The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-24 00:00:00

would not convict, but he was sure that they would
not reckon on that impunity. Hitherto entrenched
in the law, and studiously within the circle of the
Constitution, their moral force was, as their Chair-
man stated, accumulating, and ultimately irresistible.
lie would only again assure them that success
would infallibly attend their cause. He defied the
boroughmongers to overcome or survive the shocks
of the last twelve months. True it was, that some
few scenes of popular excitement and outbreak had
injured the people; but who were responsible, who
were answerable ?—the boroughmongers, who, de-
nying the people participation in
,political power,
spending two thousand millions of money in taxes
and debt had impoverished and degraded the people,
and never so much as appropriated one farthing of
that vast waste of the public money to the instruction
and moral improvement of the people by public
education—(Loud cheers)—who kept them steeped
in ignorance and prejudices, and then mocked and
derided them for such unhappy scenes as Bristol and
other places, for which the system of the borough-
mongers was responsible and primarily the cause.—
(Repeated cheering.) But the boroughmongers
could not overcome nature and the new elements of
society. More persons, as proved by the parish
registers of Birmingham, were now born in one
day than in a whole year at the last " settlement of
the Constitution." Only seventy years since Dr.
Priestley established in Birmingham the first volun-
luntary association for popular instruction, and re-
cently, in December last, 22,000 males of the town
and neighbourhood signed in their own legible hand-
writing the Reform petitions. Let the borough-
mongers, if they could, deal with these altered
times, and try to deny altered institutions. Let
their arcb.Secretary Mr. Croker read his " Life of
Johnson," and see that ninety years since there was
but one bookseller's shop in Birmingham. Mr.
Croker could not get us back to that dark period.—
(Loud cheers.) Again, he assured them that he
believed a great and united people would confound
their enemies and calumniators, by the signal and
single example of the victory of moral and intellec-
tual public opinion without a sword drawn or a gun
fired,—of a peaceful change of its political system,
—while all other countries were struggling in civil
contest and bloodshed to burst feudal bonds and ob-
tain political freedom. Mr. Parkes on sitting down
was loudly cheered and applauded for some minutes.
Mr. BOSCOE ATTWOOD, eldest son of the worthy
Chairman, then mounted the table, amidst loud
cheering, and said, having last Tuesday evening
moved the amendment which deferred their decision
upon the important question of organization till that
evening, he must beg leave to trespass upon their
time for a short period, while hd prefaced with a
few observations a resolution which he then felt it
his duty to move upon that subject. His motive
in moving the adjournment of the question last
Tuesday was the fear that upon mature investiga-
tion it would be found that the laws would not
allow the plan contemplated to be carried into effect.
The event, he was sorry to say, had fully confirmed
the justice of his fears. After the clear and explicit
statement of the law by Mr. Parkes, he felt that
there could no longer be any doubt of the illegality
of the contemplated plan, and he therefore felt con-
vinced that the resolution which he had to propose
would be adopted unanimously by the Council.—
(Cheers.) As good subjects they were all bound
to obey the laws of the land—as members of the
Union and members of that Council, they were
doubly and trebly bound, by the original rules and
regulations of their Union to obey them.—(Loud
cheers.) Both of these reasons he considered
quite sufficient to require their adoption of the
resolution which he had to propose. But in the
present case these were far from being the
only reasons for so doing. If ever there was a
period when it was the bounden and imperative duty
of every true Reformer--of every friend to the liberty
and happiness of his country, to pay the most im-
plicit obedience to the law—surely such was the
present time.—(Cheers.) As had often been said
in that room, a holy league had been established be.
tween the King, the House of Commons, and the
People, to the effect of the restoration of the
people's rights,—so it was their present gracious
Monarch, (whose name he never heard mentioned
without his heart overflowing with gratitude to him
for his truly great and patriotic conduct on so many
trying occasions, and to Divine Providence for hav-
ing sent him to preside over the destinies of the
nation in this its hour of extreme need), it was to
him alone that the people owed the prospect of
speedily recovering all their lost rights and liberties
by peaceful and legal means, instead of having no
hope left but that of purchasing them too dearly
at the expense of seas of blood ,find ages of misery.
--(Cheers.) Their truly noble King had never yet
been found wanting in the people's cause. From
the hour that he first sanctioned the introduction of
the Reform Bill into the House of Commons, he
(Mr. B. A.) considered that he had pledged him-
self to effect the restoration of his people's rights,
—afterward; when the miscalled repre,entatives of
had thwarted his patriotic Majesty in
their peope
gloriousl career, he confirmed that pledge in a
tenfold degree, by going down to Parliament
in person, and sending back the Members to
their constituents, to receive from their hands the
fate which they deserved.—(Cheers.) Recently
when the Bill of Reform, after having been passed
by an overwhelming majority of the Commons, had
been thrown out in the House of Lords,their patriotic
Sovereign again stepped forward, in the time of their
danger, to the protection of his people, and pro-
rogued the Parliament. Since that time he could
not for a moment doubt, judging from his former
conduct, that the King and his Ministers had been
occupied in providing the means for ensuring the
speedy accomplishment of the nation's prayers, by
the passing of the Bill of Reform through both
Houses of Parliament, and he was glad to say that
his hopes had that day been confirmed by the an-
nouncement that Parliament would meet on the Gth
of December, and, by the declaration of the Courier
newspaper, which lays claim to being the official
organ of the Government, that the new Bill of Re•
form would certainly be carried into law, and that in
a popular sense of the word, it will go even farther
than the last Bill. So long, therefore, as the holy
league which he had alluded to between the King,
the Commons, and the people, remained inviolate,
he considered that the cause of the people was secure,
and the restoration of their rights certain. If once
that holy league was broken, their situation would
then indeed be far different. Now, if there
could be anything imagined well calculated to
break up this holy league and to revive the dying
mhopes ofai
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break through the sacred boundaries of the law, the
Ministers would have no alternative but either to
sanction such infringement of the law, and thereby
declare that the powers of the Constitution were
incapable of effecting its regeneration, and to place
themselves at the head of a revolutionary movement,
or they must support the authority of the law, and
put its power in force for the punishment of all
persons who should presume to violate it.—(Hear,
hear.) Now when the great moral battle of Reform
had been almost gained,—when the advocates of
corrupiien bad been driven by peaceful and legal
means from all their entrenchments but the last, and
when there was the prospect of their being speedily
compelled to abandon that their last hope, a Minister
must be mad indeed who should adopt the first al-
ternative, and that man must be a fool, indeed, who
could expect it. The Ministers must of course,
support the law, but if in supporting the law, Mi-
nisters should be compelled to penish the friends of
Reform amongst the people, nothing could be more
calculated to excite disgust in the minds of the
people, and to cause them to regard the Ministers as
their enemies. They might rest assured the pro-
spect of such an event taking place, 9f a division
being thus occasioned between the people and the
present patriotic Ministers furnished the last faint

ray to the now almost expiring hopes of the lA-
rough faction. He felt that there could be no oc-
casion for his intruding any longer on their time,
hut he would conclude by moving the adoption of
the resolutions, which he now proposed, simply
taking the opportunity to remark that he was far
from wishing to convey any censure on the able
and patriotic gentlemen who had drawn up the
plan of organization. He thought that that plan
bad but one fault, the fault of its illegality, and that
in every other respect it was admirably calculated
to effect the objects it had in view. He considered
that if, which Heaven avert, the hopes of the
people should be again disappointed, and the people
be tempted to give way to despair, such plan in
the hands of that Council would have been an ad-
mirable instrument to enable them to assist in pre-
serving the peace, and insuring the safety of all the
great and venerable institutions of the country, as
well as the rights and liberties of the people; and
if such should ever be the unhappy fate of this
country, the Council might then remember with
pleasure, that it had done all that the law would
allow it to do, to render itself in such an awful
period capable of being useful. Mr. Attwood con-
; laded by moving the adoption of the following
resolutions
This Council, in entertaining the proposed plan for the or-
ganization of the Members of the Union, having been solely
actuated by the desire of putting itself in a situation which would
enable it to be of more service in assisting to preserve the peace
during periods of violent popular excitement, and thereby enable
them to give the most efficient support to their patriotic Sove-
reign and his enlightened Ministers, in completing the great
work of Parliamentary Reform ; and this Council, having heard
the legal arguments of Mr. Parkes, tending to show that the
proposed organization would be a measure of questionable lega-
lity ; and this Council, being essentially bound by the original
rules and regulations of the Union, to keep strictly within the
pale of the law, as is clearly laid down in page 17, No. 2, of the
Duties of the Members of the Political Union, viz.—' To obey
the laws of the land; and where they cease to protect the rights,
liberties, and interests of the community, to endeavour to get
them changed by just, legal, and peaceful means only ;' and
again, at page 18, No. 2, of the Duties of the Members of the
Political Council, viz.—' To use none other than just, legal, and
peaceful means ;' and this principle, having been still more
pointedly enforced at one of the first general meetings of the
Union, when a new regulation was adopted, to the effect, that if
any Member of the Union should be guilty of any breach of the
law, he should, by that very act, . cease to be a Member of the
Union;'
And this Council being also fully convinced that in tine pre-
sent urgent and vital crisis of their country's fate, it is of the
last importance that every good subject, every friend of the
liberty and the happiness of his fellow countrymen, should give
all possible support to the just, able, and patriotic Administration
of Lord Grey, and that no needless difficulties should be thrown
in his path;
" And this Council being also of opinion, that it might tend to
increase the difficulties which at present surround both the King
and his Ministers, if any step should be taken by this Council, or
by any other body of Reformers, which might either be illegal, or
trench so closely on the confines of the law, as to render the fact
of its legality a subject of dispute—Considering all these things,
" That the plan for the organisation of the members of the
Union be abandoned."

Mr. CHARLES JONES, in rising to second the reso-
lutions so judiciously introduced by Mr. B. Attwood, '
begged to offer a few remarks. As secretary to the
Committee appointed to draw up the regulations of
the proposed organization, he felt himself especially
called upon to say a few words upon the subject.
The ♦ery preamble by which the plan of organiza-
tion was introduced, disclosed the wise and peaceable
intentions of the Union; and be was at first much
puzzled how, with such views and such intentions,
they could be brought under the lash of the law.
When he undertook the manual duty of drawing
the plan, he consulted the preamble of the Act of
Parliament, under which it was now said they were
rendered, themselves, liable to conviction as state
criminals; and when he at the outset found that it
was enacted for the suppression of societies esta-
blished for treasonable and seditious purposes, and
the better preventio❑ of seditious practices, he never
for one moment supposed that it could affect them
in their proposed organization. Their object was
precisely the reverse of that contemptated by the
Act. It was clear, therefore, they were guiltless of
any intention to commit a breach of the law. He
was, however, much obliged to his friend, Mr. B.
Attwood, for last week moving the postponement
of the question, as in the interim, it had been dis-
covered that they had unwittingly laid themselves
open to an attack from the lawyers. Their wish
was, upon all occasions, not to trench upon the law,
even in the most remote degree. He (Mr. J.) woull,
therefore, after the legal opinion which had been
given by Mr. Parkes, second, with great pleasure,
the abandonment of the proposed organization.—
(Cheers.)
Mr. EDMONDS would not allow the idea to go
forth, that the proposed plan of organization was
illegal, without making a few observations. He
was perfectly convinced that the mere assumption of
names and offices, without practically taking up
their duties, was net a breach of the law. To Mr.
Parkes he felt personally obliged for the able argu-
ment with which he had favoured the Council that
night. It was very evident that many entertain
doubts of the legality of organization, Bed though
himself differing with some friends on that point,
he should feel it is duty to support the motion,
when he found so many questioning the legality of
the plan. It was, likewise, exceedingly desirable
that they should take no step which could in any
way embarrass the Government. If they adopted
any measure of open or doub.ful illegality, they
wouldnecessarily compel Ministers to institute a pro-
secution against them, end by this means draw upon
them (the nnisters) the odium and detestation of
the country, or they would place a powerful argu-
ment in the hands of the Tories, who would not fail
to say that the Government was under the controul
of the Political Unions. For these reasons, although
in his opinion, organization upon the plan proposed
was not illegal, he should support the resolutions.
After some further conversation upon the word-
ing of the resolution, it was carried unanimously.
JOSHUA SCIIOLEFIELD, Esq. moved a vote of
thanks to the gentlemen who constituted the Com-
mittee appointed to draw up the plan of organiza-
tion, and in so doing expressed his entire concur-
rence in the abandonment of the plan proposed.
Seeing that the organization was of doubtful le-
gality, and that its adoption would embarass the
Administration of Earl Grey, which it was their
main .vish and object to support, he considered they
were bound, not only by the spirit of their Union,
but by their express rules and regulations, to imme-
diately abandon the project.—(Cheers.)
The motion was seconded and passed unani-
mously.

G. .F. AfuNTz, Esq. said be rose to propose a
vote of thanks to a gentleman to whom they were
much indebted, not only for his able assistance and
advice that evening, but for his past unremitting
and influential services in the great cause of Parlia-
mentary Reform. Mr. At, after alluding in terms
of reproach to the opinions of lawyers generally,
on all questions of enlightened national policy, com-
plimented Mr. Parkes on being one of a few in his
profession who, in spite of the natural narrowness
and prejudice imbibed by his professional studies,
was one of the foremost to advocate the rights and
liberties of his fellow-countrymen; and concluded
by moving—
" That the thanks of this Council arf (Iv and hereby given
to Joseph Parkes, Esq., for his able disquisition on the illegality
of organizing the Union; lot his liberal conduct towards the
Union in former occasions, and his able, laborious, and indefa-
tigable endeavours to promote the great cause of Parliamentary
Reform."—lmud cheers.)
Mr. EDMONDS seconded the resolution.
Mr. PARKES rose to acknowledge the grateful
sense he entertained of any approval of his public
conduct by any class of sincere Reformers. He
should continue to do his public duty, in despite of
injuries, risks, and differences of opinion. On any
future occasion he would give thesn his humble pro-
fessional and :gratuitous services. He could not,
however, receive a compliment at the experise of
the character of his profession. Allusion had been
made to the legal profession as, here and in LoTAdun,
the deadly foes of Reform. He beve4 to assure
them that such was not the f,tc,t. Tcue it was, that
liberty had too oft?ri kufiered from the acts, tongues,
and pez9 of lawyers. But acts of ii4viduals
ought' not to proscribe a whole (.4.4. The pro li
-
fession in Birmingham comprc.kended many honour-
able and sincere friends of 4eform. The young men ,
were exclusively Reforwers. In Londe;., the Bair en-
rolled some of the most able m;.-n of the kingdom—
incorruptible, inalienable friends of Reform. and the
Press, which had for twelve months ennobled itselc
was mainly conducted by members of the legal pro-
fession. He would only say that, in the c•urse of
few days he would abridge and give to the Unions