The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-12-17 00:00:00

THE CORN LAWS.

(From the Lancaster Gazette.)
The Anti-Corn-law agitators are beginning to take the
field for-another session, and we suppose the old battle is to
be fought over again once more. After the signal drubbing
the assailants received last year, this vigorous show of fight
is somewhat remarkable; but we suppose all that is intended
is simply to keep the thing alive. '.!:ecitig how decidedly par-
liament has declared against the repeal of the present Corn-
we are at a loss to find out any honest purpose in the
renewal of a contest so hopelesi. The prospect of achieving
their object through the agency of any responsible power is
all but desperate—then we must conclude that these persons
are trusting for the final success of their cause to some irre-
sponsible ally—trying their hand at a little " pressure from
without ?" If we may judav from the publications put forth
occasionally by the agitators, it is clear that their sole appeal
is to the ignorance and excited passions of the canaille. Ex.
yr.—The other day a number of the accredited organ of the
party fell into our hands, and a glance informed us that the
whole of the paper was given up to matters intended to bear
against the corn-laws. In one column, however, we thought
we saw something like relief from the general monotony, in-
asmuch as the subject matter on which the eye alighted, was
the record of some one or more miserable cases of child de-
sertion. The idea of a possible connexion between child-
dropping and the corn-laws, was not to be entertained for
one moment ; but urged by a curiosity to know whether the
writer really meditated an attack upon the act of parliament,
through so odd a channel, we read on; and, as Ne live, it
wls so, that the cruel abandonment of two helpless babes,
btheir unnatural mothers, was tortured by this anti-corn-
law casuist, into a deadly charge against the laws passed for
the protection of the British farmer ! The argument—if we
may so degrade the term—the argument was, that if there
were no corn-law, bread would be cheaper—ergo, the babes
would not have been deserted, because the impoverished
parents would have had means of providing food for them.
Now, we can have no hesitation in saying that a cause which
relies for success upon such aids as this, must be a very bad
one indeed. It is evident that such garbage can only be
meant for the recreation of the most stupid of the human
species, and that the' writer has given up all idea of making
an impression upon the intelligent classes; wherefore we
conclude that the only purpose of the agitators is to enlist
the mob on their side, and trust to the chapter of accidents
for the rest. With this view it is, that besides a constant
out-pouring of letter-press garbage, missionaries of mischief
are hired to travel about the country, for the propagation of
anti-corn-law doctrines ; but it gives us pleasure to find that
however the scribble may take, the preachments are not suc-
cessful in all places. For instance, at Bolton, the operatives
have protested against attempts that have been made in the
town, at the instigation of some mill-owners, to have their
cause identified with that of the anti-corn-law party. We
trust that it is the same in many other places—we trust that
the working classes will not permit themselves to be duped
into a wild crusade against their own interests—we trust that
they are fully awake to the delusion which a handful of self-
ish persons would impose upon them, and to the simple truth,
that the cry of cheap bread is, in reality, a.cm for LOW
WAGES! . • • .