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

another case from' the same party which was still
stronger. Here was another bill for 491. 17s. 11d.
It passed through several hands, and at
length it obtained the endorsement of the
Sheffield Banking Company. It was this
proved that it went to Sheffield to pay for some arti-
cles which had been sent abroad from that town.—
(Hear, hear.) Now here was another case-2451.
for 140 bags of carraway seed—all from Rotterdam.
There was another for 1251., having several names on
it, and last of all the endorsement of Mr. Leo Schus-
ter, a foreign merchant of the highest respectability,
carrying on business in Manchester, and who
shipped goods from Manchester to the Continent
Now what had been the effect of the reduction of
the duty ? Before it took place there was no trade
in that article. What they consumed was grown
chiefly in Kent and Essex. It was used only, or
chiefly, by confectioners. There had been an im-
portation of 100 tons. The price had not fallen in
consequence, but carraway seeds were now applied to
several other purposes, and especially in manufac-
turing 'processes, to which they were not formerly
applied. It was evident that the goods which went
out in payment of these seeds would require ship-
ment. In short, that the alteration was an unmixed
good to the industry of this country, and a complete
refutation of the absurd and childish fallacies which
the landlords were constantly preaching up to their
tenants. Whilst upon this subject, he would refer to
canary seed, an article with which most of the boys
had doubtless been familiar., Canary seed was used
in this country to the amount of 10,000 quarters an-
nually, and used, he believed, almost exclusively for
the ' feeding of birds. The duty under the old tariff
was 60s. per cwt.—a duty entirely prohibitory. The
duty under the new tariff was 4s. per bushel, also
entirely prohibitory. Nearly all the canary seed
used in this country was grown in Kent.
Sir Edward Knatchbull, it was affirmed, as represen-
tative of Kent, and a Cabinet Minister, had, through
his overwhelming influence, protected the native in-
dustry of the men of Kent—resisted tho threatened
inroad upon its agricultural prosperity—and pre-
vented the reduction of the duty on canary seed.
That seed was bought chiefly by hand-loom weavers,
journeymen tailors, shoe-makers, and others in various
parts of the country, by men who worked in their
own houses or shops, and kept birds to beguile their,
toil with song.—(Cheers.) This magnanimous states-
man used all the influence which he possessed as a
Cabinet Minister to raise the price of the food of
these little innocent canary birds, and, to some ex-
tent, injured the men who worked at the businesses
to.which he had referred.—(Cheers.) Now he (Mr.
Bright) belie;Ted that all the other fallacies which
these men had propagated might be disposed of with
equal facility.—(Cheers.) The principles of free
trade were so simple that no unbiassed man could
beak- them and hesitate to admit their existence.
Everything around him—everything recorded in
history—everything which he saw in the arrange-
ment of the universe—everything which came within
his own cognizance—everything which prompted
him in his own heart—told him that the principle of
free trade was that which Providence intended to
direct the world, and not the impotent, mis-
chievous, and imbecile system of monopoly
which they were then endeavouring to overthrow.
They asked that the wide world should be their work-
shop and their market ; and they were persuaded
that public opinion was rolling on with a power
and a rapidity which nothinr, could now stop—
(Hear, hear)—and that that princple must in conse-
quence very soon be adopted by the country, and
from this country its adoption must quickly
spread to every civilised country in the world.—
(Hear.) The land-owners, by infringing on that
principle, had got themselves into almost inextricable
confusion. They made paupers by thousands, they
rendered life and property insecure—they desolated
the homes of thousands of the population, over whom
they ought to be guardians, and of whom they ought to
be the defenders.—(Cheers.) They had themselves ac-
knowledged a law which gave to the pauper the right of
a maintenance from the land on which he was born ;
and when those paupers multiplied to such a degree
that their rents were threatened, then those land-
owners quarrelled with the law they themselves had
made, and the principle they had adopted ; and they
endeavoured, by means unreasonable and harsh in the
extreme, to prevent paupers coming upon them for
support. They were about to pass a new poor-law,
which, whether it were just or unjust, would be ut-
terly impracticable as a measure suited to the great
amount o. pauperism in this country ; for the Com-
missioners were compelled, from time to time, to relax
the stringency of the law in particular localities, and
now the Government itself was preparing to make
considerable relaxations. But if the tide of pauperism
were not checked in some way, this new Poor-law
Bill would be found quite as bad as the other. Those
men of whom he spoke knew well enough what was
right, but they would not go to it. Like a man in
the mud, who the more he struggled the deeper he
w,t,, they kicked about in all possible alrecao.., and
they set up a false scent for the people to run after.
They spread fallacies the most childish, and affected
to believe them themselves. They did all that for
the purpose of saving themselves for a time from that
which was at last inevitable—an honest, wise, and
just course of policy.—(Cheers.) Why, some time
ago the Prime Minister had not hesitated to throw
out some insinuations as to machinery being in some
.sort injurious to the people, and the cause of manufac-
taring distress. That charge at all events could not
be brought forward in proof of agricultural distress.
—(Hear, hear.) But they had now got upon the
scent, that if the people worked less they
would be the better for it. To show the fallacy of
such a position, he need only instance the cotton
trade, of which the whole world was the market.
Five-sixths of the cotton produce of this country was
sent abroad, and he should like to know how their
new law could affect calicos in foreign markets.
Mr. James Deacon Hume, an authority held in the
highest estimation by both Sir R. Peel and Lord J.
Russell, in writing in 1834, declared that the distress
of the manufacturing classes arose from their being
compelled by natural causes to seek foreign markets
as sellers of the goods they produced, whilst they
were prevented by artificial causes from going into
those markets as buyers of the goods they wanted. He
showed that the agriculturist had the advantage of
selling his goods at home, in a market insufficiently
supplied, whilst the manufacturer constantly sold
his goods in a market which was always
glutted; and from all he wrote ity appeared
clearly that the last two or three hours per
day of the toil of the working man was imposed
on him by the monopolies which the landowners
created by those burdens, which, if the Legislature
were wise, just, and honest, they would immediately
remove.—(Hear.) In the manufacturing districts of
the north there was a disposition to work shorter
hours, and they would work shorter time when it was
possible for people to live, and trade to be carried on,
with a shorter number of hours, The young men in
shops were insisting on the closing at earlier hours,
and in Manchester the young men in warehouses
compelled their employers to close their ware-
houses one afternoon in the week, and was it
possible, that whilst such alterations were
going on in the midst of a factory population,
the operatives there should not think of having some
relaxation from the protracted hours of toil and atten-
tion to labour ? There was not a population in this
country to which the landholders owed more—there
was not a population which deserved more perfect
justice from a landowning Government—there was
not a population which had given more to the re-
venues of the country, or had more increased the
rentals of the landowners, than the working men of
Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. He
thought it a prinCiple which no man could dispute,
that interference with free labour ought to be at-
tempted with the greatest possible caution, or it
might lead to inextricable embarrassments. He
thought that there could be no law in this country
for the purpose of fixing the maximum and
minimum of wages. If they were to fix
wages as they were in Dorsetshire, at 6s.
or 7s. per week, he should not like to fix them for
the county in which he lived.—(Hear, hear.) What
they ought to do was to try the strength, the virtue,
and the efficacy of every known good principle, be-
fore they had recourse to any "tinkering" and.tam-
pering with principles acknowledged to be had.—
(Hear, hear.) They had that principle set forth, as
he had stated, throughout the world.. He 'was one of
those who were persuaded that free trade would do,
for all the working classes in this country, all that
which the most benevolent and humane man desired ;
and he believed that it would throw down the
barrier which was now upreared between benevo-
lence and humanity, and the objects on which
those virtues would exercise themselves. He was
persuaded, from the condition of the population
amongst whom he lived, and from the temper
and disposition of the manufacturers, that there would
be in those districts a state of harmony and good
feeling—a condition of prosperity and general com-
fort, under a system of perfectly free trade, such as
never yet existed in this country; and he believed
had never yet been seen in any part of the United
Kingdom.—(Cheers.) They asked of the Legisla-
ture that they should no longer presumptuously
interfere between the laws of nature and of Provi-
dence and the industry of the people over whom they
ruled. That principle was gaining ground every
day; and not only in the metropolis but in the most
remote towns and villages every day added to their
ranks intelligent, energetic, and hard working indivi-
duals who would stand by this struggle to its final
issue. He believed there were some distinguished
individuals from foreign countries present that night,
and he said in their presence, that the principle of
the corn-law had been long scouted from every coun-
try but this; and there was not an intelligent foreigner
who would hot point out the corn-law as the- worst
stain on the legislation of any country ; and with all
our enterprise, patriotism, and virtue, it must be a

life had been increased 25 per cent. within the last 40
years. Then he said that there was no religious in-
struction in those districts. Why, the very reverse
was the fact. So much for the facts by which it was
attempted to gull those who had attended
the meeting. But then it was said wages had de-
clined, now he could assert without fear of contra-
tion that they had increased.—(Cheers.) But it was
not so amongst the agriculturists of this country. His
Hon. Friend Mr. Gisborne had already told them
that, since the days of his grandfather, thq farm la-
bourers of this country had been receiving less and
less of the produce of the farms in exchange for
their labour. It was clear, that as far as manufac-
turers were concerned their duty had been performed;
that they had made everything cheaper by greater
skill, greater industry, and greater intelligence ; that
all those who purchased the produce of that skill,
industry, and intelligence, could have more than they
had thirty years ago; whilst, with regard to the pro-
duce of the soil—that sacred property for which law
seemed to be alone made, that to which everything
else, it seemed, must bow—those who were employed
in the production of that, were not able to obtain so
much :for their industry as they did thirty or forty
years ago.—(Cheers.) There was another Lord there,
Lord John Scott, a brother he believed of the Duke
of Buccleuch, who said, " To begin with the begin-
ning, he was sure that this meeting did not consider
the present amount of protection more than sufficient,
when they took into consideration the burdens of the
land in this country." Let it be borne in mind, that
they had asked them over and over again to point out
these burdens, and nobody had pointed them out, so
far as he was aware, except a Mr. Baker, of Essex,
whose statements had been declared, by one of the
Members for the county of Oxford, to be grossly ex-
aggerated Considering the burdens upon the
land of this country; the different state of society;
the different food ; the different clothing ; the diffe-
rent habits of life among the labourers, whom they
would not wish to see brought back to the condition
of the labourers on the Continent, whose compara-
tively wretched condition he had himself witnessed,
whatever Cobden might say to the contrary."—
(Laughter.) The Dorsetshire ease, he believed, was
not disputed. The Rev. Mr. Osborne stated that to
send the labourer froth Dorsetshire into the neigh-
bouring counties would be no advantage to him, see-
ing that in those no difference existed. He (Mr.
Bright) could assert, that to send labourers to
Scotland would be no gain to them, for labourers
could there be bad for six shillings a week.—(Hear.)
It appeared to him that this Lord John Scott, living
as he did in .luxury, and associating only with the
Duke of Iluceleuch and men of enormous wealth,
had altogether overlooked the real condition of the
farm labourers of this country; or, if not, with an
effrontery which could hardly be considered possible,
he came forward to assert that these labourers were
better off than the labourers of many continental
States. This nobleman further asserted that the bur-
den of the national debt was borne by land, and asked
how, until that debt were swept away, the agricul-
turists could maintain their position with free trade ?
Now, it always happened, that when the
corn-law was doing its work best, and giving
the best prices for corn, the revenue
of this country seriously fell off, and in order to
quiet the fears of those who had money in the funds,
the Parliament for the time being were called upon
to impose fresh taxes. If the corn-law.paid off the
national debt, or the interest of it, how happened it
that it did not pay it in the years 1838, 1839, 1840,
and 1841 ?—(Hear, hear.) When the corn-law
for a time ceased to do its work, and by the blessing
of Providence they had bountiful harvests, which
brought them to the condition in which they would
be if there were no corn-laws, the taxes became more
productive, and the revenue rose instead of falling.—
(Hear, hear, hear.) Speaking of their funds,
Lord John Scott said they were determined not
to apply to them for the purpose of influencing the
elections, which would be infringing the Constitution.
—(Hear, hear.) Yet these very men insisted upon
their tenants voting as they pleased, and their class,
throughout almost every county in England. returned
Members to Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) It was a
piece of hypocrisy which one hardly knew how to
speak of. He could not understand how one of these
landholders could use such language in a meeting
where farmers, and especially where any independent
men, were present, without blushing to so deep a hue
that every person would perceive that he was stating
that which he knew to be uttterly untrue.—(Cheers.)
He (Lord J. Scott) said that the manufacturers
raised the cry of cheap bread, and said that
the people were starving—" The greedy manu-
facturer stopped the mouths of his workmen
with the cry of cheap bread." Now they
wanted to stop their mouths with bread itself, and
not with the cry of bread.—(Cheers.) It could not
be said that the manufacturers of this country dimi-
nished the amount of food. They did not prevent the
land/orris from growing as much as they liked; they
did not compel them to sea any wheat out, or aie
country. It must, therefore, be the landholders and
their law which starved the people, and not the manu-
facturers, who were contending for that freedom of
industry which would enable the people to purchase
their food in the best markets.—(Cheers.) Well,
then, there was another statement which might as
well have been made during a recent debate. The
Noble Lord said that the manufacturers did
a great deal by the aid of machinery, and that
they got all their work done by women and
children, and that when the children • came to a cer-
tain age they were turned off, and the consequence
was that many became handloom weavers at ss. a
week. As children only- were employed, these men
got married in order that they might have children to
support them, thereby increasing the population and
showing that as trade increased the greater must be
the amount of misery- Now he knew not in what

other order of society they could find a man who
could put together so many things which had no sort
of connection with each other.—(Hear, hear.) It
was scarcely possible to understand what he meant.
There were four or five things, all of which
were utterly - untrue, jumbled together into
one sentence, snaking that which no man
living could get any sense out of.—(Great laughter.)
In the first, place, that manufacturers kept no men
was an utter falsehood. It was notorious that in all

times of ordinary prosperity in the manufacturing
districts the labour of men was as difficult to obtain
as the labour either of women or children.—(Hear,
hear.) In 1835 and 1836 there was not a labouring
man in those districts, able and willing to work, who
could not have as much work as he chose. It was
perfectly absurd for men of this description to talk
about that of which they were wholly ignorant, never
having seen a mill or a chimney, except when travel-
ling by mail or railway. Lord John Scott further
said that the reduction of wages was what the League
were seeking for, and that reduction was to be made
upon the ruin of the agricultural interest. Now he
would not take up the time of the meeting by proving
for the thousandth time that a reduction of wages
would not follow from the repeal of the corn-laws.
The corn-law had, from the first been insidiously, but
most surely, reducing the wages of the operatives.
In all those years when the corn-law was
a dead letter, they had wages constantly rising ;
while in those years when it operated with the in-
tensest severity, the people were thrown out of em-
ployment by thousands, and those who were employed
received less than their usual amount of wages.—
(Hear, hear.) After thanking the meeting for the
attention with which they had listened to his obser-
vations, this speaker congratulated the Government
that they had not submitted to an interested clamour,
and repealed a law this year which they made the
last. On the presentation of a protection petition a
few weeks ago in the House of Commons, in which
allusion was made to " interested clamour," there
was a general titter amongst those who sat on the
Ministerial side, arising, doubtless, from the con-
sciousness that they were the interested parties.—
(Hear, hear.) Now, a Mr. Dudgeon—the name
ought to have been Gudgeon—(Hear, hear)—in
speaking of the condition of the agricultural labourer,
said that he was now a better dressed man on a Sun-
day than the tenant was some years ago. Who
dressed him ?—(Laughter.) If the landlords had imi-
tated the manufacturers in their improvements, not
one industrious individual would have been found
who would not have been fully supplied'at least with
the necessaries of life.—(Hear.) Now he had there
a practical refutation of two fallacies which were
very often made use of at these political meetings.
One of them was, that if they were to take foreign
corn, manufactured goods would not be taken
in exchange ; and that there would, therefore, be
no increase of employment in the manufacturing
districts ; anti the other was that they would be ob-
bliged to pay for foreign corn in gold. Now, a gentle-
man, who was extensively engaged in the City as a
seedsman and corn-factor, had given him a case,
which proved how utterly untrue were the arguments
of the monopolist.—(Hear, hear.) Carraway seed was
an article of very small consumption—used chiefly,
he believed, by confectioners—but it ,had lately
become useful in several manufacturing processes.
Now, before Sir Robert Peel altered the tariff the
duty on Carraway seed was 30s. per cwt., which was a
duty entirely prohibitory. By the new tariff that
duty was reduced to 10s. per cwt., and in conse-
quence of the reduction there had been a consider-
able importation of this article. Although the annual
consumption did not exceed 300 or 400 tons, there
had not been less than 100 tons imported during the
first year of the new tariff. He had invoices and
bills drawn
for the payment of this seed. Here
(exhibiting it) was an invoice to the amount of
771. 17s. 6d., drawn by the party in Rotterdam on
the seedsman in London. Well, now where had the
bill been since it was drawn? It had gone from Rot-
terdam to Cephalonia.. From Cephalonia to Corfu—
it then came to London, where the transaction was
settled.—(Hear, hear.) No money had passed between
the seedsman and the Rotterdam dealer. But he had

matter of the utmost astonishment to intelligent fo- importation of foreign corn—two reasons alike one
reigners, that we permitted such a law as' this to exist elusive. It was not to be introduced from o'lor
so long. The men who were loudest in their support country, because they could send corn. here ;_,ncb
of protection in the field, were voiceless and motionless from the other, because they had none to send. bll,
in the senate. They left it to the only clever men was held to he a sufficient reason for keeping the
amongst them—the members of the Administration—to as it was, and for saving the landlord from a pi!ic.
answer the speech of the Hon. Member for Stockport; (Hear, hear.) And were they really so sensitive e_
and he knew not whether the speech made in moving all this ? Might there not be yet some further reason
for the Committee, or the speech delivered in refusing for this sensitiveness than any apprehension of tn 7.
that Committee, would be the more powerful in influx of Indian coin ? There was no Tamboff
G.3"'
advancing their cause. There was no one among the India that could possibly create such misgivinan
Ministry who could say one word in favour of the in their minds as to stake them fearful of even 15".
corn-laws ; but they were driven to use evasive proaching the shadow of an alteration in these 10`..,•
language rather than openly defend the position they Was it not rather that the Ministers themselves were
had taken up. Throughout the country, there was held strictly to their allegiance ? It was not a Panic
gathering an opinion in favour of the abolition of all among the landowners that was dreaded, but a panes
protection. But, let their rulers take what course in the Cabinet.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) J-:eto
they pleased, there was no power on earth could those who created that Cabinet should take it into
maintain the present unjust system, and there was no their heads to destroy it, the members of it prudentlyi
doubt they would see trade in this country entirely abstained from making any relaxation in their Pu",?;
free, and bringing every return which the world If such was the miserable state of subjugation--4. 4
offered for our produce.—(Continued cheering.) degraded dependence in which the Administration
..ve
Mr. W. J. Fox then came forward, and was re- this great county was placed, he thought, when the.`e
ceived with enthusiastic cheering, which continued was so much sympathy for slavery of all kinds-=forth
for a considerable time. After the cheering had sub- negro under the lash, and even for those who worked
sided, he said—That some very just observations had by their free consent in the factories, surely some
been made by the Hon. Member who had spoken first voluntary association should be established for u'l
that evening, about the undesirableness of taking a one- emancipation of her Majesty's Ministers.—(Chee!erii
sided view of a question in an association of those with In those various indications, the attentive 100ker.,,,,
whom their opinions were identical and their sympa- would see different forms and phases, conveying' the
thies were strong. Be it little or be it much, it was almost intention of obstinate resistance, under one form °r
unavoidable in that inatterof the corn-laws, because, so other. He would naturally ask how was that Lei
far as the League was concerned,it had but one side. The sistance to be maintained ?—where were its beun'
Pro-Corn-law meetings would not admit them there, —what was its strength ?—(Hear, hear.) One Ounee
~t
and they would not come to theAnti-Corn-law League met his 'eye which was made up of landowners-4';
meetings. They (the Leaguers) must bear with that with landowners free indeed, who held receipts b,
evil, how great soever its extent—(Hear, hear.)— full, but still; in right of the class to which they,.
.fight
however he thought that an intelligent foreigner who longed, hereditary legislators—some of them retie
might not be intimate with the mechanism of society have fought battles, and some of their grandia;bs.
in this country, and who should attend several such came by their titles and estates by worse
meetings as the present in succession, would be than gaining battles. This class formed a legism
stroney impressed with the conviction that their tive body, when the capacity for law: making w.as
most sanguine expectations were sure of being rea- presumed to descend from generation to generatitebe
used. In the unprecedented numbers that had been —(Hear, hear.) Another body there was iU
gathered together week after week in this metropolis exercise of considerable influence which '.purP°2,•-
—in the greatest assemblages in that house of all to be a constitutional and fair representa
ranks and classes in society—in the voluntary order of the people of this country. There wr,,e
and harmony of their proceedings, and the interest some recent returns which illustrated '
with which the topics of discussion were received—in relation in which the great bulk of the tie
.*
the concurrence of the views which were put stood with the possessors of landed property. la, `;
forward with those of the soundest philo- returns showed that of the English voters Ira!,
sophers, on the county production and distribution of sevenths were Country voters. Of these Con
national wealth—in the responses to their feelings and voters one-quarter of the whole number were e
opinions which were manifested throughout the tenants-at-will. In Wales the country voters were
country from time to time, even in the most distant differently divided, and the tenants-at-will had b
towns and villages—in the determination which had clear majority.—(Hear, hear.) Of 320,000 beoingto
been evinced there by them never to shrink from the voters in England, 120,000 and upwards belong''
assertion of the principles which they held—never to the lass of freemen and liverymen, and scot and let.,,
abandon or relax in demanding the removal of unjust voters and pot-wallopers. (Laughter.) l'lmfed
taxation—in all that he apprehended that a close ob- masses of these voters were capable of being ,
server would see evidence that the repeal of the corn- upon by corrupt influences, and they were 5°
laws, and all other monopolies, was marked down as fluenced, sometimes directly, but more frequen7,
an inevitable result. Some Hon. Gentlemen referred by indirect means. One man influenced his dope
to the time when the country should be visited by a dent, or protege, and he, in turn, influenced
;his
of harvest, which he said must lead to the abolition neighbour. Men filling the highest situation ;his
of the corn-laws. But some other elements would enter not ashamed to be parties to proceedings of nee
into the destruction of monopoly, for many bad harvests kind; and, only a few days ago, a circunistayvo
had already occurred without effecting such a good. was reported in the Morning Chronicle which, ca.
While the intelligent foreigner would behold in their only one of thousands that daily took place. P'.rect
assemblages only a reason for the expecting the abo- binet Minister of this country, who had aecttlbst
lition of monopoly, he might be induced perhaps to much reputation for skill in farming, advertiseu bet
visit another place, and breathe another atmosphere, he had a farm to let—various offers were made' os
where a different impression would be conveyed to one was higher than the rest—the highest bidde,f.
his mind, and where he would see every symptom admitted to a special interview with the landlord
ehr
of a stubborn and dogged resistance to those wise, agent, who having been satisfied with the os
just, and beneficent measures.—(Hear, hear.) And ratter and respectability of the proposed tenant,
ler.
how did those symptoms of resistance manifest them- on the point of deciding, when the following con,
selves ? They saw on the one hand that the advocates sation occurred :—" Agent—What are your pou.
of a repeal of the corn-laws evinced a frank corn- Offerer—Liberal. Agent—What religious Plis•
munication of generous sentiments—a heartening up of sion do you belong to ? Offerer—l am 1 .dote,
their fellow-labourers for the conflict on behalf of the senter. Agent—But the tenant of this farm must)
helpless against the powerful—an encouragement to go to church, and poll with his landlord.—(OrM•
carry out in human institutions that great 'provision Offerer—Then, Sir, lam not prepared to sau''-o-oe
entire-by which the diversity of all regions might be my religious and political principles to gratifYY:ere
converted into the benefit of mankind. On the other master's lust for power."—(Cheers.) Thus ilia.
hand, they would see a surly and impassable resist- Englishmen befooled, but if the system were wed
ante, in order to oppose that result.—(Hear, hear.) roughly exposed through the press it would bell'arecy
Instead of argument, they would find an affected out of existence. This was the way the land°!_oa.
silence on the subject. He (the foreigner) would see attempted to control the consciences of their dered to
numbers of persons met together, professedly to con- ents, and too often did control them. They sel,f,
all
suit the welfare of the nation, where the one, sole, say in the words of Campbell, "Oh, we lala'sod
paramount topic that occupied the mind and heart of about God Almighty better than you do a thoubeeo
the nation was continually passed over—few cared for times." A few days ago an excellent school WI eo.
or countenanced its being brought forward. No put down by one of these landowners because lreuit
measure tending to relieve the people from the .heavy lightened aad liberal mode of education did in),'„o
pressure upon them, which obstructed the supply of his taste, which was in accordance with the Zt-er,
the necessaries of l -r
life, had yet found its way there, Judge who presided at the trial of Muir and 'sjrai ,of
still less been adopted there ; and, in short, the and who said that no man had a right even tO SP!
rty.
position of that House would forcibly bring to the Constitution unless he possessed landed Prlet the
men's minds the old story of Queen Elizabeth's Here, then, was a power which might long reds
times: The Queen said to the Speaker, afterwards force of public opinion, but what would be the cosh
Chief Justice Popham, " Well, Mr. Speaker, what sequencei of that resistance ? Was it possible, Iveet.
passed in the House f Commons ?" The Speaker such a feeling as had been evinced in the many 11.1,0
replied, with a low bow, "May it please your Ma- ings that had been' held there, and which pre't, it
jes44.o seven weeks have passt•d."—(Great laughter.) to so large an extent throughout the country—w'tio
Why there bad not been is jury there. Some possible with the strong conviction and detertnina
of the agricultural members told them they did not which millions and millions of their countrymen evil
understand the subject, but yet those very gentlemen tertained on this subject—was it possible that n°,5,.
resisted all inquiry ; and surely if those who advo- should result from such a collision ? Was it ces,
cated the repeal of the corn-laws were ignorant' of sible that the consequences, the unhappyconseque"ao.
what they advocated they had but a poor chance of of the present condition of multitudes should not
enlightenment from the discussions of these duce their results in the limitation of manufacture
gentlemen. Assuredly from these gentlemen industry—in the failure, one after another, 9`,„,1.
they derived no assistance for its better markets—in thealternation of seasons of varying 0t
,ted
comprehension.—(Hear.) The agricultural Members mercial and agricultUral distress—in suffering,
complained of the burdens which affected land, but deep than any. charitable societies, or •any
they refused all inquiry into these burdens.—(Hear, system of poor-laws would ever 'b
be able to. read
hear.) They would not allow it 'to be ascertained These were gigantic, yet at the same time gr.,,n`" sein
what the particular pressure was. All must be taken evils, that must sooner or later be grappled Will the
upon trust—for those Hon. Members seemed to think by a statesmanship equal to the achievement ° op§
inquiry would be as perilous to the cause which they largest commercial reform that any country Plod
advocated as examination with lighted torches into ever yet experienced. But what else could he talk
a gunpowder manufactory.—(Hear, hear.) And yet What else was to be done ? There was soe, of
meanwhile those assertions were received with of emigration, of exporting a portion of the PendP
plause by their retainers out of doors. A large this country to other lands. They did not high
license was'given to these retainers—statements were away their horses, or if they did it was for a
,theit
made of the conduct and intentions of those ma- price, showing the estimate set upon t
nufacturers and others who advocated the repeal worth.—(Laughter.) The horses did ni,°ooolo
of the corn-laws, which, if there was a particle about neighing by way of petitioning every z; bat
of truth in them, ought to be put in being for work ; he was too valuable for that' him
the most distinct form, and be supported let him walk on two legs instead of four; 1e.,,".00
by the clearest evidence—they used a latitude of have what was called " the human face cure" tio'e
speech to which there was little resemblance in the let him be capable of looking up in high asp',roight
proceedings of other bodies. This meeting had to Heaven; let him' have a brain where thought bort
heard to-night quotations from the speeches of the work in all its mighty energies ; let him have:ii, his
Anti-League men, in which it was broadly asserted beating with affection ; let him have streng,l"„et
go
that the members of the Anti-Corn-law League had arm, still- all this could not avail him, he
all taint
attempted to excite discontent, and to enrage the about asking for work, and perhaps after eh C 001
people of this country—statements so far from the that although a horse was valuable, yet thgt:ecalu
truth, so substantially devoid of all verisimilitude, was worthless • and that the best thing tha',the
that if such proceedings went on much longer their be done with' / him, was to send him out hveo
speeches would become proverbial for their false- country.—(Cheers.) There was a time tag.'
hood, and when people talked of mendacity, they human being—they were told by the highest;__4. •
would familiarly say that "he lies like a pro-corn, thority-was "of more value than many sr .-00--•
law speaker."—(Great laughter, and cries of " Hear, —(Hear.) But this was not stud n no?
hear.') Connected with this subject, there was an sparrow was worth something to the countrysh. ivh°.
affected bustle in trivial and unimportant matters. who could put it into a pudding, but a paliL'on,.l'
Resolutions were passed going in one direction one was neither wanted for work nor fit to 6e, c",. wit!
night and in another direction another night—there seemed that the only thing that could. be a°""pii P •
was great talk of humanity, with little appearance of him was to send him out of the country: rte
any solid advantage to be bestowed on the commu- this hopeful idea was capable of being carneaorose aeirih°,, •
nity. They there was a disposition evinced to do it; • bt
" Marched up the hill. and then marched down again." might enrich the land by their toil—who 'inter ti°
Or, like the inveterate sinner of Doctor Young, who earning their own means of subsistence nutheug°
resolved in the evening and broke his resolution in the the support and gratification of others, evene,tbeir
morning. In the course of the debate, allusion had those others should dwell in distant reginnot,
Ue
been made to a memorable historical character, Jack would, if such a policy could be wrought O'
Cade. The allusion seemed to have so fastened on the driven in shoals to the coast, there to be 8,7-othor,
attention of the House, that it seemed wonderful a Se- bound to some Cape—not of Good Hope--but
lect Conmaittee-of country gentlemen had not been ap- most forlorn—some to Canada—some to -11-"toliahf
pointed to inquire into the history and principles of and if' they went in such vessels as Wereporhgr,"
Mr. Cade, as he WAS now more respectfully termed.— given to emigrants as transports—grunt ocean lc
(Laughter.) A lesson very instructive might be bound to eternity—startling the depths ez.oo et 0
derived from the experience of those times, and the (Loud cheers)—by an unexpected inr.!,' thatttli
labours of such a- Committee must needs be attended colony of emancipated corpses. It was 110%. Nnw;
with advantage for they must be impartial and give country' was making strides in demoralisab°"4o svh_
both sides of the subject. In one of the chronicles Of hold could spiritual teachers have on a Pe°e!,'„o thw
Shakspeare, they found that one of the leading prin- had to battle earnestly for being allowed tot iiiivotifi
ciples of Cade's follower's was, "that the King's fol- means of subsistence?—(Hear hear.) Wile against
lowers were no good workmen." Now, he thought able hearing could they expect from a pe9P spel
that was not at all inapplicable to some recent whom the law prodd=ed another gosppeel-ann ¢°d
displays of the workmanship of the present Cabinet.—
starvation, as oppo,ed to their gospe
(Hear, hear.) Cade was a great regulator, and plenty—a gospel denying them theirtheir daily eono
interfered with business which hedid not understand, which it was irailcated in the other that they the
the
and 'yet in; that interference, he did not show ask of Heaven ?—(Cheers.) Less and less inus_L'ild des
worse disposition, for he a
declared that seven influence of those teachers, as this ruinous and leaf.
halfpenny loaves should be sold in London for a graded policy manifested its deformity,
less an
penny, penny, which would not be a worse law than that of must be their influence of every kind. „
those who enacted that six halfpenny loaves• should antecedent to learning, and all must !:?_,..i.rore-pel.,
be sold for fourpence.—(Hear, hear.) Cade was met by that work—the people must be fed,: be for WI
by an embassy in which the Duke of Buckingham could expect their minds to be cultivittea,„... wors.
of that day was amb6ssador. The Duke said he characters to be formed.—(Cheers.) But
_ull ion!
found him in his answers very discreet; but notwith- feature of this worn-out feudal policy—
thopci;vioro
standing this discretion,' the Duke led him into a compliment to call it feudal, for it .was Ttlo foot
treachery, which resulted in his execution ; and thus sordid than anything that could be found :4 only
ended the first alliance between the Duke of Buck- ism—the worst feature in this policY, was nfort of the
ingham and those who attempted to disturb the war against the physical and spiritual comllo op.
country, and to excite riot and confusion. Cade said people, it was that it warred again of
o,..cati__
that he built a chimney—but they were 'not told of the nation, it warred against
whether or not it was a tall chimney.— (Laughter.) and enlightenment, and against civo,!_re resnif
He was no factory man evidently. He came from that sof.—(Hear, hear.) It tended, if its
.vinnu_i ;to 1.17,
county which, in our own day, had been adorned were accomplished, to turn back the natio.t. 1°,1; 00_5,
by the 'eloquence of a Bradshaw, the divinity of a of barbarism, to overspread the land
.wl
Molesworth, the divine mission of a Thom, the refined tored banditti, repaying the vindictive
oanauned
gentleness of a Winchilsea, and the legislative frank- lessons they had learned by
.example---its,Zect
vi_V.
ness and impartiality of a Knatchbull. Some con- fore them, through a long vista, yet 411_1; of
temporaneous historians asserted that he was really a remoteness—blazing and roaring—a Y°."
ware P;;;
doctor, but, like some doctors of our own times, he lution.—(Loud cheers.) Foolish people
would not prescribe until he was called in. He got aristocracy—(Hear, hear)—to abuse theLoo'd Leath
him himself prematurely called in, and found himself in sneer at the League. Why the League .I.l'oeue s
such an awkward scrape, that he used all his ingenuity thous and ruin.---(Loud cheers.) The 1A....T.je0
to get himself out of it with a whole skin if he could.___ between them and such hatred and exe°„7shide
tha
(Laughter.) His attention had been attracted, on class of men, one would think, wouka__ winos
that morning, to what purported to be a report of a Pelting.,of. It excited hope, in mindstaef wlee
speech of Lord Stanley's, in which that Noble Lord otherwise be driven to desperation. but dead
off'
said that the question of the corn-laws was prospect in its peaceful and firm, society,
clash
one of infinite importance and infinite deli- advance—a prospect of a reradjustmenf
of
cacy. In fact, it was so delicate that it restoration of amity between class and into
...
was scarcely safe to whisper about it, lest the great of a healing for the words which had. t.s_lfs.`to w
agricultural interest should -he alarmed, and betake bitterness.—of a reconciliation betweenyite and inn
itself unto the extravagance of a panic.— m
(Laughter.) at present stood at the extremes of amosityholkth
There were two reasons urged against legalising the congruity. For all this they should t