The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-23 00:00:00

BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

" FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN—An assembly of Christian
ministers, unprecedented in its numbers, and embracing
almost every denomination,
_yet united as• one by the
object which has brought us together, we proceed in the
discharge of our duty, to lay before you the result of our
deliberations.
" Suffer us to claim for our present very brief ad-
dress the calm and earnest attention which the import-
ance and solemnity of the subject demand.
" We were convened for the purpose of considering
the laws restricting the food of the community.
" We have endeavoured to approach this subject with
minds uninfluenced by party faeling or sectional interests,
and to try all questions submitted to us by the unerring
standard of Scriptural morality.
"Our attention has, in the first place, been directed
to the principle upon which the corn and provision laws
of this country are based. The immediate effect of these
laws is to make the food of the people dear. It is de-
monstrable that thissan be done only by rendering food
scarce. From the artificial scarcity so created the diffe-
rent classes of consumers escape, In proportion to their
wealth, the evil pressing with accumulating severity
upon the humbler classes exactly in the degree of their
inability to sustain the burden.

" These laws operate cpAW4.74;grfi.Yt.ilvg'
tkive; in' 'conseCiiincT-o rfii, •
a.e4; nevitcoie in-
crease in the numbers of the people.
" The most painful evidence of the truth .1 this prin-
ciple has baen laid before us from all parts of the king-
dom, proving the poverty and privations of the labouring
classes, whose general fortitude under their augmenting
wretchedness has awakened our symp tthy, and called for
our peesent interference in their behalf.
" In addition to the existence of domestic suff,:rings,
often in the most dktressing f,erms of misery and dis-
ease, proof of an increased mortality has been forced upon
us, and we have had the appalling fact disclosed that fa-
mine already is doing its deadly work among the • most
destitute portions of the community.
" The • moral effects of the corn and provision-laws
have occupied our serious consideration.
" It has been proved to us that the physical deteriora-
tion of multitudes of our countrymen has produced an
alarming amount of demoralization. Under this aspect,
these laws have appeared to us to require the most
anxious attention of all who are concerned for the ad-
vancement of the spiritual and eternal interests of their
fellow-creatures.

•` As Christian ministers, prizing above all other con-
siderations the interests of morality and religion, we have
been unable to anticipate without apprehension and
dread the growth and developMent of those passions
which are stimulated and called into action by hunger
and destitution.

" Fellow countrymen ! We have asked ourselves if the
calamities we have Ewen called to conteMplate, and the
more dreadful consequences with which'We are threatened;
are to be regarded as the just judgment and visitation of
the Almighty ; and our unanimous answer is—no. 'W
have sought instruction in the word and through the
works of God, and have been taught by both that a
bountiful and unfailing provision has been made for the
wants of every living creature.• We stand forth, there-
fore, to assert and vindicate the divine wisdom and bene-
ficence.- We charge existing misery and impending
danger neon the selfish or ignorant inventions of man,
which have frustrated the principal designs of the Ruler
of the universe.

" The chastisements we are enduring are self-inflicted,
our national distresses are the results of a departure by
human legislation from the spirit and mandates of the
Divine law ; and our strong conviction is, that our pre-
sent deliverance and future'safety are to be secured only,
by recognis'ng and tbse:ving the unerring and clearly
revealed will of a beneficent Creator.

" Our duty, then, as ministers of religion is plain.
On scriptural grounds we are called upon to denounce
all human restrictions upon the supply of food to the
people, and to employ all appropriate means to place the
fatherly provision of God within reach of his suffering
and famishing children.
" In the attainment of this object, we affectionately
call upon the Christian public to aid us by an instant, an
unite:, and a vigorous effort. The case is one of es-

tretne urgency.— .The poor are daily perishing, and
though we would not stay the hand of individual chat-
. .

r:ty „,
must declare our solemn conviction that all as-
sistance will prove ineffectual to the relief of prevailing
wretchedness -during- the continuance of laws which im-
.

piously interfere with. and limit the enjoyment of the
all-sufficient bounties of Divine Providence.

`• Our first advice to our brethren and friends through-
out the country is to investigate the subject now before

them.

" Let every one convinced sf the justice and necessity
of abolishing these laws, do all in his power, in the spirit
of meekness and love, to enlighten and convince those
who are arou4d him. Under the responsibilities of cid-
zmship, let every opportunity be embraced of bringing
the nature and effects of the corn and provision laws under
the notice of the 'Legislature.
" We would also earnestly exhort those who are suffer-
ing from the operation of these laws to be peaceful and
loyal, and to co-operate in all Christian and constitu-
tional efforts to effect their extinction with patience, re-
lying upon the sympathy of their friends, and the bles-
sing of the Most High.
Finally, let increasing supplication ascend, that it
may please the God and Father of us all to give our law-
makers the wisdom that is profitable to direct and to in-
cline their hearts to do justice and love mercy."
The Rev. Mr. IhrroN, after eulogising the sentiments
contained in the address, moved its adoption.

Dr. Cox, the Chairman, intimated that a request had
been made by several newspapers for a copy of the-ad-
dress to the Queen, with a view to publication. He
thought it indecorous that the address should be pub-
lished before presentation to her , Majesty. Ile therefore
trusted that the nimble-fingered and all-veracious Press
would take this into consideration, and receive the inti-

illation kindly from his lips.
The Rev. Mr. AlAssiE seconded the adoption o: the
address in an able and energetic speech. It was agreed
and ordered to be printed and circulated throughout

the kingdom.
The Bev. Mr. SCALES then moved the ado )t'on of ti .e
following petition to Parliament:—

- .
" TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS, ETC.
" The humble petition of a Conference of Ministers of
Religion, of various Christian denominations, and from
all parts of the United Kingdom, held in the town of
Manchester. on Tuesday, Aug. 17, and following days;
" Showeth, that your petitioners are ministers of the
God of love and mercy, who have assembled to con-
sider the laws which restrict the supply of the food of

the people. • '
" That to your petitioners, dwelling in the midst of
their respective charges, and, by habits of frequent
and pastoral intercourse, familiar with their actual con-
dition, and still further informed by the- evidence siib--
mitted to this Conference by unimpeachable witnesses ;
it is most unquestionable, that evils the most serious are

preying on the very vitals of the country, and that
the labouring classes throughout the kingdom are sinking
into the lowest condition of physical suffering, and
pining away under a", wasting destitution of the neces-
saries of life.
" That your petitioners would feel themselves most
unworthy of the of they sustain, and the Master
they serve, were they to view such . a state of things
with indifference, or to allow it to become daily more
and more .aggravated? without directing their attention
to its cause, and seeking the means of its alleviation.
" That, to your petitioners, it appears obvious beyond
all doubt, that whatever other causes may have contri-
buted to the frightful amount of misery which they de-
plore, the principal has been the provision laws, which
make the very necessaries of life scarce and dear, a.nd
by their mischievous operation have at the same time en-
hanced the price of food and diminished the ability to
purchase it ; and that as obviously the remedy fur flits
evil is the abrogation of the laws which have produced it.
"That, to your petitioners, it is manifest that any law
tending to produce. a scarcity of the food necessary to
sustain the life of man, or to increase its price, and so
to throw difficulties in the way of procuring it, is a
wrong Imo to society at large, and a direct and glaring
violation of the will and law of the universal Parent of
mankind.
" That your petitioners are only acting in the spirit of
their office when they remind your Honourable House
that laws of human legislatures should be framed in strict
accordance with the declared will of God and ,the benefi- •
Cent designs of his providence ; and that all, laws which
contradict his will, and counteract his bounty, must of
necessity be wrong in principle, and injurious in their
tendency ; and that it is the deliberate and solemn con-
viction a this assembly that this is the unrighteous clue-.
'-xaetr. 'of the operittiOri of the provision-laws of this king-
dom, under whose baneful influence our beloved country
is severed from profitable intercourse with other coun-
tries which are reads, to exchange their products for our
manufactures—the skill and labour of the industrious
classes of our countrymen are rendered of less and less
avail to their own subsistance, whilst immense numbers
of them from day to day are thrown out of employment,
and reduced to a state of utter destitution ; or caStupon
the rapidly decreasing resources of the humane and cha-
ritable, who, in their turn, are sinking down into the ab-
ject condition of paupers ; and famine, disease, and death
are spreading with 'fearful desolation throughout the
length and breadth of this once prosperous and happy
land.

" Your petitioners, therefore, convinced of the sinful-
ness of these laws, which violate the paramount law of
God and restrict the bounty of his providence ; of th►'ir
injurious operation on the domestic comforts, and the
social, moral, and religious conditibn of the people of
these realms ; of the vast amount of evil they have

already produced, and of the fearful rapidity with ,which
they are driving on their injured and suffering victims
to despondency or desperation, and threatening the
peace and safety of the empire, implore your Honourable
House, as you fear that God who is the .friend and
avenger of the poor, as you love that country Whose in-
terests are committed into your hands, to take into your
early and most serious consideration the provision laws,
and especially the Corn-laws, which have wrought this
enormous amount of evil and misery, for the purpose of
devising such means as to your Hon. House may seem
meet for their abolition.
" And your petitioners will ever pray," &c.
The Rev. Mr. M'KEnnow seconded the adoption of the

petition. The destitution throughout the Country was
extreme. They had received 460 communications from
almost every county in England, and from most in \Vales
and Scotland, and every one of them contained the most
conclusive evidence Of the injurious bearings of the
Corn-laws upon almost every class of the community.
They would prepare them for - pAlicaqon, and he was
sure they would tell upon the public mind.—(Hear.)
The petition was then agreed to. •
The Rev. Mr. JAMES, of Birmingham, here inquired
whether, if the Corn-laws were repealed, our agricultu-
rists could compete with the Continental growers, and
if not, to what use could the land of this country
turned ?

After some observations, it was agreed that Mr. Cobden
should be requested to reply to the question.
A motion to that effect was made and agreed to.
Men Ann COBIE:':N, ESQ., M.P., then presented him-
self amidst loud cheers. He had been asked whether the
agr:culturists of this country could compete with those
abroad if the Corn-laws were repealed, or, in other
words, could they sell corn as cheap as it could he im-
ported from other countries fir sale? The agriculturists,
in 1815, asserted that they coul,l not possibly exist it
corn was less than eighty or ninety shillings per quarter,
and in five years after it went down to half that sum.
When the present Corn-laws came into operation, it
was confidently affirmed that the agriculturists could
not live if corn was under 565. per quarter, and yet
in 1835, when corn was no more than 395. 4d. per
sera;wr,., !eines&ofland-bektg Abrimn of Vairikes-- •
ment, in that ,yery session there were no less aim
four acts of the Legislature obtained to sanction
the inclosure of additional tracts of land.—(Cheers.)
He held it presumptuous for any body of men to say
what might be the price of corn at which we could pro-
diice. Lord Stanley has said, wile,: presiding over the
great ogrieultural meeting the other t.!•ty at Liverpcul,
that the man who should at this time focn a corgi c;
estimate of our national improvements during the next
century would be considered a visionary enwsiast.
With such sentiments as th2se, how would he venture to
predict the consequences which would result from a re-
peal of the Corn-laws, with all the advantages of science,
and the additional stimulus which would be imparted to
individual exertion ? From the evidence taken before
the Poor-law Committee in 1830, it appeared undeniable
that when food was at a high price the labourer was
plunged down to the lowest diet. The wages of the
peasant were not so good in dear as in cheap years.
Thus, evidently, the labouring classes were peculiar!y
interested in the price of food.—(Hear, hear.) Let
even the worst anticipations of the opponents of the
Corn-laws be fulfilled, it would only have the effect of
lessening the landlords' rents ; and, without advocating.
Agrarian principles, even if the Duke of Rutland emi-
grated, as he had threatened, why he could not take the
land along with him.—(Cheers.) They had evidence to
prove that the people were not sufficiently fed, and coin-
pared with the labourers of the United States of America,
they were ty.-,t half feti.--(Hear.) His conviction was, that
repeal would benefit the landlords as much as any other
class. The transition state would no doubt have its in -
conveniences, and he would have no objection to legislativ e
enactments to assist the working of total repeal ; but ulti-
mately it would be beneficial to the landowner. In
Switzerland, where there was no Corn-law, the land
was three times more valuable than in Suabi.z and the
neighbouring territories, from which the Swiss drew their
supply of corn. In Devonshire, DorsetShire, and Sussex,
the wages of the labourer amounted to no more than Bs.
or Os. a-week. He employed alone 600 workmen in the
neighbourhood of Manchester, and the most unskilful
amongst them earned 12s. a-week. What benefit, then,
did agricultural labourers derive from the operation of
the Corn-laws ?—(Hear, hear.) He tendered them his
sincere thanks on behalf of the body with which he was
connected. They had . given an impetus to free trade
greater than that imparted by the Anti-Corn-law League
during the two years that Association had been in
operation. If such was the effect of the invitation
of the twenty-six Manchester ministers, who had brought
seven hundred of their brethren together, what might be
hoped for if the hundreds in London would rend an
invitation to their brethren throughout • the king-
dom ?—(Loud and continued cheering.) Yes, gentle-
men, why not meet in the metropolis—(Tremendous
applause)—and why not alsocome attended by their pee:.
ple?—(Cheers and laughter.) Let Exeter-hall be filled
by their people.—(Hear and laughter.) Its walls were

accustomed io the voices of those who sought to strike
the fetters from the slave, and where was the difference
between stealing the liberty of a man, and depriving him
of the fruits of his industry ?—(Cheers.) Ile hoped that
they might count upon the co-operation of every indi-
vidual in that vast assembly—(Loud cheers)--and
(pointing to the ladies at the lower end of the ball) he
trusted, too, that they might count upon the aid of the
fair, who were ever foremost in the cause of humanity.—
(Cheers.) However (lark the atmosphere might now ap-
pear around them, if the two were united, they would
soon see the bright beam of sunshine upon their future
efforts. (The Honourable Member sat-down amidst rei-

terated applause.)
The Rev. E. IL NoLAN moved "That the petition to
the House of Commons be presented by the Members for
Manchester and Salford, and that Richard Cobden, Esq.,
M.P. for Stockport, be requested to support such peti-
tion ; also that the petition to the House of Lords be
presented by Lord Ducie."
The Rev. PATRICK BREWSTER,' of Pais!ey, seconded
the motion.
The Rev. Mr. DAvis said that, although only 700 sig-
natures might be appended to the petition, many of them
were deputed by four or five congregations. At a mode-
rate computation they had assembled there the represen-
tatives of about 2,000 congregations.—(Cheers.)
The Rev. P. MURSELL, of Leicester, moved the fol-
lowing resolution :—" That this Conference earnestly
recommends to all who may approve it, to set apart
Monday the Gth of September, as a day for humiliation
before Almighty God, on account of our sins, and for
solemn prayer that it might please him in his superin-
tending providence to remove the distresses which at this
time atHict the country, and which especially bow down
the hearts of the suffering poor, to revive trade and com-
merce in the land, and to endow our senators at this
important crisis with the wisdom which is profitable to

direct."
it was seconded by J. `VERB ANNSLEY, and carried

nem. con.
An address from the Operative Anti-Corn-law Asso-
ciation was then received, when thanks were voted to
the Chairman, and the meeting broke up at a late hour.

NORTH KENT RAILWAY.—The journey from
London to Rochester and Chatham will be reduced to
an hour and a half, viz., from London to Black Wall by
railway, tel minutes ; from Blackwell to Gravesend, an
hour -; and from Gravesend to Rochester by new rail-
way, twenty minutes. The survey from Rochester to
Maidstone is proceeding under Mr. Gibbs through the
valley of- the Medway; crossing at Caxton. The North
Kent Rail Way is ultimately to connect London over the
,Greenwich Railway with- .Woolwich, Dartford, Graves-
end, Rochester, Maidstone, Canterbury, Ramsgate, Mar-
gate, Sandwich, and Deal.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

PAISLEY RACES.—THURSDAY.
The Trial Stakes of 10 sovs. each, 5 ft., with 20 addeL
Mile and a distance. (4 subs.)
Mr. Ramsay's Nubian, 6 yrs, 9st (Noble)
Lord Eglinton's Zoroaster, 6 yrs, 9st
Mr. Radfern's Slashing Harry, aged, 9st
Mr. Alexander's Camilla, 3 yrs, 6st Sib 4.
Won by a head.
The Burgh Members' Plate of 50 gs. Heats, two miles.
Mr. I3amsay's Sunbeam, aged, Bst tub ...(Noble) 1 1.
Lord Eglinton's Zoroaster, 6 yrs, Bst Illb
The first heat was won by a head, the second by a length.
The Glasgow Cup of 100 sovs., added to a Handicap of
25 sovs. each, 15 ft., and only sif declared. Two
miles. (10 subs., 6of whom declared.)
Lord Eglinton's The Potentate, aged, Bst 81b...(Lye)
Mr. Robertson's The Rejected, 5 yrs, 7st 121 b 2

Won by a neck.
The Two yrs-old Sweepstakes of 20 sm. each, with
20 added. Three quarters of a mile. 4 Subs.
Mr. Ramsay's Whistle 13inkie, Bst 51b (Noble) 1
Mr. Johnstone's Princess Royal, Bst 21b.
___

Won by n length.
The Paisley Cup of 501., added to a Siveepstakes of 10

sovs. each, h ft. Heats, once round.
Lord Eglinton's Dr. Caius, 4 yrs, walked over.

ABERYSTWITH RACES.-THQRSDAY.

The Gogerdaa Stakes of 10 sous. each, with 30-added.

2 miles. 2 Subs.

Mr. Parr's Aimwell, 6 yrs, 9st (Owner) I
Mr. J. Pryse's Caaos, 4 yrs, Bst Blb 2
Won cleverly by half a length.
The Hunters' Stakes of 10 sovs. each, and 20 added.