The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-20 00:00:00

STOPPAGE OF THE BANK OF

BELGIUM.

THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
BRUSSELS, DEC. 17, 1838.
The interest attached to the decision of the London
Conference upon the 24 Articles, has been suddenly sus-
pended by the stoppags of the Bank of Belgium—an event
which has caused the strongest sensation in this town ; and
which must create alarm in every part of Belgium. Up to
a late hour on Saturday night, the credit of the Bank was
unimpeached ; notwithstanding that its stock, which stood
at 50 per cent. premium, a few weeks ago, had recently
undergone a severe depreciation on the Paris Bourse ; and
the public was, therefore, wholly unprepared for the notice,
this morning, of the suspension of payment. Various rea-
sons have been assigned for the embarrassments of the
Bank. It had a paid up capital of twenty millions of francs
(800,0001.) ; its circulation was extremely limited—
rarely exceeeing a fourth of its capital ; it had only two
branches (one at Antwerp and another at Liege) the
business of which was very circumscribed ; and the Go-
vernor, or chief director, who is Master of our Mint, has
the credit of being a skillful financier. The Bank was
founded in 1835, byan Arritc Royale, and it has twice paid
its shareholders upwards of seven per cent. None of the
directors are accused of misappropriating the capital, or
compromising the credit of the Bank in the wholesale
style practised by one of your joint-stock banks in the
north of England ; and the state of the commercial world
cannot be charged with bringing on the crisis. To what
circumstances, then, is this unfortunate circumstance to be
attributed? I discard the idle rumour of a rival hank,La So-
ciete Generale, having been guilty of a suicidal act,
of crushing the Bank ; because the stoppage has produced
a run upon that Bank itself, and upon another, La Societe
de Commerce, with which La Societe Generale is asso-
ciated; the capital of the latter protecting the engage-
ments of the former. Besides which, the present cloudy
aspect of our political horizon anxiously demanding the
maintenance of public credit, and, consequently, the free
and active agency of all the banking institutions in the
country, farther negatives so absurd a supposition. The
real source of the mischief will be found to have arisen from
the Bank having assisted in the formation of several Joint-
stock Companies, for working coal and iron mines, carry-
ing on various manufactures, &c. (which should have been
left to individual enterprize and capital), upon the
shares of which, according to its published reports, it
has advanced large sums of money (considerably beyond,
it is reported, the amount of its paid-up capital); and
afforded other kinds of assistance repugnant to the prin-
ciples of banking. These shares have been rapidly falling
in value for several months past ; and some of them are now
said to be unsaleable, even at a heavy sacrifice. The drain
which these advances must have occasioned upon the funds
of the Bank, and the natural anxiety of the Directors to
put every shilling of their remaining capital and resources
afloat to sustain their banking connection, must have re-
duced the reserve of bullipn so low, as to hazard the credit
of the Bank upon any unlooked-for demand for the payment
of a considerable amount of its notes. This conclusion is
borne out by the fact of notes to the amount of two or
three millions of francs having been presented for payment
on Saturday last, by the Societe Generale, which being the
State Cashier, is frequently the temporary custodier of a
considerable proportion of the paper money of the kingdom
The Bank of Belgium, it is supposed, will not finally swine
up, but will resume payment after a certified statement o
its assets and liabilities has been submitted to a meeting o:
its shareholders. But, in the meanwhile the stoppage,
with the consequent restriction which, upon their usual

MEETING OF THE WORKING MEN'S ASSO-
CIATION.
Pursuant to advertisement, a meeting of the above Asso-
ciation was held last night in the Assembly Rooms, Theobald's-
road, in order to consider of the present state of affairs re-
specting the National Petitioe, the People's Charter, s;c.Mr. HETHERINGTON was called to the Chair, and said,
the meeting had been assembled for the purpose of laying
before the working men of London an account of the progress
of those principles which it was known they entertained, and
an account of the success which had attended the labours of
those who had been delegated to promulgate those principles
amongst their brethren in the country. As the subject must
be most interesting to them, he would not detain them from
hearing the statements of those who were to address them ;
he would only entreat that they would give a fair and im-
partial hearing to every person who might wish to address
them, for their cause was worth nothing unless it could stand
up and vindicate its propriety against all gainsayers. Let
them vindicate themselves in a proper and open manner, and
then they must put an end to all the foolish apprehensions
which were professed to be entertained by the old women of
the country.—( Cheers and laughter.)
Mr. HARTWELL said the meeting had been convened by
himself and others for the purpose of telling the working
men of the metropolis the state of feeling in the country
respecting the great objects of the Association—to hear from
O'Connor, Vincent, and others what was the excited state of
the country, and to show them that the apathetic state of the
metropolis was a disgrace to the labouring classes congre-
gated therein.—(Cheers.) The Committee thought the time
had arrived when the men of London should either give in
their adhesion to the principles of the Charter and the
National Petition, or to say that they should dissent from them,
for the time had now arrived when they would be compelled
to say, "He who is not with us is against us."—( Cheers.)
It would not be enough for the men of London to say they
agreed with them; they must steadily and firmly support the
principle, and be prepared to do all that the Convention told
them was for their benefit. Any man who flinched from that
test was nor riend to the workingclasses. He (Mr. Hartwell)
had recently been in the west of England, and' the scenes
which he had witnessed among the agricultural labourers was
most distressing; they were enough to make one swear that
a system which produced so much misery should at once be
destroyed. The average rate of wages in the districts he
had visited did not exceed 7s. a week—(Groans)—yet the
farmer charged the poor man 9s. 6d. a bushel for his flour. The
e
ttnc
hhop
eeno consequence eaa qpbs
pouo
ieut
nanr
gtecorsees
aswwf
andaebs thatrree
aseda
enthusiastic
tt_t,hh
ue(
ands
aa
bread.—(Cries
eooi
scu
drinkrni i
nfn gs h
thamwemaa
erns.
mu)
pwaswaterpoAripstthlrt
peoetuttoydnrhhrwrueooetet
oclhuytoetusheshudal
geyedemr
aot
vedo live
htehe
Charter. Ile had a meeting on Charlton Down, and notwith-
standing all the means used to deter the men from attending
—notwithstanding the threats and the actual tyranny exercised
over the poor men, there was a glorious meeting held, at
which the Charter and the Petition were unanimously adopted.
—( Cheers.) In East Suffolk, there was to be a meeting held
on Wednesday, for the same purpose, and he had not the
submittedre,
ifrocnoa have;.
fogrot u,euL ntdlaohd rat yathdhtg,
eohewi
nev
dhw
t h
eH
couldam p
Associa-
tions hni
ot
slightest doubt, with the same result. While he was in the
Gloucestershire,sh:eteen
d haddaawo
down
several
delegateso t
her applicationsplaces,
ansoon if
prayingthey
o m
now.—(Loud cheers.) He thought the working men
(Cheers.) If the Convention, if the Delegates to the Con-
vention, were not supported in the town where they delibe-
tnihlegi
y,to
might
aceai
them
could
responsibility nohl
bsdosi
ebtua,
ot :Plate
teha
were
eo sayingba
pl fleoredosggi mwahi
s
vfleinnctihonfr,oifmthieLy—ap(
eoadta
eigtnwovhni
netacoraesmtt agitated
theiras cheerful they
adhesionu ld h e i n theto
tehnesucinhganlrteernth,
pCrhoeveerds .0)f
thTehcehraerstoelrutainodnsthwehipchetwitienrne to be
nominating a Committee of agitation for the metropolitan
districts. He trusted the labours of the Committee would
have got the people into such a state of organization that they
would be able to bring from 2,000 to 3,000 from each district
to welcome the Delegates into London.—(Cheers.) As
they, no doubt, were anxious to bear the statements of Messrs.
O'Connor and Vincent, he would content himself with moving
the adoption of the three resolutions.
Mr. F. O'CONNOR then came forward, and was received
with deafening cheers. He addressed Englishmen, Irishmen,
and Scotchmen, and all brother Radicals : he rejoiced to see
the coming of the battle—it might be fought there, but its re.
sults would be felt universally.—(Cheers.) When he last pre-
sided over a meeting in that place, he was assisting to establish
a club for the purpose of obtaining Universal Suffrage. The
effects of that club, and other exertions, had indeed been
glorious ; for the people, almost universally, were now
determined to have their rights—they were determined not
to be bamboozled any longer out of their rights by Whig
or Tory, or any faction. He did not wish to attack
property of any description. Many persons were now rolling
in wealth and luxury, which had been wrung from the blood
and sinews of the working men. The working classes, how-
ever, are satisfied to let them retain their ill-gotten wealth,
and to begin afresh, and to make their all out of the natural
resources of the country. The old women who had been al-
luded to by Mr. INtherington, might therefore lay aside their
fears and slumber in safety. He, however, was of opinion
along with Poor Richard, who once lived in the North. Poor
Richard, or John of Greenfield, All the stuff in tie
world, were made for all the people of the world.''—(Loud
cheers.) That was his opinion ; and if it were not for the
Corn-lords and Cotton-lords—but, above all, if it were not
for the Government-lords, there would be more than
enough for all to live in a state of happiness and peace.
The people of London were apathetic because they were bet-
ter off than their brethren in the North ; but if the Govern-
ment were allowed to go on their present way, no barrier could
be drawn round London—the contagion must rapidly spread
among the London workmen, as it now raged among those in
the country. The question with them was not whether they
were more comfortable than the working men in Yorkshire,
but were they as comfortable as they ought to be.—(Loud
cheers.) When he saw their faces, which were not so fat as
they ought to be—when he saw their dresses, which were not
so good as they ought to be—then he knew they were not
so well off as they ought to be. He saw many Irish faces around
him—they were; speaking to him in Irish.—( Loud laughter)
and asking him what he was going to do for Ireland. By the
blessing of God, he would do as they intended to do for
England—(Cheers)—although the world was his republic,
Ireland was the land of his birth, and he would be no party to
postpone any of those healing measures so much needed for
that unhappy country, and if Ireland did not obtain justice,
England should not, if he could impede it. The Hon. Gen-
tleman then alluded to O'Connell's conduct, in regard to the
cry of " Justice to Ireland," in much the same language as
he would give every single man the appointing
o
appeared in our Paper of last night. As to Corporate Re-
form,te officers by means of Universal Suffrage. He
would change his politics to suit any party, and he was
now as steady an advocate for that upon which he started,
viz., the Repeal of the Union, as he ever was, for he felt, that
until Ireland had her own nobles and her own representatives
in College-green, she would never have justice. Yorkshire
and Lancashire return one-tenth of the House of Commons ;
are determined to have their rights ; they are united to a
the people there are determined to be trifled with no longer;
they
man,
and were determined that they would no longer support
any one who would not support their cause. They were now
only carrying out the principles formerly urged by Lord
Lord Grey, Sir J. Hobhouse, Sir F. Burdett,
others. If they required a moral force to carry the
aßßnerdorournrgmahnayßalil, why could they not employ it also to carry
out its natural results ? The people would have
backed them, but as soon as that was done, they refused to
hurt the feelings of the Tories by turning them out from office.
They retained them as a sort of army of reserve upon which
they might fall back when they had deceived the people. The
Hon. Gentleman explained his ideas with respect to the Irish
Church, and the employment of physical force in nearly
the same language as appeared in the report of his
speech in our Paper of yesterday. These meet-
ings were now becoming more important than they
ever were before, fur they were now going upon the wings of
the Press, not only through England and Ireland, but all over
the world ; and he could not withhold his thanks from the
proprietor of The Sun Newspaper, who had given the best
report he ( Mr. O'Connor) had ever seen of a Radical meet-
ing—he meant that held last night at Mr. Chesney's Rooms.
—( Loud cheers.) He cared not what description of article,
or comment, the Editor of that Paper might write upon the
meetings of the Working Men's Associations ; it was quite at
the discretion of Editors to comment as they pleased, provided
they laid the circumstances before the people, and allowed
them to judge between the principles expressed and the judg-
ment of the Editors.—(Cheers ) This was all he claimed and
asked ; and he looked on it as a sign of better days, when be
saw a Whig Newspaper giving so good a report of a Radical
meeting. He knew it would give courage to their friends in
the North—a body of which the Government was more afraid
than all the rest of the world besides.—(Cheers.) Let the
people of London look to the North, and mark the proceed-
ings of the people there. They were virtuous, straightfor-
ward, zealous, and determined, and could assemble together in
force, although they were in sections, and spread asunder. But
shame upon the people of London, who could be got together
ty the ring of a bell, that there was not such a union here !
Therd wigs one small villnge, which he could name, containing
more Unionists than all London put together !—( Cheers.)
They must now, however, cast aside every Species of timidity,
for this was a cause worth living and dying for, and must never
lie dPsserted:—( Cheers.) When Lord Stanley opposed the
ftelieal Of tile Union, lit roes very physical, for he said he would
oppose it to the death ; and he (Mr. O'Connor) would go for
Universal Suffrage, if necessary, to ;the death.—(Loud
cll eets• ) Why ? Because it would make those who survived
him more happy and totefottable, and the country more tran-
quil. Universal Suffrage was a question but little understood
by the Government. Did they think they could atop it ?
Who was to be their stall-gap 7
'the Westminster Reformers,
in their timidity and cowardice, tried to hook Lord Durham
in to stop the gap, and lie (Mr. O'Con
ner) never praised him
such slap
la
tool
arid he trusted when any more wanted to make
don
the same.—(Cheers.) In the
so much as for throwing these poltroons overboard.—( Loud
face ;d
cheers.) He was glad that they had got
of the people, they would
proposed to-night were for
h
le as to the man-
the purpose of testing the opinion of t
he peoepto
coming
not to
ner in which they would meet those
course of six weeks Parliament would be once more assembled
in St. Stephens. The resolutions
h ir minds within the pe-
riod, whether or not the forty-nine e
men who had put _
them-
selves in the foremost ranks of moral danger, and were ready
oppose the Parliament, but to place twheior wisdomw in oppt sition
to its folly. They had to make up t
in the ranks of physical danger—whether these men
in order to resist the force of tyranny to place themselves fore-
most

operations, it will impose upon tho other banks, will be
severely felt by every class of the mercantile community,
at this period when money is so much in demand.
Every transient evil, however, is sooner or later attended
with good. The fate of the Bank of Belgium will, it is
hoped, produce an entire change in the Belgic system of
banking, which is admitted to be vicious in principle, and
fraught with danger to the public and to the banks them-

selves. La Societe Generale (La Grande Banque as it is
familiarly styled)—the only other bank in Belgium which
has a protective capital, and can challenge the public confi-
dence, has, like the other, locked up a large portion of its
capital in the shares of trading associations (which have
been formed under its patronage) ; in advances upon raw
materials, and upon other securities, of which the value is
fluctuating and uncertain. Such advances upon securities,
too, which cannot be easily converted, limit what I might
call the strictly banking action of the Company ; and hence
the capital, instead of flowing into all the channels of indus-
try, and rapidly returning into the coffers of the Com-
pany, has a limited and unproductive sphere of
operation. In fact, cne of its rules is not to dis-
count a bill that has not at least three names upon it!
the paid up capital of La Societe Generale is about four
millions sterling, more than two-fifths of which, however,
are invested in a part of the celebrated forest of Soignes,
the value of which the Bank must realize at the termination
of its charter, in December, 1849. The inadequacy of these
two Companies to supply the banking wants of a popula-
tion of upwards of four millions, now that every branch of
their industry is developing itself with unexampled vigour,
must be apparent to the merest tyro in political economy.
This country presents an admirable field for the operations
of a well-administered Banking Company, with a substan-
tial paid up capital ; and at this moment the Belgians
would hail the establishment of such a Company with un-
qualified satisfaction. Whoever takes the field may rely
upon reaping an abundant harvest.

(From the Brussels Papers received this morning.)
The Independent says—" For some days past a dread-
ful panic has prevailed on the Exchange of Paris respecting
the shares of the Bank of Belgium, which, in less than a
week, have fallen nearly 200 francs per share. 'We look in
vain for the causes of such a depreciation. The affairs of
the Bank were never in a more prosperous and solid condi-
tion. The success of the Branch Banks at Liege and Ant-
werp has surpassed all expectations, and we believe we
may affirm that these establishments alone have in the
course of this year done business to the amount of above
50 millions."

BRUSSELS, DEC. I7.—The Bank of Belgium announces
that it is obliged to make a temporary suspension of its
payments. The General Society announces, that, by the
desire of the Government, it guarantees the repayment of
the sums deposited in the Savings' Banks established by
the Bank of Belgium.

What may give an idea of the solidity of the mode of doing
business in Belgium is, that since the establishment of the
Bank, it has sustained only one loss of 2,500 francs. The fears
of war, even supposing them not to be exaggerated, ought
not, we think, to affect the shares of the Bank of Belgium
only ; but there is no reasoning with fear.
" The judicious holders may suffer this moment of alarm
to p iss, of which jobbers take advantage, and which, with
confidence for the general meeting in March, and the an-
nual report which will then be made, we hope that this
suspension will be only temporary, and will not have the
dis;u consequences which fear takes pleasure in pro-
pagating and exaggerating."
BRUSSELS, DEC. IB.—The Independent expresses its
great regret for having published the article announcing
the solidity of the Bank of Belgium. It is said that
Colonel Bire, who is net personally known to the Editor,
but whom he knows to be intimately connected with the
Bank, called at the office, and speaking of the fall of the
shares at Paris, declared that the panic was unfounded, and
requested that the article might be inserted, which the edi-
tor, suspecting nothing, complied with.
It is to be observed that the Bank of Belgium is not
a Government establishment.

The Cozerrier Bete says, that in the first panic yesterday
(the 16th), the holders of notes of the Society of Com-
merce and of the General Society hastened to the officers of
their establishments:to get them changed for cash, but per-
ceiving that their payments were immediately made, this
panic ceased, and many who had received money for their
notes, brought it back and took notes again for it.
It is apprehended, however, that several houses which
are in embarrassed circumstances will take their opportunity
to declare themselves insolvent, under the pretext that the
funds were in the Bank of Belgium.

The Earl of Cardigan has given the liberal sum of
1001. in aid to the funds of the Peterborough Diocesan
Church Building Association.

Tocreated In the neighbourhood during the past week, in MEETINOS.—Some alarm has been
con-
sequence of the extraordinary and intemperate conduct of a
number of men, calling themselves " Chartists." In another
part of our present number We publish the particalars of
the destruction of a cotton-mill, at Ashton-under-Lyne, on
Saturday last. This occurrence has been attributed, by cer-
tain parties, to the influence or agency of a band at hail,-
brained agitators, beaded by O'Connor and Stephens ; but
we have the best authority for stating, that the most proba-
ble cause of the disaster VvaS the spotitaneOuS combustion of
a quantity of cotton waste that had accumulated beneath
the floors of the mill, whilst they were in a shattered and
dilapidated condition. The owner and occupiers of the mill
have arrived at this conclusion, after a most searching and
careful investigation ; and from the filets stated to tis, we
have not a doubt that they attribute the destruction of their
property to its real cause.—lliattellester Courier.
STATE OF TRADE.--The near approach of Christ-
mas, and the uncertainty of the cotton market, have this
week operated to prevent any active demand for
yarn, which
remains nominally at list week's prices ; but transactions
are exceedingly limited. in manufactured goods there is
not much change, except that 7-Bth calicoes are not quite so
brisk as for some weeks past, the demand
running Rule upon
9-Bth cloth.—Manchester Guardian.

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1838.

were worthy of support.—(Cheers. This agitation was un-
paralleled, and if any Government could stand up against a
united people, it would cease to be a Constitutional Govern-
ment, and would become a military despotism. The invant
a Government said it would not attend to, and surrender the de-
mands of two millions of persons, they were placed beyond the
pale of the law, and absolved from their allegiance.—(Cheer-
ing.) That there would be a great struggle no man could
doubt, and that the people were prepared for it became plainer
every day. There would be an attempt at counter-excitement,
a kind of St. John Long counter principle of irritation—
(Laughter)—but he hoped they would not give the people a
wound in the back.—( Cheers. ) The Ballot and the Corn-
laws might be offered, but let the people refuse them until
they obtained Universal Suffrage. An objection to granting
this was, that the people were too ignorant. If they were,
they would get it to-morrow, for the ignorance of the
people was the tyrant's best title to power. When would
the people have sufficient knowledge, according to the Whig
standard? Not until doomsday.—(Cheers and laughter.)
Notwithstanding what had been said and done, he hoped and
believed that the Irish people would unite with the English,
and force them forward in this agitation. He had a great
respect for Paddy, and knew what he could do when he got a
shillelah in his hand and a principle before him which told
him that he might, instead of being a voluntary exile in this
country, by the use of his own energies become a happy man
in his own country. Irishmen did not come here from choice,
but because they could not help it, through the fell tyranny of
the landlords, the injustice of the Magistrates, and the
brutality of the damnable parsons.—(Cheers.) They came
here for an asylum, and he was happy to say that asylum they
were sure to meet, for where an Irishman was indus-
trious and honest, he never knew an Englishman
turn his back upon him.—( Hear, hear, and loud cheers.)
It would be presumptuous in him, whilst others were doing
so much, to say one word about what he himself had done, but
while in the House of Commons and out of it, he had stood by
the Ultra-Democratic principle. He had never yet in thought,
word, speech, or writings, expressed a single sentence
against the fullest measure of liberty for the people. Before
he entered Parliament he made a pledge to his constituents that
he would never receive place or emolument from any Government
that was not based upon the principle of Universal Suffrage,
and that he never would receive from the people one farthing
for travelling or other expenses during the whole course of his
life.--(Cheers.) That pledge he had kept-- (Cheers.)
He had been denounced by the newspapers as a vagabond and
a wild enthusiast. He had spent thousands in the cause of
the people, with no hope of ever getting it back again other-
wise than by being overpaid in seeing the poor happy, their
fire-side comfortable, and their children gamboling about it.
When he saw that, he should say he was the debtor• of the Ra-
dicals, because the Radicals had accomplished it for them-
selves.—(Loud cheers.) He would stand between the people
and alarm. The Morning Chronicle and the Globe, the bull-
dog and the terrier of the Whig Government—( Laughter)—
said there was no other salvation for the country than a
rural police ; a rural police to take Feargus O'Connor.—
( Laughter.) Would they stand a rural police ?—(Cries of
" No, no.") That was one of the next things that would be
attempted to be forced upon them. The Government were
beginning to say through the Chronicle, that the army had not
the power of übiquity—that there could not be a soldier behind
ev, ry torch, and that, therefore, there must be a rural police,
a thing unknown to this country.—( Hear, hear.) Only by
Universal Suffrage could they put that down. The struggle
they made for the Reform Bill would have carried Universal
Suffrage.—( Hear, hear.) At every meeting at which the
repeal of the Corn-laws was mooted, let them go like men,
and more an amendment for Universal Suffrage. If the
Ballot was agitated let them move the same amendment. He
could scarcely say, after the fatigue he had undergone—
attending meetings 150 miles apart, that he should have been
there at all had it not been for the threat of George Henry
Ward, and to show him that he despised it, and that
he was in no danger, because he was too deeply rooted
in the affections of the people, and was actuated by honest
motives.—( Cheers.) Let them be united. He would not be
the subject of dispute—he would create no dissensions, be-
cause he had this cause really at heart. He was not ad-
vocating the cause of the people merely from personal vanity
or ambition. He cared not what sufferings or deprivation he
himself underwent—

" Come he slow or come he fast,
It is but death that comes at last."
He was determined to go on continuously and energetically
until Universal Suffrage became the law of the land.—
(Loud cheering.) With these remarks, he thanked them
for the patient and indulgent hearing they had given hirri.
He would now leave them, but would always attend them with
more alacrity than he would a summons to appear at West-
minster Hall:—" By the Grace of God, Victoria Queen,
Defender of the Faith," and so forth. He thanked them.
(Mr. O'Connor resumed his seat amidst loud plaudits.)
Mr. VINCENT supported the resolution. They belonged to a
party who although creating a great mass of wealth, obeying
every law, and contributing largely towards the wasteful ex-
penditure and extravagance of the State, yet had no share in
the advantages and honours of the Constitution.—( Hear,
hear.) They bore all its burdens, were bending under all its
oppressions, and were branded with the vile namo of slave.

Why ? Because they were cowards at heart, and had not the
courage to tell the Government the hour had come when jus-
tice must be done to the people.—Hear, hear, hear.) ,There
existed in London yet a sufficient mass of materials
to make old St. Stephen's crack before it.—( Cheers.) It had
been the cue of the Daily Press to throw every possible con-
tempt on all the demonstrations of the people. Every art and
artifice that some cunning, cringing, pettifogging, penny-a-
line scamp could possibly invent to blacken the character of
the people, bad been resorted to, and thus meetings of
200,000 individuals have dwindled down, in the columns
of the honest Times—and perhaps more honest Chro-
nicle—to 10,000, 15,000, or 20,000.—(Loud cheering.)
He had been in the west of England for come time, and could
bear testimony to the fact, that there the people were as well,
if not better organised, than in the north—there were as
prompt, vigorous, energetic, and determined souls there as
existed in the glorious northern districts of England.—
( Cheers.) In the aristocratic city of Bath, he had the honour
of addressing 15,000 as fine " pisantry," as ever graced Daniel
O'Connell in his best days. At Bradford, a few miles from
Bath, 10,000 persons had assembled with 200 torches, to the
terror of every tyrant who had oppressed them. In Trou-
bridge, 10,000 persons had assembled by the ring of a bell in
half an hour, and that was what ought to be, and must be
done in London.—( Great cheering.) At Bristol, the people
were rather apathetic, but a meeting for the purpose of rousing
them was to be held there in the course of a few days. In
Wales, nearly the whole population were in such a state of
agitation and organization as had never before been witnessed ;
and a meeting was to be held of the hardy mountaineers, at
which speakers in the Welch language were to attend and
proclaim the glad tidings of liberty, and extend the bond
of brotherhood. Of course, the Government were aware

of what was going on, and how many pccple were organised
in different places, and it was evident from their anxiety about
the rural police, that they knew the game would be up when
the people of London moved.—(Great cheering.) The wes-
tern part of England was in an effective state of organization,
they acknowledge no sovereign but the people—they acknow-
ledge no laws but laws made by themselves—they would pay
no taxes, except they had a voice in the laying on of those
taxes.— (Cheers.) They would do more than that. If the
Whigs wanted aid to go to Canada to butcher the honest up-
right patriots, and sent down their militia lists, the answer
would be, " No vote, no musket—fight yourselv es. "—( Cheers.)
The Whigs might raise an alarm that Russia wanted to take
Turkey or Persia, or some other place, but the answer would
be—" They may take the devil himself, but they shall not get
us to fight—let them fight who gain by the battle."—( Loud
cheers.) Those who talked so much against physical force
were using it to put down liberty in Canada ; and when
he read of twenty-six brave Canadians having been brought
to Liverpool, manacled as felons—men, who ought to be ho-
noured and idolized by the masses for their patriotism, he
wished there had been 100,000 men to rescue them. —( Cheers.)
Physical force I that had hitherto destroyed the best efforts of
the people, who would not suffer war to be made on Canada if
they could help it, but who would do justice to the Canadians
by elevating them into a glorious Republic.—(Continued
cheers.) Not only the West, but the North of England, and
the whole of Scotland, were united to a man. At Newcastle-

upon-Tyne 100,000 men assembled, and though surrounded
by a body of the Queen's troops, who were perhaps sent as a
body-guard—(Laughter)—they stood firm, smiling at their
red-coated brethren, and hailed them with "threecheers for the
Charter,"—(Cheers.) Not a large town or village in Scot_
land was without its Association ; not a district was there in

which a delegate had not been elected. Now as to the south
of England, that stronghold of the parsons : at Chelmsford,
Ipswich, and Colchester there were glorious bodies of demo.
crats, and in six months the southern division of England
would be quite up to the mark.—( Cheers.) From personal
experience and communications, he could say that the cause

was daily and hourly progressing, and the people had now
such a band of moral and physical power as to enable them to
take their rights from the Government any moment they
thought it prudent to do so.—(Cheers.) Any change, to be
successful, must be brought about peacefully ; but the people
must not allow the Government to think they could dragcon
them into submission. The people would beat them, but
without bloodshed ; they would astound them by a moral
thunder-clap. When the time came for the assembling of the
Convention, if the Government dared to lay a hand on its
members to bring them to trial, the public mind in London
ought to bo prepared for it : let it be ripe, and ready for the
work ; and when the time came let no blow be struck let no
bloody arm be raised—let no musket be elevated—but let the
people assemble in every village, town, and hamlet, let them
congregate in thousands and tens of thousands, and say, in
peaceful and supplicatory language, " Let these boys out
again, or we don't go back to work.".—(Great cheering.)
Let the people in London concentrate all their energies to
rally round the Convention in countless masses ; and when the
traitor power of faction should dare to divide their councils,
or the strong arm of a traitor Government be raised to impede
their progress, then let one and all, in defence of liberty and
right, raise his voice to heaven and exclaim " Long live the
Convention we have chosen—long live the laws they will
make—long live liberty and the Constitution I"—(Loud and
long-continued cheerincr.)
Mr. M' CON NELL addressed the meeting, after which the re-
solutions were agreed to.

MR. PL UM ER WA RD'S NEW WORK.—We are
requested to state that the new work of fiction, entitled
" Pictures of the World, at Home and Abroad," by the
author of " Trcmaine," and " De Vere," was published this
day by Mr. Colburn, of Great Marlborough•strect, and may
be had at all the Libraries in town and country, and of the
Publisher's regents, Messrs. Bell and Bradfute, Edinburgh,
and Mr. John Cntrpaing, Dublin.