The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1

in defence of their rights and liberties, those meetings
were convened by a few leading men, not of the working
classes, who addressed the masses when called together
chiefly to induce them to aid in their own purposes, and what
w..ts the consequence ? these men appealed to the passions of
the people, and having gained the notoriety which they sought,
they deserted the people, who had been deluded by them.
The people must trust to themselves, and to themselves alone.
Every man amongst them had reason and sense to judge for
himself, and ought not to let his jud:,ment be blinded by others.
Ile looked upon the present meeting and the agitation out
of which it sprung as the first step in a great srruggle- They
were engaged in no child's play—they had not undertaken an
easy task, for they had to contend against the most wealthy,
the most powerful, and the most intelligent aristocracy that
ever oppressed a community. Let them in all their efforts
Hear that in mind, and let them more especially bear in mind
the fact that it was by reason. by argument, by obtaining that
motal influence which the masses must obtain, that they
could eventually succeed—by in all things and at all times
ot.p.;sing violent councils ; by setting their faces against vie.
lent language, and refusing to participate in violent deeds,
they would find safety and the best means of success.—
( Hear, hear, hear.) Let them recollect what had
occurred in Ireland. There, by what was called legal agi-
tation—constitutional agitation—by refraining from violence,
and speaking against it—how much had not the Irish ob-
tained ?—( Cries of " Little or nothing.") They had made
some progress—little enough he would grant—but let them
look at the evil effects of violence in Canada I The people
there, by opposing the Government in arms, had ziven it a pre-
text for oppressing them more than even they bad done before.
The Government knew not what to do with them, so long as
they merely agitated as in Ireland, but the moment they ap-
pealed to arms—( Mr. Cleave, " They were in too great a
hurry.") His friend Cleave said they had been in too
great a hurry there, and he would beg of the people here
not to be in too great a hurry.—( Hear, hear, and cheers. )
It had been said and urged, by many well-meaning but
over-prudent men, that all that agitation among the working
classes—all their organization—would lead to nothing, and that
it was merely a waste of time and breath. He denied it. He
would assert they could get everything, if they agitated with ef-
fect,and in the spirit of the organization which was now going on
all over the country. Suppose they did not get all they
wanted, would it not be infinitely better, and more worthy of
Englishmen, to struggle against difficulties, and all the ob-
stacles opposed to them—to persevere under defeat, than
quietly to fold their arms, and submit in peace to oppression ?
Loud cheers.) A great deal of fine writing and eloquence
had been thrown away in calling the attention of Englishmen
to the many rights they enjoyed, and the glorious Constitution
under which they lived. Magna Charta was held up to their
admiration, and they were asked, what a magnificent bulwark
of English liberty had not the Barons obtained for them? Tbat
was very well for these times when the majority of Englishmen
were slaves in name as well as in deed, but that would
not do for them. The Barons had got Magna Charta as
their charter of liberty in later times. The middle classes had
got the Reform Bill as their charter, but that would not do
for them. The People's Charter was the one they sought for,
and around which they must rally, for it would confer rights upon
every man in the Commonwealth. He called upon them, then, to
join the Working Man's Association in agitating for that object.
He called upon them to inscribe upon their banners their de-
termination never to cease till they had succeeded.—( Cheers.)
Let them remember the mighty deeds of Englishmen when
working for the benefit of a class ; and should it be said that
they would do less for themselves when they were rally-
ing round the banner on which was inscribed " equal rights
to every Englishman ?" He felt that he was there but as a
visitor, and as there were many strangers present who were
anxious to inform them of the state of their various districts,
he would take his leave of them with the prayer that they
might go on and prosper.—(Loud cheers.)
The resolution was then put, and agreed to.
Mr. FEARGUS O'CONNOR then came forward to propose the
third resolution amid much cheering. He found the people
loved him still, notwithstanding ten montli's absence, and being
constantly under the fire of the Press. He stood there as the
representative of from 40 to 50 towns in Scotland and England,
and his duty was to lay before them, as such delegate,
the determination they had come to. They were here to look
for the Suffrage, and it was necessary for them to know what
the value of it was—(Cheers)—and having possessed it, the
next question was, what they would do with it ? An Irishman
always answered a question by asking another.—(Laughter.)
He would ask two—what has not the want of the
Suffrage done for you ? And what has not the possession
of the Suffrage done for your enemies ? He had not come
there to retract a single word he had ever uttered.—( Cheers. )
He had always stood by Universal Suffrage, and always would.
—( Cheers.) It was said that the people were not sufficiently
intelligent, that they had not sufficient knowledge I He would
ask whether they did not know a rogue from an honest man.
The working- classes, above all men, required the Suffrage; but
they were told that if Universal Suffrage was recognised to-
morrow, the Radicals were such a ragged regiment, that they
would not be enabled to form the materials for carrying it out.

—( Cheers.) The Whigs and the Tories had rot the power
to conduct the Government together.—(Cheers.) The
people were called pickpockets. Now, he would ask
what difference there was between a rich one and a poor one?
Why, there was this the poor man picked the rich man's
pocket to fill his belly—( Cheers)—and the rich mar. picked
the poor man's belly to fill his pocket.—(Great laughter.)
The people had borne oppression too long and too tamely.
Ile had never counselled the people to use physical force,
because he felt that those who did so were fools to their
own cause ; but those who decried it preserved their authority
by it and it alone—(Cheers)—and in confirmation of that
lie had only to call the attendon of the meeting to the two
ai.ontnatons at the Hole-in -the- Wall in Parliament-street.
—( Cheer, and greet laughter.) What was the pcsition
on which the working classes stood ? Why. they were Nature's
children, and all that they wanted was Nature's produce
( Cheers.) That was the whole secret.—( Cheers.) But
they hod been toll that the working classes were not so
well ff as they ought to be—they never had been.—
( lleer, hear, and cheering.) They had been told that
they ought to stand by the old Constitution—that was the
Constitution of tallow and wind. The people now wanted no
such Constitution—they wanted the ralroad Constitution, the
gsa Constitution—( Cheers)—but they did not want Lord
7ilelboure c and his tallow Constitution. They wanted that the
science of legislation should not stand still. —( Cheers.)
The people had only to show the present House of Commons
that they we: e determined, and a reform of it must take place.
But still such men as Sir Robert Peel and little Johnny Rua-
sell would try to get into it, if they went through the key-
hole. (Cheers and latight. r.) But it eves said the working
cl.e,ses were dirty fellows, and that among them they could not
get 65S who were fit to sit in the House of Commons.
deed ! He would soon al!er that ; he would pick out that
number from the i.res, nt meeting, and the first he chose he
would take first to Mr. Hawes—(Laughter)—then he would
take him to " Reform your tailor's bills"—(lncreased
laughter)—then to the ha r dresser—( Continued laughter)
—and then to the perfumer, in order to give him
the fashionable stink—( Tremendous laughter)—and then
he would be as good a M.-n:ber of Parliament as
any of them.—( Laughter.) He (Mr. F. O'Connor)
had sat in the flou4e of Commons for three Sessions,
and he had been bud .r there than he had ever been on
the hustings. —( Cheers.) H.! had never eltauged his
principles, and he never would. It was said the people
were nr t intelligent enough for Members of Parliament.
N oN, the fact was that the people were too intelligent ; if
they were net, they would get into the House to-morrow.
The pet ple were determined to get Universal Suffrage,
homotly it they could, but they were determined to have it.
Ile counselled them against all rioting, all civil war, but still,
in the hearing of the House of Commons, he would say, that
rather than see the people oppressed—rather than see the
Constitution violated while the people were in daily want, if
no ether man would do so—if the Constitution were violated,
he would himself lead the people to death or glory.—( Circe". )
Let the moral force take that. and let it set them a good moral
example. —( Loud cheers.) Let them look at the manner
in which they were united in the North of England.
In his ebAence there were a bull-dog and a terrier who
had their eyes open. Titere were Oastler and Stephens, the
one called a madman arid the other a firebrand, because of
their honesty, who were watching during his absence—who
were looking out for squalls.—( Laughter.) They had had a
taste of physical force in the north a short time since. Some of
the Metropolitan Police were sent down to Dewsbury, hut
deal
.ilve;,:nar
)es,
slt
aowbveaeasst
rilteion
mftLurioyi
iliueddmstt moral
txle
itetefrnesw..rta)es;e
the boys of that noble town sent them home again. His
better
baE I.royut it
egoc
conquest
uuf itrleedsetwmahwesanhv possible,
which
than at nhe
wastino
called honourable had been achieved by physical force , but
they did not want it, because if all hands were pulling for
Universal Suffrage they would soon pull down the stronghold
of corruption.—( Hear. ) The Whigs had not only deprived the
poor of their rights, but they had robbed the middling classes
of theirs also, and all for the purpose of putting the power
into the hands of the three. devils of Somerset-house. Stanley
had declared that he would appose the repeal of a parchment
Union to the death, and he ( Mr. O'Connor) would to the
death oppose the Union formed and sanctioned by
Government.—( Cheers.) lie had been praised by some g
demon from Scotland for what he had done in extendingn-
the Unions. It was just three years that day since he
formed a Radical Union hr Marylebone, and ever since he had
been doing nothing but laying Radical eggs all over the coun-
try—( Laughter)—which had been hatched and fledged, and
were now brown to every corner of the kingdom in the shape of
Unions. It was by those alone that any good could be accom-
plished. Here (pointing to the reporters)—here is a pretty
little union of itself. Here are ten gentlemen forming a
nice little union of their own. Here are Mr. EasLthaoupgehtearn.d)
Mr. Murdo Young, and Mr. Alderman Ilarmp_eorrt_anddidallththeye
rest of them.—(A laugh ) 0, you need not lock; they are
himself—( A laugh)—
not here morally at all, only physically, pahsyisnigelaellys,ebnutet
nocneSoufnidliasysvp.oluccwhil:
geepi that
th(‘
they
their n
think
shadow oweav
dl ttnhoevne, your
favourables substance._( bs t a nseuep.
tllideti kw laise atshkee d themu n
that
tr don'tun,Universal
ersalSuffrage
Ile could
elvieays boat do Rit the p„ss, and Alderman Harmer
he was read in every town townin Gazette"
England.
knew that, because he knows that hb has gone"
the
amalgamate;
and the Corn laws could never be kneaded into one loaf. They
and
ii wronghe track—he
wouldte;i knows si
otrtida
t
would teach them they could manage their own affairs, and if they
gin
Youngand
they were too
had been so long oppressed, so long cajoled, and so long ig-
norant, it was because the Press' was corrupt. That was the
organ that was t 9 enlighten. 1-lipm. That watt the organ that
was to hash and carve, and out pp all the men lie tar befor4
him, until Mr. Ward has the dispatching of
yott on the
tatirlirdna4ye.4—joLoatighte•r.
powerful;) and
4e
merit
w4ornildoitie4—ll tahtetmhe
torrningh4m
nwetiil hp bad iiven tilt; only nibble anoieri had Ns thg