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

GiUkND WEEKLY

ANTI-CORN-LA.W LEAGUE
MEETING
4T COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

"-ne great weekly meeting of the Anti-Corn-law
n'eagee' was held last evening, as usual, in the Thea-
ußoyal Covent-garden. The audience was as
eerous as on any previous meeting, with the ex-
Ption of the one at which Mr. O'Connell addressed
assembly • the house was crowded in every part.
Aniong •
the gentlemen present we observed
e Right Hon. Lord Kinnaird, the Hon. Charles
Pelham Villiers, M.P. Benjamin Smith, Es q.,11.1.p.
ie,
,flard Cobden, Esq., M.P.,' John Lewis Ricardo,
t-'ll MT, Sir William Baynes, Bart., J. Somers,
(Bridgewater), Ralph Ricardo, Esq., A. Aus-
/tt3n,na Esq., Robert R. R. Moore, Esq., H. R.
Tmou'eakrnet°s, Esq., Arthur Pattison, Esq., Rev. Henry
Tl, General Briggs, Professor Key, Colonel
Bauer, Esq., Rev. W. Todman, Rev. Dr.
ershall, W. A. Wilkinson, Esq., William M'Call,
Ols, Samuel Harrison, Esq., Norman Wilkinson,
•s,sq.
Iv a ueorge Lance, Esq., Dr. Cooke Taylor, George
Ileiciesit%l.E‘sici., C. Foster, Esq., J. Evans, Esq, Major
Pal Revell, ',en, J. B. Scott, Esq. (Manchester), R.
(C ' R. W. Cole, Esq., Peter Dixon, Esq.
Rarils,„le), Rev. J. W. Massie Planehester), John
C'pan' 1"cl-, Thomas Egan, Esq., W. Hibbit, Esq.,
vv..s,cllll‘ott, Esq., T. Nicholas, Esq., D. Miles, Esq.,
Starii',.,"nthers, Esq., W. Thornborruw, Esq., W.
(Cl;ke"t-1.,;E-r-'ssq€l.72. 'Henry Lloyd Morgan, Esq., J. T.
Le" •L'sq., J. H. Ilulme, Esq. (Manchester), NV .
..s".yaaeerkais.idiliv;hinoils,e(E:sr'qa.n.lcvh.ester), George Nelson, Esq.
IllTeuester), J. P.-Nixon, Esq., T. Keeling, Esq.,
Myles, Esq., G. Nott, Esq.,
William(Plymouth), Joseph Starr, Esq.
ire),
hull) s Battison, Esq. (Town Council,
Fill' James Eyton, Esq.- (Mole, Fiintshire), John
E Esq W. Clarke, Esq., W. G. Mitchell,
Johest
Es p
,Urnard, Esq., W. (seesin, Esq., Robert
(Mayor °a' 'sq. (Manchester); E. Eldridge, Esq.
brown, (if
Bath), G. Beacon, Esq., Thomas Cowper
At i IV* It Brown, Esq. (Lewisham).
tani a t-past seven Lord Kinnaird entered, accoin-
teorwdea.sosh.ll:3e7rMr. Cobden and several other gentlemen ;
. Y warmly received by the assembly ; his
Th 11) Immediately took the chair.
Ineet•e Secretary having read the minutes of the last
which ere unanimously confirmed,
c w
tsaa ItantssaN came forward to the table, and
tirnes-Plin received bv enthusiastic cheers, several
dre, I,enewed. He said, he must commence. his
they
by thanking them for the kind reception
oe that evening given him. Often as he had oc-
wePried;one of those benches, which he then saw so
ev Idled he but little expected that he should
er -
;ram "ave found himself on the stage of Covent-
en Theatre.—(Hear, hear.) He hardly thought
den„ Piling could have induced him to have
sni had he not thought that he might in some
Aeadsure promote the cause of free trade.—(Cheers.)
mohe should have approached the attempt with still
re
reluctance, had he not heard from other speakers
eonTli the same place, that in the audiences in that
ihs'e °n former occasions they had always found in-
gento and indulgent hearers. On looking. round
felt ue countenances assembled there that evening, he
I,o_ certain of having the first, and he ventured to
,ar that he might count on the latter. When he
ever the immense numbers here congregated, how-
abe 0/ ' e Could not help warning them that the num-
ot h Persons that made a meeting an illegal one,
abving been yet defined, they might perhaps all
le to an indictment for a conspiracy.—(Cheers,
all, ~,4hter.) Yes, the whole of them, ladies and
of s'tght be conspirators; and though the Secretary
confi-
dence te for the Home Department had such confi-
goo In the good order and regularity of the per-
-3 attend.
Volda Ing.the meetings of the League, that he
yew': not allow the police to attend to protect them,
pia A,,,essnie game might ke repeated here that had been
tertYl'4 In the sister country—the most wretched sys-
did of the employment of spies.—(Cheers.) Yet he
'sorters
think that among the respectable body of
whesosters he saw below him, they would find another
tthheosew.saohulled so far derogate from the character borne by
gentlemen, as to act in that capacity for
senT; , But for all that there might be spies pre•
verb, knew that some of the monopolists would be
datJedglad to institute proceedings against them if they
that t, But in this country, he was happy to
fair
trial "eY should—the ladies at all events—have a air
the! which was not the case in the sister country. In
judgecwasi he. did not think that they should find a
part 10, m his charge to the jury, would act the
there of a public prosecutor ; he did not think
40- was a judge on the English Bench
W would act so disgracefully. (Cheers.)
pre :a he looked around him and saw so many ladies
eo„,e,nt, it would be a matter of surprise to him what
te``l have induced them to attend in such numbers
ellllclear a discussion on so dry a subject as political
ee
eve. mY, did he not know that woman's heart was
to il" open to tales of distress, and she was ever ready
the ear how, that distress could be relieved, and how
ani„,.e°ndition of her fellow -beings could be
it 'd"ated—(Checrs.) Hetrusted, therefore,
the was - not curiosity alone which - had led
a stn, to attend their proceedings that evening, but
of ail re desire to promote the prosperity and welfare
„
yelasse,s—particularlv of the humhler classes f
that was the main object of the League.
fiteTre, while it said that capitalists would be bene-
etpi!aet:tirlePeal of the corn-laws, yet it was prepared
and • at the landowners would be benefited also ;
benefited .111 einnsequence, no class would be so much
comni, .as tne industrious and labouring part of the
honest nity, by
opening sources of employment to
praetk"cuPations and industry, and by putting in
seted -e a phrase very commonly used, but not yet
the oh°ll to its full extent, allowing them to buy in
ceoici.eaPest and sell in the dearest market they
Was As he said before, he hoped it
there' but
only curiosity that
tolead brought them
°ut that they had come eceive instruction
theihe held to be the sound doctrines inculcated
once the
And he hoped that if they were
this Privinced they would all use their influence in
j4fluAst and righteous cause. No one knew what
Dehhelnee one individual might have. It was like a
spte e cast into a pool of water—the circle gradually
wasad till it extended over the whole surface. Such
thorn the influence that must be exercised by any one
Illy impressed with the justice of any cause.
1)1i1e- n had seen exemplified in the result of the de-
shir4;;LO which was sent by the League to Perth.•
taa,-„' which included that able advocate of their
Mr. Cobden —(Loud cheers.) There was a
treturer whotold this deputation that he resided
~ekniiiist of farmers and ,agriculturists, though,
advantage of a large fall of water, he
4011... Pd a spinning mill. He was surrounded by
wertit thirty farmers, who, with the exception of one,
tsepet: free-traders. That one farmer attended the
of ih'ng held at Perth, and he became so convinced
the e soundness of free-trade principles, that, after
kiesTe!tink, he was found arguing the question with
8400.(%r farmer, and supporting the principles he had
thsCed• He had been told by a friend, that while
teen meeting was being held, there was nothing to be
lilt in the market but the long faces of the mono-
left 'andowners looking for their tenants, who had all
stq the;
r business to attend the meeting. The
of political economy was no new pur-
Part.„'•4th him. He bad not taken it up for any
thos.7 Purpose, because he was early trained to it by
l'siirlep who were now; no more. He had studied in the.
the of Adam Smith, of Ricardo, of Marcet, and in
he more interesting works of Miss Martineau, which
"soulespecially recommend to the ladies. While.
,ng these works, lie could not have thought it
th:';ule that he should so soon have seen examples 3 he
had truth of their principles, brought about, a
eipairen, during the last three years. This was prin
1.-ea-,..•3' owing to the exertions of the Anti-Corn-law
tor It was impossible to see any return moved
hc,,,a41, either House of Parliament that did not corro
te -Le everything to be found in the writers
tirel"ariss alluded to. Being himself almost en
of lir
_idervendent for existence on the produce
t "nti,. he had naturally turned his attenhtiodn to
for
tie,ensiderable degree to the subject. He a
clar,e•ral Years past had a farm in his own hands,eantnd
tow-ng the last eighteen months, not having come
401(111'h had been carrying on improvements o
and
s
_
to n in order to see what could be done withit, da
r'seertain if' it were not possible to produce gram
toelttival cheaper than at present;' and he had comeon
in this conclusion, that the corn-laws were
cr,ous to him as a farmer and as a landownerm._
an
con/-"Y benefit that their existence could possibly
nhde
e upon him. Had he only found that Mr._
this n, and those engaged in manufactures,. were of
nIA 9Pinion, he might have hesitated ; but he knew
0,-.°Y landed proprietors who entertained the sam.
Ije n' though they still hesitated to join the League.
.
mentioned two instances of this. One was
rattrra.,, _
ot Polnais, near Stirling, who held alarge
kit en his own hands, and who was considered an
-
debority upon all farming questions. He c_o,ne
tllrled the corn-laws so long ago as 1826.1.
_h
other ease..was of a tenant of Lord Wharnc iff s
he
mould of the principles of the League, but
Wagnot attend its meetings. Perha it from
Wasihunder a Tory landlord. He (Lord Kinnard)
thetabacked
more confirmed in his opinions when he saw
to- k„ "4eked by such practical men. Now he wanted-
tion:,,c'w for whose benefit the corn-laws were.men
coot'.'? The landlords affirmed that they did not
_
the nee them for their own benefit, though one
the
andand he too a Minister, had let the cat out of
an-d Pe. asking how could' they pay their jointures
aboihtr marriage settlements if the corn-laws were
objet t ed ? In fact, " Rent! rent! rent !" was their
saeti,. Others said, " Oh, no! it is not that—the
for ti:ee to us would be nothing; but it is consideration
pooragricultural labourer." But if they would look at

the history of the corn-law of 1815, they would find
that it was passed avowedly for the purpose of keep-
ing up war prices. That law was literally passed
at the point of the bayonet, for the Members who
went down to the House to vote for it were protected
by the soldiery. That law was passed without
giving the people time to petition against it. One
petition against it was rejected, because the first
name of the signatures was not written on the same
piece of paper on which the petition was inscribed.
That must be useful for them to know, should they
petition the House on any other subject. It was very
little use to petition it on this, as their petition would
only go into the bag under the table.—(Hear, hear.)
That law was harried through Parliament with in-
decent haste, and Mr. Horner said of it, at the time,
that it was an endeavour on the part of the land-
owners (who then, as now, commanded an unreason-
able majority in both Houses of Parliament) to save
their rents from an unavoidable fall. Then, as now,
we were told that so much capital had been invested,
that it would be a great injustice to do away with it.
So that because an injustice had been once committed
it was always to be continued. Now, many farms
in Scotland were taken at war prices, and the conse-
quence was that many of the landlords were owed
large arrears of rents. When he came to his property
he thought it was unpleasant to have one's head thus
always under water—he, therefore, had all the land
valued over again.—(Cheers.) Those arrears could
be of no use to a landowner unless they were in-
tended perhaps to be used at an election.—(Cheers.)
But there was a great outcry made by his neighbours
when 'he made this valuation ; they said he was
damaging the value of land. But. he always asked
them what was the use of this nominal rent if they
did 'not get it ? It was only deceiving the farmers,
and deceiving themselves. And what was the case
in England ? If they looked at the Morning Post,
they would see paragraphs chronicling the great
liberality- of this landlord and that—of the wonder-
ful example he had set of indulgence to his tenants,
in having, at his audit, remitted them ten or twenty
per cent. on the amount of their rents. Why, this
only meant that the landlord could not get it !
(Cheers.) But the consequence has been, that the
landlord, being under the belief that he had a larger
income than he really possessed, lived in a manner
far beyond what he was able to aflbrd. And it was
a very. remarkable thing that the same journal did
not slow contain so many announcements as of old,
of fetes, and entertainments. There had been a
great reduction of establishments, and he (Lord
Kinnaird) who had been behind the scenes,
knew that one-half, or two-thirds of the agricultural
landlords were in a state of great embarrassment, and
that they were mainly anxious to maintain these laws,
as a drowning man catches at a straw, in the hope
that they would enable them to get out of their dif-
ficulties. But he could tell them that it would only
get them deeper into them. He had ascertained, from
the sense person who valued his land, what was the
state of the land in England, and he stated that
he thought that the land of England was universally
underlet, and that it did not produce the same quan-
tity or the same profit as it might be made to yield.
The landlords then were like pigs swimming down a
stream, cutting their own throats. The landlords
were clearly not benefited by these laws ; the prices
were going down. There 'might be one or two good
years for them, as they were called—that was to say,
years of scarcity, when the poor man could not procure
foad for his family. But it was a miserable state of
things to consider, that when Providence had blessed the
country with an abundant harvest, it should be looked
on, as Lord Castlereagh declared it to be—a cause of
distress. An evil was made out of what ought to be
a blessing. They always saw that the seasons ran in
a kind of cycle ; they had a good harvest last year,
and, by the blessing of Providence, it seemed likely
there would be a better one this ; and perhaps they
should have the farmers crying out for a Committee
of Inquiry into the causes of their distress. There
must be something wrong where this was the case,
and the people's mind ought to be turned to in-
quire into it. But now for the farmers. Perhaps
some might think that the corn-laws benefited them.
But if they inquired of a farmer how the times went
with him, he would say very bad indeed, there was
no trade going. There must be something wrong in
all this. Nothing was so productive, nothing ought
to give so good a return, as the land. Yet he knew
that many farmers had been reduced to abject poverty
who had expatriated themselves, or were obliged to be-
come labourers on the land where they had held farms.
This did not arise from improvidence on their part,
but from this reason—that by the law they were pro-
mised a certain price for their corn. They calcu-
lated, on taking their farms, on getting that price.
They believed what their landlords and their agents
told them. But they did not get it, and they knew
what the consequence was, and what would be the
consequence so long as they continued any law so
uncertain in its operation as the corn-law. He had
visited several agricultural counties of England, and
he confessed he had never seen such bad management
or such imperfect calculation ; the land was not made
to produce, one-half of what it ought to do.
—(Hear, hear.) Even within ten miles of
London, he had asked the letting price of land, and
had been told 30s. per acre, for what was worth 3/.
He had been told, also, that there were Scotch far-
mers who, on the same kind of land, were making
fortunes at the latter price, while the English
fanners were being ruined at 30s. But the Scotch
were an industrious and acute race of men, who did
not always believe all that was told them. But much
of their superiority was also due to the Scotch agri-
cultural labourers, who were much more intelligent,
as a race of men, than the Englishmen of the same
class. They did not look upon machinery as an evil ;
on the contrary, they considered it asa great boon.
The reason why the Scotch farmer did better was
because he had a worse climate to contend with than
the English farmer had, and a so much shorter time
for putting seed into the ground, that even a delay of
one day prevented the getting of a crop. If the Eng-
lish farmer had a little more to contend with, so as to
exercise his industry, he would be much better off.
The Cornnrissioners that were sent lately into the
agricultural districts to inquire into the state of the
agricultural labouring classes, had furnished reports
of the state of those poor people in Dorsetshire,
Hampshire, and other purely agricultural counties, of
their ignorance, destitution, and immorality, that
would harrow up one's soul. He had visited the pro-
perty of Mr. Bankes, who had boasted so much in
the House of Commons of the happy, prosperous con-
dition of his tenantry, and anything more miserable
than the condition those people presented, one could
not conceive. True, there was not so much misery
compressed together in a small space as in localities
in the manufacturing districts; but, in their detached
cottages, one could see disease brought on by want of
proper food. He had an instance of that being the
case, which came under his own observation. To one
of those wretched families he allowed an order on a
butcher for meat for six or eight weeks, and the
change which took place from the improvement in
their food in the appearance of this poor family, was a
proof to him that if they had got good food they
never would have been in the miserable condition in
which he found them.—(Cheers.) So much
for the boasted prosperity of the agricultural
labourer. He did not want to abuse the landlords
individually. He had travelled through many coun-
tries, and he knew of none in which the landlords
were so inclined to do good on their estates as they
were in England. But no individual charity could
do good to any large extent. Employment was what
the poor wanted—not charity. In Sussex, in the
neighbourhood of a great corn-law man, who was
pretty well known, there were schools, which that
person had established there ; and yet he (Lord Kin-
naird) saw several children at their homes, who did
not frequent those schools. He asked why the chil-
dren were not sent to school, and the reply he always
got was, their parents' earnings were too small to
admit of their paying for their education—that they
amounted only to 6s. per week in winter, and 7s. per
week in summer; and a woman, showing him a loaf,
which she said cost Bd., asked him if he thought that
sufficient to furnish food, to three children and two
full-grown people per day, and if the 2s. Bd. per
week which remained was sufficient to purchase other
articles, and also pay for education ? Was it, then,
any- wonder how they lived, or rather how they
starved, for they could be scarcely said to live ?
(Hear, hear.) It was strange to hear the'arguments
to which the protectionists had recourse to support
their doctrines. They would have it that they were
the most numerous body in the State, and therefore
were entitled to the greatest measure of protection.
They set down every one who was not a manufac-
turer as an agriculturist, ladies and all.—(Laughter.)
In the Economist newspaper he saw
relative to 27 counties, including the great a
ma rj eo pr
tryt
of the purely agricultural counties, such as Essex'
Norfolk, Lincoln, Sze. In those 27 counties were not
included Yorkshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire, or War-
wickshire—all manufacturing or mining 'districts.
When Mr. Brotherton, in the House of • Commons'
quoted that report to show that in those 27 counties
instead of the numbers of the agricultural population
being 7- 9ths out of the whole population, it was not
1-10th, they cried out, " Oh, oh," which meant that
I he told what was not true, and that they did not be-
lieve him. Now, by the official returns, it appeared
that not 1-Bth per cent. of those employed in those
agricultural counties were engaged in agriculture,
even including children; and the persons occupied in
other trades, amounted to 281- per cent. ; and it was
for that small fraction of the community they were
cursed with protection laws to keep up the price of
food. It was a fact that, according as the population
increased the proportion of it employed in agriculture
diminished. In 1811, out of every 1,000 persons,
there were 352 employed in agriculture, while there
were 648 engaged
.in other trades. In 1821, the
agriculture engaged, out of every 1,000 pertotra;'s22e;
other trades, 678. In 1831, agriculture engaged 281
out of every 1,000, and other trades 719, and as to 1841,