The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-17 00:00:00

ON says, give more wages, and do not allow the manufacturers to
have cheap corn in order that they may have cheap labour,
and by their competitive system oblige us to compete with
the labouring serfs of the Continent. What sort of men
must those be who do not consider themselves to have know-
ledge and judgment sufficient to enable them to vote for their
ovt n representatives, who are to look after their interests?
One swallutv does not make a summer—nor will one meeting
repeal the Corn-laws; and if those gentlemen have the re-
spect frr your knowledge and judgment they profess to have,
they may surely entrust you with the power of choosing those
who are to govern the country —(Cries of " question.") I
shall be governed by some discretion, and I shall not go at
great length, as I might have done, had we been in a different
atmosphere, into the whole question of the abolition of the
Corn-laws. One gentleman has told you that the agricultural
and manufacturing interest must go hand in hand, and that we
must not look after a remedy for the grievances there (in the
representation we suppose) till we just see all the grievances
removed here. I heard you told of the consequences of losing
our foreign trade. When I look at some of the stupendous
factories built in the present day, and see the tracts of uncul-
tivated soil sufficient to supply both you and the agriculturists
with labour, I am not disposed to try an emigrating tour until
I see the whole of that soil entirely cultivated ; and, from my
own knowledge of agriculture, I assert, without fear of con-
tradiction, that the fair and legitimate application of labour to
all the land of this kingdom, in England, Scotland, and Ire-
land, would make us a greater exporting country than the
best foreign trade we can possess. I shall move my amend-
ment; it involves an important point, and brings you to the
test; and when your judg merit is thus appealed to, if any man has
be en told to come here, and is afraid to hold up his hand for
!he amendment, which says he possesses that knowledge
which enables him to judge for himself—if that man is afraid,
let that man turn his back, and hold up the back of his hard,
But Ido not believe there are any such here. My arneed-
merit is—" That we consider all restrictions upon the im-
portation of foreign grain as unjust in principle and injurious
in its effects; nevertheless we are of opinion that no salutary
alteration can be made in the present system until those r
whose. benefit the change is contemplated shall have a voice in
the choice of those representatives to whom shall be entrusted
the power of preventing the recurrence of so great an evil as
the present Corn-law."—(Cheers and interruption.) Now,
what will be the effect of passing this amendment? After a
six months' dalliance, during the whole of the Christmas
gambols and the whole of the recess festivities, this last meet-
ing on the Corn-laws, just before the first meeting of Parlia-
ment, when you, in thousands, arc called upon to vote your-
selves incapable of judging in the choice of representatives.—
( No, no.) I move the amendment ; it is for a test ; and if I
stand alone, having freely uttered my sentiments and opinions,
I shall hold myself justified. Gentlemen, I beg to propose
my amendment without detaining you longer; and recollect
that the effect will be that every man who does not hold up
his hand for it, will say that he is not entitled to the franchise.
—(Laughter, No, and cheers.)
Mr. Smiles, Editor of the Leeds Times, Mr. Wm. White-
head, tea-dealer, and also Mr. Joshua Bower, spoke ag dust
the amendment as out of order, all of whom urged that the
questions of the Corn-laws and the franchise were separate
and distinct, and ought not to be mixed up together in the
way proposed, the one being a question of food, and the other
of right and privilege. Mr. Bawer said he would go as far
as Mr. Feargus O'Connor in the Suffrage and Ballot, but he
would not go with him as far as physical force.---( Cheers. )
Mr. T. PLINT came forward, and was received with much
cheering. He said (holding in his hand a volume of the
" Mirror of Parliament") I hope I shall not alarm you by
opening this book—(No, no, and laughter). There
may be one gentleman present who may be a little
alarmed when he knows the nature of its contents. I un-
derstood Mr. O'Connor distinctly to say that he is op-
posed to the Corn-laws, and that he is for their entire and
total abolition. I hear no denial of that. Is there any
denial of that assertion ?—(No answer, but exclamation from
a person in the crowd of " Universal Suffrage I") I will
come to the question of the Suffrage by and by, for I shall
have a word or two to say in reference to it. We all know
that Mr. O'Connor was at one time a Member of Parliament
—why he is not now perhaps the people of Cork can give a
satisfactory answer.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) When lie
was in Parliament in 1834—(Great hissing, and cries of
" Question.") This is the question. There is a speech de-
livered by Mr. O'Connor in the House of Commons, in 1834,
on the subject of the Corn-laws, and I propose to read to you
that speech, or portions of it, from the book which I now hold
in my hands.—( Hear, hear, and hisses.)
Mr. O'CONNOR—If you read it at all, read it from top to
bottom.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. PLINT—When a gentleman comes before a meeting and
imputes wrong motives to others, charging them with advo-
cating the interests of a peculiar class, and not the general in-
terests of the people, then I say I have a right to inquire what
opinions Mr. O'Connor formerly held on this subject, and to
see how consistent he now is with himself.—( Hear, hear, and
cheers.) If Mr. O'Connor, in the course of four years, has
so completely eat his own words on this question, what will he
do on other subjects.—(Hear, hear, and great hissing, which
was kept up for a considerable time.)
The MAYOR requested order, and called upon the meeting
to exhibit the same fairness to Mr. Plint as had been shown to
Mr. O'Connor.)
Mr. ['LINT then read the whole of the speech, but with a
great many unseemly° interruptions from the physical force
men. The following are the passages which most materially
related to the question :—" It is high time that this question
which, at present, not only agitates the manufacturing and
agricultural interests of England, but also the agricultural in-
terests of Ireland, should be set at rest." " The situation of
Ireland is this :—We are a great agricultural country—
without manufactures--and we depend, as a vent for our pro-
duce, on the markets of England. If, then, you admit the
importation of foreign corn, duty free, you will throw us com-
pletely out of the English market—agriculture in Ireland
will be neglected, and not only will you sacrifice the only
interest existing in that country, but also the landed interest
of England, for the benefit of the continental growers of corn."
" It has been said that the Irish Members are unanimous in
their determination to support this measure. Sir, they are una-
nimous in their determination to oppose it. I think I speak the
sentiments of a large majority of those Members, when I
state that this agitation of the question will do consider-
able mischief in Ireland, and that the mischief will be in-
creased if a determination to put it aside for some time be not
manifested by a very large majority of this House. This is
the only question, as it appears to me, in which the interests
of the two countries are completely united and iden-
tical." " The Hon. Member for Middlesex says that this is a
question of justice against injustice—of the many against the
few ; but what is the reason that we have not heard any mani-
festation of public opinion against the alteration of the Corn-
laws ? It is this—that while those persons who oppose the
present system reside in large towns, and are easily called
together in order to express their wishes to this House, the
great agricultural population, who are interested in the con-
tinuance of the system, are spread thinly over the face of the
country, and have not the same facilities for meeting together
to declare their opinions upon the subject." "It is said that
the repeal of the Corn-laws will make bread cheap, without
reducing the value of the land. This is a doctrine I cannot
comprehend. If you reduce the price of produce, rent must
fall ; if you keep up the standard of rent, you cannot reduce
prices." " I rose with a determination not to mix up any extra-
neous matter with the subject of this debate. I appeal again
to the House not to allow itself to be led away by the absurdi-
ties or the assertions of the Hon. Member for Middlesex.
Without troubling the House any further, I conclude by im-
ploring the Members from Ireland to consider this as a neutral
question—threatening in its consequences, if carried, the an-
nihilation of the liberty, rights, and protection of the poor man
—and unanimously to resist the motion."
Mr. PLINT—Here is a man who now assents to the propo•
sition that there should be an unrestricted. free, and uninter-
rupted interchange in all commodities between all nations ;
and yet, four years ago, he maintained that such a principle
would tend to the ruin of the country.—( Great disapprobation
and cries of " Old Turncoat.")

Mr. O'CONNOR—You have not read the speech consecu-
vely.—( Hisses.)
Mr. PLINT—I assert most positively that I have read the
speech exactly as it isprinted.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. O'CoNNoa—l beg pardon ; I thought you had not.
(Much hissing.) lam much obliged to you for reading my
speech.
Mr. PLINT—In the course of the debate in the House of
Commons, at the period to which I have referred, Mr. O'Con-
nor there refused to mix up with the consideration of the ques-
tion anything which was perfectly and entirely extraneous.—
( Hear, and an exclamation from a man in the crowd, " We've
nothing to do with Mr. O'Connor's inconsistency here," fol-
lowed by great laughter.) What I have you nothing to do
with his inconsistency ?—( Hear.) I should like to know what
is the best criterion to judge of a man but his past actions. You
sly we have nothing to do with his opinions—(" No, we hav'nt.")
You have everything to do with them in his public character,
and if his past and present opinions do not correspond, and he
is unable to give you a full and satisfactory explanation for
the difference, what confidence can you have in such a man ?
—( Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, there is nothing so unpleasant
to me as a public man as to indulge in anything like personal
altercation. lam ready to grapple with au argument if it be
presented to me, but with abuse and vituperation I will have
nothing to do.—(Hear, hear.) There arc one or two argu-
ments which Mr. O'Connor has brought forward, that I shall
shortly notice. And ullovf 'me to say, that his declaration of
agreement with the resolution which has been proposed, and
the arguments he has offered to the meeting, are altogether
inconsistent.—( Hear, hear.) For, what did be say ? He
admitted the right of the people of this country to a free
interchange with the inhabitants of all other nations ; but
before he will establish the principle, he advises you to cul-
tivate your own soils.—( Laughter, and cries of "It won't
do, Paddy.")
Mr. O'CONNOR—I recommend the people to diminish the
taxation.— (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Mr. PLINT—The taxes have nothing to do with the value
of land.--( Hear, hear, and cries of " They have everything
to do with it.") I maintain, gentlemen, that if you have a
free trade with all nations, thereby having the fullest scope
for the employment of capital, causing an increase of labour,
the working classes will be infinitely better enabled to pay
the taxation of the country than they are now. —(Hear, hear.)
That is the precise argument, and not the general reduction
of taxes, mixed up with the price of agricultural produce.
—( Hear, hear.) What is Mr. O'Connor's argument? He
calls upon you to cultivate bad land, which no farmer thinks it
worth while to bestow either labour or capital upon, and thus
he would give you bad corn, instead of allowing you to receive
better and cheaper corn from the Continent.—(Loud cheers. )
Gentlemen, there has been something said respecting the ob
ject of the meeting, and an insinuation has been thrown out
that it is not intended to ask for the total abolition of the
Corn-laws. I tell you that the prayer of the petition, if you