The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-22 00:00:00

Lts mandate.

The Court party, too, it seems, calculated on some public
demonstration on the part of the Tories. They have begged
for it, prayed for it, bullied for it. Where is it ? We should
be glad to hear of it. Was it to be found in St. Luke's, where
six votes were all that a regularly organised Tory opposition
could obtain ? Or in St. Pancras, where one bold individual
asserted the Tory prerogative of misrule? Was it to be
found in the meetings in the aristocratic parish of Marylebone,
or in the more eastern district of Bethnal-green ? Has it
raised its head to-night in the meeting of the extensive parish
of Cierkenwell ; or in the overflowing, the splendid meeting
held also to-night at the London Tavern ? Oh yes, we beg
pardon, the Tory demonstration was there made. In the
heart of the city, in the strong-hold of Toryism, surrounded on
every hand by the municipal outworks of close corporations,
there, as was most fitting, Toryism ventured to meet the chal-
lenge, and though not a voice was found to cry " God bless
it 1" yet of the thousands present, one solitary hand was raised
in its favour. Let the Tories remember that " His Highness"
has called aloud for their public support, and if they will not
reply by convening an open public meeting, they must be held
to admit that their cause is lost for ever.
Then they calculated on the disunion of the Reformers.
We told them, the very moment their bold experiment was
made known, that against them they would find the Reform-
ers united as one man. We now tell them more : we know
the public feeling well, and we tell the besotted Tories, that
their conduct has produced a strong reaction in favour of the
Whigs. The public now know what they did not know be-
fore, that the Whigs were crippled by the insincerity and anti-
reforming wishes of the first personage in the realm.
If the Tories wish for proof of this reaction, let them refer
to the reports of the various meetings, especially that at the
London Tavern, where they will find, in repeated instances,
that the meeting checked those by whom it was addressed,
when they went into too strong a censure of the Whigs, and
intimated pretty plainly their opinion, that any enumeration of
Whig offences was rather serving the cause of the Tories than
promoting that union which they were determined to maintain.
The fact was, that the meeting was more Whiggish than those
who called it ; which is the best refutation of another calumny
of " The Weathercock," that the committee which convened
it consisted of tools and emissaries of the late Ministry.
'But away with the absurd denial of the existence of a pow-
erful public opinion. It will not yet be exhibited yet in the
shape it was during the Reform struggle, because the crisis is
not yet so alarming. Then, had the Reform Bill been lost,
the people had nothing to fall back upon ; hence processions,
political unions, runs for gold, and threats of stopping the
I supplies. But, on the present occasion, the people feel that
they can at the worst, fall back upon a better and purer con-
stituency ; and a demonstration of their opinions in public
meetings is, at present, a weapon sufficiently powerful against
the enemy with whom they have to contend. The people of
England are unlike their neighbours in France. The latter
fly at once' to the extremest means of opposition on almost
every occasion : the former never go beyond the immediate exi-
gency of the case ; but they aro, therefore, the more to be
feared, for their courage and their exertions invariably rise
with the increase of the emergency. The declarations of Lord
Durham and O'Connell, exhibiting, as they do, the most
decided determination of sacrificing every private and peculiar
l-cling to that of union against the common enemy, have
everywhere been hailed with the greatest delight, whilst the
[miserable figure cut by the selected dinner-party of Tories
at Asifford has been the theme for laughter all over the
metropolis.
Nothing could have gone off with more spirit than the
meetings of to-night, and we can only regret that there was
no room in London sufficiently large, to have included the
disappointed thousands, who in vain sought to participate in
1 em.

We understand that a strong declaration against die Wel-
lington Government is in course of signature by the members
for the metropolitan districts. We should be glad to see such
a declaration signed by all the liberal members. It would tend
strongly to dissipate any distrust in their steadiness, which has
been sought to be inculcated in certain quarters.
Considerable impression was made at the meeting .in the
city this evening by the statement in ma- evening contempo-
rary The Sun, that the writs for the new elections were actu-
ally prepared.
On every hand we bear of meetings about to take place.

PRICE 7D.

the business of the evening, it would perhaps be expedient to
read certain letters which had been received from some of the
members for the metropolitan districts, in answer to an appli-
cation vl/4 hieh had been made to them to attend on the occasion.
The SECRETARY (Mr. Powell) informed the meeting that
he had received a letter from Colonel Evans, one of the mem-
bers for the City of Westminster, in which he declined to at-
tend the meeting, in consequence of his having reason to be-
lieve that a meeting of the electors of Westminster—his own
constituents—was in contemplation, which would afford him
an opportunity of delivering his sentiments on this important
subject.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. Powell) had also received a
letter from Mr. Duncombe, one of the members for the Fins-
bury district. That gentleman regretted his inability to at-
tend, but his absence was rendered unavoidable by his havino-
contracted a previous engagement. This engagement, he
(Mr. (Mr. Powell) believed, was a similar meeting of Mr. Dun-
combo's constituents this evening at Clerkenwell.—( Cheers.)
The next letter he had to read was from Dr. Lushington.—
( Great hissing. )
The CHAIRMAN begged to suggest that it would be better
to hear Dr. Lushington's sentiments. They would then be
enabled to decide whether those sentiments merited their ap-
proval or their disapprobation.
The SECRETARY would read the letter. It was to the fol-
lowing effect :
" Sin—Engagements long since made must prevent my
attendance at the London Tavern this evening .
" I will only add, that no one zho knows my public con-
duct can doubt that I consider the re-appointment of an anti-
reforming Ministry the greatest misfortune which can befal the
nation."—( Cheers.)
He had another letter ftom Sergeant Spankie—(great his-
sing and laughter). It was in these words :
" Russell-square, Nov. 20, 1834.
" have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter of yesterday's date, informing me that the committee which
assembled at the 'Crown and Anchor on Sunday last, have called a
general meeting at the London Tavern, on Friday next, at six for
seven, and requesting my attendance.
" As your communication desires an answer, I beg leave to in-
form you, the committee, and if they think proper the meeting (if
it shall take' place), that I am wholly opposed to the objects of that
committee, and those which the proposed meeting seems intended
to promote.
I therefore must decline to attend, the meeting ; and I am con-
fident that almost every respectable man in the metropolis and in
the country strongly disapproves the feeble, and as I myself think,
mischievous attempts made by some persons with whom I hope you
and your friends do not coneur, to excite agitation at this very
Im-
portant crisis. " I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" R. SPANKIE.

" To J. H. Powell, Esq., lion. Sec."
(The reading of this communication was followed by long-
continued groans and hisses.) This was Mr. Sergeant Span-
kie's letter.—( Cries of " tear it," "burn it.") No, they had
better not burn it—if they pleased it should be kept until the
next general election.—(Great applause and shouts of
" bravo.") He had also received a letter from the city mem-
ber, Mr. Grote.--(Applause.) Mr. Grote's letter was as

"• Threadneedle-street, Nov. 21.
" Sir—l beg' to acknowledge the receipt of your letter inviting me
Lo attend the meeting, called for this evening, at the London Ta-
vern, on the subject of the late unexpected change of Ministry.
" I am sorry I cannot comply with your invitation to attend the
meeting ; but holding as Ido a strong opinion on the important
matter to which it relates, I cannot refrain from stating how much I
deplore the recent Ministerial appointments. I consider the re-
establishment of the Ministry of 1830 as a veto on all efficient and
extensive reforms, both in Church and State ; and however mach I
see reason to complain of inefficiency in the Whig Ministry during
the last two years, it is but too plain that the ascendancy of de-
dared anti-reformers cannot in any way carry us forward, and
threatens to throw us fatally back.
" I trust that on this trying occasion there will be one common
disposition among all sincere reformers, to sink minor differences of
opinion, and to unite in defence of the spirit and principle of Re-
form, against those who have on every occasion denounced and
combatted it. " I have the honour
to remain, sir,
" Your obedient servant,

" J. H. Powell, Esq." " GEORGE GROTE.
He should also state that he had addressed letters to the other
members for the city ; to the members for Westminster and
Southwark ; all the metropolitan boroughs, and the eastern
division of the county of Surrey. He had received no an.
swers beyond those he had read, unless others had arrived
since he had entered the room ; but from inquiries he had
made and messages he had sent, he had reason to believe that
it was in consequence of those gentlemen being out of town.
Mr. Hume, he knew, was not at present in England.—( A
Voice—" Where's Clay ? did you write to him ?") He had ;
but he believed that gentleman was also out of town.
The CHAIRMAN then rose, aad proceeded to address the
meeting. He assured them, most unfeignedly, that he deeply
felt the responsibility imposed upon hint in his capaeity as
Chairman on that great and important occasion. Not only
had he a serious duty to discharge as Chairman of so large a
meeting, but be conceived that he should be in some degree
answerable for the tone which the expression of public opinion
at that meeting might assume. He was, therefore, perfectly
certain that it was hardly necessary for him to recall to their
attention the advice which had been given by the Earl of Dur-
ham—( Cheers)—by the Earl of Durham to the inhabitants
of Newcastle. That Noble Lord impressed upon them the
necessity of being united, and of giving their enemies no op-
portunity either of saying that they had divisions among them-
selves, or of profiting by them.—( Applause.) The present
occasion was one of no ordinary interest ; their adversa-
ries might affect to think otherwise ; but he had read
something
.of English history, and he recollected no period
of equal importance since that great occasion when the
last of the Stuarts was driven from the throne of Eng-
land, and succeeded by a man who was incapable of sa-
crificing the interests of this great people to the in-
trigues of party, or the lust of power.--(Loud cheer-
ing.) He ( Sir Frederick Knowles) confessed his inex-
perience in presiding at great public meetings, but he
trusted they would bear with him for a very short time, while
he said a very few words in support of some of the great mea-
sures which must hereafter come under the consideration of
Parliament, and which they were that evening met to support,
as far as they could, by the expression of their sentiments.
Much had been said relative to the dismissal of his Majesty's
Ministers—he meant of Lord Melbourne's Cabinet. It had been
occasioned by the undoubted exercise of the royal prerogative;
whatever opinions they might entertain on the subject, they
were bound to remember that his Majesty was the first magis-
trate of England, and that if, in speaking of this act of his,
they showed any disrespect towards him, they would insult,
in his person, the majesty of the English nation.—( Hear.)
When he said this, he conceived that it was quite open to him
to make what comments he pleased upon the cabal or intrigue
by which the dismissal of his Majesty's late Ministers had
been effected. It had been stated, over and over again, both
in the public prints, and by persons attached to that particular
party which was now struggling for power, that a great mystery
was attached to the dismissal of the late Ministry. Now he
( Sir F. Knowlss) must say that, in his opinion there was no
mystery whatever in the case.—( Hear.) He believed the
case to stand thus :—They must all have observed, that from
the moment the general election took place under the Reform
Bill, a deadly struggle had been carried on against the Grey
Administration by the Court party. The first effort made by
the popular party was the getting rid of Mr. Stanley, the Duke
of Richmond, Sir James Graham, the Earl of Ripon, all of
whom were opposed to the great question of Church Reform
in Ireland—,that question which was now shaking the country
to its very centre, and which it would require all the caution
of the people to manage in such a manner as to avoid the
bloodshed of their fellow-countrymen.—( Loud cheers.) Af-
ter this the Ministry, though still called Whig, became better
harmonized with the House of Commons. The opinions enter-
tained by Earl Grey, and other members of the Cabinet, on
the subject of the Coercion Bill, together with a cer-
tain correspondence, which was matter of general noto-
riety, occasioned a further change, namely, the retirement of
Earl Grey, and the accession of Viscount Melbourne to the
office of First Lord of the Treasury. This change having
been made, he ( Sir Francis Knowles) believed he only stated
the general impression of the country when he said the Mi-
nistry was in harmony with the House of Commons-4 Hear,
hear.) Well, what happened ? No sooner was this the case
—no sooner was it found that there existed a Ministry in har-
mony with the House of Commons, and in accordance with
the wishes of the people, than, in the recess, without any par-
liament sitting—with no questien before the country—with the
kingdom in a state of calm and repose—that Ministry was
suddenly dissolved—( Cheers.) And why ? Because Lord
Melbourne's was a Whig Administration ? No ; because a
Ministry had at last been found which was somewhat
in accordance with the wishes of the people—( Renewed
cheering.) And who was the man who had succeeded
Lord Melbourne as Premier ? (A voice in the room
" A damned scoundrel.") A man who, from his very
habits of life, must be despotic--a man who could have
no notions of government but the orderly-book and the
drill-serjeant.—( Great applause.) This was the man who
had succeeded Lord Melbourne ; this was the man who, as
far as they knew from the public prints, was the Government.
Other gentlemen who would follow him ( Sir F. Knowles)
v,-ould express their opinions on this point. He must warn the
meeting that the Duke of Wellington was a man of the great-
est energy and decision of character ; and to his honour be it
spoken, very sparing of the lives of his soldiers.—( Hear.)
He was, however, a man who had ever been accustomed to
scenes of violence and bloodshed—a man, consequently, who
could not be supposed to set so high a value on human life as
peaceable citizens.—( Ilear, hear.) This was the man who
was now in power, and they might be sure that if they stepped
but one inch beyond the bounds prescribed by the laws and
the constitution, he would not fail to take the utmost advan-
tage of it. With the case of Manchester before them, and
after the Duke of Wellington's calling public meetings
" farces "—though ho ( Sir F. Knowles) could very easily de-
monstrate to him that the present meeting was no farce—they
might, perhaps, think that he would avail himself of the
utmost powers of the law for their suppression. Let
him do it. If he attempted it, either in consequence
of this, or any other meeting, the advice which he ( Sir F.
Knowles) gave to the people was this—submit quietly.
(Partial applause, and a cry of " Resist l") No. Let the

these documents, that no one measure for the promotion of
rational, civil, or religious liberty—the Catholic Question ex-
cepted—had been brought before Parliament of late years,
which that man and his party had not opposed and endea-
voured to suppress.—( Cheers.) He found that whenever
there had been a contest in a foreign country between an ad-
vocate of civil liberty and a despot, the Duke and his friends
had invariably espoused the cause of the latter.—( Great
cheering.) He found that when some measure for the reform
of the representation of the people was considered ab-
solutely indispensable, the Duke of Wellington, in his
place in the House of Lords, declared that he was pre-
pared with no such measure, and further, that he thought
the rotten borough system was the perfection of hu-
man wisdom.—( Great cheering, and laughter.) He ( Sir
F. Knowles) must beg to remind that numerous meeting, too,
that the Duke of Wellington had been peculiarly opposed to
the interests of the metropolitan districts : he had done his
utmost to prevent their opinions, their wishes, and their feel-
ings being expressed in Parliament by their legitimate Repre-
sentatives.—( Cheers.) And yet this was the man who was
now put forward as the great advocate of Reform ; this was
the man who, they were told, would carry all projected reforms
to a prosperous issue ; this was the man in whom they were
called upon to repose implicit confidence ; not only without
any reason or cause for doing so, but with every reason they
could possibly have for pursuing exactly the opposite course.
—(Cheers, and cries of "We won't have him.") He ( Sir
F. Knowles) made no vague or unfounded assertions ; he re-

ferred to facts, and facts he stated. Let any man in that im-
mense meeting stand forward and tell him, if he could, any
one question—with the single exception of that of Catholic
emancipation, to which he had before referred—on which his
Grace had ever shown himself to be really a friend of the peo-
ple.—( Cheers, and a cry of " The Catholic question !—he did
that from compulsion.") It was quite true ; he carried that mea-
sure, not from choice but from compulsion. He( Sir F. K.) really
thought at the time—to be sure be was younger then than
now—that the Duke of Wellington really had strength of
mind to cast aside all the petty narrow prejudices of his class
ar.d party, and to come forward, acknowledge his errors, and
place himself at the head of the British people as the champion
of their liberties and just rights. They had, however, the

Duke's own assurance that ba-d he not been forced into that

measure, he never would have proposed it—( Continued cheer-
ing. ) The sentiments of the party to which the Duke of
Wellington belonged, were, he ( Sir F. Knowles) believed,
pretty well known to all present ; but he could not resist the
temptation of referring for one moment to the speech—the
splendid speech—mad by the Earl of Durham at Newcastle.

-2( Great cheers.) Thai Noble Lord said, " Another cry is,
The Monarchy is in danger 1' From whom ?" Nor here he
( Sir F. Knowles) must pause for a moment, to remind the
meeting that this cry was directed peculiarly against persons
entertaining their opinions, who were industriously repre-
sented as the enemies of monarchy. fle hoped they would
demonstrate that night that they were its firmest supporters
and its best friends.—( Cheers.) Lord Durham proceeded to
Ear, " I look around to the north, the south, the east, and the

west, and I never have been able to hear a word uttered
bearing the semblance of the shade of a shadow of an
objection made to monarchical institutions." Now he ( Sir
F. Knowles) so far differed from Lord Durham, that he
had met with this objection ; ho would tell them where,
and from party it emanated. About eighteen months ago, as
well as he could remember, certainly within two years, he hap-
pened to be looking over the columns of the Standard, which
they all knew was the avowed organ of the Tory party ; it
always had been so, and was so at this moment. In that paper
he met with some such passage as this, if his memory served
hire—" If ever the Church of England should go by the fault
of the monarchy, three-fourths of the Conservatives would be-
come good Republicans to-morrow."—( Great cheering.) Now
they were told that the Duke of Wellington was going to give
the people a great and extensive Church Reform. If he did
so, the Tories—the Tories—were the men who would wait

upon his Majesty in his closet and say, " You consent to a
measure for the reform of the Church ; we are deprived of all
this extensive patronage and these nice livings ; the loaves and
fishes are snatched from our hands—be good enough to lay
your Crown at our feet, for we want you no longer, and wo
will have a republic."--( Cheers and laughter,) The Duko
might give them this reform—his party most assuredly never
would. Was it reasonable to suppose they ever
would ? What I support the Duke by taking from them-
selves all that they valued most, and had struggled hard-
est to retain 1—( Cheers.) The man who could entertain

such an opinion for a moment was only fit for a strait
waistcoat and a cell in Bedlam—( Renewed cheering.) Whe-
ther they considered the Duke as an individual, or viewed him
in connection with his party, the duty of that meeting to them-
selves and their country was precisely the same. If the Duke
came forward as a great reformer-(0h I oh I)--he meant tho
Duke in his personal and individual character—they would re-
ceive 11:m with open arms—( Deafening cries of " No,"—
"We won't have him ";y It was not him they wanted, it was-
his measures—(" No, no—we won't have them from him.")
He begged the meeting would understand him. He did not
mean to say that he should not witness such a departure from
avowed and oft-repeated principles, without sharing in the ge-
neral disgust and indignation which they would naturally ex-
cite ; but if the Duke of Wellington were to become a refor-
mer, what could they do ? They could not instruct their re-
presentatives to vote against the measures they hadthemsclves
demanded ; impossible ! If such measures were brought for-
ward, they must support and accept them, and make use of the
Duke as an instrument by whose means they attained the ful-
filment of their wishes. He (the Chairman) was an advocate
for the ballot, triennial parliaments, and an extension of the
suffrage: Therefore it might be believed that nothing that
came from him would be very favourable to the Duke of Well-
ington, and he felt convinced that when the meeting put toge-
ther the whole of what he said, it would perceive that he was
as incapable of joining the Duke as any one then present. But
he still said that they would be placed in a very extraordi-
nary position if the Duke of Wellington, upon taking office
for the second time, should again throw his own party over-
board as he did before, and come forward and propose the very
measures of his political opponents, as he did in the instance
of Catholic emancipation. He did not think it probable that
the Duke would pursue such a course--( Hear, hear)—but he
had felt it necessary to allude to its possibility, because it
had been thrown out in public as the lure to catch the voice
and support of the people. Therefore it was that he was
anxious to point out to the people what they ought to do in
case of such a course being adopted.—( Hear, hear.) One
or two things must happen. Either the Duke of Wellington
would come forward as a great reformer, or he would not. If
he came forward as a great reformer—(a voice "—a great re-
former I No, no ; he'll give us only bits of steel as long as his
nose,")—they (the people) must take care to send up such a
majority of good men and true to the House of Commons
as would enable him to carry his liberal measures. lf, on the
other hand, the Duke should not turn out to be a great re-
former—and in his heart he (the Chairman) believed that he
never would—then, for the same reasons, they (the people)
must send up such a majority of stanch and unflinching
reformers to Parliameent as to prevent any mischief that
might arise from the pernicious measures that such a
Minister might propose.—( Loud cheering.) After that ex-
planation he thought the meeting would understand him
when he said, that one way or the other they would be
obliged to support the Duke of Wellington, or rather the
measures which the Duke of Wellington might bring for-
ward. Under such circumstances, then, their main duty
was to watch over the elections of the representatives of the
people in the House of Commons—the battle, after all,
would be fought upon the hustings—(Cheers)—and tho
measures of the people must be taken accordingly. The
Earl of Durham, in whom, he apprehended, that meeting
placed the most entire confidence—(Loud cheers)—the Earl
of Durham had recommended that, at a 6-his like the pre-
sent, all differences of opinion should be sunk amongst the
Reformers.—( Hear, hear.) " You may depend upon it,"
says that noble Earl, in his late excellent speech, " that this
is no time for us to be splitting hairs ; when we have got rid
of the common enemy, it will be time enough for us to fan
to against one another."—( Cheers.) He now approached
a subject which he could hardly touch upon without the
greatest sorrow—the meant the conduct of the Whigs. But
it must be remembered that the Whigs formed only a
portion of society in this kingdom, that they had a power-
ful party to contend against, and that the extensive thee-.
sures of reform which were expected from them were of
a nature and character which precluded the possibility
of their being passed with haste. It must be remembered
that it took generation after generation to effect improvements
and ameliorations in the very smallest societies, even in parti-
cular families ; would they, then, refuse to concede to the
Whigs, what, to any other class of men, would be conceded
merely as a matter of justice ? He conceived that the Whigs
had failed by vacillation, by want of firmness and determina-
tion.—( Hear, hear.) They should have taken their example
from the Earl of' Durham.—( Cheers.) What had that Noble
Earl told them? That they were attempting to conciliate
enemies who would not be conciliated.—( Cheers.) The faults
of the Whigs had been faults of omission. But, he would
did this country, looking back to the pages of history,
owe nothing to the Whit,Ts ?—( Hear, hear,) Were there not
many then present who must recollect the time when to ad-.
vocate reform—to do that which they were now doing--
was to place a man's life in peril ?-_(Cheers.) Could it. ho
forgotten that there were men amongst tho Whigs ,who,•
for venturing to advocate the people's cause, had been.
sent to the Tower by Tory majorities of the House of
Commons ?—( Cheers.) Or could it, again, be forgotten
that one of the last acts of the Whigs was to carry the
great measure of reform—that measure which would enable
them (and he trusted in Providence the time was not far
distant) to unseat the Tories.—(Laud cheers.) But if, ift
the course of four years' administration, the Whigs hart
done little for the people, he would beg to as what, in
the course of many years' administration, the Tories had done
for the people ?—( Renewed cheering.) In all times, in all
seasons, and under all circumstances, the Tories been
y
the uncompromising enemies of liberty ; d moreover,
had, by their misgovernment, brought upon this country a debt,
awl an amount of taaation, unparalleled in the annals of man-
kind.—( Hear, hear.) Yet, the Tories had again come into
power; and, under such circumstances, he was anxious to im-
press upon the meeting the necessity of observing the recom-
mendation of the Earl of Durham—namely, that the Re-
formers of England, casting aside all petty differences, shoukl.