discriminating duties, that take from the public what does not find its way into the exchequer, but into the pockets of the colonists.
We may also reasonably anticipate some change in the Corn Law, which, while it has been as effective as that which preceded it in repressing our trade with corn growing countries, has been ineffective in protecting the farmer, by throwing in all the foreign supply at the only time of the year when he has corn to sell. But here again we must beware of a juggle. The attempt will either be to gain over the half-thinkers, who talk of "reciprocity" by different scales of duty, from countries, according to their tariffs, or to detach from the anti-corn-law agitation the half-free-trade men, by the adoption of what is called a " moderate " fixed duty. Here again the public must be on its guard; and the pressure from without must compel the only measure that can be beneficial to all, total repeal.
"Commercial reforms we shall have; the poverty within, and the pressure from without, will bring them. Shall we have any Parliamentary reform? The answer is a reference to the proceedings at Birmingham, where the chartists have declared, that the middle classes shall not aid them in procuring an extension of the suffrage. The O'Connors and the Coopers have thrown the cause of reform back ten years."
The League was not disposed to wait and see what Peel would do. It was building a great Free Trade Hall, in Manchester, and contemplated the holding of meetings in one of the principal theatres in London, and a movement to enlist the whole population of the metropolis on its side.
With these views published the following address to the citizens:—
"Fellow-Countrymen,—The Anti-Corn-Law League has awakened the practical attention of our country to the unhappy condition of the middle and working classes engaged
