The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-21 00:00:00

, it

support I will be consistent and sincere, but I wish
it to be understood by my constituents, and that it may
travel further, that I will not support Lord Melbourne's
Government if it is not prepared to give a large illustra-
tion to these enlightened sentiments, which we are justi-
fied in believing, from her recent conduct, possess the
mind of our youthful and excellent monarch.—(Great
cheering.)
A resolution was then agreed to that the address be
presented by the High Bailiff, the Members for the Bo-
rough, and other individuals who were named.
A vote of thanks having been given to the High Bai-
liff, and duly acknowledged, the meeting separated.

LONDON CHARTIST DEMON-

STRATION.

A meeting of the Chartists was held yesterday on
Kennington Common. At half-past one o'clock the
West London Chartist Association arrived on the
ground in procession, and carrying banners. Mr.
Watson was then called upon to take the chair. After
thanking them for the honour they had done him, he
said he hoped their meeting would be character-
ized by firmness, yet with moderation and good
sense. He hoped every one would assist him
in preserving order. If they saw any one shewing
weapons, or any disposition to break the peace, he hoped
every one present would consider himself an officer, and
vindicate the law by taking him into custody. They no
doubt all wished for Universal Suffrage—(Cheers)—the
only mode of getting it was to resolve from that moment
to keep up a constant system of peaceful agitation until
their rights were restored to them.—(Cheers.) He
would not detain them, but would call upon the gentle-
men who had been named to propose their resolutions.
Mr. CAMERON then came forward to propose the
first resolution. He said a crisis had arrived in the
affairs of the Chartists—the strong arm of the law was
stretched out in its majesty to crush the striving spirit
of liberty. The Lord Mayor appeared to be suffering
from a Chartist mania—(Laughter)----it appeared as if
in his sleep he dreamed for them, and was so restless
that he prevented the Lady Mayoress from enjoy-
ing her natural repose.—(Renewed laughter.) The
Chartists bad already done good, for all those who were
living upon the plunder of the public were quaking with
fear, for they deeply apprehended a day of reckoning.
He called upon all Chartists to persist boldly and fear-
lessly in their peaceful agitation until they had obtained
justice for every man, woman, and child in the country.
They were now threatened with blood and extermina-
tion—the Government had become violators of the
peace—(Cheers)—they had declared open warfare agaist
the people, and they were obliged to defend themselves
to look after their own security. The franchise was the
inherent right of every man, and it was declared so when
our country came out from a state of barbarism. Ac-
cording to the present laws, five-sixths of the people are
deprived of their natural political rights. There were
upwards of five millions of men who were the great
wealth creators of the country, who were deprived of all
political existence. Suppose they were again emerging
from a state of barbarism, and that 100 were to form a
political league, and say, " We undertake to make
laws for you .500, and you must obey them"—would
that be permitted ?—(No, no)—yet such was the state
of England at that moment. He contended that the
franchise was an inherent and an inborn right of every
man, and he could not be deprived of it but by crime,
or injustice—and the moment that injustice was in-
flicted upon him, he was no longer a freeman but a slave.
The Reform Bill in practice had been a mere delusion.
When it was in embryo, it was put forth that the
Whigs were going to give birth to a political Shiloh.—
(Laughter.) But it proved an abortion.—(Cheers.)
Lord J. Russell, the principal man in the creation of
the Bill, said it was intended to give a preponde-
rating influence to the agricultural interest, and
its working had proved that that intention had
been fairly carried out. According to the letter of
Lord John Russell to his constituents of Stroud,
the Reform Bill would work well, and be a great bles-
sing to the country some 300 or 400 years hence ; but
what had that to do with the present generation ?
(Cheers.) It was with pleasure that he moved the first
resolution, which declared that it was the inherent right
of every man to have a voice in the making of those laws
by which he was to be bound, and that the only remedy
was to have a House of Commons returned upon
the principles sustained in the People's Charter, and
that the people would not cease agitating until that
great measure became the law of the land.—(Cheers.)
Mr. FARROW said that it was with much pleasure
that he rose to second the resolution, in every word of
which he agreed. Before proceeding to comment upon
it, he begged to say that he was informed there were
armed policemen in the meeting in the disguise of
plain clothes.—(Hissing.) He hoped that all parties
would behave themselves, but his ad vice to themeeting was
that if they saw any one produce or expose arms, that
he should be at once taken into custody and delivered
over to the civil power.—(Cheers.) Their enemies
said they were not educated sufficiently to be entrusted
with the franchise.—(A voice in the crowd, " We
know when a loaf is too dear.")—(Cheers.) The pre-
sent system of representation was the most monstrous
that could be imagined. They said that pro-
perty must be represented—but in what way
was it done ? For instance, look at the man who
makes a livelihood by letting out lodgings—what pro-
perty has he got ? Yet he has the franchise in conse-
quence of the money which he receives from those
who have not the franchise. Ho for one would not,
and he trusted the meeting generally would make up
their minds never to lodge in the house of any man who
would not pledge himself to the principles of the
People's Charter.—(Cheers.) If they were united
and were determined to have the franchise nothing could
stop them, and they would have it in a few months.
The aristocracy were bad, but the middle classes—the
shopocracy—were far worse enemies of the working
men.—(Cheers.) Force them to join in the cry, and
they would speedily obtain the Charter,—(Cheers.)
Mr. GEORGE, in supporting the resolution, said it
was laid down by an eminent lawyer, Sir W. Jones, that
when a Government were in a minority,they were rebels.
The Government were now clearly in a minority, and
therefore, according to the dictum of Sir W. Jones, they
were rebels. The bees and the ants universally turned
out the drones—why was not such a laudable example
followed by those who boasted of having baen endowed
with reason ?—(Cheers,)
Mr. WADDINGTON supported the resolution, which
was put and carried unanimously.
Mr. DYSON said he was called upon to move a vote
of confidence in the Convention. He did so with plea-
sure, as that body was the o-aly body of Representatives
which the people had—they were the real Parliament,
and were deserving of the real, moral, and physical force
of the people.—(Cheers))
Mr. WALL seconded the resolution. The meeting
before him told him that London was determined to
have Universal Suffrage.—(Cheers.) Something had
been said atout the Press, but how could any one say a
word in its favour ? It was altogether venal and cor-
rupt. They formerly had John Bell amongst them as
one of their warmest advocates, but what was he now ?
the mere hired scribbler of a Tory Paper. Under the
present system all was going to ruin ; under it we
had got the accursed Poor-laws, by which the man who
had the misfortune to become poor in his circumstances
was placed in a bastile, and separated from his wife and
family.—(Groans.) He was treated worse than a pri-
coner in Newgate. Was that according to the spirit
of Christianity ? No; it was the spirit which actuated
those who called themselves the representatives of the
people, but who were in fact merely the representatives
of capital or land.—(Cheers.) God made a
man, but he never made a King, a Noble,
or a Right Honourable Sir Robert.—(Laugh-
ter.) God never made a legislator, nor would he sanc-
tion the laws made which pressed so unequally upon the
poor as compared with the rich. The base, rascally
Press might say they had not intelligence enough to
conduct their own affairs, but how was it that the famed
potwallopers were allowed the franchise? Were they
more intelligent than the hard working men of
all trades. They were determined not to be
trifled with any more—they were determined to
have Universal Suffrage. He knew that there were
policemen present, but they could do no harm so long
as the meeting kept quiet ; they had had a warrant out
against him for some time, but they were afraid to put it
in force. He would assure them that he would not go
out of the way ; they might always find him, and he
could assure the meeting that he would never cease to
advocate the cause of the people and the Charter.

Mr. MooRE said, he had much pleasure in meeting
so large a number of his constituents. The affairs of
the Convention, of which, by their favour, he had the
honour of being a member, had now arrived at a very
important crisis ; and he thought the conduct of that
Convention had been such as entitled him to ask for its
members the confidence of the people. The Convention
would not call upon the people to sacrifice themselves
by any premature outbreak against the most powerful
Government of the world. A Government which took
fifty millions of money out of the pockets of the people
must be strong, but because they took so much money
out of the pockets of the people was the very reason why
the people ought to have Universal Suffrage. Discretion
was the part of the Convention, but still it might be car.
vied too far. They could not now relapse. They had so
far advanced their position that they could not go back ;
but in consequence of such a state of things, it was
important that the working men should rally round and
give strength to their actual representatives.—(Cheers.)
The people must manifest a disposition and zeal to act
upon any suggestions emanating from that body—
(Cheers)—and there was no doubt that any such sug-
gestion would be dictated by wisdom and prudence. If
they were determined to go forward and obtain justice,
he would say to them, " Go on like men"—let them
show a firm and united front,] and before next
year they would have to meet to congratulate
each other upon their success. He would take care to
inform the Conventio❑ of that great meeting, and of the
enthusiasm which it ha displayed in its favour. He
would not detain them further than to pray that they
might obtain their object in peace and happiness, with-

out either struggle or commotion, and so disappoint ! 1
those who said anarchy was their only aim.
Mr. SHEARMAN said he rose merely in consequence
of the attack which Mr. Wall had made upon his
friend John Bell. It was well known that he had
started many Papers upon Radical principles, but the
people had failed to support them ; it was, therefore,
their fault, that in appearance Mr. Bell was now against
them. Had they properly supported the Papers started
upon their principles, they would have had Universal
Suffrage before now.
After a few words from Captain ACKERLEY, the re-
solution was unanimously agreed to.
Mr. SHARPE, in moving the next resolution, said they
had met their, in common with thousands of their
fellow-countrymen, in order to proclaim to the Govern-
ment and the country that the working-men of England,
of Scotland, and of Wales, knew their rights, and were
determined to have them.—(Cheers.) They had met
together in advocacy of the great principle of political
' equality—of Universal Suffrage.—(Cheers.) Under
the present system it was notorious that there was one
law for the rich and one for the poor—let them
once have Universal Suffrage, and that would cease
—but it would not till then ; until all were
represented the rich criminal would escape, and the poor
one punished. The country had formerly been governed
by brute force, but the people in its comprehensive
sense, were becoming so enlightened, that there was an
end of that system—a new one must be introduced,
and Universal Suffrage must be its basis. Let them
have that, and soon there would be something more
belonging to the nation, than the debt.—(Cheers ) Let
them look at the President of America, with his
5,0001. a year for actually governing a great and rising
country, while our young Queen, with her 501. a minute,
in summer and winter, during night and during the day
—(Shame)—was a mere cipher in the Government.
Sovereigns did not grow in the fields or in the Mint,
but they came through the ten fingers of the working
classes to pay such profusion. The Government were
now aware that brute force would not do, and
accordingly they were now sending out their
spies.—( Hear.) He cared not for them, but he most
cordially proposed the resolution, which was to the ef-
fect that the nation could never be well governed by a
party Government, and praying her Majesty to dismiss
that now in power.
Mr. PRIOR seconded the resolution, which was sup-
ported by Mr. SPENCER, and passed unanimously.

Mr. LE BLAND moved, and Mr. MITCHELL se-
conded the adoption of the Address to the Queen,
which was recom:nended by the Convention, and ap-
peared in our Paper of Saturday, but from the pressure
caused by a great influx of company into the waggon it
was impossible for us to take any note of the latter
speeches.
Capt. ACHERLEY moved as an amendment that her
Majesty should be requested to select her advisers from
the people's representatives—the National Convention.
The amendment was put, and a few hands held up
for it. The Address was carried by a very large ma-
jority, and thanks having been voted to the Chairman,
the meeting separated in a peaceable and quiet manner.