Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 67, No. 416, June 1850Various
General
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 67, No. 416, June 1850
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
(Cheers.) He knew that time was pressing on, and that he must be
brief. He would therefore conclude by again protesting against
the treatment they had received, and most heartily seconding the
resolution which had been proposed to them by Mr Ball. But he
could not resume his seat before he had conjured them to send Whig
principles to the winds. (Laughter and cheers.) His belief was, that
Dr Samuel Johnson never made so happy a hit in his definition of
those principles, as when he said that the devil was the first Whig.
(Great laughter and cheers.)
The resolution was then put and unanimously carried.
Professor AYTOUN, of Edinburgh then came forward, amidst loud
cheering, to propose the following resolution:--"That this meeting
attributes the depression and distress of the agricultural, colonial,
shipping, and other interests to the rash and impolitic changes
in the laws which had long regulated the importation of foreign
productions; that it is of opinion that those laws were based on the
most just principles, and dictated by the soundest policy; that,
under their salutary influence, the British nation had attained an
unexampled state of prosperity, and a proud pre-eminence in the
scale of nations; and that if their object and spirit in fostering
and protecting native industry be finally abandoned, many of the
most important interests of the state will be sacrificed, and the
national prosperity and greatness be ruinously impaired." The
learned Professor proceeded as follows:--Gentlemen, I have been
desired, perhaps, rather than requested, on the part of the Scottish
Protective Association, (hear, hear,) to attend this meeting, and
to move one of the resolutions. I most sincerely wish that the task
had been confided to abler hands than mine; but all of us have a
distinct duty to perform; and those of my countrymen who act with
me feel that, on such an occasion as this, it would be wrong and
faint-hearted if Scotland, which is so deeply interested in the
grand question of protection to native industry, were to hang back,
and refuse to come forward to testify to you and to the tenantry
of England that our zeal in this cause is as great, our feeling
as decided, our determination as strong as your own. (Cheers.) I
cannot offer to you the testimony of a practical agriculturist, but,
perhaps, I may be allowed to say that I do not consider this is a
meeting entirely of agriculturists. (Hear, hear.) Every man in this
nation, from the lowest to the highest, has, I conceive, a distinct
stake in this question. Every man, whatever be his occupation or his
calling, is entitled to come forward here and declare his opinion
upon those measures which have been thrust on the nation by an act of
perfidy and treachery, to find a parallel for which we shall search
the pages of history in vain. (Hear, hear.) I do not exaggerate
our case when I say that Scotland is, if possible, more interested
than England in the maintenance or the restoration of protection to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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