The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-07 00:00:00

could have written to subject himself to such seriOu
charges as those which had been brought againstbim
—(A laugh)—and, according to the story told by '
Swift, the town soon became divided betweeti (the -'-
enemies of the author and the friends of his wiall4a4::,
(A laugh.) He had, however, succeeded in his si;•l.,.
ject—he had effectually attracted the attention of the.'-'
public to his book. Every body wished to see what
he had really said, in order to ascertain whether he
had been rightly charged with the atrocious offences
which he had imputed to himself.—(Loud laughter.)
Much the ;same sort of good service were the oppo-
nents of the League doing for them at the present
moment.—(Cheers.) They charged the League with
all sorts of things. The League was wanting to at-
tract attention. It was most important to attract
the attention of the public to what they did, and to
what they said. There were thousands of respectable
persons who were above want themselves—who had
no thought of the wants of others—who had not con-
sidered the subject. What they wanted was to
awaken the attention of thes9 persons to the subject.
If their attention was once properly awakened—if
persons of this description in every town, city, and
county in the kingdom, were once made fully aware
of the true state of the case—that all this controversy
—that all this hubbub—was occasioned by the fact,
that certain of the industrious classes were desirous
of selling their wares where they could get the most
money for them, and buying their food where they could
purchase it at the least cost, while certain dealers
in food endeavoured to maintain a monopoly, and
to force the industrious classes to purchase
it at dear rates—(Cheers)—if public attention were
once fully awakened to such a state of things, could
it be imagined that they could be long suffered to
exist?—(Cheers.) Now the opponents of the League
were awakening public attention to the subject.
They were charging the League with all sorts of
offences, and heaping upon its members all sorts of
abuse. The attention of the whole country would be
fully awakened, and they would soon come to a con-
clusion upon that question.—(Cheers.) The real
question was, should the people be permitted to get
food when they could purchase it, or should they be
prevented from doing so by those who possessed a
monopoly of supplying food, and who were desirous
of keeping food dear?—(Cheers.) They were deeply
indebted to their opponents for taking the bold course
which they were adopting.—(Cheers.) It was impos-
sible to exaggerate the advantage which must accrue
to the cause of free trade from the conduct of its op-
ponents. They were now coming out in their
true colours—they had thrown off the mask
—(Cheers)--and they no longer pretended that
their object was the improvement of agriculture.
The agricultural societies were now avowedly, what
perhaps they had always been intended to be, mere
political clubs.—(Cheers.) It was now admitted that
all the supporters of the protective system had to do
was take care of themselves.—(Cheers.) He had
seen it suggested at one of their meetings, that the
present was the moment for collecting money among
the agriculturists to combat the power of the
League. He had met with a report of a meeting
held in the county of Surrey, in which the objects
and views of the opponents of the League were
brought forward in a specific form. Their purposes
were all distinctly defined, and as that meeting had
been held since they had last assembled in that
theatre, he would beg to call their attention to a
speech made by a gentleman named Drummond at
that meeting. Mr. Drummond was a gentleman of
great ability and had declared in a manner which
could not be mistaken what were the objects of the
Noble Lords, the Hon. Gentlemen, and the Reverend
Clergy, who:attended those-meetings, and formed the
staple of the attendance at them.—(Cheers.) The
speech began loyally—landlords were always loyal
when things went right.—(A laugh.) The com-
mencement of his speech was a speculation as to
what was necessary to support the Throne. He began
by stating the things upon which the Throne could
not rely. There was no reliance to be placed by the
Throne upon manufactures—(A laugh)—or rail-
roads—(A laugh)—or stocks—(A laugh)--or funds
—(A laugh)—but all that the Throne could really
rely on were horses—(Loud laughter)—cattle—
(Loud laughter)—sheep—(Continued laughter)—and
pigs.—(Roars of laughter.) Mr. Drummond made
no mention of any other quadrupeds.—(Shouts of
laughter.) After stating the course which was to be
pursued as regarded the business part of the meeting,
Mr. Drummond stated to them the purpose for which
those county meetings were assembled. He begged
to say that there could be no doubt but that
it was for the interest of them all that
corn should be dear.—(Hear, hear.) They knew
that it was their great interest to make corn dear,
and the question to consider, and for which they
were assembled, really was, how best they might make
corn dear.—(Cheers.) "The only doubt with me," said
Mr. Drummond, "is, if the present course is the most
effective one for that purpose. If the result of the
meeting will be to make corn dear, it shall have my
unqualified support; but if it will not have the effect,
I will propose an amendment, which I have in my
pocket."—(Cheers.) That was very important, be-
cause it showed what was the real purpose of those
meetings, over which the Dukes of Richmond and of
Buckingham presided. He hoped that the public,
when they read the accounts of meetings of a similar
nature, would bear in mind the candid statement of
Mr. Drummond, as to the object of such assemblages.—
li When they considered the confession that was
thus made by the opponents of free trade in this man-
ner—when the monopolists thus openly acknowledged
the objects which they had in view, it could be no
longer matter of astonishment that foreigners residing
at a distance, who read accounts of such proceedings
as these, should indulge in doubts as to the sincerity
of that zeal which had been manifested by this coun-
try for the propagation of the Gospel among the
heathens—(Cheers)--and for the amelioration of the
condition of the working classes in other countries
who were held in a state of slavery.—(Cheers.)
Could they wonder at foreigners accusing them of
hypocrisy, when they found they paid so little regard
to the precepts of the Gospel, or to the interests of
the working classes, in their own country, as to
occupy their whole time in devising measures to
make food dear in order to swell their own incomes at
the expense of their poorer fellow-countrymen?
It was only this day that he had read, in a foreign
newspaper, a reproach to this country upon the sub-
ject, both of their seeking to Christianise savages and
emancipate slaves, that he could not help thinking
was just. They say these people are daily in the
habit of knowing what is the policy pursued by this
country at home, and that through that policy the
working classes were daily and hourly swelling the
bills of mortality in consequence of the want of the
necessaries of life. In conclusion, he begged to
apologise for having made the few observations he
had done.—(Cries of "No, no," and " Go on.") The
meeting would be addressed that evening by Dr.
Bowring, Mr. Leader, Mr. Collier, and Mr. Fox.—
(Cheers.) He begged now to introduce Dr. Bow-
ring to the meeting.
Dr. BOWRING, on coming forward to address the
vast assemblage, was most rapturously received. He
said that if it were possible that m defending the
great cause that brought them together that evening
there could come over them any feelings of wavering
or discouragement, the encouraging appearance of a
meeting like the present would drive all thoughts of
despondency away.—(Loud cheers.) They were
over and over again taunted with their failures, and
yet week after week encouraging and enthusiastic
multitudes came together in that place to declare that
they never failed who strove in a good cause.
" When the heart and the mind,
And the voice of mankind
Unite in communion,
Oh who shall resist that proud union ?"

(Cheers.) His Hon. Friend, who had just spoken,
had stated that they had reason to congratulate one
another that their adversaries were at last appear-
ing on the field. The war of words and strife of
argument had commenced.—(Cheers.) They had
hitherto been combating with shadows. They now
had something like substance to grapple with. He
rejoiced in that. He felt delighted that the pressure of
necessity had forced their adversaries into the field
of combat, and that they were now standing face to
face in the sunshine of truth.—(Cheers.) Who
could doubt where the victories of truth would be 1)
(Cheers.) He rejoiced that they had again an oppor-
tunity of telling their opponents what they really
meant.—(Cheers.) The word "protection" was
ocromtvinesdeo-f
They
yth.edpi
dh. phrase
a“gianidneapnenddaegnatinof broughtforeignfonrawtarirnd,s
rag,
object to one man protecotifn
pendent, if he pleased,
the globe ; but what they wanted was, that he should
gtheinomthseelr4
irtiadeeapeusndteran.t.
not protect them according to. his interpretation of
protection.—(Cheers.). Let lum be as
to
as he would—let bun go, if he pleased,