The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-20 00:00:00

MEETING

AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE

The usual weekly meeting of the members, friends,
and supporters of the National Anti-Corn-law League
took- place last evening at the Theatre Royal Covent-
Garden. The house was more crowded than it has
been on several recent occasions, and there was a very
full attendance of ladies in the Nixes. The doors
were open at seven, and within ten minutes after the
boxes and pit • were crammed, and before the com-
mencement of the proceedings the gallery also was
completely occupied. At half-past seven o'clock G.
Wilson, Esq., the Chairman of the League, entered
the theatre, and was received with loud applause.
He was accompanied by several active members of the
League, among whom were Mr. Cobden, M.P., Mr.
Milner Gibson, M.P., Mr. Geo. Thompson, and Mr.
W. J. Fox, who were loudly cheered by the meeting.
Among these present, we observed the following :
Benjamin Smith, Esq., M.P. ; the Rev. Thomas
Spencer, of Hinton Charterhouse, near Bath; Col.
Tucker - George Thompson, Esq.; Rev. Dr. Davis;
Rev. Mr. Roberts,• New Bedford, Massachusetts;
Professor Wright, Boston, United States; Rev. Dr.
Jenkyn, Coward College; Summers Harford, Esq. ;
William Felkho Esq., F.L.S., S.P., &c.; Professor
Key; General Briggs; Rev. S. Edwards, Notting-
ham ; Ed. Wm. Gray, Esq., Newbury; Messrs. John
Ravvsthorne, of Manchester ; Charles Mackay; W.
D. Starling, Stourbridge; J. D. Cummings, Thomas
Hoyle, Rochdale; Crew, Shelley House, Essex ; 11.
Warland; R. Palmer; H. I'. Stanton; John Bloor,
Tutbury, Derbyshire ; Samuel Lucas ; W. A. Wil-
kinson ; J. P. Barnard ; •A. Bauer ; Frederick Far-
rand ; Sidney Kennedy; P. A. Taylor ; Thomas
Carman ; J. Carlton ; T. Johnson, Sunderland;
• Samuel Rogers, Isle of Man ; Duff, Isle of Man ;
Garrett, jun., Isle of Man ; William Leaf; Press
Granger ; Oliver Wilcocks; W. Thornborrow ; M.
Curtis, Manchester; J. Ridge ; Charles Cobby;
George Dilly, Newbury ; J. Elkin ; John M'Call ;
D. Jonassohn ; George 'Wood ; W. Geasin ; John
Ilowarth, Rochdale ; W. G. Thomson ; A. Thomson ;
Tho Mas Thornton.
The proceedings commenced by the CHAIRMAN
calling on the Secretary to read the minutes of the
preceding meeting, which, having been done, the
minutes were confirmed, on the motion of Mr. G.
Tiromrsoe, seconds d by Mr. AL GIBSON, M.P.
The CHAIRMAN then came forward, and addressed
the meeting as folkews :—Ladies and Gentlemen, we
are again assembled here to discuss the great and un-
redressed grievance of monopoly the parent of
scarcity, which still continues to weigh down our
industry—to express our hostility to its long continu-
ance, and the fixed purpose and determination of the
League to increase its efforts, if that be possible,
for its speedy and final overthrow.—(Loud cheers.)
Before we meet again in this place for the promotion
of the objects of free trade, our excellent friend, Mr.
Villiers, will have submitted this question to the con-
sideration and decision of the house of Commons.—
(Cheers.) I will not now stay to inquire as to the
probable manner in which the Members of the House
of Commons may treat that motion ; it is sufficient
for us to know, that after their election to Parliament
for the purpose of upholding and continuing monopoly,
the rank and file of the -monopolists, who think it
right to sacrifice every interest of the coun-
try to their own, are not likely to make
any concessions now; but we trust there
will come a time when, although the mo-
nopolists now think that their lease is a long one,
this matter shall be put an end to.—(Cheers.) In
the meanwhile, our endeavour is, by producing a
timely action on the constituencies, to prepare them,
when the proper time shall arrive, to vindicate their
own rights, and the rights of the industrious classes
of this country.—(Cheers.) Before I sit down, I have
to make an announcement with respect to a subject
which was some time ago brought under your notice
in this theatre—l mean the bazaar. It was originally
proposed that it should be held in the month of July.
sVe have, since that announcement was made, had
several applications from our friends, more especially
from our friends in the country, expressing a great
anxiety to furnish contributions to the bazaar, but
stating that the time was too limited to enable them
to do justice to the work which they had undertaken.
NOw, as there is no pressing reason why the bazaar
should be immediately held, the Council of the League,
taking these representations into their consideration,
have come to the determination of postponing the
bazaar until the month of January, in the next year,
and I hope that by so doing we shall satisfy our
friends here as well as those friends who have sent us
up these representations from the country.—
(Loud cheers.) I have another announcement to
make with respect to an alteration in the proceed-
ings of this meeting. It was originally announced in
the advertisement convening the meeting, that Dr.
Bowring, the Member for Bolton, would address
you; but, owing to other engagements, he is unable
to attend. But lam quite sure, that when I state
that Mr. Cobden will take his place—(Loud and long-
continued cheering, which drowned the remainder of
the sentence)—l will, then, without further pre-
face, introduce to you the Hon. Member for Stock-
port.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. Conoux, M.P., then came forward, and was
received with repeated bursts of' cheering.—lt was
only within the last two hours that an announcement
had been made to him that Dr. Bonring, who had
proposed addressing the meeting that night, was un-
avoidably absent ; therefore he appeared before them
on that stage, to fill up the vacancy which had oc-
curred. Under these circumstances, he did not know
hut that he might have found himself at a loss for
some topic on which to address them, were it not
that the 'question of free trade was so prominent
everywhere, that each week turned up some
new topic, or some new phase of an old topic, so as to
invest the question with. new interest. Last week,
they had had two discussions in the House of Com-
mons—(Cheers and laughter)—and if party spirit
had not elbowed poor political economy aside, those
discussions must have been made the school for the
instruction of the public mind on a subject which
was but little understood—he meant the subject of
differential duties.. Unfortunately, however, many
Members, on both sides, were possessed of an idea
that, instead of being merely a question of a duty of'
4s. a cwt. on sugar, it was a question of place, and
power, and patronage, and the question had conse-
quently been discussed with mutual recriminations
and invectives. Retrospective attack 3 were made
upon the past conduct of parties, extending back as
far as 1935. Those who were in feared they should
have to go out, and those whose were out manifested
only one anxiety, and that was to.get the others out
and themselves in.—(Cheers.) Now, that meeting
was a pretty large school, and he would endeavour to
give them a little instruction on the subject which
was really the topic which ought to have been dis-
aussed before the House of Commons the other night,
although other and less important matters, as he
thought, had superseded it in the discussion there, to
the great disadvantage of the public interest. He
wanted the public to understand the meaning of dif-
ferential duties, and lie would give them an illustra-
tration which, he thought, would enable any child
there to understand the subject so completely, that it
might go home and explain to i:-s grandpapa what
was the(meaning of differential duties. He would sep-
rose a certain number of market - gardeners
holding a liniited surface of land—say the
parish of Hammersmith, for instance. Sup-
pose the market - gardeners of Hammersmith
proceeded to the Duke of Bedford, who was the pro-
prietor of Covent-garden Market, and induced him to
lay a duty of 10s. a load on all other cabbages brought
into the market except " Hammersmith cabbages,"
including, of course, Battersea among the places
excluded.' Now what would be the consequence of
this P As the parish of Hammersmith did not raise
ea many cabbages as the people of the metropolis re-
quired to eat, the effect would be that the market-
gardeners of Hammersmith would hold back their
supply until they could get the same price for their
cabbages-as the Battersea people got, who had to pay
an additional los. to the Duke for permission to bring
their cabbages into the market. What would be the
effect ? The Duke would!eceiveirs a load upon all
the Bitttereea cabbages, a while the ammersmith gar-
deners would get lOs.
bages, which they would
load extra for their cab-
it into their own
pocket:, the public
Pay the
‘eieers.) sueipose the Duke
, lOs.nte d extra
for hotl).--(111
revenue, and still wishing to favour the llNNa'tna mersimith
_growers, put 11 duty of los. a load upon
c ebbage
Hammersmith cabbages, and raised the duty -upon
the Battersea cabbages to 20s. What would be the
effect of this change ? The Hammersmith people,
-would hold back until they got the same price as
the Battersea people, so that they would still put
10s. into, their pocket. How would that affect the
public? 'They would have to pay 20s. upon all
calebeseeea; the Duke would get 20s. upon Battersea
callagOs and 103. upon Hammersmith cabbages,
while the liamraeremith people would pocket !mother
-But the Hammersmith people, having had a
taste'of monopoly, wanted a little more of the same,
but they considered that it would not be expes
4ient to so to the Duke and ask him to
put a higher duty upon Battersea cabbages ;
het they raised the cry of- " Cheap cabbagee,"
And said to him " Reduce-our duty of 10s. to Gs., and
lesrw.the duty on Battersea cabbages as it is now ;"
and having raised this cry on patriotic grounds they
would go to Lord John Russell and ask him to in-
terest himself with his brother, the Duke of Bedford,
•4041'se tbern to mtrr-e it out.—(Cheers.) If they
,44e`e._ word "Ca.bbage" for the word " Sugar"
",;alTek an illustration of the motion
lea lee. u made by their old
_ opponents, the
- haters. The Government brought
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11 S

connected with them, because their property was of
no value. But it should be recollected that those
distresses happened when they were protected by a
duty of 645., which amounted to a prohibition of
foreign sugar.—(Hear, hear.) If such a duty did
not enable them to bring on their business, did it not
argue that they were on a wrong task altogether—
(Hear, bear)---and that a system which was beyond
all doubt injurious to the consumers, was not even
beneficial to those for whose benefit it was intended ?
They should, therefore, get on a new tack. His Hon.
Friond the Member for Manchester (Mr. M. Gib-
son) put the question on its right footing, when he
said that when they were called on to vote supplies
for the Crown they should not vote supplies to the
monopolists, but that having voted the supplies to her
Majesty, the West India interest ought to come
forward with their claims, which would be
voted separately, if they were entitled to any.
—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") But before they
voted them, they should first inquire whether they
managed their properties in the best way.—(Hear,
hear.) They should do as people did s hen a debtor