The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-12 00:00:00

call having been most enthusiastically responded to,

The CHAIRMAN commenced his address as follows :
Ladies and Gentlemen,—Had we not been perfectly

accustomed to see this theatre crowded—crammed to
suffocation, te use an ordinary phrase—et these

League meetings, this immense meeting would have
excited some surprise in our minds, occurring, as it
does, at the present season of the year--1 season which
is eupposed to be the least favourable to political ex-
citement, and when the greater number of our friends
are generally engaged in different and more cheerful
avocations. But as it Jr, we look upon this vast
meeting as a sign of the great and the increasing
interest which is experienced by a large portion of
the inhabitants of this vast city in favour of the abo-
lition of these restrictions in trade which we all
acknowledge, and in favour of the abrogation of those
lens which interfere with the sustenance of the
people. We have met together to-night to renew
our engagements with each other, to enter into fresh
bonds with each other, —(irear, hear)—to spare no
exertion until we shall have obtained the total—not
the conditional—but the total—(Loud cheers)—l
repeat it, not the conditional, but the total abrogation
of the corn-laws.—(Renewed cheering.) We have
*let here to-night, having gathered experience from
the past. We have now served our apprenticeship
to the calling of agitation. We are determined to
overcome any obstacles which may oppose us, re-
joicing over those which are past, and having good
cause for rejoicing in the progress we have already
made, and in that we are likely to make.—(Cheers.)

We are aow at the commencement of our seventh

campaign, and we visit you under different, and, I
think, more favourable circumstances, than have
attended any of our previous meetings. We
are here to-night, after having diffused in-
formation on the subject of free trade
through every part of the kingdom—after
having sent missionaries to the remotest corners of

the realm—and after having placed on the table of
pretty nearly every elector the fruits of the study of
the greatest men of the day in relation to this subject
—(Cheers) —we have met here, five or six thousand
strong, a small number in comparison of that vast
organisation of which we are the representatives—
(Cheers)--the greatest organisation of capitalists,
middle-class men, and operatives which this country
has ever seen. When we last met you were told
that the League was going, to use a fashionable
phrase of the day, ft'. a time into retirement." You
were told, that if you heard no more of the League
fur a time, you were to take it for granted that they
were hard at work in the registration courts. I
explained to you what was-laking place for the
purpose of purifying the representation—I stated
to you that we were busy in about 140
boroughs in England, with a view of forming
registration committees, where no such committees
existed, and of rendering assistance and aid where
committees, already existing, for the purpose of ob-
taining fuller and more complete information as to
the state of the registration throughout the country
g nerally. Well, we have done this; we have formed
committees, furl we have asalstent•committees, where
they have already been formed on behalf of the free
traders, for the purpose of revising the electoral lists ;
and., although we de not possess the entire of the re-
ports from the 140 boroughs so visited, owing in some
cases to an irregular transmission of the lists, and in
others to some of the claims having been sent back
for re-investigation, yet, so far as we have received infor-
mation on which we can depend—and I propose to give
you no information to-night on which you cannot
depend—so far as we have obtained information on
which we can depend, out of 108 of these boroughs,
in 98 or 100 we have obtained a majority in the re-
visions.—(Lend cheers.) In 98 of these boroughs
there has been a gain in the revisional courts
of the free traders—(Cheers)—while only in six or
seven, or at most eight, has there been a gain in fa-
vour of the monopolists, and in no instance has there
been any gain in their favour so far as to affect the
seat of a free trader. We have been told again and
again that we could judge but lath: from any gain in
registration courts, and that gain or loss in the revi-
sion courts would not furnish sufficient data to form
any judgment as to what would be the state of the re-
gistration at the time of an election. To a certain
extent this must be admitted. The registry is com-
piled by the overseer, and the revision court only
takes cognisance of objections made on claims sent in
On the list as published by the overseer, but the regis-
tration courts takes no cognisance of the vast changes
which are continually occurring in boroughs in con-
sequence of deaths, removals, or the disfranchisement
or enfranchisement of borough electors, and no accu-
rate knowledge can be obtained from the proceedings
of the revision courts of the changes which take place 1
from these causes. We have frequently heard it said
that a borough is at a dead lock, that no change in the
constituency could take place, or that, at any rate, if
si change did take place, it must be so trifling,
that it could
.never affect the seat. Now,

this is a very great mistake. I hold in my •
hand a list of thirty-three boroughs, which I
will not now read to you, but I will take from
the list a few extracts, for the purpose of show-
ing what are the consequences of the changes which
are constantly taking place, and which never ap-
pear in the registration courts, and which never
can be tested except at an election. From these
accounts it appears that in all these boroughs a
change takes place annually in the constituency, in
none less than 10 per cent, and in some instances as
high as 15 per cent., su that if the constituency were
merely affected by the overseers' returns we should
have an entirely new constituency in 10 years, or in 12
years at the furthest, through the changes which are
constantly taking place in the registration of every
borough throughout the country. Let us take one
borough, for instance—a borough in a manufacturing
district—the borough of Ashton-under-Lyne. The
number of old voters—that is to say of voters who were
on the list of 1843, in the year 1844 was 621 ; the number
of new voters added to the list in 1844 was 142,
showing a change of 20 to 30 per cent. in the consti-
tuency. This great change is taking place within
twelve months, and without the ,cognisance of the
registration courts. Now suppose we take a rural
borough—a borough in an agricultural district. We
will take the borough of Boston, in Lincolnshire.
There are 907 voters, old voters of the registry of
1843, on the register for 1844, and there are 129 new
voters. The Monopolist candidate obtained a majo-
rity of 14at the last election. Now, if we only gained
7 out of 11 of the new voters, we shall have a majo-
rity at the next election.—(Cheers.) We will now
take one of the large boroughs—we will take the
borough of Liverpool. There are 12,823 registered
voters for the borough of Liverpool for the present
year. Of these, 3,135 are new voters. In Brighton
there are 2,162 old voters, and 461 new voters. I
mention these things to show you the great changes
which are taking place in the constituencies gene-
rally. From the list of the 33 boroughs it appears
that there are 7,648 new voters and 45,839 old voters,
giving an entire majority in these boroughs to the
monopolists of 1,145. These changes produced no
considerable gain, but I mention the fact to show
that no borough is in so hopeless a state—no borough
is in such a state of fixed stability—as to prevent us
from hoping for gain if we only exert ourselves.—
(Loud cheers.) Who are these new voters ? They
are the men on whom public opinion generally acts.
This is the class of men on whose support we calcu-
late at the next general election. They are not im-
bued with the prejudices of their parents and of old
people generally. We may suppose that their
attention has been awakened by the various
discussions which have taken place on the sub-
ject of free trade, and on these voters it is important
that we should make an impression, in order
to obtain a majority in Parliament ; and the
list shows that the continued action of the League is
only requisite to make a change in the entire consti-
tuency of the country. I now come to the additional
changes which have been made in the borough consti-
tuencies during the course of the present registrations,
and to their results. In four boroughs, which now
return eight monopolists from local causes, if an elec-
tion were to take place to-morrow, we should return
four free traders and four monopolists. In six bo-
roughs, which at the last election returned seven free
traders and seven monopolists, in which the represen-
tation was equally divided, we should, in the event of
a new election, return seven free traders instead of
seven monopolists ; and fourteen boroughs which now
return twenty-one representatives, monopolists, have
been gained during this revision to the free traders—
(Loud cheers)—showing an entire of thirty-two
members gained from the monopolists, which, on a
division in the House of Commons, would give sixty-
four votes in favour of Mr. Villiers's motion.—(Loud
cheers.) This has been done during a single year ;
and from the information which is being every day
furnished us, we hope we shall be able to show you
still further gains from those boroughs from which no
returns have yet been made, but the returns
from which will be laid before you at our
next meeting.—(Loud cheers.) We have likewise
turned our attention some little to the counties. We
only took one county fully in hand at the last revi-
sion, and that was South Lancashire. You all know
that at the last election for South Lancashire Mr.
Brown was defeated by a majority of 578 by Mr.
Entwistle. There are 40 townships or polling dis-
tricts in South Lancashire, in each of which there
are 100 voters or upwards ; and 152 rural or agri-
cultural townships, in which there are fewer voters.
In these 40 townships in the commercial districts, in
which there were 11,800 voters, Mr. Brown had a

majority of 500 votes, whilst in the 142 smaller
rural townships, in which the influence of the land-
lords were stronger, and brought more easily to bear,
he was beat by a majority of two to one, the majo-
rity against him being upwards of 1,000. We im-
mediately determined to take the registry in
hand, and as all honest men ought, we deter-
mined, in the first ?lace, to fortify and strengthen
our friends. II e asked them to re-claim,
and to give a more accurate description of their
qualification. There were 3,000 alterations in claims
made in favour of our friends. We then objected to
the monopolists, and out of 7,571 who had voted in
favour of Mr. Entwistle, we struck off 878, whilst
they struck off only 422 of our friends, showing a gain
in our favour a majority of two to one on the objections.
Then with regard to the claims, we placed on the
registry 2,821 new claims, whilst they placed on the
registry only 1,357, giving us, on the new claims, a
majority of 1,464, and on the objections 456, being a
total gain of 1,920 on the registry, giving us a clear
majority upon that revision over the monopolists of
upwards of I,7oo.—(Loud cheers.) This shows at
once what may be done when the work of revision is
set about in earnest, and with a determination to
succeed.—(Loud cheers.) When the registration
courts were closed we discovered that new
elements might be introduced by which counties
might be won from the monopolists easily. When
we look to South Lancashire, we find that in the
commercial districts the county voters are as one to
eighty of the population, whilst in the rural districts
the voters are as one to twenty-three. In Manehester
and Liverpool the county voters are only as one to
a hundred and twenty, whilst in the rural districts
as I said before, they are as one to twenty three ; and
this proportion holds good throughout the kingdom.
The more populous and commercial a county is, the
fewer are the voters in proportion to the population ;
whilst in the more rural and less populated districts,
the voters are in greater number. In Buckingham-
shire there is one voter for every twenty-five of the
population, whilst in Middlesex there is only one
for every hundred and fifteen of the population. In
East Surrey there is one voter for seventy-
eight of the population, whilst in 'West Surrey
there is one for every twenty-aix. This rule
holds good throughout the country, and it proves that
the monopolists and landlords have qualified and en-
franchised to the full extent of their power, whilst the
full power of the manufacturing and commercial dis-
tricts for obtaining the qualification has never been
fully developed. We propose to set to work to en-
franchise these districts, and we shall endeavour to in-
duce our friends throughout the kingdom to qualify
and to register themselves as voters for counties, IVe
make no secret of it. We have no secrets from the
enemy.—(Cheers.) We gave them due notice of what
we were about to do. 'We give them notice of what
we intend, and what we shall do.---(Loud cheers.) We
intend to qualify for South Lancashire, before the
31st of January, 1,000 new voters.—(Loud cheers.)
We look across the brook which separates us from
North Cheshire ; we see that there was a majority of
500 against the Liberal candidate at the last general
election, and there would have been that majority
against a free trade candidate. Now, what are 500
votes to be obtained for parties who are determined to
have them? We set to work, and nearly 500 quelifi-
cations have already been put down for that county.
Well, then, we look to the West Riding of Yorkshire
—the next greatest county. Now, what do we find
has taken place there? Why, since 1841, notwith-
standing the contest in the registration courts, the
free traders have obtained 400 voters,—(Cheers.) We
were told that nothing more shoald or could be done
in that county. I think it will be acknowledged that
we here show that something more could be done.—
(Cheers.) Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright sallied forth
into that county, and the result of their labours was
the obtaining of 400 voters to our cause ; they went
to Halifax and to Huddersfield, and there they ?ot
400 voters more to qualify ; and from a letter which
the League received the other day, it is stated that
they had done it. The League then asked, "Do you
want assistance in Yorkshire ?" "No," they said.
" Will you accept our assistance ?" was the rejoinder.
" Yes," was the reply, and the result is, that in York-
shire the number of qualified is what I have stated ;
and 500 in Lancashire.—(Cheers.) Then we come
to Middlesex. You will hear, ladies and gentlemen,
to-night, hew to win Middlesex. You have a popu-
lation in Middlesex. equal to twelve counties in Eng-
land, and you have a larger population in Middlesex
than the whole of those twelve counties ; anti yet
white those counties returned no less than twenty-four
Members, with a population less than Middlesex, that
county only returned two.—(Great cheering.) In
Hammersmith 19 votes only were registered, while
the population consisted of 1,942 adult males, and
1,972 males not adult, while there was also no less
than 17,000 houses in the parish. If in South Lan,
cashire a large manufacturing constituency were
to register in the same ratio as some of the
smaller districts, instead of having only 11,000
voters,
sameooter. theynn would have 21,000; and in Middlesex, if
trseeywwasnpuuldrsuhedav,e insteadnearly o3fohAin.—g
,000—(Great
ten uy, h
at
cheering.) If • w
Middlesex
044haysw2as0,000in the same e position
as as Yorkahlre, it

have already stated shows what a vast field there is in
Middlesex still uncultivated Now, the League pro-
poses to clear off all these incumbrances before the
31st of January.—(Great cheering.) We might have
been petitioning the House of Commons to repeal the
cornelavvs ; but we have changed our ground ; we
are determined no longer to appeal to these who are
elected by an undue constituency; but we will appeal
to those who are the makers, or who ought to be, o'
the House of Commons—(Great cheering)—and you
may depend upon it, that the League will make the
next House for itself.—(Continued cheering.) We
will send no more deputations to men whe are indif-
ferent to the cries of distress—(Great cheering)—we
will send no more petitions to the House of Parlia
ment, but we will apply ourselves to men who know
the constituency of the country, and through whose
exertions we will;overthrow the monopoly of the corn-
laws, and of all such monopolies.—(The Hon. Gentle-
man sat down amidst tremendous cheering.)
The Hon.C.P. VILLIERS, M.P., then came for.vard
to address the meeting, and was received with the
most enthusiastic applause, which lasted for some
minutes. He said—Ladies and Gentlemen, if this
meeting is to be taken as the result of what we have
heard so much of late—namely, the death of the
League—(Cheers)—l think, if our opponents were
among us, they would have considered whether it
would not have been as well to have allowed us to
live—(TremendOus cheering)—for if this meeting
is really considered the ghost of the League, it seem!
to bid fair to trouble them far more than the departed
body.—(Enthusiastic cheering.) But it may perhaps
do what the other could not, but which some ghosts,
it has been said, have accomplished—namely, make
bad men repent in time.—(Great cheering and
laughter.) This great assemblage was a sign that as•
long as monopoly was sustained against the public,
the League would be with them, and would allow the
monopolists no rest. Ido not say that it would
not be better that more time should be given
for the consideration of this subject, but this
I do say, that the present agitation of the Anti-Corn-
law League is far better than that such an enor-
mous wrong should be allowed any longer to exist.
Can any one doubt that this tax, upon the
greatest necessary of life, is a grievous wrong inflicted
upon the population of England, and one that must
be put an end to, if not by Parliament, by the exer-
tions of the people themselves ? No one can, in com-
mon candour, believe that those who have passed this
law will be over scrupulous in retaining it.—(Cheers.)
History cannot afford a single instance or example
of justice being afforded to the population of a nation
but by the assistance of such associations as the pre-
sent, and it is for this reason that I am always ready,
and always will be ready, to co-operate with the great
exertions of the League.—(Cheers.) I am satisfied
that each year will show more and more the justice
of our cause—the beet intention of our views—and
will convince the public that, ere long, the object we
have in view must be accomplished ; and the people
will be convinced that nothing is more likely than the
adoption of free trade to remove that which is not only a
misfortune and an evil, but which is a disgrace to a
country like England—(Cheers)---I mean, that some
of the subjects of this country should be writhing
under poverty and distress, while some are rolling in
extravagance and wealth.—(Cheers.) I have come
• here to-night for the purpose of hearing what have
been the proceedings of our Chairman and this great
Society, and what are the objects that he intends in
future to pursue, and I must confess that I am ex-
tremely satisfied, and not only extremely satisfied and
gratified at what has been done, but I am delighted
at what he has promised is the intention of the League
to do.—(Cheers.) I like his plan to enfranchise the
people of this country.—(Cheers.) I like his plan of
bearding the lion en his den.—(Great cheering.)
These are qualities that will gain the great point the
League has in view. I have seen some doubts thrown
out in the public press as to the constitutional cha-
racter of the proceedings proposed to be taken
by the League ; but I cannot but remember
that they were the very means that were adopted by
the Prime Minister of the present day.—(Great cheer-
ing.) When Sir Robert Peel was in Opposition, and•
desired to be in power, he told the people to register
in order that Members of his own way of thinking
might be elected, and thereby he would obtain that
eminence which he so much coveted. They did as
he bid thew' and the result was that he got into thesituation that he at present fills. Well, now the
League have done the same thing—(Cheers)—but
the difference between them and Sir Robert Peel is
this—that the League do not wish any special power,
but that those who have the power should do justice
to the people.—(Cheers.) I do not think that Sir
Robert Peel should say, " Go forth and register to put
me in power, but do not put men in Parliament who
will tell me to act wisely."—(Loud cheers.)
The League is now trying to do something
new, and the Chairman has said that it is likely
to succeed.—(Cheers.) It is most rejoicing to
hear what he has stated with respect to one county
which was in the hands of the monopolists, and would
have remained so but for the exertions of the League.
I believe that the Tories—the monopolists—have now
given up that county.—(Cheers.) I do not see why
that which has happened in Lancashire should not
happen also in Yorkshire and Middlesex. I see that
it is stated that it is isle for the League to attempt
this, because the soil belongs to the landed proprie-
tors. I believe, that if it eves announced that the soil
belonged to the landed proprietors, many persons
would be extremely annoyed, because it must be re-
collected that there were certain persons who pos-
sessed such things as mortgages.—(Great cheering.)
It is absurd to suppose that because these persons
possess nominally the soil, that therefore they are to
have their own way, and to inflict the greatest bur-
dens on the people.—(Cheers.) If our friends only
persevered, depend upon it we shall be far better satis-
fied with the result than Sir Robert Peel and his
party.—(Cheers.) I think the League nave chosen
well their time for action. I believe that the free
trade party now is large and strong, and that the
time is riow come forputting their strength to the test.
It is also clear that it is their time for action, from
the state in which their friends, the Protection Society,
are at present.—(Great cheering.) I think that no
one can doubt that this agitation has had more effect
upon them then epee the free trader.—(Cheers.) I
think, also, that when the protection soplfitles asserted
that the League was no more, that the " wish was
father to the thought;" their only desire was that
it should be so.—(Cheers.) I think, 111§43, that the
small disaster of the premature demise they have
attributed to the League has fallen upon themselves.
—(Great laughter.) The British farmer and the
labourer are not romantic characters ; it is not to
be supposed that they would be very well inclined to
support high rents, political influence, and the strict
preservation of vermin.—(Great laughter.) At the
present moment the labourer and the farmer were oc-
cupying themselves by asking the question, which has
not yet been answered—" What advantage wtts there
to them from this system of protectionf —(Cheers.)
Now, I stated last year that these protection societies
would not endure long—that they would very soon
disagree, and then disappear, and I think the result
has proved that I was right. I see that at the last
general meeting, a Member fer the country, who spoke,
did not entertain a very hopeful opinion of the exist-
ence of protection, for he said, in referent,. to the
society, if they sunk, they must sink with the union
jack—(A laugh)—that was, in other words, that the
gentry were united against free trade ; but the gentry
are not and cannot be eonsiiiered the ericultoral in-
terest.—(Cheers.) There is no more connexion be-
tween the landlord and the farmer than there is be-
tween the shipowner and the sailor.—(Cheers.) I
allude to these things for the purpose of showing that
the present is the proper moment for the League to
go on in its great work, and that there should
not he any slgwness or supineness in its pro-
ceedings. There ie moths r reason why the friends
of free trade should he encouraged. Our opponents
have told us that the League will be frustrated, on
account of those who oppose it being connected with
commerce. There can be no doubt that the majority
of thosfy, who are its supporters are connected with
the commeme of the reuntry ; and it is certainly true,
that at this moment there is ir, this country a pause
in all those distressing consequences which resulted
from the stagnation of trade; and it is as certainly
true that the present occasion is a good one for test-
, ing the sincerity of those who have given their coun-
tenance and paid some attention to the progress and
proceedings of the League, Oro meet gratifying
circumstance for any independent advocate oe this
cause is to observe, that wherever any interest has been
manifested in its favour, that interest has remained
unshaken and unabated,--(Hear, hear.) I have been
told that wherever my Hoe. Vrienda have lately been
in the country, wherever the subject has been dig,
cussed, the same interest and the sane excitement
have been manifested,as before—the game interest as
was shown before, at a time when there was greater
occasion for it. And if any doubt existed on this
subject, I know nothing so well calculated to confirm
one in the opinion Pf
tbie interest being unabated
than this most numerous, reepectable, and steiking
assemblage, brought together to-night within this
building, at such an inclement season, and under the
peculiar circumstances of the country.—(Cheers.)
fhe fact is, if this had been one of those ephemeral
movements, springing 0:4 of occasional distress cr
political contention, what was expected to Woe place
might have occurred. But I believe this agitation is
connected with a deep eonvietion in the public mind
that it rests upon a principle intimately connected
with the future well-being of the people of this
country.—(Hear, hear.) There have been so
many renll3lon4 in trade, ao much commercial em-