The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TIITIRSDAY, APRIL 4, 1839.

Mr. FRASER cried—Now for our friends : a show of
hands.—(Great cheering and confusion.)
A show of hands was accordingly taken for Mr. Dou-
glas, amidst great uproar.
Mr. T. GORDON—Gentlemen, a show of hands for
the Lord Provost.
Another show was accordingly taken ; but neither
party was inclined to yield, nor would the Whigs agree
to Mr. Fraser's proposal.
Mr. Douglas then proceeded towards the hustings.
Mr. T. Gordon, on observing this movement, said
something which was inaudible, gave an emphatic
thump on the table, and looked as if on no
" hospitable thought intent" to the approaching in-
truder. The Lord Provost tried to address the
meeting, and was understood to call on his fellow-
citizens to support him. Mr. Douglas, however, ad-
vanced to the platform, where he took up a position on
Sir T. D. Lauder's left hand, the Lord Provost being
on the Hon. Baronet's right. After a brief pause, Sir
Thomas being reduced to a pinch, took out his snuff-
box, which he familiarly handed to Mr. Douglas, to
the great amusement of the assemblage.
The PeovosT having obtained a partial hearing,
said that he had been appointed by a majority , and if
the minority were to controul the proceedings of the
majority, he must dissolve the meeting.
The uproar, which indeed bad never ceased from
the commencement of the proceed ngs, again rose to a
height. Mr. Douglas tried to say something to balance
accounts with the Lord Provost, but was inaudible ; a
host of orators started up on all sides, end at length
The LORD PROVOST cried, at the pitch of his voice
—" I dissolve the meeting."_(Hooting, howling, hiss-
ing, and all manner of indescribable sounds.)
Thereupon the Whigs on the platform retreated ; and
the victorious Radicals, even before their defeated ad-
versaries had evacuated the garrison, scrambled into the
vacant seats. Some of them appeared rather juvenile,
though very enthusiastic politicians.
Mr. DOUGLAS being at length installed as Chairman;
DR. GLOVER (St.. Patrick Square) rose and said—
Though I most decidedly anticipated a victory to-
day, I certainly never expected so glorious, so deci-
sive a victory. I did not for a moment think that
they would have vanished as they have ; but I thought,
that, like the Ministers, they would cling to the plat-
form as long as they possibly could.—(llowls, cheers,
and cries of •‘ Go on,")--and therefore I had not pre-
pared myself with a substantive motion but an.
amendment. This meeting was called in a very pecu-
liar manner—not in support of the principles of her
Majesty's Ministers in general, but—(the speaker
having hesitated, some clearing of throats took place in
ridicule of his difficulty.—(Cries of Order, and confu-
sion ensued.)
The CHAIRDIAN insisted on Dr. Glover being heard.
Dr. GLOVER then proceeded by saying that he would
at once move—" 'Fhat it is the decided opinion of this
meeting that her Majesty's present Minister have aban-
doned those Liberal principles which they professed be-
fore they came into power,—that although they entered
office pledged to reform, economy, and peace, their con-
duct as to Ireland and Britain, has been illiberal, des-
potic, and extravagant ; as to Canada, vacillating,
bloody, and cruel ; as to Russia and Poland, pusillani-
mous ; as to America, warlike, which this meeting
highly disapproves ; and that, therefore, this meeting
neither has, nor can have confidence in her Majesty's
present Ministers." I onclve that it is very
injudicious for the Whig clique to call a meeting
on the principles of Ministers as applied in Ire-
land ; for if the principles on which they have governed
Ireland be different from the principles on which they,
have governed Britain, then tehese men have two prin-
ciples ; and if the principles are not different, would it
not be taking a very imperfect view of their policy to
regard it only in one aspect ? I will allude to one of
the most significant and last of their proceedings. Mr.
Hume lately brought forward a motion for Household

Suffrage ; he showed that in many places there was not
a larger constituency than three hundred ; contrary to
-Ile design of the Reform Bill What said Lord John
Russell? That such boroughs afforded an easy and
proper way to get learned and able men into
Parliament--(Laughter)—the very argument Sir R.
Peel had used in former times for the rotten boroughs.
But the Whigs have gone much farther than their ad-
* ersaries. I allude to the Poor-kw system which
they have established in England.—(Confusion.) I am
not going into particulars.—(Laughter, groans, and
commotion.) I don't wonder that those who never felt
poverty should laugh at the poor ; but there is a Power

that never laughs at the poor. Their laugh will not
only be heard here but recorded in a higher place. The
anomaly of this measure is, that the management is
taken from the parishioners and confided to three Com-
missioners—a system never heard of in Britain before.
(Never.) It is an importation of despotism—from
Russia, for there the system is carried on by the Czar
with signatures, seals, and every thing else.—(Laughter)
—but it is an importation from France and Spain.
(Question.) I don't wonder that gentlemen cry " Ques-
tion." I was going to show the similarity of Whig mea-
sures to the despotic measures of the Continent. These
gentlemen don't like that, and therefore cry question.
Ministers wish to introduce the same system into every-
thing else—to centralise the police, education, &c.
They have done what Sir Robert Peel .never_ dared.
They have tried to deprive the metropolis of the ma-
nagement of their own police. Did Sir, Robert Peel
or the DUke of Wellington ever do anything so
despotic ?--(" Nol") I say no. They have at this
moment before Parliament a measure extending the
power of fining and imprisoning the working classes.
We will never submit.") They are giving power
to one Magistrate to convict, where two were required
before. What, then, have we to say for them?
That they have professed opposite sentiments. This
only aggravates their fault. With regard to Ireland,
what have they done ? Have they abolished tithes ?
—(Cries of " Finish," "Order," " Hear the Doctor
out," " Humbug," " Come to the point," and from Mr.
Peddle, " I'll second the motion.") I know it is a
Whig who wants to disturb the meeting.—(Renewed
confusion.) The Ministers held out the Appropriation
Clause as a humbug, and though they got office through
means of it, they have now abandoned it. Ti.en with
regard to the poor.—(Cries of " Sit down," and
cheers and confusion.) Well, I will go at once to
Lord Normanby.—(Clamour, clapping of hands, and
cries of " Down," and " Chair.")
The CHAIRMAN again interposed ; and
Dr. GLOVER proceeded to say, Lord Normanby him-
self has stated that the murders in Ireland arc at the
rate of four a week ; and that in two years—(Confu-
sion)—in 1837, 228 homicides were perpetrated. Lord
Normanhy made a tour through Ireland, and let out the
criminals ; but are not Ministers there raising prisons
and bastiles under the name of workhouses, to impri-
son men not for crime but poverty ?—(Continued con-
fusion.) Then how vacillating the conduct of Ministers
towards Canada ! They sent out an individual with
most despotic powers ; and they have spoken of only
fifteen executions having taken place in one pro-
vince, and sixteen in the other.--(0h, oh.) A
poor Polish Captain has been executed, Carlos-like,
though he, heir).- no subject, could be no traitor.—
(Cries of " Sit down.") And if the spirit of Washing-
ton be still alis e in America, there is no hope that we can
avoid a war.—(Cheers and groans.)
Mr. FRASER rose amidst cheers, and said, Men of
Edinburgh—(Upraor, cheers, and hisses)—I very much
regret the renewed confusion. Allow me to state what
was done to those gentlemen.—(Uproar.) On Friday
afternoon the Committee intimated to those concerned in
getting up this meeting that we should move for a new
chairman, and move a resolution expressing want ofcon-
fidence, in Alinisters.—(Cheers and hisses.) You,
Wh;es, I appeal to you whether this was not exceedingly
fair and honest ?—(Cries of " Yes," and " No.") You
say " No," know nothing of the principles of the
Chartists between man and man ; or you would not have
said " No."—(Confusion.) I am free to admit that
the Whigs on this side of the House had rather the
majority ; while we had an oyerwhelwing majority on
the other ; and therefore my conviction is that we had
the majority. Still I would not have insisted on the
appointment of the chairman proposed by me, had
they allowed our chairman to sit beside theirs. But
they—particularly Sir. J. Craig—treated this meet-
ing with contempt, as if it were beneath them to
accept such a proposition. That was characteristic of
the base Whigs.—(Cheers and confusion.) They came
here to perpetrate one of the most mean and shabby
johs they have ever undertaken. They came here to
support the base and bloody Whigs.—( A howl.) The
Whigs are like a shot crow hanging by a twig--(Com-
motion)—they are in their dying struggles ; they can
survive but a little longer.—(A howl.) They will soon
be extinguished as a party in this country. This
meet-
ing was called to support the conduct of the Whigs with
regard to Ireland. What was that conduct ? Was it
not they that placed poor Ireland under the fearful
Coercion Bill ? What else have they done ? Disarmed
the poor peasantry of Ireland, and reduced them to a
state of slavery. When hundreds after hundreds are
ejected from the soil, the Whigs have made a law that
begging shall be punishable.—(Cries of " Oh," and up-
roar.) You Whigs, your conduct here shows that you
are all tarred with the same stick ; it shows how soul-
less, heartless, unfeeling you are. You want us to sup-
port the Whigs for their policy in Ireland ! Oh, ye
Whigs ! what is the state of Ireland ? A great
, se)
proportion of the people is starving. Is that ho-
nourable to the Whig Ministers ? Oh no,
(Laughter, and cries of " Oh.") If there be any Irish-
man here, I would say, look at the Whigs laughing at
vour distress. We are your friends : we wish you re-
lieved from the sufferings to which you are exposed.
The Whigs got into power by the Appropriation Clause,
and abandoned it. Oh, ye precious high-minded Whigs !
—(Cheers and confusion.) Then, under pretext of
abolishing Tithes, they perpetuated them in Ireland.
The Whigs will not improve the Reform Bill ; they
won't give you liberty. When poor Irishmen ask
for bread, they give him a stone ; and when they ask
for a fish, they give poor Irishmen a serpent. Can you
deny that, ye miserable Whi`gs ? Then look at the
i Irish Church, with 700,000 members, while seven
millions are obliged to buy their religious wares or
ieh the
give a price for services why do not attend.

These arc your precious Whigs—(Question.) " Ques-
tion," ye fools, that is the question. (Laughter.)
You also seem to be blinded in mental perception, like
all your miserable, dying, drivelling party, the Whigs.
The conduct of the Whigs to-day will teach them a
good lesson. The sooner their party perishes the
better. We have caught them and had them for seven
years, and devil a one of them is worth. What are
they but shuffling cowards—dastardly moral and politi-
cal cowards, dangling betwixt truth and falsehood.
Liberty never will flourish till we get the party extin-
guished ; and then will there be a fair fight between the
freeman and his oppressor. I heartily second the mo-
tion.—(Cheers and confusion.)
Mr. WILLIAM COWAN could not support the motion.
When the Tories attacked the Whigs, and the Whigs
called a meeting to support Ministers, he wondered
how any other party could consider this conduct as
right.—(Uproar.)
On a show of hands, the resolution was carried by a
large majority ; very few hands being held up against it.
Mr. PEDDLE said—The Whigs are very worldly-
wise people. They know that " they who fight and run
away, may live to fight another day."—(Cheers.) We
have pushed them from their stools here ; an event
which is perhaps ominous of their going out some-
where else.—(A laugh.) A piece of more unblush-
ing effrontery—of more matchless impudence—l never
know than what has been perpetrated by the Whigs to-
day at this meeting, fur they had come to ask a vote
of confidence within fourteen days of their treating
with contempt the prayers and wishes of the people.
It is said of John Bull, that he is a great bull-calf ; but
I really think he does not possers all the assinine qua-
ities attributed to him ; and though he is a very grate-
Iful animal, yet I hardly think him altogether stteh
a blockhead as to give a vote of confidence to people
who are turning a deaf ear to the petitions of the country,
and treating them with most marked insult. They have
refused the prayer of the people of Edinburgh, for the
repeal of the Corn-laws ; of the great mass of the
people fur Extension of the Suffrage. They hardly con-
descended to be present when Hume brought on his late
motion. And yet they ask a vote of confidence. Really,
really, it is said, when a man strikes you on this side,
turn to him the other also. We have hardly acquired
that degree of Christian complaisance. They durst not
allow the discussion of the general conduct of the Whigs;
but they ask a iote of confidence for their policy in Ire-
land, where 13,3901. has been offered within this last year
for the discovery of murders alone! Surely if the polily
of the Whigs had been beneficial, this would not have
been the result.—(" Dreadful.") We sympathise with
) Ireland and Irishmen ; but from them we have never
derived advantage ; for they come to England and
Scotland in thousands and tens of thousands, and
undersell the labourers in our own markets.--(Hear,
hear.) 70,000 come over annually. This is their
misfortune, not their fault ; but they who ask for a
vote of confidence for a policy which has fostered the
miserly of Ireland, and increased that of England and
Scotland by such importations, have a large portion
of impudence. But what is the general policy of the
Whigs ? Why, they give you the smallest possible
modicum of Reform. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder told
you in the King's Park you would get " The Bill, the
whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." They have
kept their promise in this instance, though they
have as many pledges as would furnish a very re-
spectable pawnbroker's shop, " unredeemed." But we
tell them they must either march a little more quickly
or turn to the right about.,—(Hear, hear.) At the
time of the Reform Bill, it was said by a gentleman—
and I am sorry he has left the room, for I wished to
remind him of what he formerly said—that there would
be 60,000 sabres unsheathed in Edinburgh if the Reform
Bill were not carried.—(Cries of " Name, name.) Sir
Thomas Dick Lauder. Now these gentlemen turn
round, and when we seek only a small portion of the
good promised by the Reform Bill, they say to the
poor Chartists, " Oh, no, you are physical force men ;"
and they would put us down.—(" They can't.") No.
We have given them to-day a good lesson which will
teach them their real power. We can tell them the
Reform Bill was carried by the apprehension of
physical force ; and if they don't march about, we
will give them a " pill" of their own making.—(Cheers.)
If there be any here so poor as to do homage to the
Whigs, I ask him to point his finger to a single act which
intelligent and judicious men can approve ? I pause
for a reply.—(Slavery.) The working classes have paid
twenty millions for the slaves in the West Indies ; and
if the Whigs have merit for that measure, we have a
great deal more for paying the money.--(Pension List.)
They have only added to the Pension List. They came
into power pledged to economy. They have added
fifty millions to the National Debt. They propose to
increase the salaries of the Judges ; and it will be
very convenient to allow some of them to retire on full

salary, and very convenient for the Lord Advocate to
pop into a snug Judgeship of 3,500/. a-year. I beg to
conclude by moving—" That this meeting of the inha-
bitants of Edinburgh, reviewing the past conduct of her
Majesty's present Ministers, find that they took office
strictly pledged to alleviate the unhappy condition of
Ireland, and generally pledged to the reforms of cor-
ruption, home and colonial, peace, economy, and re-
trenchment—instead of these, we find that Ireland is
doubly distracted, distrust abroad, and useless places of
every denomination multiplied ; we therefore pray her
Majesty to dismiss them without delay."
)
Mr. SMITH :seconded the motion, and said it was
time for the Whigs to set their house in order.

Mr. WILLIAM CowAN moved—That every man,
whether Whig or Radical., who supports Lord Roden's

_ ..
motion, must either be a Tory in principle or in league
with Tories ; and therefore has no right to the confi.

deuce of the Liberal inhabitants of Edinburgh.—
(Laughter.)
This counter-motion not being seconded, fell to the
ground.

On a show of hands the resolution was carried by a
large majority to four or five dissentients.

Mr. HENRY RANYEN than moved—That it is the de-
cided conviction of this meeting, that equal rights can-
not be enjoyed by all classes of her Majesty's subjects,
without Universal Suffrage.
Mr. CU➢iMIING seconded the resolution, which waa
carried by an almost unanimous vote, and amidst great
cheering.

Mr. IiALKET MILL proposed, That the foregoing re-
solutions be embodied in an address, to be presented to
the Queen, and that Lord Brougham (or Earl Stanhope)
be requested to present the same.
Dr. GLOVER was afraid, if the address were trans-
mitted to Earl Stanhope, who, though opposed to the
Poor-laws, dimgreed with the Chartists on other points,
the Tories might think the meeting was giving them
support. On the other hand, Lord Brougham had
declared himself in favour of an extended Suffrage and
Vote by Ballot ; and the meeting did not know at that
moment how far his Lordship would go.
It was then agreed that Lord Brougham be requested
to present the address. _

The resolution having been seconded by Mr. BUT-
TERS, was carried ; and it was suggested that the reso-
lutions should be described as emanating from a meet-
ing at which the Lord Provost had been invited to
preside.
Mr. FRASER said if the Whigs had succeeded in
this meeting, it would have been the precursor of
a series of others all over the country. The
Chartists wanted the sinews of war ; and
he moved that Mr. Mill take his hat in his hand
at the door, and receive the contributions of the
meeting. He begged also to move that the resolu-
tions be published in certain newspapers, which he
enumerated.

These motions, being seconded, were adopted by the
meeting.

Mr. JAMES GRANT said the hue conduct of the
Whigs, in calling the meeting at three o'clock, when
the working-classes, who were as interested in the sub-
ject as others, could not well attend, had met with its
own reward. The trick had failed ; but it was a good
specimen of a Whig trick. The Whigs had got into
power on the shoulders of the people, had called them
the intelligent working-classes, the noble working-
classes, the masses in whom the productive wealth of
the country was centred, and had said that their fiat
would be attended to. -But whenever these political
charlatans mounted to the top of tho ladder, they
found it convenient to kick it away—to kick away the
classes that had raised them ; but now righteous retri-
bution had come down upon their heads and the work-
ing-classes had taken a position from which Whigs and
Tories combined could not drive them. Were the
working-classes in alliance with the Tories ? No.
They stood by the Charter ; and when the people got
into power they would legislate for themselves, be-
cause they would legislate through Representatives
chosen by themselves. In conclusion, he begged to
move—That this meeting declare it to be improper to
call a public meeting of the inhabitants for a political
purpose, in which all are interested, at an hour which
only accommodates a section of society, and not the
whole ; and therefore this meeting do now censure the
Lord Provost and Whig party for their conduct.
Mr. Woon seconded the resolution, which was una-
nimously carried.
' After a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting
separated ; and so ended this " strange, eventful his-
tory."

( From the Edinburgh Ohserver.)

The public meeting of yesterday was the most ex-
traordinary ever witnessed in Edinburgh. Who would
have imagined, seven years ago, that Sir James Gibson
Craig, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, and other popular
men, would have had their measures thwarted, and been
forced to dissolve a public meeting called to support
their friends the Ministers ? Yet such an eve:A took
place yesterday in the Waterloo Rooms. When we
heard it proposed to hold a public meeting, and learned
the names of certain youths who were busying them-
selves in the matter, we did think that zeal was
likely to outrun discretion, and the result has proved
that we were right. We must, however, in truth, state,
that the ordinary leaders of the Whig party were not.
privy to the getting up of the requisition. The meet-
ing was actually announced brfcre the gentlemen, who
generally take the lead in such matters, were c2n-