The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-10 00:00:00

//2.

tion. Why it was it long apprenticeship, for those o
serve who were young, and those who were root he was
afraid might be in want of health and spirits tegether.
They had certainly gained by the way; and. upon the
whole, he did not think there was any concern at this
town that at the beginning of this new year could " .take
stock" with more hopeful prospects than they woula\ in
he Anti-Corn-law League.—(Cheers). They had lisei
opposition shops set up to them, they had had a good
many such concerns, and ,they had all failed. There
had been a concern for curing the distress of the coun-
try by transporting people to other countries, but
that broke down—(Hear, hear)—and latterly we had
had a scheme, amongst others, for giving people
potato-gardens instead of wages, and they were called
" allotments," and that we heard no more about.
What would be the next opposition affair he did not
knew, but whatever it mfght happen to be, ten t t one
hut it would assume the cloak of humanity, in order to
deceive honest and not very shrewd people.—(Cheere.)
Now, we had been charged with intolerance, became we
had fouTa'. fault e ith some projects that had bee!' broelght
forward to remedy the distresses of the country. Whr.
if they quarrelled with them at all, it was because they
had been ostentatious projects, brought forward to di-
vert publiCatteetion, and not, as they believed, with the
real intention of serving the object professed by the pro-
pounders.—(Hear, hear.) Who could say that the
League had ever found fault with private benevolence
tr had ever stopped to quarrel with men going about
to do good, and not seeking to proclaim trumpet-tongued
their own good works ? But it was when men who
supported the corn-laws were found ostentatiously pro-
pounding other schemes to meet a great political aril, it
was then that they had a right to criticise and question!
the intelligence, et least, of these parties, and to ask how
they could profess to serve the people, while at the same
time, by their votes, they were trying to starve and im-
poverish the people ?—(Cheers.) He must confess that,
having been let a little behind the scenes in the conduct
of these parties, he did suspect that a great number of
those who had got a reputation of being benevolent-
minded in public matters, were trying to start these
false scents with the view of leading the people ce from
the question of the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) Ordinary in-
telligence might teach them the utter futility of tryietes
to benefit the people who, by their own legislation,.
were kept short of the necessaries of life. They told us
th,:kt the people wanted water, and wanted good houses.
No deubt these were excellent adjuncts, and indeed abso-
lute regaisites, to a civilised and comfortable state of
existence ; but did they ever hear of people short of
food keeping thesetselves clean or warm, or being com-
fortably housed ?---(blear, hear.) What was the state
of the people in the worst_ district of Edinburgh ? Were
they inhabiting miserable hovels—were they wanting
of well-built houses ? No ; the very worst popula-
tion of all Edinburgh were ,nhabiting what were
once the palaces of the nobility eshd Queen Regent
of Saetland ; and if they would pu: the whole po-
pulation of London into Buckingham Palaces or
Windsor Castles—if they kept that population oe a aiNort
allowance of the first necessaries of life, they would be as
degraded and debased as they were now in St. Gilea's.—'
(Cheers.) Now, he would charge with inconsistency,
and express his detestation of the motives of those whom
he saw prominent in advocating better houses and a better
supply of water to the people, and who at the same time
denied them employment and food. He hoped he should
always be ready to discriminate and give the meed of
praise to those men who, whilst they were aiding, or at
least sanctioning, the remedying of the evils which they
as free traders attacked, were also prominent in advo-
cating other ameliorations of the condition of the people.
—(Cheers.) He received a letter the other day from
an old friend of his, and a fellow-labourer in those effoete
they made six or seven years ago in the cause of educa-
tion—he meant Mr. James Simpson, of Edinburgh—in
which he spoke in somewhat a tone of complaint of the
remarks which were made in Covent-garden Theatre
upon the subject of public baths. Now he (Mr. Cobden)
should be anxious to pay the tribute of his highest
admiration to the conduct Mr. Simpson had pursued.
He had not prominently advocated free trade in corn ;
but he had been a silent contributor of his pound or so
to the League, and they knew that they had his good
wishes. But if he or any one else thought they could
promote the benefit of mankind, by giving their atten-
tion to other questions, why God speed to him, and he
wished him well in his labours.—(Cheers.) He saw a
great many working people present ; indeed, hew could
they assemble 5,000 or 6,000 people in that Hall
without having a great portion of those who worked
with skil!ed hands and heads far their living ? Anti
he never Used to omit saying a word to them on
the state of their question, though it was difficult to
say anything that should savour of novelty. But
they had heard what Mr. Brown had told them of
the condition of the people in the United States.
He told them that every :person there had .lleVen
pigs and five sheep, and that there were if horses to
every family. Did it ever strike a working man what
is the reason that every family has more horses, and
every man has more pigs and sheep, and quarters of
corn, in that country ? Why, it was simply for this
reason, that there were more horses, and pigs, and sheep,
and quarters of corn in that country, fu proportion to
the people, than there were in this country.—(Hear.)
And was there any working man who had not carried
his logic and argumentation a little further, and said to
himself, " If there is less for the whole of the people of'
this country than there is in America, it is impossible
that each individual can have so much as each individual
in America." And when somebody must go short, de-
pend upon it the short commons would fall upon the man
who was the poorest in the land.—(Hear.) Now, this
seemed to him to illustrate what free traders meant by
having corn and provisions cheap: they meant to have
them plentiful. It was only a kind of conventional term
for "plenty," when they said "cheap ;" it nould be a
better term to use " plenty," instead of' " chealanees"—
indeed, as the old compilers of our Prayer-book did,
when they called it sometimes plenty, and sometimes
cheapness. But if they had not pigs, corn, and sheep ist
the land, the people could not eat them ; and the only
way he was aware of was that of getting more into the
land. True, some of the agriculturists told them (and
his friend Mr. Philips would bear out what he said),
that if they would only wait they would produce as
much as the people wanted to eat. Now, they had waited
for thirty years, tied they had not done it ; and he
thought they were playing the dogs in the manger now,
for they would neither do it themselves nor let other
people do it.—(Loud cheers.) Well, they had had
another turn of the wheel ; the wheel of fortune
had gone round, and now they appeared to be on
the upper spoke of the wheel, and the agriculturists
were down in the mud. The agricultural class was
now the class that was suffering more than any in
the ;country for want of food. Now, there was not
a more helpless class in the community thane the
agricultural labourers they had not the means of com-
bination ; they never met to express their grievances ;
they lived a solitary life ; and we heard nothing of their
distresses except through those horrid Outbreaks of in-
cendiary fires.—(Hear, hear.) Well, if there was not
another motive on earth to induce us to go on with this
agitation. to get more food into the country in order that
the people might have more food than they had now got,
the condition of the agricultural labourer ought to excite
us to continue those exertions.—(Cheers) Let it be re-
collected that this great community around them was
committed before the world to the carrying out of this
cause.— (Cheers.) This agitation had been cradled in
Manchester, and monopoly must be coffined in Man-
chester.—(Loud cheers.) Every age, every generation,
had some distinguishing struggle that marked its his-
tory. In one century we had the contest for religious
freedom another century marks the era of political
freedom—another century comes, and the great battle
of commercial freedom has to be fought—(Cheers)--
and Manchester, and those free cotton districts around
it (he called it a free district because the cotton trade
had never been dandled by protection, and never owned
its devotion to monopoly)—were pledged to take the lead
in this great contest—a contest that had already become
historical for it was marked upon our Parliamentary
annals at one of the greatest of modern combinations.—
(Cheers.) Tht y could not draw back from this contest,
but they must bring not merely disgrace upon them-
selves, but disgrace upon the nation, and prove them-
selves recreant from the very race from which they
sprung.—(Applause.) It was not a mere contest for a
few more pigs, a few more sheep, or a little more corn.
If the mere physical, the material gain to which we were
looking, was all that we had to hope from the trial of our
principles, why it would be a sordid and mercenary eon-
, tlict after all. No ; the triumph of free trade was the
triumph of pacific principles between all the nations of
the earth.—(Cheers.) It was a blow, and a death-blow
to the old system of diplomatic intrigues between the
governments of countries.—(Cheers.) It was makie4
them, as the industrious fabricators of this district, aadt
' their friend Mr. Brown, and such as him, the ambasaa-
' dors and merchants of this country, it was giving to
them the title-deeds by which they would secure to
themselves and all nations the blessings of peace for all
times.—(Loud cheers.) He saw in the distance—he
,` might perhaps be dreaming—(No, no)—but he saw in
the distance a world's revolution involved in the triumphs
of free trade principles.--(Cheers.) The very motives
which had led governments and ambitious rulers to rear
gone ,
for
up great empires, and to aggrandise the
world's
and
d could better
they
tern-
'
tory—those motives would be gone,
profitwhen tbhye ythle pmdruptasuegrhittypaeons le
freedom thatof other nations,
through the peaceful paths of industry, than they could
triumph through the force of war or military conquest
(Cheers.) He might be dreaming, but he thought he saw
that
great
re
infu them distance
itaryand
naval
em
establishments,pisand vast
nould be no
necessary in the governments of the world andwhen
lonwethgerer;
had established free trade throughout it.—(Cheers.) II
wahatiate hesttidwas founded in reason, and not the dreams
imagination, then he said this was a cause which
was worth contending for; one that not merely the mer-
chant and the manufacturer, but the philanthropist and
the Christian might well lay hold of, and- glory that he
, had lived in an age when he might take a share in the
conquest over selfishness and monopoly.—(Cheers.) Ahl
that word monopoly; if they could only get people to
understand what it meant! Why then, if the very name
was fixed on the back of a candidate, it would be suffi-
cient to secure his defeat at the poll,—(Cheers.) It was
an odious word. It was a curious fact, bat it was a word
not known to our forefathers, the ancient Britons. Their
Welsh lecturer had got a distinguished linguist to trans-
' late it into Welsh, and after a good deal of study they
' turned it into a phrase which he again converted back
into English, and it was " a one-handed bargain."---
(Great laughter.) Our manufacturers and millowners
sometimes shouted and hurraed for this one-handed bar-
gain. Now, there was a meeting the other day at Ash-
ton-under-Lyne—a meeting of the Conservative Asso-
ciation; there were 400 of them—at which Mr. Eutwisle
Mr. Tatton Egerton, and Mr. Cornwall Legh attended
There was a Mr. De Hollingworth there—he had revive
the old Norman prefix to his name; it was not pled
" Mr. Hollingworth" now, but he had added the " De
' before it—De Hollingworth !—(Great laughter.) W ell
he made a speech. Dear in mind he was speaking
Ashton, a place that bad grown into existence, it llni

b ^ said, within the lifetime of the present generation ;
a, id it had grown by the industry of the manufacturers
al id merchants of Ashton. Now, hear what this Mr.
/e 11°Ilihseworth had to say of one class of people by
1 horn he wens supposed to be surrounded. He was speak-
'g of a manufacturing politician, one of their home-
pun politicians, and he said;—" He is probably a man
1521° ass made his own fortune by one of those lucky
"ar.cess in trade that have been of such frequent occur:
re. -ice the last five-and-twenty years. He may be a good
t
seenesman, may possess good, natural. sound sense, anti
ATI its exercise, by frugality and industry, have raised.
himself from sweeping a warehouse to become its master.
...Rut what then ? What does he know beyond the walls
eof his own counting-house ? Totally uneducated--.or
with such information only as may be gathered from a
village schoolmaster—what value would he set on that
statesmanlike knowledge derived from experience and
intercourse with the world ? Would he not naturally
affect to despise what he could not understand, and sub-
stitute a degraded cunning for that practical and almost
prophetic wisdom, the fruit of the accumulated experi-
ence of ages, transmitted to us by the pages of his-
tory, the only real instructor of mankind ? Is such
a men fit to legislate for an empire? Is the calm.
latorr of pence to become the distributor of millions ? Is
swill a man, presumptuous from ignorance, to direct our
fie was and armies ? Is such a man fit to advise the Crown
its most important appointments to the sacred aryl
judicial benches ? For what portion, then, of a senator's
<duty is such a man fit ? Is not rather his proper sphere
to sweep the floor and senate-house, as he has formerly
done that of his own warehouse."—(Cheers seed
laughter.) Cheers and laughter !—(Great laughter.)
Now, there was a Persian phrase, a phrase used in the
East, when a man submitted to a deep humiliation—they
say, " That man eats dirt." Now, he saw the names of
three or four manufacturers, or millowners, as present at
that meeting ; the man who was in the chair, his father
swept the floor of a mill.—(Cheers.) Some people went
to public banquets to eat turtle and venison ; he thought
those gentlemen went to eat dirt, and they had their
stomachs full.—(Cheers and laughter.) Now, if those
gentlemen, the De Hollingworths, were to come there, in
the presence of free traders, they would not use such
language as that—there they never heard it.—(Laughter.)
They 'alight not like free traders, they hated them, they
fcarr4 them, but they did not despise them.—(Cheers.)
It 'eras only the men who went to their Conservative
datesers at Ashton-under-Lyne, that eat such dirt as that.
--(Cheers and laughter.) Now, suppose they "took stocL"
.01 the county Members of this country. They had been
.told what sort of ram the manufacturing politicians,
• were ; now, let them consider what sort of, men did the
counties send up to Parliament. There were 138 county
Members representing England and Wales in the House
of Commons. Was there one of thein, since Lord Stan-
ley had left North Lancashtee., of whom they could say,
"he is above mediocrity in talent ?"—(Cheers, and
" They're below it.") There were not ten of them ever
opened their snouSles in Parliament with a chance of being
listened to, nerless to be laughed at.—(Cheers and
laughter ,e, They were presumed, by courtesy, to be ali
I'duca'sed men, and he had a profound respect
'or those advantages which the highest education
euld give to men of natural talent. But what
should they say of one hundred and fifty-eight men,
the picked men of their order, the picked men of their
counties, so far as their class goes—what must be their
natural attributes, when they mustered in the House of
Commons, and made such an exhibition of themselves as
our county Members did ?—(Cheers and laughter.)
Why, it was quite a common thing, if a county Member
got up, e,nd made a speech in which he did not murder
the Que,eris English, for a man to touch his neighbour
in this way and say, " That is a pretty good speech for
a cotraty Member."—(Cheers and roars of laughter.)
Now, he observed that at the same dinner Mr. Entwisle,
and. Mr. Tatton Egerton, and Mr. Cornwall Legh se-
v. xtilly spoke, and they seemed to him not to like the
-4),rospect of things in this part of the country.—(Hear,
hewn ) Mr, Entwisle complained that the people in
Seiuth Lancashire insisted on fighting their battle on
owe question alone, and that question free trade. Ile
would like to fight the old battle of Whig and Tory
again.—(Cheers.) Yes, yes ; South Lancashire was
safe with 2,000 majority in 1841, when it was Tory
against Whig, but Mr. Entwisle knew that now it was
free trade against " the one-handed bargain men,,, the
monopolists.—(Cheers.) But the free traders had get a
thousand majority just now.—(Loud cheers.) The mo-
nopolists talked of recovering their majority at the next
revision ; he said they would have a thousand more at
the next revision.—(Loud cheers.) They had heard
the chairman say they must have a thousand new quali-
fications in the Manchester polling district before the
31st of January. Well, he did not know whether he
was letting the cat out of the bag or not, but he believed
they had 600 or 700 already.—(Cheers.) They would
make it a thousand, and then they should be able to say
at the next contest for the county that they had a ma-
jority in the Manchester polling district alone sufficient
to overbear the monopolists' majority in Ormskirl.,
Wigan, and Newton, the only polling districts where they
had a majority. Now let it be said—it shall and must by
said—that the Manchester polling district is able to beat
them in all those districts where they have a majority.
We'll insist upon fighting them ourselves, and
leave Liverpool, Oldham, Ashton, and Rochdale, and all
the other places, to look on.—(Cheers and laughter.)
But he wanted something done fur North Cheshire toe.
lie took a deep interest in that contest for North Clic-
sOeire.—(llear, hear.) Now, the Egertons of Tatton—
`father, and son, and grandson—had been sitting for that
county for about fifty years, with a very slight intermis-
sion. If they wanted to strike a blow that would tell at
a distaste in London, just turn out a man whose family
was supposed to have ruled the county for half a cen-
tury.— (Cheers.) That was the bird they must try to
bag—(Cheers and laughter)—it was of no use shooting
mere sparrows, like their lately elected member for
South Lancashire.—(Laughter.) They would not be-
lieve in London that the free traders could turn out Lord
Francis Egerton until it was done. When it was done
it would be felt—it would be a blow that they would
stagger under.—(Cheers.) The next best thing they
could do to turning out Lord Francis Egerton, who, as
a man, as a county Member, stood as high as any man
representing a county, for intelligence and personal re-
spectability, as well as for accomplishments—if they
wanted to strike the next heavy blow, turn out Mr Tat-
ton for North Cheshire.—(Cheers.) He was in North
Cheshire, at Macclesfield, on Monday. Why, the mono-
polists, at last election only had a majority of 470 or
500, and he would undertake to say that they had more
people to qualify in Lancashire and Yorkshire for North
Cheshire—that there would be more new qualifications
from those two counties than the amount of the mono-
polists' majority last time.—(Loud cheers.) Why, in
the little village, as he might call it, of Hebden Bridge,
in Yorkshire, there were forty free traders marching
down in a body to qualify for North Cheshire.—(Loud
cheers.) Well, with what Stockport and Macclesfield
could do for themselves, and Hyde, which was a host,
they would have North Cheshire, and have it
'booked as safe as any borough by the next revision.—
(Loud cheers.) He did not imagine it was imprudent
or incautious to say so in this public way. He knew
there were persons there from all parts, not only from
North Cheshire, but beyond North Cheshire ; and he
wanted them to take this, not as a mere idle threat, but
to go home on the morrow and put their shoulders to
the wheel, and lend a hand to accomplish their object.—
(Cheers.) Depend upon it they should gain nothing by
attempting to keep these things secret ; they could not
put salt upon those birds' tails—they were too old for it.
—(Cheers.) His friend Mr. Bright and himself had
been passing into almost every manufacturing polling
district in the West Riding of Yorkshire since the last
meeting. Now the West Riding was infinitely the
largest and most important constituency of the king-
dom ; they had 33,000 or 34,000 registered electors.
London had only 20,000 ; South Lancashire, 22,000 or
23,000 ; the West Riding of Yorkshire had 50 per cent.
more of a constituency than any other in the kingdom.
They would see, then, the importance of winning the
West Riding more than any other ; and he had no
'doubt, that before the 31st of January, as he had already
stated, they would be able to say that there were 25,000
new qualifications. They lost last time by 800 or 1,000.
'But they were not going to satisfy themselves in quali-
fying good men ; they had got a lot of had men on
the register, and they would have them struck off ; they
-would have no illegal votes there.—(Cheers.) He spoke
with the greatest delight of the reception they met with
in Yorkshire. They required no stimulus from them, did'nt
the people there ; the men of Yorkshire were prepared to
do at the next election what they had done on former oc-
casions. That was the constituency that had decided the
fate of great questions in this country before. When they
.returned Henry Brougham—the Henry Brougham of that
time—(Hear)—they struck the last blow at the borough-
mongering system ; when they returned him as the
champion of the freedom of the negro they abolished
slavery in our colonies.—(Applause.) And when they
returned free traders at the next election, depend upon
it it would be the signal for the downfal of commercial
monopoly.—(Cheers.) Now, he should have no oppor-
tunity et addressing gentlemen there again before the
31st of January, bum there were three weeks yet, and the
lawyers could do a great deal of business in three weeks.
lie thought they were printing off their deeds by steam,
or having them lithographeh, they were getting on so
fast with theta—Meer.) Let no young man belonging
to their Athenaturn, arid other institutions, who was
living in lodgings, let no young man with a good coat on
his back, that could afford 50/. or 601. for an investment
at good interest, hesitate to take up his freedom, by
making such investment, and thus enable him to give a
vote at the next election, and strike a blow in favour of
increased commerce, which would give him a better
chance of
prospering in the world.—(Cheers.) He could
not imagine an 3 thing more painful than would be the
state of mind of those persons, when the next election
came, who had neglected the precious opportunity of
qualifying themselves to take a part iu that momentous
struggle. In all probability the general election would
take place in 1846; unless they purchased their qualifica-
tion before the 31st of this month, they could not be upon
the register till 1847, and then the general election, in all
human probability, would have passed. There was, to
he sure, one way in which young men might qualify after
thee 31st. He saw a good many ladies present, and they
seemed to be getting into a channel in which they could
co-operate with them, inasmuch as they were not
allowed to have votes; he only wished they were,
because many of there would make a better use
of them than their husbands did.—(Cheers and laughter.)
But, though they could not vote, it was a very
singular fact—and it would be looked upon at some fu-
ture time, perhaps, when the world had grown wiser and
better, as an anomalous circumstance, that although
ladies could not vote, they might qualify as many block-
heads and dunces to vote as they chose to confer free-
holds upon.—(Laughter.) Now, if there was any kind,
earnest friend to their cause—any gentlewoman having
sons or nephews, or even grandsons ; if they should
happen to be rising twenty-one, and if she had a little
freehold property that she intended to divide among
them when she was gone—why then he would recom-
mend to her to convey away to them a 40s. freehold
each. Let her do it if they were but twenty years old

L 4.4 ii .4

GIX4

—they would then have twelves months to consider how I
they would make the best use of their vote when they
were twenty-one. Let such perwins qualify as many
as they could ere they departed levee, and then they
might have the satisfaction of seeing their young friends
vote for free tres&e in their lifetira,e.—(Applause.) Now,
there might Ise young ladies '; and it was a curious'
thing the lacy seemed to have contemplated their case
exactly. it was a curious tact, that though you must
buy a qralification before the :31st of January to be on
the next year's register, yet if you married a qualifica-
tion. you might be put upon the register though you
only got possession of it by marriage up to July.
—(Cheers and laughter.) So, if a young man let
the 31st of January eF cape him, he knew of no
other way in which he 'Ayald rescue himself from his
dilemma but by marry ing a freehold before July.—
(Laughter.) But he would recommend the young
ladies not to take pity upon ;aim; it was his duty to take
up his freedom, and qualify himself before he thought
of getting married.—,(Applause.) In some parts of Swit-
zerland there was a custom that, before a young man
was eligible for marriage, he waist possess a Bible and a
couple of buck,,ts.—(Great laughter.) He thought a
young man to be eligible in this country should possess
a freehold fee. the county, axed be a voter.—(Cheers.)
He recenr.mended the young hulks to toss up their heads
at the young fellows, unlesS ley could answer the inter-
rogalive in the affirmative, "Are you a freeholder of the
e9tanty ?"—(Applause and leughter.) Now he knew
there was a large class of sk Bled operatives visited these
meetings—machine-makers., t4)ol-makers, and men of
that class—who got the higher t wages. They were the
aristocracy of their class; the y were men of intellect;
they were men of the largest incomes of their order.
Now, every one of there. ought, as a matter of pride and
a matter of duty, to qualify for the county.—(Hear,
hear.) It was a very expensive thing to get a borough
vote; you must pay 10/. a y ?six for a house, furnish it,
and pay taxes; but in the oth,er case, you might live
where you liked, in lodgings or a garret, if you pos-
sessed a 40s. freehold. Awe man at o:dhans, too
poor to buy a freehold, said to his fellow-workmen, " lle
hoped as many as could would thus buy the right to
vote, and then ' happen they could open the door for
they who could not afford to buy.' "—(Cheers.) It was his
opinion that in a few year s' time the election fur the
county of Lancaster would be more in the hands of the
working classes than it wsys now in the hands of the
squirearchy and farmers.—( Cheers.) He believed, from
what he heard of what was going on in all directions,
that there would be such a -east number of skilled arti-
zans and better paid operati:-ves on the county register,
that it would be impossible in a few years' time to
return a man for South Lancashire unless he were ac-
ceptable in the main to that; class of voters.—(Cheers.)
I He had heard people say this was a dangerous political
game they were playing, mend that they were going to
democratise the constituent ies of the country. His
answer was, " If the constituencies have hitherto been
an aristocracy they have 'made very bad use of their
power—(Cheers)— and if you mean by a democracy that
class of operatives who can afford to save out of their
earnings 501. or 601. a year, ehey are a class I would
much rather see in the possession of political power than
the landed aristocracy who have so much abused their
power."—(Loud cheers.) If any working man wanted
to make up his purse by the 31st of January, and hap-
pened to have an employer of common sense, they
would lend him a balance of 101. or 20/. till he could
repay the money. He knew it was done, and had been
done very extensively.—(Hear, hear.) It was an
elevating and proud thing for the working man to
buy his freehold. It was a far more elevating thing
than a deposit in the savings' bank, where he saw nothing
mere of his money. If he bought a cottage, and it was
a detached cottage, he could put his hand in his pocket
and walk round it and say," That's mine—(Loudcheers)
—that's mine, I bought it, I paid for it—l worked for it;
and who has so good a title to his freehold as I have?"—
(Great cheering.) Now he wanted to see the little land
owners beat the big landowners at the poll.—(Cheers).
It could be done. Recollect the men of 30,0001. a-year
could have but one vote. Let this be their work then
continuously till the 31st of January; get qualifications,
and ;get :them conveyed to them, if it was only by a
scrap of paper the size of their hand; get possession of
the property by the 31st of January, and then, when the
next contest came for South Lancashire, they would
have their friends, Mr. Villiers and Mr. Brown, in the
place of the present Members for that division.—(The
whole meeting here rose simultaneously, and gave three
loud cheers.)
The meeting called loudly for Mr. BRIGHT, who, how-
ever, addressed but a few words to them, expressive of
the satisfaction at the progress they had made in register-
ing new freeholders in the West Riding of Yorkshire,
where he had been engaged in forwarding the object of,
the League; and Mr. Alderman Brooks then moved, and
Mr. Joseph Brotherton, M.P., seconded, a vote of thanks
to the speakers, which was carried by acclamation, and
the meeting:separated.

THE ALLEGED MURDER AT
SALT-HILL.
LATEST PARTIC ULARS.

SLOUGH, THURSDAY EVENING.—WhiIe the jury were
deliberating upon their verdict yesterday afternoon, the
prisoner, who was in an ante-room, asked more than
once, " How long do you think they will be now ?"
Upon being told they would probably bo half an hour
longer, he betrayed great mental agitation. On entering
the room to be informed by the coroner of the verdict of
the jury, he recovered himself, and heard the purport of
the verdict with great apparent coolness. Indeed his
fortitude while he was in the jury-room never once ap-
peared to forsake him, listening with considerable
earnestness and attention to the application made by his
I counsel for the restoration of his watch and the money
' found in his possession. On being taken back to his
private room, at the Three Tuns, he became greatly
agitated, and was at his own request supplied with
brandy and water. His solicitor, Mr. Bevan, of the Old
Jewry, London, and another professional gentleman, had
a long private interview with him previously to his
leaving for Aylesbury Gaol.
A large concourse of persons had assembled outside
of the house, to have a view of the prisoner on his de-
parture ; and it was with difficulty that the police were
enabled to protect him from the threatened attacks of
the mob, as he walked to the vehicle that was to convey
him to prison. Their yells and hootings greatly discon-
certed him, and he appeared terribly alarmed for his
personal safety. Upon arriving at Amersham, a distance
of fourteen miles, and about half-way between Salt-hill
and Aylesbury, the prisoner alighted at the Griffin Inn.
Here he partook of tea and a mutton chop, of which he
ate heartily. He scarcely opened his lips during the
whole of the journey. Once he started up, however,
and said, with considerable earnestness of manner, " I
can't think what the people made such an uproar about
at Salt-hill, as we were coming away. Oh, dear !"
Upon arriving at Aylesbury gaol, a few minutes
before eight o'clock, and on being handed over to the
custody of Mr. Sheriff, the governor, he requested to be
accommodated with is comfortable bed and a room to
himself. On being told, however, that no relaxation in
the discipline of the prison would be allowed in his case,
and that he must submit to the same treatment as the
other prisoners, he heaved a deep sigh, but made no re-
mark. He slept in his clothes, merely taking off his
great coat. The room assigned to him is in what is called
the old gaol, in which he was locked in for the night by
himself, having first undergone the usual personal search.
This morning there was a visible alteration in his ap-
pearance, looking haggard and careworn.
The assizes for the county of Bucks will take place in
March next.

The funeral of the late unfortunate Sarah Hart took
place this afternoon, the mournful procession leaving
Bath-place at a quarter past two o'clock, for the church-
yard of Farnham Royal, in which parish her death oc-
curred. Her son, an interesting little boy of about five
years of age, attended as chief mourner, led by the hand
by Mrs. Moss, and
_followed by Mrs. Ashlee, leading
her little girl. A great number of persons followed the
corpse,
It being supposed (but whether correctly.or not it is
at present impossible to ascertain), that Sarah Hart is
nut the right name of the deceased, the coffin plate bore
no inscription, not even " the date of death." Not one
of her relatives, if she have any, have up to this period
made any inquiries respecting her. Her two orphan
children have been kindly received into the house of her
next door neighbour, Mrs. Ashlee.
It would appear that the unfortunate woman was ex-
tremely short of money at the time of her death, several
pawnbrokers' duplicates of recent dates having been
tound amongst her papers, and her little bills—baker,
grocer, &e., due at the quarter, as well as her quarter's
rent to Christmas Vast, being unpaid. Hitherto she had
always been most punctual in her payments.
The following is a copy of the only document found
amongst the papers of the deceased, in the handwriting
of the accused, signed with his initials, and written in a
small neat hand :

" See Genesis, 4 chapter and part of 7 verse ; Psalms,
1 chapter and 4 chapter,2d to sth verses, and 103 chapter
and 107 chapter, 6 to 22 verses ; Ltaiah, 1 chapter, 16
to 19 verses ; Matthew, 6 chapter, 14 and 15 verses, and
31 to 33 verses ; Romans, 12 chapter ; Ephesians, 4 and
5 chapters.
" The word men is generally used, but the sense is
meant for both men and women, because women could
not be properly put ; and we must, hi reading the Scrip-
tures, not expect to be satisfied with so doing, unless we
endeavour to seek in our own minds for that spirit in
which they were written for our instruction. "j. T."

AN AUDACIOUS FALSEHOOD.—A lie, which only
une paper in Dublin, the Monitor, could be found base
enough to adopt and circulate, has been sent abroad in
the hope of arresting, even for a moment, the general
and determined opposition to the Bequests Bill. A most
clumsy lie, indeed, it is, and does no credit to the inge-
nuity of the inventors. It is painful to have to add,
which we do on the authority of the Packet of last night,
that the Rev. Mr. Carroll, of Westland-row, assisted
in propagating it from the pulpit of that chapel on
Sunday last ! 'Tis but a story got up for, or per-
haps by, the Castle. Three peasants of the county of
Tipperary conspiring to murder Dr. Murray ! The tale
rests on this circumstance alone, as we learn from
the Post of yesterday evening :—A Mr. Knaresbo-
rough, a magistrate residing near Mitchelstown, in the
county of Cork, got an anonymous note, saying that a
plot was formed by some Tipperary peasants to assassi-
nate Dr. Murray. This note he forwarded to his Grace,
and, on the authority of this anonymous document, one
of Dr. Murray's priests ascends his pulpit on Sunday
last, and publishes to his affrighted hearers that the lite
of the Archbishop was conspired against. We cannot
believe he did this by permission of his Grace, and there-
fore we cannot suppress an opinion of his being sadly
wanting in discretion. The writer of the anonymous
note was evidently one of the Castle servants, either
Catholic or Protestant, and the object of it to create
s3mpathy for, as it were, a persecuted Prelate, and thus
direct public indignation from the channel in which it
now nun. A poor ruse—Dublin Pilot.

THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE,
THIS EVENING

Will be repeated a Grand Opera Seria, called THE DAUGHTER
OF ST. MARK. Lusienano, Mr. Burdini ; Andrea Cornaro, Mr.
Borrani ; Moncenigo, Mr. Weiss ; Adolphe de Courcy, Mr. W.
Harrison ; Catarina Cornaro, Miss Poole
To conclude with a Grand Comic Christmas Harlequin Ade, called
PUCK'S PANTOMIME; or, HARLEQUIN AND ROBINSON
CRUSOE. Robinson Crusoe. Mr. W. H. Payne; Harlequin, Mr.
Wieland; Clown, Mr. T. Matthews; Pantaloon, Mr. Howell ;
Columbine, Miss Carson.
fhe Box-on-ice is open daily, from Ten in the Morning until SIX
m the Evening, where Private and Family Boxes, Stalls, Places,
and Tickets may be had on application to Mr. John Parsons

THEATRE ROYAL. HAYMARKET.
Lessee, Mr. B. WEBSTER.
111 IS EVENING
Will be performed a New and Original Comedy, in Five Acts,
:ailed OLD HEADS AND YOUNG HEARTS. Colonel Rocket
41r. S•rickland ; Littleton Coke, Mr. Charles Mathe^ s ; Torn Coke
'dr. Webster; Bob, Mr Ruckstone • Jesse Rural, Mr. W. Farren ;
fbe Countess of i I.,pion, Mrs. W. 'Clifford ; Lady Alice Hawthorn
Madame Vestris; Miss Racket, Miss Julia .lennett.
After which, a New Grand Musical Fairy Extravaganza,
entitled GRACIOSA AND PERCINET. King Uxonous, Mr. J.
Bland ; Princess Graciosa, Miss Julia Bennett ; Percinet, Miss P.
Horton ; Duchess Grognon, Mrs. Stanley.
To conclude with a Grand MOVING DIORAMA; er, PIC.
fORIAL TOUR IN SWITZERLAND.
Private Boxes, Two Guineas and One Guinea and a.Half each.
kets and Places to be had of Mr. I. T. Ar cher, at the Box-office,
l'en till Five o'Clock.

THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPHI.
Under the Direction of Madame CELESTE.
THIS EVENING

Will be repeated (by. apecial permission of Charles Dickens, Fsq.)
a New Drama, entitled THE CHIMES. A Goblin Story of Some
tiells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In. Toby Veck,
Mr. 0. Smith; Alderman Cute, Mr. Wright; rugby, Mr. Wilkin.
son ; S.r Joseph Bowley, Bart , Mr. Paul Bedford ;• Will Fern, Mr.
Hudson ; Richard, Mr. Selbv, ; Meggy Veck, Miss Fortescue ; Mrs.
Chickenstalkar, Mrs. Frank Matthews.

After which, NORMA, in which Miss Woelgar, Mr. Paul Red-
ford, Mr. Wright, and Miss Reynolds will perform.
To conclude with a New Grand Military and Comic Christmas
Pantomime, called CAT'S CASTLE; or, Hatlequin and the Ki:.g
of the Rats. Harlequin, Mr. T. Ireland; Columbine, Miss
dale; Clown. Mr. C. J. Smith ; Pantaloon, Mr. Sanders.
Prompter, Mr. Gallot ; Principal Painter, sir. Pitt ; Leader of the
Band, Mr. Mellon.—Bex-orrice open from Eleven till Four. Private
Boxes to he had at the Theatre, and at all the principal Libraries.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OXFORD-STREET.
LESSEE, Mr. J. M. MADDOX.
THIS EVENING

Will be repeated an Engliih Version of the ceebrated Opera
Bufla, in Two Acts, called I'HE ITALIAN IN ALGIERS. ihe
Music by Rossini. Mustapha, Mr. P. Corti ; Lindor, Mr. Allen;
Taddeo, Mr. Leffler; Hely, Mr. Mattacks Isabella, Mdlle. Helen
Condell ; Elvira, Miss Grant; Zulma, Miss jlrentnall.
To be succeeded by a New C,omedietta, entitled THE WIDOW.
BEWITCHED. Mr. Clement Fumival, Mr. Walter Lacy; Mrs.
Lorimer, Mrs. Stirling
To be followed by a new Divertissem,nt, called LE SALON
DE BAL. Principal characters by Mdlle. Caroline Rousset, Mi‘s
Marshall, Mdlle, feresine, M. J. Rou•set, Mr. ;Marshall, and Mr.
(Jilt:ant.

After which will be repeated a New Grand Romantic, and rather
Operatic Burlesque Extravaganza, called JOE MILLER AND HIS
MEN. Grindoff, Mr. Compton ; Lothair, Mr. Oxberry ; Keimar,
Mr Granby; itiber, Mr. Corri , Goleta, Mr. Walton; Claudine,
Miss E. Stanley ; Ravine, Mrs. Fosbroke.
'tage Manager, Mr. H. I. Wallack. Stage Director, Mr. Emden,
Machinist Mr. Edmund Bradwell.
Dress Circle, ss. ; Boxes, 4a. ; Pit, 25.; Galls Is. Half-price at
sine o'clock—Dress Circle,2s. 6d. ; Boxes, 2s. ; Pit, Is.; Gallery, 6d.
Private Boxes, Two Guineas and One Guinea and a.Half ; Proses-
thn Boxes, Two Guineas and a-Half. Doors to be opened at Half-
past Six, and the Performances to commence at Seven o'clock.
The Box-office, under the direction of Mr. W. Massingharn.
Private Boxes and Free Admissions for the Season to be had at the
Taeatre.

HEATIM ROYAL LYCEUM, LATE ENGLISH OPERA.
HOUSE.
Under the Management of Mrs. KEELEY.
THIS EVENING

Will be -repeated THE CHIMES; A Goblin Story. Principal
Charactera by Messrs. F. Vining, Meadows, Diddear, F. Matthews,
Collier, ntnery, Turner, and Keeley; Miss Walcott., Miss Arden,
Miss Grove, and Nit's. Keeley.
Atter which, a New Farce, called TO PERSONS ABOUT TO
Nt A SR'r. - Supported by Messrs. F. Matthews, Meadows, and Stoker
Wss Arden, and Mrs. Wigan.
To conclude with a New Grand Operatic, Historical, Romantic
Pantomireical, Burlesque Extravaganza, entitled VALENTINE
AND olftSON. Principal Characters by Messrs. F. Matthews;
Meadows, Wigan, Collier, f urner, Kinloch, Yarnold, and Keeley ,
blr Wilan, Miss Arden, Miss Fairbrother, Miss Grove, Mrs
Usher, Miss James, Miss Turner, and Mrs. Keeley.
PRICE S 01 ADMISSION.—BaIcony oozes. 43.; Upper
tioxels, 2a.. ; Pit, 2s. s Gallery, 6d. Second Price—Balcony Boxes, 2P. ;
'iliper Ec fixes, Is. fd.; Pit, Is. Private Boxes on the Balcony Tier
• olding richt persons), Two Guineas. Private Boxes on the Second
tier (ho (ling eight persons), One Guinea and a-Half. Private
Msxes on tie Pit Tier (holding six persons), One Guirea,
Tne Box. ellicei s open from Ten to Four o'Clock, under the direc—
tion of M•r.. Grogan, late of Covent-garden Theatre.

Nightly (_ merflows tl the Grand Christmas Holiday Noveltie-, and
I reble Rotation of Entertainments at
A: iTLEY'S KO/ AL AMPHITHEATRE OF ARTS.
Proprietor and Manager, Mr. W. BATTY.
Brilliant Success of the New Pantomime
THIS EVENING

Will to repeated a New Spectacle, THE ROYAL FOX
HUNT;, or, The Race-Horse and Life's Course of Man and Steed ;
.ntrodu, ;nig unequalled National Fetes. Real Fox-chase on the Stage
inel in I he Circle by living Foe and real Pack of Hounds, purchased
by Mr. _Batty of Mr. Tattersall, to realise this novel production.
Epsom Races and other Sporting Features.
New Scenes of the Circle, and entire change in the Feats et Horse..
manshi p.
To cc ,nt :lude with a Grand Comic Christmas Equestrian Pantomime,
c, lied lI.ARLEQUIN AND JOHNNY GILPIN'S RIDE; or, the
slack 'AI itch of Edmonton. Harlequin, Mr. H. Lewis ; Columbine,
Mrs. J. W. Colyer ; Clown, Mr. T. Barry; Pantaloon, Mr. Bradbury.
Acting and stage...rnonager, Mr. W. U. Bros Moot.
Box- olfice open from Eleven till Five. Lessons in the AM et Riding
by Mr. It . Smith daily.