The Sun. — London, England, 1832-05-08 00:00:00

ARMY CONTRACTS. COMMISSARIAT D1PA11.23‘214T, TILIAWRY CHAMBIKAS, MAY 1, 1832. NOTICE is hereby given to all Persons de sirous of contracting to supply the following Arti •'es fur the Use of the Army, vie.:— BREAD, To his Majesty's Land Forces in Cantonments, Quarters, and Barracks, in the under-mentioned Counties : C l, ester Lancaster Oxford Ni . ron Leicester Sussex' :et Norfolk Warwick barn York, And in the several Counties in North Britain. f Mr , • r. - • \••,• • 0-../ ( I,C •)- Y . Atit4 (.;•;••••-••\ •• k 4 YO - 11 11 - - mint 11 , 8- A0 6 19),4 "."7 111111111111111.11 : iwrt l Po -.- • • • I ::t. t lS : 1 •1!) , MIA 191.••••Qt!fr, • • 4 .L 14640111 111 It() Pi" 4 a • _ - Reformerilo a civil contest. I coil upon the Peen to owl heir •losed eyes to the revolution, wl , ;rh for six. months, since v.heir stal rejection of the Bill in Octubet , has tilled the wipp o • mind .1 ,n the subject of hereditary Legislators and Spirit's r ds. 1 ask them whether an insane indisposition to this great ret lova. tion of the British Constitution will not produce a cc xtaiii and ultimate disaffection to, and dissolution of, our be asted form of Government ? Let them read the histories ,f the Stuarts and of France, and may they take warning by those memorable tines which show that there is a time whet n re sistance becomes a sacred duty, and when' an aristoc however powerftd; dissolves in a moment in the poser nof - the people, for whose happiness its existence can alone bi jut. tilled.---(Loud cheers.) Let the Spiritual Peers, abovs all, discern the " signs of the times," and regain the respect ana love of the people, by which alone the hierarchy can be up_ held ; but, gentlemen, I come to the resolution in ray LONDON, TUESDAY EV ENING, MAY 8, 1832. (No. 12,372.) (PRICE I'D.) OATS, To hi s Majesty's Cavalry and Artillery Horses in Canton tocots, and Quarters, in the under-mentioned Counties: — Bedford Durham Norfolk "'heater Ewes Northumberland ‘, so rnwall Hants Oxford `‘Limberlamt Lancaster ,York. banners. The eastern division, includingiCoventry, Warwick, Bedworth, Kenilworth, Leamington, Holywell, consisted of about 5,000, and exhibited thirty banners. The southern di. vision, including Bromsgrove, Redditch, Studley, Worcester, Droitwich, Alcester, had twelve banners, six bands of music, and consisted of about 10,000 persons. The above estimates are exclusive of the immense number who attended the meet ing from Birmingham. Upon the lowest computation we are justified in saying that at least :200,000 persons were at the meeting. By twelve o'clock the vast cavalcade had reached the hust. ings. On Mr. Attwood's appearance he was greeted with loud and continued cheering. Among the company preSent, and by whom he was more immediately surrounded, we noticed 1. R. West, Esq., A. F. Gregory, Esq., R. Knight, Esq. M.P., Count Czapski, a Polish Nobleman, -- Acland, Esq. (brother of Sir T. Acland), Joseph Scholefield, Esq., 11. Boultbee, Esq., Stubbs Whileck, Esq., R. Fryer, Esq., G. Osborne, Esq. nephew of the Duke of Leeds), Joseph Parkes, Esq. W. Col_ tins, Esq., G. J. Muntz, Esq., James Webb, Esq. The business of the meeting was delayed for a considerable time, owing to the perpetual arrival of subsidiary Unions. At length THOMAS ATTWOOD, Esq. (the Chairman) then rose, amidst loud cheering, and addressed the meeting as follows : Men of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, arid \Voreestershire— my dear friends and fellow-countrymen-1 thank you most sin cerely for the immense, glorious, and magnificent assemblage which you now present in the hour of your country's need. To see the call of the Council of the Political Union answered in such an effectual way—not only by the inhabitants of Bir mingham, but, as it were, spontaneously by the inhabitants of twenty towns and distriects around them—is to me a sub ject of the deepest and sincerest gratification.—(Cheers.) The enemies of the liberties of their country have spoken of reac tion, and of indifference in the public mind towards the cause of Reform—how are they answered by the people of the mid land counties ? We have had but to stamp upon the earth, as it were, and instantly, from above the ground and beneath the ground, a hundred thousand brave men, besides the thousands of beautiful women I see beforeme, determined to see their country righted, present themselves at our call.— (Great cheering.)—Mr. Attwood was here interrupted by the arrival of Several Unions on the ground. After having first cheered these arrivals, the assembly, under the leadership of Mr. Edmonds, proceeded to sing the following Union, hymn : Lo! we answer ! see, we come ! Quick at Freedom's holy call, We cornet we come! we come! we come To do the glorious work of all, And hark! we raise from sea to sea, The sacred watchword Liberty. " God is our guide! from field, from wave, From plough, from anvil, and from loom, 'We come, our country's rights to save, And speak a tyrant faction's doom : And hark ! we raise from sea to sea, The sacred watchword Liberty. " God is our guide ! no swords we draw, We kindle not war's battle fires ; By union, justice, reason, law, We claim the birthright of our sires, We raise the watchword Liberty, :ind never to suffer any circumstances whatever to seduce you into any illegal or violent proceedings. When I had the plea sure of meeting you in October last, I asserted that every honest workman in England had as good a right to a reasonable main tenance, in exchange for his labour, as the King had to the Crown upon hi:. head. A Noble Lord (Lord Whanicliffe) is reported to have contradicted this assertion in a high quarter. I therefore beg leave to repeat it most post. lively, and to state most distinctly, that every honest work. loan in England does in fact, seen in full employment, produce more than four times the comforts and necessaries of life which he and his family can possibly consume. If then the giving to his country of more than four times the quantity of comforts and necessaries which he himself requires is not sufficient to constitute a right, I know not what is. The laws of God and of nature have ordained that man shall live by the sweat of his brow :—the labour of man's hands produce, in England, four times as much as his humble wants require—and, therefore, 1 insist upon it that of all the rights in civilized life, the oldest, and the strongest, and the most righteous, is the right of living by honest labour. — ;Cheers.) If the great Reform which we are now about to ob tain, does not have the effect of establishing this great right, and of confirming it for ever, it will never satisfy me.—(Cheers.) My friends, I willtrouble you no more. Your destinies, and the destiny of our country, are at this moment in the hands of the House of Lords. We have met this day for the purpose of discharging our duty to them. if that august body should neglect to discharge their duty towards us and our country, upon their heads alone will rest the awful responsibility of the tremendous consequences which may ensue. A nation may advance in the career of liberty, but to go back is not possible. —(Hear.) When the immortal Hampden hoisted the stand ard of liberty in England, he adopted as his motto the words Vestigia ,zulla retrorsum ; or in English the words No Retreat. Now this is our motto, in the peaceful and legal contest in which we are engaged; and I will tell the boroughmongers that they will find it as easy to turn the sun from its course, as to make the English people now be content with less than the Bill of Reform. Before I conclude 1 must beg to explain a great mistake, which, owing to the lateness of the hour, has been committed by all the newspapers, in reporting the speech of the illustrious statesman at the head of his Ma jesty's Government. I have ConversetTivilh not less than four different gentlemen (two of whom are here present) who heard the whole of that celebrated speech, and who each of them assured me that Lord Grey never once expressed a willingness to submit to have the 10/. franchise restricted, or injured in any way. His Lordship said, as was the truth, that the House of Lords, in voting for the second reading of the Bill, would not necessarily pledge themselves to support its provision in the Committee; but they would still be at liberty to deal with the 101. franchise, and with all the other great parts of the Bill, in such way as they might think proper; but Lord Grey ex pressly and most clearly stated that he would himself consent to no alteration in the 101. franchise, or in any other of the great parts of the Bill ; and his Lordship most expressly declared that there was no prerogative of the Crown which he would not call into exercise, rather than he could suffer the 101. franchiie to be injured. 'We have not therefore called this meeting from any distrust of Lord Grey, but in order to contradict the falsehoods of the enemies of Reform, and to place a weapon in the hands of his Lordship. When the enemies of Reform speak of indif ference in the public mind, Lord Grey will answer, " Look at Birmingham," and no other answer will be necessary. It was our anxious wish not to have been under the necessity of calling this great meeting; and I assure you that we should not have required so great a sacrifice from our fellow-countrymen, if the falsehoods and misre presentations of the enemies of Reform had not rendered this great exhibition necessary to the safety and liberty of the country. Remember, my friends, our weapons are peace, law, order, loyalty, and union. Let us hold fast to these weapons, and I tell you that the day is not distant when the liberty and prosperity of our country will be restored.—(Loud and continued cheering.) ';oble Seconder of the Bill in the House of Lords, the worde It prays that his Most Gracious Majesty will, if necessary, ,aver. cisc his undoubted prerogative of creating new Peers ; that - ,/^e will resort to this transcendant prerogative, if any of the pri.Ti ciples or important provisions of the Bill are injured in the Lords' Committee, and especially that his Majesty will cause to he preserved uninjured the 10/. franchise of the town:, I can. not here mention this our just, our loyal, our righteous claim on the Royal integrity of William IV., without expressing our grateful and everlasting obligation to thet Illustrious Monarch, who has riveted the affections of his people by his firmneas and patriotism, who never yet has proved wanting to us, and who, my fellow-countrymen, in my confident judgment, never will. The King has stood upon thequarter-deck, with the - waves , in the political storm heaving around him, with the tempest and bitter blasts and breakers of party spirit raging beneath him. His Majesty has stood firm at the helm of the vessel of the State; he has boarded the enemy whenever occasion de_ mantled it.—(Loud and repeated cheering.) He called Lord Grey to office ; he sanctioned this sweeping measure of Parlia. mentary Reform ; he came down in person to dissolve the last c,crupt House of Commons; he came to his metropolis ready to prorogue the House of Lords if, last month, they had failed iu their legislative duty. Will such a Monarch desert a Royal standard reared by himself? Will such a Monarch part with Lord Grey? Will such a Monarch fail in the exercise of that prerogative, if necessary, which the Constitution gives him 00 a sacred trust for the benefit of the people ? Will a Monarch of such moral courage, of such political sagacity, cast him self from the pinnacle of his majestic fame into the alfys of popular detestation and national confusion ? Will he throw himself from the top-gallant mast of the vessel into ,f Lord Chathani, " If justice be denied, let discord flourish or ever."---(Cheers.) What, I ask, has been the general con duct of the Peers for the last half century ? They have op posed the very few good Acts passed by the House of Commons .and supported almost all their bad ones. If the Anti-Reform Peers accomplish this last and worst act of mutilating the sill ~f the King and of the people, they will, by opposing both estates, accomplish the destruction of our hereditary legisla r ors--becoming fratricides as well as political suicides (which atter would not signify or grieve us), prove themselves the subverters, instead of the conservators, of the Constitution ; and as the authors of a revolution, they will be responsible for all the horrors attending it. Several new Peers of the FORAGE, viz. Oats, Hay, and Straw, to his Majesty's Cavalry and Artillery Horses in Barracks, in the u nder-mentioned Counties in South Britain : tett( s Norfolk tqAex Northampton Lancaster That the deliveries are to commence on and for the Ist city of July next ; that Proposals in writing, sealed Up, and marked " Tender for Army Supplies," will be re ceived at this Office en or before Thursday, the 7th day of June next, but none will be received after Eleven o'clock on that day. Proposals must be wade separately for each County, ex cept for the several Counties in North Britain all of which must he included in One Tender ; and each Proposal must have the Letter which is annexed to the Tender properly tilled up by two persons of known property engaging to be• come bound with the party tendering, in the amount in the printed Particulars, for the due Performance of the (on tract; and no Proposal will be noticed unless made on a printed Tender, and the prices expressed in words at length ; and should it so happen that during the continuance of the Contract nu troops should be supplied by virtue of the same, the Amount of the Stamps on the Contract and Bond, paid in the first instance by the Con tractor, will he refunded to him. N.B. It is particularly desired that Persons wishing to Tender will not make use of any Forms but those recently printed, which may be had upon application at this Office, between the hours of Ten and Four. Nottingham Suffolk. the depths of the raging ocean of anarchy ? On, no, niN countrymen ! Such a King, such a man, can never be found wanting in the cause of his people.—(Loud cheers. • And what is this controverted question of new Peers I should be ashamed to argue it, after its frequent and powerful discussion within the last few months. I only ask whetbet there was not a time when there were no Peers ? Whether the Peers were not, at first, enfranchised for life P Whether the Kings of England did not originally call up to the Upper House such, and no more, as they deemed competent to ad vise with ? Whether the Reformation was not carried by new Lay Peers, and by turning out the mitred Abbots of the monasteries ? I ask whether the Roman Catholic Peers were cot driven out of Parliament by civil disabilities ? I ask whether the Irish Union was not carried, in fact, by new Peer. ages ? I read in Plowden's History of Ireland the following apposite sentence :—" The event (the Union; was dignified by an extraordinary promotion in the army, and a numerous ores, Lion of Peers ;—either Peerages had been promised to Cone. sooners, or promotions to Peers, who had pledged themselves: to support, or not to oppose that measure. Individual engage. ments were generally observed to that effect with fidelity to the British Minister; national pledges only were disregarded." I ask whether the Irish and Scotch Unions did not disfranchise the majority of the Peers of those countries ; • whether the Roman Catholic Relief Bill has not re-enfranchised Peers— (Loud cheers)—whether three-fourths of the present House of Lords were not created for party purposes and political objects? Are we then to be told that we have no constitutional right to Reform Peers—to a creation of people's Peers ? :Cheers.) The apprehension of new Peers is a ghost which haunts the boroughmongers, but which they must face or fare wove; for if the Lords cast out the Reform Bill, one of two events may follow—more Lords or none! Ido not touch further on the refusal of taxes ; I would nut now how out to the Lords unnecessary threats of terror; but I warn them that John Hampden dwells in the breasts of three-fourths of the in habitants of these islands, and will inspire them with patriotism and self-sacrifice. The image of John Hampden, with his deeds inscribed, will be the worship: of the people of Eng land, Scotland, and Ireland, if occasion require.—(Loud cheers.) By every legal means we will solemnly pledge ourselves to cb, tain Reform. if we have not this Bill we will have a target,. We will not have:the Duke of Wellington and his "perfect re.. presentation"—we will have no Polignac without Polignac's Este.—(Loud cheering.) The talisman of Reform has touched the corruption of the boroughmongers—their doom is sealed-•-- 'Cheers.) One the 101. franchise, as an essential, I need not enlarge ; my opinions are recorded ; it is a main essential of the Bill—it is a qualification too high, not too low. Country men, I move the following resolution : ROYAL ACADEMY, SOMERSET HOUSE. T HE EXHIBITION of the ROYAL ACADEMY is NOW OPEN. Admission (from Eight o'clock till Seven), One Shilling. Catalogue, One Shilling. HENRY HOWARD, R. A. Secretary. NEW BRUNSWICK LAND COM PANY. to be Incorporated by Royal Charter. JOHN LABOUCHERE, Esq., Governor. EDWARD BLOUNT, Esq., M.P., Deputy-Governor. And EIGHT DIRECTORS. Capital, 200,0001. in Stock. Receipt, will he issued for the First Instilment in sums not less than 251. in each receipt. _ _ The first call of 20 per cent. may be divided (if re quired) into two payments, viz. 10 per cent. on appropria tion of the Stock, and 10 per cent, further when the Charter is signed. No further payment beyond 5 per cent. will he required until the conveyance of the land is completed. The Charter (by which Stockholders will he secured against any liability beyond the amount of Stock held by each) being in progress, the Directors are ready to receive sub.criptions for the portion of Capital still unsuhscrihed. Application. to be addressed by letter, post-paid, to John Bainbridge, 2, King's Arms-yard, Coleman-street, where applications for the prospectus may be made per sonally, or to Messrs. Joshua Hutchinson and Son, 39, Lothbury. Mr. George Palmer, 2, North Piazza, Royal Exchange. Messrs. Saxon and Hooper, solicitors, 5, Pump-court, Temple. The tract of land purchased by this Company from his Majesty's Government, is very favourably situated in the province of New Brunswick (the nearest point being within eight miles of Fredericton, the seat of Government), between the rivers Sr. John and Miramichi, about fifty five miles in length, by eighteen in breadth; of easy access from both rivers by emigrants from the United King dom, in twenty-four honra from the day of landing. It is understood that the lines of post-road from Fre dericton to Quebec, and from Fredericton to Miramichi, which are to be commenced by order of Government during the present season, will pass through the Com pany's purchase; and it is expected that a new Govern ment post-road from Halifax to Quecec will also pa's through the Company's tract. London, May 7, 1832. R. TRYER, Esq. of Wolverhampton, next presented him. self to the meeting with an address, signed by upwards of 3,000 inhabitant householders of Wolverhampton, expressing their approval of the conduct of the Birmingham Union, and pledg ing themselves to adopt any steps or conduct they might recom mend. Mr. T. in an energetic speech, supported the senti ments of the address, and recommended, in case Reform should be refused, that a Grand National Council, delegated from the Political Unions, should be immediately assembled. What the consequence would be if the Lords rejected the Bill, he would leave the Lords to answer.—(Cheers.) But, before that vast assembly, he cautioned them, as they valued their lives, their wives, their children, and their property, as to the side on which they would now give their vote.—(Cheers.) Let them but concede the Bill, and the people would be content ; let them grant Reform, and they should be satisfied. Another address was presented from Bilston. GREAT REFORM MEETING AT BIR- MINGHANT. Yesterday the inhabitants of the midland counties gave the "lie direct" to the cry of "reaction" so loudly bawled by the Tory orators and Tory press of the metropolis. We have already announced that a meeting, called by the Council of the tirtningham Political Union, for the purpose of contradicting unfounded misrepresentations as to the state of apathy of the public mind on the subject of Reform, was appointed to be held in Birmingham yesterday. That meeting was accordingly held; and we may safely assert, of the most extraordinary character, either as regarded its numbers, or the public en thusiasms exhibited throughout the whole proceeding that ever previously occurred in this or any other country. So early as Saturday the population of the town and its immediate dis tricts began to show evident symptoms of great excitement, and on Sunday the roads leading to Birmingham, but more especially the northern roads, showed that the attendance from distant parts of the country would be immense. Some thousands arrived in the course of that day, many of whom came from the extremities of the counties of Worces ter, Stafford, and (3loucester. Before day-break yesterday morning all was bustle and preparation. The previous arrangements made by the Council were in themselves ad mirable, and executed with precision and punctuality by the various gentlemen to whom they were intrusted. By night the persons appointed to conduct the Unions of the various towns in the neighbourhood that intended visiting the meeting, repaired to the respective stations on the different roads, each mounted on horseback, decorated or distinguished by a broad sash of office, embroidered with the union jack. As all the Unions round the country had resolved either to attend in a body or to send deputations to the meeting, a superin tendent was appointed by the Council of the Birmingham Union to meet them at the different roads, and to lead them with other bodies into the town. Between nine and twelve these various bodies began to enter Birmingham, each being pre- ceded by a band of music , and exhibiting flags, upon which were inscribed various patriotic devices and mottoes. At ten o'clock the Council, at which numerous gentlemen of conse quence, unconnected with the Association, assembled at the Union-rooms, Great Charles-street, and all arrangements being completed, the procession, consisting of countless thousands, proceeded to Newhall-hill, a place most appropriately appointed for the meeting. The spot fixed upon is a large waste piece of ground situated on the north side of the town, containing 17,000 square yards, and capable of accommodating, according to the most accurate calculation, the immense number—consi derably exceeding a hundred and fifty thousand persons. The ground rises on the front and on each side in the shape and form of an amphitheatre ; and, taking into consideration the number who occupied the roofs of houses and various conti guous elevations, we should say that not less than from 130,000 t o 150,000 persons were present. Sho r tly before twelve o'clock, the programme being all arranged, the immense multitude, beaded by Thomas Attwood, Esq., the Chairman of the Birmingham Political Union, and the founder of that and all other Unions, in company with the Council carrying white wands, and followed by an immense proces sion, consisting of the members of the different Unions, pro ceeded to the place of meeting. We were favoured with a seat in the first carriage, but admirably situated as we were for viewing the whole of the most splendid cortege, we are unable • to give anything like a description of the scene which it pre. sented. Looking from the top of Mount-street up Newhall_ street to the end of Great Charles-street, the spectacle, from the countless myriads of which it was composed, the splendid de . vices and colours which it exhibited, was truly magnificent. On the arrival of the members of the Union at Newhall-hill, the ground was found to be almost completely pre-occupied. With difficulty the cavalcade approached the waggons allotted for the accommodation of the speakers. The whole of the ground and the tops of houses, as far as the eye could discover, appeared to be completely covered with human beings. At appropriate distances, on the ridge of hills opposite the speak ers, were various banners, among which we noticed in the centre a magnificent royal flag, the same which was exhibited at Somerset House, when the King went to open the New London Bridge—" Attwood, Union, Liberty and Peace," " Earl Grey, the just rights of our order secured, and then we will stand by his." " Lawley and Skipworth, and the Independent Representatives who had voted for Reform," " A Free Press," &c. Suffice is to say, that among them we noticed the banners of the Coventry, Warwick, Wol verhampton, Darlaston, Wednesbury, Walsall, Alcester, Bromsgrove, Studley, Stratford-upon-Avon, Redditch, and Shirley Unions. Our attention was necessarily, in a great measure, confined to one spot, but a gentleman who visited the several divisions gives us the following particulars from per sonal observation. He estimates the grand northern division (headed by Mr. F r y er, th e b an k er ) , i nc l uding Wolverhampton, Bilston, Sedgeley, Willenhall, Wednesbury, Walsall, Dar lesion, and West Bromwich, at 100,000 persons. The pro. cession was four miles in length—the whole of the road for • that distance being literary crowded. In this division there were 150 banners, and eleven bands of music. The grand western division including Stourbridge, Dudley, Harborn Craidley, .Lyew as l e, Oldbury Rowley, Hales, ;Mies iu length ; in numbers Sz , c. was two about 25,000, arid exhibited seventy We will, we will, we will be free." After this spirit-stiring composition had been thundered forth by many thousand voices, silence was obtained by the sound of the trumpet, and the mighty murmurs of the multitude being immediately stilled, Mr. Attwood continued :3—We had de termined never again to petition the House of Lords ; but, feeling as we do the greatest respect and veneration for the ancient and honourable Aristocracy of the land—for such men as Lords Westminster, Cleveland, Shrewsbury, and Radnor, those ornaments of English history—we have not hesitated to call this meeting for the purpose of petitioning their Lordships, so soon as ever we saw that the calumnies and misrepresenta tions of the enemies of the people as to the state of public feeling and opinion rendered such an exhibition necessary— (cheers.) We who profess to be the ministers of peace and reconciliation among all classes of his Majesty's subjects, we would be the first to oiler the right hand of fellowship to the House of Lords the very moment we see a disposition in that Right Hon. House to support our privileges in the same degree as we wish to support theirs. The enemies of the people have told their Lordships that the country is indifferent in this great cause. If we hold no meetings, they say that we are indif ferent—if we hold small meetings, they say that we are insigni ficant—and if we hold large meetings, they say that we are rebel lious, and wish to intimidate them— (laughter.) Do what we will, we cannot do right, it seems. Now, GOD forbid that 1 should wish to intimidate them. I only wish to speak the plain and simple truth which my duty compels me to speak, and which is this :—I would rather die than see the great Bill of Reform rejected or mutilated in any of its great parts or provisions —(immense cheering, which lasted for a considerable time.) I had rather hide my head under the earth than live to witness the misery, the degradation, and slavery of my country. I see that you are all of one mind upon this great subject.—(Cheers ) Answer me, then, had not you all rather die than live the slaves of the boroughmongers ?—(All, all.) We are told, in. deed, of apathy and indifference in the public mind. Now 1 have some means of understanding what the public feeling is, and I say that the people of England stand at this very moment " like greyhounds on the slip ;" and that if our beloved King should give the word, or it' his Council should give the word in his name, and under his authority, the grandest scene would be instantly exhibited that ever was witnessed on this earth be. fore.—(Loud cheers.) Now I beg, my fellow-countrymen, that you will not think the House of Lords are your enemies because they do not happen to understand your interests, and your wants, and your wishes. The House of Lords are, in my opinion, taken as a body, kind-hearted and humane men ; but I am sorry to say that they are excessively ignorant of the state of this unfortunate country. They were cradled in those clouds which are now passing over our heads. In the clouds were they cradled, in the clouds will they die. Not many days ago a Noble Lord of the highest character assured rue that there were not ten individuals in that Right Honourable House who knew that the country was its a state of distress. Amaz. ing as this ignorance is, it is the natural result of their position in society. They come into no contact with you and your inte rests—they are surrounded by a few lawyers and clergymen, and by bands of flatterers and sycophants, whose interest it is to " pro phecy smooth things" to the very last,and thus the Lords are shut out from any real knowledge of the real state of the country. It was but the other day that another Noble Lord assured a friend of mine, that the demand for Reform arose from the riches and prosperity of the middle classes, who had become jealous of the aristocracy. Never upon this earth was there a greater error. The middle classes had been literally scourged with whips—they had been scourged with scorpions—and they had then beets scourged with red-hot iron, before they had v en tured to interfere in any powerful and effectual manner. Here then is a proof of the absolute necessity of Parliamentary Re form. Give us a House of Commons who are identified with the Commons, and with the feelings and interests of the Com. mons, and every thing will be right in England. The House of Lords had been accustomed to look upon society, as if the warts and excrescences of the social body were everything, and the great limbs and interests—the heart, the head, the body, and the powerful arms ---nothing. When we obtain Re form in our own House, we shall teach them a very different view of this important subject. Now, my friends, I must beg leave to explain to you the absolute necessity of the peace, the order, and the strict legality which you have always exhibited. But for these great qualities our cause would have been lost. Within the law the people are strong as a giant; beyond the law, they are weak as an infant. See, now, the prodigious strength which this meeting has peacefully and legally accumulated, and compare it with the failures which, for want of due attention to these great principles, have been exhibited in other quarters. On the late Fast Day, about 30,000 worthy and well-meaning men met together in London, for the purpose of holding a harmless procession. A few individuals began to hiss and to hoot, and to throw stones, and thus the meeting was made illegal, and the leaders of an innocent procession were brought to punishment, and sentenced to different periods of imprison ment. So al,so, in Manchester, lately, a considerable meeting was held, which, it is probable, had no illegal views or objects ; but a few individuals among them having made use of violent, inflammatory, and illegal observations, the whole meeting was thereby rendered illegal, and the leaders of it were imprisoned in Lancaster Castle for different periods. The different meet. ings had no power to prevent the punishment of their leaders, because they were guilty of violations of the law. If they had strictly obeyed the law, no power upon earth could have in jured a hair of their heads. It was the knowledge of this great truth which made the Duke of Wellington complain very pathetically a few years ago that the Irish people would not break the law. Under the wise and discreet management of that distinguished member of our Union, Daniel O'Connell, the Irish people refused to break the law, and yet they moved onward in a sullen, patriotic, and determined course, until they had accomplished their object. I told you, my friends, three years ago, at a great meeting at Mr. Beardsworth's Repository, that the Duke of Wellington had " taught us how to command Reform." Under the great lesson which his Grace has taught us, we have gone on in England, step by step, under the sanc tion of the law, until at last we have made the earth too hot for the soles of the feet of our enemies.—(Great Cheering.) See now the prodigious power which the Association has obtained ! Under the sanction of the laws we have here produced probably 1200,000 human beings in one great assembly, not half of whom, I am afraid, can come within the hearing of my voice. Hitherto our exertions have been confined in direct operation to this town and neighbourhood. Suppose now we should erect the standard of the Birmingham Union in London —that glorious standard which acts so terrifically upon the mind of his Grace the Duke of Buckingham. I can tell you, and I can tell his Grace, that if we should so act, nine-tenth s o f t h e whole population of that immense city would instantly rally round the sacred emblem of their country's freedom.—(Cheers.) The same would be the case in Newcastle, in Manchester, in Glasgow, and in Dublin. The whole of the British people would answer to the call wherever the standard of the Birmingham Union should be unfurled under the sanction of the King and of the law.—(Cheers.) This is the power which we have gathered up under a strict and dutiful obedience to the law ; and there fore I do strictly urge and enjoin you to continue still the same dutiful and legal conduct which you have hitherto exhibited, JOSHUA SCHOLEFIELD, Esq. after a long and eloquent speech, moved the following resolution : That this meeting feel it to be imperatively their duty once more to come forward at this momentous crisis, for the purpose of testifying their unabated enthusiasm and solemn determina tion in support of the great Bill of Reform, in order to strengthen the hands of our most excellent King, and to assist in enabling his Majesty and his patriotic Ministers to accomplish their great designs for the happiness of the people, and to carry the Bill of Reform forthwith into a law, uninjured and unimpaired in any of its great parts and provisions. That the petition now read be signed by the Chairman, in the name and on the behalf of this meeting; and that the Lord High Chancellor of England be respectfully requested to present it to the House of Lords : TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE. THE LORDS SPIRI TUAL AND TEMPORAL IN PARMA MENT AS SEMBLED ; The humble Petition (of the Inhabitants of the Town and Neighbourhood of Birmingham, assembled in a Great Meeting at Newhall-hill, this 7th' day of May, 18:32 Respectfully showet lst—'l hat your petitioners are impressed with a due sense of the wisdom and justice displayed by your Lordships in carrying the great Bill of Reform through its second: reading in your Right Honourable House. 2(l—That your petitioners are decidedly of opinion that the s p e edy passing of the Bill of Reform into a law is essentially ne cessary to the contentment of the public mind, and to the preser vation of the peace and order of society. al—Tbat your petitioners think it their duty respectfully to assure your Right Honourable House that there is no foundation whatever in the reports which have been circulated resrecting a reaction or indifference in the public mind towards the great cause of Reform, for your ;petitioners are quite convinced that the attachment of the people of the United Kingdom to the Bill of Reform now before your Right Honourable House is more general, more deliberate, more enthusiastic, and more deter mined than ever. 4th —That your petitioners beg leave respectfully to represent to your Lordships, that the Bill of Reform having been twice brought forward by his Majesty's Government, and having been twice approved and passed by the House of Commons, it is not to be expected that this great and mighty nation, always attached to the principles of liberty, can now be induceil by any human means to forego or abandon any essential part of its principles or provisions ; and, therefore, your petitioners do most earnestly i mplore your Right Honourable House to continue the wise and patriot c conduct which your Lordships have adopted, and to carry the great Bill of Reform into a law, uninjured and unim paired in the 101. franchise, and in every other of its great parts and provisions, in the hope of healing the wounds of the nation, and of reconciling and conciliating all classes of his Majesty's sub jects with the state of society, and with each other. sth—That your petitioners confidently disclaim any wish or disposition on their part, or on that of their fellow-countrymen at large, to contract or weaken any of the constitutional privi leges of your Right Honourable House ; but your petitioners feel it to be their duty most respectfully to remind your Lordships that the interference of Peers of Parliament in the elections of Members of the House of Commons is not recognised by the Constitution, and that in the opinion of your petitioners it is equally unconstitutional for the House of Peers to exercise their authority for the purpose of thwarting regulations which are deemed just and expedient by the House of Commons, respect ing the mannerin which the Members of that Honourable House are to be chosen, and the places from which they are to be sent. 6th—That your petitioners anxiously and earnestly implore • your Right Honourable House not to drive to despair a high ' minded, a generous, ' and a fearless people • not by the rejection of their moderate claims to urge them to demands of a much more extensive nature—demands which you would most cer tainly follow from the rejection or mutilation of the Bill by your Lordships; and in particular not to teach them the fatal lesson that moderate demands and peaceable demeanour are not to en title them to the consideration of their rulers, or to procure for them the redress of their manifold and grievous wrongs. 701—Your petitioners [do, therefore, humbly and most ear nes' ly pray that your Right Honourable House will be pleased forthwith to pass the Bid of Reform into a law, uninjured and unimpaired in any of its great parts and provisions, and more particularly uninjured in the clauses relating to the 101. franchise. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray. Mr. F. MUNTZ—Mr. Chairman and Fellow Countrymen, — It is with very great pleasure I rise to second the motion of my friend, Mr. Scholefield, being convinced, from the remarks of various Anti-Reformers, that it is absolutely necessary for you plainly to show what your expectations are, otherwise you will certainly be represented in the approaching Committee as being now quite indifferent to the Reform Bill. It is also a duty you owe to the King and his Ministers to inform them that you cannot consent to any mutilation of the Bill, parti cularly as respects any alteration of the 101. franchise; for you will be much better without any Reform at all, than with one of less popular influence than the one now proposed by Mini sters ; and that sinless the Bill is passed into a law, without material alteration, you shall continue to exert your energies in all possible legal, peaceful, and constitutional ways, to obtain the whole of your just rights and privileges, as by the Consti tution acknowledged. There is no doubt that all men who contribute to the revenue or taxation ought to have a vote or voice in the election of those who conduct the expenditure , and upon that principle it would appear that, by the present system of taxation in this country, all men have a right of vote; but it is very questionable if the principle of universal suffrage would work best for society ; and equal justice may be done to the poor man by relieving him from taxation,.as could possibly by giving him the right of voting at elections, which relief I have no doubt he would obtain from a House of Commons chosen according to the principles laid down in the Bill now before the House of Lords. It is under this impression that • I have always recommended you to accept the Bill, with out attempting to obtain the whole of your constitutiona l rights ; being convinced, that as it is now constructed it will secure to you indirectly all the same advantages; but if any • material alteration should be made in it, I recommend you to refuse it altogether, as you are much better without any retbrm than a sham one. Nothing can now prevent you from obtainil4 our rights if you are united, peaceable, rational and persever g. ; the progress of reform is now too great to be long postponed, eithor by a base oligarchy, or an interested faction ; your op. laments are all well aware of this, and they have therefore re course to all sorts of tricks and misrepresentations in the hope of delaying their well-deserved disgrace. If you are silent they represent you as indifferent; if you are active, they say !.ssii threaten them ; if few in numbers you are contemptible; if numerous then dangerous; and they call upon the Govern sent to interfere; in short, they are like the man who never was satisfied when he was beaten at chess ; he always made some objection as to the manner in which it was done—whether he received check-mate from Queen, Castle, Bishop, Knight, sir Pawn, he was equally discontented. 1 have frequently cautioned you against expecting the immediate prosperity which many anticipate from the passing of the Reform Bill, and I again urge you to bear in mind that the reform in itself can no more rectify our ills than it can have caused them; it is from a different system in the part of the Government, after the Reform Bill is disposed of, that we are to expect any improvement in our affairs ; and we have no just right to corn. plain of the present Ministry neglecting our interests until they have leisure to attend to them, which at present they cannot have had, in consequence of the factious, vexatious, and scurrilous opposition to the Reform Bill having employed all their time. I have no doubt that the country might be made prosperous and happy without a Reform in Parliament, because I am sure that the far greater part of our miseries arise trorn the most extraordinary compound of ignorance and im becility (not to say wickedness) that any country was ever op pressed by; all of which miseries might and ought to have been avoided; and I believe that if the Tories could now re turn to power they would create prosperity, but I also am eon_ vinced, that if they produced the prosperity without our first obtaining the Ileform,:they would, as soon as they had means, draw us into another war for the divine right of Charles the Tenth, Don Miguel, or some other equally-amiable friend of theirs, and by their old system of loaning and funding, and taxing posterity, plunge us further into debt than ever, and then tell us to be thankful that we have an existence, although a most miserable one. Be assured that the permanent liberty, independence, and happiness of this country, can only bs , obtained bylusib.a . :Reform as shall give the people a Tull, fair, and free representation in their own House, which, therefore, I shall never cease to advocate, and endeavour to pro cure for them by all the legal and constitutional means in my power, while I have life and health to enable me to do so. To conclude, I heartily seconded the motion. Mr. G. EDMUNDS wowed the adoption of the following petition : That this meeting solemnly declares that if the Bill of Reform should be rejected by the House of Lords, or should in any way be injured or impared in the 10/. franchise, or in any of its great parts and provisions, this meeting will, in that case, never cease to use every possible legal exertion in its power to obtain from the justice of Parliament, from the prerogative:of the King, or from the unquestionable privilege of the House of Commons, a more extensive restoration of the constitutional rights of the people than the present Bill of Reform is calculated to give. Mr. BENJAMIN Hamm* (lion. Secretary of the Union) rose to second the resolution. This was a proud day for the peo ple of England, if it were true, as has been said, that Birming ham was the barometer of the Reform feeling throughout the kingdom. If a triumphant refutation of that foul slander were wanted, which had been so industriously circulated by the anti-Reformers, that a reaction had taken place in the public mind, that immense assembly would furnish it. If there were a reaction it was from a lesser to a greater degree of intensity. He would admit, for argument sake, that a reaction on the subject of Parliamentary Reform had taken place in public mind, and would ask where were the proofs of it I Certainly they could not be found in the metropolis of England, Scotland, or Ireland, nor in the county and other meetings which had taken place, and were about to take place. If there was a ma jority of the enlightened, wealthy, and intelligent classes of the country against the Bill of Reform, as had been falsely stated by the Duke of Wellington, he asked where were they to be found ? Where were their public meetings recorded, and of what numbers did they consist ? He had paid great attention to the public meetings which had been held throughout the kingdom on this subject from the time Lord John Russell first re-introduced the Bill into the House of Commons to the present moment, and the miserable few who opposed it were contemptible both in point of number and pro perty. If he were in error he desired to be set right, and implored an Anti-Reformer, of such an one could be found in that assembly, to step forward and enlighten them on that sub ject.—(There are none in Birmingham.) He would undertake to say that he should have a fair and impartial hearing. " What, Sir 1" continued Mr. 11., " cannot one man be found in this immense assembly who will corroborate the state ment of the Noble Duke, or who will from prin. ciple, or from pity, advocate the cause of the Anti- Reformers ? What, Sir, not one ? Let us assume, and we have a right to assume it, that there still exists the same unanimity of feelirsg--the same resolute determi nation on the subject of Reform as ever.—(Cheers.) And, judging from the present and recent meetings held in difThrent parts of the kingdom, there is a daily increasing number to the ranks of reformers, made resolute by an act of justice so long delayed, and who will shortly, I fear, be made desperate by the excrtions the anti-reformers are making to withhold from them their lost rights and liberties. During the time the subject of Catholic emancipation agitated the country, I admit there were two parties, pretty equally balanced--as was manifest from the petitions which were presented to both Houses of Parliament; but, lie would ask, could it be said, with even a semblance of truth, that such was the case then with respect to that Bill of Reform which they were met that day to support ? —;No, no.) Much of the opposition to the Bill hail taken place on the ground that it would not he a permanent measure; and what course did the opponents of the Bill take in order to render it permanent? In the House of Commons they had done their utmost to strip it of all that was valuable, or worth the people's acceptance, and the Opposition Lords had pledged themselves to manifest the same destructive spirit. The people asked for the Bill of Reform, as brought forward by his Majesty's Government, and were willing to make trial of a measure greatly short of what justice would de mand, and if such measure in its operation bring about the prosperity and happiness of the country they would be content.—(Load cheering.) But, no; even that measure of partial justice the boroughmongering oligarchy are un willing to concede, and they are so infatuated as to think that the more they render it unlike what the people want, the more likely it is to be a permanent measure. The enfran chisement, disfranchisement, and 10/. clauses arc the essential principles of the Bill ; and if the oligarchs are so ineffably stu pid as to imagine that the people are such fools as to accept the Bill when deprived of these principles, or injured or impaired in them, they will find themselves most miserably mistaken. Why, he would ask, had the people given up vote by ballot, triennial Parliaments, and scot and lot suffrage—the constitutional rights of the people ? For no other reasons than because they confidently relied on Earl Grey and his pledges that the present Bill should be passed, in its full in tegrity, untouched and unmutilated, and because they were willing to give the Reform measure a fair trial.—(Cheers.) And if in its operation, as he had said before, it secured the liberty, and brought about the prosperity and happiness of the people, there would be no ground of complaint, and discontent and agitation would be at end.—(Cheers.) If that Bill did not pass into a law in its full integrity, the Reformers of Great Britain would be released from their engagements to support the present Ministry, and would be fully justified in demand ing a much more extensive measure of Reform, and a much more extensive measure the people , would have despite of any opposition, come from what quarter soever it might. --(Loud Cheers.) That Lord Grey would exert him self to the utmost to satisfy the just expectations of the country he cculd not and would not doubt for a moment. No Minister recorded in the annals of civilized society could ever boast of such great, such universal support. No Minister that wielded the destinies of a great nation ever possessed such power of con_ ferring lasting renown upon himself, and happiness or misery on his countrymen. In his hands were the lives, the fortunes, and the happiness of 24,000,000 of human beings. Would he pass that Bill, and do an act of imperative justice to injured and suffering millions, and thereby insure their lives, their for tunes, their property, and their happiness ; or would he let slip that golden opportunity and plunge this unhappy country into irremediable ruin ? " Lord Grey," continued Mr. H. has the power to pass his Bill, or he has not. If he have the power and does not avail himself of it, no matter from what cause, whether from an indisposition to increase the Peerage, or from any other cause whatever, I say that curses loud, deep, and universal, will follow him and his name to the latest posterity. —(Vehement cheers) If he have not the power, then his only course as an honest man is to resign his post, and publish the true cause to the world. If he refuse to adopt this course, then the same fate awaits him." Few men had given a more active and zealous support to Lord Grey than he, (Mr. H.) had, and none were more willing to continue it, as long as he acted up to the solemn pledges lie had given ; but, after all, he implored the people to rely mainly on them selves.—(Loud and continued cheering.) And let them never forget the language of that enlightened Jurisconsult, Jeremy Bentham, " that it was only by making the ruling few uneasy that the oppressed many could ever obtain relief." Mr. Had ley concluded, amidst considerable cheering, by seconding the resolution, which contained the sentiments held by the Refor mers of that great town and neighbourhood, which were ex pressed in firm, yet temperate—manly, yet respectful—lan guage ; and he had no doubt but they would have their proper weight in that Ilouse, on whose decision hung the destinies of the empire. The Rev. D r . WADE, Vi car o f St. Ni c holas, Warwick, in moving the third resolution, said,—Gentlemen, I most cordi ally approve of the determination of your Council, of which I have the honour to be a member, to insist upon the carrying of the 101. cl ause, the enfranchising and di s f ranc hising, and me tropolitan clauses of the Bill, in all their integrity , a s bein g for the b enef i t of others as well as of ourselves; and if we should be disappointed, I shall then most heartily assist our Council in all their exertions to obtain scot and lot, and to el feet a mor e complete restaration of t h e r ights of the people than the p resent Reform Bill affords, and to adopt, with the Tory faction have shown bad taste in despising the opinions of the commonalty, from which they have so recently sprung, and which contains individuals of as noble descent and far clearer understanding than themselves. The haughty de meanour of more than one Anti-Reform Peer, clothed in a Right Honourable old title, resembles the ass in the lion's skin. NVhat a contrast does the magnanimous conduct of the Shrews_ burys and the Norfolks afford to such mushroom Lords! In stead of imitating these good examples, one Anti-Reform Peer unjustly insults the new Members of the House of Commons, and the Reformers of England, for sending them there, and especially this county, and one of our county Members, by say ing "That none of the newly-elected Reform Representatives have displayed even ordinary ability. Another disparages the noble plan . of Government for benefitting Ireland, by giving education to all_ One Duke affects to deride Political Unions; but could he witness the immense assemblage of hundreds of thousands of loyal, peaceable, intelligent Unionists now assem bled under Attwood, without being convinced of his error, and striking his flag to that of Attwood ?—(Cheers.) Another desires "disciplined freedom," which means, I suppose, the Military torturing and Gagging Bills, by passing a Bill for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and all kinds of oppres sion ; while some evince peerless skill in splitting straws and settling differences between tweedle duns and tweedle dee— between " public mind" and " popular opinion." It was re served for a Spiritual Lord to collect all the excrementitious oft: scourings from the shameful parts of the Constitution, in order to till his pot of pamphleteering slang. They should recollect the lines of Burns— . ts would some power the gitlie gie them, To see themselves as others see them, would trae ninny a blunder free titens, And foolish notion'." Yes, Gentlemen, we must free the Tory Lords from their " foolish notion " that their artifices can perpetuate the already too long reign of Tory influence. . The voice of an united empire must sanction Lord Grey in creating new Peers, in order to restore the lost balance of power, and to enable the Reform Lords, both spiritual and temporal, who support the Reform Bill, to defeat the enemies of it. Although I was grieved at the ap parently equivocal description of which Lord Grey gave of the principles of the Bill, yet actions speak stronger than words; and as his tactics carried all the principles of the Bill through the Lords, notwithstanding Lord Lyndhurst's caveat, that the admisssien of the whole would not be the securing of all its provisions, I have no . :doubt that, as Lord Grey has nailed all the clauses of the Bill firmly to the table of the House of Lords, he will clench and rivet them there, so as never to fall under it by creating Peers to any amount; for since the whole empire, from electors to elected, from peasant to Peer—from in. dividuals to millions, have performed every tittle of Lord Grey's own propositions, he is bound in honour, honesty, law, and Gospel, to perform his part of the national co. venant, of which if one jot be left unfulfilled the whole is vitiated. The question then for us to consider is, how we shall proceed if the Bill is mutilated ? Why, scout it; throw it aside; tread it underfoot as a rotten, putrid weed ; demand scot and lot, demand a more complete and effectual restora tion of all the rights of the people than the present Bill of Reform is calculated to give. A London Morning Paper has called Birmingham " the barometer of the Reform feeling throughout England." I would say that, under such an insulting injury, it would become a thermometer, and rise to fever heat with rage, indignation, and vengeance. Mr. Hume has said " that the Peers never will remove the yoke from the people till they evince their determination no longer to submit to it." Then let us now declare that we will have the entire Bill, or never rest till we legally obtain more than the Bill—a complete restoration of the rights of the people. I wish not to use the language of intimidation, but of conciliation. Should, however the Bill be mutilated, I would be ready, and doubtless many more of the clergy of all denominations would be ready, to accompany the Birming ham people to London to petition the House of Lords on what the Council should deem most proper and spirited, and necessary for all the best interests of the people, as the Ca tholie clergy of Poland, with crosiers in their hands, went be fore the armies of the brave Poles, to meet the hordes of Rus. scan barbarians led by Russian despots. I would go to peti tion the Commons to subdue the refractory Lords. The Anti. Reform Peers must fail eventually ; for if they attempt, like mad pilots, to push the good ship Reform amongst the breakers, still the crew, composed of the best of the aristocracy, the middle classes and working classes, under our Royal Captain, will haul her through all obstructions into the harbour of success. I earnestly wish the anti-Reform Lords would try no rash experiment upon the national mind—matured by a growth of fifty years. I wish the spirtual and temporal Peers who are " waverers," would become the," saviours" of the privileges of the Peers, and of the lives and properties of the people; for if the Bill be mutilated, I have reason to know, from those who take an active part amongst the workbag classes, that the working classes of London are conscious of their power, and if exasperated by a Polig_ oar Ministry, will remember how such Ministry was sub dued in France by the Revolution of July. At the same time the working classes desire to unite with the middle classes in legal measures to obtain lawful objects for the common benefit of all. They will certainly discuss the ques- Cion whether it would be better to wait patiently for ten years, while the middle classes are reduced to working classes, and the working classes to pauperism and starvation or to emigration to foreign lands, or whether a struggle should take place ; therefore I suggest that the best and most peaceable counsel for the interests of the working classes and of all the people, should be given to the working classes in an address to them from the Birmingham Political Union. Let me remind our Worthy Chairman that the inscription on the statue of the American Washington has these words :—" First in peace, first in war, and first in the love of his countrymen." Now, I am sure Mr. Attwood will deserve the love of his countrymen by pursuing, under all circumstances, legal measures to obtain a complete restoration of all the rights of the people, which alone call prevent a civil war, promote the prosperity of the people, and secure the permanence of our Constitution. That this meeting, impressed with the deepest gratitude and respect for the wise, benevolent, and magnanimons conduct of the most excellent King, relies with full confidence that his Ma jesty will not suffer the hopes of his faithful people to bedisap pointed, or allow any infringement upon the In/. franchise, or upon any other of the great provisions of the Bill of Reform ; but that his Majesty, with the firmness and decision which so eminently distinguish his character, will, if necessary, resort to his high and undoubted prerogative of creating Peers, and thus insure the liberty, the happiness, and contentment of his people. And this meeting is further confirmed in the belief that this great prerogative will be brought into exercise, from the reflec tion that during the last seventy years a great majority of the present Peerage has been created from among the predominant Ministerial party in the state, which renders it doubly necessary that new creations of Peers should now be had recourse to, drawn from the ranks of patriotism and of enlightened intellect, in order to bring the House of Lords into harmony with the Com mons and with the gracious and benevolent designs of his Majesty. The resolution was seconded by the Rev. T. N, MAC_ DONALD, amid loud cheers. Mr. JOSEPH PARKES—Brother Reformers, and Fellow. countrymen, I come forward to propose a resolution at this vast and impressive, and, I ardently hope, this last great local meet ing in favour of the great question of British liberties which has so long agitated our minds. I appear before you with mingled feelings of hope and fear, and the predominance of the latter commands my attendance here this day. Brother Re formers, our labours have not yet ceased. A reaction has taken place in the minds of our opponents, and the House of Lords has at length passed the second reading of the English Reform Bill. But this vote amounts only to the concessio that their Lordships will take the Ministerial measure of Reform into consideration ; and when I see the balanced state of parties in the Upper House of Legislature, I cannot but discern that we are yet in the hands of our political enemies. It is, therefore, that I come forward with the resolution in my hand; and although not a member of Political Unions--having been, as you know, early in this contest opposed to their forma tion, and disliking two governments, yet I should feel degraded if I did not now admit the powerful effect these associations have produced on the public mind, and how much is due to that chairman (Mr. Attwood), who is their great parent, and who now presides over a public meeting, unparalleled, I believe, for numbers, and real political zeal and intelliigence.—(Loud cheers.) Fellow countrymen, having said thus much of my opinions on political unions, I will now tell the Peers of the United Empire, that if their great national measure of Reform is ultimately rejected, and Lord Grey driven from office, or if it be mutilated or rendered inoper ative, the Unions will be trebled and quadrupled in numbers, I speak from personal knowledge, and I know that the majority of young men of all classes in this town and neighbourhood, not now members, are resolved to enrol themselves in your ranks, and to stick by you in the breach. Friends and fellow countrymen:—(Loud cheering)—God forbid that I should excite you to the dernier resort of a civil and phy sical contention for your liberties as Englishmen, or that I should seek to influence British Noblemen by any unworthy or false terror of Revolution. I am one of those who fore see that a violent Revolution in this counlry, which might destroy public coedit, might depose the boroughmongers, and utterly destroy their wicked domination—but, my countrymen, the mass of the people might be plunged into the most woful want and personal strife. Who can think of the channels of industry choaked up in this vast ocean of manufacturing labour 'r Who can contemplate a complete cessation of the demand for labour without discerning that this generation would make tremendous sacrifice for the liberty of posterity. But I di solemnly warn—l implore the House of Lords riot to force the That, in the opinion of this meeting, our most excellent Kink is the sole judge of the proper period, and of the proper extent, and of the proper object, at and for which his Majesty's Royal Prerogative of creating new Peers should be exercised ; and thi, meeting is of opinion that it must be much more constitutional that his Majesty should interpose his high prerogative for the protection of his people, and for the preservation of the peace and order of society, than it is that the House of Lords should interpose their privilege for the purpose of obstructing the exc. cution of his Majesty's wise, gracious, and paternal designs. The following resolutions were moved and seconded trx Messrs. De Bocoe, Attwood, Salt, Collins, Sic. That this meeting knowing and feeling the genera - 11 - did line. quailed distress which has so long afflicted the British nation, and paralysed all their energies, and,which has progressively in. creased in severity, until it has now become literally insuppotf. able, cannot but indignantly deny the false assertion of the etn tales of their country's liberties, that the distress is to be attributed to the introduction of the Bill of Reform ; for that this meetink, knows that the apprehension that anarchy may be occasioned hi the rejection or mutilation of the Bili is the only cause connected with the question of Reform which has in any stay contributed aggravate the existing distress of the country ; and this rneetin, has been fully convinced, by the long and painful experien, of petitions neglected and distress denied, that the only possibli hope of the real cause of distress being effectually and perms newly remedied depends entirely upon the restoration to the in dustrious classes of their constitutional right to be represented ii the Commons' House of Parliament. That the cordial and grateful thank: of this meeting pre gelded to the numerous bodies of upright and patriotic mea whv i shrinking from no labour in their country's CaliSe, hare volunta . rily attended this meeting in countless thousands from the Wu,. taut towns of Wolverhampton, Warwick, Coventry, Stratford, Dudley, Bilston, Kidderminster, Studley, Redditcli, Wednesbury, Stourbridge, Dales Owen, Rowley, Tip, ton, Darlaston, Oldbury, Westbroinwich t and other distant part. of the country. The meeting did not break up until hear six n'eluel: lavt, night. PUBLIC MEETING.—A very crowded public meeting, called by the constables of Lees-cum. Hey, near Oldham, was held at the Swan Inn, in that place, on Monday evening ; at which it was resolved to petition the Lords not to destroy the efficacy of the Bill, particularly the 10/. qualification clause, and to pray that the .proposed borough of Ashton-under-Lyme may be rendered co-ex.. tensive with the parish.—Leeds The inhabitants of Wakefield have requested with Constable, h,vh ieh t h by e co a n h . t i h t a: v e ees;ptr l eeo • e acg : hel i lai s ysn i t tat ic n trio , ot ua t l o pehottl a ihr a public meeting to petition his MatEcry to use the power Hot the p th a e ss o i f n g u o n. f d t s h i e n H its efo f r is n h i l n to the 10/. franchise clause. Owing to the absence of the Constable, the time for holding the meeting ianot yet fired. Scotland has spoken out at length, baldly, and in the face of day. Your true Scot is the most pa. tient of all living creatures; but the insults and injuries of his rulers may goad him, as history affirms, to gambols, which they may rue he has borne mrleh and long, like his brother, proud, passionate, boasting but honest, down. right, free-hearted, open-handed Jo'.in Bull ; but there is a Period to the endurance even of tie most patient of animals. Bth have spoken out. They may yet be appeased, and ail may he forgotten ; but, if their oppressors—the two long-endured rulers at the rust—instigated by a desire to continue to *feed, vulture -like, on corruption, treat with contempt the prayers of a united and suffering people—it they resolve to moo them with the shadow of a represen tation—if they are determined to hold forth Gatton, and Sarum,: and the Scotch burghs (under their present mode of el. ction) as beauties and not as bkmishes of the elective .ystem—if, in brief, they, in the blind spirit of infatuation, dare to perpetuate on their necks the yoke of an oligarchy, then they will find that there is a spirit abroad, not only i ‘ a the South lint in the North, in the valley and on the W 1!. in Lowland and Highland districts, by the river and by the lake—a spirit which cannot by any possibility be ap peased without a liberal and generous offering of free re presentation. The meeting of the Edinburgh reformers seems, from the accounts that have reached us, to have been a magnificent affair. It took place in the King's Park, near to the ancient palace of Holyrood ; from the sindows of which, the exiled King of FKANCE might have beheld another specimen of the working of that principle which lie and his imbecile Ministry trusted they had the power to put down. Every cheer frotn that meeting must !rave fallen like a thunder-clap upon his ear, and aroused those feelings in his mind and in his heart—those terrible ,inpultes which float on the surface of memory, and " Which steep, undying, to all distant time The deep damnation of a tyrant's crime!" the assembled numbers of the Edinburgh meeting have n:en calculated at sixty thousand, certainly the most nume rously attended meeting ever held in Scotland. The as semblage was of a highly respectable character, as most 7icotch meetings are, for the people, as it has keen truly , bserved, go to them seriously and as a matter of business. One fact will better serve to inform the readers of the Journal of the political state of Scotland than a hundred irgurnents. It was noticed by the venerable Sir Joax DAL RYMPLE, in the commencement of his speech, tha he had •zever been upon nor seen such a thing as hustings in the country before I— Wakefield Journal. T p. h —e i inhere nere i a t s a es n c h upon his Witt- e 1_ Prince Wi I not 0 llteri It is not said that ce. -- The Parrot, which to London accompanied by his inhet Aar l ls h j il . a t s hree fa t i n le il n liou tc s ) be P ep r.i 7 t- , et n h. believed that the Prince will settle them 1