The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-16 00:00:00

it was very manna that they should oppose it. It was a
priil:Aple of human nature ; all persons had it more or
less.—(llear, hear) - There might, indeed, be somi
splendid exceptions, some few persons who were so be-
nevolent and kind-hearted that they would not aggran
dise themselves at the expense of the whole community,
but• the rule was what be had stated. He believed
that Sir Robert Peel was fast losing his popularity.
The Chartists no longer viewed him with favour,
the Church party had never dune so, and the great body
of die Tories, if they might judge by their own organs
in the Press, entertained for him no great affection.
The CHAIRMAN said he must be all need to interrupt
the speaker by reminding him that they were not assem-
bled for the purpose of discussing general 'politics.
Their object was to obtain justice from that Government,
or any other Government which might come into power.
It was not desirable, he thought, to allude to the unpo-
pularity of the Government separately from this ques-
tion.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. 111.‘LEop said be had concluded the observations
which he intended to make.

The CHAIRMAN said he felt disinclined, as an indivi-
, :iatal, to-sit quietly under the imputation that theys as a
body, would starve the people if they had it in their
power.—(Hear, hear.) It did appear to him that that
nesle of speaking struck at the root of all public and pri-
vate "morality.—(Hear, hear.) It was not the right way
to state the matter: They should declare a wrong to be
a wrimg, an injustice to be an injustice ; they should
never attempt to debate injustice, or to lower the stan-
dard of national morality, by acknowledging that cer-
tain unj ast men-were not worse than others, or that they,
if placed in the same position, would act, in •a similar
manner. lie trusted it would not be the case with him-
self s he believed there were hundreds and thousands of
holiest hearts who would never be guilty of such con-
duct.—(Cheers.) -
Mr. Mslseon explained.
The CHAIRMAN said, the meeting should not omit to
observe the injury which was done to the entire Bench
of Bishops. Would it be imagined for one moment that
they would be guilty of such atrocious conduct.
Mr. 14};ESON, of , Birmingham, believed that half the
manufacturers of that town had been ruined by the
Bread-tax-makers and bad legislation.
Mr. BIRCH, a Deputy from the shopkeepers of Man-
chester, next addressed the meeting. lie was one
of the Deputation appointed by the • shop-
keepers .of Manchester to wait on Sir Robert
Peel, to state to him the condition of the shop-
keepers and, others of Manchester. That Deputation
directed a letter to Sir R. Peel, requesting an interview ;
in answer to' which he stated, that such was the
pressure of public business that it was impoSsible to fur-
nish the opportunity required. They had applied like-
wise to the Earl of Ripon, and they were to wait upon
him at half-past twelve to-morrow. They had also ap-
plied to their Members, -Air. M. Philips and Mr. Milner
Gibson, and the latter had taken upon himself to bring
their case beflire the House of Commons this evening.
They had drawn up a petition, which Mr. M. Gibson
would present to the House this evening, Ile begged it
to be understood that he did not appear at the in-
stigation of the League, or as having any connec-
tion with it. What he appeared there for was to
state facts to tie League, and to have those facts
circulated through the ress. The Deputation of
which he • was a member, had been to all parts of
the town, and they had made inquiries of individuals in
every species of business. They had asked their condi-
tion with reference to what it was in 1833 and now ;
and they had stated that the falling off of their business
was full a half, and that.there was a &Hing off of their
profits full a half, upon that half amount of business.—
(Cheers.) Now. he had some statements to lay before
the electing, with respect to a clothier, who had been in
business sixteen years ; he had been in the finer parts of
the trade, and he stated that his trade in 1841 and 1842,
was nut half what it was in 1835 and 1836. He stated
also, that the principal, and most profitable
parts of his business in 1835 and 1836, consisted of
trade with the working men, who used to come with
money in their hands to purchase cloth from him, and
ttat they did not mind what they gave for it ; hilt that
now he never saw a working man—(blear, hear)—and
that now men of that kind never came to his shop.—
(Hear, hear.) The next individual they called upon
was a grocer, N.huse shop was situated in what was con-
sidered one of the best situations in Manchester for the
business he carried on. This individual had been in
business fifteen years. He did half the business now
that he did in 1835, and only one-third of what he did
in 1836 ; that his profits in 1839 were seven-and-a-half,
but that in 1842 they were only three-and-a-half, or
four—(Hear, hear)—and that during the last five years
he had made debts to the amount of 5001. That on
Saturdays formerly he Sold goods to the amount of 501.,
and on other days in the week to the amount of
lot, and that now he did not take on a Saturday
20/., and on the other days in the week not 41.—(Hear,
hear.) That he employed now in his business three
young men, the same as formerly, and that he was losing
every week in his business 51. Such was his state after
15 or 16 years' labour, that he was about to wither the
wreck of his property together to purchase an annuity,
and live in a cottage.—(Hear.) He stated further, that
parties who had formerly bought several pounds of
I. sugar, now came for ounces—(Hear, hear)— and they
had the smallest quantity they possibly could buy of the
other articles in which lie dealt ; but notwithstanding all
this, the shopkeepers were obliged to keep up the same,
although they were losing by it. The next individual
to which he would allude was a bread-baker, who had
the next shop. He was in the best situation in the
town ; he -did the largest business in the town. He
stated the distress was lamentable. He knew families
who formerly took from 4 to 6 loaves a week, now
only --took-- one ,s•,- and- :-that -.whero• wed to
-eat iitflakiiesloafasise rap 206.L(Pletle, hear.)
The consequenewsexcliestad-- to -effiproy a "greater' num-
her ofthauds to !doethe unites business, and: his profits
were;emesiderablyi loss..eThe next spergon sus:whom Ihe
would allude was a grocer, who stated that he now sold
halfpennyworth's of sugar, tea, and tobacco—(Hear)—
that it required a greater amount of labour to draw the
same money, by two or three times, which they formerly
used to employ. They found upon inquiry at the provi
sion dealers, they almost uniformly bore out this fact,
that there bad been a decrease of the consumption of
cheese and bacon, and a greater consumption of oatmeal.
--(Hear.) The next individual was an ironmonger. He
should suppose he was the oldest manufacturer in Man-
chester. This party had not been: in business less
than 30 or 40 years. This individual exhibited a re-
markable falling off in his business. There had
been a regular falling off since 1837. In 1837
he stated his business as 80 ; in 1838 as 70 ;
in 1839 as 50 ; in 1840 as 30 ; in 1841 es 27 ; and
in 1842 as 15.—(Hear.) He stated as a positive fact
that almost all the iron-manufacturers in the large towns
of Salford and Manchester; had been living out of their
stocks for the last twelve months, owing to building ope-
rations being suspended. The next individual was in
the respectable business of a flour-dealer and bread-
baker, and he stated that his trade had greatly fallen off, '
that he had made large and bad debts, and that he had
totally lost all confidence in the public as his customers. '
Another baker in another part of the town made similar
statements with respect to the small quantity of bread he
sold. Ile stated that individuals to whom he formerly
sold two loaves now came for pounds—(Bear, hear)—
and he even often gave to the little boys and girls who
came for the bread pieces to satisfy their hunger. The
next case was that of a butcher, who stated that he had
been fifteen years in business, that in 1835 he drew 801.
in a week, arid in 1842 not more than thirty pounds.
It might be asked in what kind of spirit the people bore
the sufferings to which they were subjected. He was in
possession of a document, which he was not at liberty to
bring before the meeting, relating to the condition of the
brokers of Manchester, which showed that parties in pos-
of large' .stecle".inaheir houses were actually starving.
Those parties could not even relieve themselves by sell-
ing their goods ; for when an auction for that purpose
was called it was mere dumb show. The auctioneer
held up the goods for sale, but no bidding took place ;
people were unable to buy them. There was one party
possessed of stock to the amount of 1,000/.. and yet he was
in such a state of poverty that he could not meet trifling
expenses of the most necessary kind. The people of
Manchester bore this state of things very hardly. They
seemed to be, as it were, preparing for some desperate
movement. He did not throw out this as a threat. No
men more regretted such a state of things than he did.
The people could not bear to be ground to the dust. It
was not to be expected that men of intelligence—
men of skill, men of mind, and of independent feelings
Would quietly submit to a state of things which without
any fault of their own, sunk them to the condition of
class beneath them—brought them to a level with the
labourer who sought employment, only to find them-
selves disappointed. And who were the men that found
their position thus becoming lowered every day ? They
were the men forming that class which supported Me-
i chanics' Institutions, Lyceums, and Sunday schools—that
class' which formed an essentially reli?ious, moral, and
intelligent section of the community. This was the class
Which the operation of restrictive commercial laws were
grinding down and depriving of that spirit which cha-
racterised the middle classes of England hitherto. He
need not tell them how opposed those restrictive laws
were to the feelings of that class. It was not for him
to propose a remedy for the dangerous position in
which so influential a class of the community stood. He
heard some persons in Manchester say that they would
not consume any article from which Government de-
rived the means of carrying out their restrictive ma-
i sures ; and he knew sufficient of the people of Man-
chester to feel assured that they would act up to their
saying in this respect.
The Cuaieseass said, that ho had been requested to
read the following letter from the Rev. Dr. Joseph
Fletcher. It referred to a meeting held at a Chapel in
Ifinsbury, on Friday last, and was printed in The
Chris-
tian Extimincr

My Dear Sir,—We have a Church-meeting o.,lFricbiy,whiel,
will render it impossible for me to attend ;our public Count-
tio/2., Most sincerely j sympathise with the object you hive