men of Walsall could get for their labour was insufficient to buy enough of bread for themselves and families; therefore, they had no money to expend upon clothes or other necessaries, the consumption of which was essential to the well-being of other parts of the community.
The chairman, in highly complimentary terms, next proposed the health of John Bright, Esq., M.P. for Durham. The announcement of this gentleman's name was received with loud and continued cheering, waving of handkerchiefs, &c. Silence having been restored, Mr. Bright rose, and was again received with renewed applause; after which he delivered one of those powerful and patriotic addresses in favour of free trade, for which he had already obtained, both in the House of Commons and out of it, so much applause. He appealed to facts in proof of the doctrine of free trade, and most forcibly elucidated the advantages which all classes in the community would derive from an entire free trade in corn. His address throughout was listened to with great attention, and made a deep and lasting impression upon all who heard it. He regretted the absence of Mr. Cobden, who was detained at home in consequence of the temporary illness of his lady at the time when he was about to leave for Walsall. The healths of the Rev. W. Mackean, the committee of 1841, who assisted in the contest of Mr. Smith, and subsequently of Mr. Scott, were given, and the company soon afterwards separated.
After this period, tea parties, at which ladies might attend, became an important part of the agitation.
In the course of this autumn was published an abstract of the answers and returns obtained in 1841, relative to the occupations of the people, and was read with great interest, as it settled a mooted question as to the relative proportion between agricultural and manufacturing labour.
By those returns it was ascertained that between the years 1831 and 1841 the amount of employment afforded by the
