The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-29 00:00:00

t progressive improvement, 20 years of which was profound
peace. Let them not suppose that from the repeal of the
Corn-laws, unaccompanied by other measures, any benefit
would accrue to them. No ; but if they obtained Universal
Suffrage, tken they would be able to turn the repeal of those
laws to their own advantage•—(Cheers.) He would ask,
who were the political economists of the present day ? Mr.
O'Connell, Mr. Ward, the Member for Sheffield, and Mr.
Francis Place ?—these men knew as little about political eco-
nomy as a pig did of geometry.—( Roars of laughter.) If
they gave one of these men a cabbage-garden to cultivate,
they would grow cabbages in it to all eternity, never supposing
that it would grow any thing else ; and yet these men talked of
going to Poland for corn, instead of making the Irish happy to
cultivating the land. Mr. Spring Rice asserted that the Irish
people must be happy, because the deposits were increasing
in the Savings Banks. That he (Mr. O'Connor) contended
was the greatest proof of their poverty. In England, when
the money was going into the Savings Banks, it was an un-
iust abstraction from the comforts the working classes ought
to enjoy; but, in Ireland, it was an abstraction from
the legitimate use to which capital should be applied.
—(Hear, hear.) Why was the money deposited in Savings
Ranks in Ireland.? because there was no confidence between
the landlord and the tenant. The land was left uncultivated,
and the Government was receiving the interest of the poor
man's money. No wonder, therefore, Mr. Spring Rice was
glad of its increase. It could not be denied, that the people of
that country were industrious. They might ace them upon the
tops of the highest houses—paving the streets--and ready to
take any job; and therefore that meeting would agree with
him. thatit was necessary to provide such men with sustenance,
a happy house, and clean fireside. By means of steam Irish-
men could now work in Dublin till five o'clock on Monda)
evening, and passing over to Liverpool in the course of the
night, without the loss of a single day, throw themselves
into the labour market in that country, and deprive
the working classes of employment.—( Cries of " Hear.")
Well then Ireland was the breeding country, and why,
they could not stop it was, because he believed that the
women there bred without the men—(Great laughter)
They brought forward their Malthusian principles, to assist
them, and in order to show that the House of Commont.
was always indulging in scientific legislation—(Laughter)
They were always indulging in legislatione upon spices, and
sweets, but he defied theth to show him any legislation with
respect to agriculture or potatoes—(Cheers). Lord Chan-
dos was always taking about the landlords, while they sup-
posed he was talking about the land. New he (Mr.
O'Connor) was talking about the men that dig, and delve,
and grow ; but who get nothing.—(Cheers). Now he
wanted to teach the people that agriculture and commerce
should make head. But then it was said, oh, if you can't
live here you can go to New South \Vales, or Canada.
Indeed ! When he saw gentlemen's pleasure grounds
broken up for the benefit of the people and agriculture ;
when he saw commons enclosed and divided ; so soon as
he found that race-courses were broken up, that race-
horses and dogs were put an end to, and that then the
people had not enough, then he would join them in quest
of other lands in other countries.—(Cheers.) But first.
please God, they would try their power at home.—
(Cheers.) ne meeting would now, perhaps, allow him
to introduce to them Mr. Whittle, the delegate from
Liverpool, and the Editor of the Champion newspaper.
--(Great cheering.) He could assure them that lie was
a great friend to the cause of the people.—(Cheers.) Now
be had told the meeting two or three things ; he had
told them the different modes by which they must
agitate England and Ireland.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
He had shown them that the Government would not inter-
fere with the present existing duties upon agriculture, and
be had shown them that the land of the country was amply
sufficient for the supply of the population, if properly em-
ployed.—(Cheers.) He could assure the meeting that they
would not see halcyon days until they had accomplished
Universal Suffrage.—(Cheers.) He had cautioned them
against the 'Malthusians and the Cern-law Repealers.—
(Cheers.) Upon the one side they had Lord Durham and
the Household Suffrage party, against whom he could not
sufficiently caution them.—(Cheers.) When a party got
up, looking for extreme liberty and for their just rights, at-
tempts were made to intimidate them ; and when the Go-
vernment found they were not sufficiently strong,
then they created another party, in order to de-
feat the purposes of the former.—( Loud cheers.) House-
hold Suffrage might be a good thing, but there was
not a man who advocated it that would give it to them.—
(Cheers.) If they were to say to Lord Durham they
would take Household Suffrage, what would that Noble
Lord say ? Why, " I will still be for Universal Suffrage,
but I don't ask for any other man to be so."—(Cheers.)
Then they had Harry Brougham ; he had written a capi-
tal letter to the Queen—(Cheers)—and if he (Mr.
O'Connor) could get over the damnable Poor-law Bill,
and some of the other measures that Harry had intro-
duced, there was no man he should more approve of,
and nothing would delight him more than to see
those two cocks, Harry and Durham, sparring toge-
ther—(Laughter)—if they were, he would make a
bet that Harry would have him under.--(Loud cheers.)
Durham would be like an inflated balloon---(Laugh-
ter
was )—or like a barrel organ—the moment the wrong spring
touched, Barry would catch him.—(Great laughter.)
(Clßut tb.. worst was Harry was not to be depended on_
aeers). Harry had said every man ought to lay up in
youth enough for his old age ; he—(Mr. O'C.) admitted
that, but then Harry did not practice what be preached,
and at the very time he broached that doctrine he was ad-
ding to his own income—(Cheers). They must sling a
ring about these two fellows, he begged their pardon Noble
Lords, but they must do do it quietly ; they had the best
of it, and they must take care that neither of those fellows
had the best of them—(Cheers). They were told that
Russia was a power which this country dreaded—let them
recollect that there was a strong feeling existing in the
country towards Poland, and let them bear in mind that
Lord Durham, when he came from Russia, said that
Nicholas was a much injured man—(Hear, and cheers)—
and let them also bear in mind the conduct of that Noble
Lord in Canada.—(Cheers.) There was another party
that would threaten them—parties that were frightened at
their own shadow—parties that never heard of Universal
Suffrage, but saw physical force.—(Cheers.) Now as to
physical force, he (Mr. O'Connor) had told them there was
a meeting yesterday at Bristol ; the military were called
out ; that meeting had been legally and properly conducted ;
and if the military had injured one man attending it, he
would not have given ten hours' purchase for all Bristol put
together.—(Great cheering.) They were in the habit of
reviling the agricultural labourers, and saying they were
ignorant. Now he had received a letter from an agricul-
tural labourer, part of which was published in The
Sun of that evening, in which he said the landlords
and farmers had sent a troop to suppress the meeting at
Bristol, and that the labourers of the district had sub-
scribed to pay eleven of their body to attend the meeting,
who were to act as half-hourly scouts to report:progress,:and
concluded by expressing their intentions, in case of
any
murders being committed. Well, notwithstanding all this.
he (Mr. O'Connor) was there with his head on his
shoulders, and he believed that of the Duke of Beaufort's
was in the right place also.---(Cheers.) The authorities
of Bristol were determined to take great care of him, and
accordingly they billetted no less than six persons at the
inn where he slept. There they were, determined to take
good care of him, with their great plough-shares by their
sides, and a most laughable figure they cut, and
it was his firm belief that if they had begun to fight,
they would kill no person but themselves.—( Laughter.) In
six weeks Parliament would assemble, and all he asked was,
that they would take no steps to damage their cause.—
(Cheers, and cries of "We will not.") He trusted they
would not let it be said that they wanted Universal Suffrage
to plunder and rob--(Cheers)—but that they were determined
that legislation should not stand still till they had Universal
Suffrage.—(Cheers.) Front the moment that the Reform
Bill passed up to the present time notwithstanding the boasts
of Mr. O'Connell, no single Act had passed fur the benefit of
the working man—(Cheers)—and he trusted the meeting
would say to that individual, " We will forgive you all your
faults, if, with all the power you possess, you will show us
anything you have done for the benefit of the working man."
When be(Mr. O'Connor) was in the House of Commons heard
done all he could for the working classes—(Cheers)—he had
laid the foundation-stone for saving the Dorchester labourers
—(Cheers)--and he did all he could to save the unfortunate
Glasgow cotton- spinners.—( Cheers.) They must suppose
there was something wrong, when a man who had so much
power to shake a Ministry as Mr. O'Connell had, could not
put his finger upon a single sheet of the Statute book, con-
taining some enactment to better the condition of .the working
classes.--( Cheers.) Was it for this that he was to be abused 2
Was it for this that Mr. O'Connell should stand up in Dub-
was guilty of treason ? What
lin and say he (Mr. O'Connor)
did Mr. O'Connell do ? Why, he took a paper, and read from
Mr. a speech he (Mr. O'Connor) never made. What warns
Mr. O'Connell, or how consistent was he ?--(Hear, hear.)
Why he (Mr. O'Connor) had heard him on a Saturday call
the House of Commons 650 pickpockets. He
O'Connor) sat by him on the following Monday, when o
(Mr.
Lod
Saudon charged him with it. He (Mr. O'Connor) saidot up
t him stick to it, and what did Mr. O'Connell do, why he g
and denied it; stating to him (Mr. O'Connor) that he would not say they were 650 pickpockets, because if be did, he should
be one himself---( Great laughter). Look to his great Pre.
cursor Society ; it was pretended that its great object was to
effect the repeal of the Union ; if such had been its object
he (Mr. O'Connor) would have decidedly favoured it, but it
had no such object in view„—(Cries in the crowd of
Question, question). Who cried question—the question was
whether the people of Ireland were with them or not.
A Person in the crowd—." Mr. O'Connell never called them
650 pick-pockets; he called them 660 scoundrels."
Mr. FRAROUSI O'CONNOR stood corrected, it was 650
scoundrels._.( Great cheering.) He had now spoken to them
on several points, and he had cautioned them against having
disunion in their ranks; and he would now conclude by re-
lating to them an anecdote which had been told by Mr. Frost,
the Magistrate of Monmouth, one of the delegates to the
National Convention, for the purpose of showing the beautiful
working of the Reform Bill. "In the town of New-
port there were four houses, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, belonged
to a party entertaining Whig principles, No. 4 was

the property of an individual of high Tory notions ;
and at the registration there, No. 4 being about to be
disfranchised, the Solicitor for the Tory party got up
and said, " please your Worships, but there is a water-closet
attached to No. 4."—(Great laughter.) " Oh," said the
person presiding, " that may alter the case." The Whig So-
licitor then got up and said, "the water-closet belonged to
the four houses ; the party presiding said again that would
alter the case—(Laughter)—and ultimately the whole of the
houses were enfranchised. So much for the value of the seats
for Newport.—(Cheers.) This was the sort of freedom
which the people enjoyed, and a pretty sort of freedom it was.
In W iltshire he had seen women, dressed in men's jackets,
breaking stones upon the roads—( Cries of " Shame")—and
they had no alternative but either to do that or be immersed
in a bastile.—( Cries of " Shame I') He (Mr. O'Connor)
was determined not to leave London, notwithstanding the
threats of the police—(cheers)—Mr. Ward, the Times,
and the Globe, until he had established a Union there
similar to those which he had established in the
north. There he had raised the temple of liberty, and he
was determined that its banner should float over the metro-
polis of England.—(Great cheering.) Every meeting in
London gave increased power to their exertions, and they must
all register a vow in heaven, that thee would have Universal
Suffrage or die in the attempt. Mr. O'Connor sat down
amid loud and long continued cheering.
Mr. THOMAS moved the first resolution. which was to the
effect that the principles contained in the People's Charter of
Universal Suffrage, Annual Parliaments, to Property Quali-
fication, and the payment of Members for their services, were
just and reasonable, and that this meeting should adopt them ;
and also that Mr. Cardo should be the delegate for Maryle.
bone to the National Convention. The nresent struggle was
for the establishment of a good moral principle among them.
The rich said they were moral, but where was their example
of that ? They fared sumptuously every day, but they denied
even the common necessaries of life to the poor.
Mr. FEARGUS O'CONNOR here interrupted Mr. Thomas by
stating, that he had that moment got a second edition of The
Sun, containing an account of the arrest of the Rev. J. R.
Stephens, the following was the account of it :
" MANCHESTER, THURSDAY EVENING, TEN o'Ceoca.—This
morning two Bow-street officers arrived in this neighbour-
hood, armed with a warrant from the Secretary of State for
,he apprehension of the Rev. J. R. Stephens, of Ashton-
under-Lyne. The caption was effected without the least up-
roar, or even suspicion, till the thing was effected. He was
conveyed to Worsley for examination, and from thia circum-
stance there can be little doubt, but that this arrest is in
consequence of some proceedings at Leigh, about two or
three weeks since, on which occasion it is well known that
the speech (which has not, that I am aware of, appeared in
any journal) was unusually piquant. Whether the examina-
tion will be private I cannot say, but if not, you will, of course,
have information of what transpires. It is understood here
that a sort of preliminary investigation will take place
this evening. All the Magistrates of the district, how-
ever, arc summoned to meet tomorrow, and as far as in-
formation goes, at Worsley. Should the proceedings be
private, which is most probable, you must be content with
the on digs of the day. I shall endeevour to be a diligent
caterer. Mr. Oastler is in Manchester, and has been in
the neighbourhood now nearly a fortnight. There is not
the least excitement here in consequence of these proceedings."
He would leave the meeting to form their own conclusion of
that, and let the business now proceed. Mr. Thomas con-
cluded by proposing Mr. Cardo as the delegate to represent
Marylebone at the National Convention. The motion was
seconded, and
Mr. CARDO came forward amid much cheering. Ae he
had been proposed as a delegate, it was necessary that he
should give this meeting his opinions upon the principles of the
People's Charter. They were not new to the people of this
country. They were no innovations ; most of them had stood
among the laws of the land, and it was for the purpose of
placing them again among those laws that the People's
Charter had been set a-foot. It was said that they were too
poor and ignorant to have the franchise. Incited ! whose
fault was that, when the different charities of the country
were considered, and when a priesthood was paid for in-
structing the working classes, and took from them
five or six millions a-year for that purpose? The very parties
who were paid to instruct the poor wished to keep them in
ignorance, in order that they might apply the funds that had
been devoted by charitable individuals for education to their
own purposes.—(Great cheering.) It was said they were
poor, that was true enough, but still they formed the greater
part of a nation, they formed the greater part of the produc-
tive power of a nation, equal to double the number of men on
the face of the globe. —( Great cheering.) Give them Uni-
versal Suffrage and they would make that productive power
the property not of individuals, but the people at large._
In his opinion the franchise would not be secure without
the Ballot ; and as to Annual Parliaments, they came forward
recommended by the usage and custom of their ancestors.
With regard to the property qualification, look at the present
House of Commons : the pampered pensioner there was
always ready to work for the prostituted Whjg Government.
—(Cheers.) In his opinion, it was necessary that Members
should be paid for their services, because then their services
could be commanded. Labour was the only property unre-
presented; there was no compensation whatever for the la-
bouring man except in the dungeons of the new Poor-law Bill
and the despots of Somerset-house.—(Great cheering.)
Meetings like the present were held for the purpose of pushing
forward the car of universal liberty, and he trusted that they
would all determine not to relax in their exertions till the
citadel of oppression was rased from the ground.--
(Continued cheering.) When such things had taken
place—when the rights of liberty had been recognized, and
oppression put down, then would the children of industry ex-
claim, " The day is ours."—(Great cheering.)
Mr. WHITTLE, the Delegate from Liverpool, then came
forward, and was most enthusiastically received. He had at-
tended there that night for the purpose of apprizing this meet-
ing of the arrest of Mr. Stephens, but Mr. O'Connor had
already given them that information. He was anxious, how
ever, to take that opportunity of stating to the present meet-
ing the object of this proceeding, and the character of the in-
dividual against whom it has been commenced. There bad
been a statement put forth that Mr. Stephens had instigated
the burning of a factory. Now, in the neighbourhood in
which that factory was situated, it was firmly believed
that the work was not that of an incendiary. Indeed
the owner of the will had put forward an advertisement in
Ashton, stating his firm belief that it arose from a pure acci-
dent by the spontaneous combustion of oil and cotton.—.
(Cheers.) What, he would ask, had been the reason for in-
carcerating Mr. Stephens? Why, merely for the purpose of
frightening people from attending meetings such as this.—
(Cheers.) The present system of persecution bad began
when Mr. O'Connell denounced Mr. Stephens as the advo-
cate of physical force. What was there, be would ask, in
that accusation ?—it implied no crime, because eminent
lawyers had said there was no peace for the people, unless
the laws were upheld by the people with arms, and knew how
to use theme—( Cheers.) He believed if the men of London
did their duty they would accomplish the object they
had in view.—( Loud cheers.) Their enemies had
been filled with consternation and dismay, and he
felt confident the day was their'!.—( Cheers.) Sir F.
Burdett, at Birmingham, had told them the Tories could not
take office—and that if they would put down the Pope
he would support the Whigs--(Cheers and laughter.) The
Marquis of Chandos was against the repeal of the Corn-laws,
and the other party said if it was not repealed they
would be ruined.—(Loud cheering.) He congratulated Mr.
Cardo in having been elected to a post of such high honour
as a Delegate in times of danger, and he felt no doubt that he
would fill it with credit to himself and benefit to the working
classes.—(Cheers.) Of Mr. Stephens, who had just been in.
carcerated, he would only say that he was one of their most
manly Delegates, that he (Mr. W.) honoured him and was
proud of his personal acquaintance.—(Great cheering.)
Mr. MAITLAND said that the arrest of Mr. Stephens
had set the wheel of revolution in motion, and he felt no
doubt the same step would be resorted to when the Na-
tional Convention met.--(Cheers.) A crisis was at hand,
and it remained to be seen whether the men of England
would come forward and preserve their own rights...--( Cheers. )
Priestcraft in all countries was alike, whether Protestants or
Catholics ; and there was no cure for it, but to take away the
bone of contention from both.—(Great cheering.) He knew
it was a sore place to talk of America, but there there was no
State Church— (Cheers)—and if her example was followed,
a cheap Government would be obtained, as well as Universal
Suffrage.—(Cheers.) If physical force was resorted to for
the purpose of putting down the people, they were justified in
resorting to it to put down their oppressors.--( Cheers.)
Mr. O'CONNOR-Before he put the resolution to the meet-
ing would take the opportunity of saying a few words with
respect to the arrest of Mr. Stephens. He was now in the
hands of their enemies; he was a man who had stood by the
cause of the people through good report and through bed
report, and he trusted that the people would now stand by
him ; that they would not injure his cause by any vio-
lence, as that was all that their enemies now wished.—
( Cheers.) If to-morrow the people who loved Mr. Stephens
because he was a good fostering shepherd over his flock,
which was the people, if they now let their excitement get
the better of them, the Government wculd be enabled to put
them down piecemeal. They would then gain a triumph over
the unarmed people, and they would have no difficulty in finding
a jury of shopkeepers to find them guilty.--(Cheers.) He
had long been an agitator, and he had often used strong lan-
guage. During a period of seven years he been agitating and
using strong language, bathe had ever counselled peace, and no
one had ever been imprisoned for attending any meeting which
he had counselled. Discretion was the better part of va-
lour, and he trusted that the people would not commit any
breach of the peace, for it would be sure to damage the cause
of Mr. Stephens. Let them be united, not by oaths, for they
were only for traitors, but let them be firm and all would yet
be well. As Mr. Stephens had become odious in the eyes of
their oppressors, so no doubt were all who agitated in the
e.!nr,s:stveearyjuusfsert.ev
;Come what might to Mr. Stephens, he (Mr.
" ), would never desert him.—( Cheers.) He had often
been taunted with having counselled physical force, and that
be the first t'ol but one prophecy of his had become true. He '
uneantly said that the oppressors of the people would
they gave the peeor!?ehysical force, and that they would, before
and now they their just rights, viz., Universal Suffrage;
Stephens was ;17
friend must not make Ifeen
arm sohm.—yrealeaGaxiroans. The arrest of Mr.
iu force)
their Theend ofeaarvrueusrts, theirbut
it
would, as it ought to do,
thessuerres .
t)h
eTmh,
that t r ainetts
egmhthem more resolute.—(Loud
look before them, for he could
murder Mr. Stephens, or any one
of the people's friends, and from every drop of blood' so shed,
10,000 friends would spring up._(Loud cheers.) If his
ad-
vice was taken, the indignity offered to the people in theper
son of Mr. Stephens would recoil upon their enemies. He
had frequently cautioned them against the efforts of sham