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
very gay 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 Mondry 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 liar-
ford, Eel., 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. Igkewar, 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.
DPMullen, Professor 0. Byrne, J. E. P. Dean
(United States), J. Thomson, W. Falconer, W.
Thornborrow, John Leach (Watford, Herts.), "Wm.
Snelling, Thomas Dean, IL Crooks, P. Fairbairn
(Leeds), T. IL Potter, J. T. Daun (Nuffield), Jo-
seph Glassyer (Brighton), Wm. Brady (Dewsbury),
H. Cro4field .(Liverpool), Jos. Bennett (Hitchin,
Hats), 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
Robinson (Horley, Surrey), John Jackson (Halifax),
John Harris.
The Chair was taken by the Right Honourable
Earl Duce.
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 CUAIRMAN 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
boles, filled as they now are, from the stage—(Cheers.)
I am also the more surprised at finding m7self here ;
although I fully admit that "all the worlds a stage ;"
yet so indifferent as 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 Inc to appear here,
from this consideration— I 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 ohject.—(Loud cheers.) There
is another consideration, also, which makes me 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 le 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 Ohairman proceeded :—) I was .-e-
-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
permit me now to follow up the theatrical simile,
there is much about it which is richly ridiculous.
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 unpeoplcd 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.
—(Load 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 greet 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
NUJ VSI) .d feel alarmed when it is continually and re-
\ being dinned into oar ears, by our opponents,
_1- , lie‘ al of the corn-laws, must ruin the agri-
.4% ` e:!.7-. . -' . erests, and truest throw a vast tract of land
4::.-i.-"):::.te jfet i atien.,. It is extremely natural for those
_..:
e t --„i LA --_,;te :AI
alarmed
acquainted with agricultural
V _ ‘ t roe at that, for there must be many
'- 1;; 453 .ea town who have a litti,„ ;stied, 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 owu 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
to 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
minty 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
a.:light: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 se, 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 *Light to be. It is perfectly absurd to
suppose that the profit of the wheat crop ought to go
to make up the loss in the other crops in rotation.
That would, if possible, render the existing corn-laws
more absurd than they are at present.-(Cheers.)
Rut 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 this question. I mean
my friend, Mr. Gishorne.-(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,"
threshinz, and winnowing comes to 931. 2s. 6d. The
amount for ploughing and preparing the ground for
the seed and sowing is 15s. 6d. an acre; so that 173 i
bushels would be 61. 14s. 6d. Hoeing, 2s. 6d. 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. 6d. 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. 6d. an acre, or ls.7id. a bushel.
Half the manure of last year's crops will be 503. an
acre, or ls. 6d. per bushel. The land, in-
cluding tithes and other taxes, 50s. an acre, or Is.
61. per bushel, being a total of 4s. 7id.
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. 6d. The capital invested in the farm
is 151. 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. 6d., it will give 10 1-7ths per
cent. on the capital invested.-(Cheers.) But if the
price be ss. 6d. 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 565. 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 171
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 Bd. per
bushel, allowing thirty bushels per acre on
the average
_ _

Wear and tear

3 0

6 17 6

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

£5 7 6
Which amounts to 3s. 6d., per bushel.
The capital invested in such land is about

101. per acre.
Every sixpence in price per bushel above the sum
of 3s. 6d. is 7i per cent. upon the capital of 101. in-
verted. 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. per bushel, or 565. per
quarter, there is a return of 52i per cwt. Suppose
this land to be cultivated upon 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. 61:—

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

Ploughing, harrowing, and drillin 2 1 0
g I 0 0
21 bushels of seed wheat, at 7s 0 .7
Bird-keeping and hoeing 6
0 5 0
Reaping and harvesting, including carting,
stacking, thatching, &c.
Threshing, winnowing, fetching into barn, and
delivering, at Bd. per bushel, 20 bushels per
acre on average 0 13 4
Wear and tear 0 3 0

5 14 10

Deduct value of straw, at 255., or 4s. 6d per
bushel 1 5 0

£4 9 10

I will now give the returns on another farm, on the
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. 6d.
Bird-keeping and hoeing .O 5 0
Reaping and harvesting
Threshing, trimming, and taking out, at Bd.
per bushel, 20 bushels on the average
Wear and tear

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

£4 8 1
Say 4/. 10s., or per bushel 4s. 6d. The capital in-
vested in the land of this quality does not exceed, if
it comes up to 8/. 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 7s. per
bushel, or 565. per quarter, it gives a return
of 27i per cent. on the capital of 8/. in-
vested. Or supposing that this farm .is cul-
tivated on the five course system, this gives 5/
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 271 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. Tuosarsom 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 b 3 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
enem.y, 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.) Wby
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. Hef thought that meeting knew that an
honest conscience was far more valuable than any
rank which the world could give.—(Cheers.) The
certainty that sueh 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
be 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 sixpence
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 hich 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 he
entered that theatre he was not aware that he should
be a stage horse. However, 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 any speaker
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-
sight ; all figures sr ere scrutinised by them ; all
matters of detail sifted in the most searching manner.
He would, therefore, by the indulgence of the 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
trade was rapidly advancing.—(Cheers.) At first,
country gentlemen, who espoused the cause of the
League, were met by the greatest difficulties.—
(Ilear, 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