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

tons a body of representatives sufficiently compact,
well-principled, and decided, as to make it impes,ike
for any monopolist faction, Whig or Tory, again to
govern this country. And if the influence of this
movement was visible in the political parties of the
Legislature, it might assuredly be traced, le .eelly and
distinctly, in the public mind. In the world's his-
tory no subject of a similar nature had ever been so
'variously and ably elucidated; and he believed, in
atauiequence, no subject had been so generally under-
Stood, or so well appreciated, as that of free-trade.
lie would put the meetings that had been held there
in evidence, the kind of topics and arguments in
Which the audiences had manifested a lively interest,
and the quick response that had been given
t°, Points which, some few years ago, would have
'Peen a matter of hesitation even to the great mass of
educated men. Of political economy it might be
111,,d now, as it was said of philosophy of old, that it
7" been brought down to the habitations of men, to
mingle with the every-day thoughts of the great
tags
of the population ; and as public in-
bv"lgence was thus generated, it must soon
Danish utterly from the world the prejudices, and
sophisms, and falsehoods, by which mankind had
hitherto 'been deluded. How short a time was it
since the two rival statesmen, Pit and Fox, made the
world ring with their conflicts; and it was a matter
of question which of the two was the most pro-
foundly and utterly ignorant of the doctrines of
Political economy. And now there could not
be a lisping dandy sent down as a candi-
date for a pocket borough, for the purpose
Of representing his own relations, but he must
be crammed for the occasion from the works of Adam
Smith—Mr.Cayley's edition.—(Cheers and laughter.)
A people thus instructed, could not be trifled with ;
and it was a proud boast for the League, that to-
gether with intellect, and exertion, and acquire-
ments, it had been the means of diffusing throughout
the country a spirit of intellectual independence
also.--(Hear, hear.) Whenever he found a dis-
position to break through that gross servility
which had so long been a stain on a great
Part of the people of this country ; when he found a
disposition to call things by their right names, how-
ever plausible might be the appellation by which they
were distinguished ; when he saw the same standard of
right and wrongapplied to the high and low; when he
saw the peer judged by the same principle that was
applied to the peasant; when he found a desire to bear
testimony to the value of great and wise prin-
ciples, and a lively sympathy felt in the
wants and wrongs of the poor and helpless
classes—in all this he saw the influence exercised by
the Anti-Corn-law League, spreading throughout the
different classes of
outan. the right and to Society a determination to work
which put down the wrong, by peaceful,
eeeds legal,
.and honourable, but certain means, the suc-
asement to the minds
Cour would be a noble consolation and en-
of those who originated
thisinstitution, which had been the instrument of
diflusing these principles throughout the country.
They had evidence of that—evidence which they
would not shrink from looking fairly in the face. It
was continually brought up that the League had lost
several important elections. They were taunted with
sh the public journals. It was said that they
dared not show themselves in several boroughs, and
contest them. They had not been able to contest
Cirencester and Horsham. Well, now he (Mr. Pox), held that no evil at all. He believed it to be a real
good; that a cause like this should have such com-
Plaints was not at all surprising. There were a
connected
number of persons who had not been hitherto
inotinnected with political agitation, not accustomed to
tl' g and toilssime processes which must be gone
itrioug.h for achieving any great work of social or po-
th litre improvement. He held it to be a great good
_ilia the minds of the people should be dispossessed of
‘.E
091 a notion that they had only to tell the people
h7nat was true and right, and then that there would
sdaPeedy and complete triumph. If these elections
f, resulted differently, what would have been the of
t
on a great portion of those who had for the first
nae in their lives joined in any political agitation
When they became connected with the League? Why
lesson would have been that opinion was free ;
to
that action was free • that there was no intimidation
at elections,-
no bribery; no active sinister influence
the Pervert the consciences of voters and drag them to
P°lllng booth to vote against their interests and
against their feelings. That was the lesson so easy a
Cualph would have inculcated, but that lesson would
have se been a gross falsehood.—(Hear, hear.) It would
ready emed monopoly was
raY to giv by such a result that e
up the contest without making a despe-
_ and unscrupulous effort; that class interests
would have struck, and readily yielded to the voice of
tended
pinion, and that they might not have appre-
stended from it a tooth and nail resistance and a
teruggle to the death. That lesson would have been
fol "l!,tt,c'd and that lesson too, would have been a gross
°•
suit that It Would have been judged by such a re-
learned part sirit had sbsided; that having
no,wisdomy
and rectitude,u he aristocracy would
for the sake of pragmatically asserting some ill-
ii;llinded political theory, have further persevered in
in„;;r°PPosition, but would have yielded to the voice of
-hood—'ee, but that result, too, would have been a false-
the It would have appeared by such results that
rih,Present arrangements were all-sufficient for the
in`-',„:4 and interests of society, and that the arrange-
nia'"o, of elections, and all the electoral and political
be LultlerY connected with them, were as good as could
ma PTY
that could be desired ; that lesson,
Thn would have been a gross falsehood.—(Hear, hear.)
mature„se ho cried out defeat, therefore, cried out pre-
disei,4-7' The opposition they had experienced had
rnostr h'e'l the public mind, and would eventually
tire communityPowerfll tend towards the interests of the en-
e in,, . y,—(
ha" with Loud cheers.) For ose who
exultation and scorn to suchth results as
Th u mentioned
4 e PeOple w he would say they laughed. too soon..
Lation vol,_ll ere organising and combining in an pp-
that agaaill nothing could resist, and the elements of
prine,pies
oupn were, education, instruction in the first
education w'orlitieal economy ; and when such an
talli„eh a People „,Perfeeted, and when the energies of
ztpie, their
Were put Pere directed towards one point, when
lorwaed in sustaining one mighty prin-
Q°n of the _oree would be resistless, and the founds-
reatness
character would be laid, and of the
dli,ag the nationhl rosperity of the empire. Another
ing, it il had done, and which was well worth
very
on ad unmasked the monopolist class.
hulv, and knew, the features of that class
ragain, The they could never be disguised
eeently intro Was a mystification at a parallel
litlnd person duced between peers and men of station
elecki ran of an humbler class, as if a different
"owed in :1111 the veins of the lord from that which
when free t Vieions of the peasant, and it was only
ii"u close discussion
principles came into that constant
earned to Iseussion which they had been recently
;vre proved Undergo, that those feudal associations
class
to be all fallacies ; that in reality this
"Pt shops 3. Was as much a trading class as if they
ernbleins7 Cheapside, and that coronets were only
quarters
othe quantity of acres and the numbers of
Tere trade__°rn which they grew.—(Hear.) Yes, they
heir wholesale traders in land and in corn.
the lowarewrehrt.3;aders in food for all sorts of beings, from
et4narY birdiell a man eats to the seed which the
racled in fish and in pheasants. They traded in
enewed :arnbling booths and in race-courses.—
atiptuoriey ries of " Hear, hear," and cheers.) They
to sus," races themselves, and then brought in
w„ in garters the payment. They traded in stars
eret or
all
rs
"Pecially in blue ones; but what was
Peasant gowns
traded in legislation, by which the
° a sear 7 made more miserable, and converted
toe; the, e profit.—(Hear, hear, and loud cheers.)
e„akers, evere hucksters, with the power of law-
,e the
reirl the enhancement of their prices.—(Hear,
Pett . ere
,baly hnen.dr 43 a great outcry raised against the
taper who taught his 'prentice boy to
'2ll4finitel la per
whilst those noble legislators
ach Clots Y worse, for they shaved the nation, and
laughter too, than the poor linen-draper.--(Great
Poeed anad
the
er the' whQ if the
) Their fallacies had been ex-
real patrons had not been the original authors
these, more_ of the doctrines of the Morning
d_ al, as mr.lv,3 an immediate connection between
reuetrine.....ric,U.,Thden had well remarked. It was the
teodndisrn in
tKheburning in practice, was only Rich-
parallel
ehe ory- (Loud cries of " Hear, hear, '
enel ers-) There could not be a completer
Urnin an that between Richmondism and rick-.
sexed
di th one wantonly destroyed property,
than
humanhecitherL(Hear hear.) If the one endan-
abo° ean_ life, wh'y,
human life was worse
nlinahie g2red, and that by wholesale by those
41,1.noeently
stiafriarva.tion laws. If some rick-burners
the col/1111unit ered, why, so did a very large class of
:leaven, soildirdlestls;
an most y: and, most of all those who were poorest
e nltfh
etrh.e_o(nLe
oud destroyederie
s o
ft h,e, giftsear Hear.")
Much lar
'll4.lfpi{, and goefr
the adjoining counties, had consumed,
se of recent years, been suffered to rot
course
At ins't" a and key, had rotted in bond, and had been
1:lull ,` shovelled into the river.—(Loud cries of
hear.") Wh
nyn, t
hhsa had
gnoo
(Hear, hear.)
thee ar.
)c case
Then
des Was
h Within a few.
loYFete Was the mighty difference ? In the elements
jr,oYed cort;, Wit.)l3, should that be wicked which de-
fire, and that be virtuous
''lrt4eh destroyed by fire,
by water ? (HWhiear, hear.)
with troy reference to that more awful tribunal
theT„' °ad been to
to that evening, he believed
th-J Would not escape their punishment either, and if
.e incendiary
ota4ll,on of posterit
444,torian of this e transported for life, the future
ou.try would consign to the detes-
el et
waY the y those selfish law-makers. In an-
. !ague had exposed the monopolist
h a 4- It 1,
tad stimuittat_d elicited their virtue.—(Laughter.) It
tiecdent of to them to philanthropy, for how bene
au they shown themselves? The ques-
• (3f th d•
Xvery Itic section set up
e 'stress of he poor was in constant agita-
some beneficent