The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-20 00:00:00

to say that there could be no disunion with reference to this
subject, because all were united in the great cam of jus-
tice for all.—(Cheers.) He was proud of the assertion
made by Sir W. Molesworth, but he was prepared to sup-
port vote by ballot, universal suffrage, and annual Parlia-
ments, and he could assure him that the Working_Man's
Society would do all in their power to support him in such
a glorious undertaking. He supported the resolution, be-
cause it advocated the cause of the democracy, and he
hoped that the time was not far distant when this country
would be a democratic republic.—(Great cheering.)
Mr. WALLACE, M.P., then came forward, amidst loud
cheering. He said he would claim a patient hearing
from them for a short time by stating, in the first
place, that he had followed shortly after the political
martyrs, and that he followed them in all their
steps.—( Hear, hear.) He bad been sent to the first re-
formed Parliament, and before paying his constituents his
annual visits he always gave them two months' notice, and
told them to elect another if they did not approve what he
had done.—(Hear, hear.) This couree he had adoptbd
for four years, and he should do so again at the close of the
Session, unless the people took care that the King should
send them to their constituents earlier.—(Cheers.) Hav-
ing made this apology be would read the resolution he had
the honour of proposing. It was this :-
2. That among such Patriots, we recognise, as worthy of p
liar distinction—

THOMAS MUIR,
THOMAS FYSHE PALMER
WILLIAM SKIRYINO,
MAURICE MARGAROT, and
JOSEPH GERRALD,
who, in the years 1793-4, were the victims of a Tory Government
persecution in Scotland—under the forms of justice—that we ap-
prove of their principles ; honour their public conduct, and will
commemorate their deeds and sufferings by public monuments, in
the capitals of Scotland and England.
The men whose names he had now read, and who he was
sure must be foremost in the feelings and hearts of every
honest and true reformer, were sacrificed to the laws of their
country; to which he (Mr. Wallace) belonged. He should
say not sacrificed by the laws, but sacrificed by the judges
who had construed the laws in order to condemn the pa-
triots.—(Cheers.) They were condemned for sedition, and
one of them asked the presiding judge what sedition meant ?
The Judge would give him no reply—.he was sent before a
packed jury and was condemned to pains and penalties far
being guilty of that which the Judges on the bench,COuld''
not describe. He (Mr. W.) had told them it had been his.
rate to follow close on the heels of those illustrious patriots,
and had been chosen by a section of his countrymen to re-
present them in Parliament ; and he now had the satisfac-
tion of knowing that a document'he 'then held in his hand
was to put an end to trials for that indefiried thing called.
" sedition."—( Hear, hear.) He had marched on steadily
and steadfastly until he had the honour of being se-
lected by the first law officers of Scotland to second
him in bringing into Parliament " a Bill to amend an Act
of his late Majesty for restricting punishment for sedition in
Scotland—Bil to be brought in by the Lord AdVocate and
Mr.Walace:"—(Cheers.) Some of the speakers who had;
preceded him had alluded to monuments which had been
'erected in Scotland to the persecutors of the martyrs ; but
if they looked around their own metropoliS they would see
Monuments to Mr. Pitt, the Duke of York--(hisses)-,
and very soon they would see one to the Duke of
Wellington.—(Groans and hisses.) But where would they
find monuments to patriots until they themselves should
erect one ?.--(Cheers.) It was true there was a monument
to an illustrious Englishman, Major Cartwright—(Cheeri)
—whom they must all revere ; but there was no monument
-to such a phalanx of patriotism 'as was to be found in the
individuals whose names he had mentioned: Those who
had erected the monument to Dundas had done the people
justice, for they had placed a full-length statue of Dundas
on the top of a monument, causing him to look at the aris-
tocracy of the land, and turn his back on the people.—
(Cheers.) One of the martyrs, Mr. Thomas Muir, on his
trial, said—

My Lords, I have only a few words to say. I shall not
animadvert upon the severity or the leniency of my sentence.
Were I to be led this moment from the bar to the scaffold, I
should feel the same calmness and serenity which I now do.
Itly mind tells me that I have acted agreeably to my conscience,
and that I have engaged in a GOOD, a JUST, and a GLORIOUS
cause,—A CAUSE WHICH, SOONER OR LATER, MUST AND WILL
PREVAIL, AND, BY A TIMELY REFORM, SAVE TIIIS COUNTRY
FROM DES rßucTrox."

And such was the cruelty of those who had the sufferers
in their power, that orders were sent for delivering them
into separate hulks,—the Prudentia and the Stoatstaus—

they would not allow the same friends to be together ; they
were in irons among the convicts, and were-ordered to as-
sist in the common labour on the banks of the river. Mr.
Muir was associated with about three hundred .con-
victs, among whom he and Mr. Palmer slept after
their arrival. In the course of the trials, a
point was raised whether the judges had the
power of transporting the persons convicted of sedition
as the .Court had no jurisdiction -beyond Scotland, and on
that occasion Lord Justice Clerk said, "the constitution of
this Court is such that it has an inherent jurisdiction in the
trial of such crimes, independent altogether of statutory
enactments." Did man ever hear of such a libel on law
or justice—and he was sorry to say this had taken place
in the country to which he belonged. In the course of the
trial Margarot who was his own Counsel said—
" Q. Did you dine at Mr. llocheid's, at Inverleith; in the
course of last week ?

" Lord Justice Clerk—And what have you to do with that
sir?

" Q. Did any conversation take place with regard to my
.rial ?

" Lord Justice Clerk—Go on, sir.
" Q. Did you use these words :—' What should you think
of giving him a hundred lashes, together with Botany Bay ?"
—or words to that purpose?
" Lord Justice Clerk—Go on; put your questions,, if you
have any more.

Q. Did any person—did a lady—say to you, that the
people would not allow you to whip him ? and, my Lord, did
you not say that the mob would be the better for losing a
little blood ? These are the questions, my Lord, that I wish
to put to you at present, in the presence of the Court: deny
them or acknowledge them."
They were all aware that Tories, of whom they that day
had heard so much, were about to hasten a dissolution of
Parliament. Ile knew they were making great efforts to
bring about such an event, with the hope, be supposed, of
introducing into Ireland the same system that had been
pract:sed in Scotland in 1794.—(Hear, bear) He was
sure, if they found it practicable, they would not fail to do
so ; but he trusted such men as he then addressad would
take care to defeat them at the hustings.—(Loud cheers.)
Now, with regard to the question before the meeting; lie
should express his hearty concurrence in the sentiments ut-
terel by' Sir W. Molesworth----(Cleers)---4nd in order to
unsure their success he trusted they would be
,prepared
freely and manfully to register and exercise their. votes ;
and he was certain if the illustriops individuals. whose
memory they were met to honour were now ;alive, even
with the. small share of Reform already obtained, they
would be an oruamcut to the British Parliament,' and be
there manfully asserting the liberties of. the •people. j The
Hon. Gentleman resumed 'his ' seat amid loud cheers.
Mr. Git.Lotc, in seconding the resolution, said he hailed
that as a bright day for his native Country, when those who
long since suffered in the people's cause would have justice
done to their memory In a. meeting of Englishmen..—
( Hear.) He trusted that the, proceedings of that day,
in which the Representatives not only of Scotland but 'of
England also.took a part, would lead to_ blot out the foul.
and.d.tmning,spot in the annals of Scottish history.--.-(Laud
cheers:). 'He.Trjoicrd-peculiarly as-a -Scotchman, that the
men who-had' at nulearly.feriod suffered in .the Callte of
freedom, were now about to have the stamp of their coun-

tries' approbation affixed. to their memories ; but'lle. was
sorry to think that in the capital Of Scotland mondrfients of
a I cry different character were to be found; ' He feared
if any stranger were to visit Edinburgh he would find
many splendid monuments about which he would na-

rurally snake inquiry ; he would naturally ask were
they erected to the memories of distinguished heroes,
such as, Wallace, or as Bruce, who had vindicated
their liberties in the field, and who did not rest satisfied
until they struck down. the enemy who would force their
sway on the Scottish soil.—(Loud cheers.) Was it to
such men as Fletcher, of olden times, or as Hume in the
present day—( Loud cheers)--who had advocated their
liberties in the Senate ? Was it to such holy and such pious
men as Knox, who had thrown off the trammels of super-
stition, and protested against the corruption of religious
Courts, and who with zeal and judgment fought the good
fight of freedom ? Was it to such men as Watts, who
diffused peace and • happiness by his mechanical genius
and skill, in transporting to foreign countries the
manufactures-of Great, Britain ? No, it was to no such
men the monuments :were erected, but to the apostate
politician, to the greatest foe of his native country, both
at home and abroad—to the advocate of those measures
which entailed upon .them the National Debt, the bitter
fruits of which they were now reaping—he meant to Wm.
Pitt, a man who had led the way in which Muir and his
friends followed, but who afterwards resisted the motion
for inquiry into the cruelties practised upon the political
martyrs.--(Cries of shame.) Advancing further, the
stranger would ask to whom was the next beautiful

monument erected—to that builder of palaces and fosterer
of corruption in every form, George the Fourth, and, as if
there had not been sufficient in the miseries of the people
to perpetuate the memory of Dundas, they should have a
monument rased to his memory.—(Cries of "Shame.")
At no distant period he hoped he should be able to point
to the Calton-hill, and say—"'!'here stands a monument to
those martys of the darkest days of persecution, erected by
the honest Reformers of England."—( Cheers.) He
would not detain them by any detailed allusion to
the history of those men—it was well known
to all of them. It would be sufficient for him to say that
the crime of which they Vad been accused was that of ad-