The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-06 00:00:00

REPORT.

The Delegates appointed from the principal towns of
the empire, to endeavour to procure the total and im-
mediate repeal of the Corn and Provision-laws, think
it their duty, before they separate, to make public an
account of their past proceedings, and to announce the
course they intend in future to pursue.
Roused by the dangers impending over their inte-
rests, the manufacturing and commericial bodies had
prepared evidence to prove the ruinous tendencies and
results of the Corn and Provision-laws, and they
presented petitions, signed by upwards of 400,000
persons, to the House of Commons, praying to be
heard at the bar of that House. They were prepared
to prove that not only had they been supplanted by
foreign competition in certain neutral markets, but
that proofs of the successful rivalry of other nations had
been brought home to their own doors ; they were
ready to show that their manufactures were excluded
from the most extensive markets of Europe, because
they were prevented from taking in exchange the staple
products of those countries ; they were prepared to
prove that their skilled artisans were seeking employ-
ment in other countries, whilst the hand-loom weavers
and the labourers were suffering from want of employ-
ment at home; and they offered to show that the em-
ployer himself was carrying his capital and skill
to more profitable fields of enterprise. The petitioners
were prepared to prove these facts, and to declare upon
oath, at the bar of Parliament, their unanimous belief
that the Corn and Provision-laws were the great cause
of their manifold evils. Their reasonable prayer to
be heard was nevertheless rejected by a very large
majority.

Again, an appeal was made th the justice and wisdom
of Parliament to take the subject of the Corn and Pro-
sion-laws into consideration. The merits of the case
were ably explained by Mr. Villiers ; and those who
supported his motion, which was brought forward inde-
pendently of the Delegates, did not propose total and
immediate repeal, nor did it go for a moderate fixed
duty ; it merely asked the House of Commons to con-
sider the question of the Corn-laws ; but even this ap-
peal was rejected.
Among those representatives of the people who voted
against the entertaining of a question which involved the
well-being of the industrious population of the empire,
were many who had previously been believed to be the
decided advocates of popular rights. Henceforth,
whatever their political opinions may professedly be, it
is hoped that the electors will, in the exercise of their
constitutional powers, refuse their support to all those
candidates for Parliamentary honours, who withhold
from the people their right of exchanging the products
of their labour for the food and productions of other
countries.

Confident in the righteousness and ultimate success
of their cause, conscious of the vital importance of the
object they have in view, and of the great public in-
terest felt by this and every commercial country in the
struggle—and solemnly convinced that upon their suc-
cess it depends whether an increasing population shall
find employment and the means of comfortable subsist-
ence the Delegates turn undismayed from a tribunal
which has not only refused to redress their wrongs, but
has decided against even listening to their prayers ; and
they appeal to their fellow-countrymen.
With 4 view to the further prosecution of the arduous
struggle, the Delegates recommend the adoption of the
following measures, and they pledge themselves to use
their best exertions in their several towns and districts
to carry them into the fullest effect.
1. The formation of a permanent union to be called
the Anti-Corn-law League, composed of all the towns
and districts represented in the Delegation, and as many
others as may be induced to form Anti-Corn-law Asso-
ciations, and to join the League.
2. Delegates from the different local Associations to
meet for business from time to time, at the principal
towns represented.

3. With a view to secure unity of action the Central
Office of the League shall be established in Manchester ;
to which body shall be intrusted, among other duties,
that of engaging and recommending competent lecturers
—the obtaining the co-operation of the public press—
and the establishing and conducting of a stamped cir-
cular, for the purpose of keeping up a constant corres-
pondence with the local Associations.
The Delegations have remarked that efforts have not
been spared to make the repeal of the Corn-laws appear
to be a question exclusively affecting the interests of the
manufacturing and trading bodies, whereas they are
merely the factors and agents to the community at large;
whilst it is upon the consumers of food, whether they
be labourers, farmers, shopkeepers, or annuitants, that
the whole weight of the taxes ultimately fall.
Convinced that the great body of the agriculturists
have suffered as great moral and pecuniary injuries from
the Corn-laws as any other class, and that the support
hitherto given to those laws by the farmers and cultiva-
tors, is owing solely to mistaken views of their operation
upon their own particular interest, the Delegates recom-
mend that the kingdom be divided into circuits, and
that to each of them one or more competent lecturers
be appointed to carry, if possible, into every village and
hamlet, information upon this vital question.
In seeking to destroy this and every other monopoly
which prevents the free exchange of our commodities
for the productions of other countries, the Delegates
are so far from wishing to promote the interests of one
portion of the community at the expense of the rest,
that they are willing and desirous that the protection
given to home manufactures should be simultaneously
withdrawn, and that every one of their countrymen
should be at liberty to exchange the fruits of his labour
for the productions of all other countries.

The Delegates rely upon the co-operation of all just
and benevolent minds in abolishing laws which, in their
operation, violate every rule of Christian morality—laws
which intercept the free circulation of the first bounties
of Providence, intended for the benefit of all his crea-
tures—which prevent that interchange of the produc-
tions of different countries—which, of all human means,
is alone calculated to allay national prejudices, and sub-
stitutes the blessings of peace for the horrors of war, and
which tend to put an unnatural barrier against the in-
crease of our species, thereby impiously opposing the
first ordinance of our Maker.
Mr. JOHNSTONE said he was sorry that they had not
been more successful in inducing the Legislature to take
up the question of the Corn-laws, and the restrictions
upon trade generally. He was sorry to say that in the
House of Commons there was a feeling on the part of
the landlords against the manufacturers, the merchants,
and the operatives, and that they looked with contempt
on them as such. But if they ruined the exporting ma-
nufacturers, what would become of them, for many of
the comforts which they enjoyed. If their food and
their wages were not upon a level with those on the
Continent, both the manufacturers and operatives
would be ruined. He was sorry that the operatives did
not come forward in support of this question, for they
were never more mistaken than to suppose that their
interests were dissimilar. He never was more prospe-
rous than when he paid his workmen five times what he