The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON. WEDNESDAY EVENI NG. JAN'UARY 21, 1846.

THE CORN TRADE.
BRITISH.
Though the natural effect of the uncertainty respect-
ing the corn-laws must have been to create great uneasi-
ness among all classes of agriculturists, it is a singular
fact that supplies from the growers have for some weeks
past been on a very moderate scale. We can scarcely
suppose that this has been caused through confidence,
in the present amount of protection being maintained,
as each day has strengthened the belief that Sir
Robert Peel and his colleagues contemplate a material
relaxation in the duties on grain ; the most reason-
able conclusion, therefore, is that farmers are
aware that the yield of the last crop is really
deficient, and that they are consequently unwilling to
sacrifice their property at its present depreciated value.
Should this really be the case (and we see no reason to
question the accuracy of the opinion expressed at the
time of harvest, viz., that the produce of wheat of the
United Kingdom wa•t in 1845 materially short of that of
average seasons) there is certainly nothing to war-
rant the recent great decline. We consider, there-
fore that' farmers are acting prudently in not pres-
sing wheat to market; for, even if the whole of what
is now in bond should be liberated, it would not
have any permanent effect on quotations, in case our
supposition that the home produce is short be correct.
We are compelled to put the matter in this indefinite
manner, in the absence of statistics on so important a
subject as the produce of the country ; though, from
careful investigation of the reports from all quarters re.
ceived previous to the commencement of harvest, as well
as carefully compiled estimates from practical agricul-
turists after the crop had been secured, we have no
doubt in our own minds that the deficiency, though not
so great as represented by those who raised the famine
cry, is actually of sufficient importance to render it very
questionable whether the value of wheat can be kept low
during the ensuing summer, let the measures of the
Government be what they may✓
In considering the future range of prices, the fact that
millers and merchants have for many weeks past refrained
from adding to their stock, must not be lost sight of. The
purchases recently made have been to supply immediate
wants, all parties having manifested a determination to be
in a position to take advantage of whatever effect the ex-
pected alteration in the corn-laws might have upon the
trade. It is, therefore, not unreasonable to .suppose that,
when once the cause of uncertainty shall have been re-
moved, the demand which has for so protracted a period
hem languid, will immediately revive ; and, instead of
a further fall, we should not be surprised to witness a
steady and gradual improvement. This eurmot, how-
ever, be expected till it has become definiteV known by
what laws the importation of corn is for the future to be
regulated ; and, so long as the matter is under discus..
sion in Parliament, no great revival in busin es will, we
fear, take place.
At all the principal provincial markets during
the week, the utmost difficulty has been expel ienced in
effecting sales of wheat; and though, as beforee observed,
the supplies brought forward have not bisnli . by any
means large, the tendency of prices has beep decidedly
downwards.

The reports from Liverpool, on Tuesday,. state that,
at an abatement of about 2d. per 701bs. on -the rates of
that day se'nnight, some small purchases we :r a made for
immediate use, but that millers were unwi 11 ing to take
more than their pressing necessities obliged tthem to buy.
Later in the week, the depression rather it imeased than
diminished.
The accounts from the leading towns in Y 7erkshire are
equally dull. The Hull advices of Tuesd my inform us
that with a disposition on the part of seller s to facilitate
business by submitting to a decline of qui e 2s. per qr.,
little progress was made in the disposal i of wheat ;
whilst at Leeds on the same day, and at Wakefield on
Friday, the reduction was at least 2s. per qi
The depression has been nearly as great : tt the leading
markets at the west and north-west ; nc r have affairs
worn a more promising appearance in th, s. agricultural
districts, the cessation of orders from the ( thief consum-
ing towns having obliged farmers, if anxi: a to sell, to
submit to reduced prices.
By our Scotch advices we learn that the c onainued dull
reports from the south had had their usual influence on
the trade, and wheat was quoted Is. to 2s . r ier quarter
lower on Wednesday at Edinburgh and Gla: ig ow. Prices
of most other sorts of grain, as well as t he se of flour
and meal, had also receded more or less ;- all parties
having acted on the reserve.
The Irish markets have likewise felt the it tfluence of
the fiat accounts from this side of the Chew mel; still
quotations of both wheat and cats are too 1141 i to admit
of consignments to London with a fair chan.-.3i of profit.
The arrivals of wheat coastwise into L o ndon have
been small, only 5,117qr5. having bec 5 i reported
up to this (Saturday) evening. TI los quantity
exhibited at Mark-lane by land-carri lige samples
has been trifling, but' the millers 'baying • ad-,
hered firmly to their determination not to increase
their stocks in the present unsettled state c I affairs, the
scanty nature of the supply has failed to im part a firmer
tone to business. On Wednesday only a kw samples,
left over from the previous market-day, we re offered for
sale; to place these some difficulty was exi erienced, but
factors refused to submit to any further re duction. On
Friday there was some slight addition to tl e quantity of
wheat on the Essex stands, and the inquii y being quite
as languid as earlier in the week, the turn I vas rather in

favour of buyers.
The transaction: in free foreign wheat h: we been on a
strictly retail scale ; no variation has, hoi vei ,-er, taken
place in the value of the article since Mond iy ; holders
having, on the whole, displayed more fn mess than
might, under all circumstances, have been e. el ,ected. On
Wednesday bonded wheat was totally ne: gl ected, nor
were the actual operations of importance on F ridr.y ; but
there was certainly
-more inquiry for the a rt kle at the
close than in the commencement of the w g 4 ,k, princi-
pally, we believe, for shipment to Belgium. :Had sellers
been disposed to give way a trifle in price, , business to
some extent might probably have been done.
The demand for flour has, throughout the -week, been

excessively slow ; hitherto, however, the tc T . quotation
fur town-manufactured has remained at 5f s per sack.
Ship flour has not supported its previous 'value, some
pressed sales having been made on Friday ast about Is.
per sack below former terms.
The arrivals of barley, though not partic early large,
have proved amply sufficient to satisfy th e immediate
wants of the malsters,and distillers, and no o no has shown
any inclination to take more than necessar r for present
purposes; we lire unable, therefore, to repo rt the slight-
est improvement either in the demand for tor the value
of this grain.
Malt has also been difficult of sale; lot the,. real
scarcity of superior qualties has caused the finer-sorts to
command relatively high rates. r.
The market has been moderately suppli. ad with oats,'
of home growth; from our own coast on], y 4,060 qrs.;
from Scotland, 170 qrs. ; and from Ireland, none have
come to hand. The smallness of this arri' ral has, how-
ever, in some measure been compensated I y the receipt
of 11,727 qrs. from abroad. The principal de 'alers have
shown far more anxiety to induce them to i aei -ease their
stocks; the sales of the week have conse qu ently been
on a restricted scale. Factors have, on the o ther hand,
displayed considerable firmness; and the b ut mess done
has been at terms quite equal to those curia ton Mon-
day last. Many of the cargoes of foreigt a oats have
been offered, duty paid, from on board = 13 .ip; and as
these were mostly purchased at high rates c.n the other
sides, the result must be far from favouraa E.
Beans have met with a moderate share o f attention,
and handsome parcels of old have brought q u ite as much
money as last week. The duty rose to 3E . 6d. per qr.,
on Thursday, and is likely to continue to to ec 1 upwards.
The mildness of the season has great ;13 ' interfered
with the sail of boiling peas; and though the quantity
brought to market has not been large, no di fficalty has
been experienced in buying at last Mon do y's decline.
Grey and hog peas have also bung heas it; s on hand.
The duty advanced a step on the minim an i point (at
which it has stood for some weeks) on Tht trs day.
FOREIGN.
The reports from the different foreign a att) rkets are at
present of very little interest, the uncertain (ty as to what
alteration may be made in the corn-la we of Great
Britain having tended to check business a 11 nest of the
continental ports.
The latest advices from Dantzic are of ' the 12th inst.
Since the eommencement of the new yes ti very little
business has been done in wheat; a parcel of very fine
high-mixed, the growth of 1842, had, h ov vever, been
bought for spring shipment at equal to 56 s. to 575. per
qr. free on board, with a large proportion, of the pur-
chase money paid in advance. There bac t also been
sonic inquiry for the lower qualities, 1 iii ncipally on
Konigsberg account; and for a lot of new, t y no means
fine, weighing only 601bs. per bushel, eqtr al to 495. per
qr. had been obtained. Statements of ti ae t quality of
wheat exported during 1845, and the stock re. mauling on
hand at the close thereof, had been pal A (shed; from
23,343 lasts had that of the total 34,106 is sts shipped,
been dispatched to Great Bi itain. The
which it appears,
negxcbeeedened
vetdhneeeadrrfirvnanils
e4f rxcool:mBoBrltthsleahsiatidlst'ehirtieoldr, seems,t: hs et nstockra ahyl yv
1845, to 2 2,138 lasts on
the 31st December.
From Stettin we have letters of the 1 10th, but their
contents are of little interest. The nor canal price of
good to fine red wheat, for spring deli' very, was then
495. to 50s. per qr. free on board; but th a rates asked
having been much above the limits of t be few orders
received, scarcely a sale had taken place.
1 From Rostock the latest acconnts are al io -very dull.
At Hamburgh, on Tuesday, there was se areely any-
thing passing in the grain trade; no forei: pi orders hea-
-1 ing
.been received there, and buyers fo r c onsumption
having confined their operations to as nu row as'per-
nutted by actual wants. Contracts for fine Waren
61 to 61:Vlbs. per bushel, to be shipped in s pring, might
nave been closed at 52s 9d. per qr. free on b oard, but no
buyers had come forward. Moderately goa 3 red Marks
wheat, weighing 601b5., was then obtain( I ea a the spot at
equal to 495. per qr. In spring corn the op ?rations had
been unimportant; oats had, however, owing to their
scarcity, maintained their former value.
From _the Mediterranean we have n( )tb .ing fresh to
communicate, business in grain having b cc ome exceed-
ingly dull at all the southern and eastern markets. At
Odessa, however, the value of wheat al ;pears to have
been pretty well supported, the latest q tuotation from
thence being 355. per quarter free on 1 lotad, for the
best qualities.
By the Acadia steam-boat we have rep earls of recent
dates from the principal markets in the United States.
Shipments of flour to Great Britai a were then
being rapidly proceeded with, and st. good
mand for the article had been experienc led all through
the month of December, but pric es were not
quiteso higheexports
at thefrom closeo mN
aesw
York f
theyhad r
3m a t onelt to
period
be3lst
Doeucre,mabrd eir
58,991 bushels
toofnwo
hleessat ; b
thane,,9it ,e7s9wl
hbiacrhr
largeels of
fl
quantities of Indian corn, rye, and ba xley had been
shipped.—Mark Lane Express.

Sir James Graham returned to town ;,yesterday, from
Windsor Castle.

._.:, 4~.

SHREWSBURY and BIRMINGHAM
RAILWAY.
tAANCHESTER, TUESDAY EVENING. —A numerously
attended meeting of the shareholders of this Company
was held by acheurament at the Star Hotel this evehing;
to receive the report of a deputation appointed at a
meeting held la,c week to proceed to London and re-
ceive from the Committee of Management some explana-
tion respecting the recent amalgamation with the Dudley,
Madeley, Broseley, and Ironbridge Railway Company.
The Chair was occupied by J. Todd, Esq., who called
upon the deputation to report the result of that visit.
Mr. HARRISON BLAIR read a written report, the sub-
stance of which was that the deputation was courteously
received, and that the committee thought it due to the
shareholders in Manchester, whom they knew, by the
re-signing of their deed last year, to be both numerous
and largely interested in the Company. to send their
Secretary down in order to give the fullest ex-
planation of the recent amalgamation with the Dudley
and Madeley Company, or on any other points on which
the shareholders might desire information.
Mr. lieox, the Secretary- to the Company, having
arrived, stated that he was ready to furnish the share-
holders with such information as they required, either
in reference to the past proceedings, the present position,
or the future prospects of the Company.
Mr. SHAESPEARE PHILLIPS wished the Secretary,
before he proceeded to explain the recent amalgamation
with the Dudley and Madeley Company, to state whether
the Company had got rid of the opposition of
the Shrewsbury and Grand Junction Company, which
opposed them last year, and threw them out on standing
orders.
The SECRETARY stated that the Shrewsbury and Grand
Junction Company of last year did not now exist. It
was then merely a branch of the Grand
Junction Company, but in consequence of the
fueling which existed in the district against the
Grand Junction Company before it had amalgamated
with the London and Birmingham Company, what was
called an independent company had been formed, in
which the Grand Junction Company had only one-fourth
interest, the South Staffordshire one-fourth, and he
believed the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton
one-fourth, leaving one-fourth for the public. This
company had adopted the plans of the Shrewsbury
and Grand Junction of last year, and was also a
competing line to the part of the Shrewsbury and Bir-
mingham scheme between ',Shrewsbury and Wolver-
hampton. The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Company
bad however offered to amalgamate with it, and to re-
ceive half its capital and half its committee on their
board—an offer which if left to the shareholders would
very readily be accepted ; but the committee, from the
constitution of the Company, were so allied with other
parties that they could only amalgamate as between
Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, and even as to that
they stipulated for the adopticn of their station, in order
to accommodate the South Staffordshire and the Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton Companies, whereas the
line and station of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham
Company were on a much higher level, and could not be
altered this session to the level of the Shrewsbury
and South Staffordshire station, without destroying the
direct communication between Shrewsbury and Birming-
hem. It had, however, been referred to the engineers
of the two companies to consider how far it was
practicable in a subseqent session to adopt the lower
level, and to have, for the accommodation of all the
railways into Wolverhampton, one grand central station,
for which the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Company
had some months ago purchased an eligible plot of be-
tween six and seven acres of land. If the con-
test of last year is renewed, it will be in a more
friendly spirit ; and as both lines run nearly side by
side all the way, it can hardly be decided upon engineer-
ing merits, but must be decided with reference to the
claim and position of the two Companies. Upon this
issue the committee of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham
Company entertained no doubt of the result, taking into
account their priority of claim, the greater extent of
their schemes, and the report of the Board of Trade in
their favour, a circumstance which was likely to have
more weight in the present than in the last session of
Parliament.
A SHAREHOLDER inquired whether it was true, as had
been stated in the papers, that the Grand Junction Com-
pany would support the opposing line in Parliament,
while the London and Birmingham Company determined
to remain neutral in reference to this Company ?
The SECRETARY said that the shareholders could
themselves judge how far such a thing was likely, seeing
that the London and Birmingham Company were united
with the Birmingham Canal Company and with this
Company, to make all the lines in the district between
Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and that such lines
would be useless as a communication with Shropshire if the
line of the Shrewsbury and South Staffordshire Railway
were sanctioned. Besides. he knew that so recently as the
day on which the amalgamation with the Dudley and
Madeley 'Company- was completed, the chairman and
solicitor of the London and Birmingham' Company had
stated to the Vice-Chairman of this Company, that it
might depend upon the cordial support of that Company
in Parliament.
A- SHAREHOLDER remarked that the amalgamation
of this Company with the Dudley and Madeley Company,
which could not go to Parliament this year, and was
about to return the deposits to its shareholders; seemed
like joining a living body to a dead corpse.
Another SHAREHOLDER asked whether it was true
that this Company had got a bonus of 30,0001. in the
exchange with the Dudley and Madeley Company ? He
did not see how a Company whose shares were at a dis-
count could afford to give such a bonus.
The SECRETARY said that probably the shortest plan
would be to state the history of the Dudley and Madeley
Company, and its amalgamation with this Company.
The Dudley and Madeley Company was projected about
the middle of last year, and received strong local
support, having also a highly respectable pro-
visional committee. Its first project was a line from
, 'Dudley to Madeley, with a branch from Budge Heath to
Wolverhampton, and its original capital 800,0001., which
was readily subscribed and the deposits laid. At this
time the Shrewsbury and Birmingham committee saw
the danger of a line from Dudley to Madeley, as likely
ultimately to become a competing line to..hrewsbury,
and, as the best alternative under the circumstances,
offered to contribute half the capital required, and to be
represented on the Dudley and Madeley committee. This
offer was not only rejected, but the Dudley and Madeley
Company advertised an extension to Shrewsbury, and
an increase of its capital to 1,600,000/. There was no-
thing left but for the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Com-
pany to oppose the line from Dudley to Shrewsbury, and
in like manner, the Dudley and Madeley Company had re-
, solved to appear as a competing scheme to this Company.
The plans and sections of the Dudley and Madeley Compa-
nies were not only not lodged in due time, but the latter
were in so defective a state, that it was found hopeless to
proceed for an Act this session. The Committee accord-
ingly published a report, in which they stated their
intention to return 2/. per share to the shareholders,
reserving 12s. 6d. per share to defray the expenses in-
curred, and to provide for the expense of proceeding in
the next following session of Parliament. It was at this
period that overtures for an amalgamation were again
made by this Company, and as the plan originated with
hiniselt, and had been carried out not without consider-
able difficulty, he hoped the reasons he had to state in
its favour would be as satisfactory to the shareholders
present as they had been to the committee, and had led
them unanimously to conclude the agreement with the
Dudley and Madeley Company. First, an opponent had
been removed from the field and converted into an ally;
second a line, which in other hands might have proved
a powerfully competing line with this Company, and
which in the general opinion of those best acquainted
with the district is not only required and must be made
by some one, but will pay for making, has been secured
to this Company; third, this Company were enabled
to effect an arrangement which will )btain far it a bonus
of about 30,0001, being just the expenses which
had been incurred in the formation of the Company
and the fruitless contest of last session. It was one of
those arrangements which proved also beneficial for the
shareholders of the Dudley and Madeley Company, and
the result is seen by the matter being no longer one of
negotiation, but of history, for four-fifths of the Dudley
and Madeley shareholders have already signified
their assent to take shares in this Company.
And last, though not least, this Company will obtain
additional deposits amounting to 90,000/., besides having
its maiden deposit almost untouched, and when the share-
holders take into account that, without contributing to
the Parliamentary deposit of the joint scheme between
'Wolverhampton and Birmingham, which has lodged
duplicate plans, and is proceeding with a separate and
distinct Bill, that required for the lines, as lodged by this
Company, will amciumt to 110,0001, they will have no
difficulty in perceiving that the committee have very
much better consulted their interests by the amalgama-
tion which had been made, than had they made a call of
21. 10s. per share, in order to supply the deficiency.
The capital req' aired for the line from Dudley to
Madeley would al Out equal that displaced by the alliance
between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and as the
Parliamentary estimate of the Company is 1,900,0001.,
there is still, room to admit half the capital of the
Shrewsbury and South Staffordshire Company, if the two
Companies, come to terms.
The SECRETARV then read an extract from the sub-
scribera' agreement, to show that the committee were
fully empowered -to conclude the amalgamation with the
Dudley and Made ley committee, and stated that it was
from no want of (courtesy towards the shareholders that
they were not ,consulted, but the short period before
the opening of :Parliament, and the very nature of the
negotiation itsel prevented the adoption of such a course.
Several shareholders expressed themselves highly
satisfied with the explanation given, and a resolution
was unanimor sly passed to that effect, as also a vote of
thanks to the Secretary for the trouble he had taken.
A SuartEw )LDEB: said he had been informed that the
staff of the owo con ipanies was the only thing that pre-
vented an i=malga matron with the Shrewsbury and
South Staffozdsliire.
The SECSUETAAX stated that such could hardly be the
case, as the eng?veers of the two Companies were re-
spectively the en gineers of the London and Birmingham
and the Grand J 'unction, which had united, and i Ir.
Swift had been offered to participate jointly with the
solicitors of the
).743jrnart_paTnyw
ta
as to
Ab dall asln twoH bai rmen.
would be about
as ba
A vote of the ks was then passed to the Chairman,
E
and the meeting elaj ntrated.
de-
°c3G.

Lord Farnham will second the Address, which
Lord Home will prop ose, in the House of Lords, in reply to
the Queen's Speech.
;ST THE CORN-LAWS.—With a zeal
GLASGOW AGM2
the cause, some of our merchants
and liberality worthy of •,c,, have this week come forward an
and manufacturers, i
sub-scribed the munificent sum of upwards of 10,0001. to aid
the Great League Fun d for the constitutional overthrow cf
the Corn-laws. Th
is doing the work in right earliest, and
, a Glasgow still holds its right position
A quego.ps.7-7Scotait ,Reformer position
on attests that the c: ais
y
on this most vital 4 -it, ‘ a Gaz. • - - • - -

Tilt CORN-LA.IV S;
MEETING AT NORWICH.

NORWICH, JAN. 20.—This evening a public meeting was
convened by advertisement at St. Andrew's Hall, in this
city, to which all persons interested in agriculture were espe-
cially invited to attend. The hall, which will hold 4,000
persons, was quite crowded, and the arrangements for the
accommodation of the press were very good, but a mob of
ruffianly fellows surrounded the inclosed space set apart for
the reporters, and made it very difficult of approach.
The chair was taken by Mr. Betts! the Slayer; and the
greatest excitement was awakened in consequence of the
rumour that Mr. Wodehouse, M.P. for Norfolk, had accepted
a challenge from Mr. Cobden to meet him and discuss the
great question of the repeal of the corn-laws. The city
throughout the day was thronged with strangers, as well as
groups of townspeople, discussing incidentally the object of
the meeting. The proceedings commenced at half-past six
o'clock. Mr. Cobden arrived first, and was much cheered;
Mr. Wodehouse arrived soon afterwards, and was hailed with
partial cheering and laughter.
The MAYOR rose and said, he wished every person to be
fairly heard. That was an Englishman's privilege. He did
not pretend to know which was right or which was wrong
on the present question ; but he had quite sufficient force to
keep order, and he meant to have it kept. The Anti-Corn-
law League of the city of Norwich were understood to have
possession of the hall till Mr. Cobden had addressed the
meeting.
Mr. COBDEN then rose amidst enthusiastic cheering,
which was again and again renewed. He said—Mr. Mayor
and gentlemen, it gives me peculiar pleasure on this occa-
sion to address you in this magnificent hall, because I under-
stand we are favoured with the presence of a gentleman dis-
tinguished as a leader of the agricultural protectionists, one
noted in the House of Commons by his talents, competent to
take a lead in that influential body of our fellow- countrymen,
and who, I am sure, will be able here to state the case of the
protectionists as successfully as any member of that body.
Now, gentlemen, as I understand, this meeting is intended
to afford an opportunity for a discussion between those
who entertain opinions similar to my own and those who
favour protection to agriculture, I shall confine myself pretty
much on this occasion—(Clamour)—to the discussion of the
, effects of protection upon agriculture.--(Renewed clamour.)
If those men are not perfectly quiet I shall call on the Mayor
to ask them to leave the meeting, for I have no idea of allow-
ing 5,000 people to be annoyed by the conduct of ten indivi-
deals.—(Cheers.) I will confine myself to the effects of pro-
tection upon agriculture, for I will take it for granted that
there are no men here connected with manufactures who are
not, as we are in the north, favourable to free trade in pro-
visions. I will assume you want no argument from me to
convince you that it is better to have abundance of food
than an artificial and legalized scarcity of food. And now,
taking for granted that the manufacturers and traders of
Norwich are favourable to abundance and cheapness—that
you want no arguments from me to show that it is your in-
terest to have abundance and cheapness, we will address our-
selves to the consideration of protection as it affects the
agriculturists. I proceed another step. I intend to define
what I mean by agriculturists. Nothing has misled so much
as the neglect of definitions as we go along. By agricule
turists I mean men who labour on the land. Agricul-
ture means labouring the land. Agriculturists means
the tenant-farmer, who works with his head if not
with his hand, and it includes the labourer who works with
his hand.—(Cheers.) It is only the farmer and the labourer
who are entitled to come near the definition of agriculturist.
—(Cheers.) It is true we have landowners who call them-
selves agriculturists—men who probably never had one acre
in their own hands to cultivate, or who receive their rents
and probably live at Paris, Rome, or Naples, or spend their
time at Cheltenham, Brighton, or London—men who receive
their rents, and then come forward pleading the cause of the
agriculturists, and say to the farmer and to the labourer "We
are all rowing in the same boat."—(Great cheering and
laughter.) The question we have to discuss to-night is—
first, what interest the farmer and farm-labourer have in the
corn-laws. I say here, as I have said a thousand times before,
that the farmers and farm labourers have no interest in the
corn-laws. If the corn• laws do what we are told they do—
keep up the price of grain—why then one inevitable conse-
quence follows—rents must be higher here than on the con-
tinent.—(Cheers.) So long as you have twenty men bidding
for every vacant farm, you may be 'quite sure rents will re-
main up to the full extent the tenant is able to pay. If
the farmer could see that an Act of Parliament could
secure him 80s. a quarter for his wheat, doubtless he
would be willing to pay a higher rent than if he got 40s.
a quarter for his wheat, and any Act of Parliament which
does really succeed in raising artificially the prices of corn
and provisions, why, that is a rent-law--(Great cheering)—
and I believe there are not two farmers at this meeting or
in the country, with heads on their shoulders sufficiently
good to entitle them to be left at large without a keeper—
(Cheers and laughter)—who would not be quite willing
to admit that, in the long run, Acts of Parliament that raise
the price of wheat are Acts of Parliament in some degree to
raise the rent of land.—(Cheers.) Then, why all this
clamour on the part of the farmers in behalf of the corn-
laws ? What do they hope to get by the maintenance of
these laws ? What have they got by their maintenance in
times past ? At the protection meetings what has all the
outcry been but that farming is a bad trade ? What good,
then, does protection do to farmers ? You have had that
protection—you have had a majority in Parliament—you
have thrown up your caps at hustings for the men who
.promised protection—you have ten landlords in Parliament
for one manufacturer or merchant—you have had it all
your own way, and yet I say farming is a bad trade, and I
inow it has been a bad trade.—(Hear, and loud cheers.)
I'll tell you why it is a bad trade. It has been a bad trade
because you have had Acts of Parliament meddling with
your trade. You have had Acts of Parliament proposing to
secure certain prices for your produce, and the farmers have
taken their farms expecting these prices; but when they
have gone to market they have found the market prices not
up to the Act of Parliament prices.—(Laughter.) They
have reckoned their rents upon these Acts of Parliament
prices, and paid them out of the market prices, and been
losers by the bargain. I need not go over now the history of
the corn-laws since 1815. I have done it already in this
very room. I showed you in this very room that your first
break down In 1822 was owing to the corn-laws. You had a
law passed in 1815 to secure you 80s. a quarter. In 1822
wheat was selling at half that price, and in a number of the
Norwich Mercury in 1822 there were no fewer than 168 adver-
tisements of farmers to be sold up.—(Hear, hear.) Well,
then, you have had two or three times since the prices down
to nearly one-half the prices the Act of Parliament pro-
mised you. You know the distress which followed upon
farmers in consequence. I need not go back upon it ; every
man here of my own age can recollect it.—(Hear. hear.)
But I hear. an Hon. Gentleman near me, the Member for
one of the divisions of this county, cheering me when I
allude to the distress of the farmers.— (Cries of " No, no,"
from Mr. Wodehouse.) lam not saying that he exults in
it, but when we are cheered in the House of Commons by
one of our opponents we always think that something ironical
is meant by it, and I take it that the Hon. Gentleman means
to infer that protection has not secured the prosperity of the
farmers. But probably the Hon. Gentleman has some other
way of accounting for the distress of the farmers than I
have. Well, all 1 stipulate for is, that he shall confine him-
self, on the present occasion, to corn, and if they have
had distress in spite of protection, what is the use of rousing
the whole country and fighting the battle of protection, as
if the only thing it did was to benefit the farmers ? I ap-
peal to pet experience to prove that the farmers have not
been prosperous with protection ; but I'll go further, and
maintain, ,that the farmers have not only not been pros-
perous, but that they have done worse as men of business—
I, mean they have made less money than other classes of
the community.. There is not a farmer in the country
who would not respond to this assertion immediately.
Our shopkeepers, our drapers, our grocers, our coach-
builders, every trade or profession you please—our
lawyers, our doctors, every other class, has made money
and become prosperous, more or less ; but, as a rule, farmers
have generally been unprosperons. Now, why should it be
so? Why should farmers not make money as well as other
people? Why should farmers be the most unprosperous per-
sons in the community ? I can only account for it from this,
that they have been especially protected by Members of Par-
liament.--(Laughter.) They have had so much dry-nursing
by county Members—(Continued laughter)—that they have
never grown up into healthy maturity; they have been
rickety bantlings, and as they grow up, though they have
now been under this system for 30 years and odd, they must
still have crutches given to them.—(Hear.) Well, we hear
a good deal at these protection meetings about the over-
grown capital engaged in manufactures; and is it not very
odd, that the manufacturers, who have no protection, and
who want none, should make out better than the farmers
with all their protection ; that county Members should be
fighting night and day in the House of Commons, and
coming down to public meetings and rousing the whole
country to keep up protection—that protection being
intended to secure the farmer the home trade with-
out which you cannot possibly live, and at the
same time our manufacturers in Lancashire and York-
shire, who are selling their goods probably to the
Chinese some 12,000 or 15,000 miles off, are making money,
and the farmers, who have had the home market secured to
them without any competition, can't make any money at all ?
Well, then, take the agricultural labourers. Why, they are
at the bottom of the scale, the very lowest scale of the ladder
—(Hear, hear)—making less than 7s. or Bs. a week.—(Cries
of, "No, no," "Yes, yes," .and other sums named.) Well,
I won't pretend to settle the question. Nothing, I find, is
so difficult as to settle the rate of wages anywhere. I find
that in Wiltshire the wages are 65., 75., and Bs. a week, but
I hope they are double in Norfolk. ut, whether or not,
this I will undertake to say, from a pretty wide knowledge
of facts, that, the whole country through the lowest paid la.
bourer is the agricultural labourer.—(A voice, " No, )
Now, anybody that denies that must not have had his eyes
and his ears open for the last two or three years. Now, why
is it that the agricultural labourers are worse id than any
other labourers? I would ask the gentlemanpa who denies
that the agricultural labourer is paid less than the manufac-
turing labourer how is it that the labourers are running
away from agriculture to manufactures? Did any one ever
bear of a man running away from 12s. a week to Bs. ?
( Laughter.) But I can imagine it possible that he would
leave Bs. to get 12s. But how is it that the agricultural
labourer is not badly off? I will not go beyond one fact,—
that the farmers, as a rule throughout the country, are defi-
cient in capital for their land ; that they have not a sufficient
capital for the acreage they occupy ; and where there is an
insufficient capital, there you have badly paid and misoer Nsorle
labourers. Now, Ido not apply my remarks simply t
folk, for I believe Norfolk and London are two of the best
counties in England, but I speak of the country generally.
What I want to state is a nation's case, and not a Norfolk
case; and I say that the farmers in this country, as a
rule,
have not one-half the capital they ought to have.. E
men in the House of Commons don't
Why, deny this,
just because haveforvlenthe
told them so there. Now, how is this?
they are under the delusive system of the cornssive tenants
-laws. You
have had landlords living upon the capital of succe
in this country. If you had 163 farm te.ndants advertised to
be sold up in the 'Norwich Mercurythela,bojuuregresoonf
tthheesedifsatrrmes:
which must have existed among
when all the capital was swept away to pay the rent, and
the farmers left without the means of employing their la-
bourers.(A voice—" That was owing to an alteration of
the currency.") Well, if it be owing to the alteration
in the currency, call your currency meetings, but don't go to
the protection meetings, and tell the farmers there that it is
protection that makes them prosperous, and when I she*
von that they are not prosperous; don't tell me that it is
owing to the currency that they are not so. I have no ob-
jection to your taking your own course, but this I am quite
resolved upon, that you shan't jump up behind our Anti-Corn-
law League, as a bad boy, that does not want to hurry him-
self, jumps behind a post-chaise, to any errands for other
people who employ him.—(Laughter and cheers.) It is
admitted that the farmers have not prospered, and that the
labourers have been distressed ; protection has not prevented
that.— (Hear, hear.) Let us try, then, if we cannot do with-
out protection. It is said that neither English farmers nor
manufacturers can compete with foreigners. Why not? Are
you not as good and as clever? Will you submit to have
your coward ears cuffed as the farmers do?—(Laughter and
cheers.) -I have been literally ashamed of my countrymen
when 1 have heard accounts of these protection meetings.
Dukes, lords, squires, and great burley farmers, alongside
of whom I should be but a pigmy, meet together, weeping
and declaring in the face of the country that they will be
all ruined if they are not protected. (The Hon. Gen-
tleman held a white handkerchief to his, eyes amidst
much laughter.) They want to be protected against the

Russians and the Poles, the Germans and the Dutchmen.-
(Laiighter.) They are protected. We don't ask them to
send abroad and compete with farmers at their own doors,
as we manufacturers do. We don't ask them to send their
produce to China, and sell it there at what they can get after
paying all the expenses of freight and duty; yet we find
these men meeting together, and blubbering and mourning
over the bare idea that they should be called upon to com-
pete with foreigners, either here, or at their own doors.—
(Cheers.) It is surprising to hear one of those dukes and
squires, when presiding at public meetings, tell the farmers
that they' will be all ruined if the corn-laws should be re-
pealed; and that if foreign corn were ever introduced we
should be unable to pay taxes. Where is the country that
is not taxed? I should like to find out such a country.
Show me the Government, whether Turkish or Russian, that
will work for nothing, and I will go and live there.—(Hear
and laughter.) And, farmers, if you had ever travelled as
you ought yea would not be gulled in the way that you are.
Foreigners are taxed to the extent of all they can pay, just
as you are.—(Hear, bear.) That appears to me to be the
chief end. of Government, as cX: as I know.—(Some confusion
took place here in consequence of s. rush made by several
e n
persons at a side-door to force an entrance, and th
ti
ference of a policeman, who ejected one or ewe e! h9lter-
.)
How the protectionists would like to have such eottipetisi.:2
for admission to their meetings !—(Hear, hear.) The
protectionists talk of the ruin of the terant-farmers by
the repeal of the corn-laaws. I ask you whether there have
not been in the House of Commons three nsetions calling
upon that House—for there are no tenant-farriers there—
to show what are the burdens upon agriculture, and
they uniformly voted against the inquiry I—(llear,
hear.) They tell the farmers that they have peculiar bur-
dens. We tell them in the House that they have peculiar
exemptions. I have told them, as I tell them now, that if
they will show a burden borne by agriculture and the
landowners, which is not borne by manufacturers and
traders, I will show them that five times the burden is
borne by the latter classes.—(Hear, hear.) If, then, the
agriculturists have no peculiar burdens, what right have
they to protection any more than any other class of the
community
peculiar
eee
cca
uinrlleii
aatrrh
bba
utu
rraddneeynn
ss classwo reemxvoi
elflmteipxi
etei
?—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") We say, if they have
ot ush al
that
mocnopsmt. n
at h‘uvenneilt
3;s7ayys-i
le
hwt
they yeh as
either
be fairly arranged; and, if we have any other taxation, let
us have a fresh arrangement, in which all shall be airly
treated.—(Hear, hear.) But when we seek for a statement
of accounts, they come to farmers' meeti • ngs, and say "We
cannot compete with foreigners, on account of our burdens."
—(A laugh.) I say this scheme of protection is one-half a
political hoax, and the other half arises out of political igno-
rance.—(Hear, hear.) The men who play the game, and the
men who are played upon by the players, mhke up the two
classes of dupes and impostors.—(Laughter.) The landlords
—the political landlords I mean—wish to exercise supreme
authority in this country, and they frighten the farmers in
order to drive them to the poll. They bellow for "Protection
to agriculture.”—(Laughter.) There is nothing like a good
cry at an election —(Hear, hear.) Ay; but that old banner
of protection is most terribly soiled and tofu of late.—
(Laughter.) I don't think the farmers will rally round it
again.—(Cheers.) I want to see the farmers put upon the
same footing as the tradesmen and other classes are ; and
that they do not make their trade a species of party politics.
No trade will ever answer that is mixed up with polities.
If anybody comes to protect you tradesmen, shut up shop,
and turn to honest pursuits.--(A laught) Having urged
his usual arguments in favour of farms being let on leases of
nineteen or twenty years, and on mercantile terms, and that
they should not be suffered to be infested and injured by wild
animals, nor the leases clogged with covenants injurious to
the tenant-farmer, the Hon. Gentleman said, you must be
allowed to do as you like, and the best you can with the
land, having no restrictions as to how you are to dress and
crop it, or adapt it for the preservation and hunting of game.
I say that one-half of the agriculturists are dupes, and the
other impostors. In the first place, the farmers are made
tools of, as political farmers, by the landlords ; and, in the
next place, they are staved off from inquiry into the game-
laws tenure, and the like.—(Hear, hear.) In conclusion,
Mr. Cobden argued that the landlords would not get less
rent if the farmers were freed from the mischiefs com-
mitted by game, and from ancient covenants prejudicial
to the proper cultivation of land. If any landholder in
.Norfolk would let his land on such terms, and for a
lease of nineteen or twenty years, he would under-
take to get him a tenant.—(Hear, hear.) Yet the
landlords told the farmers that such changes would ruin
them.—(Hear, hear.) What could be more degrading
than to tell the farmers of England that they were the Bri-
tish lion, and that if they only shook their mane and
wagged their tail, the miserable manufacturers would be
thrown off like dew drops.—(Laughter and cheers.) They
were told that they were loyal men, that they upheld our
institutions in Church and Sta:e, that they were the founda-
tion upon which the Throne and the aristocracy rested, and
that they had fought the battles of the country at Waterloo
and Trafalgar.—(Laughter.) Why, if I were addressed in
that way (exclaimed the Hon. Gentleman) by a body of men,
I should think of the fable of the fox and the crow, wherein
the fox flattered the crow that she had a most enchanting
voice, and, deceived by the " soft sawder," she opened her
beak to sing, and down dropped the cheese which she had
held in it, and which was all the fox, who ran off with it,
wanted.— (Great laughter and cheering.) I venture to pre-
dict ahat when the corn-laws are abolished—as abolished
they will be--(Great cheering)—( A cry—" Three cheers fur
the abolition of the corn-laws," which were heartily given)
—you will see no more of those painful and humiliating ex-
hibitions. The farmers will not then be brought together
and treated like children—like schoel girls—to be flattered,
to have soft sawder laid on, not with the brush, but with the
trowel. I wonder they don't see through it. I think they do.
But I want to see all that nonsense abolished. The farmer's
vote will then be his own—(Loud cheers)—and the landlord
and tenant, instead of laying their heads together for the
maintenance of an interest opposed to that of the community,
will lay their heads together to do as much for each other as
they can in an honest way.—(Cheers.) Both landlord and
tenant, I think, must feel considerably indebted to me and
the League for telling them that we are going to abolish the
corn-laws. And we will do it.—(Loud cheers.) The old
edifice is looking very shaky, but you will see it tottering
and crumbling before six weeks are over.--(Cheers.) I
want to do this without exciting the alarm of the parties
concerned. I have held meetings from Dorsetshire to Aber-
deenshire ; the League, a few years ago, expended 10,000/.
in enlightening the farmers; but no sooner was my back
turned than up got protection societies, which say to the
farmers—" Don't mind what Cobden has been saying. You
cnn't thrive—you can't hope to hold your farms to any good
purpose unless you ate protected against the Russians, the
Poles, and the Americans. If you don't trust us you
will all be ruined." And now in what a precious mess
they are all landed !—(Cheers and laughter.) Now they
are going to have the corn-laws repealed, and they
know it. As to this galvanized movement among the far-
mers, we know all about it. It has originated with a few
landlords—not the most intelligent of their class—who have
sent about their agents to rouse the farmers. They cannot
get above 60, or 80, or 100 persona to attend their meetings.
Then they get their speeches put in the Morning Post or
the Morning Herald, and this sort of thing they call a great
national demonstration.—(Laughter.) Then, what do we see
on the other side ? A meeting is called at Oxford, and every
hand is held up in favour of free trade. At Brighton a
thousand people are seen holding up their hands for free
trade, and only six against it. At Exeter, a meeting, called
by the Mayor, is unanimous in favour of free trade. And
with all those meetings in favour of free trade the protection-
ists are unable to call a single meeting in a single town in the
kingdom. The game is up, and they know it.—(Cheers.) We
meet in Parliament on Thursday, and what has come of this
great protectionist party? Where is their own Prime
Minister, whom they made to uphold the corn-law?— (Cheers
and laughter.) Run away. This state of matter reminds
me of an anecdote which I once heard. A friend of mine
asked a gentleman, who had to deposit stakes, whose hands
he had deposited the stakes in ? "In the hands of Major-
so-and-so," was the reply. " Yes, but," said my friend,
"who will hold the major?"—(Laughter.) In 1841 the
farmers put the stakes in Sir Robert Peel's hands, and now
they want somebody to bsad Sir Robert.—(Renewed laugh-
ter and cheers.) I ask your worthy representative to
s oak out candidly to-night what his real opinions are as to
i't,
prospects of protection, for I think he will agree with me
this, at least, that if protection is likely to be abolished,
nothing can be so mischievous, nothing is so greatly to be
deprecated, as that the farmers of this country and kingdom
should be longer deluded with the idea that protection is to
be maintained.—(pear, hear.) I ask that Hon. Gentleman to
join with me to-night in a candid avowal as to the prospects
of maintaining protection. I can see but one danger from
the immediate abolition of the duties on corn, and that is
entirely occasioned by the absurd course followed by the
protectionists. The protectionists have already robbed the
farmer of ss. the quarter on his wheat for the last six
weeks or two months by the panic which they have created.
If there be a panic among the farmers, that will be entirely
owing to the preaching and teaching of the protectionists, and
all I have been trying to do for the farmer is undone. I shall
now do my best to obtain free trade in corn instantly, if it is
to be got at all.—(Cheers.) Now we are going to Parlia-
ment with Sir R. Peel determined th separate himself from
the Hon. Gentleman and his party.—(Cheers.) There are
two men in the House of Commons who alone can lead that
House—Lord J. Russell or Sir R. Peel. The Hon. Gentleman
will admit that such is the case. Lord John Russell is our
leader.—(Loud cheers.) Sir R. Peel was their leader—( Laugh-
ter)—and he is run away. But that is not the worst of it.e
He carries with him Sir J. Graham and Mr. Glaronfela
only two men who could possibly be conceived caopathe
f protec-
ing the House. Well, then, what is to become
en
_men,
with
tioaist party—oftheloo or 150 forlorn-looking g u
to their waists?
their hearts in their shoes and their chins down .
1 th
revile Sir R. Peel, but the countrysay ey
They may and
are disappointed. They are impotent, and will sink lower
lower in public opinion as the session advances. Well, what
comes of the protectionists? I tell the farmers at once the
game is up ; you may talk of anything you like, but if any
one speaks to you again of protection, you should ask him,
"Do you mean to hoax us?"—(Cheers and laughter.) A
gentleman has addressed a note to me asking me to explain
how, if the corn-laws are repealed, the taxes are to be paid.
We don't object to pay the Queen's taxes. We object only
to pay- taxes to the Hon. Gentleman's friends.—(Cheers and
laughter.) I never heard of agitations being got up to main-
tail a tax for the Queen's revenue. If the gentleman who
pus the question will show me how it would be for the be-
at of the Queen to pay taxes to somebody else, then I will
explain his difficulty. Air. Cobden t nen proceeded to repeat
hii statements on the subject of the '
qualification. He did
no; advance the money, neither • did the League. The
majority of that meet' m were free-traders; and he
g
begged of them to give bile Wodehouse a right frank
an& hospitable welcome. If that gentleman were not a I
vey plucky one, he would not have been there that 1
night. Having shown that the corn-laws were no benefit to
fawner, labourer, or even landlord, Mr. Cobden, in conclusion,
sad—lf that Hon. Gentleman and his order—if the aristo-
cracy of this country—are SO infatuated as to persist in
fighting this battle against the people on that most unhal-
loved of all grounds—a bread tax—then I warn them, if
they put us to it, we will show that the power which the
middle and industrious classes possess is sufficient to put
dawn the usurpations of a privileged class. The trial of
strength between the people and the aristocracy has taken
place elsewhere, in many countries and ages. It never proved
siccessful, and the aristocracy may depend upon it their at-
tempt will not prove successful here.—(The Hon. Gentle-
Man resumed -his seat amidst loud and long continued
cseering.)
Mr. GEARY then proposed the first resolution, as follows :---'
" That the torn-laws, and all other laws designed to re-
strict trade under pretence of protecting particular classes, are
unjust in principle and injurious in operation, and ought to
be forthwith abolished."
Colonel ANGERSTEIN seconded the resolution.
Mr. WODEIIOUSE rose amidst cheering and clamour, and
said, that in presenting himself before the meeting he felt
that his first expression ought to be one of duty towards the
mayor. He attended here in deference to that gentleman's
authority. He (Mr. Wodehouse) had addressed a letter to
the electors of Norfolk, telling them that though there were
indications of a scarcity, the statements as to a famine were
g!ossly exaggeiated ; but that at all times, and in?elee ~a I_l
circumstances, an allegation of scarcity ought tome sawas!' '
not
paramount matter of interest. He asked if ther
art of Mr.
something of unblushing effrontery on the p
d gree to the
Cobden in not alluding, even in the smallest
__,,,,! .1,,,,,,,i to
scarcity Which a few reeks
iago /Ts so i°`:::::?...777,, , .