The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-16 00:00:00

WARWICKSIIIRF.

BIRMINGHAM AND TILE FRENCH REVOLUTION.-
Yesterday a public meeting was held in the Town-ball at
Birmingham, for the purpose of adopting an address to the
people of France "to (as the placard ran) those brave
and generous people who have made so many sacrifices in the
cause of liberty ; and to show that you sympathise with all
who struggle for freedom, as the interests of all the indus-
trious classes of all nations are identical ; and also to petition
the legislature for a full, fair, and tree representation of the
people, as embodied in the document entitled the people's
charter. Our motto is political equality and fraternity."
At 12 o'clock the chair was taken by Mr. Councillor Bald-
win. The hall was at thattime well tilled with working men,
but between one and two o'clock there could not have been
less than nine thousand persons present. The town com-
missioners, who have the control of the hall, granted it, on
application being made for it, with the understanding that the
proceedings should not be protracted after six o'clock in the
evening : every precaution, too, had been quietly taken for
the preservation of the public peace.—Mr. Councillor Bald-
win, in opening the proceedings, enjoined the people to pre-
serve order. Ile rejoiced, he said, in the French revolution.
l'he French people had trusted in monarchs over and over
again, who had deceived them ; and the time came when
patience was no longer a virtue. Louie Philippe had de-
ceived those who had elevated him, and had made himself
odious to the people of his own country and to the world.
lie rejoiced at this event as well for the French as for the
English people, because he felt muted that there could not be
a republic in France without the people of England gaining
the charter. lf, as he had no doubt, this revolution was
tally carried out, the people of this country would be bene-
fited by it. lie felt certain that but for the French revo-
lution we should have been saddled with an income tax
of a shilling in the pound instead of id. The middle clais
would now come forward and assist the working classes in
obtaining their just rights. He characterised as genuine
nobility of soul on the part of the French republicans the
abolishing the punishment of death for political offences, and
so far contrasted it with the conduct of the Duke of Wel-
lington in allowing the life of Marshal Ney to be sacrificed.
For his part, he said, he would stand up for the rights of the
people ; he deprecated anything in the shape of disorder or
tumult, and expressed his firm conviction that the fullest
political rights would be obtained by the people of this
country without a single drop of blood being shed. A letter
from Mr. Scholefield, M.P., was then read—the following is
an extract from it:
I regret that my parliamentary engagements make it impereible
for me to be present I beg, however, to convey the emphatic ex-
pression of n. sympathy- with the intended mortrag with references to
both is objects. Though I should be chargeable with a want of can-
dour if I disguised my conviction that the Provi-tonal Government of
France—honest sad patriotic as I sincerely believe it to he, has com-
mitted grave errors of economical policy in v me of its late proceed-
ings, it u impassible to withhold the tribute of ardent admiration of
its self-devotion to the great mum of freedom, for which the noble
people of that country have made ouch hacrlfices. I ferveaty hope
that a victory won by so much courage, and used with so much mo-
deration, may secure to the people of France (whatever form of go.
cerement they may hereafter decide to adopt: ail the advantage. of
well-ordered liberty, so long and ee unjustly denied to diem. N ith
reference to our own country, we, too, have rightist° claim and rice-
antes to abate. Happily a perfectly free discuesion leaves, open t.. us
at ar sof atiefesa, not liable to the fesirhd nsio± of violent change,
alone available to the people of France—means of peace, law, sad
order, which, steadily urged and honestly applied, will be intasistible
rooms assure the meeting, skOW entirely I go with them for dia.
.• full for, and free represcntation " which I am sum they will so
1-.husiastically
—Mr. Blialiind, a working man, said: We want the aristo-
cracy to pay their share of the tales. AU that the head of a
family pays to the state is received back by the other
branches of it by means of their commissions en the army,
the navy, and other departments of the state. We must
have a cheap government. We love the Queen, but we
=snot afford to pay her so high. For my part, I think no
monarch ought to have more than 3),0001. a year. I rejoice
that the revcilutionary spirit is spreading throughout Europe.
llnagary end Germany are on the verge of a revolution, and
the seept:e of Austria totters to its fall. The speaker moved
the following resolution :
That this meeting halls with pleasure the triumph of democracy in
FMK*, and hereby scuds Ito greeting, to those heroic citizens whose
noble example must ere long result In the eubversion of nepo.i.s.su
throughout the globe.
—Mr. Ald. Weston declared his complete concurrence and
sympathy in the objects of the meeting. lie rejoiced to
find that the whole people of France had emancipated them.
selves tram the thraldom of Louis Philippe, who had het-
i tkred away the rights of the public for the aggrandisement
i of his own family, and thereby rendered himself unworthy of
the high Soo* IN oceepieL &Inning to the pintoes

vs bleb the people of this country were enduring, he said that
the money taws were producing starvation amongst the work-
ing creases here. The triumph obtained by the people of France
had been achieved by the union of the working with the
middle classes. He hoped that the same union would benefice
be e xhibited in England. For his part, he could only say that,
having worked his way up, be now came forward to fraternise
with the working men, and to go hand in hand with them; be
suggested that a covenant should be enttred into, the work-
ing men not to abuse the middle-class, and the middle elms
not to abuse them. Their mutual wrongs were great enough
to produce unity, and it they would only carry out that prin-
ciple, they would win a great deal more than they at pre-
sent possessed. The resolution was carried amidst much
acclamation, and at this moment • tricoloured flag hevin.t
been exhibited in the hall, shouts of applause ensued which
lasted several minutes. An address to the people of France
was then read and adopted, embodying the spirit of the
foregoing resolution, after whica Mr. Joseph Sturge came
forward, and was greeted with loud cheers. He commenced
by observing that he had left France on the previous day.
and that the tint notification he received of this meeting
conveyed also the its formation that an additional supply of
troops had been ordered into the neighbourhood. Now he
warned those who relied on physical force and
not upon justice. Had they not seen an hundred
thousand soldiers in France fly before the people, and forts
which were deemed impregnable surrender without a strug-
gle being made? He, as a quaker, said, thanks to the
soldiers who would not light," and he hoped that the day
would never again arrive when the soldiery would fire upon
a people engaged in peacefully demanding their just rights.
Having been one of a deputation to present an address to the
people of France through the Provisional Government, Mr.
Sturge read the reply of M. Lamertine, and related various
anecdotes of circumstances which had occurred in the course
of the late revolution. Referring to'the peace question' he
said that M. Arago, the French Minister of Marine, had as
stored him that as soon as he had ascertained that Englen
would assume no hostile attitude towards the republic, he gave
orders that there should be no increise of the French navel

armament. lie did not believe (he mid) that there existed
any national letling of antip drily to the English, and, re-
ferrina to the destruction of property in the course of the
disturbances, he remarked that it was ascertained to have
been the bargemen who destroyed the railway stations, be-
cause of the injury their trade experieueed by the working of
the railways. One of the most beautiful characteristics,
however, of the revolution was the determination of the
people to preserve life and property ; and he enjoined the
thousands who stood before him to form themselves into •
sort of police to prevent orischievouz people committing out
and depredations upon property. The peesent was •
fitting opportunity f.r obtaining the people's charter. The
people must not be misled, The fieht hi re was with the
oligarchy, and if the maws were only firm and peaceful,
and weir efforts well directed, their triumph was certain.—
A number of working men addressed the meeting, after
which the following resolution was passed
That w hula this meeting rejoices at the glorious triumph achieved
by French valour, it is at the same time aware of the fact that nearly
oven millionsof Bt dons clank the degrading chains of serfdom; and
they oonsider that with the bright es:aurae 01 emancipated France to.
fore the world the pretest is the accepted time to prevo forward the
great moral struggle for the peoples chatter, which, investing all
with the panoply at the franchise, would prove the guarantee of na.
tloaal prom.. ity, and the best security against the orisuLsitm of ro-
t volution.

—Mr. Councillor Collins moved the adoption of a petition to
parliament, setting forth the miseries under :which the
people were suffering from class legislation ; that it was inex-
pedient to tamper with these, inasmuch as there were limits
beyond which endurance would not go; and the people's
charter was referred to an the only means by which the just
representation of the people coul I be obtained.—Mr. John
Mason concurred with the sentiments set forth in the peti-
tion, but contended that the people's charter would never be
ca.ried by a House of Commons—it must be carried by the
people themselves. He recommended that a national as-
sembly should be elected at once in this eountry—that it
should decide upon the reforms required ; and, if the
roiristry refused to make these cabinet measures, that
the assembly should at once go to the throne
' itself and settle the differences of the people there.—The
speaker read a long manifesto setting forth the grievances of
the people, and " the destitution, want, and misery, which is
the fate of our meritorious working population." In
conclusion the memorial specified the reforms required as
the basis and guarantee of property, honour, and national
happiness. A somewhat animated discussion took place with
reference to the memorial ; ultimately the mover agreed to
withdraw it for the present, on the ground that a simulta-
neous movement to petition was going on throughout the
country. The petition was adopted, and the meeting sepa-
rated orderly at live o'clock, the proceedings having been
throughout of a peaceful character.
EDUCATION AT EIRMINGLIAM.—At a meeting of the
council of Queen's College, held on the sth instant, the Itev.
Chancellor Law in the chair, on the motion of the Maur.
seconded by the High Bailiff; a report as to the establish-
ment of a college of arta in connexion with Queen's College
was unanimously confirmed and adopted, and it was also
resolved that the sub.coretnittee be empowered to draw up
a detailed pion of study, and form rules of collegiate disci-
pline fur a department of arts
_ _ ESSEX. . . . .

IMFORTANT TO MALTSTERS.—An information, in-
stituted by the cernmisre ners of excise, was a few days since
heard by the magistrates of Dunmore against Mrs. Leonard,
of Broxted-hall, charged with having compressed the grain
within her malting cistern, by which she had evaded seer
tain portion of the legal duty chargeable thereon. The pe-
nalties were laid at 2001.—Dr. Bateman, solicitor to the Board
of Excise, conducted the prosecution.—The facts of the case
were that in the mouth of December last an officer of excises
went to the defendant's malt house at Bruited, having re-
ceired notice that some barley was about to be steeped, and
on arriving there he found some barley in the cistern which
had been recently damped. Ou proceeding to gauge the quan-
tity,hy inserting a dipping red in it, he could not without
difficulty force the rod to the bottom of the cistern. This
proved to him that the orders of the commissioners of exciae
as to the placing of the barley in the cistern had not been
complied with, and he ordered the whole of the grain to be
taken out, which was done, having first ascertained the appa-
rent quantity the cistern contained. Upon being requested to
return the barley to the cistern, the defendant's man rctuaed
to do so unless it was thrown in in heaps, and the effect of
this would be to compress a greater quantity into a smaller
space than the law allowed. The man said if he returned
the grant iu the manner requested by the othcer he should
be discharged. After considerable delay the barley was re-
turned to the cistern, and on again dipping the officer found
a great addition to the quantity. Another malthouse belong.
ing to the same defendant was then visited, and with similar
results. It was argued on behalf of the defendant that the
system of throwing the barley into the cistern so as to occupy
the greatest apace was never contemplated in the framing of
the act of paid iment, and in a similar case to this at Croy-
don the magistrates bad refused to convict the parties.—Dr.
Bateman replied, and remarked that the decision of the
magistrates of Croydon was illegal, and had been so de-
clared by the judges.—The defendant was then fined iu the
penalty of 501.