Newspaper Transcripts
Some Selected Reports from The Windsor and Eton Express
16th April 1842
On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings Mr.Collier delivered two most interesting lectures in the Public Rooms, on the deaf and dumb and blind. On the first evening Mr.C confined himself to the deaf and dumb, and prefaced his observations by various statistical statements of the number and average proportion of this unfortunate class in England and countries on the continent. He then adverted to those institutions devoted to the humane and praiseworthy purpose of affording them the means of communing with each other. Mr.C stated he had applied to several members of the late and present administration, upon the propriety of government establishing schools for the education of those afflicted with this lamentable infirmity, that the answers he had received were invariably unfavourable to the proposition. The lecturer then detailed the mode of instructing youths in schools for the deaf and dumb in a pleasing and intelligible manner, and for the purpose of illustration had procurred a youth, so afflicted, named Henry Moore, from Maidenhead, who wrote, and conversed in gestures, in a manner highly creditable to his instructors - On the following evening Mr.Collier imparted some valuable information concerning the numerous and pitiable class - the blind, and entered very fully into the mode adopted for their education, viz., by embossed or raised letters, and by this mode of tuition, he stated that a blind child can be taught to read in one half the time required to instruct a child having the use of its visual organs. Mr.C illustrated his remarks by diagrams of the various information of the letters of the alphabet in use, and enlivened his lecture by numerous appropriate anecdotes. The rooms each evening were crowded by a most respectable audience who evinced great interest in the subject.
Windsor and Eton Auxiliary Bible Society
On Monday last a meeting of the friends and supporters of the Windsor and Eton Auxiliary Bible Society took place in the Town Hall; Charles Pilcher, Esq., in the chair. The meeting we regret to say, was very thinly attended. The chairman having briefly opened the business, the Rev. John Stoughton, the secretary, read the report for the past year, which showed a considerable increase in the receipts over those of the previous year - those of last year being �99 odd, while those of the preceding year were but about �55. The Rev.Edward Neale in a very able manner advocated the claims of the society, which had conferred a vast benefit on mankind. He congratulated the meeting on the increase of their funds, bur regretted that the attendance at the present meeting was so small. He said that many years ago the most sanguine friends of the society had only hoped that at some time or other their funds would amount to about �10,000 a year, whereas, contrary to all expectation, the income was now not less than �120,000. The rev gentleman then proceeded to show the great advantages already conferred by the society's operations, and the vast amount of destitution of religious instruction still existing at home and abroad and which had yet to be provided for by increasing exertions.
The Rev.John Stoughton read letters which had been received from very attached friends of the society, apologising for their inability to attend, but expressing the warm interest they continued to take in its success; they were from the Hon and Rev.S.G.Osborne, the Rev.Lord Wriothesley Russell, and the Rev.Mr.Page of Egham. The claims which the society had on the public. T.J.Bourne, Esq., from the Parent Society, in a lengthened speech, which was listened to with great interest, described the progress of the society from its formation to the present time, giving many peculiarly interesting statistical details of its operations at home and abroad. He was followed by the Rev.Mr.Champnes, of Upton, and the Rev.Mr.Addiscott, who also spoke in glowing terms of the immense benefits conferred by the society. The usual resolutions were passed unanimously, and the meeting adjourned to the evening, when several eloquent speeches were also delivered in favour of the society. Collections were made at the doors of the hall both morning and evening.
Windsor Police - Monday
[Before John Clode, Esq. (Mayor), and Sir John Chapman.]
John Welsh was charged with being drunk and disorderly at eleven o'clock the previous night in George-street and High-street. He was reprimanded and discharged.
William Perry, who obtained his livelihood by hawking sand in a donkey-cart, was charged with doing so without having a hawker's license.
The case was not regularly gone into, but the fact elicited appeared to be these. The accused was given into custody of the police by another sand hawker named Thomas White, who had taken out his license, for which he paid �8, and which he produced to the magistrate. He complained of the hardship of being obliged to pay so large a sum for being allowed to sell sand, when the defendant paid nothing.
The defendant said he got the sand out of a pit in his own garden at Egham, and he conceived that he was not bound to take out a license for selling it.
The bench appeared to be of opinion with the defendant that a license was not necessary, but
Mr.Lovegrove said there had been convictions in similar cases before.
Sir John Chapman - I never heard of them; but, at all events, we will write to the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes upon the subject, and when we get their answer the parties shall be informed when to appear again if it be necessary
Charles Keane and John Dixon, two young men, were charged with the following daring robbery at Mr.Newman's, linen-draper, &c., Thames-street.
On Saturday afternoon, somewhere about four o'clock, the prisoner Dixon, who had been previously seen in company with Keane and two other persons in Thames-street, was seen to go the front of Mr.Newman's shop and snatch off from a rail or screen a piece of plaid gingham, about 50 yards in length. He instantly crossed the road to the corner of George-street with it as fast as his legs would carry him, and notwithstanding he was pursued he contrived to get clear off for the time. Both the prisoners were afterwards apprehended, but of the property there was no trace.
The magistrates remanded the prisoners in order that endeavours might be made to discover the property.
Thursday
[Before John Clode, Esq. (Mayor), Sir John Chapman, and John Banister, Esq.]
A batch of not less than ten prostitutes were introduced to the magistrates, all of whom were charged with taking refuge at night in Mr.Thumwood's brick and tile kiln, where they went for the purpose of sleeping, being entirely destitute of homes.
Their appearance created a feeling of horror in all present. Some of them appeared to be not more than 16, and the eldest could not have been 21 years of age, and they all presented the most disgusting and filthy appearance.
Mr.Thumwood stated that such persons as the prisoners occasioned him considerable annoyance by nightly taking refuge in his kiln, where they pulled the straw about to sleep on, and frequently they were accompanied there by men. He had therefore been compelled to give instructions to the police respecting them.
Mr.Gillman and Mr.Lovegrove said the prisoners were constantly at night in company with the soldiers. They were all known as common prostitutes, and several of them had been repeatedly in custody before, while two or three of them had been sent to the Union Workhouse to be taken care of, but they chose to leave it and follow their former wretched mode of life.
The magistrates selected the three worst, named Perry, Davis, and Stenning, whom they adjudged to two months hard labour in Reading gaol, and discharged the other seven on their promise to return to their friends; at the same time, as some of them lived at considerable distances, they ordered the relieving officer to give them a trifle for their support on the road.
Keane and Dixon, who were examined on Monday for robbing Mr.Newman, the linen-draper, were brought up for a re-examination.
Mr.Gillman informed the magistrates that he had used every means to trace the property, but he had not been able to succeed.
The depositions taken on Monday were then read over, after which the prisoners were asked if they had anything to say, when they both denied the robbery.
They were fully committed for trial at the sessions for the borough.
William Kendall, a boy so crippled as to be obliged to use a crutch, and Eliza Carter, about the same age, namely, 16, were charged with stealing some palings from the premises of Mr.Banister (one of the magistrates), and Mr.George Chapman, the surgeon.
The complainants declined to prosecute, hoping that their imprisonment would be a warning to them.
The mothers of the prisoners who were in attendance were called in, and severely lectured for the bad habits of their children; they promised to take especial care of them for the future, and the prisoners were then discharged.
The out-going overseers of New Windsor attended to pass their accounts, and Messrs. Jarman and Hopkins attended to oppose their passing. The two latter individuals took objection to several items, but the magistrates, after patiently hearing the nature of them, found no reason to refuse their assent to the accounts, which they eventually passed.
Staines, Saturday, April 16.
Two young men, named John Stevens and John Parr, natives of Uxbridge, were charged on Monday before the bench at Feltham, consisting of Sir J.Gibbons, chairman, and Charles Devon and W.T.Carpenter, Esqrs., with uttering two counterfeit half-crowns to Mrs.Irons, landlady of the Star and Garter, Colnbrook, on the night of Tuesday the 5th inst., during the Colnbrook fair. It appeared from the evidence of the prosecutrix that the two men went into her house, on the night in question, and called for a quartern of gin, for payment of which Parr tendered a half-crown, and received from Mrs.Irons 2s 1d change; they then went out. Immediately after their leaving Mrs.Irons fancied the half-crown was bad one, and was induced to show it to a friend who was in the bar, who also believed it was counterfeit ; she took the precaution to mark it before she put it in her pocket. Shortly afterwards the two prisoners came again to her house and called for another quartern of gin, and the prisoner Parr again tendered her half crown, which Mrs.Irons immediately discovered to be counterfeit; she threatened to send for the police, charging them with uttering counterfeit coin, when Parr rushed out of the house and made his escape. Stevens then threw down a good shilling, and told her not to make a bother about it, but to give him his change. This she refused to do, when he threatened with an oath to make her if she did not; she, however, still refused, and Stevens then made his escape out of the house. The assistance of police-constable Cook, T.45, was obtained, and the prosecutrix and her husband accompanied him in search of the prisoners, when they overtook the prisoner Stevens at Iver, on the road to Uxbridge, in company with several others, and among them was a recruiting sergeant, who were no doubt his confederates.
Stevens was apprehended, and endeavoured to make his escape, but was recaptured; the persons who were with him succeeded in making their escape. Upon his person being searched a good half-crown and two shillings were found, and he was taken to the station-house at Staines. Parr was not apprehended until Thursday, when serjeant Burton, T 25, succeeded in taking him into custody at Uxbridge, and took him to Colnbrook, when he was immediately identified by the prosecutrix as the person who uttered the half-crowns to her. The prisoner Stevens was defended by Mr.Wools, solicitor, of Uxbridge, but they were both fully committed to Newgate for trial at the next sessions. Mr.Field, of the royal mint, attended on behalf of the Crown, and who, upon minutely examining the good half-crown found on Stevens, at once stated in evidence that the counterfeit half-crowns produced were cast from a plaster of Paris mould formed from that very half-crown. It was curious how the discovery was effected - it was by a small indentation that appeared upon the good half-crown that must have been a flaw in the plate from which it was struck, and this same indentation appeared upon both the counterfeit ones, so that there cannot be a doubt but that one of the prisoners, if not both of them, were also guilty of coining as well as uttering. It appeared that a number of counterfeit half-crowns, cast from the same mould, were discovered to have been uttered to several persons in Colnbrook the same evening, but, unfortunately, so successful were the utterers, that the persons to whom they were uttered are not able to identify the persons who uttered them. An application was made on the part of the prisoner to have them admitted to bail; Mr.Field, on the part of the royal Mint, did not oppose that application, but claimed 48 hours notice of bail as ordered by Act of Parliament.
A young man, named John Payne alias John Barnes, was next charged with uttering one counterfeit half-crown on the same evening to Mr.Carr. It appeared that Mrs.Carr had taken two in the course of the evening, but could only undertake to swear that the prisoner Payne, alias Barnes, uttered one of them to her; she had no recollection of having taken the other, although she found it in her pocket. The prisoner, it appeared, also belonged to Uxbridge, and was identified as having been in company with the other prisoners on the night in question, but, unfortunately, it could not be proved he was in their company at the time the half-crowns were uttered to Mrs.Irons. The prisoner was also apprehended by Burton, at Uxbridge. The magistrates, at the request of Mr.Field, discharged the prisoner for the present, previous to which he received a caution from the chaieman as to his future conduct. It appeared that all the prisoners were in the company the whole evening with a recruiting serjeant of the 61st regiment , together with three prostitutes and two others, all from Uxbridge, and it was strongly believed that the serjeant knew more of the nefarious proceeding than he ought to have done. The serjeant also refused to assist the constable Cook, when called upon to do so, to apprehend the other prisoner that escaped when Stevens was apprehended. He also denied all knowledge of the prisoners Parr and Payne, when spoken to on the subject at Uxbridge. He was brought before the bench, where he received a reprimand from the chairman, and a caution as to his future conduct, as it would be very narrowly watched for the future.
Fire
Last night a fire broke out in the stabling of Mrs.Goring, butcher, Staines, situated at the back of the dwelling house, and unfortunately seven horses and a dog were all suffocated before the fire was discovered, which, however, was fortunately observed before the premises were thoroughly on fire, and by assistance they were prevented from destruction.
Uxbridge, Saturday, April 16.
Uxbridge Union
The case of a child named Harris, who died at Hayes some time since, and on whose body an inquest was held, was, at the request of the jury, brought before the notice of the magistrates, the board of guardians, and the poor law commissioners by the foreman of the jury. It appears, from the following correspondence, that the case has received that serious attention from the commissioners and other authorities which the circumstances connected with it demanded, and we sincerely hope that the intimation conveyed in the able letter of the commissioners will be duly attended to, impressed as we are that if the poor law, and the instructions of the commissioners, be judiciously carried into effect, they are calculated to be highly beneficial to the public, and that the outcry raised against the law is not justified, since it is only abuses in the mode of carrying the law into operation of which people can justly complain:-
To the Magistrates assembled in Petty Sessions at Uxbridge
Gentlemen, - We the undersigned, being summoned to attend an inquest on the body of a child named - Harris, the son of a labourer, residing in this village, beg to submit to you a few facts which were elicited.
The deceased child it was stated by the witnesses called, and admitted by the father and mother of the child, had for some time past been ill with the measles, and that the deceased, with two other children, were laid upon a deal table, covered with a bit of sack and a dirty rag or two, and the deceased had remained on this table for seven days previous to his death;- that an order for medical relief was obtained on Friday last from the board of guardians, but was not given to the medical officer till Sunday; that the man is in constant work; that the child died on Monday last; that the husband went to the relieving officer on Tuesday for a coffin, and he, the relieving officer, was not at home. That yesterday she (Mrs.H) saw the relieving officer, and he said he would not grant an order for a coffin, unless she came to the Board*. That to-day she applied to the Board of Guardians and was refused a coffin. The body of the child had undergone a post mortem examination, and it now lying on a table in the room in which the parents live. The woman (Mrs.Harris) states that she is in fear of her life from the threats of her husband. That from the apparent distress of the woman, the coroner, T.Wakley, Esq., gave her a sovereign to purchase a coffin with.
The case appeared to the jury to be of such atrocity as to require magisterial investigation
(Signed)
|
|
| (Signed) | Jos.Fleet, Foreman. | Wm.Barden |
| Thomas Shackln[?] | John Smithers |
| Jos.Chas.Munro | Wm.Cock, his X mark |
| Wm.Savell | Wm.Prior |
| Thomas Gurney | Fred.Grenville |
| George Taplin | Robt.Grenville |
Hayes, Feb 25, 1842.
*It is to be observed that at the time the relieving officer told her this, the woman had one child dead, and two ill with the measles.
To the Poor Law Commissioners, London :- and also to the Board of Guardians of the Uxbridge Union, Middlesex.
Gentlemen, - I was requested by the jury at the inquest on the body of a child named James Harris who died on Monday, the 21st inst., to communicate to you, and to the Poor Law Commissioners, that the jury heard with great concern the facts which transpired during the investigation.
From the excitement prevailing on the subject in the parish - from the evidence of the medical officer - from the wretched state of destitution to which the family were reduced - and from the dissipated character of the parents - it appeared to the jury of the utmost importance to inquire, whether, had the paid officers of the Union performed their duties in the manner specified by the Poor Law Commissioners, the revolting circumstances attendant on the melancholy event might not have been prevented.
In the First Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, page 82, under the head "Duties of Relieving Officers," it is directed "As soon as he (the relieving officer) shall have had notice of sickness of any pauper in any of the parishes or places for which he may be appointed to act, he shall notify the fact to the medical officer, and in the mean time furnish such relief as the emergency of the case may call for." It is also directed that "he is to receive all applications for relief, and to examine into the merits and circumstances of each case, and report the same to the board at their next weekly meeting."
On page 85 of the same Report, it is ordered, "that the guardians shall contract with some competent persons as a medical man, to attend duly and punctually upon all paupers falling sick within the Union, and to supply such sick paupers with all necessary medicines and appliances whatsoever."
At page 148 of the same Report, under the head "Instructions to Relieving Officers," is the following, "The Out-relief Book." It is intended for the officer to carry this book with him on going his rounds, and in it he should insert all applications for relief, and such particulars respecting the party applying as he may learn on personally making the examination into the case, which is required to be made by the regulations of the Commissioners."
The jury hoped that if the relieving officer had visited the family after medical relief had been ordered, and had communicated the result of such inspection and personal inquiry to the board of guardians; or, if the medical officer had communicated to the board of guardians in the weekly returns he has to make to the board, the treatment the three sick children of this man, Harris, had been subjected to for some time previously to the death of the little child on whom the jury was held, the board of guardians would have humanely interfered to prevent it - for, according to one witness, during the whole time the children were under medical treatment for the measles (which was about three weeks up to the 25th February), "they had of a night lain on a table with only a bit of sack and a bit or two of dirty rag to cover them."
The object of jury in requesting me to forward a communication to the guardians and to the commissioners was to convey to the members of the board and to the poor law commissioners their conviction that it was highly prejudicial to the welfare and happiness of the community, that the more stringent parts of the poor law should be so carried into operation, and the severity of their effects be experienced by sick, helpless, and dying children; and respectfully to submit to the poor law commissioners and to the board of guardians their earnest wish that an inquiry be made, whether the medical officers and the relieving officer did in this case perform their duties according to the rules, regulations, and instructions of the poor law commissioners.
I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your most obedient servant,
February 28th 1842.
Joseph Fleet
Sir, - I am directed by the Guardians of the Uxbridge Union to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, which was delivered this morning, and to aquaint you that J.Harris's wife's application to them was for medical relief only for her children, who were all ill of the measles, and which was granted accordingly.
The subsequent application for a coffin for the child was dismissed, because it appeared, on the applicant's own shewing, that her husband was an able-bodied man, in full work, at 15s per week; consequently, in circumstances to purchase one himself.
The guardians think that their relieving officer acted in strict conformity with his duty. The medical officer has always been fully authorised to order nutriment for his sick patients. In the present instance, it seems he was of opinion that Harris was in circumstances to provide sufficient food for all his family.
It appears to the guardians that the jury did not sufficiently discriminate in this case, in which the earnings of the husband were sufficient to support his family, but were expended by him improvidently.
I have the honour to be, sir
Your most obedient servant
Chas.Woodbridge
Clerk of the Union.
Sir, - I am directed by the Poor Law Commissioners to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st inst., bringing under their notice the facts deposed to an inquest held on the body of a child named James Harris, who died on Monday the 21st ultimo, and communicating to them the request of the jury that an enquiry should be made, whether the medical officer and relieving officer did, in this case, properly perform their duties.
In reply, I am to state that the commissioners will cause an investigation to be made into the circumstances of the case.
I am to add that, in compliance with your request, the commissioners have ordered a copy of their last Annual Report to be forwarded to you.
I am Sir,
Your most obedient servant
E.Chadwick
Secretary
To Mr.Joseph Fleet,
Belle House, Hayes.
Poor Law Commissioners Office, Somerset House,
April 11, 1842
Case of James Harris
Sir, I am directed by the Poor Law Commissioners, with reference to your letter of the 1st ultimo, to state, that the commissioners have caused an enquiry to be made through their assistant-commissioner, as to the circumstances attending the death of the child named James Harris, which took place at Hayes, in the Uxbridge Union, on the 21st of February, and I am to forward on to you , for your information, the accompanying copy of a letter, which the commissioners have addressed to the Board of Guardians of the Union, on the subject of this case.
I am Sir,
Your most obedient servant
E.Chadwick
Secretary
To Mr.Joseph Fleet,
Belle House, Hayes.
Poor Law Commissioners Office, Somerset House,
April 8, 1842
Sir, - I am directed by the Poor Law Commissioners to state that they have has under their consideration the report of the assistant commissioner, Mr.Power, communicating to them the result of his enquiry respecting the case of James Harris, a deceased pauper child, upon whose body an inquest was recently held at Hayes, and which case was brought under the notice of the commissioners in a letter addressed to them on behalf of, and at the request of, the jury, by their foreman.
The commissioners observe that on Friday, the 18th of February, the mother of the deceased child, applied personally to the board of guardians for relief, without previously making application to the relieving officer, and that the application was received and disposed of without any entry being made of the case in the relieving officer's application and report book.
From the minutes of the case made by the clerk, it appears that the woman admitted that her husband was in full work, earning 15s per week:- that the family consisted of the man, his wife, and three children:- and that the application was for medical relief only, and on the ground that one of the children was ill of the measles. An order for medical relief was given to the woman (but for another of the children, and not the one who died), addressed to Mr.Chadwick , the medical officer of the district in which Harris and his family resided. Mr.Chadwick visited the family on the day on which the order was given, and had indeed attended them for several days previous, and he continued to attend the family until the death of the child.
It further appears from the medical report books that Mr.Chadwick and other medical officers are in the habit of ordering for their pauper patients mutton, ale, wine, and other articles of diet, for which purpose a printed ticket is made use of, and a considerable number of them were shown to Mr.Power as having been allowed by the guardians at the meeting which he attended.
In the present case, however, Mr.Chadwick gave no order to the relieving officer for necessaries for the child, nor did the relieving officer receive any application or order in the case. Mr.Chadwick admits that he was aware of the destitute condition in which the family were, and it appears from his own statement to Mr.Power, that on Sunday, the 13th of February, he found the family without sufficient supply of wholesome food of dinner - one of the children being then convalescent after the measles. Mr.Chadwick states, as the ground for his not having given any order, that he was not asked to do so; and, that if he had been asked, he could only have referred them to the relieving officer or the board; because he knew that the husband was earning such wages that he could supply his family with sufficient food if he chose to do so. The only complaint made by the woman to him was, that her husband did not bring home enough out of his wages to provide for his family.
The commissioners are desirous of pointing out the great difficulty which there is relieving the destitution of children, where it is occasioned, as in the case under consideration, by the profligate and improvident habits of their parents.
In this case, an order for admission to the workhouse would have been objectionable while the children were suffering under a contagious disease, neither could it have been made available to the children against the wish of the parents, as long as the latter did not abandon their parental control. Outdoor relief in bedding or food, or otherwise, could not be afforded to the children, while under their parents roof, with any reasonable security of its being duly applied in and of the children's destitution. No public authority indeed can effectually protect children against the neglect of parents, unless it amount to a certain degree of criminality. Short of that criminality, much suffering may occur which can only be left for correction to the natural love of parents for their children.
The commissioners proceed to express their opinion with reference to the particular facts of the case of James Harris, as above detailed.
The commissioners think that Mr.Chadwick, under the circumstances in which he found the family on the 13th February, would have done well to have recommended until the next board day the allowance of such articles as he thought absolutely requisite for the sick child he was then attending. The commissioners believe that he acted on conscientious motives in not doing so; and they agree in the view that the earnings of the man raised a presumption of his ability to supply what was necessary. Still he was inclined to neglect his children, and it would have been better to have erred on the side of doing too much, in a case of illness.
2. The relieving officer does not appear to the commissioners to blame for his conduct in the case. He had no order from the medical officer , and no application was made for general relief.
3. The commissioners wish to observe, in reference to the future practice of the board of guardians, that all cases of persons applying for relief, whether medical or other relief, should be entered in the relieving officer's application and report books, although the application may not have been made previously to the meeting of the guardians, and with regard to the relief of sick paupers, the commissioners think that the relieving officer ought to keep himself informed of the state of the patients attended by the medical officer, who must be considered as paupers from that circumstance alone, although unaccompanied by other relief. He should visit their cases; and when he does so, he will judge from the state of the house and the man's earnings, whether immediate relief is or is not required; and he will at any rate be able to inform the board of guardians of the facts which he may observe.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant
E.Chadwick
Secretary
Charles Woodbridge, Esq.,
Clerk to the Guardians, Uxbridge.
Marlow, Saturday, April 16.
At the late petty sessions in this town a man named Thomas William Allum, was fined 5s and costs, for an assault upon the wife of Mr.W.Reading of this parish.
On Wednesday last, Richard Martin was committed to Aylesbury Jail for a burglary at the Jolly Malsters, in Great Marlow.
Farnham, Saturday, April 16.
It is rather singular that this town has, up to this time, been entirely destitute of any institution approaching the character of the Mechanic's Institutes, which are now established in every town of the empire; but we are glad to hear that a few young men have at last succeeded in forming one, and which from its rapid growth, numbering 70 members in a month, augers well of its future prosperity, and shows that such an institution was only required to be set on foot to receive the full cordial support of the inhabitants. A Reading Room has been engaged, and a Library formed, and from the liberal donations and subscriptions of the gentry and inhabitants, and the increasing number of members. there can be no doubt of its success. On Wednesday evening last, an interesting lecture on "Historic Antiquities" was delivered by Mr.C.Hall, who has recently been lecturing to crowded and fashionable audiences at Southampton with unparalleled success.
Faringdon, Saturday April 16.
The New Tariff
A large meeting of agriculturists and others was convened in the Assembly room at the Crown hotel, on Tuesday, the 5th instant, for the purpose of discussing the merits of this important measure. Mr.Fereman, of Great Coxwell, was unanimously called to the chair. There were present upon the occasion upwards of 200 persons, among whom were Philip Pusey, Esq., M.P. for Berks, John Blandy, Esq., James Crowdy, Esq., Thomas Ensworth, Esq., Messrs. W.A and C.Edmonds, J.D and L.Myers, J.Tuckwell, W.Trinder, G.Gillett, &c., &c. The chairman stated the objects for which the meeting had assembled, after which
Mr.Pusey most eloquently and emphatically addressed the meeting; he called attention to the proposed modification of the corn-laws by Sir Robert Peel, shewing that it afforded the protection to the farmer of a fixed duty of 10s per quarter, and did away with the odium of the old sliding scale, which appeared to him to be an object to be desired and of expediency. The honourable gentleman observed that unless the support of members in Parliament in the agricultural interest had been given to Sir Robert Peel's measure, it would have tended materially to strengthen the interest of the opposition party. He stated that he had gone through the tariff most particularly , and minutely had examined its influence and effects, and to that part which related to the importation of foreign beef he was most strongly opposed. That he had an interview with the Government, and had shewn that unless there was a greater protection afforded to the English breeder, he could not possibly compete with the German and Prussian importers of carcase, owing to the short time which would elapse between the slaying of the beast and the facility of importing it into this country in a state which is called corned. He concluded a very able address by stating, that he owed his seat in Parliament chiefly to the agriculturists, and as long as he had the pleasure of being their representative, he should diligently and faithfully support their interests.
Petitions to both houses of Parliament were submitted for the consideration of the meeting, which being read, a lengthened and able discussion arose, in which Mr.W.Edmonds, Mr.John Tuckwell, and Mr.W.Trinder took parts, to the effect that the duties to be imposed on foreign stock and meat to be imported into this country would be entirely insufficient for the production of domestic agriculture.
Mr.R.W.Crowdy, in his remarks, stated that in his opinion the petition did not go far enough; he considered it only opposed one injurious measure of Sir Robert Peel, leaving out all reference to the gross inequality of the Income tax, and therefore he could not join the petition.
Upon further discussion the petitions were agreed upon and signed by a vast number of gentlemen and farmers present. The thanks of the meeting were then voted to Mr.Fereman, for his able conduct in the chair; and to P.Pusey, Esq., M.P., for the highly satisfactory manner in which he had explained the nature of the tariff, and the advocacy of the farming interest.