The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-08 00:00:00

EVENING SUN

within
nt portion of
this sum was collected from
that their who Tlived
were members
of Manchester, and it was supposed
terest about it had not diminished. The
that it should not close
Bazaar.—(Cheers.) It was proposed .
of other towns who: would contribute their shares to the
what was the object of this money to men who drove
till they had sent in their donations. But it might be asked
the Whigs to a fixed duty, and Sir Robert Peel
to abandon the sliding scale.—( Hear, hear.) They should
recollect that there were two parties only ruling in the House
of Commons, who scarcely ever supposed that there was
any other party besides themselves.—( Hear.) The contest
between them was, whether there was to be a fixed duty or
not, but it altogether slipped from their minds that there was
a still larger party than either, who insisted that there should
be no duty at all.—( Cheers.) Those parties were contending
for half measures, Intt they would be shown by the people, and
the determined front they would assume, that nothing short of
an entire and romplAe abolition of these obnoxious laws would
satisfy them.—(Cheers.)
The following gentlemen were then unanimously appointed
to serve as the Finance Committee :—William Rawson, Elka-
nah Armitage, Hamer Stasisfield, Edward Evans, Samuel Lees,
and Aytoun, Esqs.
The CHAIRMAN said, that as what they had done up to the
present time was only preliminary, the real business of the
meeting was now to begin—( Hear, hear). The arrangements
and resolutions were to be prepared by a Committee. The
Executive Committee were preparing resolutions, and they had
retired to consider the steps they were to take. The resolu-
tions would now be moved and seconded by the various persons
appointed for that purpose. Having thus explained the mode
in which the business had been conducted, he might be allowed
to say a few words by way of introduction.—( Hear, hear, hear. )
The last speaker had observed that nothing would be satis-
factory less than a total repeal of the Corn. laws. In the jus-
tice of that observation he most fully coincided. He fully
participated in the sentiment that they should go right forward
to attain that object, and that alone.—( Cheers.) That they
should not estimate the merit of the sliding scale or a fixed
duty, and decide between them, but that they should re•
pudiate all compromise in a cause where all justice was
on their side, and in which no modification could be
made, without leaving the germ of evil behind.—(Cheers. )
They should make no taxes on food the rule of their conduct.—
( Hear, hear.) These were the sentiments which were all but
universal in Scotland.—( Hear, hear.) They were the senti-
ments of those whom he was sent to represent.— ( Hear, hear. )
They were the sentiments of the Edinburgh Convention and
the Committee that managed the business of the League there.
They were the sentiments which he was instructed to enforce,
and he had no doubt they would be borne to a successful termina-
tion. He should, therefore, intreat, that in all observations which
might fall from the speakers that should be their great theme
they should remember that that was the fundamental principle
on which the League was constisuted. On that principle
they were going right forward, and they were now assembled
to- do their best to promote that grand object.—
( Hear, hear, hear.) Consisting, as they did, of all
sections of political and religious principles, they
should adhere to that one point, disregarding all others, and
they should endeavour to impress on their friends in Parlia-
ment—the Liberal Members who had given them some assist-
ance—that
they were serious in considering this as a great
moral question, from the agitation of which they would never
depart.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) Nut that they were
wavering between the merits of a moderate fixed duty and
a sliding scale, but that they fought only for a total and
immediate repeal of the Corn-law.—(Cheers,) Let their
friends in Parliament know this, and that they could only
expect the support of the; members of this Conference
upon those grounds. Those were his, (the Chairman's) views,
and he was sure they were the views which would be unani-
mously adopted by the members of this meeting; and if they
were, he for one, did not fear but that public opinion properly
expressed would overcome every opposition.—( Great applause. )
Mr. BRIGHT, from Rochdale, could not but acknowledge
that he came forward with feelings of considerable anxiety and
trepidation, only relieved, however, from a consideration that
anything which ought to be said, which he might omit to say,
would be more than made up by the speakers who were to fol-
low.—( Hear.) He felt this anxiety from the great, momen-
tous importance of the subject which they had met to debate
on. He came from a neighbourhood where this
question was looked on as one of life and death by
thousands of honest men, :and if there were any in that
room, as there were many who had no conception of the state
of things to which this country was fast hastening under these
mischievous laws, he should like them to go with him into
the streets and lanes where he could take them, and, if they
had any intellect, any heart, he was sure they would go away
fully convinced of the necessity of the total and immediate re-
peal of those laws.—( Loud cheers.) Such being his opinion,
he should not be doing his duty at this Conference if he did not
do his utmost to obtain the desideratum for which they la-
boured; and if-they went away without having performed
their duties, they would go away guilty of the sin of having
neglected the best interests of the country.--( Hear, hear. )
He had a resolution to propose to the meeting, but before pro-
posing that, he would, with their permission, read a short reso-
lution passed at a former meeting, held at Rochdale on the Ist
of February, appointing him as Delegate to this Conference.
That resolution was as follows :—" Resolved unanimously,
That the deputation from this Association be instructed to op-
pose the Corn-laws as a cruel oppression, inflicting grievous
evils on the great bulk of our population, as contrary to the
most obvious requirements of morality and religion, and a
wrong of so odious a nature, as to make it inperatively nt -
cessary to insist on its total and immediate abolition."
A number of speeches were made at that meeting, and he dared
not go back to Rochdale unless he had acted up to that docu-
ment, such was the feeling there for the total and immediate
repeal of the Corn-laws.—( Loud cheers.) The resolution
which he now had to propose to the meeting was as follows:
" That in the opinion of the Deputies present, representing
associations, public meetings, and religious congregations in
various parts of the kingdom, the Corn and Provision-laws vio-
late the national and inalienable rights of man—the right
freely to exchange the produce of his labour for the Nod
of all other countries, impiously obstructing the circulation of
the bounties designed by Divine Providence for the benefit of
all his creatures. That the aim of this monopoly of the first
necessaries of life is to enhance the price of the produce of the
soil of this country, thus necessarily inflicting severe
privations, especially upon the poorest portion of the com-
munity. That these laws in their operation not only ex-
pose the labouring class to the physical evils of hunger,
disease, and even premature death ; but they war against their
eternal interests by increasing the temptations to crime and
immorality, rendering them less accessible to the influence of
religion. That in denouncing the Corn and Provision-laws as
a great national sin, the Deputies express their own
deliberate consideration, and that of a vast portion of their
countrymen, that those laws should be immediately and
totally abolished, and the Deputies constituting this meet-
ing, pledge themselves never to swerve from their purpose, or
relax in their efforts until that object be accomplished."—
( Tremendous cheering and waving of hats.) This reso-
lution said that the Corn-laws violated the natural
and inalienable rights of man to exchange the pro-
duce of his labour for the produce of other coun-
tries. It appeared to him that in this country there had been
an entire forgetfulness of the rights of the labouring classes, in
the Legislature. The time was coming when they would compel
the landowning legislators to look over the principles on
which they had legislated, to see if there were any
reason why pauperism should exist in a country which
Providence had blessed with inward resources, unparalleled in
other lands.—( Loud cheers.) When he looked at the title by
which landed proprietors held their land, he did not desire to
dispute their title, but he did not approve of the rights
which they assumed to themselves in consequence of their
possessions.—( Hear hear.) He did not say a man should not
do as he liked with his own, but there was a boundary beyond
which a landowner could not go. If a Lord or a Duke had a
large estate—as many of them had, and very thankful they
ought to be for it—(Cheers and laughter)—he could not allow
it to lay fallow ; he could not say that no plough henceforth
or for ever should pass over those acres ; because there was a
right which society possesses, which comes before the right
even of the landowners.—(Loud cheers.) He had only
mentioned this to show that there was a limit to the
rights which they assumed. There was, however, an-
other property in this country--labour.-_( Cheers.) If a
man had made any article by his own ingenuity, no matter
what it was, that man had an absolute controul over the pro-
duce of his labour; and under no circumstances had Govern-
ment a right to say that he should not do what he pleased with
the produce of his labour. If a weaver, for example, possessed
the materials of which cloth was made, and produced a piece
of cloth, in his (Mr. B.'s) opinion, that cloth was more ab-
solutely that man's property than any land could become
the property of any man.—(Loud cheers. ) If that man
then, went over to America, where his brother, perhaps,
might have been tilling the land, and had produced a number
of sacks of flour, they were undoubtedly the property of that
Anglo-American, and he (Mr. B.) could see no reason
whatever why an interchange of those two' properties
should not take place.—( fleas, hear, and cheers.) If the
Englishman and the American, wished to exchange what be-
longed to each other, and they made the exchange, he held
that the flour was thenas much the property of the Englishman,
and he had as entire a right to dispose of it as any landowner
had to his acres.—(Loud cheers.) Seeing that then to be
just, why should they have a law to say that he should not carry
it home for the consumption of his wi e and children, whom he
is bound to cherish and support? He was persuaded
that no man, of whatever party, could say that such a thing
was just ; and that was one of the first principles on which the
resolution was founded, and which had from its object, the
providing of cheap bread and meat to the hundreds
anti thousands of their fellow-creatures. They should
look at the state of society throughout the coun-
try, from the Monarch down the squirearchy, and to the very
poorest classes of the people; see what the state of famine is—see
what a deplorable condition the lower classes of the people are in.
The aristocracy and the squirearchy feel nothing of that
famine. The Delegates who composed that meeting felt
nothing, of it, so far as the food and clothes they used
were concerned, but if the condition of the poor people
was considered, it would be found that the immense and fright-
ful amount of destitution and suffering to which they are sub-
seceed, are infinitely increased by the operation of the Corn-
laws—( Hear, hear)—in the neighbourhood in which he (the
speaker) lived, the trade principally consisted in the manufac-
ture of flannel. He was not himself interested in it in any way,
but he knew the extent to which the Corn-laws had operated
against that trade.—( Hear, hear.) There were several
thousand persons who lived by it in his neighbourhoods
and they, in consequence of the operation of those laws, were
driven from their country. In consequence of the glaring evils
of those laws he had turned his attention to them day and
night, and he was firmly convinced that there was no point of
view in which they could be considered that did not show
their evil operation, and call for their total and immediate
abolition.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) If the home trade
alone was looked to would it not be seen that
the Corn-laws had a most fatal effect upon them ?
If the foreign trade was considered, it would be found that it
was almost entirely ruined by the operation of those laws.—
( Hear.) As as instance of their effects upon the foreign trade
of this country, he (Mr. Bright) would just state one fact :
Up to 1828 the whole of the flannel made in the neighbourhood
in which he lived was exported to the United States of Ame-
rica ; but in 1828 a very high scale of duty was imposed by the
Government of America upon the flannels imported there, and
accordingly the consumption of that article was considerably
diminished, and the employment given to the weavers of that
part of the country, where flannel was the principal article of
manufacture, was also diminished. That produced a most ex-
asperated feeling in.this country. Mr. Addington, the Ameri-
can Minister, wrote to the Minister of England of that day, to
inform him of the state of feeling in that country with respect
to the duty imposed upon its agricultural produce, and ex-
plained that the reason such a high scale of duty was imposed
upon English flannel, was, because there was a very heavy
duty on the produce of America.—(hear, hear.) The Corn-
laws were the cause of the high duty imposed on English
flannel. —( Hear, hear.) In 1828, the weavers in his (Mr.
Bright's) neighbourhood had good wages and constant employ-
ment, because the duties on flannels, the principal article of
manufacture, were low. In 1828, the duty was imposed—the
employment of the poor tradesmen was accordingly discontinued;
the result was, a great many industrious, honest men were
obliged to emigrate from that neighbourhood arid go to
America, where they could find the means of employment,
which they would have had at home were it not for those laws.
—(Hear.) Those honest, industrious men, who could have
lived at home in comfort and happiness, were driven to
seek a living in a foreign land—were subjected to a species of punishment, and obliged to undergo banishment for
the purpose of procuring the common necessaries of life, lie
(Mr, B.) had a relative in th^ United States of America. He

GREAT
LONDON
ANTI-CORN-LAS'
CONFERENCE•

was ;a large manufacturer of flannel, and lived within about
15 miles from Philadelphia. Almost all his labourers and
tradesmen came from his (Mr.B.'s)neighbourhood, where those
poor men had formerly procured abundance of employment before
theimposition of the duty on flannel, and who would continued to
have employment were it not for the operation of the Corn.law.
These people were driven in large numbers from their native
Country. He (Mr. Bright) would just read what the cele-
brated Milton said upon such a state of things as that :—" Let
the astrologer be dismayed at the portentous blaze of comets
and impressions in the air, as foretelling troubles and changes
to States ; I shall believe there cannot be a more ill-boding
sign to a nation (God turn the evil from us) than when the
inhabitants, to avoid insufferable grievances at home, are forced
by heaps to forsake their native country."—( Hear.) There were
thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of the peoples
of this country looking forward to the result of this day's pro-
ceedings, anxiously waiting to see the resolutions adopted at
this Conference, and the effect those resolutions would produce
upon the country and the Parliament.—( Hear. ) He believed
the Parliament most miserably deceived themselves, or were
greatly deluded, if they thought for a moment that the Dele-
gates who composed that meeting, assembled there to ask for a
total repeal of the Corn-laws, in order by asking for a great
deal they might get something or other, and that the country
would be content. No. The people would not be content
with anything short of the total abolition of the Corn-laws.—
Cheers.) He (Mr. Bright) would tell the Parliament that
the Delegates came to that meeting with much higher objects
—they had assembled there for the accomplishment of much
greater measures—they stood upon a sounder basis than de-
pending upon any party whatever ; and if he knew anything of
the temper of the country, he could say that he was firmly con-
vinced that no man dared stand up in any meeting through-
out England and advocate anything like a sliding scale. He
knew every part of England, for he had attended avast number
of meetings in England, and he knew the feeling upon the
subject of the Corn-laws well enough to enable him to say,
that nothing like a sliding scale would be sanctioned or ap-
proved of.—(Cheers.) He was an advocate for a fixed duty,
but it was not upon corn.--( Laughter.) He was an advocate
for a fixed duty upon every man's mind who had come as a de-
legate to that meeting, to do his duty zealously, and never
abandon it till he accomplished the objects which they all had
in view.—(Loud cheers.) After again adverting to the dis.
tressed condition of the poorer classes, Mr. Bright proceeded to
say that though they had raised a clamour throughout the ma-
nufacturing districts of England, it should not be supposed that
poverty and famine did not also exist amongst the agricultu-
ral classes, for in fact it was much greater, if possi-
ble, amongst the agricultural classes than it was in the
manufacturing districts.—( Hear, hear.) The agricultural
po-
pulation did not live in crowds as the manufacturing classes
did, and consequently the effects of the Corn-laws were not so
generally talked over amongst them as they were amongst the
manufacturing people. However their effects were gene-
rally known and felt throughout the entire land,
and the people entertained but one opinion that they
should be totally and immediately abolished.—( Loud cheers.)
The misery and wretchedness created by the Corn-laws was
spread all over the country, though the same amount of misery
might not offendithe eyes in all parts. One beggar might not be
seen, for instance, by a person passing through a particular
district of England; but that was no proof of the condition of
the people. Then what was the vast accumulation of misery
and poverty in the mendicities and poor-houses ?—for instance
if the meeting saw the mass of squalid poverty in the mendicity
of Dublin, would it:not be atest of the miserable condition of the
people there? That meeting had an important duty to perform,
and he hoped they would zealously do it.—(Cheers.) He
was sure they would. —(Loud cheers.) The people of the
country were in danger, they should take the advice
of the celebrated Edmund Burke, who said—" Where
there is abuse there ought to be clamour—it is much
better to be aroused from our slumbers by the fire-bell than to
perish by the fire in our beds." It was for that purpose that
he (Mr. Bright) had come up to London to hold up his hand
in favour of the resolutions adopted by that meeting, and for the
total and unqualified abolition of the Corn-laws.—( Cheers.)
There was too much reason to fear that the House of Commons
would not do justice to the oppressed and fettered people of
this country.—( Hear, hear.) Look at the resolution he had
read, and ask yourselves, did not the system it described oppress
the people ?—(Cheers.) Was it not a violation of the rights
of man ?—( Cheers.) Was it not a fetter on industry ?
Was it not this law that hindered the working man from get-
ting an honest living by his labour ?—(Ch eers.) He had
machinery, buildings, and some capital, which did
notn
ummbeu
re h
of increasemen w nom- underbot forit,this
he law,coo d and
employ
he
at
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ad
wages, and who could earn a good living under him. His ca,e
was the case of hundreds on the one side, and of myriads on the
other. It was clear then that the law which was called a pro-
tection, was in reality an oppression ; and it ought, therefore,
to be swept away forthwith.—(Cheers.) The resolution showed
that the law impoverished the people, and in so doing demo-
ralized them. It might be the will of Providence to strike
down a man with affliction—such as afflicted Job of old, and
such sufferings might be intended for the good of the person ;
but it could never be for the good of a whole people that
they should be, trodden down with afflictions and privations
laid on by their fellow-men, for such a condition must tend to
their demoralization, as it was unquestionable that pauperism
was destructive to the fabric of society.—( Hear, hear.) The
state of feeling in the country was such as to call for the
anxious investigation of every man in authority. Nu Earl or
Duke should think himself great enough to shrink from the
examination. It was a fact, that in his (Mr. Bright's) neigh_
bourood not a working man would raise a finger in defence of
those institutions which we had long been taught to regard
as invaluable to the country.—( Hear.) The people were
divided into two parties—on one side was a multitude suffering
and hopeless—on the other side a vast mass suffering also, but
vindictive and revengeful; and if these passions were once
to burst forth there was no telling who orswhat would he safe.
He would tell the landlords who, under the sanction of the
general system, usurped the right that Heaven gave to all,
that if they did not take warning in time, they would soon
fall a sacrifice to the Corn-laws; and to the false principles
which upheld it.—( Hear, hear.) There was not a
single estate in England, however extensive, that three
years hence, 'would be worth sixpence to its owner
under the present law ; but universal destitution would over-
spread the country—the paupers, like locusts, would eat up
every green thing ; and, as they must be maintained,
nothing would be left to pay the rents.—(Hear, hear,
and cheers.) That must be the consequence, for
• no individual or nation could prosper on principles
t such as were embodied in the present Corn-laws. Wherever
r they looked they would see it grinding down hundreds of thou-
s sands of people by the most horrible oppression. This was
; what he had found, and in thus describing it, and in thus
demanding its abolition, he affirmed that he and his brother
delegates more truly represented the sentiments of
the country than did certain Hon. Members, who were
called the representatives of the people, in another place.—
( Laughter.) Let the present representives then consider well
their duty. Let them remember that their duty was to demand
the unconditional repeal of the Corn-laws. If they could not
obtain that, they must return to those who had sent them
hither, and declare to them that the Parliament of England
was insensible to the call of justice—insensible to the cries of
suffering yet innocent millions—and that the people must re-
double their efforts if they meant to strike down the present
insulting and cruel mockery oflegislation.—( Vehement cheers.)
Dr. PYE SMITH considered it a great happiness and honour
to second the resolution, which was in itself a demonstration.—
( Hear, hear.) He was astonished that most respectable, ami-
able, and even pious persons should shelter themselves from the
demand of justice, which was the demand of a repeal of the
Corn-laws, under thesmost flimsy sophistries. Some said that
this was a most difficult question—that there werestwo sides
—and that much might be said upon each.— (Laughter. ) But
lie would remind these people that every midnight robber might
say the same for himself, he might say that it was expedient
and necessary to his comfort that he should prey upon the
country.—(Loud cheers.) Other people would hear no reason
at all. But before the present audience he need not speak at
length, for he felt sure that every man in that room had a
strong sense of the obligations that were imposed on him in
the face of God and man, and knew that he must be indefa-
tigable in exerting every means he could devise to diffuse a
right knowledge, and to excite a right opinion amongst all
classes on the subject.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) They
were assembled there as servants, by profession, of the living
God —of the Lord of all righteousness —of the God
who loveth righteousness, and setteth his face against ini-
quity.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) If there were any truth in religion—if there were an imperishable principle in virtue
and morality—he was convinced of the essential wickedness of
the law which they were met there to attack.—( Cheers. )
Persons who, wrapping themselves in ignorance, could refuse
the demand now made in the name of justice, might with
equal reason refuse to comply with any principle of moral law ;
they might refuse to comply with any principle of virtue
or piety; they might, in fine, abandon all religion ; but they
must remember they had an arduous task before them.
It was an old tree, which had struck its roots deep in the soil,
and it would be difficult to eradicate it. Let them remember
that prayers and offorts must be used together, and then their
labours would be successful. He was proud and happy, and
he felt it an honour to add his little mite of approbation and
i
entreaty n support of the present eloquent resolution, which
spoke most important truths that ought to be circulated in
, every direction, and impressed on every mind.—( Cheers.) He
had but another word to say. He could not hope to attend
I any meetings after this, and would his dear friends allow him to
observe, this intention was not from insensibility, but because
it had pleased God to afflict him with a privation of the power
of hearing, so that he was altogether incapable of hearing any-
; thing that was said; and of course, therefore, incapable of
taking a part in the proceedings of a deliberate assembly. Still
lie had the consolation to add, that there were some duties
which he was still able to attend. He trusted that the fact he had
now stated, would be a sufficient apology for not again coming
forward in public meeting.—( Hear, with feelings of regret.)
Chairman said as the resolution was proposed and seconded,
Mr. Falvy, a working man from Macclesfield, would speak
to it, that he would represent the opinions of his brethren
on this subject. It had been thought advisable not to pro-
pose a number of resolutions, but that a clear resolution was
proposed to the meeting that they might affirm a definite pro-
position, a simple resolution that every one could understand.
Mr. FALVY said, if he were only to consider his own feel-
ing?, he would express the gratifying, yet anxious sentiments
wan which he availed himself of the honour of addressing an
assembly, consisting of the wealth and intelligence of a portion
of the. community, who have left their homes and their busi-
nhus
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middle and working classes had become subject they could and would give law tornteheulnandimous on this
been falsely put forth to the country landowners. It had
tion of the press, that the industrious sasseswere irltlfflmg
this great question,
,but the public meetings, the lateCo n ent on
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held at Manchester, contradict, with ono stern
feancct e
this assertion. The workmen knew and felt thai
their own interests and that of their employers were
bound up indissolubly together, that the interests of both had
arisent'inust decline and fall together,and that if trade falls,Eng-
land falls. He was proud to have the honour of supporting this
resolution,and declaring the:principles which actuated his con 6-
tuents, and the only opposition he had met with in advocating
these principles was the assertion that the middle classes would
compromise these principles,but this reselutionwould contradict
that. It was said that land should be peculiarly protected, bt t
he asked, what made the soil of England more valuable than
that of the Continent ? It was the trade and commerce of
England. What comprised the wealth of nations ? Ac-
cumulated capital, representing the accumulated human
abour which acquired it. The industry of man was
that which had made the land of England what it was ;
and he said that industry should above all things be protected
in its operations, and allowed free scope; all he wished was,
that land should not bear a great artificial value at the expense
of the operatives. Land would be best protected by reducing
the tax on the food of the people. When a repeal of the Corn-
laws took place, more land would be thrown into tillage, and
there must then be extra employment for the agriculturists,
and they would not come into towns in numbers to compete with
the hard-earning operatives. When these laws were repealed
we should have
a better home trade and a better foreign
trade. This meeting was a marked sign of the times, not to
be passed by or overlooked by Sir Robert Peel. In 1839,
when the remains of barbarous usages oppressed the
Catholics, and excluded millions from their rights, the Duke
of Wellington wro •
te to Bishop Curtis, intimating that
if time were given their grievances would be redressed, but

what was Bishop Curtis's answer ?—That it was more than his
statics in society was worth to advise such procras-
tination, or put off the question. And what was the
result ? The conqueror of Napoleon was forced to abandon
his position, and yield to the opinion of the people.
He was glad to find that they had determined to tell the great
Duke that it was more than their position in society was
worth to go for anything less than a total abolition of the Corn-
laws.—(Cheers.) They had been branded as agitators, and
the working men of the country had been taunted and ridiculed
for daring to become politicians, but it was because politics
had been hitherto confined to one class. But what was the
principal cause of the working-men becoming politicians ?It
WAS the injury they had sustained from the aristocracy.—
(Cries of " Hear, hear.") They feel that their families want
suppport—that they want education for their children—that
they want religious instruction, and unless provisions
were placed by their price within the reach of their wages, in-
stead of being educated and moral, and religious and happy,
they must be just the reverse. That was what had made the
working men discontented and wretched. They knew very
well that it was an unjust attempt, on the part of a tyrant king,
to levy 20s. ship money from John Hampden, that brought about
a revolution which all men must be desirous of averting. Yet
because he refused to pay that unjust demand, the nation
joined him, and rose, and put down both the tax and the King,
and the principle of legitimacy and the divine right of kings.
Ho did not wish to see such a state of things again—
no Englishman could wish to see such a state of things,
because, in all revolutions, their misery pressed the more
heavily on the humble and the poor, inasmuch as they were
the least able to support it. But if the attempt to take 20s.
•hip-money from John Hampden without the consent of Parlia-
ment,brought about a revolution, surely ,it was incumbent on them
to resist an unjust tax on the necessaries of life.—( Cheers. )
He remembered to have read a declaration made by the Earl
of Chatham, in the House of Lords, against the at-
tempt made by the Government of the day to tax the
Americans. He said, " Rather than unjust principles ehould
hold good, let confusion reign for ever."—(Cheers.) If such
a declaration was made by Chatham, a name revered by every
patriot, honoured by every friend of his country, how much
more ought they to press on the country a resolution
asserting that the industry of man—( Hear)—that the
industry of Englishmen in particular, ought to be free to he
carried into every market of the world ?—( Loud cheers.) It
would be tedious for him to go into all the authorities on the
subject. Dr. Johnson, in his blunt manner said, " the man who
would tax the food of the poor speaks like a savage, and ought
to live among savages."—(Cheers.) Mr. Bright had told
them that he was in favour of a fixed duty, that he thought it
was the " fixed duty" of every Englishman to do his part to-
wards carrying out his views. He would tell them in the same
manner, that he was for a " sliding-scale."—(Laughter.)
That was a " scale" that would " slide" steadily and constantly
throughout all the fiscal regulations with which barbarous no-
tions had surrounded our commerce, till it stood perfectly frt
and unrestricted.—(Cheers.) The good sense, the intellieence,
and the industry of the working classes were with them.—
(Cheers). He knew that attempts had been made in various
parts of the country to disturb their meetings; he knew that
there had been paid agents of the Duke of Buckingham ;
that there had been itinerant lecturers distributed
throughout the country for the purpose of dividing
them; but the good sense of the people of England had over-
ruled all ; they had seen through these schemes, and had
avoided that state of things which would have brought them
into collision with the middle classes.—( Loud cheers.) In
the strictures he had made on the landowners of England
he wished to say that he knew there were exceptions, noble
exceptions, exceptions that adorned humanity—instances of
gentlemen and noblemen willing to give up any selfish interest
they might have in the question, in order that the communitt
might live, and that the poor might have bread. He stated they
he had received a communication from D. Davenport, Esq. , one of
the largest landowners in Cheshire, in which he states that
even the landowners derive no particular benefit from the
Corn-laws, and that it was only the ignorance and stupidity of
the shopkeepers and others that prevented them from
joining in with the exertions of the Corn-law Re-
peelers. His reply to that was, that if the Corn-laws
benefited neither landowner nor farmer, nor labourer
nor manufacturer, he thought it was high time they should be
abolished.—( Cheers. ) He was sent to London to tell the
Prime Minister—(Laughter and cheers)—the views of the
working men assembled at Manchester. He had no
doubt he should cut a ridiculous figure in the
presence of the Premier, but no matter for that ;
if he told him strong and stern truths—if he told him the
opinion of " his constituents"—Peel was not such a bold•hearted
man as to stand against the united voice of the
.people of Eng •
land—(Cheers). He had yielded before in the face of
previous declarations, and in the face of meetings like
this, and if the country determined to remove this obnox-
ious impost, he would yield again.—( Loud cheering.)
A great deal had been said throughout the country as to the
working-men being in favour of physical force ; this was a libel
on the people of England ; it was not correct ; he was deputed
from a town famous for the manufacture of silks, and when we
speak of repealing the Corn-laws, the Government says,
" Oh, you are protected by a duty of 30 per cent. ;" but
this was a nominal duty only, as they were cheated,
as they always would be cheated, by the foreigner. But
how did the landowners deal with them ? They
refused to remove the Corn-laws, but they were always
nibbling at their little protection. A Member of the Govern-
ment had defended, to a friend of his, the right of going to the
cheapest market for the manufactured silks, and by the same rea-
soning what was good for one was good for the other, except that
silk was a luxury for which the rich might afford to pay a high
and increased price, while corn was the great necessary of lite.
Out of a population of 40,000, they had now a petition ready,
signed by 6,000 adults, which was a proof that if they derived
any advantage from prohibition, it did not amount to
a set off or an equivalent to the injury they sustained
from the Corn-laws. All they wanted was a clear stage and no
favour, and in those circumstances Englishmen could compete
with the foreigner in any market of the world.— ( Cheers.) It
was only untaxed food they wanted; they had increased in
their skill—they had improved their machinery till they almost
left time and space kehind—they were famed throughout
the world for the enterprise and integrity of their
merchants, and renowned for the skill of their artisans, yet they
allowed themselves to be the contempt even of barbarians, for
permitting themselves to be ruled by thirty thousand land-
owners.—(Hear, hear.) It had been said that they were too
hard on the landowners, that after all they were but a
class ; but they were the class by whom the laws were
made, and they had therefore a right to condemn them.
He considered the good feeling that had prevailed in their ex •
ertions to procure a repeal of the Corn-laws, a proof that
Britons were entitled to enjoy every privilege to which they
had a right, and apologised for taking up so much of their
time, by stating that he was anxious to express to
them tho opinion of his constituents.—(A laugh.)
This might be called the People's Parliament; there was a
Landowners' Parliament, and they had a right to a little Par-
liamelat of their own. The question was too serious for them
to indulge in jokes and levity upon ; but they were
justified in being gay as well as serious, in pour-
ing forth ridicule as well as sublimity, on the heads
of those who taxed the food of the - people. If the
King of Prussia had visited the cellars of Manchester—( Hear,
hear)—if he had visited the manufacturing towns of the North,
he would not have left our shores with an exaggerated notion
of cur greatness and our wealth. But how could he
form a correct notion of England when he was
ushered from his first landing from palace to palace, witness-
ing nothing but splendid mansions and costly domes, and
seeing nothing but the highest degree of luxury ? He ought
to have seen the dark side of the picture—he ought to have
seen the perishing poor—the naked fathers—the weeping
mothers, who knew not where to get bread for their children—
and then he might have felt proud in knowing that in Prussia
the condition of the artisan was superior to what it was in
free and enlightened England.—(Cheers.) Yes ; England at
present presented a strange anomaly in the history of the
world. We have extreme luxury on one hand, and extreme
misery and distress on the other.—( Hear, hear.) The dis-
tribution of wealth had not been in proportion to its
accumulation, and why ? Because the selfish interests of
a few had been placed in opposition to the interests
of the masses, and of the great bulk of the community.
lie was proud to see the wealth and the respectability of the
country arrayed in this manner on the side of the suffering
poor—(Cheers)—and that it was their determination to see
justice done to the people.--(Cheers.) The manufacturers
had been abused ; they had been called Cotton Lords, and Silk
Lords, and he knew not what Lords. He thought those were
terms of which the manufacturers ought to be proud.
—( Loud cheering.) It showed that they had acquired
their wealth, power, and station, by honest industry, and not
by cutting down the people in wages. It showed that they had
acquired their wealth by legitimate means, by the labour of
their own hands, and in so doing they had added to the true
dignity of the nation. What had been the state of England
before she became a commercial nation ? She was
conquered by the Saxen, by the Dane, by the Norman. She
was the prey of every marauding State which chose to attack her,
but her commerce arose, her navy was fitted out, and
now she defied the world. The bread-taxers had recently
been loud in their abuse of machinery. They might
abuse machinery as they liked. lie would tell them this,
that Watt, and Stevenson, and Arkwright had, by their
mighty inventions, contributedmore to elevate and improve the
condition of the people of this country, than ever the landlords
had done to degrade and depress it by their laws.—(Loud
cheers.) The Premier had talked of over-production--( A
laugh)—of machinery as a cause of distress. How could any
one tell that over-production was the cause of the distress
until every man, woman, and child in the kingdom had food
anti clothing enough ?—(Loud cheers.) Let them give to every
man, woman, and child in the kingdom sufficient clothing; and
then, if they found they had too much, they might, if they
wished, stop the mills for a short time. —( Cheers, and hear.)
It was mere childishness to talk in such a planner ; it was
language unworthy the honour of a mighty nation, and fit only
for the nursery. Of one hundred million human beings,
which was the population of the world, England could only pro-
duce manufactures sufficient for sixty millions. Let them re-
verse the landlords' position, as had been done by Mr. Greg,
the late Member for Manchester. Was it just, was it like a
statesman, to make use of such ridiculous language as
had been done by the Premier, ?—( Hear, hear.) We
possessed immense powers of production, but with
a limited sale. Let them reverse the case, as Mr. Greg, the
late Member for Manchester, had done. Let them stisiios?
that England was a Continent, with no steam power, anti with
a limitedwater power—manufactures would then increase in
value as the population increased, and the inhabitants of the
country would want manufactures then as they would food now.
That was the true state of the case. It was said that England
could produce food enough for her own consumption. He
would not dispute that position as
Repeal the Corn- laws,
it produce food enough ?.......(Cheers. )
an abstract theory, but did
Id compel the k.nd-
land into operatrun.
lords to bring the powers of the t
capital the improvem
ent
of t.rthen
anti that would be the way to snake England procluce
food enough—(Hear)—because it would
It would force them to expend that
land they might in some
let corn be cultivated on the land
instances. They refused to
of the land, which they now spent on the Co men (Cheelrs.)
They would not now cultivate all the
because they could not get the price they wanted for it,
whereas, if the
Corn-laws were repealed, it would be their
interest to produce as much, and at as cheap a rate
as possible. —( Loud cheering.) Then there was another
argument which had been urged by the bread-taxeers
ds
in the abolition of ne ro slavery.—(
with great in What should we do in time of war,
.)
The w •er
o et ac ,
lm er
-
inthey asked ? It was necessary for the safety of the
' country to be independent of foreigners for a supply of
food during war. His answer to that was in
the first place, that commerce w
of preventing war altogether. —( Cheer
h sdifferent) Nationsen
examplea a
Governmentstn
goodmr'
the ri
s n
tted by much the same motives as individuals. If you vex
omfeElu%;opilie'..ex E3.(n)ugland had
Sowasseitt awgitlhortihoeus
nations of Europe had followed it—( Cheers.) Let her
now set them the example of removing restrietio, as
from the food of the people. (Immense cheering.) [A cry
was raised at the end of the room that Mr. O'Connell was
coming, and the Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman imme-
diately made his appearance. He was greeted with lona
cheering as he walked up to the platform, on his reachirsg,
which some one in the body of the meeting called out, " Three
cheers for Mr. O'Connell." This call was responded to
with the greatest enthusiasm. When the cheering
had somewhat subsided, Mr. Falvy continued.] He wa
no believer in witchcraft ; he was not a superstitious
man, yet he could not but hail it as a happy omen that
at the moment he was complimenting them upon their
success in abolishing Negro Slavery, the Right Hon. the Lord
Mayor of Dublin should enter the room.—(Hear, and

much cheering.) Theis cause must prosper.—(Cheers.) s
every accidental circumstance told in their favour.—( Cheers.)
He was telling them of the glorious example they had set in the
abolition of negro slavery ; let them set another, and never
rest until they had obtained the abolition of taxes on food.
—(Loud cheers.) The landlords did not think of being
independent of foreigners, when they wanted their
silks, their carpets, their spices.—(Hear, hear.) It was
only where the food of the people was concerned that this
excuse was set up. Now let them look at the fact. We were
at war in 1810 with France, and with all Europe, and although
the ports of the Continent were then shut against our com-
merce, yet those who wanted . our manufactures took
them, and we obtained 300,00 A quarters of wheat from
France alone—from France, the country with which we were
at war during that year—( Cheers)—and we obtained during
that year 1,500,000 quarters of wheat from the rest of Europe.
This showed that where it was the interest of nations to trade
together, it was not in the power of despotism to prevent them.
Even the haughty Napoleon, in highest power, was unable to pre-
vent it. He would not take up inure of their time and attention,
but conclude by cordially thanking them, on behalf of himself and
of the operatives of England, for the position they had taken
up that day. They were by their conduct adding to the sta-
bility of the empire, and they would transmit their names to
posterity as the benefactors of mankind.—( Cheers). Ile begged
leave to add that he gave his most cordial support to the reso-
lution..
The CHAIRMAN then read the resolution, which was as
I follows :—" That in the opinion of the Deputies present, re•
presenting associations, public meetings, and religious congre-
gations in various parts of the kingdom, the Corn and Provi-
sion laws violate the natural and inalienable right of man—
the right freely to exchange the produce of his labour for
the food of all other countries, impiously obstructing
the circulation of the bounties designed by Divine
Providence for the benefit of all his creatures. That the aim
of this monopoly of the first necessaries of life is to enhance
the price of the produce of the soil of this country, thus neces-
sarily inflicting severe privations, especially, upon the poorest
portion of the community. That these laws, in their opera-
tion, not only expose the labouring class to the physical
evils of hunger, disease, and even premature death, but they
war against their eternal interests, ,by increasing the tempta-
tions to crime and immorality; rendering them less
accessible to the influences of religion. That in denouncing
the Corn and Provision-laws as a great national sin, the De-
puties express their own deliberate conviction, and that of a
vast portion of their countrymen that those laws should be
immediately and totally abolished ; and the Deputies con-
stituting this meeting pledge themselves never to swerve or
relax in their efforts until that object be accomplished."
The resolution was then put from the chair, and carried
amidst loud and continued cheering.
The CHAIRMAN next said, that the Executive Committee
to whom they had committed the power of regulating the
order in which the business would be brought forward,
had come to a preliminary resolution. It was to
the effect, that for the orderly conducting of the business of the
Conference, the Committee recommend that each person de-
sirous of addressing the Conference should send up his name to
the Chairman ; that each person be called on in the order in
which their names were sent up, without at the same time ex-
cluding the right of each member to address the Conference.
The CHAIRMAN next observed that it was the better course,
that as this was the first day of the Conference, the proceed-
ings should not be protracted to any great length ; he would,
therefore, call on Mr. Dixon, of Carlisle, to move an adjourn-
ment.—( Cries of "Mr. O'Connell," " The Lord Mayor of
Dublin," and much cheering. )
Mr. O'Coiesrest. then came forward, and was received with
the most enthusiastic cheers. On the restoration of silence
the Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman said, that he felt too
much flattered by the kindness of that call to be able to resist
it; yet in truth all he ought to do should be to make his bow
and thank them. —( Cheers and laughter.) He had come
there with a different intention from that with which
he generally attended public meetings. He gene-
rally attended to speak, but he came there to lis-
ten, and they seemed determined he should listen to him-
self.—(Laughter and much cheering.) That was rather cruel
of them, and for this simple reason, that no person could sup-
pose he was a prophet, and without being so he could not know
what to say to-day. On Thursday next he would be
able to tell them something. Peel had an easy job,
before him. All he had to do, was to give the operatives
cheap bread, and the landlords high rents.—( Laughter.)
They seemed to think that that was not quite so easily done as
said.—( Laughter.) Now, if he did not do that, and only
took up one of those measures, he (Mr. O'Con-
nell) pitied him very much as to the other. He (Sir
Robert Peel) had, however, one refuge. He would give
them plenty of words. He would give them plenty of figures,
and he'd bother them with the figures entirely.---(Laughter.)
His (Sir R. Peel's) struggle would be to do as little as possible
and give them as many words as possible. His endeavour
would be to raise a cloud and create confusion. Their course
at present was straightforward and distinct.--( Hear.) They
wanted cheap bread, and that they must have.—( Hear. ) Was
there anything yet ever so simple? A talented operative
had addressed them a while ago, and when there were so many
men of such talent among the operatives, the higher classes
could not long maintain their monopoly. Should the poor
man come into a market with the price of his skill and la-
bour, for the purpose of obtaining some of the necessaries of life,
he meets (continued the Right Hon. and Learned Gentle.
man) a person called a landlord, who says to him, " You arc
going to lay out the produce of your labour in purchasing
bread, but first give me 2d. out of the price of the loaf for
giving you leave to buy it." That was a system which could not
last. It was criminal in its operation, villanous in its intention,
destructive to the commerce and manufacture of the country.
It was attended with all the grievous consequences which
robbery and villany could have, and they were now wanting
to see what the monopolists were going to do for them.—
(Loud cheers.) He remembered once reading in an
old romance, a story of a knight, who for some
crime was placed at one end of a church, and upon the
middle of the church was a common needle; at the other end
of the church was placed a sheaf of wheat, and he was allowed to
feed himself with all the wheat which might be
blown through the eye of the needle.—( Hear, hear.)
That was something like the plan of the monopolists. They
would not give you the sheaf of wheat to blow through the
needle—(Laughter)—and- they tax it before they know
how to pot it in a proper position. But the country was
roused.—( Hear, hear.) England had spoken out, and Scot-
land had spoken out, in a tone that was not to be resisted ; and
they would be aided by a good strong Irish brogue.—(Cheers.)
From others they would get, nothing but words. He re-
collected a story of a person called Daniel Isaac Eaton,
who said he was a printer of the "swinish multitude,"
a phrase, which they said, was taken from Burke. But he was
prosecuted, and put into prison for four years. And when he
was inside the prison walls he put up the following motto :
" Since times are scarce, and solid food is rare,
The swinish herd must learn to live on air ;
Wheat and peas no longer do abound,
A feast of words is in the hog's-trough found."—(Loud
laughter.) Now Peel was the Daniel Isaac Eaton. He would
not give peas or wheat, but words, words, words.—( Hear,
hear.) He ( Mr. O'C.) wished to prepare the people
for what was coming, but he knew the people would
not be put off with delusion. No trickery. Bread was
bread; and if they did not get bread, they would
take nothing else.—(Loud cheers.) A sliding scale
was a very slippery thing, and a fixed duty was a fixed injus-
tice.—( Cheers.) What they wanted was perfectly simple and
plain.—( Hear.) They wanted the markets of the world to be
opened for them, for the purpose of' getting provisions. They
did not want to rob or steal, but they wanted that England
should have that food which France and Spain had to spare, after
paying the proper price.—Hear.) The thing was plain, but he
knew the dexterity of the high conjuror they had to deal with.
Delusion was the object, for what else could be the meaning of
the Duke of Buckingham retiring from the Administration ?
He wished forsooth to be called the " Farmers' Friend," and
he retired from the Government ; but he said that he would
support them on every other question except that of the con-
templated alteration in the Corn-law. But if he gave up his
office on principle, why support an Administration that was
wrong in principle ?—( Cheers.) Did it not give them an in-
sight into the secrets of the closet, and show what alteration
might be expected? The thing was a complete delusion,
and the Duke knew what he retired for.—( Hear, hear,
hear.) The thing was a clumsy humbug. But he could
promise them a strong phalanx of Irish force.—(Cheering.)
There were four of his own family who would vote for nothing
less than extinction of the Corn-law—but he was wrong—he
would vote for a good instalment to be able to come at the
others.—( Cheer s. ) Half a leaf was better than no bread.—
(Cheers and laughter.) The cry for cheap bread had been
raised in Manchester, and had travelled through the land.
They should not let that cry die away, for when the cheering
ceased, the hunt was up.—( Cheers and laughter.) If they
failed, they would lose every thing. This was not a Tory or a
Whig, or a Chartist question.—( Hear, hear.) It was a ques-
tion for cheap food, and in which the whole nation was con-
cerned not to allow one class to tax the bread of every
'other.—( Loud cheers.) This was not a question of
the propriety of raising taxes for the support of the State, but
it was a question whether the poor were to have that food
which Providence had so amply provided for them, if it had
not been stopped from them by iniquitous legislation. The
necessity of the demand was so obvious that it would be a
mockery to detain the meeting any longer upon the subject. There
was no person who came from the manufacturing districts who
had not his tale of woe and misery to detail. These laws had
entailed upon the people depression of every sort. Wages had
been diminished—poverty had increased. It was now fast,
and now slow. Misery had increased, and the wretchedness of
the manufacturing districts was the consequence of the law.
Foreign rivals were beating them out of the markets—even in
their own markets they were now being undersold ; and
he would ask, were the people of England to be led by the
magic of palavering'words to submit to such a state of things ?
( Hear, hear.) No, the people were too strong to be laughed
at, and too much in the right to allow themselves to be
deluded. They would have the victory if they were
determined on it. If, there were Tories amongst them
and he supposed there were, he would beg of them not to allow
their prejudices to interfere between the salvation of the poor,
the good of the nation, ;.and the remedy for their evils.
The Whigs.were in favour of a fixed duty, and the Tories
of a sliding seale—hut let them not be deluded by one
or the, other, for a total repeal was the only measure which
could bring lasting good.—(Cheers.) They had not suc-
ceeded last year because their cry was not strong; but now it
had become too universal and too extensive to be mocked.
He would entreat of them not to allow the spirit of folly to
come amongst them, which would make them satisfied with
delusive and deceptive promises. Let all parties be unani-
mous, and let them raise a general cry,. and it would he
answered in such a way as to relieve the poor from their misery
and wretchedeess, and place England where she ought to stand
—above' and beyond a I rivalry in the career of competition
The moment the struggle reached its height, Englishmea never
shrunk. Englishmen never knew how to be beaten.—(Laugh-
ter.) It was a secret they had never discovered.---( Renewed
laughter.) Let them not find it out now in a crisis of the most
vital importance.—( Hear.) They could not be beaten if they
were true to one another—if they continued united in their
efforts to get rid of that abominable monopoly, that incubus on
their trade—the present Corn- law.—( /fear.) Let them stand
together front and rear, and they would be sure to triumph.—
(Loud cheers, amidst which the Right Hon. Gentleman retired
from the meeting. )
Mr. DIXON, of Carlisle, came forward amidst cheers to
move the next resolution.He would not have attempted to
address them on that occasion, were it not for the long anti
deep interest he had felt in the manufactures of the country.
He had been for years connected with our cotton manufac-
factures, and he was well acquainted with the state of
that branch of our commerce throughout the country.
He knew the great sufferings which those engaged in that
trade had lately been subjected to : he knew that those suffer-
ings were in a great measure attributable to the present Corn-
laws. He had from the moment of the enactment of a Corn-
law in 1815, protested against such a measure, because he fore-
saw the evils to which it would inevitably give rise.
Nothing could have given him greater pleasure than
to have witnessed the unanimity with which the meet-
ing had adopted a resolution expressive of their determination
not to compromise that great question.—( Cheers.) No com-
promise would do. Their case was based upon the prin..
of justice, and with anything short of justice they should
not be eontent.—( Hear, hear.) He felt sure that if they per-
- levered in their righteous efforts, even Sir Robert Peel, net-
s, ,ithetanding the mightly phalanx by -which he was supported,
mast bow to them. And why ? S-mply because they advo-
cat. Id a just cause. They wished to interfere with
the rights of no man ; and he believed that if that great
quest 'ion were once settled, all parties in the State would be

THE CORN-LAWS.
T 0 THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. -
SIR—I most entirely concur in all that you have
written upon the iniquitous Corn-laws, and would now
more particularly direct your attention to the subject.
In three short days the Ministerial plan will be deve-
loped, and we must carefully watch any alteration in
the mode of taking the averages. Let it be clearly
and distinctly understood, that any alteration which
will lower them will be a benefit to the landlords only,
but an injury to the starving people.
I was in the Park when the Queen went in state
to open Parliament, and heard the cry of " We're all
starving," and it is these starving people whom it is
our duty to relieve.
I am very glad the subject has now become a reli-
gious question. We are told in Scripture that, "he
that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him," and
cursed will those Ministers be, who act contrary to
Scripture. The Duke of Buckingham complains that the
farmers will not exert themselves, and he can do
nothing without their assistance. The fact is the far-
mers begin to understand that high rents neither be-
nefit them nor the public. But alas! our selfish and
ignorant Tory landlords have already done irreparable
injury to our trade and manufactures, for no repeal
of the Corn-laws can now restore a portion of our lost
prosperity. Our best artisans have left our country
in hundreds, and we have compelled the Americans
and other nations to manufacture in self-defence ; and
though the disorder may be checked, it cannot be cured,
even by the great Tamworth physician himself.
Your most obedient servant,
A WHIG LANDLORD.

l'eb. 7.

The King of Prussia arrived at the Palace of
Lacken, near Brussels, at a quarter before two o'clock on Sa-
turday. The train had left Ostend at a quarter before 10.
A diligence was ready for 32 persons on the King's arrival.

EVIENING SUN

ei
essentially benefited. A large portion of our farmers and oar
agricultural labourers were deeply interested in the solution of
LA MBE T H . •-• . babialo
that great question. Our agricultural population were in
ning of the in, 800
A public meeting was held last eve . .
reality most injuriously affected by the present Corn-laws. The
se Scho° -0'
CORN-LAWS.—MEETING I°
of the Borough of Lembeth, at the Brin _ a
,o_,:e, ire
men of the north, the men of the borders—men as hardy, as
George's-street, Lambeth, for the purr ose of adopting{
willing, and as able to work as any others upon earth—were
tion to Parliament for the abolition of the C
°IO the An
new in a state of the deepest suffering, in consequence
for the purpose of appointing two delegates
' st.
of the depression of our trade and the low rate
law League. gee 0, I
of wages they received for their agricultural labour.
Even a large body of our farmers were advocates for a total
the meeting was called for the purpose.
eeet.Messie:x
and immediate abolition of the Corn-laws. On a former oc- Mr. RICHARDSON took the Chair, and, in:degine Pi
to the House of Commons to repeal toes ,'7whiO,
casion the Convention, had asked of Parliament to be heard at petition
did not mean the Corn-laws merely, but r!il,":7 iii
the bar of the House. That prayer was refused. They next
rated in preventing provisions coming mt
they
iaels'
asked to be heard before a Committee of the House, and that
request, too, was not complied with. They told them they
the laws which restricted the importation of coed
togb7oo,
When they asked for the repeal of the food laws, ''s,: eeiij
should hear from them aeain and they had heard
from them again. He wished to congratulate their
, dried and salt provisions, could be supplied in.gan. 'iron To
every description. Pigs, sheep, and other cattle,neat
a _
Hon. Chairman on the state of the movement in Scotland.
The Scotch people had made up their minds upon the sies- from the neighbouring countries, more esPeel lihat if ,a tion; and Scotchmen deliberated before they determined.— !
laws were repealed, he should not be asserting ia
burgh ; and it was not too much for him to says
that) welch
(Hear, hear.) The people of England had long ago made up
beyond proof, when he said that the very heet.in 1. vo ' A
their minds upon the subject ; and he believed the people of
Ireland were also pretty unanimous with regard to it. He
had been himself entrusted with a petition to the House of might be supplied at the rate of 2Ved. or 3u P_e,....a1l of 1j
portaticjid
i Corn-laws, but all laws prohibiting the freeotc, him* 0
Commons, signed by 5,000 inhabitants of the town of Car- ! (Cheers. ) They therefore asked not only fora . Terse
food.—(Hear, hear.) Those who were to follow allude to l'
lisle, which he then represented, and that was a pre-
go more minutely into the subject, or he
might en ''' r,
ponderating majority of the whole population of the city.
He earnestly hoped that the other cities and towns of this great ! the duty almost amounted to a prohibition. , °:.,,„ eioe:o
commercial country would imitate their example.—(Hear, ;articles of tea, coffee, sugar, &c., and other articles,„nee be i
hear.) The Hon. Gentleman concluded by moving ihat the ;addressed them, a remark had been made
meeting should then adjourn till eleven o'clock to-morrow,
JOHN BROOKES, Esq., of Manchester. came forward amidst
people
~_t joist,
not unchristian, and he thought it became ';,ece' icing 'e
general cheers to second the resolution. He had reason to ; such a fact. Laws which prevented the
tsisheauld e 0,141
know something of the Corn-laws—for a man generally knew
most of his own business.—( Hear, hear.) He had been him- I which saith, do; unto others as ye would they
_e„ilsee '''''t
; appeared to him to be in direct contradiction t
self engaged in the corn-trade for the last thirty-three
I return was moved for by the late Member for Leeet'broaL
you in the same circumstances. They would role; u ortle,, .
years, and he had been a shipper for thirty-six years ;
ascertain what number of quarters of wheat es ere of Vol
but during that time he had never purchased any foreign corn.
The uncertainty and the instability of the trade had '
rters
into the river, and from that return made to the "" tad
prevented him from doing so. Purchases must under the pre- I mons, it appeared that several hundreds of qua
near t 0 acv
thrown into the river Thames and into the sea bl'i giv,....,e,
sent system be made in a hurry ; and it was impossible •to
Was it not unchristian to throw that which God int of 11,:to
calculate on a regular and steady trade. He had been in the
food to man into the sea? He knew not the ineaneee,est/ Ifs
habit of bringing hides from Monte Video, but he had never
tianity, if that was not an unchristian act. ft`jejesa rieh
brought the flesh of animals in consequence of the high
in the City during the late election, and a g ,el,', 0 hoped 01
rate of duty. The flesh was left to be de-
up and addressed him (the Chairman), and sti'6l.ltitt
stroyed, and could be turned to no use whatever.
were striving in Lambeth for the repeal of tb- Che";4ol
pb
He had lately had a portion of this beef transported to this
that gentleman related an anecdote to him (the see,' :1011t
country, and he found it cost him but 13/43. per pound.
which he would repeat to them, and then leave the. 0,1
lie could buy beef in Buenos Ayres at the rate of 93. for
whether these laws were unchristian or not. 700 wi.,,
25 lb. ; and a friend of his had lately bought sheep
he had been into a shop—a baker's shop—and
.oe:sriV
at 2d. and 7d. a-piece. In June last Sir Robert Peel had de-
there a little girl of about ten or twelve yeerag;„„..; Kit # •
dared at the hustings—the hustings was the place to catch
into the shop for the. usual quantity of
e,'"--,eseele
them—(Laughter)--that a fixed duty of Sc. did not appear to
week for the family. The baker asked her what Se
him to afford a sufficient protection to the farmer.__( Hear.)
The Right Hon. Baronet went on to say that they must con- had, and she replied she had brought the eeee that te
The baker said she must go back and tell her rem', bselj
sider the burdens to which land was subject in this country.
less she sent so much more mone she could Ile osee''ty
He would have them look at the amount of poor-rates on land,
usual quantity. The child returned', and: prettanlee 01,0
and see who paid the Church-rates, the Highway-rates, and
again, saying that her mother had no more Ine_!efe'sbeet,
the Tithes. These, he said, were paid by the landed occupiers.
baker was therefore to send as much flour as the panne) ',le
Observe what Sir Robert said. Not the landed proprietor
would purchase. Was that not unchrstian ? Lett a„....cloriereo
but the landed occupier. The fact was that land would let
themselves and say, when their children were erYlesvereee
for more money with the Corn-laws on it than it
when they had no opportunity of supplying thertnifthigetanisi
would without it. He (Mr. Brooks) remembered when he
in existence which prevented food from coming int!en.,lo3 f bie ,
was at Harrowgate, there were sixteen Tories there and only
ought these abominable laws to be suffered to r,ter pl.;
two Whigs ; they were talking about the Corn-laws. He
would not detain them longer ; others would 0(7:4 egreeose
(Mr. B.) asked there one question. He said—Suppose he
and propose resolutions which he hoped they efewteere 0°44
had two houses to let, one furnished and one unfurnished, for
He believed in his conscience that if these laws ire Wed
which would he get the highest rent ? They answered—" For
pealed, England's greatness would assuredly fall. 2; otir.o,
the furnished house, of course ;" and so it was with the land.
too that the- industry of this country could rit li:-,,,
Land well furnished-would bring more rent than unfurnished
itself against the competition that was offered ee s e.mee
land. Well, Sir Robert continued, and if you let in corn pro•
were he her"
He believed further that these laws
duced by other countries, not subject to those burdens, it would
, denoul4o. olisthe.° 1f
be evidently unjust to the growers of this country. But
as they were cruel and oppressive
ino
what had we to do with them ? Nothing at all. The fact the public would rise as one man and and
(Cheers.) He thought that unless they were,. es Oleo
was, they were cheating them.—(Cheers. ) He never yet
taken into consideration, the country would deeltialn_4s,
found a man who could justify the Corn-laws. Some say, why
roi
we only get 2/ per cent. for the money which we have invested stead of employment being given to the industrieu'oe
as hitherto, they would have to emigrate to othe:ftietheito
in land ; he replied, that they were not bound to buy land if
there to seek employment. He would not trespaaeseolot pi
they only got 2/ per cent. for their money. He had had the
their time, but call on Mr. Miles to move the first,Toest)
honour of putting a question or two once to Lord Stanley,
Mr. MILES rose to move the first resolution. 'toys Prie
and that Nobleman admitted, without any hesitation, that land
the Corn-laws for the last twenty years, and, ne as °lel '
let higher with the Corn-law upon it. There was an
that prices were about half as high again in Engin-ewe/; V
admission for them. What right had one section of the corn-
Continent. Nor was it the case with corn ogue',"
munity to tax the other? It was a fact that there was a Corn-
it was the same with meat also, thus placing th t..,, eoel,rie
law, and it was equally a fact that that law had been made for
bourer in a situation which rendered him unable
redact'
est.e'iy,
a certain purpose ; what then was that purpose? Was it to
with the foreigner. Perhaps they thought the reth7o,l el ii,
prevent foreign corn from getting into England? It was—
prices of corn and provisions would cause a recleenec peeled
they could not deny the fact. He was not surprised at that part
amount of wages.—( Hear, and cries of "We .00 red
of Lord Stanley's story, but he confessed he was surprised at his
Lordship's sentiments with regard to foreign trade, when he
mingled with considerable uproar, which lasted for soleo
foreign trade. It was the duty of Members of the House of #
said that they must take care of their colonies, and not mind the He had taken the trouble to calculate the amount °;10
that parish alone in the article of meat, if the prieoO
t In„,
Commons to represent the mercantile interests—if such were
same as on the Continent, which saving would 1,, v
the fiy
their duty he (Mr. B.) would say that Lord Stanley was as fit less a sum than 263,485/.—(Loud cheers.) •` for the office he held as he (Mr. B.) would be to fulfil the du- able Gentleman then proceeded to state tha` sd•+ t;
ties of a Bishop.—(Loud cheers.) He (Mr. B.) knew that collected for that parish amounted to 65,938/. 35' d
ete
mercantile men had more interest in the foreign trade than in greatest part of which went to the salaries of ela!
support of our establishment.—(Cries of " ThatSissite:‘,
the Colonies. He himself had 249,000/. in the foreign trade,
tion," and great uproar, which continued throughout the fnoi
and only 38,0001. in the colonies ; and yet they were
Gentleman's speech.) He concluded by proposingeetiCi,
to sink the foreign trade for the sake of what ?.
ing resolution :—" That it is the opinion of this 01, 0109
That the sons of the aristocracy might reign over them.
taxes upon the people's food are oppressive, eroefee. ioa'e)
The fact was, Lord Stanley belonged to the aristocracy, and he
and destructive to the commerce and nativeess° '
backed them through thick and thin. He must tell them one
of the country, and alike repugnant to the dictates of
religilo
thing—they must sink Whigery, Toryism, and Chartism, and
humanity, and the highest principles of the Christienoto
bind themselves together never to give up, and then they
Mr. WILLIAM HAWES rose and was received , grld
should see whether they were to have their rights
cheering. He said he was totally unprepared to ash pd
or not.—( Cheers.) Hundreds and thousands of people were
that evening, as he had not the slightest idea when thefespteoei
being converted to their opinions, and he hoped the time was not
that room of being called upon to do so, but standing 0
far distant when they should obtain their rights. He remembered
being called forward as the advocate of the principles reilie
a story about one Billy Whittaker in Lancashire, which he
in the resolution, that it was crud, unjust, and -4? Pis to
,
would tell them. This Billy Whittaker owed a great deal of
tax the people's food, it was quite impossible for n
the 0;4,
money to different people in the town, yet when any
the opportunity given to him that night of express
Ke eke
one went to the public-house, there Mr. Billy might
moots and feelings with which he had ever vievred.te..oef,
be seen drinking and smoking with the merriest
—(Cheers.) The taxes on food were oppressive, eSteeD
of them ; no one there so comfortable as he. D
A person said to him one day, " I wonder to see entirely deprived the poor man of taking his ]about- ro,
possible market, while he was compelled to 1)01 tlled i
you here so comfortable ; . if I were in your
at prices fixed by the seller. The Hon. Gentlernaelioolo
circumstances, owing so much money, I could not sleep in my
luded to the late notice of Sir Robert Peel in th,fieteress
bed." " Ah !" said Billy, " if I were the people that I owed it
to, then I should not sleep in my bed; as it is I sleep soundly." Commons. He (Sir Robert Peel) could not sureirdos e
enact over again the farce of 1829 ? He thought efiThens
The aristocracy of this country are all Billy Whittakers—
the talents of Sir Robert Peel ould not palm off laleiele-
(Loud laughter)—they think the people were asleep ; but they
will soon see that they are wide awake—(lncreased laughter specimen of Jim Crowism. coTh Hon. Gentleman r-- 40
long and eloquent speech by seconding the resolntir;iedlf
Mr. HIND rose to propose an amendment. ge ' beg?
and cheers)—if the people slept at all it must be with one lye
open.—(Laughter and cheers.)
- that -discussion as a large cake, The Chairmaiiieif I i
Mr. Brookes*coucluded, amidst loud applause, by seconding
the resolution which was put from the Chair, and unanimously
nibble at the side of it, and was followed by the o/tield
adopted.had pretty nearly nibbled all round the cake." (may of
Mr. HENRY Asnwormr, of Bolton, next addressed the He (Mr. Hind) would show them, if they 70e1 d
meeting—He said there was so much intelligence, and spirit listen to him for five minutes, that he WiiieriAii
and energy, displayed by every individual at the meeting, that right through it.—( Cheers and laughter.) ' iletetc,l
prized a large loaf as well as any man, for he was nse el lei
it was impossible for him to add anything to what had been
and he liked plenty of tea.—(A Voice--." With ru"-tesltsi
already said ; he would merely suggest, as he was sure ever
one of the Delegates had come charged with intelligence from Y —(Loud laughter.) The Chairman hid told theta tot d
would have certain resolutions. He had told thenlet eeslq
their respective districts, that each of them should prepare
might get, by the repeal of these Food-laws, meat al
0001's
something like a statistical detail of the matters that might
pound ; but did he not know that there were thne.eo,4
ought to he submitted to the meeting, and that that
labouring men, both agricultural arid manufacetue7
to
detail should be left with the League, to be used afterwards a
were unable to procure meat at all, and who 117:0 Odd
was thought best. He had himself gathered a good deal osf
under the present system ?—(Loud cheers.) "P
-the
of argument from many of the newspapers, and had collected a price of meat to the poor weaver of Carlisle. or great deal more from the facts stated at the meetings
weaver of Leeds, who had but about 2leide (0.,
held at Leeds, Manchester, and other places. He had
for the support of his children and himself? ''''t,i r 4
them all collecte together, and he would submit them to the
How was that man to- get two or three pounds dsilleyeauee
League. If each of the Delegates collected the facts relatin
though it were but 2/d. a lb., while he could not fev.Ser
to his own district there was no doubt but a greatdeal of inter!
esting matter would be obtained. The Delegates might for in- bread, and while the present system lasted he never, /trte,
(Cheers.) The Chairman had further said, the efe,ef
stance sit down that evening and contrast the present state of their
standing all the demonstrations made to Parliament' 'if
districts with its condition a few years ago ; and in that way,
by showing it in a statistical detail, most interesting and iiim:e• starvation prevailine ; notwithstanding all this Pri,A askla4
would not repeal thine laws. He (Mr. Hind) eguniseel ;Of
portant information might be had.—(Hear, hear.)
ther the present Parliament was more likely to rele-yl-00,
merely mentioned the matter to the meeting, in order that than the former one ? He then alluded to the 7of
the Delegates might adopt the suggestion if they thought used at the late election, and stated t,7: eiti
it of use.—( Loud applause.)
Petitions against elections. This country was in the of tie
were at that time sixty cases before Pa'sfreerce,
The CHAIRMAN said the meeting had heard Mr.p_
Ashworth's suggestion, and he was sure it was worthy of ado
lion as France before the Revolution by the sYst.tee:rsst
tion. The Committee had,i yesterday, waited on Sir R. Peel, to legislation.—(Loud cheers. ) Look to Louis the s,-4- Oiiti
obtain an interview with him, and they were in expectation of time and his glorious wars, together with that of hi btas
Louis the Fifteenth. At that time the nobility we
of 1114
receiving an answer every hour. It was the wish of the Com •
mittee that the entire of the Delegates should wait upon Sir the land, and contributed nothing to the taxes, a" - Fos
Robert Peel, if he granted the request of the Conference.
It was therefore most desirable that they should be al in at- fell on the people. The aristocracy of this country l'ot
tendance punctually at eleven o'clock to morrow on in the same way, and soon they would place Eng'„,, 0 morning. All the petitions for the abolition of same position as France was then..--( Cheers. )He ogles
the Corn-laws should be presented to Parliament the agricultural population had been for the last filtilesorieo3 as early as possible; and those petitions brought to London b a state of starvation.—( Hear.) He had been in sess tot
the Delegates, should be each given forthwith for presentatior')-', last autumn, and he was then in a village ; and he, oit ere
with such complaints as these—sc My husband has u;:pkti'. o
by each Delegate to his own Representative, provided that that Honourable Gentleman were favourable t work for the last nine weeks ;we are starving"'" e
the object of it. But if not, then the peCt. ° were hundreds of such cases. Talk of the Christi/pt! r
should be left with the Executive Committee, who would Itawkne let them have justice !—( Hear, hear, hear.) The Miate.ros
law people were under a mistake. If the Corn-lasle 11;14
means to have it immediately presented. The Chairman then pealed to-morrow they would have bread but a tee,"
said he could not allow the meeting to separate, without cheaper, they would only have the amount of food ,4 pot.,, of
expressing the very great satisfaction it afforded him to not produce themselves —( Hear, hear.) They on' ?serer' to
see the tone which they had taken up, and the deter- ploy all the world for that. What they wanted was a 0 jillh d
urination with which they were disposed to act.—(Hear ) the system which enabled the Peels and the gar e.. 0,00
This was a simple point that every one might understand. Let accumulate millions while others are left to staeYee got, et
them keep by this principle till the last, regardless of all p -
sition, and they might depend on it that the force of üblice"-oPp°i- not prevent a man dying with six millions of taun'•loo4'. el
cheers.) He would not give a farthing for a sYstell,,'°,7•ol(a
the same time prevent another man dying of staritneileo•o-A
nion so expressed would be found irresistible.—(Cheers.)P
Mr. SIDNEY SMITH said it was important to inform the voice, " Could you ?") Yes, I could, (said Mr. 9:406 Ole
Conference before it separated that several Metropolitan Anti- I not told you how, you blockhead ?—(Cheers ties-flieSeete
Corn-law districts were desirous to receive deputations from laughter.) The amendment he had to propose waas anon the Conference to address meetings in their respective bomb- feeling of the meeting is decidedly hostile to all '''- per.
ties. To carry out this object he had therefore to re nest Whether in commerce or legislation, whether in co,rr!bini'
that gentlemen from those districts would leave their nqame
itithonast,pattrholegeiamtCorheenrtn;w-liaag.tw:i?iare::.seoreerf
sugar, or in the religious and civil institutions.. • •Pm j;'.' the
and the places to which they belonged below stairs, and als:
sugar
is d
passed thereforean d
boyf
the times and places where they desired the addresses to be de-
livered ; and also that gentlemen, Members of the Conference
rnoi usurpingth' nib'
timber alPpi
willing to deliver their addresses, would leave their name; monopoly, and ought to be totally and uncondi.r refioof
below stairs with the Executive Committee. They would
pealed; and to prevent any future enactment of f
017,1sii
then most effectually agitate the question.—(Hear, hear.)
similar pernicious scheme, fon' -are
It was desirable that their friends in the metro alts that, in order to prevent this, and save the peoPl this meeting is further of
els"
should hear their friends from the country. A perfect unifier':isoPP,2sPe !o
standing between the capital and the provinces would be thus legislation, radical reform in Parliament is
mended. That all present evils and future one!'"
T te
established, and London would resume the station she
heldvented by no other machinery than the adoption -
spot
when this abominable law was passed.--( Hear, hear.) dear, and comprehensive document the PeopleV ,g, o
Mr. SMITH then read over again the list of the Executive Mr. BROWN seconded the amendment in a very lor''bet_A
Committee, to which the following gentlemen were added : M. HUOOETT proposed a counter arnendeneen"pd e'''
The Rev. W. W. Williams, and Mr. Evans; the Chairman and ainendinent of Mr. Hind, after a.great deal of uproar
Secretary of the Welsh Anti-Corn-law Conference ; Mr. W. fusion, was carried by a large majority re
Ibbotson, and the Rev. T. Bailey, of Sheffield ; the Rev. W. - A resol •
titian I:ootni°
Roaf, of Wigan. resolution was then proeosed to ado t a pena, v
Up to three o'clock, between 500 and 600 Deputies had mend for the repeal of the Corn-laws P e ris
; but an an' PO
givni. passed
in their names. adopting the people's petition, alias the
The meeting then adjourned until 11 o'clock to-morrow. Charter, in its stead.
AO6
the cite
Three Chartist Delegates were then chosen for - for
Corn-law League, and after three cheers had been give. %
O'Connor, the separate
iee
Charter and Feargus
meeting ' '
..,.e
confusion.
..
-.
0 v ~e MELANCHOLY INSTANCE OF . ~,,,S " -V-i.a.e
DEATH.—Last evening, Mr. I' held inl-0 air '
r. aynean es e ber
Crown, Blackfriar's-road, on the body ofH. "11.°
Mrs. . i"
~..a.„
aged 25. From the evidence of deceased's husbalw;seser,.
witnesses, it appeared that for a long time she had.. ateller'
ject to spasmodic pains in the stomach. A sotoullie cool
gate last summer relieved her, but in October hot, leuelie„:
quence of ill-success in trade on the part of heron Oa'',
her old malady returned in an aggravated form.
al prec,,'"-,
day last she was out in the Parks, to see the floYiter• bier •
sion proceed to Parliament, and next morning, eseeisiinkbe
fast, she complained of headache. While so color 04 4 •
young daughter of hers fell into the coal-cellar, an oirote;••
child's screams at first frightened deceased. he e paella
nance changed its hue, and shortly afterwards "_ o,We7s,,
was in great agony, and that the pains she felt t eoeseise,
to those produced by parturition. She was no , eiestees,
eres-r swe
in a state of pregnancy. Fomentations, Tel's.
erenot,AA,
leeches, and medicine piescribed by a surge n' on frup-i-
cessfue and she died shortly after four o'clok, e• Jo" her e! , t
considered leir s Sir. Hussey, a surgeon, who was called in, chor
the c it Di
a dangerous one from the first, and believed that ou. $
was crisea e of the liver, andprobablydeath was the - bon?
caused Ya .
the bursting of an abscess in that organ,
her child's screams. Verdict—" Natural death."
___
0,0 jeer
On Wednesday morning last, at elev,e,nono, Qubs; ~
the reception, of Miss Mary Quin, daughter of atifelafee 00
Esq., of William-street ( Town Councillor), tome l'i.4o„see aPi;
Presentation Convent, Sexton-street. The yottngem ,
throlo
peered most healthful and very interesting, and W „ill ifs, t
the formula of reception with heroic firmness- -I,_,'; atlf.r
second daughter of Air. Quin that has taken the Y 7 - ''. a
ton-street. —Limerick Reporter. 2,7 of
_,„1;
DEATH FROM THE EXTRA CV° kloyiPP
Tooen.--A few days ago a young man in Edinbur deros;
had occasion to have one of his teeth drawn, went t,,, !...„,i'olen!.. ,
perfOrniea Ifeipp. for that purpose. On the operation being
hemorrhage immediately took place, which it wee-i' dea#l-t''
led to Ii;
sible to stanch, and the young man actually h
ails tin. --
Cases of this kind, we are informed, are by to •In 4itt'
ampled, and persons of a hemorrhage tendency ought
of coif
• i„,01.
peculiarly careful of having recourse to the extractions,st, ,
mat" "
teeth, in almost any circumstances.— Glasgow C