History of the Anti-Corn Law League/Chapter24
CHAPTER XXIV.
FORMIDABLE TURN-OUT.
The League had hitherto been the preserver of the peace. While there was hope that its labours would he successful, the representations of evil-minded men that nothing could be obtained without violent measures, were listened to with mistrust; but when Parliament was about to be prorogued, after declaring that it would enter into no consideration of the means acknowledged to relieve the distress, that peace-preserving hope was destroyed; and, were in their despair, people willing to give attention to those who recommended violent proceedings, with the view of bringing matters to a crisis. It was represented that a great commercial convulsion, which should compel employers to join the ranks of the employed, would render the demand for the Charter irresistible; and that the means of obtaining that, through reform of the representative system, would also be the means of gaining a great advance of wages. The plan was, that every worker should cease to work; one absurd enough at any time, but especially absurd at a period when employers had so little work to give. It was not asked whence the advisers came, or by whom employed. In their wretchedness and hunger, men did not reason much. Besides, thousands being convinced that some violent proceeding was necessary, tens of thousands would be compelled to join them. Thus, the outbreak, the almost universal "turn-out," came at once; came, however, in a manner, which proved that the school master had been abroad; came not, as in former days, with attacks upon millers and corn-holders, flour dealers, and bread bakers, but with some reverence for law and regard to the rights of property. The deep designing wickedness of some, acting upon the despair of the multitude, originated a folly; but the foolish would only go a certain length with the wicked, and there was reason to believe that the few instances of pillage that occurred was mainly the work of thieves and vagabonds, who had mingled with the crowd for that purpose. Another characteristic of the period was the patience and forbearance of those whose duty it was to preserve the public peace. Persuasion was preferred to the constable's staff, and to the soldier's musket or sabre. An emeute like that of August, 1842, over in a fortnight, occurring in 1819, would have occasioned a civil war.
The movement, originating in Ashton-under-Lyne, Dukinfield, and Stalybridge, was almost without violence, and simultaneous. All the hands in all the mills, 23,000 in number, turned out at once on the morning of Monday, August the 8th, and deputies from their body induced 9,150 in Hyde, and its neighbourhood, to follow the example. Oldham was visited in the afternoon by numerous turn-outs from Ashton, who, notwithstanding some resistance, succeeded in causing the operatives to leave most of the mills. On Tuesday, a body of several thousands proceeded from Ashton to Manchester, where, their arrival being anticipated, they were received by the military and police, but, on their declaration that they intended nothing illegal, they were allowed to pass, but were carefully watched, in order to prevent violence. Their demand, at various mills, that the hands should turn out, was instantly complied with—the masters, generally, giving their hands full liberty to do as they pleased. At Messrs. Birley's mill, the doors of which were thrown open at their approach to allow the workers to go out, the mob insisted on going in, and, on being resisted, a number of windows were broken, and missiles thrown, which inflicted some severe hurts, and it was necessary that the streets should be cleared, which was easily effected. At two or three other places similar damage was done, but no attempt at the destruction of machinery was made.
On Wednesday, the business of turning out hands in the mills was continued; and it was effected with little violence, and where any was attempted, the ringleaders were seized and sent to prison. Numbers of idle persons crowded the streets, mingled with whom were bands of thieves, and in some instances contributions were levied upon the bread shops. The magistrates were constantly on the alert, and, with the military and police, succeeded in preventing the accumulation of any great number in one place. The mayor (William Nield, Esq.) issued a notice, cautioning persons against joining promiscuous crowds in the street; and a number of special constables were sworn in to assist in the preservation of the peace. Much alarm was of course experienced, but it was not very intense. There was a belief that the turn-out was not voluntary on the part of a majority of the workers, that that majority was proof against the recommendation of violence, and that the authorities, while firm and determined, were equally cautious and forbearing, and anxious that the innocent and the deluded should not share in the punishment due to the guilty and deluding.
On Thursday, the appearance of things became of a more alarming character. The disturbers were at work at an early hour in the morning, thousands being assembled in Granby Row Fields so early as half-past five o'clock, where they were addressed by several of the chartist leaders. Soon after six, the proceedings were suddenly brought to a close by the interference of the civil and military authorities. Sir Charles Shaw led on a very large body of police and special constables, and a strong body of dragoons and rifle soldiers accompanied them. This force halted near Carpenters' Hall, close to the assemblage, and immediately afterwards, Major General Sir William Warre, Commander of the Northern District, came up with a detachment of the royal artillery and two field pieces. The Mayor, D. Maude, Esq. (police magistrate), Jas. Kershaw, Esq., a Borough and County Magistrate, who had accompanied this force, took up a position in front, on horseback, and the mayor read the riot act. Previously, however, to this reading, the mayor, humanely desiring to avoid as much as possible any resort to force, rode up to the hustings, and stated that the authorities had come to the determination, after what had occurred, to allow no such meetings as that; that they were not averse to the liberties of the subject being enjoyed to the fullest extent, consonant with the preservation of the peace; but they thought meetings of that description were calculated to excite and disturb the public mind. Entertaining this opinion, they held such meetings to be illegal, and were determined to disperse them. This announcement was received with manifestations of great displeasure by the meeting; but the riot act was read, as a further warning, in the face of this expression of feeling, and the magistrates withdrawing, and the two field pieces having been pointed in a direction to command the centre of the field, Major General Sir William Warre put himself at the head of the dragoons, and rode into the middle of the meeting. This had the effect of instantly dispersing it, and the dispersion was effected without the use of the sabre, and without any one being hurt.
Effective as this step had been in dispersing this alarming assemblage it was far from restoring the town to a state of quietude. The idle, the mischievous, and the dishonest were out, looking for their opportunity of plunder. About nine o'clock, in the whole of the south-eastern part of the borough, including Garratt Road, Brook Street, Oxford Road, and Green Heys, the shops were closed, and bands of from twenty to fifty youths were parading the streets, and knocking at doors to ask for food, and seldom went away empty-handed, changing their place of operation when any of the police appeared. It is due to the authorities to state that they were not idle. A body of 200 pensioners and ninety other persons were sworn in to act as special constables; making, with those sworn in on the previous day, and a number of respectable workmen who had also been sworn in at the different mills, all anxious to preserve the property of their employers, a force of 1,000 men; and strong bodies of these assistants were despatched, in company with parties of the regular police, to different parts of the town, where it was thought there was the most pressing necessity for their presence.
Things remained in much the same state during the Friday and the Saturday, violences being rather the exception than the rule, for the masters had generally closed their mills, with the determination to keep them closed until their workpeople voluntarily offered themselves, and the workpeople, generally convinced that no good could be effected by the turn-out, waiting the period when they could resume their employment without the risk of obstruction from the fiercer portion of their number. At the close of the week, 3,000 special constables had been enrolled, and the hope was entertained, that although in all the surrounding towns the process of turning out had been successful, with more of violence than had occurred in Manchester, there would be no very serious disturbance of the public peace.
In the commencement of the following week there were indications that the turn-out would not be of long continuation. Fears were entertained that Tuesday, the 16th, being the anniversary of the attack, in 1819, of the military upon the people assembled on St. Peter's Field, would be the day chosen by the chartists for their retaliation. A public procession was talked of, and the presence of Feargus O'Connor was expected; but if that was intended, he had caution and prudence enough to avoid the personal risk. A very numerous meeting, however, was held in Carpenters' Hall, of delegates from almost every trade in Manchester and in the neighbouring towns, at which a man of the name of Duffy, a chartist, complained of men who were leaguers one day and special constables the next. The following resolutions were proposed:—"1. That this meeting pledges itself to discontinue all illegal proceedings; and further, that they will endeavour to preserve the public peace. 2. That we cannot exist with the present rate of wages, and that we are determined not to go to work until we obtain the prices of 1839. 3. That each master do pay the same for the same fabric of cloth throughout the whole of the manufacturing districts. 4. That it is the opinion of this meeting thatour political rights are imperatively necessary for the preservation of our wages when we gain them we, therefore, pledge ourselves to act with our other friends, and trades generally, in gaining the people's charter, as the only means of securing the said rights." The result of the deliberations was that 58 were for the people's charter, and would not return to work till it was gained, 19 would wait the result of another meeting, and seven who thought the movement should be solely for an advance of wages. There can be no doubt that this meeting tended greatly to lessen the influence of the leaders of the movement. Tens of thousands saw, instantly, the folly and the impossibility of remaining out of work till the charter was obtained, and earnestly desired to retire from the contest, more especially as the congregated masters had issued a resolution: "That the mills and other public works of Manchester and Salford be not opened for work, until the workpeople therein employed signify their desire to resume work." The workers had been made to believe that the masters would be compelled, by the universality of the movement, at once to yield; but this non-resisting policy—this willingness to stand still, and at a period when standing still was about as profitable as working—was a thing that was not anticipated. An address from Sir Benjamin Heywood to the working men of Manchester was not without its effect in opening their eyes to the folly of their own conduct, for the time had come when the advice of respected men was not disregarded. The following address, from Mr. John Bright, was also greatly influential in inducing them to think deliberately upon the course they were pursuing:—
"TO THE WORKING MEN OF ROCHDALE.
"A deep sympathy with you in your present circumstances induces me to address you. Listen and reflect, even though you may not approve. You are suffering—you have long suffered. Your wages have for many years declined, and your position has gradually and steadily become worse and worse. Your sufferings have naturally produced discontent, and you have turned eagerly to almost any scheme which gave hope of relief.
"Your fellow-workmen in Ashton and Oldham turned out for an advance of wages; they invaded your town, and compelled you to turn out. Some of you, doubtless, were willing, but many of you were reluctant to join them. They urged you to treat the men of Bacup and Todmorden as they had treated you. They told you that you had no courage, and that you would be unworthy the good opinion of your fellow-workmen if you refused to act towards others as they had acted towards you. You became an invading force. You visited the peaceful villages of Bacup and Todmorden, and compelled your fellow-workmen to cease their labour. You were regardless of the sufferings you were bringing on their wives and children you relentlessly, and contrary to every principle of justice and freedom, deprived them of bread! You have had many meetings to deliberate on your position and prospects. An advance of wages to the rate paid in 1840, and ten hours per day, were the demands you were urged to make. But when the turning-out in this district was completed, and you had become evicted, these demands were abandoned, and you were urged to refuse to work until the charter became law.
"Many of you know full well that neither act of parliament nor act of a multitude can keep up wages. You know that trade has long been bad, and with a bad trade wages cannot rise. If you are resolved to compel an advance of wages, you cannot compel manufacturers to give you employment. Trade must yield a profit, or it will not long be carried on; and an advance of wages now would destroy profit. You have a strong case now in the condition of the colliers and calico printers. The wages of the colliers are not so low as those in many other trades, but they suffer, because they are only employed two or three days per week. The wages of calico printers have only been reduced once during twenty or thirty years, and yet they are now earning as little as any class of workmen, having not more than two or three days' work per week. If they combined to double the rate of wages, they would gain nothing, unless they could secure increased regular employment. Your attempt to raise wages cannot succeed. Such attempts have always failed in the end; and yours must fail.
"To diminish the hours of labour at this time is equally impossible; it is, in effect, a rise of wages, and must also fail. You can have no rise of wages without a greater demand for labour; and you cannot dictate what hours you will work until workmen are scarce.
"Your speakers and self constituted leaders urge you to give up the question of wages, and stand upon the charter. Against the obtaining the charter the laws of nature offer no impediment, as they do against a forcible advance of wages; but to obtain the charter now, is just as impossible as to raise wages by force.
"The aristocracy are powerful and determined; and, unhappily, the middle classes are not yet intelligent enough to see the safety of extending political power to the whole people. The working classes can never gain it of themselves. Physical force you wisely repudiate. It is immoral, and you have no arms, and little organisation. Moral force can only succeed through the electors, and these are not yet convinced. The principles of the charter will one day be established; but years may pass over, months must pass over before that day arrives. You cannot stand idle till it comes. Your only means of living are from the produce of your own labour. Unhappily, you have wives and children, and all of you have the cravings of hunger, and you must live, and, in order to live, you must work.
"Your speakers talk loudly. They tell you of your numbers and your power, and they promise marvellous results if you will but be firm. They deceive you; perhaps they are themselves deceived. Some of them contrive to live on this deception, and some are content with the glory of their leadership. They flatter you grossly, and they as grossly calumniate your employers. They pretend to be working out your political freedom; they know that that freedom can only be obtained through the electoral body and the middle classes, and yet they incessantly abuse the parties whom it is your interest to conciliate and convince. For four years past they have held before your eyes an object at present unattainable, and they have urged you to pursue it; they have laboured incessantly to prevent you from following any practical object. They have vilified the substance and extolled the shadow. They have striven continually to exasperate you against those who alone will or can aid you to overturn the usurpations of the aristocracy. They have succeeded in creating suspicion and dissension, and upon that dissension many of them have lived. They have done their utmost to perpetuate your seven or eight shillings per week, and by their labours in that cause they have enjoyed an income of three or four times that amount."
"My fellow-townsmen,—You have been in a fever during this week. Your conduct, unopposed as you have been, has been peaceable, and such as my intimate knowledge of you led me to expect from you. We are all liable to err; you have committed an error, but it is not a fatal one—it may be retrieved. I believe you to be intelligent men, or I would not address you. As intelligent men you know you cannot remain out; you cannot permanently raise wages by force; you cannot get the charter now. What are you to do then? RETURN TO YOUR EMPLOYMENT. It is more noble to confess your error than to persist in it, and the giving up of an error brings you nearer the truth. When you resume your labour do not give up the hope of political improvement—that would be even more to be deplored than your present movement. Cherish it still a brighter day will come—and you and your children will yet enjoy it. Your first step to entire freedom must be commercial freedom freedom of industry. We must put an end to the partial famine which is destroying trade, the demand for your labour, your wages, your comforts, and your independence. The aristocracy regard the Anti-Corn-Law League as their greatest enemy. That which is the greatest enemy of the remorseless aristocracy of Britain must almost of necessity be your firmest friend. Every man who tells you to support the Corn Law is your enemy—every man who hastens, by a single hour, the abolition of the Corn Law, shortens by so much the duration of your sufferings. Whilst that inhuman law exists your wages must decline. When it is abolished, and not till then, they will rise.
"If every employer and workman in the kingdom were to swear on his bended knees that wages should not fall, they would assuredly fall if the Corn Law continues. No power on earth can maintain your wages at their present rate if the Corn Law be not repealed. You may doubt this now, but consider the past I beseech you—what the past tells you the future will confirm. You may not thank me for thus addressing you, but, nevertheless, I am your friend. Your own class does not include a man more sincerely anxious than I am to obtain for you both industrial and political freedom. You have found me on all occasions, if a feeble, yet an honest and zealous defender; and I trust in this, time will work no change in me. My heart sympathizes deeply in your sufferings. I believe I know whence they mainly spring, and would gladly relieve them. I would willingly become poor if that would make you comfortable and happy.
"I now conclude. I ask only the exercise of your reason. If possible lay aside prejudices, and you will decide wisely.
"To such of you as have been employed at the mills with which I am connected, I may add that as soon as you are disposed to resume your work, the doors shall be open to you. I invite you to come, and you shall be treated as, I trust, you have ever been—as I would ever wish you to treat me.—I am, with all sincerity, your friend,"
The movement in other places was attended by less regard to life and property than was shown by the working men of Manchester and its neighbourhood. Miss Harriet Martineau says: "The chartists had got into the hands of protectionist guides or agents, had broke in upon free-trade meetings, and denounced free trade in corn, and stirred up precisely those among the working classes who were suffering least—the pitmen of the coal districts and the Welsh miners. There were riots of nailers and miners at Dudley and Stourbridge, and tumult over the whole district, requiring the active services of the military. The rioters resisted a reduction of wages, and hustled some of the masters; as did other rioters in Wales, where a gentleman of property had a narrow escape with his life. In the Potteries, a force of 6,000 malcontents, spread over an extent of seven miles, and occasionally committing violence on recusant masters and men, kept Staffordshire in alarm. Troops were encamped on the Potteries race-course, and magistrates tried to conciliate and mediate, but with little effect.* * * * * The rioters sent bodies of men to the Yorkshire towns; and sometimes letters—laconic and significant—detailing progress, and one ending with 'We got plenty to eat; the shops are open they give us what we want.' Some disturbances ensued; but nothing so formidable as in Lancashire and in the Potteries, where now the malcontents were gutting and burning dwelling houses. In the midst of their violence, they gave a lame clergymen 'ten minutes' law to walk away, but refused the entreaties of a lady that they would spare the house, leaving her to be thankful for personal safety. Three men were shot dead by the soldiery, at Burslem, and several were wounded. * * * * * In a very short time, the chartist strangers, dropping in from a distance, showed a depth of design and a rapacity which disgusted the Lancashire operatives; and the disorder subsided gradually through the last weeks of August and the beginning of September."
In my paper, of the 20th of August, I made the following remarks:—" We have had another week's almost total cessation of business; but while the insurrection, as it has been called, has been rapidly extending, and in many instances has had the melancholy accompaniments of the loss of life and the destruction of property, here, and in the immediately-surrounding large towns and populous intervening villages, which unitedly contain a population of three quarters of a million, the extraordinary tranquillity remarked upon in our last publication still continues and while, at a distance, Manchester is thought to be in a state of siege, the whole town may be traversed without a single act of violence being witnessed, and the most timid female may go out at all hours of the day, without the slightest chance of receiving an insult. What an honour this to the longsuffering working men of Manchester! What a strange spectacle this, when the fiat of the multitude settles whether this man shall work or that man shall not, and when a quarter of a million of persons, unemployed, might spread havoc and confusion all around, Here is the law in one instance set at complete defiance, and a new law of the multitude in full force—that none shall work without their consent; and yet, with this evidence of supremacy, there is the full and tranquilising conviction in the minds of all other classes that their lives and property are perfectly safe in the hands of a population, which, except in its wild sense of justice with regard to the means of obtaining a better reward for labour, or a fuller representation in Parliament, pays the most punctilious regard to law and order. The conduct of the people of Paris, during the three days' struggle, lauded, and deservedly lauded, as it was, falls infinitely short in forbearance and noble mindedness to that of the people of Manchester and its neighbourhood in this fortnight's formidable contest.
"Has there been one single instance of the destruction of machinery? Bands of men have gone to a factory and ordered the hands to be turned out, and on compliance have gone away without doing damage to the amount of one farthing; and denial has occasioned little more than the demolition of panes of glass. In other instances a stop has been put to work in the briefest and easiest way. There is a plug in every boiler driven from within; and so well known is the position of every plug, that in one instant it is found, and in another moment driven in, letting the water out on the fire. The object has been not to destroy, but simply to stop and the simplest and least destructive manner has been chosen. Notwithstanding all that has been said by noble lords and most noble dukes, and by monopoly supporters, from Peel downwards to O'Connor, about distress being occasioned by over-production, accompanied by less demand for labour being occasioned by machinery; and notwithstanding all that has been said by Stephens and Oastler, about the ease with which machinery may be destroyed, there has not been a single loom or a single spindle touched. And why? Because the people almost universally understand that there can be no over-production, while any of their members are deficient in clothing, and that it is not machinery which throws them out of employment, but that selfish legislation which prevents them from exchanging their woollen cloths, their calicoes, their fustians, and their cutlery, for the corn which abounds in other lands, and which, freely imported, would at once increase the demand for labour, and supply abundance of food to the half-starved multitudes.
"All honour to the intelligence and the virtues of men so acting. We must and do condemn all application of physical force to prevent men willing to work from earning their daily bread. We must and do condemn, and condemn most strongly, this interference with the rights of labour; but at the same time we must applaud, and most highly applaud, the rigid observance of the law, in all other respects, by men of whom it has been falsely said, that if they were in possession of power they would use it to the destruction of all property.
"And while we praise the working classes of. our own immediate neighbourhood, let us also do justice to the other classes of our community. Never on any occasion have we observed more sympathy with the distressed, greater allowance for their breach of the law, or greater desire to see them restored to the comfort to be derived from receiving the due reward of their labour. We do not approve of all the acts of the magistracy. We think they have put forth declarations which can be justified only by the hurry and excitement of the moment. But be it remembered that the sound of a soldier's musket has not been heard within twenty miles of Manchester. Let this be remembered in connection with the reckless use of the military force in 1817 and 1819, and the middle class, and the partly popularly-nominated magistracy of to-day, will stand in advantageous contrast with the Hays and the Hultons of former days.
"Great forbearance on the part of the working classes having temporary power—great forbearance on the part of those who have the law and the civil and military forces on their side—mutual good will instead of mutual hate—a general disposition that labour should have its full reward—are there not here the elements of mutual agreement? And we here express our full conviction that a friendly conference between masters and men would, at once, put an end to the dispute so far as wages are concerned. As for the notion of standing out till the charter be obtained, is there one man in a hundred who believes it to be possible?
"The whig press is representing the turn-out as the work of the chartists, and the tory press boldly declares that it is directed by the League. Those who so write or talk are incapable of distinguishing cause from effect. The anti-corn-law agitation is the natural consequence of constantly-diminishing profits of trade, and constantly diminishing wages of labour. Poverty has compelled investigation into its cause; and the conviction has been, that persons in trade, either as employers or employed, can never be prosperous while the law declares that they shall not receive anything from other countries in exchange for goods, but articles which are consumed only by the rich. And the chartist differs from the corn-law repealers only in this, that the latter wishing instant relief, applies to the powers that be, while the former sees no remedy for the evil but in a thorough change of the representative system. Both agitations are effects of the suffering produced by selfish legislation, and neither can be put down but by the removal of the cause.
"We need not reply to the aspersions thrown upon the League by the tory press. It has its own organ, and it can defend itself. We may, however, express our conviction, that, in this district where its character is known, and where its proceedings have been closely observed, no honest man, of ordinary capacity, believes that either directly or indirectly, individually or collectively, have any connected with it, been, in the slightest degree, instrumental in inciting this 'insurrection,' unless it be by the incitement which must follow every forcible representation of a great and intolerable grievance. Does toryism stand as clear from the charge of instigating the people to violence?"
On Thursday, August 25th, an extremely crowded meeting of the Manchester Anti-Corn-Law Association was held, Mr. George Wilson in the chair. It was addressed at great length by Mr. Cobden, who congratulated the members that the question of the Corn Laws was settled in the House of Commons, so far as discussion was concerned. The deplorable proceedings around them were a natural corollary on the proceedings of that house, which had made the people despair of obtaining justice. He described the various efforts made during the session to procure a repeal of the laws which had occasioned so much misery, and, referring to the lamentable circumstances of the period, said:—
"What do we hear from the guilty authors and abettors of this confusion? Why that the Anti-Corn-Law League has produced it; yes, that we, who have been incessantly advocating the repeal of the Corn Laws, in order to give the people bread and employment, are the guilty cause of the people rising in insurrection for want of food and wages. This is the charge that is Brought against us. Now, gentlemen, so gratuitous a display of profligacy as has been manifested by the London press, and a portion of our press in this town, on this subject,—such a specimen of profligacy I believe never was equalled in the annals of the press. (Applause, and ' It never was.') Why, I should not, for the sake of meeting our opponents condescend to allude to it at all; but when you do see charges like this made against a body like the Anti-Corn-Law League, reiterated day after day simultaneously by a dozen newspapers; why our friends, even our dearest friends, might naturally say—'Surely after so many reiterated accusations there must be something in it.' And it is because I believe that some of our friends elsewhere, in spite of their experience of our conduct here, may by these reiterated accusations be led to doubt whether we are not to blame in this matter—it is, therefore, and therefore only, that I condescend to notice these attacks. (Applause.) And it is to satisfy them—it is to convince those ministers of religion, those ladies, and that numerous body of the moral and religious portion of the middle classes of this country who have lent us their assistance,—it is to convince them that we are not unworthy of their aid, that I alone would condescend to notice these charges. (Applause.) Now, gentlemen, I would venture to say, and if nothing else that fell from me should go forth to the public, I hope that this at least will do so—I will venture to say in the name of the Council of the Anti-Corn-Law League, that not only did not the members of that body know or dream of anything of the kind such as has now taken place,—I mean the turn–out for wages—not only did they not know, concoct, wish for, or contemplate such things, but I believe the very last thing which the body of our subscribers would have wished for or desired, is the suspension of their business, and the confusion which has taken place in this district. (Loud applause.) And I pledge my honour as a man, and my reputation as a public man and a private citizen, that there is not the shadow of the shade of a ground for the accusation which has been made against us. Why are those accusations made? It is with the desperate hope that they will inflict a moral taint upon the Anti-Corn-Law League. They cannot oppose our principles; for their own political chief has given up the whole question, and has avowed himself to be with us in principle; they cannot therefore denounce our principles; and from the moment that the prime minister declared himself a free trader—from the moment that he said it was not only best to buy in the cheapest markets where others took goods from us, but that it was best to do so whether reciprocity existed or not—(laughter and cheers)—from the moment he went that 'whole hog' in free trade, their mouths were closed; but still they had their dirty work to do; they must say something, and what so natural and so politic as that these miserable tools of a beaten, a vanquished party, should commence immediately to attack the Anti-Corn-Law League? Their only hope, their only chance now, is is in impairing our moral influence with the country. That is the game. * * * We have been lately charged with being in collusion with the chartist party. Now the parties who are charging this are labouring under the disadvantage of having themselves been working for the last three years to excite the chartist party against us—(hear), and by means not over-creditable, as we shall by and by, perhaps, have the opportunity of demonstrating to the world. I will not say a word upon that at present; but, by means which may meet the light, they have succeeded in deluding a considerable portion of the working classes upon the subject of the Corn Laws. And I have no objection in admitting here, as I have admitted frankly before, that these artifices and manœuvres have, to a considerable extent, compelled us to make our agitation a middle-class agitation. I don't deny that the working classes generally have attended our lectures and signed our petitions; but I will admit, that so far as the fervor and efficiency of our agitation has gone, it has eminently been a middle-class agitation. (Applause.) We have carried it on by those means by which the middle-class usually carries on its movements. "We have had our meetings of dissenting ministers; we have obtained the co-operation of the ladies; we have resorted to tea parties, and taken those pacific means for carrying out our-views which mark us rather as a middle-class set of agitators. Now the parties who, by their manœuvres, their unprincipled tricks, their hiring of traitors, have, I will say, compelled us in some degree to make our agitation a middle-class agitation, have unfortunately drawn their own teeth in this matter, and cannot now charge us with being chartists. (Applause, and laughter.) We are no political body; we have refused to be bought by the tories; we have kept aloof from the whigs; and we will not join partnership with either radicals or chartists; but we hold out our hand ready to give it to all parties who are willing to advocate the total and immediate repeal of the Corn and Provision Laws.(Loud cheers.) * * * It is not this or that political party—it is not this or that agitation which accounts for the present tumultuous state of the north of England; it is long existing causes, which are to be found in our own statute book. (Cheers.) There we must go for the causes of all the misgovernment and wretchedness found amongst the working classes; and we must pin them to this, gentlemen; we must reiterate this, and not let them get us on the wrong scent, and persuade the world that it is this or that temporary cause which has led to this state of things; we must go back to the great cause the mischievous legislation under which we are suffering. (Loud cheers.) There is no doubt the object of our opponents is to divert attention from that cause; that one of their great objects is, if possible, to prevent us going on discussing the Corn Law, its objects and effects; and to put us on our defence for our supposed connection with these proceedings. Now, I say that I will never open my mouth in defence of the League on this ground after what I have said to-day. Let the League go on in their own course, agitating—agitating—agitating incessantly for the repeal of the Corn Laws. (Loud applause.) Gentlemen, you are strong in the country; you are stronger than you think in London. The middle classes in London are almost to a man for the repeal of the Corn Laws. (Applause.) You are stronger than you think in the south of England; you have strength in the rural boroughs that you are not aware of; and I will tell you now what I did not venture to say on a former occasion—that I don't think Manchester will carry the repeal of the Corn Laws, but that we shall carry it only by making it a national question. (Loud cheers.) Therefore don't let the enemy make it be believed that this is a mere manufacturers' or cotton spinners' question: that is one of the enemy's manœuvres to make it appear that you are treating the whole country as if it consisted only of 250,000 manufacturers; there is not a man, woman, or child who is not as directly interested in the repeal of the Corn Laws as any cotton spinner in Lancashire. (Loud applause.)"
Mr. Cobden went on to say, that on the question of wages the working men must be taught that it is one depending on principles apart from party politics—that the question of wages is one which depends on the same principle in England as it does in America, Switzerland, in Russia, and everywhere else; and that if we had the charter next day, the principles which govern the relations between masters and men would be precisely the same as they were then:—
"I believe that the working classes here generally are of opinion that the intrusion of the chartist question has not been of any service to them in the question about wages. (Applause.) I believe they are quite disposed to discuss and settle this question apart from party politics. Then what will enable the master to give better wages? By getting a better price for his goods. And how is he to get a better price for his goods? By extending the markets. (Loud applause.) How can be sell more goods and thus give more employment to labour, except he can get an enlarged market, and thus meet the wants of the increasing population of the country? There is no other way. (Loud applause.) Our business is not to alter constitutions; we don't seek for chartism, whiggism, radicalism, or republicanism—we simply ask for an enlarged market to enable the capitalist to extend the sale of his goods and thereby to increase the demand for labour and augment the rate of wages. (Applause.) This is a time, gentlemen, when I hope masters and men will meet and discuss this subject apart from party politics.(Applause.) The time is peculiarly favourable for this, and I think, notwithstanding the lamentable circumstances, the state of the public mind in this country, both with masters and men, will settle down into a more rational disposition to view this question apart from passion or prejudice, than ever it did before,—for I do think, gentlemen, that the present disturbances will leave less of the traces of prejudice or of resentment in the minds of the middle classes in this part of the country than any former tumults ever did before. (Applause.) I remember, in 1839, when they attempted to stop the mills, and when I believe upwards of 600 persons found themselves in prison—I remember quite well that the feeling on the part of the middle class was one of unanimous indignation at that movement."
After alluding to the many concessions of principle on the part of the landed aristocracy, and the almost total abandonment of argument on the part of those who still voted against repeal, he expressed his astonishment that there were still manufacturers who did not see that their own interest, as well as the interest and welfare of thousands whom they employed, would be promoted by free trade in corn, and that instant relief would thereby be given:—
"Not a letter comes from America which does not state that they are overburdened with bread stuffs, that they have had a most bountiful harvest, and that they have a surplus of three million quarters of wheat, all of which might be sent to this country before next June. I received this intelligence in a personal interview which I had in London with one of the largest American merchants; and I saw one in this town to-day, who said that he was really thinking of letting his warehouse, or giving the landlord notice that he should leave it, but he added that he had a letter from his partner in America, by the last steamer, which said, 'If you could only get the Corn Laws repealed in England, we could send you plenty of orders.' (Applause.) There is this American merchant in England, his warehouses empty, and his presses standing idle; those presses could be kept going packing your goods for America, and the docks at Liverpool might be kept in activity in receiving corn from America, which might reach the starving mill-hands of our No. 1 district here, and infuse gladness and contentment into their bosoms. (Loud applause.) Gentlemen, our strong case at this moment is America; we must urge this on all occasions; if you meet with a sceptical, incredulous neighbour, who doubts that we could get instant benefit from the repeal of the Corn Laws, take up the case of America. (Applause.) It is no use, gentlemen, America opening her ports to us at a low duty; we cannot get any more trade from them unless we will take what they have to give."
Mr. Cobden went on to consider the condition of the agricultural population. The corn monopolists had stopped the outlet for their rural labourers, and the tide that used to set to the manufacturing districts was not merely checked, but it was rolling back upon them a desolating tide of pauperism. He said, and he was soon to set an example in the course he recommended, "with regard to our future tactics, as we are rather a practical body, I should most certainly recommend that we pay a visit, as soon as the harvest is over, to the agricultural districts. (Hear, hear.) We shall be very unwelcome visitors, but no matter about that; we must go into the rural districts, and we must teach the people there that they have a common interest with ourselves in getting rid of these monopolies. We shall find enlightened friends in the agricultural districts in all directions; Let us cultivate their acquaintance; and don't let us look upon this as a manufacturers' question. Low prices of corn are coming upon them; high rents, contemporaneously with low prices, will make them ready listeners to our lectures. Let us show them that, with a repeal of the Corn Laws, though they might no longer obtain high prices for their produce, the landowners would not have the power of extorting from them their present enormous rents, when corn had jumped down to 40s. a quarter. Let us explain this to the farmers; and let us show the labourers that they were better off with corn at 40s. a quarter, than they have been during the last three years, when it was 70s. Let us teach them these things, and let us do it in the spirit of kindness and conciliation."
Mr. Cobden's advice was followed. Soon after this period the question became a national one—and the movement was as much directed upon the agricultural as upon the manufacturing districts.