The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-05 00:00:00

Interest. The price of food has risen; are the wages of the
la',inuring man rising? No, on the contrary, they are falling.
Ise numerous districts the symptoms Of coming distress have
already begun to be. observed. The manufacturers are work-
ing short time. Warned by the signs of, the past year, they
Ignaw.irell what is coming, and are_looking forward with
fleonit forebodings to the disappearance of the comforts
-Which the working people have enjoyed, and the return of
the distress of 1841. If this, then, does not make us wise,
Ive are beyond all teaching. Twice in ten years we have
'Seen the vice of corn getting-up, and twice the condition
or the labouring classea• has become so much the worse;
twiteltt that period have we seen the price of food going
dolvu, and twice the zondition of the labouring people ris-
ing.—(Hear, and applause.) If •this calamity await us,
tovairer, there is at least one circumstance which affords
some eoasolation. lam assured, that in the manufacturing
-districts 1120 working' classes have come to understand
'this qaeation y and there is now no 'danger that any per-
eon can persuade them that those ,who wish for cheap food
r"rfish to injure .them. ; or, on the .:other hand, that those
wile wish for dear bread wish to raise their wages. We may
ilOw expect' their co-operation to place the matter upon a
proper footing.. -,lnt same quarters. we have to congratulate
ourselires upon !earunion with those who are best fitted to
lead us ; - as also 'our union with a gr.eat population, whose
Ittipport behiad- us will be of immense value.— (Great ap-
'rilatise.) A few years ago, when we had to discuss this ques-
tion, the friande of free trade were divided amongst them-
' selVes, until a statesman of great reputation adopted the idea
•or eompromieiug the matter by a flied duty ; and behind we
^a ere assailed by others who were disqualiAed by the efforts
bf designing men from forming a judgment upon the question.
'NO'wi I believe, there •is a complete and harmonious union ;
'and, with the power of the aristocracy in our front, we shall
haite the best 'support of the labouring classes in our rear.
'fSd led, and so followed, we may look forward to the victory,
if not in this; at all events in the next Parliament. But how
Tong soever 'it may be, delayed--whether near or remote—
' I assure you that, while I enjoy your confidence, it shall be
.roy constant endeavour, as respects this question, to prove
myself your trusted representative.. .(Mr. Macaulay con-
chided by proposing a resolution to the efiect that the corn-
laws pressed' with especial severity ouithe poorer classes.)
• The Hon. Member sat down amidst loud and protracted'
cheering.
Mr. JAMES BITALREN, Master of the Merchant Company,
• seconded the motion,

Mr. RUTIORFORD, M.P., after a brief speech, moved that
the following memorial be presented to her Majesty :
TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.. ,
The Petition of the Inhabitants of Edinburgh in public
meeting assembled, •
- Humbly showeth—That your Majesty's petitioners have
beard with pain the accounts from all quarters of the coun-
try, of the extraordinary failure in the crop of an article of
food, on which millions of your Majesty's subjects mainly
subsist, and they cannot contemplate without alarm the con-
dition efsuffering to which multitudes may in consequence be
' reduced. To mitigate this calamity, your petitioners hoped
that your Majesty's advisers would ere this have assembled
Parliament, in order to give facility for procuring supplies of
food from other countries, by removing all restrictions front
its importation. In this they have as yet been disappointed.
' " May it therefore please your Majesty, to direct such mea-
i sures to be taken, without delay, by assembling Parliament,
or otherpise, as may be calculated to avert the menaced
scarcity and distress, by an immediate opening of the ports
for the admission of foreign grain.
" And your Majesty's petitioners will ever pray."
The LORD Puovour announced that the memorial would
be seconded by the gallant Commodore Sir C. Napier.
' Sir. C: NAPIER. was received with several rounds of ap-
plause. 'He said—My Lord Provost, ladies, and gentlemen,
because till the present moment the ladies have been forgot-
ten—(Cheers and laughter)—l have attended many public
meetings, but I can safely say that I never in my life at-
tended one with more pleasure and satisfaction than this
great meeting, assembled in the capital of the land of my fore-
fathers.—(Cheers.) In this town I was bred and educated,
and I now come back, happily, at a moment to assist the in-
habitants of Edinburgh to use their best endeavours to force
the Government to save the people from famine and starve-
tion.—(Ciieers.) At such a moment I cannot understand how
any Government, especially any Government composed of
sensible men—(Laughter)—because we must allow that there
are many men in our present Government who are so—
(Cheers)—can be holding their Cabinet Councils—and I be-
lieve at the present moment they are holding their ninth
meeting to deliberate whether the people should have dear or
cheap food.—(Loud cheers.) I have at various times been
oilled on to pledge myself for total repeal of the corn-laws ;
but until the present moment, though I have constantly
voted ter Yr. Villiers's motion for repeal in preference to a
sliding-scale, I have hitherto refrained from pledging myself
unreservedly to total repeal. But the time has now come
when all squabbling about fixed duties should entirely come
to an end.—(Liud and continued cheering.) Neither is it
aufficiaut to open the ports for the present moment only; as
Mr. Cobden truly says, we must put our backs against the
door, and prevent its ever being shut again.—(Great cheer-
ing.) The arguments of my friends the Members for Edin-
burgh and Leith wae so conclusive as to have rendered it
almost presumption in me to say a single word. (The Gal-
lant Commodore sat down amid loud cheers.)
Sir G. MACPMERS3OII GRANT moved a vote of thanks to the
T ~rd Provost for calling and presiding over the meeting,
hich was cordially responded to.
The meeting, which had continued undiminished in num-
bc. 3 and euthusiatm to the close, then broke up.