The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-05 00:00:00

Erbixt Vaßittion

SUN-OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.

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

Mr. WHITEHEAD (in continuation from our Afternoon
Edition) said—He was quite certain that not more than eleven
or twelve persons were now in business who were in business ten
sears ago. Only five had retired from business during that
period, and of those five he would take one of the most cards!,
one who understood his business well. He was at present a
member of the town-council. He had eaten the bread of care-
fuiness, and he declared that for some years before he retired from
business he had lost 2001. a year. He would then take the
second class of tradesmen, namely, the shopkeepers residing in
the suburbs. It was a lamentable thing to see the condition in
which they were placed. Not less than 400 of them had failed
in the time he had mentioned, and not one had retired from
',business. He could state on the authority of many of them--
no, he could not say many of them in proportion to the whole
cumber, but of five or six—that they could not support themselves
by their business, if they had not other property besides. Now if
these men were to be credited, no one could doubt how much
worse must be the great miss of those who actually depended en
their credit for their trade. It was not to be attributed to ex-
traerdinary competition. He had seen eleven tradesmen, and
they told him that three years ago they received 5701. a-week
in their retail business, and now they only received 2771.
( Hear. hear, hear.) He would just allude to what had fallen
from Mr. Jolinson regarding tea. It was well known that
females had a great predeliction for tea, but it was
an unfortunate thing to see able-bodied men obliged
to take one cup of weak tea, instead of a suhetantial
meal.— (Hear. hear, hear.) They were not to judge of the
.consumption of food by the revenue, for many families did not
know the taste of meat. He could say a great deal about th-
butchers, but it would be useless. He had called upon a
butcher in Leeds to propose one of the resolutions at the meet-
ing to which he had alluded, but he said he would not : and
upon his asking his reason, he said that if he spoke he should
tell a straightforward matte r-ot-fact tale, which not one out
of ten weeld believe. He said, "lam a man of pre-
;perty ; if I tell you I am not living by my business,
you will not believe me ; yet at the present mo-
ment I am not living by my business, and were it not
for the property I possess I should be obliged to fail as
others babe done."—(Loud cheers.) He went to another
butcher, and he said that during the last four years he had lost
500/. by his retail trade. He had had no particular losses.
He slid tie thought ho would do hest if he went out of
business, and live upon what he had, than to keep
,oa his business. This was a most industrious man,
end always paid cash for his stock, therefore he took
him as a criterion, and an authority which he relied upon.
He further said that he would let his shop if he could get
the amount of his fixtures. He would next take the shoe•deal-
erte for the first article of clothes that would be required by a
per son who could afford any at all, was, shoes. One of these
dealers had told him that he used to take SOL , where he now
only took 40/. He had consulted six shoemakers who, two
years ago, employed 104 men, and they now employed 33 men
and one boy. He would then make a few remarks respecting
the drapers, they had suffered more than almost any other class.
He believed that there were but few drapers, not men of property,
who were able to carry on their business. The hatters declared that
their receipts were diminished one-half. Several of them, at
the meeting to which he had referred, had declared that they
could not carry on their business, not in the most economical
manner. The bookseller and newspaper proprietors were also
suffering from this distress. One fact he would mention of a
gentleman who kept a shop in Briggate, the principal street in
the town, who stated that six months ago he sold fifty
dozen a week more of penny publications, such as
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, than he did at present.
The state of things was such as it was impossible to describe.
'she rates and taxes were enormous. In many cases the rents
bad been reduced from 30 to 40 per cent. within the last four
months. He might detain them at much greater length on
this subject, but he feared that his statements had already been
tedious.—(No, no.) But he now wished to make a few ob-
servations respecting the peculiar position in which the ship-
eiwners of this country were placed. It might not be generally
known to the meeting that the tea dealers of the United King-
dom amounted to 100,600, that number including every one
who took out a license to sell tea. If they included all
the other shopkeepers at another 100,000, and allowed seven
to each family, they then had 1,400,000 persons who were in a
fair way of being reduced to a state of destitution and poverty.
The shopkeepers might justly ask, as they did, why were not
their interests protected ?—( Hear, hear.) For his own part
he could see no use in a Government which did not answer that
end.—( Hear, hear.) They saw the Government protecting
the property of the fund-bolder and the property of the lea-
holder ; it did not protect the property of the shopkeeper—
( Hear, hear)—it did not protect the property of the mer •
chant and the manufacturer, and least of all did it
protect the property of the operative. Nor was that
all. The Government, he contended, did not protect
the life of the operative.--(Hear, hear.) Thousands of
.operatives were gradually being brought to a premature grave.
--( Hear, hear.) What, then, were men to think of th Go-
vernment ? Who could respect such a Government ? He, for
one, could not. They were either too ignorant to understand
the true interests of the people, or if they did understand them,
they knowingly legislated for their own selfish purposes. If
They were ignorant, the Constitution ought to be changed
Crthwitle and the people ought no longer to be left in
the hands of a corrupt and selfish Government —if
they really slid understand the question, and knew that
they were sacrificing the interests of the great body of the
people for the sake of a particular class, then there were men
who might charge them in a short time with the crime of
murder.—(Hear, hear.) He saw no difference himself between
the man who met another on the highway and presented a pistol
at his breast; he saw not the slightest difference between that
man and the Government who, for selfish purposes, were
prepared to sacrifice millions of their fellow-subjects. He
had no desire to excite the working-classes ; but when-
ever he had touched upon an exciting topic he had
invariably seen the chord vibrate. They were like a
Sharrel of gunpowder, ready to explode in a moment, bad
they but a dozen leaders to direct their movements. He
held in his hand an extract from a work published by
'sir J. Graham, though not, he was sorry to say, very re-
cenrly.—(Laughter. ) He thought the passage could not he
too roll known. In his pamphlet on " Corn and Currency,"
Sir James Graham stated " that the paramount duty of every
Government is attention to the interests of the community, in
which the labourers must form the great majority. The right
of property is itself instituted, not for the few who possess
wealth and honours, but of the many who have them not. If
the majority are deeply injured, the public peace is in danger ;
if the majority want food, private property becomes a nuisance."
—( A voice, " Well done, Sir James Graham.") Why Sir
James had since changed his principles, he knew, nut. For him-
self, after long consideration, he was confirmed in the opinion
that when the majority wanted food private property became a
nuisance.—( Hear.) Before he sat down, he wished to state a
sew facts respecting his native town—the town of Sutton-in-
jtshfield, in Nottinghamshire. That town contained 6,000
inhabitants and 1,100 houses. Out of the 1,100 houses not
lease than 600 paid poor-rates. The amount of poor-rates was
about Bs. in the pound. A large cotton-mill which had been in
existence several years, had stopped within the last two months.
.The state of the village would be much worse but for the allot ment
system, which had been carried out to such an extent by the Duke
of Portland and others, that one-sixth of the inhabitants had a
-piece of garden to assist them. He had recently been. in the
gown. As he was conversing wlllt a friend on the state of the
{sown, his friend remarked, that only a few days ago as he was
-fusing to his own house he met an individual, whom he
me-warmed by name. He wondered why he looked so melan-
choly, and why he saes wandering about the lane, and ad-
dressed the man upon the subject. At first he refused to
give any explanation ; but when pressed he said, " I
have had nothing to eat since yesterday at noon,
-hut that I do not care so much about ; but
my family and children are crying for bread, and I could not
bear to hear them."—( Hear, hear.) It had been stated by
some one with respect tot he present state of things (he believed
by Sir H. Peel)—that it was the will of Providence that the
.country should be in its present condition.—(Cries of
-" Shame.") He was at a loss to know hOw any rational
--man could make use of such an expression. He really
e thought it was a libel on the Deity to say that it was
.14,,tte Divine will that thousands of our fellow beings
she uld starve for want of food, while there were numbers
.i.„isesg in luxury and wealth.—(Hear, hear.) On looking
.-nroune him he saw that the birds of the air, the beasts of the
field, anti even the meanest reptile that crawled on the ground,
had its wants supplied, and yet man, who was formed in the
_image of his Creator, man who was himself the
el lord
of
«of the creation, was unable to get a mors
bread for himself And those who were dependent
eupon him. It was not the operatives alone, but
tthe middle classes themselves, whose interests were at stake,
,If the repeal of the Corn-laws were delayed much longer, it
Would be of little use to the country; it would he too late to
eceedy the evil ; it would be like shutting the stable door is hen
the steed was gone.
Mr. SPEED, of Leeds, then rose to address the meeting, and
was most enthusiastically received. He had often said, when
.called before his fellow- operatives, that he rose with reluctance;
the always did so because he was not in his element in public
.speaking.—(Cheers.): Those who had addressed the meeting
before him had left him nothing to do.—( Cheers.) The meet-
ling had heard the flowers of Leeds, and they had lift him no-
thing to say.—( Cheers.) He must however be allowed to say
few words. During the latter part of the last year a number
of Operatives in Leeds saw and felt a considerable degree of
distress ; they wished to help themselves if they could, and their
-fellow operatives, but how they were to do that was the question
with them.—(Cheers.) They had no pecuniary means, and
at last they determined to form an Association, to be called
" The Leeds Unemployed Operative Committee." Men from
every shop became members of that Society; they subscribed
one penny a week each, and upwards of 50/. was raised by that
means. It eas true that they might have got more, that they
might have had 5/. from Mr. Beckett, but they wished to steer
clear of politics. —( Cheers.) He believed if they called the society
the Inhumanity Preventive Society, it would have a better
effect than calling it the Anti-Illonopoly Society,.—
( Cheers. ) In the society to which he had alluded, certain
enumerators were appointed, and from their proceedings
it appeared that 1,936 persons who were employed in
Leeds, were in the receipt' of only about 'lid.
a week each. Such a state of things had been reported to Sir
_James Graham. He lamented, or at least he said that he la..
merited, the sad condition of the people.—(Cheers.) But he
would tell him, that pity without relief was looked upon in the
North as little or nothing.—(Cheers.) Is might e
be said that
there was some party feeling in all this—that was not
the
case. The only object they bad in view wag humarn
and to excite public spepathy ; that sympathy bad been excited,
and the mere inquiry that was made, the more every one was
•couvineed they were right. It was clearly seen that some-
'thing must be done, and the wealthy inhabitants of Leeds sub-
-gentled upwards of 7,000/. for so patriotic a purpose.
That amount was properly distributed and as gratefully
received ; it afforded many a hearty meal ; it pre-
served many from starving, and others from a premature
grave—(Cheers)—but that sum could r.ot last for ever; it had
become exhzusted, and the operatives were now left to starve,
because instead of getting more they got less work.—(Cheers. )
Charity was all very well, but when applied to a wanting popu-
lation it was only like a gleam of sunshine on a wintry day.
The worthy Delegate then proceeded to show the distress that
,was existing in Leeds, and in doing so stated that of 166 gigs
formerly employed, not more than •20 were in full work, 42
worked only part time, and 104 were -standing still. This
showed the condition to which the population was reduced.
With respect to his own family, he might say there were five
brothers, and he could venture to say that upon the average they
had not worked more than 21
days a week. With respect to the
working men generally, such was their condition that if they
went to their sick-club they would not receive a farthing, be-
-cause They were not clear on the books. _(Cheers.) lie had
:seen many eases of distress : at one place that be visited the
cdoor was fastened, and the old woman who lived close by
*Wed to him that the reason they kept it so was, that they
-were afraid of the bailiffs. When be went into the house the
scene that presented itself was heart-
rending in the extreme.
In another place he found the father and mother gone out t 9
find work, and the children were lying on what was called a bed,