The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-28 00:00:00

CHARTIST MEETING IN

EDINBURGH,

On Thursday last Messrs. Collins and M'Douall
visited Edinburgh, they dined with a few of their friends 1
in the afternoon, and, agreeably to arrangements pre-
viously made, they met in the evening with a more
numerous body, in Dun-Edin Hall—there might be
about six or seven hundred present. Mr. Rankine '
was called to the chair, who announced that the object
of the meeting was to present an address to Messrs.
Collins and INl'Douall, complimenting them on their
unflinching adherence to the principles of the Charter,
notwithstanding what they hod personally suffered on
its account.
After the reading of the address, Mr. M'Douall
rose and thanked them for the honour done him, he
said he was aware, however, that it was the cause
they honoured, and be was glad it was so, for he was
devoted to it, he had suffered for it, but he was
ready to suffer again, what he had suffered bad only
abetted his appetite for more agitation. In prison
he had quiet add opportunity enough to study his sub-
ject, end he had done so, anewas now mote determined
than ever to devote his powers, whatever they ought
to be, to the accomplishment of his, and their grand
ol‘ject, the liberation of Lie industrious and intelligent
countrymen from a state of slavery, tyranny, and op-
pression, Their oppressors, after incarcerating Mr.
Collins, himself, and a few others, boasted thatChar-
tisrn was extinguished ; they had found out their mis-
take, and it was ready to burst out into a mightier flame
than ever ; they, themselves, furnished the combus-
tible materials, and could it be supposed that the
people would submit much longer to have the fruits of
their honest industry wrung from them, and their rights
usurped by a class of men who were as ignorant as
they were unfeeling and tyrannical? Mr. Isl‘Douali
dwelt at considerable length on the missry of the
working classes in England. He compared their
earnings now with what they were a few years ago,
which exhibited a falling cif amounting to upwards of
10s, n-week, It was next to impossible for the strong
and the healthy, in the best of times, to maintain exis-
tence, and to provide for old age, or trouble, or the
want of employment, was out of the question ; but the
law had provided for these cases—Bastiles had beer,
erected to receive them, where they were not only se-
parated from their friends and the world,,but also. from.
their nives and children ; they regarded .neither the
laws of God nor the tics of 'nature,- every principle is
made to give way, and ,iii prostrated to the earth to
suit the iaterests of our iniquitous rulers. lie asked
Low it was possible for the people, an intelligent
people—to submit quietly to all this? It was cu-
rious, he observed, to see bow anxious their oppressors
were for the spiritual welfare of the people. They
could do nothing for their temporal weal, but every-
, thing for their spiritual, when it consisted in building
churches and endowing priests. The Church—the
Established Church in England—formed one grand link
in the chain that shackled the people, at the same time
that it provided for the undersprouts of the aristocracy,
and afforded princely incomes to men who were unfit for
any thing else ; if there existed one greater dunce than
another in the family of a nobleman, he was fit to be a
Bishop. After boxing the whole compass of vice and
debauchery, he was installed a fit teacher of the people—
a
teacher of morality and religion. What did they think
the people were? He trusted the people would give
them all the credit they deserved for their self-philanthro.
pie care. They pretend to teach the Bible, but do they
understand it, or do they think nobody can read it but
themselves ? Are they not commanded to administer
first to the temporal wants of the people, and then to
their spiritual ? Did our Saviour preach to the blinds
the lame, and the paralytic, before curing them? ,D.d
he preach to the people on the Mount before feeding
them ?" Does not the Bible teem with passages de-
nouncing the conduct of the rich towards the poor, the
orphan, and the widow. Nothing, continued Mr.
M'Douall, is to put an cud to this but the Charter,
it is the grand panacea, and the only one, for the
rancorous diseases which fester in the State. Were

they . prepared to renew the .struggle for their
rights, they need only be firm to the cause to
make it triumphant ; he did not talk of physica
force—there was no need of it, let them rally in
sufficient- numbers, end their physical powers would
never be questioned nor opposed ; he would remind
them, hOwever, that it was _ their right by the laws
of the -land; bad as they-were, 'to -assemble together
to state their griavances and remonstrate - agsinst,

them. It was also the right of every man:to possess
the means' of defending his person and property
against aggression, and,;' for 'his part, he was deter-
mined to protect the kw rights he possessed by every
means in his power. Mr. M'D. concluded a long and
able speech, of which this is a mere outline, by declar-
ing that he would rather return to the primmval savage
state, to hunt iu the woods and drink from the passing
stream than remain much longer the slave of tyranny.
Mr. M'Douall here sat down amidst the long protracted
I clic( rs of the audience. _
•

Mr. Collins then i.rescnted himself to the meeting,
and addressed them at considerable length ; he went
over the same ground-aS the former speaker, atnplify-
ing on the operation of the Poor Laws, the misery of
the working men of England, the inconsistent conduct
of the clergy; and.the oppressive and partial operation of
the law in generaf.'''l-1 e was loudly cheered throliihout,
and begged`tal AT/triad
retire, 'as be had not slept in ,s 1 bad since he earn& to
Scotland, and he would require to be up,in•the morning
to prepare for the labourS of the day.
The meeting was then addressed by Mr. Julian Har-
ney, after which thanks were voted to Mr. Rankin • for
his conduct in the chair, and the meeting dispersed about
twelve o'clock .—Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle.