17 NOVEMBER 1849, Page 4

Zbe Vrobinres.

A meeting of the Protectionists of West Surrey, held at Guildford on Saw. day, was characterized by much diversity of counsels. The formal objects of the meeting were explained by the Chairman, Mr. Thomas Lyon Thur- loe, to be, first, to consider whether it was advisable to contiuue the ceee mittee appointedeabout six months ago for the purpose of watchiag abill called the " Local Acts Assessment Rill," expected to be brought has Par. liament by the Government; and secondly, to discuss the present disastrous condition of the agricultural interest, with a view to the adoption of some measures for its amelioration. The Chairman, with Mr. Evelyn, MP., Mr, Henry Drummond; M.P., Mr. Rowland Goldhawk, and Mr. Weller, were the chief speakers. Mr. Thurloe, dwelling on the special pressure upon the agricultural interest by the excess of local taxation, declared his concur- rence with those who thought it advisable to get rid of local hurdene both in county and town— The burdens which seem most oppreseive are the poor-rata in the country, and the window-tax in the towns. He also spoke of a tax in towns to provide lard for extramural interments. The poor-rate consists of extraneous payments, per. rnanent charges and casual charges: the first two items; amounting together to abont three millions sterling be would throw on the Consolidated-Fund; the other item, namely, the casual charges, amounting to about five millions sterling, he would defray as at present, but according to more equitable rating than now ex- ists. The window-tax, and the propesed tax for extramural burials, amounting to about two millions, he would also charge on the Consolidated Fund. Thus he would charge about five millions altogether on the Consolidated Fund; and lie would meet this, first, by a reduction in the expense of collecting the revenue; a- condly, by a reduction in the general expenses of the country; and, thirdly, by an import-duty 011 all foreign products which do.not now pay. He would exempt from this import-duty the Colonies. Few persona were aware of the immense amount spent ins collecting the revenue. The total sum expended in the collection of Cus- toms, Excise, Stamp-duties, &e„,, deducting the drawback contributed for the Su- perannuated Fund, was 5,870,8321. By a reduction. of this enormous sum sad the other Model he had mentioned, much more would be realized than would meet the additional charge upon the Consolidated Fund of 5,000,0001.

Mr. Weller testified to the distress of tenant-farmers and labourers— Ha would indeed be very sorry for the labourers to fall into the state they wee in in 1829. He regretted, however, that it was his conviction that that state was not now far distant. The greatest pleasure of his life now was to get away from haute; for when at hone he saw scenes which would rend the heart of any man, even though it were made of stone. That mereing, Meets men had been to him for work ; fourteen of them had not struck a.stroke for two months. Hew long must such a frightful State of things; coetinue? He would ask the Negit- trates, if there were aeypresent, if they Amid be surprised when they louder men poaching and steeling turnips and potatoes? How were these pose person else to live? The menewee had peen to him that morning said," We mew did go into the union-house; we are willing to work"; and he, knew that thee were all honest good workmen, who woule do a fair day's work for a ha days pay ; and they wanted no more. Nothing had ever before so mueli,dietarbedfis peace of mind as the fact that he could not give them work, aettetiel 111:111"14ect of so doing He had been called an ignorant farmer; bee eighteentleeeff ten of the farms of Surrey would, be found to be in worse cultivatia.101111 They were told to go on improving. There was Lord Kiniteineeseysngse Ate must use guano." He had used guano, and not onlerehatelemeetieelealle* everything to increase the crops upon his land. Lord Kinnithel weelesettlell him auything he had not done. He had not a single acre but Ile had grubbed up his old hedgerows, and done everything; gvItteI oaird said he must grow double the quantity of corn he ileevegtotA woe, see wished his Lordship would tell him how? . . . Could the,ygullalura whot,htlefill of farming was not injured? There was not one single thing their 1cieek* Robert Peel had not pulled down for them. (Shouts.of execration.) That I* I never can forgive. (Renewed shouts.) God keep us from treaeherou$ (Cters.rar.1 Robinsonbinson. came forward ue a pree egle

ei,elgh farmer;' to declare , that high farming was all very well evith protection, but ruin without 1t-

Even agricultural gentlemen themselveaideuttlenough consider, that ewe' addition to the ordinary expenses, by eneyieempetee ebeineatiefeeture delis, sr by artificial inauures the increase uf crop.mtwdbibnir expenditure. In 'fact, reduction of poor, been talked of would be but a drop in th*ccEff 7

to talk about them. Give back protection, and'e eryi in s Mr. Drummond, on a first request to favour the ;WO

Mona, declared off: "I have no opinions to give you

yours ": but at a later period he rose, and, as "he did' what the meeting was for,"—feeling a "great awkwarrsi

thing," he criticized with characteristic -vivacity and 1

ings of all the speakers who preceded him. He pre

Suwarrow u,e1 to say that he had one tongue for tliggii9-51°19Atilci ftiulE89"fr$ a droll enigmatic exordium— the rest of the world; and so be (Mr. Drummond) he 'in fffsitnee. they were in his owe, pri-eate roamefeekiniteeele eettubbelestueinbiii"Ddlireoe'31hbu.?Ililrif and another for his enemies. Heeheuld probably tiabittral heeeteg the J11 6/n451W d

oi tiros

173's - nn 11 11.0.F.' andisipenssipti of dins islialike ,of See speeobeseand talk of ...„.P.--tiontstspoeVee-reifmthidlad-pieeeinufatailster Realand such swift. epithets .'e &maraud wrilubbevmeeting-seitilaregittpadd which were excessivelyint- 014, wkiegtionikasehedi Seisneelt SiniRdbartsPeelitc acts and his mode of acting. idN kng,thswirehe speaklarinin boitleaaring-Sir Robert for treating 'the 114."',:i:„„makgeralsettiniosfsotheolooritrejoiodi Way imwhich no man ought to treat rthee„Tsaiinetraytea akalishbuldtentbmit to; but he did not join in condemning WisirhieFreetnidtomeastitegoivsef ' , • i weer since the passingwf sibs Reform Act, free trade was inevitable, because ottomans madam majolitisofIthe House the representative of the manufac. prim iDtereSt,;,and they werenoWastriving to put down the agricultural interest „„- trines more andertheirifeete -ft was no use going out to fight an enemy until with what weapons he warn armed. Suppose an address were moved in be House of Commons taker-Majesty todissolve Parliament—it would not have a ma. Suppose itswermpropbeed,sthen, to metals the fax on foreign corn— 'hat would not get twenty. sSupposiog he wermto propose in the House what he sed bees contending fors fois.yeavssi itnportAuty on all foreign produce—he ould be met with theslennetsi,44 What! that only a bread-tax under a new

That wasavbat Wbuld bmertid; both wet no sneh thing—it was not a

ofea44u, tied ,eseno sii s Mr. .Druramond,liintrednefitether justification of Sir Robert Peel's Free-trade nrreferentatbithust.dernands of the Colontesfor removal of duties, nd for free navigation,. 54 siethi•iColonies were riot to have import-duties was upon them, it warlievideitlittlitrthey would bring- in a monstrous quantity if corn. In fact, if thesasittiport)doties should be gained,- (the Colonies being sieumt from them,) letrtheritsematroharge him with deceiving them if they still found the price of corn remained low. sr they were the Citritet;theyeottld settle matters, no doubt, very much to heir own satisfaction:Ant they' Were not. They had other people to deal with, and the immediate question was, " What is to be done?" . . . . He did not ask chat they should like to be done, but, as men who read the newspapers and knew what was passing around them, to tell him what practical immediate measure would give them relief. He was very sorry they had continued the attacks upon Sir Robert Peel in the manner they had dope—(not that he was going to extenuate 'abet Peel did)—because Sir Robert. Peel had attached to him friends who stood by him out of spite to them, as any man would stand by his friend more in a time of adversity than in a time of prosperity. The fact *as, that the practical Istatesmen in the House of Commons ware theband that-sat-at the back of Peel. "No man fit to guide a party sitswith us."

Goldhawk—" Except Sir Robert Peel, did you say?"

Mr. Drununond---" Nos Sir Robert does not sit whit us. He sits there- [pointieg to an imaginary gangway)—and here sit we; the most importaut por- tion of the Rouse, beyond all doubt ; but we do not happen to have the best heads amougst us. We cannot form a party. It is very fine to say, 'Oh, I'm an independent Member; I'M not tied to any party !' That's all stuff—you can do nothing as an independent Member. It is not necessary you should pledge yourself hotly and 'Soul, or sign a bond, butyou must be avowedly connected with one party or another ; and, unless that party has a head, it is of no use whatever. Fancy any pm...Jon who-sits in the position of the Opposition getting up and mak- ing about-fide Motion: I venture to say that three persons out of every four as good as 'he will not go with him, out of pure jealousy. It must be the case where men are altogether on an equality.' We none of us like to be led by others no cleverer than ourselves; and the then in the House of Commons are not bigger fools than other men. I should therefore 'advise you to adopt some general view, embody it in -a resolution or petition, and stand to that. Make it as general as possible- and then intnist it to thisseMembers who agree with you, to work it out in the 'best way they can. That is' the only way to arrive at any practical result. Adopt, then, if you will, i strong petition in favour of an import-duty, and leave it to them to get an import-duty in the best way they can; although it

may not be precisely the way in whichyou would prefer it." -

31r. Drummond concluded with a referente to the topic of the National Debt; and, warming with his theme, he wound up-with an eetempore plan to pay the debt off. "The whole expensesr of the country are but 14,000,000/s while the in- terest of the debt is 28,000,0001. What is the use of peddling at the'14,000,0001., and leaving the 28,000000/. untouched . . . . How long will the oppreesed class- es of England,'Ireland, and Scotland, (for the burden of labour and resporisibilify in reality rests upon them,) consent to be answerable for the principal or interest of this monstrous debt—a debt incurred to establish and Sustain ttsmpatioti.(for wrong is ever more costly than right)—a debt the offspringOf the folly and knavery of an age, and now asked to be sustained by the sweat and blood Of centu- ries? The whole world subsidized eventually would 'be inadequate; for this debt is constantly increasing,. and admittedly hopeless in payment. There is however, a legal, moral, and perfectly sanatory. remedy." He would now tell them what thatIBIlledy was, and it rested with the people of Englaod whether they would have this safe remedy or Whether they would not. Put it In the same way as if it were a private debt. He had knowmgentletheir think, themselves extraordi- narily honest if they paid their father? debts, and would it not be extraordinarily honest in the poor man to pay his grandfather's debts? (Laugh(er.) Would they pay tuitional debts contracted in King Alfred's time ? Certainly not. And 'Yet meth of the present debt was contracted a hundred and fifty years ago. Well, is it tote paid out of the poor man's pocket; or out of 'the rich ? Out of the rich, °femme. 'Then it most come out of the land, and that by means of equalizing ..thadand-tai—a tax not touched since the days of Charles the Second. Many 4iCSmntgho be done at one particular time, and could never be done again, ana Alts watikait-of them: • In consequence of the conunotions on the Continent, men ,lakiiii4oPaetid,their money there; and supposing 3,000,000/. were eealized" by an itheitiand-tax, and were employed in baying up Stock at the rnar- IketlewathViffeetlrvetild be, that the Funds would immediately rise,- and that elviiterins the interest on capital falling. A vast number of tenant-farmers, -WS well'itS landowners, bad mortgages upon their crops, and borrowed capital; and they Worfid then have less interest to pay. That would give then' great and im- mediate relief; --((heers.) It had been said that the landlord ought to drain the land: but thby could not—they were as poor as mice. If, however, they could get money atone per -cent instead of four, they could drain; and as the Debt di- minished year by year the taxes could be diminished. This was the safe way: it wnisgrednal,lastattinitted ; that Could not be helped. If it were net done in this vats thadoctrintant Cobbett :and Tom Paine, now much circulated, soon would 'blow up the-Debtoomehovvoritither. 'Early in thapiloOneitings,4 Mrs-Bradshaw proposed that a board of tenant- flirt:nett slioirldflan fetinlititer.the manner of the Liverpool and Mooches. td2r Phithiliesisibtrebriiiitkratch over their interests, to obtain informs- tio —0-#.12#dicat 'er Members, and generally to support fbe liure.TPIS 'suggestion was approved. It was resolved .fl;}too appointed to watch the "Local Acts Assessment Bill" j?p kilo., with the purpose added to its original object, of form- 4griculture on the plan of the Chambers of Commerce owns. In reference to the second object of the meet- _Roved, that as they were all agreed upon the necessity ection, the Queen be humbly addressed with a petition rad a Parliament." This proposition was seconded, and sAnittetn% on Xt. Goldhawks suggested, that „the petition sent feogintlatiasettaaLlSeeiety. in Lencip4ohouldqhioslottecl. ThJs icies Was deemediMuipapretreatteinti,hut MreDtttmosond.ohipeteldwiri it917,,

' Drummond—n That petition is drawn up by George.Fredterieltealohast ; Mr. Guldhawk—" It does not matter by whom it is drawn ups- if we adopteii as oar own." . ,f1

Mr. Drummond—" No, certainly not; but if you adopt that you will put:yaws selves into the hands of George Fiederick'Young, and make yiettraelVeSit catspaw to carry out his objects. 'You, calling yourselves a Conservatave and Protectiouist society, are adopting *measure which the head of yeur party in theMouse Commons has said he will not sanction. What will be thepraetical end afi this? Suppose Parliament wiiediesolwed and the Ministry turned oab; vibe:iota:be Tour Minister?' Except ritylviend, Mr. Goldhairk, I do not knovamnifiim the Thme Kingdoms. Of course, there is no sort of objection to presenting w petitiew kotAç Queen. It will go to the Secretary of State, and he will write back to acknow- ledge its receipt; 'bat the 'Queen will never ace It." (A lades)

Mr. Gold hawk—" Then pray, Sir, What is your remedy? ("' Oh, oh t",froirS Drummond.) We have already petitioned both Lords and Votument le vain, and the next constitutional proceeding is that of memorializing thaQieeh to give fhb country an opportunity of returning men to Parliament who will accord with our views and endeavour to restore protection; an act of justice Midi we all concur Ws indispensable, and without which, I can tell the honourable gentleman, the in- terest of the Debt will not long be paid." Mr. Weller—"Lord John Russell long ago told us to agitate; and unless we do. I am afraid' we shall get nothing." Mr. Drummond—' A gentleman has moved that we should return to a system of protection: that is all very well, but this thing of Mr. Young's is a shipowner's petition, and it advocates that we shall have nothing brought in here except in British bottoms. It is against that the Canadas rebel, and if we insist on that we shall lose the Colonies. Let us leave out any reference to the Navigation- laws."

Mr. Goldhawk—" Will not their repeal lessen freights and increase our diffi- culties? "

Mr. Drummond—" Then, you want to tax the Colonies?"

After some conversation, it was agreed that Mr. Young's petition should be discarded, and that the committee should draw up a petition simply in- sisting upon the necessity of a return to protection.

At the meeting of the North Petherton Agricultural Association, the chairman, Mr. Thomas Dyke Acland, took occasion to declare, that any idea of forming a Government on the principle of Protection was a perfect farce. Sir Robert Peel had seen what the country could bear, and what it could not; and therein lay his great capacity as a statesman.

Mr. Acland felt bound to state his belief, that they had not the slightest chance of recovering protection or getting rid of the rates. What then is to be done by the farmers; assuming that prices will be much lower in future than they have been? He feared that henceforward farming could not be carried on without capital: the industrious farmer without it had better cultivate a small portion of land well, adding to his small means his own labour; and the landlord who had not available money would do well to diminish the extent of his land to put the rest in an efficient state as to buildings and drainage- But Mr. Acland did not think that rents which had been fairly Bled would fail; for, after all, rents were fixed more by tenants than by landlords.

A Conference on the Freehold Land Societies' movement was held at Birmingham on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a public meeting on the.

evening of Tuesday; at both of which Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright attended, gave their adhesion, and Made speeches. Mr. Scholefield, M.P., presided. The friends who were present at the Conference were a very large assem- blage of persons from all parts of the country who have participated in the Freehold Society movement, as originators of local societies. These gen- tlemen related their success in each neighbourhood, and discussed the means of harmonizing and extending their action all over the kingdom. Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright took part in these discussions, and approved of the suggestion made from many quarters to establish a periodical in aid of the movement. Mr. Wright, secretary of one of the Birmingham associa- tions, referred to the registration appeal now before the Common Pleas, in- volving the question whether a man holding a house and a separate piece of land in a borough can have votes for both the borough and the county; but Mr. Cobden deprecated allusion to the topic while the matter was under the consideration of the Court of Common Pleas. It having been agreed that a committee of the Chairman, Mr. Bright, and Mr. George Thompson, M.P., should draw up resolutions for the Conference to adopt at a subsequent meeting, Mr. Toulmin Smith suggested that one resolution should declare that the Freehold Land Societies ought never to be mixed up with political parties. Mr. Bright, Mr. Thompson, and others' seeing objections to this proposition, Mr. Smith was induced, though with reluctance, to withdraw it. In the course of Wednesday's meeting, it was formally agreed that the Birmingham Society should be nominated as a Committee of Council for conducting and promoting the movement; and that a journal should be established in its aid.

At the public meeting on Tuesday evening, Mr. Cobden informed his audience that he felt the necessity of support out of doors for the political plans which he endeavoured to have carried out by the House of Commons. He insisted on his topic of national economy, at home and abroad; and declared that he came there to take part in a movement which is a prac- tical scheme for extending the franchise, only as a means to an end—as giving the people more control over their wasteful expenditure. Mr. Bright beheld in this movement an appeal to all the virtues of the people —to their industry, sobriety, prudence, their gentleness and peaceful for- bearance. Mr. Charles Lushiugton, M.P., declared himself a warm sup. porter of the movement; which to his mind was certain of success. Reso- lutions in unison with those of the Conference were passed.

Mr. William Sands Cox, Professor of Surgery at Queen's College, Birming- ham, and Senior Surgeon at the Queen's Hospital there, has forwarded to us a letter addressed by him to the Directors of the Midland Railway Company, con- cerning an extraordinary course of pettifogging conduct they have pursued towards Mut in relation to medical services performed by him for a sufferer on their rail- way. The leg of a poor man named Higgins was so crushed by 'a railway-car- riage that the local surgeons declined the responsibility of the e.ase. The Super- intendent specially sent for Mr. Cox, and forwarded him to the place of accident in a carriage attached to a luggage-train for the purpose. Mr. Cos performed a difficult amputation of the poor man's leg, and attended him afterwards till his recovery. The man brought an action for damages; which was compromised by the Company in court; and at the settling, the counsel expressly assumed that the Company was liable for Mr. Cox's claim. Yet they refused to settle that claim-27/. On his subsequently bringing an action, they raised the defence that their Superintendent had excee.ded Ins authority in retaining Mr. Cox, and that the surgeoo bads," not been called in under a written agreement according to law under the seal of the Company." Thistechnical point was decided in their favour, and they proceeded to enforce the formal decree of the court entitling them to their eusts. Mr. Cox wrote a letter, placing the whole facts before them, and asking if it were possible they meant so much aggravation of their original

injustice; yet stating that if they did mean it, his condition in life did not render it necessary that he should incur the degradation of asking the remission of the costs as a favour. The Company stood upon "the bond"; Mr. Cox paid the costs; and he now lays the fact before the public.

At the York Ecclesiastical Court, on Thursday senuight, the case of the groom Norris tied his wife, otherwise Miss Doris, the alleged lunatic, came before the Cheneeflor. The young lady's mother was the plaintiff. Her proctor prayed for the admission of a libel in which all the facts of the case were pleaded. But Mr. Bedews proctor for Norris, opposed it. His client had been married a second time, uti the 29th October, by licence, at Peuietone; Mrs. Nerris's mother has no interest to promote a came fur nullifying the marriage, as the yonngelady.is now of age, ami was when she married; there had been no commission to inquire Into her stale of mind, and no guardian appointed by the Coate of Chancery or by the law Mr. Doris. Ile .produced affidavits proving the second marriage by Norris aid ity the clergyman who officiated ; and prayed that the suit should be dis- /Memel with costs. The Judge said, that the second marriage rendered any pro- ceedings on account of the first useless, as, supposing the first marriage-set aside, the plaintiff was still in the same position, as the second marriage still remained; and he therefore felt inclined to dismiss the defendant. But, at the urgent prayer of Mr. Beinehard on behalf of the plaintiff, he gave until the next Court-day, the 29-h, for the purpose of enabling them to satisfy themselves of the correctness of the etatements made in the affidavits.

Mr. Compling, the Chief Constable of Essex, has died from gun-shot wounds. infleted as he was entering his own house at Saffron Walden. On the night of the 31-1. October, Mr. Campline, was parting from a friend, and had turned to the street-doer, when a gun was dieeliarged from the opposite side of the road, and rnauy slims entered his legs. The assassin was not discovered at the time. Mr. Cempleet had suffered such a shock from the wounds that amputation could not be resisted to; and hesurvived only a few days. Benjamin Pettit was arrested on suspicien, and sent to prison. An inquest was begun on Saturday last. Many circum-tences were then related tending to implicate Pettit. On the 31st Oeteber he was seen cleaning a gun-barrel, and in the afternoon a shot had been heard: this took place at a beer-shop near Mr. Campling's, and from which any pereen might get into a garden opposite the constable's house, and fire over a Wall. A dog belonging to Pettit was been on the spot after the murder. .Pettit was at tile beer-shop that night a short time before the attack was made. Foot- marks were found fruit the beer-shop to the garden, and they corresponded with Pettit's shoes; and other minute circumstances of the same character were men- tion'-d: there were also foot-marks in the direction of Pettit's house from the garden. There were three sizes of shots taken from Mr. Campling's legs; a shot- fi5k was found at Pettit's, with four sizes of shot in it—three corresponded with those taken from the wounds. A witness stated that he had heard Pettit threaten to injure- the deceased; Mr. Campling having, apparently, caused his punishment in some way. Up to Saturday, neither the gun Our the dog had been discovered. Several of the witnesses who knew Pettit answered in so reluctant a needier, that it was evident they were not relating more than they could pos- sibly avoid, or were even stating what was untrue.

The counties of Northampton and Bedford are infested with a body of burglars, who work in gangs of six or eight. When they intend to rob a house, one of the number visits it in the daytime, on pretence of selling pins and tapes, reconnoitres the place, and a,scertaine the strength of the household. On the night of the 1st instant, the farm of Mr. Jeffries, at Bolnhurst, was entered by five robbers, who were disguised, having coverings over their heads with eye and mouth holes in thein. They carried off money, watches, and other property. Three men were Arrested on suspicion next day.

...lattice Broom, carpenter, of Helmer Green, near Great Missenden, in Bucking- hautehire, quarrelled with his wife, and beat her in the presence of their son, a boy twelve years old: the boy took hi s 'nether's part, and told his father if he did not deetet he would stab him. The father did desist, but soon afterwards again quarrelled and renewed his violence: the boy did stab his father in the side, in- Baling a wound that has been pronounced 'rental.