The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-19 00:00:00

• .

a gain to us a protection. Constunption our best
protecti .—(Loud cries of "Hear.") We must :ake nere
of our customers if we want to take care of our;aelres.
We cannot attract customers by cutting off their means.
We cannot empty their pockets, and expect still to le.q,
rich by filling their mouths.—(Cheers.) The great
body of the landowners, however, still cling to their
fears as to the effect upon prices upon which the admis-
sion of foreign corn would produce in this country. /:
believe them to be wrong. They think only of theincreaseia
supply, while they ought to set against it the increased ants
steady demand, the increased and steady consumption,
which the more trade of free-trade would create among
the working classes, by bringing about a state of thing
when, as Dickens somewhere e:Vresses it, dinner would
happily come round to them as reularly as dinner-
time.—(Cheers.) But supposing, for tie,' sake of argu-
ment, that prices would not exactly maintain the height
at which they now range one year with another in this
country, the landowners should, as another item in their
calculations, ask themselves, where and at what prieese.
and, consequently, rents will be, when monopoly, if
long maintained, has ruined our best customers, the
manufacturing and trading population?—(Cries of
" Hear, hear.") Our chief object, as wise even, should
be to consult and legislate for the prosperity of our cus-
tomers, and, in so doing, to look, if I may draw such ar
distinction, not at first consequences, but final conse-
quences. To act otherwise, is to let the ship founder,
rather than save her, by incurring the cost of cutting
away the masts. It is to suffer your house to burn to
the ground without interruption, lest, if you should eetut.:
for the engines, they might, in extinguishing the flamea,
injure your best bed, damp your Turkey carpet, or take•
the shine out of the French polish of your drawing-room
furniture.—(Loud cheers.) But I withdraw the supposi-
tion that, under any circumstances, English agriculture
will suffer from free trade. I have every trust, as I said
befurc, ic ;be increased consumption which it must br;.ng•
with it, eied I have all faith in English agriculture itseia
With the security of long leases—(Hear, hear)—witty
the game thinned—(Cheers)--with practical science
daily increasing, and with more labour brought to thee
cultivation of the land, I feel confident that the British:
farmer, as well as the British n anufacturer, may safely-
defy the competition of the wor:d. But while we, with
our finite intellect, are endeavouring to calculate, to the.
shadow of a fraction, the results of free-trade to our per-
ticular interest, a third party steps in and turns the se.sle
at once for ue. It is eternal justice, and it rests its
appeal to us upon that golden precept, which is tha
essence of all practical Christianity, and which teaches
us that "we should do unto others as we would that
others should do unto us." But Dave done. From
what was once deemed to be an impossibility, our cause
has advanced, first of all, to possibility, then from poe-
sibility to probability, from probability to certainty, and
from one certainty to another, until the .hour of its
triumph cannot now be far off.—(Cheers.) It is true
that the fortress of monopoly still stands before us seem-
ingly in all its dark and gloomy strength. But fate no
longer frowns upon us from its its banners. Its towers
and all its bulwarks are undermined. Its defenders,
some from fear, some from shame, and some, let us'
hope, from conviction, are gradually desertiug its walls.
A few more strokes from the battering-ram of truth, and
all will sink into the dust together. Then will be the
real jubilee of mankind.—(Cheers.) Then will people
congratulate people, as the loud huzza spreads from land
to land, until it reaches the ends of the earth. " Mono-
poly is fallen, and trade is free." That would be, in-
deed, music for the million. 0! that the day may soon
be here, when it shall be chanted forth in a grand chorus
of all the nations of the world! "Monopoly is fallen,
and trade is free." After seconding the adoption of the
memorial, the Rev. Gentleman resumed his seat amidst
peals of applause, which were several tioes renewed.
The memorial was agreed to, and, after voting thanks
to the Mayor, the meeting separated.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.
LIVERPOOL, DEC. 18.

STOCK EXCPIANGE.—The sales are—Birkenhead, Lanca-
shire, and Cheshire, 2;3,4 p.—Cambridge and Lincoln, 1711 p.
—Clydesdalf: Junction, 12:p.—Derby and Crewe, 2 p.—Fleet-
wood and West Riding, par—Grand Junction, 23i—Ditte.
Quarter Shares, 33 p.—Ditto, New Quarter Shares, 321,4 p.—
London and Birmingham, 210—Manchester, and Leeds,
Fifth Shares, 10 p.—Matlockl and Midland, 13/4 p.—North.
Eastern, par—North Western, 1% p.—Sheffield and Man-
chester, Quarter Shares, No. 2, 4 p.—Shrewsbury and Here-
fordshire, 2s. 6d.—South-Eastern and Dover, Consolidatea
Thirds, Half Shares, I,s,' p.—Welsh Midland, % dis. —West
Riding anion, .8%,p._-_-Paris and Lyons (Latfitte), ls. 6d. p.

11.I.INCHESTER, -DEC: ]B. -
STOCK EYcrt.s`wGE•—The sales are—Lancashire and Nort h
Yorkshire, 42s.—Manchester and Birmingham, 70%—Preston
and Wyre, 31—Sheffield and Manchester, 5% c.