The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-07 00:00:00

THE SUN, LO

CORN LAWS.

MEETING OF DELEGATES.
A meeting of the General Committee of Anti.Cosn.law Delegates
took place at three o'clock yesterday afternoon at Brown's Hotel.'
Among the gentlemen present were—Mr, Villiers, M.P., Mr. Den.
aistoun, M.P., Dr. Bowring, Mr. Ewart, Sir W. Molesworth, M.P.,
Mr. Finch, M.P., Mr. Baines, M.P., Mr. Thornley, M.P., Mr. Mark
Phillips, M.P., Mr. Horsman, M.P., and Mr. Ainsworth, M.P.

B. SMITH, Esq., in the Chair.
Dr. Bowatrre, as the Chairman of the Nvidenee Committee,
wished to state to the General Committee what they had done
singe their last meeting. The first resolutien they came to
was, that the Resolution adopted by the General Committee
should be circulated throughout the commercial community, and
that they should be invited to cooperate with the Delegates, and
petition for the total and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws.—(Hear.)
The next topic that came under their consideration respected the
questions that should be circulated throughout. the country,
for the purpose of obtaining the information necessary for the ad-
vancement of their objects.—(Hear.) At the meeting of the Sub-
Committee many opinions were elicited, and a number of topics
were agreed to by them. They had been instructed to embody
those topics in a circular which, would be read to-morrow, and
which it was proposed should be sent throughout the different
agricultural and manufacturing districts of the country. A els-
cussion also took place as to the appointment of a P.arliamentary
agent, and it was thought necessary that gentlemen should have an
opportunity of communicating with Mr. Joseph Parkes, and the
Evidence Committee had nominated Mr. Parkes as their Par.
liamentary Agent —(Heer, hear.) They had also nominated
Mr. Charles Austin as their leading Parliamentary Counsel, and Mr.
Rushton as their junior Parliamentary Counsel.—(Hear, hear.)
'I he CHAIRMAN stated that he had received a letter from Derby
with a copy of • petition agreed to a public meeting of the inhabi-
tants of that place, convened by the Mayor, " praying that
they might be heard by Counsel and evidence at the bar
of the House of Commons, with a view to repeal all laws relating to
foreign corn and alt other articles of subsistence, and equally to carry
out to the fullest extent, both as it affects agriculture and•manufac.
tures, the wise and peaceful principles of free trade, by removing all
existing obstacles, to the unrestricted employment of capital and in-
dustry." Since they had met last he had an opportunity of hearing.
Mr. Villiers in the House of Commons give notice of emotion to draw
the attention of Parliament to the Corn-laws ; but he could not
refrain from expressing his astonishment at the speech of the se-
conder of the address, Mr. Wood, the President of the Cham-
ber of Commerce of Manchester.—( Hear, hear.) Sir Robert
Peel had ironically congratulated the Honourable gentleman on
having made out a most triumphant case against the repeal of the
Corn-laws; and he, the Chairman, was rejoiced to see Mr. Vil-
liers rise, and to hear him protest against the delusive and
fall:eious statements of the Honourable Member for Kendal.
But he should have stated the case as it was made out
at the Manchester Chamber of Commerce; he should have
stated, 'hat although the exports of the raw material had increased,
the exports of the manufactured article had diminished; he had
shown an increase in our exports on an average of the last four
years; but he should have shown with what countries this in.
crease had taken place, why it had taken place with those countries
from which we took produce in return, and to those countries which
had nothing but corn to give us in return our experts had decreased
Had Mr. Wood done his duty he would have expressed the feelings
of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, of which he is a most
unworthy representative. The next item mentioned by Mr. Wood
was the increase in the exportation of cotton yarn—thus making
out the statements of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, reps.
tive to the decrease of the exports of the manufactured article come..
quent upon the increase in the exports of the raw material. In hard.
ware and eutlerythe same process had taken place. The Hen. ccritlii,A
man had also congratulated the country on the Mere,
ea exportation
of coal. [The fact is we are exporting the
..weans of manufacturing
to other countries; the th - value of coal exported was 180,0001., of
copper, 156,0001. of tin. 'oloeks 52,0001., of tin plate 63,0001.
There had been an •
'...icrease of above fifty per cent., an increase of
180,0001.
,n the exportation of coals.l—(Hear, hear.) Altogether,
Mr.. -Wood's exhibition had been such as deserved well to be consi-
dered in Manchester.—(Near.)
Mr. GRIM observed, that as to the alleged increase in ex-
ports, that increase was but very slight, comparatively. True,
that for instance in regard to velveteens, three pounds, or
twelve yards, might be manufactured from the same loom,
and were exported, where, formerly, only one pound or four
yards were made al&exported ; but what had been the consequence?
why, the manufacturers had to destroy a large amount of capital,
and to replace it with other capital, while the quantity of machinery
and labour remains the same.—(Hear.) That such statements as Mr.
Wood had made last night should have been made without qualifica-
tion was lamentable; and if there had been an intention to damn the
Anti-Corn-law cause, it could not have been better effected.—
There had been a great diminution in the exports of the manufac-
tures in which a certain quantity of labour was employed :—even as
regarded raw calicoes, we were every'year, in India and China, losing
ground. In manufactures in which labour was the chief ingredient,
we were beaten by Saxony : in such as were chiefly composed of raw
material, America was rapidly beating us.—(Hear, hear.)
The MAYOR of STOCKPORT stated that now the French, the Ger.
mans, the Dutch, Swedes, &c., demanded the cotton to be exported
by us in warp to a great extent; and the exportation of cotton in
warp was rapidly increasing; and the foreign consumers of our
cotton, not satisfied with getting it in warp, were importing the
shuttlecops also : and then their weavers had little to do but to get
the weft, and were at work almo,t as soon as ours.—(Hear, hear).
Mr. ASHWORTH, of Bolton, said, that hitherto the President of
the Chamber of Commerce had been considered as a merchant, and
individually to be a man of business and common sense; he could
net account for any change in that opinion unless in his character of
a courtier last night he had taken leave of his senses. He had
once declared Wet he knew no reasonable cause for the present state
of the country; but when he walks forward with adulation to the
foot of the throne, heean trace it to the Bank of England. He must now
either sink in the estimation of his friends, or take a very different
course from the one he had chosen. He ( Mr. A.) had turned his attention
to the increase in the exportation of yarn and the great decrease in
the exportation of goods. The difference last year amounted to five
millions, that would otherwise have been expended in wages,
They saw gentlemen come to the House of Commons who had
a thousand men depending on them for existence, who had
hitherto not lowered their wages, although they had been two years
without profit. Machinery was annually, from Manchester and
elsewhere, exported to foreign countries, while articles are for-
warded to our market at a cheaper rate than we can fuv-
nish them. His friend (Mr. Rawson), had said that had he
sunk his machinery in the Trent, and sent his work-
men to the workhouse, he should then have been
a richer men. If this state of things continued, the ma-
naufacturer had better take a tithe of his property into a foreign land,
than continue in this country, to perish with his workmen.

Mr. RewaoN said that he gathered, from documents, that the
comparative increase in the stocking trade, between Saxony and
England was 1,500 to 10 per eent. Landowners would soon find
that the agriculturer depended on the manufacturer—not the manu-
facturer on the agriculturer.
The CH►IRMAN said that he thought fir. Wood had not spoken the
sentiments of the Chamber of Commerce. He wished it to be dis-
tinctly understood that Mr. Wood had not spoken the sentiments of
the Chamber of Commerce.—(Fleas.)
Mr. JOHNSON, of Glasgow, begged as a manufacturer to substi►n.
tiate every word that had been said, and he would follow that up by
saying, as a merchant, that, from his own experience he was
convinced the trade of the country was about to be undermined.—
(Hear, hear.) What they wished to impress on the Legislature
was, that they did not say the trade was gone, but that it was fast
going, and would soon be gone altogether unless an alteration took
place in the commercial policy of the country.—(Hear.) It was well
known, that two or three years ago, England mainly supplied all the
wants of the western world in manufactures ; she supplied the
West! Indies, America, and all the islands round the Gulf of
Mexico, but now those supplies went from the Continent.
Unless means were taken by the Legislature of the country
to reduce the cost of provisions, our manufacturing and agri-
cultural interests must decline; and if the Legislature did
not assist them they would be reduced to the necessity of forcing
down the wages of their workmen to starvation prices. The Duke
of Richmond last night said that if the Corn-laws were abolished agri_
culture would be ruined. Ile (Mr. Johnson) entertained
a very different opinion, and thought that if the Corn-
laws were repealed land would increase in value.—(Hear, hear.)
But even supposing the Duke of Richmond was right, he would ask
at whose expense was it kept from ruin ? Why, at the expense of
the operative and the poor man ; and was it right that the wealthy
part of the community should live on the spoil of the poor classes ?
—(Cheers.) Let justice be done. Let them have that which the
Delegates were ready to give them explained before the House of
Commons.— (Hear, hear.)
Mr. EIYART said he was glad that he had heard the opinions of
some gentlemen snore practically acquainted with the subject than
he was. And he congratulated the Delegates that they had come
to the conclusion that nothing should satisfy them but a demand for
inquiry at the bar of the House of Commons; and if denied it
there, at the bar of the country.—(Hear, hear.) They might;depend
upon it that they had only two means of success : one, re-
lying on themselves, and the other by appealing, not to the Members
of the House of Commons, but by waiting on Members of the
House of Commons through the country.—(Hear, hear.) Constituted
as both Houses of Parliament now were, it was impossible otherwise
to operate upon them, except through the country.—(Hear.) He
thought their resolution ought, instead of being weakened by what
had occurred yesterday, to be confirmed; and that they ought to
persevere, unhesitatingly, in the course which they had hitherto
pursued.—(hear, hear.) He confessed it was astonishing to hear
that any man, professing to be a statesman, should not have made up
his mind on this question--(Hear)—and whether that in-
dividual were Sir Robert Peel or Lord Melbourne—for whom
personally he (Mr. Ewell) had the highest respect—un-
less lie had made up his mind on this question—repeal or
no repeal—that question being a national question—a question not
of manufactures, not of agriculture, but of both combined. Such
a man might fur a short time, but he could not fitly or justly
continue to be, Prime Minister of England.—(Loud cries of
"Hear, hear.") He said this not in a spirit of unkindness;
if he followed the dictates of his personal feeling, he should
suppress words frankly and honestly, but not adversely spoken.
But it was his conviction, as an Englishman, that unless this
question was considered by the statesmen of this country, and de-
cided by them, none of them could long aspire, for any length of
time, to be the Ministers of a land whose interests they proved they
did not understand.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. WISH said he must advert to what might be termed the use
of poisoned weapons against the opponents of the Corn-laws;
the statement, which had been made in the course of last night's de.
bate, and repeated in a portion of the press; that the operatives had no
interest in this question, and that it was the interest merely of the selfish
capitalists—nay, the " Standard" went further, and undertook to
prove that the interests of the operative manufacturers were in di.
rect opposition to the interests of the capitalists. This was a policy
similar to that sinister cry which was got up by the " Church and
King" Aristocracy, in union with the " Church and King" mob,
to crush, if possible, the middling classes. The spirit was the same
as that which led to the sacking of Dr. Priestley's house in Birming-
ham.---(Hear.) If there was one class in the community who had
greater interest than another in the abolition of the Corn.
laws, he (Mr. Wier), believed it was the operative class.—(Hear.)
We have heard from my friend Mr. Rawdon and also from Mr.
Villiers, that the manufacturers have only two alternatives, either to
abandon the country altogether or to force down the wages of the
working classes. Whether a repeal of the Corn-laws take place or
not, the money wages of the working classes must be lowered, and
one grand reason for pressing the question of a repeal of the Corn-laws
was to enable the working classes, when this event should take place,
to purchase greater quantity of food with a lower amount of money
wages. This is a question which affects the highest interests of
the working classes their spiritual welfare as well as
their bodily. You never can educate them effectually until
you have fed them ; therefore, this question does not
affect their bodily welfare alone, but a repeal of the Corn-laws
gives them the means of raising themselves. I must protest against
this prosecution of the middle classes—the spirit exhibited by cer.
tain Members of the Parliament last night, and also by certain
portions of the public press which had destroyed the property of
Priestley at the close of the last century.
Mr. STUROE expressed his joy that the gentleman who had
just sat down had taken up this subject. It was an insult to say that
the working classes did not understand this question. He, Mr.
Sturge, was a delegate from Birmingham, where, unfortunately, they
Ad not succeed in passing their resolution to petition Parliament on
the subject of a repeal of the Corn.laws; but the ground taken up
by the apponents of that resolution was, that it was utterly useless to
petition the House of Commons, and he could assure the meeting
that the opponents on that resolution fully agreed with the purposes
of it in their dislike of the Corn-laws. He was not disappointed
with the eenduct which he had observed last night in both Houses
of Parliament, for he had long since been of opinion and it
was with sorrow that he gave expression to that opinion,
that with some few honourable exceptions the Members of both
those Houses had no sympathy whatever with the country. But
this ought only to stimulate us to support by every means in our
power, the motion of which Mr. Villiers had given notice for the 19th
inst. Could this question be seen in a right point of view, there is no
doubt but that the different religious denominations would petition for
a repeal of the Corn.laws. If the working classes were reduced to a
state of absolute starvation there would be no difficulty in getting
tie religious denominations to petition for their relief. And why
should there be anydifficulty in getting them to petition to avert the