The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-15 00:00:00

says, "for me—if you do rot sellnie your conscience as well
as your labour, I will give you notice to quit. I will
plueder you and your family of the money end the years
of industry you have bestowed upon the improvement of
my land, and turn you adrift on the world."--(Cheers.)
But if they had the Ballot, would any man dare to say
tl is ? If le did, he would be sure to get plenty of
black Leans.—( Hear, hear, }leer, and loud laughter.)
Feudal despotism had once attempted to make slavery in
Eng'and—a despotism which had cost one Monarch his
bend. This was a bad thing ; but the people grew evis r
and when that Monarch's son attempted to adopt a similar
course, they did not chop off his head, but they kicked
him out—they left him his bad on his shoulders that
it might remain as a warning to others. There was no
chance of their burthensbeinglessened—there asnoclance
of attaining a safe and practicalmonetary system—there was
no chance of their escaping the doom of slaves, and having
hut two classes of soci ty throughout broad England—the
master and the slave—if they did not insist on further Re-
form.—(Great cheering.) But, it might be asked, what were
they to do ? lie (Mr. OdC.) came there that day to tell
them.--(Rencwed cheers.) He need not put in, by way
of a perertheele, if they had an extension of the Suffrage
and Vote by Ballot, that they wouldhayshrter
Parlia-
ments.--(Hear, hear.) They knew the old proverb,
" short accounts make long friends. —(Laughter.) No
man who kn,w there were short Parliaments, and that he
woukl have to come more frequently before his constituents
than urtidt: the present system, but would take care to dis-
charge faithfully the trust reposed in him.—( Hear, hear.)
Well, the question now came—what were they to do to
attain this ? Perhaps he might be asked why he had the
presumF4ion to offer himself as the adviser of the men of
Eirmirglora. If so, he would put forward his claim. He was
born asl ive—ehe was barn in a state in which, had he grown
up to manhood, he could not have purchased property—
he could not have filled any of the learned professions—he
could not have been a Member of either House of Parlia-
ment, or have occupied any post of emolument in the
country.—(Hear, hear.) That wee the state of Ireland
when he was born, eixter-three years age.--(This
allusion
to his age by the Hon. Gentleman called forth a unani-
mous and hearty cheer front tho meeting.) There
wa.s an
accident, however, which happeoZ.'l (1114 year af
.infinitely
greater importance than the birth of any. !OClMdual—it
was the birth of the American republic--(Chd:'rs)7atia gs
he (Mr. O'Connell) grew up, he was determined not td sub-
mie.—(Cheers.) Although betrayed by pretended fi tends,
shrunk frcm by the timid, looked down upon by the proud,
and pointed at as a man who was going headlong to de-
struction, he persevered—he kept going on always. At his
birth scmcbody put over his cradle—" Agitate ! agitate!
agitate!"—(Loud cheering)—and he hoped somebody would
inscribe it on his grave ; and in the interval between the
one and the other, he would say to those around him.
" Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!"—(Renewed applause.)
After alluding to the formation of the Catholic Association,
and the powerful efforts which the people of Ireland had
made in obtaining religious liberty for the Protestant Dis-
senters of England, the year before they had attained their
own, Mr. O'Connell proceeded :—After obtaining religious
liberty for their brethren in England, they thought it
right to do something for themselves. The principle they
had always acted on was the principle of conscience. They
applied this argument to the Duke of Wellington, and war-
rior as lie was, they beat him. Peel, too, as cunning .a
fellow as ever turned a spinning-jenny, they beat in the same
way, and compelled them to give that which in their hearts
they refused, and which they would not give if they could.
—(Great cheering.) " Thank you for nothing," says I.
—(Roars of laughter.) Well, why did he int ude that
story about himself and his country upon their attention ?
He would tell them. Were not Englishmen able to do a
job as well as any men on the face of the earth ? Now,
what he wanted them to do was, to stimulate some Daniel
O'Connell in England—(Tremendous cheering)—leaving
out the great 0, and having a Saxon denomination—(Re-
newed cheering and laughter)—a Scholefield, an Attwood,
or a Muntz—(Great cheering)—or twenty others who were
made of the same stuff, to begin at once at Birmingham,
a General Reform Association.--(Cheering for several
minutes.) Though their Political Unions could not appoint
delegates, yet they might choose them out of every parish
and district and street, in every town and village through-
out the country, and send them up to London just before
the meeting of Parliament.—(Cheers.) He would speak
to them earnestly upon that point. There would be no use
in that Union if they did not work together. Let not gen-
tlemen shrink from the trouble of doing that. Liberty was
wolth attaining, and he was a base slave who would not
rise in indignation and tell the Tories, " You have,
by trickery, and bribery, and fraud, and ietimidation,
deprived us of our Reform Bid, but you know little of our
character if you suppose Englishmen will submit to this."
—(Long continued and enthusiastic cheering.) There
was no use in applauding a sentiment one moment, and
forgetting it the next. Who was there amongst them, that
would come forward and make himself the working agi-
tator ?—(Hear, hear.) Did they suppose that he himself
had risen at once to be prime agitator for his country ?
No, he envied no man—he put every man forward who
wished to go before him, All that he wished to see was
the business do: e.—(Grant andeoetinued cheering.) Well,
Lad they not Englishmen who were always disposed
to do that ? Why, Wes it not wer,h while to make some
effort to throw off the base tyranny of a Tory facticu?—
(Renevecel cheers.) He though the Administration were
bad Reformers!, because they had refused to take the lead.
But, because tin, y were bad, should they therefore go to
worse ?—( Hee-, hear.) Suppose, now, they had before
them for choice !al indifferent workman and a very bad
one, would they choose the latter ?—( Cheers and laughter.)
That, in his opinion, wasthe character of Whigs and Tories.
Were not the Tories, he asked, worse than the Whigs ?
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) He had not intended to base
intruded upon their attentien any notice of his country,
but he would do so, on account of a passage which he had
seen in a recent address of the Birmingham Political Union
respecting Ireland, which, although not quite true in its
representation of facts, was redolent with noble and
exalted sentiments regarding Lis country.—( Mr. O'Con-
nell here "cad a passage frem the address in question.)
Now, he was there to answer those questions. And first,
;.s to the me.eietiecy which in Ireland, in consequence of
the Malicious Trespass Act, (of which they had all heard,)
had complete dominion over the peeple. The Whir, then
made attempts to purify the Irish Roll of' the Peace ; they
had removed Colonel Verner—(Cheers)—Mr. Minchin--
Mr. Jackson—Mr. Raymond, and he might go on to name
fifty more. They had sent stipendiary magistrates in the
place of many of the old Orange ones, and had put a bridle-
in the mouths of those who remained ; and a verygood rider,
he could assure them, Lord Mulgrave proved.—(Laughter
and cheers.) The Commission of the Peace was now about
to Le renewed, and be had been assured on very high
authority, that it would be of such a character as to
make England rejoice, acid Ireland exceeding glad.—(Hear
and cheers.) The next question was, what had the Whigs
projected to make Irish Judges responsible ? Now this
the law did not allow them to do, either in England or
Feleed. When once a man was put upon the Bench, be
LA the pow. r to do as much wrong as he pleased—(A
laugh)—but they had given to Ireland three as upright and
high-minded Judges as ever went upon the Bench.—(Loud
chem.) The last question was, what measures they had
projected for making Irish Juries impartial and effective?
He must say he owed much to the person who caused the
insertion of that question in the address, because he had so
satisfactory an answer, and his answer was this :—They had
selected Liberal Sheriffs throughout all Ireland—they had
sought out for wed near for men who we re fit for that import-
aot office, and he knew at this moment an Irishman, who
though settled in England, was almost immediately to return
to per7orin the duties of Sheriff for his own country,
in order to prevent an Orangeman from being appointed.
—(Great applause.) The Tories had given Ireland an
Orange Magistracy—the Whigs had remedied that evil to
some extent by thi it remove], and had applied a panacea
fee the remaining ill, which made every poor Irishman's
heart leap for joy ; they had given good Judges whenever
a vacancy occurred, end they had farther provided for a
snore impartial administration of justice through juries, by
the appointment of Liberal Sheriffs, and after this he would
Taut it to them, would he not be the basest of mankind if
he did not feel grateful to them ?—(Loud cheers.) Then
;again, every Whig nobleman in the House of Lords voted
for the -Municipal Reform Bill, whilst every Tory
Lord vcted against it, and after that was he to consider
teat the Wlig was as bad as the Tory ?—( Hear.) Would
they,he asked them, now they knew these things—for he wes
hound to believe, from their address, they did not know
h before—say that the Whigs were as bad es the
'Tories? The Whigs were doing as much as they could
for Ireland, but he admitted not for England, for let them
not sus pose be palliated their conduct when wrong. No
such thing ; he Bed dropped the name of Whie-Radical ;
Ile was a Rol,ical.—(Loud applauee.) Ile teek the pert
of the Radicals against the Whigs where the latter were
wrong, tied lie. trusted the Radicals would take the Fart
of Ireland against the Tories when they threatened it.—
(Cheers.) What cared he who was in power, if the people
were but true to themselves- His advice to Englishmen
was to look for English rights regardless of either Whig or
Tory rule. Let them tell their representative never to
support the Whigs when in the wrong ; and although he
owed them much gratitude, he could tell them he would
not do so. lint who, he would ask, would not support them
when in the right ?—( Hear, In an.) He recommended
them to conic at once to the sticking point—let them cry
for a better Reform Bill, and, in order to make that cry
effectual, let them form a great National Reform Associa-
tion in London, whose business it should be to procure and
send in to the House of Commons, daily, petitions having
100,000 names each. If this great peaceful agitation was once
fairly entered into, their claims would speedily be granted.
--(Cheers.) He would give them another bit of advice