The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-24 00:00:00

Indirect Taxation.

On the farms, mansion-house, 40 people may be employed,
whose consumption of taxed articles, such sugar, tea,
spirits, &c., may yield to Government for each indi-
vidual 3/ £l2o 0 0

In tl e works 1,700 at the same rate 5,100 0 0
It is thereby clear that a landed proprietor of 1,0001. per an.
may contribute, directly and indirectly, by himself and tenants,
y a:ly 0 G v nmeat, I 701.; whereas a m inufacturing and com-
mercial establishment as described will contribute 8,4671. 103.
The county and.poor-rates payable by landlords are more than
counterbalanced by City-rates and poor assessments of manu-
facturing establishments. The landlords ought to be taught
that the prosperity of every country depends open the number
and industry of its inhabitants, and that a growing population,
useful employment, and increasing wealth and capital,
must more certainly increase the value of land than
any artificial expedient for raising the price of
part of its produce— Hear, hear)—and we must impress
upon the Government that a regular supply of corn, and at
a moderate and steady price, is essentially necessary to a
manufacturing and exporting country ; and that any law
which raises the price above its natural rate, must prove ruin-
ous to the manufacturers and distressing to the inhabitants.
Dr. BOWRING being loudly called for then presented him-
self. He did not know if all the thunder of the London Press
broke in Lancashire; but if they did he should come among
them with fear and trembling, for one of them on Saturday
stated that the repeal of the Corn-laws meant nothing more
nor less than the overthrow of the Protestant religion.--
(Great laughter.) Thus were their proceedings held
up to the agriculturists of England. Great good would
grow out of the present controversy—light would be let in
upon the darkness that existed. He had often heard it
argued that they ought not to be dependent on other na-
tions for food, but that was the great and glorious principle
upon which all society was based.—( Cheers.) He trusted
they would never attempt to set aside that principle. He
would appeal to them whether the vested righ.s of the
many for good Government were not greater than ti e
vested rights of the few' for their own advantage ?—( Hear.)
Their Froceedings had been looked to with great interest,
because they sought nothing for themselves. The opponents
of the Corn-laws had created fearful enemies in every quarter
of the world. Unless at the present moment something was
done—unless this great wrong was superseded and over-
thrown, they had nothing before them but a futurity of ca-
lamity. The question of the Corn-laws was no narrow one,
It was the right of every man to consider his fellow man
as his brother—it was not a question between the landowners
and the manufacturers, but that a bond of love and an exchange
of benefits should be diffused throughout the whole human
race.---( Great cheering.) At that late period of the day he
would not detain them longer. Meetings like the present had
an action beyond the present moment. The world looked
upon them; and the consequences would be important in al
time to come. Although their commerce was reckoned 60 mil-
lions, he was satisfied it might be doubled, if the. Legislature
used a proper wisdom in its proceedings.—(Cheers.) He
had lately visited among other countries Egypt, which had
furnished food to the patriarchs; it was sending them corn ;
and England, which then was an island covered with savages,
was sending them clothing and comforts before ueknown.—
( Great cheering.)
Mr. AINSWORTH, M. P., subsequently addressed the meet
ing, and expressed his determination not to support her Ma-
jesty's Ministers in future, if they opposed a measure for the
reiyal of the Corn-laws.

Mr. Evvidur was loudly called upon, but trusted the meet-
ing would not press him to say anything at that late hour.
The company then separated about half-past eleven o'clock.
The late hour at which the proceedings terminated has
compelled us to abridga some of the speeches.

CORN LAWS.

COMMON COUNCIL MEETING
(THIS DAY.)

A special Court of Common Council was held to-day for
the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of pe-
titioning both Houses of Parliament for the repeal of the
existing Corn-I iws.
The LORD MAYOR took the char shortly after one
o'clock, but the time of the Court was occupied
till tlearly half.past two with the election of the different City
authorities, and other business connected with the Court.

Mr. HEPPELI, then rose to bring forward the important sub-
ject for which the Court had been specially convened. He re-
gretted tint a more able person had not taken upon himself to
bring forward a matter of such vital importance—an importance
that stood pre-eminently forward in consequence of the ill-
effects of the existing law relative to corn. Those ill-effects
were proved beyond all doabt by the numerous meetings that
were taking place in different parts of the country ; and the at-
tention of the people was directed to a subject which, until
the evils produced by the measure became apparent, had
never attracted their notice before. He thought that it
would be the more convenient course for him, and
also for the Court, that he should first read the resolu-
tion that he intended to propose for their adoption.
and then to state the reasons that had induced him to ask the
Court to adopt it. The resolution he intended to propose
was the following :
Resolved—That as all restrictions on the free interchange of the
produce and manufactures of the various nations of the world are
unjust and impolitic, tending, as they do, to the diminution of the
sum of necessaries, comforts, and enjoyments which each is capable of
acquiring—so more particularly are those restrictions absurd and mis-
chievous when imposed by a manufacturing nation upon the import of
an article of such prime necessity as food.

Now he took it to be an undeniable proposition, that every
man should have the opportunity of obtaining the necessaries
of life at the lowest possible price, in order that he might have
something to snare for the enjoyments of life, and might find
time for moral improvement. It was clear that the population of
the country was in a very different state. With sixteen
hours' labour, it was hardly possible for the working man to
prevent himself and family from starvation, although it was
admitted that the manufactures of the country were conducted
with more skill than those of any nation in the world. It had
been usual to hold out to the public that by the repeal of the
Corn•laws the landed interest would be most severely
affected. He believed such a statement to be an entire
fallacy. What were the grounds upon which the farmer
put himself forward to claim protection ? As he conceived
the farmer had no interest in the matter, for the rent of the
land had always reference to the capital that he could employ.
If he paid a certain amount of rent, and laid out a certain ca-
pital, and then found he had no profits, the consequence would be
that he would give less rent to the landlord, or he would lay
out his capital in a different direction. By that means the
landlord would be driven to reduce the rent. He,
therefore, could not see why the farmer was entitled
to more protection than any other class in the
community ; yet such was the effect of the existing Corn-laws.
Now he contended that, in the first instance, the introduction
of cheap food into the country would have a tendency to
reduce rents.—( Cheers.) Reductions of the price of food
would be followed by reduction in the price of every article,
and there could be no doubt that both the landowner and the
consumer would, in the course of a few years, find themselves
in a much better situation, in consequence of the reduction in
the price of the articles of life. But it was said that the pre..
sent duty on foreign corn had the effect of exciting the
farmers to use greater skill in cultivating the
soil, but experience had shown that bounties had always a
stupify ing effect, and there was not a stronger illustration of it
than in the manufacture of silk. At one time the foreign
manufacture of that article had a duty imposed upon it al-
most amounting to prohibition, and it was said by the
introduction of a foreign duty that the silk trade,"
would be ruined. Now, what was the: effect? Why, but
few years had elapsed before the manufacturers of that article
in this country were incited to such a stretch of their skill,
that they actually competed with every other country in the
globe. Another ground held for the maintenance of these
laws was, that they secured this country from the danger
of depending upon foreign States. It had been ar-
gued that in time of war a famine might ensue, if
this country depended on the importation of foreign corn.
But if this was made a great ground of alarm and a reason for
retaining such duties, why was it not applied to other matters
of equal importance to this country in articles, for
instance, that were required in the navy ? In time of war
if we had not the means of keeping up our naval stores we
should be in as bad a condition as any country possibly could
be, but had any endeavour been made to force this country
into the cultivation of hemp, lest in time of war, that
necessary article should be withheld—had any endeavour
been made to turn the northern parts of our country
into forests of pine, lest we should not obtain an adequate
supply of turpentine. The absence of these articles would
be as fatal to us in a certain degree as the want of supply of
corn. The word dependence had been used in a sense by no
means due to it. If they came to examine it, what did depen-
dence really mean but commerce ? Nations were dependent on
each other. If we were dependent on the nations of the Continent
for corn and they produced corn, to supply our wants, it was
clear they would take from us either of necessity or enjoyment.
Besides these reasons, there was one he thought a fair appeal
to the sympathy of all above the lower classes. It was
necessary to raise annually by the imposition of duties a
very large sum of money, this was generally raised
upon articles of luxury. Now it happened amongst these the
most heavily taxed were those of the poor man ; there were
some reasons to render this necessary, perhaps, as in the arti-
cle of spirits, for instance, which was necessary for the pro-
tection of morality; but if for reasons independently of
finance—if it was only for moral considerations it was

thought necessary to tax the luxuries of the poor man was not
that an additional reason that he should have the necessaries of
life as free from taxation as possible: He had not thought it
necessary to enter into any details upon this matter but for the
general reasons which he had given. He would now submit the
resolutions to the Court.

That the extent, and wealth, and power of the empire of Great
Britain, are founded upon anti maintained by the continuous develops.
ment of her industry and skill in commerce and manufactures ; and
that whatever has a tendency to impede the extension of these element'
of her greatness, is to be treated as a national evil.
Alderman THOMAS WOOD seconded the resolution. It
was a maxim of universal adoption that if we wanted to have
general commerce we must have an open market, approach.
able at the least possible expense. He did not knout
where the notion could be got from of a protection and
benefit to any people from a protective duty on corn,
Whether we look at it as a theory inculcated by the writers
en political economy, or whether we look at it as a matter of
fact resulting from the calculations of the past, the conclusion
was irresistible, that nothing could be more mistaken than
protection duty. It had so happened that when the ports of
this country had been open when the price of wheat was to
high as 84s. per quarter, for one year the amount of im-
portation did not exceed eight days' consumption. If it
was necessary to have a protective duty, to Secure;
a supply for our country, it had this obvious
tendency—that we secured to ourselves no possibility
of retreat in tha event of a bad harvest, for we
excluded ourselves from the rest of the world. By prohibla
tion we sought to shut ourselves out from community with
the continent—to discourage the growth of corn there—to
raise up restrictions against our own manufactures, and pay a
premium to those who opposed our manufactures, and took
no care to prevent us from starving in return. What countries
did we look most to for corn? To Poland and Prussia. It
was conceded that corn grown at 60s. was a retranerat-
ing pl.:ea to the farmer,. and when corn was at 605., we
had little importation. It was an incontrovertible pro-
position, that every additional shilling added to the price
of the 48,000,000 of quarters consumed in the empire was
quvalent, or effected on the consumer a tax of 2,400,000/.,
and estimating the difference between the average price
of all sorts of g.ain for the last e;ght or ten years, it appears
that if the ports had been thrown open at Bs. per quarter it
would have prevented a loss to the consumer of not less than
19,700,0001. Talk of :taxation, what did we get for this ?
Who were benefited ? Was the poor man ? No ; he was
obliged to pay much snore for his corn. Was the far-
mer ? No ; he' paid so much more for labour. Was
t!m tradesman ? No ; his household expenses cost him
so much more.—( Cheers.) They had heard a great
deal of protective:daties, and he would mention one.
We had lately had to pay 20,000,000 f. for a protective,duty—
he meant in the case of the slave trade.—( Hear, hear.)
There was another instance occuring at this moment—the
protective duties on tobacco. Why were they imposed ?—to
protect the growth in our colonies, and although it was
a large article of consumption, and to be grown
with advantage both here and in Ireland, it was !positively
shut out by protective duties. Ile alluded to these facts to
establish the proposit:on that all protective duties were preju-
dicial ; and the more we came to a principle of equality, the
more likely we should be to promote the general interests of
the community. There was another article to which he would
allude—potatoes were free from any protective duty. In the
sister kingdom corn was only raised to pay rent, and the poor
live there upon potatoes instead of getting the cheapest and
most necessary article of life, as it was called. The growth of
potatoes was increasing all over the world. Why was this? Was
it necessary fi r a protective duty to secure the growth of
potatoes ? No. And surely this was sufficient to answer the
argument that it was necessary to have a protecting du'y on
corn. The resolution pointed out a gradual reduction, so
that those who employed their capital in this trade might so
husband their resources:as to prevent any ruinous loss—for there
must necessarilybe loss where anyextensive alteration was made.
It was earnestly to be desired that a time would soon arrive
when we should be able to exchange our manufactures for the
corn of other nations, without its being necessary to transmit
our gold.—( Hear, hear.) It was said that the manufacturer
had his protecting duties. HQ ( Mr. Alder-man Wood) denied
that upon the authority of the largest manufacturers of this
country. Their concurrent testimony was, " Give us an open
market, and we will compete with the world, in spite of bid
debts and the possibility of the transmision of manufactures to
other countries, with which the agricultural interests had not
to contend." If the manufacturers triumphed under all their
existing disadvantages, what would they do if they could
get labour as cheap as they could in other countries ?—( Hear. )
Why, formerly we used to get our muslins from India—now
we brought the cotton from Hindostan, manufactured it, sent it
back, and beat their manufacturers in their own market--
What did the manufacturers who sould do this want with
propecting duties.—( Hear, hear.) There were common-
sense arguments which any man could
;appreciate.—( Hear,
hear.) He believed a great deal of our distress, of
the enormous amount of the Poor-laws, and of the
mismanagement of the poor under the old sys-
tem, owing to mistaken sympathy in their distress
were to be traced to the high price of corn arising front the
restrictive duties. Was it not high time to return to sound
principles ? Taxes levied on the general pocket must affect
every one.—(Hear, hear.) The worthy Alderman went
on to remark that in 1818, when the price of corn
was 83s. Bd. per quarter, only 1-13th of the consumption
was imported to this country. Was the small amount of the
risk to the agricultural interests to'be put in opposition to the
general interests of the coudtry ?
A CONIMON COUNCILMAN here said, in 1816 the price was
255. per quarter.
Mr. Alderman THOS. WOOD said the average from 1795
to 1815 was from 1103. to Ms. per quarter. In 1817 it was
88s. He did not think that in 1816 it was so low as 255.,
but he took the gereral average ; he did not take the
particular years or particular places. It was said that 60s.
was the lowest price remunerating the producer of corn in this
country. Was it ever known, when corn was at 83s. per
quarter, that a week's consumption was imported ? The
daily consumption was 45,000 quarters. and the highest
amount ever known imported even tit. from 110 s. to 84s. a
quarter was 300,000 quarters. Was ;t not an absurd system that
bonded Cern should be kept year after year perishing in ware-
houses, no possible benef:c to anytone ? The worthy Alder-
man concluded by saying that he would never assent to the
principle that taxation was necessary as a protection to any
trade, and he thought that taxation should never be resorted
to, but for the necessary purposes of Government for the de-
fence.of the State and for the maintenance of our institu-
tions,—( Cheers.)
Mr. Deputy ANGEL said he looked at this question neither
as an agriculturist nor a manufacturer, but as an Englishman,
and he thought that it would not be advantageoqs to pay
gold to foreign corn-growers, part of which gold might
certainly go to the purchase of our manufactures,
but the remainder of which would go to buy powder
and shot to blow our brains out.—( Loud roars of
laughter.) Cheap commodities were generally bad : a
cheap hat was usually very soon a shocking bad hat.—
( Renewed laughter.) He had lately complained to his
baker, that the bleed was musty, and the answer received
was, that the corn was foreign.

(LEFT SPEAKING.)
TO BE CONCLUDED IN A
SECOND EDITION.

COURT CIRCULAR.

Her Majesty had a dinner party last evening at the New
Palace, to meet his Royal Highness the Duke of Lucca. His
Royal Highness arrived, attended by the Baron de Lcewen.
berg (principal Equerry) and the Baron d'Ostini, and was
received by Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Otway (the Groom in
Waiting) and Lord Alfred Paget (Equerry in Waiting), who
conducted his Royal Highness from the marble hall to the
drawing-room. Among the company were—Count Pollon
(the Sardinian and Lucca Minister), the Duke of Argyll, the
Marquis Conyngham, the Earl and Countess of Albemarle,
Viscount Palmerston, Viscount and Viscountess Falkland,
Lord Holland, and the Right Hon. G. S. Byng.
The band of the Ist Life Guards were in attendance at the
Palace during the evening.
The Marquis Conyngham had an audience yesterday of her
Majesty.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess
Augusta of 'Cambridge, attended by Miss Kerr, Baroness
Ahlefeldt, and Captain Stephens, inspected the Waterloo
Model yesterday evening.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess
Augusta of Cambridge, attended by Miss Kerr, Baroness
Ahlefeldt, and Baron Knesebeck, honoured the Olympic
Theatre with their presence on Tuesday evening.
A Cabinet Council was held at three o'clock yesterday
afternoon at the residence of Viscount Melbourne, in South-
street. It was attended by all the Ministers. The Council
sat until half-past five o'clock.
The Ministers of the Conference, Count Pozzo di Borgo,
the Russian Ambassador; Couut Sebastiani, the French Am-
bossador ; Baron Bulow, the Prussian Minister ; and Count
Senfft, the Minister from Austria, had a meeting yesterday at
the Foreign Office. Their Excellencies remained three hours.
Mr. Stevenson, the American Minister, bad an interview with
the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday in Downing-street.

THE FUNDS.-CLOSING PRICES

BRITIS

FUNDS.

Bank Stock
3 per Cent. Red 934
5 per Cent Ccits 02%
3)4 per Cent. Red (104,
New 3y4 per Cent 99h
New 5 per Cent
Long Annuities to expire
Jan. 186 i
Oct. 1859
Jan. 1860
FOREIG

rlndiai t ack 254
Ditto Bends 64
Ditto Old Annuities 91%

Asturian, 5 per cent
Belgian, 5 per cent PI
Brazilian Bonds 7Bl'l
s,
Buenos Ayres, 6 per cent. —
(Milian, 6 per cent
Colomb.an' 6 per cent
Ditto, 1824 2854
Danish, 3 per cent —
Greek Bonds, 1825, 5 per cent —
Mexican, 5 per cent
Ditto, 6 par cent., 1825 2-1M
Peruvian, 1825,6 per cent cent -
(CLOSING PRICE OF S

Great Western Railway
London and Brighton Railway

ABOLITION OF THE CORN .LAYS,

GREAT MEETING IN EDINBURGH.
(From the Edinburgh Observer.)

A public meeting of the inhabitants was held yesterday, in
the Waterloo Rooms, in pursuance of a requisition addressed
to the Lord Provost, to consider the propriety of repealing the
present system of Corn-laws; the Lord Provost in the chair.
Besides the speakers, we observed James Erskine, Esq., of
Cardrona ; Mr. Miller, of Dalswinton; William Weddel,
Esq., of Easter Moffat; Angus Fletcher, Esq., of Dunans ;
Sheriffs Jardine and Hunter, Colonel Skene, Bailie Stark,
Councillors M'Laren, Faulkner, Duncan, Anderson, Lindsay,
and Young ; George M'Callum, Esq. ; James Browne, L L. D.;
A. C. Dick, J. M. Bell, and J. H. Burton, Esqrs., advo-
cates ; Andrew Millar, Thomas Ireland, and James M'Donald,
Esqrs., merchants ; William Tait, Esq., bookseller ; James
Donaldson, Esq , accountant; C. J. F. Orr, George Logan,
Phineas Daniel, J J. Darling, James Peddie, jun., and Peter
Crooks, Esqrs., Writers to the Signet ; and William Dal-
rymple, S. S. C. The room was crowded in every corner, and
many went away unable to gain admission. There may have
been, however, from 1,500 to 2,000 persons present.
The LORD PROVOST, in opening the meeting, said—The
meeting had been called in consequence of a requisition ad-
dressed to himself, to call a public meeting to consider the
propriety of petitioning for a repeal of the Corn laws. This
was a subject. they would perceive, of vast importance. and
involving very great interests. He was sure they would all
agree with him in thinking that the prosperity of all the
various classes of the community were identical, and that the
depression or the prosperity of one would affect the welfare
of all the rest. He trusted the meeting would proceed in
this matter with a due regard to the interests of these various
classes, and that they would take an extended and enlightened
view of the benefit of the whole community. They would also
remember that this question involved great and important in-
terests, that there were points of it on which the best friends
of the country were entirely of different opinions, and there-
fore they would take care to do nothing rashly—nothing that
could not be undone without injury to many classes of the
community. He did not feel it to be his duty, on the pre-
sent occasion, to express any opinion of his own ; but the
moment that he received a requisition requesting him to call
the p esent meeting, he thought it was his duty immediately
to comply—( Hear, hear)—for he considered it to be the
right of the inhabitants of this country to express their opi-
nions on every measure which might affect their interests, and
that they were only using a Constitutional right in petitioning
Parliament with respect to any measure which they might
feel themselves aggrieved by. He further thought, besides
agreeing to call the meeting, that they had a right to expect
that he should sanction the meeting with his presence. That
he thought was due to the inhabitants of this metropolis ; and
be should endeavour to follow that rule in relation to every
public question.—( Cheers.) lie would now only call upon
them to hear the resolutions which would be proposed for their
adoption.—( Cheers. )
Sir THOMAS DICK Latmea, who was received with great
cheering, said—l am disposed to think that many of my bro-
ther lairds may be somewhat astonished, and, perhaps, even a
little out of humour, to find that I am coming forward to give
my best assistance to promote the object you have in view—
the demolition of those most obnoxious laws. But most of
you who now hear the know that when I conscientiously arrive
at an opinion, I am not the man to be deterred, upon any
consideration whatever, whether private or public, whether
personal or political, from giving an open avowal to that opi-
nion honestly and freely when circumstances call upon me so
to do.—( Cheers.) The opinion which I now hold, Gentlemen, is
one which I adopted many years ago, and I have continued
to hold it up to the present time ; and every year that I have
continued to hold it, it has grown stronger and stronger within
me, and I have never hesitated to broach it when the occasion
required me so to do.—( Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, I am one
of those men whose sole dependence is on land, my sole de-
pendence throughout my whole life has been upon land ; it is,
therefore, not very unnatural that I should, at a very early
period of my life, have taken a deep interest in this question,
and that I should have taken every means to inform myself
thoroughly upon it. I may say that I read almost all that
was either written or spoken upon it ; and I remember very
well, amongst other works, I went through the whole of Mr.
Jacob's report, and followed that gentleman on the map
over every one of those foreign districts to which he re-
ferred ; and the result was, that I came to the decided con-
viction that those laws are not only unjust to the manufac-
turer, but absolutely useless to the agriculturist.—( Loud
cheers.) This opinion being taken up at that period, was
deeply engraven on my mind, and remains still engraven
there with the strength I have told you, although many of
the facts and arguments by which I arrived at it have long
ago escaped my memory. But although fresh facts and fresh
arguments are springing up every day around us in support
of our cause, I do not mean to read you a lecture en this most
intricate question in political economy, seeing that my much
valued friend, Mr. Wigham is to follow me—a gentleman who
has, by the able speech recently delivered on this subject in
another place, proved that be has gone deeply into the con-
sideration of all the minutiae of this question. Gentlemen, I
conceive the good that I do your cause this day is by coming
forward and presenting myself before you.—( Here there was
some interruption, arising from the crowded state of the room.)
Gentleman, I was proceeding to say that I conceived the
most effectual use that I can be on the present occasion, is
by the exhibition of myself here—(Cheers and laughter)—
were it only to prove that there is at least one landed pro-
prietor who sympathises with you in your wishes—( Hear,
hear.) You must not, however, suppose that I am a rare avis
in terris—l shall" take the liberty to give a free a free transla-
tion of this phrase—a rare bird among the clods ; for I can
assure you that I have great satisfaction in telling you that
I know a great number of my own personal friends,
men of sound judgment and enlarged views, amongst the
landed proprietors and amongst the tenantry, who think with
me in every particular.—( Loud cheering.) Gentlemen, I
am prepared to contend that if you once prove that tbose
Corn-laws do injury to the manufacturing interests, com-
mon justice demands that they should be repealed, even
although it should be supposed that they may be beneficial
to the agriculturist. But, Gentlemen, how is it possible
that they can be beneficial to the agriculturist—how is it pos-
sible that anything can be beneficial to the agriculturist which
is prejudicial to the manufacturer, :when all of us know
that manufacture and agriculture are so closely and intimately
linked together that it is quite impossible to do injury to the
one without doing an injury to the other? It is a common
error, and an error which is extremely injurious and very
dangerous, to set up the agricultural and the manufacturing
interests in opposition and hostility to each other. Nothing
can be more erroneous than this—in the old fable of the body
and members there is absolutely not a sufficiently strong illus-
tration to show the absurdity of this.—( Hear, hear.) I
would say, Gentlemen, that agriculture and manufacture
should be welded together with commerce, in order to make
out the entire and the eternal ring of British prosperity.
Before I sit down, permit me to say one word by way of en-
deavour to destroy those phantoms of the imagination which
have so bewildered many of the agriculturists in considering
this question. In the course of discussing it, they are too apt to
imagine that the fall which must necessarily take place upon
agricultural produce, when the Corn-laws are done away with,
must amount to the whole quantum of the difference between the
home and the foreign price; but this is a very erroneous view;
for, on looking for relief for our manufacturer, it must arise from
the increase of the price of food to his foreign rival, as
well as from the fall in our markets giving ease to himself at
home. If the agriculturist would only consider that the
comparatively small diminution that would take place in the
price of his produce would be more than compensated by the
improved steadiness of his markets, and look forward for an
immense prospective improvement which must be created for
the sale of his produce, by the great stimulus given to manu-
factures, and so to the manufacturers of his country, who form
the largest portion of his consumers—if they were to look at
this, instead of complaining at the prospect of the Corn-law
being done away with, they would join with us in rejoicing at
this prospect, and hail it as one of the happiest circumstances
that could take place ; and I would hope to see them in our
ranks, calling on the Legislature to open to us, as speedily as
possible, as large an increase of freedom of trade as our rela-
tions with other States might, in prudence and in sound
policy, enable them to grant us. Gentlemen, that this con-
summation may arrive is my most ardent wish; and, es far as
an humble individual can assist in promoting it, my most
strenuous exertions shall always be used for the purpose of
effecting it.—( Cheers.)
Mr.JonN WIGHAM.—After having so lately come forward in
a public manner in another place. it was not my intention to
have done more on the present occasion than merely second
the resolution. But it has occurred to me since I came into
the room that I might, with some advantage, say a few words
to the working classes. From speeches at Manchester and
elsewhere, I suspect it may be supposed, in repealing the
Corn-laws, that the rate of wages in this country will be
reduced to something like the continental level. Now, I sins
cerely believe that what we are wanting will have no such ef-
fect as this. My views are these—the demand for labour en-
tirely regulates the rate of wages.—( Cheers.) If I am right
in this position,. it follows, of course, that if the country is
raised, by the abolition of the Corn-laws, higher in the scale
of manufacturing industry, it is impossible to say exactly what
will be the effect on wages,- but, generally speaking, it ap-
pears to me, if it puts the country into a state of pros-
perity, the result will be good wages ; but whether
wages be increased or diminished, one thing is clear--
that if the present system of Corn-law is continued, and the
manufacturing interest placed at great disadvantage, the con-
sequente will be a diminution in the demand for labour, and
the working man would be the first to suffer, whether corn be
high or low.—( Cheers.) What I contend for is perfect fair
play over the whole world, and what more can any working
man or operative ask ? If the Corn-laws were repealed, the
price of food will be equalised here and on the Continent ;
and with the advantages of capital, machinery, and the supe-
rior skill of our workmen, the manufacturer will surely be
able to produce his goods as cheap as the continental manufac-
turers. This I would call fair play; and if we could not com-
pete with foreigners, with all our advantages, then it is our
own fault. The only other point on which I wish to say a few
words, is to the farmers. I have many of my most intimate
connections among the farmers, and would not willingly do
anything to injure them. In this part of the island it is usual for
farmers to have leases. Such is not the case in England. Hav-
ing been impressed with the idea that there might be cases
where a repeal of the Corn-laws would be injurious—where,
for example, farmers had entered on nineteen years' leases,
under the pledge of high prices guaranteed by the Corn-laws,
and had expended large sums in improving land, and in bring-
ing waste land into cultivation—l shall suppose that low
p: ices will follow the repeal of the Corn-laws, and that such
farmers are injured, if held to their lease. I hold that
the Legislature must make provision for the leaseholder. I
would not merely be satisfied with declaring it competent in

the farmer to renounce his lease; he must be reimbursed by
the landlord for the amount of capital expended in improving
the property. I have no doubt but the Legislature will take
this part of the question into their serious consideration, and
provide a remedy by a fair grain rental,—a mode of adjustment
now well understood in the country. He concluded by second-
i-g the resolution.

APLaeasi now presented himself, and was received with
great cheering. I have, said he, much pleasure in proposing
the resolution which has been put into my hands. It appears
to me that nothing is of so much importance to the prosperity
of manufactures, or of the country at large, as a complete and
thorough repeal of the Corn-laws. The general principle has
been well stated by those who preceded me, so that it only re-
mains for me to show the practical working of the Corn-laws
on the manufacturing interests ; and I am persuaded that,
with any unbiassed individual, the effect will be to convince
him that a change in the present system ought to take place.
The resolution is to the effect that in consequence of the
operation of the Corn-laws our manufacturers are removing
to other countries, where, under a more favourable Govern-
ment, or rather by the operation of fair play, they are
spreading and flourishing. I shall begin by reading the
resolution. This is the proposition to which I am to
ask your consent—a proposition which is very appalling. but
is as true as it is appalling. No one who knows anything at
all on the subject will deny what is here stated to be going or,
rapidly every day—that the manufactures with which foreign
countries used to be supplied are now falling off, that our ex-
ports are diminishing, and that a large proportion of our pro-
duce which is now exported is not, properly speaking, manu-
factured goods, but rather the raw materials, from which fo-
reigners manufacture themselves. This portion consisted of
cotton, flax, and woollen yarns, bar iron, &c., and their value
was increased, by their manufacture in other countries, two,
three, ten, twenty-fold, thus depriving the working-man at
home to that extent of a market for his labour which he would
have had if he had, as he used to have, the manufacture
completed in this country. It requires very little trouble
to show that this state of things is entirely owing to the
existence of the Corn-laws—that we cannot compete with
foreigners, because we have Lot fair play, as my friend
expressed it ; and what we want is to get fair play—to have
our manufacturers and artisans placed on a fair footing with
the natives of other countries. With that measure of favour,
or rather of strict justice, I have no doubt that our artizans
would be able to compete with and to beat the manufacturers
of every other country in the world.—(Cheers.) With a view
to show the present state of things more clearly, I beg to state
a few facts with regard to the diminution of our exports;
and to the increase of those in foreign countries. It appears
from the Custom-house returns,. which arc perfectly unexcep-
tionable, that, in 1820, the export of cotton goods to Russia
alone was thirteen millions of yards. At the present time the
quantity exported to that country is only about. three quarters
of a million of yards, which is a most enormous decrease. In
Prussia matters are much worse ; there our manufactures are
entirely excluded. In 1820, we exported to Prussia five
millions, and now the ports are literally shut against us, there
is not a single yard admitted.—( Hear, hear.) To the Ger-
man States, the quantity exported, in 1820, was forty-seven
millions of yards—it is now thirty-eight millions. In short,
I believe there is hardly any foreign country with which our
trade has not diminished in the exports of manufactured goods.
The result, in money, of the diminution of our exports for
the last few years, to the North of Europe alone, amounts to
seven millions sterling a year, independent of the diminution
in other parts of the world. The decrease is not peculiar to
the article of cotton—it has taken place also in woollens,
in flax, in cutlery, and in all manner of Birmingham and
Sheffield goods. In the exportation of all these there is a
decrease, and a consequent decrease in the demand for skilled
labour at home. But though I have mentioned only the di-
minution which has taken place in the North of Europe, the
same remark applies in nearly the same degree to other fo-
reign countries. The state of matters is the same in North
and South America; and it is the same in the Italian states.
There the exports have greatly fallen off, and all this has
taken place, not because the people of these countries are
not rich enough to buy our goods ; if that were the case we
might have little cause to complain, and rest contented in the
hope of better days ; but it has arisen from the people of
of these countries manufacturing for themselves. They now
come to us to purchase such kinds of machinery as they cannot
yet manufacture for themselves, or at so small an expense.
They purchase likewise other articles partially manufactured,
such as cotton yarn. Just as the exportation of our manufac-
tured goods has decreased in quantity, in an equal or a still
greater ratio the export of cotton yarns has been on the
increase. In 1820 we exported eight millions of pounds of
yarn to Russia ; we now export twenty-four millions. Ger-
many and Prussia then took seven millions ; they now take
thirteen millions. In the Netherlands the increase has been
most enormous; at that time we exported to them less than
a quarter of a million ; they now take seventeen millions and a
half. To Italy we used to send one and a quarter of a
millions ; we now send nine millions. To Turkey and the
neighbouring countries we sent half a million; we now send
four millions. The result of the whole is, as regards the ar-
ticle of cotton-yarn, that the quantity exported has increased
since 1820, from twenty-three millions of pounds' weight to a
hundred and five millions at the present time.—( Hear.) This
sufficiently accounts for the decrease in the export of manu-
factured goods—for the decrease in the demand for skilled
labour at home, and for the subsequent diminution of wages,
and I believe if a change were made in the Corn-laws, that in
place of exporting partially manufactured materials, the articles
would be wholly manufactured at home, the demand for labour
would increase, and wages would advance, as compared with the
price of corn. No person who wishes to state the case fairly
will deny that a diminution in the price of corn would, to some
extent, cause a diminution in the rate of wages. But if the
demand for our manufactures were doubled, which it might
be, wages would in consequence keep higher in comparison
to the price of corn than what they are now—the state of
the working man would be elevated to a considerable ex-
tent ; and of course the state of all other classes, for every
one knows that all classes in this country hang together, and
that whatever is detrimental to the working classes is detri-
mental to those who employ them. But in case these should
be thought general statements, and instances should be sought
of the injurious working of the Corn-laws in encouraging the
manufactures of other countries, I beg to mention that the
small State of Saxony exports three and a-half times the
quantity of hosiery that we do to all the world. This is a very
important fact, for England used to supply the demand for
hosiery to all the markets in the world ; but so completely
have we been beaten in this article by the operation of the
Corn-laws, that our manufacturers now send yarns to
Saxony, get them manufactured there, and then they come
back paying a duty of twenty-five per cent., and yet our
manufacturers are undersold with these goods in the very
country where the yarn is made. Nothing can more clearly
show the working of the Corn-laws than this fact. Four-
fifths of the value of these articles (for they are chiefly very
light goods) arises from labour, so that if the manufactured
article be worth 1001., the outlay for wages will be 801.,
and if the workmen can get their living for half the expense
at which it can be had in this country, it becomes at once
manifest how they can undersell us. I am happy to be able
to say that our exports are still greater in amount than they
were twenty years ago—they arc greater, but that is all.
Our exports in 1815 amounted to fifty-one millions and a
half, in 1836 they amounted to fifty-three millions. But in
America in 1815 their exports amounted to twenty-eight
millions of dollars; they are now sixty-six millions of dol-
lars ; so that their exports have increased two and a half-
fold, while ours have remaiaed nearly stationary, being not
more than an increase of three per cent. In France, in
1815, the exports amounted to twenty millions of francs:
they are now seventy-four millions of francs, being an in-
crease of nearly fourfold.—( Hear, hear, hear.) What has been
said ought to convince every dispassionate man that there is
something which cramps the energies of our manufacturers ;
and the man who denies that that something is the Corns
laws is bound to tell us what the real cause of the injury is.
I have never heard of any other cause; and it is clear to me
that unless there be an immediate and sweeping change in
these laws, the manufacturers will carry their capital and
skill to foreign countries; and the landowners as well as all
other classes will lament, when it is too late, the effect which
this will have on the prosperity of the country. If the in-
habitants of this country make a proper demonstration—if
they show the Legislature the justice of their claims, I
have no doubt that they will succeed.—( Cheers and cries
of " No 1") I speak most sincerely when I say that I have
no fear they will succeed, if they be united on this point, what-
ever differences they may have on other points. Other indi-
viduals may think other measures more important, and they
are entitled to meet and to advocate those opinions, and to
take such steps as may appear to them just and right, to get
them carried into effect ; but if they believe that this measure
—though it may not be so important in their opinion as others
—if they believe it to be beneficial, and calculated to improve
the energies and resources of the country, then it is my opi-
nion their duty is to act with those----(The cheering that fol-
lowed prevented us from hearing the conclusion of the sen-
tence.) We fortunately live in a land where all have a right
to state their opinions, and their petitions to be heard with
respect by the Legislature—where every facility is given to
the expression of opinions ; and therefore we ought not to
have any difference on this subject.—( Cheers.) He concluded
by proposing the resolution.
The Hon. J. E. MURRAY said, It appears to me that the
present system of policy which subsists between the agri-
cultural and the commercial communities of our country
has in it much of the character of a civil war, and it
is a policy which, if of much longer continuance, will
prove as disastrous to the prosperity of our native land as
if the members of those communities were in reality in the
same situation as the Carlists and Christinos in Spain.—
( Hear, hear.) Ruin, misery, and starvation are the at-
tendants of civil war, but they are not less so the evils which
the prohibition of the importation of foreign grain is fast dis-
seminating throughout the country. It is from ignorance
and prejudice alone, my Lord, that such a system is per-
mitted to exist ; for we have only dispassionately to consider
the real bearing of the Corn-laws as they affect our commer-
cial and agricultural prosperity, to be convinced of the real
and permanent injury which, through them, both of those
interests are sustaining.—(Cheering.) The gentlemen who
have moved the preceding resolutions have very ably stated
the bad effects of these laws on our manufacturing indus-
try, and they have told you the startling fact that we are
now, in some of the staple manufactures of our country,
undersold in the home market. I will not, therefore, my
Lord, detain this meeting with further observations on that
portion of this most interesting subject, but draw attention
to the probable effects which a repeal of the Corn-laws
would have on the landed proprietor and the agriculturist.
—( Hear, hear,) In doing so I would beg this meeting
to bear in mind that my opinions on this subject are not
of yesterday, that I am not advocating the abolition of the
Corn-laws because it may chance now-a-days to be some-
what more fashionable than hitherto to do so. I can with

truth say, that it was the first political subject which
ever occupied my attention, and that in examining its
details, I became convinced that the policy which could alone
be most conducive to the welfare of all classes of the commu-
nity, was that which should be bleed on the broad principles
of unrestricted trade —( Great cheering.) Besides, my Lord,
connected with the soil—aware that my children's bread, in
great measure, depends on the value of its produce, it is not
probable that I would be a party to deceiving the landlords or
tenantry of the country on this most vital question.—( Hear.)
Now, my Lord, what are the evils which the landed interest
dread from a repeal of the Corn-laws? Do they imagine that
foreign grain would then be imported at so low a price as to
render the home agriculturist unable to compete with it? They
have no cause to fear such a state of things.—(Hear.) The
best evidence which, es yet, we have, as to the price at which
foreign grain could be imported into this country, is to be found
in Mr. Jacob's Reports. Mr. Jac b there proves that the mini-
mum price at which wheat imported from Dantzic could be sold
in England is 48s. per quarter. This is the minimum price when
the harvests in the grain-growing countries have been favourable,
and when there iNo great demand for such grain. But a demand
for foreign grain, equal to only one week'a consumption by the
people of this country, would raise the price from 48s. to 553.
per quarter. The average price of wheat, fret on bond at
Dantzic for the fifty years preceding the year 1820, was
453. 4d. per quarter, and the expense of freight to England
added to that gives the sale price in England 555. or 565. per
quarter. A steady demand for no very great quantity of
foreign grain would, no doubt, raise the price of suet grain
materially. Foreign agricultural labourers would demand
higher wages (for the peasantry of the corn-growing countries
are now beginning to be paid in morey instead of grain), and
then foreign rents must infallibly rise also.—( Hear, hear.)
Do the landlords, and the agriculturists of Great Britain ima-
gine that Russian, Prussian, or Hungarian proprietors will
not take advantage of the increasing demand for the produce
of their estates ?—( Hear, hear.) Now, my Lord, no honest,
intelligent tenant will say that wheat cannot be profitably
raised in this country—even with the present high rent, under
55s per quarter ; on the contrary, they will tell you that a
steady demand at 503. per quarter, would be much more for
their interest than the present fluctuating and uncertain
prices ; they would then know what they were about when
taking their farms, and their trade would not, as at pre-
sent, be a mere lottery.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) Ano-
ther
circumstance which greatly alarms the landlords, is
the supposition, that by a repeal of the Corn-laws, a great
proportion of the inferior soil of these kingdoms would be
thrown out of cultivation, but in reality no such consequences
would ensue.—( Hear, hear.) When the wheat of this
country was selling, as I have seen it, at 40s. and 455. per
quarter, the circumstance did not affect the cultivation of
inferior soils, but, cn the contrary, the fact is notorious,
that the general average of the price of grain has most
materially diminished since the war prices, but that, never-
theless, land which was never under the plough, is
daily being brought into tillage, and immense sums ex-
pended in improving it.—( Hear, hear, bear.) Nay, far-
ther, my Lord, the tenants of inferior soils were better
off when the price of grain was 455, or 505., than they
are when the price is, as in this year, at 80s. per quar-
ter ; and it may seem a startling fact, but it is never-
theless a true one, that should the price of grain be next
year, and from the same causes, at 80s. per quarter, three-
fourths of the inferior soils of this country will then be thrown
out of cultivation.—( Hear, hear.) The tenantry on such
soils are in general possessed of small capital—so small, in-
deed, that one or two bad seasons render them bankrupt, and
(what has not hitherto been noticed) those who pay their rents
in grain suffer most.—(Hear.) Such tenants are this year suf-
fering dreadfully. Their rents have risen with the price of
grain, but the bad harvest has afforded them little out of which
to pay such rents. I know many, very many, of such tenants,
who, after paying their rent out of their crop, if it will sell for
as much, K ill have to purchase seed for the next season, and
most probably borrow the money to do so.—( Hear.) In fact,
such soils are only now cultivated on the speculation of getting
a moderate price and an abundant harvest; whereas, with a
more general demand for the real produce of such soils—mut-
ton and wool—they would become more profitable to their
proprietors than at present. In 1835, the price of grain
was lower than it had been for fifty years. The average price
was then 395. 4d. per quarter, the same price as it was in
1786. Were either the landlords or tenantry worse off in
1835 than they are in 1839 ? The tenantry had plenty of
grain to compensate for the low prices, and out of which to pay
their rents ; but this year it is not so, and most landlords, if
they insist on full rents, must take them out of their to
tiaras' capital ; so that in 1835 we were better off with grain at
395. than we are in 1839, with grain at more than double the
price, with grain at Ms. 6d., and the prospect of it still rising
higher.—(Cheers.) It is the excessive fluctuations in the
price of grain which are the causes of distress and ruin to
landlords as well as tenantry, and nothing can counteract
their bad effects but an importation from abroad, rendering
the market price steady at home.—(Great applause.) But,
my Lcrd, there is a fear which most oppresses the landlords,
and if there were good grounds for entertaining it, then in-
deed they would have cause to be alarmed at the repeal of
the Corn-laws. It is the effect which a repeal of these laws
would have on public and private burdens, on the national
debt, and the heritable bonds over their estates.—( Hear,
hear.) There can be no doubt, that were the price of food to
become so extremely low as to bring down with it the price
of every other article, while the value of money con-
tinued the same as at present, that severe hardship would
be the consequence. But, my Lord, as it is morally
impossible that the price of home grain will fall with
a tree foreign importation below that price which, in
many years it has been in this country, we have no cause
to dread the repeal of the Corn-laws on that account.—
(Cheers.) We did not find the national debt a greater
burden in 1815, when wheat was thirty-nine shillings,
than we do now in 1839, when wheat is more than
double that price. But, my Lord, I have still one
other important part of this subject to allude to. It
is the idea which many are endeavouring to instil into
the minds of the working classes—(Hear, hear, hear)—that
a repeal of the Corn-laws would instantly have the effect
of reducing their wages, and that they would, in such- cir-
cumstances, be in no better condition than they are at pre-
sent. I would ask if there are any of the working classes
within these walls ?—( Yes, yes.) Well, lam glad that such
is the case, for I would tell them that a reduction of their
wages would not follow a repeal of the Corn laws—( Loud
cheering)—and that if I thought that there was any, even
the slightest reason to suppose that this would be the case,
then I, for one, would not stand here to advocate tile repeal
of those laws. —( Great cheering.) If there is any one class more
than another of the community who will be benefited by a
repeal of the Corn-laws, it will most assuredly be the working
classes —(Cheering.) But I will give you a practical illus-
tration of this fact—their wages have not been increasing since
1835 ; yet, in 1839, their situation is but one-half as good as
it was then. In 1835, this was the size of the penny loaf.—
(Mr. Murray here held up a penny loaf of 1835.) This is a
penny loaf of the present year.---( H oldingup another.) Look
just on this picture and on that.—(Great cheering.) I do
not think that, with such a loaf—(the larger one)—and a
bowl of milk, I could make a very bad breakfast; but see,
my friends, what the penny loaf has come to this year,
small by degrees, and beautifully less," it would scarcely
be a sufficient breakfast for a child of a year old. —(Cheers. )
But while I advocate the repeal of the Corn-laws, I must de-
clare that the same Bill which repeals those laws, must, in
justice to landlords and tenantry, repeal all other prohibitory
duties, that equal justice may be extended to all. With these
remarks I cordially second the resolution, and trust that ere
long all classes of the community will become convinced that
our national prosperity and place among the nations depend
on our acceding to our fellow-countrymen equal laws and
equal justice.—( Much cheering.)
Mr. ADAM BLACK—I am sorry the resolution I have to
propose—

A CHARTIST (whose name we could not learn)—l beg to
move an adjournment.—( Cries of " no adjournment," met by
counter clamour of "to the hill, to the hill.")
Loan PROVOST—There are no hustings on the Calton Hill,
nor any preparation whatever. I am disposed to give perfect
fair play, but we cannot adjourn.
Mr. ADAM BLACK—Since I came into the room a letter from
Mr. Horsman, M.P., has been put into my hands, which I
shall read. (The substance of the latter was that Mr. Hors-
man highly approved cf the object of the meeting, but being in
the west country and on his way to England, he regretted it
was entirely out of his power to take part in the proceedings,
otherwise he would gladly have lent his assistance.) In the
absence of Mr. Horsman, I shall endeavour to say a few words
in support of the resolution which was to have been intrusted
to him. The advocates for the Corn-laws, when ad-
dressing the mercantile and manufacturing. classes, maintain
that these laws very slightly, if at alloncrease the price of
provisions ; and when they address the agricultural classes
they raise an outcry and clamour against those who seek their
repeal, as if it was to be the death-knell to agricultural pros-
perity, and the destruction of the whole farming interest. It
would be well, if they would abicl.e by the one proposition or
the other. The Corn.lavvs either raise the price of provisions
or they do not : if they do not raise the price of provisions,
then how could their repeal injure the agriculturists ? and it is
nothing but unmeaning obstinacy on their part to oppose their
repeal.—(Cheers.) But whether they have raised the price
of corn or not, there can be no doubt they were passed for the
purpose of raising it 3 price, and there can be as little doubt in
the mind of the dispassionate inquirer that they have had that
effect.—( Hear, hear, hear.) See, then, how they operate on
the manufacturer and the workman. If in the manufacture of
goods which sell for 100 s. in the foreign market, 30s. is ex-
pended on provisions for the workmen employed in their manu-
facture, and if the provisions might have been had for
203. but for the operation of the Corn-laws, then the work-
men who have manufactured this 51. worth of goods have
been taxed 10+. for the benefit of tl:e landowner. Again,
if the foreign manufacturer could
employ the same work-
men at the same wages, calculated by the price of grain,
he would furnish the same amount of goods at 10s. less than
the British manufacturer. An attempt has been made to
show that the whole of the British manufactures exported are
of little consequence compared with what are consumed
at home. Vague statements of this kind are often most
heedlessly made, but I will not speak without authority on this
subject, but refer to the last published Parliamentary Report
on the subject, where it will be found that the produce
and manufactures of the United Kingdom exported in
1836 was at their declared value 53,368,571/., and at the
official value 85,229,837/. If a trade of this magnitude is
undermined, every class in this country, the manufactur-
ing, the commercial, and the agricultural, is in jeopardy,
Its destruction would unhinge the whole frame of society.
—( Cheers.) But I will not talk of the immense pecu-
niary interests at stake ; I will take higher ground. I ob-
ject to these laws on account of their immorality—they are
one unmitigated, superlative, and all-pervading evil.—( Hear,
hear.) Their roots are selfishness, their trunk is oppres-