The 'bonaparte of free trade' and the Anti-Corn Law League

Historical Journal

Volumn 41, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 1011-1034

  Turner, Mighael J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF READING   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 44949244269     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X98008140     Document Type: Article

References (167)

1. Evening Sun, 31 July 1847.
2. N. McCord, The Anti-Corn Law League, 1838-46 (2nd edn, London, 1968) refers to Thompson three times, and N. Longmate, The breadstealers: the fight against the com laws (London, 1984) is only a little more forthcoming.
3. B. Fladeland, Abolitionists and working-class problems in the age of industrialisation (London, 1984), pp. 93-110, is brief and superficial, while two other studies offer biographical narrative rather than sustained analysis: L. G. Johnson, General T. Perronet Thompson: his military, literary and political campaigns (London, 1957);
4. J. R. Morrison, 'Thomas Perronet Thompson: a middle-class radical' (D. Phil, thesis, York, 1993). Some impression of Thompson's career may be gained from the notices in Dictionary of national biography, ed. S. Lee (1898), lvi, pp. 224-6, and Biographical dictionary of modern British radicals, ed. J. O. Baylen and N. J. Gossman (2 vols., Hassocks, 1979-1982), 1, PP. 475-9.
5. A. Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League (2 vols., London, 1853), 1, p. 63.
6. Daily News, 7 Nov. 1874. Taylor's father had been active in the Anti-Corn Law League and a close friend of Thompson.
7. H. Ashworth, Recollections of Richard Cobden and the Anti-Corn Law League (London, 1877), p. 19.
8. For a more detailed account see M. J. Turner, '"Preventing ourselves from being plundered by our betters": Thomas Perronet Thompson and anti-corn law agitation during the 1820s and 1830s', in J. R. Wordie (ed.), Agriculture and politics in England, 1815-1939 (forthcoming).
9. Most of Thompson's remaining papers are in the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull. I am grateful to Mr Brian Dyson, Archivist at the University of Hull, for permission to cite these manuscripts. References will be given in the form T. P. DTH - file.
10. To Thompson, independence meant complete freedom in thought and action, and no fixed ties to any particular leaders, parties, interests, or dogmas. Radicalism meant 'the application of sound reason to tracing consequences to their root'. T. P. Thompson, Exercises, political and others (6 vols., London, 1842), 1, pp. 306-7.
11. E.g. The Reasoner, 78, 17 Nov. 1847, pp. 634-7. The renowned nineteenth-century French political economist Jean-Baptiste Say also endorsed the views given in Thompson's An exposition of fallacies on rent (London, 1826), as in the early twentieth century did J. M. Keynes and J. A. Schumpeter.
12. On 19 August 1829 and again on 26 November 1831, copies of the Catechism were given away free with each issue of the radical Manchester Times. Archibald Prentice, its editor, had previously made an arrangement with Thompson's publishers whereby copies of the pamphlet would be delivered without charge around the Manchester region by the newsmen who delivered Prentice's paper. Later Prentice gained permission to print copies of the Catechism on his own presses. M. J. Turner, Reform and respectability: the making of a middle-class liberalism in early nineteenth-century Manchester (Manchester, 1995), pp. 96, 246.
13. Narrative, T. P. DTH 5/18.
14. Elliott's Corn law rhymes were first published in 1831 in a nine-penny volume. Baylen and Gossman, Modern British radicals, 11, pp. 199-200;
15. Asa Briggs, 'Ebenezer Elliott, the corn lawrhymer', in Collected essays of Asa Briggs (3 vols., Brighton, 1985), 11, pp. 36-48;
16. January Searle (George S. Phillips), The life, character and genius of Ebenezer Elliott, the corn law rhymer (2nd edn, London, 1852), p. 142.
17. J. Bowring, Autobiographical recollections, ed. L. B. Bowring (London, 1877), p. 72.
18. 'Colonel Thompson has made more large pecuniary sacrifices than any man living for free trade, and we all know his contributions, in an intellectual point of view, have been invaluable to us.' Speeches of Richard Cobden, ed. J. Bright and J. E. Thorold Rogers (2nd edn, London, 1878), p. 201.
19. E.g. Howitt's Journal, 31 July 1847, p. 66.
20. Thompson, A catechism on the corn laws (London, 1827), pp. 1, 2, 4, 71. The 20th edition is included in Exercises, IV, pp. 459-579.
21. E.g. M. T. Sadler, protectionist MP for Newark; Richard Whately, subsequently archbishop of Dublin; Thomas Chalmers, professor of divinity at Edinburgh University; J. R. McCulloch, professor of political economy at London University; and Robert Torrens, MP for Bolton.
22. The evolution of Thompson's anti-corn law doctrine can be followed in these Westminster Review articles: 'On the instrument of exchange', 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1824), pp. 171-205
23. and amended version in Exercises, III, pp. 295-343;
24. 'Corn laws', II, no. 21 (July 1829), pp. 1-9
25. and Exercises, I, pp. 87-95;
26. 'Free trade', 12, no. 23 (Jan. 1830), pp. 138-66
27. and Exercises, I, pp. 191-219;
28. 'Distress of the country', 13, no. 25 (July 1830), pp. 218-26
29. and Exercises, I, pp. 278-87;
30. 'Archbishop of Dublin on political economy', 16, no. 31 (Jan. 1832), pp. 1-22
31. and Exercises, II, pp. 2-23;
32. 'French commerce', 16, no. 32 (Apr. 1832), pp. 534-41
33. and Exercises, II, pp. 159-66;
34. 'Dr Chalmers on political economy', 17, no. 33 (July 1832), pp. 1-33
35. and Exercises, II, pp. 167-200;
36. 'McCulloch's edition of the Wealth of Nations', 17, no. 34 (Oct. 1832), pp. 267-311
37. and Exercises, II, pp. 238-81;
38. 'Viscount Milton's address on the corn laws', 17, no. 34 (Oct. 1832), pp. 510-13
39. and Exercises, II, pp. 316-20;
40. 'Henry Booth's Free Trade As It Affects The People', 18, no. 36 (Apr. 1833), pp. 366-74
41. and Exercises, II, pp. 392-401;
42. 'Colonel Torrens's letters on commercial policy' and 'Colonel Torrens's additional letters on commercial policy', 18, no. 35 (Jan. 1833), pp. 168-76, no. 36 (Apr. 1833), pp. 421-27
43. and Exercises, II, pp. 351-8, 409-14;
44. 'Economy of paying twice over', 20, no. 39 (Jan. 1834), pp. 238-59
45. and Exercises, III, pp. 43-68;
46. 'Quarterly Review, Globe, etc, in support of the corn monopoly', 20, no. 40 (Apr. 1834), pp. 514-20
47. and Exercises, III, pp. 100-7.
48. E.g. Ebenezer Elliott and Samuel Bailey of Sheffield, the Quaker journalist and future Chartist William Howitt, Archibald Prentice of Manchester, the veteran radical organizer Francis Place, and Colonel Leicester Stanhope, a friend and admirer of Bentham who had previously participated with Thompson in the philhellene movement. Also involved in the early affairs of the association were the radical publisher William Tait of Edinburgh, J. R. Black, editor of the Morning Chronicle and friend of the Mills, and Elias Moss of Liverpool. Memorandum, T. P. DTH 5/22;
49. Prentice, History of the League, I, pp. 49-50. On developments in London see also London radicalism, 1830-43:
50. a selection from the papers of Francis Place, ed. D. J. Rowe (London, 1970), pp. 210-18;
51. A. C. Howe, 'Free Trade and the City of London, c. 1820-1870', History, 77 (1992), PP-393-410.
52. T. S. Duncombe (Finsbury), George Grote (City of London), Joseph Hume (Middlesex), William Molesworth (East Cornwall), J. A. Roebuck (Bath), Joseph Brotherton (Salford), J. S. Buckingham (Sheffield), William Ewart (Liverpool), D. W. Harvey (Southwark), J. T. Leader (Bridgwater), Richard Potter (Wigan), Joshua Scholefield (Birmingham), Thomas Wakley (Finsbury), William Clay (Tower Hamlets).
53. E.g. corn law lecture, Holborn Mechanics' Institute, reported in The Era, 30 Sept. 1838. See also T. P. DTH 4/24.
54. From February to June 1834 Rintoul had published articles he submitted on 'anticommercial fallacies'. These were later republished in Letters of a representative to his constituents, to which is added a running commentary on anti-commercial fallacies (London, 1836). The 'commentary' is on pp. 135-208.
55. Hansard, 3rd ser. xliii (1838), 1174-5.
56. Narrative, T. P. DTH 5/24; Prentice, History of the League, I, pp. 64-77; Manchester Guardian, 22 Sept. 1838.
57. Prentice, History of the League, I, pp. 96-100; Hull Advertiser, 26Jan. 1839;
58. Manchester Guardian, 12, 26 Jan. 1839. There was a fund-raising meeting on 10 January at the York Hotel, then the grand dinner in the New Corn Exchange on 23 January, followed by a delegates' meeting the next day.
59. Narrative extracts, and Thompson to Lily Thompson (his daughter), 23 Jan., 14 Feb. 1839, T. P. DTH 4/8, 5/24, 25;
60. Hansard, 3rd ser. xlv (1839), 129-30, 155-6, 217-19, 228-46, 355-9, 609-95;
61. Prentice, History of the League, I, pp. 108-15.
62. Prentice, History of the League, I, pp. 133-4.
63. E.g. Thompson to T. P. E. Thompson (his son, called 'Perronet'), 2 Sept. 1839, T. P. DTH 7/3.
64. Elliott to Thompson, 2 Oct. 1839, T. P. DTH 5/24.
65. E.g. Thompson to Bowring, 5 Feb. 1839, 11, 26 Jan. 1840, to Cobden, 25 Oct., 22, 29 Nov. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/8, 9, II.
66. Thompson to Bowring, 5, 6, 7 Feb. 1840, T. P. DTH 4/9.
67. Thompson to Bowring, 24 Feb. 1840, T. P. DTH 4/9.
68. Narratives, T. P. DTH 4/9, 5/25.
69. Thompson to Bowring, 28 Mar., 1, 3 Apr. 1840, T. P. DTH 4/9.
70. Prentice, History of the League, I, pp. 150-9; McCord, Anti-Corn Law League, ch. 3.
71. Thompson to Bowring, 16, 28, 31 Mar., 3, 6 Apr. 1840, T. P. DTH 4/9;
72. Exercises, v, pp. 2-15;
73. Leeds Mercury, 14 Mar. 1840;
74. Leeds Times, 21 Mar. 1840.
75. Thompson to Bowring, 4, 7 May 1841, T. P. DTH 4/10; Exercises, VI, pp. 329-31;
76. Hansard, 3rd ser. lvii (1841), 1407, LVIII (1841), 16.
77. Thompson to Bowring, 2 May 1841, T. P. DTH 4/10;
78. Hansard, 3rd ser. lviii (1841), 1260-99;
79. J. Prest, Lord John Russell (London, 1972), pp. 177, 185-9.
80. Memorandum and notes, T. P. DTH 4/24.
81. Thompson to T. P. E. Thompson, 28 July 1840, 9 June 1841, to Bowring, 24, 26, 28 May, I, 3 June 1841, T. P. DTH 4/9, 10, 5/26;
82. Exercises, VI, pp. 380-3 for Thompson's Hull election address. A copy of this was also sent for insertion in the Morning Chronicle, which noted on 31 May 1841: 'The agitation for the repeal of the corn monopoly becomes daily more and more important.'
83. On the League's relationship with Chartists, which Thompson began to admit (during 1842-3) could not be improved, see Prentice, History of the League, I, chs. 13, 14, 24, II, ch. 13;
84. R. G. Gammage, History of the Chartist movement, 1837-54 (London, 1969 edn, introduced by J. Saville), chs. 5, 9;
85. L. Brown, 'The Chartists and the Anti-Corn Law League', in A. Briggs, ed., Chartist studies (London, 1959), pp. 342-71.
86. Thompson to T. P. E. Thompson, 22, 23 June 1841, to Nancy Thompson (his wife), 17 Mar. 1837, letter to constituents, 18 Mar. 1837, and memorandum, T. P. DTH 4/10, 5/22, 23;
87. Exercises, IV, pp. 115-16, 227-30;
88. Hansard, 3rd ser. XXXIII (1836), 737-90, XXXVII (1837), 612-14.
89. Thompson to Bowring, 24 Apr. 1841, T. P. DTH 4/10.
90. Thompson to Bowring, 12 Jan. 1842, T. P. DTH 5/26.
91. 'To the editor of the Sun', 7 Jan. 1842, T. P. DTH 5/26;
92. Exercises, VI, pp. 412-14; Sun, 8 Jan. 1842. The Sun regularly included letters and articles from Thompson in these months.
93. Thompson to Bowring, 12 Oct. 1841, resolutions dated II, 13 Oct. 1841
94. and Thompson to T. P. E. Thompson, 12 Oct. 1841 T. P. DTH 4/10, 5/26.
95. Thompson to Place, 8 Apr. 1842, to Bowring, 5, II Apr., 13 May 1842, T. P. DTH 4/II;
96. Free Trader, 2 Apr. 1842;
97. Hansard, 3rd ser. LX (1842), 648-716, 730-801, 814-81, 902-71, 1018-88.
98. Thompson saw connections between the corn laws and the development of a German customs union (Zollverein). This union could harm Britain. It represented an attempt to establish free trade 'within the circle of Germany, or what would be universal free trade if Germany were the universe... But how far is, or is not, this of the nature of revenge or threatening for England's refusal to allow free trade in German goods, as corn and timber? Is there (as may easily be) one part of the supporters of the German League who exalt in it as a piece of revenge, and another as a piece of monopoly?' Thompson to Bowring, 15, 18, 20 Jan. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11. Bowring later recorded that the German union did indeed become a protective league rather than a model for future international free trade. Bowring, Autobiographical recollections, pp. 88-90.
99. Thompson to Cobden, 19 Jan. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11.
100. The constitutional right to a revision of the land tax, being the argument on a case submitted to counsel on behalf of the National Anti-Corn Law League (London, 1842). On the developing radical interest in land during the 1840s
101. see D. Martin, 'Land reform', in P. Hollis, ed., Pressure from without in early Victorian England (London, 1974), pp. 131-58.
102. North of England Advertiser, no. 1, Feb. 1842, pp. 55-60.
103. E.g. Monthly Review, n. s. 2, no. 5 (Sept. 1842), pp. 239-45.
104. Thompson to Cobden, 15, 17 Aug., I, 6, II, 13, 25, 28, 31 Oct., 2, 4 Nov. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11. Some of the extracts republished by the Anti-Corn Law League appeared in Corn laws: extracts from the 'Exercises' of Colonel Thomas Perronet Thompson, selected and classified by Richard Cobden (Manchester, 1842).
105. Thompson to Cobden, 24, 30 Aug., 1 Oct. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11, 5/26;
106. Leeds Times, 8 Oct. 1842.
107. Morning Chronicle and Times, 11 May 1842.
108. Thompson to Cobden, 25 Sept., II, 13, 25, 28 Oct. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11;
109. for the key part of Peel's speech on 10 May
110. see Hansard, 3rd ser., LXIII (1842), 384.
111. Prentice, History of the League, I, chs. 24-6;
112. Times, 15, 24 Aug. 1842;
113. Thompson to Cobden, 15, 24 Aug. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/II, 5/26;
114. Morning Advertiser, 23 Aug. 1842;
115. Rowe, London radicalism, pp. 210-14.
116. Thompson to Cobden, 25 Sept. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11;
117. R. Wallace, 'The Anti-Corn Law-League in Wales', Welsh History Review, 13 (1986), pp. 1-23.
118. E.g. Thompson to Cobden, 5 Nov. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11.
119. Thompson to Cobden, 12 Oct., 13 Nov. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11.
120. Thompson to Cobden, 24, 25 Oct. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11;
121. Times, 26 Oct. 1842;
122. Gammage, Chartist movement, pp. 240-1; Hansard, 3rd ser., LXVI (1843), 1037-143.
123. Thompson to Cobden, 24, 25 Oct., 19, 23, 25, 29 Nov. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11.
124. Thompson to Cobden, 12 Nov. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11.
125. Prentice, History of the League, I, chs. 21-3;
126. McCord, Anti-Corn Law League, pp. 116-31.
127. E.g. Thompson to Cobden, 29 Nov. 1842, 24 Mar. 1843, to Nancy Thompson, 11 Jan., 26 Mar. 1843, T. P. DTH 4/11.
128. North Devon Journal, 23 Mar. 1843.
129. Thompson's closest friends took his side in this: e.g. Bowring, Autobiographical recollections, p. 72.
130. Thompson to Bowring, 30 June 1843, T. P. DTH 4/11.
131. Thompson to Bowring, 3, 6, 9 Oct. 1843, T. P. DTH 4/11.
132. Thompson to Bowring, 26 Jan. 1840, T. P. DTH 4/9, 5/26;
133. A. Tyrrell, Joseph Sturge and the moral radical party in early Victorian Britain (London, 1987), p. 101.
134. Thompson to Cobden, 19 Jan. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11.
135. On the CSU and reactions to it, see Gammage, Chartist movement, pp. 241-6;
136. Tyrrell, Joseph Sturge, ch. 10;
137. A. Wilson, 'The suffrage movement', in Hollis, ed., Pressure from without, pp. 80-104;
138. J. Belchem, Popular radicalism in nineteenth-century Britain (Basingstoke, 1996), pp. 83-6.
139. Thompson to Cobden, 28 Aug., 20, 15 Sept., 28 Oct., 13, 25, 29 Nov. 1842, T. P. DTH 4/11;
140. Tyrrell, Joseph Sturge, ch. 10; Gammage, Chartist movement, pp. 241-6.
141. Thompson to Bowring, 5 Sept. 1843, T. P. DTH 4/11;
142. Leicestershire Mercury, 26 Aug. 1843;
143. Sheffield Iris, 2 Sept. 1843.
144. Tyne Mercury, 10, 17, 24 Oct. 1842;
145. Thompson to Bowring, 6, 9, 11 Oct. 1843, T. P. DTH 4/11.
146. Thompson to Bowring, 3, 6, 9, 10, n Oct. 1843, T. P. DTH 4/11;
147. Prentice, History of the League, II, ch. 8.
148. Times, 18 Nov. 1843.
149. Prentice, History of the League, II, pp. 117, 131, 145.
150. League, 2 Dec. 1843.
151. The attack on Thompson (28 Oct. 1843) was part of the Northern Star's long-running assault against 'millocrats', the League, and its efforts in recent by-elections. Northern Star, 28 Oct., 4, 11, 18, 25 Nov., 2, 9 Dec. 1843;
152. League, 25 Nov. 1843.
153. Thompson to T. P. E. Thompson, 18, 22 Dec. 1843, T. P. DTH 4/11.
154. These appearances were usually mentioned in the League, and a1so in the local press: e.g. Bradford Observer for the speech in Halifax, 12 Dec, and Sheffield Independent for the speech in Barnsley, 20 Dec. 1843.
155. League, 6 Jan. 1844.
156. Thompson to Nancy Thompson, 7, 21 Jan. 1843, T. P. DTH 4/11, 5/26.
157. League, 27 Jan. 1843, from a report in the Greenock Advertiser.
158. See Thompson's retrospective remarks about his speeches in Scotland for the League, in his letter to Andrew Bisset, 19 Mar. 1866, T. P. DTH 4/15.
159. Bisset, a lawyer, had been a contributor to the Westminster Review and married Thompson's daughter Lucy in 1840. He assisted the League as an expert on the land tax, and in 1844 was sent by Cobden to inquire into social conditions in Dorset, Somerset, and Wiltshire. Bisset later wrote Notes on ike anti-corn law struggle, published in 1884. On the repeal movement in Scotland, see F. A. Montgomery, 'Glasgow and corn law repeal', History, 64 (1979), pp. 363-79;
160. K. J. Cameron, 'William Weir and the origins of the Manchester League in Scotland', Scottish Historical Review, 58 (1979), pp. 70-91.
161. Thompson to Nancy Thompson, 7, 21 Jan. 1844, T. P. DTH 4/11, 5/26.
162. York Herald, 27 Jan. 1844. The noblemen named by Thompson (especially Ducie, Spencer and Kinnaird) were known for their interest in agricultural innovations, mechanization, livestock breeding, and 'scientific' land use.
163. League, 3 Feb. 1844.
164. See records and press reports among Thompson's surviving papers, especially T. P. DTH 5/37.
165. Tyne Mercury, 13 Aug. 1845.
166. The electioneering can be followed in the Times, League, and Tyne Mercury newspapers for July and August 1845.
167. Thompson to Cobden, 10 Mar. 1846, T. P. DTH 4/11.