The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-11-09 00:00:00

THE FREE-TRADE BANQUET.

TILE Free-traders of Manchester, and the attaches
of that school of political economists whose chief
urinciple seems to be, that cotton-spinning and
eating cheap bread constitute the summum bonum
of human life, had an ovation on Tuesday, in what
they were pleased to call a banquet, but which the
Times, which has no prejudice on the other side,
says, was only a dessert—unless the term be applied
to the feast of reason. The lion of the meeting
was, of course, Mr. COBDEN ; but, if his speech is
to be considered as the manifesto of the Opposition
to Her Majesty's Ministers, they have nothing to
fear from the Free-trade champion ; indeed, the
cheers with which it is reported to have been re-
ceived, are a libel upon Manchester intelligence,
however low that quality may have been rated at.
With a magniloquent flourish of trumpets he talked
of his own services, and openly bid for a seat in
a succeeding Cabinet, with a pretended contempt
for the hypocrisy which would deny a belief in his
capability for such an office. There is an amusing
absurdity in all this. Every one acquainted with
the political history of the country for the last ten
or fifteen years, is well aware that all that the Man-
chester League did was to deluge the country with
dreary tracts, which few people read, and amuse
the lower orders of the large towns with the gratis
lectures of paid orators. It was only when Sir
ROBERT PEEL raised a false alarm about a coming
famine, and made use of the power with which he
was entrusted for a purpose totally opposite, that a
repeal of the Corn-laws had the slightest chance of
success, The Manchester orators were left to blow
their own trumpets ; their sayings and doings had
very little weight in the question ; they had not
increased their minority nor influenced an election,
nor were they even alluded to, when the 112 mem-
bers of the buss of Commons turned their backs
upon themselves, threw their pledges and their
principles to the winds, and walked over with the
the lie to all their previous proles-

linister to give

It was only when Sir ROBERT PEEL awoke
_e a consciousness of the political suicide which he
had committed, that he alluded to the labours of
lchester opponent, by way of a salve to his
ortification, and sought shelter from the
f the friends whom he had betrayed,

admissions of the power of the foe to whom he

too long delayed ; if not, it was basely hypocritical

lowever, of Mr. COB-

leech is that in which he d

res the plan

ds to be pursued by his party

it be believed, except by those in whom all reason

is confounded by prejudice, that their great oracle,
Mr. COBDEN, after a world of labour, has brought

forth the ridiculous mouse of insisting upon an

answer from tt

linisters, whether they are Free-
We give the following

traders or Protectionists ?

extract from the

speech, as it appeared in the Free-

trade organ, the Times

gentlemen, all I stipulate for is, that when
-mbles we should know whether the
• vreetrade. Is there

.otectioni

on but to decide that question ? Why do
Christmas, but avowedly, by Lord
I propose, therefore, to

tch in accord