The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-02 00:00:00

V_ASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.
OPEN from SHOREDITCH to BRENTWOOD.
The Public are informed that the Trains start from London
and from Brentwood, calling at the intermediate Stations of
Stratford, Ilford, and Romford, at every hour from Eight o'clock
in the morning till Eight o'clock in the evening, except at the
hours of Twelve and One o'clock from London, and One and
Two o'clock from Brentwood. The Ten o'clock, Three
o'clock, and Seven o'clock Trains from London, and the Ten
o'clock, Twelve o'clock, Four o'clock, and Six o'clock Trains
from Brentwood, will not call at any of the intermediate sta-
tions. The Five o'clock Train from London will leave first
and second class passengers only at the intermediate stations,
without stopping.
On Sundays the Eleven o'clock and Twelve o'clock Trains
do not run, but all the Trains running on Sundays take pas-
sengers to and from the intermediate stations.
Offices, High-street, Shoreditch, July 1, 1840.

VORTH MIDLAND RAILWAY.
OPENING 01, THE LINE THROUGHOUT.
The Public is respectfully itislrmed that, en and after
WEDNESDAY, the Ist July 1840, the TRAINS of this COM-
PANY, in connexion with those of the Loudon and Birming-
ham, Birmingham and Derby, Midland Counties, York and
North Midland, and Hull and Selby, will START and
ARRIVE according to the following Table, until further
notice :

DEPARTURE and ARRIVAL of TRAINS BETWEEN
HULL, YORK, LEEDS, and LONDON.
Departure from Arrival at
York. Leeds. Sheffield. Derby. London.
6 15. 645 8 0 10 45 ... 6 01-
7 30. 8 0 915 12 0 ... 6 45t
7 30* 9 0 930 104.5 110 ... 7 Ot
0. 12 30 1 0 1 IS 445 ... 11 301-
Western Mail
4 301- 6 0 S 30t to
Birmingham.
5 30*

Hull.

5 15t 645 715 830 11 0
SUNDAY TRAINS.
7 45" gl5 930 1` 315
130 245 5 Ot ---
c
estern
430 6 0 830 to
Birminglam
30

~ i3q

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—From the spirited manner in which you took
up the case of the persecuted John Thorogood, I am
induced to hope, however much you may differ in prin-
ciple from the individuals on whose behalf the present
epistle is written, that persecution, coming from, or in-
flicted on, whom it may, will find a powerful opponent
in your widely-circulated and valuable journal.
R. Owen, Esq., founder of the Social System, hav-
ing been informed of certain calumnies which a Mr.
J. Brindley was retailing in the Staffordshire Potteries
relative to Mr. Owen's private character, kindly con-
sented to an invitation sent to him by his friends in this
neighbourhood, to deliver a course of lectures in the
Newcastle and Pottery Theatre, which was engaged for
the purpose, and the district widely advertised of the
same. But, when Mr. Owen arrived, and his friends
made application for the keys, they welt informed that
the agreement must be broken, and that " Mr. Owen
could not lecture there," although he had travelled
from London on that day expre3sly for the purpose.
Application was then made for the use of the Town-
hall of the borough of Stoke-upon-Trent, which was
granted by the acting trustees ; and again the.. Potteries
and Newcastle were placarded, advertising acourse of
lectures by Mr. Owen, when again Mr. Brindley and
his party put a stop to the proceedings by the most. un-
justifiable interference. There was now no other place
available for Mr. Owen's lectures than the Sccial insti-
tution, Dale-hall, near Burslem, about four miles from
Stoke, and two from Newcastle. Again, for the third
time, the Potteries were placarded, and public atten-
tion was called to the venerable man, who purposed
delivering one lecture on the causes of poverty, dis-
union, and crime. About mid-day, however, on Mon-
day, the 22d inst., the day on which Mr. Owen was to
lecture, a handbill was widely circulated, bearing no
printer's name, calling on the inhabitants to assemble
in front of the Institution, and firmly to insist that Mr.
Owen should not lecture in their neighbourhood. About
six o'clock the mob began to assemble. Before seven
the front of the Institution presented a large and savage
crowd, yelling and shouting to the discordant notes of
a drum and fife, apparently employed for the occasion.
A temporary platform was raised, from which the Rev.
J. Nobles, Church minister, harangued the mob, and
pointed out, with all the zeal of a sincere follower of
the meek and lowly Jesus, what he was pleased to call
the abominations of Socialism. The time had now
arrived when Mr. Owen should make his appearance,
which he did in the gig of a friend. This vehicle had
scarcely entered the crowd when it was violently seized,
with the intent to overturn it. The venerable man
was instantly forced from his soot, and his life would
have been sacrificed if a few friends bad not
risked their own personal safety by assist-
ing him into a private house, which luckily
stood open on the spot. At this juncture the
Rev. J. Nobles made his appearance, and offered his
services to protect Mr. Owen to the residence of E.
Wood, Esq., and ho ultimately reached his place of-re-
sidence in safetn. Mr. Owen was not the only object
for the fury of the mob, as the condensed power of the
rabble must have produced the most Fatal results. A.
Campbell, Social Missionary, accompanied by the re-
spected lady of W. Williams, Esq., of Stoke•upon-
Trent ; Mr. G. Brookes, late Minister in the New
Connexion Methodists; Mr. J. Chadwick, Secretary to
the Social Society here ; and other friends of Mr.
Owen, well known in the locality, experienced most
laretai treatment. Mr. Campiscii was severely beaten,
and literally covered with mud. Mr. G. Brookes'
house was besiegedi; his door was forced open ;
his furniture injured ; the missiles luckily doing
no personal injury to the family, who narrowly •
escaped. Mr. J. Chadwick received a severe contusion
on, the back of the bead, and many others were tiruised,
and beaten, and chased for upwards of a mile from the
institution. While these disgraceful proceedings were
enacting without the lecture room, the audience within
were timidly waiting for an opportunity to disperse.
The large gates, leading to the yard and to the imme-
diate entrance of the Institution, were strongly fastened.
This gave a feeling of security to the audience, as no
window or ingress presented itself in any other direc-
tion. But this feeling did not last long, for the
gates were burst open, and into the yard came the
crowd with the before-mentioned drum and fife
at their head. Intoxicating drinks were now seen
plentifully distributed amongst the mob, whose
feelings waxed warmer and warmer the nearer they
approached the immediate object of their fury. The
besieged soon saw the necessity of barricading the
entrance of the room, which was done by raising the
forms one upon the other, and bringing every available
objcet to support each separate panel of the door.
This was soon found to be highly necessary, as the
steps became crowded with an infuriated mob,•enden-
vouring to force and entrance, and vociferously clamour-
ing for admission. Finding that they could not make
an entrance through the door, they next turned their
attention to the roof, which was instantly mounted.
Here they would have succeeded in their diabolical
object if the occupants, made desperate by their dan-
gerous situation, had not manfully defended the breach.
No sooner did the savage features of the rioters make
their appearance through the roof, than the defendants
laboured with every weapon they could find on the hands
and persons of their assailants, by which conduct they
succeeded in keeping their persecutors at bay until the
Rev. J. Nobles again made his appearance, and addresi-
jug the mob, induced them, after it had been put to'n
show of hands, to allow the Socialists to pass unmo-
lested ; which, however, was not done, as they were
compelled to seek sheltar in a variety of places before
they could reach their homes. Many of the females,
who remained with their husbands in the institution to
the last, fainted from excess of fear, and were otherwise
s:_verely injured by the mob. Now, Sir, thit is a matter
of serious importance, and ought to be seriously anti
patiently investigated. life was endangered ;—the
persons of many of her Majesty's liege subjeCts were
sliocisinely maltreated ; p.ivate property was eamaged,
and the meeting of a legal society brutally obstructed.
From the assembling of the mob at six o'clock, to their
voluntary dispersion at ten, no civil authority inter-
posed to enforce the law, either by dispersing the
mob, or by bringing the rioters to justice. Many
at the present moment in this district, and else
where, are in want of employment ; and, perhaps, in
want of bread, through the influence and calumnies of
this star of modern intolerance, Such, indeed, .is the
conduct of some of the manufncturers in this district,
influenced by the lectures of Mr. Brindley, that they
do not blush publicly to announce their intention to &-
charge from their employ those who entertain the So-
cial principles, and practically to enforce it. All this
the Socialists were fully prepared to meet. All this
they could have borne almost without a murmur—but,
to be the objects of a brutal assault from a lawless mob,
to be hunted, like the beasts of the fai est, by a tribe
of uneducated savages—to be hooted, and stoned, and
beaten, and bruised, when peaceably attending one of
their own legalised meetings, was a climax to -lawless
',filially they had not imagined, even when dreaming of
the darkest deeds of the darkest ages.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient humble sera nt,
WM. EVANS.
Gray el-st reet, Upper Hanley, June 26, 1840.