The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, I ON DON. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1842

e to the people of England for the state of the country.
But there was mention made in the speech of the state of
joint-stock banks. Let them recollect that was what pre-
vented the prosperity of trade.—(Hear, and laughter.) Then
there were the improvements in machinery. These improve-
ments are charged as the cause of the mischiefs of manufactur-
ing specu'ators. What wicked men they were to speculate.—
(Laughter.) But there was not one word of landlords' specu-
lations. Now, why should they not get up parish committees
to ascertain whether the landlords had or had not too much
rent ? If it could be proved that the manufacturers had made
any profits at all, that was immediately produced as evidence to
show that their. demands for more were unjust. •Now from
what he had learned from those who had preceded him, he be-
lieved that a man had a right to all that he could honestly get;
and there was no reason to say to a man I should think
he had already made enough. If a contr ,ry principle were
established, the time might come when the people might turn
round on the aristocracy and tell them that 2001. a year might
suffice for any man. But the depression of trade, it was said
was accompanied by an interruption of our relations with Ame•
rica; and the distress in the Unite I States arose from the ope-
ration of causes similar to those which last produced our war.
That reminded him of the story of the sailor boy who, when
asked by his Captain that he was doing, replied, " no-
thing," and When another was asked what he was doing, he
replied, " helping Jack, Sir."—( Laughter. 1 So it was said
that there was nothing doing in England, and in America they
were following our example. And .that was given as a reason
why we were to continue to do nothing. It was added that the
diminution in the demand from the United States arose in some
degree from its monetary embarrassments. He (Col. Thompson)
supposed our refusal to take their corn had nothing to do with
the matter. It was very certain, however, that a man who might
not be able to pay in money might be able to pay in articles of
subsistence; and our refusal to take the corn of the United
States, might have caused an unfortunate irritation on the
other side of the Atlantic, and only corresponding with our own.
They could not put an end to the distress in the United States
--they could not prevent the cessation of a steady demand from
the United • States, nor prevent their monetary embarrass-
ntents, under the existing state of our relations with that
country. But the Government might put an end, by wise legis-
lation, to the interruption of our trade with America. Again,
it was said that commercial distress and embarrassment were
inseparable from the nature of commercial transactions. That
was the assertion of Sir Robert Peel ; but he might as well
have told them that men (lied and worms eat them. That,
- hOwever, was no reason why their tountryhouses should be
closed; and why their pro-perity should he allowed gradually
but certainly to decline, England, too, was a country in which
a large portion of the people were dependant upon the pros-
perity of trade for the means of subsistence; and yet it was
supposed that, the interests of the working-classes could
be separated from the interests of manufacturers. That
was ' a fallacy into which he was sorry to say some of
the working men hail fallen. He believed, however,
that few of their men really belonged to the working class ; he
believed they were a set of melt hired to play the part of
mummers.—( Hear, hear.) At one meeting he had seen three
men and two boys whistline, who called themselves the repre-
sentatives of her Majesty's Pro• Corn-law opposition.
( Laughter.) Yet these men called themselves the mouth-
pieces of the working classes; while the real working men
mate forward and tr ld them 1 hat what they wanted was a cheap
loaf.—( Hear, hear.) He had no doubt but there were indi-
vidual manufacturers who might have made an improper use
of the power which their position gave them over those who
"creed them ; but the
.good sense of the nation ought
riot to allow some private and individual errors to be brought
forward as a ground for maligning a whole clam—
( Hear, bear.) Sir Robert Peefsaid, that "although very
great distress did most unquestionably exist, there was
no cause of despondency as to the future prosperity of our com-
mercial greatness." Only let things go on as they were, and
the Prime Minister would exhort them not to despond.—
( Hear, hear.) But what invitation was there to go on when
we had lost nine-tenths of the commerce of Europe, which
might have continued our ownif legislation had not interfered
to prevent it? The Corn-law was framed upon the principle
that commerce and trade were to be depressed, except in as far
as the landlords were to receive the benefit of them. When
the day came for trying the converse of that proposition, let
them not forget that that was the tendency of the language of
the Prime Minister in the day of his pride and prosperity. The
agrictilturists, according to Sir Robert Peel, were not opposed '
to a modification of the Corn laws. He (Colonel Thompson)
knew some agriculturists who would not oppose a total repeal of
the Corri-laws.—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") There
were some long-headed men among the agriculturists, 1
' end there wire• many of every other class. There were some
of them. in that room—men whom he (Colonel 'I hompron)
knew-to be of capacious heads. There we: e also great tern--
serial possessors both in the House of Lords and in the House
of Conmoris, who had good sense enough to know that their
interests were bound up with the prosperity of commerce.
llonour to these men, and a speedy increase to their numbers.
—(Hear, hear.) But, according to Sir Robert Peel, 'it was
impossible to satisfy the free traders " There were, perhaps,
ein that asSe.nbly many gentlemen who hail come to London
with exaggerated fears of the thieves of London, and who were
surprised to find that they escaped in their walks with their
pocket-handkerchiefs. • But it would seem they should have
been satisfied with half the pocket-handkerchief. It was im-
possible to satisfy the free-traders who demanded the removal
of all protective duties—who asked to escape with whole
pocket-handkerchiefs. They should have surrendered the half
at least to their plunderers.—( Hear, hear.) There was,
however, another subject worthy of notice. It had never been
shown—it never could be shown—that whatever sum was
levied for the purpose of protection, as it was called, was not
twice taken from some one to be given to somebody else. And
the principle of the Corn-laws was to take a shilling out of the
rocket of the manufacturer to put a sixpence into that of the
landlord.—(Hear, bear.) Sir Robert Peel proceeded to say—
" There remains then the parties who advocate a fixed duty
upon the importation of foreign, corn." Now of that class of
persons there were two descriptions—there were those who
wanted to stop there, and there were those who wanted not to
stop there. He apprehended that any one in that room who'
advocated a fixed duty, advocated it with a view to a final
abolition -, and he should not, therefore, dwell long upon that
part of the subject. Sir Robert Peel, turning to those who
i advocated a fixed duty, said—" The same .silium was surely to
ibe attached to a fixed duty as to a' variable one." There was
odium, then, incurred by those who left the passenger without
the whole pocket-handkerchief in the practice of their par-
ticular vocation.—(Hear.) Sir Robert Peel went on to say—
" But the true test of the matter, was not the com-
parative prices of food at home and abroad, but the compara-
tive amount of the enjoyments and comforts of life which each
individual labourer could command." Why, what was the
compare:ire amount of the comforts and enjoyments of life
possessed by the workmen of Bolton ?—( Hear, hear.) By
the men whom he had seen in that town thrusting their heads
into corners and dusthelea, to find nothing more of softness
that a dusthole could bestow? The comparative amount of
the cimfo-ts and enjoyments of life, quotha ! Let each of
them go home to their villages and towns, and hunt up the
comparative amount of the comforts and enjoyments of lite, as
a proof that the Corn-laws ought not to be removed. In giving
extracts from the evidence of Dr. Bowring, the Mini,ter
contended that the labourers of England were able to
command a larger share of the comforts and enjoyments of life
than the labourers of the Continent.—(Disapprobation.) Sup-
' ewe that they did—was that a reason, why you should take
' from them all you can squeeze? Did Sir R. Peel suppose,
' that, even if it were true, it was a reason for stopping the
progress of their ledgers, of their sales abroad, and preventing
the employment of their operatives at home? Why, if that
were the case, they must shut up shop, or if not exactly that,
must carry on a little business, instead of a great one. Looking
at all this, did not this meeting see that if anything like pa-
triotism was left in . the country, it must consist in ousting
these men front power. —(Tremendous cheering, renewed
end continued for several minutes.) But, thank God, they
had at last got them to a point. The bull was at last brought
to the ring, and they should now see what metal he was made
of.- The question was brought to this :—Shall there be any
, ommerce allowed by the law of the country ? Shall all the
industry, all the wagei, all the population that might by every
possibility be called forth and supported by commerce, be pro..
hibited and forbidden to exist ? There had been much said of
a work written on what was called " painless extinction," in
which a number of men had.incurred perhaps justifiable
odium, from advocating this " painless extinction." He knew
not what it meant. It was something that ought not to be,
he did not doubt; bet what wa, it compared to this general
painful extinction ?" Here was a population under the pro-
cess of being carried through all the various grades of misery
of Which human nature was capable, the men of Bolton were
re sually dying of the experiment of bow much dirt a man was
capable of living on. He had seen a wretched bird perishing
from the ignorance of children, who did not know the quantity
of misery it was capable of supporting. Such was just
the case with the population tney saw perishing under
their eyes. When the gentleman whose evidence was unfairly
brought to establish a case against them, gave a true and honest
account of the slate of the population of the borough Iv, repre-
i,i-inctl, "liar" was the genteelest term he was saddled with.
'I hit alone w ould show them the line every man had to march
through who took this view of the question. But six weeks
ago " liar" was the term put forth by the satellites of the Pre-
mier's press against the gentleman whom they had themselves
appointed to discharge an honourable duty, and who had insisted
en doing it honestly and creditably ; and the same abuse must
be sustained by all men of the same opinions. But he goes on
to say, that " the argument founded on the prices of food at
home and abroad is fallacious." It was fallacious if it was put
in a fallacious manner ; but taking it to be correct, it did not
touch the fact that for every shilling given for food by the ope-
rative,.you turn through his hand another shilling, which is
sr nt to the landlord in the shape of rent. And there was a
great fallacy which had been often offered to the operatives,
and to which too many of them had submitted; they had been
told that the tax paid to the landlord was the security
frir their wages; now, if those could be weak enough to admit
that -what was taken from them in the shape of a tax to the
landlord, a tax on the operative's food, is a part of the wages
of the operative—if some of them had been deluded to believe
' this, it was for those who had some leisure, and better
Means of information, to discuss the foul fallacy, and disperse it
to the winds.—(Cheers.) Well, then; what had they done
after all this? This, they might suppose, must lead to some-
thing. What is it? Nothing! What is at best? Why, a
Partial reduction of the scale; but the sliding-scale
with
all its ingenious dishonesty, is preserved unharmed an'd un-
e,uched ; something was done in the way of altering the degrees
of the scale, calculated, he observed, with peculiar ingenuity,
as ith reference to the present time, appearing to promise some
ui arte
tmusttime.
e . bes
itrh ert
.c opneseelq u
appearede nc e ? ItVo, htyh,i
think
thatk :h allna.
crease rree
ae
se
or
(vi e
ad
t.
telief at the actual moment, lent the evil principle was there
tl.e agitation that might have been diminished now, will be i
a futl' W
if he obtained temporary relief he might go on for a certain
time, and then, he presumed, there would be a necessity for
more starving operatives at Bolton, more widows, more'
orphans, with none to care for them ; more men living, as he
had seen them, on pennyworths of mutton, and half-
, peneyworths of bread, and all -the while these men
were looking on, riding in their coaches, while
they were living on the life-blood and sinews of their fellew-
citizens ; all this while, too, they were calling themselves, and
being called by others, what by courtesy they were termed in
the House of Legislature, and felt xi° shame in meeting the
eyes of their countrymen in the streets. There never Was a
more barefaced injustice, there never was a robbery so large
totomited with such palpable evidence of falsehood and wrong.
—(Cheers.) To this demand for relief it is objected, that
" it seems as if it was a law of nature that there should be
these several periods of scarcity and abundance, succeedingE
each other; not single or alternate years, but certain periods.
They knew that this was true, they knew that thistles greW
is one place, and nettles in another, and, if great care was
tee taken, sow-thistles would grow over all. But what is all
t ei. but fudge, when compared with the vital interests at stake?
V. lay, they,had always known that there must be periods of scarcity
a.:d periods of abundance, and,assensible and honest men, they
(eight to encourage commerce, in order to relieve those periods
of scarcity. But there was an objection to the occurrence of
periods of abundance ; they keep us at the scarcity point, that
we may be reducer:l to the necessity of giving a famine price,
in order that we may pay, as we do pay, a great portion of
the earnings of our honest industry to the landlords'
rent. But you were born, as our Amercan brethren
Virase it, to the possession of natural and water-born
privileges, you ought not to consent to a confiscation of a half
or .a quarter of your means, to be put into the pockets of those
mho had the power to make the laws. Why, if any other set
af'titen wire in the possession of:power—if all the manufse.
turing operatives had the power of making the laws—could
they make any worse ?—(Cheer s.) It the sailors .of a ship—
if the common soldiers of a regiment, had the power of law-

makir.g, could they make such laws for reducing a great
country to a little one ?.--( Loud elieekg.) He sayi to that 'a a
fixed duty in abundant seasons would discourage their home
agriculture by bringing down the price." What is done by
the home manufacturer? He gets such prices as he can,
and calculates his outlay accordingly, and if he is disappointed,
like an honest man he puts the disappointment in his pocket.
He is never heard going to the landowner to make up the de.
ficiency. But the I indowners, it seems, must have two bags,
and those bags were the right and left pockets of the manufac-
turer—(Cheers)—and they dip their hands into them when-
ever they find it convenient. There were perhaps some altera-
tions in the plan; as many, probably, as amounted to the dif-
ference between a silken halter and a hempen one ; but it was
a mere change in the mode of doing mischief. It was a great
comfort, no doubt, that there was some alteration in
the scale, and when they came to examine its amount, they
would find that there had been just enough agitation to
take down a third of the evil, and they would he encouraged
to think that a little more agitation would bring down the
whole.—(Cheers.) And if they wanted to hasten the re•
moval of the whole, they must threaten the enemy with
going
advccate the taking a large retribution on
the landlord: ; how many would follow him depended on them,
andintegritythan
not en himself. But he did utterly scout the charge of insin-
cerity and deceit, and what not, which was launched by
the Piess against the advocates of the system ef compensation.
He would not launch accusations of insincerity and deceit
against any man. Let them advocate the total repeal of the
Corn-laws. Though they-were told that such men were never
heard of—men who would accept of no compromise. Let us
tell them that we will compromise, but only to this, that a full
retribution be taken for us for the evils of the existing Corn-laws.
Twenty-four years' bounty on the importation of foreign corn
would be a just ate! adequate compromise.—( Hear, he-kr.) Out
of that they had his full consent to compromise if they thought
it would aid the,attainment of their object; but he would-op-
pose all compromise out of any thing else. And, now, having
applied himself at some length to this subject, the meeting
might not be aware with what he was going to conclude. He
bad first to read the resolutions adopted at a meeting of thedele-
g-ttes which was held last night, and then to propose th-at they
s:tould be adoptel by the meeting. The delegates walked,
about 600 in number, to the gates of the Hou e of Commons ;
decent respectable men ; ne was sure not one of them had
ticked a pocket. —( A laugl..) Only 100 obtained admittance—
( Several voices, " Not so many ")—the others were locked out.
It was within his memory, that the last time Sir F. Burdett
was elected, his Tory mob, horse and foot, went in procession
to the House of Commons, and when he (Colonel Thompson)
who was a Member of that House, arrived there, he found the
lobby filled with his infantry—( Hear, hear)—who wore his
co'ours in their hats.—( Hear, hear.) On that occasion the
House ef Commons had no objection to allow a mob with elec-
tion colours to enter within its walls: but when 600 gentlemen
the representatives of the oppressed country went to the House
of Commons, they were treated uncourteously —they were
treated unhandsonaely—(hear, hear)—indecen:y was thrust in
the face of each of them, and that House had declared itself to
be what they had found it, what they would find it, and what
it always would remain till they had altered it. Those who
had gained admission waited till the close of Sir R. Peel's
speech, and then adjourned to Brown's Coffee-house, and, after
set ious deliberation, judged they ought to express their opinion
as follows :

" At an adjourned meeting of the Anti-Corn-law Deputies, held
at Brown's Hotel, Palace-yard, at half-past seven, this evening—
Resolved unanimously—

" That, in the opinion of this meeting, the measure announced
by her Majesty's Government, on the subject of the Corn laws, so
far from holding out the slightest prospect of any relief of the dis.
tress of the country, is an insult to a patient and suffering people;
and the Deputies view such a proposal as an indication that the
landed aristocracy of this country arc destitute of all sympathy for
the poor, and are resolved, if permitted by an outraged people, to
persist in a course of selfish policy, which • will involve the destruc-
tion of every interest in the country. _

" Palace yard, London,
" DUNCAN M'LA REN, Chairman."
Wednesday Night, Niwe o'Clock.
" At a second Adjourned Meeting of the Members of Conference
at Brown's Hotel, at nine o'clock P.M., the Deputies took into con-
sidoration the course which should be pursued in the present posi-
tion of the question, and unanimously adopted the following Reso-
lutions, as e;tpressire of their opinions, and agreed to recommend
them to the sanction of the General Conference :—.

" That the Deputies now present having further deliberately
considered the proposition of her Majesty's'Government on the sub-
ject of the Corn laws, this evening announced in the House of Corn-
mons, deem it their duty, on their own behalf and in the name of
their constituents, to record their emphatic condemnation of it, and
tht it solemn protest against it, as a total denial of the just demand
of the people of this country, and as evincing a determination to
perpetuate an oppressive and unrighteous system, together with all
the essential evils which have hitherto resulted from the operation
of the existing Corn.laws."
" That the Anti-Corn-law Associations throughout the United
Kingdoin, and all other friends to an immediate and total aboli..
tiori of all duties and restrictions upon the necessary food of the
people, are earnestly requested to take mea,.ures for expressing,
without delay, in every constitutional manner, their hostility to
the proposed measure of her Majesty's Government, and their
fixed and unalterable determination not to relax in their exertions,
until a measure of complete justice is obtained; and to consent to
no compromise of the sacred principle upon which the agitation for
the abolition of the Corn-laws is based."

" That to the end that every available support may be
given to Mr. Villiers in his intend•:d resolution for the total
and immediate Repeal of the Corn and Provision.laws, the
Deputies recommend that all petitions be forwardcd im-
mediately fur presentation, and that any protests or
reiolutions calculated to sustain the Deputation in the approaching
contests, may be forwarded to the office of the Metropolitan Anti.
Corn.laW Association, 448, Strand, London."
" That it is desirable that these resolutions be intnediately
published in the provincial papers, and that the Committees of
Anti.Corn.law Associations be requested to take measures to effect
that object."

" Now," continued the Gallant Colonel, " pull Ministers, pull
people, for you are fairly pitted against each other, and he who
pulls best will carry it.—(Loud cheers.) I propose, that in
sour capacity as the aggregate of Delegates, you adopt and
confirm the resoluti.ns which have cow been read to you."—
('I he Gallant. Colonel then sat down amidst great cheering.)
IlAmEti. STANFIELD, Esq., on rising to second the resolu-
tion, said he ought perhaps to apologise to the meeting for fol-
lowing Colonel Thompson; but, as a Delegate from the town of
Leeds—the capital of the clothing district of the West Riding,
and from which place he had that morning received a petition
sired by 42,9(X) persons—be would consider himself guilty of
a ecreliction of duty if he did not, on the part of himself and
his colleague, pnt in his protest against the nefarious scheme
'propounded last night by Sir Robert Peel.—(Great cheering.)
He did not say " by her Majesty's Government," for he could
' not bear to attach the name of one whom they loved so much
to a scheme which they detested so mnch.—(lmmense and
lotd.cheerine.'. ) The scheme was a nefarious one. Injustice
was stamped on its brazen front. It claimed an exorbitant
trice for the property of the rich at the expense of the poor ;
it never hinted at securing a profit for any other class of the
community,or at providing a fair day's wages for a fair day's
work. That the labourer was worthy e' his hire, and had as
geed a title to it as those idlers whose claims to their property
j were based on artificial rights, seemed not to have entered into
1 the political creed of him who concocted that scheme.--( Hear,
hear.) One of two things was clear, either that the Prime
Minister did not understaud the dangerous position of the
couetry, or that lie was employed by a party to strand She
vessel of the State. He would not, for the honour of huma-
nity, entertain the latter idea, but in all charity suppose that
he acted in ignorance, and really believeethat over production
was one of the great causes of distress. If he had attributed it
to overreaching on the part of those who were entrusted to
nuke the laws, he would have been nearer the mark. Over-
i production ! It sickened one to think that a man invested
. with such great power should have such small ideas.
Did he wish to say that there was too much food and clothing
in the country, while thousands were pining of destitu-
tion ?—( Hear, hear, hear.) The Poor-law Commissioners
told us that there were every year two millions of destitute
people its Ireland, while numbers of poor Ii ash wandered
threugh this land in tattered garments that seemed held to-
gether by a miracle ! Did he mean that these poor people had
plenty of clothing? Did he mean that the people of Paisley
had plenty of food, while 17,000 were existing on charity, and
7,000 of them had not a bed to lie on? Absurd ! He might
mean that there were more goods made than the people had
money to buy ; but who prevented them from purchasing ?
Why, those that prevented them from labouring—from using
their labour, which was the coin given the poor by Heaven.—
(Cheers.) The same party prevented the merchant from ex-
changing his goods with the produce of Amefica.—( Here
Mr, O'Connell entered, and was received with enthusiastic
cheering)—and the starving people of Paisley from purchasing
food by their labour. Who was that party ? The landlords
and their restrictive laws. Paradoxical as it might appear, he
(Mr. S.) would answer Sir Robert Peel, that the present
distress of the country was not caused by au over-pro-
duction of manufactured goods, bitt by an under-production
of agricultural produce.—(Hear, hear, and great cheering.)
It was a fart that as the harvests were good the demand for
berecgaasne,,i.ndltnh
le
81[3, %), ti tisB3o4f , tlhBe3s7rlcBl3la6n, ants
haen chl
atrhve,
slLb owner er
er s
manufactured geods increased. In 1832 the good harvests
suinc--
cessively good.—( Hear, Lear.) In 1836 the raw produce
.was 200 millions, and the manufacturers were not able
to supply the demands that were made upon them, and
the machinery had to work all night. In 1837, 1838, 1839,
1840, 1841, we had bad harvests; the raw produce amounted
to 150,000,000, the manufactured at 200,000,000. From these
and othar facts the Hon. Gentleman inferred, that under-agri-
cultural production, not over-manufactured produce, was the
cause of the distress. Free trade, it was not perhaps ge-
nerally known, had been 4-tiarinteed to this country by
Magna Charta. Mr. M'Culloch had informed us that
one clause in that famous document stated that " all mer-
chants shall have safe and sure conduct to come into Eng-
land, and depart from it, and to buy and sell without the
obstruction of evil tolls."—(Laughter and cheers.) This pri-
vileee was confirmed by several. subsequent statutes, and Lord
Coke distinctly stated " That all monopolies concerning trade
and traffic arreagainst the liberty and freedom granted by the
greater charter."—(Hear, hear.) True, the Lords and Com-
mons might takeaway those rights, and they had done so; but
let them beware. The people of this country resembled those
poor animals who were made experiments on in • the receiver of
an air-pump. At the first turn of the handle they were in
blissful ignorance, but as the handle was successively turned they
moved abo it, and at last Jumped up in agony, struggling for
life. That was the state of the people of this country.
toTo be
or not to be, was now the question ; and if they wished live,
they must redouble their exertions.--( With these
observations, he seconded the motion of Col. Thompson.
Mr. O'Coereest, being now generally calledto on, rose
amidst burl cheers, and said— Having unders o:1 that
that has your
the call been
Chairman has assented to my obeying
express my gratitude for
made' upon me, I first beg to
the kindness that dictated that aa •
.. 1, • My next duty
is to state. to you that I . come here for a dife
exertions.—(Cheers.)
f.rent purpose from that which brought me here last.
On Tuesday I came here to listen—to •clay I come to look at
I come in order to estimate
you.—(Laughter and cheers.)
d ? —(
eses , , ,
but y
you are
might
what manner of men you be.—(Cheers.) This is the question.
ever delude
Englishmen, what kind cf men are you ? Are you crouching ?
—(No, no.) Are and a laugh) ou timid ?—(No, no.) Were you
Well, I have got an aye
words, at last. I said, on the last day, that you would get. no relief,
Y, -a
and I was a prophet. I said also that you would
et
g egotv plentyrds. b ou ft
ndoelduts,liuvseiorwiiordlst,is plain, palpable, and distinct.
andi a scheme-
that
deceive somebody. But I %casein prophet in that. You have
g
You may sing that " Britons never
wl
slaves if you submit to this.—( Great cheering.) My Heaven I
The question between you and the sordidaristocracy—for
so did they are—is whether or not they have a right to tax
your breast. No figures of arithmetic should e.-ilude you. It
is a qdestion of the loaf. It is a question whether one class of
Englishmen shall say to another, " you shan't eat your breakfast
l be s 1 a
until you have paid me for leave with some of the loaf." This is
the question. You have feed enough, and money
enough, but
you will not be permitted to buy it, unless as the landed aris-
tocracy are pleased to consent. Englishmen, will you be
slaves ?—(Cries of " No," and cheers.) Let the echo of that
sound spread from John-o'-Groats to the Land's-end. Let it
be hlard distinctly, emphatically. Let the cry be general and
simultaneous, and you need not cry again.--(Cheers.) You are
in this happy situation, that you have but to speak emphatically, .
awl you need not act. Words are things now. if every
part of el; eted England_if every man whose broad is taxed—
if every man who is not ab:e to give his children an additional
slice, because the aristocsaey step in and take away the `•S,,-.• '
gest part of the loaf--if every such man will .peak loudliis :
simultaneously, and emphatically, how can the aristocracy 1

resist? They may make Peel the instrument of a party,
but whit de we care for Peel or them?--e(Great cheering.)
He may dance Jim Crow, and think that he is stationary
while Ise is twirling round, but if the people are in earnest—and
was there ever a question which so called upon them to be
in earnest ?—it will be impossible for him and his party
to resist.—(Hear, hear.) Tree, he has the Parliament
tolerably well constructed for his purpose. I have heard that
1,500,000/. were expended in bribery to get up the
the present Parliament, and, I believe it is a fact. For a
time I was staggered at the id a that such an amount should
have been laid out by a knot of men for the mere privilege of
trampling over Englishmen and Irishmen. I did not think that
the mere pleasure of dominion, and the desire of a share of
the loaves and the fishes would account for this outlay, but now
I perceive a better reason for it. They did not lay out a single
shilling of their money, which they did not advance as a
manufacturer does his capital. They laid out their
money, it is true, but then it. was to make the
people pay three times as much.—(Crree of " Hear, hear.")
It was a mere pecuniary speculation.—( Cheers.) They were
great men to be sure.—(Cheers and laughter.) They were
descended from Noble Saxons and Normans, although, in
truth, some of them, like the Members of the Delegation, came
from the farm or the spinning jenny—(Great laughter)—and
such were the worst oppressors he knew.—( Vehement cheer-
ing") They secured themselves from apprehension for the
agitation on this question by saying, that there would be meet-
ings at the Thatched Tavern, and at the Crown and Anchor;
but that they would be able to find at those meetings some
people who would not consent to take their breakfasts until
they got Universal Suffrage—(Cheers)—and others who would
bring the libel dew into operation.—(Hear, hear.) There
never was so oligarchical a Parliament. in England as the pre-
sent.—( Hear, hear.) There never were so many Lords and
sons of Lords in the House of Commons ;. and very odd thins
were sometimes done by those sons of Lords.—(Cheers
and laughter.) People heard a good deal of talk
about horse-races aye, and there used to be a
favourite athletic amusement called boxing.—( A laugh.) But
that went out of fashion .by their crosses and sells, and the
Lords and sons of Lords were -row driving horse-races out of
fa hion by the same tricks and crosses --(Cheers and laughter.)
But if there ever was a cress or sell, it was the Duke of Buck-
ingham hat done it.—(lmmense cheering and laughter.)
What did he do? Why, he resigned.—( Renewed cheers.)
Was it because the interests of agriculture were co npro-
mised? Teo ; it was because he wanted to blind the
people.—(Cheers.) It was because he wanted to delede
them into a belief that something good was going to be done
for them at the expense of the landed monopolists —(Hear. )
But what? Were the landlords not satisfied now with Peel's
plan ?—( Cheers, and a cry of " No.") Well, no ; they were
not satisfied, and they could never be satisfiel—they wanted
more, more.—( Great cheering.) But of all the paltry dexte-
rities that ever were played, that resignation of the Duke of
Buckingham was the most paltry.—(Cheers.) And yet who
could tell what the Whigs would do?—( Hear.) He was told
that they were to have a meeting to-day, and he wished to
knots' would they stand upon the fixed duty ? But was not
that a fixed injustice—a fixed oppression ?--( Hear, hear.) It
fully admitted the p-inciple which that meeting contested.—
( Hear, hear.) They were assembled to contend for a Christian
principle—to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to solace
the sick.—( Cheers.) Suppose twenty of them were invited to
dine in the next room, and the dinner was paid for and served
up, and then the Duke of Buckinghare was to come
in, and like the Doctor in Don Quixotte, flourish his wand
over the viands, and say, " You shall not touch a morsel until
you give me one-half, and pay for the other, which is the entire
value of the whole."—( Cheers and laughter.) Should they
not say in reply, " Get out, you swindling rascal ; we have
paid for our meal, and you want to leave us but half and charge
double for the rest?"—( Cheers and laughter.) Now, what was the
principle they were contending for? It was to allow every man
to eat what he had money to pay for, and every other man to
bring him the food which he wanted to sell.---(Hear, hear. )
There is a man at Hamburgh who has corn, which he
wants some one to buy. Now, was there anything more
monstrous anything more wicked than to prevent
a hungry man from buying it?—( Cheers. y But this was
called protection.—(Cheers. .6 Oh, protect me," said the
poor man—" protect me," said the working man—" pro-
tect me," said the mother of a family—" protect me," said
the helpless orphan.—(Tremendous and repeated cheering )
But to talk of protecting the aristocracy, who were clothed
in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously
every day !—( Renewed cheers.) But the poor working
man, whose daily wages were the only thing he had to
depend on, and which he laid out all upon bread, that was
the man who wanted protection, and ought to he protected
(Cheers.) The protection of the aristocracy was the protection
of the slave-nwner against his unfortunate lectim. It was to
pamper them up at the expense of the blond and bones of the
people.—( Hear.) That was monstrous—it cried to Heaven—
.he trusted not for vengeance, but for mercy and protection.—
(Hear.) It was an oppression and injustice unparalleled in
the history of England. hi the time of their ancestors there
had been monopolies. But when Charles granted-monopolies
on almost everything else, he never dared to give a monopoly
of food.—( Cheers.) He never dared to go
.to that, although
his oppressions at length goaded his people to madness until
they bedewed the scaffold with the blood of the unfortunate
monarch.—( Hear, hear.) Oh, God forbid that such—but
no, no; there is no chance of that I She
is safe by the constitution and the affection of the
people.—( Tremendous cheering.) The-death of Charles was
filthy—it was crime—it was madness.—(Hear, hear.) But it
was occasioned by his cruel persistence in commercial mono-
poly —( Hear, hear.) Still Charles never touehed the bread
of the people.—( Hear, hear, hear.) That was reserved
for this liberal and enlightened age, this Christian
age. There were eight-and-twenty Bishops on the
benches of the House of Lords ; and when Christian parties
throughout the land assembled in hundreds and thousands, their
remonstrances against this unchristian oppression wese treated
with scorn, and threatened with a vast deal of puniihment.—
( Hear, hear.) He exhorted the meeting not to desist for a
moment. Every moment's rest they gave their oppres-
sors, the worse they would become.—( Hear, hear.) When an
attempt was made by one of their Kings to set the wishes of the
people at defiance, thee turned the blockheadoff.—(Laughter.)
That was an example of the folly and danger of insulting
the people of England. Some of our nobility might like
foreign air too.—(Loud laughter) Peel's • peech asserted
the principle of that robbery called protection.--(Hear, hear.)
But they were not assembled to contest shillings, but princi-
ples. If Peel's plan were ten times more a mitigation than it
was (and it was no mitigation at all) still it
it could only be said that Peel was afraid of the people, and
that when he had cajoled them to disperse, he would come
in bye-and-bye for something more. —( Hear, hear.) He
(Peel) had said that the aristocracy had a right to tax the
people's bread. Did they consent to that?—(No, no.) If
not, what then would they do ?—( Loud and repeated cries of
" agitate, agitate," during which Mr. O'Connell bowed gravely,
which was followed by great laughter, cheers, and cries
of " Take a lesson from Dan.") In speaking upon that sub-
ject two days ago, •he (Mr. O'Connell) had said, in the words
of a common adage, " that half a loaf was better than no
bread ;" it was understood that he was willing to take less
than the whole principle. He meant no such thing.
He meant that if they granted him the principle,
he would endeavour to work it out, but he could do nothing
with them, or take nothing whilst they maintained Peel's grin-
; ciple, that they had a right to tax the food of the people
( Cheers.) He would say as the meeting said, "agitate."
The sound was familiar to him, and he knew the use
of it before now.—(Cheers and laughter.) . Let there
be a day appointed for meeting in every locality, and let pe-
titions be presented from all, asserting the principle that no
class has a right to tax the others for its own benefit. It need
be in no more than five lines—only they should take care to
have plenty of signatures at the tail.—( Cheers and laughter. )
Let no man tell him ( Mr. O'Connell) that he was in too
humble a sphere to be able to do good. There was not in his
(Mr. O'Connell's) own position in society a more humble in-
dividual than himself, but he had done some good to the public
cause, and to the principle of civil and religious liberty by
forgetting his own humility. By constantly persevering
in the agitation for what was right, he had at
length carried his purpose. He did not presume to set himself
up as an example to others. They would pardon him, he
trusted, for making even a passing allusion to himself, but he
thought it right to throw out the hint for the purpose of en-
couraging others who had higher claims on the people than he
to persevere in their struggle for their rights.—(Cheers.) Let
no day pass without their doing something in the cause in
which they were at present engaged. It was a question of
life and death, and involved the first of all principles. In an-
cient times there were in this country several classes of society.
There were the church and the nobility, the gentry and the
serfs. The people had succeeded in destroying that classifica-
tion of society. They had broken through their bondage.
There were no longer legal serfs. But why should he
say there were not legal serfs if there were some
individuals who, by the authority of the law, were deprived
of the food which they ought to have ? The masters
of the serfs of old, at least allowed them to hive plenty
of food. They took, indeed, alt their labour from their serfs,
but did not the monopolists of the present day also take their
labour from the operatives? Was not their distress ad-
mitted to be overwhelming and universal ? That which was
stated en one side of the House was admitted on the other.
That which his admirable friend, Mr. Cobden—(Cheers)—he
,who belonged to no party, but entirely to the people—asserted
on one tide was re-echoed from the other side of the House.
Coud net Mr. Beckett, from, Leeds, bear testimony to the
desolating nature of the public distress? Could anything be
more clearly admitted than that the present distress was over-
whelming and universal in the manufacturing districts?
Where was the Goshen—the green spat—the oasis in the
desert of English legislation ? They could not point te.him one
district in which the operatives were prosperous and earned a
sufficiency of wages. No. It was, on the contrary, one sandy
desert of desolation. That fact was undoubted. It
was the effect of the way in which the value of their
produce was diminished—of the lessening of their manu-
factures—the stopping of their factories!. They were
every day growing in that respect poorer and poorer ; and their
desolation would soon be complete. There was a ludicrous
story of a Frenchman, who endeavoured to bring his horse to
live without food, and when he had almost succeeded the ani-
mal died. That was something like the experiment at present
sought to be tried on the people of England by the aristocracy.
They were seeing how long the people could go without
food, or live upon alms—those people who would
indignantly scorn alms if they got an opportnnity of earnittg
wages. Did the statesman who had been selected by the aris-
tocracy at the present moment tell them that he had ally relief
to give them ? Did he say that he would stop the progress of
starvation? No. He said no such thing, and if he did, they
would not believe him.—((,;teat cheering arid laughter.)
He pretended to be a great doctor. Sortie months
ago he gave himself out as, what the Indians called a me-
dir.ine-man—(Laughter)—vmd he said if he did hot !et his fee,
he would not prescribe. But now he had get his paltry fee
he had been regularly called in by the pampered aristocracy;
and what opinion had he to publish—what remedy tf pre-
scribe? Why none whatever. Wei 1, then, he (Mr. O'Con-
nell) would address them in the language which he had often
addressed to his °An immediate countrymen--
" Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not,
Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow."
--(Rapturous and protracted cheering.) Let them depend oti
themselves. Let them agitate—agitate—agitate.—(Cheers.)
They were irresistible when they were combined. He (Mr.
O'Connell) was not the man to introduce politics into the pre-
sent subject. It was what Peel himself said was too awful and
important a sueject to be mixed up with any partisan feel-
ings. He (Mr. O'Connell) did not mean to conceal his
own politics. He did not mean to conceal that he wasathorousl:
Radical. He considered such to be the best in the various
creeds of politics. The conduct of the others was a proof of
the vice of class-legislation. He submitted to those who
differed from him in politics, whether, they believed if all the
people were represented in Parliament, they would have an
elints'er daring to tome. forward._ to say that the 3dis-
tress of the people Was overwhelming and universal,
and yet admitting that he •had no remedy to offer?
Was that distress brought on by the people? No. It was not
pretended that any laziness had come over the people ; but it
was admitted that the governing' powers were the cause of the
distress—the governing powers who crushed the people. It was
also admitted that no class of men in the community ever com-
ported themselves with mote tranquillity, more decorum and
orderly obedience to the laws than did the operatives of this
country. What crime then had „Englishmen been guilty of
that they shou'd be sentenced to starvation ?—( Hear, hear. )
The rulers of the land had, in a great measure, abolished the
punieloeet.: f death in detail, and tht.y did well. But
now they ::."as ht to inflict that punishment by wholesale.
The people of England were now engaged n 2 a glorious