The Sun. — London, England, 1844-04-25 00:00:00

GILIND WEEKLY ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE MEETING AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE. The annual weekly meeting of the League took House last evening, a t C oven t- gar d en Th ea t re . Th e House was not quite so thronged as on former occa sions.; there was, however, a pretty full meeting. Among those present we observed the Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers,lM.P. ; Thomas Milner Gibson, Esq., M.P.; Benjamin Smith, Esq., M.P. ; J. Collett, Esq., ; R. J. Blewitt, Esq., M.P.; Howard Elphin tone, Esq., D.C.L., M.P. ; John 13riOt, Esq., M.P.; W. Ewarte Esq., M.P.; W. Gordon Thomson, Esq.; A. Thomson, Esq.; R. R. R. Moore, Esq.; D. Dewar, Esq.; George Thompson, Esq. ; W. A. Wil kinson, Esq. • E. Squire, Esq. ; Cowden Clarke, Esq.; John Gosnell, Esq. ; Bowman, Esq. ; Robert Stogg, Esq.; Norman Wilkinson,- Esq ; Joseph Ivimey, Esq. ; C. Bennett, Esq.; P. A. Taylor, Esq.; W. Chambers, Esq. ; J. Cotilthard, Esq. ; Joseph Robinson, Esq., Hexham, Northumberland; Arthur Tattison, Esq.; Sir William Baynes, I3art.; W. Cooper, Esq. ; John Chalmers, Esq.; T. Pocock, Esq.; W. Shelgrave, Esq. ; Thomas Hubback, Esq.; David Parker, Esq. • Press Grangor, Esq. • T. Ma tartney, Esq. ; W. Esq., Redruth, eornwall ; 'James Davison, Esq., Truro ; David Lawrie, Esq.; - T. N. Cathrall, Esq.; T. Falvey, Esq.; Charles Bowring, Esq.; James Kenworthy, Esq. ; John Kenworthy, Esq. ; W. Tweedale, Esq., Ashton under-Lyne ; E. Fordham, Esq.; E. K. Ford ham, Esq. ; Charles Squarey, Esq., Salisbury ; John :Somers, Esq. ; W. Thornborrow, Esq. ; J. Saun • ders, ; E. Robinson, Esq., Tewkesbury ; 'James Nicholls, Esq., Plymouth; J. P. Burnard Esq.; Samuel Ashton, Esq., Hyde •, J. R. White, .Esq., Manchester ; J. Naylor, Esq., Manchester. At half-past seven o'clock, the Hon. C. P. \ T EL'. LIERS Esq., M.P., Was called to the Chair. The minutes of the last meeting having been read .and confirmed, The CUAIRSIAN came to the front of the stage, and was loudly cheered. I 4 had been requested to take ( the chair that evening, in consequence, he regretted to learn, of their chairman being still unable to re sume his post. It had been expected that he would have . been able to do so that evening. He was, however, unfortunately still obliged, from indisposition, to be absent. Their friend - Mr. Cobden was: also absent --not idle, as they might suppose, but endeavouring •to Oillighten their neighbours at Greenwich. The 'honour of occupying the chair that evening had been ' proposed to him ([r. V.) at a somewhat late hour, and he had quitted his vocations in another great *house to attend there. He could not say he had much scruple in so doing, because he thought more good might be done by attending there than at the house he alluded to.—(Cheers.) Though, perhaps, they might think; from proceedings that had lately Olen place there, a fitter place for the enactment of such scenes might be found in the house in which they were now assembled. If those meetings, by the spread of truth, tended to advance the cause for which they were associated, he deemed it a duty that they should continue there to assemble to aid and support each other as far_ as lay in their power, and he was • satisfied that their cause was every day becoming of more and more importance. Its bearing upon the leading topics of general discussion was now becom ' ing manifest. It was to the credit of their feelings, and perhaps the wisdom of the country, that the gsneral attention orthe public was now engaged in devising and considering in what way they could best raise the condition of the people—of that vast mass of their fellow-subjects who lived by their labour. That was a matter that was now engaging the attention of the philanthropist . and statesman, as it might have done that of quacks and adventurers. All parties • agreed that some steps should be taken with respect - to the evils of which the people complained. He could not help thinking that when the various pro "- jects which were now before the country were brought to the test of reason and general discussion, the peo plc would see that the simple and obvious remedy , they recommended was based—as it really was--upon justice, liberty, and sound policy, and that it was suited to the exigency of the case. They had reached • a point apparently when the majorities of both Houses of the Legislature were ready to advise, and even • adopt, any remedy that might meet the evil of the bad condition of the people at large, save the one which seemed to require some little sacrifice on their own part ; and he could not reflect upon that without having always forcibly brought to his mind the ludicrous illustration which Mr. O'Connell once gave of their position with respect to this question when it was on discussion in the House. In the case that he quoted of his friend with the horse that wits supposed to be overworked and ill-fed, every thing had been tried but one thing—he had him blistered, he had him bled, he had him ficed and physicked, but he had never tried the experiment of working him less and feeding him more.—(Cheers and laughter.) Now that was a little the position of the great councillors in the Senate. They were ready to listen to, and they lent a willing ear to every crotchet and project that was suggested, save : that which seemed obvious and singularly adapted to . the purpose. They had benevolent individuals who said that the people were obliged to work hard and long to gain their subsistence, and they proposed an Act of Parliament to declare that the people should not work so long or so hard—that showed that those good folk had singular faith in the omni potence of Parliament; but he was afraid it was no . proof that they would succeed in their object. They bad too many of these experiments. It was not enough for people to wish an Act of Parliament to accomplish their object that it would do so. If they . repealed some Acts of Parliament, instead of enacting new ones, they - would be more likely to effect their purpose. They had always benevolent individuals who wished to earn the credit of humanity at little expense by such propositions ' • and no doubt some imagined they could accomplish their object ; but it would never do until they struck at the root of the evil. A century ago, Horace 'Walpole adverted to those experiments of Acts of Parliament—he men . tinned a story of some elderly lady, either his mother , or his aunt, • who, hearing that a distiller • was burnt by the head of his still flying off vehe mently urged hilts to get en Act of Parliament passed to prevent heads of stills flying off.—(Laughter.) That was a sort of Bill which was likely to pass • through Parliament without opposition. This was " told by Horace Walpoleloo years ago, and it showed what a tendency there was in some people to propose remedies for which they would not b e responsi bl e. AnOther scheme that was proposed now-a-days as a remedy for the grievances of the people, was emigre . tion. He would not say a word against that scheme, for, if he were a working man, and his passage were paid for him, he would sooner go to another country than •remain in -this, if the corn-laws were to continue. For he was a§ Certain as that he stood there, if they continued, there was no class of the working men, be they ever so well•paid, that would not sooner or later deteriorate and decline in condition. What he feared • with respect to emigration was, that it would not be effective for preventing the evil re ' appearing, though it might for the present • remove it. :There was one party who were extremely r• - anxious to repeal the present poor-law, and who • . thought that public charity and a more liberal dis i tribution of alms would relieve the distresses of the • people, and elevate their condition. He (Mr. • Villiers) had no objection to relax the rigour of any law that pressed upon the people, but,his objection was to placing the people in dependence on the poor-law ; to placing the working people in the condition of , paupers and beggars. Now that which tended to prevent pauper ism an d b egg i ng was th e thing which , they' ought most ardently to pursue. Pauperism was • a misfortune wisich, they ought to remove, and that • which n enabl e d men to support themselves, w i thout . • • • l'e? dePendent upon• charity, was the most politic thing to adopt.. -Then the other project which they had before the country was that which was called protection — mere reteetion. That seemed to belong .to a. sort of_hcrieneopathi c system of remedy. Its ad •' vccates seemed' to think that the people had little now ; and his opinion' was that th e p eop l e wou l d have loss in future, if they-were to increase that remedy. But those people had the advantage over others of • haying the law on their side. Th ey need not depend - on the opinion' . of the country as to what • they recommended. They seemed to have made an a tt e mpt lately to get the opinion of the country in ,their favour, ani much was heard sometime since of protection societies, but little was heard of them now. - Upon asking a person - lately, who ought to know ' something about their proceedings, what had become • or the great central society, ' (Mr. Villier s ) was • told " they were doi n g nothing, and that the branch • societies were helping them to do it.—(Laughter.) ' All they had seen of their doings did not • look as if they were very confident and prosperous. • All they had done was to issue a pamphlet in which large extracts had been made from Adam Smith, with • all the words that gave an opposite sense to their application left out, which was a good way of creating an authority where none existed ; and he believed it Wits - a general observation that, whenever they had assembled together and expressed their opinions, it had not been to show that the corn-laws produced any good to the people, or to refute any of the charges brought ageing the corn-laws by the League, but simply for the purteese of abusing the leading mem- ' bees of the League ; and what he believed was ge nerally observed was a striking fact, that, though • those protective societies met for the purpose, as they said e of protecting agricultural interests and doing ; • good to the farmer, there had not been one single , answer to, nor any attempt t o d eny, the statements made there by tiro farmers, who pointed- out ' the i operation of the corn -laws upon their Interests. Those farmers had stated that the corn-laws had never • done thetn good—that they were doing them harm now —and that they never expected to derive any benefit from them. It that were untrue, the facts they stated could have been contradicted. Would they not, with all their Protection Societies, have answered those statements of Mr. Hunt and Mr. Latimore ?—(Cheers.) It was, therefore, from seeing how little confidence those people had in their cause—it was from observing the universal admission now made that something must be done to meet the exigencies of our increasing population, and save from sinking the working classes—that he did expect, sooner or later, they must see the importance of the question which they were associated to support. Though it was at first contrary to his inclination to postpone his mo tion for the abolition of the corn-laws, yet he was dis p)sed to think that he was rightly advised, because the public would have an opportunity of re-consider ing all those questions now before the country, and the House would be more generally prepared with information upon the condition of the people. Their sole object was to improve the condition of the work ing classes. It was certainly his intention to make his usual motion this session, and take the first con venient day in the ensuing month to propose it to the House.—(Cheers.) It was now his duty to introduce to their notice those Members of Parliament who attended to aid in the discussion that evening. He would introduce to them Mr. Ewart. Mr. EWART here came forward and was received with general cheering. He said if he consulted his own inclinations—perhaps he might say his own in terest—because he did not feel very adequate to the task that evening—he should have declined the invi tation with which his friends Mr. Villiers and Mr. Cobden had honoured him. But he did feel it an ho nour to be cal Lid on to stand before that meeting, and in such a cause as that they advocated. The Chair man had, in the commencement of his speech, truly said that they might be better employed than in cer tain scenic exhibitions, such as those that had been ce lebrated 'of late in a certain place. He believed that his Honourable Friends, whom he saw around him, in being absent from the House of Commons, were snore tranquilly, usefully, and benefi cially engaged for the interests of the country in advocating the repeal of the corn• laws, which had so long oppressed the people of this coun try, by obstructing the supply of food to the popula tion, and fettering commerce, than they might be in listening to personal harangues, and witnessing exhi bitions of personal violence, which he could wish, for the sake of the country and the House, had been alike spared. Since he had last the honour of ad dressing them, a great change had come over the spirit of the country. He had last addressed them in the hour of severe adversity. The country was suffer ing under one of those tempests which sometimes shook commerce to its centre, and drove it from its basis. To the storm which had pervaded the commercial and manufacturing districts had succeeded a calm. They were at present in a state of apparent and of temporary prosperity. How long was it to last ? As one of the poets said— " In painted pomp the gilded vessel goes, Unmindful of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, Which hush'd in grim repose expects its evening prey." (Cheers.) There was a stillness, it was true. They were now more prosperous than they were some time ago. But who knew how soon a change might come, and how soon the tranquillity which at present pre vailed might be changed into a violent storm ? (lean) Depend on it, no prosperity could continue unless they altered the laws which regulated the price of the food of the people. As long as there were laws which interfered with the commerce of the country—as long as the corn-laws and the:sugar-laws —as long as all those laws which prohibited a large importation of articles of household use continued, there would be neither security for commerce nor for a supply of those articles on which the subsistence of the people rested.—(Hear ' hear.) Therefore he said that the present calm was delusive ; and though there was .a silence and stillness, it was such as preceded the whirlwind.—(Hear, hear.) His 'Hon. Friends, Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright, had been accused with parading the country, and with exciting agitation. His Hon. Friends had done the greatest good by adopting such a course.—(Cheers.) They thereby produced a wholesome agitation of the at mosphere, which rendered the air pure and good—it was that agitation of the storm which, by its motion, worked itself into purity ; it was that agitation of the tide which prevented the ocean from becoming stagnant and noxious. Such were the results of the public virtues and patriotic efforts of his Hon. Friends. They had omitted nothing which could excite curiosity and information upon the subject, even in quarters where information and curiosity were never excited before. They weat into the agricultural dis tricts, and penetrated into those forbidden places, the estates of squires. How dare they go amongst the tenants and peasants of the squires, and disseminate amongst them those notions which emanated from the Anti-Corn-law League? The tenants and peasants in distant parts of the country had no idea, not only of the importance of the question, but had scarcely an idea even of their natural rights as men.—(Hear, hear.) The tenants never thought, as the tenants did in Scotland, to look for long leases, till the Anti-Corn law League dispelled the settled darkness which heretofore obscured their minds. The peasants then began to think that they would be better if an altera tion was made in the laws which prohibited a free supply of food, than that a necessary supply should be withheld from them. They were enlightened on the subject by those undaunted leaders of the League, Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright.—(Cheers.) In times of prosperity this agitation might not be so powerful as in times of distress, but there were good and valid reasons why the agitation should continue, and why they should assume even a firmer and sterner tone than ever in demanding a repeal of the corn-laws, and all laws which pressed on commerce and impeded the unrestricted flow of manufactures. But he looked beyond the bounds of his own country, and he 'saw that the manufactures of America were extending themselves with that energy which marked the spirit of that enterprising and commercial country. Nothing seemed too great for her exertions. Whatever they might think of their own manufactur ing experience, they might depend upon it there was one nation which was driven on by an urgent and impetuous desire to overtake them in manufacturing improvement. That country was the offspring of their own soil. The people of that country had not only inherited the industry and enterprise which characterised the people of England ; but they mani fested such a degree of energy, for which he might almost 611 them ultra-English, that they were likely to become the greatest rivals of their manufacturing supremacy and commercial greatness, and seemed to become their most powerful corn petitors in the arts of peace as they had been their most successful opponents in the arts of war. They were now working ccal-tracts and iron mines, in order to the production of machinery, and at the moment while he was speaking, they, were extending, by treaty, the limits of their trade. It was only yes terday they had heard that America had concluded a commercial treatywith theZollverein, or the great Ge rman Commercial Confederation. They were making new advances, which would stimulate their exertions ' and they.were marching with a ra pidit y w hi c h woul d seem as if they would distance them in the race of manufacturing prosperity, and remove them from that easy supremacy which they had heretofore held. America thus opened to herself a market of 27,000,000 of people for her tobacco and other produce. What had the Government of England done for her com merce by the way of treaty ? Nothing—absolutely, nothing! They might, perhaps, be received on the footing of the most favoured of nations, but that was all. They had failed in their attempts to unite their commerce with the trade of other nations by treaty. The only course which remained open was that which was whispered in Downing-street, and sometimes uttered in the Ifouee of Commons, that which was first promul gated by Franklin, and afterwards reiterated by Pitt and Peel, that simple principle of buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest. The Ministers were sometimes, by their friends and foes, charged with being free-traders, He gave them full credit for what they did. He could only wish they were more open in carrying into practice their theory of free trade. One Minister had just made the declaration he had now quoted; and others said that the principles of free trade were the principles of common sense. Another was sup posed to write in favour of the Government principles of free. trade. If such were the principles entertained by the Ministers, why did they not act on them ? He could not conceive a more • ridiculous position than that of a Minister who, while writing in his office in favour of free trade, might be visited by his political supporters tthe tenor It o who w ere opposed to the extension of commerce, and who, eea on asking hi m w h a t h e was wr iti ng , mus t con frheims iwhdreditinghifm of a from his too scene inquisitive which in visitants. they must h ave witnessed the play of the Rivals, in which a young lady, when suddenly caught with a parcel of contraband works, concealed them under the co ver o f a more delicate embezzlement under the " W work, h and hid a le . Duty of Man."—(Laughter.) Such wou ld b e the osa a Minister interrupted by the i ngress of somePti m on o of mono polist. He maintained not only that the Government and Parliament ought to look to the abolition of the ' corn-laws the great and most import an t remedy which could be devised for the commercial and fiscal evils of the country; but he maintained that they ought also to look to the removal of the oppressive duties on sugar, coffee, and tea, and all articles which went to maintain the people, and more especially of those articles which, in consequence of the high duties on them, held out an inducement to the smuggler and were ruin to the fair trader.—(Cheers.) He main tained that it was the first duty of a-Government and of a Parliament to watch over the subsistence and superintend by law the morals of the people.— (Hear, hear.) He was the more persuaded of the iniquity of those laws because they pressed much more hardly on the means of the poor than of the rich man. That was his first reason ; and his second was, that while the rich man had a tolerably pure article, that of the poor man was a mixed, a manufactured, or an impure and adulterated article.—(Cheers.) The sugar which the poor man used was so mixed with adulterating ingredients, that they almost entirely destroyed its saccharine quality. He had seen specimens lately which scarcely contained any of the produce of the sugar cane. Could anything be more cruel or un just than the contrast between the rich man and the poor man? One had his article unmixed, and the purest that could be obtained, while the other had only an impure article, mixed with adulterous and poisonous ingredients, which he was compelled to make use of by sad necessity and the law of the country.—(Loud cheering.) It was the same with regard to coffee. The rich man bought it in the berry, and had it ground at his own house ; but the poor man was obliged to buy it im pure in some small shop, or to take it at the corner of a street. The same was the case with regard to tea. The rich man obtained souchong, which he had as pure as possible ; the poor man was compelled to use congou, which was adulterated. This was an injus tice—a gross injustice; for, as was said by Mr. Burke, "the first object of a Legislature ought to be the poor." With them it seemed to be the last. Let them take another article, that of tobacco. It had been called " a narcotian weed." It had been intro duced into this country by Raleigh, and it had now descended to the lowest classes of society. It was called a noxious weed, but still it was that from which the poor man derived solace and comfort ; yet it was taxed at 800 per cent. on the value of the article. He formed one of a Committee which was sitting at present upon the subject, and they had a great deal of evidence upon it. It showed, that while the tobacco of the rich man was pure and unadulterated, the tobacco of the poor man was greatly mixed, adulterated, and entirely changed, and the only chance he had of getting a good article was when it was smuggled. Could those be just or good laws which created such a state of things ? But there was another aspect to the question. These laws were not only oppressive to the people on the ground he had mentioned; they were also a temptation to the people to become immoral. Instead of becoming honest peasants they became dishonest smugglers. The high duties tempted them, and offered them such a prize as their virtue was not able to resist. Therefore were their laws not only uncommercial and anti-social, but they were oppressive to the peo ple, by taking the means of subsistence from them. How much better and more conducive to the interests of the country would it not be if; by removing those laws which impeded commerce, they increased their intercourse with Belgium, with America, and with other foreign countries; receiving the productions of those countries in exchange for their own, calling into life numbers of their people in seamen, who knew not how to exist at present, instead of tempting them by high duties to become smugglers ? First of all they should get rid of colonial monopolies. Some years ago this country paid twenty millions as compensation to the owners of slaves, and received nothing.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) They had, indeed, received the greatest of all moral rewards — Vie greatest which could be possessed by a benevolent and enlightened mind—namely, the emancipation of hundreds of thousands of their fellow-beings. He did not fur a moment mean to place in the balance against such a consummation the paltry sum, for such he might call it when given for such a purpose, which had been given to re deem hundreds of thousands of their long suffering fellow-beings from slavery and oppression. The country not only paid the price of their libera tion, but of its own ; it not only paid 20,000,0001. sterling as the price of their emancipation, but as the price of its own. If they were to have the iron fet ters for ever shaken from the hands of the slaves, they also said, let us have the commercial fetters shaken off from our own hands also.—(Cheers.) The slaves were freed, but the people of this country were conti nued bound, and unless they demanded the abolition of these restrictions, they would continue to be so, till nothing short of the compulsion of necessity should drive the Legislature to redeem its pledge. How would they call into its fall force the power of their colonial enterprise ? How would they bring out the latent energies that were hidden in their colonies ? By pronouncing one short magic word, and that word was Competition. — (Cheers.) The colonists were now asking for an im migration of labourers into the West Indies. They asked also to be allowed to continue their monopoly. Give them, if they liked, this immigration of la• bourers ; let them get it, if they could get it honestly ; but give them also competition. Nothing would call into operation the active energies of the West Indies, in relation ;with this country, except the soul of all trade, the animating principle of all enterprise, competition. As long as they were monopolists, so long would they remain sluggards. Despotism might bind up the hands of men, but mo nopoly fettered, rusted, and corroded, and eat into the very soul and spirit of commerce.—(Cheers.) But were there no other persons to whom he would extend this principle of competition ? Yes ; there was an other race of men, the landowners of this country, to whom he would apply it. Let them enter upon the field of competition courageously, fairly, and openly, with the corn producers of other countries, for until they did that, they could neither know their own resources for the supply of food, nor could they know the extent of their own energies and enterprise. Call on them, and he trusted it would be done successfully, to meet foreign competition on the fair grounds of a rival trade, and they would then summon into active existence ener gies and powers that had hitherto lain dormant, only because they had not been called out by competition with other nations. Let them call out these powers, and they would then see what this country could produce. Why, the mere agitation only of the question of competition, not the thing itself—not its substance but . merely its shadow, the agitation that had spread through the land in favour of a repeal of the corn laws, involving the mere name and shadow of com petition, had called forth energies in the agricultural interest quite unknown before. They were now be ginning to bestir themselves like men who had been for a long time asleep, or, to borrow words—words which were far superior to any he could use of his own, like " Men wont to watch, on duty sleeping caught, By those they dread, rouse and bestir themselves, Ere well awake." —(Cheers.) So had it been with the agricultural in terest of this country, they had roused and bestirred themselves, and were now draining, and projecting improvements, and devising mechanical adaptations, which the agriculturists never dreamed of before. How had they been roused into this sudden activity and unwonted energy ? Because they heard from afar off the distant murmurs, yet remote, of the name of competition. At a distance they dreaded it, and if at this distance the word produced these won derful results, what effects would be produced by its practical application ?—(Cheers.) It was the Anti- Corn-law League that had raised this magic sound, and had disturbed with it the almost perennial slum ber of the agricultural interest; nor would it rest till they were brought to fight with not only the distant shadow, but with the formidable substance and reality of competition.—(Cheers.) And when they met in an open and English-like manner, they would vanquish it; but as long as they looked on it like children trembling at a shade, they would not exert their energies or awaken their courage, but re main passive and dormant in the same state as they were when the Anti-Corn-law League first disturbed their slumbers. On these grounds he called on them to support the cause of free trade; nor did he restrict the term to the Anti-Corn-law League ; the doctrines of free trade generally, ex clusive of the question of a free trade in corn, was beginning to be a received axiom in this country ; it was no longer a problem ; it had become an axiom which would be made the basis of future problems. The doctrine of free trade was beginning to be re ceived as an adriiitted fact, and he trusted that, ere long, they should see free -trade associations, having for their object the spreading of the doctrine of the most extensive intercourse with foreign coun tries, the employment of their manufactures and, as a consequence, the most active development o f their agricultural industry, extended from one end of the island to the other. Thus were things always begun This great association began in Manchester, it had extended to London, it was extending all over Eng land, and its principles were spreading all over the world. --(Cheers.) This principle of the freedom of trade, which was the basis of its operations, he might almost say had arisen with the Anti-Corn-law League. He had himself seen translated into Spanish the whole of the evidence taken be fore the Committee of the House of Commons in favour of free trade ; he had seen the name of their excellent Chairman, Mr. Villiers, and of the Hon. Member near him, the name of Mr. Hume, and he had been astonished, and perhaps puzzled, to see his own name also, with all their question's and the answers they obtained to them, circulated throughout Spain, in a translation, for the benefit of that illus trious, but unfortunate and benighted country. lie called on them, by extending the doctrines of free trade abroad, to disseminate also the doctrines of peace—of peace, the great consummation and - Freat triumph of free trade. Free traders were the friends of peace, and they rejoiced in .the title—(Cheers) — they wished to " Bind the unsocial nations into ono," and to link them together, not by the iron fetters of restriction, but by the golden chain of mutual de pendence.—(Cheers.) These doctrines will be our triumph abroad. And what was their triumph at home ? It was this, that they maintained the TTIE AUNT, LONDON, TTTURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 25, 18441-. principle of free trade, and spread it by a peaceful agitation, conducted wisely an, har moniously, from the centre to the circum ference, inculcating the principles of peace and good order. They maintained that, with the extension of commerce and manufactures, the good order and enlightenment of this country were increased also. He maintained that during the late severe trials in the manufacturing districts in this country, it was the greatest triumph the human mind could conceive or human efforts accomplish, to see that, notwithstanding the existence of privations and sufferings, not only unfelt, but even unimagined before, yet peace prevailed in these districts of the country.—(Loud cheers.) He feared that if the same temptations to disorder had existed in the agricultural districts, among the ignorant and unenlightened agricultural population, he feared they would have applied the fire brand instead of submitting with patience to their sufferings.—(Hear, hear.) Depend upon it that the doctrines of free trade inculcated those principles o sound sense which taught the people that the princi ples which could alone vanquish their difficulties and conquer in the strife in which they were engaged, were the doctrines that were consistent with tran quillity and peace.—(Hear, hear.) These were the principles which were before them, and before the country, and he called on them for their sincere and enthusiastic, and he might almo s t s ay their unani mous support. If they knew their own interest, they would support principles such as these. But, whether they supported them now or not, or whether they were destined at the present moment to have only a species of temporary popularity, and afterwards to lose their impression on the minds of a portion of the people of this country, he was convinced that they would eventually triumph, that the people of England would not forget their interests—their dearest interests —the interests, not only of themselves, but of their wives and families, and of their descendants, which he believed were intimately and indissolubly con nected with the doctines and principles of freedom of trade.--(Cheers.) Mr. HOWARD ELPIIDZSTONE, M.P., having been announced by the Chairman, then addressed the meeting. lie said that after the able speech of Mr. E wart, he should feel, perhaps, more hesitation than he then did in addressing them on the present occa sion,'did he not feerconyinced that he did not yield either to him or to their excellent Chairman in the deep conviction he entertained of the injustice of the system of the corn-laws. which inflicted a double wrong on the people, that of making their food dear, while by diminishing their employment they made the wages of labour cheap. Now he must say that, when they considered that there were in this country no less than a million and a half of their fallow-subiects receiving alms in work houses as paupers, he thought that every man must be of opinion that there was something morally wrong in the social condition of this country. And when he knew, as every man must know, the great skill and great industry of the working classes of this country, and when they knew the abun• dance of capital that there was in this country, which was only waiting for employment, he was one of those persons who thought that it was bad laws and bad legislation which had been pressing for so many years on the productive industry and energies of the country. Now it appeared that the persons who were at present their legislators, and who were interested in the continuance of the present monopolies, had proposed various remedies against this state of things ; some persons, exceedingly well meaning men, he had no doubt, had proposed what they called a system of emigration, that was to say, they wished the poorer classes of this country to leave the home of their forefathers, and they wished the people to believe, as sensible and well-thinking men, that it was easier to remove men, women, and children from this country to the countries where they might obtain food, than to bring the food to this country where the people were accustomed to live. He thought that before they tried this experi ment, they might at least try the more simple one of making use of the commercial industry of this coun try, sending their ships to foreign lands to bring their produce to this country, and endeavour to give the people that food of which they stood so much in need. This logic, owing to the exertions of the Anti-Corn-law League, having been what was called "blown upon " another crotchet was started. Some very estimable individuals had brought forward what was called the factory ques tion. Under the pretence of being the friends of the people, they had introduced the ten hour system. He believed that no proposition that had ever been made, either in the House of Commons or elsewhere, was more likely to do harm to the working classes of this country. He believed that there was nothing so mis chievous as any attempt to interfere with industry and labour on the part of the Legislature.— (Loud cheers.) He need not, before them, go into all the arguments on this question ; but there was one which he thought was almost irresistible. What they obtained in this country—the production of . this country—was of course produced, by the la bour of their workmen. By the Ten Hours' Bill they diminished the hours of working, and conse quently that which was produced, by one-sixth—that was to say, that the goods produced by the energies of their workmen should be diminished by one-sixth, and that all classes of the community had one-sixth less of the goods made by their workmen to enjoy for the benefit of themselves and :their families. It appeared to him that both nostrums of these quacks of legislation—(Great laughter)— would be failures, and he believed that the only sound principle by which they could relieve the distresses of the working classes of this country, was by adopting a really good system of free trade; because by adopt ing such a system they would encourage manufac tures, give e mployment to their people, and by giving them employment, enable them to find the means of supporting themselves and their families in plenty and comfort. But he found that those who supported these monopolies were on every occasion willing to benefit themselves at the expense of other classes. He should like to call their attention in the first instance te what was called the land-tax. They were all well aware that in almost every civilised country of Europe the land paid the greater portion of the burdens of the State. Let them take France for instance—let them take the greater part of the States of despotic Germany or Italy, and they would find that almost all the public burdens were paid by the land tax. It was originally the intention in Eng land, when the present land-tax was imposed on this principle, that it should be rated at four shillings in the pound, or one-fifth of the whole Legislature o f landowners, whnrental. last enact men t on thi s su bject, saw trade ßutththe e and commerce of the country et that the t madehe were fast increasing. They saw that in the course of years their rents would be likely to rise, and they persuaded the House of Commons and the House of Lords to pass a regulation that the land-tax, for the future, should not be increased. The whole rental of the country was then ten millions, and they persuaded both Houses that the land-tax should only amount to two millions per annum; whilst if that enactment were not passed— if they followed up the plan originally contemplated, inasmuch as if the present rental amounted to fifty millions per annum, they would now be deriving a revenue of eight or ten millions a year from the land tax. That was a specimen of class legislation. which on so many grounds he considered had done so much mischief to the best interests of the country. — (Cheers.) If it were not troubling them too much, he would call their attention to another point, some what connected with this subject, and which he had felt it his duty to bring forward in another place, that was, the exemption of land in this country from the probate dnty.—(Hear, hear.) They were all aware, that, as the law now stood, on the death of any per son who had personal property, a large sum, under the name of probate or legacy duties, was taken from the family and children, and paid into the coffers of the . State. • That sum amounted annually to two millions and a quarter, and, by a return which had been made to the House of Commons, it appeared that since this tax was im posed, in 1797, no less a sum than 66,835,0001. had been taken from the pockets of the people, under the name of the probate-tax ; but while this enormous sum was levied on personal property, landed property had gone entirely scot free. If they took the value of land, even on the experience of those gentlemen themselves, who told them that it was the Most valuable and important interest in the kingdom—a proposition which he did not wish to deny—he would ask how in common fairness and common justice it could happen that, while one description of property yielded a revenue of 66,000,0001. to the exigencies of the State, another description of property should pay nothing at all ? It did appear to him excessively un just that, while the widow and children of the poor mechanic who had saved some 1001. or 150/. in the course of-a long and laborious life, were heavily taxed, that the heir apparent of half-a-million of landed property should contribute nothing at all to the State.—(Loud cheers.) He might multiply those instances from the statute-book, for there were many others, but he wished to say this that in all matters in which these monopolists hada direct interest, they exclaimed against free trade, and formed associations against the spread of its doctrines ; but in matters in which they had no direct interest, and no monopoly, they were the very first persons to take advantage of the principle of free trade, and of the commercial and mercantile pros perity of the country. To-morrow would be the birth-day of her Gracious Majesty, and he would ask them all to mark what would take place at the Drawing-room of St. James's, when the ladies of the country, with great propriety, would wait upon their Sovereign to congratulate her upon her natal day. The proudest Duchess, they would see covered with diam6nds. When they brought these diamonds from foreign countries, they did not bee that there was any heavy tax on' their introduction.—(Hear, hear.) Take the ostrich plumes which decorated their heads; they did not hear of any ostrich feather law. (Laughter.) Again, let them take the shoes of the ladies. Why, they had only to walk through the city of Westmin ster and they would see shop upon shop in which they would find nothino. but French shoes. They would find that those who sold French shoes in this metropolis were doing a flourishing trade.—(Hear, hear.) He was glad of it. He did not ob ject to their doing a flourishing trade, but what he ob jected to was, that while our legislators thought it good fur their own families to admit certain foreign articles, they did not extend the same liberty to the working classes, for what they might think advanta geous for their families.—((;beers.) He had been walking that morning in company with a Conserva tive friend of his—(A. laugh)—for he was one of those who thought politics ought never to sever friendships. —(Loud cheers.) He was walking with a Conserva tive friend of his down St. James's-street, and his friend pointed out to him the great beauty of a mag nificent erection which was building in that street for the Junior Conservative Club. That club, as they all knew,was to he the place to which all the corn •la w sup l i - porters—all those who were opposed 'to free trade — were to resort. It was a great political club. There those persons who were leagued together to support the present system of corn-laws, and to oppose the doc trines of free trade, were to be gathered together. His Conservative friend had looked up at the building, and had directed his attention to the beauty of the stone which was used in its construction. He asked where that stone had come from, and it turned out that that stone had come from Caen, in Normandy.— (Cheers.) So that, in a place which had been erected to enable theirs to do their best to put dawn the doc trines of free trade, and to destroy commercial pros perity, they had been actually doing this—they had been engaging the commerce of the country to bring from foreign countries the stone which they could not find in this.—(Cheers.) He did not blame them for doing so.—(Cheers.) He thought that if they found the stone was better suited to their purpose than the stone which they could procure in this country, as the stone here was so bad, and could only be procured in small quantities, they were perfectly right in sending for it from abroad. They would have done wrong if they had not done so ; but he asked them to consider whether the people of this country might not think that there were certain other things besides these which they might get better from abroad than the things they found at home ? Might they not consider that there was so little corn in this country, or that it was so bad, that it would be for their benefit to have the corn of America or Poland brought here for their use ?—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Let them apply the same doctrine to others which they applied to themselves. So much had been said in relation to corn in that place, that he would not weary them with any further remarks on the subject. Every person of common sense— every man, woman, or child, who had thought on the subject—had come to the firm opinion that it was wrong to tax one of the first necessaries of life, and that they were bound to take off the duty en tirely from corn, in order to increase the means of employment for the labouring classes of this country. He wished to say a few words relative to an article which was almost equally a necessary of life with corn—he meant sugar.—(Cheers.) He was desirous of calling their attention to the subject of sugar, for this reason : he thought there had been a great deal of unnecessary cant, if he might be allowed the ex pression, made use of in reference to this subject.— (Cheers.) He believed that it could be proved, by reference to every Price Current of the day, that we were now paying . for the sugar, which the people of this country were compelled to take from the West Indian proprietors, threepence a pound more than if we bought it in the free market of the world.— (Cheers.) If they took the consumption of sugar by the people of this country at its present amount, it would be found that, at the extreme price we were now paying the West Indian proprietors for the sugar, we were paying about 5,000,0001. annually for sugar more than we should have to pay if we were permitted to purchase our sugar in the Brazils, or in the open market of the world. These five millions a year were paid to those persons who had been already compensated for getting rid of slavery by the payment of 20,000,0001.; and yet they were now paying to those persons an equal amount of compensation every four years. When the people of this country came forward generously with that amount of compensation to do away with slavery, they never intended to pay that amount over and over again.—(Hear, hear.) They intended that for a final settlement of the question.—(Cheers.) And he would engage to say, that if any person had pro posed when these 20,000,0001. were granted, to add to that a tax by which the same amount should be paid to the West Indian proprietors every four years, he would have been laughed to scorn.—(Cheers.) But the Legislature had managed the matter in an easier way —they had not appealed' to Parliament for compensa tion, but they had said we will take care to have a law that shall give us a greater amount for our sugar than for the sugar which is produced in any other country —we will take care that every four years we will get an additional 20,000,000/. into our own pockets.— (Loud cheers.) There had been a great deal said in relation to sugar on the subject of slavery. He was one of those who wished to see slavery put down, in whatever country or whatever clime it might be found. —(Cheers.) Zt 'was the foul blot in the cause of hu manity. But how could they put down slavery by not admitting the sugar of Brazil to consumption in this country, when they .admitted it to be refined in this country, to be exported to other countries, and took the produce of it, and put it into their own pockets ? They would not be keeping up slavery in the Brazils by admitting their sugars into this coun try, because they knew very well that there were countries which produced sugar in which there was no slavery. There could be but one price for goods in the market of the world, and as he believed that free labour would always be found to be cheaper than slave labour, he could not but believe that the sugar which was produced in Manilla and other countries by free labour, would undersell sugar, the pro duce of slave labour in the Brazils, and thus the Brazilian planters would be driven, in self-defence, to do away with slavery.—(llear, hear.) He trusted that he had said enough on the present occasion to give them good grounds at least for be coming members of the Corn -law League.—(Cheers.) His Hon. Friend behind him said the Anti-Corn law League, but they knew not what he meant.— (Cheers.) They were a league to put down the pre sent system of the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) He had observed that great questions in this country could only be carried by association. 'Within the last few years many great questions 'had been carried by association. The great question of Catholic Emanci pation had been only carried by the Catholic Associa tion of Ireland.—(Cheers.) Many efforts had been made to relieve the Dissenters from the civil disabi lities under which they had laboured, but they had only succeeded by associating themselves together to obtain this emancipation by every legal means in their power, and by the same means the removal of other grievances had been obtained. They had suc ceeded by these means in obtaining, to a certain extent, Parliamentary Reform ; and by the same means, they might hope to obtain the repeal of those laws which pressed so hardly upon the industry of the country. While attacks were being made by the monopolists upon the principles of the Anti-Corn-law League, the people were becoming more and more convinced of the truth of those principles, and by di recting their attention to those principles, and propa gating their opinions in every legal way, they would be doing their utmost to benefit and promote the in terests of this great country.—(Loud cheers.) The CHAIRMAN then came forward, and announced that Mr. Moore would address the meeting. Mr. R. R. R. MOORE then came forward, and was received with loud cheering. There was some slight confusion created at this period of the proceedings by the attempts of persons to• press forward upon the stage. Order, however, was speedily restored, and Mr. Moore proceeded. One would think there could scarcely be a plainer proposi tion than that we had a right to use as much of the world's produce as our labour could get for us in the markets of the world. — (Cheers.) And yet about that simple proposition all this agitation had been occasioned. What they asked was, that the people of England should be allowed to carry the products of their industry into all the mar-, kets of the world, and there obtain the world's price for those products ; and thereupon they were accused of being destructives, revolutionists, violent, untamed, wild sort of people, who had no regard for the rights of property or f o r the sacred institutions of the country. (Cheers.) One would have thought, speaking of the rights of property, that it was one of those rights that the producer should have, as the price of his labour, as much of the world's goods as the people of the world were willing to give.— (Cheers.) But their opponents did not like to look at this question in so simple a manner, They did not like the idea of saying that wages were property, and that that property was interfered with when men were prevented from obtaining the most they could for their wages in the market of the world.—(Cheers.) They had made a mystery of the question, and they called it protection when they prevented labour from disposing of its produce in the best market. He had recently read the speech which had been made by Mr. Thomas Baring, the newly elected Member for Huntingdon—(lronical cheers and laughter)—in which that gentleman said, speaking of the repeal of the corn-laws, " that there was no getting over one fact, that a free and unfet tered importation of corn must diminish the employ ment of agricultural labour of this country to a me lancholy extent, and although it might diminish the price of bread, what mattered it whether the loaf were a penny, or sevenpence, if the labourer had no money to buy it." He did not know that Mr. Thomas Baring had, in the course of the speeches which he had delivered during the late contest in the City, made use of such statements. He believed that Mr. Baring had re served the real expression of his feelings for the bene fit of his Huntingdon constituents.—(Cheers and laughter.) Now, let the:n examine what was meant by that question. That there was no getting over that fact, " that a free and unfettered importation of corn must diminish the employment of agricultural labour in this country." There was no getting over it if it were a fact, but it was not a fact.—(Loud cheers.) It was merely an assertion of Mr. Thomas Baring, whic'h was opposed to all experience and all fact.—(Cheers.) Persons who argued as Mr. Ba ring did, assumed that every quarter of wheat imported from foreign countries would dis place one quarter of English wheat ; and calculating that every man, woman, and child, consumed a quar ter of wheat in the year, they reckoned that every quarter of foreign wheat which was consumed took one customer from the English farmer. And then they went on to contend, that as these customers were taken from the English farmer, it would throw his land out of cultivation, and agricultural labour would go unemployed. But, in making these asser tions, they never looked at the fact that there were living in this country eight or ten millions of people who were not customers at all to the farmers for bread. In order to establish their fact, they were bound to show that every person in the king dom was supplied with as much agricultural produce as they stood in need of. They assumed that to be the case; but the contrary was the fact. The report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of the working classes in the agricul tural counties, stated that in Devonshire, in Dor setshire, in Wiltshire, in Somersetshire, in Hamp shire, in Northumberland, and in many other agri cultural counties, the people were ill-fed, ill:clothed, ill-housed, ill-employed, and ill-paid. The Commis sioners appointed to inquire into the state of the poor in Ireland, stated that there were five millions of per sons in that country living upon potatoes as their daily food. Dr. Marsham, of notorious memory, had stated their were ten millions of persons in this country who rejoiced in potatoes and oatmeal. So long as these people were ill-fed—so long as they were forced to consume an inferior food in stead of wheat, which, no doubt, they would consume if they could afford to purchase it—so long as such was the case, the importation of wheat from abroad would not displace one single quarter of English wheat, until the whole of these people who now re joiced in potatoes and oatmeal were supplied, and as the importation of these ten million quarters of wheat must be' paid for in the produce of the industry of this country, which would give additional employment, so the English farmer would have his condition im proved by having a greater number of cus tomers. The last three years had been years of great distress in the manufacturing districts, and the English farmer had found in conse quence that he could not get a sale for his produce. The League called themselves the friends of the farmers, and said they were the only organisation in existence which went the right way to work to befriend and assist the farmer and the la bourer out of their difficulties. They would befriend the farmer by finding him more customers.' Let them look at these ten millions of people. Some of them were paupers, supported at the farmer's cost. All were bad customers ; but they said, " let us import grain to feed these people. We must pay for that grain by the produce of the manufacturing skill of this country ; these people will then obtain employment at good wages ; and, in addition to purchasing the fo reign grain, they will become customers to the farmer for milk, and butter, and bacon, and cheese, and eggs, and mutton, and beef; and a variety of articles which they have never before consumed." —(Cheers.) Now this statement was borne out by facts. Two years ago they were amidst a period of great ana bitter distress. Mills *ere stopped. Men were idle; either beggars, or thronging the workhouses as paupers, although they were able and well-skilled, and willing to work. At that period the farmers had a less sale for their live stock than they now had, when trade had a little re vived. Now,*if this revival of trade, this taking again into employment of some of those persons, had pro duced an increased consumption of beef and mutton which had not previously existed, the extension of trade, by giving employment to people who had not hitherto been employed, would make those people become consumers of live stock, which would thereby obtain a more extended and steady market. Let no one turn their mind aside from these facts, nor attempt to mystify them. They could not get wheat in Europe or America without paying for it, and they must pay the freight and other expenses of importation. They could not pay for it without employing more people in this country than they at present employed, for it must be paid for by labour. If we paid for it in gold we must pay for gold by our manufactured goods, which were the produce of la bour still.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Baring said that every quarter of foreign corn that came into this country displaced a quarter of home-grown corn. For the last five years, a million and a half of quarters of foreign corn were imported. Did they displace the home-grown corn ? No. But the landlords tolerated their introduction—first, because they could not be dis pensed with ; and secondly, that by keeping a limited supply, they could still maintain the high prices of corn. He had lately been in the mandacturing districts, and was shocke I at the extreme poverty which pre vailed there. • He had been at the election at Exeter. and had never seen greater misery than prevailed in the neighbourhoods surrounding that town. The condition of the agricultural population of Devon shire was of itself sufficient to condemn the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) The Standard, Herald, and Post, and occasionally the Times, in speaking of a repeal of the corn-laws, said they would injure the Condition of the agricultural labourer. One would think, from the manner in which those newspapers spoke, that the agricultural labourers were in the perpetual enjoyment of a sunshine of felicity, that they had high wages, were well clad, well taught, comfortable, and prosperous, and yet there were none so discontented, and none on whom want so bitterly pressed, as those same agricultural labourers.— (Cheers.) On an average, they had not more than 73. a week, Now, upon such a pittance, how could they support their families ? So much for the state ments of Mr. Baring, that the unfettered importation of corn would injure the agricultural labourer to a considerable, extent. It must be owned that, in this country, agriculture had not been carried to a very high pitch of improvement. He had lately been through many of the agricultural counties, both in England and Scotland, and, except in some part of the Lothians, cultivation had not even been carried on with com mon skill. Why, had they travelled by the railways they would see the land on either side was in many places overgrown v,ish rushes, which reared their bristly heads, and seemed to say—" This is agricul tural. protection."—(Hear, hear.) There was at that moment, on the stage near him, a gentleman exten sively engaged in agriculture, who told him that a large portion of his land was in hay, and that he could cultivate it to his advantage, but a clause in his lease prevented his doing so ; and there were several others of his class precisely in the same condition, This was a species of freedom which the landlord be stowed upon his tenant.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) He assured them the agricultural labourers were not fully employed, nor anything like it.—(Hear.) The land of this country was not cultivated to the extent of which it was capable, nor anything ap proaching it. Its cultivation was hampered by the corn• laws. He was not going to occupy further time with that branch of argument. But he would advert to another and a singular circumstance. The Society for the Protection of Industry had been - of late very active among the Spitalfields weavers, and at 'the first meeting of that Society, in the Free masons' Tavern, a Spitalfields weaver was actually produced to move the first resolution. This unfortu nate weaver was made to say, that by the withdrawal of the restrictions upon foreign silk in 1824, the silk trade had been injured; and secondly, he was made to say, that the working classes were opposed to the movement in favour of free trade. Now, that was so manifestly untrue that it was scarcely worth while to contradict it. He did not even believe it to be true of the Spitalfields weavers. He could not think that body were opposed to them. At the London election they had held meet ings among the Spitalfields weavers in the very heart of Spitalfields. Yet, so far from dissenting, not one of that body but seemed to be as cordially in favour of free trade as the League themselves. Now, he would enter a little into the history of the silk trade. From 1635 to 1692 the history of the silk trade proved that the silk trade prospered more at home than subsequently, when protection was extended. In 1637 French silks, at the request of certain French refugees, who established themselves in this country, and commenced the silk manufacture, were prohibited from importation ; and the importation of silk from India and China was also prohibited. In 1719 Sir Thomas Loom and his brother set up in Derby a mill for preparing silk to be woven, they having made a discovery in Italy. Previous to that time no " throwing" of silk was done in this country. Well, those gentlemen got a patent from Govern ment, and a high duty was put upon all " thrown" silk coming from Italy, and all other places. The patent expired in fourteen years ; and the Govern ment refused to renew it, but preferred paying Sir Thomas Loom and his brother 14,000/. for the good they had done this country by their " throwing mill" at Derby. Up to 1766 the prohibitory duty re mained on thrown and manufactured silk ; and, in fact, they were not allowed to come into this coun try. Our opponents should prove that at this period fhe silk trade was most prosperous, but it happened to have been most depressed.—(Hear, hear.) In 1776 there were, 7,072 looms out of employment in London. To the silk weavers it was a period of almost unexampled distress. In 1793 there were of Spital fields weavers 4,090 idle; and yet in 1773, just twenty years before, this body lad petitioned Parliament re• specting their distresses, and requested that nuliainent should fix their wages at a certain price. And in accordance with their wi s h Parliament left their rate of wages to be defined by the magistrates. Let it be understood that this law applied to the county of Middlesex only ; yet, in twenty years af terwards, as he had already said, 4,000 weavers were idle. What was the consequence ? Why, that these poor weavers fled from London to Paisley, and Man' chester, and Glasgow, to establish the silk mane- facture, and to avoid the evil consequences of the law which, at their instance, had been created. Now, _if the Post, Herald, and Standard had their will, Pre: cisely the same state of things would be brought about, and the people of England would be obliged to seek in a foreign country the means of subsistence' In 1815 and 1816, when protection to the silk trade was at its highest, the silk weavers were mos t depressed. Then what did those who stated that the principles of free trade, as applied t° silk had been injurious? In that trade, e t all events, it could be demonstrated beyond a doubt, that when protection was highest di s tress • wits greatest. In 1824, Mr. Huskisson determined 0° making a change in the silk duties.. He reduced die' duty on the importation of thrown silk to 7s. 6d. eer pound, and on raw silk to 3d. per pound, and on manu factured silk to 30 per cent. ad valorem duty. In . 1825 there were 780,000 spindles at work in thi s country. There were in 1835, 1,180,000. In 182 6 9 when the silk of France was prohibited, there were ten' weaving establishments in Manchester, employing 300 hands each. In 1835, when French silk wee admitted, there were thirty establishments employing 500 hands each. So that, whilst the French silks were prohibited, there were 3,000 persons employed in weaving silk, and when French silks were admitted there were 15,000 persons.—(Cheers.) With these facts before them, what did the protec' tionists mean by standing up amongst the Spitalfiel,d e weavers to try to persuade them to join in a cry I °' , protection to British industry ? British industry wanted no protection.—(Cheers.) British industeri from the least skilled and worst paid labourer in Wl culture, to the best paid maker and inventor of ; chinery in this country, nee d e d no pro t ec ti o n. 1 3 wanted liberty—it wanted room t o wor k wanted its right to, the fair share of the world'al:;„ - r i duce to be held sacred—it wanted- the p e otecn, which nature had given it when it mad e men wish of have in return for all they could sn a k e , th e bes.,,,'„ - t everything all the world over. —(Ch ee r s .) 1 "; the case of silk was not yet compl e te. I n 1821, lgeo and 1823, they used annually in this country 2,399,000 lbs. of silk in all their manufactories; i ll 1839, 1840, and 1841, when the protection had been reduced, they used 8,435,898 lbs. of silk, being increase of 100 per cent. There was another in: teresting point in relation to this silk question to which he could not refrain from referri ng , as it settled th e question of total and immediate repeal. When, l° 1824, Mr. Huskinson proposed to admit the men u' factured silk of France a t 30 pe r cen t. duty, o f manufacturers said, " No ; give us time to dispose ?II our stock on hand, and let th e c hange beb ri e in July, 1826. During th ose t wo years . 1 ! li shall be able to dispos e o f our s t oc k, an d th en we O w ' be prepared for competition with France." Mr. ga l : kisson agreed to this proposal. Immediately two r e .; sults were produced. O u r ma nu f ac t urers found ; r hard to sell, for both the s h o pk ee p er an d the bol a waited for the French silks to come in at a reduct e price.—(Hear.) The French, looking forward to t' reduction in duty, waited double time, and laidl large stocks. Six months before Mr. Huakisson's pt was to come into operation, our manufacturers to Parliament and said, " The French ha;,,e largeo. stocks by them, but they are all o f a partiO 0 length ; prohibit silks of that length, and then, shall shall be quite ready to comp e t e ." A ga i n Mr. Hass son agreed. The French silks of this particular lengr, were prohibited. But they worked h a rd e r than e ve s ; they made silks of short lengths; and the result "*.% that the English manufacturers had their own sti e s on hand, whilst the short len g th s were a d m itted 11 7 0 . the reduced duty.—(Hear.) N o w came the cone sion of this question. In 1823, we exP °l ',cs 351,000/. worth of silk goo d s; i n 1837, t e n 9—d after the alteration, we exported 917,0001. worth w silks ; and in 1839, we e x p or t e d 410,300/. worth to the United States. Now, was it not clear that silk manufacture had improved ?—(Hear, hello that it had nothing to fear from a competition ? e ll American market was open t o th e F renc h as :01. 0,0 as ourselves, and yet we s o ld th ere 40 worth of silk goods annually. The c o mpetition 6;i l cl us great impetus. We took the French patternsi• o d improved upon the French looms. In 1824, t d, again in 1826, Mr. Ellice, the M e mber for Coee° 4 ll stated, in the House of Commons, th a t the Fr e .,,' n looms produced five times a s muc h s ilk as ou r _, 0 7,a, and he asked for protection. M r . H us ki sson ren n d " We will give you the impetu s o f competition, the then your looms will be as good as those of ; fit French." They be c am e no t on l y as goo d , but be"-ts than those of the French. The Legislature w e ,.. asked, not to lower the d u t y on French s ilk s , lest aid trade should become extinct. The Legislatur e i not listen to the parti es w ho made '5 demand, but although they did not make the trdi, entirely free, yet they took a step in the right ip ._ rection. In 1824 we sold 75,0001. worth of goonst.o, France ; in 1841 we sold 181,0001. worth in the °° b. kets of France. Under freedom the silk trade s i w tbe lished itself. Under p ro t ec ti on it d ec li n ed. Diu protection to British industry benefit the peoplen; s l. Did they think that th e y cou ld i mpose on the SPLe fields weavers? No honest weaver, either in spi: o , fields, in Manchester, or in Paisley—no lined who read and thought —no man who had o is, long enough to r eco ll ec t th e corn -l aw of I°.tilds no man who recollected his feelings of ri ti g o ci to Mr. Huskisson, so great, that when he visited , c , o lc clesfield, the weavers, throwers, and spinners, la the horses out of hi s c ar r i age , an d drew food triumph through the t own ; no man o f this v s , would be found joining them in their cry for pry t o tion to British industry.—(Cheers.) And then no t their second point, that the working classes we re f ed, with them, he would answer that statement in t t ro few words. There were 500,000 re g i s t e r e d menn c ell. the League in London. Were they all of the ix beep b oa classes ?—(Hear and cheers.) H e (M r . M.) ha u t fir e in nearly nths, h every town in meetings d to raise g contrib u tbe to the 100,0001. fund, and nothing could excee d t he interest which the working-men had taken cause. Twenty thousand copies of the League P ool ) were circulated every week, a very large proP ° o o l . of which were read by the working it; Tho working men , had stood by tbel° hsa in Durham, Salisbury, and Hastings. Th e i c sal stood by his friend General Briggs when be c itY ° 3 forward in the cause of free trade in the Exeter. They had canvassed for them thelhad carried about the report's of their speeches; theiode made incessant efforts to in sure th eir s uccess• t i.d did not intend to make this movement for fre e w tl ) a class movement ; th e y h a d no w i s h to orgaTio of working class separately from any other lor'• • e jol the community. They had the best of evert 94 from the Marquis of Westminster and th c s . do li of Radnor, do wn t o th e poorest man who fi ' v e/ honest living by his hard toil in this country. l ostifi e l One more point, and he would conclude. Mr; . , bofo said he was a f r i en d o f f ree discussion and h eal it would never be put d own ; b u t ' he w°' iote' s : shrink from declaring that h e considered tb i c . „o o o ference of the Anti-Corn-Law League at e; 01 1 ed and its expenditure of vast sums of money jaPS;e occasions, unconstitutional, and fraught with o `, to the franchises of the people. Nothing could r i be a se unconstitutional, said a writer in the Exeter A u be op in allusion to the contest in that city, than L o id: ne jf duct of the Anti-Corn-law League, and he r o 1 Constitution must surely h ave giv en some at tef ei . against it ; and he added, that it was a °I D l'af. o ll 3 just complaint, which ought to be laid bef° l )oo. l ',o ment. The only way in which he could ,n li d tV ic i e e these men was by supposing that they vvia" e he ° j ib' to be carried on in the spirit of times. He supposed that the write; , e tw r is Exeter Gazette and Thomas Baring wou ld iith e he d Parliament thus :—" Whereas elections ha ve sts bli s s il been conducted on certain known and e iv erst sc li' principles, public-houses being open to all ?", be co. o te , the drink being paid for by the agents of On g v et' dates ; and whereas certain poor men bf' co e, f el have been in the habit of receiving certain c9 ol°bii tions for them; and whereas, it has been . x ,p11 0 " 1 ,0 11 that there was no need for a candidate tote 1 . 0 0 ro t, conduct to his constituents; and whereas t o Periio have come here, having the audacityd Otos, publish, and circulate information ; s ki t er e ss e o their meetings are attended by gr e t ti o 'll° o be, and there is not a drunken man sly among them ; and whereas we are so el°, 6 ; 0 0 0 0 that we cannot bribe the people ; for the we beg your Honourable and Righb,., P yo" House that you will put down W e a l or provide such other convenient rera.tioner es' stPe may think best against this uncoil le gs g,, ) terference with the rights and Pri v ' et chee r ork l , pirants to seats in Parliament."--(Gr ? re s .?l Unconstitutional ! What did they u° • tiagr VIP pro . • tO means were their tongues and the, roo tio t i o e their money was spent in diffusing 1 111° ,. n rote c _ l a 1 1° Mr. Baring, one of the advocates 0 13 '4 s bo . lm elo ce+ British industry, mean to say that ', as a pr e teach the people that the corn-law to o Pj fru' e and that it injured the working , e , 00, venting him from deriving Wo e ba u . ,,, e eti°P, of his industry ?—(Hear, hear.) ~n a • the ~'l",t tr with the protectionists. But he its had, dew; u n p t h o e feel d at Hdasisatipnpgosinantead Exeter.bec auseihho,el,, 'did v o i; c0 , 0 1 , 1 ! a: to conquer who would not risk deiff"; iot .- firsg i tthe4 they deserve to triumph if they d", ll . o‘ siic.'i ls t 10'3 teach the people; Let them tell those,:r.t sip had been beaten in'Hastings arid in-F4 had maiehed hitO`the country oft