The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1834.

Reformers will not be for th:s or that particular opinion,
but against ToryiEm—against the party whose principle it
has ever been, and whose principle it doubtless ever will
be, to sacrifice the interests of the public to their personal
aggrandizement. Minor differences have for the present
disappeared, we hope not to be renewed as long as the enemy
is in the field : men are now either Tories or anti-Tories."

care.—(Hisses and cries of " No, no !") With thcse sen-
timents he should take the liberty of moving a resolution
for the adoption of those present. He then read the fol-
lowing resolution
" That it is the opinion of this meeting that the best Ad-
ministration for the people is that which will advance furthest
in the principles of popular representation and retrenchment,
and that the conduct of the Melbourne and Brougham Ad-
ministration in opposing such advance, disentitles them to
the regret or confidence of the people."
[The resolution was received with the greatest disappro-
bation : cries of " No Duke !" " No division !" " No coiri-
promise with the Tories."]
Some minutes elapsed before the resolution was seconded,
when

Mr. BECK came forward, and seconded it without remark.

Mr. PowELL came forward to explain. He said that, as
the individual who had signed the resolution which had been
accidentally the cause of the large meeting now assembled,
he felt it his duty to explain to them how their disappoint-
ment seemed to have occurred.—( Hear, hear.) They all
knew of the event which transpired on Saturday last—
(Hear, hear)—of that event which came upon them like a
thunder clap, no one being in the slightest degree prepared
for intelligence of so extraordinary and electrifying a cha-
racter.—( Cheers.) There was at that time no Reform
Committee—no National Political Union in existence ; but
some well-known Reformers, who had been members of the
Union in former times, would not desert the cause of the
people because the Union was defunct.—(Cheers.) They
saw the necessity of the people assuming a decided atti-
tude without loss of time, and the first step they took was,
to issue notes to some of the more active and influential
of Reformers, requesting them to hold a preparatory meet-
ing on Sunday last. This was the earliest moment at which
it was possible a meeting could be effected. Mr. Rogers
and his friends were invited to attend, but they refused to
do so.—(Cries of "Oh !" and "No !") At the time they
met no course had been adopted except that of dissolving
the Ministry, and they could not take any step till they
knew what were likely to be the plans of their oppo-
nents.—(Hear, hear.) But that they might not be
taken by surprise, they formed themselves into what
might be called a committee of watchfulness, and ad-
journed till the following day at eight o'clock. After the
meeting had broken up they heard of the recall of the Duke
of Wellington to power, and the appointment of a pure
Tory Administration.—( Long continued hisses and hoot-
ing.) Was not that an event of sufficient importance to
justify him in calling the members of the Committee toge-
ther, with the view of convening the public before them to
submit to them resolutions expressive of their sense of these
of these extraordinary events. They, the public, however,
anticipated them (the Committee). They came down to
meet them to show that on this occasion no paltry dissen-
sions would prevail amongst reformers—(Cheers)—to show
that on this occasion they were united against the Tories.
—(Cheering.) If they had read the reports that appeared
of the proceedings of the Committee, they would have seen
that none of the Committee had praised the Whigs.—
(Cries of " No.") On the contrary, the Committee told
them that if the Whigs had relied on the people, things
would not have been brought to this pass.—(Much cheer-
ing.) It was because they had not relied on the people
that the 'Whigs were out ; but ought the people, who
complained of the Whigs for doing little, thereupon to
turn round and support the Tories, who were not only
prepared to do less, but even to go back ?—(Loud
cheers.) Bad as they might deem the Whigs, the
Tories would not go so far ; could they, then, think of
supporting the Tories ?—were they prepared for that ?
(Loud cries of " Hear," and " No.") It had been rumoured
that the Tories intended to dissolve Parliament this day ;
they probably would dissolve it in less than a fortnight, and
they relied with confidence on being able to defeat the Re-
formers in the counties, and to gull them with illusory pro-
mises of reform at the very time that they intended its
destruction. The people would support neither Whigs nor
Tories ; their object was to support themselves.—(Cheers.)
The object of the Committee was not privacy, but publicity.
They shrunk not from the public, but sought to meet it.
Their object, however, was to convene the public in such a
a manner, and with such previous deliberation, as would
make its power to be felt, and its voice heard, from one end
of the kingdom to the other.—(Hear.) It was a greit
question whether they ought not to revive the political
unions.—(Immense cheering.) They had already uttered
a cry, which would soon be re-echoed by the gallant Re-
formers of Birmingham and Manchester. Scotland and
Ireland would swell the shout, and the Reformers, on whose
divisions the Tories so mainly depended, would assume the
imposing attitude of one united band, strong in their union
as a three plied cable, which the fancied giant arm of Tory-
ism would as vainly attempt to separate as though it pos-
sessed but an infant's pith.—(Loud cheers.) After this
explanation, he trusted they would allow him to move, as
an amendment, that the present meeting should adjourn to
a future time and place, of which due" notice was to be given
by the Committee.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. C. BULLER, M.P., presented himself at the balcony.
He was received with loud cheering, but was for a consider-
able time prevented from speaking by an individual who
commenced an address to those assembled in the body of
hall under the gallery. The cry for Mr. Buller having be-
come almost universal, he at last said he was in possession
of the meeting and wished to second the amendment that
had just been moved to the original resolution. In doing
so, he had some observations to address to them, and unless
the gentleman below him was particularly desirous of ex-
hibiting the novelty of two persons speaking at once, he
would for a short time speak alone.—(Great laughter.) He
begged to offer them an explanation of what had already
occurred. The meeting, which was held yesterday had
been called a select meeting, and it was charged against
those who were parties to that meeting, that they had oc-
casioned the present assemblage without having given a
proper notice, and without providing a proper place.—
(Hear, hear.) Now if it had been their intention to call
a public meeting on the present occasion, he must say the
charge which had been made was just, for he admitted that,
considering the importance of the occasion, the notice which
had been given was hardly sufficient, and the place in which he
now addressed them was far from being convenient. He could
not, however, altogether regret the misunderstanding ; on
the contrary, he rejoiced to see such numbers of the people
so much alive to the present condition of public affairs as
to come forward, and take even this irregular opportunity of
speaking their sentiments.—(Cheers.) To witness such
an assemblage after only a day's notice, to behold them
under circumstances the most inconvenient determined to
express their feelings, was surely calculated to inspire
terror in the ranks of the enemy.—(Much cheering.) He
must say he did not know why he or his friends should be
accused of having met yesterday clandestinely, and of being
ready to-day to fight the battles of the Whigs, or of any other
party ; he did not see why this suspicion should be enter-
tained against men of known public character, and the
whole of whose public acts had had a tendency directly the
reverse.—( Hear, hear.) For himself he could say, that
during the sessions that he had sat in Parliament, he had
on many important occasions opposed the Whigs.—
(Cheers.) He should not, in this religious and decorous
country, have thought of insulting the feelings of the people
by announcing a public meeting for the Sunday ; but on
that day a number of their old friends—some of those
who were connected with the National Political Union,
of which he was proud to have been one—(Cheers.)
and of the services of which in the cause of reform
he was proud to have rendered his share—(Cheer-
ing)—some of the Members, then, of the Political Union
yesterday assembled. Nor did he hesitate to join them ;
he did not see why the friends of reform should not meet in
a private room to confer on a day on which their enemies
were active—(A laugh, and cheers)—the object, too, of the
friends of reform, be it recollected, being the performance
of far holier works.—(Cheers.) By assembling, they
evinced their readiness to take the lead—they showed that
they were prepared to organize a resistance that would
doubtless be as powerful, and which he trusted would be as
successful as that which had defeated their enemies before.
—(lmmense cheering.) A notice had been given in the
public papers of an intention to hold a meeting this even-
ing, and the notice had been misunderstood ; but an at-
tempt had been made by some individuals, whom he would
not call the friends of the Ministers who had just come
into power, to falsify their late proceedings, and interrupt
their present course. Now he must do these parties the
justice to confess that he believed the notice was so worded
that it might produce a wrong impression.—(Hear, hear.)
He rejoiced, however, that this wrong impression had been
created, because the effect of it was to show how prompt the
public were on the very first occasion that presented itself,
to come forward and declare their feelings. They did not
want time, at such a crisis, for long deliberation. The ques-
tion. was one on which, in by-gone days, they had made up
their minds, and they were now ready to act up to their
conviction. He agreed with those who said that the
Whigs had not done enough to satisfy them.—(Cries of
" Bravo !" and cheers.) Even last session there were
several important measures that they ought to have
brought forward. They neglected the opportunity they had
of providing some good municipal regulations, which would
have strengthened a Government deserving support, but
which would have enabled the people to organize an effec-
tual resistance to any Government that was bad.—(Cheers.)
Nor were those. improvements made in the Reform Bill
which it demanded, and which could not have failed to
increase considerably the popular majority.—(Cheers.)
But because the Whigs had their faults, should we place
our interests in the hands of those who, besides main-
taining the evils of which we complained at present, would
very shortly be found creating others ?.—(Shouts of " No,
no !") Instead of passing a resolution, at such a time as
this, which reproached the Melbourne Administration,
he would have the meeting declare that, looking at the
public and private conduct of the Duke of Wellington,