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

them against trusting too much to the members of the
Anti-Corn• law League. Ire had watched them for some
time, and he had great suspicion of their honesty and

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.
The first Court of Common Council for the present
Mayoralty was held yesterday, and, as usual, was very
fully attended. The Lord Mayor came in state, at-
t,rich-41 by the civic co, tege, and took the chair pre-

good intentions.
'Mr. IkmenEwe, M.P., expressed himself delighted
with the course the meeting had taken, as h. e thought
none better calculated to discuss the question of the
corn-laws than working men, for they felt the pres-
sure arising from them. It was lamentable that
while there was every evidence of a scarcity, there
were great quantities of grain in warehouses
being destroyed by rats, mice, and other ver-
min. He recollected about thirty years ago a circum-
stance that very forcibly illustrated the working of the
corn-laws. There was a quantity of grain which he
knew of, that after being imported, lay in bond seven
years, at the end of which it was entirely destroyed ; it
was altogether unfit for food.— (Loud cries of "Shame.")
He believed that Sir Robert Peel was, as Mr. Wakley had
said of him, made of squeezable material, and would be
forced to yield on the question of the repeal of the tax
on food. He (Mr. Humphery) had lately been in France
for about six weeks, and he learned that Louis Philippe,
the King of the French, was a perfect Liberal ; he was
as much a free trader as Mr. Cobden, and would gladly
consent to repeal all taxes on food, if the people of that
country would consent to it. A previous speaker had
said that America was not in a position to supply us
with food. It might not be at the present moment ex-
actly in a position to grant them all they wanted, still
they could grant them a considerable supply ; and even
now it was introducing grain under the rose into Ca-
nada, for the purpose of importation into this country.
By repealing the corn-laws, however, an impetus would
be given to the growth of corn in the United States, by
which there would be no danger of a future scarcity. Lord
John Russell, be (Mr. Humphery) was glad to see, had
declared for free trade, a measure which he (the speaker)
had always advocated, though he had doubts of its con-
summation being so early realised as some thought.
The Times newspaper had that morning stated that
the Ministry intended proposing, early in January, a
total repeal of the corn-laws. Ile was afraid it was only
given on the authority of the Times, and would not be
carried out in the way proposed. After dwelling at
some further length, the Hon. Member concluded by
expressing himself resolved by every means to assist in
repealing the corn-laws.
Mr. STRATTON spoke at some length against the reso-
lution, expressing fear that a repeal of the corn-laws
would lead to the bringing back of the Whigs, a party
which he despised.
The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution to the meet-
ing, and it was unanimously carried.
Mr. LEE STEPHEN said that he had great pleasure in
addressing that meeting. Before coming there he anti-
cipated a long discussion and an amicable one. The
meeting had, contrary to all usual practice, been called
at eleven for twelve, to allow the working men to be
present, and all the gentlemen who worked with him in
getting up the meeting had unanimously wished that the
discussion should not be confined to any particular class,
but that the working classes should be allowed the free
expression of their feelings. There had been some inter-
ruption given to some speakers, and he begged to remark
that they had not been causedlby the members of the Anti-
Corn-law League, as had been remarked. He was no
member of the League, but he did not abuse it, and he
was sure that the interruptions given were given by the
intelligent body of the working men, to express
their disapprobation of the arguments of a few
bf the crochetty speakers of their own class.
It had been stated that America had not at this time
food enough to be able to assist us in case of our being
obliged to have recourse to her. But they should re-
member that a deficiency of the harvest was rarely felt
until the next harvest was nearly ready for gathering,
and if America could not assist us now, she could at an-
other time ; for they should remember that the harvests
of their southern provinces preceded ours by two months.
He would now read the resolution ; and he certainly
feared that there would be some little difference of
opinion about it. The second resolution was as fol-
lows:—" That a memorial be therefore addressed to
Sir R. Peel, the First Lord of the Treasury, praying
that he will immediately counsel her Majesty to issue
an Order in Council for the admission, duty free, of every
description of grain, and that he will further advise her
Majesty promptly to convene Parliament for the purpose
of receiving all restrictive laws upon the intro-
duction of food, and that the High Bailiff be
requested to sign such memorial on behalf of this
meeting, and forward the same immediately."
The power Sir Robert Peel possessed could open the
ports. Sir Robert Peel had a sort cf malleable con-
science, and could be made use of. Why should they not
make him their instrument ? Why should they not
obtain their wishes and wants by his instrumentality ?
They would not have him to thank for what they gained;
they would have to thank themselves, as it would be by
their own exertions. He had said he was not a member
of the League, but he would be proved to be so. It
would be no disgrace to him to be so ; it would be an
honour. He considered that the meeting ought to do
honour to those men who had spent their time and
trouble, not for their own interest, but for those of their
fellow-men. They should do honour to Ebenezer Elliot,
who, while working at his steel and iron, applied his
mind to the formation of his " Corn-law-Rhymes." Let
them to honour to Thompson—honour to Cob-
den, Villiers, and Bright, who had so nobly exerted
themselves in a good cause.—(The most enthusiastic ap-
plause followed this proposal, and three cheers were
given for Cobden.) Let them also do honour, but in a
lesser degree, to Lord John Russell and Lord Morpeth
who had joined the cause at a late hour.—(Laughter.)
They sought to come in at the death—(Laughter)— and
to exalt themselves by means of the League. Let them
try to do without them, and work through Peel alone,
and if he did not do their business for them, let them
fall back upon Russell and Morpeth, who might, per-
haps, assist them in case of other sources failing.
Mr. ELKINGTON came forward to second the resolu-
tion. He trusted it would be unnecessary for him to
show that the corn-laws were an injury to the people. A
late occasion in Southwark evinced this. In 1838 a vast
amount of money was paid out for corn; the Bank men
put the screw on this money, and much time had to elapse
ere the country could regain its position. It has always
been that when corn has been cheap wages have risen
The recent prosperity of the country has been brought
about by the manufacturing demands, despite of the
corn-laws, and wages in consequence went up as high
as 30 or 40 per cent. The meeting was called to urge
the repeal of these laws ; and without adding more, lie
would resume his seat, hoping they would be unanimous
in seeking this object.
Mr. HOWARD said he was compelled to oppose the
resolution. He considered no good would come of me-
morialising the Cabinet. A vast number of petitions,
memorials, and addresses, were presented last session,
yet what attention had been given to them by the impe-
rious Minister ? None whatever. He objected going to
the Treasury, bat in hand, begging for the measure to
be granted, but he would go to the Queen at once, whcm
he had no doubt would listen to the prayers and entrea-
ties of the people. He would move as an amendment to that
part of the resolution, which recommended memo-
rialising the Ministry, that it be struck out, and sub-
stituting that the Queen be memorialised instead.
Mr. ROBERTS seconded the resolution.
Mr. WILSON replied, and said that if the amendment
was agred to, then the memorial would have to go to
the Home-office, and perhaps lie there for five or six
weeks till it was convenient to present it. Were there a
levee next week, then they might appoint a deputation,
with their worthy High Bailiff at their head, to present
it ; but this not being the case, then the course recom-
mended in the resolution was the best one.
The HIGH Bampr stated that if they agreed to me-
morialise Sir Robert Peel, they would have an imme-
diate answer, which would not be obtained in the other
case.

cisely at one o'clock.
His LORDSHIP, in a brief address, assured the members
of the Court that during his year of office he should en-
deavour at all times to observe the strictest punctuality,

and should ever be ready to receive their communi-
cations. Unanimously elected as he had been by his
fellow-citizens to fill the high and honourable office of
Chief Magistrate of this great and ancient City, he confi-
dently looked for assistance and support in the discharge
of its responsible duties from every individual member

of the Court.
THE OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF THE CITY POLICE.
Mr. Alderman T. WOOD drew the attention of the
Court to the minutes of the proceedings of the last Court
with reference to the proposition for au increase of
salary to the City Police Commissioner. The minutes
stated that the motion for augmenting the salary was to
refer the question to the Police Committee, and after
that motion was disposed of they added a motion,
" That the Court do adjourn," and it was adjourned ac-
cordi! gly. Then followed an entry, which was incon-
sistent with the terms of the original motion, and which
would apparently show to a casual reader that other
business had been disposed of after the Court had actually
adjourned. This circumstance he (Alderman Wood)
thought required some explanation.
The TOWN CLERK said that the minutes were strictly
accurate, and the entry at the end, to which the worthy
Alderman had alluded, was merely a short statement of
the substance of the original motion, for the purpose of
informing the members of the Court of the division
which took place upon it, and the result.
Mr. Alderman T. WooD moved that the entry at the
foot of the minutes be altered, in conformity with the

terms of the original motion.
This was, as we understood, agreed to, and the
alteration made accordingly.

VOTE OF THANKS TO THE LATE LORD MAYOR.
Mr. Deputy WATKINS, in rising to propose for the
adoption of the Court a vote of thanks to the late Lord
Mayor, said it was not his intention to occupy much of
the time of the Court, or to enter largely into the man-
ner in which the late Lord Mayor had performed his
magisterial duties during his year of office. To the
present Lord Mayor, to his brethren in the Court of
Aldermen, and to the members of this Court, the
impartiality and firmness with which the late Lord Mayor
had discharged every portion of the duties of the high
office he had so ably filled was well known, and it
would be arrogant, therefore, in him (Mr. Deputy Wat-
kins) to attempt to expatiate upon the subject, especially
as he could not but be aware that every member of this
Court highly estimated the manner in which Mr. Alder-
man Gibbs had gone through his official year as Chief
Magistrate of this ancient metropolitan City. It was
with these feelings that he had framed a vote of thanks,
which he should now move, and which, he trusted, would
meet with the unanimous approbation of the Court.—
(Hear, hear.) Mr. Deputy Watkins concluded by for-
mally moving the vote of thanks.
Mr. D. W. WIRE rose, and said that he had naturally
expected he should be called upon to second the motion
which had just been made, and he did so with unfeigned
pleasure, because he was. satisfied the decision of the
Court upon it would fortify the prediction he had made
at the commencement of Mr. Alderman Gibbs's year.of
office, namely, that though that gentleman was not so well
known to the members of the Court of Common Coun-
cil as he would be on his retirement from office, yet the
more they became acquainted with his moral and social
worth, the more they would view with approving
admiration the manner in which he had dis-

Mr. Alderman T. WOOD moved that the seals be not
affixed until the opinion of counsel had been received
on the case stated to them as to the right of the pre-
cedence of the Lord Mayor as President of the Royal
Hospitals.
Mr. Alderman WILSON seconded the motion.
Mr. ASHURST moved, as an amendment, that the
affixing of the seal be postponed.
A prolonged and somewhat angry discussion arose,
and terminated in the rejection of both the original
motion and the amendment. Eventually the suggestion
of the Recorder that the Court should, with the consent
of the Lord Mayor, be adjourned to give time for the
return of the opinion of counsel, was adopted, and the
Lord Mayor, having fixed the adjourned Court to be
held on Tuesday next, the Court rose at four o'clock.

charged all the magisterial and other importan
duties connected with the high station he had been
called upon to fill.—(Hear, hear.) It was wholly unne-
cessary for him (Mr. Wire) to enlarge upon the punc-
tuality and impartiality with which the late Lord Mayor
had presided over the discussions and decisions of this
Court. The Court has never been kept waiting, nor did
he wait to be summoned when there was business to be
transacted, and it was something to urge in his favour,
that when he retired from office he had entirely cleared
the paper of business—(Hear, hear)—and there had
been scarcely any question upon which his judgment
had not been confirmed by the majority of the members
present.—(Hear, hear.) As a magistrate, he (Mr. Wire)
looked upon the late Lord Mayor as one of the
very best who had ever occupied the civic chair.—(Loud
applause.) Although not legally educated, his decisions
had been replete with excellent judgment, and had ge-
nerally been afterwards affirmed by the Courts to
which they had been referred.—(Hear, hear.) His dili-
gence and attention had never been surpassed, for during
the whole year of office he had never been absent from
the chair of justice at the Mansion-house on any one
occasion.—(Applause.) Of the advantages which had
accrued to the various charities which adorn the metro-
polis from the attendance upon them of the late Lord
Mayor, all who were connected with those charities
were unanimous in their concurrence in the fact. They
admitted that not only had ho been most generous in
his own contributions, but his exertions in their behalf
had been most beneficial.—(Hear, hear.) Under such
circumstances he (Mr. Wire) was truly delighted that
this day had arrived, because he felt, as he had done at
the commencement of his friend's career, that the ter-
mination of his year of office would bring to him addi-
tional honours, and would prove to the world and to
his fellow-citizens that his character had been most un-
justly assailed.—(Cries of " Oh, oh," and " Question,
question.") He trustsd that an unanimous vote of this
Court would tend to remove impressions—(Loud cries
of "No, no" and considerable interruption, in the midst
of which the sentence was lost.) Mr. Wire concluded
by expressing his sincere hope that the conduct of the
late Lord Mayor would be approved by those members
of the Court who had came in contact with him, and
that by their vote this day they would show that his
conduct had been such as to entitle him to the admira-
tion and gratitude of his fellow-citizens.—(Applause.)
The motion having been put to the Court by the RE-
CORDER,
Mr. IL L. TAYLOR said he did not rise for the pur-
pose of opposing a vote of thanks to the late Lord
Mayor—a vote to which be did not conceive there would
be a dissentient voice raised—but he did present himself
to the Court for the purpose of expressing his disappro-
bation of the indiscretion which some of the observations
which had fallen from the seconder (Mr. Wire) had ex-
hibited.— (Hear, hear.) He gave Mr. Wire credit gene-
rally for great discretion—there was no man to whose
opinion generally he paid more deference and attention,
but when Mr. Wire stated that a vote of this Court
would remove impressions which prevailed out of doors
in the public mind, he (Mr. H. L. Taylor) very much
doubted it. Ile believed that the impressions upon the
public mind would remain the same—if not the same,
still they would not be improved—and he (Mr. 11. L.
Taylor) would not have it to go forth to the public that
the Court of Common Council, by the vote proposed, did
anything more than express their satisfaction of the
manner in which the late Lord Mayor had fulfilled his
magisterial duties during his civic year. If the motion
contained a single syllable touching upon a tender point
which he (Mr. H. L. Taylor) would not name, but which
was well known to every member of the Court present,
he, though a very humble member, should certainly
have moved an amendment, and he believed there was
not any independent member of the Court who would
re fuse to support it.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. COPE rose to order. The speaker had declared
that he would not name the subject to which ho adverted,
and yet he was stating his conjectures as to what the
Court would do if the subject he was entering upon was
alluded to in the proposed vote of thanks. Surely the
speaker was not justified in the course be was now taking.
Mr. H. L. TAYLOR appealed to the sound sense and
discretion of the Lord Mayor to say whether or not he
was correct in the course he was taking.
The LORD MAYOR—Aro you going to oppose or to
move an amendment upon the vote of thanks which has
been moved to the late Lord Mayor?
Mr. H. L. TAYLOR replied in the negative, but added
that he was confident the Lord Mayor was desirous of
dealing out even-handed justice. He approved of the
vote of thanks in the form in which it stood, but he
could not allow the extraneous remarks of Mr. Wire to
pass in silence.
Mr. Dawsosf (amidst some confusion) observed, that
as the vote of thanks did net contain one word in refe-
rence to the matter to which Mr. Taylor alluded, the
observations of that gentleman were wholly irrelevant.
—(Loud cries of " Question, Question.")
The RECORDER then put the motion, and after taking
a show of hands, declared it to be carried unanimously.
On the motion of Mr. Deputy WATKINS, the vote of
thanks was ordered to be ornamentally written upon
vellum, signed by the Town Clerk, and framed and glazed,
and presented to the late Lord Mayor. The vote was
also ordered to be advertised in the usual morning and
evening newspapers.
Mr. Deputy WATKINS next moved that this Court, in
token of its approbation of the conduct, character, and
sc rvices of the Reverend Michael Gibbs, M.A., Chaplain
to the late Lord Mayor, do request Mr. Chamberlain to
present him with a purse of fifty guineas.—Agreed to
nem. con.

Mr. llzAnx suggested that the amendment should be
withdrawn, and in addition to the memorial to Sir R.
Peel, that one be also presented to her Majesty.
The amendment was then withdrawn, and the re-
solution unnanimously carried.
Mr. BEACON rose to propose that a memorial should
be presented to her Majesty. It had been objected that
the memorial just carried must go through Sir James
Graham's hands, if it go at all. But is there no other
mode of approaching her Majesty ? The gentleman
proceeded to speak of the difficulty of reaching the
Queen, and finally moved that a memorial be presented
to her Majesty.
The resolution being seconded, was put, and unani-
mously agreed to.
A memorial, founded on the resolution, was then read
and agreed to, when, after a vote of thanks to the High
Bailiff for his impartial conduct in the chair, the meet-
ing separated.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.
EAST INDIA SHIPPING.

Arrivals-Madagascar, Weller, from Bengal, in the
Downs, sailed Aug. 7, Mauritius, Sept. 27, Cape, Oct. 14.
Arrivals in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope-Gloriana,
Sept. 27, from London, and sailed Oct. 8 to Calcutta; Fife-
shire, 29th, from Angra Pequena ; Conway Castle, Kerr,
from Liverpool; Trusty, 29th, from Angra Pequena ; Mal-
vina, 30th, from Simon's Bay ; Mary, Oct. 1, from Plumb-
Pudding Island, and sailed sth to the West Coast; Isabella, ,
3d, from Algoa Bay, and sailed Bth to Boston ; Frederick
Huth, Toby, from London P • Tory from London ; Madonna,'
4th, from London; Eliza Scott, from St. Helena; Angelina,
from London; Sarah, sth, from Allao; Mogul, 7th, from
Singapore; Pomona, from Angra Pequena ; Anna Maria,
from Singapore; Curraghmore, from Calcutta: Apprentice,
9th, from London ; Joseph Albino, 10th, from London ;
Plantagenet, 14th, from Bengal and Madras; City of
Poonah, from Madras.
Departures from Table Bay-Margaret, Sept. 26, to Ele-
phant Rock; British Sovereign, 27th, Fanny, 28, Richard
.fount, 29th, to Mauritius; Frederick, 28th, to Batavia;
Courier, to Liverpool; Ann, 29th, to Madras; Nutcut, Oct.
1, to Algoa Bay ; Ghika, to Crozets ; Gilbert Henderson, to
Hobart Town; Jane, 2d, to River Plate; Hampton, 4th, to
St. Helena and Liverpool ; Nereide, sth, to St. Helena and
London; Thomas and William, sth, to Mauritius; Nancy, to
Algoa Bay; La Petite Suzanne, Gth, to Bourbon; Washing-
ton, Bth, to Mauritius; William Wright, 9th, to London.
Arrivals in Algoa Bay-Camden, Sept. 25, from Table
Bay, and sailed 20th, to Quillimaine ; Gowrie, Oct. 2, from
Table Bay; Daphne, from London.
Departures from Algoa Bay-Richard, Oct. 1, for Mauri-
tius; Victoria Regina, for Ichaboe.
Departures from Simon's Bay-Louisa Munro, Sept. 25th,
to London ; Eleanor Sophie, 29th, to Aarhuis ; H. M. steamer
Vulture, Oct. 5, to Mauritius; Albinia, to Rio.

CAPTAIN JOHNSTONE, OP THE SHIP TORY. This
individual, whose name is familiar to the whole kingdom,
and by this time in many places beyond it, as being accused
of fearful and appalling murders on the high seas, is a native
of the palish of Dunnet,in the county of Caithness. He
served his apprenticeship to h
tehebseada
climb
aoanrdd
otfhtehe Tory,George
Sinclair, of Wick, and since
resided when at home at Liverpool. He is married to a
cousin of his own, who belongs to Orkney. His father was
long an elder in the church and parish of Dunnet.—John
o' Groat Journal.
PIGEON FLYING.—On Monday a pigeon, belonging
to Mr. Dalton, of Kennington, flew from Dover to London in
One hoar and twenty-five minutes,

SUN, LONDON, FRIDA'T EVEVING, DECEMBER"6S, 1845

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. 1
lIERALD.—The Times yesterday announced that Parlia-
ment is to be assembled in the first week in January, and
that the Royal Speech is to contain a recommendation to
consider the corn-laws with a view to their repeal. We are
not going to contradict this statement, because, while it is
the easiest thing in the world to make such statements, it is
impossible to contradict them by authority. If any Cabinet
Minister, directly or indirectly, informed the Times of the
alleged purpose of the Cabinet, he was guilty of a
scandalous violation of his oath as a Privy Councillor;
and if the statement of the Times be utterly
false, as we believe it to be, any Cabinet Minister authorising
us to contradict it must equally violate his oath. Under
these circumstances, we can only afford to our readers this
amount of information, viz., that persons in the most intimate
confidence of the Government know nothing whatever of any
such design as that imputed to the Cabinet : of its extreme
improbability, .on other grounds, readers themselves can
judge. We, however, will assert nothing positively, for rash
conjectural assertions may deceive as mischievously as wilful
falsehoods; and if we an help it, we will never deceive.
Meanwhile we may not conceal it, that the statement of the
Times has obtained a degree of credit which, if permitted to

extend, must lead to very serious consequences.
STANDARD.—Our readers will forgive us reminding
them that in every December of the last four years they have
been assured of an immediate repeal of the corn-laws,
without, as we can recollect, a single apology having followed
the discovery that the assurance was an impudent falsehood.
The practice is not an inconvenient one to the League and
its friends. The promised submission of the Ministers works
for a time as a condemnation of all their former policy, and
a commendation of the wisdom and patriotism of their oppo-
nents, and when the bubble bursts, resentment is diverted
from those who fabricated the falsehood to those whose firm-
ness disappoints expectation by proving it a falsehood. It is
true that the habit of publishing period►cal untruths ought
to prove injurious to the commercial interests of a public
journal ; but does it ? Is character of the least value
to a newspaper ? Whatever we may expect of the future—
and we own our expectations are high in this re-
spect—we must acknowledge that a bad reputation
does not impair the circulation of a public journal to the ex-
tent that it ought. The Dispatch is said to have the largest
circulation among the weekly journals, the Times the largest
among the daily journals, and so it will continue, until a
strong effort 'of the whole of the honestly disposed part of the
press shall raise it so far above contempt that men will be no

ronger as indifferent to the moral character of the newspaper
which they patronise as.to the moral character of the useful
operator who empties a dust-bin. Our present business is,
however, with the most recent announcement of the repeal of
the corn-laws, thus given by the Times :
"The decision of the Cabinet is no longer a secret. Par-
liament, it is confidently reported, is to be summoned for the
first week in January ; and the Royal Speech will, it is added,
recommend an immediate consideration of the corn -laws,pre-
paratory to their total repeal. Sir Robert Peel in the one
House, and the Duke of Wellington in the other, will, we are
told, be prepared to give immediate effect to the recommen-
dation thus conveyed.
"An announcement of such immeasurable importance,
and to the larger portion of the community so unspeakably
gratifying, almost precludes the possibility of comment.
No pen can keep pace with the reflections which must spon-
taneously crowd upon every thoughtful and sensitive mind.
They who have long desired this change, and have long
traced its manifold bearings on the welfare and happiness of
the world, will in one moment see the realisation of that
fair prospect, and will hardly endure to be informed of what
they. already behold. The approaching event, therefore,
which we this day communicate to our readers, must be left
to speak for itself."
The purpose of the Cabinet, as every one.is aware, can be
known only through the violation of his oath by some of its
members, a perjury certainly not less sordid or mischievous
because relating to a matter of commerce upon which im-
mense gains may be obtained through early information, im-
mense losses sustained from the want of it. Now, having to
choose between the belief that some Cabinet .Minister has
violated his oath for the accommodation of the Times, or the
belief that the Times has been at its old tri-dcs
with an aspect to Mark-lane, we cannot help adopt-
ing the latter hypothesis, and disbelieving the whole
story from beginning to end. But it may be asked, if the
statement of the Times is untrue why not seek authority
to contradiCt it? So we should if we knew how, but at
present we cannot prepare a phrase in which respectfully to
request a Privy C,eincillor to violate his oath. The an-
nouncement of the Times is, in fact, either a deliberate false-
hood, corruptly fabricated for some purpose of trade, or a
guess, a mere " shot," as it is called in the universities and
in schools, founded upon the loosest helps to conjecture. We
do not dispute that the Times has many such helps ; its in-
fluence over inferior clerks and door porters in the public
offices is, we are aware, very considerable; nay, we have a
notion that it possesses the ear of one private secretary,
though we believe but one. In this way the Times may
worm out probabilities. For example, a clerk reports
at Printing-house square (of course for a consideration)
that certain papers not usually required until February
are ordered to be ready in January. The inference
is reasonably enough drawn that Parliament is to meet in
January, and then it is added that these papers concern, inter
alia, the Corn Returns—a less audacious builder than our
Contemporary might raise upon such information, if such
information has been obtained, an edifice as imposing as that
which we have been contemplating. If the shot hits, the
Times has the credit of early information ; if it misses, as it
generally does, the falsehood is forgotten, and in either case
the public is quite indifferent to the scandalous system of
corruption and breach of trust by which the materials for
guess-work are brought together. The Morning Chronicle
Me ask its pardon for placing it in juxta-position with the
mes) has also its announcement upon the subject of the
corn-laws, as follows :
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON ON THE CORN-
LAWS.

"We understand that the following letter has been re-
ceived by a zealous free-trader, who was induced to write to
the Duke of Wellington, expressing his conviction that the
corn-laws must be given up, and regretting that the Duke
should stand in the way of Sir Robert Peel's repealing them.
We do not vouch for the authenticity of the letter, but pub-
lish it as it is sent to us. If genuine, it is a remarkable do-
cument :
Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his
compliments to Mr. He has received his letter.
" Mr. is pleased to say of the corn-laws that the
game is up. Perhaps it is. Perhaps the Duke thinks so.
But that is the Duke's business, and not Mr. —'s.
" The Duke has long made it a rule to do his own busi-
ness, and leave other people to do theirs ; and never inter-
feres with other people, except to advise them to do the
same. lle does not know how Mr. found it out; but it
is quite true that he has told Sir R. Peel, it is not his busi-
ness or the Duke's to repeal the corn-laws, but Lord John
Russell's and Mr. Cobden's. And whatever Mr. may
be pleased to think, the Duke means to go on giving Sir
Peel the same advice.' "
The Morning Chronicle is quite right not to vouch for the
authenticity of any letter received from " a zealous free-
trader ;" for there is nothing in which such persons trade
inure freely than forgery and falsehood. However, we can-
not but wonder that our Coxtemporary could be imposed upon
even to the extent of being made to doubt that the letter
ascribed to the Duke of Wellington is an impudent fabrica-
tion. Such as it is, however, the article is just as trust-
' worthy as the article of the Times ; and as the Chronicle de-
clines to vouch for it, neither so impudent nor so likely to
do mischief to dupes as the Times' announcement, which.
affirms, with all the gravity of "men of drab," an affirma-
tion of which the " men of drab " will make a very good
thing, if they can only prevail upon extensive holders of
grain to believe it. We do not believe one word of it.
TIMES.—The surprise excited by the announcement in"
the Times of yesterday on the subject of the corn-laws has
been nowhere so intensely felt as in the offices of the " twin
journals" which have been for some time under the delusion
that they are the organs of the Government. It has been
the monomania of these two melancholy prints to imagine
that they possessed the confidence of the Treasury, and they
have been babbling about the corn-laws to the very last
under the erroneous impression that they would be the first
to be apprised of any important resolution of the Cabinet.
It was only yesterday that the morning half of these pre-
cicious Gemini indulged in a dreary drivel to prove that the
corn-laws were " no failure," and that therefore the Premier
ought not to be expected to abandon them. The aged
gossip was not aware that the question on which she was
exhausting her garrulity had been already virtually settled.
Having been amused at the blundering ignorance of the
Mrs. Gamp of the press, we looked with some curiosity to
what she would say in the character of Mrs. Harris. The
effect produced upon that female nobody is quite astound-
ing. She " don't believe a word of it," for she has
heard nothing about it from Mrs. Gamp, who is
the only authority for the opinions of Mrs. Harris.
There is something very ridiculous in the position
of these two journals, which, after doing all they could to
win the favour of the Government, are not permitted even
to have the credit of being the first to publish its intentions.
The fact is, that the Cabinet naturally 'shrinks from the
ridicule to which it would be exposed by accepting the in-
efficient services which the venerable twins are capable of
affording it. Humbly and obsequiously have they been grind-
ing their organs under the windows of Downing-street,
ready to play any tune that might be most pleasing to the
Premier, but he has turned a deaf ear to their strains, and not
even allowed his underlings an opportunity of throwing out
an occasional morsel by way of encouragement. In vain
have they looked imploringly up towards the garrets, or en-
' treatingly down towards the kitchens ; not even the con •
genial flunkies have been allowed to show compassion to
these miserable mendicants. The vigilance of the master or
the fidelity of tile servants has baffled the efforts of the per-
severing pair. They have not succeeded in getting hold of
even a scrap of truth that they could turn to profit. The
reason is obvious. The repeal of the corn-laws is a thing
for statesmen to do, and not for old women to maunder about.
• CHRONICLE.—The Times of yesterday startled its
readers by announcing that it had received intimation of the
result of the recent Cabinet Councils, and that that result
AT nothing less than that Ministers had made up their
minds to call Parliament together early in January, with a
view of proposing the repeal of the corn• laws. It was added,
that this might be regarded as the almost unanimous decision
of the Cabinet, the exceptions being insignificant ; by which
all the world understood that the Duke having given way,
no one but Lord Stanley, and perhaps one or two others,
were opposed to the general sense of their colleagues. We
cannot wonder that the intelligence thus conveyed was re-
ceived with some incredulity. Many innocent people still
believe that it is impossible i'or the present Ministry so com-
pletely to throw over the monopolists, who placed them in
power. Many even who, on the contrary, regarded that re-
sult as certain, had never conceived that it could be brought
about so soon. Rumour has for some time pointed rather
to an opposite termination of the discussions of the
Cabinet. Even so late as the day before yesterday, it
was very generally and confidently asserted that Lord
Aberdeen had resigned ; which, as he is understood to have
been the most active partisan of free- trade in these discus-
sions, was naturally regarded as indicating that:his colleagues
had determined on making a fight to maintain the corn-laws
for another year. Everybody was, therefore, more or less
startled at suddenly being informed, not merely that things
were taking a turn in the Cabinet towards free trade, but
that a decision in favour of " total and immediate " repeal
had actually been adopted, was to be acted upon in January,
and was to be enforced in one House by Sir Robert Peel, and
in the other by the Duke of Wellington. And some, too,
were a little surprised and perplexed at the circumstance of
this important change of policy on the part of Ministers
being communicated to the world through the medium of
the paper most personally and bitterly hostile to the greater
number of them. On the other hand, it seemed inconceiv-
able that if the Times had not very good authority for its
assertion, it should venture to trifle with its readers on a
question of such importance, and especially on one about
which any misinformation must so materially affect commer-
cial transactions. It was a case, too, on which it seemed hardly
possible for a paper to trust to any but the bestauthority. Com-
paring the probabilities of the case, it seemed to be the
general impression that the story told by the Times was true
in the main : that the details given might not have been yet
determined on ; but that it was pretty well settled by the
majority of the Cabinet that the corn-laws were to be mate-
rially Modified, if not, as was deemed more probable, repealed
at once, and' effectually. We must say that the contradic-
tion in last night's Standard has the effect of a very strong
corroboration of the Times. The Standard, after beginning

with a few general remarks on newspaper lying, goes on to
comment upon the difficulty of getting information from Ca-
binet Ministers with respect to the secrets of their delibera-
tions ; and then, after running into a grave refutation of 4
squib in the Chronicle, drops the article of the Times, with a
mere assurance to its readers that it does not believe a word
of it. But the article in the Times ,if not true, should have
been contradicted on authority. Five words—" ‘Ve are u-
thorised to contradict," would have disposed of the whole
falsehood--if falsehood it were. All the argumentation of
the Standard will fail to produce this effect. In the first

place, Cabinet Ministers, though they are sometimes scrupu-
lous about mentioning what has actually passed in
Cabinet, do not think themselves restrained from stating
the course which the Government moan to take on any
question. If they meant to repeal the corn-laws, they would
not scruple to conimunicate their policy wherever such com-
munications miert be deemed advisable ; and intentions
talked of among their friends might very probably get re-
ported to the Times. The Standard says it cannot contra-
dict the Times, because it knows not how to approach a Ca-
binet Minister to ask him to violate his oath, by telling the
intentions of the Cabinet. Depend upon it, if Ministers could
with truth have contradicted the Times, they would have
deemed it advisable to relieve the " agricultural mind " from
the terrible agitation in which it will be tossed about for the
next month ; and to spare themselves the obloquy to which
they will be subjected on account of the intentions ascribed
to them. And depend upon it that, had they desired to set
the public right, they would have found some means of
doing so without violating any oath, and would not have
lost a single post in doing so. The Standard would have the
greatest pleasure in giving an authoritative contradiction to
the Times. Its not being allowed to do so goes a great way
to prove the statement in question to be true. We must say,
too, that our strongest reason for inclining to believe that
there is much truth in the report is the opinion which we
have long since formed, that a repeal of the corn-laws by
the present Government was the result to which we are
inevitably advancing. Oddly as the phrase may sound, we
are convinced that the thing which Sir Robert Peel would
do most to avoid is the necessity of breaking with the Liberal
opinions of his countrymen. Throughout life, no doubt, he
has been opposed to the Liberal party. His inclination has
been to retard, but it has not been to prevent the progress
of improvement. His great aim in life has, as he told us,
been to acquire posthumous fame—to transmit his name to
posterity in connexion with great measures and a great
policy. Such fame as this he knows that he can never ac-
quire as the upholder of ancient abuses, and the champion of
aristocratic injustice. He knows full well that it is only
from the liberal opinion of his time that lie can acquire the
claim on posterity which he hopes to establish. That
opinion, therefore, it is that he really wishes to conciliate.
His whole conduct, since he has been in office, shows
that it is that opinion alone which he values. He
braves it sometimes, he tries to trick it at
others ; but embark in a career of systematic,
avowed, and hopeless opposition to it is what be has
never done, and never will do. All his past measures have
been directed to staving off the moment in which he must
either frankly adopt that course, with respect to free trade,
which public opinion favours, or risk his future fame in un-
compromising resistance to the public feeling. How long he
would have gone on without taking either side, giving hopes
to both parties, and committing himself irrevocably to
neither, there is no saying. But Lord John Russell's decla
ration has put an end to his indecision. For though
.it did
not create the necessity, nor the general feeling, for free trade,
that declaration has brought things to a crisis, in which every
one must take his part definitively on the question of the
eorn-laws. That letter put an end to all dive: ions in the Libe-
ral party, and rallied the whole body in one concentrated and
vigorous opposition. It roused the Liberal feeling from
one end of the country to the other ; it forced into the
movement against the corn-laws even those whose party
feelings would have kept them aloof from that struggle
until the moment in which it was to be decided for ever.
Sir Robert Peel must have seen that lie would now have to
struggle against the whole force of the Liberal party, backed
by an out-of-doors agitation, extending far beyond any one
party. He must have felt that the moment was at length
arrived in which lie must either lead a great movement of
public opinion, or commit himself to the desperate defence
of follies and iniquities over which it was clear that that
public opinion would speedily triumph. In such a state of
things we cannot doubt which side he would choose. And
we cannot, therefore, hesitate to believe that his decision
would be in accordance with the statement of the Times. Be
this as it may, it makes no difference in the course
which it is incumbent on the people to pursue.
If the Ministry are still to be ranked among the
upholders of monopoly, we must do our best to
beat them ; and we shall beat them. If the news
be true, and they undertake the' cause of free trade,
they will want all our aid, and that aid we must give them,
as cordially as we would give it to the best and earliest of
our friends. Even with Ministers on our side, and with all
the influence of the Duke and Sir Robert Peel, we shall have
a fierce struggle to go through. Nothing but the moat une-
quivocal expression of the most determined popular will can
bend the majority of the House of Lords. In order to over-
come that resistance we must throw aside every considera-
tion of party, and avail ourselves of every aid offered .to us
fur the great end of ensuring subsistence and employment to
the people, freedom to trade, stability to agricultural indus-
try, and relief to the great body of the people from the most
insolent injustice by which any aristocracy, in the present
day, has ventured to promote its selfish interests at the ex-
pense of the community. If Sir Robert Peel will give us
the aid of his Ministerial influence, and lead us on to com-
bat in our own cause, we shall be rejoiced to fight under his
guidance and name. We shall leave to a future day to vin-
dicate the just claims of' those to whom the victory of free
trade is really due.
POST.—Forty-one persons, who call themselves merchants
and bankers of the city of London, have published a declara-
tion on the subject of the corn-laws. We should be over-
rating the importance of this paper if we regarded it as any-
thing else than:the declaration of a very:small, and (compara-
tively) a very insignificant portion of the bankers and
merchants of London. We do not dispute, however, that
several of the names appended to it are those of men of
wealth and eminence ; they arc also, however, men of noto-
rious political bigotry—men for whose calm impartiality of
judgment in any matter subject to the influence of political
or party feeling, no person of good sense has the least respect.
They assert that " supplies of foreign corn destined for the
relief of the people of this country, have been excluded from
our ports by the high duty which, under our present sliding-
scale, is the inevitable consequence of the defective quality
of our own harvest." It is very little to the credit of British
merchants to indulge in such mere rholomontade as this upon
an important matter. What is the real meaning of such words
as "destined for the relief of the
.people of this country ?"
Where is the proof of any distress for food among the people
of this country? Is it prudent, or decent, or anything but
most inconsistent with the discretion which ought to belong
to British merchants, to come forward in this
way, the retailers of vague rumours, as mischievous as vague,
which even the common rules of mercantile information con-
tradict ? Why should these men assume a probability of
scarcity, and need of relief, when the prices of corn in the
markets indicate nothing of the kind ? It seems to us per-
fectly clear, from the evidence of positive facts, that these
flirty-one persons—happily a very small and insignificant
fraction of the mercantile body of London—are descending
to the position of tools of a faction. For what is there in
the circumstances of the present time to lead to such a decla-
ration more than at other times, when no such demonstra-
tion was made? What but the unusual stir of a busy, tur-
bulent faction, which thinks it may make an impression
now, by urging matters of a far less pressing character than
those of former years, when no such urgency was attempted?
How can these forty-one persons justify to themselves the
attempt to make all alarm now, when circumstances, as in-
dicated by the markets, are much more in favour of an ade-
quate supply of food than they were in former years, and
when the duties on importation are very much lower than
they were in those years ? And we must say that these
forty-one persons, however well-informed they may be upon
some branches of mercantile or monetary business, appear
to be quite ignorant of the truth in regard to the
foreign corn trade. It costs them little trouble, and it would
seem very little thought, to put their names to a paper de-
claring that high import duties have of late excluded foreign
corn from our ports, but in doing so they have only testified
their ignorance of the subject upon which they express them-
selves so confidently. If they had taken the trouble to in-
quire among men acquainted with the business of importing
corn, they would have learned that the only impediment to
the acquisition of foreign corn for English use which has
been felt this season, was the rumour that our ports were
going to be opened for the receipt of foreign corn free of
duty. So long as that rumour was believed on the Continent,
it was naturally supposed that our necessity for supplies
from abroad must be very great, and that we should be
willing to pay a very high price rather than be without
the supply. It, therefore, became difficult to buy fo-
reign corn except at a very large advance. But as soon
as the rumour was discovered to be groundless, then
foreign corn again became purchaseable at a considerably
lower price, and was accordingly purchased for the British
market. We must affirm, then, that the forty-one decla-
rants, however well informed they may be upon other
matters, are exceedingly ignorant upon the subject of ac-
quiring foreign corn for the English market; or, if not ig-
norant, they are something worse—that is, they are wilful
promulgators of that which is not true, fur the purpose of
producing an excitement favourable to the views of a faction.
The forty-one declarants use the hackneyed phrase of " tam-
pering with the food of the people," as applicable to those
laws which have for their object the protection of British
cultivation from undue foreign competition, and thus the se-
curing to the people a far larger supply from the English
soil than they would have if no such protective law existed.
The use of such language is, in our judgment, a further proof
either that the declarants are unacquainted with the subject
on which they presume to offer their opinion, or that they
prefer serving the cause of a faction to serving the cause of
truth. The protection of British cultivation is no more a
tampering with the food of the people than the protection af-
forded by the police is a tampering with the liberty of the
people. It ought not to be called tampering. It is an inter-
ference of the law in the people's behalf. It is a policy which
has for its object the guardianship of these two things—the
productive industry of a very large body of the working
class, and of the whole nation, from that danger which would
beset it if it were habitually dependent for a considerable
portion of its s.ipply of food upon foreign kingdoms, whose
governments might interdict; that supply from a policy
of their own. A more gross and glaring instance of
unbounded self-sufficiency, egregious vanity, and ridiculous
prejudice than that afforded by the last paragraph of the
"Declaration," we do not remember to have seen. Ilere
it is :
" We declare our deliberate conviction that no necessity
can justify the Legislature in tampering with the food of
the people, or impeding the free purchase of that article on
which depends the existence of a large portion of the com-
munity ; that the removal, therefore, of all restrictions
upon the import of articles of food is essential to the general
prosperity, as well as to the social peace of this country ;
that it is a measure dictated by all sound principles; con-
firmed by a long and fatal experience of the effects of an op-
posite course ; that it is demanded by the want and pressing
necessities of the labouring classes; that it is sanctioned by
the judgment of the educated part of the community ; that
the present condition of the country renders it a measure of
immediate necessity, the delay of which must inflict creel
hardships on the labouring classes, must seriously interfere
with all industrious pursuits, and by pertinaciously repudiat-
ing the obvious and natural means by which the sufferings
attendant on a bad harvest might be alleviated, must create
an universal feeling of dissatisfaction and dangerous to
the peace of society and to the safety of the empire."
Do these persons really mean to say that there is any re-
striction upon the freedom of purchasing foreign corn ? Surely
there is none, more than upon the purchase of sugar, or
French silks, or brandy. These people frame their declara-
tion as if it were against prohibition they were contendines
There is no impediment save the payment of import eluutier'';
and that impediment applies to hundreds of art icl's of mer-
chandise as well as corn. But the taking 'off the duties is
" essential to the general prosperity and social peace of the
country." Do these forty-one persons think that they are
qualified to dictate upon that matter? Do they suppose
that the welfare of the agricultural population goes for
nothing, and that social peace is altogether connected with
the gratifying of their prejudices or the legislating for their
interests? Are we to believe them, that the necessities of
the labouring classes would be relieve 4 by a change of policy,
which, if it should affect anything at all, must transfer ts;
foreign labourers the production of that commodity which