The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY lO, 184.

to the people of England for the state of the country.
But there was mention made in the speech of the state of
joint-stock banks. Let them recollect that was what pre-
vented the prosperity of trade.—( Hear, and laughter.) 'then
there were the improvements in machinery. These improve-
ments arc charged as the cause of the mischiefs of manufactur-
ing speculators. What wicked men they were to speculate.—
(Laughter.) But, there was not one word of landlords' specu-
lations. Now, why should they not get up parish committees
to ascertain whether the landlords had or had not too much
rent ? If it could be proved that the manufacturers had made
any profits at all, that was immediately produced as evidence to
show that their demands for more were unjust. Now from
what he had learned from those who had preceded him, he be-
lieved that a man had a right to all that he could honestly get;
and there was no reason to say to a man I should think
he had already made enough. If a contrary principle were
established, the time might come when the people might turn
round on the aristocracy and tell them that 2001. a year might
suffice for any man. But the depression of trade, it was said
was accompanied by an interruption of our relations with Ame-
rica; and the distress in the United States arose from the ope-
ration of causes similar to those which last produced our war.
That reminded him of the story of the sailor boy who, when
asked by his Captain what he was doing, replied, " no-
thing," and when another was asked what lie was doing, he
replied, " helping Jack, Sir."—( Lauisliter. 1 So it was said
that there was nothing doing in England, and in America they
were following our example. And that was given as a reason
why we were to continue to do nothing. It was added that the
diminution in the demand from the United States arose in some
degree from its monetary embarrassments. He ( Col. Thompson)
supposed our refusal to take their corn had nothing to do with
the matter. It was very certain, however, that a man who might
not be able to pay in money might be able to pay in articles of
subsistence; and our refusal to take the corn of the United
States, might have caused an unfortunate irritation on the
other side of the Atlantic, and only corresponding with our own.
They could not put an end to the distress in the United States
—they could not prevent the cessation of a steady demand from
the United States, nor prevent their monetary embarrass-
ments, under the existing state of our relations with that
country. But the Government might put an end, by wise legis-
lation, to the interruption of our trade with America. Again,
it was said that commercial distress and embarrassment were
inseparable from the nature of commercial transactions. That
was the assertion of Sir Robert Peel ; but he might as well
have told them that men died and worms eat them. That,
however, was no reason why their countryhouses should be
closed ; and why their prosperity should be allowed gradually
but certainly to decline, England, too, was a country in which
a large portion of the people were dependant upon the pros-
perity of trade for the means of subsistence; and yet it was
supposed that the interests of the working-classes could
be separated from the interests of manufacturers. That
was 'a fallacy into which he was sorry to say some of
the working men had fallen. He believed, however,
that few of their men really belonged to the working class ; he
believed they were a set of men hired to play the part of
mummers.—( Hear, hear.) At one meeting he had seen three
men and two boys whistling, who called themselves the repre-
sentatives of her Majesty's Pro •Corn-law opposition.
(Laughter. ) Yet these men called themselves the mouth-
pieces of the working classes ; while the real working men
came forward and ti ld them that what they wanted was a cheap
loaf.—( Hear, hear.) He had no doubt but there were indi-
vidual manufacturers who might have made an improper use
of the power whieh their position gave them over those who
served them ; but the good sense of the nation ought
not to allow some private and individual errors to be brought
forward as a ground for maligning a whole class.—
( Hear, hear.) Sir Robert Peel said, that "although very
great distress did most unquestionably exist, there was
no cause of despondency as to the future prosperity of our com-
mercial greatness." Only let things go on as they were, and
the Prime Minister would exhort them not to despond.—
( Hear, hear.) But what invitation was there to go on when
we had lost nine-tenths of the commerce of Europe, which
might have continued our own if legislation had not interfered
to prevent it ? The Corn-law was framed upon the principle
that commerce and trade were to be depressed, except in as far
as the landlords were to receive the benefit of them. When
the day name for trying the converse of that proposition, let
them not forget that that was the tendency of the language of
the Prime Minister in the day of his pride and prosperity. The,
agriculturists, according to Sir Robert Peel, were not opposed
to a modification of the Corn-laws. lie (Colonel Thompson)
knew some agriculturists who would not oppose a total repeal of
the Corn-laws.—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") There
were some long-headed men among the agriculturists,
and there were many of every other class. There were some
of them in that room—mere whom 'he (Colonel Thompson)
knew to be of capacious heads. There wet e also great terri-
torial possessors both in the House of Lords and in the House
of Commons, who had good sense enough to know that their
interests were bound up with the prosperity of commerce.
Honour to these men, and a speedy increase to their numbers.
—(Hear, hear.) But, according to Sir Robert Peel, "it was
impossible to satisfy the free traders." There were, perhaps,
in that assembly many gentlemen who had come to London
with exaggerated fears of the thieves of London, and who were
surprised to find that they escaped in their walks with their
pocket-handkerchiefs. But it would seem they should have
been satisfied with half the pocket-handkerchief. It was im-
possible to satisfy the free-traders who demanded the removal
of all protective duties—who asked to escape with whole
pocket-handkerchiefs. They should have surrendered the half
at least to their plunderers.--(Hear, hear.) There was,
however, another subject worthy of notice. It had never been
shown—it never could be shown—that whatever sum was
levied for the purpose of protection, as it was called, was not
twice taken from some one to be given to somebody else. And
the principle of the Corn-laws was to take a shilling out of the
pocket of the manufacturer to put a sixpence into that of the
landlord.—( Hear, hear.) Sir Robert Peel proceeded to say—
" There remains then the parties who advocate a fixed duty
upon the importation of foreign corn." Now of that class of
persons there were two descriptions—there were those who
wanted to stop there, and there were those who wanted not to
stop there. He apprehended that any one in that room who
advocated a fixed duty, advocated it with a view to a final
abolition ; and he should not, therefore, dwell long upon that
part of the subject. Sir Robert Peel, turning to those who
advocated a fixed duty, said—'• The same odium was surely to
be attached to a fixed duty as to a variable one." There was
odium, then, incurred by those who left the passenger without
the whole pocket-handkerchief in the practice of their par-
ticular vocation.—(Hear.) Sir Robert Peel went on to say—
" But the true test of the matter, was not the corn-
! paratire prices of food at home and abroad, but the compare-
; live amount of the enjoyments and comforts of life which each
individual labourer could command." Why, what was the
comparative amount of the comforts and enjoyments of life
possessed by the workmen of Bolton ?—(Hear, hear.) By
the men whom he had seen in that town thrusting their beads
into corners and dustholes, to find nothing more of softness
that a dusthole could bestow? The comparative amount of
the comforts and eejoyments of life, quotha ! Let each of
them go home to their villages and towns, and hunt up the
comparative amount of the comforts and enjoyments of lite, as
a proof that the Corn-laws ought not to be removed. In giving
extracts from the evidence of Dr. Bowring, the Minister
contended that the labourers of England were able to
command a larger share of the comforts and enjoyments of life
than the labourers of the Continent.—(Disapprobation.) Sup-
pose that they did—was that a reason why you should take
from them all you can squeeze ? Did Sir R. Peel suppose,
that, even if it were true, it was a reason for stopping the
progress of their ledgers, of their sales abroad, and preventing
the employment of their operatives at home ? Why, if that
were the case, they must shut up shop, or if not exactly that,
must carry on a little business, instead of a great one. Looking
at all this, did not this meeting see that if anything like pa-
triotism was left in the country, it must consist in ousting
these men from power.—( Tremendous cheering, renewed
and continued for several minutes.) But, thank God, they
had at last got them to a point. The bull was at last brought
to the ring, and they should now see what metal he was made
of. The question was brought to this :—Shall there be any
commerce allowed by the law of the country ? Shall all the
industry, all the wages, all the population that might by every
possibility be called forth and supported by commerce, be pro-
hibited and forbidden to exist ? There had been much said of
a work written on what was called " painless extinction," in
which a number of men had incurred perhaps justifiable
odium, from advocating this " painless extinction." He knew
not what it meant. It was something that ought not to be,
lie did not doubt; but what was it compared to this general
" painful extinction ?" Here was a population under the pro-
cess of being carried through all the various grades of misery
of which human nature was capable, the men of Bolton were
actually dying of the experiment of how much dirt a man was
capable of living on. He had seen a wretched bird perishing
from the ignorance of children, who did not know the quantity
of misery it was capable of supporting. Such was just
the case with the population tney saw perishing under
their eyes. When the gentleman whose evidence was unfairly
brought to establish a case against them, gave a true and honest
account of the state of the population of the borough he repre-
sented, "liar" was the genteelest term he was saddled with.
'this alone would show them the line every man had to march
through who took this view of the question. But six weeks
ago " liar" was the term put forth by the satellites of the Pre-
mier's press against the gentleman whom they had themselves
appointed to discharge an honourable ditty, and who had insisted
on doing it honestly and creditably ; and the same abuse must
be sustained by all men of the same opinions. But he goes on
to say, that " the argument founded on the prices of Mod at
home and abroad is fallacious." It was fallacious if it was put
in a fallacious manner ; but taking it to be correct, it did not
touch the fact that for every shilling given for food by the ope-
rative, you turn through his hand another shilling, which is
sent to the landlord in the shape of rent. And there was a
peat fallacy which had been often offered to the operatives,
and to which too many of them had submitted; they had been
told that the tax paid to the landlord was the security
for their wages ; now, if those could be weak enough to admit
that what was taken from them in the shape of a tax to the
landlord, a tax on the operative's food, is a part of the wages
of the operative—if some of them had been deluded to believe
this, it was for those who' had some leisure, and better
means of information, to disensi the foul fallacy, and disperse it
to the winds.—cCheers.)_ Well, then, what had they done
after all this? 'I his, they might suppose, must lead.to some-
thing. What is it? Nothing ! What is at best ? Why, a
partial reduction of the scale; but the sliding-scale, with
all its ingenious dishonesty, is preserved unharmed and un-
touched; something was done in the way of altering the degrees
of the scale, calculated, he observed, with peculiar ingenuity,
with reference to the present time, appearing to promise some
relief at the actual moment, but the evil principle was there
preserved. What must be the consequence? Why, that all
the agitation that might have been diminished now, will be in-
creased at a future time. Sir R. Peel appeared to think that
if he obtained temporary relief he might go en for a certain
time, and then, he presumed, -there would be a necessity for
more starving operatives at Bolton, more widows,
more
orphans, with none to care for them ; more men living, as he
had seen them, on pennyworths of mutton, and half-
pennyworths of, bread, and all the while these men
were looking on, riding in their coaches, whits
they were living on the life-blood and sinews of their fellow-
citizens; all this while, too, they were calling themselves, and
being called by others, what by courtesy they were termed in
the House of Legislature, and felt no shame in meeting the
eyes of their countrymen in the streets. There never was a
wore barefaced injustice, there never was a robbery so large
committed with such palpable evidence of falsehood and wrong.
—(Cheers.) To this demand for relief it is objected, that
" it seems as if it was a law of nature that there should be
these several periods of scarcity and abundance, succeeding
each other ; not single or alternate years, but certain periods."
They knew that this was true, they knew that thistles grew
in one place, and nettles in another, and, if great care was
not taken, sow-thistles would grow over all. But what is all
this but fudge, when compared with the vital interests at stake?
Why, they had always knovrnthat there must be periods of scarcity
and periods of abundance, and,assensible and honest men, they
ought to encourage commerce, in order to relieve those periods
of scarcity. But there was an objection to the occurrence of
periods of abundance ; they keep us at the scarcity point, that
we may be reduced to the necessity of giving a famine price,
in order that we may pay, as we do pay, a great portion of
the earnings of our honest industry to the landlords'
rent. But you were born, as our Amercan brethren
phrase it, to the possession of natural and water-born
privileges, you ought not to consent to a confiscation of a half
pp a, quarter of your means, to be put into the pockets of those
whq heal the Pgrftr tp neap the laws. Why, if any other set
of men were in the
Possession poy pr—if all the tuenufae-
turing operatives had the power of making "the' laws—could
they make any worse ?—(Cheers.) If the sailors of a Ship:-:
if the common soldiers of a regiment, had the power of law-

making, could they make such laws for reducing a great
country to a little one ?--( Loud cheers.) He says to that " a
fixed duty in abundant seasons would discourage their borne
agriculture by bringing down the price." What is done by
the home manufacturer ? He gets such prices as he ca,i,
and calculates his outlay accordingly, and if he is disappointed,
like an honest man he puts the disappointment in his pock. t.
He is never heard going to the landowner to make up the de.
ficiency. But the lindowners, it seems, must have two bags,
and those bags were the right and left pockets of the manutac-
turer—(Cheers)—and they dip their hands into them when-
ever they find it convenient. There were perhaps some altera-
tions in the plan ; as many, probably, as amounted to the dif-
ference between a silken halter and a hempen one ; but it was
a mere change in the mode of doing mischief. It was a great
comfort, no doubt, that there was some alteration in
the scale, and when they came to examine its amount, they
would find that there had been just enough agitation to
take
think that , and they would he encouraged
to
airdhotftlethe
moreevil
agitation would bring down the
whole.—(Cheers.) And if they wanted to hasten the re-
moval of the whole, they must threaten the enemy with
tthaat third
going farther than that. He should, himself, conscientiously
and with integrity advocate the taking a large retribution on
the landlords • how many would follow him depended on them,
not on himself. But he did utterly scout the charge of insin-
cerity and deceit, and what not, which was launched by
the Press against the advocates of the system of compensation,
He would not launch accusations of insincerity and deceit
against any man. Let them advocate the total repeal of the
Corn-laws. Though they.were told that such men were never
heard of—men who would accept of no compromise. Let us
tell them that we will compromise, but only to this, that a full
retribution be taken for us for the evils of the existing Corn-laws.
Twenty-four years' bounty on the importation of foreigu corn
would be a just and adequate compromise.—( Hear, hear.) Out
of that they had his full consent to compromise if they thought
it would aid the attainment of their object; but he would op-
pose all compromise out of any thing else. And, now, having
applial himself at some length to this subject, the meeting
might not be aware with what he was going to conclude. He
had first to read the resolutions adopted at a meeting of thedele-
gates which was held last night, and then to propose that they
should be adopted by the meeting. The delegates walked,
about 600 in number, to the gates of the House of Commons,
decent respectable men, he was sure not one of them had
picked a pocket. —( A laugh.) Only 100 obtained admittance—
( Several voices, " Not so many ")—the others were locked out.
It was within his memory, that the last time Sir F. Burdett
was elected, his Tory mob, horse and foot, went in procession
to the House of Commons, and when he (Colonel Thompson)
who was a Member of that House, arrived there, he found the
lobby filled with his infantry—( Hear, hear)—who wore his
colours in their hats. —(Hear, hear.) On that occasion the
House of Commons had no objection to allow a mob with elec.
tion colours to enter within its walls : but when 600 gentlemen
the representatives of the oppressed country went to the House
of Commons, they were treated uncourteously —they were
treated unhandsomely—(hear, hear)—indecency was thrust in
the face of each of them, and that House had declared itself to
be what they had found it, what they would find it, and what
it always would remain till they had altered it. Those who
had gained admission waited till the close of Sir R. Peel's
speech, and then adjourned to Brown's Coffee-house, and, after
serious deliberation, judged they ought to express their opinion
as follows:
" At an adjourned meeting of the Anti-Corn-law Deputies, held
at Brown's Hotel, Palace-yard, at half-past seven, this evening—.
Resolved unanimously—
" That, in the opinion of this meeting, the measure announced
by her Majesty's Government, on the subject of the Corn_laws, so
far from holding out the slightest prospect of any relief of the dig.
tress of the country, is an Insult to a patient and suffering people;
and the Deputies view such a proposal as an indication that the
landed aristocracy of this country are destitute of all sympathy for
the poor, and are resolved, if permitted by an outraged people, to
persist in a course of selfish policy, which will involve the destruc-
tion of every interest in the country.
" DUNCAN M`LAREN, Chairman."
" Palace-yard, London, Wednesday Night, Nine o'Clock.
" At a second Adjourned Meeting of the Members of Conference
at Brown's Hotel, at nine o'clock the Deputies took into con..
sideration the course which should be pursued in the present posi.
tion of the question, amt unanimously adopted the following Reso-
lutions, as expressive of their opinions, and agreed to recommend
them to the sanction of the General Conference :
" That the Deputies now present having further deliberately
considered the proposition of her Majesty's Government on the sub.
ject of the Corn laws, this evening announced in the House of Com.
mons, deem it their duty, on their own behalf, and in the name of
their constituents, to record their emphatic condemnation of it, and
their solemn pretest against it, as a total denial of the just demand
of the people of this country, and as evincing a determination to
perpetuate an oppressive and unrighteous system, together with all
the essential evils which have hitherto resulted from the operation
of the existing Corn-laws."
" That the Anti-Corn.law Associations throughout the United
Kingdom, and all other friends to an immediate and total aboli..
tion of all duties and restrictions upon the necessary food of the
people, are earnestly requested to take measures for expressing,
without delay, in every constitutional manner, their hostility to
the proposed measure of her Majesty's Government, and their
fixed and unalterable determination not to relax • in their exertions,
until a measure of complete justice is obtained ; and to consent to
no compromise of the sacred principle upon which the agitation for
the abolition of the Corn-laws is based."
" That to the end that every available support may be
given to Mr. Villiers in his intended resolution for the total
and immediate Repeal of the Corn and Provision laws, the
Deputies recommend that all petitions be forwarded lin-
mediately for presentation, and that any protests or
resolutions calculated to sustain the Deputation in the approaching
contests, may be forwarded to the office of the Metropolitan Anti-
Corn-law Association, 448, Strand, London."
" That it is desirable that these resolutions be immediately
published in the provincial papers, and that the Committees of
Anti-Corn-law Associations be requested to take measure; to effect
that object."
" Now," continued the Gallant Colonel, " pull Ministers, pull
people, for you are fairly pitted against each other, and he who
pulls best will carry it.--(Loud cheers.) I propose, that in
your capacity as the aggregate of Delegates, you adopt and
confirm the resolutions which have now been read to you."—
(The Gallant Colonel then sat down amidst great cheering.)
Amos STANSFIELD, Esq., on rising to second the resolu-
tion, said, he ought perhaps to apologise to the meeting for fol-
lowing Colonel Thompson.; hat, as a Delegate from the town of
Leeds—the capital of the clothing district of the West Riding,
and from which place he had that morning received a petition
signed by 42,900 persons—he would consider himself guilty of
a dereliction of duty if he did not, on the part of himself and
his colleague, put in his protest against the nefarious scheme
propounded last night by Sir Robert Peel.--( Great cheering.)
He did not say " by her Majesty's Government," for he could
not bear to attach the name of one whom they loved so much
to a scheme which they detested so much.—( Immense and
loud cheering.) The scheme was a nefarious one. injustice
was stamped on its brazen front. It claimed an exorbitant
price for the Property of the rich at the expense of the poor ;
it never hinted at securing a profit for any other class of the
community, or at providing a fair diy's wages for a fair day's
work. That the labourer was worthy of his hire, and had as
good a title to it as those idlers whose claims to their property
were based on artificial rights, seemed not to have entered into
the political creed of him who concocted that scheme.—( Hear,
hear.) One of two things was clear, either that the Prime
Minister did not understaud the dangermekposition of the
country, or that he was employed by a patty to strand the
vessel of the State. He would not, for the honour of huma-
nity, entertain the latter idea, but in all charity suppose that
he acted in ignorance, and really believed that over-production
was one of the great causes of distress. If he had attributed it
to overreaching on the part of those who were entrusted to
make the laws, he would have been nearer the mark. Over-
production ! It sickened one to think that a man invested
with such great power • should have such small ideas.
Did he wish to say that there was too much food and clothing
in the country, while thousands in the country were pining of
destitution ?—( Hear, hear.) The Poor-law Commissioners
told us that there were every year two millions of destitute
people is Ireland ; while numbers of poor. hislr wandered
through this land in tattered garments that seemed held to-
gether by a miracle ! Did he mean that these poor people had
plenty of clothing? Did he mean that the people of Paisley
had plenty of food, while 17,000 were existing on charity, and
7,000 of them had not a bed to lie on? Absurd ! He might
mean that there were more goods made than the people had
money to buy ; but who prevented them from purchasing ?
Why, those that prevented them from labouring—from using
their labour, which was the coils given the poor by Heaven.—
(Cheers.)
The same party prevented the merchant from ex-
changing his goods with the produce of America.—(Here
Mr. O'Connell entered, and was received with enthusiastic
cheering)—and the starving people of Paisley from purchasing
food by their labour. Who was that party ? The landlords
and their restrictive laws. Paradoxical as it might appear, he
(Mr. S.) would answer Sir Robert Peel, that the present
distress of the country was not caused by an over-pro-
duction of manufactured goods, but by an under-production
of agricultural produce.—( Hear, hear, and great cheering. )
It was a fact that as the harvests were good tha demand for
manufactured goods increased. In 1832 the good harvests
began, and the profits of the merchants and the labourers in-
creased. In 1833, 1834, 1835, 1836, the harvests were suc-
cessively good.—(Hear, Lear.) In 1836 the raw produce
was 200 millions, and the manufacturers were not able
to supply the domande that were made upon them, and
the machinery had to work all night. In 1837, 1838, 1839,
184.0, 1841, we had bad harvests; the raw produce amounted
to 150,000,000, the manufactured at 200,000,000. From these
and other facts the Hon. Gentleman inferred, that under-agri-
cultural production, not over-manufactured produce, was the
cause of the distress. Free trade, it was not perhaps ge-
nerally known, had been guaranteed to this country by
Magna Charta. Mr. 111‘Culloch had informed us that
one clause in that famous docUment stated that " all user-
chants shall have safe and sure conduct to come into Eng-
land, and depart from it, and to buy and sell without the
obstruction of evil tolls."—(Laughter and cheers.) This pri.
vilege was confirmed by several subsequent statutes, and Lord
Coke distinctly stated " That all monopolies concerning trade
and traffic are against the liberty and freedom granted by the
greater charter."—(Hear, hear.) True, the Lords and Com-
mons might takeaway those rights, and they had done so ; but
let them beware. The people of this country resembled those
poor animals who'were made experiments on in the receiver of
an air-pump. At the first turn of the handle they were in
blissful ignorance, but as the handle was successively turned they
moved about, and at last jumped up in agony, struggling for
life. That was the state of the people of this country. To be
or not to be, was now the question ; and if they wished to live,
they must redouble their exertions.—( Cheers. ) With these
observations, he seconded the motion of Col. Thompson.
Mr. O'CoossaeL, being now generally called
thaton roseo
amidst loud cheers, and said— Having understoodi
call that that has been
Chairman has assented to my obeying the ca
made upon me, I first beg togratitude for
express my
the kindness that dictated that call. My next duty
is to state to you that I come here for a dif-
ferent purpose from that which brought me here last.
On Tuesday I came here to listes—to.day I come to look at
you.--(Laughter and cheers. J I come in order to estimate
.•
on.
what manner of men you be.—(Cheers.) This is the question.
Englishmen, what kind of men are you ? Are you crouching ?
—(No, no.) Were you timid ?—( No, no.) Were you
ever deluded?—(Yes, and a laugh) Well, I have got an aye
at last. I said, on the last day, that you would get no relief,
and I was a jprophet. I said also that you would
get plenty of delusive words, and a scheme that might
deceive somebody. But I was no prophet in that. You have
got words, but no delusion. It is plain, Palpable, and distinct
You may singlthat " Britons never will be slaves," but you are
slaves if you submit to this.—( Great cheering.) My Heaven !
The question between you and the sordid aristocracy—for
sordid they are—is whether 'or not they have a right to tax
your bread. No figures of arithmetic should Jude& you. It
us a question of the loaf. It is a question whether one class of
Englishmen shall say to another, o you shan't eat your breakfast
until you have paid me for leave with some of the loaf." This is
the question. You have food enough, and money enough, but
you will dot be permitted to buy it, unless as the landed aris-
tocracy are pleased to consent. Englishmen, will you be
slaves ?—(Cries of " No," and cheers.) Let the echo of that
sound spread from John-o'. Groats to the Land's-end. Let it
be heard distinctly, emphatically. Let the cry be general and
simultaneous, and you need not cry agaiB.
(Cheers.) You are
in this happy situation, that you have but to speak emphatically
loud, and you need not act. Words are things now. If every
part of afflicted England—if every man whose bread is taxed—
if every man who is not able to give his children an additional
slice, 49.14§e the aristocracy step in and take away the hi I
gest: part •of the }oaf--i€ evety suds 1114 n wily iPealt lope y,
simniteneottsly, and -emphatically. 'bow can the aristocracy '

resist? They may make Peel the instrument of a party,
but what do we care for Peel or them ?—( Great cheering.)
He may dance Jim Crow, and think that he is stationary
while he is twirling rourd, but if the people are in earnest—and
was there ever a question which so called upon them to be
in earnest—it will be impossible for him and his party
to resist.—( Hear, hear.) Tree, he has the Parliament
tolerably well constructed for his purss, e. I have heard that
1,500,000/. were expended in bribery to get up the
the present I-arliament, and; I believe it i 3 a fact. For a
time I was staggered at the idea that such an amount should
have been laid out by a knot of men for the mere privilege of
trampling over Englishmen and Irishmen. I did not think that
the mere pleasure of dominion, and the desire of a share of
the loaves and the fishes would account for this outlay, but now
I perceive a better reason for it. They did not lay out a single
shilling of their money, which they did not advance as a
manufacturer does his capital. They laid out their
money, it is true, but then it was to make the
people pay three times as much.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
It was a mere pecuniary speculation.—( Cheers.) They were
great men to be sure.—(Cheers and laughter.) They were
descended from Noble Saxons and Normans, although, in
truth, some of them, like the Members of the Delegation, came
from the farm or the spinning jenny—( Great laughter)—and
such were the worst oppressors he knew.—( Vehement sheer-
ing.) They secured themselves from apprehension for the
agitation on this question by saying, that there would be meet-
ings at the Thatched Tavern, and at the Crown and Anchor;
but that they would be able to find at th' se meetings some
people who would not consent to take their breakfasts until
they got Universal Suffrage—(Cheers)—and ethers who would
bring the libel law into operation.—( Hear, hear.) There
never was so oligarchical a Parliament in England as the pre-
sent.—( Hear, hear.) There never were so many Lords and
sons of Lords in the House of Commons; and very odd things
were sometimes done by those sons of Lords.—(Cheers
and laughter.) People heard a good deal of talk
about horse-races aye, and there used to be a
favourite athletic amusement called boxing.—( A laugh.) But
that went out of fashion by their mosses and sells, and the
lords and sons of lords were now driving horse•races out of
fashion by the same tricks and crosses —( Cheers and laughter.)
But if there ever was a cross or sell, it was the Duke of Buck-
ingham hat done it.—(lmmense cheering and laughter.)
What did he do? Why, he resigned.--( Renewed cheers.)
Was it because the interests of agriculture were compro.
mised? No ; it was because he wanted to blind the
people.—(Cheers.) It was because he wanted to delude
them into a belief that something good was going to be done
for them at the expense of the landed monopolists.—( Hear.)
But what? Were the landlords not satisfied now with Peel's
plan ?—(Cheers, and a cry of " No.") Well, no; they were
not satisfied, and they could never be satisfied—they wanted
more, mere.—( Great cheering.) But of all the paltry dexte-
rities that ever were played, that resignation of the Duke of
Buckingham was the most paltry.—(Cheers.) And yet who
could tell what the Whigs would do ?—( Hear.) He was told
that they were to have a meeting to-day, and he wished to
know would they stand upon the fixed duty ? But was not
that a fixed injustice—a fixed oppression ?--( Hear, hear.) It
fully admitted the principle which that meeting contested.—
( Hear, hear.) They were assembled to contend for a Christian
prierciple—to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to solace
the sick.—( Cheers.) Suppose twenty of them were invited to
dine in the next room, and the dinner was paid for and served
up, and then the Duke of Buckingham was to come
in, and like the Doctor in Don Quixotte, flourish his wand
civet the viands, and say, " You shall not touch a morsel until
you give me one-half, and pay for the other, which is the entire
value of the whole."—(Cheers and laughter.) Should they
not say in reply, " Get out, you swindling rascal ; we have
paid for our meal, and you want to leave us but half and charge
double for the rest?"—( Cheers and laughter.) Now, what was the
principle they were contending for? It was to allow every man
to eat what he had money to pay for, and every other man to
bring him the food which he wanted to sell.—(Hear, hear. )
There is a man at Hamburgh who has corn, which he
wants some one to buy. Now, was there anything more
monstrous anything more wicked than to prevent
a hungry man from buying it ?—(Cheers. ) But this was
called protection.—(Cheers., " Oh, protect me," said the
poor man—" protect me," said the working man—" pro-
tect me," said the mother of a family—" protect me," said
the helpless orphan.—( Tremendous and repeated cheering. )
But to talk of protecting the aristocracy, who were clothed
in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously
every day !—( Renewed cheers.) But the poor working
man, whose daily wages were the only thing he had to
depend on, and which he laid out all upon bread, that was
the man who wanted protection, and ought to he protected,—
( Cheers.) The protection of the aristocracy was the protection
of the slave-owner against his unfortunate victim. It was to
pamper them up at the expense of the blood and bones of the
people.—( Hear.) That was monstrous—it cried to Heaven—
he trusted not for vengeance, but for mercy and protection.—
(Hear.) It was an oppression and injustice unparalleled in
the history of England. In the time of their ancestors there
had been mosiopolies. But when Charles granted monopolies,
on almost everything else, he never dared to give a monopoly
of food.—(Cheers.) He never dared to go to that, although
his oppressions at length goaded his people to madness until
they bedewed the scaffold with the blood of the unfortunate
monarch.—( Hear, hear.) Oh, God forbid that such—but
no, no; there is no chance of that ! She
is safe by the constitution and the affection of the
people.—( Tremendous cheering.) The death of Charles was
tilthy—it was crime—it was madness.—(Hear, hear.) But it
was occasioned by his cruel persistence in commercial mono-
poly. —(Hear, hear.) Still Charles never touched the bread
of the people.—( Hear, hear, hear.) That was reserved
for this liberal and enlightened age, this Christian
age. There were eight-and-twenty Bishops on the
benches of the House of Lords ; and when Christian parties
throughout the land assembled in hundred and thousands, their
remonstrances against this unchristian oppression were treated
with scorn, and threatened with a vast deal of punishment.—
( Hear, hear.) He exhorted the meeting not to desist for a
moment. Every moment's rest they gave their oppres-
sors, the worse they would become.—( Hear, hear.) When an
attempt was made by one of their Kings to set the wishes of the
people at defiance, they turned the blockheadoff. —( Laughter. )
That was an example of the folly and danger of insulting
the people of England, Some of our nobility might like
foreign air too.—(Loud laughter) Peel's speech asserted
the principle of that robbery called protection.—(Hear, hear. )
But they were not assembled to contest shillings, but princi-
ples. If Peel's plan were ten times more a mitigation than it
was (and it was no mitigation at all) still it
it could only be said that Peel was afraid of the people, and
and that when he had cajoled them to disperse, he would come
in bye-and-bye for something more. —( Hear, hear.) He
(Peel) had said that the aristocracy had a right to tax the
people's bread. Did they consent to that?—(No, no.) If
not, what then would they do ?—( Loud and repeated cries of
" agitate, agitate," during which Mr. O'Connell bowed gravely,
which swas followed by great laughter, cheers, and cries
of "Title a lesson from.) Dan.") In speaking upon that sub-
ject two days ago, he (Mr. O'Connell) had said, in the words
of a common adage, " that half a loaf was better than no
bread ;" it was understood that he was willing to take less
than the whole principle. He meant no such thing.
He meant that if they granted him the principle,
he would endeavour to work it out, but he could do nothing
with them, or take nothing whilst they maintained Peel's prin-
ciple, that they had a right to tax the food of the people
( Cheers.) He would say at the meeting said, "agitate."
The sound was familiar to him, and he knew the use
of it before now.— ( Cheers and laughter.) Let their
be a day appointed for meeting in every locality, and let pe-
titions be presented from all, asserting the principle that no
class has a right to tax the others for its own benefit. It need.
he in no more than five lines—only they should take care to
have plenty of signatures at the tail.--(Cheers and laughter. )
Let no man tell him (Mr. O'Connell) that he was in too
humble a sphere to be able to do good. There was not in his
(Mr. O'Connell's) own position in society a more humble in-
dividual than himself, but he had done some good to the public
cause, and to the principle of civil and religious liberty by
forgetting his own humility. By constantly persevering
in the agitation for what was tight, he had at
length carried his purpose. He did not presume to sot himself
up as an example to others. They would pardon him, he
trusted, for making even a passing allusion to himself, but he
thought it right to throw out the hint for the purpose of en-
couraging others who had higher claims on the people than he,
to persevere in their struggle for their rights.—( Cheers.) Let
no day pass without their doing something in the cause in
which they were at present engaged. It was a question of
life and death, and involved the first of all principles. In an-
cient times there were in this country several classes of society.
There were the church and the nobility, the gentry and the
serfs. The people had succeeded in destroying that classifica-
tion of society. They had broken through their bondage.
There wore no longer legal serfs. But why should he
say there were not legal serfs if there were some
individuals who, by the authority of the law, were deprived
of the food which they ought to have, The masters
of the serfs of old, at least, allowed them to have plenty
of food. They took, indeed, all their labour from their serfs,
but did not the monopolists of the present day also take their
labour from the operatives. 'Was not their distress ad-
mitted to be overwhelming:and universal. That which was
stated on one side of the House was admitted on the other.
That which his admirable friend, Mr. Cobden—(Cheers)—he
who belonged to ne party, but entirely to the people—asserted
on one side was re-echoed from the other side of the House.
Could net Mr. Beckett, from Leeds, bear testimony to the
desolating nature of the public distress. Could anything be
more clear.); admitted than that the present distress was over-
whelming and universal in the manufacturing district!.
Where was the Goshen—the green spot—the oasis in the
desert of English legislation ? They could not point to
-him one
district in which the operatives were prosperous and
earned a
sufficiency.of wages. No. It was, on the contrary, one sandy
desert of desolation. 'that fact was undoubted. It
was the effect of the way in which the value of their
produce was diminished—of the lessening of their menu-
factures—the stopping of their factories. They were
every day growing in that respect poorer and poorer ; and their
desolation would soon be complete. There was a ludicrous
story of a Frenchman, who endeavoured to bring his horse to
live without food, and when he had almost succeeded the ani-
mal died. That was something like the experiment at present
sought to be tried on the people of England by the aristocracy.
They were seeing how long the people could go without
food, or live • upon alms—those people who would
indignantly scorn alms if they got an opportunity of earning
wages. Did the statesman who had been selected by the aris-
tocracy at the present moment tell them that he had any relief
to give them ? Did he say that he would stop the progress of
starvation? No. Ile said no such thing, and if he did, they
would not believe him.—..(Great cheering and laughter.)
He pretended to be a great doctor. Some months
ago he gave himself out as, what the Indians cited
a medicine-man—(laughter)—and he said if he had not his fee,
he would not prescribe. But now he had got his paltry fee—
he had been regularly called in by the pampered aristocracy and what opinion had he to publish—what remedy to pre-;
scribe ? Why none whatever. Well, then, he (Mr. O'Con-
nell)
would addle 33 them in the language which he had often
addressed to his own immediate countrymen—
" Hereditary bondsmen, kow ye not,
Who would be free, theavelves must strike the blow."
—(Rapturous and protracted cheering.) Let them depend on
themselves. Let them agitate—agitate—agitate.—(Cheers.)
They were irresistible when they were combined. He (Mr.
O'Connell) was not the man to introduce politics into the pre-
sent subject. It was what Peel himself said was too awful and
important a subject to be mixed up with any partisan feel-
ings. He (Mr. O'Connell) did not mean to conceal his
own politics. He did not mean to conceal that he was a thorough
Radical. He considered such to be the best in the various
creeds of politics. The conduct of the others was a proof of
the vice of class-legislation. He submitted to those who
differed from him in politics, whether they believed if all the
people were represented in Parliament, would they have any
Minister daring to come forward to say that the dis-
tress of the people was overwhelming and universal,
and yet admitting that he had no remedy to offer ?
Was that distress brought on by the people? No. It was not
pretended that any laziness had come over the people ; but it
was admitted that the governing powers were the cause of the
distress—the governing powers who crushed the people. It was
also admitted that no class of men in the community ever com-
ported themselves with more tranquillity, more decorum and
orderly obedience to the laws than did the operatives of this
country. What crime then had Englishmen been guilty of
that they should be sentenced to starvation ?—( Hear, hear.)
The rulers of the land hard, in a great measure, abolished the
punishnsent of death m detail, and they did well. But
now they sought to inflict that punishment by wholesale.
The :people of England were now engaged in a glorious

Whenever the average price of Barley, made up and published
in the manner required by Law, shall be, for every Quarter,
Under 265. the Duly shall he, for every Quarter ...... 0 11 0
265. and under 275. ...................... . ................... 0 10 0
275. and under 30s
30s. and under 31s.
0 8 0
31s. and under 32s
0 7 0
325. and under 335. ................. ........ 0 6 0
335. and under 345. . ...
.................. 0 5 0
345. and under 359
......... 0 4 0
355. and under 36.
........•. ... 0 3 0
365. and under 37s
..••• ..
375. and upwards
0
OATS. 1 0
Whenever the Average price of Oats, made up and published
in the manner required by Law, shall be, for every Quarter,
Under 193. the Duty shall be for every Quarter
19s. and under 20s .............................. 0 7 0
20s. and under 23s ..................
235. and under 24s
0 5 0
245. and under 25s
0
255. and under 26s
0 4
0 3 0
265. and under 27s
0 2 0
275. and upwards
0 1 0
RYE, PEASE, AND BEANS.
Whenever the Average price of Rye, or of Pease, or of Beans,
made up and published in the manner required by Law, shall
be, for every Quarter,
Under 30s. the Duty shall be, for every Quarter
30s. and under 33s
335. and under 34s 0 9 6
345. and under 35s
355. and under 365.
365. and under 375.
0 6 6
375. and under 38s.
38s. and under 395.
395. and under 40s.
. ...... . 0 3 6
40s. and under 413.
415. and under 425.
425. and upwards .......................................... 0 1 0
WHEAT, MEAL, AND FLOUR:-
For every barrel, being one hundred and ninety-six pounds --
A duty equal in amount to the duty payable on thirty-eight'
and a half gallons of Wheat.
OATMEAL :-
For every quantity of one hundred and eighty-one pounds and
a half; a Duty equal in amount to the Duty payable on a
quarter of Oats.
31AIZE OR INDIAN CORN, BUCK WHEAT, BEAR
OR BIGG :-
For every quarter ; a Duty equal in amount to the Duty pay-
able on a quarter of Barley.
2. That it is expedient to amend the Laws relating to the
mode of taking and determining the Average Prices of Corr.

GREAI NORTH OF ENGLAND RAILWAY.
Traffic returns for the week, ending Feb. 5, 1842:
Passengers
Merchandise

Darlington, Feb. 9.

£1,241 8 1
W. O'BRIEN, Secretar

MANCHESTER STOCK EXCHANGE, FEB. 9 --Our market
to-day is rather gloomy; and though few transactions have
taken place, prices continue much the same. Business has
been done in Bristol and Exeter, at 36 ; and District Bank,
104 ; Manchester and Leeds are rather more freely offered, and
may be quoted at 755, to 76.
ANTI-SLAVERY.—We have just received a communication from France, informing us that the public
meeting is postponed till the 7th of March next, in order to
give more time to receive the replies of the various friends that
have been invited to attend it.—Anti- Slavery Paper.
In the House of Commons last night the Bill for
the Better Regulation of Railways was read a first time, and
ordered to be read a second time on Monday the 21st Feb.
The General Steam Navigation Company's vessel
the Ocean, John Fife, from Rotterdam, arrived off the Cus-
tom-house at lialf•past ten this morning, with the Dutch mail.
Sir Robert Peel list night :commenced addressing
the House at a quarter after five o'clock, and finished his
Speech at twelve minutes before eight.