The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-24 00:00:00

PRICE 5d

:aid he rejoiced that the attention of the Government
had at length, though at the eleventh hour, been directed
to our 'commercial restrictions, and to the destitution of
the working classes. It had been forced upon them by
their own distresses, and the difficulty rif raising the
revenue ; without which, we should have heard nothing
of these measures, either from Whigs or Tories. .The
price of grain on the Continent, for a number of years,
had averaged 325. 10d. a quarter, while here it had been
above 50s. ; thongh, had it come duty free, we might
have had it at 10s. a quarter above the continental prices.
To show that there was now great distress in this town,
he would state on the authority of the overseers, there
were in the boroUgh 1,781 empty houses, and that in order
to get the rates, they had been under the necessity, since
the 15th of last March, to issue 167 summonses.—(Hear.)
Had the families who had quitted the houses, now
empty, left the neighbourhood ? No : they were con-
gregated three or four together in one place, to the in-
jury of their health, morals, and of all social order.—
(Hear.) Bruce, the traveller, speaking of the trade
of Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt, said that " War disperses
wealth in the very instant it acquires it ; but commerce,
well regulated, constantly and honestly supported, and
carried on with economy, is the only thing that ever did
enrich kingdoms ; and 100 hands employed at the loom
will bring to a country more riches and abundance than
ten thousand, bearing spears and shields."—(Great ap-
plause.), Their acclamations satisfied him that they
agreed in the truth of these observations. It had been
said by another eminent writer 50 or 60 years ago, that
folly, infatuation, and vice, formed the principal revenue
of every country. But here bread was taxed. The pre-
sent tax was 235. Bd. at the present price. Government
proposed a tax of :Ss: Some Peers in the House of
Lords exclaimed against this, as a tax upon the bread
of the poor, while they supported the present law,
which imposed a tax of 235. Bd. He called upon them
to be united, and repeal all these laws.—(A voice, " And
the Poor-law.") And the Poor-law too.—(Applause.)
Repeal those laws, and the Poor-law would be a dead
letter ; as they could then help themselves.
Mr. WM. Locxavr moved the fourth resolution, and
said, that having been overseer two years, in 1834 and
1835, and being at present a Poor-law Guardian, he saw
the difference in this short time, in the condition of the
working classes ; those who had been able at the former
period to pay their taxes, he found now reduced to pau-
perism. Last Friday, there were 118 applications for
relief to the Board of Guardians—(Hear, hear)—
and there must be . some cause for tHis.—(Applause.)
He had examined into the condition of the agricultural
labourer. He had taken from the 6th volume of the
Poor-law Commissioners' report, the account of ten agri-
cultural counties, the population of which, according to
the last census, was 289,960. Of these, the number of
paupers receiving relief was 17,052, being 71 per cent,
or 1 in every 13 inhabitants ; the cost of maintaining
them was 2s. 3d. per head for each pauper, most of whom
were kept in the workhouse ; and the expense per head
per inhabitant was Bs. Sid. This was from Christmas
1838 to Christmas 1839, at a time when corn was high,
and when, according to the Corn-law people, the agri-
cultural people ought to have been prosperous. He con-
cluded by moving the resolution. •
Mr. MORRIS seconded the resolution. He was no po-
litician, and belonged to no party ; but, like Mr,
Gardner, would go with that man, of whatever party,
who would do us most good. He got his bread in a
cottton factory, and knew the situation of the trade at
this moment. It had been said that the manufacturers
were not suffering ; but he would tell them, both master
and man were badly off. Mr. Aaron Lees had ono mill
within three miles of Manchester, which cost 120,000/. ;
and when he failed three years ago, his creditors were
offered 75,0001. for the premises and machinery, and
they refused it. For the last six months they had had
that place under offer at 40,000/. and they had not had
a single bid. Now, if manufacturing was so good a
trade, he was quite satisfied money might be found some-
, where, for somebody to go into it, in this mill.—(Hear.)
He (Mr. Morris) had called his overlookers together last
week, and put it to them whether they would work short
time, or go to lower wages, as other manufacturers had
done, and they agreed to drop wages. They dropped
from 12s. 4d. to 11s. 4d. for a pair of looms ; and was
he benefited by that reduction ? No ; but three-fold
worse. Some time ago, he (Mr. Morris) had repealed
the malt-tax and the spirit-tax for himself—(Hear)—
but he could not take off the bread-tax.—(Hear.) In
union was strength ; let them be determined to have
honest men in Parliament, and none else, and then we
should be secure.—(Applause.)
Mr. JAMES BARROW, a working man out of employ-
ment, said, their superiors had been longer in feeling the
distress than the working classes had ; but they would
feel it when there was no work for the people. lie did
not want to pull down machinery, but to extend it, while
he stood by and watched it. They could not see s many
American flour barrels flying about as there were a year
and a half ago ; but, if the Corn-laws were repealed, we
should have plerdy4
Mr. CHARLTON, in proposing the fifth resolution, for
a memorial to her Majesty, said that he heartily con-
curred in its prayer ; and he had no doubt it would re-
ceive that kind attention which her Majesty had ever
evinced towards the wants and wishes of her people.
He would tell " the farmer's friend" and the Earl of
Ripon that there was a torrent of free inquiry which all
the hypocrisy and power of both Houses could not stem.
Already the sun of the abolition of these laws had begun
to gild the mountain tops.—(Applause.)
Mr. DILWORTH seconded the motion.

Mr. DUGAN said that the meeting was all wrong.
There had been a majority of-the Irish Members voting
for the repeal of the Corn-laws--(Applause)—and next
election they would have eighty-four Members from Ire-
land to support it. In conclusion, he proposed three
cheers for the Queen and her Ministers, which were
heartily given. _ _

The motion was then passed unanimously..
The proceedings terminated at two o'clock. The meet-
ing at one period comprised as marij persons as the Hall
could conveniently accommodate.. •
The following petition, iae,orporating the resolutions,
was unanimously adopted
To the Commons of
Great Britain and Ireland.

Showeth,--That, viewing with the deepest apprehen-
sion and alarm the, intense misery and suffering of the
labouring population, consequent on the continued and
unparalleled prostration of the trade ofthis district, your
petitioners earnestly call upon your Honourable House to
adopt such measures as will afford prompt and adequate
relief. •

That your petitioners attribute the existing commer-
cial embarrassment and distress chiefly to the operation
of those unwise and unjust laws which deny the right of
the people to exchange the produce of their labour for
the productions of other ce-antries, and which sanction
the iniquitous monopolies 'in corn and other food.
That your petitioners rejoice that the attention of her
Majesty's Government', has been directed to the modifi-
cation of our restrierive laws, and that it desires to ren-
der our customs' &ides subservient to the revenue of the
country, whereb, our commerce will be extended, and
our industrious, and productive classes supplied with
every necessary of life.
Your
Pethie ners therefore humbly pray that measures,
thus leading to the removal of the great evils under
which this
community is so deeply suffering, may not be
obstructer',
and that your Honourable House will not
pause iri the career of amelioration in our commercial
relatii:ms until all protective duties and all monopolies,
esPr,eially those in corn and other food, are abolished.

BANGOR ANTI-CORN-LAW
MEETING.
Inpursuance of a requisition, addressed to the Church-
'wardens, this meeting took place, at the Ebenezer Ch-
apel, on Friday, the 14th instant, the use of the National
School having been refused. The attendance was highly
creditable to the good feeling of the inhabitants. It was
in fact the most numerously attended public meeting that
has ever been witnessed in Bangor, ani both Whigs and
Tories heartily joined in the cause. The Ministers have
earned golden opinions throughout the country by the
liberal, commercial policy developed in the Budget, and
shoun a dissolution take place they will no doubt be
nobly supported by the people. Mr. R. M. Griffith was
call;A to the chair.

Mr. R. PARRY moved a series of resolutions.
---The Rev. ARTHUR JONES translated the resolutions
into the Welsh language, and seconded their adoption.
The CnArmunx asked if any one objected to the reso-
lutions, or had any amendment to move i and no objec-
tion being made, nor amendment moved, they were
unanimously, and with one acclamation, agreed to.
Mr. 0. 0. ROBERTS congratulated the meeting upon
the spirit manifested by the inhabitants of Bangor, and
hoped they would continue their exertions in so good a
cause. The Corn-laws, he stated, were injurious to every
honest class of society, but more especially to the agri-
ctiltural classes. He heartily congratulated the meeting
upon having, through the kindness of the Rev. Mr.
' Jones, a place to meet in to further so good a cause.
llThey had been refused the use of the National School,
which, upon all occasions, was• at the service of every
tramper that came across the country with a fiddle at
his back. They, thanks to a Dissenting Minister, had
a door opened to them, to advocate the cause of the poor,
the naked, and the hungry.
The Rev. A. JONES aclaressed the meeting in Welsh,
upOn the subject which had railed them together, in a
most forcible speech, which produced a great effect upon
his hearers. He pointed out the unseriptural nature of
the Corn-laws, as oppresSing the poor, and restrictainnr, ,
' commercial intercourse between nation and nation; d
called upon every one to join heart and hand in. gettingati e
a 1
them blotted out of the Statutzt-book. H n
Ile
put it to every elector that he should be satisfied,el:erea.nbefl of
giving his vote, that the candidate was for a i
the Corn-laws,
ythoeteab:ptßioanllooft.Chrifirchehirznievteesr,enadndGaelsltulpe:
porter of the
, highly Vas
1)
leased cordiallywith
man, at the conclusion of his adi-ess
cheered; and the meeting separated,.
__
naenradlif7m
the proceedings, and fully determined to give effect to
the resolutions adopted.
a.
cialrieaupseteiotinotrisrasNt7rien Inthoastt
respect,nuinero uislliythsitgLegde,
0,
of
petitions lately got up in Bangor.—Carnarvon Herald.

. „
We regret to find it mentioned that a 4, rjry
extensive blight' prevails among the apple trees in
Herefordshire, and that " the
diminished. 'There are complaints
diminished."
of a crop is
the orchards in this county, but we
othisetrieloybeloi;:hsitdearma9blllyg,
do not hear of its existing to any very serious eitent—
TVorcester

.0.

-
-ziepiot.(cZ4,o,_4v
TT w
EVENING= EIVOION't
_
T CORN-LA(Wg,iizc.;l •-
The Governmeu scheme fof,beginning-a' /ew
commercial policy, which
,have (AA
upon the waters of pubFc opinion, .41.6eciing"iii•_,..
have their .bread returned to iiig Aftqz!..-
days, is now fairly afloat; the agitation wltteh
the spell was intended to raise is sufficiently ma-
tured for ajudgment. The Ministerial stratagem
has succeeded in producing a commotion in which
there is much that is genuine. The offered gift,
indeed, is received with distrust; it is even appre-
ciated below its value, because it is offered by
those who have so frequently dealt in counter-
feits. But it
.seems to be considered that the
Whigs are committed to .their new. doctrines;
that the doctrines themselves
.are :,tou great
weight to be lightly treated; that the people of
England, stimulated by the indefatigable Free-
traders, are not likely to be so subservient as
the Irish with their Appropriation-clause,
broken as the spirit of that people was by
the " seven centuries of wrong;" and thus
it is concluded that the Whigs must move
on with the stream for which they have
opened the sluices. Several parties have there-
tore united to accept the " instalment" of
free trade offered by the Whigs • and to that
sense, at several of the most influential public
meetings, their acceptance has been limited.
This is perhaps the most remarkable feature irk
the present behaviour of that part of the peopb,
who have adhered to the cause : there is a popu-
lar recognition ofa policy as distinct from a prin-
ciple. That discipline in the conduct of public
affairs, thus forced upon heterogeneous and irre-
sponsible popular assemblages, is a striking test
of the forces of the two causes' to which it is due
—mistrust of the motives and capacity of the
Whigs, and an earnest desire to seize everything
which will briny us nearer to free trade. In this
way, some of the obstacles to the advance of a
comparatively abstract question have been par-
tially removed.; even the obstructive Chartists
have in few instances offered a successful
or even an active opposition to the agi-
tation : it is plain that the most intelli-
gent and most numerous portion of that party ta-
citly sanction an agitation in which they cannot
believe, though they cannot conscientiously resist
it. The degree, then, to which popular influence
has been made to bear upon the question has
been considerable. It will be remembered that
both the Anti-Corn-law agitation and the Im-
port-duties agitation had been commenced before
Ministers endeavoured to turn them to their own
purpose; still the Reports of the Committee of
the House of Commons on Public Petitions show
a great advance. The following figures are taken
from the last three Reports :
May 7. May 11.
Pets. Sigs. Pets. Signs.
For Corn-law

May 14.
Pets. Sigs.

Repeal 334 126,755...748 304,420...1,607 474,4•t8
Against it 225 13,519...409 21,845... 540 30,931
For Revision of
ItnportDuties 77 35,402... 87 36,957
For the Go-
vernment Mea- 80 31,462
sures of Reduc.
tion.
For proposed Sugar. Duties 20 1,628
Against proposed Timber Duties —... 7 161

Here is indicated not a little public activity
and interest; though those who remember the
Reform Bill agitation will smile at any attempt
to compare the two. Now, however, the con-
centration and expression of public opinion are
impeded by a variety of causes. When " Re-
formers" are no longer in office, shrouded by the
doting reminiscences of "auld lang sync,' the
spirit of forbearance, which now hampers many
in their endeavours to support a Government
with which they do not thoroughly agree? will
have disappeared: when Whig-Min►sterialists
are merged into the general crowd of free-traders,
the position of the more zealous agitators will
have a less questionable aspect, than now while
every talk of " Liberal measures" is con-
strued into a sneaking support of " the Liberal
Ministry." When that source of mistrust is re-
moved, the free-trade party will become larger,
more compact, and more united. Thus, Sir R.
Peel, who takes office against alteration of the
Corn-laws, will encounter an opposition, on that
score, differing very materially in strength and
energy from the precarious support which Mi-
nisters now derive from the same source. But
while he will sustain a more strenuous attack
when he has passed to the other side of the
House, he cannot get rid of his landed-interest
friends; he would find even more difficulty than
the Whigs in playing them false. Between two
such fires, it is not surprising that the Treasury
bench should possess but doubtful attractions for
Sir Robert.

If, Inmever, he cannot whistle off his landed
friends, so neither can any party do so at once,
or fbr some time to come : the Whi-zs have too
carefully prepared, in the construct; an of the Re-
form Act, to maintain the Pro-Corn-law charac-
ter of the House of Commons, for the cause which
they have newly espoused not to be defeated in
its first stages. This House will never repeal the
Corn-laws; 'tor will any exertions at the hustings
snake the nest House repeal them. Immediate
success is impossible. The means to that end
must be the bringing of a far more overwhelming
force of 'nubile opinion to bear upon the elections
than is indicated by the half-million Anti-Corn-
law signatures, infinitely diluted with non-elec-
tors, women, and infants. Success, therefore, is
a question for the future : it will be attained most
speedily by cool, careful, and exact preparations
for it. One is offered by the approaching elec-
tion : never was question more thoroughly teazel.
and winnowed than the Corn question will be itt
the conflict of every opposing interest at public-
meeting discussions, hustings discussions, New-
Parliament discussions—in votes at public meet-
ings, at the poll, and in the next Session. -The
discussion will be most effectual in proportion lys
it is divested of fraudulent and claptrap pre-
tences. Not that it will be possible to purify the
hustings of a vast amount of humbug; but zealous
and sincere men, anxious to promote real commer-
cial reforms, will not hold out foolish expectations
of" cheap bread"—a boon which does not come
in question under the proposition at present sub-
mitted to the country. Nor will they be content
with exacting a 'pledge to vote on this single
question. The nom de guerre of" Reformer" sent
into the House of Commons some of the most
servile of patronage-hunters. A single pledge
once being literally fulfilled, the representative
who seemed most bound takes his degree as an
irresponsible legislator. Honest Free-traders.,
therefore, will seek to send, not mere voting-ma-
chines, set to one tune and convertible to any
other purpose, but strong-headed, intelligent, self-
relying men, who will be able to enforce that
sort of policy in all things which will tend to
advance this one cause with all cognate mear
sures.--Spectator.