LEAGUE, the name adopted by an association which concentrated the efforts of the free-trade party in Britain, and enabled them to carry the repeal of the corn laws, and establish in practice the principle of free-trade. The results thus accom plished will have to be considered under other heads, as CORN-LAS, FREE-TRADE, etc. This statement is limited to a brief account of the league itself, and its method of working. Associations to obtain the repeal of time corn-laws existed in several places before the embodiment of the league—one especially was founded in London in 1834. In 1838, Mr. Cobden and others took the opportunity of the periodical assemblages of the Manchester chamber of commerce for exposing the deleterious influence of the restrictive commercial policy on the manufactures and trade of the country. The friends of free-trade. at the same time, occasionally met in Manchester to discuss and promul gate their views; but it was in the beginning of 1839 that the strength of the party was first drawn to a focus by the appointment of delegates from the manufacturing districts to proceed to London. and press their principles on the legislature. Mr. Charles Villiers, afterwards president of the board of trade, undertook the leadershipof their cause in the house of commons, of which Mr. Cobden, who subsequently served it so effectively, was not then a member. On the 19th of Feb., Mr. Villiers moved that the house resolve itself into a committee of inquiry on the corn-laws; and again, on the 12th of Mar., he moved that certain manufacturers be heard by counsel at the bar of the house against the corn-laws, as injurious to their private interest. The former motion was rejected by 342 to 195; the latter, by 361 to 172. Immediately on the return of the delegates from their unsuccessful effort, the league was formed. Its constitution dates from the 20th Mar., 1839, when resolutions were adopted, at a meeting in Manchester, for "the formation of a permanent union, to be called ' the anti-corn-law league.' composed of all the towns and districts represented in the delegation, and as many others as might be induced to form anti-corn-law associations. and to join the league.
"Delegates from the different local associations to meet for businesz from time to time at the principal towns represented.
" With the view to secure unity of action, the central office of the league shall be established in Manchester, to which body shall he intrusted, among other duties, those of engaging and recommending competent lecturers, the obtaining the co-operation of the public press, and the establishing and conducting of a stamped circular, for the purpose of keeping a constant correspondene6 with the local associations." It was resolved that, in addition to the funds which local associations might provide for their own district purposes,. £5000 should be put at the disposal of the central body, and that every person, or collection of persons, contributing £50, should have one vote in its deliberations. The league collected and distributed large sums of money. Just before its principles became triumphant in the free-trade legislation of 1846, it demanded a quarter of a million, which would have been supplied had it been necessary.
It is of the greatest moment that the cause of the success of the league should not be misunderstood: it triumphed not by possessing money, but by teaching scientific truth. It was a great organization for educating the country in political economy. The leading principles of this science were so little known when the league began, and had been so effec tually promulgated before its cud, that a majority of the parliament who, iu 1841, had been elected for the support of protection, were converted to free-trade, the conversion including the prime-minister, Sir Robert Peel. The key-note to the literature of the league was struck by the beautiful logical exposition of free-trade in gen. Thompson's Catechism of the Corn ta its, which, with other tracts, was profusely dispersed over the country, while a large staff of lecturers aided in the task of education. Thinking to serve their cause in the same manner, the protectionist party, at a meeting held in the duke of Somerset's house, on 17th Feb., 1844, founded "the agricultural protection society of Great Britain." This body had inexhaustible wealth at command, but in reality its exertions only helped to further the cause of free-trade, by promoting discussion, and prompting people to work out the question for themselves.