The Sun. — London, England, 1845-04-10 00:00:00

GREAT MEETING OF THE ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE. A general Metropolitan meeting of the members of the Anti-Corn-law League was held last evening in the Theatre-Royal, Covent-garden. The doors were opened at half-past six o'clock, and notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the weather, every part of the theatre was crowded to excess long before the commencement of the proceedings. Indeed, the thea tre was inconveniently crowded, and many persons unconnected with the public press were permitted to crowd into that portion of the house which hes hitherto been appropriated to the exclusive use of reporters, where, by the pressure which they created, and by the incessant buzzing of conversation which they kept up, they were a source of serious annoy ance and inconvenience to those whose duty it was to take notes of the proceedings. At seven o'clock, G. Wilson, Esq., the chairman of the League, entered the house, and was greeted with reiterated plaudits. lle was accompanied by Dr. Bowring, M.P., R. Cobden, Esq., M.P., Cblonel Pey - ronnet Thompson, George Thompson, Esq., W. J. Fox, Esq., and several other influential members of the League, who were loudly cheered as they ap peared upon the stage. Amongst those present we observed :—George Wilson, Esq. (in the chair), the Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers, M.P., John Bright, Esq., M.P., J. Stewart, Esq., M.P., Alexander Murray, Esq., M.P., Major-General Briggs, Professor Key, Professor Graham, Dr. William Cooke Taylor, John Haughton (Broom Hall, Sunning-hill, Berkshire), Dr. Cape, Dr. Bateman, Dr. Macdonnell, Captain Cogan, W. Clarke, Esq., Mayor of Coventry, Messrs. John Horton (Lincoln), Bowring, jun., C. H. Lattimore (Berkbampstead), Abraham Bauer, George Brettle, William Leaf, N. Overbury (Westbury), William Leavers, David Dewar, W. A. Wilkinson, P. A • Taylor, J. A. Lyon, William Hargreaves, George Offer, R. G. WeMord, P. Morand, E. Aranjo, Lindsay Travers, J. Poulter, C. J. Baker, Press Granger, H. L. Keeling, C. Gilpin, Shepherd Sand ford (Little Mallingfield, Suffolk), Thomas Ball (South Shields), W. Coxhead (Bath), H. Penny, J. Levesque, F. Hardy, G. Hilditch, Clement Kemp, W. K. Morris, J. Ferrirsr, Charles Spiers, John Sy monds, Benjamin Clark, W. Robinson. C. Fox, Wil liam Ellis, H. 11. Duff, James Waterman, Henry Allen (Arundel), J. Clode, jun. (Windsor), G. Hawkins, J. Fenwi';k, Robert Weir, G. H. Ashurst, J. P. Barnard, Henry Hull (Uxbridge), Henry Lloyd Morgan, J. Stone, Town Clerk of Leicester, Edward Smith (Sheffield), Edward Smith, Samuel Bailey, Henry Scott, Henry Elkington, T. K. Pritchard, T. Dyson, D. Miles, P. Mackenzie, M, Hooker, W. Geesin, P. Douglas, W. E. Tuke, James Hurnard (Colchester), George Ridout, Richard Bur dett, Richard Ware Cole, J. Biggs, ex-Mayor of Leicester, Fitzherbert Bugby (Stepney College), M. Buzlago (Azores), G. Ridge, T. Baldwin, A. Anderson, William Evans (Manchester), Malcolm Ross, and Edward Walker (Manchester). G. WILSON, Esq., then took the chair, and called upon the Secretary to read the minutes of the last meeting. The SECRETARY having read the minutes, Dr. BOWRING, M.P., moved that they be confirmed. Mr. KAY, the Mayor of Manchester, seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation. The CHAIRMAN then came forward, and was received with the most enthusiastic cheers. After the applause had somewhat subsided the lion. Gentleman spoke as follows :—Ladies and Gentlemen, we have permitted a greater length of time to intervene between this meeting and the last than has usually been permitted to elapse, in accordance with our previous arrange ments ; and although there can be no question that, at no very remote period of our agitation, such a circum stance would have been laid hold of by the mono polists as a proof of the declining state of the League. and would have given rise to prophecies of our speedy and utter extinction, yet I rejoice to say that I see no such symptoms on the present occasion. —(Cheers.) The monopolists have been silent on the subject. We may meet frequently or only occasionally, or even suspend our meetings altogether for a time, but de pend upon it enough has been done to instruct the most ignorant, and to enlighten even the moat obtuse of the members of the Society for the Protection of Agriculture—(Cheers)—as to the folly of conceiving that any change in the nature of our public demonstrations, or any diminution of them, can affect in the slightest degree the action which the League exercises on the public mind, and which it will continue to exercise and to increase, until the corn-laws shall be entirely abolished.—(Loud cheers.) We are met here for the last time previous to an event to which a great deal of public attention has been directed ; and which will have the effect of still further propagating our principles throughout the country—l mean the Anti-Corn-law League Bazaar. Now, if any one thinks that from previous exhibitions of this description he can form the slightest idea of that which we propose to hold here, he grossly deceives himself.—(Cheers.) In the first place ours will not be a mere metropolitan exhibition. It will not be a mere provincial exhibition. It will be in every sense of the word a strictly national demonstra tion—(Loud cheers)—in every respect one worthy of the League—(Cheers) —and of the cause for the pro motion of which the League was established.—(Re newed cheering.) We shall of course have the usual contributions which are generally exhibited at ba zaars ; but, in addition, we shall have special contri butions from every town in the kingdom of any mark. —(Cheers.) We shall have lace from Nottingham and Leicester. Sheffield and Birmingham will fur nish us with hardware. We shall have minerals from Cornwall; shawls from Paisley. Every variety of production which the ingenuity and industry of the manufacturers of England call into exertion will be there, in addition to all that is usually contributed to exhibitions of a similar character.—(Loud cheers.) I am free to confess that if the promotion of the col lection of a fund were the mere object we had in view, a greater amount might be procured by means of a general subscription than we shall be likely to raise by this exhibition. But what we want is to se cure the general co-operation of those in supporting our measures, whose co-operation will be more valu able than any amount of money we may procure.— (Cheers.) 'We want to see assembled in this theatre our friends from all parts of the kingdom. We want to give them an opportunity of conferring together; of conferring with one another—of knowing each other—(Loud cheers)—and we think that by these means we shall give an additional impetus to our cause, and double the resolution of each individual to promote the grand object which we have in view. —(Loud cheers.) At the same time we have the pleasing satisfaction of knowing that this bazaa r w ill not interfere in the slightest degree with our usual course of operations.—(Hear, hear .) The lecturers will be diffusing istrit k nowledge l through out the agricultural There will be the daily as u sual.—(Cheers.) (Chee . rs.) meetings o f the . council as usual—(Cheers)—and the st p r i r i n e o F e s e t d. attention will be devoted to our registration t ngs as (Immense cheering.) Our regular a will visit the different boroughs and counties fo r this purpose, as they would if no such exhibition a 74 1 taking Lehlyheel place here.—(Cheers.) There is not is not or pinion of the machinery of the League w . in the most perfect order, and which will continue to be so, as much as if our attention con tinued tinued to it exclusively, without suspense or inter ruption from the proceedings here. We shall thus succeed for a fortnight in arresting public attention to this theatre, and to the cause which this bazaar is intended to support; and it must be satisfactory to those friends who seven years ago were without mark or favour in the country, and who assisted at that time to lay the foundation of this League which is now become one of the greatest and most influen tial R owers ever known in this country—it must be satistactory to these men to know that their most sanguine expectations of support from the people are tenfold more than realised.—(Loud cheers.) The speakers this evening will be Mr. Cobden—(lmmense cheering)—Colonel Thompson—(Loud cheers)—and Fox—(Cheers.) I will not detain you longer, but will at once call upon my Gallant Friend Colonel Thompson to address you.—(Loud cheers.) Colonel P. THOMPSON, who was received with the utmost enthusiasm, supposed that it was in virtue of his seniority that he had been put forward.—(A laugh.) As this was no Government procession, he T LIE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 10 184% saw no reason why the youngest should go first. Eighteen years ago— ‘-‘ True pity—pity 'tis 'tis eighteen years ago he was exerting himself alone in this grand cause. Nine years ago he was doing what one man could do to oppose in the House of Com mons that arrangement of the existing Government by which the interests of the English Church were bound up up with a continuance of the corn-laws.— (Cheers.) All would not do, however, and he was cashiered on the first opportunity.—(A laugh.) Had he had a fair chance, as other men had, he might have been alive still, and of service to them now. It was not him they saw before them, but only his wailing ghost.—(Laughter.) He had been assassinated seven years ago in Marylebone.—(Cheers and laughter.) That was a long story, and not to the present ques tion. But he was assassinated there, and some would find it so to their cost. When that was the way in which the people paid those who led them, no wonder if, year after year, they found a difficulty in carrying popular questions. But he brought no ill omen there. He brought nothing but what was favourable. He had been recently visiting their old and tried friends in Scotland, who were as hearty as ever, nay, heartier than ever in the cause.—(Loud cheers.) Their Scotch friends knew, as well as they themselves knew. that the time was fast approaching when their cause would be triumphant. Their friends were multiply ing everywhere. Their enemies were falling before them ; or, better still, they were joining them, (Loud cheers.) Look at the Premier.—(lmmense cheering.) How much was he worth ?--(Renewed cheering.) Let them take note of his actions and his sayings. He saw that opposition was so foolish and so hopeless that, like a man of prudent character as he was, he was only looking round to secure a safe port in time to put into it.—(Cheers and laughter.) And with him would come all those special waiters upon Providence who considered him as their God, the Eolus, and who, whatever wind he blew, were ready to make sail before it.—(Loud cheers ) Their enemies were working for them.—(Cheers.) All that men could do to forward their cause their enemies were doing.—(Cheers.) They themselves could not do more than their enemies were doing for them.— (Cheers.) He had told his friends in Scotland that if they had paid their enemies to adopt that course s hich would most promote the cause of the League, and had laid down for them the course they were to adept, they could not do it half so well as their enemies were doing it for them. —(Hear, hear.) Let them look at the recent debates—grease, and lard, and butter—those were the things which had engaged the attention of statesmen on the monopolist side of the House.— (Cheers and laughter.) The great questions of na tional interest had dwindled down into such smoky, greasy things as these.—(Renewed laughter.) He had told their friends in Scotland that when they brought the little boys into schools, and instructed them in the use of various things, they should ask them, among other things, what Government was for, and he little fellows should be brought to pipe out in answer—to put tar in our butter.—(Cheers and laughter.) He had been to Scotland to invite their friends there to make contributions to the bazaar ; and some men had said to him, what is your particu lar concern in this busines3? How do you earn your livelihood ? He answered, that it was aforaging party, and why should not he take charge of a foraging party, if he were asked, as well as any other ? And, strange to say, they liked his foraging party, and they gave contributions according to their produce. Some gave yarn, some gave bed -ticking, some gave minerals.—(Cheers.) At Newcastle they gave coals, which it had been agreed should be sold from the sample. Tickets should be printed for the bazaar for ten chaldrons of coals; and why ladies should not sell these tickets for coals, he could not under stand. Depend upon it that nothing could he given but that they would have ingenuity enough to find the means of disposing of it. One man had pro mised to send them a Shetland horse, forty inches high. Now he proposed that this horse should appear at the bazaar, and that over him there should be this motto, " This is what men and horses come to, when they can't get corn."—(Loud cheers, and laughter.) Now there was more than a jest hanging upon that horse. The inhabitants of the Shetland Islands maintained themselves by the pro duce of their fisheries, which they send to Spain and Portugal; and if they were permitted to bring home corn, instead of being unable, as they were now very frequently, to obtain bread to eat, they would have an ample supply of it. The corn of the Shetland Islands was so bad that it had been suggested that it might be possible, if they went quietly to work, for them to be able to obtain for the Shetland Islands the same privileges as the Channel Islands now en joyed, and which had been obtained in some degree through the interference of their friend Dr. Bowring— (Cheers)—for the Isle of Man.—(Renewed cheers.) The course was the same in Shetland as in London. The hardship was equal in both places. Restriction was as hard at Lerwick as in London. It was felt the same in Manchester. Now, 100 pair of hands were employed in a factory as it was in . the Shetland cottage by the fisherman's wife, who sat knitting in solitude those shawls which could not be sold to pro cure her family bread. The only difference was, that while Shetland was small, London was large, and as they were larger and possessed greater strength so they should aid the weaker, and make contribu tions in proportion to their greater means. They should aid that bazaar which was to be raised in their own metropolis, so that their friends might say that never yet had there been such an exposition of the produce of British ingenuity and British genius. For he knew well' that although those who were there assembled were perfectly aware of the magni tude and importance of their cause, yet there were iome who were outside barbarians who required in formation on the subject.—(Cheers.) And he be iought all of them, when they went forth from that house, and returned to their homes, to become mis sionaries of the truth, and see how long it would be before they would stimulate their friends and convert their enemies, so that their power should be irresis tible.—(Cheers.) He understood that they were to have some unexpected aid that night, and he, as an old servant, would not detain them longer, but would at once make way, to afford them a taste of that which was new.—(The Gallant Colonel then retired, amidst loud and long-continued cheering.) Mr. COBDEN then came forward, and was received with the utmost enthusiasm. He said, that he had found himself unexpectedly seated beside a gentleman who in times past had been a consistent and strenuous, but conscientious and amicable opponent of their good cause.—(Hear, hear.) That gentleman was largely connected with agriculture.—(Hear, hear.) Not only did he farm himself above 3,000 acres of land—not only was he connected as agent with some of the largest proprietors in the kingdom, but he him self was a large landed proprietor.—(Cheers.) Mr. Haughton had been examined before the Parlia mentary Committee of 1836, and he (Mr. Cobden) was happy to say that Mr. Haughton had maturely considered this question, and that he was prepared that night to address a few words to that meeting-- (Cheers)—to explain, if explanation were necessary to them and to the country, the grounds on which he had seen reason to alter the views he had fo merly entertained upon that subject. He begged to be al lowed to introduce Mr. Haughton to the meeting. • Mr. HAUGHTON then came forward, but for a few minutes he could nr)t obtain a hearing, so tumultuous was the applause which greeted him. When silence was somewhat restored, he said, that it had been said by one of the greatest men that the world had ever seen figure upon its stage, that men and women were merely players. He (Mr. Haughton) little thought that he himself should be a performer upon these boards.—(Laughter and cheers.) He little thought that he should there address such an assemblage upon such a subject.—(Cheers.) He had been for 20 years the steady supporter of protective duties. He did sup port them conscientiously and firmly. It would not be necessary for him to take a review of his past adherence to those principles, in the same manner that Opposition Members in the House of Commons reviewed the past labours of the session. —(Cheers.) But he would acknowledge that he had supported the system of protection which had now extended over a period of thirty years. He would give them his reasons for abandoning the sinking ship when she was no longer sea• worthy.—(Cheers.) They might, perhaps, be aware that not only was he a large land lord himself, but that he also had a great quantity of property in charge, and it was only from a thorough conviction—from a consciousness that it was his duty —that he did what he could to bring about the con - summation colfleheriss.)brothilere would d rs of this great principle.—(Loud how the protective laws had been o firs w t ho of all i ask of any —(Cheers.) When the law might se g rvi ht .e b e e to. p t r h e e s m el they were told that the price was o first passed in 1815. yet, in 1822, it was found that the tatlfstTuld be 80s., that n money was all they could o bt a i n. In 1825 it fectly impossible to carry out this law, 'the famine that pr eva il e d i n the country, g a rea n, z as r. Canning thought it his d u ty t o go down tOr,thenuss of Commons and let wheat ou t o f b ond without par.o ing any duty at all. In the y ear 1835 h e was one of the parties examined before the House of Common s , and it was then complained that 35 5 . was a ll they could get. In 1840 there was a different state of things to be brought about—(Laughter and cheers) — Sir Robert Peel was brought into power, and he said that he Gould insure the highest rate of wheat to the farmer. He could assure him 565. They were at that time obliged to sell it for 45s.—(Hear, bear.) And he would say now, after ten years' experience, that it was an egregious fallaey to endeavour to con trol the seasons, or to state with certainty what should be the price of bread.—(Hear, hear, and cheering.) That was the case, and he would affirm that while it was already proved that while the amount guaranteed was 545., the sum they sold it at was 455. Such was the effect of protection.—(Loui cheering.) Know ing this, it was necessary that all should come for ward on this occasion, whether landlords, or tenants, or labourers, and when at last the immense mass of the people would feel their interest in the cause, there could be no doubt of its being ultimately car • ried.—(Cheers.) Why, it was the interest of the landlord, it was the interest of the farmer to do that —(Continued cheering.) And let them not forget that it was their bounden duty to fill the mouths of their vastly increased pauper brethren with the good with which God had gifted them. They knew that the seasons had their cycles, and that while the only kind, the great and the bountiful Giver of all Good might be .showering down his gifts on one portion of the earth, he might at the same time withhold his favours from them, by scorching up what they had sown, or by drenching their fields with rain. Let them apply to every part of the globe for food.—(Cheers.) Let them carry their produce wherever it might find a market ; and let England he, as it was intended at first to be, the workshop of the world.—(lmmense cheering.) Let all in that assem blage do their duty ; landlords, tenants, and opera tires, until, like the phoenix from its ashes, they should arise, and show by their determination their desire to do away with the stigma which now attached to their country. He would mention what had oc curred to his own mind within the last three years, when Irish butter was introduced into this country, and Glasgow alone could be found to purchase it. He remembered lately that in Ireland he spoke to a manufacturer, and these were his words :—" Where is the sense of your giving us such prices for our butter, for all the farmers wives want shawls now ?"—(Laughter.) In carrying out that principle, they need not mind whether other countries grew corn, for they, also, would try to grow it—(Hear, hear)—and, like the farmers' wives who wanted shawls, theywould find their wants grow in the same proportion.—(Cheers.) He had just le't the shores of Ireland, and he had been told that the corn-laws had done a great deal of good for that country. He would now ask this simple question— Had it made the farmers of that country rich ?—had it increased the happiness of the popula tion ?—(Hear, hear.) It was no use to occupy the public mind of Ireland in this manner. It would make the country worse; it would bring the people into a state of greater degradation. After seeing the state of the farmer in England with his thirty years of protection, he was compelled to ask, if he was in the position to which that protection entitled him ? He said no ; and he did say that he was unwilling to give any protection. He had supported protection conscientiously, because all he had in the world was on land or in land, and he had the consolation left that let the wind blow high or blow low, he had acted throughout conscientiously, because, though he was interested in the question, he had changed his opinions, and he was not ashamed now to avow them. —(Tremendous cheering.) He would tell them this, that he had changed those opinions conscientiously. He would tell them more than this, he advocated these new opinions because he believed them, and he would advocate a free-trade not only in corn, but in sugar, and in timber also. He could not ask for sugar, because the Crown said it was to be protected ; but if he built a house, he might surely see what the quality of the timber used in it was, and he might wish to make that timber better. He asked for the abolition of the corn-laws, because it would enhance the comforts and the happiness of the people.—(Cheers ) Mr. COBDEN, who for some time was so voci ferously cheered that it was impossible for him to obtain a hearing, at last, when silence was somewhat restored, said that he was sure that the expression of the feeling of every one in that assembly would agree with him when he stated how deeply they felt themselves indebted to the Hon. Friend who had just appeared before them, for his candid expression of his conversion from the princi ples which he had before then advocated ; and he thought it looked like the beginning of the end.—(" Hear, hear," and laughter.) They had, if he might say so, been going round the circle, and had just completed the journey. They had be gan with the manufacturers, then they had gone to the shopkeepers, and now they had got among the farmers. When the agricultural interest was intro• duced to the notice of the House of Commons, and when its most distinguished supporters brought for ward a motion on the subject, it would astonish the landlords and their friends to find that nothing de serving the name of an argument had been advanced on the subject on that side of the House. He would not say that there were not Mem- bers on the Government side of the House o Commons who could not make out a good case to the advantage of their own principles, and the questions which they themselves defended. He should not say that they descended to any unworthy practices in order to confer a peculiar benefit on a elms, but he, looking after the interests of the farmer and the farm labourer, would meet them on the equal ground, that the corn-laws were more injurious t 3 the farmer than to any other class in the empire.—(Cheers.) Now, really, when he considered the state of the House of Commons that it contained at least 200 county Mem bers, besides 140 Members more, sent up from pocket boroughs, he would ask them what they could possibly expect from one or two men ? It appeared to him, and he had a lively faith in the character and credit of Englishmen, that they would not allow the counties to send up Members to stop the advocates of the people in the body of the House. He had faith in the qualities of his countryu:en, who had that staple in their composition, that out of one hundred, ninety-nine employed the privileges entrusted to them correctly.— (Cheers.) He could only account for the deficiency in argument on the Ministerial side of the House, by a reference to the considerations which influenced their opinions. They supported the Crown—they supported monopoly, and it would take the eloquence of Demosthenes himself to support, with any degree of fervour, the corn-laws. The Prime Minister of England ought to be wary that he did not induce his followers to stretch the bow too tightly, lest the present evil might be still further increased. Upon the subject of the kitchen stuffs of Sir Robert Peel's tariff, he (Mr. Cobden) never heard a man so eloquent as Mr. Bickham Escott. Even Colonel Wyndham was roused into a state of agitated elo quence, when referring to the little Parliament of No. 17, Bond-street.--(Cheers and laughter.) The question now arose, what were they to do between Peel and Russell ? There appeared to be a sort of rival bidding on either side, but he would not say which should have the honour of carrying out the great principle of free-trade.—(Hear.) If he (Mr. Cobden) were in the position of Lord John Russell, he would be very—very jealous of the honour of the House of Woburn, and would not like that the House of Peel and Co. should take it out of his hands.—(Hear, hear.) lie would bid high for it. If put to the vote, probably a majority would be dis posed to give an old friend who had a hand in the Test and Corporation Ae.ts the preference.—(Hear, hear.) And then he made the first bid also in 1841, but he did not bid quite up to the mark. He thought that after reading what Mr. Haughton had said that night, Lord John ought be very much disposed to put another foot forward in the matter. He did net see how statesmen could falter —how they could hesi tate for one moment, when a gentleman like Mr. Haugh ton came forward, whom he knew to be employed and trusted by some of the noblest of the land in the ma nagement of their estates : who had been for three days under examination before an agricultural com mittee in 1835, and who was a great agricultural authority—when he saw such a gentleman come for ward and declare himself a free• trader after mature deliberation, he could not see why Lord John should hesitate in carrying out the principles of free-trade. It was a very remarkable fact that, go where they would, there was something in their cause that attracted all the men of sense, eloquence, and feeling to them.—(Cheers.) There was Mr. Haughton, and he saw another old friend cf theirs behind him, Mr. Latimore—(Hear, hear)—and there were some other independent and intelligent farmers sitting just below him. If any of those who were listening to him hap pened to go into a farmer's dining-room, which was his ordinary, he would tell them how they could re cognise the free traders amongst them. Let them just take their hats, and see which were the biggest, and these would belong to the largest heads, who were free traders.—(Laughter.) If any of their opponents had heads above the average size, they would soon be found to desert the ranks of the pro tectionists, and come over to the ranks of the free traders.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Why they had some of the very best landed proprietors in the kingdom on their side. There was one of great pre eminence, whose name was hardly ever quoted, Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, afterwards Lord Leicester. — (Hear, hear.) He was a man, who sixty years ago little went htoettrthan a rabbit w Norfolk, wherehefaorurne. There d n an estate was notwhichwa: bladeuhpe ecelta o yt f gras s wmori fora mixed rabbit with it withthi this estate,t o sand feed de itself sankm a upon. made e wells, surface, threwi 'lr e s l o l that this land, which was not worth 2s. 6d. an acre ; when he got it, was worth 255. an acre in his hands. —(Hear, hear.) A property not worth 2,000/. rose to the value of 20,0001. in his skilful hands. Now, if any man ought to be afraid of foreign competition, afraid that any produce of the fertile lands of the Mississippi and the rich central land of Poland would throw out of cultivation the comparatively barren land which he had cultivated, it was Mr. Coke. But he (Mr. Cobden) knew that from the first he was a strenuous advocate of free trade in corn. When he was in Norwich lately, he took the pains of ascertaining, from Mr. Coke's most intimate friends, what his opinions on the corn-laws were, and he had the authority of his personal friends for saying that he was from the first a consistent opponent of the corn-laws — (Hear, hear)—not that he took any great pains to study their effect upon the commerce and manufac tures of the country, but he opposed them because he thought they were calculated to make the farmers in dolent in their agricultural pursuits.—(Hear.) Now, not to go farther than Lord Spencer—(Cheers)— what right had any man, who had not made agricul ture his study, to talk about a free trade in corn being injurious to the farmers, when he had the ex ample of Earl Spencer to guide him on the subject ? If any body chose to contend that it was beneficial to commerce and manufactures, why, he may be as competent to judge of it as Eirl Spencer or Lord Dueie, but when some empty• headed person came out of his counting-house, or from behind his desk, 2nd said that the League wanted to ruin the farmers, he would only point to the dicta of Earl Spencer, the best grazing farmer in the kingdom— (Hear, hear) —and of Earl Ducie, the best arable farmer, and ask him how he had the pre sumption to say that, with such practical farmers to guide him, they were the enemies of farmers or agri culture ?—(Hear, hear.) He took an opportunity, the other night, in the House of Commons, of drawing the attention of his audience there— (Laughter)—to the evils, upon the industry of the farmers, which their law, which prevented the coarser kinds of grain used for the feeding of cattle from being imported, produced. But, would they believe it, Mr. Stafford O'Brien, who called himself a farmer's friend, got up and actually bullied the Ministry because he suspected that they were inclined to let Dutch clover-seed come in for the benefit of the farmer, There was a farmer's friend !—(Laughter.) Was it not a privilege to have such people for an audience, that one might be able to teach them something ?—(Laughter and cheers.) Why, if they had a free trade in grain, the farmers were the class, of all others, who who would participate most largely in the benefit. They could indeed eat American flour and Polish wheat in the towns, but the farmers would be the great buyers of Indian corn and Egyptian beans, and Polish peas, if, as ought to be the case, they were allowed to import those things free.—(Hear, hear.) He would appeal to Mr. Haughton and Mr. Latimore whether, at the time the Protection Society was bullying the Ministry to keep up the restrictions upon the food for cattle, the tenants of those blind men, who were leading the blind, had not their cattle starving for want of provender?—(Hear, hear.) The consequence was, that the farmers were forced to send their cattle to market, and sell them at a sacri fice, thereby running down the price, because they had not fodder at home to feed them with; and he heard yesterday of one proprietor who bought, as a favour, from his tenant, upwards of fifty cows to feed the hounds in his kennel.—(Loud cries of " Shame, shame.") The landlords now began to suspect, ,he verily believed, that other persons knew their business better than they did themselves—they had that virtue of modesty coming over them for the first time—(Laughter)—and that accounted for the more moderate tone they lately assumed. They had doubts whether they were not wrong altogether, and when they read the speech of Mr. Haughton he sus pected those doubts would very much increase.— (Hear, hear.) There was one part of his speech which he did not sufficiently dwell upon. He had shown that the farmers derived no benefit from pro tection, but there was one part of the protective sys tem, the monopolies of sugar and timber, by which they were injured.—(Hear, hear.) They paid dearly for those articles, merely that the landed proprietors might get up a partnership with the sugar and timber monopoly in the House of Commons.—(Cheers.) How many hundred tons of fruit were wasted every year, which would be made into preserves and con sumed by children (and nothing could be more wholesome), if sugar were sold at one-half the price at which it had been sold for the last five years?— (Hear.) But the most important part of all was this, and Mr. Haughton had not at all adverted to it, that the many grievances which the farmers had to com plain of would never be got rid of, as long as their attention was distracted by the cry of protection—as long as that ignis fatuus of protection was held be fore their eyes. The farmers were always led away by this artful cry. The landlord said to them, " Oh, we must take care of the corn-law, send men to Par liament to maintain protection, and we will take care of your interests." They were thus led to believe that if they sent a majority to the House of Com mons, that majority would enable them to pay what ever rent they agreed to give. They had thus no time to think how they would get fairer rents, or rid themselves of the nuisance of game. The consequence was, that the landlords, instead of meeting their tenants on fair, equitable terms, as men of business, threw something between them which m y s tifi e d a very plain matter—" There is my land, what will you give for it." Were it not for this cry, the landlords would have been compelled to grant leases to their tenants, and to abate the nuisance of game—in fact such a nuisance would never have been imposed on the tenants. They would have laid out more capital on the land, and would have made it more profitable, were it not for the bug-bear of protection which mis led them.—(Hear, hear.) Now he would give an advice to the farmers, and that was, that they would not take leases at present—(Hear, hear)— un l ess th ey got them at a corn rent. — (Hear, hear.) A lease was necessary to the tenant—to the man who invested his capital in land; and if there was no corn -l aw a man might with great security take a lease at twenty-one years' money rent, because under a free trade supply and demand would be so regulatd that there would be very little fluctuation in the price of corn.—(Hear, hear.) But HOW that they had a corn-law every one knew that the greatest fluctuations in the price of corn occurred. That was a point on which every , sane mind agreed. How had the Scotch f armer ma naged to evade the fluctuations in the price of corn ? They showed that they were twenty-three years in advance of the English farmers, in shrewdness and intelligence in this matter. In 1815, w h en t h e corn law passed, the Scotch, like the English farmer, be lieved that an Act of Parliament could secure to him 80s. a quarter for his corn, and he took land calcu lating upon that price ; but when, in 1822 , t h e Scotch farmer found that the price fell to 40s. a quarter, he eaid immediately this law is a failure, the system won't do. That class of farmers who took land, sup posing that the 80s. per quarter could be maintained, were of course swept away ; but when those who succeeded came, they said to the landlords, we will not take your land at a money - rent, because Parlia ment does not fulfil its promises, and d oes not secure the price of wheat which we were led to expect, but. as there is one thing which Parliament cannot contrel— the quantity of corn which, by the help of na ture, and our own industry, we can grow—. we will pay you a rent calculated at a corn-rent, instead of a money-rent. Thus the Scotch farmers showed themselves much shrewder and more intelligent than the English farmers. He did not want to flatter the English farmer ; he wanted to say something homely and un palatable to him, till he became a sharper and a wiser man than he really was.—(" Hear, hear," and a laugh.) He said it with regret, but he believed that there were not ten per cent. of the English farmers of the present day who knew what a corn-rent meant. The • Scotch farmer bargained to give so many quarters of corn as_ the rent of his farm. Suppose he agreed to give 200 quarters of wheat for his farm. The price of wheat in Scotland was taken every year in order to regulate the stipends of 'the clergy, and at the end of the year the average was struck by the Sheriff of the county ; and it was the average price f o r th e year i n t h e cou nty that decided the price whi c h th e f armer was to pay to the land lord : well, supposing he bargained to give 200 quarters of wheat. At th e en d o f th e year, supposing the price of w h ea t per quarter average d 605., then the farmer h a d t o pay 600 1 ., b ut if the price only averaged 405., then the S co t c h f a rmer would have to pay only 4001.—(Hear, hear.) Now, what was the condition of the Scotch farmer under this system ? While they knew, from the evidence given before a Committee of the House of Commons in 1835, that the English farmers declared themselves bankrupt, the Scotch farmers on the contrary, who were sum moned before th e C omm i ttee, sa id they were in a state of prosperity w ith w h eat at a pr i ce o f 39 5 . per quarter. 'The reason was, th a t w hil e th e S co t c h farmer paid a rent, calculated at 395. per quarter, the Englieh farmer was paying a rent of 645. per quarter.—(Loud cheers.) What was the condition of the Scotch farmer at present ? He lately saw in the Scotsman a report of the East Lothian Agricultural District Society in the first week in January. That report stated that the farmers were not in a more pros perous condition since 1835, actually the last time that wheat was d awn to 39 5. a quar t er . Well, in that very same week, he read in the Mark lane Express, a r e p or t o f t h e state o f the agri culturists in Essex, written, probably, by Mr. Baker himself—(Laughter) —but however that may be, the report stated that the small farmers were being ruined—that they were sinking into the condition of labourers—while the large farmers were in a state of sullenness and discontent, partaking almost of the spirit of the labourers themselves—(Hear, hear)-- that the union houses were full of unemployed labourers, who were actually sent to gaol because they were so insubordinate in the union houses. What was the cause of this difference, in the very same week, between the condition of the English and Scotch agriculturists ? It could not be the new tariff, or the Canada Corn Bill, or the new corn-law, for these affected the Scotch as well as the English agriculturist. The East Lothian farmer and the Essex farmer were, in this respect, precisely similarly situated ; and the Essex farmer had this advantage, that he had a richer soil and a better climate than the East Lothian. Ile had also a better market; for, by means of the rail road, he could bring his produce to the metropolis, the best market in the world, within half an hour.— (Laughter.) And yet the Esex farmer was in a miserable, impoverished, whining state.—(Cheers.) And why were the farmers of Scotland in a state of such great comparative prosperity?—(Hear, hear.) One of the reasons of this prosperity of the Scotch farmers over the English was, that they had long leases of their farms at a grain rent, added to which advantages they had the others—those bestowed by nature, education, and the kindness of their natural protectors—namely, skill, intelligence, capital, and industry ; and these were the reasons vs'ty the farmers of Scotland were prosperous, while those of Essex were not so, though possessing so many more advan tages of clime and soil over their Highland neighbours. —(Hear.) These were facts that should hold good until they were disproved ; but who could disprove them ?—(Hear.) Yet this was a boast of the Scotch over the English farmer that need not exist if the disability imposed on the latter by the law be only removed.—(Hear.) Put the English farmer—the farmer of Essex—on the same footing with Scotch farmers, and he would be ably to accomplish quite as much.—(Hear.) But this the English farmer never could do, this improved and improving farmer he never could he, while he permitted himself to be treated as the down-trodden slave—to have the burden kept upon his hack—to be dealt with as the weak and puling child, instead of the upright, independent man.—(Shouts of - applause) Hitherto, Englishmen had been treated as if they were inferior to Scotch• men in intellect and intelligence, and they would deserve a continuation of such treatment if they bore with it.—(Hear, hear.) What he (Mr. Cobden) and those who acted with h:m wanted was, to raise the English farmer from the state of degradation that had been forced upon him by law ; and if those men only felt and appreciated the nature of their true position, it would not be long before they would be easily able to recognise in the League those who had their real interest at heart.—(Cheers.) He did not think that there at all existed that distinction be tween the farmer and the manufacturer that had been imagined. He conceived that the farmer should be in the same position as the artisan in the town, and the same remedy that gave relief to the one should also re lieve the other; and he trusted that the time was not far distant when the farmers would be identified with the inhabitants of the .towns in this one common cause for the advocacy of free-trade principles.— (Hear, hear.) Heretofore the farmers had been placed in a false position, from the fact of their hav ing joined the landlord class in hostile array to the working classes, under the mistaken and most erro neous belief that the interests of both were nut iden tical.—(Hear, hear.) But this error was fast disap pearing, and he did hope that he would ere long, and before the League had had many more meetings, have the pleasure of hearing that numerous, indeed, were the names of those who had followed the ex ample of Mr. Uaughton and Mr. Lattimore.—(Loud cheers.) He (Mr. Cobden) congratulated those gen tlemen and the friends of the League upon hearing those gentlemen had enrolled themselves in so good, so noble, and so just a c a u se . Th e y, as we ll as th os e who had long advocated the cause of free trade, were able to boast that they had never acted towards the landlords in any other than a fair spirit, though the landlords could not say the same for themselves. —(Hear, hear.) Yet though the working classes had been shut out from the enjoyment of all those benefits which it was in the power of the landlords to confer, the latter should not have to say that they were kept out from the free-trade men • but they always ready to receive their aid in the advance ment of this great moral struggle.—(Hear, hear.) But whether they joined them or not, the League would never change their principles—(Hear, hear) —they would go on steadily and perseveringly, and when they had at length arrived at the consummation of their labours, which, beyond all doubt, could not be far distant, it would then be acknowledged by all parties that they had, by their perseverance in this great and mighty struggle, achieved a great and tremendous triumph.—(L o ud cheers.) It was not by ignorance of the duty they were called upon to perform that they could achieve this triumph ; but by acquiring and promulgating a thorough know ledge of those facts and arguments that spoke so strongly in their favour ; facts which were not de rived from any class or any country in particular, but which were applicable to, and should affect, all classes, all countries, and in all times. The lion. Member sat down amidst deafening and prolonged cheering. Mr. W. J. Fox next presented himself, and was received with loud and continued plaudits. He corn meticed by saying that, now that those meetings were about to be suspended for a time, in order to give place to other modes of disseminating the an nouncement of the progress of their cause ; and as the topics of the day in con nexion with the free-trade principle had, here and elsewhere, been continuously and amply discussed ; it seemed to him not to be unde• sirable that the general principle on which the League had been founded, and above all, the objects, the achievement of which it had in view, should be passed in review before the meeting. —(Hear, hear, hear.) They had assembled here to-night for the purpose of being reminded, that it was essential to keep ever in view the great truths by which their efforts had hitherto been guided, and by a close adherence to which they could alone expect success would crown their efforts.—(Hear, hear.) Founded in truth and justice, as their cause was, they had gained many converts to it ; and there could be no doubt but that it would eventuate in a most signal triumph.—(Hear, hear.) And, however varied might be the opinions of those who concurred with them in some points, and differed from them in others; still it should be ad mitted that the League were not a political or party body of men."—(Hear, hear.) They were not a body of men who advocated one line of argument to-day and another to-morrow, but they were men who belonged to all phases of politics and all classes of society.—(fiear,:hear.) The bond of their union was based upon principles as solid and lasting as those of the British Constitution, as enduring as time, and as certain of success as was the inviola bility of the maxim that " truth was omnipotent and must prevail."—(Loud cheers.) The principles on which the League was founded were as simple, yet as true, as any proposition in science ; there was no thing in them calculated to entangle or embarrass the most sincere and earnest mind. One of those principles advocated the justice of the axiom that the working people should sell in the dearest market and buy in the cheapest—that they should assist their neighbours—and that the exigencies of the State should not be met exclusively from the earnings of the working classes.—(Hear, hear.) These were the principles of the League, and they were so plain and explicit that nobody could deny their truth, except some few who, in the mortification they felt, declared that they took more to heart their own cause than the cause of the people.—(Cheers.) Now, on the other hand, some of the most eminent men of the day had laid down as just, and had advocated as inviolable, the principles he had enumerated.—(Hear, hear.) A gentleman from the United States, who now sat near him, had put into his hand a document which had just issued from the press in that country, and which advocated the same cause that the League did, with this difference only, that here in England the farmers advocated the cause of the landed interest, while in the United States they did the direct con trary.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) One passage iu this book put him in mind of the story of the fig growers in Columbia. In that country it was at one time imagined that the fig would grow there as luxu riously as in Turkey, provided that " some protection should be given to native industry "—(Laughter)— " and if it were, America would be found to be even tually the greatest fig-growing country in the world, provided encouragement should be given to native in dustry in this particular, in order to enable certain parties to cultivate the soil to such an extent as that they could grow figs "—(Laughter)—or, in other words, if a war should break out, in which America should be compelled to act on the defensive, those who laughed at her for attempting to grow, under " protection, " that which belonged to their soils, should say, " Oh, a fig for America."—(Laughter and cheers.) However, there was some hope for the future in the fact that there was to be no figgery in England—(Laughter) —a n d if there was not, then the only difference that existed in this respect be tween England and America was, that in the latter country the people had declined the cultivation of a luxury, while in England, a class had refused an abundant supply, on fair terms, of one of the first necessaries to human existence.—(Cheers.) In fact, the principles on which the League was based were as old as political economy itself, and, therefore, the arguments in favour of the new doc trines of protection could not stand good against them ; and, therefore, to deny their truth would be to deny the truth of the political economy doctrine (not that he should wonder at suoh an attempt, for the hardihood with which such assertions were made now-a-days was proverbial.)—(Laughter.) But, in fact, the principles of the League were not only as old as those of political economy, but bore a date coeval with that of the first order of things, and were as true in their object, and as harmonious in their organism- tion, as that system of the movement of the heavenly bodies planned and directed by the Great Creator of the Universe, who first harmonised the order of the heavenly bodies—who had created the zones, frigid and temperate who had given to the enjoyment of men those countries of the Rhine and the Rhone, and their pro ducts of luxury and necessity, in order that men should live to bles ao beneficent a Providence.— (Loud cheers.) The principles of the League were those which advocated the advancement of free trade, and therefore he hoped they would prevail.— (Cheers ) But he should here allude to an article ha had seen in one of the London papers, in which a hope was expressed that New cork and other towns of the United States 'e ould be bombarded, and sug gesting a plan for such a proceeding.—(Cries of " Oh, oh.") Tleey were angry enough when the hot-headed young Prince de Joinville thought that Brighton might conveniently be bombarded. Messrs. Peel and Polk had been talking like two blustering boys about the Oregon territory. And what was that territory that was talked of? There were some 350,000 square miles of it, of which we claimed a barren 100,000. ‘Vhat were they worth ? What was all that land worth, without man upon it, his industry, and products ?—(Cheers.) Why, the Oregon territory was a desert. It was the Sahara of America—the Botany Bay of the red man's banishment. There are (continued the Hon. Gentle man) now upon it some few hundreds of Indians and half-castes connected with the Hudson's Bay Company. There are a , certain number of squatters from the United States, and then there are Indian tribes there, who rejoice in such names as " Flat-head," " Slit-nose," and " Pointed heart." The buffaloes are the lords of the soil, un less the game-laws of the Indians shall make it other wise. It is a territory of no value, and to quarrel about this? Why, you might just as well be in vited by Peel and Polk to fight about the mountains in the moon.—(Laughter.) Let man have some thing to do with it—let those who can find no pro fitable home go there and use their labour in the cultivation of the soil, and as the numbers increase, and a stimulus is given to exertion, it will soon become valuable,-and when man has occupied it, when industry has then driven its car of peaceful conquest about the borders of that vast land—when towns have risen, and cities with their thronging numbers— when the Rocky Mountains are tunnelled, when rail and canal have united the Atlantic and the Pacific, when the wa'ers of the Colombia swarm with steam boats, then will be the time to talk of the Oregon ter ritory; and then, without a regiment or line-of-battle ship, without bombarding any town whatever, free trade will conquer the Oregon' territory for us, and will conquer th e U n it e d States fir us, as far as it is desirable, either for us or them, that there should be any conquest what ever?—(Loud cheers.) Free trade will establish there all the insignia of conquest. The products of that part will come here, and we shall send the re sults of our labour there in return, and there will scarcely be a labourer that will not bear on his back, to his very shirt, the livery of 'Manchester. The knife with which he carves his game will have the mark of Sheffield on the blade, as testimony of supre macy ; in every handkerchief which waves on the banks of the Missouri will be waving the English banner of Spitalfields.—(Cheers.) Why they will he con quered—for they will work for us, and what can the conquered do more ? They will grow corn for us, and they will grind it and send us the flour for our use. They will send us whatever they can produce, and that we want, and there would he no necessity for putting our hands in our pockets in order to pay a governor who is for ever quarrelling with the re presentative of the people, or for soldiers to bayonet the multitude.—(Cheers.) There is nothing on earth worthier the name of empire than this. It is a noble kind of dominion —less degrading both for the one party and the other, but less degrading than any sovereignty that rules over men by armies. But it is not only from nation to nation that the uniting influence of the principle extends, but from cl ass to c l ass , where the alienation is perhaps sometimes greater than amonest those who dwell in the most remote latitudes. We have very much need of the application of this principle to this country, as may be seen in the ex perience of the last three years. Let there be two or three bad harvests in succession, so as to send up the price of corn to such a price as it attained some years ago, and what becomes of the pr os p er it y of which there has been so much boast. It is for us to look in time to the prevention of a recurrence of those tremendous calamities which have already oc curred, and, in our prosperity, I confess that I see reason, abundant reason on every hand for further exertion to mitigate the amount of wretchedness with which that prosperity is likely to be attended. For in this metropolis what is the condition—l will not say of hundreds only—but thausands and thousands ? What is the state of the habitations of the poor ? Nobody would live in a hovel that could hire a decent house. I met, a short while since, with the report of one of our religious societies—the City London Mission—the Spitalfields Auxiliary of that mis sion's report, at the commencement of the present year. The book, after alluding to the illness of one of the missionaries, goes on to say that a second missionary was shortly after seized with an virulent attack of fever. Another of these cases oc • curred from visitations, not from visiting a particular infected rcom, but simply from continually inhaling malaria in an undrained district. A third missionary was in a bad state of health, by which he could only make his visitations at limited periods, as was the case with the fifth and the sixth missionary, and the seventh missionary, in Spitalfields, was entirely laid up for a period of eight weeks. That illness oc curred in spite of every precaution which was taken, for no missionary was received into the mission who was not in the prime of life, and who could not show that he was in a good state of health. Here, then, is the plague that requires to be stayed. I know that there are propositions for sanatory legis lation ; but all the sanatory legislation in the world will be useless if you do not, mitigate the poverty that is locked up in un wholes° ne situations. You are only touching the out Nard symptoms of the dis ease, without improving the condition of the sufferers, and you drive them into yet closer habitations. You keep them in pestilential courts and corners, and you give them no amendment to their condition. The missionary who makes this report makes the fol lowing statement :—The extreme poverty and fre quent destitution of the Spitalfields population pre sents further difficulties in the way of their instruc tion ; for when the cravings of hunger are in flicting pain on the bodies of the people, they are naturally indifferent to such matters. Very many are familiar with these circumstances ; and when the missionaries speak to them of religion, while they are wanting bread, think that he is making game of them. One missionary found, during the severe weather of the last winter, a poor woman very ill, without a particle of fire, with scarcely an article of clothing to cover her person, and literally perish ing for want, and he dared not direct her attention to the Saviour, or the Bread of Life, until he had first saved her from starving, by furnisking her with the bread that perisheth.—(Dear, hear.) The case of that woman is in a curious way, but most un consciously on the part of the writer of the report, connected with the assertion that has been repeatedly put forth by the advocates of the League. Row came the poor creature in such a condition, so that to speak of religious matters under the common simile of food was looked upon as a mockery ? The report then tells us that the woman was a widow, aged 36, and was by trade a chair-bottomer and lucifer-match maker. She had one child thirteen years of age, and. one married daughter. Her husband died about twelve years since, leaving her with three small children, one of whom shortly afterwards died. For the first six years she comfortably supported her self and family by slop-making, but at the end of that time wages were reduced, and eventually she was thrown out of work and a distress for rent followed; and for five weeks herself and family had to sleep in a cupboard. For six months previous to the report the utmost she had earned in one week amounted to 3s. 6d., and sometimes it was only '2s. 6d., out of which she had to pay 2s. for rent. Now, I request your attention to the date. That poor woman lost her husband twelve years ago—that is, twelve years from the winter of 1844, when the missionary found her. For six years after that she supported herself and family. The twelve years bring us back to theyear 1832, when the price of corn was 58s. Bd., then 525. 11d., then 465. 2d., then 395. 4d., then 48s. 6d., and then 555. 10d. That was for the firstsix years, when this poor woman managed to maintain herself and family in com fort single-handed. But, says the missionary, wages at the end of that time were very much reduced, and then followed the distress for rent, the seizure of the beds and the starvation that happened. In 1837 and 1838, when the distress commenced, the price of wheat had risen to 645. 7d. a quarter; in 1839, 70s. Bd.; in 1840, 665. 4d.; and in 1841, 645. 4d. There is the history of the suffering of this poor woman—the abi lity in one case, and the inability in the other—the comfort of six years, and the misery of six years fol lowing. Well, there are men such as Sir R. Inglis, who support similar societies to this I have referred, who talk of cold-hearted and muddle-headed econo mists who go to the root of the evil under which this poor woman laboured. They are cold-hearted and muddle-headed because they do not look at the outward system merely, because they do not take a superficial view of the causes of the poverty and distress which exist amongst the population of this metropolis, and of the country at large. I cannot dismiss this report without adverting to another case, and for a very dif ferent reason. One of the missionaries relates the case of a woman who had been out of work fur some time; the superintendent made an order that she should have a shilling a week for six weeks. On her being informed of this she expressed her thankfulness for the ..-) kindness—" Sir," said she "I cannot think of ec ueP ',. ing it, as there are so many who have familie s to silo port, and who are as poor as I am, let it be g icei 4 one of them ; I have is. 6d. a• week to subsist on : : ad the prowl: e of a faithful God to trust to--(i' d o cheers)—l have always been able to earn InY liv e bread, and while I can do that my conscience w i . nu el me to take what so many need."—(G` i e n i t ., l oo cheering.) Noble creature ! I wish our nc" -I .„' oa ld as they are called, by a stretch of courtesy, ." 00 ,11 imitate her magnanimity.—(Cheers.) Nay , wi t bell their broad lands and their well-filled coffers--00, with their hundreds pFr week, aoe, per daY c/ e• with all their sources of wea:th and emolumel'" flowing over them i.e a goleen stream, do not cZhie to take the very shilling that she refased. ' is et there are such things as that in the country , 1t t ees the League to be up and doing, to keep ever .bell the public mind the principle alive, by ‘1 1 ,;40 such a plague can he stayed—it is for tiee also to teach the unscrupulous class their a u t o I said that they do not disdain t 0 thf the shilling ; so they have no sYul gi os e with that poor, but noble-minded w beo and certainly they have no sympathy with her , r jee she said that she would try to earn her own and t:ust in Providence. That is net the course their confidence takes. They are like the old ° c e ,'‘ woman who, when the water at the Q ue t ie Ferry was somewhat rough, was told bi R ill boatman to trust in Providence, said " Nse , not trust in Providence sae ling as there is sl br Doi' Stirling."—(Laughter.) They will not trust bet dence so long as an Act of Parliament c an 15 f pig ~ That is their bridge at Stirling, but I think lb„ttie go very hard but Peel's Corn Bill will be h"eii better than a bre to carry them over to th e 'OO of free-trade.-(Cheers.) Such cases a s de bJ show the propriety of the appeals nit j oie the League to the women of Great 1° , 4 le, We have been told that the League ought n- fl igi drag their countrywomen through the dirty le' party politics. I should like to know who Ow 51e ways of politics dirty ?—(Laughter and cheers.) .0/ League never did that—they never perverted legit.oil tive power to sordid purposes—they need not h e ' l ois or ashamed to call for woman's sympathy and vi, ° 00 0 help, assured that she will honour herself moth 00 by contributing towards the destruction of the i _ntisf of misery than by merely adding a little to en i f4 here and there, which pull a leaf or of the poisoned tree, but leave it still to k ' se lf amidst its baneful influence, spreading l 'ocd' tion around the soil in which it is P f Atill The spirit of the League has been found fault oror but it is difficult to please those people. I h 3 V, 6 5 f o Ct4 times had the honour of a personal notice--eivedli there is one journal that has stereotyped of what I say here, for is it always the sal u to eSt sentence, namely, that I entered into my -00 tirade against the aristocracy of the country. de I wish just to say a word upon this subject. i t y not profess to be a very enthusiastic admirer th a aristocracy.—(Laughter ard cheers.) 'or lef t legally constituted aristocracy of my country ] s ets all that love, and all that reverence, which the of my country require ; and is it my duty t 0 iel 5 , more ? But have never come here to exeor e . no , of opinion on the aristocracy or Suffrage quest l .o " r ed the 1 c r op , other groat questions which are put into ter n e r t itp 7 abeyance by the Anti-Corn-law agitatioo - "" abeyance from which I trust they will some &I n t tt/ For we are looking with expectation that is °y e ti° . less valuable to us, as we see clearly that this ‘1 1. ! 6 dic must be disposed of first, and the sooner it / t bet' posed of the better.—(H ear , h ear .) But all tet t/ have ever said here about th e aristocracy, "',: ie t said of certain members of the aristocracy , their capacity of aristocrats, b u t in their caP °. • the/ tradeemen.—(Hear, hear.) In that character pt' :.re, I apprehend, mo s t le g iti ma t e subjects of madversion here.—(llear.) A man is not t ° ape s any special exemption because he keeps a C I ICI shop mid cheats his customer s , though he su c i a member of the aristocr ac y. Thi s i s what oil plain of. Tiley keep a great chandlers'-sh u r4 se; everything most needful to the people in 11 0 0 then pervert their poweri of legislation t . .. 6 aess u i the community pay the more.—(Hear.) Th e ':ith time when trading was thought inconsistent nth t position such men occupied. The feudal b °ll ol lol _,4 not mind robbing with a strong hand, but evl o lts; away contemptuously from tricking wit h weights and protecting duties. So far back% 4 ar days of Elizabeth, the intellect of the cone",sf tit marked out for derision the trading propens,i t i l ete lief; feudal aristocracy, and in Beaumont go ot, play of the Beggar's Bush, a dispute between._ nee tain military gentleman, proud of his aristocr atiu The tion, and a couple of merchants is portraYe d : o " aristocrat tells them that of this he is cer t3l it tr " once you buy and sell your gentility is goue.;eot , upon which the merchant retorts—" no, no, poor argument—don't you, the lord of the o ' o o and sell the grass, the corn, the straw, t h „ e , the cheese ;" and ten the other merel3 o l, - t e id "and the butter—remember the butter--u°ll 0 40 out the butter "—(Long continued c • e n and from that day to this it has been borne /il - be et that the butter should not be left out Jit The only improvement on the practice of th °s o ,biP is smearing all butter with the filthiness of t 3 / . ' SO l6 is not of our own production.—(Hear, hear) Dpi when the Nobles became tradesmen—wh en ee e*- 08 , became dealers in various commodities —w " o9 o,l memory of the Plantagenets serves only t ° r iOf better barter at Mark.lane—it is high time tof t ,, that the people of this country are unfairly de ° c i;lir, I never picture to myself a; Duke of Richnn u i t eb: with his coronet on his head, and a corn samP ie w his!? pocket—with a sa l mon i n hi s r i g ht h an d ands bottle in his left, and enthroned upon A ° t eet i . of butter—(Lo u d la ug ht er an d c h eers )—au: for ~•'" study his figur e a s I wou ld Q uar l e ' s E m bleu" coronet is ornamented by legislative powers, set are used to enact pr o t ec ti ve d ut i es. Th e c oren' symbol of high rents and high prices for grairl' o r coronet, thrown into the scale with salmoc,, the fish -eater pay more. The coronet fills the ees°, tom of the whisky -bottle ; and, last of all, the rei,' pokes a hol e i n t o t h e fi rk i n of butter, in order to in the pitch and tar.—(Laughter and g reat cif e Why is this ab asemen t of all dignity of sta b(l t l, of all m a j es t y o f legislative power ? canu ° A riv look th e c h aracter o f the tradesman—we caun „ - oia , l, get one ch arac t er i n th e o th er. W e mustnd v the whole, and not isolated parts, and bel e ces peers of Parliame n t th e com p eers o f pedlars v 0 servatives of the Constitution the conserva" letv canary seed—the lords of the land and th e e 4) . of th e lard—the Knights of' the Garter eubtetj knights o f the grease-pot.--(lmmense la ug r ts It is well th a t th ere are men o f diff e rent o ° o 4 o temperament in that body—that there are the's : oe (slightly altering the burden of Robert Burn t ' c ot' song) can say to themselves, and a few no bs° panionions— " A Lord's a man for a' that." ti Those are the men w h o , consc i ous that see'' r e j done much for them, are desirous in their tu? v; doing something f o r society—who have a s e Atb the responsibili t y o f th e i r s t a ti on , com bined " It Or sense of the responsibility of legislators—wh° ennobled by their title, but who ennoble the,i t h who redeem the name of the c l ass w ith whit deb, are associated, and to whom the rest must be in 0 1 7 , that the name of " hereditary nobility" does no! come a foul stench in the nostrils of hunt 1 1, 1 (Loud and continued cheering.) But I„„r u i. 7. 0 fP; turn to the point whence I started. .-" e t. , - . 0 0 4 " he a cessation for a time of these ine e i eer e , —they will be suspended, but the exertions ° be en whom you have so often heard here wil l ee d, tinued—these exertions will not be suspenl" ot" o f from night to night, as the opportunity In' bol l , they will endeavou r t o i m p ress on the Me n/ i te ee / f the Legislature the principles which they decease% this meeting ; th e ir wor d s w ill go f or th V ite 0111 the press throu g h ou t th e w h o l e l eng th an",; r o t sir., of the land, t eac hi ng m illi ons o f th e peel" c olui country, and millions of th e p eo pl e of othe r t er tries, their rights. These lessons will he tl. throughout the continent of Europe and a er°l ; wide Atlanti c , an d a ll a t l as t, s t ruc k by 1 ,,,, O ill t. plicity, earnestness, truth, and information, ,bear determined in the pursuit of th a t gre at object, n'opelf down the spi r it o f p ar t y , an d d e prive 03° ,, of all it s grace an d ornamen t , u ntil 111 ', in deference to public opinion, they mu s h ; o tie j P up those odious and ill- go tt en ga i ns , and , 5 'll:S this ill advised meas ure .—(H ear , hear.) few meetings will be su s p en d e d, b u t th e ex ertions 11 ° 00; individuals, and o f o th ers i n co - opera ti o n w i t s will not be suspend e d,— as th e seaso n adve n— igi l " . will toil at the good work, passing with thee r t t e r' of steam from one p ar t o f t h e coun t r y ae°6 s (se; taking advantage of that gloomy spirit of ( 1155 ' 0 04t,' tion—that restlessness of i nqu i r y, an d that oP e° t el t conviction which is becoming more and 5 1 °, 6 4 lent among the body of the tenant-farmers; argue with th ose w h o w ill h ear re ason, .10 OS ey I warn those who a pp ear i n f a t ua t e d ; they "• besrl • that they have only the good of all classes, a l l se' • and they will con ti nue t h e i r l a b ours untiring P Tess b : may success attend th em . —(L ou d cheers.) m i n e: meetings will be suspe n d e d, but its Pr ° l3r ine; Members will not abandon the rights which Brittsll industry has a right to claim. Specimens ofgent vs industry, British skill, and enterprise and g e ;ro os ° be presented here for contemplation as sPe c ' n what our people can do; demanding atte uti S those who can admire art and ingenuity, e l l he res_ d w ing with mute but eloquent arguments fort w ho s ration of industry to its rights, that those not el , capable of so much skill and exertion nlaY ie b 01 0 4 without recompense, and that they maj vv', and suffered to compete with free ;pes ts the inhabitants of other nations. These oot irs ing; will be suspended ; but the itsros tise i of events will still proceed, the a 00 1 0, 0:i of cheapness and dearness—of prosper., lamity—the course of events which has saw o