5 NOVEMBER 1842, Page 13

THE 50,0001, DEMAND OF THE LEAGUE—ITS OBJECTS AND MISAPPROPRIATION. TO

THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.

London, lot November 1842.

Sill—I think the present purpose of the Anti-Corn-law League a mistaken policy. I believe that any one who has impartially observed the various inci- dents of the Free-trade cause will agree with me, that it has many worse enemies than the farmers. In the first place, men so clearly self-interested are not, in the abstract, formidable advocates of their own cause ; nor does their profound and passive ignorance by any means enhance their power. The electors are, as a body, tolerably well acquainted with the bearings of the ques- tion already ; and they who are not, are mostly too enslaved and subjected to various kinds of control to be open to the influences of fresh knowledge or re- flection.

There are, however, another very large body, whose errors are great, whose hostility to free trade, though indirectly effective, is immensely mischievous, and whose relation to the leaders of the League renders it a primary duty and policy in the League to instruct,-1 mean the working men in the manufac- turing districts. The League has yet to learn the lesson which the late wayward insurrection of their workmen has taught every one but themselves,—namely, to begin at home. As long as their own house is divided against them, any crusade against external enmity is premature, and must be waged at a vast disadvantage. So long as errors, accompanied by just sufficient light and abundant energy to snake them actively pernicious, grow up and flourish in their own hotbeds, they will attack agricultural ignorance with small effect. It is the peculiar misfortune of the League to be on the worst possible terms with those who are the most interested in the success of its efforts, and in the closest natural affinity to them. Whether this arises from the perversity of the child or the repulsiveness of the parent, I do not attempt to say ; but few deny the detri- ment of this untoward schism to the League and its efforts. I do not think that any other course, open to the League, is for a moment to be compared in policy and importance with that of the conciliation and en- lightenment of its own people—than whom none exhibit a more inveterate detestation of it, or a more pernicious ignorance of the doctrines it teaches. The League is a body capable of wielding high moral power. and effecting 'a" good. It has not done this. Similar means, energy, and ability, have heen seldom, if ever, excited with less effect. If this letter obtain admission into your columns, I shall perhaps venture to suggest further means of realising and enhancing the legitimate influence of the Anti-Corn-law League. lay only object is to place the pyramid on its base. a.