The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-26 00:00:00

1111 S ITN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 26, 1844.

LITERATURE.
DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW ROYAL
EXCHANGE. E. Wilson, London, 1844.
This neat and cheap little volume is brought out
just at the fitting season, when public attention is fixed
on the imposing ceremony of the opening of the New
Royal Exchange, under the auspices of her Majesty,
which, as every one knows, is to take place on
Monday next. Mr. Wilson, the compiler of this
work, has not only given us a circumstantial account
of the Exchange as it at present exists, but has added
an historical notice of all the former edifices, written
with evident care and attention as to facts, together
with a brief Memoir of Sir Thomas Gresham, the
well-known founder of the original Exchange in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth. The volume is embel-
lished with several appropriate illustrations, and con-
tains a great deal of curious historical and anecdotical
matter within a small compass.

FINE ARTS.
DRAWINGS FROM THE PRIZE CARTOONS.
We visited, a day or two since, the drawings made
by the Messrs. Linnell, from the eleven cartoons to
which prizes were awarded by the Commissioners of
the Fine Arts, previously to the public exhibition last
year in Westminster Hall. These drawings which, as
might be expected, are on a considerably reduced
scale, have been executed under the auspices of Messrs.
Longman and Co., and are remarkable for their strict
accuracy a 3 copies, and the exquisite finish that dis-
tinguishes them. The outline, expression, and general
effect of the original designs, have all been most care-
fully preserved; and indeed the drawings have
received the warm approbation of all the artists to
whose inspection they have been submitted. As most
of our readers are, no doubt, acquainted with the
originals, which were publicly exhibited last year for
several weeks, we shall content ourselves with ob-
serving that they will find no cause for disappointment
in the copies. In particular, Parris's graceful design
of " Joseph of Arimathea converting the Britons,"
has been executed with singular spirit and elegance,
especially as regards the upright figure of the preacher,
which blends ease with dignity in no ordinary degree.
Watts's picture of " Caractacus led through the
streets of Rome"—a favourite subject with modern
artists—exhibits not less excellence.

TO THE EDITOR. OF THE SUN.
Sln,—l have just read with disgust the regulation of
the Lord Mayor, which excludes people walking in the
streets of the City after nine o'clock on Monday. Every
one seems to think it must be a hoax. In fact, that
was the first impression on my mind. It seems the
act, of either a tyrant or a madman, to shut up the
streets of London after nine o'clock. Let me beg of
you, Sir, to exert your beneficial influence to endea-
vour to prevent this evil.
Your constant reader,
Lombard-street, Oct 25, 1844. JANUS.

COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON INTELLIGENCE.
ARRIVALS.
OCT. 23. Ann cutter, Hon. William Hare, from Ly-
mington.
24. Ganymede cutter, I. H. W. P. Smyth Pigott,
Esq., Plymouth and Torquay.
SAILINGS.
OCT. 21. Xarifa schooner, Earl of Wilton, for Ply-
mouth.
22. Kestrel ketch, Commodore Earl of Yarborough,
Cowes harbour, to lay up.
23. Jack o'Lantern schooner, Earl of Orkney, ditto.
YACHTS AT AND ABOUT THE STATION.
Schooners—Flirt, Gem. Cutters—Phantom, Ann,
Ganymede, Turquoise, Ariadne, Noran, and Nautilus
yaw

--eport says that her Majesty proposes visiting us
again this season, and the 24th of November is men
tioned as the day appointed. We have no great faith in
this report, but we know that workmen are employed on
Osborne House, and it is hardly probable that if her
Majesty intended giving it up on the Ist of May, that
this would be the case, or that the orders would have
been given to fill the ice-house, or to lay down perma-
nent moorings for the royal yacht in Cowes roadstead.
The cause of the late dreadful accident at Portsmouth
was doubtless some of the wadding left on fire in the
breach of the gun. A correspondent, who is in the
woollen trade, informs us that there is a quantity of
cotton in all low-priced flannels, and the cotton so intro-
duced was the cause of this and numerous other dreadful
accidents.

STEAM V. TIME.—THE QUICKEST TRANSIT YET
KNOWN.—A gentleman left London last Friday morning
by the ten o'clock train for Fleetwood, where he joined
the Royal Consort steam-ship. Leaving that place at
half-past eight o'clock in the evening, he arrived next
morning at Ardrossan at half-past eight o'clock (twelve
hours), where he left per special train, and was in Glas-
gow by ten o'clock A.M., thus accomplishing the distance
of 400 miles in twenty-four hours.—Ayr Observer.
WEST RIDING REGISTRATION.—The registration
for the West Riding has closed with a gain of 40 for
the Reformers.—Leeds Times.
PRICE OF COAL.—We were yesterday informed,
that owing to a strike for wages by the colliers of Staf-
fordshire, coal has increased ls. per ton.—Leamington
Courier.
It is generally expected that the Earl of Glasgow
will be appointed to the situation of Lord-Lieutenant of
Renfrewshire, vacant by the death of Mr. Speirs.
STATE OF TRADE.—The Leicester trade still re-
mains dull for the season, though a further demand be-
fore orders close for Christmas is expected. Spinners
are flatter, and orders fall off; in wools not much doing,
and no change in prices.—Leicester Journal.
WATERFORD AND LIMERICK RAILWAY.—A rail-
way from Waterford to Limerick, via Carrick-on-Suir,
Clonmel, Caber, and Tipperary, has been brought for-
ward under most powerful patronage, and with a list of
local Directors more influential than we have seen for
a long time. The engineer is Mr. Vignoles, with whom
lies the honour of having been the first to construct a
railway in Ireland. The length is about 70 miles, and so
easy is the country, that it is believed the works will cost
only 10,000/. a mile, The capital is 750,0001., in 501.
shares, with a deposit of 2/. 10s. A return of at least
six per cent. is anticipated. The promoters in their
prospectus very properly repudiate the newly-revived
quackery of paying interest on calls.—Railway Record.
The Provisional Committee of the London and
Norwich Direct Railway met at Bury St. Edmund's last
Thursday, to apportion the 35,000 shares for this under-
taking, on which occasion there were applications for
upwards of 60,000 shares.—Norwich Mercury.
TILE RUMOURED ROYAL VISIT TO BURGHLEY.—
For these two years past it has been repeatedly stated
from Burghley that Queen Victoria was on the point of
visiting the Marquis of Exeter. This story is now
renewed ; and it is added that great preparations are
making at Burghley House for the reception of her
Majesty, who is expected on the 4th of next month. It
is even said that so large a retinue is expected with her
Majesty, that it is necessary to fit up the house of the
late Edward Brown, Esq., in Stamford (which, after his
death, was purchased by the Marquis of Exeter), in
order to accommodate some of the guests.—Stamford
Mercury.
We are happy to be enabled to state that, on the
occasion of the Queen's visit to the City, on Monday,
her Majesty will lay aside her mourning, and appear in
a full court dress of white. Full court dresses will also
be adopted by the ladies who have received invitations
to attend, and we learn that a great variety of gorgeous
costumes are already in preparation. At this dull
season of the Sear, her Majesty's determination on this
point is calculated to give an important impetus to trade.
—Court Journal.
The boats employed in the herring fishery are doing
much better than they were last year. The quantity
of herrings shipped to the London market on one day
last week, from Yarmouth and Lowestoft, amounted to
the enormous quantity of 91 lasts.—Suffolk Chronicle.
EXPLOSION AT THE WESTMINSTER GAS WORKS.—
Yesterday morning, about five o'clock, the workpeoplo
and others employed upon the premises of the Equitable
Gas Company, Horseferry -road, Westminster, were
thrown into a state of considerable alarm, in consequence
of a terrific explosion which suddenly took place in one
of the principal rooms adjoining the gasometer. William
Godwin, who had charge of that department, was found
lying upon his back, in a state of insensibility, and his
face and head so much disfigured with burns and scorch-
ings as almost to defy identification. He was promptly
removed to Westminster Hospital, and hopes are given
of his speedy recovery.
TERRIBLE FLOOD.—Never in the recollection of
the oldest man living in the neighbourhood was the
river of Ayle, above Westport, so swollen as it was last
week, occasioned by the late continued heavy fall of
rain. In the immediate vicinity of the beautifully pic-
turesque and truly magnificent subterraneous passage,
extending from behind the church at Ayle to Bally-
burke, a distance of about two miles, the mountain flood
had risen to a height of more than 80 feet from the ordi-
nary level of the river, carrying everything before it ;
turf, hay, oats, and even cabins, have been swept away
by the mighty torrent. The men labouring in the fields
which cover this subterraneous water- course describe
the noise of the moving torrent embowelled in the earth
beneath them as the booming of many cannons, or re-
sembling the sound pf the loudest thunder.—Castlebar
Telegraph.
LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY FARES
IMPROVED.—We had the great pleasure last week of
aro:roping a considerable reduction in the fares
charged to passengers on this line of railway, namely,
from 75., 55., and Bs. 6d., to 6s, 45., and 2s. 6d.,
with the addition of one.third class train from
Liverpool In the morning, to return in the even-
ing, to take effect from to-morrow week, Saturday,
November 2d. In these concessions to the claims of the
public we have an instalment, for which we are truly
thankful ; but we have not bad time during this great
Birkenhead week to inquire into several particulars of
deep interest to the community, and which shag her, our
best attention next week.—Liverpool Mercury.
MOST Smockwii4,—The Pottsville (Pa) journal
Vip,
gives the following horrid partici-flap of the finding of the
teatly of a young German, in the bushes neaF the canal
at Fortfno Tuesday last. The body was found
sta in a bs of ;malty, pa.rt,pidly pat,pn by hogs. His clothes,
a blue frock coat, liuen pater anFl Vest lay 4
hisside.
He arrived at Fort Clinton in a line beat; few clap be,
fare, and being without means !Tinlge his propensity
for drink, it is supposed he was attacked with a fit, aml
died whey he was found. The remnant of his remains
were gatberea in a boX andburied at the spot where they
were found.—New York MorningliJourier,Oct.'l.

THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO THE CITY.—AII that art
has invented, or nature can supply, will be called into
requisition to grace the fair actresses on this national
event. It is on such occasions of festivity that the vir-
tues and singularly happy properties of those auxiliaries
of personal beauty, Rowland's Kalydor, Rowland's Ma-
cassar Oil, and Rowland's Odonto, shine pre-eminent in
their power ; while the white and swan-like neck, the
rich luxuriant tress, and the pearly set of teeth form ad-
mirable trophies of their inestimable qualities I The
august patronage conceded by our gracious Queen, and
the several Sovereigns of Europe, together with the
beauties which adorn the circles of princely and regal
magnificence ; and the confirmation by experience of the
infallible efficacy of these creative renovating specifics,
have characterised them with perfection, and given them
a celebrity unparalleled. They have proved the theme
of the poet ; they are celebreted in the periodical litera-
ture of the whole civilised world ; the lays of Byron, and
the voice of the universal press, have proclaimed the in-
comparable virtues of the " Oil Macassar," and of its
accompanying preparations.
The Wymondham and Dereham Railroad Company
has purchased the property of the late Thomas Smith,
Esq., and lately occupied by Colonel Oakes, at Dereham,
for their terminus, and certainly a most advantageous
situation for the purpose, being nearly in the centre of
the town. We understand the buildings are to be com-
menced immediately ; arrangements are being entered
into for the purchase of the land for the entire line, and
the Company anticipate having it nearly completed by
the time the Act is sanctioned, Surveyors are actively
engaged in taking their levels and observations for
bringing their lines of rails into Dereham, from Lynn,
Wells, and other places ; if all the lines are carried out
now contemplated, Derehana must form a junction of
some importance.—Norwich Mercury.
A country Correspondent informs us that an ex-
press with dispatches from Sir Robert Peel arrived at
Powis Castle, the seat of Earl Powis, between two and
three o'clock on Tuesday morning ; that another express
from the same high quarter arrived at Powis Castle at
six o'clock on Wednesday evening• and that a reply to
both expresses was immediately dispatched to London
by the Noble Earl. The quidnuncs in the country are
represented to be full of conjectures as to the subject?
ter
a this correspondence ; but the general belief is
Lieutenaetc7 of Ireland haebeen offered to
Earl Powis.
ertford has contributed 200/. to
that the _tort ,filne..s,
thelblueill‘dfinagrqtu'uinsd°olflrthe new institution for the Deaf and
Dumb and the Blind of Oster.
CORONER'S INQUEST AT TIIE ETON UNION WORK*
HOUSE. —SLOUGH, FRIDA.Y.—The inquiry into the
cause of the death of an illegitimate male child, belong-
ing to Martha Hitch, before Mr. Charsley, one of the
Coroners for the county of Berks, which was adjourned
on Wednesday last, was resumed at two o'clock this
afternoon, in the board-room at the workhouse. Mr.
Rigby, the gentleman in whose house the mother of the
deceased lived as cook ; Mr. Rigby, solicitor ;
r.
Maurice Swabey, one of then county magistrates ; the
chaplain of the union, Dr. Dodwortli ; and some of the
guardians, were present during the inquiry, whieh lasted
nearly four hours. The jury retUrßecl verdiep of
" Died from natural causes, and that no blame is t,O bo
attached to any one."
The Berlin journals state that Lord Palmearslongton,
previous to leaving that capital for Dresden, paid
visit to M. de Cornelius, and conferred with him on the
subject of the fresco paintings witi4 whip it is intended
to adorn the new Parliament Houses, his Lorktsiiip being
one of the committee for directing the decoration o-f
at
edifice. Lord Palmerston was to letwe Dresden onth the
sth for Vienna.

G REAT ANTI-CORN-LAW
LEAD J E MEE TING
AT

a landed proprietary with a territory almost unknown
in any other county. At the last election, the first con-
test on free trade principles, we all know the trifling
majority which gained the victory of the monopolist can-
didate. It has been no secret that the work of registra-
tion has been going on ever since that time. The
monoplists placarded the walls immediately the contest
was over, inviting their friends to come and claim to be
on the register, and the League gave them due notice
to put their house in order, and hold themselves ready
against another election—(Applause)—and if they have
not done so, it is for the best of all reasons, because
they could not.—(llear, hear.) Well, the first reports
from the monopolists Of what we were doing was an
index to what would be the result, for they began to
cry out against the shameful number of objections made
by the free traders.—(Laughter.) We admit there were
a great number, and why? We took the register, and
every one knows that it was in a most shameful state.
The properties giving qualifications were described in
the most vague manner. We took the registration in our
hands, and with the greatest anxiety to place it in the
best possible state, we induced 2,600 of our friends to
reclaim, in order that they might give, as they were
bound to do, the best and fairest description they could
of the property for which they claimed to vote.—(Hear,
hear.) Then we objeCted to our opponents, finding they
had not done so, on that ground; and I am sure no man
here will feel sympathy for men wishing to remain on
the register with a wrong description, while they had it
in their power to amend that description.—(Hear, hear.)
We had not the means of striking off these voters if
they attended before the barristers ; but we considered
ourselves justified, in order that we might have the de-
scriptions corrected and given in accordance with the
law. Most of you are probably aware of the result of
the last election for South Lancashire. There were
14,544 votes given for the two candidates together—
being for Entwisle 7,571, and for Brown 6,973, and leav-
ing a majority for Entwisle of 598. On the objections
against those 7,571 voters who polled for Entwisle, we
struck off 878 at the revision.—(Loud and repeated
rounds of applause.) And of the 6,973 who voted for
Brown, our opponents have struck off 422; we striking
off upwards of two to their one, and having a majority
or gain on the objections over them of 456, and within
142 of the whole majority by which Mr. Brown was
defeated at the late contest.—(Loud applause.) Then,
again, at this revision, there were 4,982 new claims ;
of these the free traders made 3,141, and established
2,B2l—(Loud applause)—being a failure of only 320
of the whole of the claims made. So much for
the reports propagated, week after week, that the free
traders were filling the registers with spurious claims 1
The number of claims made by the monopolists was
1,841, of which they established 1,357—being a failure
in 484 cases, and giving us a majority on the claims of
1,464 votes.—(Cheers.) Well, then there are 109 new
claims, belonging to parties whose opinions we have not
yet had.time to ascertain ; but we willgive the monopolists
the whole of these, and we shall still have a gain on this
revision, taking claims and objections together, of 1,751
votes.—(Great and prolonged cheering.) Now, it is
quite right that we should see in what districts this great
gain has been accomplished. In the first place, in the
polling district of Ashton, we have 40 of the 1,751 ; in
Bolton, 142 ; in the district of Bury, 75 ; in that of
Wigan, 11 ' • in that of Ormskirk. 17 ; in that of Old-
ham, 102—(Applause)—in that of Newton, 106—(Bravo)
—in that of Rochdale, 233—(Applause)—at Liverpool,
490—(Applause)—and in the district of. Manchester, 704.
—(Loud cheers.) This makes a total of 1,920, from
which deduct the 169 unascertained ones, and that leaves
us a gain of 1,761. Then take from these 1,920 the
598 majority of Entwisle at the last election, and the 169 ,
unascertained, traking altogether 767, and we have a
working majority upon this register of 1,153 votes.—
(Loud cheers.) An analysis of the new register, there-
fore, shows of old electors (free traders), 6,551 ; new
electors (free traders), 2,821 ; total free traders on the
register, 9,372. Of the old eectors, beim,. monopolists,
6,093 ; ditto, new electors, 1,357; neutrals,' 169; leaving
a tote. of 8,219, or a working majority, as already
stated, of 1,153. (Applause.) And now, gentlemen, we
come to the Northern Division. We have not done much
there, but we have done something ; we have obtained a
gain there upon the revision, with comparatively little
exertion, of 533.—(Applause.) The result has been,
then, to give us again of 533 votes for North Lancashire;
to give us two seats for South Lancasaire—(Cheers)—
and to leave the monopolists three seats in the boroughs,
or five out of the whole 26 Members for the entire
county; and I think you will agree with me that there
never was, in the history of registration, so complete a
sweep of a county as this has been.—(Loud cheers.) I
have also in my hand a list of returns for 70 out of the 140
boroughs over which the League has exercised some in-
fluence, and of these there are 68 in which there has been
a clear gain upon the registration—in some a great
gain ; but less or more in all.—(Applause.) Well, now
we will leave these results to speak for themselves. They
are here before the country. Our opponents may gather
from them whether the League has been dead or slum-
bering, and they will, accordingly, derive what consola-
tion they may from them.—(Applause.) We have con-
centrated our energies on these points. We thought it
was where, for the season, our efforts were most re-
quired ; and although I may say we have done much, I
believe the League is but yet in its infancy, and that in
opening up this field of labour, it is occupying ground
nut before ocenpied, and to which the exertions before
made afford no parallel.—(Loud cheers.) I now beg
leave to call upon Mr. Cobden to address the meeting.
RICHARD COBDEN, Esq., M.P., then came forward.
After much cheering the Hon. Gentleman said—Mr.
Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, I congratulate you
upon this magnificent meeting. I was thinking as I sat
there, that probably there never had been so many per-
sons assembled under a roof in England or in Europe as
we have at this great League meeting : and the occasion
and circumstances under which we meet afford the most
encouraging symptoms—(Hear)—encouraging, inasmuch
as they prove that it is from no transient motive that you
have Joined together in this great cause—(Hear)—that
it is not from the pressure of distress, temporary dis-
tress, that you have banded yourselves together—that
the cause of free trade is, in your minds, something more
than a remedy for present evils—that you look at it,
under all circumstances, as a great and absorbing
truth, and that your minds crave for it with an intel-
lectual and moral craving which has made it almost a
part of the religion of your souls.— (Hear, hear, and ap-
plause.) I venture to say that this meeting, held under
these circumstances, with no pressure or excitement to
call you together, will have more weight, more effect,
upon public opinion than a score of those assemblies we
used to hold when we were driven together, as it were,
under the pressure of local and temporary distress.—
(Cries of " Hear, hear.") And quiet as have been
those statisical statements that you have heard from
our chairman, I venture to say they will strike
more terror into the ranks of the monopolists than the
loudest demonstrations, or the most brilliant declama-
tion with which we have tried to interest you.—(Cheers.)
Upon the subject of this registration there is one
thought that occurred to me as our chairman was giving
you an account of the proceedings in the county revi-
sion. It is this—that the counties are more vulnerable
than the small pocket boroughs, if we can rouse the free
traders of the country into a systematic effort, such as
we have exercised in the case of South Lancashire.—
(Hear, hear.) In many of the small boroughs there is
no increase in the numbers ; there is no extension of
houses ; the whole property belongs to a neighbouring
noble, and you can no more touch the votes which he
holds through the property than you can touch the
balance in his banker's hands.—(Hear, hear, and a
laugh.) Now, the county constituency may be increased
indefinitely. It requires a qualification of 40s. a year in
a freehold property to give a man a vote for a county. I
think our landlords made a great mistake when they
retained the 40s. freehold qualification ; and mark my
words, it is a rod in pickle for them.—(A laugh and
cheers.) I should not be surprised if it does for us what
it did for Catholic Emancipation, and what it did for the
Reform Bill—give us the means of carrying free trade ;
and if it should, the landlords will, very likely, try to
set ve us as they did the 40s. freeholders in Ireland when
we have done the work.—(Hear, hear, and Oh, oh.)
The 40s. franchise for the county was established five or
six centuries ago. At that time a'man, in the constitu-
tional phraseology of the time, was deemed to be a
" yeoman," and entitled to political rights, provided he
had 40s. a year clear to spend. That was at that time a
subsistence for a man, probably it was equal to the rental
of 100 acres of land. What is it now ? With the vast
diffusion of wealth among the middle classes, which
then did not exist, and among a large portion lam happy
to say in this district of the superior class of operatives
too, that 40s. franchise is become merely nominal, and is
Within the reach of every man who has the spirit to
acquire it.—(Cheers.) I say, then, in every city where
there is a large town population, as in Lancashire, the
West Riding of Yorkshire, South Staffordshire, North
Cheshire, Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, and many other
counties I could name—in fact, every county bordering
upon the sea-coast or having manufactures in it, may be
won, and easily won, if the people can be roused to a sys-
tematic effort to qualify themselves for the vote in the
way in which the South Lancashire people have reached
to this qualification. We find counties can be won by
that means and no other. It is the custom, sometimes, for
many to put their savings into the savings'-bank. I be-
lieve there are fourteen or fifteen millions, or more, so
deposited. I would not say a word to lessen the confi-
dence in that security, but I say there is no investment
so secure as the freehold of the earth • it is the only in-
vestment that gives a vote along with the property.—
(Hear, hear.) We come, then, to this—it costs a man
nothing to have a vote or the county.—(Hear, and a
laugh.) He buys his property-601. for a cottage is
given-301. or 40/. in many of the neighbouring towns
will do it ; he has then the interest of his money, he has
the property to sell when he wants it, and he has his
vote in the bargaln.—(Loud cheers and cries of " Hear.")
Sometimes a parent, wishing to teach a son to be eco-
nomical and saving, gives him a set of nest eggs in a
savings' bank; I say to such a parent, " Make your son,
at twenty-one years, a freeholder ; it is an act of duty,
for you make him thereby an independent freeman, put
it in his power to defend himself and his children from
political oppression—(Loud cheers)—and you make that
man, with 60L, an equal in the polling booth to Mr.
Searisbrook with his eleven miles in extent of' territory,
or to Mr. Egerton,"—(Renewed cheers.) This must be
done. In order to be upon the next year's register, it
requires only that you should be in possession of a free-
hold before the Vat of next January.—(Hear, hear.)
We shall probably be told that " this is very indiscreet—
what is the use of coming out in public and annoulyitig
(dear, hear.) In the first
suchthat
e our uf planopponents,as
aswellthis,
a syvt
9hhuee nu youreenemiesA:el
tfirst
answer t tt st9k oe
that i:•,
ies:
monopolists,~agp of it a. 4 Svell as
an
sylvp,o4s,par) I),peii blunted by already iossessiug
imago allare of wealth.—(nettr, hear.) " the next
place, if they wJ li to large ripen Cth, Is of a rank below
ith
imem to qualify for a vote, tliaeyt, calnwonotuitaruastlistlh:emr.
those
use of the vote when they have got ant‘
cheers.) But apart 'from that,

AIANCHESTER.

MANCHESTER, FRIDAY MORNING.—The League
opened their winter campaign of agitation in Manches-
ter by one of the most crowded meetings in the Great
Free Trade Hall which has ever yet been assembled in
that building. The admission was by ticket, and so
great was the number of applications, and the anxiety
manifested to be present, that not a place was to be had,
except for the few seats reserved, after Wednesday
noon. .
A.

.mong the principal persons present were—Richard
Cobden, Esq., M.P. for Stockport ; John Bright, Esq ,
M.P. for Durham ; Thomas Bazley, jun., Esq.; William
Evans, Esq. ; Thomas Woolley, Esq.; Samuel Lee,
Esq. ; Peter Seville, Esq. (Oldham) ; Samuel Eveleigh,
Esq. ; Edward Shawcross, Esq.; Joseph Brotherton,
jun., Esq. ; J. Atkinson, Esq. ; R. Nicholson, Esq. ; J.
Whitlow, Esq.; D. Ainsworth, Esq.; C. J. S. Walker,
Esq,; W. It. Callender, Esq.; T. Chadwick, Esq.; Wil-
liam Morris, Esq.; J. Charlton, Esq.; William Shuttle-
worth, Esq.; HigginF, Esq.; T. Whitworth, Esq.;
William Lockett, Esq. (Mayor of Salford); J. T. Crook,
Esq. (of Liverpool); P, Walker, Esq. (Patricroft); W.
Walker, Esq. (London); Charles Cobden, Esq., W. Raw-
son, D.q., A. Prentice, Esq., Thomas Bright, Esq.,
Jacob Bright, Esq., jun., R. Maley, Esq. (Mottram);
R. R. Moore, Esq., William Rowland, Esq., J. B. Scott,
Esq., T. Woodcock, Esq., John Shuttleworth, Esq., W.
Sale, Esq., John Shawcross, Esq. (Gorton) ; Alderman
Armitage, Esq., F. A. Atkinson, Esq.
Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright entered the hall, accom-
panied by the members of the COmmittee of the League,
who had arrived precisely at the time the meeting had
been advertised to commence (half-past seven o'clock),
and were received with great and prolonged cheering.

• ---
George Wilson, Esq., took the chair, and called upon
%Ir. Ilickin, secretary to the League, to read the minutes
,f the last meeting in London ; and these minutes were
then, on the motion of Alderman Callendar, seconded
by Alderman C. J. S. Walker, approved by the meeting.
The CHAIRMAN then said—Ladies and Gentleman, if
;here should happen to be any strong monopolist here
his evening, I would ask him if he believes the rumours
circulated by his party as to the death of the League.—
(sLaughter and applause.) I would ask him to look at
this meeting, and judge for himself how far it is worth
his while to place any reliance on the veracity ofa party.
instrumental in circulating reports to which this immense
gathering gives such a triumphant and practical refuta-
tion.—(Loud applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, after a
comparatively " still" public life of the League for some
,en weeks past, we resume our meetings here this even•
ing; and it will be my duty to give you some informa-
tion as to what has been the occupation of the League
during the last ten weeks, in order that you may inform
yourselves and judge for yourselves, whether, at this
particular season of the year, there could have been any
other business in which they could engage, so likely to
contribute to the success of the cause of free trades as
that in which they have been occupied.—(Applause.)
Some months ago we Made no secret of a resolution to
which the Council of the League had then come, to in-
.titute a searching inquiry into the condition of the re-
sister of nearly 140 boroughs of the country ; and we
were compelled to do this from the knowledge that some
one should do it, and that no other body existed, whose
funds, whose agents, whose correspondence, and informa-
tion in every other respect, entitled them to do this so
fully as the League.—(Hear, hear.) And although we
have heard that the League have undertaken to do
.uany things for which they have deserved the censure
of their opponents, I have never heard it said of them
that they had undertaken anything in which they have
manifested a deficiency of energy in the business, and
~hat energy, I will undertake to say, has never been
shown to greater advantage than in the present regis-
tration.—(Applause.) The moment we announced our
intention, a cry was set up as to the unconstitutional
proceedings of the League.—(Laughter). " Oh "it is
said, " Look here ! here is the League going to pry into
every one of those snug little properties that have escaped
schedule A. What business has the League to inquire into
those little family jointures of men, wko, as Byron de-
scribes them, were only born to hunt, and vote, and
raise the price of corn!' "—(Applause and laughter.)
fhey were greatly offended at this interference; some
threatened to resign—some of them thought it was of no
use to have a Parliament if these things were not to be
put an end to, or to have an Attorney-General, or to have
law, or anything else.—(Laughter and applause.) Now,
:That is this interference of the League after all ? The
League is a great, a national body; it has its ramifica-
tions in every district of the country, and its registered
members in every district. It may have its head-quar-
ters in Manchester or London, or elsewhere, but still it
is the recognised organ of free trade in the country, and,
as such, it has its agents in every part of the country.
Well, what then? The members of the League are the
Agents of the League for that district, and, as such, have
a right to interest themselves and interfere in the repre-
sentation of those districts; and we say that we interfere
by correspondence and otherwise in perfect good-will
and fairness in those districts, and upon these letters and
information we determine what steps we shall take in
that locality where we are requested to interfere; and
in no other case.—(Bear, hear.) What is the nature of
this interference? We want to make the honest voter
an independent and free voter.—(Hear, hear.) We in-
terfere,, not to bribe or corrupt, but to enable the honest
voter to drive away the corruptor and briber from his
premises. We interfere to show him that the vote is his,
and to be given for the best interests of himself and
fellow-countryman, and not to be used by any man for
the advancement of his own purposes. Well, gentlemen,
we are here to-night to give some account of these last
ten weeks' work in the registration in different parts of
the country—not merely here, but in the country gene-
rally, though more especially in these districts, which
were the birth-place of the League.—(Applause.) And
first, as to the boroughs of South Lancashire. Well,
we all know the position of the boroughs in South Lan
cashire at the last general election. The boroughs re-
turned at that election twelve free traders and ten
monopolists. There were seven boroughs which re-
turned free traders (or a free trader), and five
which returned monopolists (or a monopolist).
There were two boroughs which returned one and
one ; and of the other boroughs there was one which re-
turned a free trader (who has become a monopolist),
and another which returned a free trader, who was un-
seated on petition ; but the Members for each side of
the question are 12 and 10, as I have already stated.
Well, over and above these we have four county Mem-
bers, making fourteen monopolists to twelve free traders
for the county and boroughs together ; and I am-sure
no man in this room, knowing the state of feeling, but
will say it is high time such a condition of things was
put an end to.—(Hear, hear.) Well, then, I hold in my
hand a list, showing the result of tho attempts made to
purge the register in the boroughs ; and in the first
place I would draw your attention to this fact, that in
four of the boroughs returning seven free traders, the
monopolists have never shown their face in the registra-
tion courts—a pretty fair proof that the change of opi-
thon, and the attention of the free traders to the regis-
tration has induced' them to look with no expectation to
the likelihood of altering the state of things in those bo-
roughs.—(Applause.) Now, those boroughs are—Man-
chester (returning two Members), Salford (returning
one Member), Preston (returning two Members), and
Oldham (returning two Members) ; in all these boroughs
on the recent revision, the alteration has been on the
side of the free traders, and the monopolists have not
shown their faces.—(Applause.) Then we have, in ad-
dition, three boroughs returning free traders at the last
election, in which the gain on the registration this time
has been so considerable as to place the Members of the
boroughs out of danger. These are Ashton, Bolton, and
Rochdale.—(Rear, hear.) You have, then, seven bo-
roughs in this county, returning ten Members to Parlia-
ment, in each of which there is not the slightest possi-
bility of a monopolist being returned to Parliament,
provided a general election took place upon the present
register.—(Loud applaUse.) Then we have two bo-
roughs which return one and one ' • and I blush to name
as the first that of Bolton, which returned at the last
election two free traders; but the only man who has
per to change his opinions on this question
the town of Bolton has the misfortune to thoug
againstht
upsr o
re-
turn to Parliament.—(Hear, and a laugh.) Well, the
gain there is 57. The register was fully as good last
year as at the last election, and there is no doubt that,
at another election the burgesses of that borough will
amply retrieve the mistake of the last election, and re-
turn two good free traders.—(Great applause.) The
next place is Wigan ; and this was the only loss we have
had ; we have gained, in 13 cases out of 14 ; we have
had a loss there of two votes, and we give them the full
benefit of it.—(Laughter and applause.) We have next
Clitheroe, which was represented at the last election by
a free trader, but who was unseated on petition. The
state of the borough on this revision is suck as to render
the return of a free trader safe there—at least our infor-
mation leads us to this belief, and we have the informa-
tion upon good authority. Then we have the borough
of Lancaster, which returns two monopolists ; the gain
on the revision there is greater than to cover the majo-
rity by which the highest of the monopolist candidates
was returned at the last election.—( Rear, hear.) The
borough of Lancaster may be considered, with exertion,.
safe, should an election take place on this register.—
(Applause.) We next come to Blackburn, which re-
turns two monopolists to Parliament. The highest of
the monopolist candidates there at the last election had
not a majority of more than half of what we have gained
this year, and the borough of Blackburn may. be added
this year to the gain. At Warrington the gain on the
revision is 32 votes. Our friends there believe it quite
sufficient to change the representative for a free trader
at the next election.—(Applause.) I have now shown
that we shall have a gain if an election takes place on
this register in the case of Bolton, two in the case et'
Lancaster, two in the case of Blackburn, and one in the
case of Warrington ; and wp comp lastly to the borough
of Liverpool. I wish I could report or the borough of
Isiverpool as of the others, but I am happy to say,
tiplugli such is not the case, that there has been gain
on hthalrof the fie traders' of 452 over their oPpo-
ij.enis.—(Loudapplause)—and alit that dose repeated
geilf be gufficielt to pho:tig? the
W Toprospnt§tipil of that
'Bell; cpl-446 t 0 tlie'esunty. We
I may
know the
hand you have evidence of the greatest amount, peSitiOn, f3outh Llnctohire, On fie one
sey the gigantic amount, of energy, of industry, of ca-
pital, and sysalth ever ssen g.ncl, on the 9ther, yeni have

)

c'74 - l - '''44' •
people who cavil', at this public appeal and say—" you What do we care what they i ~eye - their ancl— --
4)
will not put salt upon the enemy's tail—it is much too (Hear)—whether they put down driining tiles or not ??, ,
wise a bird. They have been at this work long ago," 'All we say is this, "If you do not make the most ass
and they have the worst of it now.—(Hear, hear.) your land, it is no reason why we should be sterVnig
What has been the conduct of the landlords of the coun- that you may grow rushes."—(Cheers.) It is a gross
try ? Why they have been long engaged in multiply- humbug, to use no milder term—(Much cheering)—on
ing voters upon their estates, making their the part of those who come forward at the floricultural
farmers take their sons, brothers, nephews to meetings, to glorify themselves about the mode in which
the register—making them qualify as many as the they choose to dispose of their private property.—
rent of the land will cover ; they have been making (Great laughter.) There is a gross delusion lurking
their land a kind of political capital ever since the under it.—(Hear.) It is intended to make us believe
passing of the Reform Bill.—(Cheers and a laugh.) You that we are indebted to them, and must wait until they
have then a new ground open to you which has never choose to supply us with our food—that it is something
yet been entered upon, and from which I expect—in the like a condescension, or at least an act of favour on
course of not more than three years from this time— their part, that they give us their food in exchange
that every county, if we persevere as we have in South for our manufactures.—(Hear, hear.) Now, what is the
Lancashire,. possessing a large town population, may reason that the land has not been improved before ?
carry free traders as their representatives to Parliament. Lord Stanley tells us here when these great improve-
-(Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, with just these prelimi- ments began, and mark what he says :—" Even within
nary remarks, I was going to notice a common objectilm the last tew years—within a much shorter time than. five
made to us during the last two or three months, that the that which I have named—within the last four or ve
League had been very quiet of •late—that we have been. years—l see strides which, small as they may he, corn-
doing nothing.—(Hear.) Many people have said to me, pared with what might be done, are gigantic, ashen come"
When are you going out into the agricultural districts pared with what was done before." What was " done
again ? I think they will be quite ripe for you now, for before" ? What has been done " within the last four or
most of your predictions have fallen true, and the farmers five 'years" ? Lord Stanley takes credit for agricultural
will come and listen."—(Hear.) My answer has been, associations. Why, what have they been doing ? Up
"We are better employed at present at home, and the to within the last year when did they condescend to talk
landlords are doing our work very well for us at their about the corn-laws ? From one end of the kingdom to
agricultural meetings."—(Loud laughter and cheers.) the other they were nothing but. political clubs, for the
What have been the features of the agricultural meetings purpose of drawing the poor tenantsfarmers together, in
we have heard of in the last two months ? There is one order that they might be drilled by the land-agent, to be
very striking circumstance, that from the Puke of made subservient at a future voting day ; and the whole
Buckingham downwards every president of an agrieul- talk of these agricultural associations was, not about ins-
tural association has always begun the proceedings of the proving the land, but maintaining protection to. British
day by saying, "We must not introduce political topics agriculture.—(Cheers.) And now what can these agri-
in the discussions of this association."—(clear, hear.) culturalt associations do for agriculture ? They meet
That means, "It is not convenient to us, the political once a year ; they generally have a man in the chair
landlords, to talk about the corn-laws just now to the who begins, as Lord Stanley does, by admitting his
farmers!!"—(Cheers)—and so they talk of everthing else practical ignorance of the subject upon which he is going
but the corn-laws, and a very pretty business they make to dilate ; and the chairman is generally the man who
of their discussions.— (A laugh.) We hear in every case occupies three-fourths of the time of the meeting by his
in which I have read their reports of the deplorable state speech.—(llear, bear.) I have watched the proceed-
of the agricultural labourers. Now, I beg to premise, ings of these associations, and I have observed they have
from my own personal observation and much inquiry, had all sorts of people except farmers in the chair—
that the agricultural labourers, as a class, are better off (hear, hear)—and upon one occasion, in a part of Mid-
now than they were when corn was 70s. the quarter, in dlesex, I observe the late Attorney-General, the present
1839 and 1840.—(Hear, hear.) I watched the poor-law Chief Baron Pollock, was in the chair as president ; and
returns during those years, when we had such deep dis- I must do him the justice to say (for he is a moat candid
tress in this district, and I found that able-bodied pau- and excellent man) that he began his opening address by
perism was increasing faster in the corn-growing coun- declaring he did not know anything concerning Anat.
ties of Sussex and Kent than they were in these menu- they had met about.—(Loud laughten) What have
facturing districts. When we called together the con- these associations done for agriculture ? They assemble
ference of ministers from all parts of the country, the men together once a year ; they bring prize cattle to be
accounts they brought from the rural villages were as exhibited ; they bring agricultural implements to be exa-
heart-rending as anything we had ever known in these mined. Are improvements only to bo sought for once
manufacturing districts.—(Hear.) You did not hear the a year in agriculture ?—(Cheers.) Would that do for
clamorous cry from the agricultural districts then, be- manufactures ?—(Hear, hear.) Only think of a corn-
cause they were drowned in the concentrated cry from mercial meeting once a year to see what our neighbours
these populous regions; but they were suffering as much are doing ; whether there was any new machinery in-
as you were suffering.—(Hear.) And now, when in this vented ; or which of the hands had discovered some near
district employment and comparative prosperity have re- process in calico printing ! Would that once a year go
turned upon us, we hear of the state of the agricultural down, with the chance merely of finding se,seeteieg of
labourers, which has been always bad, always at the that sort ? Could not the farmers see what superior
lowest level of wretchedness, only because you have farming there was to be seen by ridin out every day in
ceased to occupy the public mind with your complaints the week to look over their neighbesars hedges ? Could
and your distresses.—(Hear, hear.) But if what they they not learn where the best breeds of cattle were to be
tell us is true, that the agricultural labourers are so dis- had from the advertisements of those who had them to
tressed, what becomes of their plea in the House of Com- sell ? And could they not get the best agricultural im-
mons, that the corn-law was passed and kept up for the plements by writing for them any day by the penny post,
benefit of the agricultural labcurers ?—(Loud cries of whether they were to be found in Manchester, London,
" Hear, hear.") After what I have heard from these or Ipswich ?—(Hear.) The thing is a farce ; and when
gentlemen, the squirearchy in the House of Commons, my Lord Stanley takes credit to these agricultural asso-
I should have expected that they ought to have been the ciations for having improved agriculture during the last
last upon the institution of agricultural associations to five years, I say it is not duo to those agricultural
complain of distress, and of the dangers impending over associations, but to the Anti-Corn-law League.—(Great
them in the future, to have said, " I have a nostrum in applause.) It is owing to that that the agriculturists
my pocket that will quite prevent distress among agri- and the landowners have been roused from their lethar-
cultural labourers. Have we not got the corn-law ? gic sleep.—(Cheers.) They are buckling on their ar-
I)id we not pass it upon the pretence of remedying the mour to meet the coming competition, which competi-
distress of the agricultural labourers ? Here it is. We lion will do for them what nothing else will do, and what
have the sliding scale, and depend upon it our agricultu- it has done for manufactures—it will make the agricultu-
ral labourers have nothing to fear. —(Dear.) But in- rists of this country capable of competing with the far-
stead of that, in no instance do they ever allude to the mers of any part of the world.—(lmmense applause.)
corn-law, as either a cause of employment or as a means They give up the whole case when they talk in this
of remedying the evil.—(Hear, hear.) They never al- way.—(Hear.) When they tell us what the land might
hide to any Act of Parliament of the kind at all; and do, and what it ought to do, which they admit it has not
they seek wide and far for some other remedy for their done, they plead guilty to all we have ever alleged
distresses.—(Hear, hear.) What are their remedies ? against them and their system of corn-laws.—(hear.) I
One of the latest declared is allotments of land. To hear ask this—Can they bring a Member of Parliament, a
the outcry that we have from the leaders of the country, theorist, into Manchester, with his books in hand, and
glorifying themselves with the idea of giving a patch of can he suggest a single improvement in any of our pro-
land to the labourer, you would have thought they had cesses of manufacture, whether they are connected with
resolved all at once to make a present of a little slice of mechanical or chemical science ? No.—(Cheers.) I
their estates to the labourers around them—(Hear, hear) went the other day into several establishments with one
—but what does it amount to ? It is proposed that each of the most eminent French chemists, a man renowned
cottage should have a garden attached to it ! The ge- in Europe ; he had nothing to say on visiting the dye
neral advice is, I see, that it should be not more than works or the print works of this neighbourhood, but to
half an acre, and some are recommending it to be a express his unqualified admiration of the perfection to
quarter of an acre in extent ! It amounts to this, that which they had brought the arts among us.— (Cheers.)
the landlords, benevolent souls, are going to allow the Can they come here and 'say, as they say of themselves
peasantry that live upon their land to have a garden to in connextion with their industry, " you ought to pro-
their cottages.—(Hear, hear.) Why, there was a law duce three times as much as you produce from your ma-
passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, ordaining that ehinery, for it is already done in other places which we
no cottage should be built in this country without a gar- can name to you ?"—(Hear.) No ! But what do they
den being attached to it.—(hear.) I do not believe say of their own land ? I have heard Mr. Ogilvy, who
that law has ever been repealed to this day • and the was engaged by Mr. Brooke, of Mere, and other land-
landlords, after violating the law, are now taking credit lords of this and the neighbouring county, as superin-
to themselves, and glorifying each other, that they are tendent of their estates, declare—and he is willing to go
going to allow their labourers to have a garden to their before a Committee of the House of Commons to prove
cottages.—(Hear.) Now what is the mode in which it—that Cheshire, if properly cultivated, is capable of
these gentlemen go to work to benefit the agricultural producing three times as much as it now produces from
labourers ? They call them together for a ploughing its surface, and he is willing the statement should be
match, then they bring them into the room and give Made public upon his authority, and there is no higher
them a glass of wine, and they give a " reward' of authority in the kingdom.—(Cheers.) I say, whatever
thirty shillings to the man who has ploughed the best ! improvement has been made in this respect, it is to the
Then they inquire who has served twenty-five years in Anti-Corn-law League we are indebted for it, and more
the same place, and perhaps they condescend to give —the most bigotted of our opponents have made the ad-
him thirty shillings as a reward for good conduct.— mission. Whilst they abhor the League, and detest its
(Hear.) Then the farmers. The farmers who sit at principles, they have made the admission—" at all
the table have their names read over, and prizes are (-vents," they say, " you have done good, and are doing
awarded to one for successfully cultivating turnips, to an- good to agriculture.' I passed last year, about this
other for having produced a good fat ox, and to another time, over to Knutsford, where I held a public meeting
for having accumulated the greatest quantity of fat upon "lose to the gates of Mr. Egerteee of Tatton. As I went
a pig.—(Laughter.) And this is the way in which agri- from the railway station across to Knutsford, I rode at
Culture is to be improved I—(Hear.) What should you least five or six miles through the estate of that large
think if a similar plan were adopted to protect you in proprietor, and I Saw the land was in the same state as
your business ?—(Hear.) Let us suppose that a number I believe it was at the time of the Conquest, and growint,
of monopolists came down once a year—once a year just about as plentiful a supply or rushes as of grass.L.
mind you—for the lesson is only given once a year, and (Mar, hear.) It so happened that upon the day I was
then only about two hours and a half long—that they addressing the meeting upon the race course at Knuts-
held a meeting, in which they would have a spinning ford, Mr. Egerton, of Tatton was paying a visit to Man-
match or a weaving match.— (Hear.) And after they ehester, to preside at the -Manchester Agricultural As-
had been into some prize mill to see this spinning and sociation—(Hear, hear)—and I took the opportunity of
weaving match, they sat down to dinner and Job Har- saying, in the course of my remarks, that i thought a
greaves or Frank Smith is brought in, stroking his head gentleman who had such an extent of territory as he
down all the while as he comes before the squirearchy— had, might be better employed in exterminating his.
(Laughter)—and making his very best bow, to receive rushes, and setting a better example to his neighbours
from the chairman thirty shillings as a reward for having at home, than in travelling to Manchester to preach up
been the best spinner and the best weaver.—(Hear, and improvements in agriculture.—(llear, hear.) The other
laughter.) And this being disposed of, imagine next the day I met a gentleman who happened lat,ly to be at
manufacturer getting a prize of 5/. for the best piece of Knutsford, and.he told me, that, whilst sitting at the inn,
fustian.—(Cheers.) And another, ditto, ditto, for the there came in a number of neighleouring farmers, whose
best yard-wide calico.—(Laughter.) Then imagine a conversation turned upon agiteulture. In the course of
shopkeeper rising from his seat at the table, while the their conversation, one of 'diem remarked, " What a deal
chairman puts on a grave face, and addressing him in of draining has been going on here since Cobden was
complimentary terms, presents him with 51., for having here blackguarding him about the rushes !"—(Cheers.)
kept during the past year his shop floor and his counters We have, indeed, given them a fillip ; we have stirred
in the cleanest state.—(Shouts of laughter.) Then they them up a little. lint, gentlemen, if mere alarm of
call up a manufacturer, and he has an award of 51,, be- the approach of free trade has done so much for
cause the inspectors had found his mill to be in the best agriculture, what will free trade in corn itself do for it?
working condition.—(A laugh.) Then the merchant —(Cheers.) 4, Why," they say, "we should be an
rises up, and gets his reward of 51., for having been exporting country it' we only grew as much as we may
found by the inspectors to have kept his books in the grow." I have no objection to it if; besides feeding the
best order by double entry.—(Renewed laughter,) You whole of the people as they ought to be fed—no short
laugh at all this, and well you may. You cannot help commons !—(Cheers)—if besides feeding them well, they
it. Where is the difference between the absurdity, the could send four or five millions of quarters of corn
mockery, of bringing up men in round frocks to a dinner abroad, and bring us back tea and sugar, and such like
table and giving them thirty shillings because they have matters in addition. We shall then have no reason to
ploughed well, or hoed wellOor harrowed well ; bringing complain of the British agriculturist.—(Rear.) But
up farmers to give them prizes
.for having the cleanest we do complain that, whilst they stop our supplies from
field of Swedish turilips, or for having managed their othereountries, under pretence of ben fitting agriculture,
farm in the best way ? 'Where is the difference, I ask, they at the same time come before us at these meetings
between offering these rewards and the giving out here of our own, and plead guilty to our charge that, under
of such rewards as I have just now alluded to ?—(Hear, this system of protection, they are not making the most
hear.) Let us suppose, if you can keep your county- of their land.—(Hear, hear.) I speak my unfeigned
nances, that such a state
.of things existed here, and conviction—and we have the very best agriculturists
what must be the concomitant order of things ?—(Hear, with us in that conviction—men like Lord Duck, and
hear.) It would -argue, in the first place, that the pro- others, who are agriculturists by profession—when I say
prietors who were so treated were an abject and a ser- I believe there is no interest in this country that would
vile class.—(Hear, hear.) It would argue that the receive so much benefit from the repeal of the corn-laws
trader who could condescend to be treated so, would as the farmer-tenant interest in this country.—(Cheers.)
himself be little better than a slave.—(Cheers.) And if And I believe, when the future historian comes to write
you needed such stimulants as these to make you carry the history of agriculture, lie will have to state, "In
on your business as you ought to do, how do you think such a year there was a stringent corn-law passed, for
you would be found in the race of industry as compared the protection of agriculture. From that time, agricul-
with other countries, where they were not quite so ture slumbered in Engiand, and it was not until, by the
childish as to be fondled and dandled by a body of aid of the Anti-Corn-law League, that the corn-law was
Members of Parliament ?—(Hear, hear.) Why, there utterly abolished, that agriculture sprung to its full
would not be a country on the face of the world that you vigour and existence in England, and became what it
could compete with—that is evident. You would, like now is, like her manufactures, unrivalled in the world:'
them, be going to these same Parliamentary men who —(Loud cheers.) It is a gloomy and most discouraging
were your nurses, in order that they might pass an Act thought that, whilst this system of corn-laws alterna-
of Parliament to protect you in your trade.—(Hear, tively starves the people in the manufacturing districts,
hear.) But the landlords themselves, they do not give and then ruins the farmers, that it really in th end con-
themselves praises, but they hold up their conduct as fors no permanent benefit upon any class.—(Hear, hear.)
something deserving of reward, of public admiration, I told you in the begiuniiig I did not believe the agri-
because they can come forward and tell us that they cnitural labourer was now so badly off as lie was when
make the most of their land forsooth.—(Hear, hear.) corn was 70s. a quarter, but I will tell you where dis.
I was reading just now, in this morning's paper, tress in the agricultural districts is now. It is among
a report of Lord Stanley's speech at the Agri- the tenant-farmers themselves.—(hear, hear.) They
cultural Society's meeting on Tuesday, which by the are paying rent with wheat at 455. a quarter, which they
magic power of steam has been, carried to London, and have bargained for at the calculation of wheat being 565.,
brought back to us here in Manchester, in two days.— and in many cases 60s. the quarter. It is owing to this
(Hear.) Lord Stanley tells us what must be done with discrepancy in the prices that the tenant-farmerscaajertinicnclei
land. He says :—" And I repeat what I have already paying rent out of capital ; they ar discharging
said said on a former occasion in this room, that there is no their labourers, unable to employ them—and
willn nthoet theirs
' investment in the world in which a landlord can so is the real distress now exsting in
safely, so usefully, or so profitably invest his capital, as tural districts. This state of things
in the nbncultural districts. What is
in the improvement of his own farm, by money sunk in either here
_dtroisps from these landlords at s
" We shall not very likely
draining, on security of the land which belongs to him- tne language which
wehpymeru? sctetleaciattuhfoseirs
self."—(Hear, and cheers.) Well, what does this amount of their meetings I
to ? That it is the interest of the landlord to make the have higher prices for corn this year ;
most of his land.—(Hear, and a laugh.) And he goes better, tinNleos
p;ermin'eanweiniltgri‘e'eduycotlitonb,aackndtewn
on to say, and he takes some little credit to himself and year.
that by the certain operation of this system,
to his father for what had been done with his land here they know
~ . n;
have in less than five years from this time, this wheel of for.
in Lancashire. He slays
64 la" yearwe hun- tune, or rather misfortune, will go round again
laid down in deep draining somewhere about three
will be at the bottom, and the farmer the ;yen
dyed miles of drains, at an expense cf between 5,0001. _
million and have wheat again at 70s. or 80s. a quarter, i i
and 6,0004 ; and, I think, employed about a
friend g-v-.lig thus
I believe mya pretended prosperity
a half of draining tiles."—(Hear.)among the farmers, As sure
'as h • had
Mr. Bright here—(Cheers)—who has beenbuilding a you havethis revolution before., so sure will
u have down about a
the same time been laying yo
mill, has during it again. There is nothieig in Sir- Robert
million and a half of bricks in erecting it—(Laughter Peel's corn-law to prevent the recurrence of similar
and cheery)—but you would be astonished, would you disasters. The law is as complete a bar to legitimate
not, and I am sure the squirearchy would be rather trade in corn as the old law was. I speak in the pre-
puzzled, if Mr. Bright were to get up here and talk of sense of merch •"
ants shipping to every quarter of the
that as something for which he might glorify himself', globe, men who
having first of all declared it was the most profitable in- bring back the produce of every quarter
of the and
globe,
I put it to them whether, with this,
vestmeut any man could make.—(Loud cheers and
sliding scale, they dare to order from a foreign count
laughter.) .By the way, I wish my friend here 1
wo'll (
1
calculate how much duty his million and a halfof la a single cargo of wheat in exchange for the maneiraee
netts turee which they sell ? This being the case— 1r d it -
pay to the Government, which duty my Lord Stanley 4 is
and his fellow,-landlords have waga d
• • ' •ge to exempt drain- to provide for your future o; ants,
ing tiles from.-Hear, and applause,) ) • 0•.-,- ause. Now,
.Kentle- no store here, or storeo. abroad, and there will be a re-
e
men, I do not want to say anything
-,.
I through.—
wills hot &no.. g rude or uncivil, and armee Of the (masters we have passed
.ri my remarks Pers^hall to t
•-, y TAit ti lieuley, (After some further observations, the Hon. Gentleman
gut I will say this, that the - whole cours.a of the conduct resumed his
seat amidst enthusiastic cheers.')
of these gentlemen in thexhibitions—the'Mr, .
•
• per landlords— DItIGHT, M.P., then stepped forward amidst rraca
he liciy
w- Ali. p.4ratielO‘the world what they condescend to, enthusiastic cheering, and, when it had subsided, he
dd' With their land, is just a gratuitous piece of iinperti- spoke as follows:—When I entered this room to-day, and
nenee to the rest of the comtuttuity.—(Loud cheers.) 4 cast my eyes over the vast meeting, I was led to puke

precisely the observation which you have already heard,
that this meeting may be taken as a token of the
firm resolution which the inhabitants of this town and
district have come to, that, so long as there is an Asso-
ciation which has for its object the abolition of the corn-
law, so long will you be found amongst its warmest
supporters.—(Hear.) And, although, just now, in this
district, there is not that imminent danger which we
have seen, and although some are disposed to argue
that, because we have good harvests, therefore corn-
law repeal is not necessary, and that therefore no agi-
tation can be maintained, yet I am prepared here
to contend, that we are now in a better and more
advantageous position with respect to the carrying out
of our object than we have been at any former period ;
and, more than that, we may derive consolation and
delight from witnessing how beautifully, how har-
moniously the seasons are working round to carry con-
viction to the minds of the most bigotted, and to demon.
striae to the whole country and the world, ;that every
principle which we have propounded on this question is
well founded, and that experience constantly confirms it.
--(Applause.) We read of old of an invader and an
usurper, that the stars in their courses fought against
him; and may we not say, also, with respect to those
who invade the rights, the dearest rights of the popula-
tion of this country, who usurp a power to which they
have no just title—the power of feeding, or, if need be,
of starving a great empire—(Loud applause)—may I not
say that the seasons fight against them, and that year
after year, as it rolls over us, is but weakening their
power and strengthening that public opinion which we
are rallying as fast as we are able for the overthrow of
the worst species of tyranny with which any country
was ever cursed?—(Loud applause.) We are entering
the seventh year of our labours in this great cause, and
there may be some who at the thought of this may
despond. If there be any who have a right to despond,
or who may be forgiven if they feel faint-hearted, it is
surely those who have laboured hard in this cause ' • but
so far as the Council of the,League are concerned, I can
state to this meeting and to the public, there never was
a time when they were more convinced that they were
right in the beginning and right now, and that in their
cause, as in all others, right must finally triumph.—
(Applause.) If you feel despondent upon this question,
think for a moment what it is you are fighting for. It is
for no paltry triumph of a faction. It is not to elevate
this mau or that man; or to set waving this flag, or to
pull that flag down. No; but you are fighting for one
of the greatest and the noblest causes which ever
united the exertions of any body of men; you are
fighting for the liberation of the industry of twenty-
seven millions of your fellow-countrymen, and not for
the liberation of their industry only, but as everything
that is established here becomes a fashion for the world,
you are also working out the liberation of the industry
of the whole human race, from all the tyranny which
monopoly in every clime and in every age has inflicted
upon it.—(Loud applause.) Six years ago this country,
and this district especially, had been passing through a
season of great commercial prosperity and of extraor-
dinary commercial excitement. At that period we found
this prosperity decaying, and this excitement being
changed into as extraordinary a depression. We were
led, as most men are led, who feel themselves getting
into danger, or in a dangerous position—we were led to
inquire why it was that this change was taking place.
We knew that Adam Smith had written, and that other
men had propounded the great doctrines of free trade,
and we knew that there were laws upon our statute-
book which in every sense infringed those great prin-
ciples. We had not, however, had our attention so
directed to this question, as to make much ado about it,
until danger was at our door. We then began to in-
quire, and we came rapidly, but still most surely and
safely, and, I believe, wisely to the conclusion, that the
cause and the source of the miseries which then threat-
ened this district was to be found in an Act of Parlia-
ment which did not hesitate to starve the people and to
cripple commerce, merely for the aggrandisement of a
class to whom your class would seem to be of no value,
and who despise commerce from their very hearts.—
(Applause.) Well, we pointed out the cause. It is of
no use living in a free country unless the free man has
the right to advise the people when he finds anything
wrong in the public affairs of the nation.—(Cheers.)
We advised our countrymen that the source of their
evils was in the corn-law. We pointed out how,
during the good harvests of 1834, 1835, and 1836
prosperity had increased, and how the moment
that we were deprived of good harvests, the very
first season, this prosperity received a very sensible
chuck, and we began to go from that to the other ex
treme of depression and embarrassment. But monopoly
refused to believe. So it always has done, and so it al-
wa) swill.—(llear, hear.) There is :nothing harder—
no, the nether millstone is not to be compared in hard-
ness to the heart of monopoly.—(Applause.) Monopoly
never believes till it is grasped in earnest, and compelled
to disgorge.—(Applause.) Monopoly did not believe us,
but made a variety of excuses, some of which had some
little effect at that time, but now appear to be simply
childish; and those persons who did predict in their
favour must be very sorry that what they said was ever
written or printed.—(Applause.) They said that manu-
factures were subject to great fluctuations. Well, that is
quite true, in this country, so far as our experience of
the last thirty years goes, and so far as our experience
of the period before that goes. But then the time before
the last thirty years was almost a continual course of
war, which interferes with the regular course of industry ;
and since the war the corn-law has also interfered with
the regular course of industry; and we have no proof
whatever that any such fluctuations as we have suffered
arose fit-n the nature of things, but rather from the
violent interference with the nature of things which has
been inflicted upon us by war in one case, and by legis-
lative interference in the other.—(Applause.) Well,
and they had the audacity to say, also, that we were
badly off because we competed with each other. Why,
if we had not competed with each other, we should have
had no prosperity at all.—(Applause.) They said there
are too many people come to Manchester Exchange,
and they bid against each MILT. We said, " There do
not come too many to sell, but there come too few to
buy."—(Applause.) Why, there is more competition
now on Manchester Exchange than there was
then, as far as the number of sellers is con-
cerned, and the entire of the quantity sold is con-
cerned; but there are more buyers than there were
then, and those who buy are buying in larger quanti-
ties, while they give a little more for their goods.—
(Applause.) They said, too, that machinery was the
cause of our calamity ; and Sir Robert Peel—l call him
in this respect a great little man—did stoop to a mean-
ness utterly unworthy of a man occupying the position
which he occupies—that of attempting to spread this
delusion amongst the people, and amongst the working
classes. Such a notion must be very dangerous—that
machinery and improvement in machinery were the
causes of so many of the labouring population of this
district being thrown out of employment.—(Hear, hear.)
And is it not notorious that there is more machinery at
work now than ever in this district ? is it not notorious
that it is more perfect, costly, and exquisitely finished
than ever it was before ? Is it not notorious that it is
turning out a greater quantity of work for the same
amount of wages and of manual labour than before ?
And yet, for all this, there are no persons turned out of
employment now by the invention of new machinery,
and without anything being done to remove these par-
ticular causes to which they have attributed our distress.
—(Applause.) Some of them had the effrontery to say
that this state of things arose from a greatly extended
foreign trade, and the columns of some of the monopo-
list newspapers were filled with arguments—no, not
with arguments, but with assertions—to prove that if
we only stick to our home trade and our colonial trade,
we should be extremely well off. And is it not
notorious that these very people, the moment the
China war ceased, and the China trade was thrown
open to us, began to rejoice in the extension of
our foreign trade, and have all along attributed
a considerable portion of our prosperity to the
opening of that foreign trade ? We have more
foreign trade now than we had three or four years ago.
This year there has been a great extension of export in
almost every staple article of British manufacture ; and
yet, notwithstanding the increase of this evil, to which
the monopolists pointed us, we find we have a return of
prosperity.—(Hear.) Then, they said again, that one
great cause of the evil was, that there was so much agi-
tation in the country. I have no doubt at all that their
uneasiness arose from that source.—(Applause,) But
it must be borne in mind, that during the last two years,
during the latter period of 1843, at any rate, and the
beginning of this year, the agitation in favour of the
repeal of the corn-law was carried on with more energy
than it had been at any former period ; and yet, during
the time that the agitation was increasing in intensity,
the cause of the evils in their eyes being increased, still
the evil was gradually diminishing, and we were return-
ing to prosperity at a rate none of the slowest.—(Ap-
plause.) Well, now, it is worth remarking that not a
single cause to which monopoly ascribed our distress has
been removed, and yet the distress itself, in this district,
has, to a very great extent, vanished.—(Applause.)
Well, I should suppose, then, the monopolists were mis-
taken, but I dare say they won't acknowledge it, and if
people won't swallow the things that were said two or
three years ago, they'll have a new stock for you, and
if you are not
intelligent and inquiring some may
be taken in with their new excuses. But what
did we say with respect to the distress ? The
very first time that the Manchester Chamber of
Commerce met, or the very first time that the associa-
tion met, which afterwards became the Anti-Corn-
law League, the corn-law was pointed out as the cause of
the distress, and we have never varied a hair's-breadth
from it from that! time to this.—(Applause.) Well, the
distress has abated, and the corn-law is not repealed,
and therefore my argument with respect to the monopo-
list excuses might be turned against me, only that we
have always said that if we had good harvests, by which
food could be abundant and cheap, or if we had a repeal
of the corn-law, by which food could be abundant and
cheap, then the distress would abate. We have not had
a repeal of the corn-law, but we have had abundant
harvests, and that is tantamount to a temporary aboli-
tion, or a great relaxation of the corn-law ; and under
thisthe distress has abated, and prosperity has returned.
—(Applause.) Well, now, I consider our case to be
tolerably well proved. I think, if we take twelve men
from any county in England, not excepting even Buck-
inghamshire, and put them
cionttary in
jury-box, and have
an impartial man from any the world to try
the cause, and we bring the facts an:l
tountry
arguments which
we have bronght before the public
of
be-
rare those twelve men. 1 think they would have country
dif-
ficulty in making up their minds as to the rear cause
of the sufferings which this district, and the popula-
tion of the country generally, have endured during the
last five or six years. Then, if our case has been
proved, and if we have all that from the past, what
shall we say of the future ? You have been told al-
ready, that it would be a proof that youf had not capacity
equal to the level of ordinary instinct you were to for-
get what is past, to disregard the lesson it has taught
you, and to neglect to prepare for the future. The Pro-
vidence which has given two or three good harvests, may
give us one, or two, or three more but we must bear in

mind that the course of the seasons cannot be changed,
will hot be changed to suit the caprice, the folly, or the
criminality of human legislation.—(Applause.) As we
have had before, so we shall have again, a change of
seasons; and when that change shall come, and if the
people of this country have not, in the meantime, be-
stirred themselves and shaken off this iniquitous impost,
I ask you, who can you blame but yourselves, and
where can you run for refuge, for your own folly will
have led you into danger, and by'your owiineglect alone
will you have allowed these evils again to come upon
you. You will again have to suffer those evils which
arise from the price of bread rising all over the country;
the consumption of the great mass of the people of all
kinds of manufactured goods will be greatly crippled;
you will have again a great exportation of gold, and a
great derangement of the monetary affairs of the calm-
' try; you will again have numbers of merchants and
manufacturers going rapidly, week after week, into the
Gazette, you will again have shopkeepers impoverished,
and worst of all, you will again have the labourers of his
district, your honest and industrious artisans, plunged
into all that distress which we have lately witnessed,
and arising from that distress, discontent, dis-
affection, and a brutalising and barbarising of the minds
of the people, such as they have suffered from for the
last half-dozen years, and which they are now only par-
tially getting rid of.—(Applause.) It is impossible to
draw a picture too gloomy of that which we have already
seen in this district ; and it is much less possible to draw
a picture of that which must come, if we neglect the
power that we have in our own hands, to wipe away
these infamous laws. I am sure we have the power ;
the statements made by our Chairman to-night proves
that we have the power.—(Applause.) The Reform
Bill never has been worked by either the liberal or the
free trade party in this country.—(Applause.) It may
be a bad Bill ; it has flaws enough we all know ; it has
pit-falls many for us, and it has privileges far too many
for our opponents.—(Applause.)2 But for all that, if we
will only work it, I am persuaded there is within it
enough of the popular principle to enable us to amend
it, if need be--(Applause)—and to do many other things
which we may think necessary for our welfare.—(Loud
applause.) Well, then, if there be a possibility of bad
harvests and bad times coming upon us again, I need no
other argument to convince you that it is necessary that
the agitation of the Anti-Corn-law League should be
continued.—(Applause.) I am not one who is in the
habit of apologising for our agitation, nor do I go,
" with bated breath and whispering nimbleness," to ask
my Lord this, or squire that, whether it be proper, or
legal, or constitutional, or pleasant, that the Anti-
Corn-law League should endeavour to repeal the
corn-law.—(Continued applause.) I am sure, from
what we have seen in former years, and what we know
now, we have reasons sufficient to convince us, that if
' ever the agitation of this question were a!duty, it is a
duty now, and that if we were to let go of it now, we
should deserve all the calamities which the very worst
legislation which squiredom can carry on could possibly
inflict upon us.—(Applause.) Now, I charge the mono-
polist landowners with being the cause, the direct cause,
of the calamities which have afflicted this country for
some years past ' • and I charge them also with being the
direct cause of the deplorable state of things in which
their own agricultural counties are now found.—(Hear.)
They will find it out by and by ; they will come and ask
to have the corn-law repealed some day or other, if we
don't force them to do it beforehand.—(Applause.) It is
a law which ultimately must bring ruin, and distress,
and embarrassment, and discord around their own
baronial halls, as much as it can do in this densely popu-
lated county. These landowners are too ignorant to
legislate for trade.—(Applause.) Mr. Cobden, I think,
charged them with being so ignorant that they were not
fit to manage a chandler's shop.—(Applause and
laughter.) One of them did rise in his place in Parlia-
ment to protest against such a charge, and to assert a
higher character for the order with which he was asso-
ciated ; he said they were fit to manage a chandler's
shop. -(Great laughter.) Their ignorance is so great
in all matters of commercial policy, not only upon facts
but upon principles, that their selfishness runs them into
danger. But there would be no great harm to this
country from squiredom, if there were no men in this
district foolish enough to help them.—(Hear, hear.)
If these be a creature of an order which has never yet
been classified, it is a manufacturer in the cotton trade
supporting a squire in carrying out a law to starve the
manufacturer's labourers, and to destroy his trade.—
"Applause.) And yet there are some—a good many—
though in the south of England people cannot well be•
lieve it.—(Hear, hear.) The monopolist landlords them-
selves, when they passed the corn-law, never for an in-
stant dreamt that they should receive great support from
this district. They have their Buckingham, and manu-
facturers have their Birley.—(Loud applause.) Now I
would be the very last man in this room to say a sylla-
ble against any inn who was acting at an election in his
political character different from me, but acting accord-
ing to his honest conviction, and after moderate inquiry
into the question before him. But when I see a man
who, of all men in the world, one would think has a
direct interest in the well-being of commerce and manu-
factures, presiding, as I believe, this man did preside
over the election committee for the return of a person
pledged to oppose every step in the direction of free
trade, I do say that that man is a traitor to the order to
which he belongs—(hear, hear)—and abandons his duty,
especially to the great mass of the labourers of this dis-
trict, to a large number of whom he gives employment.
—(Loud applause.) It may be that this gentleman was
perfectly convinced that a fall in the price of bread
would involve a fall in the rate of wages, for I have
understood that during this week there has been a
procession of persons in his employ, discontented
with the present rate of wages, and seeking
for an advance, grounding their claim upon the in-
crease of business, and the improvement in business ;
thus proving that the statements of the monopolists in
this respeGt were wholly false.—(Applause.) I know
not whether this brings conviction to the mind of Mr.
Birley, or to any other of his class. I would hope that
they acted conscientiously in the courses that they took ;
but I do say that it becomes the duty of the free traders
of this country, who are five out of every six of the po-
pulation—(Loud applause)—l say it does become
us to mark with our reprobation the conduct of
any man, himself deriving his property and his station
from the commerce and the manufactures of his country,
and when an invader cemes to besiege the town, that he
himself, traitor-like, by night, as it were, opens the gates
and lets in the enemy.—(Cheers.) The last time I was
in this hall I listened with extreme pleasure to a speech
delivered by Mr. Smythe, the Member for Canterbury,
himself the son of a nobleman, and heir, I presume, to a
Peerage, a speech from which the monopolist manufac-
turers of this district would do well to take a lesson.—
(Cheers.) He spoke of a time when a citizen of the
distinguished city of Mayence combined with others to
put down the spoliation of the barons, who lived upon
the banks of the Rhine—barons who, as he said, exacted
a toll upon the Rrst necessaries of life.—(Hear, hear.)
Now, do you believe that there was a single citizen of
Mayence who turned out to fight on the side of the ba-
rons? And yet the monopolist manufacturers are sur-
rounded by a body of men, nobles of this country—nobles
by courtesy, truly—who exact a toll upon the first
necessaries of life, who do not do it by pistol, musket,
bayonet, or sword, but who do it by the not less power-
ful, far more subtle machinery of an Act of Parliament;
and when we are assembled here, men all of one order,
interested in nothing but the prosperity of the industry
of this district and of our country—when we are as-
sembled together for the purpose of protesting against
this invasion of our rights, and calling upon the whole
population to march with us, after us, or before us, to
re-establish our rights, then we find the monopolist ma-
nufacturer—and this one I have named the chief among
them—actually turning out from this district and siding
with the feudal barons, actually endeavouring to
strengthen the oppression which we are striving to over-
throw.—(Loud applause.) I often wonder why it is that
men are so willing to bow their necks to men who are
ornamented with stars and garters and titles—(Ap •
plause)—for I am sure the more I come in contact with
these characters, the more I come to the conclusion that
it is something far beyond this which constitutes true
nobility of character.—(Applause.) And there is not
any creature that crawls the earth to my mind more
despicable and more pitiable than the man who sacrifices
theinterests of his own class, and of his own order, and
of his country, merely that he may toady somebody
who has a title to his name.—(Applause.) He should
recollect—
" Title his ill-woven chaplet wears
Full often wreathed around the miscreant's brow ;"

and that there are men in the peerage of every country
who are greatly to be despised, as there are some worthy
to be honoured to the utmost, in whose hearts their high
rank has not driven away all sympathy with the rights
and interests of their fellow-men.—(Applause.) And
for whom is it that these men degrade themselves, and
make these sacrifices ? Why, for a class who don't like
us, the producers ; for it is no disrespect to the aris-
tocracy of this country to say that they don't like trade,
because it is notorious that they value themselves chiefly
on the very long period of time during which their an-
cestors have not been connected with anything so sordid
as trade.—(Applause.) They prove that they don't like
trade, because they make laws which shall cripple trade,
and keep it always, as it were, in swaddling-clothes, and
never let the infant become a youth, nor the youth a
man.—(Hear, hear.) And they are a class, also, of whom
it may be said, and I say it with grief, that however bad
the laws they pass in Parliament may be, the adminis-
tration of those laws in their own districts, where they
reign predominant, is quite as bad as the legislation of
which they are guilty.—(Applause.) But there is a
retributive justice—l heard Sir James Graham say that.
—(Loud applause.) And when men fail in their duty,
or violate great principles, they may be sure that,
some time or other, they will be found out and punished
for it. In the southern counties, at this moment, how
deplorable is the state of things ! It is not of our
telling ; the evidence comes from themselves. It has
not gone through the magnifying process of the council-
chamber of the Anti-Corn-law League. The insurance
offices proclaim it.—(hear, hear.) Did not one office
send down 200/. towards the fund for opening public
parks and walks in Manchester, with a letter in which
they complimented the people of Manchester and the
working classes for the energy, zeal, and courage, with
which they had assisted in preserving property when in
danger of being destroyed by fire.--(Applause.) And
within a fortnight of that memorable letter, for I hold it
to be memorable, and most creditable and honourable to
this town—within a fortnight of that time, did not the
united insurance-offices meet together and issue a cir-
cular to all their agents in England and Wales—and, I
teq._(uriralyinedbaeref,iorhreeerhr
believe, in Ireland—but certainly in England and Wales,
in which they enjoin every agent to make especial in- 1
letters ? What a hAonrsdriod
asked ? Is he a man who
insurese.sanee
of the
stock, as to the charac-
ter
is necessary to ask a farmer—hag
threat-
ening letter ? What does that m
tshtaetpeLe,rson who wishes to insure.
what are the questions to be
ofreceived any threatening
.rac,iety it must be, when
ehaenroeived a l
body who is ready to burn his premises, aasAerme may be, to destroy his life ? Again—bas the- ult3:4

who wishes to insure any steam-engine upon his
premises ?—any machine for thrashing his grain ?
Why, here you have your mills filled with
the finest machinery in the world ; and there is not a
working man in Manchester who believes that he would
be better off if this machinery did not exist.—(Applause.)
But here, in the southern counties, if a man has a steam-
engine on his farm, as they have in Scotland, or a thrash-
ing machine, which will thrash rather faster than a man
can do with a flail, he is held to be in danger of the destruc-
tion of his property by fire, from the ignorance and vin-
dictive spirit of the labouring population, and therefore
his property cannot have the safeguard of insurance on
the same terms, though heretofore farming property had
been insured at common risks, I believe at ls. 6d. pre-
mium upon 1001, which is the same as it is upon dwell-
ing-houses in this district, and they have no tax upon
their insurance as we have.—(Applause.) Now they
must pay in all cases, I believe, 35., and in cases where
there is any machinery upon the premises, not less than
ss. per cent. Well, now, that is retributive justice.—
(Applause.) I am not blaming the farmers, except
that they have not had spirit enough to prevent this
state of things ; it is the landowners who are
chiefly to blame ; and to them public indignation will
be turned, and they will be asked, in a language
which they dare not disregard—How is it that
you have neglected the population about your
own estates, legislating in Parliament, almost
without opposition, and administering those laws in
your own parishes paramount in authority, and unop-
posed ; how is it that in your districts such a lamentable
state o things exists ?—(Applause.) But for what has
been already alluded to, it would be impossible to explain
how helpless these unfortunate persons are. I confess,
I pity them from my heart, as I pity all men who, from
ignorance, selfishness, or vice, get into a dilemma and
into a difficulty. They are in difficulties, and their help-
lessness, if it was not to be pitied, would certainly be
greatly to be laughed at.—(Applause.) What are their
remedies ? They propose to put down incendiarism by
giving the people gratuitous exhibitions of fireworks.—
(Loud applause and laughter.) I believe it was a pro-
fessor—Professor Henslow—who proposed this. And
there are a variety of others of a like nature. The
Honourable Gentleman then read some extracts from
an Aylesbury paper, showing the severe treatment of
poor criminals in the county of Bucks, and then pro-
ceeded :—And these are the men to whom Mr. Birley
and the monopolist manufacturers of this district are
looking up for an approving smile, and for a nod
from whom they would endure almost a very agony.
—(Cheers and laughter.) These men are those who
are helping to thin the slices three times a day for
these poor children and suffering parents. Oh, Ido
wonder, after all the discussion we have had on this
question, that there are men to be found who are not
heartily ashamed that they ever said a syllable in favour
of such an accursed system.—(Loud cheers.) He says,
"If ever a committee should sit, on the distress of the
agricultural labourer"—but they took care last session,
when a committee was asked for, that they would not
have one—(Hear, hear)—" I would find them plenty of
cases in which single men, of thirty-seven years of age,
are only paid 6s. a week. I would prove that many
farmers only give 6d. a day to men of three and four
and twenty, who have worked from childhood with them,
and are known to be as useful as the best men they
have !" And so they are. In this book there are many
things of a similar description—many not suitable to
read in an assembly like this—but there is one more
extract I would read. He says, the agricultural labourer
is generally paid on the principle of giving him just that
amount of sustenance that will keep him from claiming
relief from the union house. " That as a dweller he is
considered as an incumbrance on the soil, I think is but
a fair deduction from the fact of the pains taken to
diminish the number of dwellings. And when I com-
pare the trouble taken to get the best plans for stables,
cowsheds, and pigsties, and the money expended
in their improvement, with the little effort bestowed on
the improvement of the labourer's dwelling, I am forced
also to the conviction that he is the last living
thing upon the farm whose physical condition is re-
garded.' And yet, he says, while it is allowed by all,
that the labourer is physically and morally oppressed,
" to take up his cause is, alas I but to unite all parties
against you ; so much as a matter of course, are the
worst features of his condition considered, that you are
at once considered as a conspirator, both as against land-
owner and occupier, if you venture to speak a word in
his favour ; that he is pauperised from the low wages
paid him, demoralised by the circumstances that sur-
round him, as a matter of general conversation is allowed.
Make but the feeblest attempt to enfirce his claim to a
better treatment, and you are at once set down as a pro-
pagator of dangerous ideas—one who threatens all man-
ner of evil—and you will probably be told that you have
some party motive or private pique at the bottom of
your philanthropy." It appears, by what he says
here, that it happens there much, as in this part of
the country, that if any man speak of those dis-
tressed, and presumes to interfere with the profits
or amusements of another class, then that class say
he is a dangerous man, and that the Association he
is connected with ought to be put down by law
Now, I have taken this pamphlet on these grounds : it
speaks of the county of Dorset ; it is given by a reverend
gentleman, an 1 a man not likely to have been readily
moved to take the course he has. And when we recol-
lect that there has been down in the neighbourhood a
Noble Lord who lays claim to feelings of philanthropy,
and who professes a desire to improve the state of the
working classes generally, there is something surprising
about these statements. I can appreciate the motives of
a man who seeks to do justice any where, yet I should
admire it more if it were not of that expansive character
which looks abroad for its objects, whilst it never sees
the evils which exist nearer home.—(Loud applause.)
Mr. Bright concluded by saying, that if such was the
state of the agricultural districts after thirty years of
protection, surely this was not a time to abandon the
struggle in which they had so far advanced towards suc •
toss. _ _

Mr. BAZLEY, President of the Chamber of Commerce,
then moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Cobden and Mr.
Bright, and the meeting, after giving three enthusiastic
cheers, separated.

FRIDAY NIGIIT'S GAZETTE.
ST. JAMES'S PALACE, OCT. 19, 1844.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint John Kincaid,
Esq., late Captain in the Rifle Brigade, Exon of her Ma-
jesty's Guard of the Yeomen of her Guard, in the room
of John Parker Nuttal, Esq., deceased.
WHITEHALL, Our. 23.
The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev.
Algernon Coote, B.A. to the rectory of Marsh Gibbons,
in the county of Buckingham and diocese of Lincoln,
the same being void by the resignation of the Hon. and
Rev. James Douglas, the last incumbent.
WHITEHALL, OCT. 24.
The Queen has been pleased to present the Reverend
Donald M'Kinnon to the church and parish of Fearn, in
the presbytery of Tab and county of Ross, vacant by the
death of the Rev. Hugh Ross, late minister thereof.
The Queen has also been pleased to present the Rev.
James Hemery, M.A., to the deanery of the island of
Jersey, void by the resignation of Dr. Francis Jeune,
late Dean thereof.

WAR-OFFICE, OCT. 25.
Bth Light Dragoons—Captain D. W. Battley, from
64th Foot, to be Paymaster, vice W. Jones, who reverts
to his former half-pay, Oct. 25.
11th Regiment of Foot—Lieutenant J. R. Wilton,
from 55th Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice Goold, promoted.
Oct. 25.
19th Foot—Lieutenant J. Maguire, from 55th Foo
to be Lieutenant, vice R. A. M. Franklin, who retires on
half-pay 55th Foot, Oct. 25.
24th Foot—Ensign W. Hartshorn to be Adjutant,
vice Williams, who resigns the Adjutantcy only, Oct. 25.
42d Foot—Lieutenant G. W. Macquarie to be Cap-
tain, by purchase, vice Kinlock, who retires ; Ensign E.
F. G. Clavering to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice
Macquairie ; W. J. Cunninghame, Gent., to be Ensign,
by purchase, vice Clavering, Oct. 25.
93d Foot—Lieut. L. Skynner, from the 55th Foot, to
be Lieutenant, vice Pule, promoted, Oct. 25.
UNATTACHED.—Lieut. W. Ward, from the 35th Foot,
to be Captain, without purchase, Oct. 25.
Commissions by the Lord-Lieutenant of Somersetshire.
West Somerset Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry—
Cornet P. P. Bouverie, to be Lieutenant, vice Honey-
wood, resigned, Oct. 19 ; M. V. Maher, Gent., to be
Cornet, vice Bouverie, promoted, Oct. 21.
Commissions by the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire.
Royal Wilts Yeomanry Cavalry—A. L. Goddard,
Esq., to be Captain, vice Calley, resigned ; The Hon.
G. Barrington to be Lieutenant, vice Goddard, promoted,
Oct. 12.
RAILWAY DEPARTMENT, BOARD OF TRADE.
WHITEHALL, OCT. 24.
Referring to the notice in the Gazette of the 23d of
August, announcing the intention of the Railway Board
to examine into certain schemes therein enumerated,
with a view to the presentation to Parliament of minutes
or reports thereon, in the event of their becoming the
subjects of application to Parliament, the Board hereby
give notice, that it is further their intention to examine,
with a similar view, into the following schemes, viz. :
I. Schemes for extending railway communication to
Goole and to Great Grimsby.
11. Branches from and extensions of the Eastern
Counties and Northern and Eastern Railways.
111. Railway communication between London and
Norwich, and other schemes, in the counties of Norfolk,
Suffolk, Cambridge, and Essex.
IV. Branches from the Edinburgh and Glasgow Rail-
way, Clydesdale Junction, and Edinburgh and Galashiels
schemes.
V. Extension of the York and Scarborough and Hull
and Selby Railways to Bridlington and Driffield.
VI. Schemes for connecting Birkenhead with Man-
chester and Stockport.
VII. South Junction through Manchester, Asbton
and Stockport Junction, and Manchester and Buxton.
VIII. Bolton, Wigan, and Liverpool, and other
schemes, in the district between the Bolton and Preston
and the Liverpool and Manchester Railways.
IX. Blackburn, Burnley-, and Accrington, and other
railway schemes, in the district between the Bolton and
Preston and Manchester and Leeds Railways.
X. Birmingham and Shrewsbury and Shrewsbury and
Chester schemes.
XI. Worcester and Wolverhampton and other schemes
for extending railway communication in Worcestershire
and Staffordshire.
XII. Schemes for extending railway communications
to the Potteries.
VIII. Schemes for extending railway communications
to Falmouth.
XIV. Schemes for extending railway communication
to Staines and Windsor.
XV. Schemes for making railway communication in
Ireland from Dublin to Cork, Limerick, Cavan, Galway,
Enniskillen, Londonderry, and Waterford ; between
Londonderry and Enniskillen ; between Cork and Ban-
don ; between Cork and Waterford ; between Cork and
Limerick; and completing railway communication be-
tween Dublin and Belfast.