"Great forbearance on the part of the working classes having temporary power—great forbearance on the part of those who have the law and the civil and military forces on their side—mutual good will instead of mutual hate—a general disposition that labour should have its full reward—are there not here the elements of mutual agreement? And we here express our full conviction that a friendly conference between masters and men would, at once, put an end to the dispute so far as wages are concerned. As for the notion of standing out till the charter be obtained, is there one man in a hundred who believes it to be possible?
"The whig press is representing the turn-out as the work of the chartists, and the tory press boldly declares that it is directed by the League. Those who so write or talk are incapable of distinguishing cause from effect. The anti-corn-law agitation is the natural consequence of constantly-diminishing profits of trade, and constantly diminishing wages of labour. Poverty has compelled investigation into its cause; and the conviction has been, that persons in trade, either as employers or employed, can never be prosperous while the law declares that they shall not receive anything from other countries in exchange for goods, but articles which are consumed only by the rich. And the chartist differs from the corn-law repealers only in this, that the latter wishing instant relief, applies to the powers that be, while the former sees no remedy for the evil but in a thorough change of the representative system. Both agitations are effects of the suffering produced by selfish legislation, and neither can be put down but by the removal of the cause.
"We need not reply to the aspersions thrown upon the League by the tory press. It has its own organ, and it can defend itself. We may, however, express our conviction, that, in this district where its character is known, and where its proceedings have been closely observed, no
