The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-01 00:00:00

called on to enforce the law with respect to blasphemy, or
the keeping holy the Sabbath day ? The Hon. Gentleman
had spoken of the liberality of the Jews. Could there be
any doubt if a Jaw was asked to admit the heathen or the
Mahomedan, that he would refuse to do so ? In conclu-
sion, be felt bound to support the amendment of his Hon.
Friend.

Sir R. INGLIS opposed the third reading of the Bill ;
on a former occasion he felt that the Bill now under con-
' sideration involved the whole question of the admission of
the Jews iato all offices, and he was of the same opinion still.
W.th regard to the centuries of misrule to which his Hon.
Friend had referred, he must observe, that whatever mis-
rule thare was in Ireland, it existed long before the dis-
tinction of Protestant and Roman Catholic could be traced
in their history, and must be attributed to a different order
of things. His opinions remained unchanged, and he
should vote for the amendment of his Hon. Friend,—
(Loud cries of " Divide.")
Lord SANDON did not think that any good grounds
had been stated for refusing to confer corporate offices upon
a very respectable class of men.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. MILNES must vote against the motion of his Hon.
Friend, the Member for Newark.—( He ir, hear.) He
regretted to sec the spirit in which religious subjects
were discussed in that House, and if he wished f.,. any
further proof of their utter incompetency to discuss reli.
gious questions, he could ask for nothing better the,r this
speech of his Right lion. Friend, the Secretary at War,
who delivered over, ex cathedra, to the Church of Rome, a
body of men who considered themselves the best and most
faithful sons, or, he might say, fathers of the Church.
After a few words from Mr. ESTCOURT, which
were quite inaudible in the gallery,
Mr. DIVETT, having undertaken the conduct of the
Bill through the House, begged to make a few remerka.
He regretted to see the jobbing spirit which prevailed in
the Universities, and that their representatives in that
House exhibited those institutions as places where reli-
gion was not regarded, inasmuch as it made men better
arid wiser, in crier to make it a jot..--(" Oh," and
the srs. ) They had seen that spirit evinced in the grossest
way lately in proceedings nt law.—( Hear, hear. ) He
confessed he was anxious that they should exhibit a more
becoming sprit, and that, instead of endeavouring to keep
people out of their civil t ights, they should extend charity
to men of all sects.—( Cries cf " Diiitle.")
The House then divided. The numbers were—
For the third reading
For the amendment...
Majority for the Bill
The Parish Constables Bill was read a second time.
The Charitable Trusts Bill was read a second time, and
ordered to be corn&tted on the 28th cf April.
The Double Costs Bill went through Committee. The
Report was brought up, and ordered to be taken into con
sider9tion on to-morrow (this day.)
The Houghing of Cattle (Ireland) Bill then went
through Committee, and the Report was ordered to. be
brought up to-morrow.
Mr. BAINBRIDGE moved for certain returns con- I
r.ected with the distillation and importation of s •tv I
.
Ordered.

The ether Orders of the Day were then disposed o
and the Home adjourned at Half-past Seven.

ANTI-CORN-LAW 111 E-ET ING

The second annual meeting of the Metropolitan_An

Corn-iaw Association was I.eld esterday in tLe Crown
and Anchor Tavern, Strand.
The Chair was taken soon after one o'clock by H. WAR-
BURTON, Esq., M.P., who was supported by Mr. Place,
Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Villiers, M. P., Mr. R.
Stuart, M. P., Mr. Thorntly, M. P., Mr. Easthope,
M. P., Mr. Ewart, M. P., Mr. Milner Gibson, and several
other gentlemen of eminence.
The Secretary (Mr. Sidney Smith) was called upon to
real the Report, which was as follows:__
The Business Committee of the Metropolitan Anti-Corn-law
Association, appointed to transact all the business of the As-
sociation in its details, beg leave to rep, rt as follows :
That the first Report of your Committee was made at a
meeting of the Members of the Association, held at the Crown
and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, on the 3d of August, 18•10:
That Report contained an account of the origin of the As-
sociation, and of the difficulties it had to encounter—First,
from the general apathy of the middle class ; and second, from
the hostility of the more political portion of the working class.
It congratulated the meeting upon the decline of apathy in
the one class, and upon the cessation, to a considerable extent,
of the hostility of the other.
Your Committee have now the pleasure to report that a very
large portion of the middle class, as well as vast numbers of
the working people, all over the metropolis, have become
active promoters of the objects of this Association.
That no fewer than Seventeen Local Associations have been
formed in and around London, each embracing a numerous
popu • lati • that similar Associations are in course of forma-
tion,m ,
and your Committee doubt not that in a short time every
district of this vast metropolis and its suburbs will establish an
Ant:-Corn•law Association.

Your Committee feel justified in considering this great pro-
gress, within the short period of thirteen months, to be as im-
portant as it is unparalleled; and that it is a strong practical,
and conclusive testimony" of the sound understanding of the
people, and of the manly and energetic spirit with which the
great cause of Corn-law Repeal has been embraced.
Your Committee have great pleasure in being able to report
that the same spirit is spreading rapidly in every direction, and
will, ere long, animate the whole country.
The great, varied, and judicious exertions of the Members
of the National Anti-Corn Law League have been extended
over a large portion of the United Kingdom.
Energetic and well. qualified gentlemen, under the auspices
of the League, have been eminently successful in their efforts
to convey useful instruction to the people. They have been
well received in every part of the kingdom. 'I heir lectures
have been numerously attended, and in no part of the country
more satisfactorily than in the south-western counties, in which
the supporters of the Corn Laws declared, boastingly,
they dared not show themselves. So broad, so strong, so
genial is the light these gentlemen have diffused, that the
League have only to continue their exertions, in conjunction
with this Association and other Central Associations, to cause
the enrolment, in aid of the Repeal of the Corn Laws, of the
whole of the thinking portion of the population of this great
empire.
Their useful and well-conducted publications, and their
individual and collective exertions, each and all deserve the
cordial approbation, not only of this Association, but of every
man who is an enlightened friend of his country, its trade, com-
merce, manufactures, and the well-being of its people, and
more especially of those who, while their labour mainly contri-
butes to its pre-eminence, are more than others oppressed by
the unjust laws which it is the object of the League to abolish.
Your Committee have also great satisfaction in noticing the
active and successful efforts of the " Glasgow Anti-Corn-law
Association," from which has just issued an admirable " Ad-
dress to the people of Scotland."
Since the date of the last Report, several new features in the
progress of the Anti-Co; n-law movement have presented them-
selves. Of these, none is more worthy of notice than the effect
produced on the nation by the important evidence which was
given last year before a Committee of the House of Com-
mons, by persons of great official and commercial experience,
in respect to the enormous amount of the injuty which is
inflicted on the country by the Food Monopoly. INot only has
a large impression of a digest of the Report containing this
evidence been entirely sold off, but no fewer than three new
editions have been called for, involving an immediate issue of
nearly twenty thousand copies ; thus evincing the great interest
which is occupying the public mind on the subject of the
Corn-laws, and indeed on the whole system of restrictive policy.
A well-timed manit,sto has also appeared, signed by nearly
one hundred and fifty influential Membcts of the House ( f
Commons. which it is hoped may help to in,uce her Majesty's
Government to Live their (-oiliest and immediate attention to
the bam.ful effects which are prodnecd by the Corn Monopoly
oa the revenue and prosperity of the Sate.

Your Committt ehav; to repmt that the extensive and rival.
tifarious business of the Association hzs been arduous and
difficult : how well it has then managed, the occurrences of
the past year will testify. Your Committee hope that the
Association do them the justice to think that all the effects
have been produced which could be accomplished by aid of the
fund subscribed amounting. last year to 962 i. 4s. 2d. The
large space over which their efforts have been extended, and
the immense number of persons who, in consequent e thereof,
have been induced, directly and indirectly, to become advo-
cates for the Repeal of the Food Monopoly, have opened up
new sources of continued, unremitted exertion ; and your Com-
mittee are satisfied that if the means be provided, everything
which has been indicated as probable, will be accomplished.
Most of the original subscribers have promised to renew their
subset iptions, and some of them, it is expected, will double the
amount ttf theirs ; and your Committee have only to observe, with
iespect to what are usually called the sinews of war, that should
these, as they expect they will, be fully provided, they shall be
carefully and economically expended, and as clearly accounted
for as those which were formerly entrusted to them have been
in the first Report made by the Committee to the Association.
Your Committee are of opinion that the business of the
Association should continue to be conducted as it has hitherto
been, but upon a larger scale ; and they expect that, supported
as they will be by the Local Associations in the metropolis, and
aided by and aiding the National Anti-Corn-law League, and
the Association at Glasgow, good may be done to an extent
which, they believe, has hitherto been thought impracticable
by all but a very small number of their frie. de.
After mature deliberation your Committee feel justified in
rrec amentommending a renewal of the measure of petitions to Par-
-, because, notwithstanding the apparent di-respect
with which the Legislator last Session thetreat.ed question, it
the. House of is very certain that the effecte of addressing
Com-
mons was to diminish the former adverse majority.
Your Committee have also come tottea
resolution
instructotfi eadQvius
large national reeltrtylinotnt
the presentation of one
against
Government the n-laws, n-
takeaw
s;hePrsatibijnegctheinrto their immediate con_
sideration.

sz,etelasests.:o7.imnveolietoyoaPu;
Your Committee cannot conclude their Report in a better
way than in the words of a feosrmfeernAewd_dreietsi
" Finally, then, permit
Aw°we that our
peal to your sympathy—to your inteullscoigereenadcwe.a:s
aid and co-operattan; since, deeply
all to aid
object, the DOTAL REPE • L OF THE St IS for the
welfare of all, so must- it be the imperative duty eir
in its accomplishment."
By order of the Committee.
FRANCIS PLACE, Chairman,
SIDNEY SMITH, Secretary,
Mr. BEACON moved that the Report just read be
adopted, and circulated among 4 the Members of the As-
sociation.
Mr. ASHDOWN, as a stranger, most cordially seconded
the motion. He had been.quite ignorant of the principles
of Corn-law Rope tiers, until same of the publications of
the Association le :l into his hands—they made him begin
to think upon the question, and having done so, he was
at once convinced, and he with the assistance of a few
friends get up a Branch Associatioo, their eminent he-
turer, M-. J. Smith carne down, and the consequence
war, they were now going on with great promise of success.
The resolution was passed una.timously.
Mr. VILLIFRS was then called upon to move the first
resolution, and appeared amidst loud cheers. He said he
attended the meeting in obedience to a summons from
the Committee, because be had been unwilling on that as
on former occasions, to shrink from bearing his portion cf
the trouble and inconvenience that must be inseparable
from forwarding tha question they had met to discuss.
He could not, however, claim any credit for the
holding of the meeting, because so long ns
othfe
the happy differences existed between large sections
people, he was of opinion that there was
not much usefulness effected in meetings of that sort ; but
be bad been informed that at the last meeting, owing to
the unfortunate confusion that prevailed, the Committee
had been preventedfromcompleting the proceedings ne-
eeastry for the maintenances
He
was of the Association, and in
it alive itwa
order to keepnecessary that a future meet-
ing should be held,pe fectly Certain that that