The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-10 00:00:00

THE, St'N, LONDON, FRIDAY,fig,PTEMBER to; 1841.

METROPOLITAN YOUNG MENS

ANTI-MONOPOLY ASSOCIATION

, • Yesterday evening a most numerous and highly re-
spectable meeting took place at Finsbury Chapel, South-
place, for the purpose of taking into consideration the
'propriety of:forming a Metropolitan Young Mens' Anti-
Monopoly Association. OR the motion of Mr. P. A.
Taylor, seconded by Mr. C. J. Foster, George Thompson,
Esq., the eloquent advocate against slavery, was called
to the Chair amid most enthusiastic cheering.
Mr.- THOsiesozr on taking the chair said, that the
meeting over which they had done him • the honour of
calling upon him to preside, had been convened by public
advertisementg for the special purpose of forming a Me-
tropolitan Young Mens' Association. The addresses of
the evening would,-- of course, be confined to that topic,
and that topic exclusively, and resolutions would be
subinitted to the meeting by the gentlemen who had been
selected, and the nature and principles on which the
intended Society was to be based would be fully set
forth and illustrated, and- when those resolutions were
before the meeting, should there be any individual, or in-
dividuals, in that great assembly desirous of showing
cause why the Society which it was their purpose to
form, should not be brought into existence, it would be
his duty, presiding over a meeting whose object was to
oppose all monopoly
—(Cheers)—to oppose any monopoly
of discussion, and to claim for every individual
in that meeting who should observe the rules of courtesy,
and adhere to the question under consideration, a patient,
attentive, and impartial hearing.-,--(Great cheering.) The
duties, he had to discharge, as• their Chairman, were of a
simple character, and did not require that he should, at
that stage of their proceedings, make any further ob-
servations. Should, however, their kind patience afford
him the opportunity of making any observations at the
end. of the meeting, he might be disposed, should the
time allow it, to state his own opinions on the sub-
ject.— (Cheers.) He would now call upon the
Secretary of the Provisional Committee to bring before
the meeting the business they had to transact' and he
should .deem it his duty, till the conclusion of the meet-
ing, only to perform those duties that devolved upon
him as Chairman. With these 'observations, he would
leave himself in the hands of the meeting, assured that
they would only require of him to keep every gentleman
in order, and obtain for every one a full and impartial
hearing.—(Cheers.) He could not do less than this, and
he did not think that any gentleman would require
more.—(Cheers.)
.Mr. SioszEr"MILNES` lIAWKIq, the Semtary of the
Provisional CoMmittee,l. said, that in , order to explain
the object of the meeting, he would read the placard by
which it had been summoned:—" No Monopoly—Cheap
Bread. APublic Meeting will be held at Finsbury Chapel,
South-place, this evening, at half-past seven for eight
o'clock precisely, fOr the purpose of forming a Metropo-
litan Young Mens' Anti-Monopoly Association. -George
Thompson, Esq., in the Chair. The attendance of
young men of all trades and professions, and all friends
of Free Trade principles is earnestly requested." A
string of resolutions would be moved and seconded, and
submitted to the meeting for its approbation.
Mr. P: A. TAYLOR, jun. then came forward to move
the first resolution. He felt upon the present occasion,
without any cant, if not a degree of fear, one of more
hesitation than he had ever felt before—(Cheers)—be-
cause he felt, in having to propose the first resolution, that
he was opening a business of great importance, and in
doing. so be was afraid that he might omit something
that he ought to have said, or say something which he
ought to have omitted.—(Cheers.) He trusted how-
ever, that they would not extenuate anything or set
down aught in malice.—(Cheers.) He could assure the
meeting that they were no political party Association;
they were not there there to advocate Toryism, Whig-
ism, Radicalism, or any other ism. (Laughter.)
What they were there for was to obtain good
legislation—(Cheers)--and the question was, having
such an object in view, what was the best way by which
they, as an association, might avoid disunion?—
(Cheers.) Was it by a.careful scrutiny into the :public
opinions of men ? No, it was looking liberally at the
opinions of all, and considering that they were all bound
by the important tie of free trade.—(Cheers.) For him-
self he was a Radical, and, as such, he deemed his views
to to be just ; and if the views he entertained
improved the condition of the people, they were correct,
and he believed the true Conservative thought the same.
Let then the institution that Was about to be formed
do all in its power to improve the condition of Abe
'people, and let them act as umpires, and say whose
creed was best.—(Hear, hear.) The resolution' he had
to propose was to the following effect ---" Thitt this
meeting being firmly convinced of the baneful effects of
all monopoly in diminishing the, supply of those neces-
saries and comforts of life, without which life is rather a
curse than a blessing, they hereby resolve to use every
legal means in their power for the entire abolition Of
those laws that prevent the free interchange of industry
and capital." Now what was the duty he had to perform?
Why, he had to prove the baneful effects of monopoly,
and he thought the meeting would agree with him that
that was no very difficult task.—(Cheers.) What was
monopoly ? Why, the sole right of sale given to an in..:
dividual, or a class, by which the party to whom the mo-
nopoly is given, enhances the price of the commodity.—
(Hear, hear.) Now he thought it would not be very .
difficult to prove that that was unjust.—(Cheers.) But
then they talked of a protective. duty. What was the
effect of that ? Why it was the result of a law by
which the article was raised above the price which in
open market it would obtain.—(Cheers.) Who paid
the difference of that price ? Why, the consumer of the-
article, and. the landlord Put the protection in his
pocket.—(Cheers.) Now he had lived long enough to
know that the less protection the people gave to certain
classes, the more protected the people were. It was said
that in seeking to abolish the Corn-laws, the people were
doing away with the rights of property. He denied it.
They were the protectors of property, and in that protec-
tion they did not forget the most valuable of all property,
namely, the full remuneration of the labouring man.--
(Cheers.) They were willing to uphold the rights of the
rich, but it must be in conjunction with those of the poor
man.—(Cheers.) A protective duty was a tax of 50
millions a year; it was a tax levied on the community,
but it did not go into the revenue, and thereby lighten the
burthen of the whole community; no, it benefited only
the aristocracy.—(Cheers.) Added to this the tax. was
not paid equally by all.—(Cheers.) The poor man
paid 204 in every 1001., while the rich one only
paid a halfpenny in every 1001.—(Loud cheers.)
There was another point to which he would allude. Sir
Robert Peel thought it necessary, he (Mr. I'.) presumed,
in consequence of the present artificial state of society
(as the phrase was), to take up the clap-trap which the
Chartists had thrown from them, namely, that it was not
the Corn-laws, nor any system of taxation, to which the
miseries of the people were to be attributed ; but that it
was the introduction of machinery that caused those evils
which were complained of. That was something like the
case of the man in one of the stories which Boz had
written, who, after having drunk too much over night,
the next morning awoke with an aching conscience and
an aching head, attributed the evils of his condition not to
the wine, the true cause, but to the lobster, mayhap, of
which he had partaken, or something else of that kind ;
but to the wine by no means.—(Hear and laughter.)
So with the Right Hon. Baronet ; the people were to
starve, the people were starving, but the Corn-law taxa •
tion was not the cause—oh, no I it was something else.
Our manufactures were going down, but that lamentable
circumstance originated not in our shutting our ports
against all foreign countries. The introduction of ma-
chinery and its application-to manufactures was, according
to the Right Hon. Baronet, the sole cause of the evils
which pressed upon the people.—(Hear, hear.) He
(Mr. Thompson) trusted that no man who would
join their Association would do so merely as a
means of getting rid of his time.—(Hear, hear.)
He trusted that there was no man amongst them, who
did not feel impressed with the importance and sacred-
ness of the cause in which they were engaged. They
were taunted with exaggerating the effects of the Corn-
laws. But he said that the imagination of man never
pictured misery, degradation, and vice brought to a more
fearful pitch of intensity than that to which they might
give as a progenitor, the starvation of the people—the
starvation of the people arising from unjust and unequal
taxation.—(Hear, hear.) They were, ridiculed as ex
aggerating the effects of the Corn-laws. Where, he
would ask, were not those effects visible ? Were
they not visible in the taxes on the people,
amounting to fifty millions annually, without any
benefit derivable therefrom to the State ? Were they.
not visible in the condition of the country, in which the
people, instead of being enriched by their commerce
and manufactures so as to be able to bear the bur-
dens imposed on them, were struggling day after day
to preserve themselves from starvation? Let those who
taunted them with exaggerating the effect of the Corn-
laws
visit the wretched abodes of the poor—those
charnel houses of the living. Let them look around them
in the streets, and survey the misery that everywhere
met their eyes, and then say if the accounts of the
effects of the Corn-laws thus evidenced in the sufferings
of the poor were exaggerated or not.--(Hear, hear.)
The question did not confine itself to the simple consi-
deration of the evil of the profits of the poor man's toil
going into the rich man's pocket ; but the evil was two-
fold : it took away from the poor, not merely any source
of procuring comfort, but the means of paying the taxes
imposed on thorn. It might be very well to tax the people
and put the revenue into the pockets of the aristocracy,
but the effect of the present Corn-laws was shown most
forcibly in the gradual diminution in the people of the
power of paying anything at all. Anybody or any nation
that inflicted injury of a nature oppos.td to the principles
of free trade offended against the laws of nature and of God
—against the law of God, as it was shOwn in the plainest
revelations of that most distinguished book, which he
who runs might read—the book which inculcated charity
and love of our neighbour. They offended against the
law of nature, agreeably to which, in one portion of the
earth, a soil was placed which scarcely required the hand
of man for its culture—a soil fertile enough to bring
spontaneous productions ; and in another region, divided
from the former by perhaps but a narrow ridge of moun-
tains, or it might be by the expansive ocean, was placed
a sterile soil, but yet possessing mines of various kinds,
furnishing the means of manufacturing those things
which the wants and necessities of man required. Re-
opposed to the laws
which they were
sotfriocatti
uo nr
es,
atnhdeno,f oGnodfr.ee
Tthraedecauwseerein
Py-it was the cause
oeifigreagligediown.asmrtlhieereeaumsaeso
ex-
tension—where was- the use of preaching religion to -a
starving people—where was the use of talking of the two
first principles of religion, love to God . and man,
when the poor man only knows that all he is placed on
tfhpo h
use ilan
othfrtOal
king of Church
earth for is to starve, and the—, (The rest of the sen-
tence was lost in the cheers from all
3411,S of the crowded
asSemblage.)lllr.,TeyloT Went §ab that all w h a had the
cause of the' floor at heart would not Content themselves'
.
merelywitn. attending in public meeting, They Must be
. up and stirring. He that was not with them was against
them. Ho who allowed of injustice participated in it.—
(Cheers.) Let every one who heard him make known
to his companions that he held the Corn-laws in detes-
t tation. Sir R. Peel might say that those laws wero not

the eau- eof the starvation of the people. The Dukf of
Buckingham might stand up—(Here the speaker was
interrupted by hisses, groans, and uproar, which lasted
some minutes.) When order was restored, he proceeded
to observe that he never-mentioned the name of that
Nobleman in town or country—in the manufacturing or
agricultural districts—that Nobleman who said that 9s.
a week—(Cries of •` 6s.")—was enough for a working
man—he never mentioned that name without its calling
forth marks of execration. In conclusion, he called on
them never to forget the cause on which they had en-
tered, and it must in the end be irresistible. They
would triumph over those whose conduct would lead to
the ruin of their country, as their language was that of
blasphemy against their God.—(Cheers.)
Mr. PUGH, in a few words, seconded the resolution.
The CHAIRMAN then stated, that before the question
was put, a gentleman named Savage wished to address
the meeting, and he trusted that in this, which was a
model meeting, to be followed up by similar ones through-
out the City, order, regularity, and the strictest impar-
tiality would be exhibited, and that nothing savouring in
the slightest of monopoly would be evinced in their
conduct. . .

Mr. SAVAGE then presented himself to the meeting,
arid said, that in rising on the present occasion, he did
not do so with a view to opposing the resolutiorisubmit-
ted to them, but he wished to express his sentiments on
this subject, that they might fully nnderstand what he
meant by monopoly if he voted for that resolution. By
monopoly he meant the exact legitimate signification of
the term. When he spoke of monopoly he meant not
simply the bread-tax—(Hear, hear)—not simply that
which enriched the few by inflicting an accursed law on
the great majority of the people—but he meant that mo-
nopoly of law-making which put into the hands of a
mere fraction of the people the power of making thOse
unjust lawa.—(Hear, hear, and cries of " Question,
question!" and considerable confusion.)
The CHAIRMAN begged of the meeting to give Mr.
Savage a patient hearing. They had not yet given that
gentleman an opportunity of showing the, relevancy of
his remarks to the subject under discussion.
Mr. SAVAGE resumed—He would pledge himself not
to utter a' sentiment which did not find a corresponding
one in his heart, and he would submit to the decision of
the Chairman whatever it might be. Mr. Savage then pro-
ceeded at considerable length to describe the effects of that
monopoly which he had mentioned in the commence-
ment of his observations—the jnonopoly. of law. making,
-to which he asCrilied all- the calamities of the people.
He called on those who advocated the cause of the op-
pressed negro, to direct their views nearer home. The
oppressor of the negro slave was also the oppressor of
the white slave at home. Nominal emancipation was
given to the slave, but the name was only changed, and
the slavery still remained as before.—(Cries of " Ques-
tion," and much noise, Which ;lasted for some time.)
The CHAIRMAN said, the speaker was perfectly in
order, and he trusted he would have an impartial and
attentive hearing.—(Hear.)
Mr. SAVAGE said he would not detain the meeting any
longer. , He had raised his voice against monopoly in
that which God intended equally for all mankind, and he
would support the resolution, because it went to its de- -
s truction.

The resolution was then put by the Chairman, and
carried unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN said, before he called upon the next
speaker, he had the great satisfaction of announcing the
presence of Dr. Bowring, the enlightened and eloquent
exponent of the principles of free trade, and now, where
he ought to be, in the Senate of the country. The an-
nouncement elicited three vociferous cheers from the
meeting.

Mr. BARKER then came forward, and proposed the fol-
lowing resolution :—" That for this purpose (see the first re-
solution) an Association be established, to be called The
Metropolitan Young Men's Anti-Monopoly Association,'
by which the energies of the young men. of this great
commercial oity may be brought into effective union for
the diffusion of sound information, through the means
of public lectures, discussion, &c., on the subject of free
trade." He said he felt great difficulty and embarrass-
ment in attempting to address' the assembly before him ;
and yet that difficulty was in a great measure removed
when he saw himself surrounded by such a noble
phalanx, met together for the purpose of advocating the
principles of free trade, and of doing away with that
great incubus which pressed upon the commerce of the
country.—(Cheers.) In that cause they must now act
strenuously ; for it could not be denied that there was a
Government then in power which was determined, at
all hazards, to carry out the principles of monopoly, in
defiance of all interests but their own.—(Hear, hear.)
They had heard 'much of monopoly. He considered
thatthete were two sorts of monopoly. There was that
monopoly which was created by intelligence, by genius,
and by industry, which by superior wisdom and talent
outstripped and defied competition, and reaped its own
reward in the consciousness and certainty of its own
superiority. With such a monopoly as that. he shook
hands ; he. saw . in it the elements of a nation's
greatness.—(Hear.) There was, however, a different
kind of monopoly ; and against that monopoly, which made
him pay dearer for his bread in order to bolster up aris-
tocratic and landed interests, while in. the same propor-
tion it impoverished the many—against such a monopoly
. as that he would wage war while life and intellect re-
mained.--(Great cheering.) They had been told that
Vie young men of the metropolis bad nothing to do with
the Corn-law question—that they should trouble their
heads about their own business.—(Hear, hear.) He
maintained that they had everything to- do with it.
*Ttieir labbiir was their capital, and that law which had
any tendency to depreciate either their labour or their
Capital, must be of vital importance to them.—(Hear.)
But, setting aside selfish considerations, it was the cause
of humanity ;. arid, as had been justly observed by Mr.
Sydney Smith, every man, woman, and child, the babe
sucking at its mother's breast, or hoary man of
eighty, • was . alike interested in the result of
the present struggle.—(Hear, hear.) Our commerce
was the true source of our national prosperity. This
would be seen from a mere cursory glance at our posi-
tion. England was a. mere speck of earth compared
with many of the European Powers ; with a soil fertile
indeed, but of very limited extent ; with no mines but
those of tin and coal ; no forests for her navy ; and, in
fact, few of those national and indigenous elements which
were considered as necessary adjuncts of a nation's
greatness'; vet, in defiance of all this, by her wealth,
activity, and power, what had she not accomplished ?
(Hear, hear.)—She had carried civilization to every
quarter of the globe, given laws to millions of the race,
and levied contributions on all countries of the globe.
Mistress of the seas, she had with her navy broken the
power of Napoleon, the greatest soldier of modern
times. Nor was this all. She had swept away that
cursed stain upon humanity, the traffic in human flesh—
that traffic of which the Chairman of that meet-
ing had been the courageous, clever, and succee-i-
-ful opponent.--(Cheers.) But if the picture Which
he had drawn of England were correct, how could it
continue so whilst the many were impoverished for the
benefit of the few ?—(Hear, hear.) Man had not been
inaptlrdescribed as an exchanging animal. Whenever
a new island had been discovered, there had been an
immediate attempt made to barter with the natives, and,
as M•Culloch observed, " those who would not buy,
must not expect to sell."—(Hear, hear.) However, it
might be denied the world had been civilized by com-
merce ; and he firmly believed, that the reason why God
had appointed that one nation should grow one article
and another a different one was, that kindly relations
should be cultivated through the medium of commerce.--
(Hear, hear.) There was this fallacious argument used
in reference to the importation of foreign corn, namely,
that the nations upon whom they were depending for a
supply would suddenly cross the Channel and seize upon
the country. He would ask, was it likely that two na-
tions would quarrel between whom there was a commerce
carried on which rendered a mutual profit?—(Hear,
hear). And with respect to the repeal 'of the
Corn-laws, he looked not so much to the reduc-
tion in the price of bread as to the impetus
which it would give to commerce generally. It
might not reduce the price of a loaf to the extent which
some anticipated, but it would enable the labourer to
buy six loaves where at present he bought one. There
was another argument equally fallacious, namely, that
the price of labour,and the price of provisions went hand
in hand. There was no more connection between them
than between Goodwin Sands and Tenterden Steeple.
When the manufactures were prosperous, wages would
rise in proportion.—(Hear, hear.) The question was
asked by Mr. Cobden, what chance was there of a young
man rising in that or any other city of England in the
present state of commerce ? He would reply, none at
all. The fact was, that there were men of character and
talent now seeking employment, who formerly were
eagerly sought after. The manufacturer, the merchant,
and the capitalist, were compelled to reduce their
establishments because capital found no return, and
none could blame them for such a course. We , had
hitherto treated this question simply as one of political
economy or of ethics, but he frankly confessed that he
could do so no longer, when one Ministry had been dis-
missed for having advocated free trade principles, and
another was in power simply for the purpose of carrying
out the principles of monopoly—the monopoly of a
sliding scale, which simply meant the sliding of the aris-
tocratic hand into the pocket of the people, and the
transferring of its contents into their own by the same
sliding scale.—(Laughter and cheers.) He had no
sympathy with that conventional courtesy which, in the
seeming amiability and plausibility of a man's private
actions, forgot his public diplomacy ; and there was one
member of the present Ministry, wo was often called
the Iron Duke, to whom he would give the appellation
of Iron Heart. He recollected when, in 1835, during the
short reign of Toryism, Sir Thomas Potter waited upon
that Noble Duke for the purpose of representing to
him the distressed state of the manufacturing population.
On Sir Thomas stating that unless something were done
he feared a popular tumult, the reply of the Noble Duke
was, " I have got the means of putting them down."—
(Hear.) How ? By filling their bellies with bread ?
No ; but by filling them with bullets and grape-shot.—
(Hear.) The fiat had now gone forth for the destruc-
tion of this monopoly. Whatever interests were opposed
to the repeal, there were two which must carry it,
namely, the commercial interests, an i the eating and
drinking interests.—(Laughter and cheers.) He for one
would never put his hand to anything short of total re-
peal. The cry must be, " Total repeal, total repeal, and
nothing but total repeal."—(Great cheering.)
Mr. FOSTER, who rose to second the resolution, warmly
advocated the principles of free trade, and trusted that
the example which had been set that evening would lead
to the formation of many similar associations. Mr. Fos-
ter concluded by seeonding the resolution.
Mr. Ligon JONES then addressed the meeting. He
did not mean to oppose the resolution, but he wished to
submit a few observations to their consideration. Mr.
Jones then proceeded to say, that in his belief the mono-
poly in machinery and the monopoly of capitalists were
no less prejudicial to the interests of • the community at
large than the monopoly in corn. The prosperity
labouring classes had not kept pace with the *teased
impetus given to manufactured prnclme., I e.&I not at-
' tribute the evils of our VPlellt4C-Onaltion solely to the

Corn-laws, for it might also be traced in part to the am-
bition of capitalists. He thought that was a subject
which deserved the attention of every friend of the in-
.dustrious classes.

Dr. BOWRING then came forward amidst very general
cheering to address the meeting. He had just attended
an assembly in a distant part of the metropolis, where he
had listened to the wisdom of age, and he came there to
receive inspiration from the enthusiasm of youth. lie
rejoiced to witness the progress of late years, of the
great cause which they had met to advance. He remem-
bered the time when it resembled a solitary star, and
now it brought round it constellations from every quarter
of the heavens. Free trade was the principle of true
charity, inasmuch as it would extend the intercourse of
nations, and bind them together by the ties of mutual
want and mutual relief. He was delighted to find the
young men of England unite in the advocacy of such a
cause ; and he congratulated the Chairman in presiding
over such an assembly as he saw then before him.
The resolution was then put and unanimously agreed to.
Mr. S. M. Hawicus proposed the next resolution :
" That the efforts of the Association be especially directed
towards the complete repeal of the present odious Corn-
laws, which have already proved but too fatally effectual
in banishing commerce from our shores, and entailing
starvation and its common consequences—demoralisation
and recklessness upon our unhappy working population."
Mr. GOODLIFF seconded the resolution.
The resolution was then put and unanimously agreed
to, the words " and recklessness," at the suggestion of the
Chairman, having been left out. It did not, in his opi-
nion, apply to any portion of our suffering, but patient,
people.

- A resolution was then passed, appointing a Committee
to condnct the business of the Association.
A vote of thanks having next been passed to the Chair-
man for his dignified and impartial conduct in the chair,
The CHAIRMAN rose amidst vehement and repeated
cheers, and proceeded to address the meeting as follows :
—ln returning you my thanks for the vote you have so
' kindly and enthusiastically passed, I. shall only make
one or two observations in reference to the manner in
which I think you should conduct the cause which you
have espoused to-night. I have no doubt in my own
mind as to the necesssity which exists for such an asso-
ciation as that which you have established this evening.
Its necessity is demonstrated by the want of informa-
tion, by the contrariety of opinion, and by the amount
of opposition 'which free-trade principles meet with is
many quarters throughout the country. The want of
such an association is no less demonstrated by the
prevalence of distress to an unparalleled extent.—(Hear.)
I have lived for some time in immediate contact with
the population of a large manufacturing town in the
north of England, and f can bear witness to the exist-
ence there of an amount of misery which in depth and
extent cannot be exaggerated. The cause of that
misery ought to be understood. I shall not attempt to
prove that the main cause of that misery is to be found
in unjust and restrictive laws in reference to food and
labour. An Association like your own is imperatively
demanded for the purpose of carrying on a rigid and im-
partial inquiry into the cause of the existing misery of
- the industrious classes. You have assumed that the far-
off cause of that misery is monopolythe monopoly of
the necessaries of life, and that law which circumscribes
the bounty of Divine Providence—a law which says to
the fruits of other lands than our own, rich, abundant,
and never•failing in produce, that might be distributed
amongst the. poor and perishing population of this coun-
try—which says to the fruits of the earth which every
wind would waft us, which every wave would bear to
our shores, but which are denied to us by this law—
which
says to them, ere they can touch our strand,'l
" hither shall you come, but no further."—(Hear, hear.)
The necessity for such an Association as this, and
other Associations of a similar kind, may be '
proved by referring to the knowledge whiCh
we have of the growing disaffection in the minds of our
suffering population of our large manufacturing towns.
I have spoken of their patience, fortitude, and resigna-
tion ; but it cannot be disguised that there is in con-
nection with long-continued privation, and with hunger,
a feeling that does menace the existence of those
institutions that are . of the most precious and
sacred character. No man can undertake to predicate
with confidence, still less with certainty, what may be the
result of that misery which is now overspreading a very
large portion of this country.—(Hear, hear.) Why, the
very fact that there are 6,000,000 of our own country-
men who never taste wheaten bread from month to
month and from year to year—not because the hand of God
has not supplied it, but because odious and unnatural laws
prevent it coming to our shores. This very fact tells
trumpet-tongued to every man that it is his duty to
rise and declare that from whatever source taxes for re-
venue ought to be derived, they should not be raised
from such a source as this; and that that God which had
given to man. the earth as his inheritance, demands at
the hands of those who are intrusted with the sacred
trust of making laws, that they imitate his Son upon
earth, wbo amplified bread for the multitude, and did not
desecrate his law by denying to man the gifts Providence
had spread over the face of nature.—(Cheers.) One
word more as to the necessity of this Association. You
have banded against you the monopolists of .the land.
Sorry are we to see, but all know it, that the majorities
of both Houses of Parliament consist of men who are the
confederated, self-willed monopolists of the country,—
(Hear, hear.) You have to wring concessions from I.lein.
I speak not now of parties, but of men committed to cer-
tain opinions, and pledgcil?o. oarry out eerraln•nieasures.
`You liave-te oppose those men, and what have you to'
oppose them with ? On the one hand, we have
measures which all lovers of peace and human happiness
and concord must deprecate, and on the other that
moral right which if once gathered, concentrated, and
directed, no courederation of monopolists here Or any
where else upon the face of the earth will be able to
resist. Feel not hopeless, because those men are bound
together—because they are numerous—because they
vaunt their power—because they are defying you to
put forward your strength. Remember that some of
the greatest measures—some of those that have
conferred the greatest benefits upon this country,
and which stand as a monument of papule,:
determination, and the tardy wisdom of the Legis_
Ia t urehave been obtained under circur,stances
quite as inauspicious as those under which
mencing your present struggles.- -(Ph r.,u are com-
,---ni.) The re-
peal of the Test and Corporation A "as was wrung from
a- Parliament of Churchmen • r. -
was wrung from a Parliam:
er . catholic Emancipation
The measure which is Icn,:b of Orangemen.—(Hear.)
Bill was wrung from i.m'n by the name of the Reform
—(Cheers.) It - I a a iiament of boroughmongers.
all kinds oi' ,
was the abolition of the worst of
delusive negro slavery which passed under the
name of apprenticeship, and against which his
.. Friend who sat' on his left—(Mr. Scebell)— but
with whose voice we have not been favoured to-night,
laboured so strenuously, by collecting facts in the Ant-
hills, to demonstrate that to be a more cruel system than
the one which it displaced. The abolition of that
slavery was won not only from a reluctant Parlia-
ment, but from an Administration pledged to uphold
the planters in the maintainance of their unrighteous
power.—(Loud cheers.) Be you equally firm in
carrying out the righteous measure you have advocated
to night, and your success is equally certain. But I may
be permitted to say, from the experience I have had,
that if you would triumph you must base your cause
upon principle, and upon principle alone.—(Hear,
hear.) It is well to talk of machinery—it is well
to talk of the currency—it is well to talk of par-
ticular interests, and how they would be affected by
the great change you would propose—but it is
better still to talk of the inherentlinjustice and un-
righteousness of a law which limits the supply of the
fruits of the earth which Heaven has provided for all
men.—(Cheers.) Strip this question of its mysticisms,
strip it of its alliances. Talk of the Corn-law as of a
law which puts a nation on short
allowance.—(Cheers.)
Talk of the Corn-law as of a law inherently, essen-
tially, and altogether unjust. We are taught to offer to
Heaven a prayer to give us this day our daily bread.
That prayer is denied on earth after it has been heard
in heaven.—(Hear, hear, hear.) The answer came
from Heaven ; there bread will be given in abund-
ance to man. It would be to charge the Divine
Being, not only with a want of providence and care, but
with a want of wisdom too, to say that he has peopled
this earth with the most precious of his creation, and de-
nied them bread, while he fed the ravens when they
cried, and the lions when they howled. We reveren-
tially n.itcnowledge the goodness of our Common Father ;
we pity the sufferings of our fellow men ; we deprecate
the impending evils, that like a black cloud overspread
the land, but we look for the cause of our suffering, not
in that want of goodness onthe part of Him who formed
the earth, and placed us on it, but wo must lay them
at the door of an interested, unjust, and injurious legis-; lature.—(Hear.) Keep, then, 1 would say, to principle.
Are the Corn-laws unjust? Then I would repudiate a sliding scale,'a fixed duty ; repudiate all scales but a
scale of everlasting justice.—(Cheers.) Repudiate all
fixed duties but the fixed duties of seeking a total and
immediate repeal of these laws.--(Loud cheers.)
In the simplicity of purpose you will be strong you will be Intelligible.—(Bear.) Allow me to say
you will strengthen your cause by laying aside all parry
pprleedilcti would spf
powereak of porrininciplowe re—l .
I would
lavnldu to de-
clare all rvvi:si e-
that whoever is in power, or Nitioever yo
may be in
power, that the repeal of those laws you are de-
itseterminedan tod demand. Your Muse is good—is good in
lf ; 'oh how. Vlessed will be its effect.
You wish to be at pence with all the world. How are
,you to make peace with them, and cement and eternise
that peace with_ 'the world at large ? Why, by bringing
yourself in, contact—in friendly contact—in profitable
contact \vith the other nations of the earth.—(Cheers.)
I have the happiness -. of now having under my
own roof, in another town, at this moment, a
missionary from beyond the Alheghany mountains.
, He has come from the boundless prairies of the western
world ; he has left his own people, and traversed the
ocean which divides us from our Transatlantic brethren ;
and he has come here, on purpose to tell you
that his countrymen are willing to give you the fruits of
their soil if you will exchange with them in return on
equitable terms the surplus produce of your machinery;
But if you will not establish a commercial int.ercourse om
just and equitable terms they are undertakings
that
w
retalia-
toryillisti-
measures. They will establish tariffs
simulate manufactures in their own country,
and
and thus
that
prohibit yours from going amongst them, thmarket. The
cut you off for ever from
question_
nations of the earth
of national honour. What are the
moment ? A ftienti „
is not only one of national. peace—, it is one
thinking and saying of us at this mot
. of
e,"
of, .ate for
an advor- -
an abolition of the Corn-law?, went '47 .ner day to
humanity, a friend of free trade,. Aid
he wen
the United States of Aticwi43,
~. • .., there cornpas-
sionating the rais2PLY.:(l3l°l4" or slaves, and in order
to co-ePt=l:+l4 NY.th 'Aisi,-..re, '''"7en in America in the anti-
alal,tev'eal.w, But w- ...t was the language addressed to
141 in the Princw'j, city of the new world—in the city
of New York "r -He was to go home again, and ere he
asked f- - for the three millions of manacled
.ur mercy