The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-23 00:00:00

G RAND WEEKLY
!ANTI-CORN-L NW LEAGUE

MEETING

AT COVENT-GARDEN

THEATRE

The usual weekly meeting of the League was held
last evening in Covent-garden Theatre, Major-Gen.
Briggs in the Chair. The house was full.
Among those present were Dr. Cooke Taylor, Rev.
Samuel Green, George Thompson, Esq., Richard
Taylor, Esq., W. J. Fox Esq., J. W. Heath, Esq.,
J. P. Nixon, Esq., J. E. 'RoYle, Esq. (Manchester),
Robert Welsh, Esq. (Huddersfield), T. H. Hall, Esq.,
A. Hall, Esq., N. V. Squarey, Esq. (Salisbury),
John Wilson, Esq., Alexander Jacob, Esq. (Man-
chester)' F. Scheer, Esq,, Captain Gear (Exeter),
Messrs. Stour, James Lewis, Henry Franklin, Geo.
Dixon, F. Rolfe, J. Rogers, Moore, Knox, Campart,
Kent, Phelps, W. Thornborrow, IVagstalf, Geesin,
Samuel Harrison, P. A. Taylor, J. P. Barnard,
Ridge, 11. Underhill, R. Welland, W. Elliott,
W. D. Christie, H. Glover, J. Notley, William
Miller Christie.

The chair was taken by Major-General Briggs.
The minutes of the last meeting having been read
and confirmed,
The CHAIRMAN said he was sorry to be obliged to
open the meeting by communicating the painful in-
telligence that Mr. Mark Philips, M.P. for Man-
chester, was unable to attend, from indisposition.
however, they had been fortunate enough to find
members ready to supply the place of those who
were not able to attend, and they would be addressed
that evening by the Rev. Samuel Green, by Richard
Taylor, George Thompson, and W. J. Fox, Esqrs.
He now begged leave to introduce to them
The Rev. SAMUEL GREEN, who said that it would
not, perhaps, be irrelevant to the subject-matter on
which he meant to address them, if he just adverted
to the reasons why he stood before them that night.
He was not accustomed to such large audiences as he
now addressed, nor was he aware, until twelve o'clock
that day, that he should be called on to address them
that evening. He mentioned that circumstance for
the purpose of throwing himself upon the kindness
of the meeting.—(Hear, hear.) lie was going
to say he had been somewhat reluctantly
induced to take the place he had now, oc-
cupied, but that, on second tlionghts' he deemed that
the word reluctant ought not to fall from any gentle-
man's lips in connexion with such an employment as
that in which he was just now engaged.—(Hear.)
Any man and every man, .be his standing high or
low—his influence great or small—be his power
mighty or feeble—when called upon, ought to be
willing to give that influence, and consecrate those
powers to the mighty cause which had convened the
large assembly which he now beheld. As he was
coming to the meeting that evening, he could not
help thinking that in those days it would be a some-
what difficult thing to find any man pressed with re-
luctance into a service of that kind. If there were
reluctance to unite with the ranks of the "anti-mono-
polists, it must arise from something like indifference
to the great cause, or something like a disposition to
avow oneself a supporter of monopoly. He thought
there were very few who would readily acknowledge
themselves supporters of monopoly. Among the
labouring people—the lower classes as they were some-
times called—he thought it would be difficult indeed
to find any person anywhere to avow himself a sup-
porter of monopoly. Certainly among the agricultu-
ral poor, whose privations were so heavy and oppres-
sive, so grinding, unless they were bamboozled, ca-
joled, or constrained against their convictions, none
would be found to come forward on those
boards and avow themselves monopolists. Then
as to the trading classes of the community ;
there were circumstances enough to make them per-
fectly willing to advocate the great cause which had
brought them together that evening. It was quite
true that the mill trade was not quite so depressed
now as it had been a few months ago, and yet there
were still mills unemployed or only half employed,
and yielding but a low rate of profit, and trade was
sufficiently depressed to constrain every man con-
cerned in the best interests of the community, and oc-
cupying any standing among the trading classes, to
come forward in the cause of free trade—for it was
by free trade that they lived. Even in the legisla- ,
tive assemblies of the land, where some of the stanchest
friends of monopoly sat, there were few who would
not be ashamed to acknowledge themselves as the
supporters of monopoly. The principle so often pro-
pounded by the League, of buying in the cheapest
market and selling in the dearest, was even conceded
to them from the highest place in the Legislature.
There were other classes—the great landed aristo-
eracy—he did not use that epithet in a bad sense—
among whom the number of those was small who
were ready to avow themselves the friends of mono-
poly; and small as that number was, it was daily
becoming smaller and beautifully less.—(Hear,
hear, and laughter.) He ought not, there-
fore, to say that he came forward reluctantly on an
occasion like the present.—(llear, hear.) He knew
the character that he sustained, and the office to
which the kindness and the providence of God had
called him. But he could say that every possible
sentiment and feeling which he cherished in that
office was in perfect harmony with that great and
noble cause which that assembly advocated.—(Cheers.)
Where should the follower of the meek and humble
Redeemer be found, save in the ranks of those who
were prepared to undo heavy burdens, and let the
oppressed go free ?—(Cheers.) He was a little amused
some times in watching the progress of the sentiments
of those anti-monopolists. Men in his position in
society were not often found mingling with corn
merchants, farmers, and millers, in their corn halls
and corn exchanges during the hours of business.
Yet, now and again, men like him did frequent such
places. It had happened to him more than once to
visit one of the principal corn halls in this country
in the hours of business, and there converse with
respectable farmers, merchants, and millers. Seven
years ago, those men scouted the notion of free trade.
Three or four years ago, when he again spoke to the
same persons on the subject of free-trade, their observa-
tion, accompanied with a contemptuous smile, was,
"Mr. Green, don't you wish you may get it." They spoke
thus contemptuously, because their monopolist Par-
liament had J ist been elected. He had again visited
that corn-hall after Sir Robert Peel's amended
sliding scale had been broached, and then those same
merchants and millers said, " Dash it, we might as
well have a free trade in corn as this sliding-scale !"
and last December, when he asked what they thought
of a free trade in corn, their reply was,_ that they
would rather have it than continue in the state of
uncertainty they then were. It might be said that
he forgot the Anti-League. It was a long array to
be sure, and some splendid names were to be found
connected with it. They used language of a bold
description—sometimes approaching even to threats ;
and they had a purse which threatened to be a long
one, and perhaps it might be as long as it promised ;
but that Anti-League would never come forward and
hire Drury-lane Theatre and convene such a meeting
as the present.—(Cheers.) He should like to see
them come before a London audience, and he thought
the shout of derision with which , their arguments
would be met would be the most cheering he
ever listened to.—(Hear, hear.) He did not think
the speakers there would avow that other nations
would continue to trade with this country, though
this country would not trade with them. He did not
think they would refer to the moral benefits which an
unrestricted trade would afford by binding all the
nations of the earth in one friendly union, or to the
higher considerations suggested by Jesus Christ, who
would have them to do to others what they would
wish to have done to themselves, and who
preached justice and charity to all.—(Hear, hear.)
They might say that the nation flourished under those
laws. Why, so it did under the feudal system—under
the persecution of the Stuarts, and under the system
which allowed representatives to Gatton and Old
Sarum. But would they bring back the lords and
serfs, the religious persecutions of the Stuarts, or the
repeal of the Reform Bill? The argument would carry
them to that length. There was another argument
which they would be likely to use, and which he
would endeavour to state as briefly as possible—it
was sic volo, sic jubeo—(Laughter)—" We are the
majority, and you must submit." But that was a
dangerous argument to use, for they might not be
always in the ascendant ; and if the people were in
power, and said sic volo, sic jubeo what would become
of the aristocracy ?—(Cheers.) They might use
another argument, which Was, that they had
mortgages and incumbrances of various kinds to meet,
and that the protection of a corn-law was necessary
on that account. His Norfolk friends used that argu-
ment, but he would meet it by the motto, fiat justitia,
ruat ccelum—let them have what was upright and
just, no matter what the consequences were.—(Cheers.)
But he would meet it in another way, which was that
the corn-laws, instead of preventing ruin, were the
ruin of others, and at least prevented men from rising
by honest industry from a state of destitution.—
(Hear, hear.) It might be said, if what the free
traders alleged were true, that the corn-laws were
doomed, there was little use in agitating the question
for they would soon fall of themselves. He wished
that anticipation were correct and that it might soon
be sacrificed. But monopoly was long lived, and it
would continue vigorous if they did not continue
their exertions. He was not a Conservative in the
technical sense of the word, hut all men were natu-
great changes—had a dislike to
rally averse from
touch things of long standing. 'What was the prac-
tical inference from this ? It was this, that they
should pursue monopoly to the death ; and the people had
only to go to the Legislature and say to the Govern-
ment such a change must be made, and the moment
the Sovereign people said so, depend on it monopoly
would be doomed.—(Cheers.) There was one power
namely, the
opposed to them, Established Church,

He would not tell the meeting what he was; but, at
all events, he could not help saying that the Esta-
blished Church was determinedly hostile to the over-
throw of this monopoly. They had an interest in
the corn-laws, for they had a portion of the produce
of the land in the form of tithes. Under the Tithe
Commutation Act a certain modus, or money pay-
ment, was made- coinpulsory after some tune; and on
this principle, that the produce of the laud would be
calculated on a certain number of years, and the ave-
rage value was to be taken as the amount to be paid
to the Church Establishment in the shape of tithes.
Now, if it was true that the corn laws would cheapen
the price of corn, it gave an interest to the members
of the Established Church in opposing the abolition
of the corn-laws.—(Hear, hear.) He did not think
that was an enviable position to be occupied by men
who called themselves the ministers of the most mer-
ciful being that ever trod this earth.—(Hear,
hear.) He would now tell the meeting what he was
—(lfear, hear)—and he would advise them that it
was better that the Establishment be utterly de-
stroyed, than that they should not have their own.
—(Cheers and hisses.) What they wanted to in-
sure the abolition of the corn laws was, a full, fair,
and free representation of the people. If they had
not at present such a representation, let them create
it.—(Cheers.) Let them never record a vote, unless
it was in favour of an honest free trader; like their
Chairman.—(Hear, hear.) Let them do everything
in their power honestly, honourably, and legitimately
that the House of Commons should be a full, fair,'
and transparent representation of the public mind.
Mr. TAYLOR, of London, then came forward, and
said that he 'felt extremely reluctant, after the many
eloquent addresses they had heard from men much
abler than himself, and better acquainted with the
subject,' who came from different parts of the country
to expound their views before them, in presenting
himself to the meeting. But he came forward as an
old inhabitant. of the city of London, to express, for
one, his cordial sympathy with the cause, and to en-
courage all others to support it.—(Hear, hear.) He
could only express his good wishes for the cause, and
point out a few reasons why the inhabitants of the
metropolis should aid it. In the first place, to al),
peal to their interests, he need not point out
how much the prosperity of the metropolis depended
on the prosperity of the nation—Hear, hear)—
whether he considered the foreign trade of the
country, which had so much to do with the port of
London, or to the large portion of its prosperity
which was derived from the home trade, conducted by
the manufacturers and warehousemen, whose trade
depended on the orders they received from various
parts of the kingdom. It was known to everybody
that the principal portion of these orders came from
the manufacturing districts. If the foreign trade
continued to be restricted, manufactures must decline,
and the prosperity of the metropolis must decline in
the same ratio. Another fact which struck him as
being of great importance to the metropolis was the
increase of destitute paupers from the rural districts.
--(Hear, hear.) They had all heard of the appeals
made to them during the last winter, for the support
of new societies to relieve those persons who were
said to be wandering about their streets and parks.
He was struck by the fact mentioned in Lord
Ranelagh's excellent appeal on behalf of those
persons —that nine-tenths of those destitute persons
were not inhabitants of the metropolis, but came
from the rural districts, being driven here through
the greatest extremity. The distress of the rural
districts might be inferred from the number of
incendiary fires, the accounts of which they must
have read in the newspapers, and a Baronet in Suffolk
had admitted that the crimes there arose from the
inadequacy of wages and want of employment.—
(Hear, hear.) They might be sure that the morals of
a people who were not independent could not be in
a sound state.—(Hear, hear.) Was it to be expected
that a people would respect property who did not
participate in the benefits of property ? (Hear, hear.)
His attention was drawn to this from a comparison
between the rural population of this and of foreign
countries. He did not mean to say that there was
not poverty in the continental countries; but there
was little destitution. It had been said that the fare
in their workhouses had been better than that of the
peasants on the continent. He admitted that the fare
used abroad was common ; but it was the produce of
their own farms, and they were consoled by the hope
of leaving some property to their children. There
was some talk lately about Inclosure Bills, and it
was said it was better to cultivate the lands than
allow them to run waste. But this need not be the
case. It was not so in Switzerland. There the
commons were placed under a certain master, who
managed them, and divided them equally amongst
poor and rich, though he was told when they had an '
aristocracy the rich got the largest share. He re-
membered the period when the aristocracy had been
swept away in France, but the land remained, and
was even more productive than ever.--(Hear, hear.)
He thought it was a great mistake of the political
economists to dwell on the net produce of the land
as :the principal thing to be considered. He be-
lieved if they got corn cheaper abroad than it could
be grown at home, they would be benefited thereby.
These considerations derived great force from our
insular position. Great Britain had been called the
"sea-girt isle ;" but such had been the follies of past
legislation, that that position was an evil to us.—
,(Hear, hear.) The sea had converted the island into
a prison, instead :of being, as it should be, the high
road to prosperity.—(Hear, hear.) Was it not
monstrous that there should be millions of quarters ,
of corn in bond, whilst the people were in want of

it ? Our naval superiority entitled the people to
greater ,abundance than any other country; nor was
our colonial position of any other use, that he could
perceive, than in bestowing increased comforts on
the population.—(Cheers.) The subject of inclosure
had been adverted to. Ile was surprised to see one
of the public journals, otherwise liberal in its ten-
dencies, advocate the inclosure of waste lands. That
question should be considered with reference to the
great question of free trade. If the improvements in
agriculture would make corn cheaper and better than
it could come from abroad, why had not these im-
provements taken place ? The only test of improve-
ments in agriculture, as in manufactures, was, whe-
ther the article could be produced better and cheaper.
That had not been done, and the people were entitled
to have that from abroad which they could not obtain
at home. If agricultural improvements could only
be made at the expense of the people—if the capital
of the country must be sunk in making these im-
provements—they must be of a deceptive nature.
The improvements on waste land must de-
pend upon the quality of the land; but he
deprecated the system which would engross those
lands where the poor man fed his cow, his goose,
and his pig—where his children recreated themselves ;
he disliked that wholesale encroachment on the
few remaining comforts of the poor. These waste
lands, as they were called, which were now of so much
advantage to the humbler classes, would be annexed
to the estates of some of the wealthy lords of the soil,
and would be converted into preserves for bares and
pheasants. And probably those very persons who
were formerly quiet, poor cottagers, would be en-
gaged in murderous affrays with each other as game-
keepers and poachers, and so be sacrificed to the san-
guinary laws of the country and the monopolising
disposition of the aristocracy.—(Loud cries of "Hear,
hear.") Now, it was said by some of the advocates
of the Inclosure Bill, that all claimants would have
compensation. That was the most fallacious thing
in the world, because those common lands were the
inheritance of the people through all ages, and the
existing generation had only a life interest in them.—
(Hear, hear.) If they took all the cottagers, and
gave them some little bribe to allow the
Bill to pass, what would become of the

next generation ? Would not they be left
destitute? And what argument had experience fur-
nished in favour of the plan ? Were not the people
more miserable now than when they had a greater
quantity of these waste lands ? If these lands were
to be tilled, why let them be so • but let it be for the
advantage of the people, to Whom they belonged.
Anciently all the land of the country was divided
into what was called " folk" land and " boke" land.
Now the greater part of the land of the country was
" folk" land, which belonged to the poor. The
" boke" land was the land of the aristocracy. It was
said in justification of the inclosure system, that it
would increase the rents; but of what advaatage was
that to the people ? Were they the better off by the
landowners becoming wealthier ? He had trespassed
upon them at much greater length than he intended.
He heartily concurred in all the principles promul-
gated by the Anti-Corn-law League, and exhorted all
the people of the City of London to advance those
principles by attending to the registration, and so
sending some Members to Parliament who would
watch their interests. He agreed with the last
speaker in the slight hopes he entertained of what
would be done in Parliament.—(Hear.) Indeed to
say the truth he did not admit that the people had
a Parliament at all.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.")
They had not that sort of Parliament which those who
had written of constitutional and original laws spoke
of. There was an assembly which went by the name
of the House of Commons, but he denied that that
House represented the feelings and opinions of the
people of England.—(Hear, hear.) But still the
people had a right to use all their exertions in order
to place in that House men of weight, who would
advocate free trade principles. He must say that the
other party was very active in watching the Regis-
tration Courts, and he believed the clergy wer like-
wise very active. The clergy had eoellent opportu-
nities of watching the progress of the registration.
They were placed in a very excellent position for
watching county votes, and they could lend very useffil
assistance to the squirearchy who were interested in
supporting the present system of corn-laws. He
knew, from personal observation, that in the county
of Norfolk, when an election was expected, the chief
emrlolment Qf the clew for 8,1,14, dap' in 43-
tie week

was in riding about visiting the different. electors.
The Reform Bill had increased the number of the
members fir the county of Norfolk, but he was sorry
to hear that it had in the same proportion increased
the enemies of free trade—(clear, hear.) Formerly,
the county of Norfolk returned two members, one of
whom was Thomas Coke—(Cheers) a man who, al-
though
his whole interest was centred in land, was
vet always a decided enemy to the corn-laws: The
countyof Norfolk at present retdined four Members
who were advocates of the corn-laws. lie would not
trespass further on their time, and thanked them for
the kindness with Which they had listened to him.
—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. GEORGE THOMPSON in rising to address
the meeting, said he felt greatly embarrassed in ad-
dressing so splendid an . assemblage. He felt
conscious that he was indeed very ill prepared,
but had been consoled with the - hope that
he would be followed by a man in everyway able to
compensate for his deficienCies. He -regretted the
meeting had not had an opportunity of hearing the
sentiments of their Chairman, who was so well quali—
fied to treat the subject. He felt-confident that their
Chairman had it in his power to lay before the meet-
ing many statements and facts of the greatest value
to the cause, and which had not been used by preced-
ing speakers at these meetings. The great object of
the Anti-Corn-law League was to prevent those ex-
plosions of popular feeline, which must otherwise
occur, and to accomplish by legitimate means what
might otherwise be sought to be obtained by force.
In 1826, the present Home Secretary wrote a book
upon corn and currency, the object of which was to
induce monopolists to give Way. He warned them
that if they did not rapidly give way, and sacrifice
to some extent their own interests in the cause of
the people at large—in a word, if bread was with-
held from industry—if commercial interference was
not freed from its shackleS, the time would come
when, in this country as in other countries, the
people would rise in their might, and in their
majesty, and sweep their honours, and their titles,
and their doctrines, " and all their ill gotten wealth,"
to destruction. —(Loud cheers.) The Anti-Corn-law
League included within its councils men of the
purest morality, who advocated nothing but peace, and
peaceful constitutional exertion. The Anti-Corn-law
League: had done :a vast deal by the circulation of
tracts and newspapers to disseminate knowledge of I
the most useful and practical kind, and it might be a
question whether the evils which the present system
created and maintained, were not more than counter-
balanced by the good which this universal dissemina-
tion of knowledge had occasioned. Thus, while ;they
were denied bread on the one hand, knowledge was
given them gratuitously on the other ; if they did not
grow fatter, at least they grew wiser; and if they
were wasted in their bodies, their intellectual stature

was increased, and their intellectual vigour promoted
by the instruction of the Anti-Corn-law League.—
(Cheers.) Their argument was complete ; their il-
lustrations might seem to be utterly exhausted, yet
their audiences failed not--their speakers failed not
—their eloquence failed not—their facts failed not ;
constantly, no matter how often it might be re-
iterated, the grand argument was presented to the
public mind in an attractive form.—(Hear, hear.)
The cause itself seemed to bring men there almost
whether they would or no, and when they met there
and at similar meetings, they never departed without
the frank acknowledgment that they had been made
wiser and better by thus meeting together.—(Cheers.)
What an immense benefit that League conferred upon
their country !—(Hear, hear.) He, for one, acknow-
ledged his obligations to the Anti-Corn-law League.
He thought there was not a man there who was not
prepared to acknowledge that he lay under similar
obligations, to that body.--(Cheers.) Had he the
same views, before that League came into existence,
of the importance of the great principle of interna-
tional intercourse ? He had not. Did he see the im-
portance of this subject in all its bearings as he then
saw it ? He did not. Had he the same amount of
knowledge as to the chief producing cause of the po-
verty of millions in his own country ? He had not.
had he the same view of the causes which contri-
buted to increase the amount of immorality and crime
in the country that he had now ? He had not. Had
he the same same view of the cementing and frater-
nising influence of unrestricted commerce as he had
now ? He had not. Was he then as well aware as
he was now of what was the chief hind-
rance to the progress and universal diffusion,
through this and other lands, of those great religious
and moral principles which were at once the glory,
the beauty, and the stability of his own country?
He had not. Who was it that had shed this light
abroad ? Who were the men—what the body ?
The Anti-Corn-law League.—(Cheers.) Thus,
while they were striving to obtain bread for the
people, they were giving them knowledge. And let
the lovers of ignorance—(Hear, hear)—and the
lovers of the people's moral impotency, put down the
League as soon as possible, for the longer it was in
existence, the more certain its ultimate triumph
would be, the wiser would the people become in
their poverty, the more deeply would free trade prin-
ciples be impressed upon their hearts.—(Cheers.)
The longer justice was delayed, the more evident
would it be in the end that it was by the combined
moral power of the people that the triumph had been
achieved; and the energies which would then no
longer be required to carry on this great movement,
instead of being scattered and lost, or suffered to
lie inert, would be gathered up again, and
consolidated and directed to the accomplish-
ment of some other equally great and glorious
object.—(Great cheering.) He was anxious to see
that day, for this reason amongst others. The
light that had diffused itself over this kingdom had
revealed other evils than that specific evil to which
they were then directing their attention.--(Cheers.)
The line and the plummet which they had used to
measure, or rather to detect, the crookedness of this
system of the monopoly of the people's food, had
enabled them to ascertain how far other institutions
and practices and customs in this country were in
conformity with the requirements of righteousness,
and according to the national, and, he would add, the
natural, rights of the people.---Cheers.) Let them
hasten the day, then, when they would be able,
having gained the field in the conflict which they
were then waging, with their flag unstained, their
weapons undimmed, the chorus of their triumph
having in it no sigh of the orphan, or the widow, or
the destitute,—to direct the mighty phalanx, which
had been collected to extinguish the corn-laws, in
some other direction, so that the people, having
obtained bread, and, having tested their moral
power, might gather up their strength again,
and march forward to still higher achievements,—
(Cheers.) They were reading a lesson to the world;
they were teaching men everywhere throughout the
civilised world how to gain their object—how to gain
it without remorse, without guilt, without compro-
mise, without the shedding of blood, without infract-
ing any of the laws of society, and still less any of the
laws of God.—(Cheers.) He trusted the time would
soon come when their disgrace would be wiped away,
and other nations would follow their example, taught
by their practice, and encouraged by the results which
he felt sure would follow.—(Cheers.) Why, in what
estimation were they held in other countries in conse-
quence of this very evil, the corn-laws?—(Hear,
hear.) An excellent philanthropist, whose heart was
as big as the world, went to the United States of
America on a mission of mercy, on behalf of the fet-
tered negro in that country—he alluded to Joseph
Sturge.—(Great cheering.) He had not the honour
of being turned out of the hotel into which he went
within thirty-six hours after his landing, as it was
his (Mr. Thompson's) honour to be in company with
his wife and children ; but what was the salute
which he received on reaching New York ? " Friend,
go home again, you have a corn-law that beggars
your own countrymen. Go, look at the faces and
wasted forms of your pauper population, and when
you have abolished your own corn-laws, and set
human industry free in Britain, then come and rail
against America for holding her negro population in
slavery."—(Cheers.) That was America. What was
the language of a leading Parisian journal some time
ago ? " Britain, proud Britain, erase from your na-
tional escutcheon the lordly lion, and put there a
starving operative vainly imploring bread."—(Loud
cheers.) What was the language of Mehemet Ali,
the Pacha of Egypt, when an Englishman remon-
strated with him on the subject of his monopolies,
for he was the great monopolist of the East—what
was his language ? " Go home and abolish your
own corn-laws, then come to me, and I will be ready
to treat with you for any relaxation in the way
of trade that you can desire."—(Hear, hear.) Thus,
whether it were the bearded Pacha of Alexandria, or
the sensitive American of New York, or the polished
Parisian in the French capital, every civilised and
enlightened foreigner taunted them with their incon-
sistency, and could not understand how a population
like that of England, pretending to govern itself
through the medium of a Parliament of its own
choosing, should tolerate so pestilential a nuisance as
that of the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) But it was cheering
to know that they would soon come to the last diffi-
culty. The House of Commons was not their worst
difficulty.—(Hear, 'hear.) He believed it
might be
said with truth, with regard to
most
questions, that
they would be carried, whatever House of Commons
they might have, as soon as the people appreciated,
fully, generally, universally, the nature and the value
of that which was demanded.—(Hear.) He could not
looli with hopelessness on the House of Commons. Bad
as it was, in itself considered, and, as regarded
any reforming elements which it contained, incura-
ble, having in it no restorative or renovating qualities
whatever, he well knew, from the history of the last
thirty years, that the people had only to be unani-
mous in order to 4uoceecl.—(Hear, hear.) If, from a
Parliament of High Churchmen, the repeal of the
Test and Corportion Acts co* 1.4 obtained--if, from
arliament of thAngemen, Catholic Emancipation
could 14 Nymag—ift from t Parliament of borough-

mongers, schedules A and B, and many others, could
be gained—if, from a Parliament of West Indians,
negro emancipation could be obtained—from a Par-
liament of landlords they would get a law abolishing
the corn-laws.—(Creat cheering.) Having said thus
much about corn, would the meeting tolerate him for
a few moments if he said a word or two about sugar?
—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Ile did this with
some reluctance, because on a former occasion
when the state of his health did not permit him to
be there, a speech had been delivered on that subject
by a gentleman whom, on such matters as that, he
was scarcely worthy to follow, so infinitely superior
was he, as the exponent of a question like that, to
himself. He referred to one who, unostentatious as
he was, and unseen 83 he generally might be, was
one of the most effective labourers in their cause—
Mr. James Wilson.—(Cheers.) But there were
several reasons why he wanted to say a word upon
sugar on that occasion. First, because there was an
honest difference of opinion on that question.—
(Hear, hear.) He said, an honest difference of
opinion. He was sure it was honest on the other
side ; he hoped, he believed, it was honest on that
side.—(Hear, hear.) Again, he wished to speak upon
this question, because it was a very important branch
of the subject which would have to be discussed i
Parliament; and the discussions there, at least their
results, would be controlled very much by the state of
public opinion out of doors —(llear, hear.) Again
he wished to do so because he had better means than
some around him of knowing what were the scruples
of their friends on the other side of this question,
seeing that he had been long identified with them, an
was still one with them, with regard to the object
which they were pursuing, though differing from
them, and be was pained that it should be so, upon this
particular aspect of this great question. Ile knew
that these opinions were sincerely held. He knew
that they would not give them up without a reason—
a reason which would be strong enoughto overcome
their feelings, but he thought it might easily be shown
that their feelings of humanity would be equally gra-
tified by the accomplishment of the object of the
League. He went with the anti-slavery party
because he believed that their cause was righteous.
He went with the free traders for the same reason.
Two righteous principles could not cress one another,
could not conflict with one another; they must run
parallel with one another to eternity. He had felt it
his duty to attend in Exeter Hall on Friday last—
had he consulted his own feelings or friendships, he
would not have been there. He would have been
silent on that branch of the question had he not
thought that his friends had been in error. lie was
not willing that they should unintentionally do in-
jury to a just cause, by putting arguments into the
mouths of their opponents in order to enable them to
practise a gross fraud upon the House of Commons.
Ile wanted monopoly to stand forth in the
House in all its natural odiousness, filthiness,
and selfishness.—(Loud cheers.) He did not want
to enable the advocates of monopoly in that House
to put into their pockets those :arguments which re-
futed themselves, and which must disgust all who
heard them. He did not want to enable them to lay
aside all those arguments in order to make
use of the argument of humanity—(Cheers.) Re
had attended that meeting, and he had succeeded; but
he did not so much rejoice in the success which had,
attended him in carrying the amendment, as be re-
gretted that there were so large a number of persons
in the minority.—(Cheers.) They had so voted be-
cause they were honest—(Cheers.) When their
minds were convinced they would be with them--
(Loud cheers)—and all that integrity, all that in_
flexibility of :purpose would then be exerted in the
cause—would then be their own.—(Loud cheers.)
They would then persevere in carrying- out the prin-
ciple to which they now took exception in one parti-
cular case, and they would carry it out universally.
—(Loud cheers.) He had received many letters
from different friends expressing surprise that he who
had hitherto been the untiring advocate of the
abolition of slavery, should be now found engaged
in a cause tending to the promotion of slavery. He
protested against such an imputation.—(Chqers.)
No man was the promoter of slavery because het ad-
vocated the doctrines of free trade.—(Hear, hear.)
Those friends were in error who supposed that he
was a promoter of slavery, because he struggled
against the false opinion which was sought to be pro-
pagated, that slavery would be: promoted by free
trade. Why, the abolition of monopoly would
,lead
to the abolition of slavery.—(Cheers.) Slavery was
the spawn of monopoly.—(Cheers.) Slavery was be..
gotten by monopoly—it was nurtured by monopoly
—it was fed and continued by monopoly. The death
of monopoly fifty years ago would have been the cer-
tain extinction of slavery, without cost, without
cruisers, without treaties, without protocols, without
costly agitation, without the payment of twenty mil-
lions.—(Cheers.) He had changed no opinion what-
ever on that subject. In the year 1839, long before
he had ever spoken at a corn-law meeting, at a meet-
ing which had nothing whatever to do with the sub-
ject of the corn-laws, he had spoken at Manchester
on the subject of the abolition of slavery
and the improving the condition and pro.
moting the welfare of the natives of India. He
had at that meeting made a speech, advocating the
necessity of encouraging free trade with all parts of
the world as the best means of promoting the aboli-
tion of slavery; he had then stated that although he
should wish to see the time when every atom of cot-
ton wool worn or spun by the people of this country
should be the produce of free labour, yet he would,
ask for no restriction, he would ask for no prohi-
bitory duties to prevent cotton, the produce of
every kind of labour, from being brought into
the market. All he asked for was liberty,
justice, and impartiality, being convinced that
if monopoly were done away with slavery would
totter to its destruction.—(Loud cheers.) When
had he 'delivered that speech? In the Friends'
Meeting-house at Manchester, and his audience had
been to a great extent made up of the members of
that estimable society. What had he said on the
following evening at a meeting held in the same
place ?—that if they encouraged free labour by admit•
ting it fairly into competition with slave labour, he
was of opinion that other nations would so clearly
see the advantage of free labour over slave
labour, that they would be compelled to abo..
lish slavery so successful would be the free
labour of the East over the slave labour of the West,
when they were brought into fair competition.—.
(Cheers.) He adhered to those opinions now.--
(Loud cheers.) He believed that these would be
better than all the other means that could be employed
to put down slavery. He did not say they were the
only means that should be employed, but he believed
that free trade would be one of the most effectual
means for the suppression of slavery. If he were in
error, he was in error with some of the brightest
names that adorned the anti-slavery cause. There
was a time when he was intimately associated with
that noble body which had secured .the
abolition of slavery in our colonies. / He
had shared in the great triumph which they
had obtained over slavery—he had been supplied by
the Anti-Slavery Society with books, illustrative, of
the iniquity and =policy of the system of slavery—
he had looked into those books at the time, to supply
him with facts which he might use in support of the
anti-slavery cause. He looked into those books now,
and what did he find in them? The first book to
which he would refer was the work of Mr. Adam
Ilodson of Liverpool. That book was intended to
' show the superiority of free labour over slave labour.
It was published in 1823, now twenty-one years ago,
and had been circulated throughout the length and
breadth of the land by the Anti-Slavery Society.
What did Mr. Hodson say in speaking ofslavelabeur
He said, " the nation would not much longer 00n.
tinue to submit to a wasteful system of cultivation
which experience had pointed out to be the
dearest that could be employed ; and that the time
was rapidly approaching when the nation would de-
mand that the commerce with sixty millions of their
fellow-subjects should be thrown open to them,
and
that the slave labour of the West would fall before
the free labour of the East.—(Loud cheers.) There
was another book from • which he would quote what
had been presented to him at the same time,
which was now full of the marks which he had Made
in it twelve years ago. He trusted - those
present would pardon him for dwelling on this
subject. They should bear in mind that the audience
he was addressing was not merely within those walls
—there were those beyond those walls who would be
acquainted with what passed within them.
There were present then gentlemen whose readypens
would record with the utmost celerity the words then
spoken. Those words thus written would be inns..
ferred to everlasting type ; and that which if left to
the living voice would produce no effect _beyond
those walls—that which was said there that night
would go forth to the whole world.—(Loud cheers.)
He trusted, therefore, that he might be permitted to
remonstrate with his friends.—(Cbeers.) He loved
them so well that he wished to show them that they
could not do better than join their ranks.--(Loud
cheers.) The book from which he was about to
quote had been printed in Birmingham, and it laid
it down as a principle that whenever slave-labour
produce and free-labour produce came into cow.
petition, slave-labour produce must fall, because ex.
perience proved that free labour was the cheapest.
Now what was the name of the author of that book?
The name of the author was Sturge—(Loud cheers)
—not Joseph Sturge, but his lamented brother John,
who had died too soon for his friends, and for that
cause, the fundamental principles of which he hail
been the advocate.—(Loud cheers.) He had laid
down that no system of legislation for trade and °G m.
mem could be right but that which was in siko-NPA ance with the laws of God, which wr,2, not injurious to
the rational creation, and was rot beneficial to every
body and class of men. It, inad been shown , that the
labour of the fro man was cheaper than
that of thq slave ; and, therefore, in promoting