The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-08 00:00:00

MEETING

4T COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

The last meeting of the Anti-Corn-law League for
• :season took place last evening at Covent-Garden
I 4MI 4 , The meeting was advertised to commence
!half-past seven o'clock. The doors were opened
tseven, and within ten minutes afterwards every
_part of the theatre was crowded to exams. There
has not been any meeting of the League in this
theatre so numerously attended as the meeting of last
evening, since the memorable occasion when Mr.
O'Connell attended, immediately after the conclusion
of the State trials in Ireland. A great number of
ladies were present in the boxes. At half-past seven
o'clock G. Wilson, Esq., Chairman of the League,
took the chair, amidst loud cheering. He was
accompanied into the theatre by R. Cobden, Esq,
T. Milner Gibson, Esq., M.P., W. J. Fox, Esq,
&Tries Wilson, Esq. (of London), and several other
leading members of the League. These gentlemen
were all loudly cheered. Among those present we
observed—George Wilson, Esq. in the Chair ; Richard
Cobden, Esq., .141. P. ; Hon. d. P. Villiers, M.P.;
Thomas Milner Gibson, Esq., M.P.; Benjamin Smith,
Esq., M.P. ; Arthur Pattison, Esq. ;W. J. Fox,
Esq. ; R,. G. Welford, Esq. ; Colonel Tucker ; Rey.
Dr: Louis ; Rev. Robert Philip. Messrs. W. A.
Wilkinson, P. A. Taylor, G. Poulter, S. Harrison,
Fearon, J. P. Burnard, John Bickers, John Walker,
H. Leavors, J. Faulkner, James Henry Lewis, T.
B. Farren, Jarvis, J. P. Williams (Manchester),
Myles, Luke Elcoate, B. W. Cheshire, Owen (Man-
theater), Rogers (Margaretting, Essex), Press
Gringer, 11. T. Stainton, A. Fordati, Joseph Lindley,
. W. P. Knox, Joseph Ralph, James Phillips, J. C.
Worthington, H. Ashton, J. S. Thompson, T. B.
- Warren (Bristol), J. Ridge, Delmire, Whitehead,
Blunt, F. Oliver (Cambridge), Dr. Sewell, W.
J. Adams, R. Bell (Leeds), W. C. Jay, H. Hogard,
. C. W. Cobby, James Wilson, John Blakeway, Ri-
chard Ware Cole, Thomas Leslie, J. H. Const, Ben-
jamin Thorne' Robert Davison, Jones (Northampton),
William Cooke, Joseph Lambert (Leeds), Henry
Pritchard, J. halmers, Jaines Butterworth (Roch-
dale),* Thomas Chadwicke, John Poulton, Richard
Tress, Edward Harman, J. P. Delafous, W. Geesin,
J. Kingsford, Thomas Lattimore (Wheathampstead),
John M'Cartney (Manchester), James Crofts, Henry
R. Claypole (Liverpool), Henry L. Keeling, Robert
V. Smith, David Price, Thomas Tebbutt, Joseph
Phelps. Capt. Whitehead (Nassau), Rev. A. M.
Walker, N. Overbury (Westbury, 'Wilts), William
May, Esq., (Mayor of Ipswich).
The SBCEETART having read the minutes of the
last meeting, which was held on the 4th of July, it
was moved by Mr. James Wilson, seconded by Mr.
Arthur Paitison, and carried unanimously, that the
minutes be confirmed.
The'CHAIRMAN then came forward to address the
meeting, and was greeted with loud and long-con-
tinued cheering. When the applause had subsided
he spoke as follows :—Ladies and Gentlemen,—Aftei
an interval of five weeks we are again assembled here
to resume, for one night more this season, the business
proceedings of the League. It becomes my duty to
state to you what are the operations in which the
Council of the League have been engaged since we
last met, in order that you and the public—at least
that portion of the public which takes an interest in
an alteration of the corn-laws—may be enabled to
judge how far those operations are likely to contri-
bute to the settlement of the question which it is our
• sduty here to dispose of.—(Hear, hear.) I do this
with a greater pleasure, because many persons are apt
to believe that when the proceedings of the League
appear to be less prominently noticed, or, rather I
should say, when they occupy less space than usual
in the public journals, that there is a corresponding di-
minution of effort on the part of the League—that the
t. League is, in fact, suspending its labours. Such an
. idea, however, would be most erroneous.—(Cheers.)
Our first business is not so much now to educate and

instruct the people, as to act upon the electoral body
generally.—(Cheers.) As was stated by Mr. Villiers
at our last meeting, this important question has made
greatrogress in the House of Commons, but still
the House of Commons, as at present constituted,
presents no reflection of the public mind on this
question at this period. It therefore devolves upon
us, as our bounden duty, so to stimulate the elec..
toral body, that when.they are next called upon to
act, they may do it after due and timely prepara-
tion.—(Cheers.) The League, therefore, proceeded
like men of business, to consider the best mode of
carefully attending to the borough registration
throughout the kingdom.—(Cheers.) They selectel
140 boroughs, in which they thought there was 'a
reasonable expectation that an impression might
be made. They selected as agents to go
those boroughs men acquainted with the subject of re-
gistration in all its parts—men thoroughly qualified
to undertake the business, and who would transact
that business in as workmanlike a manner as any
men.—(Cheers.) The Council sent these men down
to the boroughs ; they visited them ; instituted inqui-
ries, and reported the results of those inquiries to the
Council. In some instances, they found. that the
registration had been totally neglected. In many,
that it had been only partially attended to, and in others
that it was entirely in the hands of legal agents—
that is to say, that the boroughs were completely in
the power of the bribers. In a few instances only
' had. it been found that the subject had been properly
attended to. These agents immediately set about to
remedy these defects ; they formed committees in
places where now had hitherto been formed,
and had exacted pledges from the free
traders of the different boroughs, that the
subject would be attended to. Now, although this
is a work of very great importance—a work which
cannot be brought to perfection in a single day—l
believe that the first great impulse has now been given
to put in array that constituent body in whose hands
is the destiny of the country, and who alone can de-
termine the fate of this and of all other monopolies.
When, therefore, you hear it asked what the League
have been doing, you can say that the Council will be
occupied, at least until after the revision courts, in
devoting their whole attention to the question of re-
gistration in all its branches and in all its parts.—
. (Cheers.) I do not purpose to enter into details on
this subject at the present moment ; but I will simply
state that, in the City of London a registration asso-
ciation has been organised, and the success which
has attended their efforts is such as will effectually
provide, even now, against the return of any mono-
polist to Parliament for that city. In South Lan-
cashire, also, a registration association has been
organised, the results of which have been equally
satisfactory ; and I firmly believe that, do what they
will in the shape of objection, I believe that that
county is effectually wrested from the hands of the
monopolists, and that, with ordinary attention on the
part of the free traders, no monopolist candidate can
ever be returned for that division of the county.—
(Cheers.) But although the subject of registration
has occupied the greater part of the attention of the
Council, it is by no means to be understood that we
-intend to relax in our attention to the holding of public
meetings at the proper time for holding them. Since
our last meeting in, this theatre, meetings have been
held at Gravesend, attended by Mr. Bright; at
-Preston, attended by Mr. Thompson and Mr. Moore;
ut Salisbury, attended by Mr. Moore and Mr. Thomp-
son ; at York, attended by Mr. Moore, Mr. Thomp-
son, and Mr. Falvy ; :at Newcastle, at Carlisle, and,
'though last not- leot, a meeting had been held at
Northampton on Monday last.—(Loud cheers.)
Now it has often been brought forward as
h matter of complaint against the League
that we. do not throw open the doors_ of
of this theatre, or of the Free-trade Hall in Manches-
ter, to the opponenti of our principles. Our answer
s, simply, that we have never yet been able to find
accommodation sufficient for our own members at
these our meetings, and when we have accommo-
dated all' our own members, and have room enough
to spare, it will be quite time enough to decide who
else shall be admitted.—(Cheers.) But let it not,
therefore, be sußpoped that the League have sought
to shun discussion. Last year, Mr. Cobden held
thirty meet' in the air, open which were open to
till the world, and at which the opponents of the
League might have met him had they chosen.—
(Cheers.) On Monday last a similar meeting was
held at'Northampton. That meeting had been con-
vened by requisition. Twelve hundred freeholders
had sired a requisition to Mr. Cobden and
Mr. Bright, calling upon them to come and address
the 'freeholders in the open air at Northampton.
A requisition had also been sent to Mr. Stafford
O'Brien, the Member for that division of the county,
by the freeholders who had supported him at the last
election, requesting him to meet Mr. Cobden and
Mr. Bright on that day, in order to discuss the,
question at issue. Another requisition had been pre-
sented to Mr. Feargus O'Connor—(Hisses and faint
eleering)—signed by 1,250 freeholders, asking him
to attend also on _that occasion. Now there was
hete no mystery—nothing like packing a meeting.
It was an open meeting, known to all the world, held
in the open air, with proper notice, and consequently
afforded the best possible opportunity of ascertaining
the public opinion of the county of Northampton.
Well, the meeting was held, Mr. Stafford O'Brien
declined to attend.—(lronical cheers and laughter.)
Mr. Feargus O'Connor attended, and the sup-
porters
.of Mr. Stafford O'Brien supported Mr.
Feargus O'Connor* in the views which he took
on the subject. Now the issue was taken in North-
ampton, the least favourable district for the discus-
sion of such a subject, because it is well known that
in•Northamptonshire the extreme suffrage principle
has obtained a supp;:irt perhaps beyond what it has ob-
tained in any other town in the kingdom. Mr. Cob-

den, however, carried his resolution by a considerable
majority—(Cheers)—and this fact was testified by
the chairman—a man of great influence in that part
of the country, but one in whom the Chartists placed
unlimited confidence.—(Cheers.) So much for the
the charge of packing. But while we are thus mak-
ing progress, I regret to allude to the losses which we
have experienced among our supporters since last we
met. We have lost Mr. Scholefield, the Member for
Birmingham, and Mr. Travers, the excellent chair-
man of Mr. Pattison's Committee at the last election
for London. I am sure that the loss of those two
most consistent supporters of our principles will
leave a void which it will be difficult to fill. No
men were ever more beloved in private life, or by their
virtues more secured the esteem and friendship of
all who had the pleasure of their acquaintance.—
(Cheers.) But these men possessed talents beyond
ordinary men ; for, while they conducted great com-
mercial operations, they at the same time felt the
strongest interest in the well-being of every other
class of the community, and did their duty by those
other classes—(Hear, bear)—and the best wish he
could offer to Birmingham and London was, that a
double portion of their spirit might rest upon each
one of their remaining citizens, and that when they
died their memory might be respected by as nu-
merous a body as that by which the memory of
Mr. Scholefield and Mr. Travers was now respected.
This, then, is the 24th, and last meeting of the
League, and I venture to say that the League is very
differently estimated now, compared with what it was
when we 'held our first meeting in Drury-lane.—
Where is the man now who would charge us with
being abettors of • assassination ?—(Cheers.) And
yet the Prime Minister and • others scrupled not to
say as much.—(Hear) Where is the man now
who would dare say so, or where are the organs of
public opinion who would say so; and, above all,
where are the persons to be found who would believe
either him or them if they so charged us ?—(Hear,
hear.) It is true we were threatened with opposition
by the Society for the Protection of Agriculture.
Where is this body now ?—(Cheers.) Had they
accomplished all those things for which they were
established ? Had they increased the wages of the
labourer, or made him satisfied with Bs. a-week ?
The incendiary fires of Suffolk show that they are
not satisfied.— -(Hear, hear.) And if this Society
possess the power they profess to have, never had any
body a finer opportunity of exhibiting themselves to
advantage than those fires presented to them. But
they could not check incendiarism there, for they
had no hold on the affections of the working classes.
.—(Hear, hear.) They knew that whatever mort-
gages and marriage settlements might be paid out of
the proceeds of the corn-laws, they themselves could
expect nothing but abject penury and want, and it
was on that account that this Society had not made
way in those districts in which it might reasonably be
expected they would have influence.—(Hear, hear.)
It will require greater strength than that of the
Protection Society to put down the League. We go
on from day to day, and from year to year, gathering
strength, sometimes from victory, and sometimes
even from defeat; and we are proceeding now steadily
to that great point which would be victory itself.—
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) This question has obtained
a greater progress than any other question ever had,
and we must ultimately be successful.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. Gibson will address you this evening.—(Cheers.)
I regret to say that Mr. George Thompson is in
Scotland, but his place will be supplied by Mr.
Cobden—(Loud cheers)—and the proceedings will
be closed by Mr. Fox.—(Cheers.)
Mr. T. M. GIBSON, M.P., then came forward, and
was received with loud cheers. lie said it had been
his good fortune to have been present at many
meetings of the Anti-Corn-law League, but never
had he witnessed a more splendid assemblage than
was gathered within these walls this evening, and he
said it was justly to be deemed matter for congratu-
lation that their farewell meeting for the season had
received such a signal mark of public approbation.
It was impossible to conceive that a cause was retro-
grading—that a question could be less grounded in
the public mind, when they saw such a vast assem-
blage as that which was now gathered within that
theatre. There were many who would lead them to
suppose that, because public meetings were not so
frequent, and because there had not appeared so
many speeches of late in the provincial and metropo-
litan papers, that therefore the cause of free trade
was not occupying that place in the public mind
which it once did. There never was a greater mis-
take than that. It frequently happened that that
work was the most telling which was the most quiet,
and from the description which they had just heard of
the proceedings now being carried on by the Council
of the League, it struck him that they were taking
that course which must ultimately lead to victory.—
(Hear, hear.) He was not one of those who felt very
confident in their present electoral institutions.—
(Hear; hear.) He was aware that they could not
hope for those full and generous effects which they
might have from a more liberal representation of the
people ; but this he did believe, that the great body
of the electoral class in the country were intelligent,
and that when they were once awakened to the merits
of any question, they would use the power they had
of returning a majority to the House of Commons
opposed to monopoly; and he trusted in God they would,
at the next general election, throw aside all partial
interests, and seek to promote the happiness, virtue.
and moral and physical welfare of the people, and
return a majority to the House of Commons, not to
support any particular set of partisans—(Hear, hear)
—any particular set of men, whether ins or outs,
who might be looking for the sweets of office—but
to support the great principle of free trade, and that
principle alone.—(Cheers.) Their excellent Chair-
man had alluded to the efforts of the Anti-Corn-law
League, and he intimated the want of success on the
part of the Protection Society, and that august body
the Central Society fur the Protection of British
Agriculture.—(Laughter.) Now, it did happen that
there were some salient points which might be
quoted in proof of the little success of those bodies.
It might be shown to demonstration that their
progress had been backwards, if there was any truth
in vulgar arithmetic, for in 1839, when not half the
effort was made by the Protection Society to get
petitions sent to Parliament that had been
made last year, the number of signatures ob-
tained was 318,000. What was the number
of signatures obtained during the present year ? Why,
after all the great assemblages of distinguished and
titled monopolists, only 287,000 signatures had Leon
obtained ; 4,000 petitions, with an average number
of seventy-four signatures to each petition, was all
they could get.—(Cheers.) The number of petitions
showed that there was no want of zeal on the part of
the Protection Society, but the number of signatures
showed that there was a deficiency of zeal on the part
of the agriculturists themselves, for it was from the
agricultural districts that the petitions principally
came. It might be said that the Anti-Corn-law
League had not petitioned. That was true, they had
not petitioned for this very good reason, because they
found it was a useless and vain attempt.—(Hear,
hear.) It was thought that the efforts of the gentle-
men connected with the League might be better di-
rected. It was, therefore, given up, but when the
free-trade party had petitioned the Legislature what
was the result ? They began to petition in the
year 1839, and they sent in petitions with
500,000 signatures. They left off petitioning last
year, with 1,700,000 signatures.—(Loud cheers.)
This showed a constant increase of signatures on
their part, whilst the petitions of the Central Society
for the Protection of British Agriculture—(Laughter)
—showed a constant diminution of signatures. Let
them get rope enough ! He would say no more.
But he thought that any impartial man who looked
around him and asked himself what were the wants
of society—what were the cravings which mani-
fested themselves, not. only throughout the British
dominions, but throughout the greater part of Europe,
would find that they were intimately connected with
physical want.—(Hear.) He would find that not one
of the great wants of society could be met till they
had first ameliorated- the, physical condition of the
great body of the people.—(Hear.) They heard of
desires to educate the people; of complaints of their
ignorance; of their want of moral training in early
youth, but what was the use of attempting to educate
and sow the seeds of virtue among a people cast down
by deep distress, living in a state of hopeless penury; a
people in such a state were not in a condition
to receive either the admonitions of the preacher, or
the teaching of the moralist.—(Hear, hear.) Depend
upon it, if they wished virtue, knowledge, and reli-
gion should take root amongst the labouring popula-
tion, they must ameliorate their physical condition.
They must first endeavour to raise the agricultural
labourer from the hopeless condition in which he now
seemed to be placed. They would look in vain for a
diminution of crime unless that condition were bet-
tered. The labouring population could not look up
to those who held a higher position in society with
any feeling of affection, seeing they appeared to be
cast by or thrown aside as useless beings, and not
treated as well as the brute creatures fed on the farms
of.the aristocracy. When they read in the papers of
fine shows of agricultural produce at Southampton,
and other places ; when they read of the glitter
and pageantry at those meetings ; and when they
heard of oxen too fat to walk or to be eaten ; they
must not suppose that this was emblematical of the
condition of the poor labourer in the poor districts
from which these fat animals had been brought.
They must turn their thoughts from the fat beasts
to the lean and neglected peasants.—(Loud cheers.)
They must carry their minds from all the glittering
pageantry to the incendiary fires and threatening
letters, and to all those symptoms of deep and sullen
discontent which now prevailed in the great body of
the agricultural population. He ventured, a few
days since, to mention these things in the House of
Commons, and he quoted the high authority of a'
clergyman of the Church of England in support of
his position that the agricultural labourer wail neglected,

and that he was suffering deep distress ; but when he
quoted the authority of a clergyman it had the effect,
notwithstanding that he was a gentleman of the
highest character, of known fidelity in the discharge
of his sacred functions, of calling up the Secretary
for the Home Department—(Groans)—who said that
this gentleman was a ".popularity-hunting parson"—
(Groans)—so that when a clergyman came forward
from his class and spoke with candour of the wants
of. the labouring population, if he ventured
to expound tbat text of Scripture, , that the labourer
-was worthy of hii hire, he was told that he was a po-
pularity-hunting parson. He (Mr. Gibson) had
sometimes thought it was never intended that they
should be in earnest in those matters, that they
should not kelp up mbre than a mere show, and be
used merely as instruments of the great, and it con-
vinced him very much that there was some truth in
his conjecture, when he was told that a clergyman
who came forwaldltrthe purest spirit of the religion
he professed, to complain of the wants of the labourers
who surrounded him—when he was told that such a
man was called in the British Senate, by the Home
Secretary of State—that he was a " popularity-hunting
parson." The Rev. Godolphin Osborne was the clergy-
man he alluded to.—(Loud cheers.) He wished most
heartily that there tvere more of these popularity
hunting parsons.—(Loud cheers.) He wished their
Bishops would even- condescend to imitate them.—
(Laughter and cheers.) He remembered that a cele-
brated writer had said that he thought a very good
society might be established, and that it was very
much wanted, for the purpose of converting the Bi-
shops to Christianity. (Laughter and cheers.)
He was quite sure it was consistent with the spirit of
the Christian religion—that it was, in fact, in direct
accordance with the Gospel, to advocate the cause of
free trade ; and he verily believed that that general
intercourse between -nations, which was what was
meant by free ti:ade;would be the means of spreading
religion and civilisation throughout all the nations of
the earth ; and he did not believe that any missionary
efforts, however well intended, or that any attempts,
however well supported, could be completely suc-
cessful, while Governments kept nations separate from
each other by those barriers in the shape of hostile
tariffs, and breathing towards each other feelings of
jealousy and not of love—of those mutual interests,
which would.be so much promoted if free trade were
adopted ; but feelings of animosity, which were easily
fanned into a flame, and sometimes ended in open
hostilities.—(Hear, hear.) He had heard of
late amongst the landed party a great
deal of jealousy .of what was called the na-
tional honour.—(Laughter.) It was extraordinary
what extreme'sensitiveness grew up amongst the gen-
tlemen who dealt in provisions—(Laughter)—as to
the importance of. maintaining the national honour.
They seemed obe in training to get themselves into
a fighting condition.—(Laughter.) What did all
this mean ? Why, it meant this—" War was rent."
—(Cheers.) He did not know whether the idea went
home to their minds.—(Hear, hear.) It did to his.
A high price of corn was the consequence of this
country being engaged in hostilities with a foreign
nation. A great deal of patronage would fall into the
hands of Ministers, and those landed gentlemen, the
victuallers—(Laughter)—would have a large slice of
However much the community might be im-
poverished by taxation, however great the woe might
be to the nation at large, depend upon it, in case of
hostility with a foreign country, the landed proprie-
tors would be the parties, if any body, who would
profit by it. _They also said they would get rid of
the surplus population. He believed in his conscience
there was a large party, represented by that well-known
periodical, the Morning Post, who would give anything
to create hostilities between this country and Prance,
in order that the price of corn might rise. What
signified it to those gentlemen ? they did not fight !
They sent others out to battle, but they got a high
rice for corn; and when the war was over, they
would endeavour, as they did before, to maintain that
high price by a new corn-law, and they would have the
old thing over again.—(Hear, hear.) Another thing
which led them to be so jealous of the national honour
was, that it would direct public attention from certain
popular movements, which made them very uneasy.
They thought that a good war would be a very good
diversion, and he had been told within a few days by
a distinguished individual, whose name he could not
mention at a public meeting, as he had not authority
to do so, that notwithstanding all that was said about
the miseries of war—notwithstanding all that mo-
ralists and philosophers wrote of the evils of na-
tions being engaged in hostilities, he verily believed
a good war was what the country wanted to relieve
them from their difficulties.—(Laughter.) That was
an old doctrine, but he believed they would have the
utmost difficulty in getting the country to engage in
hostilities; for he believed there was that good sense
in the country which would prevent them from
engaging in so foolish a thing.—(Hear, hear.)
It would take a great deal to convince the great
body of the people of this country that it was worth
their while to submit to excessive taxation, and to all
the evils which war brought about, for the sake of
playing the game of courts, and of enabling an al-
ready wealthy aristocracy to fatten still more on the
woes of the community.—(Cheers.) The Morning
Post had discovered, in order to prepare them, he
supposed, for hostilities, that they could do without
lade and commerce. Now, who would believe that,
in the nineteenth century, a metropolitan paper, of
lome circulation, should have a leading article in it to
tell them that England would be in a better condi-
tion if her manufacturing system were altogether
abolished ?—(Hear, hear.) There was one hand of
commerce indeed tbat the monopolists did hold out to
hem—it was the trade in guano.—(Laughter.) They
.aid, "We are to have an enormous importation of
guano; which -is to be spread over our acres, and is
to grow food for 'our increasing population." We
have actually seen a calculation within the last few
lays, of how many ships and sailors would be em-
ployed in order to bring this guano to their shores.
It had struck his excellent friend, Mr. Cobden, that
the ships and the money might be quite as well oc-
cupied, if they brought the wheat itselfr instead of
the guano to grow it.—(Renewed laughter.) But
then there was to be another step taken in order to
make this guano available. They said that the
guano contained elements which people were not
aware of.—(Laughter.) They said that chemists
were at a loss to ascertain what were the elements
that composed this guano, and that it was necessary
to knaw_what those elements were,• in order to apply
it successfully to different kinds of land ; because
what might suit one- species of land, would not suit
another—what might be beneficial to the heavy clay,
might be prejudicial to the burning sand, so that the
chemists had got first to analyse this guano. But
the thing was not then half finished. The most
difficult part of the operation remained to be per-
formed; fur when the chemists had satisfied them-
selies, they had got to teach the farmers ; the worthy
agriculturists had to go to school, to inform themselves
in the mysteries of organic chemistry.—(Laughter.)
They must know something of these elements. It
appeared to him that when gentlemen talked of vision-
ary theories they should look at home, and ask them-
selves whether this rising trade which they were pro-
mised in the iMportation of guano from the coast of
Africa was likely to be so beneficial a thing to the
population of this country as they had represented ?
—(Hear, hear.) Let them try Mr. Cobden's experi-
ment, and bring in the wheat itself.—(Cheers.) Let
the ships and the men be employed in bringing the
produce of every foreign clime to the shores of Eng-
land, that the population of this country might enjoy
the greatest possible amount of the comforts and ne-
cessaries of life, which their own industry would en-
able them to purchase.—(Great cheering.) That was
the 'true policy. Away with guano ; away with
chemistry. Let indUAry take its own course. Let
them not attempt to direct capital into the particular
channels in which .inter ested men chose to think it
would be best for them that it should flow; but
let them leave each and all to enjoy, through their
own industry, that full reward which Providence had
placed within their reach.—(Cheers.) The Morning
Post contained a _passage which he would read to
them, lest it should hest escaped their notice.—(Hear.)
The Editor quoted Dr. Southey, and in quoting him
adopted his opinion," Dr. Southey,' he said,
" always had the sense to see, and the courage to
declare that ofir4saispfacturing system was a mon-
strous evil for the people, and he always wished that
foreign countries might, from some cause or another,
cease to buy manufactures from Great Britain."-
(Laughter.) Why, if foreign countries ceased to buy
manufactures from Great Britain, he should be very
glad to know how -Great Britain could purchase all
the comforts and all the luxuries which the people of
this country now enjoy- ed.—(Hear.) • He would like
to know where the Morning Post professed to find the
gold and the silver about which so much apprehen-
sion had been expressed of late, lest it should go out
of the country to pay for corn. Would they
find this gold and silver in the cellars
or in the safe boles of the Central Society
for the Protection of British Agriculture ?—(Hear.)
Where did it come from ? Why, it came from the
mines of the Brazils—it came from distant regions.
And why did it come ? Because it was purchased
by their manufactutes, not by their wheat or their
barley, or their turnips. No ; the assistance even of
guano itself would not enable them to purchase it.--
.(Laughter.) It was the manufacturing system which
had enabled the population of this country to be even
as well off as they were.—(Hear, hear.) Look to
countries which were purely agricultural. Look to
Poland. Ay, look to Ireland. What a wretched
population, so far as the enjoyment of the comforts of
life was concerned, they found in Ireland—a popula-
tion capable, as they knew, of everything of which
man was capable—(Hear, hear)—a population infe-
rior to none—(Hear, hear)--and whose great leader,
or endeavouring to obtain redress for some of the op-
pressive grievances under which they had for cen-
turies laboured, was now suffering impri3onment.—
(Hear, hear.) Let them look at -that. country, and