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The Anti-Corn-law Delegates, on Tuesday, passed a vote of thanks to Lord Brougham, and on Wednesday testified their gratitude to Mr. Villiers for the very able epeeches delivered by them in the two Houses of Parliament.
At their meeting on Thursday, Mr. Smith, the Chairman, presented a report of' the proceemlJmor.s of the Delegates since their arrival in town. Mr. Smith then dissected mod refuted the statements which Sir RobertPeel had imposed on the I Iottee of Commons in the debate of Tuesday. For instance, he exposed this fallacy fatal to Sir Robert's view of mannfite- turing prosperity. The year 1838 was one of unusual activity in manu- factures, because it succeeded a period of great stagnation and commer- cial embarrassment, particularly in the 'United States : but Sir Robert selected the exports of' that year as the point of comparison with pre- vious years, to make out his ease that the exports were progressively increasing. By this trick, he was enabled. to make a showing which the nod eaets did not warrant. Sir Robert also avoided a statement of the places to which the exports had been made ; fbr he knew that it would exilibit a diminution in the quantity of manefactured goods sold in Europe, tvhile nearly the whole increase was in raw material ex- ported to Cerinany and Russia, Mr. Jul:us:eel read a statement to show the progressive diminution of prolits. 1,Joking at the price of the raw material and the value of cotton cloth exported, he calculated that there remained in this country, tc be divided among workmen and capitalists, in the shape of wages and profits, in MO, lie/. per yard ; in 1825, 7d. ; in 1830, eit/. ; in 183e,
le:17, and 18:18, only 1 per yard.
The Honourable .1. Erskine Murray made some striking statements to show the intimate connexion between the prosperity of commerce and the value of' land.
Mr. Cobden reviewed the experience of the Delegation in London, and said there was no cause for despondency. They were the real representatives of, three millious of people—a far greater number of colt- stitueuts than the 1 louse over the way could boast of They well knew that no great principle was ever indebted to Parliament for success—the victory must be gained out of doors. The great towns of Britain had extended the right hand of' fellowship to each other ; and their alliance would be a ilanseatie League against their feudal Corn-law plunderers— Let them remember the result of the union of the 'Tense Towns. He had sailed up the -Rhine, the Danube, and the Elbe, aml hail exulted over the ruins of the castle once hilt:duffed by the feudal landlords, hut which now only served to make a landscape picturesque. Instead of those baronial residences, there were now fen ile vineyards, cultivated by a prosperous petteantry. Repeal the Corn-laws, and then, and. not till then, England would have a contented, a prosperous, and a rich peasantry, such as there was in other countries.
Sir Robert Peel had said that this would be a labourer's question :lie sh ould find it so—au agricultural labourer's question—
They would go each and lay before the agricultural labourers the information
they had intended to lay before the House of Commons • and eventihfetihaiii,eires compelled to go into every village, those facts should 'be known. They had. they had no more the power of regulating the price of labour than they hid that that was an argument which acted two ways: if they had the power regulating the wages of the operative spinners or weavers, surely the power of regulating the catch of mackerel. But Mr. Cayley had forgotten been told by Mr. Cayley that they had the power to regulate wages: why, had time power of regulating the wages of the agrieultnral labourers; amid what were the wages the agricultural labourers got, in comparison with the manufae- turiug labourers ? Ile and his partner hail in their employment upwards of a thousand men ; they paid 400 of those men upon an average of years 22s, a week, and they had leo one person so badly paid. as the average of the serfs on my Lord Ashley's estates
A public dinner at one of the Theatres had been offered to the Dele- gates ; but as they were about to leave town, they could only decline, with gratitude, the proposed honour.
Colonel Thompson said, the strongest Parliamentary argument against the manufacturers appeared to be, that they had some property left— Their position struck him as being similar to that of the Jews in this country when their teeth were drawn as means of extracting their wealth, Teeth were drawn and the wealth was left ; but still there was a shrewd suspi- cion, that if they were properly looked after, something more might be ex. tractud from them. Now that was the pith and substance of the great argil. ment (aged aeltinst them. If they complained, they were told they had built, faetories. Ile would put it to them whether they would not continue the agitation, which must be like the Trojan war: and lucky would they be if they got to time end of it within the period of that celebrated performance.
He had lately been making experiments in the agricultural districts, and was far from believing that the agriculturists were their bitter enemies— He had been told. that if he had attempted a few years ago what he had at- tempted the other day, he would have been mobbt d and turned out of the town. But he hnd no fear of behig malctreated by the agriculturists. Ile had a straggle with his friends the Chartists, and it was a, question still who came off with the most advantage. Ile felt for the Chartists, having considerable remnants of friendship left fbr them : he hoped that allowance would be made for them as young politicians, and they would find them in a few years walk- ing where they were now hardly able to crunch, Ile was sure that every gentle- man present would see the importance of Cultivating. harmony among all classes. It was said that after a foolish thing had been done, then came re- flection. That would be the case with the Chartists; and lie did not believe that any women in Birmingham would rattle halfpence in tin boxes again. 'When they found how they had been pinched in the bread-basket, he thought their courage would be damped for it repetition of any such operations as that. (Mime burg/der.) None of them ought to give way to despondency. There were Friends, he meant Quakkgs, in that room : they all knew how infallible was the success of every thing that Quakers undertook—by the token, he be- lieved, that they never undertook any thing they were not certain of succeed- ing with. They were birds, though plain in prumag.e, of' exceedingly good omen. (Immense laughter, in which $ietral members qf the Society of Friends heartily joined.) Resolutions were passed "that the meeting be adjourned to Manches- ter, at a time to be fixed. by the Anti-Corn-law Association of that town, giving a week's notice ;" that no further business of the Dele- gates should take place till they reassembled at Manchester ; and that Dr. Bowring, Messrs. Ewart, Weir, and any other Delegate in London, be a Committee to receive further communications, and to whom the Secretary might apply in case of need, on any thing relating to the cor- respondence.
A vote of thanks to Mr. Smith, the Chairman, was carried with en- thusiasm ; and the meeting broke up.
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