The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-30 00:00:00

THE ANTI-LEAGUE AGITATION.
MEETING AT STEYNING.
• Yesterday a meeting of farmers and others interested
in agriculture, was held at Steyning, pursuant to public
announcement, for the purpose of forming a society, to
be called the " Sussex Society for the Protection of
Agriculture." A coinniodidua hustings had been erected
in an orchard adjoining the White Horse Inn, and some
time before the hour at which the proceedings were an-
nounced to commence, the hustings were crowded with
noblemen and gentlemen, intermingled with a consider-
able number of the neighbouring farmers. The agents of
the Anti-Corn-law League were in the town actively
distributing their tracts. The meeting was called for
twelve o'clock, but the proceedings did not commence
until half-past.
Among those on the hustings were the Duke of Rich-
mond,''the Earl of Egmont, the Earl of Winterton, the
Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sheffield, the Earl of
Abergavenny, Lord Gage, Sir H. Shiffner, Sir C. M.
Burrell, Bart., M.P.•, Colonel Wyndham, M.P.; Colonel
G. Wyndham, the Earl:of March, M.P. ; Hon. R. C.
Scarlett, M.Y. ; Mr. C. Goring, M.P. ; Mr. G. Darby,
M.P.; Mr. R. Prime, Mr. R. llaslar, Mr. R. Hurst, Mr.
J. B. Dunbar, Mr. W. W. Richardson, Major Sandham,
Mr. H. Ingram, Mr. H. Penfold, Mr. H. D. Tredcroft,
Mr. W. Borrer, jun., Mr. J. Scott, jun., Mr. H. Hullick,
Mr. R. W. Blencowe, Mr. IL Bates, Captain Richard-
son, Mr. L. Wood, Mr. F. Smith, Mr. C. S. Dickens,
Mr. C. Dorien, Mr. C. Shirley, Mr. J. King, Captain
Paine, Mr. D. Lyon, Mr. J. Barton, Mr. C. Mitford,
Mr. T. Thomas, Mr. C. S. Finbury, Mr. Pringle, Mr. J.
Dennett, Mr. J. Smith, Mr. A. Smith, Mr. J. D. Smith,
Mr. T. Coppard, Mr. J. W. Ladbrooke, Mr. W. New-
land, Mr. Fitzgerald, Sir H. Symons, M.P., &c. There
appeared to be about 1,200 persons present.
On the motion of Mr. BARTON, of East Leigh, near
Havant,

Mr. J. ELLMAN, of Line, an occupying tenant, was
called to the chair at 25 minutes to two o'clock. He
said, no doubt they would feel disappointed and sur-
prised at seeing a small proprietor (though a consider•
able occupier) in so prominent a situation on so impor-
tant an occasion ; but this was a meeting of occupying
farmers ; and as he had for the last 30 years never
shrunk from expressing personally and in print his
opinions in favour of protection to the farmer, he did
not think he ought to refuse to stand forward now.—
(Hear.) If anything could have been required to pre-
vent a doubt that those opinions were general, it was
afforded by the highly respectable and numerous meet-
ing of tenant farmers whom he saw here to-day. It had
always been said that they had been incited by their
landlords, but he thought that meeting, and the fact that
he, an occupying tenant, was placed in the chair, were
a sufficient answer to such a charge, let it come from
whatever party or from whatever source it might. The
cause of the meeting was obvious. They all knew that
the last crop of corn, as well as the previous one, had
been below the average, and yet they had seen that the
prices were such that the tenant could scarcely pay his
way.—(Hear.) That was the real cause why it was
incumbent on the agriculturists now to make a stand
against the advances of the Anti-Corn-law League.
That was the one bond of union amongst them. It had
brought together on that occasion noblemen and gentle-
men of opposite 'political opinions, but all harmonious
and agreed in their determined antagonism to the
League.—(Hear.) He very much regretted that they
could not see amone, them a Noble Lord for whose
personal character he, as well as those who now heard
him, entertained the highest respect, and whom the agri-
cultural body had honoured with the Vice-Presidency
of the Smithfield Club—he alluded to Earl Spencer.—
(Hear, hear.) He very much deplored the adhesion of
that nobleman to the Anti-Corn-law League, and he
still more deplored that he should have chosen such a
time as the present to declare it.—(Cheers.) Lord
Ducie, also, who was called the best arable farmer, as
Earl Spencer was termed the best grazing farmer, was
now giving his declared support to the League. The
agricultural body were under great obligations to Lord
Ducie for his improvements in agriculture, as exem-
plified in his " model farm," but he was not acting as
their friend in abetting the League. He (Mr. Ellman)
could only say, that if it was well for the farmers to imi-
tate Lord Ducie in his farming proceedings, their imi-

tation should extend no further.--(Hear.) Lord West-
minster also had written a letter to the papers supporting
the League.
A Voice—Ah, but he don't grow corn.—(Laughter.)
Mr. ELLmArT—Ay, that's true ; but we could not but
regret to see such noblemen as these countenancing the
League—those who by their blasphemous publications
were attempting to sow the seeds of disunion everywhere;
separating the tenants from their landlords, and the
labourers from the farmers. Mr. Eliman then proceeded
to attack the principles of the League in detail,
He denied that this was solely a question of rent, as
asserted by Messrs. Cobden and Bright. He also denied
that Scotland was with the League, and in contradic-
tion to that statement, he would only point to the late
meeting in the Lothians. He then quoted the opinion
of Mr. Huskisson in favour of agricultural protection.
That friend to free trade said there would be no effec-
tual security in peace or war against repeated returns of
scarcity, except a proper protection of our home supply.
Let the bread we eat be of home production, and then
let it be as cheap as it can. At a late meeting in Scot-
land Mr. Fox Maule said, that no settlement of the corn
question would be satisfactory that did not involve total
repeal. Was that true?—{A general cry of " No, no.")
Now, they were met there especially to combat this doc-
trine, and the League as its expounders. Whatever
Minister might be in power—whether Whig or Tory—
if he attempted to take away one iota of the protection
on agriculture, let the farmers rise up as one man and
tell him that they would not submit to it.—(Cheers.)
Mr. WYATT (also a tenant farmer) moved the first
resolution—" That while the tenantry of the country,
and others investing their capital in agriculture, have
had their protection greatly reduced by recent legis-
lative enactments, and their prices seriously affected
by the constant agitation of the Anti-Corn-law
League, it is the opinion of this meeting that
it is the duty of the owners and occupiers of land, not
only on their own account, but also for the welfare of
the numerous, labourers, tradesman, and others depen-
dent on them for support and employment (the interest
of all being indissolubly united), and for the general
welfare of all classes of the community, to use their
best endeavours to counteract the designs of the persons
confe&rated together under the title of the Anti-Corn-
law League, the attainment of whose object would, in
our opinion, produce a crisis we cannot contemplate
without the greatest apprehension."
Mr. W. TANNER seconded the resolution.

A Mr. DIIDMAN, of Brighton, who- stated himself to
be a mechanic, here addressed the meeting at some
length. He attacked the Anti-Corn-law League, he
said, not so much becausp he was friendly to the agri-
cultural interest, as because he thought the League the
greatest " humbug" of the two.
The resolution was'then agreed to.
Mr. W. STACE (a tenant Partner) moved the second
resolution, expressive of the sense of the meeting, that
the protection of agriculture was necessary to the main-
tenance of the best interests of the empire, and that no
amount of foreign trade could compensate for its de-
struction. This speaker, like the previous one, addressed
his observations to the refution of the arguments and the
denunciation of the designs of the League.
The resolution having been seconded by Mr. HAMP-
TON (a farmer), was agreed to.
The third resolution, for the formation of the Sussex
Agricultural Protection Society, was also agreed to,
having been moved by Mr. W. C. Newland, and se-
conded by Mr. C. Beard.
The other resolutions, which were of a formal nature,
including the nomination of the Duke of Richmond as
President, and the Earl of Egmont, Lord Gage the
Earl of Sheffield, Sir C. Burrell, and Colonel Wyndham,
as Vice-Presidents of the Society, were severally pro-
posed by farmers and unanimously agreed to.
The Duke of RICHMOND then came forward and ad-
dressed the meeting. He said he was anxious to express
his sense of the high honour they had done him by
making him their President. His services might not be
of much use, but they should always be, as they ever
had been, at the disposal of the farmers of the empire.
He had felt it to be his duty as a landlord to attend there
to-day at a meeting called by the tenantry of his native
county, and to co-operate with them to the utmost of
his power in the promotion of every object that would
be beneficial to agriculture. He should feel that he was
base indeed, if he could desert the farmers in the mo-
ment of danger.—(Cheers.) He could not approve of the
proceedings of the Anti-Corn-law League. He had
heard with surprise, not unmixed with indignation, that
their leaders had threatened to interfere in the election
of Members of Parliament, with the money which their
dupes had placed at their disposal.—(Hear, hear.) He
felt sure that the farmers would not attempt to follow so
bad an example—this Society was formed for self-de-
fence, and for self-defence alone.—(Hear, hear.) Were
free and independent men to suffer themselves to be
trodden under foot, by a Society such as the Anti-Corn-
law League ?—(Hear, hear.) No ; they little under-
stood the stuff the British farmer was made of, if they
supposed that.they could do it.--(Hear, hear.) He re-
peated, however, his belief that the farmers would not
follow the bad example of the League—they would not
attempt to set against each other classes whose interests
were identical. Nor would they send delegates into the
manufacturing . districts, to excite the passions of the
people, and to inflame the minds of the operative against
the manufacturers. No ; on the contrary, confiding in
the justice of their cause, they would seek by all legiti-
mate means to combat the arguments of the League, and
dispel the fallacies by which they attempted to support
their views. At the same time he begged to say, that he
thought they ought by no means to confound the League
with the manufacturers and the commercial classes.
It was true that the Anti-Corn-law League did boast
and claim that they were the representatives of the opi-
nions of the commercial and manufacturing interests ;
but it was no such thing—a large proportion of the most
influential and honest of the men who pursued those
most useful and honourable avocations disapproved of
the conduct of the League as much as they did.—(Flear.)
They disliked the agitation—they considered it to be
morally wrong—they knew that if the corn-laws were
repealed, a large quantity of land must be thrown out of
cultivation—they knew, also, that they would lose their
best customers, and they knew something else, too—
which was,- that success did never ya produce modera-
tion in any political party.—(Hear, hear.) They knew
well that, if the Anti-Corn-law League were now to
succeed, they would not stop there, but that they would
go on creating anarchy and confusion in the country,
takin away from us everything that was dear to us as
free Englishmen— they knew that they would attempt
to defraud the public creditor of his due.—(Hear, hear.)
He (the Duke of Richmond) believed that they would
agree with him, that the demonstrations that had taken
place in different parts of the country had given a decided
negative to the Anti-Corn-law League when tlfey said
that they had succeeded in convincing the farmers
that the question was not a tenant's question, but
that it was only a question of rent between land-
lord and tenant. He felt that the managing com-