APPEAL TO THE QUEEN.
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at its conclusion, urging an appeal to the Queen, he said:
"She is a woman—she is a wife—she is a mother; tell her the nation which has just rejoiced in the birth of a son she has given to be the soverign of these realms, contains millions of husbands, wives, and children, who know not where to obtain to-morrow's bread.—(Hear.)Implore her, as she desires to save her country from distraction, to gladden homes that are desolate, to bring upon her the blessings of the perishing, and to rule over a happy and contented people,—to exercise all the influence the constitution gives her in favour of that great measure which we have advocated to-night. Let the memorial which shall thus express your own wishes be carried to the homes of those for whose welfare it prays. Carry it to the cellar where mothers are perishing; ascend from the cellar to the garret; gather as you go, the signatures of those who are pining for bread. Thus let those who have nothing, and those who at present enjoy competence, appear together in the presence of our patriot Queen.—(Cheers.) If it be possible let millions of women urge their united appeal to a woman's heart; it cannot be that it shall prove a vain appeal. Your Queen has told you that she pities the sufferings of her people, and desires to relieve them.—(Hear, hear.) Consolidate these sufferings; present them in the mass before her eyes; claim her attention to them; tell her that the Corn Laws have produced them; tell her that nothing but the abolition of the Corn Laws can remove them; and beseech her with the earnestness which women alone can display, to declare herself yet again on the side of the people. If in the midst of this work of mercy any should cry 'politics,' silence it with the still louder cry of bread !' (Great cheering.) If any should tell you, you are unfeminine in that which you do, tell them it would be still more unlike women to slumber in inactivity when mothers and their little ones are perishing for bread.—(Cheers) Do this, and you will sanctify this question; you will raise it above the reach and make it triumph over the machinations of party; you will teach a lesson to heartless politicians which they may not refuse to learn. While the voice of the advocates of the poor is heard in the senate of the land, let your voice be heard in the palace of your Queen.—(Cheers.) I firmly believe it remains for you to give your casting vote in favour of the abolition of the Corn Laws. Refuse it not, I entreat you!—give it to-night; call upon your sisters throughout the country to give it; let every woman in Manchester and its suburbs have the opportunity of giving it. Be prompt in what you do. It is a life and death question. Hunger waits not! Death waits not! Both are abroad; be up and doing. This is the time: the hour is striking. To your work then—your proper work;the work of women—;of Englishwomen—of English,
