The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-27 00:00:00

MEETING, at WOUVEREIAMPTON.

On Friday evening, the 23d instant, a public meet-
ing was held at Wolverhampton, for the purpose of re-
ceiving John Bright, Esq., and R. B. Moore, Esq.,
delegates from the Anti-Corn-law League. The
meeting was held in the Music-hall, many ladies at-
tended, and the room was filled.
John Barker, Esq., a county Magistrate, was called
to the chair, supported by Joseph Walker, William
Walker, Benjamin Walton, J. Bradshaw, S. Cart-
wright, H. Walton, Alexander Walton, and other in-
fluential gentlemen of the town.
The CHAIRMAN read a letter from the Hon. Charles
P. Villiers, one of the Members for the borough, ex-
pressing his great regret that he could not leave Lon-
don, but strongly urging the importance of support-
ing the League.
Mr. THORNELY, M.P., was received with cheers.
He said it afforded him the highest gratification to at-
tend this meeting of the inhabitants of Wolverhamp-
ton. He had been absent from the country, as many
of them were aware, since the prorogation of Parlia-
ment. Fourteen years had elapsed since his previous
visit to the United States of America. Among
the changes which he had witnessed there,
nothing surprised him more than the great
extension of manufactures. It was stated to him by a
gentleman largely engaged in the wholesale dry goods
business in one of the large towns—a business includ-
ing cotton, woollen, linen, worsted, and silk goods—
that he estimated the stocks of the importing houses
to consist of 30 per cent. of English manufactures,
5 per cent. of German, 10 per cent. of French, and 55
per cent. of American goods. Now, he had not the
least hesitation in declaring that one great cause of
the increase of American manufactures, and the dimi-
nution of British goods, was the restrictive system of
this country, and especially the operation of our Corn-
laws. Indeed, one mercantile house of very long
standing, with whom he conversed, remarked that,
when they began business, upwards of thirty years
ago, they had no difficulty in keeping one or two
ships regularly employed in the Liverpool trade.
They loaded them with flour, staves, tobacco, and
flax-seed, but, they added, "an alteration in your
Corn-laws and your timber duties cut off the expor-
tation of our flour and staves, so we abandoned the
trade, and have devoted our capital to manufactures,"
and they produced samples of cotton goods, the pro-
duce of their works. These gentlemen, no doubt, from
their change of 'position, had become what is called
high tariff men ; and, in fact, a very powerful high
tariff party now exists in America. On the subject
of the corn trade of America, he (Mr. Thornely) had
visited the town of Buffalo, a port of considerable
business upon Lake Erie. It is here that the wheat
and flour which are brought down the Lake are
transferred to the boats upon the canal, which con-
nects Lake Erie with the Hudson River, above New
York. He found wheat putting on board the canal
boats, and, on inquiring the price, was informed it
was 70 cents, or 2s. lid. sterling, per bushel of 601bs.
He wished the meeting to Understand that to get this
wheat to England very heavy charges would have to
be incurred, as canal and river freight, freight across
the Atlantic, and commissions; but he made the
statement to show that abundant supplies of cheap
wheat could be had in America. He would mention
one circumstance to show the extent of the internal
navigation of America, which should always be borne
in mind in considering the importance of the Ameri-
can trade. When he reached Lake Erie he had travelled
upwards of 500 miles, but upon inquiring the distance
from thence to Chicago, for which a steam-boat was
to sail the next day, he was answered 1,000 miles.
He really did not believe the statement till the course
was pointed out upon the map, when it appeared the
steamer would have to traverse the whole length of
the lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan ; and on her
return she might collect wheat and flour at all the
various ports which she might touch at. He then
visited the town of Rochester, standing upon the
Genessee River, about ten miles from Lake Ontario.
Here were many manufactories and flour mills, work-
ed by water-power. The price of wheat was here 75c.,
or 3s. 2d. per 601bs. A gentleman who was an ex-
tensive dealer in wheat, and also a proprietor of flour
mills, Wormed him it was impossible to trade with
England under our sliding-scale ; in fact, .he said,
" Your sliding-scale is a trap, and half the losses sus-
tained by houses in Rochester have been owing to
your sliding-scale; and we support our tariff because,
excluded from your market as we are by the Corn-
laws, we wish to raise up customers, by establishing
manufactures at home." (Loud cheers.) The
meeting was, no doubt, aware that the Ame-
ricans had lately passed a high protective tariff.
This, in his judgment, was highly impolitic. Ame-
rica, like the rest of the world, would be most
prosperous under free trade, and he believed it had
'already been found by the working of the new tariff,
'that it would neither sustain the price of goods nor
yield the revenue required by the State. He had
omitted to mention that, at Rochester, he conversed
with some English workmen, from whom he learned
the rate of wages. Labourers were receiving 50c. to
75c., or 2s. ld. to 3s. 2d. per day; and an English
bricklayer told him his wages were a dollar and a
half, or 6s. 3d. per day, equal, at the price of wheat to
two bushels per day—the man added, that from the
severity of the frost he could do no work in the
winter; but then he added he could earn enough in
the summer to maintain his family without work in
the winter. He (Mr. Thornely) had gone into the
market at Rochester, and found the price of the best
beef to be 4d. per lb., pork 2,11, potatoes 7d. to 9d.
per bushel. His reason for making these remarks
was, that the advocates of Corn-law repeal had often
been charged with an intention to lower wages, al-
though it was undoubted that the rate of wages
depended upon supply and demand, and that high
wages were compatible with a low price of food. At the
city of Washington he went to pay his respects to the
President of the United States. He was the bearer
of letters of introduction to him, and was received by
President Tyler with the utmost courtesy and affa-
bility. It happened that before he left England he
had prepared a printed statement of the reductions
made by our tariff of the present year, in the duties
on articles imported from the United States. He
presented to the President a copy of this statement,
assuring him how much he was gratified that these
reductions would increase the commercial intercourse
of the two countries, and adding that, from the spread
of free trade principles in England, he looked for still
greater reductions in the tariff; a large party, him-
self among the number, looking forward to a total
repeal of the Corn-laws. The President expressed
his acknowledgments for the printed statement,
which, he said, was an important document, and
should have his attention. He only added, he
did not see how America could import largely
of corn under our present Corn-laws. lie
(Mr. Thornely) would now say a few words upon
the state of parties in America. Next week they would
receive the President's Message to Congress, but this
was the same Congress which had passed the high
tariff, and its functions would cease on the 4th of
March. Now the elections for the succeeding Con-
gress had already taken place, and the result had been
a large increase of the free trade party. The high
tariff would undoubtedly undergo a revision ; it must
be modified, and might possibly be so to the extent of
making it a tariff for revenue only. The new Con-
gress might not meet till the time fixed by the Con-
stitution, namely December, 1843, but it might meet
any time after the 4th of March, if the President
called an extra session. It was then of the utmost
importance that in the coming session of Parliament
the Corn-laws should be put upon a sound footing,
for this would strengthen the free-trade party in
America, and would materially influence the new Con-
gress which would meet next year. He (Mr.
Thornely) should vote for the total repeal of the Corn-
laws. 'Whatever change might take place, should be
adopted at once ; there was not a moment to lose ; the
Americans would not be influenced by speeches made
in England upon free-trade; they would look at our
deeds, and especially at our Corn-laws, for almost half
the American population might be said to be corn-
growers. In regarding America our views should be
prospective—she has already a population 0f18,000,000
—her population doubles in 25 years, so that in a
quarter of a century her population would have
reached thirty-six millions. The gentlemen who
would next address them, Mr. Bright and Mr. Moore,
would direct the attention of the meeting to the evil
effects of the Corn-laws upon our own population..
Re (Mr. Thornely) had confined himself to the effects
produced by the Corn-laws upon our commerce with
America, knowing how much the people of Wolver-
hamptonrh were interested in the American trade. e
Corn-laws were probably the pivot upon which our
future commerce with America would turn, and
hence the importance of dealing with them at once.
Join' BRIGHT, Esq., deputy from the League,
delivered an eloquent address, which occupied an hour.
Mr. MOORE followed, and was loudly cheered
throughout his address, and a committee was ap-
pointed to collect subscriptions in support of the
League.
Thanks were voted to the Chairman, and the meet-
irgEparated.

In consequence of arguments respecting the height
for soldiers, we have taken some pains at various
times to ascertain the relative height of English,
Irish, and Scotch recruits. As far as the Line Regi-
ments are concerned, the Irish have a decided advan-
tage in height. It must be, however, taken into ac-
count, that the Guards, the Marines, and the majority
of the Cavalry and Artillery, are English, and the re-
cruits for these are all of superior standard. It may
then be doubted, if an equal number of tall men were
deducted out of the total recruits raised in Ireland,
whether any difference would exist. In weight the
English recruit has the advantage, the heights being
equal. A regiment of the Line that consists wholly
of Englishmen will generally be .found to average
shorter than either the Irish, Scotch, or the mixed
corps.—Naval and Military Gazette.