The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WED.N ESDAY EVENING NOVEMBER 26, 1845

wish to cut the throats of their best customers.—(Hear,
hear, and cheers.) But to return :—Men talked of " the
Government" giving a grant for the purpose of providing
employment for the people in Ireland ; but when they
talked of the Government granting money, they ought to
remember that the members of the Cabinet did not con-
tribute mow from their own pockets, but that it came
from the pockets of the people, in the shape of taxes on
butter, cheese, tea, coffee, sugar, and simiiar articles
of consumption. If people were thus provided with em-
ployment in Ireland, they would require more food than
if they were idle ; and where, then, was that food to be
procured ? Why, at the Duke of Richmond's shop.—
(Cheers and laughter.) He would supply them with
food, if they had money enough. A supply of food was
required by certain members of a family, and one member
of the same family who had sufficient to supply them
with, stated to another member who had money, that
as he gave the remaining members sufficient money to
buy food from him they might have it, but no sooner.
That was the case on this occasion. He had no doubt
that when Parliament assembled a large sum of money
would be required for the purpose of dividing amongst
the Irish population, but the true way of supplying the
wants of the Irish people was by allowing into the
country a supply of foreign corn.—(Cheers.) It was a
strange thing that opening the ports was the course
adopted in every country but England, in order to pre-
vent a ecarcity of food. In Belgium the corn harvest
was a good one, as the King stated in his speech at the
opening of the Chambers ; but there was a failure in
the potato crop, and in consequence of that failure they
let in corn. The same course was adopted by the Dutch,
by the Germans, by the Russians, nay, by the Turks, for
they had no Sir Robert Peel in those countries—(Cheers,
and a laugh)—to say before 658 picked men in the House
of Commons, that by letting in foreign corn free of duty
corn would be made dear in this country. The people of
this country were treated worse than Russians, Belgians,
Dutchmen, Germans, or Turks. Why, that very fact of
itself ought to make them stand up for their rights. He
liked the people of England to be well kicked, for John
Bull required a great deal of kicking to make him exert
himself.—(A laugh). In Liverpool a requisition was
signed by 68,000 people, calling on the Mayor to con-
vene a meeting, in order that they might take into con-
sideration the propriety of memorialising the Govern-
ment to open the ports, and the Mayor refused to accede
to the request. He (Mr. Cobden), when he heard of
that in Liverpool, said that he was glad of it, and added
that they were not treated so in Mancnester, for they
elected a Mayor of a different description—the people
of Liverpool deserved it, and when they conducted
themselves better, they would secure a Mayor who
would also conduct himself better.—(Cheers.) The insult
to this country, of refusing the people an opportunity of
obtaining food, would not be so palpable, if foreign na-
tions did not adopt the course which they now asked the
Government to take. He had been recently speaking
with a gentleman from New York, who told him that he
saw lots of ships at New York, loading with corn for
Belgium and Holland, long before any orders had arrived
from England.—(Hear, hear.) How pleasant it must be
to see our neighbours on the Continent making such
preparations, whilst our people were in danger of starv-
ing. After some remarks on the same subject, he thus
concluded. You cannot have good government (unless
you work properly the constitution which has been
vouchsafed to us. For myself, I would rather live in
Prussia, under a mild despotism which is tremblingly
alive to public opinion, and is so far dependent on the
good feeling of the masses—l say I would infinitely pre-
fer such a government to that of this country, unless the
middle and lower classes insure the proper working of
that government which we ostensibly live under. Now re-
collect this county qualification literally costs you nothing.
It only costs 401. or 501. to purchase it. You get the interest
of your money, and it is yours to sell and bequeath.
You need not be rated to the poor—there is no for- •
mality of the kind necessary. I say, then, these are not
hard terms. We cannot bring the franchise down to
every Englishman, but we can bring a vast number of
the working classes up to that franchise, in the possession
of which they proclaim they have such an interest.
—(Hear, and cheers.) I say his perfectly practicable,
too, for such manufacturing towns as this (for it is the
towns make the counties, and not the counties the towns)
to possess themselves of an overwhelming majority in the
county representation, and that for such an object they
will use their utmost exertions I have no doubt from the
experience I have already gained of their zeal and public
spirit.—(Cheers.) It has been said that Sheffield has
stood hitherto at the head of the polling districts of the
West Riding. But I have heard it mentioned that Hud-
dersfield added a hundred votes at the last registration,
and our friends are confident they can do much more at
the next. You have, then, a hard battle to fight, or, I
should realer say, you have a powerful rival to.contend
with, and I advise you not to be supine, or you will find
yourself second at the next election. Bradford is
equally alive. Leeds is about to take that step which it
ought to have done. You may wish to know what we
in Lancashire have been doing. In 1841 the Whigs
thought of contesting South Lancashire, but they found
if they attempted it they should lose by 2,000. They
gave it up. Three years ago the League took the
matter up. We have changed the 2,000 minority into a
majority of 3,ooo.—(Loud cheers.) And whereas Lord
V. Egerton and his colleague walked over the course in
'4l, I predict that it will be a walk over for Messrs.
Brown and Villiers in '46 or '47.—(Cheers again.) Well,
we have won the West Riding on the present register,
but we want you to place our cause in the same position
as we have it in South Lancashire. We want you to go
to work now, and induce as many as 2,000 or 3,000 to
qualify before the 30th January. By that means you
will have no contest to fear. To contest the county it
wfil take 8,0001. from each party, but you may do the work
at one-fifth or one 'sixth of that money. There will be no
contest if you increase the registry to the number I men-
tioned, and it is of the utmost importance that there should
be none. We shall want you in the neighbouring
county of North Nottinghamshire. You should do as
we do—help your neighbours. Every man having a
good coat Tie Manchester (where there are of course
fustian jackets as well as broadcloth subscribers to the
League) takes four county qualifications—South Lanca-
shire. Every man in decent circumstances with us has
these qualifications. We have an eye, too, on South
Cheshire, and we are making up our minds to take West-
moreland' from the Lowthers.—(Loud cheers.) We hope
to get sueh an infusion of strength from Glasgow, New-
castle, Sunderland, Carlisle, and Lancashire that the
Lowthers will find some difference between fighting the
League and fighting Henry Brougham.—(Cheers.)
Now this principle has been extended to at least thirty
counties during the present year. We are carrying on
the process. But Yorkshire is of incomparably
greater importance than any other county.
Your registry next year will be nearly double that
of any other. It was a saying of Charles James
Fox that Yorkshire and Middlesex together,, made
op all England. Now when we see Yorkshire, Middle.
sex, and Lancashire of one mind, I defy any Minister to
carry on the Government in opposition to their prin-
ciples. I see the Standard has been putting forward a
boasting paragraph that we have won but four counties
out of forty. Now, I tell the Standard that these coun-
ties are of more importance than all the others—that
Yorkshire, Lancashire, Middlesex, and Cheshire con-
tribute infinitely more to the wealth and power, as well
as the Ihtellectual and moral greatness of the country,
than all the others put together, and that no Govern-
ment will ever be seen opposed in principle to the voice
of those counties.—(Hear, and cheers.) It has always
been so. Mr. Wilberforce was, thirty years ago, Member
for Yorkshire. He always voted with the Government.
'lbis county was considered of so much importance
that I remember reading lately, in his life, that when Mr.
Wilberforce went to hold a meeting in Yorkshire, at
the close of the last century, and at a time of great ex-
citement on the subject of the French war, so anxious was
Mr. Pitt to get the adhesion of this county to his prin-
ciples that he would not allow Mr. Wilberforce to wait
until his carriage was ready for the journey, but sent
him off in his own. Mr. Pitt sent an express with fur-
ther directions to his supporter at Stamford, and begged
that the result of the meeting should be communicated
by express to London. When at the time of the Reform
Bill, too, Yorkshire returned Henry Brougham, it was
the signal of the downfal of the boroughmongers; and
in 1841, when Mr. Wortley succeeded Lord Morpeth,
the defeat of the Whigs was at once taken for granted.
And when Yorkshire sends up her Members to vote in
support of Mr. Villiers for the total and immediate re-
peal of the corn-laws, then, take my word for it, the
eorn-laws will be found to be not only " doomed," but
dead —(The Hon. Gentleman resumed his seat amid
cheers which lasted for some time.)
The CHAIRMAN having announced that they had col-
lected is the room, independently of any subscriptions
from Lancashire or the West Riding, 931. 10s., and hav-
ing stated that this sum should be placed at the disposal
of the Free Trade Association of the town,
Mr. BRIGHT was introduced, who came forward amid
loud cheers, and said—l should apologise for going
through any arguments on the question of the corn-laws
on such an occasion, were I not convinced that at every
meeting of this kind there are many persons who have
not attended any other, and it becomes therefore neces-
sary to re-state facts (which ought, indeed, to have oc-
curred to every man), and thus to saturate the public
mind with principles necessary to the public safety.—
(Cheers-) The first charge I brought against this law,
when I began to speak on the subject, was, that it could
not do good to any human being, unless by the mode of
creating a partial famine. The simple object of the law
is to get up a scramble amongst all classes for a supply
of food that is insufficient for the; whale, in order that
by such a scramble we may give more of our labour,
profits. and capital, in order that the rents of land
"and its produce may be unnaturally increased.
But this law not only produces scarcity, but I am pre-
pared to prove, it was intended to produce that scarcity.
in 1815 the Chancellor of the Exchequer defended it on
the ground that if wages could not purchase food at the
price it wps raised to, there might be brought to aid
them the poor-rates. A law which thus placed food
above the reach of some portion of the people necessarily
brought about a scarcity which could only end in occa-
sional famine. The makers of the law were uneasy in
1815 as to the reception which their pet child might
meet with amongst the people, and they sent scouts
out to inquire what the people were saying about
it. Policemen in plain clothes, spies, were sent
into the public-houses in London, to mix with
the people in the tap-rooms and parlours—to ascertain
what they said and thought, and to discover whether
it would be safe to pass the Bill. These spies were
paid ss. a day as wages, and 3s. for their expenses,
an performing their patriotic task. Indeed we have the
identical vouchers, signed by Sir Richard Birnie, then
'wad of police in London, showing not only the sums
paid to these men, but also the duties for which they
were so paid. In these papers it was stated that they
were to attend at the places before alluded to, and other
public Place*, for the purpose of ascertaining what
were the opinions of the people in reference to the pend-
ing Corn Bill, and to report to Government the results
of their observations.—(Hear, hear.) Now, the Govern-
ment is never known to take this trouble to ascertain
the opinions of the people when they are passing roes-

sures which they have reason to suppose will be for the
real benefit of the people. It is a curious circumstance,
but wherever I go I find the people constantly and in-
variably attributing the present depression in trade to the
operation of the corn-law.—(Hear, hear.) This law,
which was passed ostensibly for the purpose of pro-
tecting the native industry of the country, and
to give us, who are manufacturers, a constant
supply of good custom from the home trade,
to give to capital fair profit, and to labour fair
wages ; this law, which promised so much is now
looked upon by almost everybody as the guilty party in
causing the present almost universal depression.—
(Cheers). My opinion is that the present prospects of
trade in this country are anything but encouraging, and
that their being bad and gloomy is entirely traceable to
the existing corn-laws.— (Hear, hear.) Six weeks ago
there was, generally speaking, a fair trade throughout
the cotton districts, and, in some parts, the trade was
exceedingly brisk, and more than ordinarily profitable.
The demand was then constant, and suffered little or no
check whatever, until after a long period of rainy and
unfavourable weather, the harvest was found to be
deficient, and prices gradually rose ; and, in addi-
tion to this, an alarming rumour was spread abroad
of the almost total failure of the potato crop. Now
there is no other cause whatever, to which the prt sent
depression of trade in the cotton districts can be
attributed, except to this. All the old things which
were formerly said are now no longer mentioned as the
causes contributing to this lamentable result. There
are joint stock banks now in Manchester as there were
four or five years ago, yet nobody uow thinks of attri-
buting the depression to them. There is at present also
far more machinery in Manchester than there was then,
but nobody is now foolish or mad enough to trace the
depression to the progress of machinery. There has
also been a larger production of manufactured articles
than before, but no man now saddles the depression on
over-production.---(Hear, hear.) The truth is, that
there is now a great and general cessation from buying
those productions, because the people are becoming im-
poverished as the price of food advances, and here lies
the whole evil.—(Hear, hear.) And sooner or later it
is to be feared we shall have a state of things to deplore
such as we had four or five years ago. lam inclined to
believe that those who fashioned and passed the corn-
law will find that their system is now working ra-
ther inconveniently to themselves.—(Hear, hear.) At
an agricultural meeting in Banbury, held a short
time ago, the Honourable: Member for Oxfordshire
observed, that he was extremely glad that they
had had a few weeks of good weather,
because had the bad weather continued, the price of food
would have risen so high as to be exceedingly incon-
venient to those who were anxious to maintain the corn-
laws.—(Hear, hear.) The object is, that the rise in price
should be just as much as the country can and will bear
without becoming dissatisfied and violent. It is a con-
stant system of tension, but they never intend that the
string should break.—(Hear, hear.) It is just that sort
of plunder which they hope, at any rate, with the help of
a good military force, and all the appliances which power
and tyranny can command, can be maintained without
risking the overthrow of the plunderers.—(Hear, hear.)
A very respectable inhabitant of one of the southern
counties told me, a few days ago, that he did not expect
that the corn-law would last for ever, for that the popula-
tion must eventually become so great as to render it ins-
' possible that the produce of this country could feed them.
I asked him when he thought the corn-law should be re-
pealed? He said that he could not fix the precise time,
but that he had no doubt it would be done when the
pressure became strong enough.—(Hear, hear.) There
was in that expression a deep meaning, which it became
them all to understand. When amongst the twenty-
seven millions of people feeding at the ill-supplied table
of this country, suffering, discontent, famine, crime, po-
verty, disease, and mortality prevailed—when all these
calamities, heaped upon a suffering people, are become
so great that they can endure them no longer, then, but
not till then, do our agricultural friends think that the
corn-laws should be abolished.—(Hear, hear.) I was
once here, three or four years ago, when your artizans
were in a very different condition from that in which they
are at present. You, along with all the great towns in
the empire, suffered greatly during the years which in-
tervened between 1838 and 1842. Is there any man now
in Sheffield who pretends to give any other explanation
of the cause of that suffering than such as we furnished
by the League at the time, and such as the League offers
them now. It was the failure of your harvest that
wrought the evil, combined with the denial, on the part
of the Government, of the right to the people, which
they should unquestionably possess, of bringing supplies
of food from abroad, whenever they are convinced of
the necessity of so doing.—(Hear, hear,) If you wish
to assure yourselves of the importance of having
trade good, you have but to look at the effect, in
reference to crime alone, of its being bad. Sir James
Graham stated in the House of Commons, that in the
year 1836, the commitments in England and Wales
amounted only to about 20,000. In 1842 they had
risen to 32,000—(Hear, hear)—or something like 60 per
cent.—(Hear, hear.) The commitments in 1842 were
32,000, and in 1843, a year of good harvest, they fell to
29,000—last year they fell to 26,000, when there was a
good harvest. Sir James Graham stated that since the
period ashen statistical returns of commitments were
commenced, there never was an instance of such a dimi-
nution in the numbers of commitments in two years,
and I have no doubt that if the harvest had been good
this year, they would have fallen to 20,000, as they had
in 1836. According to the present increase in th(
price of bread, the country is paying at the rate of
400,0001. a week more than it was paying six months
ago for food.— (Hear, hear.) That is only for the grain
consumed by the people for food, but when we re
collect the quantity consumed by horses and in va-
rious other ways, it will be found that the nation is note
paying at the rate of 20 millions a year additional for its
food as compared with the price of food six months ago.
—(Hear, hear.) Why, those twenty millions would
make twenty railways of thirty miles each—they form a
sum equal in amount to the whole of our colonial trade,
and more by one-half.—(Hear, hear.) Some time ago it
was said, in some of the papers, that our home markets
and our colonial markets were all that we required, and
that if we had them in a state of prosperity we need not
care much about the foreign market. The colonies take
thirteen and a half millions of value a year, so that the
landlords continue to suck up twenty millions a year with
this sponge of the corn-laws. They thereby do as much
mischief as if they destroyed two-fifths of our foreign
trade, or the whole of our colonial trade and half as
much again. The effect of this law is quite evident—it
is clear that whilst this scramble for bread is going on
there will be no scramble for cutlery.—(Hear, hear.)
There are 100,000 persons in your town, and supposing,
according to the ordinary and actual calculation,
that they should increase to the extent of 2,000 every
year, what must be the result of such an increase if their
means of obtaining food are not also increased ? If
2,000 persons are born more than die in Sheffield every
year, it is fair to say 1,700 or 1,800 of those will be of
the working class, who, when they grow up, will look for
work, and must have it, and thus will beat down the
wages of those who were here before them.—(Hear,
hear.) They will ask for food, and they must get it,
and this competition will raise the price of food upon
those who were there before them. What happens, then,
if the trade of Sheffield should not increase in equal pro-
portion ? It will follow that such an increase of the
working population will bring down the price of work,
or cause the population to be employed at short time, and
if no additional supply of food should be procured, the
chances are that the population will be put on a shorter
allowance than before. Under such circumstances, if the
supply of food should not increase, the condition of the
population must become deteriorated ; and what is true
of Sheffield in that respect is also true of every city in
the kingdom. The extension of trade at home is injured
by this law, whilst the extension of trade abroad is also
checked and retarded by it. In the next session it
is probable that there may be a modification of the
American tariff; and speaking of that tariff, I may re-
mark, that whatever injury our trade suffers from the
American tariff is owing to our Government ; for if we
had no corn-law to wage war on American productions,
there would be no American tariff to wage war on our
productions.—(Hear, hear.) If the effect of the corn-
laws be then what I have described them ; if-they pro-
duce famine and bad trade, what ought the people of
this country to do ? I am sure the people of England
will not submit to such a state of things.—(Cheers.) I
should have no hope in their resistance to any tyranny
that might be attempted, if they did not resist this.—
(Cheers.) And those opponents of ours, when we come
to measure them, are not such as we need be greatly
afraid of. We don't find their newspapers more clever
than those of other people—rather less so. We don't
find their public orators—if they have any such—suc-
ceed particularly well. We don't find they send to Par-
liament men with whom any one of order or capacity
need hesitate to break a lance. You don't hear any
man of common intelligence in the House of Commons
get up to defend the corn-laws. Sir James Gra-
ham, Sir Robert Peel, or Mr. Gladstone never do so.
It is true a squire from Somerset now and then says
a word in their defence.—(Hear, bear, and a laugh.)
He says when mutton and veal are cheap,farmers cannot
be remunerated—he did not add the rest—" and they
cannot pay us our rents." I don't wish to speak harshly
of landed proprietors. I don't think many of them have
examined the question. They have been brought up in
the notion that England is their country, and they tell
us, " let those who don't like it leave it." They look
on manufacturers as mere shopkeepers, and as not hav-
ing any gentle blood as they have not a long line of dead
ancestors to boast of. Now, I confess, I have much more
respect for that nobility which has been valiantly suf-
fering and working for others, than for that whose boast
it is that they made others suffer for it.—(Cheers.)
They fancy they were- born to consume—we to work ;
and their notion of trade in its proper state is,
when those engaged in the work have suffered them-
selves to be plundered and don't grumble.—(Much
laughter, and cheers.) The House of Commons
in this country is held in shares. The people have a
small interest in it, but some how or other
they never get into the provisional or acting committee.
—(Renewed laughter and cheers.) We come to the
question, " Are we to stand it any longer ?" The
Standard says we have gained four counties at 300,0001,
and that we must have as many millions to win all the
counties. Now, I say the money would not deter us if we
saw the prospect of such success.—(Hear, and cheers.)
But take the proportion Lancashire bears to the other
counties !

Cultivated area of England
and Wales Acres 28,749,000
Ditto Lancashire
Rental of real property in
England and Wales £85,802,735
Ditto Lancashire
Rental of dwelling-houses in
England and Wales
Ditto Lancashire
I recollect perfectly well when Lancashire went over to
the monopolists tb_ re was a cry of reaction throughout
the kingdom, When free trade Members are returned
for that and some other large counties, the rotten-

borough Members and the nominees of the Lords cannot
keep a Government in existence for a session. If one-
fifth of the grown-up population of your town register
there is no fear of a contest in this county. You should
take up this question as one of life and death to your-
selves and to the trade of Sheffield ; and if you do as
Halifax, Huddersfield, and Leeds are prepared to do, and
if the small towns will follow your example, as they ine-
vitably will do, your voice—as it was formerly the signal
of the downfal of the Whigs—will speak with a voice of
thunder in favour of free-trade, when you choose to take
on yourselves the exercise of the franchise.—(Cheers.)
Dr. THomesoN, in moving the first resolution, said
that he appeared on that occasion before the meeting as
a member of the Anti Corn-law League, a body repudiating
all political partizanship—(Hear,hear)—and whose object
was to promote the comfort, the happiness, and well
being of the people generally. They heard much of the
anticipated famine ; and no famine could occur without
being accompanied by a pestilence.—(llear.) Pestilence
was not only engendered by want of food, but by the
supply being of a deteriorated quality. Such, then,
was the prospect at present before the country.—
(Hear.) Dr. Thompson concluded by proposing
the following resolution) —" That this meeting re-
joices' at the immense progress which free-trade opi-
nions have made throughout the United Kingdom,
and especially at the fact that upwards of 2,000
free:traders have been added to the West Riding list
of voters during the present year ; and pledges itself to
the most active exertions to procure a large addition to
that number on the next year's registration, being fully
convinced that the friends of free trade have the power
of making such additions to the number of freeholders
in the West Riding, as to render it hopeless for any can-
didate to come forward on other than entire free-trade
principles."
The resolution was seconded by Mr. E. VICARS, and
was carried with acclamation. _ _ _ .

Mr. W. FISHER proposed the next resolution, which
was to the effect, that a Registration Committee should
be appointed, to consist of the present Committee of the
Free Trade Association, with power to add to their
numbers.

The resolution was carried unanimously.
On the motion of Alderman HOOLE, seconded by Al-
derman TURTON, thanks were voted to Mr. R. Cobden,
M.P., and Mr. J. Bright, M.P., for their unceasing exer-
tions to promote the cause of free trade ; after which the
meeting separated.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
EAST LANCASHIRE.

Bunt, TUESDAY.—An extraordinary general meeting
of the Proprietors of this Company was held at the
Eagle and Child, in this town, yesterday, for the pur-
pose of considering the propriety of confirming an agree-
ment entered into by the Directors, with the Directors
of the Blackburn and Preston Railway, and the Liver-
pool, Ormskirk, and Preston Railway, and other matters
relating thereto. The chair was occupied by
Mr. JOAN GRUNDY, the chairman of the board of
Directors, who called upon the secretary to read the
advertisement convening the meeting, which being done,
Mr. RICHARD WALKER read the report of the Direc-
tors. The report stated that the Directors had entered
into an agreement with the Directors of the Blackburn
and Preston Railway to amalgamate that line with the
East Lancashire line. That the Liverpool, Ormskirk,
and Preston Company had determined to renew their ap-
plication to Parliament for the necessary powers
to construct that line, and if successful, which
there was every reason to believe they would be,
there would be secured to the public a
direct communication with this important and densely
populated district. That the Directors felt that they
would be liable to the charge of neglecting the interests
of the Proprietors, unless they embraced the earliest
opportunity of securing an independent access to the
port of Liverpool for the traffic of the immense popula-
tion which they claimed to accommodate. With these
views they had entered into an arrangement with the
Liverpool, Ormskirk, and Preston Company, that in the
event of their line receiving the sanction of Parliament,
it should be amalgamated with the East Lancashire.
That the necessary notices had been given for an appli-
cation to Parliament for increased powers to improve the
gradients, and to construct branches to Crowshaw,
Booth, and Bacup, as these were likely to become
very lucrative adjuncts to their main line. That
to effect these purposes it would be necessary
to raise an increased capital, and the Directors pro-
posed to create new shares to an amount no exceeding
300,000/. That powers be given to the Directors to
oppose any projected line which might interfere with the
interests of the East Lancashire line. After a length.
ened discussion, in which the Chairman, Mr. John
Grundy, the solicitor to the Company ; Mr. John Har-
rison, Mr. Richard Walter, and several other gentlemen
took part, the report was unanimously adopted, and the
meeting separated.

OPENING OF THE MACCLESFIELD RAILWAY.

MACCLESFIELD, TUESDAY.—Yesterday was a great
day for this town and neighbourhood, and great were the
rejoicings on the occasion of opening the railway from
hence to the Manchester and Birmingham Railway at
Cheadle Hulme, in this county. The struggles of the
inhabitants of this town have been long and strenuous, in
order to get a direct railway communication with Man-
chester, the commercial intercourse between the two
places being very great—indeed the latter is the only
outlet which the former has for its staple productions.
The first attempt to connect the two towns by means of
the " modern innovation" was made, we believe, in the
year 1836, and defeated. The South Union, as it was
called, entered into strong hostilities against the Man-
chester and Cheshire Junction, both sharing a similar
fate after an unprecedented struggle. At last the Man-
chester and Birmingham Bill passed, but clauses were
inserted in it binding the Company to construct the
Macclesfield branch. The line was completed so far as
to be capable of being worked last week, and was in-
spected on Friday last by General Sir Charles Pasley,
the Government inspector of railways, and pronounced
fit for the public use.
Arrangements were made by the Directors to open
the line yesterday with éclat, and the people of that
borough likewise took part in the public rejoicing. At
eleven o'clock in the morning a special train of car-
riages left the Macclesfield station amidst great cheer-
ing, the hills and approaches to the line being com-
pletely crowded with people, and arrived at Manchester
in 37 minutes, the distance being 17 miles. At Man-
chester they were met by the Directors of the Man-
chester and Birmingham Railway, and a numerous
party of gentlemen, and at a quarter past two they re-
turned to Macclesfield. The line diverges from the
Manchester and Birmingham line at Cheadle, Hulme,
in the county of Chester, passing through Cheadle,
Moseley, Bramall, Poynton (where it crosses the turn-
pike-road), Adlington, Bretley, Titterington, and
Prestbury, to Macclesfield, there being one tunnel about
250 yards along the line. Unfortunately the weather
was foggy, otherwise magnificent views of the seats of
Sir Salisbury Humphreys, Bart. ; C. B. Legh, Esq.,
M. P. ; Thomas Legh, Esq., of Lynn, and Shrugley
would have been obtained.
The train and visitors were saluted with loud cheers
upon their arrival at the station. A procession was at
once formed, headed by a band of music, and the gen-
tlemen proceeded to the Town-hall, where a splendid
collation was provided for the occasion. Amongst the
gentlemen present we observed John Brocklehurst, Esq.,
M.P. ; Thomas Grimsditch, Esq.. M.P. ; J. P. Westland,
Esq., chairman of the Manchester and Birmingham
boards ; Mr. Rawson, Welkin Lees, and Edward Tootal,
Esqrs., directors ; George Wright, Esq., mayor of Mac-
clesfield ; John Key, Esq., mayor of Salford ; J. Peek-
ford, Esq., mayor of Congleton ; Hon. T. A. Erskine,
Wm. Hill, Esq., Charles Gibson, Esq., town-clerk of
Salford ; Thomas Brodrick, Esq., &c. &c. The festi-
vities passed off with great éclat ; and a great number of
toasts and sentiments having been drunk, the party
broke up about nine o'clock.

The writer of a ramble over the North British line
from Burnniouth to Dunglass-bridge sums up his tour as
follows :—" Upon the whole, judging from other rail-
ways, the North British may be said to be executed in a
fair average [manner, although occasionally it is clear
that cheapness of construction has been carried a little
too far. The curves are very numerous, and some of
them quite sharp enough. The manner in which all the
parish and farm roads have been altered at the crossings
reflects little credit on the Directors."

The Bangor and Portdynllaen line is being marked
out, with a view to the commencement of operations.
A railway, on an inclined plane, has been constructed
from the five doors of the central masthouse at Ports-
mouth Dockyard, to run the mast trucks from the stores.
The railway has at length been laid over the bridge at
Carrow, and goods are now passed in trucks along the
line from the Thorpe station to Trowse, and thence to
their destination.

A vote of thanks has been passed by the directors of
the Shipwrecked Fisherman's Society to Mr. Hudson,
for his grant of a free passage in third class trains for all
shipwrecked seamen to the north.

The bridge across the Dee and great viaduct en-
tering Aberdeen are forthwith to be placed under
contract.

A few nights ago several lights were seen in a field
noted for its quantity of rabbits the farmer awoke his
assistants, and hied to the field, in the expectation of
finding poachers, but instead he found a body of sur-
veyors. He invited them to his home, and they " made a
night of it." A few days ago some surveyors applied to
Mr. Curling, the proprietor of a farm at Fulbrook, near
Quainton, for leave to make a survey. He at once re-
fused, at the same time informing them that if they per-
severed in their determination he should resist their in-
tentions to the utmost, and " have the law on them."
The surveyors urged the absolute necessity of their
making a survey, and the proximity of the 30th, but the
farmer turned a deaf ear, and they left, but at midnight
they returned and finished their thsk, and were miles
away before the farmer learned he had been so adroitly
outwitted.

CENTRAL STATION IN BIRMINGIIAIL—The announce-
ment that the London and Birmingham Company have
abandoned their intention of erecting a central railway
station in this town, has created great disappointment ;
but we are glad to hear that other companies aro pre-
paring to carry the project out, should the London and
Birmingham not at once state what their intentions on
this subject really are.
A branch line, of about three miles in length, has
been surveyed from the main line of the Newcastle and
Berwick Railway to Warkworth harbour. It will open
an immense coal field belonging to his Grace the Duke
of Northumberland, Earl Grey, Mr. Cresswell,
Mr. Smith, of Togston, and Major-General John Grey,
of Morwick, the produce of whose valuable coal mines
may be shipd at Warkworth by mewls of this branch.
—Berwick Warder.

Mr. Iligham, Secretary and Comptroller-general to
the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National
Debt had an interview with the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer yeEterday, at his official residence in Downing-
street. The Earl of St. Germans had also an interview
with the Right Hon. Gentleman yesterday.-

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Nov. 25.
IN TUI :MATTER Of HEICRY nucal PIKE.

In this—Case a Learned Counsel applied to the Court for
permission to allow the applicant, Henry Hugh Pike, to have
his name placed upon the roll of attorneys. The application
was grounded upon a series of affidavits, the first of which,
rather a voluminous one, set forth that the applicant had
been a member of the legal profession for nearly twenty-two
years; that he had also been a reporter; that when he first
entered the legal profession it was as an attorney, and after
having practised in that capacity for some time lie then be-
came a member of Gray's Inn, and was called to the bar;
that lie had been practising as a barrister for nearly eight
years upon the Home Circuit, and was in very successful
practice, when lie was disbarred, for no good or sufficient
reason that he could ever discover, except for some breach of
etiquette or good manners, the precise nature of which he
had never been made aware of; that he believed his expul-
sion had its origin in a degrading combination to drive him
off the Home Circuit, but he denied that the society of
Gray's Inn had any such power as they assumed to them-
selves of expelling a member from such a cause ; that he had
endeavoured to ascertain what his error was, and if in error
would be ready to make any atonement in his power, but
could not succeed; that he had never in tie whole course of
his life done anything inconsistent with, or derogatory to, the
honour, character, or integrity of a gentleman ; that the case
had been heard by the fifteen Judges, and that they agreed
to recommend the members of Gray's Inn to reconsider the
case, but they bad not done so ; that he had not practised since
he had been disbarred either as a barrister or an attorney,
; that upon these grounds he now sought to be restored to
his place as an attorney, &c. The Learned Counsel having
read the affidavits, then contended that with such affidavits
before the Court, he could not see how their Lordships
would be warranted in refusing the application, unless, in-
deed, the Attorney-General should meet them by other affi-
davits, which he (the Learned Counsel) said he looked
forward to with some anxiety. The applicant, in conclusion,
said that If his application should be refused, he would be
deprived of the means of earning his bread.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL rose to oppose the application ;
but
Lord DENMAN said, in giving judgment, that the Court
were unanimously of opinion that it was not necessary to
hear any argument in opposition to the application ; it ap-
peared to them so clear that it ought not to be granted, for it
was quite clear that the applicant had been disbarred for
some misconduct, though he had modified it by the name of
some breach of etiquette or good manners.He (Lord Denman)
had never heard of such a thing as the Society of Gray's Inn dis-
barring a member of the profession without having some
very grave and serious cause for doing so. He was aware
that the fifteen judges had heard the case—he did not even
hear that they had directed a re-hearing of the case—but he
was aware that those judges were unanimously of opinion
that the Society of Gray's Inn had come to a very proper
decision in this case. The applicant said that there had
been a conspiracy entered into against him to prevent his
practising upon a certain circuit where he hadbeen somewhat
successful ; but from his (Lord Denman's) recollection of the
case, he should say he did not think there was any founda-
tion for the attacks that the applicant had made upon others,
and his (Lord Denman's) opinion upon the course adopted
by the Members of Gray's Inn had been formed more upon
the affidavits of the applicant himself, in which he said he
set forth all the circumstances of the case, than from any
other cause, and he believed such was the case in regard to
the opinions of the other judges also. He thought it was
only what was due to others to state that fact.
Under those circumstances, then, he felt compelled
to say that it was merely trifling with the
time of the Court to persevere in the application. It might
not, perhaps, be well to punish the party ; but certainly the
Court felt bound to protect their profession. The applicant
appeared to labour under some incapacity to find out what it
was that he had been disbarred for, but the Court were of
opinion that it was such a matter as should not warrant
them in allowing, him to be placed upon the roll of attorneys.
The Court could not be held responsible for the consequences
which the applicant stated would result to himself by this
refusal ; but they were responsible for the protection of all
branches of the profession, and therefore it was quite impos-
sible they could listen to this application.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

THE ROBBERY AT THE BANKING-HOUSE OF MESSRS.
ROGERS AND CO.—Yesterday Mr. llobler, the solicitor,
having attended the Mansion-house upon a case of for-
gery,
The LORD MAYOR observed to him that twelve months
having elapsed since the perpetration of the robbery at
the banking-house of Messrs. Rogers and Co., it would
no doubt gratify the public feeling to be informed exactly
of the nature and extent of the measures adopted to
prevent the circulation of the stolen notes, and to cause
the apprehension of the thieves. The plan of giving pub-
licity to all the circumstances at the Mansion-house
before the Chief Magistrate, would, in all probability, be
productive of good, in impressing the necessity of keeping
alive the inquiry amongst the police authorities of all the
continental countries in which attempts might be made
to circulate the notes.

Mr. Hobler said the Lord Mayor had anticipated his
wish in desiring to be informed of the steps taken to
detect the plunderers and to recover or render wholly
useless the stolen property. It was just twelve months
since the monstrous robbery had been committed, but up
to the present moment not the slightest clue existed
which was likely to lead to the discovery of the perpe-
trators, nor had one of the stolen notes made its ap-
pearance, or been heard of anywhere, although some
romantic accounts had occasionally sprung up, the off-
spring of the curiosity excited by su extraordinary a
robbery. In order to obstruct the circulation of the
stolen notes, it was unnecessary to mention that the
utmost activity and watchfulness had been exercised.
Within twelve hours after the discovery of the very
serious loss sustained by the firm, he dispatched
his clerk to the principal cities and towns
of France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, to
secure the vigilant co-operation of the British
Consuls and of the police in each country in furthering
his detective measures, and he put himself in correspon-
dence with every representative of the British Govern-
ment in every part of the world upon the subject on
which he had been employed, to act with instructions
without limit or control. He rejoiced to say that the
powerful aid he thus applied for had been most readily
and cheerfully accorded. The expense attending the
extensive means taken to circulate the information of
the robbery, and to serve proper notices on all money-
changers, and others who were likely to be resorted to
for the negotiation of the notes, not to receive them, but
to stop the parties by whom they might be offered, was
of course large, but it was an object of inconsiderable
magnitude in comparison with the anxiety to get hold
of the parties implicated in the robbery.
The LORD MAYOR said he had been given to under-
stand that the General Steam Navigation Company
had yielded prompt and efficacious assistance in convey-
ing the published lists of the stolen notes to the places
to which they were directed?
Mr. Hobler said that no opportunity had been neglected
in repeating the caution, for on the Queen's visit to Ger-
many, when the Continent was inundated with English, a
fresh supply of the lists of stolen notes, with cautions in
different languages, was, by the zealous kindness of the
directors of the General Steam Navigation Company,
conveyed to different parts of the world for new distri-
bution. In England, Ireland, and Scotland the most
active measures had been pursued, the outports and
principal towns having been well supplied from time to
time with lists and cautions, through the agency of the
police, independently of the circulation of immense num-
bers through every Government office in the country, and
the thousands which had been and were continually being
applied for by, and given to, mercantile men of all de-
scriptions. To these measures, and to unceasing vigi-
lance in pursuing them, was it attributable that not one
of the notes had got into circulation. It was due to the
Commissioners of her Majesty's Customs and Excise to
mention, that they immediately consented, upon his ap-
plication, to send lists to all their respective collectors,
and the stations connected with the various departments
of those authorities ; and he also stated the readiness
of Lord Lonsdale, the Postmaster-General, to aid as far
as he could, and although it was out of his Lordship's
power to circulate the bills through his department, he
supplied lists of all the postmasters in the United King-
dom, to whom bills were forwarded without delay. Va-
rious other public bodies and companies had likewise ex-
pressed their readiness to assist in the matter. The Royal
Mail Steam-packet Company had supplied all their sta-
tions (nearly forty in number) with great quantities of
the lists. The New South Wales Packet Company had
acted with similar energy, and the loss was as well
known at Sydney as at London. So also had the di-
rectors and superintendents of the railways acted with
the utmost kindness and liberality. The Great Western,
the London and Birmingham, the South Eastern, the
Brighton and Folkstone and liover, and Southampton.
In fact, almost every public company, besides numerous
private firms of publishers._ Manchester warehousemen,
and others, inclosed lists in their parcels to the country.
Every department of business had been applied to for
co-operation, and the readiness to give aid had been
universal, and it was most satisfactory to know that in
nearly all the instances above-mentioned the parcels of
lists had been transmitted and consigned to their desti-
nation without cost.
The LORD MAYOR said it gave him great gratifica-
tion to learn that such praiseworehy sympathy had been
manifested by the parties applied to with the loss which
Messrs. Rogers had sustained. He was convinced that the
public, who had shown so much good feeling upan the
occasion, would be glad to be informed that no effort was
left untried to render the respectable firm upon which so
awful a robbery had been committed every service, and
to mitigate the inconveniences to which they must for
some time have been necessarily exposed. His Lordship
was of [opinion that the publication of what had been
stated by Mr. Hobler, who bad acted with such skill and
judgment in the whole of the distressing affair, would be
the means of reviving the activity of the authorities ori-
ginally appealed to. It was evident that the measures
resorted to had produced a great effect upon the persons
implicated in the robbery, for, as fur as could be ascer-
tained, not one of the bank-notes had been seen amongst
the stags in Bartholomew-lane. It was still indispens-
ably necessary that the public should exercise the vigi
lance with with which the proceedings of those who
were engaged in the inquiry was marked from the
commencement to the present time.
DETECTED FORGERIES UPON THE NORWEGIAN GOVERN -
NENT.—Bulland Schmidt, the foreigners who were, in the
middle of October, brought up on the charge of having
conspired to commit extensive forgeries upon the Nor-
wegian Bank, were put to the bar for re-examination
before Alderman Gibbs.

Mr. Clarkson appeared for the Norwegian Govern-
ment, which was represented by the Consul; Mr. Hobler
attended for Schmidt; and Mr. Towsey for Bull. Mr.
Kersey conducted the prosecution upon the part of the
Norwegian Consul. The prisoners were in the custody of
John and Daniel Forrester. The justice-room was
crowded during the investigation.
Mr. Clarkson stated that the Government of Norway
had considered it necessary to send over a gentleman
officially employed there, to give evidence as to the
genuineness of the bank-note for 100 dollars, which the
prisoners had been endeavouring to get imitated in this
country. He had also other witnesses to produce, who
would distinctly show what the intention of the pri-
soners was.

Joseph Ball, a working engraver, in the employment
of Mr. Sire, of No. 44, Iligh Holborn, stated that on
the 15th of September last he took an order from Bull
to make a block for printing. He suggested to Bull
that the pattern should be taken on copper. plate, and
that the impressions should be worked off by a printer.
He said he wanted to press them down himself, and that
therefore any sort of stuff would do for the block, and
that he must have it directly. After some conversation
witness agreed to do the job for 61., and Bull called iu
ten days. The other prisoner, who was standing out-
side, vg as called in by Bull, and he examined the work.
Mr. Brochmann Fange, Secretary to the Branch Bank
of Christiana, and appointed in 1832 by the directors
of the Government Bank at Trondhjin .stated that he
knew
.the genuine notes issued by that bank for 100
dollars each. here the witness identified the pieces of
paper which had been given, according to the former
testimony by Bull, as a pattern for the engraving, as
forming a genuine note.
Alderman GIBBS said, in answer to an application of
Mr. Clarkson for a postponement of the case until next
session, that he had no objection to agree to postpone
it for the general accommodation, but he should cer-
tainly commit the :prisoners for trial immediately before
the commencement of the ensuing sessions.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
- •

William Wood, porter—to the Horticultural Society,
was brought up for further examination, charged with
having stolen from the person of Mr. Noah Peck, coal-
merchant, Lower Belgrave-street, 1201., in Bank of Eng-
land notes. . . .

Mr.- llumphries attended for the prisoner, and in
the cross-examination on the evidence given at a pre-
vious inquiry, elicited the following additional parti-
culars :

The prosecutor was at the bar of the Royal Standard
public-house, about eight o'clock on the morning of the
21st of October. He had 1201. in his pocket, in bank-
notes, which he had received on the 13th of October
from the Union Bank of London. He pulled out his
notes, in consequence of a bet which he made on a horse-
race. The prisoner Wood, and another man, who had
also been taken into custody, but who had been dis-
charged in consequence of insufficient evidence,
were near him, and they saw him produce his
money, and replace it in his pocket. Prosecutor
discovered his loss in the public-house, but could
find no clue to the thief. He advertised the notes
twice, once as having been lost, and once as having been
stolen. Had no knowledge of the numbers of the notes,
except from information obtained of the loss from the
Union Bank. Had discovered that the prisoner had ob-
tained change for one of the lost 5/. notes at the house
of a publican named French. Had communicated with
Wood, who promised to use his best endeavours to as-
certain the parties who had committed the robbery.
The prisoner obtained no information, and was even-
tually given into custody.
Mrs. French proved that she gave change to the
prisoner of a 5/. note. The prisoner wrote his name on
the note. _ _ _

To a question put by Mr. Peck, the witness said that
the prisoner came back to her on the same afternoon on
which she bad given change, and asked her if she had
parted with the note, and being told that she had parted
with it, he replied, " Oh, its of no consequence." The
note now produced had the corner torn off, and as the
prisoner put his name on the corner of the note
changed for him, witness could not swear that the
note now produced was the note received from the
prisoner.
Mrs. French stated that he paid two 54 notes to a Mr.
Sneezum.

Mr. Sneezum said that he paid a bill with some 5/.
notes, but could not speak with certainty that the 51. note
now produced was one of the notes he paid away.
A clerk in the house of Messrs. Smith, Payne, and
Cc., proved that he received three a notes from Mr.
Sneezum, in payment of a bill, and that the note now
produced was one of the Si. notes tendered by Mr.
Sneezum.

Mr. Humphries contended that the evidence against
the prisoner utterly failed.
A clerk in the Bank of England proved that the note
in question had been paid into the Bank of England,
from the house of Messrs. Smith and Co. The corner
of the note was torn off, as was usual at the Bank, but
the corner had not been preserved.
Mr. MALTBY said he was not aware, until just now,
that three 5/. notes had been paid into Messrs. Smith's
bank by Mr. Sneezum. It was possible that the third
51. note might be the very note sworn to by Mr. Peck,
and as the identity of the note with the note changed by
Mrs. French was thus lost, the charge against the pri-
soner could not be sustained on the evidence before the
Court, and, therefore, the prisoner must be discharged.
CLERKEN WELL.

RAILWAY BUSINESS.-Mr. Joshua Archer, an engra-
ver, residing in Southampton-terrace, Pentonville, ap-
peared to answer the complaint of Mr. Stockley, another
engraver, of St. Martin's-lane and Great Russell-street,
for not delivering up certain plates, upon which the plans
and sections of railways were engraved.
Mr. Ripon appeared for the complainant, and Mr.
Wakeling for Mr. Archer.
Mr. Ripon said his complaint was, that Mr. Archer
had not delivered up plates of the Cambridge and Lin-
coln Extension Railway and of the Doncaster Branch,
which had been given to him for engraving on last Mon-
day week. Mr. Stockley and Mr. Archer had done
business together for a considerable time, and it very
much surprised him that Mr. Archer had not acted with
the same punctuality on this as on former occasions.
The time for lodging the plans and sections in the Par-
liamentary-office would expire on the 29th instant, so
that the delay became tenfold more serious.
Mr. GREENWOOD asked why the plates were not deli-
vered up? Mr. Wakeling said the plates were then with-
in the precincts of the Conrt, and he would quickly ex-
plain why they had not been delivered. His client should
have been the complainant or prosecutor on the present
occasion, and in truth he would be so ; for en the pre-
vious day he had taken out a warrant for the apprehen-
sion of one of Mr. Archer's workmen, who had been
induced to leave his master's employment, and who w:.s
now in the employment of Mr. Wilde, of Charing-cross,
the engraver. His client had been under the impression
that Mr. Stockley had, with another person named
Philips, been privy to inducing two of his (Mr. Archer's)
men to kayo him, and the whole had much the
appearance of a conspiracy. Mr. Stockley was a good
deal employed by Mr. Wilde, and Mr. Archer assisted
him. Recently, however, Mr. Archer had got a great
deal of other railway business to do ; and although he
employed fifty men, the loss of two efficient hands, such
as Loosell and Weddell, who had been spirited away,
would be much felt, and cause much embarrassment,
particularly as the period by which all the railway plans
for the ensuing session must be deposited was so close at
hand.
Mr. Ripon said he could not account for the delay, but
it was supposed that Mr. Archer had been engaged for
some rival companies.
Mr. GREENWOOD said, he thought that if a Parlia-
mentary Committee were informed that either party had
withheld the plans and sections of the other, or were
privy to such a practice, it would take care that no ad-
vantage should be gained by such proceeding.
Mr. Wakeling said if that charge rested anywhere, it
was upon the other side. Mr. Archer would be seriously
injured by the withdrawal of these men. The Company
had lost nothing, for the plates were now in readiness,
but would not be delivered up unless the amount of Mr.
Archer's claim, 201., was liquidated.
Mr. Ripon was about entering into the case, and called
Mr. Stookley as a witness to prove the delivery of the
plates.
Mr. Wakeling objected. In the first place, the Magis-
trate had no jurisdiction where the amount was above
15/.; and, secondly, Mr. Stockley could not by the Act
be allowed to prove his own case.
Mr. GREENWOOD dismissed the complaint.

evil, which was agreed to ; as was another in favour of
appealing to the public, by means of widely circulated
statements and addresses against the habit of late-hour
shopping, and pledging the meeting to co-operate with
the association, and to assist, by pecuniary contributions
and otherwise, in procuring the contemplated relief.
The meeting then broke up.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS,
CITY, TUESDAY EVENING.

POST.—The state of the Money Market conveys no
reasonable indication of the intrinsic value of invest-
ments. The fluctuations it exhibits from day to day
serve rather to mark the feeling of the public, its fears
and necessities. The late excess of speculation led on
by the guides and guardians of the people, among whom
were to be found not only distinguished members of the
aristocracy, but even the aldermen—the staid magistrates
—of the City, has left a weakness behind it, that proves
the extent of the epidemic. Fortunately, in this case
very large sums of money have been put into circulation
with no greater evil to the community than was perhaps
required, in order to teach more circumspection for the
future. In 1825 the money drawn from the pockets of the
people in speculative pursuits went out of the country
never to return to it, even in the shape of a fair interest.
Foreign mines and foreign loans were the favourite con-
coctions of that memorable period. In 1836 the specu-
lation that confined itself to railways was nationally and
individually of a productive and beneficial character,
since it has been constantly returning its fruits as well
in the form of dividends, varying in amount according to
the value of the road, as in the employment of vast num-
bers of persons of every class and trade, and in the rapid
circulation of goods, money, and credit. Indeed, it is the
very success, positive and prospective, of these undertak-
ings, that has led to the late foolish proceedings in the
share markets of the kingdom. Now, however, things
are apparently running almost as much in the other ex-
treme, otherwise it might be hoped that there would still
be just so much of confidence left on the part of the
public as would ensure support for such new lines of road
as are called for by the existence of the old, and the re-
quirements of social, intercourse. The reduction in the
original cost, and in the charges of working a line, will
greatly accelerate the period of remuneration, and the
experience now acquired in railway operations enables
the public to form a very close estimate as to its value as
an investment.l t Mr. Hudson at once raises the Great
North of England from a 21 per cent. to a 10 per
cent. property, and if one line can, from prospective ad-
vantages, be so enhanced in value, others may be
equally progressive where the line itself is called for
by circumstances of position and local traffic. It will be
for Parliament to see, either by means of a commission,
or of several departmental commissions, or by its own
wisdom (!) that such lines alone pass a first reading.
Expense should be saved and litigation stopped in limine.
At the same time it should be borne in mind that roads
create traffic, and that traffic increases so as, according
to Mr. Chaplin, to double itself in seven years, but even
with the more liberal margin of ten or fourteen years, to
make stable and profitable that which does not commence
with a large interest, one of the most extensive sources
of gain—the conveyance of agricultural produce—is yet
untouched. It now, more than ever, behoves persons of
position and responsibility to come forward to re-assure
the public mind, to see that the undertakings to which
support is given are bonci fide and useful, and, if there be
any doubts as to that fact, or as to the ability to carry
them into execution, that the deposits in hand be re-
turned promptly, and with the least possible deduction.
CHRONICLE.—It is currently reported that the
meetings between some of the City bankers aad the
Chancellor of the Exchequer were in connexion with
the mode of paying over the railway deposits. When
the railway pamphlet of Mr. Spackman made its appear-
ance in a supplementary sheet of the Times, we wrote•a
few observations to show that some of the calculations
of our Contemporary, founded on Mr. Spackman's
figures, were erroneous. We noticed his omission of all
mention of the 8,000,0001. received in dividends yearly
from railways completed, more than equal to the outlay
spent in railway making for the period embraced from
1823 to 1844. Referring also to the estimates of the
yearly income of the nation, as computedby our Contem-
porary himself, we proved by his own showing that the
annual savings of the people were 70,000,000/. yearly,
and that they could well afford to apply 23,000,000/. a
year of that to make new railroads. The
Times says that last session of Parliament au-
thority was given to expend 67,000,0001. on
railroads, and allowing three years for the con-
struction of these lines, that an expenditure will be in-
curred of 22,000,0001. yearly. But three years is much
too short a time. We have no doubt but that more than
five years will pass before the whole 67,000,0001. are
expended, being at the rate of less than 14,000,0001.
yearly. The capital stated at 67,000,0001. includes the
amount which the directors are authorised to borrow,
and that authority may never be exercised. The cal-
culation of our contemporary is evidently exaggerated ;
but assuming the reverse of that, it seems plain enough
that the disposable or floating wealth of the nation is
more than adequate to provide the means. According
to our estimate, we would put down 14,000,0001. for five
years as the sum required for lines in progress in the
United Kingdom ; against which we would put down
on the credit side 23,000,000/., allowed by the Times

.
as the annual proportion of savings which the coun-
try could afford for railways, and to which we would
add, first of all, 8,000,0001. as the dividends drawn
from lines completed, making 31,000,000/., and further
7 per cent, on the annual outlay of 14,000,0001.,
giving a total of 32,000,000/. of :disposable means
(and always on the increase) to meet an expenditure of
14,000,0001., and leaving a balance over at the credit side
of 18,000,000/. yearly. We have thus a sum of
18,000,000/. clear at the credit side of the account, to
place against the capital which may be required to con-
struct the lines which Parliament may sanction in the
session of 1846. The Spectator finds fault with us for
making no allowance under that head of the account in
our former remarks. It would have been absurd to offer
any opinion on that part of the subject in reply to such
preposterous data. These are simply an aggregate of
the amounts taken from the shoals of announcements
that appeared is the shape of a prospectus in newspaper
advertisements, and which are stated at the monstrous
exaggeration of 563.203,000/. It may be true that such
a result may be deduced, by adding the proposed capitals
intended to be raised by all, each, and every of the
railway schemes, good, bad, and indifferent, which
were announced during the fever of the last six

months ; but that is a most erroneous basis to adopt
as an index to the amount of absolute capital that will
be required to construct the lines which Parliament
will sanction in the ensuing session. Not one-third
._.

of that nominal amount Will be in all probability
brought under Parliamentary notice next session. We
have at present no reason to believe that the deposits of
10 per cent. will represent more than 150,000,0001. of
capital, and we doubt much if the utmost labours of the
Members will enable them to overtake schemes that will

absorb 100,000,0001. of capital. Divide that amount by
five, and we have a product of 20,000,0001., to meet
which we have already found a surplus, taken from our
Contemporary's own estimate of the public means, equal,
at all events, to 18,000,000/. Seeing that the ways and
much to assume that the disposable wealth of the country
will be found equal to make up the difference. We have
not touched upon an analogous argument in favour of
that opinion, very aptly deduced by the Morning Herald,
from a reference to the large sums lent by the people to
the State during the war in shape of loans. When we
know that the people were able to lend such large sums
in former years for war expenditure, it is only reasonable
to conclude that they are now in a condition to ad-
vance a great deal more for purposes of internal
improvement. When we look, above all, to the
altered state of the Share-market, and cast our eyes
down the drooping column of " business done" in the
official list of prices, we arrive at the decided conclusion
that the labours of Parliament in 1846 will not produce
a greater yield of legislation than may be represented by
100,000,000/. of capital. If, indeed, the matter now
rested with the public, the amount would be much below
that sum. The great majority of the scripholders would
willingly take back their money, less the expenses incur-
red, and abandon, or at least postpone their lines. We
say so, not with reference only to projects of a doubtful
character, but even to the very best of schemes. Confi-
dence for the present is entirely shaken, and will not be•
restored until peace is assured abroad, and plenty of
food at home. Our remarks apply not to what the
people may do under existing circumstances, but to
what their means give them the power of doing ; and if
the price of bread should continue high, bath the power
and the means to construct railroads will be materially
diminished. The authority to make a railroad is one
thing, the construction of it is another, and although
money may be provided to obtain Acts representing
150,000,0001. of capital, it by no means follows that the
" calls" will be effectual to pay up in full.

TIMES.—The premium on gold at Paris is 12 per
mille, which, at the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. lOid.
per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 25 45 ;
and the exchange at Paris on London at short being
25 26k, it follows that gold is 0.68 per cent. dearer in
London than in Paris.

By advices from Hamburgh the price of gold is 433
per mark, which, at the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. 100.
per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 13 9 ;
and the exchange at Hamburgh on London at short
being 13 10, it follows-that gold is 0.46 per cent. dearer
in London than in Hamburgh.
The course of exchange at New York on London is
109 i per cent., and the par of exchange between Eng-
land and America being 109 23-40 per cent., it follows
that the exchange is 0.33 per cent. against England ; but
the quoted exchange at New York being for bills at 60
days' sight, the interest must be deducted from the above
difference.

A new expedient has been resorted to by some of the
railway companies to get in their deposits. They have
written a circular to those who have applied for shares,
and have had them allotted, informing them that they
are held liable for the amount of deposit. Among appli-
cants who, finding the speculations not so profitable as
they anticipated, have neglected to pay up the amount
required, these circulars have created no little uneasi-
ness. But if the position of these parties is an unpleasant
one, much more so is that of some of the holders of fo-
reign railway shares, where the companies are actually
bound by a contract with the Government to execute
their works. It is not very long ago since we had the
spectacle of a joint-stock company in which the share-
holders actually offered premiums with their shares to
get rid of their responsibilities. Such a spectacle may
again recur with some of the foreign schemes.

HADLEIGH. ATTEMPTED INCENDIARISM. —On
Sunday night, about eleven o'clock, as policeman Bennett
was going his round, when at the back of Dowager Lady
Rowley's residence lie saw a small light at a little distance.
On going nearer, he found it proceeded from a hollow tree,
which was on fire. A row of palings led from the tree in
the direction of some stacks and a shed. He immediately
gave the alarm at the house, and succeeded, with assistance,
in extinguishing the flames. The night being very dark
prevented him from perceiving any person near by: the
wind at the time wa3 blowing m the direction of the stack&
.4-punch &pros.