The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-01 00:00:00

LONDON:
TUESDAY, OCTOBER I, 1839.

Tlao Tory journals have puffed and praised very
much—what they calla" Great Protestant Meeting,"
held at Manchestor on Thursday. The Standard
of last night, not content with ,the version of the
proceedings supplied by the reporters, published a
second version of the great O'SuLLt VAN'S " mag-
nit:kept speech," as reported by the great 0 himself,
which has the small fault of not resembling what
the fervid and eloquent gentleman is reported by
others to have said. It remained, however, for him,
after all the labours of the Standard, extended
through several years,—after the elaborate diatribes
of the apostate, lying Times, to supply, according
to the Stardard, the best and most complete view
of the means which have been resorted to to de-
press and discourage the Protestant party. The
great 0 is undoubtedly a great man, and might be
a valuable acquisition to the Standard, as a rival to
the great ENEAS, and we recommend our Con-
temporary to hire his invaluable services to supply
a weekly quantity of abuse of Mr. O'CONNELL
and the Government, as the Times hires the ser-
vices of the great ENEAs.
_ _

We have some reason, however, to think, that
this Great Protestant Meeting was not so magnifi-
cent a thing as the great O's speech. The
Manchester Guardian of Saturday, gives a lion,
~
report of the proceedings, including an account of
the number present, as follows :
" We'were informed by a gentleman connected with the
establishment, that the following was the extent of accom-
modation afforded to seat spectators in the several parts of
txehouse:_Pit, 400 persons; lower boxes, 400; upper
wife!! 400 ; gallery, 800 ; and the side slips in the gal-
tier, 200 ; d
so
fartotal,',: 2,0;). The pit was tolerably well
additional asthe seat accommodation went, and some
oroiaestm I,ats were placed in the corners near the
but neither here
lower boxes were also fairly occupied ;
• or e nor in the pit was there any crowd-
mgclosely seated. ilia
squeezing alt seemed comfortably and not very
held a hundred more upper boxes would certainly have
wa% abut half fill
persons. very extensive,The gallery, which is
part,hecvlidthout a single occupant.
long seats, at the upper half. filled ; there being many
The slips, too, would have
160 or till persons. On the
stage there were probably
to be full to persons. Taking
all the parts of the theatre
acctacommodation, except the gallerof
give a total
thisto the extent of their
,970 persons ; but with the yrnode ing the
seats, and the full room which most of theecauupcjitory ap_
pealed to occupy, we should say that there we
not more than 1,600 persons present. If from thisre probably
number
were deducted the clergymen acd committees from Liver-
pool, Warrington, and Wigan, and their neighbourhoods
(we did not hear one word about the Cheshire ministers
or
committees) it would leave something like a rau't er of be-
tween Sfty and sixty individuals, men, women, and chit.
dree, from each of the churches and methodist chapels in
Manchester and Salford. Or, deducting the female part of
the auditory, at least 1,000, there would reinain only ahout
$OO men and boys at this `Great Protestant Meeting' of
' South Lancashire and Cheshire.' "
The "Great Protestant Meeting," then, of South
Lancashire and Cheshire, was a collection of two
thousand persons, including women and children ;
in a neighbourhood where the population are ac-
customed to congregate by hundreds of thousands,
Why, are Radicals of one township, would on any
interesting
occasion, muster ten tunes the number
of stalwart mien. There is
another singularity of
this Great Protestant of
Meeting two populous coun-