The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-20 00:00:00

ErRNING EDITION.

Sir B
ob'i, who had earned his money out of the
blood rend bones of his tenants, stood in front of the bank,
and 'when any of his tenants came up with a 3/.,
11
th, ii, or a 100/. note to be changed, he said to
an, " Get thee home, I will back the bank for a
7 Aillion." Tho next day he drew out every farthing he
bad, the bank broke, and thousands of the industrious
Glasses were ruined.—(Cheers, and cries of ' Shame.")
Now, that I know to be a fact. I know, also, that the
children in his factories were taught by their parents to
add to their prayers, " And, 0, Lord God, curse Sir
Bob."-4aughter.) And now, with reference to what
has been said at this meeting, I say that the salvation
of t'ne country lies in a Reform Government ; but they
should go further—the Chartists have been blamed for
striving after too much,but you will never touch the stars
till you have reached the clouds ; and I think we should
try to get all we can, fairly, honestly, consistently with
love, law, justice, and Christianity.—(Loud cheers.) I
shall conclude by moving, as an amendment, or addi-
tion to the resolution, " That we pray her Majesty to
retain none but Reformers in her Councils, and that she
drive feom her Councils all men opposed to the People's
Cha;rter, and to universal rights."
Mr. W. 11011.01:e (Secretary to the Chartist Asso-
ciation) rose for the purpose of seconding the amend-
ment. He said—Mr. Thomas has stated that is Ja-
maica only 2,000 persons possess the franchise, out of a
population of 400,000. Now I can point out a country
where there are but 600,000 electors, out of a popula-
tion of 27 millions? 'We have supported the Whigs
long enough. Look at the game laws ; have the Whigs
attempted to abolish them ?—(‘' Yes, yes," and " No.")
Have the Whip attempted to reduce taxation ?—(Loud
cries of " Yes, yes.") Mr. Fielden--(laughter)—says
the Whigs, in three years, have raised taxation from 51
to .54 millions, for the purpose of giving money to the
slave-holders in the West Indies, and they have also
given 5 millions to the Russians to nut down the Poles.-..-
(No, nos) Take the actions of the Whigs to test their
liberaßty to the poor ; did they not try to make the poor
live on coarse food ?—( No, no, no.) Mr. Cobbett
Pledged his veracity—(loud laughter)—that the in-
structions to the barrister who drew up the Poor
ILaw Bill were to make the labouring classes live on
coarse food, and when he moved for more documents,
Lord Althorp remained mum, and little Finality
Johnny Russell remained mum. As regards liberty,
the Whigs have introduced a rural police Bill, to put
down_ the right of the people to meet, and they have put
7.rms into the hands of the middle classes to shoot the
•' working classes.—(No, no, and Yes.) Why, the Mayor
' in this city, has, on the authority of 150 requisitionists,
suffered a public meeting to be held, whilst at the same
time he denies the working classes to hold their meet-
ings.--("Armed meetings.") They were not armed except i
with sticks, to keep off the sprigs of Tory nobility i
and gentry, who are good for nothing but to
' eat, drink, and consume the produce of the
labour of the working men, and who only wanted
1
to make a disturbance. We are told about the neces-
sity of being united, and of sinking minor differ-
ences ; if ever we unite again with the Whigs, I say on
the authority of 150 freemen, it shall be on the principle
cf Universal Suffrage. The speaker concluded amidst
considerable interruption, by seconding the amendment,
which was lost by an overwhelming majority, and the
original resolution carried amidst repeated acclamations.
The CHAIRMAN then said—The next resolution will
be proposed to you by Joseph Smith, Esq., and I en-
treat you to keep silence.
J. G. SMITH, Esq., then rose and said—lt is my
duty to bring before you the next resolution, and it
' originates in the attempt made by Sir Robert Peel to
remove front their seats a Liberal Administration, and
to substitute one different in sentiment, character, and
views. The resolution, if not in plain terms, yet by
implication, declares our hostility and aversion to the
Government being placed in such hands, and I trust
that the reasons with which I am prepared to support
the resolution, will ensure its being carried unanimously.
Sir, we cannot conceive that the party which I have
alluded to, have any desire or aim to bring forward any
measures for the improvement of the people, or have
ever manifested any desire to add to their enjoyments
and happiness, as has been done by the Government
which they sought to displace—l say this, although a
Whig, and not concurring with the principles which have
been brought forward to-day with so much ability, and
' in so proper a manner, by Mr. Metcalf and his respect-
able seconder, Mr. Morgan. I say respectable, and I sayso
deliberately and sincerely, because I think so, and be-
cause I feel that a person is entitled to respect, when he
de.dares his sentiments in the able and proper manner
1 in which they did ; and it is not because they come here
with the soiled garments of honest labour, that their
1 sentiments are entitled to less respect than those of any
gentleman who comes from his house or his desk.-
1 (Cheers.) But, gentlemen, though honestly differing
from Mr. Metcalf, who carries his views to an extent
;1 o which I cannot go with him, as a Whig, I maintain
that he has a perfect right to have his opinions heard,
t to sustain and propagate his sentiments, so long as they
are expressed in the able and moderate manner which
he has pursued this d iy. But I would address to Mr.
li.etcalf this one observation—he is evidently a man of
"talent, he has seen much of the world, and has had much
experience, and I would ask him and others, to weigh well
the arguments adduced by Mr. Herapath. Let Mr. Met-
. calf extend his views abroad, and let him ask himself how
many are there qualified, like himself, to exercise the suf-
frage. Would he not have reason to hesitate before he
granted it to the whole population ? Let universal educa-
tion precede universal suffrage—( Hear, and long continued
cheering.) If every man was, like Mr. Metcalf, of ma-
tured judgment and sound discretion, then, I say, it
would be an act of injustice and cruelty to deprive him
of his share in the representation. The Whigs arc not
opposed to the extension of liberty to the extremest
pant of constitutional safety. I believe those to be the
principles of the Whigs ; they are my principles, and to
them I have always adhered. I have
said that the ob-
ject of Sir Robert Peel was to form a government op-
possl to those principles, and I would judge of him and
his party not by their professions, but by their acts.
e hey are not favourable to the enjoyment, by the people,
of constitutional rights, and therefore Sir Robert Pecl,
in founding his attempt to subvert the late Government
on the pretence of supporting popular rights, was
guilty of gross subterfuge and hypocrisy, which those
of lighter mood may smile at, and others regard with
sorrow and indignation.—(Cheers.) What was the
measure which lead to the resignation of the late
Ministry ? It was a measure for the regulation
an,' settlement of one of our chief colonies, Ja-
Indica, in which are 5,000 whites, and 350,000 blacks.
The whites are represented by forty-five individuals,
chosen only by themselves, in the election of whom the
350,000 blacks have no voice, but for se bom the whites,
so lately their owners and masters, legislate. The rea-
sonable and proper conclusion to come to was, that they
were not the proper persons to legislate under these
circumstances ; but that does not rest on conjecture—
try them by their acts, and you will find they have al-
weys exercised their office in hostility and oppression to
the blacks. They have been ready to pass bad mea-
sures and to refuse good, as their conduct on the occa-
sion alluded to by my friend, Mr. Thomas, proves. The
Government at home were desirous to preserve the
rights and privileges of all, and to protect the vast ma-
jlrity from the grinding tyranny of the minority. Sir It.
Perri knew that the measure was necessary, but then, he
said, Jamaica had a Constitution, and it would be highly
icn,t.roper to meddle with it : there was a democratical
principle in it, he said, and it was upon that generous pub-
-1:c spirited principle that the Assembly refused to pass the
Bill. But Sir Robert Peel knew that the act of Go.
a ernment was to protect the rights, lives, and proper-
ties of the blacks, without infringing upon the. whites ;
but on the miserable subterfuge of his attachment to
constitutional rights, he opposed and defeated it. I say
it is impossible to express too much scorn and contempt
for these false pretences to gain a character for libe-
rality.—(Prolonged cheering.) And it was with con-
cern that I saw ten gentlemen who generally support
Liberal measures join him. I lament the absurdity
which could make any man, calling himself a Liberal,
vote against his friends and with Sir Robert Peel.—
(Cheers.) I would ask what part of the past conduct
of Sir Robert Peel justifies his assumption of regard to
popular rights ? There have been measures of Reform
carried even by Whigs, many abuses checked ; whicn
of these Reforms has not Sir Robert Peel opposed ?
which of these abuses has he not cherished ?—(Cheers.)
I would name a few which are in the memory of all ;
Catholic Emancipation ; oh, but it will be said, Sir Ro-
bert Peel passed that : but how ? After strenuously
resisting it for years, whether to retain place I know
not ; but the consequence was, he did retain it. And
when he passed it, he said he did not agree with it, he
considered it dangerous and prejudicial ; he thought it
wrong to admit five or six millions of Catholics to the
same privileges with their Protestant brethren ; but the
country Was for the measure, and he could resist no
longer. That one Liberal measure, founded on con-
stitutional principles, is the only one passed by him, and
it was passed under protest.—( Loud cheers.) Slavery,
Reform, Municipal Reform, Tithes, &c. every one of
which, indeed every measure which had for its object
the bestowing of equal rights on his fellow-man, had
been opposed by Sir R. Peel, who now claimed office
under the false pretences of his zeal for popular privi-
leges.—(Loud cheers.) And how did Sir Robert Peel
Propose to carry on his Government ?—(Loud cheers.)
BY restraining the Queen, defying the Commons,
and supported only by the Lords. Sir R. Peel
knew of the difficulties he had to encounter, and to escape
from, them he might, perhaps, have proposed that to the
''/Il'-ea wlaieh, knowinc, it would be impossible for her
to grant, might furnish' him with a decent pretext for
gainvding al% Ireland was to him an insuperable obstacle ;
' it ought to be and so it will be, so long as he
would rule it on his unjust and oppressive principles. I
wool appeal even to those gentlemen who think worst of
/ the Whigs, and ask them if the Whigs have not done
justice
.to Ireland
pi and that inste of the most enor-
mous difficulties ? Let them listen to the name of
Mulgrave.—(lmmense cheering)—and ask any Irish-
man if he is not a man to be loved and trusted.—
(Cheers.) Mr. Smith then adverted, amidst loud
c!ieers, to the constitutional, firm, decided, and frank
course taken by the Queen, the whole of which was i

eminently calculated to ensure the confidence and af-
fection of her people, and after reading the resolution,
resumed his seat amidst prolonged cheers.
W. TOTHILL, Esq., in seconding the resolution,
said—With the necessity of the Ministry proceeding
prudently and cautiously in measures of reform, I
fully concur, but I think there may be a pace too slow
for safety as well as one too fast—(Cheers)—and, in
my opinion, the pace for the last seven years has been
too slow. Few of us can have forgotten the enthu-
siasm of 1831, on an appeal to the country in favour of
the Reform B111;1 and we know that, of the first re-
formed Parliament, two-thirds of the representatives
returned were on the side of a Liberal administration.
We remember the dismissal of the Cabinet on Lord
Spencer's death ; and we hoped the restoration of a Li-
beral Ministry would have provided more effectual
means for the protection of the voter from intimidation.
—(Cheers.) In that hope we were disappointed ; we
found that measures were neutralised and rendered less
efficient, to please the majority of Tory Lords. I will
cite only two instances ; first, there was the Municipal
Reform Bill—a great improvement, I admit, on the
old system, but which Lord Lyndhurst was allowed to
poison by the introduction of the non-elect and irrespon-
sible provision of Aldermen.—(Hear, hear). Then there
was the abandonment, after three serious contests, of
the appropriation clause.—(Hear, hear.) The failure of
Ministers was then attributed to the concealed hostility
of the Court, and deep disappointment was felt that, on
the accession of the Queen, when that hostility was pre-
sumed to be removed, there was no indication of a
popular movement. So deep, indeed, was the disap-
pointment, as to cast a shade of distrust on the Court ;
happily, however, that shade is now cleared away—
(Loud cheering)—and if it were only on that account,
I heartily rejoice at the late occurrences. I sincerely
hope we shall be no longer disappointed. There is a
means, and only one, for the Liberal Ministry to recover
their former popularity, and that is, by removing impe-
diments to the Reform Bill, by extending the suffrage,
and by giving, in some shape or other, protection to the
voter.—(Cheers.) In the hope that some effectual ad-
vancement will be made, I cordially second the raotion.
T. R. GUPPY, Esq., in moving the next resolution,
said—Fellow-citizens, we have never before met on so
auspicious an occasion as the present, to rally round the
Throne of our Sovereign. The retirement of the late
Ministry has enabled her to prove her attachment to
civil and religious liberty, and her detestation and ab-
horence of the principles under which the Government
of the country was formerly conducted.—(Cheers.) I
would say to a portion of the meeting, there is not among
you any one more ardently attached to constitutional
liberty than I am, but I cling to the substance and not
to the shadow. Your intelligent advocate, Mr. Met-
calf, who has been a diligent observer of various
countries, has boldly told you that there is more
real liberty in England than in America. My de-
sire is, that there should be still greater liberty
in England, but it must be preceded and accompa-
nied by general education. I would say to such men as
desire to confer Extended Suffrage, let us not be led
away by those who advocate violence ; we know there
is a very powerful body opposed to us, and if we excite
their alarm, we place impediments in the path of re-
form.—(Cheers.) Do not seek by arming, and by mid-
night assemblies, to frighten the people. I speak as a
master manufacturer, recognizing, among those present,
many of my workmen, and I ask them whether they
would not trust to my hands the assertion of their liberty
to the greatest extent in wry power.—(Loud cheers.)
Be not, then, urged to any ing at variance with that
unanimity with which I hope the address will be car-
ried, and by which course only can measures beneficial
to the people be secured.—(Cheers.)
General LOMAX seconded the address with much
pleasure. They had met on a very important occasion,
and would,he hoped, set an example to the other parts
of the kingdom.
The Hon. F. H. F. BERKELEY rose, and was received
with tremendous shouts of applause, repeated again and
again. When the demonstrations of approbation had
subsided, he spoke nearly to the following effect :—Mr.
Cunningham.—Gentlemen,—Citizens of Bristol,—my
respected Constituents :—A week ago I fully expected
to be, before this time, in your presence, but not under
the circumstances in which I now stand. I expected to
be in your presence with my Hon. Colleague, Mr. Philip
Miles. I expected, likewise, to be in your presence
with Mr. William Fripp, or one of that fraternity—
(Cheers and laughter)—ushered to your notice, proba-
bly, by that trio of whom I have before had occasion to
speak—Messrs. Bush, Cookson, and Payne. Mr.
Miles would probably have been proposed on the Tory
interest, and so long as that party is as powerful as it is at
present, I do not know that they could have a better repre-
sentative--that I admit fully. Mr. Fripp might have been
tacked to the skirts of Mr. Miles—with what taste or
reason on the part of the Tories, I leave you to judge
—not to represent the Liberals of this city, but to mis-
represent them.—(Cheers.) Gentleman, had I been
called upon to address you upon such an occasion, I
should have attended with as much alacrity and with as
much confidence as I do now.—(Cheers.) I should
have claimed your suffrages on the ground that I had
done my best to deserve them.—(Loud cheers.) I
l should have claimed them on account of my adherence
• to those great principles with which I originally com-
menced my canvass of your city.—(Cheers.) I should,
as I did then, have asked you to put any questions to
me touching the votes I might give or have given
in Parliament.—( Cheers.) Gentlemen, I should have
started for this city no finality man—(Cheers)—feeling
as I do that the Reform Bill, much as it has done for
the country, requires amendment ; and not only amend-
ment, but extension.—(Cheers.) I should have started,
gentlemen, an ardent supporter of the Ballot, as I ever
have been—(Cheers)--an advocate of an Extension of
the Suffrage—(Cheers)—and a supporter of civil and re-
ligious liberty—(Loud cheers.) Those, gentlemen, are
the principles upon which I would have started, and I
would have told the Tories to do their worst.—(Loud
cheers.) I trust that I may be pardoned if I here say
that I have endeavoured lii,ewise to do my duty by you,
in attending to the private business of this city.—(Hear.)
Whenever the commercial interests of this great city
have been concerned, I have made no distinction be-
tween Liberals and Tories—(Cheers—l might appeal
to many moderate Tories for confirmation of this, if I
chose to do so, but it is known that such has been my
conduct, and, gentlemen, such it ever will be.—(Cheers.)
I will now proceed to the business of the day ; the ad-
dress to our Queen upon the subject of the attempt
recently made by the Tories to take from her the
free choice of her society and friends—a power
which all of you have. In the expression of our feelings
and in the Address about to be presented to her Ma-
jesty, I do hope that you will be united, and it is with
the deepest feeling that I call upon you to reflect upon
her Majesty's own words, " As I stood by my people
let my people stand by me."--(Loud cheers.) Gentle-
men, it is not my intention to enter upon those minor
points of dispute which have arisen between the diffe-
rent sections of the Liberal party. Every man has a
right to his opinion ; I have a right to mine—(Cheers)
—and as long as those opinions are offered with mode-
ration and with a remembrance where it is written,
" Mischief shall haunt the violent man," they are en-
titled to respect.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, this has
been a crisis indeed. All have felt (and in speaking to
the men of Bristol I am addressing those who have felt
more than any in England, for they have known) what
it is to suffer under Tory misrule and Tory domination.
1 —(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, we cannot look back to
history without seeing such a long series of misconduct
and misgovernment by the Conservative party as
confirms the fact that they arc not fit to govern free-
men--(Great cheering.) Far be it from me to defend
the slow and tardy movements made in the measures of
Reform by the Whig Government ; but although I am
convinced that it does not progress fast enough, still
farther be it from me to put the power into the hands of
the Tories to make the machine stand still.—(Great
cheering.) Gentlemen, the Tory papers of the last
week have shed a strong light upon the objects of that
party, well worthy your consideration. Observe their
tone—the tone of insolent Tory domination in which
they have spoken of our beloved Sovereign. Take, for
example, the Morning Herald and Post of the Bth or
9th instant, and you will find them exulting in the tears
of our gracious Queen.—(Cries of " Shame.") There is
no denying the fact—" Her Majesty deeply deplored the
state to which she had been brought, in being obliged
to accept their Administration, and shed tears." Yes
this is the language. Those who can exult over th'
tears of a woman, must be base indeed—(Great cheering)
—but when those tears were shed by one so young
and inexperienced, holding so arduous a situation, she de-
served doubly their sympathy. Gentlemen, I have nodoubt
that it will be said that she wept, because she was about
to be separated from those in whom she was personally
interested. I will pass by the mass of dirt and filth
which these journals have attempted to heap upon our
gracious Mistress, and I will ask you to believe that her
Majesty was influenced by much nobler motives. If
she wept, it was because she saw the chance of her
people falling under the power of that dominant party,
which would be worse than slavery—(Cheers)—and if
she deplored the events that were to happen, it was
because she saw that those good works which had been
progressing were likely to be overturned, and that the
Tories, rabid and rampant, would come into power and
grind the people to dust.—(Cheers.) It was because
she feared that lavish expenditure would usurp the
place of economy, ana Gagging Bills be substituted for,
freedom of discussion.—(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen
Lord John Russell is, in many respects, a statesman—l
admit that he has not progressed as fast as I could wish
with measures of Reform ; but still he is, in many re-
spects, a statesman ; and there is one observation which
was made by him at a dinner at Liverpool, that
is well worthy your attention and approbation ; he said
at that dinner he was a friend to discussion, and wished
the people to meet and discuss their grievances as often
as they deemed necessary, provided they did so with
moderation, in a proper tone, and without violence.—
(Hear). He said also that he had a full reliance on the
g evil from d
oodsenseof thioaesesie
Britishe:
because
people, and that he feared
no
he was assured
that by discussion the truth would be elicited, and
that they would rather adopt that which a based