The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-26 00:00:00

price which Englishmen had to paS- for it, and still the West
India gentleman got up in the House of Commons, and ex-
claiined against the sin of encouraging slave la4our.—(lm-
mense cheering.) There.was no country in the earth la-
bouring under a more degrading servitude than this. To be
ruled over by an-oligarchy-of the sugar hogshead and the
flour barrel was really degrading—while in comparison to
that, a servitude like that of Napoleon or Cromwell would
have atoning features about it, from the mighty intellectual'
force to which they would then bend. The Hon. Gentleman
then called upon the meeting to give their support to the
Anti-Corn-law League, and advised them to be ready for the
next election, as there was a great influence against which
they would have
.to contend.—(Hear, hear.) He advised
them to form themselves into a registration society, and to
take care that every vote on the right side was properly
registered, as that was after all the best way of saving the
cause.:—(Hear, hear.) They had already two good Mem-
bers in the House. of them keep them there, tlur they
voted for Mr. Villiers.7—(Hear, hear, and- prolonged cheer-
ing.) -The Hon. Gentleman then, concluded, 'once more
calling upon the meeting to co-operate with the League'
`to strengthen it by every means in their power, and to con-
tribute as liberally as possible to its funds. On sitting down,
the Ifonourable Gentleman was greeted with a-perfect storm
of cheering.
Mr. G. TFIOALPSCT was then, introduced, and was' received
with great' cheering. There was no diScussion respecting the
abstract principle on which their agitation was based. That
free trade wed the doctrine of common'sense was avowed by
the President of the Board of Control, by Sir Robert Peel,
and by the Times newspaper. The only difference arose upnn
the application. of the principle. The League only asked
that-it should be impartially applied. They wented to strike
at once at the root of the tree—to overthrow the monster
monopolies which supported all others.' It was not a ques-
tion for manufacturers, or labourers, or agriculturists alone.
The interests of all classes were one, and protection was only
protection to one party, and that was the unproductive class,
• living upon high rents, while the great productive masses
wished to live upon what was the .natural law—universal
free trade. The League directed its attention, it was true,
mainly to the abolition of the corn-laws; but the question
had since taken a wider range, and comprehended every inter-
est in society. The Anti-corn-law movement was not: at
variance with the other great movements which were now in
progress. He was an enemy to all monopolies. The very
same principle which led him to abhor this monopoly, led
him also to abhor all political and ecclesiastical monopolies.—
(Immense and prolouged cheering.) The corn-laws were
the key-stone of the arch of monopoly, which fettered
not only the industry, but- also the consciences
and the political freedom of men. The interests of mono-
polists were all in common. But if they abolished the
great monopoly, there was no other which could not be
easily assailed.—(Hear, hear.) The corn-laws were radi-
cally unjust. It must have been the law of God in placing
men as•we found them, in their infinite diversity of circum-
stances, that-they should stand on the most unrestricted
commercial relations with each other.—(Cheering.) It was
melancholy that in such a country as this so many who were
ready and able to toil should be destitute of the common
necessaries of life, in a condition of physical destitution un-
paralleled in any other country in the world. Where God
lied been most bountiful man was most destitute—where
man should command everything, he was in want of every-
thing.—(Cheers.) The League was not weak on any sub-
ordinate branches of this question. It had been discussed by
the religious portion of the community on purely religious
grounds, and their verdict had agreed with the verdict of the
League. It had gone into the agricultural districts and
forced the dumb to speak, and since they had so spoken out,
the public had had an opportunity to estivate the profun-
dity of their intellects and the nature of their political
economy.—(Hear, hear.) He did not wonder that the
.House of Commons had refused the Committees of
Inquiry which had been frequently demanded. The re-
sult of the Import Duties Committee had taught them a
lesson. That Committee brought to light the extraordi-
nary and stupendous robbery which was annually inflicted
upon this country. . They were not likely soon to grant
another such Committee; but the question was now fairly
before the country. Much was owing to the Anti Corn-law
League; there was more than bread involved in this matter.
Political science should know nothing of Parliamentary
peddling's with the trades of men. The pretence on the part
of the Government to exclude such articles as sugar on the
plea that they were the produce of slave labour, was one of
the most monstrous and hypocritical frauds of which a Legis-
lature was ever guilty. 'that was not the way to abolish
slavery; free trade would necessarily overthrow the whole
system of slavery, as slave labour could never successfully
compete with free labour. The cry against admitting slave-
grown sugar was raised by those who, a few years ago, were
all slaveowners themselves ; and who, while they held slaves
of their own, refused to admit the produce of free countries, in
order to continue the slave interests in the West Indies.—
.(Hear.) Mr. Thompson then adverted to the object of the
meeting, and urged upon it to strengthen the hands of the
League by co-operating with it in every way, and, above all,
by contributing in a liberal manner to the fund which the
exsensive operations of the League for the present year re-
quired for their successful fulfilment.—(Cheers.) He trusted
they would transmute their cheers into the coin of the realm,
and that their contributions would bear a good proportion to
the importance and nationality of the question.--(Cheers.)