The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-23 00:00:00

MEETING OVVERCHANTS

AND

MANUFACTURERS.

(BY EXPRESS.)

£4,000 RAISED TO START THE GREAT
£50,000 FUND.

MANCHESTER, TUESDAY EVENING.
This morning a great public meeting of the mer-
chants, spinners, manufacturers, machine-makers, and
other capitalists, and employers of workmen in Lan-
cashire and Cheshire, was held at the Town-hall, in
this place, to consider the steps to be adopted in con-
sequence of the ruinous effects produced on trade by
the operation of the Corn-laws, and our restrictive
commercial policy. The meeting was convened by a
circular emanating from the Council of the Anti-Corn-
law League, and was most respectably attended. An
idea of the spirit and determination which pervaded
the meeting, as well as of the respectability of the
persons present, may be drawn from the concluding
portion of our report, by which it will be seen that
more than 3,7001. was subscribed on the spur of the
oro
moment, towards the Great League Fund.
Amongst those present, we noticed—Richard Cob-
den, Esq.,
Kershaw,ES ci"Manchester)M.P. ;;
Robert Hyde Greg, Esq., (late M.P., for Manchester) ;
IIE
Esq.,;
Joseph
sep(hMßayo Brother ton,
Esq.,
John Bright, Esq., of Rochdale ; Henry Ashworth,
Esq., of Turton, near Bolton ; Benjamin Pearson,
Esq. ; Thomas Bayley, jun., Esq. ; George Wilson,
Esq. ; Sir Thomas Potter ' • C. J. S. Walker, Esq. ;
Elkanah Armitage, Esq.; Samuel Lees, Esq.; Thos.
Harbottle, Esq. ; Thomas Ashton, Esq., of Hyde ;
John Herford, Esq. ; John Brooks, Esq' ; William
Evans, Esq. ; William Lockett, Esq., (Boron ghreeve of
Salford) ; Robert Munn, Esq., Bacup ; Edmund
Grundy, Esq., Bury; G. Holgate, Esq., Barnley ;
E. Benson, Esq., Staleybridge • Alderman Hollins,
Stockport ; Alfred Orrell, Esq., (Mayor of Stockport);
Wm. Harvey, Esq., Salford ; Edmund Ashworth, Esq.
of Bolton; George Foster, Esq., of Sabden ; Abel
Buckley, Esq., of Ashton ; Thomas Thomason, Esq., of
Bolton ; F. Boult, Esq., Liverpool ; J. Chadwick, Esq.,
Eccles ; and a great many other leading men in this
district—in all about 500. It was one of the most
wealthy and influentill_ meetings ever held here.
ROBERT HYDE GlntG, Esq., presided.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said
he should have been happy if the worthy Mayor had
taken the Chair, but there seemed to be some little
objection to that; and if his services could be of any
use in repealing these obnoxious laws—the Corn-
laws—he should always come forward with the great-
est pleasure.—(Applause.) The origin of the meeting
was this : the Council of the National Anti. Corn-
law League had addressed a circular to the merchants,
spinners, manufacturers, machine-makers, capitalists,
and other employers of workmen in Lancashire and
Cheshire, which had already appeared in the papers.
(Mr. Greg then read some part of the circular.)
The manufacturers and merchants to whom it had
been addressed were so thoroughly convinced of the
truth of its statements, and so impressed with the
impending ruin therein alluded to, in the destruction
of the value of their fixed capital, that they
had thought it right to address to other
merchants, manufacturers, and spinners, a strong
reeemmendation, signed by between 50 and 60 of the
principal firms in Manchester and the neighbourhood
to attend the present meeting. It was now about
twelve months since meetings of almost all the trades
in the kingdom, in their respective districts, took
place—and, amongst others, a great meeting of the
cc trade in this district—to consider the state of
the trade, its prospects for the future, and the causes
which had produced the very lamentable state of
things witnessed during that year. Now, after a
lapse of twelve months, he would ask, had their pros.
pects in any way mended, was their condition in any
respect better than then ? On the contrary, had they
not all witnessed a year of unparalleled disasters and
losses in their respective trades ?—(Hear, hear.)
There had lately appeared a Report from the Factory
Inspectors, who had inspected this district, and
the neighbouring district of Yorkshire. He was
unable to detail the exact particulars of that Re-
port, but the substance was, that 10 per cent.
of all the cotton mills in this part of Lancashire and
Yorkshire were standing—(Hear, hear)—that 12 per
cent. of all the woollen mills in this part of Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire were standing—(Hear, hear)
—and that of the 90 per cent. in one case, and of the
per cent. in the other of the mills that were in
operation, 25 per cent., or one-fourth, were going on
short time.—(Hear, hear.) All knew what a dis-
astrous state of trade that implied —the absolute
stoppage of 10 per cent. of all the mills, and one-
fourth of the remainder working short time. To ma-
nufacturers the fact spoke for itself, and he need not
say more than that such was the fact.--(llear, hear.)
Leoking at their own town, the, had seen the dis-
astrous fall of the Banlc of Manchester, respecting
he,would make
no other remark than this, that
a capital of about 800,0001. had been lost in the course
of about two years, Principally in one year, almost
entirely owing to the disastrous state of trade, and
through trusting -manufacturers and mill-owners who
had not be able to redeem the engagements into which
they had entered._(Hear, hear.) Then look at the
state of the Athenaeum, that useful institution, which
was likely to be sold up to pay the debts upon it. The
Zoological Gardens, also, that innocent source of
amusement for the population of this town, were al-
up ; and it was proposed to convert them
ready broken
into a cemetery. The Assembly Rooms were also
closed for the season, owing to the state of spirits and
funds amongst the better part of the population. At
Bolton, the public news-room was closed for want of
sufficient funds to keep it open. At Oldham, our im-
mediate neighbours, 300 rate-payers had been sum-
moned at the last petty sessions for non-payment of
rates. At Stockport, there were more than 2,000
houses, and the population was actually,less than it
had been two or three years ago by 5,000 persons,
who had .either died, or emigrated, or been
sent home to their parishes.—(Hear, hear, hear.)
Even since that report was made, there had been
great failures, and throwing out 500 to 1,000 more of
the poor population ; and a large number of those who
had been emplyed there were now subsisting on
charity, on the funds raised by the Queen's letter, col-
lected principally in the churches of the United King-
dom. At Paisley there had been 13,000 additional
claimants on the public charity in the last month ;
and a public meeting of the county of Renfrew bad
been held to call upon Government for additional sub-
scriptions. At Liverpool, 600 shipwrights were with-
out employment, and they were beginning to drive
out by violence those who did not belong to the town,
or had not been brought up to the trade. He was not
sorry, upon the whole, that the distress had extended
to other interests, and this called forth a little sympa-
thy, which to this time they had very scantily be-
stowed.—(Applause.) The recent riots in this town
and neighbourhood were the result of deep and wide-
spread discontent, arising out of destitution. The state
of the revenue, also, marked the deep and lamentable
state of distress now existing. Within the last
eight months there had been a falling off, he under-
stood, in the Custom-house returns, of no less than
10 per cent. in the value of every one of our exports.
It was not merely that there was too much cotton
produced, but too much of every thing; all trades
were in the same state, and all from the same cause—
the general depression of the country, caused by one
common mischief. Probably the quantity exported
would be fully equal to that of former occasions, but
there was a diminution of 10 per cent. on the value.
—(Cheers.) We increased our exports in vain ; if
we doubled the amount, we received only the same
value for them. We had gone on for the last six, ten,
fifteen, or twenty years,but particularly for the last
six years, with a constant and rapid increase of ex-
ports ; but a slow increase, or no increase at all, and.
in this case, an actual diminution in the value of
those exports. And he had no hesitation in saying,
that if our exports were doubled, or increased to the
amount of
fifty or a hundred millions, the laws
of the country remaining as they were now,
those 50 or 100 millions would still be represented by
the same value as now. This consideration ought
never to be lost sight of,—(Applause.) Then look at
the calamitous effect of the French tariff; but as it
arose out of our political, and not our commercial
policy, he would make no further allusion to it, than
to observe that our with the Syrian business
dl.
was the cause meddling
of it, and that it was a very severe blow
to our trading interests. German tariff, which
by
The
by its heavy
imposts neon cotton, and especially upon
woollen warps, had destroyedthe only br
anch
of almost
of our woolle
exports to that country
that remained,
must be traced
toAmerica
the case commercial policy. With re-
specte case was very strong their
: re-
cent tariff, so
hos,eprejudicial to their own interests, and
especially
to ours, was entirely traceable to our
sliding.scale.—(G 'reat applause.) f 1 ac i even the Bs.
fixed duty of the late Government been passed, it
would not Only
bhave saved
us from the late
tariff in America y securing the interests of the
western and southern States, and •
causing them to
outvote the measure in
re in the House of Representatives;
but it would have saved infinite trouble here and in-
finite mischief iAmerica. At that period, when the
debts of America
they had an overwhelming
to this country were enormous and
ainount of agriculTural
produce to pay those debts with, had we taken what
they were willing t 0 give, they would have paid those
debts, we'should]
have saved them from a host of pe-
cuniary difficulties, and from repudiating those debts
which they NN •
ere anxious, had they had the ability, to
pay ; and trade the • - in
consequence, we should have had, in
consequence, in this country, mie-hf have keptoff that
manufacturing depression, hicci had w
sent so many
into the Gazette,
and been the original cause of the
melancholy and disgraceful riots in this part of the
country.—(Applause.) Ile distinctly charged all

those evils on that part of the Corn-laws—the sliding
scale.—(Great applause.) He had no hesita-
tion in saying that a fixed duty would have
saved us from all the trouble here and depression
there, which had tended to our mutual mischief and
destruction. The house of Messrs. Lezardy and Co.,
of New Orleans, in their circular, expressed a strong
opinion that the passing of the new American tariff
and the new Corn Bill of England would operate in-
juriously to the interests of their respective countries.
—(Hear, hear.) He had no hesitation in saying to
the farmers and landlords, that the prevailing depres-
sion in the grain market was owing to the sliding
scale ; for if corn were admitted free, or at a moderate,
or even a high fixed duty, they would not suffer the
evil now arising from an enormous quantity of agri-
cultural produce being poured into the market just at
the time of harvest—an evil, monstrous in itself,
which necessarily accompanied the sliding scale, and
which no modification of the sliding scale could pre-
vent.—(Hear, hear.) The permanent settlement
of this corn question was essentially necessary for
the agricultural interest ; for there could be
no leasing of farms, no outlay of capital, no transac-
tions whatever connected with the value of land, until
it was permanently settled.—(Applause.) He was
satified that as the matter now stood—and he believed
that everyone in the kingdom, manufacturer, mer-
chant, and farmer, was coming gradually to that con-
viction—there would be no permanent settlement of
this question except on the basis of justice and free
trade.—(Applause.) A free importation of the agri-
cultural produce of foreign countries would not only
benefit the manufacturer and merchant, and enable
them the better to purchase the agricultural produce
of this country, but it would form the only stimulus
which could enable them to compete with foreign
countries.—(Applause.) He was most happy to hear
that peace had been concluded with China.—(Ap-
plause.) The word peace must sound sweetly in
every ear, and doubly so in the ears of those who
believed it would give them an improving trade, and
relieve them in any degree from their present difficul-
ties. But let them not be led away by the delusion
that opening the empire of China to our manufac-
tures and produce would give the relief we required.
It would give no effectual relief connected with our
present system of Corn-laws.—(Applause.) We
might import ten times the quantity of silk that we
did, and silk gowns might become as cheap as cotton
ones, but in what respect would that benefit us ?
The possession of a silk gown would not make a
cottager a bit happier or better fed. It would be an
amazing benefit to us if we could exchange the
surplus of the silk, china, or tea, which we brought
from China, and which we could not consume our-
selves, for the food of other countries. That would
be an amazing boon ta this country ; the population
would be fed, and then the cottager's wife would be
able to buy her silk gown and enjoy it, and their
tea, sugar, and other luxuries would be a blessing to
them.— (Cheers.) But, so long as they had not
food enough, no accumulation of luxuries in this coun-
try would benefit the great mass of the people.—
(Hear.) That was a most important point, and
formed the very basis of the question of the restrictive
laws on food. You could not benefit the mass of the
people without increasing the quantity of their food.
China was to pay us 21,000,000 of dollars for the ex-
penses of the war. Suppose that sum put into the
pockets of the labouring classes, they would go and
buy food with it. The higher and middle classes, and
their numerous servants and dependents, would want
the same quantity of food, and would get it. Thus
the two parties would merely bid against one an-
other, and raise the price of food ; but not a single man
in the kingdom would have a loaf more to put into
his belly.—(Hear, hear.) If all the wealth of China
were imported into this country, the quantity of food
being still limited, it would not benefit the commu-
nity, but the price of food would rise, and go into
the pockets of the landlords.—(Hear, hear.) You
cannot benefit the people but by increasing the quan-
tity of foot. Even charity itself in giving a loaf to
a starving man, took that food from some other man
unless it came from abroad.—(Cheers.) The poor-
rates themselves could not benefit the condition of the
poor ; it was merely taking out of the general stock
to feed a certain class of the poor ; and in doing so,
making those who were poor before poorer still, and
making them paupers.—(Cheers.) To increase the
quantity of the necessaries of life 'was the first step to
benefit the country, and above all the manufacturing
interest ; therefore let no one suppose that the opening
of the trade with China warranted them in slackening
their efforts for procuring an alteration in the Corn-
laws. The sliding scale was the juggling fiend which
robbed them of the reward of their industry. Having
struck one blow, let them strike another which should
be effectual. Let them direct their concentrated ef-
forts, with increased means, to the destruction of that
juggling fiend, the sliding-scale.—(Loud cheering.)
Mr. B. PEARSON moved the first resolution :
" That in order to furnish employment for the large
number of operatives now unemployed, to provide
subsistence for our increasing population, to prevent
a still further reduction in the wages of labourers, to
put a stop to the ruinous depreciation in the value of
all invested manufacturing property, and to restore
prosperity to all branches of industry in the country
—this meeting affirms that it is absolutely necessary
to repeal the Corn and Provision-laws—(Applause)—
and to abolish all restrictions which prevent the per-
fect freedom of commerce."—(Loud applause.) Mr.
James Deacon Hume had said, " If ever the day
shall arrive when we shall be put to a severe trial as
to our manufacturing power, I can hardly doubt that
the prosperty of this country will recede much faster
than it has gone forward.'—(Hear, hear.) What
they now saw approached to a realisation of these fore-
bodings. There could be no wonder at the want of em-
ployment; though our exports had increased, our home
trade had been much depressed ; and with an in-
creasing population we wanted not a stationary, but
an increasing, trade—and surely the world was large
enough to furnish it.—(Applause.) It seemed the
most strange thing in the history of the world, that
the most powerful nation, both in agriculture and
manufactures—the most wealthy nation in the world
—should be crying out, "We are on the verge of
ruin."—(Hear, hear.) Was this the result of some
dispensation—some calamity worse than those of
Egypt—some direful visitation of the hand of God
on account of our peculiar offences as a nation ? Had
all possible efforts been made by the Government to
relieve the wants of the people ? No. The people
were denied, by the most unjust, iniquitous, and ab-
surd law ever passed—the right of supplying them-
selves with what their gracious heavenly Father had
provided.—(Loud cheers.) No one would doubt
that an alteration in our tariff, and the repeal
of the Corn-laws, would bring increased pros-
perity to the manufacturing districts. The artisans
would obtain employment. All they asked was to
be let alone—" Give us no protection, but don't deny
us the right of purchasing food with the labour of our
hands." While no one doubted the immediate effect
which the removal of restrictions would have on our
commerce, many entertained serious fears as to its
effect on the home market. It had been asked, " Had
the manufacturing interest been most prosperous
when we have imported the least or the greatest
quantity of foreign food ?" The obvious answer was.

when we imported the least quantity; but could any
one be so blind as not to see that we imported little
foreign food because it was cheap at home, and a
larger quantity when it was dearer at home. So that
the most decided supporters of the Corn-laws came to
the same conclusion as them, that the manufacturing
interest had been most prosperous when food was
lowest.—(Hear.) Now Mr. J. D. Hume, who was
admitted by Sir Robert Peel to be a very
high authority, had said—" The trade of farm-

ink, as a trade, is invulnerable by competition
in an importing country." The average quantity of
land in England, and of agriculture, being equal to that
of other countries, it was perfectly clear the farmer
had all the advantage of the expense of importing
foreign food ; and if there were not a farthing paid on
the importation, farming as a trade in this country
would be invulnerable by competition, because the
country did not furnish a sufficient quantity of food
for the inhabitants. No. They very shrewdly
observed—" If it is not a trade, what is it ? is
it an office ?" That was solely the point between
them and the landowners, who had used farming,
not merely as an office for the collection of their rents,
but for the increase of their political power, as witness
the Chandos clause in the Reform Bill.—(Applause.)
Farming was a trade ; and as rent was not a necessary
ingredient in the cultivation of the soil, no foreign
imports could ever prevent the land from being cul-
tivated. And if the land was cultivated, the
people would be employed, and if the people were
employed, we should not lose the home market—no
foreign importation could ever deprive us of it, be-
cause we could always raise food more advantage-
ously than they could in other countries.—(Applause.)
Nothing could deprive us of the home market but the
folly of the landowners; they could reduce the popu-
lation to such a point of poverty that it would be im-
possible for them to pay anything like a remunerating
price. Supposing the people of Manchester were
well employed, at such wages as they had had, and
the population of the kingdom was increasing at the
rate of a thousand a day, how great would be their
consumption of food ! Could they not consume twice
the quantity of milk they now used ? and we could
not import milk. Potatoes, also, could not be im-

ported at their present price of 3/. per load. Suppose
that we were permitted to import without restriction,
and that we imported ten millions worth of corn, we
should have to raise exports to the amount often millions
more,than we had yet done. Ten millions was but 1-24th
part or the total value of the produce of Great Britain

and Ireland, taking wheat at 40s. per quarter; and if
the people could consume a twenty-fourth part more
than they now did, not one acic would be thrown out
of cultivation.—(Hear.) It was plain that with suffi-
cient employment, the condition of the people would
be so much improved, that the farmers would have
customers such as they had never had before i and the