The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-19 00:00:00

Uørntin "nit

LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1844.

A meeting of the freeholders, landowners, and te-
nants of Somersetshire, was held at Bridgewater oa
Friday, on a requisition to the High Sheriff, for the
purpose of opposing the machinations of the League.
They met to curse COBDEN and BRIGHT, and Earl
FITZWILLIAM, and Earl SPENCER, and the Marquis
of WESTMINSTER, and the inhabitants of every large
and influential town in the United Kingdom, and the
scene ended like that between the King of Moan and
the prophet BALAAM—they " altogether blessed them
ihree times." Great preparations had been made for
this demonstration ; the people gathered far and near,
to the number of five thousand ; the leading mem
of the country mustered in great numbers ; the
parsons, of course, were among the motley crowd,
- but the voice of monopoly was raised in vain, and
common sense and justice prevailed. The High
Sheriff had the honesty and courage to remain to the
last, and put a question to the vote, which he knew
would be against his party. He did not, like some
others, dissolve the meeting, and retire to some hole
and corner to pass resolutions ; he listened to the
speeches on both sides, and, like a man of honour,
gave a fair decision. The speeches we will not ad-
vert to seperately, though, from the strange mixture
of blind prejudice, ignorance, and political animosity,
on the one hand, and sound reasoning, and clear
views on the other, they form a fit subject for com-
ment. We will leave our readers to judge for them-
selves. One fact is evident from this meeting, that
the labours of the Anti-Corn-law League have taken
effect in quarters where but two years ago any
attempt to make an impression would have been re-
garded as an act of madness. We do not speak of the
farm-labourers and the small tenants, but of men
holding large property, and tenants renting land
from 5001. to 1,0001. a year. Even these men begin
to see that there is no safety for them under the
pregent ambiguous system. The declaration of Sir
ROBERT PEEL has left things precisely as they were.
No man will yet take a lease ; tile-draining and all
other draining is at a dead stand ; farm-steads will
remain in the same dilapidated state, and landlords
and tenants will alike wait till the League have ob-
tained their object, or a compromise take place which
will assure all those interested that the question is
definitively settled. All these county meetings, for
the purpose of cheering on the Minister, are
vain - exhibitions; they are what WELLINGTON
called them, " a farce ;" they settle nothing, they
argue nothing ; they merely display the ignorance,
bigotry, and selfishness of a particular class, and
make all men of knowledge and experience wonder
that for the last two hundred years (we will not go
farther back) the Houses of Parliament, in other
words, the destiny of this empire, has been under the
control of such a race. Much has been done within the
last fourteen years. Some of the most obnoxious mono-
polies and most wicked class laws have been abolished,
but no thanks to the performers in the farce. They
►ere to a man against them, and they will be against
•very similar improvement till the voice of the
country and the spread of intelligence compels them
to yield. Sir ROBERT PEEL knows that well, and he
•is only biding his time. Still, however, this delay
iis• sadly• ruinous to the country, not to speak
•ef•.our foreign relations, and especially those with the
',United States, which the sliding-scale renders every
• year of less value ; not more than two-thirds of Eng-
land is under cultivation, and in general that is of the
most expensive and rude description. Why ? Be-
-.cause no tenant has any security for his outlay. This
subject has been well treated by Sir HARRY VERNEY,
formerly Member for Buckingham, in a letter addressed
to the farmers of Buckinghamshire, and published
by RIDGWAY. He_is, we believe, a large landholder
himself; and may therefore be taken as an authority.
Nothing, he says, but an assurance of a permanency
of tenure, will enable farmers to reap the fruit of
-any capital they may embark in the cul-
tivation of the soil. And what man will
embark capital in farming under the present
• corn-laws ? He would as soon trust it to
the repudiating Yankees, or to the insol-
vent Spaniards. "Is it right," says Sir HARRY
" that, with our rapidly increasing population, such a
state of things should remain ? Is it right that such
a system should be persevered in, that prevents, or,
at any rate, that has not forwarded and effected, to
the extent that the country demands, an augmenta-
Ilion of produce ? Look at the bad condition of farm-
houses and buildings in many parts of the country.
See how constantly four or even five horses are used in
a plough, when two would suffice ; and consider
bat whole districts are cultivated with very small