The Sun.
London, England, 1825-04-14 00:00:00

CITY MEETING ON TIE. CORN LAWS

TOterchy a G eneral iNleetin# of thePerchants,
Sec.6f.-_the City of laoplon,.:was htld at the City of London
Tavern, for the purpoie or petitioning Parliament to ialse.into
consideration the Corn Laws as they :exist -:at presenti. Tl:e
fleeting eras excessively croi,tded with bankers, merchants,
traders, &c. Among other persons present we noticed Mr. Al-
derman Waithman, Mr. Alden-non Wood, Air. Wilson, M.P.,
Mr. Hume, M.P., Mr. Whittle Harvey, Mr. Barclay, &c.
Shortly after one o'clock, the LORD MAYOR entered the room,
attended by the Gentlemen of the Committee ; and, nn the.
motion of Mr. Ah4rman.Wood, his..Lordship.was unanimously
called to the Chair. •

The Right Bon. Cliarli)l.ol stated, that having received a
most numerous and respectably-signed requisition, for the pur-
pose of considering of the expediency of petitioning Parliament
with respect to the Corn Laws, he was fully a are, that it was
only owing to the adventitious eircinustance of.being Chief Na-
gistratc ofthe.City that he had been called Upon to take the
Chair-on that occasion, yet he was nevertheless.glad of the cir-
cumstance, as it gave him an opportunity of saying what great
pleasure he felt in being so'Called upon in the present instance.
The object proposed for the consideration of the present Meet.
.ing, was the propriety of petitioning Parli.iment relative to the
Corn Laws. It was not at all hits intention nb, enter into the.
question himself ; that would rather be the-duty of thole
tlemerewho had.signed the requisition 14ur the purpose-of con-
vening the Meeting, and indeed, he did 'not hithself suf-
ficiently master of the subject, to enterat all full pon it.. • But
though he did not intend discussing the...question; yet he could
not help saying, that it was his opinion that it was highly essen-
tial that-something sh6uld be done towards revising the Corn
laws ; for since his Majesty's Ministers had wisely adopted
that liberal policy which was already found- to be so useful to.
the interests of the country, it was but-fair .that while the agri-
culture of the land. was. I;rotecteil, the interet.tf of commerce
should not he overlooked. . -

Mr. HALL, the Secretary to the Committee, then read the
Resolutions, for which we refer our readers to au: advertising

columns.

31r. 1.11031A9 WILSON said, that aa his Lordship had stated
that it was incumbent in those who had signed the requisition
to stand forward in sup port of it, he had undertaken the office.
of proposing the first Resolution, though, he should observe,
that when he signed the requisition he did so not as the repre-
sentative of the City in Parliament, but merely as a merchant
belonging to London : the points contained in the first Resolu-
tiOn were, he thought, so self-evident, that it would rervire

nothing from him to tupix)rt it.
Mr. LixrE/iT seconded the resolution.

Mr. VOint'G, said that, before the resOlution -wag put, he•
would beg leave to make a very few (.419e:1m:ions. Ha had al.'.
,ways been taught in- his school to consider that agricultwre and
-commerce were so inseparable, that they could not be divided ;
and theretlare, though he did not intend to deny the abstract
pro-
position contained in the resolution, yet he hardly thought that'
it was fair to throw all the blame upon agticolture.—(No, no !),
,;lie alluded to that part of the resolution whe.ra the word " un-
:necessary" was introduced, with respect to the high prices.......
Those high prices, he was willing to grant, were not so in other
countries ; but then the meeting should reflect on the largeness
of the burdens that this c:mntry had to endure.
It was finally agreed; after a few words frOal Mr. WIT.LiOX'
and the LORD M4l:on,_that the word''unnecessary" should
be omitted. - . _
~.
_. ,

A, GrAvri.7.2a.s.x remarked,, ltat be had but one obserra-
tionto make relative to the resolution, and to the alteration in
the turn Laws, which was, that in his opinion, it would cause
71. great ciiantity of the gold of the country to be exported, with-
out introducing any advantage to counterbalance the evil. He
should therefore oppose the rmiolution.
The resolution was then carried, with one hand held up
against it.

.
Mr. TooKE proposed the second Resolution. He said, that
he had no doubt that the law, when it was originally enacted,
was meant for the benefit of the country; especially. as one of the
objects that it had in view was to prevent the recurrence of those
great fluctuations that had been witnessed. That the • Corn
Laws themselves, however, hid been the cause of great fluctu-
ations, no one would- attempt to deny. Indeed, such must
always be the case with every restriction where there was an in-
creasing population, and a- limited territory. As the law had
stood, no corriwas allowed to be-imported till it had riven in
this country 'to eighty shillings; though, by a-subsequent me.
dificatiou in 1822, that had been. lowered to 7tis. on paying a
duty of liythe consequence of which -restriction was, that no
durable relief could be afforded in the -case of an emergency.--
The enormous evils of that Bill had been dwelt upon while it
*as passing through Parliament; but the answer that was-then
given was, thit,the country was capable of affording a compe.
tent supply, independently of tbreign assistance, and every
thing had been done, because of the war that was then being
carried on ; but it was not now at all likely that such a •war
would again take place, and surely,it was a bad policy to inflict
.such -a pressing and immediate evil, from the fear of so-.ren-uate
a contingency, besides which, the real fact was, that in case of
a war no harm would accrue from the importation of foreign
corn. He wouldsonclude what he had to- say, by a spirited
protest signed . by Lord Grenville and others, respecting the
Corn Laws, bearing date the 20th March, 1013, which he had
no doubt had been drawn up by the able hand of lalui Gran-
ville him Self.