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

GRAND WEEKLY

ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE

MEETING

AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

Tho great weekly meeting of the Anti-Corn-law
League, was held last evening, as usual, in the Thea-
tre Royal Covent-garden. The audience was as
numerous as on any previous meeting, with the ex-
ception of the one at which Mr. O'Connell addressed
the assembly ; the house was crowded in every part.
Among the gentlemen present we observed :
The Right Hon. Lord Kinnaird, the Hon. Charles
Pelham Villiers, M.P., Benjamin Smith, Esq., M.P.,
Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P., John Lewis Ricardo,
Esq., M.P., Sir William Baynes, Bart., J. Somers,
Esq. (Bridgewater), Ralph hicardo, Esq., A. Aus-
tin, jun., Esq., Robert R. R. Moore, Esq., H. R.
Ricardo, Esq., Arthur Pattison, Esq., Rev. Henry
Townley, General Briggs, Professor Key, Colonel
Tucket, A. Bauer, Esq., Rev. W. Todman, Rev. Dr.
Marshall, W. A. Wilkinson, Esq., William M'Call,
Esq., Samuel Harrison, Esq., Norman Wilkinson,
Esq., George Lance, Esq., Dr. Cooke Taylor, George
Wansey, Esq., C. Foster, Esq., J. Evans, Esq, Major
Reid Revell, J. B. Scott, Esq. (Manchester), R.
Palmer, Esq., R. IV. Cole, Esq., Peter Dixon, Esq.
(Carlisle), Rev. J. W. Massie (Manchester), John
Egan, Esq., Thomas Egan, Esq., W. Hibbit, Esq.,
C. Elliott, Esq., T. Nicholas, Esq., D. Miles, Esq.,
W. Chambers, Esq., W. Thornborrow, Esq., W.
Starling, Esq., Henry Lloyd Morgan, Esq., J. T.
Clay, Esq., J. H. Hulme, Esq. (Manchester), W.
Leckett, Esq. (Manchester), George Nelson, Esq.
(Manchester), J. P. Nixon, Esq., T. Keeling, Esq.,
H. Baldwin, Esq., W. Myles, Esq., G. Nott, Esq.,
Isaac Nicholls, Esq. (Plymouth), Joseph Starr, Esq.
(Yorkshire), William Battison, Esq. (Town Council,
Hull), James Evton, Esq. (Mole, Flintshire), John
Williams, Esq,- W. Clarke, Esq., W. G. Mitchell,
Esq., J. P. Burnard, Esq., W. Geesin, Esq., Robert
Johnston, Esq. (Manchester), E. Eldridge, Esq.
(Mayor of Bath), G. Beacon, Esq., Thomas Cowper
Brown, Esq., W. H. Brown, Esq. (Lewisham).
At half-past seven, Lord Kinnaird entered, accom-
panied by Mr. Cobden and several other gentlemen ;
he was very warmly received by the assembly ; his
Lordship immediately took the chair.
The Secretary having read the minutes of the last
meeting, which were unanimously confirmed,
The CHAIRMAN came forward to the table, and
was again received by enthusiastic cheers, several
times renewed. He said, he must commence his ad-
dress by thanking them for the kind reception they
had that evening given him. Often as he had oc-
cupied one of those benches, which he then saw so
well filled, he but little expected that he should
ever have found himself on the stage of Covent-
garden Theatre.—(Hear, hear.) lie hardly thought
that anything could have induced him to have
done so, had he not thought that he might in some
measure promote the cause of free trade.—(Cheers.)
And he should have approached the attempt with still
more reluctance, had he not heard from other speakers
from the same place, that in the audiences in that
house on former occasions they had always found in-
telligent and indulgent hearers. On looking round
on the countenances assembled there that evening, he
felt certain of having the first, and he ventured to
hope that he might count on the latter. When he
saw the immense numbers here congregated, how-
ever, he could not help warning them that the num-
ber of persons that made a meeting an illegal one,
not having been yet defined, they might perhaps all
be liable to an indictment for a conspiracy.—(Cheers,
and laughter.) Yes, the whole of them, ladies and
all, might be conspirators; and though the Secretary
of State for the Home Department had such confi-
dence in the good order and regularity of the per-
sons attending the meetings of the League, that he
would not allow the police to attend to protect them,
yet the same game might he repeated here that had been
played in the sister country—the most wretched sys-
tem of the employment of spies.—(Cheers.) Yet he
did not think that among the respectable body of
reporters he saw below him, they would find another
who would so far derogate from the character borne by
those able gentlemen, as to act in that capacity for
them. But for all that there might be spies pre-
sent ; he knew that some of the monopolists would be
very glad to institute proceedings against them if they
dared. But in this country, he was happy to say
that they should—the ladies at all events—have a fair
trial, which was not the case in the sister country. In
their case, he did nor think that they should find a
judge who, in his charge to the jury, would act the
part of a public prosecutor ; he did not think
there was a judge on the English Bench
who would act so disgracefully. (Cheers.)
When he looked around him and saw so many ladies
present, it would be a matter of surprise to him what
could have induced them to attend in such numbers
to hear a discussion on so dry a subject as political
pennomy , did he not know that woman's heart was
ever open to tales of digtress, al.' :-.e -was cvcr zrady ,
to hear how that distress could be relieved, and how
the condition of her fellow-beings could be
ameliorated.—(Cheers.) He trusted, therefore,
it was not curiosity alone which had led
them to attend their proceedings , that evening, but
a sincere desire to promote the prosperity and welfare
of all classes—particularly of the humbler classes of
society. That was the main object of the League.
Because, while it said that capitalists would be bene-
fited by a repeal of the corn-laws, yet it was prepared
to prove that the landowners would be benefited also ;
and that, in consequence, no class would be so much
benefited as the industrious and labouring part of the
community, by opening sources of employment to
honest occupations and industry, and by putting in
practice a phrase, very commonly used, but not yet
acted on to its full extent, allowing them to buy in
the cheapest and sell in the dearest market they
could. As he said before, he hoped it
was not only curiosity that had brought them
there, but that they had come to receive instruction
in what he held to be the sound doctrines inculcated
by the League. And he hoped that if they were
once convinced, they would all use their influence in
this just and righteous cause. No one knew what
influence one individual might have. It was like a
pebble cast into a pool of water—the circle gradually
spread till it extended over the whole surface. Such
was the influence that must be exercised by any one
thoroughly impressed with the justice of any cause.
This he had seen exemplified in the result of the de-
putation which was sent by the League to Perth.
shire, which included that able advocate of their
cause—Mr. Cobden —(Loud cheers.) There was a
manufacturer who told this deputation that he resided
in the midst of farmers and ',agriculturists, though,
by taking advantage of a large fall of water, he
managed a spinning mill. He was surrounded by
about thirty farmers, who, with the exception of one,
were free-traders. That one farmer attended the
meeting held at Perth, and he became so convinced
of the soundness of free-trade principles, that, after
the meeting, he was found arguing the question with
another farmer, and supporting the principles he had
adopted. Ho had been told by a friend, that while
that meeting was being held, there was nothing to be
seen in the market but the long faces of the mono-
list landowners looking for their tenants, who had all
left their business to attend the meeting. The
study .of political economy was no new pur-
suit with him. He had not taken it up for any
party purpose, because he was early trained to it by
those who were now no more. He had studied in the
works of Adam Smith, of Ricardo, of Marcet, and in
the more interesting works of Miss Martineau, which
he would especially recommend to the ladies. While
reading these works, he could not have thought it
possible that he should so soon have seen examples of
the truth of their principles, brought about, a; he
had seen, during the last three years. This was prin-
cipally owing to the exertions of the Anti-Corn-law
League. It was impossible to see any return moved
for in either House of Parliament that did not corro-
borate everything to be found in the writers
he had alluded to. Being himself almost en-
tirely dependent for existence on the produce
of land, he had naturally turned his attention to
a considerable degree to the subject. He had for
several years past had a farm in his own hands, and
during the last eighteen months, not having come to
town, he had been carrying on improvements on his
land, in order to see what could be done with it, and
to ascertain if it were not possible to produce grain a
great deal cheaper than at present; and he had come
to this conclusion, that the corn-laws were more
injurious to him- as a farmer and as a landowner
than any benefit that their existence could possibly
confer upon him. Had he only found that Mr.
Cobden, and those engaged in manufactures, were of
this opinion, he might have hesitated ; but he knew
many landed proprietors who entertained the same
opinion, though they still hesitated to join the League.
He mentioned two instances of this. One was Mr.
Murray, of Polnais, near Stirling, who held a large
farm on his own hands, and who was considered an
authority upon all farming questions. He con•
demned the corn-laws so long ago as 1826. The
other case was of a tenant of Lord Wharncliffe's—
he approved of the principles of the League, but he
could not attend its meetings. Perhaps it was from
being under a Tory landlord. He (Lord Kinnard)
was the more confirmed in his opinions when he saw
them backed by such practical men. Now he wanted
to know for whose benefit the corn-laws were men-
tioned ? The landlords affirmed that they did not
continue them for their own benefit, though one of
them, and he too a Minister, had let the cat out of the
bag by asking how could they pay their jointures
and their marriage settlements if the corn-laws were
abolished ? In fact, " Rent ! rent! rent !" was their
object. Others said, " Oh, no ! it is not that—the
sacrifice to us would be nothing ; but it is consideration
for the farmer who has invested his capital, and for the
per agricultural labourer." But if they would look at