The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-19 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.

DEFEAT OF THE MONOPOLISTS.

A Special Court of Common Council was held yesterday in
the Council Chamber, Guildhall, in consequence of a requisi-
tion to the Lord Mayor, for the purpose of taking into con-
sideration the propriety of petitioning both Houses of Parlia-
ment for the repeal or revision of the Corn-laws.
The Lord Mayor entered the Court, and took the chair pre-
cisely at two o'clock. The minutes of the last Cohrt having
been read, and the routine business of the Court having been
disposed of,
The LORD MAYOR said that the Court had been specially
called by him, in consequence of a requisition. Whatever his
private opinions were upon the subject:of the Corn-laws, he
considered it to be his duty to give every member of that Court
an opportunity of considering and expressing his opinions upon
that important subject.—( Hear, hear.) As he felt no doubt
of being supported in that chair, he would refrain from giving
any opinion, leaving it to the Court to enter into the discassion,
and come to that decision on the subject which they thought
correct.
Mr. STEVENS then rose for the purpose of moving the
first two resolutions. Year after year discussions had taken
place in that Court, and resolutions had been passed, to the
effect that the Corn-laws were most injurious to the poor
man, and greatly detrimental to the commercial interests of
the country ; and now that her Majesty's Ministers had been
converted to the opinion of the necessity of the revision of
the Corn-laws, it became that Court to meet and discuss
the subject. He saw some members of the Court now pre-
sent from which he Ras induced to hope that the Corpo-
ration of London were determined to feel for the poor man.
It was said that this was a political question; he admitted that
it was so, as far as good measures were better than bad.
He should have been happy if the task of urging this sub-
ject forward had devolved on abler hands, but he trusted the
Court, in the course he should adopt, would give him
credit for the best of motives.—(Hear, hear.) He thought
the establishment of a fixed duty was necessary for
the prosperity of the country. If Gentlemen looked back to
the period that had gone by they would see that the poor man
and the labouring man had been sinking lower and lower since
the introduction of the Corn-laws.—(Hear, hear.) Since
that period he had been obliged to buy food at a high price
while his labour had been paid for at a low rate, and the result
of this was disaffection and despair.—( Hear, hear.) The Corn-
laws were a tax upon the poor for the purpose of putting
money into the pockets of the rich—it was a tax upon the
whole population of the country for the benefit of one class in
society.—( Hear, hear.) It was bad in every point of view,
and he looked to the Government, which had now taken the
right step, to bring forward measures that would protect the
community against the acts of the selfish. He trusted the time
had now arrived when the question of the repeal of the Corn-
laws would ring from one end of the country to the other, and
if that was the case he felt that eventually they must be repealed.
If the present Administration were to go out to-morrow he
would venture to say that no other Administration could stand
for a single day without bringing forward some measure with
respect to the modification of those laws.--(Hear, hear.) He
was not one who was inclined to convulse the different orders
of society; he wished to do things by degrees, but his firm opi-
nion was that all trade should be free. He thought that the
enacting of a fixed duty upon corn would do great good to the
commerce of the country, and to the people at large. He
looked at this question as a great commercial one, and his firm
belief was, that if the Corn-laws were repealed the commerce
of the country would be considerably benefited.—( Hear,
hear.) The countries on the Continent were chiefly agricul-
tural, and the result was that the existing Corn-laws prevented
them from trading with this country as we could not take
their corn in exchange for our manufactures. The Hon.
Gentleman concluded by moving the following resolutions :
" That all laws which, under the pretext of affording re-
quisite protection to the agricultural interests of this king-
dom, impose exorbitant or fluctuating duties on the importation,
of corn and other provisions, are injurious to commerce, ruin-
ous to the manufacturer, and tend to the misery and degrada-
tion of the working classes, and are delusive as to the benefits
which they affect to confer even on the agricultural classes
themselves.
" That this 'Court,. continuing to be impressed with the
magnitude or the evils flowing from the present state cf the
'Corn-laws, and fully convinced of the large remedy that would
be afforded by reducing the dutyl to a fixed amount, do again
petition both Houses of Parliament to substitute a moderate
fixed duty for the existing graduated scale."
Sir MATTHEW Woon seconded the resolutions. He had
always been, and ever should be, the advocate of free trade.
Every vote that he had given in the House of Commons was
based upon that principle. Her Majesty's present Ministers,
in consequence of the relief they had given to the people in
taking off several millions of taxes, had run short in the reve-
nue, and they had brought forward a proposition in the House
of Commons, by which they hoped to make up this deficiency
without imposing further taxes upon the people, What, he
would ask, would those gentlemen think who opposed the pre-
sent proposition, if the Government, instead of adopting the
course it had done, had resorted to a property tax ?—(Hear,
hear.) No one could doubt that the Corn-laws bore most
heavily upon the working classes, and it was surprising to him
(Sir M. Wood) how many of the poor people lived as they
diJ. The other day he had attended a meeting on the subject
of the Corn-laws, which had been held in the ward of which he
was Alderman. The parties that attended there were of a most
respectable character, and happy was he to say that not
a single hand had been held up against the resolutions wl uch
were proposed, the object of which was to deprecate the Co.rn-
laws as they at present existed. At that meeting a vote of
thanks was carried to her Majesty's Ministers for the cou.sse
they had pursued. The cry was, " Down with monopoly, anti
up with her Majesty's Ministers."—( Great cheering.) If
meetings like those he had adverted to were held in all parts
of the country, he would venture to say that it would not be
many months, let who might be in power, even
,Sir Robert
Peel, before a measure would be brought forward and carried
for the repeal of the Corn-laws.—(Hear, hear.)
The RECORDER having put the resolutions to the Court,
Mr. R. L. JoNes rose. He thought it most extraordinary
that his worthy Friend, who had introduced the resolu-
tions to the Court had not thought of the repeal of the Cora-
laws at an earlier period of his life. As to her Majesty's
Ministers bringing forward this measure, they never thought
of the repeal or alteration of the Corn-laws until they lost Not-
toigham, and found the country going against them.
Then, and not till then, had they brought forteard
these measures. They were like a drowning raan,
and were catching at every straw by which they thought they
would be enabled to retain office. The last straws they had
caught at were sugar, timber, and corn.—(Laughter.) What,
he would ask, was the conduct of Lord Melbourne last year?
Why, he actually stated to the House of Lords,
that that man must be mad who would attempt to in-
terfere with the Corn-laws as they at present existed.
('fhe Hon. Gentleman here read a long extract from a speech
of Lord John Russell to the electors of Devon, in which the
Noble Lord expressed his dissent from many of the doctrines
of the political economists.) Those had been the opinions of
Lord John Russell. A great deal had been said of the dis-
tress of the manufacturers ; those distresses had for years past
occurred periodically, in consequence of over-production ;
and, as on former occasions, they had passed away without
legislative interference, so they would on the present. It was
only a scheme to bolster up the Ministers, arid he had great
satisfaction in proposing, as an amendment, the previous
question.
Sir PETER LAURIE seconded the amendment, and com-
plained of the short notice which had been given of the meet-

ing. There had been no opportunity to organise any opposi-
tion, and those who supported the motion were wise in not
giving longer notice. They recollected what had happened
two years ago, and he did not doubt but that they would be de-
feated on the present occasion, as they had been then.—
( Cheers.) Ministers were aware of the perilous situation in
which they stood, and this was a mere attempt to prolong their
tenure of office. The pretence was, a care for the hungry poor ;
the reality was, a care for the hungry placemen.—(Hear,
hear, hear.) The members who had proposed the reso-
lution had stated that they were not prepared with
their figures in support of it ; therefore, he thought they
could not do better than vote for the amendment, in order to
give these gentlemen time to be prepared with their case..--(A
laugh.) The fact was, the Ministry was in jeopardy, and they
had called this meeting to lend them a helping hand.
Mr. STEVENS—No one said that.
Sir PETER LAURIE—That, however, was the intention of

the resolution.—(Cheers.) Their defeats at Nottingham and
Sandwich had made them alive to the advantages of a cheap
loaf, but he hoped the Court would not be led away by any
such flimsy pretext. The sense of the country was against
them, and if they appealed to the country, which he hoped
they would do, he felt convinced, that in a new Parliament,
there would be a majority of 70 or SO against them.—(Cheers.)
Mr. STACEY supported the original motion. The :plea of
more time to consider the question was groundless—he had had
plenty of time to make up his mind on the subject, and
the first intimation he had had of the meeting was
at the hospitable board of the worthy Alderman
who had last spoken, so that the worthy Knight had
had at sill events more time than he (Mr. Stacey) had had.
Those who opposed this resolution complamed that the farmers
would be. ruined by an abolition of the Cern.laws, but let them
look at the condition of the labourers, who were now shoeless,
houseless, and almost coverless. They could net be in a worse
condition under any system, and were they not justified in
thinking that their condition would be better if a fair market
for their manufactures were opened to them ?—(Cheers.)
They had been told that Lord John Rnssell was a recent con-
vert to the doctrines of free trade, but what would they say to
Lord Ashburton ?--(Cheers.) If Lord John Russell had
been converted to good ways, Lord Ashburton had been per-
verted to evil ones.—( Cheers.) The subject of the Corn-taws
had been so frequently debated there that he did not think
much time could be required for preparation for discussion.
Surely the expenses of freight, and the duty of eight shillings
per quarter, wisich the foreign importer would have
to pay was a sufficient protection to the British agriculturist.
It had been complained that the resolution only went to
the Corn-laws, and left the questions of the sugar duty and the
timber duty untouched.—(Bear, hear.) Why the Corn-law
was the key to the whole corruption of the House of Com-
mons.—(Loud cheers.) Repeal that, and the Members of
that House would be ready enough Ito abolish all monopolies
which pressed upon themselves.—(Cheers.) Allusion had been
made to Nottingham and to Walsall. How had those places
been carried? Why, by Tory gold.—(Loud cheers.) The
Tories at Nottingham had formed an unholy alliance with the
Chartists, in order to endeavour to suppress the spirit and the
intelligence of the country, which they feared.--( Cheers.) He
was glad to hear of the act of justice which Ministers had pro-
posed in bringing forward this measure for abolishing the
Corn-laws. All other trades had lowered their rates of profits
at the return of the peace. Not so the agriculturists, they'had
by the Corn-laws endeavoured to keep the war rents, and they
ought in justice to come down to the level of the other trades.
He cordially supported the original resolution.—(Cheers.)
Mr. OLD would vote for the previous question. If
Ministers had been convinced of the necessity of making these
changes, they ought to have announced them in the speech
from the throne—( Cheers )—and the fact of their not having
done so, convinced him that they had only resolved on those
measures which they had brought forward with such indecent
haste, after their defeat upon the Irish franchise question. He
did not believe they had any serious intention of carrying them,
for if they had they would have proposed them at the time
they could have commanded a large majority of the House of
Commons. The haste exhibited in concocting that meeting
was almost as indecent as that exhibited by Ministers.
A MEMBER—It has been on the paper these three weeks.—
( A laugh.)
it emanated Rat.ed'fahLtotahiwsoourldfrosmuptphoartt
pthaertyre,sola.utiohne,oanosoet because
Mrs
the principle contained in it would,b
principle had
for the benefit of the people.—(Cheers.)
ifhactarried out, be
by that Court.
been debated and affirmed over and over ag
There had been nothing hitherto in the rsepf
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es ot fo the
p o cps-,
porters of the resolution which had any
el altogether
dthee rhoafd a political
character. The speakers on t carefully
while those of its opponents hadhbeeeontha
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they knew
laughter)— therefore he gave them
not how soon their friends might find it convenient
fikaenydihreincgtlyastotontehgea.
to adopt—( Cheers, and
uestion and they might
tr!erleydiotnfoitr
ththate
wmleonveinvger tthheeyrrshelluludsfignd it convenient to adopt
those views they would have his hearty support, as he was totally
uninfluenced by anything like party motives.--( Cheers. )
They had been told that the Administration had only been
driven into the adoption of these opinions by the election of
Mr. Walter for Nottingham. It happened, however, some-
what singularly that they had had time to write to Canada to
their former colleague, Lord Sydepham, upon the subject, and