The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-07 00:00:00

sought to prevent the national resources being bestowed on
corruption, slander, violence and injustice.—( Cheers.) Let
them only look to the last act of the Government; in which little
Lord Johnny Russell had, not satisfied with his legitimate office,
established himself as gaoler general of the infants of the
country.—(Hear, hear.) He had not been satisfied with the
system of the Poor-laws as they were ; but he incorporated
upon it, and set out through the country, three devi! king's
in the shape of Commissioners, who had it in their power to
prevent the rich from exercising the attribute of charity, and
could dictate just as they pleased to the whole nation.
He (Mr. O'Connor) had great plea.suro in tho reflection
he had voted along :rich his friend Attwoorl, against the Bill
in all its clauses. He did not then need to rely upon popu-
larity. The people of England was at the time representing
a constituency of Ireland; but while he was proud to cc-
knowledge Ireland as his country, he also avowed that the
world was his republic. They had promised justice should be
done to Ireland, and how had they redeemed their pledge ?
They had done it-by an Irish Poor-law and by a Tithe-bill,
and was that doing justice to Ireland ?—(Cries of " No, no.")
As far as he could interfere he would take care to see that
justice should not be done to England so long as injustice re-
mained undisturbed in Ireland—so long as the many acts of
inhumanity were .perpetrated by the laws. Were the present
Government, as they had acted, any better than the Tories ? If
they were asked for anything they would give a little, but in
most cases it exemplified the dandy when going out to a party,
and wanted to take the taste of an onion out of his mouth.
He asked what was the best thing to take the taste of an
onion out of his mouth, and the person to whom be applied
told him to get a slip of garlic, which would effectually re-
move the taste of the onion. He trusted they did not mean
to take their clove, to qualify the taste of Toryism, but, to give
them so efficient a clove of Reform, as would take the taste of
Toryism entirely away. He (Mr. O'Connor) had been at
many great meetings, and lie could speak from what he had
seen in the counties of York and Lancaster. He had keen
at meetings where be had seen the soldiers divide them into
three parties, and yet they all stood. Every man stood to his
gun. He (Mr. O'Connor) bad told the soldiers to give them
notice, and they would be ready to give them a field day_
that if they intended to begin the work of carnage, only to
give them time and proper notice they would meet them on
fair ground. If two millions would not satisfy, they might
have three millions, or as many as would satisfy them He
spoke of the districts to which he had alluded, which com-
prehended a population of three millions, and who sent sixty
representatives to Parliament. Such a mass of moral influ-
ence and intelligence must surely have more weight than the
opinions of a few oppressing aristocrats, or a small batch of pal-
try Lords who would assert the power to govern. He did not
mean to recommend their taking up arms, although he ;had
heard several recommend their carrying arms into the struggle.
He had heard the slashing Harry Brougham advise the carry-
ing of arms ; but when he (Mr. O'Connor) advised them to
carry arms he would be seen carrying a musket at their head.
—(Cheers.) There was no form of Government for a
country well constituted that was better adapted to carry
out the interests of a country than that of a Monar-
chical Government. It was the best, provided there
was a power behind the throne to carry the laws into effect.
H. reditary goverriment did away with all contentions that
might arise from ambition; and with a proper repre-
sentation, the throne might really be placed in its pro-
per situation of security, namely, that the King could
do no wrong. They had been told that there existed an
irresponsible Goverment which controlled the respon-
sible Government. They need not doubt the statement, nor
wonder at the fact, if they looked at the men of which the
present Government was composed.---(Hear.) They had
elected 45 delegates to direct their Association. Now what
answertha t in
gentleman's
would recommend was, that as they were about to arrange
for a petition, there should be assembled from different quar-
ters 500,000 men in London. Let them carry their petition on
their shoulders, and go with Mr. Attwood to the House of
Commons, and send in a message that they Were waiting for
an
ny'asrdbannielers(, Aklrn.oowi'nCgonthneor)sewnotiumldenetnslhiset
under
had expressed, on the assurance that he would not retrograde,
bHuet thatu lie
giveld h
in
wouldia
rather
colleague
advance
who
onh his
was d a
cm agnrdesa.t fr—(iHened to
Hear.
mankind, and had done much good to the community—Mr.
Fielden. Now it appeared to him, that if they could show
that one of the most extensive bankers and one of the largest
manufacturers in England was willing to throw the safety of
his property upon an universal suffrage constitution, they
could not do wrong in following their commanders. That he
would do. They ought to leave no means untried, even if
they adopted the sentiment of the Prince of Orange, and de-
clare that they would have justice, if it were in the last ditch.
They must be united. The Hon. Chairman had talked of
100,000, he (Mr. O'Connor) could not say but they might be
hundreds of thousands. He would measure them by the I
method that the chiefs of Scotland of old used to reckon their
strength, at a time when men were more valuable than gold.
He had looked around, and, according to his calculation, he
would estimate them at eight acres, and he saw on the ground
sufficient to furnish seeds of reform to spread over all the
kingdomeaed to produce one general association.--( Hear.)
They must never surrender; if they yielded one single atom
it would be dangerous. He stood before the meeting not
as the representative of Ireland, but as the authorised re-
presentative of all that vast district of England as well as
Ireland.—( Cheers.) They were often told that the people
of Ireland were urged on by their Priests, and that they were
completely under the controul of the Priests, He wished
that the allegation was true, for the Priests were a kind-hearted,
social, moral, and religious class of men, and were staunch
advocates for the voluntary principle. He had heard several
crotchets alluded to that day which existed among Re-
formers, but he would have them throw overboard all
crotchets,
and join heart and hand in the general cause—
make a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether, and
pull down the temple of abuse. He had sat in the House
of Commons for sever,' years with stripling lords and heads
of aristocracy, but he was still better pleased to see the
time when he might sit with a blacksmith on the one side,
and a chop-stick on the other. If ever they had really a
House of Commons of their own, they would soon reform
the House of Lords—supporting one another with their ad- '
at the same time they should assert and protect the rights
d best interests of the working classes.
and privileges an v'ce, and still preserving sacred the right of property, while
The resolution was put, and carried unanimously.
Mr. H. SANSUM rose to move the second resolution. Ho
ae no hesitation in saying that any man who could be con.
fenced Withbad laws was a robber of his wife and family—a
traitor to his King, and undutiful to his God. When the de-
from Birmingham on one occasion waited upon Earl
Noble Earl in answer to their co:nmunication said
putation
Grey, the
But Birmingham is not all England." Now he thought
Mr. Aitwood would soon be enabled to spew Lord Melbourne,
that
Bei,,ci
h na
ham was all England.—( Cheers.) He con-
e That George Frederick Muntz, Philip
orntdnnag
nitzLa Benj. is. Hadley, John Pierce, and John Col-
appointed Kellie Douglas, Thomas Clutton Salt,
co "
appointed delegates
H fromi this meeting to attend a icgy 3.iE
lins, be
number), to be assembled in London, for the pur_
Ge-
neral Convention of the Industrious Classes (not exceeding
pf
o
or
st
;}
-on
fi
ade
n
e
olnting every legal measure which may be necessary
to induce Parliament to carry the great objects of the Na-
tional Petition into a law."
ir
Weesos, one of the working class, came forward to
second' i
the resolution, which he did with great pleasure.—The
euwnfeoarr:ir
nmaored:el aYmr.
embarking d
rwkai
ns
greceived
anotherw with hm
arthreetial
utcllidaemyask them if they were contented •
resolutiontimesAir.thEreneviu.s,
campaign' -cT. Att dandthey with
their old General, woo , it• were willing to
employ their old Council as Council of War, and that all the
be
ted of every class should the army to fight the
unrepresented
driven from
battle till corruption was the land ?—(Cheers. )
'Thati
was the object, and they were determined to have their
ao
Awe carried
so;
rights. Twenty-eight millions were taken out of their pockets
interest of the national debt. All that ••
to pay thte was from the
It useless to of •
of labour. was talk. liberty in that
proceeds_ it was robbery. The next point he would call
case, for
to was the parson tax, which hi
their attention England
amounted to five millions, and this, so far from being
he wss ready to demonstrate that it was exceed-
necessary,
Birmingham there was the B
ingly injurious. md-street
Chapel, which raised 1,000/. ; the Castle Chapel raised
d another chapel that raised 3,0001,--now these
1,500/. ; an
were all on the voluntary principle.—( Hear, hear.) They
would not surely tell us, that the Clergymen of the Church
were less religious or less diligent than the Clergy of the
Dissen:ers. He would say then put them on the same prin-
ciple, and then they could have good Clergymen and at:en-
tive congregations. There had been one million granted to
that enormity, the Irish Church, of which lie could never
speak but his blood boiled. The Clergy were themselves
very different from those who went about with the founder of
Christianity—they went out without scrip or staff. In Ire-
land they were backed with 25,000 troops to cram the Gospel
down the throats of the people at the point of the bayonet.
No, he begged pardon, it was not for the Gospel; it was for
the money they were to receive. He concluded by r
moslng
the third resolution : —" That the industrious classes of the
United Kingdom generally be earnestly requested to imitate
the noble example of their countrymen in Scotland and the
North of England, and to hold meetings forthwith in every
town or district, for the purpose of obtaining signatures to the
National Petition, • dof • •
instead appointing delegates to proceed
to London."

Co
111‘1Irr..
I.(7lll.l)Liazs secondedfrom
Glasgow, tb
w resolution.oudl urge
one holy
league of alliance to accomplish their them to join in
their purpov, and
their children would revere their names, and mention their
names with pride and gratification. The name of Thomas
Attwood was rea ere(' and respected in Scotland, and if the
people of .Birmingham rallied round him, they would find
themselves supported by the people of Scotland, who would
rush forward with enthusiasm to join them in their endeavours
to lay their common enemy, the Whigs prostrate.—( Cheers. )
It was gratifying to him to find that the working classes were
exerting themselves in their own cause. —( Hear, hear.) The
faces of the Whigs were getting long in consequence.—( A
laugh.
, But in the same degree that the Whigs looked
1 rueful, did the faces of the working classes brighten and cheer
op.—( Hear. hear.)
The resolution
was then put from the Chair, and unani-
mously adopted.
Mr. SALT rose to move the fourth resolution—" That this
meeting cordially approves the People's Charter as the outline
of an Act to provide for the just representation of the people
of the United Kingdom in the Commons' House of Parlia-
ment, agreeably to the principlesset forth in the National
Petition," '
That meeting had appointed a number of delegates to look
after their interests in London ; so had the people of Glas-
gow. The delegates would go as the National Guard to the
Bill. They would present their Bill, and this would be what
he would call their first clap of thunder.—( Hear, and laugh-
ter.)
, If the Bill were refused, then the Commons of Eng-