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

make inquiries into the cause of disease, and they call
in scientific men, Doctor Southwood Smith, Doctor
Arnott, and others, to trace the progress of disease, and
to explain its causes. Doctor Southwood Smith
tells them, that food—food, is the great want.
—(Cheers.) We ask them to take the opi-
nion of those men who have devoted their
lives to the question. The men who are looked
upon as authorities upon this subject—for in-
stance, I may take Adam Smith to be as great an
authority upon political economy as Dr. South-
wood Smith may be upon the health of towns.—
(Cheers and a laugh.) I will ask those persons what
they would do if they went into an hospital, and
found a patient writhing under his pains? Would they
turn the surgeon out? Would they say to him, " You
are a cold-blooded economist, and we will proceed to
treat the patient as we think proper ?"—(Cheers and
laughter.) Now, I like these Covent-garden meetings.
I look upon you as a sort of moral police.—(A laugh.)
Lord Byron has said that this is the age of " cant,"
and we are told that the " League" is cant—(A
laugh)—but Ido not think that any cant has ever
effected so much as these meetings in Covent-garden.
—(Cheers.) They have another meeting to-night
for the purpose of presenting a testimonial to Sir
Henry Pottinger. This is a subject on which I want
to say something to you. But, pray, what has Sir
Henry Pottinger done for these monopolists ? Mr.
Baring put down 501. as his subscription towards the
testimonial for Sir Henry Pottinger. Now, let me
tell you what Sir Henry Pottinger has done for these
monopolists. I will tell you what he has done—he has
extorted for the benefit of the Chinese people a liberal
tariff. The first of all the articles is, that there shall
be no duty upon the importation of corn, or of any
kind of provisions into the Celestial Empire.—(Loud
cheers.) That is not all—the ship itself, which con-
veys provisions, is exempted from the tariff. There
is no other exemption of the kind in the whole world.
They have had their meeting to-day to do honour to
Sir Henry Pottinger. Well, we honour him ; he has
obtained by force of arms, by intimidation, and by
bloodshed, what we have failed to extort by peaceful
means from the aristocracy of England. Whilst the
aristocracy are meeting elsewhere to do honour to
him, we are meeting to claim for the English la-
bourer a tariff as beneficial as that which he has
given to the Chinese. If our opponents think that
Sir Henry Pottinger was right in making this treaty
for the Chinese, they must admit that free trade is
beneficial; if they think it is not, they act unlike
Christians, for they do not do as they would be done
by.—(Cheers.) In Manchester they have had meet-
ings, where the people are no great scholars.—(A
laugh.) They had a :great meeting at Manchester—
it was not the most numerous meeting—it was not
the most respectable—it was not the most wealthy,
though they say it was, when it was resolved to
give a piece of plate to Sir Henry Pottinger.
.rhey came to me'and asked me to subscribe for a
piece of plate for Sir Henry Pottinger. I said
that I thought Sir Henry Pottinger had done great
service to the Chinese by his tariff,' and if the Chinese
would send over a Pottinger to England, to extort, by
force of argument—if there be any argument strong
enough in China—what Sir Henry Pottinger ex-
torted from the Chinese Government, from the
strong hearts of our English landowners, I
will subscribe with all my heart to a piece
of plate for him.—(Much cheering.) We have made
great advances—we began by lecturing and disse-
minating tracts ; we have succeeded in creating a
public interest. There never was so much system
attended to in the registration courts as we have car-
ried out. What had been his fate ? Why, the
House of Commons—the large majority of whom
hounded him on against himself—had voted unani-
mously that his assertions were unfounded and calum-
nious; that meant, in plain Knaresborough lan-
guage, that he was a slanderer and a—a—he would
not give them the other word.—(Great laughter.)
Well, now there was one other case which
he would mention, and he mentioned them
all. as a warning and example to the Morning
Herald. At the close of the last session Sir Robert
Peel, in speaking of Mr. Villiers's motion, felt very
anxious to retrieve his lost position with the mono-
polists behind him. For this purpose he thought
that he would have another fling at the League ; and
in his solemn and pompous tone he warned them that
they were retarding the progress of free trade, and
setting the farmers of the country against them, by
the way in which they attacked the agriculturists.
Now, let them mark this. It would not be the League,
but Sir Robert Peel himself who would fall at the
hands of the farmers. He had said that they had
one county to present to Mr. Villiers. He
would be glad to know if Mr. Villiers him-
self would like to represent it.—(Loud and im-
mense cheering.) In Lancashire he had heard but
one opinion on that subject, that as it was the first
county which they had to present to him, he ought to
have the refusal of it.—(Cheers and laughter.) Now
the monopolists had played this game in the counties,
and they had played it out. They began immediately
the Reform Bill was passed to find out flaws in it, or
means of working out their own ends. They found
the Chandos clause, and they set to work to qualify
tenant-farmers for the poll by registering brothers,
nephews, uncles, any relations to the third ge-
neration, for the same farm. By such means
did they gain the counties. There was, however,
another clause in the Reform Bill which the middle
class, the unprivilged and industrious men who lived
by their capital and labour, seemed never to have
found out—and that was the 40s. freehold.—(Hear.)
Now he would set the 40s. freehold against the
Chandos clause; by this means they would beat the
landlords in the counties.—(Cheers.) They all knew
how disproportionate was the number of voters in the
rural districts to the number in boroughs. The
balance would be reduced if they induced their
friends to qualify for the counties. It was astonishing
how easily this might be done. He saw numbers of
young men there, some in fustian jackets, who have not
borough votes. I will tell them, exclaimed the Hon.
Gentleman, how they may have a county vote at a
cheaper rate. It is not easy for all men to take a
101. house, to furnish it, and to pay taxes and all other
expenses. But for 50/. or 601. you may qualify your-
self to vote for the county ; you may get good inte-
rest for your money, and you may sell your property
whenever you are sick of your vote. I do not like
classes, but I believe there is enough of the middle
class, and of the most intelligent portion of the middle
class, to beat the landlords at their own game in the
populous counties of England.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. Wilson told you that he had been
into Yorkshire. Before the 31st of January,
there will be 2,000 new votes in the West Riding of
that county. I have a guarantee which I can rely
upon that that will be the case. But I want you to
win Middlesex.—(Cheers.) I will tell you where you
may win as many votes in Middlesex as by qualifying
for new votes. There are one or two thousand persons
in Middlesex entitled to vote who are not on the re-
gister. We have now South Lancashire without put-
ting in force the 40s. freehold clause. The majority
of 1,700 were gained from the men who were already
entitled to be on the register, but who had neglected
to enrol their names. Our opponents tell us
that though we have won on this registry
they will win on the next ; but I will bet my
cause to theirs, and it the largest odds which
1 can think of—(Laughter)—that we clear a thou-
sand votes by the next revision.—(Cheers.) Let me tell
you how you may qualify a thousand men in Middle-
sex. The important districts of Hammersmith, Ken-
sington, and Chelsea, are not included in Parliamen-
tary boroughs ; Marylebone and Westminster do not
extend beyond Pimlico. Nearly every house in that
district pays a rent of 501., and every tenant is en-
titled to be on the list of county voters, for the 501.
tenant clause does not confine itself to farms—
it embraces every dwelling-house in each
county ; and I have not the slightest doubt
that there are 600 persons in the district which I have
mentioned who might be registered as new voters by
next year.—(Hear, hear.) But people must also be
qualified who are not so at present. Many clerks,
and other young men in lodgings, have complained
that lodgers have not the suffrage. I have even heard
some speak of forming a lodgers' league, in order to
obtain the suffrage.—(Laughter.) Now, here is a
cheap way of getting the suffrage. There is a large
class of mechanics who can save 40/. or 50/. to put in
the savings' bank. Ido not wish for a moment to un-
dervalue such an institution ; but a cottage property,
would pay twice as much interest as the savings'
bank ; and then what a privilege for a working man
to walk up and down before his property,
and be able to say, " This is my own ;
I have earned it by my own exertions, and it be-
longs to me." There are many fathers who have sons
just rising into maturity; and fathers are very apt
to keep their property too much from their children.
My doctrine is that you cannot give your son your
confidence, or teach him to be entrusted safely with
your property too early in life. Now, when you have
got a son just arriving at the age of twenty, the best
thing which you can do is to give him a qualification
to vote for the county in which he resides. It accus-
toms him to the use of property and to the use of a
vote, whilst you are alive to exercise a judicious
control over his conduct.—(Hear, hear.) I know
there are many fathers who would say, "I would give
my son a qualification, but I do not lace the expense of
the conveyance." Now, you must go to a free trade
lawyer. We have drawn out a good many legal pa-
triots already.—(Hear, hear.) They have heard the
rustling of parchments—(Great laughter)—and you
should employ none but free trade lawyers. If you
go to any others, you may indeed get a good title to
your estate; but the estate will not give you a vote,
and though they won't tell you, they will tell your
opponents, in order that they may object to you.—
(Hear, hear.) I advise the fathers to make the con-
veyance ; I advise the sons to pay the expense of the
conveyance themselves, and if they cannot, and will
come to me, I will do it for them.—(Cheers.) Now,
then are the claws who want the qualification, and if