum in favour of the system ; they
had not a writer on their side; they stood alone in this age,
and yet these people governed as absolutely and more tyran-
nically than the Grand Turk himself—(Shame)—and they
would find tools for themselves who would work against
their own convictions. No doubt Sir R. Peel was at least as
good a free trader as he (Mr. Cobden) was, and lie had no
doubt that Sir R. Peel bad a wish in his inmost heart that he
should be the man to carry out these principles, but he had
been tampering with his policy, that he might adapt it to
the ignorance of his party. Now, there was one consolation
—they had run the fox to earth at last.—(Cheers.) Ile could
not double on them any more. The Hon. Gentleman, after
remarking on the pleasure it would have given him to have
seen the Right Hon. Baronet as a Lancashire man carry-
ing the abolition of the corn-law, went on to urge on
the meeting to make themselves county voters by buying
,tos. freeholds, and also to examine and purify the re-
gistries by means of local organisation. The people
must be prepared to act for themselves. They must
come out in their multitudinous strength, in Yorkshire,

IRELAND.
ORDER OF ST. PATRICK—LORD FARNHAM.
Dunu-N, Nov. 12.—A chapter of this most ancient illus-
trious order was held in Dublin Castle this day, for the pur-
pose of investing Baron Farnham with the badge of the order.
The following knights were present :—Earl Roden, Earl
Donoughmore, Earl Wicklow, Earl Howell, Earl Rosse, and
the Marquis of Ormonde.
His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, the Very Rev. the
Dean of St. Patrick's, the Very Rev. the Dean of the Chapel
Royal, the Ulster King of Arms, Sir William Leeson, Sir B.
Morris, &c., officers of the order, were present.
At two o'clock his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, Grand
Master of the order, entered the Presence Chamber, accom-
panied by his Aides-de-Camp and officers of his household,
Sir Thomas Fremantle bearing the sword of state.
The knights soon afterwards entered and took their seats
at the board. _ _ _ _

—Baron Farnham was then introduced, and, kneeling, re-
ceived the honour of knighthood. His Lordship then was
invested with the badge of the order, having taken the oaths
prescribed.
The names of the several knights were then called over by
Ulster, and all retired.
The Presence Chamber had a brilliant array of beauty and
fashion to witness the ceremonial.
THE POTATO CROP.

The Right Hon. Edward Lucas, late Under-Secretary for
Ireland, is to be chairman of the commission for carrying out
the plans contemplated by Government, in consequence of the
disease in the potatoes.—Evening
The Premier's reply to the letter of the Mansion-house
Committee was received this day, and is couched in the
coldest terms of official politeness, merely promising to lay
the statements of the Committee before the Queen.—Mid.

V.
The panic is obviously abating. The provincial journals
say little about it; and our numerous correspondents are
silent.—lbid.

MEETING AT ARMAGH.

A meeting of the Armagh Provident Committee was held
on Friday last. There were present—Wm. Paton, Esq., Cap-
tain Algeo, Rev. Dr. Robinson, Thomas Dobbin, Esq., Dr.
Colvan, Lee M'Kinstry, W. C. Gage, John M‘Kinstry, A.
Lyle, Esqrs., Dr. Robinson. Wm. Gardner, Esq., Dr. Cuming,
R. M'Endow, James Bennett, Esqrs., Rev. Mr. Flavel.
Mr. Paton informed the meeting that the guarantee fund
now amounted to 1,3001., and that the Provincial Bank had
agreed to make the necessary advance to the extent of 600/.,
on the security of the subscription list. Mr. P. further
stated, that the works in progress for the manufacture of
farina would be completed and in operation about the end of
the week, and that about seventy tons of potatoes had already
been laid down for the purpose of being manufactured
into starch. He then read a letter from Colonel Rawdon,
M.P. for the borough, inclosing 50/.
The letter was ordered to be entered on the minutes, and
the thanks of the meeting were unanimously given to Colone
Rawdon.

"this is worse than the Chinese. The Chinese do everything
to feed their people. They encourage the introduction
of food into the country, white we are doing pre.
cisely the contrary." The Honourable Gentleman to whom
he was referring told the people in his own countl ,
that " this won't do ;" and he had, it appeared,
become a convert to Anti-Monopolist principles. These
circumstances had had a very beneficial effect in the
House of Commons. Lord J. Russell, shortly afterwards,
thought it high time to bring before the country the condi-
tion of the working classes, and he came to the conclusion
that that which bore most heavily upon them, and pre-
vented them from rising to their proper position was this
law, which rendered the necessaries of life scarce and dear—
(Hear, hear)—and he called upon the House to take the sub-
ject into their consideration. lie (Mr. Villiers) was curious
to notice how the Government received that proposition; for
while they wanted to glorify themselves for the ;prosperity
of the country, they also wished to stand well with their own
friends. Sir J. Graham did not oppose Lord J. Russell's
motion. He acted as a man usually did when he agreed with
the mover of a resolution, but found it inconvenient to say
so. He moved the previous question, but Sir James thought,
like Mr. Escott, that the game of protection was up; and he
made in his speech a clean sweep of all the rubbish that had
ever been .uttered in favour of protection.—( Hear, hear.)
He ventured to say that there never was a speech delivered
by any one of those who advocated free-trade of so much
power as that speech of Sir James Graham by way of answer
to these who opposed the repeal of the corn-laws. There
was not one of them who bad ever supported the repeal of
the corn-laws by a better speech. That their opponents
had never ventured to meet it. The simple minded gentle-
man to whom lie alluded never apprehended this result; he
complained that things were to cheap; he did not go into
the consequences of the corn-laws. His friend had told him
after that -speech of Sir James Graham, why, you will
weaken your case if you go on to reply to him. He was
told that the Secretary of State had done still better than
he could do, and that coming from him the argument would
have more authority.. He, therefore, had nothing more to
do but ten days afterwards to move for the repeal of the law.
He moved accordingly, but he gat no answer to-his argu-
ments, except this—that the corn-laws having failed, it was
a pity to disturb that which was, nevertheless, the exist-
ing Law.—(Hear, hear.) For his part, lie thought
it required nothing but an earnest, decided, vigor-
ous, and determined attack to secure the destruction of
law. He had been in a minority on the last occasion; but
there were several names in that minority that had never
"ainared in a corn-law minority yriglAimbefore—tha names

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAN EVEN!NG, NOVEMBER 15, 1845.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS..
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—Sir Robert Peel certainly is a man for a show.
He is a very presentable Premier. Whenever the public
drama supplies the opportunity of an effective scene, there he
is at his post, " property" and all, in high spirits, and good
working condition. He has never the least objection to take
his part in a tableau representing the national history, even if
the reality should have had time to get rather stale. Tam-
worth is the place where he comes out most freely. In that
provincial firmament he stars it with an overpowering pro-
digality of splendour. The character in which he is just
now astonishing the natives is that of the Prince of naviga-
tors. So well does he act the part, that if one did not hap-
pen to know the contrary, one would certainly conclude that
the Trent Valley was .the very first railway in the world,
and Sir Robert the Columbus who had first suggested the
bold adventure. The spirit pervades the scene. Every-
thing around expands into heroic dimensions. Tam-
worth becomes the pole-star of our earth's admiration,
the very pivot of human affairs. All England and
Ireland, from Manchester to London, from Dover
to Dublin, from Glasgow to Southampton, converges to the
great centre ; railroads and post-office direct thither their
streams; the metropolis of government on the one side, and
the tiketropolis of trade on the other, make their dutiful ap-
proaches; the Trent spreads its riches around; and in the
middle of all things, culminating over the whole civilized
world, stands Sir Robert Peel. 'We will secure our seats in
the great amphitheatre, and take care to miss nothing of the
show. The railroad itself is a good one. It is a natural line.
It does for those two great lines, the London and Birming-
ham, and the Grand Junction, exactly the same service that
Oxford •street East (if that is its name) does for old Oxford-
street and Holborn. It makes them one. It also follows the
natural valley of the Trent ; and rivers, which have lost the
only use which Brindley could discover in them, have now
nothing to do but to indicate lines for railways. But the
railroad is a very third-rate character in the present perform-
ance—no more than "Wall," or the Moon, in Pyramus and
Thisbe. It is only part of the "property." So we will
confine our attention to the principal character. The
Premier decends, not from the clouds, but from
the steps of his carriage, and treads the favoured soil
which, under his auspices, is to become the world's new
centre. It is with real concern that we discover he is lame.
Some people offer the vulgar solution that it is the gout. We
cannot believe it. The grandeur of the occasion suggests a
more : mysterious cause. The corn-laws and " _political
friends" are at the root of that sore. That is the fatal sting.
There is the serpent which has bitten the Philoctetes, who,
helpless as he is himself, yet holds the fated instruments of
our common deliverance. However, to what's before us.
Next to Sir Robert Peel, the most remarkable object in the
field is a wheelbarrow, bearing of course the same propor-
tion to the common specimen as the Premier does to com-
mon men.
" A very handsdme mahogany navigator's wheelbarrow
was prepared for receiving the turf, which was to be dug by
the Right Hon. Baronet; it was designed by Mr. Holmes,
of Liverpool, and was richly carved ; it bore on each side
of it the arms of Sir R. Peel, with his motto—" Industria."
The spade appears to have been still more idealized. It
was fitting sceptre for a railway king. So great an anxiety
was felt that it should be worthy of the occasion that the ar-
ticle first made was rejected. We should like to know why ?
It is not usual for Sheffield to yield to its Warwickshire
rival in matters of taste. Did the original spade contain
any offensive emblems—one of those mystic wheat-sheaves
which procured the summary rejection of a splendid
velvet waistcoat after it had actually adorned and com-
forted the Premier's bosom ? However that may be, Bir-
mingham was more successful, and supplied a beautiful fabric,
representing the conversion of the shield of war into the
spade of peace, and modern industry crowning' ancestral
honours.
" The spade originally intended for use on the occasion was
manufactured expressly for the purpose in Sheffield, but upon
being inspected by the Committee appointed to attend to the
arrangements, it was not approved by them, and at a very
late period Messrs. Elkington and Co., of Birmingham, were•
requested to make one in electro silver plate, which they
succeeded in finishing in time. The metallic part of the
spade is in electro-silver, and shaped somewhat in the form
of a heraldic shield, still preserving the characteristics of a
spade. On the front are engraved the arms, crest, and
motto of the Right Hon. Baronet, with the following in-
scription underneath:—' The works of the Trent Valley Rail-
way from Stafford to Rugby were commenced on the 13th
day of November, 1845, on which Occasion the first sod was
turned by the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P., upon
lands in the parish of Tamworth, and county of Stafford,'
and on the reverse the official seal of the Trent Valley Rail-
way Company, together with the names of the Chairman,
Mr. Edmund Peel, the Directors, Engineers, Solicitor, and
Secretary, &c. The shaft or tree of the spade was formed
from a piece of old English oak, the upper part dividing into
two branches, forming the handle, appropriately carved with
oak leaves, acorns, &c., and highly polished."
The Chairman of the Company, Mr. Edmund Peel, is quite
alive to the importance both of his railway and of his illus-
trious relative. "The nation," he said, "was now looking
to him (Sir Robert) with the utmost anxiety, but with the
utmost confidence "—an amalgamation of alarm and re-
pose which will pass the fusing powers of Hudson him-
self, or even of the ingenious compounder of her Ma-
jesty' a Ministry. The confidence Mr. Edmund Peel feels
in his railroad, happily for the shareholders, is considerably
less alloyed with anxiety. On
.this point he speaks with a
very comfortable degree of assurance. In fact, we must con-
fess he goes a little beyond us; he says, " I believe that
there is little doubt that Tamworth will be the centrical sta-
tion of England, and I have reason to expect that the post-
office will be placed in this town." As for Sir Robert, it is
quite delightful to see him with his spade and his wheelbar-
row. If he does not handle them very dexterously, his mind
is in the work. He is to have the toys for his private amuse-
ment, and evidently appropriates the railway into the bar-
gain. It is the Premier's own. " I have given," he says,
" a cordial support to this undertaking."
" I gave it that support from a sincere belief that it was
calculated to be beneficial to this district, in the interests of
which I must take naturally a warm concern; but I sup-
ported it also from a conviction that the success of this
undertaking would be conducive to the public welfare. I
thought the public welfare would be: promoted by establish-
ing a more direct and immediate communication between the
metropolis on the one hand, and Dublin and a great part of
Ireland on the other; between the metropolis and the west
of Scotland; between the metropolis and that great com-
mercial and manufacturing district, of which Liverpool and
Manchester are the capitals. It is probable that on the com-
pletion of this railway, Dublin will be brought within, in
point of time, 14 or 15 hours of London—that a letter posted
in London in the evening of this day can be answered from
Dublin on the 'morning of the day but one after—that is to
say, that Dublin in respect to post-office communication will
stand exactly on the same footing as this town stands on at
present. There is every reason to believe that Manchester
will be brought within six or seven hours of London. I said
on a former occasion that it would be brought within eight
hours, and that statement was received with incredulity. I
am sure I am not guilty of any exaggeration when I say
that Liverpool and Manchester, at probably no remote
period, will be brought within six or seven hours of London.
It was in the conviction, therefore, that great public benefit
would result from this undertaking that I gave it my warm
and unremitting support."
For our own part, we think Sir Robert might prophecy
more very safely. That London and Manchester are not al-
ready within five hours is owing to the disgraceful bungling
of our railway system in that very part of the country where
it ought to have been the best. We are involved in a laby-
rinth of railroads, and it is as much the Premier's fault as any
other man's that we have not more direct lines. The lines
between London and Manchester are only of the same mile.
age as the very circuitous line between London and Exeter.
The latter journey is performed every day in four hours and a
half. We may safely, therefore, go beyond the Premier, and
prophecy that Liverpool and Manchester will be brought
within four or five hours of the metropolis. The
rest of Sir Robert's egotism—and there is quite
the usual amount—is of a more venial, because
more sentimental, character. We pass it, and can
only notice with sincere approbation his advice
to the directors to make their carriages, especially the devoted
third class, more comfortable and humane. The comfort of
the public will, at last, we hope, become a condition of rail-
way monopoly, or an item of railway competition. One good
thing the Premier did say, and as the air of Tamworth seems
favourable to boldness of thought, and to candour of expres-
sion, we quote it for the benefit of those free trade allies with
whom the speaker must before long stand or fall :
" We must always admit that the passage of a railway.
may be productive of some individual and partial disadvan-
tage—that some inns may have reason to complain of the
loss of their traffic, and some retail dealers of the diminution
of their trade. It is impossible to deny it—it is impossible
not to regret that that is the case; but what is it but saying
that for the great body of the community you have substi-
tuted a cheaper and better mode of communication, and
given them access to wider markets."
If Sir Robert does not perceive the obvious application of
this sentiment to the most important problem of the day, he
is, to use a a poetic license, the dullest of his hearers.
CHRONICLE.—In our notice of the 'Birmingham dinner
yesterday, we could only refer to one or two of the many
striking points in Mr. Cobden's admirable speech, but it was
a speech abounding with matter of the most stirring kind,
and one which will assuredly awaken a response in the heart
and mind of England. Mr. Cobden's oratory may be said to
be all bone and sinew. There is no waste or surplus matter
about it. It is pervaded by a spirit of life and energy which
imparts freshness and interest to the most familiar things.
Mr. Cobden disclaimed argumentation on the merits of the
general question, and in doing so expressed the sentiment of
the nation. The reasons for and against the corn-laws have
done their work, and may be laid on the shelf. They are,
like arguments on the question of religious toleration, of his-
, torical interest merely. Opinion is settled as generally and
as decidedly as it ever can be by mere discussion. All that_
remains is to brinOeseislatiOn atesseems.......—y-seettiser,- -arm tirs
1.,:. mfrs IitIESHOW ot time, arid of the strength and tactics
of adverse parties. For a brief space within the last
month, Mr. Cobden, like all the world, cherished the
delusion that the end was at length come.
He, too, suffered himself to imagine that " Peel was the
man." But that dream is over. Sir Robert is the same
man he always was—great on small occasions, and small on
great ones ; oracular and decisive upon a question of com-
peting railways, but dubious and procrastinating in the
presence of a great conflict between opinion and institutions,
and without a particle of that resolute temper which might
settle all by one bold and skilful stroke. Peel, it is clear,
is not " the man." Fortune opened to him a splendid pros-
pect, a little dangerous and difficult perhaps, as the openings
to great things are apt to be. He surveyed the perils and his
heart failed him. It is not of such stuff that heroes and
deliverers are made. The man who would liberate the
commerce, and sweep away the nefarious impost from the
bread of England, must be ready to tell the Duke of Wel-
lington and Lord Stanley to do their worst, and to trust him-
self, with entire reliance, to the indomitable spirit of that peo-
ple with whom, as Mr. Cobden truly said, the Duke of Wel-
lington " never yet entered into a contest in which he was
not beaten." The great work which Sir Robert Peel
shrinks from doing is one that he will be obliged, before long,
to see done. " Some one else will have to do it," and the
man will not be wanting when the time arrives. That time
will be when the intelligent middle classes of England show
themselves resolved to carry out their own principles. The
contest has become a mere trial of strength between them
and a portion of the landed aristocracy ; and it continues
only so long as the overwhelming powers of one of the
parties are suffered to lie dormant. The upholders of corn-
laws now hold their ground through the forbearance or the
inertness of their opponents. They are like a spaniel snatch-
ing a bone from a lazy mastiff ; the prey will not bedropped
until the saucy robber feels the teeth of the plundered owner
in his flanks. Mr. Cobden is right in saying that the protection-
suppor ting aristocracy will not give up their privileges without a
struggle. Every hour of the struggle maydo them mischief, and in
the fight for the bread-tax far more precious advantages will
be endangered if not sacrificed; but still the struggle will go
on. The people will have to manifest their strength in order
to bring it to a conclusion. Mr. Cobden, therefore, and the
League are right in concentrating their attention and their
efforts upon the Parliamentary franchise. The counties in
which our great towns are situated may all be won, and
their accession to the principle of free trade would be deci-
sive in Parliament. The divisions of counties, for instance,
which surround Loudon, Manchester, and Birmingham
might, by the process which Mr. Cobden describes, be ren-
dered stronghold, for free trade, The law annezee the right

~~

of voting in counties to the poss essi9n of a forty-shilling free-
hold, which any one who can invest a sum of fifty or sixty
pounds may purchase. Such a purchaser becomes, in
every point of view, moral as well as legal, as
fully entitled to the franchise as the purchaser of
an estate of ten thousand a-year. It is the mere rav-
ing of disappointed faction to call such a franchise
a faggot or fictitious vote. It is no such thing. The
real possession of a certain property is the sole condition
prescribed and contemplated by the law for the enjoyment
of the right of voting. A hundred 'pound rent-charge from
a landed proprietor to his son or,dependent, when the transfer
is merely nominal, is a fictitious and fraudulent qualification.
A fifty-pound tenantcy-at-will, Where the occupier dares not
call his soul his own, is a good qualification in point of law,
though it is destitute of every characteristic which proves
property to be a test for choosing legislators. But the forty-
.shilling freehold, which the industrious tradesman or mechanic
may purchase with his savings, is a good and honest qualifi-
cation. It marks, as far as any such qualification can, the
presence of independence, frugality, and intelligence, and the
right of voting which it confers is a legitimate reward and
useful stimulus to the efforts of men who possess' those quali-
ties. We trust, therefore, that wherever there is a great
town population it will use the means at its disposal to re-
dress its own grievances. The method pointed out by Mr.
Cobden is simple, practical, and unobjectionable, and the
alarm which it has already excited in the ranks of the Pro-

tection party should encourage us to adopt it as rapidly and
completely as possible.
POST.—It is very satisfactory to find that in one im-
portant agricultural county no grounds exist for alarm with
respect either to the grain or potato crop. We have on more
than one occasion stated our impression that on both these
subjects there had been much of exaggeration ; and we re-
joice to find, on the authoiity of practical men, that in Essex
the crop of wheat and other grain (with the exception of
oats) is an average one, and that the produce has been well
got in; whilst as a set-off against the partial failure of the
potatoes we have the fact that so much larger a breadth of
land than usual was planted this year, as to go far in the way
of compensation for the falling off occasioned by disease.
We feel little doubt that the state of things ascertained to
exist in Essex will be found much more general throughout
the country than has lately been supposed; at all events it
would be well to know what are really our prospects of a
supply of food, and we think that other counties ought to
follow the example of Essex in this as in other matters re-
lating to agricultural questions. Reports from committees
of the various agricultural protection societies might very
easily be drawn up ; and we feel assured that the effect
would be to remove from the public mind a great deal of un-
necessary anxiety. The Essex report to which we have
alluded is in these words :

" Your Committee, finding the enemies of British agricul-

ture were anxiously propagating a report that the country
was on the very verge of a famine, have instituted inquiries,
in order to ascertain the probable produce of the late harvest,
and the state of the potato crop in the county of Essex, and
they confidently express their belief that in the county of
Essex an average crop of wheat and other grain (with the
exception of oats), has been produced and well secured; that,
consequently there is no ground to apprehend any scarcity of
food for the sustenance of the people. In addition to this
gratifying result of their inquiries, they would also add that
from the lateness of the harvest not more than eleven months'
consumption will be required from the present crop.
" Your Committee are of opinion that the potatoes will give
about half the usual yield per acre, but this will in a great
measure -be compensated by a larger breadth of land than
usual having this year been planted, and an extra quantity
of turnips and other vegetables grown.
" Your Committee beg to observe that the present price of
wheat barely exceeds the average of the seven years preceding
the year 1835, upon which the Tithe Commutation Act was
based ; and that, notwithstanding the clamour that has been
raised, the price scarcely exceeds the average avowedly con-
templated by the framers of the existing Act that governs
importation.
" Your Committee, taking all these circumstances into con •
sideration, cannot but congratulate themselves that their
efforts, in conjunction with those of other societies, have not
been exerted without a corresponding benefit, as from the
returns that have been made, it will be found that this coml.
try, under the system of protection and encouragement given
to agriculture, is at the present time, by the blessing of Pro-
vidence, less liable to suffer from scarcity than any of the
Continental States ; and your Committee are satisfied that
the advance that has taken place in several descriptions of
grain since last harvest has arisen more from the demands of
those Continental States than from any deficiency of our
growth.

" Your Committee have the fullest reliance that the
framers and promoters of the present corn-law will not be
intimidated into measures that would produce effects so
ruinous that they cannot be contemplated without the
deepest apprehension; for, if confidence should at this time
be destroyed amongst the cultivators of the soil, the inevitable
result would be to deprive the agricultural labourers of em-
ployment, and to inflict distress and suffering on every class
of the community."
In the latter part of this document we have a remarkable
practical commentary on the senseless cry that has lately
prevailed in favour of opening our ports for the admission of
foreign grain. What supply could possibly be looked for
from people who are, at the present moment, supplying in our
markets the deficiency of their own harvest ?
HERALD.—Some of our Contemporaries, in default of
other grievances, have been complaining of the metropolitan
improvements, wide streets, fine shops, plate-glass windows,
&c., &c., &c. Now we can see no great harm in all these.
It costs little more to build a handsome house than an ugly
one, or to build houses regularly than to huddle them to-
gether in disorder • and as to wide and straight streets, they
must be acknowledged a general convenience. Laudatores
temporis acti as in some sense we are, we must defend from
the charge of iunovatiorpthe taste for building handsome com-
mercial houses. There yet remain seine' noble mansions in
the most mercantile part of the City, and elan in the desola-
tion of Bethnal-green and Spitalfields there stand the re-
mains of dwellings that might well have accommodated a
peer, though it is plain they must have been occupied by
persons engaged in trade. In proportion to the extent and
wealth of the metropolis it probably has now a smaller num-
ber of fine shops and fine counting-houses than it bad two
centuries ago ; for, after all, how few are the fine streets
compared with the extent of this overgrown city ? They
are the more noted, because, being the principal thorough-
fares, they present the strongest motive for decoration, and
are most frequently traversed. The denouncers of fine streets
and fine shops, however, take a line of argument that requires
to be considered with a little attention. The fine wide
streets, say they, are made at the expense of the dwellings
of the poor, for whom no other place is provided. This is,
to some extent true, though not to any very great extent,
for probably the number of the dislocated poor does not ex-
ceed a few thousands, and the evil—for though a small and
transitory evil, still an evil it is—has some compensating
advantages ; among these advantages we must count the
breaking up of several finites of disease and vice. For our
part, though we do not agree with the Times that distemper,
demoralisation, and death, are the proper and desirable drains
of a metropolitan population, or, rather, because we do not
agree with the Times in this respect, we cannot weep over
the exenteration of St. Giles's, ors sigh at the threatened fall
of Field-lane and Saffron-hill. To remove the poor from
such styes, even at the cost of a little inconvenience to the
poor themselves, can be hardly regarded as a serious injury.
One of our Contemporaries calls upon the Government to
interpose in this matter. But what can any Government do
in such a case ? Here we have two millions of human
beings compressed within five or six square miles
built over with bricks : is a Government to say—
" You must not let in light and air upon this living fur-
nace. You must continue to preserve your foetid ac-
cumulations of wretched dwellings until they shall create a
pestilence that will soon provide house-room enough for you
all ?" This no Government will dare to say, or be wicked
enough to meditate. The metropolis must be permitted to
expand as it has been expanding • and within the last twenty
years the metropolis has extended locally in a ratio far be-
yond the increase of population, enormous as that has been.
Still comes back the question of the dwellings of the poor.
It is quite true, as stated by the complainants to whom we
refer, that the labouring poor cannot, without great expense
of time and labour on the part of many of them, take up
their abode in the remoter suburbs. It will not answer for
a labouring man to lodge at a distance of from four or five
miles from the proper place of his labour. Upon this con-
sideration we have long suggested the erection of what we
called " labourers' barracks" in the central part of the City.
And we have shown that the erection of such barracks might
be made a profitable speculation, though estimating the rent
of a single rooni at no more than one shilling.and,sixpence
a week. Such barracks we have little doubt will arise,
sooner or later. Meanwhile, we see other elements
of improvement approaching, that will, we think, go
a great way to make room for the poor of the metropolis.
Take the range, north about, from the West India Docks to
Chelsea, and; survey the myriads of neat streets of small
houses that have grown up within a few years along the line
of the Blackwell Railway, at Hoxton, Islington, Somers
Town, Camden Town, Portland Town, Paddington, Bayswater,
KensiVon, &c. &c. Make a corresponding circuit on the
south side, and you will find a proportionate amount of neat
small houses in neat streets. Within the entire circuit are
many such streets and many such houses of a little older
standing. Now here, we predict, will in a few years be found
ample accommodation for the labouring poor, not by re-
moving them from, but by even bringing them nearer to the
scene of their labours. The process by wich this prediction is to
be fulfilled is simple, and, in our opinion, certain. All men love
the fields better than the streets, and to occupy a cottagaand
garden rather than a numbered house in. a small street. It is
the economy of time necessary to a close attendance upon
business which determines a great proportion of the present
inhabitants of London to remain where they are. But let
us suppose the termini of all the railroads to have found
their way into the heart of the City, and the clerk or manu-
facturer at his own home, who now has his residence in
Walworth, Hoxton, or Clerke

ime ntrrtid convenience, anywhere
at this side of Edgeware, Barnet, Croydon, or Richmond. This
will cause an immense emigration of the humbler middle class
—just that class whose retirement will make room for the la-
bouring poor. There is one order of the community whom we
have not enumerated among those whose emigration we antici-
pate. We speak of shopmen andshopwomen. Whenever good
sense and humanity, nevertheless, shall be so far successful
as to enforce a much earlier termination of the hours of

shop business, these, too, will be among the emigrants, and
not the least interesting or the least happy of the retiring
body. At present the only railroad which approaches the
centre of the City is that which debouches at London-bridge,
and from the vast population that has accumulated upon
Blackheath and its neighbourhood, and in the direction of
Croydon one can calculate with some approach to certainty
the prodigious drainage of people flora every part of the
metropolis When all the railroads east, west, north, and
south, shall have found their way to its centre. We must
exaggerate extravagantly indeed if the removals do not
exceed four or five fold the number of persons displaced by
those improvements that add so much to the beauty, corn-
fort, and health of the metropolis.

ADVERTISER.—The tribute paid the other day to the
Member for Wolverhampton, was one which that gentleman
most justly deserved. There is not to be found in the ranks
of the corn-law repealers, a single individual who has
laboured more zealously or unremittingly in the cause of
cheap bread and free trade, and assuredly no one surpasses
him in the consistency with which he has advocated that
' cause. Ever since he identified himself with the anti-mono-
' polist principle, Mr. Villiers has boldly and uncompromisingly
maintained his views. Opposition did not daunt him, nor
did the still more discouraging circumstance of the apathy
of pretended friends, divert him from his purpose. For seve-
ral years he stood almost alone in his championship of the
anti-corn-law cause. To his annual motions and speeches
in opposition to the corn monopoly, is in " a great
measure to be ascribed the encouraging aspect which
the cause of corn-law repeal now presents. It is fitting,
therefore, that the services of such a man, now that the
question is evidently on the eve of being carried, should re-
ceive some acknowledgement from the country generally.
The demonstration which took place at Birmingham, on
Thursday, must havebeen highly gratifying to Mr. Villiers.
The expression of the sense which those present entertain of
his services in the cause of corn-law repeal, was not, like
many votes, of a complimentary kind, passed at public meet-
ings, a mere matter of form. It was honest and sincere. The
assemblage felt what they expressed. And, it is right to add,
they but expressed the prevailing feeling throughout the
country respecting the services which the Member for Wol-
verhamPtou hats rendered to the MUG of an unrestricted