The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-21 00:00:00

IMPORTANT FREE TRADE MEET-
ING IN THE ,POTTERIES..

The great Pottery meeting, to receive a deputation
from the Anti-Corn-law League, took place in
Bethesda School, Shelton, on Thursday evening.
The spacious room was crammed from end to end ;
.and frequently as we have attended heart-stirring
meetings in this district, we do not recollect an
occasion on which the speakers seemed more
completely to carry the convictions of their
hearers along with them. Not only were the feel-
ings aroused, but the understanding was convinced;
as the proceedings advanced, the " question of ques-
tions " appeared present to every mind in true magni-
tude ; and we are greatly mistaken if there has not
been made an abiding impression, arousing the apa-
thetic to exertion, and stimulating the active to more
enterprising efforts in the contest with monopoly.
About 1,500 persons, it is thought, were present.
On the seats in front of the platform were perhaps
150 or 200 ladies, comprising members of many of the
principal families in the neighbourhood. Among
other gentlemen present we observed C. J. Mason,
Esq., Sampson Bridgwood, Esq., John Ridgway, Esq,,
William Ridgway, Esq., Edward Ridgway, Esq., J.
R. Bale, Esq., T. S. Bale, Esq., F. Morley, Esq.,
J. K. Knight, Esq., Timothy Dimmock, Esq., S.
Amos, Esq., W. Dutton, 'Esq., Mr. Abington, Mr.
Thomas .Green, Mr. Wm. Brownfield, Mr. Richard
Daniel, Mr. Hackvvoad, Mr. Tittensor, Mr. Duffort,
Rev. W. Ford, Rev. J. Fletcher, Rev. S.B. Schofield,
Rev. C. F. Vardy, Rev. W. Chambers, &c. &c.
The deputation from the Anti-Corn-law League
consisted of Colonel Thompson, Richard Cobden,
Esq., M.P., John Bright, of Rochdale, Esq., and
Moore, Esq., of Manchester. As these gentlemen
were successively announced, and introduced to the
meeting, there were repeated bursts of applause.
Mr. Ridgway was called to the Chair.
We are not using, says the Editor of the Stafford..
shire Mercury, the language of hyperbole, when we
say that the free-trade meeting held in this town, on
Thursday night, was one of which the Potteries have
more reason to be proud, perhaps, than of any other,
on any political subject, ever held in the district.
We allude not to the questions discussed, or the
character of the resolutions; but to the num-
bers present, the deep attention of the audience, the
calm argumentatioN of the speakers, and the unani-
mity that prevailed. The issue of the tickets of ad-
mission was necessarily limited to the capacity of the
room ; but such was the desire to be present, that
could a place thrice the size have been found, it would
have been equally well filled.

Early yesterday the inmates of 123, Leather-
lane, were roused by ti loud moaning, proceeding ap-
parently from the back part of the house. On lights
being procured and search made, a young man,
named Manoel Gabez, an Italian, who lodged in the
back attic of the next house, was discovered bleeding

upon the ground ; and from all that could be ga:
thered from him, he had in his sleep opened the
window, and endeavoured to reach the roof of an out-
house ; in so doing, however, his foot slipped, and he
fell a distance of twenty feet. The right shoulder

was found to be severely dislocated, in addition to a

slight fracture of the skull.
SURCHARGES IN THE RETURNS OF THE PROPERTY
AND INCOME-TAX.—On Monday week the Commis-
sioners met at the Town Hall, Ipswich, with the Sur-
veyor of Taxes, to hear the appeals of persons who
had been surcharged. Many appealed ; but few were
relieved. Ido not impugn the motives of the Com-

missioners, but certain ram that their judgment has

been at fault

The commonest observer can discover

cases most palpably unequal. The tax has already
operated against the charities of the town : subscrip-
tions having been withheld by persons compelled to
economise.—[We have received the foregoing from a
correspondent. The only way to remedy the grievance
is to compel Sir Robert Peel, by petitions, to repeal
the tax, or retire from office.—Editor of the Ipswich
Express.]
CHARITABLE CHRISTMAS BEQUEST IN BERMOND-
SEY.—Monday the Trustees under the will of the
late John Harcourt, Esq., the eminent tanner, of Ar-
tillery-place, Bermondsey, met at the Workhouse,i
Bermondsey. 1,0001. has been left at interest for
.ever, at the disposal of the Churchwardens and Over-
seers for the time being, to appropriate to 20 poor
widows who have never themselves received parochial

relief. The applicants were very numerous, and of
course the most urgent claims vs ere selected. In the
adjoining parishes many charitable donations will be
distributed previous to Christmas day.
FIRE AT MARBURY HALL.—A letter was received
by a gentleman in this city yesterday, which stated
that a fire broke out in the mansion of James H.
Smith Barry, Esq., Marbury Hall, Cheshire. The
letter stated that fires were lighted in ten of the rooms,
for the purpose of airing the building, when unfortu-
nately a conflagration took place in the Picture Gal-
lery, which contained a number of valuable paintings,
and which, before it was checked, destroyed several of
them. The fire, however, was confined to the apart-

ment in which it originated.—Cork Sonthernßepo- rter.
We are authorised to contradict a statement which
has appeared respecting the cause of the death of the
Countess of Denbigh. Her Ladyship expired on Fri-
'day evening from the effects of disease of the brain,
which had been in progress for months. She had
been confined to the house for two days preceding
that on which the accident alluded to occurred. Her
death, therefore, could not be attributed to fright
occasioned by witnessing it.
THE NEW TARIFF.—On Saturday last several hun-
dred fowls and turkeys were brought over to Brigh-
ton, from Havre, in the General Steam Navigation
Company's vessel the Lord Melville. They were re-,
markably fine; and some of the turkeys were sold in
Brighton market wholesale at 6s. each. A quantity
of them was sent by the train to London.
THE STRATHBOGIE AND AUCHTERARDER CASES.—
On Thursday the Lord President intimated to the
Counsel in the Strathbogie and Auchterarder cases,
in which Lord Cuninghame has recently given out
interlocutors and notes, that there would be a hear-

ing in presence of both divisions of the Court in the
course of the second week after the Christmas recess

—Strathbogie to be first heard. The pleadings will
be limited to one Counsel on each side of the bar in
both cases.—Scotsman.

TIIE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS.—A legitimist journal,
which passes for being well informed on the most
minute details of what passes at Court, makes the fol-
lowing statement :—" When it was in contemplation
to instal the Duke of Nemours as future Regent in
the Palace of the Tuileries, it was proposed to the
Duchess of Orleans to yield her apartments to the
Duke of Nemours, and to remove her Royal High-
ness to a small apartment in the pavilion of Flora,
close to that occupied by Madame Adelaide, the King's
sister. This arrangement would have the advantage
of giving to the Duke de Nemours a more spacious
apartment, and would likewise place the Duchess
Helene and her children under the eyes of Louis Phi-
lippe and the Queen. This application was first
made by a third person, to whom the Duchess com-
municated her refusal. When this fact was made

known to certain great personages, they reiterated
their proposal and their desires; but the Princess
Helene declared plainly, that too many recollections
connected with her husband had rendered those apart-
ments so dear to her, that she could not consent to
abandon them.' It was even added, and we guarantee
this fact, that she would not quit her apartments ex-
cept by force and by a formal order, but that she ex-
pected that her feelings would be spared that shock.
This determined language had the desired effect, and
the Duchess of Orleans occupies her ancient apart-
ments. The Duke de Nemours :continues to be as
reserved and as cold as usual. A demand of 1,000,000
of francs for the education of the Count de Paris, is to
be made at the meeting of the Chambers.—Paris paper.
DEATH OF A CONVICT.—Robert Moir (formerly a
merchant), who was convicted before the High Court
of Justiciary at Edinburgh, last week, for fraudulent
bankruptcy, and sentenced to transportation, has
since died from the effects of an illness under which
he had been labouring for some time before his trial.:
SUDDEN DEATH.—Monday, after Mr. John Ed-
wards, of Little Surrey-street, Blackfriars-road,
butcher, had dined with his family as usual, he was
about to take a walk to call on a friend, as he was
accustomed to do, when just as he had passed the
threshold of his door, he was suddenly seized with
a ♦iolent paralytic stroke, which, in an instant,
deprived him of the use of his speech and limbs. This
was observed by Mr. Fish, a neighbour of his, who
was passing at the time, when he caught hold of him,
to prevent him from falling, and he was soon conveyed
back again to his parlour, and at ten o'clock at, night
death relieved him from his earthly sufferings.
We have been informed that the authorities
of the City of London are desirous of receiving
tenders from persons willing to contract for cleans-
ing the streets w.t.tin their jurisdiction. The
gentlemen on whom that duty formerly devolved
left town for the season at the end of August, and
it is understood that they do not intend to resume
their onerous duties until after the close of the next
session of Parliament. In order to reduce the ex-
pense as much as possible, the Commissioners of
Sewers have already contrived to render several of the
streets impassable.—Times.
The tradesmen of Beccles have unanimously agreed
to suspend business altogether, on Monday, the 26th
inst.—lpswich Express.
FATAL ACCIDENT IN PANTON-STREET.—On Mon-
day Mr. Gell held an inquest at the Horse and
Groom, Whitcomb street, St. Martin's, on the'body
o 7 John Dunn, aged. fifty, cellarman to M . Stour,
wine-merchant, of 23, Panton-street, Haymarket.
By the evidence of Charles Waugh, butcher, it ap-
peared that on Thursday morning last the deceased
was standing upon the top of some steps, cleaning the
paint over the door of his master's hou: e. He en-
deavoured to reach one of the pillars on the right side
when he overbalanced himself and fell, striking his
head, but not with much violence, against the ground.
Verdict—Accidental death.