The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

Lest night a meeting sou held at the Orange
Tree, Paleeway, New-Toad, for the purpose of promoting
the objects el the Llikesed Victuallers' Defence Associa-
tion ; Mr. 8/11111, Of Chaltenttreet, St. Pancras, in the
chair.
Kr. POsTal, the president of the association, explained
the object for which the meeting had been called ; namely,
to protect the interests of the trade, and to procure the re-
peal of the Ben Act, which would have passed Into a
law if the Protection Society had been en the alert and
forewarned the trade, as it should have done, of the ten-
dency of that measure. The Defence Association was called
into existence because the Protection Society had neglected
to do their duty. They weramed to be junior members of
the trade, end were told that their essociation- *sold
die out. Bat the support which they had _re-
ceived in every district when they appeared showed
that they, teed not the Protection Society, truly
represented thus real interests and feelings of. lbrade in
this matter. (Hear, bear.) All they wan was to be
placed in the position they stood in before the Beer 13.11
passed. (Hear, hear.) They were not the advocates of ins- 32;
briety. Far (rem it. But what they maintained was, that
drunken's.' was to be put down by education and the 21t
moral 'kettles of the people, and not by legislative enact
mean (Hear, hear) The bill bad been pared in igno-
rance of the real state of facts, and on evidence which would eh.
not bear inquiry. For Instants, Mr. Timothy May bee, of
Islington, and in his evidence that 19 out of 20 publicise
whim he went to petitioned in favour of the bill. Bet "1
when he (Mr. Foster) went to limners whether that were so 1:11
or not, he found that they had not done so at all, or that et
they had done so under erroneous ideas as to the scope and vi
object of the bill. (Hear, (hear.) The evidence, therefore, 22
on which the bill was founded could not be depended on. r
They bad:accordingly for the last two or three w *eke sent out go'
amassers to ask for signatures to petitions praying for the to
tepee of the bill, bemuse they well knew if they wished to 60
stead well before parliament, they must be prepared with 13
statistics. When they went to members of parliament on ,81-.
the subject, they were met with the objection that there g
were nu statistics on their u.le to argue upon ; but that ob-
jection would no longer apply when it was found that a et
vast majority of the trade of London petitioned against the 84.
bill. (Hear, hear.) They had 2,000 signatures out of Ift
3,C00 publicans, praying for the repeal of the bill, and this II
fact ought to convince the Home of Commons and Mr. "
Wilson Patten that it was obnoxious to the trade generally. gt.
After a careful perusal of the evidence in the Blue-book, he m.
sew convinced that there was nothing in it to alarm the ht.
trade. The Defence Association bad for its object the re- 11.•
pql. of the Beer Bell, and to effect that object they rt
devoted their time and their energies. He felt they were "
justified, therefore, in asking those who agreed with him se
in sentiment to co-operate with them in giving effect to lei
that purpose. He believed the Defence Association would 161
have greatly contributed to the advantage of the trade if
it accomplished no other good than to rouse the Protection
Society to a proper sense of duty. (Hear, hear.) Brighton, 11l
Croydon, and other large towns, had already joined the es.
association, and they were in communication with other In
large towns, such as Manchester and Easter. He hoped
to see a meeting of delegates from all the large towns aneza-
bled in London to discuss their future p_reepects in connexion
with the trade lly. (Hear.) They had been taunted gm
with Sties juveniles, and with the desire to create disunion ee.
is the trade. They were quits aware of the evil' of die- SI
union, and they had therefore extended the olive
branch to the Protection Society, but it was not sb
accepted, and the three or four individual" who managed bt,
that society and the paper which represented them, but at,
• which misrepresented the trade, thought it wiser to shroud 20
themselves in their own permed importance. (Hear, hear.) n
It behoved them to say that they would not submit ti suck
treatment now that they counted the large number of one /51
thousand members, which was larger than the Pratte- so
Lion Society could boast ef. He should conclude by moving 10
the following resolution : "That this meeting has much &-
satisfaction in expressing its entire approbati of the course 1341)
pursued by the Defence Association, and does therefore de- et..
%ermine to give it the most strenuous support." • 16
Mr. Piemn seconded the resolution, which he was sure, s
after what Mr. Foster had said, did not require any addi-
tional eommendativa from him. All would agree in the /11.
representation he gave of the Protection Society, which bad It
neglected to watch the interests of the trade as they should so
have done. If they had been alive to a proper tease of tie
their duty, he believed the Beer Bill would never have been so
carried. (Hear.) 10
The resolution was adopted unanimously. 10
Mr. TllClthlit moved the following resolution :—" That
this meeting of licensed vietuallen gratefully acknowledges se
the assistance given to its interests by the Daily News, si
Globe, Era, Dispatch, and other journals, and it does hereby St
offer its best thanks to the newspapers in question for their 10
valuable advocacy." It did not require much argument, fa
he observed, to prove that those journals which gave their z'
columns and their talent to represent the claims of the De-.60
fence Association, were entitled to its support, the more 10
especially as that journal which was bound to represent the $3
interests of the trade, instead of doing so either neglected or 251
totally misrepresented them. (Hear.)
Mr. WZLBT seconded the motion, which was supported by 30
Mr. 11•11.111, and adopted unanimously. to
Mr. FOSTER then moved a vote of thanks to the chairman, 10
which terminated the proceedings. 10