Page:History of the Anti corn law league.pdf/312

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296
BAZAAR PROPOSED.

in the neighbourhood. The details of distress were similar to those which had been given at the meetings in the midland counties, in the south-western counties, in Yorkshire,in Lancashire, in Perthshire, and in Lanarkshire; and at the ministerial conferences in Manchester, Carnarvon, and Edinburgh. The following gentlemen were appointed as a deputation to wait on her Majesty's ministers, to lay before them a statement of the effects of the Corn Laws on the trade of the district: Messrs. J. Sholefield, M.P., G. F. Muntz, M.P., T. Thornely, M.P., C. P. Villiers, M.P., R. Scott, M.P., Joseph Sturge, Josh. Walker, W. Boultbee, Corbett, Taunton, and the chairman. The following resolution, passed unanimously, proved that the meeting was strongly adverse to any compromise: "That this meeting rejoices that the National Anti-Corn-Law League have convened a meeting of deputies, to be held in London on the 8th of February, and earnestly recommends to the deputies, then assembled, to take prompt and efficient measures, irrespective of the course which may be pursued by the government, for testing the opinions of the members of House of Commons on the total and immediate abolition of the Corn and Provision Laws."

The design of a bazaar, upon a grand scale, so as to add largely to the funds of the League, and to bring into friendly communication, and daily social intercourse, the friends of free trade, and especially the ladies who had taken a deep interest in the question as affecting the welfare of suffering millions, had been first broached in September 1841, when a committee was appointed to consider how it could be carried out. On the 4th November the ladies, forming the committee, met in the Town Hall, where they received deputations from the Anti-Corn-Law and the Anti-Monopoly Associations. Mr. George Wilson stated that a correspondence had been opened with various large towns in the kingdom, with the view of making the Bazaar a national one; that promises of active support and