The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-09 00:00:00

THE CORN-LAWS.

MEETING OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS
IN NORTH WILTS.

WOOTTON BASSET, JAN. 6.—A meeting of a very re-
markable and important character at the present crisis
was held last night at a village, six miles beyond this
town, caller.) Goatacre, a small place with an agricultural
population scarcely exceeding 200 persons, hut sur-
rounded at various distances by several similar villages
or hamlets. The chairman was a labourer ; the speak-
ers, with the exception of two, were labourers ; and the
object in view was to call public attention to the present
condition of the labouring population in this part of the
country, and to petition her Majesty and the Legislature
to take decisive steps for the speedy relief of their ex
treme distress. The meeting was to have been held in
a large booth erected in a field, but the great expense of
providing such accommodation was beyond the combined
contributions which these poor people could spare from
their very scanty means ; and therefore they were com-
pelled to assemble together in the cross• road of the vil.
and to endure the inclemency of a winter
night while they talked over their common sufferings.
The whole of the arrangements and proceedings were
strikingly characteristic of the occasion. A hurdle
supported by four stakes, driven into the ground,
beneath a hedge on the road side, formed a narrow and
unsteady platform, capable of supporting only the chair-
man and one speaker at a time. Below this rustic erec-
tion were placed a small deal table, and some rush-
bottom chairs, borrowed from a neighbouring cottage. for
the accommodation of reporters. Four or five candles,
some in lanterns, and others sheltered from the wind by
the hands that held them, threw a dim and flickering
light upon the groups on this spot, before end around
which were gathered nearly 1,000 of the peasantry of
Wiltshire, some of them accompanied by their wives
and their children, who, thus collected, presented a wild
and painful appearance. In the shadows of the night
the distinctive garb of their class was everywhere dis-
cernible, but when the flitting clouds permitted the moon
to shine brightly in their faces, in them might be seen
written, in strong and unmistakeable lines, anxiety, sup-
plication, want, hunger, ever responsive in expression to
the sentiments and statements delivered by speakers,
who merely described in plain unvarnished language the
miseries of their rural auditors. The style of the more
important speeches, and the nature of the disclosures
made in there, demand an exact report of them, which
will be found below, abating the provincial accentuation
of words.

DAVID KELL, a man of rather advanced age, was for-
mally called upon to preside, and opened the proceedings
by reading a printed copy of the following notice:—
"Anti-Corn-law Meeting at Goatacre—At a meeting
of the committee of the Goatacre Reform Society,
held at the committee-room, Goatacre, on Tuesday,
Ike. 8, the following resolutions were unanimously
carried:—Resolved, 1. That, in the opinion of the com-
mittee, the distress of the labouring people, caused by
the failure in the potato crop and the high price of
bread, is such as to justify the holding a public meeting
for the purpose of petitioning the Queen for a total re-
peal of the corn-laws, inasmuch as wheat has risen 25
per cent., while the wages of the farm-labourers have
not risen 5 per cant. 2. That a public meeting be held
at Goatacre on Monday, the sth of January, 1846. for
the purpose named in the first resolution. In pursuance
of the above resohitions, notice is hereby given, that a
public meeting will be held in a large booth at Gcatacre,
on Monday, the sth January, 1846, at half-past six
o'clock in the evening, for the purpose of petitioning the
Queen for a total repeal of the corn laws.—Joseph
Brewer, Chairman of the Committee. N.B. It is earnestly
hoped that all who are suffering from distress will attend,
that their distress may be made known."
The CHAIRMAN then said—To all who are here pre-
sent, and to my fellow-labourers in particular, I call
your attention to a subject of the utmost importance—
a subject which demands very serioua consideration.
You know by painful experience that we are suffering
under distress and poverty ; and we are met here this
evening on purpose to make known that distress to her
Majesty and to her Ministers, to pray them to open the
ports and to repeal the unjust corn-laws, so that we
and our families may enjoy the boun'ies of Providence.
—(Hear, hear). As it respects my own distress, and
the calamities and miseries I have underwent and un-
dergone, I have spoken of them before at the Ramsbury
meeting. But the case is not altered now. I have only
6s. a week for keeping myself, a wife, and two small
children. I cannot earn half enough to keep as.
61. 10s.
must go to pay house and garden rent, and no potatoes
got.—( Hear.) I say, then, let us unite together to
advocate the cause of free trade.—(Cheers.) Free trade
for ever!—(Repeated cheers.) What. was it we were
sent into the world for ? Is it not tor the benefit of
society ? Hath God not committed to us a talent, and
will He not require the use of it at our hands ?—(Hear,
hear.) There are classes of people in this world, but
perhaps they are unknown to many of you, that think
that, because God brings all things to pass according to
his unalterable decrees, they may sit down and rest con-
tented, and never think of doing anything, at all, except
it is to usurp the authority of God. rhey may look
into his sacred word, but with his revealed will they
will have nothing to do. Dost thou not know, 0 man !
that thou wast endowed with a mind, and will, and
faculties, which God works upon as his instruments to
I bring about his all, wise purposes? He looked upon his
people in Egypt, and he saw their afilicti9, and raised
up Moses to be their deliverer. Again, he raised up Gideon
I to deliver them out of the hands of the Midianites ; and
Cyrus again to deliver them from Babylon, when they
were iu captivity ; and, to come nearer our own times,
he raised up Oliver Cromwell and many others to do
Iwhat was to be done. And in the prevent day, is there
not a Cobden, a Bright, and a Radnor ? It is not for us
to inquire whether these men are good men or not. It
is sufficient for us to know that they are doing a good
moral work in our nation.—(Cheers.) But there is an
other class of characters which I would speak to, for
perhaps there are some of them amongst you; poor dear
souls they are to be pitied, for they are fearing where no
fear ought to he. They are afraid they shall be turned
out of their labour, and out of their houses ; and they
are fearing this great man, and that great man, and the
other great man. They are fearing every day because
of the fury of the oppressor. And " where is the fury of
the oppressor ?" There is no cause at all to fear him,
my poor fellow-labourers ; for, says Clod, " Behold,
I have created the smith that bloweth the coals
in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument
for his work ; and I have created the waster to
destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee
shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." Let us stand
up, my fellow-labourers, for good laws, for freedom,
for equality.—(Loud cheers) I envy not the rich man
for his riches ; but is it not unreasonable„and arbitrary