The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-18 00:00:00

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ST. LEONARD'S, SHOREDITCH.

Last night a public vestry of the parish of St. Leonard,
Shoreditch, was held in the church, in pursuance of a requi-
sition to the Churchwardens, " to consider the cause of the
obstruction and delay given to the petition of the inhabit-
ants of this extensive parish to his Majesty ; to take into
consideration the alarmiag state of the country at this im-
portant crisis, and to adopt such measures thereon as may
be deemed expedient." The chair was taken by the Church-
warden at six o'clock, at which hour from 1,800 to 2,000
persons were present. Dr. Lushi►:gton attended, and was
received with loud and long-continued cheers.
A letter from Mr. Clay was read, apologising for his ab-
sence, and stating that he had attended the day after he re-
ceived the Address of the parishioners, and presented it at
the Duke of Wellington's office. As his Grace was not
there at the time, he left a note, requesting that it should
at once be presented to his Majesty. As he received no
communication from the Duke respecting the presentation,
he wrote to him on the subject. He had been obliged to
leave town, and had requested that any official communica-
tion on the subject should be forwarded to Mr. Lawrence.
A letter was then read, of the date of the 15th instant,
from Mr. Phillips, the Under Secretary of State for the
Home Department, to Mr. Clay, in which he stated that
he had been desired by the Duke of Wellington to inform
Mr. Clay that his Grace had not failed to lay the Address
of the parishioners of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, before his
Majesty, respecting the dismissal of the late Administration
and appointing their successors.

meeting of the inhabitants of this parish ; and also, that
the Hon. and Learned Member (Dr. Lushington) was
present—(Cheers)—but deeply regretted that the other
Member for the Tower Hamlets was not by his side.—
( Hear, hear.) If the Duke of Wellington had treated the
large and respectable public vestry of that parish with pro-
per respect, and had presented their address in due time to
the King, there would have been no necessity for their
meeting that night.L4Hear, hear.) He contended that
the address of so large and respectable a parish was entitled
to an immediate answer. He would ask, who placed the
King on the throne, and for what purpose he was placed
there, but to listen to the wishes and prayers of the people?
—(Loud cheers.) He contended that there was no one,
however high his station, that the people were not justified
in calling to account for a dereliction of duty.—(Cheers.)
The time had come when it was the duty of every man to
let his sentiments be known, and boldly to speak out, re-
gardless of tany attempts at intimidation. He concluded
with proposing the first resolution, to the effect that the
vestry regarded With surprise and regret that the address
passed at the former meeting had been so long delayed in
its carriage to the foot of the throne, and that such delay
in the present state of the public mind calls for a strong
expression of feeling, and that the Members for the Tower
Hamlets be requested to explain any circumstances within
their knowledge respecting the said delay.
Mr. PURLAND seconded the resolution, which was car-
ried with great applause.
Dr. LUSHINGTON (who was loudly cheered when he 'pre-
sented himself to the meeting) said that at the time when
the address was agreed to, the nation was placed in a situa-
tion of deep and imminent danger, and it imperatively be-
hoved every Englishman to come forward and take care
that the feelings of the people were made known to the
Crown.—(Cheers.) Their great misfortune now was, that
those who bad the power to rule and domineer over the
people were ignorant of public feeling ; that the great por-
tion of the aristocracy and hierarchy, some of whom were
rolling in excessive wealth, were not aware of the extent to
which the people were informed ; they had no conception
of the extent of knowledge possessed by the bulk of the
community. The persons to whom he alluded supposed
that the people are as they were twenty-five years ago ;
they had no conception of the extent of political know-
ledge diffused amongst all classes, nor of the changes
that had taken place.—(Great cheering.) At the period
he had just alluded to, it was a matter of doubt
whether the blessings of education should be diffused
amongst the people at large, but now the person who
hinted at such a doubt would be derided.—(Hear, hear.)
The Duke of Wellington was abroad during a great por-
tion of the period when these changes were going on, and'
he had not the least conception of the state of the public
mind.—(Cheers.) He agreed that the address, coming as
it did from a parish containing 70,000 inhabitants, and
1,500 or 1,600 electors of the Tower Hamlets, had not
been treated with proper respect. He did not feel himself
called upon to detain them further, but to assure them that
in the present crisis that union and firmness was absolutely
necessary to save them from the probability of a dangerous
struggle, in which the liberties of the country might be de-
stroyed or saved only by the most strenuous exertions.—
(Cheers.) The people now knew to whom the reins of
power were to be confided, namely, to those who for the
whole of their political lives had been adverse to the liber-
ties of the people, hostile to those great objects which they
had most dearly at heart, namely, the reform and purifica-
tion of those institutions to which they were so warmly at-
tached.—(Cheers.)
Mr. Govan proposed the next resolution, to the effect
that the vestry regretted that the representatives of the
Tower Hamlets did not obtain an interview with the Duke
of Wellington, to request him to transmit their address im-
mediately to his Majesty, and that the delay that had arisen
had originated in the indifference of the Noble Duke to the
voice of that parish expressed in public vestry, and to the
feelings of the people.
Mr. SoLtoloil nat addressed the meeting, and conclu-
ded with proposing a resolution expressive of the sense of
danger the meeting thought that the Constitution was ex-
posed to by a Tory Government.
Mr, LAWRENCE seconded the motion, after a speech of
some length, which was loudly cheered.
Mr. PEARCE proposed the next resolution, to the effect
that an address be presented to his Majesty, embodying the
resolutions previously allnded to ; and that the address be
presented by Earl Durham, or in his absence by some other
Peer.
Mr. PEARCE then proposed thanks to the Members of
the Tower Hamlets.
Mr. GouGH objected to the motion being put until they
had a declaration from their Member present that he would
oppose the new. Government, even to the extreme case of
W thholong the supplies, until they were dismissed,,
i
(Cheers.)
Dr. LUSHINGTON felt it necessary to trouble the Meet-
ing with a few words, in consequence of the observations of
the last speaker. He had constantly retried anything like
compromise, and had on that account, refused to join Mr.
Canning's Administration.—(Hear, hear.) He intended
to oppose the Tory Government to the utmost of his
power ; for he knew, however speciously they might begin
their career as Reformers, they would only do so with a
view to fix themselves in their offices, that they might the
more readily fix chains on the people.—(Cheers.) He
would, to the best of his abilities, oppose them, even to the
extent of stopping the supplies, until they were driven from
office,(Cheers.)
The resolution was then agreed to.
Thanks were voted to the Chairman, and the Meeting
broke up.

DISTRESSING ACCIDENT.—The nurse in the
family of Henry Whitmore, Eni., of Wyndham-street, Bry-
anstone-square, having gone on Thursday evening to a box in
which were a cat and kittens, with intent to take one of them
out for the amusement of a child, about twelve months old, in
her arms, as she was stooping down the cat flew out in a rage,
and tore out one of the eyes of the child with one of her claws.
The cheek of the poor infant was also torn by the infuriated
animal.