The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-02 00:00:00

he was met with such hootings and cacklings as were
a disgrace to the House of Commons ; but when the
question became more important, then they began to
talk about vested rights—(Cheers)and when the
question went further, then they begat-110 argue ; and
now that the League had taken•up the subject with
such .vigour and success, they had nothing but vested
interests to talk about.—(Cheers.) Now what did
vested interests consist of ? In his opinion it
was a taking of something by somebody that
did not belong to them.—(Loud cheering.)
It was no reason to say that the thing was not pur-
loined because it was purloined a long time ago
lie supposed a great many of those who heard him
had been in France, and if so, they must be aware
there were regular dustmen there, called cheffoniers,
who were in the habit of picking up from the mass of
dust which was thrown before the door bits of pa-
per, and other things, which they carried away in
their bags to mike a livelihood. At the time of the
cholera the French Government supposed those heaps
of stuff would cause that disease to spread, and they
resolved upon prohibiting them. But the chef-
funiers arose and said their vested interests should not
be touched.—(Laughter.) They had a vested inte-
rest ; the Government was afraid to touch it, and so
there they are to this day.—(Hear, and laughter.)
Madrid afforded another instance. There were in
that city persons who brought water into the city
from a distance, and when it was proposed to bring
water into the city by aqueducts, which would con-
siderably diminish •the expense, the water-carriers
protested they had a vested interest, and the citi=
zens of Madrid were obliged to buy dear water.--
(Hear and laughter.) But absurd and ridiculous.
as those instances of vested interests were, they were
not near so absurd, so wicked, or so mischiev-
ous as the vested interests of the landowners.—
(Cheers.) What was their origin? There was a
long war with France, which raised the price of the
necessaries of life. It was a curse to the people, but
it was a profit to the landlord—.(flear, hear)—for
when the war was at an end the landlords, in whose
hands all the power then was, came down and passed
the corn-laws, with, as the Chairman said, the aid of
those bayonets which had conquered the enemies of
the country.—(Cheers.) This law was the cause of
the artificial high price of corn. The landlords made
a vested interest for themselves ; but if they had an
interest in scarcity the peopleeof this country had a
vested interest in plenty, and they had a far higher
law for this than any Act of the Legislature—
(Cheers)—a law which said that the goods of this
world should not be confined to any particular spot
for the benefit of any particular persons, but which
enjoined that, by means of exchange, the
' deficiency of one country might be supplied by
the superfluities of other countries, that each might
enjoy his portion of those blessings which it pleased
Almighty God to give for all.—(Cheers.) When
they knew those things—when they must stare every
tradesman, every manufacturer, workman, farmer,
behest, and landlord, provided he be in the face, was
it not surprising that the country remained quiet ?
Was it not surprising that such a state of things
should be suffered to continue, when the representa-
tives of the manufacturing towns stated that the
people were starving, that thousands were in the
workhouses; and when they were told by an Hon.
Gentleman (he, Mr. Ricardo, should be sorry to have
it said of him that he made such a statement,) that
hundreds of thousands were rejoicing in oatmeal and
potatoes ? When they were told, even by a Cabinet
Minister, that two millions of quarters of wheat were
rotting in the warehouses of America, which, he said,
he would consider a national misfortune if brought
here ?—(Oh, oh.) There was plenty of corn in the
Ukraine, in Pultowa, and in the ports of the Baltic,
which they might receive if the corn-laws did not
stand between them. When they were openly told
that this•would be a national misfortune, did they
consider the consequences ?—(Hear.) Was it not
possible, when they were thus building fortifications
by means of iron laws around property, they ought to
take care they were not creating enemies to property
itself. Let them recollect what had been said, not
by a manufacturer, but by a servant of the Crown,
and what had been quoted by the Premier himself,
that the people of this country had no objection to
any man keeping his property; but if they saw that
this property conferred some peculiar advantages,
they might be given to think there was some anomaly
in property, which they might endeavour to obviate.
—(Hear.) He was driven to say these things only
in consequence of the mode in which they had been
treated. He must implore of the people to help
them. They could only insert the nail—it would be
for the people to Wield the hammer which would drive
it in.—(Loud cheers.) lie did not see the use now.
in bringing any more free traders into Parliament.
If they had even 30 or 40 additional free traders
in the House of Commons they would not avail.
But there would be another election, and each man
in his own position ought to do the utmost.—(Hear.)
Their forefathers had obtained civil and religious
liberty fur them at the point of the sword.—(dear.)
He did not require such a sacrifice; but if they
exerted themselves properly there was another
freedom which they might bequeath to their sons,
and that was commercial freedom.—(Cheers.) If
they did that, he was quite convinced not one amongst
them would have reason to regret any sacrifice of
time or trouble.—(Hear, hear.), Their names would
be written in the annals of their country, and their
posterity would say of them, these were the men
who achieved the commercial freedom of our
country.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. SOMERS, a tenant-farmer, next addressed the
meeting. After begging the indulgence of the great
meeting he saw before him, that they would hear
patiently what a person in his humble situation in
life might address to them, he said there were various
classes of farmers in Somersetshire, to which county
he belonged. There was, first, the land agent, who
was also a tenant and land surveyor, but who soon
found out that it was more advantageous to value
lands than to cultivate them. He did not:belong to
that class. There was another class of farmers—
some of whom he knew as Farmer So-and-so—who
lived by means of Lawyer So-and so, his neighbour.
—(at laugh.) He did not belong to that class Of
farmers.—(Hear.) There was another class of farmers,
called tenants at will. When an election took
place they were expected to vote fur the candidate
who was pleading to the landlord, and they did so.—
(Hear, hear,) lie was happy to say it was not his lot
to belong to that class.—(Cheers.) There was an-
other class who possessed landed estates, and who oc-
cupied the same. He was sorry to say it was not his
lot to belong to that class.—(Laughter.) There was
another class, but they were a poor crop, who took
out a license to think fur themselves, and who obeyed
the convictions of their own minds. It was his plea-
sure to be able to say that he belonged to that class.
—(Cheers.) He looked to principles and not to men.
He did not look to individual interest, tut to what
might turn out to be the interest of the many.—
(Cheers.) Having stated to what class of farmers he
belonged, he would now state what his feelings were
with regard to free trade. On one occasion he was
asked by a Somersetshire magistrate what were his
sentiments with regard to free trade. He said he
was for free trade in everything all over the world.
—(Loud cheers.) He was a friend to free
trade, because he had heard there was a great
quantity of wheat in bond for which there
would be plenty of consumers if they could get
it out, and he thought the system under which this
was done, must be iniquitous. He was of the opi-
nion of Earl Spencer, who said that free trade would
increase labour, and consequently increase wages.—
(Hear.) It would enable the working classes to sup-
port themselves in greater comfort. It had been said,
that if the farmers stopped, all must stop. Ile could
net see the thing in this light. He was of opinion
that if the farmer stopped, it was because all others
stopped before him,—(Hear, hear.) He believed the
farmers and manufacturers were bound together like
the links in a chain ; they were like the horses of the
farmer's plough, but the manufacturer was the fore
horse, the farmer was the hind horse—(Hear, hear)
—and if the first stopped, the second must stop.—
(Hear, hear.) The order of the day was protection,
but as the Divine word said, the tree was known by
its fruit. Now what fruit had the tree of protection
produced ? He knew little of the state of manu-
factures, but he was sure the manufacturers would
not spend their time in agitating this question if
they were in a flourishing state.—(llear, hear.) He
knew little of the state of; the artisans, but he was told
they were more ignorant and worse Off than the agri-
cultural labourers.—(Laughter.) He believed that
was a grand mistake; but the condition of the artisan
was at best not an enviable one. Did they hear no
murmuring among the agriculturists ? Why many
of the tenant-farmers in Somersetshire were on the
very brink of insolvency. He came next to the agri-
cultural labourer. It was said that his Condition
would be rendered worse by free trade. Let him
remind them of w hat the wages in Somersetshire
were. Taking it at the highest average they did not
exceed 9s. a week. Out of this ls. must be paid for
rent (which was sometimes lower), then there were
Bs. to support a man and his wife and four children—
to find them in food, in fuel, and in raiment.—(Hear,
hear.) He asked them whether it was not downright
hypocrisy to say that it was possible to injure the con-
dition of such miserable people?—(Great cheering.)
It was stated ,that the corn-laws would reduce
them to pauperism—they were already in a condition
far worse than the paupers.—(Hear, hear.) lie had
been a guardian of the Bridgewater union from the
commencement, and the average expense of support-
ing the inmates of the workhouse there was not less
than 2s. 4d. per head per week.—(Hear, hear.) Then
it should be recollected that the food fur this work-
house was purchased at the wholesale price. The
poor labourers of Somersetshire—and they were not
the worst off—were obliged to subsist on the three-
fifths of 2s. 4d. ; and surely the poor men who tugged
hard all day in the field, required es much sustenance
as the pauper in the workhouse4—(Hearrhear.) Ile