TIG HALIFAX MARCH 18, 1843. FBEE MIL No. XXIX. Price One Penny, And now the time in special is, by privilege, to write and speak what may help to the f urther discussing of matters in agitation. The Temple of Janus, with his two controversal faces, might now not unsignificantly be set open: and though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple. Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter. Her confuting is the best and surest suppressing.— MILTON'S AREOPAGITICA. PEELIANA. A book entitled Sir Robert Peel and his Era, makes us acquainted with several curious particulars in the life of oor Premier, and corrects some prevalent errors respecting the means by which he came into the world. It has long been a fixed conviction of the tory aristocracy, that Sir R. Peel had no grandfather, an opinion which has given rise to the riddle, Why was Sir Robert Peel's father like a solecism in grammar ? — Because he was a relative without an antecedent. By the researches, however, of the author of the volume referred to, it is put beyond any r^ isonable doubt that Sir Robert Peel has not been an exception to tbe ordinary fashion of mankind, and that he really was furnished with a grandfather, just like other folks. Indeed, instead of having come into the world by so short a cut as a father and mother, and there an end, the subject of Sir Robert's descent is so copious, that sixteen pages are filled, under the head of " Sir Robert Peel's Birth and Parentage." Now in the Peerage not a tenth of the space is given to the lineage of the Percys and the Howards, but the anti- quarian researches, so far upwards for the discovery of I he Peel grandfather, are necessarily somewhat diffuse. The next curious fact brought to light is, that Sir Robert Peel has rightfully an e at the end of his name. " If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee." Sir Robert thought he had a right to do as much with his e. What his quarrel with his e was, does not appear; certain only it is, that he once had an e to the tail of his name, and as certain that he dropped it. Our belief is, that he had a presentiment that he should lose a letter of his name, and lest he should have the great misfortune of losing his P which stands between him and the true description of his character, he cut off the last, for literally, according to the saying, he had to mind his P's and Q's. Some years ago we suggested that he should take tbe P from the beginning of his name, and give it for a prefix to his friend Mr. Shaw, which would make both their names more expressive; but we did not know at the time that he had already moulted a letter. But let us hear the biographer : — " Amongst the noticeable names associated with the rise and growth of our modern manufacturing system, is that of PEEL— or PEELE, in its primitive form. The final and superfluous letter has been long since discarded, but we find it occasionally used down to a late period ; and even on the entrance of the present Sir Robert Peel into public life, though the newspapers give his name in its present form, the 1 Parliamentary History 1 and the • Annual Register-' announce him as Mr. Peele: and trifling as is the alteration, one is apt for a moment to question the identity of the individual, doubting if it be the same with the present prime minister of the empire." To raise that doubt is tbe purpose for which certain characters adopt the alias. We have often heard the question raised, how the slang phrases, that have their periods of vogue, originate ; how is it that all the pot- boys in the empire, wko are the great organs of slang ( they whistling ballads and bawling slang from the same sort of necessity that makes birds sing,) all agree for a time on the use, in season and out of season, of one particular piece of slang, and that the pot- boy tongue is never divided between two slangs ? It is for the period of the fashion, " flow nicely he thinks he's doing it," or, '-' There you go with your eye out ?" or, " All round my hat!" or, " Does your mother know you're out?" and the like. We have now a clpe to this deep mystery, in one instance. " There you go with your eye out" is a corruption of " There you go with your e out," the cry raised after Sir Robert Peel when he dropped his e. We hardly need observe that e, or ee, is the old orthography or cacography for eye. The question which must now fill and perplex the public mind is, why Sir Robert Peel quarrelled with his e,— what moved him to lay violent hands on his e, — why he discarded it rather than his P ? There were not so many letters in his name as to provoke him to disquantity the train. He was horn with the e — it belonged to him, and his father, and his father's father before him ; it was his family e, and why did he put out his e ? The answer is obvious. Sir Robert Peel hated the e, because it is the final letter, of old the end of all words, and Sir Robert, who hates to be fixed to anything, could not bear to have this stopper of a letter clapped to the end of bis versatile name. It was like driving a nail through an eel's tail. So he got rid of it. And now for his descent:— " The grandfather of Sir Robert Peel is said to be traditionally known in Lancashire as ' Parsley Peele,' from the circumstance of his having used a parsley leaf as a pattern in his first experiments in calico- printing. Be this as it may, his third son, Robert Peel, became the founder of the Peel family. The present Sir Robert thinks that his father was born at Peelfold, near Blackburn; more recent and personal inquiry throws doubt on this supposition, and affirms that Robert Peel, the great manufacturer, the member of Parliament, and the first Baronet, was born in Blackburn. Born, however, he was; in the year 1750, it seems ; and his earlier days were passed in industrious obscurity." " Born, however, he was," authoratively and emphatically asserts the biographer, and we do hope and trust that the tory aristocracy will believe him, and cease that monotonous wearisome complaint, that they are led by a man without a heart in his bosom or a grandfather to his back. The honest " Parsley Peele" invented tbe pattern which illustrated his name ; he did not steal tbe device of a rival,— he did not crib from another man's cloth,— he was a Parsley Peele, not a Cabbage Peel,— he was not a filcher from measures belonging to other men. Sir Robert Peel has good reasons for thinking that his father was born at Peelfold. Peel of Peelfold sounds feudal, and we see another motive fordroj ping the e, to make the names better fit, and when Sir Robert is raised to the peerage, it will be by the title of Baron Peelfold, and it is but right that a character with so many a fold should have one in its name. Our Premier's biographer quotes an account, curiously unintelligible, of Sir Robei t Peele the father by Sir Robert Peel the son :- r- " T. he Prime Minister thus speaks of his father:— * He moved in a confined sphere, and employed his talents in improving the cotton trade. He had neither wish nor opportunity of making himself acquainted with his native country, or society far removed from his native county, Lancaster. I lived under his roof till I attained the ate of manhood, and had many opportunities of discovering that he possessed in an eminent decree a mechanical genius and a good heart. He had many sons, and placed them all in situations that they might be useful to each other. The cotton trade was preferred as best calculated to secure this object j and by habits of industry, and imparting to his offspring an intimate knowledge of the various branches of the cotton manufacture, he lived to see his children connected together in business, and by their successful exertions to become, without one exception, opulent and happy. My father may be truly said to have been the founder of our family ; and he so ac- curately appreciated the importance of commercial wealth in a national point of view, that lie was often heard to say that the gains to individuals were small, compared with the national gains arising from trade." How finely said is that, " he had a mechanical genius and a good heart ;" and the son, by happy opportunities, had made this discovery. But what does he mean by saying that old Sir Robert imparted to his offspring an intimate knowledge of the cotton manufacture ; that he lived to see his children con- ncctcd together in trade; that he wove the family together, as it were, in his business ? Why the son, Sir Robert, was not in the cotton trade. And the son says that his father, " placed them all in situations, that they might be useful to each other." He did not place his plausible son in office, though there he has undeniably been mightily useful to all of his name and kin. But again we ask what the Premier means by putting all his father's sons in the cotton trade, connected together in business ; and as writers are wont to say when it is not convenient to say any more — we pause for a reply.— Examiner. THE CORN LAWS. The Fourth Annual Report of the Halifax Anti- Cornm Law Association, read at the Annual Meeting, March 6th 1843. A fourth year of bitter suffering to every class of the trading interest is brought to a close,— marked by unavailing supplication, earnest remonstrance, and patient argument, on the part of the sufferers by the system of Monopoly. The Committee of the Halifax Anti- Corn- Law Association, in resigning their trust, present a brief report of the proceedings of the past twelve months, and of the efforts that have been made to advance the cause of the total repeal of all restrictions upon the free importation of food. The present Government, placed in power by those who have a direct pecuniary interest in the con- tinuance of the existing Monopoly, persevered, during the last session of Parliament, in adhering to the scheme proposed by the First Minister. The distress of the country continuing unmitigated, and Parliament being about to separate without afford- ing legislative relief, the friends of Corn- Law Repeal determined to make another effort to obtain justice. The Council of the National League, in the beginning of July, summoned a meeting of Delegates in Lon- don, thereby to manifest the public opposition to the Government Bill, and to second the efforts of their friends in Parliament. The Association was then represented by Messrs. Morris and Hoatson. On this occasion Sir Robert Peel granted an in- terview to tbe Deputies, and statements were made to him, of the severe distress existing in the manu- facturing districts ; but no hope of assistance was promised. Still determined not to fail in any ex ertions that held out the prospect of benefit, meet- ings were called in the principal towns, and gentle- men of the first commercial importance appointed to meet in London, to solicit further interview's with the leading members of the administration; when Mr. Edward Akroyd kindly undertook to join the deputation. The interviews were granted; but a deaf ear was turned to all representations. Tbe present mockery of a Corn- Bill was left the law of the land ; and the new Tariff regulated, for the future, the duties upon other imports. To the latter we cheerfully award the honour of its having effected the most extensive and systematic change in our commercial regulations, that we have experienced for many years ; but the old vice of class protection is yet allowed to deface it. Differential duties are continued as the price the Government pays for the support of the West India and other Colonial interests; and the dictation of the landed 113 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. representatives is seen in the duties upon the im- portation of cattle and other provisions. And here we would remark that, whilst the new Tariff adopts as a principle the imposition of only five per cent, duty upon raw materials of manufacture, the most important of all raw materials, the food of the people, is subject to four fold duties ; though deriving a high natural protection from the cost of transit and other expenses peculiar to its nature. Your Committee have always been convinced of the identity of the interests of the middle and working classes,— that the prosperity of the one was in separably mixed up with the other,— that a prosper- ous state of trade would necessarily secure good wages, and, on the contrary, an unprosperous trade would be followed by reductions. They also felt the importance of the kindliest intercourse existing between them, and the cultivation of mutual sympa- thies and good will. The pecuniary interests, the health, and the morals, of the labouring classes, have an immediate and direct influence upon the circumstances of those who reside amongst them. Their legislative wants are mutual. Any injury that affects the one, wounds the other. Tbeii strength, also, lies in Union. United, they can always obtain justice, and they desire no more. Separated, they may be each vanquished. Those are, then, the worst enemies of the labouring classes, who create or widen a breach between these interests : and it has ever been tbe wish of tbe Com. mittee to hold out the right hand of fellowship to their fellow labourers in the wide field of trade. With this view, tliey arranged for Mr. Acland to deliver in tbe town two lectures on the evil effects of the Corn- Laws, under the belief that his known sympathy with their opinions, and his popular talents as a lecturer, would enable him successfully to awaken them to the conviction of the connection between the Coru- Laws and their present sufferings, and to induce their active c '- operation to procure their removal. Your Committee regret that such an effect was not very extensively produced at the moment, owing to the influence then temporarily exercised by certain political leaders of extreme opinions. The effect of this misused influence was shortly seen in the riotous proceedings that took place in this and the neigh- bouring counties, by the compulsory stoppage of the mills, and the consequent aggravation of the sufferings of the labouring population, already depressed by diminished employment, reduced wages, and the high price of food, almost to the last point of endurance' We deeply sympathize in the misery that enabled tbe authors of these disturbances to excitc the feelings of a patient and orderly population. We are convinced we know the remedy tor it. We believe they are now satisfied that the leaders referred to were un- worthy of their confidence; and that conviction is dawning upon them that restrictions upm trade are the true cause of its present embarrassment and sinking condition. We, therefore, earnestly invite them to abandon their suspicions,— to believe w3 have the mutual good of both at heart,— and to unite with us in strenuous associated exertions for the removal of those hindrances to our joint prosperity, which, if allowed much longer to continue, will lay both capitalist and workman in the dust, never to rise again. The past history ol other commercial communities teaches us that, when once trade leaves a country, it never returns ; as in private transactions, where it is much easier to construct a new business than to revive a decayed one. Having adverted to the riotous proceedings in the last summer, your Committee cannot allow the sub- ject to pass away without noticing the malignant falsehoods put forth by the Monopolists, that they had their origin with the Anti- Corn- Law League; because that body, from their intimate connection with the labouring classes, had become aware of the sentiments, the distress they suffered was awakening in their minds, and consequently felt called upon to warn the Government of the danger. A physician might as reasonably be charged with producing the disease, the approach of which lie intimated to his patient. If any other political party than the actors was answerable for that calamitous affair, it was the one who, to produce a diversion of the popular senti- ment, directed it against machinery, as the cause of diminished employment, and exasperated the work- men against their employers, by representing them as tyrannical and grasping ; who described the Union Workhouses as Bastiles, and the limitations of the New Poor Law as infringements on the rights of the poor; and who broached the agrarian doctrine that the labourer has a title to be employed, no matter how great the loss may be to the capitalist. These were the insidious notions that set the torch to the train laid by mi- ery, and which, with unparalleled effrontery, was attempted to be laid to the charge of the League. flu be concluded in our next ) CHURCH EDUCATION AND CHURCH ETHICS. A great deal has been, and continues to be said upon the importance of basing Education upon Religion, and Religion upon the Church. We have before us an " Inaugural Address, delivered at the opening of the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool, by the Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone, M. I*., Vice President of tbe Board of Trade ;" in which this view of the subject is eloquently insisted upon. " Education, to be va'uable, and to deserve the name," remarks the Right Hon. Gentleman, " must be religious Education ; and, iu order to be religious Education, it must be founded upon tbe definite reve- lation of God." But this is not enough, it must be a Church Education, " founded on a definite and de- terminate teaching according to the doctrines and spirit of the National Church." It is important, then, that we should ascertain what this " definite and determinate teaching" is ; that we should bring to a practical test, the character of the Church as the Educator of the people. She has her schools for the upper as well as for the lower classes ; and it it, fit- ting that the public should know what sort of moral teaching, as well as theological training, an English University provides. The January Number of tbe Edinburgh Review contains an article on tbe Ethical Philosophy of Ox- ford, founded upon Professor SeweH's " Christian Morals," which throws a flood of light upon this im- portant subject. The object of the Professor's work is no other than the restoration of the connexion, so long dissevered, between the Science of Ethics and the Catholic Christianity of the Church. " Educa- tion without the Church," he says, " is an absurdity. Therefore a system of Ethics, which is not based upon the Church, must be an absurdity likewise. Both parental and civic authority require the support and witness of the Church, or they fall to tbe ground. But, when they thus r. cognise tbe existence of the Church as a commissioned ambassador from Christ, they must also recognise its lull powers. Thus, if either Parent or State attempt to educate man with- out giving to it its due prominence and presidency, without allowing, nay, requiring, tbe exercise of all the powers committed to it, they are flying in the face of their Lord and Master, and they must take the consequences." Well may the Reviewer ask, in reference to some more raving of the same kind, " What should we say, if we heard such language from Salamanca or Maynooth ?" Mr. Sewell's Church, it needs not be shown, is not the congregation of believers, not the body of Christ, not anything that the new Testa- ment recognises as a Church. By the Church, of course he means those who have usurped government over the Church— the Hierarchy. But, if any intelli- gible sense is to be gathered from his propositions, in Presbyterian Scotland, no parent has a right to educate his children ; civil authority has there no basis, Ethics have no existence, and Education is an absurdity! The Church of England alone hath Divine authority to educate man, and to determine, not only controversies of faith, but questions of morals. But how does she proceed in the work? " The Church," quoth tbe Professor, " commences her work of Education with an outward form. The Church educates mainly and chiefly by communica- ting to you certain gifts of immeasurable value. These it professes to communicate through the means of certain outward acts and symbols. Its great in- struments of good are the Sacraments. These Sacraments, 1,500 years ago, were administered with many more symbolic forms than they are at present; especially the sacrament of Baptism, which is the beginning of your Christian education,— the act in which are condensed all the great truths of Christian Ethics." Again:—" Tbe very things which a hea- then moralist would most desire— all these are described in the Bible as effected by Baptism already. It is something past or done." " Men do not choose goodness before it is given to them in baptism ; they cannot afterwards procure it for themselves, without the ministration of the Church. The nearer you ap- proach to the Apostolic age, the more striking is the light in which tbe mystery of the Sacraments is placed, as if they were the great treasure committed to the keeping of the Church ; not merely a metaphysical creed relating to tbe nature of God, but a code of laws tending to the government of man." Such, then, are the means by which " the Church" undertakes to educate the people; she alone having the right and the power to do it! How has she suc- ceeded with those classes of society which have been fairly submitted to this moral experiment? The higher classes are pretty nearly all within the pale of tbe Establishment ; and all that Baptismal Regener- ation and Sacramental Justification, with the aid of Confirmation and Absolution, can do, has long been in full operation among the nobles and fashionables of the land. What are the moral, the " ethical" results ? For centuries, this Church of England has bud the education of the gentry in her own hands, and tbe making of all aud every one of them mem- bers of Christ, and children of God, and heirs of heaven : what have been the social fruits of her teaching and baptizing ? This is a simple question of fact; and the answer is decisive. But, further, tbe said Church has had undisputed possession, for the purpose of her moral experiment, of all the in- mates of our prisons and workhouses, who, besides being, for the most part, partakers of her baptism, have been consigned to the special care of her chap- lains. We ask, with what result? Again : compare the character of the agricultural population of Eng- land, in those districts where the ascendancy of the Established Church is most complete, with that of tbe people of Scotland, whose education is " an ab- surdity," not being based upon priestly regeneration ; and then recognise the immense superiority, in piety and morals, of those who have been taught the Church, Catechism I 0 fortunatos nimium sua st bona noiiut I What can be wanted in order tore- generate society, but more workhouses, more pauper schools, and more chaplains episcopally qualified to " condense the great truths of Christian Ethics" into a ceremony, and to " give goodness" by the opus operatum efficacy of a magical rite ? The Ediuburg/ i Reviewer quotes Selden's quaint remark,—" There never was a merry world since tbe Fairies left dan- cing, and the Parson left conjuring. The opinion of the latter kept thieves in awe, and did as much good in a country as a justice of peace." But, adds the Reviewer, " the man must be more of a conjuror than Mr. Sewell, who is to persuade the English nation that Christianity and Church Government are one and the same tiling. Men have often been told before, that St. Peter kept the doors of Heaven, and that without the gcod word of the Clergy nobody would ever get there. But Morals are another matter; and we are not as yet disposed to bear so meekly, on the mere authority of the Chair at Oxford, the impo- sition of a Moral Law, more oppressive than the Jewish ceremonies, and little less incredible than the Pagan superstitions, from which it is our blessing that Christianity relieved us." Yet, be it remembered that, upon this Church morality, it is proposed to rest the Education of the people. And the worst of the matter is, that Whig statesmen, as well as Conservatives, are lending their aiJ and influence to uphold and extend a system of Church Education which, by substituting Baptism for the Gospel, and the Church Catechism for Scriptural instruction, can tend only to undermine the morals as well as the faith of tbe people, and to generate either an unintelligent superstition or open infidelity — Patriot. MR. COBDEN. Having given, in our lastnumber, the Address to Mr. Cobdeti, agreed upon at the Annual Meeting of the Halifax Anti- Corn- Law Associa- tion, we now lay before our readers that gentleman's reply. London, 11th March, 1843. Sin,— I am favoured with your letter inclosing an address from the Halifax Auti- Corn- Law Association, declaratory of its approbation of my public advocacy pf the cause of Free- trade, and expressing its indig- nation at the attempt recently made to attach an unparliamentary and degrading interpretation to un- constitutional language in the House of Commons. May I request that you will take the earliest op- portunity of making kuowu to the members of your Association, the high sense I entertain of this mani- festation of their sympathy and kindness ; assuring them, at the same time, that it will be no small en- couragement to me, in my further labours in tbe cause of Commercial Freedom, to know that I enjoy the confidence of the Free traders of your important Borough. Let uie at the same time tender, my wannest ac- knowledgements for the friendly terms of your letter which accompanied the address.; aud I am, Sir, Your most obedient, Humble Servant, RICHARD COBDEN. W. Morris, Esq. The civilization and intelligence of the English nation are greatly owing to the decencies, anJ the species of literature, diffused by means of Sunday and its observances, which operate in a powerful, though silent and imperceptible manner, like the dew and the sunshine.— W. B. Clulow. 114 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. POETRY. SELECTED. THE FRIENDS OF MY YOUTH. From " Sacred Lyricsby Richard Hide, M. D. Friends of my youth ! Where are ye ? On the stream • Of joyous life we gaily launch'd together; Bloom'd then each bank, as in a fairy dream, Serene the sky, and placid was the weathei ! But ye are gone, and have not told me whither 1 Alone my bark is drifting down the tide ; Alone she floats, nor one companion with her, To hail her progress, or her motions guide ! Alone I seem to live, where all is dead beside! Friends of my youth ! Where are ye ? On tne bank Scarce here and there the willow branches wave, To mark the spot where some fair vessel sank Beneath the billows, to a watery g ave! Ah! were there none for you the storm to brave ? None o'er the deep the friendly line to throw ? None f*- om oblivion dark your names to save, Or on the lost one simple stone bestow, To tell, what truth, what worth, what beauty, rest below! Friends of my youth! Where are ye ? On the gloom Of midnight drear I often fix mine eye, And seem to view, returning from the tomb, The joys of other moments gliding by ! ' Tis then I wipe the tear, and check the sigh, And bid the hymn replace the plaintive moan; But morning dawns, the sainted visions fly, I stretch my arms to grasp them— but they're gone—• And I am left again— sad— comfortless— alone ! Friends of my youth! Where are ye? Lost awhile! But not for ever ! No! The hour shall come, When I shall meet you with a fairer smile, And taste the raptures of your heavenly home! Cheerless, indeed, and lonely here I roam ! But there is ONE who is my pilot still; One who, amidst the tempest s thickest foam, Can grasp the rudder with a master's skill, And steer my skiif to land, and safety, if He will! TO SPRING. Oh! haste thee, haste thee, gladsome Spring, Wild scattering flowers and dew; For thoughts of thee have soothed my soul, The weary winter through. Yet the stern whiter hath it3 charms; The loud and piping wind, That breathes of the wild wilderness, Delights the musing mind; ' Tis beautiful to see the snow So noiseless fall, and white; And to look up through the clear deep skies On the still and starry night. Still, haste thee, haste thee, joyous Spring! I long thy charms to view; For thoughts of what thoubring'st are mine The weary winter through. And I will meet thee on the meads, In woods, and on the hills; For where thou goest, thy soul of grace The earth with beauty fills! The lark, the poet of thy skies, That seorneth bush and tree, Soaring above the fleecy clouds, Singcth to welcome thee. RICHARD HOWITT. OUR SCRAP BOOK. " A thing of Shreds and 1' atches." In the last monthly list of patents, we observe that two ingenious gentlemen ( asphalte manufacturers) have taken out a patent for certain improvements in coffins. The question of the legality of Art Unions has been submitted to Mr. Sergeant Talfourd for his opinion. The reply of the learned gentleman is conclusively against those speculations, their promoters, and all who sustain them. A letter from Valenciennes mentions that in con sequence of overworking children in the mnnufac- tories, the population of one quarter ot the city of Lille have become so decrepit that it has been im- possible to find one man from the age of 20 to 24 years, of sufficient size, strength, and health, to serve as a soldier. AN EXTRAORDINARY BAR OF IRON.— The largest bar of iron ever made was rolled at the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, near Merthyr Tydvil, for a house in Hol- land. It is a cable bolt, twenty- five feet in length, and six inches in diameter, and weighs about 2,4001b. The pile from which it was rolled was about seven feet long, by twelve inches square, and weighed up- wards of 2,6001b. The pile was taken from the heating furnace, and put at once into the rolls, just in the same manner as they roll bars of an ordinary size. REVENUES OF THE ENGLISH AND WELSH SEES — The ecclesiastical commissioners found that the aggregate revenues of the 26 sees of England and Wales amounted to about £ 150,000 per annum, but that this sum was very unequally divided, varying from about £ 19,000 per annum for Durham, to about £ 1,000 per annum for Llaudaff. As great an in- equality existed in the extent of the several sees, whether calculated with reference to the number of benefices or the amount of population in each ; the number of benefices varying from 1,234 in Lincoln to 94 in Rochester, and the population from 1,900,000 in Chester to 126 000 lu Ely. And the revenue of a see was often in inverse proportion to its extent. The commissioners came to the conclusion that this was a state of things injurious to the interests ot the church, and which consequently required alteration ; and, in so doing, they in fa; t only responded to the opinion which must have been entertained by his late majesty and his responsible advisers, in the appointment of the commission in the terms before mentioned, an opinion which one would suppose must meet with universal acquiescence among the well- wishers to the established church. The alterations proposed by the commissioners did not involve any increase or diminution of the number of episcopal sees, or the amount of their aggregate revenues, but they re- commended a more equal distribution of both revenue and territory among the several sees. With respect to revenue, they recommended that certain annual payments should be made by the incumbents of the richer sees to a fund, out of which certain annual payments should be made to the incumbents of the poorer sees. And with respect to territory, they re commended the transfer of districts from one diocese to another ; but, in consequence of the great extent of the dioceses in the north of England, and of there not being any adjoining dioceses to which transfers of districts could conveniently be made, they recom- mended the creation of new sees at Ripon and Man- chester ; and, on the other hand, the union, in two instances, of certain existing sees, of which the com- bined duties would not, they considered, be too onerous for a single bishop — Defence of the Union of the Sees of St. Asaph and Banyor. THE LATE MR. HAMER HARGREAVES.— He was the most perfect devotee at the shrine of music I ever knew. His whole soul seemed made up of harmo- nious sounds, and when surrounded, in his own private music room, by his musical friends ( with the baton in his hand), was the impersonation of a truly happy man. Being in London with him on one occasion, and happening to speak of a bargain I had made in a small lot of second- hand music, he asked me to ac- company him to the shop in Oxford- street. On en- tering the premises, he took a seat, and requested the shopman to reach him down one lot after another in rapid succession. I perceived he was delighted ; but the man began to weary ; seeing, after more than an hour's exertion, no signs of a purchase. At length, Mr. Hargreaves said— turning towards this crabbed- looking attendant, pointing, at the same time with his stick to the mass which covered one side of the shop—" And now, sir, what will you take for the lot?" The man looked bewildered— then smiled, then rubbed his hands, then laughed outright. A bargain was soon made ; and the whole packed off to add to his already burthened shelves in Manchester. Mr. Hargreaves devoted the whole of his time, dur- ing this sojourn in London, to music and musical societies. He talked of nothing else, he sought for nothing else ; every other amusement seemed frivo- lous, and so much lost time. And many an old musical veteran did he seek out and assist, whom he had known in his earlier years. Nor did he leave town until he had discovered and relieved poor Mrs. • Salmon, once the idol of the concert room, who he found had lived her day, and become, like the rest, forgotten. What a world is this ? How is genius the toy of the hour ; then broken, torn, and thrown aside neglected ! Yet how, too, does genius play her part of folly, with the pictures of by gone experience still in view. Living on in the giddv round of vanity, the mind reeling in its excess of victory, till the chain runs down, the clock hath struck, midnight is here, the lamp is extinguished, the oil consumed. If the crowd of those who have delighted us, but have now passed from the scene, from change of fashion or misfortune, could again appear, what a contrast would their rags and wretchedness present to us who knew them in the hey- day of their triumph 1 — North of England Magazine, for Feb. MEXICAN EYES AND DIAMONDS,— Fine eyes are a mere drug— every one has them ; large, dark, full orbs, with long silken lashes. As for diamonds, no man above the rank of a lepero marries in this country without presenting his bride with at least a pair of diamond ear- rings, or a pearl necklace with a diamond clasp. They are not always a proof of wealth, though they constitute it in themselves. Their owners may be very poor in other respects. They are considered a necessary of life ; quite as much so as shoes and stockings.— Life in Mexico. A little flood will make a shallow torrent swell above its banks, and rage, and foam, and yield a roaring noise, while a deep silent stream glides quietly on ; so a vain glorious, insolent, proud man, swells with a little frail prosperity, grows big and loud, and overflows his bounds, and when he sinks, leaves mud and dirt behind him.— Butler. The sum of twopence is levied on each pedestrian who may walk along his Grace of Buccleuch's splendid pier at Granton. A gentleman being importuned near the shore for alms, hastily replied, " No, no ; I have just given my last penny to the Duke of Buccleuch 1" " Ah!" replied the mendicant, " is he upon tramp too i" BIBLE SOCIETY ABUSES.— An eminent bookseller ( Mr. Mozley, ot Derby), in passing along to his pew in the parish church, was struck with the glittering and uniform appearance of some of the books in the pews of his wealthy neighbours. After the service he mentioned the subject to one of the church- wardens, who produced one of the books in question, when it proved to be part of the recent issue of bibles by the British and Foreign Bible Society. During tne following week, a subscription was set on foot in the town, for the purpose of purchasing coals, & c. to sell to the poor at a reduced price ; aud the book- seller in question was called upon by some of his benevolent friends for his mite, which he cbeerfullv contributed. It happened that several of the mem- bers of the committee for the management of this subscription, were also members of the committee of the Auxiliary Bible Society for the district. Atone of the early meetings of the committee for the sale and distribution of coals, an application was made in due fortn by our friend the bookseller, for a large quantity of the subscription coals at the reduced price; aud, after some discussion, a de- putation was appointed to wait upon the applicant upon the subject, when the following colloquy, or something very like it, took place. Deputa- tion : We wait upon you, sir, in consequence of an application made in your name to the committee ap- pointed to superintend the distribution of coals to the poor, on the recommendation of subscribers— we think there must be some mistake.— Bookseller : No mistake, gentlemen, I assure you— none whatever. I was perfectly aware of the nature and objects of the subscription when I gave my money. Both you gentle- men are, I believe, members of the committee of the Auxiliary Bible Society of this town, and you must be aware that the conditions on which I and others subscribe to that society are precisely the same as those on which money has been raised for coals ; yet you make no objection to supplying nearly all the wealthy people in the town with elegantly bound bibles at the reduced prices at which it was onlv in tended they should be sold to the poor. I have made this application to show the folly and injustice to the great body of the subscribers to the bible society, of continuing this course.— Deputation ; The force of your comparison is irresistible— this thing must be altered : the only excuse that we can make is, that the evil you complain of is general all over the kins- dom, and the injustice uever struck us until the coal question forced it upon us so malapropos. CAUSES OF THE DISTRESS — For several succes- sive years, the industry of England has had much to contend with. Our protective system exposed our currency to fearful vicissitudes ; our merchants, scarcely knowing why, found a period of extended and perhaps unsubstantial credit suddenly succeeded by a time of pressure, and a currency restricted in consequence of the alarms and dangers of the Bank of England. Millions of specie exported to pay for foreign corn, imposed this hard necessity on a corporation whom we hold responsible for the state of the circulation ; but to whom we unfairly refuse the power of acting upon our circulation with effect. Depriving one of our best customers, the United States, of the power of paying their debts, and pur- chasing our goods, by sending us their agricultural produce, we led, or rather we compelled, them to fill our stock markets with their public securities. The fatal hour of depression followed; and the North American market was almost closed to our commer- cial enterprise. Nor were our prospects on the con- tinent of Europe much more cheering. England having persevered in her protective and exclusive system, other countries followed our example, and were led to adopt tariffs more or less hostile to our interests. Contemporaneously with the loss of mar- kets, with diminished employment, and fall of wages, the cost of maintaining the family of an artisan Was enormously augmented by the rise of bread, the effect of our corn- law. It has been calculated that the in- creased cost of grain in each of the years 1839, 1840, and 1841, as compared with 1835, has not been less than £ 20,400,000. Such seem to us the principal causes to which we may attribute our late and still enduring manufacturing distress, and not to any evils inherent in the manufacturing system. Indeed, it has rather been the departure from commercial principles than an adherence to them, which has en- dangered British interests.— Edinburgh Review. STATISTICS OF TRAVELLING.— Only 11 mail coaches leave London daily lor the country. A few)- years since, before railways were formed, nearly 30 used to leave the General Post- office. The number of miles which the mail coaches going to and from Loudon daily travel on turnpike roads is about 5,000. The number of miles which the different railway companies convey mails daily is 4,435. Cross- road mails in England, Scotland, and Wales, run over nearly 12,000 miles of ground every day. Thus, by principal conveyances, the correspondence in this country is conveyed over more than 20,000 miles of ground every 24 hours. From these principal con- veyances, innumerable mail carts and horse and foot letter carriers branch off, and every road, lane, street, and court in the kingdom is traversed from sunrise to sunrise, ENGLISH AND FOREIGN DESIGNS.— We have been favoured by an eminent firm in Oxford- street, with the following statement, the accuracy of which may be confidently relied on:—" In the month of June, 1841, a foreigner, of gentlemanly appearance, called at our ware- rooms, and requested to be shown our newest designs in printed chintz for drawing room curtains and beds, stating that he was furnishing a house, and wished to select some of our newest and most approved patterns. On seeing them, he made a selection to the amount of £ 150, and requested that they might be sent to him at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill ; upon delivery, the amount of the bill was paid. In a day or two afterwards, he made a second visit, with the same result. Nothing further was heard of the transaction u. itil the summer of 1842, when, to our great surprise, we learnt that the whole of the patterns selected ( and to give you some idea of the value of them, the outlay upon one alone involved ao expense upon us of £ 360) were most faithfully copied by this gentlemanly foreigner, and printed on the Rhine ; the consequence is, they are now to be procured in most of the capital towns on the continent, wbi- re English printed cottons are strictly and most successfully prohibited, and can be sent into tnis country at a trifling duty. Our prin- cipal reason for troubling you with this exposition is to refute the great absurdity that has so long prevailed, particularly with the higher classes in England, that we are indebted to our French neighbours for novel- ties, when in this instance, and we can produce many others, the very reverse is the fact. So far, some of our English friends may consider it complimentary ; but we can prove that it is a most serious injury to ourselves, and would certainly prefer, if we were allowed to choose, that some other method were adopted to show the approbation of our taste, than pilfering from our industry."-— limes. 4 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. THE FREE PRESS. THE " GUARDIAN" AND THE GUARDIANS. Returning to this subject, as we promised in our last, we dismiss Mr. Baxter and his quarrel with the Guardian, to notice some other pas- sages in the article under discussion. " We are aware," says the writer, " that we were not compelled to send a reporter to the Board Neither did we ever seek or ask to send one there. Reporters had attend the Board long before we sent one ; and it was only in obedi- ence to a public duty, f though at the exoense of private feeling,) that we yielded to strong solicitations." When we perused these sentences, and par- ticularly the words that we have printed in italics, we almost involuntarily quoted the old proverb that liars have need of good memories. The whole of the statement is made up of a tissue of gross, palpable, and notorious false- hoods. The very first meeting of the Guardians, when the new poor law was introduced into Halifax by the formation of the Union,— the very first meeting, we repeat, was attended by a re- porter from the office of the Halifax Guardian, as were, also, the subsequent meetings of the Board. Reports, or distorted statements that purported to be reports, of its proceedings, were regularly given in the columns of that paper; and very frequently were those pro- ceedings made the subjects of editorial articles. In those articles, there was evidently no op- posing under- current of " private feeling;" for they were obviously written con amore ; and abuse of the new poor law was most assuredly the favourite element in which the writer breathed most freely. In fact, had it not been for its vituperation of the new poor law, with its bastardy clauses, its bastiles, and all the other monstrosities laid to its charge,— had it not been for these, the Guardian must have gone to the dogs. These topics of vituperation were its pabulum vitce,— - its means of subsistence; and this fact is so notorious as to need not the shadow of evidence. Yet, in the very teeth of this notorious fact, the Guardian has now the assurance and the hardihood to assert that its sending a reporter to the meetings of the Board, was " at the expense of private feeling !" " The force of humbug can no farther go." We proceed, however, to another remark in this very singular article. '- We shall give to the world," says the irritated editor, " such additional facts and illustrations of deceit, of hypocrisy, and of the means adopted to gain temporary popularity, practised bv some of the guardians, as we may deein proper." This threat, it must be borne in mind, comes from one who has been heretofore hand and glove, as the phrase is, with many of these very guardians. So long as, by their dirty tricks, they contrived to throw odium upon the law which they had engaged to administer, so long were they, in his opinion, good and true men; but the tables are now turned, and he is " backing his friends by turning his back upon them. " At the same time," he continues, " We assure our readers and the public,"— We like this,—" our readersanri the public ."' It shows that " the readers" of the Guardian and " the public " are two sets of folks ; aud ( hat, ac- cording to its editor's own words, " the public " are not " the readers " of that paper ! We return, however, ( o our quotation. " At the same time, we assure our readers and the public that we shall, in the most unflinching manner, still continue to give the utmost publicity to the proceedings of the Board." What are we to think of this threat ? If his reporter has not access to the meetings of the Board, he must rely, for his information on sources of an unauthentic character, and not likely to be depended upon for accuracy. This, however, he will not care for. Let him hut have his fling at the new poor law, and it matters not to this unordained preacher of schism, whether his charges be ( rue or false, In proof of this, take a statement made in the article before us. " Preliminary steps," he says, " were taken for the erection of a I HEAD WHEEL in the workhouse, for the purpose of effectually ' testing ' the in- door paupers ; the human power thus obtained will be applied to rag machine." I Iere we ha ve one of th at sort of statemec ts ( hat the anti- poor- law scribes are so clever in turning to account, and which, when brought to the light of truth, always turn out to be gross exaggera- tions, if not entire inventions. In his next paper,— that of Saturday last, he is under the necessity of modifying his statement. " From what transpired," he says, " it would seem thatpa Tread Wheel was not in contemplation." Heathen goes on to mutter some pretence about his having " naturally concluded that such was the £ case ;" and his reporter having " easily enough supposed that a| Treacl Wheel was in- tended." Where " the'wish is father to the thought," it is easy enough to come to a given conclusion ; and the erection of a tread wheel in the work- house would have been quite a god- send to the Guardian, and its parliamentary oracle, the mountebank member of Knaresborough. A pretty pair,— worthy supporters of a worthy Puseyite movement in favour of ecclesiastical domination on the part of the clergy and a ceremonial- fettered superstition on ( he part of the laity, we can understand the application of the term; but, in any other point of view, we cannot see how such a " revival" can be spoken of as taking place. The real influence of the church over the minds, the feelings, and the morals, of the people, is probably less now than it has been for a century at least; and the anti- scriptural tenets of the Puseyite party are likely to effect a stronger and more marked alienation. Assured!}', such propositions as that of Mr. Cronhehn, in the pamphlet before us, are not eminently calculated to promote the cause of that religion which exhorts us to love all men, and to do all that in us lies to extend love, charity, and brotherly kindness, through- out the human family. MONUMENTS TO MARTYRS. We have before us a pamphlet of twenty pages, which has just issued from the press, in our own town, and which calls for a few remarks. is entitled a " Memoir of the Life and Martyrdom of the Right Rev. Robert Ferrar, D. D. ( of Ewood, in the parish of Halifax,) Lord Bishop of St. David's; burnt by the Romanists, in the market- place of Caermarthen, March 30, 1555. By F. W. Cronhelm, Esq." The object of this pamphlet is to obtain a fund for the erection of a monument to the memory of the martyr. The writer tells us that a neat marble tablet has recently ? been erected in Caermarthen church, by Thomas Farrar, Esq. of Cheltenham, ( descended from the Farrars of Ewood;)" and he adds, " it is hoped that a similar tablet will, ere long, be seen in the chapel of Luddenden, near Ewood Hall ; and that, in the parish church of Halifax, a monu- ment to the martyr will be erected, worthy of the venerable name, and the venerable edifice. With the Church of Rome, we have no sympathy, either theological or ecclesiastical and we hold in respect those worthies who, in withstanding her errors, resisted unto blood : but we, also, desire to shun, asequally unworthy of our sympathy or co- operation, those who would seek to commemorate, and erect perma- nent memorials of, the strifes, the persecutions, and the cruelties, which disgrace the ecclesias- tical annals of our country, and which have brought so much discredit upon the cause of true religion. In the present day, there is a numerous party whose religion savours more of politics than of scripture, and who pride themselves upon their stanch protestant opposition to popery; ex- hibiting, at the same lime, all the malignity antl uncharitableness that characterized the Romish church in the high and palmy days of her ecclesiastical supremacy. An intolerant and bigoted hatred of popery seems to constitute the leading doctrine of their theology, and the main ingredient in their practice. To men of this stamp, propositions such as that put forth in this pamphlet, are always acceptable; but not so to those who desire cultivate the mild and amiable graces of heart- felt piety, and to promote that charity, without which even the giving the body to be burned is but mockery in the sight of our Heavenly Father. The erection of a monument in memory of a martyr, has a two- fold effect. Ifit served only to keep in mind the virtues and excellencies of the victim of persecution, it might not be objectionable ; but it also keeps up a remem brance of the cruelty of the oppressors, and is, consequently, a standing memorial of unkindly feelings, which are thus kept alive in the hearts of both parties, and are ( he means of steeling the hearts and blinding the intellect, on both sides, so as to render each impervious to argument and almost inaccessible to the light of truth. Of the contents of the pamphlet, generally we have no occasion to say much. ' I hey are almost entirely biographical and historical; and will be read with interest. We might object to a few particular passages; but we will not dwell upon petty matters of detail. What we princi pally object to, is not so much the no- popery spirit that breathes throughout the pamphlet, as the no- popery spirit which would be pro moted were its object carried into effect. The writer speaks ( page ( i.) of the present time, as a " period of revival to the principles and influence of the church, throughout the land." If ho means, by this " revival," the THE LEAGUE AND ITS OPPONENTS. The supporters of the Bread Tax and its odious fraternity of monopolies, have been grievously disappointed by the signal failures that have attended their exertions to implicate the members of the Anti- Corn- Law League either in ( he guilt of the assassination of Mr. Drummond, or in that of the Chartist outbreak of last summer. In both cases, they had hoped to obtain evidence to connect ( he League, or at least some of its members, with the crimes in question ; but not one tittle of evidence could they bring forward to establish such a connection. In the case of M'Naughten, the Standard boldly and impudently speaks of him as having been rescued from the gallows by a faction / How the medical gentlemen upon whose testi- mony the verdict of insanity was founded, can be represented as a faction, we are at a loss to conceive ; and to no other persons was the cul- prit indebted for his escape from capital punishment. The attempt made by Feargus O'Connor, on the late trial of himself and his compeers, to trace the late riots to the League, was an utter abortion. " If Mr. O'Connor's performances," says a Lancester paper, " did but come up to his promises, these trials would exhibit the Anti- Corn- Law League as the true originators of the late disturbances. Fortunately no one will believe Mr O'Connor's simple assertion, unless supported by some more trustworthy evidence than his own. A chartist witness states, that a member of the Anti- Corn- Law League's News Room, at Stockport, told him, that there would be three reductions of wages before Christmas. And upon this evidence we are called upon to believe that the League originated the disturbances! Why, if the member of a chartist news- room chose to say ( hat before twelve months Feargus O'Connor would be king of England, would that be taken as evidence of treasonable designs on the part of ( heexecutivecommitteeofthe chaitist council I When manufacturers were working their mills to a loss, and were one after another going into the Gazette, what so probable as continued reductions in wages ? ' To this complexion it must come at last,' if the League's remedy be not adopted by the legislature. In the words of the defendant, James Leech, ' Whenever the great mass of the working classes of any country are slarving in the midst of plenty, th « institutions of that country are iu danger.' When class legislation creates an artificial famine, there will be strong language and dan- gerous discontent." When an active and energetic mind is bent upon a certain course, it is surprising how frequently the most common- place events are turned to account, and the most insignificant personages made of im • portauce, in the attainment of a favourite object.— C ity of London Magazine. It appears, from an article in the last number of the Edinburgh Review, upon the beauties of the ad- vertising system, that the Times, of London, chargcs 7s. for publishing a notice of a death, in the simplest form; and that the addition of the words, " sincerely regretted" raises the charge to 10s. OUR CHATTER BOX. The lines entitled " Halifax Town Mission," are, no doubt, well meant; but the execution is very in- ferior to the intention. The Toronto Star, of Feb. 15, has come to band. Why is it sent to us ? We have also received the " Art Union" for March. S. S. will not suit us. K. will see that his hint has been acted upon. HALIFAX:— Printed and Sold, for the Proprietors, at the Conetal Printing Office of H. Martin, Upper George Yardh,