The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-10 00:00:00

GRFAT MEETING

- -
that time obliged to sell it for 455.---(Hear, hear.)
And he would say now, after ten years' experience,
that it was an egregious fallacy to endeavour to con-
trol the seasons, or to state with certainty what should
be the price of bread.—(Hear, hear, and cheering.)
That was the case, and he would affirm that while it
was already proved that while the amount guaranteed
was 545., the sum they sold it at was 455. Such was
the effect of protection.—(Loud cheering-) Know-
ing this, it was necessary that all should come for-
ward on this occasion, whether landlords, or tenants,
or labourers, and when at last the immense mass
of the people would feel their interest in the cause,
there could be no doubt of its being ultimately car,
ried.—(Cheers.) Why, it was the interest of the
landlord, it was the interest of the farmer to do that
—(Continued cheering.) And let them not forget
that it was their bounden duty to fill the mouths of
their vastly increased pauper brethren with the good
with which God had gifted them. They knew that the
seasons had their cycles, and that while the only kind,
the great and the bountiful Giver of all
Good might be showering down his gifts
on one portion of the earth, he might at the same
time withhold his favours from them, by scorching
up what they had sown, or by drenching their fields
with rain. Let them apply to every part of the globe
for food.—(Cheers.) Let them carry their produce
wherever it might find a market ; and let England be,
as it was intended at first to be, the workshop of the
world.—(lmmense cheering.) Let all in that assem-
blage do their duty ; landlords, tenants, and opera-
tives, until, like the phoenix from its ashes, they should
arise, and show by their determination their desire
to do away with the stigma which now attached to
their country. He would mention what had oc-
curred to his own mind within the last three
years, when Irish butter was introduced into this
country, and Glasgow alone could be found to
purchase it. He remembered lately that in Ireland
he spoke to a manufacturer, and these were his
words :—" Where is the sense of your giving us
such prices for our butter, for all the farmers' wives
want shawls now ?"—(Laughter.) In carrying out
that principle, they need not mind whether other
countries grew corn, for they, also, would try to
grow it—(Hear, hear)—and, like the farmers' wives
who wanted shawls, theywould find their wants grow
in the same proportion.--(Cheers.) He had just left
the shores of Ireland, and he had been told that the
corn-laws had done a great deal of good for that
country. He would now ask this simple question—
Had it made the farmers of that country rich ?—had
it increased the happiness of the popula-
tion ?—(Hear, hear.) It was no use to occupy the
public mind of Ireland in this manner. It would
make the country worse ; it would bring the people
into a state of greater degradation. After seeing the
state of the farmer in England with his thirty years
of protection, he was compelled to ask, if he was in
the position to which that protection entitled him ?
He said no ; and he did say that he was unwilling to
give any protection. He had supported protection
conscientiously, because all he had in the world was
on land or in land, and he had the consolation left
that let the wind blow high or blow low, he had
acted throughout conscientiously, because, though he
was interested in the question, he had changed his
opinions, and he was not ashamed now to avow them.
—(Tremendous cheering.) He would tell them this,
that he had changed those opinions conscientiously.
He would t2ll them more than this, he advocated
these new opinions because he believed them,
and he would advocate a free-trade not
only in corn, but in sugar, and in
timber also. He could not ask for sugar, because
the Crown said it was to be protected ; but if he built
a house, he might surely see what the quality of the
timber used in it was, and he might wish to make
that timber better. He asked for the abolition of the
corn-laws, because it would enhance the comforts
and the happiness of the people.—(Cheers )
Mr. COBDEN, who for some time was so voci-
ferously cheered that it was impossible for him to
obtain a hearing, at last, when silence was
somewhat restored, said that he was sure that the
expression of the feeling of every one in that
assembly would agree with him when he stated how
deeply they felt themselves indebted to the Hon.
Friend who had just appeared before them, for his
candid expression of his conversion from the princi-
ples which he had before then advocated ; and he
thought it looked like the beginning of the
end.—(" Hear, hear," and laughter.) They had, if
he might say so, been going round the circle, and
had just completed the journey. They had be-
gan with the manufacturers, then they had gone to
the shopkeepers. and now they had got among the
farmers. When the agricultural interest was intro-
duced to the notice of the House of Commons, and
when its most distinguished supporters brought for-
ward a motion on the subject, it would astonish the
landlords and their friends to find that nothing de-
serving the name of an argument had been advanced
on the subject on that side of the House.
He would not say that there were not Mem-
bers on the Government side of the lino.. of
Commons who could not make out a good case to the
advantage of their own principles, and the questions
which they themselves defended. He should not say
that they descended to any unworthy practices in
order to confer a peculiar benefit on a class, but he,
looking after the interests of the farmer and the farm
labo'irer, would meet them on the equal ground, that
the corn-laws were more injurious to the farmer than
to any other class in the empire.—(Cheers.) Now,
really, when he considered the state of the House of
Commons that it contained at least 200 county Mem-
bers, besides 140 Members more, sent up from
pocket boroughs, he would ask them what they could
possibly expect from one or two men ? It appeared
to him, and he had a lively faith in the character and
credit of Englishmen, that they would not allow
the counties to send up Members to stop the
advocates of the people in the body of
the House. He had faith in the qualities
of his countrymen, who had that staple in their
composition, that out of one hundred, ninety-nine
employed the privileges entrusted to them correctly.—
(Cheers.) He could only account for the deficiency
in argument on the Ministerial side of the House, by
a reference to the considerations which influenced
their opinions. They supported the Crown—they
supported monopoly, and it would take the eloquence of
Demosthenes himself to support, with any degree
of fervour, the corn-laws. The Prime Minister of
England ought to be wary that he did not induce
his followers to stretch the bow too tightly, lest the
present evil might be still further increased.. Upon
the sub.;ect of the kitchen stuffs of Sir Robert
Peel's tariff, he (Mr. Cobden) never heard a man so
eloquent as Mr. Bickham Escott. Even Colonel
Wyndham was roused into a state of agitated elo-
quence, when referring to the little Parliament of
No. 17, Bond-street.—(Cheers and laughter.) The
question now arose, what were they to do between
Peel and Russell ? There appeared to be a sort of
rival bidding on either side, but he would not sav
which should have the honour of carrying
out the great principle of free-trade.--(Hear.)
If he (Mr. Cobden) were in the position of Lord
John Russell, he would be very—very jealous of the
honour of the House of Woburn, and would not like
that the House of Peel and Co. should take it out of
his hands.—(Hear, hear.) He would bid high for it.
If put to the vote, probably a majority would be dis-
posed to give an old friend who had a hand in the
Test and Corporation Acts the preference.—(Hear,
hear.) And then he made the first bid also in 1841,
but he did not bid quite up to the mark. He thought
that after reading what Mr. Haughton had said that
night, Lord John ought be very much disposed to
put another foot forward in the matter. He did not
see how statesmen could falter —how they could hesi-
tate for one moment, when a gentleman like Mr. Hough-
ton came forward, whom he knew to be employed and
trusted by some of the noblest of the land in the ma-
nagement of their estates : who had been for three
days under examination before an agricultural com-
mittee in 1835, and who was a great agricultural
authority—when he saw such a gentleman come for-
ward and declare himself a free- trader after mature
deliberation, he could not see why Lord John should
hesitate in carrying out the principles of free-trade.
It was a very remarkable fact that, go where they
would, there was something in their cause that
attracted all the men of sense, eloquence, and feeling
to them.—(Cheers.) There was Mr. Hau4hton, and
he saw another old friend of theirs behind him, Mr.
Latimore—(Hear, hear)—and there were some other
independent and intelligent farmers sitting just below
him. If any of those who were listening to him hap-
pened to go into a farmer's dining-room, which was
his ordinary, he would tell them how they could re-
cognise the free traders amongst them. Let them
just take their hats, and see which were the biggest,
and these would belong to the largest heads, who
were free traders.—(Laughter.) If any of their
opponents had heads above the average size, they
would soon be found to desert the ranks of the pro-
tectionists, and come over to the ranks of the free
traders.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Why they
had some of the very best landed proprietors in the
kingdom on their side. There was one of great pre-
eminence, whose name was hardly ever quoted,
et
bt,Coke,)etNorfolk,t
e ro ft
h nH Norfolk,awerabbithwer a
se afterwards
et
warren.
found
dnda
n.s Lord Leicester.—
(Hear, hear.)
bladehuepsceltaoy.tf,o grassworkmixedw foraiitth
withrabbitth ise ss totaant
de,
M rlwi
little
wu6aped
surface,
, wells,
an acre
ceesrwl
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that this land, which was nit wortihststa:na2ldkfse.
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a nhde who
estate
There
sixty
which
years
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ga
was

saw no reason why the youlgest should go first.
Eighteen years ago—
" True 'tis pity—pity 'tis 'tis true,"
eighteen years ago he was exerting himself alone in
this grand cause. Nine years ago he was doing what
one man could do to oppose in the House of Com-
mons that arrangement of the existing Government
by which the interests of the English Church were
bound up up with a continuance of the corn-laws.—
(Cheers.) All would not do, however, and he was
cashiered on the first opportunity.—(A laugh.) Had
he had a fair chance, as other men had, he might have
been alive still, and of service to them now. It was
not him they saw before them, but only his wailing
ghost.—(Laughter.) He had been assassinated seven
years ago in Marylebone.—(Cheers and laughter.)
That was a long story, and not to the present ques-
tion. But he was assassinated there, and some would
find it so to their cost. When that was the way in
which the people paid those who led them, no wonder
if, year after year, they found a difficulty in carrying
popular questions. But he brought no ill omen there.
He brought nothing but what was favourable. He
had been recently visiting their old and tried friends
in Scotland, who were as hearty as ever, nay, heartier
than ever in the cause.—(Loud cheers.) Their
Scotch friends knew, as well as they themselves knew.
that the time was fast approaching when their cause
would be triumphant. Their friends were multiply-
ing everywhere. Their enemies were falling before
them ; or, better still, they were joining them,
(Loud cheers.) Look at the Premier.—(lmmense
cheering.) How much was he worth ?—(Renewed
cheering.) Let them take note of his actions and his
sayings. He saw that opposition was so foolish and
so hopeless that, like a man of prudent character as he
was, he was only looking round to secure a safe port
in time to put into it.—(Cheers and laughter.) And
with him would come all those special waiters upon
Providence who considered him as their God, the
Eolus, and who, whatever wind he blew, were ready
to make sail before it.—(Loud cheers.) Their
enemies were working for them.—(Cheers.) All
that men could do to forward their cause their enemies
were doing.—(Cheers.) They themselves could not
do more than their enemies were doing for them.—
(Cheers.) He had told his friends in Scotland that
if they had paid their enemies to adopt that course
which would most promote the cause of the League,
and had laid down for them the course they were to
adopt, they could not do it half so well
as their enemies were doing it for them.
—(Hear, hear.) Let them look at the
recent debates—grease, and lard, and butter—those
were the things which had engaged the attention of
statesmen on the monopolist side of the House.—
(Cheers and laughter.) The great questions of na-
tional interest had dwindled down into such smoky,
greasy things as these.—(Renewed laughter.) He
had told their friends in Scotland that when they
brought the little boys into schools, and instructed
them in the use of various things, they should ask
them, among other things, what Government was for,
and the little fellows should be brought to pipe out
in answer—to put tar in our butter.—(Cheers and
laughter.) He had been to Scotland to invite their
friends there to make contributions to the bazaar ;
and some men had said to him, what is your particu-
lar concern in this busines3? How do you earn your
livelihood ? He answered, that it was a foraging party,
and why should not he take charge of a foraging
party, if he were asked, as well as any other ? And,
strange to say, they liked his foraging party, and
they gave contributions according to their produce.
Some gave yarn, some gave bed-ticking, some gave
minerals.—(Cheers.) At Newcastle they gave coals,
which it had been agreed should be sold from the
sample. Tickets should be printed for the bazaar
for ten chaldrons of coals; and why ladies should
not sell these tickets for coals, he could not under-
stand. Depend upon it that nothing could be given
but that they would have ingenuity enough to find
the means of disposing of it. One man had pro-
mised to send them a Shetland horse, forty inches
high. Now he proposed that this horse should
appear at the bazaar, and that over him there
should be this motto, " This is what men and horses
come to, when they can't get corn."—(Loud cheers,
and laughter.) Now there was more than a jest
hanging upon that horse. The inhabitants of the
Shetland Islands maintained themselves by the pro-
duce of their fisheries, which they send to Spain and
Portugal ; and if they were permitted to bring home
corn, instead of being unable, as they were now very
frequently, to obtain bread to eat, they would have
an ample supply of it. The corn of the Shetland
Islands was so bad that it had been suggested that it
might be possible, if they went quietly to work, for
them to be able to obtain for the Shetland Islands
the same privileges as the Channel Islands now en-
joyed, and which had been obtained in some degree
through the interference of their friend Dr. Bowring—
(Cheers)—for the Isle of Man.—(Renewed cheers.)
The course was the same in Shetland as in London.
The hardship was equal in both places. Restriction
was as hard at Lerwick as in London. It was felt
the same in Manchester. Now, 100 pair of hands
were employed in a factory as it was in the Shetland
cottage by the fisherman's wife, who sat knitting in
solitude thou. shawls which could not be sold to pro-
cure her family bread. The only difference was,
that while Shetland was small, London was large, and
as they were larger and possessed greater strength
so they should aid the weaker, and make contribu-
tions in proportion to their greater means. They
should aid that bazaar which was to be raised in
their own metropolis, so that their friends might say
that never yet had there been such an exposition of
the produce of British ingenuity and British genius.
For he knew well that although those who were
there assembled were perfectly aware of the agni-
tude and importance of their cause, yet there were
some who were outside barbarians who required in-
formation on the subject.—(Cheers.) And he be-
sought all of them, when they went forth from that
house, and returned to their homes, to become mis-
sionaries of the truth, and see how long it would be
before they would stimulate their friends and convert
their enemies, so that their power should be irresis-
tible.—(Cheers.) He understood that they were to
have some unexpected aid that night, and he, as an
old servant, would not detain them longer, but would
at once make way, to afford them a taste of that
which was new.--(The Gallant Colonel then retired,
amidst loud and long-continued cheering.)
Mr. COBDEN then came forward, and was received
with the utmost enthusiasm. He said, that he had
found himself unexpectedly seated beside a gentleman
who in times past had been a consistent and strenuous,
but conscientious and amicable opponent of their
good cause.—(Hear, hear.) That gentleman was
largely connected with agriculture.—(Hear, hear.)
Not only did he farm hiaiself above 3,000 acres of
land—not only was he connected as agent with some
of the largest proprietors in the kingdom, but he him-
self was a large landed proprietor.—(Cheers.) Mr.
Haughton had been examined before the Parlia-
mentary Committee of 1836, and he (Mr. Cobden)
was happy to say that Mr. Haughton had maturely
considered this question, and that he was prepared
that night to address a few words to that meeting—
(Cheers)—to explain, if explanation were necessary
to them and to the country, the grounds on which he
had seen reason to alter the views he had fo merly
entertained upon that subject. He begged to be al-
lowed to introduce Mr. Haughton to the meeting.
Mr. HAUGHTON then came forward, but for a few
minutes he could int obtain a hearing, so tumultuous
was the applause which greeted him. When silence
was somewhat restored, he said, that it had been said
by one of the greatest men that the world had ever
seen figure upon its stage, that men and women were
merely players. He (Mr. Haughton) little thought
that he himself should be a performer upon these
boards.—(Laughter and cheers.) He little thought
that he should there address such an assemblage upon
such a subject.—(Cheers.) He had been for 20 years
the steady supporter of protective duties. He did sup-
port them conscientiously and firmly. It would
not be necessary for him to take a review of his past
adherence to those principles, in the same manner
that Opposition Members in the House of Commons
reviewed the past labours of the sessit n.—(Cheers.)
But he would acknowledge that he had supported
the system of protection which had now extended
over a period of thirty years. He would give them
his reasons for abandoning the sinking ship when she
was no longer sea• worthy.—(Cheers.) They might,
perhaps, be aware that not only was he a large len d-
propertynui chardn_frnr
ng ea,
consciousness
ntlhyaftriotmwaasthhoisroduugthy
—that he did what he
could
to bring about the con -
summation of this
great principle.—(Loud
cheers.) He would first of
all ask of any
of his brother farmers who might be present
how the protective laws had been of service to them .
—(Cheers.) When the law was first
passed in 1815.
should
they were told that the price of wheat be 80s.,
yet, in 1822, it was found that the half of that money"
was all they could obtain. In 1825 it was found
per-
fectly impossible to carry out this law, so great was
the famine that prevailed in the country, and Mr.
Canning thought it his duty to go down to the House
of Commons and let wheat out of bond without pay-
ing any duty at all. In the year 1835 he was one of
the parties examined before the House of Commons,
and it was then complained that 355. was all they
could get. In 1840 there was a different state of
things to be brought about—(Laughter and cheers)—
Sir Robert Peel was brought into power, and he said
that he could insure the highest rate of wheat to the
farmer. He could assure him 665. They were at

OF THE
ANTI-CORN-1. AW
LEAGUE

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

A general Metropolitan meeting of the members of
the Anti-Corn-law League was held last evening in
the Theatre-Royal, Covent-garden. The doors were
opened at half-past six o'clock, and notwithstanding
the unfavourable state of the weather, every part of
the theatre was crowded to excess long before the
commencement of the proceedings. Indeed, the thea-
tre was inconveniently crowded, and many persons
unconnected with the public press were permitted to
crowd into that portion of the house which has
hitherto been appropriated to the exclusive use of
reporters, where, by the pressure which they created,
and by the incessant buzzing of conversation which
they kept up, they were a source of serious annoy-
ance and inconvenience to those whose duty it was
to take notes of the proceedings.
At seven o'clock, G. Wilson, Esq., the chairman of
the League, entered the house, and was greeted with
reiterated plaudits. He was accompanied by Dr.
Bowring, M.P., R. Cobden, Esq., M.P., Colonel Pey-
ronnet Thompson, George Thompson, Esq., W. J.
Fox, Esq., and several other influential members of
the League, who were loudly cheered as they ap-
peared upon the stage. Amongst those present we
observed :—George Wilson, Esq. (in the chair), the
Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers, M.P., John Bright,
Esq., M.P., J. Stewart, Esq., M.P., Alexander Murray,
Esq., M.P., Major-General Briggs, Professor Key,
Professor Graham, Dr. William Cooke Taylor, John
Haughton (Broom Hall, Sunning-hill, Berkshire),Dr.
Cape, Dr. Bateman, Dr. Macdonnell, Captain Cogan,
AV. Clarke, Esq., Mayor of Coventry, Messrs. John
Horton (Lincoln), Bowring, jun, C. H. Lattimore
(Berkhampstead), Abraham Bauer, George Brettle,
William Leaf, N. Overbury (Westbury), William
Leavers, David Dewar, AV. A. Wilkinson, P. A•
Taylor, J. A. Lyon, William Hargreaves, George
Offer, R. G. Wellford, P. Morand, E. Aranjo,
Lindsay Travers, J. Poulter, C. J. Baker, Press
Granger, H. L. Keeling, C. Gilpin, Shepherd Sand-
ford (Little Mallingfield, Suffolk), Thomas Ball
(South Shields), W. Coxhead (Bath), H. Penny, J.
Lavesque, F. Hardy, G. Hilditch, Clement Kemp,
W. K. Morris, J. Fermor, Charles Spiers, John Sy-
monds, Benjamin Clark, W. Robinson. C. Fox, Wil-
liam Ellis, H. H. Duff, James Waterman, Henry
Allen (Arundel), J. Clode, jun. (Windsor), G.
Hawkins, J. Fenwiek, Robert Weir, G. H. Ashurat,
J. P. Burnard, Henry Hull (Uxbridge), Henry
Lloyd Morgan, J. Stone, Town Clerk of Leicester,
Edward Smith (Sheffield), Edward Smith, Samuel
Bailey, Henry Scott, Henry Elkington, T. K.
Pritchard, T. Dyson, D. Miles, P. Mackenzie, M.
Hooker, W. Geesin, P. Douglas, W. E. Tuke, James
Hurnard (Colchester), George Ridout, Richard Bur-
dett, Richard Ware Cole, J. Biggs, ex-Mayor of
Leicester, Fitzherbert Bugby (Stepney College),
M. Buzlago (Azores), G. Ridge, T. Baldwin, A.
Anderson, William Evans (Manchester), Malcolm
Ross, and Edward Walker (Manchester).
G. WiLsow, Esq., then took the chair, and called
upon the Secretary to read the minutes of the last
meeting.
The SECISTARY having read the minutes,
Dr. BOWRING, M.P., moved that they be confirmed.
Mr. KAY, the Mayor of Manchester, seconded the
motion, which was carried by acclamation.
The CHAIRMAN then came forward, and was received
with the most enthusiastic cheers. After the applause
had somewhat subsided the Hon. Gentleman spoke as
follows :—Ladies and Gentlemen, we have permitted
a greater length of time to intervene between this
meeting and the last than has usually been permitted
to elapse, in accordance with our previous arrange-
ments ; and although there can be no question that, at
no very remote period of our agitation, such a circum-
stance would have been laid hold of by the mono-
polists as a proof of the declining state of the League,
and would have given rise to prophecies of our speedy
and utter extinction, yet I rejoice to say that I see no
such symptoms on the present occasion.—(Cheers.)
The monopolists have been silent on the subject. We
may meet frequently or only occasionally, or even
suspend our meetings altogether for a time, but de-
pend upon it enough has been done to instruct the
most ignorant, and to enlighten even the
=oak .I,Luse ut the members of the Society for the
Protection of Agriculture—(Cheers)—as to the folly
of conceiving that any change in the nature of our
public demonstrations, or any diminution of them,
can affect in the slightest degree the action which the
League exercises on the public mind, and which it
will continue to exercise and to increase, until the
corn-laws shall be entirely abolished.—(Loud cheers.)
We are met here for the last time previous to an
event to which a great deal of public attention has
been directed ; and which will have the effect of still
further propagating our principles throughout the
country—l mean the Anti-Corn-law League Bazaar.
Now, if any one thinks that from previous exhibitions
of this description he can form the slightest idea of
that which we propose to hold here, he grossly
deceives himself.—(Cheers.) In the first place ours
will not be a mere metropolitan exhibition. It will
not be a mere provincial exhibition. It will be in
_every sense of the word a strictly national demonstra-
tion—(Loud cheers)—in every respect one worthy of
the League—(Cheers)—and of the cause for the pro-
motion of which the League was established.—(Re-
newed cheering.) We shall of course have the usual
contributions which are generally exhibited at ba-
zaars ; but, in addition, we shall have special contri-
butions from every town in the kingdom of any mark.
—(Cheers.) We shall have lace from Nottingham
and Leicester. Sheffield and Birmingham will fur-
nish us with hardware. We shall have minerals from
Cornwall; shawls from Paisley. Every variety of
production which the ingenuity and industry of the
manufacturers of England call into exertion will be
there, in addition to all that is usually contributed to
exhibitions of a similar character.—(Loud cheers.)
I am free to confess that if the promotion of the col-
lection of a fund were the mere object-we had in
view, a greater amount might be procured by means
of a general subscription than we shall be likely to
raise by this exhibition. But what we want is to se-
cure the general co-operation of those in supporting
our measures, whose co-operation will be more valu-
able than any amount of money we may procure.—
(Cheers.) We want to see assembled in this theatre
our friends from all parts of the kingdom. We want
to give them an opportunity of conferring together;
of conferring with one another—of knowing
each other—(Loud cheers)—and we think that
by these means we shall give an additional
impetus to our cause and double the resolution of
each individual to promote the
we have in view.—(Loud cheers.) grand object which
e have the pleasing At the same time
w
satisfaction of knowing that
this bazaar will not interfere in the slightest degree
with our usual Course
diffusing knowledge
hear.)
The lecturers
asnowledfe through-
out the agricultural districtsusual.—(Cheers.)
There There will be the daily meetings
usual—(Cheers)—and the strictest attention will as
devoted to our registration proceedings asnwl be
usual.—
(Immense cheering.) Our regular agents will v. 't
the different boroughs and counties for this purpose,
as they would if no such exhibition were taking'
place here.—(Cheers.) There is not a single wheel
or pinion of the machinery of the League which is not
in the most perfect order, and which will not
continue to be so, as much as if our attention con-
tinued to it exclusively, without suspense or inter-
ruption from the proceedings here. We shall thus
succeed for a fortnight in arresting public attention
to this theatre, and to the cause which this bazaar is
intended to support; and it must be satisfactory
. to
those friends who seven years ago were without
mark or favour in the country, and who assisted at
that time to lay the foundation of this League. which
is now become one of the greatest and most influen-
tial powers ever known in this country—it must be
• satisfactory to these men to know that their most
sanguine expectations of support from the people The
tenfold more than realised.—(Loud cheers) The
speakers this evening will be Mr. Cobden—(mmense
cheering)—Colonel Thompson—(Loud cheers)--and
Mr. Fox—(Cheers.) I will not detain you longer,
but will at once call upon my Gallant Friend Colonel
Thompson to address you.—(Loud cheers.)
Colonel P. THOMPSON, who was received with the
• utmost enthusiasm, supposed that it was in virtue of
his seniority that he had been put forward.—(A
laugh.) Ai this was no Government procession, he

TUE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 10. 1A451

when he got it, was worth 255. an acre in his hands.
—(Hear, hear.) A property not worth 2,0001. rose
to the value of 20,0001. in his skilful hands. Now,
if any man ought to be afraid of foreign competition,
afraid that any produce of the fertile lands of the
Mississippi and the rich central land of Poland
would throw out of cultivation the comparatively
barren land which he had cultivated, it was Mr.
Coke. But he (Mr. Cobden) knew that from the
first he was a strenuous advocate of free trade in corn.
When he was in Norwich lately, he took the
pains of ascertaining, from Mr. Coke's most
intimate friends, what his opinions on the
corn-laws were, and he had the authority
of his personal friends for saying that he was from
the first a consistent opponent of the corn-laws—
(Hear, hear)—not that he took any great pains to
study their effect upon the commerce and manufac-
tures of the country, but he opposed them because he
thought they were calculated to make the farmers in-
dolent in their agricultural pursuits.—(Hear.) Now,
not to go farther than Lord Spencer—(Cheers)—
what right had any man, who had not made agricul-
ture his study, to talk about a free trade in corn
being injurious to the farmers, when he had the ex-
ample of Earl Spencer to guide him on the subject ?
If any body chose to contend that it was beneficial
to commerce and manufactures, why, he may be as
competent to judge of it as Earl Spencer or Lord
Ducie, but when some empty-headed person came out
of his counting-house, or from behind his desk, and
said that the League wanted to ruin the farmers, he
would only point to the dicta of Earl Spencer,
the best grazing farmer in the kingdom—
(Hear, hear)—and of Earl Ducie, the best
arable farmer, and ask him how he had the pre-
sumption to say that, with such practical farmers to
guide him, they were the enemies of farmers or agri-
culture ?—(Hear, hear.) He took an opportunity,
the other night, in the House of Commons, of drawing
the attention of his audience there— (Laughter)—to
the evils, upon the industry of the farmers, which
their law, which prevented the coarser kinds of grain
used for the feeding of cattle from being imported,
produced. But, would they believe it, Mr. Stafford
O'Brien, who called himself a framer's friend, got up
and actually bullied the Ministry because he suspected
that they were inclined to let Dutch clover-seed come
in for the benefit of the farmer. There was a farmer's
friend !—(Laughter.) Was it not a privilege to have
such people for an audience, that one might be able
to teach them something ?—(Laughter and cheers.)
Why, if they had a free trade in grain, the
farmers were the class, of all others, who
who would participate most largely in the benefit.
They could indeed eat American flour and Polish
wheat in the towns, but the farmers would be the
great buyers of Indian corn and Egyptian beans, and
Polish peas, if, as ought to be the case, they were
allowed to import those things free.—(Hear, hear.)
He would appeal to Mr. Haughton and Mr. Latimore
whether, at the time the Protection Society was
bullying the Ministry to keep up the restrictions
upon the food for cattle, the tenants of those blind
men, who were leading the blind, had not their cattle
starving for want of provender ?—(Hear, hear.)
The consequence was, that the farmers were forced to
send their cattle to market, and sell them at a sacri-
fice, thereby running down the price, because they
had not fodder at home to feed them with ; and he
heard yesterday of one proprietor who bought, as a
favour, from his tenant, upwards of fifty cows to feed
the hounds in his kennel.—(Loud cries of " Shame,
shame.") The landlords now began to suspect,
he verily believed, that other persons knew
their business better than they did themselves—they
had that virtue of modesty coming over them for the
first time—(Laughter)—and that accounted for the
more moderate tone they lately assumed. They had
doubts whether they were not wrong altogether, and
when they read the speech of Mr. Haughton he sus-
pected those doubts would very much increase.—
(Hear, hear.) There was one part of his speech
which he did not sufficiently dwell upon. He had
shown that the farmers derived no benefit from pro-
tection, but there was one part of the protective sys-
tem, the monopolies of sugar and timber, by which
they were injured.—(Hear, hear.) They paid dearly
for those articles, merely that the landed proprietors
might get up a partnership with the sugar and timber
monopoly in the House of Commons.—(Cheers.)
How many hundred tons of fruit were wasted every
year, which would be made into preserves and con-
sumed by children (and nothing could be more
wholesome), if sugar were sold at one-half the price
at which it had been sold for the last five years ?
(Hear.) But the most important part of all was this,
and Mr. Haughton had not at all adverted to it, that
the many grievances which the farmers had to com-
plain of would never be got rid of, as long as their
attention was distracted by the cry of protection—as
long as that ignis fatuus of protection was held be-
fore their eyes. The farmers were always led away
by this artful cry. The landlord said to them, " Oh,
we must take care of the corn-law, send men to Par-
liament to maintain protection, and we will take care
of your interests." They were thus led to believe
that if they sent a majority to the House of Com-
mons, that majority would enable them to pay what-
ever rent they agreed to give. They had thus no
time fn think how they would get fairer rents, or rid
themselves of the nuisance of game. Tile consequence
was, that the landlords, instead of meeting their tenants
on fair, equitable terms, as men of business, threw
something between them which mystified a very
plain matter—" There is my land, what will you give
for it." Were it not for this cry, the landlords would
have been compelled to grant leases to their tenants,
and to abate the nuisance of game—in fact such a
nuisance would never have been imposed on the
tenants. They would have laid out more capital on
the land, and would have made it more profitable,
were it not for the bug-bear of protection which mis-
led them.—(Hear, hear.) Now he would give an
advice to the farmers, and that was, that they would
not take-leases at present—(Hear, hear)—unless they
got them at a corn rent.—(Hear, hear.) A lease was
necessary to the tenant—to the man who invested his
capital in land ; and if there was no corn-law a man
might with great security take a lease at twenty-one
years' money rent, because under a free trade supply
and demand would be so regulatd that there would
be very little fluctuation in the price of corn.—(Hear,
hear.) But aow that they had a corn-law every one
knew that the greatest fluctuations in the price of
corn occurred. That was a point on which every
sane mind agreed. How had the Scotch farmer ma-
naged to evade the fluctuations in the price of corn ?
advance They
o f y s shoed
the English
that they
fwerefarmers, in shrewdness and
erstwenty-three years in
intelligence in this matter? In 1815, when the corn-
law passed, the Scotch, like the English farmer, be-
lieved that an Act of Parliament could secure to him
80s. a quarter for his corn, and he took land calcu-
lating upon that price ; but when, in 1822, the Scotch
farmer found that the price fell to 40s. a quarter, he
eaid immediately this law is a failure, the system
won't do. That class of farmers who took land,
saaiwda away
; the landlords, we will but when those who
sup-
posing that the 80s. per quarter could be maintained,
swereuece
succeeded d
of coursecam e swepttha
they
not take your land at a money-rent, because Parlia-
ment does not fulfil its promises, and does not secure
the price of wheat which we were led to expect, but as
there is one thing which Parliament cannot control—
the quantity of corn which, by the help of na-
ture, and our own industry, we can grow_
we will pay you a rent calculated at a
corn-rent, instead of a money-rent. Thus
the Scotch farmers showed themselves much
shrewder and more intelligent than the English
farmers. He did not want to flatter the English
farmer ; he wanted to say something homely and un-
palatable to him, till he became a sharper and a wiser
man than he really was.—(" Hear, hear," and a
laugh.) He said it with regret, but he believed that
there were not ten per cent. of the English farmers of
the present day who knew what a corn-rent
meant. The Scotch farmer bargained to give so
many quarters of corn as the rent of his farm.
Suppose he agreed to give 200 quarters of wheat for
his farm. The price of wheat in Scotland was taken
every year in order to regulate the stipends of the
clergy, and at the end of the year the average was
struck by the Sheriff of the county ; and it was the
average price for the year in the county that decided
the price which the farmer was to pay to the land-
lord : well, supposing he bargained to give 200
quarters of wheat. At the end of the year, supposing
the price of wheat per quarter averaged 605., then
the farmer had to pay 6001., but if the price only
averaged 405., then the Scotch farmer would have to
pay only 4001.—(Hear, hear.) Now, what was the
condition of the Scotch farmer under this system ?
While they knew, from the evidence given before a
Committee of the House of Commons in 1835, that
the English farmers declared themselves bankrupt,
the Scotch farmers on the contrary, who were sum-
moned before the Committee, said 'they were in a state
of prosperity with wheat at a price of 395. per quarter.
The reason was, that while the Scotch farmer paid a
rent, calculated at 395. per quarter, the Engli.h
farmer was paying a rent of 645. per quarter.—(Loud
cheers.) What was the condition of the Scotch
farmer at present ? He lately saw in the Scotsman a
report of the East Lothian Agricultural District
Society in the first week in January. That report
stated that the farmers were not in a more pros-
perous condition since 1835, actually the last time
that wheat was dawn to 395. a quarter. Well,
in that very same week, he read in the Mark-
lane Express, a report of the state of the agri-
culturists in Essex, written, probably, by Mr. Baker
himself—(Laughter)—but however that may be, the
report stated that the small farmers were being
ruined—that they were sinking into the condition of
labourers—while the large farmers were in a state of
sullenness and discontent, partaking almost of the
spirit of the labourers themselves—(Hear, hear)—
that the union houses were full of unemployed
labourers, who were actually sent to gaol because
they were so insubordinate in the union houses,

What was the cause of this difference, in ; tion, as that system of the movement of the heavenly kindness—" Sir," said she "I cannot think of accept'
the very same week, between the condition I bodies planned and directed by the Great Creator of ing it, as there are so many who have families to sur
of the English and Scotch agriculturists ? It the Universe who first harmonised the order of the port, and who are as poor as I am, let it be given to
could not be the new tariff, or the Canada Corn heavenly bodies—who' had created the zones, one of them ; I have Is. 6d. a-week to subsist on an,
(Louie
Bill, or the new corn-law, for these affected the frigid and temperate who had given to the promise of a faithful God to trust to—
Scotch as well as the English agriculturist. The the enjoyment of men those countries of cheers)—I have always been able to earn my dailY
East Lothian farmer and the Essex farmer were, in the Rhine and the Rhone, and their pro- bread, and while I can do that my conscience W ill not
this respect, precisely similarly situated ; and the ducts of luxury and necessity, in order that men allow me to take what so many need."— (Continued
Essex farmer had this advantage, that he had a richer should live to bless so beneficent a Providence.— cheering.) Noble creature ! I wish our noblemen,
soil and a better climate than the East Lothian. He (Loud cheers.) The principles of the League were as they are called, by a stretch of courtesy, vscall,a,
had also a better market ; rod, e means of the rail- those which advocated the advancement of free trade, imitate her magnanimity.—(Cheers.) Nay, with til
road, he could bring his produce to the metropolis, and therefore he hoped they would prevail.— their broad lands and their well-filled coffers—thei,
thed,
best market in the world, within half an hour.— (Cheers.) But he should here allude to an article with their hundreds per week, are, per day—they'
(Laughter.) And yet the Essex farmer was in he had seen in one of the London papers, in which a
with all their sources of wea'.th and emolument, ever
a miserable, impoverished, whining state.—(Cheers.) hope was expressed that New York and other towns flowing over them in a golden stream, do not disdain
And why were the farmers of Scotland in a state of of the United States would be bombarded, and sug- to take the very shilling that she refused. for
such great comparative prosperity ?—(Hear, hear.) gesting a plan for such a proceeding.—(Cries of
there are such things as that in the country, it is ic't
One of the reasons of this prosperity of the Scotch " Oh, oh.") They were angry enough when the the League to be up and doing, to keep ever before
farmers over the English was, that they had long hot-headed young Prince de Joinville thought that the public mind the principle alive, by which
leases of their farms at a grain rent, added to which Brighton might conveniently be bombarded. Messrs. such a plague can be stayed—it is for them
advantages they had the others—those bestowed by Peel and Polk had been talking like two blustering also to teach the unscrupulous class their duties.
nature, education, and the kindness of their natural boys about the Oregon territory. And what was I said that they do not disdain to take
that territory that was talked of ? There were some the shilling ; so they have no syrup
protectors—namely, skill, intelligence, capital, and
350,000 square miles of it, of which we claimed a with that poor, but noble-minded woman,
industry ; and these were the reasons why the farmers
barren 100,000. What were they worth ? What and certainly they have no sympathy with her,
when
of Scotland were prosperous, while those of Essex
was all that land worth, without man upon it, his
were not so, though possessing so many more advan- she said that she would try to earn her own living!
tapes of clime and soil over their Highland neighbours. industry, and products ?—(Cheers.) Why, the and trust in Providence. That is net the course thas
—(Hear.) These were facts that should hold good Oregon territory was a desert. It was the Sahara their confidence takes. They are like the old Scotc,h
until they were disproved •; but who could disprove of America—the Botany Bay of the red man's woman who, when the water at the Queeo
th;
them ?—(Hear.) Yet this wag a boast of the Scotch banishment. There are (continued the Hon. Gentle- Ferry was somewhat rough, was told by
over the English farmer that need not exist if the man) now upon it some few hundreds of Indians boatman to trust in Providence, said " Nae, I vil ,
disability imposed on the latter by the law be only and half-castes connected with the Hudson's not trust in Providence sae lang as there is a brig r!"
removed.—(Hear.) Put the English farmer—the Bay Company. There are a certain number Stirling."—(Laughter.) They will not trust Provli:
of squatters from the United States, and then dente so long as an Act of Parliament can be ha.;,
farmer of Essex—on the same footing with Scotch
there are Indian tribes there, who rejoice in such 'f hat is their bridge at Stirling, hut I think it sys"
farmers, and he would be able to accomplish quite as
names as " Flat-head," " Slit-nose," and " Pointed-
much.—(Hear.) But this the English farmer never
could do, this improved and improving farmer he never heart." The buffaloes are the lords of the soil, un- go very hard but Peel's Corn Bill will be little
better than a bridge to carry them over to the shores
could be, while he permitted himself to be treated as less the game-laws of the Indians shall make it other- of free-trade. -(Cheers.) Such cases as these
wise. It is a territory of no value, and to quarrel show the propriety of the appeals made 11
the down-trodden slave—to have the burden kept
upon his hack—to be dealt with as the weak and about this ? Why, you might just as well be in- the League to the women of Great Brits
puling child, instead of the upright, independent vited by Peel and Polk to fight about the mountains We have been told that the League ought not tci
man.—(Shouts of applause.) Hitherto, Englishmen in the moon.—(Laughter.) Let man have some- drag their countrywomen through the dirty waYs °
thing to do with it—let those who can find no pro-
bed been treated as if they were inferior to Scotch• party politics. I should like to know who made the
men in intellect and intelligence, and they would fitahle home go there and use their labour in the "`ad's of politics dirty ?—(Laughter and cheers.) rr,he
cultivation of the soil, and as the numbers increase, League never did that—they never perverted leg
deserve a continuation of such treatment if they
bore with it.—(Hear, hear.) What he (Mr. Cobden) and a stimulus is given to exertion, it will soon tive power to sordid purposes—they need not be afri°,l;
become valuable, and when man has occupied it, when or ashamed to call for woman's sympathy and woman'
and those who acted with him wanted was, to raise
industry has then driven its car of peaceful conquest help, assured that she will honour herself much sae!
the English farmer from the state of degradation
about the borders of that vast land—when towns have by contributing towards the destruction of the cans.
that had been forced upon him by law ; and if those
men only felt and appreciated the nature of their risen, and cities with their thronging numbers— of misery than by merely adding a little to charitie.3
true position, it would not be long before they would when the Rocky Mountains are tunnelled, when rail here and there, which pull a leaf or a twig
be easily able to recognise in the League those who and canal have united the Atlantic and the Pacific, of the poisoned tree, but leave it still to stain;
had their real interest at heart.—(Cheers.) He did when the waters of the Colombia swarm with steain. amidst its baneful influence spreading des°L,a,
not think that there at all existed that distinction be- boats, then will be the time to talk of the Oregon ter- tion around the soil in Which it is Plaelt 9
tween the farmer and the manufacturer that had been ritory ; and then, without a regiment or line-of-battle The spirit of the League has been found fault va
s,
ship, without bombarding any town whatever, free
imagined. He conceived that the farmer should be hut it is difficult to please those people. I have sonsert
trade will conquer the Oregon' territory for times had the honour of a personal notice—in fa' oil
in the same position as the artisan in the town, and the
and will conquer the United States there is one journal that has stereotyped the repo_e
same remedy that gave relief to the one should also re- us,
for us, as far as it is desirable, either for us or of what I say here, for is it always the same nusi
lieve the other ; and he trusted that the time was not far
them, that there should be any conquest what- sentence, namely, that I entered into my ~o.ns°l,/,
distant when the farmers would be identified with
ever ?—(Loud cheers.) Free trade will establish tirade against the aristocracy of the country. a•'°do
the inhabitants of the towns in this one common I wish just to say a word upon this subject.
cause for the advocacy of free-trade principles.— there all the insignia of conquest. The products of
(Hear, hear.) Heretofore the farmers had been that part will come here, and we shall send the re- not profess to be a very enthusiastic admirer of the
placed in a false position, from the fact of their hay- sults of our labour there in return, and there will aristocracy. —(Laughter and cheers.) For P,lie
scarcely be a labourer that will not bear on his back, legally constituted aristocracy of my country I have
ing joined the landlord class in hostile array to the
working classes, under the mistaken and most erro- to his very shirt, the livery of Manchester. The all that love, and all that reverence, which the 1510
knife with which he carves his game will have the of my country require ; and is it my duty to btas
neous belief that the interests of both were not iden-
tical.—(Hear, hear.) But this error was fast disap- mark of Sheffield on the blade, as testimony of supre- more ? But I have never come here to express nit
macy ; in every handkerchief which waves on the banks
pearing, and he did hope that he would ere long, and opinion on the aristocracy or Suffrage question, of
of the Missouri will be waving the English banner of other great questions which are put into tempo r 5,
before the League had had many more meetings,
have the pleasure of hearing that numerous, indeed, Spitalfields.—(Cheers.) Why they will be con- abeyance by the Anti-Corn-law agitation—huts4e,
quered—for they will work for us, and what can the abeyance from which I trust they will some day elm
were the names of those who had followed the ex-
conquered do more ? They will grow corn for us,
ample of Mr. Haughton and Mr. Lattimore.—(Loud For we are looking with expectation that is not to
and they will grind it and send us the flour for our less valuable to us, as we see clearly that this que'dis.
cheers.) He (Mr. Cobden) congratulated those gen-
tlemen and the friends of the League upon hearing use. They will send us whatever they can produce, must be disposed of first, and the sooner it is
that j
and that we want, and there would be no necessity •posed of the better.—(Hear, hear.) But all to.
those gentlemen had enrolled themselves in so good,
for putting our hands in our pockets in order to pay have ever said here about the aristocracy, has uj-ja
so noble, and so just a cause. They, as well as those
a governor who is for ever quarrelling with the re-
who had long advocated the cause of free trade, said of certain members of the aristocracy, n:1,,„. of
presentative of the people, or for soldiers to bayonet their capacity of aristocrats, but in their capaeley
were able to boast that they had never acted towards P
the multitude.—(Cheers.) There is nothing on
the landlords in any other than a fair spirit, though tradesmen.—(Hear, hear.) In that character t-,
e sot
the landlords could not say the same for themselves. earth worthier the name of empire than ..re, I apprehend, most legitimate subjects ca ~oe
—(Hear, hear.) Yet though the working classes this. It is a noble kind of dominion madversion here.—(Hear.) A man is not to ]ate
had been shut out from the enjoyment of all those —less degrading both for the one party and the any special exemption because he keeps a chan?„' be
other, but less degrading than any sovereignty that shop and cheats his customers, though he should m•
benefits which it was in the power of the landlords to
confer, the latter should not have to say that they rules over men by armies. But it is not only from a member of the aristocracy. This is what 1 co
nation to nation that the uniting influence of the plain of. They keep a great chandlers'- shop, s sial
were kept out from the free-trade men • but they
principle extends, but from class to class, where the everything most needful to the people in its sae
were always ready to receive their aid in the advance-
alienation is perhaps sometimes greater than amongst then pervert their powers of legislation to ftlos 0
meat of this great moral struggle.—(Hear, hear.)
But whether they joined them or not, the League those who dwell in the most remote latitudes. We the community pay the more.—(Hear.) There,'" the
would never change their principles—(Hear, hear) have very much need of the application of this time when trading was thought inconsistent with did
—they would go on steadily and perseveringly, and Principle to this country, as may be seen in the ex- position such men occupied. The feudal baronstoe
when they had at length arrived at the consummation perience of the last three years. Let there be two not mind robbing with a strong hand, but would ssia
away contemptuously from tricking
of their labours, which, beyond all doubt, could not or three bad harvests in succession, so as to send up with ent"bo
be far distant, it would then be acknowledged by all the price of corn to such a price as it attained some weights and protecting duties. So far back obo
parties that they had, by their perseverance in this years ago, and what becomes of the prosperity days of Elizabeth, the intellect of the country tbs
of which there has been so much boast. It is for us marked out for derision the trading propensity fhera
great and mighty struggle, achieved a great
to look in time to the prevention of a recurrence of feudal aristocracy, and in Beaumont and Flew Ga•
r
and tremendous triumph.—(L'oud cheers.) It was
not by ignorance of the duty they were called upon those tremendous calamities which have already oc- play of the Beggar's Bush, a dispute between. 5...,,5i.
to perform that they could achieve this triumph ; but curred, and, in our prosperity, I confess that I see tain military gentleman, proud of his aristocratic yi,be
by acquiring and promulgating a thorough know- reason, abundant reason on every hand for further tion, and a couple of merchants is portrayed; test
ledge of those facts and arguments that spoke so exertion to mitigate the amount of wretchedness with aristocrat tells them that of this he is certain:, oa
strongly in their favour; facts which were not de- which that prosperity is likely to be attended. For " once yini buy and sell your gentility is
rived from any class or any country in particular, but in this metropolis what is the condition—l will not upon which the merchant retorts—" no, no, 'ti,', bal
which were applicable to, and should affect, all classes, say of hundreds only—but thousands and thousands? Poor argument—don't you, the lord of the s°'",,ille
all countries, and in all times. The Hon. Member What is the state of the habitations of the poor ? and sell the grass, the corn, the straw, the „i WO
sat down amidst deafening and prolonged cheering. Nobody would live in a hovel that could hire a decent the cheese •;" and then the other merchant e.5,-iteavr,
Mr. W. J. Fox next presented himself, and was house. I met, a short while since, with the report " and the butter—remember the better—a'beering),
of r. ~F .-... .-0111.8,;,,un societies—the City London out the butter"—(Long continued c . wino
received with loud and continued plaudits. He (Agri- Mission—the Spitalfields Auxiliary of that ' rrus- and from that day to this ' borne in ,
it has been savers./
erne. butt
menced by saying that, now that those meetings were sion's report, at the commencement of the that the butter should not be left out. --AY asp
about to be suspended for a time, in order to give present year. The book, after alludingthe The only •
to
place to other modes of disseminating the an- illness of one of' the missionaries, goes on to say that a is smearing all butter with the filthiness of tar, 11:4,5,
nouncement of the progress of their cause ; second missionary was shortly after seized with an is not of our own production.—ar, hear.) ill'oudi
virulent attack of fever. Another of these cases cc- when the Nobles became tradesmen—wen mil the
and as the topics of the day in con-
cue from visitations,. not from visiting a particular became dealers in various commodities—whe us 0
nexion with the free-trade principle had, infected tu n'ti et
room, but simply from continually inhalingmemory of the Plantagenet)
serves only cry°
here and elsewhere, been continuously and malaria in an undrained
district.
A third missionary better barter at Mark-lane—it is high time t°,,,s'' itli.
amply discussed ; it seemed to him not to be unde- was in a bad state of health, by which he could' only-
that the people of this country are unfairly dealt; eist
sirable that the general principle on which the League make his visitations at limited periods, as was the I never picture to myself a, Duke of Richmon''obil
had been founded, and above all, the objects, the case with the fifth and the sixth missionary, and the with his coronet on his head, and a corn sample 1051 if
achievement of which it had in view, should be passed seventh missionary, in Spitalfields, was entirely laid pocket—with a salmon in his right hand and a wOtio
I
up for a period of '
eight weeks. That illness oc- bottle in his left, and enthroned upon i; theo4,
in review before the meeting.—(Hear, hear, hear.) curred in spite of of butter—(Loud laughter and cheers)—and tbs /11"
They had assembled here to-night for the purpose of for
no
in
sson every precaution which was taken,
i ary was received into the mission who study his figure as I would Quarle's Emblems, A Oil
being reminded, that it was essential to keep ever in was not in the prime of life, and who could not show coronet is ornamented by legislative powers, an tb°
view the great truths by which their efforts had that he was in a good state of health. Here, then, are used to enact protective duties. The coronet e-The
hitherto been guided, and by a close adherence to is the plague that requires to be stayed. symbol of high rents and high prices for grain'ssalcel
which they could alone expect success would crown I know that there are propositions for sanatory legis- coronet, thrown into the scale with salmons 1,:aot;
cation ; but all the sanatory legislation in the world the fih-eater pay more. The coronet fills ta_uropei
their efforts.— Hear, hear.) Founded in truth and
will be useless if you do not mitigate the poverty thins of the whisky-bottle - and, last of all, the °or
justice, as their cause was, they had gained
many that is locked up in unwholesome situations. You Pokes a hole into the firkin of butter, in order t°4l
converts to it ; and there could be no doubt but that are only touching the outward symptoms of the dis in the pitch and tar.—(Laughter and great cheer•so°
it would eventuate in a most signal triumph.—(Hear, ease, without improving the condition of the sufferers, Why is this abasement of all dignity of station°, vor
hear.) And, however varied might be the opinions of and you drive them into yet closer habitations. of all majesty of legislative power ? NVe cann°tot for;
You keep them in pestilential courts and corners, look the character of the tradesman—we cann
~ssle'
those who concurred with them in some points, and
and you give them no amendment to their condition. get one character in the other. We must c°,la tbil
differed from them in others ; still it should be ad- The missionary who makes this report makes the fol. the whole, and not isolated parts and hello` espooi
mitted that the League were not a political or party lowing statement :—The extreme poverty and fie- peers of Parliament the corn ' the peers of pedlars-- .yes
body of men.—(Hear, hear.) They were not quent destitution of the Spitalfields population pre- se ors
of the Constitution the conservi‘ti hide
a body of men who advocated one line of cents further difficulties in the way of their instruc- canary seed—the lords of the land and the a tlie
argument to-day and another to-morrow, but they tion ; for when the cravings of hunger are in- of the lard—the Knights of the Garter 01104
were men who belonged to all phases of politics and All flicting pain on the bodies of the people, knights of the grease-pot.—(lmmense laugas
classes of society.—(Hearaear.) The bond of their they are naturally indifferent to such matters. Very It is well that there are men of different o°' „ab°
union was based upon principles as solid and lasting many are familiar with these circumstances ; and temperament in that body—that there are those 00°
as those of the British Constitution, as enduring as when the missionaries speak to them of religion, (slightly altering the burden of Robert Burns-ceee
time, and as certain of success as was the inviola- while they are wanting bread, think that he is making song) can say to themselves, and a few noble
bility of the maxim that " truth was omnipotent and game of them. One missionary found, during the panionions—
.... .._ - - _ .. . sf the last winter, a poor woman ver- " A Lord's a man for a' that."

01
ietl _ of

must prevail."—(Loud cheers.) The principles on
which the League was founded were as simple, yet
as true, as any proposition in science ; there was no-
thing in them calculated to entangle or embarrass
the most sincere and earnest mind. One of those
principles advocated the justice of the axiom that
the working people should sell in the dearest market
and buy in the cheapest—that they should assist
their neighbours—and that the exigencies of the
State should not be met exclusively from the earnings
of the working classes.—(Hear, hear.) These were
the principles of the League, and they were so
plain and explicit that nobody could deny their
truth, except some few who, in the mortification they
felt, declared that they took more to heart their own
cause than the cause of the people.—(Cheers.) Now,
on the other hand, some of the most eminent men of
the day had laid down as just, and had advocated as
inviolable, the principles he had enumerated.—(Hear,
hear.) A gentleman from the United States, who
now sat near him, had put into his hand a document
which had just issued from the press in that country,
and which advocated the same cause that the League
did, with this difference only, that here in England
the farmers advocated the cause of the landed interest,
while in the United States they did the direct con
trary.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) One passage iu
this book put him in mind of the story of the fig-
growers
in Columbia. In that country it was at one
time imagined that the fig would grow there as luxu-
riously as in Turkey, provided that " some protection
should be given to native industry "—(Laughter)—
" and if it were, America would be found to be even-
tually the greatest fig-growing country in the world,
provided encouragement should be given to native in-
dustry in this particular, in order to enable certain
parties to cultivate the soil to such an extent as that
they could grow figs "—(Laughter)—or, in other
words, if a war should break out, in which America
should be compelled to act on the defensive, those
who laughed at her for attempting to grow, under
" protection, " that which belonged to their soils,
should say, "Oh, a fig for America."—(Laughter
and cheers.) However, there was some hope for the
future in the fact that there was to be no figgery in
England—(Laughter)—and if there was not, then
the only difference that existed in this respect be-
tween England and America was, that in the latter
country the people had declined the cultivation of a
luxury, while in England, a class had refused
an abundant supply, on fair terms, of one
of the first necessaries to human existence.—(Cheers.)
In fact, the principles on which the League was
based were as old as political economy itself, and,
therefore, the arguments in favour of the new doc-
trines of protection could not stand good against
them ; and, therefore, to deny their truth would be
to deny the truth of the political economy doctrine
(not that he should wonder at such an attempt, for
the hardihood with which such assertions were made
now-a-days was proverbial.)—(Laughter.) But, in
fact, the principles of the League were not only as old
as those of political economy, but bore a date coeval
with that of the first order of things, and were as true
in their object, and as harmonious in their organisa-

severe weather of ;tie las.. , A poo.
ill, without a particle of fire, with scarcely an article
of clothing to cover her person, and literally perish-
ing for want, and he dared not direct her attention to
the Saviour, or the Bread of Life, until he had first
saved her from starving, by furnishing her with the
bread that perisheth.—(llear, hear.) The case of
that woman is in a curious way, but most un
consciously on the part of the writer of the
report, connected with the assertion that has been
repeatedly put forth by the advocates of the League.
How came the poor creature in such a condition, so
that to speak of religious matters under the common
simile of food was looked upon as a mockery ? The
report then tells us that the woman was a widow,
aged 36, and was by trade a chair-bottoiner and
Lucifer-match maker. She had one child thirteen
years of age, and one married daughter. Her husband
died about twelve years since, leaving her with three
small children, one of whom shortly afterwards died.
For the first six years she comfortably supported her-
self and family by slop-making, but at the end of
that time wages were reduced, and eventually she
was thrown out of work and a distress for
rent- followed ; and for five weeks herself
and family had to sleep in a cupboard.
For six months previous to the report the utmost she
had earned in one week amounted to 3s. 6d., and
sometimes it was only 2s. 6d., out of which she had
to pay 2s. for rent. Now, I request your attention
to the date. That poor woman lost her husband
twelve years ago—that is, twelve years from the
winter of 1844, when the missionary found her. For
six years after that she supported herself and family.
The twelve years bring us back to the year 1832, when
the price of corn was 58s. Bd., then 525. 11d., then
465. 2d., then 395. 4d., then 48s. 6d., and then
555. 10d. That was for the firstaix years, when this poor
woman managed to maintain herself and family in com-
fort single-handed. But, says the missionary, wages
at the end of that time were very much reduced, and
then followed the distress for rent, the seizure of the beds
and the starvation that happened. In 1837 and 1838,
when the distress commenced, the price of wheat had
risen to 645. 7d. a quarter; in 1839, 70s. Bd. ; in
1840, 665. 4d.; and in 1841, 645. 4d. There is the
history of the suffering of this poor woman—the abi-
lity in one case, and the inability in the other—the
comfort of six years, and the misery of six years fol-
lowing. Well, there are men such as Sir R. Inglis,
who support similar societies to this I have referred,
who talk of cold-hearted and muddle- headed econo-
mists who go to the root of the evil under which this
poor woman laboured. They are cold-hearted and
muddle-headed because they do not look at the outward
system merely, because they do not take a superficial
view of the causes of the poverty and distress which
exist amongst the population of this metropolis, and
of the country at large. I cannot dismiss this report
without adverting to another case, and for a very dif-
ferent reason. One of the missionaries relates the case
of a woman who had been out of work for some time;
the superintendent made an order that she should
have a shilling a week for six weeks. On her being
informed of this she expressed her thankfulness for the

Those are the men who, conscious that socib.o
done much for them, are desirous in their tse
doing something for society—who have sellab 1/,
the responsibility of their station, combined 111" o°l
sense of the responsibility of legislators—vvbo itr,ede/
ennobled by their title, but who ennoble their,tithei,
who redeem the name of the class with whit deb
are associated, and to whom the rest must be i° "„-t Dei
that the name of " hereditary nobility" does 11`.'t,/./
come a foul stench in the nostrils of hutilll'A' to
(Loud and continued cheering.) But I 0115 e
There,
turn to the point whence I started.
he a cessation for a time of these nieelo°ool°
—they will be suspended, but the exertions 0' ootr
whom you have so often heard here will be 1,0
tinned—these exertions will not be suspended;coooll
from night to night, as the opportunity willbero:,
they will endeavour to impress en the Melliure
the Leg;slature the principles which they dec`os%
this meeting ; their words will go forth bYilteretst
the press throughout the whole length fal", 10:"
of the land, teaching millions of the peoll'e °coll'"A#
country, and millions of the people of other -re;
d tfr
tries, their rights. These lessons will be
throughout the continent of Europe and Off: std
wide Atlantic, and all at last, struck by is
plicity, earnestness, truth, and information, "le;
determined in the pursuit of that great objec, 5 co//
down the spirit of party, and deprive 111° s9t;
of all its grace and ornament, until Pt gi44
in deference to public opinion, they lrll9l,o„,scV
up those odious and ill-gotten gains, and 1/-I'n
this ill advised measure.—(Hear, hear.) Of
meetings will be suspended, but the exertioosti° tbQ
individuals, and of others in co-operation wit",,,
will not be suspended,—as the season advanc-
i4
will toil at the good work, passing with tile IP<
of steam from one part of the country to sli°tisfro
taking advantage of that gloomy spirit of diss9osst
tion—that restlessness of inquiry, and that lirelll
conviction which is becoming more and Ill°r,ehef
lent among the body of the tenant-farmers; -hey Ivo/
argue with those who will hear reason; 51,
warn those who appear infatuated; they vv.4.1 her
that they have only the good of all classes f1yi,,017.,
and they will continue their labours untiriog ',pert
taay success attend them.—(Loud cheers.) 0,40130
meetings will be suspended, but its Pv.r°l3ret,
tor
Members will not abandon the rights whic`i Of.;11
industry has a right to claim. Specimens ° jas rlof
industry, British skill, and enterprise and ge".ooo4i
be presented lyre for eontemplatibn sP`.l,
what our people can do ; demanding atteo9)
those who can admire art and ingenuity, foluue reswo
ing with mute but eloquent arguments fog et
ration of industry to its rights, that those j.iot
capable of so much skill and exertion Ingle si°.to
without recompense, and that they may big°0
,3 1111,
and suffered to compete with freea ipeeoo
the inhabitants of other nations. These ccaloo
the .sti • ,
ings will be suspended, but
alts co
of events will still proceed, the a pa
of cheapness and dearness—of prosper eci
)
lamity—the course of events which has Shalt"