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

MEETING

AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE

The usual weekly meeting of members of the Anti-
Corn-law League, was held last evening in
eovent-gici•denTheatre. The doors were opened at
half-past 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 ''tl 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
Gisorne, Esq., M.P. ; Thos. Thornely, Esq., M.P.;
• Wm. Leaf, Esq. ; Dr. Cooke Taylor ; the Lord Pro
vost 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. •verbury, 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 ;
Wm. Thornborrow, Esq.; John Richard, Esq., Bir-
mingham; Major-General Briggs ; E. Wright, Esq.,
Boston, U.S. ; Cresson, Esq. ; George Borrett,
Esq., Southampton ; J. Mollett, Esq. ; J. B. Scott,
Esq., Manchester; W. Cory, Esq.; John Hunter,
Fasq. ; John Bickers, Esq. ; Martin Thackeray, Esq. ;
George Ridout, 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-
GOW, 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. We are so well agreed as to the
objects which we have in view in thus assembling to-
gether—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
attention.—(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.—(Bear, 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.) In that spirit we are as-
sembled together on the present occasion to discuss
the corn-law question, because we believe that the
cop-laws interfere 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-
. tealibre with agriculture.—(Cheers.) We only ask
others 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.—
(Loud 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
Chairman 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 them.—(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.) He was in the habit
of expressing and maintaining his opinions before
an audience of landowders 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—
• (Cheers)—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
political 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
called—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-
gument in a new light. That he believed to be im-
possible. 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 farmer, done for them ?—(Cheers.)
• The best way to answer the question would be to go
back'sto 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: loons 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

[ his quarter of wheat, and therefore he said that the
I manufacturers had done something for him in that
instance.—(Cheers.) There was a kindred article of
female wear.—(Cheers, and roars of laughter.) Well,
he would make shift to get through his argument
presently.—(Renewed cheers and laughter.) He
believed that with regard to both, the same propo.-
sitions would apply.—(Laughter.) He would now
go the furniture of the house, and there the argu-
ment was stronger, for he believed that an infinitely
greater proportion of furniture would be got fur the
quarter of wheat than what his grandfather before
him got.—(Laughter.) Then" he would go to the
implements of trade, and he believed that he would
get from the Sheffield manufacturers a much greater
quantity of sickles and scythes and axes, and
other articles, for the quarter of wheat than his
grandfather before him.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Perhaps some amongst them might not be acquainted
with the farming tools, but he was, and what he had
stated was the' fact. Thus the farmer benefited by
the manufacturer in a direct way; for he did not al-
lude to the indirect way in which they were
benefited, as being the best customers of the farmers.
—(Hear, hear.) They had done him, as a farmer in-
finite good.—(Hear, hear.) He need not state the
other part of the case, because if he got more for the
quarter of wheat, of course he, as a farmer, gave the
manufacturers less than his ancestors used to give
them.—(Hear, hear.) But he was sorry to say it ap-
plied not only to those articles, but it would also apply
to the most material articles in farming occupations,
and one of the most expensive—it would apply to
labour also.—(Hear, hear.) He got more labour for
a quarter of wheat than his grandfather and his pro-
genitors got before him.—(Hear.) lie believed there
were onlytwo articles of farming expenditure to which
this would not apply in the same proportion—
the articles of rent and taxes.'-(Cheers.) Now he
thought if Lemuel Gulliver had been dropped in
Great Britain instead of Laputa, he would have been
at no loss, if made acquainted with the circumstances
he had stated, in determining who made the laws
of the country.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) There
was another point which he would have no difficulty
in determining, namely who those were who profited
by the large expenditure.—(Hear, hear.) And he
had certainly one great quarrel with the agricultural
interest—which was that they had been always in
favour of a great expenditure.—(Hear, hear.) They
cheered that. Now he hoped they would not find
fault with him for telling them that they, the people
of London, were just as bad.—(Hear, hear, and
laughter.) They were a great deal too fond of pa-
geantry and a large expenditure.—(Hear, hear.) For
as soon as a man began to curtail the public expen-
diture and tried to effect a saving, then they
turned round upon him and said he was
a shabby fellow, who wanted to put up candle-ends
and cheese-parings.—(Laughter.) Now, seeing that
the manufacturers had done so much for the farmers, '
it was no more than fair play that they should call on
the farmers to do something for them, and say to
them, " If you will not or cannot do this for us, at
least permit those to do it who can and will."—(Hear,
hear, and cheers.) But the agricultural interest, or
those who call themselves so, smart a good deal at
this—(Laughter)—and they say " No, we will not do
either one or the other." They had some talk in the
House of Commons of Jack Cade legislation.—(Hear,
hear, and laughter.) Now he called this Friar Tuck
legislation—(Much laughter)—and he would tell
them why. He was reading the other day an account
about Robin Hood and his fellows, and it was stated
that on one occasion, when they had taken a large
spoil, they appointed Friar Tuck to make a law
to distribute it. When this law appeared, tt
was evident to every one of them that
the Friar himself got by far the largest share.—,
(Much laughter.) Now, public opinion was against
the holy man.—(Continued laughter.) There was
an Anti-Distribution-law League formed againat
him.—(lmmense laughter.) He met them VoldlY,
and openly asked, "For whose benefit the laws weie
made?" and then, taking the opportunity, which wits
sometimes very convenient, of answering his own
question—(Laughter)—he said, "In the first pla4,
for the benefit of those who make them, and afterwards
as it may happen."—(Great laughter and cheering;)
But that was not all his answer, for he went on to
say that every law-maker was entitled to benefit by
his own law.—(Laughter.) Now, he liked that.-I--
(Laughter.) Friar Tuck was a straightforwa
fellow.—(Laughter.) He was sorry to say that
the present day there was only one straight-forwa
statesman of the Friar Tuck school, and that w s

Sir Edward Knatchbull.—(Much laughter.) He
advocated the corn-laws in a manly way.-4-
(Laughter.) lie said they were necessary to enable
such gentlemen as himself to keep their station ins -
eiety. lie thought that a most unjust outcry w
raised against him. They blamed the only since e
is
man amongst the whole party. Nov, he had alwa 5
respected him for this. The rest of the party us d
different language. To those who advocated the r -
peal of the corn-laws, they said, " You take a narro
view of the subject—you are just able to make o t
that two and two make four. That is a propositi n
which we do not absolutely deny, but it is a propos -
I?
tion which wise and far-seeing statesmen must to e
with great qualification.—(Great laughter.) You
do not take a comprehensive view of all the interes:s
in the country." Now, as he was not able to under-
stand how taking a comprehensive view of' all the in-
terests of the country could result in giving greitt
advantage to one interest over all the others, le
owned himself at once to be totally unable to argue
with those wise and far-seeing statesmen. He could
get no further than the simple proposition tht
two and two make four, and he did not believe
he would get beyond it —at least, on the
subject of the corn-laws till the day of his death.
He had a particular dislike to gentlemen who argued
in this manner, because they were not only wrong,
but they threw dust in one's eyes. He would much
rather encounter Sir Edward Knatchbull than the
whole members of the Cabinet, because with regaid
to the one he knew what he would have to meet,
but with regard to the others there was no fixed point
to drive the nail and settle the question. He did not
know whether many of those who heard him were
aware that when young men went to the University
they passed through a small preliminary examination
which they called a " little go."—(Laughter.) Now
they had a " little go" in the House of Commons last
night.—(Laughter.) Last year they let in corn from
Canada on certain conditions ; now he believed he
was very sincere in his opposition to the
corn-law, but he voted, last night, against
letting in Canada corn. It would give the
Buckinghamshire squire an ally on the St.
Lawrence.—(Hear, hear.) They were creating. a
corn-law in Canada, because one of the conditions
upon which Canadian corn was to be admitted into
this country, was that the corn of other countries
should not be admitted into Canada. Now, he dis-
approved of all that; and, therefore, he voted against
it.—(Hear, hear.) Last night, a proposition was
made by a most excellent friend of his—a most
honest and sincere man, whose sentiments he trusted
they might soon have an opportunity of hearing, if
they had not heard them before— that their other
colonies might be placed on the same footing as
Canada. He had not stated the reasons why he
voted against it—no other person of his party enter-
tained the same views, and he found himself alone in
the old lobby with the great landed interest of the
country; they glared upon him with wondering
eyes ; and he believed that they supposed that he was
going to wheel round, and had already got his
left oulder forward.—(Laughter.) But when he
was asked why he voted with them? he said, that as he
voted against " tinkering" last year, when it was
proposed from the Tory side of the House, so he voted
against " patching" this year when it came from the
Liberal side of the House.—(Hear, hear.) He did
not think that the corn-laws could ever be settled or
amended by any of those " tinkerings" or " patchings."
—(Loud cheers.) There was another question which
would come before them in a short period—he meant
the " Ten Hours' Bill." It was a corn-law question
—though it did not suit the advocates on either side
to argue it as such. The advocates of a "Ten Hours'
Bill" were afraid to argue it as such for fear of
driving away many of its supporters, and the advo-
cates of a longer period could not do so for fear of
offending a large party of theirs. Now he voted
against a Ten Hours' Bill, but he was quite ready to
take a Ten Hours' Bill if they gave him a repeal
of the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) He did not like to
interfere to regulate labour by law; but, if they
repealed the corn-laws, they would then no longer
want inspectors to restrain persons from working
longer than ten hours—(Hear, hear)—because they
would be in such a situation of independence as
would make ten hours the utmost period during
which they would labour. Mr. Muntz, with some
eccentricity, but with an independent and manly
understanding, characteristic of him, told the House
of Commons that the labouring classes were not in
love with long hours, nor did they wish their children
to work extravagant hours, but they were impelled to
work by the necessity of eating.—(Hear, hear.) Let
them give the people more to eat, and they would
remove the necessity for long hours.—(Cheers.)
When this was the case, the labouring men would
be able to protect themselves, aye, and that was the
only way they could be protected.---(Hear, hear.)
Let them make what laws they would for
their protection, and they would all fail ;
but remove the corn-laws, and. they would be able to
protect themselves. There was one ,iither subject to
which he would refer: those who were *ore actively
engaged in this agitation, frequently aslcid themselves,
when and by whom, the corn-laws would be re-
pealed. Now, his own belief was, that the corn-laws
would be repealed whenever it pleased God to afflict
this country with a bad harvest.—(Hear.) But, by
a merciful dispensation of Providence, this bad' ar-
vest would be followed by the repeal of the Jorn-
laws.—(Hear, hear.) As to the person by whom
they would be repealed, perhaps, they would be sur.

prised when he told them that they would be repealed
by the party now in power.—(Hear, hear.) He did
not know whether they knew his politics, but he
never hesitated to avow himself a downright Radical.
(Cheers.) But, he would not advise them to
look to the Radicals as the party. who
would repeal the corn-laws. They never would be
able to do so in his life-time. He hoped
they would be able to do so in the life-time of' some
of those who now heard him, He believed they
would be repealed, by Sir R. Peel.—(Hear, hear.)
And he would tell them why he thought so. There
was some discussion on the subject in the House of
Commons, and it was suggested by some person that
he would probably repeal the corn-laws. He dis-
claimed the imputation pretty earnestly, but he was
not a rash man, and he did so with some reservation
—(Laughter)—for he said it was impossible to say
what any man would, could, or might do.—(Laugh-
ter.) When a bad harvest came Sir R. Peel would
not be the last to perceive that the corn-laws could
not be maintained any longer. He would then say
that he was not the person who ought to repeal the
corn-laws, and he would go and beg of her
Majesty to accept of his resignation of the
place he held in her councils.—(Laughter.)
On some gloomy day, having done that, he would
feel obliged to call the agricultural interest together,
and he would make to them the same communica-
tion he had made to her Majesty, and heavy tidings
they would be to the agriculturists—(Laughter)--
but when they had recovered from the consternation
into which such a communication had thrown them,
they would address him as Saul did his armour-
bearer—" Draw thy sword and thrust us through,
lest these uncircumsised Philistines should thrust us
through."—(Great cheers and laughter.) The armour
bearer of Saul was inexorable, he refused; but he (Mr.
Gisborne) thought that Sir Robert Peel would not
refuse, because he believed that having drawn his
sword and thrust it through the Test and Corpora-
tion Acts—(Cheers)—that having drawn his sword
and thrust it through the Catholic disabilities, he
would draw it for the third time and thrust it through
the Protectionists on the subject of the corn-laws.—
(Great cheering.) Having now told them how the
corn-laws were to be repealed, he had only to thank
them for their kindness in hearing him so long, and
he would now make way for those who, he had no
doubt, would advocate this great cause much better
than himself. The Hon. Gentleman retired amid
tremendous cheering.)
Mr. BRIGHT, M.P., then came forward to address
the meeting, and was most enthusiastically received.
It was always to him a matter of very great conso-
lation to remember that wherever they were as the
advocates of the great cause of free trade, they not
only always saw around them, and about them, those
who were working in the same cause in which they
were engaged—(Cheers)—but that in every part of
the country there were men as anxious and earnest
as themselves in the prosecution of the great work
to which they had devoted themselves, not only in
this country but in other parts of the world—in
every commercial and civilised country there were
men, as far as they had the power, who were endea-
vouring to put down the wide world's curse by which
this country had been so long afflicted.—(Cheers.)
They had met there in the heart of that great metro-
polis—and they met there almost every week—to dis-
cuss this question of the repeal of the corn-laws. A pa-
per published at Plymouth had advertised that an intel-
ligent gentleman there was giving lectures in favour
of freedom of trade.—(Cheers.) And another paper,
published on the banks of the Tyne, stated that a
gentleman there was delivering lectures on the same
subject. At the present moment there were two
election contests proceeding. Those contests were
purely in agricultural districts, and in both those
constituencies the lessons of free trade were being
taught by those who were well able to enlighten
the inhabitants of those places upon that
which was calculated to improve their knowledge of
of what their real interests were. Hastings and
Christchurch were now called upon to send Members
to Parliament. Now he wished it to be borne in
mind that these two places were not fields the Anti-
Corn-law League had chosen out.—(Cheers.) It
required considerable arrangement when boroughs
were vacated to secure the return of Members, and

that difficulty was increased when two were vacated
at the same time. He had visited the borough of
Hastings during the present party contest, and from
that visit he was convinced of this, that the consti-
tuency were not well informed on the question of
free-trade.—(Hear, hear.) They had been bandied
about from Tory to Whig, and Whig to Tory, and
had in short been made the instruments for returning
Members to Parliament—(Hear, hear)—who held
very frequently different opinions. At the present
election they had shown themselves most unconscious
of their electoral rights, or that upon the proper
exercise of them depended the best interest, not only
of themselves but their country.—(Cheers.) With
respect to Christchurch he could not say much, not
having been there, and not knowing much of it;
but he believed the case there was somewhat of the
same description as it was at Hastings.—(Hear,
hear.) Now the Anti-Corn-law League was a mu-

tual instruction society, and some of its members had
been and were going to Hastings for the purpose
of letting the electors know the truth of the
case, and they were also going to Christchurch
for the same purpose. The Anti-Corn-law League,
it should be remembered, had only pledged itself to
go to these boroughs, and inform the electors on what
their rights and duties were ; but they had not
pledged themselves to return free-trade candidates.—
Of this, however, he was sure, that, by the course

they were pursuing, they were weakening the interests
of the monopolist party—(Cheers)—and there could
be no doubt that the time was not far distant when
they would be obliged to yield to those whom they
now attempted to scorn, and even to despise.—
(Cheers.) What was the consequence of all the dia..
cussions that had taken place in the League ? Why,
the dispelling of the fallacies which the landlords had
most industriously spread.—(Cheers.) Some of the
largest landed proprietors, and even the clergy,
were about they very last to get rid of those fallacies.
—(Cheers.) In the ill_grivg,.Zst there was an
account of a meeting of t rotection Society.
That meeting was addressed by the Rev. Mr. Shep-
herd, who said that they did not wish to interfere
with any one, but to protect themselves and stop de-
solation from spreading through the length and
breadth of the land.—(Laughter.) He stated further,
that he thought that in attending that meeting, he
was acting in a righteous cause.—(Laughter.) Why,
must not the Rev. Gentleman have known—if he
did not, he must have been living a most secluded
life for some years past—that the object of the Essex
Protection Society was to make food dear, although
thousands in the country were in want of a proper
supply of it ?—(Hear, hear.) Did not that Rev.
Gentleman every day—if he did not, he ought to do
so—read a prayer from which he must have learned
that, in what he said at that meeting, he was flying
in the face of the commands of an All-Wise Being ?
—(Cheers.) But the Rev. Gentleman said, further,
that land had obligations upon it long before tall
chimneys were thought of. He alluded, he said, to
tithes and poor-rates, which amounted to no less than
lls. an acre. As occupiers and cultivators of the soil,
they were bound to fulfil this obligation • and all
that he asked was, that the Government would enable
them to do so.—(Laughter.) But in saying that, he
forgot the proper conclusion of the sentence—" at
other people s expense."—(Great laughter.) Well,
the Rev. Gentleman, not content with all this, pro-
ceeded to state that the support of the poor was as
old as the Reformation. That might be all very
true ; but equally ancient was the maxim that
you should do unto others as you would be done
by.—(Cheers.) Now, the Rev. Gentleman seemedto imagine that manufacturers and shopkeepers had
no poor-rates to pay. It was true, that machinery
did' not pay poor-rates, or goods in shops, and for
this reason that the quantities were always changing.
The farmer paid poor-rates for his land, but not for
his cattle, his stock, or his money at his banker's. So
that the manufacturer and the farmer were placed on,
the same footing.—(Cheers.) Yet ignorant men,
like the Rev. Mr. Shepherd, were to he found coin-
ing forward and making the statements he had re-
ferred to. But at the meeting a working man, of the
name of Williams, addressed them for the purpose of
exposing, as it was said, the sophistries of the League.
—(Laughter.) Now it was worth while and curious
to see at these meetings who these working men were
who were received, as they were told, with such ac-
clamations ; the fact of his hlistered hands,
his working-dress, were all forgotten, or, if
the truth must be told, they did. not exist,
because the fact was these men were sham working
men.—(Cheers.) They were men who knew not
what work was ; but who lived upon the pay they
received for the assistance they gave to the landlords
to keep up a delusion injurious to the working men.—
(Cheers.) But that was not all; there were other men
as bad as clergymen ; and in speaking of the clergy
he felt compelled to say, that the statement of Mr. Shep-
herd did not represent the opinions of the best and most
sincere of the clergy of this country. He (Mr. Bright)
believed that in that body there were thousands who
wished success to the Anti-Corn-law League, but who
dare not publicly state so.—(Cheers.) Now he
would refer to another
.case that was reported in the
Post, it was that of a meeting which was copied from
a ICelso paper, which took place at Jedburgh, from
which about 9-20ths of the county were excluded ;
and Lord Polwarth at that meeting stated, in moving
a resolution, that he would rather it had been brought
forward by a tenant-farmer, because anything
coming from a landlord would be looked upon with
suspicion ; and lie also made some statements very si-
milar to those made by Mr. Scott, the Member for
Roxburgh, who he believed, was a near relation of
that Noble Lord's. He said they should look to the
mortality that had taken place in the manufacturing
districts since manufactures had been so muchperse-

vered in. Why, in Manchester the average of human