54
MR. BRIGHT.
Robert Peel that he was like a god, but his feet were made of clay.' (Cheers and a laugh.) Did Sir Robert Peel know the source from which he had sprung? Did he know all that he owed to that industry which was oppressed, and trampled, and crushed by these laws? (Cheers.) But it had been well said by the late Lord Stowell, that 'ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.' (Cheers.) He would now ask the meeting what was their duty? What was the duty of all their countrymen? He would tell them that the question which they had to decide was, Whether this was their conntry or the country of the monopolists? (Cheers.) Were they mere sojourners in the land—mere lodgers—existing in this island, by the sufferance of the monopolists and the owners of the soil? (Cheers.) Were the people to sweat at the forge, and to toil in the mill, and were they not to eat? (Hear, bear.) The monopolists said "Yes. (Cheers.) For three weeks past he had attended meetings in the provinces—some not less numerous than the present, and certainly none less enthusiastic. (Cheers.) The provinces had spoken out, and they had acted as well us spoken. (Cheers.) The Council of the League had asked for £50,000 to carry out this great cause, and they got it. (Loud cheers.) They applied it to the purpose for which it was intended, and they had effected to a great extent that purpose. (Cheers.) The hon. member for Dorsetshire was astonished at their progress (cheers and laughter); for he found their quiet, but powerful, tracts penetrating into the remotest corners of his estate. (Loud cheers.) There was still a great deal to be done which could not be done without more money. He would assure the people of London that they had more to do than coming to the weekly meetings of the League. There were persons assembled not far from there that were at that moment thinking what was doing in Drury Lane, though unfortunately they seldom thought of their fellow-creatures (cheers), but in the provinces they were also thinking what was doing in Dury Lane (cheers); bat much as there was doing still much remained to be done. If the men who were there, believed that the country was ruined unless this law were repealed—believed that the Leugue was the best means of effecting the repeal of those laws, he asked every such man, and every such woman too—(a laugh)—to give something in aid of the great cause. (Cheers.) There were pages in the history of the country to which every one of them might turn with pride; but if they hesitated to assist in this great cause, he would call upon them to tear every page of pride from the history of the country, and to take care that no future historian should write the history of the age in which they lived. (Cheers.) He had long looked to this city— he had long looked to this very building—he had said, 'When can we have a meeting in Drury Lane, and cram it full? (Cheers.) If we do,
