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    3Etn$imaI ^arltam^U.

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    HOUSE OF LORDS—Fbjday , Mabch 4 . Iiord Clab . e > 'Dos requested information from Lord Aberdeen respecting the preparatiens which were now making on the French frontier of Spun for a projected Insurrection in that country . Both soldiers and civilians , -who wrre known to hare been concerned in the lafe revolt , and who made no secret of their present object , had traversed France from every quarter : warlike stores -were openly being accumulated on the froniaeri and yet the French Government , with most ample means at its disposal , had made no effort to prevent , or ersn to impede , those proceedings . The end proposed to be obtained by this intended insurrection was neither

    tise restoration of the Queen Regent , who had "voluntarily resigned her power , nor of Don Carlos , whosa cause was admitted to be hopeless ; it was merely to biing back anarchy and disorder . Snch an attempt was opposed to the feelings of the whole people ; it would be ¦ rigorously resisted by Espartero , under whose Government Spain bad made rapid progress in civilisation and prosperity , and he had no doubt it would entirely fail . It r « jaired , however , to be vigilantly watched , and he therefore wished to know if instructions had been sent to our ambassadors upon the subject , and if in case of an insurrection , ships would be despatched to the parts of Spain to afford protection to bftr Majesty ' s subjects ? ¦

    Lord Aberdeex expressed his conviction that on no snhject were men of all parties so firmly agreed aa in the "Wish to render Spain really prosperous and independent ? Tte plot which was at present in progress had done much to insure its own failure . Its ramifications were intimately known to the Spanish Government , which was prepart d to resist it with every prospect of success , while from France , in answer to his communications , be received assurances that the preparations which were in progress upon the frontier were without her sanction , and that every means bad been , and should be , employed to intercept persons against whom there were

    grounds for suspicion . He must be content to receive these assurances ; but although the character of the Minister from whom they proceeded entitled them to the utmost respect , there should be no want of vigilance , and no exertions should be wanting to aid the Regent in maintaining his position , if it should be endangered . He did not believe that any alliance existed between the partiaans ^ of Don Carles and the ex-Regent Christiana ; and he considered the plot to be less formidable than W £ s represented . Still , however , British interests BOvnld be adequately protected , and every assistance afforded to ? n old ally in whose welfare this country felt ba mnch concern .

    Lord Bbovgham called the attention of their Lordships to the very inadequate pensions which had been assigned to the daughters of the late Sir Robeit Kennedy , who had been for many years at the head of the Commissariat Depatment . The Duke of Wellington , after paying a high tribnte to the merits of the deceased , promised his imxntdiate attention to the case of the daughters , that some preYision might be made for them more ¦ worthy of their father ' s services . ' Iiord Moxteagle then rose , pursuant to notice , to lay before the House his motion respecting the late fraud in the issue of Exchequer-bills . Its object had no referenca to that of the measure which had been introduced in the other House . It was simply that the qurstion should be decided whether the frauds had been in any degree caused or facilitated by the act or neglect of any pnblic-c-fficer responsible to Parliament . In the

    management of the effiee of Controller-General there had not been for upwards of a century any change or any relaxation in the previously existing rules . It had always been the custom to place much confidence in the holders of the principle offices , in the choice and appointment of whom the utmost caution was exercised ; apu in the case of the author of the late frauds , every drcams-tinee of long-tried probity and high respecta bility of family and character appeared to have combined to lull suspicion . The N «* ble Lord then related the facts which had led to the discovery of forgeries , and defended the conduct of Government during the examination of Exchequer Bills in withholding from the parties the forged Bills that they produced . The appointment of the commission , which had already mode its report , would have superseded the necessity of his motion were it not for five points upon which they stated that the former practice had been departed from , or former precautions relaxed . These were : —

    1 st , " The abandonment of a second counterfoil which had been deposited in the Bank of England . " 2 d . " The neglect of comparing the Billa with their counterfoils at thePaymaster ' a-ofiice , at the exchanging , paying off , or funding of the Bills . ' . 3 d . " Toe distribution of the counterfoils without tie authority of a Treasury warrant . " 4 ih . " The « igrnTig of Bills of the same JEsne by more tbt-n one person , and the omission of a notification in th * Gazttte . where any other person other than the principal was authorised to sign . " 5 th . " The occasional signature of Bills without the presence of a clerk , or of the signing-book , elsewhere fhaji in the c-Sce . "

    Upon each of these instances of deviation from the established practica the Noble Lord shoitly spoke in exculpation , and after vindicating the motives by which he had been actuated , moved that a committee of irqulry be appointed , that it might be ascertained if any neglect on his part had offered facility to fraud . Lord Brougham considered that the course which had been adopted by the Government would be more satisfactory than the appointment of a committee such as Lord Monteagla recommendec . " With respect to the points to which tke former commission had

    directed attention , he expressed his assent to the explanation which had been afforded , except in the rase ef signing hills in other places than the pioper office . Sir John Newport had indeed done so upon one or two occasions , but the bills so signed were deficient billa , while Lord Monteagle had signed Supply bills . He defended at considerable length the practice of the oTB . se ¦ under Sir John Newport's superintendence j and after guing very fully through all the details of the subject , eoBcluded by declaring that the vindication both of Lord Monteagle and his predecessor was in every partieular complete . . -

    The Duke of Wellington approved of the course Lord Monteagle had taken in bringing a question which had excited so mueh attention under discussion , although no blame had « ver been laid to his charge by any authority- It was absolutely necessary that there should be an inquiry which would protect the present holders of tne bills , and support the credit of the public securities ; but he trusted that no obstacle would be thrown in the way of the investigation which had been entered upon by the other House , by establishing another inquiry which would still be liable to objectisn . He pressed Lord Monteagle , therefore , to withdraw his motion , piomising thai the clauses he might wish inserted in the Bill now before the other House should receive attentior . - To this course Lord Mo . nteagle assented , " and his motion being withdrawn , thtir Lordships adjourned . Monday , March 7 .

    The business consisted in an explanation from the Earl of Aberdeen , as to the circumstances connected with the conversation , -which he had held -with the Fzemch Ambassador , en the subject ot the occupation of Algiers ; and a defence , by the Earl . of Micto , of his administration of the naval affairs cf the country , frem the animadversions of Sir Charles Napier in the House of Commons , on Friday night- This was held to be irregularly brought under discussion ; * and the House shortly afterwards adjourned .

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    HOUSE OF COMMONS—Feidat , Makch 4 . The Speaker took the chair at five minutes before four o ' clock . Lord Mihos brought in the Copyright Bill , which ¦ was read a Urst time , and ordered to be read a second time on Wednesday , the 16 th inst On the motion of Sir C . Napier , a return ^ ras ordered of the number of vessels arriving from America , at the Port of Liverpool , laden with com , during the years 1840 and 1 S 41 , and stating the numbar of days each ship occupied in the voyage .

    Mr . FereaXD gave notice , that when the Hon . Member for Saiford ( Mr . Brotnerton ) brought forward t "" motion for an "Address for a return of the names or firms of all occupiers of cotton , woollen " , flax , and silk mills or factories , who pay the wages of their workpeople in goods instead of money , or who directly or indirectly , by their partners , servants , or relations , supply goods or provisions on the truck- system ; and also the names of the places where such mills are situated ;** it was his intention to move , after the words 11 silk mills or factories , " that the following -words be introduced , " print-works , cea 2-works , and iron-works , " and that there be added to the proposed motion , " and also the names or firms of all occupiers cf print-works , coal-works , and iron-works , who compel their workmen to reside in cottages belonging to their employer ? . "

    Lord J . Rcssell said , he had received letters stating Siat with respect to the scale of towns from which the averages were to be taken , it was considered they had not been properly selected . Some towns'had been included in the scale where very little corn was sold , and other towns where large quantities were sold , had been altogether left out of the scale , Sir R . Peel : I -will move for leave to bring np the report , and then I will answer the Noble Lord . The Report on the Com Law Importation Act having been brought up and read .

    Su R . Peel said , the bill which had been proposed was in strict conformity with the resolutions which had been agreed to , and the explanation which he gave in moving for a committee on the subject ; he wished to state that he had received letters from inspectors , stating Jiardabjps on them , and asking for compensation . 3 a ? arrangement fie proposed with respsct to the in-¦ pectowj'fiai proposed to feetp in office all efficient officers , placing them under the control of ths board of excise , and is all the new towns to have the averages taken by the excise officer * . He trusted the whole

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    duty would be taken under the superintendence of the excise , so as te cause little or so additional expense . He proposed that the bill should , aa soon u it received the unction of the legislature , come into immediate operation ; and he should not , therefore , postpone that operation until the settlement of the question of average * . He always , In proposing an extended area for the averages , sought to have additional opportunities for taking them , and additional precautions against conspiracy to raise the averages . In the revision of the lists of towns be had acted on ttiis principle ; there were near 150 towns from which the averages were collected , in that number there were a certain proportion of manufacturing , agricultural , and commercial towns ; and in his plan he had folio wad the same ratio in the new towns selected . But the whole would be open to the revision cf the HouBe , according te the information it

    should receive . Mr . Cobdes begged the attention of the house for a few moments to a matter relating personally to himself . He alluded to the observations made a few evenings ago by an Hon . Member of that House , who stated that whilst he ( Mr . Cobden ) was calling for a repeal of the Com Laws , he was working his mill night and day , and , moreover , that by this cruel means he bad amassed a large fortune . At the time that statement was made he declined tresspassing on the attention of the House , in order that by not doing so then he might be better prepared to do bo at a subsequent period . With that view he had written to the country for the fullest and most precise information upon the subject of the Hon . Member ' s charge , to which he would solicit the

    attention of the House . He would first of all mention that the concern with which he was connected employed about six hundred porsons , and he found , from the information which bad been supplied him , that during the last eighteen years there had been employed duri- g night twenty men , and that during an interval of eighteen months , ten men bad been casually employed at night finishing up some work . Now , by the charge of cruelty he believed It was intended to convey the impression that those who worked at night worked also by day ; but that was not the case . They were fresh hands ; they were persons who had nottring else to do , and who would have been altogether idle if they had not been so employed in the establishment with which he was connected—( Hear , hear . ) The letter he received

    on the subject stated , I only wish we could employ five hundred extra hands at night ; for we could have five thousand if we required them , and very glad those five thousand persons would be to get work to do by night , for they never were bo badly off as they are at present "—( hear , hear . ) As the difference between cotton spinning and cetton printing did not appear to be well understood , be wished to observe that cotton prirting was something like paper printing—it had its seasons ; and to prevent persons engaged in that branch of trade from occasionally employing half a dozen extra hands by sight , would be like interdicting the proprietor of a magazine from employing printers by night towards the end of the month and just previous to its publication—( hear . ) The Hon . Member who brought

    forward the charge also spoke of those manufacturers who belonged to the Anti-Corn Law League , as being in the habit of paying their workmen ' s wages by truck system . Now , as that was a breach , or at least an evasion , of the law , it became a matter of serious cbarge , and as be { Mr . Cobden ) was proud of belonging to the Anti-Corn Law League , and hoped he might long be so— ( a laugh ) , —he felt himself bound to show the House how far the Hon . Member's statement was correct by reading another passage from the letter which he held in bis hand . It said— " Of course you are aware that our wages are paid every Saturday , as is well known , at eight o'clock in the morning , so that the workmen can lay out their money to the best advantage , and wherever they please "—icheers . ) Nothing

    could be more futile than for a person like Mm ( Mr . Cobden ) to disclaim the truck system if he really sanctioned or practised it , because the shopkeepers , who were exceedingly jealous of anything of that kind , were also exceedingly acute in discovering who were the parties who paid money and who did not ; and in answer to the charge against himself , be begged to say that he paid £ 20 , 000 in wages daring the last ten years that during that time he had never , directly or indirectly , been connected with a shop , or with any other than his own establishment , and that every farthing of the sum he had mentioned had been paid in cash—( cheers ; . That was notoriens to every one in the neighbourhood of the establishment to which he belonged ; and when the Hon . Member opposite made his charge

    so broadly and without excepting him ( Mr . Cobden ) , he was aware—because he had been informed by an Hod . Gentleman who sat near Mm , and who was opposed in politics to him < Mr . Cobden ); the Hon . Member was at the time aware that the charge was unfounded —( cheers ) . He ( Mr . Cobden ) called upon the Hon . Member for Wigan to say whether what he now stated was not literally correct and true . What he said a week ago he now repeated , that he considered this a very undignified occupation for them to be engaged in , and be hoped he would not in future be expected to come forward to repudiate and rebut charges of this kind from the same quarter—( cheers ) . If any Hod . Gentleman should condescend to take the slightest interest in his personal

    character , he referred him at once to his neighbours and his working people , hoping that he would att upon the Drindple of do unto others as you would wish others to do unto you , " and , before he relied upon testimony from any other quarter , inquire after his ( Mr . Cobden ' s ) character in his own neighbourhood , where be was best known—( hear , hear ) . 1 b conclusion , he would state , that an Hon . Gentleman in that House had been intrusted with declarations from a large body of individuals in Lancashire against the charges which had been made against those respectable gentlemen who were members of the anti-Corn Law League , and requesting him to lay before the House a distinct denial of those charges .

    Mr . C . Yillieks rose before the Hon . Member for Knaresborough , because he was the person to whom the declarations referred to by the Hon . Member for Stockport had been confided . The House would remember the circumstances under which certain charges had been made by the Hon . Member for Knaresborough against the manufacturers . The Hon . Member , in opposing his ( Mr . Villiers ' s ) mot ion , said that his arguments against it were founded upon certain charges which he brought against the manufacturers , and those charges he qualified by saying that he did not apply them to the manufacturers of England generally , but to those manufacturers who had contributed to the Anti Corn Law League . The nature of these charges having become matter of notoriety , and he ( Mr . Viliiers ) having stated

    in his remarks to the House that they were of so serious a character , and had been received in so striking a manner—( cheers )— as evidently to show that they were generally credited by Hon . Gentlemen at the opposite side of the House—those manufacturers against whom they were made had deemed it right to take them into their considtratisn , for the purpose of seeing how far the Hon . "Member for Knaresborough might have been justified in making them . He ( Mr . Viliiers ) would , therefore , trouble the House , in the first instance , with an extract from the speech of the Hon . Member . He said— " When detailing the other night the misery , the oppression , the plunder , and robbery committed on the posr by the Anti-Corn Law League manufacturers , 1 brought under tke notice of the House the evils of the

    truck system . I have since received some further information upon that subject Bat before I read to the House a statement which will make it stand aghastwhich will freezo its blood with horror , 1 wish particularly to re-assert , in the presence of the House , that I do not charge thewh le of the manufacturers of England with being parties to this nefarious system . I positively declare that I charre only the anti-Corn Law League manufacturers . I have been told by many manufacturers in my own neighbourhood—as honourable men as ever lived , and of whose Bociety I am proud—I have been told by them , time after time , that they cannot compete with the anti-Corn Law League- manufacturers , because it was their practice to pay their men in money , and not in good ; . It is a notorious fact , that

    master manufacturers clear tweuty-five per cent by the goods they sell to their workmen , and teu per cent by the cottages in which they are compelled to reside . There , then , is the glorious system of fr * e trade , under which the anti-Corn Law League manufacturers stand up in the House of Commons and exclaim , ¦ ' Before us the landed interest shall falL '" He had then taken the liberty of saying that the charge could not re 3 t there , and those who made it , and those who by their vociferous cheering sanctioned it—( cheer 3 ) : —were bound to see that such a charge was proved —( loud cheers . ) The charge had , of course , fallen under the notice of the persons implicated , and they had drawn up the following statement , which he would read to the house : — 11 , the undersigned manufacturers , being subscribers to the anti-Corn Law League , having heard , with surnrise , the statements made in tha House of Commons

    by Mr . Ferrand , the member for Krjaresborough , do hereby repudiate them in the mott distinct and unequivocal manner , and do declare them to be utterly destitute of truth . We distinctly state that we keep no truck-shops , and that we do not pay our workmen otherwise than in the current coin of the realm "iloud cheers from the Opposition . ) This declaration was signed by seventy-two manufacturers , who were members of the anti-Corn Law League—( cries of "Name , name . ") He had no objection to read the names . The Hon . Member read the names of the subscribers to the declaration , and then said that he was quite ready to give a copy of the document he had just read to the Hon . Member for Knaresborough , and he thought the House would agree with him that that Hon . Member was bound to give some explanation of his statement—( cheers . )

    M . Fekrasd said , that in the first place he would apply himself to the complaints of the Hon . Member for Stockpert . He had not charged that Hon . Member with cruelty to bis workmen —( loud cries of " Oh ! oh ! " ) No notice had been given to him of the course intended to be pursued that evening —(" Oh !'• and cheers)—and the present conversation had come upon him quite by surprise ; but as far as he could recollect what he had said with regard to the Hon . Member , it was this , that , whilst he came down , night after night , to that House complaining of the Bufferings of the people , he was keeping his own workmen employed in working his mills night and day—( cheers . ) That was , to the best of his recollection , the statement he had made , He bad not made use of the words " abominable cruelty , " ner bad be referred to any particular cases of ill-treatment on the part of the Hon . Member towards his workmen—( hear . ) The Hon . Member had said he had charged him with being a party to the

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    truck sysem . He bad never done any such thing . If it had been bis intention . 'to prefer any each charge against him , he should have told him of the charge plainly and without equivocation—( cheer * . ) But it was not his intention to charge him with participating in that system . On the contrary , an Hon . Gentleman on that ( the Ministerial ) Bide of the House had . told him previously that the Hon . Member for Stockport was not guilty of that charge , and that he paid all his men with money—( hear . ) He hoped that statement would convince the Hon . Member that he had misunderstood him—( loud cries of "Oh ! oh I' from the Opposition benches . ) Now . tcith regard to the statements of the Hod , Member for Wolverhampton , he begged leave again most positively to assert , and he

    was ready to prove his statement by the evidences of credible witnesses before a committee or at the bar of that House , that Members of the Anti-Corn Law League did pay their people in goods—icries of "All , all ?") He had never said they all paid their workpeople in that manner —( cries of " Oh ! oh I" and ironical cheers . ) He had never used the word " all" at all —( laughter ; and repeated cries of " Oh ! oh ! " ) He again asserted what he had said , and he was prepared to prove every tittle of it by the evidence on oath of magistrates , clergymen , gentlemen of high standing , manufacturers , tradesmen , and workpeople , who , since he had made his statements , had given him information on the subject in their own names , and who were prepared to prove the truth of every representation he had made—( loud cheers . )

    Mr . Villiers—I beg most distinctly and unequivocally to say , that the Hon . Member did charge all the manufacturing Members of the anti-Corn Law League which being parties to this system —{ cries of "Order , " " chair , '' and loud cheers . ) I can remind the Home of a circumstance— ( Renewed cries of " ¦ Order . " ) The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER—Sir , I rise to order —( hear , bear . ) I put it to youj Sir , if when an Hon . Member distinctly and positively repudiates the use of a certain expression any other Hon . Member is justified in persisting in attributing that expression to him . In the present case the Hon . Member denies that he attributed to all the manufacturers a participation in the truck system— . Mr . Villiers—Oh . ' I do not say that he did —( cries of " Order " " chair" )

    TheCHAUCELLOR OP the Exchequer ( not noticing the interruption)—and I am sure ths House will be satisfied with that Hon . Gentleman ' s statements , and that yon , Sir , will interfere to prevent this sort of recriminatory conversation . . ' . '¦' Mr . Villiers again rose amid loud cries of " order , " 11 order , " but gave way to Mr . Labouchere , who said that he had certainly not understood the Hon . Member for Knaresborough to charge the truck system upon all the manufacturers of England , but he did understand him to attribute it to the great bulk of the manufacturers—those of them , namely , who had joined the anti-Corn Law Leafue—( cries of " order , " and cheers . ) Mr . Villiers said , he would take the liberty to remind the House of a circumstance connected with the debate at the close of which the Hon . Member had

    made his charge . The House would remember , that in the ajbrse of bis ( Mr . Villiers ' s ) reply , he had said that the charges brought against the British manufacturers would not be allowed to rest there . The Hod . Member for Knaresborough immediately made a motion signifying dissent , and an Hon . Friend near him reminded him that Ae charge was limited to those manufacturers who had joined the League . He ( Mr . Villiers ) then said— " I understand the Hon . Member limits his charge to the manufacturing members of the anti-Corn Law League" —( hear , hear . ) Those were the words he used , and he had a distinct recollection that the Hon . Member ( Mr . Ferrand ) touched his hat and said ¦ Decidedly "—( vociferous cheering from the Opposition . ) He ( Mr . Til- , lien ) did not , therefore , attribute to him that be had brought the charge against all the manufacturers of England , but he did say , that he included every manufacturer who contributed to the anti-Corn Law League—( renewed cheers . )

    The Speaker said , he must remind the Hon . Member that , after the positive denial of the Hon . Gentleman , it was highly ir egular , and contrary to the rules of the House , to question his assertions —( hear , hear . ) Mr . Villiers was perfectly ready to say that he had entirely misapprehended and misunderstood the Hon . Member , if he had intended to limit his reference to a few of the great manufacturing body . Sir B . Hall would take the opportunity of referring to the motion concerning the truck system , of which the Hon . Member for Salford had given notice , and with regard to which the Hon . Member for Knaresborough had Btated that he should move an amendment He

    wished to know whether , provided the House acceded to this motion ( which be feared it could not , for he did not know how the returns could be procured ) in that case either of the Hon . Members was prepared to take any farther steps in connection with the subject—( hear , hear . ) He was the more impelled to make this ii . quiry because it was quite within bis own knowledge that the system did exist to a very great extent in the iron districts with which he was connected —( hear , hear )—and because he felt that it would be quite impossible to leave the question where it stood at present —( hear , bear . ) He did not know that anything the House could do would entirely put an end to these sort of transactions , but if there was any effective way of stopping it it would be by making public all the particulars of so nefarious a system—( cheers . )

    Mr . Brotherton said , he had no doubt it would be quite practicable to get all the returns which he hod given notice that ho should move for . His idea had been that the inspectors of factories could themselves furnish all the necessary information . With regard to the particulars wanttd by the Hon . Member for Knaresborough , he was not so sure that they could be obtained . The inspectors did not visit print and iron works ! and consequently could not be supposed to be able to give any information as to tke extent of the truck system in

    those works—( hear . ) His ( Mr . Brotbertons ) principal object had been , not to show the extent of the system , but to prove that it was not entertained by the proprietors of silk and cotton mills —( near . ) With regard to those mills , as he said before , he could get the information be wanted , but he feared that the effect ef the amendment of the Hon . Member opposite would be , to throw impediments in the way of the return . If the infoiniation he required was absolutely necessary , perhaps he would not object to move for it in a separate motion .

    Lord John Rcssell expressed his persuasion tbat no large class of men , either manufacturers or agriculturists , were justly chargeable with the offences alleged against the Anti- "Corn Law League , or with intentionally sacrificing the public interests to their own . He added that it vat the intention , on bis own side of the House , to take a debate and a division upo » the second reading of the Corn Duty Bill : upon which Sir R . Feel said , he was much pressed , from many quarters , to make a statement of the intentions entertained by Government respecting the finance and commerce of the country ; and he was anxious , from considerations of public convenience , to make that statement on Friday next . But he felt it necessary first to obtain the votes which were to decide the amonnt of the naval and military force to be maintained by the country in the ensuing year . He ultimately fixed Wednesday next for tke second reading of the Corn Duty Bill .

    Sir A . L . Hay , at Lord John Russell ' s request , then postponed his motion respecting the Scotch Church , in order that the estimates might not be delayed . '; ¦ After a motion by Mr . O'Connell for papers , which were ordered , and a short conversation respecting the relations of France , Spain , and ingland , the House resolved itself into committee of supply . . In this committee Mr . Sidney Herbert , as Secretary of the Admiralty , moved the Wavy' .. Estimates . He stated it to be the intention of Government that the existing number of seamen should be retained , but that , in order to avoid the disadvantage of sending . ships to sea with less than their complement , the number of ships should be diminished . He explained the details of the estimates , and proposed a vote for 43 , 000 seamen , including 10 , 000 rairinea ,

    Sir C . Napier assented to the opinion that a smaller number of ships well manned was more effective than a larger number manned incompletely . He adverted to the great age of our admirals , and the impracticability of finding among them men strong enough for active commands . In such a state * f things , the late naval promotion ought to have been more -comprehensive , and to have borne a nearer proportion to the brevet in the army . He wished the Government to pension off a considerable number of old captains , to make some commanders captains , and in all future promotions to give a certain proportion to seniority . He proceeded to recommend also some additional advantages for the subordinate classes of the service . He finally amused the House with some criticisms upon the sterns of several suip 3 lately constructed , particularly one named the Queen , i

    Captiin Rou * entered at length into the merits and defects of modern khip-V » uilding . He complained of the insufficiency of the pay of naval officers , observing , that the pay of a French captain is one-third more than that of an English one ; and that the pay of an kmt > rican captain actually doubles that of an English officer of the same rank . He touched upon the late case of Mr . Elton , of whose conduct he took a very unfavourable view . He complained of the appointment of so aged an officer as Sir Edward Owen to command the Mediterranean fleet , great as were tb . 6 abilities and honours of that distinguished admiral , and recommended that a system should be adopted by which younger officers should be brought forward , suggesting promoting by purchasa It was not wise to keep strong and healthy men upon the shelf , and draw out old and infirm ones into a description of service requiring vigour and activity .

    SirG- Cockburn stated the mitigating circumstances which had induced the remission of a part of Mr . Elton ' s sentence . He vindicated the appointment of Sir E . Owen , whom he described to be in full possession of his powers . It was not every young officer who could command a neat , though many of them thought they could ; and the weight which greater experience and reputation carried was a compensation for some diminution in bodily activity . He pointed out the great t > ervice 3 rendered by many officers far advanced in years . He thought that a certain intermixture of promotion by purchase , aa suggested by Captain Rons , would hate its advantages , in bringing forwaid a prc-

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    portion of younger officers , and providing a comfortable retirement for old ones . " . ' Captain BEBiiELEY regretted the slowness of naval promotion . He congratulated the country on the course now taken by the Admiralty in duly manning the ships . The naval service , however , inust always snstain ' . » disadyantage in comparison with the military , while the First Lord of the Admiralty sh ould be a civilian , and the Commander-iri-Ch ? ef a spldier . Lord INGESTRIE urged the necessity of keeping up a constant stream ' of promotion , and entered into some discussions upon naval architecture . , :.:.-. Sir George Cockburn gave some explanations upon the last-topic ..- ¦ - . V : . ¦ ¦ :: ¦' ¦;• ¦; . ¦¦' , ' . "¦' ; ' . . - .-. " : ¦ . . - -C ' .. ' . / , '

    Lord SxAMiEn In reference to a question which in the coarse of the debate had been asked about the intentions of Government respecting a renewal of the expedition to tibe Niger , deolared , that no white sailors would be employed in that service , but that perhaps a vessel navigated by negroes , with whose constitution the climate had never been found to disagree , might make occasional ascents of that river with advantage to the objects originally contemplated . < Mr . C . Wood congratulated Mr . S . Herbert on the ability and perspicuity with which be had opened the estimates . He had himself no fault to find with them . Indeed , they mainly csincided with those of last year . Butt he did not well understand why the Admiralty were now abandoning the old principle , that in time of peace the complement of a ship need not be kept up to the point at which it is required to be maintained in time of war . He proceeded to discuss , at great length , a Variety of details , and was briefly followed by- ¦ ¦ : ;¦ ¦ : - . ^ . ;¦ ¦ ¦; , - , - ...- " ;; ¦ .-i :,-' ¦ ¦>^• ¦¦¦¦ ¦ ¦ - ¦'

    Sir Q . Cockburn ; who stated that the circumstances of the world in general , and the preparations of some foreign states , had made it indispensable to inerease the peace compliment of our ships . Sir R . Inglis recurred to the subject of the Niger expedition . . He deeply regretted the loss of the fortytwo men wko had perished in it , but thought the House ought not to be too sensitive in condemning a step taken for purposes of pure benevolence . ; Captain Berkeley said , that on his return from the Mediterranean , in August , 1840 , he had apprized the Admiralty of the defective manning of our ships , and that it was not till January , 1841 , that the Whig Administration sent bat seamen to supply the deficiency . : ; ^ . >

    Captain Pechell quoted the debates of the French Chamber to contradict Sir J . Graham , who had told bis constituents , at Dorchester , that the French Government , from its confidence in Sir R . Peel ' s Ministry , was reducing its naval force . No such reduction appeared to have been made . He would not concur in any factious opposition to the present Board of Admiralty . ' •;¦ : . , ' .- . - ¦ " '¦ ¦ . : . ¦ ' ;;¦ : - ¦ , ¦ ¦; . : . - . Mr . Williams made some observations upon Postoffice packets , and Dr . Bow ring on the mode of keeping , the public acoonnts . ; . ' : / .. ¦ ¦ ... ¦ ' . ¦ . ; . ¦ ' , .- ¦ ; '¦;¦ : Mr . Baring gave some explanations respecting the steam conveyance now employed for the Government mails ... . /¦; . ¦ . ¦• ¦ , : : ¦¦; . . . ' . ¦ . ;¦ ¦ .. ' . - ¦¦ :. . ¦¦ . ¦ . . " The seamen were then voted . On the vote for the Board of Admiralty , :

    Sir C . Napier objected to have the navy ruled by ai civilian . It was true that a Naval Lord might be apt to prefer the officers who bad served under himself ; but even a civilian would always be guided in such matters by some nav&l man . The real reason why a civilian was thus preferred to a naval man was , that naval men seldom possessed the station and influence which the First Minister wanted in the members of his Cabinet The late First Lord bad assumed a power which did not properly belong to him

    individually , but to the whole Board . Similar encroachments had been made by former civilians in the same situation . He proposed a scheme Of bis own for a Board which should regulate naval matters .. Under the recent Administration the dock-yards and the stores had been suffered by the Board of Admiralty to fall into unwarrantable decay . Sir James Graham had done great «? ood in abolishing the Navy Board and the Victualling Board ; he should have gone a little farther , and abolished the Admiralty Board also . . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ '• . ¦ ¦ ¦• . : - - . . '¦ :. ' ¦ ' . - J '' ¦ ¦ . ¦ - ¦ •¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ . - .-. ¦¦ ' ¦' . ¦' ¦ ' . ¦ .

    Captain Carnegie contended for a naval First Lord . He cited several recent instances of civil and diplomatic ability evinced by Admirals on their stations ; He hoped , at all events , that if the First Lord mast needs be a civilian , tho subordinate patronage of the Admiralty would be bestowed upon naval men . If a civilian were necessary , he must admit that there could have been no better selection than ef Lord Haddington . Lord Howick thought that while no bar existed to exclude a naval man , there was no objection to the system . He bad been Secretary at War with a military Coinmander-in-Chief , and the working of that arrangement was one which he aheuld be very sorry to see applied to the navy . If the First . Lord should be disposed to transgress his province , the check would be that the naval lords would tender their resignation . Sir H . Hardinge protested against the notion of superseding Ute Coinmander-in-Chief by a civilian .

    Captain Berkley vindicated his own conduct m pub iahing the pamphlet written by him at the time when he resigned his seat In the Admiralty . He contended that the First Lord ought to be a naval officer . Mr . C . Wood controverted some of the facts stated by Sir C , Napier ; and Captain Berkely explained . Sir K . Peel said he should , be very Sorry that there were any exclusion of navi 1 men ; - but neither would he confine the office to naval men only . Never had the achievements of the navy been more brilliant than under civilians . Whenever reductions should be required , civilians wonld be much fitter to execute thotu than naval men . The First Lord was always assisted by naval officers : at this moment , for example , tho influence of so eminent a coadjutor as Sir G cWkburn muBt make itself powerfully felt . It was a considerable advantage to have a man at the head of the navy who was free from all professional partialities and prejudices .

    Sir C . Napier returned to the charge , and read a letter written many years since by himself to Lord Melville . , He ridiculed Lord Ho wick's proposal of transferring the office of Commander-in-chief to a civilian . A civilian was First Lord when the order was given to bur Captains not to engage the American frigates , which order he himself , as soon as he received it , put into the quarter-gallery . The stir made by the Duke of Clarence as Lord High Admiral did a world of good to the service . He moved a reduction of £ 4 , 500 in the vote , which was negatived without a division . The House then adjourned .

    Monday , March ? . On the motion that the Speaker should leave tho chair for the purpose of their going into a committee of supply , Sir . R . Peel stated , in answer to a question from Mr . € . Wood , that he did not propose to renew the committee on the currency . The subject was one which , he said , could be fitly considered only by the Executive Government ; but , pressed aa he was with other business , be could give no assurance that Government would produce any . measure relating to it in the course of the present session .

    THE CHARGES AGAINST THE MANUFACTURERS . Mr . FERRAND said , that haying on Friday night been charged with having made assertions which were not facts , and with having used expressions that he had not used , he trusted that when it was considered that be stood there as the advocate of the cause of the working classes of the north of England—( loud ironical laughter)—he should not be considered to 6 e deviating from the Striot rules of the house , if he occupied a short space of its time in adverting to the charges brought against him . Since Friday evenings he had had an opportunity of looking at what he had said , and he found that he bad never used the word " all" at all , and that he never charted the Hon .

    Member for Stockport with abominable cruelty , " but-that was another lapsus lingua of the Hoil Membtr , akin to that concerning his mills and print works . The Hon . Member had said , that during the lost eighteen years only twenty men had been employed at his works-during . night . He was was sure , the Hon . Member would be glad of the opportunity of explaining / a poini to which Mr Leonard Homer had referred in one of his reports . Mr . Homer had said tbat no one could work in any printworks without being assisted by a child , who put on the colours , and assisted the inen generally . He said , —" The emplpy * ment of children is to prepare the smooth surface of colouring matter on which the carved block is preaaed , and to take up the colour that is to be transferred

    to the cloth . There is a circular frame , like the side of a sieve , upon which a fine woollen cloth is stretched , and on this the colour is spread . These pots stand by the side , and a child , who assists the man who prints , transfers the colour from the pot to the sieve , spreading it over the cloth with a flat'biush to make a smooth surface . This is called tearing , ' and the child who performs the operation , whether male 6 i female , is called a tearboy . ' Every printer has a table and a tearboy . ' When any printing is going on the tearboy' must be there , and : they perform their work standing . The temperature of the room should not be less than seventy degrees , and the air should be rather humid . " Now , he would take leave to ask the

    Hon . Member whether , during the eighteen years his men had worked between six in the evening and eight o ' clock in the morning , these . -. " tearboys" had not also been working in his factory ? And he asked this , as he said before , that the Hon . Member might have an opportunity of explaining whether he was correct in the representations he had made , or whether Mr . Leonard Homer was correct in hla report . Tho Hon . Member for Wolverhampton had read in the House a declaration , signed by seventy-two cotton-spinners , and had forwarded to him ( Mr . Ferrand ) a copy of that declaration , to which were annexed two extracts from his speech . The Hon . Member was about to read the declaration , when ; ^

    ' , .. The Speaker intimated that it was oat of order to refer to anything that was said out of the House on the subject ef what had takes place within its walls , and therefore the Hon . Member must not read the statement . - \ ' ; :- ¦ : ' ::. ' ' ; "¦¦ ¦'¦¦^ ' ¦¦? : ¦ ¦' ::. v ; '¦ ¦ ¦¦ ;¦¦¦]'¦ - Mr . FERRANb ( in continuation ) . — -These people said that they kept no truck-shops , and that they paid all their workpeople in the current cein of the realm . But he did ask , did they nut hand the key to their workmen ; did they not make them rent their cottages ? Did

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    they know nothing of the flour paste ?—( loud laughter ) —nothing of the shoddy trade ; nothing of the old rags and the devil's dost ?—( roars of laughter ) . They asserted that they kept no truck-shops , and that they paid in no other way but In the current coin of the realm ; but he ( Mr . Ferrand ) I had never charged them with doing these things—lories of oh , oh ! " from the opposition benches ) - Hehad never charged them with keep-Ing track-shops . What he has said waB , that they evaded the law by letting their relatives keep truckshops , and that , although they might pay their men In the current coin of the realm , yet they stopped a great part of it on its way home . But suppose he admitted all that the subscribers to this requisition urgefl- > -8 uppose fee allowed that they were the seventy-two just men of the League—did the Hon . Member mean to say that these were the whole of the subscribers to that

    association ?—( hear , hear ) . Why , he thought that they boasted of having extended their ramifications through every part of thelcountry ?> He thought they said ( hat this was a national League—( laughter )—that it had branches in every part of England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales ? How happened it , then , tbat these men undertoek by a qulbblt to deny and repudiate the system of their fellows throughout the nation ? But he turned the page of tbis declaration and he found a circular addressed by the agitators at Manchester to their correspondents ; it ran . this : —• ' Manchester Anti-Corn Law League . — -You will oblige the council by affixing your name to the declaration and returning it at the earliest possible moment . " Now , in the declaration as read , there was not the name of one

    single Yorkshire manufacturer ; of the Beventy-two parties subscribing the declaration there was not one who did live in Manchester or some other large town where they dared not carry on the truck system for fear of the . shopkeepers— ( a cry of "Hear ; hear , " from the Opposition . ) It was in secret—it was in dark corners that this infamy was perpetrated . / It was where there were none to rise up and explain the nefarious system as he had done —( loud laughter and ironical cheers from the Opposition benches . ) Oh , their interruptions would not put him down . He stood there to speak the truth , and those who rose for that purpose were not to be silenced by clamour . It was in the name of the working classes of England that he addressed that House- — - ( ironical cheering ) , and he

    recommended them to follow the advice of the Hon . Member for Oldham " . .. and leave himi alone . ' The Hon . Member for Oldham bad told them that they bad butter let this matter drop . When the representative for Wolver « hampton had said that these charges should not rest there , the Hon . Member for Oldham had said to him , " You had better let the matter rest , for I can undertake to prove all Mr . Ferrand has said—and ten times worse" —( hear , hear . ) He challenged the Hon . Member for Wolverhampton , then , to move for his select com " - mittee . Let them institute an inquiry into those charges—let them examine and Bee who was right

    Tonight he would undertake to state the charges which be bad made against the dishonest part of the manufacturers , and if Hon . Members opposite denied the ; trutto of his allegations , he would drive them to the course of asking for a select committee of inquiry . The letter he was about to read was from a poor man in a manufacturing town in Lancashire , and he did trust that Hon . Members opposite , if they would not listen to him , would at least listen to a poor man . Members opposite boasted tbat they were the champions of the poor man , and that they came to the House of Commons to ask for a repeal of the Cora Laws for the sake of the poor man . Let them listen for a moment to the words of a

    poor man ;— 'Bolton , March 1 ^ ¦ " My dear Sir , —It is with the greatest pleasure I read your speech ; of last Thursday . It was one of the sort that has long been wanted ; but , Sir , though it appears to have struck , such a panic amongst them as they ( the Anti-Corn Law League ) little expected , you did not positively more than half do it I wish some one on the Conservative side of the House would move for a committee of inquiry . I feel confident it would strike such an awe over them as they would hot be guilty of such practices . On Monday evening , the 21 st u ] t ., a meeting of the Anti-Corn Law League was held in the Temperance Hall , when ——was called to the chair . Now , Sir , this Is a spinning-master , and

    occupies a large mill in —— street He lives about a mile out of town in a splendid mansion on the —^ -r road , near which is a farm whioh keeps about twenty cows . Mind , Sir , tie Was not worth a suit of clothes wh « n he came to Bolton at the first , but a poor Irish lad , all rags and tatters . This man now , Sir , not only compels " his spinners to have cottages , but also reelers ( girls 16 years of age ) must also pay rent from 2 s . 6 d . to 4 s . 6 d . per week , Or they must have no wojjf . They must also have a quart of milk a dsy / whether they can drink it or not . Dear-Sir , the heuses are of the worst description , and are relet by the workpeople from a shilling to half-a-crown a week , and very of ten not let at all , and then , of course , they lose all the rent . The master stops it out of their waces , if they have not a penny to take

    home . Most of the spinning-masters compel their spinners to have cottages ^ but none except they of the Anti-Corn-Law League make girls . These gentlemen are always screwing and oppressing . I will tell you of another rascally trick ^ f ' - ^— -. He makes a practice of runnint ; his mill from Monday until Saturday , and because Saturday is a short day , on which we work only nine hours , he stops at noon , and only pays the hands for five days and a half . I wish you would just give him a touch in the House of Commons on this point , I think it would stop him , and yen would confer a blessing on hundreds of poor helpless factory people ( helpless , I say , because too many of us , owing to the coupling of wheels , &c . ) " I am yours , &c , ¦¦' ' ¦' - •' . . ' —— . Lancashire .

    « To - — -Ferrand , Esq ., London . " This was a poor labouring man , who had not got the education that many ether people had , and be therefore trusted the House would excuse the plainness of his language . Mr . W , Williams . —Name , name . Mr . Ferrand— -I will give it to the Hon . Member , if he pleases , as soon as I sit down , and if he leaves the House for that purpose I will follow him . But let me tell him the poor workina men have suffered too much , for attempting to expose the tyranny of their masters , and if a select committee should be granted by the House these poor wretches will never dare to come forward and give evidence unless they receive the protection of the Government of the country . ; He

    ( Mr . Ferrand ) knew his statements on this subject to be true , and ho would tell the House that the working classes themselves asserted them to be true , and of that he would convince the House before he sat down . He had given them an instance of the tyranny prac > Used in Lxncashire ; he would now give them another which occurred in Yorkshire , in his own neighbourhood , and again he said he was prepared to give up his authority to any Hon . Member who required him to do 80 : ^— A poor weaver , residing in the township , fef . —— , with a wife and family of small children , has been for some time employed by a wealthy worsted , yarn , and stuff manufacturer , who has practised the abominable system of having a retail shop on his * premises , where his workpeople well understood that they

    are to expend their hard-earned pittance in the purchase of shop goods . This poor man incurred a trifling debt , of about 10 s . CJ ., at this said shop , which he agreed to liquidate by allowing a deduction of Is . weekly from his wages . But , alas ! poor man , though he had not food for a day ' s sustenance for his family , when he carried in his work on the tnking-in day , at the close of the week ending on the 19 th of February instant , tbis wealthy millocrat deducted the 109 . 6 d ., which was the full amount of his wagea due , aud sent him away penniless , and refused to give him further employment . In this state of distress he applied to a magistrate , on Monday morning , the 21 st instant , for a 8 ummuns for his wages , 10 s . 6 d ., which he obtained ( and I am glad to say , that the clerk

    gave him credit for his fee ); but , what do you think ? The tyrant shrauk ; for fear of the exposure , and compromised the affair with his injured Slave , and thus ended an investigation of the case by a magistrate . " These were the anti-Corn Law League men!—( cheers from the Ministerial , and laughter from the Opposition benches . ) He had scores upon scores of such cases in his possession , which he was prepared to prove before a Select Committee—aye , not only that ,. but he would tell the House that the working classes of England were rising up in defence of their cause , and were prepared to prove every word he had said . What would Hon . Members opposite say when he told them that , in spite of all the calumnies which might be heaped on his head by interested parties out of doors , the working

    classes of Birmingham had assembled in public meeting , and bad unanimously passed a vote of thanks to him for exposing the conduct of their hard-hearted taskmasters ? ( The Hon . Member here read the following notice of the meeting from a newspaper : — " At a meeting of the working classes , convened at the King ' s Head Inn , Dudley-street , Birmingham , a vote of thanks ' was unaiilmou 8 ly passed to : M * . Ferrand , the patriotic representative of Enaresborough , for his philauthropic defence of the operatives of England ; his fearless exposures of the fraudulent designs of the anti-Corn Law League , and the oppression and tyranny of Whig-Radical millocrats . " ) He would tell the House that at that meeting the working men stood forward , and justified everything

    he had said within those walls ,: and declared themselves ready to prove his statements by evidence . Let it no longer be said that the . weight of the charges he had made lay on his own head . Again , he callenged Hon . Members opposite . to move for a select committee , and if they would not do it , he wonld . ( Cheers , and 1 laughter . ) He must now allude to what was said by the Noble Lord the Member for the city of London on ; a previaus evening . That Noble Lord stated that he understood he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had only charged a limited number of manufacturers with the frauds : which he had brought under the notice of the House . When

    the Noble Lord sat down , he ( Mr . Ferrand ) rose and told him he had brought the charge to a great extent against the manufacturers , and that he was also ready to prove ifc He jiad thought it his duty ' on Saturday laiti in deference to tihe higti position which that Noble Lord held , not only in that House , but also in the estimation of the public cut of doors , to send the Noble Cord a sample of the common sort of cloth sold in Lancashire to the working classes . He had also sent a sample- to the Prime Minister , for he was determined that his proceedings should not be in the dark , and they should have ocular demonstration of what he had asserted , and what he w » s prepared to prove .

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    Was there any Member who would deny that the cam * mon sort of manufactures were daubed over with flour paste ? He had a sample of the cloth in his hand , and he asked the Noble Lord the Member for the city of London , who knew a good deal of the aflairs of the world , if he ever in bis . life saw- such plunder as that to which the Mrorking men were exposed by this means .: It was dreadful to contemplate ; It Was horrible to behold . Yea , the shirting which was sold to the poor people' of Lancashire was' completely daubed over with flour paste . ( Great laughter from the Opposition , ) He asked Hen . Members who laughed whether an iDquiry ought not to be made into what he said , if it were true , and if it were untrue , whether snch an opportunity of contradicting it bad ever been offered

    to ; opponents ? If what he asserted were true , did they by their smiles and derisive cheers hope to put it down ? If the poor were robbed , as he said they were , was it not the duty of the Legislature to protect them ?—( cheers ) . They came and asked the protection of that Hoiwe . Did he ask anything unfair ? Did he say anything in their behalf at which the House should shrink ? If he did , fairly and with heartfelt gratitude Would he give place to any Hon . Member who would stand up and defend their cause within those walls , fie was doing what he could for the poor ^ and , therefore , let not the members of that House sneer at him . He felt that he was acting conscientiously ; his own heart guided him in what he did , and if he erred in' the

    slightest degree let the blame fall upon his own head . but let not the cause of the poor sufferY He asked the Noble Lord opposite if he was not convinced , from what he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had shown , thatit was the duty of the Legislature to step in and prevent the robbery committed upon the poor through the frauds which he ( Mr . Ferrand ) had exposed to the House ? He would now read a letter , published on the first of December last , in the Manchester Guardian , a newspaper considered the organ of the anti-Corn Law League , which would throw some light on the fraudulent practices to which he had alluded , and their effects : " The Corn Laws—To thei Editor of the Manchester Guardian . : : ¦ - :

    " Sir , —A power-loom manufacturer workiag 1 , 000 looms is now paying more by £ 15 per week , or upwards of £ 750 per annum , for the flour used in his manufactory in the process of dressing , than he did for the same quantity in 1835 . The present duty on corn gives the foreign manufacturer an advantage ef several hundreds a year in such an establishment over the English one in the single article of sfzing flour . The Corn Laws , by limiting the demand for goods at home and abroad , cause ruinous prices / heavy stocks , and general stagnation and depression , such as we are now suffering under . While these exist the manufacturer , in his efforts to save himself , endeavours to reduce the cost of production ; and if he pays more for flour he most pay less for labour . Thus wages are reduced , and this is

    one way in which the workpeople suffer from the high price of grain . A complete spinning and weaving establishment consumes as much floor in the process of dressing as the workpeople employed in it eat ; and If floor was at ; the same price now as it was In 1835 , the manufacturer could as well afford to give his hands nearly half as many loaves as they consume , in addition to their present wages , as he can now afford to pay them the latter . ¦ . """¦'¦' . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦' . -: ¦ ' ¦ - ; ' " " - ; v- '; v . : I am , Sir , yours , < "A Mandpactureb . ' * " Stockport , Nov . 30 , 1841 . " Would Hon . Members opposite now deny that floor paste was used in the making of calico ? When he said that 100 , 000 quarters of wheat were consamed in

    the manufacture of such articles , under a system most baneful to the public , he spoke within bounds . He had thought it his duty on Thursday last to inform the Noble Lord the Member for the City of London that he should find it necessary , in defending himself from the charges brought against him by an Hon . Member opposite , to refer to the correspondence which took place between , the Noble Lord and Mr . Baker , superintendent of factories , ordered by the House of Commons to be printed , Jane 21 , 1836 , when : the Noble Lord was Secretary for the Home Department . He did not blame the Noble Lord for not understanding the manufacture of shoddy doth , for at that time there was scarcely a man living in the south of England who knew anything about it . The letter of the superintendant was as

    follows : — «• My Lord , —4 n the case of Taylor , Ibbotson , and Co ., I took the evidence from the mouths of the boys themselves . They stated to me they commenced working on Friday morning , the 27 th of May last , at six o ' clock a . m ., and that , with the exception of meal hours and one hour at midnight extra , they did not cease working till four o ' clock on Saturday evening , having been two days and a night thus engaged . " This would sufficiently show the horrid cruelties inflicted on the pour by their pretended friends ; and he begged the House to recollect , that these men , Taylor , Ibbotson , and Co ., were great anti-Corn Law men . This was the true character of the members of the League , who felt so much for the sufferings of the poor , and who were so anxious to repeal the Corn Laws for the benefit

    of the poor / nan , and not for their own , ( Cheers . ) Another working man wrote to him as follows : — " I am employed in the shoddy trade , In Batley , neat Dewsbury . I have not seen your last speech on the Corn law debate , but I hear you made some reference to the use of shoddy ; but that is not the worst part of the business . In every piece made there is 31 b . and upwards of the best of flour used as stiffening , to deceive the wearer , / and eventually ruin the trade . In the parish of Batley there are some hundreds of pecks of the very best flour used in this way in the year . Batley Carr , another village a mile distant from Batley , nsed to have a very good trade in the manufacture of paddings and druggets , but they carried this shoddy and stiffening to such a length that trade is lost , all the

    village ruined , and but a few masters retired independent In the stiffening of druggets and paddings there were were used from 5 lb . to 61 b . per piece . " Let Hon . Members listen for a few more moments , and he would show them how the trade of the country had declined . It was the frauds practised in the manufacture which had ruined the trade of many districts , and not the effects of the Corn Laws . He had given them testimony to this eat of the mouths of the working men , and now he weuld read them the account which a manufacturer residing at Witney , in Oxfordshire , gave of those frauds . This person wrote to him : —•> ' Witney , February 26 , 1842 . Sir , —If yoo want further corroboration about the rags , &c ., used by some of the nothem manufactnrers , and wonld not mind inquiring of Messrs .

    Ligbtfoot and Morris , the Government inspectors at Deptfprd Dockyard , they could give you some very good proofs of it as used up in the jackets for our sailors , and technically called ' shoddy . ' It is composed of old coarse woollens , such as blankets torn up after they are comparatively worn out There is no staple left to the wool and however nicely got op to please the eye , cloth made of such stoff , when it comes to be exposed to the wind and rain , will rot in a very little time . Ask them if the blue flushing , inade here last season ( in consequence of the complaints made of the cloth used for the sailors' jackets and trousers , ) did not give every satisfaction ; as it was made of long English wool . It was in consequence of the many complaints on * this score that the Navy

    Board last year substituted the old Witney pattern of cloth again , after having laid it aside for ten years in consequence of the Yorkshire people always underselling them through the use of ' shoddy * ot devil ' s dust' I wiU give you further information , for , although a Whig and : a manafacturer , I am an enemy to all trickery , and some of your remarks are bitingly true . —Z . " He asked Hon . Members opposite to do him as much justice as this Hianufacturer . If they were aiixiouB to serre their country and the working people , they would riot ailow politics to stand la the way . He called on the Hon . Member for Salford to come forward and lend his aid in the prosecution of this inquiry ; and he was most ready to bear witness to the noble , manly , and generous exertions of that Hon . Member in the cause of the factory children . Though , on this question , the Hon . Member and himself might be at daggers' drawn , still he hoped the day was not far distant when they should join hand and

    heart together in the attempt to rescue the poor factory children from tho state of degradatioa to which they were now reduced . He had trespassed on the time of the House , in order to defend himself , from the charges brought against him on Friday last ^ He felt that he had only done his duty : he could prove every word he had said , and , while standing there in defence of the working classes of England , he was fortified and strengthened by receiving , with eyery post , scores and scores of letters from those poor working men , as well as others from every gr ; wle and class of society , begging him not to be confounded and put down by any opposition in that House , and imploring him to make the truth known . It was with that intention he had come into the House ; on that ground he tookhis stand , and was determined never to be put down . In the name of the working classes of England he challenged Hon . Members opposite , he implored them , to ask for a Select Committee . ' " :- . . ;

    Mr . C . P . Villiers said he held in his hand the names of thirty other manufacturers who wished to add them to the . declaration he had read to the House on Friday night , conveying their indignant denial of the charges made by the Hon . Member for KnaresDorougb He should think any man might be astonished by hearing the Hon . Member calling on gentlemen on that side of the House to ask for a seleet committee . The H 6 n » Member bad made thecharges himself , and it was ott daty to move for an instant inquiry into them . Not a single Member on that side of the House would oppose him . Any manufacturer would , he was sure , be glad to second a motion for inquiry , and toen tbef would be ready to vindicate themselves from t ^ charges brought against them .

    Mr . J . Fielden was inaudible for Beveral sentences at the commencement of his remarks . He said fas believed there was a great deal of truth in what had been advanced by the Hon . Member for Knaresboroo ? b . U a committee of the House were granted there wonld be such a development of the proceedings of a great * m an manufacturers as weuld call for the application of an effectual remedy of some kind or other . ( Hear , bear . ) It was asserted that the poor were suflering grievous oppression in a variety of waya . The quantity of the persons unemployed was increasing , and the oppression of the poor increased in the same proportion . Be should be very willing to second a motion for a select committee to examine the accuracy of the statement waich had been Bet forth . He thought it would be ( Continued in oxir seventh pace . ) -

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    Untitled Article

    6 ¦ THE NORTHERN STAR . : / [ r : . ' . - - 'l : ' ^

• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), March 12, 1842, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct589/page/6/