Lord John Manners told some working-men of Leicester, on Monday,
that they ought to go for taxes on imports, for two houses in Leicester were selling German hosiery, which with £70,000,000 of taxes was ruinous. He did not, however, propose to lay an import duty on bread, knowing well he could not on that point take in even Conservative working-men, and his plan, therefore, comes to this. The import of everything Englishmen can make is to be taxed except bread. That is to say, the entire weight of the rise in prices which he expects to secure is to be thrown upon the landlords, the farmers, and the agricultural labourers, who alone will be unprotected. Considering how absolutely the Tory party out of Lancashire depends upon the votes of these classes, Lord John Manners is entitled to the highest credit for his contempt of party obligation.
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