The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-11 00:00:00

CHARTIST CONVENTION.

(THIS DAY.)

The delegates met this morning at the usual hour.
Mr. M'Grath presided.
Mr. Dixoar, the secretary, stated that, in the confu-
sion of yesterday, he had mislaid the papers upon
which the proceedings of yesterday were taken, and pro-
posed that the minutes of the last meeting should be
confirmed from recollection.
Mr. LINNEY moved, as an amendment, that the con-
firmation of the minutes should stand over until the af-
ternoon sitting.

YESTERDAY'S PROCEEDINGS.
Mr. JONES moved that a committee be forthwith ap-
pointed to draw up a report of the proceedings of the
Convention yesterday, in order that placards might be
posted over the metropolis, and cause it to be forwarded
to every district secretary throughout the caintry. If
this motion were carried, it would clearly explain
to the people that the Convention were not actuated
by any feeling of fear—by anything which could
lead to a shadow of an impression that by their
conduct yesterday they were in the least degree yield-
ing to the Whig Government, any more than the cir-
cumstance of being caught in the trap set for them by
the police at Kennington-common compelled them: to
do. The report would also state that the Convention
were determined that no mistake should take place upon
the next occasion, and that the procession would then
march down to the very door of the Palace. The
effect of this report will be to prevent the people being
led away by the lies and calumnies of the press.
Mr. ASHTON said that he thought after the solemn
pledges given by the Convention that they would see the
petition duly presented, some explanation to the public
was clearly due.
Mr. TANNER alluded to the violent conduct of a Mr.
Spurr at the meeting on Kennington-common yester-
day, and considered that the Convention acted perfectly
right in not going in procession with the petition.
Mr. KIDD, in a speech of some length, attacked the
Times, and said that he never could, or would, forgive
the writer of those articles which had appeared.
Mr. CuFFAY said what did they care for what the
Times said ? They all knew that paper was its enemy.
The last delegate who had addressed the meeting, said
that he would never forgive the Times. What did the
proprietors of the Times care for that ? He had been
working hard day and night in order to get up
the: demonstration, and now was it all to end in smoke,
by the interference of the country gentlemen of the
delegates? He knew his own constituents, the men of
London, better than the country delegates, and he knew
that they would have been more pleased with the con-
duct of the Convention if they had marched with the
procession at all events to the Marsh-gate, where the
people might have dispersed as easily and as willingly
as they did at Kennington-common. He should most
certainly oppose the motion; the people could read the
reports as they appeared in the papers, and any attempt
to justify their conduct was perfectly useless.
After considerable discussion the motion was unani-
mously agreed to, with the solitary exception of Mr.
Cuffay.
Messrs. Reynolds, Jones and Adams were then ap-
pointed the committee for the purpose of drawing up the
report.
The Committee to draw up the report having retired.
IMPEACHMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT.
Mr. CLARKE then rose to move a resolution con-
demnatory of the conduct of the Government authori-
ties. He believed that the delegates represented at least
five-sixths of the unrepresented masses of the country;
and, as the Whig Government, with the short sighted
policy which had always distinguished them, intended
yesterday by the array of brute force to provoke a col-
lision with the people from whom they extracted annually
60,000,0001. of money, he had no hesitation ni
telling the meeting that had they persisted in
going to the House of Commons with
their petition that au immense slaughter would
have been the result. He thought, then, that the
Ministry, because they had dared to call in an unconsti-
tutional army, to second them in their attack upon the
people ought to be impeached, and his object was to
move a resolution for the purpose of appointing a com-
mittee of three of their members to frame a petition to
the House, praying the House to proceed with that im-
peachment. The Hon. Delegate then read an extract
from the Morning Chronicle, and commented upon the
bad taste of the writer, who had thought proper to
charge the Chartists with cowardice, because they had
determined to save the blood of the people. Nothing,
he believed, would give the Government, or these jour-
nals, more pleasure than to force such a collision ; and it
as of a
they
with their conduct that on
that day would proceed in Parliament
with a measure which would further fetter the rights
and liberties of the people. He thought that this reso-
lution would meet with the unanimous sanction of the
delegates present, and fully justifiy them in the eyes of
their constituents. The Hon. Delegate concluded by
moving the following resolution : .
" That this Convention forthwith appoint a commit-
tee of three of its members to prepare a petition to Par-
liana( nt, praying for the impeachment of her Majesty's
Ministers for their flagrant violation of the Constitution,
in employing an unconstitutional armed force to aid
them in preventing the people from proceeding orderly
and peaceably through the streets of the metropolis with
their petitiens, and by the disposition and array of their
brute force, provoking a collision between theiPe°
, shouldri
te s such
hi f
words a faithfulthe military, and thereby risking the probability of
ple and
plunging the nation into civil war."
Mr. DLersoN seconded the resolution. lie w
sh
were
givenpresent to
hiinmt, haaatrre oo
to
write
that the editor of any journal which had its re-
porter
done. The conduct of the Government was paltry in
the extreme, for they were forced to revert to some old
statute of the reign of Charles 11. in order to over-ride
the wishes of the people. The houses on either side of
the line of march were filled with soldiery, and those
men who would lead the working men of London into
a a seo
reportasthad-
collision with the armed bands of the Government were
traitors to their cause. He saw one of those men
present.
Mr. VERNON, who was referred to, and who sat be-
hind the speaker, rose amidst cheers and disapprobation,
and said that he would claim the right of reply if lie
were thus personally referred to. -
After some altercation between the Delegates, and
some confusion in the galleries, Mr. Wheeler suggested,
and Mr. Dixon acting upon it, retracted the expressions
made use of, and said he would in another place give Mr.
Vernon a meeting, where both he and Mr. Vernon could
by supporting appeal to the public. He concluded
resolution.
Mr. EDMUND JONES said that yesterday's proceedings
ought to raise the moral character and resolution of the
people high in the estimation of the Government and of
the country. They did not affect to proceed with any
physical demonstration, fur the only shadow of weapon
that could be seen was borne by two young men, who,
to their honour be it said, when requested by himself and
others to give these up, did so without a murmur; and
yet knowing that the people sought to obtain their
rights by peaceful means, the base press of the country
twitted then with cowardice. He thought that they
were fairly entitled to charge some men with a want of
discretion, when they sought to overturn the pre-deter-
mination of the Delegates.
Mr. WIIEELER hoped that anything having any ap-
proach to personality would be avoided.
Mr. JULIAN HARNEy said that never would he again
call upon the people to go out of London, and never
would he ask the people to meet unarmed, and as one of
those persons connected with the press, he must say that
in his soul he detested the " race that wrote. Of all the
enemies of the people these were the most miserable,
because they sold their consciences for gold.--(Voci-
ferous cheering.) Unless the venal press had by its
writings prompted the Government to form these prepa-
rations—unless they had played upon the fearsould have been
triumphant. the shopkeepers, the people w
triumphant. Lord John Russell boasted that he be-
longed to a line of patriots, he (Mr. Julian Harney)
would rather say that he belonged to a house of plun-
derers. lie thought the resolution proposed by Mr •
down, he
ting
Clarke ought to be adopted, but before sit
would tell the Government through their reporters,
that
• e been suffered to coerce
although they had for a tun
the people, and when coerc©~
yet they had lost the hearts of
the young republics of the earth came to their beloved
t asked the aid of fuel r
England, and the Government
answer " 7 '-
strong arms to defend it, they would /es),
defend it yourselves. You refused the rights of the
people—the people will no longer preserve you in yo u
present position.—(Cheers.)
the course proposed by Mr.
Mr. LUNN thought that
Clarke, and supported by other delegates was a waste of
time. He did not see that they would gain anything by
adopting the resolution. The Government would laugh
at them, and deservedly set them down as a set of
" ninnies," who came there to speak, and not to act, on
this great cause. He thought it would be far more wise
on their part if they discussed questions that would be
likely to giro them a chance of success. He pro posed
that they should pass on to the next question before
them.
Mr. CuFFAy thought the proposition a farce. It
meant neither more nor less than that Mr. Feargus
O'Connor should impeach the Ministers, and that Mr.
Chisholm Anstoy should second him in this impeach-
ment.—(Laughter.) It was, he repeated, a farce, to
expect that they should get the Charter by moral force.
No, for that would be asking the aristocracy to commit
political suicide. They should ask the people to arm,
and this very exhibition of force would intimidate the
Government.
Mr. KYDD supported the proposition contained in the
resolution, because lie believed it would enlist in their
favour the sympathies of a large class throughout the
country. The Ministry were not impregnable from
their position. Mr. Smith O'Brien told them, in his
place in the House, that he did not recognise in them
the Ministry of Ireland. And what good could this do?
they would ask. Why it went back to Ireland.—
(Cheers.) It created a confidence in the breasts of the
people of that country that they had a champion so bold
as to lay their statements before a powerful Ministry in,
the House of Commons. This manifesto, like the im-
peachment of the French Ministry, would revolutionise
the country, and bring about with it consequences like
those which had driven the ignorant cruature of. Louis