The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-17 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL MEETING on the CORN LAWS.

On- Wednesday last, pursuant to previous notice, a
Meeting of the inhabitants of Liverpool was held in the
Town-hall, for the . purpose of taking into consideration
the expediency. of presenting petitions to the Legislature
for the repeal . of the Corn Laws, oritheir'rriaditication.—
The Hall was crowded in every part. All the commercial
Gentlemen of the town were present; and a more respect-
able meeting than this never assembled in Liverpool.
The Mavoa (Thomas Littledale, Esq.) took the'Chair pre-
Cisely at 12 o'clock. He had convened the meeting in conse-
quence of having received a requisition, most numerously and
respectably signed, and that he was most happy in seeing so many
Gentlemen present on the neeasion.—The subject Which they
were met to consider was one of great importance, not only to the
country at large, bat to Liverpool in particular. He trusted,
therefore, thatit would receive the dispassionate discussion due to
a great national question.
The Town-clerk having read the requisition, and ' the names
of the requisitionists,
Mr. Ilisrav I:loom rose. In presenting himself to the notice
of the meeting in - this early stage of their proceedings, it was
quite essential that he should state that he did so in consequence
of the absence of Sir John Tobin, who would otherwise have had
the honour to propose the first of a series of resolutions, which
had for their object to prevail upon Parliament to adopt a speedy
and salutary modification of the corn laws. What subject could
1w considered of more importance than to obtain a repeal of the
monopoly of the food of man ? It was given in evidence before a
Committee of the House of Commons, 'that 'the best lands under
cultivation yielded a produce of front thirty-Aix to forty bushels per
acre, whilst the worst lands yielded only eight or ten.' Now, 'as
the price of wheat is regulated by the cost of its growth on the
worst lands under cultivation, and if it were necessary to cultivate
those lands, it follows that we are paying four times as much for
our fend as we should do were only the hest lands under cultiva-
tion. Ilutif arse take a medium between the best and the worst,
it will then follow that we pay double a reasonable and necessary
price for our corn ; and be believed we did actually pay double •
the price paid fOr wheat in any other country in Europe. We might
-form no very inaccurate estimate of the burden which the corn
laws entail upon this country, from the amount of the duty which,
it is insisted, we ought to pay before importation. He believed
that JOB. on wheat was the melt moderate duty which had been
Proposed as a protecting duty. That was, as he conceived, to keep
the price of corn above what it would otherwise be. Now,
there are 48 millions of statute acres in cultivation, and if we take
the produce at eight bushels of wheat per acre, we have an annual
produce equivalent to 48,000,000/., the half of which is
24,000,000/. per annum, which the people of England pay to the.
agriculturists. An extraordinary plea has been advanced, that,
were it not for their monopoly in corn, the interest of the national
debt could not he paid. He demurred to the validity of this pro-
position. It was very true, that with it diminished rental the
agricultural interest could not pay the game amount of taxation.
Now, suppose that 25,000,000/. goes to the 'government, would
it not be much better that we should have it in our own posses-
sion, rather than pay it to the agriculturists, that they inay.have
the credit of paying 25,000,000/. towards the support of the Go-
vernment? The tenantry of the country begin to he pretty.
well aware that restrictions on the importation of corn,
and the consequent high price of food, and that increase in
all their outgoings incidental to the poi* rates, are not benefi-
cial to them ; but if the present restriction is so objectionable in
principle, how much More objectionable will it appear when
We take into consideration the present distressed state of the
country ? And the evil is aggravated, it appears still more severe,
when we consider the-distress which the corn laws inflict on the
Manufacturer is not compensated by any equivalent to the agri-
culturist. It is plain that the agriculturist can be benefitted by
this monopoly only in so fur as the labourer is able to con-
sume his produce ; but what can people do when they have not
money to purchase that produce ? This was the case, at the pre-
sent moment, with a very large part of our population. The un-
employed manufacturer says to the agriculturist, " I ern desirous
to exchange the labour of my hands for the produce of your
fields. You will not accept my labour. Will you . permit me to
export that labour for the corn of foreign countries?" "No,"
says the agriculturist, "I will not allow you. I will not give
you corn for, your labour, neither will I allow you to export
your labour to foreign countries, because they have not the some
amount of taxes to pay -that I have." "But," says the' manu-
facturer, "as I have only the produce of my labour to give in
exchange for corn, and as you wilt not give me cora in
ttuebange, the question is, whether I shall eon,gitue foreign corn or
Mule." That was the simple state of the question. Neither is it any
answer to hint to say, that the pre,eot price of wheat is not-exces-
sively dear. That is a question with which be has nothing to do.
The price of wheat is not a bar to his obtaining it. What he
wants is a demand for the prodUce of his industry—a demand
which this aoontry does not afford, but which foreign countries
could. The broad atl4 graml question of the freedom of trade is
one of intense and growing intereat,--pre-eminently so to the ma-
nufacturer, but remotely so to every individual. such a satire on
iegialation as our present Corn Laws, his remained too long on
the flitatnte-book. A great deal of misery might be prevented by
timely imelfesenre. The Administration is entitled to the thanks
of the country, for their measures to promote the freedom of trade
generally, and to promote the freedom of the corn-trade 'maim-
lsrly. It was incumbent on Liverpool, in p4rticular, to declare
its adherence to the principlei which have begun to anitPate the
Councils of the Crown. Other places may hesitate; they may
hold back ; but with the 'constituents of Mr. Huskisson this is
impossible. • We owe it to hitu to support that enlarged policy
which has struggled into existence tinting his administration. He
would, with the leave of the meeting, tnove the first of a series of
resolutions, the Abject of which be had thiplained,
Mr. N. Routt4son seconded the reaohition. •
Mr. W. W. Cullom, in rising to propose the second
resolu-
tion, remarked,on • the striking change in sentiment which had
taken place among the farmers on the corn laws. • These men
began to have their eyes opened--they began to think that all is
not gospel which fills from the landlords on this subject. It was
as notch the interest of the farmer as of the manufacturer to have
corn—the staff of life, at as reasonable a price as it could be obtain-
ed. But, under the present system, it was impossible to get
corn cheap. The proceedings of this and of other similar meet-
ings would convince the landed interest that the country was alive
to the subject, and they would also show to Ministers that, in
their attempt to modifr tFils corn raws, they might rely on the sup-
port
ort of the country. MI 041; Wanted was, that earn-should, at
• -,
times and seasons, be importable into tide country, subject to
a taxed, and, he hoped, not a heavy duty.
.hre• foßNEV.seconded the resolution, and Corroborated
the statements mada by the preceding speaker respecting the man.
net in Which out corn lave had tended to promote the manufac-
turing systinn. of the United Stain.
11,canc•agg,said, he perfectly coiocided its what had been
aaja respecting the progress that America was making, owing to
during
our
earn
that was panTrde
bill of 1815 was
petitione in Congress pri-
gm.ated c!!
in laws.
our refusal The itaokttateri
take their
n
' 4 against more than any ether in the. House of Como-Mlls,
and upon that. occasion rotetine. was In4d in this town,
Mr. Leyland's mayoralty, relative to it. The object Afth..atil?iill
1 ig
laid been nearly to ruin the &rows, It was roost grievous,
le i
the past year, to.witness the distress it hail Prolog.county
, . d otherwise hoe 44.0.
of Lancaster and the borders of Yorkshire, while there alas plenty
of bonded corn in Liverpool, whudi 000
sup plied to the poor at a ',cheap rate, Ile trusted this con.
stanee would show to the Legislature the necessity of an immediate
alteration, in the existing corn laws. . •
Mr. I
s
i:nota Pl,Prinbyn, in moving the fourth reruffiloctiiot lit
ground ;
adverted to a subject which atone, in his opinion, was
grod for the object of the meetitsg, there was no outer'
alluded t.O) the price of gold, which in 1915 woe 4/. 1.0, an ounce,
;aid now only 17s. ed. This • difference,knew,
was owing
of.
all
to a depreciation In the currency. It was evident, therefore,igamate-
so
that
• the state of things was difeytot, and that as .gold
daily decreased, tilers • ought to lie a decrease in the
psi foals
other commodities. on that ground 044 g lawstak„
utore _
that
rnvis~x}. Ire concurred its' the view that ear. Whit
of the importation of core, in his pamphlet, and he hoped_
something beneficial to the country would be finally determined
(int--.(Applaiose.): .• - • "
Mr. Harms proposed the fifth resolution. -
Mr. JoalsBstren haul great pleasure in seconding it. Ile felt
the impertance of this question in the well-being of the country
it, which We had the happiness to live. The hopes and fears of
tarty wan were-directed to what the public voice wnnld say,
and
What Ministers would do, supported by that public YO4CE, to
liberate from the shaekbei.the most valuable part of the caporal-
nitY. (Applause.) What did the farmer feel? It wassail, and
very truly so, that the pressure came immediately !moo him ;• and
although it
.was told hint that lie should be promoted, he had since
foond that protection not
to be real. The farmer had been buf,
Petted 4.1134 t by the alteration in the price of corn from She, to the
high price of i7oe. per quarter, almost trebling the value be..
he had not been benefitted,-
that,. in proportion as he
tween tine Pe" and another, Ho felt now, therefore, that
too been presets! by his landlord, he -was compelled to grind
down those under hint,
(Applause.) He felt, that to be
safe in pursuit of his occupation, he -ought not to lie :driven
to the cultivation of inferior sod. In falsely supposing
that be would be benefitted by the law of 1910, be went

with his landlord, which he bad since found nearly reined,
him. He also felt, that from year to year his capital de-
creased, and that as the general state of the country has
been retrograding, he found men willing to compete with him in
offering still the same high price for the laud. In Ireland a man
takes a small piece of land, and if he can only raise potatoes enough
on it to support hint and his family, he trusts to Providence for
clothes fur them. It would be a lamentable thing to see the far-
mer of this country, tinder the existing corn laws, degraded to the
same condition, ground to the earth by the pressure above him,
and the competition below him. Mr. Smith then alluded to the
trade which could he carried on in exporting biscuits if the corn
laws were modified ; foreign countries were supplied with biscuits
from Hamburgh and the United States, while we had a higher
duty on wheat than on flour, the manufactured article.: The
landlordi themselves had at last begun to feel that an alteration
in the corn laws was necessary; they knew now that if 80s. per
quarter was a proper limit in 1815, considerably less was neces-
sary now. They knew also, that high prices were now subject
to many- discounts—such as the uncertainty in collecting their
rents, MI increase of pauperism, &c. They do not now see
the happy smiling faces which they used to notice some years
ago, and they begin to consent to an alteration. In the vale
of Dent, in the west of Yorkshire, a perfect rural place, he
(Mr. Smith) formerly used to notice the happiness that pre-
vailed there; almost every farmer was the owner of land and call-
ed a statesman ; but now so great was the alteration that he
believed that there was only one statesman in the place. This was
the effect of the Corn Laws and a change of currency. If it was
objected that the Corn Laws should be repealed, for that it would
injure Ireland, he would answer, that he wished there were less
exports from that place tq , England, and that corn was at such a
rate in Ireland, that the poor man might not be reduced to feed
upon that root—the potato. All classes must be desirous of a re-
peal of the Corn Laws, for they pressed heavily on all classes,
on the merchant, and, through bins, the labourer ; on the ship-
owner, and, through him, the labourer. Here we came at the
great mass of the people, who, taken separately, were suffering ;
hut, in the mass, the aggregate suffering falls with undiminished
weight. If the labourer be worthy of his hire—he who pro-
duced those •things in which his fellow-countrymen feed—he
ought not to he muzzled ; he feels as ardently, though his situa-
tion is humble, as the merchant or shipowner does. These laws
degrade him to the rank of a pauper, .leaVe him but hare walls
and scanty food, and drives him to break stones on the roads.—
(Applause. )—The labourer had a right to his comforts, but is
unable to obtain them. Look at the weavers of Holum, whose
squalid appearance denotes abject poverty; who work fourteen
' hourii a day, and who know not the luxury of even a glass of ale,
imd yet cannot obtain the commonest food ; this was not an
overstretched picture, for he (Mr. Smith) bad been witness to it.
The poor weaver and his children were as mere animals, reduced
in strength, reduced in spirit, and reduced in all but indignation
at their present suffering.—(Applause.)—He (Mr. Smith) would
then ask who it was who opposed what they were now met .to
ask? Why, it was the unreasonable avaricious landowner. He
had described the landlord as beginning to see the injury done by
the Corr Laws ; but there were still men who were receiving
rents of farmers at SOU a year, who, before the war, only got a
third of that sum, and who still enforce the high rents, because
they know that other persons were ready to take the land at the
same price. Mr. Smith concluded a long speech by seconding
the resolution.

Mr. ADAM flonasox proposed the next resolution. If it be
said it was the duty Of Government to provide all legitimate en-
couragement to commercial industry, and if it be proved that the
coin laws interfered with it, the people were justified in applying
to the Legislature to make such alterations as Were necessary. It
Was not many months since a meeting was held in this hall for
the purpose of subscribing towards the relief of the distressed
manufacturers : touch of that distress, however, still existed, and
one material cause was the inadequate demand for manufactured
goods, which the repeal of the corn laws, in .Lis opinion, would
enhance. It could'hardly be expected that people could bear this
distress with much patience; they had, however, so borne it, but
they were now beginning to see that the price of corn was not
kept so high by the interposition of Providence, but by the arbi-
trary conduct of roan.—(Applause.)—lt would, under such cir-
cumstances, lie feared, be difficult to procure tranquillity any
length of tints. By the effect of these laws, the means of the
labourer were much abridged, and his condition degraded; in.
deed, be was nearly on the point of substituting the potato for
corn, and exchanging his English cabin for all the misery of the
Irish cabin. This was the natural tendency of the corn laws.
lie hoped that the resolutions of this meeting would go forth as
the voice of the town, and materially assist those enlighted mem-
bers of the Cabinet in the glorious task which they had muter-
taken.—(Applause.)
Colonel WILLIAMS said, that although he thought the gentle-
men who had proposed the present proceedings were entitled to

very great praise as far as they had gone, yet, he thought,
had they gone farther, they would have been entitled to much
greater praise. It did not appear to him that our difficulties
were to .be removed by, a modification .of the Corn Laws. lie
wished to see the Corn Laws and all other monopolies destroyed ;
but their were other means of benelitting the country than by the
introduction, of foreign corn. The overgrown landlords were the
legislators. These were the men wko made those laws for the
repeal of which the meeting was met to petition. When the pre-
sent Corn Laws were 11;00441 by the collective wisdom, in 1815, it
might be recollected that there was a much greater collective
wwiistoeT ttioutporfetvleoontrstitll,:atiin't..t:iiotohrinf,roaldptalisastintghte'hoomeut-iadoew;.eoirtilviee
people were put,down by the bayonets of the soldiery, and land-
lords triumphed. Now the result hail proved that the mob
without were much wiser than the legislators within. (Loud
and long continued cheering.) The gallant Colonel then went on
to point out the oppressive nature of tithes, which the Bishop of
Chester had told him came in with the conquest. lie was a cul-
tivator of corn, and he had to give one tenth of his produce to
the-rector of Childwall. Ile (Colonel Williams) had lived in
the parish 25 yearsrand yet lie had never seen his reverence's
face but once in a qus,rter pf a century.—(A person in the crowd
here exclaimed, " That is because you don't o to church, Colo-
nel !"—Loud. laughter). Is-it proper; is it just, that the bene-
fieed clergyman should withdraw 1,200/. or 1,5001. out of the
parish, and never do a hand's turn for • it? The Colonel then
poiuted out the Game Laws, as an intolerable grievance, and
ahbwed how destructive game wile to the crops of the farmer. It
was not to the land-owners as bitch, but to the overgrown portion
of them, who constitute one entire branch of the legislature, and
who influence a majority of 'another branch, it was, to that he ob-
jected. The gallant Colonel concluded by moving a resolution
embodying the substance of his speech. .
Dr. Cuourrow Said there were certainly many observations in
the philosophical speech of his friend, Col. Williams, that requi-
red consideration. The corn laws were a ratite upon legislation,
cruel to the people, and very impolitiC. It was observed by Mr.
Vletcher, that other articles of trade were protected, and so ought
agriculture ; he (Dr. Crompton) would not draw any parallel be-
tween protecting the importationiof corn and the manufactures.—
The greet landowner would prom the poor man to starvation ; be
would enter into war with France and other countries, but was
unwilling himself to pay for these wars, the expences of which
he wished to fasten on the poor of England. Gentlemen wished
to modify one of the greatest monopolies in &gland, but he wish-
ed for a total abolition of it, and he would bring forward a reso.
lotion to that effect.-.. (Applause.)---Dr, Crompton- concluded by
proposing a resolution,
praying fur a repeal of the corn laws.
Mr. I.:grarot; Slunk, in a speech of considerable length, se-
conded the resolutitio pf Mr, Cropper,
Dr. owatt-cox persisted in putting his
Wooded by Mr. Milreili4 . rogolutiort, which was
Mr. Ctutstx said, as far as the abolishing of the Corn Laws
went, lie certainly desired it, but he did nut wish to do justice to
one party at the expense of another.

Mrp hoped that the resolution would not be put.
'# Ill: tegieNtWO Woldd be mute infittenced by seeing the meeting
guided by 1101.M4 gild gond views than by the resolution just pro-
posed, which Appealed to the passions and not to. the judgment.
The object of that resolution could pot lie carried into effect in
the present situation of the country.
Cuourron.--1 ant surprised at the modification yon pro.
"e' FaOPee rriid, " he would hare no compromise be-
gAIP9/ PlNlner and roh,,beiy,'. no I will have none between the
Corn Laws and justice, , ,•

Mr. Ram s*rrt!, 3.fr. Ana* lionosom, and several others,
advised t-tv. Crompton to withdraw his resolution; hut he still
persisted. fie said he had pa ahjpetion to be in a mitiority-,—it
was what he Was accustomed ta......(A laugh.)
the amendment, made a speech,
blyrcult.L, Who seeand4
in which be stray* contended that the Corn Laws ought to be
wholly repealed.
,The object or a protecting duty, he. said, was
only to protect such meta as were determined to starve the poor.
_._(Loud applause.)
MAYO.I said such a noise was extremely indecorous ; what-

buppress their expression a eyer tleir Were, tkey shoulti
thep.

Se
~....,_,
veral gentlemen wished to speak, but u they. had already
spoken, the opposition to their Kam addressing the meeting was
very great. s
The amendment of Dr. Czomptoot
on being put, was lost by;
large majority, and the origival revolution carried.
On thanks being voted m the Mayor, his Worship raid hit felt
much indebted to them,...The Alatipg then broke up.