The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-18 00:00:00

AN'TI•CORN LAW DELEGATES.

The Delegates assembled on Saturday afternoon as
usual at Brown's Hotel.

J. B. SMITN Esq., in the Chair.
There were present besides the Delegates, Sir B.
Hall, M.P., Mr. G. W. Wood, M.P., Sir George Strick-
land, Mr. Tancred, Mr. Mark Phillips, and Mr.
Horsman, M.P.
It was stated to the Committee that petitions had
been received from Lancaster. and Yarmouth.

The Mayor of LANCASTER stated that the petition
from that place, was to be placed in the hands of the
• Delegates for their disposal, and requested that Mr.
Villiers would present it.
Mr. EWART suggested that it was always better to
confide petitions for presentation to Members connected
with the place from which the petition emanated.
The Mayor of LANCASTER stated that Mr. Green
was out of town, and Mr. Martin refused to
present it. Ho also stated that in the absence
of the Earl of Derby, the petition to the House
of Lords would be presented by the Earl of Fitzwilliam.
The CHAIRMAN reported the arrival of Mr. Thorpe
the delegate for Halifax.
Mr. THORPE said, it was perhaps due to this Com-
mittee, as well as to the town of Halifax, to state that
a very lively and anxious interest is felt by a col-
sideralde and influential portion of its inhabitants in
the success of the cause in which this Committee is
engaged. By some of those engaged in manufactures
the influence, the injurious influence of these laws, has
been felt in no inconsiderable degree. Some facts in
corroboration of this statement he hoped to lay before
the Committee. They sought for a repeal of these
laws with no unkind feeling towards the landed inter-
lost, but because they believed it to be essentially neces-
sary to the existence of the manufacturing interest
and the prosperity of the nation at large—(Hear.)
The CHAIRMAN reported that he had received a lettxr.
from Maidstone, stating that a petition was in course of
signature there in favour of the existing system of Corn-
laws, which had not been agreed to at a public meet-
jag, but was hawked about from house to house for
signature by some retainers of the Conservative party.
It was suggested that if a lecture on the subject were
to be delivered at Maidstone, and a meeting held, a
counter petition might be easily got, which would obta'n
a majority of signatures. It was remarkable that none of
these petitions in favour of the Corn-laws were agreed
o at public meetings, and that whenever a meeting was
held for that purpose the Corn-law Atiteocates were out.
votA . Tile Chairman then releed the circumstances
attetydiejg the meeting?, at Newark, as had been stated
Y.-stertlay by Mr. Swart. He also reported that at
Noratch a petition is egreed to end will be here in
due course.

At Yar;outli also, with two dissentients only.
At Ipswich all the wards are about to meet and sign
a requisition to the Mayor for a general meeting.
At Lynn, in Norfolk, symptoms of a desire to meet
and petition have been apparent, and seem to require
some aid in order to be proceeded with,
The CETAIRMAN read a communication that he had
received front the Society for the Encouragement nf
Industry, meeting et the King's- Head Tavern, in the
Peultry,'stating that that Society had come to a reso-
lution, suggesting the following modification in the Corn-
laws, viz.:.-,-" That where the- price of wheat per quarter
is at or trader 405., a duty should be. levied on importa-
tom ef 10 per cent., to continue for two years. After
witlela the said duty, under the same circumstances of
price, to be five per cent., to continue for two years fel-
k'vulg, from which time a free trade in corn to com-
mence." They had also resolved that this resolution
should be communie.ated to the Anti-Corn-law Dele-
gates, and that they should be invited to attend a meet-
ing of the Society on an early day.
Mr. WEIR. considered, that having been sent here as
a delegate to demand a total and immediate repeal of
the Corn laws, he was; by the very terms of the dele-
gation, precluded from entering into a negotiation with
aoy one who was not in favour of a total and immediate
repeal.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. WALMSLEY had learnt with surprise, as well
front Hon. Members as from the remarks of those
journals which have so ably and so zealously advocated
the cause of the people, that there were differences of
opinion amongst the delegates as to the expediency of
pressing for a total and immediate repeal of the Corn-
laws, and that some of the delegates were satisfied to
tender evidence otherwise than at the bar of the House.
`lle knew not how such reports had originated, and could
only attribute them to the invention of their opponents.
It was meet, however, that they should receive the most
unqualified contradiction. Nothing less than a full
hearing at the bar, either of the -House of Lords or
Commons, was calculated to elicit the truth of their
averments, and to give that publicity which the import-
ance of the case demanded. Nor would any other
mode give satisfaction t:, those great commercial manu-
facturing communities which they represented. For his
own part, were he irrespective of the misery which a
perseverance in the present system would inevitably in-
flict upon the people, he should rejoice in the refusal
of justice on this one subject, as he was satisfied other
and important changes would be the result. The flood
of intelligence and light which was now dawning on the
people of this country could not fail to sweep away every
legislative enactment not based upon equal and impartial
justice.