Lealey be improved by a bad harvest and a failure of the potato crop? Would a lessening of the quantity of food in the kingdom give the children more to eat?
On the 18th of June the League held one of its great meetings in Covent Garden Theatre. The speakers, besides the chairman Mr. George Wilson, were Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, and Mr. W. J. Fox. From the statement of the chairman it appeared that $25,046 0s. 11d. was the exact sum realized from the late bazaar, while as many articles remained unsold as would enable them, in autumn, to hold a similar exhibition in Manchester. The contributions to the $100,000 Mr. Wilson said, were now closed, and excecded that sum by nearly £17,000. A detailed account was read to the meeting. Mr. Cobden humorously exposed the "special burden" face: "They, the inhabitants of London, knew very well what a dodge was; they often saw a man walking about the streets with his armu bound up; that was a special burthen, a grievance, and he made money by it. But when one of the mendicity officers went up to him, and wished to examine the arm, he found the Artful Dodger loth to comply." That was the case with the landlords, the protectionist landlords. They had been exciting public attention by the complaints of their heavy burthens, but when the mendicity officers came forward and offered to examine them, they refused to comply. The following is a summary of his observations on the aspect and prospects of the free-trade question:—
