Page:History of the Anti corn law league.pdf/301

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PROTECTIONIST DESIGNS.
285

and the Post never mentioned the manufacturing population but in terms of contempt, and the latter said: "While the people of all ranks, or all degrees of property, in the crowded manufacturing districts are what they are,it is a moral impossibility that they should be tranquil, or wise, or happy." It was a moral impossibility that men who were reduced to starvation by selfish legislation could be tranquil, wise, and happy—if they complained of the injustice! Language of this sort was repeated over every part of the kingdom, especially in the manufacturing districts, and the obvious design was to involve the working classes in serious disputes with their masters. The design was zealously forwarded by the O'Connor chartists, and the mischievous effects were speedily manifested.