The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-02 00:00:00

to supply the whole population, it follows that, bow-
ever much a man may work, he can get only a por-
tion of such food as there is to divide, and that some
must go short. The man who works the hardest,
who gives the most valuable labour, will get the
highest wages in such circumstances as this. Skilled
artisans have got more wages the last five years than
the unskilled, and they always do. Take a man with
a spade, the lowest sort of labour, in which a man
becomes proficient in a few weeks, for, in fact, it re-
quires little more than muscle to dig—and he will get
the lowest wages. Take, next, the hand-loom
weaver, who can learn the trade in three or four
months, and whose children, at twelve or fourteen, can
weave as well as himself—he gets low wages also.
Take the Sheffield artisan, or a first-rate mechanic is
Manchester, or a person in a business that requires a
long time to perfect himself, and who gives valuable
labour—that man will get more, in the time of scarcity,
than the great body of those- whose labour is not
skilled. Thus, when there is a state of scarcity, look-
ing from the top to the bottom of the scale of society,
you find the large mass at the bottom pressed almost
into the earth by the present state of things, from
which no power can redeem them unless you take off
the restrictions on the importation of food, and
increase the whole amount, so that the un-
skilled labourer shall purchase it at what would
be the natural price in the world's market if inhuman
laws did not restrict the supply.—(Cheers.)
What extension of trade can be expected from the
peace with China, for which, perhaps, your church
bells were yesterday ringing ? I trust that the news
of peace is true, for nothing can be more horrible
than this butchering of men either in the name of
commerce or on any other pretence.—(Cheers.) But
where will be the immediate benefit to our trade of
the peace with China? We have sent as many goods
to China during the war as before. And if we now
send ten bales of cloth, or bundles of yarn, or casks
of hardware, where we sent one before, what are we
to bring back ? Tea or silk, probably. These are
their principal articles ; and if we bring ten chests of
tea instead of one, what will it benefit my workmen ?
They cannot live on tea, though they like it; and,
unless we can change the tea elsewhere for necessary
food, they can have no great benefit. Mr. Bright
further pursued the subject, and the conclusion of his
speech 'was marked by loud and continued cheering.
HENRY ASIIWOUTII, Eaq., in comparing the present
position of British trade in connection with that of
America, remarked—Look at the position of your
export trade with America. You find that the Ame-
ricans, finding the effect of our Corn-laws, have esta-
blished their tariff, which has acted perniciously on
you and us. It has fostered the manufactures of
America and injured this country. We are the authors
of that regulation, which has ruined our trade ; at the
same time I would remark, that in the late American
tariff extravagant duties have been imposed. There
are people who say, that now we are relaxing our
Corn-laws, other people are tightening their tariffs.
How is that? I will tell you as far as I can judge.
The Corn-law imposes, at this moment, 20s. a quarter
duty on the wheat of America, which, in the interior
of that country is not worth 20s. Yet, while we are
imposing a duty of 100 per cent. on their food, we
murmur when they impose only 30 or 40 per cent. on
our-goods. The people of America are now in a fair po-
sition to give us a large. portion of corn, beef, pork,
and other commodities, if we will receive them. I am
aware, that in the interior of America there are par-
ties who have produced more than they can consume,
and have no market for it. They know not what to
do with their produce, or how to purchase our com-
modities. A workman, in my own service, went to
settle in the United States in March last. He chose
to return : and after beating about for some time, he
began to dispose of his furniture, spate clothing, and
other articles he had taken out with him. Ile sold
them for double, treble, and some five times as
much as they cost him. This proves that they want
our manufactures. When he arrived in this country,
he found that a barrel of flour, which he could have
bought there for 12s 6d., cost here 285., having a
duty of 12s. 6d. Thus the cost of American corn is
doubled to us, and the prices of our goods are much
more than doubled to them. How long twenty mil-
lions in England, and sixteen millions in America,
will look on as idle spectators of a system like this,
remains to be seen.

Mr. CoBDEN—(Loud and enthusiastic cheering)—
My friends on my left have placed me in an embar-
rassing predicament, which your kindness in thus
receiving me has rather increased. The three speakers
who have preceded me have so exhausted the subject,
that it is not in the power of any human being to do
more than repeat the good things they have already
told you. I rather think that, in future, I shall re-
frain from visits of this kind with my friends on the
left, unless by previous engagement I am allowed to
have my turn first.—(Laughter.) Of all the range
of topics on which they have treated, my friend Mr.
Bright said he had left something for me to say on
the question of foreign trade. That question in-
terests the town of Sheffield as much as any town
in the kingdom. I have heard, to my astonishment,
that you have exported one-half of your manufactures
to the United States alone, so that with your exports
to other countries, you almost entirely depend
upon foreign trade. Under these circumstances,
I must say, not wishing to say anything un-
courteous or affronting, that you have shown a
great degree of Christian meekness and Jong-
suffering, or we should have heard something of you
in Manchester, rather than we should have come to
tell you how our foreign trade is affected. One would
think that when our Legislature set itself to make
laws to prevent you from trading abroad, as well as
the rest of the industrious community, that your first
response would be an indignant repudiation of their
right to interfere with your industry, and that it
would have been repeated in loud and forcible terms,
till the Legislature took its unholy grasp off your in-
dustry. How would it be if Parliament passed a law
to prohibit any Sheffield goods from passing into
Northumberland, that Newcastle, Sunderland, and
Shields should he cut off from the trade of Sheffield ?
Not the smallest manufacturer who sends out a tra-
veller, who takes an order or two in the course of the
year in one of those towns, who would not be in arms
against such an enactment ! Letters would appear
in the newspapers; public meetings would be called;
and one unanimous burst of indignation would be
manifested at this invasion of your right. But what
have you been allowing to go on ? The Legislature
has`cut off your trade with the continent of Europe
and the whole New World, and you have never
raised your voice against it. They have as just a
right to interfere with your trade to Northumberland
as to interfere with it to the United States. It is no
part of the province of the Legislature to tell you,
manufacturers of Sheffield, where to buy and where
to sell. The Government passes the bounds of just
legislation when it attempts to interfere with the
rights of industry in any such way. But this has
been done, and I need not say that it has injured you
to an enormous extent. I shall not go over again the
proofs you have had of the injury it has inflicted. It
has been done on the pretence that it has been done
for your benefit. They dared not have done it with-
out. You have allowed them to injure you and mock
you into the bargain, without raising your voice to
show that you were not duped. You have some wise
men among you, calling themselves by some political
nickname, who tell you with a grave face that no
harm is done—that if you were allowed to trade with
America, America would not trade with you ; and
that if you send out goods, you will not be able to
find customers. Then what are we contending about ?
What is the reason of the great clamour made by the
aristocracy, if no harm can be done by a free trade in
corn ? Are these men so short-sighted in matters
affecting their pecuniary interests, that they have been
mistaken as to this matter, and have passed a law
which has exposed them to obloquy, and placed the
institutions of the country in danger, and all this
under a mistake, and in pursuit of a mere chimera?
Do you think it was a blunder, made by the keen-
eyed and far-seeing monopolists? At least I may
contend that you might have the option of sending
out your goods, or not, without having it settled for
you by the Government. Take the option : require
the freedom to go where you please, and that it shall
be left to you to make goods to suit your customers,
and to promote your own prosperity.—(Cheers.) I
do not care what the tariff of this or that part of the
world may be; if it interferes with the direct trade,
trade is not to be repressed by such interference. We
may have a circuitous trade, if we cannot have a
direct one. If you cannot trade with America
directly, you may carry cutlery to China, and, ex-
changing that for tea, exchange that tea again with
the Americans for corn. You may carry cutlery to
Brazil, and purchase sugar, and carry that sugar to
Russia, and purchase wheat. That would be a good
transaction, and what worse would the corn be for
having been purchased with sugar and tea, instead of
cutlery ? This is the sort of trade we are now carry-
ing on with Russia. The tallow and the hemp of
Russia are npt exchanged for our manufactures ; but
we purchase the sugar of Brazil, and the indigo of
the East Indies, and send them to Russia, to the
profit of all parties. Let us carry out the principle, in
regard to corn, as we do with tallow and hemp, and,
directly or indirectly, you will find customers for
your cutlery in every part of the world. What are
the requisites for trade between two countries, but
mutual' wants ? What are the countries which, of all
others, we should prefer as customers of England ?
They are the newly-settled States, whose population is
rapidly increasing ; and of all parts of England, what
portion ought to find customers more readily than those
who make commodities required by new communi-
ties, who especially require iron implements, which
are the pioneers of civilization ? The very instru-
ments which cut down the forests, and till the fields,
and with which growing manhood must cut his
beard, will come from Sheffield.—(Laughter.) Those
are the countries with which England must find her
chief foreign trade, and they are the countries in
which Sheffield must expect to find continually in-