The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-04 00:00:00

DEPRESSION OF TRADE.

MEE!fING or SnorxErimis.—A public meeting of
shopkeepers was held 'on Thursday evening, at the
Spread, Eagle Inn, Hanging Ditch, for the purpose of
carryini ; into effect the following resolution adopted
at a pre; ioustneeting of a Committee appointed by that
body :—" That it appears to this Committee that de-
legates .shoulat be appointed to wait upon her Majesty's
Gov erne nent, and other Members of Parliament, to
make known ito them the distress of the shopkeepers
of Mans thester, , and to urge them to the adoption of
such me .asures as shall give them immediate relief;
and, as no such delegates were nominated at either of
the mee tings 1 field at the Town Hall, it further ap-
pears to this Committee that another meeting should
be held for this purpose, such meeting to be called
by circular." :Mr. Owen was called to the chair.
He stated several facts coming within. his own
knovvleC :ge, tent ling to show the distressed condition
to whic It men o 1 almost every branch of business
were re zinced. ',Several respectable manufacturing
establisf ments he 4 stopped working, and hundreds of
the labc airing • classes were thrown out of employ.
One reopectable firm in Manchester had that day
stopped in consep ence of a certain failure. Another
house had this Nyeek turned off upwards of 150
hands, aad it was in contemplation to turn off many
more. Iu conseg hence of the number of persons
thus thrown out o, employ, the poor-rates were in-
creased.. The over eers of the township of Manches-
ter had lately pul ilished a rate of 3s. 4d. in the
pound, and stated that they had already advanced
20,0001. •on legal on lers made upon them. Several
factories in Unswor. Pilsworth, Pilkington, Rad-
cliffe, Halshaw Moor:. Worsley, Eccles, Barton, and
Pendlebury, had stooped. A great portion of the
goods manufactured i, :a those places was exported to
the contirsent of Europ ; and, as they had to pay a
duty of from 9d. to 16a. per lb., it was impossible to
pay a remunerating prt ce to those employed in their
production. Mr.. Owein presented the following
table of thy'- number of a 'cres of land in Great Britain
and Ireland, distinguishing those that are cultivated
from those t hat are uncultivated and unprofitable :

-- ---- ----- - ------ ,
Acres Acres = Acres ,un-
cultivated. cultivated. profita le.
England 25,632,000 k 3,454,000 3,256,400
Wales
Scotland
Ireland
British Isles 383,690 , 166,000 569,469
' ,, • ,
--/ ---
Total ... 4 46,522,970 15,000,000 15,871,463

It was impo isible that the 1 people of these coun-
tries could be i '.dequately supvlied with food for any,
I.l\
considerable tit le from such a\ source. Mr. Alexan-
der Wilson mot ed that a dep tation should be ap-
pointed to wail:, on Sir Ro )ert Peel, and such
other members of her Majestis Government and
Members of Pt irliament, .as may be practica-
ble, to lay befo re them, on kiehalf of the shop-
keepers and traa'ers of the botoagh, the appalling
facts relating to tk ie state of trade, which are so unde-
niably manifest, vind entreat them to adopt some
means that shall give immediate ' and permanent re-
lief. On the motion of Mr. J. Gadsby, seconded by
Mr. Birch, a deputy tion was appointed, their expenses
to be defrayed by st ibscriptions raised from the shop-
keepers ~pd others. It was also resolved-7," That this
meeting calls on the .shopkeepers of the neighbouring
towns to appoint a deputation to meet in London with
the above-named gentlemen."—Manchester Guardian

MEETING OF MERCHANTS, I)IAANUFACTURERS, AND
PRINTxus.--On Tuesday last, a' meeting of parties
interested in the manufacturing oi' printing, or the
sale of worsted and woollen goods, or mixed worsted
and silk, or worsted and cotton fabrics, was held at
the Royal Hotel, convened by twenty .four of the
principal firms in these branches of trade, "to con-
sider what measures ought to be adopted to prevent
the increase of duty on those fabrics contemplated by
the Prussian Commercial League." The meeting was
attended by nearly all the merchants and manufac-
turers in these branches of business. Mr. Edmund
Peel Thomson was called to the chair. It was re-
solved that a memorial be drawn up, stating the im-
portance of this branch of trade in this district, and
the injury that would accrue to it if an increased duty
were imposed by the Prussian League. After having
been signed by twenty-five merchants, eighteen print-
ers, and nine manufacturers, it was forwarded on
Thursday evening to T. Milner Gibson, Esq., for pre-
sentation to the Iremie ..—ManchesterGuardian.

THE LATE M. CALOMARDE,

MINISTER OF GRACE AND JUSTICE.

This celebrated Spanish Minister, whose death the
Paris papers have just announced as having taken
place at his retirement in Toulouse, is chiefly notice-
able for the very conspicuous and decided part which
he acted at that time when the present Queen Chris-
tina, having intermarried with Ferdinand the Seventh,
used her strongest efforts to obtain the passing of the
Pragmatic Sanction.* M. Calomarde, then Presi-
dent of the Council, was chiefly instrumental in its
abrogation, which appears for the most part to have
taken place by his advice and concurrence. As this
scene, in which he was the prominent actor, will tell
best to his memory, and present a picture of him as a
firm, decisive, and bold character, we proceed to
draught out a relation of the circumstances.
At the time that Grijalva was in the ascendant,
and the King, waning in years, had just espoused
himself to the present ex-Queen of Spain, now
spending her days at the Court of Louis Philippe, that
Minister made his appearance in the office of the
Secretary of State for Grace and Justice, over which
M. Calomarde presided, with a private message from
the King, directing the head of that•department to
send up the records of the Cortes of 1789 regarding
the Succession. These papers having been sorted out,
in consonance with this order, M. Calomarde took
them himself to Ferdinand. The King retained
them in his possession for nearly a fortnight, when he
returned them to M. Calomarde, with a marginal de-
cree written upon them in his own hand, ordering
their publication. M. Calomarde remonstrated upon
the inexpediency of the measure, " Sir," said he, ad-
dressing the King, "this measure is one which, above
all others, will tend to encourage the Revolutionists, who
are at this very moment actively engaged in conspira-
cies." Nevertheless the King persisted, and with a
degree of warmth directed his resolution to be carried
into effect.

M. Calomarde was accordingly forced to bend to
this command ; he forwarded it to the Council. On
the 6th of April, 1830, it was published in the Royal
Gazette, under the title of the Pragmatic Sanction,
establishing the regular succession through the Queen
to the Crown of Spain.
The birth of Isabel, the present young Queen of
Spain, subsequent to the enactment of this Pragmatic
Sanction, and the speedily expected demise of the
King, were circumstances that roused into immediate
activity the energies of Don Carlos, who, seeing
before him only the prospects of losing his right to
the Throne, had already commenced his revolutionary
projects. In September the King was on the verge.
of the grave, and he was desirous of forming some
conciliatory measures with the Infante, who, how-
ever, unhesitatingly refused to hear of anything hut
an abrogation of that law which deprived him of the
next succession to the Throne, and which Christina
had, by the Pragmatic Sanction, endeavoured to se-
cure to her own offspring.
This refusal on the part of Don Carlos made it a
gloomy night round the ' King's bed. In their de-
spondency and anguish of mind the King and
Christina sunynoned M. Calomarde to their chamber.
Scarcely had he entered the room when, in the accents
of despair, the King told him of the d;ngerous aspect
which matters were assuming. The Minister con-
firmed the Ki9.'s report, and further observed, that
" under cover of the late changes many Revolutionists
had again made their appearance ; and as their combi-
nations were kept up with foreign countries, it was
evident that the crisis would end in blood."

On the utterance of this word, an involuntary emo-
tion escaped from Christina, who cried out, a Todo
menos eso—yo no quiero sangre," " Anything but
that—l do not wish for blood. "‘ What means have
we then left," said the King, addressing himself to
Calomarde, " of guarding against the storm that
threatens ?" "To abrogate all that has been done to
establish the Partida law," answered Calomarde ;
" for then the hopes of the Revolutionists will be
nipped in the bud." "My only wish is for the wel-
fare of my people," observed the King ; " your rea-
sons, Calomarde, have convinced me; immediately,
therefore, pen a decree, abrogating the late law.; but
I enjoin you not to let any one know of it till my
eyes are closed; and take care that it is not published
or allowed to go out of the department of Grace and
Justice." " But," replied Calomarde, "it is proper
that the other Ministers should have cognisance of the
fact ; when will your Majesty receive them ?" " Ex-
actly at six in the afternoon.'
Calomarde left the King's bed-room, and descended
the staircase. Rejoining the Ministers, he informed
them of the King's determination. Altercation en-
sued as to who should draw up the decree. Calo-
marde snatched up a pen—sketched out the decree of
abrogation—and it was forthwith read and approved
in a full council of Ministers.

M. Calomarde then went to the King's chamber
alone, and showed the decree. "Lo apruebo—esta
rnui Bien," " I approve of it—it is well," said the
King. The Ministers shortly after assembled.
Ca-
lomarde then read the decree in a loud voice. Chris-
tina took a pen and handed it to the King, that he
might affix his sign manual. He asked Calomarde
whether he should sign it in full. The Minister an-
swered in the affirmative, and the King signed " Fer-
nando."

Such was the scene in which Calomarde, during
his administration, was the chief actor. The subse-
quent history attending this particular document is
too well known to need more than reference. Shortly
after, the King miraculously recovered from his ill-
ness, and then it was that, i:npelled by the present
ex-Queen, whose whole ambition at heart -was to
secure the succession to her own children, he declared
that this abrogation of the Pragmatic Act, which he
had in the first instance passed and made law, had
been forced from him while labouring under the lan-
guor of death and sickness, and by a body of con-
spiring men. He called the chief men of the kingdom
together, and made in their presence a public decla-
ration to this effect, and caused the Pragmatic Sanc-
tion to stand and be re-instituted as the abiding law.