The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-31 00:00:00

rate-payers to see in that fact the prospect Of an
ultimate diminution of pauperism, but it will
afflict the statesman and philanthropist, who
know that there is no surer sign of misery than a
decay of population or a diminished rate of in-
crease. When that sign is exhibited, it is cer-
tain that many of the population are exposed to
extreme hunger, and are subject to extreme
distress.

COURT CIRCULAR.
WINDSOR, FRIDAY.—The Queen and Prince Al-
bert enjoyed their accustomed early walk in the
morning for some time, and her Majesty and her
august Consort again promenaded in the afternoon.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and
the Princess Royal have been taken an airing to-day.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert rode out on
horseback about twelve o'clock into the Green Park,
attended by Major-General Sir Edward Bowater.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert honoured Mr.
F. Newenham by sitting to him for a full-length
portrait in the uniform of the Scots Fusilier Guards.
Covers were laid this evening for twelve. The
Royal dinner party at the Castle is expected to in-
clude the Lady in Waiting, the Hon. Misses Lister
and Liddell, Marquis of Ormonde, Hon. C. A. Mur-
ray, Captain Meynell, Captain Francis Seymour,
Hon. Colonel Grey, and Sir Edward Bowater.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex is staying
on a visit to the Earl of Carlisle, at his seat, Castle
Howard, Yorkshire.

His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge
has left town to rejoin his regiment at Leeds.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer arrived at his
official residence in Downing-street, yesterday, from
Cambridge.
The Earl of Haddington has left town on a visit to
Lord Montague, at his seat, Ditton-park, near
Windsor.

Dispatches from Sir Charles Bagot, Governor of
Canada, were received yesterday at the Colonial-office.
Dispatches were also received from the Governors of
the other North American Colonies.

ANTI-CORN-LA NVLEAGUE.
MANCHESTER, DEC. 29.—The usual weekly meet-
ng of the League was held at the Corn Exchange,
Hangingditch, this evening. The chair was occupied
by Mr. George Wilson.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said
he had great pleasure in stating that the freedom of
Glasgow had been voted to Mr. Cobden, M.P., by
the Corporation of that town, and that it, would be
presented to that gentleman by the Provost. -He said
that many proofs of conversion had taken place during
the week, and that many subscriptions had been re-
ceived from men who scarcely ever ventured to speak
anything of the League except in language of oppro-
brium. The working classes were also joining the
League in large numbers. Shortly before the hold-
ing of the meeting he (the Chairman) had had several
tracts put into his hand, which were being circulated
by the monopolists, and which were almost wholly
composed of extracts from the celebrated article in the
Quarterly Review. He happened to know who the
parties were who were engaged in putting these tracts
into circulation, but he thought it might be undesir-
able to mention their names. It was well known that
the League were at present actively engaged in the
distribution of their tracts to every elector in the
kingdom. If, then, the monopolists would consent to
pay half the expense, the League would willingly cir 7
culate the tracts of both parties.—(Cheers.)
The SECRETARY read extracts from the correspon-
dence, and said that rather more than 300 letters had
been received by the league during the week.
Mr. POTTINGER, a Dissenting preacher from Brad-
ford, was the first speaker. He commenced by stat-
ing that our legislative principles with regard to corn
were wrong in principle, rotten at the core, and most
disastrous to society. He thought that the sooner this
state of things was put down, and that the sooner the
tree of monopoly was torn up root and branch, the
better would it be for all classes. He thought the
time was now come for striking a decisive blow, to
put an end to the spiels of injustice, oppression, and
iniquity. The Leagio should either advance to fur-
ther triumph or go back to feudalism. Past events
and future prospects bade them go forward. He
could see the tide of British indignation setting in
against the system of plunder, and rolling on with
sublime grandeur and with ever-accumulating force;
and he could venture to say, that all the aristocracy
of the kingdom, with all its landed interests and family
connexions, ramified through the length and breadth
of the land, could not furnish a breakwater strong
enough to stave it off or roll it back. He concluded
by saying, that the watchword of the League should
be " onward," and that speedily they would go for-
ward to conquest, to glory, and to happiness.
Mr. BRIGHT, of Rochdale, next rose, and com-
menced by saying that there were many towns in the
country who were as anxious for the success of the
cause of repeal as Manchester, and that the de-
putations from the Council of the League were
looked upon by the people in the country districts as
the very deliverers of England. He thought that if
the League had swollen from small beginnings to
large dimensions, the information of the League had
also increased, and that, the Corn-laws had had the
effect of lowering wages. It was a manifest fact that
we had 30,000,000 of surplus labour in this country to
be exported, and that manufactures and commerce
were in a state of great suffering and depression. He
maintained that the day was not far distant when the
Anti-Corn-law League would be hailed as the farm-
er's friend, notwithstanding all the opposition to which
their lecturers had been subjected. He further main-
tained, that if the manufacturers had been lashed with
thongs, the farmers had been lashed with scorpions, and
that the latter would owe their redemption to the people
who formed the great body of the League. It was a
melancholy fact, that the agricultural labourers had
also been most intense sufferers by the Corn-laws, and
that when they came, as they did, in shoals to Man-
chester and the other manufacturing districts, they
preferred to suffer starvation there rather than return
to those rural scenes where they had previously be-
come acquainted with the tender mercies of the
Boards of Guardians. It was no wonder, under all
the circumstances of the present day, that the voice
of the agricultural labourer should be the voice of the
torch, and that he should express that voice in the
midst of burning barns and stacks, because the Corn-
law was no benefit to the manufacturer, the farmer,
the farm labourer, or the landowner. Ten years
hence, when the Corn-law would have been repealed
nine years—(Hear, hear)—the honesc-minded land-
owners would acknowledge that the League had been
the best friend they ever had. Ile admitted and re-
gretted that the repeal of the Corn- law would
effect a great injury to one class of the com-
munity—namely, to the clergy of the Estab-
lished Church, who were paid in tithe under
tie Commutation Act, and who must of necessity
suffer by a fall in the price of corn. Ile con-
cluded by saying that the League should be cautious,
and not make any false movement at the present time,
inasmuch as they were now visited with the obloquy
of one party in the country, and the coaxing and ca-
jolery of another. The party who held the reins of
Government until lately, and who might have held
them for ever if they had acted wisely, were yet
dreaming that they could return to power with an Bs.
fixed duty, and were as anxious that the League
should be crushed as was the most determined sup-
porter of monopoly. Care should, therefore, be taken
that the present political struggle was not one of mere
play between two parties, and that politics be a gain
of substantial advantages for the people. There was
power enough so to do, because there was not a bo

rough constituency in the kingdom which might not
he induced to return to Parliament men in favour of
free trade principles, if the League continued to appeal
to the industrious and middle classes of society to
sweep away the law which feudalism and an unjust
Government had established in the country.
Mr. BROTRERTON, M.P., moved a vote of thanks
to the preceding speakers. In doing so, he said that
he subscribed t
by them. to
el‘"li7oPinion which had been ex-
pressed. Bright had shown the meeting
in what way the labouring classes were mulcted of the
fruits of their labour, how the manufacturers were
deprived of their customers, how the merchants were
driven from foreign markets, how trade was crippled,
and how the people were depressed. In order that
the meeting might see the importance of having u
country governed by right principles, he (Mr. Bro-
therton) would state the honest conviction of his own
mind, that, if the Corn-laws had never been imposed,

his sincere belief was, that at the present moment the
whole of the national debt might have been completely
_ . .

-
paid, every public creditor might have been paid 203.
in the pound, we should have had a prosperous people,
the labourers would have been enjoying the fruit of
their labour, and our commerce would have been ex-

ported to every part of the world. There was no doubt
but the Corn-law had been a tax on the people of this
country, since 1815, of more than a thousand millions
of money ; therefore, the people should be united, zeal-

ous, and persevering in their endeavours to remove the

accursed law. It was quite certain the law would be
repealed. The only question was one of time, and
whether it should be done by degrees in a gradual
way, or whether it should be total and immediate.—
(Cries of "Both.") He knew that it must be total

and immediate. He had no doubt that if the country
were enlightened enough to see their own interests,
they would never allow the law to continue on the
statute book. Mr. Bright had, moreover, shown that
the League had really been the farmers' friends. He
(Mr. Brotherton) hoped the latter would see that the
best protection the land could have was the pros-
perity of their customers. He found from all quarters
of the kingdom, and from every farmer with whom
he conversed, that the fluctuating state of the law was
the worst thing for the farmers that they could en-
counter. They were saying, " Let us know what the
protection is that we are to have ; if we are to have
no protection we know we must rely on out own