The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-25 00:00:00

S!' N. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25. 1540.

GREAT AN TI-CORN-LA W

MEETING.

(Abridged from the Dublin Evening Post.)
On Thursday evening, pursuant to advertisement, an
aggregate meeting of the tradesmen and working classes
of Dublin was held in the Adelphi Theatre, Great
Brunswick-street, to take into consideration the ne-
cessity of petitioning Parliament for the total and imme-
diate abolition of the ruinous Corn-laws.
Tito meeting was most numerously attended, every
part of the Theatre being completely filled.
At half-past seven o'clock Mr. J. O'Brien was called
to the chair. Mr. Jas. Martin was appointed secretary.
The CHAIRMAN thanked the meeting for the honour
they had done him by calling him to preside over so
respectable and numerous a meeting. The question
before them on this night was one of great importance.
Every man would allow that the manufactures of Eng-
land were considerably on the decrease ; and if the
system of Corn-laws at present in existence were per-
severed in, it would ultimately destroy all trade, manu-
facture, and commerce.

(Here Mr. O'Connell came on the stage, and was
received with the most tremendous and long-continued
cheering-, waving of hats, handkerchiefs, &c.)
The SECRETARY proposed the first resolution, as fol-
lows :—" That the prosperity and greatness of the British
empire being mainly attributable to manufacturing and
commercial enterprise, we cannot but view with deep
concern the rapid decrease in our exports to the Conti-
nent of Europe, &c., when, instead of using our manu-
factures as hitherto, they not only supply themselves,
but now successfully compete with us, both in our own
and foreign markets ; and as this melancholy change
has been caused by the prohibitory laws on the im-
portation of foreign corn, thereby totally abutting
out our manufactures from their best markets—foreign-
ers justly refusing to take our manufactures, as we ab-
surdly refuse to admit their corn—we thus deem it to
be our bounden duty to at once seek for a total and
immediate repeal of so impolitic and injurious an act."
Mr. BRENNAN seconded the resolution, which was
then put and carried amid loud cheers.
Mr. War. FITZPATRICK (carpenter) proposed the
second resolution, and said it was the duty of the
meeting to point out to the agricultural labourer and
farmer the state to which they were reduced by the
Corn-law Bill. He remembered when a labourer
got 2s. 6d. a day and his diet for one half of the
year, and Is. 3d. for the remainder, but now they only
got 4d. ; so this proved the Corn-laws did not work well.
—( Hear.) He concluded by moving a resolution, which
was seconded by Mr. P. Kean (paper-stainer), and
passed unanimously.
Mr. REYNOLDS also moved a resolution, which was
seconded by Mr. O'Toole, and passed.
Mr. ACLAND (one of the lecturers of the Manchester
Anti-Corn-law League, deputed to represent the Council
on this occasion), then addressed the meeting at con-
siderable length, and was followed by Mr. SHARMAN
CRAWFORD, when
Mr. O'CoNNELL rose and was received with the most
enthusiastic cheering,which continued for several minutes.
After some introductory remarks, he thus proceeded—
This question of Corn-laws is not, perhaps, as suffi-
ciently well understood as it should in this country by
all. The operatives here understand it but too well, as
they in a peculiar degree are made to feel the want of
that bread which they so laboricusly earn. The agricultu-
rists and middlemen know comparatively but little of it.
The landlords understand it well enough, but not in the
way they ought. In the discussion of the Corn-laws the
very worst species of discussion was adopted by the
landlord—by the supporters of Orange lodges—by tho
grand jurors, and such as would live in luxury at the
expense of the operatives' privations ; in fact, the very
worst men in every county were those by whom the Corn-
laws were supported in Ireland. On the other hand
you have the friends of the people opposed to the
Corn-laws. There is Mr. Crawford, for instance, he
comes forward at the head of the category, and I sub-
mit myself also, if you give me leave, as another on the
list—l, too, being a friend of the people.—(Cheers.) I
have thus given you one sympton as to the discussion of
the measure, as far as regards the classes interested in per.
petuating the evil. What is the otl.er ? Do they call public
meetings in order to discuss the question publicly? They
do no such thing—they hold their meetings in grand
jury rooms, and in other such hole and corner ways.
These men are for making the bread dear, and for
what purpose ? Why, simply to put money into their
own pockets. It is nothing more nor less. It is not
the man by whose labour the corn is raised that calls
for the Corn-laws. There arc, to be sure, some advo-
cates of the measure who come out and would seek to
persuade you that if the landlords get a high price
for their corn, the higher wages would the labourer be
sure to obtain for his work. But such was not the fact.

It was argued, that if he got the bread at a lesser
price, the less wages would the operative have to
lay out on it. It was worse than absurd—it was a
lie—the landlords did not give more wages in propor-
tion to the high price of corn. And what Mr.
Crawford tells you of there being, at this present
moment, upwards of two millions of paupers in
Ireland, sufficiently proves how the Corn-laws have
been working as regards the population in this coun-
try. In 1828, the Corn-laws began, and now that
the measnre has been going on for a period of twelve
years, where, can I be told, has the system had the
effect of increasing the wages of the operative ? No-
where. On the contrary, during these twelve years
one million at least of the population of Ireland have
been driven out of the country to seek employment
amongst the manufacturers of England. Yes, the land-
lords sent them adrift from their homes, and they
go to the English manufacturers, from whom if they
should not succeed in obtaining employment, they
would be exposed to perish. Can I contrast any
two things more strongly than this state of things
as between the landlords and the people ? The la-
houring:clas'os are daily driven out of the country by the
low rate of wages, or the want of employment altogether,
and the high price of bread. This may do good for
the landlords, but most certainly none whatever for the
people. When I speak thus lam not to be under-
stood as the advocate of any particular class of the
people of any country or sect. I am the servant
of the universal people.—(Loud cheers.) 0, right glad
am I that this crisis has arisen ; for while the
question was not distinctly understood by all, it
was contended by those interested that Ireland was
benefited by the Corn-laws. The nobility and the
people of Ireland, it should be remembered, had
generously come forward in support of the English ma-
nufactures, so that no one party should suffer by the
other. If I entertain any prejudice in favour of any
one portion of the empire over the other—that any one
portion of it should be more prosperous than another,
why then I would say, Old Ireland for ever.—(Cheers.)
—But there should be no invidious distinctions
allowed to exist. Every man should desire that the
whole of the British empire should be in a state
of equal prosperity. The manufactures of England
had the benefit of our artizans here, whilst this
country had the prospect before it of the baneful
drain of her resources directed elsewhere. The manu-

factories of the Continent, and of England and Scot-
land, are now on the decline ; but if the Corn-laws were
repealed, the benefit arising from the free importation
of foreign agricultural produce would expand itself
so amongst the manufacturing interests, that it would
be sure to reach Ireland, when, instead of four-
pence a day precarious wages to the labourer,
as at present, there would be uninterrupted employment
given to the Irish manufacturers the whole year round,
and on terms upon which the operative could support
himself in some degree of comfort. This would be
the sane course to pursue. And when I call out
to England for justice to Ireland, my voice would at
the same time be heard equally loud in my call for
justice to England. I am equally for justice to
all. I go not upon any party or sectarian principle.
I put this forward, upon the principle of being equally
useful to all. On this subject Igo upon the same prin-
ciple as that all should have the right of exercising
their own conscientious opinions in matters of religious
belief (Hear, hear). Upon that principle we have
already achieved a glorious, stainless, bloodless
triumph ; and upon the same principle I now,
from this place, call upon the people of England to aid
me in putting an end to a frightful monopoly, and
thereby prevent the robbery of the poorer by the richer
classes of the community.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Mr. Aeland has placei the subject before you
with great force, clearness, and ability. I un-
derstand that that gent!cman intends, on the evenings
of to-morrow and Saturday, to deliver lectures gratui-
tously to the public, on which occasion it is his inten-
tion to go fully into the details of the subject. He
will give you the pounds, shillings, and pence matters
appertaining to the question. The present is a great
struggle for our rights. The iron landlords of feudal
days are followed by the silk and taffety lords of
the present day. The former were not so well fed
to be sure, but they were stouter. The latter,
however, are over-fed and are puny—(Laughter.) The
real strength of the nation lies in the operative or
working classes—for instance, the pound of cotton
which is brought from abroad is valued at three far-
things—the hand of Industry is applied to it, and it
becomes five hundred times of more worth than its
original value. The operative it is that. gives the value
to it. That labour is the highest property of man,
and that he has direct from his God—(Hear, hear.)
It is the gift of the Creator to him. Tahnedinittelligene
must,
to
and knowledge of the operative classes are be.
c geivnenriyngwteoll.dadisvpaonsceed rampeidmlybearndof
firmly,
society,
prove most
gratifying to behold the opportunity afforded
to the humbler classes of attaining this know-
ledge through the medium of cheap publications—the
Art Unions, the Mcchanats' Institute, and other such
excellent institutions. Why should there be a dis-
tinction, then, between the wealthier and lower or-
ders of the people ? Did they not all come into this
world in the sam sat of inraney ? 'Would they not
all go to the tomb in the same state of inanity ?
( Hear, hear.) There was no distinction between the
births and their deathe of the higher and lower classes of
the community. None whatever. lam for the inherent

rights of mankind ; and I uphold them as .equalling in
the scale. Those may be, perhaps, looked upon as their
superiors in rank, but who never again shall be their
masters. Chartism in England had endeavoured to
effect its objects by mere physical force ; but I hope
now that this delusion is over, and that it has
passed away for ever in England. But did that
principle of brute force ever reach Ireland ?—(Hear.)
If it did why, it was only to be kicked out of it.—
(Cheers.) 0, I admire the tact and shrewdness of my
countrymen—all they ever wanted, in my opinion, was
good advice to enable them to distinguish the right from
the wrong, and to act upon it accordingly ; but, was
I near them to offer one word on the subject to their
understanding—and 0, I never felt more delighted
in my life than when they scouted with indignation from
their city the advocates of brute force—of vio-
lence and disorder—my countrymen, of whom I so
i
justly feel proud, still maintaining their right of nsist-
ing that that equal justice should be done them which
they so well deserved. I hail, with the most unalloyed
feelings of delight, this disposition of my countrymen,
and the tranquillity that at present prevails over the
land. But, above all, I hail with a feeling of joy and
gratification, to which I confess I am utterly unable to
give expression, the mighty miracle of total abstinence
from intoxicating liquors that has been wrought.—
(Tremendous cheering from all parts of the House.)
0, blessed be my God that has given me to see the day
that Ireland, universal Ireland, has set an example such
as has never been equalled by any other nation of the
earth, whether savage or civilized. A few, a very few
years ago, indeed, the feast of our great patron saint,
St. Patrick, was celebrated in a manner the most ini-
quitous and degrading. Tben even female lips were
polluted by the poisoned draft, and hundreds of thou-
sands sacrificed to the filthy Moloch of intoxication.
Who, I would ask, that saw last Patrick's day and this
was not struck with the mighty change that came over
the habits and morals of the people. To see immense
masses coming forward to say that they were purified
from the grossness that had so recently overwhelmed
them—who did not feel the full force of that moral
energy that had for ever dashed the poisoned draught
of intoxication from their lips.—(Great applause, and
" One cheer more for the Teetotallers.") I may,
perhaps, be asked why it is that I do not myself prac-
tise what I preach ? I have been always sober. I
do confess that I did entertain a very strong
notion, indeed, to take the pledge, but then I
considered that my doing so might be construed
by some that it was for political or party purpwes.
—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) However, my mind
is fully made up on that point. A cry may be raised
against me, but what I preach to others I am able to
practise in myself. Let every man who hears rue inquire
of his own heart whet power it was that urged forward
this imposing exhibition of moral control over the worst
of passions ? A gentleman informed me that he had
been recently through four of the largest towns in the
south of Ireland, and that not in a single instance had
he seen a human being go into a public-house in any of
thcm.--( Hear, hear, and cheers.) Other countries of
the earth had been converted to Christianity as ages
rolled on ; but in Ireland the conversions were simul-
taneous, so that preachers of the word could not be had
in numbers sufficient to give baptism to the converts,
and in the course of three or four years all the land was
a land of converts, and that miracle of Heaven has again
been enacted here. A great moral change, general
and universal, has come over us, and I laugh to scorn
all our calumniators when Ireland will thus be a land
of morality. I have been led away by this topic, but
it is a topic so intimately connected with that act of
justice which we seek to obtain, that I could not re-
frain from thus adverting to the subject. The Hon.
and Learned Gentleman then moved a vote of thanks
to Mr. Acland, the Manchester Corn-law Delegate,
which was passed with acclamation.
A petition to Parliament, founded on the several re-
solutions, was unanimously agreed to, after which the
meeting adjourned.

MONEY MARKET and CIT Y. NEWS.

(TUESDAY EVENING.)
TIMES.—Money was in some demand to-day at the
Stock Exchange, and it came on rather suddenly, so as
to require the assistance of the Bank to meet it. The
rate paidtfor it was from 5 to
.51- per cent., and about
2(10,000/. was borrowed from the Bank on the security
of Exchequer bills. These changes, however, arc not
unexpected to those acquainted with the real state of
the Money Market. This was the situation of things
in a yery striking degree previous to the settlement of
the last Consol Account, and any large call for money
is sure to renew it. Cautious operators, therefore,
avoid all speculation for a rise in funded property, but
it does not thence follow that they are disposed to act
for a fall, as the quantity of stock afloat is but limited,
and if suddenly wanted for delivery ;bight be found as
scarce as money sometimes is to take up the speculative
stock purchased.

By the advices from Hamburgh the price of gold
is 430 per mark, which, at the English Mint price
of 3/. 17s. 101 d. the ounce for standard gold, gives
an exchange of 13. 71, and the exchange at Ham-
burgh on London at short being 13. 71, it follows that
gold is 0.12 per cent. dearer at Hamburgh than in
London.

The premium on gold at Paris is 7 per mills, which,
at the English Mint price of St 17s. 100. the ounce
fur standard gold, gives an exchange of 25. 324, and
the exchange at Paris on London at short being 24. 30,
it follows that gold is 0.10 per cent. dearer at Paris
than in London.

The course of exchange at New York on London
is 1081 per cent., and the par of exchange between
England and America being 109 23.40 per cent.,
it follows that the exchange is 1.07 per cent. against
England.
A return to the House of4Commons of several ac-
counts relative to bops, malt, &c., gives as the num-
ber of acres under cultivation of hops in 1839 52,305
7-16. Tile collections which return the most are Can-
terbury, which is stated at 11,1481 acres ; Hants,
1,621 i ; Hereford, 9,7331 ; Rochester, 13,8861 ;
Salisbury, 1,204 ; Sussex, 10,808 ; and Worcester,
1.721 i. The total amount of duty on hops collected
in the same year was 357,4891. 7s. 2d. The quantity
of hops exported from the sth of January, 1839, to
the sth of January, 1840, was 1,744,6121b5. of growths
from 1818 to 1839 inclusive. Of any one growth,
the greatest export was that of 1829, being 171,577ib5.,
the least that of 1825, being 4241b5. The total num-
ber of the quarters of malt made from the 10th of
October, 1838, to the 10th of October, 1839, was
4,082,367.

By the usual official return published by the Cus-
toms, the exportation of the precious metals from the
port of London to foreign and colonial ports for the
week ending the 19th of March is as under :
Ounces.
Silver coin, Rotterdam ll2
Silver coin, Calais 62.000
Silver bars, Calais 40,000

SUN.—The Tea market was not brisk this afternoon.
Company's Congou was quoted 2s. 4kd. per lb. cash.
In the Foreign Exchanges there was no alteration of
the least importance. Bills on Paris were negotiated
at 25f. 55c. to 57if., on Hamburg, at 13 94 10, and on
Amsterdam at 12 14.
Stocks were firm up to the close of business, Consols
being last quoted 904 for Money, and 91 for time.
The Foreign Securities attracted very little attention.
Spanish Consols rallied from 281 to 28} ; and Colom-
bian Bonds from 24i to 248, these being the only al-
terations.
The Railway Shares were rather heavier.