which you are placed, is well calculated to excite the hostility of all who believe themselves interested in the continuance of the wrong which you have done so much to expose.
"Fortified by the approbation of your own conscience, and by that of a vast portion of your fellow countrymen, who have watched your career with intense and increasing interest, you can well afford to despise the assaults and calumnies with which the abettors of monopoly seek to turn you from the prosecution of the great work to which you have so nobly devoted yourself.
"We bid you go on. Your country and mankind call upon you not to falter in your course. The truths you promulgate and defend are established in the hearts of millions, and from those hearts the fervent prayer arises, that He who is the dispenser of mercies may prosper you in your arduous labours, and dispose the hearts of the rulers of this land to relieve the dire distress which is desolating thousands of homes. May they early and completely adopt those principles which can alone restore comfort and prosperity to the people of our beloved and much suffering country!"
On the first of March, anothor meeting, the last there, was held at the Crown and Anchor, at which it was stated that since December 136 meetings had been held in London, and that the amount of subscriptions there had been £22,000; the latter a proof that the monied classes were beginning to take an increased interest in the subject. The meeting was addressed by Mr. Villiers, Mr. R. R. Moore, Sir De Lacy Evans; and Mr. Cobden took part in the proceedings. Again speakers had to be detached to address the crowds which filled the large committee-rooms, the wide and long lobby, and the staircase. The chairman announced that the use of Exeter Hall had been applied for, but refused. On the following evening, at Rochdale, two meetings also arose out of one, the over-flowing of the Theatre having filled the spacious Assembly Room. Mr. Bright addressed the one for an hour while I addressed the other, and then we changed places for another hour. There was no other remedy in London, Exeter Hall being refused, and no central site for the erection of a metropolitan Free Trade Hall being to be
