The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-20 00:00:00

ING, FEBit ETA 'lit 20, 1815.

sa- sae empire that her population and extent would enable her
to 110. TIP! peophe of England would find that the surest.
""
"f securing k relief from the hardens that now pressed
on
Ireland them, vrculd be found in the increasing prosperity of
Mr. S. CA AW Fk)RD rose amid loud cries of ~ Question"
and
the
(.1./livande.d"
vrk.ll7erbir,i,efly stated that he was not prepared to
the income-t.of Ireland ought to he exempted from
( Hear, hear.) Though Ireland might claim
ttritobe exetn.,,ted, on many grounds, from several heads of taxa-
"' yet, ',then call d ' t vote on this question, he could not
hriog Int 1 e"" "
4" Ito say that the land of that country ought to be
lizeATltteds--(
tr. bARRY should give his vete in distinct opposition to
dints
'lbrititneft4Tlng tent of the Hon. and Learned Member for Bath.
ing that amendment forward he seemed to have
thought but little about it, for his speech was one thing and his
I": ,i•T' quite another.--, ear, hear.) He was quite mistaken
an Ili, au, •
r_veid
e,,,aeprettotnhethpaatygmeenntltemof n, by living in
.London or Paris,
the presoot time Ireland was impro• 'viendg,taalne; lime believedlreland. thAatt
nothing would be ,„ impolitic as to lay the income-tax upon
tar "uiltry now. He cared not what the Right Hon. Baronet
.....tt‘lelaid 04 former:occasinva-{ Hear, hear, and vter)
sat. ;till consider the imposition of the tax most intp,i,itte.
liar I,,,;;URRUCK then reeled. He said he stood in a pecu-
arita'hi"". Many Members felt with him-many had spoken
i
Cot ; b.„Tl:sibut almost all, with a few exceptions, had attacked
lart ta • ''` "'fore he sat dower he hoped he should have an op-
nt'v of ~ • • with interest.-( Laugh-
ter.) Th epaying all his friends,
taent , s,et Right lion. Baronet at the head of. the Govetrhnis-
aubje;tak, there had been a great change in his opinions on
hot the ,Ia (Mr. Roebuck) would ask the House to remem-
espaci, "inerence between him and the Right Hon. 114ronet is
blenej,..akki experience. The Bight Hon. Baronet com•
tina„i"iiiir! almcet as a Secretary for Ireland, and had
Yet
*ha pn an almost unbroken official lifa down to 1825. t
hsia.,ll ' his
is of information the Right Hon. Barolrfie
lios hock) had
la a recent wriod the opinions which he . r.
Pp pf,,il;') had expressedlthat night. When he left office for.the
:i:ist_sto.n..toinn,u,adnd vt s h •I i' a up with great care and astonish-
-1 art the a- u,' ' 'IL- " w surrounded, he
s great party by whom he was mi
gf that opinion. In 1835 he was again called to
back: tai again he expressed the same opinion hhe.(M Roe-
Sat v,il'ilui expressed that night. Yet he now told m rrh'at this
Vhea 04°Pthdent. impolitic, and mischievous.. Wasl it all these
f
haaoh the
Right Hon. Baronet supported it ? The charge n
rents,•%, therefore, cae hardly well from the, Right Ho
Isiah thatant Ile would riot for a moment compare hisleahparoatiy..
lairtua• . of the Right Hon. Gentleman, but take al
asit, 'as?'" the Right Hon. Gentleman had had,. and het we,ou_lld
till ashy
Ns he to be charged with being impolitic because he
thesrii%kiited the opinions which the Bight Hon. Gentleman
%tea " himself s The Hon. Member for Warwickshire
_hard
oebstl°litk!,observations, intimating something about his (M .
enPaos s/ lacing an insignflcant person.
.Suppose it was so ;
4Air e ell he had advanced was worth nothing--
d t,' ,N.,,WDIGATE said the Hon. and Learned Member
kkii '''re'Y misunderstood him. He had never applied any
141, Zniark to him that could be so construed. 'What he said
', he thought his motion a very mischievous one.
tl,erfes', ()EItUCK said that the Hon. Member had of course
'7llitly` right to do se. But another observation had been la,
Ilaa4a 11,°o. Member for Waterford, which was, that he. (
hr.
' alsir's) had made remarks on the Irish Members which e
.
lalt not have dared to make had those persons been here
h,
Ohl' ttO say, that if the Irish Members had been present,
he
*ate 'euttelr) would not have dared to complain of their a -
sir 4Great laughter.)
''
Qui H. ,_WINSTON BARRON rose amid loud cries of
,11 ral,,"air" Ile appealed to Mr. Greene.
'4 414T:4:ENE said the Hon. Member hail a perfect right
Olt ii",',4l previous observations he had made.
'tan. ' 'IN hTON BARRON said he did not charge.tht
the ab:nd Learned Member with making any observation ton
t,rlita,:in;° of the Irish Members. 'therefore the Hon. iti
,4,lstigh ' "rnber had said this for the mere purpose of raising.
'sat "th---„(" Order, order,' chair.") What.he did say was this-
/14 oftet,"". and Learned Gentleman would not have made
tile evs
"11) °Ns " personal insignificance, meaning the Hon.
Itbitt hers 'Aho were absent were m en who " could well be spared."
L../Nltln" what he fouud fault with. He repeated, that he
--‘ll pre -(4
baae dared use those words if those gentlemen had
AlT.ser,.
_..stialiablt°Bl.-ICK begged to tell the House that in his smal
ttesatiiiith::_pc,:zoifiaptihane !taw. iin,e cross-examining,a; that if he had to deal
kat la wHriess of a p. uli r temperament, he always found
ti Is own
at . o adopt .n the first instance was, to let him
°r)•-(Laughter) Now, he did not complain
,L'tobet., , r phra,eology which
.e used bv several
r"44' 't :1 ”t. what he dtd complain of
„was he single
s'l,(llss„are• ' Now, what was it that he dare" not do ?
1,74. uari and laughter. ) Dared he not to say that the
^4t, 11, ntiernen, to whom lie had alluded, had deserted their
%gall' e sentinels who, having been placed on duty, had
jt:4l, atti,,°,,w,_° their muskets and ran away ?-( Hear, hear.)
'v.ll,i'_ltl °f those said that, he supposed that the mortified
tt",.'ae wer7e, aientleman it was thha.t had led them to do so.
vtaraea to
ita' nis words, and that is opinien and he now
ybe still adhered to it. The Hon.' Member for
:Italikhti'l4aPhealed to his kind feelings-(Laughter)-and the
~trall'o!kher for Dun,,arvon had also remarked upon the
ia'rrat ~"""e he (Mr• Roebuck) had used ; but in reply to
‘l4e h 7)uld 'ask,. whom had he been speaking?
I} thei 1
tc'hic Centlt o he had mentioned at all careful
kL414.7`-' Si-ra'r°l°'t'inien applying it to .Nlembers of that
Z- lah„..ear, he'iir.)n saw Hon. Members present to
i)alea "Cad alluded, and he would ask had not motives been
th.,t4ltel) „Yi,tilern to him, and vulgar expressions used, and
e;III .ska asts-,.- acts practised ?-( Laughter)-for there were such
ratilscr,.rat rnountehanks as well as little ones.-(Laughter.)
gar old
t, deign to reply to what had been said by tne Hoo.
Li the He ttlember for Watt!, ford ; but what had been said
slt•lr';4aros"'. ISlernber for Cork and the Hon. Member f!n-
at'4,,ait to, i'll,did call for some observations from him, arid, in
Ho, '"old say that, if there was any language more
e„,,,,}' 4,4o4nother by which to mark the desertion of. the
tte,,,k, that he had mentioned, and their conduct while de-
:r ii' kTi Ift language he would use.-( Hear, hear. ) He had
51h-4,. , 01) Ni t• f h •agricultural inte-
"s rkti a ' • emoer opposite talk o t t a,
' gat thgricultural distress, but all he (Mr. H.) could say
II '''ishsde 'Pesch of that Hon. Member looked very like as
11.:11. I,4o3tere was an end to this tax.-( Laughter.) The
hos:" sv 07,hacl said that the imposition of this tax upon
thit'af s';','' be ui,just and impolitic. He said that
.he had
tsahtinsi.:4°l's prosperity, and of the influx of capital into
WlLklitia' ; °at he had not shown how hip (Mr. Roebuck s)
11,1 ',he (Nt would interfere with that -( Hear, . hear. )
Itilsta,ttlii ,r% 'Roebuck) did propose was t.his, that this coon-
!ll74litil.thereb7. abstain from taxing.therichworrr.eninogfplerotillsiendoi
.-....(5/itheY taxed more heavily the working
tikisheea ~ "rt hear. 1 That was his argument.; arimcl_loioww-
-2 Ise"Caet2 Hy telling the House that eapitat wa. 11 d
Wsh it, bout and that the imposition of the tax would
' Iri,C landlordsuse was prevent in what way the taxing
d f English
dial sro,._ would pr one
ko(l4,,vercl! flowing into Ireland. -( Hear, hear.)cauu °They had
ist,tuta4:loificantl t Id by the Hon. Members. for Armagh
IN .11%) 'Wh'iy°nl:.,l,h at the told by the Hot,. Members for Armsgh
at th tax would cause a revolution.-( Hear,
Nt r or th • --( Hear, hear.) He did not propose to tax
4,14 "',ho h ,e middle classes in Ireland, but only the land-
kel:ots...(isa",_ caused all the evils under which that country
%he it,' th '`ueees.) For hispart, he did not believe that all
kast4talthh,s,,alta;ititlry be used to roduce aaitation, would induce
to rise intop rebellion Li- the purpose of
(Ita,lals 'ark"ards from- (Cheers.) For his part, he
(eVetl.4lftideavoured taotadzo'-good for the Irish people.-
, ( iik.Zl• ) sheers
) He had never voted for a Coercion Bill.-
,4a. t,,r'• ) bye had never voted for the Irish Church.-
s'd s,'" lh 1, ,ttit if the Irish landlords had a particle of gene-
kosa-°„t reepi:Pild ask to betaxed.-( Great laughter.) He
terat'e tai kith
;that laugh,b t he asserted still that they shrunk
LOi' ath tt'th a wantofuthat generosity which was charac-
tiatirdQA Irish People
saltts'°, ei sl'is'REA-GI'I I rose amidst loud cries of
44114;13', 'lit 'Zit tso, ask, on who
• part of the Irish landlords,
4lamci •-....( He tirink from their fair share of the public
, (,t/, a , art hear, and laughter.) For his own part,
b'"rnaj;ear to the income-tax.-( Laughter.
'l4 th -tee then divided, 'Alien there appeared-
e arrwr, I
33
NNt . ( meat
tr, it .........
t 4;" (` M .. : .... : .........
--242
re k 'atasnit, ) against It . . Ipsaarel tee then divided on the original resolution, when
ARP,,ti'„h!ariginal resolution
T I",.it
......
30
4t 11 41k,0 , •• • .................... , ...... __ _
Th gkhe J nty for the original resolution...••.—l9B
Lit 4.7.,C1i , rsumed.
111 04 i'ill\lAN reported progress, and obtained leave to
unitta,„ ridaY•
,etai„ pp,..,n ASSESSED TAXES.
14.4ttsr,°4 aritai.'"ELL moved for returns of all surcharges for
1\4.4,4 ~aainv !tars. which have been decided by the Comm.s-
ttasa 'aX s' ',1.1 the execution of the Act relating to a e As-
trilrahe:i' 4'ora the Ist of January, 1839, to the 31st of
aaarte e ti 44.
~,111.attalohse.Hot,,,C4:1-LOR of the EXCHEQUER begged to
treat
1,,,' rt.t4r_ ~-.4llant Member that it was utterly imessible
It 1,5' 44,44 00151(1 be furnished, inasmuch as the assessorsd
5h,411. tir:essi orlinl.%lat officers, but were appointed locally, an
la.st h'lllE
eLn.:!. proceedings.
tet),l)taitial,,at ci; -oded that the returns could be had for
ill:4` ECHElesisnas.. • • House on his
t li 4 aid he would divide the
K. ,71%iiaided,and the numbers were-
th
kgaintet
.to.tion
_5.
t 1 1 .. .
_. . , ... ........ ,
loose th,rl3.b.i)ority against
_ ssttl,_ ansournm at.5,.._.....,_.......(21_____
o'clock.
rily ct it ,
~, ----
')l' 1r)4,1)1,1 --;KLEit AlusKay's "EGYPT."—The
,Itto/I,,,u'rt!'',, Lroyr'iigii,ish E lition of this work,. translated
111,1.vit,ht::.,tim.k. thwo w.:lll,lll.l,elsias. just
.beine,n
tphteibtlhisrleicedyboyiumMers.
ti 114 44'M Gi r ' (:u"nlir!" facilitieswhich
qa itekler I man• The singular .
• lUskau enjoyed in his intercourse with
its Nthefisre 4! ,afferaled him advantivses such as have
,
°ll,l4,:"6lltlern,,r,‘dii"hto the lot of any traveller. We here!
I) 4 Pri •t behind ins' If, not through a distorted m
, tr,, ,vileg„
or, the scenes, for the Prince not only had
11-14 t t ttlaaell dailY
and confidential intercourse with
4ervp%t in 1.: eel with the Viceroy when he went on
veh,° and of that
ti/31 tttless - PPer I]gYpt i and the complete. unre:
kstll etti4r great man, in communicating his
t----his
ac Red. views foe the people whom he go •
4 h4Pter ttillt uf his early lilL,, as in
.the
Work4l:e her, °' theXtrst volume are deeply taintresting,
lit 11l 40t tx'uurlunicated.
.14 the first time.
14" eve , wholly 01' Yet the
141,,,%.14., oppt.rttm. a political character. The author.
is V Of thy' atlri(
ui IV of giving information respecting
the"'s av"e cotthrivic,ties, and the manners of the inhabi-
t top 41 glaet:f 8, through which he passed ; and,
011 e 'la' the Great tl'„stYle, has addressed a letter from
t'l Its Y, to ,;‘,.i--.Yramid, which he ascended twice
'',ll tie
u
g
r„. -re Is , Sce. ';,,ht(t,ein,ds, giving an amusing account of
'Air `le re. , 1 r.,,inye then proceeded up the Nile,
tis ~„11(')' to
to
th
a ti-oteo tibia-, arile ‘ ,halt', and then set out on his
titilcieat to visi Ethiopia. Tht second volume is
the tnastlllesnuta„,,! to) some of the most remarkable
the tees valuabl" of those countries ; but, perhaps,
il ti 4hit of his' nd interestinr, part of this volume is
ltN 4 It' iourn . I,'
vt hfi t, Iver to is ea to the South, his voyage up
r littiN " I)esert ""gula and Meroe, and his journey
tbeLD,lti'l he cort;ll..durig which, besides personal ad-
,u'9.4, g th, 4 onicates many important particulars
,Imttrqotiti3i):th
4thuaainti:lll.°).:ii,c.o:
eDouarrfto,ur, and other countries
.4t) ensS I' 4"1-Xledineh.
lhc>llt tZ Nbillinnibus driver. : on Tuesday, a ntiml-er
.lied,
.‘,. street
,t.,),„
~,,___gs,_,,s, ere summoned. One cabman wits
liltc,_ll,li ,I„,n ~t,'„';',m _ I. el% here man on a stand, by driving
bi,,'.11 [,.. ibi''Z'oll„,.,tnlie !raffle. An orrinibiN conductor was
s°Ct 41. qt I) "1 g another Person to ride on the step of
~Nfil it I vth,,,i
~(
,11, ll'ii' :4411 lit
ii%k i"Nß,te.ni‘ IlpaSn.3-711:1e Newcastle-on-Tyne Com-
-4!liiii.(y!,h.iit_i,,,,,,,
8,,,,:.(,e j.tist declared a dividend of 7 per
.1•1,1,( 1,*,,.,i1 ut 10 -',!!_r 1.
~mil Sunderland Union Banking
%Q. f,,,, iia (,„,,7. cent per annum. The Newcastle.
~ tOl ut,,,,,450., have niade it dividend of 6 per cent.,
bpi . lIE Iv
tiri.i4ll,l - EATI,,, ll a.OOO/. being carried to the pun-mate
04,1:11rfilili'!,41%(,''rui';i1:itg tit'lleit.par:',,Zlll,Pi• PA Rii s.—. After eight o'clock
Yt.iitinospher.., was su.cceeded by, a
haSr,,k3-cs7, l'atz;„ wirld blowi6nugd
N . ..
il Nib t 4" ',h:tie,. 21
ito_6,,C: i ese
tisigi.r4:ejertsi:T,hk°ena
tsr: ,c. l'assit!' sioZitll., „a aitrii:ktill'eanidia...qietrclaingdiruoprntON.'searEen
itea,trae:ana,:tiedteh e ‘.R ec e i vin .; House
1i21,:Rrt,4,,, -tallr,,,.(l_,ii,grit
tohf,ntighie, lahs,-, how-
in 11.Yde Park, all were compel Led tO
~,,,, ,
taii,i lilt, aantiscinent. '
.4 ,li I„iinets , The thermometar at noon was
ci ear hi_ I cry
the
tip to vieht 0' lgAi last
"''''Y frorn the southward, ' ' ? '

GREAT Al EETIN G

OF THE
ANTI-CORN-LAW

LEAGUE

AT
COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

A great metropolitan meeting of the members of the Anti-
Corn-law League was held .ast evening in Covent-garden
TLeatre. The doors were opened at half-past six o'clock ; but
long before that hour crowds were waiting outside, anxious to
obtain admittance. Within a quarter of an hour of the time of
the opening of the doors every part of the house—even to the
slips and upper gallery—was crowded to excess; and long
before the commencement of the proceedings there was not a
single piece in the house unoccupied.
At seven o'clock, Mr. Cobden, M.P. for Stockport, Mr.
Bright, M P. for Durham, Mr. Milner Gibson, M. P. for
Manchester, Mr. W. Brown, of Liverpool (late candidate for
South Lancashire), Mr. W. J. Fox, Mr. J. Wilson, of London,
Mr. George Thompson, accompanied by other well-known
members of the League, entered the theatre, and were re-
ceived with the most enthusiastic cheering.
William Brown, Esq., of Liverpool, in the chair.
Among those present, we ob•erved the Hon. Charles Pelham
Villiers, M. P., Richard Cobden Esq., M.P., John Bright,
Esq., M. P., Thomas 31ilner Gibson, Esq., M. P., George
Thompson, Esq., James Wilson, Esq., W. J. Fox, Esq, T.
Wordsworth, E-q., Major-General Briggs, Sir John Morris,
Bart.' Dr. William Cooke Taylor ; Colenel Tucker ; Messrs.
John Taylor Crook (of Liverpool), Joseph Wrigley (of Hud-
dersfield), Greenham (of Trieste), W. Graham, Robert
Fowler, J. Gerstenberg, C. S. Crowley, D. Dewar, Robert
Tong iod, Triompson, Win. Garraud, T. F. Ashton, T.
Gosnell, H. Hegginbetham, Bailey, James Mellor, .1. T.
Campart, W. A. Wilkinson, J. Fergus (of Kirkaldy ), J.
Hodgkin, John Poulton, John Dyte, John Chalmers, George
Brettell, James Stansfeld, J. Williams, Farrand,
Richardson, Wm. Wilson, James Midgley (of Rochdale), A.
Graham, Wm. Graham, T. R. Pritchard, C. J. Baker, W.
Were, Henry Briggs (of Wakefield), J. Al•Conkey (of Bel-
fast), Henry Yandall, F. Scheer, Thom (of Inverary),
S. B. Bayfield, Holland (of Dumbleton), F. L. Hay
Grant, Henry Marshall Fooks, Joseph Heap (of Liverpool),
.1. P. .Nixon, Thomas Harvey (of Falmouth ), Henry L. Keel-
ing, Henry Crosfield (of Liverpool), Rev. W. P. Davies
(late of Ashburton, Devon ), Agate (of Horsham ), G.
frowton, George Ridge, J. Fitzpatrick, T. Mackeneie, J.
Battiscombe, H. Sparrow, Wm. Geesin, &e,
Mr. Coenes, NI.P., advanced to the table, the audience on
his appearance rose en masse to greet him. A most enthu-
siastic cheer was set up—hats and handkerchiefs were waved,
and the cheering was repeated again and again for several
minutes. Never was reception more triumphant. Silence
having been partially restored, the Hon. Gentleman said—
Ladies and Gentlemen—ln the absence of our friend, Mr.
George Wil-on, the Chairman of the League, I beg to move
that Mr. William Brown, of Liverpool. the late candidate and
future member of booth Lancashire—(lmmense cheering)—do
take the chair.—(Renewed cheering. )
Mr. WILLIAM BROWN then took the chair, amidst loud
and long-continued applause from all parts of the House. He
spoke as follows :—Ladies and Gentlemen—Our good friend,
Mr. Cobden, has apprised you of the reason why he has called
upon me on the present occasion to preside over the proceed-
ings of the evening ; and I can only express my regret that
during the absence of our friend, only
Wilson, he has not
been able to get a gentleman of more influence and
importance to conduct the affairs of this important
meeting. But I can assure you that there is no
individual in the country who has more at heart the pro.
gress of free-trade principles than the humble individual who
has now the honour to address vou.—( Loud cheers.) It is
not the province of a Chairman to make long speeches—( Hear,
hear. ) But I cannot refuse to myself the pleasure of con-
gratulating you upon so much of the Premier's budget as car-
ries out the principles of free-trade—(Cheers)—without at
the same time being considered to express my satisfaction
with any portion of it of which, as free traders, we cannot ap-
prove.—( Cheers.) Ido hope, and expect, that the progress
which free-trade opinions are making, will be pressed forward
with an accelerating ve'ocity in consequence of the proceedings
of Friday last. —( Cheers.) And I have no doubt that the day
is not far distant when I .mey be able to congrstulate the
members of the League en all our principles having been car-
ried out in the manner that we could all wish they should be
carried out.—( Cheers. ) A great deal has been said about
the declaration made by Sir Robert Peel that it was the duty
and privilege of every man to buy in the cheapest
arid sell in the dearest market.—(Hear, hear.) But
while remembering this assertion of Sir Robert Peel's,
we forget what another Cabinet Minister told us some years
ago ; and I consider this, of even more importance than what
was stated by Sir Robert Peel. Some years since Sir James
Graham said that the landed aristocracy ought to recollect that
they were a small minority, enjoying the peculiar privileges
which they did possess, solely because public feeling was not
hostile to the present corn-laws—he spoke this of the late corn-
law—the old sliding-scale, but the words are equally applicable
at the present moment. He said that the receivers of rent were
but a small body, but they were backed by publie opinion,
which rendered them omnipotent ; but that, in opposition to
public opinion, they could not expect long to enjoy exclusive
benefits. In such a state of things, a most fearful contest
would arise if they were to attempt to continue the enjoyment
of those benefits in opposttion to public opinion, and they would
find arrayed against them the power of that hunger which
breaks through stone-walls.—(Cheers.) Ido not know that
lam quoting the exact words made use of by Sir J. Graham,
but I am certain that such was the meaning they intended to
convey. He said that in the event of such a contest the barriers
of society would be broken down, and estates and dignities be
swept away in one overwhelming torrent. Such was the lan-
guage of a Cabinet Minister seven years since, and I do not
believe that he will now be disposed to repudiate it. —(Cheers. )
1 will not trouble you with any further observations of my
own ; but again congratulating you upon the great step taken
in advance in our progress to free trade, by what took place
in the House of Commons on Friday night, I will call upon
Mr. James Wilson, of London, who has ever been one of the
greats-rt friends of the Anti-Corn-law League and to the
principles of free trade, to address you.—l now beg to intro•
duce to you Mr. James Wilson.
Mr. JAMES WILSON then came forward, and was received
with loud applause. He said that their wwrthy chairman had
already congratulated them on so much of the Budget which
had been pi oposed by Sir R. Peel on Friday night as carried out,
inhisown estimation, the principles of free trade ; and he heartily
joined their chairman in that congratulation on the tendency
of the measure which had been proposed by Sir 11. Peel on
Friday night. In that measure two Most important doe
trines for which free traders had contended for the last half
century, had received, not only full recognitions
but had beers carried into practical effect.—( Hear.)
But the Hon. Gentleman, although congratulating the
meeting on that part of the measure, must be permitted to say
that there were many parts of the Budget which were highly
objectionable ; and it must be a matter of public observation to
all who considered the relief proposed to be afforded by the
Right Hon. Baronet, that, although he had been praised for
the boldness of his free-trade measures, he had carefully °e-
lected those articles on which he had every reason to expect
the slightest opposition, where he had left unattacked the
greater monopolies.—( Cheers. ) He did not wish to take
away any of the merit due to the Right Hon. Baronet of re-
cognising free-trade principles, but he wished to impress upon
the country that they ought not to give the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet too much credit for what he had done, when they learnt
what he had left undone.—(Cheers.) There were two great
monopolies existing—one of these the Right Hon. Baronet had
left altogether out of his Budget; and with regard to the other,
he was prepared to show that instead of ameliorating it as far
as the consumers were concerned, he had rather studied the in-
terests of those who already profited by the monopoly.—
( Hear, hear.) The Right lion. Baronet, the other night, had
proposed an alteration of the sugar duties. Now, although that
alteration was upon the face of it very specious—although
the Right Honourable Baronet pretended that he
was about to lower the duty upon sugar for the
benefit of the consumers of the country, he (Mr. Wil-
son) believed that he could allow, to the satisfaction of every
reasonable man, that the alteration intended would not really
benefit the consumers but the producers ' • and that while the
revenue suffered the people would not be benefited. The ex-
perience of the last four years had taught the people the great
fact that their interests were identified with those of the re-
venue.—( Cheers.) And the last thing the people would wish
to see was the revenue sinking to such a state as should en-
danger the safety of the country. For the purpose of main-
taining the revenue they had been willing to submit to the im-
position of the income-tax, and he believed that they would
willingly submit to the imposition of a more onerous tax, even
than that, rather than see the country disgraced by the loss of
her credit. But in the case of the red'tutlon of duties they
should always see that the benefit of that reduction went to the
consumer and not to the proelateer ; if they were called upon to
submit to a fresh tax to make good a loss arising from the re-
duction of duties, let them at all events see that the benefit
from that reduction found its way into the pockets of the people
for whose benefit it was pretended to be made.—( Cheers. )
No principle of government or legislation was so delusive—no
principle had produced so much evil to the people, as the prin-
ciple of differential duties; and if the true. character of diffe-
rential duties were known, if the operation and definition of
differential duties haul been as well understood some years since
as the meaning of prohibition, he Was convinced that, at the
present day, neither differential duties nor prohibition would
have been in existence. He was afraid it was a very difficult
task to explain the real operation of differential duties to such
an assembly. But so important did he consider the subject,
that he would attempt to do so, even if he should fail. In
order to illustrate the operation of the differential duties, let
them take the proposition of the Right Hon. Baronet on Fri-
day night last. He had told the country that he had estimated
what would be the supply of sugar during the next year, and
the amount of revenue which would be derived from it. He
sought to establish four different rates of duty. At one rate
he expected a supply of 160,000 tons, the produce of our own
colonies ; at another rate a supply of 70,000 tons, also the
produce of British possessions; at a third rate he expected
.5,000 tons of foreign sugar ; and at a fourth rate he ex-
pected a supply of 15,000 tons, also of foreign sugar. Now
he (Mr. Wilson) would call their attention to the work-
ing of this scheme. The 15,000 tons of foreign
sugar was to be admitted at a duty of 28s. per cwt. It was
clear, therefore, that before they could get these 15,000 tons
of sugar into consumption they must pay '255. per cwt, added to
the first cost of the sugar. That being a foreign sugar it was
admitted into competition, not only in the English market but
but in all the markets of the Continent ; and the price in this
country would be rendered so much the higher by the amount
of duty imposed. The pi ice in bond of this sugar was 245. per
cwt. It was the same at Hamburgh—it was the same at An-
twerp—and in fact in every market in the world. This sugar
paid the highest rate of duty, and that added to the first price
would make the cost in the English market 525. Now, if
You take any sugar whatever, you will only get the same quan-
tity at the same price; but when another species of sugar was
brought into the country the Minister said that that might be
admitted at a lower rate of duty, but any difference of duty
that mig'ot be made must go to the enhancement of the price
to the import merchant. The Premier said that he hoped to
get 15,000 tons at the duty of 28s, the cost of which to the
public would be 525. He expected 5,000 of the second class,
at the duty of 235., but the import merchant would get the
advantage of this difference of duty, for the price of that sugar in
bond, instead of 245. would be found to be 28s. Bd., still making
the price to the consumer 525. Then there was another rate of
duty proposed at 16s.—that was a colonial sugar. At that rate
of duty he expected a supply of 70,000 tons, but the importer
sass, " You vet in the market 525. a ton for sugar. This
only pays a 16s. duty, and therefore the price which I shall
charge in bond will be 335. Bd." Then there was a fourth
class, produced from al our West Indian Islands, of which he
would take the quantity at 160,000 tons. Sugar of that qua-
lity commanded a price of 525., but that sugar was to be ad-
mitted at a duty of 145., which would enable the producer to
receive 38s. for it, instead of the original price of 245. In all
these processes, while they were giving up duties, they were not
rendering the commodity cheaper to the consumer—they were
not lowering the price by lowering the duty, but they were in-
creasing the price to the importer, while they let the consumer
pay 525. ; and while the revenue lost the benefit of the in-
clica ed duty on these 160,1)00 tons, the consumer had not got
his sugar one fraction cheaper than lie would have
had it had these 160,000 tons paid the 28s. duty.
They therefore saw, by those four different rates of duty, that

THE ScN, THURSD Y MOR

khe importers of foreign sugar of the first class received 249.
per cwt. ; the impo-ters of the second class, 28s. per cwt. ; the
importers of the third class, 355. per cwt. ; and the importers
of the fourth class, 3es. per cwt. ; while the consumers paid the
same price for all.—( Hear, hear.) Now if the Minister' said,
" I will charge the highest rate of dhty, riertie)e; ,28s. oh all
those classes of sugar, it *es ettith o.eere he might do so with-
out, ralainte the price (Me fraction to the consumer.—( Hear.)
itignt lon. Baronet reckoned that from those various
duties he would receive 3,916,00/. He made a sacrifice of
near 2,000,0021., and then he asked the country to make up
the sacrifice by imposing an income-tax.—( Cheers.) Now if
he had imposed the same rate of duty on all those deseriptioni
of wager, which would give the same price to the foreign aid
to the colonial grower, he would receive, instead of 0,0001.,
no less a sum than 7,00 ',Oita, while the public would not pay
a fraction more foe their sugar.—( Hear, hear.) The Right
lion. Baronet also, in order he supposed to render his proposal
More aoceptable to the country, favoured them with certain
estimates as to what he believed would be the supply of sugar
next year. Now all estimates of what the supply would be
were extremely unsatisfactory—( Hear, hear)—and four years
son, when the present Ministry were in opposition, and the
then Ministers proposed an alteration of the sugar duties, Lord
Sandon brought forward his motion, which was based
on an estimate of the future supply. On that occasion Lord
Sandon said, " We do not want slave •grown sugar, because
the produce of our own colonies is increasing so rapidly of late,
that there would be a sufficient supply without having recourse
to other countries." Lord Sandon estimated the supply at
225,000 tons. Well, four years have passed over since then. The
population had in that time increased one million, and white
the consumption of tea had increased 2 000,000 of lbs., and
that of coffee 3,000,000 of lbs., the supply of sugar, instead of
increasing, had been diminishing year by year ; and last year,
though there were strong promises of an increase on the part
of those who would exclude Brazil sugar, the supply had fallen
from 225,000 tons to 204,000,—( Hear, hear.) The public
should not, therefore, place implicit confidence in the declara-
tion of the Minister with respect to the supply of sugar from
any particular quarter. The artiele of sugar has, perhaps,
been one by which the system of monopoly was tested, more
than any other; for since 1811, while the population had in-
creased upwards of 8,000,000, the supply of sugar remained
stationary.--( Hear, hear.) While the supply of tea had been
doubled, and that of coffee quadrupled, the supply of sugar,
which was most protected during all this period, remained sta-
tionary.—( Hear, hear.) And yet, notwithstanding the falsi-
fications of those predictions with regard to the supply of sugar
from their colonies, they found that the mast absurd distinc-
tions were to be kept up, which every Englishman ought to feel
ashamed of, when he thinks of the numerous inconsistencies
in which it landed them, and the numerous disadvan-
tages in which it placed their commerce.—( Hear, hear.)
The Right Hon. Baronet had already sad that he intended to
persist in the distinction between free-labour sugar end slave-
grown sugar, but in the very same Budget in which he pro-
pounded that intention, he proposed to take off the duty on
cotton-wool, a measure which, perhaps was one of the best he
could have brought forward, but while he recognised the dis-
tinction between slave-grown sugar and free-labour sugar, he
altogether repudiated it in the case of cotton-wool, which was
altogether produced by slave-labour.—( Hear, hear.) While
he recognised the distinction in the case of sugar, for reasons
best knositrntayah,mttegoallliaahluedrisgmfo,ebosfsjeftetlthcif, he abandoned it with regard to coffee
also, for twice within the last four years he had reduced the duty
wardhhonee dew adf
coffee,
esn very
hmteempt
oio,nrtacthnoeodndssepihsrertoeetodnl
nuuelcycytt
wforrnhoosmiuithhtoaepntßphiroitaeshzdeei
casesso.
one
e contrary Now,rfourl
e
to sugar and a different one to cotton and coffee.—(Cheers.)
There was another for reducing the duty, on which the Right
Hon. Baronet took credit to himself, and he was entitled to
credit for it perse—that was, the reduction on the duty on copper
ore.—( Hear, hear.) And not only was that the production of
slave-labour in Cuba and Brazil, but the product of slave-labour
in its worst form.—( Hear; hear.) Mr. Gladstone, to get rid
of the inconsistency of sating one way with regard to sugar,
and another with respect to coffee, said that the labour required
for the production of coffee was light and easy as compared
with what was required in the production of sugar, which
was cruel and destructive to the constitution of the negro,
but the working of copper ore was the most distressing to
which the slave could be subjected, either in Cuba or Brazil.—
( Hear, hear.) The effect of the new sugar duties, instead of
lessening the protective duty, as it was wished to be believed,
and to benefit the consumer, the effect would be, taking price
and revenue together, quite the reverse. The old duty left a
differential duty of 10s 6d, but the new duty left a differential
duty between 14s and 2es, and for all practical purposes, if all
the duty was available, the real practical differential duty
would be 14,, instead of 108 6d.—( Hear, hear.) It might
not be fair to ask on what grounds this distinction was made in
favour of colonial produce. There was a feeling in the public
mind, that a preference ought to be given to the colonial pro-
duce, but he believed that the grounds of this opinion were
based on erroneous impressions. In the first place, they had
been very apt to believe that a large portion of these exports
went to the colonies, and it was frequently urged that it was
wise to maintain their colonies even at an apparent dis-
advantage, in order to secure an outlet for our manufactures.
Now, as far as our exports go, our colonial possessions in
America, including the West India Islands, Canada, and Novo
Scotia, took golds last year, which was the latest period at
which there were any returns, to the amount of 4,600,000/.
Other parts of America, including Brazils and South
America, the produce of which were excluded by the course
of our Legislature, took our goods to the amount of
.)
came year, goods to the amount of 13,500,0001., while the
lcolonial o)is.s—es(s iLoonusdt h rcohuegehroi nugThe whole ofour
t the oi ld took,
whole of the foreign countries w:th which this country traded,
and which asked for no preference or exeluive advantage for
themselves, but merely a fair exchange of their produce for
what this country had to give them in return—those coun-
tries took of our goods net less than 38,000,000/.—(Cheers.)
Some, again, supported their colonies and their colonial le-
gislation on the ground of affording an outlet to our increasing
population. For his part, he was not a friend to emigration.—
d(
ilslpeoasra,l eaate .)
hems H He
putw o
in
nl d
reqa tuhi
seirt
(sme e
ttoh ea nfrloartda ye mm eplannysmaet
ntth eti
or
the population.---( Hear, hear.) That might be done more
effectually by extending our commerce than by sending the
people abroad, and scattering them over the face of the earth,
to find employment.—( Hear, hear.) But were he a friend
to emigration, he would tell those men who supported their co-
lonial system on this ground, that it appeared from the Report
of the Emigration Committee that the United States of Ame-
rica furnished an asylum for double the amount of emigrants
that all our colonies in the world did. Yet though the United
States of America furnished an asylum for our population
greater than all our own colonies they sought for no peculiar
privileges on that account. Sir Robert Peel was fond of
talking of our pietecting and encouraging countries where the
English tongue was spoken. He (Mr. Wilson) did not know
if it entered into his head that our colonies should be encou-
raged, in order that there might be a greater sale of Lindley
Murray's Grammar and Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary.
If that were the reason why our colonies should be protected
and encouraged, then eery little attention would show that the
English language was four times more extensively spoken out of
our colonies than in them.—( Hear, hear.) There might be,
and there was, another reason assigned for protecting our co-
lonies—namely, that they were a stay to the empire—that
their protection afforded them greater political power; hut
people in this view of the case were very apt to argue in a
circle. If one spoke against the expense cf the army and navy,
it was urged they are required for the maintenance of these
colonies=-if one spoke of the expense of the colonies, it was
said they were necessary to give employment to the army and
navy, and to maintain our political power.--( Hear, hear. )
Sir R. Peel said he could not reduce the arrny...not because
they were wanted at home, but because it was necessary to
have relays to send to the colonies. And he agreed with Sir
R. Peel in the necessity and policy, so long as they had colo-
nies, of affording relief to the troops who were in the colonies,

which it was the object of the Bill to exclude. Was it likely
that there. would be more security under the new Bill ? What
pereon of ordinary prudence would risk capital when there was
so much uncertainty ?—( Cheers. ) It Was A Measure do
slid it1.14q3.0, fiat lie delled En); merchant in the cif!! of
Loiiaon to say what its operation would be for twelve months.
—( Hear.) Hew could the mercantile interest go on with any
certainty if, day after day, and session after session, new and in-
tricate propositions were to be made, each succeeding thc other ?
How could the West Indians themselves, who were looking out
with anxiety Oar the new meaqtre to regulate their measures?
They would not be able to do anythitig, beta Use they must per-
ceiVe that the lartse.nt 6rratigtiitient *uuld not bb permanent,
and that Id enable them to carry on their operations with cer-
tainty, the duty must be placed on a permanent and secure
basis.—( Hear.) That was the great evil of the protective
system, that it gave no security, and as long as protection
continued, the question would not be settled.—( Hear, hear.)
He believed the West Indians, as a body, lost considerably by
the protective system, and that their position would be much
better if the duties were removed, not gradually,
but entirely and at one*, than if it was continued to them.
He was quite sure that no person could hope for any perma-
nent settlement of this question, except by the entire abolition
of protection.—( Hear, hear.) He was quite satisfied from
the vigour and the spirit of determination which that Associa-
tion had shown from the first—the perseverance with which
it had followed out the subject, from the success which had
attended that perseverance, and from the encouragement
which it had received to persevere still further, he was quite
sure that until every protective principle, every particle of
protection was given up, there was no chance of the agitation
subsiding. He therefore trusted that the time was not to
distant when all persons connected with protective interests
would come to the conclusion that there was a way by which
that interest might be rendered a mutual interest with the
world at large and their own countrymen, and that could only
be by perfect unreserved free trade, and the entire abolition of
the protective system.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN—I now beg to introduce our distinguished
and eloquent friend, Mr. George Thompson, the powerful
advocate of free trade.

Mr. GEORGIC THOMPSON then came forward, and was re-
ceived with a loud burst of cheering. He spoke as follows :
I deem it, Sir, a high and noble privilege to be permitted to
occupy such a position as that in which I now stand. If
pride were allowable under any circumstances, a man, I
think, might be forgiven who was proud to address such an
audience as this, on such a theme, surrounded by such in-
dividuals as occupy this platform and various other portions
of this Howse. It is gratifying to know, in giving utter-
ance to what we believe to he just, humane, and en-
lightened opinions, that our audience is not confined within
these walls, but that we find an audience of millions of men,
wherever our language is known, and wherever the measures
we: recommend, are likely to affect the interests and
destinies of the human race.—( Great cheering.) I do
not think there is a spot on the surface
of the globe, to which human eyes are directed with more in-
terest than the spot on which we stand to-night. I do not
think there is a question agitating the minds of intelligent
beings in any part of the world, more important than that
which is occupying our attention to-night. I do not think
there is one question that enters more intimately into the con-
cerns of men, and is more closely and inseparably allied to
their best temporal interests.—(Cheers.) We are not even
discussing a national question ; fur we hold it to be true that
free trade is not only the right of man individually, but the in.
terest of nations universally.—(Cheers.) We are not advo-
cating the cause of our country alone, still less of any parti-
cul class in the country —we are advocating the cause of men
everywhere, wherever they live—and where do they not live
—under the primeval curse of earning their bread in the sweat
of their brow.—( Cheers.) All we ask is that human indus-
try should possess its own. That men should be per-
mitted to enjoy the fruits of their ;honest labour.
—that no man robs them in the quantity and quality, or price,
of that which they obtain in exchange for their labour. It is
exceedingly difficult to know on what topic to address an audi-
ence in Oovent-garden theatre. I would advise the man who
expects to speak here at any time never to read the speeches
that are made here—never to hear them. Let him content him-
self with the merits of this question, and be as ignorant as he
can be of what goes on in this house, or, in reference to the
question of free-trade, even in other public meetings. For if
he should attend these meetings, or read the speeches, he
cannot, while he sits here, or while he meditates elsewhere, se-
lect a topic on which he does not know that eloquence and ar-
gument have been almost exhausted, and he cannot choose that
topic without treading over ground that has already been tra-
versed by those who had gone before him. In fact, our ground is
growing every day narrower, even if we take in all the topics
that are legitimately in connexion with this question. We
had a good many fallacies afloat in days past—they are'expleded.
—( Laughter.) The man would be fighting a shadow to-night
who got up to battle with the paramount interest of agricul-
ture. He would be fighting with a shadow who got up to talk
about peculiar burdens, for we have never been able to find
them, and the squires won't help us to do so, or show us
where they are. We cannot even take up the old topic on
which we used to talk, namely, the antidote to distress, and
depression, and misery, that were brought forward, all of them
intended to direct public attention away from the one great
source of evil, the one grand remedy for existing grievances.
We, hear no more talk now of emigration, as a substitute
for a repeal of the corn-laws—no more talk—or
very little, at least, of home colonisation—very little
now of national education, as the topic to which
the public are to direct their attention—and not much, I believe,
though some considerable sensation was created awhile ago, on
the subject of the allotments of land. We may, however,
glance, Sir, to-night at some events which have transpired
since a public meeting was held in this place. Several inte-
resting events have occurred. The first to which I will allude
is the holding of a great meeting in Manchester, at which the
Council of the Anti-Corn-law League laid a report before their
constituents. It was a good report. As our brethren on the
other side of the Atlantic would say, it was " a most satisfac-
tory document."—(Cheers and laughter.) It reported that
56,0001. had been collected in fifteen months—it reported that
our respected Chairman would not again have to sustain a de-
feat in the Southern Division of Lancashire.—(Great cheer-
ing.) It reported that his defeat had led to the enfranchise-
ment of about 1,750 individuals in that county, and the ob-
taining of a clear majority of more than 1,000 of the votes in
that county in the cuss of free trade.—(Much cheering. )
The report also stated that a great effort, and a successful one,
too, had been made in the cause of registration in almost all
parts of the country—that much had been done in the P, est
Riding of Yorkshire, and that that important portion of the
kingdom is not likely soon to be again represented by two gen-
tlemen who are monopolists. It reported also, that in other
Marts of the kingdom, in North Cheshire, as well as in
the county in which we are assembled, much had
been done in the way of carrying out the plan
so ably devised by the distinguished gentleman on the plat-
form, and his coadjutors, for the purpose of regenerating the
county constituencies of the kingdom. All that is reported,
and the sanguine expectation is held out that when the mag-
nificent anti-corn-law bazaar is held in this place, in May
next, there will be such an addition made to the League fund,
as the result of the entrance money and purchase money
connected with that grand exhibition, that the maximum sum
—asked for at the hands of the public in the cause of free-
trade—will be quite, if not more, than realised.—Great
cheering.) We have not only had a report from the Council
of the Anti-Corn-law League of a most gratifying character,
but we have also witnessed in the City of London a grand
meeting of the Agricultural Protection Society.—( Laughter.)
I have read the report of that meeting, but I cannot
pronounce on that report the same verdict as I have
with reference to the report of the Council of the
Anti-Corn-law League.—(Cheers.) A more stale, flat,
unprofitable, unargumentative document I have never seen—
( Laughter)—all rationality seems to have fled from the heads
of tire men who are connected with that Protection Society.—
( Laughter.) It seems to be only necessary to join the Anti-
Corn-law League for a man to become a sensible man.—
( Cheers and laughter.) It seems only necessary to join the
Protection Society in order to become most confused in intel-
lect—( Renewed laughter)—most incapable of unde:standing
the subject, and still less of arguing respecting it. I will un-
dertake to sacrifice anything you shall please to condemn me
to sacrifice, if you rill find an individual who will find me
throughout the speeches made at the Freemason's Tavern on
the occasion of the great agricultural dinner, one argument.—
(Cheers and laughter.) It is needless to dwell on that spec-
tacle. If there was nothing edifying there was something at
least amusing, and a vast deal supremely ridiculous.—( Laugh-
ter. ) We have had a Queen's speech, too. On that it does
not become me to speak, excepting to say that it is as tame
as Queen's and Kings speeches usually are, and has turned out
as delusive as sttCh speeches generally turn out to be. And we
have had, above all this, a financial statement from the Prime
Minister of the country, and that seems to be the topic of topics
at the present moment. And what shall we say of this ? I
will not say it wants skill, but I will say it wants courage.—
(Cheers.) I will not say it wants plausibility, and tact, and
eloquence, but it vastly wants honesty and truth.—( Cheers. )
I will not say it does not profess sympathy with the poor, but
I
will say that the measures recommended do not possess issueh
or have much power to benefit this class of society, which
seems to be, according to the words of the Right Hon.
Baronet, the special object of his sympathy and
reg
ard
(Cheers.) It has been already stated by the enlightened
gen-
tleman who has preceded me, that with the measures oSi;
Robert Peel brought before the public in that statement, we
do not seriously quarrel. They are good as far as they go. We
are thankful to know that the coui se is now being cleared by
degrees for the grand heat.—(Laughter and cheers.) This
i
might not be absolutely necessary, but at all events twill prove
to be convenient. We shall not now have deputations going
up about glass. We see through that subject now.—
( Great laughter.) We shall hear no more of deputa-
tions on the subject of coals, unless others come up
to London to ask for an export dui y again to be put on coals,
which is not very probable.—(Laughter.) Sir Robert allows
the introduction of certain kinds of woods to stave off the dis-
cussions on other subjects; and then, by delusive schemes,
which Mr. Wilson has so ably exposed—and no man can expose
them better, and few so well—he tries to be exceedingly sweet
on the community, and to put off the repeal of the corn-laws
by giving us a lollypop.—(Laughter.) Now some benefit will
doubtless accrue from these changes. We cannot contemplate,
without thankfulness, any prospect of glass windows being put
into the cabins of the Irish.—(Cheers.) We are very curious
to know whether we shall have our watches and chronometers
regulated by glass balances instead of steel ones, for we are
told that one of these remarkable curiosities was exhibited by
the Pi ime Minister of England on the Treasury benches the
other nigh.. We find little fault with that which he has done.
A grievous sin, and it is a heavy sin for such a man
to commit—for a man possessing his knowledge of
of
this country, and a knowledge its geographical
position, its high and wide connexion with the world at large,
the peculiarities of its population and the resources for which it
is distinguished, as well as the manufactures for which it is ce-
lebrated—that such a man should satisfy his own conscience and
seek to satisfy the public and the world with coming down to
the House of Commons for the purpose of reducing duties on
certain articles without disturbing those gigantic robberies in
the shape of protection which are still permitted to live un •
assailed and even unthreatened by the Prime Minister.—
( Great cheering.) He has granted what we never asked for.
We did not ask for a reduction of taxes levied for the purposes
of revenue. We did ask for a reduction and annihilation of
taxes levied for the sole purpose of protection, but Sir Robert
Peel has not only not touched the protective system, but he has
rather strengthened it and augmented its profits, so far as he
has touched it at all. Errors of judgment have been corrected
by Sir Robert Peel. He has known how to remedy the
defects of his predecessors in matters of legislation upon minor
points. This he has done. He has shown an unwonted saga-
city, industry, patient toil, and mastery of detail, perhaps
superior to what almost any other man could have exhibited ;
but what has he done? He has corrected those errors of judg-
ment, those errors in legislation, which nay be referred more
to the judgment than to the heart—more to the intellect than
to the want of principle—and he has left alone that error of
legislation against which the whole community is crying out,
and he has purchased the support of great monopolists, holding
o
cut to the people the prospect of purchasing certain articles
mere cheaply, and importing some articles more abundantly,
although that very reduction in taxation they themselves will
have to make up, and he therefore only makes them a present of
part of their own. For what does he do ? He says there is
a surplus revenue for this year of 5,000,0001. sterling; but I
mean to continue the income-tax. I might do away with the
income-tax, and I might meet all the ordinary expenses of the
State until April 1847 without having recourse tiSany income-
tait, or to any property-tax. I recommend nevertheless that
you should continue that tax fur three years, and in exchange
for the 5,000,000/. taken out of the pockets of the people, 1 will
reduce the taxes on glass, cotton, coals, Ste., to the amount

for they ought net to exact from military men a greater sacri-
fice than ought in fairness to be made. The time
of their service abroad ought not, therefore, to be
extended beyond a certain period, and they should
be satisfied to bear the expenses of the colonies as long as
they were willing to maintain them, and he did not at all mean
to insinuate that they ought to be given up.—(Hear, hear.)
Then, again, Sir R. Peel asked for a million to support the
navy, not that it might be employed at home, bet that there
might be a larger available force to protect their commerce in
those seas in which they traded. Again, he did not mean to
say that was wrong. On the contrary, he believed there was
great practical safety in having ships to protect their commerce,
and that the world's peace was more likely to be secured
thereby. But what he asserted was, that the colonies ought
lot to be maintained at the expense of the consumers. What
had been the effect of the protective system in the colonies?
They had many articles produced in their enlcnies, and there
was not one in which they did hot eteel all the world when it
was free from protection.--( Hear, hear.) Only a few years
ago the article of indigo was unknown in the East Indies. 1 t
was introduced there from Mexico, about fifty years ago, but
now their East Indian possessions entirely monopelierd that
article, and not only did they supply this country with that
article, but the rest of Europe was supplied with it from this
eisuntry.—( Hear, hear.) Again, the articles of wool, silk, and
flax were articles all grown in their colonies, and which
had all increased without protection, and he be-
lieved that if there had been no protection to their
sugar, but if the grower of it had been subjected to ;hat com-
petition to which other classes of manufacturers were, sugar
would have been grown this day cheaper in their colonies than
anywhere else, and would benefit the colonies themselves.—
( Hear, hear.) He would not lightly or rashly form an opinion
of so much importance to the West Indian possessions, and not
less so to thel East Indies. There was not a newspaper pub-
lished in the West Indies which he did not receive regularly
by every mail, and, if those papers taught him anything, they
showed that protection was the bane of the colonies.—
(Cheer..) There was not a single newspaper in which the
acknowledgment was not to be found that the system of pro-
tection had been the barrier to all improvement.—(Hear,
hear.) And it was only within the last year or two that this
question began to be agitated, that they became alive to
their situation, and that symptoms of improvement had taken
place ; and by the last mail he received papers from which he
made several extracts, which he would not trouble the meet-
ing by reading, but they showed that a spirit of activity and
improvement was manifesting itself. Like the agricultural
associations here, they were forming societies and offering
prizes for the largest production of sugar. In autumn last
year, the Clarendon Agricultural Society of Jamaica offered
premiums for the cheapest production of sugar. There were
two competitors for the prize, and the result of the competi-
tion Ras, that on one estate sugar was produced at Bs. Io4d.
per cwt., on the other at 9s 61jd. per cwt. ; in both cases at
less than id. per lb.—( Cheers.) He had heard that in
Jamaica and the West Indian Islands there was a great want
of labourers, but on looking over the papers he found ample evi-
dence that there was a superabundance of labour. He fonnd
that there were even complaints made of the number of
able-bodied paupers, which was not very consistent with a
want of labour.—( Hear, hear.) He found that they were
going to make a railway in Jamaica, with the chief contractor
of which he was conversing some time since, and he was in-
formed by that individual that labourers at such hard work as
that on a railway, in such a climate as the West Indies, could
be procured at is. a week—( Shame, sliame)—and he also
found in the papers arguments as to whether the labour per
day should be Is. or Is. 3d. It would, therefore, appear that
whatever might be the case two or three years ago, there was
no want of labour now. But those papers found fault with
the proprietors and planters for their want of spirit, and one
very remarkable instance occurred in January last year. Se-
veral proprietors and planters had been asked to subscribe to
the railway to which he had alluded, as it would facilitate
the conveyance of products to the sea from the
interior, but though it was to benefit themselves,
not one of them was got to subscribe—not the slightest
encouragement was given. At last the projector,
fearing that he must give up the matter as a bad job, proposed
it to two or three free traders in Liverpool—(Hear, hear)—
and in less than two days the whole capital was subscribed by
free traders—( Cheers)—who had been accused of having in-
tended to ruin the country.---( Cheers.) The gentleman from
born he had this information had all his sympathy in land.
Ile was a native of Jamaica, to which he was about to return
for the purpose of attending to his own estate, and also for the
purpose of preaching the doctrines of free trade, and an entire
equalization of the sugar duties. But there was
one very serious objection to the proposition of the Minister.
It was stated that this was to be a final settlement of the
g question.—( Hear, hear. ) The last Bill which was in-
troducedsuar did not settle any thing, and was found in practice to
be inoperative, except for the purpose of disorganising the
whole trade—( Hear, hear)—and every calculation made by
the merchants, the planters, and the dealers. It did not even
prevent slave-grown sugar from coming in—( Hear, hear)—

order that he may delay fur a little longer the
t antenee. condemnation, &Id eaeaotion of the corn-
laws. There is, I contend, every motif(; fd dr gt.. us to pro-
ceed, The triumphs which we have obtained in the fettfrghl,
tion Of OUT' Itritteiplea, the abandonment of the fallacies with
whit' h vie had to grapples the I 1 eav mg up of all those excuses
which were duce pleaded for the cernetaera—thette triumphs,
I say, off the. ,iaistite and reason of our ceases are to many
motives to increased tsSiettions.—( Hear, hear.) While pro.
teetion exists, the Anti-Cornslayr League must proceed,
adding strength to strength, numbers id //ambers, force to
force, We have made thus far amazing progress, greater
progress than any rimilar Association ever medal I
believe, in the history of the world. And when men
hereafter shall inquire in what way they may overthrow some
hoary abuse prdtected by power, surrounded and defended by
wealth and rank and corruption—when, I say, they inquire
whether they may venture to hope that by exertion and toil
and sacrifice they may bring such an abuse to the ground,
they shall turn to the pages which record the history of the
Anti-Corn-law League ; they will therein learn that voluntrify
association will work greater miracles than the hands of those
who reared the pyramids ; that bloodless revolutions are only to
be brought about by the agitation of men's minds ; that there
are walls which must be struck down in the warfare; that our
power is one which, though impalpable and invisible, is yet
universal and irresistible, and shall outlive Ministers and Go-
vernments and States, and rule the world when man is man
indeed.
Mr. swain, M.P., then came forward, and was received
with loud cheers. He said—l may be excused if 1 feel some
anxiety in being called upon to address this meeting after the
two speeches to which we have listened —one delivered by a
gentleman who is well known as a perfect master of the
science of political economy—the other by a gentleman cele-
brated, not only in this kingdom, but in distant parts of the
globe, as a perfect master of the art. of oratory. My confi-
dence, however, arises from the fact, that the question which
we are met to-night to discuss is one of vast importance, and
of almost limitless extent. I know, indeed, that the pro-
foundest thinker or the most powerful speaker, however much
he may exert himself, can get no further than the very
borders of this question—for day by day, as we are con-
nected with it and investigate it, we find continually
more and more beauties, and become more and more
enamoured of the great work in which we are engaged. Its
course is like that of every great question : its beginning was
feeble enough. At its commencement it was wrapped up in
much sophistry and mystification. Fallacies the most ludi-
crous, pretensions the most. absurd, were brought forward to
oppose those principles of which we have been the humble
exponents to the public of this country. But now this so-
phistry—this mystification—these fallacies, and these preten-
sions have vanished, and the question of free trade—the ques-
tion for the promotion of which the Anti-Corn-law League
is organised, stands before the people of this country in this
simple form—we have justice confronting wrong and oppression,
and we ask the people of this empire to side with justice
against oppression.—( Cheers ) Two principles are offered for
your adoption—the ore goes by the name of Protection—the 1
other is known by the title of Free Trade. At the Mansion-
house, and at an office not far off this place, men sometimes
give false names. If they have committed any act which is dis-
graceful and criminal, not being entirely lost to shame, they give
a name by which they were not commonly known. The men
who support this systera—the men who for thirty years at least
have laid hold with a relentless hand of the subsistence of the
toiling millions of this country--these men dare not call their
system by the name which only it can justly claim, but they
have assumed that of protection—an amiable and harmless
thing.--(Laughter.) On the other hand, the free-trade
principle is offered to you; and I believe that so many meet-
ings have not been held in this building and elsewhere, with-
out the effect being that from one end of this country to the
other there is now almost a universal assent to the beauty and
honesty of the principles which the League is established to
promote. This great principle— or rather these principles are
faithfully represented by the two societies—the Great Central
Society for the Protection of Agriculture, and the National
Anti-Corn-law League. He had learnt that protection is not
only a robbery of those upon whom it acts, but that it is ener-
vating and injurious even to those who profit by it. It is sup-
ported, for the most part, in this country by landowners, great
and small, not by facts, reason, argument, and proof, but by
force and fraud, and calumny, and delusion, practised upon
any class which comes within the range of their influence—
The Protection Society, formed twelve months ago, sought
the means of obtaining this odious system. From them was
formed the Great Central Association, which has opened an
office in this metropolis. To be particular, I am informed at
No, 1 7, Bond-street.—( Laughter.) In the north of England
I have occasionally seen circulars sent down from certain, not
very respectable firms in the city of London, offering to any
party in the manufacturing districts, whom they supposed to be
short of capital, certain accommodation bills, to be drawn and
accepted, and endorsed and dishonoured. and renewed to be
dishonoured again.—( Cheers and laughter.) These firms may
be called 'swindling concerns. Now, I have endeavoured to
discover whether that establishment at No. 17, Bond-street,
is not of this character.—(Laughter.) I told them in the
House of Commons, the other night, that they ought to put a
sign over their door, with this inscription upon it—" British
Farmers regularly taken in and done for"—( Great laughter)—
and a brass plate, with the words " Richmond and Co." en-
graved on it.--( Renewed laughter.) They offer to the far-
mers, in order to help them out of their distress, fraudulent
bills of every description—promises which can never be rea-
lised—Acts of Parliament of no more value for the purposes
for which they are passed than the parchment upon
which they are engrossed alluring thousands of
farmers to place reliance upon a support which must lead
them to ruin, and from which there is no escape.—( Hear,
hear.) This society is curiously framed—Political lai.d.
lords, Dukes, Earls, Lords, Baronets, and so forth, and a
sprinkling of a certain sort of amphibious animal, known by
the name of land-valuer—( Laughterl—a person who was a
half-farmer, and half-squire.—( Cheers.) There is a little, also,
of steward and auctioneer in his composition. Now, the
leaders of this firm are the Duke of Richmond, the Duke of
Buckingham, and time was when Sir Edward Knatchbull
might have been considered a leader. It reminds me of a
society which we hear of in" Martin Chuzzlewit"—the Anglo-
Bengalee Disinterested Loan Society-.—(Laughter.) I be-
lieve the chairman of the board of directors and the one indi-
vidual who formed the board were enriched, and all those
who trusted to their professions duped and ruined.—(Hear,
hear.) Now first, as to the Duke of Buckingham : When the
Government came into office, that great man—Plantagenet
his name, I believe—was a member of the Cabinet. He was
then called the " Farmers' Friend." It became necessary to
alter the corn-law, and greatly modify the tariff; and it was
desirable for the purposes to be hereafter accomplished, that the
confidence of the farmers in the Duke of Buckingham should not
be entirely destroyed; and therefore he left the Cabinet, and
did not interfere with the carrying out of this free-trade mea-
sure. Did the Duke get nothing? I am not able to estimate
the compensation which he received, but it was stated in the
public newspapers that he received what is called a Garter.—
( A laugh.) Let no one imagine that this Garter is that
homely article by which stockings are kept up. —( Great laugh-
ter.) I don't know exactly %hat it is, because I never saw
one, but I have learned from the ordinary sources of informa-
tion that it is a decoration—a sort of toy, which you in the
pit of the theatre would laugh at, or be insulted if any one
told you Sou coveted, 11 ut yet a decoration for which great
men, with a long line of ancestors, will do any dirty work for.
—( Hear, hear.) I know net its use, unless it be to give one
precedence above another. I have heard of magnetic or
metallic rings—some contrivance by which either very wise or
very superstitious people faacy they can cure the tic-doloreux,
or such complaints.—( Laughter.) It may be, that this
Collar or Garter may have some effect on the body ; but of this
I am perfectly certain, that it comes like a shock of paralysis
upon anything like independence and honourable feeling.—
( Great cheering,) 1 next come to the Duke of Richmond.
Now it is hard to tell whether he is not a bigger man than the
Duke of Buckingham. He talks as though he had made the
Cabinet, and that if the Cabinet did not do his bidding he
would unmake it. Well, one would suppose that a free-trade
measure of Government would make the Duke of Richmond
exceedingly hostile—he talks to the farmers of ancestors of his
having led soldiers to battle some generations ago, and that so
long as there is a drop of blood in his veins he will stand by
the British farmer. What does all this mean 2 The Duke of
Richmond is believed to be a rich man, but he has brothers
who are thought to be very poor—he allows his brothers a small
income from the family property until he can get them settled
under the Government.—( Hear, hear.) One of his brothers,
Lord Arthur Lennox, who is, I am told, colonel of a regiment,
was lately placed in office under the Government as a Lord of
the Treasury. I believe he still retains command of a resiment.
The salary of a Lord of the Treasury is reported to be 1,2091.
a-year, a thing having much tho same effect now as when
Butler wrote " Iludibras"—
What makes all doctrines plain and clear ?
About twelve hundred pounds a year ;
And that which was proved true before,
Prov'd false against twelve hundred more.
—(Cheers.) But the Duke of Richmond has a son, known
by the title of Earl of March. He represents a district in
the west of Sussex, and has had special favours from the Go-
vernment. I am told that he explained to some farmers in
Sussex last year, that he left the army, and shaved his
moustachios.—(Great laughter.) I had often suspected that,
there was a vast deal of the gallant bearing and cou-
rage of these men in their moustaches.—(Laughter.) I am
told that he left the Blues, where he was a lieutenant, and
is now unattached on half-pay, and fully paid as well for
Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief the Duke of
Wellington, a Cabinet Minister. It appears to me that this
trade of " Farmers' Friend" is not a bad one.—( Hear,
hear, and great cheering.) The Duke of Richmond, you
must know, is said to be in the habit of withdrawing his
family allowance when his brothers, Fac., have been settled in
life, that is, settled upon you.—(Hear, and great cheering.)
By his brother becoming a Lord of the Treasury, he will be able
to dispense with the allowance of 3001. a year, which will be
some compensation to the Duke of Richmond for the losses he
has sustained owing to the free trade in salmon.—( Hear, hear,
and laughter.) We come now to Sir Edward Knatchbull.—
( Laughter. )You will remember that be comes from the county
of Kent; that he made a speech on the question of the corn-
laws, in the House of Commons, and a country gentleman, a
Member of the House, told me the other day, that it certainly
was a most imprudent speech. He spoke of the marriage set-
tlements of the daughters of the nobility and gentry, hut he
never thought a moment upon the settlements of the daughters
of farmers and labourers.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) He was
about to be called to the other House of Parliament, or, as
some people phrased it, translated.—(Laughter.) It was un-
derstood that Sir Robert Peel declined to give a peerage.
since his accession to office, unless on the ground of special ser-
vices—for good and weight reasons.—( Hear, hear.) If not,
he would have had a list of applicants for the peerage, so long,
that it would have reached from Charing-cross to
the House of Commons.—( Hear, hear.) But he would not
promote any one except for special reasons.—(Hear:)
I take it for granted that there have been special. services
. in
the case of Sir Edward Knatchbull.—( Hear, hear.) He
dis ton
he created, according to the newspapers, Viscount P
was taken
I say again I believe there are special services. If
to the Cabinet in H 341, along with the Duke of Bpuipcoksiendr,
htounh'ava have
a sort of decoy duck—(Laughter)— w.
such an unblemished reputation, toihnsteandasaistuli a character so
into the Cabinet and
entirely unassailable, that hiis co
rosining there was considered as mangundeniable guarantee to
the farmers that prob. not been interfered
withr. And
clam, had
yet there Sir Edward sits, with his hands in his pocket and his
chin on Isis breast, enjoying the most comfortable slumbers
imaginable' whilst laws were passing through Parliament,
• h d h' t
which if the principles e an is par y contetidedifor were tru
the most paramount interests of the country must be inevitably
sacrificed. However I do not regret that the House of Com-
mons is to be relied from the soporific influence
of his presence. ( Hear, hear.) He goes to that
House which has been not inaptly termed the House
of incurables, and I declare, without any reservation whatever,
that I never beheld a man who, from nature and habit, was so
likely to occupy in a bench in that House as Viscount
den. Now you will see from all this the cases of Buckingham,
Richmond, and Koatchbull, that this trade of farmer's friend is
a very thriving affair.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) It is like
the trade in guano from Ichaboe, only it cannot be considered
nearly so clean.—(Roars of laughter.) Now, I will ask you
these to go that class who really are agriculturists, for
not agriculturists, and ask the farmers how th
this system. I have heard of some f them obtaining rich
h
church livings—no garters—some labourers menare
the got 01' under
o have no stockings
—( Hear, hear, and cheers)—no naval, military, or civil pro-
motion, for the man who invests his capital in the soil of Eng-
land under the faith of these corn-laws. And if the labourers
were heard to speak (and it is hard to speak jocosely of them,
1 it is a subject too sorrowful to be jested with, but if it were not
I should say, that the only decoration they could ask would he

a million and a half, or two millions, or three millions. This
is exceedingly generous—but I say again that we do not find
fault with what he has done. His sin as a statesman lies in
ndt hating dolie that .thigh he ought to hate dune: He hail
abated tiiirer evils, lid lett the tniatiatef eVil undisturbed.
Small benefits he has iionterfed; btii largb in-
juries have gone unredressed, and in the matfef
sugar have been augmented. Sir Robert Peel has aimed at
popularity by giving the people a part of that which he took
from them in the first instance, and he has made the mono-
polists disgorge absolutely, nothing. He has shifted the bur•
dens; but 4,has nut modified theta ; at Mr. Cobden prophesied,
he has shuffled the cads and nothing more. The inctibtis of
protection still remains ; but, happily, the Leaglie remains too.
—( Cheers.) I have been met by one or two parties in the
street, since Friday night, and they have said to me, " I sup-
pose you are not going to carry on your League operations any
more, are you? ' My simple reply to that has been given in
the shape of another question—" Are the corn-laws repealed?
Are the sugar duties repealed May the corn, the coffee, the
rice, and the sugar, and the tobacco of other countries come in
upon equal terms with the productions of our own plantations?
If not, the League has yet its work to do, and is de-
Isterained to do it."—( Loud Cheers.) What does Mir
Robert Peel say? He says " British industry must
be protected ; our trade with colonies is important, and our
merchant• ships must be guarded on their way over the great
ocean, that they may arrive safely at their destination, and
return safely back again." All this is for the sake of British in-
dustry. Very well, we thank him for allowing us to have ten
line of battle ships, and we thank him for promising that he
will equip some more steamers, so that we may indulge in the
prospect of a safe sail to Jamaica or New South Wales, un-
affrighted by any roving buccaneer, or any Prince de Joinville.
Laughtcr.)—But we did not ask for ships ; we did not
seek so much to profit by means of war steamers as by means
of fellowship in the way of trade, reciprocity in the form of
benefits, copartnership upon a universal scale, all contributing
alike to one another's happiness, and rendering a quarrel al-
most impossible, as unlikely as that two partners in Fleet-street
should quarrel, break their windows, and tumble their own
goods into the street.—( Laughter and cheers.) If there be
one part of Sir Robert Peel's financial statement white's I re-
gard with greater dislike than any other, it is that ridiculous
affectation of humanity to the negro slaves across the
Atlantic.—( Hear, hear.) This has been most ably exposed by
the gentleman who has gone before me; and I shall, there-
fore, say no more than this, that I unite with him in denonnc-
ing so barefaced an inconsistency as that into which Sir Ro-
bert Peel has fallen, fallen intentionally, fallen designedly.--
( Hear, hear.) lie has made the humanity of the people of
this country a means of saddling them with an annual tax—
'sir. Wilson will tell you how much, but I think I shall not be
far wrong in saying that the extra price which we shall have
to pay for our sugar will much exceed two millions sterling;
and this at the same time that he allows the cotton of America
to come in free of duty.—( Hear, hear.) If it is good for us
to have cotton, why should it not be good for us to
have corn also ? ( Hear, hear.) If he had got
over his scruples as to cotton, and if it is now
to be allowed to come in, not by paying a small duty,
but absolutely free of duty, why will he not allow us to have
corn ?—(llear, hear.) This is excluded.—( Hear, hear. )
I know that there is a way of circumventing even this prohibi-
tion—namely, by carrying the corn of the Western States
down the rivers, and across the frontiers into our British Cana-
dian possessions, where, on paying a small duty, it is permitted
to be shipped into this country, where it is received on paying
a nominal duty. But the Americans do not like this mode of
doing the business. --( Hear, hear.) They want a direct, unin-
terrupted, immediate access to our ports, and they are fully
able to supply us, out of the superabundance of their
produce, with those necessaries and comforts of life of which
we stand so greatly in need.—( Cheers. ) Now, if Sir Robert
Peel be that friend to peace which he professes to be—if he be
that sympathetic man which he desires us to believe that he is,
for he tells us that he was deeply touched by the statements
made by one of the deputations, though the House was so un-
civil as to receive that announcement with something like a
giggle and a laugh; and Sir Robert Peel was obliged to repeat
his assertion, and to assure Hon. Gentlemen on the opposite
side that he could feel, and had felt.—(Laughter.) If, I say,
Sir Robert Peel have a heart, and is the friend of peace, how is
it that his heart does not beat high, in the anticipation of securing
peace by obtaining from America that which our country is so
much in need of ?—( Hear, hear,) If there is one thing to be
deprecated more than another, to be deplored above all other
things, save and except a civil war, it is a conflict with our
kinsmen on the opposite side of the Atlantic.—( Hear, hear.)
No disruption could be so calamitous, no spectacle more re-
volting, no conflict more unnatural than a war between the
people of this country and the inhabitants of the United States.
Well, our friend: on the other side of the Atlantic suggest a
mode of rendering this disruption impossible. They tell us what
they can do—they tell us what they have—they tell us how
much of what they have they can spare—they tell us what
they are willing to take in exchange. They have, in fact, just
that which we require, and we are able to produce that which
they most need ; and Sir Robert Peel has it in his power, if
he pleases, to put their raw cotton into the shape of fabricated
prints, and to send it cut again to array the forms of those who
are so able to return corn, cheese, and beef, for the support
of those who wove and span the cotton in this country.—
(Cheers.) But no;—with admirable consistency and equal
humanity, what does he do? He rays, " You may have as
much as you please of slave- grown cotton, "—the duty
was before but the five-sixteenths of a penny,
but that is now removed—" buy, and work, and
spin, and rejoice, and be merry." " But," he adds,
" if, when you have worked up this cotton in the mill—if, when
you have spun it in the loom—if, when fair fingers have tam-
boured it at Paisley—if any one of you, or your workpeople,
should desire to purchase a pound of Brazilian sugar, you must
not do it, for Brazilian sugar is polluted—it is the produce
of slave labour. It is true that you have gained all you have
by working up slave labour, but you must not have even half a
pound of Brazilian sugar, beeause it is the produce of slavery."
_( Hear, hear.) But, worse than that, they may not taste
American corn. The cotton, which is slave-grown, may come
in ; the corn, which is free-grown, is excluded. Now, Sir, I be-
lieve you will bear testimony to the truth of what I say, when I
affirm that there are thousands and tens of thousands who
hold our principles in America. Although Henry Clay
hoisted the standard of protection, it must not be supposed that
all who voted fur him were the friends of protection. There
were other reasons which induced many to vote for Henry
Clay besides a love of protection; while, on the other hand,
we know that at least a large proportion of those who car-
ried Mr. Polk into the chair of the Presidency were avowedly
free-traders. I have read, since I came upon this platform,
one of the most eloquent speeches that I ever met with
against protection in my life, by the present Secretary of
State, the Honourable Mr. Calhoun —( Hear, hear. )
Though I differ from Mr. Calhoun on some points, I do say
that on the question of free trade his language is straightfor-
ward and statesman-like, not only consistent with the best in-
terests of his own, but also with the best interests of our
country.—( Hear, hear.) I heartily wish that he may carry
out this at least of his plans, however I may desire that he
may fail in some others. I say that the party who thus sym-
pathise with us in the United Mates is a strong party; and no
wonder that it should be a strong party. I will not trouble you
with figures. I will merely state that when the census of the
United States was made in 1840, the total population
amounted to 17,069,453. In the middle States, that is to
say New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, &c. &c., the
population was 5,11-1,076 ; in the north-western States,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, it was 4,131,370;
making in the middle and north-western States, as contradis-
tinguished from the New Zealand and the south-western
States, 9,249,446, leaving only 7,820,007 amongst all the
other States. Now for the argument derived from this in
favour of free-trade. Out of a population of 17,069,000 we find
that there were engaged in commerce 117,007, in manufactures
791,749, and in agriculture 3,719,951. Now these agricul-
turisfs are the men whom we want for our customers.—( Hear,
hear.) The longer we delay, the greater are our straits and
embarrassments, and the further off is the prospect of reaping,
when the change shall come, the advantages now within our
reach. We have lest many already. Every year hundreds and
thousands of young men in the New Eagland States have to
choose what they shall be for their future lives. Their hearts
yearn for the prairies of the west, and when I was in that
country, five hundred a day have I seen leaving for the borders
of that vast country, where they expected to find a
home and an inheritance for their children. But they
have been stopped in their career ; they have been kept and
fixed where they are, and have turned, or rather been made
manufacturers, which they did not desire to be, because you
would not give them encuaragement to become agriculturists,
which they did desire to be. And this has done what Sir R.
Peel professes to deplore; it has added to the number of
planters who have laid out their capital in the purchase of
gangs of slaves, and who are found now the growers of cotton,
because you will not allow them to be growers of corn. That
is the effect of the course which has been pursued. The
Government cannot be more pro-slavery in anything
than they are in their conduct with regard to
the agricultural produce of the United States; nor can they
be more pro-slavery than they are in the extension of all de-
scriptions of sugar on the payment of an equal amount of duty.
—( Hear, hear.) And, having examined this question since
we met here last year, I am only more deeply confirmed in the
opinion which I then expressed, that the Anti-slavery party in
this kingdom, with the purest and noblest intentions, are in-
juring the cause which they would fain serve, and procrasti-
nating the day when competition and free labour shall destroy,
not only slavery, but that traffic which grows out of it—the de-
testable commerce in the species between America and Africa.
—(Loud cheers.) I have only one other remark to make
with regard to America, and that is that whereas our supply
of provisions in this country is known to be tolerably short,
and we have it on the authority of a clerical gentleman himself,
that five millions of our population.rejoice in potatoes, a very large
number, in oatmeal, and while a great proportion of the popu-
lation, though they taste wheaten bread, have much less of it
than they desire; while such are the facts witb regard to our
own country, it appears, from some tables inserted in an ad-
mirable pamphlet, entitled " American Corn and British
Manufactures," that every man, woman, and child in the
United States has forty-two bushels of grain a year—that is to
say, they have this to divide amongst them.—( Hear, hear. )
Only the other day I received a letter from a gentleman who
has recently gone out to the United States. He says,
" If I were required to come back to this coun-
try, I don't think I could make up my mind
to it, knowing, as I do, that you are all starving,,,
while we are rolling in plenty." " We have,"
he adds, " on this, which is an ordinary day, roast turkey
and plum pudding for dinner."--( Laughter.) Now I say
that if Sir Robert Peel were to turn his attention to these
things, we should give him more credit for compassion axd
sympathy with the sufferings of the people than he can expect
in his present course of conduct to receive at our hands. I
am thankful, however, that in the present session it has been
rendered more apparent by what parties in the State
this distinguished man is bound and shackled in pursuing his
unworthy course. The fact is, my friends, that he has a
sack of corn at one ankle, and a hogshead of
sugar at the other, and when a man is manacled with a sack
of corn at one ankle, and a hogshead of sugar at the other, it
is not to be expected that be would make very great progress.
Such seems to be the unfortunate predicament of Sir Robert
Peel. Still we do not deem him to be in a hopeless condition.
—( Hear, hear.) We know that he is not unable to learn.
We know that he is not blind—that he can read the signs of
the times. We do not think that he is so completely disinte-
rested that he would throw up office, and patronage and
friends and connexions, and all that surrounds him in his pre-
sent condition, rather than touch the corn-laws, or the sugar
monopoly.—(Hear, hear.) No ; he wants a motive.
The people out of doors must generate the momentum.
He showed a glass balance in the House of Commons. There
is another sort of balance that regulates his chronometer most
exactly ; it never escapes from him ; it governs all his move-
ments. Whether he is at Downing-street, at Windsor Castle,
at the Pavilion at Brighton, at 'Whitehall, or in St. Step
that titivest;
this balance regulates all he says.
not regulate his very looks. This balance is public o}
when he
I am not sure
( Hear, hear, and cheers.) He will do what is
right,dsl remember
cannot help doing it.—( Hear, hear. )
who has to come after me, will conclude by
time which properly belongs to him.
in Sir Robert
putting this question—ls there anything
and I will yrMuoytt frleienncroach upon the
for .s On the contrary, we
efforts ? You answer
recede, from the vantage ground
Peel's financial statement to justify,, us in relaxing in our
should be ungrateful were we to r.
which we
have obtained, seeing that a short time ago
neglecting Minister of l t
an d
we
there were seven hundred excuses for not repealing the corn-
laws, and if we have now got rid of 430, what a powerful
bodydre not Mu sattempt Prime
or
think he ought to do on less than 430 grounds, and when he is
at webe
to when
exceuv se en
himself s elf for
obliged to circulate and get others: to circulate them, in

the order of the union workhouse].—( Hee*, hear, and cheer/0
Well,those if l';, Bond-street gentlemen played such fantestre
tr'cks with the interests of the farmers, how do they conduct
themselves in the House of Commons? They sit by the side of
I Ministers—though they e;strust the Government--they
look uneasy, they are a little sullen, but they do not
make any great demonstration of resistance. I told
I them the other night that the character given in a very
innocent book of certain faithless guardians, of old " dumb
dogs who either could not, or would not, bark" was applicable
to them. —( Hear, hear, and cheers.) This was considered
rather vituperative.—(Laughter. ) Sir Rcbert Peel, not
wishing to displease his party, took it upon himself to lecture
me for want of manners.—( Renewed laughter.) He forgot
the charges which he himself had made against an Hon.
Friend of mine.—(Loud cries of "Hear, hear,"—" Hurrah
for Cobden," and great cheering.) There was another
Member on the Ministerial side of the House, Mr. Stafford
O'Brien, the Member for Northampton, Chairman of the
Publication Committee, pf the Great Central Committee.,
which meets at No. 17, Bond-R;eet, who lectured me like-
wise. Mr. Smith O'Brien was, he tvs".s going to ray, guilty
—no, but he must be held answerable for rbe publication of a
pamphlet in which the sentiments of the venerates: Adam Smith
were garbled and perverted—when he was told that the land-
lords ought to serve their tenants and labourers,
G'Brien
said that was not a way to speak of the gentry of Englas:St
No s it is a great mistake in Mr. Stafford O'Brien to cloth*
himself in the lion's skin, and then take upon himself the chest
racter of the most sincere man in the House of Commontie
he disappointed the designs of nattne very much, for, from hii
dress and manner he showed that he Was mueh mere suited for
a roan-milliner. —( Great laughter,) I believe he might have
filled with great respectability such an office.---(Laughter.)
They don't, then, make a great demonstration agetnst the Go-
vernment—it is only a sort of human growl they utter, but no
great resolution on which the body agree. Their Clll3e is
bad, and they know it, and their courage oozes our, for
they have no faith is the maintenance of their principles.—
they never had any soundness. Sir R. Peel drags them aim's(
and they can make no opposition. A very beautiful and
pleasing writer, Leigh Hunt, in one of his essays, describing
a number of pigs being driven to Smithfield—(Laughter)l—e
says, " Unwilling was their subjection, and more in sorrost,
than in anger, they were overgone from rage, their cause wale
hopeless, they did not see why they should proceed, but felt
themselves bound to do so—they first conglomerated, crowded,
grunted, but onward went, impelled by fate and Peel. Often
would they have rebelled under any other master—they halted
shut and grunted in ordinary—they sidled and shued, half-
stopped, turned their eyes towards all outlets and
lanes by which they might escape, but in fine there
they stuck, for their very progress was a sort a
sticking-charm at the centre of their sphere of action—
laying their heads together but to no purpose, looking on all
sides—shrugging their shoulders and eschewing the knotty
end of the whip of office—much eye had they to their left
legs. " They shrink backward with groans—not an incipient
squeak—but a sound suspicious in character and violent to
a degree." But pigs find it more difficult than any other
animals to accommodate themselves to circumstances.—
( Shouts of laughter.) "He with 'his tail out is in the-
highest state of wonderment, is sluggish and obstinate,
not very civil, and has no desire to see foreign
parts. Think of him in a multitude forced to travel,
and wondering what the devil it is that drives him."—
( Continued laughter.) Well, as far as the great Central As-
sociation for the protection of British agriculture is concerned,
I think it will make a very ridiculous figure in the pages of his-
tory—that is, if any historian will deem it worth his while to
notice it.—( Ironical cheers, and laughter.) It was an impos-
ture when first started, got up for the purpose of making a
spasmodic effort to propagate a gigantic and monstrous injus-
tice.—( Cheers.) But now its true character is begin-
ning to be clearly developed, and all the intelligent classes
see through its motives. This knowledge is ex:end-
ing, and even the farmers are beginning to fh:d
that it wears the features of an iniposture, so that we
may speedily expect to see it put down altogether.—(Great
cheers.) But now of that other Association—that which we
are here met to-night to sympathise with—the Association
which ever has advocated and tried to promote the truly grand
principle of free trade, and perfect freedom to industry.—
(Immense cheering.) We have no Richmonds or Bucking-
hams, or Knatchbulls, to whom we can point as ornamented
with stars and garters, or to whom we can give promotion in
the army or in the civil service. The prominent men in the
ranks of the Anti-Corn-law Leaguers here, or (for they are
widely extended) in other parts of the kingdom, have sprung
from the ranks. They are not joining in agitation for the purpose
of obtaining places or power or station—( Cheers.) If there
is one rank that they covet more than another, it is this, that
they may occupy a place in the minds of their countrymen—
that now and in after times it may be remembered by the
grateful people of a happy land, that they did something in
their day and generation to strike off the shackles that fettered
their commerce and their industry, and that they contributed,
in however little a degree, to make their beloved country happy
and prosperous.—(lmmense cheering.) From the beginning •
of our exertions, some six or seven years ago, we have had no
reliance on any interests further than these—first, on theemane
elpation of truth ; and, then, on the intelligence and the virtnel
of our countrymen. We have appealed to you time after time.
We have unremittingly appealed to you and my fellow-men in all
parts of the country—( Cheers)—and nobly have you and they
responded to that appeal.—( Cheers.) No man in this country,
be he who he may, connected with any political movement
whatever, has met or can meet with so hearty, so efficient a
response, as was given to the appeal which the members of
the Anti-Corn-law League addressed to the people of Great
Britain.—(Great cheers.) In 1839, we asked our friends and
neighbours, principally in Lancashire and Yorkshire, for sub-
scriptions to begin to carry on the war against the corn laws,
and 5,0001. was almost immediately subscribed. In 1840 we
asked for further subscriptions, and 7,01,0/ or 8,0001. was sub-
scribed for that and a portion of the following year. In 1841
we sent out circulars to every county in the kingdom, asking
the men who were engaged in teaching the doctrines
of Christianity, what they thought of the corn-laws, and re-
questing them to meet us at Manchester, and no less than 700
of these men did leave their districts at immense inconvenience
and at great expense, because they were summoned to discuss
this great question.—( Great cheering.) In the year 1842 we
had a bazaar in Manchester, and the ladies there provided arti-
cles, sold them at the bazaar, and handed over a sum of 10,000/.
to the Council of the Anti-Corn-law League.—( Great cheer-
ing.) In 1843 we asked for 50,0001., and 50,000/. was et
once toll sated.—( Continued cheers.) In 1844 we asked fof
100,000/., and between 80 and 90,0001. has been already sub-
scribed, although the great bazaar to be held here in May
next was considered when we asked the country for 100,000/-
—( Tremendous cheering, which was continued for sone
minutes.) This year is but young, as yet but twd
months are almost gone. In the first month of
this year, and in three months of the last, we ap-
pealed again to the free traders in the Northern counties, and
we asked them, not to subscribe money, but to do something fire
mere beneficial—we asked them to invest some of their pro..
perty in the purchase of a powerful weapon by which they
could at the election hustings defend their dearest rights and
liberties.—(Cheers.) And how was that appeal responded
to ? I will tell you. The free traders in the Northern coun-
ties, principally in Lancashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire, at the
recommendation of the League, invested a sum no less than
250,000/. in the purchase of county qualifications.—( Great
cheering.) You are aware that there is a class of men every
where who de not take the trouble to inquire into the truth of
any matter, but who nevertheless go about spreading that
which is not true. Such men had they here. Alany in the
country said, "It is quite unconstitutional in the League to
collect money for the purpose of buying county qualifications."
—( Laughter.) These are fictitious assertions. The League
never collected a pound to buy qualifications, for anybody.—
(Cheers and laughter.) The members of the League pur-
chased these qualifications for themselves.—( Cheers.) My
five brothers—there are six of us—and myself have spent 9004
in buying qualifications for counties in the North of England
—(Cheers)—and so these 250,000/. have been subscribed
wholly by individual free traders throughout the country, who
have resolved to get within the pale of the Constitution, and
to tight the battle firmly, and coustitutionally too, on the hus-
tings at the next election of their representatives to Parliament.
I have said that we shall have a large bazaar here in this
house in May next, and I may also tell you, that in this me-
tropolis, in Manchester, and in a large number of towns in
England, committees are farmed, and at work, for the purpose
of providing materials for that bazaar; and a magnificent col-
lection of articles, the production of ladies, who have kindly
aided us, will be then submitted for your purchase.—(Cheers. )
Every body in the country asks—" While we are doing so
much, what are they doing in London ?" In the country the
connexion that binds society is favourable to projects like
these, and we can get the ladies, therefore, to do it in first-rate
style—( Laughter)—but here it is not so easy. One does not
know one's neighbour so well as in the smaller towns of the
northern counties. I do not doubt that a great deal has
been done, and I expect that a great deal more
will be done before three months are expired —(Hear, hear,)
And when this bold speculation is fully matured and perfected,
it will be no discredit to the Sovereign of these lands to be pre-
sent in this building.—(Cheers,) Now, I take it that our pre-
sent position is a very prosperous one. I never advise any
one to look at the dark side of things. I always look myself
on the cheerful side of the picture, and troubles we know come
fast enough without our going to meet them. Recollect what
the present Prime Minister says—he came into office on the
shoulders of the Central Association, but what says he new,
and what was his opinion in past times ? He no doubt hypes
that a liberal policy, and liberal measures at this time, will at
an after period induce the people of England to remember
him without unkindness, if not with attachment.
I will read you an extract from a speech of his
in 1824, when Mr. Huskisson brought forward some measure
of free-trade, in the article of ribbons, &c. Mr. Secretary
Peel is reported to have exhorted the House to firmness. He
reminded the House that the eyes of Europe were upon them,
and how greatly their commercial policy would be prejudiced
if they yielded to the force of circumstances. He knew a good
deal about these questions iu 1824, and he certainly could not
be less familiar with them in twenty years after. In 1842 he an-
nounced the important principle, that the true policy of the
n nationitis
was, to buy in the cheapest market and sell in dearest.the
among
the
speech on Friday last, when alluding to a
combination
tiroor •
the coal-owners of the north of England,
national resources, than for a
hesaid that thereg
could not be a greater abuse of
ricel o
combination to exist among c.oa
-mine
the praetors fth
r consume. I
put pose of raising the p
I know of es,
shall read it in another way.
national monopoly than for a
greater abuse of
its price in this country. Can -ye
of corn, in order to raise
be right in his •
combination to exist a among landlords for restricting the supply
of of
free-trade in coal is not equally right •
of a further
with
who can so
realise the utmost
regard to the principle of a free-trade in corn ?_.(Cheers. )
tdhoeu doubt
blessingsth at t hoof,
am a
said, in the conclusion of his speech,
theion wparsi principle pl e that his
It was
extension o
object,.
degree of good, without the disturbance or alarm of interests
while
f reduction establ
establishing
nt
taxation a t
which could not be rashly interfered with,
without para-
lysing the industry of the country. He openly acknow-
ledges the very principles which we have advocated f out n
doors and in the House of Commons. All his
sympathies are
with the Anti-corn-law League at present. But let them look
to the other side of the House of Commons. There was Lord
John Russell, who was altogether stationary for three years on
this question. He advocated an adherence to protection. What
is Lord John Russell's opinion now? On the very first
night of the present session he expressed his full
cutt v talon that protection was the bane of agricul-
ture; and the night before last, in the discussion on the
income-tax, he said that he still adhered to this declaration;
and he went further, for he not only said that protection was
the bane of agriculture, but the bane of every ether interest to
which the principle could apply. He referred to our colonial
interests—to our silk manufacturers, and to our timber growers
in our North American possessions. We are associated to
carry out the principle of liberty and freedom in every branch
of trade. We are associated to carry these principles out by
concentrating the invisible but the almost omnipotent
power of public opinion in their. favour. We have
the sympathy of a large sectosn of the public
in our endeavours to promote the interests and prosperity of
the country. Our opponents are broken—their courage is
blasted, and in Parliament or out of it they have not thejectonott,
deuce to advocate their opinions. Our course is
have continued
password be still" Onward, onward." Let_
d inus thea capacity of
faith in the intelligence, in the power, axnert
ons.
us have
the people of England to second otuur9e i
press forward Levuntil we
no thought of going back, but
mle
I,—(C:beers.) Many men
achieve a complete and final trie p
charge us with
adhering too strictly to a dry principle of po-
litical economy.
1 attacks are equally harsh and unge-
nerous,Sec'manner characterise all attempts
to relieve the distresses
and they may, in like
• • sof the country and to ameliorate tit.

ROYAL V iCTOItI.k TIJEAITE.
THIS EVENING
Will be repeated THE LADY OF' '.UItOPEZ; or, The Bride of
Woe, aeorge Maurice, Hr. Oslithlistoa ; Antoine, Mr. 11. Howard;
M. Langlols, Mr. E. Jones; D'Arbell, Mr. J. T. Johnson ;
D'Aubrine, Mr W. Searle ; ene, Mr. J. Herbert ; Hortense (the
Bride of Woe), Miss Vincent • Malanie Langlois, Miss Eliza Terrey ;
Charlotte, Miss cooper • •
After w HOLTSE DO3. Supported by Mr, C. J. Illggie,
J. Ilerbrt,
I.l' 'IOIIM Miss E. Terrey, Miss Jefferson, &c.
To conclude with JOCIiO ; The Brazilian Ape. In which Monsieur
Goutlet 7111 perform ttic nuns; woaderful and un-imazin••ble Feats.

cottONEn a Ng:7o7 Es
_ _
__.--
Balter held an inquest at 0-n- l'ilesday afternoon, Mr.
the body ofJohn Bolton, a"?..
i11t..--;\!!t-iiial Koppel, Iloxton Old-town, on
I ti, who died in the most horrid state
of destitution, and who, it way
Be lived In a small room on tb,re...ir"erutl', 'A-4'l' a very wealthy miser.
n, Pour of is miseratile hovel In
Barrett's-haildings, Buxton ; 0,1•7 th
thing th, place in the shape of furl-ti-
the extreme, awl the only thi • m 'jury viewing It, It was filthy in
tare was an old, broken, bottomluis Ch:mall dirty tattered
complete emaciation, one of
bed, on which the body lay, art object °fire' 'tint
a 8
eaten awayo_tLethe swarm of rats that
the ears hoeing been nearly
tcioth,er one of the most
infested the place. The scene
iwws.vipokie
revolting description; everythin;
how the deceased could have lived in the wretched privation, and
were found in, was a matter
of
great
astonishment
stotatte his remains
jury. The evidence showed that tbr the last nine yearsheheoroner and
la the habit of hawking fish about the streets. Latterlye, h 94
been
appearing to be in deep want, an I being chargeable t,o St. Plow"—,
was allowed by that parish 2s. ill a week as out-door relief. cilia's, he
frequently solicited by the neighbours to cleanse himself emetlwali
abode ; in fact, they proffered their services to do so, but he refused.
On Stuiday he complained of being very unwell, but would not allow
the parish doctor to be called to his aid. A person named Wilson,
who lived In the same house, very kindly gave him some tea and
toast. At night he said ho was better, bat on the following m
d.orningMr.
(Monday) he was found stretched on the floor, quite dea
Cowakd, the parish surgeon, gave It as hie opinion that apoplexy was
the cause of death. Mr. Waller, the beadle, Informed the coroner
that it was stated in the neieditioarhood t'...at the deceased was a
Miser, and had secreted his wealth in the room in which he lived.
The coroner having observed that it was no pert of his inquiry to AR-
traillin the wealth of the dece its:Al, the Jury returned a verdict of
nNaturat death."