The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-22 00:00:00

THE CONDEMNED PENTANS.

A large out-door meeting was held last evening on
Clerkenwell-green to consider the fate of the four con-
demned men in Manchester. Two waggons, placed in dif-
ferent portions of the open space, were used as platforms
for two audiences, and beyond this no preparation what-
ever was made. Not a policeman was to be seen, but it
was rumoured, and, indeed, openly stated by one of the
speakers, that a large number of constables and a body of
soldiers were reserved in the adjacent House of Detention.
At seven o'clock there were about 8,000 persons massed
around the waggons ; in the course of an hour they were
doubled, and when two processions, which came while the
meeting was proceeding, had added themselves to the
general body, there could not have been fewer than a
gathering of 20,000. Many of these were men grimy and
unwashed from the occupations they bad just left, and
the large proportion were evidently respectable
artisans. From the first the crowd was pecu-
liarly quiet and orderly, and the usual methods
of whiling away the time on such occasions were for once
dispensed with. Even the gamins who hung upon the
lamp-poste and clung to the railings forgot mischief, and
played no tricks. During the speeches the applause was
sparing and discriminate, but always hearty. Mr. Clegg,
who took the chair at the meeting on Saucily, again pre-
sided, and opened the proceedings by stating their object,
and by referring to the recent proceedings ►t the Home-
office, for which he insisted Mr. Hardy was alone to blame.
The chief speech was delivered by Mr. Finlen, who appears
to be the leader of the movement. Fenianises he declared
to be another name for patriotism, and Irishmen he said
had experienced at the hands of a callous, brutal, bloody,
and alien aristosracy injustice and outrage. He also
defended whet wee done on Monday at the Home-office,
on the ground that that building was a public place, and,
like the officials who occupied it, maintained by the
people ; he stated the determination of himself and friends
logo to Windsor, and try to present a memorial to the Queen,
and caused prolonged cheering by announcing th►t should
the condemned men after all be executed, a monster
funeral procession would march through London on Sun-
day, headed by a braes band playing the Dead March in
Caul, and with black banners, upon which were inscribed
a harp, a shamrock, ►nd the names of those who had
suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and who were the
" victims of our government." Another part of this pro-
gramme was the delivery of a funeral or►tion "on account
of thole men's murder." Before he eoneloded Mr. Finlen
told the meeting he had been dismissed from his employ-
ment in consequence of what he did and said on Monday
at the Home-office. The other 'peelers for the most part
repeated the arguments and illustrations used at the
Sunday and other meetings, the more temperate question-
ing the legality of the execution, pleading the extreme
youth of Allen, and the persecution all Irishmen had
suffered from the English government, and urging that the
offence for which they were doomed was purely poli-
tic►l ; and the more violent denouncing the aris-
tocracy, and predicting much future bloodshed. One
of the speakers spoke of the Queen as " the good
Queen," and finished the sentence by exclaiming,
" Would that I could hear the cry go through the land,
' The Queen and the people, and down with the bloody
aristocracy."' Another speaker—Mr. Bradlaugh—.aid we
were on the eve of a great crisis, and that millions of our
brother-subjects were about to be driven into the wont
kind of civil war by the taking of there men's lives. The
same speaker called upon every one in the meeting to pen
a petition with his own hand and present it to the go-
vernment, so that in the future they might be so many
bills of indictment against them and their policy.
It was resolved to present to the Queen the memorial
adopted at the open-air meeting on Sunday, and
declined by the Home Secretary on Monday. This having
been done by the passing of two resolutions, the proceed-
ings terminated.

The work of erecting barriers in New Bailey-street,
Manchester, on the side where the execution is to take
place, was commenced yesterday, and is progressing
rapidly. The timber employed in their construction is of
great thickness, and will be sufficiently strong to resist
anything short of superhuman pressure. The barricades
within which the police will stand will be so placed as to
keep back the spectators towards either end of the street,
and barriers twelve feet high will be erected across Stanley.
street, and at the junction of Stsnley-street with New
Bailey-street, with a door to admit the magistrates and
officials, and to permit the egress of artillery stationed
within the enclosed part of New Bailey-street, if it should
be necessary. A proclamation from the corporation of
Salford requests all peaceably disposed persons not to be
present, so as to reduce as far as possible the dangers likely
to arise from the presence of a large crowd. The prisoners
have the advantage of spiritual comfort from priests of
their own religious persuasion, and the Rev. Canon Cant-
well and the Rev. Mr. Gadd are in daily attendance at
the prison. They appear to be quite resigned to their doom.
MANCHESTER, THURNDAY NICHT.

A great meeting has been held this evening at
the Corn Exchange in favour of • commutation of the
sentence passed on the Fenian prisoners now lying in the
gaol here. The hall was crowded by a most enthusiastic
and orderly audience. The chair was occupied by the
Rev. R. W.lleCaul, F.L.S., and the meeting was addressed
by ministers of the various denominations, also by Mr.
Ernest J ones,and Mr.Cottingham, counsel for the prisoners,
and other gentlemen. A memorial was unanimously
adopted, and despatched by the London mail to the Home
Secretary.

MORE RATEENING AT SHEFFIELD.—VII Tuesday
morning a scissor grinder, named George Booth, who is a
member of the union, discovered that in the course of the
night his mill had been entered and six bands and three
nuts had been taken away. A few weeks since Booth was
waited on about his employing a son, who, it was acknow-
ledged, was less than 1.3 years of age, and that thereby he
was breaking one of the rules of the union. Re was told
that unless he produced a certificate to the officers of the
union showing that his son was over 13 years, he would
some time or other get into trouble. Booth's son is over
13 years of age, but he failed to produce the certificate,
and this is supposed to be the chief cause of the outrage.