The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-19 00:00:00

MEETING OF LINCOLNSHIRE
PROTECTIONISTS.
LrecoeN, Dec. 18.—A meeting of the various
Protectionist societies in this great agricultural
county was held yesterday at the Corn Exchange,
Lincoln. The great hell, which is capable of accom-
modating alnut 1,500 persons, was dansely crowded,
and considerable excitement was manifested in con-
sequence of some Free-traders attending and opposing
the proceedings,
Mr. J. Snow (Mayor of Lincoln) occupied the
chair, and beside him on the platform, were Colonel
Sibtherp, 1.P.11 ; Mr. Christopher, M.P. ; Sir M. J.
Cholineley, M.P. ; Sir Henry Dymock, the Hon. A.
G. Melville, and a great number of county clergy and
gentry.
Mr. CURISTOPITER, M.P., the first speaker, was
received with loud cheers. He said, the attendance
of very many of the tradesmen of Lincoln was to
him a convineing proof that the measure miscalled
free trade operated injuriously to nll the productive
classes in the United Kingdom.—(Cheers.) lie was
proud to witnees the assemblage before him, for it
included also many of the leading practical agricul-
turists in the kingdom. He saw around him gentle-
men who thoroughly understood their own business,
without having occasion either to ransack the cloisters
of Westminster Abbey, or send to Dorsetshire for en
agricultural clergyman, or go into Leadenhall-
street for a manufacturer of patent razors to instruct
them in their business.—(Cheers and laughter.)
Those persons were present who, under the system of
protection, had converted tle fens of that inhospitable
country into fertile hills an cultivat'd flails; and
they were, therefore, as competent to give a candid
and fair opinion upon the present state of things as
those gentlemen whose legitimate business consisted
of something else, but who took farms to employ
their leisure time.—(Hear, hear.) When the agri-
cultural and colonial interests were attacked the ship-
ping interest was lold, "Oh, you haye only• to give
your vote for free. trade in corn, it willincrease the
importations, and your freights will be so enormous
that you-will become quite prosperous." What had
become of the shipping interest now ?—(Hear, hear.)
Though many Members from the seaports voted for
free trade they were convinced of their error.—
(flear.) The retail dealers and shopkeepers of Lon-
don were told that the new measure would be for
their benefit because it would reduce the butchers'
and bakers' bills some thirty per cent. They
grasped at the bait, thinking that they should reduce
their outgoings some thirty per cent., and keep all
their profits as formerly.—(Hear, hear.) Was there
a single market town in England, including the
metropolis and the tradesmen of Bond street and
Regent-street, the inhabitants of which did not
lament the change ?—(Cheers.) And he appealed
to them whether the condition of the labouring classes
of this country had been benefited by these delusive
measures ? They were told that in Dorsetshire,
Devonshire, and some of the southern counties, the
wages of the labourer had decreased to Gs. a week;
and in one county, in one year, the criminals had in-
creased from 300 to 1,300.—
(Hear, hear.) These
were the results of free trade, which was to make the
poor man more rich, fill all the churches and chapels
in the United Kingdom, and tosconter universal pros-
perity upon the nations of the world.—(lronicel
cheers) Need he point to Ireland ? Owing to some
political juggle all the Irish Members were arrayed
against the agricultural interest ; but Ireland now felt
the effects of free trade from one end of the country
to the other. Cork, which had suffered deeply, was
wisely endeavouring to retrace her steps, by returning
to Parliament a gentleman who would do all he could
to cause a return to protective duties.— (Cheers.) These
circumstances were favourable to the undertaking in
which they were engaged; but unless they were
firmly and strenuously aided by all classes of the
country—by persons connected with commerce, trade,
and agriculture—they would fail to see better days.
He was glad, however, to see that the present meeting
was one of the largest he ever addressed in the county
of Lincoln, and he trusted that with determined
energy they would yet succeed.—(Cheers.) When
he considered it required more manual labour to pro-
duce 1,0001. worth of corn than 1,0001. worth of cotton
goods, he thought the least they could demand was
that they should be placed on the same footing.—
(Hear, hear.) It was a delusion to tell him, as had
been said by the Times, that the manufacturing was
not a protected interest. Duties of from 25 to 30 per j
cent. were levied on the manufacturing produce of
foreign countries.—(llear, hear.) It might be said
that that was for the purposes of revenue. Why, then,
might not duties on corn be levied for the same pur-
pose ?—(Cheers.) He maintained that all interests
ought to bo put upon the same footing.—(Cheers.)
But even if they (the agriculturists) were put in
this respect upon the same footing, they would not
submit to the amount of taxation they now bore,
and from which other interests were exempt.—
(Ilear, hear.) Since free trade came into operation
they were told by a man of high authority in such
matters in a certain quarter—Mr. Mechi, the razor
maker—(Loud 1 iughter)—that the system had not
had a fair trial.—(Continued laughter.) How long a
trial were they to give it ?—(Hear, hear.) Last year
the Chancellor of the Exchequer said prices were re-
duced because the harvest was deficient and the pro-
duce bad, which rendered it impossible to compete
fairly with the foreigner ; and he told them to wait
till they had a good harvest.—(Hear, hear.) In 1848,
with wheat at 525., about 5,000,000 quarters of corn
came over here. It was admitted that the present was
a highly favourable year, and was there less importa-
tion from abroad in consequence ? Up to November
last there had been imported upwards of 9,000,000
quarters. They had thus tried free trade under a
deficient harvest and under a productive harvest, and
he asked them whether it was possible, the country
being burdened with taxation, with suffering labourers,
and impoverished artisans, that they could goon under
a system like this without making the retail dealer
bankrupt, and shutting up the houses of half the
country gentlemen in the kingdom ?—(Applause.)
They must either return to protection, or her Ma-
jesty's Ministers must devise some measures to enable
the middle classes of the country to subsist.—(Hear,
hear.) When he saw gentlemen who got up demon-
strations on behalf of the distressed necdlewomen
endeavouring to promote, at the expense of the agri-
culturists, a large system of emigration, he could not
refrain from thinking that these free-trade measures
had brought the kingdom to ruin ; for if trade were
in a wholesome state the shopkeepers of London
would be able to pay good wages to the needle-
women.—(Hear.) In former days they were told
that the strength of the country existed in the num-
ber of its population ; but now the reverse was the
principle to be acted upon, and measures were to be
taken to increase the ratio of emigration. The Hon.
Gentleman, after a few further observations, con-
cluded by moving—
.. Tat this meeting is or opinion that the introduction
of flee trade without reciprocity is the cause of the
deep distress pervading the productive classes of the
u.ttry, and • hat 1 ()turn to protection is the only mode
of encountering hostik tarith and satisfying the public
creditor."

Mr. R WlirrroN, a Lincoln tradesman, seconded
,be proposition.

"JonN NORTON, a draper, also of th© city, here
presented himself to move an amendment, and being
well known as a financial reformer and free trader,
he was received with volley after volley of hisses,
yells, and groans. The Mayor and others endea-
voured to prccure silence, but for a long time in vain.
At length Mr. Norton was able to say that he was
prepared for this burst of indigintion.—(A voice—
"No doubt." But he yet believed that there wee a
sufficiently generous spirit among the L'ncolnshire
tenant farmers to give a fair and impartial hearing.:to
one whom they had frequently censured for holding
opinions which they considered were inimical to their
interests. No one was more deeply interested in the
welfare of the farmers than himself, inasmuch as
he had a large business depending upon their wel-
fare; anti more than that, he had a wife and large
family depending upon it for their support. He was
there in the hope that he should be able to prove
that what they termed legislative protection was a
delusion, and highly injurious to the manufacturing
and commercial interests of the country.—(Cries
of " No, no," and cheers from the Free traders.) It'
they believed the Protectionists, they might be led to
supprlie that this fertile country was already in a
state of great distress—(Cries of " Yes, it is")—and
would soon go out of cultivation—(C!.les of " So it
will")—and that already their pour-houses were tilled
with paupers.—(" They are.") He bad taken the
trouble to go to their union wo; ltheuse to make in-
quiries, and he found that in December last year
there were 258 inmates, whereas in the present month
there were only 257.—(Ironical cheers and laughter.)
From a letter he had received from Mr. White, a
relieving officer in the north of the county, he found
that at the present time there were not so great a
number of labourers out of employ as last year, and
thst in many parishes the same amount of wages was
given as hitherto.—(Cries of" No, no; it's false.") The
relieving officer of a southern district had also in-
formed him that he Lel now no more applicants for
relief than in former years. He admitted that there
was a degree of oppression existing amongst some of
the tradesmen of the city.—(A voice—" With every
one except John Norton."—Laughter.) He denied
that the principle of cheapness was the cause. Distress
bad been caused in many instances by railway open-

lation - and were it not for the low price of provisions
that distress would be much greater.—(Uproar.)
Mr. Norton then proceeded to review the history of
the corn question for the .last thirty years amidst
repeated interruption. He had got down to 1822 in
his disquisition, when the tumult in the hall rose to
a perfect hurricane. The speaker's political friends,
who clung together in a group in the centre of the
hall, endeavoured, by the liveliness of their applause,
to drown all opposition ; whilst their opponents groaned
and hooted the more lustily. When the war of words
hai for some time been kept up with spirit, a more angry
feeling developed itself, and the rival parties cattle to
blows. After lighting for a time, pell-mell, in the body
of the room a rush was made to the platform with the
intention of ejecting or defending the speaker whose
harangue had led to the uproar. The representatives
of the press were pretty nearly crushed in a body.
The tables at which they sat (between the platform
and the multitude in the hall) were smashed to pieces
under the feet of the tenant.farmers and tradesmen of
Lincolnshire; ink bottles were upset; books blotted
and torn ; and one gentleman, representing the Don-
caster Chronicle, less ttective' than his brethren, was
very severely injured. A number of both parties
hiving gained the platform a struggle of several
minutes' duration ensued, as many as could catching
hold of Mr. John Norton, either in a friendly or
hostile manner. Mr. Norton's own struggles, aided
by his friends, and backed by the intreaties of the
Mayor, saved him the ignominy of expulsion; but it
was riot till very considerable delay that the lis!ness
of the meeting was resumed.]
Mr. NORTON then resumed his speech, but was
frequently and violently interrupted. One thing wag
certain, he said—there must be a reduction of rents
on the part of the landlords; farmers must not be
fettered by the host of restrictions which now sur-
rounded them. They must get rid of the game-laws
and join the financial reformers of England.—(Con-
fused cries of " Hear," "Nonsense," " What, join
Cobden and Co. !" &c.) He then addressed himself
specially to the speakers around him on the platform,
who he said were trying to increase their incomes
out of the price of the poor man's loaf.— (Alingled
cries of " Shame" and " It's false")—instead of doing
which they should take off from 30 to 40 per cent.
of their rents, and endeavour to assist the tenants. In
conclusion, he moved as an amendment :
" That experience has shown that the tenant-farmers
and labourers have not been benefited by the past mono-
poly of the home market ; that their best and only pro-
tection is to be obtained by a reduction of rent, by
having at command a sufficient capital for the manage-
ment of their farm by obtaining a more secure interest
in the outlay for improvements, by getting rid of the
host of restrictions which are now injuring them, and by
obtaining great reductions of the local and general
taxation of the country ."—(Cheers, hisses, and groans.)
Mr. NEWTON, a Lincoln tradesman,. seconded the
amendment.
The original motion was carried by about five to
one, amidst loud cheering.
Sir M. J. CHOLMELRY, M.P , in proposing the se-
cond resolution, observed, that he thought a most
uncourteous and unfair attack had been made upon
him by a gentleman present at a meeting held in that
city a fortnight ago (Mr. Greetham), who asserted
that he knew cne of their representatives was of no
use in Parliament; and further, that they must mind
in future to return their friends and not their enemies.
He denied that there was a more stanch friend to the
farmer than himself. He entered into a brief vindica-
tion of his Parliamentary career, and then stated his
readiness to answer any question that might be put
to him.
Mr. GRBETHAM said, he certainly had remarked
that Sir AL J. Cbolmeley was an unpopular Member,
but he had no questions to put to him.
Sir N. J. CIiOLMELEY replied, that the phrase just
used was exceedingly indefinite ; and as, after pausing
for further questions, none were asked, he would
vindicate his votes, which he said were fearlessly and
honestly given on every question concerning agricul-
ture. He supported Mr. Disraeli's motion, worded
similarly to the one he held in his band ; he supported
Mr. Disraeli in his motion for a Committee to inquire
into agricultural distress ; and he also voted against
Ministers upon the navigation-laws. Though he bad
supported liberal principles, he had always considered
that no true Liberal would sympathise with the
whole world, totally forgetting those at home.—
(Applause.) Having expressed a belief that some
degree of protection must and would soon be granted
to British interests, the Hon. Baronet concluded by
moving_

'• fli;“ real property should not bear more than its
fair proportion of the taxes of the country; whereas the
owners and occupiers of real property are exclusively
subject to the payment of taxes amounting to
12,000,000/. for objects of a national character, which
ought to be charged on the entire income of the country."
—(Applause.)
Mr. BOUCHERETT seconded the motion.
Mr. I'. GREETHAM replied in brief terms to the
observations of Sir M. J. Chohneley, who, he re•
gretted, sat on the Whig side of the House; he con-
sidered that he had a perfect right to make observa-
tions on his proceedings as a public man.—(Cheers.)
Mr. Greetham then said that he .saw by the Times
of the 6th inst. that there was to be a duty upon
foreign coffee, but he did not read that forPign corn
was to be made to contribute towards the expenses of
the State. He asked whether this distinction was fair
—whether it was honest ?—(Cheers.)
Mr. SEELEY, for a short time M.P. for the city of
Lincoln, addressed the meeting at great length in a
similar strain to that pursued by Mr. Norton. There
was no tenant farmer in that room who had suffered
more by the repeal of the corn-laws than himself, for
he had never had two worse years than the last, and
he attributed it to the importation of foreign flour;
but was that a reason why he should go to public
meetings and whine about protection ?--(Laughter,
' groans, and hisses.) Nu; what he did was
to reduce his expenditure, and, instead of
keeping up an establishment which cost him
1,2001. a year, he now had one which only
cost him 5001. a-year. It was all very well for jolly
farmers and well-fed country squires to talk about too
ranch corn being imported, but it was monstrous to
say the people had too much food.—(Uproar.) The
rents must be lowered, for corn would never again bs
so dear as it had been. He moved, as an amendment
to the last proposition—
" That the interests of the tenant farmers would not
be promoted by chargiPg half the local rates upon the
consolidated fund."
(Hear, hear, and hisses.)
This amendment was seconded from the body of
the hall, but the original motion was carried by a
large majority, followed by repeated rounds of
cheering.

The Hon. A. G. MELVILLE, of Branstonelall,
moved tho next resolution :

" That import duties, varying from 5 to 20 per cent.,
are at present levied on foreign manufactured articles,
whilst agricultural produce is admitted duty free into the
United Kingdom; therefore, in order to place the British
agriculturists iu a fair position, import duties should
also be levied upon foreign agricultural produce."
—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. Suirwrrn seconded this motion, which was
carried amidst loud applause.
Colonel SIBTLIORP, M.P., said, that if he had
thought that this meeting was solely and wholly in
favour of protecting the agricultural interest, he
should not have been there; but its object was to
protect native industry in all its branches.—(Loud
applause.) He was for union and unity—for laying
aside all those petty jealousies which bad existed
and might yet exist between those who should have
but one feeling towards the interest of all. When
he saw that that encouragement which should be be-
stowed upon English produce was given to foreign
articles, to the depreciation of native industry, he
did not feel surprised to sea the country in its pre-
sent state; bat with union they would regain the
protection they ought to have.—(Loud cheers.) He
moved—

" Th.tt a requisition be forwarded to the High She-
riff, to rc.gurst hirn to convene a meeting of the nobility,
aria gentry, and farmers, and merchants, and others in
the county of Lincoln, to take into consideration the
depressed state of the agricultural interests and the
other branches of native industry."
—(Applause.)
Mr. CrtArcirr seconded the motion, and it was car-
ried with very slight opposition.
A vote of thanks to the Mayor, for his services in
the chair, terminated the proceedings.

S 111 P WR ECK.—FALMOUTH, DEC. 14.—The brig
Venus, of and from Gueinsey, 123 tons, John Backler
master, bound to Newport, iu ballast, and thence char-
tered for Ilavann,.h, this morning, at half-past two
o'clock, got on the Manacle Rocks. It was during the
interval of its being the master's watch below. Imme-
diately that danger was apprehended khe was put hard
up and wore round. She soon struck forwards, and
ttien aft. The master, who had taken the wheel,
through the concussion had his leg badly hurt, and was
thrown over the ship's side, but providentially rescued
himself by catching hold of her gunwale. After strik-
ing the second time, way being kept on the vessel, and
pumps going, eighteen inches of water in her hold in-
dicated that the was faq settling. The boat was got
ready, and at four 3!. the master and people got into
the boat. Ten minutes bad bcarctly expired before the
brig went down. She was newly coppered, previously
to sailing. A pilot cutter met with the unfortunate
people at sea at daybreak, not knowing where to make a
landfall, and brought them in here at noon 10-day.