The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-29 00:00:00

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lugs In this erewd enough to enable me to call upon you, as
a jury, to decide that question ; and I call upon you to be
the arbiters for a moment between Sir Robert Peel and Sir
John Cam Hobhouse. (Hear, hear.) We all remember the
events of 1836. Sir Robert Peel was then 'called to the
councils of the crown by his Sovereign, who, mature in
years and experience, had tried the whigS and knew
what they were worth. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.)
He enjoyed the favour of a sovereign who never, under any
circumstances, and with whatever party he acted, did other-
wise than give him his honest support; but be was beaten in
the House of Commons; and what did he do? (Hear, hear.)
It is a matter of history now, for the sovereign who called
him to his councils is dead. I did not see him clinging to
office with tenacity ; I did not hear such words as these pass
his tory lips in that hour of defeat and discomfiture—" I have
lost the confidence of the House of Commons ; here I have
been beaten •, but I will protract my resignation, for I have
the favour of the crown ; and, let the tell you, that is the best
support a minister, can have." No, gentlemen. He was
beaten ; but he crossed the floor of the house with the ap-
plause of his enemies, with his honesty unimpeached, and his
principles unimpaired, and he took that seat upon the other
side of the house behind which three hundred gentlemen of
England then, or at least since, have rallied round him.
(Tremendous cheers.) It is from whig lips that I have lived
to hear the doctrine that the support of the crown is the best
support which a ministry could have—(hear) :—for those
were the words of Sir John Cam Hobhouse, in a late debate;
and, gentlemen, I call upon you to recollect them. (Hear,
hear.) In my view, they call upon the constituency of this
country to rise, like one man, to displace from the neigh-
bourhood of the sovereign those who, if they hold such doc-
trine in the face of England's representatives, may instil doc-
trines into the ear of the sovereign which must be poison to
that ear—doctrines to which, if the sovereign were to assent,
the monarchy would be endangered to its foundations, and
doctrines to which, if the people assent, they deserve not to
be, what they have been, and what they are, the devoted and
loyal subjects of a constitutional monarchy—sympathising
with the prosperity of that government in the hour of Eng-
land's prosperity, ready to rally round it to the death in
the hour of misfortune and of danger. (Great cheers.) I
say they deserve to become not such as these, but the tax-
payers of a bey or a pacha, or the slaves of the palace fa-
vourite of the hour. (Loud and long continued cheers.)
These are all grounds upon which I retain, I will not
say, unmitigated, but increased—not any personal ran-
cour, for there are many among the ministry whom I
esteem and regard for their talents and station, and for
whom I have as much private regard as for any gentleman
with whom I am politically; connected. (hear, hear, hear),
but these are grounds, I say, upon which I think I am justi-
fied in retaining, not only the unmitigated, but the increased
political hostility against them which has actuated hitherto
my course in parliament. (Loud cheers.) I have said it is
not for me upon such an occasion as this to detain you from
avocations which are far more worthy your attention than
any thing I can occupy you with at this moment. I content
myself with having briefly expressed to you my opinions upon
the leadinr, subjects which now engage attention, and with
having vindicatedb upon this occasion the course which I shall
think it my duty to pursue, should I have the honour of your
suffrages. (Cheers.) Of that result I confess it is impossible
for me to judge from any knowledge of my own, but, from
the accounts I have received from those who have never yet
deceived me, I confess, that either with regard to my own
prospects, or those of my honourable colleague, I have not
the smallest or slightest apprehension. (Enthusiastic cheer-
ing.) All I have.to dread is, that too much security may be
placed in the prospects before us. (Hear.) All that I wish
to warn my partial friends against is, their indulgence in too
great security, if they do me the honour to entertain the
wishes they formerly felt and acted upon for the prevalence
of conservative principles, for the triumph of that cause, in
my very humble and unworthy person. (Cheers.) For
your attentions, gentlemen, upon this occasion, I cannot be
too thankful. The noble gentleman concluded by again
thanking the meeting for their attention, and then retired
amidst enthusiastic applause.
Mr. R. BOOTLE WILBRAHAM then proceeded to address
the people. He was loudly applauded. Considering, he
said, the state of the weather, it is not my intention to trou-
ble you long with the few remarks that I deem it my duty to
make; but since you have done my noble colleague and my-
self the honour to meet us to-day under such circumstances,
with weather as we have now, I cannot but express to you
my gratitude not only for meeting us upon this occasion, but
for that support which upon all former occasions you have
done us the honour to give to us. My noble colleague has
gone rather more at lengitl4 than I shall into the views with
which we have been actartEd as opponents, generally speak-
ing, of the administration. (Hear, hear.) I can only add to
what he has said, that my feelings have been equally opposed
to their measures ; indeed, I have very little knowledge of
them. But, as far as their measures have gone, I conceive
that from year to year they have been getting worse. You
all remember that they proposed to start their government,
with the principle of non-intervention, with no patronage,
and with controlling the public expenditure within the small-
est limits. (Hear, hear.) I ask you, gentlemen, if any of
these pledges have been fulfilled? (Loud cheers, and cries
of " No.") Do we not at the last moment see them jobbing
and chopping? (Hear.) What else is their appointment to
the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland ? Do we not know
that Sir John Campbell is put in only to gain the retiring pen-
sion. (Shame, shame !) At all events we see them jobbing
and changing their offices as if they were going to have a te-
nure of them for ten years longer • whereas, I firmly believe,
that on the very first day that parliament meets we shall re-
ceive their resignation. (Cheers.) I have, in my address to
the electors of this county, explained my opinions upon the
subjects on which this dissolution took place, but I beg to
say, when I read the addresses of those gentlemen who
profess to support the present government, I see they are
talking about free trade and the doing away of protective
duties as being the reasons why we are sent to our con-
stituents to ascertain whether those are the principles which
they maintain. That is not the case. (Hear.) The reason
is to ascertain what confidence the constituency and the
conntry at large have in the conduct and principles of the
present government. (Loud cheers.) I think, and I am
satisfied it is the general opinion of the people throughout
the country, that not only will her majesty's ministers dis-
cover that they have not only not the confidence of the late
House of Commons, but that the country at large despises
them and rejects them as being men` of neither power nor
pretensions to carry their views into effect. (Cheers.) It is
unnecessary for me to go further now into this question. I
have endeavoured, as I said before, in my address to the
constituency, to point out what my views are, I will, there-
fore, only add, that I feel much obliged to you for your
patient attention, and that I shall, upon all occasions, do my
utmost to promote the c.onservative cause,—(cheers)—for I
conceive that this country looks forward now to years of
peace and quiet, and not to those restless times which we
have had for the last ten years past. With that hope, I trust
you will return your late members for this borough, and that
my noble colleague and myself may receive the honour of
your continued support. (Loud cheers, during which the
honourable gentleman retired.)
Three cheers were then given for Lords Francis Egerton
and Sandon, Mr. Wilbraham and Mr. Cresswell, after which
the meeting dispersed.

MEETING AT THE AMPHITHEATRE OF THE
TRADESMEN'S AND OPERATIVE CONSERVA-
TIVE ASSOCIATIONS.

Last evening a most crowded meeting of the members of
the Tradesmen's and Operative Conservative Associations
was held in the Amphitheatre, for the purpose of meeting
Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell. _

Amongst those present we observed Sir Thomas Brancker,
James Asuinall, C. S. Parker, J. Parker, C. Bushell, S.
Holme, Thomas Dover, John Shephard, Charles Lawrence,
George Grant, H. Sandbach, John Wilkinson, Jas. Ackers,
R. Houghton, James Proctor, J. B. Molyneux, Robertson
Gladstone, Daniel Ledson, John Miller, Wm. Potter, IL
Jones, jun., Thomas Toulmin, John Penington, Richard
Bryans, John Carson, P. Wright, Dr. Hensman, Dr. Baird,
M.D., John Smith, Captain Brassey, Joseph Cooper, T. D.
Butler, A. Henderson, G. Green, jun., Peter Hope, Wm.
Birkett, Thomas Muncaster, H. C. Chapman, Duncan Gibb,
J. Booker, Thomas Jones, Thomas Lee, John Kilshaw,
Cottingham Moss, J. Rowland, James Holme, John Moss,
H. Banner, Adam Hodgson, David Hodgson, Dr. Stubbs,
Dr. Pearson, Dr. Bickersteth, Alexander Shand, Joseph
Ackers, and G. P. Walker.
On the motion of Mr. JOHN KILSHAW, ALEXANDER
SMITH, jun., Esq., Chairman of the Tradesmens' Conser-
vative Association, was requested to preside.
MrSmer
had beenxhavingt tuakreenthrneedto the T nn
chair, alludendwtno-telniemcu for
manner
in which he
North Toxteth ward, in opposition to Mr. liathbone, and
expressed his determination to suppost the institutions of
his country both in church and state. (Hear.) He then re-
ferred to the admirable speech of the Rev. Hugh MeNeile, at
the Operative Protestant Association meeting, and said that
it had set the question of the corn laws completely at rest.
(Loud cheers.)
A PERSON from the gallery inquired whether the chair-
man would allow a voter to ask a question from either of the
candidates? (Cheers, and some confusion.)
The CHAIRMAN said he could have no hesitation in an-
swering the question. Ours was not the cause of darkness,
and we were prepared to give a reason for every thing that
we did. (Loud cheers.) Ours was a great cause, and he
would tell the meeting what it was. We avowed ourselves
loyal subjects, and supporters of the constitution in church
and state ; we avowed ourselves to be friends of the Qreen,
and anxious that her dignity and the constitution of the
country should be maintained unimpaired. (Cheers.) We
were, therefore, ready, not only to avow our sentiments, but
to answer any questions as to them which might be put to
us. (Cheers.) He was satisfied that the admirable speech
of Mr. WlsTeile must have carried the conviction, to the
minds of all who had heard or read it, that the Anti-Corn- '
Law Leaguers, who had been agitating the country in com-
mon with her Majesty's ministers, had no other object in
view than the filling of their own pockets, without caring one
straw for the people. That speech had made it as manifest
as anything could be, that the sole and only object which the
rnillowners and the Anti-Corn-Law Leaguers had in view was
the reduction of the wages of the operatives (cheers), and that
without the reduction of wages it was utterly impossible
they could reduce the price of the manufactured articles in
which they dealt. (Cheers.) That point he considered as now
settled beyond all dispute. The same result would apply
not only to them, but also to another community. We had
been told, that if the corn-laws were done away with, as a
matter of necessity, a very large proportion of the land in
this country must be thrown out of cultivation. (Hear.)
What would be the consequence of that? There was abun-
dance of work and occupation for the mechanics and artisans
of Liverpool in the town of Liverpool, but they were not
left to themselves ; they were interfered with by people front
distant parts, and the consequence was, that those people,
either by hook or crook, contrived to get such a footing in
the town, which prevented the natives and those who had
long resided here from finding employment. (Hear.)
At this moment Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell entered
the theatre. Their appearance created an immense burst of
applause.
The CHAIRMAN said the enthusiastic reception just given
to Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell, was a convincing proof
of the unanimity of the meeting, and of their anxiety to see
these gentlemen again returned at the ensuing election.
(Loud cheers.) The conservatives, as the meeting were
aware, were opposed to the mischiefs which had been done
by her Majesty's ministers : they had done everything in
their power, from time to time, to oppose them, and at last
they had succeeded in carrying a vote of censure. A new
parliament had, therefore, been called, and upon the result
of the elections which were about to take place, would de-
pend whether the past government remained in power, or
whether the conservatives assumed the reins of state. (Hear.)
Of the issue of these elections he had not the slightest doubt,
and he believed that before we in Liverpool had commenced
on Wednesday. we should have learned that Lord John Rus-
sell, her Majesty's secretary for the colonies, had been
defeated. (Cheers.) He had no doubt that on that day we
should find that four good conservatives had been returned to
represent the city of London. (Loud cheers.) We were all
aware of the manner in which her majesty's ministers had
thought proper to support Mr. O'Connell upon every occa-
sion ; but he believed there were not many who were aware
that they had carried their proceedings still further. He
could not call Mr. O'Connell exactly a rebel, or the party to
which he belonged in Ireland rebels. Within the last few-
clays a letter had appeared in the Times, signed by Sir Francis.
Head, who was governor of Upper Canada when the rebellion
broke out there. Sir F. Head was not a man particularly
attached either to one party or the other, unless lie had had
opportunities of seeing in what manner the loyal subjects.
of Upper Canada conducted themselves upon that occasion,
and he had thought it right and proper, and he (the chairman)
thanked him for the manner in which he had opposed her
majesty's ministers—to place upon record facts which chewed.
that not only was no encouragement given to the loyal inha.

bitants of Upper Canada for risking their lives and property,
in support of the government, but that one of those infamous
individuals who really was part and parcel of the company
who concocted the rebellion had been placed in the situation
of solicitor-general to her majesty. (Hear, hear.) Was
that conduct which would be applauded or approved of by
the inhabitants of Great Britain ? (Loud cries of " No.")
Was it not our wish to maintain loyal men—to grant to them
not only support, but to grant to them every encouragement
which the country can give? Ought we not to reward such
men, in place of degrading and disgracing them ? But her
Majesty's ministers had actually degraded the very people—
the very people—and without whose support and as-
sistance at this very day the Canadas would have been in the
possession of the United States. (Cheers.) These were
startling facts. These, then, were the ministers against
whom we were arrayed, and he was satisfied that every indi-
vidual present, and every true British heart, would join with
him in saying that this ministry did not- deserve our confi-
dence—that the vote of the House of Commons was an ex-
cellent vote, and one which met our sympathy and our
cordial approbation. (Loud cheers.) The chairman then
expressed a wish that the electors would respond one and all
to the calls made upon them, to support their late excellent
representatives, and return them by a larger majority
to the House of Commons than before—for he should be
sorry to find that either one or the other returned by a
smaller. His convictioni however, was, that they would be
returned by a larger majority. He trusted that the electors
would return them by such a majority as would give effect
and furtherance to the triumph which we should, no doubt,
receive from London. (Cheers.) This would be the next
election of importance to that, and he was satisfied that the
results of both would be such as to satisfy Sir Robert Peel,
Lord Stanley, and his noble friend at his right, who would
undoubtedly fill a prominent situation in the councils of the
country. (Cheers.) The chairman concluded amidst many
cheers, by calling upon the first resolution.
Mr. SAMUEL HOLME moved the first resolution. The
contest in which they were about to engage was one, he said,
of such permanent interest, that he would call on every one
of his fellow tradesmen and fellow operatives to exert himself
on the great occasion as if victory depended on his individual
vote. The welfare of the nation, the happiness and security
of their own domestic hearths, the glorious institutions
under which their country had so long flourished, were all
menaced. He therefore trusted that there was not a man
present who would refuse to spring to the rescue, and who
would not respond to the sentiment—
" Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land."
(Loud cheers.) The finances of the country were crippled
at the present moment; their taxation was increased; and
their trade paralysed. It was high time, therefore, to take
the helm of the state out of the buneling hands who held it,
now, and to give it to those who had more wisdom, dis-
cretion, ability, and honesty. He looked upon the present
to be the fag-end of the reform ministry. They were some-
thing like an old quill which had been worn to the stump.
Ten years since they could boast the names of Grey, Althorp,
Brougham, Carlisle, Ripon, Richmond, Stanley, Graham,
and Burdett ; but where were those men now? Echo an-
swered where. The present ministry were like tenants un-
der a process of ejectment, who had barricadoed the doors
and windows and refused to give up possession. And some
of them was peeping through the key-hole and shoutingcheap
bread ; another was shouting out cheap sugar ; and a third
was lifting up a elate in the roof and shouting cheap timber.
(Great laughter.) But the people were not to be gulled by
cries of this kind, and they were loyal enough to stop the
chimneys and to march them out. (Great cheers.) He
(Mr. Holmes) had no inclination for things cheap and mus-
ty, for as far as his experience went, such things were
never good—(cheers)—but if the conservatives got rid of the
present bad tenants and obtained possession of their property
the questions of cheap corn, cheap sugar, and cheap timber
would be settled to the satisfaction of the country at large.
He hoped the conservatives would not undervalue the exer-
tions of their political opponents. Sir Joshua Walmsley, he
believed, would not be guilty of anything dishonourable, but
he had lieutenants who would not stick at trifles to carry his
ambitious objects. It a maxim of the Duke of Wel-
lington, when he was going to fight a battle, to make victory
securebefore he fired a shot. It was necessary that the con-
servatives should imitate the example of the great leader of
his country in this respect, and not to be certain of their
strength until the victory was certain. (Hear, hear.) The
opposite party were going to tender the votes of the Protector
Society, many of the members of which had gone to the
Parish-office for relief. He hoped and believed that there
was loyalty enough in England and in Liverpool to prevent
the lofty plume of England from being bowed to the dust be-
fore the dragon of Rome.
Mr. JOHN WILKINSON seconded the first resolution, and
it was carried unanimously.
Mr. DANIEL LEDSON having been called upon to move
the 2nd resolution, was received with loud cheers, and spoke
nearly as follows :—I never rose, sir, to address a public
meeting in my life with greater pleasure, or with more heart-
felt satisfaction than I feel in addressing my brother
tradesmen and brother operatives on this occasion. (Hear,
hear.) We have met to express our warm acknowledgments
to my Lord Sandon and to Mr. Cresswell for the very able
and the very indefatigable manner in which they have repre-
sented our interests in the Commons' House of Parliament;
—(loud cheers)—and I am sure it would be needless in me to
call upon this meeting to renew that confidence which we
have for so long a period reposed in them. (Cheers.) Sir,
when I see myself surrounded as I am on this occasion, by
the great wealth and intelligence of the town of Liverpool, I
regret exceedingly that the resolution has not been placed in
more able hands than mine; but, gentlemen, I trust you will
bear with me a moment if I attempt, however feebly, to offer
a few observations. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, our oppo-
nents have loudly proclaimed that we have arrived at a great
crisis. We have, indeed, arrived at a crisis in political mat-
ters which the most speculative prophet of the future could
hardly have ventured to anticipate. (Hear, hear.) We, the
tradesmen and operatives of this town have assembled
to express our decided and deliberate opinions upon
questions which, in few former periods of our history,
can we find a precedent or a parallel. (Hear, and cheers.)
A. ministry, gentlemen, which has continued in office by
various shifts and stratagems since the year 1835, a minis-
try that has exhausted, one by one, all those thimbleric,
tricks which the good sense of this country has so frequentl3,
denounced. (Cheers.) A ministry that has sustained itself
in office one day by concession to repeal ! and another day
by encouragement to revolution. (Tremendous cheers.) A
Ministry which, in its utter weakness, has in one week
stretched forth its supplicating arms to the conservative ma-
jority in its front ; and in the next in its utter imbecility im-
plored the aid of the radical mountain at its back ! (Renewed
cheers.) . This ministry, gentlemen, because of the consti-
tutional and manly stand taken by Sir Robert Peel, on the
vote of confidence question—(cheers)—at last arrived at the
end of its various resources, and, gentlemen, what did
they ? Why. with the country in the greatest state of
excitement, with a deficiency in the revenue, and with dis-
content abroad, this ministry absolutely dissolved the parlia-
ment, but previously threw down on the political arena, as
mere clap traps to the electors throughout the country, the
three great and important questions of svgar, timber, and
corn. (Tremendous cheering, and cries of hear, hear.)
But gentlemen, as chairman of the Operative Conservative
Association, if I know any thing of the character of the opera-
tives of this great town ; if from the frequent demonstrations
I have had the pleasure of witnessing, I may arrive at any
opinion as to their character, I believe that nothing can be
more hostile to their feelings than that which savours of
subterfuge or deceit. (Load cheers.) To what else can this
new-born zeal for the Intel eats of the poor in the hearts of
this philanthropic government be ascribed ? (Hear, hear.)
When the New Poor-law Bill, with its harsh and inhuman
clauses, was under discussion, the amendments and sugges-
tions of the conservative members were met with contumely
or indifference. (Hear, hear, hear.) The destitute poor
are unworthy the attention of these liberty-loving
ministers. (Cheers.) Cases of oppression are passed
over with light-hearted contempt, and a cry of ex-
aggeration is raised—(hear, hear)—but let this same mi-
nistry be defeated upon some favourite party project—let
Lord Stanley quash their Irish registration bill—(loud
cheers)—and immediately rises in alibis dignity, the right hand
of government, my Lord John Russell, and, in his exceed-
ing sympathy for the poor, proposes to take into considera-
tion the question of the trade on corn. (Great laughter and
cheering.) But I ask you, gentlemen, notwithstanding the
earnest and laboured protestations of ministers, if it was not
a very sudden and a very suspicious sympathy. (Hear, hear.)
Gentlemen, are they not the most wretched, the most im-
becile, the most vascillating ministry that ever this country
was cursed with ? (Great cheering, and cries of " Yes,
yes.") And now, after numberless defeats, they have given
us an opportunity of turning them out (hear); and I
believe that there is such a spirit aroused throughout the
land—that there is so much anxiety to preserve our Protes-
tant institutions—that we shall be successful. (Tremendous
cheering.) Gentlemen, in reading Sir J.Walmsley's speech,
I was very much pleased to observe one remark which he
made, and which was the greatest compliment he could have
paid to our glorious cause—namely, that he had not called
upon a single conservative elector from whom he had not
met with the greatest civility and kindness. (Hear, hear.)
Sir Joshua having thus stamped the character of gentleman
hear, hear) upon every conservative elector, I trust that
you, my Lord Sandon, and you, Mr. Cresswell, have received
the same civility and kindness from our opponents, and that
you will be able to return the same compliment to the oppo-
site party. (Loud laughter.) Gentlemen, her Majesty's
ministers started with professions to carry out reform, re-
trenchment, and peace (hear, hear) ; but, I ask you, have
they carried out these great principles to your satisfaction.
(Loud cries of " No, no.") I apprehend, that in the object
of reform, it never was intended to subject this and other
towns to a political party or a religions faction ;—(cheers)—
and as to retrenchment, gentlemen, I shall only refer you
to the eloquent and splendid speech of the great conservative
leader, Sir Robert Peel—(immense cheers)—in which he
places the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the ludicrous and
perhaps in the eyes of the ministry unenviable position of sit-
ting on an empty chest by the side of bottomless deficiency,
and fishing for a budget. (Great laughter and cheers.) I have
only to refer you to the deficit of two millions. (Loud
cheers.) As to peace, gentlemen, the angry and menacing
attitude of France holds out no prospect of a renewal of our
commercial treaty. (Hear.) The imprisonment of M`Leod
still cries for notice •, and notwithstanding all the promises of
a negociation, the China question remains nearly where it was.
(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, I would here sit down—(cries
of " No, no")—but I shall still trespass upon your time a few
moments, and trust I shall be excused in attempting to offer
a few observations upon the much agitated question of the
corn-laws. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, I quite acknowledge
that a free importation of corn into this country would enable
the poorer classes of society to obtain it at a much cheaper
rate. I have travelled a good deal, although a very young
man, and I have had considerable experience. I quite admit
the arguments of the Anti-corn Law Leaguers that the im-
portation of corn in this country would, perhaps, enable the
poor man to purchase it at a cheap rate • but if we are to
have a free importation of corn_ let us have free trade alto-
gether. (Hear, hear. from Lord Sandon.) When I was
abroad I purchased a hat that would have cost here 21s. for
7s. 6d. I also purchased a good suit of black clothes for
£2 18s, which would have cost here from £6 to £7, and a
pair of shoes, which would have cost here something like
12s, for ss. 6d.
(Hear, hear:)Now, I contend, that if the
free importation of corn would b the poor man, so like.
wise would the free importation of all these articles of dress.
(Hear, and cheers.) But then comes the question where is
the poor man to find the money to purchase them with. If
the tailor, the hatter, and the shoemaker must compete with
the importer of these articles from the Continent what must
they do? They must reduce the wages of their workmen
more than one-half,
therefore, you see, gentlemen, the cry
for cheap bread is in fact a cry for low wages. (Tremendous
applause.) I happened.to
inscribed a book the other night,
blygreatsbear,citthyat
uin f theuur yearu 1100 i s
and I saw there very leg'
n
or 1801 there was a very
country, and that in order to satisfy the wants of our
starving people we were compelled to go to Prussia. (Hear,
hear.) We went to Prussia, and the Prussians certainly did
business with us, but they took care they did not
receive our manufactures in return for their corn—(hear)--
took our money for it, and more than that, before they shipped
the corn they laid a duty upon it of Bs. a measure. (Hear.)
And so it would be again if the people of this country were
starving, if we are to be beholden to the continental powers
for our supplies. (Hear, hear.) If our corn lands are to be
thrown out of cultivation, you may depend upon it the nation
would be in a position ten times worse than it is now. (Ap-
plause.) I do not know whether there are any coopers pre-
sent ; but as I happen to be a sprig of a cooper myself, I can
give you my testimony as to the effect of free trade. (Hear.)
I dare say you know what shooks are. Now, it is a very re-
markable fact that shooks have been imported to a great ex-
tent into Liverpool; and I will ask any, cooper present whe-
ther he supposes he can compete with the price at which they
are imported—is it not impossible for any master tradesman

to compete with thei There is not a cooper who may not
earn 48. or 6s. a day if he chooses to work bard, or from £2
to £3 a week, but his wages would have to be reduced to
2s. 6d. a day, or we should not be able to compete with the
continental importers. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion, I must
say, that I entertain no tear whatever for the result of the
great contest in which we are about to engage. (Cheers.)
Sir, I am persuaded that there is sufficient loyalty throughout
the land, that there is sufficient anxiety to protect the reli-
gion of the land as by law established, that will enable us to
place at the helm of the state a good Protestant conservative
government. (Loud cheers, the audience rising as one man.)
And then, gentlemen, we shall be sure that peaee, and pros-
perity, and happiness will once more pervade this empire;
then shall we be satisfied that a new and lively impetus will
be given to the commerce of the country : then shall we
know that this nation will once more take its stand, unrival-
led, among the nations of the world ; then shall we know
that her Majesty will be surrounded by wise and faithful
counsellors, and by an administration that will likewise pro-
tect the just and legitimate rights of all her subjects. (Re-
newed cheers,) When we have a Wellington—(cheers),—a
Peel—(cheers),--a Stanley—(cheers),—a Graham—(cheers),
—a Sandon and a Cresswell—(renewed cheers),—and a Glad-
stone—(loud cheers)—in office, then may we congratulate
ourselves that the people of this great country have boldly,
firmly, and nobly done their duty. (Great cheering.)
And I, sir, will become the guarantee that the operative
conservatives of Liverpool will stand by their declara-
tions, to which they have attached their names, which is
their " fixed determination to maintain the tried and ancient
principles on which the constitution of our country is founded,
and resist all measures by which the necessary connexion be-
tween the Established Church and the State may be severed
or relaxed—by which the dignity of the Monarchy may be
impaired, orits existenceendangered—by which the privileges
of the House of Lords, as an independent branch of the Le-
gislature, may be virtually annihilated, or the deliberate
powers of the Commons' House of Parliament become fet-
tered or controlled—as they are convinced that on an united
and energetic support of these authorities depend the con-
tinuance of social order, the security, ofproperty, and the in-
terests of religion." Mr. Ledson concluded, amidst loud
cheers, by moving the second resolution, which declared the
unqualified approbation of the meeting of the parliamentary
conduct of Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell, and particularly
of their zealous exertions upon all occasions for the interest
of the town ; and that, therefore, the meeting would use all
constitutional means to secure their return at the approaching
election.

Mr. EDWARD HITCHCOCK seconded the resolution
which bad been proposed by Mr. Ledson. He had never,
he said, been more gratified in his life than in being selected
to second the resolution they had heard read, and which had
been so ably seconded by the worthy chairman of the Opera-
tive Conservative Society, Mr. Ledson.
Lord SANDON then rose to address the meeting, and met
with a most cordial reception. This, he said, was a most
gratifying sight. It was a gratifying sight to those humble
individuals who had come to render an account of their
stewardship, which they had discharged since last they were
chosen to represent this important community in parliament.
It was gratifying to their personal feelings, but still more
gratifying to those feelings which they entertained in common
with ourselves for the defence and support of the general
interests of the country, to find their constituents not dis-
satisfied with their discharge of the duties they had then
undertaken, but that they were satisfied they had been
faithful to their charge—that they had fulfilled the pledges
they had given, and that their constituents were disposed to
entrust to them for another period of time the great interests
they had so long had under their care ; but it was still more
gratifying to find that they were still as deeply attached as
ever to those great principles which had first recommended
them to their notice—to those principles of constitutional
liberty and attachment to the throne and the Church, which
were the principles which bound and knit together, like one
common thread, every class of society, however various their
interests, their affairs, and their habits of life. (Great
applause.) It was, indeed, a proud thing to see that in this part
of the country, at least, we had no reason to think that
the attempt to set up one class against another, to wage war
in the name of one class of society against another, to sow
the seeds of dissension and disorder, to raise the poor against
the rich, to raise the towns against the cities, to separate, to
disunite, to disorganise society, had in any measure been
successful in this great community. (Cheers.) It was in-
deed gratifying to find that the cause of the land was under-
taken not by the rich, the great, the noble, nor by the
landed proprietor, but that it was defended with ability,
zeal, and knowledge of the facts by merchants, trades-
men and operatives ; to find that they were fully sensible
how close was the interest which united each—that the land
could not flourish without commerce, and that commerce
could not flourish by the destruction of the landed interest.
(Hear.) It was gratifying to find that there was in this great
town of Liverpool that warm feeling for our fellow-country-
men, which would not induce us, for the sake of some tem-
porary and fictitious advantage, to desire the destruction of
their interests, although her majesty's ministers were de-
sirous of sacrificing them for the encouragement of our
foreign trade. (Hear, and Cheers.) We were not disposed
to sacrifice the interests of the landowner, the farmer,
or the labourer, or of all those trades more immediately
connected with the agricultural interests ; neither were
we desirous of sacrificing the interests of our manufac-
turers which were connected with the supply of every
comfort to the internal districts of the country in the
hope of being able to secure, though he believed only for a
short time, the advantage of a trifling degree of cheapness in
the cost of bread, purchased at the price of dependence upon
foreigners, who would be sure, as we knew by experience, to
deprive us of that advantage whenever they wished to dis-
tress us in a time of war, or tax us in time of peace.
(Cheers.) It was, indeed, gratifying to find that this cru-
sade which her Majesty's ministers had undertaken had been
frustrated, and that it had been as Quixotic as it was mis-
chievous and iniquitous. It would, indeed, be hard to ex-
pect that men so enlightened as those whom he saw around
him, who saw the advantage to be derived from internal in-
tercourse between different parts of England, and between
England, Ireland, and Scotland, between England and her
colonies, and her East India possessions, should be inclined to
embark upon a crusade against all those great interests, in
the hope of securing a very uncertain, and increasingly de-
pendent foreign trade. (Cheers.) We here, who sat at the
door as it were of Ireland, and were interested or profited by
the intercourse with Ireland, felt for the interests of the
sfster country if we had no feelings for England, at least
we should be anxious to do justice to Ireland, and not over-
turn the great staple of her employment. (Hear.) There
was no material manufacture in Ireland but the manufacture
of the productions of the soil. Our reports of corn from Ire-
land had increased from the value of £3,000 a year at the
period of the union to the value of nearly four millions;
there was an immense milling interest there exporting
near!), two millions of hundred weights of flour annually, and
we must not forget that we daily saw parading through our
streets cattle, sheep, and pigs, butter, flax, and tow, whieh
were feeding the populous districts around, and for which
was borne back a source of wealth to that unhappily dis-
turbed, but, he believed, still improving country. We should
not, he was sure, be inclined to disturb the great interests of
that country, which were now drawing about twelve millions
a-year from the advantageous markets which they found in
England and Scotland. (Hear.) When people talked of
" justice to Ireland," they forgot these things. They forgot
that the first want of the people of Ireland was bread and
food ; and if they were deprived of this great market, by
which alone their industry was encouraged, a population pour
already, but still improving in condition, would be reduced
to the most abject beggary. Then what would be the result?
Unsettled she was now, though improving in condition,
but what would be the result then ? Increased disturbance
from disaffection and poverty at home, and a still greater in-
pouring of hordes of wretched and impoverished Irish, to fill
our manufacturing and commercial towns, draining and
swamping the labour of our own people. (Hear, hear.)
Therefore, in justice to ourselves as well as to Ireland, we
were not inclined to embark in this crusade of her Majesty's
ministers against the productions of British and Irish industry.
These were things which apparently the gentleman who pro-
fessed to be the representative of all Ireland never thought
of. (Hear.) He always was talking of " justice to Ireland,"
but he (Lord Sandon) taxed his memory in vain, since he
had had a seat in parliament, for one single practical measure
for the advantage of his fellow-countrymen which he had
even introduced. (Hear, hear, hear.) He had talked much
about their rights and their wrongs, he had endeavoured to
excite the hostile feelings of the peope against those whom
he called " the Saxon," and he had endeavoured to make it
impossible that any English capital should go there, and an
Irish gentleman feared to reside upon his own estate—yet lie
talked of " justice to Ireland," although he had done every-
thing in his power to retard and impede the progress of its
power. (Hear.) The noble lord then referred to the state.
went that, under the existing system of the corn laws, the
trade of the country had dwindled. He denied the asser-
tion, and proved from statistical documents, that from 1833
to 1839, the tonnage of shipping had increased no less
than 14,000,000 tons; that in 1832 the official value
of our exported manufactures was sixty-five millions,
but that in 1839 the official value had reached ninety-
, six millions ; that in 1832 the real value of our ex-
ports was thirty-six millions, whilst the real value in 1839
was fifty-two millions. Was this evidence of a declining
trade ? Was this such a destruction of our commercial and
manufacturing interest as to make it necessary to try a most
fearful and ruinous experiment upon our other interests?
(Cheers.) The noble lord, after observing that he and Mr.
Cresswell had received the utmost courtesy from the electors
who opposed them, referred to the connection of cheap
bread with low wages, and again demonstrated that one ine-
vitably produced the other. After some powerful observations,
for which we regret we have not space, upon the course
taken by the manufacturers in the present agitation, and
a vivid contrast between the condition of their workpeople
and that of the agricultural labourers, with respect to the
care taken of them by their employers, the noble lord de-
scribed the constitutional use which the ministers were
making of the name of the sovereign to further the agitation
now going on, and the course which the conservatives had
often been compelled to take during the parliament just
ended, in defending the ministers from their own friends.
(Hear.) He next referred to his own conduct in the
house, and said, that though more ability might have
shewn in the service of the constituency he could not accuse
himself of any want of a desire to offer them his best exertions.
He hoped, in conclusion, that to-morrow we should form a
magnificent and orderly procession, abstaining from any
outward demonstrations which might irritate those who dif-
fered from us. But beyond the procession to-morrow, he
called upon them to be early at the poll on Wednesday, so
that we might take the lead from the beginning, and keep it.
The noble lord then thanked the meeting for their attendance,
and retired amidst loud cheers.
Mr. CRESSWELL then rose, and the cheering was renewed.
If he had come to the present, their last assembly being
their appearance on the hustings, and had found a diminu-
tion of the numbers or of the warmth of feeling which
had greeted them on the Monday preceding, he might
have considered that their adversaries were boasting
with something like truth upon their aide, and that
they felt strong and confident in their success. But when
he remembered that, full as their assembly was on Monday
and warm as they had found every room in which the electors
were assembled during the week, he could not but think that
the present meeting was composed of a congregation of all
whom they had met elsewhere. It seemed as if all Liverpool
had been thrust into one house, and be assured them that he
felt for the position in which many of them were placed,
considering the small space in which they were compelled to
stand. (Hear, and cheers.) He rejoiced to see such an
assembly on the termination of the canvass ; for there the
labours of their candidates should close, and the exertions
of the electors commence. ((Hear, hear.) Their enemies
had attempted to mislead ther judgments, and to excite their
prejudices against different classes ; and he confessed that
he had come to the meeting on the preceding Monday, im-
pressed with much anxiety on the subject, because he lcnew
how difficult it was to reason with multitudes of men labour-
ing
under a rooted prejudice. He recollected the madness
that prevailed some nine or ten years since for a reform in
parliament, and he also remembered that whatever might have
beenbeen the wisdom or the prudence of such reform, ulterior
measures were in the hearts of those who excited the
aepezale.
to the state of phrenzy which then existed and which
. time
theyger
had
e d the
everythe
neither
htrhoen e
honestyitsel f .
nor(H (Hear, bear.)
couragehea r )
to A tthat
propound
those measures, but they had kept them backunttltahnedy
thought they had a parliament that suited their
purpose,
would carry their objects into effect;andawthoekne
fromitwastthheairt
Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham
personal feelings upon
honourably made a sacrifice of their
trance, saw to what end their colleagues were driving, and
discovering the true principles of others. (Cheers.) Then
ai viler allat"
ei a nt
rc
leo ao so
mf opr
oma
ee
dd ,
oa
ft tshi er
headitw a s
ot hatf
w ah i se thr o
wasn g c o
alias e rhvoant
Robert Peel, Lord Stanley, and Sir James Graham, who, he
trusted, would shortly rule the destinies of England. (Loud
cheers.) When he recollected the delusion which had ex-

fisted at the time of the reform bill being mooted, he began
to fear lest the delusions which ministers were spreading
before the people would not be discovered. And on what
ground did they rest them ? or why did they attempt them?
Simply because they regained strength and were unable to
carry on the government as it was unless by sacrificing the
great interests of the country. (Hear, and cheering.) At
the solicitations of the mill-owner, they stated that their
manufacturing brethren were starving, and that the trade of
the country was paralysed ; but his (Mr. Cresswell's) noble
colleague had placed before the meeting a few figures which
showed how these matters really stood. It appeared per-
fectly manifest that the manufacturers had glutted all the
markets of Europe, and that for some years to come they
could not expect the state of things to be changed, and the
cause of all this seemed to be that several entered in to trade
some time since, seeing the profits of the manufacturer
to be so enormous, by which these markets became over-
stocked. And these were the very men who now cried
out for the destruction of the agricultural interest, with
a view to their own benefit. (Hear, hear, hear.) The,
called the landowner a " bloodsucker," and a " vampire,
and they held him up to detestation • and why ? simply be-
cause he pointed out their follies when they endeavoured to
procure the destruction of his interest for their own advance-
ment. (Great and protracted cheering.) He (Mr. C.) begged
to ask those who used hard names, whether it was ever ne-
cessary to pass a statute with a view to keep the landowner
in order? (Hear.) He also begged to ask whether it had
ever been necessary to appoint inspectors to look after agri-
cultural labourers, or to prevent children from being marked
by landowners for more than twelve hours a day? (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) No; it never was; but such had
been the case as it respected the manufacturers. Where, then,
was the boasted humanity of the latter, or where their
regard for the poor, who had to be protected, not by the ma-
nufacturers, but by paid inspectors appointed for the purpose.
But they wanted, forsooth, tit introduce foreign corn and
cheap black bread into England, in order to benefit, as they
called it, the community, in which case, foreign governments,
as the Prussian government had done, might impose a tax on
grain ; or the people of foreign countries, as the inhabitants
of Bordeaux had done lately, might rise up and tumultuously
prevent, for fear of causing a famine among themselves, a
shipment of flour to England. And here he begged to draw
the attention of the meeting to a proclamation which had
been issued by the King of Naples, in the December of 1838,
I of which the following is a translation :
"Naples, lst December, 1838.
" Having perused with much attention the reports made
to us by the ministers of the home department, regarding
the short crops of grain and pulse in our kingdom of the
Two Sicilies, and likewise the report respecting the export
that has already taken place and is still in progress, which
may be followed by serious evils to the public subsistence.
" Having further observed the high prices paying for all
sorts of grain, we have by the advices of our secretary of
state•for the home department, and the ordinary council of
state, resolved to issue the following degree, viz.,
"I. The export of all kinds of grain and pulse is hereby
suspended, in consequence of our royal determination from
all our royal dominions, from the date of the present decree.
" 11. Our secretaries of state for the home department and
finance, each according to the virtue of his office, is to see
that this decree is immediately enforced.
(Signed,) " FERDINAND°.
_ _

" Palermo, 27th Novem-Ger, 1838.
Why should not any other foreign king, he should like to
know, issue a decree similar to this, and in times of peace
too ? (Hear, hear.) And if such decrees should happen
to be issued, with our lands out of cultivation, and the peo-
ple without food, then would-it be for the millowner to
talk of his love for the people, and then would it be
for the inspectors to protect the poor, not merely from being
overworked, but from the famine also. He (Mr. Cresswell)
had lately told the electors, that if the landed interest was
destroyed, the founded interests of the country would not
long survive ; that if the value of the land was lowered, if
the mortgagee could not obtain his interests, and that
the poor-rates, the highway-rates, the church-rates, and
the tithes remained unpaid, that neither could the interest
on the national debt be discharged, and that an attack
would be made on the creditors of the nation. He little
thought at the time that his word's woultl so soon be verified.
The attack had commenced already ; it might startle, but it
was, nevertheless, a truth, that the cry of " Down with the
national debt," had been raised at the present election. He
had read that very day in the newspapers a copy of a placard
which had appeared at Bath, to excite the people in favour
of certain candidates, in which the following words ap-
peared :—" Cancel the national debt, and free trade, cheap
bread, and plenty will be the result." (Hear, hear.) And
it went on to call upon the people to establish anti-national
debt leagues in every town. What did the meeting think of this
state of things ? The money placed in the savings banks, and
which had been collected from various parties—he hoped
from thousands of those whom he had the honour to ad-
dress—had been placed to the amount of millions in the
funds, and constituted part of that national debt, which
the advocates of cheap corn were desirous of expunging.
(Hear and cheering.) The working classes and the trades-
men were, therefore, to go, and the gentry, who were the
home consumers of our manufactures, were also to be
swept away ! Could the party have devised a more attroci-
ous scheme for reducing the country to an absolute state
of ruin than this of abolishing the national debt. It had
been the first scheme of those who caused the revolution in
France, the effects of which trot country had never yet
recovered; and the fact showed that he (Mr. C.) was
fully justified in having predicted such an event as the
consequence of the measures produced, because even already
it had been propounded as the natural concomitant of
them. (Long continued cheers.) Why, if they were to
abolish the national debt they ought to abolish debts alto-
gether and say that there should be no debts throughout the
land. 'Why should they not have an universal destruction of
all ledger accounts? (Hear.) Why not have cheap bread
and cheap goods of all kinds, and no payment for them ?
(Applause, and great laughter.) Why not have all their
fountains flowing with wine, and the compass of their streets
running with beer, and no payment? (Hear,:and laughter.)
Who would be so base as to pay ? The nation doesn't; why
then should the public ? Why talk of a national debt or of a
national church ? Down with the national debt ! Down with
the church! Down with the poor rates 1 Down with taxes !
Down with titles ! Such sholild be the cry of the party.
Such might be, and such would be, the effect of the abolition
of the national debt, for then anarchy, misery, and de-
gradation, lower than that which had visited any nation,
would befal the country. (Applause.) After an energetic
peroration, in the course of which the learned gentleman in-
culcated the necessity of preserving peace and good order
durinc, the election, Mr. Cresswell resumed his seat amidst
thunders of applause.
A vote of thanks was then presented to Mr. Smith, for
his conduct in the chair, and the vast assembly dispersed.