The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-26 00:00:00

requires so much cleaning as almost to cost capita to the
year's rent of fallow lraid, you pay more per acre for
rearing than other crops. You pay more per quarter
for ibrashieg • in short, everysaapensts 1,11 a wheat crop
airy. othea. kind .)f -grain. You
. hire your thrum of the Kshiela in Pi-1114[4m toalic price
of wheat, and after all it is. the most hazardous crop you
avow, for no season answers tar all kinds of soil ; still
nil soils are hired by the market value of wheat. Thus
you give a dear loaf to your labourer, and consequently
you must give high wages ; or you have a lot of paupers
on the parish, and thus you are saddled with rates equal to
the difference. Now my opinion is, that a farmer ought to
be valued in and out of a farm, just as a manufac-
turer would into and out of a mill fall of machinery.
Let him farm to the best of his judgment, and he will
cheerfully give the rent he pays at present. He will
also leave the land improved, and he will be the first to
repeal the Corn-laws entirely. I would to-morrow, but
I would also puss an Act to repeal all leases. We
should then have bread cheap, wages probably might be
a little lOwer ; but even then the poor man would be far
better off ; for we, as farmers, should employ more
people, and the manufacturing labourer would get bread
at a price- that would enable him -to spare something
for the shopkeeper. Thus trade would increase at
home, and our manufacturers would then produce goods
equally low as their foreign competitors, besides we are
yet the manufactory of the world, and depend upon it
there is more injury dune to this nation's commerce by
the apparent want of liberality than there would be if
fully carried out ; for, so far from throwing out of culti-
vation our land, a repeal of the Corn-laws upon my plan
would urge us to greater exertion, and in five years we
should grow wheat sufficient for the three kingdoms, and
we should be able to sell it at prices they could not export
it to us for. As to barley, you need only ask a maltster
that has used one cargo of foreign, whether he will ever
purchase another, and he will tell you—no.
"I will now say ' good day ;' but let me tell you in
reply to your remark, a that I am become h Radical,'—
that I sin not a Radical—l am a Tory, and I hope to
live long enough to see Teriss.s the most liberal in wise
and wholesome measures, of all grades, amongst political
distinctions. .Good day
"Wheat, 20 to 32 bushels per r.c7e.
"Barley, 28 to •48 a „
" Oats, :12 to 56 „ ~ „
" Wheat will average full 30s. per acre for manure."
" Birmingham, July 23, 1842.
" have to apprise yon, that at a meeting, duly
convened by public advertisement, and held at the Bed
Inn, Phillip-street, in this borough, on Thursday even-
ing, the follewing resolutions were unanimously adopted,
J. W. Winfield in the Chair S.—
"1. That the appalling distress which prevails
throughout the country is rapidly consigning the indus-
trious-clasSes to the most abject and degrading poverty,
and, by the destruction of the profits of trade, is absorb-
ing the capital of the tradesman and manufacturer, and
threatens to involve them all, middle and working classes
alike, in one common ruin ; that the continuance of this
state of things inn :t speedily occasion the disorganisa-
tion of society, and -plunge the country into all the
. horrors of convulsion and anarchy.
"2. That the present period of depression and dis-
tress is about the seventh that has occurred during a
period of twenty-seven years, which ought to have been
years of uninterrupted prosperity and contentment ;
that at each of these periods the people have been
struck- by an unseen hand—their fortunes have
been sacrificed, and their industry blasted, by
almost unseen laws. Those laws are now lasd bare be-
fore the public eye—Corn-laws to make scarce and dear
the, food which supports man's life, and Money-laws to
make scarce and dear the money which purchases the
food ; Corn-laws to aggrandise the landed interest, and
Money-laws to aggrandise the moneyed interest. Crushed
thus... between this double oppression, the people are
either- deprived of employment altogether, or they are
reduced to half employment, or they are condemned to
give tuuell le bour for little money, and thus they are con-
demned to give much money for little food.
" :3. That believing this country to be on the eve of
convulsion, and being utterly without hope, that the Goa-
- vernment will bring forward or adopt any adequate mea-
sures to arrest the ruin of the middle classes, or relieve
the cruel privations of the people, and feeling that, in
the existing state of things, there is no security for
property or. life, ruin -scathing the one, and starvation
destroying the other ; they believe the extreme case
has arisen, in which it is the duty of the Members for
this borough, in co-operation with every :Member of all
parties, who claims a title to common prudence. or com-
mon humanity, to attempt to arrest the progress of Go-
vernment, by refusing to grant supplies, and by every
other constitutional means, until the distresses of the
people arc relieved, and that prosperity and happiness
restored, which their industry and skill ought to com-
mand.
"4. That this meeting recommends a general amalga-
mation of all opinions and interests amongst our influen-
tial fellow-townsmen, for the purpose of promoting an
universal organisation of the whole of the people, by
which their numerous wrongs and grievances may be
redressed, and the political rights of the millions secured.
" I have transmitted a copy of the above resolutions to
George Frederick Muntz, Esq., and Joshua Scholefield,
Esq., the Members for this borough, individually, in
each of which copies I specially pointed out the resolu-
tion concerning the withholding of supplies from the
Governinent.-1 am, Sir, your obedient humble servant,
" JOSEPH A LANDER,
"Secretary of the Birmingham A.C.L. Association."
" Blackburn, July 23, 1842.
" Dear Sir,-1 have forwarded to you three newspa-
pers, viz., Carlisle Journal,Dunafries and Galloway Courier,
and the Preston Chronicle. You will find in the two
latter papers advertisements of farms to let, belonging to
Sir JameaGraham, but in the first-named paper no such
advertisement can be found. lam told that he has ad •
veriised at home in vain for tenants, and now he seems
to be seeking them from a distance. Yesterday I met
an enlightened farmer from Gretna-green, who informed
me that the rate of wages paid to an excellent farm-la-
bourer was generally (north of Carlisle) 10d. per day ;
that he himself was paying that sum, and that no more
was paid QII Sir James Graham's estates. Why, this
beats the Duke of Buckingham out-and-out I Several
hand-loom manufacturers here have this week reduced
their weavers' wages from 3S. to 2s. 6d per piece, being
17 per cent., and this, too, notwithstanding the boasted
improvements, of the Manchester Guardian of Wednes-
day last. It will now be difficult for .a good weaver on
these coarse cloths to earn more than 3s. per week. What
are these impoverished creatures to do? Though now in
a deplorable condition, that must be much aggravated
When wiser sets in. Every eye in this district, except
the jaundiced ones, turns to the League ; every prayer is
breathed, for ita succese. We say continue your sittings—
continue, continue, and victory ultimately shall crown
your efforts. " Yours truly, " W. T.
" P. A. Taylor, Esq."
- ; " Stiatford, Essex, July 23, 1842.
" Sir,—ln order to bear testimony to the statements
already made as to the condition of the agricultural la-
bourers , of West :Barn, and its vicinity, a gentleman in-
formed me, upon whose statements implicit reliance may
be placed, that he had occasion to call at several of the
houses of this class of persons only a few days since, when
be observed the wife and children of one labourer partaking
of grey peas f'or'dinner, without meat or bread ; at
another lahha; he saw the wife and children eating the
very refuse of poititees, without meat or bread. I could
enumerate niany other instances of the same kind, and,
upon inviry, he found in each case the men employed
and in receipt of the teasel wages of the district, and
considered sober and industrious men ; yet this was the
best fare they could provide for their families.
" Not many months since upwards of one thousand
females were employed in the vicinity of Stratford
Marsh, at staymaking. After labouring the whole of
the day, the very beSt workwomen could only earn from
to 2-4 d., and the inferior from Id. to 11d. per day."
Mr. BIGGS of Leicester, said it was his painful duty
to be compelled to state that the distress which had hi-
therto existed had greatly increased of late in Leicester,
and was still increasing. He should submit some facts
to the meeting, which would sufficiently prove the dis-
tress to be on the increase ; and, alluding to the future,
he must say he saw no hopes of relief. He expected
that next winter the distress in Leeds would be greater
than was ever known at any previous period of her his-
tory. In 1840 the poor-rates amounted to 10,975/. ; in
1841 they had increased to 15,5941. ; and in the first

quarter of the present year they amounted to 5,120/. In
addition to these heavy rates they had been compelled to
enter into a public subscription, by which means 2,000/.
was raised for the relief of the poor belonging to the
adjoining districts resident in Leeds, who had such is
strong objection to go back to the agricultural districts
to which they belonged that they remained in the town,
choosing to submit to the liabilities of the law, which
they did by begging and vagrancy. The number of
these people ha(lincreased to such an extent that a troop
• of horse had been quarter, d with them, fearing an out-
break, which was a thing unprecedented in that town.
Since 1815 the full in the wages of labour was 35 per
cent., the fall of property 40 per cent., and the fall
of house property 30 per cent. In 1831 there were 250
houses unoccupied'; in 1841 there were 650 ; and in 1842 •
there were 1,600 unoccupied houses, one-seventh of
all the dwellings in the town. Some of these statements
had been already made 'by Sir J. Eastbope in the House
of Commons ; and ho (Mr. 8i,,,,g,5) could corroborate
every word'that the Hon. Gentleman had said upon the
subje-ct of distress. In Hinckley the people were in the
greatest distress, and had been for some time, one .
twelfth of the whole population, 7,000, being employed
in breaking stones in the bastile yard. He (Mr. Biggs)
had always observed that dear years of corn were in-
-variably years of suffering, and cheap years, of prosperity,
comfort, and happiness. In 1834, 1835, and 1836, for
example, when cora (lid not average mare than 425. a
quarter, the working classes were comfortable, and in a
;high state of prosperity. In those years the firm, of
avhich ho (Mr. Biggs) was a partner, paid 1,0001. a week
itt wa,ves, it now paid no more than 300/.
gentleman from ShAield stated at the Conference a
day or two ago, that he would undertake to take on 500

more men to-morrow if the Corn-laws were repealed ;
he (Mr. 13.) would not be so confident as to say that he
,Would mice on the number to-morrow, bat he had no
#4loubtilat under those circumstances, he should feel no
difficulty in employing, double the men next year that he
did now. Those who had sent him there as a delegate,
bad desired bha to express their grateful thanks for the
tone, manner, and persz!vertuice, which they (the Nu-
ference) had displayed in continuing this deputation.
He trusted they would continue their sittings, and they
must succeed, as any cause founded on high moral prin-
ciples and sound justice always did. They must per-
severe, and spite of good report and evil report continue,
and preys forward this great and glorious cause, till they
achieved a triumph,
and produced a happy consum-
Ination.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. BRIGHT rose to bring before the notice of the
Conference a letter which has been received from
Chorlev, Lancashire, detailing one of those horrible eases
of destitution to which the suffering population of this
teuntryare driven : 46 chorley, July 22, 1842.
" Sir,4—Thinking that the following statement of facts,

which occurred under my notice, might possibly serve to
convince some incredulous people that there really is dis-
tress
in the country, and that of no common kind, I beg
to inform yon rifit, - the eorrectness of which I am able
to prove, if necessary; by the evidence of credible wit-
nesses. About the 19th of May last a farmer, named
Richard l'ilkington, of J)nxburv, gave me the carcase of
a cow which had been dead three days. for the purpose
of 1. cuing my dog With it. After having it near my
stable for a day, the smell arising from it was so very
offensive, that I determined to bury it, but before I had
accomplished this object, a number of calico-printers,
who had been out of work for some time, hearing that I
had this carcase, came to me, and begged and prayed
that I would give them some of it. 'This lat first re
fused to do, as I could not think of allowing them to eat
what I feared would prove injurious, but so urgent were
their importunities, that at last I consented, after warn-
ing them repeatedly that T would not be accountable for
the result. Before doing so, however, I had suggested
that if they really would take it, it would be well to let
it remain a day or two in a brine of saltpetre, to take
away, if possible, some of the impurities arising from
disease. They exclaimed, in almost these words-,
" Wait a day or two ! it's impossible ; we cannot wait.
Think of our wives and families ; do give give it us, pray
do." Unable to refuse any longer. I consented, when they
set to work, and cut up this putrid carcase, each man and
woman taking as much as they could carry. By and by,
in came one poor person after another to get, if possible,
some portion of this flesh. I understood about six fami-
lies partook of it. One man, who was formerly in good
circumstances, evidently reluctant to be seen taking such
nauseous food, lingered about for some time, bat, at
length. as if driven to desperation, seized a piece, which
he folded up in a cloth, and then hiding it under his coat,
walked away as quickly as he could. One of these men
told me this morning, that when in full work, he earned
20s. to 30s. per week, but for the last six or eight months
his earnings have not exceeded 2s. per week on an average.
After this took place, one man who got a share of the
prize, actually took me to what he called his shambles,
and showed me some of the flesh salted. If required, I
am prepared to state the names of several of these people,
but refrain from doing so unnecessarily, as it would only
increase their misery to have their poverty made more
public. The above is a fact, and I shall be happy to
reply to any further inquiries you may wish to nuke on
the subject. It may possibly be confounded with the one
furnished by Mr. Hyland, which is, however, quite a
distinct case, but equally true.
"I have the honour to remain, Sir, yours with respect,
" GEORGE LIVESEY, Veterinary Surgeon."
Mr. Bright continued—To comment upon this melancholy
narratien is surely unnecessary. It must be borne in
mind, that in times of ordinary prosperity, the people of
Chorley, and the whole of the manufacturing districts,
are in acondition of considerable comfort, and in a state
of independence far exceeding that of the great bulk
of labourers in districts not enriched by manufac-
tures. They are able to procure and to enjoy all the
necessaries, and not a few of the luxuries of life.
They are possessed of education, and their children are
not neglected, and they feel themselves to be of some
worth in the country. All this gives them an indepen-
dence of feeling and thought, and a sensitiveness as to
maintaining their position, too frequently 'wanting
amongst the operative classes. To men such as these
poverty is indeed a calamity, when it is joined with a
knowledge that existence must henceforth be obtained
from the poor's-rates, a fund which all honest-
minded men shun almost as long as life can
be maintained without assistance from it.—(Cheers.) I
marvel that their sufferings have been silently endured.
and without the commission of acts of violence ; but I
believe that few of us are fully aware of the information
and intelligence existing amongst a large portion of the
working men. That this patient endurance should be
the great theme of admiration when our statesmen dis-
cuss the causes of, and the remedy for, the national dis-
tress.is not to be wondered at ; hut with the admiration
expressed, it would be well to mingle some real commi-
seration, and some earnest attempts to arrest the progress
of the scourge which is daily taking a wider range over
our ill-fated country.—(Cheers.) The letter I have read
is no solitary instance of the extremity to which men are
driven by the sufferings of hunger. It is but an example
of much that is now going on in many districts. General
distress is indeed admitted by many of the monopolists.
The facts we have produced in this room at this meeting,
and on many former Occasions, will not be lost on the
mind and on the feelings of the British people. They
well know that starvation and famine are not decreed by
the Omnipotent Ruler, who has provided abundantly for
the wants of all his creatures, but that the miserable
policy, the wretched wrong-doing, the cupidity, and the
blindness of the infatuated men who have usurped the
power they wield, who have enthrones' themselves above
" God, and king, and law," have thus cursed the land
with barrenness and caused haggard want to be an in-
mate of the homes of millions of their countrymen.—
(Loud cheers.) But it is not the avowed monopolists
alone who refuse to give relief to their suffering brethren.
The parasitical plants, ever entwining around the titled
and the great, such is the man who, to the disgrace of
Bolton be it said, has been returned as their representa-
tive in conjunction with that noble free trader Dr.Bowring.
The time is come when the people must look well to
their representatives. The calamities which menace
us upon every side will admit of no halting between goes"
and evil. If constituencies would do anything to save
their country they must have men who firmly adhere to
their principles, and who are careless of the smiles and
blandishments of titled and aristocratic patrons—we
must learn the • doctrine of self-reliance. If the people
are to prosper and to triumph it must be through their
own intelligence and power, and the honest and wise ex-
ercise of their political rights.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. EDWARDS, of Lambeth, recommended the adop-
tion of a petition, to the effect that the present Parlia-
ment be dissolved.
Mr. OVERBURY, of Westbury, said he was neither
Whig nor Tory, but a free-trader. lie was sent there
to represent the manufacturers and traders of Westbury,
in Wilts. If the meeting had heard of distress in the
northern and midland districts the case was noless despe-
rate in the west. The people were in a starving condition;
the distress had latterly increased. The bulk of the po-
pulation at the present time were entirely without em-
ployment, except such as they obtained from the parish
authorities.—(Hear, hear.) The average wages of
the weavers had not been more than four
or five shillings each for the last eighteen months. The
character of the population generally, was very orderly.
They ought to be very jealous of applying the workhouse
test to such a population. The trade of the town was
principally a home trade ; and he frequently took jour-
nies as one of the partners, to the midland districts for
orders. Formerly he had seen large quantities of the
goods which they manufactured in the hands of the
working classes at Birmingham and other places ; now
they appeared to be wholly destitute of them. He then
read the following letter from Westbury :
" Westbury, July 19, 1842.
"Sir,—Having understood that you are going to Lon-
don to represent the state of the manufacturers in this
place to the Anti-Corn-law Conference, we, the shop
keepers of the town ar.d neighbourhood, request you will
make the folloWing statement on our behalf :—We
have for some time past experienced a growing depression
in trade. Our returns are painfully declining. The
working classes have not the means to purchase, and we
are unable to continue our accustomed credit. The poor
are destitute. The middling classes are seriously
straitened ; and, unless some change can be effected
in trtole, a very painful crisis must overtake us.
It aggeavated the distress, that the middle classes
were now utterly unable to relieve the distress of their
fellow-townsmen. Suck being the condition of
the town he hoped he would not have to go back
to Westbury with Sir Robert Peel's compliments
and hopes that times would soon be better.
Much had been said about Providence in connexion
with the distress. It was not the first time that the
wickedness of legislators had been charged upon Pro-
vidence. Whilst they had been endowed with intelli-
gence to discover the cause of the distress, it was not
jwit to attribute to Providence that which was the result
of refusing to allow a free interchange of labour. He
believed that the repeal of the Corn-laws would
be beneficial, not only to the tradesmen but to
the agriculturists themselves. Competition had
sharpened the wits of the manufacturers, and he
believed it would turn the agriculturists from their
present condition into a scientific, persevering, • and
intellectual set of men, as well as free them frog

-
senile dependance on their landlord.. On this, as well
as every other ground of policy and justice, he thought a
repeal of the Corn-laws would confer great benefit on the

country.
Mr. P. TAYLOR, of Coventry, said it had been as-
serted in the House by Mr. Hawes the other night
that the opposition offered to the Committee of Supply
was factious. Now what was faction ? He maintained
that the term factious could only be applied when the
end was factious, and it could not be factious to attempt
to obtain food for a starving people. The
question was one in which every man, woman,
and citild, who lived by the eating of food,
had a direct interest ; and those members of the
House of Cpmmons who endeavoured to stop the sup-
plies, - •
to secure food for the people, were not, and could
not on that account be called, factious. This conduct

was said to be inconsistent with the very character of a
representative government ; it could not be inconsistent
with that which did not exist.—(Hear.) He maintained
that the conduct of Sir R. Peel was emphatically fac-
tious ? And why ? Because he had made free-trade
speeches, whilst he had proposed no measures for carry-
ing out his principles.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. EDWARDS, of Lambeth, said it should be stated,
in justice to Mr. Hawes, that he had always voted for
the repeal of the Corn-laws.
Mr. SMITH, of Colne, said he ought to have been on
his road to Manchester, if Sir R. Peel's assertion re-
specting the improvement in trade had been correct, but
he believed that it was.altogetlif:r unfounded. The pro-
p2rty of tradesmen in the town which he represented had
been depreciating in value to a fearful extent for the last
three or four years. Sacrifices were being constantly
made by persons in every branch of trade and manufac-
ture. He himself had lost no less a stun than three
thousand pounds within the space of three months,
and he believed many of his townsmen had sustained
losses nearly as great as his own. From whom were
they suffering ? They were suffering from the Duke of
Buckingham and his party—those men who would blast
the land with barrenness for the sake of their own selfish
iaterests. He believed that by availing themselves of
every constitutional resource they would at length attain

their object.
Mr. S. SMITH next delivered an eloquent address to
the meeting, chiefly insisting upon the impolicy of mix.
ing up the question of the repeal of the Corn-laws with
the political objects of the Chartists. Such a union
would be fatal to the great end they had in view. The
question of a. repeal of the Corn-laws was one of
humanity, and would be lowered by being united
with any other, seeking for political privileges. It
was a pressing question, involving the right of the
Pe(2ple to be fed, and could not be postponed till the
slinage was conferred. Death was making his victim