The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-16 00:00:00

Mr. TONGUE entered into an explanation of the difference
between the National Rent Convention and National Petition,
stating also that the Wolverhampton Union was independent
of Birmingham, though going for the same objects, viz., the
People's Charter, Universal Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, An-
nual Parliaments, Paid Representatives, and No Pro-
perty Qualification. He said that the Committee had
solicited assistance from Birmingham, and the people of Bir-
mingham had kindly rendered all in their power. According
t 9 the_rilles of the National Rent Convention, the sixpence
would support the delegates, as well as local expenses: Only
2/. 10s. was required from each thousand persons. To lime
the privilege of electing a delegate, a town must contain at
least 25,000 inhabitants, and he must be chosen at an open
meeting, so that it was necessary for a large number of people
to be enrolled as Unionists. A separate subscription must
maintain the delegates in London.
The CHAIRMAN observed that they were not so immediately
met to raisel the National
support.
He
e Conventionthe n called Fundund ,
upon
tno
afloir mw
hoon
we
efor
er
their own
o
advocates of the welfare and good order of society, to step for-
ward and give their names and subscription.
Mr. GEORGE WYNN then rose and delivered a ready written
speech;
tc
p._lsus to abridge it very considerably, but we have been care-
fulits more prominent passages
to preserve Fellow-towns-
men, your
Union is but recently organized; and I am given
by the placards lately posted on , the walls of the town, you
to understand that prior to calling upon your fellow-townsmen
in order to place this Union on a sound footing, and to set it
sent a delegate to Birmingham for instructions how to proceed,
properly a-going. I cannot blame the anxiety to be well ad-
vised,irmingham the matter, occasions me both r
hich, doubtless, actuated this step—( Hear)—but I
must say that the circumstance of your having thought fit to
Whilst there are
and regret. gentlemen in this town,
sur-
prise
associates and leaders in the former Political tr •
your old mon,
for obtainins.
and in all exertionsextensive reforms, I cannot
application to them should have been neglected.
conceive why
—( Hear, hear.) Such neglect, in my opinion, implies an
apply to II
unwarrantable, and, I feel sorry to add, an ungrateful mis.
biy chief anxiety concerning the re-organization of
ttrhuestilolitical Unions, as in the present case, is, that they
may not aim or tend to divide and weaken those ranks
which
at present are necessarily made up of Reformers
of different shades—the united forces of the Liberals
We should bear in . mind that " there is
a time for all things :" and. deliberately consider whe-
therresent is a period at which we can in
the p
policy or safety detach from our alliance so large a body as the
Whigs.—( Hear, hear.) I am strongly of opinion that it is
Depend upon it that even partial Reform is preferable
feature is " Universal Sff "
not.
arks on the object with. which the Wolverhampton
to utter Tory misrule. Having thus laboured to warn this
Unionl proceed to offer
generally.soinerewhinh the principal Political Union is ostensibly revived. The " People's Char-
ter,"- from self-destructive factiousness,
of u rage,
is adopted as your motto. Of Universal Suffrage as a prin
ciple, lam decidedly an advocate. But, although lam an
advocate of the principle of Universal Suffrage—although I
firmly maintain that it is essential to liberty, I must at the same
time strongly assert that there are some things indispensably
essential to Universal Suffrage itself--( Hear, hear)—some
things, without which as forerunners, I very much fear
Universal Suffrage would be found a curse rather than a
blessing. Of these the chief and greatest is education,
( Hear, hear.) Education must necessarily precede so all-
important a measure as Universal Suffrage. Poverty, too—
too prevalent poverty—without education, would prove a
serious obstacle in the exercise of Universal Suffrage.
Though the Vote b y Ballot would doubtless in a great mea-
sure counteract the bribery and intimidation by which the poor
man is coerced, education would furnish a much more infallible
remedy. Educate I Educate I Educate! must be the final
cry of the Liberals.--( Hear.) Education is the surest pioneer
of freedom. Not that I mean to affirm that we are entirely
to stand still--( Hear, and great cheers)—for an event so neces-
sarily the work of considerable time, far from it. There are
reforms which the people are now sufficiently educated to
know and feel the necessity of. Reforms which we are not
only ripe for without education, but which will materially con-
duce to the progress of education itself. Of these immediate
desiderata the Repeal of the Corn-laws is the] first and
greatest.—( Hear, hear.) Give the people cheap bread—
give them Free Trade to create a demand for their labour
—to render them flourishing and prosperous—and they
will not only be content until education fits them for fur-
ther benefits, but they will have the means of facilitating its
approach, by being able to afford their children a good school-
ing, and having leisure to improve themselves. I may be told
in reply to this, that you seek Universal Suffrage as an instru
ment for the repeal of the Corn-laws, &c—( Hear, hear.)—
that we cannot obtain those reforms by any other means. That
would indeed be "putting the cart before the horse"—it would
be deferring a promised for a prospective aelvatitage—it would
be like trying to get to China by the North Pole—losing your
final destination in a fruitless endeavour to get to the half-way
house. The repeal of the Corn-laws and Vote by Ballot are
desiderata which, by the rapidly increasing number of re-
presentatives who advocate them, are almost within our grasp
—must soon be carried in Parliament. But a few years since
only six Members voted for the institution of Vote by Ballot
when that question was mooted in Parliament; during the late
session, however, 200 Members came forward'to advocate the
proposition—( Hear)— and before next session terminates I de-
voutly believe it may be carried. For the Corn-law repeal,
still fewer years since, but one solitary Member, your friend
Mr, Fryer, was seen bestirring himself; yet more recently,
Mr. Villiers has been backed by 100 of the best men in tho

RADICAL DEMONSTRATION AT
ROCHDALE.

"-The only report we' have received of this meeting is the
following, from a Manchester Paper, professedly inimical to
the Radicals:—

The ultra-Radicals of Oldham met on Thursday evening
last, on the vacant land called Curzon Ground, in the rear of
the Albion Inn, High-street, by torch light, for the purpose
(according to the announcement of some individuals styling
themselves " the Borough Political Council") of adopting
" the People's Charter, the Birmingham National Petition,
and to elect a Delegate for Oldham, to attend the National
Convention." At eight o'clock, the hour fixed for the meet-
ing, about a score of people were on the ground, and two carts I
had been procured for the speakers. Shortly afterwards, a
number of young fellows, approaching with burning torches,
crowds of boys and young women from the factories, were
drawn to the spot. A few bands of music, followed by politi-
cal union and electioneering flags, formed additional sources
of attraction to the juveniles. The audience did not exceed,
at any period of the proceedings, 2,500 or 3,000. A working
man from Royton, named William Taylor, was called to the
Chair. The first resolution, approving of the People's Char-
ter, was moved by Mr. William Fitton, surgeon, of Royton ;
and seconded by Mr. Alexander Taylor, provision dealer of
Oldham, whose speech chiefly related to men whom he called
" land sharks," who had made enormous profits by the late
high prices of flour ; a most appropriate subject of comment
for a flour dealer.—Mr. R. B. Cobbett made a great parade
as to the numbers assembled, declaring it to be the largest local
meeting that had been held on the subject.—Mr. James Hol-
laday, millwright, of Oldham, proposed the adoption of the
Birmingham National Petition, in an address respecting the
evils of capital, when applied to diminish the value of labour.
—Mr. J. L. Quarmby, schoolmaster, seconded the motion, in
a wild philippic against Tories and Whigs.—Mr. R. J. Rich-
ardson, of Manchester, trusted, that if they did not obtain
their objects in twelve months, they would tell the tyrants,
with some different kind of a weapon than torches, that they
would be free. A boisterous shout served to intimate the ap-
proach of those favourites of the physical force Radicals,
O'Connor and Stephens.—Mr. O'Connor gave nearly a re-
petition of his speech at Rochdale, announcing they would
not wait much more than a year for Universal Suffi ago ;
and spoke of annihilation, destruction, arms, &c. Sze.—
Mr. Stephens acquitted himself in his usual style, address-
ing his hearers as the mem of a hundred hamlets. The
following are specimens of some of his language Our
enemies say it is the Divine will that men should be
miserable ; if so, the labouring classes have had a sufficient
period of misery ; and it is time the other side have their share
of misery, as it is the will of God that all classes be miserable.
You must go to work, then, and make the Poor-law Com-
missioners, the landlords, the mill-owners, miserable; and
how are they to be made so? Why, by burning their mills,
blowing out their brains, pulling down the bastiles. I
never told you to do these things; but the new lights, as
Cobbett called them, have declared it to be God's will
that men be miserable, and it is therefore your duty, in at-
tending to the divine injunction, to render them so. * * •
Take your torches from this meeting, and carry them
—where ? Why, to the mills—to the Royal George's
—to the weaving cellars—to the cut chambers—to the
counting-houses—aye, to the mill.owners themselves, and
show them that you are really an enlightened people—
( Laughter)—determined to throw light on the subject of your
rights." The mass of the meeting did not appear to approve
of Stephens's violent expressions.—Mr. James Taylor, of
Rochdale, delivered a few words, observing, that the Whigs
said their scheme of a national convention was visionary ; but
they would find it otherwise. As far as related to himself, it
would be something more than nonsense.— A man of the name
of Degan, from Stalybridge, uttered an incitement to arms,
and spoke of destruction to tyrants, and death to those whom
he termed the enemies of the people. The crowd separated
about eleven o'clock, after giving a round'of cheers for Mr.
Fielden, M.P.

-- ---
A Correspondent, writing from Chichester (for
whose useful communication we regret that room cannot be
found to-day), informs us that the honest burgesses of Chi-
chester beat the Tories hollow at the recent municipal election,
notwithstanding the shameless political profligacy of the con-
spiring Conservative and Clerical forces. After the unblushing
recourse to all the ordinary methods of bribery and intimida•
tion, " to the honour of the people be it stated," says our Cor-
respondent, " the Reformers carried the election of their Town
Councillors by the return of their popular candidates. The
question is settled. A majority is ready to receive a Reformer;
his return would be certain. The people are determined no
longer to submit to the conduct of the house of Richmond.
We have one good and consistent Representative, and another
such an one is now most anxiously desired."
Mrs. Sheppard, of Andover, has contributed the
munificent sum of one hundred pounds in aid of the fuqs. ofn
the Royal Naval School, Camberwell. By her apprapriatutiroe,
of part of that amount to the purchase of a 251.. deben
Mrs. Sheppard enjoys the privilege during her lifeofinto
nomi-
nating the son of a naval or marine officer for admission
th' school,
-