The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-19 00:00:00

-
MEETING OF THE WORKING MEN'S ASSO-
CIATION.
A. meeting of the members of this Association was convened
last night at Chesney's Rooms, Foley-street, in order to as-
certain their opinions on the subject of the National Conven.
tion, on the recent proceedings in Edinburgh, &c. The room
was excessively crowded.
FEAROUS O'CoNNoe, Esq., having been unanimously called
upon to preside, addressed the meeting nearly in the following
terms : —Wan-king Men of St. Pancras,—lt is now more than
three years since I bad the honour of presiding over a Radical
meeting .n London. However, at that period I told you that,
no mat ,er how long my absence might be, no matter in what
coup try I might live during my absence,
would return to you
again precisely the man I left aou.---(Cheers.) Although
these times are now considered a little dangerous, and although
the vicinity of a Court, and more especially a Court surrounded
by such men as surround the Court now, may be considered a
dangerous position, and notwithstanding the many warnings I
have recently had of that danger, I stand before you to-night
to advocate the same principles, namely, Ultra-Radicalism.
As soon as it was announced that I intended once more to try
the fruit of thatprinciple in London,the Downing- street kitchen
maid, the Weekly Chronicle, edited by George Henry Ward.
the Member for Sheffield, had the audacity to attempt. ta midate me, by telling me that the moment I came to a Lor.dol
meeting the police would arrest me.—( Laughter.) lam here
now, and I dare the police—.l defy the police—and I dare
the masters of the police.—(Loud cheers.) If the laws are
bad, so long as I have your support, who ought in justice and
righteousness to make the laws, I am stronger than the law,:
themselves, if they are attempted to be perverted against me.
—(Cheers.) And who is this Mr. Ward ? fie is a man who,
individually,exposes,revi!es, and condemns the Ministers, .thi!st
he has the sncakingness to support them as a confederac.) against the people. He tells you that, as individuals, they
arc one and all of them bad, but that expediency obliges him
to support them. Why ?—for fear we should have worse. I
should like to know where he could find them.—(Cheers.)
We have tried these men now for a length of time, and we
have invariably found them guilty. We court investiga-
tion, whilst they shrink from the public countenance, and pro-
crastinate their day of trial till the very last moment. flow is
it that they dare not meet the country at the present juncture?
We see my Lord Durham in London actually claiming jus-
tice, such as he calls it, for Canada, which means justice for
himself, and that justice is deferred, while my Lord Mel-
bourne, the old beau, may come and go to and from the Palace
just at the hour that best suits him.—( Laughter.) This
might do very well if the question was only a question between
my Lord Durham and the Ministers; but while we make it a
question between the labouring classes and the Ministers, they
cannot longer trifle with us. We are now upon the eve of
meeting what they have been pleased to call another Parlia-
ment. Long-looking, anxiously hoping for something like
justice from a Reformed Administration, you withhold justice
until forbearance becomes a crime ; and you have said to
yourselves, we will now have leaders of our own, we will esta-
blish a small Parliament of forty-nine, and we will place their
proceedings in contrast with the absurdities of those men who
have been so long misgoverning us.—( Loud cheering.)
I have laboured as ardently to give effect- to that meeting as
any other man has; and one of my principal reasons for ap-
pearing before you to-night is, to put you upon your guard, not
against the Whigs, because they are known to you—not
against the Tories, because they arc the old embittered foes of
mankind--(Cheers)—but against the deserters from our own
party. You have nothing to apprehend from the pusillanimity
of the Whigs—you have nothing to dread from the bold auda-
city of the Tories—but you have much to dread from those
who have obtained power by your influence, and would now
turn that power to their own class distinctions and their own
personal advantage.—(Cheers.) An attempt has been made
in different places to try to turn this to such purposes. A
party have sprung up up, calling themselves " Philosophical
Radicals"—a party of men who, instead of assailing the strong.
hold of corruption, would assail the tea-pot and the exciseman
—(Laughter)—a party of men who speak of moral courage
and denounce physical force. Why, they would be the first to
use physical force, and to abstain from anything like a trial of
moral exertion in this country. I have been denounced as a
person who recommended physical force. I stand here before
you, and if my life hung upon the lips of a judge, or upon the
verdict of a jury of shopkeepers, if I had recommended phy-
sical force I would not retract the assertion. But during my
whole existence—during my whole Radical career—l never,
directly or indirectly, recommended physical force.—(Loud
cheers.) But I'll tell you what Ido recommend—l recom-
mend a strong pourtraa al of moral force. Ido not look upon
moral force with the same eye as the " Philosophical Radi-
cals." They consider it moral force to write a strong article
in a newspaper. I consider it moral force to meet those men
who are to carry the Radical petition to the House of Com-
mons—four or five hundred thousand strong—marching
down without arms in your hands, and sending your
compliments into the House of Commons to say that
Mr. Attwood and Mr. Fielden are the bearers of
a message, and ethat you wait for a reply outside.
—(Hear, and great cheeting.) That's moral force, and
that's constitutional force. It may not be exactly legal force.
You may be told that more than a certain number of persons
are not to go upon any occasion to the House of Commons.
Such is the law. What ought to be the law ? The law
ought to be what the people say is right, and what the people
say is just—not the whole people, because that could not be
but the majority of the people—because that could be and
ought to be.—( Cheers.) You arc now represented in this
borough—and how are you represented ? Are there five men
here who would hold up their hands for the man whois said to
be the representative of Marylebone in the House of Commons?
—(No, no.) No, not five men. Then are you represented
in the House of Commons ? No, not a single man of you—
( Cheers.) But mark the turn that your cause was about to
take. There was a trial of strength, it was supposed, at Bir-
midgham, and after that followed a trial of strength at Edin-
burgh, and there the " Philosophical Radicals" came out,
and began to dencunce Feargus O'Connor and the physical-
force men. How is this followed up? Why, by the mild,
sucking of Daniel O'Connell—(Hisses)—who denounces me
as a miscreant, whilst with the other side of his mouth ho is
talking of being armed, and invading this country for the
sake of the young and virtuous Queen Victoria with five hun-
dred thousand of his armed Precursors. If this does not sound
stronger of physical force than anything I ever uttered, I
don't know what physical force means.—(Cheers.) But
nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see this man,
who calls me a miscreant, coming with his force ; for as soon
as they saw the spirit of Radicalism they would desert from
Daniel O'Connell and flock to the standard of Universal
Suffrage.—( Great cheering.) Why do I look for Universal
Suffrage for Ireland as well as for England ? Why, because
Ireland is my country. I look for Universal Suffaige
for- Ireland, because it would take the mask off the
jugglers in that country_ because, if the total extinction
of tithes does take place, which would have been the case
long since if it had not been for the great juggler, Universal
Suffrage alone can tarn it to proper and profitable account. If
to-morrow they bad the Extinction of Tithes. in Ireland with-
out Universal Suffrage, it would] only Ibe taking; loot from
the Parson, and giving:l3ol. to the Landlord.—( Laughter and
cheers.) That is the meaning ; but it all resolves itself into
the compass of a nut-shell, and that nut was cracked on Sun-
day last, when Daniel had the mortification of finding the ker-
nel only pence instead of shillings as heretofore.—( Laughter. )
He mounted the ladder upon the shoulders of poor men, who
willingly gave their pence to support him.; and now that be
has crushed the trades, now that be has left Canada mourning
at his feet, he says it is only the National Bank of which he
is a proprietor—that is, the respectable portion of society.
This is the man who calls me a miscreant, and who asks where
I, who preach physical force, was when the riots at Todmor-
den took place, and bow I can lie on my bed and reflect on
when
the hthe pv
ebe reseoan sh i
nwe
a ro have e
erate
dlosti their t
gaol.e i r
Now husbands,a
nandlrishman
o is
hmn h a
et
generally
rwa
ibly
sw who
tahneseiras a
ughqtueerstitoonekbypalasekeingatanßotahtehre.orn WhereWwha:rehew
when there was ever anything to be done, but in the back.
ground, skulking and leaving the force that he had led on to
the assault ?—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) What now be-
comes your duty—not so much to raise an offensive
force as a defensive force. We are now threatened on the one
hand with Royal proclamations, prepared by my Lord Mel-
bourne, for a good cast of whose head, if I was a barber, I
has
would give 50/.—( Laughter)—in consequence of what
taken place in the -North; and I must now tell you a few
Union, which numbers 56,000 men paying members, and
words about our northern brethren. We have a Northern
1,500 of these are enrolled at Bradford
alone.—(Cheers.)
We found that these men could not generally express them-
selves
them in durance during the day; and, as they were desirous
at public meetings, because the money-mongers bald
of making their sentiments known, I recommended
them to meet by torchlight. They met.
Not a
violation of the peace took place. On the contrary
they were the guardians of the peace, even under the dark
cloud of night, Seeing that the union, which could not be
effected by day, was achieved in the night, Lord Melbourne
goes down to the Palace, and I suppose, whilst a chicken was
" devilling"—(Laughter)—he writes a mast ungrammatical
Proclamation, and one containing greater nonsense, and more
illegality, I never saw in my life ;but but he puts down our torch-
light meetings. When ? Not until he finds our party is about
to be broken—not until the men in Edinburgh have treason-
ably come forward and denounced the principle they were the
first to advocate. The very moment desertion takes place its
the ranks, it is followed up by hostility on the part of all the
Press. The very instant one man is lopped off, all who have
taken part in the movement are to be lopped off after them.
I have stood forward both in and out of the House of Com.
mons, battling all parties who dare to arrest the
people in
ibeir.onward course of liberty..—.( Cheers.) Now this trick-
ster—this man who is a disgrace to any Government, and
therefore a much greater disgrace to be at the head of a Go-
vernment—this man, who is afraid to meet Parliament whilst
a civil war is raging in Canada—bas only one way of sub-
duing our feelings, and that is to put out our farthing candles.
—(Laughter.) Put lam going to `give him something to do

next month; we shall have a pretty new moon in January, am'
let us see if he will put out the moen.---( Loud and long-con.
tinued cheering.) Let us see if Daniel O'Connell, and his
staff of Precursors, will come to his assistance, and go up to
the man in the moon. Let us see what they will do when
placed in this emergency, but don't you be afraid in London.
We arc all right in the North.—(Cheers.) Don't be afrae
of two or three foolish men, with a parson at the head of them
—Dr. Brewster. I suppose Dr. Brewster, one day or other,
intends to be Primate of the Radicals. He does not like the
Church property to be meddled with, because he expects t
have his share of it.—( Laughter.) Don't be alarmed about
the state of feeling in Edinburgh, for I intend, with th
blessing of God, to try the real feeling there early next
month.—(Cheers.) I am not to be frightened by thost
voices, though they may come thundering from the North. I
am going to see in Dr. Brewster's own town whether the real
Radicals or the sham and " Philosophical Radicals" are the
strongest party. The very instant the Government finds the
" Philosophical Radicals" arc the strongest, they will at once
thunder out their anathemas against our party. They are
already beginning to feel annoyed, and some of them say they
are for the greatest practical extension of the suffrage : wha'
they mean is, such an extension as will suit their own conve-
nience ; what I mean is, the most we are able to take from
them. If to-morrow they gave us Household Suffrage, I
would make use of it to obtain Universal Suffrage.—( Cheers.)
These are not the times to recede one single step : if we do,
we fall to the ground at once. !f a dog follows you, and you
run away, he will bite your heel; but if you turn round and
kick him, he will set off with his tail between his legs—
( Laughter.) If these Whigs follow us and attempt to bite.
give teem a kick.—( Cheers.) They tell you that yon
should obey the law so long as it is the law; but it will
always be the law so long as you obey it. These " Philos°
phical Radicals" have placed upon their banners a motto of
which I highly approve, " Peace, Law, and Order"—that is
if peace procures the law, then I am for order; but
if peace procure not the law, then I am for disorder.
Peace, to be valuable, must produce that which will give the •1
greatest amount cf happiness to the people. But if the peace
is to be all on one side, I care not for it : lam for peace being
general, or not at all.—.(Cheers.) You ask what. is my
opinion? It is, that if you bring one-half your moral force to
bear, you will be able to accomplish Universal Suffrage. But
every man must work as I have done—every man must suppose
that on him alone rests the responsibility, and that he has not
done enough until he can unfurl the standard, and say that
Universal Suffrage is the law of the land.—(Cheers.) After
some further remarks, Mr. O'Connor again adverted to Mr.
O'Connell, who be said bad had more power in his hands than
ever fell to the lot of one man in the country. Has he not
been in Parliament ten years ? And yet I defy you to put
your finger on a single clause in any Act brought into the
House of Commons by him for the amelioration of the con-
dition of the working classes. Of what use is his power?
Is it not worse than if be had none at all ? Who put doin
the Trades ? Daniel O'Connell. Who was sworn to abandon
Ministers if they attempted to coerce Canada ? Daniel
O'Connell. Who pledged him .elf to be present and oppose
Ministers on every division on that question ? Daniel O'Con-
nell. Who used all the malicious ingenuity of a practised
Barrister to thwart and twist and turn every particle of evi-
dence against Trades' Unions in this country_? Daniel O'Con-
nell..—(
Dha ay givee
dares
h e
is ' Ct oi
mo
favourablen call
at n e 1
me
voluminous —a
mi
C
le he n y
g etehe e
nell.—( Cheers. ) Who was it that told the Attorney-Ge-
neral the Dorchester labourers had been rightfully trans.
ported ? Daniel O'Connell.--(" Shame.") Who gave the
cast
ning
O vote against the factory slaves in this country ?
( "
S !art' ant hy
e") .
WAnd,
ty heet tebhiesseisef eeh
thseman
wheuehonour—myman is my greatest honour—y greatest pride. But mark the
tot
mev_
rereye day Why ?
classes. B
Press. While they will not give a sentence of your meetings,
If
there were twenty angels in the House of Commons, they
would be overborne by the great power which the money mongers have in that house. Why do we ask for Universal
Suffrage ? Why, that labeur, should be represented ; and ii
labour is represented, capital must, because without the
employment of labour, capital would be of leo use, and without
the expenditure of capital labour would be of no use.--( Cheers. )
I give you my advice : never, so long as you have a foot of
moral resting ground, be misled by any man to enter into a
civil war, for when it once commences, God only knows where
it will end ; and the working classes, by going on in their
undeviating course of assaulting by their moral power, will be
able to affect all that is necessary for themselves.—( Cheers.)
For three years I was said to be a Tory spy ; and now. I am
said to be a Whig spy. lam going to accept both, but with a
little difference ; I ant a spy, but it is upon the Whigs and
Tories—l am a spy for the Working Classes, and so long as I
have an eye to spy, no damage shall come to them, and so long
as I have an arm to lift—.as long as their rights are invaded, I
will raise that arm and die fighting in their ranks.—(lmmense
cheering.) nook upon this meeting as a most important
one ; and if the resolutions proposed be adopted, they will
speak volumes. Why ? Because this meeting will be consi-
dered as speaking the sentiments of the same class throughout
the country.--(Cheers.) It was simply my duty to open the
meeting ; but I thought it my duty to speak of the strength
behind you—to expose the weakness of O'Connell—to expose
the imbecility of my Lord Melbourne, who, believe me, has
some woes hanging over his head. The people of this country
will not stand this dalliance—they will not be satisfied with an
old worn-out beau devoting. his time to driving backward and
forward, while the country is in confusion, and Canada may he
in flames.—(Cheers.) In defiance of Hemy George Ward,
the lick-spittle of the Whigs—in defiance of all the London
Press—notwithstanding the Chronicle and the Globe recom-
mended that I should be tried—l stand here in defiance of
them all. lam stronger than bad law, because there is good •
law behind my back.—(Great cheering.) I thought it no.
cessary to give you my opinion of physical force, to expose the
truculence of the leaders in the State, and to renew my co-
venant with you, which is, that I will stand by you to the death'
and that I will die a Radical and a Radical only.—(Mr.
O'Connor resumed his scat amidst loud and prolonged
cheering.)
Mr. PARLOW moved the first resolution, which was to the
effect that the meeting, considering the perfect union of
all Radicals necessary for the accomplishment of their object,
to obtain Universal Suffrage, condemned the conduct pursued
by the Radicals of Edinburgh. The present crisis was the
most important that had ever existed for Ihe working classes.
At the present moment they possessed a power most mighty
in its operation, one that was to be viewed by them with the
highest feelings of &Heft, and by their enemies with dread
and alarm.—( Cheers.) The Radicals were now in the high-
b
way to the accomplishment of their great object, and was it toe
said that their prospects were to be blighted by dissensions
being raised up among them.--(Loud cheers, and cries of
No, no I") How did the men of Edinburgh propose
to accomplish the great object they had in view ? Why, by
from them those men who had done all the work, who
taking
l sinness of purpose in furtherance of the great objects the
people had braved all the danger, and who had hitherto acted with a
had in view. He would say to the men of Scotland
‘‘No," so long as those men act'as they had done; they should
have their support, and every attempt to divide should only
unite them stronger together.—(Cheers.) The men of Scot-
land said that too strong language had been used. Good
heavens I What language could be too strong, considering
the degradation and insult they had received.—( Cheers.,
They would never crouch in the dust before their
fellow-men.—(Cheers.) Moral force was the first step
towards the success of their cause, and that could not be
rendered effective unless the people were concentrated. If
the people were concentrated, physical force, which had been
said so much about, was not necessary.—(Cheers.) Their
enemies wished to divide in order to destroy them, but he
trusted that the result of the present meeting would be to show
them that they could not effect their object, that the Radicals
were determined to be staunch to a man, and that the people
united would carry the day.--( Cheers.)
Mr. VINER seconded the resolution. He was happy to say
that the cause of the English Radicals had met with the sym-
pathy of their Irish friends._( Cheers.)
A Person in the meeting trusted that no discord would rise
tip among them. They must adopt the example of the Tories,
and allow no squabbling in their ranks, for if they did, the
great cause they had to accomplish would be placed in
jeopardy.
The Resolution was then put to the meeting by the Chair-
man, and declared by him to be carried unanimously.
Mr. H. VINCENT came forward to move the next resolu-
tion, which was to the effect that the present House of Com-
mons did not represent the people. They were met to-night
to speak their minds plainly and honestly to the Government
and their fellow-countrymen—to every man, woman, and
child—to all classes of politicians, and all grades of religious
opinion—to tell each and all that the time was just approach-
ing when the Government of England must surrender up its
exclusive powers and monopolies, and give to the people their
inherent birthright, Universal Suffrage.—(Cheers.) It was
delightful to find that even in the metropolis of London—the
centre of corruption, where the bauble Crown was displayed
to move the people from the one thing needful--where the
tinsel aristocracy, rolling through the streets, mocked the po-
verty of the people with its splendour, and where dwelt all the
viciousness, misery, and depravity, wich degraded and dis-
graced man. It was delightful to find that even there the
people had aroused from their bonds—that they came from
the looms, the workshops, and the courts, to proclaim their own
political equality, and to hid the exclusive avaricious few pre-
pare to meet their doom—for, by the God that made him,
their doom would soon be sealed.—(Cheering.) Why were
they met to-night? Because they were living under a Govern-
ment and a Constitution which was said to be " the envy of
surrounding nations, and the admiration of the world"—
( Great laughter)—while the'great mass of the population—the
intelligent hard-working mechanics, and the sickly agricultu-
ral labourers, who toiled from morning till night, receiving
55., 65., and 7s. a week—had no share in the Government
whom they were compelled to support, or no share in the
making of laws, except to hear the heavy burdens placed upon
them. They were met there to-night to tell the rotten. House
of Commons—to tell the 300 old women in pantaloons, who
sat in the House of Peers—to tell Lords Melbourne and John
Russell—to tell Wellington and Peel—the Queen, and the
Queen's Mamma, that they were resolved to possess the power

which belonged to them, even according to theoretical no.
tions of the Constitution—namely, the privilege of electing
the Members of the House of Commons, or else let not the
other classes have the slightest security for the privilege they
possessed.—(Much cheering.) The first, end broadest, and
truest definition of a government was, that it should keep
down depravity and oppression—that it should extend equal
protection to the rich and the poor, and diffuse the blessings
of liberty and intelligence to every branch of the human family.
The Government of England did not do that. Although in
that country they manufactured more goods than would dif-
fuse comfort and happiness to all the labouring classes, yet
they found them steeped in the lowest deaths of poverty.
That showed that there was something rotten in the
State, and it could only be eradicated by determination
and unity on their parts. The first great principle of the re-
solution was, that the present House of Commons did
not represent the people. Did it ? Yes: but who?
All the Three per Cent. Jews and stock-jobbing
, and all the naval and military gentlemen. Were
they the people? If so, let them keep themselves, and keep
their hands out of the pockets of the people. They had a
population of 27 millions, and of these only 800,000 'had the
elective franchise, and not above 500,000 or 600,000 gave
their votes at elections ; and when they came to admit the
votes of the minority who did not return themselves, it would
be seen that the House of Commons only represented about
300,000 or 400,090. Among these were all persons living
on public plunder, or expecting to share in it. Constables,
managers of the New Poor.law Bill, and all who hoped to be
Aldermen or Mayors, or asses, and who cared nothing for the
industrious tradesman. —( Great laughter and cheering.) What
„Light I.► 4.._he Ho is ne
,cf,Oenions, therefore, to govern them ?
011`,.Their-raTilenty or right—the power of the law ! They
might talk of the hereditary exclusive powers of the Peerage ;
but the House of Commons was as exclusive, to those who had
no vote, as the House of Peers. He denied the right of the
House of Commons to make laws to govern him, who had no
vote. If the House of Commons had that right, then the:people
were not entitled to Universal Suffrage; but believing, as he
did, that all Governments, to be legal, must be based upon
the principle of the benefit and advantage of all, he denied
their right. Let the Government, then, choose between re
sistance to the laws made by them, or Universal Suffrage.—
(Tremendous cheering.) Why had they not Universal Suf-
frage ? Because they had a variety of opponents—the middle
classes, who denied that the tradesman possessed intelligence ;
but he contended that the shopkeepers possessed no qualification
which the tradesman did not possess. Did not the mechanics
invent machinery, lay down railroads, which annihilated time
and space, and promote the happiness and comfort of the com-
munity? Shame then upon the middle classes, who denied
that the working classes did not possess sufficient intelligence.
It was alleged that the working classes were sickly, ill clad__
that their bands were dirty, and their shoes down at heel. He
(Mr. Vincent) admitted all that; but the reason nhy they
were not better fed and better clad was, that they worked so
hard for other people's benefit that they had not time to do
anything for themselves.—(Hear.) It was said that the de-
mocrats were anarchists, which in drawing. room language meant
cannibals.—(A laugh.) But he could assure the aristocracy
:bat they bad no intention of eating them, for they would
prove a bad morsel.—(Hear, hear.) Their object was to
promote the comfort and happiness, of the greatest number
of the community, and without Universal Suffrage they could
not do that. They wished to see the peaceful and moral pro-
gress of the institutions of the country. He wished to see a
Government which would imprison a traitor-ruffian Duke of
Cumberland with as much ease as the Dorchester la-
bourers.—(Loud cheering.) The present meeting was the
first of a series of political agitation in the metropolis
—it was a sort of Precursor Meeting. It had a
silent warning in it, and hid the sleepy members of Downing_
street to take up their sticks and budge. Inasmuch as they
were going to have, in a few weeks, not a rotten House of
Commons of lawn-sleeved, and white-gloved, and periwigged
dandies, but a body of men sent forth from the east and the
west, and all parts of the country, to watch over the People's
Charter, and to take care that it suffered no indignity from
their rotten worships. Inasmuch as they would have that
Parliament sitting and working up the steam to blood-heat—
es that new Convention would be sitting either by day or night,
he hoped that neither the treachery of its own members, or the
tear of the G, wernment, would keep the people from performing
their duty. When thus surrounded by the steady men of Lon-
don. the Convention would be prepared to stand up in the face
of God and man to assert their rights, protected from outrage,
treachery, and deceit. Who said that the people of London
were lethargic and dead ? The Daily Press. And yet what
was its conduct during the passing of the Reform Bill?"
When eight or ten old women met in any corner of the
country, the Times and Chronicle had it announced "by
express," and six or eight columns; but when one hun-
dred thousand men met, as was the case the other day at
Manchester, to assert their political independence, these Journals
squeak through a penny trumpet, and dwindle the number
down to twelve or fourteen thousand.—( Cries of " Shame.")
He thanked them for that ; but with what awe would the
moment come when the grand national display would be made
—when the truly majestic banding of thn people would take
plaee-=-when their petition was spurned by the House of
Commons, and when the Convention issued its proclamation,
aye, its order, to its constituents, calling upon them to leave
the anvil, the plough and the loom.---( Vehement cheering)--to
stand as in the solemn stillness of the tomb, and to speak to
the Government in the language of artful winning, and
tell theirs if they did not come down an alai; knees,
and yield up peaceful possession of their righta, they would
find that there was a point beyond which hafnarn enderance
could not go—beyond which they could not remain qniescent
—that they would suspend their work and never return until
the whole of their privileges were granted.-_( Much cheering.)
They were engaged in one of the most important contests
that had ever taken place in England. It was not the cause
of Whig or Tory, of parte or faction, but of the people at
large.—(Hear hear ) It behoved them, then, to be on
the alert—they should always hear in mind that a revolu-
tion to be successful—( let them not be alarmed
at the plunge, for all change was revolution)—the Reformßill
was a revolution—so was that of 1688, which placed the pre-
sent family on the Throne)-- but, let them boar in- mind, that
to be successful it must be guided by the talent and intelli-
feence of the country.—( Cheers.) If they rallied round the
National Convention, they might rest satisfied that the day
was not far distant when it would have to celebrate in one of
the Parks of the metropolis, the triumph of the rights and
happiness of all classes of the people.
Mr. WEBB seconded the resolution, which was passed una
nimousle,

Mr; O'Connor being compelled to leave, in order to attend
another meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to him, and in
returning his acknowledgments for the honor.
Mr. O'CONNOR said, that notwithstanding the ingenuity of
the Press in suppressing everything regarding the movements
of the working-classes, the proceedings of this meeting would
echo through Lancashire and Yorkshire, and, if necessary,
give to their brave brethren there increased vigour, strength,
• and determination. Mr. O'C. declared himself to be precisely
the same in feelings and principles as when he was last among
them, and that, undeterred by the taunts of the Press, and the
scorn of the great, and the calumnies of the Whigs and sham
Radicals, he would go on in his course so long as he was sup-
ported by the fustian jacketed working classes.—( Cheers.)
It was three years and a quarter ago since he had established
Radical Associations in a neighbouring parish. From that
period Democracy has been advancing with giant strides.
And he had been lately devoting himself to the union of the
democratic opinion, for it was of no use that the working classes
thought aright if they did not know that they thought alike.
On the 25th the brave Northumbrians, undaunted by the late
attempt to awe them by the military, will be "up and doing."
On the 26th he (Mr. O'Connor) was to attend a meeting of
the working classes of Bristol, and hoped to unite them with
their brethren in London.—(Cheers.) Mr. O'Connor went
on to declare that he despised the Press, as the most corrupt
engine in the State ; and convinced as he was that noGovern-
ment could live a day against a united press, he promised
shortly to est-.blish a Daily Paper belonging to the people—
( Loud cheers)—hoping that " a little leaven" would speedily
" leaven the whole mass."—( Cheers.)
Three cheers were given for Mr. O'Connor.
It was announced that the proprietor of the room (Mr.
Chesney) offered the free use of it gratis, to the working_
classes, as often as they required it.
Three cheers were given for Mr. Chesney.
Mr. PARRIS was moved into the Chair, and -
Mr. Tuoslas moved the last resolution, to the effect, that
industry would never meet its fair reward, until the people
could exercise their right of choosing representatives, who
should fairly and impartially advocate their interests.
The resolution was duly seconded and carried unanimously.
The meeting then separated shortly before 19 o'clock.

A great sensation was created at Quardon (a village
about nine miles north of Leicester) this day se'nnight, in
consequence of a report that a young man named Silas
Cross had shot himself, through a quarrel with his brother,
and on inquiry, the rumour was found to be too true. It
appeared that the unfortunate young man and his brother
were quarrelling nearly all the way home from Leicpster
market, and as soon as they reached their dwelling Silas
procured a loaded pistol, and, exclaiming—" I won't give
you the trouble to pick up my brains l" fired at his chest,
and fell to the ground. Medical aid was instantly sent for,
but it was feared on' Thursday that lie would not survive,
the surgeons not having succeeded in extricating the ball.—
Chesterfield Advertiser.
At Wakefield, on Monday evening last, a torch-
light meeting was announced to be held ; but the Magis-
trates issued a notice in the morning of that day, declaring
such meetings to be illegal, and cautioning the inhabitants
against violating the law. In the evening the military
were called out, but their aid was rendered unnecessary,
the leaders declining to hold the intended meeting in the '
open air. Feargus O'Connor was placarded as chairman ;
but he did not make his appearance.—Manchester Times.

_ 0 SIR THOMAS LETHBRIDGE.
SlR.—Whether your conviction-respecting the necessity
of a change in the Corn-laws arises from a sincere desire to
have them abolished, or whether the present aspect of the
times does not present something of a more portentous and
ominous nature than ever presented itself before to the eyes
and understanding of the landed proprietors and agricul-
turists of the country, I leave the people to guess ; all of
whom, Sir, through the medium of their very numerous
friends and partizans in the Houses of Commons and Lords
immediately after the nation had undergone the cost and
losses of war, which terminated in 1815, took especial care
to curse the land with a Corn-law, for the protection of no
other interest whatever but their, own I which disgraceful
and truly unnatural law the people have been made to en-
dure these 23 years ! praying and petitioning for its repeal
for the whole of that time ; until petitioning and petitions
were treated by both Houses of Parliament with the most
marked and signal contempt ! ! In consequence of which
the people have been compelled to take up another and more
important position, and to shape their line of conduct
most in accordance with the present state of the
times, or that crisis ! which might have been totally
prevented, but for the gross stupidity and selfishness of the
Legislature, landowners, &c., &c., who, wonderful to say,
now begin to see in the distance of our political horizon
a tempest only to be put down (not by the sabres of the
yeomanry, &c.) by equal-banded justice to all ! And on no
other terms, will, or ought the people of England to treat.
Does any man—can any man—be so truly insane to think,
that the Corn laws were not enacted for the sole benefit of
the landed proprietors and occupiers of land, to the greatest
possible injury of the_other class of our fellow-countrymen,
to the loss of foreign commerce, shipowners, classes depen-
dant on commerce, labourers,tnanufacturing classes, artizans,
interchangers, and shop-Reepers—all, all, of whose respec-
tive interests have been sacrificed at the shrine of these base
end truly unholy laws. And I maintain the charge to be
true, and substantiated by their present effects upon the
country ! Indeed, if the Corn-laws had not proved so great
a source of wealth, where could have been the necessity of
their being so cruelly and pertinaciously persevered in so
many years ? or until revolution stares the Legislature in
the face, ere the least notice be taken of the injustice of
such laws, which were intended, and are so well regulated
to reach the pockets of the people—to cramp industry, and
finally to pauperise millions. This was the regulation of
the Legislature, after all their honourable and kind-hearted
" doubling and hesitation" in the disinterested Senate of
England, who at the cessation of the Bonapartean war, or
rather the Tory war, and when the nation was steeped in
distress and ruin, as a panacea gave us a Corn-law, by way
of accommodation, in order to keep wheat, rentals, &c. at
war prices ! The average price of wheat during the 23
years' wer was 41. ss. lid. per quarter, and the corn-laws
were intended to keep that price in peace, and to perpetu-
ate it if possible, to the latest moment. The position of
this country at the conclusion of the war, naturally enough,
became difficult, from the wasteful extravagance and profu-
sion of the Government, public debt, change, and value of
of the currency, &c. &c., all. of which were contracted by
and under the control of the Tories, then in power ; who
were as anxious as Legislators possibly could be for the pre-
sentation of petitions from agricultural districts, in order to
pass and secure theirfavourite measure ; and to prevent the
importation offoreign Cern. And in passing tbia nefariousßill,
they were very indignantly opposed by the people of this
country—manufacturing, commercial, indestriat, and all
that made it great and strong. But how were the peti-
tions of the people received by the Honourable—the feel-
ing--the Christian House of Commons ? whose selfishness
and contumely on that occasion bespoke them to be any-
thing but the representatives of the people, whose daily
bread they had dared to tax contrary to all law—human
or divine, for whose conduct, poor indeed is the plea, now
set up in their defence ; but we can at all times find apolo-
gists in support of evil systems, and in this instance, I re-
gret that they arc in se!fish numbers, promoting their own
interest, though millions pine of want. It was an evi-
dent fact, that these laws were only enacted for the benefit
of the landowners and occupiers, but more so for the bene-
fit of the former than the latter, and not for the whole
people, who, from the first of their enactment, set their
face against the measure, as one likely to involve the coun-
try in distress, and our manufactures, &e., in ruin, which
has proved but too true in its results. Had there been a
moderate fixed duty and a free importation of corn, the
people would then have listened to the measure ; but the
duty proposed being considered too high and nearly of a
prohibitory nature, the modesty of the Legislature and
their friends, to put a better face upon the matter, gave up
the idea of a fixed and permanent duty, and enacted the
present fluctuating scale of duties as the most congenial to
their interest, but most delusive and fraudulent in its ope-
tions. Had corn been admissible into the English market at
at .ss. or 6s. per quarter duty, the people of England, nor
their trade, commerce, and manufactures, could have
been in the wretched and - degraded state they now
are. And who have been the cause of the present state of
things? Our landowners and Legislators! by whose acts
the foreign growers and merchants have been interdicted
the markets of this country, and the principles of com-
merce most shamefully violated. And, now that we are
beginning to reap the frightful folly of our truly wise legisla-
tors,
from the want of free importation, and that we can-
not have a supply of corn when it is wanted, in
time of scarcity and dearness, the country is to be
placed in a state of jeopardy, with the prospect
of great convulsions, if not revolution ! towards which
state, from the present movements of the people, the coun-
try is rapidly approaching. In this unhappy dilemma, and
when the patience of the nation is exhausted by legislative
trickery, what are our prospects but gloomy and dishearten-
ing for the future? and where the hope, but in the mode-
ration and patriotism of the people, who are no longer to
be duped by promises, no sooner made than broken, by their
representatives?
To say that the lotus which regulate the trade in corn
" were made after much doubting and hesitation," appears
a mis-statement of the fact, for in 1815, when the motion
was made in the House of Commons by Mr. Robinson
(now Lord Ripon), so intent and determined were the
landowners to pass the Bill, that, fearing the opposition of
the people—assembled at the time of its passing at the hour
of midnight—the House of Commons was surrounded by
bayonets and cannon, to give sanction to the measure and
overawe the people, many of whom were killed and wounded
on the occasion, in manifesting their hatred to a measure of
such gross oppression, and which has proved-a source of
evil, which, if not very soon removed, will to a certainty
lead to anarchy and confusion. The people will not s'esrve
much longere under the influence of such death-engendering
laws ! Talk of " hesitating and doubting," were there
either " hesitating or doubting" at Manchester in 1819,
wEen the people assembled peaceably and legally to petition
for the abolition of the Corn-laws Y No, there was no
hesitation in the work of blood and slaughter of their vic-
tims, who fell under the sabres, &c., of the cowardly, as-
sassin-like soldiery, who revelled in the blood of their fel-
low-creatures, for no other crime than to petition the then
heaven-born Prince Regent for a repeal of those laws! the
injustice of which, upon a country like England (essentially
a manufacturing country) has long and amply been proved
by the downward state of our foreign commerce, manufac-
tures, rate of labour, 4-c., none of which shall we be able
much longer to exchange for the products of the civilized
world, the inhabitants, merchants, &c., of which, having
but little to give in exchange for British manufactures,.ex-
cept their corn and other products, the former of which is
very carefully interdicted our markets, save and except when
the people are nearly borne down with famine, engendered
by such laws, taxing the bread and food of man, for no other
purpose than filling the pockets of landlords, monopolizers,
speculators, &c., egc., at the cost of a famishing population,
who, through the medium of the Corn-laws, have been the
sorrowing witnesses of systems being persevered in only
calculated to ruin our manufactures, or to drive them to
distant lands. But, it may be hoped that this country is
on the eve of some great and important changes, such as
the Abolition of the Corn-laws, &c., that we may be able
to compete with other countries in agriculture, manufac-
tures, &c., and that no seOish, ridiculous, or cruel laws
may stand in the way or impede the comforts and happiness
of the human race I but that all who live may enjoy the
great, the blessed boon of plenty, so bountifully bestowed
on man—untaxed food ! ! and that all nations and people
may enjoy that friendly and social intercourse intended by
the Almighty, who never intended the wicked Go-
vernments of the earth to tax the food of his
people ! No I Never ! And yet our Christian
rulers of England have presumed to tax and
make dear all our necessaries and comforts of
life. But " the my that treadeM out the corn"
shall yet be unmuzzled, and man shall have his fill, in de-
spite of selfish men or wicked laws. The nation cries
aloud for justice ! and it would be wise in rulers to meet
the people, not with the sword—not with a suspension of
the laws, the axe, or the halter—but, in the pure spirit
of peace and kindness, to do justice, and assuage their
many sufferings and wrongs, which have sprung out of the
system of long misrule. Let Ministers and Parliaments
do this, and try to allay the storm, ere it bursts on our
devoted country.

I have the honour to remain, Sir, yours, &c.,
Nottingham, Dec. 9, 1838. JOHN CLAYTON.