The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-08 00:00:00

ments of the Board of Guardians may be gathered from
the followintr document—it is of a recent date:—
Ordered—That this Board has made provision to the utmost
of its power to meet the extraordinary pressure resulting from
the distressed state of the trade in this district. _

That the Board can meet the exigencies of the next quarter,
but, unless some early and efficient reiief be afforded, either by
the revival of trade, or the finding employment for able-bodied
paupers, or the removal of the surplus population from this
district, or by some other means, this Board will not
and cannot be answerable for the future raisieg of the
rates necessary to meet the demands on the union. Every rate
reduces the number of rate-payers able to pay, and the pres-
sure on the employers of labour in the cotton trade continually
increasing, has a constant tendency, by breaking such em-
ployers, to lessen the employment in the market, and increase
the number of paupers. What the result may be this Board
cannot tell, but its anticipations of the future, should no early
relief be afforded, are anything but favourable.:
The sentiments of our Board as to the cause of distress
have been submitted to the Poor-law Commissioners.
They are attributed to the high price of food and the
growing decline in our manufactures. In that opinion I
entirely coincide ; and I believe that the only remedy
that can be suggested is a total repeal of
all laws of monopoly—of all class legislation.—(Cheers.)
lle had heard it asked how lung it would be, supposing
the Corn-laws to be repealed, before any relief would be
produced ? An intelligent individual of the borough to
which he belonged had said to him, " Repeal the Corn-
laws, and the town will be prosperous in a month."
faMr. L. HEY WORTH (of Liverpool) said they had heard
many important statements of the distress prevailing in the
manufacturing districts, and of the poverty, wretchedness,
and destitution which might be found there, arising
from the Corn-laws. They had also heard accounts of
similar distress from the agricultural districts ; but he
had to tell them that the same evils pervaded the largest
and most affluent commercial districts of the country.
Liverpool itself, wherever they might go, was full of evils,
which were identically the same. Mr. H. then read
extracts from letters on the subject, the first
being from a Mr. Benjamin Parry, residing in
Liverpool, describing the dreadful want of employment
that prevailed in that town. Some had been out of work
ever since Christmas last, and had been compelled to
pawn and sell every thing, being now in a state of com-
plete destitution, hoping for and expecting a remedy.
This letter (continued Mr. H.) conveyed a correct idea of
the distress that prevailed—it was terrific. He had felt
it is his own bosom, and his own daughter had sympa-
thised and visited those who were in this state of suffer-
ing. She had visited one of the wards of Liverpool, con-
taining 20,000 inhabitants, and had seen greater misery
and destitution than had been here described. Another
letter was from a shopkeeper in the Vauxhall-
road, dated July Ist, and it stated that his
receipts were only one-third of what they were, while
the poor-rates were fast increasing. The effect of this
distress among the people was, that as they could not
buy food it was impossible they could purchase much
clothing ; and he only wished that they would re-
flect on the importance of this fact. How much
must the sum thus withdrawn amount to ?—(hear.)
Why, if each individual family among the poor—
and they amounted to five mildons—if each family only
expended 2s. a-week less in manufactured articles than
they usually did (and they must have withdrawn more
than this) it would amount to 25,000,000/. per annum.—
(Hear, hear.) That was the amount withdrawn from
the consumption of manufactured goods in England ;
And just let them reflect on this, for it refuted a fal-
lacy that had frequently been put forward by no less a
person thee the Premier of England—the head of the
Government. He bad told them that the repeal of the
Corn-laws would not remedy the evil—that the Corn-
laws were not the cause of the evil. But if those laws
caused a decrease in the consumption of manufactures
to the amount of 25,000,0001. a year, let him ask
them if they were not a sufficient and adequate cause
of the distress.— (Cheers.) He wanted these plain facts
to go forth to the public. Some might say that he had
assumed the sum of 2s. for each family as the amount
they had ceased to expend, but he would
ask their common sense, whether it was not
clear as the snn at noon-day, that they could
not have withdrawn a less sum than that
for consumption. lie would appeal to the shop-
keepers throughout England, whether in the agricultu-
ral or manufacturing districts, and the reports they
would give in, all over the kingdom, would he that their
business had fallen off in seine cases one-third, in many
one-half, and in some two-thirds.(Hear, hear.) Was not
this a sufficient proof that the consumption that went on
when they were in a flourishing condition, no longer con-
tinued. Surely it was. He would now allude to another
fallacy which had been put forth by Sir R. Peel—he might
almost call it the base assertion—that the Corn-laws were
Rot the cause of the distress and depression. He says
that there are other causes at work, and that machinery
was among them. In asserting this, he believed Sir R.
Peel was stating what he knew to be false.—(Cheers.)
He knew it to be a perfect fallacy which the public at
large had given in to ; if the facts of the case were pro-
perly stated, it was impossible to say that machi-
nery was the cause of the evils. Let them
fairly grapple with this fallacy, for it was time to dissi
pate it. Lancashire in 1801, contained only 600,000
inhabitants ; by the ordinary increase of 14 per cent. it
would now have been 1,100.000, but it was actually
1,600,000. To what could be ascribed this
accession of 500,000 'inhabitants, but to the
fact that wages had been higher in Lancashire
than in any other part of the kingdom. They found in
Lancashire, inhabitants from Scotland, Ireland, and the
most fruitful counties of England. Why have they come
from distant parts of the kingdom to sojourn in Lanca-
shire—was it not the greater amount of wanes that
were given there?—(Hear, hear.) And how
had they been enabled to give these higher
wages, simply from the amount of employment afforded,
for that was the question.—(Hear, hear.) The increase
of the inhabitants could only be ascribed to their having
the best machinery in the world. To Lay that ma-
chinery was the cause of distress was a libel on
the benevolence of Providence, Mee had given
man the power to clothe the people at the
cheapest rate. Machinery nut only increased em-
ployment in the immediate locality where it was si-
tuated, it gave every man something to spare to
expend in something else ; and, if he could state
the amount of this indirect increase of employ-
ment arising from this cause, he believed it
would be greater than the direct amount he had
alluded to. No longer, then, let this fallacy, which Sir
R. Peel, in his abominable wickedness, had set forth,
deceive mankind. Let us assert, and let it go forth, that
machinery is one of the greatest blessings that God
Almighty ever vouchsafed to the world.—(Loud cheers.)
He wished particularly to impress these views on
their minds, because he knew that the aristocracy had
sent out emissaries from one part of the kingdom to the
other to denounce machinery. He knew they had not
spared their purses in this respect ; they said, " let us
divide the workmen from their employers, and then
we shall come off victorious." But as it had
been said, even " the wrath of God shill
praise him," so would the wicked dealings of these
malignant men bring destruction upon their own heads.
—(Beer, hear.) They had sent out their emissaries to
denounce machinery, to speak against capital, to
endeavour to encourage the labourer against the
employer ; but, in doing so, they had also
countenanced them in promulgating the principle
that every man had a right to the suffrage, and that was
a truth which would never die.—(Loud cheers.) They
would find this, that it would strike at the very root of
class legislation, which was the misery of the country.
The Rev. Mr. IV.oaGart (of Stourbridge) next addressed the
meeting. He said that Stourbridge, connected as it was with
the iron trade, was less affected by the present distress than
other places, yet even there distress did prevail to a great ex-
tent,-indeed to an extent never experienced in the memory of
the oldest inhabitant of the town. He could adduce
some indirect proofs of this statement, which were not the less
conclusive because they were indirect. In the year 1838 the
market -tolls of the town amounted to 7061., in 18410 they fell
to 622/. Between Stourbridge. and Birmingham there were
three turnpike-gates, which had been let for 1,00-11 but the
person who had taken them had incurred a loss of 300/ , in
consequence of the falling off of the traffic between those
towns, which resulted from the decrease of manufactures. In
the poor-house the usual number of inmates was under 100 ; on
Thursday last the number was 198. The scale of wages fixed
by the Work Committee of the Board of Guardians was, for
a married man with three children, from six shillings to seven
shillings a week ; for a man with a greater number of children,
eight shillings ; for a single man, four shillings ; for a boy,
three shillings per week.—(Hear, hear.) The question then
came, what was to be done?—(Hear, hear.) He wished
they could obtain an audience of her Majesty. However her
Majesty was unable to do anything in the matter. They must
only then not do anything precipitate, but wait till the Execu-
tive Committee had made its report, and propounded some re-
measures. He concurred with Mr. Heyworth that the
As3bciation ought to direct its attention to the suffrage move-
ment.—(Cheering. )
Mr. RAWSON (of Manchester) wished to call the attention
of the meeting to a fact which had been communicated to him
by a very excellent man, a Conservative, Mr. Smith, wine and
spirit merchant, of Manchester, who informed him that out of
1,200/. worth of goods which he had lately sent to Stockport,
with which place he carried on a good trade, he did nut expect
to receive 200/., in consequence of the distress prevalent there;
and yet, strange to say, that gentleman wished to " conserve,"
among other things, the Corn-laws.
. _ _

Mr:. Cita erdsri (of Loughborough) wished to make a few
observations. The state of that district was most deplorable.
The workmen were in a condition as bad as the peasantry of
Ireland, or of the impoverished States of Italy. The staple
trade of the place was hosiery, at which men who used
to earn from 16s. to 20s. per week now received only
from 7s. 6d. to lOs. per week. Other trades were in an
equally declining state. Chartism, too, was extending every
day ; and property, which had been hitherto sacred, was be-
coming more, and more insecure every day. The people were
beginning to think that they ought not to starve, while there
was any means of obtaining support in the country. In the
hosiery trade no improvement had been introduced by am_
claniery, and yet the operatives engaged in that trade were as
much distressed as those of any other branch of manufactures.
In agriculture, too, machinery had not been introduced so as
to throw the labourer out of employment, and )et distress
among that class had never been so severe as at the present
time. It was idle, then, to say that the introduction of
machinery in manufactures had injured the condition of the
operative, since here were two instances of the absence of
machinery being followed up by the existence of distress.
The spread of Chartism among the Dissenters. and the pre-
valence of the feelings among them which would render pro-
perty insecure, was an alarming feature in the appearance of
the times. If the tide of distress had reached a mark so high
as that to which he alluded, there was reason to apprehend
that there would be very little left which would not be sub-
merged. There was one thing which he did not understand,
and that was the interference of Government w4h trade. Such
an interference on the part of the Government of a country
was an usurpation, and could not be justified. He would con-
clude by throwing out a suggestion of the nec•rssity of their
endeavouring to form a British and Foreign Free-trade So-
ciety, which would have for its object the establishment of free
trade with all countries.

Mr. GEORGE THOMPSON announced to the meeting that
the debate on Mr. Wallace's resolutions, which had been ad-
journed last night, would, in all probability, be resumed to-
morrow evening. Mr. Bannerman, who had a motion fixed
for this evening with reference to the opening of the ports by an
Order in Council, had been requested by Sir Robert Peel
to postpone his motion, in order to allow the Government to go
on with their own more immediate buiirieis; but Mr. B. had