The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES. Throughout Europe the effect
of the uuforseen vicissitudes which have
recently taken I place in this country has
been extremely powerful, for by foreign nations,
as well as by foreign Governments, the resig-
nation of Lord Aberdeen, and the probability of
Lord Palmerston's return to the Foreign-office, was
regarded as an event of more immediate interest and
importance even than the prospect of a repeal of the
corn-laws. The true character of that measure, the
causes which have rendered it inevitable, and the more
remote consequences which it must produce on the
foreign relations of England with all other countries,
are very imperfectly understood abroad, and conti-
nental statesmen can hardly comprehend a sacrifice
of place and power, dictated by a principle of political
economy, which is still enveloped to them in all the
mists of prejudice; and seen through the medium of
false views of our national wealth and social condi-
tion. Experience will alone remove the film from
their political vision; and at present they are as-
tounded by the hardihood of conception and
frightened by the energy of execution which t' ley
conceive to be the principal features of so vast and
unaccountable a revolution. The fact, therefore, to
which political observation has been mainly directed
on the continent is the change of the Foreign Secre-
tary, and the possible, if not probable, alteration of
the foreign policy of England. The previous con-
duct of Lord Palmerston and his organ had done all
that it was possible, to do to excite distrust and alarm
in every part of ttig world, and in every cabinet of
Europe. The very interests which the true policy
of this country ought to be most eager to conciliate,
and the very men who are most anxious to co-operate
in the great public object of the maintenance of
peace, are those who were most shaken by the pro-
spect of his return to office. We have often pointed
out and predicted the deplorable consequences to
England and to Europe of policy which was
distinguished by the arrogance and impatience of
its tone, even more than by its reckless admi-
nistration of our foreign relations ; but not till now
were we fully aware of the lasting and fatal effect
of the policy of 1840, and of Lord Palmerston's subse-
quent invectives against his successor, upon his own
character as a statesman. A dispassionate observer
would acknowledge that the world is a little unjust to
him. The services which he at one time rendered to
the cause of peace, to the French alliance, and to
the real interests of England, are forgotten in the
terror and disgust which he inspired by a sudden
abandonment of 'all the sound principles even of
his own policy, for the sake of a contemptible
triumph on the —Coast of Syria. For ourselves
we are ready to' acknowledge, that in spite of
the enormous and unjustifiable errors which marked
the close of the .;. Melbourne Administration, we
do not entertain .so low an opinion of Lord Pal-
merston's capacit3eand character, as to suppose that
he would have sought to aggravate the fatal conse-
quences of those errors, instead of mitigating and
allaying them. But it is natural that the minds of
foreign politicians, especially in France, should be
less accessible to reason and conviction on this head ;
it is still more natural that the public abroad should
judge him by his own acts and words; and that he
should stand at this moment condemned by the pub-
lic opinion of Europe as a man unfit to direct the fo-
reign affairs of England, and pre-eminently dan-
gerous to the peace of the world. The fact is so ; and
even if these appr6bensions be somewhat exaggerated,
it is not the less certain that the very existence of
such an opinion deeply rooted in the highest political
and commercial '.circles of Europe might have
proved in itself a powerful obstacle to the mainte-
nance of those amicable relations with other coun-
tries upon which the welfare of the world depends.
It is not fitting that the Foreign Minister of Eng-
land should be the' object of universal suspicion and
alarm ; and we are by no means surprised that the
conviction that Lord Palmerston does stand in this
position should have been fatal to the formation of
Lord John Russell's Cabinet, and should have caused
the secession of seine of his colleagues on this impor-
tant ground. The Whigs have acquiesed for the
most part against their own conscientious convictions
in the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston, and the
Whigs must bear the burden of reproach which is
attached to his name. At the same time we are per-
suaded that in France and elsewhere a laudable de-
sire existed to make the best of a calamity which at
one moment appeared to be inevitable ; and that the
present French Administration was likely to be
strengthened rather then weakened by the approach
of what was regarded as a great danger. M.
Guizot never seemed to be more indispensable than
at the moment when the genius of peace was sup-
posed to have gisken way in the English Cabinet to
the genius of discard ; and the real desire for peace
which lies at the bottom of the more honourable por-
tion even of the French Opposition, in spite of their
imprudent conduct and their declamatory speeches,
grew in strength in proportion as they imagined that
the world was exposed to more serious chances of
war. The storm has blown over ; but for the reason
we have just given, amongst others, the French Go-
vernment will in a few days re-open the session of
the Chambers, under very favourable auspicies. At
this moment, happily, no question of foreign policy
affords a pretext or an occasion for the customary de-
clamation of the French Opposition ; and, in spite of
their talent for mixing up the most heterogeneous
and irrelevant topics in the debate on the Ad-
dress, they will not find it easy on the present
occasion to excite the prejudices of the Cham-
ber or to appeal to the passions of the coun-
try. Their first trial of strength will take place
on the election of the President of the Chamber of
Deputies, and alErthe sections of the Opposition will
unite in supporting M. Dufaure for the chair in oppo-
sition to M. Sauzet, the Ministerial candidate. M.
Sauzet will probably carry his election by a majority
of from 30 to 40 votes ; and soon afterwards the dis-
cussion of the address will commence. The two sub-
jects which will be made the principal ground of
attack by the Opposition are the state of Algeria and
the conduct of the Government towards the railway
companies. It js true that the position of Marshal
Bugeaud in Africa, powerless at the head of 100,000
men, and circumvented by an enemy whom he has
always affected to despise, is a fact affording ample
materials for political discussion, and deeply affecting
the interests and honour of France. But the dis-
asters and difficulties arising out of the oc-
cupation of Northern Africa cannot, with any
degree of fairness be imputed to this Administra-
tion, or to any particular party in the State. They
are the natural- and inevitable results of a pre-
posterous enterprise and a monstrous system of war-
fare, to which every successive Minister of France for
the last 15 years has been a party. It is impossible
that they should not have been foreseen ; but it is
equally impossible that they should have been avoided,
as long as the misguided opinion of the nation pe-
remptorily insists on the unrestricted maintenance
and extension of the conquest. To impute these con-
sequences to the conduct of any one man or set of
men, or to ascribe them to any one incident like the
treaty of Tangiers, is the height of injustice and ab-.
surdity. They arise out of the whole conduct of the
French nation to the Arab tribes ; they are the
fruits of arbitrary invasion on one side and fa-
natical resistance on the other; and as long as
these two elements are engaged in a vast and active
conflict, the influence of Abd-el-Kader and the con-
duct of Marshal hugeaud, the defection of certain tribes
or the loss of certain positions, are mere incidents which
might be counted in a campaign, but which shrink
into insignificance in comparison with the horrors of
interminable war. Out of the extreme of evil, how-
ever, we can alone anticipate a change for the better ;
and we cannot doubt that ere long some voices will
be raised in the Legislature of France to trace these
misfortunes to their true source. It is impossible to
blink at facts which are passing before the eyes of all
Europe; and the true policy of France is to take up
such a positiodn'in Africa as she can successfully and
permanently niointain—if, indeed, any such position
be posiible. The attempt to mix up the old bug-bear
of the influence of England in this purely national
question is so absurd that we can hardly suppose it
will be resorted to, and the arrival of the Embassy
from the Court of Morocco, which is daily expected
in Paris, will give eclat to the ceremony of opening
the Chamber, and furnish an additional proof of the
sincere desire of the Emperor of Morroco to observe
his engagements with France and to keep clear of the
dangers of the war now raging on his frontiers.
CIIRONICLE.—Whether we consider the imme-
diate or more remote consequences, we are induced to
regard that part of the President's Message which re-
fers to an alteration in the tariff, and the principles on
which he proposes to base the change, as the most im-
portant part of that voluminous document; and more
particularly so, when we view it in relation to the
changes, which in this country have now become in-
evitable, with respect to our corn and provision-laws.
Without treaties, or negotiations, or even as far as is
known, without immediate concert, the great and
material necessities which false commercial legisla-
tion brings upon a people, are of themselves about to
force upon the Legislatures of the United States and
Great Britain an entire revision of those laws of pro-
tection, made for the benefit of the privileged few at
the cost of the many. What Mr. Polk proposes
to Congress, purely from a regard to American

interests, is precisely that for which we should
have stipulated, had we been negotiating for Bri-
tish interests. And the policy which Sir Robert
Peel now finds essential to meet the growing neces-
sities of this country, is precisely that for which an
American Minister, in the interest of his own coun-
try, would have striven most arduously. Without
negotiation or treaty, each country is, out of a regard
merely to its own necessities, pursuing a course emi-
nently calculated to promote the best interests of the
other. It is a new era in international communica-
tion, which bids fair to eradicate those deeply-rooted
prejudices as to the advantages of reciprocity on which
commercial legislation has hitherto been based, and
out of respect to which the best interests of nations
have often been sacrificed, in order that an apparent
advantage should not be conferred upon others with-
out some acknowledged equivalent. The policy
about to be adopted in the United States (for the
President's majority both in the House of Represen-
tatives and in the Senate, induces us to look with con-
fidence to his recommendation being accepted), and
that which is even more certain before long to regu-
late the trade of this country, could not fail to bring
great and independent advantages to each, altoge-
ther irrespective of the course pursued by the other;
but those advantages will be greatly enhanced when
a similar policy is pursued by both. The fundamen-
tal laws of the United States prohibit the imposition
of any duty, except for the strict purposes of revenue;
yet so completely have class interests predominated in
the Legislature for the last twenty years, that
changes have been made from time to time more and
more favouring the principle of protection, and in
proportion less efficient for revenue, until at length
the American tariff, as passed in 1842, appears rather
designed for the purposes of protection alone, to
which revenue is a mere incident, than the con-
trary, as, enjoined by the Constitution. Mr.
Polk undertakes to reform this growing, and now
inconvenient abuse. It is quite true that even
the proposers of the extravagant tariff of 1842 pro-'
fessed its main objects to be those of revenue, and.
not protection. Yet the slightest examination of it
shows how flimsy was such a pretext. For example,
that Act imposes a high duty upon sugar (equivalent
to nearly one hundred per cent. upon the prime cost)
imported from abroad, while at least one-half of the
whole consumption is produced in the southern states,
and which is equally raised in price to the consumer,'
without yielding any revenue to the State. This will!
no doubt he contended to be a protection to the Loui—
siana sugar- planter purely incidental to the revenue'
duty imposed upon foreign sugar. But then we find,l
on the other hand, that the articles of tea and coffee!
are admitted without the payment of any duty,;
which, if charged, would operate solely to the advan;
tage of the -Exchequer; the whole quantity
consumed being imported, and no part grown at
home. IVhatever, therefore, in these cases the com-[
sumer would pay the State would receive. Then,
on the other hand, we find, with regard to manufac-
tured goods, that it is precisely in those descriptions
where a duty acts most to the protection of the home
manufactures that it is highest. In the case of coarse
woollens, in which the American manufacturers had
chiefly embarked, the duty imposed by the Act of
1842 has proved nearly prohibitory, and at the same
time acted as a great hardship upon the humbler
classes of society ; while that imposed upon fine
woollens, which were but little manufactured in the
States, was fixed at a comparatively low rate. The
result has been so rapid a decline in the import of
woollens, on which the revenue largely depended,
that the amount derived therefrom, at the increased
rate, is now rapidly declining. For the first ten
months of the present year the woollen goods
exported from this country to the United
States were only to the amount of 1,452,000/.,
against 2,102,0001. during the same period in 1844.
And every year, as the protected manufactures of
America are increased in consequence of these
privileges, it has become apparent that duties,
which have hitherto acted partially for revenue,
[ and partially for protection, are becoming entirely
prohibitory, and assume alone the latter character.
There can be no doubt that the existence of the pre-
sent tariff, since 1842, has called into existence a
large and influential class of powerful interests,
which will be exerted to the utmost to defeat
the objects of Mr. Polk. We scarcely expect that the
President will have the courage to attack the pro-
tection enjoyed by the sugar-growers in the south
and the manufacturers of New England at the same
time. Ilis chief and first conflict will be with the
latter ; and the former have so many other interests
, directly connected with a larger and freer com-
munication with this country, that they will, in
all probability, rather secure their support to the
pclicy of the President than provoke their an-
tagonism. As regards the influence hitherto exer-
cised by the manufacturers of New England upon
the masses in the western states, in which they have
hitherto commanded a majority, the new policy an-
iiounced on the part of this country, in respect to the
introduction of American agricultural produce, can-
not fail to afford material assistance to the Govern-
ment in carrying their new tariff into effect. At the
last census of the United States, in 1840, the propor-
tion of the whole population engaged in agriculture
was more than eighty per cent.; while that engaged in
commerce and manufactures was under twenty per
cent. This fact alone shows how great must be the
influence exercised by this country, according to the
policy pursued with respect to tle admission of the pro-
duce of so large a proportion of the population. Eighty
per cent. are buyers of manufactured goods, and
have no other interest but to obtain them as cheaply
as possible, provided they can find a market for their
produce. The cotton-growers in the south have always
been warm opponents of a high protective tariff
which excluded British: manufactures, not only on
account of their direct interest to procure what they
require to purchase as low as possible, but also for
the purpose of promoting a snore direct intercourse
with their best customers. The wheat-growers of
the west, on the contrary, have hitherto been sup-
porters of the protective policy to American manu-
factures, and have submitted to the enormous prices
which they pay for every article they require to pur-
chase, for the sole object of raising up a home market
for their produce in the absence of a foreign one.
The alterations of our tariff in 1842, and in the last
session, have already exercised some influence over
these important states, and this in some degree has
encouraged Mr. Polk to propose the changes to which
he alludes in his Message. The free introduction of
American wheat into this country will so greatly in-
crease this influence over that large portion of the
American public, and so closely unite their interests
with our own, that when our newly-adopted policy
shall become generally known throughout the union
—when the farmers of Ohio see open to them a steadv
and a constant market in this country, it will be'
found that 'we have done more by that act to remove
every feeling of hostility to British interests, and
created a stronger support to British commerce, than
[ could have been accomplished by years of negotiation,
or by any other concession which we could have
made to that country.

PROSECUTIONS UNDER LORD
ASHLEY'S ACT.
On the 14th instant three cases came on for trial
before the Sheriff of Clackmannay.shire at Alloa, at the ,
instance of the Procurator-Fiscal of the county, against ,
Mr. Fife, the oversman, and several of the workmen at
Clackmannan Colliery, for the employment of females
below ground at these works, in contravention of Lord
Ashley's Act. Various objections were stated to the
relevancy of the complaint by the agents fot the pri-
soners, which were all repelledby the Sheriff. Fife, the
oversman, and one of the workmen then pleaded guilty,
and were fined in the minimum penalty of Si. each. The
complaints in the other cases were not insisted in, the
prosecutor remarking that he was of opinion that the
ends of justice would be satisfied by the conviction of
the oversman and the workman who had pleaded guilty.
Before the Court dismissed, the Sheriff addressed
the prisoners and the audience in nearly the following
terms:—
" I think it proper to makea few further observations
on the cases which have been tried here to-day before
the panels and the audience (which I observe consists
almost wholly of colliers) leave the Court-room. After
most careful inquiry into the state of the mining popula-
tion throughout the United Kingdom, the Legislature
deemed it right to pass the Act 5 and 6 Vic., chap. 99,
prohibiting the employment of women and girls in mines
and collieries; and I feel satisfied that when the provi-
sions of the Act come to bo fairly carried into effect,
the public and the colliers themselves will be convinced
that the Legislature has judged wisely in passing such
an enactment. The sort of work which women were
employed to perform below ground, in dragging or push-
! ing heavy waggons, was ill-adapted to their bodily con•
formation, and had a degrading influence upon their
characters. No doubt, in depriving them all at once of
employment below ground, many eases of individual
I hardship would occur, and some difficulty might at first.be experienced in procuring other emploj went; but
these difficulties, I am satisfied would soon he overcome.
I have been at the trouble of making inquiry at the e,,1-lieries
lieries on the other side of the Forth, where they have
for some time past given up the practice of employing
females below ground ; and I find that the colliers them-
I selves are quite satisfied that the practice was a bad one,
I and that it is much better, both for themselves and their
families, that it should not be persisted in. This opinion
is now very generally entertained over the country, and
the employment of female labour below ground lia4, for
a considerable time past, been abandoned at almost
every colliery throughout the kingdom, excepting at
Clackmannan ; and it is a disgsace to this county, and I
feel it to be' so, that such a degrading practice has been

persisted in there for such a length of time,lti the face
of an express Act of the Legislature. Under the Act
the oversmen and workmen can only be brought to
trial after the judge has satisfied himself thctt the of-
fences have been committed without the consent, con-
currence, or knowledge of the owner. From the pre-
liminary investigation whiah was made in the present
cases, I am bound to believe that the offences weeil
committed without the consent, concurrence, or know-,
ledge of the owner or manager. lam nevertheless,
satisfied, however, that the practice would immediately
be put an end to, if the owners or managers fairly set
their faces against it, and made a bona fide effort to stop
it. Something more than merely not giving their con-
sent or concurrence is required at the hands of the
owner or manager. There is a moral as well as a legal
obligation on them to further the beneficent intentions
of the Legislature, by exerting themselves to put an end
to the practice—and if they do exert themselves, I am
satisfied they will succeed, as has been the case at all
other collieries where the attempt has been fairly made.
The present proceedings will have the effect, I trust, of
showing both the colliers- and their masters that the
authorities are determined to carry the provisions of the
Act into effect, and I would hope that the practice of
employing females below ground will now be put a stop
to in this district, and that there will be no necessity in
future for any proceedings of a similar nature."—Edin-
burgh Advertiser.

LORD STANLEY AND MR.
GLADSTONE.
(From the Times.)
Lord Stanley retires from the Peel Cabinet, and
resigns the duties of the Colonial-office into the hands
of Mr. Gladstone. The change, whether it be for
good or ill, is one of no immaterial character ; for it
would be difficult to name, in all the political phalanx,
two persons more opposite in their qualities or more
unlike in their qualifications. Of an ardent tempera-
ment, and quick susceptibilities, warm in debate,
potent in invective, but occasionally somewhat illo-
gical in argument, Lord Stanley often perilled the
success of a good measure by his imprudence in
handling it. His successor, on the other hand, is
eminent for the coolness of his head and the unruffled
placidity of his demeanour. Deep in the sublime
mysteries of metaphysics, his mind has too strong a
tendency to speculate and to moralize, not seldom
losing sight of practical realities in the dim clouds of
abstraction. If the abundant energy and headlong
decision of the late Secretary for the Colonies could
be infused into the philosophic constitution of Mr.
Gladstone, there would probably be compounded a
character as well adapted for the office as any that
can be imagined. But, as no such fairy transition
can be expected in these unromantic times, we may
find advantage in looking back for a moment upon
the course which the one has pursued, and conjec-
turing, though imperfectly, that which the other is
likely to pursue. It cannot be said of Lord Stanley
that he has done much for the colonies ; nor can it be
pleaded in his behalf that he lacked opportunity for
action. On the contrary, his term of office has been
unusually prolific of events, most important in the
present and sufficiently significant of the future. It
is true he had many difficulties to contend with, the
general legacies of Whig mismanagement. But there
were none so stubborn that they might not have been
overcome, nor so fatal that they might not have been
remedied. What was chiefly wanting was a steady
application to details; a thorough investigation of
facts. Ignorance has always been the stumbling-
block in the way of colonial secretaries, and Lord
Stanley, we believe, can challenge no exception from
the common censure. His errors have been eminently
those of negligence and indifference. An impetuosity
which carried him at times beyond his depth and
overwhelmed him with unnecessary toil, suc-
ceeded by a careless insouciance which no urgency
could rouse to action—these were the contradictory
and ever-changing elements which governed his poli-
tical conduct. They are to be discerned in almost all
his measures, but most conspicuously in those under
which New Zealand has so miserably suffered. The
fortunes of that colony have long presented an ex-
ample of the grossest mismanagement. Perhaps no
British settlement ever gave fairer promise in its
infancy of a sound and prosperous maturity. Those
obstacles which usually obstruct the path of the early
colonist were not found in New Zealand. No savage
and hostile natives threatened the security of life or
the permanence of property. None of that intract-
able disposition which characterises the savage stood
here in the way of civilization and improvement. So
far from it, that the first settlers of Wellington found
in the aborigines who occupied the shores of Cook's
Strait a body of willing labourers and in-
telligent servants. Impressed from the first
with the superiority of the white man, not
in power and skill only, but in the higher attri-
butes of justice and benevolence, they yielded a ready
obedience and involuntary homage. The settlement
increased rapidly in wealth and numbers. It sur-
passed by far, in all the social elements, every colony
that had been founded since the Commonwealth. Its
members were not the scum of the earth, the scour-
ings of the gaol, or the exiles of society. But they
were, for the most part, gentlemen of good family and
unblemished reputation, when the res angustce domi
and the impulse of an honourable ambition had driven
to seek a wider and less occupied field for their exer-
tions. In a community so formed a wise ruler might
have seen the surest guarantee of peace and order.
Recognising within constitutional limits their right
of conducting their own affairs in the manner best cal-
culated to insure success, the Colonial Secretary
,hould have interposed no further than by the estab-
lishment of such regulations and institutions as were
necessary to secure the dependence of the colony upon
the mother country. Beyond this it was his obvious
policy to leave the interests of the colonists in their
own hands. But such a policy did not suit the
temper of Lord Stanley or of his predecessor. Com-
mencing NS ith a hasty and arrogant interference, they
provoked resentment and indignation where they
most needed co-operation and support. By imposing
a governor upon the colony who seemed to have no
other qualification for the office than his rank as a
captain in the British navy, and whose vacillating
imbecility can only be excused on the ground of an
intellect weakened by disease, a foundation was laid
for heartburnings and dissatisfaction, too just and
natural in their origin to be easily allayed.
Every petty obstacle that a foolish jealousy
or an unworthy animosity could devise was
thrown athwart the progress of the original
settlement. The titles to land that had long
been purchased from the natives were unsettled,
and submitted to a tedious process of inves-
tigation, in which an ostentatious magnanimity
towards the aboriginal inhabitants, and an eagerness
to destroy their old feelings of friendship for the
company and their party and fix them upon the Go-
vernment officials, were far more obvious than an
honest desire to administer justice. Finally, the
consummation of this wicked policy—an
.end which
every one foresaw but the infatuated movers of it—
was the disintegration of the whole colony, and the
utter estrangement of the native from the white man.
The plunder of the settlers on the banks of the Hutt,
the massacre of Wairau, and the discomfiture of 500
British soldiers by a handful of natives behind a
wooden stockade, attest the wisdom of the Colonial-
office and the judicious nature of its appointments.
This is no exaggerated picture of the condition of
one of the dependencies which Lord Stanley has
been pretending to govern for a period of five years.
We do not underrate the difficulty of managing a
colony at the distance of half the globe. But after
making all due allowance for this difficulty, there still
remains a large residue of error and absurdity. It
is not the least important duty of a statesman to select
with judgment the instruments of his government.
Good measures avail nothing, and the best laid plans
may, prove even mischievous, unless good men are
chosen to carry them into effect. In the brief his-
tory of New Zealand, however, it is impossible to
discover either good measures or good men; and we
cannot foresee, in the present aspect of its affairs, one
single germ of promise or hope of improvement.
This, then, is a portion of the tangled web which the
ex- Secretary for the Colonies hands over to Mr.
Gladstone to unravel. A bolder and less conscien-
titious man might be inclined to cut the mesh, and
free himself from trammels which are not of his own
creating, and of which he ought not to bearsthe re-
sponsibility. But such a course is not consistent
with that gentleman's political character, as it has
hitherto been developed. We may rather look for a
course of palliatives, and a system of remedial mea-
sures. Impartial inquiry, and an honest devotion to
the duties of office, may confidently be expected ;
and in these we recognise the promise at least of a
better policy. But these alone will not suffice. There
is danger in the crisis that nuw impends over the
affairs of the colony. Prompt measures of active se-
verity may restore them. Delay and inaction cannot
but lead to ruin. Mr. Gladstone must see the immi-
nence of the necessity, and will not, we hope, be
wanting to the exigencies of so great a peril.

How TO GET A DINNER.—One evening Sheridan,
not knowing where to go for a dinner, sat down by Michael
Angelo Taylor, in the House of Commons, and said, "There
is a law question likely to arise presently, on which. front
your legal knowledge, you will be wanted to reply to Pitt, so
I hope you will not ilk of leaving the House." Michael
sat down with no little pleasure, while Sheridan slipped out,
walked over to Michael's house, and ordered up dinner,
saving to the servants, "Your master is not coming home
this evening." He made an excellent dinner, came back to
release him, saying. " I am sorry to have kept you, for after
all, I believe this matter will not come off to•night." Michael
walked home, and heard, to his no little consternation, when
he rang for dinner, " Mr. Sheridan had it, Sir, about two
hours ago. —Life of Willierfiwer.
DURHAM AGRICULTURAL PROTECTION SOCIETY.—
In accordance with the recommendation of the Central Society,
a meeting of the committee of the above society took place at
the Rose and Crown, Durham, on the 19th inst., when it was
unanimously resolved to take immediate steps for calling a
meeting of the whole body of agricultural protectionists in
the county, at the earliest possible day. Most unreserved
censure was heaped on Sir Robert Peel, and that, too, by
many who had formerly been his staunchest supporters. Mr.
Surtees said he had seen the Hon. Mr. Liddell, the present
Conservative Member, who was a decided protectionist.