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

. . _
Shannon, the Nore, and the Suir ;4thlnt-raw4kines
your affectionate kindness, and all ', V itit
that the people of England shall n 6 sW-veet-by the 04
the
law of the aristocracy. I declare heittliutt I am ceseiroome ' 4
with a horror and loathing lam tenable-to---describe -to- describe of ''.7"/
the injustice and iniquity of that ilc:istocracy. Why, if
no corn-law were in- existence, no tthistry wouldelare ,
bring forward a tax upon the people's\breacV- -Irk 015 WIIB '','
done in some countries, they placed a haiiettis the-deer 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 suelre. kind. ?
—(" No, no," and cheers.) If the Minister said he
wanted it .for his financial purposes—that be could not
maintain the public faith without it, John Bull would
soar 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
ood of the State in which yotewould all participate--
not for protection against foreign enemies, or the pre-
servation of domestic peace—but-for the benefit of ono
particular class—the rest of the community
is taxed ; not for ' the benefit of the public,
but to go into the private pockets of private
individuals.—(Loud 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 wthick-headedtiess 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 of 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 toll them
we will not be cheated, we will. not lee 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 lanes of one of our wanufacturing 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 aide for want of
food.—(Hear, hear.) I should like to see a Noble
Duke, hung round with his stars and garters, lay hold 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 anoient
nobility of England. I should have expected something
higher than this from them—for they are not conspire-
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. Ves, and I dwell npon 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 Chaados
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 at' 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 it 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 prise_
Using 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 act
the laudand the people free l—(Great cheering.) Yen,
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 ne 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 uo. They must overawe
everybody. Their name is Behemoth. They must swallow
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 to 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
may
venture heartily to your sacred cause.— (Cheers.) I
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 oare 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 clue to a man i not the pro-
tection of robbery and spoliation, but protection agaiust
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 vest 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. lam quite convinced, int 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 yon.
I know all the bearings of the question. I know all its
value. I know how- its success would increase your
oommerce; by giving you 'consumer! that are unable to
buy from, you —it ' would ' increase your comforts by
giving y=ou
,emplOymeirt on the one hand, and food
on theother.—(lear, hear.) I know hew it would take
down the iniquity of . class-legislation.—(Hear, hear.)
,For the great and weightz reason why class-legislation
-exists to -the prejudice of the poor and humble itt
this country is this very eoia-law. Itjsthe. grouni of
all the evil, and stimulates its attherentst9;vorerz iniquity.
They know the injustice of thfkir pesitieui.. and they
want to fence it round with all gre• foratalities of the
law and, the powers of the Legislature. tura wept do.
—(Cheers.) The publie eyes are liecomink::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 bead of a foolish
Monarch. . That was a foolish as welt 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 nun's' son optraged the
rights and liberties of the people- of 'England, but the
' - t
people of England got wiser, arid- did ,no cut off his
,
head, but they sent him, abeetid,74Heir, hear)_ lt_?s_ .
a
folly, therefore, to trespassespou.thSt rights of English
English-
men. . Those violent remedies are bO' longer necessary';
they are net suited to the tin? es-:..ilut P._ l'lbli, e' open "Ins
bination is necessary—the electricity of men's opinions—
yes, that electricity of opinion shall spread through all
*avelends'as well is' England.. The manufacturing
classes are already all arrayed, and the labouring classes
find that their interest is identified with the • question.
The farmer+ understand the chieuheil of -the" great .pro
prietors, and tho great proprietors are making that
-kind
of bustling mist) which rats make when the stack is