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

cry of this sort—one founded a society for poor needle-
women. They exclaimed against cheap shirts, and said
the people ought to buy dear ones, not caring, in the
exuberance of their charity, for the poor man, who,
unless he could obtain a cheap shirt, could wear no
shirt at all. So they were all afflicted that the poor
should work so long, and instead of having twelve
hours should have only ten hours' work. But they
would not make the wages of the poor man worth
more in the market. They would stop the unfeeling
engine, and send the poor man home some hours
sooner to reflect upon what he could do with more
wages if he could get them.—(Great laughter and
cheers.) Then they were providing for travelling,
and there was the philosophy, of certain Bishops,
who took such good care of the poor that, if they
travelled at all, they must travel in the best trains.—
(Laughter and cheers.) These philanthropists looked
everywhere except into the poor man's cupboard,
where his loaf was sliced away by monopoly.—(Hear,
hear.) While this pernicious system was going on
in 1834, the people of this country paid in direct
taxation on wheat imported 800,0001. 'That amount
of bread had been taxed on average 15s. 3d. a quarter,
and yet they were told they had not protection enough.
'What had been the average last year ? 535. a quarter
—9s. more than their fellow-subjects paid in Guern-
sey, where they were out of the boundary cf these
laws ; so that Britons were obliged to pay more for
their bread who had never been the subjects of French-
men, than the inhabitants of Guernsey, who had been
subjects of the crown of France. Those philan-
tropists, so overflowing with benevolence, looked
to the morals as well as the physical condition of
the people. They wanted bread and they gave
them a stone. They said the people wanted more
churches—

" To cheating he was so inclined
He still like water kept his level,
For having cheated all mankind,
He built a church to cheat the deviL"
Such were the absurdities with which the monopolists
attempted to gull the people. During the cessation
of these meetings, if they wished to know where the
League was, they might not be long astray. If they
saw a man looking sharply on the registration list,
canvassing Liberal votes, ascertaining just and legal
objections against the fictitious electors, there they
would see the League. If they wanted to see where the
leaders of the League were, let them look to the news-
papers and there they would see Bright and Cobden,
as hitherto, sometimes contending with physical-force
Chartists, as at Northampton—sometimes fighting
the monopolist Tories at Dudley—and sometimes
amongst the wild beasts at Ephesus.—(Cheers and
laughter.) The .Herald of this day said that the
League wanted to back out of the agitation, and
that they would if they could. The Herald did not
understand the reason why it was impossible for
them to back. It did not seem to know that there was a
moral impossibility, as well as a physical one that men
of clear minds and true hearts, having put their
hands to the plough, could not look back—they
could not desist from the great work as long as they
had life, or until their cause had triumphed. They
talked of union and dissolution among the members
of the League, of which here they knew not the
name. If ever there was a movement which showed
confidence, honour, and decision—if ever there was a
body which evinced the fullest mutual_reliance7it

. -
It was the Anti-Corn-law League. Hitherto, the
same organ had charged them with too much con-
fidence, and endeavoured to spirit up the public to
inquire after the funds of the League, the 50,000/. .
which had been collected last year, and the 100,0001.
collected this year, and made many wonderful and
wise insinuations in relation to this topic. Surely,
no want of confidence was shown in the leaders of
the League when such vast sums were collected
in the neighbourhood where they were best known ?
—(Hear, hear.) When would the Anti-League
elicit equal confidence ? He would like •to see the
farmers endorsing 150,0001. to his Grace the Duke of
Buckingham. He would like to see them do that,
even though his Grace should give bills for the
amount, aye, and even though those bills should bear
interest, and be engrossed by his Grace the Duke of
Richmond.—(Laughter and cheers.) And if on the
seeming cessation of the League, the people of London
should feel a blank left in their lives, why, let them
call a meeting, and invite the League to come
to it. They did not, in the first instance,
go to the League. The citizens of London
had been the recipients. The energies of
the League had called these meetings together,
and if they grew impatient they had an easy remedy.
Such a response was due alter all the exertions
of the League, who had been unremitting in their co-
operation with them. In the first meetings of the
present session he had endeavoured to show that this
cause rested mainly in the cities and large towns of
the empire. Surely such a town as Birmingham
should not have tarnished its fair fame by the recent
occurrence there. They should have known better
than in the employing their votes in the assertion of
anti-commercial interests, and against the welfare of
the community. But the League was preparing for the
first fight for the great electoral struggle which was to
come. They held out no whimsical anticipations.
They stood upon no baseless theories ; their prin-
ciples were laid broadly and deeply ; founded upon the
testimony of all experience ; founded upon practice
and upon truth. Ile trusted that the warning given
them by the Member for Manchester, that night,
would sink into their minds; and that the peace
of the world would not be hazarded to sustain mo-
nopoly, which was at the bottom of these national
dissensions. When they saw the expedients to which
monopoly had had recourse, they could not doubt
that monopoly would prefer even war to the sacri-
fice of its own interest. Should they see such an
emergency impending, he doubted not that the people
of this country would as one man protest against the
sanguinary doings which were now only matte.rs:of
history, and history alone.—(Hear, hear.) This
agitation must continue in advance, because it was
founded on an extensive perception of national
interest—it must continue in advance, because

it was based on a moral principle. They
willingly accorded to their opponents all the
advantages they possessed over them—property,
rank, and influence; the House of Lords, the House
of Commons, a large portion of the press, the use of
the Post-office—(Laughter)—part of the army and
navy, appointments in the Church, and the influence
of the Church. They had all these, but this enume-
ration, and a more powerful one, must, after all, yield
to :the sense of justice in the human heart. _Chat
was the power with which they knew not how to
deal, but which they would be taught the force of ;
a power more ancient than their oldest ancestors; a
power that existed before Catholics or Cathedrals,
before either Church or State ; a power older than
even the creation itself. Justice, that sacred power,
which existed before the pillars of the earth
were laid, or before the mountains of the
earth were brought forth—which dwelt with wisdom
in the eternal mind—a principle inherent in man
from the first breath of life, and which to contend
with was as vain as to strive to extinguish the stars of
heaven—a principle which would vivify the social and
political institutions of this country, and give content-
ment to all, and he fervently hoped that Providence
would speedily bring about that most desirable con-
summation.—(Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN expressed his sincere thanks, and
that of the League, to the immense and respectable
audience, whom he then had the honour of addressing,
for their increased attention and scrupulous decorum
at the League meetings. The League, though about
to close its meetings in London, would persevere as
actively as ever, and come to the struggle with re-
newed energies. Monopoly must be broken down,
and free-trade principles must prevail. He was sin-
cerely anxious for the future welfare of all whom hoik
saw around him, and that the blessing of Heaven
would attend them and their cause, was his fervent
prayer.—(Loud cheers.)
The immense meeting then separated, after throe
cheers for the League, three for the Queen, and three
for Mr. Cobden.