The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-14 00:00:00

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORN MO CHRONICLE.

" Sir—ln answer to the complaint of Mr. Benjamin
Wall, relative to the reports of the meetings in .alary-
lebone, inserted in the Morning Chronicle, I beg to of-
fer the following explanation :—First, Mr.W. declares
that the amendment moved by Mr. Duffil, at the She-
pherd and Flock, in High-street, Marylebone, on Wed-
nesday evening, and supported by Mr. Young's friends,
was carried by a large majority.! Now, Sir, I beg
leave most distinctly to declare that the reverse was the
fact ; and, in proof thereof, I will to-morrow procure
the signature of Mr. Hutchings, the chairman of the
meeting, in support of my assertion.
" With respect to the ' pompous list' of Sir Charles
Napier's meetings, I beg to refer Mr. Wall to Mr.
Ivimey's letter, inserted in the Chronicle, of the 10th, and
to fearlessly assert that the following is a correct result
of every meeting at which Sir C. Napier has attended in
the borough, and at which I have been present :—At
the first meeting, held at the Yorkshire Stingo, the show
of hands in favour of Commodore Napier was allowed to
be four to one on all hands. At the second meeting, the
Royal Oak, Bayswater, there was only one opponent, and
that a lad of 16. At the third meeting, at the Duke of
York, Portland-town, there were only seven hands
held up against Sir Charles Napier. At the fourth
meeting, at the King and Queen, Peddington-green,
there were again seven hands against him. At the fifth,
held at the Lord High Admiral, Church-street, Portinan-
market, the same seven appeared against the Commo-
dore ; and be it observed, that here some of the misrepre-
sentations made by Mr. B. Wall, and inserted by him as
advertisements in the public papers, were taken notice of
by the Gallant Candidate, and refuted by him in the
presence of Mr. Wall himself, The sixth meeting took
place at the Assembly-rooms, in Kentish-town, Mr.
Churchwarden Houghton in the chair; and here again
seven hands were against the Commodore, which in-
duced him to observe that seven was the main at every
meeting.' The seventh took place at the Royal Standard,
in Frederick-street, Hampstead-road, Mr. T. H. Cooper
in the chair, and here Sir C. Napier was ' strenuously
opposed,' for what the friends of Mr. Young were ,de-
ficient in argument they made up for in clamour ' • su6
on the show of hands (1 will procure the signature of the
Chairman to support my statement) being taken in the
room, Mr. Cooper declared the numbers to be for Sir C.
Napier ninety-seven, against him fifty-seven. There
were hundreds who could not get in, and who, after
hearing Sir C. Napier again, on the outside, passed
his resolution unanimously. At the eighth, the Port-
man Arms, Great Quebec-street, the seven opponents
were, on a show of hands, reduced to four. At the 9th,
held at the North London Institute, King's-cross, where
there were about 1,200 electors present, Major Revell
presided, and that gentleman will at any time come for-
ward, and assert that there were but three hands held up
against Sir C. Napier. At the 10th meeting held at the
Camden Head, Camden Town, the meeting decided unani-
mously that Sir C. Napier was a fit and proper person to
represent the borough. At the Bee-hive, in Chapel-street,
Somers-town, Major Revell in the chair; I find I stated in
my report that the meeting was unanimously in favour
of the Commodore, as, from the unfavourable position in
which. I was placed, at the farther end, and the crowded
state of the room, I could not perceive- a single hand
against Sir Charles, but on referring this day to the
Gallant Chairman, I find I made a mistake, as there were
three dissentients out of a meeting of 500.
" Sir, it is not my province to impute motives to any
one, but how Mr. Wall can assert that the Commodore
has been " signally defeated" in Christchurch, in St.
Pancras, and High-street, Marylebone, with the above
facts on record, lam at a loss to imagine. I challenge
Mr. Wall to point out the inaccuracies and misrepre-
sentations in my reports. I always endeavour to give
them impartially, and I am sorry to have provoked a
person to utter that which thousands can contradict.
" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" 6, Upper College-grove, " THE REPORTER.
"Camden town, June 11, 1841."

At the meeting on Friday, Sir C. Napier read an ad-
vertisement, which had appeared in one of the papers of
that day, signed by his " old friend, Benjamin Wall"—
(Cheers and laughter)—which " cautioned the electors
not to place confidence in the prepared reports of Sir C.
Napier,". and asserted that " he had . been strenuously
opposed at every meeting he held, and signally defeated
at Christ Church, St. Pancras, and High-street. The
Gallant Commodore then declared the statements in the
advertisement to be absolutely false. He said it was
true that he had been strenuously opposed, first by seven,
then by three, and at last by none.—(Cheers and great
laughter.) On the preceding evening he had attended a
meeting of seven or eight hundred electors, and of, these
fifteen persons held up their hands against him.—
(Cheers and laughter.) Was that defeat ?—(Laughter.)
He had next to deal with Mr. Wall's master, Mr. Young.—
(Great uproar.) Tiie gallant Commodore then entered
into a lengthened statement of the opinions which he had
already, at so many meetings, fully explained to the
electors on the subject, of the Poor-laws and flogging in
the navy. It appeared from a report in the Morning
.Advertiscr of that day, that Mr. Young had represented
him, notwithstanding the frequent and public declara-
tions of his sentiments to the contrary, to be an &leo..
cate of the present system of Poor-laws and of flogging
in the navy.—(Vehement cries of " Shame, shame.")
His declarations on those subjects had been fully re-
ported, and Mr. Young had perverted his statements, as
he had before done at the first meeting, held at the
Yorkshire Stingo.—(Cheers.) Mr. Young was reported
to say of him, that " he (Sir C. Napier) was said to be a
Reformer."—(Great laughter.) Perhaps it was said so,
and if it was, it was only true.—(Cheers and laughter.)
But it could not be said of him, as of ..Mr. Young, . that
" he was once a Tory and now a Reformer."—(Renewed
cheering and laughter.) The Gallant Commodore pro-
ceeded to give an exposition of his political opinions in
favour of the Ballot and short Parliaments--an
amelioration of the Poor-law system, by out-door
relief, and rendering workhouses places of com-
fort and refuge, instead of prisons; the abolition •of
Church-rates, and the proposed measures of the Govern-
ment for cheapening the' necessaries of Hal., lie was, on
this occasion, cheered most enthusiastkally throughout
his address, as he has been at every other meeting in the
borough, and a resolution, pledging the electors present
to support him in the ensuing contest, was carried by a
majority of far more than 400 to 27.
Of the minority, however, there were some who stood
close under the chair, and assailed the reporters by name,
in a manner which provoked the Reporter of The Sun,
with great reluctance, to make some observations, which,
although challenged, it is not in his power to recollect,
beyond this, that he declared his reports to have been
strictly impartial, and that the advertisement, which as-
serted that the Commodore had been defeated at any
meeting, was an untruth.