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JANUARY 24, 1845.
No. 16,362. LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING S N 7

PRICE sd.

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price Is. •

GREAT AGGREGATE ANNUAL
MEETING OF THE LEAGUE.
MANCHESTER, THURSDAY MORNING.—The mem-
bers of the League had their general annual meeting
at the Free Trade Hall last night, and it was an over-
flowing and most enthusiastic gathering. A number
of influential members Or the Council from distant
parts of the country (who 'had been summoned to at-
! tend a • preliminary meeting of their body at the
Council- room in Market-street) were present, and on
the platform, altogether, there were nearly 600 gen-
, tietnen of wealth and influence, amongst whom we
may mention as the most prominent, R. Cobden, Esq.,
M.P. for Stockport; J. Bright, Esq., M.P. for Dur-
ham ; W. Browne, Esq., merchant, Liverpool ; T. M.
Gibson, Esq., M.P. for Manchester; L. Heyworth,
Esq., Live!pool ; W. Biggs, Esq., Leicester ; R.
H. tirg, Esq., •Norcliffe Hall ; J. G. Marshall,
Esq. ; J. E. Baines, jun., Esq., Leeds ' • F. Schwann,
E
Esq., and R. D. Jackson, sq., Huddersfield;
Boden, Esq.; Derby'; E. Hollins, Esq., Stockport ; C.
E. Rawlins, Esq., and J. T.-Crook, Esq., Liverpool ;
W. Hargreaves, Esq., Milnthorpe ; C. Potter, Esq.,
Darwen ' • John and Robert Mather, Escjs., Liverpool;
J. Wrigley, Esq., Bury; John Whittaker; Esq.,
Ashton; John Walker, Rsq, Bury; .H. Ashworth,
Esq., E. Ashworth, Esq., and. J. Crook, Esq., Bolton;
John Brooks, Esq., magistrate; John Bard, Esq. ;
Lawrence Roston; Esq. ; W. Harvey, Esq. ; T. Wool-
ley, Esq. ; Nicholas Heald, Esq.; E. Armitage, Esq.,
magistrate; J. Bright, Esq.-; J. Brotherton, Esq.,
M.P. ; James Thomson, Esq., Wray, near Lancaster;
J. B. Smith, Esq., magistrate ; C. J. S. Walker, Esq.,
magistrate; W. Arkroyd, Esq., Bury; and J. Ididg-
ley, Esq., of Rochdale. '
G
o rose,o'clock,
cEt
ko°,RobGp E;
.nlr
calling
thre. s o
proceedingsis Esq. Chairman
about
ohf a
ifthe.p
ast Council,seen
upon Mr. Hickin to read the
minutes of the last meeting, which, on the motion of
Mr. Cobden, seconded by Mr. Clay, of Rastrick, were
confirmed.

expenses on registration business, and
the distribution of about 2;000,000 tracts; •
by expense of meetings (more than 200
in number), including hire of rooms,
•
• erectipn of hustings, and all expenses
connected with public meetings ; by
printing and stationery, newspapers, re- . •
porting, &c. ; expenses of. Legyue news-
paper, including salaries of conductors,
editors, and contributors, stamps, paper,
and printing (the average circulation
..being, for the ,fifteen months, .20,000
copies per.week, or 1,400,000 copies, in
the whole) ; by deputation expenses, in-
cluditik"travelling 'expenses to attend
_lneetings 'and Parliamentarrelections in. •
rarious parts• of the-United Kingdom ;
by salaries and
.expenses of lecturers,
including' travelling expenses for
turea delivered in 36 English and many
Welch ,countieti, 'in -all exceeding 600 ..
lectures ; by grants -to local free-trade
committees for local expenses in regis-
tration, collecting of League fund, &c. ;
by agents, salaries of clerks, and weekly
wages ; by postage stamps for 300,000 .
letters, carriage, and postagcs;:by furni-
ture
and fixtures ;' by local expenses ;
.
by sundry office expenses, petty cash
and -incidental expenses, including re-
pairs. and alterations ; by rent, lutes, .
•
and gas, including rent of Covent-garden
Theatre, house, offices, &c., hi London
and Manchester
Walk"- chnin • 2601 19 9

remarking that the guests were rather fewer than
usual. It said—" The room was as commodious, and
the viands as abundant and inviting as on any former
occasion, and the charge was the same—but the
guests were wanting.—(Loud laughter.) About
30 persons only were present, and of those a number
were landlords, and some belonged to the city."
Mr. Watts, a. tenant-farmer, volunteered an expla-
nation, and he said, "I am sorry that our club is
continuing to fall off, and that the attendance at our
meetings has been so small. But, gentlemen, I told
you last year the reason of this, namely, the unwil-
lingness of many landlords to help their tenantry in
-these times -of difficulty and distress." He then w emit
on to.say—" I am aware that many land surveyors
will advise their employers not to grant leases. The
reason is obvious; instead of these men being called
upon once in seven years, they perhaps will not be
called upon to value the same farm more than once in
twenty-one years.—(Laughter.) I hope the time is
not far distant when every good farmer will be pro-
tected by a fair lease, and at such a rent as the prices
of produce,_permanently reduced as they undoubtedly
are, will enable him to pay."—(Heaf, hear.) So that
it seemed, after all, when the farmer wanted relief,
he did not look to rent. He knew there was a margin
there that could be borrowed upon. They had been
told—he dared say Mr. Cobden had been frequently
told—" If you were to abolish rents altogether, the
farmers could not afford to farm their lands under a re-
peal of the corn:laws..7.The.y.did not say so at this meet--tmg of whiCh he was reading. 'They had not said a word
about "special burdens' either. Here was not a
word said about the poor-rate, nor about the seasons,
nor about any other difficulties whatever.--(Cheers.)
The only remark made by this tenant-farmer was,
that he wanted a lease, and that he wanted it at a fair
rent.—(Hear, hear.) And that was the whole ques-
tion. Now, what was it the farmers were afraid of
at 'the present moment from a repeal of the corn laws ?
Was it low prices ? Why, they had the low prices
now; prices were low. They said they wanted a
lowering of rent. But he asked them would they
ever get that lowering of rent until the corn-law was
abolished ?—(No, no.) Would there ever be a
general adjustment of rent between the landlord and
his tenant throughout the kingdom until there was a
total abolition of protection ? Never. As a proof that
he was not speaking without authority when he said
this, what did Lord Liverpool say when the corn-law
was passed ? He said—" If you do not pass this
corn-law, there will be a general aajustment of rents
between landlords and tenants all over the kingdom,
and the farmer, will start afresh upon a new basis."—
(Applause.) That would be the state of things now
if the corn-laws were repealed.—(Hear, hear.) The
League proposed to do all in its power to accomplish
what these farmers were asking for, and therefore he
would say that the League was emphatically the farmer's
friend. There never would be a more favourable
time for repealing the corn-laws than this. We were
often told by the present State physician, Sir Robert
Peel, " Your proposition may be very reasonable in
principle; but this is not the time."—(Laughter.)
Now he defied them, if ever they meant to repeal the
corn-laws, to point to any future time which could be
more favourable. Prices were already moderate,
there would be no change in the position of the far-
mer in that respect. Labourers were not now thrown
out of employment because prices were reduced, but
there was growing up from various causes a greatly
increased demand for labour.—(Hear.) But what
a nonsensical argument it was about throwing
labourers out of employment by the repeal of the
corn-laws. Labourers could only be thrown out of
employment, and he supposed they meant by the
term thrown out of bread, by the land going out of
cultivation. Now, he would take the most extreme
case that could possibly be imagined, that of a great
number of acres of land being thrown out of culti-
vation, and, as they said, a great number of labourers
being thrown out of employment. Why, there
would only be three labourers employed on one acre
of land ; and did any human being who was fit to be
at large mean to assert that these three men could
not, by their own industry, live out of these 100
acres of land which it is alleged would be thrown
out of cultivation, whether the corn-laws were re-
pealed or not ?—(Loud cheers.) He held in his hand
a book that had just been published in London,
namely, a report of an association for " Promoting
the relief of Destitution in the Metropolis, and for
improving the condition of the Poor by means of
iparochialc e anadnddisdtriircet visiting, u
etionor the
the
eßishop supeanr-
d
clergy." Now, this was a report of the Lord
Bishop of London, and they were entitled to have
a little conversation with the Bishop of London on
the corn-laws, not because he was a bishop, but
because as a legislator he was an assenting party to
their existence. In this report he said, "In the
course of this investigation it soon appeared, that
whatever might be she severity of the immediate pres-
sure, a still greater and more alarming evil existed in
its cause. It was found, on investigation, that the
condition of the labouring classes in too many in-
stances exhibited a downward tendency, arising from
pauperism. Whether this tendency might be ascribed
to the competition in trade, the manifold interruptions
to which so vast a traffic as that of Great Britain is
unavoidably exposed, and the consequent fluctuations
in wages and uncertainty of employment, or whether,
in particular districts, it might be traced to circum-
stances affecting the immediate locality alone, the fact
remained the same." Now, the Bishop said a more
alarming evil existed in the cause of all these disasters.
A very sensible remark.—(Applause and laughter.)
Perhaps it might be thought wrong to say that the
Bishop himself was a cause.—(Laughter.) But unless
we were totally wrong in all our conclusions, the
Bishop of London, by not testifying his disapprobation
of the corn-laws in the House of Lords—unless we

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Rills on Bengal and Madras will, from tho present date and until fur-
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bay, Is. 91d. the Company's Rupee.

JAMES C. MELVILL, Secretary.

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Prospectuses and Testimonials may be had, gratis, at 302, °shut-
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£86,009 7 3
WM. RAWSON, Treasurer.
The _ announcement of the balance in hand of
26,6751.
_l9s. 9d. was received with loud and reiterated

bursts of cheering.
Mr. HrcaiN, the Secretary, then read the minutes of
the preliminary special general meeting of the Council,
held that afternoon, at which the report and accounts
above given having-been read and approved, the fol-
lowing resolution was also passed :—" That this
meeting of the General Council of the Anti-Corn-law
League having received very full and detailed reports
of the proceedings of the Executive Council in Man-
chester expresses its perfect satisfaction with those
proceedings, its warm gratitude for the, patriotic, self-
denying, and most laborious exertions of the Council
in the great cause of free trade, and requests them
to continue their labours in directing the future ope-
rations of the League."
The CHAIRMAN said 'Mr. Baines would now move

The CHAIRMAN then called upon the Secretary to
read the report of the Council and the treasurer's
financial statement of accounts, of which the follow-
ing are copies :
" The report which the Council have now to submit to
their constituents extends over a period of fifteen months,
om 'September 28, 1843, to the 3I st December, 1844,
" In the address presented at the meeting in Covent •
garden Theatre, September 28, 1643, the Council ex-
plained the course of action it proposed for the future,
and the distinguishing feature of this plan was the de-
termination to make the movement essentially an elec-
toral one.

" To give effect to the extensive operations here pro-
posed, the Council having a full reliance on the zeal and
co-operation of their countrymen, asked for a contribu-
tion of one hundred thousand pounds, a sum which,
whilst it would furnish evidence of the increasing in-
fluence of free-trade:opinionS, would be sufficient to meet
the estimated expenditure of the League.
" In conformity with this plan, the whole of England
and Wales was divided into thirteen electoral districts.
To each of these districts a competent agent was ap-
pointed by the Council, whose duty it Was personally and
repeatedly to visit each borough hi his district, to pro-
mote and superintend the formation of local registra-
tion committees, and to give advice and render assistance
in all matters relating to the registration, and, wherever
practicable, to secure the appointment of an active local
Agent, having a knowledge of the law and practice of the
revision courts. It was also his duty to make perio•
dical returns of the state of each constituency, and of
the means available for increasing the strength of the
free-traders on the register.
"" Under this arrangement 160 boroughs in England
and • Wales have been; visited during the past year.
The Council have obtained a mass of information which
will enable them to direct their future efforts with greater
efficiency, while the returns already in their possession
show an undoubted gain in 112 of the boroughs thus
acted upon, and in many of these the improvement ou
the register is such as to ensure the return of free-
traders in the place of monopolists, in the event of an
election.

the report ; but before he did so, perhaps the meet-
ing would allow him to make one explanation with
respect to the fund. When they first launched the
address in which they asked from the country a con-
tribution of 100,000/., they had it in contemplation
to raise a large portion of that amount by a bazaar,
to be held in Covent-garden Theatre, but that bazaar
had not yet been held.—(Hear.) The amount re-
ceived, therefore, was quite as much as they had an-
ticipated. They proposed still to hold the bazaar, and
he had no doubt the amount then received would
carry them far beyond the sum originally expected.
—(Loud cheers.) ' "
EDWARD BAINES, Esq., jun., Leeds, then moved—
" That the report of the procedings of the General
Council of the League, which has now been read, be
adopted and confirmed by the meeting."
LAWRENCE HEYWORT/I, Esq., of Liverpool, se-
conded the resolution, which was carried with loud
cheering. •

T. M. GIBSON, Esq., M.P., then came forward, and
was received with great cheering. He said it had
happened to him several times, within perhaps he
might say a recent period, to be asked in a sneering
way by gentlemen in the south of England how the
Anti-Corn-law League was getting on.—(Hear,
hear.) Thera was a way of asking a question which
beyond the mere words conveyed a very clear mean-
ing. The meaning of that question was, the idea,
the fond notion, that had been invented in the south
of England, that the League was retrograding. and
some even had gone the length of saying that the
League was extinct—(Hear, hear, and laughter)—
nay, more, rumour had said that a subscription was
even entered into to give a very large testimonial to a
writer who was supposed to have been instrumental
in bringing about a dissolution of the Anti-Corn-law
League.—(Renewed laughter.) He wished some of
his southern friends could have been present at this
great assemblage—(Loud cheers)—he thought when
they heard of the large sums which had been sub-
scribed by the people of this country in support ofthe
League, and the large balance of something like
27,000/. which P.OW remained on hand to carry on
the agitation—(Loud cheers)—that they would feel
assured that the Anti-Corn-law League had escaped
all the dangers of infancy, and was now established
in mature and robust manhood, and that it would live
until it bad accomplished the object for which it was
brought into existence.—(Loud cheering) It had
been predicted that the League could not live, because
repeal of the corn-law was only a political cry.
But it was no "cry."—(Hear, hear.) A cry was a
different thing; it meant the watchword of a party,
without any real intention of carrying the object into
effect.—(Hear, hear.) It was a " cry" to talk of
" our young Queen, and our old Constitution—
(Laughter)—and " the wooden walls of old Eng-
land."—(Cheers.) These were political cries. But
the distinction between the watchword or word of
union of this great Association and those political
cries was this, that the one was real, and the other
was merely used as a means of binding men together
in a sort of livery, which was known by the cry, as it
were, which they uttered, though there was no real
intention of carrying any political movement into
effect.—(Cheers.) But this was not so in the Anti-
Corn-law League. Politicians were beginning to
find that something was really meant, and that this
cry of free trade was not meant merely to bring po-
litical partisans into power, but was intended to
place in the hands of the great body of the middle
and working classes their full rights, which consisted
in having the free use of their power, and the full
enjoyment of the fruits of their industry.—(Cheers.)
The reason they were wrong in predicting the fai-
lure of this movement when times were good was,
that they never knew its reality, that they never
understood as they ought that it was not a Isere im-
pulse, but was based upon an intelligent conviction.
—(Loud cheers.) It was not based upon the mere
contingency of whether times were good or bad, but
upon the immutable principles of justice, which
would never change.—(Loud cheers.) They had
placed before them by the League, a plain, intelli-
gible, broad, and clear idea, and what was this
idea ? That merchants and manufacturers are
something in the land, as well as landowners
and farmers (t oud cheers) —that commerce
was as lawful and legitimate a pursuit, and as advan-
tageous to the country, as agriculture.—(Hear.)
They now understood that commerce was as much a
productive power as agriculture, and that the one
produce was as much entitled -to the protection of the
Legislature as the other.—(Cheers.) They were too
well informed upon this subject to render it necessary
to argue as to the bearing of this question upon com-
merce. But with regard to the farmers :—The
farmers were assembling together, and grumblers
though they were reputed to be, their grumbling was
somewhat more remarkable than usual. And he
thought shey had good reason to grumble.—(Hear,
hear.) No class of men had been worse treated. It
was pretended that the Legislature had the benefit
of farmeis in view before they repealed the taxes upon
land. It was said what a saving the farmer had had
by the alteration consequent upon the New Peer-law ;
"the poor-rate is much less than it used to be, the,
poor farmer,will get a better return by his occupa-
tion."—(Hear, hear.) But all that the farmer saved
in poor-rates went to rent.—(Cheers.) There never
was'a greater mistake than to suppose that the Legis-
lature, when proposing to benefit the farmer, was not
really putting more money into the pockets of the
. .
landowners. Cheers.) 'the landowner was the
object of favour; the farmer was merely held up
as a mask to their intentions. Now they had said
this in the League all along—it had been constantly
stated that the corn-law was a question of rent—
(Hear, hear)—that the corn-law was never in-
tended to compensate the farmer for the
different charges pressing upon the land, for all
these charges were calculated upon when the farmer
took his land, and allowed for in the rent.—(hear,
hear.) As a proof that farmers themselves, compelled
by the pressure of the times—having made their con-
tract for their present rents under the notion that
prices would be higher than they now were—were
beginning to speak out upon the question, he
take the liberty of reading them one or two remark
from the speeches of tenant-farrners, at a mee t. ing
which took place in Gloucester, and which appeared
in the Times newspaper of Tuesday. If the tenants-
at-will dared speak out, there would be at the present
indignation on their
moment a very general ety:of
part at the way in which their credulity had been
practised upon by the Legislature, and a.t the. way
they had been induced. to rely upon their faithless
patrons for protection.— (Cheers.)
,The article was
headed " The Farmers Difficulties. It set out by

• " Simultaneously with those electoral movements, the
communications between the Council of the League and
every portion of the kingdom have, by means of corres-
pondence and deputations, been not only maintained,
but greatly increased during the past year. More than
200 meetings, attended by a deputation from the Conn-
oil, have been held in England and Scotland since Octo-
ber, 1843. Of these meetings, more than 150 have been
held in Parliamentary boroughs, and the increased num-
bers by which they have been in all cases attended, and
the zeal and enthusiasm manifested, prove the extent
and the depth of the public conviction in favour of free
trade. Besides these, the great meetings held in Covent-
garden Theatre, London, and in the Free Trade Hall,
Manchester, show that the qUestion has lost none of
its hold ou the public mind in the metropolis, or
in this town, the birth•place of the League.
" The lecturers of the League have visited and' lec-
ttired in 36 out of 40 counties of England, and in nearly
all the Welsh counties. The demand for this mode of
instruction has been much greater than the Council have
been able to supply, the desire for lecturers having been
especially manifested in the agricultural districts.
" More than 2,000,000 of stamped and other publica-
tions have been distributed. In addition to these, there
has been an average weekly publication of 20,000 copies
of the League paper, 15,000 to subscribers to the League
Fund, besides a sale of 5,000 copies weekly,
in 67 weeks to 1.340.000 copies, making the total distri-
bution of publications nearly 3} millions. amounting
" The correspondence, since the last report, has mere
than doubled, the number of letters received at the
League offices in London and Manchester, being about
25,600, while the numbers dispatched from the two
offices have been about 300,000.
" Until recently, with the exception of Lancashire and
Middlesex, the Council had not directed their attention
to the county registration. In South Lancashire, having
the data furnished by the late contested election, they
proceeded at once to a thorough examination of the re-
gister, and the result of the last registration in this divi-
sion of the county
was a gain of 1,750 votes to the free-
traders. In North Lancashire there was a gain of more
than 500 votes, and in Middlesex an accession of strength
was also secured.

" Hitherto the county registration has been almost en-
tirely neglected by the commercial, trading, and indus-
trious classes, and the Council resolved to invite their
friends everywhere to acquire that political influence to
which they are so justly entitled, by taking up their en-
franchisement for the counties. The appeal has been
received and acted upon with a promptitude and en en-
thusiasm surpassing their most sanguine expectations.
The Council have reason to believe that, within the last
three months, a sufficient number of persons have pur-
chased freehold qualifications in North Cheshire, South
Lancashire, and the West Riding of York, to secure to
those important constituences a flee trade majority ;
whilst a large addition to our ranks has been made in
Middlesex, North Lancashire, and several other populous
counties.

were completely deceived in all our notions of cheap
food being a source of happiness to the community—
he said that there was nothing so very extreme in the
remark that the Bishop of London himself might
be considered as one of the causes of the evils

which he deplored.—(Loud cheers.) " Why," the
Bishop might say, " prices are low now, what
would ou have ? The corn-laws have not prevented
you from having abundance of food ?" Yes,
but the answer was that the corn-laws answered no
purpose at all, unless it were to raise the price of
food. It did effect that sometimes. and therefore by
not opposing that law, as far as in him lay, the Bishop
of London did all he could to keep up the price of
corn.—(Cheers.) Surely it could never be necessary
with the Church to discuss the question of whether
plenty is an evil, or whether scarcity is a blessing.
The very prayer so often referred to as used in our
churches assumed that cheapness and plenty were
blessings. He asked, therefore, why this body, with
the Bishop at its head, did not come forward and help
them to repeal the corn-laws ?—(Cheers.) Mr. Gib-
son went on to express his conviction that the day was
not far distant when this law would be erased from

" The Council view this as but the encouraging com-
mencement of a movement to which they will devote
their primary attention during the ensuing year. The
Government of this country is at present in the hands of
a class, solely through the instrumentality of the Chan-
dos clause, which places the county representation at the
mercy of the landlords, through the votes of less than
200,000 tenants-at-will in England anti \Vales. From
calculations carefully made, tho Council are convinced
that it will be practicable, in a short time, to induce
such a number of the friend:: of free trade to purchase
freehold qualifications, as will neutralise those dependent
voters at the poll, and give to the intelligent middle and
industrious classes their due influence in the Government
of this commercial country.

:he statute-book and consigned, as many other bar-

harisms have been before it, to everlasting oblivion.
J. BRIGHT, Esq., M.P., was the next speaker, and
was very cordially received. He said two things had
struck him in connection with this subject; one was
the certainty of the tendency of all corn-law legisla-
tion to plunder the industry of the country by creating
an artificial famine, and thereby to enrich the great
proprietors of the soil, and those who called themselves
the nobility.—(Cheers.) The corn-law of 1815
aimed to fix wheat at 80s. a quarter, a famine price,
which had only been attained in two years since, 1817
and 1818, which were years of distress, discontent,.
and menaced insurrection in all the densely-peopled,
districts of the kingdom. But the object of that law
and its powers was to keep as near the famine price as it
might be safe to go, even though some few were starved
in the experiment. This law had no mercy in it, and
its framers had none. It was not of its mercy that they
were not now plunged into utter desolation, but a bene-
ficent power, far above the powers and potentates that
sat in the halls of human legislation, had bailed the in-
tentions of the framers of this law, and had given plenty
and comfort to the millions of this kingdom.—(Hear.)
It should never be forgotten that this law was passed
by military force alone. The Ikuses of Parliament
were garrisoned for the purpose. The very police and
military, who 'wore sustained by taxes on the people,
were employed to rivet on the necks of the people that
which was once the mark of their servitude and the
penalty of their subjugation.—(Cheers.) It had never.
been consented to by the people ;
tphaenrmeodbtefsrdto.magaiitnssfit ristst
enactment therieeohlet;:titghblieeeyea wasa
but continualtbouotk the
question up
o m en t of
whicha
theiri long-heldnuty fathers r'h
had felt a deep interest in ; but they were
now better organised, and, if possible, more resolved.
This was a fitting time to ask what had the League
done ? In 1839 they had raised a subscription of about
5,0001., which was then thought a very serious amount ;
and ono knowing man hatiomised to repeal the corn-
lawssubscription had been entered
for about B,oool.—(Laughter.) In
ftohrerethrteoookylB4o another
into—atl guarantee fund
ears, to
thebepaid memorable by
instalments.
smaemeteinn LS.
flnselBve4nl
hundred ministers of religion, who, with all the force
and power which their character and calling could
give, denounced the law as one violaling every
human right, and offensive in the sight of

"The Council have now entered upon the seventh
vear of their labours. Of the past they can speak with
satisfaction. They have seen public opinion gradually,
but surely becoming more and more settled in favour of
free
moving
tradeal
o;
wtlhye i
t publicm ay press, the
ut ht e organstill
moving
oovfi
itlliga ton i
n opinion,the
uniting more earnestly and cordially with the exertions
of the League ; the Cabinet chosen by tlir monopolists,
direction of free trade ; whilst, throughout the manu-
facturing districts, the return of active and prosperous
commerce has not only done nothing to abate the enthu-
siasm and determination of their friends, but has given
them enlarged means of advancing the object they have
so greatly at heart.
unknowneple to ; any other or-
th
os "The
that live ivalglelebiy industry is
einpuhsatyi7lli); the representation of the
classes is an embodiment of the
o
spirit and energy of trade which is strugglhinigteortbo it hasefree
received free;
it seeks no private, no partial good, but the true and
nisa permanentito an dien gtrheis interests o
county}'
of oufntt
supportrh)e i has sought, by a faithful, ;
wholet
discharge of its duties, to deserve the confidence reposed
in it : its success is to be seen Wherever the opinion of
the people is freely manifested, and its complete and not
distant triumph is as certain as its determination is firm
and its principles are impregnable.
"By order of the Council,
" GEORGE WILSON, Chairman.
" Manchester, Jan. 22, 1845."

FINANCIAL REPORT.—£IOO,OOO LEAGUE
FUND, 1843-4.
1843. RECEIPTS.
..... £2,476 10 3
Sept.Am 90.unTtoorbasulabnsccoriopfticoansshrieneehiazdd
to
this

date..................................... .... 82,735 3 5
Interest allowed by bankers ............. 797 13 7

£86,009 7 3

1845.
Jan. 1. To balance of cash in hand ...... £26,675 19 9
1844, DISBURSEMENTS.
Dec. 31. By registration and tract distri-
bution, including expenses in registra-
tion courts, ways of clerks, travelling

,:xiaq+:;i c

~, ti:.(