METROPOLITAN ANTI-CORN LAW ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 91, 13 June 1843, Page 4

METROPOLITAN ANTI-CORN LAW ASSOCIATION.

We are glad to find that the Anti-Corn-Law -Association of the Metropolis has at length awakened itself to the policy of more vigorous operations than heretofore has been exhibited by that body. It is impossible that London, the greatest commercial city in the world, should. hold aloof from the combat which is now waging against an enemy which scatters more destruction among her inhabitants than a bombarding foe shelling its devoted habitations. It cannot be that, when the towns of the north are crying out with strong voices against this monstrous law, the chief' city shall be still; whilst the limbs are perishing, the heart must be growing feeble and rotting in every pulse. If this be so-—-and there are few in trade who will not contend that, year after year, their profits have been diminishing, and the poorrates -increasing—what can have caused the • apathy which pervades the inhabitants of the metropolis ? It is that they are ignorant of the ■ cause which is making all the misery about and among them. When once they are aroused to •this, we have little fear that they will come •forward, as they always have on all occasions •when the struggle has been between the people -and the selfish aristocracy. But to put the masses in motion, requires more than the “ few and far between” meetings of the league, or the flying speeches of an anti-corn-law lecturer, however great may be his powers. As the association have decided, the movement must be simultaneous, and upon all points; the association must ramify the whole city, and the printing press must be put to. work to carry the war into every house.

At a meeting, held on Monday, at the office of the league, in the Strand, at which'all the influential repealers of £he metropolis were present, including Sir De Lacy Evans, Colonel Thompson, Mr. C. P. Yilliers, M.P., &c., Mr. P. Taylor, who was in the chair, introduced the business of the committee of the society. , Among other things, he said that the Tories j had taken alarm at the announcement of the vigorous measures about to be pursued by the league during the ensuing winter. He need point to no stronger proof of this alarm than that which was afforded by the paragraph which had been published in one of the weekly papers of the preceding day, and which had been copied into the Morning Chronicle of that morning which was, in truth, a warning from the, pro-corn-law party and from the Tories, that unless they altered the tenor of their way in their opposition to the present government, nothing was more probable thau that they would attempt to coerce them into submission. (Of all the means that could be devised for the spread of the leaguers’ principles, this said coercing would be the best. Let the'monopolists try it: there is rather too much dap in this ball, we fancy, to please them.) The report of the sub-committee appointed by them for the purpose of digesting a plan of future operations, was then read, and it certainly gives hopes of something like decent pluck springing up among that body. It begins by stating that, as the monopolists in the House of Commons have now given up arguing the corn-law question, and are resting upon their majorities, it only exists upon the toleration of the people, who are ignorant of the subject. The only legitimate course left for the association/ therefore, is to extend as widely as possible a just knowledge of the nature of their infhmous monopoly. The report then goes on to say:—“ The committee have received many valuable hints from the secretaries and other members of local associations, to which they have given their best consideration, and which, to a considerable extent, have been embodied in the following propositions. They now beg respectfully to report;—l. That it is the general opinion of the associations, that ordinarily aggregate meetings for routine business may be advantageously held at the same ..period of the day as at present, but that special meetings,

where it is important to command a large attendance, should commence not earlier than six o’clock in the evening. They recommend, therefore, that it be now resolved to continue the fortnightly aggregate meeting for ordinary routine business, at half-past two or three o’clock pre< isely; and for special business, at six o’clock for half-past six precisely; and that the days of meeting be altered from Monday to Friday. 2. That each association should at once fix upon some well-known place of meeting in its own district, for the purpose of holding weekly meetings, and some specific day and hour, for the next six months, to enrol members, to receive subscriptions, and to carry out a regular system for the distribution of tracts ; and, where practicable, to devote each alternate meeting to public lectures, addresses, and discussions; keeping steadily in view the importance of each society extending their operations into the districts which adjoin their, own. 3. That the various branches of the Metropolitan Anti-Corn-Law Associations be divided into fourteen topographical sections, in the following order : —No. I. shall consist of the Central Association, St. Ann’s, St. Martin’s,

St. Margaret’s, Westminster; No. 11., Whitechapel, Stepney, Wapping; No. TIL, Bethnalgreen, Shoreditch, Bishopsgate, Hoxton; No. IV., All Souls and Trinity, Portland Town, St. Mary’s, Rectory, Christchurch, Paddington, Marylebone ; No. V., Western division of St. Pancras, Kentish-town and Camden-town, So-mer’s-town; No. VI., Islington, St. Luke’s, Clerkenwell, Holloway; No. VII., Edmonton, Tottenham, Hackney, South Hackney, West Hackney; No. VIII., Hammersmith, Kensington, Chelsea; No. IX„ Camberwell and Dulwich, St. Mary’s (Newington), St. Saviour’s, St. George’s, Lambeth,Vauxhall, Surrey; No. X., Stratford, Barking, Bow, Bromley, Poplar; No. XL, Mitcham, Carshalton, Tooting, Merton, Wallington, Wandsworth; No. XII., Uxbridge, Hounslow, Brentford, Richmond ; No. XIII., Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich; No. XIV., Dartford, Crayford.—That aggregate public meetings of all the associations shall be held, under the superintendence of each of the sections above enumerated respectively, on Wednesday of each week successively, at six o’clock for seven precisely, in such place, within the district embraced under each section, as shall be mutually agreed upon between the branches included in the same; and that the said meetings shall be held in the same; and that Sections No. 1., on the 30th of November, 1842 ; No. 11., 7th December, 1843; No. 111., 14th December, 1842; No. IV., 21st December, 1842; No. V., 4th January, 1843; No. VI., 11th January, 1843; No. VII., 18th January, 1843; No, VIII., 25th January, 1843; No. IX,, Ist February, 1843. No. X., Bth February, 1843; No. XI., 15th February, 1843; No. XII., 22d February, 1843; No. XIII., Ist March, 1843; No. XIV., Bth March, 1843. To make these meetings effective, it is recommended that the

secretaries of the branches embraced in each section respectively should meet together forthwith to arrange all the preliminaries of the meeting in their several districts ; v that they should invite to their public meetings deputations from all the other sections, the presence of leading politicians, the attendance of influential persons in their respective neighbourhoods, reporters from the press, and the general public; especially including ladies, by cards of invitation, specifying place and hour subscribed by each secretary of the section —said cards of invitation to specify on the back the name of each association within the district* their ordinary place, day, and hour, of meeting for dispatch of business, and the names of their chairmen ; and each secretary of the section to be supplied with as many of the said cards as he may require—the holders of members’ cards of the Anti-corn-law League being admissable to all meetings.—s. That the secretaries of each section shall duly advertise their respective public meetings in the Morning Chronicle and Advertiser, and notify them by circular to all> the ’other branches of the association; and they shall also be announced at the conclusion of every meeting preceding that on which each section is to hold its meeting, together with the names of such persons of influence as have agreed to attend. Due arrangements ought to be carefully prepared for the sale of tracts, and the enrolment of members at each meeting; and in order not to trench on the general funds of the associations, the expenses should be defrayed by each branch within the general sections respectively, in the proportion of the number of members of which each meeting consists, or by a general or equal subscription, as may be agreed upon. In every case there should be a timely selection of chairman, speakers, and resolutions, of which last several copies should be prepared for the accommodation of reporters. 6. That the committee would recommend to each branch or section the formation of occasional public tea meetings, in addition to the foregoing, carefully avoiding the nights appropriated to sectional meetings; and they also propose that immediately on the termination of the public meetings four great aggregate tea meetings should be held.—7. Your committee have arranged with a printer to furnish tracts of four pages octavo each, at the rate of Is. 6d. per hundred ; and they recommend that a new tract, bearing upon topics emerging in the course of publication, applicable to the corn laws, be issued every week, whereof each association should agree to take and distribute at least 200 copies in its own locality, in the manner of tract societies, and shall have them on sale at their weekly and sectional meetings. That, prior to entering upon this undertaking, each association should meet and intimate to the secretary of the central association the number of tracts it agrees to purchase, direct the mode of delivery, and endeavour to make arrangements with the news vendors and booksellers in their neighbourhoods for the sale of the publications as they successively appear, advertising the addresses of those who agree to keep them on sale, in all the hills, cards, and tracts of the branch. That these publications shall be made -under the superintendence of the business committee of the central association, who shall give their best> attention to any manuscript, tracts, or suggestions transmitted to them by the branches.— After some conversation, the report was agreed to.

In obedience to the call of the chairman, Sir De Lacy Evans thfcq addressed the meeting. Having declared -himself quite unprepared to obey this call, and that he had attended the meeting solely with a view to assist the committee in any practical suggestions which he might be able to offer, he said that he could not, however, help taking this opportunity of congratulating them upon the evident and most satisfactory progress which they were making in the advancement of the cause which they had espoused. The meeting itself afforded to his mind an admirable and convincing proof of the vigorous manner in which they conducted their exertions, and they could not but anticipate that the happiest results may ensue. .(Hear, hear). Twelve months ago Mr. Villiers —■ •(cheers) —the most able and consistent champion of their cause, had congratulated the country upon the excellent progress which the anti-corn-law party was making ; and the very first division in the present Parliament had shown that, so far from a Tory government coming into power having stopped,this progress of opinion in favour of free trade, a decided increase of supporters in the House t of Commons had been obtained. (Hear, hear, hear.) The declarations of the Premier himself upon the subject had been most profitable to their cause, but most unsatisfactory to his own supporters. (Hear, hear.) This was an event which demanded their best and most sincere self-congratulation, and he hoped to see their exertions in consequence redoubled. (Hear, hear.) After some observations from Mr. Edwards, Dr. Price, and others, Mr. S. Smith gave notice that lectures on the corn-law would Ije delivered, on Tuesday, at the Royal Oak, Bayswater; on Wednesday at Poplar; on Thursday at St. John’s-wood; and on Friday at Tottenham; and, thanks having been voted to the chairman, the meeting separated.