could. "Take that," said the chairman, and threw his hat towards the speaker, amid great laughter and cheers. "And take that," said Mr. Brooks, throwing his hat in another direction; "and that," shouted other gentlemen, and a dozen of hats were flying towards various parts of the rooms, returning loaded with coppers to the amount of £6 or £7. Mr Cobden said that he would rather see these spontaneous, though humble contributions, than if there had been as many sovereigns as pence. The contributions in the room amounted to £796.
Wolverhampton, like Manchester, had made its first election of representatives in 1832, and every subsequent election,a free-trade demonstration—an emphatic protest against the landowners' monopoly. To visit this borough, so distinguished, the League deputed Mr. Bright and Mr. Moore. The chair was taken by Mr. John Barker, a county magistrate, and he was supported by Messrs. Joseph Walker, William Walker, Benjamin Walton, J. Bradshaw, S. Cartwright, H. Walton, Alex. Walton, and other influential gentlemen of the town. Mr. Villiers, one of the members, the leader of the anti-corn-law movement in the Commons, had written that he could not leave London at that time, much to his regret. Mr. Thornely, the other member, gave an exceedingly interesting account of his observations in the United States, where he had recently been and of the mutual advantages the two countries would derive from mutual exchanges. Mr. Bright and Mr. Moore followed in speeches which excited great enthusiasm. Similar meetings, attended by Mr. Bright, were held at Stourbridge and Dudley. On the 99th December, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Brooks, and Mr. Moore, visited Warrington. The venerable and firm-minded John Rylands, was in the chair, and introduced the deputation to the meeting. In the course of Mr. Cobden's speech, he said:—
