to gain wealth, or power, or rank—but if they conceived any one rank to be more honourable than another, it was to be placed among those who had done something in their generation to shake off the trammels which hampered the honest industry of their fellow men. From their weak be. ginning to their present strength they placed no reliance but on the omnipotence of truth and the intelligence and virtue of their countrymen. To them they had again and again appealed, and nobly had that appeal boon responded to. In 1839 they first asked for subscriptions, and £5,000 was given. In 1840 they asked for more, and between £7,000 and £8,000 was subscribed. In 1841 they held the great conference at Manchester, at which upwards of 700 ministers of religion attended. In 1849 they had their grand bazaar in Manchester, from which £10,000 was realised. In 1819 they asked for £50,000, and got it. In 1844 they called for £100,000, and between £80,000 and £90,000 had been paid in besides what would be received from the bazaar, to be held in May. This year was yet young, but they had not been idle. They had asked their free-trade friends in the northern counties to invest some of their property so as to be able to defend their rights and liberties at the hustings. This had been done, and it now appeared that, at the recommendation of the council of the League, their friends in Lancashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire, had invested a sum of not less than £250,000 in the purchase of county qualifications. Besides all this, they would have their grand bazaar next. May. Committees were already actively at work making the necessary preparations. A great deal was being done, and a great deal more would and could be done before the time, in order to produce a display which he hoped would be so remarkable as to be worth a visit from the highest personage in the realm."
In the debates on the Income Tax and the Sugar Duties, the free traders in the House distinguished themselves by
