The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-29 00:00:00

THE CORN-LAWS.

A meeting of the working classes and non-electors,
convened by placard, was held in St. George's Fields, St.
George's-road, on Monday evening last, " to receive the
report of the non-electors' committee (which was ap-
pointed at a meeting held just before the election), and
to resolve upon the best means to be adopted by the
working men of Manchester at the present important
crisis, for obtaining the total repeal of the man starva-
tion acts." About 1,000 persons were assembled. Mr.
John Kelly was called to the chair. He read the Report
of the committee, which congratulated the meeting on
the successful termination of the contest in this borough
between the supporters of the bread-tax and the enemies
of that atrocious injustice. It then stated, that, as many
persons who voted for the anti-bread-tax candidates had
suffered through their conscientious exertions in the good
cause, the, committee trusted that the working classes
would show their sense of the meritorious conduct of their
friends amongst the electors, by supporting them by all
means in their power. The report then expressed a re-
gret at the general result of the elections, and recom-
mended union amongst the working and middle classes,
and energy in the cause,which would soon show the Gover-
nment that they could only hold office by doing justice to
the people. The Report also stated that a list of elec-
tors who voted for the anti-bread-tax candidates
would be printed and published. Mr. Finigan then
addressed the meeting on the miseries which the Corn-
laws inflict upon the working classes, and moved a reso-
lution to the effect, " That this meeting of the working
men of Manchester has seen with indignation the result
of the late general election, by which a majority has
been returned to Parliament in favour of the unchristian
monopoly of food. That so far from representing the
wants and wishes of the community, the majority of the
new House of Commons represents a greedy band of
monopolists, by whose corrupting and coercive arts they
have been elected for the purpose of plundering and op-
pressing the great body of the people. The resolution
then stated that, under these circumstances, and having
no present hope but in the firmness of a gracious and pa-
triotic Sovereign, the meeting agreed to an address to the
Queen. The address was also read. It expressed senti-
ments similar to those embodied in the resolution, and
contained a respectful request to her Majesty to recommend
the repeal of the Corn and Provision Laws to the new Par-
liament, and to dissolve it forthwith, if it should refuse
compliance ; and further, to exercise her royal preroga-
tive, by dissolving every succeeding House of Commons
which shall refuse to do justice to the people. Mr.
M'Gowan seconded the resolution, which was supported
by Mr. Aclandl the Anti-Corn-law lecturer, who drew
a fearful picture of the state of the labourers in the agri-
cultural counties ; and stated his firm belief that, if there
were not soon a change for the better in their condition,
nothing could avert an impending revolution. The re-
solution was passed with applause ; and, on the motion
of Mr. Daly, it was resolved that Earl Fitzwilliam and
the Earl of Radnor be respectfully requested to present
the address to the Queen ; and that the Chairman write
to their Lordships, begging that they will avail them-
selves of their privilege as Peers of the realm, and ex-
plain to her Majesty at a personal audience the griev-
ances tinder which the working men are suffering, in
consequence of the corn and provision monopolies.—The
meeting separated about half-past nine o'clock.—Man-
chester Guardian.

THE EFFECTS OF THE CORN-

LAWS.

The reductions which have recently taken place in
the make of iron in this district, and the consequent dis-
charge of large numbers of men from the Works, has
produced an extent and degree of distress among the
working classes truly afflicting. During the week we
have seen more than one gang of unemployed men,
who, after seeking for work at the different establish-
ments in this and the adjoining counties without
success, have travelled through the Forest of Dean,
through Staffordshire, and into Shropshire, without
being more fortunate. They then, as a last resource,
returned to this neighbourhood, and we heard one of

the poor fellows earnestly imploring employment for
his meat only. This is truly a dreadful state of things,
but are the prospects for the future more cheering ?
We regret to state our belief that they are not ; and
the hopes which we indulged of a favourable re-action
in trade, from the proposed alteration in the Corn-
laws, are dashed by the unfavourable issue of the elec-
tions.
We shall not speculate here on the course
to be pursued by the supporters of free trade, and the
enemies of the Corn monopoly, but we will record a
fact that illustrates, in a very forcible manner, the ill
effects of the sliding (or, more properly, swindling)
scale. The price of flour has risen in this district, within
a few weeks, several shillings per sack, at a period when
we are on the eve of a harvest which promises to be at
least an average one. This will grievously add to the
sufferings of the poor—already too severe !—and will
furnish another instance of the evil of a law which
enables a few great speculators in London and Liverpool
by fictitious sales, and various other dishonest means,
to enhance the price of the first necessary of life
to the labouring classes. This incident reminds us of
an argument relied on by the monopolists in the course
of the recent discussions in Parliament on the Corn-
laws, and which was also the great gun of the sup-
porters of those cruel and emaciating laws at every
hustings in the empire, viz., that the reduction in the
price of corn, which would result from the partial
repeal proposed in the corn tax, would be followed by a
corresponding fall in the wages of labour ; and that,
consequently, the labourer and the artisan would be
no better off for the alteration, or even the total repeal
of the law. If the wages of labour, then, depend on the
price of corn, and if they fall when a reduction in that
price takes place, surely it follows as a matter of course,
that when an advance occurs, they must rise in the same
proportion. We put it, then, seriously to those gentle-
men who have availed themselves so liberally of this clap-
trap, to state the advance they have made on the wages
of those in their employment, since the late rise in the
price of bread. We ask those extensive manufacturers
and agriculturists who still support these odious laws,
whether they are prepared to give the best proof of their
belief in the soundness of their argument—carrying it
into practice, and raising the wages of their artisans and
labourers in proportion to the recent advance in the prime
necessary of life. If they act thus, they may, without
inconsistency, use this argument in public on a future
occasion ; but if they do not, they must submit to be
considered as men who have defrauded the labourer of
his wages, or as persons who, for factious and dishonest
purposes, have made use of an argument which they
knew to be fallacious and unsound.—Monmouth