The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-05 00:00:00

- •

..-r.

No. 16,632. LONDON,

RAILWAY LITIGATION.
At a preliminary meeting of persons interested, held the 2d
day of December, 1841,
D. W. HARVEY, Esq., in the Chair;
It was resolved,—That proceedings at law having been threatened
in various railway matters, It is very desirable that, with a view to
the equitable arrangement of just demands, and the resistance of
claims obviously made under the impression that the dread of
ruinous law charges will induce compliance, as also to ascertain the
legal Habilities of committee-men, shareholders, and applicants for
shares ; and further to elicit the actual circumstances of various
railway projects (matters far too weighty and important for indivi-
dual responsibility), a confldenlial meeting be speedily convened of
parties who are interested in these objects.
It was further resolved,—That Messrs. Amory, Sewell, and Moores,
Thrograorton-street, be appointed solicitors, to whom persons in-
clined to co-operate are invited to send their names and addresses,
who will be apprised of the proposed meeting.

THE OXFORD AND SALISBURY DIRECT
RAILWAY.
CHAIRMAN—Thomas Dowglasse, Esq.
ENGINEER-IN-CHlEF—Samuel Charles Drees, Esq.
Soucrroas—Messrs. Eimslie and Preston, 47, Moorgate- street.
SECRETARY—Z. Hubbersty, Esq.
The Committee of Management have the satisfaction to announce
that the proper Notices have basis published in the " London Ga-
zette" and Provincial Newspapers, and that the Plans, Sections, and
Books of Reference, have been deposited in the Parliamentary Offices
and with the Clerks of the. Peace for the several Counties through
which the Line is proposed to pass. The Committee are further
desirous to state that Testimonials in favour of the Line have been
most numerously signed by the landowners, tradesmen, farmers, and
inhabitants of every town throughout the country proposed to be
traversed ; and that the Engineer of the Company assures them that
the construction of the intended railway will be completed at very
mush less expense than he originally contemplated.
By order of the Board,
• • Z. HUBBERSTY, Secretary.
Moorgate Chambers, Moorgate-street, Dec. 1, 1845.

DIRECT BIRMINGHAM and LEICESTER
RAILWAY.
The Committee of ➢fanagement have great pleasure in stating, for
the information of the Shareholders in this undertaking, that the
Plans and Sections of the line, with the accompanying Book of Re-
ference, have been deposited at the several places prescribed by the
standing orders of the Houses of Parliament.
By order of the Board,
F. KNIGHT, Secretary.
Company's Offices, 36, Temple-street, Birmingham.

THE DIRECT- -LINCOLN, EAST RETFORD,
AND SHEFFIELD JUNCTION RAILWAY.
The Committee of Management, in accordance with their Resolu-
tion of the 14th November last, whereby they undertook to provide
the necessary expenses for completing the surveys, &c., previous to
the allotment of shares, have great pleasure in announcing to the
respective-applicants that the Plans and Sections, together with the
Books of Reference, have been deposited with the Board of Trade and
the several Clerks of the Peace, in compliance with the standing
orders of Parliament; and that the Allotment of Shares will shortly
be announced.

MILLAR ♦ND CARR, Solicitors.

Temporary Offices, 47, EastcheaP,

1/IIDLAND UNION and BURTON-UPON-
TRENT, ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, and LEICESTER
RAILWAY, with a diverging Line to Trent Valley Railway at
Atherstone.
(Provisionally Registered, 16th May, 1845.)
The Committee of Management have the pleasure of announcing
to the Shateholders in this important undertaking, that the Plans,
Sections, and Books of Reference have been duly deposited with the
several Clerks of the Peace, and at the Board of Trade, in compli-
ance with the standing orders of Parliament.
By order, WILLIAM KNIGHT, Secretary.
18, Abingdon-street, Westminster, Dec. 1, 1845.

LEICESTER and BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY
(BAXTER'S LINE).
(Provisionally Registered, 10th April, 1845.)
The Committee of Management have the pleasure of announcing
to the Shareholders in this important undertaking, that the Plans.
Sections, and Books of Reference have been duly deposited with the
several Clerks of the Peace, and at the Board of Trade, in compliance
with the standing orders of Parliament.
By order, EDWARD DANIEL, Secretary.
18, Abingdon-street, Westminster, Dec. 1, 1845.

LYNN, WISBEACH, AND PETER-
BOROUGH, MIDL tND COUNTIES, AND BIRMINGHAM
JUNCTION RAILWAY COMPANY.
ORMINAL LINE.
The Committee of Management have the gratification to announce
that the Notices of the intende I application to Parliament to autho-
rise the construction of this line of railway have been given, and that
the Plans, Sections, and Books of Reference have been deposited
with the respective Clerks of the Peace for the counties affected by
the line, and with the Board of Trade, in compliance with the stand •
ing orders of Parliament.

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PRICE SD.

•'--• • - • •
• -
thpittbi ttiktit 0,84,101
.4.. ciscisr 41, as ssetee le tip eel =e
never heard of' it. Why, this mode of reasoni gon a poli-
tical question is the strangest that was ever heaved of, and see
how easily it may be otherwise applied. The food in New
York is cheaper than in'England, while the wages of the
labourers are higher ; therefore, it follows demonstrably, ac-
cording to this mode of reasoning, that the lower the price
of food the higher the wages will be. But, in truth, it is
idleto look at the cause, and to compare nations in this sort of
way. It is not one single cause that makes either the pros-
perity- or misery of nations.—(Hear, hear.) None of us are
idiots enough to say, for instance, that difference of religion,
difference of government, security of property, internal
peace, or security against foreign invasion, has nothing
whatever to do with the prosperity of nations ; and that
everything is to be resolved simply into the question of
cheap bread. But then, gentlemen, take the most miserable
I country in the world. They take the case of unfortunate
- Poland—a country which had for ages, till the independence
of their country was lost, the vilest of all Governments, mere
anarchy above, mere weakness in the Sovereign, and below a
vest population in a state of absolute personal slavery.
Trade they had none, their capital was gone, and the whole
of their commerce in the hands of a few Jew pedlars. And
• then we come down to the time when the foreign invader
pouncedupan them, and when their country was partitioned,
then re-partitioned; it was conquered, and re-conquered;
and it was utterly enslaved, and is existing at the present
moment under a•Governtnent of which I will not trust my-
self to speak, because I do not wish to say anything which
it would be unbecoming an Englishman to say regarding the
proceedings of a foreign state. But they take this country—
the most miserable and oppressed; they take a country in a
condition of political slavery ; and then they take another
country, which, fur centuries, undoubtedly was the best
governed of any country in urope—a country where per-
sonal slavery has been unknown for ages—a country which has
had the advantages of pure religion, a high state of morality,
and an enormous capital—a country which is secured by sea
against foreign invasion—a country which knows not what
s
borsiel—ni(
anti
ave:ei
.gterheiLeellailtrigeroorsitt
s.neehtcles)a,rdove,uee,rff,anerdtab:sNivavaet:
adnhopnt
fk:lNatotavaeahenrichunpuraoepsei
dtletugemlaNhitsrn
ijue—a:=:flee,
enlaasodtf.
applause)—and
serfht
fdorapui,
tluoronvirl
olffndft:stbhdpa
sphreeteenoi
horesi
ol
ttileeaxnatt: sr,
nh-
anieepebi
demrdiseetboae;phvis haslttee oldest man alive has
country,
ueehasai
example.
nchthtauogg
reTeam4Xlm)aebfe,cespulaebeotyGtaaapulbaenetyrtlrs
t
d
sedeetscoabae
saaftsnticst:eug.Bhssttrs_
bread.—(
reasoningirt tiwwhenertiaLogh,s Britain
).lerbio—talhyi
dues
that lameness is a benefit; -for is not many a lame man better
off in the world than men with two legs ?—(Laughter.) In
the same way I could prove blindness to be a bemsetit ; for
certainly we have all known many blind men whose condition
on the whole was more enviable than the man who had two
eyes.—(Renewed laughter.) Absurd as this may appear,
these men reason in this way. But the question is, would
not the blind man be better off if he had two eyes?—and
whether the lame man would not be better off with his' two
legs ?—and whether the Englishman would not be better off
if bread were as cheap in England as it is in Poland ?—(Ap-
please.) I am glad to allow that the common people of
Great Britain are infinitely better off than the Poles; but
I say they would be still better off if bread were as
cheap here as it is in Warsaw; and I say, that if the Poles
had the same price to pey for their food as we sometimes
have to pay, they would be a great deal snore miserable; or
. .
rather, they would not be miserable long, for they would
starve in millions, and perish.—(Hear, hear.) The real way
of deciding such a question is, by comparing the same emu-
munity under a system of cheap bread, and a system of dear
bread ; and this we have ample opportunity of doing. We
have only to look over your history for the last ten years,
and if that history do not suffice to teach us, we are
past all teaching. Take the year 1845. Food was cheap
then, and the capitalist prospered greatly; but was the
labouring man more miserable than he is? Is it not the fact
Well, then, wde tchoeni
earsefa ttdoeznohuear;te
dwc lhttlael
that he was better employed, and that wages were higher?
gfuetililweel3a7earsnr,;slNoivkifieefnPathe eeiaesil
kdirnetamde, thindevoured
de-
voured the years of plenty; we come to the time when
food was dear. The condition of the capitalist in 1841
was bad. He suffered ; but will any person tell me
he was the only sufferer, or the chief sufferer ? Do
we remember what the condition of the labouring po-
pulation was in 1841 ? Was not their condition such,
that philanthropic men were unwilling to enter a manu-
facturing town for fear of seeing the squalid naked-
ness of the masses ? Was not their condition such,
that politicians who never in their life were alarmed
trembled for the very foundations of civil society.
The pressure came on heavier; the mills were at first put
on short time; the mills then ceased to work at all; and the
people were thrown out of employment, and they went to
pledge the little property they had. First -they pledged
their little luxuries ; then their comforts ; then their ne-
cessaries: then their hovels were stripped, until they were
as bare of furniture as the hut of the dog or the red Indian ;
while every shop with its three golden balls was literally
crammed from the cellar to the garret with the clothing and
Bibles of the poor. Don't we remember what a formidable
symptom of another kind was produced? I recollect the
strong effect which was produced in London that day, when,
for the first time, huge pieces of cannon were seen rolling
northward, not to encounter a foreign enemy, but to our
manufacturing towns. Well, you have had cheap bread
since that time. The capitalist rated by it, I know,
as certainly he ought to do ; but has the condition of
the labouring classes been getting worse? have they not,
on the contrary, been getting better and better? Have we
not seen their goods coining back from the pawnbrokers—
have we not seen in their faces, in their clothes—have we
not seen in their very looks in the street a difference between
time of cheap food and a time of dear food? Take their
innocent pleasures, or their pleasures not merely innocent—
take their pleasures of intellect. There is your own intelli-
gent and useful citizen Mr. Robert Chambers. Ask him what
sale his works had in the year 1841 as compared with the
year 1845. I believe there is no exaggeration when I say,
that on a careful calculation which I know to have been
made, it appeared that within twenty miles of Manchester,
in one particular week in 1845, the sum issued in wages was
1,500,0001. sterling greater than in the corresponding week
in 1841.—(Applause.) This is undoubtedly a great im-
provement, and all must have seen it with heartfelt satisfac-
tion. They have gained by this, as a Government will always
gain when ihe people are prosperous. But I am convinced
it was an improvement which they did not bring about—
that it was an improvement which theirpolicy directly tended
to prevent. That prosperity was the effect of a cheapness
which our rulers have attempted to make dear. Under the
pretence of making this country independent of foreign
supply, they have given us a system which, instead of
making us independent, makes us dependent in the worst
possible form. As the Lord Provost has justly said, there is
a natural dependence between nations which we ought not
to forget. Providence has given different productions to
different nations fur the due interchange of commodities,
and in that manner to establish a .beneficial commerce. But
not only are different productions given to different climate.;
even in the same climate there are stages of civilise ion
which are favourable to !particular states of production.
There is a state of society which is best fitted for raising raw
material, and in which it would not be proper for men to tura
their attention from the cultivation of corn-fields to the
manufacture of stockings, and there is another state in which
industry and capital take other forms, and in which they are
in a condition to supply vast extents of country with manu-
factured products. The intercourse between these countries
is the most natural and healthful mode of dependence which
can be conceived. There is no injury in that dependance—
there is no degradation in it. There is thus a mutual depend-
ence, and it is exactly as important to one side as to the other.
Even if there were any injury in it, we could not escape it.
We must be dependent on ()tier countries for our supplies of
food. That question was decided when England ceast dto be
an exporting country, and the question that remains is, how
are we to be dependent? The question was answered by the
Lord Provost. Go to Lancashire, and see those immense suc-
cessions of buildings, many of them so great as to be equal
in size to the capitals of some European kingdoms ; go in
and see the warehonses, with their stocks of goods, and look
at that machinery so wonderfully exact and exquisite. Look
at those great nurses of human beings all employed in pro-
ducing articles adapted for giving comfort to the people on
the banks of the Columbia River—to the population of the
Cape of Good Hope, or to that of Java and China. And
then, amidst all this condensation of industry, you will in-
quire, how are all these people to be fed ? But go to the
Ohio, and there see a change of scene. There you see a
new species of industry, equally extensive and equally
flourishing. There you see the desert everywhere receding
before the advancing tide of civilization ; there you see
the pioneers of civilization raising their log-huts, and
speedily surrounded by corn-fields that are capable of
supporting whole provinces ; and in every field the black
trunks of the forest are standing. And you cannot but
think of the concourse of population at 'home when you
see such forests which must in the course of a few months
be covered with food sufficient to support all Huddersfield.
Is not this, then, a natural and healthful dependence ?
Shall we not expect men will avail themselves of this bene-
ficent arrangement? And can it be doubted that, in seasons
of scarcity, it would be highly desirable to see the manufac-
turing labourer of our own country breaking his fast on corn
of Ohio bread, and that it might easily be supposed that the
corn-grower would have an inclination to exchange a por-
tion of his produce for a Manchester cotton frock or shirt, a
coat of the woollen of Leeds, a Sheffield knife, or a Bir-
mingham spoon? Instead of this, the object of our Legis-
lature has been to make that sort of independence, that
I while the people on this side of the Atlantic must submit
to stated supplies of food, those on the other side are rivals;
and yet they will stand up in. Parliament, and will write die.
patches from the Foreign-office, marvelling at your igno-
rance of the principles of free trade.—(Laughter and ap-
plause.) These, however, I believe, are the merits of her
Majesty's present Ministers, as respects the prosperity which
the country has lately enjoyed. Good harvests have pre-
vented bad corn-laws from proving very bad. The Govern-
ment has been saved in spite of these laws.—( Applause. ) It
has had a run of good luck ; and those who have not observed
them closely, have confounded that good luck with good
laws. But good luck will not last for ever.—(Applause.)
p.)rnslpheraovnesrteiiimsoenn.
Providence will not send the rain and the sunshine in the
quantity which will be necessary to save the reputation of
to
of
pvpelrayu
us en.
I wish, however, to say, nothing that can prejudice the minds
short-sighted
of the public, or excite undue alarm. I observe that the
defenders of the present Administration say there is no chance
satareesoinnetnce (vGerr.;
of any great rise in the prices of grain, or any other kinds of
provisions ; but that the Whigs and the Anti-Corn-law League
have been guilty of the vilest conduct, in attempting to raise
a panic. I therefore, that I may secure myself against such
imputations, shall use no such language but what the Mini-
sters themselves use.—(Applause.) I hold in my hand a let-
ter from Sir Thomas Fremantle, Secretary to the Irish
oGo-
vernment, desiring information in reference to the failure of
kir.onsgpdecetms
is
sf worthy tlie co nifinatgtenytiearon. in
the potato crop in that country. The view he gives of the
Hethat
sa ypas.rl. of
Her the U
Majesty'snitl
Government, in seeking to learn the opmion of judges and
well-informed persons
rn every part of Ireland regarding
the possibility of the supply being sufficient for the support
of the people during the ensuing winter and spring, pro-
vided that care should be taken in preserving the stock, and
economy used in its consumption." Now, observe in this
letter, it is not even suggested that there is a stock, which.
with care and economy, will last even throughout the winter
and spring. Now, I ask you, when any Government ca
nhat say
this at a time when the duty on corn is 15e.
(when t
letter was written it was 175.) is it necessary to say more
about the merits of the present system. When that system
was first brought before us, it was alleged to have that esp-
derful sliding faculty which would keep, us fromesatcorifang
our interests • - but you see just when it is required
famine,
stands stiff. Yon have the Irish population crying_
while the index of your corn-law is poinated to plenty. It is
be able to give some ex.
possible Sir Thomas Fremantle
may Commons, Iwit what that
planation of this in the House of
loss to conceive. He proceeds to
may be I confess lamat a _
urin the crop and thus
recommend certain measures for
cseocsed.
g But this' brin
they quietly leave the ports t
You we brings
main argumen see
round again to my
again approaching a dear time—a time when food will be
dear. Already, it is no exaggeration to say that
T I
the price which the labouring man pays for flour and oatmeal
is half as much again as it was a few months ago. Now, here
we can bring to the test tlie dectrines of thesb who say this is
capitalist's question, and one in which the laboUrer has no