The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-06 00:00:00

rabtea Xbittiort

,‘1 UN-OFFICE, Seven o'Cloch.

THE ANTI-CORN-LAW
CONFERENCE.
(THIS DAY.)

(Continued from our Afternoon Edition.)
Mr. Taustrost, of Coventry, said that since the Con-
ference had last met in February, the distress in Coventry
bad been of a most appalling character. He felt reluc-
tant to present himself again to the Conference, believ-
ing, as he did, that the callous-hearted aristocracy were
determined to goad the people to rebellion, in order to
• govern by the sword.—(Cheers.) He considered it was
a mark of moral degradation for a freeman to have oc-
casion there to make these complaints. , It was a proof
of our individual selfishness.—(Ckeers) We were
now suffering the penalty cif our former apathy. The
middleclasses,and the aristocracy 'had locked themselves
up in private, and had neglecfraltheir duty to suffering
.humanity.—(Cheers.) Ike was astonished at the apathy
of the metropolis on this subject. London should recol-
lect that, though sloe was the metropolis of the empire,
yet she depended upon the provinces for her prosperity,
and if they were ruined she must fall.—(Cheers.) The
working men of England were men of untiring energy ;
they were the producers of wealth, and they were
starving. Was it ever to continue so ? Would the
Wople never learn to rely on their own energy, and de-
wand to be fed themselves while they feed others?—
(Cheers.) If the Government could not relieve distress,
why did it inflict it?—(Cheers.) If Sir R. Peel could
not give us commerce, why did he legislate on the sub-
ject of commerce at all?—(Loud cheers.) The great
error of our legislation was that it was too multifarious,
too multitudinous.—(Loud cheers.) The principle of
commerce was simple, and the Legislature ought not to
meddle with it. The aristocracy of England polluted
everything it touched.--(Cheers.) The Church was the
religion of Mammen—Mammon was the god of the
Church.—(Cheers.) The law entrapped the weak flies
of democracy, and let the strong aristocracy break
through its meshes— (Loud cheers)—and commerce,
too, times polluted by the touch of the aristocracy.—(Loud
cheers.) There was a general feeling existing among
all classes that the repeal of the Corn-laws was not the
toily thing to be effected, but that there must be a tho-
rough constitutional change in the House of Commons.—
There must be a union between the middle and the
working classes.—(Loud cheers.) The only remedy for
the evils we were suffering was the removal of the cause,
which was class legislation.—(Cheers.) He would now
enter into the statistical details of the distress existing
in Coventry. He would commence with the poor-rates.
In 1837 the amount of poor-rates collected in Coventry
was 9,9841. ; in 1838 it was 9,2661. ; in 1839, 9,9141. ;
in 1840, 9,9821., and in 1841, 12,976/. ;
showing an increase in the amount of poor-rates within
the last twelve months, of 3,0001. The number of per-
sons excused from payment of the poor-rates, on ac-
count of poverty, amounted, in 1837, to 580 ; in 1838, to
496; in 1839, to 527; in 1840, to 587, and in 1841, to 1,000.
In Coventry there were a great number of charities
which distributed thousands every year, Another rea-
son why the poor-rates were not larger might be ac-
counted for by the manner in which the franchise was
held in Coventry. There were 4,000 persons possessed
of the franchise, and if one r.,ithem received one farthing
from the poor-rates he, became disfranchised ; and so
much regard had they for the right that they
would rather suffer any privations than sacri-
fice it.—(Hear.,) The debtors in the gaol, in 1838,
were 23; in 1,439,28,in 1841, 90; and up to June, 1842,
67. The criminals in gaol, in 1838, were 198 ; in 1839,
276; in, tB4O, 358; in 1841, 291; and up to June 11,
1847,, 163. But the increase in crime had been greater
tbsn was here represented, inasmuch as there was a dis-
- -pute between the parish and county of Coventry, which
would be settled in London on Friday next, several per-
sons having been taken to the county when they ought
to have - been taken to the city. At the
sessions held in 1841 there were only eight prisoners to
be tried ; in 1842 there were twenty-three. During
January and February of the present year there were
41,980 loaves of bread, weighing 41bs. each, and 40
tons of coal, distributed amongst the poor. These
loaves cost the sum of 1,351/. 14s. 9d., and were all
expended in ten distributions. To show how careful the
Bread Relief Committee were, they passed this resolu-
tion—" That in all cases in which the average earning
was 3s. for each adult above sixteen years of age,
and Is. for each child, no relief shall be given, except
in the case of illness and old age. Looking
to the mode of distribution, and considering the amount
of voluntary subscriptions, they would at once see the
ex'ent of the distress, and since that time the distress
hed increased. No one scarcely had a better opportu-
nity than he had of witnessing that distress. His
situation was that
~of a furniture broker. Day
after day individua's came to him, asking him
to purchase their feather-beds, and exchange them
for flock. In a short time the flock-beds were ex-
changed for straw, and at last they sold the straw-bed
find lay upon the floor. Yesterday morning before he left
Coventry, having been too late for the train,
he went back, and while he had been away an
individual had. balled, and he said, " Mr. Taunton I
want to/. You have known me twenty years. I am a
member e,si a Dissenting congregation. I never was in a
Publle-'nouse more than once or twice in my life ;
and I never was intoxicated. You know my cha-
. meter for industry. I have worked hard forty
years, and unless you assist me I shall have the
bailiffs to-morrow, and we must all go to the parish."
This state of things frequently came under his (Mr. Tann-
ten's) notice. The gaols were full, the pawnbrokers were
full ; the workhouses were full, and the people's bellies
were empty. The failures which had taken place
amongst the ribbon" manufactures amounted to 50,000/.
Thousands of the working men were walking about the
streets, with a sullenness far more awful to those in
power than the mere expression of momentary revenge.
—(Cheers.) This state of things was certainly sapping
the very foundations of morality, and destroying alt the
moral principles of humanity. This was a fearful and
awful state of things, and it was the duty of every man
to stand up and use his utmost power to meet the
exigencies of the times. The reduction in wages had
been at least 50 per cent. since 1819 in the ribbon trade.
The watch trade was also in a fearful state. The
-wages in that trade had been reduced since 1836 at
least 25 per cent., and in some cases not one-sixteenth the
amount of the wages were paid now' compared with the
wages of 183 G. It appeared to him that the time was
past for talking. The time was come to do something,
and he would tell them what to do.—(Cheers.) He
thought they ought to proceed at once to appoint a Com-
mittee of Public Safety in the metropolis—Cheers)—and
induce, every Delegate from the country to pour in such
facts as would organize such a body of public opinion,
us would create the utmost odium against those in
power, and compel them to yield. The experience of the
gate of other empires behoved them to take their stand in
time. He knew that there was likely to be a coalition
shortly between Sir It. Peel and Lord John Russell—
between the Whigs and Tories, • and God speed the
work.—(Loud cheers.) May there be a union of the
aristocracy at once.--(Cheers.) We should then see
the monster with but one fat:, and not Janus-like looking
first one way and then another as circumstances re-
Tuired. As to what Sir_Robert Peel 'Would do, he (Mr.
aunton) had no doubt that be would turn to anything.
He was a political cameleon; under every new circum-
stance he could change his colour, and was as con-
temptible for his mutability a:. for the baseness of his
character.—(Cheers.) Had not the working classes and
the middle classes reason to speak vt ith unqualified con-
tempt of the House of Commons.—(Cheers.) Had it
not been returned by gross bribery, had they not
all of them declared such to be the case in the
House of Commons. Had not the aristocracy of England
• and as) the money bag aristocracy brought about that
consummation ? Had they not caused thousands of
honest and'independent minds,by threats and intindda-
tion, to commit mental treason against their country ;
and would they not abominate that system that scared
men into vassalage and curses them with
slat ery that maddened them into lunatics, and drove
them to acts of incendiarim, and if they did not die
•upon the scaffold they were sent to foreign lands, or
else dei ver ; made paupers and buried as such. Talk
of the Ge..ernment, the great principle of the Poor-law
was to Vireo nqn to work for their living, and the great
principle of; the Corn-laws took from them the power of
working.4—(Tremendous cheering.) If the aristocracy
'would set the example of not eating without working,
every one would be glad to follow the example. He did
not anticipate such universal prosperity from the repeal
of the Corn-laws, but it was one of the strong-
'holds of the aristocracy, and therefore he opposed it ;
added to this, was its gross injustice. (Cheers.)
He knew perfectly well that the people of England
would not much longer submit to such a state of things ;
but such was the fanaticism of the aristocracy that the
thunder. might roll and the lightning flash, but they
would heed it not until, like the Antideluvians of old,
they were swept away by the storm.—(Cheers.)
Mr. TAYLOR, jun., as a Delegate from Coventry, felt
bound to say a few words to the meeting, notwithstand-
ing the excellent speech that had been made by Mr.
Taunton. He would not
,go over a,gain the statistics
that Mr. Taunton had brought: forward, but he
wished to state to the meetig the striking dif-
ference between the number of debtors and cri-
minal prisoners in the gaol of Coventry, du_
ring the last two years and the previous ones. The
number of those prisoners during the last two years was
greater than the previous six. ,He considered the dis-
tress in Coventry was especially worthy the attention of
the meeting, considering the trade carried on there was
a home trade. The plan on which legislation was car.
tied on was one not of justice, but mutual plunder.
To talk of protection was a farce, because the fact was,
that as each class receded from the aristocracy, their pro-
' tection was diminished. But it was said the working
man was protected; so he was, but how ? Why, bythe
new Poor law, and the water-gruel diet.—(Cheers.)
What was Sir Robert Peel's tariff, was that intended to
do any good for the poor ? certainly not, because it re-
tained the duty on sugar, and other necessaries, while it
gave way to the susceptible corkcutter and bootmaker.—
(Laughter.) But then it was said, that Sir Robert Peel
felt for the distresses of the country, and that, as a proof
of that, the proclamation 'for collections in the different
churches might be appealed to. Now, for his own part,
• he thought that the . time for making clergymen Pru-
Corn -law lecturers had passed away.—(Cheers.) He
considered that there was a fearful responsibility upon
the shoulders of the present Conference. Their pro-
• Ceedin
gs and the speeches delivered would be looked for-
ward
to, not by thousands, but by tens of thousands. !
adopted, would either give a ray of hope The comse they
.
Cheers.) • They must
• despair in the country,—(
litumr that they were determined not to flinch •
:1114. :wigs° • they had chalked out—(Cheers) j j
*vet