The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-03-19 00:00:00

ANOTHER DEFEAT OF THE LEAGUERS.

On Thursday evening, in consequence of a placard in-
viting the public to attend a lecture on the "advantages"
of free trade with foreigners, a numerous meeting took
place in Mr. Lindon's large room, bottom of Hunter-
street.

Mr. ISAAC COOKE, of the anti-monopoly association,
of this town, insisted on taking the chair, notwithstanding
a reasonable proposition that a person less interested on
one side of the question, and more likely to act imparti-
ally, should preside. He introduced the lecturer for the
evening, Mr. BULLEY, who entered, by the aid of notes,
publications of the league, and other lob-sided documents,
into a variety of oft-refuted assertions and assumptions
on the existing laws regulating the imports, particularly
of foreign corn, and foreign grown sugar, and its baneful
effects which he declared were derived from parliamen-
tary and other authentic statistics, contending that any
decrease of the wages of labour which it was supposed
would follow the free import of bread stuffs, would, if it
arose, be no injury to the worker, as he would then be
enabled with one shilling to buy more of the necessaries
and comforts of life than he now could with two; but that
no such decrease would take place, as it had invariably
been proved that with cheap corn wages had arisen !
With respect to the restrictions on the import of Brazi-
lian and other foreign sugar, he contended that to con-
tinue the present high duty on the ground of discontinu-
ing the slave trade in these countries was altogether
abortive and nugatory, and read a variety of figures to
show that our trade with these states was far greater in
exports than with our own colonies, and might be vastly
increased if the high duties were removed, and that too
with advantage to the revenue. Some of the absurdities
which be propounded were so glaring that they were re-
ceived with laughter by many of the working men pre-
sent.
Mr. BARKLEY (the liberty of some discussion being re-
luctantly allowed) then rose, and confuted the arguments
used in favour of an overgrown system of machinery,
which threw thousands upon thousands out of employ.
Mr. ALLEN next addressed the meeting in favour of
protective laws to industry and commerce, as regarded
our dealings with nations who would concede nothing in
return for all our concessions, who would alone be the
gainers while we should be the losers, and our own colo-
nies, and our home population, who were our principal
consumers, would be reduced to beggary and want. He
emphatically called on the shade of Pitt to appear and
enlighten the murky understandings of the praters on free
trade. He described the losses and sufferinzs he had
himself had to encounter through machinery, he having
once employed 200 hands in Ireland. A man once earned
235. for the same work for which he now received only
Is. 9d. ! The inroads of machinery had caused all the
depression under which the country had so long groaned.
He would be glad to learn from any of the League-men
how much, free trade in corn. would affect a pound weight
of bread to the poor man? He did not think it would
amount to a sixteenth of a farthing, and for this paltry
gain they were to be reduced in their wages in an incom-
parably greater proportion. He proposed the following
resolution :—" That it is the opinion of this meeting that
the corn-laws are not the great evil at present depressing
the working classes of this country, but that depression is
to be attributed to the enormous extent to which machi-
nery has superseded manual labour ; and that it is the duty
of the legislature to protect the working classes of this
country by placing, a duty on machinery equivalent with
the reduction of wages ; it is also the opinion of this meet-
ing that the Anti-corn-law League is, by every stratagem
and misrepresentation, striving to sow discontent and ill
feeling between the agricultural and manufacturing popu-
lation of this country."
Mr. BULLEY proposed an amendment to the effect that
the meeting was of opinion that the corn and sugar
monopolies, and all other monopolies, were unjust in
principle, and especially injurious to the working classes
in this country, and ought to be abolished.
Mr. PARRY seconded the original resolution, in doing
which he introduced some remarks entirely subversive of
the statements put forth by the leaguers, and particularly
of the report published by the Council of the Anti-
monopoly Association respecting the exportations to the
Brazils. He showed, by reference to Spackman's Sta-
tistics of the British Empire, (which the chairman him-
self admitted to be good authority,) that those statements
were grossly false in every figure; that the agricultural
population of this country was much greater than was
alleged, and that, contrary to what had been asserted, the
exportations to our own West India colonies were much
greater (and not smaller) than those to the Brazils.
Mr. EDWARDS seconded the amendment. _

The CHAIRMAN then put both to the meeting : he
declared the original motion to be carried, which it was
by an immense majority.
The CHAIRMAN then said that another meeting would
be held nest Thursday in the same room. Thus, "Earn
though vanquished, they can araue still."