The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-22 00:00:00

7 THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1839.

TILE LONDON COFFEE and EATING

HOUSE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION.

The third half-yearly meeting of the members of this excel.
lent Institution was held last evening at Anderton's Hotel,
Fleet-street, for the purpose of receiving the Report of the
Committee, and also to take into consideration the propriety
of petitioning both Houses of Parliament for the repeal of the
Corn-laws.
At sever, o'clock, J. B. Hournagy, Esq., was unanimously
called to the chair.
Mr. FORBES, the Honorary Secretary to the Society, then
read the following Report :
THE THIRD HALF-YEARLY REPORT,
JAN. 21, 1839.
" Your Committee, in making this their third half-yearly
Report to you, have great pleasure in stating the success
which has attended their exertions in behalf of this lustitutioa
for the last half year, which has even exceeded that of the
preceding periods when they before reported progress to you.
The prosperity of the Institution hoe been progressing gra-
dually, but surely; every week has been adding to the eum-
ber of its members, and adding to the amount of is funds ;
and its principles and objects are now so widely disseminated,
and so well known in both branches of the trade, that your
Committee confidently rely that every successive half-yearly
Report will be more cheering than its predecessor.
" Your Committee have likewise the pleasure of reporting
that both the excursion and ball have been sources of profit to
the funds of the Institution, and your Committee have in-
structed the trustees to place 2001. in the hands of the Com-
missioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, and the
Committee feel proud that they have thus been enabled to form a
nucleus for ~chat they hope will ultimately be alarge and increas-
ing fund, always applicable to the purposes of the Institution.
Your Committee, in.,using every exertion in their power
to extend the support of this Institution amongst the trade,
have not lost sight of that collateral support which they had
every reason to expectirom parties with whom the trade is
more immediately connected, the most prominent of which
is the Press. Your Committee accordingly appointed a de-
putation to wait on the proprietors of the daily, weekly.
and periodical Press of the metropolis, and to solicit their
assistance in carrying out the charitable and benevolent objects
of this Association ; and your Committee have great pleasure
in stating that, with one solitary exception, they have not met
with one direct refusal. Soma have subscribed cheerfully and
liberally, and from the rest (with the single exception alluded
to) they have received promises of future assistance. In ad-
dition to the munificent annual subscription of Murdo Young,
Esq., the Proprietor of The Sun, your Committee have re•
ceived from the Proprietors of the Morning Post a donation
of 10/. Ios., and a subscription of 2/. 2s. a-year, from the
Proprietors of the Standard a donation of 101. 103., of the
Courier 51. 5s , and of the Weekly Dispatch 51. ss. ; and
from the Crown 11. Is. ; from the Proprietors of the Sunday
Times an annual subscription of 51. ; from the Age 11. Is. ;
from the Mirror IL Is. ; and from Dr. Lardner, the Proprie-
tor of the Monthly Chronicle magazine, an at.nual subscription
of Si. ss. ; and your Committee confidently hope that the rest
of the Metropolitan Press will follow such a laudable example.
" In conclusion, your Committee have again to congratu-
late the Asociation on its success, and on both branches of the

trade (the coffee and eating-house.keepers) being now conso-
lidated and wo: king together with zeal and perseverance in
this (the holiest of all objects) charity and benevolence."
Mr. MARSHALL, ill moving that the report should be re-
ceived, expressed his sorrow to find that a Newspaper, from
which they had every thing to expect, had declined to come
forward to support their interests. He alluded to the Morn-
ing Chronicle. Same of the other Newspaper proprietors had
come forward most handsomely, especially Mr. Young, the
proprietor of The Sun—(Cheers)---to whom the Society
owed a debt of gratitude it could never repay.—( Cheers. )
He trusted the Society would support those Newspapers which
upheld them ; but at the same time they must look to them-
selves, and not depend too much upon the exertions of the
Press. Union was strength, and it only wanted strenuous
exertions to mike their Society second to none in Europe.
Mr. HARE, in seconding the motion for receiving the Re-
port, observed they must not rely too much on the Press,
their own exertions were what they should look to, and he
was sorry to say the trade had not exerted themselves as they
ought to have done. District Committees ought to be formed
in every part of the metropolis. It was true that some por-
tions of the Press had supported them most liberally, and they
were specially bound to express their gratitude to Mr. Young,
the proprietor of The Sun, for his munificent annual dona-
tion—(Great cheering)—and he trusted that so excellent an
example would be generally followed.--( Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN, in putting the report to the approval of the
meeting, was sorry to say that some portion of the Press had
not come forward on their behalf in a manner that they had
a right to expect. They were indebted beyond expression to
that Potentate of the Press, Mr. Young—(Great cheering)
—whose princely donation he trusted would be responded to
by the Society in a manner that it deserved.—( Cheers.) He
was delighted to see that gentleman among them that night,
and he had no doubt the trade would evince their sense of his
generous conduct, and the value of his exertions in their be-
half, by supporting him in a manner of which he was worthy.
He believed that that gentleman had already met with a
proof of the estimate in which the Coffee-house Keepers held
him, and his hupe was, that by their exertions the circulation
of his Newspaper would be increased to double its present ex-
tent, large as it was.—(Cheers.)
The report was then received.
The CHAIRMAN said he had now to acknowledge the very
handsome donation of 100 guineas from Murdo Young, Esq.,
the proprietor of The Sun..—( Excessive cheering.)
. .

Mr. YOUNG rose, amid loud cheers, to return thanks for the
kind approbation he had received. He begged the meeting to
recollect that in supporting them he was only supporting
himself. He was afraid they had laid too much stress upon
what the Press could dO for them.—(Cheers.) They must
depend chiefly on their own exertions. They were themselves
their best friends, if they only preserved union.--(Cheers.)
The Press could do much for them, but they could do more
for. themselves.—(Cheers ) District Committees should be
appointed to carry out the excellent objects they had in view ;
and those who accomplished most in a district should have
some honorary reward, in order to stimulate them to further
exertions.—(Cheers.) The more they exerted themselves,
the more independent of the Press they would become.—
( Cheers. ) Ile felt most grateful to them for their promise
to raise him to a height to which no Journal had hitherto
attained ; but ha hoped they would not raise him up too high,
because, should he fall, great would be the fall thereof.—
( Cheers and laughter.) He was glad that their steam-boat
excursions and their balls had been attended with success.—.

(Cheers.) He truved that their balls every year would in-
crease, as the ball of snow.--(Cheers.) In conclusion, he
would only say, that if they ever found The Sun not answer-
ing their expectations, let them turn it out —( Cheers.) He
wished to be tiled by his merits, and those alone.—( Cheers. )
The CHAIRMAN said he had now to acknowledge one year's
subscription from the proprietors of the Operat:ve Newspaper,
together with a donation of 200 shares of ss. each in that
undertaking.
Mr. BINMIRE proposed a vote of thanks to Murdo Young,
Esq., and that part of the Press who had supported their
Institution.
Mr BaowNLow seconded the motion.
Mr. MARSIIALL observed ihat he had waited on the Morning
Advertiser, and he felt no doubt that ultimately they would
get an excellent subscription from that establishment.
The CHAIRMAN could not but admit that the advice given
them by Mr. Young, to look to themselves, was excellent in
itself; but he could not agree with him, that it was not neces-
sary to look to the Press for support. The excellent manner
in which The Sun was conducted compelled him, week after
week and month after month,to look to it for support. ( Cheers. )
And such was the avidity of his readers to obtain a sight
of it, that he was frequently obliged to have additional copies,
especially for his London readers. Between 400 and 500
persons came to his house every week, and three-fourths of
that number were readers of The Sun. The Chairman then
put the resolution to the meeting, and declared it to be car-
ried unanimously.
Mr. YOUNG returred thanks. He was sorry to hear that
any portion of the Press was obnoxious to them. He could
not but think there must be some mistake. Perhaps the de-
putation had called on a rainy day or before dinner.—( Laugh-
ter.) He would advise them to call again when the sun was
shining brighter and the days were longer, and he had no
doubt they would then either have a double sheet or a large
donation. —( Great laughter. )
The CHAIRMAN said that he believed they had now got
through the whole of the business connected with the Asso-
ciation ; but before he left his post of honour there was
one subject he wished to mention. There had been such
great success at ending their annual dinners, that they con-
templated having another in the ensuing March, and he would
then be happy to receive the names of any gentlemen who
would volunteer to act in the capacity of stewards upon the
occasion.
Upon the motion of Mr. MARSHALL a vote of thanks was
passed to the Chairman with acclamation.
The CHAIRMAN felt grateful for that mark of their confi-
dence. He could only thank them and assure them that when
his humble abilities could serve the interests of the Society in

any way, they might command him.
The business of the Society having been finished, the
Meeting resolved itsclt into one to take into consideration the
oppressive nature of the Corn-laws,
Mr. HUMPHREY was again unanimously called upon to pre-
side. He claimed their indulgence because he was not accus-
tomed to preside at such respectable large public meetings.
The question they had now to consider, however, was one of
importance to all, and no time could be better than that to em-
bark in so good a cause. The object they had particularly in
view was to agree to a petition to the Legislature, for the
total and unconditional repeal of the Corn-laws.—(Cheers.)
Every member of their trade must be aware of how heavily
those laws were now pressing upon themselves, but, unfortu-
nately, they were also acquainted with the cruel manner in
which they pressed upon the poor. Some resolutions had
been prepared ; they would be submitted to the meeting, and
he hoped agreed to.
Mr. HARE was suddenly called upon to move the first reso-
lution, but he fe.t less diaience in doing so, because he was
quite aware that all who heard him felt the oppression of the
Corn-laws. The resolution be held in his hand was to the
effect that those laws proved a heavy burden upon all, but
more especially upon coffee-house and eating house keepers.
The resolution spoke only a melancholy truth. Those laws
did oppress them, for it mattered not to them whether the
loaf was 'lid. or Is. ; they were obliged to give the same
cuts. It most certainly might never to be higher than
for the comfort of the poorer classes and the wel-
fare of the country. The Corn-laws benefitted only a
few ; they did not benefit the cultivator of the soil—
they merely benefitted a few large landowners. The cul-
tivator benefitted nothing from them—the farmer was poor when

the corn was high, and he was poor when it was low, for the
landlord regulated his rent accordingly. When he stated that,
in his little business, it made a difference to him of 44/. a year,
when he bought the loaf at Bd., and when he bought it at a
shilling, it was time for him to look around for a cause. The
taker could and did regulate the price of bread according to
the !mice he bad to pay for his flour, but those in his trade
could not regulate their charges according to those of the
baker. He, however, would put the question upon the broad
principle of oppression to the poor.—(Applause.) He bad
been opposed to the question being brought forward as one of
oppression to their trade, but the Committee thought other-
wise, and he agreed with them. He agreed in every word of the
resolution undoubtedly, but it was a question which peculiarly
afrected the poor man, who had to work hard for his paltry
wages of eight or nine shillings a week. The question to him,
what was the price of flour, was indeed a momentous one.
His existence almost depends upon bread. His firm con-
viction was that the price of labour would always be regulated
by the demand, and he felt equally persuaded that if the
Corn_law continued to exist in this country, the manufacturing
interest would be deeply depressed, because it would be im-
possible for us to contend with other countries. Foreigners
were now fast getting our machinery, and were even now able
to compete with us in many things. Unless the present
struggle were successful, it would be found out too late that
England was no longer what she used to be and ought to
be. However, when he looked into the columns of The
Sun, and saw the reports of meetings from Manchester,
Liverpool, and every other great town in the kingdom ;
when he saw them subscribing their 1,000/. each ; when
he saw them raise from 4,0001. to 5,000/. in one day, he had
great hopes of success. The question was not now a political
one,',but it would soon become so ; and if the Ministers were in
their places three months hence, it would be the duty of the
people to support them, by petitioning for the total and abso-
lute repeal of the Corn-laws. He had much pleasure in
moving the resolution, and hoped it would meet with their
sanction and approval.
Mr. DEACON seconded the motion. He would not enter
into the question of whether it was better for the trade to pe-
litton as a trade, or to join the Society for the Abolition of the
Corn-laws ; but it is quite clear that, whatever they did, they
must not be quiet upon the question.—( Cheers.) The repeal
of the Corn-laws would not benefit them alone, but all classes
of the community. The country could not now exist as a manu-
facturing one, without the repeal of those laws. All would
be benefited by it, even the great landowners themselves.
He cordially seconded the motion, which was put and carried
unanimously.
Mr. PAURMERE said he was not in the habit of addressing
assemblies of his fellow-tradesmen, but it was with satisfaction
that he rose to move that the meeting entirely attributed the
present high price of bread, and the consequent misery and
starvation arising therefrom amongst the poorer classes, to the
unjust and oppressive operation of the Corn-laws. He consi-
dered there could be no difference of opinion upon the point,
especially in their trade there could not be a dissentient voice.
Every one must agree that the misery and starvation of the
poor arose from the high price of bread. He approved
of the trade making an appeal to Parliament, for
the total repeal of such obnoxious and oppressive
laws—for no one knew their oppression better. A total
repeal—no modification—was the only thing which would
do good for the country. It was impossible for the landowners
to stand against the tide of public opinion which was now set-
ting in against them Either the Ministry must be compelled:to
bring in an efficient measure of relief, or the voice of the
country would compel them to retire for another Ministry,
whom the people would press to give a total repeal of the
Bread Tax.

Mr. MARSHALL seconded the motion. The high price of
bread was a severe loSe, not only them but to their customers,
who found the penny loaf much reduced in size. The cus-
tomers were dissatisfied with the small quantity they got for
their money, and they (the coffee-house keepers) had good
reason to be dissatisfied with their small profits.
The CHAIRMAN-The oppression of the Corn-laws was
proved by its making very diffident tradesmen eloquent in
their denunciation. In their trade they had the most appal-
ling effects of the incubus which pressed upon the country.
They were stewards, as it were, of these laws, and they were
daily in the way of seeing the grinding nature of them. It
was evident that the labourer was not able to wovide for his
wife and family from his wages at the present high prices, not
only of the staple article of food, but of every thing else. It
was, indeed, appalling to hear the bitter complaints of the
poor. He had been in the country lately, not more than 20
miles from London, and observing the starving condition of
the children of the labourers, he asked the wife of an opulent
farmer, and she assured him that the labourer was not able
to give his family meat ten times out of the 365 days—
they were unable now even to make their flour dumplings as
they used to do, and as a substitute they were obliged to put up
with occasionally a something made out of Swedish turnips,
which were left out in the fields for the cattle. These laws
also operated equally against the interests of the inhabitants of
foreign nations. Such immense consumers of corn es me
were, they were nut allowed to supply us out of their abun-
dance ; the consequence was, that they now grew no more than
was sufficient for themselves, as it would not repay them for
the outlay of their capital to wait till we were in a starving
state. They had found the price of bread rise most unnaturally,
and in consequence of the demand the prices rose unna-
turally in foreign countries also. The beneficial operation of
the laws was confined to raising an enormous rental for a few
large landowners. In taking up The Sun he saw the manner
in which it was spent—there was the Duke of Bueeleugh at
Florence, my Lord Marquis at Rome, and the N tble Earl at
Naples. The immense majority of our nobility and land-
owners were spending their money abroad, %%hie+ money was
wrung out of the bones and sinews of the poor labourer who
was starving, with perhaps seven or eight children, upon is.
a-week. It was worse than slavery, for the slave when he
existed, was well fed. The poor in this country are, in fact,
slaves, and are starved into the bargain. The abolition of the
Corn-laws would not only lcwer the price of bread, but of
every other article of food, which would reduce tha price of
labour to that of foreign nations, and so allow us to be, as we
had been, a great manufac.uring and happy nation.—( Hear,
hear, hear.) It was in consequence of the immense manu-
facturing population of the country that the heavy taxa-
tion had been paid. His attention had been particularly at-
tracted to the question by the alarming statements which he
had read in The Sun as being made by the Manchester ma-
nufacturers. When it, was found that the orders for cutlery
from our Indian possessions, in place of being sent to Shef-
field as before, now found their way to Belgium or Saxony
—when they found that in the article of stockings. in place of
sending large quantities to Saxony, we imported them, and
they wete sold in our markets 20 per cent. under our own
manufacturers—surely when these things came before them,
it was time that something should be done to raise England to
its old standing. That could only be done by the entire abo-
lition of the Corn-laws, which he trusted he would soon see.
—(Cheers.)
The resolution was then put and passed unanimously.
Mr. TUCKETT moved the following resolution :—" That
this meeting are of opinion that those unjust and oppressive
laws should be immediately and entirely repealed. The Corn-
laws had placed the country in a most desperate state, and it
was only by their repeal that a sufficient stock of corn could be
kept in the country to supply its wants."
Mr. OSMOND seconded the resolution. He differed from
Mr. Hire in thinking that the Society ought not to petition
in a body. The Members of the Association were very much
oppresse 1 by the law, and he therefore could not see why they
should not petition in a body. Every town and every trade
had taken up the question, and he thought the time was not
far d,stant when every individual would do it.—( Cheers. )
Mr. HARE said that he had originally differed from the
Committee, but lie now agreed with them.
The resolution waa carried unanimously.
Mr. 13esmoits moved--" That a petition founded on the
foregoing resolution should be prepared and presented to both
Houses of Parliament. He hoped that in the present in-
stance the signatures to the petition would be numerous in the
extreme. The Coffee and Eating-house Keepers were, in his
opinion, the real retailers of bread. Mr. Hare had said that
they should support the Government upon this question. Now
he was not prepared to say that the Government would take
the question under its consideration. It was true he bad heard
that Lord John Russell intended to put a standing duty of los.
per quarter on foteign corn ; if he did, in his opinion, the
sooner Lord John Russell was got rid of the better.—( Great
cheering.) If such a duty was to be put on foreign corn,
how, he would ask, was it to be paid. The fact was, that
foreigners could not grow corn on the Continent, and sell it a
much less price than they could in this country. The Coffee
and Eating-house Keepers had suffered more from the Corn-
laws than any other body ,of men in the metropolis. It was
true that the penny loaf made no difference to the Coffee-house
was lid., while four years ago it was only 6d., and the
Keepers, but the quartern loaf did. The quartern loaf now
consequence was, that they were obliged to sharpen their
knives a little more, ill order to cut their slices a little thinner.
—(Cheers.) Where the Coffee and Eating-house Keepers
lost 1001. by the rise .in bread, he was sorry to say the con-
sumers lost upwards of 2001.--( Cheers.) And the conse-
quence was, they were obliged to send their customers away
with half a meal. The effect of- the rise in corn produced a
corresponding rise in every article of life, and the labouring
man in the country could hardly live. He understood in De-
vonshire that beasts were hardly to be got for money ; and he
bad heard it remarked among the farmers there, that they did
nut know how they would be enabled to stock their farms
next Spring. Beasts were so dear that they would not be able
to purchase them, and if they could not stock their farms, how,
he would ask, were they to pay their rents ?—( Cheers.) The
high price of grant prevented the tillage of the earth, because
when the rents were paid the farmers had no money to purchase
seed or to expend in
cultivation.—( Cheers.) Then came the
question how was the money to be obtained for that purpose ?
Why, it could only be got by selling their beasts. Conse-
quently, the supOlY became short and the prices high.—
( Cheers.) If they bad no Corn-laws, they would have a suf-
ficient supply from foreign ports. He trusted that every one
would exert themselves to get rid of such obnoxious laws,
which had been made only for the benefit of a few of the great
landowners—( Shame)—of which the present Liberal Adminis-
tration, as it was called, formed no inconsiderable part.—
( Laughter.) He trusted if the Ministers proposed a standing
duty of 103. on foreign corn that every exertion would be
mede by the people to do away with such a duty altogether, or
throw out the Ministers altogether.—(Great cheering.) Only
b t them have free trade in corn, and the country would
fleur'sb.—( Cheers. )
Mr. Ateems seconded the resolution, which was carried
unanimously.
Mr. FoßnEs—lt was not to be expected that a body of
harleotking tradesmen could enter into the mirutim of the
manner in which these Corn-laws operated upon all the great
interests of the country. They were perfectly well aware that
they pressed very heavily upon them, their customers, and the
mass of the communit; at large. Their duty was to show