The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-02 00:00:00

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PRICE 7D.

STATE OF PUBLIC OPINION

AND
MOVEMENTS IN THE METROPOLIS.

Our readers will perceive by the Court Circular, that
the Members of the Common Council will go up with their
address to the King this day. The members are sum-
moned to meet at Guildhall this day, at half-past eleven.
Very short notice has been given, but we doubt not the
patriotic members of the City Parliament will be at their
post.
The electors of Westminster meet to-day in Covent-
garden, at one• o'clock precisely ; and the electors of Fins-
bury this afternoon, at White Conduit-house.

The parishes of Marylebone and Deptford spoke out
yesterday ; and, as will be perceived, many others are pre-
paring to make a similar demonstration.

MARYLEBONE.

GREAT MEETING OF THE RATE-PAYERS.

In compliance with a requisition, numerously signed by
the inhabitant householders of St. Marylebone, it was last
week resolved, by the vestry of that parish, to call a general
meeting of the rate-payers, for the purpose of addressing
the King upon the present state of the Government of the
country. A public notice of this resolution was circulated
throughout the parish, and yesterday was the day appointed
for the meeting. Accordingly, at about one o'clock, be-
tween four and five thousand persons assembled in the yard
of the parish workhouse, in the New-road, where a tem-
porary hustings had bean erected,.and where a, hrge
tarpauling, stretched over a number of scailolding
poles, afforded shelter for the head, and some trusses
of littered straw protection to the feet. Among
those who appeared upon the hustings, which was thronged
with the independent vestrymen of the parish, was Mr.
Hume, M.P., Colonel Evans, M.P., Sir Samuel Whalley,
M.P., Mr. Young, Mr. Savage, and several others, who
have rendered themselves conspicuous by their fearless ad-
vocacy of the rights of the people.
Mr. HODGKINSON having been voted to the Chair, the
business of the day was commenced by the Clerk's reading
the resolution of the vestry, in pursuance of which the
meeting was convened.
The CHAIRMAN then informed the meeting, that the
two Members for the Borough had been written to, inform-
ing them of the intention to hold the meeting, but that one
only had deemed it proper to attend. From Sir William
Horne a letter had been received, which should be read by
the Clerk.

The letter, as read by the Clerk, •ras to the following
effect:—

" Sir,—l beg to thank you for your letter, inviting me to
attend the meeting of the rate-payers on Monday next, on the
subject of the present state of the Government. Sir, I feel,
in common with my brother rate-payers and with every reflect-
ing man, a deep anxiety in the present state of the country ;_
and if I thought that my attendance at the meeting, as one of
the representatives of the borough, would be useful to ourselves
or to the public at the present moment, I should feel it my
duty to attend. But I must frankly say, that I do not think
such a meeting as is proposed, with the wide field of discussion
opened to it, is likely to produce the good intended by it--
( Hisses)—and I therefore beg respectfully, to decline the in-
vitation.—( Groans and hisses.) I cannot bring myself to think
that the great constitutional cause of reform, after what we
have: already achieved, is in danger from any attempt which
may be-m:ditated by any new set of Ministers against it ; and
the past condtk:: of his Majesty seems to me a sure guarantee
to his subjects, that Zo such scheme would for a moment meet
with his countenance or ;upPort ; but that he would instantly
on its being discovered, concur with his people in deprecating
it.—l have the honour to be, Sir,
"Your faithful humble sers*,ant,
" Friday night, Nov. 28, 1834. iZN. HORNE."
The reading of this letter was frequently in;,errupted
by
expressions of strong disapprobation. The reply. of Sir
Samuel Whalley, intimating his intention to be present
at the meeting, was, on the contrary, received with great
applause.
These preliminary matters having been disposed of,
Mr. HOVENDEN rose to propose the first Resolution. It
was certain that the strength of the honest and sincere
Reformers of the country must at that moment consist in
unanimity. If they split themselves into miserable divi-
sions, instead of achieving any national good, or success-
fully averting any national calamity, they would sink merely
into objects of scorn and de-..ision to their enemies. After
dwelling at some length upon the evils of dissension amongst
those who ought only to have one common object in view ;
the Learned Gentleman proceeded to observe that he,
for one, never would put confidence in any man' who,
at any period of his life, past the age of boyhood, had
ever thought or acted upon the principles of Toryism ;
still less would he put trust in one who had grown
old in the practice of these principles.—(Loud cheers.)
He could regard that man only as a renegade who asked
for power as the reward of his conversion from one set of
principles to another. The apostate statesman, who asked
for power, place, and patronage as the reward of his con-
version, was a recreant, not a true convert.—(Loud cheers.)
In spite, however, of that plain and obvious fact, they were
told that the Tories, if they retained power, were to do fine
things for the people. They were to give them all just and
necessary reforms.—(Laughter.) Looing, however, to the
past conduct of the Ducal Dictator, and his demure deputy,
he confessed that he, for one, could have no reliance upon
any promises of reform that might proceed from such a
quarter.—(Cheers.) He called upon those present, there-
fore, as they valued their own interests, and the public
peace, to join in the address which would presently be pro-
posed to them, assuring his gracious Majesty of their loyalty
to him, and praying him to confide in that loyalty, and not
to listen to the insidious advice of evil councillors, who, to
promote their own aggrandizement, would lead him to
adopt measures which could not fail to disturb the harmony
which hitherto happily had existed between the King and
his faithful people. He begged leave to move the following
resolution :
" That it is the undoubted prerogative of the Crown to
choose its own Ministers, but that prerogative like every other,
is a trust to be exercised with sound discretion for the benefit
of the people—and whilst we frankly admit this constitutional
principle, we cannot conceal our deep concern at the forma-
tion of a Ministry proposed to be selected from a party that
have been in the possession of power, with trifling intermis-
sions, nearly one hundred years, and during that period have
moulded our systems of law and taxation to the detriment of
the great body of the people, involved the country in useless
and unholy wars, and left the nation in debt to the amount of
eight hundred millions of money."--( Loud cheers.)
Mr. REDWOOD (a member of the Society of Friends)
seconded the resolution. These were times when all good
subjects were called upon boldly and plainly to declare
their political principles—when those even, who under ordi-
nary circumstances had no ambition to be accounted public
characters, had got a duty to perform in stepping
aside from their accustomed seclusion, and publicly bearing
testimony to what they conceived to be the right prin-
ciples of good government.—(Cheers.) It was under those
considerations that he had consented that day, for the first
time in his life, to appear in the character of a speaker be-
fore a public assembly, to add his voice to the voice of the
multitude, in demonstration of the general feeling of the
people.—(Cheers.) As fOr the cry of " measures not men,"
which had of late been so industriously put forward, he
looked upon it merely as a trap laid by the enemy—a bait
for the unwary and short-sighted, but which he felt assured
would not be swallowed by any number of discerning English-
men.—(Cheers.) He for one was not satisfied to trust
the reform of abuses to those who were the enemies of all
reform—(Cheers)—he would put no faith in the promised
measures of those men whose political opinions be believed
to be radically bad—(Loud cheers)—and the effect of
whose policy he believed would be to involve the country in
quarrels with the neighbouring nations of Europe.—(Hear.)
The resolution was unanimously agreed to.
Colonel EVANS then came forward, and was received
with great cheering. In referring to the Hon. Members
(Mr. Hume and Sir Samuel Whalley) near him, he must
take that opportunity of alluding to a circumstance which
occurred a few days back, and in which he and the Hon.
Member for Marylebone (Sir Samuel Whalle) were mu-
tually interested. He alluded to their having ref Used to
sign the declaration recently put forth by the Metropolitan
Members. When that declaration was brought to him for
his signature, it was presented by three gentlemen whom
he knew to be devoted Whigs—men whose earnestness in
the cause of reform would never carry them beyond the
bounds of pure Whig policy. Therefore, though he en-
tertained the greatest possible respect for the talent, the
ability, and the usefulness, of those gentlemen, he could
not help looking at the document in their hands with a
little suspicion—(Laughter)—nor could- he help fearing
that it might be intended to restore the late Ministers,
without sufficiently considering the views, the wishes, and
the interests of the people ; and upon these
.accounts he
refused to sign it, preferring, however humble his own
individual opinions might be, to place them separately
and distinctly before his constituents and the country.
—(Loud cheers.) The Honourable Member for Mary-
lebone had, be believed, been actuated by a similar feeling.
It was gratifying in these reformed times (for the times
were reformed, notwithstanding the desperate attempts
that were made in some quarters to check reform) to hear