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were the cause then , as now , of our prosperity , and restrictive laws only retarded our commercial advancement . Mr . Lindsay mentioned some statistics of increase , concurrent with modifications of the Navigation Laws ; and continued : — " These were facts which they could neither gainsay nor overthrow . Let them take another period of still more recent date . They could not tell yet what the effect of the total repeal of the navigation laws would be , but one thing was clear—if they went to the banks of the Wear , they would find the shipbuilders more actively and busily employed than ever , larger ships being now built—ships better fitted for the open competition of the seas—than were built
before . He had heard it said that these vessels were built on speculation , but he did not believe such stories : and even if this were the fact , it would make no difference , for he understood nearly all the vessels were sold . This convinced him that , instead of the repeal of the navigation laws having done injury to the British shipbuilders and shipowners , it had done them a great deal of good , by teaching them to depend on themselves , instead of clinging to the back of the chair of protection . ( Applause . ) He admitted the hardship of existing facts . For instance , as the head of a large ship-broking iirm , he one day chartered two ships from Calcutta , one an inferior French vessel , and the other an high-classed British ship—the first received
51 . 10 s ., the latter SI . 15 s . per ton . But why was this ? Whilst the French ship could freely enter British ports , the English vessel could not enter any port in France without a differential duty being charged , far more than the difference in the freight . This appeared a great hardship ; but who paid the difference of freight ? The French people , on the articles of consumption ; it was therefore a question for them rather than us ; and he trusted their eyes would soon be opened to the injustice and impolicy of maintaining differential duties . But if this were not so , was England to follow the beggarly policy of France and Spain ? If those countries would not adopt our policy , were we to return to theirs—a policy which had brought
anarchy to their throne , ruin to their merchants , and destruction to their trade ? The eyes of Holland had already been opened , and she was following to a large extent our example ; and they might depend upon it , that in time other nations would see it to be their interest to follow in our footsteps . ( Cheers . ) He trusted , therefore , that the shipowners would banish from their minds all ideas of protection and reciprocity , which was but protection in another shape and under another name , and , making the best use of all theh * energies , advantages , and resources , he knew that the flag of England—that flag which has braved a thousand years , the battle and the breeze , and which everywhere had been the harbinger of
peace , Christianity , and civilization—would never be furled . ( Cheers . ) Let them , as it became them as Englishmen , move onwards , removing those clogs which pressed unfairly and injuriously upon their industry and skill . There were many things which might be borne in the days when they leant upon the State for protection , which , now that they were left to the free competition of the world , should be removed , lie had felt this , and as most of them were aware , he desired to enter the House of Commons in order that he might do what in him lay to remove the burdens which press upon the shipowners of England . Ho was sorry to say , he found the ordeal necessary for him to puss through to enter the senate of his country such as he
would not undergo . Ho hud occasion the oilier day to ask a plain man , but a great man- —one who would have honoured them with his presence that day had not unavoidable engagements prevented him—he had a . sked him who was to take the lead of the shipping interest in the House of Commons . That gentleman was none other than the man of unadorned eloquence , Richard Cobden . ( Cheers . ) He would read them part of a note which he had received from ]\ 1 r . Cobden , because that gave him reason to hope that that he would look after the interests of the Nhipowner . [ ' Mr . Lindsay read portions of the letter , in the course of which Mr . Colxlen mid : "Ak respects the removal of nil restrictions and
exclusive burdens from the shipowners , nobody will more heartily co-operate for that , end than myself ; but , to give a chance for the co-operation of J'Yee-traders , they must ; cease to invite us to listen to bleatings after protection . | It . would occupy too much of their time were , he to enter upon the burdens which ought to bo removed . On this point , he was not , satisfied with the eonduct , of the late Administration , who ought , to have accompanied the repeal of ( lie navigation laws by a removal of these fetters on their energy , and by a simplification of the maritime code , ho that ., instead of having fourteen nets to guide the shipowners , they might have ; hail one act , level to I ho meanest comprehension . There remained , however , various matters to which it was the duty of the
present (» o \ eminent to attend , Mich as the system ot consulate , abroad , the Trinity House , and the Dover and . Kamsgat . o dues ; and now that ( lie great general who held the oilier of Warden of the ( 'incjue I ' or In had gone to his rest , he could not help expressing his surprise that Lord Derby , the First Minister of the Crown , who liucl always said that he felt for the . shipowner and desired to Hen their burdens removed , should hnvo stepped into ono of tiieso , luii-dooM himself , and appointed himself to this sinecure of . 'fOOO / . a-year , the revenue for the maintenance < n" which is drawn from the pockets of the
shipowners of Kngland . ( llcur , hear . ) 11 would have better become him , considering the professions he had made , if , instead of accepting thatollico . he had abolished it . ( Cheers . ) Ho would only add oik ; word , and it should l »<> connected with iron shipping . They were aware Mint , twenty . years ago some persons would not believe that , iron would swim , uml it was n long time before steamboats were built , ot iron ; now then ; wero scarcely any of wood . He believed thiil in ' fivo m nix vears thorn would he very few ships built of . " ., wrloij ; juicl what a marked superiority I hat would give them ' . ' < iv i ^ h '<»\ iation which most interfered with them as com' - j-hiHiWr f ' . ^ lAmericu laboured hard to maintain the wipre-$ 4 * v <** \ r n T
macy of the seas , but we had now a material for building ships which America did not possess , and for which she would have to come to us . This would open her eyes to the impolicy of maintaining a duty of thirty per cent , on manufactured iron , for the freight and charges alone would be quite sufficient to operate as a protection to the British shipowner . ( Hear , hear . ) Several other toasts were proposed and speeches delivered , and the company separated .
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Major William Beresford will not easily be allowed to forget that he called the people a vile rabble . At the annual meeting of the Dunmow Agricultural and Labourers' Friend Society on Tuesday last , Mr . W . Beresford opened the proceedings by alluding to the objects of the society , and expressing the satisfaction he felt in taking part in anything calculated to benefit the poor . It had been stated in this county that because he would not submit to the insults of a hired mob at Braintree , he was not a friend to the labouring classes . That was not true ; there was nothing he would not do to promote the interests of such men as lie saw before
him come to receive the prizes , of the society ; but when men passed the bounds of decency as they did at Braintree , they were no longer respectable and excellent men as mechanics and citizens , but became a hired mob ; and it was because he was sure no such class was to be found at a meeting at Dunmow that be had so much satisfaction in coming amongst them . He urged upon them the good the society was intended to do them by promoting their comforts and stimulating their industry . ( A voice " Raise our wages . " ) He was afraid those who paid wages had not so much
to pay them with as they had , and if the labourer , by an alteration of the law , got a cheap loaf , he could not expect to have the same wages—if they had things at a much cheaper rate , and had nearly the same wages , they were in a much better condition than they were before . ( A voice , " I get only 7 s . " ) You are much better off , said he , with 7 s . now than with nine before ; but if that man had 9 s . he would want 11 s ., for a discontented mind is never satisfied ! [ What is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh , and Major Beresford ' s insolence is instinctive . ]
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A fire broke out on Wednesday at Sheerness , at the Clarence Inn . Strong bodies of men from the ships and garrison were soon on the spot , but the progress of the flames was so great that the artillery-men were compelled to pull down some houses to arrest them . One marine was burnt in his bed ; four or five wero missing on Thursday , and an artillery-man was killed by the fall of a stack of chimnies . A goods train went off the rails near Bigglcswade yesterday ; the guard jumped off and was greatly injured . Mr . Winstanlcy , chemist , member of a well known firm in the Poultry , committed suicide by taking poison in a cab yesterday . There was a fire at Dockhead yesterday doing serious ( lai ) i ! i"C to the premises of a draper in Thornton Street .
Maggs , the Somersetshire burglar , was on Tuesday committed for trial charged with two burglaries . The evidence was similar to that on which his companions , Sparrow and Hurd , have already been transported . Newport , the constable , captured the prisoner at his house lust week , just as he was in the act of escaping through the thatch : and deposed that on searching Maggs ' s premises ho discovered seven bags of skeleton keys , containing l . ' H ) altogether , concealed under the floor in a loft , and that lying with them was a pair of knitted socks , such ns housebreakers wear over their shoes to prevent , noise ; they were wet , and the fresh grans upon them clearly showed that they hnd been recently worn . A ( iovermnent ollicial in Bermuda was in the habit
some ; years ago of sending packages of arrowroot to the Duke of Wellington , out of kindness and respect , for which he used to receive notes from the Duke acknowledging the receip t , of the packages , and expressing thanks for them . The supply of arrowroot at Apsley House must have exceeded the consumption ; and its accumulation appears to have been inconceivably large , for tin ; Hcriniulii ollicial was surprised to receive a note , of which ( he following is a copy : " K . M . the . Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to — , and begs to inform him ( hat he thinks Ik ; now has arrowroot enoutrh . "
I n the report of the committee of the 11 ouso of Commons on the operation of the laws relating to friendly societies ( just issued ) , reference ; is made to investments by friendly societies into the ; National Debt-otlico . Sir Alexander Spearman , the Controller , stated in his evidence that his ollice has at present , no means of cheeking or verifying any sums transmitted by any society to him for investment , beyond u simple declaration tendered at the same time with the money ; that the interest payable is higher than that , which the <» overinnent receives "; that tlio societies might draw out the money , and the difference between the prico when sold and when invested would bo so much loss to the country , besides , the funds might go down ; Mint sums have seldom been drawn out when once invested with the
National Debt Commissioners , and it , is open tostmniso that ; the claims which ought t , o bo met from moneys so invested have been liquidated from other means , and so the capital which hears a very high rntn of interest , has remained untouched , to the prejudice of the public revenue . Sir A . Spearman agrees with Mr . 'I'idd l ' ralt , the rcj / ist r « i \ in his suggestion that a board should be formeil for the management of friendly societies . There are various re commendations with regard to the now hill to be brought , before Parliament , on the subject of friendly societies .
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liORD JOHN RUSSELL AT PERTH . Lord John Russell ' s hand has not lost its cunning , nor his heart its daring , since he boasted of the effect with which his party had aroused the voice of a people to overbear the whisper of a faction . If he has been asleep for the last five or ten years , he has re-awakened to the animated aspirations of 1831 . If he has not undertaken the post assigned to him by Sydney Smith , and has not placed himself at the head of the Channel fleet , he has , in terms at least , placed himself at the head of the " Democracy" of the country . " We are but copying his own
expres-. It has been the boast of the Tory party , that their function is not the hopeless enterprise of restoring Protection , but that of stemming the torrent of Democracy , headed , according to the Tory journalists , by Lord John Russell and Mr . Cobden . Lord John Russell says nothiDg for his supposed colleague , and Mr . Cobden does not yet stand as the avowed Danton of the new revolution . He may perhaps retain some aristocratic
scruples against accepting a post for which the ardour of his temperament has pointed him out to the alarmed but discriminating journalist . Speaking for himself alone , then , the less exclusive Lord John Russell accepted the terra . Thero is no alternative , cried the Herald , save Lord Derby or Democracy : " I am the Democracy , and the life of the next administration , " cries
Lord John , as " game" as in , the heyday of reform . Instead of repudiating a strong term for his somewhat mild form of the thing designated , he cherishes the name , boasts of it , revels in it , and flaunts it in the face of the alarmists . He evidently feels that he has got hold of the red rag which frightens the turkey-cocks in office . His Perth speech is a spirited manifesto , and the response which it has met , in the same sense , from tlie several sections of the Liberal press , may possibly keep " John" up to the work of showing that though not gigantic , lie is Y " strong enough for the place . "
Before wo can accord any adhesion to the views which ho enunciated , unexpectedly sensible and practical as those views arc in the main , we must record our most solemn protest against one passago , which odiously disfigures the commencement of his speech . . -, " I am , " bo said , " sorry that on the continent m Europewhether wo look to Franceto Geriniiny , or t ()
, , Italy , wo have little cause to congratulate «« rscl * J * upon this progress of civil and religious libertyshall find that the attempt which was made in lM ^ introduce wild licence in place of sober liberty tended , instead of fixing or extending freedom , t <> (<) ^ firm the claims of authority , and to make men rus
with willingness , nay , wiUi enthusiasm ami vehein < " < into flu ; urins of despotism . " 1 i ¦ , Jf Lord -John wen ; a man who weig hed "'• words , instead of putting them to ^ ctlifr Ml-Home dilliculty , ho could hardly have uttered aly remark no untrue , mul ho unbecoming to /// lS ^ in particular . 'Where was the attemp t j <> *'• ' hlisl . " wild licence in the nlaco ofHober liberty in parLicuiur . vv nere was me nm » 'i" , p » Wish " wild licence in the lace , ofHober lib /'"*
p Nowhere : No epithet befits that mmnua ><>» > ^ Mitt word false . We emi only excuse it on the h of extreme though tleHH .. e * M . ttave the Anfi ' incitedJacquerie here and tliiM-o in («*? rniaiiy . ¦ ^^ wjih iiotn , Hingle revolutionary movement tm ¦ ^ for its aim anything thai even bigotry- sn ' insanity , would call » licence , " The revolu <« i « JJ ( JovernmentH were , for the most \ mvl . con . » h ni ht iH to day , precisely for th j-. r . «•» " ^ their order , and Uieir Hobnety , with U "' ' ili | jiry corrupt , and licentiotiH conduct <>> . '' ll v < _ ()( them , in great part , through the ac <| nie » e < - ^ England . Can Lord John Russell any
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944 THE L E A D E R . [ Saturday ,
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , a 3 the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —De . Abnold .
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SATURDAY , OCTOBER 2 , 1852 .
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1852, page 944, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1954/page/12/
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