The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-28 00:00:00

MA. Y 28, 1846.

PRICE SD.

the gaol in question 'vas blessed with two rival doctors. A
prisoner fell ill. Both visited him ; both prescribed for him ;
both sent medicine as different as the views which they had
taken Of the disease. The gaoler being no party man, felt
that his duty was to make tilt unhappy sufferer swallow the
physic of both, when luckily, at this JunctUre, the mayor,
being the most sensible man of the lot, interferred, and, ex-
tinguishing both surgeons pro tempore, called in a physician,
who cured the patient. But, says the tale, as it sums up,
if his worship had been less sagacious, and the sick
man had been left to undergo the horrors of opposite
treatment and the double allowance of physic, and death had
been the result, what verdict would a jury have returned?
There can be but one answer. It would, of course, have been,
" Died of too much doctor." And this is the exact peril to
which the trade of this country is constantly kept exposed.
It also is in danger of " dying of toe much doctor." It is
tended like " an oak in a flower-pot," when it Wants room,
and space, and freedom to project its roots in all directions and
shoot forth its spreading and luxuriant branches far and wide.
" What can I do for you ?" said the Macedonian Prince to the
philosopher of old : " Stand out of my light that I may see
the sun," was all the reply given. And this is what trade asks
ifromis
ev
eorffia officious i owuosr
istatesmenit and
sl eteori sl
theat pinr oa snedkillingout kmi
yn d
light
s
and let me have a little sunshine. scatter the clouds of your
bungling interference,and let 'brinthe the pure air of free-
dom. Yes; this is what trade wmnsentlf t wants to be free from all
pfentltyersa
nadn dprreniternitcitnino n; s
t;
nt obbeerlonaoleasedrofrmninthetchreutbcahnedstalmesoannod-
as swaddling-clothes, nagnd- crl on tnlki esi
rocking-horses
hn and cradles,
aea 0 f
babyhood, a cl
go-acnardtst, and leading-
as I3stlabliefworeed,•ti°t
run alone andtake care of itself. In short,
wants to be rescued from the danger of " dying -
doctor." And from this danger the care of thestateM much
das
octor."
well as the sympathy of the philanthropist, should be rouseda,
to snatch it—and what, indeed, should a statesman be but
a philanthropist in the largest meaning of the word ? But
some of our opponents—l have heard it from themselves—
tell us that they would abandon the corn-laws to the agita-.
tion and organisation of the free- triiders, if they could quite
persuade themselves that thereare no ulterior objects masked
behind this first demand. This is the wisdom of the school-
boy over again, who, .when scolded for his stupidity in not
learning his lesson, protested most strongly against the in-
ference—" No, mother, no! I'm not a dunce ; but i know
-very well that, if I learn A, master will want me to learn B
next."—(Laughter.) Now, this young gentleman was an
admirable specimen of a person guarding himself against ul-
terior designs.—(Hear.) But his imitators would do well to
recollect that, as there is, a time to hold out, so there is a time
to yield ; and they should take care not to pass that time by,
lest, by their obstinacy, they should bring upon themselves
the very peril which they wish to avoid—( Hear)—and' be
compelled, not only to learn A, but B also, and C and D, and
all the letters of the political alphabet, down to Z itself. It it
said that there are persons who, if you give them an inch,
will take an ell. But whether this rule will or will not hold
good in politics, depends more upon the giver than the re-
ceiver.—(Hear.) An inch, given in time, and given
gracefully, will, by the feelings of gratitude which it excites
in the people, often save an ell.—(Hear.) But, if obstinately
refused and held back until wrung from the hand which de-
tains it, it is taken without thanks, and a demand for the ell
instantly follows. And some of the monopolists, lam sorry
to say, seem to be bent upon playing this losing game in
the matter of the corn-laws. In putting forward such
remarks, far be it from me to urge or to think that states-
men and legislators should rush in breathless haste
to yield to every wild and ephemeral cry which may spring
up and die out in a day. But prudent and far-seeing men
ought surely to be able to distinguish between a real and a
counterfeit, a genuine and a spurious, public opinion—
(Cheers)—they ought to know the steady and increasing
light which flashes from the one in all directions, from the
the fire of stubble and momentary blaze of the other.—( Loud
cheers.) And they ought to perceive clearly that there is an
earnestness, that there is a reality, that there is a strength,
in the national demand for free-trade, which plainly says,
that a compliance with it cannot be much longer evaded,
and, therefore, that it is folly to defer it until the people may
be irritated into demanding free trade and something more.—
(Renewed cheering). Do our monopolist legislators want to
afflict the country with a perpetual blister of agitation ?
Do they wish to make agitation so strong that, when it has
carried one object, it shall have sting enough left in it
instantly to set about another—(Hear)—ever, like the phoe-
nix, instead of dying in its ashes, renewing itself, and start-
' ing back into all its youthful vigour?—(Cheers.) If they
were wise men, they would yield at once—if, even now, the
time for yielding gracefully have not passed by.—(Hear). If
they persist much longer in a vain and useless opposition,
they will only (to use a homely proverb) " go farther and
fare worse."-4 Cheers.) They must be losers by so perse-
veringly teaching the people the power of combination and
organisation.—(Hear.) If this struggle should be foolishly
protracted on their part, what must inevitably be the result?
Do they think that the sweets of power and ambition are
pleasant and acceptable to none but those of their own class
and order ? Do they expect that the men who have guided
and wielded the popular will by their mental superiority and
inspiring eloquence, will quietly retire to their looms and
their factories, their works and their warehouses, and leave
the arena of public affairs to those whom they have so
often foiled and baffled in it? Do they suppose that those
who have become freeholders, and dethroned one
county despot after another, will all at once act
the part of political suicides, burn their title-deeds,
or barter away their power?--(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Marvellously small must be their knowledge of human na-
ture if they have any such idea. But they cannot entertain
such an absurdity in their minds. Convinced of the fruitless-
' ne,es of any further resistance, they must, in spite of their
looks and words of bold defiance, be going to yield, and all
that the people have to do more at this crisis is to make it
apparent and clear to the monopolists that yielding must
mean yielding, and nothing else—(Hear)—and that the re-
peal of the corn-laws must be total and nothing less—they
must take care not, in the joy and intoxication of victory, to
suffer the results of defeat to be palmed upon them as the
fruits of success.—( Hear.) As Mr. Cobden has said over and
over again, this is the veryti me to watch and be wary.
Our enemies are a slippery race, ever sliding, never
standing fast to anything.—(Laughter and cheers.) Even
now, when about to give away, they are some of them
yet talking of bargains, compacts, compromises, terms,
conditions, compensations, stipulations, and I know
nut what besides ; but all such things must be carefully
denounced by free-traders.—(Hear, hear.) The very
words, as here used, have birdlime, bubbles, snares, pitfalls,
mantraps plainly written over them.—(Hear.) You must
not, then, and I am glad that you do not, abate one atom of
vigilance, one iota of zeal, one fraction of energy, until the
work is accomplished. and the repeal of the corn-laws ac-
tually made part and parcel of the statute-book of the coun-
try.—(Loud cheers.) The man in the fable was credulous,
and foolish, and sluggish, and folded his arms, and stood
looking on in idleness, while he called upon Hercules to lift
his waggon wheels out of the ruts into which they had sunk
and stuck fast.—(Hear.) But in our case it must be every
man his own Hercules. Every man must put his own shoul-
ders to the wheel until success is achieved. No room must
be left for accidents between the cup and the lip.—(Hear,
hear.) It is the last nail which will rivet the whole work;
send it home by your unanimity and determination this
day, with a will which cannot be mistaken, and which
will prove to your opponents that it is the 'right one
which you have hit upon the head with the sledge
hammer of a giant.—(Laud cheers.) But all this time I have
said nothing about the specific measure proposed by Sir
Robert Peel. 'What do I think of it? In all honesty, I
think it a very great measure, and it appears to me that we
must all admit that it has been brought forward and carried
through the House of Commons in a sincere and good spirit,
and we ought, by our meetings from one extremity of the
empire to the other, to give him all support to carry it
further and on to victory against the fierce, but final, oppo-
sition of the monopolist Peers.—(Loud cheers.) But still,
as an agriculturist, and also as a free-trader, lam anxious
that the repeal of the corn-laws should be immediate as well
as total.—(Hear.) Captain Marryatt, in describing the
death of one of his characters somewhat given to romancing,
makes him, true to the ruling passion to the very last, ex-
claim, in his expiring moment, when he felt the death rattle
rising in his throat, " Oh, never mind that. A friend of mine
had the rattles in his throat for six weeks before he died."
But protection is to be so afflicted, not for six weeks only, but
for three years, that is, we, agriculturists, who are proverbi-
ally a timid race, are to face the ordeal of three years of
doubt, three' years of uncertainty, three years of un-
easiness, three years of perpetuated panic and unsettled
minds. And at the end of the three years—what? Aye,
" there's the rub."—(Laughter.) It is a secret worth know-
ing; but neither you nor I can find it out. If the duty
should then be at the four-shilling end of the sliding-scale,
the thing will go off well. Our fall will be upon a feather
bed, and there will be no bones broken. But if it should
happen to be at ten shillings, then, and for some time pre-
viously, it may act as a premium for a panic, by inducing
foreigners to hold back their corn until the sliding-scale
expires, and then pour in the accumulation all at once, so
as na ti
tn
otonely allt theo
monetary affect th e
affairsagri culturaolfin thet interest, but
country.
.to
Adenradn,gine
for
that case, how all the prophets of evil would exult and re-
joice as they charged upon free-trade the mischief entirely
to be ascribed to a blunder of legislation. This should be
vet altered, if possible, and I hope that Sir Robert
Peel may be induced to alter it.—(Hear, hear.) Ilydropathy
may be a very harmless affair while it confines itself to the
jpertepd-hbyanidtleto;
tbbuotalc,tifooar one,of
a chaatvareacnto—(Cheers.)
) Tbeinhgerseubi;
Teatitondoewon. therTplowinattaugpnonatiwon vihichbilch has affectedwouldbriefly everyt
touch
chbefore
branch
of trade and commerce in the country, from the delay of the
ministerial measure in the House of Commons, is greatly to
be deplored, especially when it is evident, from the scene
which took place on the night of its third reading, that per-
sonal feeling has at least had as much influence as patriotism
with the cleverest of the obstacle-mongers, whose hostility to
Sir Robert Peel appears to be very much akin to the lamen-
tation of the disappointed belle at the undiscerning blindness
or too. bashful coyness of the hesitating beaux—
" They don't propose—they won't propose,
For fear, perhaps, I'd not say ' Yes.'
Just let them try, for, heaven knows,
I'm tired of single blessedness."—(Laughter.)

But still, as far as the question of free-trade itself is con-
cerned, I
ed, however verthis delay may have tried our patience, it
believe, greatly strengthened our cause.—
(Hear.) If the promoters of it fancied that, to use a Trans-
Atlantic phrase, by adopting this " masterly inactivity"
they should allow' the agriculturists through the country
time to get up a fiery storm of agitation in their beha
farlf,
how miserably self-deceived they must have been. So
from such a response having been made to their appeal, the
Ministerial settlement of the question has been met, if not
with grateful acquiescence, at all events. with silent indiffer-
ence throughout the rural districts. At the Watford meet-
ing the other day, the Earl of Essex proclaimed his unquali-
fied conversion and adhesion to the principles of free-trade--
(Hear, hear)—and the Earl of Essex, we know, was one
of those to whom the monopolists looked for the most
strenuous help and assistance, as, in their imaginations,
they inscribed " mangling done here " over the portals of
the House of Lords.—(Laughter.) In nay own parish, too, I
found, upon my return from London a week or two ago, that
our largest farmer—acrd a very good and clever farmer lie is,
but a most confirmed croaker and alarmist withal at one
time on the subject of free trade—had been taking some ten
acres more, at a rent certainly not less than three pounds an
acre. And he has since increased his holding by a hundred
and eighty additional acres, at a somewhat, but not very
much, lower rent.—(Hear, hear.) Now, this is what I call
being a merry mourner over the death of monopoly. His
name is Brown, but, as I said before, lie is no green one in his
vocation—(Laughter)—and nobody can say that he is either
looking very blue himself, or regarding the prospects of agri-
culture as very black at the present moment.—(Cheers)
And yet, I can assure you, three months since the same man