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

oand experience can only be gained by time. What is
experience to one class of the community is not so to
another; while some are already convinced it may
require another cycle of years to prove to all
classes of the community that the corn-law is an
evil which presses down the energies of the nation.
We began our organisation five or six years ago in
the midst of unparalleled manufacturing distress.
That distress was said to arise from a sudden scarcity
of food ; creating an artificial famine. I would ask,
whether the price of wheat, rising forty-five or fifty
:er cent in some instances, was not sufficient to de-
range the whole commerce of the country ? We were
told of joint-stock banks, of speculation—of a market
being closed to us somewhere in Central Asia, and
all sorts of things ; but it was denied that a scarcity
of corn had anything to do with the manufacturing
distress. Well, we came round again to a time when
L'rovidence in His bounty gave a plentiful supply of
corn. We came to that period when there was a
comparatively natural price of corn—not probably
entirely natural, but nearly natural, and the conse-
quence was a continued, rapid, and steady rise in the
prosperity of the manufacturing districts. And you
have seen that just in proportion as the price of pro-
visions, and the cost of the first necessaries of life
diminished in the country, so did the condition of every
man in the manufacturing, mercantile, and commercial
community tend to rise into comparative prosperity. We
are now coming to a time when, unless the elements do
now at a most critical moment greatly disappoint us.
We are now coming to a time, and within six months,
when we shall have an opportunity of appealing to
the farmer whether the last three years of his ex-
perience of the corn-laws have not been sufficient to
satisfy him that protection to agriculture, as it is
called, has been any protection to him. I say, unless
the elements do not greatly disappoint us, we have on
the earth's surface—we have in these islands, such an
abundant crop of wheat, which, if all gathered, will,
in my firm conviction, in sit months, bring down the
price of wheat lower than it would be if we had
a perfectly free trade in corn. How will the
farmer be situated ? There will be a rebound—a re-

action from famine and distress—amongst the manu-
facturers—a re-action—a retribution brought home
to the farmer himself—and how will he like that
position? Will the landlord tell him to wait for a
year or two when he would have prices up again ?
Why, what will the farmer say ? We had prices up
before, and you put up our rents, and we had those
rents to pay when prices were low; but the very fact
of our having high prices and scarcity for three years
has caused distress and ruin to our customers ; and
when we are now blessed with plenty, our customers
are without the means of consuming our produce.
And if the farmers have that intelligence, which I
would fain g ive them credit for, they would
say to the landlord, The remedy you pro-
pose for our distress—another scarcity—another
artificial famine—will only prepare the way for
future distress, by again ruining the customers on
whom we depend, when we are again blessed with a
plentiful harvest. Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, a
great deal has been said about the condition of the

agricultural labourer at the present MOMenC. lie is
said to be badly off. The monopolists speak of it as
though it was something new for the agricultural
labourer to be badly off.. lam prepared to maintain
that when we in the manufacturing districts were
badly off—during the three years of high prices and
continued scarcity—the agricultural labourer was
then as badly off as the manufacturing labourer was ;
hut owing to a sudden climax of distress occurring in
the north of England, a cry was raised in that densely
populated district, which stifled the cry that would
have sprung from the agricultural districts, if no such
agitation had occurred in the north. I mention this,
mind you, with an eye to official documents. The
proof is to be found in the poor-rates. The poor-rates
increased in the agricultural counties more in propor-
tion in the dear year than they did in Lancashire, or
the West Riding of Yorkshire themselves. The
agricultural labourer never benefited by a scarcity of
food. The farmer may, perhaps, when there is a
scarcity, by selling his corn for a higher price, be
benefited for a year or two, but the agricultural
labourer never can. No working population, in any
country, can ever by possibility be benefited by giving
to that country an artificial scarcity of the first neces-
sary of life. Now we are taking our leave of
you to•night, and turning our back upon this scene.
We shall drop the curtain for at least six months. It
may be well before we leave, for us to anticipate a
little as to what we may expect will be going on
during the next six months in the two sections of the
community, the agricultural and the manufacturing.
Now, in the manufacturing districts, if provisions re-
main at the moderate price which they were even last
year, but especially if the present harvest should be
favourably gathered in, then- the prices must come
down, and in that case you will hear of great activity
in all the branches of our manufactures. Yoit will
hear of great activity in the iron districts and amongst
the manufactures of cotton, in woollen, and linen—
and you will hear of great activity in the shipping
ports, and amongst the home traders generally. You
will hear of strikes for advance of wages, when only
three years ago thousands and tens of thousands of la-

boureis were asking for work on the roads, and ob-
tained subsistence only from the parishes. We have
already had two strikes in Lancashire; both of which
have been successful.--(Loud cheers.) The spinners
in two places have struck for an advance of wages, and
they got it. (This sentence was received with a loud
and lengthened burst of cheering, intermingled with
cries of " Bravo, bravo.") I say " bravo" too.—
(Cheering.) I have always given this advice to the
operatives of the north—" Never strike when provisions
are up—when wheat is 70s. the quarter—because if
you do, you will not succeed. Wait until wheat
comesdown to 455. or 503., and you will never fail."—
(Hear.) You will hear what we have lately heard
of workmen being brought before the magistrate for
suddenly leaving their employment, and those men
saying—" Well, I'll pay the fine if I can get better
work elsewhere." You will hear less of pauperism,
less of crime, and less of disease and mortality in the
manufacturing districts. You will find "Mechanics'
Institutions " thriving and increasing in number.
Lyceums will be established, and book clubs will he
extensively formed. I see that in Lancashire in one
town upwards of 100 fresh members have been added
to the Mechanics' Institution in one week.—(Loud
cheers.) To-morrow there will be a public meeting
in Manchester, with the Mayor in the chair, to devise
the means of raising a public subscription to lay out
a park and pleasure-grounds for Manchester.—
(Hear.) You will find the energy and activity
of the masters and the middle-classes of
Manchester exerted for the extension of education.
You will find similar institutions to the Athenaeum
established, together with others for promoting reli-
gious and scientific pursuits--you will find the manu-
facturers giving to moral objects that energy and
exertion which, during the last three years, have been
obliged exclusively to be devoted to the miserable
question of getting bread enough for the people.
That is what is to be seen now in the manufacturing
districts, and do not let our enemies say that "these
Leaguers have been false prophets." We told them
four
thate
e s—or highf we care not about high
prices of provisions, or
rather
prices, if they are natural prices—that unnatural
prices of food caused our distress; and we told them
yueanrnsataugraol prices—for
that a more natural supply of food would cure the
evil. Already they find that we have been true pro-
phets, Now what is going on in the agricultural
districts ? Some of the farmers are selling wheat in
the country markets at from 40s. to 455. a quarter.
Ere long we shall hear of the farmers rising up in all
parts of the country and proclaiming their unparal-
leled distress. Why are they distressed? Because
they have been bargaining to pay rents, calculating
wheat at 645. per quarter, and selling it at 403. to
455. They trusted to a law which can for a time
cause a scarcity price of corn ; but it is not iii
the nature of things that it can permanently main-
tain it. What will the landlords say to them? Now
that is a thing I should not like to turn prophet upon.
—(Cheers.) I should not like t venture to predict
what the Central Agricultural Society for the Protec-
tion of Agriculture will say in November or Decem-
ber next, when its members are scattered over the
country, and have to face the farmers to explain what
they have been doing in Parliament. Will they
throw it all on Sir Robert Peel, think you ? Will
they propose to set up Stanley in his place ? They
must find some new "dodge."—(Laughter.) My
dependence is upon the intelligence of the
farmers, who have had their wits ground on the stone
of adversity, and I believe that they all begin to doubt
the efficacy of this so-called protection. They will
see that this protection is only to give the farmer
higher prices for his corn, in order that he may pay
higher rents. The farmer is now selling his corn at
a price lower probably thshit would be if there was
a free trade in corn. What excuse will the political
landlords use to these farmers ? They have admitted
that they cannot by Act of Parliament secure high
prices, and I take credit to myself for having extracted
that confession from them.—(Cheers.) They have
declared that they cannot secure a price for corn to
the farmers, and the farmers should turn round and
say—" We cannot secure you your rent."—(Loud
cheers.) The landlords most likely will say to the far-
mers, " Oh, rent forms so small a proportion in your
outgoings, that if you had land rent-free you could
not compete with the foreigner. What do you think
they have lately had the assurance to tell the farmer ?
Why, the Morning Post says that the British farmer
only pays six shillings a quarter for rent on each
quarter of wheat sold, because for every acre, which
grows about three quarters and a half or twenty-six
bushels, he pays but one pound. Now, this was as-
suming that the farmer grew wheat and sold it all the
year round. lam sorry to say—and as a farmer's
son I am ashamed to say it—that nine-tenths of the
farmers believe this statement of the Morning Post,
and they believe anything the landlords tell them.
But I tell the farmer, and &good many of them are
rather inquisitive as to what we say here—l tell the