The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-17 00:00:00

should show a hold front, and not allow themselves to
be put down. If they allowed one after another to be
arrested and thrown into prison, the spirit of he
working classes would be broken. He thoucht if one
man was arrested, that ought to be the signal for a
revolt.—(Hear, hear.)
The motion was then put and carried.
ARMS.
Mr. O'CONNOR said that he saw by a Second Edi-
tion of The Sun, which contained a report of the pro-
ceedings in Parliament yesterday evening and which had
just been put into his hand, that Lord John Russell in
answer to a question from Mr. Wynne, had admitted
one of the strongest of their positions—namely, that
every man in the country had a right to arm.—(Hear,
hear.) To recommend the possession of arms was
wrong ; but they bad now the opinion of Lord John
Russell. Let them rest on that opinion, and act upon
it. Mr. Attwood had spoken out very well, last night,
and he thought the Convention were highly indebted to
him.—( Hear, hear.) Lord John Russell said the
brandishing of these arms, and taking them about for
exhibition was illegal. He (Mr. O'Connor) would go
further, and say that it was cowardly, foolish, ridicu-
lous and treasonable.—(Hear, hear.) Two or three
persons who took pikes or any other instruments to a
meeting, were doing that which would commit every one
at that meeting, and were acting in a most cowardly
and foolish manner.—(Hear, hear.) He hoped some
person would produce a short resolution to-morrow
(and he would recommend his friend O'Brien, being
the fittest person, to do so), embodying the sentiments
he had then expressed.

POLICE SPIES.
Dr. FLETCHER begged to state to the Convention
that he had been informed, and had good reason to be.
lieve, that two squads of police arrived in Birmingham
last night, from London. He believed some of them
were in the room at that moment, dressed in plain
clothes.—(Great sensation, every one in the room stand-
ing up, and searchingly scrutinizing every countenance.)
He did not know them personally, but he knew they
were in Birmingham. He would have no objection to
those people coming in their livery—(Alaugh)—but he
thought they ought to express their disgust at the con-
duct of the scoundrels who sent them, as well as their
contempt and disgust of their tools. The police were not
paid by the people to be spies on them, and the sending
of spies through the country was the foulest part of a
mean and dirty system of despotism.—(Loud cheer-
ing.) He thought the fact worthy of notice, and
he hoped the people of Birmingham would have their
eyes on them, and dodge them about through their se-
veral haunts.--(Hear, hear.) He (Dr. Fletcher) had
always received every civility from the London police,
and he should think that man most culpable who offered
them the slightest insult if they had their police
dress on ; but when they went among the people as
spies he thought they ought to treat them as the laws
of nature authorised the people to treat all spies.
Mr. O'BRIEN, in reference to what Mr. O'Connor
had alluded to, and the advice he had tendered, begged
to offer a few observations. One resolution would not
embody all the advice necessary to be given to the people.
He was of opinion that a combination of the greatest
caution and determination was necessary on the part of
the Convention to prevent mischief from occurring at
the approaching simultaneous meetings. Every pos-
sible precaution should be resorted to to guard the
people against violations of the law.—(Hear, hear.)
They should be advised against carrying sticks, arms,
or any other description of weapons to the meet-
ings. They should be advised to march sober and
orderly to the ground, and the marshals and other
officers, having charge of the arrangements,
should be instructed to provide against every
casualty that might give the meetings an illegal
complexion. Resolutions to this effect should be agreed
to by the Convention, and published forthwith through-
out the country. Other resolutions would be also ne-
cessary. It was possible, nay, more than probable, that,
in spite of all our precautions, the enemies of the coun-
try might excite tumults and violence at the meetings.
—(Hear, hear.) Spies and armed ruffians in the secret
pay bf our enemies might be sent to the meetings, and
instructed to promote a breach of the peace, in order to
give the authorities an excuse for dispersing the people
by armed force. There was no telling to what extremi-
ties the people might be driven in cases of this kind, un-
less the people were forewarned of the part they ought to
act. In his (Mr. O'Brien's) opinion, it ought to be a
recommendation from the Convention to the Chairmen
of the several meetings, to dissolve the meetings at once
in case any disorder should manifest itself. It would
be the duty of the Chairman to advise the people to
depart quietly to their homes, and it was our duty to
recommend the people to yield implicit obedience to their
Chairman. In short, every means should be taken not I
only to render the proceedings strictly legal and orderly,
but also to arm the Chairman with the power of dissolv-
ing the meeting the very instant an intention was mani-
fested by the authorities to disperse them by despotic
violence. To resolutions e:nbodying these several re-
commendations it would, he thought, be necessary to
add others of a more decided, but not less needful. ohs-
meter. It was possible, as he had already observed,
that all our moderation and precautionary suggestions
might not suffice to prevent the people's blood from
being shed by the illegal violence of our enemies. It
was possible that in contravention of their own laws,
the rulers and authorities of this country might let
loose their blood-hounds upon peacable and unarmed
multitudes. Should xny atrocity of this kind take
place, he trusted the people would never again assemble
in public meeting, until every man of them—until the
whole nation was armed —(Cheers.) He trusted also,
that they would arm without• delay, and that they
would hold the lives and property of the upper and
middle classes responsible for every drop of the people's
blood that might be shed in contravention of the laws.—
(Cheers.) The Government and constituted authorities
of this country were but the creatures of the upper and
middle classes—creatures never titled but in accordance
with the will of their creators, and therefore it was per-
fectly just that the upper and middle classes should be
held responsible for the illegal and destructive violence
of the magistrates, soldiery, and every other description
of their tools and agents.—(Cheers.) It was his inten-
tion, in drawing up the resolutions alluded to, to embody
in them suggestions to the effect thus described. In
short, it was absolutely essential that the people
should be fully provided for the present crisis, '
arid armed at all points against the tyrants
who were thirsting for their blood.—(Loud cheers.)
He had thought it necessary to make these observa-
tions, because it was not impossible that be might not
have an opportunity of expressini, his sentiments to-
morrow, as it had been intimated to him that the
officers had warrants for the apprehension of several of
the Delegates, and he understood that he was one of
the parties.
Mr. O'CoNtcou said the object of the police in com-
ing among them as spies was, that they may know the
members of the Convention, so as to be able to put
their hands on them the first convenient opportunity. If
he chose he could put his hand on one of them in a
minute.—( Laughter.) He trusted, however, the people
would avoid any encounter with the police. The police
were; anxious for an affray, because if they only got a
wound a quarter of an inch long and an eighth deep,
they would get a pension, but the people would have
nothing but a rope.—(Laughter, and hear, hear.) The
Convention was aware that hitherto the Irish people
had not been supposed to be so much with them as
could be wished. He was convinced the Irish people
were to a man in favour of the principles they advo-
cated.—(Hear, hear.) He understood there was a So-
ciety in Birmingham called the Hibernian Society, and
who were preparing to join the Convention. If they
would attend the simultaneous meetings, he would pre-
sent them with money to purchase a banner for the oc-
casion, on which should be inscribed " Universal Suf-
frage, Repeal of the Union, and the Abolition of
Tithes."—(Cheers.)
The following Address was then received, from a
deputation appointed for the purpose of waiting on the
Convention
To the Delegates of the General Convention, in Birming-
ham assembled.
GENTLEMEN,-We, the operative Brush-makers in the
employ of Mr. Thomas Perkins, Bull-ring, view with
heartfelt satisfaction the rapid progress Democracy is now
making in this country, and we are determined never to
relax in our efforts, or cease to agitate, until Universal
Suffrage becomes the law of the land. In furtherance of
that object we contribute ld. as national rent. Resolved,
that we view with utter scorn and contempt the base, vi-
cious, and liberty-destroying attempt that is now
being made by the Public Press to lower in the
eyes of the millions those brave and fearless advo-
cates of universal liberty the members, of the Na-
tional Convention, and that we hereby tender to that
rightful body our unbounded confidence and support, anxi-
ously hoping that by its wisdom, prudence, and determina-
tion, and patriotism, a check may be put to the humbug
legislatien of St. Stephens, whether by hypocritical Whigs
or peculating Tories. At length the loud voice of the
millions is to be heard in the distance—their manly shouts
are echoed from bill to hill, and the mountain breeze
brings further tidings of the people's growing strength.
tLheatt tfyorramn ttshter efmo
übnl
de
a: t
itohne
aanldl
himportantulk
of
society, ind ust i oaur s classese
awake
to their wrongs, and will stand up in the mid-day of their
might, and tell the aristocratic lordlings in a voice that
ocapnpnreostsiboen
smheislul ntedremrsitnonotde,,
andthat
tthhee
standard ti m e i
ocfo
Imi
hee
rwt
yh
he ne
raised in this once happy land.
Birmingham, May 16th, 1839.
smAiatDionepeuftaatlilonelafrsosmes
othf eNSatoiceinasl, Canodngerefssthoef
NthaetioAnasi
Community Friendly Society, also presented an address,
which was received.
Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, and the
Convention adjourned till to-morrow.
ar- I
..atre at the

Mr. Bunn gives up Drury-lane t
end of the present season.
FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE CROYDON RAIL
!MD.—Tuesday an inquest was held at St. Thomas's
Hospital, on the body of James Brown, aged thirty-seven
years, who was run over by three waggons on the above-
named line on the afternoon of Friday last. The poor
fellow's left leg was crushed in a most frightful manner.
He was instantly conveyed to the above hospital, where he
expired on Sun d
dental afternoon
ath." , the part having mortified.
Verdict—"cde