162 APPENDICES. 



euormoua amount of land has passed from arable to 

 pasture; and although that may not matter much to the 

 farmer it matters a great deal to the labourer (' hear, 

 hear '), l>ecause there is le^ labour required upon the 

 land. The stock of the country has on the whole 

 diminished by something like two millions of head; and 

 the farmers' capital, according to Sir Eobert Giffen, has 

 diminished by something like 200 millions sterling, Wliat 

 is the consequence of all this? The consequeneo- is that 

 there has been less labour for the working man to do, and 

 the number of people cultivating the land has decreased 

 by 600,000 in the last 30 years; and if you go back for 

 50 years it has decreased by something like a million ! 

 "What would you say if something of that kind was told 

 you about any other business? If you were told that the 

 returns had diminished, that the capital had been lost, 

 and that the number of workpeople had been decreased, 

 would you see in all that any evidence of great prosperity? 

 I think you would be justified in saying that under such 

 circumstances a change had become necessary. ('Hear, 

 hear.') But that is not all. It is said that we enjoy 

 a system of free trade. What is free trade intended to 

 give to us? It was certainly not intended to produce the 

 results to which I have referred! I have never, in the 

 course of this discussion, said a word against the char- 

 acter of Mr. Cobden. ('Hear, hear.') Mr. Cobden was a 

 very able man. I believe he was a very sincere and a very 

 honest man. I believe he said what he thought to he true. 

 But he was not infallible. (Cheers.) There never was a 

 prophet v.'ho was more unfortunate in his predictions tlian 

 Mr. Cobden. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Cohden promised tliat 

 the repeal of the Corn Laws would stimulate the demand 

 for agricultural labour. Has it don© so? ('No.") It has 

 thrown one-half of the agricultural labour of the country 

 out of employment. He told you it would not throw 'a 

 single acre' out of cultivation or lessen production by a 

 single bushel ; whereas the production of corn in this coun- 

 try at the present time is less by 60 millions of bushels. He 

 said that the farmers' profits would not be affected; that 

 the farmers would always get a fair price for their wheat. 

 He did not ' antieiixite ' that it would fall below 45s. a 



