Page:History of the Anti corn law league - Volume 2.pdf/21

 rights.' (Applause.) And the mother of that Mr. Drummond sent £5 down to the League Fund in Edinburgh; thus testifying her opinion, and showing that she coincided in the view that her son has expressed. (Applause.) And yor may rely upon it, when you find a man of high and noble sentiments taking a high and excellent part, if you ask who was bis mother, you will find that he had a high-minded and excellent mother. (Applause.) We had a meeting at Dunfermline; a meeting composed almost entirely of weavers; and there was a most unanimous opinion there expressed in condemnation of this law. We went to Leith also, and there we found an enthusiastic reception from many who have hitherto been scarcely convinced that our course was wise or our object just. We went from thence to Kirkaldy; bat on the way, after crossing the Forth from Edinburgh, on our lending the whole population turned out to meet us, with a band of music, as if they had intended that we should make a sort of triumphant entry into their county. (Hear, and applause.) There, at Kirkaldy, we found a meeting of 1,500 persons assembled-in fact, containing almost the entire adult population of the place; such a meeting, I dare say, as has been rarely seen there. (Applause.) We were received by Colonel Fergusson, who is a large landed proprietor, and by Mr. Fergus, a large manufacturer and landed proprietor also; and the meeting was most cheering and enthusiastic. We passed on to Dundee the same night, where 2,000 people were assembled, and a large number of the ladies. Among the landed proprietors on the platform were Sir John Ogilvie, Mr. Carnegie, of Craigie; Mr. Kinloch, of Kinloch, and others; and it was stated to us that more than one-half of the landed property of Forfarshire was in the hands of men who were total and immediate repealers of the Corn Lay. (Applause.) We went on to the royal burgh of Perth: there was no time to get up a meeting: there had been not more, I suppose, than an hour's notice: hut the council chamber was filled with the Lord Provost, the council, and some 200 or 300 of the inhabitants. We had the opportunity of addressing them shortly, and the municipal honours were conferred upon Richard Cobden. (Cheers.) We proceeded on to Stirling, to a meeting the same evening; and it was held in a room so long that it was necessary to have a platform at each end, and a chairman and deputy chair, man, and part of the speakers spoke from one end, and part from the other end. (Applause.) And I believe that one-seventh of the whole population, men, women, and children, of the city of Stirling, were assembled in that room. There was a great number of farmers, and many large landed proprietors. Mr. Murray, of Polmaise, was in the chair; and he and many others expressed themselves in favour of total and immediate repeal. From Stirling we went to Glasgow, to a meeting of the 'Young Men's Free Trade Association;' and a more magnificent