The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1840.

GREAT ANTI-CORN-LAW DEMON-

STRATION IN KENDAL.

(Abridged from the Kendal Mercury.)
A public dinner was given on Wednesday last, at
the King's Arms Hotel, in this borough, in honour of
Dr. Bowring, Thomas Milner Gibson, Esq., and J. B.
Smith, Esq., as a mark of respect for their strenuous
efforts in favour of the repeal of the Corn-laws. The
Mayor, who presided, was supported on his right by
Dr. Bowring, Wan. Crackanthorpe, Esq.. the Rev. E.
Hawkes, Rev. D. Jones, and other gentlemen ; on his
left by Thoma 4 Weer Gibson, Esq., George William
Wood, Esq., M.P. for Kendal, &c. John Yectes, Esq.,
and Mr. Isaac Edmondson, performed the duties of
vice-chairmen. The company filled the large dinner-
room of the hotel.

On the cloth being withdrawn, the worthy MAYOR
proposed, in terms of ::r lent loyalty and attachment,
the health of her Majesty t'le Queen (three times thr,:e).
Prince Albert (three times tlir.,e).
Duchess of Kent and the rest of the Royal Family
(three times three).
His WORSHIP then announced the special object of
the meeting, namely to do honour to the distinguished
gentlemen who were seated on his right and left. But
before he introduced them more particularly to the as-
sembly before him, he begged their indulgence while he
accounted for the absence of one of the gentlemen whom
they desired to honour, Mr. J. B. Smith, Chairman of
the Anti-Corn-law League, and the indefatigable advo-
cate of free trade.—(Cheers.) He was sure that they
would all feel equal regret with him that Mr. Smith
could not be present on that occasion, but when they
heard his answer to the invitation that he had received,
they would perceive that his absence was, perhaps, more
truly useful to the cause than his presence, since he was
engaged in directing the efforts of the League at Man-
chester.—(Cheers.) The Mayor then read a letter of
which the following is the principal paragraph :
" It would give me great pleasure to accept the in.
vitation of our Kendal friends to their Anti-Corn-law
dinner, but I give so much of my time to the League,
where I think it can be most profitably employed for
the cause, that I have laid it down as a principle not
to accept any invitations to go from my duty here."
The Mayor then said that the Council had received
many letters from friends at a distance, highly approving
the objects of the meeting, and regretting that they
could not enjoy the pleasure of being present on the
occasion.

The CHAIRMAN said that Kendal had that day done
itself the honour to invite to a public dinner several
most distinguished persons, whom be was sure they all
felt delighted to see among them. One of them whom
he should first introduce was a true patriot. Dr.
Bowring had spent his time in the cause of his country,
and he now came to concentrate them in their efforts
in behalf of that glorious cause in which they were en-
gaged. He had been called " the apostle of free
trade," and his abilities had been put in requisition by
our Government, which had found them most effectual
for the purpose for which they had employed them. He
called upon the company for a bumper to drink health
'lnd long life and happiness to their distinguished guest,
and succe,s to the cause in which he was engaged.—
(Vehement cheering.)
The Vice-President, Mr. YEATES, called for another
cheer for free trade and liberality, which was responded
to most heartily.

Dr. BOWRING rose amid vehement cheering, which
continued for some minutes, and spoke to the following
effect :—Mr. Mayor,—Well may I feel grateful for
the kind way in which you have introduced me to those
friends who are assembled about me, and in which you
have associated my name with those great principles
whose introduction into the policy of our nation will
confer happiness upon the whole community. We may
congratulate ourselves that this great cause has made
good progress in the public mind, that town after town,
community after community, district after district, na-
tion after nation, are beginning to feel that there is a
universal brotherhood in man, and that men were born
to love and serve, not hate and destroy, each other.—
(Cheers.) The more this question is studied, the more
it will be found that we were created to do each other
mutual service, and that by bearine blessings and bene-
fits to other countries, we are enabled to bring back
blessings and benefits to our own. We have made our-
selves great by the triumphs of war, but if we would be
more truly great, we must look to the triumphs of com-
merce and peace.—(Great applause.) Warriors have
had their worshippers, too manyiworshippers, but future
times will look with far more pride on the works of
those laborious hands which have carried the products
of our industry to the furthest parts of the earth.
I have visited Waterloo, while yet the masses of slain
were unburied, and I for one, could not join in the shout
of Io triumpbe that was raised. But when in the deserts
of Africa, I have seen the poor negro ornamenting
himself with some decorations which Birmingham had
furnished, and when I have seen the Bedouin Arab
clothing himself with garments, the produce of the
looms of Englancl,—when, on the plains of the re-
motest regions, I have thus seen thnt my country has
added something to human felicity, I have indeed felt
that England is great and glorious, and I was anxious
that her splendour should be associated, not with the
destruction of the human race, but with the increase of
human felicity.—(Great applause.) It is asked, shall
we be dependent on foreign nations ?—but it is impos-
sible to look around us in this room, and see how
many different countries have contributed to this
festival, and to the enjoyment of this meeting,
without feeling how. much dependence upon others
may be made to add to the daily comforts of life.
—(Hear, hear.) With regard to this very question,
which now occupies. public attention, in looking over
(only yesterday) some papers of a deceased statesman,
of the date of 1789, when the trade in corn was free,
I learned that England, so far from being dependent
on foreign countries, was enabled to export largely
to other countries.' The document to which I allude
says Without entering into subtle reasonings, the
benefit of a free trade in corn appears in this, that Eng-
land, as an exporting nation, has been able largely to
assist France and Holland during several months past
in their distress, without experiencing any distress it-
self. So true is it, that the cook who prepares food
for others will never die of hunger, while tbose who
are led to provide only for their precise consumption,
are left upon any accident without resource. Having
no surplus intended for foreign markets to resort to in
case of need, they pay double prices to foreigners for
food they do not always like. Their governments run
the risk of insurrections, or being exhausted by ex-
pensive exertions. Individuals in them are exposed to
plunder, and the poor perish by the halter or sword, or
are left to die by famine and its attendant diseases."—
Now merk the change ; under a system of free-trade in
corn, England was enabled to supply her own population,
and to provide for the wants of others ; but now, crippled
by restrictive legislation, it is England that depends upon
foreigners, and all the miseries described as existing in
France, the exhaust on of her treasure,the perishing of
her people, are transferred to England.—(Cheers.) Since
these laws have been in operation, we have never been
able to do without an importation of food. We have im-
ported since the year 1828 an average of 880,000 qrs.
of foreign wheat, and in 1839 no less than ,700,000
qrs. ; and this enormous quantity, be it remembered,
is received, not in the quiet interchange of labour for le-
hour, but on terms the most disastrous. Our starvation
prices go to the foreign producer, our gold rushes rapidly
out of the land, our merchants and hankers are menaced
with ruin.—(Cheers.) Now would it not be tar more
reasonable to avail ourselves by regula supply and con-
stant intercourse of the produce of the whole earth, and
to receive from that paternal hand which is stretched
out in universal benignity over all His creatures those
supplies which He intended for the common uses of his
children ? Of all sorts of corn brought into Great Britain,
inclu ling importations from Ireland, we have received
from 1818 to the presmt year, according to documents
prepared by one of the m st useful and strong-minded
men in this country, Joseph Sturge, an average of nearly
four millions of quarters per annum, so that unless cur
ports had been opened, our people must have perished.
And even as resrets the means of Ireland to supply us
with wheat, in 1839; the period of our distress, when we
were forced to buy at any sacrifice, and the necessities
of the nation were such that the Bank of Eagland was
menaced with bankruptcy, by paymen! of those supplies,
Ireland was able only to supply 90,000 quarters of
wheat. I had the honour last year to be sent to one
of the most populous, industrious, intelligent, and opu-
lent parts of Europe, to northern and central Germany.
This is a nation in whom we feel strong interest because
we have a common origin. Their forefathers and
ours spoke the same language, we are descended from
the same Gothic root. Their sympathies also have long
been towards us, and they would willingly reciprocate
good offices. When I went to Germany, I found that
their manufactures had not been erected by their sponta-
neous will,-but by our hostile legislation. They implored
us to take their produce, and they were willing to receive
the manufactures we could supply in return. You know,
Gentleman, that the first tendencies and the last desires
of a nation arc towards agr culture, and that it i 3 only
when it cannot appropriate its capital to agricultural uses
that reluctantly begins to manufacture for itself.--(Ap.
plause.) This leads me to observe that agriculture alwa3a
prospers most when manufactures arc most extensive—
(Cheers)-e-for every 20s. of manufacturing or commercial
profit, I 9s. go to the agriculturist. The value of land
is always measured by its adjacency to manufactures.
Fields most productive in soil are often valueless, because
there is no market near. I need not call to you: remern-
bsance that the Republics of Italy, such as Venice and
Genoa, which gave early and enlightened examples ()Hite
benefits of free-trade legislation, and admitted corn from
every quarter, so far from deteriorating the worth of
their lends, brought them into garden cultivation, and
gave tlical an unprecedented value. This commercial
liberty gave them poli:ical strength, influence, and free-
dom.—(Great applause.) Ge..ntlem 'n, in the great race
that is being run, no nation possesses more advantages
than ours. I hate seen no merchants more intelligent,
adventurous, and opulent than ours, no manufacturers
more able to contend in fair and honourable competi-
tion. If these great subjects S'er'e iltt(!:lded to as they
ought, so expansive are thf? rowers as production, we
might create to ourselves a bright and glorious futurity,

for our commerce is but a Hercules in its cradle, des-
tined to strangle the serpents that have attacked it
there.—(Great cheers.) The theory of free trade is
not only the theory of wisdom and benevolence, as your
Chairman has said, but it is the theory of self-interest.
To sell where we can find the best market, and to buy
where we can find the cheapest, is the way to amass
riches ; and England, looked upon as she is—'or in
spite of her folly, one is rejoiced to think that she is
looked upon with respect—might in this way attain to
an eminence of which there is yet no glimpse. If the
great example set by this meeting were followed out,
and the lesson which it tenches forced upon our Legis-
lature, I venture to say that Englishmen, honoured as
they still are for their prowess, would become still more
honoured by their application of the great Christian
principle, ‘• Do unto others as you would they should
do unto you." Dr. B. sat down amidst the loudest
and reiterated cheers.

The 111AYOR, in proposing the health of T. M.
Gibson, Esq., spoke of the example of independence and
integrity that he had set, and the reputation which his
man:), conduct a❑d his able advocacy of his op.nioLs
had gained.
Mr. GIBSON returned thanks in few words.
_ _

The CHAIRMAN then gave G. W:i:VoOd, Esq., M.P.,
and spoke in warm terms of his invariable attention to

his constituents, and to his duties as a Member of
Parliament.

Mr. WOOD was most enthusiastically greeted on rising
to acknowledge the toast, and returned thanks in an
appropriate speech.
The MAYOR next gave the health of Wm. Crack-
anthorpe, Esq., a gentleman conversant with an agri-
cultural district,

CRACKANTHORPE in returning thanks, said, I am
a plain country gentleman, relying for my means of sub-
sistence solely upon the produce of the acres I possess
in this and the adjoining county, but I am satisfied that
a change in the lave is absolutely
necessary to the
prosperity, not only of the manufacturing, but also of
the agricultural class.--(Loud cheers.) This is my
decided opinion, and coming, as my friend. the Mayor,
has stated, from another part, separated from this dis-
trict by that ridge of Apennines which the gentlemen
of Kendal find so much difficulty in crossing when they
come to our Sessions—( Laughter)—a circumstance which
shows that he and they do really consider it as a distant
and inaccessible region —(Laughter)—l am glad to
record my opinion. I regret that other friends have not
accompanied me, but it is not the first time I have stood
alone in this county. Nevertheless, I feel that my opi-
nions arc correct, and I hope I shall live to see the day
when they are carried out into effect, as I have wit-
nessed the emancipation of the Roman Catholics.—
(Loud cheers.) The successful accomplishment of that
righteous measure is my encouragement never to flinch
from what I think my duty.
After some further festivities the meeting broke up.
At seven o'clock the company walked in procession
to the Odd Fellows' Hall, which they found crowded.
We observed amongst the company in the Hall a great
portion of the manufacturers of the town, and several
of the n ost influenthil and distinguished members of
the Society of Friends, who, we rejoice to perceive,
have taken up this important question as one of justice,
humanity, and religion.

The MAYOR was received with the loudest applause.
He made a short address applicable to the occasion,
and explanatory of the views with which they had met,
and in defence of the cause they espoused. He called
upon Alderman Isaac Wilson to propose the first reso-
lution.

Alderman ISAAC WILSON observed that he had a
deep interest in his native town. That he had been
brought up from early life as a manufacturer, and had
watched with concern the progress of decay in many
branches of trade. The once staple manufacture of
Kendal, and which the makers could be preparing
throughout the year, was 'nearly gone. In the course
of twenty or thirty years the makers were become
nearly extinct, and those who remembered the nume-
rous manufactories of that day can scarcely find three
firms existing as their sucessors. The Americans had
at first been compelled to do it, and now got the profit
of making their own clothing.—(Hear.) Similar re-
sults had attended our exports to Holland and Ger-
many, and many of the fancy weavers now out of em-
ployment might attribute to reciprocal high duties their
present distress. These cases amongst a multitude of
others of a similar character, induced him to believe
that unless the ',resent Corn•laws were speedily
abolished, the manufactures of this country would re-
ceive a b'ow from which, under the most favourable
circumstances, they would with difficulty recover.
JOHN YEATES, Esq., R.N., an extensive landowner,
secoaded the resolution. He said that he mourned the
existence of the distress which had brought them toge-
ther, and he cordially advocated the repeal of the Corn-
laws, as he thereby believed much of the present suffer-
ing would be ameliorated, and the happiness of the po-
pulation secured.—(Much cheering.)
Dr. BOWLING supported the motion. I grieve to
say the resolution that has been just moved, tells a tale
of sorrow and distress, a tale which, alas! is not yours
alone, but that of a large portion of the industrious
and virtuous community of this kingdom. If, Gentle-
men, there were no remedy, then the heart might sink
in despair, but happily to an evil so great there is an
appropriate antidote, and to that antidote your attention 1
has been directed, and for its attainment all your ener-
gies will be applied. Gentlemen, this is a simple state•
ment of the question between us and our neighbours.
They want to sell food and to buy garments, and you
have a Corn-law which says the people of England shall
neither sell the garments nor obtain the food. I can-
not believe, Gentlemen, that this will be long tole-
rated, when the question has been investigated, and
when its bearings have entered into every man's
mind.—(Loud cheers.) I may venture to speak with
some experience of other countries. Never have I
seen a nation whose inhabitants are more industrious,
more intelligent, or more meritorous than that whose
language I speak, and among whom I was born ;
but I have learned that other lands possess many
enjoyments, even to excess, and I desire to bring
them to England—to that England which has so much
to offer in return—but the Parliament of England says
they shall not enter. Instead of a reciprocity of wel-
come and of benevolence, there is a reciprocity of re-
jection and of evil. It would seem that the spirit of
revenge has entered into our legislation. Hostility has
left our camps to be concentrated in our tariffs.—
(Cheers.) I can understand that when nations are at
war they should seek to do one another an injury, but I
cannot understand why, when nations are at peace, they
should deny to each other mutual blessings. Gentle-
men, I have seen with my own eyes harvests perishing
upon the field that would not pay the cost of gathering
them into the granary, and I have seen in this country
.. .

warehouses filled to overflowing with the industry of
the famishing population. Wheat has perished in the
Peninsula while we had starvation prices in England,
and Spaniards and Englishmen are the children of
a common father !—(Loud cheering.) It is not, Gen-
tlemen, for this state of things that we were born.
At the present moment the whole population are in-
structed—the whole population are prosperous and
happy.—( Hear.) In those very districts that were
scenes of desolation, there is scarcely a labourer that
does not sit under his own vine and his own fig-tree, the
possessor of the house in which he dwells, and the
garden which he cultivates.—(Cheers.) To what does
he owe it ? He has not allowed the law to interfere
with his labour ; he goes where be will to sell, and
where he will to buy.—(Reiterated cheers.) That,
Gentlemen, is the privilege that I want to obtain for
the people of England, and that privilege I have no
doubt the people of England will obtain and main-
tain, for it. is not to be tolerated in a country like
this, with so many resources of mind, and capital, and
knowledge, and influence, that the millions should be
left in their present forlorn .condition.—(Cheers.)
I have heard it said again and again, that to admit fo-
reign corn, is to reduce the wages of the people. Ger-
ticmen, it may be proved to demonstration that to admit
foreign corn, is to raise the wages of the labourer. t our
Corn-laws diminish the demand for labour, and elevate
the price of food. You keep the price of corn low on
the continent. You give unreasonable and unnecessary
advantages to your competitors. You say let the artizan
on the continent pay only 30s. per quarter. We insist
on paying 60s. or 705., and you expect that there should
be no suffering in consequence I Is it doing justice to
the English labourer to force him to competition under
circumstances so disadvantageous ? Is that far or honest;
But, Gentlemen, if we take the small surplus that they
have, prices would rise there, and prices would fall to a
certain extent here There would be a greater consump-
tion, but then, in the race to be run, you would all start
fair.—(Cheers.) Is not competition heavy enough, and
dangerous enough, without calling into the field this se-
verer competition with the continent, in which the con-
tinental labourer has such an advantage against you?
Not only do you refuse. the corn, but you favour the fo-
reign manufacturer ; you abstract capital from the field,
and drive it into the factory. Your laws create the
most dangerous of rivals, and what you have created
you cannot control.—(Cheers.) Still, Gentlemen,
your voice may reach the House of Commons in its
power and in its majesty. It n.ay tell them that the
people of England arc no longer to be deluded, no longer
to be deceived, no longer to be sacrificed, and then the
day of reclempt!on win be at hand. It is indeed, Gen-
tlemen, a thought of grief that subjects like these, when
they are brought before that House, occupy so little of
its attention. It is one of the results of nay experience
in that House, that their attention is given, not in
proportion to the importance, but to the frivolity of the
question. Personal matters, those little struggles which
only affect individuals, occupy their attention, but the
concerns of the multitude, the happiness, the miser
of millions—for these they have little regard.—(lni-
meow applause.) But, Gentlemen, what is passing
here at this moment, convinces me that a change will
come over the "spirit of their dream," that they will
be aroused from their torpor ; an instructed people will
not submit to an oppressive legislation ; the people arc
being awakened ; the people are speaking, and the
people will be heard:—(Tremendous cheering followed
the• conclusion of this speech.)
The Rev, EDWARD AW XES then rose amids

cheers, and said—Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen, :this is
not the first time that a public meeting has been held
in Kendal, upon the important subject which now
engages our attention. A year has scarcely elapsed
since we assembled in our Town Hall to express our
sentiments, to state the distress which prevailed, and to
petition Parliament for redress. 1 then thought,
although I had not a high opinion of the disposition of
Parliament to listen to the respectful requests of the
people, that the fasts adduced at that meeting, corre-
sponding with and supported by similar facts in other
manufacturing towns in the kingdom, proving the bane-
ful effects of the Corn-laws in raising the price of food,
dirniniAing our exports of manufactured goods, and de-
priving the labouring class of employment, would have
secured a respectful and sincere attention from the
Legislature. Little did I calculate upon the refine-
ments of chicanery by which an unwilling body of so-
called representatives of the people could shelve a ques-
tion in which the interests and lives of the people are so
deeply involved ; little did I think that e bile ruin and
famine were staring us in the face, our House of Com-
mons could employ itself almost exclusively in playing
the game of " in" or " out," in struggles for the pos-
session of the enviable offices in Downing-street. The
Legislature, by refusing to receive evidence as to the
effect of the Corn-laws on the ruin of trade, read a
plain intelligible lesson to the people : they told us that
they preferred their own supposed interests to those
of the electors and people they professed to repre-
sent : they boldly abdicated, upon a vital question, the
functions they had sworn to discharge.—(Cheers.) The
people arc now called upon to perform their duty. It
rests with them to tell the Legislature in what. manner
their abandonment of their duty has affected their
minds. It rests with them to say, in plain and decided
language, that since they have forfeited the confidence
reposed in them, it becomes the duty as much as the in-
terest of the people to elect other representatives, who,
warned by the misconduct and punishment of their pre-
decessors, may take heed lest they too fall.—(Che.ss.)
From the representative they turn to the electors ; and
taking the conduct of the House of Commons as the
index of the sentiments of those who possess the fran•
chise, they have come to the conviction that the pre-
sent electors have failed in their duty, and that an ex-
tension of the suffrage will be essential to secure impar-
tial legislation for the whole people.—(Loud cheers.)
I do not hesitate to say that that is my own opinion.

In making this declaration I speak as an individual, I
do not profess to speak the sentiments of the asso-
ciation ; but I am not singular in entertaining this opi-
nion, for its prevalence is notorious, and it is the dutj
of the people to acquaint the Legislature with the
effects which their misconduct produces. The resolution
which I hold in my hand supports me in making these
observations ; it tells the Legislature in plain and de-
cisive terms, that their refusal to receive the evidence
of men of respectability, prepared to prove their repre-
sentations by numberless and incontrovertible facts, with
regard to the effects of the Corn-laws in producing the
decline of trade, and the misery of the people, has pro-
duced a growing conviction of the necessity of extend-
tog the suffrage ; and cordially agreeing, as I do, in that
declaration, I beg to propose it for the adoption of the
meeting.—(Cheers.)
THOMAS MILNER GIBSON, Esq., rose amid the most
vociferous cheering, he spoke as follows :—The Corn-
laws are just this simple scheme ;—a proposal that the
landholders of England who deal in bread, and betf, and
mutton, should have the exclusive right of supplying the
country with the said bread, beef, and mutton, on their
own terms and at their own prices.—( Laughter.) This
is a simplification of the Corn-law mystery. It has
been involved in much complication, but it may be com-
pressed into a very small space. It is much the same
sort of question as if a man were to set up one baker',
shop in Kendal, and to tell his fellow-townsmen that
they must all come to him for their bread, and that if
any other shop were to be opened, a duty must be
pieced upon the bread which is sold in it, to keep up the
price at that amount at which he chose to sell his own
article.—(Cheers). But the case is worse than I
have stated it, for they will not let foreign
beef come in at any price. It is like that of a
butcher who should claim the exclusive right of
supplying every living soul in your town with beef.
mutton, and pork, in order to charge for these
articles what price he pleases. If such a law was to
be made, you "would have to pay pretty dearly for what
you wanted, and it would require much logic to convince
you that this monopoly was a good thing for you.—
(Loud cheers.) Who is it that compose the Legisla-
ture ? The House of Lords is composed entirely, and
the House of Commons to a very great extent, of per-
sons who, similarly to the bakers and butchers whom
I have mentioned, deal in bread and beef and mutton
and who enact that you shall buy your provisions onl3
of them, and tell you that toreign food would disagree
with your stomachs.—(Much laughter.) Ido confess
that I see very considerable difficulty in knowing how to
deal, on the 'Corn-law question, with a Legistature so
constituted. In demanding of Parliament a repeal o
those laws, we approach a body who are judges in the.),
own cause, but I am one of those who have some con-
fidence in the force of truth, and who feel that in asking
justice, there is never any reason to despair. If the
people of this country show a determined front to the
Legislature, if they come forward with a resolute de-
meanour, declaring that they want only justice, that thej
only require the privilege of selling to others those pro-
ducts of their industry which cannot be disposed ol
at home, I feel assured that the Legislature must even-
tual) give way and yield to so reasonable a request.
The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, the grea:
leader of the bread-and-beef-seliing aristocracy, it hip
place in the House of Lords the other night, denounced.
according to the newspaper reports, Anti-Corn-law As-
sociations and Leagues as unholy things.—(Laughter.;
This he said in the presence of the bishops and arch-
bishops, who, I suppose. must be considered goo('
judges of what holiness or unholiness consists, and sidle
seemed to assent to the Noble Duke's statement. A:
he made this statement in a public assembly, I am en
titled to answer it in another public assembly ; and 1
ask whether the converse of the proposition be true ?
If these leagues be unholy, I ask whether the bread-

monopoly laws are holy laws? Do not we, and did cot
the bishops recollect, and if they did not, they ought'
to have recollected, that sentence of holy writ whici
declares, " him that withholdeth corn the people shat
curse?"—(Great cheering.) If you come to holy laws,
then I denounce them by an express and positive pre.

cept of holy writ. I ask is it not to withhold corn fron
the people, to tell them, when in want, that they shall not
have it but at prices which they cannot afford to pay
But, Gentlemen, now that I have done with this absur(
statement, I come to another argument. They tei
you cheap bread is bad for the labouring classes—
(Loud laughter)—they say that their resources are no
so great when bread is cheap as when it is dear, an(
that wages fall. Now let us test the honesty of thi
assertion by reference to a fact. The new Poor-lay
introduced a more stringent system of administerin;
the funds for the relief of the poor than previously ex
isted. However sound in principle, it was felt to be
severe measure, and was so acknowledged by the land
lords. This law was enacted at a time when bread we
cheaper than it had been for a long period or than i
has been since. The lanai irds, however, said here is ;
• good opportunity for trying the experiment : bread i
cheap, and we may now venture to put the people o•
their own resources.—(Cheers.) if, then, the labour
ing classes were at that time at the lowest point, whirl
they must have been, Helical) bread is a criterion of thei
state, what an act of injustice it was to introduce thi
law when they were least able to bear its pressure
!
(Great applause.) If I ask any village shopkeeper,
even a purely agricultural neighbourhood, he is sure t.
to tell rue that the labouring class purchase more cloth-
ing and other things of him during times of cheapnes
than during periods of delrness. Corn-laws, I mein
rain, on the whole tend to diminish waves and rais•
prices. Now, in 1835, the agricultural lel oui e s
Suffolk received 9s. per week, with flour at Is. 6
per stone, and in 1839 only 10s. or I ls. per wee:
with flour at upwards of 3. per stone. Anothe
strange argument of some is, that plenty is a bad thing
for the people, when accustomed to it, don't know whe
to do in limes of scarcity. Colonel Thompson ha
eery well and significantly refuted this fallacy, when le
said that a man might as well think it hurtful to hay
two legs, as it would unfit him to do with only one
should he happen to lose the other.—(lmmense laugh.
ter.) But, Gentlemen, the landlords have anodic.
argument. It is dangerous, they say, to depend upo,
foreigners for subsistence. Does it not appear more
probable that we shall have a constant and allundal
supply of corn, if we have the power of drawing ;
pleasure from the whole globe, than if we are corn
pelted to confine ourselves to one limited spot.
It would be as wise to depend upon a single wet
which might dry up in a hot summer, for a supply e
water, when, by means of pipes.
you could dray
it from a neighbouring river. After all, the home
landlord, if you depend upon him, won't give yui
his corn except you give bitit something in ex
change, and it is quite as well to have the power of
similar transaction with other people, in case the horn.
landlord does not want that something which you have
to offer in exchange for corn. And here, whilst I
think of it, 1 must mention a monstrous eff..et of OW
Corn-laws, that some time since a quantity of corn was
actually destroyed in the Thames, though thousand:
might be starving for the want of it, because the duty
was so high, that the existing price would not admit of
its introduction into the country ; the owners could not
go on paying warehouse room, the corn‘tvhe
as deterio-
rating,
and therefore it was cheaper, under
circum-
stances, for them to throw it into the Thames, than to
run the risk of losing more money by keepint it in
bond,—(Great cheers.) Gentlemen, dependence
what is it 1) You must buy from some one, and sell te
some one—each cannot grow all he eats, or eat all he
grows. The more markets you have, the less dependent
you will be. Talk of being independent of other coun-
tries ! it is the very way to be dependent indeed.
If ships did not employ a pilot in flue weather, the-
are not likely to find one ready when on a lee-shore
a gale.—(Applause.) I would much sooner have to
depend upon foreigners, in addition to home landlords, 1
for bread, than I would exclusively upon home land- 1

lords: This is having, in fact, two strings to your
how. We shall always have our own lands and land-
lords, and, as necessity is the mother of invention, it
is very likely, when the Corn-laws are repealed, that
these said landed gentry will tax their ingenuity to
advance agricultural skill, and raise a larger amount of
produce from their lands with less cost of production.
When it was proposed to make turnpike-roads
(turnpike-roads, mind you, and not railroads), from
London into the distant provinces, the landlords in
the districts adjoining the metropolis petitioned against
it. What ! said they—make roads into the provinces
and introduce their corn into our markets? We have

a vested_ right in supplying our own market. Shall
we let distant counties undersell us? No, we will
petition Parliament against it. What, make the metro-
polis dependent upon remote counties for bread !
(Laughter.) How do we know that Northumberland,
for instance, can supply us, if we c:o not provide our-
selves against any contingency—(Laughter)—and not
only so, but we have mortgaged our estates, according
to their present value. We have been induced, from
having had the monopoly of the London market, to em-
bark in very expensive cultivation ; our hinds are highly
wanured, &e. ; we have lived up to our incomes ; eve
have kept carriages and powdered footmen ; and will
you rob us of our vested rights by admitting distant
:griculturists to send their produce to our market, when
'hey can afford to sell at a much lower price than we
can? What was the effect of these improvements?
London felt the advantage, and those lands wh,ch, it was
feared, would become valueless, are now ten-fold more
productive, and so it would be with the repeal of the
Corn-laws. The repeal might at first produce a little
alarm ; every little shopkeeper is timid when a rival shop
is opened. But, eventually, the landlords would share
al the general prosperity produced by the repeal of the
Corn-laws. And another argument of the landlords
is this—they ask, shall we legislate upon mere ab-
stract principles in an artificial state of society? but
depend upon it, abstract principles were never violated
with impunity. Colonel Thompson, the author of the
Corn-law Catechism, which you all ought to read and
,tudy, answers this argument. He says, suppose a
thief, when convicted before the Judge, and when
.:ailed upon for his defence, were to say—"why you
see, my Lord, we live in an artificial state of society ;
cc cannot regulate our conduct upon abstract prin.
:iples of justice. I have long been accustomed to
plunder ; I git my living by it ; I have acquired a
!ested interest in it," what would be the reply ?
• Laughter.) It is the neglect of abstract principles
that has brought upon this country all its commercial
iifficulties. Put your shoulders to the wheel, and you
will stir it, and remember it is idle to complain of the
,ukewarnmess of others, if you, who are convinced of
-he evil of these Corn-laws, do not use your efforts to
procure their repeal. The Government rests upan your
support, and when the foundation of an edifice is shaken,
the structure above must partake of the movement.—
Mr, U. sat down amid loud and long continued ap-

olause, which lasted for some minutes.
G. W. Wool), Esq., M.P.—We are called to con-
sider a matter of great national importance equally mo-
mentous to every class. That the present Corn-laws
have a strong tendency to increase inequality in the
price of bread, all are too well aware.—(Cheers.) The
farming tenantry, I hold, are most mpterially interested
in preserving an equality of prices. If they should not

have a steady rate of value for their produce, they must
he frequently injured and distressed with the rest of
the community. It is then important for all classes
that steadiness should exist, and inasmuch as the Corn-
laws interfere therewith, their removal would be a mate-
rial benefit.—(Cheers.) You know how the price of
clothing has been reduced by the skill and industry of
our labouring classes, and the blessings which we enjoy
have been diffused through other countries to the end of
the earth. What is so obvious in the case of clothing is
equally just and beneficial as regards food. If this coun-
(ry has been benefited by the cheapness of its manufac-
turers, I cannot for the life of me see how the country
should be injured by the introduction of cheaper bread.
—(Cheers.) Farmers and landowners are equally in-
terested in the question : I trust they would be found
to disclaim the selfish reasons which are attributed to
• hem from advantages to be derived by making corn
!ear, and beef higher. The last twelve months are
;raught with lessons to the mercantile community, of a
)eculiarly distressing character. Have not our labour-
ing classes been as willing to labour, our manufacturers
to embark their capital in mercantile speculation, as in
ormer times? What, then, is the cause ? I hold that
t must be the result of bad legislation, indifference, or
profound ignorance respecting the subject, that in a
.tale of almost uninterrupted peace, our commerce
•hould be crippled, our capital wasted, our artizans
inernployed, and yet all this time other countries are
s willing to take, and the people of other lands and
dimes as willing to enjoy, as we are to bestow, the
'benefits which we have in profusion, and which are wait-
rig for a demand.—(Loud cheers.) There is an im-
3erious necessity for Parliament to inquire into, trace
mt, and remedy everything that is wrong in this ease.—
Cheers.) lam happy to think that the attention of

his country is now drawn to the subject ; and I offer it
is my deliberate opinion, an opinion which I conscien-
iously hold, that nothing of protection would contribute
o enlarge the prosperity or benefit any section of the

Englishpeople.—(Loud cheers.)
W. CRACKANTHORPE, of Newliggin Hall, Esq.,
Jentleman whose property is all in land, said, upon the

. . .
tabstract.. principle I conceive that all men have a right
to obtain their food in the easiest manner, and at the
cheapest rate, at which they can put themselves in pns-
;ession of it, and I believe this is a truth which no man

sill deny. Moreover, Sir, nations, like individuals, are
n a substantive position, they must necessarily depend
upon each other. One individual is employed with his
',lough, another at his loom. The one produces corn, the
other clothing. One community is dependent upon
another. The town of Kendal takes the produce
of the country, and gives in return the fruits of
its labour. And so with respect to nations and
the different productions which each has pro-

• •
vided. One nation sends one thing to one coun-
.ry, and takes in return the produce of thst country.
I therefore say, that all laws which arc made inter-
wring with this reciprocal interchange of commodities,
,re a contravention of the intervention of Divine Provi-
fence, and in frustration of his gracious designs. if
then, Sir, upon abstract principles these laws cannot
s)e defended, then let us see whether, upon the ground
,f expediency, they can ba upheld. Let us see whe-
her the circumstances of the country are such that

t was wise and politic for its Legislature to adopt this
measure. My answer is decisive, and at once nega-
ices the proposition ; for I have no hesitation in saying
hat all classes are injured by it. The fluctuations
if prices that have taken place (the prevention or
cinch was one of the benefits which the advocates of
he measure put forth as a reason for its being
tilopted)—l say these fluctuations have been greater
than they were before the Corn-law existed. If, there-
'ore, that be the case, all classes are injured—the far-
uer, the labourer, the manufacturer. and the man who
ices upon a fixed income ; and if all these classes are
Injured, I can only come to the conclusion that the
indowner himself must be a sufferer, for what was the
ate with the farmer in 1828 ? I believe that the average
price of corn was 665. and a fraction per quarter, and
he person who proposed the present law held out to
the farmers, and to the country in general, that the
price of corn would not vary much from 60s. What
`las been the result ? The farmer naturally, in the year
I have mentioned, took his land at a given rate, calcu-
iating that his corn would produce him a return of 60s.
per quarter. It gradually fell in 1830,1831, 1832, 1833,
1834, and 1835 ; at last it reached the price of 395.
and a fraction ; that was the average of the year 1835.
1835, and the year or two preceding, he paid his
rent out of his capital, instead of out of his profits. If
there are any farmers here, I only wish they would lay
it well to heart. There is nothing so mischievous to
them, as well as to the rest of the community, as these
fluctuations of price, and nothing contributes so much
•o these as the existing Corn-laws. In 1835 the price
of corn was as low as 395., and the consumer naturally
calculated his expenses upon that scale, and indulged in
better clothing and other additional expenses. In
1839-40, the price of corn rose to 70s. Now we know
that there is nothing more difficult for any man,
be his condition of life what it may, than to go from
better to worse ; and so I fear will be the case with the
labourer until these laws are repealed, whether he be i
agriculturist or he be manufacturer. I, for one, Gen-
tlemen, as an agriculturist, do not pretend to take any
merit as being more disinterested than the mass of the
class to which I belong. They, perhaps, feel that they
would be making a sacrifice of their income if they were
to call for the repeal of the Corn-laws ;I, by calling for
their repeal, conceive that I am consulting the security of
my property. Ido not look at the immediate conse-
quences, but I look at the more distant ones, and I
really do believe that, in the words of this resolution,
the Corn-laws are chargeable with the present high
present
paralyzed of provisions, the greater part of the
paralyzed state of trade, and with the popular irritation
which threatens the peace, the property, and the law
of the country. Now, Sir, it may naturally he asked,
what is the remedy for this? There is nothing more
easy than to propose and to parade abstract terms,
truly abstract, in Political economy : nothing more
difficult than to reduce them to practice. I will venture
in answer to that question, to use the words of one
of the greatest philosophers and one of the wisest
statesmen that this country ever produced. What says
Lord Bacon ? " The remedy or prevention of this
evil is, to remove by all means possible the material
cause of sedition, which is want and poverty in the
estate : to which purpose serveth the opening and well-
balancing of trade ; the cheri.bing of manufactures ;
the improvement and husbanding of the soil ; the regu-
lating of prices of things vendible ; the moderating of
taxes and of tributes." These are the words of one
of the wisest men that this country ever produced, and
I would wish with all my heart that the Statesmen of
the present day would endeavour to reduce these
maxims of wisdom to practice fBr by so doing, I am
satisfied that they would produce a material order
throughout the Queen's dominions, and not only
material but a moral order and quiet on the minds of