The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-11-15 00:00:00

COBBETT AND THE CORN LAWS.

My colleague—(and he is my colleague, because he agrees
with me in opinion upon this and other great matters, and be-
cause he is universally known to be one of the best men that ever
existed)—my colleague has declared, at a meeting of two hun-
dred gentlemen at Manchester, who dined there in January,
1832, that he never would be-for a repeal of the Corn Bill until
the heavy burdens were taken from the land; for that, if he
were capable of such injustice, his own interest as a great
manufacturer would prevent him from inflicting that injustice;
because it would ruin those who were the greatest purchasers
of the produce of the loom. And, he was perfectly right; for,
nothing can be so clear as this, that, as far as importation of
corn could effect such ruin, such ruin must recoil upon the manu-
facturers themselves.
Upon what principle, I ask, is it, that I am prevented from
having my books printed in France or in Belgium, and brought
hither fur sale ? I, for instance, have two great agricultural
books, Tull's Husbandry, with my Introduction, and the Wood.
lands, written by myself.' Now, I appeal to any gentleman
who has read these books, whether it would not be a great be-
nefit to the country if they were in the hands of every man in
England who cultivates the land. The price of Tull is fifteen
shillings ; the price of the Woodlands fourteen shillings. Ilere
is one pound nine for the farmer to pay, or else he has to go
without these books; or I must work for nothing; and that is
contrary to all my principles, as well as to my disposition.
Now, I could have these books printed in France or in Belgium,
and bring them in here and sell both of them together for ten
shillings, with a much greater gain than I have now, were it not
for the tax, and the prohibitory law relative to copyright books.
"Ah ! you cursed rogue," the Jews will exclaim, " you want to
prevent Lord Althorp from getting that tax upon paper, and the
tax which he gets out of the sweat of your paper-makers and
printers;_ and you want to give all this sweat tax to the French
and the Belgiane, instead of employing your own poor contry-
men ; you Want to cheat us and all the widows and orphans
that have come hither from Jerusalem, and all the honest old
butlers, and all the cooks that have so roasted the loins of mut-
ton, and, by the same means, stuck fat upon their own bones,
and got from the tallow-chandler to put into the savings banks,
while they packed off their masters to the King's Bench. This
is what you want, is it?" No, you round-eyed, hook-nosed,
vellow.pelted rascals ! I do not want to do it; I know that
Lord Althorp must have the money, unless we protect him
against you; but I ask the corn-law gabbier, to give me the
why and the wherefore upon this point; to tell me upon what
principle it is that the law compels the fanner to forego the use
of these books, or give nine-and-twenty shillings for them,
when, if it were not for the law, he might have them for ten ?
There is no principle which will not apply to corn as well as
to books. Here, again, my own experience enables me to
bring the matter quite home. Amongst many other things that
I knew of in America, connected with agriculture, and the
introduction of which into England would be a great benefit,
was the Long Island waggon. I wrote to Mr. Woodward, of
New York, to have me one made, and to send it to me. If I
had it not, and could not have another made, I should deem it
a very great calamity. It is about the weight, or not quite so
heavy, as a common post-chaise; and empty, it is lighter for
horses to draw; but, the stocks of the wheels being of locust,
the spokes being of white oak, and the other parts of the wag-
gon being either of red cedar or white oak, it is able to carry a
greater quantity of sheaves of wheat, and, indeed, of hay or
any other thing, than any of the common farm waggons in-this
country; and the two, buries, which go abreast with a pole,
lately carried a very heavy load of goods from London thirty-
six miles into the country in one day, and were in long before
dark. Now,_ Jhest, it was of great importance to me to have
this waggon. I had materials sent, at the same time, for the
making of another, for our wood will not answer the purpose.
The stocks of the wheels of my waggon, for instance, are
not bigger than those of a post-chaise. Well, I had the things
brought to London; but I had five-and-twenty per cent. duty
to pay, besides dock charges and God knows what besides.
" Ah !" will exclaim the wheelwrights down in Surrey, " what !
you would give your money to these Yankees, would you, in-
stead of giving it to us, for you get your waggon and the mate-
rials for another, for five-and-twenty pounds, or thereabouts,
while we cannot make one of our great lumbering things for
less than from thirty to forty pounds. No, my good fellows, I
de not want to deal with the I ankees for work; but I want to
be allowed to deal with them for timber, and to bring it here for
you to work up into waggons and carts and other implements of
husbandry ; and this is what Lord Althorp will not let me do
without paying a heavy tax ; because. the Jews and the dead
weight and the army woiry him half to death fur money, and
because the Parliament will not stipport him in refusing_ to give
the money to them. But, now comes the question. Why am I
to pay five-and-twenty per cent. upon my implements of hus-
bandry ? And, why are those who consume the produce of my
farm to be supplied with ftuoh produce by foreigners without any
tax at all ?

Answer me that question, Corn Bill gobblers. Answer me
that question, cockchafer of the Morning Chronicle. None of
your " Old Cobbetts;" none of your predictions, about the
term of my life drawing towards its close. Answer me 'that
question; and cease your gabble about "cramping the industry
of the country." The industry of the manufacturers and the
artisans is "cramped," is it, by keeping their mouths from
foreign corn—and is not the industry of the country cramped
by preventing the cultivators of the land from having waggons
and implements of husbandry from foreigners—and is It not
"•craniped;" not the industry of that greatest body of all the
industrious persons, the farmers and labourers, is it not thus
more cramped than it is possible for it ever to be assisted by a
Corn Bill?

LONDON GAZETTE.--TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12.

INSOLVENTS.

Nov. B.—Mary Ann Kerly (and not Kerby, as inserted in last Fri-
day's Casette,) of Red Lion-street, Clerkenwell, lapidary.
Nov. 9.—llenry Owen, of Monmouth-street, Seven Dials, tailor.
Nov. 11.—John Bunion. of Bishop. Wearmouth, Durham. ship-
builder.
Nor. 12.—Horatio Nelson Powell. of Chipping Sodbury. Glouces-
tershire, scrivener.
William Turner, of Harlington, common-brewer. -
Augustus Lines, of Aylcsb,;ry. grocer.
BANKRUPTCY ENLARGED.

----- - - - - -
Richard Thomas. of Chester, ironmonger, from Nov. 8 to Dec. 6, at
the White Lion Hotel, Chester.
BANKRUPTS.
Henry Thompson, of Blackheath-park, Kent, master mariner.
Thomas Edwards, Hatton-garden, llolborn, tailor.
Robert Sc abrook, of Thornborough. Buckinghamshire. miner.
Samuel Wells. St. Albans, Hertfordshire, carpenter.
James Holloway Biddle, Grays, Essex, carpenter.
Edward Pembrey, Chester, innkeeper.
Edward Crew, Manchester, manufacturing-chemist.

George King, Norwieh, wlarflnger.
Dante] Jennyn, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, ship-agent.