The Sun. — London, England, 1841-12-10 00:00:00

EVENING SUN informant, "in business 26 years. I have never expe riencedsuch disastrous y ears o f t ra d e as t h e f ew l as t. The working classes do not buy nearly so much as formerly in amount, and what they do purchase is of a lower and coarser kind. I have almost ceased to give them credit, in consequence of their repeated losses, and their inabi lity to pay. Very many of the small shopkeepers have become insolvent ; and those remaining, who had saved a little money in good times, appear to me to be fast approaching to the condition of the others, who have been already broken up. As far as my observation ex , tends, I believe the working classes to be in a . most deplorable condition ; the common neces saries of life being, in many instances, barely , attainable by them. Nor is the class above them in . a much less distressed state—the dread of poverty being ever present to their minds, without any present • prospect of relief." The next is the evidence also of a gentleman engaged in one of the largest businesses in Leicester. He says—" That the general or universal experience of the small shopkeepers, who supply the • working classes with grocery and provisions, proves a very great diminution in the consumption of articles of • commerce and necessity. The extreme poverty of the ' majority of the working classes prevents them now ob . taining credit as formerly, while, at the same time, the ' extensive losses sustained by the small shopkeepers, have reduced a large proportion of them to a state of actual insolvency. The amount at present expended by the same individuals and families in grocery goods, cons ' pared with what it was a few years ago, is diminished • by at least one-half, and in numberless instances by • even two-thirds. Three parts of the working man's wages are now expended in bread and house-rent, and • the remaining one-fourth is all wanted for coals, can ' dies, and grocery ; the consequence is, that many shop ' keepers have to retail their various articles in the smallest-possible quantities, and it is quite common for the poor to purchase three or four articles for one ' penny. Cheese and butter are dainties many cannot now • obtain. The lowest and coarsest quality of goods are those,which are most in request among th em , an d even the poor luxury of tobacco is in many instances aban doned from necessity."—(Hear, hear.) The next is the evidence of a partner in another large grocery con ' cern. He says :—" The working classes, who constitute a large proportion of our customers, do not buy half so much as they formerly did. Our weekly returns for the last five years have decreased fully one-third ; while, at the same time, we have had an increased number of his description of customers, and an advance in price on many of the articles sold them. Very many of the small shopkeepers are in a state of insolvency ; for the last five years our losses by them have been annually very ' considerable." Again, another and concluding evidence of this class of general dealers. Another grocer states :--- "Th at part of my tradewhich is more immediatelyconnec ted with the working classes has fallen off at least one-half In a majority of cases working men do not purchase more than one-third of the quantity of provisions which they did a few years ago. We are further great suf ' ferers in consequence of their inability to pay. The small shopkeepers, to whom we sell, do not purchase half so many goods as they formerly did ; they are many of them insolvent, and some absolutely brought to poverty, by giving credit to the working classes, and have no chance or prospect of redeeming themselves. I know some cases where shopkeepers' returns were four years ago from 161. to 20/. weekly, and who now only return • from 31. to 41." I have further evidence from other gentlemen, who have kindly supplied me with infor mation to the same effect ; but I presume that what I have already adduced will be considered ample. I now propose to introduce the evidence of two other tradesmen occupied in the making of clothing ; the first of whom says,—" Five years ago I employed twenty-seven men weekly, on full work ; I now only emistoz from ten to sixteen,' and those b u t p ar ti a lly. The middle classes neither buy so much as formerly, nor pay so promptly. The working classes purchase very little of the tailors, and their payment is still worse." The next, with which .1 shall conclude the evidence of " this class of tradesmen, says,—" There has been a gra dual falling off in the demand in my business for seve ral years, but to a greater extent within the last two. My regular customers, who are principally among the middle classes, do not order so many clothes as formerly ; and among those of them connected with business th ere is a great deficiency in their orders ; credit is also more hazardous. From Midsummer to Michaelmas last, the trade was much worse than it has been from the time I commenced business, in 1821. The demand this year for , winter clothing has fallen much below the average, and the prospect for winter is most distressing. My case is - not an exception to the trade—it is so universally ; and 'with those more dependent upon the working classes the case is much worse."—(Hear, hear.) I now adduce the evidence of another tradesman, whose sales, from the nature of his business would be principally among the middle classes ; and who deals in articles which may be considered luxuries, and would be retrenched, probably, as soon or sooner than any other ; he is a fancy jeweller, watch-dealer, and, toyman. He says,—" We find the outlay on the part of the middle classes very much diminished. During the last four years our business has fallen off nearly one-third. We do not take half the amount in ready money we formerly did." I now propose to introduce the evidence of the owners and proprietors of house property, and particularly of small houses tenanted by the working classes. The first of these gentlemen gives me the following information : " I own forty-five houses. I have owned house property for forty years ; I never experienced a state of general depression like the present. My rents_fell short last year upwards of 100/. I lose at least one-fourth of my rents. I have three times as many houses unoccupied as at any former period ; the houses I used to let at 3s. sd. per week I now let for 2s. 9d., and should be glad to let them all upon those terms, but cannot. House property • has depreciated at least from twenty to thirty per cent. ; in fact it cannot now be said to be vendible at all. There have been many attempts to sell bouses bypublic auction, but in no one instance have sales been effected. In some cases there have not been even any bidders present. My tenants' are at present greatly in arrears, but I am fully . aware that they absolutely cannot pay. If I were to change them I should not get a better class in their places?' I now adduce the evidence of another house proprietor—an Alderman and retired tradesman—who says :—" My ,tenants never were so much in arrears as at the present time. They all plead the badness of trade, as an excuse for non-payment. I have more small houses empty now, than at any former period. I think in property of that kind, within my observation, there are at least two houses empty in eight." I shall conclude this, description of evidence, by citing • only one example more—that of another large house proprietor, who says :—" I am an extensive owner of small houses. I have superintended the collecting of my own rents for the last sixteen years. House property has depreciated at least twenty per cent.; a great reduction has also taken place in rents throughout the town, more especially within the last two years. There is a much larger proportion of houses untenanted now than in former years. One reason for this is, that two or three families are obliged, through poverty and want of em ployment, to be crowded together in one house ; and another is, that many, after having pawned and sold all • their furniture, and lived upon the proceeds till they were all consumed, have been then compelled to go into their respective poor-houses. I have for some time observed that the poorer class of tenantry are yearly and daily getting worse ; they have less furniture than formerly, less wearing apparel than they were wont to have, and less of all those domestic comforts which make life - happy ; for, sure I am, that these deprivations have had a great effect in alienating their respect for their em ploy ers, and in injuring their morals. They feel them selves, as many of them tell me, as degraded beings ; and lose altogether that self-respect which it is so neces sary every human being should possess"—(Loud cheers.) The last evidence fpropose to adduce in connection with the distress in Leicester, is that of an old gentle man, whos e vocat i on affords him ample opportunity of making general observations, and whose integrity and shrewdness entitle his report to credence and attention. It is brief and rather recapitulatory. He says:— , " Within the last four years, the numbers of persons in the habit of pledging clothing has very much increased. Very inferior articles of clothing are now generally pur chased by the working classes. Groceries are purchased in smaller quantities and of inferior qualities. The owners of small houses find great difficulty in collecting their rents. A collector of rents for sixty owners of small a re in arrears of rent K eepers of small pro houses, having 400 tenants, says that 200 of them, or fully one-half; vision shops, say that they have given credit to those of those partially they consider honest, .until they have not the means of to recover debts affording the same assistance,. and many dependent upon them . are in exatrreemedis' distress. This Igntgheir creditors cla customers,is uponas uselesstheynn trying class of traders of their poorer generally arrears say ylt to their landlords, who,. • seize what few goods they - morons, immediately possess'" men concluded ou r We have now, Gentlemen, case as it of the distress in Leicester, a n d the country generally, and p respects the existence painful and disheartenin g as 's, redun of wag es , is this recital of declining busines h sical sufferi cti ng, o and mor a l depreciation of property , p y deterioration among the manufacturing population, I fear that not only is there no p rese nt chance of remedy, but that if the present causes remain unremoved, there is become worse.-- almost a moral certainty that it will ° (Hear, hear.) We have forced our corn -growing neigh hours, and customers, on the Continent, to become ma nufacturers, and their cheaper labour is gradually beat ing ours out Of every foreign market in t he world. Not contented with this, it is invading us at hom e ; and the Saxons are at this moment sending cotton gloves into England, at just one-half the price for which En g lish manufacturers can afford to sell them. Without our commercial policy is therefore quickly changed, these midland counties are foredoomed to inevitable and speedy ruin ; and while we manufacturers shall be gradually losing our capitals, we shall have the painful anxiety of livine in the midst of a yearly impoverishing and natu rally discontented population, who, feeling keenly, and at the same time being only half informed upon the sub ject of political !economy, will possibly consider us the cause of distresses over the production or prevention of which we have not the slightest possible control. But, Gentlemen, I will now quote the concluding evi dence 'I propose to lay before you, on the sub eCt of German competition and the growth of the tarry osiery man u f ac ture on the Continent. One of th e largest manufacturers in Leicester—in fact, the present )or Ma ' • —who once did a considerable business with Bel gium and Germany, informs me " that the demand for worsted hosiery for the Continent commenced with him, and several other manufacturers in Leicester and its SFA 113aighbourhood, at the close of the war, or about the r _s i sr-7ears 1816 a n d 1817. The goods supplied to that market s a ese:is" were women's hose t wenty-two to thirty gage, stout and ad r - well fashioned, i n black and slate colours, and men's • Inarbl e ri bb e d hose.Thetrade years, and a considerable business was done in 1832, e ts - when it began to decline, and since that time it has been gradually diminishing, and is now almost extinct—the rg.k. Belgians being now almost entirely supplied with hosiery • from their own manufacturers and those of Saxony. The next is the evidence of a gentleman who has been in .. -~ ~~' the ha,bit of consigning hosiery to the United States. He says—" For fifteen years, up to 1838, I have occasionally shipped worsted and cotton hose to the United States. Since that time I have regularly corresponded with my agent at New York, whose long standing and integrity will bear the strictest test of comparison. His advice has invariably been--'send no more cotton hose here: the Germans are beating you, in make and price, to such an extent, that it would be folly to do so.'—(Loud cries of " Hear, hoar." At his recommendation and introduction, I have imported hose and gloves from Germany, to a considerable amount, and which it is my intention to continue. The hose, paying a duty of twenty per cent. yield a fair profit in this country ; they have hitherto been of a fine make, but I have just received samples of a heavier style, which you may inspect, and which I have no doubt will sell well. In men's brown and white cotton half hose, I can meet with nothing in our market to equal them for quality and price. Women's open work cotton gloves, with twenty per cent. import duty paid upon them, are then fifty per cent. less than they can be made for here ; of which I have imported many cases. Of these, the principal London houses make a leading article, at a bare remuneration, to the exclusion of our own. I know, further, that one of the first houses in London, who are extensive makers of cotton hose themselves, buy largely in the German markets for home consumption." I now adduce the further evidence of a large London house, who are exten sive importers of French and German gloves. They say :—" We are importers of German cotton gloves, and we have imported them for eight years. They are bought by British merchants and factors, for British home con sumption and re-exportation, to a great extent. The Germans now supply almost all the markets which we formerly supplied with this article. Their manufacturers are growing and gaining upon us very fast, and the im portation into this country is annually increasing. We buy their gloves at 2s. 3d. per dozen, in bond, fully equal in quality to what we can purchase of British ma : - nufacture at 4s. 6d. per dozen. Our opinion is, that we shall ere long be obliged to buy all our cotton and Lisle gloves from Germany. The portion of these articles which we at present purchase of British manufacture is entirely for home consumption, being in some instances preferred to the foreign article, in consequence of being made more to the taste of the English consumer ; but this the foreigner will soon overcome. The merchant invariably buys the cheapest article." The next is the evidence of a manufacturer in Leicester, who has tra velled on the Continent, and has made particular inqui ries and observations upon the hosiery trade in Saxony. He says—" I have travelled on the Continent and spent many months in Saxony. While there I made extensive inquiries as to the state and progress of the hosiery trade; I found it was progressing with fearful rapidity. In the year 1815, at the close of the war, there were not more than 4,500 frames in Saxony ; in 1835 these had in creased to 13,481. There are now, in 1841, 25,000 ; so that they have been increasing for the last ten years at the rate of upwards of 1,000 per year ; while, at the same time, the English manufacturers in these midland districts have been for the last few years laying down more and more of their machinery, till now at least one third is utterly unemployed. If it were not for the re striction laws as it respects machinery, I believe that one-half the stocking frames in Leicester would be im mediately exported to the Continent. We ourselves should not hesitate to send over 500 frames at once, if there was any chance of sale—of course English work men would not follow them, on account of the low rate of wages in Saxony ; so that they would be left without frames with which to earn a scanty subsistence ; and as every other department in the labour market is filled, and more than filled, they would, after inevitably reduc ing agricultural and every other sort of labour, to which they could apply themselves, have to be maintained as paupers on the land. The amount of hosiery and gloves, more particularly imported into England from Saxony, is considerable, and is still annually increasing. In the year 1827, the whole declared value of German hosiery imported into the United States of America was 96,821 dollars. The statistics of Saxony now state that they export to the United States, 1,500,000 dozen of cotton hose annually, or 18,000,000 of pairs ; which is one pair at least for every individual in the Union. British cotton hosiery may be considered as almost totally superseded in the United States. The Saxons now further export extensively to South America, both of which countries were formerly supplied exclu sively with British manufacture."--(Hear, hear.) I now adduce the evidence of a Manchester factor, with which I shall conclude the whole of th e evidence I propose to lay before the Convention. He says :—" I have an agent at Chemnitz in Saxony ; he is there constantly, for the purpose of buying on the spot, and sending me his pur chases, from week to week. lam regularly importing German hosiery, ond selling it to merchants, after paying a twenty per cent, duty on import, cheaper considerably than they can buy the same articles of British manufac ture. I bought last year 8,000 pair of English cotton gloves for exportation ; now I buy them all in Germany, and shall not be able to buy any more gloves of this style, of English manufacture, at all. I can import them from Saxony full fifty per cent. cheaper than I can pos sibly buy them in England. There is, beyond this, a considerable importation of German frame gloves, for the English home market, which is increasing from year to year ; their goods I should say average at least thirty per cent. cheaper, and some, particularly cotton gloves, average fifty per cent. cheaper than ours ; they beat us most in half-hose and regular made goods ' • their middle and fine qualiti es o f wroug h t h ose sell for the same price as our best cut hose. They make five mil lion dozens of cotton hose and gloves per year, which they sell on the Continent, in the United States, in South America, and in England. We are shipping them now in large quantities to South America, which is compa ratively a new market for them. They have long been shipped in large quantities to North America, and are now bought by English merchants, and shipped out to Canada and our own colonies, to the partial exclusion of our (domestic manufactures." Here, then, is evi dence collected from parties who have been in Ger many, who have agents at Chemnitz, who have for a long time imported German manufactured goods ; all tending to show that the continental manufacturers can make leading articles in gloves particularly, 50 per cent. cheaper than we can—that while our ma chinery is diminishing in actual amount, and while one-third of that reduced amount is at present to tally unemployed, they are actually adding to theirs at the rate of upwards of 1,000 per year. The end of such a competition is inevitable. If the Corn-laws remain unchanged, and this competition progresses, the more markets the Saxons gain from us, the faster, of course, will be our decline ; the more machinery shall we have to lay down from year to year ; the less and less employment will there be for operatives • the more and more will their w ages o f necess i ty be reduced—un til (for the painful alternative will force itself upon them) whatever may be the price of provisions here as com pared with Germany, they must either leave the trade altogether, and betake themselves to agriculture or some other employment if they can (in which case they will reduce agricultural and every other species of labour) or the rate of manufacturing in this department, and many others in England, will inevitably assimilate itself to the general level of the wages of continental Europe. Nothing can stave off this calamity but a repeal of the Corn-laws ; if they continue unaltered it must inevitably overtake us ; and, when it does, the condition of our population will be wretched beyond the power of any language to de scribe. If the working classes could b u t see t h e i r own real interests, and had had honest advisers, they might still hope ; but in the absence of both, if the middle classes cannot save them (almost in spite of themselves), they are doomed by the landlords to wretchedness and ruin. —(Hear, hear.) I have now, Gentlemen, gone through an almost 61 infinite amount of dry, statistical details. I I have proved the ex i stence o f extensive distress and suffering in Leicester, as evi denced by the reduction in :the wages of labour, to the extent of nearly one-half, and that, too, in a manu facture which has never been interfered with by steam power • I have proved it further by th e num b er o f fail ures and bankruptcies among manufacturers, by the de preciated value of the machinery employed, by the di minution of its actual amount, by the non-employment of one-third which is at present in existence—further, by the depreciated value of property in houses, by the number at present unoccupied, compared to former pe riods, by the diminution in the amount of weekly rent for houses, and the increased difficulty of collecting it, by the diminished amount of necessaries and small luxu ries sold by shopkeepers and dealers to the poor, and by their purchase of coarser articles of consumption, and by the diminished purchases of the middle classes them selves, in departments where retrenchments can be made. In addition to all this, I have shown the progress and fearful operation of a gigantic foreign competition, which has been nursed and fostered into vigorous operation by our anti-national and suicidal Corn-laws, and which threatens if unchecked and unaltered, to render all the distress I have before referred to, as existing latterly in Leicestershire a permanent and confirmed calamity, that no individual efforts, or private beneficence, or public cha rity, or even ultimately legislation itself, can alleviate or Christian alter. Now, Gentlemen, my deliberate opinion is, that wide .(esTeiverielaizclaatinoad deep-seated as this distress is, there is no real dis grace to natunrdy.to We e e have advanced not fh e existencenineteenth whatever Government,ce ; and that it is a been visited b national oreign war, or desolating pestilence, or stroyed our calam ity , poa t t lat has wasted our substance or de we are at the end of twenty-six years of nearly profouand pea?e, and at the same time have been in the possession all this time of every natural ad vantage ; we have mineralsand climate and a fertile s o il , coal ;we have a genial prise ; we have the most skilful we l have capital and enter have them ost exquisite machinery,uartizans in Europe ; we character in the world for en and the first national perseverance, and industry an e d rgy . , patient application, , yet with all these ad vantages, both natural and adventitious manufac tures are decaying, our artisans are un employed, commerce is declining, foreign rivalry is surrounding our on all sides, while famine and discontent .us are stalking through the length and breadth of the land. I do not hesitate to give it as my decided opinion, that this altered and awful state of things is produced mainly by the existence of our Corn-laws ; and I look with fear and dread at the tremendous experiment which is making by the landlords, in thus putting to hazard the security of property and the existence of social order, for an advan tage and questio na bl e tage to them of such a character. —( Hear , hear.) No violations of great moral laws can ever go unpunished — it is so arranged by the Ruler of the Universe—and the Corn-laws are flagrant violations of the laws of God, and the clearest rights of man. Here we have warehouses loaded with goods which we cannot vend, and operatives starving for want of em ployment. In the United States they have granaries overflowing with corn, and interminable plains teeming with easy fertility ; and we are not allowed to exchange ourmutual productions for the common benefit of both. I believe some righteous retribution will overtake such wicked and monstrous legislation.—(Loud cheers.) I believe, further i that if the Corn-laws were repealed to morrow, that t would be immediately followed by the prosperity of 1822, 1834, 1835, and 1836 ; and that this THE SUN, LONDON'', FRIDAY, DECEAIBER iO, 1841 would not be a temporary impulse, communicated to bu siness, but that it would be continuous, and might, hu manely speaking, be eternal.—(Renewed cheers.) I be lieve that, almost immediately upon the repeal of these laws, the manufacturing interests of this country would rise up like earth-born giants, and start forward with newness of life, and that every year of our future exist ence would only teem with fresh and more convincing evidences of local, social, and national happiness ; but if they are not repealed, and that too in a short time, our manufacturers will emigrate, or be overtaken with bank- ruptcy and ruin, our operatives will be starved down to the level of the Irish, or maintained as paupers on the land ; or consequences may follow more serious and fatal still—we may have the bonds of civil society torn rudely asunder, and be overtaken with all the horrors of a bloody revolution and a civil war.—(Great cheering.) In the hope that our Legislators may take warning in time, and that they may properly improve the informa tion, which it is the design of this meeting to make as public as possible, I have pleasure in moving the resolu tion which has been placed in my hands.—(Cheers.) Mr. Biggs concluded by moving the following resolution : —" That the manufactures of the Midland districts have for several years been gradually declining, and lately with unexampled and fearful rapidity, particularly the framework knitting branches, which have sunk into a state of sad and unprecedented depression. That since the year 1815 the wages of those employed have been reduced nearly one half, an instance the more remark able, from its occurring in a manufacture in which the principle of its machinery remains essentially the same ; nor have its manual operations been interfered with by steam power. That property in stocking frames is de preciated in value, and a large number now unemployed. That our export trade in hosiery to the European States (formerly important) is nearly extinct ; and the trade with America is almost superseded by German competi tion. That unless some efficient measures of relief be speedily adopted by the Legislature, the trade of the Midland counties will be irremediably ruined, and the manufacturing population reduced more and more in the scanty pittance of their earnings, will be borne down to tho extreme of penury and destitution, degraded in their moral condition, and may be driven, it is feared, by the miseries of starvation, into overt acts of treason and re bellion. That if social order be preserved, it can only be by the fearful alternative of universal pauperism, resting upon the resources. and produce of the land." Mr. JOHN JOHriSTONE, of Derby, seconded the resolu tion. He had to submit to them details of a very affect ing nature on the part of the manufacturing interests of Derby, which, although in a rapidly declining state, was much less distressing than other districts that had been referred to. It had often been observed that the poor of Derby suffered less in times of distress than other places, and that he believed arose from the great variety of em ployments, and the industry of its artisans; and its pre sent comparative prosperity might be ascribed to the introduction of the great lines of railway, and which had added between two and three thousand inhabitants to the town within the last three years..-(Hear, hear.) Therefore it should not go forth, although Derby was not in great distress, that it was not free from the same afflicting details. He would just take the jewellery trade, when had been cultivated in that town with great suc cess. It appeared from the statement he held in his hand, and which might be relied upon as accurate, be cause they had exercised the greatest caution in forming the information, because they were aware that the slightest over-statement in any one part would damage and injure the whole.—(Hear, hear.) On that account he believed that many of the statements were rather under the truth. He would observe from them that there was a great disinclination on the part of many firms to give them any information. The years 1835 and 1836 were years of great agricultural distress and great commercial prosperity, and contrasted with the year 1841, they showed the great influence of cheap food on the manufacturing interests of the country. In 1836 the average wages of the workmen employed in that trade was 40s. per week, while at pre sent the average wages from short work of about two and a half days per week was 14s. Bd. In 1936 there were 105 men employed in that manufacture, while at present there were only fifty, although he believed the same care and attention to business, which had obtained for the firm so great a share of business, still prevailed. The diffe rence in wages paid between 105 men fully employed at 21. which was 210/. per week, and fifty men at 14s. 6d. making 361. 55., was 173/. 15s. per week, or 1,8851. per annum.—(Hear, hear.) The next case he would refer to was that of a foundry, which had been established nearly thirty years, and whose workmanship was equal to any in the kingdom. Such was the rapid decay in that concern, that the proprietor himself had stated to him that while on the Ist of May in the present year he had 144 persons employed full seven days in the week, on the Ist December he had only eighty-five employed five days in the week. The wages paid in May was 1801. and in December only 76/. 10s. per week, making a yearly reduction of 5,383/. in one firm alone. With these important facts before them connected with the staple trade of their town, which numbered 35,000 inhabitants, it was clear that there was a considerable diminution of employment for the working classes. In smiths' work generally there were 244 employed last year; the number now was only 150, making a reduction ofupwards of 7,000/. per annum in the amount of wages paid. In one of these establishments, where 60 or 70 of a superior class of workmen were employed, and who were never without full employment, they were obliged to send away one third, and had not sufficient work for the remainder. In another branch, the making and repair of boilers, where a few hands were enabled to do a large quantity of work, where eighteen men were employed last year there were now only nine, and these had very little to do, their principal work being upon speculation. The reduction in the millwrights' work was to the same extent. He would now come now come to the frame-work-knitters' case, which was the most important, as it employed the largest number of hands of any trade in the borough, and he had been at great pains to ascertain the truth of the state ments he was about to make. The number of silk frames partially at work was 346, in the shops unemployed 198, in warehouses unemployed 60, and in frame smiths' shops 134, making a total of 739. Now he would take the total numbers actually under repair in 1836 at 39. The round number in full work in the year was 700, while at present the total number was only 346, leaving a balance of 354 frames standing still.—(Hear, hear.) Each frame employed one man and one female, and the average wages in 1835-6 was 18s. per week, and 7s. for the female, making 255. In 1841 he found, from the reduction of price, and the shortness of work, that the average wages of the men was Bs., and the females 4s. The weekly reduction in wages in that branch amounted to 6671., or 10,803/. per annum.—(Hear, hear.) Now he believed that was even a better case than could be made out in many of the manufacturing districts, but still it was evident that it must be productive of great destitution and famine among the working classes. When he saw the change that had taken place of late years, when he saw how badly the ingenuity and skill of the artisans was requited, he thought it was high time for all those who had any good sense or humanity to lay their shoulders to the wheel.—(Cheers.) There was one house in the silk trade which was in the habit of paying 2001. per week in wages, and it did not now pay 10e Another firm, a hosiery concern, which paid 2501. weekly, the proprietor had given up the business, and he be lieved his successor did not pay one-tenth of that sum now.—(Hear, hear.) That would show them the down ward progress of their manufactures. There was another house in the sandal-hose trade, which manufactured 300 dozen per week, and exported largely to North Ame rica and the United States. Time after time their orders had decreased, and at last Saxon hose had been sent down to them in a brown state to be bleached and then sent out as English goods, which they had entirely beaten out of the market. That branch of export trade was now utterly extinct and lost to the country. — (Hear, hear.) In the ribbon trade the falling off was so great that there were not half the number of looms employed, and the houses that were paying from 1801. to 2001. per week in wages were not now paying 501. It appeared to him that the time was not far distant when the same ruin would overtake t the middle classes, and when the landlords who persisted in continuiug these iniquitous laws would be compelled to bow beneath the storm tkey were creating.—(Cheers.) At Nottingham the price of gloves, which in 1836 was 19s. 6d., was at present only 7s. 6d.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Biggs had clearly explained the cause of the tremendous reduction, by the large increase of machinery on the Continent, and the large quantity they had lying idle at home. The distress might be inferred from the fact, that although there was a great repugnance to go into the union work houses, where last year there were 168 inmates, there were at present 245. He believed he could fully bear out the statement of Mr. Biggs with regard to the Sav ings' Banks, from his own personal observation ; and he hoped there were lion. Gentlemen present who would set the Right Hon. Baronet right if he resorted to such an argument on any future occasion. He was satisfied that they were no test of manufacturing distress or pros perity ; and Sir Robert Peel might as well have appealed to his cook, his footman, or his butler, as have referred to the! Savings' Banks returns.—(Hear, hear.) There was one other trade to which be would call their atten- tion, and which had declined also, although the wealthier classes might be supposed to be its chief customers. He meant the hand silk weavers of Derby in plain and figured gros de Naples, satins, velvets, and sarsenets. In 1835-6 one house employed 220 looms, which now em ploys only 120 ; another employed 140, which now em ployed only 90. In the years 1835-6, the average wages of these workmen were 14s. per week ; the average now was only 6s. Bd.—(Hear, hear.) It was well known in the trade that although there was not a great reduction in the price in velvets, yet the work being so much better made, the reduction must be greater than it appeared. It was said they were protected, but he would be glad to show what protection the 30 per cent. duty was to these unfortunate workmen, who received scarce 2s. a yard for velvet worth 12s. The fact was, they were large ex porters, and the foreign price ruled the home price. He believed the sooner they got rid of these fallacious and miscalled protective duties altogether, which were an insult and a mockery, the better, and simpler, and clearer would be their progress.—(Cheers.) In Derby, there were several mills wholly unemployed, one of them be longed to Lord Scargdale, and he was glad it was the pro perty of a nobleman, because it gave the fact greater notoriety. That mill was filled with machinery, and was valued at 1,2001., and had been unoccnpiod a consi derable time. It had been offered at the low price of 401. per annum, and nobody could be got to take it.—(Loud cries of " H ear, hear,") The machinery was ultimately so a few years ago and although it cost ld 1,2001., it fetched only 1501., and the mill now remain e d with its broken windows, as a monument of their m anu f acturing decline, be followed b y agricultural decline if they did not take good care.---:(Hear, hear.) There was another called the Depot mill, which could not have cost the proprietor less than 12,0001., an d that had been standing still since Christmas last. Surely i t could not be sa i d t h at t h ey were making artificial di stress in this case, for the pro prietor was a staunch Cons ervat i ve. —(" H ear ," an d a laugh.) The distress in the trade of the town would, he feared, go on at a fearfully rapid rate if it were not speedily resisted. It behoved every man to make him self acquainted with the subject, which was a great poli tical but not a party question. It required every man to use his best exertions to avert the impending evil, and if he were an honest man he must be irresistibly led to the conclusion that nothing but the repeal of the Corn laws would remedy a state of things that had ruined their commerce and enslaved their operatives. Mr. Johnston concluded, amidst loud cheers, by seconding the reso lution. The resolution was then put and carried by acclama tion, and without a dissentient voice. Mr. WAKEFIELD, of Nottingham, moved the second resolution. Having been unexpectedly called upon, he was not prepared with the same detailed statements re garding the trade of Nottingham as the two preceding speakers had furnished regarding Leicester and Derby. Their statements, however, were so satisfactory and so convincing, that it was almost a waste of time to lay any further detail of similar facts before them. He should be enabled, however, by a ;very brief statement, to show that the decline in his town had been similar to that in Leicester and Derby. Experience had undoubtedly proved that trade was most prosperous when food was at a moderate price, and the details of the years 1834-5-6, when food was cheap, were satisfactory evidence on that point. It was also evident that if wages were the same when food was cheap as when it was dear, the surplus in the former case could be spent in, the purchase of ma - nufactured goods, and, independently of foreign trade, must make a difference in the circumstances of the country and its manufacturing industry.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Now he had referred to the periods when subscriptions for the relief of the poor had been set on foot in Nottingham, and also to the prices of food in these years, and he found that when food was dear, there was the greatest amount of distress, and when it was cheap, the working classes were comparatively well off. The first subscription to which he would refer was that of 1812; there was another in 1816, and a third in 1819. Then followed one in 1826-7, and a limited one in 1829. From that period till 1836, during which period provisions were cheap, there was no public sub scription. In 1836-7 there was one, in 1839-40 there was another, and in the present year 1841 there was one in progress.—(Hear, hear.) In 1812 the price of wheat was 120 s. to 130 s. the quarter; in 1816 it was 84s. to 1245.; in 1819 it was 685.; in 1826 it was 585.; but the subscription in that year was caused by the want of employment resulting from the general panic of 1825. In 1829 it was 605.; in 1836 it was 685.; in 1839 it was 785.; and at the present time th e y were a ll acqua i n t e d with its price. This fully showed that the subscriptions were in every case rendered necessary, except in 1826, by ;the high price of food.— (Hear, hear.) These con stantly recurring periods of distress showed that there was something wrong in the position of the country, and that these laws require some change by which they would no longer prevent the free interchange of the surplus labour of that coun try, with the surplus produce of others. He held in his hand a statement of the price of two descriptions of cotton hose, from 1811 to the present time. The one was termed thirty guage, and in 1811 it was 15s. per dozen,'' since which period it had been gradually de clining in price down to the present time, when it was only 7s. 6d.—(Hear, hear.) The price of thirty-six guage was in 1811, 215., and at the present time it was only 10s. 6d. Now, nothing could more clearly and strongly prove that the manufacturing labourers must be reduced to the greatest prisistioghand distress. Pro visions were from 20 to 30 per cc igher than when prices were much better, and the inference was clear that the distress of the labouring classes must be pro portionably increased. The price of labour did not de pend upon the price of food, but upon its being over or below the demand that was'required. He had endea voured to obtain the number of frames employed in cotton hosiery in Nottingham, and he found they were about 12,000, and these, at an average of one-and-a-half dozen of cotton hose per week would give 18,000 dozen per week. But, not to be under the statement, he would take it at 20,000 dozen, and that was 12,480,000 pair of cotton stockings per annum.—(Hear, gar.) He was sa tisfied that that was over the quantity acually pro duced, and it offered the extraordinary fact, that if every individual in Great Britain were to purchase one pair of cotton stockings, they would consume the whole which the present trade was competent to produce.— (Hear, hear.) The depreciation in the trade was caused by the fact, that those who would be the chief con sumers had not their interests properly attended to— justice had not been done them—class interests were too much attended to.--(Loud cheers.) He contended that if such was not the case, these persons would be then the best customers, and increase the general wealth and prosperity of the country.—(Cheers.) There had been in Nottingham a gradual sinking and depression of trade for some time past, and although there was not so great an amount of suffering from the actual want of food, as was the case in other parts of the country, he never knew a pe riod when there was greater privation and suffering among the poorer classes. It was evident that distress was beginning to be felt by those who had not hitherto experienced it. Many with decent exteriors were suffer ing the greatest privations, rather than make it known. Some of the details had been placed in his hands, and he was sure that a few individual cases would show the case in a stronger light than any general and extensive details, without their practical application. (Mr. Wakefield here read ex tracts of the reports from various wards of the town of Nottingham, showing that the humbler classes were without food, clothing, or bedding, and in many cases literally starving.) He would not wound their feeling by entering further upon the subject—they were not sin gular or isolated cases, nor were they confined to parti cular districts. Now under such distressing circum stances they appealed to the Legislature. They claimed the right to a free trade in corn and provisions on the highest ground.—(Cheers.) It was the duty of every Government to afford the people over whom they ruled every necessary of life at the cheapest possible rate.— (Cheers.) It was for the many they ought to legislate, and if they sacrificed their interests for the promotion of class interests, they were neglecting the duties they had been called to perform, and postponed to selfish consi derations the rights of justice, and the claims of equity. --(Cheers.) He contended that whether the agricul tural interests or the commercial interests were bene fited or not, they were bound to give the people cheap food ; and he was sure that whatever might be the opi nion of the various parties now, they would be confer ring a benefit upon all classes by bettering the condition of the people, allaying the discontent, and giving the landed interest a greater stability for their property, and a greater security for their estates.—(Hear, and cheers.) The resolution declared that they were prepared to give up all so-called protection for them selves, and he was free to confess that he had not the same fear of foreign competition that other individuals had. He had no doubt that the talent, skill, industry, and untiring perseverance, of their artizans would, had it but free play, be able to compete with them success fully.—(Cheers.) He would give the instance of gloves, the trade in which was at one time confinedto Notting ham. They were coarse and badly made, but the Germans introduced a light fancy article, and it was then stated and believed that the Leicester and Notting ham trade would necessarily be ruined. It, however, only called forth the energies of their artisans—they met the difficulty, and, by improved methods of manu facture, beat the Germans; and at the present moment the manufacture was increased tenfold since the German article had been introduced, and he believed there were now very considerable orders for gloves to be sent to Germany and America.—(Hear, hear.) If food were cheaper he was satisfied they would be able to produce a superior quality at a cheaper rate than the Germans.— (Hear, hear.) He had no fears, that if the Corn-laws were repealed land would go out of cultivation. He believed if the same improvements were applied to agri culture, as had been applied to commerce, a very different result would be produced.—(Cheers.) There were large tracts of land which did not now produce wheat, but might be made to do so by superior methods of cultiva tion.—(Cheers.) He had no doubt but that in agricul ture, as well as manufactures, they would be able suc cessfully to compete with foreign countries.—(Hear.) The question no longer was, whether they would import corn, for that had been already done. The only ques tion was, how ? And the Gentleman who would fol low him would show them that the sliding scale was one of the most fatal inventions that ever man devised to in jure and oppress the labouring classes.—(Cheers.) He did not look upon the result of the present struggle with doubt. If the people could only see their true interests, he was satisfied ; and endeavoured to attain them peaceably but firmly, resolutely but constitutionalli, they must ultimately triumph.—(Loud cheers.) The works of monopoly were already shaken ; and, if they could but make a steady and persevering attack, he was satisfied that the fortress would be yielded up, and the banners of free trade float in triumph on its walls.— (Loud cheers.) If such should be the case, the people of that county would once more receive a fair remunera tion for their labour ; they would once more enjoy the comforts of life, and the prosperity of the country would continue to increase, and all classes, even those who thought their interests opposed to that of the manufacturers, would be benefited, and the ge neral prosperity of the country would be based upon the security of the Throne and the Constitution, and the general happiness and welfare of the people.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. W. concluded by moving the following resolution :—" That experience has indisputably proved, that our home and foreign trade have been uniformly most prosperous, when food has been at moderate prices, and that depression of trade has been the invariable re sult Ancurrent with a high price of provisions. That dear seasons have always been times of suffering and dis tress, and a general depreciation of manufacturing pro perty. That facts warrant us in affirming, that the dis tress and misery arise mainly from the prohibitory and restrictive taxes upon commerce, and the high price of provisions ; and that; the wages of operatives, being wholly con sume d i n t h e purc h as e-of f o od (and fre quently insufficient for that purpose), it becomes im possible for them to purchase manufactured goods. Hence arises a great diminution in the demand for home consumption ' and the consequent augmen tation to a f r i g h t f u l extent, of the evils which are caused by a scarcity of employment. That the restrictive laws which have nearly prohibited the importation of corn and provisions, and prevented foreigners from re ceiving British manufactures in return, have compelled them to manufacture for themselves, and an active, vigor ous, and formidable competition has been created, which has already p art i a ll y superseded us in neutral markets, and threatens our commer cial intercourse with other nations with ruin. And that while this meeting claims as a right the removal of all laws opposed to the free im portation of corn and other provisions, it is willing and de sirous that all so-called protective duties on foreign ma nufactures imposed professedly for the benefit of British industry should he at the same time abolished, and that the true and peaceful principle of Free Trade be applied to the productions of this and all other countries." Mr. CRIPPS, of Nottingham and New York, in second ing the resolution, said that he had to request their kind indulgence in addressing them on the present occasion, when he was wholly unprepared to do so. But some facts had come to his knowledge connected with the mis chievous working of the Corn-laws, which he should not hesitate to lay before them. But before he did so, he would give them one case in corroboration of the state ment made by Mr. Wakefield—it was that of a poor honest industrious workman, whose name was not on the list of applicants for relief, but whose children were 'stretched on the bed of sickness, and he (Mr. Cripps) having requested an excellent medical man to visit them, his reply was, " these children are of good constitution, but they are sinking from want of proper nourishment."—(Sensation.) Let them -couple that fact with the statement he had received yes terday from his partner in New York. "In spite of the Corn laws, and all artificial impediments, by and bye we must open a market for our groaning granaries."— (Cheers.) Let them couple that fact with the statement of healthy children sinking for want of proper nourish ment.--(flear, hear.). " Only think of prime pork at a cent. and a quarter," something l ess th an th ree farthings, "a pound at Cincinnati, and every thing else in propor tion."—(Hear, hear.) Now he would ask how any man or any set of Men, dared to come between that poor workman and his family who were sinking for want of proper nourishment, and the man in Cincinnati, who had prime pork at three farthings per pound?—(Hear, hear, hear.) He would, however, only speak at present of the ruinous results to the merchant of the present system of Cern-laws. Although they might contend that it was abstractedly right that there should be an entirely free interchange of commodities between different countries, he would say nothing of that but to wish to show them that nothing could be more mischievously devised than the present sliding scale.—(Cheers.) Lord Stanley in his adBress on his recent election said that from the United States they had not imported, nor could they import,.a single quarter of wheat except in very ex traordinary harvests, and he added that the prices were subject to greater fluctuations than in England, although they had no Corn-laws there. That extraordinary state ment he wished to notice. It so happened that he had yes terday received by the Great Western a New York paper, from which he would read a small extract : " The flour trade of the States, and consequently the Western currency, is in a deplorable state. There have been heavy failures in the flour trade and the commencement of the present difficulties in this trade took their rise on the arrival of the Britannia from Liverpool some weeks since, bringing accounts of short crops in England, and consequently a rise in price. Im mediately speculation began, wheat rose rapidly in price, and the next news we had was that there had been as sudden a fall." Now he thought what he had read en tirely demolished the statement that Lord Stanley had the temerity to make on that occasion ; but he would not rely upon that alone. Lord Stanley said that not a quar ter of wheat had been imported, and of course he did not mean to resort to the quibble that none had been import ed if flour had been imported ; and he would proceed to upset that argument as well as the other. In the spring of last year considerable difficulty had been experienced by the American merchants as to the mode in which they would remit funds when due, in con sequence of the universal failure of the Southern banks. That had been followed by minor consequences to the merchants, and it became matter of prudence not to remit in the usual mode by bills of exchange, and there were clearly sufficient reasons to induce them to make * remittances in another form. Accordingly his partner purchased 12,000 barrels of flour, and he held in his hand an account of the sale of that flour. It had been purchased chiefly in Baltimore. Of 6,624 barrels, the net proceeds were 6,5751. 195., the expenses, independ ently of duty and without reckoning the interest of I money, were 2,5391. 16s. 10d., or more than 38i per cent. upon the net proceeds. Now he adduced that fact of the expenses incurred independently of duty, in order to show that when a free trade in corn was allowed the farmer would not be without his protection.—(Loud cheers.) He feared, however, to overstate the case, and it was strong enough without it. An extraordinary freight was paid, which swelled the expenses; but he would take the average expenses of four different lots as some part paid much lower freight, and they amounted to 4,0161. or something more than 30 per cent. The great evil, how ever, was the sliding scale, and he would tell them how it operated in that ease. If that flour duty was paid on 1,949 barrels amounting to 8011. 3s. 5d., the remaining 4,675 barrels were sold in bond; but had the duty been paid on that also it would have been upwards of 2,7201. That was between the 18th of April and the 15th of May last year. In little more than three months the duty on that lot of flour would have been, instead of that sum, just 5201., making a difference of 2,2001., and had the flour been in the hands of the capitalist or speculator, he might have held it till then, and become enriched. But the merchant, if he imported flour, got it as a remittance, and it was nothing to him to say, " Wait by-and-bye till there is a favourable turn in the corn trade." He could not do so ; the manufacturers wanted their money to pay their workmen, and the merchant must, when he brought foreign produce to market, sell it.— (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Suppose instead of importing it in May, and selling it, he had purchased the same quantity in June, and shipped it to this country ; if it had chanced to get here in September, the duty would have been only as he had said 520/. If be had held it till the first of October, or if the vessel had made a long passage, instead of paying a duty of 5201. he would have paid 4,112/. Bs.—(Loud cheers.) In November the duty would have been 4,719/. 12s. 6d., and in December it would have been 5,1331. 12s.—(Loud cheers.)—He asked were the poor to starve, and the American granaries to be groaning with flour and wheat, and was the merchant to pay that penalty for bringing it to England, and for exchanging the Stockings of Nottingham and Leicester for what they wanted much more, for what they wanted more than gold, for bread was the staff of life, and gold was only valuable as it could purchase food? —(Cheers.) They could easily conceive how embar rassing and totally ruinous the operation of these laws was to the merchant, and he thought he had said enough to convince them of that—(Hear, hear, hear) — and although he ventured to forgive himself for doing what he innocently hoped would be a benefit to those who wereindebted to him, he would say that under the pre sent system, and with his past experience, he would de serve to be branded as a gambler, and his credit blasted and destroyed, if, while the present awful system con tinued, he should be daring enough to venture on a like expedient.—(Great cheering.) He knew of no method on which to conduct the communication between two countries but by a direct interchange of commodities.— (Hear.) They had warehouses full of goods—the Ame ricans would take them from them. If they wanted to be paid for them, that was another thing.—(Hear, and laughter.) If they wished to be paid for their goods, they must take that the Americans had to pay with. They did not find gold and silver in the United States of America ; and even if they did, it would be better for the English to receive their flour and pork, and those other things that were so essential to the com fort of the poor man ; but, having neither gold nor silver, they must either take that they had got to give, or they must take nothing. That must be evident to every one. If they increased their exports to Ame rica, and disburthened their warehouses of their accu mulated stock, they must take what the Americans could give them in exchange, and Providence seemed to have placed her there for such a purpose ; but a power which seemed to him to war against Providence forbid it.— (Tremendous cheering.) A great deal had been said about German competition. He had been engaged for twenty years in the trade to New York, and for fifteen years he had been exporting cotton hosiery to a consi derable extent. But year after year there had been a steady and fatal progress downwards—they had found a proportionate check, and their profit diminished by the competition of Germany in the American market. To such an extent was this carried now, that whereas in 1819, when he first embarked in the American trade, three-fourths at least of all cotton hosiery in America was sent from England, and more than that amount, whilst, at least, seven-eights of all imported was brought from Germany; and as he liked to appeal to facts, he would tell them that in his warehouse in Nottingham there was at the present moment a consi derable amount of Hinckley brown cotton hose, and after going to New York and unsuccessfully struggling against competition of the German manufacturer, had been sent back here again, as the best means and more prudent course than retaining them in New York ; and he believed that it would be found that bringing them back to England was safer, and subject to less loss than retaining them there; and these came to swell the present enormous stock of the Hinckley manufacturers.—(Much cheering.) He only wished these statements to pass for what they were worth, and he did hope and believe that when these facts came to be more universally known, they would have an overpowering influence upon those who were to legislate for them. Their legislators must be actuated by some feeling, and when they found that their cause was based in truth and justice, they must concede their claims. When they continued to struggle to collect facts, and to present them before the public, let them cherish the fond hope and belief that the day was not far distant when free trade, administering to the general wants of the world, would restore happiness, content, and prosperity to their great but suffering peo ple.—(Loud and general cheering for some minutes.) The CHAIRMAN said that having been himself for seve ral years engaged in the glove trade, he could bear tes timony to the accuracy of the statements made by Mr. Biggs, and that the reduction of the price in Notting ham was similar to that in Leicester. And since he had known the trade the reduction in wages was, as near as possible, one half.—(Hear, he a r.) The E xecut i ve Com mittee being anxious for some further information on the subject of prices, wished to put a few questions to a workman named Bannister. Mr. BANNISTER then came upon the platform, and in answer to questions from the Chairman, stated that in 1816 the prices paid for cotton drawers was 19s. per dozen, and the present price was only 9s. 3d.; and that a man must work twelve to fifteen hours a day to earn that. There was the improvements in machinery since then. The price for cut hose in 1819 was 6s. the dozen, and the price then w as l s . Bd.—(L aug h ter, and cries of Shame.") A man might make six or seven dozen a week. The general state of things in the trade during the last two years was, that the average of wages had been reduced one-half. The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution, which was carried unanimously and with loud cheering. Mr. HANDCOCK, of Belper, came forward to move the next resolution. As he had been invited to add something towards substantiating the case they had endeavoured to make out, he should therefore offer a few remarks upon the branch of trade in which he was himself engaged. He was engaged in the silk hose manufacture, and as the aristocracy were the great consumers of that description of goods, it ,might be supposed that when corn was highest they would sell the largest quantity of silk stockings, but his experience testified that the direct contrary was the reverse, and that when corn was cheapest they sold the greatest quantity.—(Cheers.) That, he thought, would prove that neither the farmers nor the labourers, nor even the aristocracy themselves were their best customers, but that their best customers were among themselves. He would now state to them what was the actual diminution in the trade to which he re ferred, and he should offer such remarks as the subject warranted. The silk hose manufacture of Derby was at the present moment 108,000 i. per annum less than in 1833,4, and 5. Those who knew what the entire amount of the trade was would be able to infer the miserable remnant that was left ; but he would not state it lest it might tell the creditors of some of the manufacturers, that they were not worth half a crown in the pound. It would seem, from this statement that distress was gradually working its way upwards, and that the middle classes were becoming involved in the privations which had long since overtaken the humbler ranks. Fashion might have had something to do with it, but he believed distress was the great cause. He had been particularly struck with the fact that the falling off was principally in silk hose, and that the manufactur ers of these goods had lately turned to the making of cotton hose. With regard to employment he found that in one district there were. 191 frames all em ployed in making silk hose in the prosperous times, but of these, at present, there were only forty seven now making silk hose. In another district there were one hundred and sixty-seven frames, which, at the same period, were making silk hose, while at the present moment there were on ly fif teen in hat trade, and nearly one hundred standing idle. In a third district there were ninety-five frames, of which, at present, there were only sixteen in that trade, and thirty-four turned to the making of gloves. The average of the entire was twenty-one out of twenty-seven unemployed. Mr. Handcock then referred to other details showing the same results, showing in the total seven hundred and sixty-nine silk frames all employed at one time making hose ; of these, one hundred and twenty-seven were still going, one hundred and eighty-four were turned to making gloves, and four hundred and fifty-eight were standing still. The entire amount of silk frames was about 4,000, and he had given them the details of one-fourth of the trade, from which they might infer what the remainder was.— (Hear, hear.) One thing struck him as being peculiar to their case—that in order to ask the Legislature to afford them relief they must show that the people were actually starving.—(Hear.) He found that the persons making the very finest description of silk stockings ob tained from 1 ts. 6d. to 95., and he believed there were not in the above trade more than one hundred persons so employed. The employment over the whole trade did not exceed more than three-fourths of full time, and the average wages would not exceed .6s. to 6s. Bd. per week. In the three years, 1834-5-6, they paid for their wheat 107 millions ; while in 18378-9 they paid 152 millions, and that would go far to account for the great diminution that had taken place in the va rious branches of trade.—(Hear, hear.) In 1839 Mr. Cayley, in the House of Commons, made some reference to the hosiery trade, and inferred from the statements he made that the manufacturers obtained 3s. 7d. profit on the cotton stockings selling at 245. per dozen. That statement was, he believed, quite unfounded, the highest price for the description of stockings to which he referred, being only 19s. 9d. .After re ferring to some other statements made by Dr. Holland, which he contended were greatly exaggerated, Mr. Hand cock concluded by moving the third resolution—" That the exchange of products between those portions of mankind, whose fertile lands yield abundance of corn and other food, and those whose skill and industry pro duce articles of manufacture, should be free as the air we breathe to supply their reciprocal wants. That any legislative obstruction to this natural right of man (ex cept by moderate duties, when absolutely required for fiscal purposes) is a wanton infringement of one of the most apparent and essential principles of justice, and baneful in its consequences to society. That the odious Corn and Provision-laws are notorious instances of such impolitic and unjust legislation—selfish and tyrannous in spirit—anti-christian and inhuman in principle—op pressive and ruinous in operation. That they have in flicted manifold and serious evils upon the industrious classes of the empire, by greatly enhancing the price of food, and by their destructive effects upon commerce and manufactures ; and that they threaten to annihilate, if not speedily repealed, the most important branches of national industry. That to avert the evil consequences of their continuance, and arrest the rapid progress of distress and misery, it becomes the imperative duty of the suffering millions, to unite in const an t an d increas ing exertions for their repeal. That as citizens of a free State, firm in our loyalty and attachment to the throne, we claim to be governed by impartial and equit able laws, enacted with a regard to the general beLefit, and not to serve the peculiar or exclusive interests of privileged classes. That in addition to our enormous taxation for the support of the state, we are burthened with monstrous imposts for the support of monopolies, which are subverting our vital interests, depriving us of the means of subsistence, and overwhelming this empire with bankruptcy and ruin. That we hereby solemnly declare and pledge ourselves, by the union of all our energies, to employ every constitutional means of resist ance, to these barbarous, wicked, and oppressive laws, and to persevere:with a firm, constant, and unremitting determination, in demanding their total abolition." Mr. S. BEAN, of Nottingham, seconded the resolution. He trusted they would all put their shoulders to the wheel ; that they would not cease their exertions until these accursed laws were entirely repealed. He gave his cordial concurrence to the resolution, and hoped it would meet their approval. The resolution was then put and carried unanimously. Mr. Josapu STRUTT, of Derby, came forward amidst loud cheers to move the next resolution—" That a peti tion to the House of Commons, founded upon the above resolutions, be prepared by the Executive Committee, and that they be requested to obtain the signatures of the manufacturers of the Midland Counties thereto." Mr. VICKERS, of Leeds, seconded the resolution, which was also carried nem con On the motion of Mr. JoRNsoN, a vote of thanks to the Chairman, for his very able and dignified conduct in the chair, was proposed and carried amidst loud accla mations. The CHAIRMAN briefly returned thanks, and the meet ing then separated. THE DINNER. In the evening about three hundred gentlemen sat down to an excellent dinner in the great room of the Royal Hotel. At four o'clock the chair was taken by Edward Strutt, Esq., M.P., supported on his right by Sir John Easthope, M.P., Dr. Bowring, M.P., and Mr. Cobden, M.P. On his left by Sir George Larpent, M.P., Mr. Joseph Strutt, M.P., W. Evans, M.P., &c., &c. Notwithstanding the arrangements that had been made to provide accommodation for all who were expected to attend, it was found necessary to have an additional table laid in another room, fur nearly fifty gentlemen, who could not find even standing room in the large apartment. There was an excellent band in attendance. The dinner and wines were of very superior quality, and the festivities passed off in the most delightful manner. After the cloth had been removed, the CHAIRMAN gave the health of her Majesty the Queen.--(Great cheering.) He believed it could be said of her Majesty, that she was deeply interested in the sufferings of her people. Unhappily the Ministry at present in power were opposed to all plans for the promotion of the com mercial prosperity of the country; but he believed it did not owe its existence to any spontaneous exercise of the prerogative of the Crown.—(Cheers. The toast was drank with tremendous cheering.) The CHAIRMAN then gave the health of the Infant Prince, heir to the throne of these realms, and he might say with perfect truth, that never was there an heir ap parent to the Crown born with a better prospect of receiving such an education as would fit him to exercise the high powers that would some day, and he hoped it was far distant, be committed 16 his charge. The toast was drank with all the honours, as was also the health of Prince Albert and the Princess Royal. Then followed the Queen Dowager, and the rest of the Royal Family. The CHAIRMAN said he now came to the toast, which was more particularly appropriate to the occasion which had brought them together. The object of the great and important meeting of that morning, was to increase the means of subsistence and employment, and to promote the general welfare of the people at large. He could not, therefore, do better than give them, early in their proceedings, " The People." The toast was drank with much cheering. Mr. COBDEN, M.P., then rose amidst loud and general cheering, and proceeded to address the compahy as follows :—Allow me to express the gratitude I feel to wards the gentlemen of the Midland Counties for the most instructive meeting which I have attended this day. —(Hear, hear.) But while listening to the details which have gone back for a period of twenty-five years, show ing the consecutive deterioration in the condition of the people, and the decline in your own interests, I could not help saying that the agitation against the Corn and Provision-laws should have begun long, long ago.—(Loud cheers.) Why, Gentlemen, you have the whole case in your own hand. We in Lancashire fought against great disadvantages ; we were told that our distress arose from our improvements in machinery. But what have we been told to-day ? Why, "that the stocking-trade is nearly in the same state as when it issued from the hands of its inventor two centuries ago. At all events for the last 25 years there has been no material improve ment in it, and there are no steam-engines with their tall chimneys giving motion to your power-looms. — (Hear, hear.) Then we are met in Manchester with the over-production cry, which they say has been the cause of the distress ; but here we are told that the production has diminished, especially in Leicestershire. It was not, therefore, over-production—it was not machinery that has caused the distress here. But what else have we heard caused the distress in Lancashire ? Why, the joint-stock banks.—(Loud laughter.) They say that the joint-stock banks have starved us in Manchester.—(Re newed laughter.) But here we find that no great mis chief has been done by the joint-stock banks ; and I again repeat, Gentlemen, that you have the case in your own hands. The whole of the fallacies of our opponents, as applied to Manchester, are answered here; and hence forth it becomes the province of the Midland Counties to take up the question, to lead in the van, and to be the champions of this great cause.— . (Cheers.) I am g l a d that upon this occasion you bare directed so many of your inquiries to the subject of wages effecting the largest and most important portion of the population of those counties. I am glad that you have not confined yourselves to the relative profits of the employer and the decline of his business, but that you have given a clear statement of the decline of wages and the distress of the operatives in these counties. This will be one of the strongest arguments which you can furnish to the House of Commons in the ensuing session to justify the words of the toast which I am now going to read to you— The total and immediate repeal of the Corn and Pro vision laws. —(Loud cheers.) Oh I could not help thinking as I listened to the details of the diminished comforts and the waste of means of the working classes, and the distress by which they are encompassed—l could not help thinking as I heard of the con stantly diminishing resources of the hard-work ing frame-knitters of these counties—that our Le gislature had indeed departed from the spirit of that EVENING SUN Book, to which the Reverend Gentleman, I sh , ° ; ;, nounced a blessing upon our meat, had referrll,s4 they had forgotten_ the poor in their time of lee e u 4 d they protected those who ought to have been, li e, in protecting others. Where Was the protecoo '„ frame-work knitter when he needed protectioniairer (Hear, hear)—when the high price of food al it more difficult for him to support his family? , 0 him' we found that the Corn-laws were a protectionl coo. No, we find that he got no protection from the nss al laws. They effected their object for those wh o tio them, and in the same proportion they minister , g l a d misery and destitution of the working classes.._ cheering.) Si r , w h en I go i n t o th a t House ag ai s h_ eo down, and h ear a Chapter read before th e be .1:froll the day comme nces f rom that Book which is no hi i g oo a first to last but a series of denunciations age, tll l who wrest their bread from the poor, I will it 51 11 , poor framework-knitters of Leicestershire, a l og look on with some degree of surprise and amazeth'„ o 0 I shall express my doubts whether I do indeed _t o o the Rev. Gentleman has said, in a Christian" 7, ol d llf I find them upholding a law to tax the 'lO bread, in order to enrich themselves and to 0P1 )1 ,,,er destitute, will I not be justified in asking such a 4 of tion?—(;Much cheering.) I shall take the case ...ed i,ar neighbouring nobleman, whose estate is in the ih"Pooes vicinity of Hinckley, but I shall mention no that the There is a law on the st a t u t e b oo k which enacts s car corn grown on that estate shall be ma intained tt a l at Cor o tain adventitious artifi c i a l l eg i s l a tive price; a n oar is sold to whom? To the poor miserable sta r , work-knitters of Hinckley. Now, Sir, I ask, is ! .ints iroa law in return that he should have his wage s t"" I l e ft t° at a legal, adventitio us , ar tifi c i a l ra te, or is h e 'l e o hal the competition of the German and the Saxon , " o h, cs!'` their food at half the price ?—(Loud cheers.)t 01'1 this heathenism, Mahornetanism, Paganish"' bi nd th i s not Christian.—(Gr ea t c h eer i ng .) But we a rc t he cui" this law is necessary t o ena bl e th e landlords soas ll° tivators of the land to com p e t e with fore i g h , c beersi not you, too, compete with foreigners ? ei d tbo Have you not heard to-d a y f rom Mr. Wa ke glov e ,' when the Saxon inund a t e d you with his ehesP,„,ol, what does the Englishm an do ? He is Jahh arl u Ele the disadvantage of produci ng at nearlY do cost, but does he, therefore,l sit down ' fl ies and in ,' No; he calls to his aid all his natural elillionsl Pe r herent intelligence ; he sets to work 14 ith aeu sota eth', l "' severance and ingenuity, until he has donee foreita": which will again enable him to compete with `,lld and isr,a He enters the common market of the won hisoar., he is met by foreigners, and still he has to ra n w hich ;11 and to maintain this competition, escape f r Ll t ed cannot ; and, therefore, I say, he is cotei hee arta t ; time to a competition wth all the nations of ti! ow for 0 , (Hear, hear.) There is no legislative prot, e , et r i d cue labourer here ; and why should not the laa" o l s hotil with foreigners as well as the manufacturing t he ni f Did not the forefathers of those who are2r; 6 0 flis vatiors of the soil compete with foreigurj" ... .. t bes ° "o years ago, this land exported its produw, A „kl OLIO competition with foreigners ; and why 511 " - t 1- :eet be done now?—(Much cheering.) We are the 4 1 great increase in taxation had taken place 7ided, flaked 1770. 1770. We have had 500,000,0004 of debt a, 0 vis• to the glory and the honour of those w h i ° ,ll,.,f °r ot ° 4 out aad achieved our conquests ; but of w d. " - 00, 0 u", - e 9, am not proud. They have added - g el t ,t - iist, to the national debt ; they have put W e t e he 0 1 ) 4; 5 itt. but did not the manufacturer, the artisah,' „ re of t"; sal, and the labourer, bear more than their sti`: o a ' e o f crease of taxation ? What said Mr. W i v or• the last time, I believe, he ever spoks larg e j . sral Commons ? "In no country in Europe i s , - coo tion of the taxation raised upon produet' ve n o bertL'oe labour as:in England." " Oh, but (says S ir „ t he 'Olt if look to the exclusive burdens imposed tir", t e.' „s be eto ers—there is, for instance, the highwaY",' - eia .--(' use they pay for the highways,'they also b u e se tte t ' f, i e t t it o l e o lll 7 : e te y . and laughter)—and if it pleases them the railroads, and allow the highways . . ta - S a y% t l ; But the townsmen also maint a i n the ,n , 16 - e hsvo:e.' f ar pay for their streets, and th e y ma ke n° in 015 d i ero agriculturist when he bo w l s over the stß rie- o ver c od gon, or the Squire, wh en he drive s . o . ii houv ve ri in his carriage. But when we visit the n ei r'a that s ad of the squirearchy they make us pay toll, elcheeo p ,, e l, frequently, when they exempt themselves.-- bet I laughter.) " Oh, but, then," says Sir u '" ° t itile s ',, be " there are the tithes," the land par , t ,u. a e i r uY wonder what the Bishop of Exeter '„ r eb , hears: that statement of Sir Robert re el i ;, Ch`;, e o he will put in a prior claim to tithes for ,' e d IPPhea However, I shall leave that point to be set t iols , l 5 them, for I am sure the case is in very goo tha t to oot we were told that there are Church-rates"; fi f a c ° r eb' pays Church-rates. I thought I had hear°„;, / Ch u ~a/ in the town of Birmingham for refusingl °l 7oo,i l or , rates, and I believe th e t owns a re said to p a y t l i ef Sir Robert Peel has not yet abolished ", tO the hear.) Another claim upon the landowne:*.' is t he A t his have to maintain the poor ; and fiy-ra''',o7 quartet of protection claims—the reit ° hl Tithes, the Poor-rate, and thestocu Chu js pato dogs? I ask whether the town of thA v, also paying poor-rat-s ? Aye, mo re 001E0 11 t o; what the land pays? And are not coor'll:the Birmingham, and other towns, paYing„ , ` t hea ,l 'ltO (Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") And wh er ,j"9 Whifb o ' claim to an exclusive protection for the lan",: w t s . „ o her s founded upon the most fallacious statel l ' P, however, has opened the question, becau,,, se „ Peel asks you, before you legislate upon w, p inn 9 inquire into the relative burdens on land an u ",: # 1 —(Loud cheers.) And if Sir Robert Peel coal b~ trader, and desired to damage the landlords, have more effectually stabbed them than a che e; fo said 3 - ou must inquire into this.—(R e nee nt ire My Hon. Friend, Dr. B owr i ng , h as g i ve n t he e'„ g h motion for a return of the l an d-t ax pa id in al " t he countries of Europe, and I s h a ll t e ll you frio!" 0 , how we stand. Of th e w h o l e revenue °' 0 f fra ncs , amounting to one: thousand millions nil deale oa e more than one half is raised from the boll '' 6l ,,te rev i go In Prussia more than one half of the w .. , b i ti v e t he w h rj e t4t s ate is raised from the land. In Austria ":„If the rh o raised. In Germany more thro! "I t aly revenue is raised from land. 11l „, In we eolne 3 is raised from the same soti: f " tl i c. re v v e o li a l s od and in Denmark fully one-third o in -„f tar e, from land. And how stands the O s- 0 00/. c l-ta%* (Loud cheering.) Of th e 52, 000 ', the lan Paiti raised in 1839, 1,170,000/. were paid this coun tr) d iffer The thirty-third part o f th e revenue of es the,..,froai directly from the land ; and whence e . °-- ra ta x CS w hjel i , ence ? From the Ex c i se an d the Cul c offee , hest . ' the taxes upon sugar, an d tea, an (gear , 0 ,11;1 are all raised upon th e poor ine* -- Anti-C o al the Gentlemen, I predict th a t we of d i a te rere, League, who now clai m a total and imulenths 40' the Corn-laws, will ire less than twelv ent° upon as a moderate and milk-and -water thata;ot laughter and cheers.) Sir Robert Peel, and 'iwt o f for it, has directed my attention to a nother: q ueo 6o °l 4 it lord legislation ; and when I look upo n ' i t t ime, II: the land-tax, from its origin to the resent _ n ot e exhibits an instance of selfish legislations 7 05 e), 0 of audacity to the Corn and Provision -laws.---c (..„,titattge land-tax in its origin was nothing but a r c i s l ii L ei V services when the Crown gave up the the T AO One hundred and forty years ago, wi le t he P e ro' lords got possession of the Throne, lorie us o t he of King William, by what was called the g as i,tit e , lution, there were a thousand incumbrane o f die f alt; land. It yielded nearly the whole revehhie }vas —besides which the landlords had to fi n % w as 0 011 to maintain them. At the time the la n tr y ol s o i and assessed the income of the entire We ° Y ou „sit° nine millions a year ; and now, Gentieloe n l: a pa co ot middle clases, whose windows are coun teu for ear}' whom a new schedule is left every Y ear ' for, ca ll a eg dogs and horses,—you, who pay ta x , a t' ounce of sugar and coffee you eons" o era,sea' upon :you to remember that the fan the -prep?. had their land re-valued from 1696 to • ° g. ad hoo e time.—(Loud cheers.) Yes, they are P a a p e •• tax upon a valuation which was made just , lv bo c ed and forty-nine years ago, while the c olleeth r . c h 0 0 0+ round to you count th e a p er t ures through w i tvoar, fe 0° light enters, and count your carriages ot re `1 but who give the landowner no schedule, if d 0 1 10 .0 assessment upon a valuation made one hued' c ,e / nine years ago !—(Cheers.). Tekhort the 0 , 1 , r d' s poo to look to it, for it is a war against their 10 (Cheers.) I hope I shall see petitions r e 0 .1 t oP' them to re-value the land, and that t', r the c oo' will go on collaterally with the agitation IS s la b ber' and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws, lif ers .) rf° tribute my mite for such a purpose.—(C h `pocl, l a rd; must be a total abolition of all taxes upon o, 4 p' should raise at least twenty millions a year 111 ; t her and,then the owners woultd be richer than fo, i so u ~11Y proprietary in the world.—(Cheers.) Thi s e ,isted; commend as compensation for what has for i i t or i friend Colonel Th om p son i n d ee d recon n o r 15 l es to step, and that we should claim compensat °ll „, s ll 6° o6 o past.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, it irelyenl "‘,. th e m , get restitution, and of all funding fith wi t s on *lO O difficult—(Great laughter)—but I see n° re :f a I ° o lol should not have compensation in the shaP e , na r bud l° which would release us from the whole 0 , ', e pea,. er, I should like to see that tax called for by ti t i - d hoe o o , England, and I have no doubt that we s h , a s 5 9 ) , ° ter' ) tal and immediate repeal of the Corn - ta w " diatig'oJ ° compromise for the rest.—(Much cheering a h o oto, co lst I listened with particular pleasure to the state,. oaf plan agreed upon for carrying on this morning, but I did not hear anY, pr e ole . the to the meeting of Parliament.—(Hear , 110 1 0 0 ag itatlO oe „1 men, you have nothing to hope from !",. ye th e o b' Commons in its present shape—(Cheers) te be P 0 05 0 4 themselves and they will do nothing, and, o h elt ee oa r liged to you for letting them remain 50.—(-' 11 ,.., by 01 6 and laughter.) If anything is done it wil o t 0 ,0 own exertions, and I do confess that I d!e b oell o ol solicitous as to what course things will tans au eoPoo meet in Parliament, and lam anxious "thaaoi, should be well mooted out of doors, in order i s t,,V competine• parties may be influenced by w ha t o p, piring. ° Gentlemen, you know our op) sp ytP e p you know how vain it is to expect ud W o of from them but what we can extort.—V -- is aOl diversity of opinion, and I am anxious tirL_4ll. o ,,,r , But even upon the Opposition benches t . h , e h r e pir fo r be rendered as unanimous as possible ; it 5 . 1 , 0 , in !dt) the country to give the tone to the OpP,oall' op post e 'o liament, and it is for them to let it , orel"l know what principles should influence them in p ensure support out of doors.—(Great chee %i v/ in is v o l We have " 11, a strong opinion on this subject. at a P ranks those who are in favour of no changei, but o f those who prefer a fixed duty to a total rePeal„ se ssle, o rt bold to say, that if the Opposition in the rie" iu g Parliament will take its stand upon any , ,,, t hat7 t s of entire freedom of trade—l am bold to saY i tir ot ,pon' o . position cannot stand against the poweffra`tha they will have, because I cannot believe, tru a,of that de' perience of the last two years, e H el l' o ever again rally in defence of the sem is sire fined popular principle, and that the Pe OP ~~ i 1 1 1