The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-26 00:00:00

were prevailing throughout the country; when the Legislature
was ex !ected shortly to meet, and the people looked o❑ rather
with sullen expectancy than with any degree of hopefulness;
when the League had gone on marshalling its strength, aug-
menting its funds, and multiplying its numbers; when political
parthts were on the look-out to see what chances might
turn up for rot aini rg their position, or for getting
into the position of their adversaries ; when Anti-
Corn saw League Associations were forming in different
counties; and when, therefore, on all accounts, it was appro-
priate and desirable to reiterate, though in terms that had been
often heard, they could not be too often repeated—to reiterate
the League principles, the one aim and object of that Associa-
tion, that for which they were banded together, without which
they would never be content, till they attained which their or-
ganisation and their exertions would continue ; the one broad,
simple principle of free trade, and, as applied to the greatest
possible case, the total, the immediate, the unconditionel abo-
lition of the corn-laws.—( Cheers.) That was the star by
which they steered ; to that single point they bore right on,
heedless of all other considerations. They eared not for par-
ties, they cared not for demonstrations of faction, new or old;
they cared not for the consistency or the inconsistency of this
or that leader, or of any portion of the House of Corn-
mons.—( fl,ar, hear) The total, the unconditional, and the
immediate abolition of the corn-laws was what they asked of
all. They sought no more, they would take no less, from Sir
Robert Peel, or. the one side, or from Lord John Russell, on
the other side. They sought nu more, and they would take no
less, from Lord Melbourne on the one sire, or from the Duke
of Wellington on the other side, or from my Lord Brougham
on all sides.—( Great laughter and much cheering.) They
waged no further warfare with those who conceded this prin.
ciple ; they waged everlasting warfare with all who would not
grant this principle ; and, because it was a principle, in their
minds, which admitted of no compromise on any grounds what-
ever.—( Great cheering.) That was their watchword.—
(Hear, hear.) If a certain class in the country reiterated its
ery of "No surrender," they replied by "No compromise."—
( Cheers ) If this movemen► were, what it had sometimes
been mistakenly represented ; if it were a mere manufac-
turer's combination—an endeavour to put certain portions
of the trade and commerce of this country on a different,
arid a safer, and a more profitable footing, and that
were all ; if this were a mere party movement—an action of
hostility towards one set of politicians, aid an endeavour to in-
troduce into their place another setof politicians ; if this move-
ment were a class feeling ; it they really did the absurd thing
that had been ascribed to them in the published resolutions of
societies ; if they hated agriculture (an inc ,neeivable absur-
dity, for how could any man hate that through which he got
bread to eat ?); or, if this were a mere popular caprice, a cuckoo
cry set up by individuals for their own personal aggrandise-
ment, or for purposes of faction, like " no popery," and similar
cries, which had so often led multitudes astray, and brought
confusion to the country, why then there might be compromise
in the matter.—( Hear, hear.) But with them it was the very
stuff of conscience ; it was a principle to which they had made
up their minds, as embracing a right of man anterior even to the
existence of civilised society ; for if anything could be called a
natural right, it was that of man's exchanging the produce of
his honest labour freely in the world's market for whatever he
might desire as a substitute, welcome to him as ministering
either to his subsistence or his comfort.—(Loud and long con-
tinued cheers.) This was not a question that admitted ofdeerees ;
it was not a thing to be settled piece- meal.—( Hear, hear.)
They respected all rights, but they had no respect for wrongs.
--(Hear, hear, and cheers. ) They understood not the doc-
trine of tolerating a certain robbery, of itsiquity, of oppression
on the community, and en individuals.—( Hear, hear.) They
took up their position on the right and wrong of the case. For
prorrrty, of all sorts, as realised by skill and labour, and as
sanctioned by human laws and institutions, they avowed every
respect ; and they held in sacred regard the property
of the class which most opposed itself to their claims.—
( Hear, hear.) The broad acres of the landholder were his ;
they meant not to touch them ; they set up n• scramble for
their division—they interfered not with his retention of that
which, whether conquered by the sword or gained by purchase,
belonged to him. Let hint do as he would with his own—he
was amenable in public opinion if he violated decency and mo-
rality ; but, so far as he kept within the limits which the great
objects of human society prescribed, they respected his rights
even there.—( Hear, hear.) Let him have his game, or let
him decimate his hares and rabbits—let him grant leases or let
him refuse leases—let him cut down the ancient timber on his
estate to put cash into his pocket, or let him have a great re-
spect for, and be conservative of timber and of institutions—they
meddled with nothing whatever of that kind; lot him have his
whose rights—the land was his, the produce of the land was
his, or those to whom he hired out that land; but there was
one thing which was not his, and that was the industry of
other people.—( Cheers.) Their labour, their skill, their per-
severance, their bones and sinews, their daily toil, and the
bread which they earned by that toil, and which he had no
right to diminish by taxation.—(Deafening applause.) They
were his fellow-countrymen, and not his slaves.—(Renewed
cheers.) The labourer's bones and muscles were his own
property, and not a landlord's.—(Continued cheering.) They
claimed for themselves that which they conceded to him, the
fair produce of whatever powers, privileges, or advantages they
possessed.—( Hear, hear.) Here their principle claimed the
same respect, the same sacred veneration, for the rights of pro-
perty in the man who had nothing in the world but the
sical strength with which he went forth in the morning to earn.
his dinner at noon, and in the inheritor of the widest and most
princely domains that could be boasted of in this rich country
of Great Britain ; and in their regard for this principle, they
were opposed not only to the present form of invasion of the
industrious man's property, but to any other mode or plan of
invasion that might be substituted for it by any other parties,
or fur any other purposes.—( Hear, hear.) The principle was
as opposed to a fixed duty as it was opposed to a sliding scale.—
( Hear, hear.) 'I he one was as much an invasion of the com-
mon rights of the people as was the other. For what was its
tendency, under whatever pretext it might be levied? There
could be no dsubt that any duty on the importation of corn
must enhance the price of food ; and whatever enhanced the
price of feed took away from the fair earnings of the industrious.
And when they called to mind the condition of great multiiaidesol
the industrious classes; when they thought how they rose up
early, and sat up late, and ate the bread of carefulness, by what
miserable and wearing toil their poor pittance was won from
the world; when they remembered how many there were whose
history, the whole history of their lives, was summed up in the
well-known verse—

tern as well as men—that poured from the factories to give
their support to this common cause. There was nothing to be
seen of that tyranny that was spoken of elsewhere. Nothing
of the kind existed in the places which he had seen. Wher-
ever he had been, the operatives came to the meeting, not
choked with " Devil's dust," as Mr. Ferrand said—( Hisses,
and laughter)—but ready to " down with their own dust"
in aid of the cause.—( Cheers and great laughter.) He had
seen the women, too, come forward eager to show their sym-
pathy with the oppressed, and the wrong that'was inflicted
upon themselves by the law which 'Tiade the bread of their
children scarce and dear.—( Hear, hear.) The children seemed
to him to understand the interest which they had in the ques-
tion, and to look forward to the time ashen each of them would
say with pride, " I too was a corn-law repealer in my
infancy." When they saw this in London—when they
saw London imitating the conduct of the people in the country
on this subject, then the work would be accomplished, and
these laws totally and finally abolished.—( Cheers.) Let it
not he supposed, however, that the thought of compromise
would not be as far from the minds of the Anti-Corn-law
League if they stood alone.—( Hear.) This was shown by
those seven men who met years ago at Manchester, and who
still contended for the same principle as then—repeal, and no-
thing short of repeal.—(Cheers. ) They would have adhered
to those principles if no public sympathy had been raised in their
favour, and if none of those meetings had taken place. For their
principle-, were of that class, which having once got hold of a
mau's mind are never abandoned. It was for such principles
martyrdom was suffered.—(Cheers.) Once adopted—once
promulgated, they might be delayed in their progress, they
could pat be defeated.—( Cheers. ) It was by the influence of
such feelings and the operation of such principles the
Reformation was effected. It was to them we owed
the Christian religion itself.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
If they who led the League were ever to falter in their course,
their defalcation would have no effect upon the progress of the
cause. They were but the foremost in the cause, which was
proceeding as regularly as the rolling waters,- and if they did
not keep in the advance, they would be overwhelmed in the
progress of the country to the great consummation.—( Cheers.)
There could be no compromise, for the landlords had thrown
down the gauntlet—they had waged war with the League—
they had challenged the League, and summoned it to the con-
test. They had. vowed they would put it down.—(Laughter.)
But they were not the bold Barons of Runnymede.—(Great
laughter.) No, no, the age of chivalry was gone indeed, and
most especially in their case—for they were traders, and the
worst of traders, who diminished the food of the people to
raise their own profits. —( Cheers. ) They disrobed themselves
of that which should be their dignity and their armour. What
did they mean by standing aloof from the rest of the people,
by uniting with whom they would promote their own real in-
terest, and secure wealth, peace, and happiness for all, in-
stead o f rancour and warfare, and the opposition of class
to class ?—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) There had been
no doubt great misrepresentations as to the large meetings
throughout the country ution this subject as well as upon
others. If the Morning Herald would oblige them—as it
sometimes obliged the Government—with the private notes of
its reporters—( Hisses, groans, and laughter)—they would know
something more of the real state of the case.—( Cheers. ) lie
had seen but one report (and that in a country newspaper)
of a genuine meeting of tenant farmers. That was held at
Eversham, and there were twenty-two farmers present. The
subjects which they met to discuss were leases and corn rents.
After a full and fair hearing of both sides, from two of their
number wile had studied the questions, twenty voted in favour
of leases, and two against them—(Cheers)—whilst eighteen
voted for, and three against the corn-rest.—( Cheers). Such
would be the result of all those meetings of the farmer tenants,
if they had fair play.—( Hear, hear.) In the mean time it was
a pity that the friends of protection did not summon an aggre-
gate meeting, and, small as was the theatre in which they
( the League) were then assembled, it would be ample enough.
Their friend, Mr. Poulton, might find a private box for the
Anti-League, and the managers' box might accommodate
Sir Robert Peel and the advocates of the sliding
scale.—( Cheers. ) But it would never avail for the
landlords to drive the farmers to those meetings in the
same manner as they drove them to poll at the hustings.—
( Cheers.) There was more suspicion, sulenness, and sulki-
ness in the farmer going to the meetings, than going to the
poll. He understood, now, that there was great difficulty in
getting them to the meetings ; and, then, there was great diffi-
culty in getting them to hold up their hands. At one of these
meetings tne chairman repeatedly told them to hold up their
bonds, but they seemed not to understand him. The chair-
man again called out emphatically that they must hold up their
hands. But they (whether by a voluntary mistake, or
not, he would not say) turned up their noses.
( Great laughter.) On the arguments brought for-
ward at those meetings he would say nothing, for
out of nothing nothing would come. The only fragmentary
grains to be found in these bushels of chaff, were such as could
be refuted by every labourer of common sense. One was, that
wages were raised in proportion as the price of corn was raised ;
and that Is ages fell as the price of food fell. Another was,
that the country ought to be independent of foreigners for the
supply of food. This last was a doctrine which all the rest of
the world had exploded, and it would be as well that it should
here be crought to the test, and subjected to investigation. This
independence was something very good for the landlords to
speak of, whilst they were spreading guano over their lands—
covering this England with a foreign surface, and subjecting it
to that polluted dependence which they deprecated.—( Hear,
hear.) In the contest at Salisbury, Mr. Bouverie met his
opponent upon those grounds, and stripped him from head to
foot—( Laughter )—showing that he had not got upon his person
one article of clothing that was not foreign.—(Cheers.) A
French cook dressed his dinner for hint—and a Swiss valet
dressed hint for his dinner.—(Laughter.) He handed down
his lady decked with pearls that never grew in the
shell of a British oyster—(Cheers and laughter)—
and waiting on her head the plume of ostrich feathers, which '
never decked the tail of a barn-door fowl. He sits down to a
dinner composed of viands from different countries. His wines
are from the banks of the Rhine or the Rhone. He goes into
his c mservatories and regales his sight with the beautiful
colours, which the flowers of South America present, and then,
returning to his saloon, he refreshes his scent with the product
of the northern continent. His picture gallery contains the
master pieces of the Flemish school—and when he retires for
his evening amusement, he hears Italians warbling
German music; and afterwards enjoys a French ballot.
If he aspired to judicial honours, his robe was decorated with
ermine, which never before was worn upon the back of a
British beast.—(Great laughter.) His mind itself was not
more independent. His literature was a pic-nic from Greece
to Rome. His mathematics were imported from Alexandria—
his arithmetic from Egypt—his religion from Palestine.—
( Cheers.) Such was the man—such the class of men—who
told the country " let there be suffering, want, starvation,
amongst you ; you shall be dependent only upon us, and be inde-
pendent of foreigners, upon whom we depend for all our own
enjoyments."—(Cheers.) The League was not going to the
Legislature this session. They were not going to petition.—
( Cheers.) The Members of the Lords and the Commons
might do as they pleased and how they pleased. The appeal of
the League would be to the masters of those Houses—to those
who created the Legislature.—( Cheers.) It was the business
of the League now to teach the constituency, who made the
article badly, and to instruct them how to make it better
The great landed monopolists hunted up the tailor arid the
shoemaker, and said, "have you not a little monopoly of your
own ? Keep up our great monopoly and we will uphold your
litttle monopoly—tickle me Toby, tickle me twice."--(Loud
laughter.) The League had endeavoured to work upon the
intelligence and principle of the:people, and upon that alone.
Calling up not what was brutal, but what was most divine in
humane nature, realising that spirit of independence without
•xhich no institution in the form of freedom could ever be
great or lasting. For this reason were the League held to be
such monstrous interlopers. It was the cry at Salisbury and
London, " Here are come amongst us men whose home is in
Lancashire—they are utter strangers—they have no business
here." There was the same sort of indignation felt by Doctor
Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor, when he found
Slender in the closet ; and upon his asking Dame Quickly
who it was, was informed " that it was an honest
man." " But," said Doctor Caius, "what should an
honest man do in ray closet?" So said the monopo-
lists.—(Hear.) Honest men shall not come into our closets.
But the honest men had got into the closets, and with a search
warrant in their hands. They had found that which would
bring the monopolists to shame and contusion. They had laid
bare their tricks. " We," continued the Hon. Gentleman,
" can have no compromise in such a question as the corn-laws,
because we cannot compromise with crime.—( Cheers. ) I hold
that these laws are but one great crime, both in themsel‘es and
in their consequences. It is a fraud. The monopolists say to
the nation—exclude foreign corn—be independent of foreigners.
Does not that imply that they—the home growers—will furnish
a supply—are they not by the very fact of interposing to pre-
vent good provisions from corning from abroad, undertaking
that there shall be ample and sufficient provision of their own
raising at home? Can that be done? Have they produced, at
prices at which the great mass of the community, however in-
dustrious, could afford to purchase, a sufficient quantity? Has
there not been want and starvation in England and in Ireland ?
While want and misery have been increasing, the wealth of the
monopolists has not been ministering towards its al-
leviation. They could not produce a sufficiency
of food for such an increasing population as our's, increasing, as
it does, 23,0110 annually. No, they could not produce food
enough if a county as large as that of Surrey were to be added
to the country. 'How can they undertake to produce a suffi-
cient quantity of food ? Can they create a new Ireland, or
can they keep the old Ireland ?—( Loud cheers.) I say that
those laws with occasion the destruction of human food are a
crime ? Not long ago, about the time that I was in Liver-
pool, a large quantity of American butter was brought out of
the warehouse. A hole was bored in each firkin, and as it
was found that it would not answer a commercial speculation,
if the duty were paid, they poured pitch and other substances
into the butter, in order that it might be rendered altogether
unfit for human use. I believe it was actually made into
grease for the locomotive engines. At Sunderland the same
thing occurred with respect to wheat. The people were starv-
ing without, and the wheat was rotting within.—( Hear, hear.)
It was brought out under the Government lock and key—
brought by her Majesty's servants, the Custom-house officers.
It was taken to the dunghill, amongst all sorts of substances, in
order that it might be rendered impassible for use as human
food, and it was then converted into manure, and this at a time
when the people were talking about poor-laws, charitable sub-
scriptions, collections, and tender feelings for the suffering
poor. It would be worth while to compare the table of com-
mittals for offences, with the prices of wheat, from year to
year. The exceptions are very rare in which the price of corn
is not accompanied b% an increase in the number of committals.
In the years from 1834 to 1836, when wheat was 445. 3d. the
quarter, the average number of committals was 21,000. From
1837 to 1841, when the average price of wheat was 635. 2d.,
the average number of committals was 25,000. Four thou-
sand criminals a year added by that horrible sliding
scale of guilt and misery —( Hear, bear, and cheers )
But to take an extreme year. In the year 1835, when wheat
was a little under 40s, the quarter, the number of committals
was 27,300. In 1842 wheat was 575. 3d. the quarter; the
committals were 31,300 in the year. This is the result of the
experience of many years. This is the horrible operation of
these iniquitous laws, which murder the soul as well as the
body—which make the best tendencies of our nature subser-
vient to crime—which make the life of that man, whose fa-
mily depend upon him for support, a motive and an incentive
to guilt—which create crime and make the repetition of the
Queen's proclamation for the suppression of vice necessary by
an Ant of Parliament for the production of criminality. Oh,
I do declare before high heaven and the world, that I would
rather hold up my hand at the bar of the Old Bailey as a cul•
pi it, driven to crime by a most iniquitous law, than be one of
those who profit. by a law which was made to coin money
out of the heart's life of our fellow-creatures.—( Loud cheers. )
Nor is this all. The annuable table of mortality is analogous
as to numbers to the annual table of crime. With the price of
wheat the number of deaths falls or rises. In 1798 and 1802
wheat was 595. the quarter, and the average number of deaths
in London was 20,508. In 1800, the intermediate year, and
therefore not liable to exception on the ground of increased po.
pulation, when wheat was upwards of 605., the number of
deaths was 25,670. Five thousand deaths in that year, being
an increase analogous to the increase in the price of food, and
directly tending to impress on the mind the connection of
cause and effect. It seems as if the grim monster had forgot
his impartiality—as if the bony tyrant had become the ser-
vant of monopoly, and though it is still in same measure
true that the rich and poor lay down together in the grave,
yet that the world, by its laws, sends the poor there first.
and sends them there in numbers to prepare for their awn re-
ception. The effect of the classification of society is, that while
in the middle and higher classes only one child in five fails to
attain five years of age, in the working classes only half that
number ever reach that period. Are we to be told that farther

experiments should be made in a law that is connected with
phenomena such as this ! Are we to give Peel's Bill a longer
trial, or any trial of monopoly whatever? Are we to have more
experiments of privation—of disappointment—of suffering—of
crime—and of death ! It was an old medical maxim that expe-
riments should be made on vile and worthless bodies only; but
here is a law which makes experiments even on the bodies of a
great suffering nation. This is enough to raise every
feeling of our souls, and to create the indignation of
man, woman, and child, of all ranks and classes, at
the iniquity, and a determination of listening to no compromise
until it be put down entirely and for ever. For this we have
bound ourselves. For this you, as the metropolis, must take
your rightful position, and go forward to the van, and lead on
the march. We are determined not to cease our exertions
until we have realised our great object of emancipating labour,
and raising it above the ruins of all existing monopolies. For
this we strive, and whilst one atom is left of restriction upon
food—whilst there is any enactment curbing the rights of in-
dustry and of labour—whilst there is an imposition on the food
of the people, we will never desist from agitation—no, never,
never.—( Great and enthusiastic cheering.) From year to
year we have held onward, endeavouring not only to
obtain good for ourselves, but for other classes also,
however blind to their own true interests they might be. For
what is universal freedom ? It is the best security for the
largest proprietor, as well as the rightful and honourable encou-
ragement for those who have no property at all. We go for
commercial freedom—for the development of intellectual and
moral freedom—teaching different classes their dependence on
each other—uniting nations in a bond of brotherhood, tending
to realise the anticipations of that great poet to whom I have
before referred, whom this day gave to Scotland and the world—
" Now let us pray
hat come it may,
As come it shall for a' that,
That man to man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that."
( The Hon. Gentleman sat down amidst the most enthusiastic
cheering. )
Mr. M. Grasos, M.P., next rose and addressed the meet-
ing, and was received with much cheering. He said, he would
have preferred to have remained silent to have had time for
reflection, after the very splendid and effective oration which
they had just heard; and he felt confident that he spoke the senti-
ments of that vast assemblage, when he said that Mr. Fox had
conveyed to the world the full intention of the National Anti-
Corn-law League. He had not gone beyond what they pro-
fessed, nor had he in the smallest degree come short of their
deserts. The principle they advocated was the total
and unconditional repeal of the corn-laws.—(Hear, hear.)
They also advocated the abolition of all other protective duties.
They were not willing to reserve to any portion of the com-
munity that protection which they were resolved, if they could,
to take from the agriculturists, and standing there, is the pre-
sence of that vast and intelligent assembly, he felt proud in
having it in his power to deny most emphatically the charge
that had been brought against the Anti-Corn -law League, that
it was a body seeking simply to attack the landed interest, and
having a desire to preserve the protection of the manufacturers.
--( Hear, hear.) Representing in Parliament the metropolis
of the manufacturing districts of England, he there emphatically
denied the charge in the name of the manufacturers, and attested
before all, that those men who had petitioned the Legislature for
a repeal of the corn-laws had also prayed that Legislature to
withdraw all protection from the industry of the country. His
Hors. Friend, Mr. Fox, well said that petitioning the Legisla-
ture was a farce.—( Hear, hear.) He was glad that they were
no longer to waste their energies in getting up futile petitions
to a landlord House.—( Hear, hear.) They would be enter.
tamed next session with petitions of another description. Land-
lords' petitions would be presented by landlords to a landlord Le-
gislature in the presence of the" collective wisdom." Those were
petitions with which the country must be entertained, and
they might believe that he stated the exact truth when he said
that the parties who get up these petitions will belong to the
same party that present them, and to the same party that re-
ceive them. It was difficult to conceive anything more ludicrous
than the farce enacted in the presence of a great body of men.
These laws were enacted in what was termed the " collective
wisdom" of the community, and it was indeed humiliating to
think that any body of men could be found so stupid as to be-
lieve that the people were represented in that august body. The
Anti-Corn-law League had, indeed, reason to congratulate
itself and the country upon the progress which
this great movement was making. The League had
been termed an odious conspiracy—(Laughter)—it was
sometimes called a petty clique of ragamuffins—( Great
laughter)—they had been also informed that the Association
was a formidable combination of marked men, which endan-
gered and threatened the existence of Church and State—they
were at another moment, a petty gathering of manufacturers,
without any legitimate influence, but endeavouring to influence
the community by the help of a little money.—(Laughter.)
The League could not be all those different things. He re-
membered a saying of the late Mr. Cobbett—he said, " Some-
times the people call me the scum of the earth, and sometimes
they call me the dregs; now, I cannot be both the
scum and the dregs."—(Great laughter and cheers.)
But let them understand what the Anti-Corn-law
Association really was—it was not a formidable conspiracy of
wicked men, nor a petty cabal of manufacturers—( Hear)—it
was the test of the union of the middle and intelligent classes
of the community, who were determined that they should no
longer live by sufferance—who resolved to vindicate their so-
cial position, and no longer allow themselves to be kept down
in the social scale, in order that the feudal ascendancy might
be maintained and the great body of the people kept down by
that remnant of barbarous ages which was embodied in the
corn.laws.—( Hear, hear, and great cheering.) The
spirit of the system on which the corn-laws were
founded was, that the trader, the manufacturer, the
commercial man had no right to have more trade, no more
wealth, no more enjoyments, no more of the comforts of life
than might suit landlord propensities to allow him. They pro-
ceeded upon the assumption that the landed aristocracy had a
right, by inheritance, to regulate trade—to mete out rewards
to the industrious classes—to restrict the comforts and enjoy-
ments of life, and to tell their fellow-citizens to what degree
they might ascend in the social scale. The League was a
great combination of rational men, who stood forward deter-
mined to abolish this feudal tyranny, and erase from the statute
book those remnants of feudal barbarism. They recogni,ed no
such inherited right in the aristocracy of landlords.--( Hear.)
As Mr. Fox said, they did not covet their acres, nor
desire to interfere with their property—( Hear, hear)—all
they asked was, that the aristocracy should desist from inter-
fering with trade, and allow the great body of the industrious
community to have full enjoyment of the resources which Pro-
vidence had placed within their reach.—( Hear, hear). They
had been told that the lion of England had aroused himself, and
that he was shaking his mane. He was afraid this lion of
England would resemble the lion in the fable—a donkey in a
lion's hide, and now that the animal began to bray, all the
rest of the creation discovered that he was not a lion, but an
ass:—( Great laughter). Was there ever in this world such a
collection of wretched trash as the speeches recently delivered
at the Agricultural Association ?—( Hear, hear). There was
very little argument, a great deal of abuse, an occa-
sional allusion to special burdens on land, and the
dangers which impended over the Church and State ;
but all argument against the principle of free trade
was abandoned, and the landed aristocracy appeared to have
taken up the position that might constituted right.—( Hear,
hear.) There was one special burden mentioned, which he
would take the liberty of alluding to. It was mentioned by a
gentleman at the Northamptonshire meeting. He said that
ambassadors, diplomatists, and consuls were sent abroad at a
great expense to the country, and all for the advantage of the
commercial world ; and the agriculturists had to support the
expense in the main of this valuable body of diplomatic nego-
tiatiors.—( Hear, hear.) That fell from a gentleman who in-
herited the name, hut not, he feared, the abilities of that dis-
tinguished statesman—George Canning. Mr. Canning told
the so-called meeting of tenant farmers, (but who, in
fact, were not tenant farmers, but a collection,
for the most part, of those persons who usually
took a prominent part before election contests,) he told those
tenant farmers, or whatever they were called, that ambassa-
dors were sent abroad, and constituted a special burden on land,
and entitled the landed proprietors to enact the sliding scale
for corn.—(Laughter.) He had els; ays thought that the
ambassadors, &c., were chosen from the aristocratic body, and
that diplomatic situations were pleasant situations—large sine-
cures with large salaries, and quite suitable to the taste and
fancy of aristocratic legislatore.—( Hear, hear.) But he had
never heard any reasonable commercial man say that
he considered any service had been done him by diplo.
rnatists. What intelligent traders said was, let not di-
plomatists meddle in our affairs. No diplomatist or
ambassador can direct the merchant how to employ
his' capital, nor what exchange he ought to snake. At this
latehour of the evening it would, perhaps, be thought that he
was trespassing on their time improperly—(Cries of " No,
no")—if he dwelt at any length upon those arguments—if they
deserved the name which had been used at the agricultural
meetings. Old fallacies had been patched up at the Northamp-
tonshire meetings, such as if foreign corn were admitted free
of duty, the foreigner would not take our manufactures, but
would only take our gold and silver. It was a surprising
anxiety the Northamptonshire farmers expressed about gold going
out of the country.—( Hear.) One would think they had
been instrumental in bringing the gold in. He should like to
know how much gold would be in England if they had
nothing but agricultural produce to send in
.exchange. Were
there gold mines in Northamptonshire, or was saver dug up in
Buckinghamshire, that there should be this excessive anxiety
about the gold and silver going out of the country? All the
gold and silver had been brought into the country by manu-
facturing industry.—(Hear, hear.) All that ministers to the
luxuries of the great, and that added to the splendour of the
aristocracy, had been purchased by manufacturing industry.—
( Hear, hear.) But when we asked to be allowed to purchase
cheap bread, to relieve the necessities of the poor, and in-
crease the comforts of the industrious classes, they said, " Oh
no, we dare not let you do that, for the gold and silver would
go out of the country."—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") They
were willing enough to allow gold and silver to be exported
for the gratification of the great, but none for the comforts of
the poor. If they would not allow gold to go out
for corn, why should they allow it to go out
in exchange for the other imports, tea, coffee, sugar, and all
the varieties of commodities which were brought into the
country at the rate of fifty millions a year ? They yet find
that the amount of gold England was stationary, and they
know that all the gold.coin at present in the island wouldnot
pay for nine months' imports. What peculiarity was there in
the commodity of corn that such dire apprehension should be
entertained of the scarcity of gold and silver, and that all our
domestic and financial arrangements should be embarrassed ?.—.
( Hear, hear.) But it was vain to dwell upon such futile r ea-
soning as that. The question they were now considering was
the question of abolishing the corn-laws. He did not want
to expose fallacies. They would not again muster their ener-
gies in attempting to kill the slain. if the middle classes of
this country stood by their order, as the aristocracy stood by
theirs, they would succeed in abolishing the corn-laws ; but if
they cringed to wealth, and fashion, and aristocratic power,
and allowed themselves to be wheedled into servility, the corn-
laws would continue, and all the speeches and arguments in the
world would not abolish them.—(Hear, hear.) It was the
consciousness, on the part of the ruling powers, that the
great body of the industrious classes understood their
true position, and were determined to vindicate their
rights, that would induce them to yield. They would
tot make a free gife—they would not yield without pres-
sure ; they believed that aristocratic privileges, as they
called them, and aristocratic rights, were cherished in the
hearts of the people, and that the day was far distant when
they would be compelled to resignpeople's rights. He believed the
Parliament would be of little avail
that unjust assumption of
.those without—unless they knew
vatuhuonaiticho
te
est
oi
es rt
fey
greatstpwhoehni
responded
deocmdtuyobr curtailed
firmly
dis oyf t
bhey
of and ford
classes were determined to
stand by their order, nd lor their rights, as one man.—
( Hear, hear.) Unless, he repeated, this consummation took
place the corn-laws would not be abolished. It was in the
power of the electors of this country to abolish the corn-laws
if they pleased. They were not in such a minority as they
generally supposed. What was the fact, that out of 500 Mem-
bers which England returned, 330 were returned by the bo-
roughs and cities. The counties and Universities returned
only 160 Members. Ireland and Scotland returned a majority
in favour of the abolition of the corn-laws, and they had but
to secure a majority in England to abolish the corn-
laws and all the other monopolies.--( Hear, hear. )
Let them all pledge themselves to endeavour, by every means
in their power, at the next general election, to return none but
men who would pledge themselves to a total, immediate, and
of the corn-laws.--s( Cheers.) The time
action, they must attack the registrations—
fylemalust advance the cause with the electoral
registrations—
(Chas unconditionaleash eneorw scometw
r
body.—( Loud cheers.)
.The friends of the cause should exert
all their powers of periumen and influence to bring the middle

" Work—work—work,—
Till the eyes be red and dim !
Work—work—work,—
Till the brain begins to swim !"
When they looked on such a destiny as that, if a fixed duty
would take but a farthing out of a pound, they said it should
not be taken from these wretches to augment the stores of the
Dukes of Buckingham and Richmond.—( Great cheering.)
Why, there were cases in which the imposition of a fixed duty
on corn, whatever the amount, would lead to moreobjectionable
results, perhaps, than those which belonged to a sliding-scale.
It had been often urged, and he believed it had been
felt, as an objection, " What will you do with your fixed duty
of 10s., es., or ss. ; what will you do with it when food rises,
as it is subject at times to rise, to a famide price ?" Why, it had
been said that it must then be relaxed. What power should
determine the relaxation, and by what test?—( Hear, hear. )
Only let them realise, in their imaginations, for a moment,
the condition of a Prime Minister who had to watch the coun-
try to see whether the time was come, or coming, at which
the fixed duty on corn must be relaxed, by a special interposi-
tion of the Government, because food was reaching a famine
price ! Why, he must notiee in the papers how many were
picked up fainting in the streets for want of food.—( Hear,
hear.) How many cases of starvation would prove that
bread had risen to the rate at which the relaxation
must take place? What amount of disease, how
much typhus, would be a justification of the re-
laxation of the duty ? These were the inquiries a Prime
Minister must make in such a case.—( Hear, hear.) He must
watch the country, and feel its pulsation ; as the regimental
surgeon stood by when the soldier was flogged, finger on wrist,
eye on the bleeding wounds, ear open to the sound of the cat
upon the bare back, and, with a stopwatch notmg whether the
instant had yet arrived when he was to interpose and say,
" Hold, enough."--( Tremendous cheers.) Was that a fitting
position for the chief of the legitimate government of a free
nation?—(Loud cries of " No, no.") One violation of jus-
tice always led to another.—( Hear, hear.) Forget justice,
and charity would not long be remembered, and humanity would
cry in vain.—( Cheers. ) A fixed duty ! 'Why it was protec-
tion under another name, that which was called protec-
tion ; and protection was the very thing again-t which
that League waged warfare, and which it existed in
order to put down and to annihilate for ever.—( Immense cheer-
ing. ) They had no more charity for protection in one form
than in another. What was it ? The protection of agriculture.
What portion of agriculture? what clans of persons? Strip it of
devices and sophisms, and circumlocutions, it was the protec-
tion of rent, and nothing else. The protection of the tenant
farmer! Had it ever enriched him? The protection of the la-
bourer ! What had been his history for many a year past ? He
had been protected downwards from one stage to another of de-
scent ; protected out of his whole clothes into rags ; protect, d
out of a cottage into a mud hovel, with but one filthy room in it
for his wife and family, all to pig together; he had been
protected till his children and wife were obliged to
tell ,him that they could not go to the church for
the rites of religion ; he had been protected out of the
fields into the union workhouse, or, perhaps, into the court of
justice, or the gaol ; and, at last, he had him protected into
that narrow home " where the wicked cease from troubling,
and the weary are at rest," finding in the cold shelter of the
grave more of the reality of protection than he ever got from the
corn-law.—( Great cheering.) Protection ! Why, what should
they protect? Not a losing trade, for that was taxing all the
community for the advantage of a class ; that was pursuing an
object that could not repay labour; not a thriving trade, for
that needed no protection.—( Cheers.) And why should any
one class be singled out? What was there in the recipient of
rents that he was to be protected at the expel:se of
all the rest of the community ?—( Cries of " Hear, hear.")
Why not protect other classes of the community ? Were not
the artist and the poet as worthy of protection ? He dared to
say that there were in that great meeting perhaps some few
Se9tchmen present—( Hear, hear, and laughter)—and they
might remember something of Robert Burns—(Cheers)—what
did he want of protection—what did he gain by it? Nature
made him a poet—aristocratic protection made him an excise-
man.—( Renewed cheering). His great protection, however,
was his stout heart and strong arm.—( Cheers.) He knew that
himself, for he says—
" For me, so low I need not bow,
The Lord be thank'd, I still can plough."
Yes ; and he boasted further, that he could even beg. For
the independence of a beggar was to him more desirable than
the pecuniary independence which was to be obtained by plun-
dering others of their rights and means of subsistence.—( Hear,
hear). It had been said rightly by the gentleman who
preceded him that the food of the people ought
not to be made a subject of revenue. Indeed, what was a less
fitting source of revenue 2—( Hear, hear.) But then this ar-
gument was met by some advocates of the corn-laws with the
assertion that the duty was necessary for protection. Yet, when
you came to examine the arguments of the advocates for the
duty, you would find that those who talked of protection meant
revenue, and very often those who claimed revenue were strug-
gling for protection.--( Hear, hear. ) Whether they talked of
revenue or protection, they were only leading us by a round-
about way to the same project of putting money into the pockets
of one class at the expense of the community.—( Hear, hear.)
They thought that the circuitousness of the process mystified
the purpose. They were like the dishonest churchwarden.—
( Cheers and laughter, and cries of " Gibbs.") No, no ; he
did not mean that person. There had been more dishonest
churchwardens than one.—(Cheers and laughter.) But still
lie ( Mr. F.) could not envy that person's position. However, it
was not to him that he had alluded, but to a churchwarden of
whom it was related, that, when he carried round the sacra-
mental plate to receive the offerings, he put saw-dust in his
pockets, to prevent the shillings he dropped in there from
jingling.—(Great
,i(usGt
.r_e a laughter.)ButT het
heeo rnr,i -olnaew; s
the
e less
w"a•serenotth
land-
lordsfraudulently appropriated, because it was done noiselessly, and
by an Act of Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) With such men
there should be no compromise.—(Cheers.) That was not a
word that could belong to the League in its present condition.
—( Cheers.) If they would not compromise when they were
weak and few, it wa snot likely that they would now, when
they were strong and many.—(Crheer.) And lie might be
permitted to say, that the people London could scarcely ima-
gine
what the strength of the League was throughout the
people thee, and the strength, intensity, and progressivenessch
depu-
tation into the North, to mark
.the feelings. ofthe
of their devotion to the cause of free trade.—( eei a. )
It would call forth the deepest sympathies of human nature to
ritlieso the multitudes of mon, Women, and 411i144en-wcf mat.

THE SAIN, LONDON, pIITDAY MORNING, JANUARY 2d. 1844.

classes out of that servility to the aristocracy which had too
long characterised them.—(Cheers.) Let them stand by their
ordel., and they would compel the aristocracy to surrender their
unjust pretensions, and that very speedily.—(Cheers.) Let
them instruct their Members to approach the Legislature, not
" With bated breath
And whispering humbleness,"
but to speak in the spirited tone of firm remonstrance, and
their power would ere long make itself felt.—(Cheers.) They
would find that it would befelt even in the present House of
Commons. They would observe a marked difference before
the close of Parliament in the tone and speeches of Hon.
Members. Such was always the case when gentlemen knew
that they had soon to meet their constituents.—(Cheers and
laughter.) It was remarkable how the tone of their speeches
altered when they knew that a general election was at hand.
If they began the pressure now, and increased its activity
and its force, as the time for a general election approached
they would increase immensely the number of those Members
who would vote in favour of the motion of his distinguished
and Hon. Friend Mr. Villiers.--( Hear, and loud cheers.)
The Queen's speech would soon be presented to the nation.
He feared that there would be nothing in that speech to
give hope to the mercantile and trading population of the
country. It would, no doubt, be full of congratulations, and
he admitted that the peaceful state of our relations with diffe-
rent fore;gn Powers was matter of congratulation, but he be-
lieved that there was no efficient guarantee for the continuance
of those peaceful relations, but the extension of commercial
freedom.—( Loud cheers.) Nothing would so much tend to pro-
mote the peace of the world as the free interchange of thoughts
and commodities, and the abolition of that selfish protective
system which created divisions among nations, and embittered
hostilities. Every philanthropist, who wished for the spread
of peace and civilization amongst distant nations, should, as the
best means of promoting those objects, endeavour by every
means in his power to establish entire commercial freedom.—
( Loud cheers. )
The Rev. J. BURNET agreed entirely with the Hon. Gen-
tleman who had just sat down,
that the great object of the
League should now be to consider in what way they could
best carry out their great purpose —(Cheers.) There had
been a time when meetings, such as the present, would have
been dismissed at the point of the bayonet, or by the staff
of the constable, as calculated to bring the Government of
the country into contempt. Now, however, such meetings
as the present were actually assembled in order to prevent,
if possible, the Government from bringing itself into con-
tempt.—(Cheers and laughter.) They, however, behaved
better to the Government than the Governments of former
times would have behaved to similar meetings. They used
no violence towards it. All they wished was to throw such a
light upon the proceedings of the Government as to enable the
members of the Government to guide themselves aright. Refe-
rence had been made to an opposition that was forming to the
Anti-Corn•law League. He should much like to see that op-
position join the League and make the discussion a club busi-
ness. They could have the League one evening, and the Anti.
League the next evening, and so on until the community at
large were made fully aware of the bearings of the question ;
and if the Anti-League could show that the League had been
really misleading the country, why they could put it down at
once, and the corn-laws would flourish for ever.—( Cheers and
laughter.) It was said that the Anti-League embraced all the
wealthy, and noble, and talented of the land, and that the
League was composed only of insignificant individuals. If so
why did not the Anti-League come in the manner to which he
had alluded? What kept them in the back-ground, except
the conviction that they should die in the fore-ground ?
(Cheers.) It seemed difficult to comprehend what was meant
by protection, and against whom the landowners sought to be
protected.—( Hear, hear.) Those who sought for pro-
tection were generally considered as helpless indi-
viduals, who could not protect themselves.—( Hear. )
The landlords then, meant to say that they were so helpless
that they were incapable of competing with the foreigner ; so
ignorant of the science of farming, as to be incapacitated for
doing so; and so devoid of genius as to be incapable of even
improving their knowledge, that they rushed down to the
House of Commons, and cried out for protection. Why, that
was not the cry of men of influence, of property, and of power
—it was the cry of the helpless; it was the cry of weakness;
and yet this exhibition of weakness was most grotesquely mixed
up with an appearance of exultation in their strength. They
boasted that they could put the League down, and yet they
told the Legislature that they could not keep themselves up.—
( Cheers ) It was difficult to find out against whom
this protection was sought ; but the truth was, it was against the
manufacturers of their own country.—( Cheers.) The agri-
cultural interest sought for protection against Manchester and
Liverpool, and Birmingham and Glasgow. They were afraid
that the manufacturers would go to the cheapest market to buy
their daily bread. "If you allow that," they said to the Legis-
lature, " we shall be ruined ; save us from them."—(Cheers
and laughter.) It was not against the foreigner that they
sought for protection. Their nearness to the market, their
practical skill, their knowledge of the science of agriculture,
all these were protections against the foreigner. The sea
was their natural protection. The foreigner had the ex-
penses of importation to pay before he could bring his
corn into the market, and beyond that protection
the agriculturist had no right to seek for anything further.
The protection sought by the landlords was against the poor
and needy of their countrymen, to prevent them from going to
the cheapest shop to purchase their daily food. How low had
the aristocracy sunk, when they were seen rolling in their
carriages, and revelling in splendour and wealth, and yet ask-
ing for protection against the poor widow who has just strength
enough to earn her daily food—to ask for protection against
her, to prevent her being able to purchase more bread for her
penny, than she could do at the present moment ?—( Loud
cheers.) What a degradation was this for the proud lords of
the soil—(Loud cheers)—and whenever the word protection
was mentioned, let it ever be remembered that it
was against the widows and the orphans that the
landowners called for the protection of the corn.
laws. It was the landlord only who called for this pro-
tection, for it was to the interest of the agricultural labourer
and of the tenant farmer, that there should be freedom of
trade in the articles which they produced. Was there any
interest in the country which really and permanently derived
any advantage from this protection against the poor and mise-
rable? Could the lords of the soil really feel comfortable in
the enjoyment of their property, while they suffered their
tenants to become the victims of the gambling of the corn-laws ?
—( Cheers.) The farmer, under the existing system could
form no idea as to what probably might be his
returns—he risked his capital on the gaming-table of the
corn-laws, and he knew not what might be the result.
The consequence might easily be foreseen. They saw farmer
after farmer break down, and the landlord did not rise up.
If trade were free everything would be settled.—( Cheers. ) A
fixed trade would be better than a fixed duty.—( Loud cheers.)
It now became one of the great obligations of the League to
take care that their opponents should perceive that, although
their power had increased, they had nothing to hope from their
indolence.—(Cheers.) If Sir Robert Peel should slide out on
the sliding scale, it behoved them to take special care, that
Lord John Russell should not slide in on the fixed duty.—
(Loud cheers.) Men in power had been sliding and shuffling
long enough.—(Loud cheers.) But they should give those
men clearly to understand that they would have no man
sliding, whilst the people were neglected.—(Loud cheers.)
Let the League show that their determination was fixed and
settled, and there would be an end to sliding and shuffling
legislation, and an end to the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) What
right had the agricultural interest to claim particular advan-
tages ? He would compare the community to a great machine ;
all the wheels were properly set, and when the combined power
was set in motion, woe be to the feeble hand that should at-
tempt to stop it—it would inevitably be crushed. So was it
with the community. The various interests were but one wheel
of the great machine, and if one of them attempted to step out
of its proper course, and to take upon itself the control of the
migkty movement, that interest would bring upon itself inevitable
destruction.—(Cheers.) Although the corn-laws had been
productive of much evil to the country, yet they had not been
altogether unproductive of good. They were indebted to ;the
corn-laws for much discussion. They had brought the people
together, and in the course of the discussions to which those
laws had given rise, they had been called on to consider prin-
ciples involving the well-being of the great body politic of the
empire. Those discussions had been as a school, to form
the minds of the rising generation—as an arena, wherein the
men might try their strength and vigour—(Cheers)—and when
the corn-laws should have passed away, every corruption which
clogged the motions of the State machine would be removed
by the same energy, the same resolution, and the same perse-
verance, which had been employed in the annihilation of the
corn-laws.—(Cheers.) The corn-laws had taught them how
the evils of a nation were to: be grappled with.—(Hear.)
They had taught the country its own strength, and that too at
a time when it had been reduced to the lowest point of
weakness. They had taught the country to know its own
moral power—not physical, but moral power—that power
which could alone be wielded with safety both to those who
felt and those who guided it.—(Cheers.) They had de-
termined not to petition. That was right.—(Cheers.)
There had been a time when it had Leen considered an honour
to receive even a nod from a Member of Parliament, and that
even upon the eve of an election, and when to have been spoken
to by one, was an honour to be transmitted down to one's grand-
children.—(Cheers and laughter.) At length people got a
little more courage, and ventured to become acquainted with
their Members ; further than that, they petitioned them on the
subject of their grievances. First they ventured to
write a letter to the Members, and then they
asked him to present a petition to the House, and when
that had been done, and the poor people saw
an account of it in the newspapers, they thought that all the
evils of which they complained were to be removed at once.
They then went a little further, and asked the Member to sup-
port their petition ; and going still further, they at length ven-
tured to find fault with him if he did not support it. Then
they Galled upon him to make a motion upon the principle of
the petition, and examined the votes to see if he had supported
similar motions of others. They then took him to task in pri-
vate on the subject, and at length ventured to catechise him
on the hustings.--(Cheers.) Thus they went on, until they
were thought of more and more in the House, and Mem-
bers, when speaking, would suddenly see the face of some
one of their constituents appear before them, and would stam-
mer and hesitate, or wrap up the meaning in such perplexing
phraseology, that it was impossible to detect their falsehood,
and in phrases so obscure that they would admit of any inter-
pretratlon they might choose to put upon them.—(Cheers.)
At last deputations began to wait upon them, and Members
found themselves in the greatest possible dilemma betwixt the
petitioners and their patrons—betwixt those who made them
and those who paid them.—( Loud cheers.) They had now,
however, to get rid of the difficulty, established themselves as
a great and mighty party, which, ashamed of the old term
Tory, called itself Conservative.—(Loud cheers and laughter.)
The present Parliament had been chosen when it had collected
all its strength and vigour to resuscitate Tory influence. Its
grasp was powerful—like that of a drowning man—and the
League had done wisely to let it exhaust its unnatural strength,
without coming to blows with the giant, which would exhaust
itself by its expiring efforts. They did wisely to let it die
peaceably.—(Cheers.) But they had been threatened with a
resurrection. Sir Robert Peel, it was said, would come round
to the opinions of the League.—(Cheers and laughter. )
Well, let him do so. He despised no man for changing his
opinion. He despised the man who changed it often, and without
sufficient cause, but not him who changed it for the love of
truth, and because he was convinced by evidence.—(Cheers. )
Sir Robert Peel was, it was said, a servant of all work, and he
admitted that the Minister did look narrowly and watch atten-
tively the spirit of the times, and shape his course accordingly
He did this well. He did this cleverly. He did this wisely
To be sure nothing could be said in favour of the moral gran
deur of his conduct ; but still he managed matters very cleverly
Now if he were a servant of all work, all the League had to do
was to compel him to occupy himself in their vocation—
to make use of him.—(Laughter.) In political movements
they were often obliged to work with most contemptible tools,
all they did in using such instruments was to take care that :the
did not permit themselves to be degraded, whatever might be
the depth of degradation of the tools they were compelled to
use. He would not occupy their attention longer at that late
hour of the evening. They had no wish to keep late hours,
he left that to the aristocracy.—( A laugh.) Before separating
however, he would urge them not to let their exertions flag—
to let no circumstances throw them off their guard—to main-
tain their position not only by being always ready for battle, but
by always fighting—not only by being prepared to take advantage
of whatever circumstances might arise, but by moulding cir-
cumstances to promote their purpose. Let them go on, and the
corn-laws could not long remain. Let them go on with manly
hardihood, and the day was not far distant when they would
congratulate each other on the success of their efforts to secure
the rights of the children of men.— (Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRmAN gave notice that this was the first of those
meetings which it was proposed to hold weekly in that theatre