The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONTiON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 6, 1841

if disposed of at a fair price, find a market? No
foreign market eau be relied upon at all, and our do-
mestic markets are prostrated because the manufac-
tu:.ers find their business embarrassed continually by foreign
competition. Were those manufacturers sufficiently protected,
the difficulty would be removed almost immediately. Will our
farmers look at the matter dispassionately, and lay aside their
prejudices while they are considering it ? It seems to us that
they would soon perceive that they have as much interest in
high protective tariff as any other class of men in the country,
and also that until we obtain such a tariff it is impossible to
ebsain any substantial relief. A domestic market, or none
worth having, are the only alternatives presented."
and then observed that unless we adopted some vigorous
measures the knell of England as a manufacturing
country had begun to toll her last hour.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN having read a communication from
the Secretary of the Young Men's Anti-Monopoly As-
sociation, inviting the attendance of the Delegates to a
meeting of that society to be held on the evening of
July 7, at which Mr. George Thompson had promised
to speak, declared the present meeting adjourned to to-
morrow at eleven o'clock.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
STANDARD.—The arguments for and against
the tariff have been rendered so familiar by the debates
in the House of Commons, and are so well understood
by the country, that we may be'excused any particular
reference to the able speeches of the Earl of Ripon and
Earl Stanhope. The speeches of Lords Clanricarde
and Monteagle, however, challenge a remark from their
tendency to mislead. The financial measures of
the Government are praised by these Noblemen as
indications on the part of her Majesty's advisers of
an inclination to the theories of the free-traders.
Such praise is insidious, insulting, and injurious to
its objects, and we believe unjust. It is injurious,
because it is calculated to shake the confidence of the
country in the present Ministers. Priam said the ene-
mies of Corinth had no quarrel with the Corinthians,
reminding every one that in the great war Corinth
had deserted the cause of Greece, So say the
Whig-Radicals. The Queen's Ministers are not
opposed to free trade, ini.ending to create an im-
pression that Sir Robert Peel and his colleagues are
disposed to abandon the national interests. This is
injurious, but it is also unjust. Ministers may
not be opposed to free trade as such—who is ? But
surely there is nothing in the tariff, or in any
other of the measures of the Ministers (except the
inadvertent error in the matter of metallic mines),
to justify the hypothesis that they have en-
rolled themselves among the disciples of the free
trade school. They have reduced some duties because
they were found unproductive—others in order to re-
lieve the peope—a third class because they were ma-
nifestly unnecessary, In short, they have, to ase the
words of one of their censurers, but partially applied the
principles of free trade ; that is, they have relaxed re-
strictions that free-traders would relax but for
reasons not only different from, but opposed to,
those for which the free-traders would relax them—
witness the timber duties. In this there has been
no servile submission to the system of free trade, or
any other system ; and :he conduct of Ministers,
therefore, affords no ground to fear, or to hope, that
they will go further. They have shunned system
throughout.

STATE OF TRADE.
(From the Manchester Guardian.)
MANCHESTER.—There was little change in the market
yesterday. With the exception of the warns of well-
known spinners, suitable for the Russian market,
which were rather more inquired for, there was no im-
provement either in demand or in prices. At the
same time, [there did not appear to be so much depre-
sion of feeling amongst the manufacturers as was mani-
fested last week. The mercantile letters from the East
Indies were considered decidedly encouraging ; inas-
much as, instead of a commercial convulsion at Cal-
cutta, they bring accounts of a fair and steady, and not
altogether ttnremunerating business ; and hopes are en-
tertained that, when the present month is over, some
improvement may be looked for here.
ROCHDALE FLANNEL MARKET, JULY 4.—There has
been but a very indifferent market to-day; not many
buyers have attended, and the demand for flannels has
beeia much more limited. During these last three or four
weeks, while the pieces in the Blackwater Market have
met with a ready sale, the large manufacturers have not
been at all busy, but have many goods on hand, and are
laying them up fur the winter season. Wages are ex-
tremely low, and profits anything but remunerative.
HUDDERSFIELD MARKET, JULY s.—There was a very
thin attendance to-day of manufacturers ; but buyers
were more than usually numerous; yet no improve-
ment either in demand or in prices took place. In short,
there is no change to report. The same dull, lifeless,
ruinous state of trade continues, without any appearance
of:amendment. Perhaps there was a slight improve-
ment in the business at the warehouses. The long-en-
during patience of the operatives excites admiration and
amazement amongst those who are aware of the extent
of their privations.

SUPPOSED ATTEMPT ON THE
LIFE OF HER MAJESTY.
LATEST PARTICULARS.

Six O'CLOCK.
The Privy Council, as stated in our Second Edition, met at
one o'clock, and remained in conference until nearly a quarter
past four, at which hour Lord Lyndhurst left, and was
soon afterwards followed by Sir James Graham, and
the other members of the Council. lip to this moment we
were unable to gain any information founded upon official
authority," as to the result of the investigation ; as the " powers
that be at the Home-office, petty and important, one and all
maintained the strictest reserve with regard to the decision
come to. However, notwithstanding their ridiculous
attempts at mystery, we are enabled to state, upon
authority worthy of the most implicit confidence,
that the Privy Council have decided upon committing
him to Newgate, on the simple charge of misdemeanour,
and he was accordingly ordered to be taken back to Tethitl-
fields Bridewell, and on to-morrow to be brought from that
place to Bow-street police-office, where the depositions will
be finally read over, and the witnesses bound over to
prosecute. It was also intimated that bail would be taken
for his appearance on the charge of misdemeanour,
at the Old Bailey, himself in 5004, and two sureties in 2501.
each. After the dissolution of the Council about
twenty persons were assembled in front of the Home-
office, and about five o'clock, the prisoner was
brought out and placed in a cab, in which be was removed to
Tothill-fields. His appearance excited the contempt and
rididicule of the few spectators who were assembled, and
the degraded and crest-fallen expression of the wretched mis-
creant himself, was quite enough to act as an effectual antidote
against the morbid craving atter notoriety to which alone such
an insane attempt could be attributed.

ELECTION COMMITTEE.
(THIS I)AY.)
SOUTHAMPTON.
The Committee met at the usual hour; the Hcn. J. S.
Wortley in the Chair.
Mr. HEARN informed the Committee, in reference to what
had fallen from Mr. Shiel, that he looked over the debate in
the House of Commons, and the first time the memorandum-
book was spoken of was on the 30th of May.
Thomas Barnes was called and examined—ls a voter for
Southampton Voted at the last election for Lord Bruce and
Mr. Martyn. He hired about thirty men. He hired them
for the purpose of protecting him, because he was beaten by
the dock-men. He was not desired to hire them. They pro-
tected him in going to vote. He afterwards saw Mr. Mackay.
Mr. Mackay gave him 81. to pay them. He did not get any
more. Is a publican. He sold a barrel of beer before the
election and one after. Mr. Cheeseman paid for them.
Thomas Perkins examined—Voted for Lord Bruce and Mr.
Martyn at the last election. Had some colourmen with
him. Did not hire them. Paid them a few shillings out of
his own pocket. There were about 32 colourmen. He gave
some of them 10s. and 15s. and 1/. He did not find any money
in his pocket that he did not expect to find theie.—( A laugh.)
He got a cheque afterwards upon Maddison's Bank. He found
it at home before him. The amount of it was 29/. and some
odd shillings. He never inquired who sent him the cheque.
He did not expect it wiien he paid the money out of his own
pocket. Cannot say why the precise sum was 291. and • some
odd shillings.—( Laughter.) Had always voted for the Tories,
because he believe it to be the best side. There might be one
or two voters among the colourmen.
Mr. Henry Fricker examined, voted at the last election for
Lord Bruce and Mr. Martyn; is at present returning officer
for Southampton ; took no part in the election except to
vote ; was in the Dolphin on the day of nomination ' • Mr. Steb-
bing asked him to go into the room op stairs; he saw Mr.
Joseph Ball, and Mr. Mabson, and Mr. Mackay there ; an ob-
jection
was made to his being
.present, and he left the
room ; saw Lisle below stairs on that day ; he
was very busy ; saw Wren going to the room as he
(witness) was leaving it; does not know if he went in ; recol-
lects that John B. Luce was in the room; did not compare any
lists with Mackay ; Luce came into the room after him ; he left
Luce in the room ; did not receive any money ; there was a
cheque in his name in Maddison's bank ; did not know that
such was the case till he read the evidence before the late Com-
mittee ; his name was improperly put in the cheque ; he gave
no authority to have it done; the cheque was for lb& ; he
never made any inquiry on the subject.
William Selwood was next examined: Is a hairdresser, living
in Southampton • voted for Lord Bruce and Mr. Martyn ;
took an active p4ll. in the election ; did not employ any person
at the election ; did not receive any money from Mr. Stebbing
or any other person.
Cross-examined: Knows Mr. Wren; heard Wren say
that he was offered 300/. by Mr. Baker, if he (Wren)
withdrew his objections to voters, and gave what in-
formation he knew respecting the election ; that was
in Sir. Pike's shop. Mr. Pike was present be be-
lieves. Knows the ward of All Saints. There were between
thirty and forty voters unpolled in that ward. He cautioned
Sir. Moodie against Mr. Wren, before he heard him state that
he was made this offer.
To Mr. BAKE a—Wren did not withdraw the objections.
John Bennett examined—ls a voter of Southampton, voted
at the last election for Lord Bruce and Mr. Martyn. Lived for
a lung time with Mr. Oke. Mr. Wren was at Mr. Oke's
office occasionally to sign notices of objections. Knows that
chairmen were emplo) ed. Does not know how much they
were paid.
Jeremiah Pratt was examined, but there was nothing im-
portant in his evidence.
Edward Howell, a publican and voter of Southampton, proved
that 25 persons dined at his house previous to the election.
Mr. Cheeseman ordered the dinner, and paid for it. Mr.
Wree canvassed him for Mr. Mangles, and desired him to take
the money from the Conservatives and vote for the Whigs.
Ott his cross-examination he stated that he had never told
this conversation to any person before last night. He did not
know to whom he told it last night.
There being no other witnesses in attendance the Committee
was about to adjourn, when
Mr. HARMAN one of the Whig Committee who was acci-
dentallyHe stated that the Whig party
bad 630 promises on the c 60 might be
present was
doubtful. There were a little over 1,200 voted at the last
calletnvas- book, of who
election, and the Conservatives had a majority of over 90. He
believes there were 60 of them bribed by the Conservative party
because they voted for them. The Whigs spent- 2,250/.
Thinks that was more than what woutrldetn
oivegr.
Doe
the legal
snot
Qetxpebenlisee,%
Believes the most of it was spent in ea
more than ten were bribed on the Whig side. Believes that

—and that they were determined to place the
responsibility on those who had caused the evil.
—(Cheers.) Sir Robert Peel knew well the reason
of the distresses of the people, and with that knowledge
he had almost excluded the article of food from the
tariff.--(Loud cheers.) Every thinking mind would
feel the injustice of such a course ; and if violence
took place Sir Robert Peel, with such facts staring
him in the face, would have no right to complain.
' Something had been said yesterday about the disgrace-
fulness of there being 'no House on Monday. To his
mind it was a great relief. He could net express tha
loathing and disgust with which he had read the debate
of Friday night, filled as it was with base, lying pretences,
of sympathy for the people. Sir James Graham had de-
clared that if he really believed that the repeal of the
Corn-laws would remove thelpresent distress, he would not
place any selfish interests in opposition to it. Sir James
forgot his memorable words in 1827, when be declared
that when this country presented the spectacle of a people
supplicating for bread, then would the people sweep
away titles, rank, and station. That was treading upon
dangerous ground. if, in violence or contempt of
the law, the people should attempt in England,
as they had done in Ireland, to obtain by force that
which, when sought by legal means, had been de-
nied them, he trusted that the conduct of the working
classes of this country would present a contrast to that
of the people of France in 1789. Although we had our
Buckinghams, our Peels, and our Knatchbulls, he trusted
that England would never show her Dantons or her
Robespierres.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. G. THOMPSON rose and addressed the meeting as
follows :—I have already vindicated the conduct of the
Executive Committee in proceeding cautiously to the
consideration of practical measures. Standing before
the meeting, not in the character of a member of that
Committee or of Secretary, but only as a Delegate re-
presenting a large portion of my suffering fellow-coun-
trymen, I will now venture to state plainly to the meeting
the course which I have marked out, for myself.
We are assembled in the metropolis of England, which
is the centre of the commerce of the world, to survey
the conditions of the industrious classes of our country-
men. That condition is one of unprecedented misery,
destitution, and helplessness.—(Hear, hear.) Yet we
can point to no awful visitation as the cause. No earth-
quake has shaken to their foundations our once flourish-
ing towns and cities—(Cheers)—no tempests have de-
) stroyed our ships—no invading army has devastated our
shores—no withering blight has consumed the green
herb of the field—no pestilence has winged it noiseless
' flight unseen through the land. Save where we are
waging unholy and aggressive wars (which at any
, moment we might abandon, and with honour and profit)
we are at peace.—(Cheers.) A hundred and fifty mil-
, lions of human beings bow to our sceptre upon distant
shores, and labour, or would labour, for our enrichment.
Our friendly Alliances embrace almost every civilized
power. Our own soil turns with riches both above and
below the surface. Our people are pre-eminent for skill,
for industry, for invention, for enterprise, and for purse-
verance.—(Cheers.) Each one of the vast mass carries
in himself the incentive to exertion. No intestine civil
feuds have sprung up to suspend the operations of peace-
ful labour. We love our Queen.—(Great cheering and
waving of hats.) Within are all the elements of pro-
duction, and around us the most favourable outlets for
the fruits of our ingenuity and toil. And yet, with all
our capital, and all our credit, and all our dominion, with
all our power of production and consumption at home,
and all the facilities we possess for trade and commerce
abroad, we see around us poverty, starvation, dis-
affection, and despair, and hear the bitter wailing
of the hungry, the idle, and the dying.—(Loud cheers.)
How is this ?—(Hear, hear.) Whence comes it that
where riches are most abandant there should be the
most helpless poverty ?—(Hear.) How is it that the
people who inhabit this fertile island, and might besides
ransack this whole globe for the means of subsistence,
are dying of hunger ?—(Hear.) How is it that mul-
titudes of men, who can build ships and palaces, and
construct docks and railroads, and fabricate every
article for which any part of the world has been
famous either in ancient or modern times, and who are
still willing and anxious to be employed, should be
perishing of hunger and covered with rags, and giving
up their breath in hovels, and sheds, and green fields—
should be sunk so low 'as to command the pity of the
savage, whose habitation is a wigwam, whose covering
is the skin of the bear, and whose food is the raw flesh
of the prey he has destroyed ?—(Hear, and cheers.)
I will boldly answer the question I have put. It is the
spirit of monopoly which has done it all.—(Cheers.)
Political,power is monopolized, and we are in chains.—
(Loud cheers.) The green earth around us is monopo-
lized, and we are turned into a desert.—(Tremendous
applause.) The Court to which the people should ap-
peal is converted into a den of monopolists.—(Cheers.)
The wretched, unemployed, starving victim of land-
lording monopoly, appeals from the man who has starved
him in the country, to the same man upon his bribe-
bought seat in Parliament, strong in the possession of his
ill-gotten wealth in the country, and stronger still in
town, fortified by the laws he himself has made, which
he calls upon a standing army to enforce.—(Great
applause.) Yes, we gather up our country's woes, and
lay them all at the door of monopoly. Charge not those
woes on heaven, for the earth has been given for
the profit of all.—(Cheers.) The law of God is holy,
just, and good. The care and providence of God are
universal. Read the mind of your God in the sun which
shines on all—in the showers which descend on all—in
the overflowing bounty of your mother earth—
in the benificence which feeds the raven, and
clothes the lily, and watches the sparrow when
it falls.—(Cheers.) Charge your own poverty and
that of your haggard wives and little ones upon the acts
of those who have robbed you of your patrimony, and
turned you unpitied into the street. It is the huge sto-
mach of monopoly that demands the bread your chil-
dren are crying for.—(Cheers.) It is the avirice of mo-
nopoly 'that has grasped the land, on whose produce
you should feed.—(Cheers.) It is the hand of
monopoly that has turned the key upon the corn
of other regions, and made the preferred blessing a
mockery and a curse. I rejoice to find myself in an
anti-monopoly meeting.--(Cheers.) This is an anti-
starvation meeting—au anti-insurrection meeting—an
anti-robbery and anti-murder meeting.—(Cheers.) Re-
member your position. This is a crisis. If monopoly
lives, our country dies.—(Cheers.) Monopoly has passed
sentence of death upon the commerce, industry, and pros-
perity of the nation.—(Cheers.) That sentence is in
process of execution. Will you see the fatal work com-
pleted ? A word to you my countrymen. This demon
has robbed and starved you ; but you have power to
starve the demon.—(Cheers.) Will you do this ?
Will you support the injustice of which you are
the victims ? Have you the spirit of self.demal ? If
you have, the power is in your own hands—a pure,
peaceful, irrepressible, omnipotent power. Do you
believe you are taxed unjustly, unequally—(Cheers)—
and to support monopoly ; if you do, then quietly leave
the law to take its course. Abandon every taxed article that
you can do without, and let your goods go to pay the
Income-tax and the assessed taxes. The law leaves you
the choice of paying in goods, in money, or in your person.
The payment of money is your own act. The taking
of your goods is the act of the Government. Let them
go.—(Loud and continued cheers.) I should like to see
the Government try to. rind purchasers for the goods of
5,000 persons who had refused to give the tax-gatherer
his demand in money. Offer no resistance. Reproach
not the agent of the Government ; bar not your door
against him ; let him enter without obstruction. Gentle-
men, this does not come from the Committee-room ; it
comes from no Council Chamber ; it comes unprompted
from my own deliberate thoughts. I have firmly re-
solved that until this law, which we all detest, which has
cramped industry, robbed the poor because he is poor,
destroyed our trade and commerce, and made us
a bye-word and a reproach among other nations,
and is leading other countries which would not
only be peaceful and friendly but beneficial,
to adopt retaliatory. measures, and is every day
rendering our condition in all respects worse and
worse. I determined that until this law is repealed,
utterly and entirely, the course I have marked out shall be
my course.—(Cheers.) This is my practical measure.
—(Cheers.) If our Committee should sit till Parliament
rises, and re-assembles, they can submit to you no
measure either more practicable, more peaceful, or more
potent than that which I have now marked out for
myself.—(Cheers.) This is all I have to say to
you this morning. I am persuaded I have
uttered nothing that is illegal.—(Hear, hear.) I
advise you not to combine, or to do anything that, even
by a forced construction, or a Tory construction, which
you know is an exceedingly wide one—(A laugh)—
might bring you under the notice of the Attorney-Ge-
neral.—(Cheers.) I commend the counsel I have given
you to your own hearts individually. I call for no formal
expression. Take what I have said with you to your
own homes. Take it into the country. I say not ; don't
talk about it.-- (A laugh.) I don't advise you to conceal
from others what you mean to do yourself. I don't tell
you to make it a secret among the people
of Coventry, and Wolverhampton, and Manches-
ter, and Paisley, and Glasgow. To-night's Sun will
give my resolution to the world, and to-morrow's
Sun will proclaim it on its face to the extreme ends of
the island. Sir, what I have said—l have said ; and I
will abide .by it.—(Loud cheers.) If gentlemen you are
honest in your desire for action ; if your are sympathetic
in your feelings of compassion ; if you are bold enough
to adopt a measure certain of success ; if you hate :he
Corn-laws, believe them to be unjust and pernicious ; if
you believe them to be but half as bad in principle,
and practice as you have stated them to be, then you
will go and do likewise.—(Cheers.) And if you do
this, then that which you could not wring from the Go-
vernment and Parliament by all your warnings, remon-
strances, petitions, and supplications, you will force
them to give by the adoption of this individual, homely,
quiet, fireside mode of action.—(Loud cheers.) Then
will your country smile—the blessing of the perishing
will be upon you; and God, even our own God, will
commend the devotion and self-denial you practiced.
Mr. MORGAN here intimated that they should meet
again this evening at half-past six o clock, when the
Committee would take into its consideration any sug-
gestions which might be off'ered to them. No definite
resolution, however, had yet been come to by the
Committee, as to the course which it might
be advisable hereafter to adopt. No answer had
as yet been reeeived by the Committee to the application
for an interview made to Sir Robert Peel. When
an answer was received, they should be better able to
decide upon the course which it might hereafter be pro-
per to pursue. •
Mr. G. THOMPSON then called the attention of the
Meeting to the following paragraph in an American
newspaper, the Poughkeepsie Eagle
WHEAT.—A correspondent of the Rochester Democrat
calculates from information that he has, that there is now upon
the ground, and growing, one-third more wheat than there has
ever been before in this country, and that thus far it pro-
mises well everywhere. The next question that arises is,
if there is no deficiency abroad, where shall the rich
crop, which might of itself add so much to the wealth ! I
of the country,• and give so 'much relief to farmers, -1 i

100 persons received direct bribes. Thinks between 200 and
300 were bribed directly and indirectly. There was an exten-
sive system of treating.
The Committee then adjourned till one o'clock to-morrow.

COAL MARKE

Ships arrived since

r. d.
Adair%
Cheater Main
Holyweil Main
New Tanfield Moor l4 0
Old Tanfield l4
Ord's Redheugh l5 0
Pontop K indsor l5 0
Ravenaworth West Hartley 17 0
Townley...
Wylam
Walla End Elm Park l6 6
Walls End Hedley l7 3
Walls End Killingworth
W. E. Braddyll'sHetton :20 9
Walls End Haswell. :0 3
Walls End Hetton 20 3

r.-(THIS DAY.)
[stmarket.day, 30

d.
s.
Walls End Lambton ..... 90 6
Walls End Morrison
Walls End Russell's Hetton 2,1 6
Walls End Stewart's ' 0 £1
Walls End Whitwell lB 9
Walls End Caraduc '2o 6
Walls End Kelloe 2O 6
Walls End Adelaide ... l9 9
Walls End harrington Tees 16 6
Walls Etcl Bowburn
Walls End South Durham Is 9
Wal s Ea,d lees
Blythe
Howard s Netherton Main 19 0
South Elton . ... l7 0

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
(THIS EVENING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SrEARER took the Chair at Four o'Clock.
BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL BILL.

Mr. MUNTZ presented a petition from Birming-
ham, praying that the petitioners might be heard by
themselves, their agents, or Counsel, against the Bir-
mingham• School Estate Bill.

On the motion for the second reading of the Bill,
Mr. MUNTZ said that he would oppose the second
reading until the petition, which he had just pre-
sented, was taken into consideration by the Committee
on the Bill.

After some conversation the Bill was read a second
time, and ordered to be committed.
NATIONAL FLOATING BREAKWATER

COMPANY.

Captain PECHELL moved the third reading of
the Bill for incorporating this Company.
Sir C. DOUGLAS opposed the motion, on account
of the late period of the session.
After some discussion, the House divided, when the
numbers were—
For the third reading
Against it
Majority
The Bill was then read a third time and passed.
POOR-LAW.

Mr. WALKER presented a petition from the
Guardians of the Bury Union, praying for modifica-
tions in the Bastardy clause, and other portions of the
Poor-law Act.

There never were within the memory of man sc
many failures as at present in the city which he
represented, or so great a decline in the two most
important branches of trade in that city, viz., the
silk trade and the watch trade. Never has there
been so much destitution among the working classes.
He was unwilling to trouble the House with any
lengthened details on the subject of the distress
which prevailed in Coventry, and he should content
himself with reading an extract from a communi-
cation which he had received from a gentleman
well informed on the matter. (The Honourable
Gentleman here read the extract referred to,
in which it was stated that the operatives
engaged in the watch and the silk trades
in Coventry were almost totally without employment,
and were involved in :the deepest distress.") The
Noble Lord, the Member for London, and the Right
Hon.' Baronet at the head of the Government had
each alluded, on a former evening, to the condition of
the country. The Noble Lord, the Member
for London, admitted the existence of severe
distress, but stated that at that period of the session
he was not prepared to enter into any consider-
ation of the means of relieving it, save a re-con-
sideration of the Corn-laws. The Noble Lord
had not stated to what extent he intended to
carry the views he entertained with respect to a
change in :the Corn-laws. But he would tell the
Noble Lord, that if he adhered to the proposal he
had made last Session of only reducing the duty
to Bs., such Ca proposal would afford little or
no relief in the present state of the country.
If such a proposal had been brought forward fbur
years ago it would undoubtedly have afforded
considerable relief; but he believed it would
be utterly inadequate to meet the evils un-
der which the country now suffered. He
had also heard the speech of the Right Hon.
Baronet at the head of the Government with ex-
treme sorrow. He felt exceedingly anxious that
the Right Honourable Baronet should bring for-
ward such measures as he (Mr. W. Williams) could
conscientiously support, because the Right Hon.
Baronet had the power of fully carrying out any views
he might adopt to their fullest extent, a power which
had not been possessed by any Minister of late years,
The Right Hon. Baronet not only admitted the ex-
istence of great distress, but he admitted the truth
of almost all the propositions of the Honourable
Member for Greenock. Those statements were
of such a character as to call upon any Go-
vernment to take into their immediate con-
sideration the means of affording, if rot permanent, at
least temporary relief. The only answer given to
those statements by the Right Hon. Baronet was, that
it was now the Ist of July, and therefore too late in
the session to consider the subject. In his (Mr. W.
Williams's) opinion no period ought to be too late to
take such a matter into their most serious considera-
tion. The Right Hon. Baronet said that the
measures which he had already proposed were
his measures for relief. Now, these measures
were, first, the Corn-laws, which made the
starving millions pay 50 per cent. more for their
bread than was paid by the working classes
of other nations with whom they had to compete.
His next measure was the income tax, which was to
take four millions annually out of the pockets of the
suffering people. The next was the tariff, which, if
the trade and commerce of the country had been in
its ordinary position, would, he (Mr. Williams)
would admit, have offered some relief, but
it would not do so in the present state of the
country. The next measure was the Poor-law, by
which it was proposed to continue the Poor-law
Commission, at a cost of 20,0001. a-year to the coun-
try, an expense which was admitted to be unnecessary
He considered the means proposed by both the
leaders of that House were inefficient to remove the
distress of the country. The Right Hon. Baronet
complained that the resolutions of the Hon. Member
for Greenock were vague and indefinite, while he ad-
mitted the ruinous state of the trade of the
country. All that his Honourable Friend wished
was, an inquiry into the distress of the country,
because he had not the means of relief him-
self. He properly considered that belonged to the
Government, and that the Government would not
listen to any suggestion of his. His Hon. Friend
therefore left that' to the Government themselves.
The Right Hon. Gentleman also complained
that the Hon. Member for Whitehaven had not pro-
posed any plan of relief. If the Right. Hon.
Baronet wished for his (Mr. Williams) opinion as to
what would afford relief, he would give it, though he
was sure it would not be adopted, yet he hoped it
would find favour with the Secretary for the Home
Department, because he would not travel out of the
doctrines which he had often preached. His
suggestion would be, that all corn, of every
description, should be admitted into this
country duty free, and that all duty on the
raw material of cotton and silk should be re-
moved. He was aware that many on his side of the
House who considered the subject, were of opinion
that the repeal of the Corn-law would remove all the
evils which now overwhelmed 30 many millions of
people ; yet his own opinion was, that they should go
much farther and repeal the malt-tax, beer having
now become one of the necessaries of life. He would
also propose a duty of 3d. a pound on sugar, and he
had no objection to give the colonies a protection of
15 per cent. He should further propose a duty of
3d. on coffee, and a duty of thirty per cent. on tea.
This would not be so very large a recuction from the
present taxation of the country; by it the means of
life would be so much reduced that the same amount
of income would go to a much greater ex-
tent.—(Hear, hear.) He proposed also to take one-
third from all payments from the Exchequer
to all persons employed under the Crown, -with the
exception of common sailors, from whose pay he would
take nothing. Nor would he reduce the pay of sol-
diers, because it was an experiment which it might
not e very desirable to try. From all others he
would take one-third of what they received, and that
would give the Government a much greater amount
than the taxation he proposed to take oft. If
the Government would adopt these measures,
it would not 'only relieve the present dis-
tress, but infuse into their manufacturing and
working classes an energy and action that would re-
move the present distress, would give them work, and
in relation to that work would enable them to procure
not only the necessaries but the comforts of life.
When they looked at the vast amount of money which
was taken annually out of the pockets of the people—
an amount very little short perhaps of 100,000,0001.
sterling, they could not he surprised at the
present state of distress. Those Members might be
astonished to hear him speak of 100,000,0001. But
they must recollect that the taxes paid to
the Government were 55,000,000/. ; they must
also ;recollect that the amount paid for tithes,
Chureh-rates, baptisms, marriages, and burials, for
poor-rates, highway-rates, county-rates, and bo-
rough-rates, and above all they must look to the
amount paid by the working millions to the landed
Aristocracy. 'They must look also to the amount
paid to the West India planters. Such an amount
of taxes would eventually produce a state of things
which it would be frightful to contemplate.
He believed that taking the average of the shop-
keepers instead of making anything they sustained
a loss. That he was convinced was the case at the
present moment. He was satisfied that if any
one would consider the trade cf the country, they
would sustain him in that opinion. As he said
before, all this was mainly attributable to the Bill of
1819. He would tell the Right Hon. Gentleman that
the measure he introduced in 1819 was the
foundation of the evils of the country, and those
evils would go on until there would be a
state of things too dreadful to describe. The
Right. Hon. Baronet at the head of the Home
Department had admitted that distress existed, but
in addition he had stated that if he believed the re-
peal of the Corn-laws would be attended with good,
he would sacrifice his own interests. But to that state-
ment he added that any alteration in the Corn-
laws would produce the worst results. Since
that period a great change had taken 'place
in the opinion of the Right Hon. Baronet, for there
was a time when he thought not only that the Corn-
Laws ought to be repealed, but that every facility
should be given to the admission of foreign corn.
[LEFT SPEAKING.]

DISTRESS OF THE LABOURING
CLASSES IN LANCASHIRE.

After all that has been said of the appalling
destitution of the population in many parts of the
country, we fear the intensity of the suffering
endured is but little known, even by those mpst
acquainted with the painful circumstances which
have recently been made public. We have a
statement from Accrington, in Lancashire, contain-
ing the particulars of above fifty cases of poverty
and famine, such as we had not expected to meet wtth
in this kingdom. We insert one case as a specimen
of the mode of living to which many honest and
industrious men are driven :—" had been out of
employment three months. One day be found a dead
calf on the dunghill belonging to Y , a farmer, at
Accrington, who said if he wanted it he might have it,
as he was out of work. He took the dead calf from
the dunghill, and cut it in two parts ; one half was
eaten in his own family, and the other half he gave
to a poor person named ." This is merely a
specimen of the report from this ill-fated town.
There are many cases of equal horror. To live on
boiled nettles with a little meal, to eat the flesh of
animals which have died of various diseases, to have
all their children out begging, is a common state of
things in the town and neighbodrhood of Accrington.
From the township of Oswaldthwistle, in which Sir
Robert Peel has considerable property, the accounts
are also very distressing. 'We have particulars of a
family of eight persons, whose earnings for the last
eight weeks amount only to 205., and whose assistance