Etc airtrapaIi4.

A meeting was held yesterday at the Crown and Anchor, to petition Parlianlent for the repeal of tine Corn laws. The large room was more than half full during the greater part of the time occupied by the dis- cussion. The great majority of the persons who attended belonged apparently to the middle classes. Colonel Perronet Thompson having been called to the chair, opened the business of the day in a speech of some length. He said that he considered it his duty net to decline attending the present meeting : he had written a good deal on the subject of the Corn-laws, urging others to active exertion ; and therefore, when called upon, he could not re- fuse himself to maintain in public those opinions which he bad putt forth from the privacy of his study. He adverted to the arguments usually employed by the supporters of the Corn-laws. It was main- tained that their repeal would not, in tile long-ruti, lower the price of hr cad materially, but that it would lower it sufficiently to effect the ruin of the agriculturist. The examples of Holland. Venice, and Genoa, were adduced to prove the danger to which England would be exposed by becoming dependent on foreign nations for a supply of corn.

There had:been such a inersonage as the Doge of Venice, who, it was sahl, w as a rich anal prosperous gentleman; and yet he died. And why, he would ask should not a country ileeline as weWas-,:an individual ? It was no argument, to say that because they might by possibility decline, it were better not to be rich at all. They might as well It, told, that of all IlliagS the must improsperous was prosperity, and the must cer- tain way to poverty was to be rich.

But it was said that the landlords were unduly taxed, and it was ne- cessary to maintain the Corn-laws in order to enable them to support that burden.

Now, the answer to that argument was'extremely simple. If the landowners could prow that they were taxed in au undue proportion—if they could show that They were unfairly and unjustly:taxed, why, it.would be of all things most just and fair to reduce their taxes, Hot let theinanot come and tell the people uf England, that because they were jwitly and fairly taxed, therefore the p,mple should pay an enhanced price for the first neeessary of life. Suppose a shopkeeper in the Strand were to say that he could not sell as elleap as his neighbour over the way, who undersold him by ten per cent.,ou is1.011111 of the taxes which he lual to pay, who would not smile at the statement ? It was not to be supposed that oue side, inn that instance, was more taxed than the other; and the ease was onextrictly applicable to Um agriculturists.

A writer in the Edinburgh Review stated, that eight millions of the pour-rates, and tithes to the amount of three millions, formed a pecu- liar burden on the landowners.

Now, if he understood this writer rightly, he took him to state that tire far greater por. Honor the poor-ratesImust be conshlered as a burden peculiarly affecting the laud. Butts what were the poor-rates, in their present enormously increased extent, to be attributed? To tin' legislation of the landlords themselves. They first made the giants, and thou they charged the people with killing of them. Where would the poor-rates be—where would be the paupers to demand the aid of the poor-laws—if the people were allowed to have cheap corn for their consumption ? Why was there such poverty throughout the land—why did they read of Stiehl instances of deep distress in all parts of the kingdom—u by hind the poor-rates in many counties reached to such a frightful amount? Because the landlords had declared by act of Parliament, that tlw poor man should not get w-hat he could by his labour. What would the landlords say if the manufacturers had acted in the way that they had acted—if they bad laid it down as a rule thud no nian should be a member of tine house of Commons who had not a property in mills aud manufactures, and if they had imposed a tax upon home-grown corn, with a view to the increase of the consumption of their own goods abroad ? How would the landlord+ look if the manufacturers had even brought forward such a proposition? Yet it sass case that strictly and justly applied to the pretensions set up by the landlords.

He then briefly exposed the fallacy of the argument that the pay* ment of tithes justified the landowners in taxing the fool of the whole community.

The landlords said, that the tithes were taken from them, and th .t the Corn-laws only afforded theta compensation for the 'prosperity thus abstracted from them. What would the Bishop of .London say to that argument ? Must he not tool: tvou those as really the groittest enemies of the Church who would addrnts sear an ar;ument to the people of England ; who, because they had the tithes to payfout of their io k,t must, forsooth, for the same. reason endure au exorbitant 'amount of taxation up m the prime !neces- saries of life?

He concluded by alluding to au expression of one of the advocates for the Corn-laws, that whether the repeal would be carried or not, de- pendad upon the number of skins of parchments sent lip to Parliament defficed by the hieroglyphics of fltetory children and paupers. This aas always the way-the people were first pillaged, and then insulted.

vasi was it made them paupers ?-the uphoblets of thet Corn laws. To tin pet)* II. of ,glatul he woad say, sign petitions an t send them ferw:trd from all qua tees .1- a rce...t1 of these obnoxious htws To !liose to whom the faculty of readitm. and iii not come by nature. and who had be, a t'- vi by is,v,rty o .the meaas of

• ,h,hig it. he would say, Dive us ',our mt. rs. -deface these pet it with your

..;l:.pLios; Is, not :isliamed to sign them with your cmss-nay, make your wives azei ■ air ten ehildren emit, if you have so many. sign titem in the same way: do this,

!lien it will be seen it,, the end who will have tin' best reason to laugh at the Wert,.

,,f factory children and paupers. (Mud/ :liveried.)

:lit'. :John Crawford, after stating. his regret that Eaeitezer Elliott, the ititlior of the Cora-Law Rhymes, was not present to perform the duty which devolved upon him, proceeded to read the following reso- lutions.

1. That to prevent the industrious classes form buying fool, with a view to increase the 11101111es Of the nonindustrions, is ruinous public policy ; and, as tegards indivi- luals, a breach of that rule for the general good whieh common parlance has deltouth not • I .1,,st ;VV. Tiro if the owners of land bear any undue proportion of the burdens of the eomtr■. the taxes that press on them should he reduced; but that to:ittempt to corn. pe:eate til.nt by a tax which amounts to the prohiliition of industry and commerce by Parliament, is an impolicy to which no parallel can be found in the history of bal bayous nations.

"Ii. That the limitation of industry and employment produced by the Corn-laws is the g rovt use ofthe national distress, and of the sufferings and dangers incurred by d:fli•rout eltsses of the communiiy.

" 4. aka there is no instance in history of the numerous classes in any nation sub. illit14 to suirerings approaching in manner and degree to those endured by the people c■ mta my, after the cause and nature of their evils had beconw familiarly know n Osmi ; and that it is highly desirable, in consequence, that the Legislat ore should hula: Inca-aims for effecting the inevitable change with the least disturbance to the general tpliet of society. "5. That the only measure competent to meet the public sense of wrong Is the pas- on of :; its directing the total removal of the existing duties on foreign corm toy such gradations as to the wisdom of the Legislative shall seem meet.

That all elan-es be invited to unite in timely removing the evil and peril of the Cormlaws; ;mil that in particular a call be made upon the liberal aristocracy to rat . ekes at the head of the public feeling, ;old give society the guarantee of their in. fotenee ma direction."

lie felt, Mr. Crawford then said, considerable diffidence in executing his ta-k in the presence of the author of the Catechism qfthe Corn-Lows -he fiat as if he were going to be cateehised himself. It was not easy to say any thing new on this subject ; but the essential point was to

ascertain how much the price of food WaS enhanced in this country in system with the simplieity and beauty of that of St. Simon, which :ts he stated, consciptence of the operation of the Corn-laws. Ile bad made some depended on the practical applieation, in all situations and to all persons, Ilf the calculations on that point, and he found dint, taking the present cost Christian rule ' Do as ye would be dotte by,' and on the universal edtwation of the whole people, according. to .some. rational plan, such as that of Pestalozzi. He of alty-two millions of quarters of grain in England (the supposed an- wial (-onsumption), the same quantity could be purchased at Antwerp, sailed ; and, certainly, we must agree in the truth of this remark, provided that thew creed is not very different from the general explanation ni it anotded to us, on Friday evening, by Dr. Prati. But la., probably, left much to be communi- cated in detail, on future occasions, the coostimption of twenty-five millions of people. With the Corn- " The oration WilS concluded in about an hour ; and then the meeting seemed laws ni existence, wheat was brought from twenty-three different places at Once to change its character, and, without any proposition or motion to that

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tu England. He showed, by reference to the increased consumption of effect, to resolve itself into a deliating assembly. 3Ir. oxen took the chair, and Coffee and cotton, that there was DO danger of a deficient supply or ex- kept it till the meeting- was dissolved soon after ten o'clock. When he began to orbitout price in any article which the British people required and could speak, a voice from the gallery complained that lie was apt to he tedious, and in- pay for. Sir Henry Parnell, a clear-leaded and cautious man, had pared how long he was to be allowed to hold forth. One party said, half au given a list of upwards of thirty foreign articles that were taxed for the hour ; another, ten minutes. Half an hour was allowed on a show of bands.

" Mr. Owen declared his profound ignorance of the tenets of St. Simon, and puraow of " promoting the interests of the landowners, by excluding foreiiii competition." 11Ir. Crawford believed that he could nead •

Paris, A instenlam, Hamburg, and Stettin, at 0/, 72, SS, 91, and 133 p.m taut. cheaper titan in London. He ridiculed the idea that the price of wheat would be raised all over the world by any increase in Men Cht1 liv 1, huLa-

anti

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( tit!, them floe land Mat of laud, amid double that list. lie read several of the principal items,--such as tim- ber, ,pirits, currants, tallow, and hides, of which the list was composed : the sum total of these and other articles would reach 7,50),000/. He them, aferred to the passage before alluded to by Colonel Thompson in the liantryli Racket, respecting the peculiar burdens imposed on the land. 1-mars. With regard to the Poor-laws, the landlords had hail the mak Ma. and had in the rural districts the execution of them. They had i o lousiness, therefore, to complain of them.

The a to tithes, the land was inherited with that bunion ; and whenever land was bit a calculation of the tithe was made, so is to reduce the amount of the

; in fact, tithes hall existed in this conntry as a lien on the laud ever ...,;diatt:ty had been introduced here,-ever since, in short, there existed a

I pei,,Iltood here-and a powerful priestlusxlwe had here at present. He bad 0..,,s1 deal, and he hatl never seen a country where a powerful priestlussl ex- leed. • • o t !ley did not endeavour to get as mud, as they could. The Druids, no doubt, g,t ..? 1411 as they could when they were established here. (.1 laugh.) aratied that in every other country butt England, the land was chit•I with the main part of the taxation ; but in England, even the .a of 3.s. in the pound had been so reduced by an arrangement of

Mr, that it did not now amount to ffii. in the pound. He proved that Bread-tax fell with ruinous disproportion on the poor. He .ed by reminding the meeting, that the repeal of the Test Act, Emancipation, and Reform-such as it was-had been carried .1 and exertion ; and calling upon all present to prepare for a .1 and persevering agitation of the subject. :lel Leicester Stanhope seconded the resolutions; but spoke -nine interruption, in consequence of his advocating the neces- oompensating the landlords by reducing taxation, and abolishing or the loss which the repeal of the Corn-laws would occasion to 'riffle (a journeyman tailor, it was whispered at the meeting) de- 1, in extremely vehement language, the idea of compensating the 's. He moved to expunge the second resolution, the gram- oonstruction of which he severely criticized-it was "a jumble ist, present, and future tenses," and a sophist would be able to mean any thing.

loin, Foster, late editor of a Leeds paper, seconded Mr. Duffie ; occasion to speak ayainsi the object of the meeting.

Mr. Detrosier defended the resolution as it stood. And .11r. Duffie acknowledged that, being an unlearned man, he might hava misappre- hended it : he therefore withdrew his amendment.

After another amendment to the second resolution (which went tat recommend the abolition of tithes in order to benefit the cultivators of the soil) had also been withdrawn, the resolutions and a petition founded upon them were unanimously carried.