The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 12, 1844.

barrassment, so much distress of late years, and so
many periodical returns of depression, that they
have led men of sense and business in this country
seriously to reflect upon the cause of them ; and I do
believe that thousands and tens of thousands have
come to the conclusion that, so long as there is this
constant legislative interference with those princi-
ples of trade which, if not meddled with, would be
wisely acted upon by the community itself, there can
be neither steadiness nor stability in commercial
affairs.—(Hear, hear.) I believe that most people
who have given their attention to this subject, are
satisfied that as long as the people of this country are
made to depend on their own soil for their supply of
food, and for the necessaries of life—so long as they
are made dependent on the instrumentality of an Act
' of Parliament which protects the owners of the soil
from competition—so long will the whole economy of
the nation be made dependent on the accident of the
seasons. For these reasons, I believe a very large
party in this country, composed of all classes—of all
those classes to whom my Hon. Friend the Chairman
has alluded—not of this or that class, but of all—
now identify the success of this great Association
with the promotion of the best interests of every class
in this country. The people of this country do not
take up ideas or opinions lightly, but when they do
see a great truth and embrace it, then one of their
most striking characteristics is the perseverance and
determination with which they carry it through.—
(Cheers.) And I hope my Hon. Friends the Member
for Stockport—(Loud cheers)—and the Member
for Durham—(Loud cheers)---to whom this coun-
try is so much indebted (Renewed cheer-
ing) —do feel themselves encouraged b 7 the
impression which it is obvious their abilities and
talents have made upon the country. The present is,
in my opinion, a moment when to free traders—those
who advocate those principles'we have met to discuss—
there is somethinevery. gratifying in the confirmation
of the justice of their views which the present state of
the country now affords. I think I may venture to
say that I am some little authority on what have been
the difficulties to the discussion and argument of our
cause which have been offered us, having so often
brought this matter before the House of Commons,
having often attended those discussions, I have cer-
tainly been able to collect what have been the points
which our opponents have made with the most effect.
Questions have been raised in connexion with this
subject, that, in my opinion, ought not to decide .the
matter, but which have been actively raised by
these who wished to prevent the discussion
of the principle itself.—(Hear, and cheers.)
In my opinion the question, whether the corn-law
ought to exist, should be decided on principle. No
man has a right to have his fortune increased at the
expense of the community, unless he can show"-some
public advantage resulting from it. No one has a
right to prevent any man from exchanging his labour
freely with those who may wish to purchase his in-
dustry, unless some public good can be shown as
likely to follow the restriction. The question of the
corn-laws, then, is one of principle, and ought to be
decided upon that alone ; but the aristocracy and the
monopolists in general have artfully raised the ques-
tion as' to the effects that they allege will be pi oluced
by the repeal of the corn-laws. Knowing that the
people of this country-are cautious of making changes,
they have started various notions, fancying they could
alarm some, and cajole the community into
=ul porting these laws, by working on the
fears they could excite in their minds. The same
things have been reiterated on every occasion; they
have addressed themselves to the fears of the people
of this country; they have addressed the weak, the in-
terested, and the timid, by alleging the results they
said would follow from a change in these laws. But
there are three things which they have always
especially named. There has never been any discus-
sion without these things being, repeated; they are
to be found in all the organs of monopoly, in every-
thing that has been written, printed, or said by them
on the subject, They have asserted over and over
again that three things would follow the repeal of the
corn-laws. It would lower the price of provisions,
and from that would follow a reduction of wages, an
injury to the home trade, and the decline of
the public revenue. Over and over again have
these things been repeated ; to the poor man they
said, be careful how you suffer these laws to be re-
pealed ; these laws raise the price of provisions, but
with them your wages also. Look at the men who
are anxious to repeal these laws. They are your
masters—your employers; their purpose is to lower
your wages when they seek to lower the price of pro-
visions. To the tradesman they have said, maintain
us in all our splendour, allow us to have great esta-
blishments ; leave us all our wealth, our high rents,
our fortunes, which come from the corn-laws, and we
will be your customers—yon shall supply us with the
articles we consume. To the timid, to those who
perhaps live on the dividends received by the public
creditor, they have said, remember, it is the national
debt that makes it necessary to maintain this system ;
it is, we admit, bad in itself, but is rendered neose-
sary by the unfortunates incumbrance of the debt ;
you cannot collect the revenues necessary to pay the
interest of that debt if you do away with the corn-
laws. They are bad ; but remember the wages of
the labourer, the profits of the tradesman ; remember
the credit of the country, and the necessity of main-
taining faith with the public creditor! These things
were said on every occasion, and I do not deny that
they were said with very great success. I have seen
this with great sorrow and regret, for the want of in-
telligence and independence on the part of those who
have been influenced by them. These assertions have
had great success; there is no possibility of denying
it ; and when I have heard them, I have turned to
many friends whom I could quote, and have said,
" W ell, if men will be influenced by such arguments
as these, we cannot succeed at present; we must
wait till some happy combination of circum-
stances, when those effects shall be pro-
duced without a repeal of the corn-laws
which we assert would follow, if they did not exist ;
there may come abundant seasons, there may be great
importations of food ; such circumstances may arise,
that the price of provisions may fall, and food be as
abundant as if trade were free; we shall then be able
to put to the test what worth there is in the assertions
that have been thus urged." Now, the advantage of
the present moment is, that the time has arrived when
these things have occurred and we have a right to
claim all the advantage in the discussion we can de-
rive from having these facts before us, by which we
can test the truth or falsehood of what has been so
often reiterated. By the blessing of Heaven we have
had two abundant seasons—the last especially so—
and we have had a large importation of corn, which
is at the expense of the importers who gamble in this
trade, owing to the operation of the law.—(Hear.)
We have had abundance of food brought
into the market, and the price of corn has
fallen below that which those who have given their
attention to this subject ever fixed for it if the trade
were free. Now let them tell us what is the value of
all these things the people have been deluded to be-
lieve ? It is not necessary for me to go into particu-
lars that are notorious; but I ask any man if it has not
become a familiar fact that wages have risen through-
out the manufacturing districts ?—(Loud cheers.)
I ask any man if he has not seen with joy and satis-
faction that there have been efforts made by the
people in almost every department of industry to
raise their wages, and in almost every business they
have succeded; nay, I am happy to see that, only two
weeks ago, even the men on the sea succeeded in doing
so—even the fishermen have had a strike for wages,
and have succeeded.—(Loud cheers.) But now,
what becomes of all that the people have
been cheated into believing ? A fall in the price of
provisions has occurred, and there has been a rise in
wages at the same time; every branch of the home
trade and internal traffic of the country has improved,
and all since the time provisions have fallen in price.
Why, it is labouring to prove that two and two make
four, to show that if a man had more money in his
pocket after purchasing his supply of food,he was able
to spend it with the manufacturer; but if he exhausts
his wages in buying food, there would be nothing left
f
or the manufacturer. But the revenue, it was said,
that would decline, if the price of provisions fell and
high rents were not paid. !Well, the 6th of January,
which is quarter-day, is near at hand, and when it
comes, remember what was said at this meet-
ing. There is no mystery about the public
revenue; there are official documents to
refer to. Just compare the state of the revenue on
the next 6th of January. lam speaking now of
what is to occur. Compare the revenue on the 6th
of January, 1845, with what it was in 1842, and see
what is the effect of the price of provisions at the two
periods. lam now speaking in all confidence of facts
that can test this matter. In 1842 the price of wheat
was 675. a quarter ; in 1845 wheat is 473. a quarter,
or even less than that ; and now do not only compare
the gross revenue, including the property and income-
tax, but take those portions of the revenue which in-
dicate the condition of the people. See then whether
the income of the State does not vary with the con-
dition of the people—see whether, when that con-
dition improves, the revenue does not rise—then ask
yourselves whether the public creditor is not
better off when the labourer is well paid
and every man's condition improved, than when the
people are obliged to exhaust their money in paying
tor food, and when tra le is bad ?—(Cheers.) And re-
ieember another thing--a most important observation
to make at this moment, when there is more abun-
dance of food, and provisions are cheaper, is, whether
there is not less misery, less crime, less pauperism,
less mortality, and less disease—less of those conse-
quences which we have always pointed out as the re-
sults of scarcity of food, and the difficulty the people
have in procuring it ? We have always said that when
prices fall, and provisions are abundant, there is less
of human calamity, than at other times ; and
now watch this year, and observe if these
misfortunes are not diminished.—(Hear, hear.)
There is no difficulty in ascertaining this--there are

plenty of official documents from which the informa-
tion may be derived and I say it is the duty of every
man to compare those documents and see if such an
effect is not produced. I beg also that you will pre-
pare yourselves for a fallacy which your opponents
may urge, but which any well-informed man will at
once be enabled to meet. It may be said—True, these
misfortunes and calamities have diminished—all these
evils are less in amount than they were, but it does
not follow that it is because the price of provisions is
lower. I then advise you to put it to them
this way..• Ask them, what did you say were the
causes of distress when all men were suffering?
What were the things which, three or four years ago,
you pointed out as causes, when speaking of the dis-
tress of the people ? You said it was machinery—eit
was over-production—it was agitation—it was hostile
tariffs—it was the new poor-law—it was the truck-
sZstem—it was, God knows what all.—(Laughter.)
la ow, ask them if any one of these things have been
changed ? Whether any alteration has taken place in
these causes of distress since prices were high ?
There is more machinery now than there was three
years ago--there is more produced than there was
three years ago—and I do not think there is less
agitation.—(Loud cheers.) And is it the hostile
tariffs of other States ? There is hardly one
State with which it is important to us to
have a trade that has not raised its tariff against
us. It is not our foreign trade that has improved—
it is not the diminution of machinery—it is not the
lessening of production—l want to know from our
opponents what other cause they can assign, but the
reduction in the price of provisions, and a much
greater abundance of food than ever existed before ?
Why, I remember that that notable gentleman, whom
the borough of Knaresborough sent up as its repre-
sentative—(Loud hisses)—wished, like many people
of that sort, to divert the attention of the public from
the monopoly of his party, which he, as a good par-
tisan, was hound to support. He at that time came
forward with all kinds of charges and perso-
nalities against the whole commercial and
manufacturing classes, alleging against them
all sorts of crimes and misdemeanours—accus-
ing them of causing all the miseries of the
peo-
le. Ask him if any of these things have changed ?
Everything then existing remains as it was—even he
himself is just as he was.—(Cheers and laughter.)
He has been making a long speech lately, in which be
has been abusing everybody and everything, and
praising himself, just as he always did before. He
thought he had found a real mare's nest when he dis-
covered that the truck system was practised in this
county. He procured a Committee of the House of
Commons on the subject, because he hoped that all the
members of the Anti-Corn-law League might be
proved to be practisers of the truck system. Evidence
was taken, and it has been before the House of Com-
mons for two sessions, but we have never heard of the
Hen. Member for Knaresborough on the truck system
since. Now I want to call your attention to those
persons who are supporting that system, which is a
system of artificial scarcity, for that is the character
of the corn-laws--they are not worth a struggle un-
less they do that. The simple purpose of the corn-
laws is to occasion a scarcity of food; this it is which
raises prices, and makes it valuable to those who profit
by it. Now, I want to know how these people can
escape from all the responsibility of the consequences
that have flowed from it? I want to know how they
can escape the charge of having caused all the mor-
tality, the misery, and the distress, that has occurred
in times of scarcity ? Hcw can they escape this
charge ? Alen must look to the consequences of their
acts. Now, I ask if it is not something like setting
the rich against the poor, and the educated man
against the ignorant one, to go forth and tell them, in
the face of all experience, sense, and evidence, that
the higher was the price of food the better would be
their condition. What is this ? Is it not a positive
and rank delusion, palmed upon people who do not
know better? Is it not a trick practised by the rich
upon the poor for the purpose of making themselves
richer by it ? I ask any educated man if he can be-
lieve for one instant that a scarcity of food can make
the condition of the poor better? Is it anything less
than saying that wages would rise if the price of pro-
visions rise, and that it is an injury if the price should
fall ? I ask, if it is not drawing too much on the sim-
plicity of the county to claim a character for being
more charitable and Christian-like if they go forth
and relieve some part of the sufferings which they cause?
Are they better neighbours because they go about
asking is hat can the matter be—what can have
caused all this suffering, and recommending you to
relieve it? Ido not wish to use harsh terms, but this
seems to me as near to hypocrisy as anything can he.
We read in history that the Emperor Charles V.
caused the Pope to be imprisoned, and then ordered
prayers to he offered up in all churches that a safe
deliverance might attend his Holiness, taking care at
the same time to recommend his gaolers to pay par-
ticular attention how they let him out.—(Great
laughter.) Something like this is the conduct of
those who support the corn-laws. They fetter the in-
dustry of -the people—they bind it hand and foot--
and when they perceive the miserable con-
sequences of this, they ask what can be the cause
of all the suffering—for God's sake relieve it as
quickly as you can. Ido not wish to cast discredit
on their charity—l do not wish to discourage them
in relieving the suffering they cause—it is only some
indemnity to the poor, some restitution of what they
had been deprived of by their system. Let them con-
F tribute their cash to charities—let them thus mitigate
' some portion of the mischief done by the law ; but
I do say, this cannot be a recompense for the
living that' might be gained by homiest industry.—
(Cheers.) It is a calumny that the people of this
country prefer charity to labour—it is quite against
the spirit of the people ; the very genius of the people
of this country is to be industrious, to become inde-
pendent. I believe, what the poor men of Wiltshire
the other day embodied in their petition, expresses
the sentiments of their class. They, say, we do not
want charity, we want justice.—(Loud cheers.) They
wished to spare the great folks the expense of giving,
and themselves the humiliation of receiving, charity.
They wanted their rights—they wanted to exchange
their labour with those who were willing to employ
them, and to do so freely. They repudiated altogether
the principle that they were benefited by a
few persons• being protected, and that sentiment
has been proclaimed and affirmed by all the
democratic party of the United States.—(Hear.)
There they have repudiated the principle of protec-
tion to a few. They say there, " Protection for all or
for none."—(Cheers.) You cannot protect the few
but at the expense of the many—(Cheers)—and that
is not justice or wisdom, and they proved their sin-
cerity by the manner in which they acted.—(Hear.)
The great question in this country now is, How are
the people to be employed—how the great increasing
population of this country is to find employment ? If
you look at all the meetings that take place, all the
associations that are formed, you will observe the
great question is, How can the great body of the popu-
lation find employment? And that is the question which
ought to absorb the thoughts of every practical states-
man in this country.—(Hear.) It is due time that
something should be done in this respect. The quan-
tity of poor which we have in this country is become
a scandal to the restof Europe.---(Hear.) It is known
wherever England is known, and foreigners cannot
understand it, for, with the wealthiest Church and
aristocracy in Christendom, they find a larger mass of
moral and physical destitution than is to be found in
any other State.—(Cheers.) And this question has
now become narrowed to this, whether this employ-
ment for the people can be best found by impeding
and restricting their commerce, or by setting it free ?
That is the question which is now to be decided in
this country. Thetis the onlygreat and comprehensive
way to meet the difficulties of our social position.
And there are some persons who believe, or profess to
do so, that by impeding commerce, and stopping up
the channels through which it flows, you will find
better employment for the people, and that you will
ameliorate their condition rather by preventing the
foreign customer from coming in, than by allowing a
free trade. Why, if a duty was imposed on the ex-
ports of.this country, no person could doubt of the
fact that it would be prejudicial to the industry of the
country. If any barrier were placed on the exports
of the country, every person would see that it would
be a reason why persons could not find employment.
But there was no difference between a barrier to ex-
ports and a barrier to imports:—(Hear, hear.) There
could he no export without an import. Every im-
port was a customer. Stop the eustomer, and you
prevent the people from getting employment.—(Loud
cheering.) What is our case ? What do we de to
meet the question as to how the people are to be em-
ployed ? We say, allow free trade • let there be an
unrestricted interchange of the products of various
countries; allow the foreign customer to come in, and
the produce of British labour will increase ; and, for
my part, I cannot see any limit to it--(hear, hear.)
Let the home producer get food is the cheapest mar-
ket he can, and he will soon find markets for
his labour.—(Hear.) But I say that a free trade in
commerce would improve the condition of the agri-
culturist more obviously than it would the condition
of the manufacturer, if you take the admissions of the
agriculturists themselves, and their evidence might be
taken as conclusive on such a subject. They say that
the system of aericulture is defective—that it is going
backwards —flint the soil was not properly cultivated,
for if it were there would not be a labourer too much.
---(Hear.) Well, then, the question comes, How has
it come to pass in this rich and enterprising country
that the soil is not well cultivated, and that the la-
bourers are not employed ? Why, it results from
this. There are arrangements made between the land-
lord and the occupier which preclude the cultivation
of the soil, and he is not stimulated to exertion by
competition as the other classes of the community are.
When he knows that he is protected by an Act of
Parliament, can you wonder that he does not exert
himself ?—(Hear, hear.) What would be the case if
you opened the corn trade ? One of two things would

happen—either the land would be properly culti- I
vated, and the labourers fully employed; or if you were
to have food from foreign countries, which you could
only have by exporting manufactures, your surplus
population would be absorbed by the increased labour
required for the production of those exports.—(Loud
cheers.) I say, then, the agricultural labourer would
feel the great benefit of having commerce free; and I
ask when we are shocked by the details of distress
which we see every day in the newspapers, and par-
ticularly at this inclement season of the year, is it not
time that something should be done to relieve it, or
are we to go on from season to season, and from day
to day, in the same course of error, till we are roused
by another series of bad seasons, and have the events
that occurred three years ago again renewed—when
starving men broke into the tradesmen's houses, and
devoured the raw food which they found in the streets
to save themselves from death ?—(Shame, shame.)
It is not wise to be always depending on the strong
arm of the law, and not on the contentment of the
people.—(Cheers.) Is it wise, is it rational, is it pru-
dent, when every season brings an increase of dan-
gers, not to avail ourselves of this precious moment
—not to avail ourselves of every influence, of every
privilege, of every right which we can bring to bear
in order to obtain that just and fair demand which I
am persuaded would so much improve the moral and
material condition of the people, and increase the
peace and prosperity of the country ?—(Cheers.)
Mr. COBDIN, M.P., then came forward, and was
received with the loudest demonstrations of
spnthu-
siam and good-will. After the cheering with which
he was received had subsided, he said,—Oh, I could
not help wishing, as I sat there, surveying this mag-
nificent spectacle, that all our friends who aro scat-
tered over the length and breadth of the land were
here this night, that they might feel their pulses beat
in unison with yours, and look you face to face, and
join in the triumphant shout which augurs prosperity
to our good cause.—(Cheers.) We are here to-night
for business—l am almost sorry for it—for we have
many statistics which are not the most captivating to
the four thousand or five thousand persons assembled
together on this occasion ; and at this time I happen
to know we have a good many visitors among us
I whom I am glad to see—many farmers from Smith-
field, who attempted, somehow or other, to smuggle
themselves in here.—(Laughter.) I am sorry I
cannot give a farmer's view of the question to-night,
but I ask them to look round on this assembly, and
let them go, on the day after to-morrow, on Friday
—an ominous day—(Laughter)—let them wend their
way to Bond-street, and attend the meeting of the
Duke of Richmond's Protection Society.—(Laughter.)
Let them survey the scene there, and count an odd
Duke or so—(Laughter)—with perhaps a brace of
Earls, half-a-dozen of Members of Parliament.
•
and a score of land agents, and then, with
a vivid recollection of the present scene, let them
ask themselves which cause is likely ultimately
to triumph.—(Cheers.) Let them compare the two
scenes, and remember they are but types of the com-
parative merits of our two causes, and then let them
go home—let the tenant-farmer go home and attend
to his own business, and not by4ls to Dukes or Acts
of Parliament to help him.—(Cheers.) Let him take
a corn rent, such as the sagacity of the Scotch
farmer secured to himself twenty years ago, when
he saw how things were likely to turn out. Let the
English farmer also secure himself a corn rent, cal-
culated at a certain fixed price of corn, as found
by the averages let him do so, and he
will be better employed than in listening
to the Duke of Richmond at the Protection So-
ciety, or going to Acts of Parliament. I believe
we have another visitor here to-night. I have had
put into my hand since I came here a little tract pub-
lished by the enemy. In the title page there is a
quotation from the republican authority, Henry Clay.
I am glad they put this name on the frontispiece, for
let the working men remember (and this was ad-
dressed to the working men), that since this tract was
published, Henry Clay was rejected as the candidate
for the Presidency of America. He stood as candidate
for that high honour before 18,000,000 of free
citizens, on the ground of being the author and
father of the protective system in America. I
watched the progress of the contest with anxiety—l
received the newspapers by every packet-1 saw the
accounts of their speeches and processions, and, I
must say, the speeches of Henry Clay and Daniel
Webster would do credit to the Duke of Richmond
or the Duke of Buckingham himself.—(Laughter.)
Their banners were inscribed with " Protection to
native industry," " Native manufactures and Henry
Clay." These things were addressed to the American
democracy, just as the protection societies speak to
you in this pamphlet; but there millions of them,
voting in the ballot-box, rejected Mr. Clay, and sent
him to retirement.—(Laughter.) Now I think this
Protection Society, if they have got a large stock of
tracts on hand, will be disposed to sell them cheap.—
(Laughter.) They might do for lighting cigars, very
probably.—(Laughter.) Well, what have you now
in London ? You have heard something of what is
doing below in the north, I think. I have seen
some signs, not of opposition, but something very
like what I call a diversion. You have heard of some
great meeting here, having the professed object of
benefiting a large class of persons in London. My
Hon. Friend alluded slightly to the subject, and I
have a word or two to say on it. I have called it a
diversion, but it is rather an attack or charge made
against the victims of their own injustice. When in
Turkey, persons suffering under the tyranny of the
Grand Vizier, threaten to rise and avenge themselves.
' It was an old trick of the Vizier to send persons
amongst the people, and to cry out that the bakers
were selling the bread too high, and that it would be
very desirable to nail the bakers' ears to the door-
posts.—(Laughter.) The monopolists have taken a leaf
out of the Turkish book. When there was great dis-
tress in Manchester, there were persons who cried out
that it was the manufacturers who ground the faces
of the poor, and now, when the distress has come
upon the agricultural districts, the landowners meet
the farmers, and at their agricultural societies they
tell the farmers to lay out more capital, and to employ
the agricultural labourers. They tell them to drain
the land, but they never mentioned that they have
thoroughly drained their pockets themselves.—(A
laugh.) And when distress has invaded a large por-
tion of the most defenceless sex of your community,
I find a large and useful and respectful class of shop-
keepers, who deal in clothes, assailed by the monopo-
lists for grinding the faces of the poor needlewomen.
Now, I stand here as the advocate of the character of
those traders, and to fling back the charge on those
who thus assail them. I stand here to vindicate
Moses and Son.—(Laughter.) They were Christian-
like in comparison with those who assailed them.
There is this difference between Moses and Son and
those who vote for the corn-laws and then affect to
pity the lot of the poor needlewomen, if Moses and
Son buy cheap they sell cheap, and they have no
got an Act of Parliament to secure themselves a mo.
nopoly.—(Hear, hear.) But the landlords of Dorse

shire, while they pay 7s. a week for labour, have
passed an Act of Parliament by which they can sell
the bread that these poor peasants consume at an
artificial, enhanced, and unnatural price.—(Loud
cheers.) And there is a great scheme of charity,
forsooth, to atone for all this mischief; and you are
to have 50,000 people kept in employment, by a
society not of middle women, but of middle men—
and very middling men, indeed.—(Laughter.) Now,
I venture the prediction that the bubble will burst

before the meeting of Parliament, and that its
blowers will try and invent some other. They will

not fail to charge us, or any unprivileged class
of the community, with being the authors of
their own misdoings. They have set themselves
up 1113 being more charitable than the rest of the
community. My friend, Mr. Villiers, has properly
treated these charitable assumptions ; but I say that j

even if the monopolists were charitable—more cha-

ritable than other people, I object to a large portion
of the community depending up') alms and Hying at
the expense of another.—(lear, hear.) But I deny
that those monopolists are charitable. It is the free

,raders—the much maligned political economists, who

are the most charitable persons in the country. There
was a mceting the other day in Suffolk, at which
there assembled a great gathering of your land.
holders, your noblemen, squires, and clergy, in order

:o do—What ? In order to take means for relieving

the distress of the peasantry by means of a subscrip--
lion. W 11, a subscription was, I believe, opened

before the meeting separated, but what has been done
in the matter since; how much has been given in

charity ? I will venture to ray that there is one
leaguer in Manchester who has given more money
for the parks and pleasure-gardens in that town, than
has been &ascribed to benefit the starving poor of

Suffolk by all the landowners of the county.--(r, -°ad t
cheers.) Now, do not misunderstand me, we dcn°
come here to boast, but to roll back the ollare,
made against a great body of the most 1a
.
telligent portion of the middle classes, who take
scientific and enlightened views of what Gofer!"
ment ought to be. They call us political economist'
hard-hearted utilitarians. Let them: political see;
nomists are the most charitable—free traders the 01°:.,
liberal to the poor. But I call upon our opponents.
if they will have it that the people are to live .111
poverty—to give us a guarantee that the people Will
not starve, but that they shall be supported by tu;
alms they propose to give them.—(Hear, hear.) M
it is very convenient to give bad names to a 5°14
police who are looking after them.—(Laughter.)
the
we are a sort of political economists, and IsP°l3„
ground that we do not wish to submit our fell°o9"'
countrymen to the eleemosynary support of any c 1
of the community—(Cheers)—for, if we do, we shall
leave them, I fear, in a very hopeless condition indeed,
d
What we say is, let the Government of the countr
be so conducted that every man shall be able, by ti;
labour of his own hands, to earn a subsistence oP
independent wages. Now, these gentlemen of wiledit
I am speaking have had a meeting to-dal,
is
meetings of a similar character are becoming rife •
all directions, and upon all sorts of subjects-21°3'
)
excepting the right one.—(Cheers and langbtier.
Well, all sorts of men met to-day at Exeter gal
_,
4 to
et
devise means, and to form a society for looking a`.`ti
the health of towns. They will give you ventilation
--they will give you air—they will give you Water;
they will give you drainage—they will give I°,
open courts and alleys—they will give you acJ;
thing and everything but bread.—(Loud cheeroqo
So far as the Lancashire district goes, nothing zs o
clear—for we have it on the authority of the regl
trar-general's report of deaths in that district—ootb.ia
~,
is more certain than that the amount of mortaigi,
rises and falls year after year with the price of I:I
This narration may be traced as clearly as if ita
given in evidence before a coroner's inquest. rtbe
proved that three thousand persons have died ia
dear years more than have perished since coll. •
come down to more natural prices—and this
comparatively limited district of Lancashire alcirro
(Hear, hear.) And yet the gentlemen 10°
these benevolent societies will talk of air and vorotig
or about anything rather than bread, the sago
support of life.—(Hear.) Now, I have no objecc•
to charity—l advocate charity—but I say, Jules
(Hey
first, and then let charity follow in its wake.----(13
I have no doubt but that these gentlemen are aet°seia
by very benevolent motives—l will not charge tiler
even with hypocrisy—but Ido say that we shall oal
pect them to meet this question of the corn-lavesoo6
not to shirk it.—(Cheers.) I am complaining O'
class of the landed aristocracy, who set up for suPer
benevolence, but who, I am well assured, are con
o.
science-stricken at their own deeds—who vote lo sof
port of the corn-laws, and yet who refuse to (115;0
their merits or record their opinions of them. I
particular to one nobleman, who professes great Ili
pathy with and for the poor—who did not attena
t do
debate upon Mr. Villiers's motion—who did n°
cuss the question, but who came in at the lastio
ment, just as the division was about to take P
epti
and who voted against the motion.—(Hear, hear'lios
groans, and cries of " name.") Well, I will finer? o)
his name, it was Lord Ashley.—(Renewed jog
Let us, at all events, while we admit the g""tast
tentions of such men, let us stipulate for this--o
the question shall be discussed by them as quests st,
of washing or of fresh air are discussed.---LaL
hear.) I say do not let them shirk it. W,'"000
they do in matters of ventilation ? They call ;0,
scientific men to aid them. They go to Dr. S°ol
wood Smith and others, and say, " What is the 00
plan to remedy admitted evils ?" Well, we iii
demand of them with respect to questions of suPPbe
ing the people with food and employment, that t
too they should call into their councils scientific mop
men who have devoted their lives to the considelloal,
of these questions, and who have left on record iie`ta
nions which have been received as sound and exce.,b
all over the world. Let them consult Adam Snil"
well as Southwood Smith.—(Hear.) And, abctrinesio
things, let them either prove that Adam Smith's's-10
pies were wrong, or let them vote in accordaneetsit
his opinions.—(Cheers.) It won't do to wring:, ite
hands, and wipe their eyes, and fancy that in this
telligent and intellectual age sentimentality will tbs
the Senate.—(Hear, hear.) It may pass Ile
boarding-school—(A laugh.) But what shell ty
say, if those who lament over the distresses °oi#
people and yet refused to take the advice of sciela
councillors for a remedy for the evil—what 811°11 to
say were these people to go to a hospital, tat
find the patients writhing under their ban d,
after having undergone the ordeal of surgical 'egta
what would we say if they tore away the bo.aocolili
turned out the surgeon and apothecary, °lob
blooded utilitarians, and, after wringing their et ti
and turning up the whites of their eyes, ;tool
work and treated the patients after their own tot)
—(Loud cheers.) Oh, I like these Covent-r-rt Of
meetings, and I'll tell you why. We are a e:0
intellectual police. Lord Byron said that his 061
canting age ; and, perhaps, there is nothing 5.a°,10.
cult to check as cant—(Hear)—but if anythweeti
planted a sound and wholesome tone in the 13; dr
polis, it has been the great gatherings and anlPLeera)
cussions in Covent-garden Theatre.—(Loud cube •
You have another meeting to-night. You
fsi
meeting to-night to present a testinsoraa' esi
Sir Henry Pottinger. Now, I want t 0 bet
a word to you about that. First of alb tiape
has Sir H. Pottinger been doing for these ol° sob
lists—l mean those merchants and millionaires'elf
as Baring and Co., who subscribed 601. at Livelithst
and will do something of the same kind here.
,boit
has Sir Henry Pottinger done for those ole'Deetl
monopolists and princes of the City ? He hay 1+
to China, and extorted from the Chinese Goorntsfiff
for the benefit of the Chinese people I admit/ 1100(0
What is that tariff? I will tell you. It is °oft'
on three principles. The first is, that no duties lad
ever shall be enforced on corn or provision illlP°o
iO
into the celestial empire. Nay, if a ship Clod
loaded with provisions, that there should be n° 001
no duty enforced on the cargo, but the shiP.,eor
empted from port charges, and that is the only e"eipio
tion of the kind in the world. The second prep , 003
is, that there should be no duties for protectiouro?
the third is, that there shall be moderate duties, heeo
venue. Why it is for that very tariff we 11$'e the
contending at the Anti-Corn-law League f°l vos
five years.—(Loud cheers.) The only differet'ljearit
between my friends and myself, and Sir ce!
Pottinger, that while he has succeeded, hi forjalsj
arms, in conferring on the Chinese this 100
change, we have endeavoured, by force of arguof th
to extort a similar boon, for the benefit Pit
English people from our aristocracy.—(Hear')reit
a further difference is this, that while our roc"fliaon)
merchants are ready to make demonstrations itio the/
of Sir H. Pottinger for his success in Chic_e'e
have met us with obloquy, opposition, and abuic: W
tl!
endeavouring, although without success, to° dear
same thing here. And why have we not sued
at tne°
Because we were opposed by the inconsisteocie tot
who are now toasting and shouting free trs.
China. Now I will ask here a question or two beer
these gentlemen believe that this tariff will hail oel
ficial to the people of China ? Judging by °too I)/
have said here, I cannot believe it. They
,e ode
that to lower the price of provisions by a fr,eoweric%
in corn would injure the working classes by 1° opt'
wages ? If they think this tariff a benefices
to tP,rhei ate
why refuse to grant the same advantages
fellow-countrymen ? But if it is not, then ;_tioest:
no Christians, because they do not do to the
as they would be done by.—(Loud choir:t)ol
leave them on the horns of that dilemma-little tit;
take which they choose. There is some talk °
lusion and fraud by the way in which they per',
our " commercial treaty,' with the Chinese.
it IT,
is no commercial treaty exclusively With us• t oppli:
Pottinger imposed on the Chinese a treaty 11,i.°
ow tho
.
cable to us alone, but to the whole world.b.e.'etio to
monopolists' cry is, that they have no the part
free trade, provided there be a reciprocal °hurrah lb
of other countries, yet they hip, hips
.1, thong:
bumpers to Sir Henry at the London Tavern,
he had imposed on the Chinese a tariff w eartb•
procity with any country on the face of tar g
(Cheers.) Well, now, will Mr. Thomas Boil raiigh,/,
again for the City of London, think you tile,
He said, you know, you were a very low set 000
—(Renewed laughter.) if he should ois

tiJ•
,tsfil

'e'

--
ask him, " Will you give us such a tariff as Sir
Henry Pottinger gave the Chinese—and if you will
not, why did you subscribe a piece of plate to Sir
Henry for doing that for the Chinese which you
do not consider a good thing for the people of Eng-
land ?" We have a good many of the same kind
of monopolists with us ; and while London
Subscribed 1,0001. to this object, they have raised
3,°001. Those who subscribed form the leading men
of the monopolist manufacturers, not the most intelli-
gent, numerous, or wealthy class amongst us, though
they sometimes say they are. A friend of mine asked
me lately whether I was willing to subscribe ? I re-
plied that I thought Sir Henry a most worthy man,
far better than those who had subscribed a testimonial
to him. believe," said I, "he has done excellent

service to the Chinese people, and if the Chinese will
send over a Sir Henry Pottinger to England, and if
the Chinese Pottinger can succeed by force of argu-
ment (for I want no force of arms) in extracting
from the stony hearts of the landed monopolists
the same tariff for England our General has given
to China, then I will join heartily in giving
him a piece of plate."—(Loud laughter and
cheering for some minutes.) Well, gentlemen, this
117 the way, we must come to business, notwith-
standing. Our friend told you something of orir
late Proceedings. Some of our cavilling friends (and
We have a great many of that class, bilious persons,
Who not being of a gregarious character, can only
hold aloof from a movement and criticise), say " this
is
a new movement of the League"—that is, the an-
nouncement of bearding the landlords in their coun-
ties. Now we have changed nothing, and are chang-
ing nothing in our tactics. We believe that every
step We have taken was necessary to arrive at the
Present stage of our :movement. We began by lec-
turing and distributing tracts, in order to create
an enlightened public opinion, and we did that ne-
cessarily for two or three years. We then commenced
°lir operation on the boroughs ; and never was
there at any time the same systematic attention, la-
h°nr, and expense applied to the borough registration
as at present.—(Cheers.) As regards our lectures,
we lecture still, only that instead of having some
"lan room, three pair of stairs back, we have such
„tuatnificent assemblies as the present to address. We
aye already distributed tracts. We now do so in
another form, and 20,000 copies of the League paper
circulated weekly for the last twelve months. It
lire
penetrated and gone the round of every parish in
the kingdom. In addition, we have, in obedience to
"new light," proposed to disturb the monopolists
in their own counties. The first objection to this
course is, " that's a game two can play at." I can
answer that objection by saying we sit down to play
bWith opponents who have all the stakes in their
i-ernia, while we have nothing to lose.—(Hear, and
"ghter.) They have played that game and won the
'unties. My friend (Mr. Villiers) had not a county
rote on the last division on this motion. Now there
a,re 152 county Members in England and Wales, and
▪ do not see any chance of Mr. Villiers gaining a ma-
Jo if we do not win some of those seats. We
nye already got him South Lancashire, the most po-
pulous district in the whole kingdom, Lord Francis
Egerton sits for the county, and a very powerful
4141, of vast property, and personally respected by all
Parties. Now, I have observed, that those who attack
thes League are generally very unfortunate. There
seems a fatality about everybody who insults us
NOW I mean to mention here one or two anecdotee
for
the benefit of Grandntamma, who looks of late
more shadowy and attenuated than ever, but who
Yet' in a ghostlike tone, continue; muttering some-
thing against us. Lord P. Egerton, two years ago
When the question of the corn-laws was before the
l
"se, spoke on the subject, and after saying a good
many little pretty nothings, which go down in the
use from a Lord, and from nobody else, wound
11P by offering us his gratuitous advice. It was that
tv
0; Should be good enough to dissolve. He
ercd that advice in all kindness. Well, let an
election now come on in South Lancashire, and Lord
pr
abe-nela will see who will dissolve first.—(Much
thecill'g and laughter.) Somebody has alluded to
Member for Knaresborough. Ile was let loose
had L•
itt 'lading, and in 1841 it would seem as if he
what been 'ant there on purpose to bait him. Well,
wh-3r "115 been the fate of that worthy gentleman ?
bi , that House, a large majority of which hounded
W,lll, On in 1841, voted unanimously that his assertions
plain-:° unfounded and calumnious. That means, in
dßnaresborough language, that he was a slan-
erer and a I—. I shall not use the word.—(Cheers
.44 laughter.) Now, there is one other case I'll
brnention for the warning of the Herald. Sir
'°hert Peel, at the close of the session, when
etndeavouring to regain the confidence of his
h°llowers, which he would have stood on
head to accomplish, thought to have a
h.ng at the League, and warned us, in
,•I_' usual solemn and pompous tones, that we now
;ere retarding the progress of free-trade, and setting
Ivnhe.farnsers of the country against us by the way in
'eh we attacked them. Now mark what I say.
0; will not be the League that will fall at the hands
00e farmers, but I predict it will be Sir Robert.—
ear, and cheers.) Well, I was saying, we have
e county to make Mr. Villiers a present of. I
should
like to know whether he would like to repre-
-124t it himself.—(Cheers, the whole meeting standing
I have heard but one opinion in Lancashire
t was this, the first county we have to present him
hi, should have the refusal of it. The monopolists
plaYe Played their game in the counties, and they have
tijed out. With lynx-like vision they discovered on
Passing of the Reform Bill the Chandos clause, as
means
of working out their end, and they made bre-
r sons, uncles, aye, and to the third generation,
lye-tiers under the tenant-at-will clause, though they
ces.f 1° More partners than you are. This they did sue
and gained the counties. Now there is
",,er clause in the Reform Act, meant to
Iyil'ent the unprivileged and industrious, and those
li'olihre by their labour—l mean the 40s. franchise.
ob-) I will set the 40s. freehold clause against the
uclos clause, and we will beat the Tories in the
lar:tita- You have heard how disproportionately
'e the constituency is in the rural districts, com-
eared dL
ld 10 the towns. We will reduce the balance, by
her acing those in towns to qualify. How many
a!ote' fustian-jacket men, who have not, I dare say,
ttote!e will tell them how they will get county
far and at a far cheaper price than they can qualify
boll'ue city. It is not an easy thing to take a 101.
Ne
il' and to occupy it, which he ought to do to
att L him to vote, but for SOL or 601., and in many
tht:B3°L, a man may purchase a 40s. freehold,
De 'el insuring the interest of his money, with the
aotewer of selling the property when he is tired of the
atiti; having
We are taunted by our opponents
pos,'/ing got up this agitation for middle-class pur-
ten-11; I discard the motive, for I do not like any
oureats eonfined to a 'class ; but I know we have in
proi4"glie a large portion of the intelligent and
tht7 partied middle classes, and I invite them to defeat
toitiiandlords at their own game. Mr. Wilson has
gilt You that I have been into Yorkshire. Before the
Co4„,ef 'Tannery there will be 2,000 new votes in that
Wili"Y• I have a guarantee. I can rely on it that it
Wl4 be done.--(Loud cheers.) Now, I want you to
Middlesexl,,a also. In the first place, there are
tfotrimghove free trade votes not on the register. In
we placed 1,700 voters on the register be-
liria the revising barrister came round in October,
iist`L
.411 these
were induced to put their names on the
14°11
by the intense contest in May, they having pre-
Y. neglected to qualify. We are, in addition,
ti'uut to urge our friends to qualify in the way I have
aac?steci• Our opponents say that, though we have
atait this registration, they will beat us the next. I'll
trehe °IIr cause to theirs (and I could not give
thel. odds), that we shall be winners by
sand at the next registration. Why should
dlelll4 large additional number qualify in Mid-
asBe ln H
14lall arnmersmith, Kensington, Chelsea,
, the surrounding districts (they being not
ariam
an:r' entary boroughs, and Marylebone, and West-
„elteadter not extending beyond Pimlico), every house
400 at 301. a-year would give a vote for the county.
Iv, °l' GOO of these should be on the register, and
"I be, trust, Iv
„„. by next year. There are, too, many
of the'Lighit qualify if they wished. We have heard
lara Lodgers League. Now, I know there is a
Barge class f .
0 mechanics who put by' 401. or 50/.
454e_cir* I will not say a word to undervalue the
pert7e:,banks ; but by the purchase of cottage pro-
ea Could ensure twice as good a return for his
Pi ,
th 4, tatuo walk up and down before his door, with
ecgaviet:inn-." this is my own; I have worked for

r it, and I can leave it to my children."—(Cheers.)
There are many fathers here who have sons just
re tehis,b niatuiity. My opinion is fathers cannot
show too soon what confidence they repose in their
children, and how willing they are to give them the
management of property. When a man has a son so
circumstanced, let him give him a county freehold,
and then retain a judicious control over him. Some
fathers say, " I am willing to give my son a qualifica-
tion, but I don't like the expense of the convey-
ance." Now, first, observing that none but free-

trade lawyers should be employed, for obvious reas
sons, I. would suggest to the son to offer to pay the
expenso of the conveyance to himself. If the father
refuse4come to me, and I'll pay the money.—(Hear,
and lasighter.) These are the means of qualifying,
which, if adopted, Middlesex will be perfectly safe at
the next election. Recollect, besides, you must take
care that none not qualified remains on the list. Some
say to start such objections is acting like the Carlton
Club. Now, if both parties agree to leave on all
votes put on the register, I ugree to the proposal ;
but if our opponents strike off the votes on our side,
and we do not retaliate, I wonder which will win.
Some one wiser than his neighbours will perhaps tell
you that the land being in possession of the landlords,
I they can cut up the land as they please, and
qualify only those whom they choose. As Mr.
Villiers has well said, their estates are not
their own in many cases. Four-fifths of the
parchments are not at home.—(Laughter.) But if
they retained their property and wished to multiply
votes, will they enfranchise the labourers ? They
would like such allotments very much. The only
difficulty I see in the case—judging from the accounts
of Dorsetahire and Wilthshire—that one-half the body
will be found in the union workhouse, and the other
in gaol for poaching. No, the landlords have,
if
done their worst. They want money, men, and
zeal in their cause. I believe we have struck the nai
on the head. We never made any proposal which
met with such an unanimous response from all parts of
the kingdom. It took two hours to read the letters
which were received with reference to our resolution
from all parts of the country. We sent circulars to
every one who ever subscribed to our funds, and
we have everywhere been met with the same en-
thusiastic spirit. We have received, amongst others,
a letter from Ipswich,,, saying that Suffolk might
be easily gained on our plan. We do not want
many counties. If we gain the more populous places
North and South Lancashire, the West Riding of
Yorkshire, North Chester, and Middlesex, the landed
monopolists would give up corn to save a great deal
more.—(Loud cheers.) Some object to this plan as
not quite legitimate. We do nothing but what is
prescribed by the Constitution—we can conform to
the law in spirit and fact—and do so by thousands
and tens of thousands if you can. There is nothing
in the proposal savouring of trick and finesse. The
days of factitious votes are passed. When the Low-
there contended Westmoreland with Brougham—the
Henry Brougham of that day—(Cheers)—the con-
test lasted fourteen days, and votes were manufac-
tured in great numbers. But now there is a re-
gister every twelve months ; your names are
hung on the church doors, - and no trick can
be played as none is intended, for at such play I am
sure our opponents would be sure to beat us. Again,
we are asked, " Why proclaim our plans ?" We have
no secrets. We know thousands who read every
word of what we now say, but we are sure our op-
ponents will never condescend to read our proceed-
ings. We speak to sympathetic multitudes, whose
feelings and hearts are with us. Scotland, where
they tell us, if they had the forty-shilling franchise
they would soon clear the Tories out of twelve
counties, appeals to you. Ireland, suffering under
the same limitation, appeals to you, and asks wealthy
England whether, with such a weapon, she will not
contend with a miserable, unintelligent, incapable oli-
garchy, which is governing your country.—(Cheers.)
No, I will not believe it. We will cry aloud, not here
alone—but from every pedestal on which we may be
placed throughout the country, though there is no
pinnacle like this to speak from—we will say every-
where, " Qualify, qualify, qualify," not simply for the
sake of the industrious millions, but for the
sake of the aristocracy themselves, and for the sake of
their dependants and miserable serfs, the agricultural
labourers ; qualify especially for the benefit of the
landed interest, who, if left to their own thoughtless
and misgaided conduct, will bring this country down
to the condition of Spain or Sicily, and at the same
time bring themselves down to the same beggary
to which the Spanish grandees have brought
themselves; to avert this calamity from them, the
ignorant and besotted few, we say, " Qualify, qualify,
qualify."—(The Hon. Gentleman concluded amidst
loud and long continued cheering.)
Mr. BRIGHT then came forward, and said—lt is
about twelve months since I took the liberty, upon
this platform, of expressing my opinion that mono-
polists were greatly deceiving themselves if they
fancied that the return of prosperity to the manu-
facturing districts would save them from the con-
tinued agitation of the Anti-Corn-law League. I
stated then, that distress in the manufacturing dis-
tricts aided us, by the discontent which it occasioned,
but that returning prosperity did so also, by the sub-
scriptions which the friends of the League poured
into the exchequer. Now the past year has ex-
hibited more than 90,0001. subscribed by the free
traders of this country, thus proving zeal in the cause ;
and it does something, too, to prove their continued
confidence in the council of the League—(Hear,
hear, and cheers)—and the increasing zeal which
is now found to exist in the manufacturing counties
is precisely on a par with what we have every reason
to believe exists in the metropolis.—(Cheers.) From
this great fact, I am led to the conclusion that the
question which has been raised, and which is not
merely a cry got up for factious or momentary pur-
poses, but is intended to sink deeply into the minds
of the people, and thus become a part of their exist-
ence, almost of their religion—(Cheers)—is a cause
which seizes as fast a hold of the feelings, as it does
on the reason, of our countrymen.—(Hear, hear.) I
was a corn-law repealer before I had investigated the
question, and thousands of my countrymen are like
myself in that respect. Our natural impulses, our
natural sympathies, revolts against the barbarous
proposition, that the national prosperity can be
increased by a scarcity of food, and that the
great masses of the people among whom we
live can feed the better the scantier the
table be at which they do feed.—(Hear.) But in-
vestigation has confirmed the opinion which, perhaps,
was first held from the force of ardour, as well as from
feelings of aympathy.—(Hear, hear.) Investigation
bad proved to us that the effect of the corn-laws on
the foreign trade of the country is most disastrous—
(Hear, hear)—that it raises hostile and vindictive
feelings on the part of foreign nations—(Hear)--that
it closes the ports of foreign customers—(Hear)—by
hostile tariffs ; that it diminishes the means of em-
ployment ; and diminishes the wages and comforts of
the working population.—(Cheers.) It was found
that our home trade was affected to a still more
ruinous extent. In the district; from which we come,
for we are men who might formerly have been said
to have had our home in Lancashire, although we
are now nearly as much in London—(Hear,
hear)—in that district we find the indus-
trious population prostrate and suffering from the
operation of the corn-laws.—(Hear, hear.) There
is one good, however, which has arisen from that suf-
fering. The sympathy which formerly existed be-
tween the employer and employed has been greatly
extended and greatly streugthened.—(Cheers.) We
have seen those men by whose labour the wonderful
manufactures of this country are carried on, prostrate,
and almost destroyed by the operation of this law—a
law passed by a powerful class—a class against whose
invasion of the rights of property the working people
were wholly unable to defend themselves—(Near,
hear)—and we, the middle classes, in reality as
powerful a class—We have not stood forth as we
ought to have done to defend them. We have seen
our error—(Cheers)—we have seen these men strug-
gling against the evil necessity which was driving them
to pauperism and the workhouse.—(Cheers.) We
have seen how nobly they have struggled—how
great was their love of independence.—(Hear,
hear.) We have seen a heroism in some of
those men before which the heroism of warriors
turns pale.—(Loud cheers.) We came to London
as our head-quarters—as the heart of the empire—es
the seat of Govern.nent—to explain the cause of these
sufferings. We were met by the landowners with
the statement, that if the corn-laws did destroy our
labourers, it was necessary to protect their labourers.
We were then led to inquire into this new agitation;
and further inquiry brought out more of the truth,
but the whole truth will, I fear, never be known.

We found that the evidence of the Government Com-
! mission, the evidence of all private and impartial per-
suns, the evidence of all sent to the agricultural
districts, agreed most singularly, in this. What-
ever distress had been felt in the manufac-
turing districts, it much exceeded that which
was endured by the labourers upon those pro-
tected estates ; and we have found out another
thing, viz., that distress on those estates is not of a
temporary character, but has existed there for many
years. In 1829 and 1830 the torch of the incendiary
frightened the agriculturists into the raising of wages,
and into some consideration for the state of the poor.
In 1843 the same sad instructor was at work ; and we
find them now with their wages very much depressed,
and that something must be done for their relief. We
have heard that more than thirty farmers stated be-
fore the Committee in 1836, that never within their
lifetime had the condition of the agriculturists been
as good as then, and that never before had they been
able to obtain more wages and better employment
than during that period. You have heard that the
effect of this is to increase mortality. I could give
you statistics to show, that precisely as the price of
food increases, the rate of emigration increases from
this country to foreign lands ; that the number of
committals before magistrates increase in the same
way; and that the number of deaths amongst the
working classes increase at about the same rate.
We were aided by the manufacturing districts—we
are now aided by the agricultural districts.—(Hear.)
We are attacking the landowners in front, and the
poor starving labourers are attacking them in the rear,
and this they did, at a meeting lately held at Goat-
aker, in the county of Wiltshire. Is there not some-
thing wrong when men with their wives and families
assemble together by hundreds—aye, hundreds there
were who could not get within the walls of the place
of meeting—when women—aged women—stood up
before hundreds of their neighbours to tell them of
their privations ?—(Hear.) Does it bode no evil for
the irded proprietors that the class amongst whom
they:,the 've are in this desperate condition P la it not
right that we, who know something of the cause of
this state of things, and who have some influence with
the middle and working classes—is it not right, I say,
that we should work more than we have worked for
the delivery of this country from a state of things so

;hreatening and so likely to produce permanent and

incalculable mischief ? An attack thus in front and an
attack thus in the rear, as the landlords have
been attacked, shall we not soon see a capitulation ?
(Hear, hear.) I say we shall ; but it will not be an.
honourable capitulation.—(Hear, hear.) No ; for
men who have basely betrayed their country—who
have thus sold its dearest interests—who have thus
placed the iron hoof of monopoly upon the dearest
welfare of their countrymen, there could be no ho-
nourable capitulation—their surrender must be dis-
dishonourable as their conduct has been disgraceful.
—(Cheers.) Now the Anti-Corn-law League asks
still further the support and confidence of the coun-
try. You have a right, therefore, to ask what has
been our past policy—whether our policy hitherto
has been such as to make it likely that we shall suc-
ceed at some future time ? Our past policy has been
peaceful.—(Hear, hear.) The landlords and mono-
polists have said that we have instigated to sedition
and rebellion. They are false in this as on all the
grounds on which they base their monopoly—we
never did instigate to sedition or to rebellion.
He appealed to the reason of our countrymen—
to their sense of justice—and that appeal
has been answered in a wonderful manner. Has our
past policy accomplished anything ? I say much ; and
this meeting affords me a proof of it ; and the interest
which has been taken in our proceedings in the metro-
polis is a convincing proof of it. Look, for instance,
at the City of London. You have two men returned
by it who vote for the sliding-scale. You have one
who prefers a fixed duty, but does not exactly see
his way to vote on our side when the question of total
repeal is brought forward. You have another, when
he came into Parliament was said to have demon-
strated the great fact that the City of London was
against monopoly. Now we intend, at the next elec-
tion, the City shall send four men to Parliament
pledged to vote for free trade. The men who, by
their property and station in the City, must be sup-
posed likely to become leaders of the free trade party,
refused the honour which was tendered them. Well,
somebody else must be selected to lead. We have a
plan to propose. It is, that the great middle class
amongst the electors of the City of London should
organise some plan of intercourse with each
other, altogether scorning the effort., of the
monopolists, and repudiating the time-serving policy
of the men who do not know which side to choose.

I propose that we should take a decided course upon
this question, and insist upon free trade opinion in
the City of London being represented in the Com-
mons House of Parliament. It may easily be done.
No man who goes through the streets—no man who
rides, day after day, in an omnibus, or who passes
along the river in a steamer, but can fail to be con-
vinced that five-sixths—aye, nine-tenths, of the opi-
nion in the City of London is in favour of the
measures of the Anti-Corn-law League.—(Hear.)
We will use moral means in future. The assertors
of great national rights should be the very last
persons to commit wrong. Of such rights we hold
ourselves to be the assertors, and we would gain
them, if possible, by the peaceful means which we
have hitherto adopted. If you come to force in any
matter of this description, why, then the struggle is
decided by force, or by the chapter of accidents in
the field; both.are upon a level; but keep to reason,
to the sense of justice, to the consciences of men,
appeal to this great, and, in the long run, unerring
tribunal, and then every blow you give tells, every
speech you make, every article you print, every fact
you bring forward, is a thrust which the enemy cannot
parry, and you. go, on conquering and to conquer.
Why, we are winning now.—(Cheers.) Who doubts
it ? The foe yields at every point—the spoiler is
abashed—and it will not be long before the rout is
complete. No man whom I have met with supposes
it possible that the corn-laws could be maintained
for any long period.—(Hear, hear.) If things were
worse, we should not despair—we have never despaired
yet.—(Cheers.) If we had been men who were sub-
ject to this feeling, we should not now be in the
seventh year of the League's existence, with more
determination and confidence than we ever felt
at any former period. My hope is brighter than
ever—my faith is undimmed by the slightest
shadow of a doubt. There is everything to
betoken final triumph.—(Loud applause.) He must
have read very little history who does not know that
liberty is triumphing. There is more liberty and
more justice in the world now, than there has been
at any former period. The oppressor is now cowed
and abashed ; he does not come amongst us with force
and violence, but insidiously and treacherously ; he
wraps his chains in chaplets of flowers when he
would enslave his fellow-men.—(Cheers.) Yes, free-
dom is Heaven's first gift to man ; it is his heritage ;
he has it by charter from heaven ; and notwithstand-
ing the length of the struggle, it is still living,
breathing, and flourishing in its strength. But
bear in mind, that precious and excellent as liberty
is, there are certain conditions by which alone
it can be obtained and secured. You must rely upon
yourselves for it. Liberty is too precious a thing—
too sacred to be trusted to the keeping of another
man. Be the guardians of your own rights and
your own liberties. Make the struggle a matter
of business—make it a question as impor-
tant as that of providing food for your family.
What is it but this. It is the liberty to live for
what we struggle ; it is the liberty to eat our bread
by the sweat of our brow ; it is the liberty which was
given to us by the primeval curse—and shall man
make that curse snore bitter to his fellow-man ?
(Cheers.) No. Instead of despairing, I have more of
confidence and more of faith than ever. I believe
that those old delusions, which like verminous an'l
filthy rags, have disfigured the fair form of our coun-
try's greatness, are fast dropping away. I think I
behold the dawn of a better day. We stand, so far as
I can judge, upon the very threshold of a new career,
when I trust it may be said that this League
great confederacy of all those who love
justice and hate oppression—has spread broad-
cast over this land a seed from which shall
spring, ere long, a glorious harvest of true greatness
for one country, and of permanent happiness for man-
kind.—(lmmense cheering followed the conclusion of
his speech.)
The assembly then dispersed.

RAPID TRAVELLING.—Last week a gentleman left
London at ten o'clock forenoon, and was in Perth the
next day at four o'clock afternoon. He left by the
Birmingham train, went to Fleetwood on the coast of
Lancashire, where steamers to Ardrossan, iu Ayrshire,
wait the arrival of the train, and sail about eight o'clock
the same evening. He reached Ardrossan early next
morning, left by the first Glasgow train, and was in time
for the morning coach to Perth; thus anticipating the
mail by fire hours.—Perth paper.

Viscount Gage has been on a visit to Colonel Wynd-
ham, at Petworth House.
Tui liain.—Of the numerous compounds con-
stantly announced for promoting the growth or reproduc-
tion of the hair, few survive, even in name, beyond a very
limited period ; whilst " Rowland's Macassar Oil," with a
reputation unparalleled, is still on the increase in public es-
timation. The singular virtues of this successful invention
for restoring, preserving, and beautifying the human hair,
are too well and appreciated to-need much comment.
The very facts of the high and .distinguished patronage it
enjoys, its general use, in all countries, together with nu-
merous teatunonials constantly received in its favour, are au-
thoritiee which stamp its superior excellence and title ever all
attempts of a similar nature. Being universally preferred,
its consequent great demand -excites- the cupidity of un-
principled shopkeepers, who vend the most spurious trash as
' the "genuine' Macassar. Oil: whereas the genuine article is
wholly the invention and property of A. Rowland and Son,
and the amalgamation of its costly exotic materials renders
abortive any attempt to discover its component parts—thus
proving the imposition of all other articles bearing the title
of " Macassar Oil." The genuine article has the words
" Rowland's Macassar. Oil" on the wrapper.--All others are
fraudnioll cou.nterreits!