The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-25 00:00:00

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meeting, but was thankful to the worthy Chairman for the in-
terruptioe. Ile would then defer what he had to say until the
evening, and concluded by seconding the resolution.
Colonel THOMPSON would take the liberty of suggesting an
idea, which he did not flatter himself would be adopted, but
really if it were left to his decision he should openly vote for
demanding something like compensation in the shape of a
bounty en the importation of foreign corn for a term of
years. No man ever got all he asked for, therefore he would
ring that principle in their ears for the sake of demanding of
them a statement of the principles on which they opposed it.
If any gentleman in Manchester thought that principle was
just, and is aintainable, perhaps, he would give him the advantage
of his local support.-4 Hear.) He wished every exertion to
be made to enforce the right—he called it a right, the con-
stitutional right—of having observations made on their
petitions in Parliament.—( Cheers.) A severer infringement
on all that Englishmen have considered their rights was never
made.—( Hear, hear.) When he had the honour of a scat in
the House of Commons he took the pains to inquire the origin
of this suppression of the right of petitioning, and he was in-
formed it had been arranged after midnight—but nobody
knew by whom or when—that no further debate should take
place on petitions.—( Laughter.) He once heard the Hon.
Member for Middlesex (Mr. Htime) stopped, because he
wanted to read a statement of the number of places from
which he had petitions to present, and he was told he must
"bring them up."—( Laughter.) It would not be diffi-
cult for a small number of resolute Members to put
down this system.—( Hear, hear, hear.) He once took the
liberty of telling the Speaker that he thought two minutes
was a long time to speak on a petition, and the Speaker took
that as an intimation that he did not intend to speak for two
minutes ; so that he was always successful in saying something
bitter on the petitions, and had the satisfaction of seeing it in
the Newspaper the next day.—(Hear, hear, and laughter. )
Was there any assistance which he, not being a Member of the
House of Commons, could render to the objects of the
Association ? Perhaps- it" was a wild imagination, but
it had often occurred to him, that he could af-
ford that assistance which an Attorney afforded to a Coun-
sel in getting up his brief.—(A laugh.) If lie could
render any assistance, his time and attention were completely
at their service..--( Cheers.) He had a son who was a bar-
rister (he would not go the length of saying he was a learned
man), but he could assure them the services of both were en-
tirely at their command. He had received a letter from the
Secretary of the Anti-Corn-law Association in London, and
he ought to make some apology for the very little success
that had attended their exertions in London. The fact was
they were nobody, for they were not more than half-a-dozen
—( Laughter)—but they were zealous in the cause.—(l-Tear,
hear.) The Secretary in his letter stated that—
"At a. meeting of y the Committee this evening, it was
suggested that I should write to you, to request you to make
offer of the services of the Association during the approach-
ing Session, to the delegates of the different local Anti- Corn-
law Societies whom you may meet at Manchester.
" It was also determined—that I should address al lthe Pro-
vincial Associatiors already formed, requesting an account of
their proceedings, as a first step to the opening a constant
communication with them, if fcund to be hereafter deli..
rable."—( Hear, bear.)
Silver and gold they had none, but if the apartments they held
in London would be at all convenient to the delegates they
were welcome to make what use they pleased of them.—
( Cheers.)

The Hon. ERSKINE MURRAY merely rose to make a few ob-
servations with regard to this resolution, and to inform the
meeting of the course which the people of Edinburgh had
pursued with regard to these laws. There was no Anti.Corn-
law Association in Edinburgh, but, owing to the proceedings
in the Manchester Chamber of Commerce on a late occasion
the feelings of the people of Edinburgh had been roused to no
ordinary degree from the facts stated on that occasion—
( Hear, hear)—although they only commenced their proceed.
ings on Thursday last, they held a meeting on Monday, at
which 2,000 inhabitants of Edinburgh attended, and at that
meeting they did not compromise the question. They did
not advocate a fixed duty, but they advocated the total and
immediate repeal of the Corn-laws.—(Cheers.) He stood
there interested not so much as a manufacturer as an agricul-
turist, and perhaps in the course of the evening, if there was
time, he would take the liberty of stating what were the sen-
timents of the Scotch agriculturists with regard to the work-
ing of those laws.—( Hear, hear.) If intelligent witnesses
were necessary in defence of their arguments, he would be
able to muster a sufficient body;of intelligent Scotch agricultu-
rists to prove the iniquity of those laws.—( Hear, hear.) They
had as yet had no time to form an Association, for on Monday
night he had barely time after the meeting to get into the mail
for Manchester. On his return he should express to the in-
habitants of Edinburgh the great and beneficial effects which,
in his opinion, the meetings in Manchester would have gene-
rally throughout the country.
The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution, which was carried
unanimously.
Mr. Gara said the observations many gentlemen present
had to make were extremely important, and it would not be
fair to suppress all discus,ion, which was of very great value
at the present moment. He thought some latitude ought to
he allowed to the deputies in commenting upon the resolutions
before them.

Mr. Wm.rustAv, of Liverpool, stated that the resolutions
carried at the meeting lately held there, were carried by a ma-
jority of fifty to one.—(Cheers.) The amendment proposed,
which required a sort of compromise, was negatived by an
overwhelming majority. The Association had been formed,
sod he could promise them the hearty co-operation of that
body. Ile believed there was not the same unanimity on the
subject in Liverpool as in Glasgow. In the former place it
hail unfortunately been made a party question ; but he had no
doubt that their petition would be most numerously and re-
spectably signed.--(Hear, and cheers.) Mr. W. concluded
by moving the second resolution, which was as follows :
" That, in order to secure unity and efficiency of action,
this meeting recommends that a Central Board of Delegates
be appointed by the several Corn-law Associations of the
kingdom, to assemble in London at the opening of Parlia-
ment, to whom shall be entrusted, amongst other business, the
duty of obtaining the services of such Members as may be in-
clined to urge'their cause with efficiency in Parliament; and,
in the meantime, this:meeting impresses upon all those local
bodies the necessity of immediately collecting and arranging
their evidence, and placing it at the disposal of the Central
Board. Those manufacturing and commercial towns not
already possessing such societies, are earnestly recommended
to form Anti-:Corn- Law Associations; and in case they re-
quire information or advice, they are invited to put themselves
immediately in correspondence with the Manchester Associa-
tion, whose fundamental rule, prohibiting, the discussion of any
party or political topics, is especially recommended for the
adoption of all similar bodies elsewhere."

The MAYOR of LEEDS seconded the resolution. The people
of Leeds had not been backward in the good cause, A public
meeting, at which about 8,000 people attended, had been
held there on Tuesday week, and the petition, which was
almost unanimously carried, had received upu ards of 15,000
signatures.— Loud cheers.) At that meeting the Chartists
had attempted an amendment, but had utterly failed. It
would be seen from that that the town of Leeds had done its
duty. —( Applause. )

Mr. BOLTON, of Liverpool, said with respect to the sug-
gestion of seeking redress for past grievances, put forth by
Colonel Thompson, that the meeting would, he thought, be
happy to agree with him in granting a bill of indemnity for the
past. Mr. Bolton then alluded to the opposition the advo-
cates of the reneal of the Corn-laws had experienced from the
old Tory Corporation of Liverpool, but they would take
care to instruct their representatives, Lord Sandon and Mr.
Creswell, as to the necessity of not having their petitions
thrust into the bag, but that they should be properly discussed
in the House of Commons.—( Hear, hear.)
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.
Mr. WALKER, of Wolverhampton, wished to offer a few re-
marks, as he would not have an opportunity of meeting them
this evening. In his district they were peculiarly circum-
stanced, and it might be supposed favoured, for they bad the
raw material of iron and coal under their feet, and if it was
shown that with such advantages other nations had successfully
competed with them in their manufactures, the fact would be
of some importance.—( Hear, hear.) He (Mr. W.) was a
wholesale ironmonger, purchasing from the manufacturer, and
selling to the consumers in England, and in foreign countries,
particularly South America and the United States. He had
upon his books large orders for hardware, but he could not
execute them, because he was undersold by the Belgians and
Prussians.—( Hear, hear.) Six or eight mouths ago he had
exported goods to Rio, he had orders from the same quar-
ter, for similar descriptions of goods, but a week ago he
had received a letter, desiring him not to execute these orders,
because the previous goods could not be sold without a loss,
and the reason was, that owing to a little buoyancy ;n
the trade at home they bad been compelled to pay about I2f
per cent. advance upon what they had previously paid. The
fact was, that when the price of goods was advanced the price
of labour was advanced in England. The competition of the
foreigner was such that the goods could not then be sold with-
out loss. It struck him that that fact was a conclusive an-
swer to those who said that the repeal of the Corn-laws was
equivalent to a reduction of the wages of labour; the fact
was, that the wages of labour had nothing to do with the
Corn-laws. In the present case he could not execute the orders
until the wages of the labourer had dropped so as to enable
him to go into the foreign market.—( Hear, hear.) He had
received a letter from a gentleman who had resided for some
time at Rio, and had recently arrived from thence, which he
would take the liberty of reading to the meeting.—(Mr.
Walker then read the following letter) :
" Having resided in Rio de Janeiro, and been engaged in
business there since the year 1810, and for the last seventeen
years having been more particularly interested in the sale of
hardware, I can of my own knowledge state that the compe-
tition of foreign nations—especially as regards hardware, of
the Germans and Belgians—is rspidly increasing in a great
variety of articles, a list of which I annex. In some of them,
to which machinery cannot be applied in those manufactures,
and the cost of which, consequently, in a great measure con.
sists in the price of labour, we are already driven out of the