The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-30 00:00:00

MEETING

AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

The usual weekly Metropolitan meeting of the
members of the Anti-Corn-law League took place
yesterday evening, in Covent-garden Theatre. The
doors were opened at seven o'clock, and within a very
short period afterwards the theatre was crowded in
every part. The interior of the theatre presented a
verygay and lively appearance; the boxes were adorned
with banners, and the back of the canopy over the
stage was decorated with trophies composed of
armour tastefully arranged, while banners were sus- ,
pended in double rows from the proscenium. These
decorations had been used in fitting up the theatre
for the Bal Masque on Monday evening, and had been
suffered to remain. At half-past seven o'clock, Earl
Ducie entered the theatre, accompanied by R. Cob- ,
den, Esq., M.P., T. Milner Gibson, Esq., M.P., and
various other active members of the League, who
were loudly cheered as they passed across the stage
to their places.
Among those present we noticed :—Somers Har-
ford, Esq., Major-General Briggs, Sir William
Baynes, Bart., Col. T. P. Thompson, Capt. Duberley,
Dr. Cooke Taylor, Colonel Tucker, Messrs. W. A.
Wilkinson, J. Spowars, Isaac Hadwen, Henry White,
William Fuller, G. Hyde, D. Dewar, H. Wedgewood,
T. Jobson, Charles Mackay, Andrew Doyle, G. J.
Dixon, J. Faulkner, J. S. Ashton, W. Elliott, T.
Oxford, S. King, Lattimore (Wheathampstead), W.
M'Mullen, Professor 0. Byrne, J. E. P. Dean
(United States), J. Thomson, W. Falconer, W.
Thornborrow, John Leach (Watford, Herts.), Wm.
Snelling, Thomas Dean, 11. Crooks, P. Fairbairn
(Leeds), T. IL Potter, J. T. Daun (Nuffield), Jo-
seph Glassyer (Brighton), Wm. Brady (Dewsbury),
H. Crosfield (Liverpool), Jos. Bennett (Hitchin,
Herts), James Clarke, Thomas Bull, W. Robertson,
Edward Holland (Dumbleton, Worcestershire), T.
Schunck (Manchester), John V. Lyons (Cork), A.
Fellot Osler (Birmingham), Thomas Ruston, C. S.
Crowley, J. Angus, Henry Cove, P. A. Taylor, .J.
De Silva, R. W. Cole, W. Egan, W. J. Johnson,
James Clarke, James Hotham (Leeds), Joseph Har-
ris, J. W. Fletcher, Jonathan Harris, Joseph Cran-
stone (Hemel Hempstead), Joseph Bennett, Martin
RobinQon (Horley, Surrey), John Jackson (Halifax),
John Harris.
The Chair was taken by the Right Honourable
Earl Ducie.
The SECRETARY then read the minutes of the last
meeting, which were confirmed on the motion of Sir
W. Baynes, seconded by G. S. Crowley, Esq.
The CHAIRMAN then came forward, and was re-
ceived with loud cheering, which having subsided, the
Noble Lord addressed the meeting as follows—La-
dies and Gentlemen—ln rising to open the business of
this evening, I must honestly confess that I do not do
so without experiencing some embarrassment at the
novel situation in which I find myself placed.—(Hear,
hear.) I assure you it is a very different thing to
look at the stage from the boxes, and to look at the
boxes, filled as they now are, from the stage—(Cheers.)
I am also the more surprised at finding myself here ;
although I fully admit that "all the world's a stage ;"
yet so indifferent an actor have I been upon upon the
great stage of the world, that I hardly thought it pos-
sible that I should have been called upon to
appear upon this occasion. Having been called upon
however, I felt it incumbent upon me to appear here,
from this consideration—l consider it to be the im-
perative duty, not only of myself, but of all those
who hold that the corn-laws are absurd in principle
and abominable in practice—l consider it the duty of
all such, however feeble may be their talents or their
means, to throw themselves into the scale, in order to
do the utmost in their power to weigh down that
powerful opposition which we have met with, which
we do meet with, and which we shall meet with,
before we attain our object.—(Loud cheers.) There
is another consideration, also, which makes sue the
less unwilling to appear upon this stage. That con-
sideration is, that never has there been performed on
the boards of this theatre a tragedy of so deep a dye.
(Here there was some confusion created by persons
attempting to force their way into the theatre, which
was crammed to excess. In the midst of the con-
fusion created by this circumstance, some one called
out, " Do you think, because we were beat in South
Lancashire, we have lost our cause?" This sally was
received with cheers and laughter, and contributed to
restore good humour. The confusion having sub-
sided, the Noble Chairman proceeded :—) I was re-
marking, that never had tragedy of so deep a dye
been represented on the boards of this theatre—
never had it entered the thought of the
poet to invent, or by fiction to add to,
the facts of history, horrors so appalling
or misery so devastating as that which has been
worked by the influence of that accursed corn-law
which we are met to repeal.—(Loud cheers.) Al-
though this law is painful to contemplate, when we
consider the effects which it produces, yet you will
tpheerrmeiitsmmeuncohw
atbo follow up the t
outitwhichis richly
rilitricehalyrciadl simile,
iculous
There is much of genteel comedy in the manner in
which Sir Robert Peel manages his supporters by
playing on their hopes and fears in respect of this
corn-law—(Cheers and laughter)—or rather I should
say there is a good deal of low comedy in the way in
which the Right Hon. Baronet coquettes with his
two mistresses—his vague love—free trade in the ab-
stract—(Cheers)—and his more meretricious mistress
—monopoly.—(Cheers and laughter.) Any one who,
thirty years hence, shall look back upon the course
of corn-law legislation, will see as much broad farce
in relation to it as has ever produced shouts of
laughter in this house. But you may_ say you talk
of looking back thirty years hence. You, therefore,
believe that the corn-laws will be repealed before
thirty years are over. Undoubtedly I do.—(Cheers.)
No man in this theatre can entertain a doubt on the
subject. Not only those who contend that the
corn-laws are evil, and ought, therefore, to be
repealed, but those who support the corn-
laws admit that they must go.—(Loud cheers.)
You may ask me how they must go—why they
must go—and by whom they must be repealed ? I
cannot tell you that. I will not tell you when they
will be repealed, how they will be repealed, or by
whom they will be repealed. Are they to be re-
pealed by those who are in favour of a fixed duty ?
I think not. Will Sir Robert Peel and his sup-
porters—those who are opposed to a fixed duty, but
who support a sliding,scale—will they repeal them ?
Hardly. Then I know not where we are to go,
unless, as a forlorn hope, we turn to Young England.
—(lronical cheers and laughter.) I have not any
great hopes of them.—(A laugh.) I know not if
any of you have read a poem which has recently been
produced by a brother of that fraternity. It is enti-
tled "England's Trust," and the poet thus speaks of
England :
" Yes, I could bear to see her crowded towns
Sink into hamlets and unpeopled downs."
No doubt, he was a very courageous gentleman who
said this; he could bear to see many things which
others might shudder to contemplate. But the poet
went on—

" Wealth, commerce, law, and learning, all may die ;
But give us"—
What ? It must be something very valuable indeed,
one would imagine, that the Noble Lord who wrote
these lines proposed to be given in exchange for
wealth, commerce, law, and learning ; but no such
thing—
" But give us still our old nobility."
—(Loud cheers, and roars of laughter.) Certainly
it must be a great satisfaction to any country to be
ruled over by people who could tell who were their
grandfathers—(A laugh)—but it was certainly pay-
ing too dear for such a gratification to sacrifice com-
merce, wealth, law, and learning.—(Cheers.) I will
tell you how the corn-law must be repealed. It must
be repealed by yourselves.—(Loud cheers.) Never
be put down by defeat.—(Cheers.) Continue, in sea-
son and out of season, in pressing your doctrines upon
the people, and in teaching the people the interest
which they have in this .question. See that the great
masses in the towns are alive to the doctrines of free
trade. See that at the next election they return
free-trade Members to Parliament.—(Cheers.) See
more especially that London does its duty.—(Loud
cheers.) In that way the corn-laws will be repealed.
—(Loud cheers.) And remember this, that there is
no man, however humble his station, however mo-
derate his abilities, who may not by his own indi-
vidual exertions, and by his energetic support of our
proceedings, to a certain extent, accelerate the time
of the repeal of the corn-laws.—(Loud cheers.)
I have this feeling strongly upon me, and that is the
only ground upon which I have presumed to appear
before such an assembly as this. I feel that it is the
duty of every man to do what little he can to en-
lighten his neighbour upon any subject with which
he may be conversant. It is that alone which has
induced me to offer you a few observations.—(Cheers.)
Undoubtedly in great towns, and more especially in
this great metropolis, there must be a vast mass of
people who are unacquainted with agricultural sub-
jects, and it is not at all unnatural that those persons
should feel alarmed' when it is continually and re-
peatedly being dinned into our ears, by our opponents,
that a repeal of the corn-laws, must ruin the agri-
cultural interests, and must throw a vast tract of land
out of cultivation. It is extremely natural for those
*ho are not perfectly acquainted with agricultural
matters to be alarmed at that, for there must be Many
in this great town who have a litti• !snd, or who

have connexions who are dependent upon land, and
no doubt they will hesitate and doubt, and say if we
are injured in our own property, if our connexions
are to be ruined, and the interests of the agricultural
labourer to be set aside and passed over, we don't
think that a repeal of the corn-laws would be so great
a boon as we have supposed. Now it is in the
hope of dispelling such doubts, and inducing
you all to use every exertion to obtain a repeal of
the corn-laws, that I now take the liberty of address-
ing a few words to you.-(Cheers.) Now were I to
go into the whole subject of agriculture, I fear it
would take up a great deal more of your time than I
have any right to expect from you; and therefore I
will only go into a very limited portion of the subject.
I will endeavour to show you what is the expense of
growing a bushel of wheat; and I will from that prove
Co you that it is impossible that any land can be
thrown out of cultivation. I have been for the last
eighteen years actively employed in agriculture in the
county of Gloucester, and I have held six different
farms within that period, in three different localities
of the county ; and the instances which I intend to
adduce will be from that county. Now I will remind
you that this county contains large tracts of land of
allight:character, which our prophetic opponents say
will be thrown out of cultivation if the corn-laws are
repealed. I recollect, in one of the debates upon the
proposition for a fixed duty on corn, brought forward
by Lord Melbourne's Government, Lord Winchilsea
saying, " if this proposition be passed, and a fixed duty
on corn established, all the Lincoln Heath will be;thrown
out of cultivation." Now it is not necessary for me to
tell you that the Lincoln Heath and the Cotswold
Hills are almost identical in their nature, and are of
the same geographical formation. The Lincoln
Heath, however, is rather better cultivated than the
Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire. Now, I propose
to read to you a few statements which I have received
from different farmers-most of them eminent
farmers-in that county. I asked them to send me
these statements of the growth of wheat, but I did not
tell them for what purpose I wanted them ; and,
therefore, I do not think that I am at liberty to men-
tion their names without writing to them on the
subject.-(Hear, hear.) But I wished to have my
statements above suspicion, and I did not, therefore,
tell these farmers why I wanted them to furnish me
with them. I propose, first, to read to you the ex-
penses of growing a bushel of wheat on my own
farm-for this reason-that I am not afraid
of having my own books looked into in order that the
cost of every thing may be seen, and because I can
undertake to prove that everything therein is per-
fectly correct.-(Cheers.) Having shown you this,
you will be then able to judge how far the statements
of the farmers tally with mine. If there should be no
very great discrepancy, I think we may assume that
there will be no very great error in my statements.
But it might perhaps be objected to these statements
that I ought to have taken the whole of " the rota-
tion" into calculation, and have charged a share of the
" ameliorating" crops to the wheat crop. I have not
done so, because if I had done so I should have had to
have altered the statements which were sent to me,
and I was very anxious that they should not be
touched with the slightest stroke of the pen,
but that they should all appear before you as
they came from the farmers, fresh and unadulterated.
-(Loud Cheers.) In considering the question
I think we may fairly assume that the other crops,
such as barley and oats, can be grown at a profit with-
out wheat. If they cannot, then it proves that our
system of agriculture is extremely faulty, and that
the arrangements between landlord and tenant cannot
be quite as they ought to be. It is perfectly absurd to
suppose that the profit of the wheat crop ought to go
to make up the lop in the other crops in rotation.
That would, if possible, render the existing corn-laws
more absurd than they are at present.-(Cheers.)
But I will take an authority, not a had one, on
this subject-a man, whom our opponents must allow
to be a very shrewd judge of tnis question. I mean
my friend, Mr. Gisborne.-(Cheers.) I think you
had the pleasure of hearing him the other night.-
(Cheers.) There are few clearer-headed men in Eng-
land than he is.-(Cheers.) I remember hearing
him some years ago make a speech in Manchester
against the corn-laws, and amongst other reasons
which he adduced to prove that these laws are an in-
fliction on the country, he said it was very hard
upon him, for he had cultivated a quantity of hill-side
in Derbyshire, but he could not grow wheat upon it,
and he said " what a horrible shame it is that my
food should be taxed to benefit those who grow on
their land what I cannot grow on mine." I conclude,
therefore, that Mr. Gisborne could grow oats and
barley at a profit. lam afraid that I shall have to
read a few figures to you, but I will give only the re-
sults, and hand the calculations to my friends of the
League to be properly printed. You have only to
show impatience and I will stop.-(Cheers and
laughter.) I propose then, to read first, the cost of
growing 120 acres of wheat. The calculations are
reduced into bushels. I obtained these returns in
February last, never thinking of turning them to the
use lam now turning them to, how the expense of
cultivating, harvesting, and working 120 acres of
wheat on the Whitfield example farm-we had the
impudence to call it the example farm on account of
the system we employed upon it-the expenses of cul-
tivating these 120 acres were as follow :-186+ days of
a man and two horses working with " a cultivator,"
threshing, and winnowing comes to 931. 2s. Gd. The
amount for ploughing and preparing the ground for
the seed and sowing is 15s. 6d. an acre; so that 1731-
bushels would be 61. 14s. Gd. Hoeing, 2s. Gd. an
acre ; cutting, stacking, &c., the 120 acres, which
was all done by task work, was Bs. an acre, being
altogether 481. Horse and cart to bring home the
produce, 4s. Gd. per day ; all this would be 14s. 10d.
an acre. That is for the simple cultivation. In these
calculations we have put down 33 bushels as the pro-
duce of an acre, but the usual produce is 40 bushels.
We thought, however, that we would put it so low,
supposing that bad harvests might come. This sum,
then, amounts to 545. Gd. an acre, or Is. 71d. a bushel.
Half the manure of last year's crops will be 50s. an
acre, or ls. Gd. per bushel. The land, in-
cluding tithes and other taxes, 50s. an acre, or Is.
Gd. per bushel, being a total of 4s. 71d.
per bushel. But the wheat crop having bought its
manure, has a right also to sell its straw, and we have
given some credit for that.-(Hear, hear.) We have
calculated that we should grow a ton and a half of
straw, which would sell at 30s. a ton ; in fact
I have just valued to an incoming tenant
the straw at 30s. a ton. :But, however,
we have put the ton and a half of straw down at 355.,
and that will reduce the amount, in the thirty-three
bushels to 3s. Gd. The capital invested in the farm
is 15/. an acre, and therefore you will see that if the
price of a bushel of wheat should exceed by one
shilling the sum of 3s. Gd., it will give 10 1-7ths per
cent. on the capital invested.-(Cheers.) But if the
price be ss. Gd. per bushel, or 445. per quarter, which
is 3s. less than in the Channel Islands, that would
give 20 2-7ths per cent. on the capital invested.
Not a bad profit, that.-(Cheers.) But now let us
go on a little further, and see what the per tentage is
at the present price of corn, and we will suppose the
price of corn to be 563. the quarter-the last corn I
sold was 595.-but suppose it to be 565. a quarter,
that gives a return of 35 per cent. on the capital in-
vested.-(Cheers.) This farm gives a return of 17;
per cent. on the capital expended on the whole farm
for wheat crops. I will now take the expense of an
acre of wheat on a farm on the Cotswold Hills, on
two-years old seeds :-
Two years' rent at 255. per acre
Rates for two years

2 15 9
Ploughing, harrowing, and drilling 1 0 0
Seed, two and a half bushels at 7s. 6d lB 9
Bird keeping and hoeing 5 0
Reaping and harvesting
Threshing, winnowing, staking out at Sd. per
bushel, allowing thirty bushels per acre on
the average
Wear and tear

6 17 6

Deduct value of straw at 30s. per acre, the
value to consume on the premises ............ 1 10 0

.£5 7 6

_
Which amounts to 3s. Gd., per bushel.
The capital invested in such land is about
101. per acre.
Every sixpence in price per bushel above the sum
of 3s. Gd. is 7i per cent. upon the capital of 10/. in-
vested. Suppose the price of wheat to be ss. 6d. per
bushel (note, that is 3s. per quarter less than the
price in the Channel Islands on the average of
the
last seven years), or 445. per quarter ; that amounts
to 30s. per cent. on the invested capital, or take the
present price of wheat at 7s. p '
r bushel, or 56s per
quarter, thereis a return of 52i per cwt. Suppose
this land to be cultivated -up m the five course
system, it gives 10} per cent. on the
...whole capital
employed on the whole farm. I will now
take the return of another person, which
gives the outlay on an acre of wheat, on two year old
seeds ; rent of land in the neighbourhood of Stow and
Northleach, from 15s. to 20s. per acre ; average
17s. 6d.:—

Two years' rent £l 15 0
Two years poor, church, and road rates . 6 0

2 1 0
Ploughing, harrowing, and drilling 1 0 0
2i bushels of seed wheat, at 7s 0 :7 6
Bird-keeping and hoeing 0 5 0
Reaping and harvesting, including carting,
stacking, thatching, &c.
Threshing, winnowing, fetching into barn, and
delivering, at Bd. per bushel, •10 bushels per
acre on average
Wear and tear

0 15 0

0 13 4
0 3 0

5 14 10

Deduct value of straw, at 255., or 4s. 6d per
bushel

44 9 10

I will now give the returns on another farm, on th e
Cotswold Hills, on the two years old :
Two years' rent at 17s. per acre ; two years'
rates—poor, church, and road, at 3s. per
acre
Ploughing, harrowing, and drilling
Seed, 2i bushels, at 7s. Gd.
Bird-keeping and hoeing 0 5 0
Reaping and harvesting
Threshing, trimming, and taking out, at 8d
per busel, 20 bushels on the average
Wear and tear

5 13 I
Deduct straw, at value to consume at home ... 1 5 0

£4 8 1
Say 41. 10s., or per bushel 4s. 6d. The capital in-
vested in the land of this quality does not exceed, if
it comes up to 81. per acre. Every .sd. in price of
excess over the sum of 4s. 6d. is a fraction above

5 per cent. on the capital invested, say 5 per cent.
Suppose the price of wheat to be ss. 6d. per bushel,
or 445. per quarter (which is 3s. per quarter under
the average price in the Channel Islands for the last
seven years), it gives 11 per cent. on the invested
capital. Take the present price of wheat at is. per
bushel, or 565. per quarter, it gives a return
of 271 per cent. on the capital of 81. in-
vested. Or supposing that this farm is cul-
tivated on the five course system, this gives 5i
per cent. on the whole capital on the whole farm.
I was anxious to endeavour to show that in that low
quality of land which it was said would be thrown
out of cultivation if the corn-laws were repealed,
there was a return of 27i per cent. even when the
price of corn was only 445. a quarter, which was the
lowest price at which it was ever calculated it could
be sold in this country.—(Cheers.) I hope and trust
that this will set the mind of every man at rest on the
point, who has ever believed that a free trade in corn

would throw land out of cultivation, and that he will
believe with me that nothing can ever cause any land
to be thrown out of cultivation in England so long as
the manufacturers are able to undersell the manufac-
turers of the Continent in the world's markets.—(The
Noble Lord sat down amidst loud cheers.)
Colonel P. Timairsoat then came forward to ad-
dress the meeting, and was received amidst loud
cheers. He said he was sent to address them at a
moment when he had not to speak to them on a sub-
, ject of success, but came under the shadow of some-
' thing like temporary misfortune.—(A laugh.) Did
either they or he come there under the notion
that misfortune would fly over their heads harmless ?
Need he, seeing how necessary it was in a case like
theirs, that all temporary evils should be turned to
that use for which they were intended—to sharpen
their minds to be the instruments of greater good?—
(Cheers.) A post, they were told, had been driven
in in South Lancashire. 'Well that was not every
where nor every thing.—(Cheers.) He would beg
of them to wait till it had been driven back again.—
(Cheers.) Why, if evils like that were to settle the
dispute, the trade of war would be no where. Why,
if they were to give over at the first symptom of for-
tune failing them, fortune would be only a long mis-
fortune for the best.—(Cheers.) They knew when
they came there they were to witness many such turns
of fortune before they left to their children the fair
enjoyment of that inheritance which they would and
should leave them.—(Cheers.) Was there any fear
that a country, whose metropolis could pour forth
its thousands, week after week, in support of the po-
pular cause, could ever fail. Now, if there was any
one there of the adverse party, he would warn him
not to talk too loudly on the subject.—(Laughter.)
They might just as well think of driving back the
Anti-Slavery Society, and putting an end
to the great work of philanthropy they
had achieved, as that they and their cause
should quail before such enemies as they had.—
(Cheers.) They knew their enemies, and their
strength also. They could calculate and estimate the
value of those who were for the country, and those
who were against it. Go to the Prince de Joinville,
and tell him that England needed not his puny inter-
ference.--(Loud cheers.) They had a domestic
enemy, an inbred foe, who could do his work much bet-
ter. They had those among them, who had unhappily
the power to tell them that British commerce, which
might have raised them almost above all fear of human
ills, which might have waved their flag, not in sangui-
nary triumph, but in peaceful rivalry all over the
world, with scarcely a competitor, should be
' crippled and limited to what the interests
of their side-pockets dictated.—(Laughter and
cheers.) Men in office—men decked with
power—had plainly told them, and would
' doubtless tell them again, that it was to make their
daughters' portions that they robbed them.—(Hear,
hear.) Did Englishmen want telling that more than
once ? Was not one such statement sufficient to
rouse the heart of every father there into fierce oppo-
sition'to this horrible injustice ?—(Hear, hear.) Why
these men would live on anything. There was no
garbage which they would not make their profit of.—
(Laugher.) There was no trade so low, no calling
so base, that these men would not stand by with their
toll-dish to take the proceeds.—(Cheers.) Yet they
looked down upon humble citizens ; commercial men
and tradesmen, in their estimation, were hardly worth
a thought. Ile thought that meeting knew that an
honest conscience was far more valuable than any
rank which the world could give.—(Cheers.) The
certainty that such a cause as theirs had always
prospered and always would prosper would be their
sheet-anchor, and they would hang on by it till the
day of success should arrive.—(Cheers.) England,
great and glorious England, as she might have been,
and as, in some ages of her history, she had been,
would not see herself trammelled and confined to
suit the interests of these bad men.—(Cheers.)
It was well, perhaps, he did not use a harsher
epithet. But he would not truckle to them. They
should hear from him no compliments upon their
hospitality.—(Laughter.) " Light come, light go,"
was a proverb which they had heard of before that
evening. They knew of men who were as much
given to hospitality, when it suited their purpose, as
any other class in the country. Thieves were hospi-
table—(Laughter)—they took all they could, and
they gave freely to their comrades—(Laughter.) The
members of the Anti-Corn-law League were not to
he deluded, by such pretexts, into allowing the pros-
pects of their children and their families to be scat-
tered to the winds, because, from every shilling of
which they were mulcted, sixpence might, perhaps,
be returned in hospitality.—(Cheers.) There was
the "rub: They could not stop the man who simply
picked their pockets of a shilling and spent it at the
wrong shop.—(Laughter.) If they could prove of
him that he took the shilling, leaving only sixponce
for themselves, there would be some chance. That
chance was now before them, and when that was
settled, they would see the end. Now he (Colonel
Thompson) had been put forward with a stipulation,
which was not, in general, needful with him, that
he should not detain them long.—(Cheers.) One
word more, however, he wished to say—(Cheers)—
and it was a word which was prompted by the place
in which they were assembled. He had heard that a
well-known favourite of theirs (Miss P. Horton),
whose name should be received with all the respect
due to an individual so eminent in her profession, was
singing the " Song of a Shirt."—(Laughter.) Now
could not all those who wore shirts, and he was sure
there were none there without that garment—could
not all those who went to increase her benefit, instead
of encoring the lady, which might be troublesome to
her after the exertions of so long a ditty, give some-
thing like three cheers for the Anti-Corn-law
League ?—(Laughter). 'Would not that be a fair use
to make of the theatre, which in their partially free
country had been (and he trusted always would be)
under the direction of persons who made it the means
of promoting national freedom and morality, and not
of injuring and depressing society at large ? If they
admitted that his allusion to this subject had been
warranted by the occasion, let them bear it in mind.
Mr. E. HOLLAND, of Dumbleton, Worcestershire,
said that was the first time, since the commencement
of the meetings of the Anti-Corn-law League in that
theatre, that he had had the pleasure of taking part in
its proceedings. But having read the proceedings in
the reports, he had constantly remarked that those _
speakers who did not come forward most frequently,
were continually in the habit of commencing their
speeches by stating that they had been called upon
unexpectedly.—(Hear, hear.) He could assure them
that he was in that position. Five minutes before ho
entered that theatre he was not aware that he should
be a stage horse. llowever, any man who had his
heart and soul in a cause like that—a cause which he
believed to be highly beneficial, nay, essential to
their very existence as a nation, would be constantly
ready to express his feelings in relation to it when..
ever he might see his fellow-countrymen assembled.
—(Cheers) They would not, on that occasion, ex-
pect anything from him in the shape of argument.
Arguments and facts coming from anyspeaker
ak e
r
in the position which he then occupied,should
be spoken with much care and much thought. It was
essential that they should be carefully considered pre-
viously to their being brought before the public.
Their opponents were ready to catch at the least over-
searching
of
the manner.
' sight ; all figures were scrutinised by them ; all
matterslle
would,of detail
therefore,siftedin
y t the
indulgencemost
meet-
ing, simply state to them on that occasion, as an eye.
witness fresh from the country, and one who, as re-
garded one portion of it at least, was well acquainted
with the working of the cause, that as far as his own
part of the country was concerned, the cause of free
advancing.—(Cheers.) At first,
country
r.),Nyv
was rapidly
n, who espoused the cause of the
League, were met by the greatest difficulties.—
(Hear, hear.) Sour faces, eyes askant, the loss of
friends, distance of manner, and many of those un-
pleasant forms of demeanour, were the result of the
course which they pursued. It should be recollected
that those who lived in the country were obliged to
take their neighbours as their companions. They had

not the same power of choice as those who were
living in a large city.—( Hear, hear.) Now, how-
ever, they could go into the market and speak
to the farmers on the subject of free
trade without being asked whether they meant to
ruin the country.—(Hear, hear.) The farmer said
" I see with you that it is impossible for us to oppose
this question much longer; although we may not
agree with you, yet we feel that before long we must
yield to our free-trade opponents." But these are
the worst sort of farmers—(Hear, hear)—these are
the farmers of the old school.—(Hear, hear.) If they
were dissected it would be found that they had a
grumbling apparatus constructed in their stomachs.
—(Laughter.) Such grumbling might naturally be
expected from men who depended so much upon
nlimate, instead of depending, like the inhabitants of
large towns and cities, entirely upon their own skill
and handicraft. The farmer must be excused if now
and then he grumbled more than others, seeing that
he was so much at the mercy of the elements.—
(Hear, hear.) But they felt that they had made way
both in argument and feeling. Through the esta-
blishment of protective societies the farmers had been
taught to think ; and not only had they learned to
think, but to act for themselves. Living amongst
farmers, as he did, he really believed that
since the existence of protective societies,
through their becoming so rife, they had gained
converts amongst the agriculturists of Worcester-
shire.—(Cheers.) The exertions which were made
in populous towns, and especially in this great metro-
ry;lis, cheered the hearts of those who were working
In the country, and aided them to a degree which
they could not imagine without residing for a time
amongst them. He recollected going over a museum,
and seeing, amongst other things exhibited, a short
spear. It was strong, and stiff, and sharp at the
Point ; and about two feet from the point was a cross
bar. On asking what it was, he was told that it was
a Norwegian spear, for killing bears. "It saves a
great deal of trouble," said the man ; " the bear, im-
mediately he is pricked by the point of the spear, em-
braces the bar with his arms, presses the spear home,
and kills himself." " This," thought he to himself,
"is exactly what the agriculturist does."—(Great
laughter.) The sharp point was the corn-law : the
cross-bar was the bar of protection. The farmer,
'reeling pricked by the corn-law, embraced the bar of
protection.—(Hear.) He hoped, however, that those
who felt so bitterly towards them—those who were
embracing this cross-bar of protection—were now
diminishing in number, and if he were permitted to
address them again he trusted that he would have to
address protectionists and anti-protectionists all united
in one body and all enjoying the benefits of free-
trade.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. COBDEN then came forward, and was received
:vith tremendous cheers, which lasted two or three

minutes. After the applause had in some measure
subsided, he said that if he had returned from South

Lancashire, where he had been doing his duty as a
freeholder of that important county, and had come
decked with laurels, they could• not have bestowed
upen.• him a more favourable reception.—(Loud
cheers.) It was a proof, at all events, that they did
not desert their friends in what their enemies called
the hour of adversity. But he came there not to
talk of misfortunes, of losses, or defeats; he came
there to claim for them a great moral triumph as free
traders. They had been out-nosed, it was true ; but
he would count noses with them, and see what they
were made of. They had not lost a man for South
Lancashire ; they had only failed in getting one.
Their late amiable representative, who had been so
suddenly and in such an untimely manner snatched
froni them, was opposed to them upon principle.—
(Hear, hear.) They were hurried into the contest
in SOuth Lancashire more unexpectedly and sud-
denly,and were altogether unprepared for it. Let them
look to how the contest stood at present and how it
stood when their late worthy respresentative—for he
was a most amiable awl excellent man in private life—
was elected for South Lancashire. The last contest

was in 1837, and was between two Tories on the one
side, and two Whigs on the other. Lord Egerton
was then at the head of the poll, with a majority of
1,200. In 1841, when the last general election took
place, the leading friends of the Reform party looked
into the registry and found that they would be in a
minority of two thousand, and they left the field to
Their adversaries. At that time the friends of free
trade were in ignorance of their strength. But in the
late election they had separated the wheat from the
chaff.—(Cheers.) They had had a candidate who had
no connexion with the county. He had stood for-
ward only as the advocate of the total abolition of
corn-laws, and every restriction upon commerce.
He stood this conflict against all the influence of the
landowners, with the splendid exception of Lord
Sefton, who gave to the advocates of free trade all

the dssistance in his power.—(lmmense cheering
The result was, that the friends of free trade polled
6,974—(Cheers)--of the freeholders of South Lan-
cashire—(Renewed cheering)—which was 400 more
than had polled for the two Whig- candidates in 1837.
—(Cheers.) They had thus 6,974 of the voters of
South Lancashire pledged to the total and immediate
repeal of the corn-laws.—(lmmense cheering.) They
had been told before, that the election would be no
fair trial of the strength of the agricultural interest.
But let them listen to what that veracious authority
the Standard said upon the subject.—(Cheers and
laughter.) "The South Lancashire election has ter-
minates by the return of the Conservative candidates
with a majority of nearly 600; the whole number of
electors polled being 14,458. The result of the
South Lancashire contest is, on many accounts, de-
serving of observation. An election at which be-
tween 14,000 and 15,000 electors polled must be, of
course, free from suspicion of any external influence,
whether of the Government or the aristocracy ; and
an election in a district almost as densely peopled as a
great city, must be equally free from the suspicion of
any local territorial influence."—(Great laughter.)
Now, let them see how far territorial influence was
out of the question in this case. There was the
Earl of Derby, Sir. T. Jerrold, Mr. Scaresbrook, and
other proprietors.—(Hear, hear.) But the Standard
went on to say that " The not very extensive district
now represented by the Conservative Mr. Entwisle
and the Conservative Lord Francis Egerton, must
amount to considerably more than half a million, and
it includes the important towns of Manchester and
Liverpool (towns larger and immeasurably richer
than many capital cities, Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale,
Bury, &c. Whatever, influence, then, it is possible to
imagine to be exercised in a South Lancashire elec-
tion, must be a mercantile and manufacturing influence,
and indeed of this influence the party of the League
have been very profusely boasting for the last year
or two. We know not whether all our readers will
recollect, some certainly must, that the journals of
the League have recently set down South Lancashire
cps a sure conquest, assigning, among the other
grounds of their confidence, the reduction, by no less
than 2,800 votes, of the Conservative force, which
they said had been effected by a diligent attention to
the registry. These reduced votes would raise Mr.
-Entwisle's majority to 3,400. As it is not said that
the Conservatives manifested corresponding ac-
tivity in the Registration Courts, it appears but
fair to- allow for some considerable increase
Of Mr. Entwisle's majority on this head.
Let us, however, be content to take the ma-
jority as it actually stands—at 590. Is not
such a majority in favour of a Conservative candidate
—in a district which is constituted, a 3 it were, of a
federation of mercantile and manufacturing towns—
a district which may in truth be called all one great
manufacturing metropolis—is not such a victory in
such a place conclusive testimony to the real feeling
of the mercantile and manufacturing. interests in the
country ? Let the decision be treated fairly as a test
of opinion—as a test of the popularity of free
trade on one side, or protection on the
other ; and it will be admitted, we think,
that- the friends of free trade could not
in England expect to find more favour-
able judges; and yet protection carries off the great
majority of votes. We have not as yet heard any
reason assigned by the free trade advocates for the
defeat of their candidate, though defeat was tolerably
certain even at neon on Monday, and we own we are
at a loss to conjecture what apology they will offer.
. As we have said, Government influence, aristocratical
influence, local territorial influence, are wholly out of
the question in a district like South Lancashire, all
cut up into small possessions, with a population of
more than half a between fourteen and
fifteen thousand electors actually and
tually brought to the poll."
(The reading of the extract was repeatedly inter-
ruptel by loud laughter and derisive cheers.)
proprietor
?
(Cheers and laughter. What,)
was Lord Francis Egerton
a
Was Lord Derby a small
proprietor ?—(Rene wed laughter.) It was true that
the Earl of Derby had not issued his fiat that his
teraltry should vote against free trade. But there
was a way of signifying, through the steward, how
the "Rising Son" would wish the tenantry to vote
• —(Great cheering and laughter)—and accordingly
there had been put forth a circular amongst the
tenants, stating how much the Noble Lord would do
if the tenants of his father would vote against free
trade—(Cheers)—and he (Mr. Cobden) did believe
that the Derby tenantry, almost to a man, voted
against the free trade candidate.—(Cheers.) Out of
the sixteen thousand and odd electors who voted at
• the late election, there were four thousand six hun-
dred tenants-at-will entirely at the disposal of those
gentlemen.—(Hear' hear.) They had been told that
• Manchester showed but a small majority in favour of
•• free trade. But it was to be recollected that Man-
• cheater was-included in a district which extended to a
circuit of fourteen or fifteen miles round the town.
`The tenantry of Lord Francis Egerton and the others
hemmed the electors of Manchester in, and kept them
in a state of siege.—(Cheers.) The truth was
that, in the result of the election, they were swamped
those by the tenantry of who brought theta to the
poll, just as if theylithe tenants-at-will had been their own quadrupeds.—
(Hear, hear.) were taken
away

the majority of the electors had returned Mr. Brown
—(Cheers.) In the contest of 1837 he had been at
an inn where there were sitting a number of persons
decorated with ribbons of the colour of the Whig
party—blue, that of Stanley and Townely. A shrewd
countryman, who was in the same room, observed that
at a future election they would wear other colours.—
(Hear, hear.) Since that time the proprietor of the
land upon which those independent electors were
tenants-at-will, had changed politics, and he (Mr.
Cobden) had seen the same men at a subsequent elec-
tion with the favours of the opposite party on their
coats.—(Cheers and laughter.) But, again, the pro-
perty was sold, and at the last election the same
tenants-at-will were again to be seen in their blue
favours.---(Cheers and laughter.) He had received
letters from Stockport explaining the manner in which
the influence of the landlord had been exercised in
that district, and in that of Ormskirk. As to the
district of Ormskirk, it was a deception to say
that there had been any canvassing. There
had been no such thing. The steward went out and
intimated in what way he wished the tenants should vote.
He would therefore call on the meeting to bear this in
mind, that they had in this contest all the great land-
lords of the county against them, and that, in reality,
they had had a great moral triumph.—(Cheers.)
Whatever their opponents might say of the triumph
which they had gained in sending Mr. Entwisle to
Parliament, it could not be said that he went there
to represent the intelligence or the independence of
South Lancashire.—(Cheers.) The contest had been
productive of great advantage.—(Cheers.) It would
turn to good in the future.—(Cheers.) It showed
them what their strength was. It was like clearing
the decks.—(Great cheering.) It was a great moral
triumph ; in which men of all parties merged their
party differences. Whigs, Tories, Radicals, and
Chartists, united in support of the free-trade candi-
date.—(Cheers.) Now he would take the borough
of Oldham. He was there with Mr. Brown during
his canvass ; and Oldham was a place entertaining,
as a borough, as extreme opinions on political ques-
tions as any borough in the kingdom. Mr. Brown
was there catechised by an individual who held these
opinions. He did not, in any one point, come
up to the mark of their political faith ;
but at a crowded meeting held in the Town-hall of
the borough, he (Mr. Cobden) saw—what was cer-
tainly an unexampled thing in the history of elec-
tions—an unanimous vote passed to support a candi-
date on free trade principles, moved by a man who
himself's professed Chartist opinions. He wished
he could say there had been equal unanimity on the
part of those who called themselves Tories and Con-
servatives in the district. But they (the League)
had made a breach in that party on this question,
which would never be healed—a breach which would
go on widening. Their efforts had drawn men out
of the slime of party—(Hear)—and had compelled
them to record their votes as free traders. The
gentleman who nominated Mr. Brown pro-
fessed himself a Conservative (Hear) many
polled for him irrespective of party considera-
tions. They
.had an immense number who could
have polled in that district, who stood aloof from
them merely to join them on some future occasion ;
and he believed that in less than two years from this
time, men of all parties in their manufacturing towns
of the north, except the lunatics of party—(Hear,
hear)—except those men to whom reason was denied
—with those exceptions, he believed all would be
found, within two years, taking up common ground
on this question ; and they would make short work
with the landlord monopolists, when they all came to
a good understanding of their own interests. They
had been defeated for want of union. There had been
men sprung from commerce and manufactures, men
who were recreants to their own order, and traitors
to the interest to which they were allied, who sallied
out of the towns, and joined in bringing in the serfs
of the agricultural districts, to swamp the honest
and independent votes of their neighbours.—(Hear,
hear.) He knew of nothing to compare to the con-
duct of these insane and suicidal politicians, unless
it was that displayed by some of the manufacturing
towns of the Low Countries during their feuds with
the aristocracy, when there were among the burgesses
individual cases of treachery in men who opened the
gates of their own towns, and spiked their own guns,
and brought in the common enemy to devastate their
streets and ruin their fellow citizens.—(Cheers.)
On one thing he would congratulate the meeting—
the importance attached by their opponents to this
test. They said that defeat in South Lancashire
would be death to the League. Let them bear that
in mind ; if they asserted that, they could not refuse
to admit that success in South Lancashire would be
death to monopoly.—(Cheers.) He was glad of the
importance attached to this great contest. It bore
him out in what he had said on the question of free
trade—that it would not be carried by a mere nume-
rical majority in the House of Commons. And now
they had a proof of it. They would not have to wait
till the pocket counties of Buckingham and Wiltshire
were converted ; but as soon as Middlesex, and Bris-
tol, and Hull, and Leeds were found side to side on
this question with Edinburgh and Glasgow, there was
no Prime Minister who would dare to maintain mo-
nopoly one hour longer after public opinion through
these formidable channels had been declared in favour
of commercial freedom.—(Cheers.) Their course
then was clear; they would leave Launceston, and
Aylesbury, and give up Hastings, if they pleased ;
the contests there, and the nominations there, excited
no more interest among the monopolists than so
many squabbles in their servants' hall among
their own domestics. But they would have
to do with the large constituencies, and at the next
election they would return two free traders for Lan-
cashire, provided they would give them a couple of
registrations to enable them to effect their object.
They must arm themselves with this electoral weapon ;
they must enable themselves to vote in the electoral
booths ; every man must become a freeholder who
could afford to lay out 50/. at 4 per cent. per annum,
in order to return a rental of 40s. This was the duty
of every man in South Lancashire and in the West
Riding of Yorkshire—to become a freeholder in order
to be entitled to vote at the county elections. By
that simple means they would have ample power to
repeal the corn-laws. Let them bear in mind that
their opponents would play the same game : they
had played the same game while the free traders had
been asleep. They had divided their farms, rented,
perhaps, at 2001. a-year, and compelled the tenants to
take in their brothers and sons as joint occupiers, in
order to have the advantage of their votes. The
landholders had done their worst ; the free traders
had done comparatively nothing.—(Cheers.) But
at the next revision of South Lancashire
in November, they would be placed in a clear
majority, above any their opponents could place on
the register ; and let them only give them another
registration before another election took place, and
they would make the number fourfold.—(Cheers.)
On this practical point let him urge their attention in
the metropolis ; they had among them a Registration
Society which had been most diligent and systematic
in its operations in London. Its place of business was
at 68, Cheapside ; there they would find every advice
and aid, it would be attended with no expense, and by
applying to it they would learn all the law of regis-
tration and the practice of the Registration Courts,
and be put in a way of becoming electors, whether in
the boroughs or among the county constituency of
this important part of England. He was glad to
hear of the great progress made by the Society in
London. Their opponents felt that there was a rod
in pickle for them in the City of London.—(Cheers.)
They were aware that by a recent decision of the
Court of Common Pleas, lodgers paying 101. a year
rent, if they liked, became qualified to vote. A vast
number of young men in London in houses
within the City or its other boroughs, paying 101.
a year for a. floor or apartments, might have a
vote. These.were the very men who wished to aid
them in this cause, for those who had their way to
make in the world had no wish to see the avenues
stopped up by which they could attain to fortune.
Let them inquire by what means they could become
registered, let them omit no means by which they
could join in the battle for commercialfreedom. With
these practical remarks he need not that night go into
the question of free trade ; but he should net do
justice to their Chairman unless he expressed their
sense of their obligation to Earl Ducie for his attend-
ance there to-night.—(Great cheering.) He thanked
him for those valuable documents, of far more value
1 out of that assembly when printed—documents, ela-
borately correct and unquestionably:faithful—which he
had read to them ; he thanked him for his valuable
statements completely establishing their cause in that
ground where they were supposed to be most valuable,
proving that it was in the power of the farmer
of this country to compete with the foreigner in the
sale of grain at a good profit, with a perfect freedom
of trade in corn. There was one encouraging
' for:eirtl.wirh.ich they should bear in mind': if they found an
agriculturist, whether a proprietor like Earl Duck,
LattimoreH ollan,d.m,
who
tenant-farmer,awastbenwere in favour
who, he was
the same time
might remark, thata presen present,
like r his
Mr.
H friend,un
afraidofhad not yet reached them • if they
to b free trade, they would be found at
agriculture. And by the way he
e .men remarkable for their skill and
intelligence in
manufac-
turing districts, and founedyamtboeng the tall chimneys
went into the
going into()
rule applied. They would not findvery reverse of that
men who were monopolists,
thissioner, or a
that. those. were
the men to whom a GovernmentC
mldanufac-
traveller from abroad
.ever
1 turing districts to make inquiries, we
aa
either
think of applying for information,
with respect to his own business, or on
the principles of social policy—they would not
find that these were the men elected to offices of trust
by their fellow townsmen. For the agriculturists
who were free-traders, he thanked them for their
support, and for the sacrifices they had made to give
it—sacrifices to which Mr. Holland had alluded, of
that social comfort which men had 6eldoni moral

courage enough to forego. He thanked them for
what they had done. Let them not be dismayed at
the attempts made to put down the League. What
was the League ? It was nothing but the impersona-
tion of the struggling commercial principle. Did
they think that by choosing any other name they
would have rendered themselves less disliked by their
opponents. If they had chosen the brightest name
under the sun—if they had called themselves an
angelic choir—the monopolists would not have
disliked them less.—(Hear, hear.) It was not the
League they disliked—it was the principle of
commercial freedom embodied in it. Why, there were
leagues before—(Hear)—and they were generally
successful. Did not history record the success of the
Solemn League and Covenant of Scotland ? That
was most obnoxious to the ecclesiastical monopoly
and tyranny of the day. And why ? Not because it
was called a Solemn League and Covenant, but be-
cause its principle was the principle of religious free-
dom.—(lmmense cheering.) Then they had a
League in Germany ; it was called the Hanseatic
League. What was it ? It was an union of the
merchants of the trading towns of the rivers and coasts
of Germany—for what ? To put an end to the bri-
gandage and robberies of the feudal barons of the
middle ages, who built their castles along the rivers,
issued forth with their mailed retainers to harrass
and plunder the commerce of that day.
Did they think that that League would
would have been viewed with more favour
by those brigands under any other name? It was
not the name they hated, but because their purpose
was to put down spoliation and injustice. Their
League had no other end—had no other object in
view. They might taunt them, and call them what
Anil names they pleased. They had nearly exhausted
their vocabulary of foul-mouthed abuses. They could
not call them anything so bad as they had called them
this time two years. And the League was in a better
position, with an exchequer well replenished for meet-
ing their calumny, which fell still-born, for these
who used it knew that it was not true themselves.
The League was not strangled—it was not dead.
The League was the anti-monopoly principle of this
country, and would die only with the death, and, he
hoped, the repentance of the commercial monopolists
of this kingdom.—(Cheers.) Give them London,
Edinburgh, Middlesex, Glasgow, the West Biding of
Yorkshire, and the corn-laws would be repealed. Let
the constituency do their duty in London—they would
do theirs in Lancashire. Why, he had left them en-
couraged and animated. This very day a staff of
clerks was employed on the register of South Lan-
cashire, analysing and examining it, and preparing for
another contest, whenever it should take place.
Mr. BRIGHT then came forward, and was received
with tremendous cheering, waving of hats and hand-
kerchiefs, which lasted for several minutes. When
silence was in some measure restored, he said—l con-
fess I have never before come from an election con-
test in which my party have been in a minority, and
in which I felt so little of that feeling which men are
supposed to have when they have been .defeated.
(Loud cries of " Hear, hear," and great cheering.)
The ardent labourers in the cause of free trade whom
I parted with last night in Manchester, evinced no
symptoms of defeat. They were persuaded that they
had made enormous advances, and they were satisfied
that the immense meetings of the League which as-
semb'ed in Covent-Garden Theatre, would express
their hearty sympathy with them in the struggle they
had made, and that they would be willing to cheer
them on in the continuation of that struggle until
they had accomplished the victory.—(Hear, hear.)
I can bear testimony to the manner in which many
hundreds of men have voted during the election in
South Lancashire, and to the manner in which the
supporters of the League generally have conducted
themselves. We have disseminated free trade prin-
ciples boldly and fearlessly ; and let it be recollected
that it is a very different thing for men like the mem-
bers of the League to solicit votes, and the steward of
a large landed property, where the tenants are ac-
customed to consult the pleasure
,of their lord, and
obsequiously to obey his dictates. It is very hard to
convince such men as these of the necessity of supporting
principles adverse to those which their landlords up-
hold. You may talk, and argue, and debate, and
reason with them that it is their duty and their in-
terest to support free trade, but to those arguments,
however substantial, they are too often insensible.—
(Hear, hear.) The labour, then, in our share of the
contest, is infinitely greater than that required by
our opponents ; for we have to induce a large num-
ber of electors who have always voted against our
principles, who are, from their circumstances, neces-
sarily pledged against us; and then we have to ob-
tain the votes of those who are not so bound up.—
(Hear, hear.) You have heard a paragragh read
from a monopolist newspaper. The monopolist news-
papers will chuckle over this victory, and they may
well be thankful for it. The monopolists have had
few victories in this country of late years, and there
are fewer still in store for them.—(Loud cheers.)
But there are other newspapers which pretend to be
the foes of monopoly, and which have thought it
their duty to find fault with the conduct of the
League on this occason. Now these papers profess
not to be in the service of the monopolists. I will
take the liberty of reading to yeu a quotation
from an article in the Globe newspaper pub-
lished this evening, which will show you
how far the party it represents has sympathy with
our struggles. After speaking of the tenacity of the
League in
_adhering to the obstinate, total, unquali-
fied, and immediate repeal of the corn-laws, the
Globe says—" Here, we think, the League has taken
up an untenable, and, therefore, detrimental position.
Tenacity in striving for that which is unattainable,
has created, or increased, the difficulties of beating
down the sliding-scale, and substituting for it the
better system of a low fixed duty. Instead of re-
garding every advantage gained over the advocates of
restriction as a victory, the uncompromising aboli-
tionists subject themselves, and the cause of free
trade generally, to defeat, by aiming to accomplish
that which is unattainable." I give this a flat and
most unmistakable contradiction. It is false in fact,
for there has been no election yet, since the League
has commenced its struggles, in which any other
than a thoroughly free trade candidate could have
polled so many votes as we have polled. The Globe
goes on to say, " They thus exhaust their resources,
and subject the Liberal party to reverses and dis-
couragements in places where, by union and com-
bined exertion they might become increasingly strong,
and eventually triumphant. Our remarks may be
unpalateable, but we know them to be founded in
truth, and that they have been practically exemplified
in several instances. We believe that had the sup-
porter of a low fixed duty, in the person of a gentle-
man of landed property, and connected with one of
the influential families of the county, or its immediate
neighbourhood, stood in opposition to Mr. Entwisle,
South Lancashire would have been wrested from
Tory domination." Before going into Lancashire, just
a few nights previously to the election, I had been
spoken to by a gentleman, a Member of the House of
Commons, on this very subject. He said to me,
"Your electoral policy appears to me most unwise;
you endanger seats, if not lose them, which would be
otherwise secure. I asked him where we had done so,
but he could not give .me a single instance. Why,
the fact is, there is no instance.—(Loud cheers.)
It is very true there is one case in which that party
(Whig) returned a man ; but that man, be it known,
although Whig, is a thorough protectionist. He is
opposed to the principles of free trade. I ask how
these people, who seem to be so conversant with the
affairs of South Lancashire, come to know them,
and I tell them they are mistaken. They know
nothing about the spirit which prevails in South
Lancashire. I tell you, that if any man came for-
ward to contest that county in opposition to Mr.
Entwisle, and who held Liberal principles, lint who
would not vote for a total repeal of the corn-laws—
and I speak it with a knowledge of the fact—that
candidate could not, with the utmost exertion, have
polled more than half the votes the League candi-
date had.—(Cheers.) It may be unpalatable to some
to hear those remarks, but it should be unpalatable
to the writer of this article to learn that in breaking
down the fences between Whiggism and Toryism at
the Lancashire election, these terms were not much
thought of. The struggle was between the free
trade candidate and the monopolist candidate, and Iwill
venture to say that there was no man connected with
that contest who will attempt to deny that we have
done more to break down old party distinctions, and
to annihilate those delusions by which the people have
suffered so much, than was ever done before in any
election, or in a number of elections.—(Loud cheers.)
Let those men who taunt us so much with our want
of success, take care with what and with whom they
find fault. Whilst they are doing little or nothing to
break down monopoly, we are doing all we can.
Whilst we are subscribing our money freely, and
whilst hundreds and thousands who earn their bread
by the sweat of their brow, are subscribing liberally
to this great cause; whilst hundreds of thousands
of men have made sacrifices of which little is known,
those great leaders of political party have done
nothing, and it ill becomes that party to come forward
at a moment like this, and help those whom they
pretend to be their opponents to strangle this hated
conspiracy, upon which you have set the seal of your
approbation.—(Great cheering.) I don't know that
I have much to add, for I did not come here with the
intention of speaking. Everything convinces me of
the wisdom of the League, as taking up principles
which can be easily understood, from which we will
not deviate, and from which no man shall drive us.—
(Loud and continued cheering.) We have seen
men working with energy, although unknown in
former contests. How was it in 1837 ? We then
fought with ardour in favour of a candidate, who at
this election did all he could to defeat the objects we
are aiming at. We were then hunting after a false
scent. We were then fighting for a man merely
rbe-
cause he hoisted contrary party colours:* It is well
fo us that he was not
returned then, for