The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-16 00:00:00

ANTI-CORN-LAW MOVEMENT.

On Thursday evening a public dinner took place in the
Music Hall at reeds, delegates from the various towns in the
West Riding attending to hand in their list of subscriptions
in aid of the Quarter of a Million Anti:Corn:law League Fund.
Besides many of the chief manufacturers in the riding, and
the Mayor of Leeds, Mr. L. D. Luccock, who occupied the
chair, there were present,,Mr. Cobden, M.P., Mr. Marshall,
Mr..Aldam, M.P., Mr. Bright, M.P., Colonel Thompson, Mr.
E. Baines, jun., &c., the meeting altogether numbering about
four hundred.

After the cloth had been removed,
The CHAIRMAN proposed "The health of her Most Gracious
Majesty the Queen."
The other loyal toasts having been given,
The CHAIRMAN rose and said—l have the honour to pro-
pose the "Health of Ur ose Members of the House of Commons
who supported Mr. Villiers' motion."—(Loud cheers.) The
chief of those Members are now on my right and left hand.—
(Cheers.) Rendered only the more formidable by defeat, the
members of the League have gone through the length and
breadth of the land, not as vanquished foes, but as con-
quering heroes. Associated with them is a gentleman who
sits on my left, the representative of the town of Leeds; long
may he be spared to fight with them the battle of free trade,
and share in tf eir renown.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. ALDAII, who was greeted with loud cheers, acknow-
ledged the toast. He regretted that of the Members of the
House of Commons, who had voted with Mr. Villiers, some
one more able than himself fitly to respond to it was not
there to address them. But he was relieved in finding
among them men who had acted a foremost part in the move-
ment against the corn-laws, men of great ability, and who
would amply compensate in their address's for any deficiency
of his. There seemed now a prospect of a settlement of this
question by the repeal of laws so injurious to their interests.
—(Cher rs.) The principles of free trade had been distinctly
recognised as true by the most able members of the present
Government. They had heard from Sir R. Peel that true
policy required us " to buy in the cheapest and sell in the
dearest markets." Sir J.-Graham had called the principles
of free trade the maxims of common sense' and the able dis-
courses of Mr. Gladstone on matters of trade showed the
irresistible tendency of his mind to consider free trade as at
once incontestible in theory, and demanded by the actual
circumstances of the country.—(Cheers.) Severe, indeed, had
been the lesson by which the present Ministry were taught
the danger of a scanty supply of food for the people. The
distressing scenes of 1842 were still too vivEly painted in the
minds of all to allow any one to palliate the horrors caused
by dear bread.—(Cheers.) The history of these islands for
the last quarter of a century exhibited a successive series of
good and bad harvests. During the years of plenty abun-
dant food had given general prosperity and commercial ac-
tivity—in the years of scarcity, dearness caused depression
and stagnation ; they were far advanced in the cycle of abun-
dance, and must look ere long for a reverse. Should they be
unprepared for it? Should a system be continued which
would entail the same misery as before?— (Cheers.). The
prosperity of the trade of England, and the well-being of her
people, ought to depend no longer on the precarious yield of
the harvest within the narrow limits of the British islands.—
(Cheers. ) The basis of the supply of food should be ex-
tended to the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the
Hudson, and the ississippi, and distress and starvation,
such as the country had passed through in late years,
would be inflicted only in the extremely rare and
even improbable event of all the sources of supply failing
at the same moment.— (Cheers.) New facts were con-
stantly presenting themselves, demonstrating the necessity
of a repeal of the corn-laws. But a few days ago there
was a report of a French Minister to the Chamber, on the
progress of that country in wealth and resources. The ad-
vance of the United States was still more formidable—their
population doubled itself in twenty-five years. In a short
period their population would be greater than ours; in half
a century, a mere moment in the existence of a nation, it.
would be little less than double that of the British island.
If the increase of our numbers, and of our power,-is to be
restricted by the narrow limits of the small island we in-
habit, this nation would not for long be able to sustain the
proud position it now occupies; but allow the energies of the
people fair play, give commerce free expansion, and it would
soon occupy a position of still more decided predominance.
—(Cheers.) In answer to this, the bugbear of danger from
foreign dependence had again been raised. When the seas
were covered with our corn fleets, with increasing trade,
would not our naval power be amply strong enough to pro-
tect them? This very dependence would give greater
energy to our naval character, and perpetuate England as
the mistress of the seas.—(Cheers.) Open the ports, let
the corn trade become regular, take the surplus of a harvest
whenever and wherever found, and the regularity of our
importation would soon drive the bulk of the trade into,
the bands of the British shipowners.—(Cheers.) ,We
were so far dependent on foreign trade that one month's
suspension of it would inflict the greatest injury on the country..
The example of England in adopting a free-trade policy was,
now producing a very sensible effect upon the conduct of
other nations. France, whose object had hitherto been to
make protection more strict, was relaxing her tariff; and
although, In items of little importance, it must be viewed as
indicating a changing policy. In Spain the tariff had been
prohibitory, but a great party appeared to be springing up n
that country favourable to a freer trade. The states of
Prussia, in a very remarkable address to the King, gave in
their adhesion to principles of increased commercial freedom,
and recommended the reduction of import duties. Even the
anti-tariff party in the United States seemed on the point of
effecting their object. If then the moderate advance to free
trade which had been made in England had had such results,
could it be doubted that the complete adoption of it would
give an example to be followed, after no very long interval,
by the bulk of the civilised world ?—(Cheers.) Before sitting
down he might say that he had attended the meeting
at much personal inconvenience, but the absence of
a Member of Parliament might be construed into the indif-
ference of a constituency, and he was determined that no in-
ference should be drawn so much the reverse of the truth.—
(Cheers.) The object of the meeting was to receive the re-
port of the progress of the subscriptions towards the League
fund. One hundred thousand p. unds had formerly been
raised. It was called " a great fact," and commented upon
as evidence of zeal not to be mistaken, by the leading journal
of the country. It was now proposed to raise a quarter of a
million, to realise a fact greater than the preceding one, and
a more powerful proof of earnest resolve.—(Cheers.) The ap-
plication of the funds of the League had been exhibited to
the public; they had been employed in enlightening the
public opinion by the discussion of the principles of free trade
at frequent meetings, and by the circulation of pamphlets on
the operation of the corn-laws. The League had lately
adopted another course, by establishing a machinery to fa-
cilitate the acquiring of votes. He entirely approved of
their measures, and he anticipated very shortly entire suc-
cess to their movement.

Mr. J. G. MARSHALL being called on by the Chairman,
rose and said—The toast I have to propose to you is that
mighty League, of which we are all, I believe, members ; but
which is more especially represented amongst us by our two
distinguished leaders, whom we have the pleasure of seeing
to-night on each side of our Chairman.—(Cheers.) We are
prepared, I hope. to greet our guests with substantial evi-
dence that the men of the West Riding have given a hearty
response to that practical appeal made to them by the noble
example of the men of Manchester.—(Cheers.) And surely,
if we needed any confirmation to the strong: internal convic-
tion we each of t a feel that our great cause is identified with
truth end justice, and deeply fixed in the hearts of the people,
it would be found in the marvellous way in which, on every
great emergency—whenever existing means of action appear
insufficient or exhausted—the League, as by an electric
shock, by an inspiration of power, suddenly becomes instinct
with new faculties, new energies, redoubled strength.—
(Cheers.) And I hope we may honestly add, what is indeed
a still higher boast, a still higher evidence of the elevation
and purity of our principles, that this power which is put
into our hands—a trust for which we are most deeply re-
sponsible—has been, with as little exception as is consistent
with human fallibility, constitutionally and conscientiously
wielded. We are at last approaching the final struggle.
We must now make distinctly known our determination to
accept nothing less than the final and entire repeal of the
corn-laws.—(Cheers.) This firm adherence to our principle,
so necessary to our own safety, is admitted even by our oppo-
nents to be the only consistent and manly course ever taken.
Even the more intelligent farmers all say, let the question be
really settled ; either maintain the present corn-laws, if pro-
tection is right, or if not, repeal them boldly and manfully at
once.--(Loud cheers.) But whilst rejecting all com-
promise of principle, we should greatly injure our cause if we
did not, as we grow stronger, become still more careful that
the manner in which we urge our claim should be temperate
and conciliatory towards our opponents, many of whom, we
may hope, unconsciously prejudiced by self-interest, may,
by such a course, be brought over to our cause, and thus
render our moral triumph still more complete.—(Cheers )
But I will not speak any longer of our cause as in progress
only. We have a right at this moment to look not only to
a last struggle, but to a final triumph.—(Cheers.) Of the
result of such a triumph I would say a few words, There
are some amongst the moft honest, but perhaps among the
more timid, friends of this cause, who fear that this moment
may be closely followed by some disappointment—that the
echoes of unfounded expectations will be dying around us in
murmurs and repinings. "The people have been led," they
say, " to hope too much from this measure of relief. From
the moment the corn-laws are repealed every working man
will look to find cheap and abundant food, and supply the
wants of his family; and cheap and abundant food cannot
follow at twee on a season of disappointing harvests—harvests
which throughout Europe have been deficient." It is true
that such false expectations may more or less have been en•
tertained, and that some present disappointment may ensue;
but we may hope that this evil can be but of small extent—
we know that in its nature it is but temporary. We must
look that the permanent expectations of our people are not
ill-founded. We have enough of well-founded expectations
to give them, expectations neither narrow nor poor. We have
not led them to hope too much. It is hoping too little that
creates any danger of disappointment. Let our endeavours,
then, be redoubt ed, that the people may hope rightly, and
hope enough. I may say, let our endeavours be continued,
for it has long been the persevering endeavour of the League
to throw a full clear light upon our true, our attainable object.
The League has held out no false expectation.—(Cheers.)
We have not put forth the repeal of the corn-laws ae an e
step, the root
iso-
lated measure in itself sufficient to produce a total a-.d perma-
nent elevation in the condition ofo the people.l No, but we
.niark markets in thee wpeoorpldle, though
the undeniablemust grow.
i
(Cheers.) It removes a vasth and
givingtothe
pressure from
thousand
d necessary,oth e
r social d i scnnestia bt s
in the supply oft be first necessary of life, the sforauoyrmii tn
whichdi su
stthrei aal firstresources,th
of aanl
lci
country,
the
com-
mand of the resources
IA of trade will still
the variations of the seasons a exist, they
frightful fluctuations w
will cease to produce the
as human means cane now
expe-
rience, and ai much stabilityin )secure will
industry.—(Cheers.)
be given to the cause of The moment
that the corn-laws are repealed the League will
cease to exist;
and that instant also
ought we to start forward with joint
energies and harmonious
council in a new race of enterprise.
the great work of education •
Then shall we see in its
a scale
largest sense carried out on commensurate with
intelligence and
the wants, and with the
Then shall power of this
great nation.—(Cheers.).
of we see our towns,
ces prosperous industry,relieved
from the favouring auspi
ars and undrain
from the danger of crowded cell
(ch r ed streets, the
eers.) N ill
abode of fever and of misery the men who
of—thousands for the
have given their hundreds removal of a
en their her and
physical grievance, not o r purses
pbe, greater contributio
and give equal, or if need ns for the
spiritual elevation of
permanent, mental, and
.?
—(Cheers.) Will the _
men who have succeeded, by their
the whole
persevering endeavours in moving Legislature to
fold their hands
improve their supplies of food, in indolence
and apathy when the comforts and necessaries, next in hearths
im-
portance, are wanting about their
on and homes?—
(Cheers.) I will not further trespass your_, time, as you
will now be anxious to hear other speakers.
.1 ou are anxious
to show the enthusiastic warmth with_ which Mr. Cobden
and Mr. Bright was received, and by the extent of your
subscriptions also, what it is difficult_ to, express in
words,
your high and grateful eetianation of the e labour,
the unfailing moral courage, the energy and talent, which
have characterised their career from first to last,---(Cheers.)
I beg to propose " The League" as a toast.—(Cheers.)
Mr. COIMEN, who, on presenting himself, was received
with the most vociferous and- protracted cheering, In the
midst of which the band struck up, "Sear the coriqiiering
hero comes !" spoke as follows ;—The League, tonight, has
been well received and well spoken of, and that is something
ave been the
rare in these times, for we certainly h best abused

• body is Englard. Probably it may as well devolve on me
as on any one here present to speak as to the object of the
League, having been in at the birth, as I hope I shall also be
in at the death of it.—(Cheers.) Through the seven years
of our apprenticeship it would be egotism indeed if I were to
pretend to say that in this long period, when we have been
pursuing altogether untried courses without precedents to
guide us, we have not, and I myself have net, committed
many mistakes. I have no hesitation in saying, that if we
bad to 'run our career over again—if we had to form another
League—we should beat the monopolists in half the time.—
(Cheers.) Half our time has been employed in learning how
to do our work, and not a little in undoing what we had done
badly. But here we are, after seven years' agitation ; and I
think I may safely say, at all events, that if we have
made mistakes in our mode of operation, we have never
changed our principles one hair's breadth from the moment
we commenced our work.—( Hear, hear, and cheers. )
Men tell us that England has grown great, prosperous, and
happy. I deny it.—(Cheers.) Looking to the advantage*
of the country, I maintain that the great body, the mass of
the empire, are in the most degraded state that ever charac-
fag-Licit' unitural
skilled
populationiou rer ofs tahnids
teristd a. people.—(Cheers.) Take half the population of
Icountry,
foi a instance;va s
vast
ratial
nkbeetrh
of
my assertien holds good. Take the agricultural labourers—
the mass of the rural population has been deplorably sinking
as a class for the last thirty years. I was m self born on k
farm in the south of England, and of my own knowledge 1
can testify that the population in the rural districts have de-
clined and deteriorated for the last thirty years.—(Cheers.)
Again and agaie I charge the monopolist landlords of the
country, who have so.long had the control of its destinies,
with the miserable, degraded, oppressed social condition of
the labouring classes of Eugland.—(Loud cheers.) Bur
now, without wishing to say more harsh things tle,„
needful of them, we will content ourselves with deeliefin,
that we will take the government of the country but a
the hands of. these people.—(Hear, hear, and. Cheers.)
We are going to assert the right of the greatnrass of the
manufacturing and industrious populationo!' the's country to
the influence they are entitlel to have in ite, government ;
and I say that no Government henceforth. tan be carried on
in this country unless it recognises for its, basis the wish and
the will, and the decision of the peoeole in Lancashire and
Yorkshire—(Loud cheers)—because Lancashire and York.
shire form the basis of the commercial and manufacturing
energies of this country.—(Cheers.) I think Sir R. Peel
understands this as well as I do; for .1 am told, on better
authority than newspapers, that he intends en the meeting of
Parliament that the Address shall be moved by Lord Francis
Egerton, and seconded by Mr. Beckett Denison. Now that
is rather clever.—(A laugh.) It at once indicates to the
squires that Sir Robert Peel will govern through Lancashire
and Yorkshire, or he will not govern at all. 35,000, I be-
lieve. is the number of your constituency in the West Riding;
24,000, I believe, is the number, of ours in South Lanca-
shire. The members of those constituencirs I call trump
cards in any man's hand ; and it is quite clear Sir
Robert knows when and how to play them.—(Cheers.)
I rose to thank you for the toast of the League in behalf of
myself and friends who are engaged in it. As an individual
I arrogate to myself nothing in connexion with this move-
ment of the League. It is the work primarily of the manu-
facturers of Lancashire and Yorkshire, co-operated with and
most ably backed by the rest of England, the manufacturers
of Scotland, by the middle classes generally, and now by the
working class as a mass. It is your work. You have begun
it nobly. We are but the instrument—the sharp point of the
coulter turning up the soil; you are the power at the butt-
end of the plough.—(Cheers.) You must do the work; and
lam sure you will acquit yourselves as you ought. Depend
upon it, the names of your towns, and the sums subscribed by
them, will, when published in London, amazingly help Sir
Robert Peel in framing the Queen's Speech.—(Loud cheers.)
I thank you for the kindness with which I have ever been re-
ceived in the West Riding—always glad, coming through the
tunnel of the hills that separate Yorkshire from Lancashire,
to be the bond of union between the two counties; for, you
may rely on it, so long as the white and red roses intertwine
in the same chaplet, with reference to this question, the mono-
polists never can succeed.—(Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then called upon the delegates from the
different districts in the West Riding to announce the
amounts ccllected in each, which was done in due order ;
several of the deputies addressing the party in short
speeches. The following are the results of the subscription
so far as it has gone, but the probability is that several
thousand pounds will yet be added to the gross total :
Barnsley (district) .

Birstalf ' 1,041
Bradford
Doncaster .
Halifax
Hebden-bridge 1,428
Huddersfield 6,300
Keighley
Leeds 8,600
Batley-bridge
Otley 125
Rotherham
Skipton
Sheffield
Wakefield...

Making a grand total of not less than £33,440
The details of this subscription, the reading of which occu-
pied much of the evening, were loudly applauded.
The financial part of the business having been thus dis-
posed of,
Mr. E. RAINES, jun., proposed—" Thanks to Mr. Richard
Cobden, M.P., Mr. John Bright, M.P., and Colonel Thomp-
son, for their unwearied exertions in the cause of free trade."
The toast was drunk with the utmost enthusiasm.
_ _

Mr. BRIGHT, on rising to acknowledge the toast, was
loudly cheered. He said,—" I need not say how great is the
delight which my colleagues and myself have felt whilst at-
tending this very respectable meeting. You have thanked
us for the arduous labours in which we have been engaged.
We are repaid, if it were only that we have made the ac-
quaintance of and formed friendships with hundreds, I
might almost say thousands, of the choice spirits of this day
and of this country. We have had hard labours, true
enough, but we have been cheered by your approbation, and
not less by the glorious prospect which every increasing
success offered to our view. We have learnt much since
we began this contest. We have learnt that it is a greater
and a more sacred contest even than we thought it at first,
and we have learnt also, that, although the battle may
be hard—the hill steep to climb—yet there is
power and intelligence enough, and we now have
organization enough, by which we can carry this
great contest to a successful, to a most triumphant
issue.—(Cheers.) The people of this country are to be hood-
winked no longer. It was madness to maintain the corn-
law, when its character was once found out.—( Hear, hear.)
One of the most philosophical writers of this age has said
that he could not write a chapter about the corn-law, for it
made the very air hot.—(Hear.) Dr. Chalmers has said,
" There is no ore thing which our Government could do
which would so sweeten the breath of English society as the
abolition of this corn-law."—(Cheers.) We ask for a quarter
of a million, and they would have laughed at us had they
not recollected the previous 100,000/. and the 50,000/. before
it, and now, within a short month, mote than half of the
quarter of a million is already subscribed, and ready to be
forthcoming.—(Cheers.) Well, here we are to-night.--not a
vast number—but representing a vast number out of doors,
with influence, intelligence, and votes. This night—at this
moment, whilst I am addressing you—the great theatre at
Covent-garden is filled to overflowing, and the streets around
are crowded by thousands who have not been able to obtain
admission. To-morrow night, at this time, the Free-trade
hall at Manchester will have its 7,000 or 8,000 within its
walls at least. Yesterday was the first day of issuing tickets,
and 10,000 persons applied for them.--(Cheers.) Well,
these are demonstrations such as have never taken place in
this country before on any political question whatever. The
political atmosphere has been foggy for a long time; but we
find it clearing away a little now. I met a Conservative
Member yesterday by accident, and really it seemed as if we
had been fellow-labourers in the free-trade cause all our lives.
—(Hear, hear.) There is no shyness now. In fact, lam not
certain we shall know which side of the House to sit on when
we get there on Thursday next.— (Cheers and laughter.) I
have now only to tender the acknowledgments of myself' and
colleagues for the vote of thanks you have given us; and, as
we have beforetime been borne up by your cheering co-
operation, we shall go from this meeting to-night conscious
that we have a cause worthy of all Use energies that we can
bring to hear upon it, and that we have supporters in this
district who are worthy of all the labour which we can pos-
sibly bestow upon this cause.—(Cheers.)
Colonel THOMPSON then addressed the meeting in a
humorous and able speech, and concluded by giving the
health of the Mayor, and prosperity to the town and trade of
Leeds and the West Riding.

Mr. ALDAM seconded the motion, which was carried by
acclamation, and the meeting separated.

ROYSTON.

A; public meeting was held in Royston on Wednesday
evening. Mr. Falvey and Mr. Bontems attended as a depu-
tation from the League. The meeting was originally an-
nounced to be held in the large room of the Crown Inn, but
a few of the monopolist farmers attending the market, on
Wednesday, declared that if the League meeting was held
there, they woukl never attend the house again. Under
these circumstances, the innkeepers, two orphan sisters, be-
came quite alarmed, and expressed their fear of being ruined
in consequence of the threats held out against them, by the
liberal friends of protection. Mr. T." Titchmarsh having
learned how matters stood, at once undertook to relieve the
young women from their fears of such petty and intolerable
tyranny, and at the same time provide for the meeting by
granting the use of a malthouse or granary for the occasion.
At seven o'clock the room began to till ' • and on the mo-
tion of Mr. TITCHBIARSH, .T. G. Foannasr, Esq., banker and
county magistrate, was called to the chair. He opened the
proceedings by stating that, though he differed in opinion
from the gentlemen who were to address them he toped
I they would give every one an attentive hearing. le then in-
troduced Mr. Falvey to the meeting, who had not concluded
a sentence before a few neighbouring monopolists began to
make the most hideous noises, and that, too, in opposition to
the great body of the meeting, who were desirous of listen-
, ing attentively. The chief disturbers were Mr. King, of
Tadlow, and his son ; Mr. Meyers, of Harrington ; Mr. Al leek-
ley, of Abingdon, and a few others who had threatened the
innkeepers with their vengeance in the course of the day, and
prevented them from making the most of their room, It
was quite clear to all present, that,the monopolists had made
themselves drunk, in order to get their drooping spirits up,
Mr. Falvey, however, persevered; and showed the failure
of every corn-law since 1815, in affording protection
to the farmers and farm-labourers of GI eat Britain
and Ireland. He invited any of his opponents to discuss the
question with him; but they refused to do so, and confined
their opposition to the sending forth of the most inhuman
sounds. The Chairman repeatedly expressed his disgust at
the conduct of the small knot of drunken monopolists, and
said he intended to have said a. few words in opposition to
the views of the speaker; but he refrained from doing so in
consequence of their nu-English-like conduct. Mr. Falvey,
at the close of his address, proposed the following resolution:
—" That, in the opinion of this meeting, it is the interest of
the tenant-farmer, the labourer, and the landlord, that the
corn-law question should be promptly and per:nanentiv set-
tled,4 by a total, immediate, and unconditional repeal-; the
experience of the last thirty years having proved that pro-
tection drives capital front land, narrows the home market
by crippling foreign trade, and injures all classes periodically,
by ruinous fluctuations,"
The CIIAIR3IAN moved an amendment in the form of two
resolutions; one deprecating the total and immediate repeal,
and the other pondemning the present system of corn-laws,
and expressing a hope that in the approaching session of
Parliament such a measure may be proposed as will finally
settle the question. He then put both to the meeting, when
he declared Mr. Falvey's free-trade resolution to be carried.
Three !sheers were then given for free trade, three fur the
League, and at the suggestion of Mr. Falvey, three for the
Chairman; and the meeting broke' up, the free traders in
high glee, and the monopolists evidently chop-fallen. Many
of the townspeople requested to have a second meeting as
soon as possible, and Mr. Falvey promised that their request
should be complied with as soon as the qualification business
for the present year was brought to a close.

~ .
LORD IIETCiLFE..••• IN ,e regrert .to learn that the
.
Noble Lord is not improving in;liealth, and what is more dis-
tressing to his fritnds, there is not the slightest hope that he
will recover from the inroads which bis virulent disorder has
already made.

THE CORN-LILWS.
TO MR. COBDF ,N.
SIR,—As I know you only throng a the public press, and
as your constant labours in the•sea' vice of humanity allow
.you (it would seem) no long settl. ed residence in any one
place, I krow not where I can fwd.:you, or how better I can
address you than through the same public medium, and I do
so merely to suggest one idea, and which I believe I ntay
Ball an argument against the ea* dng corn-laws. "Thorigh
I have often read, and with aduttir ation, your addresses, I (to
not remember that you have tot teb.ed. on• the point to which
I am about to refer; but so maribfaless have been your argu-
ments that I may have forgo ttem But wherever a great
evil exists, be it moral, physics J, or political, it is felt as well
as seen in such varied forms in Teal life, that it is almost
impossible that any one indiv'alual should be aware, Or even
able to collect from others, a 11... the bad consequences of such
evil, for if not corrected its :generations and relations become
infinite.

Now, Sir, I am no politician, and no theorist; I am a man
in business, and by pr:sctically feting the evil to which I am
about to allude havr., been led to form the Mowing maxim,
viz., that in society no body of men should be invested by
Government with an artificial influence over the political
freedom of thei.: fellow-subjects. If this principle be pure
and true the cora laws are foul and false.
As things itre where is the political freedom of any poor
tradesman and shopkeeper in a country town ? Are they
not very much dependent on the farmers, and are not.the
fa' flier' (by the corn-laws) invested with an artificial in-
terest_ in supporting one set of Parliamentary representatives ?
11'.1) where is political freedom? The farmer (we in trade
W ell know and feel) has a publiL, market for his goods, and we
have no influence over him, neither do we wish to have, but
we do wish, and we feel that justice demands, that he should
not be invested by an artificial interest created by'the corn-
laws to exercise a cruel and selfish influence over us. As
things are if we not do support his views, or vote for his man,
he goes mid deals at another parish. All we say then, Sir, is,
take away his reasons for such cruel caprice, and he and we
shall live as brethren, all enjoying equal rights and equal in-
fluence, and shall be alike interested in supporting such mea-
sures, and such only, as promote the well-being of the uni-
versal family. You will be -pleiied to understand, Sir, that
it is only to artificially created influences that we object, and
not to the individual moral influences of superior Worth, or
wealth, or wisdom.—l am, Sir, yours,
A MAN IN BUSINESS.

Cheltenham, Jan, 15, 1846.

THE PROJECTED RAILWAYS.
(From the Times.)

We are requested to state, with reference to the list of
Defunct Schemes" published in our paper of the 14th
Lust., that— _ _ _ .

, .
The Direct Birmingham and Leicester, and the North-
ampton and Bedford Companies declare that they have duly
deposited plans.
The Camerons, Coalbrook, Swansea, and Loughor Com-
pany is the same as Swansea and Loughor, for which plans
are lodged.
The Essex and Suffolk Company say they have amal-
gamated with the Chelmsford and Bary, for which plans are
lodged.

The Lincoln, Louth, and Great Grimsby Railway Com-
pany is the same as the Great Grimsby, Louth, &c., for
which plans are lodged.
The Manchester, Oldham, Liverpool, and Birkenhead, is
the same as Oldham, Manchester, Liverpool, and Birken •
head, for which plans are lodged.
The Portsmouth and Langston Railway and Dock Com-
pany have lodged their plans. (This does not appear in the
list of the Private Bill-office.)
The Saundersfoot Railway and Harbour is the same as the
Tenby, Saundersfoot, and South Wales Railway, for which
plans are lodged.
The South Midland, Leicester, Northampton, Bedford, and
Cambridge, is the same as the South Midland, for which
plans are lodged.
The Bristol, Poole Harbour, and Lymington Junction
Railway Company say they have deposited their plans.

DREADFUL EXPLOSION OF
FIRE-DAMP.
NEWPORT, MoxmournstußE, JAN. 14.—This morning a
fearful explosion occurred seven miles from this town, at the
works of Mr. John Russell, by which a sacrifice of thirty-five
lives has taken place.
So far as we have been able to discover, the disaster oc-
curred through the injudicious use of Da7y's lamp.

(ANOTIIER ACCOUNT.)
There happened this morning, about half-past seven o'clock,
a tremendous explosion of fire-damp, at the colliery of Messrs.
John Russell and Co., of Risca, in this neighbourhood, accom-
panied with a frightful loss of life. It appears that a great
number of the workmen have been keeping holiday, and that
only about 150 men were working in the pit at the time of
the explosion. The accident occurred in the big vein, where
about thirty-five men were working, which is the number
missing on their being mustered at the mouth of the pit.
Fourteen bodies have been already brought up, the state of
the pit being such as to prevent searching for the remainder.
It was expected that about four o'clock to-day there would be
sufficient air in the workings to enable the search to be con-
tinued. There can, however, be little doubt that the remaining
number are dead.