The Sun. — London, England, 1844-03-28 00:00:00

GRAND WEEKLY 11'ri_coRN- LAW LEAGUE MEETING dT C OVENT-GARDEN THEATRE :orn.-I_llsual we e kly mee ti ng o f mem bers of the Anti iteosw League, was held last evening in r, et' garden Theatre. The doors were opened at Past si x o ' c l oc k , an d w ithi n t en m i nu tes the was crowded in every part open to the public, by far the greater number of the private boxes 440 kp on fully oc cu pi e d. There were a great num ity we atlies present in the boxes. The pit and gal -4.o3te.re_, appropriated exclusively to the use, of the *t en In members of the League. Shortly after ,4 xr ° clock, Thomas Milner Gibson, Esq., M.P. snchester, Thomas Gisborne, Esq., M.P. for t ao g t iani, John Bright, Esq., M.P. for Durham , 4,,,,,rd Provost o f Glasgow, W. J. Fox, Esq., and Metal other influential members of the League, , l ht L e a the house, and were greeted with enthu cheering. Ptii4ng those present we observed—Thomas Milner it? ~ , Esq., M.P. (in the chair) ; Dr. Bowring, ti ti :'„.itichard Cobden, Esq., M.P.; John Bright, ~11;0 8 4.1)- _,. 11. W. Tancred, Esq.. M.P. ; Thomas l'i l. i lle, Esq., M.P. ; Thos. Thornely, Esq., M.P. ; i'ott leaf, Esq. • Dr. Cooke Taylor ; the Lord Pro iq toit sf Edinburgli ; Peter Dixon, Esq., of Carlisle ; lii4 ' Thompson, Esq.; John Ashworth, Esq. ; R. '4 B €l-; Samuel Lucas, Esq. ; P. A. Taylor, 4 1 1 Arthur Pattison, Esq. ; W. A. Wilkinson, cl io . l .J. Coleman , Esq. ; Henry Storer, Esq. •, R. 1 11 3tl e l ueid, Esq., of Rochdale - C. J. Hardman, Esq., A. Rose, Esq.; N.'Overbory, Esq., West ;wilts; Jesse Goldsmith, Esq , Trowbridge, 4i tti Henry Lloyd Morgan, Esq.; Count Simo 4,f' Count Fe ; J. Wynn, Esq., Wolverhampton ; t 4 , B es s°r Van Raumer ; W. Tooke, Esq.; Joseph kjaWorth, Esq. ; Wm. 'Tait, Esq., Edinburgh ; A. ;uB'ood, Esq. ; Henry Ashworth, Esq.; Henry 11441' Esq., Wakefield; John Macartney, Esq., if tti. ester; Duncan Macfarlane, Esq., Glasgow ; ki„,Thornborrow, Esq.; John Richard, Esq., Bir ,.;scain; Major-General Briggs; E. Wright, Esq., ‘ 1 11 ; U.S. ; Cressall, Esq. ; George Borrett, t ia ' o outhampton ; J. Mollett, Esq. ; J. B. Scott, tii' Manchester ; W. Cory, Esq.; John Hunter, q%;,1 John Bickers, Esq. ; Martin Thackeray, Esq. ; :: Ridout, Esq. • George Crawford Heath, Esq. ti\e ste slks MILNER 'GIBSON, Esq., M.P. for Man 11,r1 took the Chair, amidst loud applause. V. h SECRETARY then read the minutes of the last Ling t o :1 t he motion of the LORD PROVOST of GLAS•• hi,: seconded by PETER DIXON, Esq., the minutes e cnfirmed. tii, c CHAIxAN then came forward and addressed 'fleeti ng as follows :—Ladies and Gentlemen, I iiir," l lld at having • been invited to take the chair ik iii "' preside over this important meeting, but at the !k) le t tnie I cannot help expressing my regret that ,•• circumstances should have occurred which have 41 ' ' our friends to ask me to preside over our Lrations on the present occasion. In the first I re gre t that our able and excellent friend Wilson, Esq., of Manchester—(Cheers)— tts to , so frequently presided over these our meet should, on on the present occasion, be unavoidably lty 1 on account of indisposition.—(Hear, hear.) 44xcellent friend Mr. Villiers—(Cheers) —who 4 i ' t i.have taken his place, is also, I regret to say, \( . 1 . _ 1 1 con sequ ence, Ibelieve, of slight indisposition. 47, hear.) I feel proud to take upon myself , hinvitation of our friends, the duties of chair of this meeting, although I feel that it will not be ktiZ Power to discharge those duties in the able man - tit t h!hich those experienced gentlemen have hitherto S k T i ged them. We are so well agreed as to the Itoth, which we have in view in thus assembling to 'itZt----those objects are so thoroughly well known X t .; greater part of those present at this meeting_ keeeedings are so well understood, that perhaps 'ipe,,ZiMecessary for the Chairman to state to the iit tli 3g the objects to which they should direct their 4 i'r e 2 )11 --(Cheers.) But if there should be any one itoti'v r ,, ,lo has not a clear idea of the end which the li‘-law League desire to attain, I beg simply tt,44 Wil !tirl,, tiltZt the object which we have in view—the l'ilicli we desire to accomplish, is the total and `"late repeal of the corn-laws, and all other ,q 0 .0,,6.— ( L0ud cheers.) Dr. Horsley, the Bishop 44'""nester once said that the people had nothing 11 1 ° with' t the laws but to obey them.—(Hear, hear.) f'!l tnocate obedience to the law whilst it remains k tie a Statute book—(Cheers)—but we at the same !th claim a right as free citizens, and as free citi we consider it to be our duty to endeavour, by V i gent reasoning, to induce the Legislature to the law upon the basis of justice—(Cheers) - 4 due regard to the rights both of the rich and ilt —(Loud cheers.) In that spirit we are as 14sti together on the present occasion to discuss co rn-law q uestion, because we believe that the tht t laws interfere with our civil rights—(Cheers) — 4 they unnecessarily limit our trade—(Cheers)— that they are maintained for the interest of a kt 4 „, tt ed few at the expense of the gr eat bod y of the kt;',iinity.—(Loud cheers.) We desire not to in -4 with agriculture.—(Cheers.) We only ask St, not to interfere with trade. — (C heers. ) We lii ki cd that our merchants have as good a right to tril d our markets with corn through the operations l 'itli„ e as our farmers have to supply our markets corn‘loo through the operations of agriculture. — S I cheers.) All we desire is freedom of industry, 'As ,;" Mvocs.ting that we believe we are advocating 1 41,7 1 ' 1 . 8 e &justice, and pursuing that course whic h °fi le 'eve will best secure the welfare of all classes il kot tip t Majesty's subjects.—(Loud cheers.) I will • -ta v, i n yolonger, butwill at once call upon my ffiti:riend Thomas Gisborne, Esq., Member for k r Awn, to address you.—(Loudcheers.) 40 t • GISBORNE, M.P., then came forward, and was Iticli t e d with loud cheering. The Win. ,: Gentleman iN e inat certainly a person who considered the una- I kALi ze .al of the Anti-Corn-law League,- and the t ,i• t „ - ' %4 ' e sympathy • which had been exhibited u . 4110 - ~ public on this subject, would be led to form '4 4 , • `righter anticipations as to the ultimate result, k ~.I , f he had witnessed other scenes' in other places I, 7alell h e (Mr. Gisborne) and his friend the Si," n frequently moved.—(Cheers and laughter.) 10 4, respect to himself, he felt that he should be : 4 4 4 , usefully employed in discussing this question °' ii i , A ., K et day at an ordinary of farmers than before ~10rc e nce in Covent-garden Theatre.—(Cheers.) el• ,`) sad habits did this custom of addressing one- Nil t Zeetillgs.—(Cheers and laughter.) It led per. Niz t ,iinagine that they were immediately to carry Lt • ' mg before them.—(Cheers.) In saying this, 4 not allude to the Noble Earl who had pre ilk Tver . them last week. That Noble Earl boldly Si t " i s part, and stoutly maintained his own op . . li 'in the midst of the most opposing audience in 1 :khealin'''"(LOUd cheers.) He was in the habit 4 4 itm. 'rressing and maintaining his opinions before ~.eil e nce of landowners and lawyers, and bishops. or, at j e A __ r s-) All agreed that the landowners were, ; 1 / 4 .4 0 ,7. 4 , 5 t, thought they were, interested parties— 'illivy---and if they looked for those who wolit c red the greatest ignorance on the subject, e they not not find them amongst those ia W ere clothed in lawn an d ermine.—(Loud Ibit,' ) Nor, when he said it led men into bad ti le r' address one-sided audience s, did he allude 's e ,r distinguished friend Ur. Cobden.—(Loud ,' ` 4 44, -,;) He was able to take his part b efore an y Nt i -ce in the world.—(Cheers.) Th e y saw him ‘i thil lst them from time to time, in the House of Secs, hardly moving in their system, but pro, igser g - ig in his own orbit, like a comet—(Loud ZIA n ',7";_ynaking them see his brightness, convincing "ckti s q, l 'is power, and leaving no doubt upon their o , o iiat when the great interests to which he had ".t ,1 1 himself would allow, he would at once take l'etirininent position in political strife to which his (CL ta lents and acquirements entitled him— L i teZ B s )--- and it was one not of the least remarkable lil`tioi lai t anees attendant upon the present great Ili • t i movement for a repeal of the corn-laws, that , - feep t 6 gen to a calico-printer, not previously known, ti tua 2 . e . r his untiring industry and his domestic Zihtt h , (Cheers)—a place in the history of his 1 ,. h. ,, ,Which was the more honourable because 11 ,1-.". n. obtained it without personal ambi t:litierud cheers) —and without seeking for all ud aggrandisement.—(Cheers.) Neither did i t t ic ntl, ~_,to their worthy Chairman, who had fre- Cns.' 4 uvocated their cause in the HOll5O of Com ,all',. i but he alluded to himself and to those other 14 1 , 1 5 d l uminaries —if luminaries they could be rit - who were hardly able to exhibit their small ° tol e i a the cloudy atmosphere. There might be 1 1 : 1 hiee Pers° ns who were not so well informed on the 4* lir aa h e was who might expect him to state some t3tll,lpraent on the subject, or to put some old ar il:4.ln a new light. That he believed to be im 4_pe4e., .There was one point, however, which had o ° do u b? to strike him, and which, although he had thane , e ,‘ ,it had been alluded to one hundred times ti l 4 n " nft ‘ n nad,.he believed, been a little less alluded to ,p7ree ore Y other points. He was a farmer, and he, ' 4 144 4f b I asked himself this question—What had the Nt,lti tthad a ctil i !ers done for him, simply as a farmer, and ‘, 1 . 4 4 h ut il e , as a farmer, done for them ?—(Cheers.) ':' leli t„ „ Way to answer the question would be to go ov d iine times of his grandfather—(A laugh)—it tehe e , a fair time to go back to, because tha Y t ed _t , hat if they inquired they would c. t :clture Kb that time manufactures and acim to i were much in the same state with counterparts to The old plough and the thel were 1 00 'linterparts to the old spinning wheel and ( 111104_ iii• At that time the farmer got for his ' 41 17 a wheat i , 0 4 _ . about two and a half such shirts Vt. ta u " shorn) was in the habit of wearing.— g h .) Now he sot a dozen of sucih shirts for :en ;Y es ' eiltf et' ditchent dyed' ou inz a nd Itoyel rS t s l isrls it • r Royal • rdaPL II 3arorl'P' tea he r , oucege,. r deice Q. a bridge-, Edvien` ,f Mots D stelde rf BO° EthaV i a dePu' eir pow'. Lttesuc• - ey Yru dicer' to ~ i t b° sterdal► givo his yogi" Itervi eW EATON: COllO t loin+ highly Litsau. arid," GOT Ito") of the he Pe 0 i, 804 " in the h, YISII Wow* ce, t stt,a Nit) kgol o. ! Of the; ssrl e. I C llB r ti °3 of the EN. y es th. THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH 28, 1844 his quarter of wheat, and therefore he said that the manufacturers had done something for him in that instance.--(Cheers.) There was altindred article of female wear.—(Cheers, and roars of laughter.) Well, he would make shift to get through his argument presently.--(Renewed cheers and laughter.) He believed that with regard to both, the same propo sitions would apply.—(Laughter.) He would now go the furniture of the house, and there the argu ment was stronger, for he believed that an infinitely greater proportion of furniture would be got for the quarter of wheat than what his grandfather before him got.—(Laughter.) Then he would go to the implements of trade, and he believed that he would get from the Sheffield manufacturers a much greater quantity of sickles and scythes and axes, and other articles, for the quarter of wheat than his grandfather before him.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Perhaps some amongst them might not be acquainted with the farming tools, but he was, and what he had stated was the fact. Thus the farmer benefited by the manufacturer in a direct way ; for he did not al lude to the indirect way in which they were benefited, as being the best customers of the farmers. —(Hear, hear.) They had done him, as a farmer in finite good.—(Hear, hear.) He need not state the other part of the case, because if he got more for the quarter of wheat, of course he, as a farmer, gave the manufacturers less than his ancestors used to give them.—(Hear, hear.) But he was sorry to say it ap plied not only to those articles, but it would also apply to the most material articles in farming occupations, and one of the most expensive—it would apply to labour also.—(Hear, hear.) He got more labour for a quarter of wheat than his grandfather and his pro genitors got before him.—(Hear.) He believed there were onlytwo articles of farming expenditure to which this would not apply in the same proportion — the articles of rent and taxes.—(Cheers.) Now he thought if Lemuel Gulliver had been dropped in Great Britain instead of Laputa, he would have been at no loss, if made acquainted with the circumstances he had stated, in determining who made the laws of the country.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) There was another point which he would have no difficulty in determining, namely who those were who profited by the large expenditure.—(Hear, hear.) And he had certainly one great quarrel with the agricultural interest—which was that they had been always in favour of a great expenditure.—(Hear, hear.) They cheered that. Nov he hoped they would not find fault with him for telling them that they, the people of London, were just as bad.—(Hear, hear, and. laughter.) They were a great deal too fond of pa geantry and a large expenditure.—(Hear, hear.) For as soon as a man began to curtail the public expen diture and tried to effect a saving, then they turned round upon him and said he was a shabby fellow, who wanted to put up candle-ends and cheese-parings.--(Laughter.) Now, seeing that the manufacturers had done so much for the farmers, it was no more than fair play that they should call on the farmers to do something for them, and say to them, " If you will not or cannot do this for us, at least permit those to do it who can and will."—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) But the agricultural interest, or those who call themselves so, smart a good deal at this—(Laughter)—and they say " No, we will not do either one or the other." They had some talk in the House of Commons of Jack Cade legislation.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Now he called this Friar Tuck legislation—(Much laughter)—and he would tell them why. He was reading the other day an account about Robin Hood and his fellows, and it was stated that on one occasion, when they had taken a large spoil, they appointed Friar Tuck to make a law to distribute it. When this law appeared, it was evident to every one of them that the Friar himself got by far the largest share.— (Much laughter.) Now, public opinion was against the holy man.—(Continued laughter.) There was an Anti-Distribution-law League formed against him.—(lmmense laughter.) He met them boldly, and openly asked, "For whose benefit the laws were made?" and then, taking the opportunity, which was sometimes very convenient, of answering his own question—(Laughter) —he said, "In the first place, for the benefit of those who make them, and afterwards as it may happen."—(Great laughter and cheering.) But that was not all his answer, for he went on to say that every law-maker was entitled to benefit by his own law.—(Laughter.) Now, he liked that.— (Laughter.) Friar Tuck was a straightforward fellow.—(Laughter.) He was sorry to say that in the present day there was only one straight-forward statesman of the Friar Tuck school, and that was Sir Edward Knatchbull.—(Much laughter.) He advocated the corn-laws in a manly way.— (Laughter.) He said they were necessary to enable such gentlemen as himself to keep their station in so ciety. He thought that a most unjust outcry was raised against him. They blamed the only sincere man amongst the whole party. Now, he had always respected him for this. The rest of the party used different language. To those who advocated the re peal of the corn-laws, they said, " You take a narrow view of the subject—you are just able to make out that two and two make four. That is a proposition which we do not absolutely deny, but it is a proposi tion which wise and far-seeing statesmen must take with great qualification.—(Great laughter.) You do not take a comprehensive view of all the interests in the country." Now, as he was not able to under stand how taking a comprehensive view of all the in terests of the country could result in giving great advantage to one interest over all the others, he owned himself at once to be totally unable to argue with those wise and far-seeing statesmen. He could get no further than the simple proposition that two and two make four, and he did not believe he would get beyond it —at least, on the subject of the corn-laws till the day of his death. He had a particular dislike to gentlemen who argued in this manner, because they were not only wrong, but they threw dust in one's eyes. He w ou ld much rather encounter Sir Edward Knatchbull than the whole members of the Cabinet, because with regard to the one he knew what he would have to meet, but with regard to the others there was no fixed point to drive the nail mid settle the question. He did not know whether many of those who heard him were aware that when young men went to the University they passed through a small preliminary examination which they called a " little go."—(Laughter.) Now they had a " little go" in the House of Commons last night.—(Laughter.) Last year they let in corn from Canada on certain conditions ; now he believed he was very sincere in his opposition to the corn-law, but he voted, last night, against letting in Canada corn. It would give the Buckinghamshire squire an ally on the St. Lawrence.—(Hear, hear.) They were creating a corn-law in Canada, because one of the conditions upon which Canadian corn was to be admitted into this country, was that the corn of other countries should not be admitted into Canada. Now, he dis approved of all that ; and, therefore, he voted against it—(Hear, hear.) Last night, a proposition was made by a most excellent friend of his—a most honest and sincere man, whose sentiments he trusted they might soon-have' an opportunity of hearing, if they had not heard them before— that their other colonies might ',be 'placed on the same footing as Canada. He had not stated the reasons why he - vo t e d against it—no other person of his party enter tained the game views, and he found himself alone in the old lobby with the great landed interest of the country ; they glared upon him with wondering eyes ; and he believed that they supposed that he was, going to wheel round, and had already got his. left shoulder forward.—(Laughter.) But when he was asked why he voted with them? he said, that as he voted against " tinkering" last year, when it was proposed from the Tory side of the House, so he voted against " patching" this year when it came from the Liberal side of the House.—(Hear, hear.) He did not think that the corn-laws could ever be settled or amended by any of those " tinkerings" or " patchings." ____(Loud cheers.) There was another question which would come before them in a short period—he meant the " Ten Hours' Bill." It was a corn-law question —though it did not suit.the advocates on either side to argue it as such. The advocates of a "Ten Hours' Bill" were afraid to argue it as such for fear of driving of its supporters, and the advo catesaawloay any longer period could not do so for fear of of offending a large party ! of theirs. Now he voted against a Ten Hours Bill, but he was quite ready to take a Ten Hours' Bill if they gave him a repeal of the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) He did not like to interfere to regulate labour by law ; but, if they repealed the corn-laws, they would then no longer want inspectors to restrain persons from working longer than ten hours—(Hear, hear) —because they would be in such a situation of independence as would make ten hours the utmost period during which they would labour. Mr. Muntz, with some eccentricity, but with an independent and manly understanding, characteristic of him, told the House of Commons that the labouring classes were not in love with long hours, nor did they wish their children to work extravagant hours, but they were impelled to work by the necessity of eating.—(Hear, hear.) Let them give the people more to eat, and they would remove the necessity for long hours.—(Cheers.) When this was the case, the labouring r a i n n d g t m ha e t n w N a y s ou th ld e —(Hear, hear.) bonelyabwleatyo pthreoytecetouthldembseelyperso,teaeyted. Let them make what laws they would for their protection, and they would all fail ; but remove the corn-laws, and they would be able to protect themselves. There was one other subject to which he would refer: those who were more actively engaged in this agita tion, frequentyawasskemd,otuhledmbseelves/ when and by whom , the corn pleased God to afflict would be repealed whenever re pealed. Now, his own belief was, that the corn-la a merciful dispensation of Providence, rest country with a bad harvest.— ( this b ß ad ut ilar by_ i v a e w s would be f h ol e l a o r w .) ed A by s the repeal of the y w c ohronin they wy. ould be repealed, perhays, they would be sur e _ • prised when he told them that they would be repealed by the party now in power.—(llear, hear.) He did not know whether they knew his politics, but he never hesitated to avow himself a downright Radical. (Cheers.) But, he would not advise them to look to the Radicals as the party who would repeal the corn-laws. They never would be able to do so in his life-time. He hoped they would be able to do so in the life-time of some of those who now heard him. He believed they would be repealed by Sir R. Peel.—(Hear, hear.) And he would tell them why he thought so. There was some discussion on the subject in the House of Commons, and it was suggested by some person that he would probably repeal the corn-laws. He dis claimed the imputation pretty earnestly, but he was not a rash man, and he did so with some reservation —(Laughter)—for he said it was impossible to say what any man would, could, or might do.—(Laugh ter.) When a bad harvest came Sir R. Peel would no(be the last to perceive that the corn-laws could not be maintained any longer. He would then say that he was not the person who ought to repeal the corn-laws, and he would g..) and beg of her Majesty to accept of his resignation of the place he held in her councils.—(Laughter.) On some gloomy day, having done that, he would feel obliged to call the agricultural interest together, and he would make to them the same communica- tion he had made to her Majesty, and heavy tidings they would be to the agriculturists—(Laughter) — but when they had recovered from the consternation into which such a communication had thrown them, they would address him as Saul did his armour bearer—C6 Draw thy sword and thrust us through, lest t:iese uncircumsised Philistines should thrust us through."--(Great cheers and laughter.) The armour bearer of Saul was inexorable, he refused; but he (Mr. Gisborne) thought that Sir Robert Peel would not refuse, because he believed that having drawn his sword and thrust it through the Test and Corpora tion Acts—(Cheers) —that having drawn his sword and thrust it through the Catholic disabilities, he would draw it for the third time and thrust it through the Protectionists on the subject of the corn-laws.— (Great cheering.) Having now told them how the corn-laws were to be repealed, he had only to thank them for their kindness in hearing him so long, and he would now make way for those who, he had no doubt, would advocate this great cause much better than himself. The Hon. Gentleman retired amid tremendous cheering.) Mr. BRIGHT, M.P., then came forward to address the meeting, and was most enthusiastically received. It was always to him a matter of very great conso lation to remember that wherever they were as the advocates of the great cause of free trade, they not only always saw around them, and about them, those who were working in the same cause in which they were engaged—(Cheers)—but that in every part of the country there were men as anxious and earnest as themselves in the prosecution of the great work to which they had devoted themselves, not only in this country but in other parts of the world—in every commercial and civilised country there were men, as far as they had the power, who were endea vouring to put down the wide world's curse by which this country had been so long afflicted.—(Cheers.) They had met there in the heart of that great metro polis—and they met there almost every week—to dis cuss this question of the repeal of the corn-laws. A pa per published at Plymouth had advertised that an intel ligent gentleman there was giving lectures in favour of freedom of trade.—(Cheers.) And another paper, published on the banks of the Tyne, stated that a gentleman there was delivering lectures on the same subject. At the present moment there were two election contests proceeding. Those contests were purely in agricultural districts, and in both those constituencies the lessons of free trade were . being taught - by those who were well able to enlighten the inhabitants of those places upon that which was calculated to improve their knowledge of of what their real interests were. Hastings and Christchurch were now called upon to send Members to Parliament. Now he wished it to be borne in mind that these two places were not fields the Anti- Corn-law League had chosen out.—(Cheers.) It required considerable arrangement when boroughs were vacated to secure the return of Members, and that difficulty was increased when two were vacated at the same time. He had visited the borough of Hastings during the present party contest, and from that visit he was convinced of this, that the consti tuency were not well informed on the question of free-trade.—(Hear, hear.) They had been bandied about from Tory to Whig, and Whig to Tory, and had in short been made the instruments for returning Members to Parliament—(Hear, hear)—who held very frequently different opinions. At the present election they had shown themselves most unconscious of their electoral rights, or that upon the proper exercise of them depended the best interest, not only of themselves but their country.—(Cheers.) With respect to Christchurch he could not say much, not having been there, and not knowing much of it ; but he believed the case there was somewhat of the same description as it was at Hastings.—(Hear, hear.) Now the Anti-Corn-law League was a mu tual instruction society, and some of its members had been and were going to Hastings for the purpose of letting the electors know the truth of the case; and they were also going to Christchurch for the same purpose. The Anti-Corn-law League, it should be remembered, had only pledged itself to go to these boroughs, and inform the electors on what their rights and duties were ; but they had not pledged themselves to return free-trade candidates. — Of this, however, he was sure, that, by the course they were pursuing, they were weakening the interests of the monopolist party—(Cheers)—and there could be no doubt that the time was not far distant when they would be obliged to yield to those whom they now attempted to scorn, and even to despise.— (Cheers.) What was the consequence of all the dis cussions that had taken place in the League ? Why, the dispelling of the fallacies which the landlords had most industriously spread.—(Cheers.) Some of the largest landed proprietors, and even the clergy, were about they very last to get rid of those fallacies. —(Cheers.) In the Morning Post there was an account of a meeting of the Essex Protection Society. That meeting was addressed by the Rev. Mr. Shep herd, who said that they did not wish to interfere with any one, but to protect themselves and stop de solation from spreading through the length and breadth of the land.—(Laughter.) He stated further, that he thought that in attending that meeting, he was acting in a righteous cause.—(Laughter.) Why, must not the Rev. Gentleman have known—if he did not, he must have been living a most secluded life for some years past—that the object of the Essex Protection Society was to make food dear, although thousands in the country were in want of a proper supply of it ?—(Hear, hear.) Did not that Rev. Gentleman every day—if he did not, he ought to do so—read a prayer from which he must have learned that, in what he said at that meeting, he was flying in the face of the commands of an All-Wise Being ? —(Cheers.) But the Rev. Gentleman said, further, that land had obligations upon it long before tall chimneys were thought of. He alluded, he said, to tithes and poor-rates, which amounted to no less than s'. an acre. As occupiers and cultivators of the soil, they were bound to fulfil this obligation • and all that he asked was, that the Government would enable them to do so.—(Laughter.) But in saying that, he forgot the proper conclusion of the sentence—" at other people's expense."—(Great laughter.) Well, the Rev. Gentleman, not content with all this, pro ceeded to state that the support of the poor was as old as the Reformation. That might be all very true ; but equally ancient was the maxim that you should do unto others as you would be done by.—(Cheers.) Now, the Rev. Gentleman seemed to imagine that manufacturers and shopkeepers had no poor-rates to pay. It was true, that machinery did not pay poor-rates, or goods in shops, and for this reason that the quantities were always changing. The farmer paid poor-rates for his land, but not for his cattle, his stock, or his money at his banker's. So that the manufacturer and the farmer were placed on the same footing.—(Cheers.) Yet ignorant men, like the Rev. Mr. Shepherd, were to he found com ing forward and making the statements he had re ferred to. But at the meeting a working man, of the name of Williams, addressed them for the purpose of exposing, as it was said, the sophistries of the League. —(Laughter.) Now it was worth while and curious to see at these meetings who these working men were who were received, as they were told, with such ac clamations ; the fact of his blistered hands, his working-dress, were all forgotten, or, if the truth must be told, they did not exist, because the fact was these men were sham working men.—(Cheers.) They were men who knew not what work was ; but who lived upon the pay they received for the assistance they gave to the landlords to keep up a delusion injurious to the working men.— (Cheers.) But that was not all; there were other men as bad as clergymen; and in speaking of the clergy he felt compelled to say, that the statement of Mr. Shep herd did not represent the opinions of the best and most sincere of the clergy of this country. He (Mr. Bright) believed that in that body there were thousands who wished success to the Anti-Corn-law League, but who dare not publicly state so.—(Cheers.) Now he would refer to another case that was reported in the Post, it was that of a meeting which was copied from a Kelso paper, which took place at Jedburgh, from which about 9-20ths of the county were excluded ; and Lord Polwarth at that meeting stated, in moving a resolution, that he would rather it had been brought mstßhaslpxtaibri Noble to suspicion ; e hl, who he a forward by a tenant-farmer, because anything coming from a landlord would be looked upon. with u oi andjthoseo alsorhdme.de Hb mye believed,as Aadlierdsome was they a Scott, the shn statementsshould d. e very si- Mlroeomlia,btio to the t f 0 : r ef mortality that had taken place in the manufacturing districts since manufactures had been so much perse vered in. Why, in Manchester the average of human life had been increased 25 per cent. within the last 40 years. Then he said that there was no religious in struction in those districts. Why, the very reverse was the fact. So much for the facts by which it was attempted to gull those who had attended the meeting. But then it was said wages had de clined, now he could assert without fear of contra- tion that they had increased.—(Cheers.) But it was not so amongst the agriculturists of this country. His Hon. Friend Mr. Gisborne had alreidy told them that, since the days of his grandfather, the farm la bourers of this country had been receiving less and less of the produce of the farms in exchange for their labour. It was clear, that as far as manufac turers were concerned their duty had been performed; that they had made everything cheaper hy greater skill, greater industry, and greater intelligence ; that all those who purchased the produce of that skill, industry, and intelligence, could have more than they had thirty years ago ; whilst, with regard to the pro duce of the soil—that sacred property for which law seemed to be alone made, that to which everything else, it seemed, must bow—those who were employed in the production of that, were not able to obtain so much for their industry as they did thirty or forty years ago.—(Cheers.) There was another Lord there, Lord John Scott, a brother he believed of the Duke of Buccleuch, who said, " To begin with the begin. ning, he was sure that this meeting did not consider the present amount of protection more than sufficient, when they took into consideration the burdens of the land in this country." Let it be borne in mind, that they had asked them over and over again to point out these burchns, and nobody had pointed them out, so far as he was aware, except a Mr. Baker, of Essex, whose statements had been declared, by one of the Members for the county of Oxford, to be grossly ex aggerated :—" Considering the burdens upon the land of this country ; the different state of society ; the different food ; the different clothing ; the diffe rent habits of life among the labourers, whom they would not wish to see brought back to the condition of the labourers on the Continent, whose Cernpara tively wretched condition he had, J)irnself witnessed, whatever Cobden might say to the contrary."— (Laughter.) The Dersetshire case, he believed, was not disputed. The Rev. Mr. Osborne stated that to send the labourei from Dorsetshire into the neigh bouring ,counties would be no advantage to him, see ing than in those no difference existed. He (Mr. 'Bright) could assert, that to send labourers to Scotland would be no gain to them, for labourers could there be bad for six shillings a week.—(Hear.) It appeared to him that this Lord John Scott, living as he did in luxury, and associating only with the Duke of Buccleuch and men of enormous wealth, had altogether overlooked the real condition of the farm labourers of this country; or, if not, with an effrontery which could hardly be considered possible, he came forward to assert that these labourers were better off than the labourers of many continental States. This nobleman further asserted that the bur den of the national debt was borne by land, and asked how, until that debt were swept away, the agricul turists could maintain their position with free trade ? Now, it always happened, that when the corn-law was doing its work best, and giving the best prices for corn, the revenue of this country seriously fell off, and in order to quiet the fears of those who had money in the funds, the Parliament for the time being were called upon to impose fresh taxes. If the corn-law paid off the national debt, or the interest of it, how happened it that it did not pay it in the years 1838, 1839, 1840, and 1841 ?—(Hear, hear.) When the corn-law for a time ceased to do its work, and by the blessing of Providence they had bountiful harvests, which brought them to the condition in which they would be if there were no corn-laws, the taxes became more productive, and the revenue rose instead of falling.— (Hear, hear, hear.) Speaking of their funds, Lord John Scott said they were determined not to apply to them for the purpose of influencing the elections, which would be infringing the Constitution. —(Hear, hear.) Yet these very men insisted upon their tenants voting as they pleased, and their class, throughout almost every county in England, returned Members to Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) It was a piece of hypocrisy which one hardly knew how to speak of. He could not understand how one of these landholders could use such language in a meeting where farmers, and especially where any independent men, were present, with , ut blushing to so deep a hue that every person would perceive that he was stating that which he knew to be uttterly untrue.—(Cheers.) He (Lord J. Scott) said that the manufacturers raised the cry of cheap bread, and said that the people were starving—" The greedy manu facturer stopped the mouths of his workmen with the cry of cheap bread." Now they wanted to stop their mouths with bread itself, and not with the cry of bread.—(Cheers.) It could not be said that the manufacturers of this country dimi nished the amount of food. They did not prevent the landlords from growing as much as they liked ; they did not compel them to send any wheat out of the country. It must, therefore, be the landholders and their law which starved the people, and not the manu facturers, who were contending for that freedom of industry which would enable the people to purchase their food in the best markets.—(Cheers.) Well, then, there was another statement which might as well have been made during a recent debate. The Noble Lord said that the manufacturers did a great deal by the aid or machinery, and that they got all their work done by women and children, and that when the children came to a cer tain age they were turned off, and the consequence was that many became handloom weavers at ss. a week. As children only were employed, these men got married in order that they might have children to support them, thereby increasing the population and showing that as trade increased the greater must be the amount of ntisery. Now he knew not in what other order of society they could find a man who could put together so many things which had no sort of connection with each other.—(Hear, hear.) It was scarcely possible to understand what he meant. There were four or five things, all of which were utterly untrue, jumbled together into one sentence, making that which no man living could get any sense out of.—(Great laughter.) In the first place, that manufacturers kept no men was an utter falsehood. It was notorious that in all times of ordinary prosperity in the manufacturing districts the labour of men was as difficult to obtain as the labour either of women or children.—(Hear, hear.) In 1835 and 1836 there was not a labouring man in those districts, able and willing to work, who could not have as much work as he chose. It was perfectly absurd for men of this description to talk about that of which they were wholly ignorant, never having seen a mill or a chimney, except when travel ling by mail or railway. Lord John Scott further said that the reduction of wages was what the League were seeking for, and that reduction was to be made upon the ruin of the agricultural interest. Now he would not take up the time of the meeting by proving for the thousandth time that a reduction of wages would not follow from the repeal of the corn-laws. The corn-law had, from the first been insidiously, but most surely, reducing the wages of the operatives. In all those years when the corn-law was a dead letter, they had wages constantly rising; while in those years when it operated with the in tensest severity, the people were thrown out of em ployment by thousands, and those who were employed received less than their usual amount of wages.— (Hear, hear.) After thanking the meeting for the attention with which they had listened to his obser vations, this speaker congratulated the Government that they had not submitted to an interested clamour, and repealed a law this year which they made the last. On the presentation of a protection petition a few weeks ago in the House of Commons, in which allusion was made to " interested clamour," there was a general titter amongst those who sat on the Ministerial side, arising, doubtless, from the con sciousness that they were the interested parties.— (Hear, hear.) Now, a Mr. Dudgeon —the name ought to have been Gudgeon—(Hear, hear)—in speaking of the condition of the agricultural labourer, said that he was now a better dressed man on a Sun day than the tenant was some years ago. Who dressed him ?—(Laughter.) If the landlords had imi tated the manufacturers in their improvements, not one industrious individual would have been found who would not have been fully supplied at least with the necessaries of life.—(Hear.) Now he had there a practical refutation of two fallacies which were very often made use of at these political meetings. One of them was, that if they were to take foreign corn, manufactured goods would not be taken in exchange ; and that there would, therefore, be no increase of employment in the manufacturing districts ; and the other was that they would be ob bliged to pay for foreign corn in gold. Now, a gentle man, who was extensively engaged in the City as a seedsman and corn-factor, had given him a case, which proved how utterly untrue were the arguments of the monopolist. —(Hear, hear.) Carraway seed was an article of very small consumption—used chiefly, he believed, by confectioners—but it had lately become useful in several manufacturing processes. Now, before Sir Robert Peel altered the tariff the duty on carraway seed was 30s. per cwt., which was a duty entirely prohibitory. By the new tariff that duty was reduced to 10s. per cwt., and in conse quence of the reduction there had been a consider able importation of this article. Although the annual consumption did not exceed 300 or 400 tons, there had not been less than 100 tons imported during the first year of the new tariff. He had invoices and bills drawn for the payment of this seed. Here (exhibiting it) was an invoice to the amount of 771. 17s. 6d., drawn by the party in Rotterdam on the seedsman in London. IVell, now where had the b:li been since it was drawn? It had gone from Rot tc rdam to Cephalonia. From Cephalonia to Corfu — it then came to London, where the transaction was settled.—(Hear, hear.) No money had passed between the seedsman and the Rotterdam dealer. But he had another case from the same party which was still stronger. Here was another bill for 491. 17s. 11d. It passed through several hand 4, and at length it obtained the endorsement of the Sheffield Banking Company. It was this proved that it went to Sheffield to pay for some arti cles which had been sent abroad from that town.— (Hear, hear.) Now here was another case-2451. for 140 bags of carraway seed—all from Rotterdam. There was another for 1251., having several names on it, and last of all the endorsement of Mr. Leo Schus ter, a foreign merchant of the highest respectability, carrying on business in Manchester, and who shipped goods from Manchester to the Continent: Now . what had been the effect of the reduction of the duty ? Before it took place there was no trade in that article. What they consumed was grown chiefly in Kent and Essex. It was used only, or chiefly, by confectioners. There had been an im portation of 100 tons. The price had not fallen in consequence, but carraway seeds were now applied to several other purposes, and especially in manufac turing processes, to which they were not formerly applied. It was evident that the goods which went out in payment of these seeds would require ship ment. In short, that the alteration was an unmixed good to the. industry of this country, and a complete refutation of the absurd mil childish fallacies which the landlords were constantly preaching up to their tenants. Whilst upon this subject, he would refer to canary seed, an article - with which most of the boys had doubtless been familiar. Canary seed was used in this country to the amount of 10,000 quarters an nually, and used, he believed, almost exclusively' for the feeding of birds. The duty under the old tariff was 60s. per cwt.—a duty entirely prohibitory. The duty under the new tariff was 4s. per bushel, also entirely prohibitory— Nearly all the canary seed used in this *country was grown in Kent. Sir Fadward `Knatchbiill, it was affirmed, as represen tatite Of Kent, and a Cabinet Minister, had, through his overwhelming influence, protected the native in dustry of the men of Kent—resisted the threatened inroad upon its agricultural prosperity—and pre vented the reduction of the duty on canary seed. That seed was bought chiefly by hand-loom weavers, journeymen tailors, shoe-makers, and others in various parts of the country, by men who worked in their own houses or shops, and kept birds to beguile their toil with song.—(Cheers.) This magnanimous states man used all the influence which he possessed as a Cabinet Minister to raise the price of the food of these little innocent canary birds, and, to some ex tent, injured the men who worked at the businesses to which he had referred.—(Cheers.) Now he (Mr. Bright) believed that all the other fallacies which these men had propagated might be disposed of with equal facility.—(Cheers.) The principles of free trade were so simple that no unbiassed man could hear them and hesitate to admit their existence. Everything around him—everything recorded in history—everything which he saw in the arrange ment of the universe—everything which came within his own cognizance—everything which prompted him in his own heart—told him that the principle of free trade was that which Providence intended to direct the world, and not the impotent, mis chievous, and imbecile system of monopoly which they were then endeavouring to overthrow. They asked that the wide world should be their work shop and their market ; and they were persuaded that public opinion was rolling on with a power and a rapidity which nothing could now stop— (Hear, hear)—and that that princple must in conse quence very soon be adopted by the country, and from this country its adoption must quickly spread to every civilised country in the world. — (Hear.) The land-owners, by infringing on that principle, had got themselves into almost inextricable confusion. They made paupers by thousands, they rendered life and property insecure—they desolated the homes of thousands of the population, over whom they ought to be guardians, and of whom they ought to be the defenders.—(Cheers.) They had themselves ac knowledged a law which gave to the pauper the right of a maintenance from the land on which he was born ; and when those paupers multiplied to such a degree that their rents were threatened, then those land owners quarrelled with the law they themselves had made, and the principle they had adopted ; and they endeavoured, by means unreasonable and harsh in the extreme, to prevent paupers coming upon them for support. They were about to pass a new poor-law, which, whether it were just or unjust, would be ut terly impracticable as a measure suited to the great amount of pauperism in this country ; for the Com missioners were compelled, from time to time, to relax the stringency of the law in particular localities, and now the Government itself was preparing to make considerable relaxations. But if the tide of pauperism were not checked in some way, this new Poor-law Bill would be found quite as bad as the other. Those men of whom he spoke knew well enough what was right, but they would not go to it. Like a man in the mud, who the more he struggled the deeper he got, they kicked about in all possible directions, and they set up a false scent for the people to run after. They spread fallacies the most childish, and affected to believe them themselves. They did all that for the purpose of saving themselves for a time from that which was at last inevitable—an honest, wise, and just course of policy.—(Cheers.) Why, some time ago the Prime Minister had not hesitated to throw out some insinuations as to machinery being in some sort injurious to the people, and the cause of manufac turing distress. That charge at all events could not be brought forward in proof of agricultural distress. —(Hear, hear.) But they had now got upon the scent, that if the people worked less they would be the better for it. To show the fallacy of such a position, he need only instance the cotton trade, of which the whole world was the market. Five-sixths of the cotton produce of this country was sent abroad, and he should like to know how their new law could affect calicos in foreign markets. Mr. James Deacon Hume, an authority held in the highest estimation by both Sir R. Peel and Lord J. Russell, in writing in 1834, declared that the distress of the manufacturing classes arose from their being compelled by natural causes to seek foreign markets as sellers of the goods they produced, whilst they were prevented by artificial causes from going into those markets as buyers of the goods they wanted. He showed that the agriculturist had the advantage of selling his goods at home, in a market insufficiently supplied, whilst the manufacturer constantly sold his goods in a market which was always glutted ; and from all he wrote it , appeared clearly that the last two or three hours per day of the toil of the working man was imposed on him by the monopolies which the landowners created by those burdens, which, if the Legislature were wise, just, and honest, they would immediately remove.—(Hear.) In the manufacturing districts of the north there was a disposition to work shorter hours, and they would work shorter time when it was possible for people to live, and trade to be carried on, with a shorter number of hours, The young men in shops were insisting on the closing at earlier hours, and in Manchester the young men in warehouses compelled their employers to close their ware houses one afternoon in the week, and was it possible, that whilst such alterations were going on in the midst of a factory population, the operatives there should not think of having some relaxation from the protracted hours of toil and atten tion to labour ? There was not a population in this country to which the landholders owed more—there was not a population which deserved more perfect justice from a landowning Government—there was not a population which had given more to the re venues of the country, •or had more increased the rentals of the landowners, than the working men of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. He thought it a principle which no man could dispute, that interference with free labour ought to be at tempted with the greatest possible caution, or it might lead to inextricable embarrassments. He thought that there could be no law in this country for the purpose of fixing the maximum and minimum of wages. If they were to fix wages as they were in Dorsetshire, at 6s. or 7s. per week, he should not like to fix them for the county in which he lived.—(Hear, hear.) What they ought to do was to try the strength, the virtue, and the efficacy of every known good principle, be fore they had recourse to any " tinkering" and tam pering with principles acknowledged to be bad.— (Hear, hear.) They had that principle set forth, as he had stated, throughout the world. He was one of those who were persuaded that free trade would do, for all the working classes in this country, all that which the most benevolent and humane man desired ; and he believed that it would throw down the barrier which was now upreared between benevo lence and humanity, and the objects on which those virtues would exercise themselves. He was persuaded, from the condition of the population amongst whom he lived, and from the temper and disposition of the manufacturers, that there would be in those districts a state of harmony and good feeling—a condition of prosperity and general com fort, under a system of perfectly free trade, such as never yet existed in this country; and he believed had never yet been seen in any part of the United Kingdom.—(Cheers.) They asked of the Legisla ture that they should no longer presumptuously interfere between the laws of nature and of Provi dence and the industry of the people over whom they ruled. That principle was gaining ground every day ; and not only in the metropolis but in the most remote towns and villages every day added to their ranks intelligent, energetic, and hard working indivi duals who would stand by this struggle to its final issue. He believed there were some distinguished individuals from foreign countries present that night, and he said in their presence, that the principle of the corn-law had been long scouted from every coun try but this; and there was not an intelligent foreigner who would not point out the corn-law as the worst stain on the legislation of any country ; and with all our enterprise, patriotism, and virtue * it must be a matter of the utmost astonishment to intelligent fo reigners, that we permitted such a law as this to exist so long. The men who were loudest in their support of protection in the field, were voiceless and motionless in the senate. They left it to the only clever men amongst :them—the members of the Ad ministration—to aiswer the speech of the Hon. Member for Stockport; and he knew not whether the speech made in moving for the Committee, or the speech delivered in refusing that Committee, would be the more powerful in advancing their cause. There was no one among the Ministry who could say one word in favour of the corn-laws ; but they were driven to use evasive language rather than openly defend the position they had taken up. Throughout the country, there was gathering an opinion in favour of the abolition of all protection. But, let their rulers take what course they pleased, there was no power on earth could maintain the present unjust system, and there was no doubt they would see trade in this country entirely free, and bringing every return which the world offered for our produce.—(Continued cheering.) Mr. W. J. Fox then came forward, and was re ceived with enthusiastic cheering, which continued for a considerable time. After the cheering had sub sided, he said—That some very just observations had been made by the Hon. Member who had spoken first that evening, about the undesirableness of taking a one sided view of a question in an association of those with whom their opinions were identical and their sympa thies were strong. Be it little or be it much, it was almost unavoidable in that matter of the corn -laws, because, so far as the:League was concerned,it had but one side. The Pro-Corn-law meetings would not admit them there, and they would not come to the Anti-Corn-law League meetings. They (the Leaguers) must bear with that evil, how great soever its extent—(Hear, hear.) — however he thought that an intelligent foreigner who might not be intimate with the mechanism of society in this country, and who should attend several such meetings as the present in succession, would be strongly impressed with the conviction that their most sanguine expectations were sure of being rea lised. In the unprece iented numbers that had been gathered together week after week in this metropolis —in the greatest assemblages in that house of all ranks and classes in society—in the voluntary order and harmony of their proceedings, and the interest with which the topics of discussion were received—in the concurrence of the views which were put forward with those of the soundest philo sophers, on the production and distribution of national wealth—in the responses to their feelings and opinions which were manifested throughout the country from time to time, even in the most distant towns and villages—in the determination which had been evinced there by them never to shrink from the assertion of the principles which they held—never to abandon or relax in demanding the removal of unjust taxation—in all that he apprehended that a close ob server would see evidence that the repeal of the corn laws, and all other monopolies, was marked down as an inevitable result. Some Hon. Gentlemen referred to the time when the country should be visited by a bad harvest, which he said must lead to the abolition of the corn-laws. But some other elements would enter into the destruction of monopoly, for many bad harvests had already occurred without effecting such a good. While the intelligent foreigner would behold in their assemblages only a reason for the expecting the abo lition of monopoly, he might be induced perhaps to visit another place, and breathe another atmosphere, where a different impression would be conveyed to his mind, and where he would see every symptom of a stubborn and dogged resistance to those wise, just, and beneficent measures.—(Hear, hear.) And how did those symptoms of resistance manifest them selves ? They saw on the one hand that the advocates of a repeal of the corn-laws evinced a frank com munication of generous sentiments—a heartening up of their fellow-labourers for the conflict on behalf of the helpless against the powerful—an encouragement to carry out in human institutions that great provision entire by which the diversity of all regions might be converted into the benefit of mankind. On the other hand, they would see a surly and impassable resist ance, in order to oppose that result.—(Hear, hear.) Instead of argument, they would find an affected silence on the subject. He (the foreigner) would see numbers of persons met together, professedly to con sult the welfare of the natiou, where the one, sole, paramount topic that occupied the mind and heart of the nation was continually passed over—few cared for or countenanced its being brought forward. No measure tending to relieve the people from the heavy pressure upon them which obstructed the supply of the necessaries of life, had yet found its way there, still less been adopted there; and, in short, the position of that House would forcibly bring to men's minds the old story of Queen Elizabeth's times. The Queen said to the Speaker, afterwards Chief Justice Popham, " Well, Mr. Speaker, what passed io the House of Commons ?" The Speaker replied, with a low bow, "May it please your Ma jesty, seven weeks have passed."—(Great laughter.) Why there had not even been inquiry there. Some of the agricultural members told them they did not und.ritand the subject, but yet those very gentlemen resisted all inquiry ; and surely if those who advo cated the repeal of the corn-laws were ignorant of wh it they advocated they had but a poor chance of enlightenment from the discussions of these gentlemen. Assuredly from these gentlemen they derived no assistance for its better co m prehe nsi On.—( Hear.) The agricultural Members complained of the burdens which affected land, but they refused all inquiry into these burdens.—(Hear, hear.) They would not allow it to be ascertained what the particular pressure was. All must be taken upon trust—for those Hon. Members seemed to think inquiry would be as perilous to the cause which they advocated as examination with lighted torches into a gunpowder manufactory.—(Hear, hear.) And yet meanwhile those assertions were received with ap p'ause by their retainers out of doors. A large license was given to these retainers—statements were made of the conduct and intentions of those ma nufacturers and others who advocated the repeal of the corn-laws, which, if there was a particle of truth in them, ought to be put in the most distinct form, and be supported by the clearest evidence—they used a latitude of speech to which there was little resemblance in the proceedings of other bodies. This meeting had heard to-night quotations from the speeches of the Anti-League men, in which it was broadly asserted that the members of the Anti-Corn-law League had attempted to excite discontent, and to enrage the people of this country—statements so far from the truth, so substantially devoid of all verisimilitude, that if such proceedings went on much longer their speeches would become proverbial for their false hood, and when people talked of mendacity, they would familiarly say that " he lies like a pro-corn law speaker."—(Great laughter, and cries of " Hear, hear.") Connected with this subject, there was an affected bustle in trivial and unimportant matters. Resolutions were passed going in one direction one night and in another direction another night—there was great talk of humanity, with little appearance of any solid advantage to be bestowed on the commu nity. They " Marched up the hill. and then marched down again." Or, like the inveterate sinner of Doctor Young, who resolved in the evening and broke his resolution in the morning. In the course of the debate, allusion had been made to a memorable historical character, Jack Cade. The allusion seemed to have so fastened on the attention of the House, that it seemed wonderful a Se lect Committee of country gentlemen had not been ap pointed to inquire into the history and principles of Mr. Cade, as he was now more respectfully termed. — (Laughter.) A lesson very instructive might be derived from the experience of those times, and the labours of such a Committee must needs be attended with advantage, for they must be impartial and give both sides of the subject. In one of the chronicles of Shakspeare, they found that one of the leading prin ciples of Cade's follower's was, " that the King's fol lowers were no good workmen." Now, he thought that was not at all inapplicable to some recent displays of the workmanship of the present Cabinet.— (Hear, hear.) Cade was a great regulator, and interfered with business which he did not understand, and yet in that interference, he did not show a worse disposition, for he declared that seven halfpenny loaves should be sold in London for a penny, which would not be a worse law than that of those who enacted that six halfpenny loaves should be sold for fourpence.—(Hear, hear.) Cade was met by an embassy in which the Duke of Buckingham of that day was ambassador. The Duke said he found him in his answers very discreet ' • but notwith standing this discretion, the Duke led him into treachery, which resulted in his execution ; and thus ended the first alliance between the Duke of Buck ingham and those who attempted to disturb the country, and to excite riot and confusion. Cade said that he built a chimney—but they were not told whether or not it was a tall chimney.—(Laughter.) He was no factory man evidently. He came from that county which, in our own day, had been adorned by the eloquence of a Bradshaw, the divinity of a Molesworth, the divine mission of a Thom, the refined gentleness of a Winchilsea, and the legislative frank ness and impartiality of a Knatchbull. Some con temporaneous historians asserted that he was really a doctor, but, like some doctors of our own times, he would not prescribe until he was called in. He got him self prematurely called in, and found himself in such an awkward scrape, that he used all his ingenuity to get himself out of it with a whole skin if he could.— (Laughter.) His attention had been attracted, on that morning, to what purported to be a report of a speech of Lord Stanley's, in which that Noble Lord said that the question of the corn-laws was one of infinite importance and infinite deli cacy. In fact, it was so delicate that it was scarcely safe to whisper about it, lest the great agricultural interest should le alarmed, and betake itself unto the extravagance of a panic.—(Laughter.) There were two reasons urged against legalising the importation of foreign corn—two reasons alike con clusive. It was not to be introduced from o ne country, because they could send corn here; nor from the other, because they had none to send. Such was held to be a sufficient reason for keeping the law as it was, and for saving the landlord from a panic.— ' ([rear, hear.) And were they really so sensitive as all this ? Might there not be yet some further reasoji for this sensitiveness than any apprehension of the influx of Indian corn ? There was no Tamboff in India that could possibly create such misgivings in their minds as to make them fearful of even ap proaching the shadow of an alteration in these laws. Was it not rather that the Ministers themselves were held strictly to their allegiance ? It was not a panic among the landowners that was dreaded, but a panic in the Cabinet.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Lest those who created that Cabinet should take it into their heads to destroy it, the members of it prudently abstained from making any relaxation in their policy. If such was the miserable state of subjugation—the degraded dependence in which the Administration of this great county was placed, he thought, when there was so much sympathy for slavery of all kinds—for the negro under the lash, and even for those who worked by — their free consent in the factories, surely some voluntary association should be established for the emancipation of her Majesty's Ministers.--(Cheers.) In those various indications, the attentive looker-on would see different forms and phases, conveying the, intention of obstinate resistance, under one form or. other. He would naturally ask how was that r sistance to be maintained ?—where were its bounds? —what was its strength ?—(Hear, hear.) One House met his eye which was made up of landowners—not with landowners free indeed, who held receipts in full, but still, in right of the class to which they be longed, hereditary legislators —some of them might have fought battles, and some of their grandfathers came by their titles and estates by worse tricks than gaining battles. This class formed a legisla tive body, when the capacity for law-making was presumed to descend from generation to generation. —(Hear, hear.) Another body there was in the exercise of considerable influence, which purported to be a constitutional and fair representation of the people of this country. There were some recent returns which illustrated the relation in which the great bulk of the people stood with the possessors of landed property. These returns showed that of the English voters four sevenths were country voters. Of these country , voters one-quarter of the whole number were 501. tenants-at-Will. In Wales the country voters were differently divided, and the tenants-at-will had a clear majority.—(Hear, hear.) Of 320,000 borough voters in England, 120,000 and upwards belonged to the lass of freemen and liverymen, and scot and lot voters and pot-wallopers. (Laughter.) Large masses of these voters were capable of being acted upon by corrupt influences, and they were so in fluenced, sometimes directly, but more frequently by indirect means. One man influenced his depen dent, or protege, and he, in turn, influenced his neighbour. Men filling the highest situation were not ashamed to be parties to proceedings of this kind ; and, only a few days ago, a circumstance was reported in the Morning Chronicle, which was only one of thousands that daily took Place. A Ca binet Minister of this country, who had acquired much reputation for skill in farming, advertised that he had a farm to let—various offers were made, but one was higher than the rest—the highest bidder was. admitted to a special interview with the landlord's agent, who having been satisfied with the cha- razter and respectability of the proposed tenant, was on the point of deciding, when the following conver sation occurred :—" Agent—What are your politics? Offerer—Liberal. Agent—What religious persua sion do you belong to ? Offerer—l am a Dis- senter. Agent—But the tenant of this farm must vote, go to church, and poll with his landlord.—(Groans.> Offerer—Then, Sir, I am not prepared to sacrifice my religious and political principles to gratify your master's lust for power."—(Cheers.) Thus were Englishmen befooled, but if the system were tho roughly exposed through the press it would be shamed out of existence. This was the way the landocrucy attempted to control the consciences of their depend ents, and too often did control them. They seemed to say in the words of Campbell, " Oh, we know all about God Almighty better than you do a thousand times." A few days ago an excellent school had been put down by one of these landowners because its en lihtened aad liberal mode of education did not suit his taste, which was in accordance with the Scotch _ _ _ _ _ Judge who presided at the trial of Muir and Palmer, and who said that no man had a right even to speak of the Constitution unless he possessed landed property. Here, then, was a power which might long resist the force of public opinion, but what would be the con sequences of that resistance ? Was it possible, with such a feeling as had been evinced in the many meet - ings that had been held there, and which prevailed to so large an extent throughout the country—vvas it possible with the strong conviction and determination which millions and millions of their countrymen en tertained on this subject—was it possible that no evil should result from such a collision ? Was it pos sible that the consequences, the unhappy consequences, of the present condition of multitudes should not pro duce their results in the limitation of manufacturing industry—in the failure, one after another, of our markets—in the alternation of seasons of varying com mercial and agricultural distress—in suffering more deep than any charitable societies, or any mitigated system of poor-laws would ever be able to reach ? These were gigantic, yet at the same time growing evils, that must sooner or later be grappled with, and by a statesmanship equal to the achievement of the largest commercial reform that any country perhaps. ever yet experienced. But what else could be done ? What else was to be done ? There was some talk of emigration, of exporting a portion of the people of this country to other lands. They did not send away their horses, or if they did it was for a high price, showing the estimate set upon their worth.—(Laughter.) The horses did not go about neighing by way of petitioning every human being for work ; he was too valuable for that ; but let him walk on two legs instead of four; let him have what was called " the human face divine ;" let him be capable of looking up in high aspiration to Heaven; let him have a brain where thought might work in all its mighty energie; let him have a heart beating with affection; let him have strength in his. arm, still all this could not avail him, he must ga about asking for work, and perhaps after all be told, that although a horse was valuable, yet that a man was worthless ' • and that the best thing that could be done with him, was to send him out of the country.—(Cheers.) There was a time when a .human being—they were told by the highest au thority—was " of more value than many sparrows." —(Hear.) But this was not said now—at sparrow was worth something to the country peopk, who could put it into a pudding, but a pauper 'who was neither wanted for work nor fit to be eaten, it seemed that the only thing that could be dose with him was to send him out of the country. As far as this hopeful idea was capable of being carried out now, there was a disposition evinced to do it; those who might enrich the land by their toil—who might by earning their own means of subsistence minister to the support and gratification of others, even though those others should dwell in distant regions—they would, if such a policy could be wrought out, be driven in shoals to the coast, there to be shipped oft; bound to some Cape—not of Good Hope—but of hope most forlorn—some to Canada—some to Australia; and if they went in such vessels as were usually given to emigrants as transports—some perhaF, bound to eternity—startling the depths of ocean. (Loud cheers)—by an unexpected invasion o r r a colony of emancipated corpses. It was said that the country was making strides in demoralisation. *What hold could spiritual teachers have on a pea* who had to battle earnestly for being allowed to earn the means of subsistence?—(Hear hear.) What favour able hearing could they expect from a people against w hom the law preached another gospel-- --a gospel of s tarvation, as opposed to their gospel of freedom and plenty—a gospel denying them their 'daily bread, which it was inculcated in the other that they should ask of Heaven ?—(Cheers.) Less and less must be the. influence of those teachers, as this ruinous and de graded policy manifested its deformity, less and less must be their influence of every kind. Eating was antecedent to learning, and all must be preceded by that work—the people must be fed, before they could expect their minds to be cultivated, or their characters to be forrned.—(Cheers.) But the worst feature of this worn-out feudal policy—though it was a compliment to call it feudal, for it was much more sordid than anything that could be found in feudal-- ism—the worst feature in this policy was not only ite; war against the physical and spiritual comfort of *o people, it was that it warred against the morale of the nation, it warred against education, and enlightenment, and against civilisation it self.—(hear, hear.) It tended, if its whole results were accomplished, to turn back the nation to its ages of barbarism, to overspread the land with an untu tored banditti , repaying the vindictive and selfish lF ssons they had learned by example—it opened be fore them, through a long vista, yet distinct in its. remoteness—blazing and roaring —a volcano of revo lution.—(Loud cheers.) Foolish people were this aristocracy—(Hear, hear)—to abuse the League—t sneer at the League. Why the League stood betwe en them and ruin. —(Loud cheers.) The League st , 00 d between them and such hatred and execration r no class of men, one would think, would abid' a th e pelting of. It ex c it e d h o p e i n m i n d s th a t would otherwise be driven to desperation. There , was a prospect in its peaceful and firm, but decided advance—a p ros p ec t o f are - a dj us t men t o f scr .iiety, of a restoration of amity between class ar class— of a healing for the words which had f' .stered into bitterness—of a reconciliation between it Lterests which at present stood at the extremes of .nosity and in congruity. For all this they 5/. -icitild thank the e' ti lt if 10 0 ill i 9• 5