The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-08 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, pECEMBER 8, 1841.

PUBLIC MEETING IN SOUTH.

WARK.

---
In pursurnce of a requisition addressed to the High
Bailiff of Southwark, by a number of inhabitant house-
holders, a public meeting was held on Monday at the
Town-hall, for the purpose of taking into consideration
the intolerable state of distress that at present existed
throughout the country. The hall was completely filled.
At one o'clock precisely John Holmes, Esq., the High.
Bailiff of the town and borough of Southwark, took the
chair, and stated that he had called the present meeting
in consequence of a requisition which had been addressed
to him, numerously and respectably signed. He trusted
that the resolutions which they meant to propose would
be of a character to reflect credit on themselves, and pro-
mote the great objects they had in view.—(Cheers.)
The requisition having been read by the Town Clerk,
Mr. B. ‘boon, M.P., said that he had been invited by
the requisition to attend the meeting. He understood
that they meant to propose an address to the Queen on
the subject of the present disti-ess, and as one of the mem-
bers for the borough he would undoubtedly give them
all the assistance in his power in relation to this subject.
He also understood that there was another petition to
be proposed to the meeting, but he could not pledge
himself to support the prayer of it, not knowing its
contents.—(Cheers.)
Mr.BLACKMORE rose to propose the first resolution.
In the first place, he must congratulate them on the
High Bailiff taking the chair at a meeting of the working,
classes. He hoped such conduct would long be remem-
bered by the working men. Let them but unite with
the middle class, and they might bid defiance to all the
efforts of the aristocracy.—(Cheers.) They had nothing
to hope from the aristocracy. They had only to look to
the way in which the deputation from Paisley had been
treated to be convinced that they must trust to them-
selves for a remedy. The distress in that town was ex-
treme, yet, when the deputation waited on a Noble Duke
for the purpose of having tl matter brought before her
Majesty, that individual refused to receive them.—(Cries
of " Shame I") The feeling of the people of Southwark
was now aroused, and they were now setting an example
to every other part of the country. There was not
one of the working men that (lid not feel the evil
effects of the Corn-laws, yet they all knew that if
the working men had had a voice in the Government,
these things would never have taken place.—(Cheers.)
He hoped the cry begun in Southwark would be raised in
every other part of the country, and that the Queen's
Ministers would be compelled to alter those laws under
which the nation was at present suffering.—(Cheers.)
Every working man had the same feelings as an aristo-
crat, and was equally anxious to provide for his family.
There were now eight millions of working men who, ab-
staining altogether from intoxicating liquors, were anxious
and willing to improve the condition of their children, by
training them up in those habits of sobriety which con-
duced so much to the comfort of the working man.
Every encouragement, therefore, ought to be given him
to continue in this path, and nothing could so much tend
to this as to afford him a cheap and plentiful supply of
food. He begged, therefore, to propose the resolution
which he had before read.—(Cheers.)
Mr. limacic. seconded the motion. _ _ _

Mr. SPURR spoke in support of the resolution, from a
conviction that the distress was not local in its character,
but general, and not only general in reference to the
nation, but felt by all classes of society throughout the
empire. He believed that the distress was to be attri-
buted to the cause mentioned—in the resolution—to no-
thing less than to class legislation.—(Cheers.) Would
the repeal of the Corn-laws remove the distress ?—(Cries
of " Yes, yes," drowned in loud shouts of " No.") They
might repeal the Corn-law, but its repeal, unaccom-
panied by other measures, would injure the working
dasses.—(Cheers and cries of "No.") That law was
passed by a House of Commons composed nearly of the
same classes as the present. If they ever hoped, then,
to see the law repealed, they must be able to send men
into the House willing to do justice to all without in-
jury to any.—(Cheers.) The distress was no doubt to
be attributed to class legislation, and the present Corn-
law was only one of the evils of that system of Go-
vernment. From the time of George I. to that of
George 111., during the reign of the three Georges, no
less than 9,000,000 acres of waste land, on which
the people had been accustomed to feed their geese and
pigs, had been taken from them by Enclosure Acts.
This was another of the evils of class legislation. Thou-
sands had been thrown out of employment by the intro-
duction of machinery, and the cry of a repeal of the
Corn-laws had been raised because it was said it would
give employment to and better the wages of the working
classes, but as the wages were regulated by the demand
for labour the effect of a repeal of the Corn-laws would
rather be to reduce the wages than otherwise, inasmuch
as a great portion of the people thrown out of employ-
ment in the agricultural districts would flock to the ma-
nufacturing towns in search of employment.—(Cries of
" No, no," and "Yes, yes.") A Parliament elected by Uni-
versal Suffrage would reduce the hours of labour, and
afford the working men time for the cultivation of their
minds. Gentlemen might raise subscriptions to relieve
the distress, but the working classes did not seek charity.
They wished for justice.—(Cheers.) The time was com-
ing when all opposition would give way. Let them,
then, not swerve, but stand to their principles—the Char-
ter and no surrender.—(Great cheers.) For these reasons
he begged to support the resolution.—(Cheers.)
The resolution was then put, and unanimously agreed to.
Mr. APSLEY PELLATT, in moving the adoption of the
address to her Majesty, said that, although he could not
go the length which the meeting seemed inclined to
go in the work of reform, he hoped they would not re-
fuse his assistance and that of others merely on the
ground that they did not go the full length of the
Chartists—(Uproar, and cries of " Yes.") In his opinion,
class legislation- had entailed injuries on the country,
which required a speedy remedy. He would not go into
details ou this head, but would only refer to Sturges
Bourne's Act, as a proof of the injustice of class legisla-
tion. By that Act, the right of voting was proportioned
entirely to a man's property, and under it a proprietor
might vote at the election of guardians for the poor by
merely sending his proxies. He believed that if the
working classes had had a fair share-in the Government
such things -would not have occurred ; but though he
was in favour of an extension of the Parliamentary
suffrage, he could not go to the extent of universal suf-
frage.—(Groans.) He was satisfied that they ought to
have either household suffrage or (Shouts of disap-
probation and great uproar, amid which Mr. Spurr
stepped forward, and entreated them to give the gentle-
man a patient hearing. Let them hear what his argu-
ments were.] He was of opinion that they ought to
have either hoinieliold suffrage or some educational test
of a person's fitness for exercising the franchise. He was
willing to concede much for the sake of unanimity. He
said so at their last meeting, and he was there to redeem
his pledge. He was quite willing to lend his assistance
to forward some inquiry into the distress which now over-
whelmed the country, and to point out the nature of it,
since they could nor agree as to its cause. He agreed
with a principle which he found laid down in the intro-
duction to Blackstone's Commentaries, " that the written
law binds for no other reason than because it is approved
of by the judgment of the people." If all written laws
had passed in that spirit he verily believed that the
Corn-laws would never have existed. Locke held that
when the Legislature betrayed its trust, the people
had the power of altering its Constitution. He agreed
in opinion with those writers. There were many in-
stances in history of changes made of such a nature ;_
but at the same time he thought it was the duty of
every one to petition in a constitutional manner. He
had another quotation which he wished to bring to their
notice. Montesquieu observed, that if the Constitution
perishes it will be whenever the legislative power be-
comes more corrupt that the executive. He really be-
lieved they were in that condition at present. He be-
lieved that there was no instance in the history of any
country in which the right to vote was so basely pur-
chased as it was in England during the last election. If
they had a virtuous Parliament they would have a virtu-
ous people, but it required a virtuous people to make a
virtuous Parliament. Let them look, therefore, to the
education of their children. There were Sunday schools
—(Laughter)—and he would be glad to see other schools
to which the children of the working classes could be
sent to be educated. The speaker then referred to a
pamphlet entitled, " Clerical Conformity, by the Rev. J.
Spencer, M.A., Curate of Hinton, near Bath," in support
of his views on Church Reform, and on an equal distri-
bution of the wealth of the Church. If this were
adopted the fund arising therefrom would enable the
people of England to abolish all Church-rates, all Poor-
rates, together with all compulsory charity. The writer
of the pamphlet also stated that he was favourable to an
extended Suffrage, and the Vote by Ballot.—(Cheers.)
In all these points he agreed with the writer, because he
knew that they could not have a reform in the State
without having a reform in the Church. It was with
some reluctance that he gave his consent to the con-
cluding paragraph of the address, but in order to secure
unanimity lie would stretch a point and move its adop-
tion without any amendment. - He begged to move,
therefore, that the following address be presented to her
Majesty :
The address was then read by the Town Clerk, as
follows :
‘ ‘
lajteaskn
tey—
Thatborough
of eg
into consideration
e
the distressed
May
Southwark,
tauphtlrewe aallosrli
katj,3u havinghe' oes tyr' subjects,
country,
beg to approach your
Majesty for the purpose of bringing before your lNlajesty
our opinion of the cause of such distress.
w
" We beg to apprise your Majesty that there are in all
parts of the country thousands of industrious persons who
can scarcely obtain a sufficiency of food to support their
existence, and that many are dying from the want of the
common necessaries of life. That the distress is not con-
fined to one portion of the community or to one branch
of trade, but that the tradesmen, the small agriculturists,
and manufacturers are alike on the brink of ruin.
" That by an unjust system of legislation laws have
neon enacted which have produced this state of affairs.
that by the operation of the Corn and other restrictive
laws,.- the trade, manufactures, and commerce of this
country have been gradually declining away, until
many of the manufacturers have been compelled to close
their workshops. Thousands of quarters of wheat have
rotted in the bonded stores whilst the people have been
starving.
" This state of things, we are of opinion, would not
have happened had the people been fullyand fairly repre-
sented in the Commons House of Parliament

"We therefora humbly pray your Majesty, with a