and disaffection, and a brutalizing and barbarizing of the minds of the people, such as they have suffered from for the last half-a-dozen years, and which they are now only partially getting rid of. (Applause.) It is impossible to draw a picture too gloomy of that which we have already seen in this district, and it is much less possible to draw a picture of that which must come if we neglect the power that we have in our hands to wipe away these infamous laws. I am sure we have the power; the statements made by our chairman to-night prove that we have the power. (Applause.) The Reform Bill never has been worked by either the liberal or free trade party in this country. (Applause.) It may be a bad bill; it has flaws enough we all know; it has pitfalls many for us, and it has privileges far too many for our opponents. Applause.) But for all that, if we will only work it, I am persuaded there is within it enough of the popular principle to enable us to amend it, if need be (applause), and to do many other things which we may think necessary for our welfare."
Mr. Bazley, President of the Chamber of Commerce, moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright, and the meeting, after giving three enthusiastic cheers, separated. The report of the proceedings spread everywhere the desire to increase the free-trade influence in counties, by the purchase of forty- shilling freeholds, much to the alarm of the monopolists, who had regarded these as their impregnable strongholds.
