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At a quarterly General Court of East India Proprietors, on Wednes- day, Mr. Montgomery Martin made an elaborate speech, full of statis- tical details, showing how much colonial and even foreign commerce is favoured by our tariff, in comparison with the trade of India. He con- cluded by moving a resolution, that British India, with its indepen- dencies, ought to be considered an integral portion of the British empire; that perfect reciprocity of trade ought to be established ; that ships built in India and navigated by our East Indian fellow-subjects ought to be admitted to our ports as colonial vessels ; and that a memorial should be presented to Ministers, praying, among other things, that Indian grain, animal food, and cured fish, should be admitted at a nominal duty, that the duty be reduced on several other specified articles, and that discri- minating duties be levied on foreign produce competing with that of India. The Chairman objected to the motion's being pressed while the tariff is as yet so little tried ; remarked that the Directors:and Proprie- tors had already procured reduction of the duty on sugar and rum ; and recommended Mr. Martin to leave the question open for the present by withdrawing his motion. Redid so. Some other unimportant business was transacted, and the Court adjourned.
The Anti-Corn-law League held their second weekly meeting in Drury Lane Theatre on Wednesday. The chair was taken by Mr. George Wilson ; and, as on the previous evening, there were present several Mem- bers of Parliament and many of the leading members of the League. The theatre was filled to overflowing in every part. At the commence- ment of the proceedings, the Chairman stated, that addresses had been presented to Mr. Cobden, from public meetings, associations, and large bodies of subscribers to the League, at Dundee, Lanark, Kilsyth, At a meeting of Directors of the Thames Tunnel, on Saturday last, it was resolved that the ceremony of opening the tunnel for foot-pas- sengers should take place this day. Atter the ceremony, the Directors dine with their friends at the London Tavern. The first stone of the Tunnel was laid in 1824, by Mr. Smith, afterwards one of the great- est opponents which the project had in Parliament.
James Stevenson, the lunatic Scotchman, who came up to London to destroy the Queen and her Premier, was finally examined at Bow Street Police-office on Saturday. His appearance was melancholy and anxious. Mr. Maule, the Solicitor to the Treasury, stated that Government intended to proceed under the Act 3 and 4 Victoria, which provided for the custody of insane persons upon a certificate signed by two Magistrates and two medical men. Dr. John Bright repeated conversations with the prisoner, in which he bad said that a woman could not reign, as he did at the previous examination. Dr. Bright did not believe him to be sane on other points; he connected the growth and removal of his beard with changes wich he calculated would take place in the state of things. Alderman Farebrother asked him his rea- son for wearing a beard. He replied, " Ye see my fayther was a gay man, and there came a division in the Church that caused much oppo- sition, and so I thought I would not shave my beard until the King shall return to Jerusalem; and so it shall be. That time will come, be assured, and none but the just shall reign." Dr. Sutherland stated, that Stevenson was not sane on any point upon which he had examined him. He said, that he himself ought to be upon the throne, as one of the Covenanters, who had a title to the authority according to law. On hearing this, the prisoner exclaimed, " Yes, yes, surely." Letters were read from his father, James Stevenson, dated Lochwinnock, Tewton Beltries, 12th March ; from Mr. Daniel Stevenson, the postmaster at Lochwinnock, but no relation of the prisoner; and from Mr. John M'Naughton, the Minister of High Parish at Paisley; all saying that he had been decidedly insane for some years, his father said five. Mr. Daniel Stevenson related some overt acts of his madness- " He abut himself up in a garret (closet) after for several days praying and fasting; and at other times he ran through the country, and plagued the neigh- bours about the formula, nncovenanted sovereigns, praying for the Queen, &c. He has lived during the present winter on oatmeal and cold water. He sent off several letters to illustrious and distinguished persons, such as two to her Majesty, addressed as follows—' To the British Queen Victoria, care of Robert Peel, the Primate, England.' Also one addressed to Lord Aberdeen, &c."
Abernethy (2), Birmingham (2), Nottingham, West Bromwich, Gates- head, Shepton Mallet, Perth, South Shields, Bolton, Alnwick, Lyming- ton, and Southampton. The orators were, Mr. Charles Villiers, M.P., Mr. Leader, M.P., Mr. W. D. Christie, M.P., and Mr. R. R. R. Moore. In the course of a long speech, Mr. Villiers noticed the vast service which his hearers did to the cause, crowding in such numbers to wit- ness the proceedings of the League : it had a very important effect on the progress of the question in another place-
" The meeting was of no ordinary kind. They gathered there in spite of all the efforts which had been made to prevent them. They assembled there in spite of threats uttered against the spirited man who held the property of that house, and in spite also of the abuse, ridicule, and calumny employed against those who took part in and advocated those public discussions. It would go forward to the country as a cheering sign, that the people of this metropolis bad aroused themselves on this subject. * • The attendance of the people at those meetings would be of the utmost importance, because the question had now grown beyond the province of mere discussion. It had reached a point similar to that of the religion of ancient Rome, when its priests bad ceased to impose even on themselves, and when, as a great man had said, it was wonderful how two of them could meet without laughing in each other's faces. The monopo- lists themselves now laughed at the sophistry of their artful leaders: the older ones among them had adopted the silent system, thinking the less that was said on the subject the better." He gave some instances of the deteriorated state of the people— The condition of the labourers was everywhere so extremely bad, that the "...- Guardians of Union Workhouses had passed resolutions to deteriorate the food of the paupers, otherwise, it was said, it would be better than that of the inde- pendent labourers. They had passed resolutions, as the independent la- bourers were so badly off, to reduce the diet of the paupers. This de- terioration, he was sorry to say, was not confined to the working classes ; it begins to affect the middle classes. Only that day be had received a letter from Devonshire which stated that the distress there is making rapid progress among the middle-classses. [He read the letter, which was from Totnes, and stated that the distress was rapidly extending from the labouring classes to the classes above them ; that many families had given up eating bread, and had taken to live wholly on potatoes.] The consequence of this condition was, that there was a great increase in the rate of mortality : he had seen a letter sent to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, from a great town in Lancashire, which showed a great increase in mortality ; and there was not the least doubt that this was owing to the impossibility of the population get- ting that food on which they had subsisted."
Mr. Leader, who also made a longish speech, said it must be remem- bered that no eloquence could impress such a majority as that in the House of Commons— A striking proof of this was presented by what had lately occurred at Cam- bridge and Ripon. The borough of Ripon, it appeared, was the private pro- perty of an individual—a very amiable individual, but one ready to procure the return of any friend of the present Government. At Cambridge, also, there had lately been an opportunity to obtain the election of a Member friendly to a repeal of the Corn-laws; but the borough of Cambridge happened to be under the influence of certain learned persons—certain heads of houses as they were called—who were opposed to any thing like change in our political sys- tem, and looked with dread to any thing that looked as if it was likely to bring such a change about. He mentioned these things to show that there was no great reason to expect that any impression was likely to be made by argument on the present House of Commons.
The only way was, for the middle class to join the working class in altering the composition of that majority.
At the close, the thanks of the meeting were voted to the speakers.
The twenty-sixth anniversary festival of the Drury Lane TLeafrical Fund was held at Freemasons Tavern on Wednesday. The Duke of Cambridge occupied the chair ; supported by the Marquis of Clanri- carde, Lord Lake, Lord Clifton, Sir William Curtis, Mr. Bond Cabbell, and other friends of the drama. Mr. Harley pleaded the cause of the Fund ; and the collection of the evening amounted to 9001.; including 1001. from the Queen, 50/. from the Duke of Bedford, 254 from the Duke of Cambridge, and several contributions of 201., 10/., and 51. Mr. M`Naughton remarked, that his journey could have no con- nexion with the death of Mr. Drummond, because he had talked of the necessity of putting to death all who differed with his ideas of the truth, and of the sin of a woman sitting upon the throne, and so forth, for at least three years. While this evidence was in process of delivery, Stevenson repeatedly challenged the Magistrates to prove him mad on the Holy Scriptures. The Lord Mayor having remarked, "Now all agree that you are not in your right senses," he replied, " Yes, yes, I ken all fules are agreed." The Policeman who arrested Stevenson de- posed, that he declared he must see Sir Robert Peel, or have his revenge. The Lord Mayor asked, " Is that true, Mr. Stevenson ?" He angered, "I never intended such a thing as revenge. No, no ; no per- sonal revenge. If a man thinks of revenge, and speaks of it, he must be stark mad." He afterwards remarked, "I ask you one thing : I'd like to see any man, either of England, Ireland, or Scotland, that I am not able to muzzle by reason before the public. You say I am insane : how can you prove it ? You say I am not able to take care of myself: I think that a man who lived three years upon 301. must be able to take care of himself."
The certificate was duly signed, and Stevenson was remanded to the Compter, to be detained until removed by order of the Secretary of State, At Bow Street, on Monday, John Edward Freak, aged twenty-eight, was charged, on suspicion of being a lunatic, with attempting to force his way into Buckingham Palace. A Policeman of the A division ob- served him loitering about the Palace-gates, before one o'clock on Sunday morning ; and learned from the sentinels, that he had been there for an hour. On being questioned by the Policeman, he spoke very inco- herently, and made use of threatening and violent expressions, say ing that he had been robbed, and demanding admission within the Palace- gates. He was taken to the Station-house and searched : but nothing was found upon him, except some papers, keys, a pocket-book, and a few other articles of no value; no money. To the questions of Mr. Hall, the Magistrate, he replied in a sullen and reluctant manner ; repeating almost every question, and referring the querist for answers to his papers. But he said that he was a native of Dunbar, in Scotland ; that " all his relations were in himself," pointing to himself; that he was a sailor, " perhaps " part proprietor of his vessel, the Scotia ; and that it was lying at Folkestone, bound for France. He was given into the charge of the master of St. Martin's Workhouse, until he could undergo a medical examination as to the state of his mind.
At Guildhall, on Tuesday, Charles DO% ie, a journeyman shoemaker was finally examined as to the state of his mind. The man laboured under a delusion, that some passage in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, reflecting on his grandfather, prevented the master shoemakers from giving him work. He said that Mr. Chambers had called his grand- father an idiot ; and he required Messrs. Bradbury and Evans to take their names off the Journal as the printers, or to give up the authors. He intended to chastise Mr. Chambers for his insolence. At first, Mr. Macmurdo, the surgeon of the Compter, who had examined the pri- soner, considered that he was only insane on the one point ; but after- wards he signed a certificate of insanity ; and the man was remanded to the Compter, as a preliminary to his being placed in safety. On Thurs- day, steps were taken for his removal to Bedlam.
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