ONE:These proceedings called forth an opposite class of Associations, in which the clergy of the Establishment took the lead. The bishop and clergy of Worcester, and Dr. Watson, the bishop, and the clergy of Llandaff, met and presented addresses to the king, expressing their abhorrence of the doctrines of these Associations, which made no secret of their demand for "the rights of man��liberty and equality, no king, no Parliament;" and they expressed their conviction that this country already possessed more genuine liberty than any other nation whatever. They asserted that the Constitution, the Church, and State had received more improvements since the Revolution in 1688 than in all previous ages; that the Dissenters and Catholics had been greatly relieved, the judges had been rendered independent, and the laws in various ways more liberalised since the accession of his present Majesty than for several reigns previously. They asserted boldly that in no country could men rise from the lowest positions to affluence and honour, by trade, by the practice of the law, by other arts and professions, so well as in this; that the wealth everywhere visible, the general and increasing prosperity, testified to this fact, in happy contrast to the miserable condition of France. They concluded by recommending the formation of counter-associations in all parts of the country, to diffuse such constitutional sentiments and to expose the mischievous fallacies of the Democratic societies. This advice was speedily followed, and every neighbourhood became the arena of conflicting politics. The Democrats, inoculated by the wild views of French licence, injured the cause of real liberty and progress by their advocacy of the mob dominion of Paris; and the Constitutionalists, urged by the alarm and the zeal inspired by opposition, grew intolerant and persecuting. The eyes of thousands who had at first hailed the French Revolution as the happy dawn of a new era of liberty and brotherhood, were now opened by the horrors of the massacres of the French clergy in September of this year, and by the sight of swarms of priests, who had fled for security to London and were everywhere to be seen in the streets, destitute and dejected. A public meeting was called at the London Tavern towards the close of 1792, and a subscription entered into for their relief.In 1820 our imports of foreign and colonial merchandise were valued at ��32,000,000; our exports of foreign and colonial merchandise at ��10,000,000; and our exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures at ��38,000,000. In 1840 these sums had respectively increased to ��67,000,000, ��13,000,000, and ��102,000,000, setting aside odd numbers. From 1831 to 1840 the average annual export of British produce and manufactures was ��45,000,000, while in the nine subsequent years it was nearly ��56,000,000. From[423] 1830 onwards the value of our exports to France increased sixfold, notwithstanding the jealous system of protection that prevails in that country. The sphere of our commercial operations was being continually enlarged from year to year, and the enterprise of our merchants was continually opening up fresh markets in distant parts of the world. The value of the exports of British and Irish produce in 1820 was as follows:��To Northern Europe, ��11,000,000; to Southern Europe, ��7,000,000; to Africa, ��393,000; to Asia, nearly ��4,000,000; to the United States of America, nearly ��4,000,000; to the British North American Colonies and the West Indies, ��5,750,000; to Central and South America, including Brazil, ��3,000,000. The total value of our exports to foreign countries, and to our colonies in that year, was ��36,000,000. In 1840 we exported the following quantities, which, it will be seen, show a large increase:��To Northern Europe, about ��12,000,000; to Southern Europe, ��9,000,000; to Africa, ��1,500,000; to Asia, ��9,000,000; to the United States, ��5,250,000; to the British North American Colonies, ��6,500,000; to the foreign West Indies, ��1,000,000; to Central and Southern America, including Brazil, ��6,000,000; total, ��51,000,000: showing an increase of ��15,000,000 in the annual value of our exports to foreign countries during twenty years.