The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-22 00:00:00

THE STN, LONDON, THU DA MORNli\lG:Ft_lttrAßy_,q2, 1844:

I and Mr. Moore, went to Dublin for the purpose of
holding an anti-corn-law meeting; and that meeting
being held, Mr. O'Connell, then the Lord Mayor of
I Dublin, presided over it.—(Cheers.) He begged, in the
name of the League, to thank him for his consistent
support of the principles of free-trade, and had now the
pleasure of introducing him to them.—(Cheers.)
Mr. O'CONNELL, M.P., came forward. His appear-
ance at the tattle was the signal for a burst of enthusiasm
we never saw approached, much less equalled. The
whole audience rose, and, standing, continued to cheer
for several minutes. Having at last obtained silence he
said—lt was my intention when I came here to-night
to lave made a very eloquent speech, but I find that
that part of the oratory belongs to another. I there-
fore begin my- speech by presenting to the League,
from a friend of mine who wishes to subscribe him-
self " A lover of justice"—one hundred pounds.—(lna •
mense cheering, again and again renewed.) There is
sterling eloquence in that, and if you only get nine
hundred and ninety-nine others to do the same, there is
your hundred thousand pounds at once.—(Loud cheers.)
With giving the money I am afraid my oratory ceases.
—(Cheers and laughter.) For how is any human
tongue to give utterance to the sentiments of gratitude
and thankfulness with which my heart and soul are
filled at the present moment 2—(Loud cheers.) It is
said that my native Irish abounds with endearing
phrases that best express the sentiment of
gratitude, but it would be impossible for the
language even of the most seraphic affection to
detail or describe the pride—the exultation and pride—
witt which I witness my reception here to-night.—
(Cheers ) It is a generous thing, and therefore you
have done it If I have ever felt proud in
my life I feel truly proud of such: a reception.
There are circumstances at the present period, which,
without alluding further to them, I may say enhance my
gratification.—(Great cheering.) I have come here
resolved strictly to observe that neutrality in
politics which belongs to this struggle.—(Hear.)
But I may be permitted to say, because it relates to the
corn-laws, that the Duke of Buckingham and the Duke
of Richmond have begun to suspect that they may be
conspirators too.—(Cheers and laughter.) The Noble
Dukes have been to consult a sort of " white witch" in
the Temple, Mr. Platt, they call him, saying—" Good
Sir, pray tell us, are we conspirators or not ?"
(Laughter and cheers.) " No," says Mr. Platt, "you
are not."—(Laughter.) And I /will tell you why they
are not ; they are not conspirators, because conspirators
always have a leaning to the popular party, and
they are protection men.—(Hear, hear.) " No,"
says Mr. Platt,"you are not conspirators."—(Laughter.)
I would not advise them to try that question on the
other side of the Channel.—(Great cheering and
laughter.) Yes ; lam truly delighted with. the recep-
tion I have met with—

" My bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne" 7

and my heart exults at seeing such sympathy manifested
between the English and the Irish. I have told you
that I am delighted with your generosity towards
me ; and if there be one natural quality which
excels the manly generosity of Englishmen, it
is to be found only in Irish gratitude.—(Great cheer-
ing.) I compare the depth of one to the noble manli-
ness of the other. Your highly respected Chairman
has been good enough to introduce me to you by a short
reference, and he did me but justice in saying that I
have been the perpetual friend of the Anti-Corn-law
League. I am a friend to it, not from preju-
dice or mere predilection—but from a thorough
and conscientious conviction that it is for the good
of the people. I was elected to the present Parliament
by two counties in Ireland, containing 1,100,000 inhabi-
tants—the counties of Meath and Cork. I represent in
Parliament 750,000 of an agricultural population. Now
I had no means of purchasing their votes—l had no
power of intimidating them—l had no landlord interest
to overawe their consciences. My election cost me not
a shilling ; and yet 1,100,000 people returned me to
Parliament.—(Oheers.) They all knew my senti-
ments with respect to the corn-laws. They
all knew I was the determined enemy of the
heavy tax on the bread of the people.—(Loud
cheers.) Knowing I have not only annoinced 'such to
be my opinion, but that Ihave.given my reasons for it
so often, so convinced are all these people of the truth
of that opinion that this has been the result. They have
not attempted to hold a single corn-law meeting in
Ireland.(Cheers.) • Yes, they, did attempt one meet-
ing, and they were defeated.—(Cheers.) Lord Mount-
cashel was there, poor gentleman—he was there, and
really he made out a most piteous case of it. He said
"We, the nobility, owe debts—we owe moneys—we have
mortgages on our estates—we:owe family charges." Well,
one of the crowd said, "Why don't you pay them ?"
(Cheers and laughter.) What was his answer ? Why,
" No, I thank you"—(Great laughter)—" I will not pay
them, but the working-classes of Englishmen shall. I
will maintain protection, and get a higher price for my
corn. I am disposed to be a good landlord, if I could
afford it ; but as I ewe money I must keep up my rents,
and sell my corn where it must be bought at my own
price ; and by the high price thus extorted from the
working-classes, I'll pay my debts—when I choose.?
There was only one proposition in his speech perfectly
certain—that he would extort the highest price for his
corn ; the other, the payment of his debts, remained
what the scholars call a paulo post futurum—a thing
that might happen at some time or other.—(Cheers and
laughter.) But, no later than yesterday, out comes the
Duke of Northumberland, and he says, in a proclamation
—(Laughter)—to his tenants, you must get up leagues
in favour of the corn-laws; for, says he, those exceed-
ingly conspiring wretches of the Anti-Corn-law League
tell you that if the corn-laws are abolished, you
will have cheap bread. Don't believe a word that they
say. Now, I don't believe him—(Cheers and laughter)—
and more, I think I can prove that he don't believe him-
self.—(Cheers and laughter.) And would it not be a
mighty pretty thing to see a Noble Duke put upon the
table, and obliged to say he did not believe a word of
what he' said himself ?—(Cheers.) And I will show you
he does not. He wants protection for corn—what is the
Meaning.of Abet ?- Protection means the addition of 6d.
to the price of every loaf—that is the Irish of it.—
(Cheers arid laughter.) If he had not protection for
the loaf that sells at is., it might be bought
.fOr. 6d.--(Loud- cheers.)'. Protection, • then, is - the
English for sixpence.—(Great laughter, and cheers.)
But it is worse than this—it is the English for an ex-
torted sixpence. The real meaning of protection there-
fore is robbery.—(Great cheers.) It is a robbery by
the rich of the poor, for what signifies the quantity of
loaves that may be consumed in the Duke of Nortlium-
berland's establishment ; to be sure he pays the addi-
tional sixpence ; but not a thousandth part of the Duke
of Northumberland's expenditure consists of bread.
But the working man with a family of Children, or the
widow, pay nine-tenths of their means for bread. They
pay tenpence for every sixpence expended by him; and'
he pockets the difference.(Hear, hear.) But then he is
one of the mighty aristocracy of the land. He 'is
an exceeding great man—one whose shadow scarcely
dares to follow him.—(Laughter and cheers.) But there
might come another Leaguer---a man of a League for
making bread dear—another protection man—another
robbery man, and he says, " Oh, don't make bread
cheap—that would be horrible. It would cause less em-
ployment, and that would cause less wages." Well, let
us see- how that is? If we had bread cheap we would
get it cheaper by getting corn from foreign countries,
where it is grown at a less rate. That corn cannot
be imported now. If it could be imported, for every
pound's worth of corn imported a pound's worth of manu-
factured goods would be sent to pay for it, and those nations
who had not the means of taking our manufactured
goods, then would have the means of purchasing them.
Thus, instead of lessening wages, free-trade would in-
crease employment, and whenever you increase that,
it is as plain as that two and two make four, that it must
increase wages. The argument then totally fails. I
speak, as a representative of Ireland; if the corn-law is
of use anywhere it would be of use in Ireland, the agri-
cultural country—if it raised wages anywhere it would
raise them in Ireland, which is a purely agricultural
country. Are wages raised in Ireland ? Unhappily
you can get a man to work there for 4d. a-day.—(Hear,
hear, and shame.) He thinks him a beautiful
benefactor who pays 6d. a-day.—(Hear, hear.) He is
delighted if he gets Bd.—(Hear, hear.) There is a corn-
law for you. It is in full force in Ireland. It is doing
all that it can do for any country in Ireland ; and such
is the rate of wages, and what is worse, there is even
very little employment at that. Ir eland, therefore, will
not throw any impediment in your way in this parti-
cular. With Ireland you will have no difficulty. You
have Ireland heart and soul at your side—(lmmense
cheering, the whole of the audience rising, and continu-
ing the applause for some time)—and have I not
another example I can adduce to you at the
present moment ? We have present the Honourable
Member for Rochdale, Mr. Sharman Crawford, a very
considerable Irish landed proprietor, who, before he re-
presented an English borough, represented part of his
native country, and who was a thorough Anti. Corn-law
Leaguer long before he was in Parliament at all. You
have, therefore the good sense- and the spirit of Ireland
with you, and it will feel no small share of my gratitude
when it hears how you have received me to-night.—
(Immense cheering.) The sound of that shout will not
die away within these walls—(Cheers)—it will sound
throughout this metropolis—it will be conveyed upon
the easterly wind to the coast of Ireland—(Cheers)—
it will be heard re-stcheing along the sunny banks af Ole

Shannon, the Nore, and the Suir ; they will respond t o
your affectionate kindness, and all Ireland will declare

that the people of England shall not be starved by the
law of the aristocracy. I declare here that I am overcome
with a horror and loathing I am unable to describe of
the injustice and iniquity of that aristocracy. Why, if
no corn-law were in existence, no Ministry would dare
bring forward a tax upon the people's bread. If, as was
done in some countries, they placed a man at the door of
every baker's shop to insist on one-third of the price
, of every loaf as' it came out, is there a man in
the country who would endure a tax of such a kind ?
—(" No, no," and cheers.) If the Minister said he
wanted it for his financial purposes—that he could not
maintain the public faith without it, John Bull would
roar out an universal—No. Tax anything else, but
you shall not tax bread. Yet, by a swindling scheme of
protection, they do the very same thing: Not fur the
good of the State in which you would all participate—
not for protection against foreign enemies, or the pre-
servation of domestic peace—but for the benefit of one
particular class—the rest of the community
is faxed ; not for the benefit of the pnblic,
but to go into the private pockets of private
individuals.—(Load cheers.) Why, really, it is too
bad that you should be called a sensible people if you
submit to it. Of course I mean you no disrespect, but
there is a thick-headedness about it I cannot understand.
—(Cheers and laughter.) Duke of Northumberland,
you are not my King, I owe you no allegiance—l will
pay you no tax.—(Cheers.) Duke pf Richmond—to be
sure there have been Richmonds before you, and you
may be connected with Royalty, but you are not King
yet—l owe you no allegiance ; I will pay you no tax.—
(Cheers.) Take you all, we owe you no allegiance ;
and against them we are bound to stand together,
peaceable in conduct, but strong in determination
—in tranquility—but with firmness to tell them
we will not be cheated, we will not be robbed, we will
not be humbugged.—(Cheers and laughter.) Oh, I
should like to see, one of these great Dukes levying his
tax in kind. I should like to see him going into one
of the lanA of one of our manufacturing towns, entering
the house of some poor and wretched family, the father
of which, after his day's fatigue, is affecting not to have
an appetite, in order to leave a few more mouthfuls of
bread for his children ; when the wretched mother,
while endeavouring to give nourishment to one babe,
leaves another screaming by her side for want of
food.—(Hear, hear.) I should like to see a Noble
Duke, hung round with his stars and garters, lay 1191 d of
the biggest hunch of the loaf, levying his tax in that
manner. If he were so to levy it the tax would be in-
tolerable. Yet that is precisely what he does in another
shape. I should have expected better from the ancient
nobility of England. I should have expected something
higher than this from them—for they are not conspira-
tors—they are not combined together, for that crime is
punished only in the, poor—than their meeting toge-
ther and determining that any one shall pay more
money than otherwise he should have to give
for food. I repeat it in the identical terms, for
I want to impress on every man the nature
of this plunder and robbery. I tell you, do not mind
their pretences, their assertions, that these laws increase
wages. Ireland is an instance of how they increase
wages. If I chose to open the books of political eco-
nomy, and to give the dates and calculations you have
had before from others, I could show you that, when-
ever bread was cheap, wages were higher, and doubly
higher, because of the comparative value that money
bore to provisions, and, therefore, doubly useful to the
labourers themselves. Yes, and I dwell upon this, be-
cause it is as clear as the sun at noon-
day, that though you are opposed by ani-
mals with two legs, and apparently no heads,
as they certainly have no hearts—this must be put an
end to. Why, was not the Parliament itself packed
by these bread-taxers, who sent into the House two-
thirds of the whole body, by means of their Chandos
clause, and their purchase in the counties? Two sessions
ago, I heard both from one side of the House and the
other, that there never had been so much bribery in
Parliament as at the last election. Mr. Roebuck
affirmed it on one side, and Sir Robert Peel confirmed
it on the other. They disagreed on everything else, but
they concurred as to the enormity of the bribery.—
(Cheers.) Yet they are your models of virtue and piety—
men who are advocates of church establishments, who
are ready to fine the poor wretch who on the Sabbath-
may not stray from the high road, if he were not going to
some place of worship, while they enjoy their own car-
riage-drives unscathed and free. Yes, these great examples
for the morality of the country, turn up the whites of
their eyes to Heaven at the enormity of ether men's ini-
quities, while they, at the same time, are putting their
hands into the pocket of the poor wretch to rob him of
the pence that would feed his family.—(Cheering.) It
is too bad. It ough to be proclaimed.—(Loud cheers.)
It is just what ought to be proclaimed throughout the
country. The good and the wise ought to congregate
to brand ft with suspicion and distrust—aye, with dis-
gust. If these men will stand by the poor and humble,
may every blessing Heaven has in store be poured upon
them ; but if they make the poor man poorer—if they
make the wretched suffer more—if they make destitu-
tion augment and poverty increase by the means of this
tax on human food, I say, shame upon them for prac-
tising such misconduct, and shame upon those who
do, not lift up their voices, till .the human voice
sounds like thunder, and affright the culprits, and set
the landand the people free !—(Great cheering.) Yes,
you are mustering well, and I am convinced that their
attempts to counteract the exertions of the League will
have the directly contrary effect. We are ready to
argue with them, for bring them once to reasoning, and
you have them surely defeated. We are ready to meet
them foot to foot, and point to point, in debate with
them; and the more they bring forward at these meet-
ings the greater chance is there that truth will spread.
The intellect of the farmer class can no longer be de-
luded. If they had the interest of that class at heart,
would they notmake leases, and enable them to live and
to feed their labourers, and to assist in any charitable
act in their neighbourhood? But no. They must overawe
everybody. Their name is Behemoth. They must s wallow
all. You are engaged in a glorious struggle, and I am proud,
to be allowed to take part in it.—(Cheers.) It is a de-
light t; me to lend my talents, feeble as they are, and
the sound of my voice, which ought to be pretty nearly
worn out by this time ; but such as they , are I lend
them heartily to your sacred cause.—(Cheers.) I may
venture to say for myself that I have been found upon the
side of liberty on every question which has been agi-
tated since I entered public life.—(Cheers.) I care not
of what creed, or caste, or colour, any human being is,
I claim for him the rights of a man—l claim
for him the privileges of a man—the suffrage
of a man, and the protection due to a man ; not the pro-
tection of robbery and spoliation, but protection against
every iniquity, however high its position.—(Cheers.) I
come therefore, humble as I am, to cheer you on what-
ever be my own fate—whether it be a dungeon or even
the scaffold. (Here the vast assemblage—pit, boxes,
and galleries—rose, and the theatre rang again with
cries of "No, no, never," and when the excitement had
somewhat abated, the cheers and cries of " Never."
burst forth anew and were continued, accompanied by
the waving of handkerchiefs from the ladies, for several
minutes, till hands and lungs at length became at rest
from exhaustion.) The Hon. and Learned Gentleman
proceeded. I am quite convinced, if it were left to your
votes, how you would decide it. But whatever my fate,
it is no reason why the natural merriment of my temper
—(Here the Hon. and Learned Gentleman was inter-
rupted by an exclamation from the boxes, the purport.
of which we were unable to catch. Mr. O'Connell re-
plied " I hope you're honest."—He then went on.) It
gratifies me that I am engaged in this struggle with you.
I know all the bearings of the question. I know all its
value. I know how its success would increase your
commerce, by giving you consumers that are unable to
buy from you—it would increase your comforts by
giving you employment on the one hand, and food
on the other.—(Hear, hear.) I know how it would take
down the iniquity of class-legislation.--(Hear, hear.)
For the great and weighty reason why class-legislation
exists to the prejudice of the poor and humble in
this country is this very corn-law. It is the ground of
all, the evil, and stimulates its adherents to every iniquity.
They know the injustice of their position, and they
want to fence it round with all the formalities of the
law and the powers of the Legislatnre. But it won't do.
—(Cheers.) The public eyes are becoming open—the
pnblic mind is aroused. and England never willed and
willed in vain.—(Cheers.) She had the folly to go
extraordinary lengths formerly in working out her
will. She brought to the scaffold the head of a foolish
monarch. That was a foolish as well as a wicked thing,
for it scared away the mild disposition of the law, and
resulted in violence, which ended, as violence always does,
injuriously to freedom. That man's son outraged the
rights and liberties of the people of England, but the
people of England got wiser, and did not cut off his
head, but they sent him abroad.—(Hear, hear.) It is a
folly, therefore, to trespass upon the rights of English-
men. Those violent remedies are no longer necessary ;
they are not suited to the times. But public, open com-
bination is necessary—the electricity of men's opinions—
yes, that electricity of opinion shall spread through all
Scotland as well as England. The manufacturing
classes are already all arrayed, and the labouring classes
find that their interest is identified with the question.
The farmers understand the chicanery of the great pro.-
prietors, and the great proprietors are making that kind
of bustling noise which rats make when the stack is

about to be thrown down about them.—(Cheers and
laughter.) Yes, the movement is progressing—it is ir-
resistible. They may delude a miserable constituency
in one place, and overrule a constituency in another;
but the public intellect is upon its march, like the
mighty wave of the ocean with the in-coming tide. The
tyrant of old bade the sea to stop at his mandate, but
the waves came on and overwhelmed the vain tyrant,
who thought to resist its progress.—(Hear, hear.) We
do not want to overwhelm those men—we will only wet
their feet a little.--(Laughter.) No: the progress of
this great cause is .rnag,nificent. On what country on
the face of the earth could they -do what you did last
year? You-raised 50,000 L—the income of two or three
of the sovereign princes of Germany. This year you
subscribe 100,000/., and, if necessary, next year double
it.—(Hear, hear.) It is not double or win, but double
and win.—(Cheers And. laughter.) Yes, the movement
is on its majestic progress. From day to day new re-
cruits fill your ranks, and we, who are the veterans in
the contest, are able to look on with delight at the ra-
pidity with which our ranks are augmented and our
peaceable troops swarm around us.—(Cheers.) The
force of public opinion is manifesting itself every-
where. Even the vilest despots of the earth, with
the exception of the monster Nicholas, do not any longer
dare those things which they formerly perpetrated. The
sentiment of England is awakened and abroad, and it
will never sleep till the poor are righted, and the rich
compelled to be honest. (The Hon. and Learned Gen-
tleman sat down amid deafening and protracted cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next introduced
Mr. GEORGE THOMPSON to the meeting. When the
applause which greeted his appearance subsided, he
said, when I entered this house this night to be a wit-
ness of the reception given to Mr. O'Connell, I did not
cherish the remotest idea of being called on to address
the meeting; nor do I now feel, standing in the posi7
tion which unhappily I now occupy, that I can be any-.
thing other than that shadow of which Mr. O'Connell
spoke, which was almost 'afraid to follow its mighty
master. Ladies and gentlemen, this is to me a most
exhilirating spectacle, from thecircumstance particularly
that fur the last. 16 months I _hive been absent from
this country, and during all that period travelling over
countries where no such scenes or sounds as those I
have now witnessed were ever exhibited. Though I
have travelled a distance of 15,000 miles from the spot
on which I now stand, I have not travelled any distance
so great as to preclude me from the' society of those
who had a knowledge of the proceedings of this gigantic
body, which is now guiding and directing the ultimate
triumph of public sentiment.—(Hear, hear.) It has been
my privilege, if not to be intimately associated in labour
with the Anti-Corn-law League, at least to possess a
knowledge of its progress from the commencement, and
to number amongst my earliest and best friends those who
have endured the burden and heat of the day. I cannot,
on returning to my native land, but contrast the condi-
tion of the cause this night with its condition, when I
took my farewell at a meeting in Manchester, convened
for the very same purpose as that which brings you
within these walls to-night. I knew the League when
it consisted simply of 1,200 persons; I now meet its mem-
bers within the walls of this building, which is the
largest in this metropolis, and which is capable of con-
taining at least 6,000 individuals.--(Cheers.) I left
you in a struggle with silent opponents, depending
almost entirely on their rank, and station, and
wealth, to oppose your progress. I meet you
now in open combat with this, party, their
silence broken, their plans disconcerted, their
hopes thwarted, and their glory diminished, compelled
at last, in self-defence, to have recourse to precisely
similar measures on their own part to those which they
have condemned you for adopting. Do I anticipate
any injury to your cause from the circumstance that
your opponents are now banding themselves together,
and occupying themselves with considering the plans
which they must pursue for the purpose of thwarting
your intentions ? Nothing of the kind.—(lfear, hear.)
I think it a most hopeful sign of the times, that you are
now able, every morning, to learn what is said in every
part of the country—that you are able now to grapple
freely with—if they may be so called—the arguments of
those who will, as long as they are able, both in
Parliament and out of Parliament, endeavour to
sustain and maintain a monopoly of which they
are the patrons, and by which they live.—
(Hear.) I congratulate you on your mighty progress.
I congratulate you on the having induced, by the ex-
cellency of your principles, the 'nost enlightened and
intelligent of the nation to become members of the
League. I congratulate you on hiving now arrayed
around your standand, all that is excellent and estimable,
or nearly so, in the land.—(Cheers.) I congratulate
you upon the prospect of a glorious and peaceful triumph
over the party with which you have been long contend-
ing.—(Cheers.) Mr. Thompson then went on to say
that wherever he had travelled, whether in England or
in India, he had found the deepest interest taken in .the
proceedings of this Association.—(Cheers.) He had •
found the greatest wonder everywhere expressed at the
folly and wickedness of those who were endeavouring by
the distress, poverty, and the crime of the people, to
maintain a guilty prosperity. Men who :were removed
from party influence, and who had a domestic personal
interest , in this question held but one opinion upon the
subject"; They could not traverse regions thousands of
Miles in extent, celebrated for the resources they
possessed while engaged in ' bringing from the
most remote districts of the sea board and
thence across the ocean, those commodities which,
if they came here would be capable of sustaining
those who were nearly perishing—they could not behold
suchr
s, and know that whatever they
s sentia a l
wouldof h
td
comeincgou back
not s
e toee
and know them in the
these most
thingsdeb
without standing amazed at the existence, in the present
day, of so monstrous and stupendous a robbery as that
which was perpetrated in this country. He had never
taken but one view of the corn-laws: That was an all-
comprising view. It was a view of the subject which
made him an everlasting hater of those laws which cir-
cumscribed the bounds of Divine Providence, and said
to the gifts of God, which had been scattered so libe-
rally over the surface of the earth for the benefit of all,
" Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further." Even the
national view of the subject sank into insignificance in
havee
solely that
his mind when he contemplated that' God could never
living upon a soil that never could be extended should
depend
nddesigned upon
oac teha people.ent everytohwen
ingenuity
landdayf o increasing, corfreooa msding_w, andht
hi
t:
the
the path of the
bravery of the merchant seamen—the fertility of distant
lands—the wants of remote nations—and the prosperity
of the world—pointed to the dispensations of God, who,
in his fatherly care of man,
evidentl designed that man
should exchange the abundance of
one region, in order
to contribute to the comfort and happiness of another.—
(Hear, hear.) To prevent the advantages of such inter-
course was a practical denial of God's
gifts. lt stopped
them half-way between God and his creatures, who
ought to be the recipients of his bounty. It brought
into existence a famished population, who would commit
a crime if they took one grain of the yellow harvest
which the Almighty had so bountifully provided for the
subsistence of all.—(Cheers.) Let them not talk to him
of ancient rights and vested interests, of the title of the
aristocrat to his green acres. He would give him his
title ; he respected his rank, and, most of all, when to
that rank he added that which was more than rank—
sympathy with his fellow mortals, which should increase
in proportion as God -had been good to him,
and seen fit to withhold from them.—(Cheers.)
Let the - aristocrat possess his parks, his paddocks,,
his hunting grounds, and his
those around if he pleased, and let him post
he (Mr.
a
board " Man traps and spring guns set here,"
heh would
Thompson) would not enter upon his manor,
to
not even look over his wall ; he would be satisfiede
hgot to
pursue his journey on the dusty road, if, when
the end of it, he could share in' the bounty of Providence.
preserves ; let him wail
The aristocrat asked for protection; he had that. pro-
tectiontle
. vicinity of the fields where his corn "s
grownd it
to the market where it was sold. He had in the superior fertility of his estate,
in the distance of every competing country
from his own,--he had it in the hurricanes on the ocean
water charges, in the wharf dues, and the warehouse
—he had it in the insurance offices, the land charges, the
dues—in all those he had a protection lasting as the
ocean itself—a protection of which' no man could de-
in
prive him. 'But he sought more—he sought to place an'
arbitrary and artificial frice on the commodity which he
had for sale, and he would not-allow to poor man to buy
ptthioenpteoroekenplwahcee,
ewahuiscehd,
finro
tmh e
himselfwor l d world's market,
he h a
dbut compelledne t
e sell,
andhim tonl purchaseonly
allowed
him to purchase elsewhere when there could be no pos-
sibility of his being benefited by his withholding the
epnertmhiesscichma.
it would be given into the custody of the police if he
repeated the annoyance, ceased, and Mr. Thompson
• of the corn-laws was so impressed upon his
subject
for the
resumed.) He said—the view he. had taken of the
i—rnillanerinetsimomaetiningtethrratti
mind, that it was impossible ingenuity of man
to alter it. It was not the patriot who roused his
countrymen to a sense of their wrongs that deserved
punishment, if any consequences that
i could )3e re-
oppressive
gretted ever sprang from agitation against unjust and
the framer of those laws
oppressive laws. No ! it was _
on whom the responsibility and the right of punishment
should fall. Sedition would starve if laws were equitable,
and gallows might rot and become fire-wood, if legisla-
tors were just. If the prosperity of this country was to
main-
tained, justice must be done to the people ; justice, not
be restored, loyalty preserved, and public security
only to the coloured men of the West Indies, but the
bread of England, and the labour of England, must be
free.—(Cheers.)
Mr. R. R. MOORE, after stating that he would be very
brief, having been unexpectedly called upon to speak
that evening, said, that he would give them an outline
of the general plan of the measures by which they
hoped to carry the question. Their meetings—the pub-
lic excitement which they caused—the spread of informa-
tion, by means of tracts and reports in the public papers
of their proceedings formed the general means
by which they would prepare men's minds to do their
work.--(Cheers.) With respect to the plan of details,
they asked the country to contribute 100,000!. They
asked London, as the metropolis of England, to contri-
bute as largely, at least, as the manufacturing metropolis,
Manchester. They proposed to expend the money in teach-
ing the electors of England that it was their duty to send
not party men to Parliament, but men who would vote
for liberty and free trade, and for the right of property
of the man who, by the sweat of his brow, earned the
means of his subsistence. One of the evils which they
had particularly to overcome in this country, was the
apathy of the electors to any practical question, and their
slavish bowing down to the influence of party spirit. The
citizens of London, who had returned at the late elec-
tion Javasis Pattison as their Member, had done more
Iservice to their cause throughout the country thaw-they

could beaware of.--(Hear, hear.) They owed many of
the subscriptions which they had received to the
fact of the capital having thrown aside every paltry
feeling of party, and returned to the Imperial Legisla-
ture the friend of freedom and of the poor man. They
meant to teach the constituencies to look, in their votes,
not to whether the candidate was Tory, Whig, or
Radical, not to whether he was a monopolist or free
trader. They would appoint canvassers to ascertain the
sentiments upon the subject of every Honourable
Member, and they would get up a requisition requesting
each of them to vote in favour of Mr. Villiers'
motion. According as they ascertained, by the answer
of each Hon. Member, his opinion, they would record
that opinion, and having learned by their canvassers the
state of feeling in the district which he represented,
they would, at the time of election, know where they were
strong and where they were weak, and accordingly under-
stand where they were to concentrate their efforts. —( Hear,
hear.) They meant to contest every borough where a
vacancy might occur.—(Cheers.) It was said that the
Anti-Corn-law League was an unconstitutional, a re-
volutionary, and a dangerous body. They were dan-
gerous to nothing but monopoly—they revolutionised
nothing but ignorance. Their whole power was in their
power to spread knowledge, and in their resolution
never to rest till the people had been taught what it was
their real interest to know.—(Cheers.) They did not
seek by an enormous array of numbers to intimidate.
He repeated they meant to conteit every
borough, whether their chance were good or
bad. If it were as bad as Devizes, they
would contest it. By unfurling the banner of free trade
they would give strength to those who were with them,
and he would never be the man to say that any place,
even Devizes itself, was hopeless for the free trade on
some future occasion.—(Hear, hear.) But the greatest
work of all which they had to do was to put down
that old monster which had defrauded the people, not
only of their bread, but of their power to do right—
bribery at elections.—(Hear, hear.) That had been
the great difficulty in the way. of all advancement.—
(Hear, hear.) Men did not come before the public to
express their opinions fairly. Efforts were made to
tempt the needy, to influence the doubtful, to cor-
rupt all. The parties who made them had no
wish that knowledge should be the power of this
country. They had no wish to enlighten men; but they
desired to buy the untaught, to corrupt the poor, and
to degrade all. Against that degradation of the people,
against that purchasing of votes, against that buying
of men, and selling of the rights of industry;
the League had pledged itself to devote its
most powerful energies.—(Cheers.) The matter was
not one of mere declamation. The League left it to
the judges of the country to put down bribery. They
offered, in every place where a contest anise, a reward
of a hundred pounds to every one who would give
such information as might lead to the detec-
tion of any party who had given, offered,
or taken a bribe. The punishment by law for that mis-
demeanour was an imprisonment of two years at the
treadmill.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) It was hard to
get such evidence as would prosecute men to conviction;
but they put down wholesale bribery; they made it dis-
graceful; they put respectable men out of the list of
bribers ; they made it a thing hard to do. The
men who bribed knew well that those who were corrupt
enough to take a bribe might go-a step further, ar.d try
and get the reward of 100/.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
He had now told them their practical plan to carry out
their object. The only power which they relied upon
was the power, through-the funds committed to their
charge, to teach the people. It would be a glorious day
for England when her people,
.being unfettered from
monopoly, put forth all their strength and all their skill;
and, when armies of industry should be the power with
which they made the world their own—not conquering
it by battle, but exercising its power to give them every
comfort, every luxury which it could produce, conquer-
ing all its barrenness, all its waste, all its idleness,
and making all nations their own, because their skill was
the greatest—because their power to produce was the
greatest power of production in the world. 0! it would
be a glorious day for England when every ship left her
port with a white flag flying at the mast-head, a golden
wheatsheaf upon it, and the words "Free-trade with all
the world" visibly displayed..—(Loud cheers.)
Three cheers were then given for " Justice to Eng-
land and Ireland," after which the vast assembly was
dissolved.