The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-10 00:00:00

r Corn-laws, for it might also be traced in part to the am •
-
bition of capitalists. He thought that was a subject
which deserved the attention of every friend of the in-
dustrious classes.
Dr. BOWRING then came forward amidst very general
cheering to address the meeting. He had just attended
an assembly in a distant part of the metropolis, where he
had listened to the wisdom of age, and he came there to
receive inspiration from the enthusiasm of youth. He
rejoiced to witness the progress of late years, of the
great cause which they had met to advance. He remem-
bered the time when it resembled a solitary star, and
now it brought round -it constellations from every quarter
of the heavens. Free trade was the principle of true
charity, inasmuch as it would extend the intercourse of
nations, and bind them together by the ties of mutual
want and mutual relief. He was delighted to find the
young men of England unite in the advocacy of such a
cause ; and he congratulated the, Chairman in presiedng
over sue 4 an assembly as he saw then before him.
The resolution was then put and unanimously agreed to.
Mr. S. M. HAwKEs proposed the next resolution
" That the efforts of the Association be especially directed
towards the complete repeal of the present odious Corn-
laws, which have already proved but too fatally effectual
in banishing commerce from our shores, and entailing
starvation and its common consequences—demoralisation
and recklessness upon our unhappy working population?'
Mr. GOODLIFF seconded the resolution.
The resolution was then put and unanimously agree&
to, the words " and recklessness," at the suggestion of the
Chairman, having been left out. It did not, in his opi-
nion, apply to any portion of our suffering, but patient,
people. _

A resolution was then passed, appointing a Committee
to conduct the business of the Association.
A vote of thanks having next been passed to the Chair-
man for his dignified and impartial conduct in the chair,
The CHAIRMAN rose amidst vehement and repeated
cheers, and proceeded to address the meeting as follows :
—ln returning you my thanks for the vote you have so
kindly and enthusiastically passed, I shall only make
one or two observations in reference to the manner in
which I think you should conduct the cause which you
have espoused to-night. I have no doubt in my'own
mind as to the necesssity which exists • for such an asso-
ciation as that which you have established this evening.
Its necessity is demonstrated by the want of informa-
tion, by the contrariety of opinion, and by the amount
of opposition which free-trade principles meet with in
many quarters throughout the country. The want of.
such an association is no less demonstrated by th.e
prevalence of distress to an unparalleled extent.--(Hear.)
I have lived for some time in immediate conteze with
the population of a large manufacturing town in the
north of England, and I can bear witness to the exist-
ence there of an amount of misery which in depth and
extent cannot. be 'exaggerated. The cause of that
misery ought to be understood. I shall not attempt to
prove that the main cause of that misery is to be found
in unjust and restrictive laws in reference to food and
1 ibour. An Association like your own is imperatively
demanded for the purpose of carrying on a rigid and im-
partial inquiry into the cause of the existing misery of;
the industrious classes. You have assumed that the far-
off cause of that misery is monopoly—the monopoly of
the necessaries of life, and that law which circumscribes
the bounty of Divine Providence—a law which says to
the fruits of other lands than our own, rich, abundant,
and never failing in produce that might be distributed
amongst the poor and perishing population of this coun-
try—which says to the fruits of the earth which every
wind would waft us, which every wave would bear to
our shores, but which are denied to us by this law—
which says to them, ere they can touch our strand,
" hither shall you come, but no further."—(Hear, hear.)
The necessity for such an Association as this, and
other Associations of a similar kind, may be
proved by referring to the knowledge which
we have of the growing disaffection in the minds of bur
suffering population of our' large manufacturing towns.
I have spoken of their patience, fortitude, and resigna-
tion ; but it cannot be disguised that there is in con-
nection with long-continued privation, and with hunger,
a feeling that does menace the existence of those
institutions that are of the most precious and
sacred character. No
.man can undertake to predicate
with confidence, still less with certainty, what may be the
result of that misery which is now overspreading a very
large portion of this country.—(Hear, hear.) Why, the
very fact that there are 6,000,000 of our own country-
men who never taste wheaten bread from month to
month and from year to year—not because the hand of God
has not supplied it, but because odious and unnatural laws
prevent it coming to our shores. This very fact tells
trumpet-tongued to every man that it is his duty to
rise and declare that from whatever source taxes for re-
venue ought to be derived, they should not be raised
from such a source .78 this; and that that God which had
given to man the earth as his inheritance, demands at
the hencle of those who are intrusted with the sacred
trust of making laws, that they imitate his Son upon
earth, who amplified bread for the multitude, and did not
desecrate his law by denying to ms,:i the gifts Providence
had spread over the face of nature.—(Cheers.) One
word more as to the necessity of this Association. You
have banded against you the monopolists. of the land.
Sorry are we to see, but all know it, that the majorities
of both Houses of Parliament consist of men who are the
confederated, self-willed monopolists of the co,antry.—
(Hear, heat) You have to wring concessions from them.
I speak not now of parties, but of men committed to (sex'
lain opinions, and pledged tceearry out certain measures.
You have to oppose those men, and what have you to
oppose them with ? On the one hand, we have
measures which all lovers of peace and human happiness
and concord must deprecate, and on the other that
moral right which if once gathered, concentrated, and
directed, no con"ederation of monopolists here or any
where else upon the face of the earth will be able to
I'o t. Feel not hopeless, because those men are bound
tog her--because they are numerous—because they
vauNt their power—because they are defyink you to
put forward your strength: Remember that some of
the greatest measures-4-some of those that have
conferred the greatest benefits upon this country,
and which stand as a monument of popular
determination, and the tardy wisdom of the Legis-
lature—have been obtained under circumstances
quite as inauspicious as those under which you are corn-
»ismeing your present struggles.--(Cheers.) The re-
peal of the Test and Corporation Acts was wrung from
a Parliament of Churchmen Catholic Emancipation I
was wrung from a Parliament of, Orangemen.—(Hear.)
The measure which is known by the name of the Reform
rill was wrung from a Parliament of boroughmongers.
—(Cheers,) It was the abolition of the worst of
all kinds of negro slavery which passed under the
delusive name of apprenticeship, and against which his
Hon. Friend who sat on his left—(Mr. Scebell)— but
with whose voice we have not been favoured to•night,
laboured so strenuously, by collecting facts in the Ant-
hill:, to demonatrate that to be a more cruel system than
the one which it displaced. The abolition of that
slavery was won not only from a reluctant Parlia-
ment, but from an Administration pledged to uphold
the planters in the maintai'nance of their unrighteous
power.—(Loud cheers.) Be you equally firm in
carrying out the righteous measure you have advocated
to night, and your success is equally certain. But I may
be permitted to say, from the experience I have had,
that if you would triumph you must base your cause
upon principle, and upon principle alone.—(Hear,
hear.) It is well td talk of machinery--it is well
to talk of the currency--it is well to talk of par-
ticular interests, and how they would be affected by
the great change you would propose—but it is
better still to talk. of the inherentlinjustice and un-
righteousness of a law which limits the supply of the
fruits of the earth which Heaven has provided for all
men.—(Cheers.) Strip this question of its mysticisms,
strip it of its alliancea. Talk Of the Corn-law as of a
law which puts a nation on short allowance.—(Cheers.)
Talk of the Corn-law as of a law inherently, essen-
tially, and altogether unjust. We are taught to offer to
Heaven a prayer to give us this day our daily bread.
That prayer is denied on earth after it has been heard
hi heaven.—(Hear, hear, hear.) The answer came
from Jfeaven ; there
.bread will be given in abund-
ance to Dan. It would be to charge the Divine
Being, not onii with a want of providence and care, but
with want of wiscian too, to say that he has peopled
this earth *lth the most pfecious of his creation,, and de!.
nied them bread, while he fed the ravens when they,
cried, and the lions user, they howled. We- reveren-
tially acknowledge the goodness of our Common Father ;
we pity the sufferings of our fellow mew ; we deprecate
the impending evils, that like a black cloud overspread
the /toad, but we look forthe cause of our suffering, not
in that want of goodness on the part of Him who formed
the earth, and placed Its on it, but we must lay them
at the door of an interested, unjust, and injurious legis-
lature.—(Hear.) Keep, then, 1 wen kl say, to principle.
Are the Corn-laws unjust? Then I would repudiate a
sliding scale, a fixed duty ; repudiate all scales but a
scale of everlasting justice.—(Cheers.) Repudiate all
fixed duties but the fixed duties of seeking a total and
immediate repeal of these laws.—(Loud cheers.)
In the simplicity of purpose you will be strong ;
you will be intelligible.—(Hear.) Allow me to say
you will strengthen your cause by laying aside all party
predilections. I wish to mention names as seldom as pos-
Lie; would speak of principle—l would avoid all re-
ference 0 men of power or in power. I wish you to de-
eitoq 'halt whoever is in power, or whoever may be in
power, thtit the repeal of those laws you are de-
termined to demand. Your cause is good—is good in
itself ; ant; oh ! how blessed will be its effect.
Yon wish to be at izace with all the world. how are
O* tel iihthe peace with „:mn, and cement and eternise
that firths ie itith the world at lart;e ? Why, by bringing
yourself in eteitsiet-=ht friendly cei;tnet—in profitable
contact with the other nathipri of the eau,;:.—(Cheers.)
I have the happiness of littif having Unt!er my
own roof, in another town, at thl,J moment, A
missionary from beyond the Alheghany tiimmtains.
lie hes one from the boundless prairies of the western
world ; Jib has left his own people, and traversed the
ocean which divides us from our Transatlantic brethren ;
end he has come here, on purpose to tell you
f
that hie countrymen are willing to give you the fruintsoon
their soil if' you will exchange with them in return
evitable terms the surplus produce of your machinery.
oerseoll
111 if jots will not establish a commercial iti,ftienro.c
,re
just and etlefiisble terms they are undertaking
tory mc asurci. tilt 3y will establish tariffs that will
(and and
ululate manufactureg ,i;! their ow
them, and thus
trollibit yours from gomg amongst
from that market.
The
Mil .öff fur cler
one f national peace—it is one
wtisli'it:
ei
(111"ildh 4 ilrM (rMY.Yu ° ntlaie nations. of the earth
,;:tional bonotti.. , nut
ment ? A friend of
for
tradei *54-1 an advocate
fiend of free
vent the other day to
humanity, a fr
thinking aild
Corn-laws,
he‘ went there compas-
thean abolition of the
America
saying of us Eli tleie 'no
United States of
0 OGO of slaves, and in order
his brethren in America in the anti.
to co-operate with t
what
was
the
language addressed to
slavery cause.
Bu
city sionating the misery
of the new world—in the city
of 3,00 .
gilt) i4..,.th,ve PL.ri7iPile was to go home again, and ere he
_as of manacled'
.as6flij%Ted"fo'r°lra'-er• for the three