The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 14, 1842

those gentlemen who had been appointed Delegates were the
best medium through which the feelings of the people should
be made known to the country, but he could not resist the
request of the Committee to appear on the present occasion.
Every person must be aware that, from his earliest political
career, he had urged upon the Legislature and the country the
necessity for the total abolition of all those restrictions which
tended to impede the manufacturing interests of England.
He had, therefore, to look back with perfect satisfaction
to his own efforts, humble as they might have been ;
but. at the same time, he had to look back with great regret
that the suggestions which he had offered, when they could
have prevented calamity, had been neglected until they were
driven to the last extremity. He could have no hesitation in
saying, that if be were in the House of Commons he should
have designated the prosition of Sir R. Peel as a cold-blooded
insult.—(Loud cheers.) After five months' deliberation—
after holding out the hope that he would bring forward some
measure for the relief of the prevailing distress—he (Mr.
Hume) had certainly a better opinion of the intellect of Sir R.
Peel, than to suppose he would treat the people as he did. He
(Sir R. Peel) declared in the House of Commons that he be-
longed to no party, but that he would bring forward such mea-
sures as, in his honest judgment, he thought would relieve the
country. After such a declaration as that, he never met with
such a disappointment as when he read Sir Robert Peel's
plan which, in point of fact, was no improvement whatsoever
upon the present one. If the small modification which he
proposed 14 years ago, when he made a proposition to abolish
the taxes, had been acceded to, these restrictions would now
have been nearly abolished. But those times were gone by now.
—(Loud cheers.) His opinion was that nothing could secure
the country from the calamities at which every good man must
shudder, without the entire removal of those laws.—( Cheers.)
He spoke not of the Corn-laws alone, but of the Provision-
laws in general, and all those restrictive duties which prevent
our industrious fellow-countrymen from earning an honest and
independent livelihood.--( Loud cheers.) 'l he people were
not now the idle vagabonds that wished to eat the bread of
idleness. He was an old tactitian, and had often expressed
his opinions on matters connected with the markets; but he
believed that at no time before were the affairs of this country
placed in so critical a position as at present. Sir R. Peel
confided in the House of Commons not having discrimination
sufficient to see his scheme—not to see the farce between him
and the Duke of Buckingham. Such shallowness of intellect
would be ridiculous in any man of the most ordinary capacity.
He (Mr. Hume) could not believe that Peel, as a reasonable
man, could have gulped the pledge which he had given a few
months before to bring forward some remedy; and now he
brings forward what must be considered an insult from the
laudlord's Parliament. They could expect little better from_ a
Parliament constituted as the present was, composed of
deputies from the landlords, deputies from the clergy—in fact,
they were nothing more than an assemblage of the deputies of
the aristocracy and of the monopolists. He often had regretted
to think that men of capital, holding high positions as bankers
and merchants, took the part of the Tories, and supported re-
strictions. It had fallen to his lot to study the character of
different classes, and he found that as men increased in wealth
and became landed proprietors, they forgot their former position
and those with whom they toiled, to join a party who tried to de.
prive the people of that share of liberty to which they
were entitled under a constitutional government. To
those capitalists he would address a few words. Let
them look upon the present system—capital was wasting away
—property ere long will be scarcely, able to maintain them in
the situations in life in which they are placed, and what
must Sir R—Peel think of those men who would support him,
whilst he was crushing to the ground those interests upon
which they had been raised themselves to their present posi-
tion? He rejoiced to see so many delegates from all parts of the
country, as it was important at the
.present juncture
to have such an array of public opinion.—( Cheers. )
It was therefore his sincere wish that they would teach the mo-
nopoly-men—Stanley and the rest--that they would not give
protection to the few at the expense of the many. He there-
fore trusted that on separating, as he understood it was possible
they might separate to-night—he trusted that every man who
was there, and ,every one who read the accounts of what had
taken place there—he hoped they all would consider that per-
haps on him depended the repeal of these iniquitous laws.—
(Cheers.) Let every man feel that he himself was the com-
mencement of the agitation, and then they would obtain their
wishes. He spoke deliberately, because he had heard in the
House of Commons and elsewhere that when the people of Eng-
land shall show a desire and determination of obtaining justice
for themselves, the Legislature must yield.—( Loud cheers. )
Let them therefore bring the subject forward in every town and
village—let every man come forward and assist in the object,
and let them not satisfy themselves with a simple meeting, but
let every man get up and record his aye or no with respect to
the principle of this taxation. If they would go on that princi-
ple, they might with perfect confidence look to the result. In
a population of 1,000 men—take the ladies in addition, if they
pleased—( Hear, hear)—but let him have the men, and out of
that thousand men let them see how many there were
amongst them who refused to denounce the oppression of their
fellow-men. If they, did this he had no hesitation in saying
that Sir Robert Peel and his party would not be long before
they changed their course, or yielded to others to take their
situation. He (Mr. Hume) thought that now an opportunity
was offered for the Whigs to come forward; let them come
forward, then, and join in the ranks of the people.—(Loud
cheers.) Let them demand the repeal of these laws—no hold-
ing back—no fixed duty—bat a total and immediate repeal.
He was proud to see that many of the Whig aristocracy had
shown a nobleness and disinterestedness of purpose, and he was
sure that if full evidence of the justice of the cause of the peo-
ple was shown to tsem, they would come forward and heartily
join in the great cause.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. Hume) there-
fore hoped that the result of the insult which had been offered
to the public would induce those who had hitherto proposed a
fixed duty, to come forward and demand a total repeal.—(Loud
cheers.) Not only a repeal of the Corn laws, but a total re-
peal of all restrictions on the importation of every thing which
tended to add to the expenses of living, and place the labourer
of England on the same footing, with respect to food, as the in-
habitants of other countries ; by which the country would be
continued in its present high situation. England had many
advantages, and she had many disadvantages; but she occupied
a position in the world, and he would ask what England would
be, now the dearest country in the world to live in, what she
would be if it was the cheapest ?—(Hear.) Place England in
the same situation as France with respect to provisions, and he
cared not if the people were insulted by comparing the comfort
of the Prussian with the Englishman. It was not to say this
man has Is. a day and this man 6d., but they must look at the
state of comfort of each, and the state of happiness, morally
and physically. Let him ask Sir Robert Peel if there was any-
thing in Prussi a like the protection which existed in England?
Was there any country in the world like Britain? He was sorry
to say Ireland was worse, and England was fast progressing to
that state of destitution which existed in Ireland. England and
Scotland would come to the same footing by the same baneful
legislation that devastated Ireland. What they claimed
was equal laws, equal constitutional rights—this it was
that they claimed, and this he hoped they would obtain.
—(Cheers.) He would not enter into statistical details, they
heard them from day to day and year to year. He would
make one al.usion to a motion which was brought forward by
the Marquis of Chandos, now the Duke of Buckingham, for the
relief of the landed interest. He (Mr. Hume) stoodforward
on that occasion. He had just returned from travelling on the
Continent ; he had visited many of the manufacturing towns
of the Continent, in Germany, France, Belgium, and when
this motion was brought forward he was well enabled to judge
of the situation of each country, and he showed the difference
on that occasion between this country and those of the Con-
tinent. He showed that so far from the landed interest having
any claim to be exempt from taxation, and have a monopoly
over their fellow-countrymen, that they were exempt from
taxes on the land, which were paid by the landed proprietors
of other countries; and what was more, the amount
of millions which were paid by the people to the
taxes, did not fall on the landed aristocracy. He would only
say, that the Committee of Inquiry on this subject, which was
formed in 1836, had shown that the taxes paid by the landed
proprietors were not one-eighth of the taxes of the country.
The farmer who paid 3001. and 4001. of rent, said before that
Committee, that he could hardly mention any taxes they paid,
they were so trifling, the principal being the tax upon his
horse, upon which he rode to market. Hence the taxes of the
landed proprietors were altogether unequal to that of
other nations, whilst the working classes were burthened
to an enormous extent. New taxes were levied
in 1841, and he would first state the facts, and then draw his
conclusions. In 1841 Mr. Baring proposed to raise two mil-
lions and a, half of money by additional taxation. He (Mr.
Hume) informed him that the plan he was about to adopt
could not succeed—that two and two in political economy did
not make four. The taxes we paid then were upwards of fifty-
three milliens,and profits were higher, and provisions cheaper than
they were at present. Things were dearer now and profits were
low, and then the people paid equal to 73 millions of taxes compared
with the times when profits were high and prices low. The
mode of increasing the taxes was only a means of reducing the
revenue, and the best means of increasing the revenue:was by
reducing the taxes on the necessaries of the people. This he
had represented to Mr. Baring, but the additional taxation was
levied, and what was the consequence ? Instead of the reve-
nue coming up to fifty-three millions, notwithstanding the ad-
dition of two millions and a half of taxes, the revenue fell 200,000/.
1:k low the revenue of the former years. It was then that he
had represented to the House of Commons that the only tax
that would benefit the revenue was a property-tax.—( Loud
cheers.) They most relieve the industry of the country, and
if they relieved the taxes on the industry of the country he
had no objection to taxes being levied on personal property.—
( Hear, hear, and cheers.) The rich landed proprietor
did not pay one quarter the amount of the taxes of
the country in proportion to the poor man. He came to that
portion of Mr. Thompson's statement to the meeting relative
to the resolution of the ladies. He hoped no step would be
taken that was not constitutional. He wished to see the ge-
neral taxation reduced, and he would tell them how they had
the power to stop the exchequer by constitutional means. The
Exchequer received five millions from the duty on spirits.—
( Hear.) He counselled them, therefore, if they sought to teach
the unchristian heart of their oppressors, that their cause was
worthy of their notice, to shew to them the effects of these
laws—the destitution, the disease, privation, and death, which
ensued from these laws,—let them refrain from the use of
spirits, which would deprive the revenue of five millions of the
taxes, and thus would they not only confer a blessing on the
country, but great moral blessings on themselves. Could they
not imitate the example of Father Mathew in Ireland ?
The revenue in Ireland had greatly decreased in consequence of
these exertions, but he was sorry to say that while it had de-
creased in Ireland, from this source, it had increased in Eng-
land
many p.l atche
as
tt hh ee H
agitationa so e
Gentlemanmwb
oe
ur fdor
progress,
The Right Hon. Member for he did not know how
seriouslyxlr.
ui nhe e
only wished he was Member for rural places. He (Mr. Hume)
recollected thought
think it would go on? He (Mr.o then told )
him he
thought it would go Cheers.)(Hume)
It had been said that
their agitation would create schism ihdinthe
amongst class and class.
They would show, by their determined
to these laws, how fallacious wasthe opposition
r(gCasrehkseisnergsd, and laughter.) He
idea.—(Loud cheers.)
Now, there were five millions of money received from the duty
on spirits.—( Hear, hear.) It was in their power to put a stop
to all this.—( Cheers. ) Five millions more were received from
beer.—( Hear, hear.) He would not say that they ought to
put a stop to all this, for sometimes he thought beer was, a neces-
' sary.—( Cries of " No, no.") He thought there were circum-
stances in which it might be allowed to be a uecessary, but it
it was very possible for them to effect a great reduction in this
branch of revenue. Now, as to tobacco—why should any man
of three millions a year on that, to which it was irs their power
poison himself to swell the revenue?—( Hear.) There was a duty
to put an esd.—( Hear, hear.) With respect to the revenue
derived from sugar, he could not ace that it was possible to
interfere with that, for sugar might be considered almost a
necessary, especially to young persons and females. Indeed he
was sorry to say that it was already too dear for them, and they
must not do anything to deprive them of it.—( A cry of
" When do you have wine," followed by cheering.) He had
no idea of persuading the poor man to dispense with spirits,
aee
whilst he allowed the rich man to drink wine.--( Cheers.) If
he joined in such a movement as he recommended, he would
feel himself bound to set the example, and to abstain from
wine.—s Hear, hear.) Thus they had the command of
and
destif t o theya
sufficient only 2aonr arrangement
m of
nrtegveivneue th;e
re-
duce that expenditure, they would bring the Government to
could
nbuymabs association
ci a t
to io
a sense of their duty.— (Cheers, and a laugh.) So long as they
furnished the Government with the money, they would continue
to insult the people.—(He., hear.) The electors, indeed,
had it all in their own power; but what was to be expected
from that body as at present constituted, when they turned him
out in favour of a Corn-law man in such a town as Leeds ?
(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) What could be expected when

they returned, instead of him, the man who said that he would
protect the agricultural interest, at the expense of other inte-
rests?--( Hear, hear.) Now he had shown how it was in their
power to bring the Government to terms without doing any-
thing illegal. But if they were to combine to resist the payment
of the assessed taxes they would be liable to prosecution.—
(" Hear, hear," and " No, no.") He had pointed out twenty
millions of taxes; of which every man had the power to withhold
his portion.—( Hear, hear.) As to the landed proprietors—
and on this part of the subject he could not say that he
wits disinterested, for he and those belonging to him de-
pended upon the land—but he would tell the meeting
that what made the land of England valuable
and enabled the country to bear up against long-continued
and wicked wars, was commerce and manufactures. —( Cheers. )
To them was owing the competition in the neighbourhood of
manufacturing towns, which raised the value of land three or
four hundred fold.—(Hea.r, hear.) He questioned therefore
the policy of the landowners, even for their own sake, in im-
I peding commerce and manufactures.—( Hear, hear.) The
moment trade fell, revenue declined ; and if the landowners
persisted in their present policy, they would find themselves
with diminished rent in a ruined country, amidst a beggarly
population.—(Cheers.) The people were told that they had
a heavy debt, and for that they had to thank the
aristocracy of former times.—( Hear, hear, hear.) But did
the Conference think that the landed proprietors would consent
to tax their own property to save the fundholders ?—( Hear. )
He had visited many of the manufacturing towns on the Conti-
nent, and he was convinced that nothing could save England
from further destitution and misery, but taking off the shackles
from trade, and giving the people a fairchance of getting bread,
instead of living upon begging and subscriptions.—( Hear.)
A DELEGATE asked what did Mr. Hume think of Extension
of the Suffrage as a remedy ?—( Cries of " Order.")
Mr. Hume had no objection to tell the Conference that he
was a staunch Suffrage man, anal he trusted that he would see
such an extension of the suffrage as would give the people a
fair representation—( Hear, hear)—they wanted nothing but
equal rights to all.—(Hear.) He could only tell the gentle-
man who put the quesion, that when the time came he would
not fail to state his opinion, and to assist in obtaining such an
extension. In the mean time he wished every man to do his
duty and become an agitator. He wished every one to do as he
had recommended, and he could tell the Right Hon. Member
for Ireland that perhaps on him alone might depend the
turning the scale in favour of justice to England.—(Cheers,
and loud cries of " O'Connell," " O'Connell.")
Mr. G. Troaatesoe came forward and said that it was for
the meeting to determine to whom it would be pleased to give
a hearing. But he wished to tell them that it had been
determined by the Executive Committee, that before the Mem-
bers of Parliament spoke a statement should be laid before the
Conference as to the destitute condition of their fellow-coun-
trymen in different parts of the kingdom. But having given
this explanation, he was bound to say at the same time, that
it was for the meeting to hear Mr. O'Connell, or any other
gentleman first, or hear a gentleman from Bolton, who was
deputed by the Committee to inform the Conference of the
state of things in that and other parts of the country.—(Hear,
hear.) That gentleman would also explain to them the known
cause of the distress. But if they preferred to hear Mr.
O'Connell, very well.
Mr. O'CONNELL said he hoped the meeting would allow
him to remain silent until the statement of the Executive Com-
mittee had been made.—( Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN then said that the task of communicating
the information of the Committee to the Conference, was
entrusted to Mr. Henry Ashworth, of Bolton, the well-known
correspondent of Sir Robert Peel.—( Cheers. )
Mr. ASHWORTH then came forward amidst loud cheers. He
said he was aware under what disadvantages he appeared before
them after the exciting topics they had heard this morning ;
but notwithstanding that, he believed it would be his duty to
lay before them some disclosures which had reached the Com-
mittee this morning. On the first morning of the Confe-
rence. permission was asked that the Delegates should give
information to Sir R. Peel of the state of the places which they
represented, and that the Delegates would show that the Corn-
laws produced the distress, and not Joint Stock Banks—(A
laugh )—nor the over-production ofimanufactures—( A laugh )
nor the immigration of a !ricultural labourers—nor improvements
of machinery—nor fluctuations of the fashions.—(Cheers.)
In order that the meeting might arrive at a proper conclusion
with respect to the real state of trade in the country, he (.11r.
Ashworth) would draw their attention to the state of trade in
the county of Leicester, which was one of those places where
the hosiery trade was the principal business, and which would
show what were the effects of joint-stock banks, improvement
in machinery, or immigration of the poor working classes in that
county. In 1815 there were, in Leicestershire, 16,000 frames ;
now there are only 14,000 ; therefore the increase of joint-
stock banks, improvement in machinery, or immigration of the
working classes, had not much effect upon that branch of trade
in Leicestershire. In 1815 there were, in Saxony, not more
than 4,500 frames; in 1841 they had become 25,000. From
that the meeting must infer whether joint-stock banks, or the
increase of machinery, had produced any changes in Leicester-
shire and Saxony. There has been no improvement in the
stocking frames of Leicestershire, nor are they worked by
power; in Hinkley, the popu'ation was 15,217 i • the state of
pauperism there was most distressing, and might be exempli-
fied by stating these facts—the sum spent in relieving the
poor in 1836 was only 2,000/. ; in 1841 it amounted to 4,2401.
—an increase 110 per cent.—( Hear, hear.) In that town
thirteen of the friendly clubs were shut up from inability of the
members to pay up their suoscriptions—one, third of the work-
men of that town were out of employment, and 500 heads of
families in it are in the workhouse breaking stones.—( Loud
cries of " Hear, hear.") In Loughborough the population
amounted to 19,589 human beings—it was pretty much
in the same situation as Hinkley—pauperism and want of em-
ployment were equally harrassing in both. In Derby wages
had fallen 40 per cent. since 1836. In Nottingham the popu-
lation was 53,080; the number of persons relieved in the week
ending on the 22d of January, 1842, was 10,580, about one-
fifth of the entire population--( Hear, hear)—wages had fallen
considerably since 1836; although there had been no improve-
ment in the machinery employed in their trade for the last
forty or fifty years. In the workhouse there was a large
number of young persons in good health, and well able to earn
the means of subsistence, if they got employment. He would
next call the attention of! the meeting to the state of menu-
faetures in the West of England. In the woollen districts of
England—Frome arxdSomersetshire ; a few years ago amongst
the most floutishingin the kingdom ; but •now they were fast
declining—the population in 1831 was 14,300 ; in 1841 it
amounted to 12,200, being a decrease of 2,100 • the Poor-
rates in 1826 were 5,391/. ; in 1840, they amounted to 6,6611. ;
one-sixth of the houses were uninhabited, the rents reduced
by 50 per cent.—( Hear, hear)—out of twenty-eight woollen
mills in those towns twenty are only partially em-
ployed, five are void altogether, and three of them con-
verted into corn-mills. The fact was that mill property was
worth only one-third of its value a few years ago In Bradford,
in Wiltshire in 1820, there were 19 manufacturers, of those
nine had failed altogether—eight had withdrawn from business,
and only two existed at present.--(Hear, hear.) Mills and
premises there which 20 years ago, were let at 1,2001. a-
year, were now rented at 300/. a-year. Cottages which in
1820 produced 90/. a-year, were let in 1840 for 20/. a-year.
'There were then 462 looms upon broad-cloths, of that number
there are now 316 idle, and only eleven are fully employed—
( Hear, hear)—in 1820 the average production was 620 pieces
per week, and last year it was under 100 pieces a week—the
quantity of meat and bread consumed in 1820 was
four times the amount in 1840._( Hear, hear.) In Stroud
and its districts there were 100 mills at work in 1831 ; in
1841 they were reduced to 63. The total, in 1831, was 8,170/.;
in 1841 it had declined to 1,4251. In the County of Glouces-
ter in 1831 they had 3,200 looms at work ; in 1841 they were
reduced to 1,333—a decrease of 50 per cent. The number of
manufacturers in the County of Gloucestershire in 1830 was
80; in 1841 they were only 42 ; those which had failed since
1831 were 50. '1 he number of inhabited houses in Stroud was
1,602. The reduction of purchases in groceries and plain
apparel there had decreased 40 per cent. for the last 5 years.
in full 1,000 persons had emigrated since the deetine of the
woollen trade. The number of looms employed in 1831 were
410 ; in 1841 they were only 12—(Hear, hear)—and poor-
rates had advanced immensely. At Westbury, a dealer in
ready-made clothes used to sell to the amount of 40/. per
month in 1831, now he did not sell 21. worth in the month.
All these facts tended to corroborate the statement he (Mr.
Ashworth) had made, that those changes were not attributable
to the operation of joint-stock banks, the emigration of the
working classes, or the improvement in machinery. Again, in
Kendal, the population was 11,700; the original and principal
trade of that borough was manufacture o f woollen goods, called
endal cottons. The export trade was chiefly with America;
but since the home trade had been restricted, the manufacture
of Kendal cottons had diminished from 33,000 pieces to
below 1000 pieces per annum. Rochdale, which had a large
export trade of flannels to the United States of America, had
undertaken an extension of the cotton manufacture; but Kendal
being placed more remote from the seat of the cotton manufac-
ture, and not possessed of cheap coals, had not been able to sub-
stitute any other class of employment for her industrious
people. Therefore, the result was, that the population
of Kendal had continued almost stationary, or he (Mr. Ash-
worth) might say it had retrograded, for it had actually in-
creased only 137 for the last ten years. The amount paid in
wages has been computed at a reduction of 15,11'•01. per annum.
Since the period when the trade was considered in a healthy
state, towards which the working classes had received in ad-
dition to poor rates the sum of 1,1201., which had the effect
of eonverting honest workmen into poor broken-spirited paupers.
Those poor people were compelled to flee to the workhouses
for the means of subsistence—the result of that state of things
was, that the butchers sold one-third less meat, the provision
dealers less of flour, cheese and the superior class of food, and
more of the coarser classes of food than formerly. The sale of
clothing, &c. for the poor was reduced three-fourths, but it was
increased for charitable distribution.—( Hear, hear.) The
poor would not in their present distressed and miserable condi-
tion be trusted. One-tenth of the whole population in Kendal
were receiving relie£ During the last three years the expenditure
for the support of the poor had become nearly doubled —( Hear,
hear.) In the Dispensary of Kendal, in 1837, there were
2,723 cases, in 1840, 4,050. Mr. Ashworth then proceeded to
state that the exponents of these facts, which he had stated, very
properly asserted—" That the strength and sinews of the poor
man are his patrimony, the liberty to use them his birth-
general laws of an all-wise
or ifgthhte,
Britishand that
Constitution, itis consistentand th e with the principles
Creator, that he should not be crippled to selling his labour to
whom he best can."—(Hear hear, and loud applause.) As to
,
thatborough, which
consisted pursuits, there
and the sum
ao of them ,
the borough of Kendal, he (Mr. Ashworth)sn should also state,h.h
consisted of 55 townships engaged in agricultural
with reference to the Poor-law Unions of
was an increase of pauperism in
, .:
derivable from the
dis-
trictsll,eranadgrsiocludltuartalhlh
prices, perhaps 70s. a quarter, immediately
in a large number of those townships.—(Hear, 1
raised for the relief of the poor hadinnienher(aeHsase3eador;pienrhear. some)
instances 75 per cent., and probably as cent.
It was asserted, that such benefits as were
Corn-laws, applied chiefly to Essex and other
in the South, whose crcps weree
a,
after the harvest.g
rtahlelyd,e
hpraedssbieoenns of trade. , as a
unequal
manufactures gene-
rally, town, was connected
with
extent, with the gotker
The crops in the north were late, and are greatly influenced. by
he adducedthese •
in-
places to which he had referred ; and .
nof Prescott, which
to T ah ne
the country, it had not been greater where joint-stock banks
had influenced trade, than in other places ; on the contrary, he
stances to show that whatever distress might have existed in
believed that where those banks had exercised an influence,
and where machinery had been most improved, there the de-
pression had been least felt. Leeds was a woollen dis-
trict, it had been more or less influenced by joint-stock
banks ; and in that town there were about 13,000 people,
whose average weekly earnings were computed at under a
shilling a head per week. The deterioration of mill property,
within the last three year., was such that it only retained one-
third of its original value. 7 here had been closed, from 1838
to 1841 thirty-nine houses in the woollen trade, eighteen in
the flax trade, sixteen in the mill making trade, sixteen in the
wool trade (besides sixteen retired from business), nine in the
worsted spinning and stuff trade, whose united liabilitie
amounted to 1,451,000/ , exclusive of failures in the neigh-
bourhood, which would raise the amount probably to two mil.
lions, or upwards. Two hundred thousand pounds less was
paid in wages now, than in 1835 and 1836. The production
of cloth from that district was about two-thirds what it was
from 1833 to 1835. In Bradford thirty failures, all connected
with the wollen trade, had taken place in one street within the
last three years ; the bad debts amounted to two millions, within
the last four years. Three-fourths of the woolcombers were
on short time, With regard to the loss of our woollen
39 600
trade, some_ idea might be formed of the advance cf
the trade on the Continent and. in America. From a wool
broker's circular which he held in his 'hand, it appearedthat the
wool exported from this country in 18 was ,000 weight ;in

1840, 900,000 weight ; in 1841,4,130,000 weight. The cotton
manufacture had also been stimulated by joint-stock banks, influ-
enced by improvement in machinery, and still more largely in-
fluenced by the influx of agricultural poor. Many parts of the
country were in a dreadful state of distress ; but all branches
of trade had not felt it to the same extent, and on the whole
he did not think the depression of that trade exceeded that on
the hosiery and West of England trades. In Manchester the
' sum expended for the relief of the poor in 1826 was 25,0001.,
in the last year it was 38,000 i. The patients admitted into
the dispensary in the Manchester district during the six years
of cheap food, ending 1835, amounted to 54,000 ; the number
admitted in the six years of dear food, ending 1841,
was increased to 169,000. The deaths in the dispensary
had increased in the same proportion. He would not detain the
meeting by going through the whole of these imp neant details,
as the% would probably be laid before the Delegates in some
other 'form ; but he could not conclude without making one
or two statements with respect to the town of Bolton. In seven
of the principal branches of trade, there had been a falling off
of wages to the amount of 1,7001. a year. There were other
trades in which the falling off amounted to 30,0001. more. Com-
paring the condition of the people in 1835 and 1836, and their
condition in 1840 and 1841, it appeared that they were worse
off in their purchasing power now, than formerly by 140,0001.
a year. There were now in Bolton upwards of 5,000 persons
whose earnings were not more than 144 d. a week, and if they
allowed for fuel, soap, and one or two other articles, they had
about 11d. a week for food. At the same time, in their
prisons the cost of food for each prisoner was twenty-three
pence. It would not be woaderful if the working people of
Bolton should ask double amount of sustenance in a prison ra-
ther than starve upon their present wages.—( Hear. )
Mr. STURGE wished to make a single remark upon what had
fallen from their indefatigable friend, Joseph Hume ; and he
was sure that he would be the last man to throw cold water
upon a great movement in which the ladies had set the
example. His ft iend gave them a caution not to act illegally
tty refusing to pay assessed taxes. Now he belonged to a Society
which he believed was not remarkable for breaking the law.—
(Mr. O'Connell proposed three cheers for " The Friends,"
which were given with great enthusiasm.) He was perfectly
satisfied that the ladies of Manchester had hit upon the right
method of bringing the most aristocratic Ministry in the world
to terms, and compelling. them to surrender at discretion ; and
he trusted that -their example would be followed.—( Great
cheering.) The Society of Friends had acted upon that prin-
ciple 150 years with respect to church-rates and some other
things. He had had what he might call the pleasure of having
his sofa taken not long ago out of his room ; and he had lately
refused to pay the armed police tax in Birmingham, and had had
other goods taken. He would leave the Lord Mayor of Dublin
and the Member for all Ireland by and bye to explain the law of
the case.—( Laughter.)
Mr. HOME wished, with the indulgence of the Chairman,
to explain what api eared to be a difference between himself and
Mr. Sturge. Mr. Sturge was quite right in saying that he
woulff not throw cold water on their proceedings. What he
intended to caution them against was, the committing them-
selves to a public resolution to refuse to pay taxes.—( Hear.)
He himself was the chairman of a meeting of the Political
Unions when a similar resolution was proposed; and he was
told that it subjected himself, and all who agreed to it, to a
public prosecution.—( Hear, hear.) He wanted them to imi-
tate the Quakers—it would not then be conspiracy; they might
separately agree, yet not in conjunction.
Mr. G. THOMPSON said the mystery was now cleared up,
and he was sure the meeting would take the hint.—( Hear.)
Mr. O'CONNELL was then called, and three hearty cheers
having received him on his rising, he said, Gentlemen, I readily
obey your summons, I bad almost said I cheerfully obey it ; but
I have so much to say that I fear I shall fatigue you before I sit
down, for this is the time when words ought to be things, and
when the situation of the country ought to be distinctly under-
stood, and the determination to right themselves from the
odious and sordid classes of the aristocracy ought to become
general. —(Loud cheers.) I would I had the power to rouse the
country to a sense of the necessity of the crisis, and to the pow-
erful exertions that should be made to put down this aristocracy,
unless you should be resolved to become their willing and con-
quered slaves.—(Cheers.) Your masters were abroad, and
they insisted on continuing your masters ; and the question was
whether the people of England would consent to remain their
slaves, and not only forsake their masters, but bring them to
a proper sense of their duty.—(Cheers.) It is now universally
admitted (admitted even by Peel and his followers,
as well as by every human being, that the distress was now be-
come universal, and was not confined to any particular place
or locality.--(Hear.) Take any particular circle of the
country, and it will be found that from the circumference
to the centre the distress is universal.—( Hear, hear.) It is
admitted that, from Paisley to Taunton, and from Bath to
Aberdeen, there is universal suffering, distress, and destitu-
tion.—( Hear, hear.) lam not exaggerating—nay, it would
take more time than you or I can afford, to describe its extent
and its intensity. Peel admitted it ; and Beckett,
whom—oh ! shame upon them—the men of Leeds subatituted
for my Hon. Friend. There is this geod, however, that those
who denied the distress a few months ago, were now forced to
admit the amount of distress.—(Hear, hear.) But is it
casual distress—is it accidental—is it produced by any parti-
cular season ? Peel, to be sure, said it was something in
America which caused it ; but that was one of the most auda-
cious sophisms that was ever thrown out by man—( Hear.)
He said that the distress of America produced the distress of
this country, and that the exports to America were much less;
but he did not recollect that those exports were paid for in rice,
and tobacco, and cotton, and that they would be a great deal
more if you were allowed to give them value for their corn,
which the Americans produced in abundance.—(Cheers.) No.
The distress is not casual. It has been coming on gradually,
and stealing, and that is the woeful nature of the malady.—
(Cheers.) But four years ago the distress was less ; three
years ago it was more ; two years it has been increasing ; and
now it is universal and overwhelming distress.—(Cheers.)
Now, people of England, let no man delude or deceive you.
You are not likely to be relieved from this distress by the pro-
position of Sir Robert Peel.—( Laughter. ) If you were
in a position to compete with foreigners, frightful as is the
distress there would be a hope of its termination.—(Hear,
hear.) But if you could undersell Germany, Belgium, France,
and the Hanseatic Towns, of what use would it be to you now?
What prospect of mitigation for you of your distress ?—( Hear,
hear.) But foreigners are even underselling us in our
own market.—(Hear, hear.) What prospect of relief from
Peel and the proposition he holds out ?—(Hear, hear )
Five or six months ago he was lecturing to some of his friends.
He turned from side to side, shook hi, head, and did nothing.
—s Laughter.) But he proposed no remedy to cure the
disease —( Hear, hear.) He had the audacity, to be sure, to
prescribe a plan of cure.—(Cheers.) But how or in what
respect it is d fferent from the present I cannot understand.—
( Hear, hear.) I remember it was said of a philosopher who
found it difficult to discover the distinction of differences—
" Who could not see
What difference there could be
'Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee."
—(Cheers and laughter. )—We had Tweedle-dum before, and
we had Tweedle-dee now, and that is all. —(Laughter. ) In
the late debate he (Sir R. Peel) said in answer to me th,A the
question was of " awful importance." That was his expres-
sion, and he was right ; but how was I met ? Why by a state-
ment of vulgar figures, with 5 before 52, and 4 before 51.
( Cheers and laughter.) Thus he met the " awful importance"
of this most awful crisis.—(Cheers.) And that is your states-
man—that is the leader of the English nation!—(Cheers.)
( The Hon. Gentleman then referred to the foreign relations
and the position of England, and the state of America, Cabool,
Affghamstaw and China, arta the danger of imposing taxes for
the support of the war in the latter country, while they were
starving at home.) The condition of the people is discredit-
able to the nation and the Government.—(Cheers.) The
question is between the operatives and the aristocracy, and I
know who will be the winner in the contest.—(Cheers.)
The people will not endure to be beaten with injustice and
acorn, and if they did they would deserve to be beaten.
Nay, more there is another proposition perfectly understood,
that cheap corn, on the contrary, means high wages—( Hear)
—and dear corn sinks wages ; so that the developed aspect of
robbery, as committed by a sordid aristocracy is, that on the
one hand they sink wages, and on the other raise the price of
food. In what country is this done? In a country renowned
for its common sense. The Frenchman dances better ;
the Spaniard has a gr .ver carriage ; the Italian
more flippant, the German more serious and plodding, but the
man who has common sense always as his favourite and dis-
tinguishing quality, has been hitherto the Englishman.
(Cheers.) What then has become of his common sense now?
I remember telling a story of a Frenchman boasting of the in-
genuity of his countrymen because they had invented tuckers
and ruffles; but John Bull observed to him, we added the
shirt to them. Illustrating, thus, the truth of the principle
that Englishmen were, of all men, most guided by common
sense—Englishmen, who possessed more ingenuity than the
inhabitants of any country in the earth—Englishmen, the first
in the arts and sciences—Englishmen, who were never beaten
in arms, who have invented and made improvements in ma-
chinery until they have almost made it to think and execute
the functions of sentient beings—Englishmen, whose skill, in-
dustry, and patient trial, are the admiration of the world.
Oh ! are these the people who are to lie prostrate at the feet of
an. aristocracy !—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Peel, to be
sure, told you that the people were worse off in Prussia !
%hy ? lam sorry for it ; but I want to know, if the Prussian
has nothing to eat but sourcrout, is that a reason that John
Bull should not have enough to satisfy his wants ? But there is
another view to be taken on that subject. The Prussian
nobleman is hardly better off than the Prussian serf, or at
leant the people of the middle classes.—( Hear, hear.) But
your nobility, your aristocracy, are surrounded by all the
luxuries that the earth can produce. I will take Peel at his
own comparison. The Prussian serf might be worse off than
the English slave, but the English Nobleman enjoys the benefit
of all the skill, ingenuity, and industry of Englishmen. He
absorbs all the advantages of your science and labour—all the
luxuries arising from it. Oh, people of England, you are
labouring not for yourselves but to increase the luxuries of a
class—( Hear)—that has the beastly cruelty to tell you that
you shall not have food except at their discretion. Certainly
it is not creditable to the people of England that a Parliament
such as the present should be returned. You re- echoed the
cry when I spoke of my friend Mr: Hume being rejected from
Leeds ; and it is a disgrace to the English people that he isnot
irs Parliament.—( Hear.) And why is he not? Because the

constituency is not extensive enough—because in those which
are called open places, in general there are 100 or 50 persons who
turn the scale; and it requires a sacrifice of private property,
which my friend is too honest to himself and others to make in
order to buy the votes. Formerly seats in Parliament were
bought openly and at once from a single individual, but now
they were bought from many. At the last election, was there
not, as it was pretty generally known, 1,50 W. given fur two
votes in a certain borough.—( Hear, hear, and cries of " Name.")
I have no objection to name Harwich.-- ( Hear, hear, and
cheers.) I always call things by their proper names. Oh !
the Members had nothing do with it ; but some good-natured
friends did it without their knowledge.—( Laughter.) It is
discreditable that the people of England, who have ever been
remarkable for their love of human freedom, should be the first
to think of voting for the enemies of the country. They
would not allow their Kings, as the rest of Europe did, to tax
them at their discretion. Englishmen have always had
a salutary horror of letting their pockets be picked
without their consent. It is an established rule that
Englishmen should not be taxed except through the
medium of their representatives. To be sure the principle
does not apply in practice, because they are not your repre-
sentatives. I deny that the present House of Commons is the
representative of the English people. It is the representative
of the corruption of the rich and the intimidation of the aris-
tocracy—what were called the Duke of Buckingham's bucks—
(Laughter)—the 50/. tenant at will voters—the venal freemen
of Liverpool, and other towns. The people of England ought
not to be calumniated by saying that the present Parliament is
their representative. his an oligarchy, got together by the
force of bribery to swindle the public money into their own
pockets.—(Hear, hear.) Well, now, I have not announced a
single proposition that could not be demonstrated, or, rather, is
not demonstrated by the Tory enunciations. What I want to
know is, will you put up with all this ?.—(" No.") Will the
people of England submit it. Why if they do, they may ; and
if they did not choose to act as the people of Ireland did during
the last famine in that country, namely, to approach the sacra-
mental ceremonies, receive the extreme unction, and go to their
cabins to die—let them go to their clergymen, and prepare for
death; because death is approaching—death is in the streets—it
is in the lanes and alleys—it is in the cellars and wretched ha-
bitations of the poor, from which food, and comfort, and heat,
and light are excluded.—(Hear, hear, and some interruption
from an individual in the throng, who asked what these obser-
vations of the Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman had to do
with the question ?) Me. O'Connell went on to observe, that
it seemed to him that when the question was whether food was
to be cheap or dear, death by starvation had something to do

with it. --( Cheers. ) Even an Irishman might be permitted
to have just so much common sense as to see that a man
earning six shillings a week could buy twelve loaves
if the markets were open, and now that he was nut
permitted to get more than eight for the same money,
the want of the other four might produce death in hi. fa-
mily, not immediately, hut in the apse of a few weeks, by the
slow process, upon his little ones, of continued inanition. He
(Mr. O'C. ) believed his friend %elm put the question must be
from Chusan or some part in China, to think that the people
of England could live upon Celestial favour.—( Hear, hear, and
laughter.) The Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman then
went on to deprecate riot or tumult on the part of the people,
and advised continued petitioning to the Legislature, and that
their wants must be ultimately atter.ded to. Let them send
100 petitions up one week and 1,000 the next. With regard
to what Mr. Hume had said on the payment of taxes, he was
right in point of law. A public agreement not to pay taxes
was a wrong thing. There might be prosecutioes
for such conduct. But he (Mr. O'Connell) wished
to knew who would prosecute the Lancashire witches. Not
one of the aristocracy would dare to prosecute any of the Man-
chester ladies.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) The ghosts of
the operatives murdered by the starvation laws, could not, if
they appeared before the aristocracy, frighten them more than
would the idea of prosecuting Mrs. Brookes. He ( Mr.
O'Connell) thought there would be some magic in the sound.
The ladies of Lancashire had peen long celebrated for their
witchery. The Lancashire witches continued the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman, is a name that sounded like magic to the
young, and what prevents the auditory nerve of the old
being also delighted with the sound.—( Hear, hear. )
They are all that painting can express, or youthful poets
fancy when they love. No, the Lancashire witches are
safe.—(Cheers.) They are more, their example will be irre-
sistible.— ( Cheers. ) I do not want any man to join in their
agreement--(Laughter and cheers)—but all my life I have
had a taste for passive resistance.--(Laughter.) There is no
law against a man's putting his hands in his pocket and not
taking them out at the command of the tax-gatherer.--
(Laughter and cheers.) We tried this where law is cheap, in
Ireland; what was the result of the first movement? The
result was that we abolished Church-rates altogether, root and
branch. Stanley himself swept them away when he saw that
Paddy was determined not to say.—( Cheers.) 'I here was no
aereement, mind—(Laughter)—but he refused to pay when
lle saw it was time to say he would not.—( Hear.) We also
made an experiment on tithes—it was not successful to the
same extent, but we struck off one-fourth of the tithes.—
(Cheers.) These are Paddy's precedents for you. My
friend near me was quite right in saying that your resolution
not to use excisable articles would speak trumpet-tongued
, against the Ministry. But here, again, Paddy has a precedent
for you. The last ticket I saw signed by Father Mathew was
No. s.l,o7l.—(Great cheering.) The defalcation of the re-
venue in consequence is 63.000/., on a revenue not exceeding
5,000,000/., being more than a tithe of the whole. This is the'
kind of tithe I wish to see taken.—( Laughter.) I have
the happiness to say my brother teetotallers—(Loud
cheers)—for I taste neither wine, nor spirits, nor
porter, nor any fermented liquor. I have now been a year and
a half at it, arid now I am two years younger thee when I be-
gan.—(Cheers and laughter.) Nay more—it is said Paddy
is unsteady.—( Laughter.) Now the minutest calculation that
can be made shows that only one out of 300, or rather less, has
failed in keeping the pledge. The number of teetotallers is in-
creasing. and happiness has been the result in the country
which used to be so subject to destitution. Ireland has become
a corn importing country during the last two years, and the
bread consumed has been quadrupled —(t tear, hear.) Oh
then take the advice of my friend—sroclaim the pledge of non-
consumption of excisable articles, and corn will be
rapidly imported into England—the nails of the aristocracy
will be paired, and their tusks will be drawn out.—(Cheers
and laughter.) This is a noble idea; but it may be said that
it is not practicable. I never heard that an Englishman was
not able to do what any other man did. It was never said at
sea—it was never said in the loom—it was never said in the
factory—it was never said in the Senate. Paddy has done it,
and why shouldn't John Bull ?—( Hear, hear. Here some
confusion occurred in consequence of an interruption by a person
in the body of the meet.ng, and a cry of " Turn him out !" was
heard.) Oh, don't turn him out, I like to be interrupted, as it
gives me an opportunity of addressing you again.--1 Laughter.
A voice—" You ought to have put a little more water in you.
grog before you came here." Great laughter_) Oh, you
have not put spirits enough in yours, for if you had you would
not taik such nonsense.—( Laughter and cheers.) Don't in-
terrupt me now again until I am done. I don't care how much
I am interrupted after lam done.—( Laughter and cheers. )
But after all, can you have any chance of opposing the aris-
tocracy, backed as it is by the army and sustained by the
Church, unless you unite together all the ho-
nest operatives, and all the commercial inhabitants
of the country. I may say by way of parenthesis, that without
a teetotal movement being made in Ireland, a great many of
the Catholic clergy have joined, and also several preachers of
the Dissenting congregation, but 1 believe not one clergyman
of the Established Church.—( Cheers.)
A GENTLEMAN-Oh, I know one.
Mr. O'CONNELL-Oh, I am glad you do.—(Cheers.) But
you must have all the people of England with you, or you have
no business to think you can conquer. It will not do to have
the middle classes alone, though they suffer exceedingly. It
will not do to have the operative classes alone. Let me see
the magic mind that can combine the operative and middle classes.
Now let no one think, that in what I am going to say I am about
to censure one class or the other. Hear me first before you
condemn any particular phrase that may seem to have any-
thing offensive in it. The operative classes say that the middle
classes do not sympathise with them, and that they would be
content if they Gould get a franchise for themselves, without
insisting to have it extended to the operatives. The middle
classes again say that the operatives have become exclusive,
and will not act with any one who will not go the whole
hog with them. Now there may a little common
sense in both accusations ; but whether there is
or no, this is the time to put an end to every
delusion ; and I ask you would it not be an arrant delusion,
if the middle classes were to say to the operatives, we invite
you to join in the fight, but you shall not share in the victory ?
They ought to agree upon some avowal respecting the exten-
sion of the suffrage. Now, it has been said—indeed, I have
said it myself, that the words Universal Suffrage do not intend
what they mean, for no one would think of giving the suffrage
to the convict, to the person under age, to the female sex, to the
lunatic, or the idiot. The words are, therefore, inaccurate.
On the other hand, Household Suffrage was mentioned.
This would not let in the operatives, for the
great mass of the operatives live in lodgings, for,
alas ! they cannot have houses ; and there never was a
period when they were less likely to hare them, unless
some change be speedily made. But another phrase has :teen
suggested, and I think it is more favourable and proper--it is
the Manhood Suffrage—the suffrage of every one who had at-
tained the age of man.—(Cheers.) This would be perfectly
consistent with the principles of the British Constitution. I
threw out this expression then, and I hope it will dwell in the
minds of the people, and set them thinking; but however you
agree as to the name, I hope we shall, from this time forth, see
the middle classes embracing the operatives, and the operatives
extending the right hand 05 fellowship to the middle classes,
and that the heart will be in the hand when it is offered.—
( Cheers.) You are coming to a time of great struggle, Eng-
lishmen. You have in history, that when Jack Cade and
Wat Tyler hanged an Archbishop of Canterbury and a Lord
Chancellor, during an insurrection which was caused by the
oppression of the aristocracy upon the universal people of Eng-
land, what was their excuse when the insurgents were put
down, and carried by hundreds to execution ? •• We rose in
insurrection because we were miserable."—( Hear, hear.) You
are come to a period when the operative classes are miserable
again. Remember, that insurrection had only the effect
of loading the chains of the people. They were
soon defeated, because their forces were tumultuous,
unorganised, violent, forcible, and sanguine. But a poi iod is
now arrived when the greatest revolution may be achieved by
the force of public opinion, and by peaceful combinations, with-
out endangering the social state, or the relations of private
life ; but these may be made more sacred and prosperous by
taking away grievances, abolishing oppressions, and giving jus-
tice its full range. The humble individual who addresses you
comes from a tumultuous country, irritated by 600 years of
ceaseless oppression, whose peasantry have been hunted
from their hovels—( Hear)—and even at the present day,
it occurred last week—they have been obliged to burrow holes
in the church-yards to shelter them.—( Shame, shame.) And
yet that country, however, by all the bad pas ions that such
treatment must have produced, have allowed (pardon my
vanity for saying it) the individual who is honoured by your
attention to rule the whirlwind and direct the storm, until he
succeeded in achieving a victory, glorious in principle and sa-
lutary in its results—for you never would have have obtained
Parliamentary Reform if Ireland had not assisted you.—
( Hear, hear, and cheers.) You never would have gained
Municipal Reform if Ireland had not stood at your
side, and you shall have Ireland Low struggling again to obtain
justice for England.—(Cheers.) I shall call her organised
Ireland, for though the organisation is not military, there is a
tact natural to the cause of temperance that gives Ireland a
power she never had before, and she can exercise that power
with a power and effect such as no other nation can exhibit.—
( Cheers.) With this example before you, in your present state
of suffering, with your present knowledge, will you,
people of England, longer submit to be trodden down ,by the
Aristocracy ?—( Cheers!) How much better than you are
they? Is slave written on your foreheads—is master marked
on the brows that wear their coronets? Are they superior to
you as a class in intellect? Juit listen to their speeches for an
hour in the House of Lords, and then hear the speeches made
by the operatives within these walls.—( Loud cheering.)
The mumbling, broken tooth—(Laughter)—and the gaping,
half articulate, and entirely ungrammatical sentence, have
made me exclaim, after listening to them, And are these the
men who are to legislate for the English people ?—( Cheers. )
Is it for these the people are to starve? Is it for these the ope-
ratives are to lie down and die. Oh no. We are men as well
as they. Indeed the question is, whether they are men ac well
as us.—(Laughter.) I have sometimes imagined—no dis-
credit to the Lancashire witches—that the pantaloons were
ill placed on some of them.—(Renewed laughter.) I know
this that if England does not rise, not with the strength of a
giant refreshed with wine, but with the strength of a giant
and with the wisdom of a Solomon,—if she does not rise, not
for the s:sughter or of blood, but for principle and exertion--
(Cheers)—if she does not tell the Lords that the people will
not crawl upon their feet—(Cheers)--if she does not tell the
Lords it is our House, and the money-changers must be swept
away"—(Cheering)—if she does not do this she will
be swept away herself., Yes, people of England, the eyes of
the world are upon you.--(Cheers.) The monster of Russia,
on his throne of ice, is looking at you, to see if you are ready to
be worse than his own serfs, for they have plenty of f00d....
( Great cheering.) The Americans are looking at you, to see
if you are like your sires.--( Cheers.) Yes, America, with but
one black spot OR her escutcheon—Negro Slavery I North
and South America are looking, to see whether you are worthy
of the times of your forefathers.—( Great cheering.) They a"e
asking, Are these the descendants of the men, who at Runny-
mede made the tyrant Monarch sign the Charter, declaring two
things—first, that religion should be free, and that the food of
the people should be untaxed ?—( Cheers.) They are asking,
Are these the descendants of men who, more than once, com-
pelled tyrant Monarchs to reconfirm that which wis not it the
Charter, but which had been obtained by the determination of the
people —( Cheers. ) They are asking—Are these the men
who, in the last century, found an imbecile Monarch on the
Throne, and sent him to wander in a foreign land; I said, be-
fore, we live in happier times the Monarch, now en the Throne
has to wish foreign to her people —( Cheers )—and no inclination
adverse to their happiness.—( Cheers. ) It is delightful to see
the example she displays in her domestic happiness.—( Cheers. )
The wife leaning upon the husband, and Loth of them smiling
on their infant children.--(Cheers.) And it is delightful to
think that that weakly being is the most otent Monarch upon
earth.—( Great cheering.) There is no 'question between the
:Monarch and the people but how to preserve them.—( Tre-
mendous cheering. ) The danger is in the aeistocrac are for their own selfish interest, and by that means weaken-ing the throne, and eclipsing the glory of the cousitry.—
( Great cheering.) Why did the Duke of Buck irgham retire ?
h—
ev(
deCi
th es
uef
orp srp.
0)
se
eodmHme t
oh thought o
sugnhosnte
0.
sense.—(Great
that tG ir the
aet wouldcsuhpepe gainroirnt
ged
.) H
him a little
Lau—th some
trenched on a littlee—( me
ghter woueld mustbe
itt e alteration
would be made that would injure) theat landlord.—(Cheers. )
Does 'tot that speak a forgone conclusion—does not that say they
are determined to support their own class at the expense of the
whole community?—(Cheers.) I impeach them in the pre-
sence of the English people with treason.—( Tremendous
cheering.) I impeach them ill the name of Ireland.—( Cheers. )
They have lost my confidence.—( Cheers.) I impeach them
in the name of the Industrious people of Scotland.—(Loud
cheers.) I impeach them in the name of the wise, the

common-sense eop
le of England le of Ere
, the prudent people
land.—(Cheers.) I impeach them in the name of thePe`w,i,i
tlift would starve the Queen's subjects, cf entlangeLingt:;
security of our beloved Queen's thione.—(Cheer'.) You ,„;aal
listened to me ong—( Cheers) —I perceive that MY q 70,0
does no', frighten you.—( Cries of " no.'") There does
, ,01
breathe on this earth a being more anxious than In.Y,setra
order, or one more anxious to get rid of every shackle it'lo-v
human convenience, or upon human food.—(Cheers)
country stood high in battle, it was never defeated in inu„"b;lir
ie.
was never exceeded in ingenuity.—(Cheers.) Engles_--000
with all these qualities, with a memory of what your ani7ildreo
have done with the interests and happiness of Your c that
at heart, call upon you from this room to cornmene,b,
agitation which will restore prosperity to your country..
Right Hon. Gentleman sat down amid the most treatenn"
cheering, which lasted fur several minutes.)
Mr. THOMPSON rose, amid cries of "Cobden."
The CHAIRMAN briefly explained, when
Oda
Mr. l'numpsom came forward amidst loud cheers.
Heber
he came there to gratify no personal feeling, but he had
earnestly requested by those who felt anxious that out of e ;4l
mass of information which this bo.ly posscssel, those facts stwyld
io
be selected which were of most importance, that they u'wha
be applied to their respective purposes by OW „fare
were present, in their respective neighbourhoods. He stood tOO
them at the express desire of those parties to make a statement_
the authenticity of which they might depend, for the Puri' e
.
exposing the wicked and hypocritical cry in the House of Logr,h,
garding the sliding, slippery scale, that the Corn-laws were for.;lii
benefit, not of those who made speecees in the House of Lord :hi
for the occupiers of the land, the cultivators of corn, and.b
labourers employed In their service. Knowing that this
been the statement put forward for years to sustain the „„gt,
laws, and, having a desire to test the truth of tbts
statement, he took the opportunity of visiting the town °filo, fp
town in Cumberland, the residence and seat of the Rigid
Sir Robert Charles James Graham , Bart., late of Pembroke s,
of East Cumberland, now of Dorchester, and one of her Mai,.
jest,o
c;4,;
principal Secretaries of State for the Home Department.—("o{
and laughter.) He visited that property. and he lectured 0° sir
estate to a number of friends at the Graham Arms, where
James was wont once a year to deliver a lecture to his indepe turf
ye -nnanry and intelligent peasaii try—(Laughter)—a I.et„er,
of the most satisfactory kind, for it was delivered after Olio
whilst the wine and the pewter was yet on the table; its !Last
would be the improvements lately discovered by the Agric" y,
Society, and praises lavished on the intelligence, skill, and ja
• old
nuity of his farmers. It could not fail to be a most interesting
sat sfactory lecture.—(Laughter.) He (Mr. Thompson) held :los
hand a statement, which might be relied on, as it bad been ts
by himself in the district of which he had been speaking, a ho
which it referred, touching the tender mereies of those
t'bet
sustained the Corn-laws, on the hypocritical plea that
were for the benefit of the occupiers of land, the cultivators of,;:r
the labourers on, the soil.—(Cheers.) He dare say it would bet,:
membered, that sixteen years ago Sir James Graham wrote s.:
called called " Corn and Currency," which referred to the conduct
landowners t their labourers, and which also entered into the if
or - retie), question. Sir James Graham had forgotten his book, t
not, wished he could; but the public had not forgotten it. •V°ol.
the month of February, 1839, lie made a speech in the }lto
Commons, on what subject ? On the subject of inquiry, "or
the people asked to be heard by counsel at tb°44,.
of the House, and solemnly affirmed on the
that the Corn.laws were acting against the best interests °'
ciety ; he (Sir James Graham) made a speech on that ocato
which was called, in the papers of the day, "the speech of(
night," " the speech of the season," "one of the finest eo
jog
heard;" and the peroration was so grand, it was beyond anYti,rt
that ever preceded it, and they left it alone in its glory..-(11
cheers.) This peroration contained the life of a farmer na of
own estate. He described him as rising to the call
incense-breathing morn, going forth mid the chirrupPingol•
feathered songsters,—cheered by the magnificent views 011,61
him, fanned by the breezes that wound their —O,
along the perfumed vale—then a little healthful labour—tbeco
turn home—the ivy.covered porch—the woodbine and honeltueo
peeping in at the window—the snow.white napkin—the ear
dathe—the hearty dinner. Then a little more healthful labot:ah,
r
the return again—the smiling babe and rosy children—the
~#
stantial supper—the sound and healthful slumber—rise, breaa'tba
and labour again. The Saturday night—the Sabbath rnoracof_
time-honoured edifice—the edifying discourse—the *°
dinner—the chapter in Pilgrma's Progress, where the be
pa
tiful vale is described and the pearly gate; thus theY leg
their lives in healthful inoffensive exercise with the smile es,
proving virtue. If they abolished the Corn-laws, said Sir .101ip
all this happiness would be dispersed, these men would be sent
the manufacturing districts, which he described as the sinks t,. 0
° .
quity and infidelity, where they would be oppressed by monsterid
b
the shape of men. He (Mr. Thompson) went to this estate, and 0,
a meeting at Longtown ; there were a good many of the. job 0,
tants of the town and the neighbourhood there;
tpl.
scribed to them their happy condition as he had just done tn
meeting—they looked exceedingly vacant—(Hear, and a langl
He said, "Is it really true? Is this the actual Garden of Parade
with the river of Eden flowing through it ? What happy tueS;bll
must be, who live in this paradisaical state, under the patriwrol
sway of the knight of the bright sword."—(Cheers.) They 100
exceedingly vacant. He told them there was one thing /1 sif
struck him very forcibly. It was, that all those blessings which
James Graham had enumerated, seemed in the bulk to beaver!
cheap lot.—(Hear, hear.) He could not tell how much it eoitoro,
Right Hon. Baronet, that men should be called up in the 00,
ing by the song of birds, or regaled by the freshening bi„op
as they proceeded to their labours. These were very e"ra
advantages , but of course the man who so eulogised ??1 0..
would himself resemble nature in his bounty to his own ye
antry. Therefore, in his conversations with those tenor's
observed to them—" in addition to happy cottages, to the 5° 0;
of birds and healthy recreations, you no doubt get goodrilo
suppose we say 20e. a week." The reply was, "No."
qta
let us say 15s. ' " No." " Then let us say 123." "
get Bs.' —( Hear.) " No," said another, " some on us °ilia
get 65."--(Cheers and laughter.) He had heard of plough°en
.Thast
that neighbourhood who were in the rectipt of five silver sh",,,ft
and their food ; he asked if it was true ? The answer was" jot
Then said he, " If you get Ss. a week, and have nothing t°
100
to pay your rents, and furnish your tables with food, of cones of
ot
are enabled to store yonr shelves with the periodical literal° tjo
the day—(Laughter)—to place the surplus of your wages 1(1'1°0
a farmersu g t e . )
savings-bank, and to do something for your benefit and that °t met
e
country—(Laughter)—you must be happy men, indeed I" .reerated
m Intoto the understand
conditionhi him.--(Laughter.)
h(
didt
inquire isree•inatielattitednisattic,.:,,,tbhe,
wanted to know whether Sir James Graham's disinterestedness
House of Commons, hadbeen displayed by him upon his Pr°Y-$
What did he find ? Within six weeks after the arrival of the Rte
Hon. Baronet at Netherby, he went to his parlour. He had privs':,
interviews with his tenants; and he who seemed so desirous
rig
stimulating their industry, and who had been In the habit of giy
lectures on the breeding of cattle, on ploughing and thatching,
the rotation of crops, instantly raised their rents from 5 to 35rov.
cent.—(Hear.) Now these were important facts; arid Sir J. GraP,'
-
when he rose to tell of the happy condition of agricultural lob°la.,
ers should be greeted with one universal groan. He might sl'io •
gentleman—he did not mean to deny it. He was a schoillr,',.o. -
( Mr. Thompson) was sure, from the number of classical quotaln",,
he had scattered throughout his work upon " Corn and Currency'
for the purpose of enlightening and educating the farmers and t 0
vio
peasantry of the country. He (Mr. Thompson) was sure be
a learned man—he was a great man, and, therefore, he did
lo
O
wish him to be treated with personal disrespect ; but, asa Pub be
man, his conduct at Netherby ought to be generally known, an
aka -
wished that meeting to receive the statements he was ahout to 104
without abatement, without suspicion, for he could assure es`the
gentleman present that he came there charged t° „op
very muzzle with proofs that Sir James GC WS
had made the Corn laws the means of augmenting
hos
rents for years, and that he was now making tvor•
the means of bringing him an additional income of 4,0001• a"' jag
—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") That hypocritical
plea of his heg
the farmers' friend, and doing every thing for them and notOba
for himself, should be scattered to the winds or consumed blot
execrations of the public.—(Cheers.) He would now read fa
following communication which he had received from a faricer•oo -
the district in question, and which was well deserving the attell-
of the meeting :
the
Gt As a farmer, I beg leave to state the effects I consider of
existing Corn laws have had upon the rent of land and wage
agricultural labourers, in the neighbourhood in which I resod
The land, since the passing of the Corn law in 1815, has been 0.
vancing in value progressively, as instances of which, I may T., of
than that several farms on the Netherby estate, the properuto
Sir James R. G. Graham, Bart., has been advanced from 95 °the
per cent., the particulars of which I annex. Consequentlio,
farmers even under Sir James Graham are now beginning °hos
cover that the existing law only benefits the landlord, and -att
hitherto proved a delusion to them, and a scourge to their set!"
and labourers, d
" Farm servants may be divided into two classes, the marry
and single; the former have from 9s. to 10s. per week, with soil'
tage to live in, and on an average I calculate the number of t
families at five each, consequently the 9s. or 10s. per week hai
per,
procure food, clothes, and firing for the whole family; and alth
bet,
it consists mostly of oat and barley meal, potatoes, milk, and
pael
rings, when they can be procured, as I of my own knowledge
that many of them don't taste butcher-meat once in six tou'he,
consequently to them it must make a very material difference "
ther they purchase their food at a high or low price. at
" Single men-servants are generally hired by the half-year'af,
stated hiring.days, held at some market-town twice in the Y„tift •
and are lodged and Victualled in their master's:house, conseVe,"..ife
when provisions are selling high, the farmers invariably conlo,
to do with as few servants of that description as possible, Parfrtheif
larly in the winter half-year, on account of the great cost
of to
victuals. And from the same cause more servants enslea/°""he.
procure half yearly engagements ; consequently, the supPllof
comes greater than the demand; hence, a fall of from 15 to .2
cent. frequently takes place.
"1. Rent of Rosetrees Farm previous to Candlemas, otl
4471. 10s., then let on a lease for nineteen years at 6041-,10.,
lately offered to the present oecupier at an advance of 1564
rice i •
but declined; but has since been let to another for thit 1108 ,-ant.
consequently this farm has been advanced about 80 Per -
since 1823.
eto
"2. Rent of Mossbound Hall Farm previous to
...en I„ 1
1816, 3501., and then let at 5261. 101., being an advance 50 per cent.
epos
" 3.
Rent of Moat Farm at this time 3351., and now let, t° tg)
at Candlemas, 1843, at 416/. being an advance of about
per cent.
a" 4. Rent of '
Linton Farm at this time 2861. now let, to -
on at Candlemas next, at 3531., including some ter
to
new building
" :
be erected by the tenant, being an advance of about 25 Per ceber
" 5. Speard Farm now let at 2451., avid lately let to 3n,,-Lefl'
tenant at 3061., to be entered on at Candlemas next, being
vance of about 25 per cent."
oft°
These (continued the Hon. Gentleman) were but specimens -
tender mercies of those who would seem, in the House c, aent
mons, to have caught up the mantle of Wilberforce, so el ;It bia
were they in their advocacy of the rights of the farmer, and
,a be'
claims to presteetion•—(Hear.) He had laid these statements g, •
fore the meeting, that they might see that the Captain °l'm alf - -
Peel's D.agoon Guards in the House of Commons, was it's tg, man who had ground down his tenants and lahc-h-earar.'' 1
the lowest possible condition.--(Laud cries of " Hear, -ed
Sir James Graham said to his tenants—" You have improved
Yetjar property by the expenditure of your capital upon it. h oil" •2i
skill and industry, and to the application of science, to w h'e '
the beam}, and fertility of my farms, and my gratitude is in Pro;or ,
tion ; persevere, and you shall find, that when I come to renew.
leases, lam not ungrateful nor forgetful." Such WS ; set.
guage adopted by the Secretary for the Home Department osde
previous to renewing the leases of any one of his tenants,
it,lices he.
inquiries with respect to the amount of capital, and 9 oral.
was ;possessed of sufficient for several years, he refused a rans 01
It was true, he gave small premiums, 1/. 10s. to this ploughni_ _ones
'2l. 10s. to the thatcher, and he brought his lady to grace the jut
but he got more than cent. per cent. upon these trifling pretty
a r!..
He increased the rents of his tenants when he came to arose
newal of their leases, and that was the manifestation of tny,, re-
tude of this ne plus ultra of Pro. Corn-law humanitY. [wog ift
gretted to find that Mr. Alderson was doing the same cumber*
Westmoreland which Sir James Graham was doing
it
the Peell
land. The handwriting was upon the wall, the spirit of._ich it bes- , •
were raised, and nothing could quench the extent to which
Cor°'
now been raised but the total and unqualified abolition old the„in that
laws.—(Cheers.) It was the desire of his friends around
Also that
the facts he had stated should go forth to the world ; and
those
although he did not wish publicly to state the names of authe?
whom he alluded, yet if any gentleman wished for full
truths
tic information, he should be most happy to prove theeero
his assertion upon the most authentic information.
—(Cohllowing ,re-
E. E. Rawt.sps, Esq.,of Liverpool, proposed the f
ot -
solution :
at the Page
" That the Delegates attending this Conference,
crisis of the Anti-Corn-law movement, would strongly rll.oity Of ,
to the various Associations throughout the country, the tfte
jly Confirm -
meeting throughout the ensuing week, to espeelat. e
Resolutions adopted at this Conference, pledging h or can'
to vote for any Members of Parliament who may not vote, an
&dates who will not rote, for the total and immetti te resat.