XII.

MANCHESTER, January 3, 1843.

Sir Robert Peel's omission of the Corn Laws from his financial scheme of 1842 gave a fresh impetus to the Anti-Corn-Law League movement. Α fund of 50,000l. was set on foot to carry on the agitation for Repeal, to which subscriptions in thousands poured in from all the great manufacturing towns like Leeds, Manchester, Huddersfield, Bradford, Rochdale, &c., and in multitudinous small sums flowed in from insignificant boroughs, villages, and out-of-the-way hamlets, all alike driven at last to action by the deadly pressure of the Corn Laws. This roused the fears and fury of the Monopolists and Protectionists. The Quarterly Review' took the lead with a long article of abuse in which it denounced the League as the most dangerous conspiracy of recent times, and was vigorously supported by most of the leading journals of the day. On January 3, 1843, by which time the failure of the Government's attempts to revive the industry of the country, and to put an end to the distress, were made apparent by an appalling deficiency in the quarter's Revenue-the Excise alone showing a falling off at the rate of three millions per annum--Mr. Villiers went down to Manchester and vindicated the constitution of the League at the weekly meeting of the Association. The chief leaders of the movement were present at the meeting, which was a very large one, and Mr. Cobden, in seconding Mr. Mark Philips's vote of thanks to Mr. Villiers for his untiring exertions in the cause of Free Trade, reminded all present how almost alone in Parliament and without support in the country Mr. Villiers had, in the face of determined opposition and an apathy if anything worse to contend with, ceaselessly looked after their interests before they knew how to look after them themselves.

I FEEL extremely flattered at the consideration that you show me. I wish that I had done, I wish that I were able to do enough to deserve such notice. Had my services corresponded with my zeal in this cause, I might have been more worthy of your attention; but my single title to your regard is that since I have been a Member of the Legislature I have

striven to do everything that according to my judgment it was in my power to do to further and promote the cause for which your great and spirited combination here is formed. And I now come before you with no other claim than that of being ranked as the humble and disinterested advocate of the repeal of the destructive Laws of which you complain, as the friend of perfect freedom for this country in her commerce with every other, and as the undeviating and consistent opponent of Monopoly of every kind.

It is from a conscientious conviction that this course is right that I have hitherto acted; and it is because I believe that the system that you assail is impolitic, dangerous, and wrong, that I intend to persevere. So long as my services can still be made available in co-operation with your great and spirited efforts in this cause, I can only say that they shall be most cordially rendered.

The friends of this cause must, I believe, still co-operate heartily wherever they are to be found: we must not separate, for we must not disguise from ourselves that the task that is imposed upon us is not yet achieved-there are still great difficulties before us. We must not repudiate assistance whencesoever it is offered; and we must conciliate hostility wherever we find it, as far as we can do so consistently with honour to ourselves, and with the truth of the principles that we have espoused and are pledged to uphold.

You have done great things for the cause in this neighbourhood, in fact you have done wonders: you

have contributed largely for the furtherance of the principles you avow; and you have produced distinguished men who, both in Parliament and out of Parliament, have advocated perfect freedom of commerce. You have Mr. Cobden in the Senate, and you have Mr. Bright in the field. And truly it does rejoice me when I read and when I hear of the honours with which they are covered and of the enthusiasm with which they are received wherever they go. For it shows that there are no personal rivalries, no local jealousies, no political prejudices, intervening to mar the course and progress of the cause that we are pursuing. This cause is really far above the ordinary level of party strife; it is the cause of humanity, it is the cause of the nation in future; and every man who cares for his country or wishes well to mankind should accord to it his best ability and support.

I was grieved to be obliged to refuse an earlier requisition to attend these gatherings; but I am glad that circumstances have allowed me to appear at this moment, for it enables me to congratulate you upon your progress, and to inform you of the impression that your proceedings are producing at a distance. I do not hesitate to say that you are daily and hourly winning upon the public esteem; that your usefulness is becoming more generally acknowledged; and that people are seeing and saying that it is by some such instrumentality as a National League that this interested and selfish legislation can alone be changed.

People generally think that you have wisely

occupied this vacant moment in the public mind by bringing before them the facts and arguments of your case. You have found men in a right mood for learning the causes of their past embarrassments. And I must say that the tone of tolerance and carefulness as well as earnestness and decision that has pervaded the language and proceedings of these meetings has done much to conciliate opponents and bring over honest and cautious men to your side.

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For though I have not had the pleasure of being among you, I have not been altogether idle, where I reside, in seeking to learn the obstacles to the progress of our cause with a view to remove them. And I already have had occasion to see the success of your labours I find in the metropolis that from frequent discussion people who had not before considered the subject are now familiar with the arguments that expose the fallacies of our opponents; and if you will only persevere in the course that you have hitherto pursued, you will fortify their minds against those further fallacies that, I doubt not, are now being prepared for the ensuing Session.

With respect to the object that the Members of the League have in view in soliciting the aid and pecuniary contributions of their friends, I have never heard any right-minded man say aught of it but praise, or wish it other than complete success. You are not addressing men's passions, you are not trafficking with their ignorance, you are not proceeding secretly, or acting with violence; you are deliliberately proceeding to address their understandings

in a way to bring knowledge and information home to the humblest persons in the country. You have seen your opponents appeal to the lowest classes in the country upon this subject and skilfully confuse their minds; and now you are about to bring the truth within reach of all, and to give your opponents a fair opportunity of establishing their case if they can. Persevere in this course, and there will be no question your success-your victory will be certain.

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I myself have already witnessed instances of the result of your publications: I allude specially to the tracts that are now circulated by the League. I have seen their influence upon men's minds. I have heard men who have read those prize essays that have recently been disseminated, express their astonishment at the truths they contain. They had no notion previously that the persons who are said to be protected by the Corn Laws could have such reason for opposing them; and that the tenants of the land for whose benefit these Laws are said to exist could have put their pens to paper to denounce them as a delusion under which they had been suffering. I have known men receive tracts from the League, read them, be convinced by them, and at once tend a subscription to forward the cause.

This, in my opinion, proves the judgment with which you are now acting, and justifies the course that you are pursuing in defiance and regardless of the opinions expressed by your opponents. Yes! you may venture to proceed in your course in spite of the Dorsetshire squires. Lately they have done you the favour