The Sun. — London, England, 1844-06-20 00:00:00

GhAND WEEKLY ANTI-CORN- - LAW LEAGUE MEETING AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE The usual weekly meeting of the members, friends, and supporters of the National Anti-Corn-law League took - place last evening at the Theatre Royal Covent- Garden. The house was more crowded than it has been on several recent occasions, and there was a very full attendance of ladies in the Nixes. The doors were open at seven, and within ten minutes after the boxes and pit • were crammed, and before the com mencement of the proceedings the gallery also was completely occupied. At half-past seven o'clock G. Wilson, Esq., the Chairman of the League, entered the theatre, and was received with loud applause. He was accompanied by several active members of the League, among whom were Mr. Cobden, M.P., Mr. Milner Gibson, M.P., Mr. Geo. Thompson, and Mr. W. J. Fox, who were loudly cheered by the meeting. Among these present, we observed the following : Benjamin Smith, Esq., M.P. ; the Rev. Thomas Spencer, of Hinton Charterhouse, near Bath; Col. Tucker - George Thomps on , E sq . ; R ev . D r . D av i s; Rev. Mr. Roberts,• New Bedford, Massachusetts; Professor Wright, Boston, United States; Rev. Dr. Jenkyn, Coward College; Summers Harford, Esq. ; William Felkho Esq., F.L.S., S.P., &c.; Professor Key; General Briggs; Rev. S. Edwards, Notting ham ; Ed. Wm. Gray, Esq., Newbury; Messrs. John Ravvsthorne, of Manchester ; Charles Mackay; W. D. Starling, Stourbridge; J. D. Cummings, Thomas Hoyle, Rochdale; Crew, Shelley House, Essex ; 11. Warland; R. Palmer; H. I'. Stanton; John Bloor, Tutbury, Derbyshire ; Samuel Lucas ; W. A. Wil kinson ; J. P. Barnard ; •A. Bauer ; Frederick Far rand ; Sidney Kennedy; P. A. Taylor ; Thomas Carman ; J. Carlton ; T. Johnson, Sunderland; • Samuel Rogers, Isle of Man ; Duff, Isle of Man ; Garrett, jun., Isle of Man ; William Leaf; Press Granger ; Oliver Wilcocks; W. Thornborrow ; M. Curtis, Manchester; J. Ridge ; Charles Cobby; George Dilly, Newbury ; J. Elkin ; John M'Call ; D. Jonassohn ; George 'Wood ; W. Geasin ; John Ilowarth, Rochdale ; W. G. Thomson ; A. Thomson ; Tho Mas Thornton. The proceedings commenced by the CHAIRMAN calling on the Secretary to read the minutes of the preceding meeting, which, having been done, the minutes were confirmed, on the motion of Mr. G. Tiromrsoe, seconds d by Mr. AL GIBSON, M.P. The CHAIRMAN then came forward, and addressed the meeting as folkews :—Ladies and Gentlemen, we are again assembled here to discuss the great and un redressed grievance of monopoly the parent of scarcity, which still continues to weigh down our industry—to express our hostility to its long continu ance, and the fixed purpose and determination of the League to increase its efforts, if that be possible, for its speedy and final overthrow.—(Loud cheers.) Before we meet again in this place for the promotion of the objects of free trade, our excellent friend, Mr. Villiers, will have submitted this question to the con sideration and decision of the house of Commons.— (Cheers.) I will not now stay to inquire as to the probable manner in which the Members of the House of Commons may treat that motion ; it is sufficient for us to know, that after their election to Parliament for the purpose of upholding and continuing monopoly, the rank and file of the -monopolists, who think it right to sacrifice every interest of the coun try to their own, are not likely to make any concessions now; but we trust there will come a time when, although the mo nopolists now think that their lease is a long one, this matter shall be put an end to.—(Cheers.) In the meanwhile, our endeavour is, by producing a timely action on the constituencies, to prepare them, when the proper time shall arrive, to vindicate their own rights, and the rights of the industrious classes of this country.—(Cheers.) Before I sit down, I have to make an announcement with respect to a subject which was some time ago brought under your n o ti ce in this theatre—l mean the bazaar. It was originally proposed that it should be held in the month of July. sVe have, since that announcement was made, had several applications from our friends, more especially from our friends in the country, expressing a great anxiety to furnish contributions to the bazaar, but stating that the time was too limited to enable them to do justice to the work which they had undertaken. NOw, as there is no pressing reason why the bazaar should be immediately held, the Council of th e L eague, taking these representations into their consideration, have come to the determination of postponing the bazaar until the month of January, in the next year, and I hope that by so doing we shall satisfy our friends here as well as those friends who have sent us up these representations from the country.— (Loud cheers.) I have another announcement to make with respect to an alteration in the proceed ings of this meeting. It was originally announced in the advertisement convening the meeting, that Dr. Bowring, the Member for Bolton, would address you; but, owing to other engagements, he is unable to attend. But lam quite sure, that when I state that Mr. Cobden will take his place—(Loud and long continued cheering, which drowned the remainder of the sentence)—l will, then, without further pre face, introduce to you the Hon. Member for Stock port.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. Conoux, M.P., then came forward, and was received with repeated bursts of' cheering.—lt was only within the last two hours that an announcement had been made to him that Dr. Bonring, who had proposed addressing the meeting that night, was un avoidably absent ; therefore he appeared before them on that stage, to fill up the vacancy which had oc curred. Under these circumstances, he did not know hut that he might have found himself at a loss for some topic on which to address them, were it not that the 'question of free trade was so prominent everywhere, that each week turned up some new topic, or some new phase of an old topic, so as to invest the question with. new interest. Last week, they had had two discussions in the House of Com mons—(Cheers and laughter)—and if party spirit had not elbowed poor political economy aside, those discussions must have been made the school for the instruction of the public mind on a subject which was but little understood—he meant the subject of differential duties.. Unfortunately, however, many Members, on both sides, were possessed of an idea that, instead of being merely a question of a duty of' 4s. a cwt. on sugar, it was a question of place, and power, and patronage, and the question had conse quently been discussed with mutual recriminations and invectives. Retrospective attack 3 were made upon the past conduct of parties, extending back as far as 1935. Those who were in feared they should have to go out, and those whose were out manifested only one anxiety, and that was to.get the others out and themselves in.—(Cheers.) Now, that meeting was a pretty large school, and he would endeavour to give them a little instruction on the subject which was really the topic which ought to have been dis aussed before the House of Commons the other night, although other and less important matters, as he thought, had superseded it in the discussion there, to the great disadvantage of th e p u bli c interest. He wanted the public to understand the meaning of dif ferential duties, and lie would give them an illustra tration which, he thought, would e na bl e any c hild there to understand the subject so completely, that it might go home and explain to i: - s grandpapa what was the(meaning of differential duties. He would sep rose a certain number of market - gardeners holding a liniited surface of land —say the parish of Hammersmith, for instance. Sup pose the market - gardeners of Hammersmith proceeded to the Duke of Bedford, who was the pro prietor of Covent-gard en Market, and ind uc ed hi m to lay a duty o f 10 s . a load on all other cabbages brought into the market except " Hammersmith cabbages," including, of course, Battersea among the pl aces excluded.' Now what would be the consequence of this P As the parish of Hammersmith did not raise ea many cabbages as the people of the metropolis re quired to eat, the effect wou ld b e th at t h e market gardeners of Hammersmith would hold back their supply until they could get the same price for their cabbages-as the Battersea people got, who had to pay an additional los. to the Duke for permission to bring their cabbages into the market. What would be the effect ? The Duke would!eceive i rs a load upon all the Bitttereea cabbages, a while the ammersmith gar deners would get lOs. b ages , which they w ou ld load extra for their cab it into their own pocket:, the public Pay the ‘eieers.) sueipose the Duke , lOs. nte d extra for hotl).--( 11 1 revenue, and still wishing to favour the ll NN a ' tn a mers i mith _growers, put 11 duty of los. a load upon c ebbage Hammersmith cabbages, and raised the duty - upon the Battersea cabbages to 20s. What would be the effect of this change ? The Hammersmith people, - would hold back until they got the same price as the Battersea people, so that they would still put 10s. into , their pocket. How would that affect the public? 'They would have to pay 20s. upon all calebeseeea; the Duke would get 20s. upon Battersea callagOs and 103. upon Hammersmith cabbages, while the liamraeremith people would pocket !mother -But the Hammersmith people, having had a taste'of monopoly, wanted a little more of the same, but they considered that it would not be expe s 4ient to so to the Duke and ask him to put a higher duty upon Battersea cabbages ; het they raised the cry of - " Cheap cabbagee," And said to him " Reduce-our duty of 10s. to Gs., and lesrw.the duty on Battersea cabbages as it is now ;" and having raised this cry on patriotic grounds they would go to Lord John Russell and ask him to in terest himself with his brother, the Duke of Bedford, •4 0 41'se tbern to mtrr-e it out.—(Cheers.) If they ,44e` e. _ word "Ca . bbage" for the word " Sugar" ", ; a l Tek an illustration of the motion lea lee. u made by their old _ opponents, the - haters. The Government brought . . - • • '- • • ;; -~% 11 S connected with them, because their property was of no value. But it should be recollected that those distresses happened when they were protected by a duty of 645., which amounted to a prohibition of foreign sugar.—(Hear, hear.) If such a duty did not enable them to bring on their business, did it not argue that they were on a wrong task altogether— (Hear, bear)---and that a system which was beyond all doubt injurious to the consumers, was not even beneficial to those for whose benefit it was intended ? They should, therefore, get on a new tack. His Hon. Friond the Member for Manchester (Mr. M. Gib son) put the question on its right footing, when he said that when they were called on to vote supplies for the Crown they should not vote supplies to the monopolists, but that having voted the supplies to her Majesty, the West India interest ought to come forward with their claims, which would b e voted separately, if they were entitled to any. —(Cries of " Hear, hear.") But before they voted them, they should first inquire whether they managed their properties in the best way.—(Hear, hear.) They should do as people did s hen a debtor J~ forward a measure for fixing the duty on foreign sugar at 345. a cwt. of all kinds, not refined, and 245. on colonial sugar; that is, they give to the colonists 10s. a cwt. extra on all they brought to market, seeing that in the case of the Hammer smith cabbage-growers they could not sell one ounce of sugar until they could get the same price for it that was given for Java sugar, which paid 10s. extra duty. Now, taking the annual import of sugar from the colonies at 4,000,000 cwt. annu ally, that would give them 2,000,0001. sterling at the lowest as protection, as they called it—monopoly, as he called it—and that was what the Government pro posed to give the West India planters. Those who, with him, advocated free trade principles in that House had brought forward a motion for equalizing the sugar duties—that all sugars, without distinction of the country in which they were produced, should pay the same duty to the Queen. That was a ques tion which had not excited any great party or poli tical interest. The free-traders had the best of the argument, as he thought, though their oppo nents beat them in the votes. Another amendment proposed was Mr. Miles's proposition, which was to charge 20s. a cwt. on colonial sugar ; 30s. a cwt. on certain descriptions of foreign sugar, but he intro. duced a third line of _distin c ti on; w hi c h was not in troduced in the Government measure. According to the Government measure, all foreign sugar, without distinction of quality, was charged the same duty ; but according to Mr. Miles's proposition, all white clayed sugar, or sugar of a . quality equivalent to white clayed, was charged a duty of 345. a cwt. He had been told that a great number of people in that enlightened metropolis believed that the free-traders were wrong in resisting Mr. Miles's amendment. In the first place, its origin was suspicious, but he would not udge it by that. The _ West Indians complained to Sir Robert Peel that they did not re ceive protection enough, and yet there were some people gullable enough to believe that they would propose for themselves a less protection than Sir Robert Peel would give them. The 4s. reduc tion of duty on colonial sugar was ol all colonial sugar; the 4s. reduction on foreign sugar was only a reduction on a certain description of foreign sugar. Now, the free traders were de sirous of ascertaining what description of sugar was affected by this exceptional duty of 345. Men not conversant with the trade were unfit to judge of those matters, and they had gone into the City to inquire what clayed sugars really were ; and they thought they could not do better, whilst they were consulting refiners and importers, than consult one of their oldest and truest friends, who had been the chairman of Lord John Russell's and Mr. Pattison's Committees —he meant Mr. Travers.—(Loud cheers.) He be lieved Mr. Travers was_ one of the largest wholesale dealers in sugar in the country; and not being him self a colonial proprietor, but simply interested in the distribution of sugar, his interest was identical with that of the consumer. He had received a letter from Mr. Travers on this subject, which he would read to the meeting. It was these in words : "MY DEAR SIR,—I repeat to you, without hesitation, that the practical effect of Mr. Miles's amendment upon the proposed sugar duties will be to establish a differ ential duty of 14s. per cwt. in favour of colonial sugars, as against three-fourths, at least, of the foreign sugar named for home consumption in November next. Java sugar, which will yield much more than half of this additional supply, is wholly c'ayed, and its lower qualities are, in substance (or the amount of saceherine matter contained in them), more than equivalent' to the white clayed of many other countries, which, in com parison, are often weak and worthless. The same remark will also apply to a portion of the China and Manilla sugars, though the latter are not clayed at all; " Then, again, as to the terms brown clayed' and white clayed,' it is impossible to draw a line of distinc tion in which any two parties, whose interests are oppose-I to each other, agree. There is, between these two extremes, every shade and variety of brown white' and white brown,' and, thus, the disputes of the importer and the Government officer will prove endless, terminating, however, there is no doubt, in all cases, in favour of the revenue, and the imposition of the higher duty, unless, indeed, there is any fraud or collusion between parties in favtur of the lower duty, which would, of course, operate to the injury of the fair trader. "Both in the substance and colour of sugar there exists, in fact, as to the value, no point of fixed gene ral argument. The real substance of sugar can only be determined by frequent experiment and real practical exrerience on the part of the refiners; and the value of colour is a thing generally settled between buyer and seller—caprice of the moment—the colour itself varying with every light to which it is subjected. "If the Government intend a differential duty of only 10s. per cwt. between colonial and foreign sugar, Mr. Miles's amendment will not answer the object. In the absence of fraud, the colonial interest may be benefited by it to the extent of 4s. per cwt., but it will be just so much out of the pocket of the consumer. " I am, my dear Sir, faithfully yours, " JOHN TRAVERS. " Swithin's-lane, June 17, 1844." He had received letters to the same effect from Messrs. Thornton and West, Messrs. Goodhart, John and Henry Taylor, Mr. Peter Martineau, and Mr. John Davis. He had no hesitation in saying that that motion was a trap to catch unwary free-traders. —(llear, hear.) He did not charge Mr. Miles with originating it, or with being an accomplice in the trick, but he believed that it had been got up in Mincing-lane by those who understood well what they were about, and who thought the free-traders in the House of Commons would be caught by their superficial contrivance. The effect of the duty on colonial sugar being reduced from 245. to 205., while the great bulk of foreign sugar was only admitted at a duty of 345., would give 14s. as a protecting duty to the colonial interest, instead of 10s., as was pro posed by the Government plan. There were some unwary people, who said, if they got sugar cheaper, what mattered it if the colonial interest got a little advantage too. The free-traders denied that sugar would be rendered any cheaper by the reduction of the duty on colonial sugar. The 4s. would be trans ferred from the revenue into the pockets of the monopolists; and 45., on two million hun dred weight of co l on i a l sugar, amounted to 800,0001., which would be annually taken from the revenue, and which the people would have to make up in some other shape. The public and the revenue were in the same boat—the monopolists were in the other boat. If that sum were thus abstracted from the revenue for the benefit of the colonial interest, they would have to pay it in some other form. It was through the absorption of the revenue that ought to go to Queen Victoria, by the monopolists of this country, that they had to pay the income-tax already. —(Loud cheers.) What was this mean amount they proposed to transfer to the pockets of the monopolists ? They said it was a small sum. A duty of 41s. on 4,000,000 cwt.—which was what the monopolists wanted—amounted to 800,0001. per annum, and that in capital would purchase what was equal to 20,000,000/. ; and the proposition of the Hon. Member for Bristol would take from the pockets of the people of this country another 20,000,0001., and put it into the pockets of the monopolists.—(Cheers.) He had stated these things because he perceived there were good friends of his whose chins were not long enough, and who were liable to be gulled by this trick.— (Laughter.) He told them that the reduction of the duty on colonial sugar would not reduce the price to the consumer one farthing, and as they were told that a future period, probably next year, there would be a great change in the sugar duties— for Sir R. Peel put a hypothetical case with regard to the reduction of the colonial duty to 165., and the reduction of the duty on foreign sugar in a corres ponding proportion—it should be their business to understand what differential duties were, and if they could once make the people understand that, no Mi nister would dare to come down and make such a pro position.—(Hear, hear.) Now, he told them that if the Government were to take oil' the whole of the duty on colonial sugar to-morrow, they would not have sugar one farthing cheaper than they had it now.—(Hear, hear.) The only way to re•luce the price of sugar was to increase the supply of it in the market, if the power of consumption remained the same.—(Hear, hear.) If the whole of the 245. duty were taken off, it would only be putting the whole of the amount derived from the duty by the revenue into the pockets of the monopolists.—(Hear, hear.) Take off 4s. or ss. from it, and they would have an other income-tax.--(Hear, hear.) If they could only have the public well informed on the sub ject, they would soon get —rid of the gross fraud of differential duties. The proposition of the Hon. Member for Bristol was neither more nor less than to take so much from the pockets of the people and give it to the landed owners of Jamaica. —(llear, hear.) When the colonists came forward and proposed protection as a remedy for their griev ances, they should see whether it was a system which worked well for the colonists even themselves. Se- veral gentlemen in the House of Commons almost cried over their distresses and the distress of those I came before them ; that is, inquire into his habits, and ' see if he had conducted his business with skill and with economy They should adopt the same plan towards the West India proprietors. He (Air. Cobden) crossed the Atlantic ten years ago with a gentleman who had travelled over all the sugar producing coun tries of the globe, who told him that there was as much difference between the mode of cultivating West India land and manufacturing its sugar, and the mode which other countries adopted who had no monopoly, as there was between the machinery and management of one of the cotton-mills of this day as compared with one twenty years ago.—(Hear, hear.) Therefore, he said they ought to do away with the rotten prop of protection, which even made it impos sible for-them to protect themselves. Let them, like other men in this country, fight their own battles.— (Cheers.) Now, having told them what were the grounds on which he had voted against the amend ment of the Hon. Member for Bristol the other night, he would frankly confess that he was not aware of the trap which had been laid on Friday morning till the motion came, for he had on Thursday made up his mind to vote in favour of the amendment. Simple-hearted creature that he was, he thought that something good might come from the Hon. Member for Bristol.—(Laughter.), He believed, in fact he had no doubt that a great number of free-traders, as earnest as any in that theatre, who had voted with the Hon. Member for Bristol, did so under the mis apprehension which would have caused him to vote for it on Thursday. But that could not shut their eves to the fact that there were other parties iu the House of Commons who made this a party contest ; and the newspapers, organs of that party, were very much dissatisfied that the free-traders, who had any other objection than party or factious objects— (Cheers)—did not join in carrying a worse measure than the bad enough measure of Sir Robert Peel, and by that means upset the political coach.—(Cheers.) He did not look on this contest as a party or political contest. He had never given a party vote in the House of Commons, and he hoped he never should.— (Cheers.) Ile would get the best measure he could, and he would never support a worse measure when a better was proposed to the House.—(Hear, hear.) But if he were a politician, and disposed to look at the question as one of party tactics, through Whig spectacles, he could see no wisdom in those tactics. He had heard of a coalition, but what sort of a coalition ?—(Hear, hear.) He had heard many sensible: men say, that there were 250 Mem bers on the Tory side, and 100 on the Whig side, be tween whom there was very little difference; and who might now be sitting side by side in the House of Commons, if it were not for the difficulty of ad justing the rival pr e t ens i ons o f oppos it e leaders. What sort of coalition could there be between the liberal and the ultra-bigots of monopoly ? Lord John Russell with the Whigs, and Lord John Manners with young England, went out into the same lobby. Now, If faction did not blind men, if they could look beyond their noses, why should they not ask them selves what good that would lead to, whither it would lead them, even if successful ? The next vote they came to with such ingredients, would put them in a great minority; and if ever Sir R. Peel resigned and Lord J. Russell were sent for by the Queen to take office, he would probably advise her Majesty to send for Sir R. Peel, for there was nobody else.—(A voice, " O'Connell.)—(Cheers.) With a majority of 90 or a 100 on a party question, could Sir R. Peel be dispossessed of office by such miserable manoeuvres of the House of Commons ?—(Hear, hear.) If, indeed, parties came to something within 10 or 20 of each other, then there would be an opening for party movements. But, as he said before, with a majority of 90 or 100 on the side of Sir Robert Peel, how could those tac ticians in th e H ouse o f C ommons put the Oppos i t i on into power ?—(No, no.) The way to get into power, if Lord John Russell and the Whigs wanted it, was not by joining the ultra-bigots of monopoly, but by working strongly out of doors, that he might be strong within doors; and how could he increase his power out of doors, but by an advance to free trade, which indeed he professed to advocate in principle, but which he did not carry out to its full extent ? He was sorry to say, that such was the opinion of poli tical parties throughout the country, that his belief was, that people cared very little for one party or the other on the present question, and that there was very little to choose between them. He should not be sur prised that, for a ss. reduction per cwt. on the pro tection to sugar, the public would sell either of them. Now the League, at least as far as he was concerned, was of neither of these political parties—neither the Whigs nor the Tories were practical free-traders. They had never yet heard a pledge, a distinct pledge, from the leader of the Whigs, that he was prepared to carry out the principle of free trade. They had plain declarations that the country was not satisfied. When questions of free trade were brought forward, there was always some plan to continue the pro tection on sugar, and some plan for protection to corn, awl till they could get one party or other to stand up for free trade, and against all protections, which were mere robberies, he did not believe that the League, as a League, would be acting with wisdom or policy in identifying themselves with either of them. His opinion was, that if isolated as a party, the free trade party would be stronger in the House of Commons, though not nominally greater, than if it merged itself in the ranks of either party.— (Cheers.) He saw an utter chaos into which politi cal parties were falling. He was not sorry for it, be cause, give them a compact body of free traders, the more complication there was between the Whigs and the Tories the sooner they would succeed in tarrying their principles to a successful issue. The Hon. Gentleman sat down amid loud cheers, but immedi ately afterwards came forward to correct a mistake which he was told he had fallen into. He was told he had calculated the reduction of 4s. on the colonial duty upon 2,000,000 cwt. of sugar. He should have calculated it upon 4,000,000, which was the quantity imported from the colonies, and this, he be lieved, would amount to 800,0001. The Rev. Thomas SPENCER, of Bath, then came forward, and said he had listened with interest to the address of Mr. Cobden, and was glad to find that the party distinction of Whig and Tory was about to be given up. He hoped another party would be founded upon their ruins, to be called the Justice Party.—(Cheers.) He hoped also that the newspapers would alter their course, and, instead of writing articles on the poor-law and pauperism, to excite the people, would write fur truth. He con fessed he felt diffident of his own abilities when he found so many persons of high character differing from him. Ile found that there were six or seven clergymen of the Church of England who voted for the free trade candidate in South Lancashire, while sixty or_ seventy recorded their votes on the other side: He was inclined to be of the opinion of Bishop Butler, who said " that the greater part of mankind did not think for themselves." He was convinced that many men were too indolent to labour with their minds, though they might do so with their body ; and even reading: was, with regard to some persons, an act of idleness.—(Hear, hear.) Such perso ns liked to have their work done for them. They left their health in the doctor's hands, their property in the lawyer's hands, and their souls in the par son's hands.—(Hear, hear.) The Scripture says "Examine yourselves," but it was only when men began to think and to distinguish what was right from what was wrong, that they would succeed. When men became informed, the League would do more in a few weeks than it did now in so many years. This was one reason to account for the fact that the League had not made greater progress ; another reason was that men, who even might be well informed on the subject, did not think it necessary to act—they left it all to Mr. Cobden.--- (Loud cheer 3.) They left it to their representatives to speak their opinions ; but it was the duty of each man to act, and to spend his time and his money, as though the successful cause depended upon his own exertions.—(Loud cheers.) Each man should say that he would take the step which was right, though others should neglect their duty, and, without doubt ing of the superintendence of Providence, he should c , act as if Providence would only assist the man who should assist himself.—(Loud cheers.) Moreover, he besought of them not to follow names, however high. When they dethroned one Pope, they should not follow another. If they cast off one Pope, they followed another—some had their Luther, their Calvin, their Knox, and their Wesley. Let them throw aside all great names, and follow the right.— (Cheers.) What matter, though Clarks& be against you, if truth be on your side ?—(Cheers.) Though he was willing to pay deference to the opinions of the majority, the minority were often in the right ; and in this case he thought he had even an advantage over them, because what he advocated was the doctrine of the Scripture and the Prayer-book. He was not going to allude to portions of that Prayer book to which he had alluded at other times, and in other places, namely, the prayer for cheapness and plenty, and the thanks g i v ing for it when it comes ; but to another portion of the Prayer-book, in refer ence to the right mode of action when a nation was in distress. At that particular time, for instance, the clergymen were reacting the prayer for rain ; they had had three months of dry weather. One farmer in his own parish had, inconsequence, 'fast no less than six hundred pounds. Now, what the clergymen sought to desire was comprised in the words—" That we may receive the fruits 'of the earth to our comfort and to God's honour;" and the meaning of the fruits of the earth being given to their comfort and to God's ho nour, was in other prayers explained by the words " cheapness and plenty." This was the standard, therefore, by which every clergyman was to be guided.—(Hear, hear.) He had no faith in prayer except as it was combined with action. The man who said, " Give us this day our daily bread," and did not work in order 'to obtain it, was a man of very small sense indeed.—(Hear, hear.) lle believed there was not an instance, throughout the Bible, of Gods do ing anything for man which man could do for him- self; and this was a fact which he wished especially to impress upon the minds of all who respected that book. When their Lord raised the dead they did not find that he rolled away the stone, because that the disciples could do. Again, when the dead was raised, he did not do any more than utter the words, " Loose him, and let him go," because all that was needed was in the power of the disciples. When he fed the multitude, he instructed his disciples to tell them to sit down on the grass, although the multiply. ing of the bread was his own act ; whilst it was the disciples who gathered up the fragments. that nothing might be lost, because the act was not beyond their capacity. In every case where a needful thing was beyond their own power, they had a right to ask for Divine assistance, but when it was in their own power they had no right to expect the assistance cf Providence, except in connection with their own ex ertions.—(Cheers.) He would, then, appeal to the clergy, and to Sir Robert Peel, as a Churchman, whether the Prayer-book did not lay down, as a foundation to be built upon, cheapness and plenty ? (Hear, hear.) If it were a thing to be prayed for, it was also a thing to be sought after. He would also appeal to Sir Robert Peel on the ground of his own statement, that the proper rule for the State was that the people should buy; in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest. This, he said, was truth in the abstract, this was right, and it ought to have been the original basis of their laws. But, then, he justified himself for not acting up to this principle by the circumstances in which they found themselves in the present day. Now, he was bound to offer up a prayer every Sunday for that Parliament, of which he was so conspicuous a Member, and a part of that prayer was to this effect : —" That all things may be ordered and settled by , their endeavours upon the best and surest founda tion," which he acknowledged to be cheapness and plenty, or free trade—" that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be esta blished among us for all generatiions." Now, at pre sent they had anything but peace and happiness amongst them, they had anythi ng b u t prosper i ty. Did not Sir obert Peel, when he heard this prayer, know that he himself was acting contrary to the spirit of the Prayer-book ? So long as he declined going to the foundation s which was here described to be " the best and the surest," the foundation of cheap ness and plenty, allowing men to buy and sell to the best advantage, so long would he continue to act in opposition to the Prayer-book.—(Loud cheers.) He (Mr. S.) held free trade to be one of the rights of man—a right of which nothing could deprive him—a right to be exercised at all times, under all circumstances, and by all nations.—(Cheers.) There could be no case in which free trade ought to he in fringed upon ; it was the only sure foundation. God had distributed his bounties amongst different nations. Some climates were warmer and some colder ; some possessed iron, some corn, some gold ; all these things are diversified. When there was no corn in Canaan there was corn in Egypt. It was God's intention that men should enjoy the best of what was produced in different parts of the earth, and the object of the Christian religion, which was de clared._ to be " 'glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will towards men," Could never be carried out until the ministers of religion advocated those principles.—(Loud cheers.) He had before him the testimony of one who was a very great man in his day, and who had not long been dead ; he referred to Robert Hall, the Baptist ministers He said, "If there is any class of persons whose opinion on these ques tions is entitled to deference and respect, they are undoubtedly political economists, men who have made the sources of national wealth the principal object of their inquiry; and where will you find one, from Adam Smith to the present 'time, who had not repro bated the interference of_ the Legislature with the price of corn ? To say nothing of the reasoning of that great philosopher, which is un answerable, common sense will tell us that taxes to raise the price of such a commodity are unjust." —(Cheers.) Now they .ss ere told that the free trade which they advocated could hardly be carried slut in cases where the countries with which they traded raised their produce by means of slave-labour. He had no idea of altering a rule which had once been established. If a man, for instance, had made up bis mind, from external and internal evidence of the truth of the Bible, that it was a genuine and au thentic document, he was not afterwards to cavil at any particular word which he might find in it. Every science took for granted its axioms. Euclid began with, definitions and postulates. Newton, in his Ptincipia," began with axioms and postulates; and it they began with these, they must not object to anything which followed. Suppose they were not yet acquainted with America; suppose they did not yet knot. 7 what were the practices of the inhabitants of Brazit, and yet had come to the conclusion that free trade 'was right—that every man should be al lowed to act upon this self-supporting, self-adjusting principle, and be permitted to do the best he could in the markets of the world, they were not afterwards to alter their course be cause they found different circumstances in different countries, They did not say " You shall not trade with Russia because the Emperor has not pleased me by his conduct to Poland; you shall not trade with another country because the inhabitants are Mahomedans and idolaters, and therefore rob God of the honour which is due to him ; or with another, because it contains slaves." Was he to be answerable for all these things ? The question was, did they admit that free trade was right? If they did, they were mot to be always departing from their principles. —(Hear, hear.) He had been a member of the Anti- Slavery Conventions for many years past; and he had always heard it contended that free labour would beat slave labour. Yet some persons who had maintained that for years, objected to the .experiment being tried, as though they had no faith in their own principles.— (Cheers.) Under the old poor-law, he had seen far mers who preferred paying 9s. a-week to an indepen dent labourer to paying ss. for a pauper. The fact was, that many a man was sustained by a feeling of independence when he had an ulterior object in view ; when it was in his power to lay by against sickness and old age, he would do a great deal more work than either a pauper or a slave. But.these persons said that slaves were stolen, and therefore produce was stolen. He could not qui te see the correctness of that inference. It did not follow that the earth on which a man trod waa stolen, because the man who cultivated it was stolen.—(Hear, hear.) But, sup' • posing the case to be as it was represented, the par ties convicted themselves of sin—they acknowledged themselves to be the greatest criminals in the country. If the argument were just, what was the guilt of the man who used slave-grown cotton or tobacco? The party who resorted to such reasoning condemned himself.—(Cheers) But then the reply would be, perhaps, that two blacks could not make one white; the parties might say ",Surely we are better than you, if we do not use slave-grown sugar." He thought that, so far from being better, they were 'much worse. Scripture said th a t h e w h o o ff e nded in "one point was guilty in all. These parties admitted that they offended in one point. They (the Anti- Corn-law party) did not admit their own guilt. They were guilty, therefore, of encouraging slavery by wilfully using slave-grown cotton, by wilfully makin6 slave-grown tobacco, , and by wilfully taking up their noses slave-grown snuff. He had told per sons of this class that the very money which they had in their pockets might be bight in evidence against them. He felt convinced, however, that the Master whom they served did not wish them to tremble at every step, lest they should happ en t o t ouc h slave 'grown produce. The Government were under a mistake, therefore, in allowing this consideration to weigh with them ; and he was convinced that some of them in their own minds knew better, but they did not like to offend the feeling which pervaded the minds of many good men in this country. When ever charity or pity influenced the mind, instead of justice, it led men into all kinds of blunders. The Bible did not put charity fir justice ; it first said, " Do justly," and then " love mercy."—(Hear, hear.) Let everything be upright, honest, fair, and equitable —let them do what was right, and then, if they had the means and the opportunity of exhibiting their generosity, let them do so. But true charity was not that which arose out of poor-rates or church-rates —it was not the charity of the State, but that which came out of a man's own pocket. He would tell them a case of charity which had Come to his know ledge yesterday. An excellent gentleman, with whom he was travelling from Bristol, toad him that about thirty years ago a gentleman was travelling in a coach in a stormy night in.winter. Outside of this coach were a soldier's wife ' and child, ex posed to the pelting rain , and a very keen wind. Hearing that the . child was ill, al though the journey was a long one, he immediately changed places with the woman and child, and , bore the pitiless storm for hours . whilst the mother and child travelled inside.—(Loud cheers.)' This gen tleman was a noble free trader, and his name was Radnor.—(lmmense cheering, which lasted for up wards of a minute, the majority of the company rising.) He said to the gentleman who related to him the anecdote, " I wonder whether Lord Radnor would recollect the circumstance if you were to tell him of it." The reply was, " I know of scores of things of that kind, which, when mentioned to his Lordship, he had entirely forgotten.--(Cheers.) That was another mark of a noble mind.—(Hear, bear.) Now what he wished to impress upon them was, that if there was distress in the country they should not resod'- to the modern system of patching, and mend ing, and tinkerhig,l)ut go to the fountain-head of the misery, and try to remove its cause. It was better to spend Si. in removing the cause of misery, in their wretchedness. Now he would just state desti tution, and vice, than 5001.. in keeping men comfort able to them the views which, on the previous Sunday, it had been his business to bring► before his congre2ation. It' he were wrong, it was the Church which made him wrong. In one of the psalms of the afternoon service he read, respecting misery and distress judgeunjtl the stl poory, and and accept th e ; do justice to the afflicted and nee dy!" It was r i s w s long e ? Defendd ; I n of o n gthe will ye father less not the mere giving of charity, which was meant b y doing justice to the afflicted and needy. Then, in the next verse, were the words " Deliver the poor and needy, rid them out of the hands of the wicked." This was what the free trade movement was intended to effect. He found another command, which it was very necessary to remember, at a time when religion was so much in fashion, and when numbers thought it sinful to interfere with the affairs of the world— " Is it such a fast that I have chosen a day f or a man to afflict his soul ? Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?" It was in the breaking of the yoke, then, and in the undoing of heavy burdens, that religion chiefly consisted. In another part of Scrip ture, he found a description which might be almost ll terally applied to the state of society now existing in this country, in which the great majority of the people were hardly able to get bread and water, while a few I were growing enormously rich by the very burdens of the State. This was the description to which he referred. " Now, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, con sider your ways ; ye have sown much and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, hut ye are not filled with drink ; ye clothe, but there is none warm ; and ye that earneth wages earneth wages to put in a bag with holes." This was exactly the case at the present day. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a great number of holes in the bag of the State. After the description thus given and thus applicable to the state of England, it was again repeated—" Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your ways !" It was because the people did not con sider ; it was because they did not reflect on the effect of the presentistate of things, if they continued, that they were badly governed.— (Hear, hear.) There could be no tyranny where there were free spirits ; there could be no had laws where the people were wise.— (Hear, hear.) They could not bribe a virtuous man ; they could net snake drunken at an election a sober man—(. - fear, hear)—they could not in timidate a noble man. It was, therefore, purely the fault of the people that the laws and the taxes of the country were in their present state. Reform must begin with the people. They must enlighten the public mind—they must excite greater generosity, and teach every man to promote his own interests without injuring those of his fellow-men. He should not trespass much longer on their patience. When ever he had talked to the farmers on the subject of the corn-laws, he had found that their greatest diffi culty arose from the existence of the national debt. It was said that free trade might be all very well if they had no national debt, but that whilst that existed it would be impossible for the farmers, with out the corn-laws, to compete with the foreigners. Now, in the first pl ace , h e t h oug h t it was very hard, after leading the country into war, to make it the means of oppressing the people. But he contended that it was, in fact, no argument at all. He would suppose the case of two rival shopkeepers, one of whom had a mortgage upon his property, whilst that of the other was free from incumbrance. Would the man whose property was mortgaged be justified in seeking to establish a monopoly ? Should he not rather exert himself the more in his business, and .endeavour -to get more custom, in order to pay off his mortgage ? He had no doubt that if free trade were extended, the national debt would be felt as a very light burden. It would ultimately be paid off, and great care would betaken not to .incur a similar burden in future. With respect to the complaints of the farmers, of the national debt, the manufacturers and shopkeeper.; were subjected to it also—all paid it ; and if paying it was a title to protection, all ought to be protected. The argument drawn from the national debt was of no weight at all ; if it was an argument, it was one rather in favour of free trade than otherwise—(Hear, hear)—and the more the subject was discussed the more shameful would it appear for men to stand up in Parliament, or elsewhere, and advocate local and selfish interests. He hoped they should not hear them say, as they had lately heard them, in Parliament, say, because the planters in the West Indies had been ruined they must ruin England also. He hoped they would remember that they were sent to Parliament to represent the interests of the nation at large, and not merely their own pockets, or their own individul interest. He hoped that a time would come when men would he ashamed to deceive one another in this way; yet he was sorry to say, in the neighbourhood where he resided, at tempts of intimidation were going on in a large way. He had known petitions against the corn-laws taken into a village by the butler or head servant of the great house, and placed before, not only those who were in favour of the corn-laws, but those who op posed them, and these latter were dared to refuse to sign them.—(Shame.) Some were at once directed to sign them ; others were reasoned with, and all kinds of appeal made to their interest; but in some cases those appeals had been unsuccessful.—(Cheers.) That was noble conduct in those who remained true to their principles; but it was a shameful thing on the part of wealth and power to place men in such a position.—(Cheers.) The League, he hoped, would al ways use different means, so that in gaining a good cause they might say they had gained it by righteous nleans.—(Cheers.) On the Rev. Gentleman resuming his seat, some confusion occurred, in consequence of an individual in the pit standing on one of the seats, and requesting to be allowed to address a few words to the meeting. His name was said to he Dwaine. The cries of " Turn him out," " Order," and " Chair," continued for some minutes. The CHAIRMAN, having obtained silence, said they could not depart from their rule of presenting the gentlemen announced to speak in the regular order; and, if the interruption should be persisted in, he should feel it his duty to preserve to the audience that order and convenience which had, prevailed at all their meetings. He announced Mr. W. J. Fox as the next speaker. Mr. W. J. Fox then came forward ; he was re ceived with warm and continued acclamations.. He said the motion for the repeal of the corn-laws, which Mr. Villiers would propose on Tuesday next in the House. of Commons, marked the completion of another year of the League agitation ; it was a time at which to note the indications of the progress which their cause was making, and the rate at which it had ad vanced. The result of that motion would be a kind of "taking stock" in the House of Commons—(Hear, hear)—and exhibiting, in the first instance, how the free trade cause stood as compared with last year. He confessed he had no very large anticipations as to this portion of the review ; he was well acquainted with that prayer for the House of Commons which had been so emphatically and soundly explained to them that evening. But however frequently, in some quar ters, or however earnestlythat prayer might be offered up, he was afraid it would be as unavailing as the pros position made about two or three weeks since in a country village, where the farmers were suffering very much from drought, that the clergyman would put up a prayer for rain. He consulted an old farmer in the village, and wanted to know what his view of the matter was, and whether he coincided with the rest of the parishioners. Why, Master Parson, said the old farmer, in my opinion it is no use praying for rain as long as the wind holds in the north-east !—(Laughter and cheers.) He (Mr. Fox) feared that the prayers of the Church for the House of Commons would be of as little use in leading to the settlement of this ques tion on the foundation of truth and justice, as long as the prevailing wind of that region came from the bitter and biting quarter of monopoly.—(Cheers.) Ho maid hope but little, on a question between a class interest and the public, from a House of Com mons as at present class constructed, and even class elected. The disease was in its own very vitals, and there must be a regeneration of the Legislative body before they could hope for justice, to say nothing of charity, to the suffering millions from those who were at present the arbiters of their des tinies.—(Cheers.) There were other symptoms which must lead them to moderate their expectations of the approaching debate and division on this question. lie confessed he should not be at all surprised if their strength should appear less even, instead of more, than it was on the former occasions ; and he should be by no means disheartened by any such phenomenon ; for whenever the Whig party got a glimpse of office, they found that phrases and notions which had been thought obsolete by the progress of the controversy, were revived again ; and in the recent conflicting events that had taken place, as soon as in the Legisla ture there was any such chance of upsetting a rival party and returning to place, they perceived that the doctrine of a fixed duty re-appeared in the Whig newspapers. They had a perfect right to revive it assuredly; they had a perfect right to dig a corpse out of - the earth, if the earth belonged to them ; but they had no right to push that corpse among living beings, and say, here, this is one of you, and has a right to share your functions and enjoy a portion of your privileges !—(Cheers.) Logically, and in the public estimation, the fixed duty was dead and buried, and rotten and forgotten, and it only re-appeared upon the stage because there seemed to be some slight opening to a certain Parliamentary party, which occupies a better position than it did erewhile. for a return to place. Nov, with a fixed duty as well as a sliding scale, this League waged inextin guishable w ar f are . —(Cheers.) The hostility to their principle was as great in one case as the other. They could no more compromise with the bread-tax in one form than they could in the other. They abjured them both. They were only different phases of the intercepting of the bounty of Providence in its way to minister to human enjoyment. And they had a , yet further objection to the fixed duty doctrine, which rendered it more and more obnoxious ; that 'objection was, that a fixed duty tended to di vide - the interest of the class possessing capital from that of the class having only their labour to rely upon. It might answer the purpose of the manufacturer, the merchant, and the shopkeeper; it might in some measure satisfy those who were look ing exclusively to their own interests; but it would do so at the sacrifice of the interests and the rights of the great majotity of the toiling multitudes, whose question this was, and with reference to whom it had always . been agitated, and not one. item of whose . claim to food should ever be compro mised by any friend of free trade, or that just and broad principle which that phrase denoted. 'ln looking at the public indicatives of the state of their cause, one could not but be struck at once with the fact of the unabated interest that had been mani fested in those meetings ; and this was the more re markable at the present time than it wes last year or on any former occasion, and for this reason :—The pre sent period was not one of very much excitement on this question. It was not one in which there were such stimulating and cheering electoral victories as had occurred a few months ago. It Was not one of those numerous public meetings in different parts of the kingdom, which some while since occupied public attention, and formed a continual occasion for regarding the progress of their cause. It had not been a period, except within the last few days, of Parliamentary discussions, that were exciting any very extended degree of notice or great influence yet they had come to this place, from week to weeki; seeing the old familiar faces, and hearing the old familiar voices; they came under no temporary ex citement, under no extraordinary stimulus from with out ; they came because there was an increasing stimulus in their own bosoms ; they came because this was a matter of principle, and not of mere passing excitement; they came because their determination was fixed and rooted in their own souls to protest against the atrocious impost on food till 'it should be utterly abolished—and to reiterate that de termination, calling Heaven to witness, that come storm, come sunshine, come calm, come struggle, they were resolved to make their protest, till at length the voice of truth and justice prevailed over all class interests, and that the Legislature itself should yield to the power of public opinion. —(Cheers.) In this quiet determination they needed no contrivance, no recourse to varied means for keeping up their attendance. He saw in them that calm and growing strength which worked like the mighty elements of nature itself; it was the power which had within itself the means of perma nence, and the means of permanence in moral power implied the means of increase also. It showed a strength that went on from day to day silently and irresistibly swelling like the snow on the mountain top, till it formed into an extent compact as the glacier, really at a word, if they bided their time— ready when that time came to rush down, bearing all before it, overwhelming any hostile power with the will, the resistless will of a mighty nation.—(Loud cheers.) Miscalculating the quietness with which true power held its own, they found some journalists still determined to treat th e League as absolutely or permanently defunct ; indeed, only a few days ago it was stated by one of these papers that the League had been driven froin Covent-garden Theatre by the London Conservative Association, a most marvellous rout that would have been ; but the generosity that had allowed them the use of the theatre, had been by no means displaced. Their meeting ought to have been held this day instead of last Wednesday, then, when they toasted the glorious majority of ninety, they might have asked where it was last Monday and on Fridays--(Loud cheers.) They might have been called ,on to explain whether they were cele brating the triumph of the Tories over Peel, or of Peel over the Tories.—(Cheers and laughter.) And that question might have especially been asked of Sir Howard Douglas, who voted on the first occasion with Mr. Miles, and on the second occasion with Sir R. Peel, and who prefaced his second vote with de claring that his opinions had undergone no change.— (Great laughter.) That was the gentleman who took on him, or had put upon him, the task of being the responsor when the health of the Duke of Wel lington was given. Had the Conservative festival waited till to-day, they might have made a pithy allusion to the uncovered statue of the Duke, which he was told, for he had not seen it, stood with its face to the Post- office and the H orse -G uar d s , an d i ts back towards the Royal Exchange.--(Laughter.) At that festival they said repeatedly, and they said very truly, that they were not an association to up hold " any particular Ministry." The Ministry such an association upheld must be a Ministry that were not very particular—(Loud cheers)—and he won dered much, considering the number of mercantile people there, and the large correspondence they must keep up, he wondered they. did not introduce at least some such toast as this, " Success to those who hold the seals of office, and who break the seals of letters." —(Loud cheers, several times renewed.) To re turn to the indications of the progress of their cause, he for one reckoned it a very gra tifying indication, and a good of immense moment effected by the League, that the condition of the agricultural labourer was now forced upon public attention, with a power that insured that something must be done towards their amelioration. It was the League that brought that condition first under notice. in the face of the boldest contradiction; for every rural district was described as a perfect arcadia, all innocence, and comfort, and enjoyment. The veil was now torn aside, one whiCh no patching could ever hold together again, and the horrid and disgust ing reality was exposed, a reality which, however tampered ,with, he believed could never be entirely altered in its character, and never thoroughly reformed, but by the accomplishment of that repeal of the taxes on food which it was the object of the League to accomplish. How much had been done by the League in the cause of free trade ? Would that great power, the Times, have taken up their cause had it not been for previous preparation ? The Times sent out its royal com mission to the disturbed districts ; he said royal com mission, for there were other powers of Government besides those that met in Westminster. The Times might be said, to a certain extent, to rule England as Daniel O'Connell rules Ireland. Printing- house square, and the Penitentiary at the Cireular-road, were seats of Government, where there were influences which made themselves felt to the remotest bounda ries of either island. A series of papers had appeared in the Times regarding the agricultural districts, whence you might trace, as on a map, a broad, black line—low wages and incendiary fires.—(Hear, hear.) These papers, by the impression they would produce, would shame down the calumnies so often repeated against the League, that they had, or could have had, anything to do with these disturbances. Those sophisms had fallen in the way of so many others— they would go down the road to oblivion, and nothing would be left but the, plain, daring assertion—that to tax food is good for our pockets, and that tax we will keep up as long as you leave us the power.—(Hear, hear.) It was pleasing to see that the condition of these poor creatures was becoming so much better understood, and that the need of some alleviation to the miseries of the inhabitants of the agricultural counties of Norfolk, Essex, and Suffolk was univer sally admitted. This,' and much more, was owing to the exertions of the League.—(Hear, hear.) The poor creature born . to filth and hunger, brought up in a dilapidated cottage destined to de molition under the common-clearing system—sent out in his early years to break stones on the road that leads to some ducal mansion, kept up in splen dour by the assistance of a bread-tax—made to work for all; he must feed, and house, and lie as he can— his church was the beer-shop, his only refuge—his only chance of tasting anything but dry bread, poaching on the preserves of some squire —steering between the Scylla and Charybdis of the workhouse and the gaol, the view of the gallows being made visi ble in the distance by the fires of the blazing barns. To reach such as this , the star of hope had risen, land it would hold on in its course until it obtained the meridian of truth and justice. There were indi cations of advance in their cause in the present con dition of the hostile powers. 'Where was the great compact phalanx which had been bound against them two years ago ? , Where was. the power which was exercised in the election of 1841, whe n it carr i e d everything before them ? Where was that compact now ? Quarrelling about almost everything that could be started. They were quarrelling about a Welsh bishopric, Dissenters' Chapels Bills, and w ere about to quarrel about the New Poor-law, having quarrelled about the Ten Hours' Bill, and were now involved in a deadly quarrel about the sugar duties. There were high Church and moderate Church —an cient Tories and modern Conservatives —you ng Eng land and . old England (Laughter) and th ere was the Prime Minister himself stirring up the hete rogeneous material, and well might he exclaim-- " Double double, toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble." —(Laughter.) Thus was Sir Robert Peel at the head of that great Conservative party, which he had been ten years amalgamating. These things read a very impressive moral lesson, which was to avoid in future any endea vour to form a party without principle—or what was worse, a party with five or six antagonistic principles. In opposition, Sir Robert Peel had avoided showing himself with wonderful dexterity. The amalgama tion of the Tory party succeeded in displacing the Whigs; but Sir Robert Peel was now exhibited in the most pitiable light in which a Prime Minister has been placed—endured for his dexterity—tolerated for nothing else. There he was—toiling at their work-- endured by all, scorned by all, thwarted by all—re proached by all—not adhered to for any steadiness of principle, for he turned his back upon all those doc trines which he formerly maintained, but supported .because be propped up that wretched system of expe diency, which was fast tottering to destruction. In endeavouring to sustain himself in office he had 'been guilty of the most palpable treachery. He had obtained fir himself the well-earned reputation of a trickster, and if they searched the calendar they would all agree in giving him Judas as a patron s'sr,oi —(Laughter.) Among the recent inven tion; eve discoveries, not the least - remarkable was 61 10 which Sir R. Peel had lately ascertained to principle of administration, and whic h l ie founded upon) justic e and sound P ° 0 01 he meant the r e l axa tion of the cemsl.olof prohibitions and res t r i c ti on s, and the intro ducti d articles produced in other countries to cone l t he those produced in our own. He did not 1 0 ° " e . s o discovery before he came into office. There 11 : 0. It announcement of it in the Tamworth mani fe tion never was proclaimed on the hustings in the e l : s od of 1841, but it came ou t now in the difficultiv'nded entanglements of his position. It reconlin e no Je him to some of his followers, but it d hi:) him odious to others. It certainly ga i t 9 e ,i p stedi no confidence from any ; and if, as was lin" repr' the Whigs were to o p ragma tical to advocat e a itsthe of the corn-laws, and that Sir R. Peel propose d itio o League would certainly receive such P r N - 0 10 1 from his hands, but not as from a cliampi on . NN w bool been its consistent advocate, but from one 'n ig htl they had no confidenc e , an d from whom tile In ic hich power of public opinion had wrung a measly b a d should never have been refused.—(Hear) 4 5 0 1 often in that place advanced earnest recolum e r n e ver! to those assembled th ere t o exer t themselves "' Ate tbs way that their circumstances allowed to Pren s Liberal registration, and that whoever had soald at power to obtain thi s grea t p o liti ca l right 1"i e colp ; once put himself i n p ossess i on o f it. He 'mu : mended them that they s h ou ld, by conversa tl %o• by the distribution of tracts, spread abroad the f th ti ledge of their prin c ipl es an d th e i r conviction ° ijg ed P n u s 10 truth ; and he trust e d th a t h e might be i in taking. on him s elf t o o ff er a f ew suggestii°l-ocso those who might be regarded as the of their cause in th e H ouse o f C om mons. . 12° " n ot self, he owned that it would gratify his feeling s e w ho more if he saw th o s e mem b ers o f the Lesg h n o sr were M.P.'s, acting m ore i n conc ert than t l lle3rt peared to have dope on a recen t oc casion m ore hear.) If there were b u t f ew , th e y had "jf the need for steady and efficient co-operation. 9,5ir question did not involve principles, then there''. Ji thing to sacrifice ; and if it were a (1 12e ,: 5n0 litlie principle, then he had no doubt bu!„, ove consultation would • bring them all to `I. the conviction as to any great application ~n „ Go' principles of free trade. At a time when tr n is vernment was endangered—at a time " e n 'il' fact, the Government was preserved by n ',o l '" majority of twenty—it was time for the te a- t beic dozens to look about them, and consider Ivh ere i d bo t , weight could be best thrown—how they O u ld be; unite for the common good, and how they cos advance the great cause which they aci i , v de He did not say but those Members acted I r A n ia O S , most honourable and honest motives, but he u ",; wish to see those twelve gentlemen who di' filled that chair, and spoken from that platforto, vided as to the course they pursued ; but theyties7/ in fact, divided i n t o th ree or f our diff e rent pa r (Hear, hear.) He did no t w i s h t o see those 03A the m holding Peel in office. He did not wish to se e fors ,a party to any decision which tended to prolongoicil week, or a single day, a Government in office, „hid' ruled over Ireland with so much oppession, an or, made the Post-office of England a great Sr shop, made (Loud cheers, and cries of " Hear, hear: ) -- „ 0 F0 1 ,; advocated a mock Liberalism, and supported 1 0 " el' when it could—a G overnmen t o f su bterfug a e ' false pretences—a Government which vil e rbe o , l , l against the constitutional, open, fair, an", o l •oll'" meetings of the people of Ireland, and whie",, are A i wage warfare against meetings here if it reit Government, line, which had opposed, an d of a 5 oppose as long as it could, the first righ t c e , Englishman —an open market f o r the Pry o6 of his labour and cheap food.—(Hear, heat the prolonged cheering.) H e was g l a d t o find , s t `', l - v feelings of the meeting were his, if he rig e 4 at derstood them.—(Ren ewe d c h eer i ng , and c h 'i e clli" " Hear, hear.") The veterans who had asset. c 0 the 'Waterloo banquet should reco ll e ct Whal' , r t 10 ° that first led to the d own f a l o f the desP ° " 01 0 was finally overthrown at that s ° l° o° conflict. It was the Berlin decree :pose: imposed, or at least a tt emp t e d to ' , T o e fetters upon commerce—th a t was th e first nn- ree r ' effectual blow that Nap o l eon , i n hi s am bitious•c ° f„cti ever received. Buonaparte th rea t ene d, and, in slots declared, that all the ports of Britain were in v il ro ttic' of blockade—that was, in fact, what the,"; slr titionists now, in substance, declared—W:l/de flounced to . every foreign ship that ee", the - was restricted, and that, however 11 111 °P no pol1 people of this island stood in need of food, 113° . - 5 .1 1 ' reigned there triumphant, and would exclude 1 ' in' far worse and more dangerous, because 0 119re iist sidious, enemy than•Napoleon.—(Hear, hear.) i r e might devastate countries, and overthrow em t and annihilate cities; but monopoly, though e t,' rapid or perceptible in its progress, was quitelll`,,ce, tail in its operations. Under its baneful inti the gradual, sure, and silent decay went forwar d ' o sr waving corn-field was converted into the barre' t ure—t he wealthy merchant was impoverisbeer i o▪ ; manufactory rendered inoperative, and the lifi,,o) resources reduced to helpless weakness.—(Hear,_,,' pie Such was monopoly which, whilst it kept the r es ts .it home needy and hungry, permitted the /An e nt in foreign countries to rot from want of a en w h - 5 10 number of mouths to consume them.—(Hear , - t r e es° If war killed, if it stained the field and the 5- fife with human blood, monopoly destroyed bur n !, v est' also, its hundreds and thousands from year th• ~e and - by a lingering agency, worse to endure f u ' o d short stroke of the sword or the Cannon-WI war demoralised a peopl e , so did monopoly, r at ter into life, as it did, theft, i ncen di ar i s m, and oes, evils which could befal society. He relied °n ov o overruling process for the destruction of both NVII monopoly—for the same moral law which th e y ala i there to advocate condemn e d b o th, and vv°,' mately doom both to annihil a ti on . (Cheers ; ) t hat in n The CHAIRMAN then inform e d the meetingL o s.t" consequence of the motion of Mr. Villiers ° ut; ee,; be brought before the Hou se o f C om mons Del" OP it was not the intention of th e League to bo ld fort' usual : meeting in that pl ace , b u t on that ak night he hoped to see them all again. The meeting then adjourned. CONINGSBY.—The demand for this work 11 : 4 1 we understand, every d a y. Th e C our t J°2l ine t, serves :—" In whatever point of view we ex el .: 01 191 ,,, work, it command s unm i xe d a d m i rat i on . It 1- iish 5 ". able as a novel of re a l lif e — as a p i cture of tig d pti ll so ciety—as an exposition of politi ca l parties ' 11) 0 f tbe eiples—as a gallery o f li v i ng p or t a i ts . each re co; aspects it exhibits great talent ; but it is in its, St fireio - of them all that it deserves the hign e ' ar soa' t e Many of the characters are portraits, which ne.l 3 ;is 11 3° r . quainted with the circles in which the orig nj o re '7 O O can fail to detect. Lord Monmouth and his c rea R o o , Rigby, who writes slashing' articles in t he res t J i ,is —Milbank, the Cotton Lord—Sidonia the gis capitalist, who holds all the Courts of Enr ° P e t heef,;ic cheque-book—Henry Sidney, B uc kh urs t, Ver e ,' l , o O,L re panions of Conin gs by a t Eton—Lucian Gay,eti and table wit—none of them can be m istake n : o' o l are also passages of high p oe ti ca l b eau ty in thitbes• The love of Coningsby for Edith is full of P e h a ?„ 0 , fresh-heartedness. The recommend a tion of ei le fo gsti" vet to our reader s wou ld b e a wor k o f suPere -01 Everybody will read it." [ADVERTISEMENNT.]—The Atrapilatory' O ar eli if Hair Dip . , the only dye that rea ll y ans wers T he 'Mfrs, and dOiis not require redoing but as 0 1 0 grows, as it never fad es , or acqu i res t h a t ton 3 ; 0 01P , : o re or purple tint common to all other dyes, 1 30 1 t he °Do' can, with the gre a t es t con fid ence , recom menu dye as infallable, if done at their establishment ',: n 10 13 ,,i, dies or gentlemen requiring it are requested. jis 0118 their friends or servants with them to see how. t ho at t o which will ena bl e th em t o d o it a f terwa rds w' t dee• chance of failure. S evera l private ap b e nt "r es" it e entirely to the above purpose,. and some 0 f be at o io g blishrnent having used it, the effect produced can oteli d i seen. They think it necessary to add, that bY ttle of ( . 3 ' u t strictly to the instructions given with each 1)0 01 118' 0 '0 numerous persons have succeeded equally' w n nod r' coming to them.—Address Ross and Sons, 11 ;erfnIctl Bishopsga.tez-street,the celebrated Perruonier s ' I atte y Hair -cutters, and Hair-dyers.—N.B. Famili es at their own residences, whatever the distance)). p e a, ASTONISIIING CURE OP, A CONFIRM.t fdr y COMPLAINT BY HOLLOWAY'S PILLS!—Mrs' ° l ' . o far o . Tara, residing in Leather-lane, Holborn, had bec e d ing for five years under the effects of a di seit i s l o - 0 5 %i• which produced indigestion, sick head-aches, w r Jrol,o sight, lowness of spirits, irritability of ten i N e i e gs, b l ' o at ness, occasional swelling of the body an d for r cti general debility. She attended the hospi tals appOto three years, but only got worse, and recove r l vro t o hopeless ; but yet, wonderful to relate, sheof the suds months restored to perfect health by mean s 0 0 11 0g bd extraordinary medicine ! Sold at Professor oiy Establishment, 244, Strand (where advi ce , gratis), and by al mos t a l mos t all respecta ble In vendors throughout the civilised world. or DEAFNESS. f lO - TESTIMONIAL from John Sawyer, r sr l' n 'd wood Lodge, Maidenhead, Berks, to Messrs. S• s _en, mona, 39, Albemarle -str ee t, Piccadilly. Gentlew outh ot,P oo , been deaf for some ti me , I was induced, in th e m r . on decL it it vember, 1839, t o ma k e t r i a l o f your Invisible Voice 0.1 and, although a t m y a d vance d age, at that time g o edia t l i si year, I h a d no h o p e o f o b ta i n i ng any relief, ye t ion, an d cop applied the m I cou ld h ear th e general con, that hearing has become so much improved by their sj eseo ,i (oo now hear acutely without their aid. I am, Ge°, 842 ,-s , to most obedient servant, J. Sawyer. 22d June, I s ger t, 4o l the late Henry Cowper, Esq., of Tewen Water beet?,„ ic i Mesirs, S. and B. Solomons : —Gentlemen, haln.l' b j e 'O; 4 , I n ' ~sr, for many years, I was induced to try your in comp Conductors. They enable me to hear person. , ec taele . ,tia and at a place of worship most distinctly. The L eeilo t, 4l o, Handglass which you have sent me are very ea 900,5 suit my sight perfectly, the transparency of which t he - .` o .itit liant, that although I have passed my 86th Yv g bt, bes t May last, yet they enable me tamed, and by cand le ', c , 0 my i the greatest ease and comfort to myself. I return .i co pe o r i . o , thanks, and remain your obedient servant, HenrLiarogc 22d June, 1839. —Telescppe,s, Opera Glases, 711 &c. of the same kind of Lenses.—Cautien.—Messrs. c inecte d 0 00 d, lomons, Opticians and A urists, arc not in any way 7 h b o urb a person of the same name in their immediate .u s. tt . 0.:. 4 Nor n any part of the country. To prevent mt . ta_h.,tra• tious, and Ohserve,—Only to be had at 30, AiDerw"" Piccadilly, opposite the York Hotel. -.., .; ~L: ; ." - n. .91j P; 14E nAlto The e t i t t ~ "Iled U T , tao rre The w. et' a Sp /Ri it r. A 11, kt il• j it h e . 8%.„ ° Ai ~;_ THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 20, 1844