The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-18 00:00:00

BISHOPSGATE REFORM MEETING.

Yesterday a meeting of the inhabitants of the,
ward of Bishopsgate took' place at the School.-
house, upon the subject of. Reform in Parliament,
the Assessed Taxes, and .the Duties on Coals.
Alderman COPELAND in the Chair:

Mr. Deputy WESTON, in proposing resolutions

favour of a Reform in Parliament, said that he was
not an advocate for that sort of Reform ;which in-
clUded universal suffrage and annual Parliaments.
He wished for a considerable extension of the right
of, ,•pt.;nig,. for a limitation of the period of Parlia-
inentb.- and, above- all, for the vote
.by
44-teo4jtoar..) —ll,llen he was in Parisi he,easv: the
advantages arising from the ballot, in the propriety,
'quietness, and moral rectitude with which the elec-
tions took place; and the public had lately witnessed
the working of a different system in the disgraceful
transactions at Liverpool, where so horrible a sys-
tem of corruption had beer developed.—(Hear,
hear.) He then moved a string of resolutions—the
echo of his speech.
Sir WILLIAM RAWLINS seconded the resolution.
All men deplored the unfortunate occurrences which
had taken place.through the country, but the dis-
tress from which they resulted had arisen from, and
was occasioned by, the conduct of the aristocracy
in raising the price of the farms—a measure which
made it impossible for the farmer to pay his labourers.
One fact he should state.—A farm had been in the
possession of his family for 130 years, at the rent
of 2101. a year, but the landlord, who was no other
person than Sir Francis Burdett,could take no less,
when applied to by him for the renewal of the lease,
than 6001. a year.—(Cries of, " Oh, oh ! what !
the patriot!) That most excellent
.and charitable
patriot was of opinion that he ought to pocket to
the utmost farthing, upon the Hudibrastic principle—
" The greatest value of a thing
Is just as much as it will bring."
_

—(Cheers and laughter.) He (Sir W. Rawlins,
hoped, and indeed he knew, that the ward of
shopsgate would do all in its power to establish a
distribution of the blessings of Providence amongst
the community.
Mr. STEPHENS said, that as Parliament was cow
constituted, the whole controul was in the hands of

the very persons who enjoyed the pecuniary fruits.
There were, in fact, not three, but two estates of the
realm, for the House of Commons was the mere
deputy of the House of Lords.—(Laughter and
cheers.) He (Mr. Stephens) was not a. radical re-
former. He considered that universal suffrage -was
universal nonsense, and would create universal can-

fusion;lbut he wished that all who paid et fair pro•
portion bf the taxes should be entitled to vote.

,
Mr. CHARLES PEARSON felt bound to testify his
entire approbation of every sentiment contained in
the resolutions. No good could be done, unless a
Reformed Parliament and an honest Administration,
in good earnest, set about the redress of the people's
grievances, by lightening the burden of taxation, and
• renovating• the ancient institutions of the country,
insteed of maintaining., in time of peace, expensive
and strong military establishments, and an army of
sinecurists, placemen, and pensioners, to make pro=
vision for the boroughmongers, their families, and
connections.—(Cheers.) Although he bad great
confidence in the present Administration, he deemed
the increase of the standing army to 140,000, and
the calling out of the militia, but a bud omen. It
the work at the.wrong end.—(Hear,
hear.) of the army was said to be to
whatpliaatsr.2omwandrf6 them turbulent
the he beginning
turbulent ofbut
p
the workingov e
poverty,
and t
classes; but
made them poor but taxation ? and that taxation
would be increased .by the very means taken to re-
Moveits consequences. The only remedy for this was
to return to a cheap, unostentatious, but most efficient
domestic force, instead of increasing the great organ
of tyranny—a standing army. Mr. Pearson, at
considerable length, described the state of the ma-
nufacturing population in Lancashire and Cheshire,
where he had lately been, and declared that the
weavers were in the lowest condition of misery.
He had been from hovel to hovel in many of the
towns and villages, for the purpose of personally
ascertaining their real state. He had also in many
parts been shown the books by master manufacturers,
from which it appeared that in many departments
weaving,oi-
able-bodied men could not, by working
twelve hoUrs a day, earn more than six shillings a
week, and many of them considerably less. lie
had heard it remarked that the resolutions were
strong ; that was just what they should be. The
Ward of liishopagate was famed for telling the truth
in intelligible language.- For what was language
given to us but to enable' Us to call things by their
••
right names ? They call : a table a table, and a
the. same principle, he
should aboi'•otirglin tiloriger boroughmonger,
cehveailira everalthough'ha
calla
and, t
l
it were that Prince of boroughmon-
gers, the Duke. of :Newcastle himself.—(Laughter,
and cries of bear.):' That sagacious nobleman, that
proprietor of Aldborough, of Boroughbridge, and of
Newark, was against the ballot, because be liked tol
seen 4' fine display of old English spirit in the
people, coining up boldly to vote. in the open face of
day; ' and, he might have added, to enable him to
show an Lin-English spirit in persecuting and ruining
them for what they had done. lie (Mr. P.) had
seen so much mistu.y.resulting from party animosi-
ties, occasioned by voting at elections, that he ear-
nestly hoped' the ballot would be resorted to to put
an end to" the heartburnings to which contests for
the repreSentatives perpetually gave rise. How
many of the ties of blood and friendship did not
voting upon the present system read asunder ? At
Newark he knew a young man, who worked for his
father as a blacksmith ; the son did not live under
the Duke of Newcastle, but the father did ; the son
voted for the independent candidate—the father for
the Duke's nominee; the son was industrious, sober, •
and dutiful ; yet was the father obliged to discharge
the son from his employment, or he himself would
have been turned out of his house for harbouring
one whom God and nature had imposed
upon him the duty of protecting.—(Expressions
of disgust, 'and cries of hear.) Another voter
was discharged • horn his house by that celebrated
opponent of the ballot, because the elector showed
the " fine old English spirit" of refusing to perjure
himself to please his landlord.—(Cheers.)—That
man's family had lived in the house for many years,
and paid for it an adequate rent. They had ex-
pended hundreds upon the property. As he was
allowed to continue in possession of the house only
on condition of voting for the Duke's nominee, he
scrupled to take the bribery oath. He requested to
bbeingi
be allowed to vote without 4wearing. This'' not
granted, after some strivings of conscience iu
the Presence of the religious Mr. Sadler, he laid
down the book Lind went away, in consequence of
which the Duke had given him notice to quit. His
property was confiscated, and the fruits of his own
and his ancestors' industry now rewarded the obse-
quious industry of a more pliant voter.
Mr. CLODE shortly addressed the Prlevting, ex-
pressing a wish that, as the resolution disclaimed
any intention to enter into the minor details of Rk
form, that 'which related to the ballot .might be

omitted, as he was convinced that in a reformed
Parliainent it would not be necessary.
Mr. Deputy WESTON considered,. that instead of
being one of the minor parts of the question, it was
one of the most prominent and impor ant.
Mr..C. PEARSON begged to. remind Mr. Clode,
that.tmder the ballot every voter was at liberty to
gratify his love.of the' fine old English spirit, by
openly declaring for what party he voted.
The resolutions were unanirnously carried, with
the exception of the last. There were two hands
beld up against the ballot.

MR. HUNT AND THE ELECTORS OF

PRESTON.

Astrieetifig was held laSt night at the London
Tavetn,.pishopsgate-street; forthe.purpose -of ex-
pressing a'clmiratjonof the conduct of the electors of
Preston in returning Mr. Hunt as: their Member, and
to hcat-a.staternent relative to the election from Mr.
Mitchell, t-person frornVieston, nowintto.Wtr."The
meeting was fixed for seven o'clock, at which hour,
however, there was scarcely a person present :
shortly after they began to drop in somewhat more
freely, and at the fullest period there were, perhaps,
nearly 400 persons present.
THOS. WAKLEY, Esq. took the Chair.

_ .
The CHAIRMAN returned his thanks for being
elected to that office, which he would call high and
distinguished, because they had, on that occasion,
assembled for the purpose of paying a tribute of re-
spect to Englishmen who had had the moral courage
to assert their rights. It had been in contemplation
for the last three or four weeks to disfranchise all
the boroughs where open voting was allowed. He
did not know that this was throwing a tub to the
whale ; but, at all events, it was a fat fish to the
aristocracy, who ex:.laimed that they would not
give up their boroughs, unless the people were
made to give up their's. He trusted, however,
that the people would not, in this manner, suffer
their rights to be taken from them. He trusted
that if such an attempt was made they would thun-
der their opposition in the ears of any Ministry that
should be so profligate as to propose so audacious a
measure. It was not the open voting that had done
the past mischief; it was the shameful rotten bo-

rough system—(Cheers)—and it was, therefore,
the duty of every honest man to show his re-
spect for those who had exercised their rights with
independence and freedom.—(Applause.)—Know
ledge and tyranny could never co-exist ; but knoW-
ledge was of little use without union. Let them
but unite—let them but co-operate—and they were
sure to carry their point.--L(Cheers.)—But the ety
now was to wait. Unfortunately; however, .they
had already exhibited too, vouch patience; and. to
call.on the. people to .wait was sophistry and delu-
sion. It was worse—it was a fraud on their. under
standings, and a robbery on their pockets.—..(Cheers.)
He for one, would not wait ; he would raise his
voice without ceasing for Reform; and, in his opi-
nion, no Reform would be effectual which did not
include short Parliaments, an extension of the
suffrage to all who paid taxes, and vote by ballot.
Mr. O'BRIEN proposed a resolution of thanks to
the people of Preston for having returned Mr. Hunt
as their Member. They were told that they had
now got a Minister who deserved credit. He did
not see that—the Government was a Whig Go-
vernment, and -let them look at the Statute-book,
arid they would find that almost all the severe enact-
ments it contained had been passed under their Ad-
ministration. That was the faction that passed the
Septennial Act, and the Riot Act ; that was the
faction that only three years ago had disfranchised
so many :thousand Irishmen, because they feared
their hottest and fearless voting. It was the Whigs
also.that enacted the Penal Code against the people
of Ireland, and every one knew that that code had
been written in letters of blood, excluding education,
under pain of death, and setting father against son,
and son against father. He would confess that he

had fora long time been in the habit of looking on
the Whigs as the most false, cruel, and insidious
faction that this country hOd ever known. This was
the faction that opposed the ballot because it led to
hypocrisy. Oh, that the Whigs should talk about
hypocrisy.—(A laugh.)—lt reminded him of what
bad lately taken place in a Court of Justice in Mon.
mouthshire. A female prisoner, who had been as
mute and silent as possible during her trial, being
convicted, immediately let fly two or three ferocious
thumps at the officer of the Court, and all the time
kept crying, " Murder ! murder ! murder I" when
she was the only person in the Count who thought
of doing such'a thing: presently she caught up a
brass candlestick, and flung it at the prouecutot's
head, still crying, " Murder ! murder ! murder !"
when it -was only she that dreamt of such a thing.
Just in this manner it was with the Whigs. They
shotited, " Hypocrisy ! hypocrisy ! hypocrisy !"
while they themselves were the most irreclaimable
crew • of 'hypocrites that the world ever saw. 77-
(Cheers anclaughter,)--,,What was the motive that
led thiatistocracy to demand exclusive representation
so lustily P Merely this, that it was by exclusive re-
presentation they had first sucked the people dry, ants(
it was by eichrsive representation they hoped to keep
hold of .their booty ; so that exclusive representa-
tion was the first and the last maxim of this rapaci-.
ous and plundering set. This, then, being the case,
every holiest man must wish to have full and cm.
plete Reform. As to moderate Reform, it was. all
binhug—it wai but another name for fraudulent
Reform, -and propoi:ed as a thief gives up a sove-
reign or two that he may retain the firmer gripe on
the list full that was still in his possession. Examples
were. now to be found abroad—(Cheers)—formerly
England was foremost in the race of liberty z but
now she bad to look at what the glorious Belgians,
and the still more gloriOna French bad done, and
learn from thew wiiat her course in future ought to
be.--,(Applause.)—Let them, therefore, trust io
themselves, and take ca. e hots they trusted the
Whigs. He concluded by moving, " That the
Electors of Preston hove entitledtbemselves to the
admiration and gratitud; A► the people of England
by their ma;ily itud patriotic conduct at the recent
election in returning to Parliament Henry Hunt,
Esq., the uncompromising and fearless advocate of
the people's rights and liberties, in opposition to a
Whig Minister, who would convert their town into
a close borough, by aristocratic intrigue and bribery,
and who belongs to a faction, unexatnpled for hypo-
crisy and rapacity in the annals of political tergiver-
sa!ion."—(Cheers.)
Mr. SAVAGE, in seconding this motion, said that
it was not because the people of Prestp bud returned
Mr. Hunt, but bec.tuel they had assorted their rights
as free electors, that he was desirous of returning
them his thanks. Why was it that the fruits of his
honest labour were taken from him P lkeause be
was not represented; and 4ezause he. was called on
to pay the interest of a debt which had Aever bee
refitted him. Let thtni have universal 2ufrage,
and the first would be eradicated ;1-and with respect
to the latter, all he had to say was that as the money
raised on the debt had been expended to protect the
aiistoeracy and the revenues of the church; the
property of the aristocracy and the property of the
church ought to be made to ay 4he debt.--_-(Tre-
mendous cheers.)
Mr. Myrruct,t, then rose to address the meetiog,
saying, that he had been informed that his mission
,o this metropolis would probajity be'atteri,ded with
very little success, for there were'Dsit one hundred
Radical Reformers in London.—(A Ittugh.)-1-1e

e
to a history tghteatlitiateee-iolenctiinonb-
efioorg Parbelestotno.
. - .
then, after a few prefatory observations, proceeded
htlaiadt.atlhsoe mwuheohle expence of the election would not
exceed 1,0001., at least, such was his persuasion
would tutu out to' be the case when the accounts
came to be wound up;—(Cheers.)—He had now
further an important communication to make to the
tweeting. Mr. Hunt was present at a meeting of
the Council of the Political Union in Birmingham,
where lie fully expressed his sentiments on the sub-
ject of Parliamentary Reform, which, as' they were
well known to those whom he had the honour of
addressing, it would not be then necessary for him
to. repeat. In those sentiments Mr. Attwood ex-
pressed his full concurrence to the full extent of vote
by ballot and annual Parliaments; and- he also de-
clared, that he should feel proud 'in sitting by the
side of such men as Mr. Hunt, and in co-operating
with him in advancing the great cause of short Perlis-
tnents.and the ballot.7--(Cheers.Y—The next topic to
which'he directed their attention was the wonderful
and commanding character of the Birmingham Po-
litical Union, having fifty-six branches, at each of
which there were periodical debates upon appointed
questions, and nothing could be carried on with
greater decoruin, or in a manner better calculated to
promote the general diffusion of political knowledge.
He told the mekirtg that he stood there in some
sort the organ of many plaCes in the North of Eng-
land, And be cduld'essure them that if there were in
any of the London papers continued tnisiepreserra-
Lions of Mr.-Hunt,' Mk: 07Connell; or others, the
piciprietors of papets in' the-districts. with which he
was acquainted ivuld—thetnselves acrid up reporters
to remedy the. evile-7.(Applause--a voice in the
crowd" Take the'tax.offnewspapers.")—lt had be n
said that Mr. Hunt was an irreligious man ; but how
did he employ the Sunday after Christmas-day—
he spent visiting the poor weavers of Preston.
Mr: M. then proceeded to describe, in terms tile
most distressing, the laMentable condition of those
poor people, who,. though working fourtert boors a
day, could not . obtain above 4s. 6tl:'a week, NVIIO
were for six months at a time without tAstiog
butcher's meat-,-who were destitute of the most
necessary .domestic utensils—nay, without decent
covering, and, there was scarcely a man amongst
them who could not in the most intelligent matinee
demonstrate bQw their sufferings were to ha tract ti
to the want of proper Parliamentary representation.
It was perfectly evident that the country could not
long remain in its present condition.—(Hear.)
Mr. GRADY proceeded to express his jov at Mr,
Attwood's accession to the cause of Radical Reform,
and dwelling upon the importance of his testimony-
in favour of the establishment of a Parliamentary
Office. He then concluded by moving the following
resolution :

" That, Ism the purpose of supplying and disseminating
all useful, political, and. morn especially Parliamentary in. tnation to the country at ►arge—fur.cKnsolidating and
directing the energies of the whols.people--for the reco-
very and protection
,of the people's rights—and for aiding
and assisting the efforts of Mr, Hunt end such other Mute.
hers of Parliament as are really chosen by the people, and
truly represent them in the Commons House—an Office
he established in London, to be called the Parliamen•,uj
Reform Offiee."
Mr. LYNE seconded the resolution‘

The resolution was then put by the. CHAIRMAN,
who eaintstly wished to promote anyti..:ng calculated
to advance Parliamentary Reform ; but scarcely
hoped that even by that establishment anything
very considerable could be effected. The people of
England were almost in arms for their rights, mitt
he feared that if the Government did not propose,
some most important change, peace would be at an
end in England, lie thought that matters wet.:
approaching to such u crisis, that an establishment of
that nature could not be matured before its services
would be unavailing. In the course of these remark,,,
he complained of the neglect of the public Press
manifested towards Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Time, and
other Members o the House of •Commons who
spoke the sentiments of the people. .
.The question %ills then put and agreed to,
Mr. CLEAVE, in moving another resolution, which
is given underneath, sated that the Parliamentary
Office in Ireland was suppressed, and,
therefore,
the
greater was the necessity for some bond of union in
Englund, for the declaration of public opinion, be-
fore an Algerine Aot should be passed in this
country. He then moved that " This meeting is of
opinion that the friends of Radical Reform should
make every possible exertion to promote sub,crip-
dons, to cover the expences incurred at the recent
election at Preston, in order that the honest electorA
of that town may be hereafter free to act with I ke
independence and success at future elections."
Mr- LYNE seconded the above.
Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, for
which he made suitable acknowledgments, and the
meetitv broke up at a quarter past eleven.

A most extraordinary story. is in circulation
in Kent, to which we refer because it would appear the
height of ignorance not to be aware of the circumstance,
anti because if it is a fal-ehood and calumny, it is best to
bring it to the notice of the individual principally con-
cerned, in such a shape as to render its contradiction or
explanation a work of no difficulty. The story told is
this z—A person of the name of Coot took lodgings in
Maidstone, during his residence in which the country was
kept in a continual state of alarm by the constant receipt
of those letters signed " Swing," front which it should
seem the system and signature together have since been
adopted all over England. This Coot was suspected by
ninny people of being the writer of these letters, and the
reports and suspicions gaining strength, he left the place--
but it is seriously alleged that before his departure lie paid
and received a visit tti, trod from, the Earl of ROMNEY, and
at the last of these interviews received from his Lordship
the suds of 1251. - The people go on to say, that the matt
~/io,weil the. money to more than one of the tradesmen of
Maidstone, stating who the dolma was ; and it is farther
added, that the Mayor and town-Clork of Millstone have
waited upon the Noble Earl, Who declines any farther ex-
planation of his conduct, admitting, however, as it is re-
, ported, that he did . give the man, who was a perfert
stranger to him, the sum .stated of lits 6-1 The story, if
not repeated with great earnestness I,:rd confidence, and
circulated gener44 iu the neighbvirhood, would appear
incredible, not Inure frc-ia the "peculiarity of the circum-
stance itself, but front the tact, that Lard ROMNEY is not
so much in the habit of giving anything in charity to per-
sons whom he sloes know it therefore appears to require
some explanatiou,' why his Lordship was so suddenly
worked upon .to jive 125!. to an utter stranger. —John
Bull.

AN IRISH SECRETARY.—We give the fol-
lowing original sad culious letters verbatim. It is ne-
omary to explain that the writer of the first communica-
tion is the identical Mr. PAT CONNALLY, the writer of
the second. ' Thiii person, it appears, had been requested
by a dying comrade to inform his friends (when he should
be no more) of the particulars of his death, but feeling
some scruple at aodressing a party of whom he knew but
little, Mr. PAT CONNALLY penned the following letter to
the mother, and actually signed it with the name of the de-
ceased, as if it had been written by her departed son :
" Sicupdeibad, Sept, 30, 1824.
" My dear Mother,—Your last letter that I received
when I was in Portsmouth left me in the 'greatest joy
imaginable, hearing that you were in good health, but I
was very sorry to hear that my brother Michael is not get-
ti any better at all; but thanks be to the Almighty God
that lie does expect for to get better some time or other,
but it is not so with me. Dear mother, I was nine
months in the hospital with the liver complaint, but glory
be to Gad lam no more. I departed this life on the 9th
of September, 1824, Dear mother—lt is. my loving
comrade that has wrote this my'letter to you, and to ht
you know that lam no more. Dear mother,—Let this
not frighten you, because- the will of God must be done,
for when the Almighty calls upon us we must go, as he
sent us into the wothi, therefore, when he sends for us we
must go. Give my last love to my brothers and sisters,
and to all ;fiends and relations, and to all .t.ity
acquaint-
ance;. Give my last love to Mr. Bowen and his family,
and to .john Alordey, let them all know 1 am no inure.

" Yours Inveing son, r
- " PETER MYLETT."

"111 y dear Friend,—During the thou your son was in
hogpital I could daci,
A.s
normapoitie,cotluoany
ntlodfigcl
autiwr..l,
I.im. I at,
tended him during the whole time, night and day, as a
comrade would du.—Your..inceoe hiend,
" PAT CONNALLY,
,! Son to Andrew Gmnaliv