The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-04 00:00:00

DISTRESSED STATE OE- T iE•

COUNTRY.

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GREATIMETING AT LIVERPOOL - TO, AD-
DRESS THE QUEEN ON THE EXISTING
NATIONAL DISTRESS..
LIVERPOOL, SATURDA,Y Nicurr.—This evening a
densely crowded and most enthusiastic meeting was held
in the Amphitheatre, for the purpose of memorialising
the Queen to institute an inquiry into the existing
national distress. The Mayor of Liverpool; Thomas
Bolton, Esq., who
presided, issued the following an-
nouncement : .

" Having received a requisition as follows, most nume-
rously and respectably signed, 4 We, the undersigned in-
habitants of the borough of Liverpool and its vicinity,
considering it iMportant for the two Houses of parlia-
ment not to be prorogued until full inquiry into the causes
of the present national distress has been instituted, do
respectfully request that you will convene a town's meet-
ing to afford the merchants, traders, and others of this
great community an opportunity of . expressing their
sentiments on the subject, and of memorialising her Ma-
jesty the Queen,' I do hereby appoint this day (Satur-
day) the 2,d of October, at the hour of seven in the even-
ing, at the Amphitheatre, in Great Charlotte-street, for
a meeting of the inhabitants, to take into consideration
the subject
againstnbjectoftthe p
the
rovosed
requisition,pe taintidon to hertodeter Majesty as to
meinfhvo ur
of or
the meeting shall appear proper and expedient.
" THOMAS BbLTON, Mayor."
Vie wording of this announcement left room for oppo-
sition on the part of those unfavourable to the object of
the meeting, if, indeed, it did not appear to solicit it ;
but the resolutions and the memorial were all carried
without a single dissentient, although two Chartists,
named Jones and Ambler, caused some interruption by
endeavouring to tack a resolution for universal suffrage
to the address to the Queen ; but, after some discussion,
they consented to withdraw it, avowing themselves fa-
vourable to the object for which the meeting was called.
The Amphitheatre was densely crowded, the pit, boxes,
and galleries being all full. On the stage, in addition to
a number of other highly respectable merchants and
tradesmen, there were, J. Molyneux, W. Rathbone, R.
Shiel, T. Blackburne, T. Moorcroft, R. V. Yates, D.
Mathor, T. Mather, J. Crooke, C. Holland, James Har-
vey, jun., E. H. Harvey,
B. Rathbone, T. Rathbone,
Alderman Evans, Rev. J. Martineau, J. Ryley, Joseph
Hornby, C. Rawdon, and L. Heyworth, Esqrs.
The Mayon, on taking the chair, was received with
enthusiastic cheering. lie said, that having received
a requisition from 5+,500-inhabitants of the town to con-
vene a public meeting to consider the great destitutibn
which prevails in many parts of the country for the
want of employment for the working part of the com-
munity, he had, in accordance with the requisition so
numerously and respectably signed, called the present
meeting to consider the subject.
RorlEar KELLY, a working man,
moved the first reso-
lution—" That we have heard with surprise and despon-
dency that the Legislature have delayed to take into con-
sideration the present alarming condition of the social
and commercial interests of this country ; that the ap-
palling destitution of the working classes all over the
country, to which our own town forms no exception, im-.
peratively demands that this reckless and impolitic deter-
' mination be recalled ; that irrespective of all party dis-
tinctions, and united only by our determined opposition
to all monopolies, we are met to protest against this
heartless and unnecessary delay ; that it is our opinion
that the present national distress is mainly, if not altoge-
ther, to be attributed to the restrictions.which our com-
mercial tariff has placed upon national industry ; that of
these restrictions, those which prevent the people from
exchanging theirmanufactures in the open markets of the
world for food, so as to supply the wants of a population
increasing at the rate of 400,000 per annum, are most
severe in their effects, and that no sufficient relief can
be afforded otherwise than by an immediate considera-
tion of our tariff, commencing with the Corn and Provi-
sion-laws, with a view-to the adoption of the principles of
free trade."—lt was hardly to be expected that a work-
ing man like himself, who was compelled to make his
bed-root answer the purposes of parlour and kitchen,
could find time for study so as to address with much ele-
gance so brilliant a meeting as the one before him.—
(Hear.) When he glanced at the various countries of
the earth, and saw the hand of a wise and bountiful Crea-
tor apportioning the diversified products of each, it was
evident that the Almighty never intended that one
nation should be deprived of the products in which
another was rich.—(Hear, hear, and loud cheering.)
If left to itself commerce would flow naturally, and the
prosperity of this country would be unbounded. But it
was checked by absurd and iniquitous laws, made for the
benefit of the few to the injury of the many. The land-
lords were continually talking of the benefits which the
Corn-laws conferred on agriculture. He had been re-
cently travelling in the north of England, between Dur-
ham and Newcastle, and he was astonished at the absence
not merely of decent cottages for the peasantry, but at
the poverty and meanness of the farm. houses. He did
not see a decent farm-house, or a comfortable peasant's
hut on the way. Our restrictive fiscal system was the
cause of the existing distress; it worked well for the big
landed proprietors, but ill for every one else. After
stating that he was a Radical Reformer, the speaker ex-
pressed a hope that the object sought for by the meeting
would be attained, in which hope he was sustained by
the Times, which recently stated, that in consequence of
the great number of petitions sent to the Queen, her
Majesty would not suffer Parliament to be prorogued
without instituting an inquiry into the existing distress,
and Liverpool, in stirring, even though late as she had
done on this question, hadnebly strengthened the hands
bf the Queen.
Mr. W. RATISBONE (of the firm of Rathbone, Brothers,
the eminent merchants), in coming forward to second
the resolution, said, he felt his first duty was to express
his grateful 'acknowledgments to the Mayor, who, for
the first time within his (Mr. Rathbone's) recollection, con-
sidering what were the wants and conveniences of the
poor, had called this public meeting at a time when the
poor could come forward to consider their own interests.
The Mayor had his deep and lasting gratitude fur having
taken this decided step, and for his feeling for the masses
of the public. As this was a deliberative assembly it was
desirable that they Nxho either agreed to or diffisred from
the resolution lie had to propose, should know what they
were about. Mr. Rathbone said there was one part of it
which he did not agree with, although he was about to
second it, and that was in the expression of surprise that
this matter had not been brought before Parliament im-
mediately. He for one did not expect it.—(Hear, hear.)
He thought it was much mere easy for gentlemen to find
fault and say that'others were wrong, than to find out
that others were right.—(Hear, hear.) Never was any-
thing more insulting to a nation at large than Sir Ro-
bert Peel's statements that the late Ministry were wrong
but that he must take till next February to consider
what was right.—(Cheers, and hear.) We were to go
through a winter—he was saying nothing for " stage
effect," and nothing but what he solemnly believed—of
appalling distress and pressure upon the poorer classes ;
that winter we had to pass over, and those of us who
were alive in February, would know how we were to be
starved. If that was humanity, if that was a States-
man-like proceeding, he must acknowledge his, igno-
rance of what constituted either one or the other. We
could not expect her Majesty's Ministers to enter into
details till they had come into office; but that they who
bad been twenty years in Parliament. who had had re-
ports upon reports, and details upon details laid before
them, and yet could-not tell upon the commencement of
office what were to be the great leading principles upon
which this nation was to be governed, was a proof either
of their duplicity or of their ignorance and incapacity for
the duties they had undertaken.—(Cheers.) Whilst they
were deliberating as to the measures they would adopt for
relief, let him tell the meeting what was passing in the
neighbouring towns. In Stockport the payment of wages
was diminishing at the rate of 500,0001. per annum.—
(Hear.) ' In the small district of Hyde the wages were
diminishing at the rate of 50,0001. per annum.(Hear.)
In the little town of Kendal wages were decreasing at
the rate of 7,0001. per week.—(Hear.) Was there a
heart which could contemplate and not feel the distress
which must necessarily be created when such immense
amounts were taken from the poor ?—(Hear.) how
were they to live ? Where was our home market ? We
were told that our home market was the best, but where
were we to look for a home market, when the people had
not wages even to buy bread ?—(Hear.) He would now
go a little from home, and see what was doing in Ame-
rica at this time. He had a son lately returned from
that country, who had been through the Lowell factories
and various other faCtories in the country. The gentle-
yrieHgsievi.'N-1
interests
of the
gentle-
men of those establishments were pleased to show him
the books, and 'to give him every opportunity of seeing
that lie was not imposed upon ; and it appeared that at
the very time when our manufacturers were not able to
make one farthing of profit, they in America were mak-
ing from 10 to 15 per cent.—(Hear.) The girls were
receiving two dollars and a quarter for the lowest wages,
besides which, let it be remembered, they had board and
lodging.—(Hear.) American food was low, but were
wages low ? Food was high here ; wheat was at this
moment from 9s. to 9s. 6d. a bushel ; and we had been
told a great deal about wages, but were they high too ?
were
honesty
of highor
d:
etesyw aGsr notah a mt
and(Hweaasrit hear, and
afanldlacNy,c4thoneirone.:foroeTf, httte:esay that wages de-
pended upon the price of food ? Those who said that
uweho told us that the
What, also, did
v't,Stanley.,hesy.
evils of the country were not owing to the New Poor-
law, but that he approved of that system ?—(lfear.)
He had great pleasure in seconding the resolution, and
ttrhui:akw' hohofatsto/rdl
jdnas:i
them bread, and he would take it
he bad great pleasure in seconding it not as a party
great deal of pleasure, and thank
man. He should be very glad indeed if her Majesty's
Ministers would enthrone themselves in the hearts of
'tgohulad further say, if they would really
fromtit
i)hrieeopeopleotflto the
tiTitl b.:
people, he doubted whether
he should not become a Tory himself.--(" Hear, hear,"
and laughter.), Before he sat down, he should wish it
to go before the public haw this meeting had originated,
in order that the public might know that it had not ori-
ginated in what was commonly called the " broad cloth."
The " broad cloth " did not think there was sufficient
spirit in the town to convene it ; they thought that al-
though the people's pockets were empty, and their bel-
lies empty, their backs uncovered, and themselves
pressed down to the earth, they had not spirit enough
left to tell the Legislature of their misfortunes : there-
Sege it was thought by a great many, who deeply felt
for their distresses, that the people were not yet ripe
for giving expression to their distresses.—(Hear, hear.)
In consequence of this the operatives, and he for one
thanked theta for it,, had, bad what Lord Broughamcalled `da spur on the toe, and they gave to the "broad
cloth " a spur on the heel too, and the meeting then en-
tirely originated with the Operative Anti-Corn-law As.
sociation.—(Cheers.) Let our rulers lOok to this, and
remeniblir its—that whenever the great mass of the
people once took a case into their own hands, they were
omnipotent.--(Cheers.)
(The MAYor. then put the resolution, and it was car-
vied unanimously, amidst tritimpliant cheers.

Mr.. It : JONES, an operative who has much distin-
guished himself in Liverpool and the neighbourhood by
the strong natural talent he has exhibited in the agita-
tion of th Anti-Corn-law question, moved the second
resolution, which is as follows :—" That we fully Con-
cur in the admission made by Lord Stanley, the present
Secretary for the Colonies, on his re-election for North
Lancashire, that the operation of the Corn-laws is, first;
to raise the price of food above its natural level ; se-
condly, to increase the rent paid to the landlord pro-
portionate to the price ; and, thirdly, that the price of
food has no effect on the rise and fall of wagess ; that,
from these admissions, we are confirmed in our opinion
that the landlord, not the farmer, is unjustly pi•otccted
by a law which raises his rent above its equitabl s value ;
that the consumer is taxed to pay for protectiosi ; that
all provisions form by far the largest item in the ex-
penditure of the working class, so the working class is
thus taxed more heavily than any other. •We are
further of opinion that , the Corn-laws not only di-
rectly tax the wages of labour, but they indirestly di-
minish their amount, by destroying the natural 'propor-
tion which the supply of labour bears to she demo nd, and
that by endea-vouring to limit us to a single country,
they produce unnatural fluctuations, both in price and
supply, disappointment the calculation of the far :ter, de-
range the currency, and render the prosperity of al classes
dependent upon the most variable climate in the world."
After some appropriate introductory observati Dns, Mr.
Jones said, it appeared that Lord Stanley allowed that
the Corn-laws had raised the price of fimd above the
natural level, but Robert Jones, his wife and family,
and hundreds of other families, had found that Out long
before Lord Stanley ever thought upon it.—(Hear, hear.)
It would have been a happy age for the working men of
England if they had never found it out before Lord
Stanley was made one of the Ministers of State ; but,
unfortunately, it had been found out for twenty-five
years and some months, that the Corn-laws had raised
food of all descriptions, not bread alone. one half or
nearly so in price above its natural level. If Lord Stan-
ley and all the other Lords, or nicknames, for call them
what you might, it was immaterial to him, could see the
misery there was at this moment in England, without
going to miserable Ireland, it would make them nt once
say, "We must repeal this iniquitous, this wicked law,
that we have made to support our luxuries, at the ex-
pense of the happiness of millions of our fellow oountry-
men."— (Hear, hear.) Lord Stanley appeared to have
admitted in the next place, that it was not for the benefit
of the farmer that the Corn-laws were passed, but that it
was in order that high rents might be obtained for the
landlord. There were hundreds of men, respecable far-
mers at the time the Corn-laws were passed, who were at
this moment spending the remainder of their days in the
union workhouse, in wretchedness and misery. • These
men were in affluence and happiness when the Corn-
laws were passed, and now thousands of them were upon
the very threshold of beggary, through nothing else but
the operation of those laws.—(Hear, hear.) The ,farmers
might hold with the Corn-laws, and the landlords might
also ; but if they would examine the question through-
, out with a little attention, they would see they were from
the beginning to the end nothing but a delusion and a
cheat upon the poor farmer. How so ? Why, in the
first place, the landlords told him they had got a law
passed which would insure high prices for his corn; but
the event proved that there was somebody else who knew
all about high prices as well as the landlord, and that
was the great gambler in food.—(Hear, hear.) He found
it out as well as the farmer, and made the most e.d. it. In
such a year as the present he had not the least doubt
that the landlords would be sowing more acres of corn
than they had for several years back, because there was
a high price for corn. The farmers themselves had gone
to extremes in competition with one another in their
own markets till prices went down, and the consequence
was that we could get food enough, and buy it cheaper,
when they were crying out and complaining of distress
—(Hear, hear)—whezi the working men could fill
the bellies of their children, that was the very time when
these men made the loudest outcries of ruin and dis-
tress. Then they let their waste land, which they
ought not to have cultivated, go out of cultivation ; then
high prices came, and Lord Stanley might well say that
the markets had been uncertain for the farmer us well
as for the consumer. This, indeed, seemed to have been
the sole object of these laws from the beginning to the
end.—(Applause.) He (Mr. Jones) hoped now ,that the
working classes of Liverpool would let the world know
that they were determined to buy their food at whatever
market they could buy it cheapest, and that they wanted
all laws repealed which would half starve them or their
families.—(Cheers.) The old Ministry—the " old M
nistry" they were called, but for his part he bundled
them all, Tory, Whig, and Radical, in one ruck together
—even condescended to go so low as to take off I s. per cwt.
from potatoes. That was something, and he supposed
every Irishman would thank them for that. Mr.
Jones, at considerable length, and in a peculiar
style, proceeded . to show that the working classes
paid by far the greatest proportion of the poor rates, and
to contend from this circumstance that the landed aris-
tocracy should neither look down Upon them with con-
tempt, as he apprehended they did, nor refuse them the
benefit which would arise from the cheapening of bread.
Mr. LAWRENCE HEYWORTR, Magistrate, presented
himself, on the question of the bread-tax, a tax which
was hurrying thousands to the grave. In Manchester
the poor-rates in March were double those of the preced-
ing year. Must there not, then, be double the number
of paupers? And the poor wretched rate-payers were
being constantly summoned before the Magistrates for
the payment of poor-rates. As a Magistrate, his heart
bled to see poor rate-payers, constantly summoned, as
they were, for the payment of their rates. But it was
said that the Corn-laws were a benefit to the farmers and
the peasantry. How stood the case? In twelve agricul-
tural counties the poor-rates had increased during the
last three years of dear bread 10 per cent.— a clear proof
that the peasantry were reduced to paupers by the Corn-
laws—making every tenth man a pauper, and com-
pelling the other nine to feed him.—(Hear, hear.) Those
accursed laws compel the poor man to pay twice the
price he ought to do for his bread. if a labourin„r, man
and his family spend 2s. 6d. per week for bread, and
being obliged to spend ss. for the same quantity when
corn was dear, was it not clear that they spent 2s. 6d.
more than they ought. The sum thus taken from five
millions of the labouring classes amounted annually to
thirty-two millions, taken from the pockets of the poor
to enrick the coffers of the wealthy. This amount was
taken from the manufacturers, for the poor were obliged
to put into their bellies what they would otherwise spend
on their backs. And then there was a• cry of over-pro-
duction By a Liverpool cotton circular, into which he
looked a day or two back, it appeared that 150,000 less
bales had been taken than were taken during the cor-
responding period of the previous year. This ivas the
result of the existing system. The speaker read a ta-
bular statement of the number of cotton mills which had
been compelled to stop in the neighbourhood of Oldham
and elsewhere, which he mainly attributed to the work-
ing of the bread tax. He also read the report of the
factory inspectors ; and, as a proof of the suslering"
throughout England, quoted a recent speech made by
Mr. Stewart in the House of Commons, and concluded
by eloquently denouncing the misery and destitution
which the Tory system of upholding monopolies had
entailed upon the country.—(Cheers.)
_ _ _

Mr. LAWRENCE HEYWORTH, before the resolution
passed, wished to mention an important fact, which he had
unintentionally omitted. He had spoken of the distress,
but he had not told them of the disease and death which
were to be found stalking through the country. Since
corn had become so dear, the number of deaths had in-
creased in the manufacturing towns telly per cent., and
four per cent. all over the country.—(Hear, hear.) Some
people condemned them because they called these laws
bloody laws ; but if they were the occasion of creating an
increase of forty per cent. in parties carried to a prone-
ture grave, what could they designate them but as bloody
and as wicked laws.—(Loud cheers.)
The resolution was then put, and unanimously carried.
Mr. CHARLES HOLLAND, merchant, moved the adop-
tion of a memorial to her Most Gracious Majesty, humbly
praying her not to prorogue Parliament till the dis-
tress of the nation had been taken into consideration.
Sir Robert Peel's proposal was to wait till next February
or March. Although this plea was thus advanced by Sir
Robert Peel, he did not believe it was the real motive
which prevented him from bringing forward measures of
relief. He believed the Right Hon. Baronet was too
shrewd, too intelligent, and too well informed of the state
of the nation, not to believe that the existing distress
was severe beyond any to which our recollection 'could
carry us. But what was the fact? Not that he doubted
the distress, but he felt that the Cabinet which he had
drawn together were perfectly unmanageable upon the
subject of the Corn-laws.—(hear.) In the very face of
his declaration the other day, at the election for Tam-
worth, that his party were united, and that he was at the
head of an united Cabinet, were protests made by at least
half a dozen of the Cabinet during the late elections
binding them not to allow any alteration of consequence
in the laws which so completely fettered our commercial
policy.—(Hear.) Had we not the declaration of Lord
Stanley, at Lancaster ' • of Sir James Graham, at Dor-
chester; and of Sir Edward Knatchbull, that they were
opposed to any material change ; and of the noble Duke
of Buckingham (the author of the Chandos clause) to
the farmers of Buckinghamshire, that he would not con-
sent to any change whatever ?—(Hear, hear.) Had we
not all these men belonging to the Cabinet which Sir
Robert Peel said was an unanimous Cabinet and united
on this great question ? These were the real
ditli-
culties in the way. He knew he could not coerce the
men he was conneted with to come into any of these
plans which he himself saw—which it was impossible he
should not see and understand—were essential to the
welfare of the whole nation, namely, to release us from
,the bonds and trammels of those who held this nation
as with a yoke of iron in the tyranny of the landowner.
—(Hear, hear.) his game was this :—" Distress," he
said, " during the ensuing five months will rise to that
point that the starviug millions will show themselves
in such a form, and with such features, that my Noble
Colleagues will be frightened into some concessions—
(Hear)—they will see they must join with me in alter-
ing and mending ;" or, as his own hopes indeed might
be, " I shall see some improvement from sonic casual
circumstance, from the opening of some new market.
After a large importation of foreign corn at a low rate
of duty, bread will be cheap, and so we shall be able to
creep on ; and then we have the spring before us, and
the possible chance of a goOd harvest. Should these
concurring circumstances unite, and we be able to keep
the people quiet during all this state of suffering, then I
may be able to introduce such a modicum of ameliora-
tions into the system as will satisfy my friends that the
institutions of the country are safe, and the landed in-
terest secure ; and it is firm as a rock against all shocks
of danger from the feelings and sufferings of the masses."
—(Year, hear.) His (Mr. Holland's) opinion was that
this was the policy which would guide Sir Robert Peel's
movements.

The Rev. Mr. GILES, Baptist Minister, took credit to
himself for having, in total disregard of obloquy and
misrepresentation, attended the National Conference of
Ministers of all denominations in Manchester against the
Corn-laws. In the progress of that conference he had

suggested an additional stanza to the national anthem,
which was received with marked approbation, and now
he took leave to propose another addition in the follow-
ing line's, to be sung in the streets of Tamworth:—
" Oh, all ye men of State,
Move not the people's hate
By your delay ;
But, as you are in power, .
Improve the present hour,
Give us cheap bread and flour
By Christzras-day."—(Cheers.)
A party of the name of Jones here caused some dis-
turbance, but was obliged to desist.
Mr. Alderman BLACKDURNE said he advocated the

memorial, not that he expetted it would produce any
effect, but because he thought it right that the great com-
munity of Liverpool should declare its opinion upon this
subject. Our noble representative having said that the
Corn-laws had nothing to do with distress, and that no-
thing was needed to be done for the relief of the country
in this way, it was, he thought, quite right that the in-
habitants of Liverpool should tell the Queen that they
differed from their Representative, and considered the
Corn-laws one great cause of that distress, and that till
they were repealed, all other plans for obtaining relief
would prove ineffectual.—(Cheers.)
The memorial was then put and carried unanimously
amidst great cheering.
The meeting separated a few minutes past eleven
o'clock, having occupied upwards of four hours.
GREAT PUBLIC MEETING AT SWANSEA.
On Tuesday evening last a public meeting was held in
Mount Pleasant Chapel, in this town, for the purpose of
" petitioning her Majesty not to prorogue Parliament
till both houses have considered the recommendations
contained in the Royal Speech respecting the restrictions
on trade, especially on corn."
Public meetings in this town had hitherto been held
in the Town-hall erected at the expense of the inhabi-
tants, but the worshipful, the Mayor, refused its use for
this purpose on the present occasion. The chapel, which
will hold at least one-third more than the hall, was com-
pletely full.
Colonel CAMERON was in the Chair.
Sir J. MORRIS having made some remarks upon the
extraordinary conduct of the Mayor,
The first t esolution was proposed by Mr. SANDERS,
and seconded by the Rev. C. TuoairsoN, who acted as
delegate from Swansea to the Manchester Conference.
The second resolution was moved by the Rev. Mr.
JONES, and seconded by Mr. IIOGER WALKER.
Mr. H. VIVIAN, M,P., rose to move the third reso-
lution, and was received with great cheering, declaring
that he entirely concurred in the object of the meeting.
The Hon. Gentleman then read a communication which
he had that morning received from a friend of his in the
United States, who, the meeting would perceive, was a
man of talent and great observation. The letter was as
follows :

" Having an opportunity of sending letters to England,
I am about to inflict on you another dose of American
polities. Ido so, beeause lam anxious that you and our
Whig friends should know as much as possible about the
state of party and party feeling here in relation to Eng-
land, a correct knowledge of. which is not always to be
obtained from the London newspapers. Petitions have
lately been presented to Congress from various parts of
the north, praying for a repeal of Clay's Compromise
Act, and for an increase of the tariff. During the dii-
cussion which arese on one of t*em, about ten days
since, Mr. Adanls (formerly President of the United
States) spoke strongly in favour of protective duties,
and of counteracting the attempts of Foreign Go-
vernments against American industry and commerce.'
Adverting to the recent proceedings in England; on the
subject of free trade and the Corn-laws, and the de-
feats NV hich the British Ministry had sustained thereon,
he hoped that before the American nation consented
to act upon such a system, they would have
something more definite before them than the report of
a House of Commons Committee, or the recommenda-
tions of an English Administration. Let Great Britain
set the example of free trade, and it would then be time
enough for America to meet her in a like spirit. Several
other. Members spoke in favour of the proposed tariff,
and one of them (a Mr. Irvin, of this State), went so far
as to question the sincerity of the Whig Ministry in re-
gard to free trade. The Southerners, whose incomes in
a great measure depend on the sale of their cottons to
the English, spoke strongly against the proposed altera-
tions of the tariff. One of them (Mr. King, of Georgia)
told the House that, instead of quarrelling with the
English Corn• laws, they ought to rejoice at their con-
tinuance. Their effect, in the first place, was to raise
enormously the price of bread, and, consequently, the
price of labour in England. That increased, of course,
the cost of their manufactured goods, and made it more
difficult for their manufacturers to compete with those of
America, both in our own and foreign markets. If by
the repeal of the Corn-laws the price of bread should
be reduced in England and increased in America, the
cost of manufacturing would be increased in the latter
and reduced in the former ; and it would, consequently,
be more difficult for us to compete with them.. it could
not, therefore be the interest of the American manufac-
turers to seek or desire a repeal of the British Corn-laws.
" But how stood the matter in regard to the grain
growers, of America ? At present they had access to
the markets of Great Britain, through the colonial ports
of Canada and New Brunswick, at a very low duty.
[This is very true; the greatest wheat-growing state at
present in the union is Ohio, and it is astonishing (if I
may believe some of its best-informed inhabitants) how
large a portion of its produce finds its way through
Canada into England.] The grain growers of the
European continent could not avail themselves of that
advantage, and, consequently, their grain could not come
into competition with that of the Americans. If the
Corn-laws were repealed, the grain of the continent
being cheaper, from its vicinity to England; than the
grain of America, would exclude the latter from the
British market, to which they have now the advantage
over all other foreign corn growers, of exclusive access
through the colonial ports. Thus, both the manufac-
turing and grain-gro..vine• interests of the United States
would be greatly injured by a iepeal of the British Corn-
laws. There is much truth in what Mr. King says—
that it is trot for the interest of the Tariffers to admit it
—as they would then want a precedent or pretext for
their protective system" • • • • • •
" I will tell you why I do not think that America will
soon become a great manufacturing power, unless Eng-
land—Toryfied England—by persevering in the present
impolitic system, shall compel her into it. There is an
old Greek proverb, quoted by Eschylus, that Obe-
dience is the mother of prosperity or well-doing.' Now,
this is a virtue which our Anglo-Saxon democrats do
not possess in the highest degree. From all I can learn
on the subject, there is little or no subordination in their
manufactories. The workers' are completely masters,
and settle wages and everything else at their own plea-
sure. Alt, Sir (said a little master manufacturer to
me a few weeks since), your Corn-laws are ruining you,
and our loco-focoism is ruining us.' He then gave a la-
mentable account of the self-sufficiency and domineering
spirit of the workmen. The only exception he made was
in favour of the women (the gals,' as he called them),
who were pretty orderly and decent behaved.' Another'
reason why manufactures are not soon likely to flourish
here is; that the same spirit which leads men to pre-
fer the freedom of the wilderness to the prison ships'
of the ocean, gives them also a greater taste for the axe
and the spade than for the loom or the spinning-jenny.
But for the absurd war of 1812, it might have been cen-
turies before the Americans would have dreamed of be-
coming a manufacturing people ; and even now, I believe,
were we to reform our commercial policy—were we (as
Ministers proposed) to repeal the present Corn-laws, and
honestly and fairly to adopt a system of free trade, I
sincerely believe that three parts of the existing manu-
facturers of America would be extinguished. The peo-
ple, the sovereign people of America—were not their
pride roused, and their passions kept in a perpetual fever
of excitement by reports of England's monopolising and
hostile policy—of her attempts to force all her commodi-
ties on the Americans, and to take nothing of them in
return—would not much longer consent to pay double
price for so many necessaries and conveniences of life as
they do now ; they would soon be as eager for English
manufactures as they are now prejudiced- against them.
I have never conversed with an American storekeeper
who did not say that he should sell half as many articles
again if there existed a freer system of trade between
the two countries."

The information contained in this letter with respect
to the difficulty of establishing and maintaining manu-
factories in the United States, is, I think, peculiarly in-
teresting and important, as there can be no doubt that
the Americans are making the most strenuous efforts to
supply themselves with manufactured goods hitherto
drawn from this country, and even to establish works for
the manufacture of iron and other metals. It must, I
think, be evident to every one how much the prosperity
of this country depends on its manufactures. Ido not
for an instant mean to disparage other interests, or to
assert that they should be sacrificed to those of the ma-
nufacturer ; but of this I am convinced, that if the ma-
nufacturing interests flourish, all other interests will
prosper.—(Cheers.) If there is a demand for menu-
thctured" gpods, there will be a proportionate call for
labour, which will have its effect in insuring to the
labourer adequate wages, and to the agriculturist a ready
sale for his prcduce. It is to the manufacturing in-
terest that we have to look for the employment and sup-
port of the increase of our population. I expressed this
opinion some time since—at my election; since then the
census has been. taken, and partially published, and the
result proves that I was right in this portion; for it ap-
pears that the population in the rural 'districts has re-
mained almost stationary, the great increase being in the
towns and manufacturing districts. Ido therefore fully
concur in the proposal that a memorial be addressed to her
Majesty for delaying the prorogation of Parliament un-
til the causes of the existing distress in the manufactur-
lttOhioNsf
sending
ing districts shall have been investigated.—(Cheers.)
Mr. R. AUBREY seconded the resolution, which was
carried unanimously.
Mr. RuvrEn moved the fourth resolution, which hav-
ing been seconded, •
CtoA3tthEettoNi
buioilto.tii.te..ili
ground,lioe
carried by acclamation. daanresolution as an 1 . amendment,
but
ItiV
THE OPERA E
sepli'llriaetexime.eting, after a vote of thanks to the Chairman,
GENERAL' MEETING OF
On Tuesday evening last, the members Associa-
tion'for the purpose
ANTI-CORN-LAW ASSOCIA
ofl
held a general meeting
a memorial to the Queen
the distresses of the
not to prorogue Parliament
until it had taken into consideration
country. -
petition were framed and ordered to
GLOUCESTER.
beAprmestelnnt°rtdial and .

A meeting of the united religious congregations in this
city was held in the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel on
Tuesday evening, when petitions to her 'lllajesty were
unanimously agreed to.
NEWCASTLE.

A requisition, signed by upwards of six hundred' of
the merchants and others of Newcastle, has been pre-