resolutions condemnatory of the Corn Laws without giving him a hearing. Mr. Charles Wilkins claimed to be heard as seconder, but as it was known that he had gone, supposed to be paid by the protectionists, to oppose the election of a free trader for Walsall, and as it was believed that the Duke of Buckingham had paid him £150 to play the game of obstruction in Manchester, the meeting instantly decided that he should not be heard. Several working men then addressed the meeting, and a petition, praying for the total and immediate abolition of the Corn Law, was carried all but unanimously.
A procession was now formed, at the front of which were Sir Thomas Potter, Messrs. C. J. S. Walker, George Wilson, H. Rawson, Samuel Lees, James Howie, and a number of other gentlemen, on horseback. Near the front, but on foot, were Messrs. Richard Cobden, William Rawson, James Kershaw, W. Evans, and other well-known friends of the anti-corn-law cause. The long line of flags and banners, principally with devices and inscriptions on a pure white ground, produced a most imposing effect as they waved in the rays of a brilliant sun. "The total and immediate repeal of the Corn Laws," was the predominant inscription, almost every separate district having selected it as the leading motto. Among others were seen "Down with the infamous bread tax," "No fixed duty," " No sliding scale," " God is with us," " "Equal rights," "No monopoly," "Villiers, the friend of the people." There were also a number of loaves carried on poles, exhibiting the relative proportions of the English, Polish, and the American loaf. Market-street presented one dense mass of spectators, loudly cheering as the procession passed, and the windows were crowded with ladies. On passing the rooms of the League, in Newall's Buildings, from the windows of which large banners were waving, each district division gave three hearty cheers. The various bodies congregated in St. Ann's Square,
