The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-28 00:00:00

GRAND WEEKLY

ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE

MEETING

AT. COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE

The usual weekly meeting of members of the Anti-
Corn-law League, was held last evening in
Covent-garden Theatre. The doors were opened at
half-past six o'clock, and within ten minutes the
theatre was crowded in every part open to the public,
and- by far the greater number of the private boxes
were also fully occupied. There were a great num-
ber -of ladies present in the boxes. The pit and gal-
lery were appropriated exclusively to the use of the
registered members of the League. Shortly after
seven o'clock, Thomas Milner Gibson, Esq., M.P.
for Manchester, Thomas Gisborne, Esq:, M.P. for
Nottingham, John Bright, Esq., M.P. for Durham,
the Lord Provost of Glasgow, W. J. Fox, Esq., and
several other influential members of the League,
entered the house, and were greeted with enthu-
siastic cheering.
Among those present we observed—Thomas Milner
Gibson, Esq., M.P. (in the chair) ; Dr. Bowring,
' ' M.P. • Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P. - John Bright,
Esq. M.P. ; H. W. Tancred, Esq., M.P.; Thomas
Gisborne, Esq., M.P. ; Thos. Thornely, Esq., M.P.;
WM. Leaf, Esq. ; Dr. Cooke Taylor; the Lord Pro •
vest of Edinburgh ; Peter Dixon, Esq., of Carlisle ;
George Thompson, Esq.; John Ashworth, Esq. ; R.
Barnes, Esq.; Samuel Lucas, Esq.; P. A. Taylor,
Esq.; Arthur Pattison, Esq. ; W. A. Wilkinson,
Esq.; J. Coleman, Esq. ; Henry Storer, Esq. ; R.
Scholefield, Esq., of Rochdale ' • C. J. Hardman, Esq.,
Hastings ; A. Rose, Esq. ; N. Overbury, Esq., West-'
bury, Wilts ; Jesse Goldsmith, Esq., Trowbridge,
Wilts ; Henry Lloyd Morgan, Esq.; Count Simo-
netta ; Count Fe ; J.. Wynn, Esq., Wolverhampton ;
Professor Van Raumer ; W. Tooke, Esq.; Joseph
Ainsworth, Esq.; Wm. Tait, Esq., Edinburgh ; A.
M. Bidgood, Esq.; Henry Ashworth, Esq.; Henry
Briggs, Esq., Wakefield; John Macartney, Esq.,
Manchester; Duncan Macfarlane Esq., Glasgow ;
Thornborrow, Esq.; John Richard, Esq., Bir-
mingham; Major-General Briggs; E. Wright, Esq.,
Boston, U.S.; Cressall, Esq.; George Barrett,
Esq., Southampton ; J. Mollett, Esq. ; J. B. Scott,
Esq,, Manchester ; W. Cory, Esq.; John Hunter,
Esq.; John Bickers, Esq.; Martin Thackeray, Esq. ;
George B,idout, Esq.; George Crawford Heath, Esq.
THOMAS MILNER GIBSON, Esq., M.P. for Man-
chester, took the Chair, amidst loud applause.
The SECRETARY then read the minutes of the last
meeting.
On the motion of the LORD PROVOST of GLAS.•
now, seconded by PETER DIXON, Esq., the minutes
were confirmed.
The CHAIRMAN then came forward and addressed
the
,meeting as follows :—Ladies and Gentlemen, I
am proud at having been invited to take the chair
and to preside over this:important meeting, but at the
same time I cannot help expressing my regret that
those circumstances should have occurred which have
induced our friends to ask me to preside over our
deliberations on the present occasion. In the first
place, I regret that our able and excellent friend
George Wilson, Esq., of Manchester—(Cheers)—
who has so frequently presided over these our meet-
ings should, on the present occasion, be unavoidably
absent on account of indisposition.—(Hear, hear.)
My excellent friend Mr. Villiers—(Cheers)—who
should have taken his place, is also, I regret to say,
absent in consequence, I believe, of slight indisposition.
—(Hear, hear.) I feel proud to take upon myself,
at the invitation of our friends, the duties of chair-
man of this meeting, although I feel that it will not be
in my power to discharge those duties in the able man•
ner in which those experienced gentlemen have hitherto
discharged them. IVe are so well agreed as to the
objects which we have in view in thus assembling to-
gethev—those objects are so thoroughly well known
to the greater part of those present at this meeting—
our proceedings are so well understood, that perhaps
it is unnecessary for the Chairman to state to the
meeting the objects to which they should direct their
atteation,--(Cheers.) But if there should be any one
here who has not a clear idea of the end which the
Anti-Corn-law League desire to attain, I beg simply
to state that the object which we have in view—the
end which we desire to accomplish, is the total and
immediate repeal of the corn-laws, and all other
monopolies.—(Loud cheers.) Dr. Horsley, the Bishop
of Rochester, once said that the people had nothing
to do with the laws but to obey them.—(Hear, hear.)
We* advocate obedience to the law whilst it remains
on the Statute book—(Cheers)—but we at the same
time claim a right as free citizens, and as free citi-
zens we consider it to be our duty to endeavour, by
intelligent reasoning, to induce the Legislature to
place the law upon the basis of justice—(Cheers)—
and ;a due regard to the rights both of the rich and
the poor.—(Loud cheers.) ln
_that silii:i.t werep ma
. the corn-law question, because we believe that the
- corn-laws intetfere with our civil rights—(cheers)--
that they unnecessarily limit our trade—(Cheers)—
and.that they are maintained for the interest of a
favoured few at the expense of the great body of the
community.—(Loud cheers.) We desire not to in-
terfere with agriculture.—(Cheers.) We only ask
otin;rs not to, interfere with trade.—(Cheers.) We
contend that our merchants have as good a right to
supply our markets with corn through the operations
of trade as our farmers have to supply -our markets
with, corn through the operations of agriculture.—
(Land cheers.) All we desire is freedom of industry,
and: in advocating that we believe we are advocating
the :cause of justice, and pursuing that course which
we believe will best secure the welfare of all classes
of her Majesty's subjects.—(Loud cheers.) I will
not detain you longer, but will at once call upon my
Hon. Friend Thomas Gisborne, Esq., Member for
Nottingham, to address you.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. GISBORNE, M.P., then came forward, and was
received with loud cheering. The Hon. Gentleman
said that certainly a person who considered the una-
bated zeal of the Anti-Corn-law League, and the
unabated sympathy which had been exhibited
by the public on this subject, would be led to form
much brighter anticipations as to the ultimate result,
than if he had Witnessed other scenes in other places
in
.'which he (Mr. Gisborne) and his friend the
Chairthan frequently moved.—(Cheers and laughter.)
With respect to himself, he felt that he should be
more usefully employed in discussing this question
on Market day at an ordinary of farmers than before
an audience in Covent-garden Theatre.—(Cheers.)
It led to sad habits did this custom of addressing one-
sided meetings.—(Cheers and laughter.) It led per-
sons to imagine that they were immediately to carry
everything before thern.--(Cheers.) In saying this,
he did not allude to the Noble Earl who had pre-
sided over them last week. That Noble Earl boldly
took his part, and stoutly maintained his own opi-
nions, in the midst of the most opposing audience in
the, realm. (Loud' cheers.) Ile was in the habit
of expressing and maintaining his opinions before
an .audience of landowiTers and lawyers, and bishops.
—(Cheers.) All agreed that the landowners were,
or, at least, thought they were, interested parties—
(Cheers)—and if they looked for those who
exhibited the greatest ignorance on
,the subject,
would they not not find them amongst those
who were clothed in lawn and ermine.—(Loud
cheers.) Nor, when he said it led men into bad
habits to address one-sided audiences, did he allude
to their distinguished friend Mr. Cobden.—(Loud
cheers.) He was able to take his part before any
audience in the world.—(Cheers.) They saw him
amongst them from time to time, in' the House of
Commons, hardly moving in their system, but pro-
gressing in his own orbit, like a comet—(Loud
cheers)—making them see his brightness, convincing
them of his power, and leaving no doubt upon their
minds that when the great interests to which he had
devoted himself would allow, he would at once take
that prominent position in political strife to which his
great talents and acquirements entitled him—
(C seers)—and it was one not of the least remarkable
circumstances attendant upon the present great
national movement for a repeal of the corn-laws, that
it had given to a calico-printer, not previously known,
except for his untiring industry and his domestic
virtues—(Cheers)—a place in the history of his
country, which was the more honourable because
he, had obtained it without personal ambi-
tion—(Loud cheers)—and without seeking for
pohlical aggrandisement.--(Cheers.) Neither did
he allude to their worthy Chairman, who had fre-
quently advocated their cause in the House of Com-
mons ;, but he alluded to himself and to those other
smaller• luminaries—if luminaries they could be
balied—who were hardly able to exhibit their small
light in the cloudy atmosphere. There might be
some persons who were not so well informed on the
subject as he was who might expect him to state some
new argument on the subject, or to put some old ar-
guinent in a new light. That he believed to be iin-
pogsible. There was one point, however, which had
happened to strike him, and which, although he had
no-doubt it had been alluded to one hundred times
over, yet had, he believed, been a little less alluded to
than many other points.- He was a farmer, and he,
therefore, asked himself this question—What had the
manufacturers done for him, simply as a farmer, and
what had he, as a farm3r, done for them ?—(Cheers.)
The best way to answer the question would be to go
baeloto the times of his grandfather—(A laugh)—it
would be a fair time to go back to, because
he believed that if they inquired they would
find that at that time manufactures and
agriculture were much in the same state with
regard to improvement. The old plough and the
flail were counterparts to the old spinning wheel and
the loom. At that time the farmer got for his
quarter of wheat about two and a half such shirts
as he (Mr. Gisborne) was in the habit of wearing.—
(A laugh.) Now he got a dozen of such shirts for