The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 9, 1844

stood before them as a character which had hitherto
been considered as one of their greatest enemies—he
was rather a large land agent.—(Cheers.) He was
employed to dispose of the stocks of farmers; to help
one unfortunate farmer out and his successor in, until
the successor should again stand in need of his as-
sistance. (Laughter.) He had commenced
his public life, and his trade, in the county town of
a county under the monster foot, which covered the
whole of Buckinghamshire. Every little privilege
was given unto those only who deserved it by such
means as he would not stoop to do.—(Cheers.) He
would not go back to his ancestors, but he would
merely tell them that his father was what was called
a Jacobin. He himself was proud of being called a
Radical, which was, perhaps, a softer term for the
same thing. He, however, had always had the hap-
piness to resist temptation. He had kept his inte-
grity, and had never sacrificed his political principles
to the profits of his business ; and he would venture
to say, that there was not a great Protectionist in
that neighbourhood who wished to have his pro-
perty turned into cash, but what had full confidence
in him, and would employ him as readily as
any other person. Solomon had said, " Train up a
child in the way he should go, and when he is old
he will not depart from it." His eldest son, who
possessed better advantages of education than himself,
was now Editor of the Aylesbury News. In his paper
he advocated the doctrines of free trade. The meeting
and he were now getting better acquainted. He had
at first felt some diffidence in addressing them, but he
had now got rid of it. He would content himself
with stating some facts in support of his opinion, and a
statement of facts he considered the best sort of
oratory. In considering the question of monopoly,
he always looked at it in a broad light, and lost sight
of many petty reckonings. He took a broad view of
the effects of the corn-laws. God Almighty, by his
bountiful providence, had supplied the earth with
fruits of various sorts. Man, by his ingenuity, had
invented the steam-engine, which had shortened dis-
tances, and brought the ends of the world together.
All men had a right freely to interchange the pro-
ducts of their industry, and trade in all articles should
he free. He knew of no reason why any man should
ask for protection.—(Cheers.) He had seen an ad-
vertisement in the county paper for a meeting in the
County Hall at Aylesbury of agriculturists to pray
for protection. He had sent an advertisement to the
same paper, calling a meeting of tailors on the same
day, at the same time, and in the seine place, also to
pray for protection.—(Cheers and laughter.) The
agricultural meeting took place ; and there were se-
veral excellent speeches reported as having been
made at the tailors' meeting. Those who clothed the
back were as well entitled to protection as those who
filled the belly. He meant nodisrespect to the tailors
in what he had said, but merely to show the folly of
any class asking for protection. What would they
say to him if, in the event of his business falling off,
he were to apply to Parliament for protection, and
to ask them to raise his commission to 10 per cent. ?
What would he be called ?—(Cheers.) He would
now advert to the state of the agriculturists. it hat
was the real state of the small farmer ? No man
knew what was the state of the small farmer better
than he (Mr. Gibbs) did. The small farmer, for the
last few years, had been tolerably well off.
Some who had deprived themselves of the common
comforts of life had made money. Others, who had
not denied themselves the ordinary comforts, were on
a level. Last year the scale turned another way,
and those who had not laid by anything were obliged
to move off. The labourer was not paid, because the
farmers could not pay him ; and the labourer who,
with a large family only got from Bs. to 10s. a week,
and had to pay 2s. a week rent out of that, could not
be supposed to make a very decent appearance. The
repeal of the corn-laws would raise the wages of labour.
If manufacturers had abundance of cheap food trade
would flourish. One of the greatest evils the country
laboured under was a surplus population.—(Hear,
hear.) There were plenty of well-disposed able-
bodied men who were now asking for a day's work
and could not obtain it. Those poor feellows, who
were chiefly agricultural labourers, in strolling along
the roads sometimes stole a hare, and sometimes only
half a hare, as in a late instance, and for this theft
they were sentenced to two or three months' impri-
sonment, and by those who called the hares the pro-
perty of the land.—(Hear, and laughter.) He would
not encourage poaching—far from it—but he believed
every man would have a hare if he could get it.
He was new about to speak of the state of the
tenant-farmers, and the Tory editor of an Aylesbury
paper, who was the unflinching advocate of mono-
poly, had let the cat out of the bag about a fortnight
ago. In supporting monopoly he declared against
the attendance of the agricultural population at agri-
cultural meetings, for it was manifestly to the ad-
vantage of the monopolists to keep the people in igno-
rance. A little Radical newspaper in that county to
which he had already alluded had done a great deal to
remove the foolish prejudices against the repeal of the
corn-laws which had previously existed. An attempt
had been made to burke this little newspaper, as one
which previously existed had been put down, but
" John Gibbs" started one on his own responsibility.
An endeavour had been made to crush it, but the
very first week, the sale of the Aylesbury News was
three times that of the other local papers, and had
continued so ever since.—(Hear, hear.) In a certain
village that belonged to the great Duke of Bucking-
ham, there was a certain agent that reported every
little circumstance to the Duke, free trade discussion
was prohibited, and free trade pamphlets were like
" the forbidden fruit," to be avoided, and like the for-
bidden fruit, too, they were the more anxiously de-
sired, because of their prohibition; this agent gene-
rally made his " rounds" of a Sunday • morning,
when the farmers were taking a sly peep at the
Aylesbury News. When the poor farmer heard him
coming he slipped the News into the dresser-drawer,
but immediately plucked it out upon his departure,
and began to con it over more anxiously than before.
—(Laughter.) The moral condition of the Buck-
inghamshire farmers was not to be envied. The ques-
tion of free trade had been very ably argued
Mr. Cobden, among the Buckingham-
shire meeting had been held there, and
he
believed Dr.
Cobden was as much gratified as sur
by their
farmers fri eir. A
prised at the reception free-trade principles had met
among them.—(Loud cheers.) An impudent fellow
had presumed to style a meeting in favour of protec-
tion in Aylesbury, which they called, a meeting of
the Aylesbury electors. The meeting was addressed
by a Dr. Sleigh. The Doctor spoke in a fine, flowery
way—he gave them plenty of what was called " soft
soap"—(Great laughter)—and be effectually turned
the stomach of the few friends he had.— (Renewed
laughter.) The Doctor said enough to get himself
hooted out of the room, and bonnetted, too, in going
out.—(Roars of laughter.) It was needless for him
to discuss the causes of the moral condition of the
farmers of Buckinghamshire—the well-known con-
dition of the tenant-farmers,. and the farm-labourers,
spoke more than words could say.—(Hear, hear.)
The present system threw numbers of well-disposed
,poor men out of employment; they could get no re-
lief, and had no. alto illative between he prison and the
workhouse—there was not esen out-door relief.
He firmly believed that the repeal of the
corn-laws would be beneficial to the la-
bourer—(Hear, hear)—for it would give them that
employment in manufactures which agriculture at
present denied them.—(Hear, hear.) If the corn-
laws were to be repealed to-morrow he assured the
meeting he would take a lease of land at present prices
—he would sign the lease with the one hand, and
with the other sign a petition for the repeal of the
corn-laws.—(Hear, hear, and great cheering.) He
would have no hesitation whatever in engaging in the
culture of land—arable land. He believed the repeal
of the corn-laws would produce, protection, but a na-
tural protection; it would give fresh life and vigour
to manufactures, and promote prosperity in trade ; it
would drain off the surplus labour, and the people of
this country would then be enabled to consume that
corn, the produce of foreign countries, which was of
late years suffered to rot, and had been thrown into
the sea while the people of England were starving.—
(Hear, hear.) He knew several farmers—he did not
speak of landowners, but of the yeomen of Bucking-
hamshire—not those wearing red coats or blue coats,
but of the good honest stout-hearted yeomen, who were
in reality in favour of a repeal of the corn-laws.
The farmers were not so much opposed to a repeal of
the corn-laws as had been imagined. They preferred
that the question of the corn-laws should be settled
on a sure and solid foundation. He would give them
a proof of the truth of what he said—facts were stub-
born things—as stubborn as the League itself.—
(Laughter.) A farmer had come to him not long
since—he was his agent, and wanted to give up a
farm. He introduced himself by saying, " Well,
I must leave my farm, and I must ask your assistance
to get me out.' The conversation turned on the
state of agriculture and on the agitation of the re-
peal of the corn-laws; he stated that twenty-five
years ago he took a farm in the upper part of
Buckinghamshire ' • an Act of Parliament had just
then been passed, and by that Act he had been
guaranteed, or assured he was guaranteed, ten
shillings a bushel for his is heat. Upon the faith
of this promise he took the lease, but for many
years after wheat was only six shillings a bushel. In
fact, protection to this man was false, ruinous, and
deceptive, as it had proved to many.—(llear.) lie
would not go into the details of prices as other speakers
had done, but he believed he did not exaggerate
when, he said that time prices of corn were 30 per cent.
lower than the farmers expected when they took their
leases (Hear.) At the same moment that he was
talking to this farmer a deputy from the League
came into the room with a petition in favour of a re-
peal of the corn-laws in his hand, and asked them to
sign it, and he was happy to inform the meeting that
both of them signed this petition, and they further
agreed to sign a requisition to the League te furnish
them with a free trade candidate at the next election.
—(Cheers.) He believed the motives of those who op-