Star.
London, England, 1826-06-15 00:00:00

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LIVERPOOL-MR. HUSKISSON.

Speech of 11r. 'hammy, delivered in the Canning Club on the
Saturday preceding the election, in consequence of :us health being
drank:

Mr. CHAIRMAN and GENTLEMEN—Nawithstanding
some degree of fatigue under which I now labour, after
a rapid journey in this sultry weather, I feel that I
should not only be greatly wanting in my -sense of
duty to this society. but doing great violence to my
own inclination, if I could have be'n in Liverpool many
hours without seeking an opportunity of noticing to you
my acknowledgments for the kind reception which I
have had the konour to receive trim you in 1823,
when I first became a candidate for the representation
of this town. There is no imetilse of a weli.constituted
mind which it obeys with more promptitude and ala-
crity, than the desire to return thanks for kindness for
which it is not in our power to render any other re-
quital. But certainly the manner, the most distinguished
manner, in winch you have received me this evening,
will add greatly to the ohligations which I had already
incurred to the Canning Cl.lb. I am fully sensible that
I can have no title to the partiality which 1 have ex-
perienced from you, except a steady adherence on my
part, under all circumstances, and in all vicissitudes of
the country, to those principle, for the maintenance
of which this club was first united and formed. It is
impossible to recall to our recollection the di-tin-
guiahel name under which this club was first emb -died,
without also bearing in mind the principles which led
to its formation. Those principles, Gentlemen, whether
they have reference to the foreign policy of the country,
or to our internal situation, are not likely, perhaps, to
be c .IIeJ into active and vigor ,us display at an early
per od. Abroad there is nothing which seems to threaten
a renewal of the evils and hazards of' war ; and at home
there exists no spirit of combination against the laws
which is likely to disturb those institutions which form
the strength and the pride of this country. But, how-.
ever much we may feel ourselves relieved from the ne-
cessiry of now contending against those who opposed
your principles, either at the hustings or any other place,
still our principles remain the same. It is our, duty to
avow and cherish them at all times, and to be ready
again to call them into action whenever the occasion
shall render it necessary. This club was formed, I
believe, at the most awful crisis of the late protracted,
and then aoparemly desperate war. It was then that
you manifested an unshaken confidence in the resources
of the country ; it was then that you declared your
conviction, that with those resources properly called
forth, and properly directed by steadiness, parse-
verance, and energy in the councils of the State,
we should not only vindicate our own honour and
maintain our own just rights, but should finally
rescue the other countries of Europe from the
state of slavery and degradation in which they
were then held by Fiance. The first principle of your
club, therefore, was a fixed determination to meet boldly
the difficulties of the war. By adhering to that prin-
ciple'we became the liberators of the Continent; and
the name of England was placed on the pinnacle of
glory. When peace was restored, ditlisulties incidental
to the sodden return to a state of peace, after such a
lisng Feriod of exertion, cam: upon the country. If,
at the onset of your career, it became necessary to rouse
and direct all the energies of the country against the
pretensions of the foreign foe, at a later pertud (in the
year 1819) elf its of a different kind were necessary
to uphold the institutions of this country, to protect in-
dustry, property, and liberty itself, against the mis-
guided doctrines of some, and the daring machinations
of others, who would have destroyed all those bless-
ings. Teen you were as true to your principles, with
reference to internal danger, as you were magnani-
mous and firm when you had to opcose the less dis-
guised pretensions of a foreign enemy. And with what
success? Thank GOD, the laws are now respected and
obeyed. The measures of temporary legislation to
which it was necessary to resort to secure the peaceable
enjoyment of the Constitution have ceased to be requi-
site, and they no longer form part of the statute book;
but tbey remain a beacon for our future guidance under
similar dangers, and a warning to tin se who may, at
any time hereafter, attempt to substitute violence, and
faction, and revolution, fot the well regulated and tern-
perate exercise of the rights which the law has secured
to British subjects. The policy of these measures became
the subject of great contest both wi h barges out of
doors, and bet Ween the greatest Statesmen of Our time
in Parliament. Far different is our employ ment now.
We are frequently discussing subjects of less vital im-
portance, and certainly of less excitement, though of
great moment to the general improvement of the inter-
ests .f the country. In the discussion r. f those subjects
it was my lot, as it was my duty, in the responsible
situation in which the commands f my Sovereign had
placed ore, to bring forward several measures connected
with the commerce and industry of the country. Of the
policy of some of those measures individuals may form
different opinions. All that I shall now say is, that I
have brought them forward with the be t intentions to
promote the welfare of the country, with the most entire
conviction of their utility. and with the full concurrence
of all my colleagues. I silo Ad detain you long (and this
is not a fit occasion) were Ito refer particularly to those
treasures; hut there is one to which our worthy
Chairman has adverted, and m Well, I understand, has
caused a considerable degree t f excitement, and some-
what of an angry feeling among a p t of the freenun
of this wan. Gentlenneo, I allude in the combination
laws, but I trust that I shall find, ever in those who a:e
now the most irritated on this subject—an irritation
which I must attribute principally to insidious miste-
pf esentat tons—that feeling of justice which is natural to
every Englishman, and that I shall be heard before I
am cond• mnr d. This is not too much to ask from those
who confided to me the exercise of a most important
o trusof which it is now my duty to render an account.
In tendering that account to the fret men, I hope to be
able to convince even the most prejudiced that I could
have nu object in view, the attainment of which could
either injure their cause, or prejudice their interests.—
Gentlemen, on the subject of the combination laws, and
of their bearing on the cornfors and happiness of the
labouring classes, I own that I have a feeling of anxiety
to set myself right in the eyes of the public, not of Li-
verpool only, but generally of the whole country.—
( Loud cheering) —Nothing could give me 'greater pain
than to be supposed to be the persecutor and the op-
pressor of those who are most entitled to the pro-
tection of the legislature. At the time of the first
discussion in Parliament on tl.e subject of these laws, in
1824, I did not hesitate to declare, that my objection
to these laws was, that in their operation they were
unequal, and tf.at they could .not be impartially adorn
easaelesi. In principle, this unfairness did uut appear,

:cause the laws meted out the same ponisitment
to the masters as to the workmen, in the event of their
being convicted of engaging in illegal combinations.
rt)
But in practice they could net be equal; and for this
reason—that it was very possible for two or three MaS,..
tees, without the possibility of being detected, to com-
bine for the purpose of imposing conditions on a thou-
sand workmen, and to refuse them employment if they
did not acquiesce in their condition ; but that the one
thousand men could not, in their turn, meet and concert
together the terms on which they would tender Oeir
labour, without rendering themselves liable to detection
and. punishment. Ie addition to this consideration, 1
had a further inducement to join in the repeal of these
laws,thecause I theeght that they had a tendency to
keep alive irlitat:on between the masters and the work-
men, instead of that harmony and goad understanding
which, for the common interest of both parties, ought
to exist between those who purchase and those who sell
labour. It was from these, and other considerations
of justiee and expedieucy, that I was anxious to si e
the old Combination Laws tepealed. With these
f clings I attended the Committee which was hoti-
tined in 1824, in order to consider these laws. In
that Committee I had no -difficulty in stating my
general opinion, that labour ought to be among the
most free of all commodities, because it was that com-
modity which was at once the most general in demand,
and the most extensive in value—in fact, the founda
tion of the value of all other commodities. It was the
feeling of ali those who composed that committee, that
to attempt to interfere with the price of labour was un-
fair, so long as the parties who oere the subjects of
such interference confined themselves within those rules
which permitted them to set a value on their own
labour, without trenching on the same right in others.
The Committee re..ommeni!ed the repeal of all the old
laws, and the passing of a new one, founded on this
principle. Their recommendation was carried into
effect, so far as related to the repeal of the old laws;
but in 1025 the enactments of the new laws were found
to be ineffectual for their own avowed purpose. This
inadequacy was rendered more manifest by the state of
the country last year. Instead of the industrious,
honest, and peaceable labourer finding protection in
disposing of his labour as he might think proper, he
was compelled to give or withhold it, not according to
his own free will, or his own intere•t, but in obedience
to the dictation of clubs and committees—to the rules
and mandates of which he was forced to pay im-
plicit obedience, by every species of intimidation, and
often by open violence. What, for instance, about
this time last year, was the state of the adjoining
county of York in the west clothing districts?—
For many months together the whole of that population
were thrown out of employment—not because they
could not procure adequate and even high wages—not
because many of them were not desirous to work for
their wages—but because they were under the absolute
control of certain self-constituted clubs, managed by a
few artful agitators, who had formed themselves into a
kind of despotic authority, bearding and defying the
laws and Government of the country. When I saw these
bands of petty tyrants, not only refusing to do any work
themselves, but stopping the working of others, whose
families were starving, and whose domestic comfort, in-
dependence, and happiness, were destroyed, I ask you,
Gentlemen, was it not high time to attempt to find
some remedy fur such a monstrous state of disorder?
The previovs destitution which those proceedings had
brought upon the labouring class in the manufactur-
ing districts, I am afraid greatly aggravated the suf-
ferings arising out of the late stagnation in trade.—
I say, then, that no man who feels for the welfare of his
country, especially one who was charged by his Sove-
reign with the duty of watching over the trading in-
terests of the country, could hesitate to call on Parlia-
ment to institute an inquiry into the subject. But when
I made that call in March, 1825, and proposed that a
Committee should be instituted to ascertain the effects
of the repeal of the Combination Laws, did I state that
I wished to have the old laws renewed? No such thing.
I still continued to condemn those laws. But I stated
then, as I state now, my first wish to be, to protect to
the utmost every man in his undoubted right to dispose
of his labour where, to whom, and on what conditions
he should think proper, without being intimidated,
over-awed, or driven from so disposing of it by the
dictation of any other man, or of any other body
of men, who might attempt to interpose between
him and his employer. Upon this principle that Com-
mittee proceeded. It is the principle recognised in their
Report, and the foundation of the law,—a beneficial and
s-lutary 1 aw,which was passed in consequence of the Re-
po. t. Inexplicit terms, that law recognises, as I shall shew
on Monday, the perfect freedom of labour. It expressly
provided, that any number of workmen may meet and
conceit together the price at which they will agree to
sell their labour, and the hours which they will work,
and that they may refuse to work at all, unless that
price be given, and those hours agreed to. But it takes
care that those who bind themselves to one another by
these conditions shall be the only parties so bound, and
that they shall not, by violence or intimidation, prevent
other labourers from working for different wages, or in
a diffeient manner, if they she!' think proper. If this
be not the libel ty that belongs to Englishmen, I know
not what liberty i,„ I am as little disposed to acquiesce
in the tyranny of the many as the tyranny of the few;
and I never ss ill, whether to court favour with those
who may exercise that 4 ranny, or to court favour with
any class, disguise my public sentiments, or qualify the
view which I take of what is bast for the intetests of the
'country. I never will, to obtain a temporary triumph
on tsnoortby groends, or to prevent any clamour which
may be raised against joy public conduct (a clamour in
the present instance as unfounded as it is unjust), desert
those principles of public duty which ought to be held
sacred by every public man. These, Gentlemen, are the
sentiments which I shall feel myself called ueon to sate
to those who have objected to this part of my public
conduct. I am glad io find, so far as a few hours have
enabled me to foi in an estimate, that no other distinct
charge his been made against me. I am not sorry that
this particular imputation, however unfounded, has been
brought forward, because I wish my late constituents to
I believe, that, although at all times it will be my pride
and pleasure to attend to their local concerns, and to
promi-te whatever measure may be necessary for the in-
terests of the town and port of Liverpool, I never can
allow, that on questions of mare gene. al interest the p sr--
titular feeling or pi rjudicesof any one class of men ought
to be the guide and rule to govern a hlsmber of Periia-
ment in his deliberative capacity. I should maintain
this doctrine, Gentlemen, if I were simply a Member of
Parliament; but, at the same time, being one of the ad-
visers of the Ciosen, I should tolget the oath by which
I am bound to discharge the particular duties of my
own office, and promote to the best of my judgment

!the general welfare of the whole em pire, f I could allow
that the partial views, or wisp° ed interests of my con-
stituents, ought to be the rule for my guidance, not on
questions of local, hut el national importance. There-
fore, Gentlemen, with those who obj -cc to my conduct,
Whatever may he their displeasure against me, I must,
as a candidate for Liverpool, be candid and explicit. I
shall du everything in my power, as far as explanation
goes, to conciliate their feelings; but I cannot go fur-
ther—l cannot compromise my own Owe of Public
duty ' • and I would rather retire altogether, than go into the 'louse
of Commons bound by my constituents to support principles and to
advocate claims which, if admitted, could not fail to undermine the
security of industry and prosperity, and, ultimately, to subvct: the
happir.ess and comfort of the middling and working classes so-
ciety. Gentlemen, it only remains for me to thank you fur the
kind indulgence and attenti with which you have listened to this
explanation of my principles and conduct efh the occasion in which
they are called in question ; to express a hope that you will honour
me with your attendance at the hustings on Monday ; and finally.
with your leave, to propose a tuast—" Success and prosperity to
the Canning Club."

LIVERY OIL, JUNE IS.—The Rig! t Honourable W.
HUSKIISSON and General (lavas-sit were chaired this aftrumon.
The former was attended by a very great number of the must
respectable inhabitants, merchants, &c. of bo:11 political parties.
SOUTHWARK ELECTION.—WrmasoA r (I. %sr D y.)
At the dose of the roll yesterday morning, the
High Bail;ff came, when M. Calvert and Sir Robert
Wilson were elected Members of Parliament for the
Borough of Southwark.
Mr. CALVERT advanced, and conglatulatel the
electors upon the termination cf the conteo, and beg-
ged to offer his most sincere thanks for the honour thcy
had done him by placing him in Ihe elevated situa'ion
to which he aspired. He would eit.iette,,ur to perform
his duty to their satisfaction, and the labour he should
consider a pleasure.—(Cheers.)
Sir Itosear WiLsos pdvanced in front of the
hustings, and was received .with the usual manifesta-
tions of applause. At length, he said, the knell of
opponent's perseverance was rung.—(d4 laugh.) He
had attempted an Herculean task, without power to
execute it. Ile (Sir It .beet) wished that the Committee,
had shewn a little courtesy towards hini and his col-
league, by informing them of Mr. Polhili's intentions
the preceding evening, as it would have lessened ex-
pense, an) saved much inconvenience to many parties.
However, he was anxious to forget and forgive, shake
hands and be friends. He begged to renew all the
' pledges which he had before given them, and in con-
clusion, offered his sincere and hearty thanks be their
continued support during the struggle:—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. HILL (in the absence of Mr. Polhill), regretted,
that the duty of returning thanks had not fallen into
abler hands. In answer to what had fallen from the
gallant General respecting the length of time which had
elapsed before communicating to him, that it was not
Mr. I'olhill's intention to continue the contest, he (Mr.
Hill) begged to observe, that it was only known by the'
Committee at a late hour the preceding night. With
regard to the state of the poll, he would make a few
remarks. The whole number of votes polled during the,
present election, amounted to 3,121, of which 2,041 were
split votes, and the remainder 1,08') were plumpers. Mr.
Polhill had 1,342 votes,out of which were 829 plumper!.
This was indicative that he had been supported by a
considerable number of electors—(Cheers and hisses).
The Committee had to labour under great disadvan-
tages, from the imperfect state of the books ; and in
one parish, which he would forbear naming, they
had refused to give the list of voters. 'faking the
votes as they stood, Mr. Polhill was jot.tified in
believing that he had a majority—(:Yo, no, no).—
One word respecting Mr. Calvert ; that Hon. Gentleman
and Mr. Barclay could no: agree, and where was the
wonder, since, according to the old adage, '1 Two of a
trade never agree"—(Laugister and hisses).—It was also
asserted that a mixture of beers was not good for the
constitution, but there never had been any objection
made to the union of beer and tobacco. Mr. Polhill and
Mr. Calvert might have gone on happily enough toge-
ther, and been each serviceab!e to the electors, the one in
eodeavouring to take tl,e duties off beer, and the other
from tobacco—(Laughter and cheers).— He (Mr. Hill),
on the behalf of Mr. k'olhill, offered his sincere thanks
for the exertions made to secure his return, and on a
future occasion, if he presented himself, he thought he
might calculate on a victory.
Mr. C....lives: then proposed the thanks of the meeting to the
High Bailiff to be given by three cheers from the electors, for the
impartiality and gentleman-like manner in which he had presided
Over the proceedings.
Sir It. Wason seconded the motion, and pronounced so eulogium
on the character of the High Bailiff, whom he should be happy in
future to rank in the list of his friends.

The Man BAILIFF then returned thanks, and the crowd, after
giving several hearty cheers, dispersed.
CARLISLE, Jura 32.
The election for the City Members is this moment concluded,
the friends of Mr. James having, after an arduous struggle, suc-
cumbed. The state of the poll at the close was as follows—
Sir James Graham . 264 IW. James, Esq. . 139
Sir Philip Musgrave . 259
The two former were returned.

Sir J. R. G. Graham has just been chaired with great eclat. Sir
P. Musgrave very judiciously dispensed with this part of the cere-
mony.

Yesterday, a Court of Directors was held at the East
India House, when the undermentioned ships were thus timed,
viz.—Cornwall and Lady Kentiaway, for Bengal direct ; and Win-
theists, for China. Be afloat COth instant, and sail front Gravesend
at the expiration of twenty days from the day of their coining afloat.'
Monday the remains of Lieutenant Faassa were
removed from Dorchester for interment in the family
vault at Langton Long Blandford. The funeral pro-
cession passed through the town in the fo}lowing order :
About forty men as guards; *the band; the body,
attended by four officers as Fall bearers; the Colonel of
the regiment (brother-in-law of the deceased), as chief
mourner ; a horse of the deceased's, led by two officers ;
the rem tinder of the troops in the barracks, with two
Officers and the Chaplain. The procession was met at
the bottom of the town by the hearse, two mourning
coaches, and four private cart Liges.
Sunday about six o'clock in the afternoon, three chil-
dren, two brothers and their Sister, were together on
the sloped bank surrounding tie P. iltentiary at Mill-
bank. The )oungest boy, at length, was dipping an
oyster-shell in the water which separates the prison
from the bank, and sipping out of it, when he lost his
balance, and fell into the water. Nearly at the same
time, his brother and sister, who made towards the spot,
rea al,o into the water. At this critical moment, Mr.
John Law, of New Compton-street, Soho, came up,
when, without a moment's hesitation, he descended the
bank, and plunged in fir the purpose of saving the
children's lives. Alter a minute yr two, he brought
up the youngest boy, :Ind then the second boy, and, al-
though much exhausted, he succeeded in catchipg the
female child, who had .iirc.t,iy suilit twice, and was
rising for 1 tobably tii, la,t rtruggle. Their benefactor
conducted to the Feathers' prealie house, on Mill-
bank, where he was rare.lied and 'supplied with an en-
tire Garage o! Urtss. ►