The Sun. — London, England, 1840-01-16 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION. GREAT ANTI -CORN-LAW MEETING AT MANCHESTER. DINNER OF THE OPERATIVES. MANCIIIESTER, WEDNESDAY. The dinner of the Anti-Corn-law Association took place last night in the splendid pavilion in Peters street, the decorations and arrangements of which re mained in the same state in which they were on the previous evening. At six o'clock every corner was occupied, and several hundreds who arrived subse quently, were obliged to content themselves with stand ing room around the walls and at the end of the tables. The galleries were also crowded, and, on the most moderate calculation, there were upwards of 5,000 persons present. Although the tickets of admission were only one shilling each, the dinner and dessert ap peared, so far as our observation went, to be much superior in quality, and much more abundant, than on the previous evening. The same superiority was mani fested in the arrangements for attendance on _the guests, &c., and we were much struck with the marked difference between the conduct of the company of last night and the former evening. On Monday night, unless a speaker exerted his voice to the very utmost he could not be heard, but last night the profound attention with which the dif iferent speakers were listened to, enabled all parties to obtain a hearing with, much less effort. * At half-past six the Chairman of the Operative Anti-Corn-law As sociation, Mr. Warren, entered the room, and was loudly and enthusiastically cheered. On the right of the Chairman sat D. O'Connell, Esq., M.P., R. Phillips, Esq., the Mayor of Manches ter, Colonel Thompson, C. A. Walker, Esq., Dr. Epps, C. F. Villiers, Esq., Vigors, Esq., M.P., Sharman Crawford, Esq., Henry Warburton, Esq., M.P., and Thomas Bazley, jun., Esq , Boroughreeve of Salford. . On his left was Alderman Cobden, Alderman Brookes, ? Dr. Bowring, Thos. Milner Gibson, Esq., Mark Phil lips, Esq., M.P., J. B. Smith, Esq., and the Rev. Thos. Spence. Most of the Delegates and Deputies from the varita_a towns who had attended the dinner on Mon day evening were also present, but it is unnecessary to enumerate them over again. After dinner the CHAIRMAN rose and said—l have consented to take the chair on this most important oc casion, and as working men I ask you, are you willing to support me, by maintaining peace, order, and regu larity, without which no good can be effected ? I know there arc among you 2,000 working men who have come to the meeting to-night with the determination to show that they are not unworthy of the favour conferred upon them in being allowed the use of this splendid pavilion to agitate a question of the greatest national importance.—(Hear, bear.) While beholding the glorious scene of last night, I could not help contrast ing it with the scene which was acted on the 19th of August, 1817, when th e l arges t a ssemblage that ever met in Manchester were assembled on that spot. What was their object on that occasion? To agitate a 1 repeal of the Corn-laws, and a Reform of Parliament. Tuey had then Magistrates and municipal authorities and brave national yeomanry as now. Then, their Ma gistrates were employed in charging the multitude, and shooting and cutting down and massacring unarmed men and helpless women, yea, and innocent babes. What are your Magistrates doing to-night ? They arc here contemplating your proceedings, and rendering their as . sistance, and: by their presence telling you that if you t:: : e men you shall have their support.—(Much cheering.) Gentlemen, I have told some of those who move in a higher sphere of life than I ever expect to do, when complaints have been made against my fcllow -1 workmen, that these complaints were not founded in ( truth. It was said that it was impossible to ,1.-et up a )meeting at which this important question could be pro perly discussed. I told them it was not because there 1 were a great. many to attend the meeting, but because they could not get enough to attend it--( Hear, hear.) I have always insisted that if there was a majestic ga -1 thering of the working classes, the intellectual capacity j and intelligence, and moral power of the artisans of Great Britain, would secure the order of their proceed , ings.—(Cheers.) Front the bottom of my he ar t 1 4 , i t'i all'i t on tailt you havelborne testimony to the truth of my assertion; to-night.—(Cheers.) Ought you not to feel i tha-ndul that instead of being in danger of being ridden over by a brutal and tyrannical soldiery you are coin- , fortably seated in this magnificent building. If you feel igratitude to these gentlemen give them three cheers.— (Tile whole assemblage here rose and gave three hearty and deafening cheers.) A great many efforts have been made to persuade you that no community of feeling exists between you and those by whom you are cm pioyed. I say that is not true. It has been attempted to be proved that your interests and theirs are diame tric illy opposed. I say that is not true.—( Hear, heir.) 4 4 And if we only had such mighty demonstrations as we -, have had to-night, such nonsense would never have been listened to. We have met here to-night to support the repeal of the Corn laws, and before we separate I trust f we shall come to the conclusion that they must be for ever done away with.—(Loud cheers.) You have your Magistrates, and Members of Parliament,and employers assembled with you, to tell you that they are resolved , k to see justice done you. Remember, however, that t there arc in Manchester ten thousand of your fel -1 low- workmen who have not an opportunity of en joying themselves as you arc. Remember that 1 there are four thousand perishing hand-loom weavers, and that there are 10,000 operatives who know not from day to day where they shall get their bread. I appeal to you also in behalf of the millions of your starv ing fellow countrymen, whom Heaven has blessed with unbounded fertility of soil, and who, although the pro ducers of vast wealth, are left to live on a scanty meal of potatoes.—( Hear, and cheers.) All this suffering and privation is the result of the unjust, the unrighteous, and destructive Corn-laws, by which 20,000 idle aristo ' crats are able to roll in wealth and luxury, while the great mass of the population are starving.—(Hear.) God has said, " Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the oxen that treadeth out the corn ;" and we are assembled to-night to tell the proud aristocrats that they shall no longer convert the blessings of the Almighty into curses, and to tell them that the mouths of the men and women and children, who are the producers of wealth, shall no longer be muzzled.—(Loud cheers.) Why should not the working man be allowed to bring his labour to the best market, and when that is dond, to buy bread where 1 he likes ?—(Cheers.) They possess as much intellect and intelligence—as much purity and honesty of purpose, and love justice quite as much as if they rode in carriages. We are met here to-night to tell them that they have put their hands in our pockets long enough, and that they shall do so no longer.—(Loud cheers.) We are met to-night to merge all our political differences, and to put down the Corn-laws, and you are the very fellows to do it.—( A laugh.) When all the uses to which this magnificent pavilion can be put are at an end—when all the tea, and coffee, and cocoa parties, and music and intellectual parties, are over, and when all the chairs and tables are removed, we shall get up a 'I meeting of 10,000 of the working-men of Man i chester, and by one united burst of righteous iudigna tion we will seal the death-warrant of the Corn Bill (Tremendous cheering.) You, working men, are the very men to do it—you are, what is more important still —eaters, and while the eaters have increased, unfortu [lately the food has remained stationary. This is not i fair play, and as we are determined to show fair play to 1 ' others we expect it for ourselves--(Loud cheering.) Those of you who know me most, know that I am fond of water—(A laugh)—and I will now propose a toast 1 which I trust will be received with all that hearty en -1 ' thusiasin for which the m en o f L ancas t er , an d t h e Lancashire witches too, are so very remarkable.— (Cheers.) I had liked to have forgotten one very ar -1 ticular part of the b us i ness — ( A l augh) —we have par ticular eyes of the fair upon us, and we have pledged ourselves in the presence of those whom we hold in the highest estimation, not to allow any one to cast the imputation on us that we do not kn ow h ow to act likeme n (Hear, hear.) Of all thi ngs d etesta b le in the ey es. — of a female, that which is the m os t d etestable is to see a thing like a man not acting like a man.--(Loud cheers and laughter.) I now propose the health of her most Gracious Majesty, our lovely little Queen, the Duchess of Lancaster. The toast was drank with the most enthusiastic cheering, which lasted for some minutes. The CHAIRMAN said the next toast would be re sponded to by one of their own great men—a man who would be one of the greatest men of the age, inasmuch as he would be one of the best friends of the working men . He meant Mr. Richard Cobden.--(Cheers.)— The toast was, " The people, the only legitimate source of political power." Air. O'CONNELL exclaimed, " Three cheers for the people," which were immodiately given. Mr. COBDEN then rose, - and waslgreeted with hearty applause. Gentlemen, I sincerely hope that our friends, the reporters, will not make any comparisons between the order of the proceedings this evening and those of yesterday, for I am very much afraid that if they do, it will be very much to the disadvantage of that meeting which I attended here last night, and which I suppose we must consider to have been a meet ing of the better orders.—(Laughter.) I have to re spond to the toast of " the people." Who are the people? Is it one class of men who are dressed in this suit of clothes, or another class dressed in another fashion, or a third, distinguished by a courtly suit? No. By the people I comprise the whole com munity—the lowest, the middle, and the upper.— (Cheers.) I should no snore think of separating the one from the other without injuring the whole, than I should think of separating a limb from the body without affecting the parent trunk.—(Great cheerincr.) * Iu fact, the conduct of the operatives of Manchester )last night elicited the strongest testimonies of approbation from the different speakers, and reflects the highest credit 1 upon them. But it is said the people are the source of legitimate power. I will not disguise from myself that on this oc casion, at least, the term " people " was meant to apply more particularly to one class, and that class not the highest nor the middle class. I will not blink the question, for I tell you plainly that so far as that toast is literally construed, it is, in the present day, telling a lie. The people, emphatically so called, the working classes, are not now as they ought to be, with other classes, the source of legitimate power.—(Hear, hear.) I think it right to mention this, because, although as Corn-law repealers we repudiate party politics, I shall never dare to suppress my sentiments on a great prin ciple like that when I am meeting four thousand of my fellow-countrymen.—(Cheers ) I should be unworthy to stand with this beautiful motto above my head (" Justice "), if I ever lost sight of that which was due to the great majority of the people. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) I know there are those who will say you are met here to-day to sell your political birthright for a mess of pottage. I deny it, so far as I am concerned at least.—(Cheers.) I say that in joining hare to agitate the total repeal of the Corn laws, I expect no man to lose sight for an instant of what is due to him as a man and a citizen of this country—l mean his political franchise ; but what I wish at the same time to contend for is, that every indi- ...__ _ vidual has a right constitutionally to agitate and endea vour to effect whatever he considers in his humble judgment to be more conducive to the interests of the people. I don't wish that you should agitate a repeal of the Corn-laws, and turn your back on other ques- , . . tions.—(Hear.) Go on, and God speed you, I say, in every righteous object you may have, but I must particularly impress upon you to go on and press forward for that object which I consider to be of the greatest importance of all, I mean to wrest yourselves from that class which has been well expressed by a distin- . _ guished friend among you, as a slave class,and endeavour, by every means in your power, to put yourselves on a level with those who are here called your betters, but with whom in the eyes of God and the law you are on a level. I think, so far as I am concerned as an Anti- Corn-law repealer, it will not be said I wish to induce you to turn your backs on your own rights and privi leges.—(Hear, hear.) I will endeavour to show to the working men of Manchester, that it is to their para mount and vital interest that they should join us in stanter on the question of the Corn-laws.—(Hear.) There lies at the bottom of one fallacy the foundation of all the differences that exist between working men and their employers—that fallacy is in the falsehood that is told you on the subject of wages, but inform yourselves of the truth on this vital question ; and I will engage for it that you will not allow a man to come among you and say your interest is in opposition to that of your employers.—(Cheers.) Do you remember 1835, when the mill-owners were prosperous ? Do you remember that in the August of 1835, you never saw a spinner a bankrupt. Were not the calico-spinners pros perous ? Were not the fustian-cutters prosperous ? W hat was the price of corn in the year 1835 ?-38s. and 40s. a quarter. What is the condition now of the master calico printers, and of the fustian manufacturers ? Look at the Gazette—see the families that were living in 1835 in affluence, plunged into your own ranks— labouring men.—( Hear, hear.) What is the condition of the operatives now, as compared with 1835 ? Arc they thriving ? Are they prosperous? Are they realising the promise of their pretended friend, the landlord, that wages will rise with the price of bread? Or arc they not, on the other hand, half employed, and, I am sorry to say, wages declining ? You will ask, what is the cause of this ? The cause is simply that, twelve months ago, when the masters met to gether in the Chamber of Commerce, and talked of their distresses—of the rivalry abroad, of the want of trade, they lost ' their capital ; but when they lost their capital, who was to pay the bill ? When the capital is gone, when the master is ruined, then conies the suffering to the labouring men, and as sure as sunshine folloes the night, so sure will the ruin of the operative follow the ruin of the capitalist.— ( Hear, hear, hear.) How has it been in Nottingham There are gentlemen here who tell me that in Notting ham, in 1835, the stocking weavers struck for a rise of wages. Wheat in the Nottingham market was then at 3es. a quarter. Now there are '2,000 weavers out of employment, and the masters are filling the Gazette. Now there is the fallacy put forward as to the question of wages. How will it be if you get the repeal of the Cern-laws, and the master realizes his wishes for ex feuded markets ? Tue Germans, the Russians, and the A ustriens, will then becorne our customers. They wi:l send their corn and we shall send our fu.tians, our prints, and our yarns. You want 10,000,000 quarters cf wheat every year. How sei!l you pay far it ? Dr. Bowring tells you they want youc cottons and your hardware. 10,000,000 quarters of wheat at forty shillings a quarter, would he 20,000,000/. of manufactures to send abroad. How would the capital lists get their manufactures, think you? Where would they coma from? Why, from the master manufacturer, the spinner, and the calico printer. How does he get them but from the labour of the artizans ; and if tiaere are twice as many prints, and twice as many yards of fustians wanted, will not the masters be running after the operatives to work for them instead of the operatives running after the masters ?—(Cheers.) Will not the putters out, as they are called, be running down to Chorley, and Burnley, and perhaps even to Bullock Smithy, and will not they say get us out three webs in stead of two, and pay you extra ? That was done in 1835. The putters out would be e nllopping over each other—(Laughter)—they would be'bidding ss. an extra cut—they would be tempting the men to work on Sun day, and, indeed, there is no knowing what they would be trying to do.—( Hear, hear, and laugh ter.) Well the reverse of this cheering pic ture is the reality, and let us look at that reality. You are inventing—you are improving your manufactures ; and to what purpose ? During the last 50 years there has been an increase in the manufactur ing power of steam and water equal perhaps to 500 millions of human hands. Here is an amount of wealth produced, and what has become of it ? Why if you had had a fair share of this mighty production, every one of you would have been on a level with the middle classes of the present day. How has it been perverted? By your landowners, who say you may toil and spin—you may swarm above your coal beds and your iron beds, but you shall cat your bread at no other shop but our's. The land refuses to extend in bulk even to the will of this oligarchy, but your population extends ; and you know what it will end in. Your teacher (Colonel Thompson—(Hear, hear, and cheers)—says, if you were shut up in Manchester you would have first to eat your own flower-pots to begin with, and then to eat one another. Gentlemen, these are facts which we must discuss and understand, and when we do un derstand them, no enemy will be able to persuade you that the master and the workman have opposite in terests.—(Hear, hear.) Let me exhort you again and again to commune with each other On this vital question, neither leaving out of sight other views which ycu may rightfully entertain, but giving to this question that at tention which I believe from my heart it merits at your hands.—(Hear, hear.) We have had other questions to discuss, but I cannot see why Englishmen should not any day meet here on this great question, and go on harmoniously together without clashing or in terfering with one another.—( Hear, hear.) Bear in mind that two good things can never injure each other. Fortuuately it is the will of Providence that two bad things will jostle with each other; but if you are in pursuit of two truths, one truth will never tell against the other.—( Hear, hear.) I joined you in accomplishing the Penny Postage.—(Cheers.) Now, in connection with the Penny Postage let inn give you an anecdote, in perfect good humour, which I think will convince you that among some parties of the working classes there is a mistake whether or not people should be allowed to pursue their own course in agitating any question whatever. I sent a copy of a petition in favour of the Penny Postage over to Bullock Smithy, in the last spring ; it was at the time the Chartist fever was at its height, and a few score of men calling themselves Chartists assembled round the shop window, and in sisted on its being withdrawn, for they said it would interferere with the Charter.--(Laughter.) Now, I say, on the contrary, that the Penny Postage is a great en gine in the hands of the people for the accomplishment of their objects.—(Cheers.) That shows bow the good folks of Bullock Smithy were misled. I am not going to set up for a political leader ; therefore I may with great safety give you a recipe as to how you may know whom to trust as a political leader. Look to the pri vate character of the man before you trust him on pub lic matters. Is he a sot or a drunkard ? If so, de pend on it he is not fit to be trusted. If he is a bad brother, or father, or son—if, in short, he is what we call a wasterel, and if he is a tyrant in his workshop, you may depend upon it that in his heart he is not a real lover of public liberty.--(Cheers.) Your conduct this evening I cannot too highly praise—it forms an ex cellent contrast to that of the meeting of last night.— (Loud sheers.) The CHAIRMAN again rose and said, that as all the Gentlemen who were to address them to-night were the friends of the people, he trusted they would wait pa tiently to hear all the speakers. The toast he wns now about to give them was one to which they would hll, he was sure, most heartily respond—they were no half-and half men, and they should have nothing less than " The total, immediate, and unconditional repeal of the Corn laws."—(Tremendous cheering.) Mr. BROTHERTON, M.P., was called on to speak to the toast, and was loudly cheered. He said he felt highly honoured in having been selected to respond to the toast, because he believed if the repeal of the Corn laws were carried it would be a measure the most bene ficial to the working classes that could be attained at the present moment.—(Cheers.) There were many around him more eloquent, but none were more ready to do the bidding of the people than hiniself.—(Cheers.) He was delighted at the present meeting, and when it was known in London the manner in which their gra cious Queen's health Lad been responded to, who would say that the working men of. Manchester were not a loyal c l ass ?—(L o ud cheers.) Their Chairman had well referred to the extreme distress of Ow working classes, and pointed out the steps to be taken to re lieve that wretchedness. He trusted all classes would No one could doubt that the 'Corn-laws were a monopoly, and if they were, in the name of eternal jus tice let them be removed. He was fully convinced of the injustice, impolicy, and inhumanity of the Corn - laws. It was unjust to make a law for the benefit of a few land owners at the expense of all the other classes. They had heard a great deal of vested interests, but the labourer had an equally strong vested interest in his labour, and had a right to dispose of it at the best market.—(Cheers.) The law was'an impolitic one, be cause it injured the merchant, it impoverished the artizan and the farmer, and would be ultimately the ruin of the landowners.—( Hear.) The law was inhu man and oppressive, because it was highly injurious to compel the poor man to purchase dear bread. It was the parent of want, of crime, of immorality, and every thing that tended to demoralize and degrade the people. Allusion had been made to what had occurred twenty three years ago on that spot, and he trusted the result of that meeting would show the world what unity could do—(Hear, hear) —and that they would accom plish the object which had been first agitated twenty-three years ago, where he then stood.—(Hear, hear.) The landowners had no right to protection on any principle of justice that could be alleged; and with respect to the argument that they should be inde pendent of other countries, it was one of the principles of their nature, that man should be dependent upon man, and the intercourse tended t o prod u ce th e m o st beneficial results to the whole human race.—(Hear, hear.) It showed the necessity of preserving universal peace, and when that time came they might convert their " swords into ploughshares, and their knives into pruning-hooks," and have war no more.—(Cheers.) They should recollect that the tax on bread did not go to the support of the State, but to pamper a wealthy aristocracy.—( Hear, hear.) Wheat was always 50 per cent. cheaper on the Continent than in England, and when they purchased a ninepenny loaf they should re member that sd. was paid for the loaf and 4d. for the tax. In 1839 the people of Manchester and Salford paid in the shape of a bread-tax alone 400,0001. more than they paid in 1835.—(Hear.) That would show them how deeply they were interested in the repealof these laws. All who wished to preserve peace and prevent revolution in the State, should endeavour to promote the repeal of these laws. All who wished to prevent strikes and turn-outs, and misunderstandings among masters and workmen, should unite in the same great work.—(Cheers.) When bread was only sd. a loaf the wages of the labourer were equally high as at present, and therefore the argument of the wages rising with the price of bread was at once overturned. Cheap bread would promote the interests of the working classes in a most essential degree, as it would enable them to devote more of their wages to the education and clothing of their families. He would have every merchant write in his ledger, " Down with the Corn-laws." He would have every commercial man write on every invoice he issued, " Down with the Corn-laws." He would have every weaver write on his loom, " Down with the Corn-laws :" and he would have every man write on his Bible, " Down with the Corn laws." And if they were once overturned they would have peace and plenty and happiness throughout the land.—(lmmense cheering.) The CitAiamAN said that as probably he was then sitting on the spot on which some unfortunate man or woman fell at the Peterloo massacre, he had obtained from the Committee leave to propose a toast which must be drunk in solemn silence—it was, " The memory of those who fell in 1819, while meeting together to pe tition for a Reform of Parliament and a Repeal of the Corn-laws." The toast was drunk amidst the tr ost profound si lence. Dr. BowaiNo then came forward to propose the next toast, and was received with loud and protracted h rfie, i ,o d e eoFrc e edenr could a:tviti,iorvt greatereea.eossi—.utlirl‘(eeicadtghnherecleeehi delight tt)e e t meeting populationalit n ont g lgyp t la l ir i e ;t eni ipcul called infinite ufi r e g t p : n ttnoe e al He sbegtyerr, gratification ose iat of Manchester moving forward in the majestic march of intelligence. It had been his privilege to watch the progress of this great question, and well did he remem ber when he saw a large community gathered together among the Alpine snows of Switzerland—a community which had entered into the possession of all its political rights, that it began by reforming its commercial system —that its first step was to obtain free trade in corn, and a recognition of the rights of labour.—(Cheers.) With respect to the present meeting, that day on which they had met so nobly, was a great day for the friends of the people ; they were putting into the hands of those who desired to serve them mighty argu ments, and were giving irresistible evidence that they were worthy of entering upon the heritage for which they were struggling. Well did he recollect the phraseology of a Memorial which had been agreed to at a large and most important meeting at Lyons, at which he had the happiness of being present. It was that no man was so ignorant as not to know that he who desired to sell must make up his mind to buy ; and that if they wanted to dispose of their labour to other countries, they must accept the produce of the labours of those other countries in return.—(Hear, hear.) His Hen. and Worthy Friend who had just spoken had re commended them to write in their Bibles " Down' with the Corn- I .aws." That was a work of supererogation, for in every page was written " Down with the Corn-laws." —(Cheers.) It was a great principle in Holy Scrip tures to do as you would be done by.—(Cheers.) His Worthy Friend had talked, as he well might, of the absurdity of the pl ea for protection. Against what were they to be protected ? Against the benefit of the sun's rays ?—( Hear, hear, hear.) Against the blessings of fertile soils ?—(Hear, hear.) Against the results of rivulets and rivers, and the heaving ocean, and all-producing earth ?—(Cheers.) Free trade would bring home to them the blessings which both heaven and earth offered in abundance. He wondered much, that those who would deny to them the food which other countries had in superfluity, did not also propose to shut up the clouds of heaven.— (Loud laughter.) He wondered that they did not ask for a monopoly of the dews that fell—he wondered they did not show it was for their interest that every water course should be stopped in its passage to the sea. — (Hear, hear, and laughter.) Of what were those per sons apprehensive ? That the working classes would have too much fond—that their common Father would send them too many enjoyments ; and that this beauti ful earth would send too many benefits and blessings to their hearths and their homes ?—(Cheers and laughter.) Full as the world was, and full to overflowing of the means of happiness, it was only by the just distribution of those means that every individual of the community could have that portion to which he was fairly entitled. (Hear, hear.) The resistance raised on the part of the landowners, was merely for three or four millions of quarters, and he had not the least doubt that if they could start fair in the field of commer cial rivalry, that every grain which they could import would be consumed in addition to the produce of the English soil. Why. Russia herself had been visited by faMine. In 1834, cargoes of wheat, imported from the Baltic, were shipped in this country to the Black Sea. Every one knew, who had studied the subject, that this country, daily increasing in population, but not increasing in extent of soil, was less and less capable of providing food for its inhabitants ; and happily, by the provisions of Providence, there were. countries which had a superfluity of food, but whose inhabitants would not purchase those manufactured superfluities which this country desired to dispose of.—(Hear, hear.) Symptoms were manifesting themselves which afforded comfort, and which showed that the agriculturists were now disposed to take heed. He rejoiced to say that their agitation was already producing some beneficial results ; for he found by newspapers of that day, that at the Earl of Hardwicke's audit dinner, his Lordship ad dressed his tenantry, saying there was every reason to believe that the Corn-laws would be repealed."— ( Hear, hear, and laughter.) Excellent news !—(Loud cheering.) " And that the only means which the farmer possessed for competing with the foreign grower was to raise as much corn as pos sible." Why, that was just the lesson they had been giving the agriculturists.—(Loud cheer ing,) The Noble Peer went on to say, " In order that they might do what they could, he would bear half' the expense of any experiments made by them."— (Laughter) The people of this country had borne all the expense of the experiments made hitherto by the Right Hon. Peers.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") However, to that state of things they were about to put an end—the working classes began to feel that this was the people's question ; and that those who had told them they were not interested in it had been deceiving them.—(Cheers.) They had 50 or 60 millions of ma nufactures produced yearly, which the people of that country could not. consume ; were they ready to receive the food they eat, and give in exchange for it the pro duce of their labour?—(Cheers.) It was only when they stood upon the verge of absolute want—when every grain of their own corn was consumed, that their corn legislators allowed them to receive the produce of other lands. The land was man's inheritance, and the vicious legislation on their Corn-laws would set aside that great principle.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Instead of having only the twenty-five millions of cus tomers at hume, they ought to have the right of trading with the multitudinous millions of the whole world.— (Cheers.) They must have heard that there was a place in Italy which was said to be the entrance to the gates of hell. That scene was one of utter desolation—the air was filled with suffocating vapours, re nderin g the whole dis trict unfit for the habitation of man. Science, however, had lately discovered that in these noxious vapours there was contained an acid of the greatest advantage in manu factines, and English skill and capital had succeeded in converting that barren and unprofitable waste into a bound less field of wealth, by the production of boracic acid.— (Cheers.) In the deserts of Arabia, and the heights of Mount Lebanon, he had seen British facturemanu, the produce of British capital and industry, nby he pee _ pie of these countries, and that appeared to him a higher and a more important triumph than all the laurels that had I ever been gained by the warriors of their country in the battle field.--( Great cheering.) The CHAIRMAN having called upon George Thompson, Esq , the friend of the white slave as well as the black slave, to speak to the toast of " Free Trade," that gen tleman came forward, and was received with loud and general cheers from all parts of the meeting. We regret that we cannot find room for his extremely eloquent and impressive address, which produced a powerful impression on the meeting. Thos. Poems, Esq. (le Mayor of Manchester), was received with hearty cheering. He had obtained the per mission of the Chairman to say a few words ; and pro ceeded to express his pride and delight at the orderly and quiet conduct the meeting had displayed. They had proved themselves to be what he had always known to be the fact—that they were the most honest, intelligent, orderly, and respectable people in the whole world; and their order and regularity was an example to any commu uity.—( Much cheering.) The CHAIRMAN said he had next to introduce an old veteran, the grandfather of the repeal of the Corn-laws. (Hear.) He first taught the A. B. C. He then wrote the catechism; and now he had come to teach them tho Testament. He meant their old friend Colonel Thomp son.—(Cheers.) Colonel Tuosarsots then came forward, and was re ceived with great enthusiasm. He same there, he said, in consequence of an intimation that his presence would be agreeable to the working classes; and that he supposed was the reason why the toast which he was about to propose was put into his bands.—( Hear.) Nothing could be more agreeable to him; for where the working classes were, there he wished to be. Their fortune should be his for tune, and their success his success.—( Cheers.) He could not but congratulate them on the step which the conduct of that meeting would make on public opinion, of their fitness far the enjoyment of all they had, and all they wanted to have. There was no concealment among them. Having carried the repeal of the Corn-laws, they hoped to carry other measures.—( Cheers.) There had been dif ferences of opinion amongst members of their community, which he lamented. He re-appeared there, in some mea sure, as the apologist of those friends who had not joined them. Perhaps every edvantage had not been offered them—perhaps there were causes which might excite dis trust in the minds of some of them. —( Hear, hear.) All men could not come over to a great cause at once. It was apparent from that assembly that many had done so ; and it was an earnest that those who were not with them then must be with them hereafter.—(Cheers.) Let thorn get fullness of bread, and they would be better able to meet any enemy in the gates. They had all the evidence be fore them of what it was to be cramped in their honest callings. There were some who, if they could beat them down to a fired duty, would pray to have a shilling left for the sake of calculating the amount of Corn imported.— ( Laughter.) He would ask, then, why sixpence bounty would not do just as well ?—(Hear, hear.) But they will fight for more than that, for they will bold out strongly for a " fixed injustice."—(Cheers.) They had advocates, too, who went about to deceive, if they could. He knew what they wanted by a fixed duty. They wanted to place in the hands of the Government the power of taking off the duty, when the people were roused to that degree that made their injustice dangerous. Why, if they wanted to entail slavery on their children, they could not take a better course to secure it for ever. If they took the advice of an old counsellor, they should give the Govern in, nt anything short of an eternity in point of time— ( Great laughter)—but if the delay was likely to be long, kt them just whisper the little word " Compensation."— ( Cheers.) Had they not had for twenty years the duty up 01 the foreign corn the people consumed ? If, however, tir..'y (the Government) acceded to moderate terms nothing need be said of compensation. As men of the world they must know that it was always well to have something as a set ,off against their adversaries. The toast he was about to give them was " The Working Cl asses of the United Kingdom." He had taken the liberty of makinz a verbal alteration with the toast, and substituted " classes" for " men," as including in it the partners in their toil as in their hours of happiness or re laxation, be they few or many.—( Loud curers.) The time, he trusted, would shortly arrive when there would be slave class in the country. He did not mean to flatter ti-m, but be believed the advocates of the Rep:al wanted an infusion of new blood—they wanted the sound sense and honest principles, and acquaintance with practised m .tters of the working men, and then they should drink the healths of the free voters of that country in addition that of the working classes.—( Loud cheers) Dr. Eros being called upon to respond to the toast said, Gentlemen, in responding to this toast, moved by the Author of the Corn•law Catechism, I claim the honour being regarded as one of your number, as being a werking man. You work with your hands in producing the ingenious and useful inventions of your minds—the manu la.,tures. In the same manner . I use my hands to enable hie to record the productions o f my mind, and, therefore, I am indeed a working man.—( Hear, hear.) In this eh iracter, therefore, I can with propriety res p on d to t h e toast; but there is one point more in my character as a v.orkmen, as a physician I often have to be at th e b e d- s ;d e u sickness and at the bed-side of misery, and there I have learned these never to be forgotten truths, that th e Corn laws arc the ministers of misery, disease, and death; that the Corn-laws are continually immolating, by slow corture, thousands of our fellow labourers, their wives and th,ir children, at the shrine of the landlords' Moloch, the ' , treat rent roll god they so murderously worship, the god the hymns in whose praise are the widow's curse, and the cries and the plaints of the starving.—( Loud cheers.) But, Gentlemen, in behalf of the working men of Eng -1,411d, whose health you have drank, I think I may venture to predict that they will take up the cause wnich the working men of Manchester have so splendidly, so determinedly, and so perseveringly held up to their notice ; and when once they have learned, as they now will, that the working men of Manchester have determined to stone this monster of monopoly—this i.r.age made of the clay, the stupid-headedness, and the iron, the hard-hearted selfishness of the landlords—with the stone formed out of the mighty mountain of mind now h• fore me, they will join in the stoning, crying " Down with the Corn-law, the whole Corn-law, and, for ihe pre vat, nothing but the Corn-law."—(Hear and cheers.) Working men, we have many oppressions under which we groan. The hand of the aristocratic oppressor is upon us. l-lc makes us sweat to feed fat Archbishops, Bishops, and . - State-fed Clergy. Those black bodies that, as George Fox used to say, form an eclipse between God and men's souls. They make us sweat to keep up an immense standing army for the purpose of keeping down our own roshts and liberties. They make us sweat to furnish an placing oppressions them a which h d m heri might Majestybena named, eat ,are nothing; they are, as f eat h ers, immense Civil List, not f ur the comfort of the Qu een (God bless her) but to f a tt en th e ir young lordly cubs an d cubbesses,multitude of other l their portious.—( Hear and l aug ht e r.) B u t th ese an d a light think ieedai gr o pht f aht ya t ft h ee e vtaehrr f e. y o p l l o l ea o ubx w nopd i ue n rn g lesorea v pvi i nea e syc s us :—an ar-r agricultural inen oxe cpeetshns that teo moment labourer aapefh e ite compared to the op cat pressions produced by the Corn-laws. Just for a earns 10s. a-week ; he has a wife and four children ; they sly that sixpence is a sum that, if no Corn.laws existed, si oil each loaf, which will amount to two shillings a-week out of his wages, or one-fifth of his income ; a sum amount ing in the year to 51. 45., which goes to purchase the luxuries, and to pamper the sensuality of the landholders. —( Hear, hear.) Take the artizan who earns 20s. a-week, and who, with his family, consumes eight loaves also. He pays his two shillings excess every week to the landlord, but he pays less in proportion to his whole income than does the poor agricultural labourer; namely, one-tenth in stead of one-fifth, or 10 per cant. instead of 20 per cent. Go a step further. A clerk earns 40s. a-week, and he and his family consume eight loaves a-Week, and he pays two shillings excess every week to the landlord, but he does not bear more than one-half the burden in relation to his income that the artizan bore ; he giving to the land lord one-twentieth of his income, or 5 per cent. If we;pro coed we shall find that the larger the expenditure the less in proportion which the Corn-laws take from the consumer. Is it not clear from these facts that the working man is more than any other person interested in the repeal of the Corn-laws ?—(Cheers.) But there is another point we incurred threepenceeikn mat a kn wherein the working man is interested in effecting the re peal of these laws. A working man wants two things— ork, and a fair reward for that work ; in other words, he wants good and just wages. The Corn-laws, of necessity lower wages. Wages being the price which labour fetches in the market, it is quite evident that if there is a glut of ti.e commodity—labour—in the market, the value of the commodity, labour, must fall. There is such a glut now. And why? because we cannot exchange our manufac tured goods for the corn of other countries. Wages are low, how can they be made to rise? There are only two wa ys--one by diminishing the amount of the commodity, la bour, in the market ; the other, by increasing the demand for the products of labour proportioned to the quantity of that commodity which can be brought into the market. Shall we give our babes, when they come into the world, Let us consider whether we can effect a diminu tion in the quantity of labour in the market.—( Hear.) instead of the mother's milk, a dose of carbonic acid in a warm bath, as Marcus, the diabolical Marcus, recommends? Shall we let loose our Yeomanry, of Church extension no toriety, and, by repeadng Manchester ma ssacres, diminish the population, and thereby the supply of labour, ?—( Hear, hear.) Shall we be such fools, as for a shilling a day to play at war, the game of kings, which, if the people were ise, kings should not play at, and therefore diminish po pulation ? Your kind-heartedness, the bursts of indigna tion, when a certain individual appeared on your platform at the great meeting you held in this town a short time since to repeal the Corn-laws, your common sense, answer —No. Well, then, we must adopt she other plan. We must increase the demand, so that the increase shall render labour a commodity, rising in value. How are we to do t:iis? By repealing the Corn -laws. The Corn-laws being repealed will open markets to us wherefrom we are now excluded ; will open wide those "that are now par tially closed or closing; will create new markets in parts where we never expected to find an outlet for the pro ducts of our industry..— (‘ Hear, hear," and cheers.) But the next question comes, flow arc we to repeal the Corn-laws ? Who have we against us, and who have we for us? We have atsainst u; many enemies. We have a majority of the ffouse of Commons, of the House of Lords, the Archbishops, the Bishops, and the Clergy ; we have monopolists of every kind and degree. For us e have (if using the usual modes of petition, address, t ;ublie meetings, and the preaching the truth by Anti- Corn-law lecturers, and the diffusion of information by .\ nti-Corn-law publications), the middle class of society, the capitalists among the manufacturers, the enlightened ,:non; the upper classes, a powerful minority of the House of Commons, some noblemen among the Lords, and to tiles° we have, I am happy to say, as appears from this meeting - , the working men ; and to all these we may add sot!), justice, Nature, and God. Working men, we now old out the band of kiendliness to the middle class. We now agree to help them and ourselves in carrying the iope al of this most unjust law ; and for so doing we look to receive assistance on some future occasion from the middle class in the struggle which we shall have to go ';:rough to gain the right, without which we cannot be considered to be men; namely, the right of making, I through our representatives, the laws which we obey, the I right of not being interfered wish in the exercise of our electoral rights—the Ballot ; the right of calling our Mem- 1 bers to account at frequent periods—short Parliaments; the right cif electing whom we please, independent of pro perty qualification ; and the right to pay for the services of those we employ. In fact, we ask of the middle classes to help us to realise for our labour and our , industry what we are agitating, in common with them, to abtain for their trade, namely, the privilege of being left alone, the privilege of being enabled to prevent ourselves being robbed by law, or fleeced by injustice.—( Cheers.) The Rev. Tuos. SPENCER observed that Dr. Epps had said the clergy to a man were opposed to the repeal of the Corn-laws. Now he (Mr. Spencer) was a practical refu tation of that statement; and he maintained that among the clergy of this land there were hearts as warm and heads as clear as were to be found any where.—( Cheers.) He wished to mention a fact, and perhaps he was the only clergyman who bad thought of it, that the Prayer Book contained a prayer which no clergyman could make use of that was not a Corn-law repealer. What was the ob ject of the Corn-laws? To make the price of bread high for the good of the landowner.—( Hear, hear.) If that was not its object it had no object at all.—(Cheers.) He would read two short prayers from the Prayer-book, which every clergyman was bound at a proper and fitting time to offer up to Heaven, and then the meeting would hear what the Church of England herself said, and not any of her unna tural sons :—" Oh God 1 Heavenly Father, whose gift it is that the rain doth fall, the earth is fruitful, beasts in crease, and fishes do multiply; behold, we beseech thee, the afflictions of thy people; and grant that the scarcity and dearth which we do now most justly suffer for our inquity, may through thy goodeess be mercifully turned into cheapness and plenty."----( Hear, hear, hear. ) The other prayer was, " 0 God, merciful Father, who in the time of' Elisha the prophet didst suddenly in Samaria turn great scarcity and dearth into plenty and cheapness," —the very words which every Corn-law repealer used— (Cheers)—" have mercy upon us, that we, who are now for our sins punished with like adversity, may likewise find a seasonable relief. Increase the fruits of the earth by thy heavenly benediction, and grant that we, receiving thy bountiful liberality, may use the same to thy glory, the relief of thosa that are needy, and our own comfort, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."--( Hear, hear, hear.) He would not detain the meeting any longer. He merely appeared in behalf of a Church that had many excellent members, and though there were many who opposed the repeal, he thought that, like the Apostle Paul before his conversion, they did it ignorantly and in unbelief.—( Hear, hear.) The Bishop of Exeter told his clergy that no man ought to be a clergyman who could not heartily agree in every sentiment contained in the Prayer Book. Now he ( Mr. Spencer) would ask, how could a clergyman support the Corn-laws, which made food dear and scarce ? ( Hear, ) But he must confess that he thought the clergy had not had justice done them. No Anti-Corn-law Circu lars had been sent to them, and his advice to the meeting was to raise a sum of money and to purchase a great num ber of Anti- Corn-law:Gil culars to insert in them articles showing from the Bible and Prayer-book the duty of Ministers of the Gospel, and to send a copy to every cler gyman in thueland ; and then if they still stood out against the repeal, he would give them up as lost.—( Cheers.) The CHAIRMAN then gave " The English and Irish Members of Parliament who voted in the minority on the question of the Corn-laws, in the last Session of Parlia ment."—t Drunk with loud cheering.) Mr. C. P. VILLIERS, M. P., in returning thanks on be half of the English Members, observed that he would not abuse the favour which had been conferred on him. He might be tempted to do so, because the present meeting was more orderly and numerous than any he had ever at tended.—(Hear, hear.) He presented himself with all the diffidence of a perfect stranger, and had no recom mendation to their notice except that of having been en trusted with legislative powers by his constituents, and never having abused it.—( Cheers.) Though a stranger to them, he was not a stranger to the cause in which they had met, as he had mooted the question for four years in the House of Commons; and it was with the highest •ettisfaction he attended the present meeeting.—( Hear, hear.) He had pleaded the quea'ion in the Legislature among the scorn of those interested. —( Hear, hear.) What was the taunt invariably cast on those who advo cated the repeal of the Corn-laws ? Why, " You have [lot the working men with you"—( Hear, bear)—" and we ill dare to vote against you." He had always answered hat taunt by saying that the reason why there was no manifestation of feeling on the part of the working classes was because they despaired of obtaining assistance, and therefore called for increased power.—( Hear.) He neve' believed the working classes were ignorant upon the question, but he did believe that they despaired of obtain ing cheap bread from the existin g powers.—(Cries " Hear, hear.") Ho could not disagree with the reasoning of the working classes. They said they were s interested in getting a repeal, but they had no chance of it as Parliament was constituted. He would not venture to intrude himself on the meeting if he could not show the working classes were interested in the question. He recommended the agitation of the repeal not only because .he working classes would gain an advantage from their repeal, but that they would be benefited by ulterior mica sures.—( Hear s hear.) If the Corn-laws were not re pealed they gave the beat reason for reforming the Legis lature.—( Hear, hear.) The repeal of the Corn-laws would tend to raise the condition of the working classes, because the repeal would tend to increase the demand for labourers. It would extend trade and the demand for the employment of the working classes. He believed it would be better to address the reason than the imagination of any person they might wish to convert to their way of think ing. The working classes must feel that the best way to raise their condition would be to increase the demand for their labour. Increasing the demand for labour would ex tend the power of the working classes, while it would diminish the ill-begotten wealth of those who ruled over them.—( Hear, hear.) If that great measure of justice was refused it would enlist great numbers on their side, to demand a Reform of the Legis lature, which should extend the power of the working. classes —( Cheers.) The working classes, therefore, had in every way a deep interest in agitating the question. The argument always urged against him in Parliament was, that the working classes were not on his side, and tnat was the best proof of the power of the operative .;lasses. What would lie have given last Session to have known that a meeting of 4 or 5,000 of the working classes would take place, to demand the repeal of these laws ? Their order, and decorum, and intelligence showed plainly that they understood the question, and were fit to be en trusted with further powers and increased privileges. He believed when these laws were first proposed the working classes had more strenuously than any other resisted their enactment. He believed they had never altered their opi nion on the subject.—(Cheers.) He would not detain them longer, as the evening was far advanced ; he would conclude by thanking them for the patient attention with which they had heard him.—( Much cheering. ) Mr. O'CONNELL then came forward and was received with a burst of enthusiastic cheering and waving of hand kerchiefs which lasted for some minutes. He said—My eloquent and patriotic Friend who has just sat down,:the Hon. Member far Wolverhampton, has told you that in his political experience he never saw such a meeting as this. Now I was an agitator before he was born.—( A laugh.) I have served five distinct apprenticeships, making in vulgar arithmetic thirty-five years, to agitation, and I never saw such an assembly —nay, I believe mortal man never wit nessed such an assemblage as this.—( Hear, and cheers.) It is not your multitude—it is not your intelligence—it is not your patriotism—it is the polished politeness of your conduct that dignifies you, and shows that the operative of this country is beyond the gentleman of ally other on the face of the earth.—(Much cheering.) I thought last night that we had struck a blow at the Corn-laws, and I went home cackling and laughing at the idea that we had given them a good kick to drive then. cut, but the blow of last night was nothing to this.—(Cheers.) Oh I this is the finishing blow.—(Tremendous cheering.) Here it is that the blow is struck, when such a set of men congregate toge ther, and tell the Legislature that they will no longer submit to injustice and robbery for these are the names of the thing.—(Great laughter and cheering.) When that is told to the Legislature. I defy the most despotic Government on the face of the earth to persevere any longer in a system of dishonesty and injustice in the face of such ,a mighty multitude as I have now the honour to address.—(Applause.) Why, Gentlemen, po pular principles have found their way even among the Turks, and the Sultan of Constantinople talks of popular rights. The Government of England would be more despotic if it dared, when we see it plunder the people in the name of the Corn-laws.—(Choers.) Last night I had very little inclination to make a speech, and was dragged into it by degrees.—( Hear, hear.) To-night, if I had the talent, I would wish to make a speech.—(Laughter.) Surely no man can possibly possess a power of intellect sufficient to give utterance to the ineffable delight he must feel at such an exhibition of civilized freemen as I have the honour to address.—(Cheers.) Oh, what a contrast to the barbarity of former times I—the idea of making a change by brute force, which, in remedying one evil, left ten other and greater evils behind it—or the notion of ef fecting improvements by the pike, the torch, and the mus ket. All that vanishes at once in the presence of the majesty of an assemblage of 5,000 persons, who conduct themselves with the propriety of a lady's drawing-room— (Cheers)—with the courtesy of demeanour and the firm ness of men who, knowing they have rights, dare to maintain them.—(Loud and enthusiastic cheering.) The thing cannot last.--( Hear, and cheering.) For my own part, what I was beginning to think of was, employ ing myself as counsel in the case—(a laugh)—and as so many excellent speeches have been already made upon the subject, exhausting every topic and illustrating every argument, I was thinking I was counsel on behalf of the people, and I shall sum up the evidence as briefly as I possibly can, and I think I shall leave no doubt on the minds of the jury (although it may be tried before the House of Lords itself) and compel them to give a verdict in favour of my clients.—( Much cheering and laughter.) Now, I shall take up the case, and shall put it in this way : I always like to begin as I used at the bar, by showing how weak my enemy's case was before I gave in the strength of my own.-_( Hear, hear.) First, our opponents say we must have the Corn-law tax, because the land is taxed more than other species of property. Now, that's a lie, saving your presence.—(Roars of laughter) But, ad mitting it were so, the argument is bad, because if the land is too much taxed, that may be a good reason for equalizing taxation over property of other de scriptions, but none in the world for robbing the labourer, the widow, and the orphan of a slice of their bread.— ( Hear, hear.) I first deny the fact, and I laugh at the inference.—(Cheers.) Next they say the Corn-tax is good for the working classes because it raises their wages, but how a man's wares can be raised by robbing him of a portion of his bread is a piece of magic that can only be un derstood by the white witches of the House of Lords.— ( Great laughter.) They say it raises the price of wages when bread is dear. Why, corn was only 48s. a quarter in 1835, and in that year employment was greater and wages greater, whereas now, when corn is 635. a quester, employment is less and wages lower.—( Hear and cheers.) What, then, becomes of the assertion that dear corn in creases wages? I have the fact, the vulgar arithmetic with me, and oae calculation out of Coceer is irresistible even see what case have we-4 Hear.) In the diret t setse:, it is robbery of one class to insist that they shall buy their goods only at a particular market. If any of you went to to a lord, and said, " Here is my calico, at 20s. a yard, which I wish you to buy." " No, thank you," says the lord, " I can get it cheaper from a neighbour." " Oh, no," you reply, "my name is Corn-law, and I insist that you shall pay me 20s, a yard."—(Cheers, and cries of " Bravo.") Why, if one ef you did that, the lord would send his servant to kick you out, and you would de serve to be kicked out.--( Hear, hear, and cheers.) Now do the lords act in the same way by you?—(" No.") Now, remember, it is only necessary that all England should understand that the system is a robbery. It there be a man amongst you who would submit to be robbed, let him hold up his hand. Let those who are determined not to be robbed hold up their hands—( A forest of hands sud denly arose.) That's exactly what I thought.—(Cheers, and laughter.) Let us illustrate this robbery a little fur ther. When is the time the people most want to get foreign corn? It is when the crops are deficient in quantity, and worse in quality, as they are in Ireland at present. Is not that the period when they want most to get foreign corn? and yet that is the very time when the Corn-laws increase the price of foreign corn.—( Hear, hear.) Although the crop is small, the quality is very bad; the people pay a low price, and, while the averages fall, the duty rises, and at the present moment the duty is 9 0s. a quarter.—( Hear, hear.) So that the working of the system is as Satanic as the original principle. The worse the corn is at home, the dearer the foreign corn is ; the worse the crop is, the more you have to pay for getting a good crop from persons who are willing to take goods from you in exchange.—( Cheers.) Now this is a viola tion of common sense, and I trust that my neighbour, John Bull, will no longer put up with it.—( Cheers.) But this is not all. What is most necessary when the crop is bad and small, is that the number of employers should be increased—that there should be more mills at work, and more speculators in the field to give employ ment to the operative classes.—(Hear, hear.) Yes, but how does the Corn-law work ? It sends the gold out of the country—the manufacturer becomes bankrupt—th e mills are stopped, or put upon half-time--(Hear, hear) — and the result of the Corn-laws i 3 to put away all possi bility of relief.—( Cheers.) I like calling things by their true names, and I say that so Satanic a code as that never was invented this side of a very hot place.—(Roars of laughter.) That is my case, and I am counsel for the people against the Corn-laws. Oh, how 'I did delight to hear the toast of "The people, the only legitimate source of political power"—( Continued cheering)— not a fraction of the people—not a portion of the people, not a segment of them ; not the lords and landowners, nor the employers and cotton factory possessors—No, but emphatically the people.—( Vehement cheering.) Any man who excludes a portion of the people, gives power to a faction or a party, and is guilty of a crime against this principle, to which you have just pledged yourselves.— ( Hear.) My friend Colonel Thompson returned thanks to the men who invented the phrase " slave class." Does he not know that the man is here. It was I invented it.— ( Cheers, and a voice, " thank you.") You are heartily welcome. And it is emphatically true. The man who has not a vote is a slave. What is the characteristic of a slave? By law he has no power directly or indirectly to interfere in their making. How were the Corn-laws passed ? When the landowners and the aristocracy had the absolute property and control of both Houses of Par liament. They have dominion in the House of Lords yet— ( Hear, bear)—and when they might have sent in their servants in livery, or if it was thought in decent, to send them in 7 livery, they might have sent them out of livery.—( A laugh.) They had the sole control in the House of Commons—they nominated its Members, and by that means they had a majority, and passed these abominable laws.—( Hear, hear.) When you want to cure a disease you must look at its cause, and by reversing the system by which the landowners passed _the Corn-laws your object will be accomplished. Let the people have their own servants who will wear their own livery, and the moment they have that the Corn-laws will disappear, and for ever. Let us only pursue the proper course, and the Corn-laws will disappear before the people reach even the gates of the Constitution.—s-(Much cheer ing.) I called those a " slave class" who have no votes, the others who have votes a master class, and it is unbe coming a nation of Englishmen to have struck off the fetters from the swarthy blacks of the West Indies—they may be good Christians but they are rather ugly ones— ( Loud laughter)—and leave the noble people of a country which produces such operatives as I now see before me, as they are.—(Enthusiastic cheering.) What distinction is there between the two classes—what inferiority is there on your part, or what superiority have the lords and lord liugs and squires over you in the face of Nature,lin the face of society, or in the face of Nature's God?—(Cheers.) If you are curious to know I will tell you where the Ki ri-h. rity lies. It lies with the honest men who eat that which is their own, and consume that food for which they have given honest value.—( Cheers ) It' there is any inferiority it is with those who are rolling in luxury, by having robbed the honest portion of society. But mark me ; no change ever took place satisfactory to men that was effected by violence or force.—( Hear, and cheers.) An insurrectionary movement, if it fails, leaves the wretches who raised it the victims of the law, and in anguish and bitterness they count the fading hours of their existence, while the sentence of the law hangs over their heads, and approaching death gives them a sense of the wretchedness in which they are placed..—( Hear, hear.) If it were successful what good would it do for the opera tives? Would not every factory in Manchester, for in stance, cease to employ operatives? Where would you go at the end of the week for• wages? There would be nobody to pay them.—( Hear, hear.) When you went to the butcher he would say to you—who is to give me the money ? The farmer would not give the butcher his cat tle without means of repayment. In fact there is no class of society that would suffer so much by a violent insurrec tionary movement, if successful, as the operative classes.— ( Cheers.) But when I say that, am I advising you to ac quiesce in injustice ? Oh, no. I have led persons whose hearts might be as good as yours, but who have not the same means of education and information that you have ; I led them through a struggle of 20 years without com mitting a crime, without °T .:ring violence to any man, or ganizing public opinion until it became too mighty in its stature and proportions, and the chains of centuries fell off the men whose moral station was so great that tyranny could .no longer bind them in its fetters.—( Cheers.) The meeting of this evening shows you are infinitely fitter for a struggle of that description. What did the Duke of Wellington say to the Grenadier Guards at Waterloo ? " Up, Guards, and at them 1" I say, up, Englishmen and insist on your rights 1--(Loud cheers.) Some people tell me that if you concentrate your efforts towards one object you. will have more force. It is not so with the waters of the ocean—the more they are diffused the stronger is the outgoing tide.--(Cheers.) It is not so in the moral world. Virtues have a social quality. Great and mighty efforts for the political redemption of mankind belong to the great family of moral virtues; they encou rage, strengthen, and fortify one another. Put them all in the phalanx—ask for everything in detail and altogether, and if you don't get the entire at once, why you may get the worthy instalment of 103. in the pound—( Cheers)— and giving no release fof any part of your claim, go on stronger against your fraudulent debtors until you can get the other 10s.—( Continued cheering.) But the Corn-laws can never be made a subject of instalment. It is radically unjust—it is in its nature a robbery—call it nothing in future but a robbery—and therefore you cannot compro mise with the titled felons who insist on their t iglit to rob yeu.—( Hear, hear, hear.) There is not one of the great principles that have been agitated by those whom Dr. Epps has called Chartists—l don't care what you call them—that I don't embrace with the utmost alacrity and sincere conviction ; but no man is more opposed to the detail of Chartism than I am, because I am convinced that instead of advancing its ob ject, as you are advancing the repeal of the Corn-laws, they are throwing it back by a portion of time larger in proportion as the duration of this violence, shorter in pro portion as ycur good sense overpowers those who are going the wrong way. Oh ! why should we be divided into par ties on this subject? If you produce me any stamp that nature has given to one man why he should be a voter and another should not, I will recognise the impression of Nature 'and of Nature's God; but while I do not recognise those marks, I say it is a villainous brand, which an unjust law and the hand of tyranny has placed upon him, and that he has not the dignity of man until he wipes it off. No,. the time is coming, and I think it is approaching fast, when these two great countries ought to be co-operating together—(Hear, hear)—when the spirit of freedom, that like a mountain nymph courts the ma jestic hills and green valleys of my native land—where leaders of mischief may be flung off, and leaders of tranquil firmness may be adopted.—(Cheers.) A man is not the less firm for being moderate and temperate, and keeping within the laws and defying his enemies, because he who violates no law is himself strong, whereas he who violates the law gives strength to his enemies, while he brings weakness on himself.—( Cheers.) Pardon me, if in the habit of uttering advice to others, whose accent more neatly resembles my own, and on whose ears the intonation of my voice fall with the recollection of early friendship and long-continued fidelity—pardon me if I mix up with this great question, other and important considerations for you3to take home to your dwellings and to meditate upon ; there is a natural connection between thcm and I—the agitator of five apprenticeships is agitation—know that to be successful they want only to coalesce tranquilly toge ther.--( Cheers.) They tell me the torch of religious dis cord is to be thrown amongst us. The preachers of hatred and animosity pass throughyour streets,and resound occasion ally in some of your clerical buildings. Oh ! heavenly God, is it possible that men should call themselves ministers of charity, and instead of promoting peace, benevolence, and goodwill among men, should sow hatred, animosity, and ill-will I—(Cheers.) Do they not miscalculate.— ( Cheers.) I see there is a population that has outgrown prejudice, and defies the minister of animosity and of bigotry to disturb the tranquil di g nity of th a t m i n d which knows the justice it claims for its e lf, an d th at f reedom of conscience, the first gift of God, belongs equally to men of every creed, of every caste, and of every coin:try.— ( Cheers.) Igo from Manchester delighted..—(Cheers. ) Some of those who amused themselves by abusing me (and I, believe I am as well-abused a man as ever existed) _( Laughter)—l should suspect I was unfaithful to my own country if I was not exceedingly abused by the supporters of the Corn-laws. Some of those imagine that there is an ob ject gained by making the advocate of one country odious in another. Accordingly, so many paragraphs have been in sertedin a certain portion of the Press, stating it was not actually safe for me to come to Manchester.—(Mr. O'Connell here cast a very expressive glance at the meet ing,. and which e li c i te d a burst of rapturous applause. ) 'I he recording angels are here (pointing to the reporters), those who " Waft a sigh from Indus to the pole," are here.—( Cheers and laughter.) One portion of the Press has been uncontaminated, and that is the reporting portion of it—(Cheers)—for I will do the gentlemen who report for Newspapers of all parties the justice to say, that as fair reports appear in the anti popular Papers as in any others—( Hear, hear)—the facts that occur here will be known abroad, and I trust that, humble as I am, THE SUN. LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16,1E140. unite in accomplishing the object of the working classes, which was nothing but justice. In the motto before him it was said that " Honesty was the best po licy," and he only wished their Legislators and Rulers were impressed with the truth of that observation. Monopoly was only another name for robbery, and no supporter of monopoly could be called an honest man. _ _ EV ENING P:on-7E.toNi to the dulness of a Peer who enjoys the Corn-laws.— (Laughter and cheers.) I “.i tc otl:( • • and insignificant as I may he in m , , IF, I may he a Sump-. ; of t•,th coun ,j'ito not, vttu'•t not he orn asuric>r by in terested and speculating statesmen, or bigatted and malig nant Churchmen.—(Cheers.) I feel convinced that the gracious intentions of the amiable Lady who fills the Throne at the present moment, and whom you so heartily cheered—l know that her intentions—the kindliness, the benevolence, and the generosity, which I hope will be con siderably augmented by her domestic happiness so nearly approaching—yes, that generous and benevolent spirit will animate the entire Government and ;that justice wnich I claim for Ireland will be reciprocated by justice for England.—(Cheeis.) I cannot leave this platform with out reminding you that the Irish party, to wihch I am proud to belong, voted for every amelioration of your institutions, for every increase of your liberties, for every lessening of your burdens, and that if we have, as many think, an advantage in the Corn-laws—l would that I could ihink we have—we would sacrifice it generously at the altar of British commerce.—( The Hon. and Learned Gentleman resumed seat amidst loud and prolonged cheering.) Mr. WARE lIRTON, M. if., then addressed the meeting. He said he had come there to inorin himself upon the state cf public opinion among the working classes. In the last Session of Parliament he had told Mr. Villiers that unless he had the voice of the working classes with him, his efforts would be altogether uuavai,ing. He was glad to. find them now coming forward and co-operating with the middle classes for the repeal of the Corn-laws; and he had no doubt that their unitcd efforts would be triumphant. He would give them " Farmers and Manu facturers, and may they ever act together for their_ mutual benefit."—( Loud cheers.) Mr. MILNER GIBSON responded to the toast in a very animated and impressive manner, and vvas loudly cheered throughout his address. Thu next toast was, " The Deputies of the Operative Anti-Corn-law Associations who have honoured us with their presence." Mr. GREW spoke at some length to this toasr. Then followed " The Chairman, President of the Man cheter Operative Anti-Corn-law Association." The CHAIRMAN briefly returned thanks, and the vast as semblage broke up in the most orderly manner. CORN AVERAGES. GENERAL AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISa CORN, For the Week ended Jan. 10, 1840, made up from the Returns of the Inspectors in the different Cities and Towns in England and Wale:, per Imperial Quarter. W'icat 6ss 10. i I Oats ILrley 'ills 6d. I Rye IMPERIAL AGGREGATE AVERAGES OF THE !IX WEEKS PRECEDING. Wheat 66s. 2d, I Oats 381. Oct, I Pease 435. Icl. Barley 3Vs I Id, Rye DUTIES ON FOREIGN CORN. Wheat oas. Sd. I Oats Barley ...... 2s. 4d. Rye THE MARKETS. COAL 111 s, d Bell, Robson & Co. Hartley 19 Cl Original Wlntis.tr's Pontolt 21 West Hartley 0 Wylatn. Walls. End Brown's 2l 0 Walls tend Heaton 2l 0 Walls End Hotspur Walls End Killlngworth 23 b Walis End Newt - witch 22 Wads End Riddell's • 23 13 Eden Main 22 9 Walls E itll3radd v I's 'I-7etton 23 o Walls End Has Well 24 0 Walls End Henan ..... 24 6 Ships arrived sinec Pease. Per Quarter. Biaston Brainti ee B ighton Cambrhige 1 Chiche-ter Dunmow 1 Grantham Grimsby Hailsharn Hitchin S. to S. S. to 58 63 33 28 64 74 36 48 61 76 44 47 66 45 65 72 38 44 60 70 33 51 t;3 70 28 :35 58 70 35 39 60 72 26 32 64 70 3-4 46 62 70 36 32. 64, 7t 43 60 63 28 46 r-9 76 36 39 66 76 35 43 63 74 28 :36 54 74 28 48 56 77 24 43 67 69 :19 42 54 72 36 4 2 64 75 34 47 62 70 33 iVERPOOL CORN ish, kVoite, per 70Ib. tO S. )9 26 28 34 26 29 3. to S. 35 40 38 44 44 46 S tt) P, 39 48 40 44 tr 9 26 33 20 30 22 26 22 29 124 32 24 28 22 29 25 31 26 4:2 23 20 20 24 24 32 27 34 24 SO 28 30 28 34 28 32 MARKET. 43 44 36 44 - 49 42 44 - 411 41 42 42 45 - 4g 25 30 35 40 31 40 33 44 40 50 42 44 46 34 42 33 45 40 42 44 45 38 46 ,33 40 .—Jan. 7. 1(8 B.Z. to 11 ...„„ 10 4 11 0 9 0 9 10 Q 8 0 9 8 9 6 7 9 0 12 2 35 4 0 38 8 0 0 0 0 41 0 48 0 50 5 6 4 0' 4 6 BEANS, English, per Imperial quarter 4O 0 51 0 'rich, Scc Foreign PEASE, English, per Imperial quarter 46 0 Foreign FLOUR, English, pert i;011). ... 42 C 44 0 Irish ......................... ... 44 0 56 OATAIEAL, Engli s h an d Irish, per 2 44 4J 0 401 bs 33 6 3 6 IN,IAN COUN, per 480Ib. ........... 117 c, per t:ripenal quarter 31 0 38 0 MALT, per Imperi a l quar t er 64 C 75 0 Ipswich Lewes Lynn Maidstone Norwich 1 Petworth . Itomford Sandwich Thetford VVishech 38 42 42 44 38 45 38 , ',O 58 40 Witham Yarmouth L Wu EAT, Engli 44 46 40 44 Scot Irish, Welch, and Manx White Red per 45W....., loh, and Scotch, Foro OATS, Engli - Irish ... - Foreign BARLEY, Enghsti, Malting, per Imp. quarter..,, - Scotch and Irish, pet 60111 s. HULL CORN MARKET Wheat, White (per Quarter) 63s. 695. 725. lied sos. 6es. 643. Foreign s4s. 645. 745. Barley, Malting Grinding "Os. 31s. 345. Oats, British Foreign (in bond) Beans 408 435. 468 Pease, Grey Blue and White Linseed T's. 408. 435. Flour (per sack) -s. 50s. 558, Rapeseed (per 10 quarters) 221. 241. 251, CHELTENHAM MARKETS. Per Bushel, s. ti. to s. d. Wheat B d. I darley . 4 0 7 0 Mutton Oats 3 6 5 6 Veal Beans Pease Hay 3/.los. to 51. Os. Od. per ton. CANTERBURY MARKET. 645. to 7 65. 565. to tlEis. 688, 355. to 455. Grinding_ 255. to 30s. 428 to 445. 435. 388. to -8. 408. CHELMSFORD MARKET. Wheat, White •70to 75 Oats 25 to 32 Red Barley SB 41 White Chevalier ...... 41 44 Beans, Tick , c 3 39 Grinding Wheat, white—.-- red Barley, Malthag— Oats Beans Pease to —s. to --s to —a. to s. to to 495. - - - - - 39, ALBEMARLE-STREET, PICCADILLY, AND 96, CHEAPSIDE.—DEAFNESS AND DEFECTIVIC A greater proof of the value of the Messrs. S. and B• Solomon's Invisible Operative Voice-Conductor, and newly.-invented Spectacle Lenses, cannot be adduced, the* the circumstance of/be many thousands of individuals who have obtained the greatest benefit and instant relief, and the constant immense demand there is for them from all quarters of the globe, and the patronage they have, and daily continue to receive, from persons of the highest dis tinction and the principal members of the medical profes sion. After their general use to deaf persons and those wi li defective vision, no observation is required to s et forth their merits. The Messrs. Selomons disclaim al connection with persons of the same name, and the sale of amber spectacles. Dr. Andrew Ure, Esq., M. D. P.R. S., &c., states amber is most powerfully electrical by friction, very hot, to such an extent as to explode into fragments. The workmen, too, are subject to a nervous tremor in their wrists, arms, &c. ; they encounter great danger by hand ling such dreadfully -excited electrics. Amber is of such a soft and sticky nature, that it is apt to take fire ; and, when exp ose d to warmth, it swells, bubbles up, and will burn away with flame. This statement is further confirmed by Sir D. Brewster and Pliny, as also by Parks and Herne on Chemistry. The pernicious and destructive use of such a material for spectacles to imperfect visiod may be ascertained at any respectable optician's in London. 96, Cheapside, and 39, Albemarle-street. No agents nor tra vellers are employed.. LADY'S FLAT GOLD WATCHES, Gold dials, Ten Guineas each. Highly -finished HORIZONTAL GOLD WATCHES, with engraved or engine-turned Geld dials, jewelled in four holes, and either engine-turned or en graved cases are offered, price Ten Guineas each. These ele gant little Watches will be found to perform very correct l y, and a printed warranty is given with fixed terms, on which they will always. receive any attention required. T. COX SAVORY, Watchmaker, Jeweller, &c., 47, Cornhill (Seven Do ers f ront Gracechurch-street), ',sutler). _. -....... BIRTHS. On the 11th inst., at Fleet-lodge, H o lb eac h , the lady of Ed ward Key, Esq., of a son. On the 13th inst., at Shirley, near Southampton, the lady of B. W. Greenfield, Esq., of a son and (laughter. On the 13th inst., Mrs. A. Ralli, of Upper Seymour-street, Portman -square, of a son. On the 15th inst., at Bedford-place, Russell-square, Mrs. Hemery Le Breton, of a daughter. On the 14th inst., the lady of Robert Dixon, M.D., Fins bury-square, of a daughter. HARRIED. On the.l2th inst. at St. George's Church, Hanover-square, Benjamin liuckeke, Esq., of Park-place, Dorset-square, late of Munster...street, Regent's -park, to Sarah, third daughter of the late John Hill, Esq., of Northamptonshire. On the 7th inst., at St. Paul's Church, Canterbury, the Rev. P. B. Backhouse, M. A., Vicar of St. Mary s, Sandwich , youngest son of the late Rev. J. B. BacMouse, M.A., Rector of Deal and Little Chart, Kent, to Harriett Sophia, youngest daughter of the late W. Mackeson, Esq., of Hythe, Kent. On the 14th inst., at St. John's district church, Paddington, Rowland Flocton, Esq., surgeon, third son of the late Rev. J. Flockton, to Louisa, eldest (laughter of the Rev. John Cold ham, of Snettisham Vicarage, Norfolk. DIED. On the 31st ult., at Hatfield, Herts, Mr. Thomas Headland , aged 72. On the 3d inst., at Pisa, Mary, the wife of James Cape' , Esq., of Russell-square. On the Bth inst., at St. Botolph's, near Milford, Pembroke shire, Antony Innys Stokes, Esq., aged 63. • - On the 10th inst., at Perthyterfynn, Helywell, Flintshirer Colorer °Afield, Esq., aged 3b. On the 14th inst., in Portman street, Mary, the widow of General Gwyn, aged 88. On the (ith inst., at Geneva, Sophie Macaire, eldest daughter of Monsieur le Conseiller Macaire, and granddaughter •f .Mrs. Prinsep, Great Cumberland -str ee t. On the 2dth ult., at Malta, Mary Anne C. C. G. Brett, the wife of Charles Brett, Esq., of Eaton-place, Belgrave-squarer and eldest daughter of J. &q., Ridgeway Castl e , South ampton, aged 21. On tito sth ult., at Enmore, Parbadoes, Mr. Henry Cumming' ()n the 11th inst., at Bath, Anne, relict of the late Henri Noreott Ward, Esq. London'. Printed and t'uoi4c(l by MURDO YOj m, ° No. 112, tit rand,at he Sun Oilice, No. 112, Str an d, io county of Aliddlesex.—Thursday, January 16, 1840. ARKET. last market-day. 12. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS. Wheat. jEarley. I Oats. 14eans. s. ti. We's End Lambton ...... 23 9 Walls End Stewart's '4 0 Wols End Hartlepool • 24 3 Walls End Kelloe .4 6 W. ns End Adelaide; 23 9 W 'ls End Gordon 22 0 Walls Eud New Tees , 1:3 6 Wa is Endll. 3 chardson's Teesl9 6 Walls End South Durham... 23 3 Walls End Tees 23 6 Wals End Tees Hetton 9 Anthracite 3O 0 Blythe J l7 9