There have been veral important meetings on the Corn-laws during

the week. We commence our account of them with the proceedings :It Birmingham, abridged from the Morning Chronicle.

The Mayor called :t inectieg for 3 londay last, on the requisition of three hundred or the most respect:11;1e Mirth:tants' of' all political par- ties : but the Chartims, who had b deli:to-ea in tlle Town-Council, re- solved to have their own A...a y at the public meeting. For some time before the appointed time of no eting. a crowd, belonging to Birming- ham and fiat nci'llstinrl s'l w eallemea outside the Town-hall ; and as soon Its the (Mors were op:m.(1. they rushed in and nearly filled the large roam. There wore eeveral Imedreds of' women among them ; many of whom ren1-1 small tin box:es it which were a few halfpence. The acrangeni:ats for 'tinting down the supporters of the petition against the Corn-laws, were well suited to the purpose ; and as it turned out. completely successful.

Mr. William Scholell :hi, the Mayor, having taken the cheir. opened the business ofthe meeting in a brief oddress ; the delivery of which was interrapted by shouts. groans, mid cries of " Universal Suffrage." 3Ir. Seholefield, M.P., use to move the first resolution ; but only a few broken sentences could be heard, so great was the clamour. The men groaned and bawled " Universal Suffrage !" " Give us more wasae; !" " The :National Petition !" The women rattled halfpence in their tin boxes, and added, in no slight degree to the general noise and continsion.

Mr. Edmonds encountered a similar reception. He withstood the noic for ten minutes by his watch, and then sat down. The Mayor in V ain endeavoured to procure a hearing for the speakers : he was him- self easailed in the same moaner. Mr. Salt was received with tremen- dons cheers, because of his Chartist predilections : he exhorted the meeting not to continue their disapprobation so as to interrupt the pro- ceedings.

Mr. Schott:field, M.P., again came forward; and after a few observa- tions on the injury Mimed by the Corn-laws on fbreign commerce, and assuring the meeting that their friend Mr. Attwood was as much op- posed as himself to those laws, proptrud the following resolution- " That this meeting views WI tIi alarm the sneeessful competition of the Con. tinental manufactories in the produetions of this country, and more especially in the articles made in this town and neighbourhood; being convinced that, notaithstanding the peculiar facilities possetell by Great Britain, the absurd and unjust laws, prohibiting the free importati 011 of the food of the people, are

tending towards the destrtMtion of the manutitcturing interests of' the country —a result which must involve every class of the community in one common ruin."

'rile Reverend T. Macdonnell seconded the resolution ; and spoke with much perseverance and power of lungs, amidst a storm of hisses, shouts, groans, and other interruptions. Ile ventured to attack Mr. Salt and his associates, for withdrawing the attention of the working classes from the practical benefits of abolishing the Corn-7.aws, to lin. practicable objects— He htul endeavoured to obtain freedom for the slave in the West Indies; and also relief for the suffering people of Ireland, as well as of the sideline people of England; and whenever he had done so, he must say, that he hal always found Mr. Salt in his way : lie had always found Mr. Salt proposing some wild visionary scheme, that he must have well known never could him been accomplished. They all knew, that when some of the suffering Irish were reduceul very far, they had nothing but potatoes and salt ; but they in Mr. mingham were going Mrther than that, for they seemed to be resolved that the poor should have no potatoes—nothing, in fact, but salt (Loud laughter.) 'flier., was a !woodier on the Continent Who denied the eternity of the torments of hell t the congregation rose up and expelled him : the King of Prussia after- wards restored Mm, but the people Imam expelled him • amid on the preacher applying to the Monarch, the following reply was sent to 'him—" Since you are determined to have everlasting damnation, take it es you please. Ever yours, Fummuma." And this he (Mr. Mu:domicil) left to them the salt, without the potatoes. (Lond laughter, groans, and cheers.) Alderman Hadley moved an amendment in the shape of an addition to Mr. Scholefield's resolution- " And at the same time that we arc perfectly aware of the dire effects of thus Paad-laws, and folly alive to the dreatIMI consequences which woull be the insult of a continuation of them, we feel it incumbent on ourselves to state, that takilta into consideration the preponderating influence in both Houses of Parliament', of what is commonly termed the landed interest—the general opinion of the agriculturists that property is almost entirely independent of trade and numufactures, without apparently understanding that the destruction; of' one of the three would inevitably be the ruin of alk—taking also into eon- sideration the very small minorities that have hitherto voted for the abolition, cr even the modification of the Food-laws ; and more than all, that the judge and jury by whom the question would be tried are personally interested in the decision,—rt is the opinion of this meeting that there is little probability of the repeal of the Fond-laws until the people are 1110re equally represented itt the Commons house of Parliament : that this meeting therefore deems it useless on that subject to petition the House of Commons as at present constituted."

In support of the amendment he said— It would be in the recollection emu° thousands of that megpificent meeting, that they had on a great variety- of occasions declared their opinions with respect to the enormous iniquity of these atrocious laws. They bad shown the iniechief that would ffillow from them, and they had spent tfieir hard-emnetl I ennies to distribute their intelligence on the point amontt.st others. Bow did it come, altur the existence of the Corn-laws ihr twenty-three y.ears, that the eyes of some were only opened to their enormity 110W I Either there had been gross ignorance Oil 60111 eV OeettSh111S, Or vendity in persons not joiniim with the people of' Birmingham on this iii jet. They bad been ti1sregartrett by those great men in and out of the llouse. Now they were agitating a quest it to remove the Corn-laws ; it the men of Biriniaglinin were agitati ns thegreat, r mensure, and they were called upon to abandon it. (Cri..s " No, no! ') 11 had I teen too long before tttc piddle to he Immlnemed by gentlemen No,' 'Would any man come forward who had contauted a shilling to the Political Union, mid who would wish to abandon it ? lie knew he was surrounded by Whigs, and he was once one himself. He asked the Whigs and the Tories, whether they had ever assisted the People in removing the Corn-laws ? And these were the men the People were now to succumb to! But the Leeds and Mauchester men came to teach the Birmingham nwn politics!

' Alderman Muntz seconded the amendment. Mr. Backsland and Mr. Salt supported it. Mr. Thomas Weston spoke, amidst constant inter- ruptiou, in favour of the petition. The question was put, and the amend- ment carried by an immense majority.

At Leicester, Sheffield, Yarmouth, and Kendal, the assailants of the Corn-laws encountered no serious opposition from the Chartists. It is impassible to find room for full details of the proceedings at these places, and others where meetings have been held ; but a few extracts from the speeches will show the spirit which prevailed in the various assemblies.

At Leicester, Mr. Biggs said, that since the Reform agitation nothing had been witnessed like the demonstration of last week- 0 As Birmingham carried the Reform Bill, so will Manchester carry the Repeel ; and I promised Cat Maneltester) that C Nrolltd agitate, second, ani. sups et them ; that we, w m in this district are St !Teri I 1 :11111 have suffered as 11111(.11 us any from the operation of these laws, woulil follow their ea:aim/k- m.0;dd merge all differences of opinion upon other matters—would waive all discusaion which might weaken our strength, and apply orrselves as one man to pia this object. Have I exceeded my commission ? Will you justify my promises ? told therm what I now tell Lou, that the average yearly mama paid 1,1. labour :Ilene in the manufactures of Leicestershire is equal to 480,0001. ; fit sapposing Mdf of the total net wages namely, a-10,00U, to be expended in bread, the working classes of Leicestershire alone will pay this year 90,000/. of their earnings into the pockets of the jobbers and speculators created by dut Corn-bill. You will pay this amount for bread this year above the Iiiihest average price which you paid for the site quantity in If(34, 1835, and 1836. You will it this lonount above the price which is tidinitted on all hands to be a faisrenitmerating price for the farmer. You will have that less to lay out in necessaries ; while in other districts of this country, the saute awful sacrifices are going on, depriving you of markets for your labour from the incapacity of your fellinv workmen to purchase, and them the of a market for their clothing from the like Mobility in yourselves. Talk of not depending, upon foreign nations !—at this very moment, were it not Mr the expectation of a fair Amen- can demand, half the population here would be unemployed ; and notwith- standing the famine price of corn and the sad low rate of wages, they would be still lower than when corn was half the price if we depended upon the home market alone. Is it not high time then, that we should adopt the course in- sisted upon by Mr. Villiers at the Aanchester meeting ? "

Mr. Paget reminded the meeting of the strength opposed to them— He could not disguise from them, that however strong his opinious were in favour of the repeal of the Corn-laws, iu point of numbers those opposed to such a change had the advantage. He hesitated not to say, that of the farmers and labourers there was only about oue to a thousand who was not violently and decidedly opposed to a repeal of these laws. The proportion favourable to a repeal amongst the landlords, was one to a 1 [red. This wits the state of the question in England and Scotland ; but the demarcation was still stronger between the supporters and opponents of these laws in Ireland. The whole population of the country was agricultural ; and he did not go too far in say- ing, they required the union of the countries, as depending on their preserva- tion. He had placed before "them what he believed to be the real state of the facts, in order to show, that unless they preserved unanimity, there was no possibility of' their success. There was no doubt that the Government was placed in an extremely difficult situation. They knew that a great ninny members of the Government were friendly to the Repeal; they had reason to believe that the principles of all the members of the Government led them to desire the accomplishment of that object ; but it would be folly to declare that unless they bring forward a measure to meet the views of the people, we were prepared to throw the Government into the hands of the bittereat enemies of the nation. * * * He confessed that the repeal of these laws would com- pel many to abandon the inferior soils. It was better that they should do so; tor all who had any thing; to do with land knew how incessantly men thus situ- ated assailed the landlords with entreaties to get better farms whenever they haprned to be out of lease. If they traced the history of their country, they wou d find that the people were happy and prosperous just in the proportion that they, were importers. A nation that depended solely on its exports was miserably dependent on its neighbours for the comforts of life. The true prin- ciple was, to allow manufactures and agriculture to be carried on without the slightest restriction. There was a higher motive than any to which he tool as yet rethrred, which urged him to take his present course ; and that was, that he believed the high price of corn, by subjecting the manullicturer to the most severe competition, was the means of filling our gaols with criminals, our work- houses with paupers, our streets with beggars, and our allies with prostitutes. There was no sort of sacrifice which he fur one should not be ready to make to remedy such enormous evils. (Loud cheers.)

Mr, Easthope, M.P., was well received by his constituents ; and pledged himself " to do every thing within his power to obtain a total repeal of the present Corn-laws."

The meeting at Sheffield was very numerously attended. It was ad- journed from the Town-hall to Paradise Square, where from 7,000 to 8,000 persons were assembled. Letters were read from Mr. Ward and Mr. Parker. The latter encouraged his constituents to persevere in their efforts, but dwelt upon the powers of resistance- " But we must not deceive ourselves with the idea that the struggle will be easy or the burden light. It is one, not against an oligarchy, as was the case with the Reform Bill, but against a class, which consists ot small as swell as large proprietors, many of whom erroneously believe that the value of their property is at stake, and who will exert all the influence in their power by means of the counties and small towns, in the Legislature, against our chains." 3Ir. Ebenezer Elliott delivered a long speech, full of allusions and remarks likely to tell upon a Sheffield audience, but some of which are almost incomprehensible to persons not familiar with the trade of that town. The following remarks, however, are universally applicable, and deserve the consideration of the working classes-

" I shall never despair of my country, while the madmen who deny you freedom of trade, allow you freedom of mind. Some of you will see better days. But if you wait till two-thirds of you die of starvation, though the remainder may become landowners, as in France, will that circumstance raise the dead? can it recall to life the myriads of unfortunate beings who in the meantime must perish? It cannot. Why, then, do you endure laws which exist only to ruin tenants; to convert customers into rivals; to drive out of the country pell-mell the men and the capital that you cannot spare ; and to pamper in wickedness the very men whom you could best spare—thirty thou- sand insolent, ;tolerant, utterly uselesa, all-destructive land annuitants ? * * You rsten to men who tell yam that when food is dear, wages rise, and that when food is cheap, wages till. But what do your bellies say? Have you found it so? Three years ago bread was Is. 6d a stone : were your wages low then ? No, never higher. Now bread is 3s. a stone : have your wages doubled? No, they are sinking. Listen, then, if you will, to men who tell you that a aixpence is better than a shilling ; but you cannot listen long, for Famine is in the pantry, Death is at the door. By and by Saturday will bring DO wages: 'and the wages of the poor are his lift,' says a book which, I fear, is seldom read either by the landlords or their parsons. lit conclusion, if I might advise you, I would say, carry the war into the territories of the enemy. Consent to no fixed duty on corn—to no slow la to potato peel; but sweep away the whole food monopoly, with all other monopolies, and then demand a tax of fifty per cent, on the rent of land fiw ever; because the food-monopoly has cost yen more than the land is worth, and you have a right to repayment—because it is high time that landlords helptn to pay taxes—because if you force them to bear a lair share of the burdens they have imposed, they will all turn Radicals, the best Reformers that the world ever saw ; • for lions,' your friend Bywater says, ' always roar loudest when they are clamming ; ' and if von go a little beyond justice, which I don't advise, the prince of paupers, di:miles himself, tvil write odes in praise of Colonel Thompson. In the meanthne, your choice is free trade or ruin."

Colonel Thompson was present at this meeting ; and, in opposition to an amendment which declared that without Universal Suffrage there was no hope of getting rid of the Corn-laws, maintained, that the present opportunity of overthrowing those laws should not on any account be lost-

" I am aware of the arguments thrown out before the working classes on this subject; but I see no symptoms here of the prevaleml of those opinions. I therefore cherish the hope that you have got beyond these fallacies. One of them is, that if the price of grain should dill, wages must also dill. Now that to it certain extent is true. They will fall; but the grand question is, will they fall in an equal proportion? Let me answer—they cannot. Suppose again your town walled up, and some person says, ' Keep it close, it will make the price of corn rise; and don't you see, that wages will rise too, which will be all the same in the end ? ' Is there a head so thick in Sheffield as to believe that assertion ? Is it not plain that it' corn is to be dearer, it is because there is to be less of it ? and if there be less of it, how can wages be raised so as to give the Caine quantity to everybody out of the smaller quantity as unto the great ? And contrariwise,—if you open the gates, corn will dill ; but it is im- possible that wages should fall as that as corn ; for if they did, bow is the corn ever to be eaten ? You know the reasons which have been urged tbr keeping the work- ing classes from union on this subject. One is, that the agitation against the Corn-laws is a Whig plot. Now I see strong reasons for doubting that, anit mpecially since last week. The Whig -Alinistee has declared for a fixed duty. Vs ell, then, the Whigs are against us, and we against them. Let a.4, then, hear no more about this being a plot of theirs. I surmise that your as,ction for the political party who go by that mime may not be very great. I confess that mine is small. Will you, then, seeing this, side with the Whigs in pre- ference to us? I think I have shown two reasons why we should tend to a general union on this subject. You are anxious for an extension of the suf- frage. Now upon that let there be no mistake. If I may be allowed to speak of myself, it may perhaps be lbund that I was among the first in the present times, who pointed out, and laid down, the broad principle on which the work- ing classes are bound to maintain the right of Universal Suffrage. I coine not here to ask them to cheek their desires on that subject, but only to desire them to take the most reasonable way to the attainment of their object. I have stated fairly my belief that the demand for the restriction of the suffrage, is as unjust and as unreasonable as would be the statement that the rich could not have their proper enjoyments of' the market unless the poor kept out. Give every man the opportunity of using the influence which has &Hen to his share, and then, and then only, will any thing like justice be done. Then only will you arrive at something like an end of the continual agitations which this country

has witnessed. I come not, then, to oppose your demand for Universal Suf- frage ; on the contrary, I say go on, and Heaven prosper you. But I come here to state may opinion as to whether you take the best means ofattaining that object. The question is, whether you are more likely to attain the object by demanding the suffrage, and not the Corn-laws, or by demanding the re- moval of the Corn-laws as the means of obtaining the suffrage. The question

resolves itself into something like this—which of the two is the softest place? Now, if we Call three them to give Ivay upon the Corn-laws first, the chances

are great that we shall snake them give way to the other point also. But sup- pose the contrary ease, and you fail. Take, then, all the men who are willing to go along with you now ; and afterwards make an effort for the extension of the suffrage. It 'has been stated here to-day, in the way of blame, that several manufacturers of Manchester talked of their own losses, and not of yours. I know a way to remedy that ; talk of them yourselves. But if it is necessary for me to make a choice between the motion and the amendment, I must give my opinion, that by petitioning against the Corn-laws first, you will he the better able to attack the suffrage question afterwards."

He differed from those who thought Universal Suffrage would be got at one jump : they would be lucky if they got it in ten : let them wait and see who was right- " You expect to gain something by petitioning for Universal Saffrage. Hundreds of petitions will go lion, other places ; and what do you think %Yin

be done with them all ? They will be put into a bag. That is the end of the petitions frum the People. I cannot withhold from you that the present Whig Ministry have committed a wicked act in striking at the root oh' the right of petitioning, by prohibiting, any thing like discussion upon their reception. What, them is the use of petitions ? It is merely reading them, and giving the number of names attached. Time was when debates could be brought on Up011 the presentation of a petition; the time may come when it will be so again. l3ut till then, petitions to the House of Colonial's are of very small avail, especially those front the multitudinous claases ; for whom I am :awry to say that they care as little as can well be expressed. Thereihre, on the whole, I return to my old advice—take what you can most easily obtain. The power ful classes will be with you, and something may be got, upon the Corn-laws. Calculate coolly as to whether your condition will be better or worse by your accepting a certain object. If the Corn-laws be Iv:moved, will you be more or less able to push the object which you must never give up, of obtaining the suffrage for every man of sound mind in this country. Heed not the taunts which are thrown out against the manufacturing classes. The latest journals of their enemies any they are spectres. I see nothing like it in your comae- names, though many of you may bave been ground down by the competition and lowness of wages, which have been the consequences of the Corn-laws. If they shut you up like rats in a cage, to breed against :a given quantity of food, how is it possible yon should not reduce one another to the starvation- point ? Let nue advise you, then, first to get plenty of food, which is a sub- stantitd good, and the want of it a substantial evil. Don't heed every man who says there is a lion in the way: but accept the good which lies before you."

A large majority rejected the Chartist amendment, and adopted a pe- tition for the " total and iuunediate abolition of the Corn-laws, and other restrictions on five trwk." The petitioners also prayed, " tha this their petition be heard. and discussed according to the ancient and constitutional manner, and not be disposed of in the hasty and unsatisjitetury way in which the petitions of the people have of late ken treated."

At Kendal, 3Ir. Nicholson, a paper-manufacturer, mentioned some facts respectinghis business, which we have not seen noticed else-

" The cotton and woollen manufacturers were not the only sufferers by foreign competition. The trade he was engaged in, the paper manufacture, he could tell them, was seriously affected ; fur not only were our expert' of paper rapidly on the decline, but paper-making machinery was every year shipped off iu great quantities to foreign countries where we lately had a good market ; ay, and they- were now actually exporting rags from Liverpool to the United States ; so that this was a two-edged sword against us, raising the price of our raw material, and dapreciatiog the value of our minutiae t tired produce. Three or four years ago, the house he was connected with hait very frequently nice export orders, but now the could not send a ream. Ile had written to a friend of his in Lancasilia., in the same trade, a genth us ii V:110 :IC MC time had his traveller unit Fix months in every year, in Germsny and the Low Countries; and he had received his friend's reply by the post that afternoon, which showed how gradually and rapidly the exports of that maker had fallen off for a num- ber id years back, from some hundred thousand pound, weight of mmar per annum, till now he conthesed he eves tidily beaten out of the marisei He quoted the quanthies from IS=3:3 to the presein t:ate. The foreigner was aettiug our machinery, nod our beet men to put that machinery in motion. ::!orne time ago, his house had a clayey workman, a paper-maker, who was glad to get his mount a week with them, till a machine-maker at Bolton, who was eaport- ing a quantity of pipe' machinery to Bussia, e eon. to this man, as i ffered him the choice of two :ituations, soue at St. Ps tersburga whit :Old/, a year, or one in Moscow, with 250/. a ,'eat'.

At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on Wednesday, Mr, Hodgson Hinde. the Tory Member, agreed to support a fixed duty on foraign corn, in lieu of the present scale. The Chartists proposed their usual amendment to the resolution for tatal repeal : butt the Mayor reftieed to put it to the meet- ing. Afterwards they clacted their own chairman, and passed their. resolutions.

Delegates were appointed at a public meeting at Bolton, on 'Monday, to jobs their brethren front Manchester, Glasgow, and other plasm:, in London.

The Leeds petition received 19,000 signatures in a few days.

The Sheffield Iris has a wood-cut represan ling an Englishman in fetters, sitting on an island, holding a dintinutis e sixpenny loaf in his hand, with a Frenchman grinning at him m ith one at the same price and double the weight, and a linseian with auto t her four times the size. Beneath is the motto-- England, the envy- and admiration of the world I " At Portsmouth. on Monday, a very numerous meeting unanimously passed strong Anti-Corn-law resolutiors. and petitioned Parliament to be allowed to support their al; e;tsationsIv evidence at the bar.

The " Deputy " at Margate having refused to call a meeting. the in- habitants of that place have agreed to aammble on Monday next to pe- tition for Corn-law Repeal.