The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-08 00:00:00

LORD ASHBURTON.

TIIE DISTRESSED PRINTERS.
A numerous meeting of the letter-press printors was
held last night at the London Mechanics' Institution,
Chancery-lane, to receive the report of the Compositors'
Committee, appointed in. the October of last year to re-
ceive subscriptions for the relief of the numerous mem-
' bers of the trade thrown out of employment. The re-
port of the Committee was accordingly read by Mr.
Parker, the Secretary, from which it appeared that the
e:eipts had been as follows :

s. d.
Balance in hand from last Committee 24 0 0
Country subscriptions
Donations from master printers and others
connected with the trade
Other donations .
Subscriptions from the London printers in
employment

Iso 0 0
63 0 0

308 18 71
Total 1,042 7 94.
Out of these receipts 4-41/. 3s, 6d. had been spent in, the
relief of applicants, whichlogether with the share of do-
nations to the press committee (2461. Is. 10d.) and sun-
dry necessary expemes, made a sum expended of 756/.
14s. lid., leavings. balance in the hands of the Compo-
sitors' Committee of 285/. 12s. 10d. It further ap-
peared from the report that the rate of relief per week
had been ss. per head for the unemployed single men,
and GS. per head fur the unemployed married men, with
6i. additional in the ease of the latter fir each child
they had. The Report congratulated the trade upon the
fact that several of the great houses, which had teen
empty of hands some time back, were now full; which
had had a beneficial effect ; and the Committee taking
into consideration thu_ the temporary pressure which
they had been appoinat to relieve, would determine on
the meeting of Parliament, recommended that their
(the Committee's) labour should come to a conclusion in
the first Week after the meeting of Parliament, and that
meanwhile no further subscriptions should be received,
considering the balance which was in hand. The Re-
port concluded by expressing the thanks that were due
to the proprietors of many of the London papers not
only for their donations, but for having most kindly ul-

loejed the insertion of advertisements free froth

charge except the duty, as well as to many private in,
viduals, amongst whom were part;calarly noticed t
Rev Nil- Fi,lce (who had sent in a donation of 304
. .

Lord Panmure, the Archbishop of York, and the clergy
-of his diocese. Tho Report, which was most copious
and interesting, was heard with marks of general appro.
}ration, and universally adopted. Some discussion
ensued upon the causes which had occasioned so much
distress at different periods of late among the trade, and
an understanding was come to that the Committee should
state in their printed balance-sheet, as fully as possible•,
the nature of those causes. _ _

Auditors having been appointed to look over the ac-
counts, and thanks having been vattql to the Committee
for their zeolous exertions, the mee'ing separated.

TIIEDISTRESSED SPITALFIELDS WEAVERS.
—On Wednesday night, at seven o'clock, a very nume-
rous meeting of the unemployed and distressed Spital-
fields weavers was held, by adjournment from the Satur-
day previous, at the Crown and Anchor, Waterloo-town,
Bethnal-green, for the purpose of obtaining information
from the actin°. Committee, when the funds in .the hands
of the Lord Mayor would be distributed ; Mr. Britten
in the chair. The Report of the Committee was given by
Mr. Claisse, the Secretary, from which it appeared
that he had that day seen Mr. Miller, the Honourary
Secretary to the Committee formed for the purpose of
distributing the funds in the hands of the Lord Mayor,
and by whom he was informed that probably the distri-
bution would commence on Saturday, and be in full
opeaition on the Monday following. Several weavers
then adiressed the chair, lamenting the delay, and alluded
to their resignation under the trying circumstances in
which they had been placed. They observed that they
knew of many families who had no coals at this season,
and who -were without food, and where, if relief were
delayed beyond the Saturday, fatal consequences might
arise. It was then movad, seconded, and unanimously
resolved, " That in consequence of the number of indi-
viduals who have not been visited, a deputation be ap-
pointed to wait on Mr. Hanbury, at 'the brewery in
Brick-lane, to solicit that the labours of the acting Com-
mittees be continued in the visiting department, and that
the immediate di-tribution of the funds to those who have
been visited take place." Upon the resolution being
adopted, Mr. Hornsby appealed to the meeting to know
who had not been visited, when nearly half the meeting
held up their hands-. He then suggested that when the
deputation was formed, it should be a recommendation to
them to impress, in their interview with Mr. Hanbury;
the necessity of appointing some locality where a box
might be placed, into which applications from those
weavers who La I not been visited might be placed, stat-
ing their circumstance=. A deputation of six was then
formed, who were directed to request that, if possible,
the funds at the latest might be distributed on the ensu
ing Saturday. The meeting then, after having voted
thanks to the Chairman, who replied in a few words,
broke np at a late hour.
An occurrence of a most distressing description
took place on Wednesday afternoon, which has plunged
a highly respectable family of St. Columb into the deepest
affliction. The eldest son of T. Whitford, Esq., solici-
tor, a most promising youth, was shooting with two
others near Nantwhyden. As he was getting over a
hedge, his gun went oil*, when the whole charge passed
through his head, and carried his cap to a considerable
distance. He was found by his companions immediately
after, quite dead.—Sherborne Jpental.
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The critical question of the right of search of slave-
ships, and the unsettled lines of boundary, have induced
the Cabinet to send out to America an " Ambassador
Extraordinary," in the person of Lord Ashburton. His
Lordship has some qualifications for thin delicate mis-
sion, but they may be neutralised by his proverbial in-
firmity of purpose. As a politician he has been noto-
riously inconsistent. rt decided Whig to the year 1830,
when, disappointed of office from Lord Grey, he joined
the opposition to the Reform Bills. On the 21st July,
' 1831, he justified the rotten borough system by com-
paring the people to a dangerous man with one hand
.tied behind- him, the nature of the man requiring that
. one hand should be thus placed in restraint. *His Lord-
ship said, his answer to the demand of release by the.one-
armed man was, "No ; he is a violent, dangerous fellow,
• and is not to be trusted with the use of both his
hand.i." . And, in the same speech, this noble husband
of an American woman teelaryd " that the people were
no more to be trusted 71.11!lirpower than children with
edge-tools I' When taxe.l •aitli his gross political in.
consistencies, in the debate on the English Municipal
Bill, 27th of! August, 1835, the Noble Baron thus pro-
te3ted against recurring to men's early life for charges of
inconsistency of opinion. "He had himself entered po-
litical life with libral views, but never with extreme
. ones ; and, if his ideas had undergone a change of late,
it was because he had at the outset of his career much
less apprehension of the danger of democracy than he
entertained at present." The change in Lord Ashbur-
ton's "ideas " was his change of class. The merchant
dealer in cotton and tallow, the loan-monger and
money-changer, was metamorposed into a Peer and
landowner ; and this revolution of his circum-
stances, doubtless accounts for his disgraceful vacil-
lation of opinion on the Corn-laws. How far such
a . public man will be an acceptable mediator
at \Washington, or how far qualified for his mis-
sion, may reasonably be doubted. Certainly his appoint-
ment is universally unpopular in the City of London,
whore he is best known. Indeed I have been surprised
by the outcry against it. The mercantile interests :also
suspect a job. They think that the Ambassador Extra-
ordinary has private interests iri the United States, in
land and State Stocks—a greater object to him in his
transatlantic journey than the public interests of the
mission. His Lordship was President of the Board of
Trade and Master of the Mint, in the Peel-Wellington
Cabinet of 1834-5 ; and the merchants fancy that, as Sir
Robert Peel would not hamper himself with the Nob'
Baron in the present Administration, the diplomatic Ap-
pointment is a sop to his Lordship's wounded vanity, to
be followed up by the gift of an Earldom. I believe the
'citizens are right ',a their suspicions ; and that, further,
it is very convenient for Lord Ashburton to be absent on
the discussion of the Corn-laws in the House of Lord.
Jonathan is not likely to be tickled by such an anti-'
democratic Peer being accredited to the Republic.—
London Correspondent of the, Scotsman.