The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-29 00:00:00

S U

NEM

Vl*

pied C ::::4„,,,,
r.F‘ V i
ek
.Gt •

mere rank and wealth which has enabled the Legis
ture to impose this yoke upon your necks.—(Cheer
I trust we shall see a recognition of the right of fi
men, and a determination to vindicate those rights, _
accompanied at the same time by a sacred regard to serffirvasn...,wg
property.—(Cheers.) Not a property under Acts of
Parliament, but property to which men are entitled,
as the fruits of their industry and enterprise ; not
a regard for the vested interests created by monopoly,
but for the vested interests created by the enjoyment
of the gift of Heaven—(Great cheering)—the pro-
perty required by the exertions of our sinews and our
intellect.
_Those are the vested interests to which
_men have a right, and which never can be inter-
fered With without iejustice.---(Cheers.) These are
the vested interests we all are called upon to
protect, and. there is .no interference so great with
these vested interests as that of the corn-laws and the
restrictive system.—(Cheers.) As they say, in so
many words, we will only allow so much trade as
suits our pecuniary interests or political ascendancy ;
we will not allow you to have that free scope for your
industry
.or that reward for your exertion, which
Providence has entitled you to enjoy.—(Cheers.)
They say the commercial part of the community may
rival us in political power and intelligence, and other
.matters, but we desire to remain the only
representatives of England, and to consider all
other classes but as serfs and slaves to be used
as 'the instruments of our power, our pleasure, or our
convenience,--(Immense cheeririe,-,.) Freedom of
trade will never be the gift of your rulers—liberty
was never bestowed fairly' by any governing body
upon any people since the , commencement or the
world.—(Cheers.) Liberty is only attained by the
exertions of the people themselves.—(Cheers.) Conl-
nmercial freedom is within your power if you choose
to take it, and you will never have it if you do not
put forth your • own hands and take it.—(Cheers.)
You will never see those blessings realised of peace
and tranquillity throughout the world, and the diffu-
sion of the blessings of civilisation which must be the
consequence of uerestrieted commercial freedom, un-
less you put forth your own exertions to accomplish
this great end.—(cheers.) It will not come upon you
by the chapter of accidents, they are only to be ob-
tained by a steady and unflinching perseverance, and
at the cost of many sacrifices ; and believe me, when I
say that thereis no greater truth than is contained in
the old, English proverb, " God helps them who help
themselves."—(Cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman re-
sumed his seat amid much cheering.
The CHAIRMAN then announced that the Hon.
Member for Durham would next address the meet-
ing. He was happy to state that, notwithstanding the
flourish of trumpets about the petition against that
gentleman's return, he was still the Member for
Durham. The parties, themselves, not having the
slightest shadow of a chance of impugning the proper
return of Mr. Bright, had last night abandoned the
petition.—(Great cheering.)
Mr. Beroirr, M.P., then came forward to address the
meeting, and was received with the most deafening
cheers, which lasted some minutes. He said—l have
been called on unexpectedly to speak at this meeting ;
but the difficulty I feel from the suddenness with which
the call has been made, arises in no degree from lack
of matter to speak upon, for, after all the inquiry we
have made into the question, the only difficulty, when-
ever we stand up to speak, is to select from the abun-
dance of matter before us such as may appear most in-
teresting and most useful.—(Cheers.) This theatre was
formerly, and is now occasionally, used for purposes
rather of entertainment than instruction ; we have done
something to transform it into a theatre for instruc-
tion.—(Cheers.) We are a Political Economy Associa-
tion—(Cheers)--and our worthy President occupies
the Professor's chair—(Cheers)—and from this platform
we take upon ourselves to expound certain great prin-
ciples which we believe to be the utmost importance to
the people of this country, and to instruct those who
may come here—and, through the press, those who may
be absent—in that which we believe to be essential to the
well-being, if not the very existence, of this empire.—
(Loud cheers.) We are not alarmed at the symptoms
which have exhibited themselves lately among our oppo-
nents, we never expected the foul thing we banded our-
selves together to destroy, would give up its foul ex-
istence without a last and somewhat violent kick.—
.(Cheers and laughter.) We did not suppose that the
landowners of this country, who enjoy, or some of whom
seem to enjoy, the monopoly of ignorance on this great
question—(Cheers)—and of selfishness besides, that they
would give up their monopoly of the supply of bead to
the people after having enjoyed it nearly thirty
years, without a desperate effort to shake us oft:
But all along they have mistaken us entirely—they say
we are political agitators, and that we might be content
with speeches in Parliament, and occasional large meet-
ings, and the farce of petitioning the Houses of Perlin-
ment.—(Hear, hear.) They supposed that by standing
strongly hound together, and showing what they called
a bold front to the Anti-Corn-Law League, we would
get tired of agitation—men would be weary of meeting
and working.—(Hear, hear.) I have often asserted from
this platform that they were entirely mistaken; and if
they still remain under this delusion, they are as much
mistaken as they were before.—(Loud cheers.) They
charge us with bringing the aristocracy of this country
into contempt. Of all the works of supererogation ever
performed, I believe this would be the grossest and the
most extraordinary.—(Great laughter, and cries of
"Hear, hear.") I have heard of a member of an aristocratic
family, who attended some of our anti-corn-law meetings,
and who was affected, not unto tears—fur these gentle-
men seldom shed tears— but who was affected even to
shuddering—that the anti-aristocratic feeling should be
found so strong among the People of the metropolis.--
(Laughter and cheers.) Now, Sir, we have a reverence
for that true aristocracy which consists in all that is good
—in a love of industry—in a pre-eminence of intellect
and a superiority in virtue.—(Loud cheers.) This is
the aristocracy to which we all bow, and which we all
venerate.—(Hear' hear.) But there is another aristo-
cracy, which has been called a bastard chivalry —(Hear„
hear)—an aristocracy which vaunt of never doing any
thing for any body—an aristocracy whose greatest boast
is that their ancestors have been from all times as they
are—idlers—the largest consuming and the least produc-
ing part of the people of this country.—(Laughter,
and cries of " Hear, hear.") I have been often charged
with being hostile to the aristocracy of this country—
they have not dared to prove it, which they would have
done if their case was good or their position sound. I
avow I am hostile to the aristocracy of this country, in
so far as resisting their attempts to trample on the order
to which I belong.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear," and
great cheering.) The class to which we are opposed
is the idle and the noxious class of the aristocracy.—
(Hear, hear.) They are the men who are bound by
none of those ties which bind other men—they are not
particularly exemplary of all that is admirable in pri-
vate life and in public conduct. In the performance of
senatorial functions we never discover anything which
calls upon us to be particularly respectful to them,—
(Hear, hear.) But there is an aristocracy which we
cart have no hope of bringing into contempt. If
I were to standup here and mention some names, such
as Westminster, Spencer, Radnor, Ducie,
Kinnaird, Howick, Morpeth—(Loud cheers)—how
should I be received by this audience if I were to attempt
to bring these men into contempt?—(Hear, hear.) HOW
should I succeed—by what arguments could I prevail on
you to agree with me, that these men were to be looked
upon with scorn?—(Hear, hear.) What passage of their
lives could I bring before you to show that they were
ennobled but not noble?—(Hear, hear.) If we spoke of
Earl Spencer and mentioned his conduct in the House
of Commons, when it was allowed by all parties that he
was too honest, too high minded, too candid for the po-
sition which he occupied in that House, would it not
rather excite your admiration than your dislike?—
(Hear, hear.) If we were to compare 'his manly,
straightforward conduct—his daring to acknowledge
that he had done wrong—his clear enunciation of the
principles by which he was actuated, and if we com-
pared his conduct with the conduct of the man who
now occupies his place—(llean hear)—should we be
successful in heaping obloquy on Lord Spencer?—(Loud
cries of " No, no," and great cheering.) And if I spoke
of Earl Radnor, the friend of the people from his youth
upwards, and to 'whom, now that he is in his old age, it
must give the purest pleasure to see those principles
which he advocated in his youth spreading and taking
root in the minds of millions of the intelligent people of
this country—if I were, I say, to declare these things,
how could I throw contempt on his name?—{Loud cries
of " Hear, hear," and cheers.) And if I speak of Lord
Dude, who is not. merely an agriculturist owning land,
but is, in fact, a great practical scientific farmer—a man
'who has' done more for the. agriculture of this country
'than all.the•protective societies that ever existed, or that
'ever will exist—(Loud and prolonged cheering)--could
I heap obloquy on the name of Ducie ?—(No, no.).
Could I bring his character or conduct into contempt
'before this meeting ?—(No, no.) And then if' I turned
to Earl Fitzwilliam, Lords Kinnaird, Morpeth, of
• Howiek, and mentioned the leading characteristics of
these men, surelynobody could charge me with bringing
the aristocracy into contempt. No ; I would rather be
boasting of these men as the noble among the people of
this country, and in declaring their character and con-
duct I would be actually leading you, country-
men, to bow down and worship these "men, and exalt
them to a higher aristocracy than' any to 'Which they
have yet aspired.—(Great cheerieg.Y The monopolist
landlord, from the' duke to the' squire, lire doing our
work most effectually—(Hear, hearylif the object be
to bring ' them Into contempt.—(Renewed cries of
" Hear, hear," and great laughter.) They profess to be
honourable legislators of this country. One man de-
dared, in the county of Surrey, that it is but reasonable
that that class which owns the land should be the rulers
of the country.—(Laughter.) That is but another
mode of saying—that class which owns, the land shall
likewise own the people.—(Hear, hear.) Some of them
are certainly legislators by birth—at least in name; and
they think it great condescension to allow a cots-
stitueney to send them to Parliament. When they
enter the House they make a solemn declaration •
'that they will legislate Without favour or affection, and
without any views of self-interest, and solely ' for the
public good. If they do that, all I can say is, that the
majority of the people of these countries are living
under a most deplorable delusion.—(Laughter and
cries of " Hear, hear.") No, Sir, they make laws for
themselves in Parliament, and in private they confess
freely that those laws are for themselves, and the indis-
creet of them acknowledge it in public.--(Hear, hear.)
In this country these class legislators are engaged in
stirring up the worst passions in the minds of the fanners,
exciting their hostility to the manufacturing classes, and
doing their utmost to produce that bad feeling with which
they charge us. They haie, ever since 1815, to, go
no further back, practised a monstrous delusion
On their tenantry, and Oidoitraged this spirit of delusion