The Sun. — London, England, 1837-12-18 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR. ethy Niajesty and her august mother attended Divine Ser /e,sierday morning in the private Chapel of the new Pa - Ch . tir The Bishop of Salisbury preached the sermon, and the ch Service for the day was read by the Dean of Chester, 41Y Clerk of the Closet in Waiting. Her Majesty was ed by the Countess of Mulgrave, Hon. Miss Dillon, Nliss Cocks, Viscount Falkland, Hon. Colonel Caren- I ls 'ir• Rich, and the Hon. Colonel Grey. k t i l ue Queen honoured the performance of L'Elisir d'Amore, k e : Lyceum, on Saturday evening with her presence. Her 1 :4 4 'l7 arrived soon after nine o'clock at the theatre, accom ee by the Duchess of Kent, and attended by the Duchess a°l4therland and the Countess of Mulgrave. Is her Majes 41,uite were also the Lord Chamberlain, Viscount Falk. V the Hon. Colonel Cavendish, and the Hon. Colonel tf Z. Lady Mary Stopford was in attendance on the Duchess L PL Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of k °ridge, the Duchess of Gloucester, Prince George, and Princess Augusta of Cambridge, attended by Lady Caro- Legge, and Baron Knesebeck, were also present at the ° nuance 6 11 " ,„.. Maje Sty olive audiences on Saturday to Viscount Mel i" and Lord e ' Glenelg. s ven u.° Queen's private band attended at the Palace on Friday T N. %`° o Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of t i o4 cester, Prince George, and the Princess Augusta of o r kbridge, attended Divine Service yesterday morning in °Prenor Chapel, south Auc'ley-street. it At the Ch a p e l R o yal, St. James's, yesterday morning, the e t. Mr. Dodd preached the sermon from the 103 d Psalm. Lord J o h n R usse ll h a d a P ar liamentary dinner party on Sa tte.,4Y evening at his residence in Wilton-erescent. ' 1 Cabinet Councl was held on Saturday afternoon at the 34 0 reign-office. It was attended by Viscount Melbourne, the. 4 cluis of Lansdowne, Viscount Duncannon, Lord John Rus t4o Viscount Palmerston, Lord Glenelg, the Chan cellor of 4 Exchequer, Earl Minto, Sir John Hobhouse, Lord H01,44d, , 44 d, Mr. P. Thompson, and Viscount Howick. - The Council •gr two hours and a half. The Russian Ambassador and the Spanish Minister trans business on Saturday at the Foreign-office. 1 ,,A deputation, headed by Mr. Hume, had an interview with i seount Melbourne on Saturday in Downing-street. A deput a tion, composed of the Lord Advocate of Scotland, Ord R amsa y, General Arbuthnot, Hon. Captain Gordon, ,u A. L. Hay, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Macleod, Mr. F. Dundas, I T. Duff, Mr. G. Craig, Lord James Stuart, Sir G. Hope, 2 1 :: Haig, Mr. Webster, dgc., had an interview with the Chan sjilor of the Exchequer on Saturday on the subject of the `botch Distillery Laws. The Lords of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council I :,erarned, on Saturday morning, the hearing of th e a pp eal from Torr e prerogative Court of Canterbury. " Castle and H a r tle y v. lorr e and others, relative to the codicil of the late Right Hon. I tis ri d Rev. John Earl of Scarborough, dated October 11, 1834. e Queen's Advocate concluded h is address on b e half of the '':spondent, and in support of the codicil ; and Sir Frederick 1- ‘)Iloek was heard in reply for the appellant.—Judgment was '4 given. The Queen's Advocate was heard in " Sherwood b. IL I Y," a case in which the appellant had married the sister c 'f 11.;s deceased wife. Sir John Nicholl notified that their :". 0 e &hips would further report to her Majesty in Counc il t hat ,qe marriage between Mr. Sherwood and Miss Emma Sarah cal ought to be declared null and void. The Lords present *er e Lord Brougham, Mr. Justice Bosanquet, the Judge of t he Ac;miralty Court, and the Chief Judge in Bankruptcy. FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE. ARRIVALS. The Earl and Countess of Roseberry, in Piccadilly from qleir seat, Dalmeny-park, Linlithgowshire, N. OIL ,B. • Bar de !erg, at Ashhurnham House, Dover.street, from Paris; Sir . 4 10b er t Gordon, at Argytl House , feom his seat in Aber deenshire; Sir C. Dalbiac, in Cavendish square, from Scotland. DEPARTURES. Barorr Gersdorff, from Park-street, for Mistley Hall, Essex, „ ll * a visft to Lord and La d y Rivers ; Lord Ravensworth, Per-v-cross, Fulham, for his scat, Ravensworth Castle, 4 `,,.orthumb erland ; Lord Wharnc liffe, from Curzon-street, for f ar near Sheffield ; Sir Francis Morlaad , Bart., 5 , 41:4 ' Bucks; Lord Dundas , from Arlin g ton-street, for Aske qall his seat, in Yorkshire; Mr. and Lad y Mar y Lon g , 1 1, 0 m Montagu-square, for their s eat, Preshaw Hall, near Hants; Dowager Ladv Rivers, from Belgrave- square, fo r Mistley Hall, Essex ; Mr. George Lane Fox, M. P., r Hornby Castle, Yorkshire; Sir William Young, Bart., M.P., from Wimpole-street, for his seat, Delaficld Park, *ear Uxbridge ; Lord Farnham, from Mivait's Hotel, Brook street, for Hastings ; Sir G. H. Smyth, Bart., M. P., from Bedford-square, for his seat. Berechurch Hall, Colchester ; the Hon. Thomas Dundas , M. P., from Arlin g ton-street, for ,Yorkshire ; Sir Thomas Dyke Acland , Bar t., M. P., from . 31 1'00k-street, for his seat Killerton , D evon ; Lord Stourton, fr om Mansfield-street, for Allerton Park, \Vetherby, York shire ; Mr. W. S. Blackstone, M.P., from the Burlington- Plotel, Cork-street, for his seat, Castle Pr ior y , Walin g ford; Cleat.- Col. Fludyer, from Grove's Hotel, Albemarle-street, ft , r Hastings ; John Guitton, Esq., and Mrs. Guitton, from tl itto, for Little Park, Hants; Mr. and Mrs. Solly and family, fr out ditto, for Serge Hali, Herts ; Lord Abercrombv, from 'arren's Hotel, Regent-street, for Cheltenham ; Lord Glen -13, on, Northumberland House, for the quarters of the 2d dra gs ms (Scots Grays), at Dublin ; Lord Thurlow, from the nheim Hotel, for his seat seat, Ashfield, Suffolk; Mr. and Mrs. Broderick, from Thomas's Hotel, for Upper Mer ten ; Sir Robert Harland, Bart., from ditto, for Suffoik ; Ad tylaf Sir Davidge and Lady Gould , for Bri g hton ; Sir Felix oooa, front Portland-place, for ditto ; the Dowager Lady ' Vinterton, for ditto ; Mr. and Mrs. Brownlow, from Dover * tra c t, for Dublin ; Lord Verulam, for Gorhambury. UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE, DEC. 16.—At a congregation on Wednesday h ~ st, the following degrees were conferred :-- MASTERS or , ARTS. Rev. Thomas Baker, St. John's College. Rev. Robert Stewart Dobson, St. John's College. Rev. Frederick Charles Allfree, St. John's College. William Lawson Barnes, St. Peter's College. _Rev. Joseph George Cumming, Emmanuel College. BACIIELORS IN CIVIL LAW. Edrvard Zouch Palmer, Trinity College. Thomas Golding, Trinity Hall. A grace also passed the Senate " to affix the seal to a re newed bond to the parishioners of the Holy Trinity for the annual payment of 141., due in respect of Wray's Charity." The Rev. Henry Kitchingman, ono of the Senior Fellows of Clare Hall, has been presented by the Mastcji and Fellows 'of that Society to the Rectory of Patrington, York hire, 'vacant by the death of the Rev. John Mansfield. On Monday last, Francis Sheppard, B. A., Scholar of Clare Hall, in this University, was elected a Fellow of that St )ciety. The Rev. William Key, M. A., Fellow of St. John's Coi.lege, in this University, has been elected to the office of Pr,lncipal of the York Proprietary School, lately established in t hat city. The subjeet of the Seatoinan prize poem for the present year, is 4, Ethiopia stretching out her hands unto God." — Psalm lxviii. 31. The Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Hereford has been pleased to appoint, the Rev. Mr. Romilly of Trinity College, the R e v. Professor Robinson, of Trinity College, and the° Rev. Mr. Croft, of Christ's College, his Lordship's domestic chap lains. meeting of the Philosophical Society was held on Mon kly evening last, Professor Peacock, the Trcasuser, in the chair. Communications were made by Mr. Green, on the Retiexion and Refraction of Light in non-crystallized media ; —Jay Mr. Rothman, consisting of observations of Halley's Cornet, made on the gate tower of Trinity College from Sep tember 20 to October 27, 1836 ;.---by Mr. Hopkins, en Pre cession .and Nutation, assuming the interior fluidity of the Earth. Legan The Earl of Hillsborough has taken tht mansion of Sir George Talbot, Bart., for the season. Lord and Lady Rivers are e ntertaining a numerous and distinguished party at Mistley Hall, Essex. Baron Gers • elorf (the Saxon Minister), Dowager_ Lady Rivers, the Hon. .Horace Pitt and the Hon. Misses Pitt are of the party. Sir Thomas and Lady Munro arrived at Farrance's hotel, Belgrave-street, on Saturday, from Scotland. The sudden illness of the Countess of Chesterfield weeented her Ladyship proceeding on the intended tour. The Earl returned from Melton Mowbray in consequence. We are happy to add that her Ladyship was better yesterday. Mr. Wigram, the Chancery Barrister, who offered himself for Leominster in the Conservative interest, has re mitted one hundred pounds to he given away amongst the poor of that borough. The Duke and Duchess of Somerset gave a grand dinner on Saturday to the following compare( :—The Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury and Lady Mary Talbot, the Marquis of Douro, the Dutch Minister and Madame Dedel, Sir F. Burdett, Mis 3 Burdett, Miss Coutts, and Mr. Rogers. The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland will leave Stafford House in a few days, to pass the Christmas at Oat 'ands, with Lord and Lady Francis Egerton. The Duke of Portland is at Welbeck Abbey. A numerous circle will partake of his Grace's hospitalities at Christmas- The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort intend to give a grand ball at Badminton shortly after Christmas to the No bility a nd Gentry of Gloucestershire and the neighbouring counties. Among the party invited to pass the Christmas at Badminton are—The Earl and Countess of Wilton, the Duke of Wellington, the Earl and Countess of Chesterfield, Mr. and Lady Georgians Codrington, Lord Eltenborough, &c. The Marquis of Westminster and Lord and Lady Robert Grosvenor will leave town to-morrow for Eatzu Hall, in Cheshire. The Earl and Countess Grosvenor left Eaton Hall in the preceding week, for Motcombo Hall, in Dorsetsbire. The Marchioness of Downshire and the Marchio tem of Bristol are lately added to the list of influential Vice- Patronesses to the Royal Belgrave Lying-in Institution, and Miss Burdett Coutts has forwarded a liberal donation, with in :lnfliction to place her name as life-governor to that rapidly increasing and useful charity, of which her Grace the late Duchess of St. Alban's was a g enerous su pp orter from its formation in 1832, when her Royat Highness the Duchess 64' Kent kindly became the Patroness. Dr. Warneford of Moreton, has liberally pre sented the sum of 1,000/. for the establishment of iiiedical prizes in the Medical School of College, London. ALARMING NEWS FROM LOWER CANADA. (From the New York Express of the 23d and 24th.) ARREST AND RESCUE OF PRIEONURS.—Canadian affairs are at length approaching a crisis. This morning we received the Montreal Herald of Saturday morning, and a slip from the Montreal Courier of Saturday evening. Both papers give an account of the arrest and rescue of several individuals charged with high treason and open rebellion. Six persons were arrested at Montreal on Wednesday evening, by the names of Andre Ouimet, George de Boucherville, Tavernier, Dubec, Le Blanc, and Cymar. The Royal Montreal Cavalry were ordered out on the same afternoon on a secret expedition, and owing to the shortness of the notice, only sixteen were at the muster. They were dispatched under the command of Lieut. Ermatinger to St. John's, with warrants for the appre hension of three individuals, and, immediately after their ar rival at their destination, they succeeded in arresting two, Dr. Davignon and Mr. Desmarets, the postmaster ; the third individual resided across the river at St. Athanase, and as they had positive orders not to cross the bridge, his ar rest was not attempted. The two prisoners were hand cuffed, placed in a carriage under the immediate charge of Melo, a constable, and the whole cavalcade left St. John's for Montreal, via Chambly and Longueuil, about four o'clock, A. 11., Thursday morning. "On Friday morning," says the Montreal Herald, from which we gather most of our infor mation, " when about a mile from.the village of Longueuil, the cavalry came up to a body of several hundred armed men, who were stationed behind a log fence, evidently pre pared for their arrival, and apparently disposed to interrupt their further progress, and to rescue the two prisoners. About sixty men of this multitude wont upon their knees, so as to take a deadly aim, when Male called out, Do not fire.' and the command was given to the cavalry to halt, which was, fortunately, promptly obeyed, as a considerable portion of the enemy's lire, given at the same moment, proved ineffectual, owing to their anticipating the con tinued advance of the troop. The cavalry then wheeled about and discharged their pistols amongst the crowd, and it is reported with some effect, as several were supposed to be killed or wounded. The little band of volunteers provi. dentially escaped with but comparatively speaking slight injury, three only being wounded, Lieutenant Ermatinger in the face, Mr. Sharpe in the leg. It is extraordinary that every individual of the corps was not cut to pieces, the dis parity of numbers being so great. Several of the horses were wounded severely, owing, it is supposed, to the rebels tiring so low. A bullet passed through Mr. Molson's cap, slightly grazing his head, and a portion of the side of Mr. Arthur Farquhar's cap was shot away. In effecting their re treat, the carriage which contained the two prisoners was overturned, and it is supposed that these individuals were wounded by their own partisans. The horses were so fatigued with their lung ride during such tempestuous weather and over such bad roads, that they were of little service to their riders in assisting their retreat, during which the balls were whizzing about their cars as plentiful as they were, luckily, ineffectual. The party arrived at Montreal about one o'clock on Friday, and three companies of the Royals were immediately dis patched to what may be more emphatically styled the seat of war; a dispatch was also sent to Lord Gosford detailing all the particulars of the affair, and recommending, we believe, that that portion of the province where the affrayb took place should be declared under martial law." Continued from the Herald of Saturday :—" We have just learned that the volunteer cavalry, who had been sent to arrest several traitors over the river, and had succeeded in securing two of them, were yesterday morning attacked by a large force of habitans, and obliged to leave their prisoners behind them. As the law must be vindicated, a sufficient force will of course be dispatched:to search out the rescued traitors, and, if possible, re-capture them." In Quebec, too, additional arrests have taken place, the chief victim being A. N. Morin, Esq., advocate, once De puty Ambassador of La Grande Nation Canadienne at the Court of St. James's. Tna CIIIEF OF Tile REBEL GANG TAKEN.—Arnable NOl%. beth Morin, director is chief of the seditious and treasonable proceedings of the Permanent and Central Committee of Quebec, and chief spy of the Montreal faction, was lodged in gaol this morning on a similar charge to that on which Jos. Legare, Pierre Chasseur, Eugene Trudcau, and Barthelemi Lachance were arrested. A. N. Morin was committed until Saturday, when he will be further examined.— Quebec Morn ing Herald of Wednesday. Sir John Colborne has called in the pensioners and the old soldiers, who are willing to serve, both to enter on imme diate active service.—Popuiaire. We learn from the Courier of the 17th, that the parties arrested in Quebec were Messrs. Chasseur, Legate, La chance, and Trudeau—the first being the printer of the Liberal. The editors of that paper, Messrs. Bouchette and Hunter, had not been arrested, as was reported here on Monday. The charge against the parties arrested is for unlawfully and seditiously contriving, &c., to disturb the Queen's peace, bring her Government and person into contempt, and alienate the affections of her subjects. Mr. Legare was a justice of the peace, and had been dismissed. Two companies of the 24th Regiment, from Upper Canada, arrived at Montreal on Wednesday last. A number of the inhabitants of St. John's, Loyalists, have enroll themselbes as a corpse of volunteers, ready to act in concert with the military as occasion may require. We published some days since, an account of the troubles in St. Cesaire, and the determination of a portion of the in habitants to sustain Mr. Chaffers, the magistrate, in main taining the Queen's authority. It seems, however, that the malcontents have proved the stronger. A meeting was held on Sunday at the Church-door, at which resolutions were passed, declaring that no more courts should be held, or warrants issued. _ _ . AA • 14•••.... Mr, Chaffers was notified of this on Monday, whereupon _ . he declared the courts suspended, and the district in a state of rebellion against her Majesty. His life and property were threatened. FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE LATE BLOODSHED, &c. ( From the Montreal Courier of Monday.) Between seven and eight o'clock on Saturday morning a body of troops set out for Chambly, under Lieutenant- Colonel Wetherall. Four companies of the Royals, a party of the Royal Artillery with two field pieces, under Captain Glasgow, and from 16 to 20 of the Montreal Volunteer Cavalry, under Captain David, formed the detachment. The spot where the attack was made on Friday upon the cavalry is, as we now learn from parties who have since gone over the ground, from two to three miles out of Longueuil. On arriving at this place, the detachment found the waggon on which the prisoners had been con veyed, lying by the roadside, a dead horse in the road, and tracks of blood in the field where the assailants had been posted, from which it would appear that some execution was done by the fire of the cavalry, previous to their retreat. The houses and barns by the road side, from which the cavalry had been fired upon in their retreat, were all found with the doors and window-shutters nailed up. A careful search was, of course, made ; but though the fires were still burning in some of them, there were neither weapons nor inmates to be found in any. The party then proceeded along the road, finding the houses, with one or two excep tions only, deserted, and uniformly without arms in them. Scouts were frequently seen mounted, and riding down the several concession roads to the main roads; but on sight of the troops they uniformly started off again. An individual who was met upon the main road stated that as he came along he had seen numbers of men, women, and children, leaving the houses along the road, and going off, right and left, the men mostly armed. About six miles from Chambly a man was overtaken on the road armed. When arrested, he admitted that he had turned out to join a party that was designed to intercept the troops. About a mile further, the cavalry, who were a little in advance of the main body, gave chase to a party of about thirty armed horsemen, who they saw at some distance before them, and who made off immediately at full speed, turning to the left up a concession-road towards the Belleisle mountain. After a mile and a half of hard riding, most of them took to the woods, while the remaindev made their escape along the road. A company of the infantry coming up, were then ordered into the bush, the cavalry being drawn up along the edge to cut off such as might be driven out. Some twenty or thirty shots were exchanged, with what effect on the rebels is not known ; aid two prisoners, named Mongeau, father and son, and four horses, were taken. None of the soldiers were hurt. The elder Mongeau, when taken, was armed with a horse-pistol, the younger with a fusee. Both had a supply of ball-cartridge, a part of which they de clared to have been served out to them by Dr. Kember, of Chambly, one of the missing heroes of the revolution, whose present locale is by many shrewdly conjectured to be south of line 45 degrees. On arriving at Booth's taveris, not far from Chambly, a party of about one hundred men wore found posted just beyond the bridge ; but they made off so fast as the troops came up, that only four of them were taken. The party reached Chambly with their seven prisoners a little after sundown. From the general statements made by the prisoners, it is evident that a very large body of men had been called out to oppose the troops, and that courage, rather than numbers, was wanting, to induce them to attempt it. The two Mongeaus, we understand, are identified as having. been of the party that fired on the cavalry on Friday. The two Magistrates and the Deputy-Sheriff returned on Saturday night to the city, The troops, with their prisoners, who are placed in separate confinement, remained at Chambly. We may now look every day for intelligence of the utmost importance. Virtually the whole neighbourhood in which these events have occurred is already in a state of war. I t cannot be long before it will be regularly declared to be to all intents and purposes under martial • The arrests in this city, of whose nature we spoke with some little uncertainty on Saturday, we have since ascertained to be for high treassll, as they ought to be. The arrested parties are all in separate cenfinettent. Those who were taken in arms on Saturday are, of curse, all guilty of treason also. Since the six arrests on Thqrsday evening, three others have been made in Montreal, all for the same crime. On Friday evening Mr. Joseph J,ettore and Dr. B. Lionais, both of St. Athanase, made their appearance in town, much to the sur prise of their captors, and were speedily committed to gaol, as much to their own surprise. On Saturday, Mr. Louis Michel Vigel, President of the Banc du Nuple, was quietly lodged in the same building, in consequence, it is said, of some pecu liarly heavy charges against him, relating chiefly to the finan cial concerns of the party. If the half of what is currently believed he true, some startling disclosures may shortly be ex peeted of certain means by which th e sinews of war" hav e been asipplicd to aid in the proeurenteot of arms, and other ma tters, contraband of war. A gentleman direct from Montreal says that the persons ;eat arrested have given hnpgrt4nt information so important, indeed, that Sir John Colborne is of opinion that no more blood will be shed. Knowing, as he believes he does, all the ringleaders, measures will be pursued which he thiaks will put a stop to all further agitation. The Courier of Monday says that the work of royal orga nization goes bravely on in all parts of the city. From the highly satisfactory replies of the Governor, and Commander in-Chief, to the request for a general military organization of all loyal citizens for the defence of the city in cases of emer gency, it may be confidently expected that Montreal will very shortly be in a condition to spare almost every man of the regular troops now in garr:son there, should they be wanted for the defence of the more scattered loyalists through the country. The Halifax Journal of the 6th instant, received yesterday morning, states that orders have been issued by Sir Colin Campbell for the 43d regiment, stationed at New Brunswick, to proceed by land to Lower Canada. The 85th regiment, in garrison at Halifax, is ordered to replace the 43d in New Brunswick. PUBLIC MEETING TO PETITION FOR THE BALLOT. (Abridged from the Sheffield Independent of Saturday.) On Thursday noon a numerous meeting was held in the Town Hall, called by the Master Cutler, on the requisition of a number of respectable inhabitants, to petition Pariiament for the Ballot. It was generally understood that our excel lent Member, Mr. Ward, would be present ; and it had also been announced by the Working Mens' Association, that an amendment would be proposed, praying for Universal Suf frage and Annual Parliaments, in addition to the Ballot, to be supported by Mr. Feargus O'Connor. Soon after twelve o'clock, Mr. O'Connor and his friends made their appearance. On the arrival of the Master Cutler, he was unanimously vote into the Chair, on the motion of Mr. Palfreyman and Mr. Bramley, and, in a few words, he opened the business of the meeting. Mr. Bftasmav then read notes from John Parker, Esq , M. P., and B. Sayle, Esq. Mr. BRAMLICY also read an extract of a letter which he had received from Mr. Ward, in which he said he hoped to arrive at Sheffield by the hour of meeting. Mr. Bramley said Mr. Ward had not yet arrived, but was expected every moment.—( Loud cheers.) Mr JOillUk WIGFULL moved the first resolution. For many years they had indulged great anticipations of reform ; and it seemed to him that there must be some great defect that disappointed their hopes. Their Legislators were com posed too much of the higher classes, who were ignorant of the wants of the poor. He hoped that tlae Ballot would re move that defect, and give the people a fairer and better re presentation. Unfortunately, too much power had been placed in the hands of the agriculturists, who had been com pelled to vote for their landlords. But in the boroughs, if a man occupied property to the value of 1,0001. a year, it gave him no vote fur the county. The agricultural tenants were compelled to Tote for their landlords, by a fear of losing their livelihood. He thought that it would be the better course to obtain the Ballot first—(Cheers)—and bring on afterwards the other great questions which they had in view.—(Cheers.) England was yet in her infancy, if Englishmen did their duty. He moved, " That it is the duty of the Legislature to take immediate and effectual means to prevent the gross intimida tion and corruption which so notoriously prevail in the elec tion of Members of Parliament." Mr. Du did not consider that the Ballot ought to be a party question. Whether a man were Whig, Tory, or Ra dical, if he were an honest man, and disposed to do his duty, he was interested in the Ballot.—( Cheers.) He seconded the resolution. Mr. EBBNEZIZIt ELLIOTT said—Master Cutler and Fellow Townsmen I—we are met ostensibly to petition for the Ballot, but really to talk about Lord John Russell's decla: ation against Reform. lam not sorry for that declaration ; it is an honest one ; it enables me for the first time in my life, to believe a Whig.—{ At this moment Mr. Ward entered the meeting, and was hailed with a burst of the most enthusiastic applause.]—l cannot think that any sincere advocate of the Ballot will oppose my amendment, for a proposal to extend the suffrage as the best means of obtaining the Ballot, because the existing constituen cies would demand it for their protection. But, by demanding our long-withheld rights, we are told we shall brine. the Tories into office. Are they not in office ? What is a Whig but a Tory? —(" No, no," and cheers.) And what is a Tory but a wolf ? ( Cheers.) The difference between them is, that your Whig wolf is dressed in hen's feathers, and has a sheep's heart in his bosom, with a serpest's cerebellum for a brain. Your Tory is a straightforward robber and cut-throat, greedy as a shark, blind as a bolt. But your Whig (the still swine) always reminds me of Cobbett's description of the old sow in a bean-field " She creeps," says he, " on her hams, into the centre of the field, where, if any one finds her, he wonders how the devil she got there, for there seems to he no road for such a beast. Adjusting her height to that of the crop, she squats, with the points of her ears precisely on a level with the bean-tops, while she crunches both swads and beans, and never wants water, for they aro both meat and drink to her," just as office is to an Aristocrat. But if the owner of the beaus finds her poaching on his manor, Lord of mercy, what a fuss she makes tip she gathers her fat carcase, with a tremendous grunt, as if she was the injured party, and away she waddles, with her big belly, and many a peck of beans in it, imitating to the life the chaste, insulted dignity of an injured Whig matron, or my Lord Melbourne himself 1 Now, why should we not tell the truth of such people as these? Will they keep you ? Don't you earn your own living ? Wo are neither beggars nor robbers, hut unfortunate feeders of both ; and I am determined to feed the robbers no more : for Russell, the Reformer, has declared that his Reform humbug is a final measure, and that the idlers, who cannot live without robbing the industrious of twc-thirds of their earnings, shall still be the British Government. I therefore declare—as a Member of the Working Men's Association—that we will be satisfied with no measure of reform, that does not take the hands of the aristocracy out of our pockets, put an end to the armed cowardice of their insolence, fill the army with men of the people, and open to them a clear road for promotion. For what is Russell's speech and confession but a manifesto of the whole aristocracy, that they rely on the Pretorians whom we pay, and whom they cannot pay? What care self-sustained men for fine folks who are beggars self-declared?—or for fine beggars, who are robbers self-proclaimed? See to what a condition they have brought this country. Have they not placed our most solemn duties in opposition to each other? It is scarcely three years since I sat in that jury box, and found poor creatures guilty of crimes, though too probably they were mere victims of criminals in high places, who make the law that makes the criminality, which they arc always eager to sentence. But if I had then misgivings, if I did not then sacrifice every victim brought before me, but acquitted a poacher or two, who happened to think that God's hares were not the squire's, could I now—after Russell's dying confession, that his pullet is a goose, and his rogue a fool, and that rogue's law shall be law for ever—could I now, with a safe conscience, find victims guilty of crime, while the victimizers, the true criminals, are n b cl ,Rva e au g li hl s g eas dreanlrltyc, to sit documentaryi declarationfandisiet o r n robbery b tab b naeeytrvyibodaost evidence, n a ea car l shall es s commentary cei certain juryman,rdbt a e t i ai i l i a w e ?tot eater will r o not only at large, and li v i ng i n sp l en d our , but declaring that ; take if n a t itm again - s o w t f h h e o P m a m , r a l an y am d h e a a n p s k t e nwith Russell's declaration a s a commentary on them, and ask Lord Wharncliffe, or any other bread.tax eater who may happen toLord preside here, how he can expect me to find the victims of a caste guilty of the crime of poverty, while he knows, as well as I do, that during the last twenty years of their lives they have been robbed of two-thirds of their earnings by one law of their victimizers ? " No, Lord Wharncliffe ! • No, Squire Walker!" I will say, " I cannot find them guilty. I have already heard in this Court the groans of broken hearted mothers, wives, sisters, torn from sacrificed sons, husbands, brethren—groans which resound in my soul like a voice of accusation—and I seem to see the victims stand ing before the eternal Judge, hiding their eyes with their hands, and reluctantly saying, Yes, Father, this poet of the poor found us guilty of crime, though his principles ought to have taught him that we were only victims of state criminality I' Lords and Squires I is it not enough that you take from the poor their privilege of out-door relief, while you retain the horrible law by which you rob thorn of two-thirds of their earning (and but for which robbery they would want no relief at alp—is not this enough, without expecting me to send them to Botany Bay ?" Russell's declaration has turned me from the error of my ways, and determined me to advocate short reckonings and the Suffrage for all. Let there be no more legislation for classes. We ask no favour, we demand our rights. As a member of the Working Men's Association, representing them on this occasion, and deputed by them to express here their sentiments and my own, I move an amend ment, not written by me, but by a working man, who, though ' robbed by the aristocracy of two-thirds of his earnings, yet gets an honest living • a proof how well Englishm e n m ight li v e, if they had fair play. I move, I say, " That the landowners and capitalists now monopolize representation in both Houses of Parliament, in manifest injustice to the working classes. Is is, therefore, the opinion of this meeting, that a petition be sent to the Legislature, praying for an extension of the Suf frage to all classes of her Majesty's subjects, in order that all may have equal justice; for Vote by Ballot, in order that the voter may be enabled to exercise his right with independence ; and for shortening the duration of Parliaments, that the re presented may have an efficient controul over their represen rtivos." Mr. GILL rose to second the resolution with extreme plea sure. The aristocracy of wealth and power had absorbed the representation, and the rights of labour were neither directly nor indirectly protected. It was in the power of a few fa. voured individuals to controul the circulating medium, and at any moment throw out of employ thousands of the population. Ought this state of things to exist, and they not raise their their voi ces i n o pp os i t i on t o su ch a system? He considered it the duty of every man engaged in procuring the necessaries of life, to declare himself against a system which Mr. Elliott had said . took fro m th e p ro d ucer two-thirds o f his produce, but he maintained, robbed him, in one shape or another, of nine -tenths. Whether they looked to the representatives of towns or of counties (and as they were more connected with the town representat i on, h e s h ou ld notice first the position in which t h ey stoo d) , t h ey f oun d all classes in society naturally divided into two—the productive and the unproductive classes. It was the interest of the un productive to sc rew a ll t h ey coul d out o f t h e productive classes, and the mo re o f t h e i r l a b our t h ey cou ld force from them, the more th e y aggran di sed t h emse l ves. The result of the present position o f soc i ety was to engen d er di s cord, to set man against man, and make a hell of this world. Let them look at the streets, and say whether the present state of so ciety had not a tendency to make the world a hell. He could sec nothing else. The capitalists of the country were produc ing misery, and the Ballot w ou ld on l y protec t . them agains , the just indignation of the exasperated people. The Ballot. with the extension of the Suffrage, would be universal pro tection : it would protect every man in the exercise of t • lit , Mr. PALFREYMAN had not intended to take so early a part in the proceedings of the meeting, but for the amendment proposed by his zealous friend, Mr. Elliott, whose zeal some times, as he himself admitted, went beyond his knowledge.— ( Disturbance.) I know that we shall yet fight in the same ranks for years to come. He thinks that the glorious result to which we look is near. I fear it is yet at a distance. The amendment of Mr. Elliott has been ably seconded by one of the working class, though sprung from an ori g in he seems not very fond of. I beg to say one or two words in reference to some proceedings before holding this meeting. Lord J. Russell's declaration was startling to all persons friendly to liberal opinions, and those who hare been in the habit of bring ing great questions before the public, as connected with the cause of Reform, did not think it right that the town should be silent. They considered what was the most prominent subject that could be brought forward ; and in the exercise of their judgment and discretion, they deemed the Ballot the most important ; and, therefore, the requisition, ema nating in some degree from Mr. Bramley and himself as officially connected with the Reform Association, was handed round among the Reformers. And lam glad to find that my friend Mr. Elliott was one of those who signed it. What has brought a change over the spirit of his dream I cannot tell; but it is clear that when the requisition was signed he thought the Ballot important, and I attribute it to his poetic imagination that ho no longer thinks so. To us, and to all the requisitionists, the Ballot is only important inasmuch as it is connected with the great cause of the people —the cause of Reform--the ultimate extension of the Suf frage, and the shortening of the duration of Parliaments.— ( Cheers.) The only question about which we differ is at which end to begin. I think that the proposers of the amend ment are attempting to put in the thick end of the wedge first.—( Cheers, and " No, no.") I say, Yes, yes ; but I think that when we have got the Ballot—when we have got the matter once betWoen the rollers, we shall ne cessarily draw all connected with it through. With the supporters of the amendment, I agree that the Ballot might be injurious, unless the other two questions should be carried after it. But it has been said that the Ballot would protect the electors from the " virtuous indignation of the non-electors." What ! if a man gives a conscientious vote (and the only way of enabling all men to do so is, to let them vote so as it may be unknown to all ex cept themselves and their Creator)—what I if a man has given a conscientious vote, is he for one moment to be subjected to what you call " virtuous indignation ?"—( Cries of " Yes," and " No.") What I can that be virtuous indignation which would control a man contrary to the dictates of his own con science ?—( Cheers.) That virtuous indignation ? Oh, no Never prostitute the name of virtue so I Never say that an individual, whether rich or poor, whether mechanic or land lord, working man or Peer, ought to have control over the conscience of another. Every man has a right to vote freely, but he is morally bound to exercise that right so as to be sub servient to the good of the community at large. If we had the Ballot, do you think we should have seen, at the last elec. Lion, the agricultural tenants brought in droves to the Corn Exchange, with two or three Magistrates at their head, half-a dozen Parsons by their side, and a score landlords' agents about them. There was one Parson Magistrate, with good fat capon lined, who actually entered the booth to superintend the de livery of their votes ; and at the risk of incurring his personal displeasure, I called on the deputy returning officer to order him out.--( Cheers.) I think our immediate object should be to obtain the Ballot to protect the electors. Is it right that the electors should be subject to the control of one body or another ? Do we not agree that the influence of Tory land lords and of the Whigs should be put an end to ? Mr. Elliott has imbedded me in the immortal amber of his verse as a Radical, and as such I am quite as ready as he to put an end to the plunder of the old sow among the beans. Mr. Beam , . read Lord Brougham's letter, and argued that the amendment was founded not on any imaginative theories of Mr. Elliott, but on the principles laid down by Lord Brougham. The amendment was drawn up by a workman. The population of this borough was 95,000; yet, out of the 30,000 adults, it contained not more than four or five thousand possessed of the franchise ; and in many places, such as Ro therham, Barnsley, and Chesterfield, even the 101. tenantry did not possess the franchise. In the elections of the two first reformed Parliaments, bribery and intimidation were not nearly so active as in the last, yet they did not find that those Parliaments bad been materially better than the7pre sent. While such a place as Melton could counterbalance the votes of the representatives of Sheffield—while the electors were yearly undergoing diminution, from frivolous objections and the death of freemen, he thdught it clear that the suffrage was the most important question. lam not, he said, opposed to the Ballot. I would vote for it more than the gentlemen opposite.—(Disapprobation.) I am mistaken in saying that they:would vote against the Ballot, but they would ♦ote against the extension of the suffrage.—( Mr. Bramley—How do you know that ?) Well, I hope not ; but if they oppose the amendment, they arc voting against the extension of the Suffrage.—( No, no.) Mr. WARD stepped forward amid tremendous cheering. He said, as there is a stranger present who is come here on purpose to attend this meeting, and as I am here under a large responsibility, while he has none, I think myself fairly entitled to call upon him to precede rae, because if there be any ne cessity for me to set myself right with you, I ought to have the advantage of reply.—( Loud cheers.) Mr. FEARGL'S O'CONNOrt—( Cheering)—denied that he was a stranger, or that he was without responsibility. Lord John Russell had declared the finality of the Reform Bill, but ho was there to oppose the only measure that could give it finality ; the measure which would draw a line of complete demarcation between wealth anti industry. Having relieved the electors of all responsibility by the Ballot, Members of Parliament would next say to those electors, we have relieved you from your responsibility ; now we must be relieved too, by introducing the Ballot into the House. The Ballot, with the present suffrage, would be protection for the improper dis posal of votes ; the Ballot, with Universal Suffrage, would be a general protection against interference with a privilege. Under the Ballot, the agricultural voter would not vote dif ferently from now, because the enfranchised were divided into two classes, the manufacturing and the agricultural, and the agricultural /voters were guided by the Corn Laws, and not by their consciences. He had now been called a Tory Radical, but, during the three years he sat in Parliament, he had always supported democratical principles, and, after every Session he had ♦isited his constituents, pledged to resign, if they disapproved of his conduct. The Ballot, without the Suffrage, would be the cart without any horse at all. What was the Ballot worth to working men, while they had no vote to protect ? The working men of Yorkshire and Lancashire were waiting to catch the echo from that room. They were told that they were too ignorant for the Suffrage, but they were too well educated for the Ballot. If they were ignorant, five votes each would be readily given them ; but since they possessed the knowledge necessary to defend their rights, the rich would not give it. They had clamoured for the Reform Bill ; were they a particle better for it?— (" Yes," " no.") Did they earn more money ? Had they better protection for their labour, and was there less protec tion for the public plunderers ?—( Cheers.) Parliament had now sat three weeks, and excepting the stand made by Mr. Wakley, in which he had been backed by the Gallant Member for Sheffield—(Cheers)—what had been done? Year after year parties were becoming more venomous. While these par ties were contending, it was impossible that the interest of the nation should be protected, and the Ballot would only widen the schism and increase the breach. The people were about to be marshalled, throughout Yorkshire and Lancashire, and the amendment now proposed would be carried in every assem bly of working men. He was called a Tory Radical, but if the Tories came into power, he would oppose them more than he now opposed the Whigs. The Reform Bill was the fulfilment of the Whig pledges, yet it had grievously dis appointed the hopes of the people, and now the Whig march was a short step forward, and two long steps backward. Let them vindicate their own rights, and vote for the amendment. So long as they had not the right, those who had it were their masters, and not their servants. Luxury and wealth were in creasing ; but the comforts of the people did not increase. What he wanted, was, that the science of legislation should advance, and improvement be progressive. He was not with out responsibility. lie had come that day from Bradford, where he was at a meeting till one o'clock in the morning. He had attended meetings at Leeds and Dewsbury, and he was preparing to attend meetings that would be held through out the North of England. Mr. WARD said—Gentlemen, I thought that, in the present position of affairs, it was desirable that there should be a strong expression of opinion on the new position assumed by the Government ; and I was re joiced to see, whet the notice of this meeting reached me, on Monday, that my friends at Sheffield, with the energy and practical good sense that distinguish them, have not suffered the appeal of Lord John Russell to remain unanswered. Mr. Elliott dwelt with great force upon the iniquity of the Corn Laws. Is there a single person present who does not enter tain the same sentiments upon that subject ? I have voted for their Repeal, or I should never have had the honour to stand in my present position ; and no man who would support those laws is fit to be the Representative of a manufacturing com munity like this. The Pension List, too, has been adverted to, which we have got rid of, thank God, so that it forms now no difficulty. I should have had faith in the Ballot without the Reform Bill ; but I have no faith in the Reform Bill without the Ballot. The foundation of my hope in the Reform Bill was, that it would bring the Ballot, but I never believed that it would do so till the last moment, and that mo ment has arrived. When I looked at the conduct of the Go vernment, I found every thing to be in conformity with the un derstanding that this should be an open question for amicable discussion. Lord (Spencer, in 1825, declared himself .for the Ballot. Sir John Hobhouse was one of its earliest ad vocates ; and let us hope, that as Westminster has been dis appointed in its expectations as to one of its Members, the other will maintain his consistency on this question. Mr. Poulett Thompson was the pledged advocate of the Bal lot. Ament.,r the Lortis of the Treasury there were three other individuals pledged to it. I had a right therefore, to think that when the question was mooted, it would receive a full and fair discussion, and that it would not be opposed or made the ground of a quarrel. This feeling was confirmed by the speech of Lord John Russell at Stroud. At a dinner after his election, he laid down the line of distinction between the Tories and the Reformers as strongly as Mr. O'Connor could have done. He declared that he himself was a Re former in the broadest sense of that term, which a thinking man could adopt, and that he wished the country to advance, add not to stand still. In the speech which contained this -trong expression of opinion, he told us that in the framing of the Morin Bill, the Ballot was at one time a part of that tne2- sure ; that the Committee who prepared the Bill for the Cabinet proposed the adoption of the Ballot, and to shorten the duration of Parliaments from seven years to five ; with this in my hand, - tnd sentiments like these, expressed in a speech delivered so re cently as the 28th of July last, and intended to influence the elec tions; I had a right to suppose that opposition \ to the Ballot would never be made a Government question, and that, in common with other Radical Reformers who advocated the Ballot, short Parliaments, and the extension of the Suffrage, I might with consistency support the Government. On the last occasion when the Ballot was discussed, 17 Members of the Government abstained from voting; and the language held by Lord John Russell, Lord Howick, and others, was of this character—that, although they objected to the system of secret voting, yet if the shameful attempts at bribery ann intimidation which had disgrased the elections in so many in stances, were persevered in, they must be put down, without, the Ballot, if they could—but with the Ballot, and by the Ballot if other means were found impracticable. That was the state of the question between the earnest Liberals and the Government at the commencement of the Session. On the first, night, the Member for Finsbury made a mo tion comprehending all the great questions included in the amendment of to-day. I told him in private, and after wards publicly, in the House, that I objected to the course he was taking, as imprudent—as unfair to the very questions themselves, and as unfair to. the country.—(Hear, hear ) You arc not to conceive that in the House of Com mons there are only twenty men favourable to the extension of the Suffrage and the Ballot; I believe that on Mr. Grote's motion we shall divide nearly two hundred; but on the occasion of Mr. Wakley's amendment there prevailed a very strong desire that the first address to the Queen from her first Parliament should be unanimous. I therefore think Mr. \Vakley might have reserved the questions for future dis cussion whith great advantage, when many other Members would have been ready to support him. But there was no thing in his amendment, or in the speeches in support of it, to warrant or excite the strong feeling which appears to have influenced the mind of Lord J. Russell, and led him to com mit a double wrong ; for his speech was unfair to his true and disinterested supporters, the Radical Reformers, between whom and the Ministry he erected a wall of principle that had never before existed, converting those which had been questions of time and expediency into questions of principle, in such a manner as to render it as unpalatable as possible to those who feel as I do. I could not then, and I cannot now under- stand what could induce him to appeal from the town consti tuencies, by whose aid the Government have done everything that they have been able to accomplish, to those landed inte rests, which have opposed him from the first day of his Minis try, and by whose votes he stands judged and condemned at the pre:ent hour. The deep regret and disappointment which I have now expressed, I uttered in the House of Commons, where I was the first man to denounce Lord John Russell's declaration, to which it is impossible Mr. Feargus O'Connor could be more strongly opposed than I. I consider that, if persevered in, it must be destructive of the hopes of the Libe ral party for that progressive amelioration of our institutions, which they had connected with the continuance in office of Lord Melbourne's Government. I expressed my feelings at that time in terms which I do not regret, and of which I can not retract one syllable. I expressed my conviction that if the declaration of Lord John Russell was to be con sidered the act of the Cabinet, there must be an end of the alliance which we had endeavoured to preserve, and my belief that there are but two courses now open. The Honourable Gentleman who last addressed you has asked what difference there is between the Ballot now and liefore Lord J. Russell's declaration ? There is every possi ble difference. Before, we thought it might Le gradually carried ; now, Government is against it, if we are to consider the declaration of Lord John Russell as an avowal of the sen timents of the Government. Those who feel the absolute necessity for a further progress of Reform—those who, like myself, do not consider that a final measure—those who ac. . - knowledge no principle of finnlity, but think that our institu- tions must go on improving with y the increase of intelligence, see but two courses to pursue. One is that recommended by the Birmingham Political Union and Sir William Moles worth, of direct and open hostility to the Government, and which, I presume, would also be recomnended by this gentle man who has preceded me. The other, which I consider to be by far the wiser hnd more practical course, is to bring the opinion of the country to bear upon the Government, and force them back out of the false position which they have taken up.—( Cheers.) It is our duty to consider these two courses in the general aspect of political affairs, and not to be led away by vague declamation. Having read with great attention the address of Sir William Molesworth to the electors of Leeds, I cannot give my adhesion to his policy. I cannot see that it would be wiser or better to destroy the Government, which the combination of 10 or 20 Members might do ; and I think it would be more wise, more practica ble, and of more advantage to express with becoming energy our opinions, and a common determination to make our future sup port contingent upon their adherence to those professions w Lich have earned for them the favour of the liberal constitu. envies. It is not a matter of indifference whether WQ are to have a Whig or a Tory Government. I cannot look back on the occurrences of the past week without feeling that, not withstanding the false position of the Ministry, there is a great distinction between them and the Tories. We all recollect those feelings of odium and just indignation with which, for many years, we regarded the Pension List, and if you only look at the last division in the House of Commons, _ you will be forced to admit that there is a considerable difference between the men who hold themselves answerable to public opinion, and those who, if they had had a majority of only one, would have prevented a revision of the pen sions, and have compelled you to satisfy what they called the vested 'rights of those pensioners. Travel across the Irish Channel - , and you will there find a great deal of differ ence between the Whig and the Tory. Recollect the recent exhibitions they have made in both Houses of Parliament. In the Lords, we tind the Duke of Newcastle presenting a peti tion for the repeal of the Catholic Relief Bill ; and, in the Commons, you have the lamentable exhibitions of the Gallant Colonels Verner and Percival, to contrast with the manly beha viour of one whom you all respect and love--I mean Lord Morpeth.—( Loud cheers.) See how gallantly he met and put down every charge against the Irish Government ; and ask yourselves whether it is desirable that the principles of Colonels Verner and Percival should again be predominant in Ireland, and whether you would not, in that case, regret ton late the loss of such men as the Earl of Mulgrave and Lord Morpeth. Without sacrificing English objects to Ireland, let us not sacrifice Ireland without a certainty of obtaining English objects. Would those objects be any nearer if we had a Tory Government ? Should we be one whit nearer the at tainment of English objects if we were to replace the present Ministry by a Tory Government? I think not; and when I am told that it is a matter of indifference whether we have the Tories in office or not, I am reminded of the old address of a Member to the Speaker— " I hear a lioi in the lobby roar— Say, Mr. Speaker, shall we bar the door? Or shall Ire rather let the lion in, And try if we can turn him out again ?" (Laughter.) I must confess that I have sufficient timidity and caution not to wish to see the Tory lion again rampant. Are we, then, to submit to Lord John Russell's repudiation of us, and to the rejection of those principles which have hitherto gained him our support ? The proof that we are not willing to submit to this, is that you are here to-day, and I am here to address you. Let us give time for the operation of public opinion, and ex press our sentiments unequivocally and decidedly, and if Lord John Russell has mistaken, (as I believe he has most lament ably) the state of public opinion on three points which he has confounded together; if has mistaken, as I am convinced he has, when he is shown his mistake, I am sure he will be the last man to set his private wish against the national judgment. For the present I do not retract what I said in the House of Commons. when I said he had signed his death-warrant as a Liberal Minister; and whatever respect I may retain for him as our old champion. (for I do not forget, though others may the service which he has rendered,) whose name is identified with almost every victory the popular cause has gained, and mingles with our proudest recollections, still he is but an individual, though powerful and essential, I believe, to the existence of the present Government. As yet we have no declaration from the Government that it identifies itself with his sentiments, and no declaration from the Cabinet, pledging itself to the principles which lie has laid down. I therefore do not consider, and I say it not lightly or unadvisedly, that the course of the Goverment will be decided till the discus sion of Mr. Grote's motion on the 15th of February, which I shall have the honour of seconding.—( Loud cheers.) We must press on in our course, step by step successively, for no thing can be done in this country by sudden jumps and starts. —( Cheers.) Successive steps will be our best means for the attainment of a full and free representation, which I am as sincerely desirous to accomplish as any of those who have addressed you. Lord John Russell has pledged himself to the fullest extent to the improvement of the machinery of the Reform Bill. Who can explain what that means, or what it may be made to mean under the influence of public opinion? It not only involves the abolition of the harassing and vexatious clauses connected with the registration, but it may involve the restoration of the Re form Bill to the state in which it was originally prepared. I hope, that we may, with honour and propriety, and justice to the people, once more set our shoulders to the wheel, and, for some years longer, support Lord Melbourne's Administration. I now come to the question more particularly before the meeting : whether we shall combine in one amendment the ameliorations we think necessary in our system, or separate them, and bring to bear, on one of these questions, the largest possible mass of public opinion. To me, the ques tion is indifferent ; I am prepared to support them alt.— ( Hear, from the supporters of the amendment.) I beg that I may not be misunderstood. (It was hero intimated that the amendmeat was for Universal Suffrage.) I am for a large ex tension of the Suffrage, but I am not prepared for, the abstract proposition of Universal Suffrage. (Me, 'Ward was here called upon to say why.) I am calted upon to state my reasons against Universal Suffrage. I aid so at the election ; and I shall be glad to have a ecemenlcation on the subject with any of you at another time. I say I am not pre pared to go to the extent of Universal Suffrage ; but I am prepared to make a large addition to the present constituency. I look to the Ballot to give a free expression to the feeling of the constituency, whatever that feeling may be. But Mr. O'Connor tells you that the Ballot would make a monopoly, and that it would be used against you, and cause your per petual exclusion. [f I thought that, I would join Mr. O'Connor in his pilgrimage. I would go with him throat:li the West Riding and Lancashire, and denounce as heartily RS he, so infamous an encroachment on the privileges of the people. But I advocate the Ballot, I)eQ,ause I believe it will be the road to every thing else, It s the key that will unlock to all those that are excluded the paetale of the Constitution. —( Cheers. ) The rialto', would give a full expression to the will of the eleetors ; and if I did not believe that that would by favourable to the Iprogress of popular institu tions, I iehoulcl indeed despair. The Ballot would be the first step to your own enfranchisement. It is the step in support of what the greatest mass of opinion can now be en listed ; but if, instead of practical measures, we urge abstract principles, we shall alienate many of these who would go with les as far as an/ politiekan (lf present dad, eaceptin4 a very small minority who themselves arc involved in doubt and dif ficulties. What I want is a strong and powerful expression fram the town of Sheffield.—(Cheers.) The question has been asked, whether, if you petition for the Ballot, you will be any nearer to carryin g it than if your petition included other subjects ? I say, yes ; because the Lords have a concurrent jurisdiction in the one case, and not in the other. The moment the Ballot is carried by the House of Commons, there is a right which we shall be prepared to assert, that it belongs to that House to declare in what manner its Members shall be voted for. I believe the House of Commons is competent to resolve without the concurrence of the Lords, that it will not recognise those returned as Members, unless they are elected by secret voting. The true sense of the thinking and intelligent majority, the Ballot alone can give us. lam willinty to join issue on these terms. Let the hundreds of thousands of Conservatives, of whom Sir Robert Peel speaks, crowd to the poll, and register their votes. That will not change my opinion. It rests on this foundation—that we must widen the basis of our popular institutions, by giving freedom to every voter; and when that is done, the Government will freely represent the wishes and interests of all classes. But if the decision of the country be against me, I abide still by the principle. You will always find me the advocate of equal rights and equal laws, to every portion of the empire, and always struggling for the greatest happiness of the greatest number, without regard to petty in terests, or to the parties or persons who may happen to be in power.—(The Hon. Member concluded amidst enthusiastic cheering.) After the gas had been lighted, the CHAIRMAN put the amendment, and then the orginal motion, to the vote. There was a large show of hands for the amendment, which Mr. O'Connor, Mr. Duffy, and Mr. James Ironside, who stood together in front of the bench, hailed with loud cheers, as if they had gained the day. For the original motion, however, there was a decided majority, and the Master Cutler declared it to be carried. On this, the three persons mentioned, began to shout in another strain, and a considerable uproar arose. Mr. BRAMI.LY then moved, and Dr. KNIGHT seconded, the following resolution :—‘. That in the opinion of this meeting, the best way of insuring purity of election. and of protecting the voter in the conscientious exercise of the Suffrage, would be to allow votes of elections to be taken by way of Ballot ; that a petition, praying for vote by Ballot, be signed by the Chairman, on behalf of the meeting, and sent to the House of Commons ; and that H. G. Ward, Esq., be respectfully re quested to present the same." Mr. JAMES IRONSIDE moved, as an amendment, which was seconded, that the petition should include a prayer for an ex tension of the Suffrage, and the shorter duration of Parlia ments. Mr. PALFRRYWAN deprecated the amendment. Mr. O'CONNOR could support nothing less than Universal Suffrage. The amendment was withdrawn, and the motion carried, only Mr. O'Connor and about half a dozen others holding up their hands against it. The petition agreed to is as follows : " To the Honourable the Commons of the United King dom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assem bled. The petition of the inhabitants of Sheffield, assem bled at a public meeting, held in the Town Hall, on Thursday, the 14th day of Dec., 1837, the Master Cutler in the Chair— " Sheweth—That your petitioners conceive that the Legis -I.tture ought to take immediate Lil effectual means topmost the gross intimidation and corruption which so notoriously ',reran in the election of Members of Parliament. _ That your petitioners are firmly convinced thrt the best way of ensuring - purity of election, and of protecting the toter in the conscientious exercise of the Suffrage, would be to per mit rotes to be given in secret. " Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that your Honour able House will be pleased to pass a law, compelling electors, in future, to give their votes by way of the Ballot. " And your petitioners will ever pray," &c. BERWICK BALLOT MEETING. On Wednesday last a meeting of the inhabitants of this borough was convened in the Town-hall, for the purpose of considering the expediency of petitioning both Houses of Parliament in favour of the adoption of the Ballot on occa sions of Parliamentary elections. The meeting was appointed by the Mayor, in answer to a requisition presented him to that effect, and which we published last week. The hour of meeting was fixed for one o'clock, at which time the company began to congregate, and when the proceedings were opened by the MAYOR taking the chair, the assembly exceeded in extent any similar meeting held in this borough within our re membrance, resembling the exciting period of a Parliamentary election. The MAYOR having taken the chair, addressed the meeting, Mr. JOHNETONE then stepped forward, and with minuteness described the structure and operation of Mr. Grote's Ballot box, a model of which bad been procured through the instru mentality of the Hon. J. E. Murray. The reading of the instruction, and the accompanying remarks were attentively listened to by the meeting, and the model was afterwards handed through the Hall. Major Ordc and several other Gentlemen then addressed the meeting, proposing and supporting a series of resolutions declaratory of the necessity of protecting the Elective Fran chise by the Ballot. The Berwick Advertiser from whose columns we derive our in telligence respecting this public demonstration in favour of the great palladium of a free unfettered exercise of the franchise, has, amongst others, the following remarks on the meeting :—" It went off in the best style ; and while it reflects credit on the Cornmitte of the Reform Association for the manner in which it was got up, bears open testimony to the sound principle, the zeal, and the judicious conduct of the Reformers;of Berwick, who mustered in numbers and in respectability sufficient to convince the most sceptical of the lofty pre-eminence of the Reform cause when the unconstrained, enbought, and uhdebauched opinion can be expressed apart from those debauching influences which are let loose in debasing the intellect and in prostituting the judgment by competing canvassers on the eve of an election of a Parliamentary representative. The whole proceeding, from the first origination of the movement to the public demonstration of Wednesday, proves that the inhabitants of Berwick groan for deliverance from that mass of corruption by which their poli tical character has been debased, and a portion of their moral character contaminated ; and that they rejoice in the prospect of deliverance from an incubus which they well knew would go far, if allowed to rue its course, of stifling the breathings of freedom in the town, and of sinking the hopes of the na tion under the most degrading bondage. Never was more unanimity displayed at a meeting—never was any meeting of' any borough more respectably, and, we may add, numerously attended, in comparison with its size." WIGAN MEETING ON THE BALLOT. On Tuesday evening the Reformers of Wigan met in the Commercial Hall, to hear an address from Mr. Prentice, of Manchester, on the subject of the Ballot. The number pre sent was computed to be abort 700. Mr. PRENTICE delivered an argumentative address, the most powerful, complete, and convincing wo remember to have read, and then proceeded to exhibit the model of a ballot box, which Mr. Grote had sent, and his exposition of the facility with which votes might be recorded, and of the secrecy which would be secured, was received with loud and reiterated cheering. He concluded with an earnest supplication that Reformers should not divide their strength by demanding a multiplicity of reforms ; but that their attention should be concentrated on one point at a time. He cared not much what that one point was, but if he were allowed to advise, he would say, .‘ agitate for the Ballot," being fully convinced that in addition to its beiag quite as important, considered by itself, as any other brar, t h of Reform, it had the additional and strong recommendation that it was the best means of obtaining all other reforms. The preparation of a petition to Parliament for the Ballot was unanimously agreed upon. The Duke of Norfolk has returned to Fornbain Hall, Bury St. Edmund's, until the first week in February. THE IRICII REBELLION.—The publication of the Memoirs of the celebrated Irish Rebel, General Holt, is looked for with the greatest curiosity and interest, especially by those who have a deep stake in the tranquillity of the Sister Kingdom. They are edited by Mr. Crofton Croker. The history of Ilolt is still kept alive in the memory of the Irish peasantry by various popular songs, especially one entitled " The Victim of Tyranny," which thus commences " I had a ”rant landlord, base, Who saw my heart to Erin yearned ; He to the ground my cot did rase, And fired my substance dearly eartir.a. Unmoved, remorseless, be beheld, My cottage falling, as it burr. d His savage band insulting lour from their deed ruin turned." The Ailsa Craig,Yar mouth and London steamer, having been detained t.iree days beyond her sailing time by a scarcity of water 6. 4 Yarmouth bar, left there on Friday after noon at four o', lock for London, where she arrived at nine o'clook tk . it following morning, delivered a heavy cargo, took on b,bar',l a full return cargo, and arrived at Yarmouth again ht 6x P. IL on Sunday; completing the whole in the remark ably short space of fifty hours. PLAYING AT HANGING.—Seven wiseacres, work ing millers at one of the windmills not above a score miles from the port of Goole, took it into their heads, on Monday week, to imitate Jack Ketch with one of their companions. It is usual for these men, when retiring to rest, to go with out a light, but on this " great occasion" the clever fellows. procured a candle, and stuck it in a lump of paste in thole bed room. The man cook, who was chief actor in this manly amusement, then submitted to have a small ropo put round his neck, when his other well-beloved friends hoisteu him up to the top of one of the bed posts: in the twinkling of an eye. The actor on the gallows attempted to explain mutters to his executioners, intending to tell them that what they were do ing was no joke, but the poor fellow's whistle was too tightly twitched for him to explain his feelings. After suspending aL short time, during the laughter of his compainons, one off' them reached up to see if the cord was not too tight about the man's neck, and when he found this was the case they lowered him down, but he was quite senseless. They foundl out their joke had been carried too far, and insme,diatrAy pro-. cured a surgeon, when bleeding and other reme , lies were ap plied. The poor fellow afterwards was in sw_th strong con vulsions that it took six of them to hold him. However, we are now happy to state that he has completely recove red. One man said "if the poor fellom had dee'd he should have been far away the next day." We have no doubt but: that the effects of this foolish joke ',will act as a warning ft I : the future.—Doncaster Gazette. THE SUN, LON DON, 1 EMBER 18, 1837.