The Sun. — London, England, 1844-04-18 00:00:00

The first great Weekly Metropolitan Meeting of the members of the-National Anti-Corn-law League since the Easter recess, was held last evening at the Theatre Royal Covent-garden. The doors were opened at half-past six o'clock, and the house was soon filled. The number of ladies in the boxes was much larger than we have observed on many previous occasions. At seven o'clock Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P., the Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers, M.P., John Bright, Esq., M.P., H. G. Ward, Esq., M.P., George Thompson, Esq., R. R. R. Moore, Esq., and Colonel Peyronnet Thompson, accompanied by several other active members of the League, entered the theatre, and were received with loud cheers. Among those present we observed :—Thomas Milner Gibson, Esq., MP.; Colonel Tucker ; Dr. Cooke Taylor ; W. A. Wilkinson, Esq. ; P. A. Tay lor, Esq. • the Rev. Mr. Clare ; Dr. Girdwood; Norman iVilkinson, Esq. ; S. Kennedy, Esq.; W. Harvey, Esq. ' • H. L. Keiling, Esq.; John Moir Ware, Esq.; J. B. Kingdon, Esq.; Peter Martineau, Esq.; R. Ireland, Esq.; R. Southall, Esq.; John Lalor, Esq.; Major Reid Revell ; W. Lockett, Esq., Manchester ; Charles A. Amber, Esq. ; Charles Clif ford, Esq.; R. W. Cole, Esq.; - Henry Lloyd Mor gan, Esq. ; General Wyatt ; Robert Bagshavr, Esq. ; C. Jones Esq. ; J. D. Donkin, Es q . • B. D. Dunkin, Esq; John Macartney, Es q ., Manchester ; John Semple, Esq., Glasgow; John Haining, Esq., Strat ford-on-Avon ; George Peile, Esq., Whitehaven ; C. Dixon, Esq., Wellington, Salop ; W. Thornbor row, Esq.; L. Wiltshire, Esq.; James Bailey, Esq.; W. Edith, Esq.; Rev. H. Richards ; George Ridout, Esq.: J. Towne, Esq.; Hugh Shield, Esq. • W. Hepple, Esq., Bi s h o p A uc kl an d, D ur h am ; dames Anderson, Esq.; Dr. King; and W. Geesin, Esq. RICHARD COBDEN, Esq., M.P. for Stockport, took the Chair, amidst the most enthusiastic cheering. The SECRETARY read the minutes of the last meet ing, which, on the motion of J. BRIGHT, Esq., M.P., seconded by the Hon. C. P. V ILLIERS , M.., were confirmed. 'The CHAIRMAN then came forward, and was re ceived with loud cheers, which lasted some minutes. All present rose and waved their hats and handker chiefs; when the cheering was subsiding, there was a call for one cheer more, which was most enthusiasti cally responded to. Silence having been restored, the Hon. Gentleman proceeded to address the meeting, as follows :—Ladies and Gentlemen, during the short cessation which has taken place in the holding of our meetings in this theatre, I have been attending a few meetings in the country—(Cheers)—and it may per haps be interesting to you to learn something of the spirit and enthusiasm which prevail in the cause of free trade elsewhere. I have had the honour of attend ing a meeting of free traders in Bristol, and I never saw a more influential meeting, or a meeting of a higher moral tone, or one more calculated to forward the great objects which we have in view. At that meeting 6001. was subscribed in the room to the League fund.— (Cheers.) I subsequently had the honour of attending a meeting with my Hen. Friend Mr. Villiers, in the borough of Wolverhamp ton. I need not speak to you of the excellent spirit which actuates the people of Wolverhampton, when I tell you that they send Mr. Villiers and Mr. Thornely to Parliament as th e i r represen t a ti ves .— (Cheers) There was no room in the place large enough to hold all the free-traders who were desirous of being present at that meeting, and a pavilion was consequently erected for the purpose of affording ac commodation to them. Upwards of 3,000 persons met together in Wolverhampton, and the meeting did not separate until they had subscribed 650/. to the League Fund. I also had the honour of attending a, meeting in the amphitheatre of Liverpool, where I had the good fortune to meet a distinguished friend of free trade from the North—Mr. Fox Maule— (Cheers)—one who, unless common fame has misre ported, is heir to something like 60,000 acres under the plough ; and he came there to bear his testimony that a free trade in corn was as desirable for the agricultural as it was for the manufacturing or trad ing interest.—(Cheers.) Since we last met here, Ladies and Gentlemen, certain chan ges h ave t a k en place in political life, owing to a certain death which will involve elections in sundry boroughs. I must say, however, that if we could have chosen the places in which we wish to meet the monopolists in election contests, we should not have chosen as our battle-field with these monopolists such places as Horsham, H un ti ng d on , or Woodstock. I be lieve, that in every instance in which a vacancy oc curs a contest will be fought, if a local man can be found to put up for the representation, even if we poll only 20 votes.—(Cheers.) We have been charged with attempting to dictate to consti tuencies. We attempt no such thing; we only pro fess to co-operate with constituencies. We go and other our co-operation to the local members of the League in every borough to which we go, and if you should hear of any contest passing over without a League candidate starting, you may believe that it •has been because the League Council do not wish to dictate to the local traders, but, in deference to their wishes, have thought it right that such boroughs should be left for future organisation.—(Cheers.) Exeter will be contested.—(Loud cheers.) I am happy to say that General Briggs—an officer in the ,service of the East India Company, and a gentleman distinguished for his philanthropy, public spirit, and love of freedom in every form,—General Briggs .1 am happ to say is a candidate for Exeter.— (Cheers.) What may be the result of that contest I know not, but I know that if in a borough of 30,000 inhabitants a free trader fights one battle en League !principles, and loses, he is certain to fight the next :great battle, and to win. —(Cheers.) I am anxious that our friends here and elsewhere should feel that we never waste the League funds in any large and uneonstitutional expenditure in election contests, be cause I have seen statements to that effect made even in some of the papers which give us their support. We merely t rans f er our lecturers and our tracts into a L serough at the time when .the inhabitants are alive to polit, IN and simply avail ourselves of the excitement which an election al ways creates, and the desire to be informed Political "subjects arising from that excite ment, to imo4truct to inhabit an t s i n t h e d octr i nes of free trade, and edo as m uc h ,f or the education of a bo rough in one N:Tek at the time of an election, as we could do in a 1116,0 th under or di nary circumstances. It is like a recruitinB - party gokng into a town with drums beating and colours flying—like a recruiting party going into a town At fair-time.—(Cheers and laughter.) I state this that the public may not sup pose that the League are -spending their money in boroughmongering and electioneering. We go to prevent other people from bribing. You have, no loabt, heard it said, and I know that many persons the nk, that it cost from 1,2001. or 1,0001. at least, to 000 tot a borough. Now, in such boroughs as Hors ham, I,.jeodstock, and H un ti ng d on, if any can did ate spends ni ,:re than 1001. in an election contest, it is not spent honestly and truly; and, if we do nothing else, we are doing good by preventing parties from p ursu i ng a sys tem of denioralisettion •ich has made contests in boroughs little better than a tidal of the length of the purse of the respective canilidates.- - (Cheers.) I htetre an announcement to make to you bettre I resume my seat. Applications have been made to the Council of • the League to hold a bazaar in this theatre befo g the close of the season.—(Oheors.) Many ladies have stated to the League Council that they are at present at work in ,preparing materials for that bazaar, as they are anxious to assist the cause of the League, and to contribute in that pleasant manner to its funds. -- (Cheers.) The Council have determined to adopt (4111 suggestion of our female friends, and all, there fore, wno feel disposed to aid in furnishing the stalls are invited to use their diligent attention for the at tainment of that object. I have one suggestion to snake from myself as to a part of the exhibition at that bazaar.--(Laughter.) I do not mean to ex hibit myself there—(Renewed laughter) —but lam anxious that we should have n collection of specimens of every species of manufacture in the kingdom._... (Cheers) — that they should be brought, as it were, to a focus in this bazaar.—(Cheers.) Everything that is made in metal should be there, from a steam-engine to a needle. Everything that is manufactured, from silk, from the finest embroidered • garment to th e h um b lest and narrowest ribbon. Everything of cotton menu faciure--evelrything of woollen manufacture —every thing that we make : all that the manufacturers of a En s I nd produce should be brought together in the exhibition in this theatre.—(Cheers.) And when we have brought these ma terials to gether, we will invite the monopolists—we w i ll invite the restrictionists, to see the collection • And we will point to this es a proof of what the ingenuity an d o _ the unaided and unpr cte te d skill of the manufacturer can do—(Loud cheers)----'! without prizes, -without protection, and without Dukes of Richmond or Buckingham: —(Cheers and laughter.) And when we have brought them to view this exhibition we will put to them this question, and this question only : "Do you think that the bands that made these ingenioub articles ought to be hang ing idle at the aides of men, who are pining for want of bread." —(Loud cheers.) Now , Ladies and-Gentle - men, I have to introduce to you in the firstplace a ur distinguished f r i en d of o c ause, who has often ren dered as good service •in another arena where there are few to match him, in , debate, although this is the first time that he has appeared upon these boards.— Cheers.) I beg to introduce to u my lion. isr,:end Mr. Ward, the M em b er for Sheffie l d . M r. 5. G. WARD, who was receive d • with very loud and cc,`sitinued cheers, said that he could assure them with .-rfeet truth that he appeared before pt Tons. in the river 2,625 , 3 23 (same year: Tonnage of collin,s Colonies, 1,683 ships 0f... 417,139 Ireland, 907 ships of ~ 142,000 Coasting' trade, 20,205 ships of (colliers included). 3,166 British, 2,335 Foreign vessels 921,404 Total tons 4,167,164 From Russia, Ssireden, Germany, Holland, France, ,the Mediterranean, China, and United States. London has paid, upon an average, for the last ten years, eleven millions in custom duties, out of the I . c GRAND WEEKLY I them that night, as th e ir H onoura bl e Ch a i rman h a d said, for the first time upon these boards, with some ANTI‘CORN-LAW LEAGUE little reluctance and a great many doubts ; and he told them honestly that this feeling was increased MEETING, instead of lessened—however ungrateful the ex pression might appear—by the manner in which AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.I they had been pleased to receive the announce ment of his name by the Chairman—(Cheers)—be cause their kind reception bespoke an impression which the next ten minutes would destroy. He should have come to their meetings, even if he had any doubts of the justice of the principle for which they. contended; but on the contrary, to the fullest ex tent in which words could express it, he concurred unre reservedly and unhesitatingly in the principle of free trade—free trade in everything.—(Loud cheers.) But if they would allow him to finish the sentence— but above all and before all, as the keystone of the whole position of their opponents, for a free trade in corn. If, therefore, he had any fear, or reluctance, or doubts in presenting himself before them, it was because he knew that the men who had so well conducted this great national cause—for a national cause it was —up to the present point, whose perseverance had overcome all obstacles, and whose ability was the presage of future success, had not left those who came after them, the labourers of the eleventh hour, any shadow of new argument or new facts. He had always re garded the meetings giving such attention to a subject which the House of Commons esteemed so dry and exhausted that they could hardly get 60 members to sit out an Anti-corn-law debate—he regarded them as some of the remarkable phenomena of the present times. He knew the benefit they derived when his Hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhamp ton put an idea into the cruicible of his mind, and turned it out purified from all alloy, and just what it was worth.—(Cheers.) Although the subject was the same, they could still appreciate the endless variety into which their Chrirman cast the details of a subject on which he employed his powerful mind; and yet the constant recurrence of those meetings, the way in which that house was filled, and the extreme attention paid, was a proof of no common interest taken in no common cause.—(Cheers.) They were right, and perfectly right, to encourage by their generous sym pathies those who fought their battles. He recol lected the time when the three hundred delegates crowded the lobby and Downing-street from Man chester, and Paisley, and Glasgow, and Sheffield; and it was said, " Mark how London stands aloof." They were told "It is inevitable that London should separate itself from the country • free trade may be a very g oo d thing for Lancaster, but a very bad thing for West minster or for Marylebone—they know better, and they act against free trade ;" and, as it was said the other night by Sir Robert Peel, that a regard to self interest was the vivifying _principle of this world, so it was said, " All that the friends of free trade can say, all their eloquence will not alter the opinion of the people of London." Then it was said not only was this the feeling in the West end, but " look at the City—there they have practical men ; it is not likely that the merchants of the City will entertain such a foolish notion ; they know that a bird in the hand is worth two in the hush. Out of the four seats in the City the free traders had only one, and that was a modified edition of free trade ; for if Lord John Russell held the principles of Mr. Cobden, he would be thrown out." This was the talk three years ago ; he did not think they talked so glibly of City elections now.—(Cheers.) Somehow or other they had made an alteration in the feeling. On the last occasion of a City election, the corn-law men put forward, as they admitted, their best candidate—so good a candidate that they had sent him to Hunting don --(Great laughter)—a gentleman of the highest commercial respectability, as fluent as Mr. Gladstone, and almost as plausible as Sir Robert Peel— (Cheers) —and yet things did not turn out as they expected. Mr. Baring was not the Member for the City; between Mr. Baring and Mr. Pattison the difference was an enormous one—(Laughter and cheers)—and he he did not mean any personal allusion to Mr. Pattison in using that word. Coupled with such a contest, their attendance there did show a change of feeling, from which he anticipated the most gratifying results. He knew that this change must come. He was aware that a fallacy was the most obstinate thing to overcome if it were ingeniously put. There were very few men who thought so. Most men liked to follow like sheep at a gap. If the words were put well together, there was nothing of a fallacy which Englishmen would not swallow. He had happened lately to be reading the work of an intelligent observer, an American, whom they knew under the name of Sam Slick. There could be nothing wrong in quoting Sam Slick, and he said, " A considerable large print that Bull family is ; you may read them by moonlight ; they will swallow a fallacy just as a turkey swallows a grasshopper ; they take it right down whole without winking, and then ask for more." —(Much laughter.) Still there are some fallacies which cannot be gulped down. He held in his hand a pamphlet which had great influence in 1841. When he last bought one he had been told that 42,000 had been sold, and now he was told that there had been 50,000. That day he had bought the 50,000 th. It was an appeal to the tradesmen of London by one of themselves, and in that appeal the whole question was put upon the argument of the writer, that the interest of London on the corn-laws was distinct from that of the coun try at large; it was said that " they all shared in the taxes placed on corn ; that the landowners fleeced others to enrich them"—(Cries of " Query.") When that respectable individual, Sir Edward Knatchbull, therefore, told them from the Treasury benches that he could not live without the corn laws, and that he would be glad to part with them if he could find a fund out of which to pay the join ture of his daughters and the settlement of his wife— it was made clear that the tradesmen of London had an equal interest in these laws, for they enabled. Sir Edward Knatchbull to pay the London trades men for his liveries and for painting his coach. Many then believed this ; and many, perhaps, be lieved still, that hi g h ren t s in Kent meant high rents in St. James's ; that the whole existence of London depended upon the maintenance of those laws ; that the whole which a tradesman would gain by cheap bread would be 201. a year, whilst he would lose 1,0001. worth of trade in one year ; or more than the repeal of the corn-laws would do them good in forty years. That, however, was one of the falsehoods which cou ld no t b e s wallowedlong. It was ridiculous - to suppose that the greatness of London was owing to the landed aristocracy who resided in it.—(Hear, hear.) Its greatness con sisted of the aggregate savings of every body else, for money saved was money spent.—(Hear, hear.) The less a man paid for his bread the more he was able to spend on other articles.—(Hear, hear.) Lon don had no great manufactures of her own ; her business was to dispense every thing which the in dustry of others created. To say, therefore, that it had a separ a t e i n t erest i n the corn-laws, and that it could thrive amidst the universal decay of the coun try, was reversing the old homely fable of the belly and the members.—(Hear, hear, and l aug ht er .) I t was to suppose that th e belly conspired against the hands and feet which supplied its wants.---(hear, hear.) To what did London owe its real greatness and prosperity ? Not to the resid ence o f a few thousands who lived there for one portion of the year and left it for the remainder. If every Duke was as rich as Creesus, if every squire was a millionaire, and every younger brother had a Fortunatus' purse, instead of the capacity of emptying the purses of other persons—(Hear, hear, and laughter)—even then he would defy their united efforts to produce such a conamunity as this.—(Rear, hear.) London was the greatest commercial city in the world—it was the capital of an empire which, for the first time in the iii story of the world, realised the Spanish boast, that, on the Queen's dominions the sun never set.—(Cheers.) It was the point of intercommuni cation between their widely-extended colonies, which stretched from Canada to the Cape of Good Hope. The indigo of India and the wool of Australia were brought to enrich the people of Leeds. It realised a height of greatness which would sewn fabulous to the people of Venice, of Carthage, and .?f Tyre._ (Cheers.) The landed aristocracy had nothis to do with the greatness of such a city. They did ring do justice to themselves in imagining it. 7 -(Cheers.) He did not wish to weary them with details, but he begged to remind them of what London Was. Its population had doubled since 1801. In 1801 it was 888,198 In 1831 it was _ 111 . 1841 it was Two millions in round numhers. Length from east to west 5i miles (if from Chelsea to Blackwall 74). Breadth from north to south, 3/. A Principality of Bricks. A river which has marked ictosustefor th e seat of c ommerce f rom t h e earl i est t i mes crossed o b o 3 l.; a So ix u b th ri t g a e r s i B o o, 5t 0 5 0 , 0 0 0 0 1. vO,Ol lo 00alte; Waterloo 1 d0 . 7 5 -h o i: o id o g ot o, London Docks copvieresloofowrz. es, the vaults c.intala 49 acres se 500 cellarage for 65,00 0 p C W o e m s t m l e n r c d i i a a I D D o c o k e s k , 3 2 , 9 (40 w vess a e t i e s. r) used prin ciptlly for the Baltic trade. St. Katherine's Docks, 24 acres (11f wate Port of London, 1840.-2,950 s hi ps of 581 ,000 tons manned by - , 32,000 men. 23,500,0001, to which the total customs revenue of the United Kingdom amounts. Value of produce that enters and leaves the ports roughly estimated at 80,000,0001. 2,000 merchants and brokers have their counting houses within half-a-mile of the Exchange. 100,000 houses of business, to half of which shops are attached. All the details upon the same gigantic scale. Water Companies, 237,000,000 of hogsheads per year. Gas Companies, 10,000,000 cubic feet every 24 hours. Ale and Porter, 2,000 of barrels. (A.D. 1839.) Smithfield cattle, 180,780 ; sheep, 1,403,400. 70,000,000 of eggs annualy from the Continent. Its paving and sewerage, 500,000 L at least. Newspapers, 30,000,000 of stamps (per annum). Steam-boats, 100,000 passengers daily (in pursuit of business or health). 1,000 miles of railway, completed (47,000,0001.), and 59 canals (14,500,0001.), connect it with the most distant ports.) Monthly business transacted by London bankers through clearing-house averages 75,000,000/. (It has been as high as 87,000,000/0 He had gone into these details, because he thought that they would convey a more precise idea of the extent and greatness of London than any general de scription.—(Hear, hear.) Now he would ask, what a drop of water in the ocean was the custom of the aristocracy, however rich and numerous, compared with the movements resulting from such a trade as this ?—(Loud cheers.) What a singular delusion it was to suppose that those gentlemen, amiable and re spectable in their position in life, created that great ness which they came to share—(Hear, hear) — because it was they who attracted the landed owners by making London what it was ; and it was not landed owners who made London what it was for them.—(Cheers.) This was explained on a principle extremely simple, and as old, at least, as the days of Rome. Mr. M‘Culloch spoke of London as Seneca spoke of Rome. He says that the very magnitude of London was the efficient cause of its great increase. The greater the city became, the greater scope there was for the exercise of every talent and the gratification of every taste, and the more power ful were the motives by which it attracted all indivi duals, whether aspiring or idle , virtuous or profligate, grave or gay.—(Cheers.) These were the causes of the greatness of London, and it was this greatness which attracted those birds of Paradise , whose gilded plumage adorned their streets and parks every day. —(Hear, hear.) But the tradesmen of London should recollect that they had not to deal with the landed owners generally, but with the landlords also, who possessed three or four thousand a-year, who would not venture upon a house in town.—(Laughter.) How small a number then did they consist of; and then they must subtract those landowners who spent their money in Paris and Rome, and in the Holy Land, and which they could much better spend at home.—(Cheers.) The people of London, therefore, must see that the pickings of the Duke of Northum • berland's liveries, and the wax candles of Devon shire House, were nothing compared with what they paid for their bread—(Loud cheers)—because they must recollect that if the corn-laws were repealed, it would be a direct gain to their merchants, their hankers, their fundholders, amongst whom 28,000,000/. were distributed; their public an nuitants of every kind, their professional men, their artists, their clerks, and all those who, after having spent an adventurous life abroad, came back here to enjoy an old age of comfort and of quiet ; not to mention their operatives, of whom he would sp e ak 17 and bye,—would be all direct gainers. ---(Cheers.) the result to them would be immediate and immense. He did not wish to weary them with dry details, and he had much rather quote another passage from " Sam Slick" than have recourse to dry political economists. They were aware that Sam Slick wrote a work detailing his impressions on coming to England; and he says that nothing struck him so much, or gave him such a vivid idea of the enormous and incalculable wealth of London as the continuous line of equipages which he saw on Ascot-day. That was before the Great Western was opened. It was this, he says, which created in his mind the idea he had of the wealth and power of London, because the sight of them sug gested the reflection to him, where they all came from, what supported this magnificient display of wealth ? He then says (introducing carriages speaking) " Australia keeps me—(Laughter)—China keeps me—Botany Bay keeps me (Great laughter) —Canada keeps me—Nova Scotia keeps me— white bears keep me —(Great laughter)—and every thing on the earth, and under the earth, throughout the whole world keeps me, for all the wealth of the world is tributary to British enterprise and British skill"—(Great cheers)—and yet there were some wiseacres who within three years really thought that nothing but the custom of some two or three thousand landlords made London what it was, with out ever taking into calculation the additional price which they were obliged to pay for their bread. By this system, the people of London were mulcted to the amount of at least 431,5571. And this asser tion was proved by the returns made upon this sub ject up to the 13th of March last. He had already alluded to this question, as if it only concerned London, but he thought he should also speak of it so far as the landed interest was concerned. In speaking of the landed interest, he should premise, first, that although his estate was not a large one, yet that still his interests, and those of his children, were deeply involved in this question. All he wanted was, to come to a right conclusion upon the bearings of the subject.—(Hear, hear.) Being brought up as one of those who were interested, he thought that protection was necessary for the agricultural interest, and, he shared in the errors of his class ; but since his education he saw matters in quite a different light, and he wished that others would take the same means of informing themselves. He thought, if others were to take the same cue to information which he did, they would very soon come to a conclusion such as he did with respect to the difference between the relative positions of the English squire and the German grandee. They would find, that what established the superiority of the former over the latter was the persevering industry, and the magnificent and persevering enter prise of the English people, by which they were en abled to pay higher prices, by taxation, for every article they consumed. He could not see how 1,000 acres of land in England could be rated at a higher intrinsic value than the same compass of land on the Continent, except by the industry and enterprise of the people. He certainly liked his own interest—in fact he would plead guilty to selfishness, and, there fore, he could not account for persons drying up the sources of their- own • wealth, for experience had proved, that if those restrictions which now existed upon the commerce of the country were abolished, the people would be in a much better con dition than they were at present.—(Cheers.) Eng land had got the start of the other nations of the world in manUfactUres, and why did they not keep it ? Why, simply because their commercial tariffs and restrictions prevented that interchange of com modities which God destined between the nations of the earth, and, in consequence, those countries were now opposing them. They were now acting upon the same false principles as those which induced the passing of the American tariff, and the enactment of the Zollverein in Germany. He contended that, by the abolition of all restriction, interests of all classes would be adva4ced, and consequently those of the landlords. Mr, Ashworth has shown that land which in 1672 (in a district now a manufacturing one) only brought according to the county rates, a yearly rental of 169/., was, according to the same authority in the year 1843, producing a rental of 93,916/. per annum. He was shown an in crease of 54,388 per cent., and to what did that in crease owe its origin ? Why, it was the fruits of combined science, capital, and industry, with which the soil of Lancashire had nothing to do, but which the energy and industry of the oppressed and taxed classes had brought into existence. If in the year 1815 this restrictive law had not been enacted, the landlords themselves would have been wealthier, and the condition of the great mass of the people much better, their domestic comforts more amplified, and the capacity to discharge their social duties far be yond the present state of things. He denied that the law as it was at present established at all protected the farmer, or gave him assurance of a steadiness in the price of corn. The highest authorities could be adduced to prove that the wages of the agicultural labourers had rsit;or been kept up, nor increased by 1 the operations of these restrictive duties. His Hon. j F riend had stated in the Hou se o f C ommons that I the usual pittance of an agricultural labourer in any of the counties of England did not exceed 7s. a week, and he gave data to prove this assertion ; yet when he threw down the gauntlet his challenge was refused, and the Government denied him the opportunity of proving facts through the medium of a Select Cora.• rnittee of the House of Commons, for the purpose of inquirci;e• how those restrictive duties affect the agri cultural interest and the tenant-farmer. In reply to the request of his lion. Friend to appoint this Committee, Mr. Gladstone ackn ow . l edged that the object of the motion was good ; but still !le should refuse it, be cause it came from a suspicioo 3 quarter.—(Cheers and laughter,) Th e G overnmen t taCitlY acknowledged that, notwithstanding an inquiry inth this question was most desirable, vet that they were s'o impressed the t D O u rekefte an with a sense of th e d e li ca t e susceptibility of th e !` Agricultural Nervous System," and so anxious.t o f o ll ow up t h e conditions of their pact with refuse any ißichmond,nquiry. And u that they n compelled just same ground Lord Stanley, the other night, refused a just and equitable motion made by Mr.Hutt; Mr. Gladstone • , in his reply to his friend, Mr Cobden, made use of a word against which ought—all of them—to enter their they protest.—(Hear hear.) He talked of a compact.--(Hear, hear.) Now there never had been any compact made with regard to the corn-laws ; the scheme of corn-awslast 1 introduced was considered as a despicahle measure, both by the country and the House of Commons; one against which every body protested, both those who thought it too little, and those who thought it too much. —(Hear, hear.) It was a measure pre-emi nently founded on false pretences, as he believed he (Mr. Ward) had contributed to prove.—(Cheers.) They would recollect that the ground on which the corn-laws were said to rest were stated by Sir It Peel, in his Tamworth speech, to be the peculiar bur dens to which the land was subjected. He said that land was over-taxed in this country, that the land owner was a sort of much cow, to be drawn when it could milk nothing else — (Laughter) —that other in terests bore nothing like their proper share of the burdens of the country, but that they were all heaped on the unfortunate landowner, who therefore had a right to ask for protection on everything he produced. He (Mr. Ward) doubted all this, and he ventured very humbly to challenge Sir Robert Peel to prove what he urged. He said give us a Committee on this question of peculiar burdens ; we do not care how the Committee is composed; you may have the majority on it if you will, and may put Col. Sibthorp in the chair if you like. It is all the same to us whether you try to prove your own case, or allow us to dis prove it, only give us the Hon. ember for Wolver hampton and the Hon. Member for Stockport and we shall be perfectly content to take that Committee, and work out our position, and abide by the result. But Sir Robert Peel would not abide by the result. He recollected the old line from Shakspeare, "A rotten case will not bear handling."—(Cheers.) He much preferred the comfort and security of a vote on the question, and on the vote he beat him (Mr. Ward) of course. But what was the inference from this ? Why, that the corn-laws were brought in by a class, for the benefit of a class, supported against the principles of the very Government by whom those laws were maintained, and defended on grounds that would not bear the light of day.—(Cheers.) And now what would be the effect of a repeal of those laws ? The first effect, and the one in which they were the most interested, would be that it would make the Thames thegranary of the world.—(Cheers.) And this, they would admit, would give a great stimulus to trade. More ships would be required, more sailors to man them, more wharves to be built, which again would give employmont to carpenters, bricklayers, and other trades; there would be more business for merchants, and more demand for mer chants' clerks and others. Everything would be set in motion ; the mere 3d. saved in the price of every quartern loaf consumed in London would give more than a million per annum to be spent among other trades.—(Cheers.) Then a repeal of the corn-laws would not come alone. They attacked the corn-laws first, because they were the keystone of the arch of monopoly ; if they broke down that, the whole fabric would fall in. The men who called on the Govern ment for protection in everything—he knew them well, and they would be the very first to call out for cheap tea, cheap sugar, cheap wine, cheap coffee, cheap ships to bring them over in, and good commercial treaties with any coun try in the world, that could contribute anything to supply their wants. That was just what they wanted to bring them to. Who could tell what the effect of such a change would 'be in such a city as London, which by its vast and enormous possession of capital, already defied competition ? Who could estimate the effects of such a change on the operative classes of the kingdom ? and he cared for that infinitely more than he did for its effects on the merchants and capitalists— (Cheers)—because it involved the fate of those who lived by their labour alone. Every one must feel that the condition of the working population could only he permanently improved by relaxing the pressure on the springs of industry, and making the condition of life in this country less hard than it was. God knew that it was hard enough ; hard enongh for all !-.-.(Hear, hear) —for it was not alone the artisan, the man who worked with his hands, who felt it; the mind also was taxed, in order to meet others in the struggle for bread.—(Hear, hear.) They might tele any trade, he cared not which— they might t a k e a ll the trades whose productions their chairman hoped would be united in that theatre in he free -trade bazaar ; let them take the workmen in their skilful manufactures, down to the ruder labourer who raised the fuel which put in motion the vast machinery by which their manufacturing mar vels were wrought ; in all these trades and occupations the same complaints prevailed throughout the kingdom; they found that the labourers were called to toil too early, and were obliged to labour too long. In the manufacturing districts they' found that childhood was blighted by premature exertion, that youth grew up in ignorance, that manhood was but half in formed, and often debauched, in consequence of the want of information. They had no time for the social duties—no time for the enjoyment of any relaxation—while their old age was too often con demned to wretchedness and want. And that desti tution arose from no want of prudence—it was often such a destitution as no exertion could avert. He himself had seen in Sheffield the sayings of twenty years swept away during the last five, and that not from any fault o f the individuals so m uc h as from the working of a system of legislation, which the Government persisted in supporting. The whole country was under-paid and there was less food every year to divide among more people, and there was less employment, because they refused to take the very food they wanted from ' other nations on such terms as would form a regular trade. What was the remedy for all this ? 'Why, not that of short-sighted philanthropists, who would prohibit by law that excess of labour to which nothing could drive a whole people except the direst necessity. The real remedy was to remove the causes that created that necessity, if possible—(Loud cheers) — and they could do it. It was his firm conviction that they could do it, not by following th e course o f ig nora and spuriousntandshort- m sif u hte a d ni m ty r who indulged i n a cheap for nothing could be Cheaper than that humanity which indulged itself at other people's expense.—(Hear, and cheers.) It was not to be remedied by their calling on the people to avert the evils which their own class legislation created. They must go to the root of the matter— they must grapple with the disease itself, and not with the symptoms. They must assert the right—the natural right—the inalienable right of the English working man to exchange the produce of his labour for the necessaries and comforts of life wherever he could get them cheapest. Why, the corn-laws made the work ing man a serf without the' privileges of one, for it was at least the poor privilege of the wretched serf to be clothed and fed, and no one could say that was the peasantry. Let them m em of un a s n h y ack o l f e o tr u a r de l , ab a o n u d re t r h s y a n e might safely leave prices to find their own level, and labour to seek its was, that they co te1, ,1 o other way. Let them not serve e r the a workingr d . Hi s classesco n vi c i t n i o n n not mind the jargon of those new philosophers who talked of a new social condition arising out of ne w Social changes—who told them that the world ought to be put in leading-strings, because it did not know how to govern itself.—(Laughter.) He believed they Would find Parliament a bad substitute for their own :discretion in these matters. With respect to these new lights he must • say he had a foolish preference for Adam Smith. He told us that the only way of increasing the wages of labour was to increase the demand for it, and the only way of increasing the demand for labour was to increase the fund out of which wages were paid; and that fund in this country especially, on account of the peculiar constitution of its social state, depended on the expansion of its fo reign trade. He was not frightened by the tales they had heard of the cruelty of the manufacturing system. They were told that the manufacturers were men who almost ground up infants in their mills ; for his Hon. Friend the Member for Durham was told that he was one of a class who came into the House of Commons with their teeth actually dripping with infants' blood. It was a galimatias he did not under stand. He knew that corn was cheap in 1835, that wages were high, and the whole population of the country employed. He knew that bread was dear in 1842, and then Lancashire was in a state of suffering and depression such as had hitherto been believed could only be produced by a great war or famine, or Some national calamity. With respect to that suffer ing he would read an extract from Dr. Cooke Tay lor's work on the manufacturing districts :—" I have seen misery in many forms. I have been in the hovels and huts of Ireland when visited by the scourge of cholera—l have been in the cellars of Liverpool, where human existence almost ceases to be human—l have been ii the wynds grid closes of Glasgow, where the scenes would try the hardest heart and the stoutest stomach; but no where have I seen misery that so agonised the very soul, as in the manufacturing districts of Lanca shire ; and why ? Because the extreme of wretched ness there, and there only, was found combined dtitti a moral dignity, and a sense of propriety, decency, cleanliness, and order, which are the elements which have produced the wealth I have described, and which do not merit the intense suffering I have witnessed." How came that anomaly of high prices and great destitution in the most prolific and wealthy country in the e worldl? It was explained by a writer whose work he preferred to those of all the modern philosophers. He said that, " when there was every year an increased demand for labour, and a scarcity of hands, competition would exist, and masters would bid against one another—high wages would be the consequence; but, when there was a scarcity of em ployment, the labourers competed with one another —members of the superior classes sought employ eent in the lowest classes, whilst the lowest class overflowed, in consequence of the flux "abundant labour in the higher classes; thus of supe. the compee l sto the p er miserable pittance that to reduce wag - „ tio for employment became as life could exist t • Adam Smith ; and 'i never saw an attempt o inter- A great deal. of Such were the opinions of embodied in this quotation fore with the principles' which had succeeded.—(l. ek l j 1'; - - sympathy had been expressed by the newspapers some time back, and was generally felt through the whole community, in the fate of those unfortunate female. who were milliners to the great, and slops workers for the shopkeepers. (Hear, hear.) Some benevolent gentlemen connected with the Mansion-house, he forgot his name, suggested the formation of a society which would not allow those females to work longer than they could earn 15s. a week. What became of it? Why, it did not last three weeks.—(Hear, hear.) It was impossible any thing could last which did not pay. The proper way to benefit the condition of these poor girls was to give them encreased employment and cheap food— (Hear, hear.) This was plain common sense—it was the carrying out of an obvious principle, and was better than all the rhodomontade which bad been uttered by all those exclusive ad vocates of humanity. Those short-time men usurped our practical rights. He (Mr. Ward) would say, give the people cheap food and plenty of employ ment, and then they would be able to work short time. Lord Ashley's speech was full of kind feelings and humanity—spurious humanity, as he considered it. The speech was founded on superficial and narrow views, and if it aimed at anything it aimed at the subversion of the whole commercial system of the country. It was not an accidental abuse the Noble Lord deprecated, but it was a speech against manufactures and against trade. He would say the same thing of the speech of a friend of his, Mr. Charles Buller, and he disdained to say anything behind their backs which he would not say to their faces, and which he had not said before them elsewhere.—(Hear, hear.) The theory of these men, if carried out, would be the rui n o f t ra d e, and all concerned in it. It was strange that those public journals which con tradicted one another in everything else, were agreed in one point The Morning Post—(Laughter, and cries of "Oh !")—was full of eulogy upon Mr. Oastler. Now he (Mr. Ward) considered Mr. Oastler a very well-intentioned fireman—(Laughter) —a man who would set a stack on fire with the very best intentions—there never was so well-intentioned a mischief-maker.—(Hear and laughter.) Mr. Oast ler said it was the demon of competition that produced that ugly monster "cheapness." Why, it was the working classes themselves, whom he pretended to advocate, that had the greatest interest in cheapness. Nothing could be made dear without its coming home to them. (The Hon. Gentleman made some further quotations from Mr. Oastler's speeches against the extension of trade with China and India, whilst the people at home were in want.) They should, he said, make clothing for themselves at home, instead of ruining foreign coun tries, in order to force our trade upon them. And such were the sentiments, the preposterous doctrines, which the Post supported • and this was the no nsense w hi c h the kst called broad facts and enlightened principles of political economy ! Mr. Oastler said if the British manufacturers continued to export their goods, they would rot in the store-houses of foreign countries. Now, the character for common sense of the gentle men around him had been sometimes impugned, but never to such an extent as that if they sent a cargo, which rotted for want of customers in a foreign store house, they would send others with a prospect of meeting with the same fate.—(Hear, hear.) Why it was by foreign trade our people lived. What did Mr. Gladstone say ? Why, that a reduction of 1-15th in our foreign trade had produced all the calamities which resulted from the depression of trade in Lanca shire and the other manufacturing districts, which Dr. Taylor had so emphatically depicted. It was to foreign trade the wives and daughters of Lancashire spinners were indebted for garments and house furni ture, which would have been articles of luxury to a Plantagenet Princess.—(Hear, hear.) He now came to another great authority—the Northern Star—the organ of the Chartists. What said Mr. Fear gus O'Connor ? He said that the factory ques tion was a measure in importance only second to the Charter itself. It was not a Ten Hours' Bill he advocated as a practical limit to labour. He did not acquiesce in any such principle—far from it ; for, although ten hours was a comparative improvement on the Government scheme of fourteen hours, yet he held the imposition inflicted by the amendment as positively cruel and murderous. No full-grown man could devote twelve hours a day to his business with out sustaining an injury to his health. The poor should have regular holidays. He (Mr. Ward) did not wish, any more than Mr. O'Connor, that the poor should be subjected to any cruelty or hardship. He dared say they would like ten hours better than twelve —so would he, but he did not know the way by which they could arrive at it without injuring their condition. A man must work to live in this country. The condition of the labour ing classes was certainly harder in this country than in others which were less wealthy. But he did not think the condition of the working-classes could be improved by legislative enactments restrict ing the hours of labour. Suppose, for a moment, that the theory of these men could be carried out —sup pose Lord Ashley's principle of restriction could be acted upon, that labour was to be restricted—that everything was to be regulated by Acts of Parliament —and the whole business of the country managed by the landed majority in the House of Commons. Did they wish for that ? Had they not had enough of it ? Lord Ashley's Ten Hours' Bill was striking the largest rivet out of the labourer's fetter. It was recognising the great principle of restriction, so said Feargus O'Con nor. He (Mr. O'Connor) cordially supported Lord Ashley's principle of restriction, for, said he, if the time of labour was not restricted the labourer could not compete with the master. He (Mr. Ward) con fessed he did not understand this sort of reasoning. The great object of the operative was to gain a livelihood by his labour.—(Hear.) He heartily wished that to gain that livelihood it was not neces sary for the operatives to work more than ten hours— So did all those gentlemen around him, but he and they perfectly well knew that dabbling with Acts of Parliament would never effect so desirable a con summation. Just let them look for a moment at the question as it really stood. Suppose they restricted labour to ten hours. In that case wages would fall, it was generally apprehended, 25 per cent., or, according to the opinions of others, thousands of working men would be thrown out of employment, and there would be greater competition among the working classes; manufactured goods would be dearer; people would pay more for less ; and thus whilst there were dear goods, there would be a fewer number of opera tives employed, and consequently a fewer number able to purchase these goods. A million and a half were employed in factories—suppose all these received higher wages, then the natural consequence would be, that the manufactured articles would be higher priced. See how much all the other members of the community would be affected by those high prices. Again, the labourers in every other department would expect similar restrictions in the hours of toil; they Would ask for the same boon ; they would call for Acts of Parliament, which the ad vocates of the restrictive system declared afforded a greater leisure, and invigorated the health and improved the morality of the people. There could be no just reason for refusing to extend the prin- Ciple, and what the effect of such legislation would be on the interests of the country it would be easy to determine.—(Cheers.) Let them not be misled by false or vague theories. Let them not try ex periments which must eventuate in the most fearful results. They had arrived at a most critical period. They had come to a crisis. They stood at what the Germans called entschiedenpunkt —that was the point of discussion. They must distinguish between the evil and the good —between the real and the fictitious—and not allow those absurd theories of restriction upon labour to throw the country into the same state of chaos which the maximum Bill produced in France. The wages of labour in that country, it was well known, was attempted to be regulated by the Government. They issued a quantity of paper, called assignats, which when the mechanic presented to the shopkeeper would not be accepted for more than one-fifth or one-fourth of the amount which they purported to represent. But the Convention, as Lord Ashley would, soon found out their mistake. The next step the Conven tion took was to fix the price of every saleable ar ticle—first they took bread, then cotton and sugar, and they took care to keep the guillotine at work for all who dared to question the propriety of their policy. The consequence was that in six weeks all the retail shops in Paris were shut up; not a single man would venture to sell his goods for these assignats. Within twelve months the law was ab rogated by common consent. The people of Eng land had a plain and simple course before them. He advocated as much as any man increased leisure and increased enjoyments to every class, but with respect to the mode of arriving at it, he called upon them in the most earnest manner to protest against those newfangled do3trines which had been so industriously circulated amongst them, and to proclaim their decided conviction that there was nothing could insure the prominent im provement and cmaktbrt of the people of this Country, or ameliorate the sufferings, or lighten the burdens of the working man, but that legislative change whioh would enable him to exchange the pro. duct of his labour, in a fair and equitable form, in all the markets of the world.—(Great cheexing.) If a more effective receipt than this could be shown him for the present social disease, he would be anxious and willing to support it; but, as such had not been, pointed out, he would be guided by those priwiples which clearly led to this object, instead of embarking in a route of which he would never see the end. The Hon. Gentleman concluded amid loud and prolonged cheering. The CHAIRMAN next introduced Colonel THOMPSON to the meeting. The Gallant Colonel, on advancing to the front of the stage, was received with reiterated cheers. He said—it would be known to many of them that he had come from wandering to and fro on the earth, examining into the feelings and fallacies that beset different portions of the community; and when he arrived he found that, during his absence, they had got a new flight of grasshoppers or locusts let loose upon them ; and he felt desirous to discuss at least one of them that had been laid before them that evening. He surmised that nineteen out of twenty of those whom he saw before him would not shrink from bearing the ho nourable name of British tradesmen. They had been told they had the custom of rogues. It was not he that said it, but they. He had one searching question to ask every tradesman there : would not the custom of honest men do for them as well ? It was not many years since they had horsemen with splendid arms, displaying themselves upon the roads, cavalry they were, and supported by a cor p s on f oot. These men robb e d, but what they robbed they spent. Many a good bottle of claret did they purchase from the innkeepers on the road-side, but he never heard that the citizens of London maintained these to be men of wealth, for when they caught them they hanged them.—(Laughter.) That was civic ingratitude.—. (Laughter.) Oh, they were bearing people those citizens of London. They were patient, and patience was a virtue. But virtue had not always its reward in this world. They of the popular side had some times been taunted with the misdoings of some of their prototypes when they got the upper hand. One, Mr. John Cade, for instance—(Laughter) —had been often thrown in their teeth. Let them look at their legislatorial Jack Cades of the present day.—(Laugh ter.) They had got a Jack Cade, who legislated for them by virtue of his sitting as Member for East Kent. What said he ? He said " There shall be no maiden married until she pay me her mar riage portion." Thank God three centuries had al tered one word in that speech. They vowed with all humility in their hearts, and on bended knees, that they recognised the mercy of that aristo cracy that had indulged them in that change. It was their daughters' marriage portion that they were now content with, and God be thanked for it, and the pa tience with which it was borne. Did it not come home to the heart of exery father present—ana nine out of ten of those before him were fathers—had they not considered that if they should chance to meet with those losses to which every man in trade was liable, and should death be added to those mischances, so that they unexpectedly left their families unprovided for— had it not come home to their hearts what the result might be? Might not she, the child of their affection —one whom they had set before them and viewed as though she were an angel sent from heaven—might not she, when her parent " Oppressed with everlasting sleep, Can neither hear her sigh, nor see her weep"— be sent forth togain her thankless bread by striving to instil some portion of her own virtues into the young scions of the aristocracy —perhaps for some rich libertine to gloat upon ? But all this was borne with patience. Was there any one there, he asked, who was not determined to add his mite towards the general stock of assault upon those miserable fallacies by which they were at present governed, in order that they might not be governed by such for the future ? He regretted that there were some persons in the north of England running after those Jack Cades to whom he had adverted. They were offering to the men who oppressed them to cut down the compensation for their labour, and to allow them to further oppress them if they would grant them a shorter period of suffering—if they granted them a shorter number of hours per day; and not a shorter number of hours during the brief period of their lives. They had perhaps before heard the story of a Turkish frigate which sailed on a three weeks' voyage, with one weeks' water on board for 600 prisoners. The captain, Turk as he was, sold that water to the prisoners. Those unhappy men employed themselves by day, and also by night, in their only species of manufacture —cutting tobacco stoppers, which they would sell to the others, their op pressors, for draughts of water, to save their lives. The Muftis went round the deck, and said, we pity you, we shall shorten your hours of labour in cutting tobacco stoppers to ten hours a day. Did they not suppose that these unfortunate men called out to them, " If you love us, take us under a pump."—(Cheers and laughter.) The only thing their commanders never meant to do. He for his own part would not undertake to describe all the de grees of hybridization that might take place between the two animals—knave and fool. But this he said, that he did not believe the promoters of the Factories Bill to be dishonest, because he had not the proof be fore him ; nor did he believe them to be honest, be cause he had not the proof before him. Meanwhile his mind was in the condition of a sheet of white paper on the subject, except that in one corner he found it written, that in 99 similar cases out of 100, dishonesty had been the rule.—(Hear, hear.) He had told them they were governed by a miserable system of quackery, and the Hon. Member for Dor setshire made it felony to drink small beer. If the Hon. Member was at all honest, he believed that the way to make men drink strong beer was to make it felony to drink it small.—(Cheers and laughter.) Why, the fallacies that they propounded were such that any turkey-cock that would swallow them would eat a crocodile.—(Laughter.) The Gallant Colonel concluded by appealing to London, which had always been foremost in the battle of liberty when it was fought amid bloodshed, not to be back ward on the present occasion, when, though no personal danger attended the contest, there were yet great results to be achieved for freedom. He eat down amid re peated cheering. The CHAIRMAN introduced Mr. George Thompson to the meeting, by a eulogistic reference to his labours in .the anti-slavery cause. He (the Chair man) could never see the difference between stealing labourers and steali ng th e f ru it s o f l a b our. — (Cheers.) Mr. G. THOMPSON, after some prefatory observa tions as to the state of his health and the lateness of the hour, said he was free to confess that he agreed with his Hon. Friend who had introduced him to their notice, that the question of free trade, including the abolition of the corn-laws, as the most important branch of that question, was equal in its magnitude, in the solemnity of its aspect, equal as respected the comfort and happiness of the human race, and much more than equal as respected the stability, ,as well as the honour, of the British em pire, to that great question which he had had the honour of endeavouring to promote in times that were past. If he had asked before that man should be free, he asked now that food should be free.—(Hear, hear.) God meant all men to be free ; he believed that he also meant all men to be fed.— (Cheers.) He believed it to be a crime to steal the liberty of man ; he believed it to be equally a crime to diminish the quantity, to raise the price, or to deterio rate the quality th e f oo d o f man. And if, in addition to stinting the amount, and raising the price of the article, he found also that this corn-law, through end less ramifications, affected the amount of their wages, raised the supply of labour in the market above the demand, threw thousands, and hundreds of thousands out of employment, and left for those who were for tunate enough to gain employment but half what they would be able to realise under other cir cumstances, and then sent them into th-e food-market, and made them pay double the price for their subsistence which they would otherwise have to pay ; the corn-law then stood before him as a tremendous robbery, as a sin on the part of the Government against society, for whose benefit they ought to legislate ; and as an abrogation of that charter which heaven in its beneficence had given to man, that " of the fruit of the earth he should freely eat," and that as seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, never should cease, so man should never be without the means, so far as the earth's fertility was concerned, of obtaining that which heaven designed when it made the earth capable of yielding all that was necessp.r y for man and for beast.—(Cheers.) They we , F. all under infinite obligations t o the Anti-Qorn-law League for this great travelling university, lecturing and preaching upon the great di s ti ngu i s laing. maxims of political economy. There was only quo thing which he regretted when he came that house, 'were not alw a y s and that was, that they compelled to pay something at the door when they entered it. He would really p u t it to their consciences whether, when they came into that house under other circumstances, when any other company was p erformin g — (Laughter)—th e y received more amusement or more instruction than when they occupied the pit, the boxes, the gallery, and the stage in ctmsequenee of the invitation of the Anti-Corn law League.—(Hear.) They had heard that night an able and admirable lecture upon the political eco nomy of that question—for it was a politico-economic question, and one of vital importance, not only to their interests, but to the interests of society at large. What was the great master principle of that system of political economy which they were assembled to propagate for their own benefit, and that of the worl , : t at large ? Why this was the distinguishing doctrine which the League was travelling through the Length and the breadth of the land, to teach and to.rzreach— that every cla ss o f th e community should be left to its own free agency in the management of its own commercial transactions, while those transactions were in themselves honest and honourable ; that there should be no legislative interference, still less any legislative coot-ml, and, least of all, any legislative compulsion, in the hours of labour, in matters of t ra d e , or An matte rs o f commerce, They must never give up that principle.—(Cheers.) He agreed with the preceding speaker that the corn-law was the key stone of the dark, gloomy, oppressive, consolidated arch of monopoly, and that if they could pull that down, those whom they had assailed and de feated on the question of the corn-law would be their most sincere and energetic compeers in accomplishing the destruction of other monopolies.— (Hear, hear.) Let them lay it down as a maxim, sound and impregnable, that government abused its power and exceeded its fthittions when it procgaSl to interfere with, to con t ro l, or t o coerce th e lalYntir id ing men, or their transactions in their individn capacity, while they did not in their mercantil e, trading, and l a b or i ous pursu it s comm it an Of fence against society.--(Loud cheers.) Now they had all confidence in the soundness o f that doctrine. If they had wanted that confidence in th e beginning, it would have been inspired within them by the fact, that just in proportion as that doctrine had been proclaimed, argued, illustrated, and reeni n ‘ mended, did mankind receive that doctrine. Ev e° those who did not give them the benefit of their on sistance, were compelled to do homage to the truth of their maxims in the abstract.—(Hear, hear.) T he /f were told in high quart ers th a t it was th e right o . men to buy in the cheapest, and sell in the dearese market.—(Cheers.) They were told by an authority t almost equally high, at a ll even t s b y one w h o sat a, the feet of the Ga ma li e l w h om h e h a d a l rea d y quoted' that the doctrine o f f ree t ra d e was t h e doctrine of common sense. Yet he p ers i s t e d i n v i o l a ti ng the right which be admitted, and his deviation from common sense was sufficiently a pp aren t i n t h e discussion of. the motion to which the gentleman who preceded him had adverted.—(Laughter.) He was asked to: admit corn from I n di a , f rom A ustra l as i a, f ro m th e Cape of Good Hope, and from other colonies 1 0 ,7 dependencies o f thi s coun t ry. " N o, " sa id h e , refuse to concede this measure ; because frail such and such colonies, which are not lra c i porting col on i es , no corn can b e sen t, and therefore the m easure i s not wante d ; end, I will not concede it in the case of the °ther colonies, because th e y can sen d corn, an d we rust` not excite the fears, or disturb the minds of the gen' tlemen around us. "Lastly," said he, "I cannot listen to the argument drawn from Canada, because Canada, at the tim e w h en thi s measure was g ranted+ was in a peculiar- attitude. We were compelled enter into an arra ngemen t o f a conc ili atory n atU with regard to that colony, and this measure, respect to corn, was part of that arrangement's Now you do not pretend to say that either our South Australian colonies, our South African colonies, or our Indian dependencies, are in t he position of the Canadas at the time when granted this measure ; therefore we shall deny it." The plain English of the matter was that Canada was in an attitude of rebellion, speaking: not unintelligibll of a separation from the mother country, and having actually put herself under arms; whilst the other colonies were peaceable, loyal, et' tached, and would be contented with a small measure of justice. Therefore the doctrine of this distily guished gentleman was, that in order to get anything from the present Administration, they must put them" selves in a peculiar attitude.—(Laughter.) A Ndh i l e Lord seemed to h ave f oun d t hi s out, an d h e therefore, assumed the attitude of the celebrated Mr' Cade.—(Laughter.) But they did not regard this question in the abstract. They regarded it as a Pri n. tical one—as one of vast importance to this and ever"' other country to the end of time. In its honest and impartial application, this great principle would sweep away all those restraints which had been so frequently; exposed and denounced in that place, and whir • formed the sol e hi n d rance to t h e f ree exchange o f the products of industry. It would welcome to thesi, shores the accumulated riches of every other country' Like mercy, • " It is twice blessed ; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." a It was impos s ibl e t o con t emp l ate t h e events wh i c h had transpired within th e l as t th ree or f our y ears without. feeling, as lovers of' their country, th e most sincere an d ._., poignant distress. Whil e on t h e one hand, there Wlie__ much to minister t o th e i r pr id e as Englishmen ; tiler' was still more to excite dismay, wonder, and comp". sion. Their greatness as a nation was undeniahlt and he wished f or a momen t to fi x t h e i r eyes on that greG t ness, that they might stand astonished at the strcalgl i ; ness of that di s tr ess - w hi c h preva il ed over the length and breadth of th e l an d. F rom the shores of t h e ir.. island they had embarked upon the wide ocean ; they had spread their sails, and visited and explored the uttermost regions of the earth. They had done raor e ; They had con quere d an d co l on i sed the most beauti f u l ' and fertile tracts of every region. They had added to the number of those who owed and owned ag e " giance to them, of every creed and, of every clime' By the prowess of our sailors and soldiers, by th e skill of our naval and military .commanders, by th e talent of our dipl oma ti s t s at h ome and abroad, web ' subdued—utterly subdued, many nations. Our 1 111 ; rivalled ma nu f ac t ures i n every department had foun d' t ' their way into th e h a bit a ti ons of men in all quart?r a . , of the world; and by the combined strength of - ou r ' moral, our political, an d our physical influence, w!, had made the w h o l e wor ld tributary to us, and cause' the earth itself, with all its riches above and beneath , . to lay its fruits and exhaustless productions at 01 1 feet.—(L ou d c h eer i ng.) Look at the caeLta: which e x i s t e d i n this country. At that moment, in that very city, it was sup er ; abundant—it was almost superfluous, and any m ode of investment was grasped at wit' ic h prornisv`` • the smallest amount of return with security to the owner. Our ships were floating in all waters, ll,l'a were to be seen in every part of the world. Ana ' they were only awaiti a 'system of free trade t ° ' bring to our shores, and pour into our laps the tea" ing riches of our universal mother earth—(Cheers) mankind all over the world were ready to be our' customers, and millions of them, as he could testiff from travel, were deprived by ou r laws of the meg ° of benefiting by our inventions and oav manufactures' Our powers ,o'f productio n were ample, and ou r facilities, florn our insular position, our high alni.nces+' and our political power, were advantages possessed tt no other natio n . O ur va l ua bl e minerals were foal,' • in such ab un d ance, an d i n such close contiguity t" each other, that, in many spots, the ore could o ' , raised and smelted in the same district. T en thotl . sand streams flowed through our fields, working t e ff times ten thousand machines for the 'production: those desc r ipti ons o f manufacture which were talc " lated t o m i n i ster to the enjoyments of 111, kind. But i n th e m i dst of these, ragged he was, impoverished as he was, begg,:,o i as he was, hopeless, dispirited, moody, and T.T, I contented as he was, and rebellious as he taigZ e be, stood man, the lord of all—a diadem o ver t,, , whole.—(Chr;ers.) It was on this fact that he % . sired to fix their attention that night. Though at i,., present moment there might be found, in some park, of the country, the semblance of temporary P r . ata perky, yet they would find, in the immedbri neighbourhood of that splendid edifice, hearths o re which the fires had expired—cupboards which were empty—and young mothers rocking their childrell the sleep, with hearts wrung with the prospects of,, b i morrow,.frightening hope from their breasts, and by the dread of being incapable of finding bread s o their children. Such scenes were to be me t with po i e ; over the country. He challenged any one to P ° the to any part of the world where, in proportion to ... I population, they could find an equal number of hum'', beings who were utterly destitute and without h°lf.; It was in England alone that such scenes c ould. i „ , ''' found, and they were there to be witnessed undw tv e ;, walls of custom-houses, close on the steps of palac e and on the approaches to the temple's. T hera must be a cause for all t1.) 1 ,5. wi' s a land was plentiful it was not so—rrhere food " cheap it was not so—where labour was scarce it,, h at, riot so. Among barbarians it was not so —l a r t .", i g.. despotic territories it was not se,. It was in . 1 ." - te .! land, in Great Britain, alone tlaat such was the cal'; Should they lay their T:;everty, their rags 14 wretchedness, to the ch.arrge of Iflm who had ores 6i, " - 0 them ? H eaven forbid that they sho u ld l a y such charge t o Hi m w h o had made them what they w e i. land who b a d g i ven them bread to eat. Did .o.ol' want corn ? Th ey m i ght get it from Arner i gro tti 1 they m i g ht get i t from Egypt, or ' o po India. From almost every State in Ef„ o r they might have it. It was all round them. T h o u " sands of ships were ready to be sent to our 5 ,..`" itt freighted with golden grain, and ready to tes!lai , return the products of the labour of our skilful ah' or a. sans. If they were allowed to do this, the ° w oo would soon become useless, and would remain h 1 1,,, P. sheath as worthless. It would be used only as si ' ploughshare, while the spear would be turned a n t ol , pruning -hook. They had heard much of corns oo kl : he had now one word to say about sugar. 11°,:rrtjot) do this the more f ear l essly, because he `thought of no one would suspect him of having. / s af particularly leaning in favour of slavery. But if one was to do so, he could but say, " read the il' t poll of my past life, and I think u will then see tha c t s ilt ! have done me an injustice.' He was the foe of monopolies. Hr: was the foe of every descriPt' of slavery, whether it was personal slavery or slavery : or any othel• class, either ecclesiastical, political, the, social. •..._ of the sugar question ? His friends wry to' --(Cheers.) But what were they to do 0 1 0 to him and said, " We are free traders with respector everything except sugar ?" N ow, he ( M r. Iv ~..,, tv ; son) agre e d w ith th em t h at it was a °r o o ` make a man a slave, and thereby to W l° 4 Ile. a rational bei ngs i n t o thi ngs and chattels personat or 0 admitted that it was a crime to take the labour dime man without gi v i ng hi m t h e wages whic h we vor. to him for that labour. He admitted that the teirl s zilians were not guiltless in keeping human coffee in bondag e , an d i n ra i s i ng sugar, cotton, an d so ea' at the expense of unremunerated toil. If aI l coo' tertained certain opinions with respect to th e _ d ifdlf sumption of certain produce, let him do so ; 1 40 believed that other men ought to entertain the ,. o con; opinions, let him go to them and endeavour__," n on/ vert them. But while ha (Mr. Thoferfrae" maintained the right of the Brazilian slave to in e,ii° he also maintained the right of every Ma" ,nvve' country to be a f ree man also, and to have the t ' ° be on the Sat ur d ay n i ght of purchasing whate';', bito pleased with hi s earn i ngs, if his conscience 't0 , 1 4 -' pWI o r i that he was not d o i ng wrong in making asocu chases. Wh y was i t that the G-overr linen s Jo e taken such hold of the anti-slavery zeal r• lie THE SUN, LONDON, THITRSD EVENING, APRIL 18, 1844,