# History of the Anti-Corn Law League/Chapter16

CHAPTER XVI.
CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF RELIGION.
The Conference was opened in the Town Hall, Manchester, on the morning of Tuesday, August 17th. There was an attendance of nearly seven hundred ministers, all of whom were received in the houses of members of the League, and hospitably entertained during their week's stay. The morning meetings lasted four hours, the evening meetings five; and the report of the proceedings occupied a volume more, than a third of the size of this. Of course, the history to be given here can only be a brief sketch. The Rev. Dr. Cox was appointed provisional chairman, and a provisional and an executive committee were appointed. A president for each day's conference was elected, and the Revs. W. Mc.Kerrow, Richard Fletcher, and J. W. Massie, were requested to act as secretaries. Mr. Mc.Kerrow stated that out of 1,500 replies which the committee had received, only six were decidedly opposed to the object of the meeting about an equal number expressed doubts upon the subject, and the vast remainder were decidedly in favour of the movement. Amongst those who had written expressing their concurrence were, Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Burns, of Paisley, the Rev. Mr. Bunting, Dr. Heugh, Dr. Reed, Dr. Wardlaw, and the Rev. Mr. Bulmer.
After this preliminary business, the Rev. T. Adkins, of Southampton, took the chair of the conference, and opened ​the business in an eloquent speech, in which he alluded to a long succession of synods, and councils, and meetings of ministers of religion for various purposes, recorded in ecclesiastical history, and said:—
"The meeting of that morning was unprecedented and unparalleled, convened not to place themselves in hostile array sect against sect, and party against party, within the narrow lines of sectarian demarkation; not to hurl against each other the brutum fulmen of excommunication, placing on the unhappy victims of their wrath the ban of exclusive impiety here, and final perdition hereafter, and not to harmonise the jarring Shiboleth of conflicting creeds; but impressed with an object greater than which can hardly enter into the mind of the most eminent Christian, and less than which will not satisfy our aspirations." He vindicated the conference from the charge that they were acting out of the line of their duty as Christian ministers. "I have yet to learn," said he, "that that Christianity which was adapted, not only to man's mental and moral, but to his social condition, does violence to the exercise of, or extinguishes the intensity of that great social principle, by which the hearts of men are linked together throughout the whole human race."
After contrasting the greatness of our country in arts and arms, in science and literature, in commercial interprise and manufacturing skill, with the distress which prevailed among our artizans and peasants, he thus described the cause of the anomaly:—
Mr. Adkins was followed by the venerable and Rev. Dr. Pye Smith, who delivered an address replete with the deepest religious sympathy for the suffering poor, and evincing a knowledge of the subject to be discussed which proved that he, at least, had not been an idle or unobservant spectator of the body and soul destroying effects of the food monopoly. He disclaimed, on the part of his brethren, any pretension to make laws or regulations, or any desire to bind the consciences of their fellow Christians, or to command their practice. "But while," said he, "we disavow unfounded assumptions, we advance a claim, but of a very different kind; we elevate another kind of authority—the claim of reason and love, the authority of 'the righteous Lord, who loveth righteousness' and whose servants we are, not for our own aggrandisement, but for the universal good of mankind." In reference to the Corn Laws, he said:—
The Rev. J. W. Massie, who had recently become pastor of an Independent church, in Salford, and who soon became an active and influential promulgator of the principles of free trade, said that 650 ministers had accepted the invitations sent them, and at least an equal number had signified their approval of the conference, and thus, he said, in some thirteen or fifteen hundred localities, in fifteen hundred communities, and through fifteen hundred agencies, they would bring this great moral question before hundreds of thousands of their suffering fellow countrymen; so that they felt that if at this moment, the conference were to be separated, and its different members scattered, they would carry with them an unity of sentiment and action which would not be lost, and which would give a stimulus to public opinion, in certain quarters, which it was very desirable to see properly moved. ​There were present, he said, ministers of congregations who had come, some two, some three, and some nearly four hundred miles distance, at their own expense.
At the opening of the afternoon's meeting, a resolution was passed unanimously, that Mr. Cohden should be requested to address the conference. Mr. Cobden, on coming forward, was received with warm plaudits, frequently renewed. He said he appeared before the conference as the representative of the National Anti-Corn-Law League, deputed to explain the grounds on which that body advocated a repeal of the Corn Laws:
A resolution was then passed, that the remainder of the evening should be devoted to the detail by members of the conference, as to the condition of the working classes in their respective localities. The Revds. T. Spencer, of Bath, Timothy East, of Birmingham, J. Sibree, of Coventry, J. Colston, of Styall, A. Bird, of Paisley, Mr. Davies, of Lewes, Mr. Bailey, of Sheffield, D. Hearne, of Manchester, Mr. Strachan, of Forfar, Mr. Winterbottom, of Howarth, near Bradford, Mr. Price, of Wales, Mr. Berry, of Leicestershire, Mr. Hunter, of Nottingham, Mr. Jenkins, of Wales, and Mr. Stirling, of Kirriemuir, successively addressed the meeting in speeches teeming with facts regarding the condition of the poor, of the most painful and thrilling interest. At about half-past nine in the evening it was discovered that Earl Ducie was present, and at the request of the chairman an invitation was conveyed to him to address the conference. His lordship complied with the request, and in the course of a speech of some length he said: "I have for many years been of opinion that the Corn Laws, as they exist, are extremely oppressive to the labouring population, and injurious to every branch of society. Had I been a monopolist,—had I been one of those who had voted for charging an additional price on the food of the poor man—I am quite sure that the testimony laid before you to-day by the reverend gentlemen who have spoken would have been enough to persuade me that I had been in the wrong. It would have ​been enough to persuade me that I should retract those opinions. But my opinions have always been those good old-fashioned opinions that that government was the best which gave the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of its subjects."
At the second day's meeting, which commenced on Wednesday morning before ten o'clock, the chair was taken by the Rev. W. Chaplin, of Bishops Stortford, who called upon Mr. Curtis, a gentleman from Ohio, in the United States, invited by the League to come to this country and aid the movement, who addressed the conference on the advantages which would result from a free and open trade in corn with America. He said it was the most anxious wish of his country, to which he came to give his express testimony, to exchange the food with which their garners were filled, and which Englishmen need to sustain nature, for English manufactures. He gave a glowing description of the power of America to supply wheat, laid down in Liverpool at 47s. a quarter, to an extent equal to all the wants of England. In referring to the question of wages he said: "A most absurd and barefaced fallacy has gained currency, namely, that the high prices of food will bring high prices for labour that there is a correspondence somewhere or other between the prices of food and the wages of labour. In our State of Ohio we know that this is a fallacy. There the wages of an unskilled labouring man are four shillings and sixpence a-day and good wheat is only twenty-seven shillings a quarter, and beef only three-halfpence a pound,and bacon and pork in the same proportion. Now if wages were regulated by the price of food, how came it that wages were higher in the United States than in England and Ireland."
The Rev. Dr. Vaughan, of London, afterwards president of the Lancashire Independent College, moved: "That this conference, drawn together from various parts of the United Kingdom, by a general conviction of the existence ​of long continued and still increasing distress, affecting the community at large, and bearing with peculiar severity on the industrious classes, finds this conviction deeply confirmed by various statements and documentary evidence now laid before them, which clearly prove that vast numbers are incapable of obtaining, by their labour, a sufficiency of the common necessaries of life, for the support of themselves and their families." In the course of an eloquent and very impressive speech Dr. Vaughan said:—
The Rev. James Robertson, of Edinburgh, in seconding the resolution asked if, when the claims of humanity were put forth, ministers were to sit still and do nothing, and reminded his hearers of the anathema, "he that withholdeth corn the people shall curse him." The Rev. Jas. Ragland, of Hindley, in supporting the resolution gave a frightful history of the distress endured at Wigan and its vicinity. The motion was carried unanimously. Another resolution, moved by the Rev. Benjamin Parsons, of Ebley, near Stroud; seconded by the Rev. Charles Berry, of Leicester, was also carried unanimously: "That in the judgment of this conference, the prevailing distress painfully tends to arrest the progress of education, to prevent the exercise of domestic and social affections, to induce reckless and immoral habits, to prevent attendance on religious worship, and to harden the heart against religious impressions."
The Rev, W. Thompson, of Swansea, moved the next resolution: "That influenced at once by feelings of sympathy with the suffering poor, with whom their official duties bring them into daily contact, and by a deep interest in the success of the religion whereof they are ministers, this conference feels itself only acting from a strong sense of duty in examining into the causes of the existing distress, and from the example of our Saviour himself, in employing its utmost influence to alleviate or improve it." The motion seconded, in a powerful speech, by the Rev. T. Spencer, of Bath, and supported by the Rev. S. J. Phillips, of Woolton, was carried unanimously.
The Rev. Dr. Payne, of Exeter, after vindicating the ​right of ministers to take part in questions deeply affecting the rights of humanity, moved: "That in the face of the facts which have come under their notice in their own respective neighbourhoods, no less than by statements laid before them, the ministers of this conference cannot avoid the painful conviction that much of the wide-spread distress of the present time is attributable to Provision Laws, inasmuch as they limit the supply, and thereby enhancing the price of the common necessaries of life, fetter industry, repress enterprise, divert the legitimate employment of capital, and spread discontent and heart-burning through the land." The Rev. H. Harvey, of Glasgow, seconded the motion; and gave an account of the deplorable condition of the weavers in one of the districts of that city.
Dr. Ritchie, of Edinburgh, then moved: "That, believing that the laws of Almighty God, as revealed in his word, ought to be the laws of human action, and that any deviation from them, either in individual conduct or in the affairs of nations, must excite his displeasure; and believing that the monopoly of bread is anti-christian in principle, this conference will seek the removal of the Provision Laws, and more especially deprecates their continuance as a great national offence against that Being by whom kings reign and princes decree justice." The motion, seconded by Mr. Clapp, of Appledoom, Devonshire, was carried unanimously.
The conference was subsequently addressed by the Revs. J. E. Giles, of Leeds, F. J. Archer, of Blessington, in the county of Antrim, T. Swan, of Birmingham, T. Adkins, of Southampton, J. Edwards, of Nottingham, R. Melsom, of Birmingham (one of the Wesleyan Conference), R. W. Hamilton, of Leeds, J. Freeman, of Walthamstow, and J. Carlisle, of London, and the following resolutions were passed:—
"That, in the undeniable fact of reciprocal dependance of the several branches of the human family, this conference, recognising the admirable provision of the all-wise, beneficent Creator, for securing the individual happiness, maintaining their peaceful intercourse, and enhancing their collective welfare, in consequence feels itself solemnly bound to declare its uncompromising hostility to those legislative enactments which prevent the ever increasing population of this country from exchanging the products of their industry and skill, which they are especially enabled to proffer, for the food which they so much need, and which other countries are so well able and most anxious to give in return for them."
"That no effectual relief can be supplied, either by parochial assessments or the benefactions of private or associated charity; that the necessary remedy for the existing distress is full employment and adequate remuneration; and that it is in vain to hope to alleviate the labouring classes from their present depression, so long as the existing system of Provision Laws continued to interpose between the bounties of God and the necessities of his creatures."
At the opening of the third day's conference, the Rev. Dr. Cox in the chair, a deputation from the working men of Messrs. Sharp and Roberts, engineers and machine makers, was introduced, and one of them read an address to the members, signed by Benjamin Fothergill, chairman, John Alley and K. Tennant, secretaries, and by 614 workmen. The document was highly creditable to that numerous body, who, although all in employment and with good wages, sympathized deeply with their less fortunate fellow townsmen, whose misery they said was "heart-rending and ​appalling." The address concluded thus: "The prayers of many who are ready to perish is with you, and their blessings are upon your endeavours to aid in procuring them that share of the means of subsistence, which was designed and is provided by the Creator of all things." A deputation of hand-loom weavers was then introduced, and read an address to the conference, and, in reply to questions put by several of the ministers, made statements, as to the condition of their fellow workmen, which very deeply affected their audience. The conference was addressed by the Reverends Dr. Bedford, of Worcester; W. Macdougal, of Kilmarnock; J. Young, of Andover; T. Morgan, of Birmingham; J.E. Good, of Gosport; J. Barfett, of Salisbury; W. Ferguson, of Bicester; W. Giles, of Liverpool; J. N. Goulty, of Brighton; Dr. Perry, of Reading ; H. G. Rhodes, of Sheffield; H. Atley, of Frome; W. P. Davies, of Ashburton; R. Slate, of Preston; T. Mann, of Trowbridge; D. Ronald, of Saltcoats, in Ayrshire; Mr. Smith, of Rotherham; J. G. Miall, of Bradford and J. Peters, of Rochdale, all of them testifying to the distress in their respective localities, and attributing it mainly to the operation of the Provision Laws.
At the evening meeting the Rev. W. M'Kerrow read a letter from Mr. Candlish, of Edinburgh, a minister of the Church of Scotland, approving generally of the objects of the conference, and regretting that he could not be present. Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Candlish, who had given in their adhesion to the cause of free trade, were soon to be engaged in an earnest agitation for a free church in their native land, and were the leaders of a body of ministers who sacrificed, at least, £100,000 a-year, to escape from the state dictation, which had accompanied state "sustentation." The Rev. J. Ackworth, of Horton College, Bradford, read an address to the Queen, which embodied the resolutions that had been passed, and prayed her generous interposition on behalf of her suffering people. The ​motion was seconded by the Rev. R. Fletcher, and carried by acclamation; and the Kev. Mr. Smith, tutor of Rotherham Academy, moved that it should be presented by the Rev. Dr. Cox, D.D. and L.L.D., the Rev. Thos. Spencer,A.M., and the Rev. Messrs. Atkinson, Chaplin, Massie, Fletcher, and M'Kerrow. The Reverend Dr. Vaughan seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously.
George Thompson, Esq., was then called upon, came forward amidst the most enthusiastic manifestation of applause, and read an eloquent address to the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, earnestly exhorting those who were suffering from the operation of the Corn and Provision Laws " to be peaceful and loyal, and to co-operate in all Christian and constitutional efforts to effect their extinction, with patience relying upon the sympathies of their friends and the blessing of the Most High." The Rev. Mr. Hinton, seconded by the Rev. Mr. Massie, moved the adoption of the address. It was agreed to, and ordered to be printed, and circulated throughout the kingdom, an order which was faithfully executed by the League in its wide-spread ramifications, aided by the ministers on their return to their respective congregations, and by the newspaper press, the most influential part of which was now giving publicity to the progress of the great movement, although the "leading journal" had not yet acknowledged it as a great "fact." A petition to the House of Commons was moved by the Rev. Mr. Scales, which concluded with the following prayer " Your petitioners therefore convinced of the sinfulness of these laws, which violate the paramount law of God, and restrict the bounty of his providence ; of their injurious operations on the domestic comforts, and the social, moral, and religious condition of the people of these realms; of the vast amount of evil which they have already produced, and of the fearful rapidity with which they are driving on their injured and suffering victims to despondency or ​desperation, and threatening the peace and safety of the empire, implore your honourable house, as you fear that God who is the friend and avenger of the poor, as you love that country whose interests are committed into your hand, to take into your early and serious consideration the Provision Laws, and especially the Corn Laws, which have wrought this enormous amount of evil and misery, for the purpose of devising such means as to your honourable house may seem meet for their abolition." The Rev. W. M'Kerrow seconded the motion and the petition was adopted.
The Rev. J. P. Mursell said he was anxious that the meeting should have some practical result, and that he should be sorry if it could be said that they had met to discuss a secular question without doing something in their religious capacity; he, therefore, moved, "That this conference earnestly recommends, to all who may approve of it, to set apart Monday, the 6th of September, as a day of humiliation before Almighty God, on account of our sins, and for solemn prayer, that it might please him in his mercy to remove the distress which at this time affects the poor, and to endow our senators, at this important crisis with wisdom." This resolution, which was widely acted upon, was seconded by the Rev. J. Webb, of Arnsby, Leicestershire, and carried. A pledge to use individual effort until the Corn Laws were abolished, was proposed by the Rev. A. Somerville, seconded by Dr. Halley, and deputation, consisting of Messrs. E. Watkin, G. Hargreave, Stephen Neale, James Hague, and J. H. Oswald, were then introduced, and presented an address from the Operative Anti-Corn-Law Association, and the chairman having encouraged the members of the deputation to continue their useful labours, gave them the right hand of fellowship, and they retired amidst loud cheers. The conference adjourned at a quarter to nine o'clock.
The fourth day's conference was opened on Friday ​morning. As it was understood that the proceedings would close that day, the number of ministers present was not so many as at the previous meetings, but there was no abatement of the interest manifested by the public on the important disclosures made as to the condition of the people in various parts of the kingdom. After an eloquent address from the chairman, the following committee was appointed to carry out the resolutions of the conference:—Revs. Messrs. Mc.Kerrow, Fletcher, Massie, Lee, Beardsall, Gwyther, F. A. Cox, D.D., Carlisle, Hinton, Harvey, Adkins, Chaplin, T. Spencer, R. Vaughan, D.D., James Robinson, and Alexander Harvey. The meeting was afterwards addressed by the Revs. G. Hoyle, of Stalybridge; P. Gunn, of County Fermanagh; G. Harris, of Kingwood; E. Good, of Gosport; W. Maiden, of Chichester; M. A.Garvey, of London; G. Armstrong, of Bristol; W. Giles, of Liverpool; I. Sedgewick, of Brighton; W. Scott, of Airedale; H. Solly, of Yeovil; T. Jones, of Wrexham; T. Smith, one of the tutors of Rotherham College; W. Auld, of Greenock; and Thos. Gisborne, late M.P. for Carlow.
In the afternoon meeting, the hall presented a novel appearance, the greater part of the seats previously set apart for members exhibiting a large sprinkling of ladies and laymen. The hall in every part was densely crowded, though fewer ministers were present than at any former sitting. At twenty minutes to five o'clock, the Rev. Thos. Spencer resumed the chair. He said a few more gentlemen might address the meeting for five minutes each. Mr. Brown, of Wareham, moved:—"That the most cordial thanks of this conference be given to the worshipful the mayor and the boroughreeve of this borough, for the kindness with which they have granted the use of the Town Hall for its accommodation." The motion was seconded by the Rev. J. Gwyther, and passed. The speakers, this afternoon, were the Revs. A. M. Browne, of Poole; J. W. Goulty, of Brighton; and A. Campbell, of Greenock.
​The Rev.J. Griffin, of Manchester, moved, "That the council of the Anti-Corn-Law League be admitted to address the conference, according to their request." After some remarks by the Rev. J. Wiseman, of Wick, the deputation was introduced by Mr. Massie. It consisted of the following gentlemen:—Sir Thomas Potter, R. Cobden, Esq., M,P., Messrs. Geo. Wilson (chairman of the council), Alderman Walker, Elkanah Armitage, Alderman Kershaw, Thomas Bazley, jun., William Rawson, Alderman Brooks, Henry Rawson, Archibald Prentice, George Thompson, William Bickham, and James Howie. They were received with loud and reiterated applause. Mr. Cobden then read the following address:—
"To the Christian Ministers of all denominations, in conference assembled, for the consideration of the laws restricting the food of the people, the address of the Executive Council of the Anti-Corn-Law League, in Manchester.
"Reverend Sirs,—We beg respectfully to tender you our earnest and grateful thanks for the zealous and truly Christian services which you have rendered to the cause of humanity, and to express our acknowledgments for the sanction which your dignified proceedings have given to your past labours, and from which we shall derive increased encouragement, and a new stimulus to our future efforts.
"The religious world will regard the acts of your conference as a noble illustration of the true spirit of a Christian ministry, whose benign influence can never be more consistently exerted than when vindicating the cause of the poor and destitute.
"We highly appreciate the minute and startling array of evidence brought by you from all parts of the empire, and proving on such unimpeachable testimony, the physical and moral degradation of great numbers of the people, as well in the agricultural as in the manufacturing counties. You have thus made it manifest that, during the long continuance of extreme scarcity and dearness of provisions, consequent upon unwise and unjust legislation, the condition of the labouring classes has rapidly deteriorated; that the demand for labour has declined; that wages, notwithstanding the assertion of the monopolists to the contrary, have materially decreased ; and that, from these causes, multitudes of our industrious fellow-countrymen have been cruelly and needlessly subjected to all the evils of misery, disease, and premature death.
​"Sympathising with you in the still augmenting distress of our poorer brethren, and fortified by the facts with which your testimony has supplied us, we shall continue to advocate, and with renewed energy, the abolition of these impious laws, which, by limiting the food of the people, and restricting the demand for labour, have been the main source of the manifold ills now afflicting the community.
"Whilst giving expression to our grateful sense of the inestimable value of your present labours, permit us to beseech your continued efforts in furtherance of the righteous and philanthropic work in which,as Christians, you have engaged.
"We would earnestly entreat you, in your respective spheres of sefulness, individually to use the influence of your sacred calling, in awakening the public mind to the national importance of this great question.
"We rely on the moral weight of your example; we trust much to the efficacy of your pulpit exhortations; we feel that to your supplications at the throne of the Most High, the poor and wretched may yet look with humble hope, and to the Christian confidence that justice, so long denied, will at last be rendered them; and resting with firm reliance on your patriotic efforts, we look forward, with well-grounded assurance, to the early and triumphant issue of a struggle, on which depends the happiness or misery of millions of our fellow creatures, and the irretrievable ruin of our beloved country.
"George Wilson, Chairman."
Mr. Cobden, in concluding the reading of the address, was greeted with loud cheering. The chairman briefly addressed the deputation. He trusted that it had been satisfactorily demonstrated, from the representations made during the sittings of the conference, that a repeal of the Corn Laws would be beneficial, not only to the manufacturers but the labourers, the agriculturists, and ultimately to the landowners themselves. They had assembled to serve no political party, but simply to further the cause of suffering humanity. A motion, that the address be received, and entered upon the minutes of the conference, was then made and agreed to. After an eloquent and impassioned address from Mr. George Thompson, which was frequently interrupted by the enthusiastic cheers of the meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, to the ministers of Manchester for convening the conference, ​and to the honorary secretaries, which closed the proceedings of the convocation.
On the day in which the conference was opened in Manchester, the following resolutions were passed at a meeting of ministers in connection with the congregational dissenters of Carnarvonshire, held in the Independent Chapel, at Sharon, near Carnarvon:—
"That it is the sacred duty of every Christian sect, denomination, and creed, to use every means and every influence within their power, towards having such unjust and unchristian laws removed from among the statutes of this great empire.
"We, therefore,from our souls, sympathise with our brethren met in conference, and earnestly pray that the blessing of the Almighty, in whose hands are the destinies of nations and kingdoms, may crown their holy labours with triumphant success.
"W.Williams, Carnarvon. Richard Parry, Conway. W. Ambrose, Fort Madoc. James Jones, Cupel Helyg. Owen Thomas, Talysern. John Williams, Llanberis. Griffith Thomas, Sharon. John Sennar, Llansaintffraid. David Davies, Colwyn. William Hughes, Sharon."
Advantage was taken of the presence of so many ministers in Manchester, to hold two great tea parties in the Corn Exchange; one on Thursday evening, of the Young Men's Anti-Monopoly-Association; and the other, on Friday evening, each attended by eight hundred persons, including a great number of ladies, the principal speakers being the Rev. T. Adkins, the Rev. Mr. Bailey, Earl Ducie, Rev. T. Spencer, Mr. George Thompson, Mr. Gisborne, and the Rev. W. Gadsby. For several weeks after these gatherings, accounts reached the League from towns and villages in all parts of the kingdom, at which ministers, who had been present at the conference, had given a history of its proceedings, and exhorted their hearers to put their hands to the good work.