198 THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



effect in the future as weR as at the time. Let us be thankful 

 that no irreparable injury to person or property at the hands of 

 Cornishmen has left a permanent stain on the records of the 

 county ; and let us hope that the name of Camborne may never 

 again be heard as a byeword for personal violence. 



Another event of a far more satisfactory kind which has 

 marked the year is worthy of notice, if only as an example of the 

 leading characteristics of the Cornish people. One is their long 

 and deeply engrained respect for the Lord's-day, not merely as a 

 day of rest but as a day to be held sacred. How marked this is 

 among the western fishermen you know well ; and we at Ply- 

 mouth can also observe, when the Penzance boats are in our 

 waters on a Saturday evening, and are seen crowding into the 

 inner harbour to be laid up, closely packed side by side, during 

 the Sunday, when the voice of the preacher and the sound of 

 hymns are heard from their decks. The other characteristics of 

 more recent growth is the earnest determination to exorcise the 

 demon of intemperance. These two characteristics were mani- 

 fested in the petition to Parliament, which was signed with such 

 remarkable unanimity in favour of what is called the Cornwall 

 Sunday Closing Bill. It also is an instance of that independence 

 and inclination to act for themselves which has been exemplified 

 before — not always profitably, perhaps — in Cornish history. 

 That this independent action may not meet with encouragement 

 in the House of Commons is, I fear, probable, and if Mr. Warton 

 and those who oppose the bill shew their scorn of Tre, Pol, and 

 Pen, by speaking until Big Ben strikes six, and the bill is thus 

 talked out, it wiU be a poor consolation to the — not 20,000 Cor- 

 nishmen— but the 120,000 signataries of the petition to "Know 

 the reason why." 



Recurring to the material resources of the county, the price of 

 tin, which in 1879 never exceeded £101 a ton and feU as low as 

 £64 10s., gradually rose through the two following years, and 

 reached its highest point in January last, when it ranged from 

 £113 10s. up to £118. Prom that time it has again gradually 

 and steadily receded, and during the present month it has never 

 exceeded £103, and has been as low as £96 10s. Among the 

 compensating influences to which I referred, the improvements 

 in machinery admit of low quality ores being returned at a profit 

 which, under the old system, would have been practically value- 



