The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-08-26 00:00:00

THE LEAGUE INCENDIARIES AGAIN.

The disgusting affectation, on the part of this infamous
confederacy, of their innocence of all participation in stir-
ring up the recent disturbances, has never deceived one sen-
sible man ; and however earnestly they may, in future, turn
up the whites of their saintly eyes in repudiation of any acts
of violence which may be committed, the public, with the
following choice morsels of peaceful (!) language before them,
will have no difficulty in potting their fingers upon the head
of these men as worthy of being pilloried in company with
the most abandoned of the villains upon whom the law may
be called upon to do its office.
At a meeting of this pestilent association, held in London
ou Tuesday last, a
" Mr. Harrison said, the aristocracy were the root of all
evil: indeed, no good government ever existed where there
was an aristocracy. They were alike the enemies of the
chartists and the people, who ought to unite against them.
(Cheers.)"
" A Mr. Burr addressed the meeting, and said they had
all one common object in view—namely, the annihilation of
the aristocracy. lie had been hard at work ever since 12
o'clock yesterday, and begged to state, that in that period
he had organized a body of 1,500 men, and he only called
upon the League to let their addresses go forth that night
to them, and he would show them what could be done."
We presume this amiable individual has some such peace-
able object in view as the burning of a few of the houses of
the nobility, or the " slating" of their owners! Again—
" Mr. Edwards thought the aristocracy ought to tremble
at the situation in which they had placed themselves, and
not the Anti-Corn-law League. It had been said that the
present parliament would never assemble again. God send
it might be true—for a more base, more corrupt, or perjured
parliament never exiaterl. (Hear, hear.)"

Let us see how they would treat the illegal Chartist
meetings. Hear a Mr. WELLS upon this subject—" If they
wanted to do any good, they must have a national parlia-
ment, and get rid of Whigs and Tories both. (' Hear,'
and Oh !') This gentleman, amidst loud cries of ques-
tion, proceeced to condemn the course government were
pursuing in putting a stop to the meetings of the London
Chartists. Too much power was delegated to the police and
the police commissioners. If public assemblies were to be
put down, let it be by the voice of the civil power, the magis-
tracy, and not by the police. (Loud cries of hear.')"
Mr. Wells is but an echo of the Manchester magistrates.
But, finally, weigh well the following paragraphs from the
address of the League-men of Manchester, signed Robert
Hyde Greg, chairman; and bear in mind that it was issued
on the 20th of August—Saturday last—in a town tilled with
military and special constables, whose united efforts barely
suffice to keep down its insurgent population.
" Finally, we consider it our duty to step forward in the
present painful crisis to declare, once more, our solemn and
unshaken conviction that the unjust and inhuman Corn-law
is the main cause of the evils which afflict the industrial
community, destroying the profits of the manufacturers, re-
ducing the wages of the working men, and bringing beggary
and ruin upon a large portion of our countrymen ; and we
desire to record it as our deliberate opinion that the dense
and increasing population of this country cannot be in a
prosperous, comfortable, or even contented condition, so
long as they are subjected to the pressure of the Corn-law ;
and that there can be no guarantee for the peace of society,
or for the security of life and property, whilst large masses of
the people are sinking into a state of abject destitution.
" We, therefore, earnestly implore our countrymen of
every class to unite with us in urging upon the government
the necessity of immediately re-assembling the legislature,
wit a view to the total abolition of the destructiue monopoly
in the food of the people."