fusion again prevailed, amidst which O'Connor was heard to tell the meeting, that "if he lived, by the blessing of God, they would have universal suffrage;" but his hearers seemed to think that they would be none the worse, in the mean time, of food at its natural price, for on a show of hands his amendment was lost, and the original resolution carried by three to one.
At Leeds a chartist was the obstructive at Liverpool it was a tory who opposed himself to the new movement. At the latter great town a very numerous meeting was held; the Mayor (Hugh Hornby, Esq.) in the chair. The first resolution in favour of free trade, proposed by Mr. T. Thornerly, M.P. for Wolverhampton, and seconded by Mr. Christopher Rawdon, was carried with a few dissentients. The second, on the injurious operation of the Corn Laws, was proposed by Mr. Henry Booth, seconded by Mr. James Molineux. Mr. Duncan Gibb, in opposition, said that the effect of the Corn Laws had been to keep up the price of labour. This was received with loud laughter. He went on to say that the high wages consequent upon the operation of the Corn Laws had the effect of enabling a man to earn what allowed him something to spare for the luxuries as well as the necessaries of life. In conclusion Mr. Gibb read a long amendment to the effect that the Corn Laws were just, convenient, politic, and salutary, and that it would be highly inexpedient to alter them. The original resolution was supported by Mr. Ottiwell Wood, then he said in his seventy-ninth year, Mr. John Smith, Mr. Walmsley (now Sir Joshua), and Mr. Rathbone, and was carried by a great majority.
The Manchester Association having resolved upon a public dinner invited the attendance of a number of members of Parliament, who, in the previous session, had voted in favour of Mr. Villiers' motion for the repeal of the Corn Law; and of delegates from associations which had sprung up in various parts of the kingdom; and it
