The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-12 00:00:00

IMPORTANT MEETING ON THE
CORN LAWS AT MANCHESTER.

MANCHESTER, THURSDAY NIGHT.—This morning a most
important and interesting meeting of the Anti-Corn-law Asso-
ciation was held at the York Hotel, King-street, " for the pur-
pose of considering the proper mode of carrying on their future
proceedings in a manner commensurate with the magnitude of
the obstacles to be surmounted, and worthy of the object for
which it has been established." The attendance was large
and highly respectable, consisting of many of the first mer-
chants and manufacturers of the neighbourhood, including some
of the gentlemen who took a principal part in the late discus-
sion in the Chamber of Commerce.
HOLLAND HOOLE, Esq., was called to the chair, and stated
the object of the meeting. He thought that every man in bu-
siness must feel the pressure of the Corn-laws, and he trusted
the meeting would see the necessity of making a determined
and simultaneous effort for their repeal. He did not stand
there the representative of his own interests alone ; he em-
ployed 800 workmen, to whom the question was of the same
vital importance as himself, and he felt, therefore, that he stood
there not only as his own representative, but as the repre-
sentative (as Lord Ashley had once very properly observed),
of the factory people.—( Hear, hear.) It had been said that
we had already ceased to be manufacturers of cloth, and were
spinners only to the foreigner ; but this was not all—the trade
in yarn was going also, and we might soon find it necessary to
export the spinners.—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear !") First
we were losing the trade in manufactured goods, then the yarn
trade, then the cotton trade—and he had found it more profit-
able himself during the last year to export the cotton, and
then the men must follow. There was the broad undeniable
fact which ought to he looked to, that the nations of the con-
tinent were turning their attention to the manufacture of goods,
and that they had as many hands and fingers as ourselves to
accomplish their object with, and that unless we consented to
take their corn in payment for our manufactures, the trade of
this country must inevitably be ruined.--( Applause.)
Mr. J. B. SMITH said he had been requested to detail
specifically to the meeting the object for which it had bee,'
called together.—( Hear, hear.) They were all aware of
the important statements which bad been made in the Cham-
ber of Commerce on this question, and of the effects which
those statements had produced throughout the manufactu-
ring districts ; but, he was sorry to say, that they had not
the same effect in the agricultural districts, or upon the
landed interest ; for gentlemen must have perceived that
all those journals which professed to be the organs of the land-
owners had most scrupulously avoided taking any notice of the
facts to which he alluded. The speakers on that occasion, it
was true, were not exempt from their censure—they had ridi-
culed the speakers, all which could be borne very well; but
he should have felt obliged, for one, if those journalists would
have given the facts which were stated by the speakers, at
those meetings, to have enabled their readers to judge for
themselves of their value.—( Hear.) Now he thought it was
high time this important question was set at rest for ever.
We had petitioned year after year for the repeal of the Corn-
laws in vain—our petitions were laid under the table—if our
Representative rose to support their prayer he was hooted
down. Should we lie down and quietly see our manufactures
taken from us by the foreigner ?_( Hear.) If not, there was
only one course open to us, and that was to demand to be
heard at the bar of the House.—(Applause.) All that was
sought was justice—simple, pure, unadulterated justice. All
that was wished was to be allowed to share in the privileges
enjoyed by other interests ; and the object of this meeting was to
raise a fund for the purpose of carrying their cause before the
Houses of Parliament. This the meeting would be aware
could not be done without incurring some expense. It would
be necessary to have deputations from this and other towns in
London, whose duty it would be to superintend the proceed-
ings before Parliament, and their attendance there would ne-
cessarily be attended with expence. For the course he was
now proposing they had a precedent in the proceedings taken
to procure a rescinding of the Orders in Council. A motion
was made in reference to those Orders to have Counsel heard
at the bar. The proceedings before the House were noticed
from day to day in the journals. These notices had the effect
of informing the cmntry at large on the nature of the question.
The statements made had the effect of making an impression
upon the House, and led to the rescinding of the Orders in
Council. Now he could not help thinking that similar pro-
ceedings on this question would lead to the like important re-
sult.—( Cries of " Hear, hear, hear.") He would not
suppose that there were not to be found men in
Parliament who were anxious for the good of the country.
He believed, if their case were fairly heard there, that
they should find a great number of men willing to do them
justice, and it was gratifying to see that while, at a public
dinner lately, the Marquis of Chandos was abusing us, the
Marquis of Tweeddale insisted on the repeal of the Corn-laws.
That Nobleman stated that there was no occasion for them—
that in Scotland the agriculturists had made land produce
treble the crops it had formerly yielded, and that the same
thing might be done in England if they would direct their
capital and skill to the work. Now he (Mr. Smith) had
been lately looking at the agricultural reports of 1836, when
wheat was nearly at the lowest price known for many
years, and there he found this very case made out, for
while the English farmers complained, in that report, of
doing ill, it appeared that the farmers of Scotland were
doing well. And why ? Because the Scotch farmers had
applied their capital and skill in improving their lands,
while those of England had depended for protection upon
the monopoly given them by the Corn-laws, and not
upon the improvement of their farms.—( Hear, hear.) He
begged to move the first resolution. (It appeared in The Sun
yesterday.)

Mr. GREG rose to second the resolution. It was extremely
gratifying to him to observe the interest which those debates
had occassioned. It was an earnest to him of success. If
they recollected, when Lord John Russell before the passing
of the Reform Bill, proposed that Members should be given to
Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham, that measure was re-
jected, and his Lordship then said, that he would not move in
the question again until a more lively interest was shown in it
by the country. This declaration was occasioned by the ap-
parent apathy of the people. Now it sometimes happened
when the night seemed the darkest the dawn of the morn-
ing was the brightest. It was so on the occasion
to which he alluded, and he hoped it would be
found so now.—( Hear, hear.) All feeling seemed for a
while to be dead upon the question, and parties said it
is no use stirring till we see more interest excited by the
question. ."The man who spits against the wind is said to
spit in his own face, and it is of no use to attempt to go with-
out the tide." But it was pleasing to see the interest which
this question was now exciting through the country, and, from
the letters which his friend Mr. Smith and himself had re-
ceived on this subject, this interest seemed to have extended
itself to the remotest parts of the country. Nothing would
prove of more essential service in their cause than to sub-
scribe their money to support their views. Let the world see
that they were willing to pay, and it would be taken as an
earnest that they were determined—that their feelings were
in unison with their declarations.—( Applause.)
Mr. Alderman SHUTTLEWORTII, in a long and forcible speech,
supported the motion, combating the fallacies by which the
landowners sought to blind the public, and exposing the false
pretences upon which they founded their claim to compensa-
tion from this unjust and iniquitous tax. So far back as 1804
he found the late Lord Stanhope proposing that " from
that time for ever the landed interest of the country
should bo totally exempt from all taxes and im-
posts whatever." This resolution did not pass the Le-
gislature ; but he would appeal to the meeting whe-
ther the landowners had not acted upon the sugges-
tion ever since with the most determined and unceasing perse-
verance.—(Hear, hear ) They had gone on relieving them-
selves of one tax after another since 1816, till they had shifted
from their shoulders more than a million of annual taxation,
exclusive of their exemptions from the probate and legacy
duties on land. But they spoke of the great amount of taxes
which the farmers were compelled to pay, and made this a
pretext for the Corn-laws. Now there was not a farmer ex •
amined before the Committee of 1836 who did not expose the
fallacy. One of those witnesses (Mr. Moreton) stated that the
whole annual amount of his direct taxes on a farm of two
thousand acres of land did not exceed 101.--( Hear, hear.)
The other day the Marquis of Chandos had said, " Only
place the British landowner on a footing similar to that on
which the foreign landowners are placed, and they would fear
no competition—they would be satisfied Give them the ad-
vantages of the foreign landowner." Why, the French Minis-
ter of Finance, in 1833, stated that the landowners of France
paid one fourth of the net revenue of the country in direct
taxes, besides their full proportion of indirect taxes. The
landowners of Belgium also paid in nearly the same pro-
portion.—( Hear, hear.)
The resolution was carried unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN here observed that gentlemen would be
saving the time of the meeting by platting down their subscrip-
tions. lie k\ as but a young man in business himself, but he
would put down 50/. towards the fund.—( Loud cheers.)
Mr. Alderman COBDEN said the great obstacle they should
have to encounter was a feeling of self-interest on the part of
those to whom they had to apply for justice. He would give
one portion of his property that he might retain the rest, and
he was investing it on the most approved security, not only for
himself, but for the country ; for unless the object for which
they were met was attained, those laws would terminate in
the destruction of every interest in the country. He believed
there was a thousand pounds in that room.—( Cheers.) He
concluded by moving the second resolution, which also ap-
peared yesterday.
Mr. J. B. SMITH begged to say that he would give 100/.
towards the fund.—( Loud cheers.) He was also commis-
sioned by Mr. Leo Schuster to put his name down for 100/.
Mr. Alderman COBDEN said he would give 1001.
Mr. NOVELLI would also give 100/.
Mr. Alderman KERSHAW said he too would give 1001.
Mr. Alderman BROOKS would also give a 100/.
Alderman COBDEN—Why, Gentlemen, we have received
nearly 1,000/. now.—( Loud cheering.)
Mr. J. C. DrEa said, if this meeting had not been held at
the same time that two other meetings were being held, at
which many of the first merchants in the town were necessa-
rily present, the room would not have contained them.
He was proud to say that this large meeting was presided over
by a gentleman who was opposed to him in politics. He was
an old man and had no trade now, but he called on others to
join him. He would give 100/. most cheerfully, and he would
give 1,000/. if it were necessary.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. E. M. CONNkI.L, on of the largest cotton-spinners in the
neighbourhood, supported the resolution, feeling that his own
existence as a manufacturer, and that of all the manufacturers
in the country depended on the repeal of these laws.
The resolution was carried, and
Mr. Ald. COBDEN mcved for a Committee for the purpose
of receiving the money, and empowered to solicit further re -
cuniary aid in this town and neighbourhood in the earns of
this meeting.—Appointed.
Mr. RAWSON, an extensive hosiery-manufacturer, from