to obtain a thorough reform in the constitution of the House of Commons. He believed a large number, at least, of the League and its friends and supporters, would say they had tried every means in their power, in the present state of the suffrage, to obtain a redress of their grievances, and they had tried them all in vain; they must now join the ranks of those who were struggling for a radical reform in the representation of the people, convinced at length that the rights of humanity and justice could not otherwise be obtained.
Mr. Ridgway stated that he came forward at the request of a populous district, the Staffordshire Potteries, to state their situation and to relate their distresses. He did this with every feeling of respect to the head of her Majesty's government, and under an imperative sense of duty to those who had sent him. The Staffordshire Potteries had long been a rising and prosperous district, but its prosperity was gone, and it was sinking more rapidly than it had been rising. The manufacturers, the support of the population, were losing their trade, and, what was still worse, their capital. The traders and shopkeepers, for want of business, were, many of them, unable to meet their engagements and to maintain their stations and the working classes, an intelligent and industrious class, were suffering under severe and unexampled distress. The manufacturers, unable to sell their goods, were driven to lower their prices, to limit their work, and reduce their wages. The working men had to contend with all this—with a high price of food, and with privations without a ray of hope. Their comforts were gone, their furniture was fast going, their clothes only told the sad difference between past and present days. Yet they had borne their sorrows with a fortitude not more worthy of commendation than of belief. Numbers of them had emigrated to other lands where their manufactures were in demand, and no Corn Laws to oppress them. And, he said it with infinite regret,
