The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-20 00:00:00

Vtt ‘l4n.

LONDON:
TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1841.

The provincial papers are asking, we see,
" What is next to be done." That is a question

we are at w loss to answer; but we cannot think
that the defeated Liberals in England, Scotland,
and Ireland, will lie down and allow the Tories
to trample them out of existence, or chain them
to the oar that is to pull the Tory galley into a
safe harbour. When the Whigs and the Radi-
cals succeeded against the Tories, not one of the
latter could fear any hand of oppression. They
might dread the consequences of extended free-
dom, but they were to have their full share of
the rights their.opponents meant to extend or
create. The reverse is unhappily the case now,
and the Catholic Irish and the manufacturers
await from the Tory success fresh attacks on
liberty and trade. At least their success is a
declaration that the Irish nation must patiently
submit to oppression, and the English manufac-
turers must acquiesce in being plundered and
starved. We are not surprised, therefore, at the
interesting question being put, though we are
unable to answer it, "What is next to be done ?'
There is one thing, however, which can be im-
mediately done in England, and which we be-
lieve the manufacturers begin to see the neces-
sity of doing. We quoted some time ago an ex-
tract from a pamphlet, entitled, " The Cure of
Monopoly upon Radical Principles," which we
understand is the production of Mr. GARDNER,
of Salford, an exhortation to the capitalists of
Lancashire to place themselves at the head of
the people. This they can now, and we hope
they will, perform.
At a dinner given to Mr. WALKER, the Mem

her for Bud in Lancashire, on Friday last, Mr.
COBDEN, whose word will go a great way with
his brother-manufacturers, used this language :--
But, gentlemen, we must not be united capitalists—
we must be united and man.—(Cheers.) I have
among my acquaintance a gentleman who, while in
London, called upon a Noble Lord—a valiant, sturdy
bread-taxer, and in the course of conversation my
friend told his Lordship that the people down here were
beginning to understand the question, and they would
not long endure the bread-tax.—(Hear.) " Oh, oh,"
said his Lordship, " you mean this as a menace, I
suppose ; but, let me tell you, that when your work-
men are nearer to your house and property than
ours, and if it comes to an outbreak, let me
remind you that it will be for you first to look to
your safety."—(Laughter.) Now, there is some-
thing in this. I believe his Lordship let out a secret to
which the class to whom he belongs trust a great deal.
They trust a great deal to the discord prevailing between
master and man. Now, therefore, I tell you, take care
that the working-men understand the question rightly,
Let them understand the question rightly, and then we
shall see who has most to fear. I say the non-electors
have great influence, and therefore let them understand
the question. I point to the example set at Bolton, Pres-
ton, Stockport, and Manchester, and I say the best exer-
tionsmade on this question were made by the non-electors;
and when I look to the towns where the Whigs have
shrunk from this question, and tampered with a fixed
duty, or some other political question of the day, I can
readily understand how the elections have gone against
them. Therefore, I say it is a question of policy to make
the people-understand this question ; and, therefore, we
must meet the working men—ay, and the working women
too, for we cannot do without them either.—(Applause.)
Gentlemen, if I might urge an argument beyond those
that I have already given you, to induce you to co-
. operate with them, it is that you may avert a danger
that may fall upon us any time. The accident of
a bad harvest would place your property, as that
Noble Lord said, in great danger, unless you secured
the confidence of the working men by making them un-
derstand this question, and showed them that you had
done your utmost to avert these evils. Let me tell you
that the tendency of that bread-tax is constantly to di-
minish the wages of the labourer. And who is the
arepa hrtty-,e partyyouor
;thsueoaristocracy, who is the immediate agent
to curtail the wages of the operative ? Gentlemen, you
are made the cat's-paw.—(Cheers.)
It is to you the workman will immediately fly—it is at
.you, unless you have shown him that there is a co-ope-
rating cause which presses y
have done all in your power toouarodiodw. n, and which you
Mr. COBDEN afterwards said, indicating the
moans by which-he expects to prevent the aristo-