NEWS OF THE WEEK.
"EXCITEMENT " on the Corn-laws is now greater than is "agree- able to those who were so much struck with the absence of excite- ment" a few months ago. Mr. Vn.ranas prophesied in the last session of Parliament, that " the day was not far distant" when the landed interest would be compelled to treat this question with respect, and abandon the practice of shouting down the advocates of free trade in the Legislature. That day has arrived; and sooner, probably, than the prophet himself expected it. The im- pulse derived from Glasgow and Manchester is felt through the entire country. There is scarcely a large town or thickly-peopled district in Great Britain which has not moved, or which is not
about to petition Parliament, against the Corn-tax. Men of all parties aid the agitation : political differences are not al- lowed to hinder the common fellowship of citizens, having such an object as the overthrow of a system that threatens, sooner or later, to convert the mercantile community into a mass of bankruptcy, and involve all classes in deep distress. At two meetings—those of Birmingham and Finsbury—the "working men" carried resolutions against petitions for the repeal of the Corn-laws ; and they made similar though unsuccessful attempts elsewhere. But even while refusing to take present measures for procuring relief from the Bread-tax, they declared its atrocity. They were not friendly to the Corn-laws ; and their refusal to join the middle classes must not be cited as proof even of their indifference to the continuance of the system.
There is little danger that the example of Birmingham and Fins- bury will be extensively fhllowed. Its absurdity is too glaring. The Birmingham philosophers, of the tin-canister* sect, pique themselves on syllogistical demonstration. By short cuts they arrive at conclusions which they imagine to be irrefragable. Mark the logical process by which they satisfy themselves that it is impolitic to petition against the Corn-laws. We desire Universal Suffrsge; a principal benefit to be derived from Universal Suffrage is the repeal of the Bread-tax ; but if we repeal the Bread-tax first, a powerfid motive for obtaining Universal Suffrage will disappear ; therefore we will not, at present, strive to abolish the Bread-tax. Now it is certain that the middle classes can compel Par- liament to repeal the Corn-laws, even without the assistance of the unenfranchised masses. They compose the constituent body; they elect the House of Commons; their will must be law. There has never yet been an emphatic expression of the will of the new constituency. Since 1832 they have dosed and dreamed—drugged by the delusions of Whinzery. They are awake at last : it is beyond question that the power they possess will be exercised, and that the monopoly of the landed in- terest will eventuallywho can say how 80011 ?—be destroyed. Where then will the Chartists be ? By their own doctrine, one of the most weighty arguments for Universal Suffrage will have been taken away ; a pressing. reason' for gaining admission to the franchise will have ceased to extst ; and if economical prosperity, good wages, and regular employment should follow, a long farewell to the Chartist agitation. But this is not :all : with the apathy of the masses would coexist disgust in the middle classes. It would not be just, nor, on a large view of politics, prudent, to punish the refusal of the former to join in the movement against the Bread-tax by with- holding the elective franchise ; but an excuse would be furnished to all disposed to continue the exclusion ; and others, now favourable to the claim of admission to the suffrage, would be chilled, and withdraw their active assistance in the cause. The reverse would happen were the Chartists to swell the cry for untaxed corn, and back the middle classes in their appeals to Parliament.
Although, from shnilarity in their modes of proceeding, and in the terms of resolutions proposed at various places, it appears that the marplot Chartist operations are the result of instructions emanating
• probably from Birmingham, the success attending the scheme has been, as we have said, insignificant. And it is also worthy of re- * At the Birmingham meeting on Monday last, women were employed to rattle halfpence in tin boxes, to prevent Mr. SCHOLEFIELD and other speakers from being heard.
mark, that the persons who head the tin-canister t position are not those in whom the working classes of England have hereto- fore confided. Colonel THOMPSON, EBENEZER ELLIOTT, ROEBUCK the Democrat, and THOMAS ATT WOOD, the Working Man's Friend, support the Anti-Corn-law movement ; which, in reality, has not met with serious obstruction from any portion of the people.
The filet, that in every popular assembly which the present move- ment has called together, men of all parties—for on this point the Chartists eagerly coincide with their countrymen—have ex- pressed detestation of the Corn-tax, and a thorough conviction that it is maintained solely to enable a class to plunder the community, deserves earnest consideration front the Members now on the eve of meeting in Parliament. They are arraigned before the country as public robbers—as making laws for enriching themselves by dis- tressing and ruining those whom they are bound to protect. Who speaks of them with respect. They are looked upon as foes to the national welfare, whom it is necessary to struggle with for the very means of subsistence. The Parliaments of Boroughmongers were never so scorned and reviled. As to their representing the people, the idea is scouted. The universal opinion is, that severe pressure from without is necessary to obtain even a minimum of just legisla- tion. For a large benefit, the entire nation must be convulsed. We defy any person to read accounts of the recent meetings and arrive at any other conclusion, than that, in popular estimation, the majority of Parliament consists of selfish jobbers, whom fear alone will stimulate to perform the commonest act of justice. We say that such opinions are alarmingly prevalent ; and they will continue to prevail and to spread, until something be done, of un- equivocal character, to counteract their:progress. The opportunity of acquiring some portion of national respect—of partially removing the stigma under which they now lie—will speedily be presented to Members of both Houses. It is in their power to ward off the pressure for constitutional changes : or if changes must come, it is yet theirs to mature them with deliberation, temper them with wisdom, and execute them in peace and safety.
