The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-16 00:00:00

nagement of the great question which it is the object
of the Association to carry to a happy issue, the expe-
rience they have acquired during its progress has
ripened into conviction. In Parliament it is apparent
that monopoly has abandoned argument, and stands
simply upon its majority ; but amongst the people it
owes the toleration of its existence mainly to general
ignorance of the subject. In the Legislature the truth
is known, but not respected; in the community it is
only not respected, because it is not known. The
sense
of justice which the short-sighted selfishness of
private interest has enfeebled in the Senate, is yet
strong in the conscience of the nation. The task we
have to accomplish is not that of inducing the
people to join in the demand to do us jus-
tice, but simply to prove to them that justice is
on our side. If the proximate 'cause of the con-
tinuance of the Corn-laws he the disregard of truth or
honesty on the part of the representatives of the coun-
try, the ultimate cause is unquestionably to be found
in the fact that the advocates of free trade have not
yet produced a sufficiently general conviction of the
efficacy and necessity of abolishing the restrictive
system. And the Committee are now more than ever
satisfied that as while we fail to carry conviction of
the sound principles of our cause to the minds of the
people, we shall not succeed in compelling the Legis-
lature to abandon their present vicious policy ; so
whenever we have succeeded in forming enlightened
public opinion in favour of our views, we cannot pos-
sibly fail in compelling the concurrence of the Legis-
lature to the demands of a fair majority of the nation.
"As our weakness lies in the general ignorance
which prevails upon the subject of free trade, all that
is necessary to increase our strength is to increase the
knowledge of the people. As this has been our past
aim, so ought it to be our future zealous endeavour.
By this simple agency we have compelled a reluctant
confession from our opponents of the soundness of our
principles; and a vigorous perseverance in the same
policy will ultimately induce a reduction of these to
practice. We have no new method of agitation to
recommend. We have rather to report that the old
method has only been partially and imperfectly tried,
and to advise that it should be strenuously carried out
in all its details. We have the most unhesitating con-
fidence in the power of a free press and free
speecli to correct every abuse in the State; and in
place of studying the invention of some new plan of
agitation we have addressed ourselves exclusively to
the consideration of those details by which a more
complete development may be given to the principles
of action, an undeviating adherence to which has, we
confidently believe, been the cause of our safety,
progress, power, and success. As the use of free
speech, of open discussion, and of appeals to the un-
derstandings of men, through the press, have been
the time-honoured resources of the people against
oppression, and their remedy for social wrongs, so do
we desire to stand upon the ancient ways of the Con-
stitution, and to rely upon the peaceful means for
redress of grievances prescribed by the customs of
the nation. And we have to congratulate our consti-
tuents on the satisfactory reflection, that in a time of
political excitement, social confusion, and popular
turbulence, during which disobedience to the laws
ended only in the punishment of the insurgents and
the discomfiture of their cause, our firm reliance on
the peaceable and well ordered means which we have
uniformly adopted has consolidated our power, and
greatly advanced the cause we are pledged to carry to
a triumphant conclusion.

" The Committee have received many valuable hints
from the Secretaries and other members of local asso-
ciations, to which they have given their best con-
sideration, and which, to a considerable extent, have
been embodied in the following propositions. They
now beg respectfully to report :
" 1. That it is the general opinion of the Associa-
tions that ordinary aggregate meetings for routine
business may be advantageously held at the same
period of the day as at present, but that special meet-
ings, where it is importantto command a large attend-
ance, should commence not earlier than six o'clock in
the evening. Thy recommend, therefore, that it be
now resolved to continue the fortnightly aggregate
meetings for ordinary routine business, at half-past
two for three o'clock precisely ; and for special busi-
ness, at six o'clock for half-past six precisely ; and
that the days of meeting be altered from Monday to
Friday.

" 2.. That each Association should at once fix upon
some well-known place of meeting in its own district,
for the purpose of holding weekly meetings, and some
specific day and hour, for the next six months, to enrol
members, to receive subscriptions, and to carry out a
regular system for the distribution of tracts ; and,
where practicable, to devote each alternate meeting to
public lectures, addresses, and discussions; keeping
steadily in view the importance of each society extend-
ing their operations into the districts which adjoin
their own. _ _ _ _ _

._••...
" 3. That the various branches of the Metropolitan
Anti-Corn-law Associations be divided into fourteen

topographical sections in the following order :
No. I. Shall consist of the Central Association,
St. Ann's, St. Martin's, St. Margaret's, Westminster.
" No. 11. Whitechapel, Stepney, Wapping.
" No. 111. Bethnal-green, Shoreditch, Bishops-
gate, Hoxton.
" No. IV. All Souls and Trinity, Portland•town,
St. Mary's, Rectory, Christchurch, Paddington, Ma-
rylebone.

" No. V. Western division of St. Pancras, Kentish-
town and Camden-town, Somer's-town.
" No. VI. Islington, St. Luke's Clerkenwell,

low ay.
" No. VII. Edmonton, Tottenham, Hackney, South
Hackney, West Hackney.
" No. VIII. Hammersmith, Kensington, Chelsea.
" No. IX. Camberwell and Dulwich, St. Mary's
(Newington), St. Saviour's, St. George's, Lambeth,
Vauxhall, Surrey.
" No. X. Stratford, Barking, Bow, Bromley,
Poplar.
- " No. XI. Mitcham, Carshalton, Tooting, Merton,
Wallington, Wandsworth.
" No. XII. Uxbridge, Hounslow, Brentford, Rich-
mond.
" No. XIII. Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Deptford,
Greenwich, Woolwich.
" No. XIV. Dartford, Crayford.
" 4. That aggregate public meetings of all the As-
sciations shall be held, under the superintendence of
each of the sections above enumerated respectively, on
Wednesday of each week successively, at half-past
six o'clock for seven precisely, in such place, within
the district embraced under each section, as shall be
mutually agreed upon by the branches included in
the same; and that the said meetings shall be held in
the following order :
" Sections No. 1., on the 30th November, 1842 ;
No. 11., 7th December, 1842; No. 111., 14th De-
cember, 1842 ; No. IV., 21st December, 1842 ; No.
V., 4th January, 1843 ; No. VI., 11th January,
1843 ; No. VII., 18th January, 1843 ; No. VIII.,
25th January, 1843; No. IX., Ist February, 1843;
No. X., Bth February, 1843; No. XI., 15th Fe-
bruary, 1843; No. XII., 22d February, 1843; No.
XIII., Ist March, 1843 ; No. XIV., Bth March, 1843.
"To make these meetings effective, it is recom-
mended that the secretaries of the branches embraced
in each section respectively should meet together
forthwith to arrange all the preliminaries of the meet-
ing in their several districts; that they should invite
to their public meetings deputations from all the other
sections, the presence of leading politicians, the at-
tendance of influential persons in their respective
neighbourhoods ; reporters from the Press, and the
general .public, especially including ladies, by cards of
invitation, specifying place and hour, subscribed by
each secretary of the section—said cards of invitation
to specify on the back the name of each association
within the district, their ordinary place, day, and
hour of meeting for dispatch of business, and the
names of their chairman ,• and each secretary of the
section to be supplied with as many of the said cards
as he may require—the holders of members' cards of
the Anti-Corn-law League being admissible to all
meetings.
" 5. That the secretaries of each section shall duly
advertise their respective public meetings in the daily
papers, and notify them by circular to all the other
branches of the association ; and they shall also be
announced at the conclusion of every meeting pre-
ceding that on which each section is to hold its meet-
ing, together with the names of such persons of in-
fluence as have agreed to attend. Due arrangements
ought to be carefully ii repared for the sale of tracts
and the enrolment of members at each meeting, and
in order not to trench on the general funds of the
associations, the expenses should be defrayed by each
branch within the general sections respectively, in
the proportion of the number of members of which
each consists, or by a general or equal subscription,
as may be agreed upon. In every case there should
be a timely selection of chairman, speakers, and reso-
lutions, of which last several copies should Fe pre-
pared for the accommodation of reporters.
"G. That the Committee would recommend to
each branch or section the formation of occasional
public tea meetings, in addition to the foregoing,
carefully avoiding the nights appropriated to sec_
tinnal meetings; and they also propose that imme-
diately on the termination of the public meetings four
great aggregate tea meetingsshouLdta bevoheeladch, at the.
" 7. Your Committee have arranged with a printer
to furnish tracts, of four pages
rate of ls. Gd. per hundred ; and they recommend that
a new tract, bearing upon topics emerging in the
course of publication, applicable to the Corn-laws,oublde
issued every week, whereof each association .h
agree to take and distribute at least 200 copies' in its
own locality, in the manner of tract societies and
shall have them on sale at their weeklyu and sectional
meetings. That, prior to entering
under-
taking, each association shouldupon this
intimate to
the Secretary of the Central Association,meetn
a the number
of tracts it agrees to purchase, direct the mode of de-
livery, and endeavour to make arrangements with the
news-venders and booksellers in their neighbourhoods
for the sale of the publiegions, ao they successively