ABSTRACT
The Anti-Corn Law League appeared to possess all the advantages of a pressure group which the Chartists lacked. The artisan radicals remained primarily anti-aristocratic into the 1840s and Sheffield had seen the development of a Mechanics' Anti-Corn Law Association in the early 1830s. The League adopted standard pressure-group tactics in the early years, 'missionary' lecture tours, meetings and rallies, the publication of sympathetic journals and parliamentary petitions. Richard Cobden was also in the forefront of those who believed, or affected to believe, that free trade was as much a moral as an economic issue. The League learned some harsh lessons in electoral politics from attempting to field candidates in every borough by-election. Robert Peel, of course, denied the League its ultimate test by passing Corn Law repeal in advance of a General Election. A government coerced into Corn Law repeal, Peel believed, would be in a weaker position to defend the essence of the establishment.
