The Sun.
London, England, 1831-10-17 00:00:00

BRISTOL, OCT. 15.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sra,—My attention has been directed to a calumnious article
in a recent number of an obscure Journal# called the Standard,
purporting to be a report of a meeting of the Bristol Political
Union, held on Monday last in Queen-square. I 'can, without
any great effort of imagination, give a shrewd guess at the au-
thor of that report. It is, perhaps, a misfortune for Bristol that
we have a political Janus in the city—a spy in our camp, to
whom Oliver Cromwell's words are peculiarly applicable, "You
would, like Esau, sell your country for a mess of pottage, and,
like Judas, betray your God for a few pieces ofsilver ; ' and it is,
perhaps, still more to be regretted that the creature I have
referred to !sin a situation well calculated to afford many oppor-
tunities for treachery to his friends and supporters, and syco-
phantic servility to his assumed opponents. The man who is a
traitor to the cause he professes to espouse--the dependent on
one party and the hireling of the other is he " whom tempting
friends would pitch upon to do such deeds as make men lift up
their hands and wonder who could do them." That the pre-
tended report is a tissue of glaring falsehoods is not surprising,
for I can assure you that the orators were not slowly wheeled
into the square in " a dung cart"—that there was no occasion
for their waiting for the mechanics to return from " dinner,"
and, as to a "good dinner" with the particular class of honest
men of whom I speak, they have, since the age of Tory misrule,
been wofully out of fashion. The manifestation of popular feel.
ing was astonishing, and had the thousands of spectators who
were compelled to leave the square, from their inability to hear
the speakers, remained upon the ground, there could not have
been a much less number present in my opinion than 20,000,
and in this opinion I am not singular, as many gentlemen calcu-
lated the numbers and brought their calculations to a similar
conclusion.t The following extracts from the Bristol Liberal
newspapers will give a moderate and fair idea of the meeting:—
" Although only six hours previous notice was given, the mul-
titude in the square between one and two o'clock could not, we
think, be estimated at less than from 12,000 to 15,000 men, all
animated with the greatest enthusiasm, and anxious to testify, at
the same moment, their love for a popular and gracious Monarch
and their disgust at the treatment of the Reform Bill in the
Upper House of Parliament. There were a considerable number
of banners on the ground, some of which belonged to the trades,
and were half-mast high." With regard to Mr. Herapath
and Mr. Ham, I will leave their reputation in the hands of their
fellow citizens, who best know how to appreciate their worth.
That they are men of considerable talent cannot be doubted—
that their exertions have been eminently calculated to improve
the minds of their fellow citizens no one can deny, and that
those exertions have been patriotic and successful, the vitupera-
tive attack of the " hireling scribe" "whose praise is censure,
and whose censure praise," will sufficiently attest. With regard
to my being a "surgeon's assistant," (I am assistant to my
father), willing as lam to give this lying reporter every cre-
dit for the possession of more than ordinary folly. I cannot
conceive him to be so outrageously stupid as to charge it
against me as a crime, although I am said to be " very
young." I do think it probable that this narrow.minded
being has fallen into a similar error with Mr. Walpole, who
taunted Mr. Pitt afterwards Lord Chatham, with his youth.
The reply of the British Demosthenes was so conclusive that,
conceiving it to be singularly applicable, I will close this leiter
with a quotation from it I trust I maybe one of those whose
follies cease with their youth, and not of that number who are
ignorant in spite of experience. Whether youth can be imputed
to any man as a reproach, I will not assume the province of deter-
mining ; but surely age may become justly contemptible if the
opportunities which it brings have past away without improve-
ment, and vice appears to prevail when the passions have stib-
sided. The wretch that after seeing the consequences of a
thousand errors continues still to blunder, and whose age has
only added obstinacy to stupidity, is surely the object of either
abhorrence or contempt, and deserves not that his grey head
should secure him from insult. Much more is he to be abhorred
who, as he has advanced in age, has receded from virtue, and
becomp more wicked with less temptation—wno prostitutes him-
self for money which he cannot enjoy, and spends the remains
of his life in the ruin of his country."
I am, Sir, &c.

G. F. P.

_
9, Cumberland-street, Drunswick,Square.
• When I was informed of the existence of this calumny, for
more than six hours (from eleven till half-past five) did I search
various parts of the city, in the vain hope of obtaining a sight of
the Standard? not a " beer-house politician" took it in—not
a 44 hole and corner`' was there in which I could End it until at
last, at the suggeStion of a Rev. Friend of mine, I obtained a
view of it in the Commercial-rooms, where it was perfectly
disengaged.
t In calculating a meeting, persons should bear in mind that
, thirty..thr,Ge persons in each of four lines forming a square, will
Lt I form a b6dy who solid of 1,0 a).

DAVIS' STRAITS FISHERY.

(From the Second Edition of the 14'ull Rockingham.)

. ,
Several letters have been received here this morning, with ac.
counts from the Davis' Straits Fishery, brought by the St.
Andrew, Capt. Heed, of Aberdeen, which vessel left the ice on
the 21st of September :
HULL.—Alfred, Brass, three fish; Andrew Marvel, Wright,
four Hill BrunsWick, Blyth, two fish ; Comet, Markham, two
fish ; Cambrian, Munroe, orle fish ; .Dordon; Willis; five fish ;
Duncombe, Sceffin,..seven fish, 75 tons; Everthorpe, Johnston,
three fish; Harmony, Bramham, one fish; Harmony, Parker,
three fish; Ingria, Wilson, three fish ; Isabella, Ill'Kenzie, one
fish ; Jane, Maddison, five fish ; Kiero, Martin, one fish; Kir-
kella, Humphrey, two fish ; Lee, Lee, eleven fish, 175 tuns ;
Lord Wellington, Harrison, four fish; Marj Frances, Coldray,
two fish ; Shannon, 'Story, eight fish ; Swan, Thing, two fish ;
Truelove, Manger, three' fish ,• Volunteer, 1*i411,. one fish;
William Lee, Hill, two fish; William, Tort; 14iinatt, one fish;
Zephyr, Ash, six fish.
LONDON—Hercules, _, fourteen fish; Margaret, Fleat,
one fish ; Neptune, Walls, lost.
IYHlTBY—Phcenix, Hallilee, one fish.
I':IgI.YPA.STLF—Cove, Palmer, clean; Graville, Bay, War-
hare; silt fish Lady ;pane, Fleming, six fish; Lord Gambier,
three fish. . • . • • •

BERWICK—NorfoIk Harrison, four fish.
BURNTISLAND—Majestic, Davidson, three fish; Un-
daunted, four fish.
XI R 14.4 LD Y—Ealedonia, Todd, two fish ; Earl Percy, Stewart,
one fish ; Eggingtqn, titodart, four fish ; Rambler, Watson, lost ;
,
Triad, 1 oung, one fish V iewfoith, six fiSll,
LEITH--Juno, Lyali, four fish; North Pole, SMith, two fish;
Prince of Orange, Guthrie, two fish ; Ulverston, Liston, eleven
fish 125 tons; William and Ann, Smith, four fish; William,
young, three fish.
DUNA Deuchars, nine fish, 140 tuns ; Alexander,
Thoins, one fish
;• Dorothy, Davidson,six fish ; F,bor; Cameron,
two fish; Fairy, Welch, four fish ; Friendship, Chapman, one
fish; Horn, Stevenson, 'four fish, 58 tuns • Princess Charlotte,
Adamson, one fish . Thomas, Thorns, ten fish, 125 tuns.
fish ; St. Andrew, Reed,
MONTROSE—EIiza Swan, Fulton, seven fish, 70 tuns;
Monarch, Davidson, one fish.
nine fish, 110 tuns—arrived.
ABERDEEN—Bon Accord, Parker, three fish ; Dee, Cook,
eight fish ; Middleton, James tWo fish ; Neptune, Ayton, one
PETERHEAD—EcIipse, Penny, clean ; Gleaner, Shand,'"one
fish ; Hannibal, Birnie, three fish ; James, Hogg, lost; Joseph
Green, Volum, one fish ; Perseverance, Ogton, two fish; Reso-
lution, Hogg, three fish; Superior, Mansion, three fish; Travel.
ler; Simpson, four fish,