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
Mr GEORGE BODINGTON, of Sutton Coldfield, said--I appear here
to-day from the county of Warwick; and on behalf of the men of
Warwickshire I say, that whatever may take place in this country
as the consequence of the false policy of Free Trade, they will,
under all circumstances, be ready to do their duty. It is, I
think, a most surprising spectacle to see the yeomanry of England
and Scotland assembled in the centre of this metropolis, for the
purpose of carrying on an agitation in opposition to the measures of
Government. We might almost appear to come forward in a new character
upon this occasion, for we have been always ready to support the
Monarchy, the Government, and the Constitution of this country. It
might seem as if at present we were placed in a false position, but
in reality we appear in the same position we have ever occupied,
namely, as defenders of the institutions of the country. Free Trade
is the policy of the Government, and it is a policy founded on the
success of an agitation which was unconstitutional in its character
and objects, and therefore we are here to-day to oppose it. The
agitation which was carried on by the Anti-Corn-Law League, went to
an extent, and had a purpose in view, far beyond the limits which the
Constitution safely and fairly allows in the conduct and movement of
measures by the people against the Government of the country. But
how came the Constitution to fail on that occasion? For my part, I
have faith in the British Constitution; and I do not believe that
that great error would ever have been committed except through the
treachery of those to whom its administration had been intrusted. Our
cause has been lost by treachery and cowardice. (Cheers.) But how are
we to rectify the error? I fear it can only be done by a dissolution
of the present Parliament, and the election of another in its stead
determined to vindicate the rights of native industry, and re-assert
the authority and dignity of the Constitution from the violence
and degradation to which it has been subjected. Are the present
Ministers prepared to add to the dark catalogue of Free-trade
disasters, (embracing the ruin of the West Indian colonies, the
disaffection and threatened alienation of the Canadas, the entire
ruin of Ireland, which, through Free Trade, special as well as
general, is sunk to the lowest depths of misery and destitution,) the
utter destruction of the capital in the hands of the tenant-farmers
and yeomen of the country?--and with that, as a consequence, of the
aristocracy?--and with that, of the throne? Why, these things must
follow as the inevitable results of one another. It had been asserted
by Sir R. Peel, on a recent occasion in the House of Commons, that
the doctrine of Free Trade was analogous in principle to the law of
gravitation which governs the great material world around us. He
used this allusion, however, merely as a piece of empty declamation,
without the smallest particle of reasonable argument to support
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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